China's president used the party's 19th Congress to set out the country's bid for global pre-eminance

IN CATALONIA, the Madrid government’s refusal to grant bail to the “two Jordis”, Jordi Sánchez chairman of the ANC and Jordi Cuixart, chairman of Òmnium Cultural, and the threats to dissolve Catalonia’s Parliament and arrest its President, have been met with the largest demonstrations yet. Half a million marched in Barcelona, with tens of thousands […]

EMBATTLED VENEZUELAN President Nicolás Maduro is facing a months long attempt by opposition forces to overthrow his United Socialist Party (psuv) government. The opposition’s goal is to install a regime composed of representatives of the old Venezuelan oligarchs and landowners. They have the declared support of Donald Trump and the series of right wing governments […]

IN JUST two weeks, some 270,000 Rohingya have fled into Bangladesh from Myanmar. The mass exodus began on 25 August, when the Myanmar army began an offensive against the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (arsa). The arsa announced a “unilateral ceasefire” on 9 September, in effect a recognition that they cannot offer any resistance to the […]

By Dave Stockton As we go to press, more than 120,000 Muslim Rohingyas have fled from their homes and camps in Myanmar’s Rakhine state (also known as Arakan) since a military offensive against supposed terrorists began on 25 August. There are reports of soldiers burning villages, raping and killing. The refugees are fleeing on foot […]

THE DEMOCRATIC socialists of America (DSA) grouping has witnessed astonishing growth over the past year, going from around 5,500 members to 26,000. It now claims 2,000 members in New York City alone. The DSA’s growth began with the Bernie Sanders campaign in 2015, thanks in part to Sanders’ self-designation as a “democratic socialist” and his […]

By Dave Stockton NORTH KOREA’S Hydrogen bomb test has underlined once again not only the capacity of Kim Jong-un’s regime to achieve its nuclear ambitions, but also the failure of all attempts to stop that with threats. As futile as US President Donald Trump’s bluster has been, however, it ramps up the danger that either […]

FOR 800,000 DREAMERS the morning of 5 September saw their American Dream turn into a nightmare. Donald Trump’s Attorney General, Jeff Sessions, announced the end of Barack Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) programme. Introduced in 2012, this allowed undocumented migrants under the age of 16 to obtain residence and work permits lasting two […]

ISLAMIC STATE has claimed responsibility for the terrorist attacks in Barcelona and Cambrils, which killed 13 people and wounded more than 100. The whole working class movement should stand united in condemning these indiscriminate acts of terror and extend our sympathy and solidarity to the families, friends and bystanders traumatised by these horrific events. The […]

By Dave Stockton ON 15 AUGUST 1947, Jawaharlal Nehru addressed India’s Constituent Assembly in words that have become famous: “Long years ago we made a tryst with destiny, and now the time comes when we shall redeem our pledge, not wholly or in full measure, but very substantially. At the stroke of the midnight hour, […]

By Dave Stockton US PRESIDENT Donald Trump, so far a spectacular failure in his domestic policies, is compensating for this by exercising his power as the Commander in Chief of the most powerful nation in the world. Having launched 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles at a Syrian airbase and killed 39 ISIS fighters with the “Mother […]

The convening of a new Constituent Assembly has opened the latest, and possibly decisive, chapter in Venezuela’s political crisis.

THE CONVOCATION of a new Constituent Assembly has opened the latest, and possibly decisive, chapter in Venezuela’s political crisis. President Nicolas Maduro summoned the Assembly to give his regime greater democratic legitimacy and to sideline the parliament, which is dominated by the right wing opposition alliance, MUD. It was a desperate measure in response to […]

PARIS – The new French President, Emmanuel Macron, speaking at a business start-up event

Protests by Palestinians against Israeli restrictions on access to the Haram-al Sharif (Temple Mount), have been reignited

Last July there were two coups in Turkey, one failed, one succeeded.

“We agreed that we do not agree.” That about sums up the outcome of the G20 summit.

The Irish state’s attempt to criminalise seven water charges protesters has failed, though charges against other water protesters remain.

The recent G20 summit turned into a public relations disaster for its host Angela Merkel, after a violent police operation to pacify the streets of Hamburg stole the spotlight.

A sticker for the G20 Protest in Hamburg says Überall Polizei, nirgendwo Gerechtigkeit – ‘Police everywhere, Justice nowhere’.

WITH 32 PER CENT of the votes in the first round of France’s parliamentary elections, Emmanuel Macron’s party, La République en Marche

DONALD TRUMP’S first trip abroad as President saw him launch radical changes in US foreign policy from those pursued by his predecessor

PRESIDENT DONALD Trump’s 20 May visit to Saudi Arabia, for a summit of the six Gulf Arab states and 49 other Arab and Muslim-majority countries

POLITICAL EVENTS in Northern Ireland are generally given scant coverage in the popular British press or broadcast media.

For two months, the right opposition in Venezuela has been mobilising against the Maduro government. It no longer limits itself to peaceful mass demonstrations, but tries to occupy government institutions, or even army bases on the border with Colombia, by force.

IN THE US, a president’s first 100 days in office is always a test of the change in direction, if any, from one administration to the next. That’s especially true this year, with the Republican sweep of both houses of the US Congress as well as the Presidency, plus holding on to most of the […]

DURING THE weeks between the first and second round of the French presidential elections, some on the French left called for a vote for Emmanuel Macron to stop Marine Le Pen of the Front National (FN) winning.

The latest Tory and media attack on Jeremy Corbyn comes at a time when the polls are showing a Labour revival. That is, they need to portray the Labour leader as a Sinn Fein/IRA supporter

The attitude of the USA towards “regime change” in Syria has been a source of considerable confusion within the left and within the anti-war movement.

The general strike in Brazil on 28 April was rated a great success