Lavish dinners and alcohol-fueled networking among China’s civil servants face strict new limits, as Beijing imposes austerity measures to curb rising public debt — leaving the catering sector reeling.
Tag: austerity
A region torn by centuries of conflict, caught in the relentless grip of global power struggles. The Middle East’s wars are no longer just battles for territory, but for control over narratives, lives, and destinies. And it’s all playing out on your phone.
This year’s Ramadan has seen a significant decrease in food donations in Egypt, where more and more families depend on them amid exceptional inflation rates.
The Asian country is experiencing record inflation and soaring food costs as imports dry up due to the pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Is religion numbing Egyptians into acquiescence amid a number of merciless austerity measures?
-Analysis- LISBON — What a successful gamble for Lisbon: The European Commission is about to ratify the proposal to end Portugal’s excessive deficit procedure. The country will be joining the club of virtuous economies , against experts’ forecasts. The recovery is a remarkable achievement considering Portugal hit a virtual rock bottom in 2011. On the […]
ELEFSINA — Greece must repay 7 billion euros of debt by July. But, as has been the case since 2011, the country will not be able to honor its debt without first receiving the credit promised by the International Monetary Fund and the members of the eurozone in July 2015 (86 billion euros). Athens’ creditors […]
Philippine Daily Inquirer, June 30th The Philippine Daily Inquirer issue Thursday features an epic montage of Rodrigo “Rudy” Duterte with the headline “Have no fear, Rudy is here.” The controversial 71 year-old former prosecutor and Davao City mayor was sworn in Thursday as the 16th President of the Philippines, succeeding Benigno Aquino III. Taking the […]
-Analysis- SAO PAULO — Brazil’s leftist Workers’ Party always liked to think of itself as a crusader for the poor. Yet in the wake of the party’s 13 years in power, there are still 73,327,179 citizens living below the poverty line in the country — a staggering 36% of the population. Don’t take it from […]
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Greek Squeeze, Shifting Kim, AXL/DC
SPOTLIGHT: GREECE REDUX It’s that time of year again: Greek anger and economic strife are making headlines: general strikes, bailout reviews, anti-austerity reforms. But a recent study looking to the recent past, published in Handelsblatt, a business newspaper from Germany (of all places), shows the Greeks have every right to be angry. Berlin-based economists found […]
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Greek Austerity Back On Front Page
Ta Nea, May 9, 2016 As a three-day general strike that paralyzed large parts of Greece ended Sunday, the leftist government of Alexis Tsipras won a Parliamentary vote to bring about tough austerity measures. “Hostages of Syriza’s austerity,” headlines Athens-based daily Ta Nea in its Monday edition. Over the weekend, outside the Parliament in Athens, […]
More than 50 cities have canceled or drastically cut traditional Carnival extravaganza due to public cutbacks. But some say killing the party will only make things worse.
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Putin Without Pants On Russian Weekly Cover
“But there is no money,” reads the front page of this week’s edition of Moscow-based magazine The New Times, alongside a caricature of Russian President Vladimir Putin as an empty-handed, pants-less joker whose socks need mending. Russia is facing a deepening economic recession, caused notably by the low international oil price. And though Putin has […]
“Confidence in the coalition,” reads Monday’s front page of Portuguese daily Jornal de Noticias, following the governing center-right coalition’s victory in the country’s general election. This was the first nationwide parliamentary election since 2011, when the government followed Greece and Ireland in requesting an international bailout to avoid default. Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho insisted […]
And watch out for Pablo Iglesias, leader of Spain’s leftist Podemos party.
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Extra! Syriza’s Second Chance
“Second Chance for Syriza,” reads the front page of Greek financial daily Naftermporiki on Monday, following the election that returns the leftist party’s leader Alexis Tsipras as prime minister. With just over 35% of the vote, Syriza came out on top, leaving center-right New Democracy behind at 28%. But Tsipras’ victory is less resounding than […]
Despite some hopes inside and outside of Greece that a political coalition will emerge in Athens to lift the country out of crisis, the nation’s deeper forces do not bode well.
This week, we shine the spotlight on Portugal: DOES RECOVERY SPELL REELECTION? After years in the doldrums, the Portuguese economy is showing signs of picking up, with the country’s GDP growing — albeit slowly — and unemployment figures reaching five-year lows, Diário Económico reports. According to official data from Portugal’s National Statistical Institute INE, private […]
The Greek Prime Minister’s ultimatum to Eurozone partners and other negotiators as the debt crisis reaches a critical hour. The full Le Monde editorial in English.
An economist and daughter of one of the leading opponents of Portugal’s former dictatorship, Mariana Mortagua is challenging the status quo. Is this a new Syriza?
Die Tageszeitung, March 17, 2015 Things are heating up between Germany and Greece, again. The news Monday that Germany’s DAX index reached an all-time high — even as cash-strapped Athens is trying to scrape enough money to make a $2 billion debt payment on Friday — prompted the Berlin-based daily Tageszeitung to give Greece’s radical-left […]
Japan has slipped into recession, the ultimate mark of failure of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s ambitious but misguided efforts to turn around the nation’s economy.
MUNICH — At some point Hanna Seibert (not her real name) just started making excuses. When her girlfriends called and wanted to go out to eat and drink cocktails in the city, she would put them off, saying she had too much to do. The cliché excuses suggesting she was stressed out struck her career-minded […]
Europe represents the freedom from political dictatorship. But at what cost?
EUROPE 1, LE FIGARO (France) Worldcrunch PARIS – Unemployment has reached a new record high in the eurozone, with European Central Bank (ECB) President Mario Draghi saying Friday that the single currency would not recover until the second half of 2013. “We have not yet emerged from the crisis,” Draghi told France’s Europe 1 radio […]
-Analysis- Barack Obama’s reelection to a second term in the White House is in spectacular contradiction to the trend in Western politics since the beginning of the current economic crisis. One after another, Western leaders have been dumped by voters who have made them pay for the effects of the crisis and the austerity measures […]
LISBON – Manuela, an animal rights activist, is standing outside the entrance to the Entrecampos train station in Lisbon, calling out to the occasional passersby, who pretend they don’t see her. The majority of the shops in the station’s arcade are empty, and even though the building is new, there is a feeling of neglect. […]
LES ECHOS (France) Worldcrunch A study published this week by two economists for the German Bertelsmann Foundation says that if Greece defaults on its debts and leaves the euro zone, it would cost the world’s major economies 17.8 trillion euros by 2020, and cause a severe worldwide depression, reports French business newspaper Les Echos. Greece’s […]
REUTERS, KATHIMERINI (Greece) Worldcrunch ATHENS – For the second time in three weeks, crowds are gathering in central Athens today for marches against a new wave of spending and pension cuts. Trade union leaders says they hope to show EU leaders meeting in Brussels that a new round of austerity measures will only worsen the […]
EL PAIS (Spain), CLARIN (Argentina), REUTERS Worldcrunch MADRID – The showdown over Spain’s tottering economy continued Thursday, as embattled Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy unveiled a 13-billion euro package of austerity measures. After a six-hour cabinet meeting, Rajoy’s government emerged with details of the budget for 2013, which appeared as a last ditch attempt to avoid […]
EL PAIS, LA VANGUARDIA, EL MUNDO (Spain) Worldcrunch MADRID – Protesters called for a new round of demonstrations Wednesday after a day of clashes with riot police on the streets of Madrid. The latest toll from the violence is 35 people arrested and 64 wounded, according to La Vanguardia. The 2 most tweeted Photos of […]
KATHERIMINI (Greece), THE GUARDIAN (UK), REUTERS Worldcrunch ATHENS – The three-month old Greek coalition government is facing its first anti-austerity general strike Wednesday, with disruptions bringing the country to a standstill. Greek public sector unions have called a strike that is likely to draw thousands of workers out into the street today to protest against […]
MADRID – Since September 1, undocumented immigrants in Spain are now excluded from public health care. Only pregnant women and minors can still enjoy free public coverage, which had long been available to all undocumented residents. Others can still get care in cases of emergency, but for basic medical treatment, immigrants in Spain illegally will […]
LE TEMPS (Switzerland), DER SPIEGEL (Germany) Worldcrunch As Greece remains under the watchful eye of Angela Merkel and the IMF to make sure it imposes strict austerity measures, there is one governmental budget that has largely escaped cuts: the defense department. Alexandre Trauvers, writing in Le Temps, reported that Greece’s defense budget amounts to around […]
BILD (Germany), CHANNEL 4 NEWS(UK), ATHENS NEWS (Greece) Worldcrunch Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras is meeting with eurogroup leader Jean-Claude Juncker in Athens on Wednesday, after asking “more time for cuts” in an interview with German publication Bild. Mr. Samaras rejected the possibility of an exit from the euro zone and a return to the […]