International

With less than a week to go before Canada’s Oct. 14 federal elections, the country’s faltering economy has become an issue. The Conservative Party is claiming that Canada’s economy is on a sound footing, and is promising further measures such as tax cuts, deregulation and encouraging foreign investment to foster economic growth.

Hurricanes Gustav and Ike raked Cuba Aug. 30 and Sept. 7-9, causing the country’s worst natural disaster in recorded history. Officials pegged losses at $5 billion, 10 percent of GDP.

“Today Ecuador has decided on a new country.”
— President Rafael Correa

President Correa had promised to resign if voters failed to approve Ecuador’s new constitution in the Sept. 28 referendum. That evening celebrations filled city streets as 64 percent of Ecuadorians affirmed the document, completed in July after eight months of deliberation by a constituent assembly. The no vote totaled 28 percent. Observers from the European Union, Andean Parliament, Carter Center and Organization of American States indicated that balloting by 10 million citizens — 165, 000 of them living in 47 foreign countries — unfolded peacefully and efficiently.

Venezuela: Human Rights Watch official expelled
South Africa: Controversial health minister out
Belgium: Launch new immigration plan
Iraq: Medical disaster prevails
Laos: Planners see Mekong River dammed
Cuba: Wives of the Five gain British labor backing

"The response of Main Street to the idea of bailing out Wall Street is all about Main Street wanting some accountability from the capitalist system," said musical legend and political activist Billy Bragg in a recent interview with Political Affairs magazine.

We arrive at the 10th anniversary of the arrest of the Cuban Five at a crucial moment of our legal process (That is what they call it, although perhaps "illegal process" would be more appropriate.) The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, based in Atlanta, has just ended our appeal.

Peace and disarmament activists are warning that an agreement now before the Senate to let India buy nuclear fuel and technology from the United States for civilian purposes could make it easier for India to build more nuclear weapons. They say the pact also undermines the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty because it would let India participate in international nuclear trade even though it developed nuclear weapons outside the NPT framework and won’t sign the treaty.

The big weekend blowout in Germany’s Social Democratic Party (SPD) demonstrates how to cut off your nose to spite your face. In a series of small, smaller and smallest secret gatherings the party leaders — facing a disastrous seepage of members and voters because of their switch rightwards in recent years — got rid of party chief Kurt Beck, who had tried to repair things by risking a few timid steps in a vaguely ‘leftish’ direction, and put the party’s future into the hands of two unabashed right-wingers, Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeyer and the former Vice-Chancellor and party head Franz Muentefering.

Berlin — Bavaria, Germany’s largest state, borders on Austria: Both have countless Alpine peaks, lots of men in lederhosen, and many right-wing Roman Catholic traditions. Both had elections on Sunday. Before nightfall many an otherwise happy yodeler showed tightly compressed lips and a grim look.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia — The country’s political parties are on the campaign trail in the wake of Conservative Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s recent surprise call for an election to be held Oct. 14.