Daily Archives: January 17, 2015

The next Greek government could be offered a six-month bailout extension, while a third loan package might be put together by the troika, according to reports on Friday.

Reuters and the Wall Street Journal reported that European Commission, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund officials met in Brussels on Thursday to discuss the situation in Greece ahead of the January 25 elections.

“There will have to be an extension beyond February. It will be inevitable,” one eurozone official with knowledge of the talks told Reuters. “It could be six months more.”

The extension would have to be requested by the next Greek government, which will not be in a position to do so at the next Eurogroup as it takes place a day after the elections. SYRIZA has suggested that if it comes to power it would like a six-month window in which to negotiate new terms with Greece’s lenders but this will not necessarily mean asking for the bailout to be lengthened as well.

It also appears that the idea of a third package for Greece was discussed at the Brussels meeting.

“It was brainstorming. The discussion was about scenarios rather than any concrete decisions,” the official told Reuters.

The Wall Street Journal reported that some eurozone members are toying with the idea of whether Greece might need more loans.

Meanwhile, in Greece New Democracy is to focus on the mixed messages coming from the SYRIZA camp as it tries to close the gap on the leftists in the final few days of the campaign, sources told Kathimerini.

On Friday, New Democracy spokeswoman Maria Spyraki seized on comments by one of SYRIZA’s top officials, Yiannis Dragasakis, in which he suggested that a leftist government might not pay bonds held by the European Central Bank and national central banks which mature in July.

“This is the most cynical admission regarding the country’s destruction and it has come from the most official of lips,” said Spyraki in a statement. The conservatives also commented on claims by SYRIZA MP Yiannis Tolios that taxpayers would not have to pay the last two installments of the ENFIA property levy as the leftists would scrap it.

New Democracy also poked fun at SYRIZA candidate Rachil Makri over her claims that Greece could use the emergency liquidity assistance (ELA) scheme to “print” up to 100 billion euros. “Why don’t they print 300 billion euros and wipe out Greece’s debt?” the conservatives said.

Prime Minister Antonis Samaras’s party is expected to go on the front foot over the next few days in a bid to drive home what they believe are the contradictions in SYRIZA’s message. Samaras is due to give four TV interviews, with the first one possibly coming as early as Saturday.

Samaras also pledged on Friday that if he is re-elected “one of the first laws” that he will submit to Parliament is legislation seeking to ease the problems faced by some 60,000 to 65,000 Greeks who had taken out loans in Swiss francs and have seen their repayment costs shoot up by around 15 percent as a result of the decision on Thursday by the Swiss National Bank to remove the cap on the country’s currency.

source: ekathimerini.com

SYRIZA’s economic policy chief sought to soothe concerns on Friday, vowing that the leftist party has no plans to take unilateral action should it form a government after next Sunday’s election, adding however that it would have until July to hammer out a deal with creditors before serious liquidity problems arise.

“We don’t want to create problems or engage in unilateral action, but we shall not govern with a gun at our heads,” Yiannis Dragasakis said, adding that Greece’s conservative-led coalition and the troika were working together to narrow SYRIZA’s bargaining leverage.

“Certain forces need to understand that we have a democracy and the people, with their vote, have every right to decide on a change of policy,” Dragasakis said.

Referring to debt talks between a SYRIZA government and the troika, the leftist official said they would take some time, but they would need to be concluded by July, when Greece must repay 6.7 billion euros to the European Central Bank.

Dragasakis also sought to play down concerns following reports on Friday that two systemic Greek lenders had applied to tap the national central bank’s emergency liquidity assistance (ELA) a year after ending their reliance on it. The banks, he said, were only using a credit mechanism available by the eurozone system.

Meanwhile, SYRIZA candidate Rachil Makri on Friday stood by comments made on television late Wednesday during which she claimed that Greece would print up to 100 billion euros to address the liquidity crisis.

The claim by the former Independent Greeks MP drew a strong rebuke from PASOK and New Democracy officials. Some SYRIZA officials distanced themselves from the comments.

source:ekathimerini.com

Beaches around Newcastle will remain shut for a record ninth day after repeated sightings of a five-metre great white shark nicknamed Bruce.

Also in the waters off Newcastle is a three-and-a-half metre shark that on Thursday snacked on a dolphin.

A 3.5 metre shark attacked a pod of dolphins off a Newcastle beach, keeping the surf and sand closed.

Inspectors will consider reopening beaches on Monday, but only if the sharks are not spotted for at least 24 hours and appear to have moved away.

A 1.5m shark also bit the hand of a 17-year-old boy, while he was spearfishing at Mollymook Beach, on the NSW south coast, on Friday.

He’s in a stable condition in a Sydney hospital.

Beachgoers stay out of the water at Newcastle.

Despite the attack hundreds of nippers competed in a surf lifesaving competition at the other end of the beach.

The 3.5m shark was last seen by helicopter crews near Burwood Beach on Friday morning.

It’s thought the predators are hanging about due to increased marine activity and warm weather.

source: 9news.com.au

A Saudi Arabian rights activist sentenced to prison and 1,000 lashes for insulting Islam will not be flogged Friday because of medical reasons, his wife said.

Raif Badawi, convicted on charges that included insulting Islam, had been scheduled to receive the second of 20 sentenced floggings after Friday prayers in Jeddah. He received the first flogging on January 9.

A doctor who examined him before the scheduled flogging determined that his wounds had not yet healed and that the flogging should be delayed, human rights group Amnesty International said.

“The doctor concluded that the wounds had not yet healed properly and that he would not be able to withstand another round of lashes at this time,” Amnesty International said in a statement.

Badawi’s wife, Ensaf Haida, said from her home in Canada that she expects the floggings to resume next Friday.

One of his friends, Ali Rizvi, said from Toronto that the delay is “definitely encouraging.”

“None of us are completely satisfied,” he told CNN’s “New Day.”

“This is the Saudi regime,” he said. “We don’t know what’s going to happen from here onwards, but it’s definitely a step in the right direction.”

Rights groups and others, including the U.S. State Department, have called for Saudi Arabia to call off the floggings, the first of which appeared to be captured on unverified cell phone video uploaded to YouTube.

“Not only does this postponement on health grounds expose the utter brutality of this punishment, it underlines its outrageous inhumanity,” said Said Boumedouha, Amnesty International’s deputy Middle East and North Africa program director.

Badawi was convicted in 2014 and sentenced to 10 years in prison and 1,000 lashes after creating an online forum in 2008 that his wife says was meant to encourage discussion about faith.

source:cnn.com