Five Best Monday Columns
Bill Keller on the Catholic Church, Timothy Noah on the new silent majority, Megan Greene on Greece, Jennifer Rubin on Mark Sanford, and John Harris on vegetarianism.
Global markets are on edge today after it was learned over the weekend that Cyprus would be getting a bank bailout from the European Central Bank, along with a very controversial provision that could hurt every citizen in the country.
Bill Keller on the Catholic Church, Timothy Noah on the new silent majority, Megan Greene on Greece, Jennifer Rubin on Mark Sanford, and John Harris on vegetarianism.
Peter Beinart on Chuck Hagel, Doyle McManus on John Boehner, Chris Cillizza on Washington's bargaining problem, Kostas Vaxevanis on Greek oligarchs, and Mark Buchanan on inequality and crime.
Greece is planning to crack down on its tax evasion problem with a committee of wise guys. No, seriously, that's their plan.
After a day of marathon talks that ran into Monday night, European finance ministers reached a deal that will allow Greece to receive more financial aid and temporarily stave off the chance of economic collapse.
After weeks of negotiations and more protests than we can count, the Greek parliament finally approved its 2013 fiscal budget complete with radical austerity cuts.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel flew in the lion's den on Tuesday, visting Greek leaders in Athens where protesters came out in force to tell her exactly what they think of Germany's role in the eurozone.
A summary of the best reads found behind the paywall of The New York Times.
Greek workers are staging a day-long general strike in Athens today that has paralyzed the country and lead to increasingly dangerous confrontations with police.
Tilemachos Karachalios has gone from donning suits and selling pharmaceuticals for 17 years to scrubbing the sullied toilets of Swedish schoolchildren because of the economic malpractice in Greece. Sadly, with a 25-percent unemployment rate in his home country, he might have made the right decision.
A summary of the best reads found behind the paywall of The New York Times.
Voula Papachristou is currently Greece's Triple Jump champion, and will go into the record books as the first Greek Triple Jump champion to be dismissed for the Olympic team for tweeting out racist remarks against Africans.
Greece's deficit problems were so bad that it has cost the European Union and International Monetary Fund €240 billion in promised bailout money to keep the country's debt crisis from taking down all of Europe. Quite a big problem for a nation that has an economy that's in fact smaller than the metro area of Boston.
It's commonly known that it's not really a great time in Greece what with its debt and austerity measures, but don't tell that to 2 percent of Greeks, who think their country's finances are a-OK.
A summary of the best reads found behind the paywall of The New York Times.
World leaders may have twisted Angela Merkel's arm into submission.
A summary of the best reads found behind the paywall of The New York Times.
Pro-bailout parties in Greece have taken a little over 40 percent of the vote in the election on Sunday, calming global fears of a Euro exit, if they can form a government.
It was designed to ease investor fears but Europe's $125 billion bailout of Spanish banks is already falling short.
Paul Krugman on Europe, Niall Ferguson on the future, E.J. Dionne on government, The Wall Street Journal on bailouts and Juan Williams on Obama's playbook.
A spokesman for Greece's ultra-conservative Golden Dawn party is wanted for arrest after attacking two women politicians during a televised debate.
The euro zone is looking decidedly less stable this morning as Spain's budget minister calls on Europe to shore up its debt-ridden banks—a move Spanish leaders had insisted just a week ago wouldn't be necessary.
While it hasn't hit our Spat Watch level just yet, tensions between Greece and the current head of the International Monetary Fund, Christine Lagarde, are starting to heat up.
The big news out of Europe yesterday was a rush to plan B: Greece's exit from the eurozone. But today, almost in unison, the markets and the politicians are swinging the pendulum in the other direction.
In one of the more disturbing trends you'll hear out of Greece: More and more people are withdrawing their life savings from banks they think are unsafe ... only to see all that cash swiped in a spike in home burglaries.
From Wall Street to Brussels, the people with a stake in Greece's financial future are making plans for its exit from the Eurozone.
President Obama invited world leaders from France, Germany, the UK, Canada, Italy, Japan and Russia, aka the G8, to a retreat in Camp David for the weekend, and they're coming to agreements on all kinds of big issues.
In the last few weeks, market analysts have ratcheted up fears about a run on Greek banks. Now, some experts say those fears are beginning to materialize.
European leaders and market analysts are starting to forecast the results of a Greek exit from the Eurozone and the projections don't look good.
After frustrated Greek voters largely ousted the country's two major parties in elections over the weekend, the far-left and far-right politicians suddenly in office had to come up with a coalition government, and on Friday they decided they couldn't.
This weekend's surprising election results may have permanently upended Europe's plans for economic reform as voters are making it clear that they are sick of austerity.
This is why media companies have reporting standards: Presumably Reuters will be able to legally prove its claims in an April 2 story about a Greek bank's questionable property deals.
A retired pharmacist struggling under Greece's troubled economy committed suicide in the middle of a public square in Athens, becoming a powerful symbol of the country's fiscal crisis.
They weren't happy about it, but the German parliament voted to pickup Greece's tab once again in a bid to keep the Euro zone alliance strong, reports the BBC.
It's being called the "negative salary": Due to austerity measures in Greece, it's being reported that up to 64,000 Greeks will go without pay this month, and some will have to pay for having a job.
If you think you have Greece fatigue, imagine how the financial kingpins of Europe feel after 13 hours of talks to approve a new bailout deal for the trouble nation — one that isn't likely to end the hand-wringing anytime soon.
Thieves forced their way into an antiquities museum in southern Greece on Friday, making off with 60 to 70 items of "incalculable" value.
Today is the day Greece the EU need to sign off on the paperwork to avoid Greece's default on March 20, and Greece's Finance Minister promises it will have a deal within hours.
Even as more than 40 buildings across Athens were set ablaze by angry protesters, the Greek Parliament passed a series of strict austerity measures meant to save the country from financial ruin.
Historic buildings in central Athens have been destroyed by fire as protesters riot outside Greek parliament. Inside, lawmakers prepare to vote on a 130 billion euro bailout deal.
Workers showed their disapproval of the provisional austerity measures agreed upon by Greek leaders yesterday by walking out on their jobs for the second time this week, while Europe's economic "troika" sent Thursday's deal back to the drawing board.
After all-night meetings and a process riddled with delays and political posturing, Greek leaders have hammered out an austerity agreement to avoid default just in time for an EU meeting Thursday.
After yesterday's meeting was postponed, Greek party leaders were supposed to meet today to agree on a plan to avoid default, but it looks like a missing translation of the agreement is what's holding the crucial meeting up.
Fears that Greece won't accept a new bailout deal are having a chilling ripple effect from Greece to Western Europe to the United States.
Greece's ongoing bailout talks have made a significant move forward, but would require private investors to take an even bigger bath on Greek bonds.
Want another sign of just how bad Greece's economy is? Its agricultural industry is growing.
The Moscow activists who protested the Russian elections in the streets of Moscow Tuesday did not do a good enough job of looking scary and violent, it seems, because Fox News cut its coverage of the protests with footage riot police and streets on fire -- in Athens.
As Europe's debt crisis rages on, a collection of financial experts and global institutions are warning European leaders that the Euro Zone could collapse if swift actions aren't taken.
Global markets breathed a sigh of relief this morning, as Greece's new Prime Minister was sworn into office on a mandate to implement a $177 billion European bailout and impose austerity measures on Greek society.
Whether it's front-runner Lucas Papademos or another leading contender, the next prime minister of Greece's soon-to-be-formed unity government will have a mountain of problems to tackle starting on day one.
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