The people’s panopticon

The Economist

It is getting ever easier to record anything, or everything, that you see. This opens fascinating possibilities—and alarming ones

Nov 16th 2013 | SAN FRANCISCO

ABOUT halfway through Dave Eggers’s bestselling dystopian satire on Silicon Valley, “The Circle”, the reader meets Stewart, a bald, silent, stooped 60-year-old who has “been filming, recording, every moment of his life now for five years”. Stewart is the first of the novel’s characters to make all his actions visible to anyone with a computer who cares to look—the first “transparent man”.

Moody's raises Greek rating to 'Caa3'

BY HARRY PAPACHRISTOU

ATHENS Fri Nov 29, 2013 6:54pm EST

(Reuters) - Rating agency Moody's raised Greece's sovereign rating to 'Caa3' from 'C' on Friday, saying it expected the debt-laden nation to meet its 2014 budget targets and that its recession will end next year.

Moody's is the third and last major agency to raise Greece's rating over the past 12 months, after the election victory of a government backing the country's EU/IMF bailout, which rescued Athens from default and averted its possible exit from the euro.

S&P raised Greece's rating in December 2012 to 'B-' from "selective default." Fitch raised it in May 2013 to 'B-' from 'CCC'.

EU-IMF postpone visit to Athens in dispute over reforms

BY JOHN O'DONNELL, LUKE BAKER AND HARRY PAPACHRISTOU

(Reuters) - Inspectors from the EU and IMF have postponed a planned visit to Greece, officials told Reuters on Friday, a move that marks a new low in relations between the parties and could delay aid payments to Athens.

The Greek government said it still expects differences with the troika to be bridged.

The decision to postpone the visit may be an attempt by the European Central Bank, European Commission and International Monetary Fund - together known as the 'troika' - to try to bring Athens to heel as frustration grows over Greece's failure to complete the reforms it has promised in return for aid.

It is a potential embarrassment for the Greek government, which wants to be able to show it is hitting its targets and bouncing back before it takes over the rotating presidency of the European Union for six months from the start of next year.

Why did China impose an ‘air defense zone’ that was so likely to fail?

BY MAX FISHER

November 29 at 12:12 pm

The Washington Post

China has one of the largest and most consequential militaries in the world, but how Beijing thinks about its military and makes military decisions is largely a mystery to the outside world. The People's Liberation Army is technically attached to the Chinese Communist Party, rather than to the Chinese government, and scholars often describe it as a "black box" because it is so difficult to understand from the outside.

This week's decision by China to impose a special "air defense identification zone" over international waters was one such mystery. China announced that any foreign flights into the special zone would have to alert Beijing first and file a formal flight plan. The outcome was entirely predictable: The United States immediately violated China's requirement by flying two unarmed B-52 bombers into the "zone," basically a way of announcing that the U.S. would ignore China's requirement. Japan and South Korea also sent in flights. China's "air defense zone" not only failed, it backfired, embarrassing China while further uniting Japan, South Korea and the U.S. against Chinese military assertiveness.

Britain's Cameron 'turns page' on Dalai Lama row with China visit

BY ANDREW OSBORN

LONDON Sat Nov 30, 2013 7:27am EST

(Reuters) - Britain has put a diplomatic rift with China over the Dalai Lama behind it and Prime Minister David Cameron has no plans to meet Tibet's spiritual leader again, a senior source in his office said ahead of a visit by the British leader to Beijing.

Instead, Cameron will use a three-day visit to China next week, his first since the Dalai Lama rift, to focus on deepening trade ties with the world's second largest economy, taking with him a delegation of around 100 business people.

"This visit is forward looking. We have turned a page on that issue," said the source when asked whether Cameron would raise the issue of Tibet during his trip. "It's about shifting UK relations up a gear and looking to the future."

Euro Strengthens for a Third Month on Inflation Jump; Real Drops

By Andrea Wong - Nov 30, 2013 12:18 AM GMT+0200

Bloomberg

The euro gained for a third straight month versus the yen after the currency region’s consumer-price index rose more this month than forecast, fueling bets the European Central Bank will refrain from further stimulus.

The dollar advanced for the first month since August before a report next week forecast to show the U.S. job market maintained gains. Canada’s dollar slid before the central bank meets. The yen fell for a fourth month versus the dollar as Japanese consumer prices climbed the most in 15 years. Japan’s currency had its worst month against the euro since April as inflation in the currency bloc rose from a four-year low in October.

U.S. airlines advised to give China flight plans over new defense zone

BY LESLEY WROUGHTON AND TIM KELLY

WASHINGTON/TOKYO Sat Nov 30, 2013 5:11am EST

(Reuters) - The United States advised its commercial airlines to notify Chinese authorities of flight plans when travelling through an air defense zone that Beijing established a week ago over the East China Sea, ratcheting up regional tensions.

The United States said it expected U.S. carriers to operate in line with so-called notices to airmen issued by foreign countries, adding, however, that the decision did "not indicate U.S. government acceptance of China's requirements.

The Bitcoin bubble

The Economist

Nov 30th 2013

It looks overvalued. But even if this digital currency crashes, others will follow

BITCOIN is booming. Investors are piling into the digital currency, which is not issued by a central bank but is conjured into being by cryptographic software running on a network of volunteers’ computers. This week the price of a Bitcoin soared to above $1,000, from less than $15 in January.

China to send "jade rabbit" buggy to the moon next month

BEIJING Tue Nov 26, 2013 12:20am EST

Nov 26 (Reuters) - China will land its first probe on the moon in early December which will deploy a buggy to explore its surface, an official said on Tuesday, marking a major milestone in the country's space ambitions.

China has already photographed the surface of the moon to prepare for the landing, said a spokesman for the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defence.

In 2007, China launched its first moon orbiter, the Chang'e One orbiter, named after a lunar goddess, which took images of the surface and analysed the distribution of elements.

U.S. Sends B-52s on Mission to Challenge Chinese Claims

By JULIAN E. BARNES in Washington and JEREMY PAGE in Beijing

Updated Nov. 27, 2013 5:00 a.m. ET

The Wall Street Journal

The U.S. moved forcefully to try to counter China's bid for influence over increasingly jittery Asian neighbors by sending a pair of B-52 bombers over disputed islands in the East China Sea, U.S. officials said Tuesday.

The B-52s took off from Andersen Air Force Base in Guam and flew more than 1,500 miles northwest, crossing into what China has declared as its new air-defense identification zone, at about 7 p.m. ET Monday. The U.S. deliberately violated rules set by China by refusing to inform Beijing about the flight, officials said.

China had warned of military action against aircraft entering the zone without notification, but didn't respond to the B-52s, which weren't armed and were part of a long-planned military exercise. A U.S. official said there was no attempt by the Chinese military to contact the B-52s. "The flight was without incident," a U.S. official said.

Among American workers, poll finds unprecedented anxiety about jobs, economy

By Jim Tankersley and Scott Clement,

Tuesday, November 26, 2:03 AM E-mail the writers

The Washington Post

CHESTER, Pa. — The alarm rang on John Stewart’s phone at 1:10 a.m. Up at 1:30, he caught one bus north into Philadelphia a little after 2 and another bus, south toward the airport, half an hour after that. He made it into work around 3:25 for a shift that started at 4, for a job that pays $5.25 an hour, which he cannot afford to lose.

China sends carrier to South China Sea for training amid maritime disputes

BEIJING Tue Nov 26, 2013 2:33am EST

(Reuters) - China sent its sole aircraft carrier on a training mission into the South China Sea on Tuesday amid maritime disputes with some neighbors and tension over its plan to set up an airspace defense zone in waters disputed with Japan.

The Liaoning, bought used from Ukraine and refurbished in China, has conducted more than 100 exercises and experiments since it was commissioned last year but this is the first time it has been sent to the South China Sea.

China at a crossroads

Robert J. Samuelson

Opinion Writer

The Washington Post

It has been only a few years since China was widely regarded as an unstoppable economic colossus. For three decades, its economy grew about 10 percent annually; China seemed to be gliding through the global economic storm. Well, maybe not. Many economists — Chinese and foreign — think China’s economic model is unworkable. Without a new model, they say, China will someday face a collapse of growth or worse. The outcome has huge implications for China’s internal stability and its global economic footprint. The precedent of Japan, a highflier laid low, suggests that rapid growth can’t be taken for granted.

ECB's Noyer: Rates must remain low, could go lower if needed

(Reuters) - European Central Bank Governing Council member Christian Noyer said on Monday that interest rates have to remain low for an extended period and might go even lower if needed as officials try to ensure the euro zone does not fall into deflation.

Central bankers have to invent policies to achieve price stability if conventional monetary policy stops working, Noyer said, suggesting the ECB will keep its options open after a surprise slowdown in inflation.

"We see risks that low inflation will remain for some time," Noyer said at a conference in Tokyo.

"Light at the end of the tunnel" for Greece?

Deutsche Welle

Greece is on the right track, said Chancellor Merkel after meeting with Greek Prime Minister Samaras in Berlin. Samaras used the occasion to hold the EU, ECB and IMF Troika to past promises of relief.

Things are going forward in highly indebted Greece, at least that's the way Germany's chancellor saw it. "The prime minister was able to present a series of impressive facts to me, and Greece has made significant progress," German Chancellor Angela Merkel said after a meeting with Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras at the Chancellery in Berlin. "A lot has been accomplished there in the last few years."

The extent of the praise is surprising given Germany's recent disagreement with European partners regarding Greece's next tranche from its second aid package. The Troika, comprised of the EU, ECB and IMF, has been seeking Greek clarification of a 1.5 billion euro ($2 billion) gap in the country's 2014 budget plans. EU countries had also criticized Greece for its lack of progress with regard to reforms.

France With Italy, Spain Seek Flexibility in Euro Budget Talks

By Ian Wishart & James G. Neuger - Nov 22, 2013 10:48 PM GMT+0200.

Bloomberg

France, Italy and Spain sought to maximize the flexibility of European Union budget-deficit rules to boost their economies as northern euro-area countries saw little need for stimulus.

The growth-versus-austerity debate was renewed at a meeting of finance ministers in Brussels today, as euro-area governments attempted to coordinate budget policy for 2014 using powers that were introduced earlier this year as part of their response to a debt crisis now in its fifth year.

“No, no, no,” Italian Finance Minister Fabrizio Saccomanni told reporters when asked whether his government would modify its budget. “Reducing the debt load is also our goal, and we managed that both with fiscal policies by reducing the shortfalls and with additional measures that they have now fully understood.”

Euro rises after unexpectedly strong German data

BY JULIE HAVIV

NEW YORK Fri Nov 22, 2013 4:20pm EST

(Reuters) - The euro rose to a four-year peak against the yen and gained for a second straight day against the dollar on Friday as unexpectedly robust German business sentiment data raised the appeal of the euro zone common currency.

Comments from Federal Reserve officials saying a reduction in stimulus would be discussed at next month's monetary policy meeting failed to boost the dollar. Analysts said the market has already priced in talk of Fed tapering asset purchases in December, limiting its impact on the greenback.

UPDATE 1-Greek budget predicts higher surplus, maintains growth target

Thu Nov 21, 2013 5:19am EST

Nov 21 (Reuters) - Greece more than doubled its forecast for a budget surplus before interest payments this year and confirmed it will emerge from a six-year recession next year, hinting there is light at the end of the tunnel for its battered economy.

After nearly going bankrupt and crashing out of the euro zone last year, Athens has been buoyed by more positive economic news in recent months as tourism revenues rise and it makes progress in bringing its finances back on track.

Αυξήθηκε 18,4 δισ. το δημόσιο χρέος

Ναυτεμπορική 21-11-2013

Σημαντική αύξηση κατά 18,4 δισ. ευρώ παρουσίασε το δημόσιο χρέος στο γ’ τρίμηνο του 2013, σε σύγκριση με το γ’ τρίμηνο του 2012, καταδεικνύοντας το τεράστιο πρόβλημα που εξακολουθεί να υφίσταται έπειτα από δύο «κουρέματα».

Unhappy with the Troika, Greece turns to Berlin

Deutsche Welle

20-11-2013

Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras is set to arrive in Berlin for talks on Friday. Despite Greece's economic troubles, the government, experts say, is in a better position to negotiate today than in the past.

In early November, it was far from clear whether any agreements would be reached during a visit to Greece by the country's lenders, the so-called Troika consisting of the EU Commission, European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund. Significant differences stood between the Greek coalition government and its lenders.

China dismisses as absurd Spanish arrest warrants over Tibet

MADRID Wed Nov 20, 2013 4:51am EST

(Reuters) - Former Chinese president Jiang Zemin and ex prime minister Li Peng could face arrest when travelling abroad over allegations they committed genocide in Tibet, a Spanish court ruled on Tuesday, in a case Beijing has dismissed as absurd.

Two Tibetan support groups and a monk with Spanish nationality brought the case against the former leaders in 2006 using Spanish law, which allows suspects to be tried for human rights abuses committed abroad when a Spanish victim is involved.

OECD Cuts Global Growth Outlook on Emerging-Market Slowdown

By Mark Deen - Nov 19, 2013 12:54 PM GMT+0200

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development cut its global growth forecasts for this year and next as emerging-market economies including India and Brazil cool.

The world economy will probably expand 2.7 percent this year and 3.6 percent next year, instead of the 3.1 percent and and 4 percent predicted in May, the Paris-based OECD said in a semi-annual report today.

Record tourist receipts next year may help end Greece's long recession

BY RENEE MALTEZOU

ATHENS Tue Nov 19, 2013 6:26am EST

(Reuters) - Greek tourism revenues should rise 13 percent to a record 13 billion euros in 2014, the head of the main industry body said on Tuesday, boosting chances the country will finally emerge from its deep recession next year.

Tourism is the biggest cash earner for Greece's economy, accounting for about 17 percent of its 185 billion-euro economic output. It employs one in five Greeks.

China Reshapes Landscape for Firms From Alibaba to GM

By Jasmine Wang - Nov 19, 2013

Bloomberg

China’s planned economic reforms are poised to reshape the competitive landscape, allowing private companies such as Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. to compete with state-owned banks and easing the one-child policy to bolster demand for products from Nestle SA (NESN) to General Motors Co. (GM)

Plans to change the nation’s financial sector include a new registration system for initial public offerings and allowing qualified private investors to set up small-to-medium sized banks. Tencent Holdings Ltd. (700), Asia’s biggest Internet company, is part of a group applying for a banking license in China.

Greece's NBG nears deal to sell property unit: sources

BY GEORGE GEORGIOPOULOS

ATHENS Sun Nov 17, 2013 12:15pm EST

(Reuters) - National Bank of Greece, the country's largest lender, is close to clinching a deal to sell a majority stake in its fully-owned real estate arm Pangaia to private equity firm Invel Real Estate, two bankers close to the deal told Reuters on Sunday.

The sale is part of restructuring efforts by National Bank (NBG) (NBGr.AT) aimed at boosting its capital base.

Greece's top four banks are implementing restructuring plans agreed with the European Commission as part of conditions imposed for their bailouts. The plans involve job cuts, branch closures and asset sales.

Greece's Golden Dawn gains support after members killed-poll

ATHENS Sat Nov 16, 2013 2:01pm EST

(Reuters) - Support for Greece's far-right Golden Dawn party has grown since two members were gunned down by unknown assailants this month, an opinion poll released on Saturday showed.

The party, Greece's third most popular, had shed almost a third of support following the fatal stabbing in September of an anti-fascism rapper blamed on a Golden Dawn sympathizer.

Previously Unknown Group Says It Shot Greek Extremists

By Alkman Granitsas

The Wall Steet Journal

Urban Guerrillas Say They Killed Two and Injured One in Retaliation for Rap Artist's Murder

A previously unknown urban guerrilla group has claimed responsibility for the shooting of three alleged members of Greece's far-right Golden Dawn party earlier this month outside local party offices in a suburb north of Athens.

China says Xinjiang police station attacked by axe, knife-wielding mob, 11 dead

BEIJING Sun Nov 17, 2013 2:27am EST

(Reuters) - Eleven people were killed and two injured in China's troubled far-west region of Xinjiang when a group of people armed with axes and knifes attacked a police station on Saturday, state media reported on Sunday.

Around the World, Inflation Is Falling to Levels Not Seen for Years

The New York  Times

November 15, 2013

By FLOYD NORRIS

AMERICAN inflation, which has seemed to some conservative economists to be an impending threat ever since the Federal Reserve began to buy large quantities of government securities, appears to be falling to levels lower than any seen in recent years. There are similar declines in many European countries.

JPMorgan’s Fruitful Ties to a Member of China’s Elite

NOVEMBER 13, 2013, 10:00 PM

The New York Times

By DAVID BARBOZA, JESSICA SILVER-GREENBERG and BEN PROTESS

To promote its standing in China, JPMorgan Chase turned to a seemingly obscure consulting firm run by a 32-year-old executive named Lily Chang.

Ms. Chang’s firm, which received a $75,000-a-month contract from JPMorgan, appeared to have only two employees. And on the surface, Ms. Chang lacked the influence and public name recognition needed to unlock business for the bank.

China: The Next Phase Of Reform

Forbes

The commitment and ability of China’s leaders to follow through on new policies and to meet rising expectations will be tested as they strive to balance competing social, economic, political and security challenges. Three decades ago, China embarked on a new path, creating a framework that encouraged the country’s rapid economic rise. The successes of those policies have transformed China, and the country’s leadership now faces another set of strategic choices to address China’s new economic and international position.

Greece's Eurobank announces 2 billion euro share issue

ATHENS Thu Nov 14, 2013 12:56pm EST

(Reuters) - Eurobank, Greece's No. 3 lender, said on Thursday it would sell 2 billion euros ($2.7 billion) worth of new shares at the end of the year as part of a plan to return to private ownership after a bailout in 2012.

Greece must step up effort to find 2014 budget gap financing: Eurogroup head

BRUSSELS Thu Nov 14, 2013 4:44am EST

(Reuters) - Greece must step up efforts to reach an agreement with international lenders on how to close a 2 billion euro ($2.68 billion) financing gap in its 2014 budget, the head of euro zone finance ministers Jeroen Dijsselbloem said on Thursday.

Euro Zone Economy Stalls as Germany and France Backtrack

November 14, 2013

By DAVID JOLLY and JACK EWING

The New York Times

PARIS — The euro zone economy marked time in the third quarter of the year, growing just 0.1 percent from the second quarter, a report on Thursday showed, disappointing hopes that a full-fledged recovery was finally taking hold after five years of recession and stagnation.

Skeptics See Euro Eroding European Unity

The New York Times

November 11, 2013

By DANNY HAKIM

LONDON — Europe’s slow emergence from its second recession in the last five years is raising new questions about whether the euro currency is doing more harm than good.

Five years of crisis have laid bare deep differences in national policies, politics and priorities across the European Union. The 28-member bloc is increasingly confronting a more fundamental problem: whether it is too unwieldy to address the multiplying array of challenges it faces. And in many ways, the most divisive issues involve the 17-member subset of the union that was supposed to give them something in common — the euro currency.

Greece’s reform job isn’t even half done

By Hugo Dixon NOVEMBER 11, 2013

Reuters

Greece’s reform job is not even half finished. The government hasn’t done enough to root out the vested interests that strangle the economy. Nor has it cracked down fully on tax evasion or pushed hard enough to privatise state-owned properties.

On the other hand, Antonis Samaras’ coalition is so fragile that it could collapse if the troika – the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund – forces it to impose more austerity. That could lead to a new phase in the Greek crisis. The government’s best bet is to make a sharp distinction between structural reform and austerity – and persuade its lenders that it’s so serious about the former that more cuts and taxes aren’t required.

Job Gap Widens in Uneven Recovery

Split in Employment Market Undermines Broader Economic Rebound

By BEN CASSELMAN CONNECT

The Wall Street Journal

Updated Nov. 11, 2013 9:45 p.m. ET

America's jobs recovery is proceeding on two separate tracks—a pattern that is persisting far longer than after past economic rebounds and lately has been growing worse.

Despite three years of steady job gains, and four years of economic growth, many Americans have yet to experience much that could be described as a recovery. That sort of pattern isn't unusual in the aftermath of a recession, but it usually eases as growth picks up steam.

China to unveil 10-year reform plan, expectations toned down

BY KEVIN YAO

BEIJING Mon Nov 11, 2013 4:14pm EST

(Reuters) - China's leaders will unveil a reform agenda for the next decade on Tuesday, seeking to balance the need to overhaul the world's second-largest economy as it loses steam with preserving stability and to reinforce the Communist Party's power.

Euro Zone’s Fizzling Growth Seen to Back Draghi Cut Case

By Stefan Riecher & Kristian Siedenburg - 2013-11-11T10:59:54Z

Euro-area growth data this week may show the region’s nascent recovery slowing to a crawl, supporting Mario Draghi’s case for an interest-rate cut to help the economy get back to its feet.

Gross domestic product in the region rose just 0.1 percent in the third quarter, according to the median forecast of 41 economists in a Bloomberg News survey. In the 3 1/2 hours before that report on Nov. 14, economists predict a series of data releases to show growth slowing in Germany and stalling in France, with Italy remaining mired in an unprecedented slump.

Ομιλία Τσίπρα σε Τέξας

11-2013

Σας ευχαριστώ κ. Frassoni για την εισαγωγή. Ευχαριστώ και το Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs για την πρόσκληση και για την ευκαιρία να συζητήσουμε για  την κρίση της ευρωζώνης, και την κατάσταση στην Ελλάδα, με ειδικούς και με φορείς χάραξης πολιτικής και από τις δύο πλευρές του Ατλαντικού.

Πρέπει να σωθεί η Ευρωζώνη;

Germany's Surplus Isn't the Problem

By SIMON NIXON

Nov. 10, 2013 9:06 p.m. ET

The Wall Street Journal

On almost any measure, the euro zone is in better shape than a year ago—and much better shape than many expected, not least those who were predicting its imminent collapse.

The currency bloc is out of recession; Spain and Portugal are growing; the Greek government expects growth to return next year. Yields on peripheral government bonds have fallen sharply. And the euro zone is embarking on a major integration project—banking union—that it hopes will restore confidence in the region's banking system and allow credit to flow again.

Hard-Wired for Tension in Greece

November 11, 2013

By NIKOS KONSTANDARAS

The New York Times

The brutality of the crime would be shocking anywhere: the gunman walked up to three young men, all members of Golden Dawn, on a busy neighborhood sidewalk and fired 12 bullets in seven seconds, finishing off two victims with bullets to the head and leaving the third seriously wounded before escaping on a motorcycle driven by an accomplice.

GREECE - Factors to Watch on November 11

Mon Nov 11, 2013 3:12am EST

ATHENS, Nov 11 (Reuters) - Here are news stories, press

reports and events, which may affect Greek financial markets on

Monday:

   

    GREEK GOVT SURVIVES CONFIDENCE VOTE, KICKS OUT A DEPUTY

    Greece's conservative-led coalition defeated, as expected,

an opposition-sponsored motion to topple the government on

Monday, but lost one lawmaker who was expelled after backing the

opposition.

China Output Growth Tops Estimates as Recovery Sustains Momentum

By Bloomberg News - Nov 9, 2013 6:01 PM GMT+0200

China’s industrial output growth unexpectedly accelerated and inflation stayed below a government target, providing a boost to Communist Party leaders meeting in Beijing to chart the economy’s course for coming years.

Production rose 10.3 percent from a year earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics said yesterday, exceeding the 10 percent median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey of economists and the previous month’s 10.2 percent. Inflation was a less-than-forecast 3.2 percent and producer prices fell 1.5 percent.

TABLE-Greek October consumer prices mark biggest deflation in 50 yrs

ATHENS Fri Nov 8, 2013 5:15am EST

Nov 8 (Reuters) - Greece posted its biggest deflation since 1962 on Friday, as consumer prices fell 2.0 percent on an annual basis, data from the statistics service showed on Friday.

The EU-harmonised inflation reading fell 1.9 percent from 1.0 percent in September. The October reading was below a forecast of -1.5 percent.

The European Central Bank’s Inflation Conundrum

November 6, 2013

By JACK EWING

The New York T imes

FRANKFURT — The European Central Bank will meet on Thursday under renewed pressure to do more to stimulate the Continent’s sluggish economies, as evidence grows that the recovery is failing to pick up speed and that inflation has fallen so low as to become worrisome.

Mario Draghi, the president of the central bank, has already used a mix of threats, promises and cheap money to avoid a euro zone breakup and to help the most financially troubled governments get access to the borrowing they need. Now a growing chorus is hoping the central bank will signal a willingness to step in again.

Greece's PPC threatens to ditch top client Aluminium in price row

ATHENS Thu Nov 7, 2013 3:50pm EST

Nov 7 (Reuters) - Greece's dominant electricity producer PPC threatened on Thursday to ditch its biggest customer, Aluminium SA, upping the ante in a five-year row between the two firms over power supply prices.

The dispute, which threatens to disrupt production at Aluminium, southeast Europe's biggest aluminum smelter, is emblematic of the confused state of Greece's power market, one of the problems Athens needs to fix as part of its bailout by the International Monetary Fund and European Union.

Those Depressing Germans

November 3, 2013

The New York Times

By PAUL KRUGMAN

German officials are furious at America, and not just because of the business about Angela Merkel’s cellphone. What has them enraged now is one (long) paragraph in a U.S. Treasury report on foreign economic and currency policies. In that paragraph Treasury argues that Germany’s huge surplus on current account — a broad measure of the trade balance — is harmful, creating “a deflationary bias for the euro area, as well as for the world economy.”

The Germans angrily pronounced this argument “incomprehensible.” “There are no imbalances in Germany which require a correction of our growth-friendly economic and fiscal policy,” declared a spokesman for the nation’s finance ministry.

Greek Police Raid Occupied Broadcasting Station

November 7, 2013

By NIKI KITSANTONIS

The New York Times

ATHENS — Greek riot police officers raided the headquarters of the country’s former state broadcaster, ERT, on Thursday, forcibly removing dozens of staff members who had been occupying the building since June, when the authorities abruptly shut down the organization, citing wasteful spending.

Officers entered the building north of Athens shortly after 4 a.m. and removed around 50 former employees, four of whom were briefly detained for questioning, according to a police spokesman, who said the raid went smoothly. Officers fired tear gas to disperse about 200 protesters who had gathered outside the building, but demonstrators regrouped after the officers’ departure and continued their protest.

UPDATE 1-Rain dampens latest Greek strike against austerity

Wed Nov 6, 2013 7:53am EST

* Greek labour unions hold 24-hour strike against austerity

* Lower turnout at rallies due to heavy rain, resignation

* Thousands march to parliament after troika resumes review

By Renee Maltezou

ATHENS, Nov 6 (Reuters) - Thousands of striking Greek workers marched to parliament in pouring rain on Wednesday to protest against measures imposed by foreign lenders, whose inspectors are in Athens to review the country's bailout.