National News
Cuts threaten double dip recession
by Caroline Colebrook
THE NATIONAL Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) attacked the Con-Dem coalition’s emergency budget last week, accusing the Government of rushing the £40 billion cuts through just to “grab headlines” and give the impression that Britain is addressing its debt issues in contrast to countries like Greece.
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BBC unions fight ‘pensions robbery’
THE BBC will face co-ordinated strike action by five unions unless it abandons its threatened “pensions’ robbery”, the National Union of Journalists has warned.
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Housing benefit cuts will hit the poorest
THE CON-DEM government’s plans to curb housing benefits will hit nearly every claimant, with an average loss of £12 a week, according to the pressure group Inside Housing.
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Cop escapes manslaughter charge — but may be disciplined
THE FAMILY of Ian Tomlinson who died after being struck from behind by a police officer in April last year as he made his way home from work during the G20 protests in London, were outraged last Thursday to learn that the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) decided not to go ahead with a prosecution of the officer concerned.
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May proposes US style police reform
TORY HOME Secretary Theresa May last week announced plans for a massive change in the structure of police forces in England and Wales.
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London protesters close BP petrol stations
GREENPEACE activists last Tuesday forced BP petrol stations to close across London in protest at the oil giant’s environmental record — and in particular the oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico that left oil gushing from a broken well into the sea for about three months.
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Vestas workers open new factory
ONE YEAR after workers occupied the Vestas wind turbines factory on the Isle of Wight in protest at the company’s decision to cease production, a new organisation, Sureblades, set up by former Vestas employees, has risen from the ashes and is due to begin production of blades within two months just yards from the closed factory.
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Deportations ‘unlawful’
A HIGH Court judge ruled last Monday that the Home Office policy of fast-track deportations of asylum seekers whose applications have been rejected is “unlawful”.
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Labour attacks withdrawal of loan
FORMER Labour business ministers last week criticised the decision of the Con-Dem coalition to cancel the planned £80 million loan to Sheffield Forgemasters, which makes parts for the nuclear industry.
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Harwich dockers to strike
TRANSPORT UNION RMT announced last Monday that members working at Harwich International Port would begin a campaign of discontinuous industrial action starting on Thursday of this week in a dispute over pay and conditions of service.
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Bradford Together against the EDL
THE PEOPLE of Bradford and their elected politicians are standing together to lobby the Home Secretary, Theresa May, to ban a march planned by the violent anti-Islamic organisation EDL (English Defence League) on 28th August.
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International News
Luis Corvalán 1916—2010
LUIS ALBERTO CORVALÁN Lepe, former leader of the Communist Party of Chile (PCCh), died last week. He had joined the PCCh when he was 15.
Luis Corvalan
Iran warns of US-Israeli attack
by Martin Hacthoun in Tehran
AMIDST growing regional tensions, Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has warned that the United States and Israel are planning to attack two countries in the Middle East as part of a conspiracy to exert pressure on Iran.
Ahmadinejad asserted they “have precise information that the Americans have devised a plot, according to which they seek to launch a psychological war on Iran.”
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US Senate: mind your own business!
by Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey
THE UNITED States Senate has called on Britain to hold a full and independent inquiry into whether BP lobbied for the release of the Libyan held in Scotland over the Lockerbie bombing. This position reveals two things: ignorance (the jurisdiction was not a British question, but a Scottish one) and arrogance (suppose the Senate held an independent inquiry into the Iraq War as Britain has done?).
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Nicaragua: a week of Sandinista anniversary celebrations
by Glenda Pardo in Managua
MILLIONS of Nicaraguans are still revelling in the enthusiasm aroused by last week’s massive celebration of the 31st anniversary of the triumph of the Sandinista Revolution.
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India’s booming image is shaken by massive strike wave
by Theo Russell
INDIA is being swept by a mounting wave of strikes, as anger mounts over out of control price rises. Two national strikes were held in April and another in July and a third, predicted to be the biggest ever, has been called in September.
India’s booming image is shaken by massive strike wave
Features
New Chinese labour laws for ‘win-win’ negotiations
OFFICIALS in south China’s Guangdong Province last week reviewed a draft of the country’s first law that sets the rules for labour disputes and wage negotiations to ease labour tensions.
The new law hopes to “turn the lose-lose labour disputes into win-win negotiations” as it is expected to save unnecessary costs for both workers and employers through orderly negotiations, said Liu Mu, head of the labour law department of the standing committee of the Guangdong Provincial People’s Congress, the provincial legislative body.
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Miami’s anti-Cuba industry
by Lázaro Fariñas
I HAVE been living in this city of Miami for more than 47 years, which means that I have lived through all the stages of what some insist on calling “the Cuban exile movement”. Personally, I know and have even publicly debated on radio and television with almost all those in this city who have declared themselves “leaders of the exile community”.
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Cuba: teaching students to be producers
Radio Havana Cuba
REACHING a total of one million university graduates in half a century is a gain, but Cubans still want to improve university and higher education.
The aim is to obtain university graduates with experience and willingness to produce, as a poor country like Cuba needs.
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