Greece seeks to open debt relief talks with creditors

Finance minister to raise subject with eurozone counterparts on Monday in further sign Europe's economic crisis is receding

Helena Smith in Athens

The Guardian, Sunday 4 May 2014 19.08 BST

In a step likely to be hailed as further proof of Europe's receding economic crisis, Greece is poised to formally open debt relief talks with its creditors.

The Greek finance minister, Yannis Stournaras, will raise the once off-limits topic with his eurozone counterparts in Brussels on Monday, almost four years to the day after Athens received its first slice of international aid.

Why India Will Soon Outpace China

FORBES ASIA 5/04/2014 @ 11:00AM

By James Gruber

On the face of it, the title of this article will seem absurd to many. While China’s economic growth has slowed, it’s still running at a brisk 7.4% annual rate. Moreover, the Chinese government seems to be successfully slowing credit in order to rein in a burgeoning debt issue. And it’s implementing a plethora of reforms which should propel the next phase of growth.

Meanwhile, India’s a mess. This fiscal year’s GDP will be below 5% and near decade lows, government and corporate debt is high, the current account deficit has been out of control until recently, inflation reached double-digits late last year, business confidence and investment are at extreme lows and corruption remains rampant.

Greek conservatives regain lead in polls ahead of EU election

ATHENS Sat May 3, 2014 2:02pm EDT

(Reuters) - Greece's co-ruling conservatives have regained a narrow lead over the main, anti-bailout opposition three weeks before a European Parliament election, two polls showed.

The election, which coincides with a key local vote, is seen as a test for Prime Minister Antonis Samaras' fragile coalition in a country still reeling from the debt crisis and banking on loans from the European Union and International Monetary Fund.

Samaras' New Democracy - which leads the coalition with the Socialist PASOK party - and its rival, the leftist Syriza party, have been running neck-and-neck in polls for months, with voters often swinging in favor of one or the other party.

Ukraine suffers deadliest day in months; 34 killed in Odessa

By Simon Denyer and Anna Nemtsova, Published: May 2 E-mail the writer

DONETSK, Ukraine — Ukraine suffered its bloodiest day in nearly three months on Friday, with at least nine people killed when the army launched its first major assault on a rebel stronghold and 34 killed in clashes between pro-Ukrainian and pro-Russian mobs in the Black Sea port city of Odessa.

Behind the Masks in Ukraine, Many Faces of Rebellion

By C. J. CHIVERS and NOAH SNEIDERMAY 3, 2014

The New York Times

SLOVYANSK, Ukraine — The rebel leader spread a topographic map in front of a closed grocery store here as a Ukrainian military helicopter flew past a nearby hill. Ukrainian troops had just seized positions along a river, about a mile and a half away. The commander thought they might advance.

He issued orders with the authority of a man who had seen many battles. “Go down to the bridge and set up the snipers,” the leader, who gave only a first name, Yuri, said to a former Ukrainian paratrooper, who jogged away.

Opinion: Putin's empire building is not a new Cold War

By Russia Foundation chair David Clark, Special to CNN

April 29, 2014 -- Updated 1105 GMT (1905 HKT)

[Editor's note: David Clark is chair of the Russia Foundation, which is a UK-based think-tank focused on education and dialogue on themes including democracy and economic cooperation. Clark was a special adviser to former foreign secretary Robin Cook between 1997 and 2001. Follow Clark on Twitter. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely his.]

London (CNN) -- The full scale of Russian President Vladimir Putin's new imperial ambition was revealed recently when he referred to the southern and eastern territories of Ukraine as Novorossiya (New Russia).

This was the name given to the region by Catherine the Great after she captured it from the Ottomans in the late 18th century and began colonizing it with Russian, Ukrainian and German settlers.

Along with his assertion that Crimea belongs to Russia because of the blood-price Russian troops paid to conquer it more than two centuries ago, Putin's appropriation of Tsarist terminology establishes a new and troubling benchmark for his irredentist project.

Amid continued defiance, Ukrainian official vows: 'We are not stopping'

By Greg Botelho, Victoria Butenko and Nick Paton Walsh, CNN

May 3, 2014 -- Updated 2314 GMT (0714 HKT)

Slavyansk, Ukraine (CNN) -- On the one side, Ukraine's interior minister said Saturday that military operations in the east would continue and vowed, "We are not stopping."

On the other, there was the pro-Russian separatist leader in Luhansk who announced the formation of an army to march on Kiev.

Στουρνάρας: Δεν παίζουμε με το ευρώ

http://www.nooz.gr/economy/epi8esi-stournara-ston-suriza-gia-tin-oikonomia

ΑΘΗΝΑ 29/04/2014

Για «τριχοτόμηση προσωπικότητας» αναφορικά με το νόμισμα κατηγόρησε ο Γ. Στουρνάρας τον ΣΥΡΙΖΑ στη Βουλή, επισημαίνοντας: «Δεν παίζουμε με το ευρώ. Δεν παίζουμε με το νόμισμα, με τα ιερά και τα όσια. Σταματήστε να ακροβατείτε σε τεντωμένο σκοινί. Ευχόμαστε να κατασταλάξετε επιτέλους».

«Εως σήμερα θεωρούσαμε ότι ο ΣΥΡΙΖΑ έχει δύο απόψεις για το νόμισμα -διχοτόμηση προσωπικότητας το λένε αυτό την ιατρική. Από τη μία η συνιστώσα της δραχμής από Λαφαζάνη και από την άλλη μια περίεργη άποψη, που θέλει ευρώ, αλλά και να χρεοκοπεί όποτε θέλει η χώρα ή να κόβει νομίσμα όποτε θέλει. Ας το πούμε οιονεί ευρώ» είπε.

Ακόμη 35 απολύσεις στον ΟΣΥ για πλαστά στοιχεία

http://www.nooz.gr/greece/osu-ki-alles-35-apoliseis-gia-plasta-pistopoiitika

ΑΘΗΝΑ 30/04/2014

Συνεχίζονται οι απολύσεις εργαζομένων στις Οδικές Συγκοινωνίες μετά τους ελέγχους που διενεργούνται για κατάθεση πλαστών πιστοποιητικών κατά την πρόσληψή τους. Με απόφαση της διοίκησης της ΟΣΥ, που δημοσιεύεται στη «Διαύγεια», από την 1η Μαΐου, απολύονται ακόμη 35 εργαζόμενοι.

Disarray in eastern Ukraine as protest is attacked, mayor is shot

By Griff Witte and William Booth, Published: April 28 E-mail the writers

The Washington Post

DONETSK, UKRAINE — With Ukrainian flags flying high and garlands of flowers in their hair, protesters marched through the heart of this city at sundown Monday.

“East and West together,” they chanted.

But in Ukraine, even such anodyne appeals to unity can be a magnet for trouble. The protesters, including old men and grade-school-age children, were walking into a trap.

Russia complains of large Ukrainian troop buildup in east

By Ralph Ellis, Laura Smith-Spark and Gul Tuysuz, CNN

April 27, 2014 -- Updated 0122 GMT (0922 HKT)

Kiev, Ukraine (CNN) -- A perilous face-off intensified Saturday when Russia state news complained that Ukraine had mobilized 15,000 troops in the suburbs of Slavyansk in eastern Ukraine "in order to wipe out the city and its residents."

Quoting a Russian Defense Ministry source, RIA Novosti said satellite photos showed the force forming around the city that has become a friction point between the Ukraine military and pro-Russian militants.

The Defense Ministry source said the number of Ukraine troops put the pro-Russian militants at a disadvantage because the latter are "armed only with small amount of pistols and shotguns." Many eastern Ukraine residents have Russian roots and sympathize with Moscow.

Ukraine tense as Russia launches military drills, activists die in clashes

By Laura Smith-Spark, Ben Brumfield and Victoria Butenko, CNN

April 25, 2014 -- Updated 0344 GMT (1144 HKT)

CNN

Kiev, Ukraine (CNN) -- Tensions in Ukraine escalated sharply Thursday, with Russia embarking on new military drills near the border after Ukrainian forces said they killed five pro-Russian militants.

Ukraine's Interior Ministry said Ukrainian forces killed the militants during operations to take down pro-Russian activists' roadblocks around the southeastern city of Slavyansk.

The Russian response was swift.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said "if the Kiev regime has started to use the army against the population inside the country, it, beyond any doubt, is a very serious crime."

More Greek Statistics? Troika Confirms Primary Surplus

9:17 am ET Apr 23, 2014

The Wall Street Journal

By  MATINA STEVIS and  CHARLES FORELLE

The European Commission said Wednesday that Greece recorded a primary surplus of €1.5 billion in 2013, overshooting a target of a balanced primary balance and paving the way for the country’s talks on debt relief later this year.

Hurray, many said: Athens has finally met its budget goals, after years of failing to comply with austerity targets that crushed the economy and were later viewed as too tough even by Greece’s creditors. This latest development means that the Greek government can redistribute some of the above-target surplus to its citizens. (In theory, it also means Greece could default on external debt and continue paying pensions and salaries internally from the taxes it raises, but that’s a different story.)

Ukraine’s Military Drive in East Enters Neutral Gear, as Pact on Crisis Is Tested

By ANDREW ROTH and NEIL MacFARQUHARAPRIL 23, 2014

The New York Times

SLOVYANSK, Ukraine — The promised Ukrainian military effort to reassert control over the restive eastern part of the country barely registered on Wednesday, but the Geneva agreement to defuse the crisis in the country frayed even further as the United States and Russia exchanged warnings and accusations of meddling in the region.

The Ukrainian Interior Ministry in Kiev said that it had flushed out armed separatists in Sviatogorsk — a town near Slovyansk, a stronghold of pro-Russian militants in the east — and that no one was injured in the operation. But a Ukrainian military official who spoke on the condition of anonymity said the presence of the militants in the city had been minimal. “You cannot say that there had been a powerful outburst of separatism there,” he said.

Greece qualifies for new debt relief after 2013 budget surplus

BRUSSELS/ATHENS Wed Apr 23, 2014 7:59am EDT

(Reuters) - Greece is set to obtain more debt relief from its international lenders after European officials confirmed on Wednesday that Athens had topped its fiscal targets and achieved a budget surplus in 2013.

Wednesday's announcement come on the fourth anniversary of Greece's official request for a bailout after it lost access to global bond markets. Earlier this month, Greece returned to the markets with the sale of five-year bonds.

The budget surplus is a sign of the progress Greece has made to fix its finances after four years of tough bailout-imposed austerity that wiped out almost a quarter of its GDP and sent unemployment to record highs of almost 28 percent.

Eurostat: Στα 3,4 δισ. ευρώ το πρωτογενές πλεόνασμα για την Ελλάδα

ΕΛΕΝΗ ΒΑΡΒΙΤΣΙΩΤΗ, ΣΩΤΗΡΗΣ ΝΙΚΑΣ

Καθημερινή

23-4-2014

Πρωτογενές πλεόνασμα ύψους σχεδόν 3,4 δισ. ευρώ για τον προϋπολογισμό προκύπτει από τα στοιχεία που δημοσίευσε σήμερα η Eurostat. Συγκεκριμένα, βάσει των κανόνων της Ευρωπαϊκής Αρχής το έλλειμμα Γενικής Κυβέρνησης διαμορφώθηκε στα 23,109 δισ. ευρώ και εξαιρουμένης της στήριξης των τραπεζών, οδηγεί σε πρωτογενές πλεόνασμα 3,4 δισ. ευρώ, στοιχείο ευθυγραμμισμένιο απόλυτα με τις πρόσφατες αντίστοιχες ανακοινώσεις της ΕΛΣΤΑΤ, στις 14 Απριλίου.

President Obama, disregarding his own red line, dithers on Ukraine

By Editorial Board, Published: April 22

The Washington Post

AFTER AN agreement to “de-escalate tensions and restore security” in Ukraine was announced Thursday, Secretary of State John F. Kerry was very explicit about U.S. expectations. “We fully expect the Russians . . . to demonstrate their seriousness by insisting that the pro-Russian separatists who they’ve been supporting lay down their arms [and] leave the buildings” in eastern Ukraine, he said. “I made clear to Foreign Minister [Sergei] Lavrov today that if we are not able to see progress . . . this weekend, then we will have no choice but to impose further costs on Russia.”

UPDATE 1-National Bank of Greece plans senior unsecured bond sale

Thu Apr 17, 2014 4:22am EDT

By Aimee Donnellan

Reuters

LONDON, April 17 (IFR) - National Bank of Greece, rated Caa1/CCC/B-, is preparing to sell the second senior unsecured bank bond from the country in the past four weeks, with fixed income investors increasingly willing to back Europe's most troubled credits.

NBG has mandated Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, HSBC and Morgan Stanley to arrange investor calls and a group presentation in London next week to discuss a possible senior unsecured bond transaction.

Why Ukraine crisis has China in a bind

April 15th, 2014

02:31 PM ET

By Christopher S. Chivvis and Bonny Lin, Special to CNN

CNN

(Editor's note: Christopher S. Chivvis is a senior political scientist at the nonprofit, nonpartisan RAND Corporation and expert in European and Eurasian security issues. You can follow him @cchivvis. Bonny Lin is an associate political scientist at RAND and an expert on Asia-Pacific security issues. The views expressed are their own.)

At Sunday night's emergency U.N. Security Council meeting, Western countries denounced Russian efforts to destabilize eastern Ukraine. Depending on your reading of its statement, China either refused to do the same, or refused to back Russia. Either way, the meeting was just the latest example of how the Ukraine crisis has put China in a bind.

In Ukraine, a crisis of bullets and economics

By Anthony Faiola, Published: April 16

The Washington Post

DONETSK, Ukraine — As pro-Russia militants stormed City Hall here Wednesday, the interim Ukrainian government was battling more than just a separatist problem.

Kiev’s credibility is on the line as the central government tries to persuade residents fearful of economic hardship that their future lies with Ukraine rather than Russia.