National News
Workers cannot afford to retire
THE UNIONS are engaged in a fierce battle with the Government over the future of public sector pensions and the Government continually holds up the private sector — where good pensions have virtually vanished — as an example to be followed.
But a company of actuaries has warned that private sector employees now face a very bleak future because of the decline in final salary pension schemes and that many workers are discovering they cannot afford to retire.
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Nuclear veterans win hearing
THE ARMY veterans who were used as unwitting guinea pigs in Britain’s nuclear testing programme in the Pacific Ocean and Australia in the 1950s, last week won the right to have their day in court, in the face of opposition from the Ministry of Defence.
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NHS introduces minimum waiting times
A SHORTAGE of funding is causing some NHS primary care trusts to delay elective surgery and other procedures, in the hope that patients will either die or go private before they are seen, according to a report by the Co-operation and Competition Panel (CCP).
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HSBC jobs massacre
THE GIANT union Unite reacted angrily last week to the news that HSBC is to cut more than 25,000 jobs from its global business at a time when its profits are strong.
David Fleming, Unite national officer, said: “Following weeks of speculation the worst fears of HSBC staff have finally been confirmed with the announcement that over 25,000 staff will be cut from across the global business by the end of 2013.
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Support for Michael Lyons, Afghan War refusenik
FORMER soldier Joe Glenton, who was court martialled for refusing to fight in Afghanistan, has given his support to Michael Lyons, a Royal Navy medic now in jail for the same reason, after being convinced by the Wikileaks revelations that the war was wrong.
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Charities suffer funding cuts
LAST year Prime Minister David Cameron launched his “Big Society” — with the idea that volunteers and charities would replace the public sector services about to be devastated by cuts.
Last week a new report revealed that over 2,000 charities across Britain have had severe funding cuts — many face complete wipe-out — as funding has been withdrawn from local authorities trying to implement the cuts that Cameron’s government has imposed on them.
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London nurse wins landmark equal pay case
THE PUBLIC sector union Unison helped a nurse win a landmark equal pay claim against City & Hackney Teaching Primary Care Trust.
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RMT on Bombardier ‘fit-up’
RAIL UNION RMT last Tuesday issued a fresh call for the Government to reverse the decision to award the Thameslink fleet contract to German company Siemens in preference to Bombardier in Derby as the union revealed that over £15 million of taxpayers’ money was spent on advisers engaged in the tendering process.
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Defend the right to protest
by New Worker correspondent
CAMPAIGNERS showed their support for arrested students and anti-cuts protesters outside Westminster City Court in London on Saturday. The protest was organised by the Defend the Right to Protest campaign in support of those arrested at Fortnum & Mason occupation in Piccadilly during the TUC anti-cuts demonstration on 26th March and students arrested on the previous anti fees protest.
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International News
Russia rejects intervention in Syria
SANA
RUSSIAN Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov has renewed Russia’s rejection of foreign interference in Syria. He said on TV on Monday that national dialogue is the best way to solve the internal problems in Syria through reforms in all domains and rebuilding the administrative system.
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Egyptian pensioners organise union
by Joyce Chediac in Cairo
IN ADDITION to the mass protests in Egypt, another arena for demanding rights and fighting corruption has been Egypt’s independent trade union movement. This movement expressed its solidarity with the demonstrators, and added its clout to the struggle to bring down Hosni Mubarak five months ago.
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Putin : US a ‘parasite’ on global finance
People’s Daily (Beijing)
RUSSIAN Minister Vladimir Putin accused the United States on Monday of living beyond its means “like a parasite” on the global economy and said US dollar dominance was a threat to global finance.
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58 years after the war Koreans remain vigilant
by Deirdre Griswold
THE UNITED States government has carried out so many wars and invasions since the Second World War that just listing them all would take a whole page. Most people living in America have only a vague idea of the terrible damage this imperialist government has inflicted on the world — always in the name of peace and democracy.
On 27th July the Korean people commemorated the end of one of those wars. Those who live in the north, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, cannot forget that date. As a fact sheet put out by the DPRK says: “The memory of the war, even after nearly 60 years, still lives in the minds of the people.”
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López-Nussa woos French jazz fans
Granma
AN INFLUENTIAL French magazine gave him rave reviews and he was elected Jazz Talent 2011 in April, but the young Cuban pianist Harold López-Nussa still feels far from famous.
“France has given me more international visibility, but I think I’m in a beginning stage of my career,” said the youngest of jazz musicians in a country teeming with top-flight pianists, in Paris.
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Features
Marxism: the choice of the Chinese people
by Liu Xiamong
Opening speech by Chinese ambassador Liu Xiamong at a seminar held at the Chinese Embassy in London in July to mark the 90th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China in Shanghai in 1921.
Ladies and gentlemen, dear friends,
FIRST OF ALL, a very warm welcome to all of you to the Chinese Embassy. It’s a great pleasure to meet so many British scholars of Marxism and share thoughts with you on Marxism in China.
It strikes me that the timing, venue and participants of our event are well-chosen, relevant and impressive. Let me explain why:
First, it comes at the right time. This year marks the 90th anniversary of the Communist Party of China or CPC. High-profile celebrations have been under way across China. The CPC was born out of Marxism and has stood the tests of time and adversity. The extraordinary 90 years since its founding have been a history of the development and practice of Marxism in China.
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