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Free Dr Kumar poster

Dr Jeyakumar Deveraj, a federal member of parliament in Malaysia, was one of 30 activists of the Socialist Party of Malaysia (PSM) detained without trial on June 25.

Before they could have a face-to-face meeting with the Australian mining company company Lynas Corporation, a dozen resident activists from Kuantan, Malaysia, took a journey all the way to Sydney to launch a protest outside Lynas headquarters on July 5.

In the final days of Alan Garcia鈥檚 rancid presidency, crimes against the Peruvian people are still being committed. The department of Puno, bordering Bolivia in the country鈥檚 south-east, has now been added to a long list of locations where anti-mining protesters have been gunned down by security forces. On June 25, six indigenous activists were reportedly killed and dozens more wounded when Peruvian police opened fire on a 4000-strong crowd occupying the Manco Capac airport in the city of Juliaca.
Dr Jeyakumar Devaraj

The message below from Dr Jeyakumar Devaraj, MP for Sg Siput, was dictated to Edmund Bon and Mohd Redzuan Yusoff on July 5 at Jinjang police station.

When the multi-award-winning journalist John Pilger needed researchers for his latest film, The War You Don鈥檛 See, he turned to David Edwards and David Cromwell. The pair run media-analysing website Media Lens, which is set to turn 10 years old on July 9. Here, they answer some of the 鈥渕ore interesting鈥 questions posed by their readers, plus a couple from 麻豆传媒 Weekly鈥檚 Mat Ward. * * * Why did you start Media Lens?

More than 500 Malaysians and their supporters gathered in Melbourne's Federation Square on July 9 to call for free and fair elections in Malaysia. They were decked out in yellow shirts and held banners and placards. The rally, called in solidarity with the Bersih 2.0 democracy movement in Malaysia, chanted slogans in Malay and English, ranging from "Bersih bersih" (Clean, clean) to "change is possible".

The Greek parliament defied huge popular opposition, including a 48-hour general strike, to pass the latest set of extreme austerity measures demanded by the 鈥渢roika鈥 (the European Union, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund) in return for fresh loans. However, many commentators have pointed out it is one thing to vote up the measures and another to force them on an increasingly discontented populace.
In June, four Australian set sail as part of the second Freedom Flotilla to Gaza with the aim of highlighting the suffering of its people at the hands of Israel鈥檚 illegal blockade. The flotilla, involving a dozen boats with hundreds of activists from more than 50 countries, aims to deliver humanitarian aid to the besieged Palestinian territory. The convoy coincides with the deep process of revolt occurring across the Arab world 鈥 against regimes that often collaborate with Israel.
The 28th Australian soldier to die in Afghanistan was killed on July 4. In what is becoming a routine, Prime Minister Julia Gillard used the occasion of giving the nation鈥檚 condolences on July 6 to harangue an increasingly sceptical public about the necessity for the occupation to continue. The Afghan war鈥檚 self-evident failure to achieve any of its shifting official objectives has meant questioning the war has become unavoidable.
Protesters at solidarity action

The fight to stop the James Price Point gas hub in the Kimberly in Western Australia's north reached a critical point on July 4 as police arrested dozens of people.

Field of wheat

Ever spent time in Dubai airport, on the shores of the Persian Gulf? You might have reflected that human beings can live quite well when temperatures exceed 50掳C.

鈥淯S computer giant Apple has culled a Palestinian application from its iPhone offerings at the request of Israel,鈥 a June 27 IOL.co.za article said. 鈥淭he Arabic-language app ThirdIntifada, released by Apple just days ago, provides users with details of upcoming anti-Israel protests, access to news articles and editorials, and links to Palestinian nationalist material.鈥 Pro-Palestinian demonstrators pointed out the term intifada, which means mass uprising, did not refer to violence.