Once the bustling heart of Christian pilgrimage, Bethlehem now faces shuttered hotels, empty streets and a shrinking Christian community, while Israel’s assault on Gaza and the tightening grip of occupation destroy hopes of peace at the birthplace of Christ, writes Father GEOFF BOTTOMS
India's workers left high and dry
TONY BURKE warns that employment and environment rights clauses have been removed from the trade deal with India
LEFT UNPROTECTED: India general strike Novmber 26 2020
[IndustriALL Global Union/flickr/CC]
After years hidden away, Oldham’s memorial to six local volunteers who died fighting fascism in the Spanish civil war has been restored to public view, marking both a victory for campaigners and a renewed tribute to the town’s proud International Brigade heritage, says ROB HARGREAVES
The June 2025 attacks on Iran have heightened the risk of a wider war, exposed the fiction of a rules-based international order and left ordinary Iranians trapped between external aggression and internal repression, says the Committee for Defence of Iranian People’s Rights
While pretending to seek peace, Europe is heading toward a collision course with Russia – using security guarantees, troop deployments, expropriation and censorship as tools, writes SEVIM DAGDELEN
A WWI hero, renowned ornithologist, medical doctor, trade union organiser and founder member of the Communist Party of Great Britain all rolled in one. MAT COWARD tells the story of a life so improbable it was once dismissed as fiction
The long-term effects of chemical weapons such as Agent Orange mean that the impact of war lasts well beyond a ceasefire
PRIME Minister Rishi Sunak’s proposed trade deal with India will not include legally enforceable commitments on employment rights or environmental standards.
In January last year the Tory government said the British government was committed to negotiating enforceable labour and environment chapters as it laid out its strategic approach.
“We remain committed to upholding our high environmental, labour, food safety and animal welfare standards in our trade agreement with India.”
But Sunak is now going hell for leather to secure a trade deal with India before the next general election.
It appears he is prepared to dump clauses on the environment and employment rights to get deal “at any cost.”
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