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Tony Abbott refuses to order Royal Commission into Commonwealth Bank

The Tony Abbott government has refused to establish a Royal Commission into the Commonwealth Bank, despite the clear recommendation of a landmark Senate inquiry into financial planning scandals at the CBA. "The inquiry, which spanned 12 months and attracted a record number of submissions, scrutinised the performance of the corporate regulator [the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC)] in the wake of revelations by a whistleblower of misconduct and fraud in CBA's financial planning arm," the October 24 Sydney Morning Herald reported.

Queer class struggle hits the big screen with pride

Pride Directed by Matthew Warchus Written by Stephen Beresford Starring Bill Nighy, Imelda Staunton, Dominic West & Ben Schnetzer In Australian cinemas now If you haven't seen the recently released Pride yet, you need to get to a cinema. It'll moisten your eyes, swell your heart, make you tap your feet and inspire you to join the next pride parade.

Tony Abbott promises jobs while sacking staff

One of the more important promises that Prime Minister Tony Abbott made in September last year was to create jobs at a rate of 200,000 a year. But the scorecard for the first year is just 105,500. The official Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) October national unemployment figure remained the same as in September at 6.2%. However, in the ACT, which usually has the lowest unemployment rate in the country at less than 4%, this has increased over the last four months to 5.4%. This is a direct result of the federal government鈥檚 sacking of public sector workers.

Catalan vote rocks Spanish establishment

On November 9, 2.305 million residents of Catalonia defied a November 4 Spanish Constitutional Court ruling and voted on what future political status they wanted for their country, now one of the 17 鈥渁utonomous communities鈥 (regions) within the Spanish state. Because of their rebellion 鈥 festive but determined 鈥 it was not just another voting day. Initiative for Catalonia-Greens (ICV) co-coordinator Joan Herrera called it 鈥渢he biggest demonstration in the history of this country鈥.

Liveblog: Protests and people's summit at Brisbane G20

Leaders from around the world will descend on Brisbane this week for the G20 economic forum. In response, people are gathering in Brisbane to hold alternative discussions about transforming society to a more just and sustainable one.

Evo Morales offers solidarity to disappeared students' families

Bolivian President Evo Morales asked the Mexican government on November 10 to clarify the case of the 43 students of the Ayotzinapa teachers college. The students were forcibly disappeared in September after an attack by local police, in which six people were also killed. 鈥淚 wish to express our solidarity with the families of the 43 students,鈥 Morales said during a press conference. 鈥淲e regret what has happened in Mexico.鈥

Twenty-five years after the Berlin Wall, socialists to head gov鈥檛 in east German state

Nearly twenty-five years to the day after the fall of the Berlin Wall, socialist party Die Linke (鈥淭he Left鈥) looks set to form government in the eastern German state of Thuringia for the first time. After two months of uncertainty following September 14 state elections, the way was cleared for Die Linke to head a coalition government in December, alongside the Social Democrats (SPD) and the Greens, on November 4 when nearly 70% of SPD members in Thuringia voted to enter the coalition.