Pages

Welcome, 77 artists, 40 different points of Attica welcomes you by singing Erotokritos an epic romance written at 1713 by Vitsentzos Kornaros

Monday, February 24, 2014

FT: Greece’s Banking Sector Needs 20 Billion Euros

The Financial Times in an article reports a debate between the troika and the Greek coalition government, concerning the amount of money that Greek banks need in order for Greece’s banking sector to be healthy. In addition the article ...

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT greece.greekreporter.com

Greek Cypriot, Turkish Cypriot negotiations resume talks

NICOSIA, Cyprus, Feb. 24 (UPI) -- Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot negotiators had "substantive discussions" Monday aimed at resolving the Cyprus problem, a U.N. spokesman said.

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.upi.com

Germany: Problems With Greek Language Education

The Greek Confederation of Parents and Guardians in Germany expressed its frustration and resentment concerning the developments on Greek language education in Germany in an open letter to the Minister of Education. The Confederation stressed ...

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT eu.greekreporter.com

Greece in banking sector standoff with lenders

with Athens contending its financial system requires less than €6bn of new capital while international monitors insist it needs at least three times that amount. The €6bn estimate was calculated by the Greek central bank after a long-awaited private ...

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.ft.com

Cuts on Greek Public Sector Employees’ One-Off Benefit Illegal

Thousands of former public sector employees found justice after it was deemed that the cuts on the one-off financial benefit (EFAPAX) were unconstitutional, and against the state’s obligations to ensure every citizens’ social security. While the Greek government announced that next month it would give 20,521 civil servants the one-off financial benefit, the Court of Auditors issued its decision declaring that cutting part of the EFAPAX was completely unconstitutional. The Court of Auditors’ decision vindicated thousands of former public sector employees while it also started a tsunami of financial consequences for the government, creating huge “black holes,” which will probably increase on a daily basis, especially after the High Courts of Greece issue similar decisions. Throughout this financial turmoil, there have also been certain final judicial decisions that vindicated tens of thousands of officials and judges who have had their salaries retroactively cut. The reason behind the Court’s decision is that the civil servants one-off financial benefit cuts are unconstitutional because this specific benefit is accumulated throughout the years by withholding a small part of every employees monthly salary. Therefore, this money belongs to those employees and not to the government. The Court of Auditors judges stated that “the Greek government, regardless of the pressure from extra-institutional factors cannot, under any circumstances, take money from citizens. The EFAPAX has been withheld from the salaries of public employees during their working career. It is the fruit of their labor and their insurance for their later years. The judges concluded that legally, the EFAPAX cuts-offs are a total violation of the concept of state welfare and the rule of law.

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT greece.greekreporter.com

EU extends protection of Greek, Spanish battery producers

The European Union renewed for another five years a tariff against South Africa on a material for consumer batteries, saying Greek producer Tosoh Hellas AIC and Spain’s Cegasa Internacional SA need longer protection. The EU reimposed the 17.1 percent duty... ...

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.ekathimerini.com

Kotsovolos owner Dixons pondering merger with Carphone Warehouse

Dixons Retail Plc, the largest UK consumer-electronics retailer and owner of Greece’s Kotsovolos chain, said on Monday it is in talks to merge with Carphone Warehouse Group Plc, bringing together companies with combined revenue of about 12 billion pounds ... ...

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.ekathimerini.com

George Soros considering investing in Greece

FRANKFURT - George Soros wants to invest in Europe’s financial sector, according to a German magazine’s interview with the billionaire investor on Sunday. “I believe in the euro,” weekly Der Spiegel quoted him as saying. “Therefore my investment team is l... ...

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.ekathimerini.com

Greek securities rise as troika returns

Greek government bonds rose on Monday as the country’s partners were said to be working on the next review of its bailout, while Portugal’s two-year yields dropped to the lowest in more than a month as the nation said it would buy back debt. Italian bonds... ...

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.ekathimerini.com

Police probe officer standing for Golden Dawn in polls

The Greek Police has launched an internal investigation following reports that a police officer on the island of Crete is to stand as a candidate on the ticket of neofascist Golden Dawn in local authority elections in May, reports said Monday. The candida... ...

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.ekathimerini.com

East Crete to get a Radisson Blu

The growth in Greek tourism is attracting a succession of major international hotel chains to this country. The latest to take an active interest in Greece is Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group, which has signed a franchise deal with the owners of the Minos Impe... ...

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.ekathimerini.com

BoG dismisses capital need claims

The Bank of Greece is set to announce the capital requirements of local banks by the end of this week or next week at the latest, as they have been determined by the BlackRock stress tests conducted late last year. It will also present the methodology use... ...

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.ekathimerini.com

No change to shipping’s contribution

There will be no changes to the compulsory contribution of the Greek shipping sector to the state budget, Merchant Marine Minister Miltiadis Varvitsiotis insisted on Monday, adding that according to a December amendment shipper will be paying three times ... ...

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.ekathimerini.com

Greece resumes bailout talks with lenders, no hard figures discussed

Greece resumed bailout talks with its international lenders on Monday, hoping to end six months of wrangling over the release of new rescue loans it needs to avoid default. At stake is the disbursement of funds to repay 9.3 billion of bonds maturing in May, the biggest single debt redemption Greece faces in the next three decades, according to Thomson Reuters Eikon data. "Talks are tough, a lot ...

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT finance.yahoo.com

Greek top banks require 5bn euro injection: reports

KathimeriniGreek top banks require 5bn euro injection: reportsTaipei TimesGreece's four top banks are expected to need an extra capital injection of about 5 billion euros (US$6.9 billion), local media said on Sunday, as the country's international lenders prepared for a new audit of Greek finances. The Bank of Greece is ...Greek securities rise as troika returnsKathimeriniGreece in banking sector stand-off with bailout lendersFinancial TimesGreek austerity: 'Don't try this at home'Milwaukee Journal Sentinelall 67 news articles »

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.taipeitimes.com

Greek Jewish community takes Germany to European court over Nazi ransom for slave laborers

Greece's biggest Jewish community has taken Germany to Europe's top human rights court, seeking the return of a huge ransom paid to Nazi occupiers to free thousands of slave laborers more than 70 years ago.

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.foxnews.com

Greek Jewish community seeks return of Nazi ransom

THESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) — Greece's biggest Jewish community has taken Germany to Europe's top human rights court, seeking the return of a huge ransom paid to Nazi occupiers to free thousands of slave laborers more than 70 years ago.

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT news.yahoo.com

Thessaloniki bus driver gets suspended sentence for racist behavior

A bus driver in Thessaloniki, northern Greece, on Monday was handed a 10-month prison sentence, suspended for three years, after being found guilty of denying two black passengers service because of their race, and not because they had failed to display v... ...

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.ekathimerini.com

Two Greek women find niche in London nanny market

They speak Greek, cook traditional Greek dishes and know all the songs and nursery rhymes from back home. Looking back, the idea that Elena Tsoka and Fenia Attilakou came up with was bound to succeed: The Greek Nannies agency the duo set up recently in Lo... ...

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.ekathimerini.com

Local bourse gets a stress test of its own

A sixth consecutive day of decline on the Greek bourse on Monday inflicted significant losses on most stocks and the main index due to uncertainty over the results of banks’ stress tests generated by reports regarding requirements as high as 20 billion eu... ...

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.ekathimerini.com

Prison Hospital Inmates Protest Treatment

Inmates held in Greece's only prison hospital are refusing food and medication as part of a protest campaign against severely overcrowded living conditions.

The post Prison Hospital Inmates Protest Treatment appeared first on The National Herald.


READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.thenationalherald.com

Christine Lagarde thinks the troika got it wrong on Greece? If only she knew

The GuardianChristine Lagarde thinks the troika got it wrong on Greece? If only she knewThe GuardianOn Thursday, Christine Lagarde made some comments in an interview for Australia's ABC which have passed largely unreported, Greece no longer being the crisis en vogue. She admitted that the troika – the entity consisting of the European commission, the ...

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.theguardian.com

UN hosts meeting with Greek Cypriot, Turkish Cypriot negotiators

UN News CentreUN hosts meeting with Greek Cypriot, Turkish Cypriot negotiatorsUN News Centre24 February 2014 – “Substantive discussions” started today in the resumed talks aimed at reaching a comprehensive settlement of the Cyprus problem, a United Nations spokesperson confirmed, following a meeting today between Greek Cypriot negotiator ...

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.un.org

Thessaloniki’s Jewish Community Suing Germany

The Greek Jewish community of Thessaloniki has decided to sue the German state for the return of a ransom which appears to have been paid during the Nazi occupation of Greece in World War II. As the president of Thessaloniki’s Jewish community David Saltiel noted, the papers were filed at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasburg last Friday. A two decade struggle in Greek courts, including the Greek Supreme Court, has led the Jewish community to address the European court since previous court decisions ruled that Germany was under international convention immunity. “It is the end of a long process. We have finished with the Greek courts and now hope that the Human Rights Court can help restore the ransom money that the Jewish community paid to Germany,” mentioned Mr. Saltiel. The ransom paid to Germany was meant to free about 9,000 Jewish men of Thessaloniki between the ages of 18-45 who were forced to labor when the Germans took control of the city in 1942. Max Merten, the German civilian administrator of Thessaloniki appears to have demanded about 2.5 billion drachmas to release them. According to Mr. Saltiel’s statements, those men were sick, dying, starving and working without food, thus the community collected the money to pay for their freedom. The total amount of money paid to Germans before they started transporting Jews from Thessaloniki to concentration camps was 1.9 billion drachmas which converts to about 69 million dollars. Eventually, more than 49,000 Jews of Thessaloniki were deported and only less than 2,000 survived.

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT greece.greekreporter.com

UK to hear extradition case of couple wanted in Hellenic Postbank scandal in June

A UK court will decide towards the end of June whether to extradite to Greece two suspects in the Hellenic Postbank unsecured loans scandal. Businessman Kyriakos Griveas and his wife Anastasia Vatsika appeared in court on Monday but the judge decided that... ...

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.ekathimerini.com

Venizelos calls for EU-Russia conference to avoid Ukrainian default

Greek Foreign Minister Evangelos Venizelos called on Monday for an international conference with the involvement of the European Union, Russia and financial institutions in order to avoid any disorderly default in Ukraine. Venizelos told a news conference... ...

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.ekathimerini.com

Korydallos Prison inmates protest hospital conditions

Inmates held in Greece's only prison hospital are refusing food and medication as part of a protest campaign against what they see as dire conditions in the institution. The hospital in the Korydallos prison complex west of Athens is designed to hold 60 m... ...

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.ekathimerini.com

Greek court convicts bus driver of racism, for banning 2 Africans from boarding

Greek court convicts bus driver of racism, for banning 2 Africans from boardingU.S. News & World ReportTHESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) — A bus driver who prevented two Africans from boarding his vehicle in Greece's second largest city has been convicted of racism, fined 1,000 euros ($1,400) and given a suspended prison sentence. A court in the northern city ...and more »

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.usnews.com

Greek bus driver fined for banning Africans

THESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) — A bus driver who prevented two Africans from boarding his vehicle in Greece's second largest city has been convicted of racism, fined 1,000 euros ($1,400) and given a suspended prison sentence.

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT news.yahoo.com

Greece Battles Troika Over Banks Bailout Needs, Another $24.7B

As Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras said the economy will begin to recover this year, the country’s international lenders have questioned whether the banks will need more money too.

The post Greece Battles Troika Over Banks Bailout Needs, Another .7B appeared first on The National Herald.


READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.thenationalherald.com

Leadership 100 Celebrates 30th Anniversary

NAPLES, FL – The Archbishop Iakovos Leadership 100 Endowment Fund marked its 30th Anniversary at its 23rd Annual Conference, February 13-16, 2014 at The Ritz-Carlton in Naples, FL. Some 400 members and their guests attended, according to Charles H. Cotros, the outgoing Chairman, who passed the torch of his office to George S. Tsandikos, Vice […]

The post Leadership 100 Celebrates 30th Anniversary appeared first on The National Herald.


READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.thenationalherald.com

$20,000 to St. Nicholas School

  NEW YORK – Three months ago the Chian Federation awarded its 34th Homeric Award to Athena Kromidas, the principal of the William Spiropoulos School of the community of St. Nicholas in Flushing, but did not stop there. In light of the annual celebration of Greek Letters, the Federation’s Board of Directors donated $20,000 to […]

The post ,000 to St. Nicholas School appeared first on The National Herald.


READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.thenationalherald.com

Greek Startups in Texas

The participation of 16 Greek high-tech enterprises in the 2014 “Startup Village” at the South by Southwest Interactive Festival in Austin Texas, in March, proves that despite the current financial crisis in Greece, the innovation field is ...

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT usa.greekreporter.com

Greek Scientists Study Shipwrecks and Ancient Settlements

It appears that despite the financial crisis that has hit Greece since 2008, the fields of technology and innovation are growing and that the country can compete with other technologically advanced countries. The Research Executive Agency of the ...

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT eu.greekreporter.com

STOCK MARKET SURGES TO ALL-TIME HIGH

The S&P 500 has just hit a new all-time high at 1851.55 this morning.

The previous peak was on January 15, when the index hit 1850.84. After that, the market fell 6% through February 3. Since then, it has surged higher, erasing all of those losses and then some.

This morning, the index is up 0.8%, trading above 1851.

The chart below shows the move.

"One of the main questions we have tried to address with investors over the past several weeks is whether contagion from the emerging markets can impact U.S. equities," says Adam Parker, chief U.S. equity strategist at Morgan Stanley.

"So far we have been pretty dismissive. Why? Because complacency has become a learned behavior in the mini-crises that have periodically popped up since the summer of 2011. After all, every dip in the S&P 500 caused by Greece, Cyprus, Italy, Spain, or Portugal was a dip to be bought. Every monetary policy decision, or fear of a hard landing, or Washington standstill, was an opportunity to load up. So, why should a 'little' cocktail of Turkey, Argentina, and the Ukraine cause sustained fear? What really matters is that the dream of growth is still alive, and that the bear case in U.S. corporate earnings doesn't form. Without significant fear of an earnings pullback, the market really never goes down more than 10%."

Join the conversation about this story »

    

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.businessinsider.com

100 Mln Euros Collected by Greek Tax Controls, a Drop in the Ocean

Greek Reporter100 Mln Euros Collected by Greek Tax Controls, a Drop in the OceanGreek ReporterThe 100 million euros that the Greek public sector has managed to gather from controls in cases of large fraud and specifically from remittances to foreign banks and to off shore companies, seems to be like a drop in the ocean of debts. Someone can ...

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT greece.greekreporter.com

Greek minister calls for international conference on Ukraine

Greek Foreign Minister Evangelos Venizelos called on Monday for an international conference with the involvement of the European Union, Russia and financial institutions in order to avoid any disorderly default in Ukraine. Venizelos told a news conference in Budapest the first priority was the appointment of a new inclusive government in Ukraine with the capacity to protect stability and public ...

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT news.yahoo.com

Bailout inspectors back in Greece

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — International debt inspectors are due back in Athens for talks on the austerity measures Greece must make to keep receiving rescue loans. The government insists a deal on the latest round of negotiations is "very close"

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT news.yahoo.com

Athens Medical Association on Influenza-Related Deaths

The laboratory-confirmed influenza in Greece that has cost the lives of 58 people and the inability of the Greek state and healthcare system to protect citizens, have caused the intense reaction of the Athens Medical Association. The Greek doctors reported that 40% of high-risk population, was unable to receive vaccination. Many pharmacists stated that the vaccine supplies were far less than necessary, while vaccines were not sent to EOPYY clinics. According to Athens Medical Association, the problem intensified in early January, when the epidemic wave arrived in Greece and there were not enough vaccines even for high-risk population. According to the Hellenic Center for Disease Control and Prevention (KEELPNO) 58 people have already died from H1N1 virus. The low vaccination coverage of patients and the late administration of antiviral medication are critical factors that aggravate the problem. KEELPNO suggests that people belonging to high-risk groups (children and infants, pregnant women, seniors, obese people, chronic patients) should get vaccinated against the flu and be administered with antiviral medication the moment they display flu-like symptoms. The virus is currently in high-activity, but doctors estimate that flu cases are expected to decrease within the next weeks thanks to the good weather conditions.

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT greece.greekreporter.com

German Industrialist President Involved in Armament Scandal

According to a recent article in the German newspaper, Der Spiegel, the president of the Federation of German Industries (BDI), Ulrich Grillo might be involved in the Greek armament and bribery scandal. The article claims that Grillo may have been implicated during his tenure in office as financial director of Rheinmetal’s armament department and managing director of its STN Atlas subsidiary. As reported, the allegations are based on Panagiotis Efstathiou’s reports, where he documented Atlas’ activities in Greece. The newspaper notes that based on the size of his commission, STN Atlas’ management must have been aware of the bribery, however Grillo denies the accusation. Efstathiou, representative of STN Atlas in Greece mentioned that Grillo and two other STN Atlas members had met with the general manager of armaments at the Greek Ministry of National Defense, Antonis Kantas, who is accused of having been bribed by Efstathiou. According to Efstathiou’s reports, the two sides discussed “the progress of STN Atlas’ priorities and current programs in Greece.” Grillo in response to the allegations stated that after 14 years he cannot confirm whom he met and what was discussed when he visited Greece. He claimed that it was “a typical visit” and that he was unaware of any alleged bribery. The scandal was revealed after Antonis Kantas testified he took nearly 12 million euros in bribes to approve contracts for German, French, Russian and other foreign arms manufacturers.The contracts included purchases of submarines, tanks, fighter jets and missiles. The contracts were awarded in the late 1990s and early 2000s under the PASOK socialist governments, during a time when tensions with Turkey were high and authorities decided to update Greece’s military forces.

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT greece.greekreporter.com

Greek port workers to strike on Wednesday over privatization plans

Port workers around Greece will go on strike on Wednesday to protest the privatization of the Piraeus Port Authority (OLP). Port workers are due to gather in central Athens, where the government will be presenting to Parliament the terms of the tender for... ...

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.ekathimerini.com

Cyprus weathers a financial hurricane – one year on

Hit by a bailout and severe capital controls last March, the president looks back at a tough year edging towards recovery

Makarios Avenue is a sorry sight. Once the archetypal image of Cyprus's rejuvenation after its 1974 invasion by Turkey, the high-end boutiques of Nicosia's main shopping street are today boarded up, its fashion shops plastered with "for rent" signs and its once thriving cafes closed and shuttered.

Eleven months after the Mediterranean isle's near economic collapse, the Cypriot capital's pre-eminent avenue embodies the destruction wrought by a financial hurricane that, for a few dramatic weeks in March last year, put the EU's most easterly member state on the frontline of Europe's debt crisis.

For president Nicos Anastasiades, who assumed power almost a year ago only to face an economic storm within weeks, mention of that time is still met with a pained expression.

"The shock lasted several days," he said in a recent interview, recalling the all-night talks in Brussels that precipitated the island's chaotic rescue last March. "The negotiations had started at 2pm on the Friday and lasted for hours … at 5am on Saturday they said 'either you accept it [the bailout deal] or on Tuesday the banks in Cyprus will close' … bankruptcy would have been a given."

Unlike other eurozone rescues, the condition attached to Cyprus' economic lifeline was an immediate and unprecedented raid on bank savings. In return for €10bn (£8.25bn) in emergency aid from the EU, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund, Anastasiades's newly elected government was forced to not only shut down the country's second biggest lender but "bail in" the banks that through overexposure to debt-stricken Greece had triggered the meltdown.

Capital controls were imposed overnight as depositors with more than €100,000 in savings were hit by massive losses. Global financiers looked on aghast as the island – until then the favoured offshore tax haven of Russian oligarchs and oil magnates – was turned into a testing ground by EU leaders unwilling to ask their reluctant taxpayers to save its banks from collapse.

"It wasn't easy to renege on what I had promised," said Anastasiades, admitting that it felt as if he had a gun to his head as he weighed the dilemma of accepting such draconian measures or the prospect of bankruptcy and state collapse.

Speaking in Nicosia's sandstone colonial-era presidential palace, he said: "The idea had come to mature as much within the IMF as European mechanisms that … a banking crisis had to be solved with their own means, and the first who were judged to be a suitable guinea pig – because we are a small economy and small country and not systemic for the rest of Europe – was Cyprus."

But as the 67-year-old leader marks his first year in office, he does so in the knowledge that while hit by recession and worse deflation than Greece – with prices falling 1.6% over the past year – the war-partitioned island is faring better than many might have thought.

With increasing momentum the plaudits have rolled in. Last week, Olli Rehn, the European economic and monetary affairs commissioner, went out of his way to applaud the progress made, describing the republic's economy as "more resilient than expected". The praise followed similar statements by Jeroen Dijsselbloem, the Dutch finance minister and Eurogroup chairman widely seen as the architect of the controversial plan to slap savers with losses for the first time since the eruption of the debt crisis in Athens in late 2009.

Echoing these sentiments earlier this month, visiting international auditors said the island's budget execution had been such that "fiscal targets for 2013 have been met with considerable margin". Even Cyprus's much feared slump had been less bad than anticipated. "Output in 2013 is estimated to have contracted by about 6% in real terms, which, while significant is almost two percentage points better than forecast."

Defying fears that the island would go the way of problem-plagued Greece, they added that the financial sector was also "showing signs of stabilisation". Relaxation of capital controls – though far from complete – is also underway.

Although the crisis is far from over and unemployment has soared from 12.7% in September 2012 to more than 17% – the steepest increase in the EU, according to Eurostat – Anastasiades readily acknowledges that the Cypriots' sanguine approach to life has helped.

"Cypriots are confronting these problems and difficulties in a very different way to other Mediterranean countries," he said, adding that as a legacy of its days as a former crown colony Cyprus was "more like Ireland" than it was like Spain, Greece or Portugal.

"We have a different mentality and culture, a stability and calm within the labour force, there are no demonstrations or strikes," he said. "I could say this is the British effect."

The privatisation programme forced on the island has provoked isolated protests, with angry electricity authority workers pelting parliament with fruit and rocks during a strike on Monday as lawmakers prepared to discuss a bill on selling the electricity, telecoms and ports authorities.

But the apparent absence of any sustained ire or protest on the scale of the persistent demonstrations that have swirled around crisis-hit Greece has also surprised mandarins in Brussels.

Anastasiades said that "like a good customer of a bank" islanders are keen to put the worst behind them, pointing out that unlike other bailed out nations Greek Cypriots had had the experience of rebuilding their country after 1974.

"We are paying for our lack of clear-sightedness, lack of decisiveness and miscalculation about how much the crisis would affect us," he insisted, adding that heading into crisis with an over-extended banking sector, exposure to debt-stricken Greece and bloated public sector, reforms were long overdue.

If his communist predecessor Demetris Christofias had taken measures at the height of the euro crisis when the EU was pressing for them most, Cyprus, he said, might well have been spared. "I don't think that the harshness of the measures adopted by our partners are more to blame than our own negligence not taking the right measures at the right time."

From the outset the Greek Cypriot leader, a moderate progressive, has argued that reunification of the island will not only heal the wounds that have festered across its ethnic divide but be a boon to an economy experiencing its worst crisis since 1974. More than ever, he said, the discovery of oil and natural gas deposits in the waters off Cyprus have made a settlement pressing. Oil companies, likewise, have signalled that they want a solution as soon as possible if they are to make the huge investment that will accompany exploration.

With the relaunch of talks between Greek and Turkish communities this month – backed heavily by Washington – diplomatic traffic across the UN-patrolled "green line" that bisects the capital will grow in the weeks ahead. "The strength of a united country is different," said Anastasiades who, going against the grain of popular opinion, has boldly espoused reunification for the past decade. "Greater co-operation with Turkish Cypriots will contribute to faster growth … a solution will help us confront the economic crisis better."

CyprusEuropeEurozone crisisEuropean UnionEuropean monetary unionEconomicsBankingEuropean banksFinancial crisisFinancial sectorEuroInternational Monetary Fund (IMF)GreeceTurkeyHelena Smiththeguardian.com © 2014 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds


READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.theguardian.com

Olive-oil uproar erupts in Greece over cheaper ‘blended’ product

SIMIZA, GREECE—In the olive groves around Ancient Olympia, sanctuary of the Greek gods, the trees were once considered sacred, and in many ways they still are. Carefully pruned and pampered, they are described by farmers with a reverence that ...

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.thestar.com

Don't judge Greek by its letters

Don't judge Greek by its lettersDaily AztecIt's not often that a person is judged off a T-shirt. It's not often that a person is judged because of a jacket. It's especially not often that a person is judged by two or three letters. Well, at San Diego State, it's often that people are judged by ...Greek Chapter of the Week: Alpha Phi FraternityNorthern IowanDocuments shed light on extent of hazing problem at Salisbury UniversityDelmarva Nowall 10 news articles »

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.thedailyaztec.com

Golden Dawn Nazi Salute on Crete

A lawmaker from the extremist Golden Dawn party during a gathering of followers on Crete on Feb. 23 greeted them with a Heil Hitler salute.

The post Golden Dawn Nazi Salute on Crete appeared first on The National Herald.


READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.thenationalherald.com

Custom Greek debuts three new stunning printed fabrics

Designer Greek, a leading online Greek apparel store, announced the arrival of a 3 new stunning printed fabrics for their Greek and English sewn-on lettered apparel. The new patterns are eye-catching and distinct, which is what every sorority and its ...

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.fibre2fashion.com

Greek Prison Hospital Inmates Protest Conditions

Greek prison hospital inmates refuse food, launch protest campaign over overcrowded conditions        

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT abcnews.go.com

Modernizing or mad? Greek olive producers furious at plan to blend oil

Leicester MercuryModernizing or mad? Greek olive producers furious at plan to blend oilU.S. News & World Report29, 2013 photo, a Greek Orthodox Priest Dimitris Vlasopoulos collects olives from a canvas tarp in Kalo Pedi village, about 335 kilometers (210 miles) west of Athens. Plans to extend a brutal efficiency drive to olive oil production in Greece have been ...Fit2Win: What to go for if you're having a Greek mealLeicester Mercuryall 3 news articles »

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.usnews.com

Greek olives face squeeze in efficiency drive

SIMIZA, Greece (AP) — In the olive groves around Ancient Olympia, sanctuary of the Greek gods, the trees were once considered sacred, and in many ways they still are.

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT news.yahoo.com

EU-IMF creditors back in Greece for debt talks

EU-IMF creditors on Monday began a new audit of Greek finances with Athens hoping for a deal in two weeks to facilitate its debt repayment needs, a finance ministry source said. "The talks begin today," the source told AFP. "We want this to be over by ...

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT news.ph.msn.com