A Turkish court has handed down a two-year, nine-month and 22-day jail sentence to a Kurdish artist because of her painting of a Kurdish village being razed by Turkish security forces.
Zehra Dogan, an ethnic Kurd聽from Diyarbakir in south-eastern Turkey, was given the sentence by the Second High Criminal Court of Mardin province after having been arrested last July. The painting in question shows the destroyed cityscape of Nusaybin, with Turkish flags draped across blown-out buildings.
In the Andean Parliament as a member of PAIS Alliance, President Rafael Correa鈥檚 left-wing party, Rosa Mireya Cardenas,聽a member of Alfaro Vive Carajo, a former Marxist guerrilla group, will be working to promote gender equality, fair trade and the work of social organisations, among other initiatives.
But with Ecuador鈥檚 second round of presidential elections slated to take place on April 2, the country stands at a critical crossroads.
The Supreme Court of Victoria handed down its on March 21, quashing the appeal of an anti-abortion protester who had been convicted for displaying images of aborted foetuses.
Michelle Fraser, an anti-abortion protester, had displayed placards of aborted foetuses with anti-abortion slogans, outside the Melbourne Fertility Clinic, in February 2013. In 2014, she was convicted of displaying obscene images.
Chairperson of the Australian Prudential Regulatory Authority (APRA) Wayne Byres recently said that he would not use the to describe the housing market, preferring instead to use 鈥渉eightened risk鈥 rather than housing bubble.
El Salvador's Congress approved a law on March 29 that prohibits all metal mining projects, in a bid to protect the Central American nation's environment and natural resources.
The new law, which enjoyed cross-party support, blocks all exploration, extraction and processing of metals, whether in open pits or underground. It also prohibits the use of toxic chemicals like cyanide and mercury.
The NSW Gladys Berejiklian government鈥檚 forced council amalgamation policy is in crisis, after the NSW Court of Appeal on March 27 blocked the merger of Ku-ring-gai and Hornsby Councils.
The court accepted Ku-ring-gai Council鈥檚 appeal against the merger, in part because the state government kept the KPMG consultants鈥 report on the amalgamations secret from the public and from the delegate appointed to investigate the merger.
The ongoing genocide of Rohingya people in western Myanmar (also known as Burma) remains almost ignored by world media. Displaced from their homes, attacked by the military, interned in refugee camps and driven across the border into neighbouring Bangladesh, the Rohingya have become known as one of the world's most persecuted people.
Last year, photographer Ali MC visited Rohingya refugee and internally displaced peoples鈥 camps in Myanmar and Bangladesh. His aim was to photograph Rohingya people, document their living conditions and better understand the events that forced them into this situation
Supporters of abortion rights gathered outside St Mary鈥檚 Cathedral on March 26 to declare their support for choice.
The action was organised to counter the annual anti-choice 鈥淒ay of the Unborn Child鈥 event, described as 鈥渁 peaceful march to protect preborn babies鈥. In reality, it is designed to perpetrate myths and shame anyone thinking of, or who has had, an abortion.
Greens leader Richard Di Natale has backed calls for a new 鈥減eople鈥檚 bank鈥 to challenge the power of the Big Four mega-banks. He told the National Press Club on March 15: 鈥淭he time has come for a people's bank, one that injects real competition into the banking sector.鈥
Senator Di Natale drew on the example of the state-owned KiwiBank in New Zealand, run by the NZ Post Office. A similar operation in Australia would boost competition, push down fees, help young buyers enter the property market and deter 鈥渦nscrupulous behaviour鈥, he said.
Just weeks after a report highlighted plummeting koala populations, the federal government has given approved for coal seam gas (CSG) company QGC to on Queensland's Western Downs.
About 50 Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) members and supporters occupied the foyer of the Brisbane offices of Rio Tinto on March 28.
Rio Tinto has reneged on its agreement with the MUA to have 70鈥80% Australian crew on its coastal fleet. Instead it is using exploited foreign workers who are paid $3鈥4 per hour. This is despite posting a $6 billion profit last year.
Fake news about the Rojava Revolution, why Indian Suzuki automobile workers are in jail, 鈥極ld Bolshevism鈥 in early 1917 re-examined, an interview with dismissed Turkish academic and Yeniyol editor Uraz Aydin and will BRICS New Development Bank dash green-developmental hopes? Just some of the latest articles to be posted at Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal