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PALESTINE: Leadership unites for peaceful election

Kim Bullimore, West Bank According to the US-Israeli script, the death of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat on November 11 was suppose to spark a violent power struggle within the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) and in its leading

Government uses false documents to discredit Bakhtiyaris

Sarah Stephen In June 2002, the Australian immigration department claimed to have proof that Afghan refugee Ali Bakhtiyari was actually a plumber from Pakistan called Ashgar Ali. In December 2002, Ali's temporary visa was cancelled and he was

Union slams Centrelink job cuts

Jim McIlroy The Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) has slammed the decision by federal welfare agency Centrelink to cut 175 jobs from its staff in Victoria. On November 23 the union described as "utter nonsense" claims by Centrelink

PHILIPPINES: Massacre provokes mass protest

Reihana Mohideen, Manila What should have been a straightforward collective bargaining agreement for a wage increase resulted in the killing of 14 people (including two children) and the arrest of 115 workers on November 16, at Hacienda Luisita, a

At the tram stop

Dave Holmes, Melbourne Waiting for the tram at the busy Melbourne Central stop on Swanston Street, I look across at the State Library. It's a lovely building and very easy on the eye. A classic Victorian construction (it was built in the 1850s),

Boycott hits Hardie profits

Selena Black, Sydney The Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union said on November 22 that a 9% decline in James Hardie profits showed that the community boycott campaign against the company is having an impact. According to CFMEU NSW

IRAQ: Intense battles continue in Fallujah

Doug Lorimer A week after US Marine General John Sattler, commander of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, claimed on November 18 that the battle for Fallujah was over, US troops were still engaged in intense battles with Iraqi resistance fighters

In brief

An October 22 Associated Press report has sparked a discussion in Haiti about the spiralling numbers of sexual assaults. The report quoted human rights lawyer Renan Hedouville reporting that his civil rights organisation CARLI, had received more than

IRAQ: Covering up US war crimes

James Petras I am reading William Shirer's Berlin Diary, a journalist's account of Nazi political propaganda during the 1930s, as I watch the US "news" reports of the violent assault on Fallujah. The US mass media "reports", the style, content

Mt Todd clean up demanded

Jon Lamb, Darwin Environmentalists, traditional owners and local residents are increasingly concerned over toxic waste and poisonous mine tailings leaching from the abandoned Mt Todd gold mine near Katherine. Residents on the Edith River,

Baxter detention centre reaches boiling point

Sarah Stephen Tensions began to boil over inside the Baxter immigration detention centre at the end of November, with a series of attempted suicides and hospitalisations. Previously, nurses saw patients in the nurses station inside the compound.

Tom Waits takes aim at the gorilla

Real GoneTom WaitsAnti-records$29.95 RRP REVIEW BY STUART MUNCKTON "Writing songs about the war is like throwing peanuts at a gorilla", Tom Waits told the Los Angeles Times in August. "But then I think, look how important soul music was during