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Back door death penalty?

Is the Coalition government surreptitiously trying to reimpose the death penalty on Australian citizens? This question has been posed by the conduct of the Australian Federal Police in the case of nine Australians arrested in Bali on April 17 by

Detention makes refugees mentally ill

Andrew Hall, Canberra The effect of detention on the mental health of refugees and asylum seekers was the topic of a public forum organised by the ACT Refugee Action Committee (RAC) on April 28. It was attended by 135 people. Guest speakers, Dr

Timor Sea oil - a question of sovereignty

Sibylle Kaczorek As the Australian government continues its attempted theft of Timorese oil, solidarity from Australians with the Timorese becomes more important than ever. At Easter, Tomas Freitas, a spokesperson from the East Timor Institute for

CUBA: 'What we have to change is the world'

This is abridged from a statement delivered by Cuban foreign minister Felipe Perez Roque to the UN Human Rights Commission meeting in Geneva on March 17. The Commission on Human Rights has lost legitimacy. It is not credible. It allows the impunity

VENEZUELA: Education for social beings

Sarah Wagner and Gregory Wilpert interviewed Aristobulo Isturiz, Venezuela's education minister, for Venezuela Analysis. This is abridged from the full interview, available at <http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/articles.php?artno=1421>. How

CUBA: Minimum wage doubles

On April 21, Cuban President Fidel Castro announced an increase in the minimum wage to 225 pesos (US$9.40) a month, up from 100 pesos now. The increase will affect 1,657,191 workers, most of them working in agriculture, the service sector, the food

Teachers gain wage increase

Jon Lamb, Darwin After many months of campaigning, teachers in the Northern Territory have won a better pay deal than that originally offered by the NT government. Following a conciliation meeting of the Australian Industrial Relations Commission

UNITED STATES: Pentagon seeks funds for new nukes

Rohan Pearce The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference, to be held in New York May 2-27, is likely to be used by the Bush administration as a platform for more shrill denunciations of Iran's alleged nuclear weapons program, probably

Pro-choice forum answers ' abortion debate'

Susan Austin, Hobart Sixty people attended a pro-choice public forum in Hobart Town Hall on April 27. The forum was organised by the International Women's Day collective, and sponsored by the Fertility Control Clinic, Gynaecology Centres Australia,

IRAQ: Making a killing: the big business of war

Doug Lorimer While nearly 100,000 Iraqis and 1600 US troops have died as a result of the Iraq war and tens of thousands have been severely wounded, the war has proven to be extremely lucrative for the Houston-based oil services company Halliburton

Unions NSW announces mass meetings

Susan Price, Sydney Unions NSW secretary John Robertson used an April 28 May Day toast to announce that Unions NSW will organise a cross-union delegates' Sky Channel meeting in Sydney on May 27, followed by an all-in members' Sky Channel meeting on

Thousands defend student unions

Fred Fuentes In some of the biggest university student demonstrations seen during the last decade, thousands of students downed pens and poured into the streets on April 28 to protest the federal government's attacks on student unions. Called by