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With four weeks until elections for the 20th Knesset, Likud and Labor-Hatnua appear to be neck and neck. According to a survey conducted by the Midgam Institute for Channel Two, Labor, running under the moniker the "Zionist Camp" just barely inches by Likud with 25 seats. Likud is one behind with 24 mandates. It has been noted that even if Likud comes in behind, the party with the greatest chance of forming a coalition is given first crack, meaning the outcome of the close competition remains up in the air. The joint Arab list comes in as the third largest...

The Cuban government conspired with a Curacao ship repair company to provide practically slave labor fixing up vessels, including Miami-based cruise ships, and kept workers under harsh conditions, a lawsuit filed in U.S. District court in Miami alleges. The civil suit filed before Judge James Lawrence King alleges that up to 100 Cuban shipyard workers are forced to work against their will at Curacao Drydock Co., a ship repair company with an agent in Delray Beach, Klattenberg Marine Associates. The suit, filed by three workers who escaped and now live in Florida, alleges they were ordered to work 16-hour shifts...

Zionist Union connected to V15, an organization working to bring down the government, which has received funding from non-Israeli citizens, Likud charges. Zionist Union leader Isaac Herzog has violated laws prohibiting accepting funds from non-Israeli citizens and foreign funded organizations and governments, Likud MKs said Sunday at a Tel Aviv press conference. Deputy ministers Tzipi Hotovely and Ophir Akunis, MKs Miri Regev and Yariv Levin, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's lawyer presented evidence connecting the Zionist Union to V15, an organization working to bring down the government, which has received funding from non-Israeli citizens S. Daniel Abraham and Daniel Lubetzky....

Two New Jersey teens got a lesson in government regulations this week then they decided to go door to door offering snow shoveling services ahead of the Blizzard of 2015. The blizzard ended up being a bit underwhelming in N.J., but forecasts ahead of time predicted it would be a whopper. High school seniors Matt Molinari and Eric Schnepf, both 18, decided to go door to door Monday evening handing out flyers offering snow shoveling services for the next morning, NJ.com reported. Unfortunately they didn't know about their town's ordinance related to soliciting, which prohibits people from selling services door-to-door...

The Likud party intends to hold a press conference in Tel Aviv Sunday in which it will expose details about “V15 – Victory in 2015,” a campaign it says is using foreign money, and lots of it, to boost Labor and Meretz in the elections. Likud has filed a motion to the Elections Committee, according to which V15 is carrying out an illegal indirect campaign with a connection to Labor and Meretz. V15 is “making criminal use of foreign sources of funding,” adding that the sums involved were “very high” and their sources unknown. Likud's press conference will include MK...

The Likud party intends to hold a press conference in Tel Aviv Sunday in which it will expose details about “V15 – Victory in 2015,” a campaign it says is using foreign money, and lots of it, to boost Labor and Meretz in the elections. Likud has filed a motion to the Elections Committee, according to which V15 is carrying out an illegal indirect campaign with a connection to Labor and Meretz. V15 is “making criminal use of foreign sources of funding,” adding that the sums involved were “very high” and their sources unknown. Likud's press conference will include MK...

Poll fever continues ahead of March 17 elections, and while results have shown Likud and Labor neck and neck, the latest survey by Channel 10 gives Labor a full four mandate gap over Likud. According to the poll, conducted by the Dialog Institute under the supervision of Prof. Camil Fuchs, Labor - which erased the word "Zionism" from its Arabic ad campaign - would get 24 mandates, while Likud would only receive 20. Coming in at third Jewish Home stays at 16 seats, followed by a joint Arab list that would receive 12 mandates. Such a joint list - formed...

4 Factors Weighing On Labor Markets—And Implications For Fed Policy (Part 1 of 5) Labor markets are weaker than they appear, leading the Fed toward continued accommodative monetary policy. Still, the central bank may find that weakness difficult to overcome, as much of it stems from serious long-term issues and not merely short-term lack of demand. In recent posts, my colleague Russ Koesterich outlined why the U.S. labor market recovery will continue to frustrate the Fed, and Jeff Rosenberg examined one key reason why the central bank is set to keep rates low for some time. I agree with these...

Ed Miliband launches Labour’s election campaign on Monday by calling on supporters to knock on four million doors. The party leader will vow to fight the Tories and Lib Dems “house by house, street by street and town by town” until polling day on May 7. In a rallying call in Manchester, he will say: “Today is day one of our general election campaign. This is nothing less than a once in a generation fight about who our country works for.” Vowing not to be intimidated by the big-spending Tories, he will add: “We will offer hope, not falsehood. We...

Labor leader Yitzhak Herzog has vowed to shut down the World Zionist Organization's Settlement Division, which functions as an operational arm of the government to build and establish communities and infrastructures in Judea and Samaria - leaving hundreds of thousands of Israelis in the region without governmental representation. "As Prime Minister I will close the Settlement Division and open it later to serve the Negev and the Galilee," Herzog stated during an interview on "Meet the Press" Saturday night. "We see again and again the same group takes over the interests of the state and Netanyahu gave in to it."...

A BBC investigation for Panorama has exposed poor working conditions in factories making Apple products in China. The undercover team secretly filmed the iPhone production line and found Apple's promises to protect workers were routinely broken. One undercover reporter - making parts for Apple computers - had to work 18 days without a day off. Other workers were filmed falling asleep. Apple say they will investigate any concerns brought to them. The BBC's Richard Bilton reports from Shanghai. [VIDEO]

A BBC investigation for Panorama has exposed poor working conditions in factories making Apple products in China. The undercover team secretly filmed the iPhone production line and found Apple's promises to protect workers were routinely broken. One undercover reporter - making parts for Apple computers - had to work 18 days without a day off. Other workers were filmed falling asleep. Apple say they will investigate any concerns brought to them. The BBC's Richard Bilton reports from Shanghai. [VIDEO]

>With more than 330 million people using the service to list their resumes, find jobs, or find new hires, LinkedIn has a lot of data about the job market. To close out 2014, the company released a list of the top skills people who got hired this year had listed on their profiles and that recruiters searched for the most. These are the 10 skills that got people jobs this year:

Allow me to unite America's left, right and center in just three words: No, Jeb, No. Former GOP Florida governor Jeb Bush made the obvious official this week when he announced on Facebook that he's "actively exploring" a 2016 White House run. Of course, he's running. That's what inveterate politicians do. Well, I hate to break it to Jeb Inc. There's no popular groundswell for Bush Part III. None, zip, nada. Independents, progressives and conservatives are all weary of the entrenched bipartisan dynasties that rule Washington and ruin America. Only in the hallowed bubble of D.C. and New York City...

We have two cautionary from overseas today.One of them is from Iran and the other is from France. Both of them demonstrate how wrongheaded, obtuse and shortsighted Democrats are on their policies and prescriptions for what ails the county.To battle unemployment France is considering a body of laws that would make it easier for French firms to hire people, including allowing shops to open on Sunday and relaxing labor laws that make it virtually impossible for French firms to fire someone. If you get a job in France, you apparently get a job for life whether your employer is a...

An Iranian photographer has captured the desperate lives of South Asian labourers who travel to Dubai in the hope of building a future for their families - but find only squalor, low wages and backbreaking work in stifling heat. Farhad Berahman's pictures were taken in Sonapur, the unofficial name for a work camp on the outskirts of Dubai, located far away from the luxury, soaring skyscrapers and vast wealth that the United Arab Emirates city is renowned for. 'Sonapur' - ironically, the name means 'City of Gold' in Hindi - is home to more than 150,000 workers, mostly from India,...

Scott Walker’s victory is a humiliating loss for organized labor. The Wisconsin governor’s challenger was Democrat Mary Burke, a former executive at Trek Bicycle Corp. It was no photo finish; with 72 percent of precincts reporting, Walker was up 6 points. But Walker’s true adversary in this re-election race — and for the four years that preceded it — was the labor movement. He won every time.

The AFL-CIO national campaign to build stronger communities by empowering eligible immigrants to become citizens and fully engage in the democratic process has become a reality in New Jersey, with the opening of the state’s first labor-led naturalization and community center.The We Are One New Jersey Hudson County Center officially opened on Oct. 28 in Jersey City. AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Tefere Gebre joined the New Jersey State AFL-CIO for the opening ceremony, along with Sens. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) and Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Rep. Albio Sires (D-N.J.), New Jersey State AFL-CIO President Charles Wowkanech, New Jersey State AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Laurel Brennan...

Labor Secretary Thomas Perez said President Barack Obama will take "aggressive executive action" on immigration, which Perez said will bring about more "shared prosperity." Addressing the National Press Club this week, Perez, who is reportedly on the short list to be Obama´s next attorney general, said the country needed to "fix our broken immigration system" with comprehensive amnesty legislation that is "big and bold" to ensure that there is "shared prosperity," which he said is a goal of his Labor Department. Though the Congressional Budget Office determined that comprehensive amnesty legislation would lower the wages of American workers, Labor Secretary...

Paid leave will improve the nation's labor participation rate, currently at record lows, Labor Secretary Tom Perez said on Monday. "It is a sleeper issue that will sleep no more," Perez told a gathering at the National Press Club. "Every first Friday of the month, the most frequently asked question I get, 'What can you do, Tom, to increase labor force participation?' Well, let's talk about paid leave and let's compare the United States with Canada," Perez said. "The labor force participation rate of women ages 25 to 54 in the year 2000 in the U.S. and Canada was virtually...