National News
Care firms cut contracts
PRIVATELY owned companies running residential care homes for the elderly have ended their contracts with 95 local councils because they cannot provide the most basic care for the amount of money that the councils can afford to pay, according to an investigation by the BBC’s Panorama programme broadcast on Monday.
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High suicide rate in among construction workers
THE GIANT union Unite last week called for radical reform in the construction industry to reduce high suicide rates amongst the workforce.
A new analysis by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) found that the risk of suicide amongst low skilled male labourers, particularly those working on construction, was three times higher than the national average for males.
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PCS fights Jobcentre closures
THE CIVIL service union PCS last week lobbied MPS against plans by the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) to close one in 10 existing Jobcentres. During a backbench debate last week, called by PCS parliamentary chair Chris Stephens, a number of MPs from across the country criticised the government’s plans announced in January that put thousands of jobs at risk and would mean unemployed people having to travel further to get help getting back to work.
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Four Westminster committees to tackle air pollution
THE GOVERNMENT’s plans to tackle dangerous air pollution that causes illness and death to millions of people in Britain are to be scrutinised by MPs from four parliamentary committees.
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GKN Filton’s pension fund vanishes
THE GENERAL Municipal and Boilermakers’ union (GMB) last week reacted angrily after £40 million ‘disappeared’ from the pension fund of the aerospace giant GKN Filton.
The company refuses to let members speak to the union despite £1,000s potentially being slashed from their retirement fund.
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Tube workers angry over unfair dismissal
THE TRANSPORT union RMT reacted with fury last Tuesday after London Underground (LU) upheld the sacking of a staff member who intervened to stop a violent fare dodger from assaulting colleagues in an incident at London Bridge station last autumn.
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MARTIN McGUINNESS
by Dominic Doherty
MARTIN McGUINNESS died on Tuesday 21st March. His contribution to the struggle for Irish freedom and sovereignty for over 40 years has been immeasurable. The tributes that are flowing in from politicians, church people and citizens from across the religious and political divide and from all walks of life are testament to the stature of the man and the esteem in which he is held.
[Read the full obituary here MARTIN McGUINNESS]
Communists honour Karl Marx
by New Worker correspondent
MORE than 100 communists from all over the world gathered in Highgate cemetery last Sunday to mark the anniversary of the death of Karl Marx with a ceremony beside his grave.
There were ambassadors and diplomats from People’s China, Cuba, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and Venezuela. There were communists from Malaysia, Iran and Italy, as well as a large contingent from Akel (the Cypriot communist party) and many others including the New Communist Party, the Communist Party of Britain and other British communists.
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Defending the DPRK at LSE
by New Worker correspondent
Korean solidarity activists were outside the London School of Economics (LSE) last weekend to leaflet a seminar that purported to “provide a platform for detailed discussions on various aspects of North Korea, from North Korean society to the prospects for, and challenges of, Korean unification”. What they mean by ‘unification’ is really south Korea absorbing the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK). So basically this was a regime change conference organised by those hostile to the socialist system of the DPRK and the Juche Idea.
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International News
War of words between Berlin and Ankara
Sputnik
GERMAN Chancellor Angela Merkel has hit back at Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan after he once again referred to Germany’s “Nazi” tactics over rallies in support of the upcoming referendum in Turkey, marking a new low in diplomatic relations between the two countries.
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Hezbollah slams ‘weak’ UN
Telesur
The leader of the Lebanese Hezbollah movement has denounced the United Nations (UN) as weak after the withdrawal of a report accusing Israel of imposing an apartheid regime on Palestinians. The unprecedented report charged Israel with establishing “an apartheid regime that dominates the Palestinian people as a whole.”
[Read the complete story in the print edition]
Former IRA figher and peacemaker McGuinness Dead at 66
Telesur
Martin McGuinness, a former Irish Republican Army (IRA) commander, succumbed to the effects of a genetic disorder this week. He was diagnosed with a rare heart disease late last year. He was 66 years old.
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The attack on Indian Americans
by Vijay Prashad
WHEN Indian premier Narendra Modi sat in the wilderness of American political opinion, sections of the Non-Resident Indian (NRI) community came to his defence. Graphic human rights reports on the pogrom in Gujarat had turned the US State Department against Modi; he was denied a visa to enter the United States. It did not help Modi that there was clear evidence of discrimination against Christians in Gujarat, most notably in the Dangs region where Modi’s allies used violence against Christian missionaries. This did not sit well with the US Commission on International Religious Freedom.
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Features
Assad’s Syria after nearly six years of crisis
by Suliman Mulhem
AS THE Syrian crisis approaches its 6th anniversary, we take a look at some of the Syrian government’s social, political and economic policies. This will not only give an insight into what life has been like in Syria, but it also provides an indication of what values and principles are important to the Syrian government.
[Read the complete story in the print edition]
How Marx’s crisis theory explains growing anti-immigrant hate
by Ramiro S Fúnez
DONALD Trump. Nigel Farage. Marine Le Pen. Geert Wilders.
The rise of these four politicians is emblematic of growing anti-immigrant hate sweeping the imperialist countries. Basing their campaigns on xenophobia, they’ve been able to convince millions of people in their respective countries that immigrants are the source of their problems.
And at a time when there are more international migrants than ever before in human history, anti-immigrant hate can’t get any more dangerous.
[Read the complete story in the print edition]
FAKE NEWS! Here is another example, Trump
by Curtis Stone
“FOREIGN media reports that police tortured a detained lawyer is FAKE NEWS, fabricated to tarnish China’s image,” People’s Daily tweeted on 3rd March. The wording of the tweet, written to mimic the style of US President Donald Trump, struck a nerve with some readers.
[Read the complete story in the print edition]
The sale of Alaska
by Andrey Samoilov
Russia signed an agreement to sell Alaska and the Aleutian Islands to the United States of America on 30th March 1867 in Washington.
There are many myths associated with the sale of Alaska to the United States. Many believe that the territory was sold by Catherine II; some others believe that it was not sold, but rented for 99 years, but Brezhnev allegedly refused to take Alaska back.
[Read the complete story in the print edition]
