With more than 99% of polling places reporting, the candidate for the left-wing Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN), Salvador Sanchez Ceren, easily won the first round of El Salvador鈥檚 presidential elections on February 2.
Sanchez Ceren scored nearly 49% of the vote, more than ten-points higher than Norman Quijano of the Nationalist Republican Alliance (ARENA), who placed second with 39%. Former president Tony Saca garnered just over 11% of the vote. The FMLN and ARENA will head to a run-off on March 9.
996
鈥淏angladesh is a world leader in adaptation to natural disasters,鈥 Bangladeshi community organiser Nasima Akter told a Toronto audience January 8. 鈥淏ut now climate change threatens to wash away all our gains.鈥
Akter had been invited by East End Against Line 9, a neighbourhood committee formed to protest against a proposed cross-Toronto tar-sands pipeline. The East End committee wanted to learn about the implications of Canada鈥檚 reckless tar-sands development for a poor and vulnerable nation.
The irony of fracking is that it destroys the natural resource it needs most.
The tragedy for those living near fracking operations is that natural resource is the fresh 鈥 and increasingly scarce 鈥 water supply on which they, too, depend.
Fracking 鈥 or hydraulic fracturing 鈥 is the fracturing or rock by pressurised liquid. It is used to access several natural resources, such as shale gas and coal seam gas, in otherwise out-of-reach places.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said he would take 鈥渢he most radical measures to protect our people's economy鈥 as a deadline for businesses to adhere to new price controls approaches.
鈥淲e will expropriate whatever needs to be expropriated,鈥 Maduro said during a February 4 speech in Caracas amid commemorations of the 22nd anniversary of a 1992 failed military rebellion.
The coup was led by Maduro's predecessor, Hugo Chavez. Although he was jailed for the insurrection, Chavez became a popular figure with the poor majority. He won the 1998 presidential elections by a landslide.
Tens of thousands of people marched to Spain's parliament in Madrid on February 1 to protest against a proposed new law that would severely curb access to abortion.
Changes to the law would permit abortions to be carried out only in cases of rape or serious risk to health.
The rally was organised by dozens of women's groups fighting for reproductive rights. Participants travelled from across the Spanish state to take part, with trains full of protesters arriving in Madrid throughout the day.
The Brisbane branch of Socialist Alliance released this statement on February 5.
**
The Griffith by-election comes after a series of statements by the federal government that demonstrate just how anti-people and anti-environment the Liberal-National Coalition government really is.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott has flatly lied to the public, claiming that SPC Ardmona is suffering because of 鈥渙ver generous鈥 wages and conditions for the workers. This is part of his broader attacks on workers鈥 rights and the unions, and the return of the Australian Building and Construction Commission.
The national elections held on February 2 cannot solve the Thai political crisis because those lined up against the government and democratic elections are fundamentally opposed to democracy.
The election was marred by violence from right-wing Democrat Party thugs who were determined to prevent voting from taking place. Armed thugs fired automatic weapons into crowds of people seeking to vote. These thugs have been enjoying total impunity for more than a month while intimidating voters and candidates.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has called for an 鈥渆radication鈥 of 鈥渃olonialism鈥 in Latin America at the annual summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC).
During the summit held in Cuba鈥檚 capital, Havana, over January 28 and 29, Maduro called for Puerto Rican independence and an end to British administration of the Falklands/Malvinas Islands, to which Argentina claims sovereignty.
Puerto Rica was offered full membership of CELAC under a proposal made to the summit by Venezuela.
- Previous page
- Page 4