Targeted News Service

WASHINGTON, March 25 -- The U.S. International Development Finance Corp. issued the following news release on March 24, 2023:

The U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), working in close partnership with the U.S. Department of Defense, executed a $410 million loan to National Resilience Inc. (Resilience), a San Diego-based company. The loan was made through the Defense Production Act (DPA) Loan Program. In line with the purpose of the DPA to meet an emergency need in a time of national crisis, the loan will support the safe and effective manufacturing and delivery of vaccines ... Show Full Article WASHINGTON, March 25 -- The U.S. International Development Finance Corp. issued the following news release on March 24, 2023: The U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), working in close partnership with the U.S. Department of Defense, executed a $410 million loan to National Resilience Inc. (Resilience), a San Diego-based company. The loan was made through the Defense Production Act (DPA) Loan Program. In line with the purpose of the DPA to meet an emergency need in a time of national crisis, the loan will support the safe and effective manufacturing and delivery of vaccinesand critical medicines across the country. The funding will advance the company's mission to solidify end-to-end biomanufacturing capacity and capabilities.

"This loan advances the goals of the DPA Loan Program originated in response to the COVID-19 pandemic national emergency," said DFC CEO Scott Nathan. "By supporting the production of critical medical goods made in the United States, the loan will help to strengthen the security and resilience of domestic supply chains."

"This crucial loan furthers the goals underpinning the President's September 2022 Executive Order on Advanced Biotechnology and Biomanufacturing Innovation for a Sustainable, Safe, and Secure American Bioeconomy and is in alignment with the Department of Defense's Biomanufacturing Strategy, released earlier this month," said Ms. Deborah Rosenblum, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Nuclear, Chemical, and Biological Defense Programs and performing the duties of Assistant Secretary of Defense for Industrial Base Policy. "It exemplifies the innovation present in our domestic biomanufacturing industrial sector, and, in the spirit of the President's February 2021 Executive Order on America's Supply Chains, demonstrates the U.S.'s commitment to ensuring the resilience of our critical supply chains."

The company will use the loan to fortify its ability to deliver quality health care products for the American people. Specifically, the funding will increase manufacturing of biologics (antibodies, proteins, multi-specifics), vaccines, and nucleic acids (including mRNA). The investment enhances the DPA Loan Program's efficacy by further securing the domestic drug supply chain.

In response to the national emergency, DFC's CEO was delegated authorities to carry out support under the DPA Loan Program. The commitment of the loan to Resilience in March 2022 marked the end of DFC's role in sourcing projects under the program. DFC continues to use its tools to secure vaccine supply chains through investments including in GAVI The Vaccine Alliance, as well as manufacturers in South Africa, Senegal, and India. The agency is committed to continue investing in healthcare and health resilience across the developing world.

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Original text here: https://www.dfc.gov/media/press-releases/us-international-development-finance-corporation-executes-loan-under-defense

Steven Schrage Appointed Helsinki Commission Executive Director

WASHINGTON, March 25 (TNSper) -- The Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe issued the following news release:

Rep. Joe Wilson (SC-02), Chairman of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, also known as the U.S. Helsinki Commission, today announced the appointment of Dr. Steven P. Schrage as Helsinki Commission Executive Director.

"The Helsinki Commission welcomes Dr. Steven Schrage to its already impressive team. His rich foreign policy experiences and academia background with the State Department, White House, Congress, Duke, Harvard, Cambridge University, Johns Hopkins ... Show Full Article WASHINGTON, March 25 (TNSper) -- The Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe issued the following news release: Rep. Joe Wilson (SC-02), Chairman of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, also known as the U.S. Helsinki Commission, today announced the appointment of Dr. Steven P. Schrage as Helsinki Commission Executive Director. "The Helsinki Commission welcomes Dr. Steven Schrage to its already impressive team. His rich foreign policy experiences and academia background with the State Department, White House, Congress, Duke, Harvard, Cambridge University, Johns HopkinsSchool of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) as well as other institutions, make him uniquely qualified to lead the Commission as Executive Director.

"I welcome Steven's ideas and insights to further compliment the Commission's mission, and look forward to working closely with him," said Chairman Joe Wilson.

"I am honored to join Chairman Wilson's Helsinki Commission team and help support his long and impressive work to advance American interests and cooperation abroad," said Schrage. "With the largest war in Europe since World War II and new global challenges facing America and our allies, there has never been a more critical time for the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe's mission."

Schrage has previously served as Co-Chair of the G8's Crime and Terrorism Group and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, where he oversaw over $2 billion in global assistance and operations and over 2000 personnel after 9/11. Beginning days after the start of Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Schrage spent much of the last year volunteering and researching border and human security challenges on the Ukraine-Poland border. He also served in the executive branch as a Senior Advisor in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, and as the Foreign Policy Director and in other headquarters policy roles for major presidential campaigns. Schrage has considerable Congressional experience as a Senate Chief of Staff, International Trade Counsel for the Ways and Means Committee, and on the policy team of the Speaker of the House.

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Original text here: https://www.csce.gov/international-impact/press-and-media/press-releases/steven-schrage-appointed-helsinki-commission

Office of Finance Publishes the 2022 Combined Financial Report of the Federal Home Loan Banks

WASHINGTON, March 25 -- The Federal Home Loan Bank System's Office of Finance issued the following news release:

The Office of Finance is announcing the publication of the 2022 Combined Financial Report of the Federal Home Loan Banks (FHLBanks). This report has been prepared from the audited financial information of the FHLBanks.

Each of the FHLBanks has filed its 2022 Form 10-K with the SEC. Current financial reports and other SEC filings for individual FHLBanks can be obtained by searching the EDGAR database.

The 2022 Combined Financial Report for the FHLBanks has been filed with the Federal ... Show Full Article

National Gallery of Art: Acquisition - Gesina Ter Borch

WASHINGTON, March 25 -- The National Gallery of Art issued the following news release:

The National Gallery of Art has acquired Moses ter Borch Holding a Kolf Stick (c. 1655), considered to be a collaboration between Gesina ter Borch and her half-brother, Gerard ter Borch the Younger. Genre and portrait painter Gerard ter Borch the Younger (1617-1681) was the most famous and prolific artist in the Ter Borch family, but his half-siblings, Gesina (1631-1690), Harmen (1638-before 1677), and Moses (1645-1667) were also trained by their father (Gerard ter Borch the Elder, 1583-1662) and were all gifted ... Show Full Article WASHINGTON, March 25 -- The National Gallery of Art issued the following news release: The National Gallery of Art has acquired Moses ter Borch Holding a Kolf Stick (c. 1655), considered to be a collaboration between Gesina ter Borch and her half-brother, Gerard ter Borch the Younger. Genre and portrait painter Gerard ter Borch the Younger (1617-1681) was the most famous and prolific artist in the Ter Borch family, but his half-siblings, Gesina (1631-1690), Harmen (1638-before 1677), and Moses (1645-1667) were also trained by their father (Gerard ter Borch the Elder, 1583-1662) and were all giftedartists. A charming, informal depiction of a young boy poised to play a popular winter sport, Moses ter Borch Holding a Kolf Stick highlights the work of Gesina ter Borch, a superbly talented amateur woman artist who flourished in her family's lively atmosphere of artistic exchange and mutual encouragement. The painting was acquired by the National Gallery through the generosity of The Lee and Juliet Folger Fund.

In the past, this intimate and engaging depiction of a young boy was erroneously attributed to Aelbert Cuyp (1620-1691), the renowned Dutch painter of landscapes and pastoral scenes. Beginning in 2016, scholars at the National Gallery questioned the attribution to Cuyp. The recent identification of the figure as Moses ter Borch--based on close comparison with portraits and self-portraits that document his abundant ginger curls and distinctive snubbed nose--prompted further research and a new attribution.

It is now thought that Gerard ter Borch the Younger, the only professional artist among the siblings, probably devised the composition and that Gesina ter Borch executed the painting. Gesina made numerous drawings of her beloved youngest brother, and several years after this work was produced, collaborated with Gerard on a posthumous allegorical portrait of Moses (c. 1668; Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam). Gesina's many drawings and watercolors of individual figures and narrative groupings display a similar spontaneity, a delicate rendering of hands, feet, and facial features, and an interest in the precise depiction of costume details.

Dressed for winter weather, Moses ter Borch wears a long tunic with a decorative border, topped by a knee-length brown leather coat and a green cloak. Thick sheepskins are wrapped around his shoulders and torso, and his furry hat is made from another sheepskin. Similar hats and cloaks are often found in traditional allegorical representations of winter, although that season is typically personified by an older man or woman rather than a child. Contrasting with this practical layered bundling are Moses's square-toed shoes with their trailing red ribbon laces, which were the height of fashion in the 1650s. In his hand, Moses holds a kolf stick: popular in the Dutch Republic, kolf--the forerunner of modern golf--was played both on land and, in the winter, on the smooth expanses of frozen waterways.

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Original text here: https://www.nga.gov/press/acquisitions/2023/gesina-ter-borch.html

National Gallery of Art: Acquisition - Beatriz Milhazes

WASHINGTON, March 25 -- The National Gallery of Art issued the following news release:

The work of Beatriz Milhazes (b. 1960), one of Brazil's most celebrated contemporary artists, reveals her deep engagement with her native country's complex colonial history, characterized by the meeting of Indigenous, African, and European cultures. Milhazes's work also brings visual forms related to Brazil's vernacular arts, such as ceramics and textiles, into conversation with those drawing from the tradition of modernist abstraction. Her signature, brightly colored circles and curvilinear forms overlap and ... Show Full Article WASHINGTON, March 25 -- The National Gallery of Art issued the following news release: The work of Beatriz Milhazes (b. 1960), one of Brazil's most celebrated contemporary artists, reveals her deep engagement with her native country's complex colonial history, characterized by the meeting of Indigenous, African, and European cultures. Milhazes's work also brings visual forms related to Brazil's vernacular arts, such as ceramics and textiles, into conversation with those drawing from the tradition of modernist abstraction. Her signature, brightly colored circles and curvilinear forms overlap andintersect with organic shapes and floral motifs that reference the ornately patterned costumes of carnaval. The National Gallery of Art has acquired Romantico americano (1998), generously given by Tony Podesta.

Milhazes made this work using a "monotransfer" technique. A collage-like process involving painted elements attached to canvas, monotransfer allows for both the facture of the transfer and the crisply delineated shapes to play leading roles in the composition. The work's title, which translates to "American Romantic," alludes to the Romantic period in the arts at the beginning of the 19th century when Brazil was a colony of Portugal, while also asserting the presence of the Global South in the use of the word "America." In Romantico americano, Milhazes painted and applied multicolored geometric forms, pulsing arabesques with draped flowers, and outlines suggestive of colonial lace against a coral-colored background. The flowers evoke the Rio de Janeiro Botanical Garden near Milhazes's studio, as well as longstanding ideas of femininity and associations with the female body.

Milhazes's career began in 1980, when she entered the Escola de Artes Visuais do Parque Lage (EAV) in Rio de Janeiro, studying with Scottish artist Charles Watson. In 1984 she participated in the foundational exhibition Como vai voce, Geracao 80? (How's it Going, Generation '80?). The so-called "Generation '80" artists became associated with ornate, joyful painting that seemed to resist Brazil's two-decades-long dictatorship.

Throughout her career, Milhazes has received commissions for a number of large-scale architectural works: a series of vinyl forms for the exterior of Selfridges department store in Manchester, UK (Gavea, 2004); 19 compositions for the arches of the London Tube's Gloucester Road station (Peace and Love, 2005); four mural images for the Murals of La Jolla project (Gamboa Seasons, 2021, based on four acrylic-on-canvas paintings from 2010); and most recently, a ceramic mosaic mural and a painted mural at the New York-Presbyterian Hospital (Tuiuti and Paqueta, 2018). These murals and mural-like works place Milhazes in the tradition of Latin American modernist muralists of the 20th century, including seminal Brazilian muralist Candido Portinari. Like Portinari, Milhazes acts as an ambassador of Brazilian arts and culture on the international stage.

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Original text here: https://www.nga.gov/press/acquisitions/2023/beatriz-milhazes.html

Fannie Mae: Jump in Existing Home Sales Expected to Be Temporary With New Sales Comparatively Outperforming

WASHINGTON, March 25 -- Fannie Mae issued the following economic and housing weekly note:

Key Takeaways:

* The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) raised the federal funds rate by 25 basis points to a target range of 4.75-5 percent at its March 21-22 meeting, the second consecutive 25-basis point hike. The FOMC's press release states "some additional policy firming may be appropriate," whereas it had previously stated that "ongoing rate increases" would be appropriate. The committee's newest Summary of Economic Projections (SEP) was little changed from December as the median projection for ... Show Full Article WASHINGTON, March 25 -- Fannie Mae issued the following economic and housing weekly note: Key Takeaways: * The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) raised the federal funds rate by 25 basis points to a target range of 4.75-5 percent at its March 21-22 meeting, the second consecutive 25-basis point hike. The FOMC's press release states "some additional policy firming may be appropriate," whereas it had previously stated that "ongoing rate increases" would be appropriate. The committee's newest Summary of Economic Projections (SEP) was little changed from December as the median projection forthe federal funds rate at the end of 2023 was unchanged at 5.1 percent and growth expectations were downgraded modestly.

* Durable goods orders fell 1.0 percent in February, according to the Census Bureau. Part of the decline was due to a 2.8 percent drop in transportation equipment stemming from fewer aircraft and motor vehicle and parts orders. Core capital goods orders (nondefense excluding aircraft) rose 0.2 percent and shipments of core capital goods, a proxy for business equipment investment, were flat after a 0.9 percent gain in January.

* Existing home sales jumped 14.5 percent to a seasonally adjusted annualized rate (SAAR) of 4.58 million in February, the highest level since September 2022, according to the National Association of REALTORS(R). The inventory of existing homes for sale was flat at 980,000 and the months' supply declined three-tenths to 2.6. The median sales price of existing homes declined 0.2 percent compared to a year ago, its first decline since 2012.

* New single-family home sales rose 1.1 percent to a SAAR of 640,000, though January's figure was revised downward by nearly 40,000, according to the Census Bureau. New homes for sales dipped 0.7 percent to 436,000, though the number of those homes that are completed rose 5.9 percent to 72,000, approaching levels last seen in mid-2020. The months' supply ticked down one-tenth to 8.2.

Forecast Impact:

The FOMC's latest SEP shows only one more 25-basis point hike left before reaching the median projected terminal rate, though both the statement and Chair Powell's press conference noted heightened uncertainty regarding the path of the economy, inflation, and monetary policy due to recent bank failures. It's notable that recent banking turmoil will likely have cooling effects on aggregate demand that further rate hikes would have otherwise done, via tightening credit standards and weaker consumer and business sentiment. While the recent bank failures may prove to be a catalyst for the recession we have predicted since April of last year, it may also be the case that these events blow over relatively quickly and that inflation continues at an elevated pace. In this case the terminal fed funds rate would likely be higher than we currently project.

We had expected a boost to existing home sales in February following the pullback in mortgage rates around the turn of the year. Still, the jump was larger than we had expected, meaning we will likely upgrade our near-term forecast. However, based on more recent mortgage application activity, we expect a pullback in the March sales number, and over the medium term, we expect sales to be subdued. Affordability constraints and the lock-in effect, in which existing homeowners with low mortgage rates have a financial disincentive to move, will continue to weigh on demand. On the new home side, after revisions, the quarterly pace of sales is largely in line with our Q1 expectations. New home sales are expected to continue to show strength relative to existing home sales as homebuilders utilize mortgage rate buydowns and other concessions to move their elevated inventory of homes for sale, though new home sales will also continue to be affected by affordability issues and the lock-in effect.

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Original text here: https://www.fanniemae.com/research-and-insights/forecast/jump-existing-home-sales-expected-be-temporary-new-sales-comparatively-outperforming

EPA Announces Final Decision on Cleanup for Amphenol/Franklin Power Products Site in Franklin, Indiana

WASHINGTON, March 25 -- The Environmental Protection Agency issued the following news release on March 24, 2023:

Following a thorough review of public comments, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today announced its final decision on the cleanup plan for the remaining groundwater and soil contamination from historical operations at the Amphenol/Franklin Power Products Inc. site in Franklin, Indiana.

From prior investigations, EPA determined that a former site owner's release of volatile organic compounds, or VOCs, and other chemicals into the environment caused contaminants to migrate outside ... Show Full Article

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