Greece has to sell Eurobank to foreign investor, might keep emergency property ... Kathimerini Greece might have to keep the unpopular emergency tax on property next year and will have to sell a stake in Eurobank, one of its four so-called systemic lenders, to a foreign investor, according to the finalized version of Greece's memorandum of ... |
Welcome, 77 artists, 40 different points of Attica welcomes you by singing Erotokritos an epic romance written at 1713 by Vitsentzos Kornaros
Thursday, July 25, 2013
Greece has to sell Eurobank to foreign investor, might keep emergency property ...
Greece's Unemployed Young: A Great Depression Steals the Nation's Future
Greece's Unemployed Young: A Great Depression Steals the Nation's Future Businessweek Greece's jobs crisis is a window into a wider emergency that threatens the future of Europe. Across the continent, a prolonged slump has disproportionately affected the young, with nearly one in four under the age of 25 out of work, according to the ... |
Labour calls for investigation into rise in deaths of older people
Official figures show 23,400 more deaths of older people than expected in 18 months, with many in poorest parts of country
Labour is calling on the health secretary, Jeremy Hunt, to mount an urgent investigation into a sustained rise in deaths of older people over the past 18 months.
There have been 600 deaths a month more than expected throughout the last year. The rise began at the end of 2011 and has only this month dropped back to the level that would normally be expected.
Over the past 18 months, there have been 23,400 more deaths than expected, which is a 5% increase.
The extra deaths are mostly of women over the age of 85 and predominantly in the poorest parts of the country, leading to concerns that they could be linked to the government's austerity measures. Public Health England is investigating the reasons for the rise.
Andy Burnham, the shadow health secretary, has written to Hunt to ask for an urgent response to the data, which was compiled month by month by the Office for National Statistics.
Burnham said: "These figures raise major concerns about deteriorating levels of care and support for older people, and demand an urgent response from the government. Labour has been warning for some time about the collapse of social care and the growing number of older people left alone and at risk. We now need to see action from the government.
"This year we revealed a shocking 66% increase in people over 90 going into A&E in blue-light ambulances – a sure sign of something going seriously wrong in the way we care for older people.
"In light of today's revelations I am asking Jeremy Hunt to commission an urgent investigation into the causes of this increase in mortality since 2012.
"The government must be honest about the impact of cuts to local authority budgets that pay for social care, and bring forward urgent improvements in support for older people."
Statisticians have been watching the figures for some time and the data was mentioned in Public Health England's flu report for last winter, which noted that "the number of deaths during 2012-13 was high". The increase was found within the oldest group and was often attributed to respiratory causes.
But the high levels of deaths throughout the year, and even up to last month, suggest cold weather was not the main issue, and flu levels this winter were low.
Danny Dorling, professor of human geography at Sheffield University, who has been studying the numbers, said the most important thing was whether the numbers continued to fall.
"The point is that it does fit austerity," he said. "The key is the suddenness of this. If it does drop now and go back to levels that have been normal in recent years, it doesn't look like a cuts thing. But my guess is that the biggest thing will be cuts."
Several factors could be present, he added. One was the possible return to Britain of elderly pensioners who had been living in the warmer climates of Spain or Greece because of the value of the euro.
Another factor could be the reduced staffing and financial pressures in care homes and hospitals, which might threaten physical health but could also have a psychological impact. Most of the excess deaths were of elderly women, who tended to live in care homes because they outlived their husbands.
"This is a big, long-term, story," Dorling said. It would be important to watch where the figures went now, he said. If the extra deaths continued, "we could be looking at a slightly falling life expectancy".
That happened in the OECD only in Japan, because of the tsunami, and in the US in 2008, where life expectancy dropped slightly at the end of George Bush's cuts.
Public Health England said it was looking at the trend. "We are currently undertaking further work to understand why there was a rise in mortality rates during the earlier months of this year and the causes behind this," a spokesperson said.
"The weekly number of deaths are currently within levels expected for this time of year."
Golden Dawn plays Nazi anthem while handing out food parcels
Haaretz | Golden Dawn plays Nazi anthem while handing out food parcels - to Greeks only Haaretz A Greek version of the Nazi Horst Wessel song – known as "keep the banner flying" in Greek – was played on loudspeakers outside the central Athens offices of the Golden Dawn party, where members handed out bags of food and clothing. Horst Wessel was ... Greek Far Right Faces Charity Drive Ban Greek police prevent neo-Nazi food handout Greek neo-Nazi group Golden Dawn hails poll boost among the young |
Xiropotamos Opens In August
Crisis Pushes 40000 Out of Nursery Schools
France?s First Lady Greek Luxury Holiday
Fitch Updates Greek Mortgage Assumptions No Rating Impact Expected
Greek Electricity Co. Readies For Privatization
Around 300000 people in Greece infected with hep B
Greece picks up silver in open-water team race
No Greek Cypriot leader ever wanted to reach an agreement in Cyprus
Greek pharmacists threaten to strike over states debt
Europe Looks Fine Now, But A Political Perfect Storm Is Brewing
Economic data out of Europe has been improving, showing that the eurozone is stabilizing.
And concerns of a major European crisis have been fading.
The OMT program, open market transactions, a bond buying program the ECB launched following Mario Draghi's promise to do "whatever it takes," has not yet been tested.
But Nomura's Alastair Newton thinks that the time could come in the fall when the OMT will come into play.
"We think that it would probably take several ‘bad’ events occurring simultaneously for there to be a significant possibility of OMT having to be activated," said Newton. "The multi- dimensional nature of the eurozone crisis appears to allow for this possibility, as illustrated by the following non-exhaustive list of ‘issues’ which could flare up in September/October."
Here's a quick look at what Newton's worried about:
- France - The government commission on pension reform will report at the end of July, this is ahead of the introduction of new legislation in August. "With left-wingers in President François Hollande’s Parti Socialiste threatening a revolt and the unions girding themselves to take to the streets, the government is facing what markets see as an acid test of its ability to deliver reform," Newton writes. Meanwhile, if France fails to do more to reduce the deficit, it risks criticism from Berlin and Brussels and from peripheral European countries pointing out double standards.
- Germany - German policy isn't expected to soften after the general elections scheduled for September 22. But "pressure from the peripherals and from France for a shift may increase, risking open disagreement between Berlin and other eurozone capitals,' warns Newton.
- Greece - The troika — European Commission, IMF, and the ECB — will review Greece in October, and talks of foreign debt restructuring may surface again. "Although this would hardly come as a surprise to markets or German voters, the prospect of official creditors (including Germany) taking a hair-cut over Greece could raise concerns over similar steps proving necessary for Cyprus and already troubled Portugal."
- Italy - The ruling coalition in Italy should struggle but stay in power going into 2014. But if there are still differences going into fall, the property tax will complicate "what promises in any case to be a contentious 2014 budget process."
- Spain - An upward shift in Italy's yield curve could cause a similar move in Spain's yield curve. Spanish prime minister Mariano Rajoy is still caught up in a slush fund scandal, former People's Party treasurer Luis Barcenas is said to have run a slush fund and sent money to party officials including Rajoy. All of this could see Spain being pushed to a bailout.
Amid all these, the 2014 European Parliament elections will also be weighing on Europe's biggest players. Newton thinks "conditions are ripe for extremist parties to make significant gains in these elections," making policy decisions even harder.
Join the conversation about this story »
Little Greek restaurant expanding to New Tampa
Little Greek restaurant expanding to New Tampa Northwest News and Tribune NEW TAMPA - Little Greek, a thriving Tampa-based restaurant chain, is set to open its 13th location today near Publix Supermarket in the New Tampa Center shopping plaza. The Mediterranean-themed, fast-casual dining establishment's newest outlet is at ... |
Dirty secret of trendy Greek yogurt
MyNorthwest.com | Dirty secret of trendy Greek yogurt MyNorthwest.com No food is more trendy these days than Greek yogurt. But it has a dirty little secret. The secret is not in the yogurt itself, but the by-product of the yogurt-making process. It's whey, a thin watery substance with the acidity of orange juice. Some ... Soft-serve that's good for you Home-made Yogurt: Healthy Miracle in a Jar Creamy Yogurt Curry Sauce |
Protest Against Olympic Air Route Cuts
Thessaloniki Gets A Tourist Boost
Patras? Governor Meets Austria?s Ambassador
Religion in Turkey: Erasing the Christian past
Festival major remnant of Middletown?s once-thriving Greek community
Greece Acts to Ensure Next Loan
Greece Acts to Ensure Next Loan Wall Street Journal By voice vote, parliament passed legislation enacting tax reforms, as well as an amendment to a previous law detailing the transfer of several thousand public servants into a special labor reserve—measures that had been demanded by the Greece's troika ... |