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Athens officials say report confirms that the price extracted for country's bailout package was too high.

from The Guardian

"The International Monetary Fund admitted it had failed to realize the damage austerity would do to Greece as the Washington-based organisation catalogued mistakes made during the bailout of the stricken eurozone country.

"In an assessment of the rescue conducted jointly with the European Central Bank (ECB) and the European commission, the IMF said it had been forced to override its normal rules for providing financial assistance in order to put money into Greece.

"Fund officials had severe doubts about whether Greece's debt would be sustainable even after the first bailout was provided in May 2010 and only agreed to the plan because of fears of contagion.

"While it succeeded in keeping Greece in the eurozone, the report admitted the bailout included notable failures. …"

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International Walmart workers and fired warehouse workers joined striking employees in  demonstration.

from The Nation

"Competing chants pierced the air, and punctuated one another, as a Walmart pep rally and a union-backed protest took place some fifty feet apart this afternoon.

"On a public sidewalk across from Walmart’s 'home office' headquarters, international Walmart workers and fired warehouse workers joined striking employees in a demonstration calling for Walmart to avert future deaths in its international supply chain. On the other side of a narrow parking lot, a few of the blue-shirted Walmart employees brought to Bentonville by Walmart management began snapping cell phone photos of their striking co-workers, who sang, 'Which side are you on Walmart…Are you on the side of safety or on the side of murder?' Then a series of well-dressed Walmart staff began leading the blue-shirted employees in the company’s classic cheer spelling out its name: 'Give me a W!' 'W!' 'Give me an A!' 'A!'…'What’s that spell?' 'Walmart!'

"As successive busses drove up to drop off more company-invited Walmart workers under the Home Office awning, managers led the blue-shirted workers in cheering for their arriving co-workers and chanting the letters of the company’s name. The protesters across the lot from them kept up their slow-paced song, sometimes punctuated with 'Whose Walmart? OUR Walmart!' and 'Stand Up! Live Better!' Some hoisted flags and signs identifying their home countries, and giant cut-outs spelling out '1,239 KILLED,' the combined death toll from a building collapse and a fire in buildings where Walmart apparel has been produced. …"

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Cuts to Head Start will hit Native American children hard.

from AlterNet

"The sequester, a series of automatic federal spending cuts totaling $85 billion in 2013 and $109 billion for each year from 2014 to 2021 for a total over $1.2 trillion in debt reduction [when savings on interest payments are included], was authorized by the Budget Control Act of 2011. It went into effect in March because Congress could not agree on a budget that would reduce deficit spending by $2.4 trillion over the next decade as part of the effort to deal with the country’s nearly $17-trillion debt.

"Head Start, intended to promote school readiness in children from birth to five years old from low-income families by supporting their cognitive, social and emotional development, serves 1 million children a year nationwide. The program was developed in the mid-1960s as part of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s War on Poverty. Sequestration is expected to knock out five percent of Head Start funding across the board, even though most Head Start programs cannot currently accommodate all families who apply, according to the Health & Human Services Department’s Administration for Children & Families, under which Head Start operates.

"Approximately 70,000 children are expected to lose access to the program because of these cuts. …"

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Following deadly factory collapse in Bangladesh, major retailers want 'opt-in' rather than binding safety standards.

from Al Jazeera

"Top US companies are now in negotiations to agree on new safety standards for their clothing-producing contractors in Bangladesh, after a garment factory's collapse in Dhaka killed more than 1,100 workers in April.

"The move comes after these companies, most prominently including Walmart and Gap, refused to sign on to a fire and safety standards agreement, announced weeks ago, that has received wide backing among European companies. Yet labour advocates are disparaging the new talks, suggesting the results will likely not be binding and thus will not be able to ensure worker safety.

"'Walmart is … undermining the constructive efforts of other companies,' said Jyrki Raina, general-secretary for IndustriALL Global Union, an umbrella of unions with 50 million worldwide members that has led the European agreement process. 'The kind of voluntary initiative being put forward by Walmart and Gap has failed in the past and will again fail to protect Bangladeshi garment workers.' …"

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International Air Transport Association resolution calls on world governments to agree measures to manage carbon dioxide.

from The Guardian

"The International Air Transport Association (IATA) on Monday passed a resolution calling on world governments to agree measures to manage carbon dioxide from air travel, which would come into force from 2020.

"They said there should be a single global 'market-based mechanism' – such as emissions trading – that would enable airlines to account for and offset their emissions.

"But they did not agree to a global limit on greenhouse gas emissions from air travel, or set out in detail how governments should implement a market-based mechanism to cover all airlines. …"

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