Fact: the 26 Counties is not just one of the most unequal societies in the industrial world; it also has one of the most miserly governments. A new Combat Poverty report published this week by Trinity College Dublin academic Virpi Timonen shows that we have a "low tax, low spend" policy when it comes to tackling poverty and disadvantage in Ireland. Free article

Social movements celebrated victory on Sunday 14 September afternoon as the 5th Ministerial meeting of the WTO collapsed when the developing countries, led by African delegates, walked out. Free article

Sinn Fein Mid-Ulster MP Martin McGuinness has refuted PSNI boss Hugh Orde's claims that republicans are involved in an intimidation campaign against Catholic members of the District Police Partnership Boards (DPP) across the North. Free article

BY SILVIO CERULLI - Beirut, 16 September "No one will preach to us moral values or respect for human life, on whose basis we were educated and will continue to educate generations of fighters in Israel. Christians killed Muslims, how are the Jews guilty?" These were the words spoken by Menachem Begin, Israel's prime minister in 1982, as an answer to the first accusations after the Sabra and Chatila massacre. Free article

The segregation of prisoners in Maghaberry jail is being introduced. The move follows the publication of the Steele Report, carried out by former head of prisons in the Six Counties, John Steele, who was asked by Secretary of State Paul Murphy to carry out a review into the safety of both prisoners and staff in the jail. Free article

An 18-year-old pupil at St Gabriel's Secondary school in North Belfast was attacked by loyalists as he and a friend made their way home on Tuesday afternoon, 16 September. Free article

Sinn Féin councillor Tony Hassan says the PSNI in Derry are conspiring with known criminals in Shantallow after a series of incidents last weekend in the Galliagh area. Free article

Sinn Féin TD Seán Crowe and Councillor Larry O'Toole last week attended a meeting organised by the Dublin CityWide drugs crisis campaign to discuss the growing drugs crisis in local communities across Dublin. Free article

Chairperson of Dublin Sinn Féin, Daithí Doolan, has called on local authorities across Dublin to come clean on whether they are preparing to privatise refuse collection services. Doolan was speaking after learning that last February Fingal County Council contacted SIPTU to try and begin discussions on 'privatisation' and 'the orderly wind-down of the refuse collection service'. Free article

The annual conference of the Association of Municipal Authorities of Ireland took place in Wexford last week, when town and city councillors from throughout the 26 Counties came together to discuss and debate issues of importance to their communities. Free article