Daily Archives: July 23, 2015

Στο νοσοκομείο εισήχθη το βράδυ της Τρίτης ο Τόλης Βοσκόπουλος.

Όπως μετέδωσε ο Alpha, ο τραγουδιστής υπεβλήθη σε χειρουργική επέμβαση στον θώρακα και η μετεγχειρητική κατάσταση της υγείας του εξελίσσεται ομαλά χωρίς προβλήματα.

Στο πλευρό του βρίσκεται η σύζυγός του Άντζελα Γκερέκου και η κόρη τους.

Πηγή:madata.gr

Νέα οδηγία της ΑPRA υποχρεώνει τις τράπεζες να αυξήσουν τα διαθέσιμά τους.

Η αρμόδια Αρχή Εποπτείας του τραπεζικού συστήματος της χώρας, Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA), εξέδωσε οδηγία προς τις τέσσερις μεγάλες τράπεζες της χώρας και την τράπεζα Macquarie, να αυξήσουν τα διαθέσιμά τους στον τομέα των στεγαστικών δανείων. Προκειμένου, όμως, αυτό να επιτευχθεί, ειδικοί προβλέπουν ότι οι τράπεζες θα πρέπει να αυξήσουν το κόστος σύναψης νέων δανείων για τους πελάτες τους, σε βάθος χρόνου να αυξήσουν ακόμα και τα επιτόκια και παράλληλα να μειώσουν το ποσοστό κέρδους των μετόχων τους.

Αυτή τη στιγμή τα διαθέσιμα που οι τέσσερις μεγάλες αδερφές υποχρεούνται να κρατούν ως εγγύηση για τα στεγαστικά δάνεια που δίνουν αναλογεί στο 16% του συνολικού ποσού που δανειοδοτούν. Η αρμόδια Αρχή APRA την Δευτέρα ανακοίνωσε ότι οι μεγάλες τράπεζες εντός των επομένων μηνών θα πρέπει να αυξήσουν τα διαθέσιμά τους,

και αυτά θα πρέπει να αναλογούν στο 25% των στεγαστικών δανείων που διαθέτουν, γεγονός που σημαίνει ότι οι πέντε μεγάλες τράπεζες της χώρας θα πρέπει να αυξήσουν τα διαθέσιμά τους κατά $12,5 δις περίπου.

Το σκεπτικό της APRA για αύξηση των κεφαλαιακών αποθεμάτων των μεγάλων τραπεζών είναι η ενίσχυση του τραπεζικού συστήματος της χώρας το οποίο θεωρεί απαραίτητο λόγω της αβεβαιότητας που επικρατεί και τις προκλήσεις που αντιμετωπίζει η οικονομία της χώρας. Η αρμόδια Αρχή στην ουσία προσπαθεί να θωρακίσει περαιτέρω το χρηματοπιστωτικό σύστημα της χώρας.

Σχολιάζοντας τη νέα οδηγία της ΑPRA και τις επιπτώσεις που αυτή θα έχει στην δανειακή αγορά της χώρας αλλά και στους δανειολήπτες ο αναλυτής της Morningstar, David Ellis ανέφερε ότι οι τράπεζες θα προσπαθήσουν κατά πάσα πιθανότητα να εξοικονομήσουν τα ποσά που χρειάζονται σταδιακά και με διαφορετικούς τρόπους. Πριν από οποιαδήποτε αύξηση στο κόστος σύναψης και διατήρησης δανείων η οποία θα χτυπήσει άμεσα όλους τους δανειολήπτες πελάτες τους και αν η Αποθεματική Τράπεζα μειώσει εκ νέου τα επιτόκια, αυτές μπορούν να κρατήσουν τα επιτόκιά τους σταθερά, γεγονός που θα τους αποφέρει ένα ευσεβές ποσό. Εάν, όμως, η Αποθεματική δεν μειώσει εκ νέου το επίσημο επιτόκιο, ο κ. Ellis είπε ότι οι τράπεζες θα ανεβάσουν τα τέλη τους σιγά-σιγά και «σιωπηλά» είτε μειώνοντας κάποιες εκπτώσεις που έδιναν και όχι μόνο σε δανειολήπτες αλλά και σε καταθέτες. «Δεν πρόκειται να αυξήσουν τα επιτόκιά τους ούτε να διαφημίσουν την κατάργηση των εκπτώσεων» είπε χαρακτηριστικά ο κ. Ellis.

Εν τω μεταξύ η αλλαγή που επιβάλλει η APRA, στα διαθέσιμα αναμένεται να αυξήσει και τον ανταγωνισμό μεταξύ των μεγάλων και των μικρών τραπεζών για τις οποίες δεν ισχύει το συγκεκριμένο μέτρο και θα έχουν περισσότερες ευκαιρίες να προσφέρουν ανταγωνιστικά δάνεια.

Την ίδια στιγμή εκτός όλων των άλλων την νέα ρύθμιση της APRA θα πληρώσουν και οι μέτοχοι, μεταξύ αυτών και τα ιδιωτικά συνταξιοδοτικά ταμεία της χώρας (superannuation) που κατέχουν μεγάλο ποσοστό τραπεζικών μετοχών.

Όπως συγκεκριμένα αναφέρει ο αναλυτής της εταιρίας επενδύσεων CLSA, Brian Johnson, οι μέτοχοι θα πρέπει να ξεχάσουν τα μεγάλα κέρδη που μέχρι τώρα έδρεπαν από τις μετοχές τους.

Πηγή:Νέος Κόσμος

Σιγή ιχθύος από τις Αρχές για την τύχη της

Άγνωστη παραμένει η τύχη μίας βάρκας, στην οποία σύμφωνα με ακτιβιστές υπέρμαχους των δικαιωμάτων των αιτητών ασύλου, επέβαιναν περίπου 30 μετανάστες από το Βιετνάμ και εθεάθη από το πλήρωμα ενός τάνκερ 150 περίπου χιλιόμετρα στα ανοικτά του Dampier, της Δυτικής Αυστραλίας.

Σύμφωνα με τις ίδιες μαρτυρίες, λίγο μετά τον εντοπισμό της βάρκας και της αναφοράς του πληρώματος για την ύπαρξή της στις Αρχές, στον τόπο όπου αυτή εθεάθη κατέφθασε, σκάφος της υπηρεσίας Border Force, η οποία έχει επιφορτιστεί την ευθύνη αστυνόμευσης

των θαλασσίων συνόρων της χώρας, το οποίο ανέλαβε να συνοδεύσει την βάρκα σε τοποθεσία που μέχρι χθες παρέμενε άγνωστη.

Ο πρωθυπουργός Tony Abbott αρνήθηκε κατηγορηματικά να απαντήσει σε ερωτήσεις δημοσιογράφων για το πώς η βάρκα κατάφερε να φθάσει τόσο κοντά στις ακτές της Αυστραλίας δεδομένης της δράσης της Border Force, την οποία η κυβέρνηση πριν από λίγο καιρό «διαφήμιζε» ως άκρως αποτελεσματική.

Την ίδια στιγμή, ο πρωθυπουργός αρνήθηκε να απαντήσει και σε ερωτήσεις που αφορούσαν την τύχη των αιτητών ασύλου, αλλά και το αν η αυστραλιανή κυβέρνηση διαπραγματευόταν την επιστροφή τους στο Βιετνάμ.

«Επαναλαμβάνω ότι αυτή είναι η μόνιμη πρακτική της κυβέρνησης στο θέμα. Δεν σχολιάζουμε τις επιχειρήσεις των αρχών στα χωρικά μας ύδατα» απάντησε ο πρωθυπουργός δημιουργώντας περισσότερες ερωτήσεις από την απάντηση που έδωσε.

Η εικασία ότι η αυστραλιανή κυβέρνηση διαπραγματεύεται την επιστροφή των 30 περίπου Βιετναμέζων μεταναστών στο Βιετνάμ προκύπτει από το γεγονός ότι κάτι παρόμοιο συνέβη πριν από μερικούς μήνες, τον Απρίλιο συγκεκριμένα, όταν 45 περίπου Βιετναμέζοι αναζητητές ασύλου (μεταξύ αυτών και ανήλικα παιδιά) αφού εντοπίστηκαν και μεταφέρθηκαν από την βάρκα που επέβαιναν σε πλοίο του Πολεμικού Ναυτικού της Αυστραλίας στη συνέχεια επεστράφησαν στο Βιετνάμ.

Επίσης πριν από περίπου ένα μήνα κατά την έναρξη των επιχειρήσεων της νέας θαλάσσιας δύναμης Border Force, ο πρωθυπουργός είχε αναφέρει ότι ανάμεσα στις αρμοδιότητες της θα είναι και η επιστροφή αυτών που εισέρχονται παράνομα στα αυστραλιανά χωρικά ύδατα στη χώρα προέλευσής τους.

Το γεγονός ότι η κυβέρνηση έχει «εξαφανίσει» την βάρκα και τους επιβαίνοντές της και αρνείται να αναφέρει που αυτοί βρίσκονται έχει σηκώσει σωρεία αντιδράσεων από οργανώσεις που προασπίζονται τα δικαιώματα των αναζητητών ασύλου, που την καλούν να μην επιστρέψει τους αναζητητές ασύλου πίσω στο Βιετνάμ γιατί αυτοί κινδυνεύουν να τιμωρηθούν σκληρά από τις εκεί αρχές.

Το Μάιο κατά την διεξαγωγή έρευνας για την τύχη των αναζητητών ασύλου που επέστρεψαν στο Βιετνάμ, στην οποία κατέθεσαν αξιωματούχοι που επέβλεψαν την όλη διαδικασία, αναφέρθηκε ότι πριν την επιστροφή τους η κυβέρνηση του Βιετνάμ διαβεβαίωσε τις αυστραλιανές αρχές ότι οι αναζητητές ασύλου που στάλθηκαν πίσω στο Βιετνάμ δεν πρόκειται να διωχθούν. Εντούτοις, οι αξιωματούχοι του αυστραλιανού υπ. Μετανάστευσης παραδέχθηκαν ότι το υπουργείο δεν είναι υποχρεωμένο να ερευνήσει τι απέγινε με τους αναζητητές ασύλου, αφού αυτοί επεστράφησαν στην χώρα τους.

Παρουσίασε νέες πολιτικές για το περιβάλλον, και τις σχέσεις με την Κίνα.

Σε τροχιά ανόδου μπαίνει το Εργατικό Κόμμα, το οποίο έχει πλέον το βλέμμα στις προσεχείς εκλογές που αναμένεται να διεξαχθούν την άνοιξη του 2016. Βλέποντας τα ποσοστά του στις δημοσκοπήσεις να βρίσκονται σε σταθερή, αν και αργή, άνοδο, το κόμμα της αξιωματικής αντιπολίτευσης ετοιμάζεται για το εθνικό Συνέδριο που θα λάβει χώρα στην Μελβούρνη το Σαββατοκύριακο και στη διάρκεια του οποίου, η ηγεσία αναμένεται να εκμεταλλευτεί τη θετική συγκυρία της δημοσκοπικής ανόδου για να εξαγγείλει μία σειρά πολιτικών, θέτοντας έτσι την ατζέντα της επόμενης προεκλογικής περιόδου.

Αυτά, παρά το γεγονός ότι στην τελευταία δημοσκόπηση, ο αρχηγός του Εργατικού Κόμματος, Bill Shorten, δεν φάνηκε να κερδίζει προσωπικά από την άνοδο του κόμματός του.

Πηγή:Νέος Κόσμος

FORMER Victorian premier Jeff Kennett has accused Australia’s politicians of lacking vision, saying the nation had been “leaderless” for a decade.

Mr Kennett appeared on ABC’s Lateline program on Wednesday and said he was concerned that a lot of politicians were being “governed” by the polls instead of a long-term plan for the future.

The outspoken Liberal Party elder argued federal governments should be allowed to serve for four years, rather than the current maximum three-year term.

“Three years does not give them enough time to introduce the reforms that are necessary and then hope to rebuild their standing in the community,” he said.

Mr Kennett had been asked on the current affairs show to discuss NSW Premier Mike Baird’s proposal to increase the rate of GST from 10 to 15 per cent in order to pay for the rising costs of healthcare.

This idea was lambasted by Mr Kennett as “profoundly wrong”. He said an increase to the GST or Medicare levy would alleviate any pressure for the states to engage in other reforms, and was unlikely to be a long-term fix for funding shortfalls.

“You remove the incentive to continue reform and you put in a bastardised form of tax reform which in three years time will already be seen to be obsolete,” he said.

Lack of vision

The Abbott government’s recently-released agricultural white paper was used by Mr Kennett as an example of an absence of political vision.

“There wasn’t a simple statement … that started the white paper about what the objective was,” he said.

“My objective might have been ‘I want Australian agriculture and processing manufacturing to be able to feed a billion people by 2050’.

“We have an agricultural white paper that’s not a clear KPI [key performance indicator]. There is no vision. But that’s where Australia has been now for 10 years. We have been leaderless.”

source:.theland.com.au

A SCIENTIST responsible for finding signs of life on other planets has warned that human beings should probably think twice before making contact with aliens.

Professor Matthew Bailes is based at Swinburne University in Melbourne – and is leading Australia’s efforts to find signs of extra-terrestrial life.

But he warned that making contact with aliens capable of transmitting powerful signals to Earth over tens of thousands of light years could lead humanity into disaster, because they’re likely to be so much more advanced.

“The history of weak civilisations contacting more advanced civilisations is not a happy one,” he said.

Prof Bailes was recently put in charge of the Breakthrough Prize Foundation’s $100m search for alien life, which is being financed by Russian billionaire Yuri Milner and is backed by Professor Stephen Hawking.

The team working on the project will use the Parkes radio telescope – one of the largest in the world – to scan the universe in what has been described as bringing a “Silicon Valley approach to the search for intelligent life”.

The initiative will cover 10 times more area of sky than previous programmes, according to News24.

The first moonwalk in 1969 was beamed to the Parkes telescope where it was beamed around the world Prof Bailes told the news outlet that sophisticated computers would have to be installed at Parkes – which was the first telescope to receive transmissions showing Neil Armstrong setting foot on the Moon in 1969 – to sort through as many as a billion samples a second to try to detect patterns or likely signals.

“The difficulty is to know what sort of signal we are looking for,” Prof Bailes said. “There is no manual on how to find aliens. We’ll have to imagine the sort of transmissions an alien race might send.”

The computers, he warned, would take a year to build, and the project has five years to run. But he said that the signal – if and when it arrives – would likely be quite feeble after travelling across such vast distances.

He said that scientists hope that aliens will send a pattern human beings would be able to recognise – such as prime numbers.

But he warned that we may all be “long dead and buried” before we worked out how to reply – and the aliens got an answer.

source:theporter.com.au

Sydney’s median house price has climbed higher than London to top $1 million, Domain Group figures show. 

The 22.9 per cent increase in the year to June to $1,000,616 – the quickest pace of gain since at least the late 80s – put the NSW capital above London, where the equivalent was $900,000, but still below New York, where it was $1.5 million, and Paris, where it was about $2 million.

The rise – from $814,285 a year earlier – did nothing to dampen the city’s attraction for investors, Domain senior economist Andrew Wilson said.

Even though rental yields were falling as rental increases failed to keep up with rising dwelling prices, a better return than from alternatives such as term deposits, kept drawing investors into the sector, even with unheard-of price levels. Vacancy rates were holding. But the good news for investors was bad news for first-home buyers as it showed homes in the NSW capital were moving further out of reach.

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ATHENS, Greece — Greek lawmakers held a whirlwind debate into the early hours Thursday on further reforms demanded by international creditors in return for a third multi-billion-euro bailout, with attention focusing on government rebels who oppose the measures.

Despite the revolt in Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’ own party, parliament is expected to approve the draft legislation in the second such crucial vote in a week — and again with broad support from pro-eurozone opposition parties. Failure to do so would derail the bailout and rekindle fears over Greece’s future in the shared euro currency.

As with last week’s vote, Tsipras’ main problem lies with hard-line lawmakers in his party, many of whom see the reforms as a betrayal of the anti-austerity platform that brought their Syriza party to power in January.

Addressing parliament, Tsipras said the reforms were a necessary price to pay to keep Greece alive after stormy talks with its creditors nearly collapsed earlier this month.

“We have chosen a compromise that forces us to implement a program in which we do not believe, and we will implement it because the alternatives are tough,” he told lawmakers. “We are summoned today to legislate under a state of emergency.”

Tsipras also ruled out resigning.

“The presence of the left in this government isn’t about the pursuit of office, it’s a bastion from which to fight for our people’s interests,” he said. “And as far as I’m concerned, I won’t abandon this bastion, at least of my own free will.”

Tsipras said approval would give Greece breathing room to quash speculation that the country will be forced to abandon the euro, and help it regain market confidence and eventually tap bond markets again.

Before the debate got underway, about 10,000 people demonstrated outside parliament, protesting the latest measures to overhaul Greece’s judicial and banking sectors. Minor violence marred the end of the protest when a few teenagers threw petrol bombs at riot police, but no injuries or arrests were reported.

Negotiations with creditors are expected to start soon after the latest package of reforms is approved.

The radical left-led government hopes the new bailout talks can conclude before Aug. 20, when Greece must repay a debt worth more than 3 billion euros ($3.3 billion) to the European Central Bank.

On Wednesday, the ECB provided a new vital cash injection to Greece’s battered banks. A European banking official told The Associated Press the ECB decided to increase emergency liquidity to Greek banks by 900 million euros ($980 million) — the second such cash injection in just under a week.

Fearing a run by depositors flocking to take their savings out of Greek banks, the government imposed capital controls more than three weeks ago, restricting daily withdrawals to 60 euros ($65) per account holder. Extra ECB liquidity means that Greek banks will still be able to hand out cash.

Greece has relied on bailout loans totaling 240 billion euros since 2010 after it was locked out of international money markets. It nearly crashed out of the eurozone this month, after relations between Athens and its creditors hit rock-bottom, and was only saved by a last-minute U-turn from Tsipras.

Thursday’s vote is Tsipras’ second crunch test in parliament in a week. The reforms, included in a nearly 1,000-page bill, are among the prerequisites Greece’s European creditors have insisted upon in order for negotiations to begin on a third bailout for Greece worth around 85 billion euros ($93 billion).

Many in Tsipras’ Syriza party, including former finance minister Yanis Varoufakis, voted against last week’s austerity measures, which included a big hike to sales taxes that took effect on Monday. If more than a handful of others join the dissent in Thursday’s vote, then Tsipras’ government could be in trouble.

Although he would still retain a nominal parliamentary majority — as he has shown no inclination to expel rebels — Tsipras would be politically hamstrung, depending on the support of opposition parties to pass any new reforms.

At least five Syriza lawmakers said Wednesday they would vote against the draft law — including the firebrand parliament speaker, Zoe Konstantopoulou. In a letter to Greece’s president and Tsipras, Konstantopoulou asserted the measures were a “violent attack on democracy,” arguing that lawmakers had been given very little time to study the voluminous bill.

Tsipras has accused party critics of acting irresponsibly.

“I’ve seen a lot of reactions and heroic statements, but so far I haven’t heard any alternative proposal,” Tsipras told party lawmakers on Tuesday, according to a senior government official. The official asked not to be named, citing the sensitivity of the parliamentary vote.

The reforms being considered Thursday are aimed at reducing the country’s court backlog and speeding up revenue-related cases. Greek lawyers’ associations oppose them, arguing that they will have the opposite effect.

Justice Minister Nikos Paraskevopoulos conceded that the government would have preferred changes, but added that Greece is “in a state of emergency” and the alternative to accepting the proposed reforms would be the country’s forced exit from the eurozone.

“Out of two problems, I chose the milder one,” he said.

Lawmakers have also been called on to approve reforms related to banking union mechanisms, aimed at reducing the risk for European governments from bank crises.

In Brussels, Pierre Moscovici, the European Union’s top economy official, said he hopes the bailout deal can be signed by mid-August, although he acknowledged that means Greece has to meet a “punishing” schedule. Moscovici said he welcomed the latest vote even though it did not include all details hoped for on reducing early retirement and farmers’ taxation.

In return for Greece’s bailouts, successive governments have had to enact harsh austerity measures to try to get public finances into shape. Though the annual deficit has been reduced dramatically, the country’s debt burden has risen as the Greek economy has shrunk by around a quarter.

The European Union’s statistics agency announced Wednesday that Greece was making some progress on the debt front at the start of 2015, improvement that was largely erased by the bank closures and other recent events.

Following repayments to European creditors and the International Monetary Fund, Eurostat said Greece’s debt fell to 301 billion euros at the end of the first quarter from 317 billion at the end of 2014. That took the country’s debt burden down to 168.8 percent from 177.1 percent.

Greece’s debt still remains the highest in the 19-country eurozone by a wide margin.

source:nytimes.com

Greek MPs are debating a second set of reforms they need to approve to secure a €86bn bailout, as thousands protest against further austerity measures.

The protest outside parliament briefly turned violent, with petrol bombs and stones thrown at police.

Earlier, Greece’s PM urged rebels within his own Syriza party to support the reforms demanded by creditors.

Meanwhile, the European Central Bank (ECB) has increased its cash lifeline to Greek banks.

The emergency injection of an extra €900m (£630m), the ECB’s second in a week, came just hours before the vote.

It is needed until Greece secures its third international bailout – the negotiations of which cannot begin until Greece’s parliament has approved the tough new reforms.

The protest in Athens’ Syntagma Square – called by Greece’s public sector union – was reported to have been largely peaceful, until a number of petrol bombs were thrown in the direction of police.

The BBC’s Piers Scholfield, tweeted from the scene that a small number of anarchists – no more than a few dozen – attempted to create a disturbance but the situation soon calmed down.

Inside parliament, PM Alexis Tsipras turned up the heat on members of his own party who had voted against last week’s reforms, accusing them of “hiding behind the safety of my signature”.

The proposed reforms are expected to get parliamentary approval with the support of opposition parties, but Mr Tsipras hopes to avoid a rebellion from within the ranks of Syriza.

Some 32 of the radical-left party’s 149 MPs – including former Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis – voted against the first tranche of bailout measures last week. Another six abstained.

The rebellion reduced Mr Tsipras’s support within his own ruling coalition to 123 MPs, barely more than the minimum 120 required to sustain a minority government.

He said the Greek people had “pinned their hopes” on the government’s ability to find a solution to the debt crisis, addressing Syriza MPs on Tuesday night.

Defining moment for Tsipras – by Chris Morris, BBC News, Athens

For a man who was forced into a fairly abrupt U-turn, Alexis Tsipras remains extraordinarily popular.

If he calls an early election in the coming months – and that still feels like the most likely option – it would be a huge surprise if he didn’t win comfortably and emerge stronger.

That’s partly because the opposition is in disarray. But also because many Greeks like the fact that he appeared to stand up for national pride.

For the moment Mr Tsipras is trying to put pressure on dissenters within his own party. He had heard plenty of heroic speeches, the prime minister said, but not seen any alternative proposals.

It’s partly a reminder that he could move to exclude those who are disloyal if another election is just around the corner.

But he has to get the bailout approved first – and that’s not yet a done deal.

Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos said it was “extremely important” for the vote on financial and judicial reforms to pass so that talks on the bailout could begin on Friday.

Last week’s vote was on the austerity measures imposed by Greece’s creditors – a mix of economic reforms and budget cuts demanded by the eurozone countries and institutions before bailout talks could continue.

The measures due to be presented to parliament on Wednesday are of a more structural nature, including:

• a code of civil protection aimed at speeding up court cases
• the adoption of an EU directive to bolster banks and protect savers’ deposits of less than €100,000
• the introduction of rules that would see bank shareholders and creditors – not taxpayers – cover costs of a failed bank

More contentious measures – phasing out early retirement and tax rises for farmers – have been pushed back to August.

Asked if the threat of a Greek exit from the euro – or Grexit – had passed, EU Economic Affairs Commissioner Pierre Moscovici said on Tuesday: “I think we’ve made a big step in that direction.”

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) confirmed on Monday that Greece had cleared its overdue debt repayments of €2.05bn and was no longer in arrears.

source:bbc.com