691

Police break up Weld Valley blockade

On November 15, 60 police raided Camp Weld, a blockade that has for over a year prevented logging in Tasmania's majestic Weld Valley.

"Sorting out the really bad guys"

The Road to Guantanamo
Directed by Michael Winterbottom and Mat Whitecross
In cinemas now

Victorian election: dubious preference deals?

As the deadline passed on November 17 for the registration of how-to-vote cards for the November 25 Victorian state election, it was revealed that the Greens are issuing how-to-votes in nine Labor-held seats in the lower house that contain two options: putting Liberal ahead of Labor and vice versa. The Liberals are preferencing the Greens ahead of Labor in four Labor-held inner-city seats that the Greens hope to win.

On the Box

The Inheritance 鈥 In 2000, Hungary's Tisza River was flooded with 120,000 tons of cyanide from an Australian-Romanian gold mine in Baia Mare, Romania. SBS, Friday, November 24, 1pm. Message Stick: 50 Years Indigenous TV 鈥 A look at the

Labor candidate proposes to cut rail service

In the first real policy statement of her election campaign, Jodi McKay, the NSW ALP's head office-imposed candidate for the state seat of Newcastle, told the Property Council on November 17 that she favoured cutting Newcastle's heavy rail service.

Eva Golinger: Washington's 'three fronts of attack' on Venezuela

Eva Golinger is a Venezuelan-American lawyer and author of The Chavez Code, which exposed US government involvement in the April 2002 military coup that briefly ousted left-wing Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, before he was reinstated by a popular uprising. Golinger is a determined campaigner against Washington聮s attacks on revolutionary Venezuela. She has just published a new book, Bush vs Chavez: Washington聮s War on Venezuela, detailing the current US threats to Venezuela. She spoke to 91自拍论坛 Weekly in late October.

Sartor lifts environment checks on developers

NSW planning minister Frank Sartor has attempted to "clarify" the outcome of a bill currently before the state parliament that would remove the current requirement that development proposals contain an adequate environmental assessment. The bill would also thwart a court case against the proposed Anvil Hill coalmine in the Hunter Valley.

Hugo Chavez greeted by 'sea of red'

As the campaign for the Venezuelan presidential elections on December 3 entered its final month, the popular mobilisations in support of left-wing President Hugo Chavez increased in size and intensity. On October 30, thousands of residents of one of the largest communities in Caracas, Barrio 23 de Enero (Barrio January 23) braved intermittent rain to surround the truck carrying Chavez through the neighbourhood聮s hilly streets.

US major slams new Guantanamo commissions

A 550-strong lecture sponsored by the Australian Lawyers Alliance on November 13 heard David Hicks' US military lawyer, Major Michael Mori, slam the Bush administration's new military commission law, which will be used to try Guantanamo Bay detainees. Hicks is one of approximately 400 prisoners at Guantanamo Bay being held without charge.

Chavez speaks on socialist ethics, sends greetings to Australia

Venezuela聮s socialist President Hugo Chavez began a November 8 press conference, the first with the international media for many weeks, with a passionate statement against Israel聮s war on Palestinians, which had killed four children and two women that morning.

Western Sahara: Morocco's repression continues

On October 31, Morocco鈥檚 allies on the United Nations Security Council 鈥 including France, the United States and Britain 鈥 blocked a motion to condemn human rights abuses against the people of occupied Western Sahara. Despite reports of Morocco鈥檚 escalating repression of the Saharawi independence movement, the resolution passed by the Security Council merely extended the mandate of the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO), a 15-year-old 鈥減eacekeeping鈥 mission that has failed to facilitate a referendum on self determination.

Alan Jones: The power of the parrot

Almost anyone else found to have been cheating, lying and secretly on the take would have been the subject of a frothing rant over the airwaves by Sydney shock jock Alan Jones, but when Jones was caught being paid millions in commercial sponsorships over the past decade to present advertising as news, there was no public self-flagellation. As Chris Masters聮 biography of Jones argues, the Australian Broadcasting Authority (ABA) hearings showed that 聯Jones was for sale聰, despite Jones聮s proclamations that his opinions are his alone.