UN reveal 3000 migrants are crossing the Greek-Macedonia border EACH DAY

The UN has revealed 3,000 migrants are crossing into Macedonia from Greece each day as the region continues wilting under the pressure of its ...

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'Dreadful conditions' for migrants in Greece: Amnesty

The group called on Greece to set up more staff and better camp conditions to manage the crisis on Lesvos and other Greek islands. The statement ...

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China Cuts Rates And Reserve Ratio As Stocks Plummet Again

SHANGHAI/BEIJING, Aug 25 (Reuters) - China's central bank cut interest rates and lowered the amount of reserves banks must hold for the second time in two months on Tuesday, ratcheting up support for a stuttering economy and a plunging stock market that has sent shockwaves around the globe. The moves came after Chinese stocks tumbled again on Tuesday, as investors despaired at the lack of policy action from Beijing in response to recent data suggesting the downturn in the world's second-largest economy was deepening. The People's Bank of China (PBOC) said it was cutting the one-year benchmark bank lending rate by 25 basis points to 4.6 percent, cutting one-year benchmark deposit rates by the same amount, and reducing reserve requirements (RRR) by 50 basis points to 18 percent for most big banks. Major Chinese stock indexes nosedived more than 7 percent on Tuesday, hitting their lowest levels since December, following a more than 8 percent plunge on Monday. The plunge had resumed last week despite Beijing's efforts to arrest a 30 percent crash earlier in the summer with hundreds of billions of dollars of state-backed share purchases.  This time, the government appeared to be sitting on its hands until Tuesday's response, which aimed more at shoring up economic fundamentals than underpinning stocks. "Although this has some elements of giving comfort to the market, this is more about giving a real boost to the real economy so the government can continue to have its 7 percent growth rate fulfilled," said Liu Li-Gang, China economist at ANZ Bank in Hong Kong. Liu said the RRR cut was the most significant element of the PBOC action, as it would inject 650 billion yuan ($101 billion), into the economy and ease concerns of a "hard landing." China, one of the main engines of the world economy, has overtaken Greece at the top of the worry list of global investors, who fret its economy is growing at a much slower pace than the official 7 percent target for 2015. "Currently, there is still downward pressure on China's economic growth," the central bank said in a separate statement. "There is also relatively big volatility in global financial markets, which require more flexible usage of monetary policy tools." (function(){var src_url="https://spshared.5min.com/Scripts/PlayerSeed.js?playList=519033648&height=381&width=570&sid=577&origin=SOLR&videoGroupID=155847&relatedNumOfResults=100&responsive=false&relatedMode=2&relatedBottomHeight=60&companionPos=&hasCompanion=false&autoStart=false&colorPallet=%23FFEB00&videoControlDisplayColor=%23191919&shuffle=0&isAP=1&pgType=cmsPlugin&pgTypeId=addToPost-top&onVideoDataLoaded=track5min.DL&onTimeUpdate=track5min.TC&onVideoDataLoaded=HPTrack.Vid.DL&onTimeUpdate=HPTrack.Vid.TC";if (typeof(commercial_video) == "object") {src_url += "&siteSection="+commercial_video.site_and_category;if (commercial_video.package) {src_url += "&sponsorship="+commercial_video.package;}}var script = document.createElement("script");script.src = src_url;script.async = true;var placeholder = document.querySelector(".js-fivemin-script");placeholder.parentElement.replaceChild(script, placeholder);})();  FUTURES LIMIT-DOWN The CSI300 index of the largest listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen dropped 7.1 percent on Tuesday, while the Shanghai Composite Index fell 7.6 percent to close below the psychologically significant 3,000-point level. Underscoring the panic gripping the retail investors who dominate China's stock markets, all index futures contracts fell by the maximum 10 percent daily limit, pointing to expectations of even deeper losses. Though the PBOC move came after domestic markets had closed, stock markets in Europe jumped, and U.S. stock futures were also given a lift. After the turmoil in China rocked world equity and commodity markets on Monday, policymakers elsewhere in Asia sought to soothe fears about the broader impact on the global economy. "I think it's important that people don't hyperventilate about these types of things," said Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott, whose country is heavily exposed to China, the biggest consumer of its commodity exports. "It is not unusual to see stock market corrections. It is not unusual to see bubbles burst in particular markets and for there to be some flow-on effect in other stock markets, but the fundamentals are sound." This week's steep declines have taken Chinese stocks into negative territory for the year to date, although Leland Miller, president of China Beige Book International, pointed out that Chinese equity markets have shown little correlation with the real economy - either on the way up or the way down. "Previous boom-bust cycles in Chinese stocks have also shown little or no connection to (apparent) economic performance," said Miller, whose firm provides anecdotal survey information about China based on the Fed's "Beige Book" model. (function(){var src_url="https://spshared.5min.com/Scripts/PlayerSeed.js?playList=519034208&height=381&width=570&sid=577&origin=SOLR&videoGroupID=155847&relatedNumOfResults=100&responsive=false&relatedMode=2&relatedBottomHeight=60&companionPos=&hasCompanion=false&autoStart=false&colorPallet=%23FFEB00&videoControlDisplayColor=%23191919&shuffle=0&isAP=1&pgType=cmsPlugin&pgTypeId=addToPost-top&onVideoDataLoaded=track5min.DL&onTimeUpdate=track5min.TC&onVideoDataLoaded=HPTrack.Vid.DL&onTimeUpdate=HPTrack.Vid.TC";if (typeof(commercial_video) == "object") {src_url += "&siteSection="+commercial_video.site_and_category;if (commercial_video.package) {src_url += "&sponsorship="+commercial_video.package;}}var script = document.createElement("script");script.src = src_url;script.async = true;var placeholder = document.querySelector(".js-fivemin-script");placeholder.parentElement.replaceChild(script, placeholder);})();  NO RESCUE? While there is little evidence that the stock market mayhem has dampened consumer spending so far, concerns about the economy intensified after factory activity shrank at its fastest pace in almost 6-1/2 years and the central bank unexpectedly devalued its yuan currency earlier this month. A majority of analysts, however, predicts a continued deceleration - rather than a crash - for China's economy, and dismisses comparisons with the 2008 Global Financial Crisis or the 1997/98 crisis in Asia. "The current panic is essentially 'made in China'. The recent data from other major economies have generally been good and there is little to justify fears of a major global downturn," wrote economists at Capital Economics. "China's recent economic data suggest that growth remains sluggish, but are not weak enough to justify fears of a hard landing." Some companies, too, have sought to reassure investors that China's economy is not about to go over the cliff, with Apple Inc Chief Executive Tim Cook and planemaker Boeing Co making encouraging noises about China on Tuesday. (Reporting by Koh Gui Qing in Beijing, Samuel Shen, Nathaniel Taplin and Kazanori Takada in Shanghai, Pete Sweeney in Hong Kong, Devika Krishna Kumar in Bengaluru, Leika Kihara in Tokyo, Lincoln Feast in Sydney; Writing by Alex Richardson and Will Waterman; Editing by Nick Macfie) -- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

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As Migrants Head North, Hungary Decries 'Humiliating' EU Policy

ROSZKE, Hungary, Aug 25 (Reuters) - Hungary called on Tuesday for more money from the European Union to handle a rising tide of migrants crossing the Balkans, as a new wave hit its southern border and further exposed the cracks in EU policy towards the worst refugee crisis since World War Two. More than 100,000 migrants, many of them refugees from conflicts in the Middle East and Africa, have entered Hungary, part of Europe's Schengen zone of passport-free travel, this year en route to the more affluent countries of western and northern Europe. The influx ticked up on Monday to its highest daily rate this year - 2,093 - as many race to beat a fence that Hungary is building on its 175-km (110-mile) border with Serbia to keep them out. A Reuters reporter saw hundreds stream unhindered into Hungary from Serbia on Tuesday, part of a larger movement in recent weeks whisked north by boat and bus as cash-strapped governments in Greece, Macedonia and Serbia try to move them on as fast as they can. (function(){var src_url="https://spshared.5min.com/Scripts/PlayerSeed.js?playList=519031238&height=381&width=570&sid=577&origin=SOLR&videoGroupID=155847&relatedNumOfResults=100&responsive=false&relatedMode=2&relatedBottomHeight=60&companionPos=&hasCompanion=false&autoStart=false&colorPallet=%23FFEB00&videoControlDisplayColor=%23191919&shuffle=0&isAP=1&pgType=cmsPlugin&pgTypeId=addToPost-top&onVideoDataLoaded=track5min.DL&onTimeUpdate=track5min.TC&onVideoDataLoaded=HPTrack.Vid.DL&onTimeUpdate=HPTrack.Vid.TC";if (typeof(commercial_video) == "object") {src_url += "&siteSection="+commercial_video.site_and_category;if (commercial_video.package) {src_url += "&sponsorship="+commercial_video.package;}}var script = document.createElement("script");script.src = src_url;script.async = true;var placeholder = document.querySelector(".js-fivemin-script");placeholder.parentElement.replaceChild(script, placeholder);})();   "We have skills, we can survive anywhere," 30-year-old Hassan, an IT engineer from Syria, said after walking across the border into Hungary. "We don't just come to Europe to eat and sleep. We're looking for safety. It's better to walk across half of Europe than to stay in Syria." A record 50,000, many of them Syrians, reached Greek shores by boat from Turkey in July alone. Greece, embroiled in a debilitating economic crisis, is ferrying them from overwhelmed islands to the mainland, from where they head north to Macedonia and points beyond. Macedonia tried to keep them out last week with razor-wire and stun grenades, but gave up in the face of huge and determined crowds. The United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR, said it expected the influx into Macedonia to continue at a rate of 3,000 per day for months. Some 8,000 were estimated to be in Serbia, many spending the night in city parks. Belgrade's Lasta bus company said it increased its daily departures to the northern town of Subotica from seven to 24. "In the coming days we may expect an increase," the company told Reuters in an email. Hungarian authorities are rolling out a low, barbed-wire barrier along the border with Serbia, while construction crews race to complete a more substantial 3.5-meter-high fence. "EUROPE HAS FAILED" Critics point out that the vast majority of migrants who enter Hungary do not linger, determined to reach the likes of Austria, Germany and Sweden where they join up with relatives and friends in search of work and security. But the Hungarian government under right-wing Prime Minister Viktor Orban has taken a harder line than other EU states, saying such an influx carries risks of terrorism, crime and unemployment. He says the EU has failed to offer a coherent solution, and also faces pressure at home from far-right opponents. Orban's chief of staff, Janos Lazar, said Hungary should be given more money by the EU. The European Commission, the EU's executive arm, has pledged nearly 8 million euros in aid and various other measures. But Lazar told the daily Magyar Hirlap newspaper it was not enough. "The European Union distributes border protection funds in a humiliating way. Old member states have nicked the money from new members," he was quoted as saying. "If we do not take meaningful steps, we will become a lifeboat that sinks beneath the weight of those clinging onto it," Lazar said in what appeared to be a reference to the deaths of over 2,000 migrants this year trying to reach Europe on overcrowded boats across the Mediterranean. Not since the wars of Yugoslavia's collapse in the 1990s has the cash-strapped western Balkans seen such large movements of people. Germany says it expects a record 800,000 asylum-seekers to arrive this year, in a crisis overwhelming authorities in Europe from the Greek islands to the French port of Calais. The European Commission has made clear its disapproval of the Hungarian fence, with its Cold War echoes in ex-Communist eastern Europe, but Hungary faces no sanction for building it. On Monday, Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker criticized bickering EU governments for "finger pointing" instead of confronting the migrant crisis with viable measures. His deputy, Frans Timmermans, told Europe 1 radio on Tuesday that "Europe has failed. Europe has to get moving." "So far, many member states have thought they can go it alone. That doesn't work. We have to do it together." (Additional reporting by Reuters Television, Fatos Bytyci in PRESEVO, Serbia, Aleksandar Vasovic in BELGRADE, Alastair MacDonald in BRUSSELS, Stephanie Nebehay in GENEVA, Krisztina Than in BUDAPEST; Writing by Matt Robinson; Editing by Giles Elgood) Also on HuffPost: -- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

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Crisis-Hit Greek Island Introduces Cryptocurrency

The Greek financial crisis has greatly affected the big cities such as the capital, Athens, and Thessaloniki, as well as the small remote villages and islands such as the island of Agistri. Agistri, an island located close to the Greek capital, has only 1,142 inhabitants according to the 2011 Greek census. While the islanders had

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Greek Snap Elections Could Be Held September 20

The official date of the anticipated Greek snap elections could be announced very soon. The Athens Macedonian News Agency cites sources that claim that elections could take place on September 20. According to the same sources the President of the Hellenic Republic Prokopis Pavlopoulos will not call the Greek political party leaders to a meeting

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30 Greek Protesters Remain Enclosed in Skouries Mine

In response to the arguments presented by the Greek Ministry of Productive Reconstruction, Environment and Energy, Hellas Gold has stated that the ...

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