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BY BORIS KAGARLITSKY MOSCOW — On the evening of October 23, all of Russia's television channels interrupted their broadcasts to report that a group of Chechen fighters had seized the Moscow theatre centre where the musical Nord-Ost was playing.
BY KAMALA EMANUEL LAUNCESTON — One hundred people attended a demonstration against the Gunns woodchip company's forestry practices at its annual general meeting on October 31. One banner read "People don't kill forests — Gunns kill
BY EVA CHENG Created in 1989 to help break Third World resistance to the Uruguay Round of trade talks, the 21-country Asia Pacific Economic and Cooperation (APEC) forum plunged into near irrelevance in 1997 when the economic crisis hit Asia. But
BY JAMES CRAFTI MELBOURNE — Are all Aussies heartless bastards? This was the question that was thrashed out at the third annual Green Left Weekly comedy debate. Almost 200 people crowded into the Brunswick Town Hall on October 25 to find
BY ROGER BURBACH Elected in a landslide victory with over 61% of the vote, Luis Inacio da Silva will become president on January 1 of Latin America's largest country with 175 million inhabitants. Lula, as he is commonly known, received three
BY SARAH STEPHEN A woman told the November 1 Illawarra Mercury that she has stopped wearing her traditional hijab headscarf after suffering five years of taunts and abuse. She is not alone. Many Muslim and Arab Australians are bracing for an
BY IGGY KIM On October 24, a debate was held in Britain's House of Commons over the Foreign Office's handling of the detention of Lesley McCulloch in Indonesia. The debate was initiated by Alan Reid, the Scottish Liberal Democrats member for Argyll
Socialist Alliance In her letter (GLW #513) regarding the Democratic Socialist Party's proposal to cease operating as a public party and build the Socialist Alliance, Angela Budai argues that this will create the perception that the Socialist
BY SIMON BUTLER SYDNEY — Federal trade minister Mark Vaile's confirmation on October 30 that the November 14-15 ministerial meeting of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) has been moved to the site of the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games in Homebush
BY FEDERICO FUENTES & KIRAZ JANICKE PERTH — Seventy people, mostly Muslims, attended a meeting at the Australian Islamic College on November 2 to discuss the recent ASIO raids on Muslim families. The meeting heard accounts of the
BY PHIL SANDFORD I would like to comment briefly on some of the issues in the important and welcome discussion which the Democratic Socialist Party (DSP) has opened up around left unity. The term “united front” is being used in a very
SYDNEY — Around 1000 people enjoyed themselves at the inaugural Rock 4 Refugees concert on the afternoon of October 27. The concert was held at Henson Park, Marrickville. Among the bands that performed were Mental As Anything (pictured), the