alanjjohnstone
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Israeli rules on Palestinian romances.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-62730164
Foreigners must tell the Israeli defence ministry if they fall in love with a Palestinian in the occupied West Bank, according to new rules… a demand on foreigners to inform the Israeli authorities within 30 days of starting a relationship with a Palestinian ID holder.
New restrictions on Palestinian universities include a quota for 150 student visas and 100 foreign lecturers, while there are no such limits in Israeli ones.
If they marry, they will be required to leave after 27 months for a cooling-off period of at least half a year.
The new rules specify that foreign visitors coming on a West Bank-only permit are obliged to travel via land crossings with Jordan and can only use Israel’s Ben Gurion airport in exceptional cases.
the new rules completely exclude nationals of Jordan, Egypt, Morocco, Bahrain, and South Sudan – although these countries have diplomatic ties with Israel.
Holders of passports from these countries – including dual nationals – can only enter the West Bank in exceptional and humanitarian cases for a limited period.This is of course not apartheid
I wonder how long it will be before Brits are given the same advice instead of being referred to food banks
Fiore said he and his team concocted a formula that combines locally farmed mopane worms with cereals and fruits…He said he was sure the dish was palatable, with his research team having conducted consumer taste tests in Scotland, a country long associated with porridge.
Ukraine gets plenty of publicity for the aid it receives. Russia less so.
Who is assisting the Russians?https://countercurrents.org/2022/09/where-does-russia-receive-its-aid-from/
Ukraine’s war against the workers
https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/odr/ukraine-labour-law-wrecks-workers-rights/
70% of workers in Ukraine have been stripped of many labour protections. Collective agreements negotiated by unions – over salary or holidays, for instance – no longer apply.
The policy is opposed by Ukraine’s Federation of Trade Unions and has been criticised by a joint European Union-International Labour Organisation project. Some of its critics argue that the government is using Russia’s invasion as an excuse to push for deregulation and the stripping back of social support.
Another draft bill proposes a drastic overhaul of Ukraine’s labour code itself. This would introduce a maximum 12-hour work day and allow employers to dismiss workers without justification.
The USA approves a billion dollars in arms for Taiwan
Russian state-backed energy firm Gazprom is poised to hand a bumper £8.6bn payout to the Kremlin after notching up record profits.
The company reported a net profit of 2.5tn roubles (£35.8bn) for the first six months of this year. Oil and gas prices soared during that period
The Kremlin owns 49.3% of Gazprom and will share in a 1.21tn rouble payout, after its board proposed a 51.03 rouble per ordinary share payout to investors.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/aug/31/gazprom-to-pay-kremlin-86bn-after-record-profits
The trade war heats up
Chip designer Nvidia said that US officials told it to stop exporting two top computing chips for artificial intelligence work to China, a move that could cripple Chinese firms’ ability to carry out advanced work.
US officials told it the new rule “will address the risk that the covered products may be used in, or diverted to, a ‘military end use’ or ‘military end user’ in China.”
John Lewis and Waitrose are offering staff free food from October to January to help with the cost of living.
The meals, during work hours, are for permanent staff as well as temporary and agency workers.
A four-hour shift could choose one meal – breakfast, lunch or dinner – depending on the time of day, an eight-hour shift could choose two meals, long distance lorry drivers would pre-order packed lunches. Those working in smaller convenience stores without a canteen would receive salads or sandwiches,
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-62742305
Will it catch on? Will there be a campaign as big as the free school dinners?
I hope the Don’t Pay campaign takes heed of the Poll Tax non-payers and will organise flying pickets to the homes of those who refused to pay fully ready to block the bailiffs and the accompanying police.
That will be the inevitable next stage. Along with being blacklisted for any future application for finance borrowing.
How they stop the arrestment of wages, I am not sure.
What struck me was watching this video was the absence of SWP and SPEW banners in the crowd. Can it continue to avoid their influence?
The trouble for the unions is if they don’t make demands that are seen to be on the behalf of the general public such as government action on the price crisis, they are accused of being selfish and greedy, concerned solely about their own members.
I saw a video where the speaker didn’t care how the government intervened, by an energy cap or grants paid from a windfall tax or any other method.
As the CWU leader said in one interview, in their pay demand they want it be seen as the benchmark wage for all non-Royal Mail delivery workers to aspire to.
And I believe ample research shows for the non-unionised, the higher the union pay is it has a knock-on general effect, something that they should be emphasising as a benefit for all workers and not just the unionised.
And you Northerners and Southerners should think about the Islanders and in particular, the Shetlands who really should have control over THEIR oil ;-p
By April 2023, the average energy cost per year for a household will be £10,300 in Shetland compared with £5,136 for the UK. This October, it is predicted to be more than £7,000, compared with less than £4,000 on the mainland.
Charity World Vision worker jailed again by Israel for supposedly financing Hamas
In 2017, the Australian government, which is a significant donor to World Vision, concluded in a probe that no money was used for transferring funds to Hamas.
Human Rights Watch said that the sentencing was “a profound miscarriage of justice”.
“Holding al-Halabi for six years based on secret evidence, which multiple investigations rejected, made a mockery of due process.
