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BRITAIN: Gate Gourmet dispute ends in compromise

Alex Miller The dispute at airline catering firm Gate Gourmet — which sparked illegal solidarity action by British Airways ground staff, causing massive disruption at Heathrow Airport in August — has ended in a compromise. Under the terms of

Public housing 'reforms' bring more hardship

Peter Perkins, Sydney As Prime Minister John Howard forces disabled and single-parent families to work, NSW Labor Premier Morris Iemma's government is pushing many more into greater economic hardship through its market-based approach to public

IRAQ: Referendum rigged by US-backed parties

Doug Lorimer While US President George Bush praised the October 15 referendum on the new Iraqi constitution as evidence of Iraq's "progress toward democracy", preliminary results of the voting released by the Independent Election Commission of Iraq

New attack on abortion access

Kylie Moon, Melbourne Under new regulations expected to be introduced by the state Labor government, women wanting to terminate a pregnancy after 20 weeks' gestation will be required to undergo mandatory counselling and a mandatory "cooling-off"

SIEV-X commemorated

FREMANTLE — On October 16, 20 refugee-rights activists commemorated the fourth anniversary of the SIEV X disaster, in which 353 people drowned inside Australia's Operation Relex aerial surveillance zone. Since then, the government has actively

COLOMBIA: Uribe to seek re-election

On October 19, amid accusations of bribery, Colombia's Constitutional Court gave right-wing President Alvaro Uribe the green light to seek a second term in office. Previously, it was impossible for a president to stand for re-election. Uribe is a key

Nauru prison camp suspended, not closed

Sarah Stephen The October 14 announcement that 25 of the 27 asylum seekers remaining on Nauru would be brought to Australia has been widely welcomed. However, the Howard government has made clear it is not ending the "Pacific solution", simply

VENEZUELA: Significant decrease in poverty

Stuart Munckton Venezuela's poverty rate is expected to drop from 47% in 2004 to 35% by the end of 2005, according to figures from Venezuela's National Institute of Statistics (INE). The figure was calculated to be at 38.5% half-way through this

My Nights - for you who are fearful

I can't breathe tonight,I haven't any power that can help me tonight,my legs are shivering,my breath is panting,my tears run away,my heart is broken,the road is narrow tonight in the land of my eyes,mountains crumble in front of my sadness,Rain feels

Anti-terrorism laws a threat to Aboriginal community

We wish to register our support for all efforts to raise concern about the extent of the new laws, notionally to combat terrorism. As activists in Aboriginal affairs, we have first-hand experience of just what these laws could do to prominent and

Women learn about union laws

Bronwyn Jennings, Geelong Fifty women unionists and community activists attended training sessions at Geelong Trades Hall on October 17, the last in a series organised by the GTH Women's Committee to educate women about the Howard government's

Jane Fonda and the role of the accident in history

BY MAX WATTS Georgi Plekhanov, a Russian who translated Karl Marx's writings and introduced them to Lenin, wrote a lot about the role of the individual, or the accident, in history. He thought that at certain times when the "masses" moved,