Lufthansa pilots start 15-hour strike

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In Germany, pilots with the country’s Lufthansa airline have started a 15-hour strike on long-haul flights, over an ongoing dispute regarding early retirement.

On Tuesday, the union representing Lufthansa pilots, Cockpit, called on its members to strike on long-haul flights departing from Frankfurt International Airport between 8:00 am and 11:00 pm (0600-2100 GMT).

The German airline has been forced to cancel at least half of its intercontinental flights.

“We feel compelled to take further industrial action as Lufthansa management has failed so far to table an offer worthy of compromise,” the union said.

“We remain open to a deal in order to avert strikes and we regret any inconvenience caused to customers,” Cockpit added.

Lufthansa said as many as 56 flights from Frankfurt could be affected as a result of the strike.

Lufthansa pilots have staged a number of strikes in recent months.

Pilots with Lufthansa can currently take paid early retirement from the age of 55. They are striking against plans by the airline to raise the minimum age to 60 and to also involve pilots in the financing of their pensions.

The industrial action is aimed at increasing pressure on Lufthansa in negotiations to keep the transition payment for those wanting to retire early.

SZH/HJL/HRB

US stocks fall amid Hong Kong unrest

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The pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong have sparked fears and uncertainty among investors in Wall Street, pulling down US stocks on Monday. 

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped nearly 42 points, ending 0.3 percent lower, nearing lows in May. The Standard Poor’s 500 index also dropped 0.3 percent and the Nasdaq composite fell 0.1 percent.

Markets were unnerved by massive street protests in Hong Kong that sent equities in the Asian financial hub about two percent lower.

Apple and Ford stocks also brought US markets down. The tech giant dropped following reports of illegal tax deals in Ireland. Ford Motor Company slumped 7.5 percent as the company’s projected 2014 profits dropped by 2 billion dollars.

Market strategists say Wall Street is concerned that the civil protests in Hong Kong may spread to mainland China, an “Asian version of the Arab Spring,” which would likely cause turbulence in Beijing.

The unrest was triggered after China refused to allow open nominations for the city’s next chief executive in 2017, forcing the voters to choose from a list of two or three candidates selected by a nominating committee.

Activists insisted that the region’s citizens must be able to elect the chief executive. They believe the decision raises fears that candidates will be screened for loyalty to Beijing.

Hong Kong is a key player in global markets, known for trade, real estate and banking. The financial hub has enjoyed substantial political autonomy since 1997, when its leadership returned to China after about a century of British colonial rule.

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US drone attack kills 2 in Afghanistan

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At least two people have lost their lives in a US drone attack in eastern Afghanistan.

According to reports, the airstrike was carried out in Laghman Province. This is the fifth deadly drone attack in the country over the past week.

The US carries out targeted killings through drone strikes in several Muslim countries, such as Yemen, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Somalia.

Washington claims the targets of the drone attacks are militants, but local officials and witnesses maintain that civilians have been the main victims of the attacks over the past few years.

The Afghan people and the country’s officials have protested about the civilian casualties on numerous occasions, but the US drone attacks continue unabated.

The United Nations and several human rights organizations have identified the US as the world’s number-one user of “targeted killings,” largely due to its drone attacks in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

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UK benefits ban plan causes uproar

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British charities have slammed Chancellor George Osborne’s plan to freeze most working-age benefits, saying UK households are already struggling with rising living costs and previous cuts by the Tory-led coalition government.

A number of anti-poverty groups voiced their opposition after Osborne announced his plan to freeze state benefits for the country’s working-age population for two years if the Conservatives win next year’s general elections.

The plan includes bans on jobseekers’ allowance, income support, tax credits, housing and child benefits from April 2016.

According to reports, a joint-earning British couple with one child, both on annual earnings of 13,000 pounds, would be 354.20 pounds a year worse off under the new plans.

Among the critics was Alison Garnham, the chief executive of the Child Poverty Action Group, who said the benefits freeze would hit working parents struggling on low wages and already coping with the coalition government’s previously imposed benefits cuts and rising living costs.

“A couple both working full time on the minimum wage are nearly a fifth short of the money they need for basics; another freeze will make it a whole lot harder for them,” said Garnham.

In addition, Matt Downie, the director of policy and external affairs at British homeless charity, Crisis, said Osborne’s planned freeze “would be cruel and counter-productive.”

Furthermore, Frances O’Grady, the general secretary of the Trades Unions Congress, argued that in-work benefits are “a lifeline for millions of families” and that “working families have already been hit by three-quarters of the total cuts” imposed by the Tory-led coalition government.

Osborne claimed that the proposed benefits freeze would save the government some 3 billion pounds (USD 4.9 billion), adding that, even though Prime Minister David Cameron’s government has already applied 100 billion pounds in cuts, another 25 billion pounds is required to eliminate the deficit. 

The current UK government launched its austerity measures when it came to power in 2010 in a bid to tackle the country’s mounting debt and sluggish growth, but the policies have sparked opposition and public protests in recent years.

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‘Iran to arm Lebanon against threats’

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A senior Iranian official says the Islamic Republic will soon supply the Lebanese army with necessary military equipment to help the nation deal with the threats it is facing.

Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Ali Shamkhani, who is in Lebanon to hold talks on defense cooperation, made the announcement following a meeting with Lebanese Prime Minister Tamam Salam in the Lebanon’s capital, Beirut, on Tuesday.

The Iranian official said Iran’s assistance will be delivered to Beirut during an upcoming visit by Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Hossein Dehqan to Lebanon.

He said that the Islamic Republic has no red lines for providing military aid to Lebanon to help it in the fight against terror and consolidate stability and security in the country.

Shamkhani also held talks with Hezbollah Secretary-General Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah on Tuesday, where the Iranian official praised the role of the resistance movement in defending the security and stability in Lebanon.

“Undoubtedly, Lebanese society will always be indebted to the rare and heroic diligence of … Hezbollah in countering the threat of Takfiri terrorism,” Shamkhani said.

He referred to the Lebanese nation’s trust in Hezbollah as the movement’s main “asset” which ensures the enhancement of its role and performance as a  balancing force in Lebanon’s political and security arenas.

Nasrallah, for his part, pointed to the unprecedented and complicated threats facing the region and said fighting Takfiri terrorism, preventing the spillover of the crisis and insecurity to Lebanon as well as safeguarding and boosting national unity are the resistance group’s priorities.

The Hezbollah leader hailed Iran’s support for the resistance movement and the anti-terrorism campaign, saying countering the rising threat posed by Takfiri terrorism necessitates adopting sincere measures far from suspicious and double-standard conduct.

Heading a high-ranking political and security delegation, Shamkhani arrived in the Lebanese capital on Monday night.

Over the past months, Lebanon has been suffering from terrorist attacks by al-Qaeda-linked militants as well as random rocket attacks, which are viewed as a spillover of the conflict in Syria.

Syria has been gripped by deadly violence since 2011 with ISIL Takfiri terrorists currently controlling parts of it mostly in the east.

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America’s most invisible workforce

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I started organizing domestic workers 16 years ago in the US. I signed up nannies, housekeepers and home health aides at parks and train stations as they quietly took care of our children, our households and our elders.

Many of them had no clue about labor laws or their rights as workers – they struggled to make ends meet with extremely low pay and no benefits – but they performed their jobs with dedication and took care of our loved ones with pride, dignity and grace.

I found all those years ago that building a bright future for these workers depended on how America valued the care they provided us. In my work, care has emerged as the connective tissue to encompass all identities and enable us to transcend to the level of values and ethics.

We must become a nation that values care, a caring America. Because each one of us is connected to care. Because we still largely ignore the needs of those nannies, housekeepers and aides who care for us.

There are at least 3 million care workers across the United States. They help our loved ones eat and bathe while providing emotional support and human connection. These workers also take care of us – making it possible to go to work every day knowing our loved ones are in capable hands.

They substantially cut healthcare costs by keeping people in their homes and communities and out of expensive institutions. If domestic workers were to strike, it would affect almost every sector in our economy – from doctors and lawyers, bankers and professors, to small business owners and media executives.

Yet in return for the life-sustaining supports that care workers provide, we have failed to care for them.

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Ron Paul calls for secession in US

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Former US congressman from Texas Ron Paul has called for more secessionist movements in the United States following Scotland’s unsuccessful attempt at independence from the United Kingdom.

In an article on his website, Paul argues that all supporters of freedom should cheer secessionism because it allows for smaller government.

“Even though it ultimately failed at the ballot box, the recent campaign for Scottish independence should cheer supporters of the numerous secession movements springing up around the globe,” he wrote.

The former presidential candidate added that support for secession was also growing in America.

He also referred to a recent poll, in which one in four Americans said they would support their state seceding from the federal government.

The results of a Reuters/Ipsos poll released earlier this month showed that 24 percent of Americans strongly support or tend to support the idea of their state separating from the union.

“Movements and organizations advocating that state governments secede from the federal government, that local governments secede from state governments, or that local governments secede from both the federal and state governments, are springing up around the country,” Paul said.

The ex-congressman explained that devolving government into smaller units promotes economic growth.

“The smaller the size of government, the less power it has to hobble free enterprise with taxes and regulations,” he said.

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US-led airstrikes kill 6 in Afghanistan

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At least six people have been killed after US-led foreign forces in Afghanistan carried out separate airstrikes in the eastern part of the war-ravaged country during the past 24 hours, Press TV reports.

Local officials said an unmanned aerial vehicle launched an airborne attack in the mountainous eastern province of Khost on Monday, leaving four people dead.

Two other people lost their lives in a similar airstrike in the eastern province of Laghman earlier in the day.

The US-led forces have recently increased their air raids against civilian areas in Afghanistan.

On September 26, a drone attack in the eastern province of Nangarhar left at least six people, including two women, dead and a woman injured.

Four people were also killed in a US drone strike in Afghanistan’s northeastern province of Kunar on September 23.

According to local officials, the airborne assault in the Ghaziabad district of the province targeted the Taliban and those killed in the raid were members of the militant group.

Civilian casualties have long been a source of friction between the Afghan government and US-led forces, and have dramatically increased anti-US sentiments in the country.

The United States and its allies invaded Afghanistan in October 2001 as part of Washington’s so-called war on terror. The offensive removed the Taliban from power, but insecurity continues to rise across the country, despite the presence of thousands of US-led troops.

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HWR warns about Syria refugee plight

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Human Rights Watch has warned about the escalation of violence against Syrian refugees in Lebanon.

Nadim Houry, the deputy director of HRW’s Middle East and North Africa, said on Tuesday that the rights organization has documented a wave of attacks against the Syrian refugees fleeing the violence in homeland in August and September.

He noted that the recent string of attacks has been intensified mainly due to the abduction and killing of a number of Lebanese forces by Takfiri militants fighting against the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

“Attacking Syrian refugees won’t bring back the abducted soldiers or solve the country’s refugee crisis,” he said.

Last month, the Lebanese town of Arsal saw the deadliest spillover of the conflict in Syria and during clashes that left dozens dead, Takfiri terrorists captured a group of Lebanese soldiers. They have killed at least three of them so far and are believed to be holding over a dozen others.

The HRW official further urged the Lebanese forces and authorities to step up their efforts for protecting the refugees. Over 1.1 million Syrian refugees are reportedly living in Lebanon.

“Lebanon’s security forces should protect everyone on Lebanese soil, not turn a blind eye to vigilante groups who are terrorizing refugees,” Houry added.

“There are also discriminatory curfews imposed by local municipalities and reported abuses by security forces, which HRW is in the process of investigating,” he said.

Syria has been gripped by deadly violence since 2011. The Western powers and their regional allies – especially Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey – are reportedly supporting the militants operating inside Syria.

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France public debt soars to €2 trillion

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Official figures show that France’s public debt has soared to 2 trillion euros for the first time in the second quarter of 2014.

The National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (INSEE) reported on Tuesday that the figure is tantamount to more than 95 percent of the country’s gross domestic product.

The European Union rules require the member states to limit their national debt to 60 percent of the GDP.

The administration of President Francois Hollande is under pressure since the public deem its economic plan a fiasco.

Other official reports have also highlighted the zero economic growth and high unemployment rate in the country.

In reaction to the INSEE statistics, the French Economy Ministry stated that the government would successfully halt the debt growth by a drastic reduction in public spending.

Eurozone’s second-largest economy is grappling with an unemployment rate of over 10 percent and its economy has failed to grow in the past two quarters.

A recent poll showed that confidence in President Hollande has nosedived to a record low of 13 percent as a result of the worsening economic crisis.

The austerity measures offered by the Hollande administration have put French citizens under much financial pressure. Sales taxes and retirement taxes have been raised. Massive cuts in social services have also forced households to dip into their own pocket.

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