Interest rates up Summer strikes called off

staff based in Terminal 3 of the airport facility plus colleagues who work in Terminal

3. They are responsible for checking airside workers and vehicles entering the facility.

“This was a hard­won victory which demonstrates what can be achieved when workers stand together and take action together,” insisted Sharon Graham, the general secretary of Unite, according to a news source on Friday, June 23.

She continued: “The pay deal at Heathrow is a further demonstration of how Unite’s complete focus on jobs, pay and conditions are having direct benefits for its members.”

The decision will come as a massive relief to the hordes of British holidaymakers looking to head abroad this summer. Heathrow Airport is a major international hub and caters for flights to a variety of exotic destinations.

Despite one set of strikes being averted, travellers still face uncertainty over trips to Europe this summer. Air traffic controllers in Italy and France threatened to down tools over demands for better salaries.

Denmark

Too soon

A SURVEY for Danish cancer charity Kræftens Bekæmpelse found that approximately 30,000 people aged between 15 and 24 needed emergency hospital treatment over the last year after drinking alcohol. The charity said the figures were “shocking” and called for the minimum age for buying alcohol to be raised from 16.

Cry wolf

TWENTY-NINE wolves currently live in Denmark, and the number is believed to be growing. Aarhus University’s Environment and Energy department has issued guidelines on how to react on encountering wolves in the wild while taking care not to disturb their natural habitats or accustom the animals to humans.

The Netherlands

Ancient site

DUTCH archaeologists discovered a 4,000year-old burial site which was also a solar calendar on industrial land in Tiel. A burial mound with the remains of approximately 60 men, women and children, contained several passages where the sun would have shone directly on the longest and shortest days of the year.

Mother tongue

FOREIGN students will soon need to be able to speak Dutch, announced Education Minister Robbert Dijkgraafand, who is under pressure to tackle the dominance of English as a teaching medium. Most bachelor degree courses will require two-thirds of their content to be offered in Dutch, he told a parliamentary committee.

Belgium

Equal footing

BELGIUM was ranked 10th in the world for gender equality by the World Economic Forum’s 2023 Gender Gap Report, moving up four places since last year. Iceland remained at the top of the list, followed by Norway and Finland. Algeria, Chad and Afghanistan occupied the last three places.

War footing

BELGIUM officially joined the Future Combat Air System (FCAS) programme as an observer. Bringing Brussels onto the team would not change the current contracts signed between France, Germany and Spain, officials said, but would accelerate the operational partnership between the four nations’ air force.