Danone Comes Storming Back in Greek Yogurt, Threatening Chobani's ...

Danone Comes Storming Back in Greek Yogurt, Threatening Chobani's ...brandchannel.comDon't look now, Chobani. Danone is taking back some of the yogurt-market turf that the Greek-style giant claimed out of nowhere over the last few years. Specifically, Danone—known as Dannon USA in America—has rallied behind its Oikos brand of ...

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.brandchannel.com

Greek government braces for Syria hit

KathimeriniGreek government braces for Syria hitKathimeriniDefense Minister Dimitris Avramopoulos on Friday chaired an emergency summit involving senior officials from several other ministries to discuss Greece's possible support role in the event of a US hit on Syria as well as matters relating to national ...

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.ekathimerini.com

Seamus Heaney's death 'leaves breach in language itself'

Tributes flow in from fellow writers after poet who won Nobel prize for literature dies in Dublin aged 74

He was a snowy-haired, craggy mountain of a man; a man who radiated granite integrity and deep kindness. He was a poet, among the greatest of our era, and the first of his nation to win the Nobel prize since Yeats.

Seamus Heaney, who has died in hospital in Dublin, aged 74, leaves family, friends and readers in Ireland and beyond "feeling personally bereaved", in the words of his longtime friend, the poet Michael Longley. "Just as his presence filled a room, his marvellous poems filled the hearts of generations of readers."

Carol Ann Duffy, Britain's poet laureate, said that for his "brothers and sisters in poetry … he came to be the poet we all measured ourselves against and he demonstrated the true vocational nature of his art for every moment of his life. He is irreplaceable." For poet Don Paterson, "the death of this beloved man seems to have left a breach in the language itself".

Heaney, who won the Nobel prize for literature in 1995, an experience he likened to "being caught up in a mostly benign avalanche", was born shortly before the start of the second world war into a farming family in Castledawson, County Derry.

His first collection of poetry, Death of a Naturalist, was published in 1966; numerous others followed, including North (1975), the Haw Lantern (1987) and his 12th and final collection, Human Chain (2010). He was marinated in the language and landscape of his native Derry, as well as in the poetry of the Anglo-Saxons, the Greeks and the Romans: his translation of Beowulf (2000) was especially highly acclaimed.

The defining fact of his poetry has been the complexities, tragedies and traumas of 20th-century Irish history. An Ulster-born Catholic who in the 1970s moved south to Wicklow and later Dublin (and who also spent many years teaching at Harvard), he resisted attempts to co-opt him, preferring to "tell all the truth but tell it slant", to borrow a line from Emily Dickinson.

His Nobel address manifested the poet's struggle in the face of intractable, bloody history. What "always will be to poetry's credit", he wrote, is "the power to persuade that vulnerable part of our consciousness of its rightness in spite of the evidence of wrongness all around it".

The poet Paul Muldoon, as a 16-year-old, was encouraged in his writing by the 28-year-old Heaney, and later went on to study with him at Queen's University, Belfast. He said: "He managed in ways that are more or less unheard of to be a poet and a public figure, but one who was never involved in propaganda. He always tried to be true to whatever the moment might be. It was in many ways a difficult role: people looked to him almost as one might to the Delphic Oracle."

Frank McGuinness, the Irish playwright, said: "During the darkest days of the Northern Ireland conflict he was our conscience: a conscience that was accurate and precise in how it articulated what was happening.

"His poems are a brilliant record of what Ireland went through, and to produce it he must have gone through many trials. He carried enormous burdens for us and he helped us. He was a great ally for the light … he was the greatest Irishman of my generation: he had no rivals."

Politicians from both sides of the border praised the poet. Michael D Higgins, the president of the Irish Republic, said: "The presence of Seamus was a warm one, full of humour, care and courtesy – a courtesy that enabled him to carry with such wry Northern Irish dignity so many well-deserved honours from all over the world." The taioseach, Enda Kenny, said that his death "brings great sorrow to Ireland, to language and to literature".

Heaney was a strong supporter of the peace process in Northern Ireland, memorably paying tribute to the architects of the Good Friday agreement, the then leaders of nationalism and unionism John Hume (whom he dubbed "the hedgehog") and David Trimble ("the fox").

The leader of the Ulster Unionist party, Mike Nesbitt, recalled: "Bill Clinton chose Heaney's great phrase about when 'hope and history rhyme' from The Cure at Troy [the poet's translation of Sophocles' play Philoctetes] in his speech in Londonderry in 1995."

Clinton said: "Both his stunning work and his life were a gift to the world. His mind, heart, and his uniquely Irish gift for language made him our finest poet of the rhythms of ordinary lives and a powerful voice for peace. And he was a good and true friend."

Fellow writers paid tribute to the poet's sheer human warmth. "Seamus never had a sour moment, neither in person nor on paper," said the playwright Tom Stoppard. "You couldn't help loving him any more than you could help reading on from the first line."

Younger writers bore witness to his generosity. Gerald Dawe, poet and professor of literature at Trinity College Dublin, said he was "like an older brother who encouraged you to do the best you could do". Matthew Hollis, a poet and Heaney's editor at the publisher Faber, recalled being encouraged by Heaney when he sent him poems as a young man.

He called him "a man of hearthside, personal kindness. Within the poetry world he was a father figure: the head of our poetry household … Above all he was a great friend to poetry; showing countless readers what was possible in language, encouraging us to dig a little deeper, to break the skin of our consciousness and our articulacy." The poet Lavinia Greenlaw added: "To receive his warmth and encouragement was like receiving something from the sun."

In his first collection, Death of a Naturalist, Heaney included a poem called Digging – a manifesto, of sorts, for the poet who was also the scion of farmers. "I've no spade to follow men like them," he wrote. But the poem goes on, with the kind of dogged ferocity that all great writers share: "Between my finger and my thumb/ The squat pen rests./ I'll dig with it."

Seamus HeaneyPoetryIrelandNorthern IrelandEuropeCharlotte HigginsHenry McDonaldtheguardian.com © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.theguardian.com

AZ Alkmaar douse Atromitos threat after fire delays tie

AZ trailed 1-0 at the time and conceded a second goal on Friday. Despite losing 2-0 at home, however, they went through on the away goals rule after winning last week's first leg 3-1 in Greece. Thursday's blaze caused damaged estimated at 500,000 euros (426,608.17 pounds), the club's general director Toon Gerbrands told Dutch television on Friday. The short circuit, which ...

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.greekherald.com

Greece Wants Victory of Samothrace Back

As officials of the Louvre in Paris seek to raise another one million euros to renovate the famed sculpture Winged Victory of Samothrace that was stolen off that Greek island by a Frenchman in the 19th Century, Greece has asked for its return. ';If the French and the Louvre have a problem, we are ready to preserve and accentuate the Victory of Samothrace, if they return it to us,'; ...

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.greekherald.com

Greek civil servants' union calls 2-day strike against planned job cuts, suspensions

Greece civil servants' union is intensifying protests against planned mass job cuts and suspensions, and has called a two-day strike for next month.

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT feeds.foxnews.com

Greece's Alpha Bank Posts Loss on Bad Loan Charge

However, the results, the first since the bank was fully recapitalized with help from the Greek state earlier this year, also showed some signs of improvement compared with the last year as the rate of new bad loans appeared to slow, while the ...

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT online.wsj.com

Greek Banks Post Mixed Second-Quarter Results

Greek banks posted a mixed set of second-quarter results this week–the first since being recapitalized with help from the Greek state earlier this year–as they continued to wrestle with rising bad loans stemming from the country's protracted recession.

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT online.wsj.com

Market week: Fed, Syria and Greece make for unsettled outlook

Market week: Fed, Syria and Greece make for unsettled outlookThe GuardianOn top of that, the eurozone crisis was still bubbling away, with talk that Greece might need a third bailout and worries about the outlook once the German elections are out of the way. The leading index closed at 6412.9 yesterday, down 70 points or 1 ...

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.theguardian.com

Fr. Peter-Michael Preble: Blessed Are the Peacemakers

From an Orthodox perspective there is no justification for war; even a war of defense is a lesser evil but is still an evil. The Orthodox Church, by faith and practice, believes that peace is normal and just. Therefore, war would be not only evil but it would be non-normative. We are to seek peace in each and every situation.

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.huffingtonpost.com

Greek civil servants call 2-day strike next month

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece civil servants' union is intensifying protests against planned mass job cuts and suspensions, and has called a two-day strike for next month. The ADEDY umbrella group said Friday it would approach other major Greek unions to ...

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.sfgate.com

Greece, Azerbaijan: We support, respect will of Egyptian people

Greece, Azerbaijan: We support, respect will of Egyptian peopleEgypt SIS (press release)Egypt's Ambassador in Baku Tariq Abu Sina delivered a message from Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmy to his Azerbaijani counterpart Elmar Mammadyarov in which he posted him on the current developments in Egypt. Fahmy affirmed the keenness of the ...

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.sis.gov.eg

Spain youth unemployment reaches record 56.1%

Number of young Spaniards belonging to 'lost generation' is up 2% since June, despite government claims that the worst is over

Youth unemployment in Spain has reached a new high of 56.1%, a quarter of the 3.5 million under-25s jobless across the eurozone, according to the latest Eurostat figures.

The number of young Spaniards belonging to what has become known as the lost generation is up 2% since June to 883,000. Only Greece has a higher percentage of young people out of work, at 62.9%.

Among adult males, Spain has the highest unemployment at 25.3%, higher even than Greece. Despite the government's claims that the worst has passed and that employment reforms will encourage firms to hire, the figures suggest it will be a long time before any upturn in the economy is reflected in a declining jobless rate. With the holiday season coming to a close, the numbers are likely to rise as workers on seasonal contracts go back on the dole.

With close to six million Spaniards out of work, unemployment is so entrenched that there was no political reaction to the latest figures, neither from government nor the opposition. Indeed, mentioning the economy at all has become virtually taboo across the political spectrum. Meanwhile, Spaniards and recent immigrants are deserting the country in search of work, with 500,000 leaving in 2012, 60,000 of them Spanish nationals, most of them to Latin America and Europe.

The total number of unemployed across the eurozone is 19.2 million, 15,000 fewer than in June. Across the EU the figure was 26.7 million, down 33,000 from June. However, it has remained at a record rate of 12.1% for the fourth months. The overall rate across the eurozone is 11%, half a percentage point up on last year.

Italy saw a small fall to 12%, while the lowest rates among member states are Austria (4.8%), Germany (5.3%) and Luxembourg (5.7%). The rate in the US is 7.4% and in Japan 3.8%.

As the continent still grapples with the effects of the financial crisis five years on, a board member of the German central bank warned that the European financial system is still not equipped to cope with a bank failure of a similar magnitude to 2008's collapse of Lehman Brothers.

"If we had a Lehman 2.0 tomorrow, which I don't see, we still wouldn't hold the tools we designed to wind down banks globally effectively in our hands," said Andreas Dombret of Germany's Bundesbank.

Some progress had been made and the system is now safer than in 2008, but implementation is slow, said Dombret, who is in charge of the financial stability portfolio on the German central bank's board.

He added: "More than anything, we have bought time with a number of unconventional measures. That's why financial markets are currently calm, but it doesn't have to stay like that forever."

The bankruptcy of US investment bank Lehman plunged the global financial system into crisis, leading to a raft of new rules aimed at making banks' business less risky to avoid taxpayer-funded rescues.

The European Central Bank's vow a year ago to do "whatever it takes" to preserve the single currency, the euro, took some heat out of the debt crisis, but it also eased pressure on struggling eurozone countries to reform, according to Dombret.

Unemployment and employment statisticsEconomicsSpainUnemploymentEurozone crisisEuropean UnionEuropean monetary unionBankingEuropean banksFinancial crisisFinancial sectorEuroEuropeStephen Burgentheguardian.com © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT feeds.theguardian.com

Another financial crisis looms if rich countries can't kick their addiction to cash injection

Five years on from the last crash, quantitative easing remains the weapon of choice for governments unwilling to challenge the current economic model

Just as people started to think that things were getting calmer – if not exactly brighter – in the rich countries, things have become decidedly slower and more volatile in the so-called "emerging market" economies. At the centre of the (unwanted) attention at the moment is India, which is seeing a rapid outflow of capital and thus a rapid fall in the value of its currency, the rupee. But many other emerging market economies, other than China, have also seen similar outflows and weakening of currencies recently.

This is not necessarily a bad development. The currencies of many emerging market economies, especially those of Brazil's real and South Africa's rand, had been significantly over-valued, damaging their export competitiveness. Devaluation could actually help these economies put their growth on a more sustainable path.

However, people are rightly worried that too rapid flows of capital out of these countries may cause excessively fast devaluations, resulting in currency crises and thus financial crises, as happened in eastern Asia back in 1997. Situations like this can arise because the currencies of the emerging countries have been propped up by something that can quickly disappear – that is, the large inflows of speculative capital from the rich countries. Given its nature, such capital is ready to pull out at any moment, as an increasing portion of it has been doing for several months.

This is a stark reminder that things are still not well with the world economy, five years on from the outbreak of the biggest financial crisis in three generations in September 2008.

We have had such huge capital inflows into the emerging economies mainly because of quantitative easing (QE) by the central banks of the US, Britain, and other rich countries, which injected trillions of dollars into the world economy, in a desperate attempt to revive their moribund economies.

In its initial phase, QE may have had acted like an adrenaline shot to someone who just had a cardiac arrest. But subsequently its boosting effects have been largely through the creation of unsustainable asset bubbles – in the stock market, in property markets and in commodity markets – that may burst and generate another round of financial crises. On top of that, it has caused much collateral damage to developing countries, by overvaluing their currencies, helping them generate unsustainable credit booms, and now threatening them with the prospect of currency crises.

If its effects are at best debatable and at worst laying the ground for the next round of financial crises, why has there been so much QE? It is because it has been the only weapon that the rich country governments have been willing to deploy in order to generate an economic recovery.

QE has become the weapon of choice by these governments because it is the only way in which recovery – however slow and anaemic – could be generated without changing the economic model that has served the rich and powerful so well in the past three decades.

This model is propelled by a continuous generation of asset bubbles, fuelled by complex and opaque financial instruments created by highly leveraged banks and other financial institutions. It is a system in which short-term financial profits take precedence over long-term investments in productive capabilities, and over the quality of life of employees. If the rich countries had tried to generate recovery through any other means than QE, they would have to seriously challenge this model.

Recovery driven by fiscal policy would have involved an increase in the shares of public investment and social welfare spending in national income, reducing the share going to the rich. It would have generated new public sector jobs, which would have weakened the bargaining power of capitalists by reducing unemployment.

Recovery based on a "rebalancing" of the economy would have required policies that hurt the financial sector. The financial system would have to be re-engineered to channel more money into long-term investments that raise productivity. Exchange rates would have to be maintained at a competitive level on a permanent basis, rather than at an over-valued level that the financial sector favours. There would have to be greater public investment in the training of scientists and engineers, and greater incentives for them to work in and with the industrial sector, thus shrinking the recruitment pool for the financial industry.

Given all this, it is not a big surprise that those who benefit from the status quo have persisted with QE. What is surprising is that they have actually strengthened the status quo, despite the mess they have caused. They have successfully pushed for cuts in government spending, shrinking the welfare state to the extent that even Margaret Thatcher could not manage. They have used the fear of unemployment in an environment of shrinking social safety nets to force workers to accept more unstable part-time jobs, less-secure contracts (zero-hour contracts being the most extreme example), and poorer working conditions.

But is this maintenance, or even fortification, of the ancient regime likely to continue? It may, but it may not. Greece, Spain, and other eurozone periphery countries could explode any day, given their high unemployment and deepening strains of austerity. In the US, which is considered the home of quiescent workers, the call for living wages is becoming louder, as seen in the current strikes by fast-food restaurant workers. The British are (overly) patient people, but they may change their mind when the full extent of budget cuts unfolds in the coming months.

All of these stirrings may amount to little, especially given the weakened state of trade unions, except in a few countries, and the failure of the parties on the left of centre to come up with a coherent alternative vision. But politics is unpredictable. Five years after the crisis, the real battle for the future of capitalism may be only just beginning.

Ha-Joon Chang is the author of 23 Things They Don't Tell You About Capitalism

Financial crisisEconomicsBankingQuantitative easingInterest ratesFinancial sectorBank of EnglandHa-Joon Changtheguardian.com © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT feeds.theguardian.com

Europe Won't Impact Gold Market As long As Economy Continues To Improve, Say Analysts

(Kitco News) - Improving economic conditions in Europe are not providing much support or direction for gold prices, said analysts. Uncertainty about Greece’s economy or German elections might not be enough to drive prices, they added.

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.forbes.com

Greece needs additional funding EU Economic Commissioner

EU economic and monetary affairs commissioner Olli Rehn gives a press conference on June 5, 2013 at the EU headquarters in Brussels. The European Commission on June 5, Latvia gave a green light to join the 17-nation eurozone in January 2014, saying the country met the conditions to join the single currency and had successfully overcome its 2008-2009 crisis. Photo - AFP / Lehtikuva. EU Economic ...

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.greekherald.com

EU Disputes Troika Wants Privatization Control

The European Union has denied a report that Greece’s international lenders – the EU, International Monetary Fund, and European Central Bank – want to put the country’s lagging privatization program in its hands and its headquarters moved from Athens to Luxembourg. Media reports had claimed that the Troika wanted control of privatization because Greece has fallen woefully ...

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.greekherald.com

Fitch House Price Hit May Offset Greek Repossession Resumption

Celebrating our first 100 years For 100 years, Fitch Ratings has been making the future a little more predictable. We'd like to thank the world's investors for putting their confidence in us. And we look forward to continuing our pursuit of answers in the century to ...

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.greekherald.com

Greece is running out of cash -- again. Details on a possible third bailout

After two bailouts, Greece needs yet more money. While that is hardly surprising, the debate over how it should get it has the potential to ignite tumult in the seemingly calm euro ...

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.greekherald.com

Greece civil servants call strike for September 18, 19

ATHENS (Reuters) - Greece's umbrella trade union for the public sector called on Friday a 48-hour strike for the middle of next month to protest planned civil sector firings and transfers that form part of the country's international bailout. The walkout will take place on September 18 and 19, the ADEDY trade union said in a statement. "We decided to step up the struggle," it said. ...

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT news.yahoo.com

Greece appoints new deputy CEO at bank rescue fund

ATHENS (Reuters) - Greece appointed on Friday a new deputy chief executive at its bank rescue fund, the vehicle that recapitalised the country's top banks and is now their major shareholder. George Koutsos, ...

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT finance.yahoo.com

Low-paid Germans mind rich-poor gap as elections approach

With no national minimum wage and a fifth of workers in insecure mini-jobs, critics say German prosperity is being built on exploitation of the downtrodden

Going to the cinema or her local outdoor pool are treats Christa Rein can rarely afford. "I can't ever buy things like salmon or a bottle of sparkling wine," says the 55-year old. "The fridge can't break, as I wouldn't be able to afford to replace it."

It sounds like another story from Europe's desolate southern rim, squeezed by three years of austerity and recession. So it might come as a surprise to find that Rein's financial hardship comes from the centre of Europe's economic powerhouse. And that she is by no means alone.

As Angela Merkel leads her centre-right party towards crucial elections on a promise of economic recovery, sound financial stewardship and near-record employment, there is mounting dissent from a group that complains it is not sharing in Germany's much-vaunted wealth.

Radical reform to the jobs market launched a decade ago has left around a quarter of the workforce in low-paid, insecure and part-time employment, belying the impression of an economic miracle with a flawless jobs success story that has become the envy of the world.

Rein's take-home pay, for which she works eight-hour days for a cleaning contractor, is €1,079 (£922) a month. "I've been doing this for 30 years, and you're seeing all the time the way the workload has increased as the pay has decreased," she says. "Fewer of us are expected to clean more square metres in ever less time. We get 15 to 20 seconds to clean a toilet – that's not a toilet I'd like to sit on."

Meanwhile, the company employing her is earning more money, she says, "but it's not being passed on to us women". Rein, who lives in Braunschweig, argues the situation reflects that of the wider economy and will affect the way she chooses to vote in the elections on 22 September, which Merkel is widely tipped to win. "It's high time that ordinary German workers got to participate in the success of the economy," she says.

A survey for the European Central Bank in April showed that Germany's median net household worth was much lower than that of Greece. Looked at in terms of GDP per head, Germany is faring reasonably well. But contrary perhaps to popular belief, it is only just above the eurozone average.

According to the Institute for Employment Research (IAB), the research arm of the federal employment agency, 25% of all German workers earn less than €9.54 (£8.15) per hour. In Europe, only Lithuania has a higher percentage of low earners – that is, those earning less than two-thirds of the national average wage – than Germany.

The situation has fuelled a growing poor-rich divide as well as increasing resentment among those who see German prosperity being built on the exploitation of the downtrodden.

Daniel Kerekes, a 26-year-old student of history and religion at Bochum University, is among the one-fifth of Germans dependent on a so-called mini-job. "I work at a supermarket for around 16 hours per week for €7.50 an hour on a very restrictive contract," he says. "The shifts aren't guaranteed, and if I don't do everything my boss asks of me he can cut my shifts, or give me the worst ones."

With his earnings – in addition he earns a small amount working in digital journalism – he struggles to pay his bills, including the €280 monthly rent for his 36 sq m (387 sq ft) flat plus obligatory health and liability insurance payments.

Sometimes referred to as McJobs, mini-jobs are a form of marginal employment that allows workers to earn up to €450 a month free of tax. Introduced in 2003 by the then Social Democratic chancellor, Gerhard Schröder, as part of a wide-ranging labour market reform at a time when Germany's economic doldrums earned it the title "sick man of Europe", mini-jobs keep down labour costs and offer greater flexibility to employers.

But critics say they have helped expand the disparity between rich and poor and undermined many of the values that have traditionally underpinned Germany's envied social-market economy. Not only do they give employers no reason to turn them into proper jobs, but mini-jobs offer workers little incentive to work more because then they would have to pay tax. As a result, many remain trapped in marginal work and detached from Germany's much-hailed jobwunder, or jobs miracle.

Bochum, a poor city in the Ruhr valley, Germany's former industrialised heartland, is teeming with mini-jobs, according to Kerekes. "You can find these low-paid, precarious jobs on every corner," he says. "The woman living below me works on a mini-job basis in a discount supermarket, my girlfriend mini-jobs as a waitress – employers enjoy the fact that they can get you for just €450 a month."

Despite government claims that mini-jobs are on the wane – they fell by 0.6% last year – thanks to the success of Merkel's labour market policies, the opposition is quick to disagree. "These are questionable figures," said Anette Krame, labour market expert for the Social Democrats (SPD). "I don't think a 0.6% drop is reason to celebrate and neither do I recognise a trend in that direction." She cites the glaring omission in the statistics of recently introduced work contracts, which have been held responsible for wage dumping in several sectors, particularly the food industry.

Kerekes would like to see a new government abolish mini-jobs and introduce a minimum wage instead. "Mini-jobs are destroying ordinary work places," he says, "and for most people they do not provide a living wage. It can't be that even in the US most states have a minimum wage, and Germany, as one of the richest countries in the world, has none."

He is encouraged by the fact that the SPD say if they are elected they will introduce a minimum wage – of €8.50 – but he believes they are not going far enough. And anyway, they introduced the mini-jobs in the first place.

Statistics from Germany's employment agency show that at the top end German workers' wages rose by 25% between 1999 and 2010 while salaries in the lowest fifth rose by a mere 7.5%, in a period when inflation was 18%. That has led to what economists refer to as internal devaluation, significantly reducing their purchasing power and doing damage to the German economy.

Kerekes says his vote next month will go to the party he believes is doing most to tackle the McJob phenomenon. "I will vote for the Left party," he says, referring to the grouping of former East German communists and SPD rebels, "because they're the only ones pushing for a €10 minimum wage, which is the least you should be expected to be able to live on."

GermanyAngela MerkelEuropeKate ConnollyLouise Osbornetheguardian.com © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.theguardian.com

Marketing Greece appoints Hills Balfour to handle PR around UK launch

Marketing Greece appoints Hills Balfour to handle PR around UK launchThe DrumMarketing Greece has announced the appointment of Hills Balfour to handle its PR and social media for its UK launch. The agency will now implement a PR and social media strategy over the next 18 months, with the account led by Hills Balfour senior ...

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.thedrum.com

The Never Ending Greek Tragedy

As fall draws nigh, Europe faces the Greek sovereign debt problem again. Both the German and Greek finance ministers, Wolfgang Schäuble and George Papaconstantinou, recently suggested that Greece might need yet another bailout to meet its financing needs.

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.cato.org

Is it Science or Lobbyists? Why Will Greek Yogurt be in School Lunches?

Is it Science or Lobbyists? Why Will Greek Yogurt be in School Lunches?One Green PlanetThe U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has recently announced a Greek yogurt school lunch pilot program in four states—news making some parents happy and making others angry. In just the past few years, Greek yogurt has risen to food stardom in the ...Danone Finds Yogurt's All Greek as Oikos Chases ChobaniAgWeball 3 news articles »

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.onegreenplanet.org

The Greek-yogurt phenomenon in America left big food firms feeling sour. They ...

Opposing ViewsThe Greek-yogurt phenomenon in America left big food firms feeling sour. They ...The EconomistFEW business careers have been as spectacular as Hamdi Ulukaya's. He bought an 85-year-old yogurt factory in upstate New York in 2005 and sold his first pot of Chobani “Greek” yogurt 18 months later. This year he expects to sell more than $1 billion ...Greek Yogurt Gets Grounded by Air ForceMotley Foolall 7 news articles »

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.economist.com

Egypt's ambassadors in Czech Republic, Greece, Uganda explain situation in ...

Egypt's ambassadors in Czech Republic, Greece, Uganda explain situation in ...Egypt SIS (press release)Egypt's ambassador in Prague held a meeting on Wednesday 28/8/2013 with representatives of travel agencies in the Czech Republic to explain the real situation in Egypt. These travel agencies are Alexandria, Cedok, Blue Style, Fisher and Exim Tours, ...

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.sis.gov.eg

Greece to sell 875 mln euros of 6-month T-bills on Sept 3

ATHENS | Fri Aug 30, 2013 6:11am EDT ATHENS Aug 30 (Reuters) - Greece will auction 875 million euros ($1.16 billion) of six-month T-bills on September 3 to refinance a maturing issue, the country's debt agency PDMA said on Friday. Monthly T-bill sales are Greece's sole remaining source of market funding. The settlement date will be September 6. Only primary dealers will be ...

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.greekherald.com

Road deaths decline in June by 8.3 percent

There were 8.3 percent fewer people killed in traffic accidents on the streets of Greece in June this year compared to last, according to provisional data released on Friday by the Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT), which said that road deaths dropped to 77 in the month compared to 84 last June.The number of people that sustained serious injuries also dropped this June to 132 compared to ...

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.greekherald.com

Against All Odds A Job in Greece

(Photo/Finn Taylor/Businessweek) Tina Stratigaki had been jobless and searching for work in Greece since January. In July, for a cover story in Bloomberg Businessweek, I followed a 29-year-old Greek woman named Tina Stratigaki for a week as she searched for a job. Mostly, there was little to do. She showed me how she searched the job listings and how she applied for openings, but I also was able ...

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.greekherald.com

How Chobani Stole Greek Yogurt Market

Hamdi Ulukaya is a Kurd who has popularized Greek yogurt in the United States. Few business careers have been as spectacular as Hamdi Ulukaya's. He bought an 85-year-old yogurt factory in upstate New York in 2005 and sold his first pot of Chobani "Greek" yogurt 18 months later. This year he expects to sell more than $1 billion worth of it. Greek-style yogurt's share of ...

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.greekherald.com

New College Students See Future Abroad

With the results of the Pan-Hellenic Exams just announced, a new class of Greek college students is set to begin their education, but many said they see their lives elsewhere now, with the country’s crushing economic crisis and 65 percent unemployment among youth dashing their dreams of staying. Ilias Zervas, from the First Lyceum of Glyfada, collected 19235 points in Pan-Hellenic Exams. ...

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.greekherald.com

Greece leading EU unemployment Eurostat figures show

Greece had the highest rate of unemployment in the European Union with 27.6 percent in May, according to data released on Friday by the EU's statistical authority Eurostat, confirming data compiled by the national statistics agency ELSTAT, and adding that youth unemployment was also at a record high in May of 62.9 percent.The second-largest number of jobless people in the EU in May was ...

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.greekherald.com

Debts to state rise above 60 billion euros in seven-month period

The amount of money owed to the cash-strapped Greek state by individuals and businesses rose above the 60-billion-euro mark at the end of July, hitting a new negative record, Finance Ministry figures showed on Friday.The ministry's General Secretariat for Revenues reported that debts to the state on July 31 stood at 60.181 billion euros, rising by some 407 million euros from the end of June ...

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.greekherald.com

Greece Shows the Eurozone Crisis Is Far From Over

As fall draws nigh, Europe faces the Greek sovereign debt problem again. Both the German and Greek finance ministers, Wolfgang Schäuble and George Papaconstantinou, recently suggested that Greece might need yet another bailout to meet its financing ...

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.greekherald.com

George Calombaris's Gazi is Greek with a stylish twist

George Calombaris's Gazi is Greek with a stylish twistThe AustralianBut as lunch drew to an end over Greek coffee and Turkish delight, cut from a giant ruby cake riddled with pistachios and hazelnuts, talk turns to food. That's the beauty of a communal table, in this case a big slab of black steel overlooking the Gazi ...

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.theaustralian.com.au

Best Bets: St. Nicholas Greek Festival, Sammy Hagar and more

Best Bets: St. Nicholas Greek Festival, Sammy Hagar and moreSTLtoday.comFRIDAY. Editor's pick: St. Nicholas Greek Festival. 5-9 p.m. Friday, 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Saturday-Sunday, 11 a.m.-8 p.m. Monday • St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church, 4967 Forest Park Boulevard • Free • sngoc.org. New this year to the annual Greek Festival ...

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.stltoday.com

Papadopoulos back for Greece after 6-year absence

Papadopoulos back for Greece after 6-year absenceMiamiHerald.comATHENS, Greece -- Striker Dimitris Papadopoulos has been called up for Greece after a six-year absence for World Cup qualifiers next month. Greece coach Fernando Santos named the 31-year-old Atromitos forward as a surprise inclusion for Group G ...and more »

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.miamiherald.com

Greece Wants Diplomacy Over Syria

Greek Prime Minister and New Democracy Conservative leader Antonis Samaras and his Deputy PM/Foreign Minister, PASOK Socialist leader Evangelos Venizelos, said after a meeting that they would prefer a diplomatic solution to Syria’s ongoing civil war instead of a military strike by western powers. But, they said they would also allow NATO to use its bases in Greece in case the decision is ...

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.greekherald.com

Greece Chasing No-Show Workers

Some Greek municipal police have fake credentials Stepping up a campaign to root out disciplinary problems, troublemakers, people who’ve faked their credentials, and criminals still being paid, Greek Administrative Reform Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said he’s now going after people who rarely – or never – come to work and keep getting their salaries and haven’t been ...

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.greekherald.com

New breed of UT Greeks Christian fraternity renting Pike house

SAUL YOUNG/NEWS SENTINEL Beta Upsilon Chi founding member Harrison Collins talks with Paige Podgorski during a party Monday at the fraternity’s University of Tennessee house. There's something different about these UT Greeks. They drink Cheerwine and "Jesus Juice." They're a Christian fraternity, and they've moved into the Pike ...

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.greekherald.com

Greece-Turkey border crossing bizarre events because of the possibility of war with Syria Breaking News

Good relations between Greece and Turkey also reflected in the tourism sector, made easier transitions between the two countries.But the harder transitions for a few days border checkpoint of Turkey west of the Ipsala. Greek-Turkish border, especially in the evening it stopped completely,15 km from the border was about 10 o’clock in the evening the line of vehicles. This event is due to ...

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.greekherald.com

Japonica Extends Offer to Buy Greek Bonds Until End of September

Japonica Partners & Co., the U.S. investment firm trying to buy as much as 4 billion euros ($5.3 billion) of Greek government debt, said it’s making a final, monthlong extension of its tender offer.

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.bloomberg.com

Greek myth, strictly for tweens

THIS FANTASY-LITE sequel to The Lightning Thief is less fussy than its predecessor but still fun for tweens. By no means an accurate rendition of the world of Greek myth, it’s basically the American version of Harry Potter, but not as intricate, and it ...

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.iol.co.za

Greek Org of Football Prognostics S.A. : Tax Audit Conclusion 2012

08/09 GREEK ORG OF FOOTBALL PROGNOSTICS S.: ?? Amendment of Financial Calendar of the.. 08/09 GREEK ORG OF FOOTBALL PROGNOSTICS S.: Transactions Notification (Mr. Nikolaos P.. 08/05 GREEK ORG OF FOOTBALL PROGNOSTICS S.: Amendment of the INTRALOT – OPAP ...

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.4-traders.com

Charles Boutselis, 84, of Lowell; 'gifted storyteller,' proud Greek

Boston GlobeCharles Boutselis, 84, of Lowell; 'gifted storyteller,' proud GreekBoston GlobeHe spoke Greek beautifully, his niece said, and Mr. Boutselis devoted much of his free time to Greek institutions in Lowell, where he had lived his entire life. He had served as auditor of Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church, his family said, and was a ...

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.bostonglobe.com

Greek Festival Invites Community Into Its Family

Proceeds go to support the church and its activities ... “It’s a repeat performance that just gets better every year,” she said. “Put on your dancing shoes and come on down. If you have a question, ask. We have anything you need.”

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT gazettes.com

National Bank of Greece's Management Discusses Q2 2013 Results

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. This is the Chorus Call conference operator. Welcome and thank you for joining National Bank of Greece Second Quarter 2013 Financial Results Conference Call. As a reminder, all participants are in listen ...

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT money.msn.com

Greek extreme-right leader in racist slur against NBA player

In a tirade delivered on an online party broadcast, Michaloliakos attacked 19-year-old Antetokounmpo, who plays for the Milwaukee Bucks in the 2013 NBA Draft, saying his parents should have been arrested as illegal immigrants when they were ...

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.worldjewishcongress.org

Greece had no place in euro zone: Merkel

Hurriyet Daily NewsGreece had no place in euro zone: MerkelHurriyet Daily NewsGerman Chancellor Angela Merkel has charged, a month before elections, that struggling Greece should never have been allowed into the eurozone, blaming her political rivals for letting it happen. She heaped blame for Europe's debt and recession ...

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.hurriyetdailynews.com