UK university workers begin strike over ‘falling pay, brutal workloads’ – Newstrends
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UK university workers begin strike over ‘falling pay, brutal workloads’

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Thousands of university and college staff in the United Kingdom, including lecturers, librarians and researchers, have declared a strike to demand pay increase and improved working conditions.

The University and College Union (UCU), the UK trade union for university staff, said the strike, referred to as the biggest in decades, is to improve quality in the education sector.

The UCU “represents over 120,000 academics, lecturers, trainers, instructors, researchers, managers, administrators, computer staff, librarians, technicians, professional staff and postgraduates in universities, colleges, prisons, adult education and training organisations across the UK”.

“This is the biggest week in our history. Every single university takes strike action on Thursday and Friday. We need every member, student and supporter on our picket lines on Thursday to show the employers that this time is different,” the union said in a statement.

Announcing the strike on Wednesday, Jo Grady, UCU’s general secretary, warned of a “bigger action” unless employers improved their offers.

“Staff are burnt out but they are fighting back and they will bring the whole sector to a standstill,” she said.

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“Vice-chancellors only have themselves to blame. Their woeful leadership has led to the biggest vote for strike action ever in our sector. Students are standing with staff because they know this can’t go on.”

The strike, which began on Thursday, will also hold on November 25 and November 30.

Commenting on the development on Thursday, Grady expressed satisfaction with the turnout of university staff.

“Today’s picket lines are huge. 70,000 university staff have turned out like never before, defying bullying tactics from management to show they will no longer accept falling pay, pension cuts, brutal workloads and gig-economy working conditions,” she was quoted as saying, according to UCL.

“If vice-chancellors doubted the determination of university staff to save our sector, then today has been a rude awakening for them.”

The strike has affected over 2.5 million students, some of who are standing in solidarity with their lecturers.

Lawyers, nurses, postal workers and many others have also protested to seek pay rises that match the soaring inflation in the country.

The latest protests come after the UK’s National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers announced on Tuesday that more than 40,000 rail workers will stage strikes in December and January, disrupting travel for scores of people during the festive season.

The union said members will have demonstrations for four days from December 13 and in the first week of January.

The UK has been battling difficult economic situations due to surging energy costs arising from the Russia-Ukraine war.

Earlier in August, the Bank of England warned that inflation would climb to just over 13 percent in 2022.

It also projected that the country would enter a recession from the fourth quarter of 2022 until late 2023.

In November, the country’s inflation rate jumped in the last 12 months to 11.1 percent in October — up by one percent from August’s inflation rate.

The Cable

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Ukraine receives bodies of 140 fallen soldiers from Russia

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Ukraine receives bodies of 140 fallen soldiers from Russia

Ukraine has received the bodies of 140 soldiers killed while trying to defend the regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhya and Kherson from Russian attacks.

The authority responsible for prisoner-of-war matters said on Telegram on Friday that five bodies were from the Sumy section in northern Ukraine.

Russia has no Ukrainian territories under its control in this area; however, at the beginning of March, units of allegedly Russian volunteers fighting on the side of Ukraine made advances from the Sumy region into Russian territory.

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Once the identities of the dead have been established, they will be handed over to their relatives, the authority said.

The authority, known as the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, thanked the International Committee of the Red Cross for arranging the return.

Ukraine has been fending off a Russian invasion for over two years.

Despite the ongoing fighting, both sides regularly exchange the bodies of fallen soldiers and prisoners of war.

It is not yet known whether and how many dead soldiers Russia has received in return.

Ukraine receives bodies of 140 fallen soldiers from Russia

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Weeks after Iran’s attack, Israel discovers another massive surface-to-surface missile

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Weeks after Iran’s attack, Israel discovers another massive surface-to-surface missile

Weeks after missiles sent by Iran on April 14 rocked several parts of Israel, another debris of a surface-to-surface missile has been found in the southern part of the country.

According to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), the debris that was found by hikers in southern Israel, has been successfully evacuated.

“The effects of Iran’s attack on Israel can still be seen weeks after it occurred.

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“Earlier today, our troops removed the debris of a surface-to-surface missile intercepted during the Iranian attack. At the beginning of the week, the debris was found by hikers in southern Israel.

A complex removal, the process was made possible through advanced preparation by the Home Front Command and assistance from the IAF. During the process, the missile debris was cleared of hazardous materials, ” the IDF said in a post on Friday.

This is not the first missile discovered in the south since the attack. Similar missiles were discovered nearby in the Dead Sea area immediately after the major attack that Tehran launched against Israel, which included more than 300 suicide drones, cruise missiles, and ballistic missiles.

Weeks after Iran’s attack, Israel discovers another massive surface-to-surface missile

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Nigerian man kills wife months after relocating to UK

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Olubunmi Abodund with late wife Taiwo
Nigerian man kills wife months after relocating to UK

Olubunmi Abodunde, a Nigerian living in the United Kingdom, reportedly beat his wife, Taiwo, to death with their son’s skateboard, according to the Daily Mail.

The couple, who had three children, arrived in the UK from Nigeria in 2022 and frequently feuded over reported relationships and financial disagreements.

According to the news outlet, 48-year-old Abodunde had been investigated by Suffolk Police several times for domestic abuse and was scheduled to stand trial for murder, but changed his plea to guilty on Wednesday after the jury was sworn in.

During the abuse, officers heard ‘a number of fringes’ inside the house, which Abodunde had entered despite bail restrictions imposed the day before that barred him from the residence due to another violent incident.

When they arrived 25 minutes later, they discovered Taiwo, 41, with her’skull bashed in’.

However, Judge Martyn Levett, sitting at Ipswich Crown Court, cautioned him that the only conceivable penalty was life imprisonment.

Suffolk Constabulary submitted itself to the Independent Office of Police Conduct, which confirmed that three officers were being investigated.

An IOPC spokesman said, “We advised two Suffolk officers that they are under investigation for potential breaches of the police standards of professional behaviour at the level of gross misconduct.

“We advised another officer that they are under investigation at the level of misconduct.”

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Abodunde has a history of mistrust and distrust towards his wife, accusing her of having affairs. He had been probed by police several times for alleged domestic abuse episodes prior to his wife’s murder.

He was detained on April 27 of last year, when police came to the couple’s house in Newmarket, Suffolk, and discovered Mrs. Abodunde with a split lip.

Later that day, he was released on police bail with the condition that he stay away from the marital residence and avoid approaching his wife.

However, after completing a night shift at Tesco, he returned home shortly after 9 a.m. to reportedly pick up his mobile phone.

At 9.20 a.m., two cops arrived to take Mrs. Abodunde’s testimony regarding the previous night’s incident, and they heard persistent banging inside.

But it wasn’t until 9.55 a.m. that they pushed their way in with permission from senior officers and discovered Mrs. Abodunde ‘clearly dead’ near the front entrance.

A post-mortem examination revealed that she had been throttled until unconscious, then stamped on until her ribs were fractured, before her husband used the skateboard to kill her off. The hits were so hard that the skateboard was ruined.

Prosecutor Simon Spence KC told the court that the hammering officers heard was most likely caused by Abodunde continuing to assault his wife after she was unconscious or dead.

Mrs. Abodunde worked as a care home assistant in Cambridge, but her husband, a civil engineer by training, was unable to find work and took shifts at Tesco and Wickes.

Following his arrest for the murder, Abodunde was taken to the hospital “because he appeared to have some sort of mental episode.”.

He later argued in a police statement that he had acted in self-defence, saying, “My wife has subjected me to physical abuse for a number of years.

“On November 28, we got into an argument. She ran at me with a knife. I grabbed the knife and cut my hand. I was defending myself.”

However, the court heard that, while he had a hand injury, no knife was found near his wife’s body.

Nneka Akudolu KC, defending, said the amount of violence was ‘completely out of character’ for her client and could have been influenced by the medicine he was on. However, she stated that no medical evidence would be supplied to back her assertion.

Following the court, Suffolk Police Detective Inspector Dan Connick stated, “This was an awful attack on a woman that has had a long-term impact on the community and, most importantly, on the victim’s family.”

“We are pleased that Taiwo’s family will no longer have to go through the pain of a trial.

“Our thoughts remain with Taiwo’s family and friends, and we hope this result will bring some small comfort to them.”

Nigerian man kills wife months after relocating to UK

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