The IMF has approved a three-year, $1.3 billion loan to jump start recovery in Cyprus and restore financial credibility to its indebted banking industry.The funds will be distributed to stabilize the banking industry, tame the state deficit, and to restore economic growth on the island.The IMF announced on Wednesday it had approved the first $111 million (86 million euro) installment of the loan, which was made immediately available to the Cypriot government. The next installment of $1.3 (1 billion euro) will be wired before June 30th, 2013 and fostered by the European Stability Mechanism, based in Luxembourg.The bailout is part of a $13 billion (10 billion euro) monetary package funded by Troika lenders over the next three years.The financial assistance is intended to prevent a further crisis and to revive the economic pulse of the debt-stricken nation.The loan “is intended to stabilize the country’s financial system, achieve fiscal sustainability, and support the recovery of economic activity to preserve the welfare of the population,” the IMF said in a statement.Klaus Regling, chief of the European Stability Mechanism, said on Monday, “The loans granted by the ESM help to maintain financial stability in the euro area and buy time for Cyprus. This time enables Cyprus to undertake the reforms necessary to rebuild its economy on a sustainable basis.”This is the fourth eurozone loan from the IMF crisis lending fund. Greece, Portugal, and Ireland have all received bail-out support from IMF lending. Taking out loans from the IMF increases the organization’s power in the eurozone. The more debt it owns, the more influence it holds over policy.The IMF is optimistic at Cypriot prospects, but is still cautious about a possible debt relapse.“Challenges ahead are significant, including restoring credibility in the banking sector and reducing fiscal deficits and debt to sustainable levels,” IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde said of Cyprus.“There is no room for implementation slippages.”On Wednesday, the EU statistics office confirmed the 17 nation eurozone remained in recession with an overall regional contraction of 0.2 percent in the first financial quarter, from January to March. The Cypriot economy shrank by 1.3 percent.Official figures show France has returned to its second recession in four years, as the economy shrank by 0.2 percent in Q1 of 2013, after shrinking the same amount in the final of quarter of last year.The eurozone’s strongest economy, Germany, also showed some sluggish signs of growth. GDP grew by just 0.1 percent in the first quarter, far less than 0.3% expected by economists, showing sluggish signs of growth.The Netherlands, which entered recession three months ago, also showed contraction, with GDP falling by 0.1 percent in the first quarter of this year. Once one of the strongest-looking members of the eurozone, the Netherlands suffers from rising unemployment and the housing market bubble bursting. … Read More
Britain to double aid to Syrian opposition in 2014 – Cameron
Cameron has vowed an extra £10 million for non-lethal equipment and £30 million more for humanitarian assistance for Syrian people as the two politicians outlined further steps to “bring to an end the killing” of Syrian people.“We will double non-lethal support to the Syrian opposition in the coming year. Armored vehicles, body armor and power generators are about to be shipped,” Cameron said at the press conference after an Oval Office meeting with US president Barack Obama. Britain’s actions in Syria completely coincide with the US plans that the Obama administration voiced last week. Speaking after a meeting of the Syrian opposition, US Secretary of State John Kerry said the United States would double its non-lethal aid to opposition forces in Syria in the coming year bringing the total sum to $250 million. As for arming the Syrian opposition, Britain claims it has not “made decision to arm opposition groups in Syria”, however, Cameron said that it “is pushing for more flexibility in the EU arms embargo”.“What we have done is we have amended the EU arms embargo in order that we can give technical assistance and technical advice,” he said. He also said that UK will continue to examine the embargo to “see if we need to make further changes”.The current sanctions recently amended in April allow the supply of certain non-lethal equipment as well as technical and financing assistance related to it. However, a recently leaked six-page long draft proposal revealed the UK proposed two options to EU diplomats to amend the current embargo: the first, full exemption of Syrian National Coalition for Opposition and Revolutionary forces from the arms embargo and the second, to remove ‘non-lethal’ language to allow shipment lethal equipment to Syria. Cameron said Assad had to realize there could be no military victory for his forces. President Obama has backed Cameron’s words. From his side, he said that the “work to establish the use of chemical weapon in Syria” will continue and the findings “will help guide” the next steps. Obama said the US would be “very persistent” in pursuing a peaceful political transition that leads to Assad’s exit but leaves Syria “intact”.”I’m not promising it is going to be successful. Frankly, sometimes once the furies have been unleashed in a situation like we are seeing in Syria, it’s very hard to put things back together,” Obama said. Both Cameron and Obama welcomed “successful” talks the Prime Minister had with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, at which the two leaders sought to hammer out a common approach to ending Syrian conflict. “There is now common ground between the US, UK, Russia and many others that whatever our differences we have the same aim, a stable, inclusive and peaceful Syria free from the scourge of extremists,” Cameron said. … Read More
Immigration amnesty bill would instantly put millions on welfare
The new “immigration reform” bill making the rounds in our nation’s capital is nothing more than an amnesty for 95 percent of the illegal immigrants currently in our country, the vast majority of whom would become eligible for taxpayer-supported welfare benefits. … Read More
Separate attacks in Afghanistan kill 7 US soldiers
The first attack took place in the volatile province of Kandahar, taking five US lives in an improvised roadside bomb incident on Saturday, according to US officials in Kabul and provincial authorities.Another incident took two US lives when an Afghan soldier in the western province of Farah turned his gun on the Americans. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack via email, according to Reuters.The spokesman, Qari Yousouf Ahmadi, explained that the Afghan soldier was actually an “infiltrated mujahidin.”Aside from Saturday’s attacks, three British soldiers were also killed by a roadside bomb in Helmand province on Tuesday.Last week’s death toll for US troops amounts to 21, including Saturday’s attacks and three air crashes.The bloody week of violence underlines the lasting volatility in Afghanistan and the dangers faced by the NATO-led international Security Assistance Force (ISAF) ahead of their power handover to Afghan security forces next year, when the US withdraws from the country. … Read More
Homeless Sandy victims pushed into the street by NY lawmakers
Approximately 1,000 people have relied on hotel rooms paid for by state and local government aid packages. But during a New York City Council meeting Friday Seth Diamond, the commissioner of homeless services, said that only 600 of those evacuees would be allowed to stay in the hotels through the end of May because they were preparing to move into new permanent housing. Those without a “housing transition plan,” according to The New York Times, would be pushed out into the street. To make matters worse, many of the evictees have lost their jobs, do not qualify for assistance from the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA), or both. The Sandy victims were mailed a letter late last month reminding them that the April 30 deadline was fast approaching.“I’m trying real hard to find an apartment,” Carmen Ortiz, a former EMT who lost her job because of health problems, told the Village Voice. “I’ve been homeless before…I can’t believe that here, in New York City, where they put all this damn money into the ball parks, and you can’t open an apartment building for us to live?”City councilman Brad Lander, deeming the situation “Kafka-esque,” blamed part of the problem on the government’s tardiness in mailing Disaster Housing Assistance Program vouchers, which still have yet to arrive six months after the devastating storm. Complicating matters further is the fact that the NYCHA is permitted to deny housing to undocumented immigrants and disqualify applicants with a criminal history.“This could be someone who got stopped and frisked and found with marijuana,” Lander said to the Village Voice Friday. Many of the people still without housing formerly resided in Jamaica, Queens, a low-income area that was among the worst-hit by Sandy. The so-called Super storm left at least 53 people dead and hundreds without power in New York and New Jersey. The NYCHA is notorious for obstructing access to information. Earlier this week, Public Advocate Bill de Blasio published a report that found the agency left at least one third of Freedom of Information Act requests unanswered over a three-month period, hardly good news for homeless Sandy victims searching for answers.The bureaucratic machine continued to stonewall at a city meeting Friday, where Pete Nagy, a campaign director of New York Communities for Change, admitted the outlook appears bleak.“All the council members really showed a united front in the committee to this incredibly misguided policy,” he said. “The city is still going through with this unconscionable plan.” … Read More
Obama "Red Line" on Syria Avoids Dealing with Massive Humanitarian Crisis
Rana Khoury: All the outside intervention is ruining the country; a political solution and humanitarian assistance is the only way to stop the killing … Read More
Benghazi Puzzle: Is This The Missing Piece?
There is a piece of information that has not been focused on and that is the alleged illicit activities transpiring inside the U.S. facilities that were attacked and it is in the midst of a report put out by five committees of the Republican led House of Representatives. … Read More
