Headlines:

 

• Eurozone banks nearly collapsed, says ECB director
• U.S. Ambassador to Israel: Plan to Attack Iran "Ready"
• Syria's resistance get influx of arms with gulf neighbors' money, U.S. coordination
• Afghanistan demands $4.1 billion a year
• Pakistan wants more money for opening up NATO supply line

Details:

Eurozone banks nearly collapsed, says ECB director:

Benoît Coeuré says conditions were very dangerous in autumn of 2011 and banks faced severe difficulties to fund themselves. A senior executive at the European Central Bank has admitted eurozone banks were on the brink of collapse last autumn. In an interview with the BBC to be broadcast on Thursday, Benoît Coeuré, executive director of the ECB, said: "In the autumn of 2011 the conditions were very dangerous ... European banks were facing severe difficulties to fund themselves, to access finance, and we were very close to having a collapse in the banking system in the euro area, which would have also led to a collapse in the economy and to deflation. And this is something that the ECB could not accept." The concern about the state of the banking system led to €1tn being lent to banks through three-year loans and came as UK banks were told to make preparations for a potential exit of countries from the single currency. In November Andrew Bailey, the Financial Services Authority's top regulator, told banks: "We must not ignore the prospect of the disorderly departure of some countries from the eurozone." Those contingency plans are now being dusted down amid speculation over a Greek exit. British banks have taken steps to reduce their exposure to Greek government bonds and other loans.

 

U.S. Ambassador to Israel: Plan to Attack Iran "Ready":

The U.S. ambassador to Israel, Daniel Shaprio, told a closed conference in Tel Aviv that the United States has completed preparations for a military strike on Iran. His comments were recorded by a reporter and aired on Israel's Channel 2 TV on Wednesday night. "It would be preferable to resolve this diplomatically, and through the use of pressure, than to use military force," Shapiro said. "But that does not mean that option isn't available. Not just available, it's ready. The necessary planning has been done to ensure that it's ready." Shaprio's comments were not intended for public consumption, the Times of Israel reports. The finalized attack plan arrives as Israel and the United States prepare for joint military exercises in the United States. "The exercises, to be held in the coming months, will strengthen the relationship between the IAF and the US Air Force as they practice carrying out joint operations," the Jerusalem-based online newspaper reported. "Israeli and US air defense forces are also to take part in a major joint drill later this summer in Israel to simulate a massive attack. Thousands of US soldiers are expected to arrive in Israel for the drills."

 

Syria's resistance get influx of arms with gulf neighbors' money, U.S. coordination:

Syria's resistance battling the regime of President Bashar al-Assad have begun receiving significantly more and better weapons in recent weeks, an effort paid for by Persian Gulf nations and coordinated in part by the United States, according to opposition activists and U.S. and foreign officials. Obama administration officials emphasized that the United States is neither supplying nor funding the lethal material, which includes antitank weaponry. Instead, they said, the administration has expanded contacts with opposition military forces to provide the gulf nations with assessments of resistance credibility and command-and-control infrastructure. "We are increasing our nonlethal assistance to the Syrian opposition, and we continue to coordinate our efforts with friends and allies in the region and beyond in order to have the biggest impact on what we are collectively doing," said a senior State Department official, one of several U.S. and foreign government officials who discussed the evolving effort on the condition of anonymity. Material is being stockpiled in Damascus, in Idlib near the Turkish border and in Zabadani on the Lebanese border. Opposition activists who two months ago said the resistance fighters were running out of ammunition said this week that the flow of weapons - most still bought on the black market in neighboring countries or from elements of the Syrian military - has significantly increased after a decision by Saudi Arabia, Qatar and other gulf states to provide millions of dollars in funding each month.

Afghanistan demands $4.1 billion a year:

Afghanistan goes to the NATO summit in Chicago this coming Sunday with a firm demand for $4.1 billion a year for its security forces after Western troops pull out in 2014 - and insists it is "not charity". Afghanistan, fearing a new civil war or military advances by hardline Islamist resistance fighters following the withdrawal, sees the cash as an investment in the West's own security against terrorism. "This is not charity, Afghanistan is and will be on the frontline of the world's fight against terrorism," Deputy Foreign Minister Jawed Ludin told foreign journalists ahead of the summit."We Afghans will be making sacrifices for years to come in what is essentially an international war." Australia has pledged $100 million a year for three years from 2015 as part of a long-term partnership agreement to be signed in Chicago by Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Afghan President Hamid Karzai. Afghanistan gets roughly $15.7 billion of international aid annually, according to a recent World Bank report, but that is expected to drop sharply as the troops pull out, leading to losses of tens of thousands of jobs and potential instability.

 

Pakistan wants more money for opening up NATO supply line:

The United States and Pakistan on Wednesday raced to conclude a deal to reopen key supply routes for the Afghanistan war before next week's Nato summit, with Washington hopeful of an imminent deal but Islamabad insisting that the US pay more to repair relations and end the blockade. Both sides said negotiations continued in Islamabad, a day after Nato invited Pakistan's president to the Chicago summit in the strongest sign yet that the wary US ally was ready to reopen its western border to American and allied military supplies heading to neighboring Afghanistan. Pakistan closed the routes after American airstrikes in November that killed 24 Pakistani troops on the Afghan border. Since then, supplies have taken a far more expensive route through eastern Europe and Asia. "We have had some progress," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said. "While the Pakistani political leadership hasn't yet authorised the reopening of the ground transportation routes, we understand that they did endorse the conclusion of the negotiations." Nuland declined to describe what details remained to be worked out, but American officials had previously spoken of lingering differences over security arrangements, customs fees and other taxes that would be paid to Islamabad for hosting the routes and guaranteeing safe passage. But those issues appeared to have been largely ironed out by Wednesday, according to an American official, who said a final deal hinged only on the two sides formalizing a written memorandum of understanding.