World-News

Residents who battled plans to install a mobile phone mast in Shrewsbury more than 18 months ago have warned the mobile phone giant behind new plans they “have a fight on their hands”.

Last year protesters successfully stopped plans by phone giant O2 to erect a 12.5 metre antenna near their homes in Copthorne.

But councillor Judith Williams last week received a letter from rival firm Vodafone stating its intention to use the site for its mast.

Dr Jon Sharp, of Shrewsbury Chiropractic Clinic in Copthorne Road, said: “We fought the last phone mast and we will fight this one too.

Read More...
http://www.shropshirestar.com/2008/08/26/residents-will-fight-new-plan-for-mast/

ISIS Press Release 26/08/08

The US Department of Agriculture’s give-away insurance rates for GM crops risk bankrupting the public coffers. Prof. Joe Cummins

The Federal Crop Insurance Corporation (FCIC) is part of the Risk Management Agency (RMA) that serves under the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture), a Federal Executive Department (or Cabinet Department).The USDA-FCIC safeguards the economic stability of agriculture through a system of crop insurance and provides the means for research in devising and establishing such insurance. It is managed by a Board of Directors, subject to the general supervision of the Secretary of Agriculture.

On 12 September 2007, the FCIC Board of Directors approved a Biotech Yield Endorsement (BYE) pilot programme submitted under section 523(d) of the Federal Crop Insurance Act. The result is that farmers growing Monsanto’s genetically modified (GM) maize receives crop insurance at a greatly reduced cost of between 20 and 70 percent.

The BYE programme was crafted by the Monsanto Corporation and its first beneficiary is limited to its GM maize. This insurance bonanza is intended for farmers planting Monsanto’s GM maize that has Bt genes against corn borer and root worm stacked with a gene for tolerance to Round-up herbicide. The FCIC Board of Directors, at its 14 August 2008 meeting, approved additional seed technologies for premium rate reduction for producers planting certain corn hybrid varieties; i.e., those containing Bt genes for corn borer and rootworm stacked with genes for tolerance to herbicides such as glyphosate and glufosinate. The companies benefiting from the largesse of the USDA give-away insurance include besides Monsanto, Dow, Syngenta and Pioneer Hi-Bred [1, 2].

Read the rest of this article here http://www.i-sis.org.uk/USDAgifttoMonsanto.php



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=USDA
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Monsanto
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=GM+maize
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Syngenta

Matt Kelley, USA Today: "The Senate's longest-serving Republican, Alaska's Ted Stevens, heads into a primary election today at a time when he is fighting for his political life and his party is struggling to hold onto its Senate seats. Stevens, who was indicted last month on federal charges of failing to report gifts he got from a wealthy constituent, is likely to survive the GOP primary over six lesser-known challengers. But he's trailing by 13 percentage points in a recent statewide poll by Rasmussen Reports against Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich, Stevens' likely fall opponent."

http://www.truthout.org/article/alaska-scandal-underscores-gop-troubles



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=GOP
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Ted+Stevens
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Matt+Kelley

Erin Emery and David Olinger, The Denver Post: "Five years into the war in Iraq and six years after the invasion of Afghanistan, the Army is sending soldiers with physical and mental injuries back to war, at times overruling physicians' classifications of soldiers as 'nondeployable.' Facing demands unprecedented in the history of the all-volunteer force, the Army has deployed soldiers with slings and crutches and some who need machines to help keep them alive through the night. Thousands are taking pain, sleep or antidepressant medication, with sometimes deadly consequences."

http://www.truthout.org/article/veterans-battle-within



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Afghanistan
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=injuries
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=veterans
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Erin+Emery

http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/676/t/580/petition.jsp?petition_KEY=1357

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Ghana: Kein Goldabbau im Ajenua Bepo-Wald
Goldförderung zerstört Regenwald Goldförderung zerstört Regenwald

Seit Jahren kämpfen Kleinbauernfamilien und die in der National Coalition on Mining (NCOM) zusammengeschlossenen Nichtregierungsorganisationen in Ghana gegen die Freigabe der Naturschutzgebiete des Landes für Bergbauaktivitäten wie den Abbau von Gold. Schon heute sind 13 Prozent der Landesfläche als Konzessionen an Bergbauunternehmen vergeben. Die Freigabe der Waldschutzgebiete für den Bergbau hätte weitreichende Konsequenzen für die Natur und Ernährungssicherheit des Landes. (Start: 26.08.2008)

http://www.regenwald.org/protestaktion.php?id=306

„In Potsdam und anderen ostdeutschen Städten bekommen Mitarbeiter der deutschen Telekom einen Vorgeschmack auf das, was ihnen blüht, wenn der Konzern nach Ablauf der mit der Gewerkschaft ver.di vereinbarten Haltefrist weitere Callcenter verkauft. In einem 2007 von der Telekom an die Bertelsmann-Tochter Arvato verkauften Center sollen die 60 Beschäftigten neue Arbeitsverträge unterschreiben, die unter anderem eine Lohnabsenkung um bis zu 30 Prozent, eine Wochenarbeitszeiterhöhung von bisher 38 auf 40 Stunden sowie die Verringerung des Jahresurlaubs von derzeit 30 auf 26 Tage beinhalten. Nach Informationen von ver.di plant die Geschäftsleitung mittelfristig weitere Schritte. So soll der durchschnittliche Bruttojahresverdienst der Beschäftigten auf rund 15000 Euro gedrückt werden…“ Artikel in der jungen Welt vom 23.08.2008 http://www.jungewelt.de/2008/08-23/011.php

Siehe dazu:

»Einige Kollegen sind in ihrer Existenz bedroht«

Im Callcenter Arvato in Potsdam sollen die Gehälter um 30 Prozent gekürzt werden. Ein Interview von Gitta Düperthal mit Jörg Kiekhäfer, Gewerkschaftssekretär für den Fachbereich Telekommunikation im ver.di-Landesbezirk Berlin-Brandenburg, in der jungen Welt vom 25.08.2008 http://www.jungewelt.de/2008/08-25/017.php


Aus: LabourNet, 26. August 2008

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Arvato setzt auf Privatisierung staatlicher Dienstleistungen

Bertelsmann trennt sich vom Musikgeschäft Sony/BMG und schichtet eine Milliarde um. Vermutlich fließt ein Großteil in den Bereich Arvato: Logistik, Internet, "Government Services": Ein 20-Milliarden-Euro-Markt.

http://www.heise.de/tp/r4/artikel/28/28605/1.html



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Bertelsmann
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Callcenter

http://www.lewrockwell.com/reese/reese491.html

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Army, Flag, and Cross

Reverie on a Ribbon

By Stephen J. Gallagher

Romantic nationalism takes as its starting point the "white man's burden" and America's unique world-historical mission to "bring" democracy to the benighted peoples of the wold.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20625.htm



Fascism Anyone?

Sadly, historical amnesia is the norm.

By Laurence W. Britt

Fascism's principles are wafting in the air today, surreptitiously masquerading as something else, challenging everything we stand for.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article4113.htm



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=exporting+democracy
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=neocons
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=fascism
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=com/reese

http://www.lewrockwell.com/buchanan/buchanan96.html



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Georgia
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=neocons
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=com/buchanan

http://www.lewrockwell.com/reed/reed144.html



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=com/reed

Handys können ganz schön auf die Nerven gehen. Besonders lästig können die tragbaren Telephone werden, wenn die unterschiedlichen Klingeltöne den Schulunter-richt stören. Einge Gemeinden haben deshalb bereits reagiert. So hat der Gemeinderat von Lintgen unlängst auf Betreiber und Lehrerschaft angeordnet, dass die Schüler ihr Handy weder in der Schule noch auf dem Pausenhof benutzen dürfen.

Weiter unter...
http://www.wort.lu/index.php?art=6631373


Informant: Pesché Jeannot

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Handyverbot an Schulen
http://freepage.twoday.net/stories/1677088/

Asia Times
by Jim Lobe

08/25/08

In a ‘breathtaking’ two weeks of foreign policy failures, Washington has seen bloody attacks in Afghanistan and Pakistan, the possibility of renewed civil war in Iraq and the embarrassment of Russia’s invasion of Georgia. In sum, the Pax Americana era, in which the US maintained a monopoly on the use of military force, came to an end...

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Front_Page/JH26Aa02.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Pax+Americana
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Georgia
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Pakistan
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Afghanistan
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Jim+Lobe

Errol Louis, New York Daily News: "Seventy-two days from now, when an estimated 122 million Americans will vote for our next president, nearly every crucial part of Election Day machinery - from the operation of the machines to the clarity of the ballot choices - will be, in many places, a confusing mess."

http://www.truthout.org/article/casting-doubt-a-voting-plan



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=presidential+election

UK: Banks were accused of 'milking' nearly £3billion extra cash from homeowners and blaming the credit crunch.

http://tinyurl.com/6j2fme



Lone accountant takes on IRS and wins

It took seven years, but Charles Ulrich did something many people dream about, but few succeed at: He beat the IRS in a tax dispute. Not only that, but tax experts say potentially millions of other taxpayers could benefit from his victory.

http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_10292128



The big secret in U.S. housing

Taxpayers need answers if billions are to be required in a potential crisis or if Congress and Treasury plan to maintain Fannie and Freddie in their present form. Yet debate in the campaign is negligible.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20080825/cm_csm/efannie


From Information Clearing House

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The Housing Bubble Villains Deny Responsibility

Dean Baker, Truthout: "The central bankers of the world gathered last weekend for their annual meeting at Jackson Hole, Wyoming. This was an opportunity to talk about the major issues confronting the world economy, as well as an opportunity to spend some time in a very beautiful vacation spot."

http://www.truthout.org/article/the-housing-bubble-villains-deny-responsibility



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=credit+crunch
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Fannie
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=taxpayer
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=housing
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Dean+Baker

A band of pre-eminent scientists and war-fighters has concluded that the nation's military might isn't powerful enough for the 21st Century; and so the National Research Council (NRC), an independent, congressionally-chartered body charged with assessing scientific issues, is urging the Pentagon and Congress to get cracking on developing a weapon capable of hitting any target in the world within an hour of being launched.

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1834547,00.html

There is a growing belief within the US government that the new leadership in Islamabad has proved to be ineffectual in the fight against the militants.

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hg0RDDhYni5_l5ipw0w944Z955zA


From Information Clearing House



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Pakistan

Aug 28 2008 by Dominic Jones, Gwent Gazette

PLANS to allow a new mobile phone mast to be built near a Six Bells primary school have met with anger from concerned parents.

Blaenau Gwent Council confirmed mobile phone company Vodafone had submitted an application to build a new tower, between 10-15m high, on land adjacent to the Old Quarry in Cwm Farm Road, Six Bells, near Bryngwyn Primary.

A council spokeswoman said they were currently consulting Six Bells householders through site notices and letters to individual properties before making a decision.

The spokeswoman added: “As the proposed mast at Six Bells will be less than 15m in height, the council has, under current planning regulations, 56 days to make a decision on the acceptability of its siting and appearance, which it will do through its normal planning procedures.”

Worried parents and residents have started a campaign to convince the planning committee to think twice about giving the tower the green light.

Read More...
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/south-wales-news/blaenau-gwent/2008/08/28/phone-mast-fears-91466-21599836/