Today on the WSWS

Prominent US ruling class figures have made a series of comments that forewarn of massive cuts in social spending, up to and including Social Security.

President Obama is expected to announce new tax write-offs for big business today at a public appearance in Cleveland.

Washington’s real aim in convening the talks between Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Abbas is to legitimise the support of the Arab states for a future military onslaught against Iran.

Eyewitnesses report that the worker, Manuel Jamines, was unarmed when he was shot and killed by police. Protests were met by a sharp police response, including the arrest of four individuals.

An inquest in the tragic death of Robert Steele has underscored the devastating human impact of the Royal Mail closures campaign.

The Port Authority of Alleghany County will vote later this month on a series of service cuts and fare increases that will devastate public transportation service in Pittsburgh and surrounding communities.

Frank Rich’s critique of Obama’s speech on Iraq is the latest in a series of commentaries by the New York Times columnist reflecting the growing dismay and disappointment with Obama within the left-liberal constituency of the Democratic Party.

The resolution of the first hung parliament in Australia since 1940, 17 days after the August 21 election, marks the culmination of a series of behind closed doors discussions involving the most powerful representatives of the corporate and financial elite.

A selection of letters sent to the World Socialist Web Site.

The decision by a German district court to agree an insolvency plan for Germany’s biggest chain of stores brings no relief for Karstadt workers.

In a legal argument with far-reaching implication for basic democratic rights, Australia’s caretaker Labor government last month strenuously defended in the High Court the denial of legal and constitutional rights to detained refugees.

The World Socialist Web Site invites workers and other readers to contribute to this regular feature.

BP has warned Congress that new legislation placing limits on offshore drilling would prevent it from settling claims through the $20 billion compensation fund for victims of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

Economic growth rates remain minimal for most European countries and are negative for many others. This will inevitably generate political and social tensions.

In a speech marking Labor Day in the US, President Obama made clear that there will be no significant measures to address the most severe jobs crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s.

July’s week-long rationing of water highlighted the reality: millions of people are denied the basic right to potable water and sanitation while private firms rake in profits at their expense.

Young people’s services are being closed down across Britain as spending cuts dictated by the Conservative Party/Liberal Democrat coalition and their Labour predecessors take effect.

Hundreds of people have been left homeless by Saturday’s 7.1 magnitude earthquake in Christchurch, but the National government has not committed to assisting those without insurance.

The Obama administration has filed criminal charges against Hakimullah Mehsud, who is alleged to have organised the suicide bomb attack that killed seven CIA agents in Afghanistan in December 2009.

It is with a great sense of loss that we report the untimely death of comrade Piyaseeli Wijegunasingha, a member of the Socialist Equality Party (SEP), the Sri Lankan section of the International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI). Piyaseeli was a lifelong Trotskyist, a Marxist scholar, and fighte