A landmark legal case has begun against mining corporation Xstrata over claims that it 聯wilfully and negligently聰 caused toxic contamination of large parts of the north-western Queensland city of Mount Isa over decades.
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On May 1, International Workers Day, workers and unionists need to reflect on the greatest challenge facing humanity: global warming.
The following is an abridged version of a talk given by Terry Townsend at the recent Climate Change 聴 Social Change Conference in Sydney. Townsend is a long-term member of the Democratic Socialist Perspective and the managing editor of Links online journal (<http://links.org.au>).
I鈥檓 not going to yet another ritualised May Day march this year. But neither is anyone else in Sydney!
The 2020 summit was two days of political theatre for the new Rudd government. For 48 hours over April 19-20, film stars brushed white-board markers with Australia聮s richest, and politicians mixed with Indigenous people, unionists and youth delegates.
Since the November federal election, the federal Labor government has moved to re-engineer the federal public service. In early December it re-shuffled portfolios to create new departments including the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR), with deputy prime minister Julia Gillard as its minister.
On April 23, Chicago-based aerospace and military contractor Boeing reported a 38% jump in first-quarter profits for 2008, amounting to a whopping US$1.2 billion. 鈥淲e鈥檙e off to a good start in what we expect to be another strong year of financial performance for Boeing鈥, chairperson, president and CEO Jim McNerney said.
On April 17, 500 Darwin and Palmerston public school teachers stopped work in protest against the NT government鈥檚 latest pay offer. During the April 11 protest rally, the NT branch of the Australian Education Union (AEU) called for a further single day of protest action on April 30.
On April 23, up to 600 public school teachers and their supporters rallied outside state education minister Bronwyn Pike鈥檚 electoral office, in the final of their four-hour rolling stoppages. The action was part of the current enterprise bargaining agreement (EBA) campaign that commenced on February 26.
More than 20,000 people marched on April 22 through the streets of Santiago to demonstrate their rejection of the Constitutional Court聮s ruling, which last week banned the distribution of the morning-after pill through the public health care system.
聯Bolivia is on the verge of exploding聰, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez warned on April 21.
Below is an abridged April 22 statement by the Institute for Papuan Advocacy and Human Rights. A statement the following day reported that the seven arrested students had been released.
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