May Day 2019: Workers demand higher wages, rights, respect
BERLIN — Higher salaries, better working conditions, maternity leave, minimum wage and an end to discrimination against temporary or foreign workers: These were among the concerns as hundreds of thousands of union members and labor activists rallied around the world to mark May Day.
The tradition of May Day marches for workers’ rights began in the United States in the 1880s. It quickly spread to other countries at a time when industrialization pitted poorly paid employees who had few protections and little power against increasingly dominant factory employers and landowners.
Through the decades, the May Day protests also became an opportunity to air general economic grievances or political demands.
Venezuelans take to streets as uprising attempt sputters
CARACAS, Venezuela — Venezuelans heeded opposition leader Juan Guaidó’s call to fill streets around the nation Wednesday but security forces showed no sign of backing his cry for a widespread military uprising, instead dispersing crowds with tear gas as the political crisis threatened to deepen.
Thousands cheered Guaidó in Caracas as he rolled up his sleeves and called on Venezuelans to remain out in force and prepare for a general strike, a day after his bold attempt to spark a mass military defection by forces loyal to President Nicolas Maduro failed to tilt the balance of power.
“It’s totally clear now the usurper has lost,” he proclaimed, a declaration belied by events on the ground.
Across town at the Carlota air base near where Guaidó made his plea Tuesday for a revolt, intense clashes between protesters and troops loyal to Maduro made clear the standoff would drag on. There and elsewhere state security forces launched tear gas and fired rubber bullets, while bands of mostly young men armed with makeshift shields threw rocks and set a motorcycle ablaze.
“I don’t want to say it was a disaster,” Marilina Carillo, 54, said, standing in a crowd of people blowing horns and whistles. “But it’s wasn’t a success.”
Biden’s rise tests Trump plan of casting foes as socialists
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump may want to cast his potential Democratic rivals as a band of angry socialists, but Joe Biden is not cooperating with Trump’s reelection strategy, and that’s giving the president growing unease.
As the Democratic field expands to more than 20 contenders, Trump and his campaign team have been trying to lump them all together as left-wing radicals. Campaign officials believe it’s the best way for Trump to overcome his challenges with moderate voters, particularly in the upper Midwestern states critical to his reelection.
But Biden’s working-class appeal and more pragmatic policy approach are putting the GOP framing of the 2020 race to the test. As he campaigned in Iowa this week, Biden showcased his union support and steered clear of the liberal policy debates firing up the Democratic base.
From the White House, Trump watched — and tweeted — with some concern, according to two people familiar with the president’s thinking, as Biden earned the endorsement of a prominent International Association of Fire Fighters and secured a spot at the top of Democratic polls. The firefighters’ backing, in particular, appeared to irk the president, who relishes the support of first responders. It was the sort of endorsement that threatened to provide Biden with credibility with the centrist voters Trump must hold onto, said the two people, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to reveal the president’s thinking on the matter.
Trump blasted out more than 50 tweets and retweets about Biden before 7 a.m. Wednesday — a frenetic pace, even for the prolific social media user. Trump followed up by calling him “Sleepy Joe” in an interview with Boston Herald Radio on Wednesday, adding of Democrats, “They’re all pretty heavy leaning left, including him.”
Florida lawmakers pass bill allowing more armed teachers
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — More Florida classroom teachers could carry guns in school under a bill passed Wednesday by state lawmakers, the latest response to last year’s mass shooting at a Parkland high school.
The Republican-led House voted 65-47 on Wednesday to send the bill to GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is expected to sign it. The measure expands an existing school “guardian” program to allow any teacher to volunteer to carry a weapon if their local school district approves.
“It allows the good guys to stop the bad. The bad guys will never know when the good guys are there to shoot back,” said Republican Rep. Chuck Brannan of Lake City, a retired law enforcement officer. “The guardian is the last line of defense. He or she will be there when a police officer is not.”
Teachers who want to carry guns in districts that choose to join the program would have to undergo police-style training, psychiatric evaluation and drug screening. Under a law passed last year immediately after the Parkland shooting, only teachers who also have another role, such as sports coach, are eligible to carry weapons on campus.
The bill comes after 17 people were killed by a rifle-toting shooter at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in February 2018. Nikolas Cruz, 20, faces the death penalty if convicted of those slayings.
Fed signals neither a rate hike nor a cut is likely soon
WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve left its key interest rate unchanged Wednesday and signaled that it’s unlikely to either raise or cut rates in coming months amid signs of renewed economic health but unusually low inflation.
The Fed left its benchmark rate — which influences many consumer and business loans — in a range of 2.25% to 2.5%. Its low-rate policy has helped boost stock prices and supported a steadily growing economy.
A statement from the Fed spotlighted its continuing failure so far to lift annual inflation to at least its 2% target rate. The Fed’s preferred 12-month inflation barometer is running at about 1.5%. In pointing to persistently low inflation, the statement might have raised expectations that the Fed’s next rate change, whenever it happens, could be a rate cut. The Fed cuts rates when it’s trying to stimulate inflation or growth.
But at a news conference later, Chairman Jerome Powell declined to hint of any potential coming rate cut. He suggested, in fact, that the current too-low inflation readings may be transitory or might not be fully capturing real-world price increases.
“The committee is comfortable with our current policy stance,” Powell said.
