Monday, April 29, 2013

Greek Parliament Passes Plan for Layoffs



The New York Times
April 28, 2013
By NIKI KITSANTONIS
ATHENSGreece’s Parliament late Sunday approved a contentious plan to dismiss 15,000 civil servants by the end of next year as part of a new package of economic measures that the country must enforce to clinch crucial financing from foreign creditors.

Saturday, April 27, 2013

Euro zone set to approve 2.8 billion euros for Greece on Monday

ATHENS | Sat Apr 27, 2013 1:42pm BST
(Reuters) - Senior euro zone officials will meet on Monday to approve payment of another 2.8 billion euros (2.35 billion pounds) in rescue loans for Greece, on condition that the country's lawmakers approve a reform law the day before, the country's finance minister said on Saturday.

Friday, April 26, 2013

Greece is right to expose German loans hypocrisy

The Guardian
As the Athens-Berlin spat intensifies, both sides must approach the eurozone crisis with humility or face dire consequences

Adolf Hitler's military chief, Walther von Brauchitsch, centre, and colleagues at the Acropolis in Athens, Greece, in 1941. Photograph: Roger Viollet/Getty Images
Greece forgets much of its history when it demands Germany repays loans made during the second world war.

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Greece Internal Devaluation Update


April 23, 2013, 2:48 PM ET
ByMatthew Dalton
The Wall Street Journal

            Without the tool of currency devaluation, the euro zone is hoping “internal devaluation” can restore competitiveness to the bloc’s periphery. What’s that?

It’s an economy-wide fall in wages and, more broadly, prices. Officials have been careful not to say the “D” word – that’s “deflation” – but Europe’s policies call for a period of deflation in euro-zone countries with the worst competitiveness problems.

Saturday, April 20, 2013

Greece may get bailout cash advance to pay bills –reports


 ATHENS, April 20 | Sat Apr 20, 2013 9:10am EDT
(Reuters) - Greece might receive 3.2 billion euros of earmarked rescue aid earlier than planned to cover part of its financing needs, two Greek newspapers reported on Saturday.

The Excel Depression


April 18, 2013
The New York Times
By PAUL KRUGMAN
 In this age of information, math errors can lead to disaster. NASA’s Mars Orbiter crashed because engineers forgot to convert to metric measurements; JPMorgan Chase’s “London Whale” venture went bad in part because modelers divided by a sum instead of an average. So, did an Excel coding error destroy the economies of the Western world?

Friday, April 19, 2013

With Boston Manhunt, Media Is Part of a Story It Is Covering


The New York Times
April 19, 2013
By BRIAN STELTER
Reporters, camera crews and ordinary citizens with cellphone cameras were squarely in the middle of the manhunt in Boston that gripped the nation on Friday, and the result was some of the most startling, and at times unnerving, news coverage in years.

Police officer shot to death at MIT campus near Boston


By Scott Malone
WATERTOWN, Massachusetts | Fri Apr 19, 2013 2:28am EDT
(Reuters) - A police officer for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology was shot to death on Thursday night at the school's Cambridge campus, touching off a manhunt in a community on edge just days after the Boston Marathon bombing.

Greece 2013


By  Andrew Stuttaford
April 18, 2013 6:51 PM
The New York Times reports:
 ATHENS — As an elementary school principal, Leonidas Nikas is used to seeing children play, laugh and dream about the future. But recently he has seen something altogether different, something he thought was impossible in Greece: children picking through school trash cans for food; needy youngsters asking playmates for leftovers; and an 11-year-old boy, Pantelis Petrakis, bent over with hunger pains. “He had eaten almost nothing at home,” Mr. Nikas said, sitting in his cramped school office near the port of Piraeus, a working-class suburb of Athens, as the sound of a jump rope skittered across the playground. He confronted Pantelis’s parents, who were ashamed and embarrassed but admitted that they had not been able to find work for months. Their savings were gone, and they were living on rations of pasta and ketchup.

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Boston bomb suspect identified on video, no arrest made


By Svea Herbst-Bayliss and Scott Malone
BOSTON | Wed Apr 17, 2013 3:35pm EDT
(Reuters) - Investigators believe they have identified a suspect in the Boston Marathon bombing from security video, a law enforcement source said on Wednesday, but no arrest had yet been made.

Police may make an appeal to the public for more information at a news conference scheduled for later on Wednesday, a government source said.

Earlier, CNN reported a suspect was in custody, citing Boston and law enforcement sources, but later retracted its report.

Monday, April 15, 2013

Greece Reaches New Deal With Lenders


April 15, 2013
The New York Times
By NIKI KITSANTONIS
 ATHENS — After nearly two weeks of tense negotiations, Greece and its troika of foreign creditors said Monday that they had clinched an agreement on economic measures it must enforce to secure the release of further crucial rescue money, including thousands of layoffs in the civil service.

 “We wrapped it up; we have a deal with the troika,” Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras told reporters.

Sunday, April 14, 2013

UPDATE 2-Troika concludes Greek bailout review, next aid tranche soon – source


Sat Apr 13, 2013 3:09pm EDT
* EU/IMF conclude Greek bailout review of reform progress

* Eurogroup, IMF likely to discuss deal in May

* Greece to wrap up talks with troika by Monday night

By Annika Breidthardt and Renee Maltezou

DUBLIN/ATHENS, April 13 (Reuters) - An inspection team of international lenders has finished its review of Greece's austerity programme, paving the way for another 10 billion euros aid payment, a source with knowledge of the talks said on Saturday.

Thursday, April 11, 2013

Greece Beats 1Q Budget Targets for 2013


By Dow Jones Business News,  April 10, 2013, 08:25:00 AM EDT
ATHENS--Greek budget figures for the first quarter Wednesday were better than expected, a finance ministry official said Wednesday, with both primary and state budgets exceeding the goals set by the country's international creditors, largely as a result of government spending cuts.

Greece’s Unemployment Rate Increased to Record High in January


By Tom Stoukas - Apr 11, 2013 1:45 PM GMT+0300
Bloomberg
Greece’s unemployment rate increased to a record in January as the country’s economic downturn entered a sixth year.
The seasonally adjusted rate rose to 27.2 percent from a revised 25.7 percent in December, the Athens-based Hellenic Statistical Authority said in an e-mailed statement today. That’s the highest level since the agency began publishing monthly data in 2004.

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

UPDATE 1-Deposits flew into Greek banks during Cypriot crisis


Wed Apr 10, 2013 5:21am EDT
(Adds details)

(Reuters) - Greek bank deposits rose by more than 1.5 billion euros in March despite fears Cyprus's banking crisis would trigger deposit outflows in other indebted euro zone economies, Greece's central bank chief said.

More than 19 billion euros have returned to Greece since mid-June last year when the election of a pro-bailout government allayed fears of a messy Greek exit from the euro zone.

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Greece enters deflation for first time in 45 years


Greek consumer prices fell year-on-year in March, taking the battered economy into deflationary territory for the first time since 1968.
By Denise Roland
1:58PM BST 09 Apr 2013
March prices slumped 0.2pc year-on-year, according to figures from the Greek government's statistical agency Elstat.

"Iron Lady" Thatcher mourned, but critics speak out


By Guy Faulconbridge and Kate Holton
LONDON | Mon Apr 8, 2013 6:32pm EDT
(Reuters) - Britain and admirers worldwide are mourning Margaret Thatcher, who has died aged 87, as the "Iron Lady" who rolled back the state and faced down her enemies during 11 years as Britain's first woman prime minister.

Her impact on the 1980s was such that opponents, including Labour's Tony Blair and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, led tributes to a legacy that radically transformed the British economy along free-market lines now widely taken for granted and includes her role in the peaceful end to the Cold War.

Greek Banks Suspend Merger Talks


The New York Times
April 8, 2013
By NIKI KITSANTONIS
 ATHENS — Shares in National Bank of Greece and Eurobank plummeted 30 percent Monday after the two banks suspended merger talks because they were unable to raise the required capital.

Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Cyprus Bailout Details Emerge After IMF Deal


By MATINA STEVIS in Brussels and ALKMAN GRANITSAS in Athens
The Wall Street Journal
Cyprus and the International Monetary Fund reached an agreement for a €1 billion ($1.28 billion) lifeline on top of the €9 billion bailout the island will get from its euro-zone peers, the IMF said in a statement Wednesday.

Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Greece to extend bank recapitalization deadline: central bank chief


ATHENS | Mon Apr 1, 2013 6:35pm EDT
(Reuters) - Greece will extend a deadline for the recapitalization of its banks by a few weeks, possibly until the end of May, Greek central bank chief George Provopoulos said on Monday.

Greek banks, which are being recapitalized with funds from the country's latest EU/IMF bailout, have been lobbying for the terms of the recapitalization scheme to be sweetened and also sought an extension to an end-April deadline for the plan.