Mogadishu, Somalia (IRIN) – Even as the UN announced that famine had spread to more areas in south-central Somalia, reports from the capital, Mogadishu, indicate that the suffering of the drought-displaced, mostly women and children, was increasing, with reports that government forces and Al-Shabaab militia were hampering aid distribution in areas under their control.

“The situation is such that most of those reaching Mogadishu are mainly women and children because most of the men have remained in the Al-Shabaab-held areas since they fear being arrested by government forces for allegedly being pro-Al Shabaab,” Su’di Mohamed Ali, director of administration and finance in the Ministry of Women Development and Family Affairs, told IRIN. “Al-Shabaab itself often prevents men from going to government-controlled areas.”

Anbiya Abdulkadir Osman, a mother of five, told IRIN her husband was shot dead on 27 July by an Al-Shabaab militiaman near Afgoye “after he refused to obey the militiamen not to go along with us, his family. Now I am left alone; I live on the street without food, shelter or water. I pray to God to send help my way.”

However, Ali Barre Hirsi, also known as Ali-Gab, the commander of the Central Police Division of Mogadishu, said: “We have heard from some members of the parliament that Al-Shabaab forces the IDPs to go to 50 kilometers, but we do not have any more information about it. Of course our duty is to control the security of the government-controlled regions such as Mogadishu and we capture the suspected persons and send them for trial. So far, we have arrested several persons who were accompanying the drought-displaced people and we transferred them to the intelligence agency to investigate allegations that they are part of Al-Shabaab. They will be brought before the judiciary as soon as the investigations are complete.”

Dismissing as baseless claims that government forces were diverting food aid, Hirsi said the police did not interfere with aid distribution, it “only secured the IDP camps”. An IDP had told IRIN that government forces were grabbing the food aid provided by aid organizations.

Worst humanitarian crisis

On 3 August, the UN announced that three new areas in southern Somalia – parts of Middle Shabelle region, the Afgoye Corridor and parts of Mogadishu – had deteriorated into a famine situation.

The Afgoye Corridor, 25 kilometers west of Mogadishu, has been hosting an estimated 400,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) since 2007.

According to the Famine and Early Warning System Network (FEWS NET) , the drought situation is the most severe humanitarian crisis in the world today and Africa’s worst food security crisis since Somalia’s 1991/1992 famine.

On 20 July, the UN declared famine in Lower Shabelle and southern Bakool regions in southern Somalia, warning that the situation could worsen because the drought had been compounded by insecurity, lack of aid and food price inflation.

Another round of the nutrition survey expected to begin on 8 August is likely to confirm that the famine had spread to Gedo and Bay regions in south-central Somalia, said Grainne Moloney, the chief technical adviser of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization’s Food Security and Nutritional Analysis Unit (FSNAU) for Somalia.

FSNAU’s last survey recorded global acute malnutrition rates (GAM) of more than 50 percent in some parts of Bay and Gedo, she said. “The situation has probably deteriorated there.” A GAM value of more than 10 percent generally identifies an emergency. The malnutrition data and the rates of crude mortality recorded in Somalia are the worst anywhere in the world in the past 20 years, confirmed Moloney, “except for maybe North Korea [in the 1990s]; we don’t really have good data from there”.

FSNAU confirmed on 3 August that the famine had spread, based on outstanding nutrition data. “We had been awaiting results from those areas,” she said. Delivering aid to all the regions now part of the famine zone besides the Mogadishu IDP community remains problematic because of Al-Shabaab’s control.

Moloney appealed to the donor community to help keep the aid flowing for at least the next 18 months. “The next rains expected in October will only lead to harvests in January [2012] – people have lost all their livestock, food prices are extremely high – it will take at least three or four seasons for them to recover. The famine conditions are not going anywhere soon.”

Officials of local civil society organizations have been trying to find shelter and food for the displaced arriving in Mogadishu.

“Here [the second bridge road in Mogadishu] we have about 250 families; we have distributed shelter for 100 people and we continue to seek shelter for the remaining 150 families,” Mohamed Abdi Dhodi, an official of the Abyan Organization, a local NGO, said. “In terms of food, we feed them once a day. We use at least three bags [50 kilograms each] of rice a day yet we only received 25 bags from international aid organizations. Our problem is that we do not have medicine for the sick children and mothers.”

Dadaab deteriorates

In refugee camps in Dadaab, northeastern Kenya, housing an estimated 400,000 Somalis, the situation is fast deteriorating as hundreds keep arriving daily, stretching basic services at the already congested camps.

Long-term camp residents, who have set up small businesses, told IRIN food prices had more than doubled and their customer numbers were shrinking.

“Life is becoming very difficult every day; we are now buying 1 kilogram of sugar at Ksh120 [US$1.20] yet it used to be Ksh70 [$0.80] just the other day,” Omar Jelle, a father of one, who also takes care of eight relatives, told IRIN.

The start of Ramadan – the Muslim holy month of fasting – in early August has made matters worse for many refugee families who have to take in more arrivals daily.

“Every family is hosting at least two [new families] in a compound that was meant to accommodate only one family,” a refugee said. “As the new arrivals wait to be registered and get food, they share the little that older refugees have, even the little water available.”

At the same time, local Kenyan communities living around the Dadaab camps have expressed concern over pressure on land as refugee numbers continue to rise. The locals say the new arrivals are settling on land they use to graze their livestock.

Moreover, the locals have complained about lack of support from aid agencies assisting the refugees. “We expect to be considered because we are also affected by the drought,” Jama Ali, a local resident of Dadaab, told IRIN.

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– Provided by Integrated Regional Information Networks.

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By Bill Tarrant

Yokoham, Japan – International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn said on Saturday that Ireland can manage its fiscal affairs well, and the Fund has had no request for aid.

“I have not been in contact with Ireland,” he told reporters on the sidelines of an Asia-Pacific summit in Yokohama, Japan. “So far I have not had a request, and I think Ireland can manage well…”

He said the IMF would be willing to help Ireland if needed in the future, but “until now it’s business as usual”.

Ireland is in talks about tapping emergency funds from the European Financial Stability Facility, euro zone sources told Reuters on Friday, but Ireland said it had not formally applied for any European Union aid.

Strauss-Kahn said he, too, was unaware of talks about an EU bailout for Ireland.

Irish borrowing costs shot to record highs this week because of concern about the country’s ability to reduce a public debt burden swollen by bank bailouts, and worries that private bond holders could be forced to shoulder part of the costs of any bailout by taking “haircuts” on their holdings.

Government officials in Dublin have denied repeatedly that they plan to tap EU funds, and an Irish finance ministry spokesman said after the Reuters story was published that there were “no talks on an application for emergency funding from the European Union.”

Eurozone sources told Reuters that aid discussions were under way, however. One official said it was “very likely” that Ireland would get financial assistance from the EU facility set up after Greece obtained a 110 billion euro bailout in May.

“Talks are ongoing and European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) money will be used; there will be no haircuts or restructuring or anything of the kind,” one eurozone source said. A second source confirmed the talks.

Pressure on Irish bonds eased on Friday after France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Britain, issued a statement confirming that holders of existing euro debt would not take a hit if the EU proceeded with plans to introduce a mechanism letting countries restructure their debt.

That sent waves of relief through markets fearing that the eurozone could be headed toward another debt crisis following the one with Greece earlier this year.

Strauss-Kahn said Ireland’s difficulties were much different from Greece’s, however.

“The Irish situation is mostly linked to the problem of the banks, especially one big bank, not only one, but mostly one big bank. It’s not the same thing as the Greece problem, which was at the same time a fiscal problem but also a competitiveness problem.”

He said the Irish government has “taken a lot of measures to get back on track on the fiscal side”.

The spread between the Irish 10-year bond yield and the German benchmark, which rocketed to a high of nearly 7 percentage points on Thursday, narrowed to around 5.8 percentage points on Friday.

But borrowing costs for Ireland remain sky-high and pressure on Ireland’s fragile banks may have forced the government to enter aid discussions, even though it is fully funded until mid-2011 and does not face the same liquidity crisis that confronted Greece earlier this year.

The EU, in turn, may be keen to calm investors with an Irish bailout to prevent contagion to other indebted countries such as Portugal and Spain. – Reuters

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CampusDoor, a student lender that was backed by the failed Lehman Brothers, had to inform students that the private loans they had been approved for might not be funded. According to Sallie Mae, 70 non-public lenders experience left the student loan market in 2008. A few of these lenders experience suspended business in the increased education loan market and others suffer suspended loan programs with colleges that they consider to be a risky, however, lots of lenders experience gone out of business all along.

Here’s what you actually should understand to purchase the cash you actually should finish your educational goals:

Help is on the way

* The U.S. Senate passed the Ensuring Continued Access to Student Loans Act that may permit the Secretary of Education to purchase loans from private institutions. This move have to increase the liquidity of these lenders, allowing them to loan way more cash to students.

* The Ensuring Continued Access to Student Loans Act also recommendations the conditions of repayment for PLUS loans. Under the existing terms and conditions, parents should start repayment 60 days after the disbursement of funds. Going forward, parents will suffer the option of deferring repayment for up to 6 months after students leave college.

* The fresh act as well increases the loan constraints on fixed rate, no credit test Stafford Loans. This move was directed at helping students save money by foregoing way more expensive personal student loans.

Creditworthiness is very vital

* Guard your credit! As lenders work to shore up their bottom lines, credit worthiness is paramount. Alternative loans, which are also credit based mostly, can also be an option you actually should consider with the rising cost of tuition. If you do not have good credit, you really can also have to find a co-signer.

End the FAFSA to qualify for the all the monetary aid available to you really

* Raised education loan eligibility is determined primarily based upon the information contained during the FAFSA or Free Application for Federal Student Aid.

* Completing the FAFSA will assist to find out your eligibility for grants scholarships and work-analysis because well as student loans. Broadening your monetary options may build way more funds available for education expenses.

* Build convinced to contact a financial aid confidant to the school or career college that you plan to attend. Schools are required to inform you actually of their fiscal aid procedures and deadlines. They can also inform you of other forms of monetary aid, such because state programs of college based scholarships.

Do not forget that the unprecedented monetary crisis affecting the raised education loan market is constantly fluctuating. The best way to create convinced that you really have the funds that you require is to be well informed of the suggestions and the way they affect your monetary goals.

So if you belong to a low or a middle class family and we thought it would never be able to exercise a certain degree, it’s time for you to think again. No matter how bad your financial situation is, obviously a good thing when it comes to helpshould necessarily apply to college and financial aid and who knows, you might even be one hundred per cent financial assistance.

There is a belief in students when they seek financial support to universities, they could not get accepted by the college. This is simply false. Most universities have not even the fact that you applied for financial assistance to look, until one is currently a candidate, there is no way that you should not get into college. Once you have been accepted by the college, and if you really need help, the College and see that the result will be in your favor

READ MORE http://www.studentloandeferment.goodarticlesite.com/financial-aid-federal-or-private-loan/

Reaching the heights of your career Medical Student Loans

Was evident that soon-to-be doctors to increase the cost of ongoing continuous culture study of bills of exchange, and the government postponed the exam results in front of indebtedness. Although medical trainees have never experienced such problems on high debt, medical debt young people today experience more unmanageable.

For this reason, the government provides financial support to needy students through loans medical student.This objective for medical students and their education needs help, if you must comply with the appropriate academic standards and pay their debts after graduation or what was discussed.

READ MORE http://www.studentloandeferment.goodarticlesite.com/reaching-the-heights-of-your-career-medical-student-loans/

Unlike with federal financial aid, a student’s eligibility for private loans for education depends on his or her credit score – or the credit score of his or her parents. Private loans offer more flexible repayment options than some federal loans, especially when it comes to parent loans. In general, private loans are more expensive than federal loans, but they cost less than credit card debt. Federal loans also offer lower interest rates, so students are always encouraged to get as many federal loans as they can before looking into private loans for education.

Private loans do have their merits, however. As mentioned, they are sometimes the saving grace when a student has exhausted the federal amount he or she is allowed but still has need of financial aid. Parents are often better off with borrowing private loans as well, namely because they can defer payments until their child graduates (for instance, if their child has promised to pay off his or her own school debts, but needs help with getting a loan in the first place) – however, the interest does build up over this time. Looking at it one way, this is really no different than what can happen with unsubsidized federal loans.

The good news is that if a student – or his or her parents – has a decent credit score, it can significantly affect the interest rates for a particular private loan for education. In general, the better the credit score, the lower the interested rate. As such, it is better to apply for a private loan with a cosigner. After all, a student may have a bad – or nonexistent – credit score, while his or her parents have an excellent one. The parents can cosign, defer the payments until their child graduates, and not be responsible for the payments themselves. This is an excellent way to help a child keep their educational debt down, if only for a small amount.

Private loans for education are unquestionable helpful when federal aid simply does not grant enough money to a student. However, they should really be considered a last resort, as federal loans do offer better interest rates. Conversely, private loans often offer better, much more flexible repayment plans, so it all truly depends on an individual student’s needs, means, and financial status. Parents should only consider cosigning a private loan for their child if they are first certain that, should anything happen to make the child unable to pay for the loan, they can afford to, and secondly, if they know they can trust their child to begin paying back the loan after he or she graduates.