Raul Connolly


Peace supporters react to the plebiscite result.

The "No" vote was won by a half of a percentage point in a聽Colombian plebiscite on October 2 on a peace deal between the government and the left-wing Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), which aims to end more than five decades of civil war.

Sanders addresses rally outside his childhood home in Brooklyn, New York. April 8. A McClatchy-Marist poll, conducted at the end of March, puts self-described democratic socialist Bernie Sanders ahead of establishment favourite Hillary Clinton by two percentage points in the Democratic presidential race, TeleSUR English said on April 5.
In a Democratic presidential primary debate in Miami on March 10, against his rival Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders opposed US invasions, coups and interventions against Latin American nations. The socialist Senator also strongly opposed the ongoing US embargo against Cuba while praising the island for its social gains in health and education.
Brandon Astor Jones, a 72-year-old African American prisoner on death row in Georgia, was executed by lethal injection on February 3. The oldest death row inmate in Georgia, Jones had spent decades in jail. He was convicted over the killing of a convenience store manager in an robbery in 1979. Van Roosevelt Solomon, who took part in the robbery and was also convicted of murder, as executed in 1985.
The Greek parliament passed a second bill on July 23 including measures needed for Greece to open negotiations over the eurozone's bailout package of 86 billion euros, .
Goanna frontman Shane Howard

In the aftermath of Cold Chisel frontman Jimmy Barnes' Facebook statement asking the far-right Reclaim Australia movement to stop playing his songs at their rallies, other musicians whose songs have featured have issued similar calls.

Celebrations and street parties broke out across Ireland after the success of the May 22 referendum to legalise same-sex marriages. 鈥淪ame-sex couples could be married in Ireland by the end of the year after a referendum described as a 'social revolution' solidly backed equal rights,鈥 the .
A special May Day conference was convened on May 1 and 2 by the five trade unions affiliated to the Right2Water campaign, which is leading the huge struggle against water charges in Ireland. The conference discussed a set of core principles that will underpin a 鈥淧latform for Renewal鈥, with the aim to unite left and progressive forces before the next general election.
Two months after鈥 鈥19-year-old Black teenager Tony Robinson was fatally shot by Madison police officer Matt Kenny,鈥 鈥琖isconsin prosecutors announced on May鈥 鈥12鈥 鈥瑃hat Kenny would not face criminal charges over the shooting.鈥 Hundreds of people took to the streets in Madison in the immediate aftermath,鈥 on May鈥 鈥14,鈥 鈥瑆ith more protests鈥 鈥琾lanned.
鈥淭oo many people have already lost their lives in the Mediterranean sea, more than a thousand this week, which is a major crime against humanity,鈥 The (EL) said in a April 20 statement. 鈥淲e need to stop it immediately!鈥 The EL, a group made up of left-wing parties from across Europe, said: 鈥淲e reject any attempt to solve the so-called 'migration problem' by an increased militarisation.鈥

鈥淎 high-ranking official close to Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said the Greek government is not planning to give in to its creditors鈥 pressures and go against the program they had promised to the Greek people who brought them to power,鈥 on April 16. The comment came amid rising tensions between Greece's SYRIZA-led anti-austerity government and its creditors 鈥 the European Central Bank, the European Commission and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

An unprecedented climate change-fueled drought contributed to the political unrest in Syria, says a published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the on February 3. The article said the Syrian drought, which began in late 2006, dragged on for three years and was the worst on record.