Unite Slams Mayor Boris’ Decision to Cancel Rise Festival ‘09

September 30th, 2009 LONDON - Rob MacGregor, Unite national officer, said: "This agreement is a smoke screen designed to deflect criticism away from those who brought our banking system to its knees. The industry remains over populated with the greedy, arrogant and corrupt.

September 30th, 2009 LONDON - Unite, the UK's largest trade union, has today (Thursday) welcomed the findings of an independent report, produced by the Royal Automobile Club Foundation (RAC) which states that Mayor Boris Johnson is "pre-occupied with minority-focused transport schemes and high-cost initiatives". Unite regional industrial organiser, Peter Kavanagh, said: "Unite warned the Mayor that the withdrawal of the bendy bus would mean more buses, more operating costs and more congestion on the already congested roads of London.

September 17th, 2009 LONDON - WHEN: 12pm, Saturday, 19th September 2009 WHERE: Holyhead Town Hall, Newry Street, LL65 Hundreds of Unite members, along with people from across Anglesey, will hold a demonstration tomorrow (Saturday, 19th September) against the proposed closure of the Anglesey Aluminium smelting plant by Rio Tinto. Demonstrators will carry placards demanding Rio Tinto 'put people before profit' to show their anger and disappointment over its decision to close the Anglesey Aluminium, one of the largest employers in North Wales.

September 8th, 2009 LONDON - Diageo's announcement today (Wednesday 9th September) to reject proposals by the Scottish Government that would safeguard jobs has outraged Unite, the UK's biggest union. Unite is also furious that Diageo has made the announcement before the conclusion of the 90-day consultation period.

July 1st, 2009 LONDON - Unite, the UK's largest union, is astonished that many London buses are so inadequately maintained they can not turn off the heating during the summer meaning temperatures of 45 degrees Celsius on some buses, making it hotter than Dubai. Unite has been pressing the employers to ensure that air conditioning is fitted into the cabs of all the buses for many years.

April 26th, 2009 LONDON - Mayor Boris Johnson will outline his commitment to boosting the economic potential of London's outer boroughs in a keynote address at Property Week's Outer London Summit on 11th June 2009. He will reveal how outer London can play its full part in the city's economic success and bolster the capital's economic strength for generations to come.

April 1st, 2009 LONDON - Derek Simpson, Unite joint general secretary, said: "The announcement by Aviva to cut 1,100 staff will cause alarm across the insurance industry. Today we see a scenario where a company that is continuing to deliver positive results is slashing the staff that have enabled them to weather the current financial storm.

March 24th, 2009 LONDON - Unite has accused HSBC of "creative accountancy" with jobs as HSBC concedes that the true number of job cuts is in fact 2,900 as the union has rightly claimed, and not 1,200 as HSBC had originally claimed. Derek Simpson, Unite Joint General Secretary, said: "As if it was not bad enough for staff of HSBC to hear from the media that their jobs are at risk, we now have a situation where the company is failing to come clean with the true extent of these cuts.

March 24th, 2009 LONDON - Derek Simpson, Unite Joint General Secretary, said: "To slash 2,900 jobs demonstrates the insincerity of the claim by HSBC to be 'the world's local bank'. This decision will ravage a number of local communities as sites are closed and other work is sent abroad.

March 12th, 2009 LONDON - Unite, the UK's biggest civil air transport union, welcomes the announcement today (Friday) from the High Court that the challenge to the expansion of Stansted airport has been suspended. Steve Turner, Unite National Officer, said: "We are delighted at this decision today and hope we can now move on and develop an expansion programme at Stansted airport.

January 23rd, 2009 LONDON - British singer Lily Allen slams a few of her ex-boyfriends in her new album 'It's Not Me It's You'. Mirror.co.uk reports that in the song 'Knock Back' she sings: 'You're really mean, you're supposed to care, that you never made me scream...

July 6th, 2009 LONDON - A beer festival, called the Beer on the Wye festival, in Herefordshire had to close before time, because customers drank the bar dry. The festival, which was to run until July 5, had to close after running out of beer, cider and perry on Saturday.

August 1st, 2009 American-Dutch gay couples to wed in AmsterdamAMSTERDAM — The mayor of Amsterdam is officiating at the weddings of five American-Dutch homosexual couples on a boat during the city's Gay Pride festival, in part to challenge the United States to legalize gay marriage. Mayor Job Cohen also performed the first Dutch ceremonies after the Netherlands legalized same-sex marriage in 2001.

January 11th, 2009 CHANDIGARH - Chandigarh dedicated the Lohri festival this year to the girl child as the city celebrated the day Monday with great enthusiasm and fanfare. Families who were blessed with their first girl child in 2008 and families having only daughters were honoured by the municipal corporation officials during the Lohri celebrations at the Terrace Garden in Sector 33.

June 2nd, 2009 SHILLONG - The Indian Panorama Film Festival was recently held in Shillong to the delight for all film lovers. The three-day film festival was organised by the Directorate of Film Festivals (DFF) in collaboration with the Government of Meghalaya.

March 30th, 2009 SHILLONG - In an aim to encourage women to engage in filmmaking and other creative activities, Meghalaya recently hosted the first ever woman film festival of the northeast. The 'Women Behind Camera' festival began on March 20 and concluded on March 26.

April 16th, 2009 WASHINGTON - British soul singer Joss Stone, 22, is the latest star to have been lined up for the coming weekend's Coachella festival in California. She will perform at the star-studded event on Saturday (April 18).

September 10th, 2009 Palestinian artists boycott Toronto film festivalRAMALLAH, West Bank — Palestinian artists are calling for a boycott of the Toronto International Film Festival for screening a series of movies about the Israeli city of Tel Aviv. Dozens of Palestinian filmmakers, writers and artists protested Thursday outside the offices of the Canadian representative in the West Bank town of Ramallah.

April 13th, 2009 SILCHAR - Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Monday criticized the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) prime ministerial candidate Lal Krishna Advani for releasing the terrorists during Kandahar hijack episode in 1999-2000. "Even the Parliament was attacked during Advani's tenure as Union Home Minister.

June 3rd, 2009 LA mayor: Dating won't impact political decisionsLOS ANGELES — Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa (vee-yah-ry-GOH'-sah) says reports this week that he's dating another TV reporter will not be a factor in whether he decides to run for California governor. The Democratic mayor said Wednesday the public has scant interest in his personal life.