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Friday, January 25, 2013

Greece Opposition Leader Calls for European Debt Renegotiation Summit


Greek Reporter

Greece Opposition Leader Calls for European Debt Renegotiation Summit
New York Times
The 38-year-old leftist opposition leader in Greece, who could become its next prime minister on a wave of simmering popular fury over the Greek government's austerity measures, called on Friday for a European summit to ease the crushing debts that ...
Greece's Tsipras Seeks to Reassure U.S.4-traders
Mr. Tsipras Comes to WashingtonBrookings Institution (blog)
Visiting NY, Tsipras Calls For EU Debt SummitGreek Reporter
World Socialist Web Site
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Alexis Tsipras, Greece Opposition Leader, Calls for Debt Renegotiation

Alexis Tsipras, the leftist opposition leader who could become the next prime minister, called for a European summit to ease the crushing debts that threaten not only his country but all of Europe.


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Home > News > Greek subway staff end strike after police raid


Home > News > Greek subway staff end strike after police raid
U.S. News & World Report
ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Striking subway workers in Athens returned to the job Friday, hours after the Greek government used riot police to evacuate holdouts from a train depot, ending a bitter standoff over new austerity measures. The nine-day strike ...


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The shrinking British economy: North Sea oil and other excuses

Oil industry challenged the official Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures and insisted it was not to blame for the British economy's worse-than-expected performance

The North Sea oil industry challenged the official Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures and insisted it was not to blame for the British economy's worse-than-expected performance. The ONS figures suggest that two-thirds of the downturn in fourth quarter GDP was down to low output of oil and gas as a result of protracted platform maintenance programmes.

According to the official data collectors, a slump in production from the UK's largest offshore field, Buzzard, led to the biggest decline in mining and quarrying output since official records began, down 10.2%. That left activity in the wider production sector, which includes oil production, some 1.8% lower quarter-on-quarter. But Oil & Gas UK, the North Sea industry lobby group, said Buzzard was back in operation at the end of the third quarter and a picture of plunging volumes was contradicted by other government statistics.

"We just can't see the reasons they (ONS) are giving are valid," said Sally Hatch, a spokeswoman for Oil & Gas UK. "Department of Energy and Climate Change figures show oil output between October and November rose by 26% as Buzzard and other fields came back on stream. We have noticed in the past that the ONS tends to restate them [its GDP figures] some time later," she added.

The other excuses

Rain

In the spring of last year, the ONS blamed unusually wet weather that deterred shoppers and hit construction activity for a 0.7% second quarter drop.

Snow

In the run-up to Christmas 2010 the UK was blanketed in snow. Transport ground to a halt, Heathrow was paralysed and shoppers stayed home. The ONS said it was a major factor causing a fourth quarter fall of 0.5%

Eurozone crisis

In the first quarter of 2012, the ONS said blame for a 0.2% contraction could be partly laid at the eurozone's door following the second Greek crisis. There was a real fear that the single currency mighty fall apart at any moment and consumer confidence suffered.

North Sea

In the latest figures, a fall in North Sea oil output dragged down the figures. It is not the first time that temporary cuts in production have been blamed for a GDP fall.

Royal wedding

William and Kate's nuptuals caused havoc with the GDP figures in 2011. The royal wedding followed a warm Easter weekend and huge numbers of workers took the week off. The economy, apart from grocers selling barbecue food, suffered - growing by only 0.2% in the second quarter, down from the 0.5% growth in the previous three months.

The jubilee holiday

One thinktank said that without the extra bank holiday given to celebrate the Queen's 60 years on the throne in June last year, Britain would have emerged from recession. It estimated the Jubilee wiped 0.4 percentage points off growth in the second quarter.


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Metro service resumes in Athens as strike ends

Underground trains in Athens have resumed service following a strike that disrupted transportation in the Greek capital for more than a week. The workers had walked off the job to protest against planned salary cuts. Metro train operators returned to the job on Friday, a day after the government had announced that it would impose emergency powers...

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Metro service resumes in Athens as strike ends

Underground trains in Athens have resumed service following a strike that disrupted transportation in the Greek capital for more than a week. The workers had walked off the job to protest against planned salary cuts.

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Greek subway staff end strike after police raid

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Striking subway workers in Athens returned to the job Friday, hours after the Greek government used riot police to evacuate holdouts from a train depot, ending a bitter standoff over new austerity measures.

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Golden Dawn issues anti-Semitic diatribe against AJC's David Harris during ...


Golden Dawn issues anti-Semitic diatribe against AJC's David Harris during ...
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
ATHENS, Greece (JTA) -- The Greek neo-Nazi party Golden Dawn said a visit to Greece by American Jewish Committee leader David Harris is meant to ensure further “Jewish influence over Greek political issues” and safeguard the interests of “international ...

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Spain and Greece Compete for Worst Youth Unemployment in EU (Wait Until ...


TheBlaze.com

Spain and Greece Compete for Worst Youth Unemployment in EU (Wait Until ...
TheBlaze.com
Meanwhile, recent data shows Greece's national unemployment rate has risen to 26.8 percent, the highest in the EU, with a youth unemployment rate of 60 percent, according to reports from both The Telegraph and the BBC. Luckily, these unemployment ...

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Greek police break up train workers sit-in

Metro workers strike against wage cuts broken up by 300 riot police as Athens underground remains shut for ninth day.

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Greek Riot Police Storm Subway Workers

Greek riot police stormed a train depot in Athens occupied by striking subway workers as part of a government emergency order to force employees back to work.

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Greek riot police raid Athens metro depot to enforce emergency order ending strike


Greek riot police raid Athens metro depot to enforce emergency order ending strike
Washington Post
ATHENS, Greece — Greek riot police stormed the Athens subway train depot early Friday to enforce a government emergency order forcing striking metro workers back to work in an escalating standoff over new austerity measures. Dozens of strikers had ...


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Greek police storm metro workers sit-in as strike goes on

Greek riot police stormed a train depot in Athens on Friday to disperse subway staff defying government orders to end their strike, intensifying a confrontation that has paralysed public transport in the city.



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Transport strike paralyses Athens

Traffic gridlock paralyses Greece's capital as commuters struggle to work amid a public transport strike, as police seek to end a metro workers' sit-in.

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UPDATE 1-Greek current account gap narrows on recession, debt cut


UPDATE 1-Greek current account gap narrows on recession, debt cut
Reuters
Greek current account gap narrows 73 pct y/y * Drop reflects falling imports and debt payments * Export performance weak, tourism drops ATHENS, Jan 25 (Reuters) - Greece's current account gap narrowed by more than two-thirds in the year to November ...
Greek current account gap narrows in NovemberCapital.gr (press release)

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Osborne's economic strategy has failed | Larry Elliott

These GDP figures are a disaster for the coalition government – politically as well as economically

The strategy has failed. The public knows it. The International Monetary Fund knows it. The credit rating agencies know it. Even George Osborne knows it, although he can't bring himself to admit as much.

Here is a brief résumé of how things stand for the economy after two and a half years with the coalition government at the helm. National output has just contracted for the fourth quarter in the last five. The only quarter of 2012 in which the economy expanded was the one that contained the London Olympics, and unfortunately for the chancellor these sort of jamborees happen once every half century rather than once every three months.

During 2012 as a whole the economy registered no growth at all. Nothing. Zilch. A big fat zero. The level of gross domestic product is 3% below where it was when the recession started, a weaker performance than during the 1930s. Royal Bank of Scotland says the four-year performance of the economy between 2008 and 2012 is the weakest since the 1930s apart from post-war mobilisations.

Industrial production was to blame for the drop in output in the final three months of 2012, with factory output back to levels last seen in the early 1990s. Rebalancing is a pipedream. Unsurprisingly, the Treasury's deficit reduction programme is well off track. This is an abysmal record.

Sure, there are all sorts of excuses that can be trotted out to explain away the fact that three years after the recession first ended GDP is still contracting. The crisis in the eurozone hasn't helped. Rising commodity prices have raised business costs and acted as a brake on consumer spending.

But the government also sucked demand out of the economy by raising taxes, cutting welfare and by taking the axe to capital spending programmes. The blood-curdling rhetoric from Osborne in 2010 about Britain being a Greece in waiting had the entirely predictable effect of shredding consumer and business confidence.

So what happens next? Clearly, there is a risk that the first quarter of 2013 will also be negative. The economy is fundamentally weak and the heavy snow of the past week will not have helped.

Against this backdrop, there will be mounting pressure for further steps to get the economy moving. Ideally, action would come from the chancellor himself in the budget in the form of tax cuts and higher spending on small-scale infrastructure projects that can be started immediately.

In reality, changes to fiscal policy are likely to be small scale and cosmetic. Osborne will rely, as he has for the past two and a half years, on the Bank of England to do the heavy lifting. Further monetary easing looks inevitable, even though a combination of 0.5% bank rate and £375bn of quantitative easing has proved ineffective until now.

Politically as well as economically, these figures are a disaster for the government. It ensures the next few months will be spent debating whether the UK is heading for a triple dip and how soon the credit rating agencies will strip Britain of its AAA credit rating. When that happens – as it almost certainly will – Osborne's strategy will be in complete tatters.


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Greece's Current Account Deficit Narrows


Greece's Current Account Deficit Narrows
Wall Street Journal
ATHENS--Greece's current account deficit narrowed by 62.8% on year in November largely due to a fall in imports linked to the country's ongoing recession and a decline of interest payments on the national debt. Figures provided by the Bank of Greece ...
BANK OF GREECE, THE : Balance of payments: November 20124-traders
UPDATE 1-Greek current account gap narrows on recession, debt cutReuters
Greek current account gap narrows in NovemberCapital.gr (press release)

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Greek economic crisis has cleared the air


Greek economic crisis has cleared the air
New Scientist
Greek economic crisis has cleared the air. 25 January 2013 by Michael Marshall; Magazine issue 2901. Subscribe and save; For similar stories, visit the Finance and Economics and Energy and Fuels Topic Guides. EVEN the darkest cloud may have a silver ...


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Athens riot police raid striking metro workers


AFP

Athens riot police raid striking metro workers
AFP
ATHENS — Some 300 Greek riot police stormed Athens' metro depot to break up a sit-in by striking workers, police said. The raid on the centre, which strikers protesting austerity measures had occupied on Thursday, took place at around 4:00 am (0200 GMT) ...
Greek riot police put end to Metro workers sit-in (PHOTOS)RT
Greek riot police break up striking subway workers' sit-inReuters
Greek police storm metro depot to end strikeTimesonline.com
New York Times
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Anarchists claim responsibility for Greek shopping centre blast


euronews

Anarchists claim responsibility for Greek shopping centre blast
euronews
Two Greek anarchist groups said that they planted a bomb at an Athens shopping centre. Two security guards were slightly injured when the makeshift device, left in a rubbish bin, exploded on Sunday. The blast follows several similar attacks against ...
Greek anarchist groups claim bomb blast at Athens mallYahoo! News (blog)
Greek militant anarchist groups claim shopping mall blastGlobalNews.ca
Greek militant anarchist groups claim shopping mall blast that injured 2 guardsMontreal Gazette

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Greece police break up Athens underground workers' strike


BBC News

Greece police break up Athens underground workers' strike
BBC News
Greek police have stormed a metro train depot in the capital Athens, breaking up a sit-in by striking workers. The workers had been on the ninth successive day of strike action that has crippled the underground system. The conservative-led government used ...
Greek riot police in raid on striking metro workersAFP
Greek riot police break up striking subway workers' sit-inReuters
Greek police storm metro depot to end strikeBismarck Tribune
Wall Street Journal -Los Angeles Times -Businessweek
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Greek police storm metro depot to end strike





ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greek riot police stormed the Athens subway train depot early Friday to enforce a government emergency order forcing striking metro workers back to work in an escalating standoff over new austerity measures.

Dozens of strikers had barricaded themselves in the depot in western Athens late Thursday, after the government issued a rare civil mobilization order under which workers refusing to return to work risk dismissal, arrest and jail time.

Hammered by a financial crisis since late 2009, Greece has imposed repeated rounds of public sector salary and pension cuts in return for billions of euros in international rescue loans.

The government's decision to issue a civil mobilization order led to a swift backlash, with all other public transport workers declaring immediate strikes that left commuters stranded and forced to walk or take taxis home through traffic-clogged streets Thursday.


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Greek riot police break up striking subway workers' sit-in


MiamiHerald.com

Greek riot police break up striking subway workers' sit-in
Reuters
ATHENS (Reuters) - Greek riot police stormed a subway train depot in Athens early on Friday to disperse striking subway staff who defied a government order to return to work for a ninth consecutive day, a police official said. Scuffles broke out when ...
Greek police storm metro depot to end strikeMiamiHerald.com
Greek riot police raid Athens metro depot to enforce emergency order ending strikeWashington Post
Greek subway workers on strike risk jail time after government signs court orderFox News
Press TV -BBC News -The Voice of Russia
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