There can be no Independents listed on Irish ballot papers although they are coming in at over 20% in the polls read full story / add a comment

On Monday, the Supreme Court hears arguments between Argentina and holdouts who refused two debt restructuring deals after Argentina defaulted on its debts in 2001. The Supreme Court Justices will determine if predatory hedge fund, NML Capital can obtain information from US Banks that reveal Argentina's holdings in order to target those assets for debt payments. The Obama Administration is siding with Argentina in the case. In the summer, the Supreme Court will also decide if it will hear a much broader case between Argentina and the hedge funds that impacts extreme poverty, official US debt policy and country debt restructuring. read full story / add a comment

Buried in the DLC CC website is a notice inviting members of the public to have their say in the 2016 - 2022 development plan. These are types of plans throughout the country that have been shaped, influenced and manipulated by corrupt developers in the past and probably will continue to do so in the future.

The consultation period has already been in operation for over a month since March 19th and continues until May 14th.

This is the public chance to have their say. However DLR have been very coy about this and have given very little publicity about it. It appears you have to know about it in order to find out about it. read full story / add a comment

On the Supreme Court decision declaring the Reproductive Health Law constitutional read full story / add a comment

The annual International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank meetings are focusing on the role of high debt burdens in both global economic recovery and increasing inequality. At the onset of the meetings, the G24 released an IMF statement noting that the IMF's failure to implement quota reform and the outcome of the US Supreme Court Argentina/NML Capital case impacts global inequality. read full story / add a comment

The false sense of security of the internet has been completely overturned by the latest security bug to be discovered. A bug in the popular OpenSSL library used by many of the most important and frequently used server sites on the net allows arbitrary chunks of memory to be read remotely from user machines and servers, possibly containing very sensitive data, user tokens, bank details, emails and passwords. What does all this mean and how did it happen and what can we do to protect ourselves? read full story / add a comment

April/May edition of the Beir Bus (Dublin) read full story / add a comment

A Galway squat has recently been evicted. The property had been recently taken over by Bank of Scotland who are appointed KPMG as caretakers of the property. read full story / add a comment

The term ‘gentrification’ was coined in 1964 by sociologist – Ruth Glass. She defined it as a change in the social structure and housing market in working class areas. She explained – "One by one, many of the working class quarters have been invaded by the middle class - upper and lower ... Once this process of 'gentrification' starts in a district it goes on rapidly until all or most of the working class occupiers are displaced and the whole social character of the district is changed" (Glass, 1964, p.xvii). read full story / add a comment

Sadly, Tony Benn has died aged 88 "After the war people said, 'If you can plan for war, why can't you plan for peace?' When I was 17, I had a letter from the government saying, 'Dear Mr. Benn, will you turn up when you're 17 1/2? We'll give you free food, free clothes, free training, free accommodation, and two shillings, ten pence a day to just kill Germans.' People said, well, if you can have full employment to kill people, why in God's name couldn't you have full employment and good schools, good hospitals, good houses?" -Tony Benn (1925-2014): read full story / add a comment

On midday on Friday 7th March the Institute of Chemical Engineers - and their corporate sponsors, Shell - had organised for an engineer from Shell's Corrib Gas Project to give a talk and workshop for staff and students of the Engineering College at UCC. A cork group formed and mobilsed to attend the lecture, distribute independent information on Corrib and challenge any Shell spin.

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In the week of the 3rd to the 7th of March four houses were squatted in Calais. One of these has already been evicted once and reoccupied. The remaining three are legally secure (in France exists a law which stipulates that houses which have been squatted for more than 48 hours cannot be evicted without a legal procedure) but despite this remain as before under threat. In the past in Calais there have been countless illegal evictions by police, predominately those of living quarters of refugees.

Many of the initial squatters have now traveled further on and so there is the need for support from activists who can secure these future safe spaces, document police violence as well as any eviction attempts and help make the houses livable.

The current situation is a key moment in the story of squats in Calais. It is the first time that there is the possibility to keep many houses at the same time --- a chance which we shouldn't pass up! It will pay off in the future to fight for these houses and the struggle begins now! We have lots of room for creativity and the energy of people who want to support us in this struggle! read full story / add a comment

An attempt today was made by the 32CSM to hand in the UN submission on the violation of Ireland's national sovereignty to the EPP which was blocked by the Free state police. read full story / add a comment

Three peace activists, Mairead Maguire Ann Patterson and Medea Benjamin were detained in Cairo and deported read full story / add a comment

Interview with Jose Maria Sison, Founding Chairman, Communist Party of the Philippines
by New Culture Magazine, Communist Reconstruction Union of Brazil read full story / add a comment

Attention Globalfrackdown family Here is the last news from Zurawlow, Poland, please forward it, also to all the journalists you know directly: Call for the direct support of in Zurawlow, Poland: Chevron plans to stop the protest by force on Monday February 24. The farmers have stood their ground for nearly 300 days! PROTEST SUPPORTERS AND VIDEO MAKERS ARE NEEDED! After almost 300 days, the longest in the history of post-war Polish protest of residents and inhabitants of ?urawlow and other villages of the municipalitiy of Grabowiec need our support. On Monday February 24, against the law and without official permits, the company Chevron plans to step in with heavy equipment onto the concession's Grabowiec leased plot. As usually practiced in such cases, a security company should give a support. read full story / add a comment

Argentina officially requested that the US Supreme Court hear an appeal in a debt case that will impact people living in extreme poverty around the world. The case dates back to Argentina's 2001 default, after which 92% of all Argentine bond holders restructured their defaulted debt. Predatory hedge fund, NML Capital leads a small group of holdouts who won judgments for payment in lower US Courts. NML Capital never invested in Argentina and bought the debt cheaply after Argentina's default. Because sovereign lending is contracted in the United States, the precedent the case sets impacts some of the poorest economies around the globe and allows these hedge funds to target assets that benefit poor people. The International Monetary Fund, the Paris Club, legitimate investors, the US and most governments oppose this predatory behavior because it cancels the benefits of debt relief, makes sovereign debt restructuring more difficult and limits credit to poor countries read full story / add a comment

Argentina will file its final US Supreme Court appeal in the NML Capital hedge fund debt case before this Tuesday, February 18th. Legal observers, economists, investors, the United Nations, the Obama Administration, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the religious community have closely monitored the proceedings. read full story / add a comment

A look at 1 British, 1 Australian, and 29 American billionaire hedge fund managers and their
behind the scenes manipulation of the world read full story / add a comment

Mairead Maguire has called on Pakistani Prime Minister to release Kareem Khan, whom she describes as a man of peace read full story / add a comment