News in Brief
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- The International Monetary Fund on Thursday approved in principle a $1.8 billion standby loan arrangement for Greece, making a conditional commitment to help underpin the country's long-running bailout program for the first time in two years.
But the IMF's approval-in-principle means the fund will not make any money available until after it receives "specific and credible assurances" from Greece's European lenders to ensure the country's debt sustainability. The approval is also conditional on Greece keeping its economic reforms on track. The current bailout, Greece's third since 2010, is now shouldered exclusively by European institutions.
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CANBERRA (AP) -- Australia was disappointed that hundreds of its rejected refugees would not begin resettling in the United States this month under a deal that predates President Donald Trump's administration, an official said Friday.
President Barack Obama's administration agreed to accept up to 1,250 refugees among hundreds of asylum seekers - mostly from Iran, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka - who have been languishing for up to four years in immigration camps on the impoverished Pacific island nations of Papua New Guinea and Nauru. Immigration and Border Protection Minister Peter Dutton said Australia wanted the refugees to start moving in July, but the United States had already filled its 50,000 refugee quota for the current fiscal year.
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LONDON (Reuters) -- Violent crimes such as murder and knife attacks surged by 18% in England and Wales in the past year, the sharpest rise for a decade, according to official figures released Thursday.
The increase comes amid heated rows about police funding and a fall in the number of officers, with opponents accusing Prime Minister Theresa May’s government of putting the public at risk by slashing budgets. Statistics from the 44 police forces showed there were more than 1.1 million violent crimes in the year to March 2017 with large increases also in robbery and sex crimes, while overall nearly 5 million offenses were recorded, up by 10% from the year before.\
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ABIDJAN (Reuters) -- Gunmen, some of them in military uniforms, attacked the base of an elite security unit in Ivory Coast’s main city, and stole stocks of weapons as part of a series of overnight clashes, the defense minister said Thursday.
The raid late Wednesday in Abidjan was the latest outburst of violence after several months of military mutinies. It came just hours after the government reshuffled key security posts, and two days before Ivory Coast hosts an event that will bring in thousands from around the French-speaking world.
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SAO PAULO (Dispatches) – A Brazilian judge has ordered assets of former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva to be frozen and sold.
Judge Sergio Moro put the value of the assets of Lula, as he is widely known, at $4.3 million. Lula's assets include three apartments, a plot of land, two vehicles and two bank accounts with more than the equivalent of $190,000. Lula, a leftist leader who is topping polls for the 2018 election, on Thursday told supporters protesting his conviction for corruption charges that his political opponents were persecuting him in the courts. "Since they're not able to defeat me through politics, they want to defeat me with lawsuits," he said.
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BANGKOK (Reuters) -- Thailand's Supreme Court has set Aug. 25 as the date for a verdict in the trial of the country's former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra, who is accused of wasting billions of dollars on a rice subsidy scheme.
Yingluck, overthrown in a 2014 military coup, faces up to 10 years in jail if found guilty in the trial which has been going on for 18 months. Friday was the last day for witness hearings. Yingluck can make a closing statement on Aug. 1, the court said. Yingluck and her Puea Thai Party say the trial is politically motivated, aimed at discrediting a populist movement that has helped the Shinawatra clan win every election since 2001.
But the IMF's approval-in-principle means the fund will not make any money available until after it receives "specific and credible assurances" from Greece's European lenders to ensure the country's debt sustainability. The approval is also conditional on Greece keeping its economic reforms on track. The current bailout, Greece's third since 2010, is now shouldered exclusively by European institutions.
***
CANBERRA (AP) -- Australia was disappointed that hundreds of its rejected refugees would not begin resettling in the United States this month under a deal that predates President Donald Trump's administration, an official said Friday.
President Barack Obama's administration agreed to accept up to 1,250 refugees among hundreds of asylum seekers - mostly from Iran, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka - who have been languishing for up to four years in immigration camps on the impoverished Pacific island nations of Papua New Guinea and Nauru. Immigration and Border Protection Minister Peter Dutton said Australia wanted the refugees to start moving in July, but the United States had already filled its 50,000 refugee quota for the current fiscal year.
***
LONDON (Reuters) -- Violent crimes such as murder and knife attacks surged by 18% in England and Wales in the past year, the sharpest rise for a decade, according to official figures released Thursday.
The increase comes amid heated rows about police funding and a fall in the number of officers, with opponents accusing Prime Minister Theresa May’s government of putting the public at risk by slashing budgets. Statistics from the 44 police forces showed there were more than 1.1 million violent crimes in the year to March 2017 with large increases also in robbery and sex crimes, while overall nearly 5 million offenses were recorded, up by 10% from the year before.\
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ABIDJAN (Reuters) -- Gunmen, some of them in military uniforms, attacked the base of an elite security unit in Ivory Coast’s main city, and stole stocks of weapons as part of a series of overnight clashes, the defense minister said Thursday.
The raid late Wednesday in Abidjan was the latest outburst of violence after several months of military mutinies. It came just hours after the government reshuffled key security posts, and two days before Ivory Coast hosts an event that will bring in thousands from around the French-speaking world.
***
SAO PAULO (Dispatches) – A Brazilian judge has ordered assets of former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva to be frozen and sold.
Judge Sergio Moro put the value of the assets of Lula, as he is widely known, at $4.3 million. Lula's assets include three apartments, a plot of land, two vehicles and two bank accounts with more than the equivalent of $190,000. Lula, a leftist leader who is topping polls for the 2018 election, on Thursday told supporters protesting his conviction for corruption charges that his political opponents were persecuting him in the courts. "Since they're not able to defeat me through politics, they want to defeat me with lawsuits," he said.
***
BANGKOK (Reuters) -- Thailand's Supreme Court has set Aug. 25 as the date for a verdict in the trial of the country's former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra, who is accused of wasting billions of dollars on a rice subsidy scheme.
Yingluck, overthrown in a 2014 military coup, faces up to 10 years in jail if found guilty in the trial which has been going on for 18 months. Friday was the last day for witness hearings. Yingluck can make a closing statement on Aug. 1, the court said. Yingluck and her Puea Thai Party say the trial is politically motivated, aimed at discrediting a populist movement that has helped the Shinawatra clan win every election since 2001.