Ukraine protesters, police in tense standoff after clashes

http://news.yahoo.com/ukraine-protesters-gear-rally-amid-protest-cu...

Kiev (AFP) - Opposition protesters were Monday locked in a tense standoff with Ukrainian security forces in Kiev after hours of unprecedented clashes deep into the night left dozens wounded and parts of the centre resembling a battlefield.

The clashes, the worst in Kiev in recent times, came amid mounting anger over new restrictions on protests ordered by President Viktor Yanukovych after almost two months of protests over his refusal to sign a pact for integration with the EU.

A special commission set up by Yanukovych was due Monday to meet representatives of the opposition for emergency talks but it was unclear if this could in any way help ease the crisis.

In near apocalyptic scenes close to parliament, several police buses and vehicles were torched by the protesters who hurled stones and Molotov cocktails at the ranks of the security forces. Police responded with tear gas, stun grenades, rubber bullets and water cannon.

The White House urged an end to the violence, with US National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden saying that Washington was deeply concerned and urging "all sides to immediately de-escalate the situation".

The spokeswoman warned that Washington was still considering sanctions against Ukrainian officials, a step urged by the Ukrainian opposition. "The US will continue to consider additional steps -- including sanctions -- in response to the use of violence."

After intense clashes continued into the early hours of Monday morning, the situation was calmer at 0700 GMT but hundreds of protesters who had spent the night in temperatures of minus 10 degrees Celsius were still out on the streets.

However the situation remained tense with protesters launching occasional sorties at the police line to throw stones or Molotov cocktails.

Police use water cannon, fire rubber bullets

After a peaceful mass rally in the afternoon, hundreds of demonstrators sought to storm police cordons near the Verkhovna Rada parliament and close to the stadium of the legendary Dynamo Kiev football club in central Kiev, witnesses and AFP correspondents said.

In the most violent scenes since the start of the protests in November, demonstrators set five buses and two trucks on fire while the air filled with the stench of tear gas.

Their faces covered by scarves or ski masks, many of the protesters wielded sticks or even chains. Later in the night, they began to dig the cobble stones out of the road to hurl at police and use as barricades.

The security forces made extensive use of water cannon in a bid to douse the protesters and push them back and used rubber bullets which activists said left dozens injured.

Ukrainian opposition television broadcast pictures of two young men who it said were stripped naked by the security forces and then peppered with rubber bullets.

Health officials said 24 people were injured and three were hospitalised, while police said more than 70 officers had been hurt. The interior ministry said 20 people had been arrested for mass rioting.

Opposition leaders, including former boxing champion Vitali Klitschko and Arseniy Yatsenyuk, called on the protesters to refrain from using force but their calls were ignored.

It was not clear who was behind the clashes with police, which appeared to have been a well-organised move. Ukrainian media linked the action to a hitherto little-known right-wing youth group called "Right Sector".

Amid the chaos of the clashes, Klitschko was sprayed with powder from a fire extinguisher, leaving his eyes irritated and face and clothes covered in white powder.

Special commission to meet opposition

In an apparent attempt to find a compromise, Klitschko travelled to the president's luxurious Mezhygirya residence outside Kiev to meet Yanukovych in person.

The president received Klitschko and promised early Monday to create a special commission of officials set up by national security council secretary Andriy Klyuyev to solve the crisis, the boxer's party and the presidency announced. The presidency said the new commission would meet the opposition on Monday.

Klitschko told online television channel Hromadske TV that the president had appeared "very concerned" by the latest events but also pointedly ignored the opposition's main demand for early elections.

In the afternoon, some 200,000 people had filled Kiev's Independence Square and surrounding streets for a new mass rally in defiance of new strict curbs on protests passed by lawmakers in a show of hands last week and signed into law by Yanukovych.

The new laws allow the authorities to jail those who blockade public buildings for up to five years and permit the arrest of protesters who wear masks or helmets. Other provisions ban the dissemination of "slander" on the Internet.

Protesters expressed frustration at the rally over the lack of a clear programme from the opposition leaders after almost two months of protests, whistling and heckling the opposition leaders during the main rally for their perceived inability to mount a stronger challenge.

Yanukovych's arch nemesis Yulia Tymoshenko remains in jail, while the protest leadership appears riven by rivalries ahead of presidential election next year.

Clashes erupt across Egypt

http://news.yahoo.com/photos/cashes-erupt-across-egypt-slideshow/

Egypt's military-backed interim president said Thursday that the country's uprisings have put an end to the police state, even as the government came under new criticism over abuses by security forces amid a heavy-handed crackdown on Islamists and other dissenters.

Adly Mansour's comments were part of a campaign to rehabilitate the image of the security agencies whose abuses and grip on political life were a major factor fueling the 2011 uprising that ousted autocrat Hosni Mubarak, which marks its third anniversary Saturday. Though there has been little reform of the agencies since, the police have surged back into prominence, touted by authorities as heroes, after the military's ouster of Mubarak's elected successor, Islamist Mohammed Morsi.

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_xqcI2bBKE

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfBsbsqr_k4

A new Galaxy poll, conducted exclusively for The Courier-Mail, reveals 30 seats are at risk - including his own seat of Ashgrove - as the Newman Government suffers a rapid fall from grace and the Premier’s popularity continues to plummet.

Much of the administration’s ills are intimately linked to the crackdown on criminal gangs, with Queenslanders ­increasingly opposed to the new anti-bikie regime.

Mr Newman yesterday told the LNP’s first party room meeting of the year the laws were working to break down the illegal activities of the gangs and put their members behind bars.

“Our war against criminal gangs is yielding positive ­results,” he said.

However, Galaxy chief David Briggs said the poll ­results revealed the laws had not proved popular.

“Campbell Newman’s decision to take on the motorcycle gangs is proving costly, with support for the LNP and his own satisfaction dropping since late last year,’’ he said.

“Opinion is now divided on whether the laws were needed in the first place, and the ­majority of Queenslanders are of the opinion that Mr ­Newman has done a poor job introducing the new laws.’’

Venezuelan anti-government protests turn violent

http://news.yahoo.com/venezuelan-anti-government-protests-turn-viol...

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuelan security forces fired rubber bullets into the air to break up a crowd of violent activists following the largest protests against President Nicolas Maduro's government since he was re-elected almost a year ago.

A group of about 100 mostly student demonstrators, many of them covering their faces, launched fragments of concrete sidewalks at riot police guarding the streets around the federal prosecutor's office in Caracas.

On the other side of the police corridor, pedestrians scattered as a group of black-shirted government supporters on the back of pick-up trucks and motorcycles sped through downtown streets.

It's unclear what sparked the incident or whether there were any casualties.

The unrest capped off a day of peaceful demonstrations organized by hard-line members of the opposition and it comes on the heels of two weeks of increasingly violent protests by students in several parts of the country.

Pro-government supporters countered with a march of their own to express support for Maduro, who has accused opponents of trying to violently oust him from power just two months after his party's candidates prevailed by a landslide in mayoral elections.

"All of these problems — shortages, inflation, insecurity, the lack of opportunities — have a single culprit: the government," Leopoldo Lopez, a Harvard University-trained former mayor, told a crowd of about 10,000 people gathered at Plaza Venezuela in Caracas.

Lopez, who leads a faction of the opposition that has challenged what it considers the meek leadership of two-time presidential candidate Henrique Capriles, called the protests "a moral and patriotic duty."

"If we don't do it now, then when? And if it's not us, who will?," he said.

The crowd then marched to the prosecutor's office to demand the release of 13 demonstrators that human rights groups say were illegally arrested during the past two weeks of protests.

Across town, Maduro told his supporters that he won't back down in the face of what he said is a conspiracy by opponents to provoke violence and destabilize his government.

"A Nazi-fascist faction has emerged that wants to take Venezuela down the path of violence," the 51-year-old former bus driver said. "What we're going to have is peace and prosperity."

Protests also took place on Wednesday in other cities, including Merida and San Cristobal, where students have clashed with police in recent days.

Merida's Mayor Carlos Garcia told the AP that three people were injured by gunfire in protests Tuesday after a group of hooded government supporters began firing into the crowd. Maduro on Wednesday acknowledged the incident, but told supporters that those responding to the opposition's violent provocations aren't true revolutionaries.

As reported from Australia.
Ukraine and Kiev riots.
Sending "the call" to stop the blood shed.

http://www.news.com.au/world/at-least-25-die-in-kiev-in-violent-cla...

Venezuela

http://www.news.com.au/world/nine-killed-in-venezuela-antigovernmen...

Nine killed in Venezuela anti-government protests

At least 137 people have also been injured and 104 have been detained in the two weeks of protests, Attorney General Luisa Ortega said on a radio show.

The latest victim was a 29-year-old man who tried to cross a street blockaded by protesters on a motorcycle at night time, Interior Minister Miguel Rodriguez Torres said on state VTV network.

Turkish police clash with workers in Ankara

Here is an interesting find from the social media website 'Reddit'.  It is a screen capture from another site showing Isreali passports and a caption that basically states (hopefully you can read it below) that the person is part of the IDF and was asked to help detonate the bombing of a hospital in the Gaza Strip. The person states that it was known to Isreali intelligence that the hospital was not a threat.

The person states clearly that he/she is officially deserting the IDF (because of the lies) and that they are fully aware of the consequences of doing so (torture and imprisonment).

Some interesting things to point out are the dates of the post and the news article (circled in red), as well as the fact that the person is posting pictures of passports. Based on previous Zetatalk of the situation this post seems credible:

http://poleshift.ning.com/profiles/blogs/israel-aggression-zeta-talk

I wanted to place this here since it shows the progression of the Sociological Changes (wthin Isreal itself), as well as mirroring the vast majority of people's disdain with this conflict.

Below is the image from the website.

http://news.msn.com/world/china-reports-deadly-attack-in-northwest

China reports deadly attack in northwest

Newscom: Zhou Mi, Xinhua​

Armed policemen take part in an anti-terrorism drill in Nanchang, capital of east China's Jiangxi Province, July 2, 2014.

BEIJING (AP) — A mob armed with knives rampaged through part of China's volatile northwestern region of Xinjiang and police responded with gunfire, leaving dozens of people dead in the latest violence blamed on Islamic militants, state media reported Tuesday.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/28/hong-kong_n_5897038.html?u...

Hong Kong Activists Defy Police Tear Gas As Protests Spread

Furious students burn Mexican govt. building in protest over police...

RT - Published time: October 14, 2014 10:51

Hundreds of residents in a southern-Mexican city smashed up the state capital building in a furious protest over the continued lack of information about 43 local college students, believed to have been abducted by corrupt police.

The local police are allegedly working with a powerful drug cartel and it’s feared that 10 newly discovered mass graves may contain the bodies of the students taken on September 26. “Up to 20” charred remains were discovered on Saturday.

Mexico missing students: Nationwide protests held

BBC News

9 October 2014 Last updated at 02:43

Thousands of people have held protests in cities across Mexico against the disappearance of students in the southern town of Iguala last month.

The students had clashed with police during a demonstration and were last seen being bundled into police cars.

Hundreds of local vigilantes have joined the search, saying they would conduct a house-by-house search.

Meanwhile forensic tests are under way on dozens of bodies found in shallow graves near the town last week.

Mystery of Missing Students in Mexico Shines Spotlight on Troubled ...

Clashes, water cannon as 100,000 march in Brussels against austerity

After Scotland, Catalonia is taking a poll to find if its ppl want to separate from Spain.

Violent protests over Mexico student massacre

Group of demonstrators attack Mexico's National Palace and torch vehicles seeking answer over killing of 43 students.
Last updated: 09 Nov 2014 07:17

Furious protesters tried to break into Mexico City's National Palace during nationwide demonstrations over the apparent massacre of 43 students that has angered the nation.

Mexico was confronted with one of the grisliest massacres in years of drug violence after gang suspects confessed to slaughtering 43 missing students and dumping their charred remains in a river.

The confessions may have brought a tragic end to the mystery, but parents of the victims refuse to accept they are dead until DNA tests confirm their identities, saying the government has repeatedly told them lies.

Mexico: Gang Members Confess To Mass Killing In Missing Students Probe

By Lizbeth Diaz

MEXICO CITY, Nov 7 (Reuters) - Forty-three missing students abducted by corrupt police in southwest Mexico six weeks ago were apparently incinerated by drug gang henchmen and their remains tipped in a garbage dump and a river, the government said on Friday.

Attorney General Jesus Murillo said three detainees, caught a week ago, admitted setting fire to a group of bodies in a dump near Iguala in the state of Guerrero, where the trainee teachers went missing on Sept. 26 after clashing with local police.

‘We want justice!’ Protesters storm, set on fire Mexico City's Nati...

Published time: November 09, 2014 04:48
Edited time: November 09, 2014 07:25

A group of protesters in Mexico City have tried to break into the National Palace and have set its front doors on fire in response to government's alleged role in the abduction and murder of 43 students who went missing in September.

The rally’s participants have used a metal police barricade as a battering ram, trying to storm the National Palace in Mexico City, mostly used for ceremonies involving President Stupid TITINO.

'Enough, I'm Tired' Comment Rallies Mexico Protest

MEXICO CITY — Nov 8, 2014, 9:03 PM ET
By MARIA VERZA Associated Press

 An off-the-cuff comment by the attorney general to cut off a news conference about the apparent killing of 43 missing college students has been taken up by protesters as a rallying cry against Mexico's corruption and drug trade-fueled violence.

During the session that was televised live Friday, Attorney General Jesus Murillo Karam announced that two suspects had led authorities to trash bags believed to contain the incinerated remains of the slain students, who haven't been seen since being led away by police in the southwestern town of Iguala on Sept. 26.

After an hour of speaking, Murillo Karam abruptly signaled for an end to questions by turning away from reporters and saying, "Ya me canse" — a phrase meaning "Enough, I'm tired."

Within hours, the phrase became a hashtag linking messages on Twitter and other social networks. It continued to trend globally Saturday and began to emerge in graffiti, in political cartoons and in video messages posted to YouTube.

Cops in France clash against protesters fighting police brutality.

Just in from Israel...

http://www.news.com.au/world/middle-east/violent-protests-rage-in-i...

On the 5th of November the hacktivist group Anonymous called for global protests.

Video #2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-qjiM1PHj8

In its 7th week, Nine out of 10 Hong Kong activists say [they] will fight on for a year

The straw poll found 87 percent said they were willing to keep up the campaign for more than a year, while 93 percent said that even if police forcibly cleared them away, they would regroup to launch fresh street occupations elsewhere

However, 70% of Hong Kong residents want the protesters to stop occupying.

If laws are not changed they will be ignored by the common man, as the trend toward massive and widespread protests worsens. This leaves the common man working things out among themselves, casting the control by the elite aside. The elite will react at first by rage, calling out all legal remedies, all political chits they have in their pockets. When this does not work they will retreat sooner than planned to their bunkers, or their island enclaves, pouting. - Zetatalk

Anti-government protest in Haiti turns violent

http://news.yahoo.com/anti-government-protest-haiti-turns-violent-1...

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — An anti-government protest that snaked through sections of Haiti's capital on Tuesday turned violent as three people were apparently shot in a volatile neighborhood.

The march began peacefully when a crowd grew to a few thousand people in slums that are opposition strongholds. But as demonstrators walked by an intersection in Delmas 32, the critics of President Michel Martelly's administration and pro-government residents began shouting and throwing rocks at each other.

As the melee quickly escalated, Associated Press journalists witnessed three people apparently getting hit by bullets. One was hit in the neck and appeared gravely wounded. The two others sustained wounds to limbs.

As a panic ensued in the densely-packed area of cinderblock houses, officers with the Haitian National Police fired tear gas and most demonstrators dispersed. Police spokesman Frantz Lerebours and other authorities made no immediate comment about the violence or any arrests.

Even after the violence, nearly 1,000 protesters continued their Tuesday march demanding Martelly's resignation and a chance to vote in long-delayed legislative and municipal elections.

The president was supposed to call elections in 2011 for a majority of Senate seats, the entire Chamber of Deputies and local offices. But he hasn't done so because the Senate has yet to approve an electoral law authorizing the vote.

The Chamber of Deputies has approved the legislation, but it is being held up in the Senate by six senators who have blocked a vote, arguing it is unconstitutional and favors the government.

Martelly administration officials blame the standoff on the six senators, insisting that the government wants to hold the elections but can't because the lawmakers are blocking the vote by preventing a quorum.

Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe said Tuesday on Twitter tweeted that the six senators need to "unlock the democratic process" and the "opposition must break with their outdated chaotic policies."

Mexicans in biggest protest yet over missing students

One banner proclaimed: “It is the not the people who are destabilizing Mexico, it is the state.”

Thursday’s march was preceded by photographs circulating on social media of youths in plane clothes travelling in army vehicles, and claims that the government was preparing to spark violence with the help of provocateurs in an effort to discredit the march.

Mexico on the brink: thousands to protest over widespread corruptio...

The two apparently unrelated issues have fed the widespread perception that unbridled political corruption is the underlying cause of the country’s many problems.

(Ppl became furious upon revelations that  the president's mansion "is still owned by a subsidiary of a company with a long history of obtaining lucrative contracts from Peña Nieto administrations, dating back to his term as governor of the state of Mexico"). 

Ferguson protests

Using Ferguson protests to extrapolate what public opinion will be once it is apparent all is not right.......

The familiar routine comforts, and the average citizen lives paycheck to paycheck and does not have the capacity to take action. They will wait, and see what plans and policies are put into place by their governments. Martial Law will not be imposed automatically, but in stages. Earthquakes and tidal waves and crop shortages will begin to alarm the populace who will make strident demands on their governments, and when they discover that no solutions are being offered to them, rioting will indeed begin. - Zetatalk (on Honk Kong protests).

Also, What [the elite] Fear: Zetatalk

Map of where rallies/vigils were held Re: Ferguson

Media ignoring peaceful Ferguson protests across the country

Ferguson violence overshadows unresolved racial disparity

Rampant media malpractice of Ferguson coverage

Protesters...tried to disrupt the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade — but you would never know it watching NBC's live broadcast of the festivities. (Source: Mashable )

Scuffles, arrests as pro-Ferguson NYC activists disrupt Thanksgiving parade (VIDEO)

I found the following video to be humorous & sad at the same time. Look at the enormous power cable media has in shaping, as well as preventing information from reaching the ppl.

NY protestors on thanksgiving. (Caution: strong words)

New York filled with protestors

Protests continue over Eric Garner case

NEW YORK (MYFOXNY) -

http://www.myfoxny.com/story/27541799/protests-eric-garner-case

THURSDAY: A second night of protests was underway Thursday in response to a Staten Island grand jury's decision to not indict a police officer in the chokehold death of Eric Garner. Police officers made several arrests at the various protests.

Thousands of demonstrators staged lie-ins, rallies, and marches in parts of the city. A huge crowd gathered at Foley Square, near courthouses, Thursday evening.

Students at Columbia University lay on the ground during the annual lighting of the holiday lights on trees on campus.

Others marched across the Brooklyn Bridge.

Hundreds marched up Broadway.

Some protesters staged a lie-in on Canal Street while others marched. Some motorists were seen high-fiving the protesters.

Marchers streamed onto the West Side Highway a second night in a row, weaving around stopped and moving vehicles.

Police officers blocked access to the Holland Tunnel to prevent marchers from entering, but that also stopped traffic from getting to New Jersey.

Hundreds converged outside the Staten Island Ferry Terminal in Lower Manhattan, where police appeared to seek to block their progress. A scuffle broke out, and officers arrested at least one person

Cops also arrested protesters on the West Side Highway.

WEDNESDAY:A few dozen protesters staged a "lie-in" at Grand Central terminal. For several minutes, they lay on the floor in the main concourse.

NYPD and MTA Police were on hand but did not arrest anybody. Officials had said that as long as the protesters didn't interfere with commuters, they would not be arrested.

The protesters then stood up, chanted, and shortly thereafter left.

Demonstrators marched from Times Square towards Rockefeller Center, where the annual Christmas tree lighting ceremonies were to be held.

Many marchers weaved through traffic. At 6th Avenue and 47th Street, some protesters sat down in the road and blocked traffic. That is when police officers stepped in and began to arrest people, according to Fox 5's Dan Bowens.

Later Wednesday, hundreds of protesters rallied and marched in different parts of Manhattan. Many chanted just blocks from the Rockefeller tree lighting. Others marched up the West Side Highway, stalling traffic. Police stepped in and arrested several protesters who were lying on the road blocking traffic.

Police arrested 83 protesters across the city Wednesday into early Thursday, said NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton.

So the elite's plan was to stoke the anger and spread the riots. What has however, ended up happening is more stories of cops shooting with impunity surfacing up. Also, people have been taking to social media to have frank conversations about racial inequality & privileges . More stories on how cops by in large under-report shootings and walk away free without consequences. All of this is bad public relations(PR) for law enforcement.

What was meant to be able to justify martial law (i.e. the ferguson riots) is now backfiring, with public perception polarizing against the impunity cops enjoy. They've opened pandora's box. Who knows how many more stories from the past will surface up, where a cop shot someone and walked away scot-free. So long as these protests remain largely peaceful, using strong arm tactics against them will only put more egg on law enforcement's face.

So the elite lose this PR campaign, while the public have a discourse about their society. Great. elite: 0, people 1.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2863964/Athens-flames-City-...

Athens in flames: Chaos in Greece as rampaging protesters throw petrol bombs at police and set shops on fire to mark anniversary of police shooting

• Thousands march to commemorate the sixth anniversary of the police shooting of Alexandros Grigoropoulos
• The 15-year-old was killed by police in 2008, triggering some of the most violent riots Greece had seen in decades
• Police yesterday used teargas and water cannons to beat back protesters as the march turned violent
• Anti-establishment rioters hurled petrol bombs at police and set cars, shops and ATMs on fire during the protest

By COREY CHARLTON FOR MAILONLINE

PUBLISHED: 00:53 GMT, 7 December 2014 | UPDATED: 12:48 GMT, 7 December 2014

Rampaging protesters yesterday threw petrol bombs at police and set shops on fire as a march in Athens to commemorate the anniversary of the police killing of a teenager turned violent.

Riot police used teargas and water cannon to beat back protesters in the bohemian Exarchia neighborhood, where about 200 black-clad youths hurled stones and Molotov cocktails at them. A cloud of smoke billowed into the sky from the clashes.

At least two shops were set on fire, and dozens of others damaged. Police said they detained nearly 100 demonstrators.

Riot police stand guard amid clouds of smoke as they attempt to quell the riots which broke out across the Greek capital

The clashes erupted after about 6,000 protesters marched to commemorate the 2008 police shooting of Alexandros Grigoropoulos - a killing that led to two weeks of the most violent rioting Greece had seen in decades.

This year's protest was in solidarity with a jailed self-proclaimed anarchist who witnessed the death of Grigoropoulos and who is now on hunger strike demanding he be allowed to attend university classes.

Nikos Romanos, 21, was sentenced to prison for robbery in October and began his hunger strike on November 10. He is in critical condition in hospital. 

The protests come at a sensitive time for the government, which is negotiating to make an early exit from an unpopular European Union and International Monetary Fund bailout programme that has meant years of austerity for Greeks.

At a shrine at the spot where Grigoropoulos was shot dead, mourners left roses and notes.

'I'm leaving this red flower, red like your blood spilled on the pavement,' read one note. A banner was unfurled reading 'When the state murders, resistance is demanded.'

The government had appealed for calm in the days leading up to the protest and submitted an amendment to parliament allowing prisoners to follow  via . But Romanos has insisted on attending classes in person.

To Improve Assassination Operations, CIA Studies Failures of Colonial Powers to Combat Resistance. (Ties to Mandela & how/why colonial powers failed, are made.) http://dissenter.firedoglake.com/2014/12/18/to-improve-assassinatio...

NYC asks federal court to approve mass arrests of protesters

Source: http://youtu.be/BK1TlxpiXSw

More: Spaniards hold mass rally for leftist Podemos ahead of elections

Canada Unveils New Anti-Terrorism Bill That Moves for 'Unprecedented Expansion of Powers'

"This radical expansion of national security powers is not sound security policy and presents a real danger to Canadians," says civil liberties advocate

http://www.commondreams.org/news/2015/01/30/canada-unveils-new-anti...

Most Americans on Brink of Financial Disaster

http://www.commondreams.org/news/2015/01/30/most-americans-brink-fi...

Fifty-five percent of all households have a month or less of liquid savings, referring to savings or checking accounts, if a financial emergency struck, while a typical household at the bottom has less than two weeks such savings.

In the case of a financial emergency, many households would turn to any other assets they might have, either liquidating retirement savings or taking on credit card debt. Yet even doing that, the report states, "the typical household could replace only about four months of lost income."

http://yournewswire.com/austerity-ireland-thousands-to-protest-nati...

Austerity Ireland: Thousands to protest national broadcaster’s ‘biased reporting’ 

Thousands of anti-austerity campaigners are expected to gather outside the headquarters of RTE, Ireland’s national broadcaster, on Saturday to protest against what they say is biased reporting that represents the interests of a marginal elite.

Protesters will assemble at 1pm at the Sacred Heart Church in Donnybrook, south Dublin, before making their way to the broadcaster’s studios nearby.

The demonstration has been organized by a diverse group of anti-austerity and political campaign groups from far-flung regions across Ireland.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/mar/12/spain-security-law-pro...

Spain puts 'gag' on freedom of expression as senate approves security law

Thousands gather across Canada to protest proposed anti-terror legislation. http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2015/03/14/canada-wide-protests-pla...

Wall Street bonuses keep soaring as profits decline   http://www.theguardian.com/money/us-money-blog/2015/mar/15/wall-str...

Bankers’ bonuses average some $173,000 – or three times the median American income – amounting to 170% of NYSE member firms’ profits

Bonuses don’t come out of a bank’s profits, but out of its revenues... Wall Street prefers to look at bonus payouts as a function of revenue. Even so, that still means that banks like JP Morgan Chase, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are handing over about 40 to 50 cents out of every dollar of REVENUE (not profits) they generate every year in bonuses.

The biggest question of all is whether Wall Street’s investors are going to sit idly by as a greater percentage of profits that belong to them flow out the doors to the banks’ employees?... At some point, the banks won’t be able to... When that happens, maybe the bonus gravy train will finally stop running.

Comment by jorge namour 5 hours ago

Average worker must work 127.7 years for 1 year of CEO pay

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/average-worker-must-work-1277-year...

While the average American is living from paycheck to paycheck, the executives in the C-suite are taking home millions in wages and compensation, highlighting the widening income disparity in the U.S.

The average pay of chief executive officers working for the largest 3,000 companies in the U.S. climbed to $6.4 million in 2014 from $5.5 million in the previous year while the median CEO pay jumped 12.7% on the strength of higher pensions, according to data from ISS Corporate Solutions.

“These numbers provide a likely forecast for CEO pay trends and numbers we’ll see over the course of 2015 U.S. annual meeting season,” said John Roe, head of advisory with ISS.

Wages and salaries rose around 3% for most Americans workers in 2014, according to recent data.

In 2013, the latest year for which the Social Security Administration posted data for, average wages in America rose a mere 1.3% to $43,041 from $42.498 in 2012—meaning an average worker must work roughly 127.7 years to make the same kind of money that a CEO does.

By geography, CEOs in the Connecticut area saw the largest median pay increase at 38.7% compared with Denver-area CEOs who got a 2.3% hike.

CEOs in the San Francisco Bay Area got a 19.5% raise, followed by CEOs in the Washington, D.C. area at 15.4%. Ninety-eight New York-based corporations gave their CEOs a median pay raise of 12.3%, based on filings submitted.

The data, while not surprising, underscores the reality of how one of the richest countries in the world trails other nations in wealth distribution. The U.S.’s Gini coefficient—often used to measure income equality—was 41.1 in 2011, behind countries like Madagascar and Greece. Zero reflects perfect equality, and 100 represents perfect inequality.

---------------------------

Report: CEOs Earn 331 Times As Much As Average Workers, 774 Times As Much A...

With CEO compensation analysis season in full swing, the AFL-CIO released data this morning stating that American CEOs in 2013 earned an average of $11.7 million–an eye-popping 331 times the average worker’s $35,293.

==================================================

Protests for $15-an-hour wages set to expand Wednesday

Fight for $15 protests planned for fast-food and other low-wage workers

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/protests-15-hour-wages-set-112152734....

NEW YORK (AP) -- Fast-food workers calling for $15 an hour are picking up some more allies Wednesday.

Airport workers, home care workers, Walmart workers and adjunct professors are among those set to join in the Fight for $15 protests across the country, in what organizers are calling the biggest ever mobilization of workers in the U.S.

The campaign is being spearheaded by the Service Employees International Union and began in late 2012. On Wednesday, organizers say protests for higher pay and union for low-wage workers are planned for more than 230 cities and college campuses.

The demonstrations got an early start Tuesday afternoon in Boston, where several hundred people including college students, low-wage workers and their supporters gathered for a rally. In Detroit, protesters gathered in the evening inside a McDonald's, and organizers say three employees walked off the job as part of the protests.

In New York City, protesters rallied outside a McDonald's early Wednesday morning and were planning more demonstrations throughout the day.

Kendall Fells, organizing director for Fight for $15, said McDonald's remains a focus of the protests and that the company's recently announced pay bump shows fast-food workers already have a de facto union.

"It shows the workers are winning," he said.

McDonald's earlier this month said it would raise its starting salary to $1 above the local minimum wage, and give workers the ability to accrue paid time off. It marked the first national pay policy by McDonald's, and indicates the company wants to take control of its image as an employer. But the move only applies to workers at company-owned stores, which account for about 10 percent of more than 14,300 locations.

That means McDonald's is digging in its heels over a central issue for labor organizers: Whether it has the power to set wages at franchised restaurants.

McDonald's, Burger King and Wendy's say they don't control the employment decisions at franchised restaurants. The SEIU is working to change that and hold McDonald's responsible for labor conditions at franchised restaurants in multiple ways, including lawsuits.

In an emailed statement, McDonald's said it respects the right to "peacefully protest" and that its restaurants will remain open Wednesday. In the past, it said only about 10 to 15 McDonald's workers out of about 800,000 have participated.

In a recent column in The Chicago Tribune, McDonald's CEO Steve Easterbrook described the company's pay hike and other perks as "an initial step," and said he wants to transform McDonald's into a "modern, progressive burger company."

But that transformation will have to take place as labor organizers continue rallying public support for low-wage workers. Ahead of the protests this week, a study funded by the SEIU found working families rely on $153 billion in public assistance a year as a result of their low wages.

Already, organizers say the Fight for $15 is changing the way people think about low-wage work.

Last year, more than a dozen states and multiple cities raised their minimum wages, according to the National Employment Law Project. Wal-Mart Stores Inc., which has also been targeted with protests for higher wages and better treatment for workers, also recently announced pay hikes.

Robert Reich, former Labor secretary and a professor of public policy at the University of California, Berkeley, said stagnating wages for lower-income workers are also helping change negative attitudes about unions.

"People are beginning to wonder if they'd be better off with bargaining power," Reich said.

World Bank breaks its own rules as millions lose land and livelihoods http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2015/apr/16/world-ban...

The World Bank has repeatedly violated its own policies on protecting the rights of indigenous people by funding projects that resulted in nearly 3.4 million slum-dwellers, farmers and villagers losing their land or having their livelihoods damaged over the past decade, according to documents seen by the Guardian.

Residents of the Badia East slum in Lagos, who were evicted last year when the area was razed to make way for a World Bank-funded project.

Photograph: George Osodi/ICIJ

The following is a comment from Reddit:

Dr. Ha Joon Chang, economics professor at Cambridge(UK) University wrote a book entitled Kicking Away The Ladder which points to the IMF and Worldbank being active participants in ensuring the 3rd world stays poor by the 1st world profiting off them.

So no, what they actually mean is moving people from the countryside into slums in the cities then killing two birds with one stone by appropriating their land and moving them into sweatshop labour. But hey it looks good on paper because GDP measures the flow of capital around a country (for example, a wealthy oligarch buying up a neighbourhood then renting it back to that neighbourhood contributes positively to GDP, whether you think this is positive to the wellbeing of the neighbourhood is your own moral perception I guess). Farmers living the good life in the country don't contribute to GDP. But children in sweatshops do!