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BY SARAH STEPHEN The New Zealand government announced on May 6 that it would accept 140 refugees — 71 Afghans and 69 Iraqis— to ease pressure on United Nations refugee camps in Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and Nauru. Fourteen of the refugees
BY TARIQ ALI LAHORE — It has been a stunningly beautiful spring in Pakistan. But the surface calm is deceptive. When the war in Afghanistan began, I suggested that the Taliban would be rapidly defeated and that the jihadi organisations and
BY SHANE BENTLEY Seventeen seafarers aboard the CSL Yarra docked in Port Pirie, South Australia, began a sit-in on May 1 in an attempt to stop Canada Steamship Lines (CSL) replacing them with poorly paid Ukrainian labour. Maritime unions are
BY ERIC RUDER CHICAGO — A pro-Palestinian student group at the University of California-Berkeley has won its free speech fight against the administration's attempts to silence it. After an outpouring of support — both on campus and around the
The commemoration of the forced integration of West Papua (formerly known as Irian Jaya, now Papua) with Indonesia on May 1 was marked by peaceful protests by pro-independence supporters across West Papua's major towns. The demonstrations condemned
BY JON LAND On the eve of East Timor's independence on May 20, the crucial issue of the Timor Gap has still to be fully resolved. East Timor may lose billions of dollars in oil and gas royalties if the Australian government and the large
Blaming the victim I "As Israeli forces pursued militants, civilians continued getting in the way and dying as a result." — New York Times report, April 21. Blaming the victim II "The trouble is that we are facing a Palestinian leadership
BY SHANE BENTLEY SYDNEY — The Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) held a rally on May 6 outside the offices of Canada Steamship Lines in support of CSL Yarra seafarers. The "Australian workers for Australian jobs" rally was greeted by the Sydney

Last September, New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark announced that the Labour-Alliance coalition government she leads would be willing to take a small number of the 430 refugees aboard the MV Tampa, which was then stranded in seas off Christmas Island by the Australian government's refusal to let it dock.

BY LISA MACDONALD ARMIDALE — A May 8 public meeting discussed how to galvanise public support for ending the federal government's brutal asylum-seeker policy. The 50-strong meeting was titled "Refugees: what is to be done". Organised by the
Palestine solidarity protest planned WOLLONGONG — At a May 11 meeting, Palestinian solidarity activists decided to call a protest on May 25 to help free Palestine. The rally will begin at 10.30 am outside Fred Moore House in Lowden Square and
MALAYSIA: May Day gathering terrorised by police KUALA LUMPUR — What was to be a peaceful gathering of progressive workers and social justice activists on May 1 at Kuala Lumpur City Centre (KLCC Twin Towers) turned into mayhem when