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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 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 CHRIS SLEE On October 30, Australian Taxation Office (ATO) staff began to vote on a new agency agreement. Voting will close on November 7. Opponents of the agreement, including supporters of the Members First group within the Community and
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
Whatever happened to user-pays? "A German intelligence-gathering operation went spectacularly wrong after bills for phone tapping services were sent to the people being bugged. About 50 people received the demands in mobile phone invoices." —
BY JAMES CRAFTI MELBOURNE — Are all Aussies heartless bastards? This was the question that was thrashed out at the third annual Â鶹´«Ã½ Weekly comedy debate. Almost 200 people crowded into the Brunswick Town Hall on October 25 to find
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 CHRIS WILLIAMS WOLLONGONG - The Greens' Michael Organ was officially declared the new member for the federal lower house seat of Cunningham by the Australian Electoral Commission on October 30. Responding to the announcement, Organ stated the
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 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
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 MAX LANE JAKARTA — The "war on terror" propaganda campaign being conducted by the Australian and US governments is providing ammunition for xenophobic right-wing political forces in Indonesia. Australian government support for the