National News
Jarrow youth demand action now for jobs
by New Worker correspondent
A GROUP of young, unemployed activists last Saturday strode proudly into Trafalgar Square at the end of a 330-mile march from Jarrow in the north-east of England to London in protest at the lack of jobs and Con-Dem Coalition cuts that are “affecting everyone apart from the rich”.
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A life raft for women’s equality
THE PUBLIC sector union Unison and the Fawcett Society, along with a coalition of more than 20 other charities, unions and academics, last week joined forces to launch a new report entitled A Life Raft for Women’s Equality.
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Insult to injury
THE FAMILY of Christopher Alder, a black former British paratrooper who choked to death in police custody as officers stood by and watched, last week were told that they had buried the wrong body.
Alder’s body is still in cold storage in a mortuary while the body they buried is now believed to belong to a woman.
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600,000 forced off benefits?
THE GOVERNMENT’S changes to sickness and disability benefits could throw 600,000 of our most vulnerable people off of long-term benefits, according to a report from researchers from Sheffield Hallam University.
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St Paul’s occupiers help homeless
THE ANTI-CAPITALIST protesters currently occupying the churchyard of St Paul’s Cathedral have found an increasing number of London’s homeless joining them for the sake of food, warmth, security and companionship.
So the protesters are opening a “welfare centre” tent. They are appealing to charities and individuals with expertise in social work, counselling, drug and alcohol services, welfare housing and mental health issues to work voluntarily at the centre.
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UKBA bus raids
THE UNITED Kingdom Border Agency is currently in hot soup over the relaxation of checks at airports but leaked documents have revealed that UKBA officials are regularly conducting passport checks on buses “to prevent illegal immigrants from making use of the public transport network”.
But the practice seems to be illegal. One bus passenger subjected to identity checks described them as “harassment” and behaviour that has no place in a civilised society.
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Mary Rosser: a formidable Marxist fighter and organiser
by New Worker correspondent
COMRADES and friends of Mary Rosser assembled last Thursday evening at the Marx Memorial Library (MML) to pay tribute to a lifetime of work and struggle given by the late Mary Rosser to communism and the cause of the working class.
The event was chaired by Marx House chair John Aitkin, and platform speakers included the library’s president, David McLellan, who is a Marxist scholar and writer, veteran communist Joan Bellamy, former MML librarian Tish Collins and current librarian John Callow.
But the keynote speaker was Mike Hicks, Mary’s partner and veteran trade unionist, who led the fight against the Murdoch empire in the battle of Wapping.
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International News
The Nicaraguan revolution lives on and on
by Sergei Balmasov
LEGENDARY revolutionary Daniel Ortega has retained his position of President of Nicaragua. Ortega has won over 62 per cent of votes in elections that took place in the country on 6th November. Rosario Murilho, an official spokeswoman for the sitting president, and also his wife, described the result as the victory of “Christianity, socialism and solidarity”.
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No easy answers in Greek debt crisis
Guangming Daily
THE GREEK debt crisis has undoubtedly become a severe economic problem that has a direct bearing on the European Union and even the global economy.
Although the European Union has developed a preliminary plan for tackling the crisis, it has yet be seen whether or not the plan will be effectively implemented and if the Greek people can accept the European Union’s bailout conditions. Furthermore, the Greek debt crisis has already caused a chain reaction in other EU member states.
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US and Israel plan largest war games in history
by Ed Newman
THE UNITED States and Israel will carry out the largest military exercises in their history with the participation of more than 5,000 US and Israeli troops.
According to US Assistant Secretary for Political-Military Affairs Andrew Shapiro, Washington and Tel Aviv are set to hold their “largest and most significant” joint military games — without offering details about the time and location of the war games.
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Revelation of hostility
by Ju Sang Jun
RECENTLY a ceremony was held in south Korea related to the deployment of the first of four E-737 airborne early warning and control aircraft that are to be purchased from the United States.
The south Korean military has described the deployment as a defensive measure, claiming that the AWACS aircraft will discharge forward missions, observing aerial and marine targets throughout the Korean peninsula and supporting various operations including special ones.
The deployment, however, is obviously a military preparation for a pre-emptive strike on the DPR Korea and the south Korean military claims are no more than an attempt to shirk the responsibility for aggravating tension on the peninsula.
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What does a space station mean for China?
China Youth Daily
CHINA successfully completed the first step of building a space station when Shenzhou 8 docked with lab module Tiangong 1 on 3rd November. But what is the significance of the project for the nation?
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Women’s “rights” in Saudi Arabia
by Raphael Tsavkko
THE DICTATOR Abdullah of Saudi Arabia who, in the eyes of the Western media, is a democratic and righteous king, has recently benevolently granted women the right to vote
Western media treatment of King Abdullah is similar to the sympathy shown to the president of Yemen, Ali Saleh. The Yemeni dictator is still in favour with the United States, the parameter for all western media likes or dislikes — unlike Bashar al Assad and Gaddafi who were quickly demonised into bloody dictators.
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Features
Somalia: French ships, US drones attack as Kenyan troops invade
by Abayomi Azikiwe
Editor, Pan-African News Wire
AN ALL-OUT offensive against the Al-Shabaab Islamic resistance movement based in Somalia is currently underway in the southern region of this Horn of Africa nation. A combined force of US Predator drones and French naval vessels is targeting four towns in the southern region so that Kenyan military forces on the ground can seize Kismayo, a port city under the control of Al-Shabaab. The city is a major source of trade and serves as the economic lifeline for the resistance movement, which has been labelled by the US as a terrorist organisation allied with al-Qaeda.
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Seven billion mark no cause for alarm
by Cai Hui
THE POPULATION of the Earth has reached seven billion, causing panic worldwide.
It indeed needs attention that the growth of the global population is accelerating. It took 125 years for global population to increase from one billion to two billion, 12 years to increase from five billion to six billion, but only two years to increase from six billion to seven billion.
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Trying to crush a movement
by Rob Gowland
THE RULING class is trying to crush the Occupy Wall Street movement and its many clones in the USA and around the world. A movement targeting the actions and policies of the big banks is going to get plenty of public support in this time of financial crisis and ever-growing evictions. It doesn’t take a Harvard degree in economics to grasp the connection between bankers’ institutional greed and people losing their homes and small businesses.
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