As the Greek debt saga continues to loom over financial markets with no clear resolution in site, the familiar California versus Greece comparison has ...
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How the world sees Greece
Wednesday, June 10, 2015
Ionian hoteliers protest against lower VAT rates on Aegean islands
A civil war of sorts appears to have broken out among Greek hoteliers as seven Ionian Sea associations of owners of hotels, rooms and food service enterprises have sent a letter of strong protest to the ministers of economy and finance regarding the favorable value-added tax status that their counterparts on the Aegean islands enjoy.
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US investors worried about a Greek euro exit
International investors appeared particularly reserved during this year’s Greek economy roadshow in New York that concluded on Wednesday. The state of the country’s economy and the seemingly endless negotiations between the government and its creditors did not allow for any new investment programs by enterprises, as what comes first is for the economy to regain its footing.
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Greek banks get fresh cash lifeline
The European Central Bank on Wednesday enhanced the lifeline of Greek lenders by extending the limit of the emergency liquidity assistance (ELA) available to them by 2.3 billion euros, in the biggest weekly increase since February 18. This is meant to cover the major outflow of deposits in recent days.
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Wonkblog: Greece’s Groundhog Day may be giving way to Judgement Day
Okay, campers, rise and shine, and don't forget your booties because it's cold out there between Greece and Europe. It's cold out there every day. Greece is tired of being told what to do, and Europe is tired of giving money to a country that won't do as it's told.Read full article
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How the Dow Jones industrial average fared on Wednesday
U.S. stocks closed with big gains Wednesday, breaking a weeklong slump. Investors were optimistic that a break would come soon in the impasse between Greece and its creditors over extending the country's bailout loans.
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Pressing for concessions, EU keeps Tsipras waiting
Greece and its creditors moved closer to the brink on Wednesday with the leaders of Germany, France and the European Commission holding back planned meetings with Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras to press for more concessions from the Greek ...
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Greek, German and French Leaders to Meet in Effort to Break Bailout Deadlock
ATHENS—The Greek government is willing to accept a higher primary surplus target for this year to meet one of its creditors' demands, a senior ...
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Tsipras, Juncker meeting starts
The meeting between Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras and European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker has started.
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Eurogroup's Dijsselbloem: deal still achievable by next week's meeting
Eurogroup president Jeroen Dijsselbloem has said an agreement is still achievable ahead of the Eurogroup meeting next week, says web site FXStreet.com. "Dijsselbloem said he remains open to other suggestions on Greece but the latest submitted proposals are not good ...
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Signs of breakthrough in Greece impasse emerge
Despite indications earlier in the day that negotiations on Greece would not take place on the fringes of yesterday's EU-Latin America summit, Greek ...
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| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.irishtimes.com |
IMF's 'never again' experience in Greece may get worse
By Paul Taylor BRUSSELS (Reuters) - For the International Monetary Fund, five years of playing junior partner in European bailouts for Greece has been a "never again" experience, and the worst may be yet to come. The global lender has lent far more to Athens than to any other borrower, contributing nearly one-third of the total 240 billion euros, with the rest coming from euro zone governments and the bloc's rescue fund. Called in by EU paymaster Germany to try to keep the European institutions and the Greeks honest, the Washington-based IMF has never had control of the programme.
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IMF’s Greek woes may get worse
Brussels - For the International Monetary Fund, five years of playing junior partner in European bailouts for Greece has been a “never again” experience, and the worst may be yet to come. The global lender has lent far more to Athens than to any other ...
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| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.iol.co.za |
Greek leader set for Merkel meeting
Greece's prime minister is heading to Brussels for another meeting with the leaders of Germany and France, hoping for a breakthrough in bailout talks that have revived fears his country could default and drop out of the euro. Alexis Tsipras is to meet ...
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Merkel and Hollande to tell Tsipras to reach terms with creditors
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The leaders of Germany, France and the European Commission told Greece on Wednesday it must reach a deal with its creditors and stop seeking softer terms in a political fix to unlock desperately needed funds.
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Germans May Have Found Way to Break Greek Deadlock
Although Germans remain persistent regarding Greek reforms on taxes, state asset sales and retirement benefits, German Chancellor Angela Merkel appears to be more flexible in unlocking further financial aid to Greece if the country decides to initiate at least one major overhaul, two anonymous sources close to the German government told Bloomberg. If Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is willing to take immediate action, liquidity could be released in early July, the sources said, without giving further clues though about which measure should Greece take in order to convince its international creditors. There is also a possibility that Merkel and French President Francois Hollande will meet with Tsipras on the sidelines of an EU summit on Wednesday in an effort to surpass the deadlock. The German Chancellor’s current statements from Brussels seem to confirm the rumors about the recent change in Germany’s intentions toward Greece. Specifically, Merkel told reporters: “When there’s a will, there’s a way… The goal is to keep Greece in the euro area.”
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ECB Increases Greek Banks’ ELA by a Hefty 2.3 Billion Euros
The European Central Bank (ECB) is said to have significantly increased the ceiling of emergency liquidity assistance (ELA) provided to Greek banks on Wednesday by 2.3 billion euros. According to Greek media, during a teleconference of the central bank’s board, it was decided to raise liquidity to 83 billion euros from 80.7 billion. The situation will be re-evaluated next week. (source: ana-mpa)
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Tsipras and Juncker in new talks on reform plan
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker met Wednesday amid last-ditch talks on the country's disputed reform plan, a Greek government source said.
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Vangelis Giakoumakis's death now treated as murder
A prosecutor in Ioannina, northwestern Greece, has turned an investigation into the apparent suicide of student Vangelis Giakoumakis into a murder case.
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Merkel faces growing dissent in own party ranks over aid for Greece
German Chancellor Angela Merkel is facing growing opposition among her ruling conservatives to granting Greece any further bailout funds, increasing pressure on her to drive a hard bargain with Athens.
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Merkel, Hollande to tell Tsipras to talk to creditors, says spokesman
Germany will only accept a cash-for-reform deal between Greece and its international creditors that has the approval of all three lending instutions, a government spokesman said in response to reports that Berlin was considering easier terms.
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ATHEX: Impasse in talks brings more losses
The Greek stock market’s benchmark returned to a southbound course on Wednesday, following another session of low trading volume, due to the lack of progress in negotiations between Greece and its creditors, while the sense that the entire market has been holding its collective breath for months now is palpable.
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Parliamentary committee approves draft citizenship law
A new bill which would lead to some 100,000 second-generation immigrants being granted Greek citizenship was approved on Wednesday by a parliamentary committee ahead of a vote at the House’s plenary session expected next week.
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Greek prices drop for 27th month
Greek consumer prices fell 2.1 percent year-on-year in May, with the annual pace of deflation unchanged from the previous month, data from the country’s statistics service showed on Wednesday.
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Turkish fighter jets violate Greek national air space
For the second time in as many days, Turkish fighter jets violated Greek national air space in the central and southeastern Aegean on Wednesday, defense officials said.
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Greece 'ready to discuss' concessions on budget targets, source says
Greece is prepared to discuss possible concessions on budgetary targets, a key red line in its bailout talks with its creditors, a Greek government source told AFP on Wednesday.
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FTSE rises after four days of decline, helped by hopes of Greek deal
Leading index in positive territory with late surge after Greek reportsAfter four days of decline, leading shares finally staged something of a revival, helped by late talk of a possible breakthrough in the Greek crisis.The FTSE 100 finished 76.47 points or 1.13% at 6830.27, with banks and supermarkets among the leading risers. The index was in positive territory for most of the day but received a boost near the close of trading on reports that Germany was prepared to go ahead with releasing bailout funds to Greece if the Syriza government committed to just one reform up front.We’ve seen a welcome respite for European stock markets today after several days of declines, despite continued moves higher in bond yields.It would appear that after several days of drifting lower we’ve seen some signs of tentative bargain hunting, given that stocks have been trading near multi week lows, with some well received trading updates also helping boost sentiment. Continue reading...
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Kipper Williams on the Greece bailout talks
Markets have been cheered by an apparent softening of the German stance towards Greece Continue reading...
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Greece's Tsipras in last-ditch talks with European leaders
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras held last-ditch talks with European leaders in Brussels on Wednesday to seek a breakthrough that could stop Athens going bankrupt by the end of the month.
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Merkel's Germany offers up 'one reform' deal to embattled Greece
Negotiations between Greece and its creditors finally appeared to make progress on Wednesday, as Germany put a deal on the table which Athens' ...
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Nationalization and Default Threat Risk Diminishes in Greece
This has so far been questioned and has yet to be confirmed, but the move is taking away the constant and endless pressure that Greece is exerting ...
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EU's Moscovici believes 'more than ever' in Greek debt deal
The EU's Economics Affairs Commissioner Pierre Moscovici said on Wednesday he believed "more than ever" that a debt deal was possible between Greece and its creditors, despite five months of deadlocked talks. "I believe more than ever that a ...
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ECB's Coeure: new Greek debt restructuring not a taboo
Benoit Coeure, member of the European Central Bank's Executive board, says in an interview with French newspaper La Croix that a new restructuring of Greece's debt could be decided by the eurozone governments. Below is the part of the interview concerning Greece: Could ...
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Greece bailout talks: markets surge on rumours of German compromise
Stock markets surged on Wednesday after reports of a German proposal to allow Greece to receive a drip-feed of loans in return for a staggered ...
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Greece Signals Willingness to Compromise on Bailout Deal
Athens is willing to accept a higher primary surplus target for this year to meet one of its creditors’ demands, a senior government official said.
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Pensions, wages and taxes: what Greece and its creditors disagree on in the bailout talks
The ball is in Greece's court, the creditors say.
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Seeking Refuge: On Greek isle of Kos, better life still feels distant for migrants
This is not what Mahmoud expected to find when he arrived in Europe. Now, on Kos, a Greek island better known for cheap package deals for European vacationers, he sits in a grimy abandoned hotel, without electricity, running water, or toilets, along with hundreds of others. Recommended: Think you know Europe?
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Tsipras, Juncker meet, will talk again Thursday
Greek government sources say prime minister Alexis Tsipras has met with European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker on the sidelines of the EU-Latin America summit and that the two will meet again Thursday. "The two men exchanged views in detail and in ...
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Greece considering bailout extension to March 2016: Greek source
Greece is considering accepting a bailout extension to March 2016 in order win more time to come up with a comprehensive reform plan after five months of fruitless talks, an official Greek source said on Wednesday.
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Wall St. up on report Germany may consider Greece aid
(Reuters) - U.S. stocks were higher in afternoon trading on Wednesday after a Bloomberg report that Germany may be satisfied with Greece committing to at least one economic reform in return for aid.
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Italy Proposes Sharing Unemployment Insurance Across Europe
ROME -- Ahead of the European Union summit to be held in late June, the Italian government has proposed a document titled "Completing and Strengthening the Economic and Monetary Union." The document should be considered as the country's informal advice for a blueprint on EU governance that will be proposed by EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, European Central Bank President Mario Draghi, Eurogroup President Jeroen Dijsselbloem and European Council President Donald Tusk. The Italian document states that "significant advancements cannot be achieved if mutual trust and therefore willingness to share risks for the common good is not restored." To address the issue, Italy proposes the development of "an unemployment insurance scheme to smooth the fluctuations of the economic cycle" in order to "stimulate convergence of different labor market institutions and add the European dimension which is necessary to achieve successful policy coordination and provide incentives for national initiatives." Risk-sharing through eurobonds -- government bonds issued jointly by the eurozone countries -- has proven to be too controversial over the last few years, especially in Germany and other core euro countries, because they are considered a "moral hazard" in the periphery countries of the eurozone. The fear is that they will invite overspending and over-borrowing based on the credit rating of the stronger countries. Why should risk-sharing through a pan-European unemployment insurance work any better? The Italian government, relying on academic studies published in recent weeks by the Bruegel think tank and the Centre for European Policy Studies has underlined a few advantages of the new proposal. Urgency. The unemployment rate in the eurozone was still 11.1 percent in April, with big countries such as Spain, where one in four are still unemployed, and Italy where it remains at 12.4 percent, feeling the hit. A European Unemployment Insurance plan would demonstrate European solidarity in a visible and tangible way for citizens. As the Italian document reads, "It is necessary to prove the benefits for all in terms of more growth, opportunities and jobs creation of being part of an economic integrated union." With the Greek crisis still open, and populist parties gaining strength all across Europe, such an institutional strategy is crucial for winning the hearts and minds of European citizens. Feasibility. Based on numbers elaborated by Ceps, every country could contribute to build up a fund through a contribution of 0.1 percent of its GDP; the common fund would be activated in favor of a given country only when the unemployment rate reaches extreme levels compared to historical averages. A fund of this size could cover almost half of the salary of 75 percent of unemployed people in Europe for the maximum duration of 12 months, according to Ceps. Efficacy. The European Unemployment Insurance plan would kick in automatically when a country or region falls into a deep economic crisis. Once the mechanism is set up, it will let the funds flow automatically to those areas where they are most needed, avoiding heated political debates over and over again in EU councils. It will work as a "fiscal automatic stabilizer" in the eurozone, correcting the "pro-cyclical" stance of the continent's fiscal policy that has often criticized by analysts who argue that raising bank capitalization ratios can stifle lending during a recession. Further, by harmonizing at least some of the conditions of workers and unemployed people across Europe, it can foster mobility and contribute to forging a true single market. Theoretical and bipartisan appeal. Liberal thinkers, such as Princeton professor Harold James, love the welfare side of the EUI-proposal. Pro-market thinkers, such as University of Chicago professor Luigi Zingales, prefer the boost to individual mobility that comes from the measure. Both agree on one point: although the EUI might create an incentive to some sort of "fiscal transfer," such transfer would be temporary and individually-based. In the present crisis, funds would automatically move from core countries to the periphery when warranted. Back in the 1990s, Germany, in the middle of its own economic crisis, would have been the main beneficiary of the fund, with periphery countries being the most generous contributors. On top of that, German taxpayers would not be lending their money to the same indebted southern states permanently; funds would flow towards specific groups of people in different countries, depending on the temporary economic circumstance of a downturn. For all these reasons, the Italian government has decided to drop the unfeasible eurobonds proposal and to focus instead on a European unemployment insurance scheme. Nothing will happen overnight. The Renzi government, as noted in its proposal, figures that "the mechanism could be financed with resources currently spent on a variety of national benefits, to be partly pooled in a common unemployment insurance fund as the adjustments in labor markets kick in and unemployment is reduced." Clearly, what Renzi has in mind is a medium and long-term policy in order to be ready to cope with the next macroeconomic downturn. Given the fragility of a slow growth recovery at the moment, it is best to start discussing the details now. -- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.
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French President Francois Hollande Says Greece, European Union 'Must Move Fast'
French President Francois Hollande today urged Greece and its EU-IMF creditors to move fast to secure a long delayed deal to unlock urgently needed bailout cash by the end of the month.
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Greece Is the Crisis Club's Odd Man Out
The bigger question is whether Greece will emerge from a new bailout any better able to grow, and thus support its debts, than it did from prior deals.
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How much money is at stake over Greece
Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis offers little hope to German taxpayers who have contributed billions to Greece's bailout packages.
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Greek Economy In "Doomsday" Tailspin: 59 Businesses, 613 Jobs Lost Each Day, Suppliers Demand Cash Up Front
Source: www.zerohedge.com - Wednesday, June 10, 2015 While the Greek government has wasted the past 4 months experiment with game (and hope) theory-based negotiations with the Troika, debating what reforms it should implement, what the budget surplus should be, and how much of a pension and wage haircut the local workforce should undergo just to keep the trickle of European money flowing and "allow" the IMF to repay Greek IMF obligations and the ESM to repay the ECB, the Greek economy has slammed into a brick wall because according to Greece's retailers association, about 59 businesses close down and some 613 jobs are being lost each day. Unfortunately, that number does not give justice to the total economic collapse that has happened in Greece over the past 5 years, just so the myth of the doomed "common currency" could be maintained one day at a time. It is not just the country's domestic businesses that are shuttering down at a dramatic pace: even projects once funded by the European Union, such as motorway construction and which served as a source of jobs for many local contractors, have been mothballed. When construction of four 6.5 billion euro toll roads across Greece resumed last year, Greek and foreign businesses rejoiced. The motorways, largely funded by the European Union and built by companies including Germany's Hochtief, France's Vinci and Greek firms Ellaktor and GEK Terna, had been halted in 2010. Last year, work resumed after the Greek government paid part of a fiAll Related
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Stocks jump as progress reported on Greece
U.S. stocks surged on Wednesday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average back in positive terrain for the year, on optimism about talks between ...
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Dow adds 250 points as stocks bounce 1% amid positive Greece reports
"The catalyst is Greece," Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at BMO Private Bank said, referring to the late-morning 50-point jump in the Dow. "We're ...
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Turkey's Historic Election: Reflecting on a Transformative Moment
(LGBT banners, portraits of Öcalan and Atatürk, Turkish and PKK flags side by side at the HDP election celebration in Istanbul. Image via t24.com.tr) Sunday's general election was a turning point for Turkey. For the first time in 13 years, the Justice and Development Party (AKP) no longer controls the majority in the parliament and cannot govern alone. This is a major blow for a party that has dominated Turkish politics since 2002 and its polarising and overbearing founder, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Victory belongs to the People's Democratic Party (HDP) and its young and charismatic co-chair Selahattin Demirtaş, who smashed the 10% election threshold with strong support from conservative Kurds and secular Turks. There is much to speculate about the new and uncertain era that has just started. But let us first grasp what the present moment really means for a country long believed to be lost to illiberal populism and paranoid authoritarianism: 1. Check on Erdoğan's hubris. Once again, the man who wanted to be the founder of 'new Turkey' turned an election into a referendum about himself and his vision for the country. And for the first time, he lost. Using state resources, Erdoğan campaigned on behalf of his former party, even though his constitutional mandate prohibited him from taking sides in party politics. He railed against the opposition and asked voters to give him 400 MPs (out of a total of 550) who could rewrite the constitution and implement a Putin-style presidency without recourse to a referendum. Instead the AKP received 258 seats, losing 53 deputies and its mandate to govern alone. Erdoğan's personal ambitions have been checked and his dream of a presidential system lies in tatters. 2. Reality check for the AKP. The AKP was the transformative force in Turkish politics for the good part of the 2000s, but it has been backtracking on most of its achievements since its third straight general election victory in 2011. Economic growth has stalled. Foreign policy lies in ruins, symbolised by Turkey's disastrous engagement in Syria and "precious loneliness" in the Middle East. The informal coalition that had enabled the AKP to end the military's guardianship and push through EU-driven liberal reforms has come apart, with Erdoğan doing away with former allies and comrades in his pursuit for power and debilitating paranoia. Along the way, he has undermined Turkey's already weak democratic institutions, stifled civil liberties, polarised society and inadvertently energised a sleepy opposition. The AKP is still Turkey's largest party and will continue to play a key role in its future. But it is deeply divided and has lost its course. To reverse this trend, the party needs to return to its earlier, more humble, reconciliatory and pragmatic self, which seems unlikely under Erdoğan's tight grip. 3. Defeat of hate speech. The president and the AKP ran the most negative campaign in Turkey's recent history, irresponsibly provoking their supporters' most illiberal and chauvinistic instincts. Desperate to keep the HDP under the threshold by maintaining conservative Kurds' loyalty to the AKP, Erdoğan and the pro-government media painted the HDP and Demirtaş as a bunch of atheists, homosexuals and Armenian lovers, in bed with the Zionist West. But the voters rejected this discourse, with the AKP losing almost the entire Kurdish southeast to the HDP. It wasn't just Erdoğan, whose hate-filled rhetoric fell flat on the polling day. Days before the election, Yılmaz Özdil, a columnist who is popular among secular Turkish nationalists, described those leaning towards the HDP as "the ammunition in the [terrorists'] Kalashnikov". The fact that the HDP received unprecedented support from secular Turkish strongholds in Istanbul and Izmir shows that a growing number of Turks no longer subscribe to the stereotyping of Kurds as terrorists and separatists. 4. Victory of hope. Unlike its opponents, the HDP maintained a remarkably positive campaign, using inclusive language, humour and a vision of hope and peace. This is despite the fact that the party faced a verbal and physical onslaught: pro-government thugs attacked and killed their supporters and bombs went off at their offices and rallies. Even after twin explosions killed two and injured over a hundred people at their final rally in Diyarbakır, Demirtaş appealed for calm and spoke of peace: "We will stand shoulder to shoulder and overcome this attack", he said. "No doubt they will try to stop our march. They have tried to strike a blow to our heart everywhere. Yet what we need is peace. We will bring peace to this country. You will provide that peace." 5. Restored faith in democracy. With an 85% turnout rate, the election has demonstrated that Turkey's citizens have a stake in their country's governance. This was not a fair election: the AKP abused the state's vast resources, while the HDP had to overcome financial limitations, organised hate campaigns and an undemocratic election threshold. Nevertheless, the fact that such a turning point has arrived through the ballot box means the integrity of Turkey's electoral institutions is intact, despite its many other democratic shortcomings. Fears of massive vote rigging turned out to be overblown - in part a result of the country's toxic atmosphere of distrust and partisan polarisation. But it was the tens of thousands of ordinary citizens who were on high alert and mobilised to protect the vote that have helped restore the people's eroding faith in its democratic institutions. 6. Triumph for Gezi Erdoğan framed Gezi Park demonstrations of 2013 as a foreign-backed coup attempt against his government. Many of his supporters believe him. Yet the rhetoric of conspiracies and traitors, shadowy lobbies and agents did not win him a single vote on Sunday. It was the HDP (and to some extent the Republican People's Party, CHP) that acknowledged Gezi's core demand for pluralistic grassroots democracy and made it a pillar of its progressive platform. The Kurdish movement had an ambivalent stance towards Gezi; on one hand, supporting the protests and on the other expressing concern that they could be hijacked by ultra-nationalists opposed to the ceasefire and ongoing talks between the AKP and the PKK. But many Kurds and HDP members were at the forefront of the protests, among other socialists, nationalist Turks, Alevis, anti-capitalist Muslims, environmentalists and LGBT activists. And the brutal crackdown that most Turks experienced for the first time in the west of the country belatedly awoke them to the terrible oppression that the Kurds had fought against for decades in the east. The seeds of a new cooperation that culminated in the HDP's strong performance on Sunday were sown during Gezi. Arguably the most important victory for Gezi is the pluralistic composition of the new parliament, which includes three Armenians, two Yazidis, one Assyrian and one Roma MP, as well as many Alevis and Kurds. It has more women than any previous assembly (still low at 17%, but up from 9%). Thirty-one of the HDP's 80 deputies are women. Nineteen deputies wear the headscarf, including the sister of Merve Kavakçı, who was thrown out of the parliament for covering her head in 1999. Leyla Zana, who was expelled in 1994 for addressing the assembly in Kurdish and then imprisoned, is also back. Overall an encouraging sign that Turkey is shedding its past taboos and starting to show its true colours. 7. Transformative moment for the Kurdish movement The HDP's victory is a watershed moment for the Kurdish movement, which is growing out of its ethno-nationalist roots and geographic confines to become the post-nationalist, pluralistic and democratic response to the AKP's religious nationalist populism. At the centre of this transformation is Abdullah Öcalan, the imprisoned leader of the Kurdish guerrilla organisation PKK. Once a Stalinist, he has been preaching a radical democratic worldview to his movement from his island prison for over a decade, reviving the 'libertarian municipalism' and 'social ecology' theories of American socialist libertarian Murray Bookchin, little known beyond anarchist circles in the US. Yet it also signals a generational shift. As revered as he is, Öcalan is something of a myth for most young Kurds, who grew up in the relative stability of the 2000s, never saw the big man and do not aspire for the life of a guerrilla in the mountains. The hero they associate with, admire and aspire to emulate is Demirtaş, a human rights lawyer who never fought in the guerrilla, whose weapon is his disarming wit and whose battlefield is the parliament. 8. Winds of change blow across the Mediterranean. Turkey is in a different place when compared to crisis-ridden countries of southern Europe, yet it has been carried by the same popular anti-establishment wind that has given rise to Podemos in Spain and Syriza in Greece. (Indeed, both movements have lent their support to the HDP and congratulated its victory). Led by charismatic young leaders, organised in public spaces and online, and advocating socially progressive agendas, these are the movements that will reshape and champion the global democratic left against the wars and plunders of neoliberalism in the coming years. 9. A breath of fresh air in the Middle East. With its radical democratic agenda, the HDP also represents a breath of fresh air in a region being crippled by sectarian conflict and cultural extermination. Indeed, the winds that carried the HDP into the parliament did not only blow from the Mediterranean, but also from Syria. The Kurds' victory earlier this year against ISIS in Kobane, a strategic stronghold for the Kurdish movement and its secular, pluralistic 'Rojava revolution', has greatly boosted their confidence and international standing at the expense of the AKP, which has become bedfellows with the jihadis in Syria and their Saudi and Qatari patrons. This and other shadowy dealings of the AKP will come under greater scrutiny in post-election Turkey. The country is now cruising in uncharted waters, and uncertainty will define its domestic and foreign politics in the near future. At least one thing is certain: After years of ruling an imaginary Ottoman empire, the sultan has lost his crown. Democracy is alive in Turkey. -- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.
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Here are 10 things traders are saying about Wednesday's big stock-market rally (SPY, DJI, IXIC, USD, UST)
Stocks are having their strongest session in several days. The Dow gained as much as 250 points after news crossed that Germany may be offering Greece the opportunity to come up with one economic reform that could attract bailout funds. In an email to clients, Dave Lutz at JonesTrading shared what else traders are watching that is moving stocks higher Wednesday, summarized and lightly edited below: Energy stocks are rallying with crude oil after the latest official data showed a drop in US commercial crude-oil inventories. Utilities are ripping higher after the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's ruled that PJM Interconnection LLC, the largest electricity grid in the US, could increase reliability at plants to avoid shutdowns during unseasonal winter weather. (via Bloomberg) Materials stocks are rallying with gold and copper prices on heavy volume. The S&P has bounced off its 100-day moving average. There's an S&P 500 short out there. "Over 320mln shares, most in years." Higher yields amid the sell-off in bonds are sending financial stocks higher. The buyback basket is outperforming. Semiconductor stocks have reversed a recent sell-off, and recent M&A bids are supporting rally. Transportation stocks have also turned around. The no-news event Tuesday on China's inclusion in the MSCI index may have reduced fundraising from other benchmarks. Credit Suisse noted that two more Chinese companies are going private, making a total of nine this year. And lastly, the Greece "Chowder" has driven the German DAX up by as much as 1.7%. SEE ALSO: Wall Street just said 'July' Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: 6 compelling correlations that make absolutely no sense
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Greek leader renews EU bailout push
Greek PM Alexis Tsipras has renewed his diplomatic offensive to try to convince European creditors to pay out the bailout loans the country needs to avoid default. The creditors have made it clear that Greece has to improve its offer of economic reforms ...
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