Thousands of West Papuans marched in the capital Jayapura on January 26, AFP said that day.
Marchers rejected the area鈥檚 鈥渟pecial autonomy鈥 status within Indonesia and demanded a referendum on independence from Indonesia.
Protesters chanted: 鈥淚ndonesia the coloniser, Indonesia the oppressor, Indonesia the robber.鈥
The action included students from Cenderawasih University, the Indonesian Christian Students Movement and church members, Tempo Interactive said on January 26.
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The following was initiated by the Sydney University Climate Action Collective and Yarra Climate Action Now.
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Our top scientists have been telling us for decades that our carbon pollution is creating ever-worsening natural disasters such as floods, droughts and bushfires. Despite this and the record high ocean temperatures which contributed to our recent heavy rain, our state and federal governments have been reluctant to link climate change to the recent floods.
I first met US singer-songwriter Amanda Palmer when she was playing with drummer Brian Viglione in punk cabaret band The Dresden Dolls. Her song writing and performance was brutally honest, going places stylistically and thematically into which very few performers in today鈥檚 music industry venture.
Perth man Brendan O鈥機onnell was sentenced to three years jail under WA鈥檚 racial vilification laws on January 31. He was found guilty of six counts of vilification relating to anti-Semitic comments he posted on a YouTube video in 2009.
His jailing, and the length of the sentence, has opened up a certain controversy.
Conservative columnist Paul Murray pointed out in the February 2 West Australian that a person convicted of glassing someone in a pub could expect to receive an 18-month sentence, whereas O鈥機onnell received three years for an 鈥渆ssentially political [speech]鈥.
West Papuan refugees in Papua New Guinea have been terrorised and arrested by police, West Papua Media Alerts said on January 28. They were allegedly arrested on behalf of the Indonesian military and local logging interests.
Police and soldiers rounded up 79 refugees living in camps around Vanimo, on PNG鈥檚 north coast near the border with West Papua, in the early hours of January 23.
The soldiers burned down at least 30 refugee houses, destroyed crops and food, and assaulted people, WPMA said. Other refugees have reportedly fled to the jungle.
About 300 people turned out for a free outdoor film screening of the award-winning US documentary Gasland in Sydney Park on February 5.
The screening was supported by the City of Sydney and Palace Cinemas, and was organised by Sydney Residents Against Coal Seam Gas, a community group established to oppose plans for exploratory gas drilling in the inner-west suburb of St Peters.
New federal drug laws could make thousands of native and common garden plants illegal.
The proposed legislation will place common plants under schedule II of the drug code along with plants such as marijuana and opium poppies.
The most worrying aspect of the legislation is the sheer number of plant species that will be made illegal.
Many of the substances produced by the plants are already illegal to manufacture or consume. However, there is not any significant market for making drugs from these plants and they are not sold or produced by organised crime.
Thousands of students braved the notoriously brutal Sudanese police and security forces on January 30 in anti-government protests inspired by the Tunisian and Egyptian uprisings, SudaneseTribune.com reported that day.
Rallies took place at three universities and other sites across the capital, as well as in east and west Sudan.
Students called for General Omar al Bashir鈥檚 National Congress Party government to resign and condemned recent austerity measures and ongoing attacks of democratic rights.
The statement below was released by the on February 4.
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Solidarity and support is needed to help with the impact of the devastating floods that swept through Queensland and other states in January, and Cyclone Yasi that hit northern Queensland in early February.
The cost of loss of life and personal trauma is incalculable, and the resources needed to rebuild will be huge.
Cuban Revolution leader Fidel Castro said on February 1 that not even the support of the United States will be able to save the Egyptian government. Likewise, he pointed out that for the first time the world is simultaneously facing three problems: climate crises, food crises and political crises.
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Reflections by Fidel Castro: Mubarak's fate is sealed
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak鈥檚 fate is sealed, not even the support of the United States will be able to save his government.
About 300 members of the Egyptian community in Sydney and their supporters held a rally in Hyde Park North on January 30.聽
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