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ACT makes civil unions legal

The Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly passed a civil unions bill on November 11 to allow same-sex couples the right to legally binding ceremonies. Civil unions with ceremonies have been a key demand of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) movement in the ACT since 2006.

Britain: Travel company says carbon offsets don't work

A British travel agent has said it will no longer offer its customers carbon offsets because they are a diversion from dealing with climate change.

Protests demand maternity care choice

Thirty supporters of maternity care choice staged a sit-in inside the Lismore office of local federal MP Janelle Saffin on November 9. They said the federal government must end plans to require independent midwives to have indemnity insurance.

War IS The Answer!

I wonder why I've felt like shit ever since they declared war on drugs I've been starving ever since they declared war on hunger I've been depressed since they declared war on mental illness I can't get a break since they declared war on

United States: The making of the Fort Hood tragedy

People across the world were shocked at the news that a US Army psychiatrist went on a shooting rampage on November 5 at Fort Hood army base in Texas, killing 13 people and injuring dozens.

Germany: Twenty years since the fall of the Wall

Here in Berlin, radio and TV are celebrating the fall of the Berlin Wall 20 years ago so intensively there’s hardly a moment for the weather report, which, unfortunately for all the planned events, turned out nasty and rainy.

Sex workers demand their rights

Sex workers took to Sydney’s streets on November 13 to demand they be included in discussions about proposed changes to sex work laws. Sex work was decriminalised in New South Wales 13 years ago, bringing many positive changes to sex worker conditions.

Finding Engels?

The Frock-Coated Communist: The Revolutionary Life of Friedrich Engels By Tristram Hunt Penguin, 2009 443 pages, $59.95 (hb)

Two centuries of troublemaking

How to Make Trouble and Influence People By Iain McIntyre Breakdown Press, 2009 270 pages, $29.95 Available from >

Traveston Dam project blocked by federal government

A huge community campaign in opposition to the construction of a new dam on the Mary River, north of Brisbane, ended last week with a victory for people power.

Skills minister fails to convince students

A group of 10 TAFE students from Bendigo and Dandenong met with the Victorian minister for skills and workplace participation, Jacinta Allan, at her Bendigo office on November 6. The meeting was arranged after a student protest weeks earlier.

Iraq: Government pushes oil privatisation

Before and after the invasion of Iraq, the war’s goal of privatising Iraq’s oil to the benefit of Western oil corporations was highlighted not just by the war’s opponents, but also by many of its supporters.