How the world sees Greece
Chairman of Greek soccer club arrested, with club accused of $219 million in ... Fox News ATHENS, Greece – The chairman of the Greek soccer club AEK Athens chairman has been arrested, with his team accused of not paying $219.5 million in taxes. Andreas Dimitrelos was in police custody Thursday and is to testify before a magistrate Friday. |
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 WBNG-TV | Judge approves sale of Greek Peak to 2 Elmira men Elmira Star-Gazette Lawyers for Peak Resorts, the main parent company of the resort, argued in court briefs that waiting for a better deal is not a viable option because the FDIC will not consent to use any further cash for Greek Peak without a pending sale, and that as ... Greek Peak ski resort sold at auction to Elmira businessmen Greek Peak sale approved |
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 Naharnet | Israel, US and Greece Complete Joint Naval Exercise Naharnet Israeli, Greek and U.S. warships concluded a joint two-week Mediterranean naval exercise code-named "Noble Dina" on Thursday, the Israeli military said. "The exercise, which took place in the Mediterranean Sea, was conducted in order to assess the ... The Israel-Turkey-Greece Triangle |
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Prominent Greek Cypriots have met to discuss paying potentially substantial contributions to a national solidarity fund
Prominent Greek Cypriots living in the UK are exploring the possibility of a private bailout plan to help their homeland amid growing concern at the impact of the financial crisis on the country's 60,000-strong Cypriot-born community.
As trading links between Cyprus and the UK were hit hard by the crisis, bankers, accountants and entrepreneurs with links to the island have met to discuss paying potentially substantial contributions to a new national solidarity fund.
Several wealthy Greek Cypriots living in the UK have already indicated their willingness to donate, according to Peter Droussiotis, a barrister and financier who is president of the National Federation of Cypriots in the UK.
"We are meeting to discuss ways in which the British Cypriot community here could take action to help the island," he said. "I know several people who have invested in Cyprus and some are saying that if necessary they would be inclined to make a contribution. I have had that sentiment expressed to me by several business people of Cypriot origin."
UK Cypriot travel agents reported a fall in bookings to the island's resorts and the owner of Cypressa, an importer of halloumi cheese, said he could not pay suppliers because of bank closures.
Ejection from the euro would worsen the situation dramatically for those with business links, and British Cypriots with investments, savings and pensions in Cyprus face significant losses if their assets are raided to secure a €10bn European bailout.
Droussiotis said his federation is also hoping to harness the influence of British Cypriots who have risen to senior roles in the City and academia to provide advocacy for the island over the coming weeks.
UK-based Cypriots who have made fortunes include Theo Paphitis, the retail multimillionaire, and Chris Lazari, the West End property magnate who has an estimated wealth of £600m, but Droussiotis declined to say who had indicated willingness to help. He said there was "considerable anger" in the British Cypriot community at the treatment of the country by the European Union, which he claimed amounted to "blackmail against a sovereign state in the European Union".
"There is a strong bond between the community and Cyprus through tourism, the import of Cypriot food and property that is owned in Cyprus," he said. "There is a lot going on between here and Cyprus and all of those people have been affected."
Not all those who have done well believe it is right to intervene. Stelios Haji-Ioannou, the founder of Easyjet, who is now based in Monaco, is understood to be reluctant to invest because, a spokesman from his office said, he fears the country will soon be ejected from the euro.
Tony Yerolemou, the owner of Cypressa, said he did not believe UK Cypriots would be able to provide sufficient funds to help. He flew to the country on Thursday and said local business people appeared willing to bail out the country with more than 10% of their deposits and would be willing to lose 30% in order to avoid ejection from the euro.
"We can't pay anyone in Cyprus at the moment," he said. "Long term, it is going to be a huge mess."
Middlesex-based Noel Josephides, chairman of the Association of Cypriot Travel Organisers, said he stands to lose savings in Cyprus in any "haircut" deal and his father would lose part of his pension savings, but he still believes it would be wrong to send funds to support the country because of the "incompetent" behaviour of the county's political leadership.
"The solution is to accept a haircut and all behave a bit more sensibly than we have up to now," he said.
While banks in Cyprus remained closed to avoid a run on deposits, branches in the UK were operating as normal. The Bank of Cyprus UK Ltd is a UK-incorporated bank with depositors protected by the UK's financial services compensation scheme. Laiki Bank UK said deposits are protected up to a total of €100,000 by the Cyprus Deposit Protection Scheme, operated by the Cypriot government, which itself is facing bankruptcy.
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Andrew Athens, co-founder of Metron Steel Corp., 1921-2013 Chicago Tribune Andrew Athens, co-founder with his brother of Metron Steel Corp., was an internationally known businessman, humanitarian and pillar of the Greek-American community,. Mr. Athens, 91, died of natural causes Thursday, March 14, at his home in Chicago. |
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 CBS Local | Baltimore Greek Week Celebrates Greek Heritage & Independence CBS Local BALTIMORE (WJZ)— It's a celebration of food, fun and family. It's Greek Week in Baltimore. And as Ron Matz reports the colorful celebration includes a variety of activities in Greektown and beyond. The Greek Independence Day parade is Sunday. From the ... |
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 Press TV | Greek students protest education budget cuts Press TV Greek students have staged a demonstration in the capital to protest against the government's austerity measures in the education sector. On Thursday, scores of Greek students gathered in front of the Greek parliament in central Athens amid heavy ... |
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Locals speak of situation worsening 'by the hour' in descent far more rapid than Greece's
'It's worse than a war. At least in a war you know who your enemies are," said Thanassis Iracleous, standing behind a till as he discussed the escalating crisis in Cyprus. "On Friday they were our friends," railed the pharmacist, whispering the word "German" in the same breath. "The very next morning they were suddenly our enemies."
As wars go, the bespectacled Greek Cypriot is having a good one. Relatively speaking. On Thursday, six days into the island nation's worst economic debacle in decades, Iracleous was still accepting credit cards and customers were still walking through the doors of the chemist he runs in the heart of Nicosia. But it is not clear how long he will be able to keep this up.
That is more than can be said for most retailers in Cyprus, the latest frontline in the eurozone's ever bloody conflict of sovereignty and debt. With the country's solvency hanging by a thread in the wake of the Cypriot parliament's overwhelming rejection of the tough terms attached to financial rescue from the EU and IMF, panic has gradually replaced anger and the shock born of the brutal realisation that bankruptcy is no longer an abstract concept.
"Today, suppliers began demanding payments in cash," said Iracleous, shaking his head incredulously. "Almost no one is accepting credit cards or cheques any more because everyone is saying that come Tuesday the game will be over. Our banks will have closed."
Societies fending off default descend into chaos by stages. Poverty hit Greece after successive rounds of austerity. Over the course of three years of tumult and despair, helplessness followed hopelessness.
In Cyprus, the former British colony that prided itself on its spectacular economic recovery nearly 40 years after Turkey invaded and seized the island's northern third, the descent has been more dramatic for being faster still. Locals speak of a situation worsening "by the hour". In towns across the island's southern sector, the panic spawned by uncertainty was underscored on Thursday by the long queues outside banks as fearful depositors rushed to withdraw cash from ATMs. "The radios, today, were full of talk that next week Laiki may not exist," said Kypros Kyprianou, standing patiently in line outside a branch of the bank on Diogheni Akritas, one of the capital's major avenues. "I'm waiting here till I get my cash," he continued.
"On Saturday, ATMs were giving out €800. Now you can't get more than €400 and already I've been in line for over a hour because the machine is only dispensing €40 at a time."
A 38-year-old carpenter, Kyprianou is proud that all 56 of Cyprus's MPs resoundingly rejected the bailout deal which, in an unprecedented step, stipulated that ordinary depositors pay part of the bill. "We are not like the Greeks who just sign up to whatever these people [the EU and IMF] dictate," he boasted. "We can say no."
But ever since the eruption of this latest stage of the crisis, the carpenter has been out of work. "There is no liquidity. The market has dried up. I was meant to get a deposit for a big project on a house on Saturday and it just fell through," he said, "just like that."
Vassos Pratziotis, a graphic designer who like Kyprianou is now withdrawing cash on a daily basis, says what is most worrying is that nobody knows what the future will bring. "There can't not be a solution," he said, drawing on a cigarette. "The problem is we have no idea what it is going to be. I'm very afraid that Laiki will collapse because the bank is my firm's main client and for several months we haven't been paid."
Food shortages are not in evidence. But in a worrying sign on Thursday major chains reported that suppliers were beginning to reduce produce and even withhold goods if payments weren't made in cash. "Many are insisting that we pay up front," said Andriana Anisia, manager of a branch of the local supermarket co-operative Green Tree. "People are clearly panicking. Today, our milk supplies came and they were inexplicably thinner. Who knows what next week will bring?"
Britons who have retired to the island are also expressing alarm. In Nicosia many could be spotted similarly rushing to banks to cancel transfers of their pensions from the UK. "Our biggest worry is that the whole banking system is going to collapse, not just one or two banks," said one, Francis Colley. "I called my pension fund and they said they are very concerned about the situation in Cyprus. Very, very concerned."
The streets of Nicosia have fallen eerily quiet with the intensification of the showdown. Uncertainty over the financial lifeline is such that no one has much appetite for anything, locals say. "Even if you have work, your mind is somewhere else," said Pratziotis. "Everyone is numb, really, with worry."
In his pharmacy, Iracleous, like many Greek Cypriots, laid the blame squarely with Berlin. "It's very simple. It's all about money," he said. "In this case Germany wanting to control the Russian oligarchs who have invested in our banks. If they leave Cyprus, which is what Merkel wants them to do, they will have to go somewhere else. Germany will be the top of that list. What we in Cyprus have learned is that you have to be very careful of your friends."
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Greek Revival First Things (blog) Functional, that is, for elites. In ancient Greece the winners weren't anxious about their dominance. That worries me. Our new meritocracy tends to see itself as natural rulers, which is of course the same way the ancient Greeks on top saw themselves. |
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Greece's Unsettled WWII German Reparations: A Stain in the International Legal ... Huffington Post On October 1940, North-west Greece was attacked by Germany's ally, Italy, which was repelled by the Greek army. In April 1941, Germany came to Italy's rescue, invaded and occupied Greece for four years committing massive crimes against the people of ... |
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Artists Work To Pay Greece's Debt Greek Reporter Due to the economic crisis more than 30 Greek artists, as a symbolic gesture, are putting up their works in auction with the intention to donate the revenues collected to go to crisis-struck Greece. With the initiative of Greek-German Education ... |
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 Washington Times | Greek Coffee May Help You Live Longer Huffington Post A "boiled Greek type of coffee, which is rich in polyphenols and antioxidants and contains only a moderate amount of caffeine, seems to gather benefits compared to other coffee beverages," said Dr. Gerasimos Siasos of the University of Athens Medical ... Boiled Greek coffee may be the secret to a longer life Greek coffee may lengthen your life, study says Greek coffee may be the key to a long, healthy life |
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 CultureMap Austin | Light and fresh lunches: Greek-inspired dishes with healthy alternatives CultureMap Austin When cooking at home, I like to make tzatziki, a Greek cucumber yogurt dip. I put the tzatziki on top of eggs in the morning, on roasted sweet potatoes, or served as an accompaniment to grilled meats and pita bread. Another yogurt cheese recipe I pair ... |
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German woman sought in probe into Greek ex-minister GlobalPost Greece issued a warrant Thursday for the arrest of a German woman allegedly implicated in money laundering engineered by a Greek ex-minister. Greek judicial authorities requested the arrest of the German former sister-in-law of Akis Tsochatzopoulos ... |
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Right-wing pundits are scaremongering over fears the US will be the next Cyprus, which is is totally out of the question
My late Tante Bessie had a bank account. In fact, she had more than one. Like a lot of people who lived through the Great Depression as adults, she didn't really trust the banks. She liked to spread her Social Security and pension checks around.
Just in case all those institutions went at once – or Ronald Reagan decided to call a bank holiday – Tante Bessie also kept some cash around the house. But don't think Tante Bessie kept her money under the mattress. She was way too savvy to pick such an obvious spot. Instead, she wrapped it in tinfoil, labeled it "chicken liver" and placed it in her freezer.
This is no apocryphal family saga. I know. My mother made me clean out Tante Bessie's refrigerator and freezer after she moved into an assisted living residence. I unwrapped every last piece of frozen meat.
So let me take this moment to issue a personal plea. Don't let the recent events in Cyprus scare you into becoming my Tante Bessie.
Yes, I shouldn't need to tell you this. Hell, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke should not have had to remind a press conference yesterday that the US provides insurances on bank deposits – and, in 2008, the United States actually increased investor protections to stop bank runs.
However, you might be worried about the sanctity and safety of your funds right now if you are getting your info from a number of conspiracy-oriented blog sites, not to mention a certain television news network that claims to offer "fair and balanced" information.
In the view of these news sources, the situation in Cyprus was not a cock-up of the first order – despite the fact that European regulators were attempting to force the nation's parliament to approve a plan to tax all bank account holders anywhere between 6-10% to pay for serious funding shortfalls in the country's banks, and instead succeeded in setting off what promises to be a serious bank run whenever the institutions are finally allowed to reopen.
No, this was a trial balloon, some misleading pundits say. Today: Cyprus. Tomorrow: the world.
Just listen to anchor Stuart Varney: "Well, whose next? Which other governments, which have run up enormous debt, will also go toward seizing private bank accounts? Who else is next? Maybe Spain, maybe Italy, how about America? Is it out of the question totally?"
Actually, yes. It's out of the question.
Let me explain where a lot of this scare mongering is coming from. There has been an on-again, off-again rumor since the 2008 campaign that Barack Obama has a secret and diabolical plan to confiscate our retirement savings to plug holes in the federal budget. That supposed fact has been repeated by Rush Limbaugh numerous times and is generally believed by the sort of people who remain convinced that the current United States president was really born in Kenya.
Okay, we expect this stuff from nether reaches of right wing radio and the Internet. Alex Jones, who also argues that the United States government was in on 9/11, hosted my favorite doomsayer Gerald Celente earlier this week, who proclaimed, "You're hearing now from the American Banking Association, from DC, don't worry about it, Americans. Your money is insured. Yeah, just like it is insured over there in Cyprus."
Another, more obscure website led off a post on Monday with the subject head, "When Dear Leader pulls a Cyprus and seizes 24% of your 401(k) don't say I didn't warn you."
10%, 20%, what's the difference when the government plans to filch your savings?
Okay, we all know the Internet is a sewer for this sort of stuff. No one is inviting Alex Jones to a White House or Federal Reserve press conference any time soon. And unless you go looking for it, you are unlikely to simply stumble onto this sort of talk online.
Our television networks, on the other hand … if you have cable television, you just need to turn it on and, voila! There you are, flipping channels and you can hear Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer proclaim on that station that claims to be fair and balanced, "America's … headed the way of Cyprus."
Nice. Let's scare the viewers. Maybe a few of them will run to the bank or their brokerage account, withdraw all their money and think "chicken liver."
To be fair, fear is a normal response to what occurred in Cyprus this week. You don't have to be a conspiracy theorist to understand why breaching sovereign guarantees on the absolute safety of money deposited in banks should be a no-go zone – even if some of that money belongs to Russian oligarchs who likely obtained it in less-than-honest ways.
That's why it is so flamingly irresponsible for a major network to rile people up about this rather ghastly event. The fact is the United States is in a very different position from Cyprus and, for that matter, the other European countries thought to be most at risk of being next in the crisis parade: Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece and Spain. Why are we different? The United States government controls its own currency. This is what has allowed the Federal Reserve to engage in round after round of quantitative easing to bring the United States economy back from the brink in 2008.
So there is no way another country could come along and tell us we need to "tax" our account holders. Nor would our government do it either. Why would it? It can just print more of it. Cyprus, when it went over to the Euro and gave up control of its currency, lost that right.
So skip the chicken liver. If nothing else, you don't want to do that to your loved ones. Trust me. It was no fun cleaning out that freezer.
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Forget Spain and Italy. It's France that's Greece-ifying before our very eyes Quartz Forget Spain and Italy. It's France that's Greece-ifying before our very eyes. By Gwynn Guilford — March 21, 2013. France has so far dodged the “problem child” reputations that Spain and Italy have earned. But it looks like that will be increasingly ... |
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Restaurant Review: Kouzina in Royal Oak serves up fresh Greek street food Oakland Press The streamlined menu mainly focuses on different varieties of gyros and gyro rice bowls, as well as a Greek salad. After placing their order, guests can watch their food being prepared. Pita bread dough is pressed and griddled to order, and meat is ... |
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2 Elmira men make highest bid for Greek Peak resort Elmira Star-Gazette Lawyers for Peak Resorts, the main parent company of the resort, argue in court briefs that waiting for a better deal is not a viable option because the FDIC will not consent to use any further cash for Greek Peak without a pending sale, and that as ... |
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