Finance minister to raise subject with eurozone counterparts on Monday in further sign Europe's economic crisis is receding 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...
No let-up in the Britain's booming housing market, as prices surge 10.9% in the last 12 months Nationwide: biggest annual price rise since June 2007 London: £1m sales have doubled IHS: Justifiable to say there's a London housing bubble 9.29am BST Manufacturing data from the eurozone, released this morning, showed that activity in Ireland's industrial base grew at fastest rate in three years. Its...
Scheduled flights due to be launched this summer, creating a network of links between islands and mainland ports With its 3,000 or more islands, connecting Greece has never been easy. Aristotle Onassis, the late shipping tycoon, dreamed of doing it. A Canadian firm launched a seaplane business in the runup to the 2004 Olympics, and hardy entrepreneurs have tried to introduce amphibious aircraft in...
We're just importing more people from crisis-hit southern Europe into low-paying jobs or precarious underpaid self-employment Down is up. Sick is healthy. The RMS Titanic is seaworthy. Topsy-turvy logic is a speciality of the austerity brigade, and here they come dishing up a third helping. First, in 2010-11, they pledged that making historic cuts amid a global slump would definitely, absolutely secure...
Special report Parties demanding everything from reform to withdrawal are riding high on wave on discontent The Foire aux Fromages et aux Vins in Coulommiers, an attractive town on the undulating Brie plateau an hour east of Paris, is a fabulously French affair: a monumental marquee, hordes of happy visitors and more than 350 stalls laden with Gallic bounty. Among the cheeses are tomme from Savoie,...
EU praises Athens for budget surplus while Lisbon's return to bond market boosts hopes of avoiding second bailout Europe's recovery from its debt crisis took two significant steps forward on Wednesday as Greece posted a primary budget surplus and Portugal made a successful return to the bond markets for the first time in three years. The European commission paved the way for Greece to begin debt relief...
Primary budget facts and details in the small print can no longer be hidden by creative accounting and a sleight of hand It was dodgy accounting that got Greece into a mess in the first place. Now, more dodgy accounting is being used to dress up the dire state of the nation's public finances. When the government in Athens announced last week that it was running a surplus in its primary budget a measure...
Scramble for share of budget surplus highlights desperation of Greeks hit by spending cuts since start of debt crisis Hundreds of thousands of Greeks have applied for so-called "social dividends" that the government has vowed to hand out after recording a primary budget surplus counted before interest payments. The conservative-dominated coalition has predicted it will register a surplus...
Study finds clear link between spending cuts and rise in number of men who killed themselves between 2009 and 2010 Spending cuts in Greece caused a rise in male suicides, according to research that attempts to highlight the health costs of austerity. Echoing official statistics in the UK showing suicide rates are still higher than before the crisis, researchers at the University of Portsmouth have...
Golden Dawn MP Ilias Panagiotaros cements party's credentials as neo-Nazi force in interview with Australian current affairs show Cementing its credentials as an unapologetic neo-Nazi force, Greece's increasingly combative Golden Dawn party has hailed Hitler as a "great personality" and denounced homosexuality as a "sickness". In a rare interview with a foreign media outlet before...
Greek 3bn bond sale exceeds expectations and is a vote of confidence, but investors are taking on a lot of risk Take a country where the economy has shrunk by a quarter over the past five years. Add an unemployment rate of 26.7%. Stir in a debt to GDP ratio of 175%. And what do you have? A country that the bond markets can't get enough of, if the debt auction in Greece is anything to go by. Put simply,...
Ahead of Angela Merkel's visit, return to international markets and drop in unemployment boosts Greece's administration Greece has ended four years of international financial isolation with a highly successful foray into bond markets a day before the German chancellor Angela Merkel flies into Athens. In what officials described as a "triumphant" day, despite a car bomb exploding in the capital,...
Bond sale, which was oversubscribed by six times, shows the heavily indebted country has regained the trust of the financial markets Greece has made a successful return to the financial markets , raising 3bn (£2.4bn) in its first bond sale in four years. Inside the Greek government, officials are already hailing the bond sale as "more than a triumph." Continue reading... ...
Deputy PM: official, triumphant, tangible confirmation of change Government insiders: We have been more than successful Car bomb: no-one injured 3.07pm BST What, exactly, is the IMF's Plan B if America continues to refuse to give emerging nations like Brazil and China more power? ( as Chris Giles asked Christine Lagarde earlier) Well, two former Assistant Secretaries of the US Treasury for International...
Explosion in Athens followed telephone warning and comes as government re-enters bond markets after debt crisis A car bomb went off outside a Bank of Greece building in central Athens early on Thursday, smashing windows in nearby shops but causing no injuries, police and witnesses said. The blast happened hours before Greece planned its first foray into the international bond markets since it plunged...
First sale of government bonds since eurozone crisis flared up brings than 11bn of bids despite first general strike of 2014 Greece will make a successful return to the financial markets on Thursday after investors flocked to its first sale of government bonds since the eurozone crisis flared up four years ago . There was strong demand for a new five-year bond, despite the country being gripped by...
Unions in Greece have called a national walkout in protest at its austerity measures, as Athens prepares to hold its first long-term bond sale since its debt crisis erupted Latest: IMF issues Global Financial Stability report Greece to sell five-year bond tomorrow Photos: protests in Greece 2.35pm BST UK authorities must be vigilant against the risk that Britain's housing market overheats, says IMF...
A new report says the supranational body is interfering more than ever in domestic affairs. What's more, its loans often make a bad situation worse A new report published by the European Network on Debt and Development (Eurodad) will make uncomfortable reading for the International Monetary Fund . The report, entitled "Conditionally yours: An analysis of the policy conditions attached to IMF loans",...
Antonis Samaras's chief of staff caught on camera saying PM instigated inquiry into far-right party for political gain The Greek prime minister, Antonis Samaras, has been struggling to contain a fresh political crisis after his chief of staff was filmed accusing him of instigating a judicial inquiry against the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party for political gain. The gaffe led to the resignation of Takis...
Ukip leader judged to have beaten Liberal Democrat opposite number in head-to-head by 69% of those polled Nigel Farage triumphed in the second television debate on Europe by a clear-cut 69% to 31%, an instant poll showed, suggesting that a more emotional but often overscripted Nick Clegg failed to convince viewers that Ukip is selling the British people a "dangerous con" and a "fantasy"....