Eurozone finance ministers to consider reports on Greek debt ...

BRUSSELS, Belgium ? Details of a plan for Greece to reduce its heavy debt by buying some of it back at bargain prices will be presented Monday to finance ministers from the 17 European Union countries that use the euro.

The ministers in Brussels will also examine a draft of the conditions that might accompany a bailout for the Mediterranean island nation of Cyprus. The size of that bailout will not be known, however, until an audit of the country?s banks is completed, and no decision is expected Monday.

Help for the banking sector will be an important component of the Cypriot bailout.

?The structure of the Cypriot banking system will not be the same in a year?s time, because it is one of the causes of the crisis,? an EU official said late last week. He only spoke on condition of anonymity because of EU rules.

Greece is currently fleshing out details of the bond buyback program that is intended to help stabilize the country?s debts. The country has announced that holders of Greece?s bonds have until Friday to register their interest in participating, but details of the program have so far been vague.

The country?s Public Debt Management Agency said Monday that the buyback should be completed by Dec. 17.

The program is a vital part of a plan to release about C44 billion ($57 billion) in bailout loans that Greece needs to stay afloat. The EU official would not reveal what the expectations for the buyback are other than to say, ?They are substantial.?

The official said he was confident the program would succeed. But he added that, if it proves significantly less successful than hoped, ?it will be a very, very challenging situation.?

As part of its willingness to participate in the continued Greece bailout, the International Monetary Fund has made clear that there must be in place a credible plan to reduce the country?s debt to sustainable levels.

On Tuesday, finance ministers from all 27 EU countries to consider a range of issues related to stronger central governance, including unified banking supervision for the bloc.

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Source: http://www.ipolitics.ca/2012/12/03/eurozone-finance-ministers-to-consider-reports-on-greek-debt-buyback-coming-cyprus-bailout/

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World Bank: Arab World hit hard by climate change

DOHA, Qatar (AP) ? The Middle East and North Africa will be especially hard hit by climate change in the coming decades, the World Bank said in a report Wednesday, saying the region will see less rainfall, more recording-breaking temperatures and rising sea levels.

Should temperatures rise as expected, the hotter conditions are likely to hit the region's $50 billion (?38.2 billion) tourism industry and further worsen its food security since many countries in the region ? especially Gulf states ? depend heavily on imports to feed their populations. Crop failures will also increase while yields will decrease and household incomes will fall, the report said.

The report was presented at the United Nations climate negotiations in Doha, Qatar, where nearly 200 delegates for the first time are in the Middle East to discuss cutting emissions in an attempt to ensure that global temperatures don't rise more than 2 degrees C (3.6 degrees F) over what they were in preindustrial times.

Temperatures have already risen about 0.8 degrees C (1.4 degrees F), according to the latest report by the IPCC.

"Climate change is a reality for people in Arab countries," Inger Andersen, World Bank Vice President for the Middle East and North Africa region, said in a statement.

"It affects everyone ? especially the poor who are least able to adapt ? and as the climate becomes ever more extreme, so will its impacts on people's livelihoods and wellbeing. The time to take actions at both the national and regional level in order to increase climate resilience is now," Andersen said.

Among the most critical problems in the Middle East and North Africa will be worsening water shortages, the World Bank said. The region already has the lowest amount of freshwater in the world. With climate change, droughts in the region are expected to turn more extreme, water runoff is expected to decline 10 percent by 2050 while demand for water is expected to increase 60 percent by 2045.

The World Bank said the region ? already suffering from searing summertime temperatures that can reach as high as 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit) ? needs to start preparing for an even warmer world.

The report urged countries to ensure their national policies were "climate resilient," starting with "collecting climate data to strengthening basic services." It also called for improved access to services such as education, health and sanitation, along with strengthening of social safety nets to compensate for sudden loss of livelihood and training schemes to "give citizens the skills and resources to navigate climate challenges."

Countries need to improve their infrastructure with an eye on climate change, including improved drainage systems to address worsening floods and measures such as sea walls to address rising sea levels.

"Reducing vulnerability to climate change will require concerted action on multiple levels," said Rachel Kyte, World Bank Vice President for Sustainable Development. "Political leadership now will be critical in establishing climate change as a national and regional priority."

The report concluded that climate change is already happening in many parts of the Middle East and North Africa.

Over the past 30 years, climate disasters have affected 50 million people in the Arab world, costing about $12 billion (? 9.2 billion) directly.

The report cited the 2006 flooding of the Nile River Basin, which caused 600 deaths, as well as the record five-year drought in the Jordan River Basin that ended in 2008. Of the 19 record temperatures in 2010, almost a quarter were from the Arab world, including Kuwait where temperatures reached 52.6 C (126.7 F) in 2010 and 53.5 C (128.3 F) in 2011.

In 2010, the Arabian Sea experienced its second-strongest cyclone on record, with winds as strong as 230 kilometers per hour (145 miles per hour) that killed 44 people and caused $700 million (?534.6 million) in damages in Oman.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/world-bank-arab-world-hit-hard-climate-change-084546406--finance.html

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