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Afghan elections: the US agenda

Jenny Francis, Kabul Washington has a dream: following a large turnout at the polls in Afghanistan on October 9, US-backed interim president Hamid Karzai will win free and fair elections, and US President George Bush will claim credit for bringing

Abortion: a fundamental right

Lalitha Chelliah The decision of ABC TV's Compass program to screen the British film on abortion, My Foetus, has prompted a renewed debate on abortion in Australia. Health minister Tony Abbott encouraged the debate after prominent feminists Wendy

News briefs 2

2 Films by and for workers SYDNEY — One-hundred people gathered on August 12 to mark the first anniversary of Oz Dox, the Australian documentary forum. The event heard from John Hughes and Norma Disher, who worked in the Waterside Workers

Forum discusses casualisation

Chris Slee, Melbourne Forty people attended a public forum on August 10 on casualisation organised by Unite, an organisation campaigning for the rights of casual workers. Unite has organised campaigns exposing illegal and oppressive practices by

Been brown so long

Been brown so long Been Brown So Long it Looked Green to Me: The Politics of NatureBy Jeffrey St ClairCommon Courage Press, Monroe, 2004410 pages, US$13Order from <http://www.commoncouragepress.com>. REVIEW BY OWEN RICHARDS

Korean troops out of Iraq!

SYDNEY — Thirty people attended a protest outside the South Korean consulate on August 14 in opposition to Korean troops in Iraq, organised by the Sydney Korean Progressive Alliance. Speakers included representatives of the Stop the War Coalition,

IRAQ: US military attempts to eliminate Sadr

Doug Lorimer Since August 5, fierce gunbattles have been fought in the south-central Iraqi city of Najaf between US occupation troops and rebel Iraqi Shiite leader Sayed Moqtada al Sadr's Mahdi Army militia. The heaviest fighting has been around

In brief

PALESTINE: Israeli soldiers fire on ambulance On August 10, Palestinian Medical Relief Society ambulance staff, including five doctors and two nurses, were attacked while they distributed first aid kits to homeless residents of Rafah. According to

WWF forest report splits movement

Alex Bainbridge, Hobart The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) released a controversial report on the Tasmanian forest industry on August 3 which has been roundly criticised by most Tasmanian-based environmental groups. The report calls for the

Loose cannons

Had the royal touch "He came across very arrogant, like a total pompous git." — Comment made about Richard Butler, the recently resigned Queen's representative in Tasmania, quoted in the August 11 Sydney Daily Telegraph. Selfless "I was

Photographs needed

When The World Said No To War is a project to organise a photographic exhibition, education forum and book about the anti-war protests that took place around the world in February 2003. The project was conceived as a tribute to the spirit of the 30

Senate outlaws same-sex marriage

Lizzie Nagy& Kylie Moon The Senate sat an extra day on August 13 to enable the passage of the Marriage Amendment Act, which declares that marriages between same-sex couples in other countries will not be legally recognised as such in Australia.