INDONESIA A NEWS

Divorce or dissolution of marriage is the ending of a marriage before the death of either spouse, which can be contrasted with an annulment , which is a declaration that a marriage is void, though the effects of marriage may be recognized in such unions, such as spousal support , child custody and distribution of property . In many developed countries , divorce rates have increased markedly during the twentieth century . Among the states in which divorce has become commonplace are the United States , South Korea and members of the European Union , with the exception of Malta (where all civil marriages are for life, because civil divorce is banned, which is also the case in the Philippines ). In the USA, Canada , the United Kingdom and some other developed Commonwealth countries, this boom in divorce developed in the last half of the twentieth century . Japan retains a markedly lower divorce rate, though it has increased in recent years. In addition, acceptance of the single-pa...

Drug users who don't engage in dealing will no longer be sent to prison under a new drug law now in effect across Brazil, officials said Friday. The law, which went into force this week, no longer calls for the imprisonment of people caught with small quantities of narcotics for personal use. Instead, they will be subject them to alternative penalties such as community service and could be required to undergo drug treatment, the justice ministry's press office said. National Anti-drug Secretary Paulo Roberto Uchoa told reporters in Brasilia, the nation's capital, that thanks to the new law drug users will no longer be "persecuted by society." The law does not, however, specify how much is a "small quantity" leaving that up to the discretion of police and judges. If police arrest someone in possession of drugs for personal use, they will now only be required to sign an agreement to report for sentencing at a future date, before being freed. Cocaine and ma...

As the link between domestic violence and animal cruelty becomes increasingly evident, states are beginning to act. Early this year, the governor of Maine signed a bill, believed to be the first of its kind, that specifically allows animals to be included in court protective orders. Vermont and New York followed with similar legislation. Measures are being considered in New Jersey and Illinois. Such laws build on the status of animals as property, but they also speak to the special place pets have in American homes as living, breathing members of the family. "We're dealing with the kind of property that can suffer and die," says Randall Lockwood of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Debbie Carter, public policy director for the Texas Council on Family Violence, doesn't see similar animal protective-order legislation on the horizon in Texas. In Bexar County, Bettina Richardson, an assistant district attorney and executive director of the Fam...

Dear friends, Right now a tragedy is unfolding in the Middle East. Thousands of innocent civilians have been killed or wounded in the bombings in Lebanon, Palestine and Israel and the death toll is rising every day. If the US, Syria or Iran get involved, there is a chance of a catastrophic larger war. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has called for an immediate ceasefire and the deployment of international troops to the Israel-Lebanon border, and been strongly supported by almost every world leader. This is the best proposal yet to stop the violence, but the US, the UK, and Israel have refused to accept it. I have just signed a petition calling on US President Bush, UK Prime Minister Blair, and Israeli Prime Minister Olmert to support Kofi Annan's proposal. If millions of people join this call, and we advertise our views in newspapers in the US, UK, and Israel, we can help pressure these leaders to stop the fighting. Go to the link below and sign up now! http://www.ceasefirecampa...

Revolution and counter-revolution in Indonesia By Alan Woods Perspectives, October 1965 Confused reports of Officers' plots, coups and countercoups which filtered through to the Western press a week ago were the first indication of a major revolutionary upheaval in Indonesia. The recent events unfolded against a now familiar background of social and economic crisis in a backward country. The regime of Sukarno - despite the superficial appearance of stability - has been exposed as rotten to the core. The analysis of the Indonesian events provides us with an object lessen in the fate of Bonapartism - bourgeois and proletarian. Bonapartism and bankruptcy Since the end of the war, all the countries of the so-called "third world" have passed through a period of uninterrupted social convulsions, as the result of the growing gap in the terms of trade with the advanced capitalist countries. The Indonesian economy is a model of bankruptcy. At one time, Indonesia was a rice-surplus...

Through the bars of their rusty cages on the back of a trailer, they gaze pathetically out. Three pitiful lions, kept illegally without a permit by a touring circus in Dordogne, France. Their world is a barren circus ‘beast-wagon’, divided into three cramped compartments, each just 6ft long. They don’t even have a shelf to sleep on, and are never given access to an exercise area. A few square feet in a rusty metal cage that has been welded shut. That’s the sum total of their world. Two of the lions are females, and they have had their front claws cruelly removed by a previous owner. These animals have literally spent years caged for 24 hours every day. They are kept by this circus for breeding, and 15 year old Nalla has produced 20 cubs during the seven years she has spent in the trailer, which have probably been sold on to other circuses. Eight year old Shada has had three litters of cubs. Her first litter died and her other cubs have been sold on. Lions ought to be magnificent creatu...

Paul Donovan, London Whenever economists gather together, sooner or later the conversation will inevitably turn to what is politely referred to as the problem of "global imbalances". This is the fact that the United States is running an extraordinarily large current account deficit, and the rest of the world is (by definition) running an extraordinarily large current account surplus. It is a fact of economics (one of the very few incontrovertible facts) that a balance of payments position must balance out -- so the U.S. current account deficit requires an equivalent capital inflow to finance it. Today that flow amounts to something in excess of US$1.5 million dollars every minute, every day (including weekends). The scale of the imbalance, and the stresses that it places on the global economy, are well known. America is spending more than it can afford to spend in the long run, and the rest of the world is denying itself the better standard of living it could otherwise enjoy....