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March 27, 2024, 12:55:24 pm Mark says: Shocked Shocked Shocked Shocked  When Hamas spokesman Abu Ubaida began a speech marking the 100th day of the war in Gaza, one confounding yet eye-opening proclamation escaped the headlines. Listing the motives for the Palestinian militant group's Oct. 7 massacre in Israel, he accused Jews of "bringing red cows" to the Holy Land.
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January 29, 2018, 01:21:57 am Christian40 says: It will be interesting to see what happens this year Israel being 70 years as a modern nation may 14 2018
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October 16, 2017, 03:28:18 am Christian40 says: anyone else thinking that time is accelerating now? it seems im doing days in shorter time now is time being affected in some way?
September 24, 2017, 10:45:16 pm Psalm 51:17 says: The specific rule pertaining to the national anthem is found on pages A62-63 of the league rulebook. It states: “The National Anthem must be played prior to every NFL game, and all players must be on the sideline for the National Anthem. “During the National Anthem, players on the field and bench area should stand at attention, face the flag, hold helmets in their left hand, and refrain from talking. The home team should ensure that the American flag is in good condition. It should be pointed out to players and coaches that we continue to be judged by the public in this area of respect for the flag and our country. Failure to be on the field by the start of the National Anthem may result in discipline, such as fines, suspensions, and/or the forfeiture of draft choice(s) for violations of the above, including first offenses.”
September 20, 2017, 04:32:32 am Christian40 says: "The most popular Hepatitis B vaccine is nothing short of a witch’s brew including aluminum, formaldehyde, yeast, amino acids, and soy. Aluminum is a known neurotoxin that destroys cellular metabolism and function. Hundreds of studies link to the ravaging effects of aluminum. The other proteins and formaldehyde serve to activate the immune system and open up the blood-brain barrier. This is NOT a good thing."
http://www.naturalnews.com/2017-08-11-new-fda-approved-hepatitis-b-vaccine-found-to-increase-heart-attack-risk-by-700.html
September 19, 2017, 03:59:21 am Christian40 says: bbc international did a video about there street preaching they are good witnesses
September 14, 2017, 08:06:04 am Psalm 51:17 says: bro Mark Hunter on YT has some good, edifying stuff too.
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« Reply #210 on: March 11, 2012, 10:03:14 pm »

Greece has Defaulted which country is next?
http://www.prisonplanet.com/greece-has-defaulted-which-country-in-europe-is-next.html
http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/greece-has-defaulted-which-country-in-europe-is-next
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« Reply #211 on: March 11, 2012, 10:21:17 pm »

http://news.yahoo.com/greek-finance-minister-venizelos-set-socialist-leader-180641256.html

Greek finance minister Venizelos set to be Socialist leader
3/11/12

ATHENS (Reuters) - Greek Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos will run unopposed for the leadership of the Socialists, party officials said on Sunday, as the political focus shifts towards a parliamentary election now that Athens has secured a bond swap deal.

Venizelos, 55, won the backing of all the Socialist PASOK party's heavy hitters and looks a certainty to become leader in an internal ballot on March 18.

However, winning the parliamentary election, penciled in for late April or early May, will be far tougher with all opinion polls showing PASOK badly trailing the conservative New Democracy party.

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« Reply #212 on: March 13, 2012, 04:41:27 pm »

http://rt.com/news/greece-eu-immigration-429/

3/13/12

Several EU states have demanded Athens toughen its lax border controls to stem the tide of illegals pouring into the rest of Europe via Greece. Greece became the European gateway for illegal immigrants after the Arab Spring erupted last year.
 
­A group of seven EU justice and home affairs ministers said if Greece doesn't tighten its immigration controls, other European Union states may be forced to reinstate the border checks abolished in 1995 under the Schengen agreement.


A joint paper agreed upon by the seven countries, including Germany,UK and France, urges Greece to "live up to its responsibilities" and "keep its house in order" by securing its border with Turkey.


"The question is still open on what happens when a country is not in a position to sufficiently safeguard its borders – as we are currently experiencing in Greece," said Hans-Peter Friedrich, the German interior minister.

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« Reply #213 on: March 14, 2012, 08:39:08 am »

Santorini: history’s most dreaded volcano awakes and is rapidly inflating warns geologist

http://theextinctionprotocol.wordpress.com/2012/03/14/santorini-historys-most-dreaded-volcano-awakes-and-is-rapidly-inflating-warns-geologist/

March 14, 2012 – GREECE – The British Broadcasting Company named it the world’s best island in 2011. Santorini is a tourist magnet, famous for its breathtaking, cliff side views and sunsets. It’s also a volcanic island that has been relatively calm since its last eruption in 1950. Until now. The Santorini caldera is awake again and rapidly deforming at levels never seen before. Georgia Tech Associate Professor Andrew Newman has studied Santorini since setting up more than 20 GPS stations on the island in 2006. “After decades of little activity, a series of earthquakes and deformation began within the Santorini caldera in January of 2011,” said Newman, whose research is published by Geophysical Research Letters. “Since then, our instruments on the northern part of the island have moved laterally between five and nine centimeters. The volcano’s magma chamber is filling, and we are keeping a close eye on its activity.” Newman, a geophysicist in the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, cannot be certain whether an eruption is imminent since observations of such activity on these types of volcanoes are limited. In fact, similar calderas around the globe have shown comparable activity without erupting. However, Newman says the chamber has expanded by 14 million cubic meters since last January. That means enough magma has been pumped into the chamber to fill a sphere three football fields across. Should Santorini erupt, Newman says it will likely be comparable to what the island has seen in the last 450 years. “That could be dangerous,” notes Newman. “If the caldera erupts underwater, it could cause local tsunamis and affect boat traffic, including cruise ships, in the caldera. Earthquakes could damage homes and produce landslides along the cliffs.” –E Science News

http://theextinctionprotocol.wordpress.com/2012/03/14/santorini-historys-most-dreaded-volcano-awakes-and-is-rapidly-inflating-warns-geologist/
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« Reply #214 on: March 14, 2012, 08:46:18 am »

^^

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« Reply #215 on: March 14, 2012, 05:33:21 pm »

Eurozone approves nearly 40 bn euros in Greek bailout cash

3/14/12

The eurozone approved Wednesday the first wave of loans for Greece under a heavily-conditioned second bailout, Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker said.

"Euro area member states have today formally approved the second adjustment programme for Greece," the head of the Eurogroup of eurozone finance ministers said in a statement.

He specified that a "first installment" of 39.4 billion euros ($51.5 billion) would be "disbursed in several tranches."

"All required national and parliamentary procedures have been finalised," Juncker said.

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http://news.yahoo.com/eurozone-approves-40bn-euros-greek-bailout-cash-001355676.html
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« Reply #216 on: March 15, 2012, 12:11:29 pm »

When the money runs out: cases of HIV, TB, and malaria explode in Greece, ‘health system near collapse’

March 15, 2012 – GREECE -  The incidence of HIV/Aids among intravenous drug users in central Athens soared by 1,250% in the first 10 months of 2011 compared with the same period the previous year, according to the head of Médecins sans Frontières Greece, while malaria is becoming endemic in the south for the first time since the rule of the colonels. Reveka Papadopoulos said that following savage cuts to the national health service budget, including heavy job losses and a 40% reduction in funding for hospitals, Greek social services were “under very severe strain, if not in a state of breakdown. What we are seeing are very clear indicators of a system that cannot cope.” The heavy, horizontal and “blind” budget cuts coincided last year with a 24% increase in demand for hospital services, she said, “largely because people could simply no longer afford private healthcare. The entire system is deteriorating.”The extraordinary increase in HIV/Aids among drug users, due largely to the suspension or cancellation of free needle exchange program, has been accompanied by a 52% increase in the general population. “We are also seeing transmission between mother and child for the first time in Greece,” she said. “This is something we are used to seeing in sub-Saharan Africa, not Europe. There has also been a sharp increase in cases of tuberculosis in the immigrant population, cases of Nile fever – leading to 35 deaths in 2010 – and the reappearance of endemic malaria in several parts of Greece, notably the south.” According to Papadopoulos, such sharp increases in communicable diseases are indicative of a system nearing breakdown. “The simple fact of the reappearance of malaria, with 100-odd cases in southern Greece last year and 20 to 30 more elsewhere, shows barriers to healthcare access have risen,” she said. “Malaria is treatable, it shouldn’t spread if the system is working.” MSF has been active in Greece for more than 20 years, but until now has largely confined its activities to emergency interventions after natural disasters such as earthquakes, and providing care to the most vulnerable groups in the community, including immigrants. It is now focusing on supporting the public health sector, providing emergency care in shelters for the homeless and improving the overall response to communicable diseases. Papadopoulos, who spent 17 years abroad with MSF and returned to her native Greece three years ago, sees hope among the rubble. “What keeps me going is an increasingly strong sense of solidarity among the Greek people,” she said. “Donations to MSF, for example, have of course gone down with the crisis, but donors keep giving, they remain active.”  -Guardian

Reality check: If you want to know how quickly a civilization unravels when the money runs out, you need look no further than Greece. It’s a sobering lesson for the U.S. and the rest of the Western world when the day of reckoning finally comes from too much borrowing and when sovereign debt levels become unsustainable. Consider what I wrote in my book 2 years ago: “It took millennia to build civilizations on this planet but we will watch them unravel over the span of a few years.” -The Extinction Protocol, page 10

http://theextinctionprotocol.wordpress.com/2012/03/15/when-the-money-runs-out-cases-of-hiv-tb-and-malaria-explode-in-greece-health-system-near-collapse/
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« Reply #217 on: March 15, 2012, 06:08:50 pm »

Bond holders seek court date with Greek banks and state
12 March 2012, (Athens News)
http://www.athensnews.gr/portal/1/54006
 
Lawyers in Germany representing 110 Greek bond holders said on Monday they have formed a class action group and intend to sue banks and the Greek state following last week's Greek bond swap, which slashed more than €100 billion from Athens' debt.

The Hamburg legal firm said most of the investors had spent €100,000-€500,000 on Greek paper, although the highest investment reached €3 million.

It did not name any of the banks it might target.

The suit, likely to be filed in Washington, will claim banks failed to properly advise clients about the risks of Greek paper and seek compensation.

Separately, lawyers will argue that Greece, in orchestrating a debt swap, infringed against a German-Greek investment treaty intended to protect German investors from political risk.

Lawyer Matthias Groepper of legal firm Groepper Koepke said those who had agreed to the terms of the debt swap would be unable to claim compensation.

Greek Bonds Holders Are Suing Greece and the Banks
12 March 2012, (Money Talk)
http://www.inthemoneytalk.com/greek-bonds-holders-are-suing-greece-and-the-banks/1274/

German lawyers representing 110 of the Greek bond holders will sue the Greek state and the banks from the exchange of bonds which reduced the Greek debt with over €100 billion.

Most investors have spent €100,000 to €500,000 on Greek bonds, the largest investment being of €3 million, according to the law firm in Hamburg, which didn’t mention the banks included in this action.

Banks will be accused of not informing customers about the risks and they will be required to pay compensation.

Lawyers will also argue that Greece, through the exchange of bonds, violated a German-Greek treaty that protects investors from Germany from political risks.

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« Reply #218 on: March 17, 2012, 06:53:36 pm »

http://libertyrevival.wordpress.com/2012/02/13/greece-minimum-wage-cut-signals-deflation/

2/13/12

A 22% cut in the minimum wage by the Greece government can signal only one thing, deflation, which is a sure sign we could see a Great Depression. The Greece government is telling us that there will not be enough money, or bank credit, in circulation to support the current minimum wages. If minimum wages are being cut, we’re being told that the banks plan on reducing the money supply.

This means that the money will be worth more. If money is worth more, everything else is worth less. If money is increasing value, the rich will become richer by doing nothing. Debts will become more expensive. The inputs into production will be more expensive than the outputs. There will be no incentive to invest, loan, and produce. There will be more incentive to do nothing if you have money.

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« Reply #219 on: March 17, 2012, 06:57:20 pm »

More Greeks apply to migrate as their economy collapses
Esther Han, Kirsty Needham
March 17, 2012.

THE number of Greeks fleeing economic despair to settle in Australia on permanent skills and family visas has doubled, immigration data shows.
 
Reversing a decade-long trend, Greece's financial collapse also prompted 831 Australian residents living in Greece to return to Australia last year.
 
Stripped of their jobs, lifestyle and their sense of security, Christos Stathakopoulos, his wife, Effie Pantazis, and their daughter Stamatia, 9, moved to Sydney from Athens last April.


Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/business/more-greeks-apply-to-migrate-as-their-economy-collapses-20120316-1valp.html#ixzz1pQCbyR9o
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« Reply #220 on: March 18, 2012, 10:07:10 pm »

http://news.yahoo.com/greek-hopes-form-cheap-food-network-europe-134921457.html

3/17/12

Greek hopes to form cheap food network in Europe

KATERINI, Greece (AP) — The man behind the recent direct sale of food from Greek farmers at low prices to consumers says he hopes to help build a European network that would bypass middlemen to the benefit of consumers.

Elias Tsolakidis says he has been in touch with organizations in France and Spain aiming at similar efforts.

Tsolakidis was in the northern Greek town of Katerini where he oversaw the sale of 101 tons of flour at cut-rate prices to more than 2,000 people earlier Saturday.

Beginning last month, potato farmers started selling their produce directly to consumers, claiming they were being forced to sustain losses so middlemen could make big profits. Sales have expanded across Greece forcing supermarkets to slash prices.

Tsolakidis has organized a group of volunteers in Katerini which takes orders from people and orders the food, overseeing their sale.

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« Reply #221 on: March 18, 2012, 10:15:30 pm »

http://news.yahoo.com/greek-socialists-pick-finance-minister-leader-203641621.html

3/19/12

Greece's Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos was elected leader of the socialist party PASOK on Sunday, and now faces a Herculean battle to avert disaster in upcoming elections.

The 55-year-old politician, the only candidate to run for the job relinquished by former prime minister George Papandreou, told supporters at party headquarters: "We have re-established the confidence for a new departure. We are starting."

According to Pasok estimates, some 200,000 party members or sympathisers took part in the nationwide vote.

But the task now facing Venizelos is a daunting one.

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« Reply #222 on: March 20, 2012, 09:40:53 pm »

Greek CDS payouts seen at $2.5 billion
19 March 2012, by William L. Watts - Frankfurt (MarketWatch)
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/greek-cds-payouts-seen-at-25-billion-2012-03-19

An auction conducted Monday determined that investors and traders who sold instruments known as credit default swaps, or CDS, on sovereign Greek debt will have to pay buyers a total of around $2.5 billion to settle the contracts.

Payouts were triggered after the Greek government invoked clauses earlier this month forcing all private bondholders to exchange Greek debt at a loss.

The auction, conducted by Creditex and Markit, valued Greek government bonds at 21.5% of face value, leaving CDS sellers to make up the remaining 78.5%.

Analysts said net exposure to Greek CDS stood at near $3.2 billion, according to recent data from the Depository Trust and Clearing Corp.
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« Reply #223 on: March 23, 2012, 04:28:23 pm »

Greeks Adopt Alternative Currencies as Economy Implodes
Written by Alex Newman   * Wednesday, 21 March 2012

http://oathkeepers.org/oath/2012/03/22/greeks-adopt-alternative-currencies-as-economy-implodes/

http://www.thenewamerican.com/world-mainmenu-26/europe-mainmenu-35/11265-greeks-adopt-alternative-currencies-as-economy-implodes


As Greece’s economy and the euro continue to struggle, regular Greeks are increasingly taking matters into their own hands, creating informal underground barter markets and even alternative currencies. And the government is actually encouraging it.

Over a dozen non-euro trading networks are already believed to be operating in communities throughout the embattled nation, with more on the way. But one effort in particular — called Local Alternative Units, or “TEMs” in Greek — has attracted a great deal of international attention.
In the port town of Volos — where unemployment is above 20 percent, the economy is struggling, and tax rates are rising — a group of locals decided it was time to take action. The population still had the same skills and resources as before the crisis, just not the euros needed for commerce.

So, a handful of people got together and formed the alternative currency known as the TEM. It quickly took off. And major newspapers and media outlets around the world — from the United States to the United Kingdom — have taken notice as it continues to expand.

“Ever since the crisis there’s been a boom in such networks all over Greece,” University of Crete vice chancellor and political economy professor George Stathakis told the New York Times, adding that despite an enormous government sector, Greek “social services” were being overwhelmed. “There are so many huge gaps that have to be filled by new kinds of networks.”

The TEM system works by allowing people in the community to set up an account on an online network, connecting them with others in the area with various needs and a wide array of services to offer. Users also receive a sort of booklet allowing them to essentially write “checks” to pay for goods and services.

A real market where people can meet to trade in TEMS is also a key component of the emerging network. And efforts are currently underway to establish a daily market in an unused building for locals to engage in commerce using their system.
Babysitters, farmers, teachers, electricians, barbers, bakers, computer technicians, opticians, veterinarians, and more are all represented. Most traders accept both euros and TEMs, or some combination of the two.

Member accounts start with zero TEMs, although users are allowed to borrow up to 300 units if they agree to repay it over a certain time period. And to prevent “hoarding,” the system’s managers explained, no user is allowed to have over 1,200 units of the currency.

“It’s an easier, more direct way of exchanging goods and services,” German-born homeopathist and acupuncturist Bernhardt Koppold, an active member of the Volos network, told the UK Guardian. “It’s also a way of showing practical solidarity — of building relationships.”

Dozens of other users expressed similar sentiments about their budding system. Co-founders of the TEMs network also explained that if the crisis were to spiral further into the realm of cataclysm, the alternative-currency system could help take up the slack — ensuring that a functioning economy would allow people to continue trading for survival.

Even local officials are encouraging citizens to get involved. Volos Mayor Panos Skotiniotis, for example, told NPR that such initiatives are especially valuable during the economic crisis as the government struggles to pay its bills.

“This is a substitution for the welfare state, and that is why this municipality is encouraging it and wants it to grow,” he said. The local government has even printed leaflets explaining the system and helped promote panel discussions about it.

At the national level, politicians seem to support the idea, too. Late last year, the Greek Parliament even passed a law urging citizens to build non-traditional forms of “entrepreneurship and local development.” The legislation also granted the informal networks official non-profit status, helping to ease the tax burden on struggling Greeks saddled with massive debts imposed by national and international officials.
-
Read whole article, with embedded links, at original site:
http://www.thenewamerican.com/world-mainmenu-26/europe-mainmenu-35/11265-greeks-adopt-alternative-currencies-as-economy-implodes
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« Reply #224 on: March 25, 2012, 04:30:22 pm »

Greece extends foreign-law bond swap deadline

3/23/12

Greece Friday extended to April 4 a deadline for its creditors to swap 8.1 billion euros ($10.7 billion) in debt as part of a historic bond exchange which has already erased nearly a third of its debt mountain.

Holders of Greek debt issued under foreign law had until 2000 GMT to join the so-called Private Sector Involvement (PSI) which was hammered out in February after months of negotiations with global banks and eurozone states.

But as the deadline expired the Greek finance ministry issued a statement saying creditors would have two more weeks to decide.

"The Hellenic Republic has decided to extend to April 4 at 1900 GMT the deadline for holders of Greek foreign-law bonds and of bonds issued by state enterprises and guaranteed by the state," a statement said.

The first phase of the swap, involving bonds issued under Greek law, was completed on March 12, cancelling more than 94.8 billion euros in near and mid-term debt in return for incentives and longer-term maturities.

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http://news.yahoo.com/greece-extends-foreign-law-bond-swap-deadline-213801908.html;_ylt=Au163azFox2qi.YVopFtKzTyWed_;_ylu=X3oDMTRvYmZrcDh2BGNjb2RlA2dtcHRvcDEwMDBwb29sd2lraXVwcmVzdARtaXQDTmV3cyBmb3IgeW91BHBrZwM0NjhjY2YxZi1iYjUyLTM2MjItOGQ5NC01MjU3NWI3MjljZTgEcG9zAzcEc2VjA25ld3NfZm9yX3lvdQR2ZXIDMTdjZTUxMzAtNzUzMS0xMWUxLTllZGItZTMxOGJjOWRlNTNh;_ylg=X3oDMTNhbW0xMjRxBGludGwDdXMEbGFuZwNlbi11cwRwc3RhaWQDNmNiMjIzZjMtNGUxYS0zYjNkLWI2ZWEtMjA5OGIzZjkwYjI3BHBzdGNhdAN3b3JsZHxtaWRkbGUgZWFzdARwdANzdG9yeXBhZ2UEdGVzdAM-;_ylv=3
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« Reply #225 on: March 26, 2012, 10:18:59 pm »

EXCLUSIVE: GREEK GOVERNMENT ROBBED PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS TO COMPLETE BOND SWAP
26 March 2012, (The Slog)
http://hat4uk.wordpress.com/2012/03/26/exclusive-greek-government-robbed-public-institutions-to-complete-bond-swap/

REVEALED: HOW VENIZELOS REGIME SECRETLY REMOVED 70% OF MAJOR HOSPITAL, UTILITY & UNIVERSITY BANK ACCOUNT FUNDS TO PAY BONDHOLDERS
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« Reply #226 on: March 29, 2012, 09:03:29 pm »

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/signal/greece-abandon-euro-markets-yes-within-three-years-181559254.html

3/29/12

Will Greece abandon the euro? Markets say yes, within 3 years.

There has been mounting speculation that Greece's economic woes will cause a breakup in the eurozone, the group of countries that share the euro as their currency. Like elections and sporting events, the online markets allow people to place bets on the likelihood that this will happen, giving us a means of predicting the odds.

Presently, the markets place an 83 percent likelihood on the odds that a country leaves the eurozone by 2015, adopting its own currency instead. Greece is the most likely country to cause this breakup, with Italy ranking a distant second:

The reason observers are so confident that Greece will leave the eurozone is easy to explain.

The European Union and the International Monetary Fund have demanded that Greece adopt severe austerity measures as a condition for staying in the eurozone. The current government has implemented them, a move that correlates with Greece moving ever deeper into recession. Unemployment in the country is edging above 20 percent. Now more than a quarter of Greeks consider themselves "suffering."

According to the latest rumors, Greece will hold a parliamentary election in May. The current government, a coalition between the Socialist Movement and the conservative New Democracy party, is likely to lose its majority given such widespread displeasure with its policies. The coalition parties are expected to loose nearly half of their seats, giving them 47 percent, down from 84 percent of the parliament.

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« Reply #227 on: April 01, 2012, 09:54:14 am »

Papademos: Can't rule out third Greek bailout
30 March 2012, Frankfurt (MarketWatch)
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/papademos-cant-rule-out-third-greek-bailout-2012-03-30

Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos on Friday said the country was working to ensure it won't need a third bailout but said the potential need for further aid couldn't be ruled out, news reports said.

"Some form of financial assistance might be necessary but we have to work intensely to avoid such an event," Papademos told Italy's Il Sole 24 Ore newspaper, according to Reuters.

The prime minister said exiting the euro would be a disaster.

"The return of the drachma would trigger high inflation, exchange instability and a fall in the real value of bank deposits," he said, according to the report.
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« Reply #228 on: April 05, 2012, 09:51:40 am »

http://news.yahoo.com/greek-suicide-potent-symbol-election-094457089.html

Greek suicide a potent symbol before election

4/5/12

ATHENS (Reuters) - A Greek pensioner's suicide outside parliament has quickly become a symbol of the pain of austerity and has been seized upon by opponents of the budget cuts imposed by Greece's international lenders.

The 77-year-old retired pharmacist, Dimitris Christoulas, shot himself in the head on Wednesday after saying that financial troubles had pushed him over the edge. A suicide note said he preferred to die than scavenge for food.

The highly public - and symbolic - nature of the suicide prompted an outpouring of sympathy from Greeks, who set up an impromptu shrine where he killed himself with hand-written notes condemning the crisis. Some protested at night, clashing with riot police who sent them home in clouds of tear gas.

On Thursday, dozens of Greeks gathered around the shrine, leaving flowers and candles, and the "Indignant" protesters who held daily sit-ins for months last year said they would hold a second day of protests. A separate protest was planned in the northern city of Thessaloniki.

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« Reply #229 on: April 11, 2012, 09:29:50 am »

http://news.yahoo.com/greece-offers-cop-hire-raise-cash-131329337.html

Greece offers "cop-for-hire" service to raise cash
Reuters – Tue, Apr 10, 2012.

ATHENS (Reuters) - In a bid to raise cash, Greek police are offering a 30 euro ($39) per hour "cop-for-hire" scheme for private companies or citizens seeking protection at special events.
 
Police said the service was provided only under special circumstances, such as cases of high-security risk, and that revenues would be used to fund police equipment and boost the state budget. It used to be available for free before a debt crisis hit the country.
 
"We will provide these services only in exceptional cases and only if we have the available assets and staff. We'll first make sure that no citizen is deprived of police protection," police spokesman Thanassis Kokkalakis said on Tuesday.
 
Hiring a police officer for an hour costs 30 euros, according to the law, which has entered into force. A police vehicle escort, for example for the transfer of art works or other sensitive material, will cost an additional 40 euros per hour and a motorcycle escort 20 euros.

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« Reply #230 on: April 11, 2012, 05:47:08 pm »

http://news.yahoo.com/greece-calls-snap-election-may-6-pm-181413737.html

4/11/12

Greece calls May 6 poll that may create stalemate

ATHENS (Reuters) - Greece called a snap election for next month on Wednesday, launching a campaign that may produce no clear winner and threaten implementation of the international bailout plan that saved the nation from bankruptcy.
 
Prime Minister Lucas Papademos announced the May 6 date after meeting the president and his interim cabinet, which he said had done its job by securing the bailout and a landmark debt restructuring last month.
 
"Greece is in the middle of a difficult path," he said in a televised address to the nation. "The choices we make will not only determine which government will be formed after the election but Greece's course in decades to come."
 
Papademos, a former central banker called in last year when a socialist government collapsed, told his ministers he hoped a new parliament, which must pass a slew of tough reforms to secure payments under the bailout, would convene by May 17.

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« Reply #231 on: April 12, 2012, 01:15:30 pm »

http://news.yahoo.com/greek-unemployment-hits-21-8-percent-113408813.html

Greek unemployment hits 21.8 percent

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece's unemployment rate increased to 21.8 percent in January, with nearly 350,000 people losing their jobs in the past year while the debt-strapped country's economy remains stuck in recession.

The Greek Statistical Authority said Thursday that 1,084,668 people were out of work in the first month of 2012 — with 344,913 people losing their jobs since January 2011 — nearly 1,000 per day.

Greece is suffering a fifth year of recession, largely due to harsh austerity measures demanded in return for international bailout loans required to avoid default.
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« Reply #232 on: April 16, 2012, 09:11:47 pm »

http://english.cri.cn/6966/2012/04/16/3141s693647.htm

Magnitude-5.5 Quake Jolts Southern Greece, No Injuries Reported

    2012-04-16 20:44:21     Xinhua       Web Editor: Li

A moderate earthquake measuring 5.5 magnitude on the Richter scale jolted southern Pelopponese in Greece on Monday noon, local media cited the Euromediterranean Seismic Institute as saying.

No injuries or major material damages have been reported by local authorities.

The epicenter of the quake was traced at a distance of some 19 kilometres off the coast of the city of Methoni at a depth of about 40 kilometres, according to seismologists. The tremor was felt in a major part of Pelopponese.

Earthquake-prone Greece is regularly hit by moderate tremors and catastrophic ones many times in recent years. The earthquake in 1999 measuring 6 degrees on the Richter scale in Athens caused many deaths and extensive damages.

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« Reply #233 on: April 21, 2012, 05:55:39 pm »

Greek Banks Post $37 Billion Losses on Debt Restructuring
20 April 2012, by Marcus Bensasson, Maria Petrakis and Natalie Weeks (Bloomberg)
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-20/greek-banks-post-37-billion-losses-on-debt-restructuring.html

Greece’s four biggest banks reported a combined loss of €27.9 billion ($36.9 billion) for last year after participating in the country’s debt exchange, the largest sovereign restructuring in history.

The four, including National Bank of Greece, EFG Eurobank Ergasias SA (EUROB), Alpha Bank SA and Piraeus Bank SA, said they wrote down about €25 billion in the combined value of their Greek government bond holdings.

Prime Minister Lucas Papademos is trying to finalize a plan to recapitalize Greek banks, which wrote down more than half the face value of their government bonds and posted an increase in bad loan ratios after five years of recession.

Greece’s bank- recapitalization body yesterday got €25 billion in a first tranche of funds, or half the total assigned for the purpose, as part of a second bailout by the European Union and International Monetary Fund.

“Recapitalization is a necessary prerequisite to securely finance the real economy and in particular small- and medium- sized enterprises,” Papademos said at a conference today.

“It is also a necessary precondition for reinforcing trust in our bank system.”


Losses

National Bank, the nation’s biggest lender, had a net loss of €12.3 billion for 2011 after a €406 million profit a year earlier, the Athens-based lender said in a statement today.

The average estimate from three analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News was for a loss of €9.29 billion.

EFG Eurobank Ergasias SA, the second-biggest lender, had a €5.51 billion loss after a €68 million profit in 2010 and Alpha Bank SA, the third biggest, lost €3.81 billion after an €86 million profit in 2010.

Piraeus Bank SA (TPEIR), the fourth largest, had a €6.3 billion loss
.

National Bank took €10.8 billion of post-tax impairments on Greek government bond holdings after writing down their value by 75%.

Eurobank wrote down €4.6 billion of government bonds after taxes and Alpha Bank €3.8 billion.

Piraeus wrote down €5.1 billion.

The IMF, EU and European Central Bank, the so-called troika of agencies overseeing the Greek financing, plan to help capitalize banks with incentives for private investors.

The goal is to bring core tier 1 capital to 9% of assets by the end of September.

“The whole plan for the future is really not clear because the conditions for the recapitalization are not clear,” Alpha Bank General Manager Artemis Theodoridis said in a telephone interview.

“What we found out in the last few days is that they will not be clear, at least the legal framework, before the elections,” he said. The country is due to hold general elections May 6.


Buyback Offer

Alpha Bank SA offered to buy back a nominal €1.58 billion of outstanding securities in a bid to boost its capital.

If completed, the offer would generate a gain for the group’s Core Tier 1 capital, which the bank reported at 3% for 2011.

National Bank (ETE), Eurobank and Piraeus Bank did not disclose what their Core Tier 1 ratios would be without support from the Hellenic Financial Stability Fund, the state recapitalization body.

National Bank reported a Core Tier 1 capital ratio of 6.3% after an injection of €6.9 billion from the HFSF.

Agricultural Bank of Greece SA and TT Hellenic Postbank SA (TT), two state-controlled lenders, were granted extensions and will report earnings by May 31, the banks said in exchange filings.

The bank recapitalization plan includes incentives for private investment such as rights for shareholders to purchase the government’s stake and safeguards for buyers of convertible bonds, according an IMF report released March 16.

The HFSF will continue to hold voting rights in the event of strategic decisions related to the banks to avert the risk of asset stripping by investment funds, according to the report.
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« Reply #234 on: April 24, 2012, 08:29:36 pm »

http://news.yahoo.com/eu-bank-offers-non-euro-payment-greek-firms-121252160--finance.html

EU bank offers non-euro payment to Greek firms

4/23/12

BRUSSELS (AP) — The taxpayer-funded European Investment Bank has started including a new legal clause in its contracts with Greek companies that allows them to repay loans in a currency other than the euro.

A spokeswoman for the bank denies that the move indicates that it is preparing for an eventual Greek exit from the euro.

Helen Kavvadia said the clause, used for the first time in a €70 million ($92 million) loan agreement with Greece's Public Power Corporation, allows the company to repay the loan in a different currency.

But she said that including these clauses was a new standard procedure that would also be applied in other countries. She couldn't say for which other countries it would be applied.

The EIB gives low-interest loans to companies in and around the EU.
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« Reply #235 on: April 24, 2012, 08:57:49 pm »

http://news.yahoo.com/more-grief-greece-recession-seen-deeper-113349570--business.html

4/24/12

More grief for Greece as recession seen deeper

ATHENS (Reuters) - Greece's economy will contract a deeper than expected 5 percent this year, the country's central bank chief said on Tuesday, piling more pressure on to a citizenry already battered by crippling austerity and record joblessness.
 
The projection topped a previous forecast the central bank made in March, when it projected the 215 billion euro economy would contract 4.5 percent after a 6.9 percent slump in 2011.
 
Twice bailed-out Greece is in its fifth consecutive year of recession.
 
Speaking to shareholders at the central bank's annual assembly, George Provopoulos, also a European Central Bank Governing Council member, urged strict adherence to reform and fiscal adjustment commitments Greece has agreed with its euro zone partners, saying they were needed to return the economy to sustainable growth.

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« Reply #236 on: April 25, 2012, 07:08:50 pm »

There Goes Greek GDP: Nazional Lampoons Greek Vacation Just Got Cancelled
25 April 2012, by Tyler Durden (Zero Hedge)
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/there-goes-greek-gdp-nazional-lampoons-greek-vacation-just-got-cancelled
 
As if the Greeks haven't suffered enough from Northern European actions (admittedly in response to their own actions), it seems the anti-German sentiment is keeping the wealthy tourists away from the beaches.
 
As Reuters notes today, 'German tourists are in short supply in Greece these days, frightened away by reports of visceral anti-German sentiment in some places'. 
 
Data for the main summer holiday season shows pre-bookings from Germany down by some 30%.
 
We guess the pictures of Molotov cocktails being thrown, city-wide strikes, and cardboard cities full of unemployed youths was too much but as one Greek tourist-shop-owner clarified
 
"They're not coming because of the problems. But we don't have a problem with German people, only their government."
 
Tourism - the one remaining possibility for Greece to drag themselves out of the quagmire (aside from olive oil and yoghurt) - is now under pressure as The Germans ("That's just the way Germans are: if there's trouble in some country, then Germans just don't go there on their holidays.") wage "an economic war against Greece".
 
Sadly the xenophobic and nationalist tensions are indeed rising (as we warned many times in the past - and suggest will be the ultimate undoing of the political compact in Europe) as the crisis had revived anti-German sentiment from World War Two that most thought had long since disappeared.
 
"The Greeks moved on and tried to forget, then this. If you ask me, Germany owes Greece billions for all the murders and war crimes. Germany should pay Greece what it owes."
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« Reply #237 on: April 27, 2012, 10:08:10 am »

Greece was not ready for euro
27 April 2012
Greece should not have joined the euro, a former head of the German central bank, who was central to eurozone policymaking at the time, has said.

But Ernst Welteke, who was Bundesbank president from 1999-2004, told the BBC that none of the eurozone's problems would be solved if Greece left.
He added there should be greater transfer of wealth from richer parts of the eurozone to poorer parts.
He said he was confident measures were in place to ensure the euro's survival.

"The euro is not in as big a danger as is often recorded," Mr Welteke told Business Daily on the BBC's World Service.
"The euro has been stable [for] 10 years, inside and outside the European Monetary Union (EMU)."

He said that, in hindsight, it was clear that Greece was not ready for the euro.
"We can say that Greece should not have joined the EMU, but that doesn't help."
He said Greece only accounts for 3% of the economic output of the eurozone, so "if Greece leaves the EMU then monetary union will still work."
"But I don't think Greece leaving will solve any problems."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-17853552
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« Reply #238 on: April 30, 2012, 02:22:48 pm »

http://news.yahoo.com/greece-opens-detention-camp-immigrants-election-looms-220809425.html

Greece opens detention camp for immigrants as election looms

4/29/12

ATHENS (Reuters) - Greece opened its first purpose-built detention centre for illegal migrants on Sunday in Athens, a week before a national election where illegal immigration has emerged as a key issue.
 
About 130,000 immigrants cross the country's porous sea and land borders every year, the vast majority via Turkey, and the authorities are forced to release those who are arrested because of a lack of permanent housing.
 
With Greece in its fifth year of recession and worries over rising crime levels, illegal immigration has become a major issue in the run up of the May 6 election.
 
The once-obscure far-right Golden Dawn, which wants to deport all immigrants, is among the parties that has benefitted most from the mood among voters, and is expected to win its first seats in parliament. **Golden Dawn party? Wasn't CS Lewis a member of the Order of the Golden Dawn?

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« Reply #239 on: May 04, 2012, 11:05:42 pm »

http://news.yahoo.com/austerity-weary-greece-faces-electoral-impasse-092251078--finance.html;_ylt=AjLSEVbrjG9upMVjvZRvDR7zWed_;_ylu=X3oDMTRvc21vbDJiBGNjb2RlA2dtcHRvcDEwMDBwb29sd2lraXVwcmVzdARtaXQDTmV3cyBmb3IgeW91BHBrZwNjNWFmNTZiZS1lZTRkLTM3ZjgtODlmYi1hNDYxZTE4ZDZiZGMEcG9zAzEEc2VjA25ld3NfZm9yX3lvdQR2ZXIDZjE3MmJjMzQtOTVmNS0xMWUxLWJlN2UtMWUzMGQ5NDE3ZGM4;_ylg=X3oDMTM3OG5uZWdsBGludGwDdXMEbGFuZwNlbi11cwRwc3RhaWQDMjJhNmEyNmMtOGE4NS0zNjFmLTk0MzItMTljNDc3YjFmZjJhBHBzdGNhdAN1c3xjcmltZXMgYW5kIHRyaWFscwRwdANzdG9yeXBhZ2U-;_ylv=3

Austerity-weary Greece faces electoral impasse

5/4/12

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — After more than two years of financial crisis, international bailouts, a huge debt writedown and Europe's harshest austerity program, Greek voters have been given a chance to hit back at the parties that got them into this mess.

This Sunday, an electorate fuming at repeated income cuts, tax hikes and rapidly rising unemployment is to vote in parliamentary elections. It's expected to abandon old political loyalties and give no party an outright majority. But this could well leave Greece without a government at the time when it needs it the most — and jeopardize the program of international bailouts the country depends on to secure its place in Europe.

After years of profligate government spending and dismal fiscal stewardship, in 2010 Greece was priced out of the international markets from which governments borrow. To keep the country afloat, it took two separate rescue loan agreements with its European partners and the International Monetary Fund worth more than €240 billion ($317 billion), and the biggest debt writedown in history that wiped more than €100 billion ($132 billion) off private investors' holdings.

To secure the bailouts, the Greek government had little choice but to agree to a harsh round of austerity measures that cut everything from wages to pensions and healthcare. It also had to promise to dismantle the protected trades that choked up the economy.

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