Greece passes austerity budget Greece passes austerity budget ADVERTISING ATHENS, Greece — Greek lawmakers approved the country’s 2013 austerity budget early Monday, an essential step in Greece’s efforts to persuade its international creditors to unblock a vital rescue loan installment
Greece passes austerity budget
ATHENS, Greece — Greek lawmakers approved the country’s 2013 austerity budget early Monday, an essential step in Greece’s efforts to persuade its international creditors to unblock a vital rescue loan installment without which the country will go bankrupt.
The budget passed by a 167-128 vote in the 300-member Parliament. It came days after a separate bill of deep spending cuts and tax hikes for the next two years squeaked through with a narrow majority following severe disagreements among the three parties in the governing coalition.
Prime Minister Antonis Samaras pledged that the spending cuts will be the last Greeks have to endure.
“Just four days ago, we voted the most sweeping reforms ever in Greece,” he said. “The sacrifices (in the earlier bill and the budget) will be the last. Provided, of course, we implement all we have legislated. “
“Greece has done what it was asked to do and now is the time for the creditors to make good on their commitments,” he stressed.
Israel fires at Syria after mortar fire strikes military base
JERUSALEM — Israel was drawn into the fighting in neighboring Syria for the first time Sunday, firing warning shots across the border after an errant mortar shell landed near an Israeli military installation in the Golan Heights.
While Israel appeared eager to calm the situation, its response was a potent reminder of how easily the Syrian civil war — already spilling across borders with Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan — could explode into a wider regional conflagration.
Israeli officials threatened even tougher retaliation if attacks persist.
They have feared that the instability in Syria over the past 19 months could spill across the border into Israel, particularly as President Bashar Assad’s grip on power grows increasingly precarious.
Long revered BBC faces extraordinary crisis
LONDON — The bungling of reports that powerful Britons sexually abused children has thrown one of the largest and most respected broadcasters in the world into a deep crisis.
It is hard to overstate the importance of the BBC in British society; its influence stretches throughout the former British empire and beyond. Over the years, the BBC has been behind almost all of the U.K.’s broadcast milestones, serving as a voice for the British nation. Its airwaves have carried the clanging of Big Ben’s bells, wartime messages from Winston Churchill, and the music of the Beatles — exporting British culture to a global audience.
The head of the BBC’s governing body called Sunday for an overhaul of the broadcaster. That could mean many things for the sprawling organization that has long emphasized its obligations to the public. To know what it would take, it is important to know what the BBC is and the scale of the crisis it faces.
W. African leaders agree to send 3K troops to north Mali
LAGOS, Nigeria — West African nations on Sunday agreed to send some 3,000 troops to help the country of Mali wrest back control of its northern half, which was seized by al-Qaida-linked fighters more than six months ago, according to an official involved in the discussions, and a statement read on Nigerian state television.
The decision came late Sunday at the end of an emergency summit in Nigeria’s capital of the Economic Community of West African States, or ECOWAS. They were joined by military experts from the United Nations, Europe as well as ministers from Algeria, Mali’s neighbor to the north which has previously been against the military intervention. The plan needs final approval from the U.N. Security Council before it can be carried out.
Air power will be provided by either France or the United States.
By wire sources
