WASHINGTON (VR) – Unemployment in the United States is much higher than the 6.7 percent reported by the Department of Labor in March 2014, since the statistic does not account for the people that have dropped out of the labor force because of discouragement, according to Robert Pollin, Co-director and Distinguished Professor of Economics at the Political Economy Research Institute …
Baltimore: Minority-Focused Foundation Empowers Latino Immigrants
BALTIMORE (VR) – Peruvian Renzo González believed he was stuck in an endless cycle of low-pay manual labor jobs like screen printing t-shirts and catering. Not anymore. Thanks to a Spanish-language computer literacy course targeted towards adult immigrants and sponsored by the William& Lanaea C. Featherstone Foundation in Baltimore, González has begun to realize the possibilities of work outside of manual labor …
Government Expects 60,000 Lone Child Migrants Will Try to Enter US in 2014
WASHINGTON (VR) – The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) estimates that 60,000 unaccompanied alien children (UAC) will try to enter the country during Fiscal Year 2014, which runs from October 1st 2013 to September 30, 2014. This is a significant increase from a yearly average of 6,800 unaccompanied minors between the years of 2004 and 2011. HHS also estimates …
‘Yes, But Not Now’ – Former Hostage on Sending US Diplomats Back to Iran
WASHINGTON (VR) – “I’m not a big fan of the Islamic Republic. But, also it’s probably well-known to most of you my position on whether we should be talking to each other… and I’ve been in favor of it for a very long time.” Those are the words of a former hostage in the American Embassy in Tehran, Iran during …
US Policy Toward Egypt is Driven by Iran and Israel/Palestine
WASHINGTON, DC – The “two biggest strategic priorities in the Middle East, in the short-term, are the Iranian nuclear issue and the Israel-Palestine negotiations”, said Shibley Telhami, at an event on Thursday. He is the Anwar Sadat Professor for the Middle East at the University of Maryland. On the eve of four separate bomb attacks that ripped through Cairo’s neighborhoods and …
Unemployment in the Nation’s Capital: A Skills Mismatch
WASHINGTON (VR) – Over 25,000 people are unemployed in the nation’s capital, Washington DC, according to the Department of Labor. However, the region is not lacking for jobs. “There’s no shortage of jobs relative to the number of people who need jobs,” said Judy Berman, of DC Appleseed, a non-partisan organization based in Washington that conducts research on employment and aims …
Pakistan Elections: Where Patronage Ruled – Inter Press Service
Inter Press Service – This last weekend saw re-polling in constituencies throughout Pakistan in response to hundreds of complaints of vote rigging. Complaints ranged from the documentation of over 100 percent voter turnout in some polling stations to stories of polling staff being kidnapped and released after votes had been submitted. But vote rigging was not the only way in …
At a Fork in the Road: The Iran Nuclear Talks post-Istanbul – Link TV
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From Baghdad to Moscow: Assessing the Iran Nuclear Talks – Link TV
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Derailing Diplomacy: MEK Weighs in on Iran Nuke Talks & Tom Ridge Interview
Last week while the outlines of a historic interim deal were being hashed out between the P5+1 nations and Iran, a last ditch effort to derail diplomacy and garner support for regime change in the Islamic Republic took place on Capitol Hill organized by the People’s Mujahedin of Iran, also known as the the MEK. I attended the event, and …