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NSW government allows Shenhua to mine for coal in Liverpool Plains

Liverpool Plains farmers have reacted angrily to NSW resources minister Don Harwin鈥檚 announcement on July 12 that it will buy back only half of the Shenhua coal exploration licence covering the Liverpool Plains. This means that the government is allowing an open-cut coalmine in NSW鈥檚 food bowl.

The NSW government will pay $262 million to buy back 51% of Shehua鈥檚 exploration licence. However, as eight years have passed without the coal giant starting 鈥渟ubstantial development鈥, the government could simply cancel its exploration licence without compensation.

Brazil: Lula sentenced to jail, Senate passes anti-worker law

Former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio "Lula" da Silva was sentenced on July 12 to nine years and six months jail over corruption charges聽in the Operation Car Wash investigations. The ruling came a day after the Brazilian Senate's approval of President Michel Temer's聽unamended labour reform bill, which has been heavily criticised by trade unions and social movements.

Brawling over branding: Abbott v Turnbull

It doesn't take much to set off Tony Abbott and his right-wing shock-jock chorus, does it?

When Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull referred, in a in London, to the historical fact that Robert Menzies went to great pains back in 1944 to not call his new political party 鈥渃onservative鈥, but rather the Liberal Party, Abbott and crew started howling.

ETU promises mother of all battles at Crown Casino

Just months after an Electrical Trades Union (ETU) victory against Carlton and United Breweries, a much larger battle looms over Melbourne鈥檚 industrial landscape.聽

In early July, the behemoth Crown Casino laid off its entire electrical workforce. Like the Carlton brewery before it, the casino has tendered an electric gaming contract to the poker machine supplier Amtek. Just three weeks ago Amtek advertised the new casino positions, with wages set at 50% of the old salary.

Venezuela: Controversy and bloodshed mark start of election campaign

Venezuelans were taken by surprise with the announcement that opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez would serve out his jail term under house arrest. The move is an unprecedented concession that seeks to calm the waters in the lead up to the July 30 Constituent Assembly elections.聽

But the conflict in the country is showing it has multiple faces. On July 10, a day after the official election campaign began, a candidate was assassinated in the middle of a campaign event.

#StopAdani takes over Cairns

Far North Queensland Stop Adani groups mobilised when the Queensland government announced its latest "governing from the regions" exercise would be in Cairns over July 10鈥14.

They wanted their message that the massive Carmichael coalmine must be stopped to become the main issue and not the government鈥檚 pork-barrelling.

Sydney University to host BDS conference

A conference on the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaign for Palestinian justice will be held at the University of Sydney over July 28鈥29.

Free and open to the public, the conference will be the largest ever held on BDS in Australia, with three keynote lectures, four discussion panels and more than 30 separate talks on a wide array of topics.

Can political diversity survive in the Greens?

The dispute between the Australian Greens and the NSW Greens, which erupted during the debate over the federal Coalition鈥檚 Gonski 2.0 funding bill, is puzzling to many.

This is because both Green parties agreed not to support the Gonski package on the basis that, even after amendments, it was still inequitable.

However, it appears that NSW Greens Senator Lee Rhiannon become the patsy for another, more significant, battle in the Greens 鈥 one which goes to heart of the type of party it aspires to be.

Solidarity with Ploughshares peace activists

Peace activists are planning a court support solidarity action with Jim and Franz Dowling, Tim Webb, and Andy Paine as the group faces court on July 19.

They will appear before the Brisbane magistrate鈥檚 court on charges related to the March 1 action in which a sword was removed from a war memorial and shaped into a gardening tool. The group are members of the Catholic worker movement.

Phil Monsour releases new union songs

Activist singer-songwriter from Brisbane, Phil Monsour, has released a new song and video, 鈥淰oices Rising鈥 which celebrates the work of teachers and聽the struggles of the Queensland Teachers鈥 Union.

A the same time, Monsour has released One Song One Union, an album of contemporary trade union and solidarity songs, which聽is available online.

Behind Washington鈥檚 imperial tussle with Berlin

In regard to the charges about US President Donald Trump鈥檚 collusion with Russia to throw the election his way, it is worth mentioning that going through the list of all the nations that Washington has meddled in is far too long for one article. The US is, without any doubt, the world鈥檚 meddler in chief.

Even the list of countries where the US conspired to overthrow elected governments when electoral meddling failed is lengthy.

But one angle to the Russian controversy that is underreported is this: scratch the Russian connection and US-German relations pop up.

Harrowing film shows dead end of nationalism

Martin Pieter Zandvliet鈥檚 multiple award-winning 2016 film Land of Mine is harrowing viewing. But it is not to be missed by anyone interested in issues of war and peace 鈥 or in fine films.