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In Buenos Aires earlier this month, Assistant U.S. Secretary of State Thomas Shannon rejected theories that the U.S. Fourth Fleet, assigned to watch over South America, had been reactivated for offensive purposes. So that means defense, Brazilian Senator Pedro Simón observed, “but defending against whom?”

Ecuador: Reckoning for past crimes
Senegal: Africans, choose your union!
Iran: U.S. tries diplomacy
Ukraine: NATO is not welcome
China: Wal-Mart store unionized
Cuba: Major land use reforms

Barack Obama appeared to have scored a major success in projecting “commander-in-chief” ability and foreign policy savvy in his visits to Afghanistan and Iraq last week, and continued that path as he traveled to Jordan, Israel, the West Bank and then on to Western Europe.

“Recession” just doesn’t seem to adequately describe the hits workers are taking today. In the old days “recession” meant an economic downturn, unemployment and scrimping and cutting back until better days returned. The current super-recession is putting us through much more hell than most of the “recessions” anyone can remember.

In an unlikely team-up, impartial investigators from the Government Accountability Office joined a low-income workers’ advocate at congressional hearings July 15 to tell lawmakers that President Bush’s Labor Department has failed to enforce minimum wage and overtime laws and that low-wage workers are routinely being robbed of their earnings.

A protest against Fox News will descend on its Manhattan headquarters on Wednesday at 2:00 pm. The media corporation's use of racism is the focus of the activity organized by ColorofChange.org, Moveon.org and Hip Hop artist Nas. Together they plan to present 600,000 petitions demanding an end to racist smears, particularly against the Obamas.

OAKLAND, Calif. — Thousands of service workers returned to their jobs on University of California campuses July 21, after a week-long strike to protest the university’s stonewalling of their demands for fair compensation in contract negotiations dragging on since last year.

A new national scorecard issued by the Commonwealth Fund’s Commission on a High Performance Health System gives failing scores to the U.S. health care system. The U.S. scores an average of 65 out of a possible 100 across 37 key indicators in the areas of health outcomes, quality of care, access, efficiency and equity.

Surrounded by an enthusiastic, multi-racial gathering of union and community residents, Senator John Edwards unveiled his Half in Ten campaign at Steel Point in Bridgeport, Connecticut last Thursday in the hot afternoon sun.

West Coast longshore workers of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union are continuing talks with the employers’ Pacific Maritime Association for a new agreement, following the July 1 expiration of their contract.