Tag Archives: Greece

News, Politics, Government

Greek PM faces week of protests over new austerity bill

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Greece’s prime minister faces protests this week over a bill that must pass for the country to receive a fresh tranche of EU-IMF aid.

“Stress test in the parliament and on the streets” said the front page To Vima weekly on Sunday, while left-leaning Eleftherotypia discussed a “political heatwave.”

One month after conservative Prime Minister Antonis Samaras’s controversial shutdown of state broadcaster ERT, a bill outlining reforms including a redeployment plan affecting thousands of civil servants has caused widespread protests.

If the bill passes as expected on Wednesday, 4,200 civil servants will have to be placed on a reserve scheme until the end of July.

Municipal authorities are on strike until the day of the vote, with the protests peaking on Tuesday, as the country’s two main unions have called a general strike under the slogan “We are people and we will not become numbers.”

Debt-wracked Greece has had to enact a string of austerity measures over the past four years in return for multi-billion euro international bailouts to avoid default.

The measures are deeply unpopular in the country that recently entered a sixth straight year of recession and where unemployment has climbed to 27 percent, a level unseen in Greece’s modern history. Among the youth, unemployment stands at 64 percent.

Last week, eurozone finance ministers agreed to release 6.8 billion euros ($8.9 billion) of fresh aid to Greece in return for the implementation of fresh reforms.

Under the terms of its EU-IMF bailout deal, Greece is expected to axe 4,000 state jobs and redeploy 12,500 civil servants by the end of the year.

The civil servants to be placed on reserve will receive 75 percent of their salary for an eight-month period, at the end of which, if they have not accepted a transfer to another administrative department, they risk losing their jobs.

Affecting teachers, school wardens and municipal staff, the latest cuts have caused fresh outrage.

Some 3,500 municipal police are expected to become integrated into the national police force.

Samaras has defended the measures.

“Would you rather have a municipal police that only deals with illegal parking, or fortify the police force?” Samaras asked Proto Thema newspaper in an interview Sunday.

“For every single person eventually let go, somebody else who is currently unemployed will be hired. Overall, in two years 15,000 civil servants out of 700,000 will leave, [which is] only two percent,” Samaras said in an interview on Sunday.

“The redeployment scheme and the compulsory redundancies … are necessary tools for the upgrade of personnel in public administration,” Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras told liberal Kathimerini Sunday.

Wednesday’s bill would also restructure the tax collecting system and reform public health insurance.

Greece’s conservative-socialist coalition lost its former partner, the Democratic Left, earlier in June, because of the state broadcaster’s controversial shutdown.

Separately, lawmakers this week will also be called upon to decide on the future of its state broadcaster, which has been running a temporary programme since last Wednesday.

…read more

Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News

News, Politics, Government

Greek mayors to halt services in austerity protest

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Mayors from across Greece say they will suspend municipal services for three days next week to protest planned new austerity measures that will target their staff in mass job cuts.

Greece’s Central Union of Municipalities voted Friday to take the July 15-17 action as parliament prepared to vote on the new measures next week demanded by bailout creditors for Athens to receive a new batch of emergency loans worth 6.8 billion euros ($8.9 billion). The protest is considered unusual because strikes are typically called by unions that represent employees.

The government has promised to fire 15,000 public sector employees by the end of 2014 and transfer another 12,500 to new positions this year.

…read more

Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News

News, Politics, Government

10 Syrian seamen missing after cargo ships collide off southern Greece

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A cargo ship sank off southern Greece after colliding with another freighter Monday, leaving two Syrian seamen dead and eight others missing and spurring a large rescue operation, officials said.

The accident occurred before 7 a.m. some 78 miles southwest of the southern Peloponnese peninsula, a Merchant Marine Ministry statement said.

It was not immediately clear what caused the collision between the Antigua-flagged Consouth and the Cook Islands-flagged Piri Reis in the Mediterranean Sea.

Weather conditions were good at the time, which facilitated rescue efforts involving coast guard vessels, merchant ships, a rescue helicopter and an airforce C-130 transport plane.

The Piri Reis, which was carrying a cargo of fertilizer to a Ukrainian port, sank, and seven of its crew of 17 Syrian seamen were rescued. Two bodies were pulled out of the sea a few hours after the collision.

The Consouth, sailing without freight from Turkey to Malta, had 16 Russian, Filippino and Polish seamen on board, all who were unhurt, the ministry said.

Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News

News, Politics, Government

10 seamen missing after ship sinks off Greece

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Greek authorities say ten Syrian seamen are missing after two cargo ships collided off southern Greece and one of them sank.

A Merchant Marine Ministry statement says the accident occurred before 7 am (0400GMT) Monday some 78 miles (125 kilometers) southwest of the southern Peloponnese peninsula.

It was not immediately clear what caused the collision between the Antigua-flagged Consouth and the Cook Islands-flagged Piri Reis. The Piri Reis, which was carrying a cargo of fertilizer, sank, and seven of its crew of 17 Syrian seamen were saved.

The Consouth, which was sailing without freight from Turkey to Malta had 16 Russian, Filippino and Polish seamen on board, all who were unhurt.

An air and sea search was under way for survivors.

Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News

News, Politics, Government

Economic crisis sets back peace in divided Cyprus

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When the barriers carving Cyprus in half were finally breached 10 years ago this week, Turkish Cypriot Fethi Akinci forged what some might consider the unlikeliest of friendships with Yiannis Maratheftis — the Greek Cypriot he almost killed in battle with a gunshot to the head.

The shooting took place on a July morning in 1974, as invading Turkish forces pushed forward in the wake a failed coup by supporters of uniting the island with Greece. The friendship took root once the two men, now in their 60s, met in 2009, an encounter made possible by the checkpoint openings. Akinci had discovered from a book Maratheftis wrote that the soldier he’d shot was alive — and sought out his onetime enemy.

The story of Maratheftis and Akinci was one of the many signs of reconciliation that emerged after the barriers were opened, allowing crossings after three decades of complete separation. The number of crossings has now reached into the millions. But these flickers of hope for reunification are at risk of being snuffed out as the island confronts what could be its worst economic crisis, making prospects for reconciliation appear dimmer than ever.

With its once-robust banking sector decimated and unemployment soaring amid harsh EU-imposed austerity, Greek Cypriots seem to have little appetite for any radical and potentially expensive change that would add to their overwhelming sense of uncertainty about their future. The island joined the European Union in 2004, but membership benefits only extend to residents in the south. The Turkish Cypriots, on the other hand, have had a close-up look at the financial chaos that EU membership can bring, and may be in no hurry to join the club.

“It worsened the prospect for settlement,” says Hubert Faustmann, political science professor at the University of Nicosia. “A solution is costly, and there is less money now or hardly any money if any money left to finance that.”

There’s been no 10th anniversary commemoration this week. That early euphoria amid scenes of a crush people eager to cross over and see homes and properties that belonged to families for generations — then left hastily left behind — is now a faded memory.

Turkish Cypriots were first to rebel in the early 2000s against their isolation, angry at seeing their future drying up amid a collapsing economy. That compelled Turkish Cypriot authorities to loosen restrictions on crossings and to open checkpoints, putting an end to the Turkish Cypriots‘ nearly complete isolation on a sliver of

Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News

Video Gaming

Pontus Faction Coming to Total War: Rome 2 for Free

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Creative Assembly has announced a new faction coming to Total War: Rome II. Available as day-one downloadable content, the Pontus faction will be free and marks the ninth playable faction in Total War: Rome II.

According to Creative Assembly, “hailing from the mountainous lands around the Black Sea, The Kingdom of Pontus is distinctly eastern in outlook and attitude. Resolute in battle and feared for its swift, deadly scythed chariots, Pontus stands poised to sweep South into the Arabian Lands, or West, to threaten Asia and Greece.”

More information on Pontus is available on Total War’s official site.

Andrew Goldfarb is IGN’s news editor. Keep up with pictures of the latest food he’s been eating by following @garfep on Twitter or garfep on IGN.

Continue reading…

Source: FULL ARTICLE at IGN Video Games

News, Politics, Government

The Folly of Empire: Starving Greek Children

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By Karl Smith, Contributor The New York Time’s Liz Alderman reports: 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. Ryan Avent takes an uncharacteristically “balanced” view: It is no use trying to figure out what “fair” is. It is hard to blame Germans who have saved prudently and minded their own business for not wanting the value of those savings eroded by inflation, even moderately. But at some point there needs to be a bit of perspective about the relative costs and benefits of different crisis approaches. Yes. I see. Perspective. Different Approaches. These are good points. At the same time, there are children stealing food because they have nothing to eat! And, the head of the Bundesbanks says: We didn’t change interest rates at our last meeting as they are currently appropriate and in accordance with our assessment of economic developments, price stability and our monetary analysis . . . We shouldn’t expect too much” from a potential rate cut, Weidmann said today. “Monetary policy will not be able to solve structural problems in the euro area. The structural problem here is the existence of a monetary union where central bank officials believe that children rummaging through the garbage for food is an appropriate economic development. As Ryan probably knows my sentiments are unfashionable and hinge on notions like noblesse oblige and the burden of privilege. But, as long as we remain loyal to the ideal of a meritocratic democracy then we must demand institutions that meritocratic democracies are capable of managing. Loose confederations of quasi-independent nations states with no sense collective identity are not among them. Democracies cannot manage empires. The attempt is grotesque and ethos of meritocracy do not even afford us the appropriate means of redress.

From: http://www.forbes.com/sites/modeledbehavior/2013/04/19/the-folly-of-empire-starving-greek-children/

Computers

EU teachers need more IT training, report says

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The latest European Union survey of ICT in schools has found that 20 percent of secondary students have never or almost never used a computer in school.

Speaking at the presentation of the survey on Friday, the E.U.’s Digital Agenda Commissioner Neelie Kroes said there was a very real need for more IT skills training for teachers. “ICT skills and training must be available to all students and teachers, not just a lucky few,” she said.

Teacher training in ICTs is rarely compulsory, so most teachers are forced to use their spare time to improve ICT skills.

The survey, which takes place every five years, found that although computer numbers have doubled since 2006 — largely thanks to laptops, tablets and netbooks, which are replacing desktop computers in many schools — there are still vast differences between Scandinavian and Nordic countries (the best equipment) and countries such as Poland, Romania, Italy, Greece, Hungary and Slovakia.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

From: http://www.pcworld.com/article/2035766/eu-teachers-need-more-it-training-report-says.html#tk.rss_all

News, Politics, Government

Greek police arrest 3 foremen over farm shootings

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Greek authorities have arrested three foremen of a strawberry farm accused of shooting and injuring 28 Bangladeshi laborers protesting pay arrears, in a case that shocked Greece and highlighted racial tensions in the financially troubled country.

A police statement says the three were arrested Friday in the southern town of Amaliada, near the village where the shootings took place on Wednesday.

Two of the Greek men, aged 39 and 27, were arrested at their lawyer’s office. The third, aged 21, was stopped during a road check.

All three face multiple charges of attempted murder.

A total 28 Bangladeshi workers suffered shotgun injuries in Wednesday’s attack, but none is in life-threatening condition.

Police said the shootings followed an altercation between the foremen and some 200 workers demanding six months’ unpaid wages.

From: http://feeds.foxnews.com/~r/foxnews/world/~3/wJ2-IQMRZtI/

News, Politics, Government

Greece pledges swift punishment over farm shooting

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Greek officials on Thursday promised “swift and exemplary” punishment for three strawberry plantation foremen who allegedly shot and injured 29 Bangladeshi laborers protesting pay arrears in the country’s rural south.

Police are seeking the three suspects who disappeared after Wednesday’s shootings, which occurred during a confrontation with some 200 Bangladeshi farm workers who say they have not been paid for half a year.

Seven Bangladeshi workers were still receiving treatment in local hospitals, but none have life-threatening injuries.

Government spokesman Simos Kedikoglou condemned the “inhuman, unprecedented and shameful” shootings near the village of Manolada in the southern Peloponnese region.

The plastic-topped greenhouses that smother Manolada’s broad plains account for most of Greece‘s strawberry output, using cheap labor by Asian immigrants often housed in primitive conditions. Several attacks on migrant strawberry workers there have been recorded in recent years, but Wednesday’s was the worst so far.

“The barbarous attack … conjures up images of a slavery-based South that have no place in our country,” Justice Minister Antonis Roupakiotis said.

Political parties and trade unions expressed shock, and about 100 people took part in a protest by labor groups outside the Labor Ministry in Athens.

“Before the shootings, there was an altercation between the foreign workers and the three foremen over six months’ outstanding wages,” police spokesman Christos Parthenis said. “After that the three fugitives left the spot, and returned shortly later holding two shotguns and a handgun, and opened fire on the crowd.”

Police found five used shotgun cartridges were found on the spot.

Authorities have arrested the owner of the farm, which is about 260 kilometers (160 miles) southwest of Athens. On Thursday, they also arrested a local man on suspicion of hiding the three fugitives.

Greece is caught in its worst financial crisis in decades, and is surviving on international rescue loans granted in exchange for harsh austerity measures. It is in the sixth year of a deep recession, with unemployment at a record 27 percent.

The economic pain, coupled with waves of illegal immigration in recent years, has fuelled a rise in anti-immigrant sentiment that swept members of an extreme far-right party into Parliament last

From: http://feeds.foxnews.com/~r/foxnews/world/~3/2tBCIsxiQyQ/

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

Enphase Microinverter System Available in Greece

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By Business Wirevia The Motley Fool

Filed under:

Enphase Microinverter System Available in Greece

New EMEA leadership established for continued growth and expansion

PETALUMA, Calif. & LYON, France–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Enphase Energy, Inc. (NAS: ENPH) , today announced the availability of the Enphase® Microinverter System in Greece through authorized distribution. With shipments now in eight countries in the region, Enphase also announces the appointment Olivier Jacques as Managing Director for Enphase Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) to oversee execution and future expansion of the business.

“I am focused on growing the international business for Enphase and using regional resources and relationships as leverage to capitalize on new market opportunities,” said Olivier Jacques, Managing Director for Enphase EMEA. “Geographic expansion through existing distribution partnerships, while at the same time establishing new local partners, is a model that increases our market presence in Europe in an efficient and scalable way.”

Europe remains the world’s largest solar market, and Enphase continues to gain share due to the value delivered by its pioneering technology. Last month, Enphase announced it is shipping in Switzerland through existing strategic partnerships with large PV suppliers. Following this model, the Enphase Microinverter System will be marketed and sold in Greece through an official network of authorized distributors.

Greece presents favorable conditions for the solar industry due to its geography, climate and plentiful solar irradiation. Over the last few years the solar market has grown rapidly. According to NPD Solarbuzz Marketbuzz 2013 report, the market was 414MW in 2011. Growth continued in 2012 based upon strong PV economics, and in spite of the country’s financial constraints, NPD Solarbuzz reported the market reached 961MW.

The Greek government is also targeting the solar sector as a way to bolster the weak economy. On March 27th, the launch of a close cooperation between Greece and Germany (with the support of an EU Commission’s Task Force for Greece) was announced in the field of renewable energy. The cooperation involves technical assistance for investments from the Task Force, with the German environment ministry co-financing the first stage of the program.

For more information about Enphase in Greece, visit: enphase.com/gr.

About Enphase Energy, Inc.

Enphase Energy delivers microinverter technology for the solar industry that increases energy production, simplifies design and installation,

From: http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/04/18/enphase-microinverter-system-available-in-greece/

News, Politics, Government

20 migrant strawberry pickers wounded in Greece

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Police in southern Greece say at least 20 migrant strawberry pickers have been shot and wounded in a pay dispute after a foreman opened fire on them with a shotgun.

The incident occurred Wednesday near the village of Manolada about 260 kilometers (160 miles) west of Athens.

Police Capt. Haralambos Sfetsos said most of the wounded workers were from Bangladesh. He said the shooting occurred when about 200 workers at the strawberry field demanded six months’ unpaid wages and “moved threateningly” toward three foremen, at least one of whom opened fire.

The owner of the site, who was not present at the time, has been detained for questioning while arrest warrants have been issued for three foremen, who are all Greek.

From: http://feeds.foxnews.com/~r/foxnews/world/~3/QvNN3inh0n4/

News, Politics, Government

Greece: Former finance minister granted bail

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A former Greek finance minister has been granted bail of €50,000 ($66,000) after testifying before a public prosecutor investigating allegations that he submitted false income declarations to tax authorities.

Court officials said Wednesday that Yannos Papantoniou’s wife, Stavroula Kourakou, was also granted bail of €20,000 ($26,000).

Papantoniou served as Socialist minister of finance and national economy between 1994 and 2003. He is facing a maximum sentence of five years in prison after authorities said he failed to declare money under his wife’s name in an overseas bank account.

The 63-year-old Papantoniou says the money was moved to that account from other bank accounts covered by his tax declarations.

No date for his trial has been set.

From: http://feeds.foxnews.com/~r/foxnews/world/~3/S0LwduKzoAs/

Movies & TV

New 300: Rise of an Empire Poster

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A brand-new poster for 300: Rise of an Empire has hit the net today, and it can be viewed in all its understated glory below.

300: Rise of an Empire hits screens this August and stars Eva Green, Lena Headey and Rodrigo Santoro (who is interviewed below).

We previewed footage at CinemaCon yesterday, while the synopsis reads as follows…

This new chapter of the epic saga takes the action to a fresh battlefield – on the sea – as Greek general Themistokles attempts to unite all of Greece by leading the charge that will change the course of the war.  300: Rise of an Empire pits Themistokles against the massive invading Persian forces led by mortal-turned-god Xerxes, and Artemesia, vengeful commander of the Persian navy.

Continue reading…

From: http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/04/17/new-300-rise-of-an-empire-poster

News, Politics, Government

IMF Warns Of 'Dangerous' Recovery As It Cuts U.S. And Global Growth Estimates

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By Agustino Fontevecchia, Forbes Staff

The global economy will continue to muddle through this year and next, as the IMF lowered its world output forecast for 2013 to 3.3%.  The Eurozone’s recession is expected to drag on through this year, while Greece’s economy will contract for a sixth consecutive year under the crushing weight of austerity and lack of productivity.  A slightly positive note is the emergence of a “three-speed recovery,” as the U.S. decouples from other ailing so-called advanced economies and grows on the back of the Bernanke Fed’s continued flooding of the market with easy money.

From: http://www.forbes.com/sites/afontevecchia/2013/04/16/imf-warns-of-dangerous-recovery-as-it-cuts-u-s-and-global-growth-estimates/

Articles of Interest

Horse Meat Found in 5% of Beef in Europe

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By John Johnson Bite into beef anywhere in Europe, and there’s a 5% chance you’re actually biting into horse meat. An EU study across 27 nations in the wake of the region’s horse meat scandal found that 5% of beef products had some horse DNA, reports the BBC . France and Greece were the…

From: http://www.newser.com/story/166345/horse-meat-found-in-5-of-beef-in-europe.html

News, Politics, Government

Council of Europe: Greece could ban Golden Dawn

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The Council of Europe‘s commissioner for human rights says Greece should consider banning the extreme right-wing group Golden Dawn which has 18 seats in the country’s 300-member parliament, and urged authorities to take tougher measures to combat a surge in racist violence.

Nils Muiznieks told the AP in an interview Tuesday that Greece would be “fully within its rights” to ban the party from public office. The commissioner, who visited Greece from Jan. 28 to Feb. 1, said in a 32-page report published by the Strasbourg, France-based organization Tuesday that he was “seriously concerned” by the increase in hate crimes targeting immigrants in Greece.

The report describes Golden Dawn as a “neo-Nazi and violent political party” that should be isolated under legally binding international human rights conventions signed by Greece.

From: http://feeds.foxnews.com/~r/foxnews/world/~3/3ck9NQpqi0M/

News, Politics, Government

Greek ferry seamen launch 24-hour strike

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Greece‘s islands have been left without ferry links with the mainland due to a 24-hour strike by seamen protesting austerity policies.

The 24-hour walkout by the seamen ends early Wednesday.

Greek state railway workers are also holding work stoppages Tuesday to protest planned transport reforms.

Greece is in the midst of a major financial crisis that brought it to the brink of bankruptcy three years ago. The country is surviving on international rescue loans, granted in return for unpopular spending cuts and tax hikes, as well as extensive economic reforms.

On Monday, Greece and its international creditors agreed on further reforms that will allow disbursement of its next batch of rescue loans. The deal includes some 15,000 civil service layoffs through 2014.

From: http://feeds.foxnews.com/~r/foxnews/world/~3/DbnspRtDSqs/