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
US President Donald Trump is seeking to eliminate more than US$18 billion worth of health and education social programs to fund his anti-immigrant wall along the border with Mexico, documents submitted to the US Congress on March 28 showed.
One year after European Union leaders signed a deal with the Turkish government to cut off the wave of desperate refugees seeking to reach Europe鈥檚 shores, the policy has caused even more death and suffering.
Riots swelled in Paris for a third night on March 29, with hundreds of people protesting against police brutality and聽, Shaoyo Liu, on March 23 by police.
Riot police hurled tear gas at the crowd as demonstrations continued, with a police car firebombed, three officers injured and 35 people arrested.
One hundred years ago, on March 27, 1917 the Petrograd Soviet issued the following appeal, 鈥淭o the Peoples of the World,鈥 calling for a restoration of workers鈥 unity in the cause of peace: "....We call upon you to throw off the yoke of your semi-autocratic order just as the Russian people shook off tsarist despotism. You should refuse to serve as a weapon of invasion and violence in the hands of kings, gentry landowners, and bankers.
"Together in friendship we will put a stop to the terrible slaughter, which disgraces humankind and casts a shadow over the great days of the birth of Russian freedom...."
US President Donald Trump promised to cut through the disarray in the two parties of capitalism in the US by forcing on them a new strongman 鈥 himself 鈥 who knows how to get things done and make deals.
But the Republican health insurance debacle, with Trump鈥檚 replacement to Obamacare being withdrawn due to lack of support in Congress, not only cut him down to size, but represented the triumph of that very disarray over the new president. The strongman proved to be not so strong and the dealmaker could not close the deal.