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The United Nations Security Council on Wednesday urged Israel and the Palestinian Arabs to return to the negotiating table to quickly agree on a lasting truce in Gaza. In a unanimously adopted statement quoted by AFP, the 15-member council "offered full support to the Egyptian initiative and called upon the parties to resume negotiations to urgently reach a sustainable and lasting ceasefire." The statement drafted by France was agreed after negotiations in Cairo teetered on the verge of collapse amid a fresh flare-up of violence. The measure fell short of a full resolution, but diplomats signaled they would be ready...

With the news of Governor Perry’s indictment going viral, the Public Integrity Unit (PIU) of the Travis County District Attorney’s office is once again shaking up Texas politics, though more indirectly than it has in the past. The agency has been the bane of politicians for 30 years, and routinely comes under fire from Republicans for its supposed partisanship. How did this branch of municipal law enforcement in a deep sea-blue Democratic county come to carry such influence in a ruby-red state? Is it time, as many conservative say, to rein in the rogue outfit and place its duties somewhere...

SELMA, Alabama -- A sixth grade teacher at a Selma elementary was placed on administrative leave after having students reenact the shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown that took place Aug. 9 in Ferguson, Mo. WSFA reported the school system is conducting an investigation into the alleged incident that took place Tuesday at Brantley Elementary School. The unrest in Ferguson is ongoing with people continuing to protest the death of the black teenager shot by a white police officer. Dallas County Schools Interim Superintendent Don Willingham didn't immediately return a message left by AL.com today. Jessica Baughn, the parent who reported...

This is a documentary film about women and girls who are in the ranks of the Ukrainian Voluntary Corps "Right sector." It's fighters and front-line medical workers, that volunteer to help the wounded in the hospitals, it is the wife-faithful girlfriend waiting and supporting their men with combat tasks. Sure, short stories do not convey all that I would like to convey. 19-year-old John managed team of about 10 male nurses. Each time you exit it risks his life - his way to his pikapchyku for the wounded in the thick, analog and under mortar attack. Mina has saved lives,...

In the United States, Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles (MRAPs), AR-15s and camouflage body armor all made an appearance on the streets of a suburb in the heartland, helping to give a tense situation the push needed to turn into a week of riots. American citizens in Ferguson, Missouri, feeling they were being occupied by a foreign army, rather than their friendly neighborhood cop on the beat. MRAPs didn’t get a better rap overseas, either. In what’s still being called Iraq — at least for the sake of convenience — the U.S. Air Force has resumed bombing missions in the northern...

AFSCME Pres. Lee Saunders issued the following statement in regards to the situation in Ferguson, Missouri: “The thoughts and prayers of our union, AFSCME, are with the family of Michael Brown. As parents, as community members, and as members of a union that works each day for economic and social justice, our hearts go out to them. “Our union stands in solidarity with the entire Ferguson community. And we stand with our labor and faith allies to urge a peaceful resolution to this tragic situation.”

"Justice is too often elusive in a society that remains segregated and divided by race and class. These divisions are coming to the surface in Ferguson, Mo., and we are encouraged that the U.S. Department of Justice and the FBI are intervening with an eye toward easing tensions, guaranteeing civil rights and protecting and serving that community and its residents. "On behalf of the 2 million members of the Service Employees International Union, I extend thoughts and prayers to the family of Michael Brown. May all parties involved in this tragedy find justice and peace."

The following statement was released by John Bachtell, chair of the Communist Party USA in the wake of the police shooting of unarmed 17-year-old Michael Brown and the subsequent police attacks on peaceful protesters and journalists. The grief and heartbreak of Michael Brown’s parents and Ferguson’s largely African American community is unimaginable. We share that sorrow and grief. We also join the universal demands to prosecute the officer who committed this horrendous killing. Our nation should be deeply disturbed by this murder. Michael Brown’s story and those of Oscar Grant, Eric Garner, Stephon Watts, John Crawford, Ezell Ford and countless...

FULL TITLE: Abortion clinic quits fight to keep doing procedures, says state is 'methodically' trying to close all providers COLUMBUS, Ohio -- An abortion clinic that was fighting the state of Ohio to remain open has decided it will stop performing surgical abortions. A spokeswoman for the Lebanon Road Surgery Center in Sharonville near Cincinnati said Wednesday that it will continue to provide the first step consultations in the two-day process for obtaining an abortion in Ohio.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE AFGE president says reaction to Michael Brown shooting reflects larger civil rights struggle WASHINGTON – American Federation of Government Employees National President J. David Cox Sr. today issued the following statement:“In the days since Michael Brown was shot and killed in Ferguson, Missouri, there has been an outpouring of anger and grief across the nation. My own reaction is simultaneously one of deep sympathy for his family, a prayer that the justice system works so that a fair investigation and adjudication occur, and an understanding of the righteous anger felt by members of his community who have...

Racial Politics: Under the Constitution, police have the same rights to due process as citizens. Yet Democratic politicians pandering for urban votes seek to deny Darren Wilson his. On Tuesday night, on the eve of a grand jury hearing over the Wilson-Michael Brown shooting case, Missouri's Democratic governor, who reportedly has 2016 White House aspirations, delivered a grossly irresponsible address calling for a "vigorous prosecution" of the Ferguson cop, whom he gratuitously noted shot Brown "in broad daylight." Gov. Jay Nixon also demanded "justice for Michael Brown" and his family, echoing the calls of the looters, protesters and race merchants....

US officials have begun discussions with local leaders in Iraq’s Ninevah province about how to recapture the city of Mosul in the wake of the successful operation to recover control of Mosul Dam from the Islamic State (IS), a US official said. In an interview Aug. 20 with Al-Monitor, the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, predicted that recovering Iraq’s second largest city — which was seized by IS on June 10 — would “require local forces” and be a long-term project. “We’re in touch with the governor of Ninevah and all the Iraqi leaders and a number of...

. August 21, 2014 Newt Gingrich : President Obama's Golf: The Real Problem ===================================================== A lot of people have commented on and made fun of the frequency of President Obama’s golfing. The more I watched President Obama, however, the more I concluded the problem was what was not happening between golf rounds. Two earlier presidents, Eisenhower and Reagan, golfed frequently but their presidencies were stunningly successful. The difference seemed to be that Eisenhower and Reagan were really effective when they weren't golfing. President Eisenhower was a very serious golfer who had been a varsity football player at West Point. Eisenhower...

BAGHDAD/BEIRUT: Islamic State’s beheading of a US journalist and its threat to “destroy the American cross” suggests it has gained enough confidence seizing large areas of Iraq and Syria to take aim at American targets despite the risks. On Tuesday night, Islamic State released a video purporting to show one of its fighters beheading James Foley, who was kidnapped in Syria nearly two years ago. The black-clad executioner, who spoke English with a British accent, also produced another American journalist and said his fate depends on President Barack Obama’s next move. Obama on Wednesday called for a joint effort to...

Senior Obama administration officials say the U.S. military launched a secret mission earlier this summer to rescue a number of Americans held captive by militants in Syria but failed to find them.

The recent declaration of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi as the new Islamic caliph by jihadi militant group ISIS was greeted by foreign observers with a mixture of bewilderment, mirth, fear and panic. Whatever the response, there’s no doubt that the blockbuster announcement brought more attention to the issue of the caliphate, seen by many as the ultimate symbol of Muslim political unity, than it has received in years. Reza Pankhurst’s “The Inevitable Caliphate?” is a timely consideration of how the idea has animated and inspired Muslim intellectuals and activists over the past century, and how it is used by various groups...

Support for Common Core educational standards has dropped as awareness of the program has spread over the past year, new polling finds. Among Americans who have heard a great deal about the standards, just 33 percent support the standards while 59 percent oppose them, the annual PDK/Gallup Poll of the Public's Attitudes Toward the Public Schools reveals.

<p>Journalist James Foley's captors threatened to kill him a week before his execution in a letter that both Global Post President Philip Balboni and the White House were aware of.</p> <p>Foley was killed Tuesday in Syria after being held there for almost two years. The 40-year-old journalist was freelancing for the Global Post and Agence France-Presse when he was captured. In a news conference Wednesday, Balboni confirmed that both he and the White House were aware of the threat to kill Foley one week prior to his execution. He went on to say that the threat was different than previous communications they'd had with the captors. They demanded a lot on the past, but this letter was filled with rage, according to Balboni. Still, he wanted to believe the threat was empty, and learned it wasn't Tuesday when the video of Foley's killing was released on YouTube.</p>

Here's a somewhat racial angle to the Ferguson, Mo., saga that you probably won't see MSNBC pick up on. The Daily Beast's Tim Mak today reported on "Ferguson's Other Race Problem: Riots Damaged Asian-Owned Stores." "Asian-Americans own a number of the stores lining West Florissant Avenue, where more than 20 businesses have suffered damage in the wake of Michael Brown’s killing," Mak noted, adding that "At least five of these stores are Asian-American-owned, according to local sources and business records. Just 0.5 percent of Ferguson is of Asian descent, according to 2010 U.S. Census data." While he made clear that...

We are regularly told by our prognosticating betters that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton might as well already be the Democratic PartyÂ’s 2016 nominee. She is inevitable; more inevitable, in fact, than the last time she was inevitable. But there has been grumbling on the progressive left about Clinton for months. She is seen by many in the Democratic PartyÂ’s left-wing as too close to Wall Street, too hawkish on foreign affairs, and behind the eight ball on social issues like supporting same-sex marriage rights. Will they settle for Hillary? Sure. Are they enthusiastic about a second Clinton...