Greek creditors hope loans payout in mid-Oct

LUXEMBOURG (AP) — Jeroen Dijsselbloem, the eurozone's top official, has expressed his hope that the Greek government will get 2 billion euros ($2.1 billion) worth of bailout cash by the middle of October.

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Adonis completes journey from Blair's right hand to Osborne's 'common ground'

Reuters/Stephen Hird It’s extremely unfair of the Corbynistas in the Labour Party to accuse Andrew Adonis of being a Judas figure after his announcement that he’ll be moving to the Lords crossbenches. The Blairite peer’s decision to resign the Labour Party whip and lead a National Infrastructure Commission for George Osborne is entirely consistent with his previous political behaviour. While he might not be a household name, Adonis’s influence on British politics over the past 20 years has been immense. His ideas about the future of British education are still hugely influential today, especially in the academies system, while he started a debate on British transport infrastructure that was long overdue. It’s interesting to note that he’s managed to achieve this without gaining the same level of popular recognition of Jonathan Powell, for example, or Alistair Campbell. But you could argue that this is one of the keys to his success – while others have climbed the greasy pole and then fallen from grace, Adonis has remained consistently as a supporting actor, solidifying his position as part of the establishment along with his reputation as “a safe pair of hands”. His position on the centre-left of British politics was partly shaped by his father, an immigrant and trade unionist of Greek-Cypriot background. But the young Adonis also read history at Oxford, where he demonstrated the ability to befriend people from a variety of different backgrounds and political allegiances. Later he worked as a journalist at both the Observer and Financial Times. PARTY HOPPING Having served as an SDP then Lib Dem councillor, Adonis was selected as a Liberal Democrat at a time when the party was arguably more left than Labour. He then switched to Labour where his political ideas and philosophy melded perfectly with the New Labour project that Blair, Brown and Mandelson were trying to construct. His role at the heart of British politics (although not necessarily always playing a central role) for more than a decade makes it easy to forget that he’s never been elected to any of the positions he’s held. His job from Blair’s first election victory in 1997 as a member of the Number 10 policy unit (rising to had of the unit in 2001) was to try to provide a coherence of thought and intellectual rigour that the party at that time arguably lacked. Apart from throwing around buzz words like “the Third Way”, Labour had start to dispense with much of the ideology that had previously defined them, a process that would eventually lead to them becoming hallowed out. The unit acted as a vital source of policy as well as providing a way of sifting through the mountains of ideas supplied by other Labour-linked policy think-tanks. Adonis’s elevation to the peerage – and then his government jobs, including minister of education and secretary for transport, allowed him to put these ideas into practice more easily. This was aided by the fact that he didn’t have to worry about re-election so could afford to offend. It also helped that he had Blair’s ear. Blair’s right-hand man. PA Archive/PA Images Under Gordon Brown, Adonis played an important part in convincing Blairite MPs that their viewpoint wasn’t being marginalised – and also to prop up the idea that this was a “government of all the talents” (as some dubbed it) whether inside or outside the House of Commons. The overarching theme of his life and career, then, is a focus on policy and the willingness to work with people from both ends of the political spectrum to help promote and implement it. Perhaps the lasting legacy from his Labour government days will be the school academies system that was admired by many in the Conservative Party, including Michael Gove. Some, although not all, threads of Conservative thinking about education can be traced back to Adonis and his work in this area. CENTRE GROUND So this latest move is arguably a continuation of previous roles. It’s symbolic in the sense that the Conservative Party is trying to shift itself politically to appeal to many floating former New Labour voters. Adonis’s decision is a sign that the Conservatives are trying to reach out to disaffected MPs and claim the centre ground. What’s more, by the sound of things he will be playing a very similar role as he did under Blair, providing evidence-based policy to a government that has on occasion seemed bereft of ideas and more driven by marketing than political conviction. He now has to walk a tricky line between retaining his Labour Party convictions while delivering policy solutions for the Conservative government. Whether he can square this circle remains to be seen. _Matthew Ashton does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond the academic appointment above._

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Minister helps Syrian refugees off boat

Scotland's international development minister Humza Yousaf says he witnessed "utter chaos" as he helped Syrian refugees off a boat on a Greek island.

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McAuley fit for GREECE game

McAuley fit for GREECE game. New Football 05 Oct 2015. Gareth McAuley has been passed fit to play for Thursday night's Euro 2016 qualifier against ...

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The Latest: Romania ready to take more asylum-seekers

Greek authorities say they have freed 34 men, women and children who allegedly had been locked up in a cramped central Athens flat by a mostly Afghan gang of extortionists that preyed on newly arrived immigrants. Greece is the main arrival point for hundreds of thousands of refugees and economic migrants seeking a better life in wealthy European countries. Police said Monday that the suspect offered Afghan migrants accommodation, bus tickets and forged documents. The Czech Republic is sending a unit of 25 soldiers to Hungary to help protect the external border of Europe's passport-free Schengen zone. Joanna Rokicka, spokeswoman for Poland's Border Guards, said Monday that a Border Guard chopper with eight crew members and one liaison officer was sent to Hungary on Sunday. Separate talks on more aid to help protect Hungarian border are being held ahead of Oct. 8 meeting of interior ministers from the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia and Poland. Commission spokesman Margaritis Schinas said Monday that the EU wants to "have a contract of mutual confidence that is necessary, given the central role Turkey has played in the refugee crisis." A spokeswoman for the EU's border agency says it is seeking hundreds of additional border guards to help in the task of identifying migrants that are arriving in Europe. The agents would reinforce the procedure of identifying people who qualify for political asylum, like Syrians and Afghanis, and economic migrants, who will be returned home. The head of the U.N. refugee agency says a "positive relationship between the Western and the Muslim worlds" is essential to overcome refugee crises like those facing Europe.

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Eurozone ministers urge Greece to deliver on reforms

Eurozone finance ministers urged Greece on Monday to swiftly implement the tough reforms at the heart of its huge bailout as newly re-elected premier Alexis Tsipras presents to the Greek parliament the challenges ahead.

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The Latest: UN agency chief wants getter Muslim-Western ties

GENEVA (AP) — The latest developments in the hundreds of thousands of refugees and other migrants passing through Europe on their way west. All times local. ___ 5 p.m. Romania's prime minister says his country has not been confronted by a large influx of asylum-seekers and should be open to receiving more. Victor Ponta said Monday Romania has received 944 asylum requests this year, of which 18 were in August. He called it "an insignificant" increase compared to the previous year. Speaking to lawmakers in Parliament, Ponta said it was easier to support the efforts of countries who are willing to accept migrants "than to build walls, fences." He said Romania should increase its allowance to refugees which is currently 3 lei (70 eurocents, 80 U.S. cents) a day and migrants and refugees should have access to health care, education and jobs. He also criticized Russian airstrikes on Syria, saying they would aggravate the situation. Romania was one of four eastern European countries to oppose a European Union resettlement plan for 120,000 asylum-seekers. President Klaus Iohannis now says that Romania can cope with the extra migrants it has been asked to take, and merely disagreed with mandatory quotas. ___ 4 p.m. Greek authorities say they have freed 34 men, women and children who allegedly had been locked up in a cramped central Athens flat by a mostly Afghan gang of extortionists that preyed on newly arrived immigrants. Greece is the main arrival point for hundreds of thousands of refugees and economic migrants seeking a better life in wealthy European countries. Most pay smugglers to bring them in frail boats from Turkey to the Greek islands, and then converge on Athens before heading off overland through the Balkans. Police say they arrested one suspect in the weekend operation, and are seeking five others, including an Egyptian man. Police said Monday that the suspect offered Afghan migrants accommodation, bus tickets and forged documents. But once in the flat, migrants faced imprisonment and beatings unless they paid the gang. ___ 3:30 p.m. The Czech Republic is sending a unit of 25 soldiers to Hungary to help protect the external border of Europe's passport-free Schengen zone. Defense Minister Martin Stropnicky says the unit will be deployed for two months starting October 15. Stropnicky said Monday he was going to consult his Hungarian counterpart in Brussels on Thursday about further possible support for Hungary. Interior ministers of the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland will discuss further possible ways of helping Hungary, where about 300,000 migrants have arrived this year. ___ 3:25 p.m. Poland has sent a helicopter and crew to Hungary to help patrol the border with Croatia. The mission is part of effort by Frontex, the EU's border agency, to beef up borders in face of the pressure from immigrants. Joanna Rokicka, spokeswoman for Poland's Border Guards, said Monday that a Border Guard chopper with eight crew members and one liaison officer was sent to Hungary on Sunday. The mission continues through Friday. Separate talks on more aid to help protect Hungarian border are being held ahead of Oct. 8 meeting of interior ministers from the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia and Poland. Thousands of people seeking asylum in Europe are streaming into Hungary from Croatia as they search for paths toward Germany and other destinations in Western Europe. ___ 1:40 p.m. Spanish rescue services say they have intercepted 301 migrants trying to reach Spain from Morocco in 12 boats over the past three days. The service said 84 migrants were brought ashore Monday from three boats spotted off southwestern Spain. The rest were intercepted Saturday and Sunday at points further east along the southern coast. The service said that between Jan. 1 and Aug. 31 it helped rescue some 4,188 migrants, 2,307 of whom were taken to Morocco by marine services from that country. African migrants seeking a better life in Europe often try to reach Spain by crossing the Mediterranean Sea from Morocco. Tens of thousands of migrants also try to make it to Italy and Greece from north Africa and the Middle East each year. ___ 1:15 p.m. Leaders from the European Union and Turkey will be fine-tuning a plan to help Ankara cope better with refugees from Syria and Iraq and limit the flow of people leaving to Europe. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was arriving in Brussels Monday for talks with EU Council President Donald Tusk, Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and Parliament President Martin Schulz. Commission spokesman Margaritis Schinas said Monday that the EU wants to "have a contract of mutual confidence that is necessary, given the central role Turkey has played in the refugee crisis." Turkey hosts around 2 million refugees, many from Syria and Iraq. Tens of thousands of people fleeing conflict and poverty have been crossing from Turkey into Greece in the hope of finding better lives in Europe. ___ 1:00 p.m. A spokeswoman for the EU's border agency says it is seeking hundreds of additional border guards to help in the task of identifying migrants that are arriving in Europe. Ewa Moncure said Monday that Frontex appealed to EU and Schengen members last week to jointly provide 775 experts in identification and interpreters. They would be deployed this month to Greece and Italy, which are taking the brunt of the migrant wave. The agents would reinforce the procedure of identifying people who qualify for political asylum, like Syrians and Afghanis, and economic migrants, who will be returned home. The current numbers of border guards are insufficient to meet the migrant wave of some 420,000 people so far this year. ___ 11:25 a.m. The head of the U.N. refugee agency says a "positive relationship between the Western and the Muslim worlds" is essential to overcome refugee crises like those facing Europe. Antonio Guterres, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, says there is an urgent need to fight fear of Islam and reduce the lure of extremist ideologies. He told his agency's executive committee on Monday that financing has fallen short to handle "mega-crises" like those in Iraq and Syria and other crises in South Sudan, Burundi, Yemen and Libya. He said "the humanitarian system is financially broke" and 33 U.N. appeals for assistance for 82 million people are 42-percent funded. . Join the conversation about this story »

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