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    ITUC: G20 Finance Meeting Leaves Questions
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    The unions have also expressed dismay at the lack of progress on a global transactions tax, championed by UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown who hosted the Summit. "The IMF, which has been asked to make recommendations on this, has traditionally opposed such a tax and now seems to be steering the G20 towards a weak option which would not generate many funds nor make banks help to pay for the crisis they caused. This would only add to the enormous burden working people are already bearing, and would do little if anything to restrain destructive speculation" said John Evans, general secretary of the OECD Trade Union Advisory Committee. Full Article at Scoop - New Zealand News
    The IMF, which has been asked to make recommendations on this, has traditionally opposed such a tax and now seems to be steering the G20 towards a weak option which would not generate many funds nor make banks help to pay for the crisis they caused. This would only add to the enormous burden working people are already bearing, and would do little if anything to restrain destructive speculation
    – John Evans SOURCE: Scoop - New Zealand News 3 weeks ago
All quotes from:
ITUC: G20 Finance Meeting Leaves Questions
  1. Finance will be critical to success or failure at December’s Copenhagen Climate Summit, and the absence of clear commitments from this weekend’s G20 meeting on financing within the industrialised economies, or to help developing economies find a low-carbon development path, does not bode well for succes...
    SOURCE: Scoop - New Zealand News 3 weeks ago
  2. The FSB has made no effort to discuss and consult outside a very narrow circle of people, many of whom bear heavy responsibility for the current crisis. The G20’s stated commitment to transparency won’t have much meaning at all unless governments make the FSB come out from behind closed doors and open u...
    SOURCE: Scoop - New Zealand News 3 weeks ago

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  4. (L-R) U.S. astronaut Timothy J. Creamer, Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kotov and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Soichi Noguchi shake hands during a news conference at the Star City space centre outside Moscow December 3, 2009. The crew is due to take off from Baikonur cosmodrome to the International Space Station on December 21.
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  6. Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper (L) talks to Chinese President Hu Jintao (R) during their meeting at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing December 3, 2009. Harper is in Beijing for a four-day visit.
  7. Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper, left, shakes hands with Chinese President Hu Jintao before their meeting at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing Thursday, Dec. 3, 2009. Harper arrived in Beijing on Wednesday for what Chinese experts are touting as a fence-mending trip to repair ties damaged by Ottawa.
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  10. Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper, left, shakes hands with Chinese President Hu Jintao before their meeting at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing Thursday, Dec. 3, 2009. Harper arrived in Beijing on Wednesday for what Chinese experts are touting as a fence-mending trip to repair ties damaged by Ottawa.
  11. Adm. Robert F. Willard, commander of the U.S. Pacific Command, salutes in front of the Amar Jawan Jyoti monument at India Gate, a memorial for fallen Indian soldiers, in New Delhi, India, Thursday, Dec. 3, 2009. Willard is on an official two-day long trip to India.
  12. Adm. Robert F. Willard, commander of the U.S. Pacific Command, pays homage in front of the Amar Jawan Jyoti monument at India Gate, a memorial for fallen Indian soldiers, in New Delhi, India, Thursday, Dec. 3, 2009.
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  15. BEIJING - DECEMBER 03: Fifty-six columns erected in the Tian'anmen Square during this year's celebration of the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China are removed from the Tian'anmen Square on December 3, 2009 in Beijing, China. The columns, known as the Pillars of Harmony, represented the 56 officially recognised ethnic groups in China.
  16. BEIJING - DECEMBER 03: Fifty-six columns erected in the Tian'anmen Square during this year's celebration of the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China are removed from the Tian'anmen Square on December 3, 2009 in Beijing, China. The columns, known as the Pillars of Harmony, represented the 56 officially recognised ethnic groups in China.
  17. BEIJING - DECEMBER 03: Fifty-six columns erected in the Tian'anmen Square during this year's celebration of the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China are removed from the Tian'anmen Square on December 3, 2009 in Beijing, China. The columns, known as the Pillars of Harmony, represented the 56 officially recognised ethnic groups in China.
  18. BEIJING - DECEMBER 03: Fifty-six columns erected in the Tian'anmen Square during this year's celebration of the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China are removed from the Tian'anmen Square on December 3, 2009 in Beijing, China. The columns, known as the Pillars of Harmony, represented the 56 officially recognised ethnic groups in China.