Worldcrunch
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 […]
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 […]
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, […]
A study recently released in Germany demonstrates that right-wing parties win on average 30% more votes after a financial crisis. The success of France’s Marine Le Pen is just the latest example.
“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 […]
GREECE APPROVES THIRD BAILOUT After what the newspaper Kathimerini describes as “a tempestuous night of debate,” Greek lawmakers this morning approved the deal reached with international lenders for a third Greek bailout. It will now go to the Eurozone’s finance ministers, who are due to meet later today, and all eyes will focus on the […]
Banks are back, the stock market has reopened and all economic signs (including the banks and stock market) are disastrous. Normalcy has returned to Greece! The more serious truth is that the deal signed last month by Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras — which includes new austerity measures in exchange for a third bailout to […]
GREEK STOCKS KEEP SINKING Greek stocks have continued their descent on Tuesday, on the second day of heavy losses after a five-week shutdown of Greece’s stock exchange amidst the debt crisis. All four major Greek banking stocks were down around 30% in early trading. KOSOVO WAR CRIMES COURT Kosovo’s parliament voted late Monday night to […]
The Church is hugely wealthy and exempt from almost all taxes. But its charitable works are crucial in Greece, ravaged by financial crisis and an inept public sector.
GREEK BANKS REOPEN Photo: Marios Lolos/Xinhua/ZUMA Greek banks reopened today for the first time in three weeks, marking the return of some semblance of normalcy for the bankrupt country. VERBATIM “The conditions of the agreement, however, are positively alarming for those who still believe in the future of Europe,” former International Monetary Fund director Dominique […]
“Wounded, He Continues Until Further Notice,” writes left-leaning Greek daily Efimerida ton Syntakton on the front-page headline of its Thursday edition after the Greek parliament approved a package of tough measures leading a third bailout deal. The he in question is Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, who won a bittersweet approval late Wednesday of the […]
PARIS — After a marathon 15-hour meeting, Greece and the 18 other Eurozone members finally reached an agreement to avoid a “Grexit.” The Greeks will keep the euro and receive financial support in exchange for implementing a stringent program of reforms by Wednesday at the latest. Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras welcomed the deal which […]
Greek voters have refused a bailout deal of billions of euros in exchange for more austerity measures, with a final result of 61.3% to 38.7%. Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis announced he will step down in a blog post Monday morning due to pressure from Greece’s European partners, and Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has vowed to […]
Ethnos, June 2, 2015 “Dramatic night in Berlin & Athens,” reads the front page of Athens-based newspaper Ethnos“ Tuesday edition, as the heads of IMF and ECB unexpectedly joined late-night talks on the Greek debt crisis in Berlin. French President Francois Hollande and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, who were scheduled to meet German Chancellor […]
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 […]
FIGHTING DIE DOWN IN EASTERN UKRAINEThe shaky truce in Eastern Ukraine finally appears to be taking hold. Wednesday marked the first casualty-free day since the Minsk agreement and the official start of a ceasefire on Feb. 15, the BBC reports. Pro-Russian rebels continued to withdraw their heavy weaponry from the frontline and the leader of […]
German tabloid Bild gets straight to the point in its Thursday edition: “No! No more millions for the greedy Greeks!” it says on its front page. The daily suggests that their readers who are against another Greek bailout print the page, take a selfie with it and send it to their staff. The Bundestag, Germany’s […]
-OpEd- MUNICH — Talk to a Greek person about the difficult situation their country faces and you’re likely to hear some pretty astounding things. Some argue, for example, that the financial collapse came at the right moment, that without it Greece wouldn’t have been pressured into the reforms needed to halt its downward spiral. But […]
LEADERS AGREE ON UKRAINE CEASEFIREAfter hours-long negotiations in Minsk, leaders Petro Poroshenko, Vladimir Putin, Angela Merkel and François Hollande (Photo: Henadzi/Xinhua/ZUMA) have reached what the French president described as a “comprehensive deal” for a ceasefire in eastern Ukraine to begin at midnight Saturday. Putin was the first one to speak after the meeting adjourned, saying […]
AP (USA), BBC, THE GUARDIAN (UK) Worldcrunch NICOSIA – Cyprus has no intention of leaving the euro zone, President Nicos Anastasiades said in a press conference on Friday. “In no way will we experiment with the future of our country,” declared President Anastasiades. He said the situation of the country had been “contained” following its […]
BBC, REUTERS, TWITTER Worldcrunch NICOSIA – Banks in Cyprus have reopened Thursday after a two-week closure as the government was forced to accept a strict European Union rescue package to avoid bankrupcy. As discussions between the EU and the International Monetary Fund took place, eventually culminating in Sunday night’s late bailout deal, the doors had […]
NICOSIA – The festival atmosphere on this sunny morning in Nicosia doesn’t match the bad vibes coming out of Brussels. The Faneromeni church in the heart of Cyprus’s capital is decked out with garlands made of hundreds of blue and white Greek flags and Cypriot flags with the shape of the island nation depicted in […]
A new report finds that southern European households have higher net household income than places like Germany, which is shelling out euro bailout cash. Things must change.
NICOSIA – Cyprus is in a state of shock. The banks have been closed for days and somehow, the country has to raise 5.8 billion euros to qualify for the bailout package proposed by euro zone finance ministers. The initial rejection by the Cypriot parliament to the controversial bank account levy plan, has left this […]
Worldcrunch MOUNTAIN VIEW – Google has made it easier to search for GIFs and other animations on their Google image search engine. Enter your search term into Google images, click the search tools button and under Any Type, click animations on the drop down menu – voilà! In celebration of this, here are some of […]
It’s the failure of an entire business model, not just a few banks. Who might be next?
BERLIN – The euro zone has granted Athens two more years to rein in its debt, Süddeutsche Zeitung has learned. Euro zone leaders have agreed to give Greece until 2016 instead of 2014 to push deficits down under to 3% of GDP. Deadlines for the implementation of employment and energy reforms and the selling of […]
BRUSSELS – Greece needs at least two more years and an additional 30 billion euros in order to be able to meet the targets set for it by the euro zone countries, European sources tell Süddeutsche Zeitung. When – and indeed if – the country gets money from the second bailout package is unclear. In […]
BARCELONA – Making headway through the streets of Barcelona, closed to traffic for the occasion, seemed almost impossible. A crowd of children, students, retired people, business owners, and the unemployed coming from every part of Catalonia had joined together to wave yellow-and-red flags and voice their support for the creation of an independent state for […]