International news and opinion

By Tim Anderson
On 26 November 2012 more than 400 new doctors graduated in Timor Leste, bringing the total number of Cuban trained doctors to nearly 500.

The graduation was notable for two reasons: first, this was the largest graduation of doctors in the region (probably the largest in the world, outside Latin America); and second, it attracted not a single news story in the English speaking world.

Typhoon Bhopa (Philippine name Pablo) have resulted to a total number of 647 casualties, with another 1,842 people injured, and 780 missing.

Typhoon Pablo and Doha: Ways Forward for the Philippines

By Akbayan (Citizens Action Party)

It is truly a sad day for Filipinos across the nation, as the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council announced the devastation of typhoon Pablo to have resulted to a total number of 647 casualties, with another 1,842 people injured, and 780 missing.

There is a dirty campaign being waged to smear the name of the Prime Minister. The claims go back as far as twenty years and seek to discredit Gillard's days as a lawyer before she entered parliament. Not a single substantive claim has been made against her. But the Murdoch press and the right wing political mud slingers are intent on throwing as much muck as they can in the lead up to the next federal election.

MANILA, Philippines – As the first female chief of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) visited the country for the first time and met with Pres. Benigno S. Aquino III Friday morning, debt watchdog Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC) staged a protest near the Malacañan Palace, in solidarity with the peoples of the Eurozone.

“For FDC, the IMF is dead, a walking dead,” said the group’s president, Ricardo Reyes. “The sooner we bury this economic zombie, the better for the economies and the peoples of the world.”