The first National Hunger Strike commemoration to take place outside Belfast was attended by several thousand people from across the country in Derry City on Sunday, 17 August. In stark contrast to the wet weather that caused severe flooding across the country, the day remained dry and warm with the sun even making an appearance encouraging many families to come out and take part. Free article

SINN FÉIN Policing Board Member, Alex Maskey MLA this week called on the DUP's Ian Paisley Junior to withdraw his call for the PSNI to return to the tactics of the RUC shoot-to-kill era. Free article

DUP voices are forever criticising the Executive for the fact that it is a mandatory coalition. Many hanker after a return to the bad old days of majority rule - i.e. unionist one-party government. Free article

SINN FÉIN Senator Pearse Doherty this week set out on a tour of the West Coast of Ireland including the islands on a consultation expedition to inform an Oireachtas report that he is preparing on "What is required to develop the counties along the west coast of Ireland, both in economic and social terms." Free article

The Equality Commission is to launch yet another probe into Lisburn Borough council. The action follows the involvement of Mayor Ronnie Crawford in the ritual burning of an image of fellow Lisburn councillor Paul Butler. Free article

FOR DECADES, Irish fishermen have been battling against enormous odds in an effort to make a living out of an industry that is declining due to Government neglect and poor negotiating at EU level. When it came to negotiating on fisheries, Irish Government representatives were outfoxed on the state's entry into the EEC in 1973. The outcome of that poor performance is that a potentially prosperous sector has fallen into relative poverty. Fishermen have been driven to frustration and despair, as evidenced by recent protests where fishermen handed out free fish to the public to highlight their plight. ELLA O'DWYER talks to people for whom fishing is their lives. Free article

IF YOU think about some depressing facts - that you can't afford to pay your electricity bill this month, there's an ongoing war devastating Iraq, and the ice caps are rapidly melting - you'll find they all have something in common: they've all been caused by our addiction to fossil fuels. This dependence, while causing pain now, threatens nothing less than the future destruction of our civilisation through global warming. Free article

The approaching November presidential election in the US has offered hope to many people, both in the US and around the world, for substantial change in Washington's foreign and domestic policies. If the Democrats' presidential candidate Barack Obama overcomes the US Republicans' race-baiting fear campaign and wins, it will be the first time an African-American, or a member of any oppressed minority group in the US, becomes president. Free article