Greece votes to stay in the euro - while protesters battle police

So finally it has been decided: Greece votes to stay in the euro - but at a humiliating cost, some say.

It has been reported that Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras had agreed to the harsh terms as part of an €86 billion bailout from Eurozone leaders.

The Greek parliament passed a raft of austerity measures to secure a three-year European bailout – despite the agreement coming two hours after the deadline. It means that other European parliaments can now vote on the plan, too.

In the meanwhile, violent protesters hurled petrol bombs at riot police (photo above) after surrounding the Greek parliament ahead of a final deadline for the country's €86 billion bailout deal.

Watch the video below of violence in Athens' streets:

Source | Photo

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Greek voters reject bailout offer

In the wake of acute monetary crisis, Greek referendum show voters decisively rejecting the terms of an international bailout.

While the voting count is still underway, the results of the counted votes so far shows 61% voting "No", against 39% voting "Yes".

In the meanwhile, Greek banks are running critically low and will need another injection of emergency funds from the European Central Bank.

Read more about it at: BBC
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Euro faces crisis as Greek anti-austerity wins

There is jubilation all over Greece after the anti-austerity party - Syriza won elections yesterday. But this jubilation puts the Euro under severe crisis and may usher in economic turmoil.

It is reported that Syriza leader Alexis Tsipras has pledged to renegotiate Greece's €240billion (£179billion) international bailout deal - and to reverse many of the reforms that EU creditors demanded in exchange for keeping Greece financially afloat since 2010.

It may be added that the single currency has crashed nearly 20 per cent against the greenback in less than a year – sinking from $1.39 in May to an 11-year low below $1.12 last night as Greece was set on a collision course with Angela Merkel's Germany.

Read more about it at: Daily Mail
Photo: Pixabay
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Athens battered by biggest storm in 50 years

The Greek capital Athens is experiencing a worst storm in 50 years and fast muddy waters are playing havouc in the Athens streets.

A terrified motorist was left clinging onto her car as it was swept away by flood waters surging through the streets of Athens today. 

The dramatic scenes unfolded as torrential rain led to flash flooding in the Greek capital, where one woman has died and thousands more people left stranded.

Two men climbed onto the roof of the silver 4x4 and pulled the driver to safety in northern suburb of Chalandri.

Meteorologist Yannis Kallianos told state television: 'This is the worst storm since 1961. We're talking about 52 years without ever having seen such a heavy downpour in this area,'

Watch the video of the storm below:

Read more about it at: Mail Online
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Oil Drops as European Finance Ministers Meet on Greece

Oil dropped as euro-area finance ministers meet to negotiate a bailout payment for Greece and as American leaders prepared to wrestle with a budget agreement.

Futures fell as much as 1.1 percent as officials gathered in Brussels to discuss Greek aid less than a week after a meeting failed to yield an agreement. 

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“The outcome of the European finance ministers’ meeting is the main focus of the markets today,” said Addison Armstrong, director of market research at Tradition Energy in Stamford, Connecticut. “Given the direction the market is moving, it appears most people aren’t expecting a positive outcome.”

Crude oil for January delivery declined 78 cents, or 0.9 percent, to $87.50 a barrel at 9:37 a.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices are down 11 percent this year.

Read more about it: Bloomberg
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Antonis Samaras swoen in as new Greek PM

Antonis Samaras, a US-educated economist with a business degree from Harvard, was sworn in as Greece's new prime minister Wednesday, three days after his conservative New Democracy party won a nail-biting parliamentary election.

Samaras will head a new power-sharing government that will encompass the left and right, according to a leader of one of the parties that will participate in the coalition.

The oath taking was held in a brief candlelight ceremony Wednesday afternoon at the presidential palace in Athens in front of Greek Orthodox clergy members.

Read more: LA Times

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Greece euro exit threatens all Europe

GREEK poll front-runner Alexis Tsipras, buoyed by a groundswell of opposition to EU-IMF imposed austerity measures, says forcing his country out of the eurozone would sink the region as a whole.

The problems in Greece were those of Europe, Tsipras told Saturday's edition of the International Herald Tribune, and forcing his country out of the eurozone could easily bring down other countries, notably Spain and Italy which have come under increasing pressure as the crisis has spread.

"Our goal isn't to blackmail or terrorize, our goal is to shake (leaders up)," Tsipras told the newspaper.

"We want to convince them ... they need to change the policies in Greece and change the policies in Europe, otherwise Europe will be at very large risk."

Read more: Herald Sun

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Euro zone finance ministers dismiss Greek exit

Euro zone finance ministers dismissed talk of Greece leaving the euro zone as "propaganda and nonsense" on Monday, but said the country had to respect the terms of the bailout programme agreed with the EU and the International Monetary Fund.

Eurozone Crisis [Graph: Extranea ]

If Greece can form a government and that government signs up to the bailout agreement, then it's possible some of the targets in the programme could be softened, the chairman of the euro zone finance ministers, Jean-Claude Juncker, said.

"I don't envisage, not even for one second, Greece leaving the euro area. This is nonsense, this is propaganda," Juncker, who also serves as Luxembourg's prime minister, told reporters, dismissing those who threaten Greece with expulsion.

Read more: Money Control

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Greek President's last-ditch unity effort

The Greek president has summoned the leaders of the country's three largest parties to a meeting on Sunday in a final attempt to forge a unity government and avoid another election.

President Karolos Papoulias will meet with leaders of the socialist Pasok, the centre-right New Democracy, and far-left bloc Syriza at 9am (GMT).

He will then hold talks with fringe parties including Golden Dawn, an extreme rightwing anti-immigration group.

The meeting comes after Pasok became the third party to fail to form a coalition.

Read more: The Guardian

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Second Bailout Package for Greece Likely to be Approved

Euro zone finance ministers are expected to approve a second bailout for Greece on Monday to try to draw a line under months of uncertainty that has shaken the currency bloc, although work remains to be done to make the numbers add up.

In the meantime, Several thousand Greeks demonstrated on Sunday against the austerity measures to reduce the country’s debt, although the numbers were much lower than earlier protests.

If the finance ministers do succeed in reaching an agreement, it will provide immediate relief to Athens and financial markets, which have been kept guessing since the bailout package was announced last October.

Read details: France24

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What is going to be the fate of Greece

Luxembourg Finance Minister Luc Frieden said it out loud: "If the Greek people or the Greek political elite do not apply all of these conditions ... they exclude themselves from the Eurozone." All of these conditions. And there are a lot of them. Then he added the crucial words: "The impact on other countries now will be less important than a year ago."

Greece might want to decide that it would be better to exit the Eurozone, rather than actually implementing the budget cuts, Friedan said. Returning to the drachma and devaluing it might create a more competitive economy. "It might be something which would allow Greece to get a new start," he said.

Read more: Business Insider

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Athens burn as Law Makers adopt a Severe Austerity Bill

Greek lawmakers on Monday approved harsh new austerity measures demanded by bailout creditors to save the debt-crippled nation from bankruptcy, after rioters in central Athens torched buildings, looted shops and clashed with riot police.

The historic vote paves the way for Greece's European partners and the International Monetary Fund to release $170 billion (euro130 billion) in new rescue loans, without which Greece would default on its debt mountain next month and likely leave the eurozone – a scenario that would further roil global markets.

Read more: Huffington Post

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Greek ministers resign over bailout

Five Greek politicians, including the deputy foreign minister, resigned Friday over a crunch bailout agreement that the country needs to avoid bankruptcy. Greece’s future in the euro is now increasingly precarious and violence erupted in Athens.

The country’s beleaguered coalition government promised Friday to push through the tough new austerity measures and rescue a crucial EUR 130 billion ($170 billion) bailout deal, as six members of the Cabinet resigned.

Read details: France24

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