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MIRANSHAH: Two US drone strikes struck suspected militants in Pakistan’s tribal badlands on Thursday, killing at least 13 fighters in North Waziristan near the Afghan border, officials said. The aircraft fired missiles hours apart on separate targets in what is considered the premier bastion of Taliban and al Qaeda in Pakistan as the government in Islamabad welcomed the Afghan and Iranian leaders for a summit. Five militants were killed in the first attack that destroyed a compound in Spalga town near Miranshah and at least eight died in the second attack on a vehicle near the town of Mir Ali,...

Twinkie lovers may want to stock up on their golden Hostess treats. This time it is not the food police who are threatening the yummy cakes. ABC News says teamsters are making strike threats to Hostess, which is in an operational bankruptcy at the moment. If there is a union strike, production of Twinkies will cease

MIRAMSHAH: A US drone attack targeting a militant compound killed 10 insurgents in a troubled Pakistani tribal region on Wednesday, security officials said. Moreover, a BBC Urdu report quoted local authorities as saying that those killed in the strike were militants from the Haqqani network. Two missiles hit the compound located in Tappi, 10 kilometres southeast of Miramshah, the main town in volatile North Waziristan near the Afghan border, a military official in Peshawar said. “The attack triggered fire in the compound and 10 militants were killed,” the official told AFP on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised...

Report: Chinese workers at LG factory strike over complaint of pay discriminationBy The Associated Press | The Canadian Press – Wed, 28 Dec, 2011 BEIJING, China - Some 8,000 employees of a factory in China owned by a unit of South Korea's LG Corp. over complaints about pay discrimination, a labour group said Wednesday. Chinese employees of the LG Display factory in Nanjing, west of Shanghai, walked off the job Monday over complaints Korean employees at the factory received annual bonuses equal to one year's salary while those for Chinese workers were equal to one month's pay, the New York-based...

Sudanese media reports that planes attacked convoy of land cruiser jeeps, number of people reportedly killed; another strike hit truck near border with Egypt, according to reports. Sudanese media reported over the weekend that IAF planes struck a number of targets in the east of the country last week. According to the reports, the planes attacked a convoy of land cruiser jeeps and a number of people were reportedly killed. Another strike took place last Sunday against a truck near the border with Egypt, according to the reports. In another incident in early December Israeli planes were reported to have...

Israeli fighter jets, helicopters and possibly a submarine were involved in multiple attacks on targets in Sudan last week, according to local news outlets. The reports say that Israeli jets hit targets in the eastern part of the African country, near its border with Egypt, last Thursday. They hit six Land Cruiser jeeps and killed four people. An earlier strike took place last Sunday and reportedly involved Israeli helicopters. A truck was targeted. Some reports say an Israeli submarine was also spotted at the same time. However, the Sudanese army spokesman, Col. Al-Sawarmi Haled Sa'ad, said that the military's air...

Nurses who went on strike in the San Francisco Bay area and Los Angeles to be locked outBy Associated Press Updated: Saturday, December 24, 10:50 PM OAKLAND, Calif. — Hospital officials say nurses who staged a one-day strike against nine hospitals in the San Francisco Bay area and Los Angeles will not be allowed to return to work Friday. Thursday’s strike — the second in three months — and the planned lockout are the latest in a series of disputes between nurses and hospital management over health care costs, staffing levels and sick leave. The California Nurses Association — the...

Accusations and bad will registered nearly as loud as the chants outside nine Bay Area hospitals during a 24-hour walkout Thursday morning. The one-day strike started at 7 a.m. by nurses angry at concessions proposed by the Sutter Health Network during contract negotiations. At Alta Bates Summit Medical Center in Oakland, two dozen registered nurses gathered on the chilly Thursday morning. "Patient safety is our goal" they chanted outside the facility's entrance at Webster and Hawthorne streets. Another dozen or so nurses braved the morning weather to stand outside of Antioch's Sutter Delta Medical Center. The striking nurses said they...

French aviation authorities said Tuesday they were ready to replace striking airport security personnel with police to minimise travel delays. The strike, which started Friday, has been causing delays at Charles de Gaulle airport and in Lyon. Aviation authorities say they are ready to send in police to replace striking airport security personnel to limit the strike’s impact on travelers leaving for the Christmas holiday weekend. Civil aviation authority DGAC said that the strike - in its 5th day - was causing delays at Paris’ Charles de Gaulle airport and in Lyon. Speaking on France Info radio, Interior Ministry spokesman...

Public services are to be paralyzed again on Thursday as thousands of workers walk off the job to protest an ongoing austerity drive in the seventh general strike this year. As usual, tax offices, courts and schools will shut down, hospitals will operate on emergency staff and customs officials will walk off the job. The national rail network will suspend operations all day as will the Proastiakos suburban railway service. Ferries too will remain moored in port as seamen join the 24-hour walkout. Flights are unlikely to be heavily disrupted.

The Begin Sadat Center, a respected think tank based at Bar Ilan University, held a conference on November 23, 2011 on the subject of "Israeli Security in a New Regional Envornment", which focused on the so-called "Arab Spring" and its implicatons. Its experts concluded that the Arab Spring is not going to result in democracy, despite original hopes in the West, and may make things even worse for Israel. "As steep as the price for hitting Iran may be, a military strike on Iran will be less painful than the cost of living with an Iranian nuclear weapons threat," argues...

Thanksgiving is a time to thank God for all our blessings. But President Obama thinks we should be thanking him instead. Here's a new video we've put together that makes clear just how little we have to thank our president for. Enjoy!

Newly acquired intelligence reports indicate several Arab countries in the Middle East are lobbying the US to strike Iran this year, Israel's Channel 10 reported. According to the report, which is said to be making its rounds in Britain's political circles, Saudi Arabia wants the Obama administration to attack Iran's nuclear facilities before the final withdrawal of US troops from Iraq. US president has vowed to close the door on American military involvement in Iraq by year’s end, but Riyadh is reportedly afraid Iran will use the American exit to take over the country.

HAIBO man, I mean really, it’s not fair. It’s not right. Haibo, angeke! (Hell no!) The thing is that we only earn so much money, and in my sector that isn’t very much at all, and we give so much of it to the tax man and the electricity man and the gas man and the pool man and the hair man and the mani-pedi man and the restaurant man and the education man and the church man and I can go on into a lot of et cetera. From whence comes this e-toll man, now? There is not space...

American Red Cross blood service workers in Connecticut are on strike and walking a picket line. The union that represents the workers says they've been working more than two years without a contract. Talks broke down Wednesday night, not over pay, but health care, scheduling, and a dispute over how many licensed nurses are needed at blood drives. About 200 workers, who are members of AFSCME Council 4, hit the picket lines this morning in Norwalk and Farmington. "It's a matter of many things," union spokesman Larry Dorman said. "This is a company the engages in unlawful practices. They've been...

Demonstrators gear up for Oakland strike as protests continueBy the CNN Wire Staff updated 1:23 PM EST, Wed November 2, 2011 (CNN) -- Demonstrators in Oakland, California, are expected to engage in a citywide strike Wednesday as the Occupy movement continues to stretch across the country and well into its second month. Organizer Tim Simons called the move a "warning shot to the 1%." The 1% is a reference to the nation's wealthiest, whom demonstrators say hold inordinate sway over the remaining 99% of the population. "Today, we're going to take that back," he told CNN, explaining that the group...

We as fellow occupiers of Oscar Grant Plaza propose that on Wednesday November 2, 2011, we liberate Oakland and shut down the 1%. We propose a city wide general strike and we propose we invite all students to walk out of school. Instead of workers going to work and students going to school, the people will converge on downtown Oakland to shut down the city. All banks and corporations should close down for the day or we will march on them. While we are calling for a general strike, we are also calling for much more. People who organize out...

WASHINGTON — Shirley Miles, the former head of the Department of Defense Education Activity, has been fired following an Inspector General’s office investigation that found she had abused her authority. Specifically, the investigation determined that Miles used her power to secure jobs for friends and relatives, received pay to which she was not entitled and engaged in “unprofessional conduct and speech.” Defense Secretary Leon Panetta wrote a letter dated Tuesday to Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, which explained that Miles was no longer working for the Defense Department. “We have finished our review of the recommendations contained in the DOD Inspector...

PESHAWAR: A US drone strike on a vehicle on Thursday killed five commanders of one of Pakistan’s most influential Taliban leaders, Maulvi Nazir, one of the faction’s senior commanders told Reuters. He identified four of the commanders as Hazrat Omar, Nazir’s younger brother, Khan Mohammad, Miraj Wazir and Ashfaq Wazir. According to initial details, five missiles were fired on a vehicle carrying several passengers. The vehicle was traveling from Tora Gola village to the nearby area of Azam Warsak when it was hit. “Nazir’s younger brother Omar Wazir has been killed, it has been confirmed,” a Pakistani security official told...

A Marine and a Navy medic killed by a U.S. drone airstrike were targeted when Marine commanders in Afghanistan mistook them for Taliban fighters, even though analysts watching the Predator's video feed were uncertain whether the men were part of an enemy force. Those are the findings of a Pentagon investigation of the first known case of friendly fire deaths involving an unmanned aircraft, the April 6 attack that killed Marine Staff Sgt. Jeremy Smith, 26, and Navy Hospitalman Benjamin D. Rast, 23. The 381-page report, which has not been released, concludes that the Marine officers on the scene and...

DERA ISMAIL KHAN: A US missile strike killed at least six suspected militants in northwestern Pakistan near the Afghan border Saturday, two Pakistani intelligence officials said, in the third such American missile attack in as many days. The officials said four missiles slammed into a compound near the border town of Angore Adda in the South Waziristan tribal region. The strike was targeting fighters of Maulvi Nazir, a militant commander who is accused of working with the Taliban and al-Qaeda to direct cross-border attacks, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Nazir is believed to have an agreement with...

1 The Long War Journal: US Predators kill 6 'militants' in North and South Waziristan Written by Bill Roggio on October 13, 2011 12:09 AM to 1 The Long War Journal Available online at: http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2011/10/us_predators_kill_4_10.php US Predators struck today in Pakistan's Taliban-controlled tribal agencies of North and South Waziristan, killing six "militants" in the first recorded strikes in nearly two weeks. In the first strike, the unmanned, CIA-operated Predators, or the more deadly Reapers, fired a pair of missiles in the village of Danda Darpa Khel just outside Miramshah, the main town in North Waziristan, according to AFP. Pakistani...

This year, we may not get to see Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers play. The people of Italy probably will. While the National Basketball Association lockout continues, Bryant is considering a deal worth $5 million for one year from the Virtus Bologna. He's not the only NBA player who might appear overseas. Deron Williams of the New Jersey Nets signed a contract with the Turkish team Besiktas, worth $200,000 per month. Many more top players are jumping overseas during the work stoppage. By contrast, Bryant signed a contract on April 2, 2010, with the Lakers for $87 million,...

NBA commissioner David Stern has cancelled the first two weeks of the season after owners and players failed to reach a new labor deal and end the lockout. The crisis began on July 1 when owners locked out the players after they failed to come to terms before the expiration of the old collective bargaining agreement.

Summary: Improve-Education.org is a unique education site, with 62 lively articles on a range of intellectual topics. A major focus is explaining why public schools are mediocre and how we can do better. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE--Virginia Beach, Virginia, USA (Free-Press-Release.com) October 5, 2011 --“Explaining how American education can succeed is the main mission of Improve-Education.org,” says Bruce Price, founder of the site. “Once we understand what went wrong, then we can fix it. Truth is, most of our problems are the direct result of using flawed theories and methods.” “Here’s my fairly depressing conclusion. Our Education Establishment pretends to be...

Here's the trickiest counterterrorism puzzle for U.S. policymakers: How do you stop al-Qaida from attacking the American homeland, without getting bogged down in protracted wars against insurgents? One answer would be to establish deterrence in the long war against Islamic extremism, like the standoff that developed between the U.S. and the Soviet Union during the Cold War. The Soviets were obviously a far bigger adversary, but the basic logic is the same: Both sides have deadly weapons; but if you don't shoot at us, we won't shoot at you. The Obama administration hasn't declared any such neo-deterrence strategy, but you...

The National Labor Relations Board Regional Director has rejected a complaint in the American Crystal Sugar union lockout. Read NLRB Letter Here. The union representing 1,300 American Crystal Sugar Co. employees had asked the NLRB to rule on their accusations that the American Crystal was not negotiating in good faith. James Fox, Acting Regional Director for the NLRB, in a letter to lawyers for the the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union, said the union had "failed to establish that the Employer violated the National Labor Relations Act. Fox also noted that the proposed contract changes were...

Bernanke’s Plot To Overthrow The US Dollar By Bill Bonner 09/30/11 Paris, France – Where’s the Bastille…? The Dow got a boost yesterday — up 143 points. Gold remained where it was — about $1,617. Dear Readers know what we think. The Great Correction has a lot of work to do — there are so many things that need correction. And it will take time to do it. Meanwhile, your goal as an investor is to lose less money than everyone else. He who loses least wins! Stocks should go down. Real estate should go down. Even gold should go...

PESHAWAR: A US drone Friday killed at least three militants when it fired missiles on a vehicle in a restive Pakistan tribal area bordering Afghanistan, security officials said. The strike took place at Baghar village of South Waziristan tribal district, two security officials said. “A US drone fired two missiles at a vehicle and at least three militants were killed,” a senior security official told AFP. Another security official and an intelligence official based in the region confirmed the attack and death toll. The identities or affiliations of the militants were not immediately clear.

MIRANSHAH, Pakistan — A US drone strike in Pakistan's northwestern tribal belt on Friday killed at least six militants including four foreigners and destroyed a compound, security officials said. Two missiles fired by the unmanned aircraft hit a house in the village of Khushali Turikhel, 40 kilometres (25 miles) east of Miranshah, the main town in the lawless North Waziristan tribal district, security officials told AFP. "The US drone fired two missiles which hit a house. Two locals and four militants of central Asian origin have been killed," a Pakistani security official said. The official based in Peshawar said militants...

A US drone has fired missiles in southern districts of Somalia killing at least eleven people and injuring dozens of others, report said. The attack took place early Friday morning near Taabto and Qooqani districts and wounded at least 27 people.

My sister works for a hospital that was just taken over by LIJ. Apparently, LIJ, who is non union wants some changes made to the union benefits. The union representing the RN's supposedly "took a vote" and decided the majority wanted a strike, to begin on 9/30/11. LIJ said "go ahead" and have temp RN's to cover their shifts. In speaking w/ my sister I asked how many nurses she spoke with regarding this strike. She stated most that she spoke with were against it. On her floor alone, there was 1 person saying "heck yeah", while the other 9,...

TACOMA, Wash. (AP) -- A judge said Monday he's considering giving Washington state's third-largest school district the option of replacing teachers on the picket line as a strike continued despite the judge's order to return to work. The unexpected comment from Pierce County Superior Court Judge Bryan Chushcoff came as Tacoma school district classes were canceled Monday and Tuesday due to the strike, the News Tribune reported (http://bit.ly/njc9RV ). "That came as quite a surprise," district spokesman Dan Voelpel said. "We didn't ask about that in court. He began speaking out loud about actions to impose next week." It would...

California grocer labor talks ongoing, deadline passes Sunday September 18, 2011 10:49pm PDT (Reuters) - Albertsons, Ralphs and Vons remained in talks with the union representing 62,000 Southern California supermarket workers as the deadline for canceling their labor contract passed on Sunday evening. The United Food and Commercial Workers union on Thursday issued a required 72-hour notice of its plan to cancel its extended contract, a move that opened the door for workers to strike if an acceptable deal could not be reached. "Albertsons, Ralphs and Vons are still at the table with the union. Progress is being made,...

Charging that management is “stonewalling,” union grocery workers in Southern California have issued a 72-hour notice cancelling their contract extension, paving the way for a strike. Eight months of negotiations between seven United Food and Commercial Workers locals representing 62,000 workers and management of supermarket chains owned by Kroger, Safeway and Supervalu have been hampered by disagreements over health care contributions. The union has charged that management’s proposal would “bankrupt health plans and eliminate entirely health care access” for employees. ... “We returned to the bargaining table ready to compromise and make a deal that keeps our employers profitable but...

Tacoma Teachers Defy Court Order, Vote To Continue Strike By Patrick Oppmann, CNN September 15, 2011 A judge ruled Wednesday afternoon that teachers must halt their strike Since Monday, some 28,000 kids have been forced to stay home from school. Teachers in Tacoma, Washington, have voted to continue their strike, in defiance of a a court order to stop. Rich Wood, the spokesman for the Tacoma teachers union, said teachers voted Thursday to continue their strike despite a judge's Wednesday order. At a union meeting Thursday afternoon, 1,478 teachers voted to keep striking, Wood said, adding that 107 voted "no"...

Wash. teachers defy orders and continue to strikeBy DONNA GORDON BLANKINSHIP Associated Press Originally published Thursday, September 15, 2011 at 9:41 AM TACOMA, Wash. — As teachers in Washington state's third-largest school district defy a judge's order and continue to strike, negotiators for the schools, the teachers union and a state mediator will meet to restart contract talks. **SNIP** Pierce County Superior Court Judge Bryan Chushcoff also ordered both the union and the school district to return to collective bargaining as soon as possible. A bargaining session was scheduled for Thursday afternoon, Wood said. "I want you to all talk,...

MIRANSHAH: At least four people have been reported killed after a US drone fired two missiles at them in the North Waziristan, Geo News reported. Sources told Geo News an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) targeted a house and a vehicle killing four people in District Mirali. Local sources have confirmed four casualties. It’s been reported as well that four drones kept hovering over the area following the kills, which impeded rescue work. This was the 40th such attack in North Waziristan, taking the tally of total drone attacks, so far, this year to 55.

GRAND FORKS, N.D. - Locked-out union workers at American Crystal Sugar Co. are blaming fires at plants in Drayton and in East Grand Forks, Minn., on inexperienced replacement workers hired to take over harvesting duties. Company spokesman Jeff Schweitzer said the fires happened in pulp dryers Thursday at the plant in Drayton and on Friday at the East Grand Forks plant. No one was hurt. East Grand Forks Fire Chief Randy Gust said a pulp dryer fire isn't unusual and that his department responds to about one each year. Union spokesman Mark Froemke said the company won't share information about...

<p>Around 7:30 p.m. Saturday, 95-year-old Castagnola's on Fisherman's Wharf (286 Jefferson St.) was buzzing. With a holiday weekend swelling the reservation book, the dining room was full and the Saturday night comedy show was set to begin.</p> <p>Then the kitchen staff walked out.</p>

Carrying signs that read "Heal America Tax Wall Street," nurses union members rallied in front of U.S. Senator Marco Rubio's downtown Orlando office Wednesday to solicit support for a tax on Wall Street that would help fund projects on Main Street. About 30 protestors wearing red shirts gathered on the sidewalk, carrying signs and chanting, "Human need not corporate greed." Ultimately, a small delegation gained access to the senator's office, where they met in the conference room with State Director Todd Reid about their complaints. The Orlando protest was one of 61 such rallies held in front of legislators' offices...

Senior defense official says Iran's nuclear program not easily derailed like Iraq or Syria: "There is no one silver bullet you can hit and that's over"; claims Iranian regime's biggest fear is US. Israel would not be able to halt Iran's reported quest for atomic weapons with a single strike, a senior Israeli defense official said on Sunday. The defense official, who in line with Israeli army guidelines declined to be identified, mentioned Iran during a review of the security situation in the Middle East in a briefing to foreign reporters.

Al-Qaida's second-in-command, Atiyah Abd al-Rahman, has been killed in Pakistan, delivering another big blow to a terrorist group that the U.S. believes to be on the verge of defeat, a senior Obama administration official said Saturday. The Libyan national who was the network's former operational leader rose to al-Qaida's No. 2 spot after the U.S. killed al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden during a raid on his Pakistan compound in May. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said last month that al-Qaida's defeat was within reach if the U.S. could mount a string of successful attacks on the group's weakened leadership.

Faculty members at Central Michigan University who are demanding higher salary and benefits than the university is prepared to pay have voted to defy state law and go on strike. Here's how President Ronald Reagan famously dealt with another group of government employees who thought they were indispensable and above the law: “It is for this reason that I must tell those who fail to report for duty this morning, they are in violation of the law, and if they do not report for work within 48 hours they have forfeited their jobs and will be terminated. End of statement.”

Enjoy August. Come autumn, layoffs will hit Wall Street like an automatic weapon. With recession outlooks seeming more plausible than ever and banks struggling in the new regulatory environment, banks need to get stronger and raise capital. Nearly every firm is planning to lay off thousands. Check out who has it the worst. CLICK ABOVE LINK FOR THE LIST OF BANKS AND INVESTMENT FIRMS ANNOUNCING LAYOFFS ( AND HOW MANY ).

The union representing 62,000 grocery workers in southern California has received the go-ahead from members to call a strike if an acceptable contract deal cannot be reached with Ralphs, Vons and Albertsons supermarkets, officials said on Sunday. Over 90 percent of workers voted on Friday and Saturday to authorize a strike, far in excess of the two-thirds vote required, the United Food and Commercial Workers union said. Mickey Kasparian, the president of UFCW Local 135, said a federal mediator would continue to work toward a resolution, but a strike could be called in five or six days... more at http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/44220007/ns/today-today_news/t/southern-california-grocery-workers-ok-strike/

Leaders of the unions that have been on strike against Verizon Communications announced on Saturday that they were ending the walkout even though the two sides had not reached an overall settlement for a new contract. Beginning with the evening shift on Monday, the 45,000 striking workers will return to their jobs, posts that they left on Aug. 7 in the nation’s largest strike in four years, when General Motors workers held a two-day strike. Union leaders are ending the walkout, they said, because Verizon management had finally agreed to engage in serious bargaining on the contentious issues after the...

Two unions are on strike against Verizon Communications in protest of proposed company policies that the unions themselves helped bring about. The new Obamacare law, which both unions supported, dramatically hikes the cost of Verizon’s employee health care plan. Efforts to pass some of that cost on to employees have sparked outrage, and now a strike. Verizon’s health care plan is what President Obama commonly referred to as a “Cadillac plan” – expensive and luxurious – during his push to get health care legislation through Congress. The new law will levy a 40 percent tax on all health care plans...

Union thugs are up to their old tricks — sabotage, deceit, intimidation, feces-hurling, you name it — as a labor dispute between the Communications Workers of America and Verizon festers. As usual, the left-wing civility police have gone AWOL. Last week, the company reported destroyed cable lines and theft across several states: ... The CWA has declared “open season” on managers and “scabs,” Syracuse NY-based News Channel 9 reports: ... “It is open season. Follow them safely, but when you get to a location, torture them, torture them with chants and noise. Be so loud that they can’t concentrate and...

No vandalism. No violence. No Harassment. No Obstruction. No intimidating. No threatening. No Blocking. No Trespassing. Those were just a few of the restrictions placed on members of the local 827 IBEW bargaining unit, their dependents, minors, households and relatives in an injunction signed by NJ Superior Court Justice Mary Beth Rogers last week. Rogers also set restrictions on picketing, allowing no more than six picketers at the entrance to any Verizon owned property at any one time. Picketers were also advise that no more than two picketers may picket a private residence of a Verizon employee and must stay...