National News
Unions to fight Teesside Corus closure
UNIONS at the giant Corus steelworks at Teesside, which employs 2,600 workers, reacted angrily last Friday to news that the plant is to be mothballed in the New Year with the loss of 1,700 jobs.
The giant union Unite has vowed to fight the closure and is calling on the Government to deliver an urgent rescue package for the plant.
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Police retreat on public photography
THE ASSOCIATION of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) last week took action to curb the “misuse” of anti-terror legislation that allows police to question and search people taking pictures of public buildings, if they think those pictures could be used for terrorist purposes.
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Chef sacked for eating bread wins compensation
HOSPITAL head chef Hamid Elkhiyari braved heavy snow to walk to work when few other kitchen staff were able to get into work.
He was so busy he was unable to take a lunch break so at the end of a very busy day he was exhausted and hungry. As he prepared to throw away uneaten food he ate a little bit of garlic bread that had been destined for the bin.
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Civil servants anger at comp cuts
THE CIVIL service union PCS last week issued a statement after the Government announced cuts to the compensation scheme that covers payments to workers who are made redundant.
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Lancashire unions attack NHS sell offs
TRADE unions in the north-west have reacted angrily to plans announced by NHS East Lancashire to privatise its Stop Smoking and community dermatology skincare services.
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Pay cuts hit tax revenue
THE CURRENT recession has led to two million people in this country suffering pay cuts or reduced hours to stave off unemployment — and this in turn has had a significant impact on the Government’s revenue from income tax by 16 per cent.
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GMB’s ‘Pub Revolution’
MEMBERS of the GMB general union last Monday supported a demonstration outside Parliament of public house tied tenants and managers who are campaigning against extortionate wholesale prices charged by big breweries to tied tenants.
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International News
Hail of rockets in Baghdad
by our Arab Affairs correspondent
PARTISAN violence returned to Baghdad last week with a hail of rockets on the Green Zone and five massive bomb attacks on puppet regime offices that left 127 dead and injured over 500 more.
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Nobel Peace Prize winner chooses war
IN A long-considered and not surprising decision, US President Barack Obama chose to send 30,000 more occupation troops to fight the war of aggression against Afghanistan — tripling the number of troops in the Central Asian nation at the beginning of his mandate, just 11 months ago.
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A tale of two nations
FROM Uruguay comes confirmation that the new order in Latin America — progressive and popular — continues to grow and consolidate. On 29th November Uruguayan voters chose a former guerrilla as their new president, putting him a clear 10 percentage points above his rival in a run-off vote.
Jose Mujica was a founder member of the National Liberation Movement — the “Tupamaros” — that waged a major armed campaign against the rightist, militarised state during the 1960s. In 1973 the army assumed outright control (again) and established a military dictatorship that lasted until 1985. Jose Mujica spent those 12 years in jail.
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Cuba salutes internationalism
TWENTY years ago, on 7th December 1989 the Cuban people mobilised in cities and towns across the island to pay tribute to this courageous people who performed with honour the highest example of human solidarity, the greatest sacrifice: to give one’s life for a noble cause, without asking or expecting anything in return other than the recognition of a duty accomplished.
On this day, the whole island stopped to honour its 2,085 combatants who died in different parts of the world, mainly in Africa, and the 204 civilians who died in the performance of their duties.
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Climate change summit gets underway in Copenhagen
THE LARGEST climate summit in history opened in Copenhagen on Monday. Thousands of delegates and more than 100 world leaders are expected over the next two weeks as negotiations are held to replace the 1997 Kyoto Protocol.
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Millions of Americans drink dirty water
MILLIONS of people drink dirty water in the United States due to the flawed water treatment system, the New York Times reported on Tuesday.
“More than 20 percent of the nation’s water treatment systems have violated key provisions of the Safe Drinking Water Act over the last five years,” according to the New York Times report.
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Democratic Korea revalues
THE DEMOCRATIC People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) revalued its currency last week, with an exchange rate of 100 won to one between the old and new bills. During that week all state-run shops were closed. People could exchange old money for the new currency at exchange agencies in their neighbourhoods but foreigners needed their passports and relevant certification for the conversion and foreign currency will now no longer be allowed to be used directly in the DPRK.
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