Every cloud has a silver lining: melting Arctic ice opens up new shipping routes. But is the lining really silver? Environmental groups are worried about the exploitation of natural resources. Two major Arctic shipping routes have opened as summer sea ice melts, European satellites have found. Data recorded by the European Space Agency's (Esa) Envisat shows both Canada's Northwest Passage and Russia's Northern Sea Route open simultaneously. This summer's melt could break the 2007 record for the smallest area of sea ice since the satellite era began in 1979. Shipping companies are already eyeing the benefits these routes may bring if they remain open regularly. The two lanes have been used by a number of small craft several times in recent years. But the Northern Sea Route has been free enough of ice this month for a succession of tankers carrying natural gas condensate from the northern port of Murmansk to sail along the Siberian coast en route for Thailand. ... read full story / add a comment

See this breaking news interview with War correspondent Pepe Escobar on Russia Today television.

The hostility persists in Tripoli and the Libyan rebels continue the search for Gaddafi, but who is leading the rebels? Who are the beneficiaries of the fall of Gaddafi? What will the blowback be for those in Libya and across the globe? Pepe Escobar, a correspondent for Asia Times, gives us some answers to these questions. ... read full story / add a comment

According to an article in the Daily Mail the Allied Irish Bank gave "loans, guarantees and lines of credit" to the catholic church to enable them to pay more than $400m of compensation to victims of sexual abuse by catholic priests. ... read full story / add a comment

Contrary to Reports coming from the International Criminal Court Col Gaddafi's son Saif al-Islam was not arrested on Sunday.

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This article from A World to Win News Service, analyzes the increasing divisions within the Iranian Theocracy. Full text at url below.

Further fissures and cracks have appeared among Iran’s top rulers, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the spiritual leader of the Islamic regime, and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his close circle in charge of the government.

Given the love affair between Khamenei and Ahmadinejad over the last six years and specially Khamenei’s support for Ahmadinejad during the 2009 election that sparked an uprising, this difference between the two factions was not taken very seriously by masses at the beginning.

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Maciej Zurowski encountered angry locals and grinning cops when he went to Tottenham Police Station. Here are some excerpts from his article and interviews with locals. Full text at link.

On Sunday afternoon, it looked as if the police had been instructed to use a new tactic to contain the public anger: grin. The area around Tottenham police station, which had been subject to severe rioting the previous night, was cordoned off by the boys and girls in blue, each of them sporting an unpersuasive, frozen smile. Gathering in front of the police line were those who have not got much to smile about these days: the overwhelmingly working class denizens of the impoverished north London neighbourhood, which had seen its last major riot during Thatcher’s reign in 1985.

“Murderers! You’ve shot a young father dead,” the woman shouted, following the accusation with assorted expletives. As she walked off, two officers turned to each other and chuckled. You would have thought that homicide is not exactly a laughing matter, especially when you consider that 333 people have died under British police custody since 1998 and not a single police officer has been successfully prosecuted. But then that’s just human defence mechanisms for you.

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This report from the WSWS site accurately sums up the situation in Britain today and the outcome of the riots. It confirms most people suspicions that the state has used this to launch a vicious assault on the working class (read ordinary folk) of Britain. It has used the very same press that was embroiled just weeks ago in a huge phone hacking scandal. The state repression and right-wing hysteria unleashed reveal the preparations of the ruling class for police-state forms of rule

It is amazing that despite all the arrests and sentencing that: The riots were triggered by the police execution of Mark Duggan, a black 29-year-old father of four, in Tottenham, north London on August 4, followed by an unprovoked police assault on a peaceful protest over his killing two days later. Almost a fortnight later, no officer has been identified, let alone charged, for these crimes.

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Peter Manson writes about the London Riots. What was positive about and what was negative. But rioting itself is no answer to the problems facing the Working Class. Full text of the article is at the link below.

A positive and progressive rebellion against deprivation or unashamed and backward criminality? The reaction of the left to the riots in towns and cities across Britain has been polarised between these two extremes.

As readers will know, what started as a peaceful protest outside Tottenham Hale police station on Saturday August 6 was violently transformed after several hours and eventually sparked full-scale rioting and looting, first in London and then in major conurbations the length and breadth of the country. The original demonstration was against the brutal killing by police of Mark Duggan and their subsequent lying excuses and justifications.

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The publication follows on from a two-day Conference held in the University of Limerick last October with the same title as the book. There will be an official launch of the book in Limerick and Dublin in early September.

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This is an article about a new book on climate change. Written by Orrin Pilkey and illustrated by Mary Fraser.

"IT TURNS out that there is a hoax involved in climate change. Only the hoax is being perpetrated by public relations efforts by the fossil fuels industry." Thus begins the most memorable chapter of Global Climate Change.

Better known for his exposés on the flaws of coastal engineering, geologist Orrin Pilkey has turned his attention to this century's hot environmental topic: climate change. There are no surprises for those familiar with the subject, but the book does a good job of explaining the foundations of climate science to an interested novice.

 

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Yassamine Mather is interviewed by  Mark Fischer on developing divisions in the Iranian Regime and the failure of the leading reformists to challenge the existing institutions. Full text at link.

Given its potential importance, it seems odd that there has been so little said in the western media about the ongoing conflict between Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the supreme religious leader, Ali Khamenei. Why is this?

It can perhaps be explained by the attitude of the US administration, which seems to be playing a waiting game. Obviously, they will have followed these disputes, but they expect the system to disintegrate without much intervention from the US and at the moment they have other countries to worry about in the region.
 
However, this is a serious, ongoing struggle which shows no signs of abating and has actually started a process of political differentiation within the green movement between leaders looking for ‘reconciliation’ with the regime and the more militant, intransigent sections of its base. A number of developments indicate the scale of the crisis.

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Yet more startling  news from the Wikileaks US Cables. This time its about US attempts to overthrow Bolivian President Evo Morales. Full text at link.

Recently released United States embassy cables from Bolivia have provided additional insight to the events leading up to the September 2008 coup attempt against the Andean country’s first indigenous president.

On September 9, 2008, President Evo Morales expelled then-US ambassador Philip Goldberg as evidence emerged that Goldberg and embassy officials had been meeting with several key civilian and military figures involved in an unfolding coup plot.

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The initial media response was to blame the attacks that caused the deaths of at least 91 people in Norway yesterday on Islamist extremism . Since then a profile of Anders Behring Breivik, the Islamophobe behind the massacre has begun to emerge. A day before the atrocity on the island of Utoya , Labour Youth delegates at the summer camp had held a Palestine solidarity event there.

This article argues that Breivik's views, should be seen in the context of his support for Islamophobic political movements in Europe and the US and his pro- Zionism . Breivik drew inspiration from right wing Islamophobic organizations , particularly from what he calls The Vienna School of Thought, which champions cultural conservatism, anti-racism and anti-Islamization .
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Last Friday US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced that the Obama administration has given formal recognition to Libya’s Transitional National Council . This perspective article in today's WSWS argues that formal recognition for the rebels ....."gives pseudo-legal cover for the US to steal billions in Libyan state assets and give them to the Benghazi-based TNC, which serves as NATO’s proxy land force in the war." ... read full story / add a comment

Rupert Murdoch, head of News International has been "pied". This was while he was being questioned by a British "House of Commons" committee investigating the phone hacking scandal.
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Language Courses in August: Latin American Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese ... read full story / add a comment

According to the Independent former prime minister Gordon Brown is about to accuse Rupert Murdoch's News International of targeting his personal information and to have accessed details relating to his personal bank account.
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The High Court has ruled in favour of millionaire employers. Setting a legal minimum wage for the Catering Trade is unconstitutional. Baling out the banks is constitutional, banning strikes is constitutional. Letting multinationals rob our national resources is constitutional.

But catering workers cannot be paid e9.65 an hour. Thats unconstitutional. But the millionaire employers are going to get compensation from the State! No money for hospitals, plenty of money for bankers and exploiters.

Its time to say Enough! http://enoughcampaign.org/
Join in the Enough Campaign, join in other protests. ... read full story / add a comment

I always said it was a bum rap. Now it looks as if the NotW lied in court. Story at url.

A Labour MP told the Commons the News of the World scandal could make Tommy Sheridan's perjury conviction unsound. During Sheridan's perjury trial last year, former News of the World editor Andy Coulson denied knowledge of his paper paying corrupt police officers. But it has now been reported that newly found e-mails suggest Mr Coulson authorised payments to police. Sheridan's lawyer is to ask Strathclyde Police to begin an inquiry into whether Mr Coulson committed perjury. ... read full story / add a comment

Interesting information regarding the lull in global warming from 1998 to 2008. Full story at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-14002264

The lull in global warming from 1998 to 2008 was mainly caused by a sharp rise in China's coal use, a study suggests. The absence of a temperature rise over that decade is often used by "climate sceptics" as grounds for denying the existence of man-made global warming. But the new study, in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, concludes that smog from the extra coal acted to mask greenhouse warming. ... read full story / add a comment