952

Sri Lanka's parliament voted on January 11 to impeach Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake. This enabled President Mahinda Rajapaksa to dismiss her and appoint a new chief justice, Mohan Peiris. Bandaranayake was appointed as chief justice by Rajapaksa in May 2011. However, she antagonised him by ruling that a new law was unconstitutional. This law is aimed at setting up a new government body, known as Divi Neguma (a Sinhalese phrase meaning 鈥渞aise the island鈥), which is supposed to promote economic development and social welfare.

This song was released on the 1988 EP "UnAustralian Folk Songs" by David Beniuk.

The illness of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has created uncertainty over the future direction of his government, and specifically its commitment to revolutionary change and socialism. Throughout the 14 years of his presidency, the key to Chavez鈥檚 political success was the constant deepening of the process of change, which invigorated the rank-and-file of his movement.
About 100 people gathered at the Jerrys Plains community hall on January 29 to outline concerns about the encroachment of the coal industry on their township and to begin a united fightback.
Katu Arkonada, a researcher at the University of the Cordillera in La Paz, Bolivia, gives a 2012 balance sheet of Bolivia's achievements and challenges. It was translated from Spanish with additional notes by Richard Fidler and is reprinted from . ***
The horrific murders of 20 children aged six and seven, along with six adults, at a school in Newtown, Connecticut, in December has ignited a debate about gun violence in the US. This was the latest in a series of such massacres to occur at schools, malls, religious institutions, theatres and similar places over the past few decades. In many of these instances, rapid-fire military-style weapons were used that sprayed big numbers of bullets in seconds, as was the case in Newtown.

Socialist Alliance national conference supporting the campaign for UNESCO world heritage listing for the oldest rock art in the world at the Burrup in northern WA.

The French-led intervention in the west African nation of Mali has captured the northern towns of Timbuktu, Gao and Kidal. As the Islamist rebels flee to mountains in the north, the French are contemplating what comes next, amid concerns of a prolonged guerrilla war and war crimes committed by their Mali army allies. As with other recent examples of Western interventions, the capture of the major urban centres could prove the easiest part of the French-led intervention into the resource-rich region.

The international media totally misreads the Venezuelan people on President Hugo Chav猫z (currently battling serious illness) argues Professor Miguel Angel Nu帽ez, an adviser to Chav猫z on agro-ecology, in an interview with 麻豆传媒 TV. The interviewers were Jim McIlroy and Coral Wynter, authors of Voices from Venezuela. Filmed and edited by Peter Boyle.

It is now two years since spontaneous mass uprisings against political and economic injustice started to sweep through the Arab countries. This began a period of heightened class struggle known in the West (but not the Arab countries) as the Arab Spring.
鈥淛anuary 26 was just an ordinary work day at the Smart Fashion Export factory in Dhaka, Bangladesh 鈥 until the fire broke out at 2:30 p.m,鈥 said on January 29. 鈥淎s heavy black smoke filled the shop floor, workers rushing to escape found locked exit doors. 鈥淲ithin an hour, seven young women were dead 鈥 crushed to death in the panic or asphyxiated by the toxic smoke. Three of them were teenagers, Kohinoor, 15, Razia, 16, and Nasima, 17 years old.
If you want to understand why Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi has declared a 鈥渟tate of emergency鈥 or if you want to understand why the country鈥檚 defence minister warned on January 29 of 鈥渢he collapse of the state鈥, you first need to understand the soccer fan clubs in Egypt - otherwise known as the 鈥渦ltras鈥 - and the role they played in the revolution that toppled Hosni Mubarak in 2011.