U.S. military kills senior ISIS leader responsible for planning European attacks

Mike Brest

April 04, 07:22 AM April 04, 07:22 AM

The U.S. military killed a senior ISIS leader in Syria who was responsible for planning the terror group’s attacks into Europe, according to Central Command.

Khalid ‘Aydd Ahmad al-Jabouri, whom CENTCOM described as being “responsible for planning ISIS attacks into Europe and developed the leadership structure for ISIS,” was killed in the “unilateral strike” on Monday.

US CONTRACTOR KILLED AND FIVE SERVICE MEMBERS WOUNDED IN LIKELY IRANIAN-MADE UAV ATTACK IN SYRIA: PENTAGON

“ISIS continues to represent a threat to the region and beyond,” General Michael “Erik” Kurilla said in a statement. “Though degraded, the group remains able to conduct operations within the region with a desire to strike beyond the Middle East.”

Al-Jabouri’s death will “temporarily disrupt the organization’s ability to plot external attacks,” CENTCOM added.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitor, said on Monday that one person was killed in a drone strike, which fits with CENTCOM reporting that there were no civilian casualties in the strike.

Al-Jabouri was targeted and killed near his home while he was walking and talking on the phone, SOHR reported.

The White Helmets organization tweeted that a man was killed by the strike on the outskirts of the town of Kili, in Idlib province.

"Our teams responded and took the injured person to Bab Al-Hawa Hospital, where he died," it added.

CENTCOM has conducted dozes of strikes and operations in Syria to degrade ISIS’s ability to plan and execute attacks against U.S. forces and interests.They conducted an operation on Feb. 16 that resulted in the death of another “senior leader” Hamza al-Homsi, while four U.S. service members and a work dog were injured in an explosion during the mission.

Kurilla has maintained in statements and testimony in recent months that while these missions continue to degrade ISIS’s ability, the ideology “remains uncontained and unconstrained."

House to vote on legislation to avert railroad strike in move backed by Biden

Asher Notheis

November 28, 07:14 PM November 28, 07:14 PM

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) announced on Monday that the House will move quickly to vote on legislation to implement a labor agreement between railroads and unions, shortly after President Joe Biden called on Congress to act quickly in order to stave off a strike that would damage the economy.

The legislation Biden is asking Congress to adopt would adopt the tentative agreement approved by labor and management negotiators in September. Some union members have voted not to ratify the bargain, raising the threat of a strike after the Dec. 9 deadline.

"The deal provides a historic 24% pay raise for rail workers," a statement from Biden read. "It provides improved health care benefits. And it provides the ability of operating craft workers to take unscheduled leave for medical needs."

KELLYANNE CONWAY APPEARS BEFORE JAN. 6 COMMITTEE AS PANEL RACES TO FINISH REPORT

Biden warned that should a railroad strike go forth, it would "devastate our economy." The president's economic advisers reported that up to 765,000 people, including union workers, could be out of work within the first two weeks of the strike, which would lead to supplies not getting delivered, such as chemicals needed for clean drinking water for communities or food for farms.

Pelosi stated that the House would take up the legislation while making no changes to it before voting. The legislation will then be sent to the Senate, where Pelosi hopes it earns "a strongly bipartisan vote."

Congress has the power to avert the strike in this situation because rail strikes are governed by the Railway Labor Act of 1926 instead of the National Labor Relations Act. Congress has the authority to intervene and force the unions to accept the agreement’s terms. In endorsing such a move, though, Biden and Democrats risk alienating labor allies.

Still, the threat of a strike crippling supply chains is forcing action from Democrats. The call from the president comes after several technology companies began rerouting semiconductor chips from the rail system to trucks amid the fears of a rail strike. Goetz Alebrand, head of ocean freight for the Americas at DHL Global Forwarding, said trucking capacity has increased since September, when the prospect of a rail strike started.

Workers at several unions have voted to reject the agreement reached between labor leaders and the railroads. If all the involved unions are unable to get their members to agree to a contract by Dec. 9, a cooling-off period ends, and workers could strike, which would be disastrous ahead of the holidays.

“No one benefits from a rail work stoppage – not our customers, not rail employees and not the American economy,” said AAR President and CEO Ian Jefferies. “Now is the appropriate time for Congress to pass legislation to implement the agreements already ratified by eight of the twelve unions."

Over 55,000 public sector education workers strike in Ontario in violation of new law

Brady Knox

November 04, 05:02 PM November 04, 05:02 PM

Over 55,000 public sector education workers started a strike in Ontario, Canada, in violation of a new law, which fines school support staff $4,000 per day of striking.

The new law, labeled "draconian" by critics, was fast-tracked by conservative Ontario Premier Doug Ford earlier this week, the Guardian reported, in response to news of the planned strike. Negotiations with the government broke down after news of the strike broke, resulting in the government refusing to continue unless it was called off, despite major concessions such as the Canadian Union of Public Employees halving its original salary demands. The government has expressed dedication to go through with collecting the exorbitant fines for the strikers, including a $500,000-per-day fine on the union, costing in total an estimated $200 million a day.

ONTARIO PARLIAMENT MOVES FORWARD WITH FOUR-DAY WORKWEEK LEGISLATION

“Nothing matters more right now than getting students back in the classroom and we will use every tool available to us to do so,” provincial education minister, Stephen Lecce, said in a statement.

In response to criticism from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Ford justified his harsh reaction on Twitter.

"I spoke with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and made clear that shutting down classrooms would have an unacceptable impact on students. I reiterated that Ontario is determined, if necessary, to pass legislation to keep classrooms open and ensure stability for parents and students," he wrote.

The union represents custodians, early childhood educators, and educational assistants, among other low-earning school employees. Their original demands were an 11.3% increase in its members' wages, in response to rising costs of living due to inflation, which has battered much of the Western world. The government countered with a 2.5% annual raise for the lowest-income workers and a 1.5% annual raise for others, a stipulation they included in the bill that criminalized striking. The union lowered its demand by half but isn't accepting the government's counteroffer.

Ford's government attempted to petition Ontario's labor board to force the strikers back to work but was denied.