ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Asteras beat Atromitos 1-0 and Ergotelis won by the same score at Giannena in the two Greek league games played on Saturday after a one-week suspension of activity.
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How the world sees Greece
Saturday, March 7, 2015
Greek ex-finance minister probed for hiding income
Ex-Greek finance minister Gikas Hardouvelis is being investigated for alleged failure to comply with his tax obligations, a Greek newspaper reported Saturday. According to the weekly Real News, the deposits in Hardouvelis' bank accounts in 2011 did not match the incomes he had declared that year. Hardouvelis was briefly finance minister in the government of conservative prime minister Antonis ...
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Leaked letter in Greece earns government wide scorn
ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- Of all seven reform proposals submitted by Greece to eurozone finance ministers, Reform No. 3 has been most talked about since it was leaked. It calls for "non-professional inspectors," including "students, housekeepers and even ...
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| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT finance.yahoo.com |
Isis Damages Ancient Greek City of Hatra
BAGHDAD — Islamic State militants continued their campaign targeting cultural heritage sites in territories they control in northern Iraq, looting and damaging the ancient city of Hatra just one day after bulldozing the historic city of Nimrud, according to Iraqi government officials and local residents. The destruction in Hatra comes as the militant Islamic group […]
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Amphipolis Mystery Deepens
THESSALONIKI — A geologist who took part in the excavation of the ancient burial mound in Amphipolis in northern Greece says the ancient tomb found together with a series of vaulted rooms wasn’t built at the same time, but somewhat later than the rooms themselves. Geologist Evangelos Kambouroglou also said Saturday that the mound inside […]
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Elgin Marbles row: Greece tells British Government to stop stonewalling on return of Parthenon ...
The Government is refusing to negotiate with Greece about the return of the so-called Elgin Marbles despite a request to do so from the United Nations ...
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Mystery Deepens Over Ancient Greek Tomb
The vaulted rooms had been dated to between 325 B.C. — two years before the death of ancient Greek warrior-king Alexander the Great — and 300 ...
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| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT abcnews.go.com |
Juncker urges EU to face up to 'serious' Greek troubles
Berlin (AFP) - European Commission head Jean-Claude Juncker called Saturday on the European Union to recognise the gravity of the situation in Greece -- both for the country's impoverished citizens and for the wider risks to the eurozone."We must be sure that the situation does not continue to deteriorate in Greece. What worries me is that not everyone in the European Union has understood how serious the situation in Greece is," Juncker told German paper Die Welt in an interview published Saturday. He did not specify whom his comments were aimed at, but they appeared two days after the European Central Bank took a tough stance on extending more financial help to Greece.Juncker noted in his comments that a quarter of Greeks are not covered by social security, unemployment is the highest in the eurozone and the country sees regular protests. Although Greece's debt problems are far from being resolved, Juncker repeated previous assertions that Athens should not leave the eurozone, noting this would amount to an "irreparable loss of reputation" for the single currency. However, the European Commission president also advised Greece to stick to reforms agreed upon with its creditors. "If the government wants to spend more money, it must compensate with savings or supplemental income," he added. After July, when Greek bonds held by the European Central Bank come due, there needs to be "reflecting about the ways international creditors must behave toward countries that find themselves in a critical economic situation," Juncker said. "It is not acceptable that a prime minister must negotiate reforms with civil servants. One is an elected official, the others are not," he added. Juncker did not directly mention the meeting of eurozone finance ministers set for Monday in Brussels nor the date of his next meeting with Greek Premier Alexis Tsipras. Tsipras called for the meeting just after a speech Thursday from ECB President Mario Draghi, which stated that all supplemental help to Greece would be conditional on the rapid completion of reforms promised by Athens. The ECB "is still holding the rope which we have around our necks," said Tsipras, according to excerpts of an interview with German magazine Der Spiegel.The remark came after Athens received no help from the Frankfurt-based institution to address a cash squeeze caused by the non-delivery of promised loans.Athens is scrambling to find cash to address a daunting repayment schedule, with over six billion euros ($6.8 billion) falling due this month.Join the conversation about this story »
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Greek Reunion: Scott Michael Foster, Jake McDorman, Jacob Zachar, Paul James Bro Out in ...
Boys night out! Greek stars Scott Michael Foster, Jake McDorman, Jacob Zachar, and Paul James came together for an epic reunion on Friday, Mar.
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European Indoor Athletics Championships Results
by Associated Press European Indoor Athletics Championships Results Associated Press - 7 March 2015 14:36-05:00 PRAGUE (AP) — Results Saturday from the European Athletics Indoor Championships (all distances in meters): Men 400_1. Pavel Maslak, Czech Republic, 45.33 seconds. 2. Dylan, Borlee, Belgium, 46.25. 3. Rafal Omelko, Poland, 46.26. 4. Lukasz Krawczuk, Poland, 46.31. 5. Yevhen Hutsol, Ukraine, 46.73. 6. Matteo Galvan, Italy, 46.87. 3,000_1. Ali Kaya, Turkey, 7:38.42. 2. Lee Emanuel, Britain, 7:44.48. 3. Henrik Ingebrigtsen, Norway, 7:45.54. 4. Jesus Espana, Spain, 7:47.12. 5. Richard Ringer, Germany, 7:48.44. 6. Adel Mechaal, Spain, 7:49.59. 7. Lukasz Parszczynski, Poland, 7:50.11. 8. Florian Orth, Germany, 7:51.02. Pole Vault_1. Renaud Lavillenie, France, 6.04. 2. Aleksandr Gripich, Russia, 5.85. 3. Piotr Lisek, Poland, 5.85. 4. Robert Sobera, Poland, 5.80. 5. Konstadinos Filippidis, Greece, 5.75. 6. Valentin Lavillenie, France, 5.65. 7 (tie). Jan Kudlicka, Czech Republic, and Anton Ivakin, Russia, 5.65. 9. Tobias Scherbarth, Germany, 5.45. Triple Jump_1. Nelson Evora, Portugal, 17.21. 2. Pablo Torrijos, Spain, 17.04. 3. Marian Oprea, Romania, 16.91. 4. Aleksey Fyodorov, Russia, 16.88. 5. Georgi Tsonov, Bulgaria, 16.75. 6. Dmitriy Sorokin, Russia, 16.65. 7. Dzmitry Platnitski, Belarus, 16.43. 8. Rumen Dimitrov, Bulgaria, 16.36. ___ Women 400_1. Nataliya Pyhyda, Ukraine, 51.96. 2. Indira Terrero, Spain, 52.63. 3. Seren Bundy-Davies, Britain, 52.64. 4. Iveta Putalova, Slovakia, 52.84. 5. Marie Gayot, France, 53.11. 6. Denisa Rosolova, Czech Republic, 53.20. 3,000_1. Yelena Korobkina, Russia, 8:47.62. 2. Sviatlana Kudzelich, Belarus, 8:48.02. 3. Maureen Koster, Netherlands, 8:51.64. 4. Laura Muir, Britain, 8:52.44. 5. Sandra Eriksson, Finland, 8:54.06. 6. Sofia Ennaoui, Poland, 8:56.77. 7. Giulia Viola, Italy, 8:59.04. 8. Marusa Mismas, Slovenia, 8:59.51. High Jump_1. Mariya Kuchina, Russia, 1.97. 2. Alessia Trost, Italy, 1.97. 3. Kamila Licwinko, Poland, 1.94. 4. Airine Palsyte, Lithuania. 1.94. 5. Ruth Beitia, Spain, 1.94. 6. Justyna Kasprzycka, Poland, 1.94. 7. Venelina Veneva-Mateeva, Bulgaria, 1.90. 8 (tie). Barbara Szabo, Hungary, and Michaela Hruba, Czech Republic, 1.85. Long Jump_1. Ivana Spanovic, Serbia, 6.98. 2. Sosthene Taroum Moguenara, Germany, 6.83. 3. Florentina Marincu, Romania, 6.79. 4. Alina Rotaru, Romania, 6.74. 5. Eloyse Lesueur, France, 6.73. 6. Melanie Bauschke, Germany, 6.59. 7. Karin Melis Mey, Turkey, 6.57. 8. Aiga Grabuste, Latvia, 6.54. Shot Put_1. Anita Marton, Hungary, 19.23. 2. Yulia Leantsiuk, Belarus, 18.60. 3. Radoslava Mavrodieva, Bulgaria, 17.83. 4. Alena Abrahmchuk, Belarus, 17.63. 5. Paulina Guba, Poland, 17.47. 6. Denise Hinrichs, Germany, 17.35. 7. Anastasiya Podolskaya, Russia, 16.81. 8. Ursula Ruiz, Spain, 16.07. News Topics: Men's track and field, Women's track and field, European Indoor Championships, Track and field, Sports, Men's sports, Women's sports, Events People, Places and Companies: Renaud Lavillenie, Nelson Evora, Poland, Czech Republic, Spain, France, Belarus, Italy, Germany, Romania, Bulgaria, Russia, Eastern Europe, Europe, Western Europe, Turkey, Middle East Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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Geologist claims Amphipolis tomb posterior to main burial monument
A geologist who took part in the excavation of the ancient burial mound in Amphipolis in northern Greece says the ancient tomb found together with a series of vaulted rooms wasn't built at the same time, but somewhat later than the rooms themselves.
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Amphipolis Lion not Part of Casta Hill, Researcher Tells Congress
The famed Lion of Amphipolis statue could not have been placed on the Casta hill covering a controversial tomb in northern Greece’s archaeological site, specialists said at a Thessaloniki congress on Saturday, because it is too heavy to have been supported by the naturally formed hill, while the burial found in the tomb most certainly belongs to a different date than the original monument. Evangelos Kambouroglou, director of the Palaeoanthropology and Speliology Ephorate, department of archaeological research, told the 28th annual archaeological congress on Macedonian and Thracian archaeology at the University of Thessaloniki that according to current evidence, the Lion, dated to the 4th century BC, could not have been placed on the monument. Kambouroglou said, “the Casta tomb hill is natural, not artificial. It consists of sediments of quartzite sand, clay and sandstone, which give it a limited durability and render it unable to support any weight over 500 tons.” The lion with its base weigh over 1,500 tons, and the conclusion he reached is the same that site archaeologists had already known. He added that the box-shaped grave found in the last chamber was made at a different time from the main monument, and is “a cheap construction” that does not fit in with the surrounding monument, but did not date it as bone analysis is pending. Kambouroglou, who has worked closely with chief site archaeologist Katerina Peristeri, said that when he had entered the burial chamber, “there were many human interventions and burnt remains (samples of which have been sent to a Massachusetts institute for analysis), while its roof showed the earth had shifted,” possibly from the same earthquake as that of 597 AD, which is thought to have been so strong it changed the direction of the of Strymon River flow. University of Thessaloniki physics professor Grigoris Tsokas, also involved in the excavation’s analysis, said during his talk that the construction of the perivolos, or low wall surrounding the monument, has created problems in the earth layering and made it impossible to use imaging technology. The congress, held annually to present results from excavations and research of sites in northern Greece, is wrapping up its second and last day. On Friday, the presenters had announced that Peristeri would not be making any statements as results of research are not out yet and made special mention of the global media frenzy created around the excavation. (source: ana-mpa)
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Greece’s Proposal to Use ‘Non-Professional Tax Inspectors’ Earns International Scorn
The international Press and social media have met with scorn Greece’s proposal to use undercover non-professional tax inspectors in order to fight tax evasion. Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis proposed that “students, housekeepers and even tourists” could be employed at an hourly basis to tackle tax evasion. In the letter sent to Eurogroup President Jeroen Dijsselbloem it is stated that “the large number of non-professional inspectors are hired on a strictly short-term, casual basis (no longer than two months, and without any prospect of being rehired) to pose, after some basic training, as customers, on behalf of tax authorities, while wired for sound and video. The new recruits, including tourists in popular destinations ‘ripe with tax evasion‘ would be paid by the hour and would be hard to detect by offending tax dodgers. The very ‘news’ that thousands of casual ‘onlookers’ are everywhere, bearing audio and video recording equipment on behalf of tax authorities has the capacity to shift attitudes very quickly.” The proposal is one of seven reforms described in an attachment to the letter sent ahead of Monday’s crucial Eurogroup. Opposition parties New Democracy and PASOK blasted the proposal calling it “ridiculous” and legally wrong. Chief Wall Street Journal European commentator Simon Nixon ridiculed the proposal on Twitter calling “ridiculous” the idea to use “…tourists to be wire-tapped to expose VAT fraud using EU-supplied equipment.” In another tweet, Nixon said “In return for giant loan, Greece promises to wire-tap tourists, sell some gambling licenses, let folk pay taxes over 8 years. Er, that’s it.” In another tweet that circulates, there is a picture of women in bikinis dancing at a beach bar where social media users are to guess which one is the undercover tax inspector.
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Food for Thought Network Event on Girls and Education
Distinguished guests to provide the keynote address are: Greek-Australian State Minister for Families and Children and Minister for Youth Affairs ...
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Deactivations lead to more Greek bids
Greek Life Coordinator Natalie Brewster said the number is on par with other years and that her office hasn't gotten “red flags.” Brewster said the most ...
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Greece Proposes Using Tourists as Tax Spies to Fill Shortfall
The Greek government plans to present a raft of measures to European finance ministers in Brussels in hopes of unlocking aid quickly.
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Varoufakis in Venice: Debating reforms with Greece’s lenders
Greek FinMin Y. Varoufakis is in Italy for the Aspen Institute think tank congress, titled "Assessing Risk: Business in Global Disorder"
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Turkey calls on Greece to display common sense
Turkey's Foreign Ministry issued a statement calling for common sense on the part of Greece regarding remarks by Greek Defense Minister Panos Kammenos about the Aegean Sea.
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Weather on Sunday: Rain and showers
Temperatures decrease around Greece on Sunday
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Tourists 'may help Greek tax probe'
Greece’s proposal to use “non-professional … . Opposition parties New Democracy and Pasok, the coalition partners in the …
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Eurogroup to consider Greek reform proposals amid scramble for funding needs
“Tell me where the money should come from if the Greeks do not want reform and do not want to repay other European countries?” Coene told Belgian ...
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BRC, Chairman: Three Greek citizens rescued from MRS in Bansko winter resort
Sofia. Three Greek citizens were rescued in an operation in Bansko winter resort, Chairman of the Bulgarian Red Cross (BRC) Hristo Grigorov said for ...
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Greek Defense Minister Criticized by Turkey as Being 'Provocative'
Panos Kammenos Greek Defense Minister Panos Kammenos came under fire over the weekend from Ankara, which accused him of having a ...
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Constructive Ambiguity Now Rules Greece
Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis thinks getting cute with the Eurozone and practicing constructive ambiguity will hide the country's real problems.
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Greek Proposal to Chase Tax Dodgers Includes Recruiting Tourists
ATHENS— Greece’s proposal to use “non-professional inspectors” including “students, housekeepers and even tourists” to crack down on tax evasion has earned the government wide scorn from political opponents and on the Internet. The proposal is one of seven reforms described in an attachment to a letter sent by Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis to Dutch counterpart Jeroen […]
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Chris Afendoulis: Michigan State Legislator
Chris Afendoulis, a Greek-American and lifelong resident of the Grand Rapids, MI Metropolitan area was elected to the Michigan State House of Representatives last November and was sworn in on New Year’s Day. A Republican who campaigned on “common sense conservative principles,” Afendoulis won the general election handily, with close to 70% of the vote. […]
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It's time for action in Greece
It's time for action in Greece. MY idea of a great holiday normally involves nothing more than a sunlounger, a book and a cold cocktail and not ...
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| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.express.co.uk |
How Many Bailouts Does Greece Need?
Greece European Bailout As of this writing, Greece is on its second bailout. The problem with Greece is that it has so much debt to banks in Germany ...
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ECB council member: Greece must forget Syriza's 'false promises', look to reforms
Greeks voted for Alexis Tsipras, leader of Greece's far-left Syriza party, in January because of his promises to renegotiate the country's EU/IMF bailout ...
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Greece will never quit euro zone: EU Commission chief
Greece will never leave the euro zone as to do so would cause "irreparable damage" to the European Union, the head of the EU's executive Commission Jean-Claude Juncker said in a German newspaper interview to be published on Sunday. "The European Commission is of the opinion there will never be a 'Grexit'," Juncker told the Welt am Sonntag newspaper. "No one in a position of responsibility in ...
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ECB won't agree to Greece issuing more short-term debt -Coeure
"If, in the current situation in which Greece has no market access, we were to ... 4, shifting the burden onto Greece's central bank to finance its lenders.
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| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.reuters.com |
Greece, France and the ECJ: EU Week Ahead March 9-13
Next week will be a busy one for followers of the European Union, as finance ministers will be in Brussels on Monday and Tuesday to discuss France's ...
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New Greek government sets illegal immigrants free
The new Greek government of SYRIZA freed the illegal immigrants from the detention center of Amygdaleza in Northern East Attica, and bused them to ...
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Lemnos Gallipoli Photographic Exhibition
... between the young Australians and the local Greek population – an interaction which continued to the waves of post-war migration to Australia.
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| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT au.greekreporter.com |
Greece proposes 'non-professional inspectors' to crack down on tax dodgers
ATHENS, Greece – Greece's proposal to use "non-professional inspectors" including "students, housekeepers and even tourists" to crack down on tax ...
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| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.foxbusiness.com |
'Greece wants reforms, is discussing process', Varoufakis says
The issue in the negotiations with Greece's creditors is not whether to apply the reforms or not, Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis said from Venice on Saturday, but what process will be followed. Speaking on the sidelines of a congress ...
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Soccer-Greek championship results and standings
March 7 (Infostrada Sports) - Results and standings from the Greek championship matches on Saturday Sunday, March 8 Niki Volos 0 PAS Giannina 3 awd. ...
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Understanding modern Greece: a Q&A
Depending on who you are, you may think of Greece as the country that we know today or you may think of that ancient conglomerate of city-states ...
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Greece Hires Spies to Clamp Down on Tax Avoidance
Greece Hires Spies to Clamp Down on Tax Avoidance. Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis. He sent a seven point reform plan to the Eurozone ...
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Greek DM criticised by Turkey as being “provocative”
Turkey is dissatisfied with Greek Defense Minister Panos Kammenos statements and activities
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| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT en.protothema.gr |
Russia can use TANAP for gas delivery to Greece
… (TAP) to deliver gas to Greece in case it [Russia] constructs …
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Tourists Wanted to Crack Down on Greek Tax Dodgers
Greece's proposal to use … . Opposition parties New Democracy and PASOK, the coalition partners in the …
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| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT world.einnews.com |
Eurogroup head responds positively to new Greek letter: government
ΑΤΗΕΝS (Reuters) - The head of the euro zone finance ministers responded positively to Greece's request for an immediate start to technical talks with international creditors to conclude the country's current bailout program, a Greek government official said on Saturday.
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Was The 2011 Libya Intervention A Mistake?
Every week, The WorldPost asks an expert to shed light on a topic driving headlines around the world. Today, we speak with Ivo Daalder on the 2011 Libyan intervention and what has changed since. As popular uprisings against autocratic leaders swept across the Arab world in 2011, Libyans, too, took to the streets demanding change. Longtime Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi had little patience for dissent, however, and infamously vowed to "cleanse Libya house by house." In response to Gaddafi's violent threats, in particular those against the coastal city of Benghazi, an international coalition led by NATO argued it was its responsibility to protect Libyan civilians. The coalition installed a no-fly zone over Libya and bombed Gaddafi's military positions. The mission was met with significant criticism from its inception. While the coalition operated under United Nations Security Council approval, some countries, including members of the council, argued that the campaign was overstepping its mandate of protection and was aiming for regime change. Months after the revolution began, as Gaddafi had been deposed and killed and a transitionary government was being formed, NATO declared its mission was done. Almost four years later, Libya is in a state of civil war and outright chaos as two conflicting governments claim responsibility over the country, militias battle for control and extremists accrue concerning amounts of power. As the world focuses once again on Libya, there is renewed debate over whether or not the 2011 intervention was truly a success. The WorldPost spoke with Ivo Daalder, President of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs and the U.S. Ambassador to NATO during the 2011 Libyan revolution, about the current crisis in Libya and the 2011 intervention. In 2012, you hailed the NATO operation in Libya as a model for intervention. Do you still perceive it that way? The intervention at the time was designed to do three things: to make sure there was an arms embargo enforced on Gaddafi, that the people who were being attacked by government forces were protected and in some ways to provide the space and time for the people of Libya to decide their own future. If you look at those goals they were all met. The impending disaster of an attack by Gaddafi’s forces on Benghazi was halted, over time the ability of Gaddafi’s forces to attack civilians declined, the arms embargo was kept in place and the people of Libya were given the opportunity to decide matters about their future by themselves. Unfortunately, the way Libya has evolved demonstrates that just because you give people the opportunity to decide their own future they don’t always decide in the right or best way -- in the way that we would have wanted. So the situation in Libya has gone from bad to worse and is horrific in many dimensions. The future doesn’t look much brighter. Do you think that a post-intervention presence in Libya would have been helpful? Well 20/20 hindsight is difficult. The consultation at the time, which I still believe to be the right consultation, was that an incursion of foreign forces could have lead to greater stability and a way for Libyans to decide a wiser future, or it could have led to foreign forces being part of the problem instead of the solution. Given where we were at the time, the fear was that the likelihood of foreign forces becoming part of the problem was high, particularly if those forces were American. As a result, Washington and European capitals decided that we would intervene for a limited set of circumstances and for a limited set of outcomes. Could it have gone a different way with an outside military intervention? Possibly. But if we look at the last 25 years, the successes of those foreign interventions are few and far between. We haven’t found that goldilocks solution yet and we probably never will, but it doesn’t mean we give up and never try. Some have argued in hindsight that the positive effects of mitigating potential mass killing didn't outweigh the long-term negative effects of regional destabilization. How do you view that argument? History will tell, as they say. It seems to me that there were fundamentally three choices. The first one is do nothing. We would have seen a massive humanitarian nightmare inflicted on the people of Libya by their government. The second one was to intervene in a limited fashion -- sufficient to provide the time to the Libyan people to take matters into their own hands. The the third one was to add a reconstruction and stabilization commitment of foreign, presumably U.S. and European-led forces, to such a limited intervention. It was decided that we couldn’t and shouldn’t allow a humanitarian nightmare to happen we could prevent it with a relatively simple military intervention. Should we have done more after the intervention to stabilize Libya? The president is on record saying that we should have. I’m not there yet. I’m personally not convinced that our presence on the ground to stabilize the situation over the long term would have been welcomed, nor would it have worked any better than it did in Iraq or in Afghanistan. What general lessons are there to be learned from Libya about humanitarian interventions? I think one takeaway is that we need to make a judgment about how much of the problem we want to own. If you think that the only way to intervene is to own the entire problem, you need to be prepared to spend the costs in lives and treasure that implies. There was was an underestimation of the potential for violence and disagreement and the breakdown of the country into opposing militia forces. How much of the problem do you think NATO should own in Libya? I think the moment NATO or anybody else had put in troops, they would have owned more. But I’m not prepared to take on the commitments of humanitarian intervention in Libya for 20 years. It's not yet clear to me that non-intervention is always the best option. That leaves the Libya case as something that is less than perfect, in fact it’s far from perfect, but not necessarily wrong. I do think we can make a legitimate argument that we prevented a humanitarian disaster, that we enabled the Libyan people to decide their own future. The fact that Libyans decided about their future in a way that turned out to be so disastrous isn’t NATO's responsibility, it’s the responsibility first and foremost of those people. Do you think there was a naiveté in judging Libya and the potential fallout of intervention, either in terms of militias or security apparatus? There was was an underestimation of the potential for violence and disagreement and the breakdown of the country into opposing militia forces. Clearly we’re learning a lesson, as we did in Iraq, as we did in Afghanistan, as we’re doing in Syria, as we did in the Balkans, as we did in Somalia and Mali etcetera. There’s a lot to be learned about how one intervenes with a result that is acceptable and a cost that is equally acceptable. We haven’t found that goldilocks solution yet and we probably never will, but it doesn’t mean we give up and never try or that we take ownership of these situations and put in troops to stay there for twenty or thirty years. Should NATO have any involvement in mitigating the security crisis in Libya? I think NATO is trying to get involved and there is a role for training security forces, presumably outside the country. The difficulty right now is that it’s not clear who the organization should back, because the country is deeply divided into factions. A more active security training and development role in say ’11 and ’12 and ’13 would have been useful. Are you going to risk training the wrong side? There were some attempts at foreign training programs but they tended not to go very well. A recent report revealed that Libyan cadets were kicked out of Jordan after burning down a sports facility. I haven’t seen that report. Because there is no central governing authority that is accepted by the international community, it's a real problem to identify who you're going train and who you're going to support. Are you going to risk training the wrong side or keep your hands off and see how the power structure evolves over time? So far it’s been the latter more than the former. I think that those of us that were engaged in the intervention had hoped for a better outcome and I think we all constantly look back and ask 'was this the right decision? Did we do it in the right way?' This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity. More from The WorldPost's Weekly Interview Series: - Have We Got ISIS All Wrong? - What Palestinian Membership In The ICC Really Means - Anguish In Argentina After Prosecutor's Mysterious Death - Could The New Syriza Government Be Good For Greece's Economy? - Naming The Dead: One Group's Struggle To Record Deaths From U.S. Drone Strikes In Pakistan
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Greek government aims to reform immigration policy
Tasia Christodoulopoulou, the Greek immigration minister, has proposed granting citizenship to second generation migrants born and raised in Greek.
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| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.digitaljournal.com |
Greek Government Struggling to Pay ECB and IMF Debts by the End of the Month; Varoufakis ...
In an interview with Der Spiegel, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras reproached the European Central Bank for not relaxing the pressure on Greece's ...
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German-Greek envoy recommends extending loan deadlines
A German former MP, now special envoy for Athens, has said that Greece could need 70 years to clear its debts. He also suggested that Germany could pay for a special emergency bank, as reparations for World War II.
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Another €2 Bln in Bad Loans Added in Jan-Feb
Greek bankers estimate that the amount of non performing loans created in the first two months of 2015 amount to 2 billion euros. This is twice the amount of new bad loans created in the last two months of 2014, figures showed. After several months of decline in the Greek credit sector’s creation rate of new bad loans, banks are reporting a sudden rebound in growth rate for January and February 2015, according to Greek newspaper “Kathimerini.” The rise of non performing loans is attributed to political instability in Greece, analysts said. This came as Greek banks are set to suffer an extra burden adding up to some 1 billion euros from the rise in the cost of liquidity owing to the shift from European Central Bank (ECB) funding to Bank of Greece’s Emergency Liquidity Assistance (ELA) mechanism. ECB lends cash at an interest rate of 0.05% while the latter supplies cash to Greek banks at a rate of 1.55%.
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Poll: 64% See Tsipras’ Govt in a Positive Light so Far
64% of Greek people think positively of the new government’s course so far, according to an opinion poll for newspaper “Efimerida ton Syntakton” published on Saturday, while 31.4% see it negatively/probably negatively. Asked in addition, “Are you happy by the progress of negotiations so far with our European [loan] partners?” 59.6% said yes/probably yes, while 37.6% responded no/probably no. Another 2.8% declined to answer. In terms of current employment distribution among those polled, the highest approval rate (83.4%) was registered by those who are now unemployed, followed by the self-employed/business owners (58.8%), civil servants (58.5%) and private sector employees (58.3%). 75.4% of those polled agree with the assessment that the four-month loan extension does not signal the end of Memoranda, while 14.1% believe it does. 10.5% declined to answer. In addition, more than half of those polled (54.4%) believe that if New Democracy had won Greece’s elections, things would be worse. Another 19.4% said they would be better, 22.9% there would be no great difference and 3.3% declined to answer. In terms of satisfaction with the choice of Prokopis Pavlopoulos as Greek President, 54.7% are happy with it, 36.3% are unhappy and another 9% declined to answer. In addition, the majority sees Parliament President Zoe Konstantopoulou‘s stance as positive so far (61.6%), while 36.3% saw her in a negative light and another 8% declined to answer. The poll was conducted from March 3 to 5 nationwide. (source: ana-mpa)
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Convicted Greek Terrorist Xeros Transferred to New Maximum Security Prison in Crete
Convicted Greek terrorist Christodoulos Xeros was transferred from the Domokos prison in central Greece to the Agia prison on the southern Aegean island of Crete on Saturday morning. Xeros, convicted for his participation in terrorist group “November 17″ and other terrorist involvement, was transferred by a judicial order undercover and with maximum security measures on a regular ferry. He boarded the ferry in a special van after all passengers had boarded and was transferred off-board once every other passenger had left. His new prison is a recently completed facility with state-of-the-art security measures. (source: ana-mpa)
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