National News

End the war on Afghanistan

AROUND 10,000 people from all parts of Britain gathered in Hyde Park last Saturday, as Nato leaders met for a summit in Lisbon, to tell the masters of war it is time to withdraw from Afghanistan and end the death and misery being inflicted on that country and its people by the imperialist invasion.

The march was organised by the Stop the War Coalition, CND and the British Muslim Initiative. It was supported by Stop the War and CND groups from across Britain as well as by trade unions and myriad other political and progressive organisations.

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Colchester against the cuts

by New Worker correspondent

TRADE unionists, students and members of disability organisations last week took part in a meeting at Friends House in Colchester to discuss the effects of the proposed Government public spending cuts and how to fight them.

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Labour needs union voices

TONY WOODLEY, joint general secretary of the giant union Unite, last week responded to a letter in The Times on the Labour Party leadership election system, saying it more reflects the paper’s enduring hostility to trade unionism than a serious concern for Labour’s integrity.

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Firefighters lobby against cuts

FIREFIGHTERS from all over the country assembled in Westminster last Wednesday to lobby their MPs against further cuts in frontline services. The cuts implemented so far to frontline services have already eroded the ability of fire and rescue services, to respond to emergencies.

Two-year tenancies ‘an attack on the poor’ THE CON-DEM Coalition last week announced plans to change council house tenancies from the current status of secure (permanent) tenancies to short-term tenancies that will be reviewed every two years. The changes will apply only to new tenancies.

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Support the LRC open letter on housing benefit

We believe current Government proposals are not fair or just. Cuts to Housing Benefit, replacing future secure and assured tenancies with time limited short hold tenancies and up to 80 per cent of market rents, are an unfair and ill-conceived threat to tenants and would be a disaster for communities.

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Gloucester Anti Cuts March

THE GMB general union was one of many that supported a march and rally against the cuts in Gloucester last Saturday Gloucester Anti-Cuts Alliance.

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Work for nothing at the Home Office

THE HOME OFFICE is offering unpaid work experience in admin jobs while trawling for thousands of redundancies as a result of the government’s cuts in public spending, the civil service union PCS has found.

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New mothers at risk

CATHY WARWICK, general secretary of the Royal College of Midwives, last week accused Prime Minister David Cameron and Health Secretary Andrew Lansley of risking the safety of mothers and babies by backtracking on promises to hire more NHS midwives.

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Britain goes part-time

EMPLOYMENT figures released last week by the Office of National Statistics show that although the level of unemployment fell slightly last month, the proportion of people in part-time or self-employed work is rising.

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Balls admits Labour civil liberties error

SHADOW Home secretary Ed Balls last week admitted that the former Labour government got the balance wrong between national security and civil liberties.

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Cabinet split on school sports

EDUCATION Secretary Michael Gove has sparked division in the heart of the Con-Dem Coalition with his proposal to cut £162 million from sports funding in schools in England in the run-up to the 2012 Olympics.

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International News

Ireland: what went wrong?

Radio Havana Cuba

IT’S OFFICIAL: the Irish government has given in to pressure from the European Union and agreed to request a bailout to try to overcome a crisis that has shaken the entire Euro Zone, where uncertainty is growing about the future of the single currency that once seemed destined to replace the hegemony of the US dollar.

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New skills for Chinese union negotiators

Xinhua news agency

THE PROVINCIAL federation of trade unions in south west China’s Yunnan province has recently trained about 400 city- and county-level union officials on how to negotiate wage increases with enterprises in a period of rising consumer prices.

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Israel offers Ghajar for brownie points

by Adam Gonn in Jerusalem

THE FATE of the small village of Ghajar located on the border between Israel and Lebanon appears to be sealed, as Israel plans to withdraw from the northern half of town.

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Tolerance is an act, not a day

by Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey

TUESDAY 16th November was the United Nations International Day of Tolerance. As with so many other causes, such as Africa Day, Women’s Day and the Day of the Child, the subject transcends the need for a date and calls for concrete action on a daily basis by everyone, not opportunists jumping on the bandwagon.

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Features

China’s supercomputer shakes the Pentagon

by Stephen Millies

SIXTY-ONE years after the Chinese Revolution’s triumph, the People’s Republic of China has created the world’s fastest supercomputer.

According to University of Tennessee Professor Jack Dongarra, China’s Tianhe-1A supercomputer is 47 per cent faster than the speediest US supercomputer. Tianhe, which means “Milky Way” in Chinese, is faster than 175,000 laptops.

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Vietnam: bomb clearer risks life to save others

Vietnam News Service

NGUYEN Van Cuong, 47, the leader of a team that locates and deactivates unexploded ordnance from the American war against Vietnam, talks to Minh Thu about his willingness to engage in such dangerous work.

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Syria: 40 years of development

Syrian Arab News Agency

ECONOMIC growth indicators and the latest developments in the region over the last 40 years indicate the important role of the Correction Movement led by the late president Hafez al-Assad.

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