The left-wing People's Democratic Party (PRD) held its eighth congress in Jakarta from March 24-26. This was the first time its congress was held openly.
The open congress marks an important new stage of development for the party, which has a history of underground organising dating back to the era of the Suharto dictatorship that was overthrown in 1998.
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Jay Famiglietti, a senior water scientist at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, made a dire warning in March: there is only one year's worth of water left in the state's reservoir storage and river basins.
Famiglietti said even nature's oldest water backup supply 鈥攇roundwater 鈥 could be gone soon after the reservoirs dry up.
About 38.8 million people live in California, which produces much of the United States' food. California's drought is throwing the ecology of the region into crisis, and ordinary people are scrambling for ways to help.
There is a tense stand-off right now between Greece's government and the so-called troika 鈥 the European Commission, the European Central Bank (ECB), and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). ECB President Mario Draghi recently went so far as to deny that his institution was trying to blackmail Greece's left-wing anti-austerity government.
But blackmail is actually an understatement. It has become increasingly clear that the troika is trying to harm the Greek economy in order to raise pressure on the new Greek government to agree to its demands.
A new group has been established to campaign for women鈥檚 rights in Indonesia. In December, more than 100 women met in Jakarta to launch Indonesian Women鈥檚 Action 鈥 Kartini (API-K), which has begun campaigning for women鈥檚 rights in the workplace, home and society.
Participants came from 32 cities across Indonesia. They included women who are involved in existing women鈥檚 networks, students, workers and urban poor. They spent three days discussing issues facing women in economics, politics and culture.
The Inconvenient Genocide: Who Remembers the Armenians?
Geoffrey Robertson QC, Vintage Books,
Sydney, 294 pages, 2014
On the eve of Nazi Germany鈥檚 1939 invasion of Poland, Adolf Hitler urged his generals 鈥渢o kill without mercy men, women and children of the Polish race or language鈥.
鈥淥nly in such a way will we win [what] we need,鈥 Hitler said. 鈥淲ho, after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians.鈥
The Nazi leader was referring to the genocide carried out by the Ottoman Turkish empire in 1915 against the Armenian people within its borders.
US President Barack Obama admitted on April 9 that Venezuela 鈥渄oes not pose a threat鈥 to the United States.
鈥淲e do not believe that Venezuela poses a threat to the United States, nor does the United States threaten the Venezuelan government,鈥 Obama said during an interview with EFE.
Last month, Obama signed an executive order declaring Venezuela an 鈥渦nusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States.鈥
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, along with his Bolivian counterpart Evo Morales, received a petition with 10 million signatures against U.S. President Barack Obama's executive order labelling the country as a 鈥渟ecurity treat鈥 on April 9.
After the decree was issued, Maduro launched a campaign seeking 10 million signatures from Venezuelans demanding the decree be repealed, saying he would present them to the U.S. President Barack Obama at the April 10-11 Summit of the Americas in Panama.
About 150 people filled the St Kilda Town Hall on April 7 for a public meeting with visiting Israeli journalist, Amira Hass. Hass is a veteran Israeli columnist and reporter, lives in the West Bank among Palestinians and works for Israeli newspaper Haaretz.
The Australian Jewish Democratic Society organised the forum.
Within two months of the cliff-hanger election that resulted in the ALP forming a minority government, what seems like a re-run of the attempts to unseat the Julia Gillard government in Canberra is playing out in Queensland.
Despite pressure from the Labor and Liberal parties to resign his seat, in a statement issued on April 8, the former ALP, now independent, MP for Cook, Billy Gordon confirmed that he will not resign from parliament but will continue to represent his constituents.
This statement was released by Billy Gordon on April 8.
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Last week I resigned from the Australian Labor Party. I will not resign from parliament.
My decision is based on advice from the clerk of parliament, who gave detailed reasons why I did not have to resign over past events and allegations. I am also determined to honour my commitments to my constituents.
During the election campaign I committed to tackling entrenched social and economic problems in Cook and helping communities seize economic development opportunities.
The far right Islamophobic 鈥淩eclaim Australia鈥 movement burst onto the streets in what was the biggest racist mobilisation since the Cronulla riots, in 16 places across Australia on April 4.
New Greens MP Jenny Leong, who won the seat of Newtown in the March 28 NSW election, attributes the Greens鈥 high votes in several parts of NSW to its MPs standing up against corruption and over-development.
The Greens' support for community-led campaigns 鈥 in particular opposition to coal seam gas and the WestConnex road project 鈥 also won them a bigger hearing.
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