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LATEST NEWS
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Prisoners across England and Wales will pick, pack and bag retail orders for outside businesses after DHL and Booker won a contract to supply prison canteens. Under the new scheme, 500 low-risk prisoners will be selected by HM Prison Service, based on 'good behaviour record', to work in 17 workshops in prisons across the country. DHL, who manage the deliveries, will provide training for prisoners to complete NVQ qualifications in Warehousing and Logistics.
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A new report exposes the close involvement of the European employers' federation, BusinessEurope, in drawing up the Global Europe trade strategy, launched by former Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson in late 2006. The research, conducted by Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO), reveals how representatives from BusinessEurope were given privileged access in the preparations for the new strategy, with exclusive meetings with Mandelson and other top officials from Directorate-General for Trade of the European Commission. |
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Following the Wal-Mart-Bharti joint venture, the UK's largest retailer, Tesco Plc, has announced its plan to enter India's retail sector in a joint venture with the Tata Group, one of India's largest business conglomerates. |
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Fresh allegations of misconduct have been made against arms company BAE Systems in relation to Saudi arms deals, as the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) condemned the UK government for failing to tackle corruption. |
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Thousands of Afghan refugees who have been denied asylum in France and the UK could be forcibly deported to the war-devastated country on joint charter flights if a proposed agreement between France and Afghanistan goes ahead. Gérard Gavory, deputy head of the regional government of Calais, France, recently hinted that the deportations could be imminent as a result of "international negotiations." He also said French authorities have been "working effectively with Britain to set up joint [deportation charter] flights." |
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Brazilian company Yaguarete Pora S.A. has devastated hundreds of hectares of forest belonging to Paraguay's last uncontacted indigenous people in the last month alone, recent satellite photos have revealed. |
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Hundreds of demonstrators gathered outside The Stock Exchange in the City of London on 10th October to protest against the government's bail-out of crumbling corporations and the likely impact that the looming recession will have on the British and global working classes. Under the motto "Capitalism isn't in crisis; capitalism IS crisis", the demo was organised by the Socialist Workers' Party (SWP) but was attended by a wide variety of people, many of whom were students, who are likely to be personally affected by the 'credit crunch' in different ways, such as by rent increases, job losses and general price increases. |
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The world's largest mining company, BHP Billiton, was attacked at it Annual General Meeting for its forced relocations of farming communities in Colombia, its obliviousness to local opposition to mining in the Philippines, and its plan to begin mining nickel in Indonesian-controlled Papua, which will devastate one of the most pristine marine ecosystems in the world. |
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Some 300 activists turned up for the Big Blockade of the Aldermaston Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE), near Reading, to mark the UN Disarmament Week (24-30 October) and disrupt work on Trident warheads and their successors. |
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Over 400 people took part in a mass demonstration in Brighton on 14th October with the aim of closing the EDO MBM/ITT arms manufacturing factory. Despite a huge police operation, protesters managed to block a main road, while others managed to get to the factory through the woods to decorate it with red paint. EDO MBM/ITT was forced to close for the day. |
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At a time when Boeing is claiming it will be able to run its aircraft on agrofuel in five years' time, if not sooner, and while the general hope for alternatives to oil is high, environmental protesters decided to highlight the absurdity of the corporate 'bio' claims about agrofuels by 'participating' in Europe's largest agrofuel conference. |
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Mark Serwotka, the general secretary of PCS:
"I can assure you that the extra money my low-paid members need will not be spent being invested offshore in hedge funds, but will go to paying food and fuel bills..."
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Friday, 31 October: Bail Out People Not Banks! Hallowe'en protest. Assemble 5pm, Nye Bevan Statue, Queen Street, Cardiff. Capitalism is bad black magic. Torch-lit march from bank to bank, exorcising the ghouls and ghosts of the free market and stamping our claim on our banks! |
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