Omaha World Herald: All aboard! Railroads are hiring
If there's a good indicator of how things are going for the rail industry, it might be all the new faces showing up at Union Pacific.
They belong to dispatchers and engineers, train conductors and signal workers, administrative assistants and diesel mechanics.
Just two years ago, the Omaha-based railroad was laying off thousands of workers, taking engines off the tracks and holding off on big projects. Now U.P.'s hiring has picked up to its highest rate since before the recession. The vast majority of the 5,300 workers who were furloughed have been given the chance to return to work. By year's end, the company hopes to have boosted its workforce by an additional 1,500 people.
"It's across the board ... everything from track labor to IT professionals to people with an MBA," said Jim Young, chairman and CEO. "It covers the whole spectrum."
Washington Post: Venezuelan opposition resists Republican measure
Don’t do us any favors. That’s the message that Venezuela’s political opposition is sending to House Republicans, who recently voted to cut off U.S. dues to the Organization of American States.
Rep. Connie Mack (R-Fla.), who introduced the amendment scrapping the $48.5 million annual dues, singled out what he called the organization’s support of autocratic President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela.
“Let’s not continue to fund an organization that’s bent on destroying democracy in Latin America,” he said in the debate last month.
But it turns out some of the very people the Republicans presumably wanted to help — Venezuelans seeking to oust Chavez — are alarmed.
New York Times: Syrian Troops Storm Parts of Eastern City
Syrian troops fired on mourners at a funeral and raided an eastern city Sunday, killing at least 59 people in an intensifying government crackdown on protesters. Outrage was intensifying as well: Syria's Arab neighbors forcefully joined the international chorus of condemnation against President Bashar Assad's regime for the first time.
Even the king of Saudi Arabia — whose country does not tolerate dissent and lent its military troops to repress anti-government protests in neighboring Bahrain — harshly criticized the Syrian government and said he was recalling his ambassador in Damascus for consultations.
More than 300 people have died in the past week, the bloodiest in the five-month uprising against Assad's authoritarian rule. Not all were killed by bullets or tank shells: In the besieged city of Hama, where the government has cut off electricity and communications, a rights group said eight babies died because their incubators lost power.http://www.blogger.com/...
Sunday's worst violence was in the eastern city of Deir el-Zour, where at least 42 people were killed.
Guardian: Second night of violence in London – and this time it was organised
There was mounting evidence on Sunday night that some of the second night of rioting in London was part of an orchestrated plan, as violent disturbances broke out sporadically across parts of the capital.
Police in riot gear were deployed across the city to deal with trouble in Enfield, six miles north of the site of riots in Tottenham, while looters later pillaged shops in Brixton.
The scenes in Enfield, while reminiscent of Saturday night's clashes, were smaller in scale, and they took place from about 7pm.
Teenagers gathered on St Andrews Road – said to have been a preplanned destination – broke down walls on terraced streets so they could collect bricks to throw at police. About a dozen shops were ransacked and a police car smashed on Church Street. Riot police moved in to secure the area and train station.
Reuters: Two French soldiers killed in Afghanistan and five wounded
Two French soldiers were killed and five others were wounded in Afghanistan Sunday, the French President's office said, bringing to 72 the total number of French soldiers killed since the conflict began in 2001.
"The French President learnt with great sorrow about the death this morning of two legionnaires from the second regiment of foreign paratroopers in Afghanistan," the office said in a statement.
The soldiers were attacked by insurgents while searching an Afghan fortified position in the Tagab Valley.
The incident follows the crash of helicopter of the U.S.-led coalition in central Maidan Wardak province Saturday, killing 31 U.S. soldiers and seven Afghan troops.
MSNBC: 45,000 Verizon landline workers strike
Stalled contract negotiations led thousands of workers in Verizon Communication Inc.'s wireline division to go on strike Sunday, potentially affecting landline operations as well as installation of services like FiOS, its fiber-optic television and Internet lines.
The contract for the 45,000 employees from Massachusetts to Washington, D.C., expired at midnight Saturday with the company and the workers unable to come to terms on issues including health care costs and pensions.
Verizon offers landline service in Connecticut, California, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Florida, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas and Virginia.
The dispute does not affect the company's wireless division. Verizon is the nation's largest wireless carrier.
Guardian: NHS among developed world's most efficient health systems, says study
The NHS is one of the most cost-effective health systems in the developed world, according to a study (pdf) published in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine.
The "surprising" findings show the NHS saving more lives for each pound spent as a proportion of national wealth than any other country apart from Ireland over 25 years. Among the 17 countries considered, the United States healthcare system was among the least efficient and effective.
Researchers said that this contradicted assertions by the health secretary, Andrew Lansley, that the NHS needed competition and choice to become more efficient.
"The government proposals to change the NHS are largely based on the idea that the NHS is less efficient and effective than other countries, especially the US," said Professor Colin Pritchard, of Bournemouth University, who analysed a quarter of a century's data from 1980.
Ha'aretz: 300,000 Israelis take to streets in third rally for social justice
More than 300,000 people took part in demonstrations across Israel last night to protest the high cost of living. The largest was in Tel Aviv, where an estimated 280,000 participated in one of the biggest demonstrations in Israeli history. The rally was held on Kaplan Street under the banner, "The people demand social justice." The extreme crowding prevented tens of thousands of people from getting anywhere near the stage, which was adjacent to the Kirya defense compound.
Chants of "The people demand social justice" echoed throughout the center of the city.
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"We are not talking about a change of personnel at the top, we don't care about that," National Student Union Chairman Itzik Shmuli told the crowd in Tel Aviv. "We're not demanding a change to the ruling coalition, we're demanding human economic policy that doesn't destroy people, that can see people's distress and that doesn't only crunch the numbers," Shmuli said.
Addressing Netanyahu, Shmuli said, "We're no longer embarrassed to say it's hard for us, we want a home to live in without being enslaved to it our entire lives, we want to work a decent job for a fair wage."
BBC: Bahrain releases former Shia opposition MPs
Bahrain has freed two former Shia opposition MPs arrested in the wake of widespread anti-government protests.
Jawad Fairooz and Matar Matar were detained in May after resigning from parliament in protest at the handling of the protests.
Mr Matar told the BBC they had been tortured in prison.
They were prosecuted in a security court on charges of taking part in illegal protests and defaming the country.
Yahoo: DuPont to yank herbicide blamed for killing trees
The DuPont Co. is halting sales of a new herbicide that has been blamed in several lawsuits for damaging trees in many parts of the country.
The company sent a letter to distributors on Thursday informing them that Dupont was implementing a voluntary suspension of the sales of Imprelis and working on a product return and refund program.
"We sincerely regret any tree injuries that Imprelis may have caused and will work with you and all of our customers to promptly and fairly resolve problems associated with our product," wrote Michael McDermott, global business leader for DuPont Professional Products.
The letter was sent one day after U.S. Environmental Protection Agency officials wrote DuPont with concerns that it may have misbranded the herbicide because label directions and warnings are inadequate to protect non-target plant species, and that DuPont was asserting that study data on Imprelis was confidential business information that should not be disclosed to the public.
CNN: American hikers in Iran await verdict a week after trial ends
The attorney representing three American hikers accused of being spies in Iran said Sunday that he was still awaiting word about his clients' fate.
Attorney Masoud Shafiei said he had not heard anything from court officials as of 6:30 p.m. Sunday, a week after a hearing that he hoped would result in a swift and lenient ruling.
After last week's hearing, Shafiei said an Iranian court was scheduled to issue a verdict within a week -- an assessment reiterated by a U.S. State Department spokesman.
On Saturday, state-run Press TV reported that "Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi expresses hope that the trial of the three U.S. nationals detained on charges of espionage and illegal entry will result in their freedom."
CNN: Eight dead, including gunman, in Ohio shooting spree
Seven people, including an 11-year-old child, were shot and killed in a small town in northeastern Ohio on Sunday in a rampage that ended when police killed the suspected gunman, authorities said.
The shootings occurred about 11 a.m. in Copley Township, about seven miles west of Akron, according to the Summit County Medical Examiner's Office.
Copley Police Chief Michael Mier told CNN affiliate WJW that the shooting began after an argument in a residence. Five people were killed at the home. Two more were killed on a nearby road, Mier said.
MSNBC: San Diego cop shot in unprovoked attack dies
San Diego's police chief says an officer shot in the face in an apparently unprovoked attack has died, and investigators have found a suicide note left by the suspect who fired the gun.
Chief William Lansdowne says 36-year-old Jeremy Henwood, a four-year veteran of the department, died Sunday, a day after being shot while sitting in his patrol car at a San Diego intersection.
The armed suspect, 23-year-old Dejon Marquee White, was later shot to death by police as he tried to avoid arrest. Investigators say they have no motives for the shooting. Police say White wrote a two-page suicide note but it didn't say how he was going to kill himself or why.
KATU: Mark O. Hatfield, former (Oregon) senator and governor, died on Sunday
Mark O. Hatfield, the influential former Oregon governor and senator, died on Sunday night at the age of 89.
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Hatfield had suffered from health problems in recent months. In November 2010, he was hospitalized at a National Institutes of Health hospital in Bethesda, Md. that bears his name.
He was born in Dallas, Ore. In 1922 and later attended Willamette University.
Hatfield served as governor from 1959-1967 before being elected to the United States Senate in 1966. He served in the Senate for 30 years.