Ukraine to receive $17.5bn from IMF to save economy

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has agreed to extend $17.5bn in loans to Ukraine in an effort to pull back the country from the verge of economic collapse.

Christine Lagarde, IMF managing director, said on Wednesday that the new four-year extended arrangement will support economic stabilisation and wide-ranging reforms in Ukraine.

"The plan is to disperse about $10bn worth of financing during the first year," she said.

Natalie Jaresko, Ukraine's finance minister, said earlier in the day that the government expected to receive $5bn from the IMF in the "coming days".

Credit is being extended on condition that the government in Kiev implements deep structural reforms and slashes government spending.

On Tuesday, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko signed off on legislative measures to drastically reduce spending and also approved changes to the tax system.

"This fully carries out Ukraine's side of the agreements that were reflected in a memorandum with the IMF," Poroshenko said Wednesday at a joint press conference in Kiev with Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven.

Lagarde hailed Ukraine's "strong commitment to reform".

"They have maintained fiscal discipline in very difficult conditions, allowed the exchange rate to adjust, and have increased retail end-user prices for gas," she said in a statement.

Lagarde said measures would be taken to help cushion the poorest from the impact of adjustments.

US support

In Washington, the White House welcomed the IMF's decision.

"The United States is working alongside international partners to provide Ukraine with the financial support it needs as it continues to take steps that will transform the Ukrainian economy and strengthen its democracy," Josh Earnest, the White House spokesman, said in a statement.

Meanwhile, John Kerry, the US State Secretary, said on Wednesday the United States would provide an additional $75m of non-lethal assistance to Ukraine.

The US will also send 30 heavily armoured Humvees and 200 other regular Humvees, as well as radios, counter-mortar radars and other equipment.

All of the aid is non-lethal, and the drones are not armed.

UK trade deficit narrows in January on oil price falls

• 1 hour ago
 
• From the section Business

The narrowing of the deficit was mostly due to declining oil exports and imports

The UK trade deficit has narrowed to £616m in January from a five-year high of £2.1bn in December, latest figures from the Office for National Statistics have revealed.

Imports decreased by £2.5bn from December 2014, the largest monthly decrease since July 2006.

The large decrease in imports was mainly due to a £1.3bn fall in the imports of fuels, specifically oil.

Imports of oil were £2.2bn in January, their lowest level since May 2009.

Excluding the impact of falling oil prices on the trade deficit, which also led to a decline of UK fuel exports, the balance of trade in goods excluding oil also narrowed to a deficit of £7.8bn.

That was the lowest monthly deficit in goods since June 2013.

The UK's goods trade deficit with the 28 EU nations narrowed slightly to £6.67bn.

The pound was ahead against the dollar after the ONS data announcement, with sterling strengthening by 0.44% against the greenback.   BBC. 

Kerry meets with Russia’s Lavrov over Ukraine crisis

Text by NEWS WIRES

Latest update : 2015-03-02

US Secretary of State John Kerry held tense talks with his Russian counterpart in Geneva Monday to end fighting in Ukraine, where the UN says more than 6,000 have died in less than a year.

The meeting with Sergei Lavrov in an upscale Geneva hotel came less than a week after Kerry accused Moscow of lying to his face about its involvement in the conflict, which has triggered the worst post-Cold War crisis between the US and its allies, and Russia.

Both were due to brief media on the substance of the meeting later in the day.

High-stakes talks between Kiev and Moscow were also set to get under way in Brussels to resolve a bitter gas dispute, which threatens deliveries to Europe, after Russia began direct supplies to parts of separatist-held eastern Ukraine.

As relative quiet held on Ukraine's frontlines, raising hopes that Kiev and pro-Kremlin rebels holding parts of the east were moving towards implementing a shaky ceasefire, the United Nations published a report that painted a bleak picture of developments in the country.

"More than 6,000 lives have now been lost in less than a year due to the fighting in eastern Ukraine," UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein said in a statement released with the report – the ninth on the issue.

'Crime against humanity'?

The report details how the conflict is affecting civilians, pointing to arbitrary detention, torture and enforced disappearances committed mainly by armed groups but also in some cases by Ukrainian law enforcement agencies.

The swelling violence and dire living conditions have forced more and more people to flee, and by mid-February, at least one million people had been registered as internally displaced inside Ukraine.

"Many have been trapped in conflict zones, forced to shelter in basements, with hardly any drinking water, food, heating, electricity or basic medical supplies," Zeid said.

Speaking in Geneva for the launch of the report, UN Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights Ivan Simonovic said "the deliberate targeting of civilian areas may constitute a war crime and if widespread and systematic, a crime against humanity."

France to double number of Islamic university courses

© Patrick Herzhog / AFP | Earlier, Valls met members of the Islamic community at the Grande Mosquée in Strasbourg

Text by FRANCE 24 Follow france24_en on twitter

Latest update : 2015-03-03

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls on Tuesday announced that the state would finance double the number of university courses on Islam in a bid to stop the influence of foreign funding of training of French imams.

In a speech in the eastern French city of Strasbourg, Valls said that improving home-grown Islamic education was essential to defeating the ignorance that makes “Islamist extremism and the far right feed off each other”.

His speech follows January’s Charlie Hebdo terrorist attacks and comes amid concern about the influence of radical foreign imams on Muslims in France, which has Western Europe’s biggest Muslim community.

The Socialist government is also worried about the increasing popularity of the anti-immigration and anti-Europe National Front party, which is coming top of the polls ahead of regional elections due to take place later this month.

“The rise of far-right populist politics, in Europe as well as in our own country, feeds directly off the rise of jihadism, terrorism and radical extremism,” he said. “It is a situation that puts our democracy, our society and our capacity to live together in extreme jeopardy.”

Grexit risk rising despite cash lifeline: investor survey

Greek national flags are displayed for sale at the entrance of a one Euro shop in Athens March 2, 2015.

 (Reuters) - Chances of Greece leaving the euro zone in the next 12 months are the highest since late 2012 even though Athens's financial lifeline has been extended, a survey of investors based mainly in Germany showed on Tuesday.

The survey of 980 individuals and institutional investors registered with consultancy firm sentix, found that 37.1 percent of respondents expect Athens to leave the currency bloc, up from 22.5 percent in January.

Mixed messages on third Greek bailout talks

People carrying goods wait at a bus stop in Athens' commercial district March 2, 2015.

 (Reuters) - Euro zone countries are discussing a third bailout forGreece worth 30 billion to 50 billion euros, Spain's economyminister said on Monday, but EU officials said there were no such talks.

Speaking at an event in Pamplona, northern Spain, EconomyMinister Luis de Guindos said the new rescue plan would set more flexible conditions for Greece, which had no alternative other than European support.

But the spokeswoman for Jeroen Dijsselbloem, who chairs theeuro zone finance ministers' group, said there was no discussion of a third bailout and senior euro zone officials concurred. 

Mourners gather in Moscow for Nemtsov funeral

Latest update : 2015-03-03

Mourners gathered in Moscow on Tuesday for the funeral of Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov, who was shot dead in the country's capital last week.

Nemstov, 55, was a former deputy prime minister and a longtime critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin. His funeral will be held in Moscow’s Troekurovskoye cemetery.

The service comes as senior officials from Poland and Latvia complained that they had been prohibited from entering Russia on the eve of the funeral.