Putin Declares War

Will Obama and Europe let him get away with carving up Ukraine?

March 2, 2014 10:11 a.m. ET

The Wall Street Journal

Vladimir Putin's Russia seized Ukraine's Crimean peninsula by force on the weekend and now has his sights on the rest of his Slavic neighbor. The brazen aggression brings the threat of war to the heart of Europe for the first time since the end of the Cold War. The question now is what President Obama and free Europe are going to do about it.

Russia holds war games near Ukraine; Merkel warns of catastrophe

BY STEPHEN BROWN AND TIMOTHY HERITAGE

BERLIN/MOSCOW Fri Mar 14, 2014 2:53am EDT

(Reuters) - Russia launched new military exercises near its border with Ukraine on Thursday, showing no sign of backing down on plans to annex its neighbor's Crimea region despite a stronger than expected drive for sanctions from the EU and United States.

India Looking for Malaysian Jet as U.S. Sees Air Piracy

By Alan Levin, Kartikay Mehrotra and Anurag Kotoky  Mar 14, 2014 5:37 AM GMT+0200

India’s navy set up a search zone for the missing Malaysian airliner in the Andaman Sea, hundreds of miles off the course of Flight 370, as evidence mounted that the plane may have flown long after controllers lost contact.

Challenges Ahead in Crimea

Brookings

By: Steven Pifer

Editor’s Note from Lawfare: The Russian military occupation of the Crimea and Russian president Vladimir Putin’s attempts to railroad a political settlement that would separate Crimea from the rest of Ukraine is the latest, and perhaps the most formidable, foreign policy test for the Obama administration. Events on the ground are fast-moving and defy easy categorization, further complicating policymaking. Steven Pifer, a senior fellow here at Brookings as well as the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine during several pivotal years in the Clinton administration, offers his perspective on the challenges ahead and the best approach for the United States and its allies.

Greek journalist-turned-politician rides anti-establishment wave

BY DEEPA BABINGTON AND RENEE MALTEZOU

ATHENS Thu Mar 13, 2014 8:11am EDT

(Reuters) - A television journalist-turned-political crusader promising to shake up Greek politics is winning unexpectedly strong support from voters in the run-up to European elections in May.

Tapping into the disgust felt by many Greeks against established politicians with a call for a grassroots, youth-led movement to solve Greek problems, Stavros Theodorakis has quickly snapped up followers from both the left and the right.

Irish Bonds Rise, Yields Drop to Record in Market Return

By Lucy Meakin  Mar 13, 2014 3:47 PM GMT+0200  0 Comments  Email  Print

Bloomberg

Ireland’s 10-year yield fell to a record as the nation auctioned government bonds for the first time since 2010, the latest sign the euro region’s financial woes are abating.

Italy’s bonds also advanced as the Treasury in Rome sold 7.75 billion euros ($10.8 billion) of debt due between 2016 and 2037. The average yield to maturity on securities from Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Spain fell to the lowest in the history of the euro area this week, according to Bank of America Merrill Lynch indexes, as investors return to markets they shunned during the region’s debt crisis.

Greece posts wider primary budget surplus in Jan-Feb

ATHENS, March 11 Tue Mar 11, 2014 6:40am EDT

Reuters

(Reuters) - Greece's central government posted a primary budget surplus, before interest payments, of 2.1 billion euros ($2.91 billion) in the first two months of the year, compared to a surplus of 487 million euros in the same period last year, deputy finance minister Christos Staikouras said on Tuesday.

This is far above an interim target for a surplus in Jan-Feb of 1.047 billion euros. The figure excludes the budgets of social security organisations and local administration.

Soros Says Europe Faces 25 Years of Stagnation Without Overhaul

By Jesse Westbrook  Mar 12, 2014 12:45 PM GMT+0200

Bloomberg

Billionaire investor George Soros said Europe faces 25 years of Japanese-style stagnation unless politicians pursue further integration of the currency bloc and change policies that have discouraged banks from lending.

While the immediate financial crisis that has plagued Europe since 2010 “is over,” it still faces a political crisis that has divided the region between creditor and debtor nations, Soros, 83, said in a Bloomberg Television interview in London today. At the same time, banks have been encouraged to pass stress tests, rather than boost the economy by providing capital to businesses, he said.

Why regulation — on yogurt and more — is blocking Greece’s recovery

By Peter Gumbel MARCH 11, 2014

Reuters

The news that Greek-style yogurt maker Chobani is looking to sell a minority stake that would value the company at around $2.5 billion should in theory be a big boost for Greece’s beleaguered dairy industry.

Προσέλαβαν 80 εργαζόμενους στην ΟΣΥ με πλαστά ή παραποιημένα πτυχία

ΔΗΜΟΣΙΕΥΣΗ: 11/03/2014 23:14

TA NEA 

Πλαστά πιστοποιητικά σπουδών φέρνουν στην επιφάνεια οι εσωτερικοί έλεγχοι που γίνονται με εντολή του υπουργείου Διοικητικής Μεταρρύθμισης στους φακέλους του προσωπικού της εταιρείας Οδικές Συγκοινωνίες (ΟΣΥ).

Malaysia military tracked missing plane to west coast: source

BY EVELINE DANUBRATA AND NILUKSI KOSWANAGE

KUALA LUMPUR Tue Mar 11, 2014 8:12am EDT

Reuters

(Reuters) - Malaysia's military believes it tracked a missing jetliner by radar over the Strait of Malacca, far from where it last made contact with civilian air traffic control off the country's east coast, a military source told Reuters.

In one of the most baffling mysteries in recent aviation history, a massive search operation for the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777-200ER, now in its fourth day, has so far found no trace of the aircraft or the 239 passengers and crew.

Ukraine crisis: Russia preparing counter-offer to US demands

Kremlin says Washington’s stance on negotiations unacceptable because it accepts ouster of Yanukovych as fait accompli

Associated Press in Kiev

theguardian.com, Tuesday 11 March 2014 04.25 GMT

Russia has said it is drafting counterproposals to a US plan for a negotiated solution to the Ukraine crisis. The Kremlin denounced the new western-backed government as an unacceptable “fait accompli” and claimed Russian-leaning parts of the country had been plunged into lawlessness.

Beware Greeks Selling Gifts as EU Frets: Euro Credit

By Nikos Chrysoloras and Marcus Bensasson  Mar 10, 2014 1:35 PM GMT+0200

Bloomberg

The European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund have expressed a view that the Greek government may repeat past mistakes if it manages to slip the shackles of its bailout program

Why Mexican drug-traffickers started smuggling iron ore to China

The Economist explains

Mar 9th 2014, 23:50 by H.T. | MEXICO CITY

http://www.economist.com/blogs/economist-explains/2014/03/economist-explains

The Economist

IT IS big, bulky, you can’t snort it, and it doesn’t get you high. Per tonne, it sells for about $125, compared with cocaine, which fetches at least $50m wholesale. By any reckoning, iron ore would seem like a daft thing to peddle if you were in the drugs trade. Yet on March 3rd Mexican authorities seized nearly 120,000 tonnes of it near the port of Lázaro Cárdenas on the Pacific coast. Much of it they reckon was due to be smuggled to China by the Knights Templar, a bloodthirsty drug-trafficking outfit. Officials say that the business had become even better for the Templars than drugs.

Debt Exceeds $100 Trillion as Governments Binge

By John Glover  Mar 10, 2014 5:42 PM GMT+0200

Bloomberg

The amount of debt globally has soared more than 40 percent to $100 trillion since the first signs of the financial crisis as governments borrowed to pull their economies out of recession and companies took advantage of record low interest rates.

The $30 trillion increase from $70 trillion between mid-2007 and mid-2013 compares with a $3.86 trillion decline in the value of equities to $53.8 trillion, according to the Bank for International Settlements and data compiled by Bloomberg. The jump in debt as measured by the Basel, Switzerland-based BIS in its quarterly review is almost twice the U.S. economy.

Greek Yields Drop to 4-Year Low, Stocks Rally Amid Troika Talks

By Neal Armstrong and Christos Ziotis  Feb 26, 2014 6:41 PM GMT+0200

Bloomberg

Greece’s bonds jumped, sending yields to a four-year low, and stocks climbed on speculation the country will reach an agreement with international creditors to ensure its bank-recapitalization requirements are manageable.

Russian Forces Gain in Ukraine as Separatist Vote Looms

By Kateryna Choursina, Volodymyr Verbyany and Stepan Kravchenko  Mar 10, 2014 9:58 AM GMT+0200

Bloomberg

Russian forces advanced in Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula, ignoring Western calls to halt a military takeover before the region’s separatist referendum.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said yesterday he’d travel to Washington this week as Russian President Vladimir Putin defended Crimea’s local government, which may use the March 16 vote to leave Ukraine and join the country’s Soviet-era master. Russian troops detained Ukrainian border guards at a base a day after gunmen fired warning shots at international observers and barred them from Crimea.

ΣΔΟΕ: Στα δίχτυα 72 της λίστας Λαγκάρντ για φοροδιαφυγή, μιζαδόροι και οδοντίατρος

Αρχίζει η αξιοποίηση της λίστα Λαγκάρντ για την είσπραξη εσόδων από το Δημόσιο. Στο αμέσως προσεχές διάστημα, σύμφωνα με πληροφορίες, 72 επιχειρηματίες, ιδιώτες και άλλα πρόσωπα που το όνομα τους υπάρχει στη λίστα αναμένεται να παραπεμφθούν στις οικονομικές υπηρεσίες για να καταβάλουν δεκάδες εκατομμύρια ευρώ για απόκρυψη εισοδήματος.

Το ΣΔΟΕ βρήκε «μαύρη τρύπα» άνω του 1,5 εκατ. ευρώ στο Μετσόβιο

«Μαύρη τρύπα» με αδικαιολόγητες δαπάνες άνω του 1,5 εκατ. ευρώ στο Εθνικό Μετσόβιο Πολυτεχνείο εντόπισαν οι ελεγκτές του Σώματος Δίωξης Οικονομικού Εγκλήματος.

Η έρευνα του ΣΔΟΕ στα οικονομικά του Πολυτεχνείου της Αθήνας βρίσκεται σε πλήρη εξέλιξη, όπου οι ελεγκτές κάνουν «φύλλο και φτερό» τιμολόγια και άλλα παραστατικά για δαπάνες, ερευνητικά προγράμματα, αμοιβές κ.λπ.

Ισόβια σε εφοριακούς για παράνομες επιστροφές ΦΠΑ

ΘΕΣΣΑΛΟΝΙΚΗ

Σύννεφο» πήγαν τα ισόβια από το Κακουργιοδικείο Θεσσαλονίκης σε βάρος εφοριακών που κατηγορούνταν για την γνωστή υπόθεση των παράνομων επιστροφών ΦΠΑ.

Μάλιστα, σύμφωνα με νομικούς, είναι η πρώτη φορά που ποινικό δικαστήριο της πόλης επιβάλει την ποινή της ισόβιας κάθειρξης εναντίον κατηγορούμενων εφοριακών σε δίκη που συνδέεται με το συγκεκριμένο σκάνδαλο, το οποίο αποκαλύφθηκε πριν από περίπου 15χρονια, με τη συνολικά προκληθείσα ζημιά για το ελληνικό δημόσιο να εκτιμάται σε δεκάδες εκατομμύρια ευρώ.