N. Calif. PWW banquet to honor workers, environmental leader
OAKLAND, Calif. — Garbage workers who defeated their employer’s union-busting lockout, hotel workers fighting for better wages and working conditions, an environmentalist and community leader, and the head of an area building trades council will share center stage Nov. 4 as Northern California Friends of the People’s Weekly World/Nuestro Mundo honors them at its annual banquet.
Two halves of Korea cement ties
South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun made history Oct. 2 when he walked across the Military Demarcation Line, which separates North and South Korea, and became the first ever head of state to do so. He traveled to the North to meet with his counterpart, Kim Jong Il, on Oct. 3-4.
Ground Zero fire, deaths, spur questions
Six years after the 9/11 attack, the fog of profiteering, corruption and secrecy continues to whirl around the demolition and reconstruction of the World Trade Center site.
Vigils press lawmakers to override Bush veto
Children’s advocates stood vigil outside Republican lawmakers’ district offices across the nation Oct. 4 to demand that they override President Bush’s veto of a $35 billion increase in the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP).
From Prague to Caracas: 60 years of youth festivals
Hundreds of young people from all over the world gathered Aug. 23-26 in Caracas, Venezuela, to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the first World Festival of Youth and Students.
Using religion to mask a conservative agenda
Daniel C. Bruch and Thomas W. Strieter are retired Christian pastors who have spent their lifetimes serving people. They have been moved by the extremist rhetoric and actions of fundamentalist conservatism to write Toxic Faith: Liberal Cure, an analysis of the Christian Right.
Veterans group seeks mandatory VA funding
CHICAGO — If you thought every woman and man that served in the U.S. military and honorably discharged was guaranteed health care as a veteran, you would be wrong. Funding shortages still limit the extent and duration of care, and appropriations for the VA is up to the yearly “discretion” of Congress and the president.
WORLD NOTES: Oct. 6
Egypt: Textile workers strike China: Dam project has environmental costs Serbia: NATO relents, permits cluster bomb search South Africa: Farming for food or fuel? Cuba: U.S. denies visiting rights, again
Haiti: repression drops, but not poverty
VANCOUVER, British Columbia — While the people of Haiti have experienced an improvement in the country’s political atmosphere, their economic situation continues to deteriorate, said Roger Annis, a representative of the Canada-Haiti Action Network.
Myanmars road map to crisis
KOLKATA, India — Ibrahim Gambari, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s special envoy to Myanmar (formerly Burma), arrived in Yangon, the country’s largest city, on Sept. 29. He departed on Oct. 2 to report back to the UN Security Council in New York. During his visit, he had met the pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi as well as the leader of the military junta, Senior Gen. Than Shwe.
