Tribune – Comment, news and reviews from Britain's democratic left

An agreement between European finance ministers on the regulation of speculative financial transactions is expected to spark another battle with members of the European Parliament who are seeking tougher restrictions across the European Union.

US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner led the calls for International Monetary Fund boss Dominic Strauss-Kahn to step aside from the job to concentrate on answering the rape charges made against him.

The British and French governments have led the opposition to a “burden sharing” agreement by European Union countries on resettling refugees fleeing from war-torn Tunisia and Libya.

As David Cameron’s Conservative-led coalition gets set to give the go-ahead to the replacement of the Trident nuclear weapons system, figures released by Defence Equipment Minister Peter Luff to Katy Clark, Labour MP for North Ayrshire and Arran, reveal the cost of the programme is set to almost double from the original estimate of £11-14 billion to around £26 billion.

Labour politicians, trade union leaders and healthcare professionals piled the pressure on Health Secretary Andrew Lansley after a doctor called in by David Cameron to review the coalition’s NHS reforms dismissed them as “unworkable”.

US President Barack Obama this week sought to harness the momentum of the so-called Arab Spring to revive the stalled stalks between Israel and the Palestinians – but drew short of any formal blueprint or proposals.

The London School of Economics, already embroiled in a mire of bad publicity over its connections with the Gaddafi regime in Libya – which saw it dubbed the “London School of Useful Idiots” – has been courting controversy again.