How the world sees Greece
Government officials sought to appear upbeat Monday even as they awaited a response by the troika to Greek counterproposals aimed at closing a projected fiscal gap for next year and completing a stalled economic review by creditors. By late last night, th... ...
 |
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.ekathimerini.com |
His estimation that significant progress has been made in the ongoing talks between Troika’s representatives and the Greek government, expressed earlier today Finance Minister Gikas Hardouvelis, during his speech at the Greek Economic Conference ...
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT greece.greekreporter.com |
Greek-Cypriot professor at the Imperial College of London Chris Toumazou found the best way to combat ageing when he partnered with an unlikely collaborator, Duran Duran keyboardist Nick Rhodes. The most advanced anti-ageing serum ever created, “Geneu ...
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT eu.greekreporter.com |
New York's restaurant scene is constantly changing: Even the most hardcore foodies have a hard time keeping up with openings and closings. We turned to the city's industry insiders to find out what restaurants, chefs, and projects they're most excited about for the coming year. You may want to mark your calendars with these opening dates: It'll be hard to get a table once they open. Megan Willett contributed to this post.The world's most Michelin-starred chef will return to New York. L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon In October, world-renowned chef Joël Robuchon announced he would reopen his famous L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon in New York’s Battery Park City. The new iteration of NYC's L’Atelier — the more affordable version of Robuchon’s series of eponymous restaurants — will open in March 2015 at Brookfield Place. The new establishment will be 11,000 square feet with both counter and table seating, as well as a bar, lounge, and waterside outdoor area. "[Famed sushi chef] Jiro Ono himself said that Joël Robuchon has the best palette in the world," said Rachel Sackheim, director of sales at Brooklyn Winery. "I'm so excited that he'll be re-opening his namesake restaurant in an area that could use the boost.” A popular Greek spot will open in Williamsburg, along with a beer hall. MP Taverna Chef Michael Psilakis serves some of the most inventive and fresh Greek food in the city. He'll open the fourth iteration of his classic Greek taverna, MP Taverna, in a 10,000-square-foot space in Williamsburg in late December 2014 or early 2015. The space will also house a beer hall and performance art space, set to open in April 2015. "Top of my NYC hit list right now is the soon-to-be-opened, latest iteration of Michael Psilakis' MP Taverna," said Curtis Stone, celebrity chef and owner of Maude in Los Angeles. "I love the fresh, zippy flavors of Greek food and Psilakis certainly serves up some of the finest in the country; and now in the ultra hip and convenient location of Brooklyn. I can not wait to try this new Greek gem next time I'm out there." Gowanus, Brooklyn, will get a Korean barbecue palace/karaoke den. (No name) The duo behind popular Red Hook restaurant the Good Fork are expanding their Korean food empire with a Korean barbecue restaurant and karaoke joint in Gowanus, Brooklyn. The still-unnamed project will open in late 2015, according to Eater. "It sounds like it's going to be a really fun place to eat great food, get drunk, and embarrass yourself," said Aaron Israel, chef and owner of Shalom Japan. See the rest of the story at Business Insider
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.businessinsider.com |
Foreign Minister Evangelos Venizelos and SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras held a rare one-on-one meeting Monday and agreed that Greece’s foreign policy should not be affected by domestic political differences though the fact that the encounter lasted for near... ...
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.ekathimerini.com |
There's nothing Germans love quite like spending less. Incredibly wealthy billionaires like IKEA's founder, Ingvar Kamprad, or Theo Albrecht, founder of the grocery chain Aldi, have achieved renown in Germany merely for the fact that they have retained an eye for a discount or a good deal despite their wealth. While Gordon Gekko was allowed in the U.S. to claim that “greed is good” in "Wallstreet 2," a local electronics chain in Germany successfully advertised with the slogan “miserliness is sexy.” That the slogan has found its way into everyday language is just as absurd as it is German. No wonder, then, that Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel has a lot of support from Germans when she declares the economical “Swabian housewife” to be the central motif of her fiscal ideas. Many Germans imagine the model -- to work, earn money and at some point be happy about one’s own thriftiness -- is a good fiscal policy for a state as well. Greece is struggling to deal with a high unemployment rate. (Photo:Getty) Minister of Finance Wolfgang Schäuble's political career, which started in the early 70s in Germany's Parliament, too, will be evaluated by how successful he is in not having to borrow any new money next year. Or, to summarize in just one word: debt. Unlike in English, there is no difference between the biblical word for sin and the word for bank debt in German. Germans take wasted money too much to heart. Debt, in the eyes of many Germans, is a sign of weakness of character. This cultural climate has led to a terrible mistake. The fetish for “breaking even” has led to whole peoples being held responsible for the wasteful politics of their leaders. Current European “austerity politics” (meaning: “strict economizing”) is unmistakably a child of Germany. Most Germans are probably not even mean-spirited when they wish for Southern European countries to become “healthy” again by saving money. This matches the mentality of many Germans, who believe in avoiding loans and not living over one’s own means. The mistake lies with the government: It was irresponsible of Angela Merkel to continuously compare the situation in Spain and Greece with the image of the idealized “Swabian housewife.” Because when a state saves money, it does not only have personal, but also societal consequences. That may sound innocuous—but the European reality right now is frightening. Health Care Policy The austerity policy has had especially dramatic effects on the Greek healthcare system. Under pressure from the European Union, the government in Athens has had to cut co-payments on medication, medical checkups and surcharges on operations. According to a study conducted by scientists from Cambridge and Oxford this spring, the cuts had a measurable impact on health statistics. - Especially dramatic is the rise of the infant mortality rate in Greece. Between 2008 and 2011, the number has risen by 21 percent. Experts believe that this is a direct consequence of cuts to maternal care. Beyond that, more and more newborns are underweight. The child mortality rate has risen by 43 percent between 2008 and 2011 – which is probably also a result of the cuts in maternal care. - The number of cases of severe depression have more than doubled between 2008 and 2011. While before the crisis 3.3 percent of the population declared in representative psychological studies that they had symptoms of severe depression, 2011 that number had risen to 8.2 percent. The main reason for this rise was “worrying about the economy.” At the same time, government expenditure for psychological institutions was cut drastically: by 20 percent between 2010 and 2011, and by another 55 percent between 2011 and 2012. - Only 25 Greeks were infected with HIV in 2010 by using contaminated needles. After the cuts came into effect, the number of new infections related to drug use jumped to 307 in 2011 and 484 in 2012. Scientists see a direct link to cuts in community programs and cuts in programs to distribute clean needles. - The number of suicides in Greece has risen by 45 percent between 2007 and 2011. - Due to cuts in insect control, malaria is spreading across Greece once again. Municipal waste workers' strike in Madrid - Spain suffers under EU austerity policies. (Photo: Getty Getty) Social Affairs Due to the economic crisis, many people in Southern Europe have lost their jobs. But while unemployed people in Northern and Western European countries can rely on a working social safety net, the austerity policy in Southern Europe has had grave consequences for the poorest parts of society. The governments in Portugal, Spain and Greece cannot even pay for basic medical care of their citizens. - In Portugal the number of people above 75 who died during the winter has risen by 10 percent. It is entirely possible that this is linked to another number: 40 percent of Portuguese over 65 and living alone are unable to afford to heat their flats sufficiently during the winter. - In Spain in 2010, 11.2 percent of children lived in families in which both parents were unemployed. The risk of poverty has risen dramatically for Spanish children. - About one third of children in Greece live under the threat of poverty. - These days, 800,000 people in Greece do not have any health insurance anymore -- about 7 percent of the population. This is also a direct consequence of the austerity politics: hundreds of thousands have lost their jobs between 2009 and 2010, yet unlike in Germany, health insurance is only paid for another two years after becoming unemployed. And unlike other countries like the U.S., where health insurance has not been taken for granted for centuries, the Greek health care system is not prepared for this situation. - The international medical organization Doctors Without Borders started a relief effort in Greece two years ago. Most EU citizens only know the organization from news reports about famines and natural disasters in third world countries. Greek protesters rally during Angela Merkel's visit to Athens in October 2012. (Photo: Getty) Emigration Rigid austerity politics do not only effect the present, but also hold consequences for the future. Hundreds of thousands of people from Southern Europe have already decided to find happiness somewhere else. - In Spain and Greece half of all people under the age of 25 are still without work. Even though this number is slowly going down, the number of emigrants remains high. - In 2013 alone, 140,000 people from Spain, Greece and Italy immigrated to Germany. - Most people leave Spain due to a lack of job prospects. In a study by the Centro de Investigaciones Sociologicas of the Spanish government, 75 percent of potential emigrants stated that they are hoping for better job prospects in other countries. - A large proportion of Spaniards working in Germany are working for wages lower than their qualifications would predict. What Southern Europe needs is prospects for the future. Not a stranglehold, but help to help themselves. Because the misery of the people cannot be tolerated any longer. Because there is no space for developing new political concepts. And because all of the highly qualified emigrants are missing for the rebuilding of their countries’ economies. In reality, Germans know that loans are not the devil's work. When they build a house they usually borrow money and slowly pay it back as a mortgage. Even many Swabians do so. That is an example Merkel should follow. Because nothing new has ever happened through saving money alone. This post originally appeared in HuffPost Germany and was translated into English.
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.huffingtonpost.com |
ONLY A HANDFUL of other NBA players have as much potential as Giannis Antetokounmpo, the so-called “Greek Freak” who’s having a breakout year for the Milwaukee Bucks. Giannis is just 19 years old. He’s 6’11″ with a 7’3″ wingspan. Hardcore ...
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT thescore.thejournal.ie |
In the period from September 15 to October 31 the Labor Ministry in Athens imposed fines adding up to 60 million euros on enterprises found to be employing uninsured workers, according to data from the Artemis project released on Monday. A total of 29,079... ...
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.ekathimerini.com |
Alois Brunner, one of the world’s most wanted Nazi war criminals responsible for sending tens of thousands of Jews including 44,000 Greeks to death camps, died four years ago in Syria, it has emerged. According to Efraim Zuroff, the chief investigator pur... ...
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.ekathimerini.com |
Greece’s bonds rose on Monday after the country was reported to be considering a role for the International Monetary Fund in its next aid deal with its creditors. Greek 10-year yields dropped 32 basis points to 8.02 percent. [Bloomberg]... ...
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.ekathimerini.com |
Greece has one of the highest traffic accident rates in Europe, according to data presented on Monday at a seminar in Thessaloniki, northern Greece, by the Ministry of Macedonia and Thrace together with the Hellenic Institute of Transport (IMET/EKETA). Ro... ...
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.ekathimerini.com |
The strong reaction of Greek tourism industry professionals caused the scenarios that leaked lately regarding a possible rise in the VAT rate for hotels, from the current 6.5% to 13%. Association of Greek Tourism Enterprises (SETE) chief Andreas Andreadis characterized such a move as “suicidal,” while Hellenic Chamber of Hotels (HCH) President Giorgos Tsakiris, in a letter to Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, asked him to personally intervene in order to prevent the tourism VAT rate increase. Andreadis reacted to recent reports regarding the government’s proposal to double the tourism VAT in order to bridge the gap in the Troika negotiations. “At a time when tourism is taking off, the government is proposing to double the VAT rate,” he said, underlining that it was the exceptional rise recorded in tourism that helped the Greek economy return to growth. According to SETE estimations, the total number of tourists that chose Greece as a holiday destination in 2014 is expected to reach 23 million, while Greek airports received 14 million tourists from abroad, increased by 15% compared to the same period in 2013. On his behalf, Tsakiris said that the alleged increase in the VAT rate of hotel services will be a blow to the industry’s viability, since tourist contracts for the next season have already been signed, while its effects on the tourism product will be devastating for years to come. “Instead of taking strategic measures for the institutional strengthening of tourism with the aim of ensuring its sustainable development, shortsighted and wrong measures are being activated, based on an anti-development and purely revenue collection rationale, which condemn the Greek tourism to return to the old gloomy days. Despite persistent rumors for a significant increase in the tourism VAT rate, we still believe that you, personally, fully realize the false and dangerous path that such a possibility puts the Greek economy on, and that you will move decisively to prevent it, even at the last moment,” the HCH President highlighted in his letter to the Greek Prime Minister.
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT greece.greekreporter.com |
Russian President Vladimir Putin has met with his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, on an official visit to Ankara. Putin has also announced plans to build a gas hub on the Turkey-Greece border.
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.dw.de |
Investors’ wait-and-see stance regarding Greek stocks left the benchmark virtually unchanged on Monday, with the smattering of gains recorded during the day evaporating by the end of the session. Moody’s decision to postpone its revision of Greece’s credi... ...
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.ekathimerini.com |
The menu includes pita bread wraps, gyro platters and side dishes such as grape leaves. Beef, lamb, fish and vegetable dishes are also available.
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.sun-sentinel.com |
“Sexual violence is a very serious issue in the Greek system, but it's a very serious issue and it's much larger and much more complicated than the ...
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.msnbc.com |
With main opposition SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras met earlier today Greek government Vice President and Foreign Minister Evangelos Venizelos in his office at the Foreign Ministry in order to brief him on foreign policy. As declared by SYRIZA ...
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT greece.greekreporter.com |
Only a handful of other NBA players have as much potential as Giannis Antetokounmpo, the so-called "Greek Freak" who's having a breakout year for the Milwaukee Bucks. Giannis is just 19 years old. He's 6'11" with a 7'3" wingspan. Hardcore NBA followers have been watching him since he came into the league in 2013, and it's only a matter of time before mainstream fans catch on to what he can do. His ascent isn't going to be as smooth or immediate as that of Anthony Davis. He didn't attend college in the U.S. and had little experience playing against the best teams in Europe when the Bucks drafted him straight out of Greece in 2013. As noted in his DraftExpress profile, Giannis is a "late bloomer who did not have the benefit of growing up playing against other top international talents." He has considerable physical gifts, but will have to adjust to the talent of the NBA while learning not to dominate the ball like he did in Greece. However, his game is coming along nicely and perhaps more quickly than expected. This season, his averages of 11.9 points on 48% shooting, 5.9 rebounds, and 1.9 assists per game are all higher than his rookie averages. They're not superstar numbers, but they're impressive improvements for a guy who's still leaning how to play the game. Even more exciting is the way he's combining his physical advantages with his unique skill set this year. To put it simply, he can do things on a basketball court that no one else in the NBA can do because of his length and athleticism. He has the height and wingspan of a center, but he also has skills off the dribble. Here he is Euro-stepping from the THREE-POINT LINE for a lay-up: Other times, he Euro-steps, plants, and dunks in his defenders' faces: He can get to the rim in two dribbles and elevate quickly: And he can start a play on one end and finish it on the other: That Antetokounmpo now seems fully in control of his physical gifts makes him terrifying for the opposition. Though he still has several areas to improve upon — he's only shooting 15% from three, and his steals and blocks are both below one per game — he's beginning to harness all of his skills. Bucks center Larry Sanders reflected on Giannis, saying, "He's only just scratching the surface of how good he's going to be. He's just tapping into new abilities and trying on new things. He's really learning about himself and it's amazing to watch." He also has head coach Jason Kidd's confidence. Over the summer, Kidd made the decision to give Giannis the ball to run the offense: "We've seen it in practice. When you see a player's comfort level with the ball — no matter what size — we wanted to see it in game action. We slowly have started letting him have the ball and running the offense." Kidd even referenced from Hall of Famers when talking about Giannis: "A 19-year-old to a 30-year-old is a little different in understanding [to slow the game down]. But that's what this time of the year is for, to understand Magic (Johnson) wasn't fast. Grant Hill had a quick first step, but he was a point forward. Scottie Pippen could play multiple positions." It may be a little early to put Giannis next to Scottie Pippen and Magic Johnson, but the potential and possibilities of what Giannis may blossom into are endless. SEE ALSO: The NBA World Has Never Seen Anything Like Anthony Davis Join the conversation about this story »
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.businessinsider.com |
Forget all the stereotypes you have learned about holidays in Greece. Kudos Life Experiences offers a bespoke take on this traditional tourist ...
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.billionaire.com |
ATHENS (MNI) - Greece's Foreign Minister and Vice President, Evangelos Venizelos, said Monday that talks with the country's inspectors were close ...
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT mninews.deutsche-boerse.com |
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- Human beings have always lived in groups, and their individual lives have invariably depended on group decisions. But the challenges of group choice can be daunting, particularly given the divergent interests and concerns of the group's members. So, how should collective decision-making be carried out? A dictator who wants to control every aspect of people's lives will seek to ignore the preferences of everyone else. But that level of power is hard to achieve. More important, dictatorship of any kind can readily be seen to be a terrible way to govern a society. So, for both ethical and practical reasons, social scientists have long investigated how the concerns of a society's members can be reflected in one way or another in its collective decisions, even if the society is not fully democratic. For example, in the fourth century BC, Aristotle in Greece and Kautilya in India explored various possibilities of social choice in their classic books, Politics and Economics, respectively (the Sanskrit title of Kautilya's book, Arthashastra, translates literally as "the discipline of material wellbeing"). The study of social choice as a formal discipline first came into its own in the late eighteenth century, when the subject was pioneered by French mathematicians, particularly J. C. Borda and Marquis de Condorcet. The intellectual climate of the time was greatly influenced by the European Enlightenment, with its interest in reasoned construction of a social order, and its commitment to the creation of a society responsive to people's preferences. But the theoretical investigations of Borda, Condorcet, and others often yielded rather pessimistic results. For example, the so-called "voting paradox" presented by Condorcet showed that majority rule can reach an impasse when every alternative is defeated in voting by some other alternative, so that no alternative is capable of standing up to the challenge of every other alternative. Social choice theory in its modern and systematic form owes its rigorous foundation to the work of Kenneth J. Arrow in his 1950 Columbia University PhD dissertation. Arrow's thesis contained his famous "impossibility theorem," an analytical result of breathtaking elegance and reach. Arrow's theorem shows that even very mild conditions of reasonableness in arriving at social decisions on the basis of simple preference rankings of a society's individuals could not be simultaneously satisfied by any procedure. When the book based on his dissertation, Social Choice and Individual Values, was published in 1951, it became an instant classic. Economists, political theorists, moral and political philosophers, sociologists, and even the general public rapidly took notice of what seemed like -- and indeed was -- a devastating result. Two centuries after visions of social rationality flowered in Enlightenment thinking, the project suddenly seemed, at least superficially, to be inescapably doomed. It is important to understand why and how Arrow's impossibility result comes about. Scrutiny of the formal reasoning that establishes the theorem shows that relying only on the preference rankings of individuals makes it difficult to distinguish between very dissimilar social choice problems. The usability of available information is further reduced by the combined effects of innocuous-seeming principles that are popular in informal discussions. It is essential, particularly for making judgments about social welfare, to compare different individuals' gains and losses and to take note of their relative affluence, which cannot be immediately deduced only from people's rankings of social alternatives. It is also important to examine which types of clusters of preference rankings are problematic for different types of voting procedures. Nonetheless, Arrow's impossibility theorem ultimately played a hugely constructive role in investigating what democracy demands, which goes well beyond counting votes (important as that is). Enriching the informational base of democracy and making greater use of interactive public reasoning can contribute significantly to making democracy more workable, and also allow reasoned assessment of social welfare. Social choice theory has thus become a broad discipline, covering a variety of distinct questions. Under what circumstances would majority rule yield unambiguous and consistent decisions? How robust are the different voting procedures for yielding cogent results? How can we judge how well a society as a whole is doing in light of its members' disparate interests? How, moreover, can we accommodate individuals' rights and liberties while giving appropriate recognition to their overall preferences? How do we measure aggregate poverty in view of the varying predicaments and miseries of the diverse people who comprise the society? How do we arrive at social valuations of public goods such as the natural environment? Beyond these questions, a theory of justice can draw substantially on the insights and analytical results emerging from social choice theory (as I discussed in my 2009 book The Idea of Justice). Furthermore, the understanding generated by social choice theorists' study of group decisions has helped some research that is not directly a part of social choice theory -- for example, on the forms and consequences of gender inequality, or on the causation and prevention of famines. The reach and relevance of social choice theory is extensive. Rather than undermining the pursuit of social reasoning, Arrow's deeply challenging impossibility theorem, and the large volume of literature that it has inspired, has immensely strengthened our ability to think rationally about the collective decision-making on which our survival and happiness depend. This piece also appeared on Project Syndicate. © Project Syndicate
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.huffingtonpost.com |
After a Piraeus Port Authority (OLP) general meeting green-lighted the agreement with Chinese company Cosco regarding the latter’s new 230-million-euro investment in Piraeus, Greece, the way is now open for Beijing to move ahead with its export plans in Europe and for Piraeus to become the biggest Mediterranean port in terms of cargo traffic. The deal with Cosco was signed last week and after its ratification by the Greek parliament in the next few days, Piraeus will be able to start expansion works on its western side that are seen raising the total capacity of its container terminal to 7.2 million TEUs (Twenty-foot Equivalent Units) per annum by 2021. That will allow Greece’s main port to handle the volume required in order to become the main entry point for Asian trade toward Europe. The other parts of this international axis of commerce are in the Balkans and further north, where projects worth over 3.5 billion euros are currently being implemented in countries such as Serbia, Montenegro and Hungary, to improve rail and road infrastructure. They form part of the Chinese plan titled “New Silk Roads,” one of which, the “21st Century Maritime Silk Road,” will pass through Piraeus. A National Bank of Greece (NBG) study has shown that an increase to 4.7 million TEUs in 2015 from 3 million in 2012 could bring additional revenue of 900 million euros per year to Greece, leading to an added value of 0.4% of GDP and some 9,000 new jobs. (source: ANSA)
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT greece.greekreporter.com |
Tensions between Russia and NATO have continued to intensify as the conflict in Ukraine grinds on. Both NATO and Russia have exchanged barbs, criticizing the other side for its role in a conflict that has already killed more than 4,300 people. NATO has repeatedly said that Russia has been providing direct and indirect military aid to the separatists in eastern Ukraine. Russia has accused NATO of overthrowing the previous Ukrainian government, backing fascists in Ukraine, and expanding the organization in alleged violation of earlier agreements. In response to Russia's frequent claims, NATO has released a fact sheet that is also available in Russian and Ukrainian. This isn't the first time that the world's most powerful military alliance or its members have directly engaged with Moscow online. NATO released a similar fact-sheet in April. And Canada's NATO delegation caustically trolled the Kremlin after the country's invasion of eastern Ukraine in August, with a map reminding Russia of where its borders ended. We have highlighted the most interesting facts that NATO has sought to clarify below. Russian Claim: NATO promised it would not expand east into the Baltics and eastern Europe following German reunification. NATO Rebuttal: Though often repeated as fact, the NATO fact sheet notes that there's no real evidence that such a quid pro quo was ever reached. Indeed, it couldn't have been reached — when Germany was re-unified in 1990, many of the countries targeted for NATO expansion later on were still under Soviet domination or were members of the rival Warsaw Pact. Per NATO, even Mikhail Gorbachev, then the Soviet premier, says that the "neither NATO nor Soviet leaders ever brought up the issue of NATO expansion." Russian Claim: NATO enlargement has destabilized the Balkans NATO Rebuttal: This is another frequent Russian claim, often tied to the idea that NATO waged aggressive war against Serbia during the Balkan wars of the 1990s (see next item). In fact, the NATO fact-check claims, the alliance's Balkan members (Albania, Croatia, Slovenia, and Greece) have enjoyed enhanced security and democratic development thanks to their membership in the organization. Russian Claim: Russian action in Crimea was identical to NATO action in Crimea NATO Rebuttal: The accusation that the NATO states waged an aggressive invasion of Serbia during the Kosovo crisis of 1999 is a common Russian talking point used to justify Moscow's annexation of Crimea. In fact, NATO notes, allied military action in Kosovo was the result of nearly a decade of failed attempts at peaceably solving a longstanding and violent dispute between Serbia's oppressive and human rights-abusing government and Kosovo's ethnic Albanian majority. Crimea, on the other hand, was never in dispute and never the focal point of a long-running crisis — until Russia annexed the peninsula in March, that is. Russian Claim: The Ukrainian government is illegitimate and is dominated by Nazis and fascists NATO Rebuttal: "Ukraine's president was elected with a clear majority in May 25 in an election that the Organization for Security and Co-Operation in Europe (OSCE) characterized as free and fair," the fact-check notes. As for those Nazis and fascists that Moscow seems so worried about, "far right parties received less than 5%, the legal limit for parties to become represented in parliament."SEE ALSO: Here are 2 ways Russia's provocative stunts could lead to war Join the conversation about this story »
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT uk.businessinsider.com |
History Zero, the work of Greek artist Stefanos Tsivopoulos, will be on display at MuCEM in Marseille, France. MuCEM is a museum of civilizations where artists are free to explore social issues that have played a major role in today’s European and ...
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT eu.greekreporter.com |
Nikos Romanos, a 21-year-old anarchist and bank robber, started a hunger strike in prison four weeks ago when his request to study at the technical college where he was admitted at the beginning of the year was denied. With Romanos’ life hanging on a thread, Greek Education Minister Andreas Loverdos stated that he believes prisoners should be allowed to study if they are admitted into a university, given that they are allowed to take the Pan-hellenic exams while in prison. The same rule applies to Iraklis Kostaris who has also been admitted in a technical college but has not been allowed to attend classes. However, the only one who can give a solution to this issue is Public Order Minister Vassilis Kikilias. PASOK, Democratic Left (DIMAR) and SYRIZA are all supportive of the prisoners’ right to study in technical colleges and universities, provided that they have been admitted. Romanos was a close friend of Alexis Grigoropoulos, who was killed by a police officer on December 6, 2008. They were together in the Exarcheia neighborhood in Athens when Grigoropoulos was murdered and became one of the case’s few eyewitnesses. Romanos claimed that Grigoropoulos death – which sparked a series of riots in the Greek capital – was an execution. A few years later, in February 2013, Romanos was arrested for his involvement in an armed bank robbery and was given a 15-year sentence in prison. He is currently being hospitalized in Athens due to the hunger strike.
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT greece.greekreporter.com |
The eurozone crisis is without question one of the most critical events to happen in the 21st century so far. But it can be hard to navigate. To begin with, there's no clear start date. Some people go with early 2010, when the scale of Greece's public finance disaster became obvious, while others start in 2008, when the financial crisis kicked off. There's also some dispute over the end date. To some, European Central Bank president Mario Draghi's "whatever it takes speech" marks a rough ending to the crisis. For others, it concludes with the end of the bloc's second recession in 2013. A few think it's still going on. But there's one thing that's certain: veteran German chancellor Angela Merkel has the range of facial expressions to accurately guide anyone through the ups and downs of the past six years.JANUARY 2008: In many ways, Europe looked like it was in good shape. Sixteen countries were members of what seemed to be a successful currency union. Europe had seen an extended period of growth and unemployment was at a modern record low. AUTUMN 2008: The global financial crisis got into full swing. Several European banks, like Belgium's Dexia, had to be bailed out by their national governments. EARLY 2009: By the beginning of the next year, things were not looking so great. Europe was hit by the global financial crisis with everyone else, and economies went into recession in 2009. See the rest of the story at Business Insider
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.businessinsider.com |
Greece's 10-year bond yield has fallen below 8 per cent again on indications that the government will back down in talks with its troika of international ...
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.ft.com |
9 about the campus bookstore selling sorority and fraternity gear despite the collegewide policy prohibiting Greek life left some students confused and ...
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.columbiachronicle.com |
This is the moment a young Greek footballer embarrasses two of his opponents with a remarkably audacious piece of skill to create a goalscoring ...
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.mirror.co.uk |
Now the Greeks are mounting their strongest attack on the BM's position since the 1970s. They have hired a team of media-savvy human rights ...
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.theaustralian.com.au |
The Greek Film Festival organized by the Greek embassy in Azerbaijan and the Association for Civil Society Development has started in Baku.
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.azernews.az |
The same message is given in three languages, Egyptian Hieroglyphics (top), Demotic (middle), and Greek (bottom). It is a useful example of what we ...
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.universetoday.com |
The eurozone could now withstand a Greek exit from the single currency if history was to repeat itself, according to Newton's head of fixed income, ...
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT citywireglobal.com |
The silver statuettes and vessels that he uncovered were ancient offerings to the Gallo-Roman god Mercury (Hermes in Greek). It is the first time the ...
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT usa.greekreporter.com |
At stake: a Greek populace still restless about job and pay cuts, a divided parliament, and the possibility of an imminent presidential election.
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT blogs.barrons.com |
Meanwhile, another Greek house, this time for the Delta Zeta sorority, is being built on Old Greek Row at the Moscow campus. The 21,000-square-foot ...
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.boiseweekly.com |
ATHENS, GREECE – The time has come. This Thursday, December 4th the 73rd General Assembly of the European Broadcasting Union takes place ...
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT oikotimes.com |
Sorry, Google. Some public transport experts believe the driverless buses — not robotic cars — are the future. The advantages of unmanned buses over the car equivalents is discussed by public transit planning consultant Jarrett Walker in a post on his blog " Human Transit" and is based on a letter from Luca Guala, of transport thinktank Mobility Thinklab. In his note, Guala concedes that driverless vehicles have a "bright future" but are not as practical as driverless buses, which are particularly beneficial on highly-congested roads. He writes: Driverless cars very likely have a bright future, but cars they will always be. They may be able to go and park themselves out of harm’s way, they may be able to do more trips per day, but they will still need a 10 ft wide lane to move a flow of 3600 persons per hour. In fact, the advantage of robotic drivers in an extra-urban setting may be very interesting, but their advantages completely fade away in an urban street, where the frequent obstacles and interruptions will make robots provide a performance that will be equal, or worse than, that of a human driver, at least in terms of capacity and density. Driverless buses, Guala argues, are more efficient because they can carry more people than cars and eventually may be cheaper than the regular bus system because you don't have to pay a driver. The driverless buses are kind of like an updated tram system, such as London's TramLink, but it doesn't need tracks. And since everything is automated, it also means fewer delays. Driverless cars, on the other hand, don't take population growth and the current road infrastructure fully into account. Not everyone will drive them, Walker argues, and so managing two very different ways of getting around will be difficult. Guala explains further: Driverless buses, on the other hand offer an interesting feature: the human driver is no longer needed, removing an important cost and several constraints. This allows them to serve efficiently and economically low-demand routes and time bands, while allowing [agencies] to concentrate the number of manned buses on high demand routes at little added cost. Guala's assessment is based on a test this summer of driverless buses in the small Italian town of Oristano. The buses ran alongside other traffic and carried lots of passengers at frequent, timely intervals, according to the organisation behind the scheme, CityMobil2. CityMobil2, an EU-funded group created in September 2012, has set up as a pilot program for automated road transport systems across Europe. Some of its minibuses operate under the 2GetThere brand, heralded as "sustainable mobility solutions". Objectives include less congestion, safer driving, and improved speed. City candidates for the project include Trikala in Greece, Casa in France, and Brussels, Belgium. "The future must be evolved, which means that we must plan for the interim state in which some cars are driverless and most aren't," Walker says in his blog post. "That is a situation where driverless buses could thrive, because they will be competing with something that — in terms of poor capacity utilisation — resembles today's traffic on major streets, not a world optimised for the driverless car." Another advantage of driverless buses is that they follow set routes, so they are much easier to implement and run. The routes can be changed if needed. Navigation is less of an issue when compared to cars because buses use travel specific lines — they aren't roaming all over the place. Alongside legal technicalities, this has traditionally been the biggest challenge to overcome if automated technology becomes synonymous on roads. There's still a big push for driverless cars — business secretary Vince Cable says some form of automated technology will be trialled on British roads in 2015 — but Walker ultimately thinks that "shared" transport is a good investment. Which means Google might want to start looking into buses. Check out this clip of one of 2GetThere's Rivium minibuses: Join the conversation about this story »
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT uk.businessinsider.com |
Drug trafficking, trading nuclear material, contract murders, and international prostitution — that's how the Federal Bureau of Investigation believes Semion Mogilevich, one of its top 10 most wanted fugitives, has spent his time over the last few decades. Indicted in 2003 for countless fraud charges, Mogilevich now primarily lives in Moscow. His location allows him to maintain close ties to the Bratva, or The Brotherhood, aka the Russian mob. The 'Boss Of Bosses' A 5'6" and a portly chain smoker, Mogilevich may not seem terribly intimidating. Yet he remains a known "boss of bosses" in one of the biggest mafia states in the world. Born in 1946 in Kiev, Ukraine, Mogilevich once acted as the key money laundering contact for the Solntsevskaya Bratva, a super-gang based in Moscow. He has since held over 100 front companies and bank accounts in 27 different countries, all to keep the cash flowing. In 1998, the FBI released a report naming Mogilevich as the leader of an organization with about 250 members. Only in operation only four years, the group's main activities included arms dealing, trading nuclear material, prostitution, drug trafficking, oil deals, and money laundering. Between 1993 and 1998, however, Mogilevich caught the FBI's attention when he allegedly participated in a $150 million scheme to defraud thousands of investors in a Canadian company, YBM Magnex, based just outside Philadelphia, which supposedly made magnets. With his economics degree and clever lies, Mogilevich forged documents for the Securities and Exchange Commission that raised the company's stock price nearly 2,000%. When asked about YBM by BBC in 2007, Mogilevich replied: "Well if they found old-fashioned hanky panky [i.e., suspicious activity], it's up to them to prove it. Unfortunately, I don't have access to FBI files." "What makes him so dangerous is that he operates without borders," said Special Agent Peter Kowenhoven, who has worked on Mogilevich's case since 1997. "Here’s a guy who managed to defraud investors out of $150 million without ever stepping foot in the Philadelphia area." In 1998, the Village Voice reported on hundreds of previously classified FBI and Israeli intelligence documents. They placed Mogilevich, also known as "Brainy Don," as the leader of the Red Mafia, a notorious Russian mob family infamous for its brutality. Based in Budapest, members held key posts in New York, Pennsylvania, Southern California, and even New Zealand. "He's the most powerful mobster in the world," Monya Elison, one of Mogilevich's partners in a prostitution ring, told the Voice. She claimed he's her best friend. Geopolitical Influence Arguably one of Mogelivich's most concerning characteristics is his influence in Europe's energy sector. With only a $100,000 bounty on his head, he controls extensive natural gas pipelines in Russia and Eastern Europe. Right now, Russia supplies about 30% of Europe's gas. Ironically, the country's largest pipeline to the rest of Europe shares a name with the mob — Bratstvo. John Wood, a senior anti-money laundering consultant at IPSA International wrote an entire report on Mogelivich. According to his research, the Ukrainian-born Russian mobster had long planned his stake in Europe's gas. In 1991, Mogilevich started meddling in the energy sector with Arbat International. For the next five years, the company served as his primary import-export petroleum company. Then, in 2002, an Israeli lawyer named Zeev Gordon, who represented Mogilevich for more than 20 years, created Eural Trans Gas (ETG), the main intermediary between Turkmenistan and Ukraine. Some reports show that Gordon registered the company in Ukrainian oligarch Dmitry Firtash's name. After that, Russia’s energy giant Gazprom and Ukraine's Centragas Holding AG teamed up to establish Swiss-registered RosUkrEnergo (RUE) to replace ETG. Firtash and Gazprom reportedly roughly split the ownership of RUE. In 2010, however, then prime minister of Ukraine, Yulia Tymoshenko, said she had "documented proof that some powerful criminal structures are behind the RosUkrEnergo (RUE) company," according to WikiLeaks. Even before, the press had widely speculated about Mogilevich's ties to RUE. Although Firtash has repeatedly denied having any close relationship with Mogilevich, he has admitted to asking permission from the mobster before conducting business in Ukraine as early as 1986, Reuters recently reported. At the request of the FBI, Firtash was arrested in Austria for suspicion of bribery and creating a criminal organization. Mogilevich may even have a working relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to a published conversation between Leonid Derkach, the former chief of the Ukrainian security service, and former Ukrainian president Leonid Kuchma. "He's [Mogilevich] on good terms with Putin," Derkach reportedly said. "He and Putin have been in contact since Putin was still in Leningrad." A Free Man In 2007, Mogelivich told BBC that his business was selling wheat and grain. In 2008, however, Russian police arrested Mogelivich, using one of his many pseudonyms, Sergei Schneider, in connection with tax evasion for a cosmetics company, Arbat Prestige. Mogilevich ran that company with his partner, Vladimir Nekrosov. Three years later, the charges were dropped. Considering the US doesn't have an extradition treaty with Russia, as long as Mogilevich stays within Putin's borders, the "boss of bosses" will likely remain a free man. He's believed to have Russian, Israeli, Ukrainian, and Greek passports.SEE ALSO: Putin Just Tightened His Control Of The East Black Sea Join the conversation about this story »
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT uk.businessinsider.com |
“[T]he bad behavior at the core of Europe's slow-motion disaster isn't coming from Greece, or Italy, or France,” Krugman contends. “It's coming from ...
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.salon.com |
Greek police made five arrests in Kozani, northern Greece, regarding a case of baby trafficking, involving three Greeks and two Bulgarians. On November 28, a 23-year-old Bulgarian woman was admitted into a local maternity clinic, using false documents.
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT greece.greekreporter.com |
Foreign Minister Evangelos Venizelos and SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras held a rare meeting on Monday to discuss “only national issues,” with both men agreeing that Greece’s foreign policy should not be affected by domestic political differences. “We had a ... ...
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.ekathimerini.com |
by Associated Press Greece says bailout talks could end in February Associated Press - 1 December 2014 09:19-05:00 ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece's deputy prime minister says negotiations with rescue lenders on the future of the country's bailout program could last for another two months. Athens is in talks on how to finance itself once the rescue loans from fellow eurozone countries end this year. It also wants easier austerity terms, arguing the economy is doing better. Evangelos Venizelos told a conference Monday that talks with lenders would be concluded before parliament elects a new Greek president in February — a vote that could topple the coalition government and that has revived anxiety in markets and eurozone governments. Greece failed to reach a compromise last week at talks in Paris with representatives of the "troika" of the European Commission, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund. News Topics: Business, Government and politics People, Places and Companies: Evangelos Venizelos, Greece, Athens, Western Europe, Europe Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.neurope.eu |
Greece does not eliminate the possibility of signing an agreement on customs cooperation with Azerbaijan in the future, Head of the International ...
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.azernews.az |
site, Archive. Greece · 40° · eEdition. |. subscribe. |. newspaper ads. |. newsletter · Greece Post. Home · News · Top Stories. 10082. 10082. Community.
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.greecepost.com |
Nomura lowered shares of National Bank of Greece (NYSE:NBG) from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a research report released on Friday morning.
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.gaininggreen.com |
Greece's deputy prime minister says negotiations with rescue lenders on the future of the country's bailout program could last for another two months. Athens is in talks on how to finance itself once the ...
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT news.yahoo.com |
As sexual assault on college campuses garners increasing media attention, San Diego State has stepped into the limelight in perhaps the most infamous way possible. SDSU has taken steps to combat sexual assault and campus administrators deserve some ...
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.thedailyaztec.com |
There is just one month left in 2014, and year-to-date, oil is the worst performing asset class. Via Jim Reid at Deutsche Bank, when priced in local currency — for which Reid uses US dollars — WTI and Brent crude oil are the worst performers year-to-date, with WTI down 32% and Brent down 36%. Silver has also had just a disaster of a year, falling 20% year-to-date in dollar terms The world's best performing asset class in 2014? The Shanghai Composite index, which is up 31% in renminbi terms. (Not pictured in Deutsche's chart, however, is India's Nifty stock index, which is up 38% this year when priced in rupees.) In local currencies, some of the other outperformers this year are Spanish bonds, the S&P 500, and Italian bonds. Priced in dollars, the Shanghai Composite is still the world's best performer, but is followed by the S&P 500 and US corporate bonds. The dollar-based losers? Stocks in Russia, Greece, and Portugal. Here are the tables. SEE ALSO: 'US Fracking Is A Very Large Red Herring' Join the conversation about this story »
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.businessinsider.com |
Former cabinet secretary Takis Baltakos, who resigned after his secret talks with Golden Dawn members were revealed on video tape, presages the formation of a new political party. Talking to Star television channel, Baltakos said that the party will be called Rizes (Roots) and it will reach for right-wing voters as it will be “very close to the Christian Orthodox tradition of Greek people.” The reason he chose Roots as the party’s name is that it will appeal to those who believe in Greece’s traditions. The former New Democracy official said that Roots aims at bringing together patriots from the armed forces and police, from the Church of Greece and Christian organizations. During the unofficial announcement, Baltakos said that those involved in the formation of the party have no intention to damage New Democracy. Yet, the former party member criticized New Democracy for diverging from its rightist roots, alienating right-wingers and in essence being a center-rightist party. “Given the current circumstances and the need to preserve the coalition, New Democracy is forced to move to the center, thus losing its rightist constituency…. Antonis Samaras cannot do anything about that,” Baltakos said, adding that there are parties who are against the memorandum and they are further right than New Democracy. “There are people who belong to our side and don’t want the memorandum, and since they don’t want to be forced to vote for party A or party B, at the end they turn to SYRIZA. We don’t like that. The difference (in votes) between New Democracy and SYRIZA is those we have lost from the Right,” he continued, adding that Roots aims at “stealing” votes from SYRIZA. Finally, Baltakos said that everything is ready for the new party to be launched and that he and his colleagues will make an official announcement when they consider that the time is right. Baltakos resigned from his former cabinet position when it was revealed that he had a direct line of communication with Golden Dawn key members. Video tapes released by Golden Dawn, show Baltakos instructing Ilias Kasidiaris on how GD MPs should vote in parliament or congratulating them on certain racist acts.
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT greece.greekreporter.com |