Britain, US & Beyond Feature: Occupy Seeks A Creative "Global Spring"

Occupy London protesters in Liverpool Street underground station (Photo: HeardInLondon/Demotix/Corbis)

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Last week electors in Europe signalled their dissatisfaction with the politics of austerity, and the elites who are trying to implement them. Barring a miracle of an economic recovery, politics for the near future will revolve around that austerity --- or thrift as the British government are now trying to call it.

This week the success or failure of Occupy, and their affiliated groups, to draw attention to growing income inequality will help determine their relevance to these coming political struggles over the world's economic future. Can they deliver on their promise of a Global Spring?

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Palestine Opinion: Britain's Deportation of Sheikh Raed Salah (Patel)

Sheikh Raed Salah (Photo: EPA)The circumstances surrounding Home Secretary Theresa May's decision to issue an exclusion order against Sheikh Raed Salah is a cause for great concern. It is unacceptable that the British government ministers can be influenced heavily by lobby groups on the basis of little more than conflated "evidence" and hearsay, and to such an extent that a senior minister can actually be "misled" and operate under "misapprehension". That was the damning conclusion of the Upper Immigration Tribunal's vice-president who considered Sheikh Salah's appeal against the deportation order.

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Britain Latest: After a Quiet Night, Attention Shifts to Politics and Policing (The Guardian)

Footage and interviews from the candle-lit vigil last night for three men killed in Winson Green in Birmingham

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David Cameron is facing growing cabinet pressure to rethink the coalition's policing cuts in the wake of the deaths of three young Birmingham men, who were hit by a car during violent disturbances in the city.

As the Police Federation warned of a "catastrophe" if similar riots erupted after the cuts were introduced, a senior government source said the Home Office would be advised to take a fresh look at its plans to cut £2bn from police funding over the next few years. "The optics have changed," the source told the Guardian.

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Britain Latest: The Third Day of Unrest Spreads Across --- and Outside --- London (Dodd/Davies)

UPDATE 1355 GMT: A photograph from Clapham Junction in south London as residents vow to clean up the debris from last night's unrest:

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Looting in Clapham Junction, south London, on Monday night: "We're getting our taxes back"

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The prime minister cut short his holiday and flew back to Britain as London witnessed devastating scenes of violence stretching the emergency services beyond limit on a third night of rioting in the capital.

Buildings were torched, shops ransacked, and officers attacked with makeshift missiles and petrol bombs as gangs of hooded and masked youths laid waste to streets right across the city.

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Britain Update: The Unrest in London Tonight (BBC)

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The Guardian LiveBlog

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The BBC offers latest news (1930 GMT):

Riot police have again been deployed to the streets of London as violence broke out for a third day running.

Cars were set on fire in Lewisham and a bus and shop were set ablaze in Peckham.

In Hackney, police have sealed off part of Mare Street after youths smashed police car windows.

The trouble flared after a man was stopped in Hackney and searched by police but nothing was found.

There were also fears trouble may spread further afield as police in riot gear were deployed in Birmingham city centre after scores of youths rampaged through the shopping area, smashing windows.

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