(Reuters) Denmark extended temporary controls at its border with Germany on Monday, imposed to help control an influx of migrants, as the European Commission confirmed it would shortly authorize more such extensions within the passport-free Schengen zone. Seven members of the Schengen zone, including Germany and Denmark, have introduced temporary border controls after more than one million migrants entered the European Union last year, mostly via Greece. The European Commission, struggling to prevent the […]
Tag: Greece
EU to give emergency aid to help Greece cope with migrants
by Danny KEMP with Eric RANDOLPH in Calais BRUSSELS, Belgium (AFP) — The European Union will Wednesday announce plans for emergency aid to Greece which is struggling to cope with an influx of migrants with thousands stuck in misery at its border after Balkan states tightened their frontiers. Greece has asked for around 480 million euros ($520 million) to help shelter 100,000 refugees as Europe faces its biggest wave of refugees since World War II […]
Greek creditors to resume reforms audit by March 10: PM
ATHENS, Greece (AFP) — Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said Tuesday that an EU-IMF audit of the debt-laden country’s reforms would likely resume by March 10, hinting that the process was being delayed by divisions among the creditors. “My estimate is that (senior creditor representatives will) return in the first ten days of March,” Tsipras said in a televised interview. “There must finally be agreement between the (creditors) so we can move forward,” he told Star TV. […]
Italian coast guard rescues migrants off Greek island of Samos
GREECE (Reuters) — Some 68 migrants believed to be of Syrian origin were rescued at sea off the Greek island of Samos in the early hours of Tuesday (February 9), the Italian coast guard said, releasing video of the dramatic rescue operations. According to the coast guard, a group of some 39 migrants were rescued from a rubber boat which was drifting near rocky cliffs. The remaining 29, meanwhile, had sought shelter on the cliffs. […]
Islamic State ‘enjoyed Turkish money for oil’ – Israeli minister
Israel’s defence minister Moshe Yaalon said on Tuesday (January 26) that Islamic State militants had been funded with ‘Turkish money’, an assertion that could hinder attempts to mend fences between the two countries after years of estrangement. Yaalon said that the Turkish government wasn’t pulling their weight in the fight against “terrorism”. “Now it’s up to Turkey, the Turkish government, the Turkish leadership, to decide whether they want to be part of any kind of […]
Greek conservatives elect new leader to challenge PM Alexis Tsipras
Greek conservatives elected Kyriakos Mitsotakis as their new leader on Sunday (January 10), hoping he can revive their fortunes and challenge leftist Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, still popular despite opting for austerity. The conservative New Democracy party seeks to recover from its heavy election defeat in September, when Greeks re-elected Tsipras’ Syriza party amid capital controls on bank deposits and a harsh third bailout with the country’s foreign lenders. Mitsotakis, a 47-year reformist lawmaker and […]
Ball in Greek parliament’s court for bailout deal, Finland’s Stubb says
(REUTERS) Euro zone finance ministers said on Sunday (July 12) some issues remained before they could give the green light for a third bailout programme for Greece. They asked Greece to show it was serious about the reforms it pledged to implement by getting them approved in parliament in the coming days. Some laws will have to be passed by Wednesday and the entire package endorsed by parliament before talks can start, ministers said. […]
IMF cuts global forecast for 2015
A new IMF report says a gradual recovery continues, but global growth is forecast to be slightly down for 2015, reflecting an unexpected setback to economic activity in the first quarter of 2015, mostly in North America. IMF’s economist Olivier Blanchard said, “If you look at advanced economies, they’re actually suffering from the legacies of the crisis. Looking forward, their potential growth is clearly lower. If you look at the emerging market economies, they really […]
EU’s Tusk urges debt relief as part of Greek deal
(REUTERS) European Council President Donald Tusk joined on Thursday (July 9) growing international calls for Greece to be granted debt restructuring as part of any new loan deal if it delivers convincing reforms to avert imminent bankruptcy. The call was an implicit challenge to Germany, Athens’ biggest creditor, which has so far ruled out any write-offs as illegal and taken a restrictive view of reprofiling the debt to help Greece over a major repayment […]
Trading halted on NYSE floor
Trading in all securities were halted on the New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday following earlier reports of technical difficulties, although NYSE-listed issues was still trading on other exchanges. After the halt, U.S. stocks extended their losses, but in low volumes, with the S&P 500 hitting a session low and the Dow Jones Industrial Average and Nasdaq both falling more than 1 percent. “It’s under control. We’re just waiting for word. There’s no sign […]
World markets knocked by uncertainty in China and Greece
(Reuters) World markets were down on Wednesday (July 8) as investors worried about Greece’s debt crisis, a meltdown in Chinese markets and a slump in commodities. Euro zone leaders on Tuesday (July 7) gave Athens until the end of the week to come up with proposals for reforms in return for loans. Without the aid, Greece is likely to crash out of Europe’s single currency bloc. Markey analyst Chris Beauchamp said but a solution […]
Tsipras promises specific proposals for debt solution on Thursday
(Reuters) Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras pleaded in the European Parliament on Wednesday for a fair deal to keep his country in the euro zone after EU leaders gave him five days to come up with reforms. “I honestly believe that it’s the sovereign right of any government to decide to increase taxation on profit-making businesses and not affect the lowest possible pensions and cut back further there to achieve those objectives,” Tsipras told the […]
