Asbestos bill fatally flawed
WASHINGTON (PAI) — Despite some improvements in the latest legislation, the AFL-CIO has dropped its support of a comprehensive asbestos victims compensation bill.
Rumsfeld encouraged as Iraqis chant, You go, America!
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said today that he was encouraged by massive demonstrations in Baghdad marking the second anniversary of the fall of Saddam Hussein, telling reporters that he was particularly heartened by the Iraqis’ chant of “You go, America!”
Labor begins new push for Employee Free Choice Act
WASHINGTON (PAI) — Flanked by workers harassed or fired for trying to form unions, labor leaders and key lawmakers reintroduced the Employee Free Choice Act on April 19.
World Notes
Canada: Set Wal-Mart protest for May 7; Czech Republic: Defend democratic rights; Kuwait: Women to vote; Nicaragua: ‘Week of action’ vs. CAFTA; Southern Africa: AIDS devastates farm workers; Indonesia: Sailors protest U.S. security rules
New peace initiatives under way in Sudan
The gravity of the present Sudan crisis is perhaps best depicted by a 1994 Pulitzer-prize winning photo of a vulture intently awaiting the death of a famine-stricken, emaciated child seen crawling towards a distant UN food camp. It is not clear what happened to the child, but there are indications that Sudan is mustering the will to survive.
Indian communists call for uprooting inequality
NEW DELHI — The 18th congress of Communist Party of India (Marxist) concluded April 11 with a rally of 100,000 people at Talkatora Stadium here. The extreme heat and sun couldn’t keep the overflow crowd away.
National Clips
LOUISVILLE, Ky.: Protest ‘Justice Sunday’; SANTA CRUZ, Calif.: Police attack tent city; ST. PAUL, Minn.: Stop CAFTA; CHAPEL HILL, N.C.: Protect public health, marchers say
Keep your greedy hands off Social Security
WASHINGTON — Thousands cheered at a Capitol Hill rally April 26 as lawmakers and leaders of labor, retirees, women, youth of color and the disabled vowed “no compromise” in the battle to block President Bush’s plan to privatize Social Security.
Communists host meet on religion
DES MOINES, Iowa — “The word of God and communism are hand in hand,” said Diana Sowry, a school bus driver from Ashtabula County, Ohio. She was one of a group of clergy and lay people participating in a conference on religion sponsored by the Communist Party USA here April 15-16.
Hy Cohen, activist, 93
Hyman R. Cohen, a leading activist in the Palm Beach County, Fla., area, died of cancer on Jan. 17. He was 93.
