National News

BNP’s EU danger

LABOUR Party deputy leader Harriet Harman last week warned that the fascist British National Party could pose a real threat to Labour in the coming European Parliament elections in June.

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Aerolink protest

Stop the Arms trade

ON TUESDAY 7th April, Aerolink Wales thought they would have a quiet one-day conference at the Vale Hotel, Llantrisant, with exhibitions from the aerospace and arms industries and their partners of death and destruction, Raytheon and General Dynamics.

But they did not take into account the determination of Campaign Against the Arms Trade and CND Cymru, Cardiff Reds Choir and the Cardiff Anarchist network to make their voices heard against this obscene display.

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Justice for Tomlinson!

G20 demo

HUNDREDS of protesters marched through central London last Saturday to demand a full inquiry and justice after the death of Ian Tomlinson during the G20 demonstrations on 1st April.

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Unions to fight 0.5 per cent offer

LOCAL government unions have warned employers that the 0.5 per cent pay offer for England, Wales and the north of Ireland is totally unacceptable, and it called on them to open meaningful negotiations as a matter of urgency.

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Boris behind RISE festival cancellation

THE PUBLIC sector union Unison last week accused Tory London Mayor Boris Johnson of "passing the buck" for the reasons behind the cancellation of the RISE festival.

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Nursery resources stretched

THE GOVERNMENT decision to extend free nursery education entitlement in England for three and four-year-olds from 12.5 hours a week to 15 hours a week has led to a reduction in the standard of care according to the National Union of Teachers.

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You, you and you!

GORDON Brown last week promised to bring in compulsory "voluntary" community service.

To ensure that every teenager will have done at least 50 hours of voluntary work by the time they are 19-years-old. He said this would be included in Labour’s next election manifesto.

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Benefit cuts for alcoholics

GOVERNMENT Minister James Purnell last week announced that the Government is considering cutting benefit to alcoholics unless they get treatment for their condition.

This follows efforts by the Department of Health and the Department of Work and Pensions to implement a similar policy in respect to drug addicts.

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Gas register breaches data protection

THE GMB general union last week raised serious concerns that the new Gas Safe Register breaches data protection legislation and could lead to identity theft and the impersonation of gas workers.

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Features and International News

DPRK DEFIES UN DOUBLE STANDARDS

By our Asian Affairs Correspondent

DEMOCRATIC Korea has kicked out all the UN nuclear inspectors and reactivated its nuclear programme, following a UN Security Council decision to impose more sanctions on the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. Democratic Korea is also pulling out of the long-standing “six-party talks” in Beijing following the unanimous decision of the UN Security Council to condemn the launch of a DPRK satellite, which the Americans claim was a cover for a ballistic missile test.

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Galileo: revolution through the telescope

by Viswalingam

Pure logical thinking cannot yield us any knowledge of the empirical world; all knowledge of reality starts from experience and ends in it. Propositions arrived at by purely logical means are completely empty as regards reality. Because Galileo saw this, and particularly because he drummed it into the scientific world, he is the father of modern physics - indeed, of modern science altogether .

Albert Einstein.

THE International Astronomical Union and UNESCO have proposed that 2009 be celebrated as the International Year of Astronomy. The year marks the 400th anniversary of the first use of the telescope for astronomical observations by the Italian scientist Galileo Galilei in 1609. Galileo experimented with various combinations of lenses and soon realised that the concave lens (eyepiece) should have more power compared with convex lens (objective) for good magnification. Since such combinations of lenses were not available in the market he learnt the art of grinding lenses and within three months constructed a telescope of 30-fold magnification by 1610.

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Gaza: White Phosphorous bombs, a legacy of suffering

by Yousef al-Helou in Gaza City

DURING Israel's three-week long offensive on Gaza launched on 27th December, the Israeli Army used internationally-banned weapons, according to foreign military and medical experts. American-made white phosphorus shells were used in populated areas across the Gaza Strip, home to about 1.5 million people.

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Canadian workers must unite for the "fight of their lives"

by Liz Rowley

THE DEAL signed by the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) union and General Motors to save Canadian jobs and plants was a bitter pill for autoworkers who paved the way for private sector wages and working conditions in Canada for decades, leading the way in union militancy and struggle.

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Chinese snapper wins world award

THE AWARD in the spot news category of the 52nd World Press Photo competition has been won by a Hangzhou newspaper photographer, the first time the award has gone to China.

The winning photograph was shot by Chen Qinggang, chief photographer of the Hangzhou Daily, during his coverage of disaster relief efforts in the aftermath of last year's Wenchuan earthquake. It is the highest international press photo award to be won by a Chinese, and Chen’s name will rightly go into the history books.

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Cuba calls for UN reform

THE MAJORITY of the member countries of United Nations favour a deep and swift reform of its Security Council. However, very little progress has been made due to opposition from such countries as the United States who see their right to veto threatened. That Veto is considered an anti-democratic, discriminatory, and archaic practice.

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Morales ends hunger strike

BOLIVIAN President Evo Morales ended a five-day hunger strike on Tuesday, after congress compromised and approved a law allowing him to run for re-election and agreed to reserve seven seats in the lower house for indigenous people.

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Moldovan leader blames opposition for violence

MOLDOVAN President Vladimir Voronin has blamed opposition parties for the violence that swept the capital, Chisinau, following last week’s general election. Protesters stormed parliament and the presidential offices in Chisinau after the ruling Communist Party won a landslide victory in the poll. International electoral observers considered that the election procedures were roughly up to international standards, but the opposition claimed the vote was rigged.

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Washington set to boycott UN session on racism

THE BARACK Obama administration appears to be standing by its decision to boycott the World Conference Against Racism set for next week in Geneva, despite efforts designed to encourage US participation by watering down language in a draft document that Washington claims is hostile toward Israel.

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Russians worried over growing jobless

RUSSIA is facing a tough employment situation, with the number of officially registered jobless people hitting 2.2 million, President Dmitri Medvedev said on Tuesday.

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