Hundreds of people attended an International Seminar on Marxism and Socialism in Kathmandu over May 30-31 to commemorate 200 years since the birth of Karl Marx. Representatives of 23 socialist parties from 17 countries attended.
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The results of Colombia鈥檚 May 27 presidential election confirmed that a run-off election between Gustavo Petro and Ivan Duque聽will be required to decide the country鈥檚 newest leader. The election is set for June 17.
Ivan Duque, former president Alvaro Uribe's prot茅g茅e and candidate for the right-wing Grand Alliance for Colombia, ended with聽39.14%. Centre-left ex-mayor of Bogota Gustavo Petro, running for the List of Decency聽coalition, won 25.09%.
The centre-left candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (or AMLO, as he is commonly known) has widened his lead and is now 26 points ahead聽of his nearest rival, the right-wing Ricardo Anaya, for the upcoming July 1 presidential elections in Mexico.
In an opinion poll carried out by the popular newspaper Reforma, the candidate and head of the National Renewal Movement (Morena) got 52% of the vote intention.
The same poll showed that Morena will probably be the biggest minority in the House of Representatives, polling at聽42%.
Activist group No WestConnex: Public Transport not Motorways (NOW PT) has called for a halt to the tender and construction processes for WestConnex, including the acquisition of homes and businesses for all stages of the project and demanded the NSW government conduct a full parliamentary inquiry into WestConnex.
Refugee activists in Melbourne, Canberra and Sydney held protest vigils for Salim Kyawmin, an elderly Rohingya man who died on Manus Island on May 22. The largest action was in Melbourne where 200 people occupied the streets for a short, time stopping traffic. In Perth refugee activists occupied the department of Immigration, making flowers and in Brisbane a protest was held in front of Peter Duttons office.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro responded rapidly to the European Union鈥檚 proposal to impose further sanctions on top government officials following the May 20 presidential and state council elections. The 28-country bloc alleges the vote failed to comply with "minimal democratic standards".
Maduro, who won the presidential election by a landslide despite low voter participation, said on May 28: "This is the European Union that arrogantly wants to put its nose in Venezuela's business." He added, "Enough of this old colonialism."
About 700 members of the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) and other unions gathered at Sydney Town Hall on May 29, and marched to the offices of the Fair Work Commission (FWC) where a lively rally was held calling for an end to laws limiting the right to strike.
The action was organised around demands for the right to organise, right to strike and right to live.
On the 20th anniversary of Sorry Day, May 26, a day to remember the forced removal of First Nations' children from their families that became known as the Stolen Generations, a delegation of First Nations' grandmothers marched on Parliament House chanting "Bring our children home".
Rather than being a landmark for progress and reconciliation the delegation of Grandmothers said that 20 years on, the situation has only worsened.
1968 was one of those extraordinary years when millions of people were involved in trying to change the world for the better.聽Hall Greenland writes that the year's most compelling events took place in May and June on the streets of France.
The Global Day of Action for Women's Health was on May 28. Around the world, the preceding week was punctuated by significant actions for abortion rights.
The most significant was the resounding Yes vote in the May 25 Irish referendum on removing the ban on abortion from the constitution. This gave a shot in the arm to the campaign for abortion rights in the six counties of Northern Ireland, where the anti-abortion provisions of British Offences Against the Person Act from 1861 remain in force.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull is the highest-paid leader in the entire Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), according to .
Analysis by market research group IG also showed Turnbull earns up to 10 times the average Australian wage 鈥 the second-highest disparity with the majority of ordinary workers among OECD countries.
The Victorian Branch of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) held its state conference over the weekend of May 26 and 27.
The conference was held amid rising tensions within the Victorian ALP; with several prominent unions including the Construction, Forestry, Mining, Maritime and Energy Union (CFMMEU) splitting from the Socialist Left to form the new 鈥淐entre Unity and Industrial Left Alliance鈥 faction with a number of right-wing unions including the Australian Workers Union (AWU).
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