How the world sees Greece
The “Taste of Greece” Kick Off Event of the 22nd Hermes Expo Western Queens Gazette Standing room only at “Taste of Greece” Kick Off Event of the 22nd Hermes Expo. “Greece along with the United States can face major economic problems and the 2013 economic conflict decisively,” said Panagiotis V. Panagiotopoulos, Vice President of ... |
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 Kathimerini | As Cyprus bailout is approved, Greece told to wrap up talks with troika quickly Kathimerini Greece came under strong pressure at a Eurogroup meeting in Dublin Friday to agree with the troika on the number of civil servants that will lose their jobs over the next two years. Eurozone finance ministers also approved a 10-billion-euro bailout for ... Anastasiades Wants More EU Aid For Cyprus Euro Ministers Back 10 Billion Euro Cyprus Bailout Troika Demands Another €6 Billion from Cyprus, Making 'Rescue' Bigger Than ... |
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 ETF Trends | Greek ETF Bounces Back ETF Trends The Global X FTSE Greece 20 ETF (NYSEArca: GREK) is back above its 200-day simple moving average. The country has been rebounding recently as the S&P 500 is rising to a new all-time high. Shares in the Greek ETF GREK gained around 7% earlier in ... |
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Precious metal slides below $1,500 an ounce for the first time since July 2011 – a 'make-or-break moment', analysts say
The price of gold fell to its lowest level in more than 18 months on Friday night amid fears that sales of the precious metal forced on Cyprus by its desperate financial plight would lead to wholesale dumping by hard-pressed countries in the coming months.
At the end of a week dominated by the plight of the troubled Mediterranean island, gold slid below $1500 an ounce for the first time since July 2011 in anticipation that Cyprus would seek to raise €400m (£340m) by offloading a chunk of its reserves.
Share prices also fell on the major European bourses after the gathering of EU finance ministers in Dublin made it clear that there would be no increase to the €10bn earmarked for Cyprus – even though the expected cost of the bailout has been raised by €6bn to €23bn.
A Cyprus government spokesman said the increase would not lead to more money being taken from savers in the country's banks.
Although both Portugal and Ireland were granted an additional seven years to pay back their loans as a reward for sticking to their austerity programmes, help for Cyprus will be limited to extra investment from Europe's structural fund.
A spokesman for the German government said the contribution to Cyprus's bailout would not change despite the deteriorating financial health of the country, but Angela Merkel's government supported easier terms for Portugal – which tabled fresh measures to save more than €1bn from its budget – and Ireland.
Portugal's prime minister, Pedro Passos Coelho, said tentative cuts had been outlined. "We have already presented to our partners some possibilities that will require further work next week when the Troika visits Portugal," he said. "We have a [bailout] agreement with our partners and we need to stick to it."
Most major European stock markets saw falls of more than 1%, with weak economic news from the US adding to the downward pressure on gold.
While Cyprus's gold sale in itself is small, heavily indebted eurozone nations such as Italy and Portugal could also find themselves under increasing pressure to put their bullion reserves to work.
"If Cyprus can break the gold market, then [there are] many reasons to be worried, with Slovenia, Hungary, Portugal, Spain and Italy in line," Milko Markov, an investment analyst at SK Hart Management, said. "It is a make-or-break moment for gold … if the market can't handle the reallocation and Cyprus, then there is really a need for a bear market."
David Owen, chief European economist at investment bank Jefferies, said: "As with Greece, we should not be under any illusion that we have seen the last of the Troika warning about Cyprus's debt dynamics. The draft EC report [that suggested another €6bn from Cyprus] saw as a worst case scenario Cypriot GDP falling by around 15% in the next two years before output stabilises. However, Greek GDP has now fallen for three years since its bailout, to date by around 20%, with forward looking indicators still pointing down."
Figures released on Friday showed that European industrial production rose by 0.4% in February, but analysts said the outlook remained bleak.
David Brown, of New View Economics said: "Annual growth remains in deep negative territory pulled down by severe recession forces sweeping through the eurozone. ECB hopes that the eurozone economy will pick up later this year are simply wishful thinking while a large part of the eurozone economy is suffering such serious austerity and economic sentiment remains so vulnerable."
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 Business Insider | German Man Got Caught Allegedly Trying To Sneak A Half-Ton Of Gold And ... Business Insider A German man was arrested at Athens International Airport after allegedly attempting to smuggle half a ton of gold and silver out of Greece, the BBC reports. The man was trying to board a Lufthansa flight back to Germany when the airline uncovered ... Greece charges German with smuggling silver Greece, Germany clash on war claim German man caught 'smuggling' gold at Greek airport |
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Things go from bad to worse in Greece Catholic Online The bellwether of the European Union's economic crisis, the nation of Greece has wracked up momentous debt and has seen many of its population - particularly young people, go jobless. Recent statistics say that the situation here has gone from bad - to ... Greece's unemployment rises to new record of 27.2 per cent in January |
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 BBC News | German man caught 'smuggling' gold at Greek airport BBC News The BBC's Mark Lowen in Athens says the timing of the arrest is unfortunate for German-Greek relations. While the gold, silver and cash seized by the authorities may not quite equal the claims for money plundered 70 years ago, today's news might make ... |
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Court rules in favour of auctioneers despite plea from Native American tribe and US ambassador that the masks are sacred
A Paris auction house has gone ahead with a contested sale of dozens of Native American tribal masks after winning a court ruling, despite appeals for a delay by the Hopi tribe, its supporters and the US government.
Shortly after the court announced its decision, auctioneers began selling dozens of brilliantly coloured masks made of wood, leather, horsehair and feathers at the Drouot auction house on Friday.
The auctioneer argued that blocking the sale would have tremendous implications and potentially force French museums to empty their collections. Protesters repeatedly disrupted the sales.
The Hopi want the masks returned, insisting they have a special status and are more than art: they represent their dead ancestors' spirits. The Hopi, a tribe whose territory is surrounded by Arizona, nurture the masks as if they are the living dead. The actor Robert Redford was among those calling for the sale to be halted.
In its ruling, the court noted that the Hopi ascribe "sacred value" to the masks but "clearly they cannot be assimilated to human bodies or elements of bodies of humans who exist or existed" – the sale of which would be banned in France.
The court also alluded to a 1978 US law, the American Indian Religious Freedom Act, and wrote "no provisions banning the sale outside the United States of objects used in religious ceremonies or susceptible to be is applicable in France".
Advocates for the Hopi expressed dismay. "This decision is very disappointing, since the masks will be sold and dispersed," the tribe's French lawyer, Pierre Servan-Schreiber, said outside the courtroom. "The Hopi tribe will be extremely saddened by the decision, especially since the judgment recognises that these masks have a sacred value. The judge considers that the imminent damage (to the masks) is not sufficiently strong."
Jean-Patrick Razon, France director for Survival International, an advocacy group that supports tribal peoples, also expressed disappointment.
"The Hopi people have been pillaged throughout their history. We despoiled their land, we killed them, we violated their souls and it continues. Now, their ritual objects are being put up for auction," Razon said.
The Hopi's lawyers filed a request with the Council of Sales, the French auction market authority, to suspend the sale, Servan-Schreiber said, but a council spokeswoman said it had no legal grounds to intervene.
The US ambassador to France, Charles Rivkin, tweeted: "I am saddened to learn that Hopi sacred cultural objects are being put up for auction today in Paris." On Thursday, he sent a letter to the French government and the auction house asking for a delay to allow better consideration of the tribe's concerns.
Hollywood star Redford joined the effort, writing a letter calling the sales a "sacrilege" – even a "criminal gesture".
Auctioneer Gilles Neret-Minet said he would not gloat over the ruling "but I'm happy that French law was respected".
"I am also very concerned about the Hopi's sadness, but you cannot break property law," he said. "These are in (private) collections in Europe: they are no longer sacred. When objects are in private collections, even in the United States, they are desacralised."
Neret-Minet said the auction house had received "serious threats" before the auction.
The 70 objects, mainly Hopi, went on display at Drouot for the first time as the court battle kicked off on Thursday, offering a rare public glimpse of such works in Europe. They date from the late 19th century and early 20th century, and are thought to have been taken from a northern Arizona reservation in the 1930s and 1940s. The most expensive single mask is estimated to be worth at least €50,000 (£43,000).
The masks are striking – surreal faces made from wood, leather, horsehair and feathers, painted in vivid pigments of red, blue, yellow and orange. Hopi representatives contend the items were stolen at some point and wanted the auction house to prove otherwise.
Disputes over art ownership, demands for restitution, and arguments over whether sacred objects should be sold are nothing new.
There has been a decades-long dispute between the British Museum and Greece over the Parthenon marbles, which Scottish diplomat Lord Elgin removed from the Parthenon in the 19th century. Greece wants them back but opponents fear that would open the floodgates, forcing western museums to send home thousands of artefacts.
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 www.worldbulletin.net | Greece charges German with smuggling silver MiamiHerald.com ATHENS, Greece -- A German man has been charged with trying to smuggle hundreds of pounds of silver out of Greece, part of a crackdown on the pawnbroker trade flourishing since Athens nearly went broke three years ago. A statement from financial ... Greece, Germany clash on war claim Greece: International Law to Determine Reparations Greece seeks war reparations from Germany |
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Swiss freeze Greek ex-minister's assets, looks into money laundering Reuters UK ZURICH (Reuters) - Swiss prosecutors have frozen 10 million Swiss francs (7 million pounds) in assets linked to Greek former Defence Minister Akis Tsohatzopoulos and are investigating whether Swiss-based individuals assisted him in laundering money. |
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Twitter Trends now tracking trends in 160 more locations CNET The San Francisco Giants are currently trending on Twitter in my neck of the woods, but it's a pretty safe bet that people in the Ukraine, Greece, or Kenya don't give a spitball about the team. To better serve the localized interests of its users, the ... |
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 The Economist (blog) | The new pope and the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church The Economist (blog) The metropolitan is worried: it is said that the new pope has an affinity for the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC). So much so that one Russian commentator claimed that in Francis, “we have a Ukrainian pope”. This may worsen relations between the ... |
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You're Sponsoring Neonazis on Greek TV! Global Voices Online A leading alternative news site in Greece, Athens Indymedia announced it was being suppressed by Greek judicial authorities, along with two radio stations, and provided a Tor link [el] for alternate access. Potmos asserted on the significance of the ... Anti-Government Websites in Danger of Closing Down |
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 Kathimerini | Dijsselbloem warns Greece it needs to speed up elements of program Kathimerini Eurogroup president Jeroen Dijsellbloem warned on Friday that Greece needs to «speed up its efforts» in three key areas of its adjustment program. The Dutch finance minister said that Athens had to do its utmost to avoid a financing gap in its program, ... |
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Greece reaches deal to unfreeze toll road project Reuters ATHENS, April 12 (Reuters) - Greece's government has reached a financial settlement with contractors to unfreeze the construction of four, multi-billion-euro toll roads, the country's biggest infrastructure project. The global financial crisis and ... |
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 Kathimerini | Searching for the extra quality and added value in Greek agricultural products Kathimerini BRUSSELS ñ Recent tradition has it that Greek delegations coming to Brussels make strenuous efforts to take something back with them. This time, a team of Greeks came to the heart of Europe with the aim of leaving something behind: a positive ... |
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Most Reviewed on Yelp: Simply Greek in Pleasanton Patch.com Here's what some Yelp reviewers are saying about Simply Greek: A small, fast, friendly place when you just need a Gyro! The menu selection is a good representation of classic Greek food. I have been here for lunch 3 times and have not been disappointed. |
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 Greek Reporter | Greece, Germany clash on war claim Philly.com In a riposte, Greek Foreign Minister Dimitris Avramopoulos said the reparations issue was one for international law to determine, stressing it was completely unrelated to Greece's financial bailout. Greece has been dependent on billions of euros in ... Greece: International Law to Determine Reparations Schaeuble Rejects WWII Reparations For Greece 'Cold War for €54bn' |
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 Press-Enterprise (blog) | RIVERSIDE: New Greek Street Grill drawing raves Press-Enterprise (blog) But the longtime friends wanted to pay homage to their Greek heritage and family recipes. Their new 1,800-square-foot restaurant at 3312 La Sierra Ave., Ste. 103 is in the Sierra Village Shopping Center. Open daily from 11 a.m. to 9:30 pm. Call 951-352 ... |
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