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Palestinian Authority Receives Aid for Payroll
JERUSALEM -- The Palestinian Authority received a one-time financial boost from the World Bank and Norway that will help it cover part of its payroll before Hamas installs its cabinet later this month.
The bank said it would release a $42 million grant to the authority to help pay 150,000 employees and trainees, most of whom work for the security services. The authority's caretaker government, struggling to meet a monthly payroll of $115 million, is a week late with February checks.
Norway pledged $10 million at the request of James D. Wolfensohn, special envoy for the quartet of peace interlocutors -- the United States, the European Union, Russia and the United Nations. Norway's government said the money would be used to help pay teacher salaries for February and March.
Israel and the United States are urging international donors to cut funding to the Palestinian Authority -- which relies on foreign aid for almost half its operating budget -- once Hamas installs its cabinet. Hamas, whose charter calls for the destruction of Israel, is designated a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union.
-- Scott Wilson
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THE AMERICAS
· SAN JOSE, Costa Rica -- Oscar Arias, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate who favors a contentious free-trade agreement with the United States, was declared the president-elect, more than a month after the vote that gave him a razor-thin victory.
· RIO DE JANEIRO -- Army troops backed by tanks invaded a hillside slum, raising to nine the number of shantytowns across Rio de Janeiro occupied in recent days in a search for 10 assault rifles and a 9mm handgun stolen from an army barracks, police said.
