Europe

Yesterday, the popular marches of the indignant arrived in Madrid — and took back the square. Another major demonstration is planned for today.
Saturday indignados brought much of Madrid to a standstill as the popular marches arrived in the city, taking 6 different routes from all over the country and culminating in a spectacular re-occupation of Sol by thousands of protesters

Police say they are questioning a right-wing Christian over the massacre of 92 people in a killing spree that prime minister says turned a paradise into hell on earth.
As harrowing testimony emerged from the camp where scores of youngsters were mown down, Norway was struggling to understand how a place famed as a beacon of peace could experience such bloodshed on its soil.

When German Chancellor Angela Merkel decided to take a firm stand vis-a-vis Greece bleeding financial crisis, she was surly aware that black economy accounts as high as one-third of Greek GNP, that tax invasion amounts to 20 billion dollars a year, and that corruption is rooted everywhere, at all levels, particularly among political parties.

Europe has just confirmed what many reports have suspected for years — that EU member states are allowed (by themselves) to ship their radioactive waste -generated by its 143 nuclear reactors- to “third countries” to bury their highly dangerous material there.

What do Bolivia, Iceland, Tunisia, Egypt and Spain all have in common? Given that they are famous respectively for; ladies in bowler hats, volcanoes, mosaics, pyramids and Rafael Nadal there seems to be little to connect these diverse countries, yet they are all undergoing the most radical forms of social revolution witnessed since the collapse of the Soviet Empire.

Now that the dust has settled in Greece and the austerity measures are in place our correspondent in Greece reflects about; the great truths about the non-violent nature of the movement of the “outraged” and the historic weekend of the 28th & 29th of June, unprecedented state repression, provocation and media propaganda.

The mainstream mass-media have been silent about the protests and the example of a popular revolution that took place in Iceland two years ago, when citizens made the government step down and rewrite the constitution. Because the events in Iceland are a model for how to make a popular revolution, the information has been hushed up.

Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi faces trial hearings for bribery and for paying for sex with a 17-year-old girl on Monday, as the Italian leader fights off growing unpopularity and financial woes. Berlusconi, 74, is a defendant in three ongoing trials but is only due to attend the corruption hearing in which he stands accused of paying a bribe to his former British lawyer.

The National Health Service (NHS) was born after World War 2. Since then British people have been able to rely on a high quality, free at the point of delivery and paid for by taxes, health provider. Successive governments, starting with Margaret Thatcher’s have been trying to introduce market policies and privatisation into it.

It started with the News of the World’s royal editor and a private investigator who intercepted voice mail messages left for members of the royal household. Both men were jailed in 2007. Illegal voice mail interceptions apparently continued, implicating other journalists and staff. Now James Murdoch, Rupert’s son has closed the newspaper.