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How the world sees Greece
Tuesday, October 29, 2013
Athens: One of the Major Hubs in Europe
Athens is one of the major hubs in Europe, state executives of the airline company Lufthansa. “Greece has proved itself as a reliable and powerful ally,” said the chief commercial officer of Lufthansa airline Jens Bischof today, during an event where he presented the future plans of the company. According to the company, “there has […]
Greek Islands: The Ultimate Holiday Destination
Best Value Destinations according to Lonely Planet Every year the Lonely Planet publishes a small book with the best travel destinations of the year. The material for 2014 is already set, and among the recommendations of Lonely Planet are the Greek islands. The magazine chooses places worth visiting without having to pay a fortune, and […]
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Greek police identify suspected fraudsters
Police on Tuesday revealed the identities of five alleged fraudsters believed to have swindled 30,000 euros from elderly victims in Athens.
The photographs of the five, who were arrested on October 20, will remain on the police’s web site for six months, ... ...
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French police donate 10 cars to under-equipped Greek counterparts
Public Order Minister Nikos Dendias on Tuesday took delivery of 10 cars donated by the French Police for Greece’s under-equipped force.
The cars, though second-hand, are in excellent condition, Dendias said, adding that the vehicles would be available fro... ...
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Greek police release photo of Ukrainian murder suspect
Police on Tuesday published the photograph and name of a 46-year-old Ukrainian woman believed to be behind the murder of an 81-year-old man found stabbed to death in his apartment in the run-down central Athens district of Aghios Panteleimonas in July 201... ...
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Increase in Greek child obesity linked to financial crisis
The level of obesity among children has increased significantly over the past 10 years, and has virtually doubled for girls, according to a new study which blames the problem on the negative impact of the economic crisis on healthy eating.
According to th... ...
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Fifty-nine Greek doctors suspended over prescriptions
Almost 60 doctors who worked with the country’s main healthcare provider, EOPYY, are to be suspended for four months after they were found to be issuing a suspiciously high number of prescriptions for medicines and tests at diagnostic centers.
A total of ... ...
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Troika not convinced social security bill can cover fiscal gap
A bill aiming to trim Greece’s social security spending will not be enough to cover next year’s fiscal gap, European sources told Kathimerini on Tuesday, as the difference in opinion between Athens and the troika over how much austerity will be needed nex... ...
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Kammenos riles Socialists with claims PASOK is 'criminal organization'
PASOK on Tuesday labeled Panos Kammenos and his anti-bailout Independent Greeks “would-be allies of the far right” after the outspoken politician claimed that the Socialist party was a “criminal organization,” which is the same accusation that has been le... ...
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Roma pair held for Maria's 'abduction' seek release from jail
A Roma couple who have been in detention on abduction charges since a young blond girl called Maria was removed from their home in a camp in central Greece last week appealed on Tuesday for their release after DNA tests showed that the girl’s biological p... ...
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Energy set to be a focal point in Athens
Greece is becoming a focus point for energy developments in the coming months, as the visits to Athens this week by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and European Commissioner for Energy Guenther Oettinger illustrate.
Athens is scheduled to take over... ...
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Ios island rated for good value
The Aegean island of Ios ranks third among the top 100 tourism destinations in the world that stand out for their value-for-money factor, according to a survey by holiday booking website Trivago.
The top 20 features another four Greek destinations, with M... ...
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What Purpose Do Parades Serve?
The big news in Greece is that the OXI Day parades went off without a hitch. That is the great accomplishment. After all, we are not talking about a little parade celebrating the liberation of a small island, for example.
This is the parade for one of our most glorious national holidays. But it has been transformed from a festive parade into a parade for Greek politicians who now grasp at straws for excuses not to show up.
A parade - incredible as it may seem ? that was made possible thanks to the generous donation of a Greek oil company. And as if that were not enough there's more:
The provincial Governor of Central Macedonia, Apostolos Tzitzikostas, said he would invite members of Golden Dawn to the parade. He added ? the rascal ? that by the logic of his opponents, PASOK representatives should not be invited because 'One could say that is a criminal organization because Akis Tsochatzopoulos was convicted.'
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How Milwaukee Bucks 1st Round Pick Went From Selling Hats On The Street To The NBA
In the 2013 NBA draft, the Milwaukee Bucks drafted Giannis Antetokounmpo with the 15th overall pick. Compared to his fellow draftees, Giannis went through a very difficult journey to get to the NBA.
The 18-year old Antetokounmpo was born in Athens. Giannias and his family were illegal immigrants because parents emigrated from Nigeria in 1991. They lived in poverty
The family lived in Greece for almost 20 years without citizenship which made work, and a place to live hard to come by. His parents, Charles and Veronica, had to move from place to place to avoid police and immigration control officers for fear they would get deported. He told OnMilwaulkee.com:
"For 20 years they were illegal. It's very hard to live for 20 years without papers...At any moment, the cops can stop you and say come over here and let me send you back to your country."
Giannis and his four brothers, Thanassis, Kostas, and Alex, would help their parents with money for food and rent by selling various items in the streets. The four brothers would sell DVDs, hats, bags, and sunglasses.
Luckily basketball changed everything. In their spare time, Giannis and his brothers would play basketball together. One day Greek coach Spiros Velliniatis noticed Giannis and helped him sign with the Greek national team. Giannis was then eventually able to gain Greek citizenship.
This year, he was taken 15th in the NBA draft and he told OnMilwaulkee.com:
"I still can't believe this is happening. It'll be nice that family can be here and be away from anything that's happening in Greece. But I love my country. Greece is my country."
Join the conversation about this story »
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Camille Grammer 'to file abuse claims against Greek boyfriend'
Daily MailCamille Grammer 'to file abuse claims against Greek boyfriend'Daily MailNow a new report claims her Greek boyfriend, Dimitri Charalambopoulos, is the man the mother-of-two was referring to as 'belong[ing] behind bars'. 'Attacked': Camille Grammer is set to file abuse claims against her Greek boyfriend Dimitri ...and more »
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Group taking orders for Greek pastry sale
Group taking orders for Greek pastry saleShreveport TimesPastries top the list for the Holiday Greek Pastry Sale, but yummy frozen item dishes are not far behind. The Ladies of Philoptochos Society of St. George Greek Orthodox Church are taking orders right now. “Preordering is the only way to guarantee your ...
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Camille Grammer 'to file abuse claims against Greek boyfriend'
Daily MailCamille Grammer 'to file abuse claims against Greek boyfriend'Daily MailNow a new report claims her Greek boyfriend, Dimitri Charalambopoulos, is the man the mother-of-two was referring to as 'belong[ing] behind bars'. 'Attacked': Camille Grammer is set to file abuse claims against her Greek boyfriend Dimitri ...and more »
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Briton missing since toddler not in Cyprus: DNA tests
Nicosia (AFP) - Cypriot police said Tuesday that DNA tests disprove claims that a British man believed kidnapped as a toddler on the Greek island of Kos in 1991 was sighted in Cyprus.
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Mother of Maria has five children taken into care
Sasha Ruseva, Maria's mother, has five children taken into care by social services, as Bulgaria insists they want Greece to hand four-year-old over
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Ben Needham's family told Cypriot man not their son
Police say man who presented himself for DNA test is definitely not British toddler who went missing on Kos, in 1991
The family of Ben Needham, the toddler who disappeared on the Greek island of Kos 22 years ago, have learned that a man who presented himself for DNA testing to police is not their son.
On the day of Ben's 24th birthday, the family said they remained "strong and resolute" and would continue to search for Ben. They confirmed in a post on the official Help Find Ben Needham Facebook page that a man who was thought to look like reconstructions of their missing son, was unrelated to them.
The post said: "The Needham family have, in the last few minutes … had confirmation that the DNA results on the man in Cyprus have come back as negative. This, again, is more disappointment for Kerry and her family.
"However, they remain strong and resolute in their search for Ben, and there are other leads currently being looked into which keeps their hopes alive."
Authorities in Cyprus said it was beyond any doubt that the young man did not bear any relationship to Ben. "The DNA result was negative," police officer Yannos Petrides told the Guardian from Nicosia, the Cypriot capital. "Genetic profiling has proved beyond any doubt that he does not have relationship to Ben Needham. We want everyone to know this."
The investigation began when the district attorney on Kos, the island where Needham went missing 22 years ago, was presented with a video showing a young man, bearing a resemblance to the Briton, attending a wedding in a Roma camp outside Limassol, on Cyprus.
The video had been sent by an anonymous source to the head of the lawyers association on Kos. The sender was only prepared to say that he had been inspired to hand over the material when his "conscience was awakened" by the discovery of another little girl, known as Maria, in a Roma camp in central Greece.
The focus of a worldwide investigation, the blonde, blue-eyed child came to embody the plight of missing children internationally before DNA tests proved that a 38-year-old Roma woman in Bulgaria was her real mother. The woman subsequently told police she had been too poor to take care of the girl after she had given birth to her in a hospital in Greece and so had handed her over to another Roma couple when she was seven months old.
Police on Kos insisted on Tuesday that the search for Ben would continue. Last October, South Yorkshire police, in collaboration with the local force, aided by hi-tech sonar equipment and dogs trained in tracking human remains excavated the site on the Aegean island where the toddler went missing.
The investigation, the biggest ever conducted to crack the mystery of the missing Briton, was ultimately fruitless after police announced that no human remains were found in the area.
"But we have not given up hope. We are still working very closely with British police," said a police officer speaking on condition of anonymity. "The inquiry is ongoing."
The toddler, who was 21 months old, went missing on 24 July 1991, after travelling to Kos with his mother, Kerry, and grandparents, Eddie and Christine. Kerry was working behind the bar of a hotel and living on her own in a flat near her family. On the day Ben went missing, Kerry was at work, her son being looked after by her family at the farmhouse being renovated by her father in the village of Iraklis.
CyprusEuropeHelena SmithAlexandra Toppingtheguardian.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 |
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Greece on its knees: is there light at the end of the tunnel?
Greece on its knees: is there light at the end of the tunnel?FRANCE 24After six years of recession, Greece is teetering on the edge but the government believes the country will start to grow again next year. Is this wishful thinking? Our reporters also investigate the dark side of the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party and find ...
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DNA Test Shows Young Man in Cyprus is not Missing Ben
As revealed by the Cypriot authorities, according to the DNA test, the young man who appears in a video held by the Cypriot police is not Ben, the boy who disappeared in Kos, in 1991. The representative of the Cypriot police said earlier, that the DNA sample from Ben’s parents, sent by Interpol, would be […]
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Kalliopi and Husnu: A shared fate
As Kalliopi Georgiadou tells the story of her family, she speaks a few words of the “foreign” language – the one that her parents, Greek Christian Orthodox refugees from Cappadocia, refused to consign to the darkest recesses of memory following their forc... ...
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Local stocks head lower after holiday weekend
The first bourse session in Greece after the long weekend saw local investors buck the trend set by international markets on Tuesday and send the benchmark index south, although some losses were recouped during the last half-hour of trading.
The Athens Ex... ...
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Panathinaikos to play Olympiakos in cup semis
For the first time after six years, basketball’s Greek Cup final will not be between holder Panathinaikos and rival Olympiakos, as the two sides have been drawn to face off in the semifinals instead.
According to the draw that took place on Tuesday, the k... ...
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The 13 Biggest Assholes in Greek Mythology
The 13 Biggest Assholes in Greek Mythologyio9It's a mystery why ancient Greeks worshipped their gods, because their gods were all complete dickheads. They could — and did! — steal, rape, torture, or kill pretty much anyone at any time. Of course, the kings and heroes of ancient Greece was also ...
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Camille Grammer 'set to file police report against Greek boyfriend' after ...
Camille Grammer 'set to file police report against Greek boyfriend' after ...Daily MailNow a new report claims her Greek boyfriend, Dimitri Charalambopoulos, is the man the mother-of-two was referring to as 'belong[ing] behind bars'. 'Attacked': Camille Grammer is set to file abuse claims against her Greek boyfriend Dimitri ...and more »
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They Want To Fit In An Uphill Struggle For Greeces Roma
Maria Soutou (center), a Roma grandmother in her 50s, lives in a shack in the Roma camp near Corinth, Greece. She supports her family by picking aluminum cans out of the trash. "I really want my children to get an education and get out of here," she ...
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Cyprus DNA tests rule out link to lost British toddler
NICOSIA (Reuters) - DNA tests in Cyprus have definitively ruled out the possibility that a Romanian man is Ben Needham, a British toddler who went missing on a Greek island 22 years ago, authorities said on Tuesday.
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Italian Energy On The Auction Block With Privatization Push
This week, Rome announced that by year’s end they would outline a privatization plan intended to chip away at the country’s daunting public debt, which has ballooned to around 133 percent of its gross domestic product. According to Prime Minister Enrico Letta, the privatization push is just one part of the country’s economic recovery plan - one Italy is ready for. “I think now the markets are ready to buy and we will sell public assets,” he told Lally Weymouth of Slate just before a meeting with President Obama this month. “We will sell one part of Terna, which is the national electric grid. Of course, not 100 percent, but 49 percent.” While not exactly new - the OECD pushed for an Italian privatization program last year - the end of year effort is a fresh effort to avoid the kind of political crises that have plagued Italy over the last two years. While Rome has been light on details, except for Finance Minister Fabrizio Saccomanni offering that those holdings considered would be from both “quoted and unquoted” companies, there has been considerable attention given to the government’s assets in energy giant, Eni. Earlier this month, Reuters reported that Rome was considering putting their 4 percent stake in the oil and gas firm up for sale, bringing in an estimated 2.8 billion euros ($3.85 billion). Although the Eni stake is minimal in terms of influence, it does raise the question of what will it mean for Rome to lose what modest foothold they have in the energy world? For a country so detrimentally reliant on imports, does it really make sense in the long run to let go of a giant like Eni? Even if it does chip away at the country’s daunting debt burden. These questions are not just issues of potential, long-term revenue, but arise from Italy’s recent energy challenges. Like many of its Southern European neighbors, Italy looks abroad to meet most of its energy needs. Despite significant reserves of its own, Italy has seen domestic production wain in recent years in favor of new import options, including North Africa. This heavy dependence on imports was exacerbated by the collapse of the country’s nuclear power revival in 2011 following the Fukushima meltdown. In response, Italy has announced plans to boost local production by 150% over the next several years, with the hope that it will bring in an estimated $18 billion in new investment and cut about $8 billion from the country’s energy bill. While ridding themselves of their Eni stake will not necessarily hinder that progress, Rome’s exit could remove them from a position of influence when it needs it most. According to the Reuters report, Rome is aiming to produce a privatization program that allows them to retain some level of influence in the companies following the sales. With holdings in Eni already so low, any sale would likely erode what little say they have. A Dismal Regional Track Record If Italy needs any needs any help on what to avoid when it comes to privatizing the government’s Mediterranean assets, they need not look any further than Greece. Over the last two years, Athens has pursued a bailout mandated privatization effort that has been slowed by dwindling foreign interest and corruption allegations.
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Brush Up on the Greek Myth That Arcade Fire Is Singing About
Arcade Fire is known for music and lyrics that make listeners think, drawing on deep ideas expressed in multiple languages. Their new album Reflektor, out today, is no exception. It’s already been getting lots of attention for its Haitian inf ...
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Greece and Armenia to sign new cooperation agreement in the field of defense
Armenia and Greece make the cooperation in the field of defense closer ... of Armenia Seyran Ohanyan said congratulating the Armenian people for the National holiday celebrated on October 28. Seyran Ohanyan promised that the high-level visits will be ...
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Rhodes: Fathers Situation Touches Bank Employees
Everyday in Greece, more and more people reach poverty and despair. Such stories are recorded on a daily basis and are countless. The local newspaper of Rhodes, “Rhodiaki” reveals a very moving story of a desperate young father who touched bank employees with his situation. He went into a bank branch in Rhodes holding three passbooks. After […]
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NSA spying on Europe gives the US more intelligence, but not better
European leaders' outrage is synthetic; we're all in this game. But the NSA's data collection power is not necessarily an advantage
As a US diplomat and UN official, I operated with the certain knowledge that the host country intelligence service – and, possibly, other services – listened to my calls. And as for anyone else, many of these calls dealt with personal matters. So, I have sympathy for Europeans who are outraged by revelations that the NSA invaded their privacy by monitoring hundreds of millions of calls.
But how serious is the invasion of privacy? The NSA can vacuum up huge quantities of data but that doesn't mean it is useful. Most of us lead lives that are of no interest to any intelligence agency and, even for persons of interest, most conversations and email are of no intelligence value. I always felt sympathy for the Croatian analysts who reviewed recorded conversations from my residence phone. Even excluding the conversations between my teenage son and his friends, most of the calls would have been inconsequential and boring. Even I fell asleep on some of my calls. For most of us, the sheer volume of data gathered by the NSA is the best assurance of privacy.
Europeans are mindful – in a way Americans, with their different history, are not – of how totalitarian regimes maintained extensive files on their citizens and, more importantly, how they used the data. An unguarded comment in an intercepted phone call could lead to a concentration camp or gulag, or worse.
And not only the speaker was at risk. A listener who failed to report on the speaker might meet the same fate. And even those who informed could be deported for consorting with a state enemy.
The NSA is a big, well-funded intelligence agency but it has no means to deport anyone. And even if the NSA intercepts uncover criminal activity, intercepts gathered without a warrant cannot be used in a criminal proceeding in the United States or any European country (except, possibly, Belarus).
I have less sympathy for European leaders who are "shocked" to learn that the US is eavesdropping on them. Europeans also spy on Americans and, in the case of the French, this is well-documented. Some have suggested that European leaders are mostly outraged because their collection capabilities do not match America's. (In this regard, British officials have been tellingly quiet.)
But it may also be that European agencies do it quite well. There is, however, no European version of Edward Snowden to tell us. And if Angela Merkel uses an unsecured cellphone, she should not be surprised that the NSA intercepts it.
But it may not just be the NSA: I suspect her text messages and phone calls may be of far greater interest to Greek intelligence than to the US. (And I would be amazed if Germany's intelligence agency, the BND, was not tapping the phones of the US ambassador and CIA station chief in Berlin.)
Europeans might imagine that this intelligence-gathering gives the US an enormous advantage in the conduct of its foreign policy, but that is not necessarily the case. Phone calls, emails, and text messages have to be interpreted in context. When Chancellor Merkel texts her defense minister, she is communicating in a form of code. To break the code – that is, to comprehend fully the meaning of the words – the analyst needs to understand the personal and political relationship between the two, as well as all the previous discussions and decisions on the issue. But the analyst is never someone who knows Merkel or her minister and, however good their knowledge of Germany might be (and quite often, it is not that good), this is not the same as knowing the people involved.
Ironically, the more important the intelligence target, the less experience those analyzing the intelligence actually have. One reason US intelligence on Iraq was so dramatically wrong before the 2003 war is that the analysts had never been there and therefore had no feel for the country. Intercepts only tell you so much, but because the US government pays so much to get this information, it has a weight in the policy-making process that is often unwarranted.
I experienced this firsthand as US ambassador to Croatia during the Croatia and Bosnia wars. At critical junctures in these wars, the CIA misestimated Croatian intentions and capabilities. In making their assessments, CIA analysts relied heavily on the NSA's electronic intercepts, as well as paid spies and other intelligence sources.
Of course, I saw this information but I also relied on what Croatian leaders told me and on what I observed on the ground. But because the US government paid billions for its intelligence, I had a hard time persuading Washington that the intelligence was wrong, even when it deviated from common sense.
In the field of intelligence, more is not necessarily better. In order to collect, analyze and use the vast quantities of data, the US government provides security clearances to hundreds of thousands of government employees and contractors. The Obama administration is in its current mess because Booz Allen Hamilton, a contractor doing billions of dollars of secret work for the government, gave a troubled 29-year-old high school graduate access to a vast array of secrets.
The system is in need of reform and the smaller, more agile European services may be a model. After all, espionage is not just about collecting secrets but also keeping them.
NSASurveillanceGermanyAngela MerkelFranceUnited StatesUS foreign policyCroatiaBosnia-HerzegovinaPrivacyEdward SnowdenCIAObama administrationPeter Galbraiththeguardian.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 |
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81-year-old arrested in northern Greece while trying to assault boy
An 81-year-old man has been arrested in the northern Greek city of Xanthi during a suspected attempt to sexually abuse a boy aged 9.
According to reports, the suspect promised the boy 4 euros if he would follow him to a remote location. Passers-by saw the... ...
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Greek president says citizens have 'given all they can'
(ANSAmed) - ATHENS, OCTOBER 29 - As another Athens mission by EU-ECB-IMF troika was about to begin for the monitoring of the Greek economic recovery process, President Karolos Papoulias told the country's international creditors that ''the Greek population ...
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Greece targets counterfeit goods, sellers
Senegalese immigrant Musa Sezk, 32, has been trying to make a living for years by selling inexpensive, counterfeit watches on the streets of Athens. Sezk is one of thousands of African and Asian immigrants, particularly from Pakistan and ...
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7 Questions About The Puerto Rican Debt Crisis You Were Too Embarrassed To Ask
Puerto Rico is in serious trouble.
The economy has been in and out of recession, and at 13.5%, its unemployment rate is painfully high.
Last week, The Economist compared the island's economic crisis to the situation to Greece as the country undergoes further rounds of austerity.
Puerto Rico's story is an important one, and it matters more than many Americans can appreciate.
We answer the seven basic questions you might have about Puerto Rico:
1) A lot of the U.S. states are in the dumps economically, so why are we now talking about Puerto Rico?It's recently become very expensive for Puerto Rico to borrow money. Puerto Rico's bonds are trading at about 60 cents on the dollar, and yields have climbed above 9%, according to Reuters. They're rated just above investment grade with a negative outlook.
This is much higher than what the states face.
That's never good, but it's really bad for Puerto Rico, which is unusually dependent on deficit financing, meaning borrowing money to pay the bills.
Because the island's securities are tax exempt, bond investors around the world and especially in the U.S. have for years catered to the island's debt financing habit.
2) Does this mean Puerto Rico is the next Detroit?In a way. People are now saying Puerto Rico could default.
However, unlike Detroit, it cannot file for Chapter 9 municipal bankruptcy protection — the law treats it like a U.S. state.
So the specter of a federal bailout is now being raised.
3) Seriously? A bailout?Seriously. Puerto Rico's banks already received bailout funds 2010. Only last week was Banco Popular, the island's largest financial institution, able to ask the Fed whether it was eligible to exit TARP.
The island itself was in talks to get a bailout in 2009.
4) How did everything go so wrong?The Puerto Rican economy has been in and out of recession since 2006, when an earlier fiscal crunch caused San Juan to shut down (yup, they're an American territory alright). That was also the same year federal tax breaks for an experiment designed to pump up the island's manufacturing sector expired.
But the island has never been terribly competitive. The island's labor force participation hovers around 40%, and the public sector accounts for 20% of all employment.
The Great Recession did not help matters. Three Puerto Rican banks went under as the world's travelers couldn't afford to vacation to the island nation.
Everything came to a head this summer as unemployment hit a 2-year high and an index measuring Puerto Rican economic activity shrank 5.4% in August, the biggest drop since 2010, Bloomberg's Michelle Kaske says.
That helped send bond yields spiking to record highs, triggering the current crisis.
5) Alright, I get it, it's bad. But still, this couldn't possibly affect me, right?Maybe. But if you live in the United States, the chances that you or someone you know have pensions exposed to Puerto Rican debt.
As we mentioned, Puerto Rico's tax-exempt bonds have (until now) been very popular with U.S. muni funds: about three-quarters of them hold Puerto Rican securities.
And we don't even know the extent of the exposure within those funds: Bond Buyer reported last week the SEC was checking around to see copies of many muni funds' most recent stress tests.
So if Puerto Rico is unable to meet its obligations, it's likely you or someone you know is going to lose money.
Muni funds have already had their worst year ever, in part because of the Puerto Rican situation.
6) You now have my attention. What is the government doing about it?For now, Washington says it is "monitoring the situation."
In Puerto Rico itself, there have been successive administrations who have attempted to cut and tax the island out of default danger.
Current Governor Alejandro GarcÃa Padilla has successfully passed legislation that includes reinstating higher corporate tax rates, and imposing a new gross receipts tax.
He also raised the retirement age for state workers, upped pension contributions, and cut summer and Christmas bonuses.
That's actually a lot more than what some other states facing pensions crises, like Illinois, have done...
7) Ok, so if I want to keep following this story, what should I look out for?Unfortunately, Puerto Rico does not have an economic engine like Chicago to keep it afloat.
So, now we have to wait and see if the island can stomach austerity socially and economically.
And there are already signs it is struggling to do so: in the past few years, tens of thousands of people have left the island for better opportunities, mostly coming to the U.S.
We reported yesterday how the most recent round of cuts has caused a spike in theft of school property. Some have also blamed a recent, deadly bacterial outbreak at a public hospital on lack of necessary funds.
GarcÃa Padilla administration members have been aggressively making their case to investors and business leaders stateside — just this last week, the country's economic development minister came to New York to meet with executives at places like BlackRock and Pfizer — that its fiscal reforms are on track.
If you see any cracks emerge on this united front, you'll know the worst has only just begun.
SEE ALSO: The Three Questions Dominating Discussions On Wall Street
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It's all Greek to the Dutch: Red Sox rookie Xander Bogaerts almost unknown in the Netherlands
Boston Red Sox shortstop Xander Bogaerts is congratulated by teammates after scoring on a David Ross RBI ground rule double to left field against the St. Louis Cardinals during the seventh inning of Game 5 of baseball's World Series Monday, Oct ...
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Exclusive: Enel acquires more than 100 MW in Greece
Rome-based Enel has recently bought 26 Greek licenses to develop new solar parks in the country, pv magazine has learned. Specifically, Enel bought 17 licenses amounting to 73.46 MW from Enexon Hellas, seven licenses for 25.57 MW from Kalenta and two ...
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Greek Priests Trust Fund Spending Probed
Father James Dokos is under fire for how he handled a trust fund and writing himself checks. CHICAGO - Even after retiring to Florida, Ervin and Margaret Franczak stayed in regular contact with their longtime priest back in Milwaukee. Especially after Ervin died in 2001, the Rev. James Dokos looked after Margaret, visiting her on occasion and sending poinsettias at Christmas, friends said. ...
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Greek Sing 2013 Kicks Off Tomorrow
Dancing, singing, and Greek Life aren’t things you normally would put together, but here at Penn State… they are. The annual IFC/Panhellenic Greek Sing will be held on Thursday, December 5. But to get everyone excited and prepared for the ...
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| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT onwardstate.com |
Tourism revenues rise in January-August period
Greek revenues from tourism rose by 13.7 percent in the eight-month period between January and August this year, Bank of Greece data published Tuesday show.
Arrivals also saw a 14.7 increase in the same period, rising above the 10-million mark to reach 12... ...
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| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.ekathimerini.com |
Nine kilos of heroin intercepted at Athens International Airport
A 35-year-old Kenyan national traveling from Nairobi has been arrested at Athens International Airport after narcotics officers found 9.15 kilograms of heroin in his luggage.
The unnamed suspect's luggage was searched after he landed at the Greek capital'... ...
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| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.ekathimerini.com |
Greece spied on Americans
Greece's intelligence service carried out surveillance on its allies, a former foreign minister has admitted
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| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.skynews.com.au |
Greek President Rejects More Austerity Talk
(Reuters) - Greece's president used an annual commemoration of the country's stand against fascism in World War Two on Oct. 28 to warn that Athens would not yield to pressure from foreign lenders to impose more austerity.
The blunt comments by President Karolos Papoulias - a former World War II resistance fighter who holds a ceremonial but revered post - come as Athens finds itself at odds with its EU/IMF lenders over budget savings to hit targets under its second bailout.
At an annual military parade in Thessaloniki, northern Greece, marking the rejection of Italy's ultimatum to Greece to surrender in 1940 - one of the most symbolic events in Greece's political calendar - Papoulias said Greeks today were as firm in the face of crisis as they were then and would not give in to what he called foreign 'blackmail'.
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| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.thenationalherald.com |
Turkey Opens Door For 7,000 Greek Doctors
The Turkish health minister has come up with a novel way to help alleviate the shortage of medical professionals in his country, while concurrently easing the economic catastrophe in neighboring Greece: He wants to import 7,000 Greek doctors to Turkey.
Today?s Zaman, an English-language Turkish newspaper, reported that Health Minister Mehmet Muezzinoglu said educated professionals are desperate to flee Greece, which has been hammered by unemployment rate that now exceeds 27 percent.
?[We] need them,? the minister stated at a hospital opening ceremony in Istanbul. ?Our doors are open to those 7,000 doctors from Greece. I invite those doctors to serve this country with their knowledge and experience.?
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| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.thenationalherald.com |
This Great Bubble Chart Shows How Europe's Major Cities Have Fared Since The Financial Crisis
Since the financial crisis, European cities in stronger nations — like Poland, Turkey, and Germany — have seen significant growth, while cities in beleaguered countries like Greece and Italy have remained stagnant.
"But the range of performance within each nation indicates the extent to which cities are managing national economic constraints in very different ways," write the Centre for London's Greg Clark and Tim Moonen in a new report on European cities.
"Since 2007, the most dynamic major European city has been Istanbul, which recorded 10% growth in jobs and in gross value added (GVA) in the past five years. Other stand out performers are Warsaw, which has recorded the fastest GVA growth among European capitals (+16% since 2007), and Stockholm, which has recorded very impressive job and GVA results despite already having had one of the highest employment and GDP per capita figures in the continent," they wrote.
On the other end, Athens, Barcelona, and Naples have all floundered. Take a look at the chart from the report:
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| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.businessinsider.com |
Greek Tax Push Draws More Anger Than Money
ARCHANES, Greece -- The tax inspectors swept into this picturesque village in Crete during the middle of a saint's day celebration recently, moving from restaurant to restaurant demanding receipts and financial records. Soon, customers annoyed by the holiday disruption confronted them. Pushing, shoving and angry words followed, and eventually the frightened inspectors were forced to flee ...
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| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.greekherald.com |
Bulgaria to seek Maria's return from Greece
AFP - The blonde girl named Maria who was taken from a Roma camp by Greek authorities this month, in a in a photo released by Greek police on October 18, 2013 Bulgaria said Tuesday it will ask the Greek authorities to hand over a young girl found in a Roma ...
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| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT en-maktoob.news.yahoo.com |
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