Minister warns of xenophobia as British strike spreads

September 12th, 2009 LONDON - British Muslim fanatics have issued fresh warnings of impending terrorist attacks in the country and claimed that volunteers are ready to follow three British Muslims convicted of conspiring to blow up planes with bottles of explosives. Earlier, British airport security staff and police had foiled a plot to blow up airliners, and arrested three men -Abdullah Ahmed Ali, Tanvir Hussein and Assad Sarwar.

July 30th, 2009 British American Tobacco 1H profit up 16 pctLONDON — British American Tobacco PLC reported Thursday that its first half profit rose 16 percent compared to a year earlier to 1.45 billion pounds ($2.38 billion) as top brands such as Lucky Strike showed better sales. Revenue was up 24 percent to 6.78 billion pounds, a 14 percent gain on a constant currency basis.

June 23rd, 2009 Unions meeting with employers over refinery strikeLONDON — Union leaders met with construction bosses Tuesday in an effort to resolve an acrimonious industrial dispute that has led to walkouts across the British energy sector. The UNITE union said it was in talks with the companies contracted to work at Total's Lindsey Oil Refinery in northern England, where more than 600 workers were fired after staging unauthorized strikes over job losses.

June 12th, 2009 British postal workers to strike next weekLONDON — A British union says thousands of postal workers will strike next week in a dispute over jobs and services. The Communication Workers Union says up to 10,000 mail sorters, letter carriers and other London employees will walk out June 19 for 24 hours.

May 28th, 2009 LONDON - British trade unions Thursday threatened a two-day strike over pay and conditions on London's busy Underground (Tube) network next month. Members of the RMT Union voted overwhelmingly for strike action in their dispute with transport employers.

May 3rd, 2009 In view of reportedly alarming growth of xenophobia climate in Italy, Hindus and Jews have asked for immediate intervention of European Union for improving the Italian human rights situation. Rajan Zed, acclaimed Hindu statesman, and Rabbi Jonathan B.

April 27th, 2009 CHENNAI - Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi ended here Monday a hunger strike he began in the morning to demand a ceasefire in Sri Lanka.

April 9th, 2009 LONDON - China has asked Pakistan to take action against the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM), as it has intelligence inputs that the group is plotting to strike inside the country. Former Minister Mushahid Hussain said that the Chinese officials had warned about the threat during his visit to Central Asia.

March 4th, 2009 LONDON - The British minister for immigration has accused the country's independent statistics office of 'sinister' motives after it said one in nine British residents were born abroad. Phil Woolas said the Office of National Statistics (ONS), set up by former prime minister Tony Blair as a vehicle to promote informed national debates, was 'playing politics.' '...The government gets the blame by some for whipping up anti-foreign sentiment when it is the independent ONS who are playing politics,' Woolas said after statistics showed that 6.5 million people born overseas were resident in Britain.

February 23rd, 2009 LONDON - A forthcoming human rights report says British agents colluded with their Pakistani counterparts in the routine torture of British - and Pakistani - terror suspects, a newspaper reported Sunday. A study to be published next month by the civil liberties group Human Rights Watch (HRW) says at least 10 Britons are identified who have been allegedly tortured in Pakistan and subsequently questioned by British intelligence officials, the Observer said.

February 17th, 2009 SRINAGAR/JAMMU - The Jammu and Kashmir government Wednesday accepted employees' demand for the implementation of the Sixth Pay Commission recommendations, ending a three-day strike in offices. The decision follows talks between a five-member team of cabinet ministers led by Finance Minister Abdul Rahim Rather and 30 members of the Joint Coordination Committee of employees in Jammu.

February 16th, 2009 JAMMU - A five-member cabinet ministers' team led by Finance Minister Abdul Rahim Rather will talk to protesting employees of Jammu and Kashmir, who are on a three-day strike demanding implementation of the Sixth Pay Commission recommendations, an official spokesman said Tuesday. The strike continued on the second day Tuesday as around 400,000 employees stayed off work, asking for hike in salaries, enhancement of the retirement age from 58 to 60 years and regularisation of services of thousands of temporary employees.

January 9th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Transport Minister T.R. Baalu Saturday urged leaders of truckers across the country to come for talks and to end their six-day-old strike that has hit the economy hard.

January 8th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Employees of public sector oil companies, whose strike has crippled fuel supplies across India, have been asked to get back to work right away, Petroleum Minister Murli Deora said here Friday. Emerging from a meeting of the union cabinet, Deora told the media that 'the prime minister and all other ministers' were unanimous that the officers should call off their strike at once.

January 4th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The petroleum ministry has asked states to invoke the Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA) or the National Security Act (NSA) against employees of public sector oil companies if they go ahead with the proposed strike from Jan 7. 'I appealed to the employees to reconsider their decision to go on strike in the light of the difficult time the economy is going through,' Petroleum Minister Murli Deora said.