IRELAND: News that Labour Ministers and TD’s have
been involved in a concerted campaign to attack Richard Bruton’s attacks
on low paid workers through changing the mechanisms of the Joint Labour
Committee has been denied by Pat Rabbitte who has claimed that the
suggestion is “utter nonsense”.

The Euro zone is in a mess. After a
year of huge financial bail outs intended to calm the markets, the
latter are very unstable, with a marked downward tendency. Signs of
slowing global growth, and the continuing euro zone debt crisis, have
caused the markets to slump. The nervousness of the markets is an
accurate reflection of the growing anxiety of the bourgeois about the
economic prospects for Europe.

On Tuesday
May 25, the US imposed penalties against Venezuelan state-owned company
PDVSA, and another 6 companies from other countries, for conducting
business with Iran.  The sanctions are part of an attempt by Washington
to step up the pressure against Iran in relation to its nuclear program.
They are also an act of blatant bullying directed against Venezuela.