World

Rohan Pearce On February 10, municipal elections were held in Saudi Arabia's capital Riyadh and its surrounds. The vote, the first since limited municipal elections in 1964, is to be followed by similar ballots in the south-western and eastern

On February 16, up to 200,000 people took to the streets of Ecuador's capital Quito, in the country's second major demonstration in three weeks. The march, organised by the Social Christian Party and Quito Mayor Paco Moncayo, who is the leader of the

Matthew Davies Publicity about the tsunami relief effort in Indonesia's Aceh province has mostly depicted Indonesia's military (TNI) in an unprecedented favourable light. But the TNI's own official record has painted a very different picture than

Dr Salam Ismael took aid to Fallujah in January. This account of his experiences is reprinted from British Socialist Worker, available at <http://www.socialistworker.co.uk&#062;. It was the smell that first hit me, a smell that is difficult to

On February 15, the European Court of Human Rights said the lack of legal aid available to Helen Steel and David Morris when they were prosecuted for libel by McDonald's meant that they had been denied a fair trial. They were awarded £24,000 in

The February 8 Danish elections have left the country polarised. The ruling conservative Liberal Party retained government, despite losing four seats. Its coalition partner, the Conservatives, picked up two seats as did the anti-immigration far-right

Alison Dellit On February 18, Tahiti's semi-autonomous parliament passed a no confidence motion in President Gaston Flosse, toppling his government. The parliament is due to meet again on February 23 to elect a new president, likely to be fiery

This letter was sent to Green Left Weekly for publication by Zely Ariane, the international affairs spokesperson of the Aceh solidarity group SEGERA. Green Left Weekly has been asking our readers to assist SEGERA's appeal after the tsunami, for

Alex Miller Public sector unions nationwide are balloting their members over a proposed one-day strike on March 23. The strikes could involve up to 1.4 million public sector workers, and would be hugely embarrassing to the Labour government headed

Iranian workers are circulating a petition calling for the right to form independent unions. The petition campaign was sparked by the recent passage of a law exempting small business employers from the country's Labour Law, and by attempts to deny

On February 6, shortly before 4am, after a five-kilometre police car chase, the pursued (stolen) car skidded onto a kerb. One passenger dropped out, the car began backing up, and police fired 10 rounds into it. Several went straight into 13-year-old

Doug Lorimer In the January 16 New Yorker magazine, investigative journalist Seymour Hersh reported that the Pentagon has begun updating its plans for an invasion of Iran. Hersh reported that, "Strategists at the headquarters of the US Central