Despite the silence in the British and Irish media (unlike Spanish and American papers), some kind of Brazilian Spring has just kickstarted. Due to the World Cup, social movements in Brazil are being repressed as never before. Just like in Turkey, protests, starting against the rise in transport fares, were dealt with violence by the police corps, the protests have now grown in size, drawn in more forces and now encompass the whole country.

THE SHADOWY and secretive National Security Agency (NSA) has been exposed to the light of day by revelations that show the vast extent of U.S. government spying, at home and around the globe.

Under one program, called Prism, the NSA has gained access to the systems of Google, Facebook, Apple, Microsoft, Yahoo, Skype and other giant Internet companies, allowing it to examine all kinds of information at will, including browser histories and the content of e-mails, live chats, file transfers and more.

Socialist Worker Ireland speaks to our sister organisation on the ground in Taksim Square Turkey about the latest news from the Turkish uprising.

The government seems to have given some concessions regarding scrapping mall building plans. Erdogan said that he was open to "democratic demands". Has any sort of dialogue been put into drive so far? What are the updates on other government development plans in the area and can any kind of agreement be reached between the government and protesters regarding this point?

No place in Gezi Park for the police, racism, homophobia and sexism

Thousands of people are continuing the occupation of Gezi Park after the police left the area. Protests that were started as a response to neo-liberalism were joined later by nationalist-militarist who campaign for a military coup to remove the government and send-out anti-Kurdish propaganda.

Volkan Akyıldırım, from the Revolutionary Socialist Workers Party (DSIP) explains the current situation in Gezi Park:

Istanbul has become a battlefield covered by tear gas. The police, no doubt at the behest of the Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan and his AKP government, have been attacking protestors in the centre of the city, near Taksim Square, for five consecutive days.

The Fine Gael-Labour government want to sell off our forests. They will do so unless there is huge public pressure to stop them.

Sunday 9 June has been named as a day of national action where thousands will walk in the forests to show our opposition to privatisation.

After Bertie Ahern stepped down as Taoiseach, he sought positions in the corporate world. But few know that he emerged as the chairperson of the International Forestry Fund- a joint venture between a Swiss financial company Helvetia Wealth and IFS, a Dublin based forestry assets management company.