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President Obama on Wednesday called on U.S. business, labor and political leaders to “refashion the social compact” and strengthen union powers across the country, arguing that the troubling trend of declining middle-class wages can be turned around by redefining the basic principles of workers’ rights. During a speech at a White House summit on working Americans, the president drew a direct link between drops in union membership and the stagnation of most workers’ wages. Mr. Obama also said that workers’ anxiety about their job security and whether they’ll be afford to feed their families contributes to “anti-immigration sentiment” and other...

President Barack Obama says labor laws should be strengthened and it should be easier for workers to join unions. Obama made the comments at a White House workers’ summit on Wednesday—just as there’s a rift with labor over a Pacific Rim trade agreement. …

Gangs with suspected Russian ties sought to sell radioactive material through Moldova to buyers from the Middle East, including the Islamic State group. CHISINAU, Moldova — In the backwaters of Eastern Europe, authorities working with the FBI have interrupted four attempts in the past five years by gangs with suspected Russian connections that sought to sell radioactive material to Middle Eastern extremists, The Associated Press has learned. The latest known case came in February this year, when a smuggler offered a huge cache of deadly cesium — enough to contaminate several city blocks — and specifically sought a buyer from...

The Gog of Turkey, president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, said his country could not endure Russian violations any longer of its airspace in its campaign in Syria. Gog y Magog Russian involvement in the 4½-year-old Syrian civil war seems to be escalating, with NATO’s secretary general confirming Tuesday a second incursion by Russian planes into Turkish airspace and saying Russian ground troops were in Syria as well. The first violation of Turkey’s airspace is reported to have happened Saturday. The second was Sunday, officials said. Now even CNN says: The tension between Russia and Turkey, however, appears to be escalating. The...

Kabul needs Russian help in the fight against terrorist group "Islamic state". This was announced by the first Vice-President of Afghanistan General Abdul Rashid Dostum following the meeting with the head of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov. "Dostum said that ISIS is trying to make its foothold in Afghanistan. To prevent this threat Kabul needs Russian support, as in Syria. We are confident that the Russian leadership will make a positive decision in this matter," — wrote Kadyrov on his social network page. He also said that economic, trade and cultural cooperation was discussed at the meeting. On September 30th, Russian air...

Russia has been stepping up its involvement in the Syrian civil war - culminating in airstrikes last week that may have targeted not just ISIS, but also rebels opposing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Meanwhile, the Syrian refugee crisis continues unabated, with a massive influx of Syrians overwhelming Turkey and Europe. To address this, lawmakers and presidential candidates alike - including the president's former secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, say the U.S. should respond with a no-fly zone, which is not a tactic President Obama is willing to pursue right now. -snip- And in an interview on Fox News last week,...

Palestinians: Why Our Leaders Are Hypocrites and Liars by Bassam Tawil October 4, 2015 at 5:00 am We contaminate our mosques with our own hands and feet, and then blame Jews for desecrating Islamic holy sites. If anyone is desecrating Islamic holy sites, it is those who bring explosives, stones and firebombs into Al-Aqsa Mosque. The Jews who visit the Temple Mount do not bring with them stones, bombs or clubs. It is young Muslim men who are desecrating our holy sites with their "filthy feet." â—¾These leaders, including Abbas himself, are not willing to send their own children and...

The Chechen leader, Ramzan Kadyrov, has asked Vladimir Putin to send him to Syria, claiming that a land operation using Chechen ground troops would wipe out Islamic State terrorists. “The terrorists don’t know what a real war is, because they have only been subjected to airstrikes. They don’t have experience of real military action,” said Kadyrov in an interview with a Russian news agency. “If our request is granted, it will be a celebration for us,” he said. “But it’s the decision of the commander-in-chief to take.”

More than 40 Syrian insurgent groups have vowed to attack Russian forces in retaliation for Moscow’s air campaign, in a show of unity among the usually fragmented rebels against what they called the “occupiers” of Syria. The 41 Syrian rebel groups, which included powerful factions such as Ahrar al-Sham, Islam Army and the Levant Front, said Russia had joined the war in Syria after president Bashar Assad’s forces were on the verge “of a crushing defeat”. The insurgents’ warning came as the chairman of Russia’s parliamentary defense committee suggested that Russian “volunteer” units could join with forces fighting for Syria’s...

A senior defense official has told NBC News that the Russian military has been moving artillery and ground forces towards Hama — one of the locations that the Russians targeted in the first 24 hours of their airstrikes. The U.S. official also said that after Russian aircraft breached Turkish airspace by roughly 20 miles, Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov contacted the Turkish government to apologize and acknowledge that it was a mistake. "So much for fighting ISIS," the defense official said.

MOSCOW — Russia signaled deepening intervention Monday in the Syria war, strongly hinting that its “volunteer” ground forces would soon be fighting there, as NATO officials warned the Kremlin after a Russian warplane invaded Turkey’s airspace. The unfolding developments reflected a dangerous new superpower entanglement in the war, which has left a quarter-million dead and half the country’s population displaced since it began more than four years ago. The addition of Russia ground forces to the aerial assaults already underway by Russian warplanes particularly threatens to undermine Turkey’s Syria policy, which aims for the establishment of a “safe zone” along...

Valparaíso (Chile) (AFP) - US Secretary of State John Kerry warned Monday that a Russian warplane's "incursion" into the air space of Washington's NATO ally Turkey risked provoking a serious escalation. "We're greatly concerned about it because it is precisely the kind of thing that had Turkey responded under its rights could have resulted in a shoot-down," he said, at a public event in Chile.

The United States and its NATO allies denounced Russia on Monday for violating Turkish air space along the frontier with Syria, and Ankara threatened to respond if provoked again, raising the prospect of direct confrontation between the Cold War enemies. NATO held an emergency meeting of ambassadors of its 28 member states to respond to what Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg called "unacceptable violations of Turkish air space" after Turkey said a Russian jet had crossed its frontier. NATO members "strongly protest" and "condemn" incursions into Turkish and NATO territory, the alliance said. "Allies also note the extreme danger of such irresponsible...

The United States and its NATO allies denounced Russia on Monday for violating Turkish air space along the frontier with Syria, and Ankara threatened to respond if provoked again, raising the prospect of direct confrontation between the Cold War enemies. NATO held an emergency meeting of ambassadors of its 28 member states to respond to what Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg called "unacceptable violations of Turkish air space" after Turkey said a Russian jet had crossed its frontier. NATO members "strongly protest" and "condemn" incursions into Turkish and NATO territory, the alliance said. "Allies also note the extreme danger of such irresponsible...

Dozens of Islamist Saudi Arabian clerics have called on Arab and Muslim countries to "give all moral, material, political and military" support to what they term a jihad, or holy war, against Syria's government and its Iranian and Russian backers. Although the clerics who signed the online statement are not affiliated with the government, their strong sectarian and anti-Christian language reflects mounting anger among many Saudis over Russian and Iranian involvement in Syria's civil war. Russia last week started airstrikes against Syrian opposition targets that it describes as aimed at weakening the jihadist Islamic State group, a move Riyadh has...

Turkey opposes Russia's military intervention in Syria. Turkey scrambles fighter jets to intercept Russian warplanes that Ankara says violated its airspace. The Russians were allegedly making their way to Syria to carry out bombings to support Syria's Assad regime. Turkey opposes Russia's intervention in wartorn Syria and officials have warned that any further violations may be responded to more harshly.

Sen. John McCain says that GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump doesn't understand the problems posed by Russia's new role in the Syrian conflict. "I don't think he understands very well the situation. And he's entitled to his opinion," the Arizona Republican said Sunday in an interview with CNN's Jake Tapper on "State of the Union." McCain was pushing back against Trump's assertion last week that the United States should let ISIS and Syria's army fight -- and let Russia worry about ISIS there. Trump's comment came as Russia launched air strikes in the region. "Do we want to keep slaughtering...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that he unsure how Russia's recent military intervention in Syria will affect the situation there, but insisted that Jerusalem and Moscow were on good terms. "We don't want to go back to the days when, you know, Russia and Israel were in an adversarial position," said Netanyahu in an interview recorded for broadcast on Sunday on "CNN's Fareed Zakaria GPS. "I think we've changed the relationship. And it's, on the whole, good." Russia bombed the Islamic State group's Syrian stronghold Saturday and vowed to press its aerial campaign despite criticism from Washington and...

Over the last 48 hours, the Russian Air Force has targeted the Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham (ISIS) with relentless airstrikes above the provincial capital of the Al-Raqqa Governorate and the terrorist group’s stronghold inside the Deir Hafer Plains in the Aleppo Governorate’s eastern countryside. On Sunday morning, the Russian Air Force struck ISIS again with a flurry of airstrikes above the Tabaqa Military Airport and the Tabaqa National Hospital, destroying another weapons depot belonging to the terrorist located inside the storage facility that is situated to the north of the military barracks. Meanwhile, to the east of the...

Donald Trump does not trust Russian President Vladimir Putin, but he is supportive of one thing Putin is doing on the world stage. During an interview with "Meet The Press" Sunday, Trump told moderator Chuck Todd that he supports Putin going out and "bombing the hell" out of the Islamic State in Syria, despite that they are doing so to support Syrian President Bashir al-Assad. "I like that Putin is bombing the hell out of ISIS, and it's going to be ISIS. I'll tell you why — Putin has to get rid of ISIS because Putin doesn't want ISIS coming...