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IRAQ: 'Free market' looting spree continues

Rohan Pearce The Reuters wire service revealed on February 9 that Al Rafidayn, Iraq's largest bank, has sacked one-third of its 7300 employees in preparation for privatisation. Bank chairperson Daya al Khayoun told Reuters that Al Rafidayn accounts

TAIWAN: Chen manipulates massacre anniversary for votes

Eva Cheng More than 60,000 people formed a human chain in southern Taiwan on February 1, acting in defiance of Beijing's military threats. Supported by President Chen Shui-bian and former president Lee Teng-hui, the protesters vowed to form a much

Jailed anti-war activists gain support

Anna Samson, Sydney Will Saunders and David Burgess commenced their first weekend of periodic detention on February 14. The pair were found guilty of malicious damage after painting the words "No war" on the highest sail of the Opera House. They

Another whitewash of racist cop violence?

Ray Fulcher, Melbourne On February 1, Victoria Police dragged Raymond Merritt through the broken window of an allegedly stolen car and smashed his head against the roof. Merritt, an Aboriginal man, is wanted by NSW police as a suspect in a series

ALP on refugees — how much really changed?

The weekend after the January 29-31 ALP national conference, I attended the Rural Australians for Refugees national conference, one of the biggest gatherings of refugees' rights activists in the last few years.

NUS calls national student protest on March 31

Nathan Coombs, Melbourne "If we want to defeat the Liberals' education agenda, students have to rely on our own ability to organise and fight", Paul Coats, the education officer of the National Union of Students (NUS), told Â鶹ӳ»­ Weekly. The

VENEZUELA: US finances coup conspiracy

Doug Lorimer The radical government of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has accused the US government of financing a conspiracy to carry out an anti-government coup. Washington regards the burgeoning Bolivarian Revolution in Venezuela — an

WA train drivers strike

Chris Latham, Perth Metropolitan train drivers voted on February 13 to strike as part of their campaign for a new enterprise agreement. The Industrial Relations Commission (IRC) later that day ordered the workers to return to work. However, most

Manus refugee faces new danger

In early February there was a flurry of media coverage about 25-year-old Palestinian Aladdin Sisalem — the lone asylum seeker detained in the Australian-financed Manus Island detention centre. It was revealed by the February 11

Bankstown youth offer support

Aaron Benedek, Sydney Young people living in Sydney's south-west, regularly targeted by the state ALP government's "law and order" and "anti-terrorist" policing, have seen the Redfern Block's resistance as an inspiration. "The way the police