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Saturday, April 5, 2014
“Making Greek Great” by Dr. Lori Hart
Ex-Wife Accuses Chobani Founder of Stealing Yogurt Recipe From Rival
5.6 magnitude earthquake hits Greece
Greek-American’s Killer is an Illegal Alien – Does Anyone Even Care about That?
BOCA RATON, FL –On March 13, Dimitrios Karaloukas, a 61 year-old Greek-American restaurateur who owned Jimmy the Greek Taverna in Boca Raton, was stabbed to death by Tilus Lebrun, a 42 year-old Haitian national who worked as a dishwasher at the restaurant. TNH has it on good authority that Lebrun is an illegal alien, yet […]
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ESM's Regling warns Greece not to overpay for new bonds -paper
Papandreou: PASOK Should Quit Coalition Government
Merkel to snub SYRIZA Leader on Athens visit
Imam Law Rejected By Turk Minority
Aliki Vougiouklaki’s 1962 Forgotten Debut Movie in English
Albanian prison fugitive caught in western Greece 17 years later
Rail workers threaten Easter holiday strikes
Updated bailout agreement sees possible adjustments to retirement age, payouts
Fun Jobs in Greece for Free Room and Board – All Summer Long and Beyond
Would you be willing to care for horses on a farm in Corfu, help someone build a storehouse on Chania, serve as a maid for a small hotel on Naxos, or pick and clean acorns that fall from trees on the island of Kea–all in exchange for room and board? Do you fancy donating your […]
The post Fun Jobs in Greece for Free Room and Board – All Summer Long and Beyond appeared first on The National Herald.
Greek Golden Dawn parliamentarians lose immunity
SYRIZA Tops Pre-Election Poll Amid Distrust of Parties
Greece secures further Troika funding without new austerity measures
Stadler: The mood in Greece is improving
Venizelos urges political solution with Russia as EU foreign ministers meet in Athens
Man arrested in northern Greece for debts to state over 1.1 million euros
Probe finds evidence of torture at Nigrita
Schaeuble Says Greeks To Blame
German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said Greeks deserve praise for putting up with austerity but can't blame the EU for their plight
The post Schaeuble Says Greeks To Blame appeared first on The National Herald.
Greek right-wing extremist politicians jailed
Greece mulls treatment of Golden Dawn leaders
Half of Small Greek Businesses on Brink of Closure
Greece Consolidates Health Care in Crisis
A stabilizing force
Moody’s Delays Greek Rating
Despite some good economic news, the ratings agency Moody's said it would postpone its assessment of Greece until August.
The post Moody’s Delays Greek Rating appeared first on The National Herald.
Mosque Plan Causes Political Stir
Athens mayoral candidates ahead of next month's election have clashed over whether Greece should o build an official mosque.
The post Mosque Plan Causes Political Stir appeared first on The National Herald.
Olympiakos in Euroleague Eight
The two-time defending Euroleague basketball champions Olympiakos joined Greek rival Panathinaikos in making this year's final eight.
The post Olympiakos in Euroleague Eight appeared first on The National Herald.
Program could send NY Greek yogurt nationwide
EU working with Russia, Ukraine to defuse crisis
Tiny Greek Community of Ioannina Struggles To Keep Romaniote Traditions Alive
Schumer: USDA to Begin Soliciting Proposals from Greek Yogurt Maker...
Stroll among wild flowers, indulge in history and go wine-tasting in Greece
Greek Train Drivers to Strike over Easter
New Democracy’s Far-Right Voices: How Network 21 Touched Samaras
Hungary's governing Fidesz party seen winning in Sunday's elections, far-right Jobbik surging
BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Hungary's governing party is tipped to win parliamentary elections Sunday, while a far-right party is expected to make further gains, according to polls.
Prime Minister Viktor Orban's Fidesz party and its small ally, the Christian Democrats, are expected to win easily and they may even retain the two-thirds majority in the legislature gained in 2010 which allowed them to pass a new constitution, adopt unconventional economic policies, centralize power and grow the state's influence at the expense of the private sector.
Polls predict Fidesz will win around 45-50 percent of the votes, with a close race for second between a coalition of five left-wing groups led by Attila Mesterhazy and the Socialist Party — seen getting 25 percent — and the surging far-right Jobbik party which could receive up to 20 percent.
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THE CHALLENGERS
As Fidesz reminds voters every chance it gets, the Socialists are struggling to shake off their legacy as successors of the communist party, which ran Hungary with Soviet support until 1990, and their calamitous rule between 2002 and 2010 that took the country to the brink of bankruptcy.
In 2010, Jobbik got 16.7 percent of the ballots by appealing mainly to rural voters facing high unemployment and conflicts with their Roma neighbors — the country's largest and generally poorest minority. Now, Gabor Vona's party, which would prefer to see Hungary leave the European Union it joined in 2004, has toned down its anti-Roma and anti-Semitic statements, released photos of its politicians posing with pets and is trying to attract Hungarians fed up with the corruption and aloofness associated with the mainstream parties.
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NEW VOTING SYSTEM
Fidesz has introduced a new electoral system which cuts the number of lawmakers from 386 to 199, has no runoff votes and extends voting rights to hundreds of thousands of ethnic Hungarians with dual citizenship living in neighboring countries. At the same time, it tilts results toward the leading candidates — which could allow Fidesz to keep its two-thirds majority with less than 50 percent of the votes — restricts parties' political ads but does not limit government propaganda, while a much-needed reshaping of voting districts because of population shifts has been used by Fidesz for gerrymandering.
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ORBAN'S REFORMS
The Orban government compared Hungary's financial vulnerability in 2010 to the crisis in Greece. Still, it decided to forego a new deal with the International Monetary Fund — which led a bailout of 20 billion euros (then $26 billion) in 2008 — so it could nationalize $14 billion in assets administered by private pension funds, impose windfall taxes on banks, numerous industries and services and enforce utility cuts for all households.
Other policies include a flat income tax rate of 16 percent, tax benefits for families and a public works program which has been crucial in lowering the unemployment rate to 8.6 percent in February from 11.3 percent in mid-2010.
Low domestic demand and the utility cuts have helped cut inflation to just 1.7 percent in 2013 from 4.9 percent in 2010.
The state budget deficit has been kept below EU standards, while Hungary's debt level is down from 82 percent of gross domestic product in 2010 to 78 percent last year. But growth is middling and investments are often being delayed, partly because of the high taxes on businesses and the lack of predictable and sustainable economic policies.
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FRIENDS IN HIGH PLACES
Fidesz has defended companies owned by government cronies which have reaped generous state contracts and the two-thirds majority has given Orban a free hand and an iron fist to place close allies at institutions which oversee everything from Hungary's media to its judicial system.
Parliament has also overruled the Constitutional Court on several issues, including homeless policies, the campaign ad restrictions, the recognition of churches and education reforms.
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THE PRICE OF CONTINUITY
Orban's plea for four more years appeals to many voters, like retiree Zsolt Papp.
"Should we go back to the starting line? We should not," Papp said. "We should continue and go on."
Analysts, however, warn about the potential hazards posed by a third Orban term, especially if Fidesz retains its super majority.
"Its economic policies will remain highly unpredictable and hurt investment sentiment," said Blanka Kolenikova of HIS Country Risk in London. "A simple majority would be perhaps more beneficial — assuring overall government stability with a larger opposition providing a stronger democratic balance to Fidesz-imposed laws."
News Topics: General news, Government and politics, Government budgets, Economic policy, Parliamentary elections, Economy, State budgets, Government finance, Government business and finance, Business, Government policy, Elections, State governmentsPeople, Places and Companies: Viktor Orban, Hungary, Europe, Eastern Europe
Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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Putting all blame on the Commission is flattering
Maria Damanaki, EU Commissioner for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, has had a very unusual career. In her youth, she was a member of the Communist Youth, and of various leftist organisations in Greece. New Europe asked her how she sees from Brussels the fact that Greeks, her compatriots, are becoming more and more euro-sceptic.
Damanaki: To be honest, I find it understandable, up to a certain point. What happened to Greece is very unusual. Greece has lost almost 30% of its national product in the last four years. For many families the loss of income is 25 to 30%, unemployment runs at 30%, so we shouldn’t blame everything on the people.
New Europe: Who is to blame then?
Damanaki: I think that the EU, the Commission, the institutions, we all have our responsibility. But it’s a shared responsibility, the blame is also to be put on the Greek citizens, and on the Greek government, because, to be completely honest, Greeks have always spent much more than their national product, and now it is time to pay the bills.
New Europe: Weren’t Greeks encouraged to overspend by the EU’s neoliberal ideology?
Damanaki: This is true, and I have to say that the introduction of the single currency in the EU was done in such a way, that the gaps between the more competitive and less competitive countries kept widening year after year.
Greek governments were encouraged to spend in many areas, in military purchases, for example. So, the responsibility should be shared between the European Union and the Greek citizens. I don’t think the answer to the problem is less Europe, the answer is a better Europe, and more Europe. For me, the main problem isn’t Euro-scepticism, but the political forces that are against Europe, forces that try to destroy the EU, both from the right and from the left. These European elections are very critical: do we want more Europe, less Europe, or do we want to destroy what is there?
New Europe: Do you feel that there is still enough time left to change something before the elections?
Damanaki: There is always time for change. I have been a Commissioner for four years now and I’ve seen changes myself. When I took office, everyone was against solidarity between countries, they kept referring to debt problems, or fiscal problems. If you read the Maastricht Treaty by the book, then you can say that what we are doing now should be anathema. But little by little, the trend has changed. For example, we had the first program for Greece and the second program for Greece, with the second program being much better than the first, but at first we just weren’t ready for the second program. To be honest, when we came with such a proposal, the majority was against it.
New Europe: So you wouldn’t agree with the allegation that the Barroso Commission introduced a new liberal drive, with a heavy accent on banks, competition and markets?
Damanaki: Markets will always be there. They were always there and will always be there. What we have to find out is whether our policy does enough to protect social cohesion and make life better for the most vulnerable citizens. What can I tell you? I have to admit that the Commission may not have been ready for the crisis, so we have lost time, we made some mistakes, but after all that we have to realise that this Commission, despite the problems and the criticism, this Commission has mobilised almost one billion euros in order to save countries that were at risk.
We’ve kept the Eurozone together and kept receiving members into it. We could have done better, I want to be completely honest, I had some different proposals, some different ideas, we could have done better if we were better prepared and had different proposals by member states. It’s easy to put the blame on the Commission, which is flattering, because it means that the Commission is the most prominent EU institution, but we have to realise that the decisions were taken by the member states in unanimity. Even the Greek government voted for them.
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5.6 Earthquake South of Athens
Greece still feeling pain from bailout
President Obama Celebrates Greek Independence at the White House
S&P Raises PPC’s Rating to ‘B’
Moody’s Delays Rating Greece Credit Amid Political Turmoil
Chobani Founder's Ex-Wife Accuses Him Of Stealing Rival's Yogurt Recipe
The founder and CEO of Chobani has been accused by his ex-wife of stealing the recipe for rival Greek yogurt brand Fage, the Huffington Post is reporting.
Chobani's Hamdi Ulukaya allegedly bragged about how he "traveled to Europe and bribed this employee with 30,000 Euros," according to a court filing obtained by Huffington.
Ulukaya's former wife, Ayse Giray, made the claims as part of a lawsuit alleging that Ulukaya has cheated her out of her share of the company.
Ulukaya's legal team counters that his ex-wife is lying.
"Because [Giray] cannot win on the merits of her claims, she has fabricated any number of fantastical and completely baseless allegations," Ulukaya’s legal team countered, according to The New York Daily News.
The couple divorced in 1999 and she filed suit over company shares in 2012.
Chobani was founded in 2005 and now commands 39% of the Greek yogurt market compared, to Fage's 8.5%, according to Bloomberg Businessweek.
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