Tesla braces for possible strike at…

Tesla vehicle production.(Photo: author)Tesla is bracing for the possibility of a strike at a subsidiary in Germany that could disrupt the company’s operations as it gears up for assembly of its mass-market electric vehicle.German labor union IG Metall, which exerts a powerful grip over major manufacturers such as Volkswagen and General Motors, threatened to organize a strike at Tesla Grohmann Automation in Prüm near Germany’s western border with Belgium.Palo Alto, Calif.-based Tesla acquired industrial robotics manufacturer Grohmann Engineering in a deal announced in November.Some of the factory’s employees are said to be upset about wages under Tesla. IG Metall representatives did not respond to a request seeking comment Tuesday morning. In Germany, strict labor laws protect worker rights and give significant…
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Israel: No talks with Palestinian inmates…

FILE — In this April 6, 2003 file photo, Marwan Barghouti waves as he enters a Tel Aviv court. Gilad Erdan, Israel’s minister of public security said Tuesday, April 18, 2017, that he will not negotiate with hundreds of Palestinian prisoners who launched a hunger strike to press for better conditions. Erdan also said prominent Palestinian prisoner Barghouti, the organizer of the protest, has been placed in solitary confinement. Barghouti, a leader of the 2000 Palestinian uprising, is serving five life terms after being convicted by an Israeli court of directing two shooting attacks and a bombing that killed five people. (Jeremy Feldman, File/Associated Press) By Associated Press By Associated Press April 18 at 6:27 AM JERUSALEM — Israel will…
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Germany’s Industrial Union Considers Strike at…

Elon Musk is getting a quick introduction to the bare-knuckle world of German labor unions as the country’s largest industrial union mulls a strike at Tesla’s recently acquired industrial robotics subsidiary.  The labor dispute is over wages for the workforce at Grohmann Engineering, a German manufacturing automation designer that Tesla acquired in a $150 million deal that closed in January.  IG Metall, the country’s powerful industrial trade union, could decide later Tuesday to call a strike in an attempt to force Tesla to negotiate a wage deal, a union official said in an interview.  “We don’t want to strike,” said Patrick Georg, the IG Metall official responsible for Tesla. “We will only do so if Tesla refuses to agree to a wage contract with us.”  The threat of…
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Palestinian prisoners’ hunger strike leader sent…

FILE – In this Jan. 25, 2012 file photo, jailed Senior Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti appears in a Jerusalem court. Qadoura Fares, an advocate for prisoners’ rights, said Monday, April 17, 2027, that more than 1,500 Palestinian prisoners have launched an open-ended hunger strike to demand better conditions in Israeli prisons, including more contact with relatives, and an end to Israel’s practice of detentions without trial. The protest began Tuesday and was led by Marwan Barghouti, imprisoned since 2002. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue, File)  (The Associated Press) JERUSALEM –  Israel’s minister of public security says a prominent Palestinian prisoner has been placed in solitary confinement for inciting a large-scale hunger strike. Gilad Erdan tells Israel’s Army Radio Tuesday that Marwan Barghouti…
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Ex-Pentagon chief: North Korea is ‘evil’…

Former Defense Secretary William Perry told CNN’s Christiana Amanpour that “North Korea, while they’re evil, are not crazy” and that they would not seek to carry out a nuclear first strike on South Korea, Japan, or any US forces stationed there. Perry, who as the Pentagon chief under President Bill Clinton pushed for the US to strike North Korea’s burgeoning nuclear facilities in 1994, now says that military action against North Korea no longer makes sense, and that North Korea wouldn’t dare strike first. North Korea unveils new weapons at military parade “I do not believe that the North Korean regime is suicidal. Therefore I don’t believe they’re going to launch an unprovoked nuclear attack on anyone,” said Perry. Perry…
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Hundreds of Palestinians held by Israel…

Demonstrators march while waving their party flags and banners depicting Marwan Barghouti, imprisoned since 2002, during a rally marking Palestinian prisoners Day in Gaza City, on April 17, 2017.(Photo: Adel Hana, AP)RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) — Hundreds of Palestinians in Israeli prisons launched a hunger strike Monday, in what their leader behind bars called a new step in the Palestinians’ “long walk to freedom.”Activists said more than 1,500 of about 6,500 Palestinians held by Israel as so-called security prisoners joined the open-ended protest and that it was the largest such strike in five years. The hunger strikers’ immediate demands included better conditions, including more contact with relatives, and an end to Israel’s practice of detentions without trial.In the West Bank…
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Hundreds of Palestinians in Israeli jails…

By Nidal al-Mughrabi and Ali Sawafta GAZA/RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) – Hundreds of Palestinians in Israeli jails began a hunger strike on Monday in response to a call by prominent prisoner Marwan Barghouti, widely seen as a possible future Palestinian president. Palestinians termed the open-ended strike a protest against poor conditions and an Israeli policy of detention without trial that has been applied against thousands since the 1980s. Israel said the move by the prisoners, many of whom were convicted of attacks or planning attacks against Israel, was politically motivated. The protest was led by Barghouti, 58, a leader of the mainstream Fatah movement of the Palestine Liberation Organization, serving five life terms after being convicted of murder in the…
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Palestinian prisoners launch mass hunger strike

Some 1,600 prisoners are taking part, according to Palestinian Authority Prisoners’ Affairs Minister Issa Qaraqe. Qaraq said more prisoners may join the hunger strike later today, which was planned to coincide with Palestinian Prisoners’ Day.Qaraqe urged Palestinians to support the strike, and called on human rights organizations to press Israel on conditions in prisons.The hunger strike is a way of “bringing prisoners closer to their basic rights and demands and preventing the occupation from harming the dignity of the Palestinian prisoners,” he said in a statement.Marwan Barghouti, a high-profile prisoner who enjoys broad support among Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, called for the “Freedom and Dignity” strike. Many Palestinians see Barghouti as a potential future leader of the…
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Over 1,000 Palestinian Prisoners in Israel…

Photo Protesters at a rally on Monday in the West Bank city of Ramallah showed their support for Palestinians detained in Israeli jails. Credit Abbas Momani/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images JERUSALEM — More than a thousand Palestinians in Israeli prisons took part in a hunger strike on Monday, demanding better conditions in a protest that was unusual for its large size and for the fact that it was led by Marwan Barghouti, the most prominent detainee and a figure often seen as a future Palestinian leader.It was unclear whether the strike could be sustained to the point of forcing concessions from the Israeli authorities, but experts said it nonetheless had the potential to stir passions among Palestinians.“Israel is taking it…
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More Than 1,000 Palestinians In Israeli…

Protesters hold up portraits of Palestinians detained in Israeli jails during a demonstration in Gaza City to show support to the prisoners who launched a hunger strike on April 17, 2017. Mohammed Abed/AFP/Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Mohammed Abed/AFP/Getty Images Protesters hold up portraits of Palestinians detained in Israeli jails during a demonstration in Gaza City to show support to the prisoners who launched a hunger strike on April 17, 2017. Mohammed Abed/AFP/Getty Images Palestinian prisoners and detainees are staging a mass open-ended hunger strike to protest their conditions in Israeli prisons. Israeli authorities say approximately 1,100 of them are participating in the strike in eight prisons, NPR’s Daniel Estrin in Tel Aviv reports, of the approximately 6,200 Palestinians…
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