Archive: December 2013
The archive below lists all articles that have been posted on the World Socialist Web Site by date. To visit the archive for other months, return to the Archive Monthly Index.
2 December 2013 (front page)
- US vice-president begins Asian tour as tensions with China continue
- The unions and the Detroit bankruptcy
- Thai protest leaders demand government step down
- Commuter train derailment in New York City kills four
- Portuguese government deepens attacks in 2014 budget
- One million in German metal and electronics industries working on temporary contracts
- Britain’s poorest summonsed to court to pay council tax arrears
- Australian High Court hears challenge to anti-democratic electoral laws
- Massachusetts: Chism case highlights prosecution of juveniles as adults
- Four out of ten recent college graduates say they are underemployed
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As unions push sale of art treasures
Detroit workers defend DIA - This week in history: December 2-8
- Germany’s Left Party defends the European Union
- Sean O’Casey’s Juno and the Paycock in New York City
3 December 2013 (front page)
- Drop in holiday sales reflects US social crisis
- US vice-president to lay down law to China
- Dormitory fire kills seven migrant textile workers in Italy
- Canada facilitated NSA spying on 2010 G8 and G20 summits
- Pro-European Union protests mount in Kiev
- Union-organized Walmart protests seek to pressure Democratic Party
- New report documents “a living death” in US prisons
- Snowden document confirms US-backed mass surveillance in Australia
- Nine confirmed dead in Glasgow helicopter crash
- Australian media denounces exposure of Indonesia spying operations
- British local councils cut home care visits for elderly and disabled
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On the eve of the bankruptcy ruling
Detroit workers denounce attack on pensions, moves to sell DIA art - The New York Times, Obamacare and the war on the elderly
- A concert of early and rare Shostakovich
- Workers Struggles: The Americas
- Letters from our readers
4 December 2013 (front page)
- Detroit bankruptcy ruling paves way for nationwide attack on pensions
- Behind the US negotiations with Iran
- Detroit workers denounce bankruptcy ruling and attack on pensions
- US vice president backs Japan over China’s air defence zone
- Temporary truce in Thai anti-government protests
- Facing threat of prosecution, Guardian editor testifies before UK parliament
- Obamacare enrollment records contain significant errors
- More than 1 million in US scheduled to lose unemployment benefits
- Australian government orders ASIO raids to suppress East Timor spying evidence
- Australian government announces another school funding backflip
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As military tensions increase in Asia
SEP public meetings: Oppose the US, Australia war preparations against China - Governor and media rush to blame train’s engineer in fatal New York derailment
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Workers’ Inquiry on Weliweriya water pollution
Venigros owners demand reopening of Sri Lankan factory - US steps up war of words with Afghan puppet regime
- Scottish National Party issues independence blueprint
- Five years since Canada’s constitutional coup
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Tokyo Filmex 2013
Transit, Ilo Ilo and Youth: Three films that rise above the average
5 December 2013 (front page)
- Biden-Xi meeting fails to resolve East China Sea crisis
- The Detroit bankruptcy ruling
- Australian government threatens lawyer with charges over Timor spying revelations
- US tracks billions of cell phone location records daily
- Obama postures as an opponent of inequality
- Illinois legislature passes bill to cut pensions
- German IG Metall union supports grand coalition government
- German universities threatened with spending cuts
- Australia: Slowing economic growth fuels austerity demands
- New offensive being prepared against Boeing machinists
- Britain’s Co-op Bank teeters on the brink
- Mexican government accelerates drive to privatize state oil industry
- On-the-job accident kills Ohio coal miner
- Detroit workers and students react to bankruptcy ruling
- Berlin rally commemorates 75th anniversary of the Fourth International
- Workers, youth speak on Berlin meeting to mark 75th anniversary of the Fourth International
- The Collaboration: Hollywood’s Pact with Hitler—how the studios suppressed films about Nazi crimes
- Letters from our readers
- Sri Lanka: Ansell Lanka sacks hundreds of workers
- Scotland: Unions call off strike at Stirling City Council
6 December 2013 (front page)
- Detroit bankruptcy ruling triggers calls for pension cuts across the US
- The struggle for Ukraine
- Former South African President Nelson Mandela dies
- Biden lectures Chinese leaders on “human rights”
- US congressional intelligence chiefs promote terror scare
- US officials will no longer provide information on Guantanamo hunger strikers
- France steps up military intervention into Central African Republic
- Poverty skyrockets in Ireland as the ruling elite gets richer
- Russia moving to devalue the ruble
- Nepal’s Maoists suffer landslide election defeat
- Qantas Airways announces another 1,000 job cuts
- Workers Struggles: Europe, Middle East & Africa
- New York: Basic safety system absent in Metro North crash
- Video: SEP holds press conference to announce Workers Inquiry
- As tensions in Asia mount, danger of world war emerges
- Alexander Payne’s Nebraska: How a great many people live today
7 December 2013 (front page)
- Obama prepared to drop jobless benefits as part of budget deal
- Why imperialism mourns Mandela
- Biden in South Korea reaffirms “absolute” US commitment to “pivot to Asia”
- New Zealand calls for “constructive dialogue” on Chinese air defence zone
- More whistleblowers emerge in Australia’s Timor spying scandal
- EU announces token fines on banks caught rigging global rates
- Osborne’s Autumn statement: Recovery for UK business means poverty for the working class
- Former Guantánamo prisoner David Hicks speaks with the World Socialist Web Site
- Israel’s Netanyahu weakened by US shift on Iran/Syria
- Alberta mounts sweeping attack on workers’ rights
- Union-organized fast food worker action promotes Democratic Party
- UAW considers dues hike
- Washington, DC: Family of woman slain by police calls for investigation
- Millionaire offers $5 million in support of plan to spin off the Detroit Institute of Arts
- Chrysler workers denounce Detroit bankruptcy ruling, support Workers Inquiry
- Renewed strikes at Amazon sites in Germany
- Workers Struggles: Asia, Australia and the Pacific
- Letters from our readers
9 December 2013 (front page)
- South Korea declares air defence zone
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Obama’s minimum wage fraud
Inequality and the fight for socialism - Mass protests in Ukraine demand ouster of President Yanukovich
- South African ANC faces deepening crisis after Mandela’s death
- Thai prime minister to dissolve parliament
- US budget talks focus on entitlement cuts
- What is Britain’s newly founded Left Unity party?
- Food bank use surges as hunger spreads across Britain
- French troops intervene in Central African Republic, seize Bangui
- Government sources claim GM will shut Holden subsidiary in Australia
- French Left Front’s “Fiscal Revolution” aims to block anti-austerity movement
- China’s neo-Maoists hail North Korea’s nuclear program
- German grand coalition plans expansion of surveillance state
- Trial underway in police killing of homeless man in California
- New Mexico railway crash kills three train operators
- This week in history: December 9-15
- Novelist Doris Lessing (1919-2013) and the long retreat
10 December 2013 (front page)
- Millions caught in cell phone tracking by US police agencies
- Seymour Hersh exposes US government lies on Syrian sarin attack
- Canadian Conservatives’ cyber-bullying bill—a pretext for expanding police surveillance
- Ukrainian government issues ultimatum to end pro-EU protests
- Japan steps up campaign against Chinese air defence zone
- Obamacare plans include high deductibles, large out-of-pocket drug costs
- Australian foreign minister toes US line during Asian trip
- Letters from our readers
- Congress Party humiliated in Indian state elections
- State secrets law pushed through in Japan
- David Edward Hyland: March 7, 1947 — December 8, 2013
- Australian government cancels 20 passports over Syrian conflict
- Gross exploitation of migrant workers fuels riot in Singapore
- Tense standoff in Thailand after government calls election
- Workers Struggles: The Americas
- Skyrocketing energy prices increase Britain’s winter death rate
- Australian Greens make debt ceiling deal with Abbott government
- Emergency manager outlines scorched earth policy on Detroit talk show
- Supporters of Detroit Workers Inquiry hold meeting with tenants facing eviction
11 December 2013 (front page)
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Over 1 million US unemployed set to lose benefits after Christmas
Democratic, Republican negotiators reach agreement on austerity budget - Obama and Mandela
- Factional struggle intensifies between Ukraine’s oligarchs
- US media blacks out Seymour Hersh exposé of Washington’s lies on sarin attack in Syria
- India walks fine line over China’s air defence zone
- Greece’s 2014 budget lays out more social attacks
- Neo-fascist wins regional election in Slovakia
- Britain: Disabled widow commits suicide after benefits withdrawn
- Australia: Rio Tinto shuts down Gove alumina refinery
- GM announces closure of Holden in Australia
- New Zealand: Mana Party seeks unity with right-wing Maori Party
- New York Mayor-Elect de Blasio’s appointments signal continuing assault on working class
- Nearly a quarter of Californians live in poverty, according to modified Census figures
- Before Detroit bankruptcy Democratic Party-led task force demanded huge pension cuts
12 December 2013 (front page)
- US Congress, White House to allow jobless benefits to expire for 1.3 million
- Australia’s integration into US war plans against China
- US budget deal continues attack on federal worker pensions
- Stand-off in Ukrainian power struggle continues
- Washington escalates phony “human rights” campaign against China
- The “Detroit Project” in Bochum
- Australia: Toyota foreshadows closure in wake of Holden announcement
- Letters from our readers
- The Coen brothers’ Inside Llewyn Davis: The story of a struggling musician … but which one?
- Greek girl dies from carbon monoxide poisoning after utility shut-off
- Irish pseudo-left signs off on repaying EU bank bailout
- Renzi elected Democratic Party leader as protests spread across Italy
- Two days only: Sky Between the Leaves now $14.50
- Beleaguered Minnesota Orchestra musicians nominated for Grammy award
- Thousands more New York City school bus workers face layoffs
- The implications of privatizing the Detroit Institute of Arts
- UN reports expose conditions in Australia’s offshore refugee camps
- Mandela and the South African Communist Party
- Sri Lanka: Support grows for workers’ inquiry into Weliweriya water pollution
13 December 2013 (front page)
- US mayors’ report: Hunger and homelessness rise as aid programs are cut
- The US budget deal and the political conspiracy against the working class
- US suspends military aid to its Syrian proxies
- Anti-government protests continue in Thailand
- EADS to cut 5,800 jobs across Europe
- Revised UK welfare sanctions mean more punishment for the poor
- The role of Labor and the unions in the assault on car industry workers in Australia
- Two miners killed in Australian copper mine
- New Zealand: Charges dropped against Pike River mine CEO
- US drone strike in Yemen kills 15
- Probe finds ex-president of Brazil was assassinated by US-backed regime
- Detroit Institute of Arts privatization plan would undermine both art and pensions
- Deadly house fires as winter freeze hits Detroit
- Art Turning Left at the Tate Liverpool: An ambitious but problematic collection of “left-wing” art
- Volcker rule gives free pass for Wall Street speculation
- Unions capitulate on pensions at Irish energy supplier
- Workers Struggles: Europe, Middle East & Africa
14 December 2013 (front page)
- White House-backed panel to call for cosmetic changes to illegal spying programs
- Which way forward for Ukrainian workers?
- New documents expose more NSA programs
- Canadian spy agency set up covert sites worldwide at NSA’s request
- Ukraine round-table talks fail as power struggle intensifies
- Missing US citizen in Iran identified as CIA spy
- Australian government rescinds childcare and aged care pay rises
- North Korean regime executes no. 2 leader Jang Song-thaek
- Workers Struggles: Asia, Australia and the Pacific
- US defence secretary warns Pakistan to end NATO supply blockade
- Australia: Toyota exploits GM shutdown to bolster wage-cutting drive
- Trans-Pacific trade talks fail to meet Obama’s deadline
- San Antonio, Texas university student slain by police
- Uttar Pradesh government sanctions mass expulsion of Muslim villagers
- Widespread abuse of juvenile inmates in Michigan prisons
- Letters on the death of Dave Hyland
- German Marx21 in exploratory talks to form Hesse state government
- Paganini or The Devil’s Violinist?
16 December 2013 (front page)
- Budget deal intensifies attack on US workers
- UN Syrian chemical weapons report exposes Washington’s lies
- Tensions rise in Ukraine amid dueling pro- and anti-EU rallies
- Signs of China-North Korea tensions after Jang Song-thaek’s execution
- Japan’s new defence documents target China
- French war in Central African Republic intensifies humanitarian crisis
- Mexican Congress approves oil privatization
- Privatization draws foreign capital to Mexico
- Germany: Thyssen Krupp launches further attacks on workforce
- People in UK going blind due to lack of eye care
- Australian Federal Police boosts data intercept capacity
- A quarter of New Zealand children live in poverty
- Union, politicians press Boeing workers for revote on rejected contract extension
- Homeless crisis deepens in Massachusetts
- Letters from international comrades on the death of Dave Hyland
- Detroit firefighters, city workers speak out on bankruptcy decision
- This week in history: December 16-22
- The Book Thief: The Nazis and the assault, then and now, on culture
17 December 2013 (front page)
- Federal judge holds NSA telephone surveillance unconstitutional
- Global markets shudder at prospect of Fed pullback on dollar handouts to banks
- Obamacare a model for employer-sponsored health plans
- Christian Democrats, Social Democrats form new German grand coalition goverment
- US and Chinese naval vessels in near-collision
- Behind the Obama-Raúl Castro handshake at Mandela memorial
- Bachelet wins Chilean election marked by massive abstention
- Saudi Arabia angered by US-Iran rapprochement
- Australian unions stage phony protest against GMH shutdown
- Australia: Unions meet with Qantas to plan job and wage cuts
- Thai military leaders support new election to resolve crisis
- Relatives of Franco’s victims testify in Argentine courts
- UK’s Croydon Council sells artworks
- Federal prosecutors charge Los Angeles deputy sheriffs in jail abuse probe
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100th anniversary of Brandt’s birth
Willy Brandt, first Social Democratic chancellor of Germany and opponent of Trotskyism - US in sweetheart deal with JPMorgan over complicity in Madoff Ponzi scheme
- The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug: The filmmakers waste considerable talent and skill
- Workers Struggles: The Americas
- Letters from our readers
- Bankruptcy judge moves to privatize Detroit public lighting system
18 December 2013 (front page)
- Russian offer of aid sharpens international power struggle over Ukraine
- “Almost Orwellian”: US Judge indicts NSA spying
- Budget-slashing deal set to be ratified by US Senate
- Former Chinese security chief under house arrest
- Top Indian official declares relationship with China “adversarial”
- UK local government spending will have fallen by a third by 2015
17 December 2013 (front page)
18 December 2013 (front page)
- More letters from international comrades on the death of Dave Hyland
- Australia: A tidal wave of job losses
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Filmmaking and social life in postwar America
The Crime Films of Anthony Mann: A comment and a conversation with the author—Part 1 - Australian budget update foreshadows sharp austerity cuts
- German prosecutors to investigate more far-right terror groups
17 December 2013 (front page)
18 December 2013 (front page)
- Latvian Prime Minister Dombrovskis resigns
- US college executive pay soars along with student debt
- Special offer, WSWS Chronology now $12.00
- Chairman of Workers Inquiry condemns privatization of Detroit public lighting system
19 December 2013 (front page)
- Obama advisory committee whitewashes US spying programs
- German ruling class closes ranks in grand coalition government
- Edward Snowden’s open letter sparks asylum debate in Brazil
- Wall Street celebrates Fed announcement, sending US stocks to record highs
- US Senate approves bipartisan austerity budget
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In the bankruptcy court
Detroit emergency manager conceals evidence of possible financial collusion - Chinese security circles debate growing US war threat
- Egypt’s new constitution legitimizes coup, enshrines military dictatorship
- Australian auto workers condemn Holden plant closure
- US arrest and strip-search of diplomat provokes India’s retaliation
- Ruling circles hail social misery produced by Irish bailout
- Japanese government boosts defence budget
- Survivors of Lampedusa tragedy among refugees brutalised in Italian camp
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Filmmaking and social life in postwar America
The Crime Films of Anthony Mann: A comment and a conversation with the author—Part 2 - India: Frame-up trial of Maruti Suzuki auto workers continues
- European Left selects Tsipras as lead candidate in European elections
20 December 2013 (front page)
- Christie’s appraisal paves way for sale of Detroit Institute of Arts masterpieces
- Australia’s auto closures pose need for a global workers’ strategy
- Detainee ejected from courtroom at Guantanamo trial
- Australia: Adelaide workers discuss Holden shutdown
- European Union increases border controls against asylum seekers
- German court rejects challenge against temporary work
- Peru military-police scandal throws government into crisis
- Florida residents speak on poverty, unemployment benefit cuts
- Australian media bid to justify spying angers Indonesia
- Australia: SEP meetings oppose war preparations against China
- US steps up the drumbeat on Sri Lankan human rights
- Washington, DC Council passes living wage bill
- Railroad accident investigator speaks on US rail safety
- Further condolences on the death of Dave Hyland
- Eileen Hyland responds with thanks
- US academics approve boycott of Israeli universities
- Philomena: Crime and forgiveness
- Workers Struggles: Europe, Middle East & Africa
21 December 2013 (front page)
- US Congress passes $633 billion military spending bill
- Latest Snowden revelations expose Obama’s lies on NSA spy programs
- UK reneges on promised independent inquiry on rendition, torture
- UK faces most severe youth unemployment crisis in decades
- Islamist political leader executed in Bangladesh
- Dozens killed and wounded as sectarian bloodshed escalates in Iraq
- Kellogg announces plant closures in Australia and Canada
- Further strikes at Amazon, Germany
- Italy’s “Forconi” movement
- Juno and the Paycock at the Irish Repertory Theatre: An interview with J. Smith-Cameron and Ciarán O’Reilly
- Workers Struggles: Asia, Australia and the Pacific
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“What you have now is not a true government, it is a dictatorship”
Detroit bus drivers speak out on bankruptcy, crisis in city bus system
23 December 2013 (front page)
- Washington issues warning as South Sudan slides toward civil war
- Behind North Korea’s political crisis
- White House grants new Obamacare exemptions as enrollment deadline hits
- EU summit: Berlin calls for stricter budgetary discipline
- Putin pardons Russian oligarch Khodorkovsky in overture to the West
- Mass opposition blocks Portuguese pension reform
- Implementation of US-Iran interim nuclear deal stalls
- Canada’s foreign minister calls on Edward Snowden to surrender to US authorities
- South Korean police raid unions over railway strike
- Australian government inquiry blames wage levels for car plant closures
- Democrat Party to boycott Thai elections
- East Timor takes Australia to International Court of Justice over ASIO raids
- Obama pushes program to turn public schools over to corporations
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Inquiry gains momentum among workers
Detroiters denounce the widening social divide - “I will stir the smooth sands of monotony:” Peter O’Toole, 1932-2013
- Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra threatened with closure
- This week in history: December 23-29
24 December 2013 (front page)
- US government steps up attack on exposure of NSA spying
- Fed decision fuels global financial parasitism
- US military forces mobilised amid South Sudan crisis
- CIA role in Colombia assassination program bared
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Barack Obama’s Christmas gift to workers
Washington, DC workers speak out on federal budget cuts - Crackdown on UK student protests
- Germany: 87-year-old imprisoned for fare-dodging
- Germany’s grand coalition appoints new state secretary for intelligence services
- Chinese economic conference warns of downturn
- New Zealand government ignores asset sales referendum result
- Doctors condemn conditions in Australian refugee camp
- Condolences on the death of Dave Hyland from Australia and the US
- Machinists union forces re-vote on Boeing concessions contract
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As campaign builds for workers inquiry
More Detroit workers speak on pensions, jobs and the DIA - Union moves to block Portland teachers strike, impose concessions
- Scotland: Jimmy Reid Foundation advocates suppression of the class struggle
- MIA’s new album Matangi
- Locked out Minnesota Orchestra musicians take independent steps
- British NHS director promotes restructuring of accident and emergency departments
- Letters from our readers
27 December 2013 (front page)
- US prepares strikes against Islamists in Iraq
- Japanese PM revives militarist traditions
- Catalan nationalist parties set date for independence referendum
- German Greens, Christian Democrats seal coalition pact in Hesse
- Austrian grand coalition government intensifies austerity
- Hundreds of thousands face Christmas holidays without electricity in US and Canada
- Half a million in the UK deprived of social care over the last five years
- Elizabeth, South Australia: A city devastated by General Motors Holden
- Young worker and father of two killed at Detroit area steel mill
- French humanitarian group alleges Sri Lankan security forces executed aid workers
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Statement from the chairman of the Workers Inquiry
Cancel Detroit’s debt! - The year in music: Favorite recordings of 2013
28 December 2013 (front page)
- A cruel Christmas gift: Jobless benefits cut off for 1.3 million Americans
- Federal judge rules NSA phone data collection is legal
- Power struggle intensifies in Turkey
- Attempt at ceasefire as military buildup continues in South Sudan
- German IG Metall union refuses to present agreement to GM-Opel workers
- Spanish government attacks abortion rights
- India’s Supreme Court re-criminalizes homosexuality
- Thai military hints at a coup
- Memories of Dave Hyland from the US and Australia
- Egyptian junta intensifies crackdown on Muslim Brotherhood
- Public Meeting: David Hyland—a political appreciation
- Australia: Teenage girl assaulted by train ticket inspectors
- US veterans face economic and physical hardship
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Fee bonanza for attorneys, accountants and consultants:
Who is getting paid for the plunder of Detroit? - Workers Struggles: Asia, Australia and the Pacific
30 December 2013 (front page)
- Cutoff of jobless benefits caps year of attacks on US workers
- As 2013 draws to a close, capitalist breakdown is intensifying
- Lebanon destabilised by Chatah assassination
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New York Times report:
CIA-backed militias linked to Benghazi, Libya attack - Factional warfare grips Congress of South African Trade Unions
- Swedish intelligence service spying on Russia for US National Security Agency
- Deadly train fire highlights poor safety conditions on Indian Railways
- Bangladeshi government cracks down on opposition protests
- New German defence minister makes Christmas visit to Afghanistan
- Australian Greens initiate Senate inquiry to whitewash mass surveillance
- Berlin Senate passes new austerity budget
- NYC school bus workers hammered by mass layoffs and contract givebacks
- Canada Post to end home mail delivery, slash pensions
- Pennsylvania court upholds life terms for crimes committed by juveniles
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”They want to go back to the days when art was only for the wealthy”
DIA visitors support Workers Inquiry - The Wolf of Wall Street: Why should we admire such figures?
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The humanitarian industry: A “force multiplier” for imperialism
Humanitarianism Contested, Where Angels Fear to Tread, by Michael Barnett and Thomas G. Weiss - Fifty years since the Frankfurt Auschwitz trial
- This week in history: December 30-January 5
31 December 2013 (front page)
- Snowden reveals massive National Security Agency hacking unit
- The pseudo-legal arguments for a police state
- Terror bombings kill at least 32 in southern Russia
- New Year’s launch of Obamacare: A health care counter-reform in action
- Protests hit Turkey as corruption probes target Erdogan government
- Women threatened with deportation after exposing sexual harassment at UK detention centre
- Czech Republic: Social Democrats enter into coalition with right-wing billionaire’s party
- Australia: Former Labor minister to assist Holden shutdown
- Japan: Okinawa governor approves new US Marine base
- Pakistani PM warns against anti-US drone protests
- New York’s Mayor Bloomberg calls for assault on public worker pensions
- Following social unrest, Argentine government grants police wage hikes
- After years of privatization, Detroit charter school enrollment tops public schools
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India: Protest denounces frame-up of Maruti Suzuki auto workers
An on-the-spot report - Workers Struggles: The Americas
- Best films of 2013
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