 The world's largest retailer, Wal-Mart, has been ordered to pay $172m (£99m) in compensation to workers who were refused lunch breaks. A California court found Wal-Mart broke a state law requiring employers to give staff an unpaid 30-minute lunch break if they worked more than six hours. More than 100,000 Wal-Mart employees in California will be eligible for compensation. The company said in a statement that it would appeal against the decision. "We absolutely disagree with their findings," company lawyer Neal Manne told the Associated Press news agency of the jury's verdict. It ordered Wal-Mart to pay $57m in general damages and $115m in punitive damages. From 2001, state law called for shift workers to get meal breaks or be compensated with extra pay. Wal-Mart workers got neither, the lawsuit charged. ...
http://news.bbc.co.uk
censor News |
Editor - 09:54:00 12-23-05
|
 15 years for chemicals-to-Iraq man Dutchman who aided Hussein regime convicted of war crimes |
A court convicted a Dutch chemicals merchant of war crimes Friday, sentencing him to 15 years in prison for selling Saddam Hussein's regime the materials used in lethal gas attacks on Kurdish villages in the 1980s.Frans Van Anraat, 63, was not in the courtroom as the judges issued the verdict in the first court case anywhere concerning the killing of thousands of Iraqi Kurds with chemical weapons.The court first determined that the slaughter of the Kurds constituted genocide -- a finding that may reverberate in later charges against Saddam by an Iraqi court in Baghdad -- and that the chemicals supplied by the businessman were essential to the making of the weapons."It therefore follows that the mustard gas that ended up on the battlefield has been produced with TDG supplied by the suspect," the ruling said....
http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/europe/12/23/iraq.genocide.ap/index.html?section=cnn_world
full News |
Editor - 09:52:00 12-23-05
|
| NY transport workers end strike |
Transport union leaders in New York have voted to end a three-day strike that forced millions of commuters to walk, cycle, skate or share rides. But it could take up to 18 hours to get the public transport network running again, officials have said. The union had been faced with fines and jail terms for its leaders, as the law bans transport workers from striking. The strike - the city's first in 25 years - is thought to have cost New York up to a billion dollars. Workers will return to their posts as the next shift begins on the largest public transport system in the US. The city's seven million commuters expressed relief that the strike was coming to an end. "I'm glad that it's over. I didn't think I'd be able to leave the city to go home to Virginia for Christmas," fashion stylist Christina Turner told the Reuters news agency. ...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4552452.stm
full News |
Editor - 09:50:00 12-23-05
|
| WHO urges China to share bird flu samples |
The World Health Organization urged China on Friday to share samples from its bird flu outbreaks in animals and warned that human cases could be going unreported because of its weak healthcare system. Shigeru Omi, WHO regional director for the Western Pacific, said no viruses had been made available from China's 31 reported outbreaks in poultry this year, despite requests to the Ministry of Agriculture."If we received these samples from animals we would know what kind of changes the virus is undergoing, which is very, very vital in fighting against any potential pandemic," Omi told a news conference."Time is of the essence," he said.Scientists fear the H5N1 strain of the virus could change from a disease that affects mostly birds into one that can pass easily between people, sparking a pandemic.Two people have died from bird flu in China, out of 73 known fatalities in Asia. China has had four other confirmed human cases who survived the disease....
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20051223/ts_nm/birdflu_china_dc
full News |
Editor - 09:45:00 12-23-05
|
| Polish president pledges clean-up |
The new Polish President, Lech Kaczynski, has taken his oath of office, in a televised ceremony before both houses of parliament. Mr Kaczynski, 56, said Poland must be "rebuilt and cleansed". A staunch Roman Catholic, he has pledged to root out corruption and communist influence. Mr Kaczynski, a former Warsaw mayor elected in October, also vowed to help chart a new course for the EU. He supports the socially conservative Law and Justice party. It is led by his twin brother Jaroslaw Kaczynski. "The state is not working properly," Lech Kaczynski said on Friday. "It must be rebuilt and cleansed." He called for "a great change in our political life". On the economy, he said action to ensure fast growth must be balanced by action to tackle social problems, "with unemployment first on the list". Lech Kaczynski replaces Aleksander Kwasniewski, a former communist who had held office for 10 years. ...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4555086.stm
full News |
Editor - 09:40:00 12-23-05
|
| Indian parliament sacks 11 over graft |
India's parliament on Friday sacked 11 members caught on film taking cash for asking questions in the latest of a series of graft scandals that have angered, but not surprised, the country. It is the biggest single expulsion since independence in 1947, but analysts say it will have no political impact and do nothing to fight corruption because this is too entrenched. The upper house expelled one member and the lower house 10 after parliamentary committees investigating the allegations recommended they go. The 11, from the ruling Congress party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and regional groups, deny any wrongdoing and some say they are victims of a conspiracy. ...
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=1436844
full News |
Editor - 09:35:00 12-23-05
|
|
| post The Good, The Bad and The Ugly |
|
|
