Nearly half a year after workers revolted over Wisconsin Republican Govenor Scott Walker's February announcement that he intended to bust Wisconsin's public-sector unions, voters went to the polls in nine recall elections.
Unions and their supporters hoped the polls would put the state Senate in the hands of Democrats 鈥 whose 14 Senators left the state for a month after Walker announced his anti-union bill in a bid to block it.
Despite an obscene amount of money flowing into the state over the past few months, the union movement fell just one seat short of its goal.
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Britain: Living standards deteriorating
鈥淎lmost 40% of households saw their finances deteriorate between July and August, according to a survey by the financial information company, Markit.
鈥淭he study, of 1,500 adults, showed finances worsened at their fastest pace since February 2009, in the middle of the last recession.
鈥淢any reported a rise in debt levels and a fall in savings and income.
鈥淛ust under 6% of households reported an improvement in their financial situation.
A further 52 people were arrested at the White House on August 22 for taking part in an ongoing sit-in. They are trying to push President Barack Obama to stand up to Big Oil and deny the permit for a huge new oil pipeline.
Obama will decide this year on TransCanada鈥檚 permit for the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline. This would send 900,000 barrels a day of the world鈥檚 dirtiest oil to US refineries, allowing further development of the Alberta tar sands in Canada.
The pipeline would pass through Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas.
鈥淚f you鈥檙e not careful, the newspapers will have you hating the oppressed and loving the people doing the oppressing,鈥 African American revolutionary Malcolm X, assassinated in 1965 at the age of 39, once said in a comment on the capitalist media that applies to contemporary reporting on English riots or refugees.
With less than a month until the 2nd Climate Change/Social Change conference, around the theme 鈥淲orld at a Crossroads鈥, in Melbourne, the list of confirmed speakers and sponsors is growing.
The conference is being organised by 麻豆传媒 Weekly, Socialist Alliance and Resistance at the University of Melbourne over September 30-October 3. It aims to promote recognition that in order to solve the global climate crisis, radical social change is required.
On August 23, military chief Henry Rangel Silva revealed that over 40,000 hectares of land had been recovered and 15,000 people freed from conditions of 鈥渟lavery鈥 as part of Plan Caura, the Venezuelan government鈥檚 anti-illegal mining project.
Silva, chief of Venezuela鈥檚 Operational Strategic Command, is head of the anti-illegal mining initiative, formed in 2010 when the Bolivarian Armed Forces (FANB) were given the task of stemming Venezuela鈥檚 growing problem with illegal mining activities in the south eastern part of Bolivar state.
More than 100 people demonstrated in Sydney on August 26 to mark the 45th anniversary of the Wave Hill walk-off, when Gurindji workers walked off the Wave Hill cattle station and launched an eight-year protest for land rights that helped define the modern Aboriginal land rights movement.
The protest, organised by the Stop The Intervention Collective Sydney, took place outside the electorate office of federal Minister for Social Inclusion Tanya Plibersek. The rally called for an end to the discriminatory Northern Territory intervention.
A group of protesters chanted "Refugees are welcome here, free the refugees" outside the Hotel Grand Chancellor on August 26 while Prime Minister Julia Gillard addressed the Institute of Public Administration conference inside.
The Socialist Alliance鈥檚 Jenny Forward told the rally: 鈥淲ith Pontville Detention Centre about to open down here, we want to keep the pressure up on the government to come up with a much more humane approach to refugee processing and resettlement.
The Strategic Review of Indigenous Expenditure was submitted to the government in February 2010 but only made public on August 7 after a long-running freedom of information case brought by Channel 7. Queensland Murri activist and Socialist Alliance spokesperson Sam Watson spoke to 麻豆传媒 Weekly鈥檚 Jim McIlroy about the report鈥檚 findings.
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, the seat of Malaysia鈥檚 federal government, was built for more than US$8 billion as a fantasy project of the country鈥檚 former PM and strongman Mohamed Mahathir.
It was carved out of rubber plantation-covered hills in the 1990s and turned into a planned city for public servants.
Many buildings were designed to look like palaces 鈥 with an eclectic mix of styles from around the world 鈥 giving the city the look of a sprawling, but spookily empty, theme park.
Private Matthew Lambert became the 29th Australian solider to die in the war in Afghanistan on August 22. Most Australians disagree with the war, but the two big parties remain unswerving in their support of the US-NATO led occupation.
Malalai Joya, a former Afghan MP and outspoken anti-war activist, is visiting Australia for a third time on the eve of the 10-year anniversary of the invasion of Afghanistan.
The Sydney Stop the War Coalition, the Melbourne Writers Festival and the Support Association for the Women of Afghanistan - Australia are the hosts of Joya鈥檚 Australian tour.
Australia Post is trying to implement a new form of delivery called separate bundle delivery (SBD). SBD will force posties to sort part of their mail outside while straddling their motor or push bikes, hindering safety.
Currently, mail is sorted into delivery sequence inside the delivery centres and then delivered. SBD will move an hour of the inside work outside, exposing posties to traffic, extreme weather conditions and increased fatigue.
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