Exclusive: Euro zone considers three bailout exit options for Greece

BY JAN STRUPCZEWSKI

BRUSSELS Thu Nov 6, 2014 12:24pm EST

(Reuters) - Euro zone finance ministers will consider three options on Thursday for what happens after Greece exits its bailout at the end of the year, seeking to balance the need to reassure investors with the demands of domestic Greek politics.

The Greek government has staked its survival on exiting the bailout a year early, a move that will please voters hammered by austerity measures imposed by the EU and the IMF, but which has already rattled markets, pushing up Greek bond yields.

Central Command general to ISIS: We can hear you

By Eric Marrapodi, CNN

(CNN) -- The top U.S. military commander in the fight against ISIS said airstrikes are working to erode the terror group's capabilities and warned militants that the U.S. military is listening to them.

Army Gen. Lloyd Austin, who heads the U.S. Central Command, made those remarks at an event Thursday with the Atlantic Council, which was moderated by CNN anchor and Chief Washington Correspondent Jake Tapper.

"I'm confident we're having the desired effects," Austin said of airstrikes in Syria and Iraq aimed at ISIS.

"What we want to do is take away the enemies' ability to command and control, his ability to sustain himself, his ability to project combat power and his ability to move forces back and forth across the Iraq/Syria border."

Latest strikes target Khorasan group.

Fed Completes Rule Limiting Banks’ Size

Bars Acquisitions That Result in a Firm Holding Over 10% of Financial-Sector Liabilities

By SCOTT PATTERSON and  VICTORIA MCGRANE

Updated Nov. 5, 2014 3:52 p.m. ET

The Wall Street Journal

WASHINGTON—Bank regulators took a step toward curbing the ability of large financial institutions to get bigger as Washington continues trying to lessen the risk giant firms pose to the U.S. economy and taxpayers.

The Federal Reserve on Wednesday finalized a rule, mandated by the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial law, that generally prohibits banks and other financial firms from buying or merging with rivals if the deal would result in the combined firm holding more than 10% of all liabilities in the financial system.

ISIS Wave of Might Is Turning Into Ripple

By BEN HUBBARDNOV. 5, 2014

The New York Times

BAGHDAD — The extremists of the Islamic State appeared unstoppable after their sudden blitz through Iraq this summer, with its battle-hardened fighters continually raising their black flag over newly conquered areas.

Today, roughly a third of Iraq is dotted by active battle fronts, with intense fighting and occasional Islamic State victories. But analysts also say the days of easy and rapid gains for the jihadists may be coming to a close in Iraq, as the group’s momentum appears to be stalling.

The international airstrike campaign against the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, has clearly played a role in slowing the Sunni Muslim group’s advance. But analysts say other factors are having a major effect, including unfavorable sectarian and political demographics, pushback from overrun communities, damage to the group’s financial base in Syria and slight improvements by ground forces in Iraq.

ECB Fails 25 Banks as Italy Fares Worst in Stress Test

By Jeff Black  Oct 26, 2014 8:00 PM GMT+0200

Twenty-five lenders including Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA failed a stress test led by the European Central Bank, which found the biggest capital hole in the region’s banking system in Italy.

The Frankfurt-based institution identified a total gap of 25 billion euros ($32 billion) as of the end of 2013, most of which has now been raised by banks. Among lenders still in need of funds, Italy’s Monte Paschi (BMPS) and Banca Carige SpA (CRG) must find a combined 2.9 billion euros between them, the ECB said today.

Misrule of the Few

How the Oligarchs Ruined Greece


By Pavlos Eleftheriadis FROM OUR NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2014 ISSUE

The Foreign Affairs

Just a few years ago, Greece came perilously close to defaulting on its debts and exiting the eurozone. Today, thanks to the largest sovereign bailout in history, the country’s economy is showing new signs of life. In exchange for promises that Athens would enact aggressive austerity measures, the so-called troika -- the European Central Bank, the European Commission, and the International Monetary Fund -- provided tens of billions of dollars in emergency loans. From the perspective of many global investors and European officials, those policies have paid off. Excluding a one-off expenditure to recapitalize its banks, Greece’s budget shortfall totaled roughly two percent last year, down from nearly 16 percent in 2009. Last year, the country ran a current account surplus for the first time in over three decades. And this past April, Greece returned to the international debt markets it had been locked out of for four years, issuing $4 billion in five-year government bonds at a relatively low yield -- only 4.95 percent. (Demand exceeded $26 billion.) In August, Moody’s Investors Service upgraded the country’s credit rating by two notches.

Euro sells off after report ECB considering corporate bond buys

BY DANIEL BASES

NEW YORK Tue Oct 21, 2014 4:50pm EDT

(Reuters) - The euro fell sharply against the dollar on Tuesday after Reuters reported the European Central Bank was looking at buying corporate bonds as soon as December in its efforts to revive the stagnating euro zone economy.

The move, if realized, would expand the private-sector asset-buying program the ECB began on Monday, which is aimed at fostering lending to businesses in hopes of spurring growth.

Enforcer at Treasury Is First Line of Attack Against ISIS

By JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVISOCT. 21, 2014

The New York Times

Every morning David S. Cohen descends into a fortified, cavelike complex in the bowels of the Treasury Department to pore through hundreds of pages of leads — from raw intelligence reports to polished threat assessments — to try to penetrate the vast and opaque finances of the Islamic State, the terrorist group capable of producing 50,000 barrels of oil a day.

China Attack Aims at iCloud, Apple’s Service for Storage

By PAUL MOZUR, NICOLE PERLROTH and BRIAN X. CHEN.OCT. 21, 2014

The New York Times

HONG KONG — For Apple in China, trouble seems to be the new normal.

Cybersecurity monitoring groups and security experts said on Monday that people trying to use Apple’s online data storage service, known as iCloud, were the target of a new attack that sought to steal users’ passwords and then spy on their activities.

U.S. Air Drops Arms To Kurdish Forces Fighting ISIS In Kobani

 AP      | By ROBERT BURNS

Posted: 10/19/2014 10:16 pm EDT Updated: 3 hours ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. military said Sunday it had airdropped weapons, ammunition and medical supplies to Kurdish forces defending the Syrian city of Kobani against Islamic State militants.

The airdrops Sunday were the first of their kind and followed weeks of U.S. and coalition airstrikes in and near Kobani, near the Turkish border. The U.S. said earlier Sunday that it had launched 11 airstrikes overnight in the Kobani area.

Syrian Kurds Gain Importance In Campaign Against ISIS

Posted: 10/16/2014 8:47 pm EDT     

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/

WASHINGTON -- After more than a month of being outnumbered and outgunned, facing likely doom in Kobani, Kurdish fighters have begun to turn the tide against Islamic State militants with help from airstrikes by the U.S.-led coalition.

ECB eyes extra funding for Greek banks as Athens markets plunge

BY GEORGE GEORGIOPOULOS AND JOHN O'DONNELL

ATHENS/FRANKFURT Thu Oct 16, 2014 11:45am EDT

(Reuters) - The European Central Bank will loosen its terms for accepting security from Greek banks to allow them to tap more of its funding, offering the country's lenders support as stock and bond markets in Athens tumble.

This will provide a powerful incentive for Athens, which has toyed with the idea of quitting its financial aid program earlier than scheduled, to stay under the supervision of international lenders rather than attempt to go it alone.

ISIS Retreating from Kobani, Says Kurdish Official

Rishi Iyengar  4:58 AM ET

TIME

The radical Islamist militants now reportedly control only 20% of the border town, as opposed to about 40% before

The Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS) has suffered setbacks and has begun retreating from parts of the Syrian border town of Kobani, according to a local official, who said Kurdish forces were advancing against the militant group.

Idris Nassan told the BBC that ISIS had previously controlled almost half the town but currently occupies “less than 20%.”

New Ebola Cases May Rise to 10,000 a Week by December

U.N. Health Body Aims to Have Majority of Cases Isolated Within Two Months to Reverse Outbreak

The Wall Street Journal

By ANDREW MORSE

Updated Oct. 14, 2014 5:40 p.m. ET

469 COMMENTS

ZURICH—The Ebola virus is killing 70% of the people who contract the disease, the World Health Organization said on Tuesday, and as many as 10,000 new cases a week could be reported by early December.

The Unserious Air War Against ISIS

The campaign against Serbia in 1999 averaged 138 strike sorties daily. Against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria: seven.

The Wall Street Journal

By MARK GUNZINGER And  JOHN STILLION

Oct. 14, 2014 7:04 p.m. ET

Since U.S. planes first struck targets in Iraq on Aug. 8, a debate has raged over the effectiveness of the Obama administration’s air campaign against Islamic State. The war of words has so far focused on the need to deploy American boots on the ground to provide accurate intelligence and possibly force ISIS fighters to defend key infrastructure they have seized, such as oil facilities. But debate is now beginning to focus on the apparent failure of airstrikes to halt the terror group’s advances in Iraq and Syria—especially Islamic State’s pending seizure of Kobani on the Syrian border with Turkey.

White House insists anti-Isis strategy is on track despite setbacks on the ground

Isis advances on Baghdad and Kobani despite 21 air strikes

Turkey bombs Kurdish targets in south-east of country

Dan Roberts in Washington and Constanze Letsch in Istanbul

The Guardian, Tuesday 14 October 2014 20.31 BST

The Guardian

The US-led campaign to combat Islamic State (Isis) fighters in Syria and Iraq is facing a growing crisis of confidence as setbacks on the battlefield coincide with efforts to improve allied coordination and calls for President Barack Obama to escalate the military attacks.

WHO: Ebola Is Modern Era's Worst Health Emergency

 AP      | By By JIM GOMEZ

Posted: 10/13/2014 7:29 am EDT

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — The World Health Organization called the Ebola outbreak "the most severe, acute health emergency seen in modern times" on Monday but also said that economic disruptions can be curbed if people are adequately informed to prevent irrational moves to dodge infection.

ISIS May Have Chemical Weapons

Posted: 10/13/2014 9:01 pm EDT  

Akbar Shahid Ahmed

akbar.ahmed@huffingtonpost.com

WASHINGTON -- The Islamic State militant group may possess chemical weapons that it has already used to extend its self-proclaimed caliphate, according to photos taken by Kurdish activists and examined by Israeli researchers.

Fear and firepower: Bloodlust biggest weapon in ISIS arsenal

By Perry ChiaramontePublished October 14, 2014

FoxNews.com

The terrorist army of Islamic State has missiles, tanks and bombs, but the potent weapon that allows a relatively small force to keep much of Iraq and Syria in its grip is bloodlust - in the form of beheadings, crucifixions and mass executions.

Greek recession deeper initially but milder later, revised data shows

ATHENS Fri Oct 10, 2014 6:35am EDT

(Reuters) - The recession in Greece that began in 2008 was deeper than thought in the early phase but turned milder than estimated in the last two years, revised data showed on Friday.