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Published by the International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI)

26 July 2010

Afghanistan casualty rate highest of war

By James Cogan, 26 July 2010

The rate of US and allied casualties has soared to the highest level of the nearly nine-year war and is beginning to match the bloodiest stages of the occupation of Iraq.

Stress test whitewash of European banks

By Stefan Steinberg, 26 July 2010

The results of the stress tests of European banks, made public last Friday, amounted to a whitewash of the major financial institutions.

SEP (Australia) Election Campaign

Australia: Gillard and Abbott stage sham election debate

By Patrick O’Connor, SEP candidate for the Senate in Victoria,
26 July 2010

Last night’s sole election campaign debate between Labor Prime Minister Julia Gillard and opposition Liberal leader Tony Abbott comprised lengthy diatribes by both leaders against refugees and immigrants, and a series of lies and evasions on the world economic crisis, the war in Afghanistan, mounting social hardship, and climate change.

Full coverage of the SEP (Australia) election campaign »

BP oil disaster

Alarm on BP oil rig disabled prior to explosion

By Josué Olmos, 26 July 2010

A technician has testified that the general alarm system on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig was partially disabled, one of a series of decisions sacrificing safety that led up to the April 20 explosion.

Full coverage of the Gulf oil disaster »

In the shadow of bankruptcy
Yonkers, New York slashes schools, services

By Steve Light and A. Woodson, 26 July 2010

Yonkers, New York state’s fourth largest city, has carried out drastic cuts in education and public services to stave off impending bankruptcy.

1,500 layoffs at Pittsburgh health system

By Alexander Demir and Samuel Davidson, 26 July 2010

West Penn Allegheny Health Systems has announced the layoff of 1,500 doctors, nurses, aides and other staff, as well as the closure of most services, at its 98-year-old flagship West Penn Hospital in Pittsburgh’s Bloomfield neighborhood.

New in French

Merkel en visite en Russie et en Asie au moment où sa politique étrangère est fortement critiquée

Par Johannes Stern, 26 juillet 2010

Le voyage de la chancelière allemande Angela Merkel en Russie et en Asie a été assombri par d’âpres critiques de sa politique étrangère parmi lesquelles l' accusation que son gouvernement néglige ses relations avec la Russie.

New in German

Loveparade Duisburg: 19 Tote und rund 350 Verletzte

Von Dietmar Henning, 26. Juli 2010

Die Loveparade in Duisburg hat am Samstag 19 Tote und rund 350 zum Teil schwer Verletzte gefordert. Diese Tragödie ist von den verantwortlichen Organisatoren bewusst in Kauf genommen worden.

Other Languages

Perspective

Report rubber-stamps bonuses
On Wall Street, crime pays very well

26 July 2010

The Obama administration’s “special master” has rubber-stamped the awarding of billions in bonuses to top executives of major banks during the period when they were being bailed out by the US Treasury.

Earlier Perspectives »

Socialist Equality Party

SEP candidate to be placed on the ballot in Detroit

26 July 2010

SEP candidate D’Artagnan Collier, will be on the ballot for the 9th district of the Michigan state house of representatives.

SEP public meetings in New Orleans and Mobile
The Gulf oil disaster and capitalism

21 July 2010

The SEP will hold public meetings in the US Gulf Coast states of Louisiana and Alabama in early August to discuss the causes and consequences of the BP oil spill disaster.

Socialist Equality Party (Australia) Election Campaign

Australia’s political coup and the role of the ex-left

By Laura Tiernan and Nick Beams, 26 July 2010

The response of the middle-class pseudo-left groups to the coup that removed Australian Labor Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and installed Julia Gillard has highlighted the class interests they serve.

Socialist Equality Party election meetings
The socialist alternative to austerity, social inequality and war

26 July 2010

The SEP candidates will be addressing public meetings over the next four weeks and final rallies in Melbourne and Sydney.

Australian PM Gillard’s climate change speech—another admission of bankruptcy on the environment

By Patrick O’Connor, SEP candidate for the Senate in Victoria, 24 July 2010

Labor Prime Minister Gillard’s speech on climate change was a conscious fraud, combining lies on the science of global warming with new sound-bite driven measures pitched towards business which do nothing to adequately address the environmental crisis.

Full coverage of the SEP (Australia) election campaign »

25 years
50 years
75 years
100 years

25 years ago: GM, UAW deepen collaboration with Saturn car brand

On July 26, 1985, the Executive Board of the United Auto Workers (UAW) approved a new, more highly exploitative labor contract for workers to be hired at General Motors’ Saturn venture, to be based in Tennessee.

More »

50 years ago: War threat after South Korean elections

South Korea attacked a North Korean naval vessel, killing 14, on July 31, 1960, the first naval conflict since the signing of the 1953 armistice. One South Korean sailor died in the exchange. The attack came the day after the Liberal party of former South Korean dictator and US puppet Syngman Rhee suffered a stinging electoral defeat.

More »

75 years ago: New Deal establishes jobs program for unemployed writers

On July 27, 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt established the Federal Writers Project, one of several programs enacted under the Works Progress Administration (WPA) for the purpose of employing cultural workers. Collectively known as “Federal One,” the other cultural programs of the WPA included the Federal Theatre Project, the Federal Art Project and the Federal Music Project.

More »

100 years ago: Rupture between Spain and the Vatican

This week in 1910 Spain recalled its ambassador to the Vatican after the Holy See issued an ultimatum demanding Madrid reverse a new law granting rights to non-Catholic religious organizations.

More »

Investigative Report

The social crisis in Appalachia
Part 2: An epidemic of ill health among the poor

By Naomi Spencer, 24 July 2010

This article is the second of a series on the history, economy, social and environmental conditions in the Appalachian coalfields.

“When your kids go hungry—you’re going to find a way to get some money”
Homeless in Harlan, Kentucky

By a WSWS reporting team, 22 July 2010

The second in a series, the WSWS interviews a resident of Harlan, Kentucky on conditions of life in the coalfields.

Commentary

British deputy prime minister admits Iraq war was illegal

24 July 2010

The statement by British Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg that the Iraq war was “illegal” leads to only one conclusion—that former Prime Minister Tony Blair and many others must immediately be arraigned on war crimes charges.

The consequences of a US war crime
Cancer rate in Fallujah worse than Hiroshima

By Tom Eley, 23 July 2010

Five and a half years after an assault by the US military, the Iraqi city of Fallujah is experiencing higher rates of cancer, leukemia, and infant mortality than those recorded among survivors in Japanese cities targeted for nuclear incineration in 1945.

Merkel’s trip to China

23 July 2010

With US commercial and financial power on the wane, German imperialism is increasingly looking east in order to satisfy its demand for markets, energy and finance. This is the significance of chancellor Merkel’s latest trip to China and Russia.

The Shirley Sherrod firing: Once again, the Obama administration cowers before ultra-right

Committee Against Utility Shutoffs (CAUS)

Michigan governor signs law witch-hunting workers for “energy theft”

Statement of the Committee Against Utility Shutoffs (CAUS), 23 July 2010

The Committee Against Utility Shutoffs (CAUS) condemns legislation signed into law by Michigan’s Democratic governor, Jennifer Granholm, sanctioning a crackdown on poor residents in Detroit and other cities for alleged “energy theft.”

Over 160,000 Michigan utility shutoffs from January to May 2010

Visit the CAUS web site »

Arts Review

Sydney Film Festival 2010—Part 6: Two classics and one that might have been

By Ismet Redzovic and Richard Phillips, 23 July 2010

This year’s festival screened new prints of A Woman Under the Influence and The Last Days of Chez Nous, as well as a new documentary, Henri-Georges Clouzot’s Inferno.

Gulf Oil Crisis

Video series: The human toll of the BP blowout

The BP blowout has devastated the economy, environment and health of the entire Gulf region. WSWS reporters C. W. Rogers and Andre Damon interviewed residents, small businessmen and environmental and health experts on the Gulf coast and compiled this video report.

Full coverage of the Gulf oil disaster »

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