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How the world sees Greece
Friday, September 27, 2013
Greek Food Fest kicks off today! Opa!
JEH JEH LIVE - The Greek Festival is here ... Check out www.birminghamgreekfestival.net for the menu, and call ahead for orders of 20 or more at (205) 716-3086. Birmingham is home to the seventh oldest Greek Orthodox parish in the United States.
Parish Whistleblower Chief Removed by Church
GLENVIEW, Ill. - A request by a Glenview church to suspend its priest until the conclusion of a criminal investigation that involves him has prompted a sharp rebuke from the leader of the Greek Orthodox Church in Chicago, who then ordered the removal of the Parish Council President who made the request.
James Gottreich, Council President at Sts. Peter and Paul Church, wrote last week to Metropolitan Iakovos, the leader of the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Chicago, asking that the Glenview church's pastor, the Rev. James Dokos, be placed on leave until the out-of-state criminal probe has wrapped up.The district attorney's office in Milwaukee confirmed it has launched a formal investigation into how money was distributed from a $1.3 million trust fund set up to benefit Annunciation Church in Milwaukee. Dokos oversaw the trust fund as pastor at Annunciation before being transferred to Sts. Peter and Paul last year
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Why the West Plunders Greece
The plunder of Greece by Western Europe goes back to the Romans. Despite their admiration for Greek culture, they made Greece a colony in 146 BCE. From then on, occupied Greece became an open field for thieves and conquerors. Roman rulers and ...
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Parish council chief ousted after seeking suspension of priest
Chicago TribuneParish council chief ousted after seeking suspension of priestChicago TribuneA request by a Glenview church to suspend its priest until the conclusion of a criminal investigation that involves him has prompted a sharp rebuke from the leader of the Greek Orthodox Church in Chicago, who then ordered the removal of the parish ...
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How racially diverse is Auburn's Greek system? 'We can do better,' official says
AUBURN, Alabama -- In terms of integrating its greek system, Auburn University is slightly ahead of its arch rival, the University of Alabama, which is still dealing with fallout from a sorority segregation scandal this year. Of 1,188 women rushing Auburn ...
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Ban order placed on Syntagma march by Greek army reservists
Army reservists, who earlier this week called for the government to resign, have been banned from protesting in Syntagma Square on Saturday.
The police issued a banning order for reasons of “public order and safety.”
A statement issued by the Association ... ...
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More Scandinavian tourists to Crete, Rhodes this fall
The tourism season in Greece has been prolonged this year due to the continued unrest in Egypt, with major Scandinavian tour operator Apollo Kuoni announcing the shift of 25 charter flights from Egypt to Greece, mostly for Hania (pictured), Iraklio and Rh... ...
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Court deems law on illegal buildings unconstitutional
The Council of State, Greece’s highest administrative court, on Friday threw the government’s plans to semi-legalize properties built without full permission, by deeming that legislation passed in 2011 was unconstitutional.
The law encouraged the owners o... ...
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Economic sentiment in Greece improved in September
The Economic Sentiment Index (ESI) in Greece posted a significant improvement in September, according to the European Commission, climbing from August’s 89.2 points to 93.1 point this month, approaching the highest level in the last couple of years – whic... ...
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Venizelos talks Cyprus, name row with Kerry in US
Foreign Minister Evangelos Venizelos had the opportunity to discuss Greece’s positions on Cyprus and the Macedonia name dispute when he met Friday with US Secretary of State John Kerry on the sidelines of the United Nations general assembly in New York.
T... ...
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Samaras to meet with IMF chief in Washington
Amid German pressure for fiscal discipline in Greece, freshly cemented by Angela Merkel’s re-election as chancellor, Prime Minister Antonis Samaras is traveling to the USA on Saturday seeking support for a more growth-inducing policy mix.
Samaras will mee... ...
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Pope Francis Meets with Syrian Greek-Orthodox Patriarch
This morning, Pope Francis met with Patriarch Youhanna X Yazigi, the head of the Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch and All the East. The Syrian prelate informed the Holy Father of the continuing suffering of Christians in the ...
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Greece plans capital boost of over 1 billion euros for Eurobank: source
ATHENS (Reuters) - Greece's plan to return Eurobank to private ownership will see the country's fourth largest bank issue more than 1 billion euros ($1.35 billion)of new stock to private investors, boosting its capital ratio, a source familiar ...
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One Hyde Park: a good address, but one doesn't actually live there
Costing up to £100m, most of the Knightsbridge apartments are sold but unoccupied, distorting London's housing market
It is billed as the "most exclusive address in the world", but One Hyde Park is apparently not the main one used by more than three-quarters of those who own homes there, according to information released by Westminster council.
The Candy brothers' luxury development in the London borough of Knightsbridge has more than 80 apartments, but only 19 are registered as "occupied by individuals" for council tax purposes, it has emerged, following a freedom of information request by the magazine Inside Housing.
Of the rest of the properties, which were marketed at £6m for a one-bedroom flat to £100m-plus for a penthouse, the council treats 16 as empty and 26 as second homes. The remaining 23 are registered as occupied by companies.
Many of the flats are known to have been sold to overseas buyers, including wealthy individuals from Asia, the Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Greece and Canada, and it has previously been revealed that 80% were bought through offshore entities, the majority registered in the British Virgin Islands.
The information gives more insight into how many are actually being lived in. Residential properties owned through companies are still required to pay council tax, and since April the council has not offered a discount for second homes or those that lie empty. Owners who do not use them will still be paying the full amount each year, currently £1,361.
David Ireland, chief executive of the campaign group Empty Homes, said the figures illustrated the oddness of the prime London housing market, and how headline figures about the number of homes being built did not tell the whole story.
"These flats are being used as a kind of tradeable currency for the international super-rich. On one level, it's flattering that London is valued so highly by overseas buyers, but I fear the cost is felt by ordinary Londoners as these prices feed down the housing market," he said. "These flats will have counted towards the statistics, but are about as relevant to housing need as uneaten caviar and truffles are to the starving."
PropertyHouse pricesHousing marketReal estateHomesLondonHilary Osbornetheguardian.com © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds |
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Benchmark for Greek stocks racks up five days of gains
The Athens bourse completed on Friday a full week of gains, if rather modest on most days, while the benchmark index’s fifth northbound session was accompanied by a rise in turnover turnover.
The Athens Exchange (ATHEX) general index closed at 1,030.95 po... ...
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Train travel time between Larissa and Volos to get shorter
Passengers will need just 35 minutes to travel between Larissa and Volos in central Greece from the beginning of 2016, the Hellenic Railways Organization (OSE) said on Friday after awarding the contract for the electrification of the railway connection be... ...
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Police release statistics on crime around Greece
Robberies in Greece were down 17 percent in the first eight months of the year compared to 2012, police said on Friday.
Break-ins also fell by 16.8 percent, according to the data published by the force.
Officers also solved 88.6 percent of the murder case... ...
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Appeal by Greece's ERT employees against closure goes to court
The Council of State, Greece's highest administrative court, on Friday began hearing an appeal by ERT employees against a June decision to shut down the public broadcaster.
Lawyers representing the ERT workers’ union (POSPERT) argued that the government b... ...
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Greek prosecutor to investigate university protest closures
First instance prosecutor Panayiota Fakou launched a probe on Friday into whether any offenses have been committed by academics and administrative staff who have closed eight universities in protest at the government’s decision to transfer almost 1,350 em... ...
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Acropolis Rally dropped from WRC calendar for 2014
By George Georgakopoulos The Acropolis Rally is taken off the World Rally Championship (WRC) at least for next year, as the global motorsports governing body FIA announced on Friday the full calendar for 2014 that includes the Polish Rally replacing the Greek one.This is only the third time ever that the world championship will not come through the Greek gravel roads, after 1974, when the race ...
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Polly Panou Passes Away
One of the greatest voices of laïko (song of the people), the singer Polly Panou “was forever silenced” at the age of 73. Polly Panou (real name Polytimi Koliopanou) was born in Athens on 28 October ,1940, but grew up in Patras, Western Greece. Grigoris Bithikotsis, the popular Greek folk singer and songwriter, was the […]
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EYP Removes Golden Dawn Investigating Officer
On Sept. 27 it became known that the head of the Third Division Counterintelligence, who had the overall responsibility of the investigations for Golden Dawn acts, was suddenly removed from the National Intelligence Service (EYP). His removal from the Service took place on the morning of Sept. 27, but no official explanation was given. According […]
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Greek life: Opinions through the years
Greek life: Opinions through the yearsDiamondback Online... Editorial Board. by Diamondback Editorial Board. Columnist Marc Priester wrote a column with his views on the FratPAC, a follow-up to his column last spring, "The infamous sorority email: Disgusting conformity," reinforcing some of his views on ...
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Greece: Time to Wake Up!
There is no reason to panic about Greece. Yet. But it is definitely time for concern and reflection. It is time to awaken and take measures.
The announcement on the website of the reservists Greek Special Forces which calls for 'the immediate resignation of the government and cooperation between the people and the army' does not do honor to them, or the rest of us.
It expresses an archaic concept, an ideological confusion that makes it dangerous. That Greece has reached such a point is stunning, shocking, embarrassing.
That in the year 2013, in Greece - a Eurozone state for God?s sake - there are military reservists who wish to intervene in the political life of the country is unbelievable.
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Greece orders wiretap on neo-Nazis amid violence
In a turbulent 24 hours for Greece, anti-fascist protests turned violent, an army website demanded the resignation of the government, and an intelligence service official admitted it was monitoring the communications of a neo-Nazi political party.
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Greek police ban rally by reservist special forces who had called for resignation of gov't
Greek police have banned a protest rally planned in central Athens this weekend by a group of special forces reservists who demanded the resignation of the government and the appointment of an interim government under the guarantee of the military.
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Greek Police Ban Rally by Commando Reservists
Greek police have banned a protest rally planned in central Athens this weekend by a group of special forces reservists who demanded the resignation of the government and the appointment of an interim government under the guarantee of the military.
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Gold mine hits rich seam of Greek red tape
A planned Greek gold mine that would provide jobs and boost a local economy is being held up by, bureaucracy says an Australian miner.
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The Cleaning of Asopos River Begins
After many years of delays, the Greek authorities have started a cleaning project of the Asopos River which is located in Viotia, in Central Greece. The cleaning of Asopos is vital as the river provides houses and farms of the area with water. In order to reduce the river’s pollution, the Environment Ministry in cooperation […]
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EU Subsidies To Greece Will Pour In
Although much of the money goes unused because of bureaucratic snafus and incompetence, Greece still is set to receive a record 7.5 billion euros ($10.15 billion) in European Union subsidies despite criticism over how the monies have been used, including fraudulently. Development Minister Costis Hatzidakis, while in Brussels, reported also that projects not accepted into […]
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Loans and Deposits Reduced in August 2013
Loans and deposits were reduced in August 2013. According to data by the Bank of Greece, it was observed that in deposits (that businesses and households hold in Greek banks) there was a small outflow, as the total reserve dropped to €162,2 billion from €162,4 billion in July. Loans were reduced in August 2013 by […]
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Troika Talks Break Down Again
Continuing a repetitive pattern in which Greece’s international lenders threaten to withhold funds unless reforms are made – to which Greece objects and then begins to implement slowly before there’s another stall – talks between envoys from the Troika of the European Union-International Monetary Fund-European Central Bank (EU-IMF-ECB) and government officials have broken off again. […]
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Attack on Kedikoglou’s Brother’s House Averted
An attack against the house of the brother of the Government spokesman, Simos Kedikoglou, was recorded on the night of September 26, at Strefi Hill in Exarcheia, Athens, as it was denounced by Kedikoglou on Greek TV channels. According to the spokesman, the alleged perpetrators, who were aboard motorbikes, scuffled with the police and finally […]
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Europe's top human rights body urges Turkey to pay damages to relatives of Cyprus missing
NICOSIA, Cyprus - Europe's top human rights body is urging Turkey to immediately pay tens of thousands of euros in damages and costs to relatives of Greek Cypriots who disappeared during its 1974 invasion of Cyprus.
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Logothetis Family Powerhouse Summit
NEW YORK ? Promoting public-private partnerships is something most reasonable and sensible people generally agree is important, especially in an increasingly complex world with ever-growing multi-cultural interchange.
It?s something a lot of people talk about. It?s also something few are actually doing anything to substantively address.
But for the last three years, that?s precisely the vacuum the Concordia Summit has been busy trying to fill.
It all started back in 2011, when Nicholas Logothetis, scion of a Greek shipping family based in London and New York, and his friend Matthew Swift ? the two were schoolmates at Connecticut?s highly respected Salisbury School ? cofounded the now-annual event.
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Turkey Urged To Pay For Missing Cypriots
NICOSIA, Cyprus - Europe's top human rights body is urging Turkey to immediately pay tens of thousands of euros in damages and costs to relatives of Greek Cypriots who disappeared during its 1974 invasion of Cyprus.
The executive branch of the 47-country Council of Europe said on Sept. 27 it 'deeply deplores' the fact that Turkey still hasn't complied with a 2009 European Court of Human Rights decision ordering it to pay a total 200,000 euros ($270,000) to relatives of nine missing persons.
The court ruled that Turkey failed to carry out an investigation into the fate of the missing and to inform relatives. The case was filed in 1990.
Cyprus estimates that 1,619 Greek Cypriots were unaccounted for after the unlawful invasion as Turkey still occupies the northern third of the island. Cyprus has been split along ethnic lines since.
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Cyprus' Benefactors Lift The Room
Time not lessened their pain. To the contrary, it has increased for the people of Cyprus now with the economic crisis that has shaken the foundations of society.
Feeling the weight of their homeland, the annual testimonial dinner of the Cyprus Federation of America filled a spacious ballroom this year and drew Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades and virtually his entire entourage.
Present - to his credit ? Greek Deputy Prime Minister/Foreign Minister Evangelos Venizelos and it was a pity that he went almost unnoticed.
Present was the restless Archbishop, also, along with the many benefactors who gave from their spirit and heart and it was they who dominated the event: Mary and Michael Jaharis. George and Ketty David.
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Recovery hype: American capitalism's weapon of mass distraction
You don't have to be a Marxist to see how the 1% tries to fool us that we too are sharing in their renewed wealth. But it helps
From President Obama on down, defenders of the status quo insist that the US economy has "recovered" or "is recovering". Some actually see the world that way. They inhabit, imagine they inhabit, or plan to soon inhabit the world of the infamous top 1%. Others simply seek security in life by loyally repeating whatever that 1% is saying.
Here is the "recovery" that they see. The top 1% of income-earners in the US took 19% of the national income in 2012, the largest share since 1928. That 1% also saw their average income rise by 31.4% from the current crisis's low point in 2009, through 2012. The top 1% certainly enjoyed a recovery.
In total contrast, income for the other 99% rose by an average of 0.4% during the same period. Many of those people actually saw their earnings drop. That was not a recovery, not even close. For the vast majority of Americans, the recovery hype is just a weapon of mass distraction.
The economic reality is driven home by this graph from the Wall Street Journal.
From 2007 – the last year before the current recession hit – until now, the median income of Americans has dropped by nearly 10% with no recovery evident.
Yes, the stock markets and profits for large banks and corporations have recovered, more or less. That explains the good fortune of the top 1%. Their incomes depend heavily on the health of those parts of the economy (especially interest, dividends, and capital gains).
But the 99% depend mostly on wages and salaries. High unemployment keeps their income hobbled, as does the persistent shift in the US from jobs with high pay and good benefits to jobs with neither.
Hyping a recovery helps politicians to boost their popularity (or at least, slow its decline). It also serves to give masses of people with growing economic difficulties the impression that "other people" are experiencing a recovery. So they blame themselves (their age, skill set, education and so on) for missing out. The recovery hype thereby functions as a massive "blame-the-victim" program, in which a dysfunctional capitalism escapes criticism, while its victims instead turn criticism inward upon themselves.
Hyping recovery pleases those seeking reassurance about the state of capitalism. They want to hear that it is – or will shortly be – the secure, near-perfect economic system they always thought and said it was. They want to see the system's flaws, imperfections, and ongoing crisis – stressed by capitalism's critics – as merely minor and passing irritations. Calming references to recovery – used often and said as authoritatively as possible – nicely suggest that capitalism is either healing itself or being healed by a benevolent government.
Academic economists, with careers built celebrating capitalism's efficiency, growth, and optimality for everyone, need urgently to hype recovery just as they have long hyped capitalism. They want to escape the ridicule of agitated students who keep taking on more crushing debt to pay for school, while their job and income prospects deteriorate.
These students turn a critical eye toward the economic system and quickly discover the rich and diverse literature of criticism of capitalism. Why, they increasingly demand, have their teachers never taught them about all that? Mainstream economics professors fear the exposure of their longstanding intolerant exclusion of most strong critics of capitalism from teaching and research opportunities. Students are beginning to demand the open, balanced education long denied them. They want to hear and read the academic critics alongside the academic celebrants of capitalism; they want to decide for themselves which perspective – or combination of perspectives – to use and develop.
Hyping recovery is also supported from darker, more cynical motives. Leaders of large corporations who have already moved many of their operations out of the US call the current situation a "mature" economy. This euphemism reflects their sense that rapid growth now happens more outside the US than inside and, therefore, higher profits beckon overseas where wages and taxes are lower. They want to keep freely relocating over the coming years with minimal opposition as they depart.
The leaders of these companies especially prefer to be less heavily invested here when the American working class is realizing that the capitalism that raised their wages across earlier decades of growth is fast departing for more profitable opportunities abroad. That departure abandons the American working class to steady decline – as countless indicators show: falling real wages, reduced public services, high unemployment, etc.
Business leaders and their elected friends fear workers' rage and resentment, should they be able to identify who and what did them in. Hyping recovery provides "delaying cover" as businesses executives relocate their facilities abroad, their homes and offices inside "gated communities", and their workplaces into "heavily secured enterprise zones".
Many mass media corporations render the service of hyping the recovery eagerly to their advertisers. These advertisers wish to avoid association with bad news that might distress audiences. The mainstream media therefore offers up infotainment with economic recovery "highlights". They also emphasize reports about countries whose experiences with the global economic crisis are worse than that of the US.
For example, immense attention focuses on Greece and Spain, rather than Germany or Sweden. The crisis has been far, far less damaging in the latter than in the former or in the US. Likewise, when the mass media here cover the high unemployment rates in certain European countries, they often conveniently omit that unemployment there does not affect citizens' health insurance coverage, pensions, or most public services and subsidies as negatively as it does in the US.
The recovery hype performs the same service of mass distraction in this crisis as the accumulation of consumer debt provided since the 1970s. From the 1970s to the economic collapse in 2008, household debt accumulation distracted American workers from the stagnation of their real wages. As the requisite accumulation demanded by the American dream slipped increasingly out of reach of wages and salaries, it was acquired instead through borrowing. Eventually, rising household debt levels could no longer be sustained by wages and salaries that had stopped rising.
Crisis ensued. Since 2009, the recovery hype has replaced debt accumulation as the chief distraction, sustaining the illusion that capitalism adequately serves the 99%.
US economyUnited StatesUS economic growth and recessionUS unemployment and employment dataEqualityEconomicsRichard Wolfftheguardian.com © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds |
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Golden Dawn's neo-Nazis: A murder too far in Greece
HaaretzGolden Dawn's neo-Nazis: A murder too far in GreeceHaaretzGreece's civil society is now mobilizing against Golden Dawn's neo-Nazi violence and ideology – and now it's up to the Greek state to stop tolerating illegal violence. By Charilaos Peitsinis | Sep. 27, 2013 | 8:14 AM ...
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Opa!'s Greek cuisine shines in new Oakbrook Terrace location
Opa!'s Greek cuisine shines in new Oakbrook Terrace locationChicago Daily HeraldMelitzanosalata, spanakopitakia and hapothi sti skhara. At first blush, these tongue-twister dishes can throw diners for a loop, especially those unfamiliar with the delights of the Greek table. But all three staples of the cuisine — and a host of ...
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Golden Dawn sue PASOK for financial wrongdoing
Four Golden Dawn deputies showed up at the Supreme Court in Athens on Friday to sue PASOK party, the junior partner in Greece's conservative-led coalition, for alleged financial wrongdoing, reports said.
“Good morning, we came to turn ourselves in,” party... ...
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Tax evasion: how much does it cost?
Lionel Messi is in court over allegations of fraud totalling over £3.4m. What's the bigger picture on tax evasion? How much does the Spanish government lose each year and how do other countries compare?
The trial of Barcelona footballer Lionel Messi on charges of tax fraud has come at a time when Spanish government coffers are running particularly low. Which makes it all the more contentious that tax evasion cost Spain €80bn (£67bn) in a single year. But that seems small fry compared to the estimated $337bn the US treasury lost out on.
The numbers, taken from World Bank estimates on the size of each country's shadow economy, are fascinating – even if not perfectly reliable. Counting any type of illicit behaviour is always prone to error and black market activity is no exception.
Europe has the world's biggest black marketWhen different regions are compared, Europe comes out the worst in terms of the size of its black market and the total amount of tax it loses as a result.
As a region though, Europe also has the highest tax rates in the world. Out of 36 countries looked at, Europeans averaged a tax rate that was 39% of their GDP, compared to a world average of 28%. The lowest rates were found among 39 African countries which had taxes that represented around 17% of their GDP.
Ten biggest countriesIn 2010, the latest year that data was available, ten governments in the world lost out on $100bn each (£62bn). Unfortunately, using the total amount of tax lost as the basis for comparison means that interesting case studies like Greece are left out - even if their shadow markets would represent a big chunk of their GDP.
We ranked the biggest ten according to three different measures:1. Total size of the shadow economy2. Tax lost as a result of the shadow economy3. Tax lost as a % of GDP
The US has the world's biggest shadow economy and loses the most tax as a result. But, when looked at as a % of GDP, Russia suffers most as a result of tax evasion - the lost money represents 15% of the country's economic output. You can see how each country compares by clicking on the different options in the chart below.
Switching your view to 'tax lost as a % of GDP' means that the allegations against Messi take on a different dimension - Spain rockets up from 9th to 4th place.
Sick sumsThe Tax Justice Network have estimates for every country in the world in a report they published in November 2011. The research specifically focuses on the way that tax evasion affects health care spending. In Bolivia, they found that tax evasion represents 419% of the government's spend on healthcare while in Russia it was 311% making them the top 2 'tax evasion losers'.
What is a shadow economy?Is a black market really a good reflection of the black hole tax evasion creates? Here's the definition that the World Bank's researchers used so you can decide for yourself:
All market-based legal production of goods and services that are deliberately concealed from public authorities for any of the following reasons:1. to avoid payment of income. value added or other taxes,2. to avoid payment of social security contributions,3. to avoid having to meet certain legal labour market standards, such as minimum wages, minimum working hours, safety standards, etc and4. to avoid complying with certain administrative procedures, such as completing statistical questionnaires or other administrative forms
Does any of this data surprise you? Do you think tax evasion is unavoidable? Share you views here...
Get the numbers and get involved• Download the full spreadsheet• Contact us at data@theguardian.com• Follow us on Twitter• Like us on Facebook
SpainLionel MessiTax avoidanceTax and spendingRussiaEuropeBoliviaBrazilItalyMona Chalabitheguardian.com © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds |
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Hellenic Petroleum offers voluntary exit to 300 staff
Greece's biggest oil refiner Hellenic Petroleum has offered a voluntary redundancy scheme (VRS) to as many as 300 employees, or almost 8 percent of its total workforce, to cut costs, two company sources told Reuters on Friday.
The offer predominantly targ... ...
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Greek Golden Dawn Leader Hints at Lawmaker Walkout Amid Probe
The head of Greece’s nationalist Golden Dawn party suggested he could withdraw his lawmakers from Parliament, a move that could spark a series of by-elections and threaten the country’s stability. “Within the context of our legal ...
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Samaras Back to U.S. On Investment Hunt
Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, who was in the United States in August to meet President Barack Obama and business leaders in Washington and New York is going back on Sept. 28, this time to meet Vice-President Joe Biden and International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief Christine Lagarde, whose agency is one of Greece’s international lenders. […]
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Greece Will Change Mass Layoff Rules
In a bid to attract investment and create jobs, the Greek government has agreed to change the rules regarding mass layoffs, European Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn said in response to a question from a Greek member of the European Parliament. “The Greek government has agreed to revise its labor legislation. The aim […]
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Samaras Back To Washington, New York
Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, who met with U.S. President Barack Obama at the White House on Aug. 8 and with business leaders in Washington and New York, is making a return trip to the two cities to woo investors and discuss Greece's still-faltering economy.
Samaras will leave on Sept. 28 and is scheduled to meet Vice-President Joe Biden, a supporter of Greek causes, on Oct. 1, and also with Christine Lagarde, chief of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) one of Greece's international lenders.
Lagarde supports a plan to let Greece write off part of its crushing debt to the European Union and European Central Bank but not what it owes the IMF, the other partner in the country's Troika of lenders.
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Crisis Puts Greek Democracy in Danger
No country has displayed more of a 'backslide in democracy' than Greece, the British think-tank Demos has said in a study highlighting the crisis-plagued country's slide into economic, social and political disarray.
Released on the same day that judicial authorities ordered an investigation into a blog posting by a group of reservists in the elite special forces calling for a coup d'etat, the study singled out Greece and Hungary for being 'the most significant democratic backsliders' in the EU.
'Researchers found Greece overwhelmed by high unemployment, social unrest, endemic corruption and a severe disillusionment with the political establishment,' it said.
The report, commissioned by the European parliament, noted that Greece was the most corrupt state in the 28-nation bloc and voiced fears over the rise of far-right extremism in the country.
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Samaras to visit Israel on October 8
Prime Minister Antonis Samaras will travel to Jerusalem on October 8 to take in a high-level Greek-Israeli ministerial council, his office has announced.
During his visit, Samaras will also hold talks with Israeli President Simon Peres. A meeting with Jer... ...
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Greek legend Orfeo comes to India searching for his love
Hindustani ragas and baroque music take turns to map the journey of Orfeo, the Greek legend who travels to India in search of his beloved deceased wife Eurydice. This journey, captured in a five-act opera "Orfeo, Crossing the Ganges", and staged here over ...
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