An unprecedented high abstention rate of 39% marked elections for municipal and regional authorities for 13 region governors and 325 mayors in Greece. The second round of the elections took place on November 14.
The regions are newly created local authorities. Their formation is closely connected to the austerity program imposed on Greece by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and European Union (EU). The new bodies conform to the 鈥淜allikratis鈥 plan, a hasty reform of the administrative structure of the country.
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The second suicide in little more than two months took place at Villawood detention centre on the night of November 15.
Ahmad Al Akabi, 41, was found by fellow detainees hanged in a bathroom.
After spending more than a year in the Christmas Island and Villawood detention centres, his asylum application had been rejected twice under the off-shore processing system that was found to be invalid in a recent High Court decision.
Twenty-three-year-old Mariano Ferreira, a Workers Party (PO) activist, was shot dead in Buenos Aires on October 8 when a mob violently attacked protesting railway workers.
The protesters, all of them labour hire workers, were demanding their reinstatement after being sacked.
The attack was similar those against other workers in comparable circumstances who have demanded rights denied by the bosses. Often the bosses鈥 have acted with local union support.
"The Venezuelan revolution continues to make progress in the face of constant challenges and some setbacks鈥, said Coral Wynter, a Latin America solidarity activist recently returned from six months working in Venezuela.
She addressed a November 18 麻豆传媒 Weekly forum on the Bolivarian Revolution. Under the leadership of socialist President Hugo Chavez, Venezuela has been transformed over the past 10 years.
鈥淎bout 15 per cent of US households 鈥 17.4 million families 鈥 lacked enough money to feed themselves at some point last year, a US Department of Agriculture report says.
鈥淭he study also found that 5.6 million of these households 鈥 with as many as 1 million children 鈥 had continuing financial problems that forced them to miss meals regularly.
鈥淭he number of these 鈥榝ood insecure鈥 homes 鈥 was more than triple the one in 2006, before the recession brought double-digit unemployment.
Woodside and the Western Australian government鈥檚 push to build a massive gas-processing plant at James Price Point will be a key battle in a broader campaign to protect the cultural and environmental heritage of the Kimberley region in WA.
This battle is significant for several reasons.
First, the government is trying to compulsorily acquire Aboriginal land. Traditional owners, some of who had previously been prepared to support the project, are now united in opposition. Many unions, including the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union, are supporting them.
The big four banks are squealing at a Greens plan to introduce bank regulation legislation to parliament and at a class action being considered against banks that gouge borrowers through variable interest rate loans.
The Commonwealth Bank (CBA), Westpac, ANZ and the National Australia Bank hiked interest rates above the 0.25% rise declared by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) on November 3. The Australian Institute said on November 15 the rise would give the banks $1.2 billion more profit.
When the Victorian Parliament decriminalised abortion two years ago, the battle was finally over, right? Then why is the Fertility Control Clinic in East Melbourne still targeted by anti-abortion zealots? And why, after five years, has Melbourne City Council started harassing clinic defenders, potentially handing a victory to those same zealots?
Cap Haitien, Haiti鈥檚 second largest city, was awakened by demonstrations on November 15 against the United Nation鈥檚 occupation force, Minustah, which is accused of being responsible for starting the cholera epidemic in Haiti.
Shortly after 6am, thousands of angry demonstrators took to the streets in the city, where cholera has killed more than 200 people. Demonstrators also denounced the Haitian government鈥檚 mismanagement of the epidemic.
SYDNEY 鈥 After the successful Latin America Solidarity Conference it organised in October, the Latin America Social Forum (LASF) in Sydney has launched a new blog, .
LASF is uploading videos of plenary talks from the conference and the 20 resolutions approved in the conference鈥檚 final session.
These resolutions have been translated to Spanish and sent to contacts across Latin America, many of who have expressed their appreciation for the work of LASF.
There has been a lot of discussion about the problems within Australia鈥檚 national A-League football (鈥渟occer鈥) competition, with some even fearing that it is on the verge of collapse.
Maybe that won鈥檛 happen, but there are signs that things aren鈥檛 looking good. In September, Newcastle Jets became the latest club to be provided with an emergency loan. The league鈥檚 governing body, Football Federation Australia (FFA) agreed to provide short term financial assistance so the club could pay its players.
The Australian National University鈥檚 (ANU) sexuality department not only provides an invaluable support service to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer students on campus (LGBTIQ), it is also unashamedly political.
For example, it has thrown its weight behind the campaign for equal marriage rights.
So perhaps it is not surprising that the department has been challenged by homophobia on campus.
In May during Pride Week, 500 posters were ripped down.
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