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Monday, February 18, 2013

Cash-strapped Greece dodges 1900 public sector firings


Kathimerini

Cash-strapped Greece dodges 1900 public sector firings
GlobalPost
ATHENS, Feb 18 (Reuters) - Greece said on Monday it would not fire almost 1,900 civil servants earmarked for possible dismissal, despite promising foreign lenders it would seek to cut the public payroll. Under a deal with creditors, the workers were ...
Hollande in visit of ΄support΄ to GreeceCapital.gr (press release)
Coalition Talks Jobs, But No AnswersGreek Reporter
France's Hollande eyes frigate deal during GreeceEurope Online Magazine
Hurriyet Daily News -Kathimerini -The Voice of Russia
all 11 news articles »

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Greece's Economic Crisis Reveals Fault Lines In The Media


NPR

Greece's Economic Crisis Reveals Fault Lines In The Media
NPR
Three years of spiraling economic crisis in Greece have devastated every sector of the economy. The Greek media are among the hardest hit. Many newspapers and TV outlets have closed or are on the verge, and some 4,000 journalists have lost their jobs.

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Greek federation blasts state subsidy proposal


FRANCE 24

Greek federation blasts state subsidy proposal
FRANCE 24
L-R: Olympiacos Piraeus Greek guard Vassilis Spanoulis, Greek forward Georgios Printezis and Georgian center Giorgi Shermadini react during the Euroleague Top 16 basketball match on January 24, 2013, at the Nokia stadium in Tel Aviv. The Greek ...


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Greece's National Bank completes buyout


Greece's National Bank completes buyout
NEWS.com.au
"National Bank and Eurobank are uniting their forces to create the country's largest bank group which will be able to successfully meet the challenges to Greece's monetary and credit system," NBG's chief operating officer Alexandros Tourkolias said in ...

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Greek Police Detain Suspect in Thessaloniki Gold Mine Attack


CNBC.com

Greek Police Detain Suspect in Thessaloniki Gold Mine Attack
Bloomberg
Greek police arrested and detained a person suspected of taking part in an attack on the Skouries mine operated by Hellas Gold SA near the northern city of Thessaloniki. Thirty-three other people were arrested and later released, according to a police ...
Police release man over Greek mining firm attackMiamiHerald.com
Arrest in Greek gold mining company attackPhiladelphia Inquirer
Masked Raiders Damage Greek Gold Mining SiteCNBC.com
Businessweek -TIME
all 22 news articles »

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Bullet Sent to Second Greek Finance Official

Greek police are investigating a death threat against a senior finance ministry official who was sent a bullet in the mail, just weeks after a similar threat was made against the country's finance minister.

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Greece's National Bank completes Eurobank buyout swap


Greece's National Bank completes Eurobank buyout swap
GlobalPost
"National Bank and Eurobank are uniting their forces to create the country's largest bank group which will be able to successfully meet the challenges to Greece's monetary and credit system," NBG's chief operating officer Alexandros Tourkolias said in ...
Eurobank accepts NBG's buyout offer to form biggest Greek bankReuters India

all 3 news articles »

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Latvia to apply for eurozone membership within weeks

PM Valdis Dombrovskis says formal application to become 18th eurozone country will be made early next month

The EU's third poorest country is to apply to join the euro within weeks, triggering an east European dash for entry that could push the eurozone to 20 countries from 17 in a few years.

The prime minister of Latvia, Valdis Dombrovskis, said his government would formally apply to join the single currency at the beginning of next month and hope to become the 18th member by the end of the year. Officials in Riga are consulting with the European commission and the European Central Bank.

"It's just a technical issue now," Dombrovskis said. "By July the whole procedure should be finished."

Neighbouring Estonia joined the euro in 2011 at the very height of the currency and sovereign debt crisis – and has prospered ever since. Latvia, recovering from one of Europe's worst financial implosions in 2008-9 that saw the economy contract by a colossal 25%, hopes to emulate the Estonians. The third Baltic state, Lithuania, is expected to apply to join next year.

The Lithuanian prime minister, Algirdas Butkevicius, said: "An action plan has been prepared and a government resolution drafted." The plan is to be finalised this week with a view to joining the euro in 2015 after applying next year.

The debate over joining the euro is also heating up in Poland. A much bigger country and therefore a much bigger prize or liability for the eurozone, Poland is the only EU country not to have fallen into recession since the Lehman Brothers crash. Increasingly it sees its future as closely integrated in the EU as possible, playing the regional leader and usurping Britain's position in policy-making influence.

For that to succeed, euro membership is essential as the zone binds itself into closer political and economic regimes and becomes the key decision-taking forum. The Polish president recently established a high-powered committee to examine and foster eurozone membership. Warsaw is now talking of a 2017 deadline.

It may seem paradoxical or perverse that the east Europeans are increasingly clamouring to join a currency whose survival has hung in the balance for three years. They are seeking stability at a time of the euro's greatest instability.

"We see it as a kind of insurance mechanism," said Dombrovskis. "We don't expect to go back into a crisis. We're sticking with prudent fiscal policies and we don't expect to overheat our economy again. And whatever happens to the euro happens to us anyway. Our economy is completely euro-ised, 80% of borrowing, households and businesses, is in euros. This will help financial and economic stability."

Similar arguments are made in Lithuania, while in Poland the impetus is less economic than political and geo-political. Warsaw appears resolved to hitch itself to Germany, and deems it a national security imperative, worried about Vladimir Putin's Russia, to embed itself utterly in the EU. It increasingly sees the eurozone as the safest of havens, despite the volatility.

On the Maastricht rulebook, there is no doubt Latvia passes muster. Its budget deficit was 1.5% of GDP last year, half the 3% ceiling and much better than France or the Netherlands, who will fail to meet their targets this year, not to mention the countries being bailed out. National debt at 42% of GDP is also well below the 60% ceiling. Latvia has joined chancellor Angela Merkel's fiscal pact and wants to sign up to the ECB banking supervisor currently being negotiated for the eurozone.

"We clearly meet all the benchmarks. We expect the eurozone countries to invite us to join," said Dombrovskis.

Problems remain, however. Public opinion, influenced by the years of crisis at home and in the eurozone, is against giving up the lat, the national currency, by a margin of 3-2 in the polls.

Following the application the European commission and the central bank in Frankfurt have to give a green light amid Latvian worries Brussels may be reluctant because of popular opposition.

Olli Rehn, the monetary affairs commissioner, dismissed such reservations.

"The eurozone could have 18 members by 2014," he said. "There are no criteria related to opinion surveys. You can't be disqualified because of opinion surveys and political criteria."

But he kept his options open. "Substance is more important than the schedule. I should not create false expectations. We need to assess whether the Latvian economic model is sustainable."

After the recommendations from Brussels and Frankfurt, a final decision will rest with the eurozone governments, where the creditor countries are fed up with bailing out troubled members and may be loth to admit such a poor country, which needed an EU-IMF bailout in 2008. France, in particular, has traditionally resisted various aspects of EU enlargement and the Latvian elite is worried that Paris could be a problem.

And while the issue of Russian money in Cyprus currently complicates the attempt to come up with a eurozone bailout for the partitioned island, there are parallel worries about Russian influence in the former Soviet Baltic state.

Around half of bank deposits in Latvia – a sector dominated by Swedish and Danish banks – are by non-residents, essentially Russian.

"We have a relatively high share of non-resident deposits. It has attracted attention," admitted Dombrovskis.

But some of the Russian capital took flight during the crisis and the banks involved are subject to much stiffer capital and liquidity requirements. Besides, in terms of scale, Latvia comes nowhere near rivalling Cyprus as a financial centre.

"A year ago, we said we were sticking to our plan to join," said Dombrovskis. "Other member states said they were waiting. Now that's changing. Lithuania is talking about 2015, the Poles are setting a 2017 target. It would be a strong political signal if the Poles joined."

For two years, the talk has been of a shrinking eurozone as Greece or others teetered on the brink of being kicked out. That prospect has receded, supplanted by talk of a bigger single currency area.


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Nigeria extremists claim abduction of 7 foreigners





BAUCHI, Nigeria (AP) — A little-known Islamic extremist group claimed responsibility Monday for the kidnapping of seven foreign workers from northern Nigeria, threatening their safety if anyone tried to intervene and free them.

The group that calls itself Ansaru issued a short statement, obtained by The Associated Press, in which it said its fighters kidnapped the foreigners Saturday night from a construction company's camp at Jama'are, a town about 200 kilometers (125 miles) north of Bauchi, the capital of Bauchi state.

Authorities said those kidnapped include one British citizen, one Greek, one Italian, three Lebanese and one Filipino, all employees of a Lebanese construction company called Setraco.

Boko Haram, whose name means "Western education is sacrilege," has launched a guerrilla campaign of bombings and shootings across Nigeria's predominantly Muslim north.

[...] the attackers blew up a back fence at the construction company's compound and took over, killing a guard in the process, witnesses and police said.

Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan, in a statement issued Monday through his office, condemned the attack and said he ordered security agencies to "take all necessary action" to locate and rescue the abducted construction workers.

In November, Britain's interior ministry announced that a parliamentary order that makes membership in or support of Ansaru a criminal offense.


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Good News For European Banks

* German banks' use of ECB funds drops to 49.5 bln end-Jan * Banks from euro zone core pay back 3-yr loans early * Italian,...

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Greece: 54-year-old man released after arrest linked to attack on gold mining ...


BBC News

Greece: 54-year-old man released after arrest linked to attack on gold mining ...
Fox News
THESSALONIKI, Greece – A Greek prosecutor ordered the release Monday of a 54-year-old man hours after he was arrested in connection with an attack on a gold mining company in which about 40 masked intruders torched machinery and vehicles.
Arsonists attack Hellas gold mine in northern GreeceBBC News
Masked intruders raid Greek gold mining companyAnchorage Daily News
Greece: Mining compound attackedlibcom.org (blog)
Marketwire (press release) -GlobalPost
all 22 news articles »

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Police release man over Greek mining firm attack


CNBC.com

Police release man over Greek mining firm attack
MiamiHerald.com
THESSALONIKI, Greece -- A Greek prosecutor ordered the release Monday of a 54-year-old man hours after he was arrested in connection with an attack on a gold mining company in which about 40 masked intruders torched machinery and vehicles.
Arrest in Greek gold mining company attackPhiladelphia Inquirer
Masked Raiders Damage Greek Gold Mining SiteCNBC.com
Greek Police Detain Suspect After Thessaloniki Gold Mine AttackBusinessweek
TIME -FRANCE 24
all 22 news articles »

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Eurobank accepts NBG's buyout offer to form biggest Greek bank


Eurobank accepts NBG's buyout offer to form biggest Greek bank
Reuters India
ATHENS (Reuters) - A large majority of shareholders at Greek lender Eurobank (EFGr.AT) have accepted an all-share buyout offer from larger rival National Bank (NBG) (NBGr.AT), clearing the way for a merger to form the country's biggest lender. National ...
Greek market slidesCapital.gr (press release)

all 2 news articles »

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Cyprus prosecutor drops charges in Helios air crash trial because of Greek ...


Washington Post

Cyprus prosecutor drops charges in Helios air crash trial because of Greek ...
Washington Post
NICOSIA, Cyprus — Cyprus' attorney general on Monday dropped manslaughter and other charges against four defendants on trial for a 2005 plane crash that killed 121 people because a Greek court had already convicted three of them in a separate trial.
Lawyer: Cyprus drops charges against defendants in Helios air crash trialFox News

all 6 news articles »

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Greek officials hail results of Evros fence


Kathimerini

Greek officials hail results of Evros fence
Kathimerini
They said they were told to row their way to the Greek side. But the rubber boat burst as it struck a cluster of reeds, forcing them to climb the trees to save their lives. Incidents like this used to be a daily routine along the Turkish border in the ...


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Startup Turkey

Thunder and lightening bookmarked eTohum’s Startup Turkey’s annual gathering this past weekend. It fit. The congregation of Turkish and regional entrepreneurs (from Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Egypt, Greece, Jordan, Lebanon, Uzbekistan) stormed Antalya, on the Mediterranean coast for two and a half days of pitches and panels – the usual rundown for these events. What did I take away? Five points. I’ve outlined them below and will detail over the week ahead. Get out of Silicon (insert here): After talking to 23-year old Ankara-based Ali Cevik, I realized the importance of finding new markets and getting outside mainstream tech centers. I met the Arab Jeff Bezos: He’s Ala Suleiman who gave up a career in computer engineering to put books on tape for the Arab world. Entrepreneurial financing in between angel and venture isn’t mezzanine: It’s angel heavy. The iLab Ventures story The Arab world isn’t a country Broadbandgaria: South Eastern Europe’s Internet hope? Startup Turkey Take Away #1

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Greece, UAE have common interests to maintain security


Greece, UAE have common interests to maintain security
gulfnews.com
Greece maintains good defence ties with the UAE and believes both countries have a strategic interest in further bolstering that relationship, its Minister of National Defence has said. Panos Panagiotopoulos, whose country is a key participant in Idex ...

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Father of far-right murder victim appeals to German president

German President Gauck listens to a statement made by Yozgat, who displays a picture of his son Halit killed by the small neo-Nazi group National Socialist Underground during a meeting with relatives of the victims in BerlinBERLIN (Reuters) - The father of a victim of a neo-Nazi gang that waged a killing spree across Germany broke down on Monday as he appealed for the street on which his son was murdered to be named after him. Revelations in November 2011 that the cell was behind the previously unconnected murders of eight ethnic Turks, a Greek and a policewoman provoked deep soul-searching over how the so-called National Socialist Union (NSU) could have gone undetected in Germany for so long. ...



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Lawyer: Cyprus drops charges against defendants in Helios air crash trial

NICOSIA, Cyprus - A lawyer for two of four men on trial for a 2005 plane crash that killed 121 people says Cyprus' attorney general has dropped all charges because a Greek court had already convicted three of them in a separate trial.

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Islamist group claims kidnap of foreigners in Nigeria

KANO, Nigeria (Reuters) - An Islamist group linked to al Qaeda claimed responsibility on Monday for kidnapping seven foreigners during a night time raid in a remote northern Nigerian town at the weekend. Gunmen killed a security guard and abducted a Briton, an Italian, a Greek and four Lebanese workers after storming the housing compound of Lebanese construction firm Setraco in Jama'are in Bauchi state late on Saturday. ...

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Arrest in Greek gold mining company attack


San Francisco Chronicle

Arrest in Greek gold mining company attack
The Associated Press
THESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) — Greek police say they have arrested a 54-year-old man in connection with a weekend attack against a gold mining company in which about 40 masked intruders torched machinery and vehicles. Authorities said Monday the ...
Arsonists attack Hellas gold mine in northern GreeceBBC News
Masked intruders raid Greek gold mining company, set machinery on fireWashington Post
Man arrested following arson attack at Skouries gold mine in HalkidikiKathimerini

all 17 news articles »

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Greek Neo-Nazi Golden Dawn Party Blasts Holocaust Remembrance as ...


Greek Neo-Nazi Golden Dawn Party Blasts Holocaust Remembrance as ...
Jewish Daily Forward
The Greek neo-Nazi Golden Dawn Party has questioned the country marking International Holocaust Remembrance Day, calling it “unacceptable.” In a question posed in the Greek Parliament last week, Golden Dawn lawmaker Ioannis Lagos asked the ...

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Concept Photos: Greek Orthodox Community


Windsor Star (blog)

Concept Photos: Greek Orthodox Community
Windsor Star (blog)
... Photos: Greek Orthodox Community. Concept from aerial western view of Greek Orthodox Community of Windsor on University Avenue showing Commercial/residential at Grand Entrance. Byzantine Church and Banquet Hall. (HANDOUT/The Windsor Star) ...


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