The British Royal family doesn’t give two hoots about the downside of imperialist wars - the morbid consequences, the extreme human suffering. Indifference is the word. Greed and arrogance, the distinguishing qualities of centuries of royal rule, has gotten us into this current never-ending war mess.

In an almost unprecedented move on October 28, Cuba publicly agreed to allow three USAID officials to visit the island to assess the recent heavy damage inflicted by Hurricane Wilma.

ORGANISED by the All China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU) at Shanghai last month, the “International Forum on Economic Globalisation and Trade Unions 2005” was attended by 27 trade union functionaries from several countries.

The mainstream press is finally covering the pension crisis with full force, spurred by Delphi’s bankruptcy filing and news that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has formalized its investigation of General Motors’ underfunded pension obligations.

This piece of legislation is the clearest way for Congress to demand a serious investigation of the Plame leak and the war lies that preceded it.

Here is another of our occasional book roundups consisting of short notices of works we have not been able to fully review. If any of our readers are inspired to read one of these books and wishes to write a full review, please contact pabooks@politicalaffairs.net.

Appearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee as nominee for Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, John Roberts assured the senators that he would not be one of those noisome activist judges who inject their personal values into court decisions.

It's a sign of weakness. By dropping his support for Harriet Miers, an apparent victim of ultra-right hate, and appointing Judge Samuel Alito, whose ideological rigidity has right-wingers confident that he will vote their way on divisive issues, Bush signaled that he does not have the political capital to pursue his own agenda and that he has no political will of his own.

IN the last two years about 60 deaths in four countries (Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand and Cambodia) have been reported due to the dreaded “avian flu”.  On the face of it, not something that would appear to be a cause for major concern. Yet there is widespread panic across the world.

George Bush accused the Islamic Republic of supporting terrorism. During his meeting with Jalal Talebani, the President of Iraq, Tony Blair claimed that the new wave of terrorist attacks in the southern Iraq was financed and militarily supported by circles linked to the Iranian regime. The spokesman for the US State Department, accused the leaders of the regime in Iran of deception and likened them to the Iraqi regime during Saddam’s era. This well-orchestrated propaganda campaign is not accidental or without significance.

I think it is no secret, nor is it surprising, that increasingly the eyes of the world are on Venezuela. Because it is becoming clear (even with the misinformation provided by the dominant international media) that Venezuela has said "no" to neo-liberalism...And, that means, of course, there are enemies...They especially want the idea of participative and protagonistic democracy to fail.

A group of young, mostly female workers in Hidalgo, Mexico, some as young as 13 years-old, who have made Harry Potter and other Halloween costumes with Warner Brother logos, have been illegally locked out for protesting child labor violations, unsafe and unjust working conditions, and the company’s refusal to recognize their collective bargaining agreement.

Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald plans to pursue broader conspiracy charges against Cheney senior White House officials, and top officials at the State Department and the National Security Council, that may finally shed light on how the Bush administration came to use erroneous intelligence that claimed Iraq tried to purchase yellowcake uranium from Niger, lawyers involved in the two year old investigation said.

The CEO and founder of Mansfield, Texas-based Siméus Foods International Inc. was one of the 54 presidential candidates who filed before the Sep. 15 registration deadline... A Texan and major Republican Party donor, Siméus is widely considered to be the Bush administration’s favorite candidate. His campaign manager, Robert Allyn, worked on the campaigns of both George W. Bush and Mexico’s president Vincente Fox

[The Special UN Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights] further added that Gaza was not occupied anymore, but stressing that Israel continues to control it through dominating borders, air space and regional waters, as well as preventing Gazans from moving freely to and from the West Bank or neighboring countries.

The Campaign for America's Future sent a letter last week to all the Republican lawmakers whose campaigns received money from former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay's political action committee.

Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline isn’t a household name yet, but he may be soon. In recent months Mr. Kline has shown that he is the type of judicial nominee that President Bush is looking for.

America's health care system – or rather lack of a system – has created a state of emergency for the country. With 46 million people without coverage and up to 100 million without adequate coverage, this emergency costs lives, financial stability, and threatens to unravel our social fabric.

Despite pledges to the contrary, the Bush administration has explicitly politicized the conduct of the Iraq war. Staged photo-ops with soldiers, repeated public relations campaigns to impress the American people with the progress of its war on Iraq, and exaggerated claims about the "spread of democracy" in the Middle East resulting from its policies are key elements of the politics of Bush's war.

On the heels of the passage of Iraq's new Constitution, two Democratic members of Congress are calling on Bush to provide an exit strategy from Iraq and to begin withdrawing troops.