Tag Archives: debt relief

Millions of Americans are about to see their jobless benefits expire on Saturday as President Donald Trump has so far refused to sign into law a $2.3 trillion pandemic aid and spending package, insisting that it did not do enough to help everyday people. Trump stunned Republicans and Democrats alike …

Thousands of Israelis protested outside the official residence of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday night, pressing ahead with a monthslong campaign demanding the embattled Israeli leader resign. The protest came as Israel is coping with record levels of coronavirus infections. Demonstrators have been protesting Netanyahu’s handling of the coronavirus …

The International Monetary Fund said on Sunday it was willing to redouble efforts to help Lebanon after the devastating blast that hit Beirut, but said all of the country’s institutions needed to show willingness to carry out reforms. In a statement to an emergency donor conference for Lebanon, the IMF’s …

Israeli lawmakers on Thursday empowered the government to order anti-coronavirus curbs with limited parliamentary oversight, stirring opposition fears for the country’s democratic health. After early success in clamping down on the pandemic, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been struggling with resurgent contagions. Sporadic closures of various sectors of the economy …

The Kuwaiti cabinet cancelled plans to construct the Al-Dabdaba solar plant, which would have provided 15 percent of the oil sector’s needs of electrical energy, due to the coronavirus pandemic. “The cabinet decided to cancel the decisions on the project due to the spread of coronavirus and its impacts on …

Lebanon’s top Christian cleric stepped up criticism of the Iran-backed Shi’ite group Hezbollah and its allies without naming them on Sunday, saying Lebanese rejected being isolated from their allies and driven into decline. Lebanon is suffering a financial meltdown which marks the biggest threat to its stability since the 1975-90 …

By : Siba El-Samra   The shortage of public spaces, as well as walking and biking infrastructure in Lebanon, is not a new problem. During a pandemic, this shortage becomes time-critical and even more life-threatening, especially in dense Beirut. As cities around the world look to find ways to live with …

The coronavirus is putting Egypt’s private cement industry under even more pressure. Already scrambling to respond to competition from a vast new factory owned by the military, the pandemic has stymied a nascent rebound in sales, raising the possibility of plant closures, industry executives and analysts say. Demand for cement …

The International Monetary Fund on Friday said it had reached a staff-level agreement with Egypt for a one-year, $5.2 billion standby loan to help the North African country grapple with the novel coronavirus pandemic and its economic fallout. The agreement, which must be finalized by the Fund’s executive board, would …

OPEC leader Saudi Arabia and non-OPEC Russia have agreed a preliminary deal to extend existing record oil output cuts by one month while raising pressure on countries with poor compliance to deepen their cuts, OPEC+ sources told Reuters. However, there was no agreement yet on whether to hold an OPEC+ …

By Hazem Samir | chinadaily.com.cn | Updated: 2020-05-15 11:38 After China won its fierce battle with coronavirus epidemic, it joined other countries in fighting their own outbreaks of the deadly virus. Driven by moral commitment, China shipped a huge amount of medical aid to more than 80 countries around the …

BY LYU JINGHUA   Neither side wants to appear weak, but recent actions and rhetoric by both sides has put all of us in greater danger of U.S.-China military tensions sliding into armed conflict. The coronavirus pandemic is reshaping the U.S.-China relationship — but in the opposite of the way …

Although the crisis precipitated by the new coronavirus pandemic is still in its very early stages, it is clear that it has vastly accelerated the ongoing processes around the world. The most consequential is the intensification of Sino-American rivalry and the emergence of new global bipolarity. By Dmitri Trenin It is …

Syria’s leading tycoon, Rami Makhlouf, said he will appeal to President Bashar al-Assad to allow his mobile communications company, Syriatel, to reschedule payment of taxes owed to the government in order to avoid a possible collapse of the firm. Makhlouf, who is chairman of Syriatel, is a maternal cousin of …

The group of 20 rich and emerging economies on Sunday launched an international initiative to accelerate access to health tools needed to fight the new coronavirus. The finance minister of Saudi Arabia, the current G20 chair, said the group is still working to bridge an estimated $8 billion funding gap …

The coronavirus pandemic and its devastating economic impact on developing countries could fuel fresh interest in so-called diaspora bonds that allow migrants to support their countries of origin, experts from the World Bank and other groups say. Dilip Ratha, the World Bank’s lead economist on migration and remittances, told Reuters …

The new coronavirus may be deepening dictatorship in parts of the Middle East already tightly controlled by authoritarian regimes. However, there is a subtle change at work as well—not in the degree of authoritarianism but in its nature. By Nathan J. Brown and Yasmine Farouk Close attention to the ways …

[I wrote this blog piece  in October 2016, on the eve of the US presidential election. Given all the discussion today of what kind of a system we are trying to protect and restore under Corona Virus, I thought it would be relevant to revisit it on the eve of …