International

Jakartas's media see new law curbing freedoms By Mariane Kearney The Indonesian parliament yesterday delayed passing a draconian press law which critics fear would allow for the return of a Suharto-style press council with powers to censor one of Asia's freest and most vociferous media industries.

The lost American By Jane Searle If Bush wants war with Iraq, he’d better choose a non-American to point the missiles. Just 13 percent of young Americans can find Iraq on a map – fewer than their peers in most countries.

Vietnam’s developing storyline By Kath Kenny A summary of a recent week’s big news stories would include the following. A new plan to deal with the country’s birth rate problem. Parents spending a fortune on tutors to get their children into the right school. Local government representatives in a corruption scandal. Another new inner city apartment block going up. Students protesting over loan schemes.

Workers’ Party Lula wins first round in Brazil By Carla Meneghini Mendes Almeida Luís Inácio Lula da Silva, former steelworker and union leader, will face José Serra, the outgoing government’s candidate and President Cardoso’s former Health Minister, in the second round of the Brazilian presidential elections on October 27. Lula gained 46.4% of the valid votes in the first round, while Serra received only 23.2%. Two other candidates, Anthony Garotinho and Ciro Gomes, gained 19% and 11% respectively.

Schröder winning in Germany by losing in the US By Emma O”Brien Jubilant after a close win for his red/green coalition in Sunday’s elections, German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder now faces the task of winning back the favour of the US. After pre-election comments by an SPD minister comparing Bush with Hitler, and Schröder’s firmly oppositional stance to an attack on Iraq, the task won’t be an easy one.

East Timor gives US troops immunity By Sonya Neufeld East Timor has signed an agreement exempting United States military personnel from prosecution in the new International Criminal Court (ICC) amid severe criticism.

DFAT clearing a path to Indonesia’s forests for Australian miners By Tim McDonald. The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) helped Australian mining companies lobby the Indonesian government for the right to mine in protected forests.

Spotlight on Burma: SPECIAL In its latest efforts to convince the international community that it is ready to embrace political change the Burmese military dictatorship has released democracy leader Daw Aung Suu Kyi from house arrest. But the continued atrocities against the ethnic people of Burma suggest the Junta’s efforts are nothing more than a charade to get their hands on international aid dollars. For Karen villagers nothing has changed. The Burmese army continues to hunt them down and kill them. Reporter Phil Thornton talked to survivors of a recent mass killing on the Thai Burma border.

Students with global outlooks by Kirsten Lee University students from around the globe convened in Sydney recently to discuss current issues and challenges facing the Asia-Pacific region

Chomsky: Why the US will invade Iraq by Gabrielle Jackson. A short interview with Noam Chomsky conducted by Gabrielle Jackson in the US on August 16 2002.

US promises aid to Indonesia'a unreformed military by Sonya Neufeld. The United States has committed $50 million U.S. to Indonesia’s unreformed military, to help the country fight international terrorism.

Investigation into alleged Afghan graves unnecessary Australia is rejecting calls by European parliamentarians for an inquiry into alleged mass graves in northern Afghanistan, after allegations that United States soldiers were implicated in atrocities. Reporter: Jonathan Harley

The masses are terrified Thousands of Pakistani refugees are fleeing the disputed borders of Kashmir amidst growing fears that the rapid escalation in tensions with India may spill over into all-out war. By Drew Warne-Smith

Cook Islands project whale-friendly image by Jano Gibson. A new project in the Cook Islands is aiming to use education as "the magic link" in efforts to conserve the leviathans of the ocean - the whales.

My Israel, my Palestine by Joe Boughton-Dent. During 2001 two young Australians, Diaa Hadid and David Kramer, headed to Israel to gain a better understanding of the region. As a scene of escalating violence unfolded before them, they were forced to question and re-evaluate many of their beliefs

Journalist threatened in Fiji by David Robie

Things they do anyway In a country where laughing is a sin, where to show the hair or contours of a woman’s body is a sin, and where talking to the opposite sex is a sin, Negar Salek discovers the methods teenagers use to still do these things anyway...

War in Israel by Diaa Hadid

Revenge or Justice ? The US now faces a stark choice between revenge and justice, writes barrister Geoffrey Robertson. Here, he outlines the crisis from an international law perspective.

It's a crime, not a war Geoffrey Robertson on the linguistics of terror reporting.

What led to this? Leading Australian political writer and commentator Alan Ramsey puts the terrorist attacks in the US, and Australia's political response, in an historical perspective. ; and the accompanying article examines the reaction of Australia's PM, Howard.

Inevitable ring to the unimaginable Far from being the terrorists of the world, the Islamic peoples have been its victims, says John Pilger, outlining some of the "daily horrors in faraway brutalised places" which have now come home to the West.

Letter from an Afghani American This email from writer Mir Tamim Ansary has circulated around the world.

Interview with Tamim Ansary Afghani-American writer Mir Tamim Ansary speaks to Pat Holt.

Who's Helping Aceh? Cut Nur Asyikin came to Australia with a plain message for the government and local aid groups: Aceh is in the grip of a humanitarian crisis which is being ignored by the international community. Christine Kearney reports.

Bougainville Local women in Bougainville have won a UN Prize for their peace project, running workshops on human rights for residents of villages in Buka, north of the mainland. Shoba Rao reports.