News for today's 2018

India To Head BRICS' $100 Billion New Development Bank

7:16 PM Anonymous 0

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<a href="http://www.ndtv.com/news/images/story_page/BRICS_summit_AP_360.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="India To Head BRICS' $100 Billion New Development Bank" border="0" id="story_image_main" src="http://www.ndtv.com/news/images/story_page/BRICS_summit_AP_360.jpg" style="width: 360px;" title="India To Head BRICS' $100 Billion New Development Bank" /></a>ortaleza, Brazil::  <a href="http://www.fortodays.com/2014/07/india-to-head-brics-100-billion-new.html">Leaders of the BRICS</a> emerging market nations launched a $100 billion development bank and a currency reserve pool on Tuesday in their first concrete step toward reshaping the Western-dominated international financial system. The bank, aimed at funding infrastructure projects in developing nations, will be based in Shanghai, China, and India will preside over its operations for the first six years, followed by five-year terms for Brazil and then Russia, leaders of the five-country group announced at the 6th BRICS -  Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa - summit. The member countries will also set up a $100 billion currency reserves pool to help countries forestall short-term liquidity pressures. For India, it was a moment of success after hard bargaining to settle where the bank would be located and the share-holding in it. The bank will be called the New Development Bank, a name suggested by Prime Minster Narendra Modi.  Also, the bank will begin with a subscribed capital of $50 billion divided equally between its five founders; China, the world's number 2 economy, had argued that the economic strength of a member nation should be the criteria for contribution to the bank - a higher contribution would automatically mean greater control. But in intense negotiations that delayed the bank for two years, India and Brazil fought China's attempts to get a bigger share in the lender than the others.  "The agreement towards setting up the BRICS New Development Bank is a significant step. I am happy the initiative announced in 2012 in Delhi has become a reality," PM Modi said. The summit is Mr Modi's first multilateral engagement since he took over as Prime Minister in May this year.  (BRICS: PM Pitches for 'Zero Tolerance' Towards Terror) The long-awaited bank is the first major achievement of the BRICS countries since they got together in 2009 to press for a bigger say in the global financial order created by Western powers after World War Two and centered on the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. The BRICS were prompted to seek coordinated action following an exodus of capital from emerging markets last year, triggered by the scaling back of US monetary stimulus. The new bank reflects the growing influence of the BRICS, which account for almost half the world's population and about one-fifth of global economic output.

ortaleza, Brazil:: Leaders of the BRICS emerging market nations launched a $100 billion development bank and a currency reserve pool o...

Today's Teamster News 09.10.13

3:17 AM Tukiyooo 0

<a href="http://www.record-bee.com/news/ci_24054350/teamsters-paratransit-services-management-reach-tentative-deal" rel="nofollow">Teamsters, Paratransit Services management reach tentative deal</a>   Lake County Record Bee   ...Teamsters Local Union No. 665 and Paratransit Services, the company contracted to manage transit services in the county by Lake Transit Authority, reached a tentative collective bargain agreement Thursday for a new contract... <a href="http://www.teamster.org/sites/teamster.org/files/9913ABFRevoteTotals2.pdf" rel="nofollow">Local-by-Local ABF Re-Vote Totals</a>  teamster.org   ...Here are the local-by-local ABF totals for the seven supplements that were re-voted and counted on August 28... <a href="http://www.teamster.org/sites/teamster.org/files/8513Essaycontest2013.pdf" rel="nofollow">James R. Hoffa Memorial Scholarship Essay Contest</a>  teamster.org   ...Children and dependent grandchildren of Teamster members have until Sept. 30 to enter the James R. Hoffa Memorial Scholarship Fund Essay Contest, which gives higher-education students the opportunity to win a one-time $1,000 award from the union... <a href="http://www.ttnews.com/articles/basetemplate.aspx?storyid=32897&t=UPS-Teamsters-to-Vote-Again-on-Rejected-Agreements" rel="nofollow">UPS Teamsters to Vote Again on Rejected Agreements</a>  Transport Topics   ...Teamsters at UPS Inc. will vote again starting on Sept. 18 on seven of the 17 supplemental agreements that were rejected in June when the national master agreement was approved, the union has announced... <a href="http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/09/10/judge-declares-indiana-right-to-work-law-unconstitutional/" rel="nofollow">Judge declares Indiana ‘right to work’ law unconstitutional</a>  Raw Story   ...Indiana’s much-derided “right-to-work” law was ruled unconstitutional on Monday by a state Superior Court judge, paving the way for another legal battle with the state Supreme Court... <a href="http://www.fayobserver.com/articles/2013/09/10/1281831?sac=fo.local" rel="nofollow">Moral Monday protest in Moore County, a Republican stronghold, draws hundreds</a>  fayobserver.com   ...A strong turnout at a Moral Monday event in Republican-heavy Moore County shows that the movement goes beyond party lines, the head of the state chapter of the NAACP said... <a href="http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/story?section=news/local&id=9241749" rel="nofollow">'Moral Monday' held in Moore County </a> WTVD-TV   ... The "Moral Monday" movement moved to the Moore County and dozens showed up to support it... <a href="http://thehill.com/business-a-lobbying/321225-labor-opens-doors-to-non-workers-to-bulk-up-as-membership-declines" rel="nofollow">Labor, with union membership declining, will woo non-workers</a>  The Hill   ...Facing what AFL-CIO chief Richard Trumka called a “crisis” of membership, officials took the dramatic step at their annual convention of adopting a resolution that invites anyone in the country to join, regardless of union affiliation... <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ellen-r-shaffer/stop-tpp-protections-for-big-tobacco_b_3886771.html" rel="nofollow">Stop TPP Protections for Big Tobacco </a> Huffington Post   ...Under present trade rules, predatory tobacco corporations have new global rights to challenge important tobacco control laws and regulations in the U.S. and elsewhere that help people quit smoking, and keep kids from getting addicted, like a ban on clove cigarettes, and limitations on advertising. The TPP would perpetuate and extend these trade rules and their threats to health... <a href="http://www.economicpopulist.org/content/majority-new-jobs-are-not-part-time-5364" rel="nofollow">The Majority of New Jobs are Not Part-Time</a>  Economic Populist   ... people working part-time hours as a percentage of all the new employed was 17%.  We expect this figure to be higher than official part-time jobs for people are still getting their hours cut and denied full-time hours due to the economy not really running at full throttle... <a href="http://www.tradereform.org/2013/09/china-still-sucking-life-world-economy/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=china-still-sucking-life-world-economy" rel="nofollow">China Still Sucking the Life out of the World Economy</a>  Trade Reform   ... China’s trade surplus is growing again because they have doubled down on sucking the life out of the global economy to feed their rapid growth.  It is parasitic.  Global imbalances in trade are bad.  That is the economics.  Persistent global imbalances in trade flows are really bad.  It shows that the market is not working... <a href="http://americanmanufacturing.org/blog/cloud-computing-china-paid-us-trade-deficit" rel="nofollow">Cloud computing in China, paid for by the U.S. trade deficit</a>  manufacture this   ...Beijing plans to put $1 billion toward cloud-computing development in the coming years, and fold those advancements into its computer warfare efforts... <a href="http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2013/09/09/invasive-tactic-in-foreclosures-draws-scrutiny/?_r=0" rel="nofollow">Invasive Tactic in Foreclosures Draws Scrutiny</a>  New York Times   ...In suing Safeguard, Lisa Madigan, the attorney general, contends that the company broke into homes despite stark evidence that homeowners still lived in them, bullied tenants into leaving even though they had no legal obligation to do so and, in some instances, damaged the very homes they were sent to protect, according to the suit...

ABF China foreclosure Indiana Jobs Moral Monday right to work for less TPP UPS Today's Teamster News 09.10.13

Teamsters, Paratransit Services management reach tentative deal Lake County Record Bee ...Teamsters Local Union No. 665 and Paratransit...

Breaking: Right to work struck down in Indiana

4:23 PM Tukiyooo 0

Great news! An Indiana judge just ruled the state's right-to-work-for-less law is unconstitutional!! The <a href="http://www.dailyjournal.net/view/story/221750001e7a4f4c9cbf53307331c76f/IN--Indiana-Right-to-Work/#.Ui5Xt-CEzww" rel="nofollow">Associated Press</a> has the story: <blockquote class="tr_bq">Lake Superior Court Judge John Sedia found that the law wrongly requires unions to represent workers who do not pay dues. Indiana became the 23rd state in the nation to ban the collection of mandatory fees for representation from unions. </blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">Since then, union lawyers have gone to the courts to try and overturn the law. Sedia issued an order last Thursday declaring the ban on collections and associated criminal penalties unconstitutional. </blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">A spokesman for Attorney General Greg Zoeller says the state will appeal the ruling directly to Indiana's Supreme Court.</blockquote>There's no telling whether the judge's ruling will survive the appeal. But for now, it's a victory for workers in Indiana!

Indiana right to work Breaking: Right to work struck down in Indiana

Great news! An Indiana judge just ruled the state's right-to-work-for-less law is unconstitutional!! The Associated Press has the story...

ALEC link to official who cheated on charter school grade

1:00 PM Tukiyooo 0

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisqbBvOSjWyjb8EovjG4xMi2cYSqbWLEpgNJdfwfWxgXoT2P1fAht8UrnSOvGijhszYW4rUhFQcXUFFvacYCorY1_l8XLm4Z6hyX0xpROYBXY9slOUBW_cOZWT1R-xiqBE092AFGTKVc4j/s1600/alec-exposed-600x400.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="229" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisqbBvOSjWyjb8EovjG4xMi2cYSqbWLEpgNJdfwfWxgXoT2P1fAht8UrnSOvGijhszYW4rUhFQcXUFFvacYCorY1_l8XLm4Z6hyX0xpROYBXY9slOUBW_cOZWT1R-xiqBE092AFGTKVc4j/s320/alec-exposed-600x400.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div>There's an <a href="http://alecexposed.org/">ALEC</a> link (what a shock) to the Indiana school superintendent who inflated the grade of an outsourced school run by a wealthy political donor. Our friends at the <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/news/2013/07/12198/former-indiana-superintendent-lauded-alec-and-education-privatizers-cheats-school">Center for Media and Democracy</a> found the ALEC link. We're cross-posting their story below: New documents show that former Indiana Schools Superintendent Tony Bennett -- who now heads Florida's schools -- overhauled Indiana's much-heralded school grading system to guarantee that a charter run by a major campaign donor would receive top marks. These revelations shine a light on the big bucks behind the education privatization agenda, its continued failure to meet the need of students, and provides another instance of cheating to cover up poor educational outcomes. Bennett had been applauded by education privatizers like the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) for enacting reforms like school grading, vouchers, and anti-union measures. He was a <a href="http://www.alec.org/nearly-1000-state-legislators-business-leaders-and-public-policy-experts-discuss-free-market-solutions-to-creating-jobs-at-alecs-states-nation-policy-summit/">keynote</a> <a href="http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2012/04/at_arizona_gathering_alec_teac.html">speaker </a>at ALEC’s December 2011 States and Nation Policy Summit, and the education reforms he pushed <a href="http://www.alec.org/model-legislation/indiana-education-reform-package/">were adopted by ALEC</a> <a href="http://www.commoncause.org/atf/cf/%7BFB3C17E2-CDD1-4DF6-92BE-BD4429893665%7D/education_35-day_mailing%20-%20new%20orleans.pdf">in August 2011</a> as a stand-alone bill called the "Indiana Education Reform Package" -- in no small part because they reflected ALEC model legislation. "This will be a HUGE problem for us" Christel DeHaan, a big Republican donor in Indiana and school privatization supporter, gave Bennett an astounding $130,000 in campaign contributions for his 2008 and 2012 elections. But when DeHaan's Christel House charter school received a "C" last September under Bennett's grading system, he and his staff scrambled to fix it, according to <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/29/tony-bennett-indiana_n_3672196.html?utm_hp_ref=tw">emails obtained by the Associated Press</a>. "They need to understand that anything less than an A for Christel House compromises all of our accountability work," Bennett wrote in a Sept. 12 email to then-chief of staff Heather Neal, who is now Gov. Mike Pence's chief lobbyist. Bennett had made the A to F grading system a signature item of his 2011 radical education reforms, which he spearheaded with the support of then-Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels and <a href="http://stateimpact.npr.org/indiana/2011/12/16/meet-the-influencers-the-american-legislative-exchange-council/">ALEC legislators in the state</a>. Bennett often cited Christel House as a model charter school as he secured support for his education overhaul, and <a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/documents/ineds/ed2.pdf">according to the emails</a> had assured the Chamber of Commerce and legislative leaders that Christel was an "A" school. "This will be a HUGE problem for us," Bennett wrote to Neal about the school's "C" grade. Neal emailed back a few minutes later: "Oh, crap. We cannot release until this is resolved." "Legislative leadership as well as critics of A-F are going to use this against us to undo our accountability metrics through legislation," Bennett wrote in another email. "I hope we come to the meeting today with solutions and not excuses and/or explanations for me to wiggle myself out of the repeated lies I have told over the past six months." According to the Associated Press, Bennett's staff scrambled to alter the grading system over the next week, and Christel House's grade jumped twice, eventually reaching an "A." Indiana Has No Campaign Contribution Limits In most states, a donor like DeHaan would be prohibited from directly giving a candidate tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars, but Indiana has no campaign contribution limits for superintendent. Bennett, first elected in 2008, <a href="http://stateimpact.npr.org/indiana/2012/08/02/interactive-map-whos-giving-money-in-the-campaign-for-state-superintendent/">raised an astounding amount of money</a> for his 2012 reelection campaign: DeHaan gave $75,000, and was one of Bennett's top donors, behind Wal-Mart heir Alice Walton, another major school privatization funder, who gave him $200,000. <a href="http://inschoolmatters.wordpress.com/2012/10/22/indiana-superintendent-campaign-finance-the-rich-vs-the-many/">Other donors</a> included voucher proponent Eli Broad ($50,000) and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg ($40,000). He also got <a href="http://stateimpact.npr.org/indiana/2012/08/02/interactive-map-whos-giving-money-in-the-campaign-for-state-superintendent/">$45,000</a> from Hoosiers for Education Reform, a group bankrolled by the DeVos family's American Federation for Children, which itself has run into some campaign finance problems. <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/news/2013/05/12101/issue-ad-charade-american-federation-children-uncovered-wisconsin">As CMD has documented</a>, AFC boasted to funders in 2012 that it spent $2.4 million in Wisconsin helping elect nine Wisconsin state legislators, but told the state's Government Accountability Board that it spent only $345,000 that year. But despite significantly outraising his opponent, voters rejected Bennett and his education reform agenda, in what the head of the teacher's union called the biggest upset in Indiana history. Money may not have bought that election, but given these latest email revelations, it sure did seem to buy some special treatment. How Common is Cheating? For years, educational reformers have promoted the notion that schools need to be run more like a business, with "competition" from for-profit entities and increased "accountability" through testing regimes. But the promised improvements in educational outcomes have not followed, apparently leading some to cook the books. Perhaps the best-known cheating scandal came from former Washington, D.C., school Chancellor Michelle Rhee, whose controversial reforms had been credited with improving test scores in the District's schools -- an accomplishment that has been cast into doubt by evidence of widespread cheating, where teachers or school officials appeared to change students' incorrect test answers to improve results. Investigations have found extremely high erasure rates that were statistically anomalous, and <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/class-struggle/post/surprise-dc-admits-school-test-tampering-at-meridian-public-charter/2013/04/25/818ccb2e-ad66-11e2-a8b9-2a63d75b5459_blog.html">some charter schools have been cited</a>. Despite these scandals, both Rhee and Bennett have moved on to greener pastures. After resigning from her position in 2010, Rhee went on to found the 501(c)(4) StudentsFirst, and after Bennett's election loss in Indiana, he was appointed by Florida Governor Rick Scott to head that state's school system.