BRICS news updates .... October 31

Brazil's Dilma Rouseff wins another term much to the chagrin of the powers-that-be in the USA.
From BRICS:
Over a grueling past three months,  Brazil has seen the most divisive campaign and the toughest election since its democratization process in 1989. The campaign ended with the reelection of President Dilma Rouseff, from Partido dos Trabalhadores (Workers Party) with 51.64% of the votes and a mandate for leading the country for the next four years.
Although the margin that divided them was very slim- 54.5 million to Dilma Rousseff against 51.0 million votes to Aécio Neves – they had very different policy prescriptions, especially of reviving an ailing economy.
While both agreed on the need for social spending and economic growth to fight poverty, Neves accused Rousseff of not backing reforms needed to stimulate growth....

From BRICS:
Brazilian Central bank’s (BCB) move on Wednesday to raise its policy rate by 25bp to 11.25 per cent is a sign that reelected President Dilma Rousseff will be more market-friendly, analysts concluded.
The bank said the inflation risks have changed since their last meeting in September.
“In light of that, the committee considered it appropriate to adjust monetary conditions in order to guarantee, at a lower cost, the prevalence of a more benign inflation outlook in 2015 and 2016,” the Brazilian Central bank said in its statement.
The BCB’s target is to keep annual inflation at 4.5 per cent.....

From WantChinaTimes:
China to buy 5,000 Russian air-to-air missiles: Japanese report
China is likely to purchase 5,000 R-73 and R-77 air-to-air missiles from Russia, writes Toshiyuki Roku, retired commander of the Japan Air Self-Defense Force's Air Development and Test Command, in an article for the Tokyo-based Japan Military Review.....

From EconomicTimes:
India re-elected to UN Economic and Social Council 
India has overwhelmingly won its re-election to the UN body on economic and social issues, garnering the highest number of votes in the Asia-Pacific group. 
The 193-member UN General Assembly yesterday elected 18 members of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) to serve a three-year term beginning January 1, 2015. 

China's government uses diplomacy to unite their rail companies so they stand a better chance on global bids ... whereas; our Canadian govt. hinders Bombardier in every which way and dampens the great Canadian company's holdings in  Russia by sanctions on that country.

From Xinhaunet:

China's top two train makers   will merge after a 14-year split to explore the global market for their high-speed railway technology, analysts said.
The two, China CNR Corp. Limited and CSR Corp. Limited, will announce the details of their merger over the weekend after confirming the news on Tuesday.
The move aims to avoid "in-fighting" between the two in their exploration of the global market, said Wang Mengshu, a railway expert at the Chinese Academy of Engineering.
The two split in 2000, and the then Ministry of Railways (MOR), which became the China Railway Corporation in 2013, delineated the companies' major sales domains with the Yellow River as the boundary. It also tried to set a boundary for the two in the overseas market to reduce their competition....

From TheDiplomat:
China’s Emergency Relief to South Sudan   
The ongoing violence in South Sudan has had an unbearable humanitarian cost. Currently, more than 1.4 million South Sudanese are internally displaced and the UN estimates that $1.8 billion in humanitarian aid is needed in 2014.

As one of the most important investors in the previously unified Sudan and now in the independent South Sudan, China has displayed what is by its standards unprecedented diplomatic activism to support the peace talks in Addis Ababa, mainly through its contribution to the United Nations Mission in South Sudan and active mediation efforts. However, the emergency relief it has extended to Juba amid the conflict has received far less attention......

Nothing much of worth on South Africa unless you think the opening of a "gay friendly" mosque is progress. The country is still busy with the blade runner and the last I read on the most boring topic in the world was that SA's prosecutors are appealing the verdict and want to try the blade runner again because everybody including the janitor in the prosecutors' offices have not had a chance to have their say on the matter.  South Africa is the weakest link in the BRICS .... there's no doubt about it.  How did the other four even let this country join the group?

From BRICS:
China, India launch new Asia Infrastructure Bank  
In a landmark achievement, 21 Asian nations including China and India on Thursday signed on a new infrastructure investment bank which would rival the World Bank.
The governments of Bangladesh, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, China, India, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Oman, Pakistan, Philippines, Uzbekistan, Qatar, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Uzbekistan, Vietnam signed on as founding members of the new Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) in Beijing on Friday.
One of the first projects of the new Bank is expected to be financing infrastructure projects along the “Silk Road Economic Belt” and the “Maritime Silk Road” re-establishment.
Chinese Finance Minister Lou Jiwei said on Friday the “multi-national financial institution which is fair, just, open … with a good governance structure” will be an “efficient financing platform for infrastructure”.

Lou said the AIIB has a different focus than established multilateral organizations such as World Bank and Asian Development Bank (ADB).
China and other emerging economies, including BRICS, have long protested against their limited voice at other multilateral development banks, including the World Bank, International Monetary Fund and Asian Development Bank.
China is grouped in the ‘Category II’ voting bloc at the World Bank while at the Asian Development Bank, China with a 5.5 per cent share is far outdone by America’s 15.7 per cent and Japan’s 15.6 per cent share....

From Reuters:
Russia won court approval on Thursday to seize shares held by a billionaire businessman's company in oil producer Bashneft over its "improper privatisation", marking a success for the latest state move to reclaim prized corporate assets. 
Moscow's Arbitration Court ruled in favour of prosecutors who said Bashneft was unlawfully sold to local authorities in the early 2000s before being sold in 2009 to oil-to-telecoms conglomerate Sistema, controlled by tycoon Vladimir Yevtushenkov......