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Turkish jets began bombing the Xakurke region of northern Iraq on May 26. The following day Turkish helicopters transported troops into the area. This was the latest step in Turkey’s growing military intervention in the predominantly Kurdish north of Iraq, writes Chris Slee.

The Afghanistan war may be largely forgotten, were it not for the Australian Federal Police raid on the ABC’s Sydney offices on June 5 to collect evidence for the trial of army lawyer and whistleblower David McBride.

Afghanistan is the longest war Australia has ever been involved in. Yet it has largely been conducted in secret, with few media reports and even fewer politicians wanting to talk about it.

Sibylle Kaczorek, a member of Germany’s main left party Die Linke and an activist with Aufstehengegen Rassismus! (Stand Up Against Racism!) was interviewed in May by Dick Nichols, Green Left Weekly’s European correspondent.

The biggest and youngest and loudest abortion rights march for years was organised in Sydney on June 9.

The border between Venezuela and Colombia has been partially reopened after nearly four months.

The principal crossing posts of the Simon Bolivar and Francisco de Paula Santander International Bridges — which connect Venezuela’s Tachira State with Colombia’s Northern Santander Department — were reopened on June 8 for pedestrian crossing. They still remain closed for vehicles.

A German boat captain faces a long and costly trial in Italy for charges targeting her humanitarian efforts on behalf of refugees. 

Captain Pia Klemp told Basler Zeitung on June 7 that her upcoming trial in Italy for years of efforts with the civilian lifeboat Iuventa that saved at least 1000 lives, will take years and hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Klemp faces up to 20 years in prison, but whether or not she ends up in jail, she would challenge any conviction in the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, if necessary. 

A spokesperson for the Bougainville Hardliners Group has called on the Autonomous Bougainville Government (ABG) to explain why the Australian Federal Police (AFP) were at the controversial Panguna mine site in central Bougainville on June 5.

AFP officers were seen taking GPS readings at the abandoned copper mine site. James Onartoo, a former leader of the Bougainville Revolutionary Army, said the community has a right to know why they were there and what they were doing.

The Environment Defenders Office Queensland (EDO QLD) announced on June 12 that in a huge win for its client the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF), the federal government has conceded the case brought against it over Adani’s North Galilee Water Scheme — the plan to pump up to 12.5 billion litres of water a year from the Suttor River to Adani’s Carmichael mine site.

While Australia was in the throes of a federal election campaign, the United Nations released a report warning that nature is declining globally at rates unprecedented in human history.

Green Left Weekly’s Susan Price spoke to Rena Lau, a Hong-Kong based activist, about the protest movement that has erupted there against the proposed extradition bill.

Chris Scott went to the embassy outside of Ararat to find out more about the Djab Warrung people's struggle to protect their scared heritage. This is his account.

The Australian Socialist Alliance released the following statement on June 9, in response to the brutal crackdown on Sudanese pro-democracy protests.