Once again Tower Hamlets is being targeted by anti-Islam campaigners, this time a revamped and radicalised version of Ukip — the far-right event is now banned by the police, but we’ll be assembling this Saturday to make sure they stay away, says JAYDEE SEAFORTH
Cuba’s triple troubles: pandemic, blockade and economic crisis
Buffeted for six decades by the US economic blockade and recently having had to cope with restrictions due to Covid- 19, the economy is deteriorating. Government leaders recently outlined remedial steps for the 'new normal' in Cuban socialism, reports W T WHITNEY JNR
URI WELTMANN reports on a day in the life of peace activists from Israel, travelling to help Palestinians in the West Bank harvest their olives under threat from settlers and soldiers
The independent TD’s campaign has put important issues like Irish reunification and military neutrality at the heart of the political conversation, argues SEAN MacBRADAIGH
Italian unions are mobilising against rearmament and for wages and investment – but left blunders still leave the ‘post-fascist’ Italian PM looking likely to keep her job, says NICK WRIGHT
New research into mutations in sperm helps us better understand why they occur, while debunking a few myths in the process, write ROX MIDDLETON, LIAM SHAW and MIRIAM GAUNTLETT
CAROL WILCOX argues for the proper implementation of the land value tax, which could see unused plots sold off and landlords priced out of landlordism, potentially resolving the housing and planning crises
THE UN’s Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (CEPAL) reported in October that the region “is experiencing its worst economic crisis in a century” and that Cuba’s GDP this year will be down at least 8 per cent.
Tourist income, remittances, foreign trade and tax collections have fallen. Oil and gasoline shortages, the result of US sanctions against Cuba and Venezuela, have stressed the economy.
Public spending on health care, unemployment compensation and pensions are up; 150,000 state workers and 250,000 private-sector workers have been idled. Effects of the US economic blockade compound matters, with restrictions affecting the tourist industry, foreign imports and access to foreign currency and loans.
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