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.

10 Quick Ways to Lose All Your Friends

Jeff Haden  April 12, 2014
TIME Magazine

This post is in partnership with Inc., which offers useful advice, resources, and insights to entrepreneurs and business owners. The article below was originally published at Inc.com.

Want to win friends and influence people? Here are 10 things that ensure you won’t:

1. You thoughtlessly waste other peoples’ time. Every time you’re late to an appointment or meeting says your time is more important. Every time you wait until the grocery clerk finishes ringing you up to search for your debit card says you couldn’t care less if others have to wait unnecessarily. Every time you take three minutes to fill your oversize water bottle while a line stacks up behind you says you’re in your own little world–and your world is the only world that matters.

China economic growth slows to 18-month low in first-quarter

BY ADAM ROSE AND XIAOYI SHAO

BEIJING Wed Apr 16, 2014 2:29am EDT

(Reuters) - China's economy grew at its slowest pace in 18 months at the start of 2014, but did a touch better than expected and showed some improvement in March, suggesting Beijing will not rush to follow up recent steps to support activity.

Authorities have ruled out major stimulus to fight short-term dips in growth, signaling the slowdown was an expected consequence of their reform drive, even as some analysts think the economy will lose further momentum.

Ukraine Suffers Setback in Bid to Confront Pro-Russian Militias

By ANDREW E. KRAMERAPRIL 16, 2014

The New York Times

SLOVYANSK, Ukraine — The opening phase of what the Ukrainian government has called a military operation to confront pro-Russian militants suffered a setback Wednesday morning when six armored personnel carriers flying a Russian flag drove into town here and parked in the central square.

Greece Expects New Record in Tourist Arrivals: Minister

By Eleni Chrepa  Apr 15, 2014 12:55 PM GMT+0300

Bloomberg

Greece’s successful return to bond markets is the most recent in a series of “positive messages” for the economy that included the country posting a record year for tourism and forecasting an even stronger 2014, Tourism Minister Olga Kefalogianni said.

“We have left the big difficulties behind us,” Kefalogianni said in an interview yesterday. “The trend is now turning and we’ll see the Greek economy start recovering this year.”

Separatists tighten grip on east Ukraine, EU agrees more sanctions on Moscow

BY THOMAS GROVE AND GABRIELA BACZYNSKA

SLAVIANSK/DONETSK, Ukraine Mon Apr 14, 2014 6:21pm EDT

(Reuters) - Armed pro-Russian separatists seized more buildings in eastern Ukraine on Monday, expanding their control after the government failed to follow through on threatened military crackdown leaving Moscow's partisans essentially unopposed.

European foreign ministers agreed to widen sanctions against Moscow and the White House said Washington was seeking ways to impose more "costs" on Russia, for what Kiev and its Western friends call a Russian plot to dismember Ukraine.

The Red Line and the Rat Line

London Review of Books

Seymour M. Hersh on Obama, Erdoğan and the Syrian rebels

In 2011 Barack Obama led an allied military intervention in Libya without consulting the US Congress. Last August, after the sarin attack on the Damascus suburb of Ghouta, he was ready to launch an allied air strike, this time to punish the Syrian government for allegedly crossing the ‘red line’ he had set in 2012 on the use of chemical weapons.​ Then with less than two days to go before the planned strike, he announced that he would seek congressional approval for the intervention. The strike was postponed as Congress prepared for hearings, and subsequently cancelled when Obama accepted Assad’s offer to relinquish his chemical arsenal in a deal brokered by Russia. Why did Obama delay and then relent on Syria when he was not shy about rushing into Libya? The answer lies in a clash between those in the administration who were committed to enforcing the red line, and military leaders who thought that going to war was both unjustified and potentially disastrous.

'Great Stretch' to secure Greek debt return

BY PAUL TAYLOR

PARIS Sun Apr 13, 2014 3:55am EDT

(Reuters) - Call it the Great Stretch.

Two years ago, Greece's debt crisis almost brought the euro zone crashing down.

Now European partners are preparing to ease Athens' debt burden without writing off their loans but by stretching them out into the distant future, extending maturities from 30 to 50 years and further cutting some interest rates, EU officials say.

During Hagel Visit, China Showed Its Military Might, and Its Frustrations

By HELENE COOPERAPRIL 10, 2014

The New York Times

ULAN BATOR, Mongolia — When Robert M. Gates visited China in 2011 as the United States defense secretary, the military greeted him with an unexpected and, in the view of American military officials, provocative test of a Chinese stealth fighter jet, a bold show of force that stunned the visiting Americans and may even have surprised the Chinese president at the time, Hu Jintao.

Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 searchers hear another possible black box ping from Indian Ocean

Last Updated Apr 10, 2014 2:07 PM EDT

PERTH, Australia -- An Australian aircraft Thursday detected what may be the fifth signal coming from a man-made device deep in the Indian Ocean, adding to hopes that searchers will soon pinpoint the object's location and send down a robotic vehicle to confirm if it is a black box from the missing Malaysian jet.

The Australian air force P-3 Orion, which has been dropping sonar buoys into the water near where four earlier sounds were heard, picked up a "possible signal" that may be from a man-made source, said Angus Houston, who is coordinating the search off Australia's west coast.

"The acoustic data will require further analysis overnight," Houston said in a statement.

Satellites Show Russia Mobilizing Near Ukraine, NATO Says

By DAVID M. HERSZENHORNAPRIL 10, 2014

The New York Times

MOSCOW — NATO released satellite photographs on Thursday showing Russian military equipment, including fighter jets and tanks, that it described as part of a deployment of as many as 40,000 troops near the border with Ukraine. The release came the same day that President Vladimir V. Putin reiterated a threat to curtail gas sales to Ukraine.

Merkel Returns to Greece as Germany Eases Up on Euro Area

By Patrick Donahue and Ian Wishart  Apr 11, 2014 11:15 AM GMT+0300

Germany is signaling its focus on austerity may be easing as Greece begins its rehabilitation with international investors.

Chancellor Angela Merkel travels to Athens today for talks with Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, a day after Greece’s first bond sale in four years was oversubscribed. A joint news conference is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Athens time.

Rally expected in new Greek bonds when trade begins

LONDON, April 11 Fri Apr 11, 2014 5:12am EDT

(Reuters) - Yields on Greece's new five-year bonds, sold in the bailed-out country's return to markets after a four-year absence, were expected to fall below the sale price when they began trading on Friday.

Banks managing the sale said the bonds had already begun trading over-the-counter at yields below the 4.95 percent at which they were sold, although market participants were reserving their verdict on the deal until prices appeared on trading screens. That is expected to take place on Friday but depends on when the bonds are released to those who bought them.