Nearly 50 per cent of the homes in the community contain black mould and need to be washed with water and bleach regularly, Mr. Moonias said.

A one-litre bottle of water sells for $6 in the town.

PARIS -- France has quietly begun expelling Muslim girls for wearing head scarves to public schools in defiance of a new law banning conspicuous religious symbols, treading carefully for fear of endangering two French hostages in Iraq.

TORONTO, OCTOBER 20, 2004

"Six people were arrested today following a
sit-in in the lobby of the building that houses the Toronto offices of
Canada's national spy agency, CSIS. The group, made up of folks from
Burlington, Hamilton, Dundas, Durham, and Toronto, had been seeking a
meeting to discuss the secret 'evidence' which has been used to detain five
> Muslim men a collective 164 months, or 13 and a half years, behind
Canadian prison bars without charge or bail.

OTTAWA - The Tli Cho Land Claims and Self-Government Act was introduced in the House of Commons Tuesday by Indian Affairs Minister Andy Scott.

Washington Post | Tuesday, October 19, 2004; Page E01 | By Jonathan Weisman and Ben White

"...A
rash of new data, including Treasury Department figures released yesterday
showing a net sell-off by foreigners of U.S. bonds in August, has stoked
debate over whether overseas investors -- private individuals, institutions
and government central banks -- are growing dangerously bearish on the U.S.
economy."

The Guardian | October 12, 2004 | By Alan Freeman

The article compares the choices two governments have made given their available resources: Germany with the neocon model of imposing economic hardship for their poor even in times of prosperity (for some) and the Venezuelan model of using economic surplus to actualize social goals.

The author claims, "Reforms that are presented as economic necessities are in fact usually political choices".

"Last May a major scandal erupted inside the British Columbia labour movement when it came to light that Concert Properties (a huge development corporation controlled by the trade union movement) had donated $16,665 to Gordon Campbell's Liberal Party.... What Concert's directors (union leaders!) seem to be saying.... is simply this: 'We will take the pension money of our members and donate it wherever we want. We will do this without seeking a mandate from our members, or even informing them that we are giving their money away to our enemies. We will join the P3 crusade to privatize public services, regardless of the democratically adopted positions of our unions in opposition to this privatization.  We will also pay ourselves whatever directors fees and perks we deem to be fit, and conceal this information from our membership. We are answerable to no one. We are accountable to no one.  And if you don't like it, you can lump it.'"

TheStar.com
| Oct. 18, 2004

The governors of the Great Lakes states have a plan for diverting water from the Great Lakes Basin. Under their scheme, neither Canada nor the provinces would have any right to approve or veto the diversion of Great Lakes waters regardless of their duration, scale, or impact on the waters of this shared ecosystem.

By: Jonah Gindin - Venezuelanalysis.com

When Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez was elected in 1998, inaugurating a process of radical political and social changes, it looked as though labor might be left behind.  The main labor central, the Confederation of Venezuelan Workers (CTV) was one of his most avid critics, and Chávez in turn lashed out verbally against the CTV on a regular basis.  But the image of Chávez vs Labor, repeatedly thrown at the unsuspecting casual observer by the mainstream media, is precisely intended to mislead.  The unpleasant truth is that the CTV has not adequately represented Venezuelan workers since the 1970s, if not before.  The reality of Chávez vs the CTV, then, does not exclude the active and enthusiastic participation of a large proportion of Venezuelan workers in his Bolívarian revolution (named after Latin American Independence leader Simón Bolívar).

Why is Britain using aid money to persuade South Africa to privatise its public
services?

George Monbiot |
Tuesday October 19, 2004 |
The Guardian

No one could have accused the Conservative government of breaking its promise to
bring back Victorian values. When, in 1992, it permitted private water companies to
install pre-paid meters in Birmingham, the people who couldn't afford to flush their
toilets started defecating into pots, which they then emptied out of the windows of
their tower blocks. It made one quite nostalgic.

"So for us in South Africa, who have lived through Apartheid, who have benefited from this (sanctions) kind of international solidarity, we think it is vital for us to be in the lead to support the call to isolate Israel. It is therefore with shock and embarrassment that we find our own (African National Congress - former liberation movement, now neo-liberal) government, which benefited from this international solidarity, in fact acting like scabs during a strike, breaking this call."

IQALUIT - Nunavut politician Jerry Ell was arrested this morning in Iqaluit after giving himself up following a six-hour armed standoff with police.

Roy Whyte

CDM

Oct 11 2004



Word has come down this week that Lockheed Martin will help conduct the 2006 Canadian census through a Canadian subsidiary. Lockheed Martin is o

Suzanne Goldenberg

Tuesday October 19, 2004

The Guardian

In the US, in 2002, the median net worth of white households was $88,651, or 11 times greater than Hispanic families ($7,932) and 14 times greater than African-American families ($5,988).

JACKSON, Miss., Oct. 17 - What does it take for a man like Staff Sgt. Michael Butler, a 24-year veteran of the Army and the Reserve who was a soldier in the first Persian Gulf war and a reserve called up to fight in the current war in Iraq, to risk everything by disobeying a direct order in wartime?