National News
Shell abandons Arctic drilling
ENVIRONMENTALISTS camped outside the headquarters of the oil giant Shell in Waterloo, London, last Tuesday celebrated as the company announced that it is to abandon its efforts to drill for oil in Arctic waters in the face of overwhelming public protests — and “disappointing” results from its investigations in the region.
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Shaker Aamer due to be released
THE UNITED States Justice Department and the British Government last week announced that Shaker Aamer, the last British resident in Guantanamo Bay, is to be released very soon.
Aamer was captured and taken to Guantanamo 14 years ago but has been charged with no offence nor had any trial. He has been cleared by US officials for release since 2007 but it has not happened. They have admitted he was not a terrorist.
Even now his family are cautious to celebrate until they see him arrive home.
A US official said: “The secretary of defence has approved the transfer of Guantanamo detainee Aamer, following a thorough review of his case and taking into consideration the robust security assurances that will be provided by the British government, one of our strongest allies who has supported our efforts to close the detention facilities at Guantanamo Bay.”
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Colchester antifascists stand up to EDL
from New Worker correspondent
A MIXTURE of young students and local residents organised by Colchester Trades Council last Saturday turned out in force to oppose a planned march by the Islamophobic English Defence League.
Anti-fascists assembled outside the town hall before the EDL marched through the High Street while young members and supporters of the Anti-Fascist Network remained mobile to avoid being penned in by police.
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ASOS workers have no time for toilet breaks
WORKERS employed at the Barnsley depot of the online shopping giant ASOS have claimed that pressure is so great they have no time to use the company toilets — a 15-minute walk from where some staff are working — and in desperation they have been forced to use nearby drinking fountains as toilets.
The GMB general union has been engaged in a long-term fight to improve working conditions and claims that “employees are forced to work in draconian conditions on a daily basis”.
According to the union, workers suffer from constant issues with health and safety, including hot working conditions and lack of access to water. Staff at the distribution centre in Barnsley, South Yorkshire, where the orders made online are put together, packaged and sent out, have to pick 65 items an hour and some 800 per shift, the GMB says
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Scottish Political News
by our Scottish political affairs correspondent
ONE CAN tell much about people by the company they keep; likewise with political parties. The Scottish National Party’s allies in the European Parliament include many rum characters. The SNP is part of the European Free Alliance which openly promotes the very ethnic nationalism the SNP publicly abhors in favour of its so-called “civic nationalism”.
Members of the EFA are all separatists of some sort. It includes groups such as the Tyrolese who want to break away from Italy and join Austria, Basque and Breton nationalists, (the latter consider the years 1940-44, during the German occupation, as their glory years). Along with Flemish right wingers and left and right wing groups in Catalonia, Hungarians in Romania and Slovakia are also members. Plaid Cymru and the Cornish nationalist Mebyon Kernow are also members while the cranky Yorkshire First party has observer status.
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International News
The Russian role
by Dr Mohammad Abdo Al-Ibrahim
IN THE jungle world of today the cowboys still consider themselves the decision makers in deciding the destiny of all! Actually the cowboys are disillusioned and cut off from reality. Unfortunately some of the governments of the great European Union countries, which once worked for the noble principles of freedom, democracy and equality, have been turned into bribed officials selling themselves to whoever pays them more gas, oil and petro-dollars, even at the expense of human lives and the blood of innocents.
So what! The cowboys, according to many diplomatic and intelligence leaks, are adamant on destroying the civilisation and culture of the last remaining secular society in the Middle East — the cradle of the alphabet, monotheism, agriculture, music, art and civilisation. They are even planning ground invasions to back up their created and groomed ISIS militia and other Al-Qaeda affiliates and sell them all their manufactured arms of death and destruction to get back some of the bribe money paid to their lackeys!
This is “because they do not accept partners and do not accept independent states” as President Bashar Al-Assad said in a recent interview with the Russia media.
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Catalonia votes ‘Yes to independence’
by Mark Moloney
CATALAN nationalists say they will move to create an independent republic of Catalonia after regional parliamentary elections on Sunday saw pro-independence parties win an overall majority of seats in the Catalan Parliament.
A massive 77.5 per cent of voters turned out for the election, with the “Together for Yes” alliance — which includes a number of pro-independence parties — topping the poll.
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Veteran Cuban revolutionary Jorge Risquet dies
Granma
ON THE morning of 28th September, the outstanding revolutionary combatant Jorge Risquet Valdés-Saldaña, a founder member of the Communist Party of Cuba, died in Havana after a prolonged and serious illness.
Jorge Risquet was born on 6th May1930 in Havana. He joined the revolutionary youth movement in 1943, where he took on various roles in the Socialist Youth and Popular Socialist Party, including director of the newspaper Mella and serving as organisation secretary and general secretary of the National Committee of Socialist Youth, a movement to which he belonged for 15 years. He was arrested and prosecuted on various occasions by the government of the time due to his revolutionary actions.
Outstanding revolutionary combatant Jorge Risquet dies
The Pope’s blind spot on the US’s genocidal past
by Sonali Kolhatkar
POPE Francis’ canonisation of Junipero Serra is a slap in the face of Native tribes in California, who see his legacy as one of brutality, not heroism.
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Russia’s veto power a thorn in Washington’s flesh
Sputnik
WASHINGTON’S infuriated neo-cons are up in arms about Russia’s veto power in the United Nations Security Council, says US author and syndicated columnist Stephen Lendman, adding that without Russia the international organisation would simply parrot decisions made in Washington.
Washington absurdly claims that Russian vetoes are jeopardising the UN Security Council’s legitimacy, turning a blind eye to the US’s use of its own veto power dozens of times, says Stephen Lendman, nailing US policy makers for their utter hypocrisy and double- standard approach.
Indeed Russia’s veto power in the UN Security Council “challenges (Washington’s) hegemonic agenda, blocking efforts to authorise war on Syria among other important actions,” Lendman said in his article for Global Research.
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70 years of victory
by Andy Brooks
THE KOREAN people will soon be celebrating the 70th anniversary of the Workers Party of Korea and throughout the world communists will join them at events to mark the foundation of the party that has led the Korean revolution to victory after victory in the decades that followed.
The Workers Party of Korea has led the Korean revolution, performing tremendous feats in socialist construction, defeating US imperialism, beating the US-led economic blockade and overcoming natural disasters to become a nuclear power and a modern socialist society that serves the people throughout their lives.
The revolutionary struggle was led by great leader Kim Il Sung and dear leader Kim Jong Il.
Today leader Kim Jong Un follows their footsteps at the helm of the Party that is leading the drive to build a thriving socialist republic.
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Features
No union mines left in Kentucky
by Rob Gowland
UNDERGROUND coal mining is dirty, hard and dangerous work. Apart from accidents, miners are liable to lung damage from coal dust. In South Africa, England, Australia, the US and many other countries, miners have fought often vicious battles to improve their pay and conditions. In few places were those battles harder than in the US.
As Dylan Lovan said in an article for Associated Press on 5th September: “Kentucky coal miners bled and died to unionise. Their workplaces became war zones and gun battles once punctuated union protests. In past decades, organisers have been beaten, stabbed and shot while seeking better pay and safer conditions deep underground.”
Despite the obvious drama inherent in these battles to unionise, they are not considered appropriate subjects for US films and TV. The independent movie Matewan was a notable exception, as was the documentary feature Harlan County USA. But, considering Hollywood’s partiality for guns and killings, it is obviously not the violence that inhibits producers from taking up this subject. Clearly, the subject’s class position is the key.
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Ukraine’s Poroshenko: War criminal!
by Greg Butterfield
WHEN Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko arrives in New York for the 70th United Nations General Assembly in late September, activists in solidarity with the Donbas people’s republics and Ukrainian political prisoners plan to expose him for the war criminal he is.
Poroshenko comes bearing proposals aimed at furthering US-Nato demonization of the Russian Federation — whose president, Vladimir Putin, will also be present in New York. In his speech on 29th September, Poroshenko is expected to ask the General Assembly to remove Russia from its permanent slot on the UN Security Council, where it has often served as a counter-weight to US aggression, as in Syria.
Although such a change is unlikely to find much support, Poroshenko and his US handlers will use this occasion to continue spreading lies about a “Russian invasion” of eastern Ukraine and equally imaginary Russian threat to Nato members in eastern Europe.
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Russians start helping to destroy Islamic State in Syria
Pravda.ru
THE ARMY of Bashar al-Assad has reportedly started crushing Islamic State militants that had previously seized the cities of Palmyra and Homs. Western experts and journalists believe that the Syrian troops receive substantial military assistance from Russian military men at the Russian base in Latakia.
In addition Russia has deployed modern weapons, including air defence, missile systems and aviation, having turned the area of the Russian base into a strong fortress. To crown it all, Russia still ships weapons to the government of Bashar Assad under previously concluded contracts.
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