‘Miss Violence’ Director Talks Filmmaking Amongst Greek Crisis

Alexandros Avranas, the Greek director of award-winning film ‘Miss Violence’ talks Greek cinema and personal success in an exclusive interview. Born in Larissa, Greece, Alexandros Avranas made his way to Berlin, Germany to study Fine Arts at ...

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Columbus Day: Was Christopher Columbus Greek?

According to one of the theories on Christopher Columbus’ life and place of birth, the famous explorer was a Byzantine Prince from the Greek island of Chios. There has been more written about Christopher Columbus than about any person with ...

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Proposal for 10% Single Tax On Savings

The idea was well hidden in the report of the International Monetary Fund which provided a 6.5 billion euro budget gap for Greece. The IMF proposed the imposition of a one-off capital levy of 10% on individuals in order to return the countries to the debt levels of 2007, before the outbreak of the financial […]

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Boat with 73 immigrants Caught by Greek Authorities

According to Washington post newspaper, Greek authorities have stopped a vessel carrying 73 illegal immigrants. A statement made by the Merchant Marine Ministry said the boat, which is safe, was located 60 miles away from shore on Monday. Many immigrants seek for a better life in Greece even if they enter the country illegally. Recently, […]

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IOBE: Recovery of Greek Economy

The Foundation for Economic and Industrial Research (IOBE) presented its latest report on the Greek economy today with positive estimations showing a slight decline in the recession and unemployment. IOBE estimates that the recession of the Greek economy this year will be a little over 4%, going up to 4.1 to 4.2 %. Based on […]

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Greece waiting on 'miracle'

A look ahead to Tuesday night's World Cup qualification matches in Group G, including Greece's clash with Liechtenstein.

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Greece's 'Golden Dawn' Thrives as Economy Tanks

Greece's 'Golden Dawn' Thrives as Economy TanksActon Institute (blog)Greece's neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party has penetrated the country's police force, set up caches of heavy weapons in remote locations and trained its recruits to carry out brutal attacks against immigrants and political opponents, according to the country ...Greece's Golden Dawn leaders accused of organised violenceIrish TimesMost Greeks Support the Crackdown on Golden DawnGreek ReporterMost Greeks support crackdown on far-right Golden Dawn: pollReutersHuffington Post -Hurriyet Daily Newsall 26 news articles »

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EU Weighs Options for Common Bank Bailout Fund

Eurozone finance ministers discuss options for joint bank bailout fund, Greek $8bn budget hole    

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Survey reveals tourist spending keeps retail afloat

Tourism has kept retail and catering companies afloat in Athens as well as in the port city of Piraeus in a period during which Greek consumers have dramatically cut down on spending. A recent survey by the National Confederation of Greek Commerce (ESEE) ... ...

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Albania to strengthen ties with Greece

Albania wants to strengthen cooperation with Greece and other nations in the Balkan region, it’s newly-appointed Prime Minister Edi Rama said on Monday. Rama, who was speaking after a meeting with visiting Greek Foreign Minister Evangelos Venizelos in Tir... ...

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MP, pop singer netted by SDOE

A Greek MP and a famous pop singer were among those netted by Greece’s Financial Crimes Squad (SDOE) following almost 6,000 checks for fraud and tax invasion, Kathimerini understands. The MP, who also works as a lawyer, allegedly failed to issue invoices ... ...

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New rules simplify migrant permit process

The government on Monday unveiled legislation simplifying the process for immigrants applying to renew their residence permits and allowing the children of migrants to apply for Greek citizenship once they turn 18, provided their parents are long-term leg... ...

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Two Greek-interest gas projects get EU subsidy

Two Greek-interest gas projects get EU subsidyKathimeriniThe European Commission unveiled on Monday a list of 250 power and gas projects eligible to share 5.85 billion euros of funding as part of plans to curb reliance on Russian gas and create a single energy market. The funds will be shared among ...and more »

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University of Alabama Greek community named in fraud allegations of ...

University of Alabama Greek community named in fraud allegations of ...al.com (blog)"This is very important to our chapter and the Greek system as a whole," the email states. "I have a list of who registered to vote, so if you registered, GO VOTE. Remember, we worked very hard to get to this point and this is our opportunity to show ...Kelly Horwitz's attorneys spell out alleged voter misconduct in brief filed MondayTuscaloosa News (subscription)all 4 news articles »

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Martin Skrtel gifts Greece a chance to qualify for the World Cup

SB NationMartin Skrtel gifts Greece a chance to qualify for the World CupSB NationOne of the most critical games of the campaign took place for Greece when they met Slovakia in Athens on Friday. The hosts maintained superiority for most of the match, interjected with brief periods of Slovakian possession, and clinched a crucial 1-0 ...and more »

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Is Britain heading for another housing bubble?

House prices are soaring again, demand in the capital is feverish and lenders predict that the Help to Buy scheme will trigger a new goldrush. Are we heading for another property crash?

Blame Venetia (or, depending which side of the deal you're on, thank her.) Seven years ago, a farsighted former City worker called Venetia Strangways-Booth decided a rundown street in Clapton, east London, needed a proper cafe, one that served decent pastries and excellent espresso.

Back then, Chatsworth Road had a bookie or two, a couple of newsagents, a massage parlour, a grocers and a fried-chicken joint. It took Venetia six months to find a landlord who thought her idea stood the slightest chance of working, and almost as long to find a bank willing to lend her the money.

These days, the road boasts a whole bunch of coffee-shops in the stripped wood and upcycled furniture vein, a thriving juice bar, a creperie, a chic deli with a French name, a just-like-mama-makes-'em pizzeria, a bicycle repair shop and a Sunday farmers' market.

Oh, and some very attractive side roads in which, according to a Nationwide survey last week, house prices have soared by a record 16% in the past year alone, and doubled over the past decade. So much for the crash: along with Lambeth, Hackney is in the vanguard of London's latest housing boom.

This isn't, obviously, all – or even partly – down to Venetia, who whether by luck or good judgment simply found herself in the right place at the right time: a symptom, not a cause, of what was always going to happen in Hackney once it had finished happening, a few years earlier, in Islington.

But the borough's rocketing property prices seem to have taken even the professionals by surprise. "And they're showing no signs of stopping," says Mahe Georgio, manager of local estate agent Castles, established for 30-odd years on nearby Lower Clapton Road (itself long known, at least in the media, as "Murder Mile").

"I grew up in Hackney and I can tell you it wasn't the place to be then. Not at all. But it really is now."

People, Georgio says, "are buying anything that's for sale. A couple of years ago, buyers would turn their noses up at ex-local authority stock – they wanted period Victorian, or trendy warehouse conversions. Now ex-local sells in days, and for more than the asking price. It's positively sought-after."

Demand has become so frenzied that, with 400 to 500 clients actively looking for homes in the area and hundreds more having registered an interest, the agency has turned to open days, sealed bids and "best and final" offers. "It's fairer and it avoids bidding wars," says Georgio. "But even as things are, there's no room now for offers below the asking price. And you've got no chance of buying in Hackney unless your finances are already fully sorted, your property is sold and you're ready to go."

Prices are rising so fast, adds sales negotiator George Athanasi, showing me a smart, newly converted three-bed ground- and lower-ground floor garden flat that Castles has just sold for (wait for it) £535,000, that "even the surveyors are getting confused. We get calls: they want to know the recent comparables, whether these prices are real."

Buyers are now looking, says Georgio, at "£200,000 for a one-bed, ex-council flat, and £300,000 for a one-bed period conversion. Upwards of £700,000 for a three-bed Victorian terraced; that would have been £600,000 a year ago, and £300,000 before Venetia's. And this is Hackney. It's quite shocking, even for us."

Hackney estate agents are not the only ones in shock. According to that Nationwide survey, the average UK home is currently increasing in value by more than £50 a day; the annual rate of growth is now running at 5% nationally, and 10% in London. The upturn is, it seems, affecting all of the UK's 13 regions, although prices in the south of England are rising faster than elsewhere.

In London as a whole, surprising as it may seem, typical property values have now reached 8% above their 2007 peak. Astonishingly, even "mid-ranking bankers" – earning less than £500,000 – are now complaining that central London house prices are prohibitive.

That's not big news, though, to Rupert des Forges, head of elite agency Knight Frank's Knightsbridge office. He can pinpoint precisely when things started picking up again in the prime parts of central London that he specialises in – and it was more than four years ago.

"Easter weekend, 2009," des Forges says. "That was the moment. We'd had a fairly torrid seven or eight months after September 2008, when the City went into freefall, but we came back that Easter and the market was flying, and it's been flying ever since. Not 30%-a-year growth like 2006 and 2007. But good, firm, month-on-month growth. "

The mood of the market has changed, des Forges notes, which is probably a good thing: "Back then, we had houses selling for a million pounds more than they had 12 months earlier. The froth's gone out of it. Volumes are really down; you need much more equity than you did. But people have it. People have the money."

Prime central London is, plainly, not Hackney: des Forges is showing me a sumptuous residence he modestly describes as a "best-in-class garden square apartment" on a classic Knightsbridge square. "It's a 3,000 sq ft lateral conversion across two 1860s townhouses," he says, as we take off our shoes in the hallway. "Six windows overlooking the square. Building just refurbished to the highest standards; apartment immaculate. You're 400 yards from Harrods, and the same distance from Hyde Park." The price is £11.5m.

Who has that kind of money? Plenty of people, apparently: this kind of property typically sells in days. And not all foreigners: des Forges reckons a good 50% of his clients are British, a mix of old London money and more recent fortunes. For the rest, Greeks are sharply up (their numbers have tripled since the eurozone crisis began), but Knight Frank has sold central London properties to buyers from 70 different countries over the past 12 months – about double the pre-crash number.

That's part of the explanation why, when it comes to property, prime central London is so different from the rest of country: supply, particularly in the most sought-after areas including Knightsbridge, Belgravia, Mayfair and St James's is, as des Forges puts it, "pretty much a finite resource", yet more and more people want to live there.

If anything, says Knight Frank's head of residential research, Liam Bailey, the crash has actually strengthened the capital's position as a property exception: after plummeting by as much as 25%, he reckons central London prices have soared by some 60% since March 2009, and are now a good 20% higher than they were before the crash. What the crash has effectively done, in other words, is widen the gap between London and the rest of the country even further.

"The big question in 2009," Bailey says, "was whether London's role as a major global centre had been undermined. The answer is now pretty much established, and it's no. London was always a big business and financial centre, a place where wealthy people want to live and buy property. But the arguments for relocating here are now stronger than ever. It's just in the right place, it has the right assets, it ticks the right boxes. The market here now is incredibly diverse, both in nationalities and business sectors – it's no longer just financial services driving it. But key to it all is London's connectivity as a global business centre. And as more and more people join the global economy, it doesn't take many of them to want to come here ... "

Most analysts see central London's already sky-high prices moving inexorably higher. "If London is going to continue to grow as a global city and supply is not increased, then prices will go up," Bailey says. "More demand will mean higher prices." So since the estate agents' traditional adage is that whatever direction prices head in prime central London, they will eventually follow – with varying degrees of lag – in outer London too, then in the home counties, and finally in the rest of the country, are we heading for yet another bubble?

A lot of people seem to think so. The Nationwide figures are, certainly, the latest in a steady stream of news and data showing that the housing market – our abiding national obsession – is on the move again. In August, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics) said prices were rising at their fastest rate since the market peak of November 2006.

This month, we learned that more than 560,000 people are now working in estate agencies, the highest number since records began in 1978 (the sector is apparently the fastest-growing part of the national workforce). This week, the Bank of England declared that the number of mortgages approved for homebuyers was at its highest since early 2008; the 62,200-odd house purchase loans given the go ahead in August represented a 30% increase over the same month last year (although still well below the 2007 peak).

As the prime minister announces plans to bring forward the start date for the government's controversial £12bn Help to Buy scheme, designed to increase the availability of 95% mortgages, lenders are gearing up for a new goldrush: both NatWest and Royal Bank of Scotland have said they will open their branches late to cope with the anticipated extra demand.

And according to a report this week by the Centre for Economics and Business Research, the average price of a home in Britain will jump by a quarter in the next five years, hitting a record figure of nearly £280,000, with average London prices set to surge from from £395,000 today to £566,000 in 2018.

Bailey is cautious. He is forecasting "quite slow growth" in the longer term outside central London, where he says prices have only really been rising since the budget in March. For most people, he notes, "how much I can pay for a house is a factor of how much I earn, how much can I borrow, what's my deposit. Prices rose before the crash because of access to credit and the availability of debt. They've struggled since, because credit has not been so available."

But many fear that with mortgage approvals already rising and interest rates set to stay low for some time, Help to Buy – which enables people to buy a home for up to £600,000 on a deposit of only 5%, with the government providing a guarantee to the lender of up to 15% of the loan – could be the spark that ignites another full-blown British housing bubble.

David Cameron insists the scheme is necessary to help young people who can afford "sensible" mortgages but not 25% deposits get onto the property ladder. But it has been criticised as "reckless", "mad" and even "dangerous" by economists and bodies as varied as the International Monetary Fund, the Institute of Directors, the Adam Smith Institute, the Office for Budget Responsibility and the Treasury select committee. In an apparent attempt to appease the scheme's critics, the chancellor, George Osborne, recently gave the Bank of England a bigger role in ensuring it doesn't drive up prices.

Here's the problem, though: after more or less continual annual increases for the past half century or so – they trebled between 1995 and 2007, and have increased 50-fold since 1970, with the estate agents Savills this year putting the combined value of Britain's housing stock at a staggering £5tn – house prices in Britain are already far, far too high.

According to organisations as reputable as the IMF, the Economist and, most recently, the OECD, even post-crash UK house prices are still more than 30% too high compared with rents, and more than 20% overvalued compared with incomes.

There are many reasons for this, a big one being chronic underbuilding. In the 1970s, Britain regularly built 300,000 new homes a year – over that decade, housebuilding outpaced population growth sixfold, the Economist notes. In the past decade, however, "only half as many homes have been built as people added". Right now, we should be building a quarter of a million new homes every year; in 2011 we managed 145,000.

That's not all, though. Low interest rates; reckless lending and borrowing that allowed self-certified, 110% and interest-free mortgages; the emergence of what Faisal Islam, in his book The Default Line, terms an infernal "bubble machine" in which everyone – from estate agents to lenders to solicitors to home-owners – had an interest in prices continuing to rise, have all contributed.

However it happened, home ownership in the UK has steadily become confused with wealth acquisition; the roof over our heads is now seen as a kind of "multifaceted financial instrument", Islam argues: an investment, a cash-machine, a livelihood for buy-to-let landlords, a supplementary pension (one report suggests the number of over-50s planning to use the equity in the homes to help fund their retirement has doubled to 52% in a year).

One of the many effects of this overvaluation, as most 20-somethings and many 30-somethings know, has been to put home ownership – certainly in southern England – a long way beyond their reach, unless they band together or rely on an increasingly substantial leg-up from their parents. Which, increasingly, they do: according to Georgio in Hackney, around half the first-time buyers on Castles books will be backed by the bank of mum and dad. Many of the remainder will be relatively high-earning sharers buying jointly.

Some will be helped by Help to Buy. But fundamentally, in great swaths of the country, house prices will remain out of all proportion to anything as mundane as salaries. This has happened in my working life: in 1985, fresh out of university, my then partner and I bought a newly converted one-bed flat in Acton for £32,000. We were each earning around £8,000 a year at the time, so needed to borrow twice our combined annual income to do so. Today, similar flats are changing hands at nearer £300,000 and two would-be buyers of the same age and in the same the jobs we were then would need more like seven times their joint salaries.

The crash, in effect, has had zero impact on London property prices, which in relation to earnings are as as high for first-time buyers as they were in 2007. In that context, surely, any kind of house-price inflation – even the risk of it – is undesirable. Even the agents see that. "We never had a US, Spanish or Irish-style crash," says Bailey. "House prices haven't really corrected significantly. Housing in the UK is still overpriced, compared to the fundamentals. What we want is even a little bit of price erosion, taking inflation into account."

But there are an awful lot of people who would rather that never happens.

Housing marketReal estateHouse pricesPropertyHousingCommunitiesJon Henleytheguardian.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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ECB shoots down Greek bond rollover proposal

Athens (AFP) - Greece floated Monday a proposal to roll over 4.5 billion euros ($6.1 billion) in debt next year fill a budget gap that has sparked concern Athens will need a new bailout, but a senior ECB official immediately ruled out such a move. Speaking ...

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Anthony Hopkins Wrote Bryan Cranston The Best 'Breaking Bad' Fan Letter Ever

Is there anyone who doesn't love "Breaking Bad"?

After binge-watching all five seasons of the AMC series in two weeks, actor Anthony Hopkins enjoyed the show so much that he was compelled to write lead actor Bryan Cranston an email praising him along with the entire cast and crew on a "brilliant" show.

The series ended its its five-season run on AMC at the end of September with a record-high viewership.

"Breaking Bad" actor Steven Michael Quezada, who plays Gomez on the show, posted the letter in its entirety to his Facebook page.

Read the epic letter below:

This was sent to us by the Great Actor Anthony Hopkins:Dear Mister Cranston.I wanted to write you this email - so I am contacting you through Jeremy Barber - I take it we are both represented by UTA . Great agency.I've just finished a marathon of watching "BREAKING BAD" - from episode one of the First Season - to the last eight episodes of the Sixth Season. (I downloaded the last season on AMAZON) A total of two weeks (addictive) viewing.I have never watched anything like it. Brilliant!Your performance as Walter White was the best acting I have seen - ever.I know there is so much smoke blowing and sickening bullshit in this business, and I've sort of lost belief in anything really.But this work of yours is spectacular - absolutely stunning. What is extraordinary, is the sheer power of everyone in the entire production. What was it? Five or six years in the making? How the producers (yourself being one of them), the writers, directors, cinematographers.... every department - casting etc. managed to keep the discipline and control from beginning to the end is (that over used word) awesome.From what started as a black comedy, descended into a labyrinth of blood, destruction and hell. It was like a great Jacobean, Shakespearian or Greek Tragedy.If you ever get a chance to - would you pass on my admiration to everyone - Anna Gunn, Dean Norris, Aaron Paul, Betsy Brandt, R.J. Mitte, Bob Odenkirk, Jonathan Banks, Steven Michael Quezada - everyone - everyone gave master classes of performance ... The list is endless.Thank you. That kind of work/artistry is rare, and when, once in a while, it occurs, as in this epic work, it restores confidence.You and all the cast are the best actors I've ever seen.That may sound like a good lung full of smoke blowing. But it is not. It's almost midnight out here in Malibu, and I felt compelled to write this email.Congratulations and my deepest respect. You are truly a great, great actor.Best regardsTony Hopkins.

SEE ALSO: The most jaw-droppingly shocking moments from every season of 'Breaking Bad' ranked

Join the conversation about this story »

    

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Foreign Hedge Funds Pouring Money Into Greek Equities

ValueWalkForeign Hedge Funds Pouring Money Into Greek EquitiesValueWalkThe Athens Exchange grew by €7 billion in the first six sessions of the month as foreign investors, led by some large hedge funds, poured into the market, reports Anestis Dokas for the Greek newspaper Ekathemerini, and the exchange's main index, the ...

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Bourse inches northward on high turnover

Pre-arranged deals for stake transactions dominated the week’s first day of trading in the Greek bourse, sending the daily turnover to just over 160 million euros and the benchmark index close to 1,120 points. Yet when set packages are taken out, the net ... ...

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Asmussen rejects Athens' call for ECB to roll over Greek bonds

ATHENS/LUXEMBOURG (Reuters) - The European Central Bank cannot roll over Greek bonds as this goes against a ban on financing governments, a senior ECB policymaker said on Monday, dashing Athens' hopes it will help plug a funding gap next year through such a move.

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Greece plans bond rollover to fix finances: minister

The impending financing hole, which could rise to 10.9 billion euros by 2015, is a big concern to the so called troika of creditors from the European Union, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund who are in the midst of deciding further loan ...

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Arsenal and Liverpool join hunt for Greek striker Mitroglou

Arsenal and Liverpool join hunt for Greek striker MitroglouThe Week UKIT'S not often these days you hear the words 'Greek' and 'prolific' in the same sentence, but the Express has just done that in reporting the battle to land Konstantinos Mitroglou. The paper says that Arsenal and Liverpool are poised to rival Borussia ...and more »

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New Regulation for Issuing Residency Permits to Immigrants

Ministry of the Interior in Greece presented new regulations on Monday relevant to immigrants. According to Greek Minister, Yiannis Michelakis, the documents for issuing a residence permit to foreigners were 50,  and now reduced to 19 in a difficult effort to decrease bureaucracy. In addition, this new regulation allows a residency permit for children of […]

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Makedonia Palace in the Hands of PAOK FC’s Owner

The historic hotel Makedonia Palace in Thessaloniki, northern Greece, will be under the management of the company LLC Atlantis Pac (Ivan Savvidis) and Aldemar (N. Aggelopoulos) for forty years. Ivan Savforvidis is the owner of PAOK FC. After the opening of the financial bids, IKA-ETAM, which owns the hotel, announced that the company LLC Atlantis […]

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Spiros Latsis and the Prince of Bahrain Talk Business

Even though the financial crisis has hit Greece, the business discussions still exist. Every day, rich men arrive in our country in order to discuss or think about their investments. At the end of September, the Prince of Bahrain Salman, Bin Hamad al Khalifa was in Greece for three days. His visit aimed to discuss […]

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Greece Intercepts Boat Carrying 73 Migrants

Greece Intercepts Boat Carrying 73 MigrantsABC NewsGreek authorities have intercepted a boat with 73 immigrants who were allegedly trying to enter the country illegally. A Merchant Marine Ministry statement said the vessel, which is not in any danger, was spotted 60 miles offshore Monday. Greece and ...and more »

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Boat with 73 immigrants intercepted off Greece, being towed to southern port

Greek authorities have intercepted a boat with 73 immigrants who were allegedly trying to enter the country illegally.

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Hurdle in Greek Reform: Killer on Payroll

A Greek municipal employee remains on payroll nearly three years after he was convicted of killing a mayor, in a sign of how hard it may be for Greece to reform its public sector.

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Golden Dawn Opens Two More U.S. Offices

The Anti-Defamation League reports that American members of Greece?s neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party have created chapters in Los Angeles and in what they?re calling the Regional League of the Western States USA. These chapters join the New York chapter founded last year. All openly ?sup�port the ideas and goals of the Golden Dawn Party in Greece,? which claims no affiliation with neo-Nazi movements. However, in 1987, the founder of the movement published an article for its eponymous magazine entitled ?Hitler for 1,000 years,? in which he wrote that ?(w)e are the faithful soldiers of the National Socialist idea and nothing else ? we exist, and continue the battle, the battle for the final victory of our race.?

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Mosques, Halki Seminar Spark Greek-Turk Feud

ATHENS - Greece and Turkey, which share a history marred by bitter territorial disputes and Christian-Muslim feuds, are at loggerheads once again over religion. The latest row erupted after Greece flatly rejected the idea of reviving two Muslim mosques in Athens in return for the reopening of an Orthodox clergy school in Turkey. Mosques have been a thorny issue for a long time in Greece, where the population is predominantly Greek Orthodox. Athens is one of the few European capitals without an official mosque. The Halki seminary has also been a subject of controversy. The Orthodox clergy used to train in the school located on an island off Istanbul but it was closed in 1971 after Turkey fell out with Greece over Cyprus.

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The Nobel Prize and Greek Scientists

Countless awards are given out around the world every year. None of them, however, has prestige of a Nobel Prize. What is it that makes the greatest prize awarded to someone? That its recipients are selected based on merit with transparency. ??? ?????? ????? ? ??????? ?????????? ?????????? ???????? ??? ????????? ?? ?????????? ? the ultimate spiritual recognition exceeds anything financial. The 1963 Prize in Literature was awarded to a man with roots in Smyrna, George Seferis. Odysseas Elytis won in 1979. Two prizes for little Greece. The award this year just went to renowned short-story writer Alice Munro, who lives in a village in Ontario, Canada. But a Nobel Prize in science has never been awarded to a citizen of a small, undeveloped country.

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With Fair Weather and Kefi, St. Nicholas Festival a Great Success in Flushing

FLUSHING ? Once a year the residents of Northeast Queens and their Greek and Philhellene friends all over New York have a definite address where they can find kefi: 196-10 Northern Boulevard. From October 10-14, the 42nd annual Greek Festival of the Church of St. Nicholas in Flushing was a slice of Greece and Cyprus in New York. The leaders and members of the parish have worked hard through three decades to make intelligent and imaginative use of the parish?s outdoor spaces and nooks and crannies ? including a venue for live Greek musing and dancing. The Michael and Despina Yorian Family Gymnasium was put to a valuable social use: parish children were engaged in three vigorous games of basketball while their parents volunteered on Saturday night. There was something at the festival for everyone of every age: games for guests young and old, inflatable rides for children, a flea markets filled with every kind of item imaginable, and of course, food and deserts made and served with tender loving care my parish volunteers.

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Eight in 10 Greeks cutting back on heating as costs rise, poll finds

Eight of 10 Greeks are being forced to spend less on their heating than they used to a year earlier, according to a survey carried out ahead of the start of heating oil distribution for the winter. The survey carried out for Public Issue for WWF Greece un... ...

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Judges release two of four held over Skouries gold mine arson attack

Two of the four people being held in custody over an arson attack at the Skouries gold mine in Halkidiki, northern Greece, in February were released on Monday. The two suspects had been in custody since they were questioned by authorities in April. A coun... ...

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Asmussen rules out ECB rollover of Greek bonds

KathimeriniAsmussen rules out ECB rollover of Greek bondsReutersLUXEMBOURG (Reuters) - The European Central Bank and euro zone national central banks cannot roll over Greek government bonds as this would infringe a ban on financing governments, ECB Executive Board member Joerg Asmussen said on Monday.No imminent decision in Greece, says Rehn; no debt rollover, says ECBKathimeriniECB Asmussen: Greece Financing Gap EUR5B-6B for 2nd Half 2014Wall Street Journalall 5 news articles »

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Kickstart the Greek Economy

Since our most recent plea for a bailout was rejected by the international community, we've decided to turn to you -- the people -- in order to help save our country. Over the millennia, Greece has contributed many important things to the ...

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Greek Bailout Seen Only Enough To Mid-2014

Greek Bailout Seen Only Enough To Mid-2014

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Greek think tank says economy close to stabilising after six-year slump

Greece now needs to ensure that wage hikes do not exceed productivity growth and keep public sector spending in check to avoid the return of large fiscal shortfalls, the independent Athens-based think tank said. In its quarterly report, IOBE said the 183 ...

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No imminent decision in Greece, says Rehn; no debt rollover, says ECB

KathimeriniNo imminent decision in Greece, says Rehn; no debt rollover, says ECBKathimeriniAhead of the Eurogroup meeting in Brussels on Monday, European Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn has repeated that decision on further financing for Greece are still a few weeks away, while discussions about possible debt relief for ...

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Greek finance minister looks to bond rollovers to plug government's forecast financing gap

ATHENS, Greece - Greece's finance minister says the debt-hobbled country can cover a shortfall in its short-term financing needs by rolling over bonds held by European central banks and domestic lenders. Yannis Stournaras says the 11 billion-euro ($15 ...

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Crackdown or Breakdown: Greek Democracy and Its Discontents

Golden Dawn has seeded its racist, xenophobic, populism and its street violence in these cracks in the edifice of Greece's democracy, so a smart and scrupulous ... rather than its economic weakness. Dr. Elizabeth H. Prodromou is Affiliate ...

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Creation of New Center Left Party Demands 58 Members

The creation of a new center left party demands 58 Greek members. The new center left party with a new leader will have a common strategy for the European and local elections. They declare the creation of a democratic progressive political party. They propose the creation of a new political party which will include all […]

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PASOK and New Democracy Debt to IKA

Extensive controls take place in the public and private sector as well as in the political parties of Greece in order to reveal the debts on social security contributions. According to these controls, the two most popular political parties of Greece, PASOK and New Democracy, owed a total of 365,000 Euros in social security contributions. […]

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Greece Eyes Bond Rollovers to Cover Financing Gap

Greek ReporterGreece Eyes Bond Rollovers to Cover Financing GapABC NewsGreece's finance minister says the debt-hobbled country can cover a shortfall in its short-term financing needs by rolling over bonds held by European central banks and domestic lenders. Yannis Stournaras says the 11 billion-euro ($15 billion) gap for ...Greece plans 4.5 billion euro bond rollover to plug funding gap- finminReutersGreece weighs debt rollover as eurogroup finance ministers meetDeutsche WelleSamaras on Offense as Bailout 3.0 Returns Crisis Focus to GreeceBusinessweekGreek Reporter -FXstreet.com -ANSAmedall 20 news articles »

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Greek Mayor's Killer Still On Payroll

PANGAIO, Greece?A local treasury employee in this mountain community shot the mayor with an Uzi submachine gun in late 2009, in the grisly conclusion to a suspected embezzlement scheme. Nearly three years after he was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison, Savvas Saltouridis remains on the municipal payroll. Co-worker Ioakeim Monos, sentenced to 16 years for complicity in the murder, also remains on the payroll. The two men, who are appealing their convictions, have been in prison for years. International creditors - now evaluating Greece's adherence to terms of two bailouts and weighing a possible third - have called on the country to shape up its public-sector workforce and dismiss thousands of workers deemed unsuitable. The case in Pangaio suggests how hard that is likely to be.

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Samaras Quarterbacking Recovery Amid Worries

ATHENS - Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras has gone on the offensive at home and abroad, seeking leverage as the spotlight in Europe?s financial-crisis drama returns to the country where it began. Cracking down on a nationalist party linked to a murder and telling Europe his budget cuts are ahead of target, Samaras wants more aid for a nation that has already been showered with 240 billion euros ($325 billion) in pledges. A meeting of euro finance ministers in Luxembourg will signal how Europe will help Samaras, in office for 16 months, remain in power. Mired in the sixth year of a recession that has driven unemployment to a record 28 percent, Samaras is positioning for a third bailout as he clings to a five-seat majority in the 300-member parliament. ?Samaras is under continuous pressure at home because of the high level of despair and anger among citizens,? Janis Emmanouilidis, Director of Studies at the European Policy Centre in Brussels and a regular visitor to Greece, said

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Greece presents new immigration rules

The government presented on Monday its immigration rules in the wake of a decision earlier this year to scrap a previous law allowing second generation migrants to obtain Greek citizenship if their parents had been living in Greece legally for at least fi... ...

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IOBE revises 2013 recession forecast downward to 4.1-4.2 pct

Greece's economy is expected to shrink by 4.1 to 4.2 percent this year, the Athens-based IOBE think tank said on Monday, revising a previous July forecast which saw a recession as deep as 5.0 percent. The think tank's new projections are more in line with... ...

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Greek finance minister urges ECB to help plug funding gap

Press TVGreek finance minister urges ECB to help plug funding gapReutersIn the latest in a series of options Greek officials have floated as a way of addressing the shortfall, Yannis Stournaras said Athens planned to roll over about 4.5 billion euros ($6.1 billion) of debt due next March. Those funds, which boosted Greek ...Samaras on Offense as Greek Bailout 3.0 Talks LoomBloombergGreek 50-year bonds: Why they could be a good betCNBC.comAusterity measures force homeless Greeks to live in cavesPress TVGreek Reporter -Deutsche Welle -FXstreet.comall 18 news articles »

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