Unemployment rate in Greece increased slightly in January this year, to 24.4%, from 24.3% in the previous month, and down from 25.7% in January 2015, according to the Athens Statistics Bureau - ELSTAT. Thus, unemployment in Greece remains almost double than in the Eurozone and almost three times higher than in the European Union. According to seasonally adjusted data, the January level is the lowest since May 2012, when the unemployment rate was at 24.1%. The highest level, of 27.9%, was seen in September 2013. According to ELSTAT, 1,169,119 people did not have a job in January, down 62,999 over the previous month. Also, the number of employees in Greece was 3,613,483, up 59,789 over the previous month, ELSTAT announced. The highest unemployment rate, of 51.9%, was seen among young people aged 15 to 24. In January 2015, the unemployment rate on this segment was 50.5%. Greece's economy fell 0.3% last year, according to revised data recently published by ELSTAT. In 2014, the Greek economy exited a recession which lasted almost six years, posting an advance of 0.7%.
Austria says it has begun work to tighten immigration controls at a key north-south European crossing point. Police say concrete was poured on Tuesday as building commenced of a control centre at the Brenner crossing on the border with Italy in the Alps. It is the latest in a series of hardline steps taken by Austria to clamp down on migration. But the EU, Germany and Italy, as well as refugee agencies, have criticised the measures. Aid groups say the steps effectively mean decisions on asylum will be made within minutes or hours at border centers. They say that means asylum seekers could then be refused entry to the country - breaching both European law and the Austrian constitution, and encouraging migrants to turn to human traffickers. Austria has become known for its strict stance on migration, including introducing border fences and controls and tough asylum rules including a cap on numbers claiming asylum. Last year, it became a major transit country for migrants seeking to claim asylum in Germany and correspondents say the influx has contributed to the popularity of the far right, raising tensions within the governing coalition. That approach, pledged incoming Interior Minister Wolfgang Sobotka on Sunday, "will be continued". "This is probably the most fundamental change in recent decades," Michael Landau, head of the Catholic non-governmental organisation Caritas, told reporters on Monday. "A change which means Austria virtually takes leave of the right to asylum."
The clam, the clap and the pox are rarely linked to romance. But new research suggests they may have helped drive humans to monogamy. Based on insights from computer models, scientists argue that the shift away from polygynous societies – where men had many long-term partners, but women had only one – could be down the impact of sexually transmitted infections on large communities that arose with the dawn of the agricultural age. Agriculture is thought to have taken hold around 10,000 years ago, although some studies put the date even earlier. “That behaviour was more common in hunter gatherers and it seemed to fade when we became agriculturists,” said Chris Bauch of the University of Waterloo in Canada who co-authored the paper. Writing in the journal Nature Communications, Bauch and his colleague Richard McElreath from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany, describe how they built a computer model to explore how bacterial STIs such as chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis that can cause infertility, affected populations of different sizes. The authors considered both small hunter gatherer-like populations of around 30 individuals and large agricultural-like populations of up to 300 individuals, running 2,000 simulations for each that covered a period of 30,000 years. In small polygynous communities, the researchers found that outbreaks of such STIs were short-lived, allowing the polygynous population to bounce back. With their offspring outnumbering those from monogamous individuals, polygyny remained the primary modus operandi.
The National Uranium Company (CNU) will open a new uranium quarry in Tulgheş, Neamț County, because the uranium mine at Crucea-Botușana (Suceava County) will be closed temporarily and partially for up to nine months, writes News.ro. The decision regarding the mine in Crucea entails the temporary and partial termination of the processing platform in Feldioara (Brașov County). Earlier this year, CNU was left without its unique commercial customer, Nuclearelectrica, following an auction of raw material, when it lost the sintered uranium dioxide powder supply contract in favor of a supplier from Canada. At this moment, only the National Administration of State Reserves and Special Problems (ANRSPS) is the off taker of uranium extracted by CNU. “CNU is practically obliged to open a quarry in order to reduce the production costs and to be competitive in the market. Currently, the costs are much higher compared to the international market because the current mine in Crucea is about to be depleted. Works on the quarry start this year and could take two to three years”, writes News.ro. At the same time, representatives from the Ministry of Energy noted that, this year, about 700 of the 1,200 employees at CNU will be dismissed with severance payments.
The International Monetary Fund will sound a fresh alarm over the state of the global economy this week when it reveals its latest forecasts for growth against the backdrop of slower world trade and jittery financial markets. The expected warning over risks to financial stability and economic growth will underscore fears in the UK that its own economy has slowed in recent months, unable to shake off global pressures. The IMF’s latest update is expected to reprise warnings about risks from a slowdown in emerging market economies, China’s downturn and lower commodity prices. The Washington-based Fund already cut its outlook in January and recent downbeat comments from its managing director Christine Lagarde were taken by many as a hint that more cuts are to come in Tuesday’s World Economic Outlook. Lagarde said in a speech that the global economy had lost momentum and that “the recovery remains too slow, too fragile, and risks to its durability are increasing.” She also called on governments to pursue more growth-friendly policies. “Given comments from Christine Largarde recently a downgrade to the IMF’s world growth forecasts looks to be on the cards,” said Ryan Djajasaputra, economist at the bank Investec. The new economic outlook, published ahead of the IMF and World Bank spring meetings later in the week, will likely renew warnings over risks the global economy from expected moves by the US Federal Reserve to lift interest rates back to more normal levels.
An oil analyst with advisory group Peel Hunt, Werner Riding said: “I don’t think the North Sea is dead by a long shot. New successful companies will be born from this downturn, and it’s the smaller more nimble players who could benefit the most from low asset prices.” He added that small-cap players including Faroe Petroleum and Serica are both likely to complete deals within the next six months, at the bottom of the oil price cycle, before seller expectations become too optimistic. “I’d be surprised if both didn’t try to acquire more production assets before the end of the year. In particular Faroe will want to offset to the loss of production from the Njord area which is due to come offline this summer and will make a material impact on revenue if that production isn’t replaced,” he said. Faroe boss Graham Stewart confirmed that although the group is not currently in late stage discussions with anyone specific he expects to complete “a value enhancing acquisition by the end of the current year”. A spokesman for Serica said the company is “keeping its ears to the ground”. Mayfield’s Mr McKelvie said that as low oil prices have become entrenched asset-holders are beginning to accept a new economic reality which is helping to close the gap between bids and offers in asset sale talks. Meanwhile investors are more willing to support new deals, he said. “Six months ago when we began looking at this people could see the opportunity but weren’t sure. But in the last two weeks we’ve been talking to investors and they’re more up for it. “Getting that pool [of investors] together has been really important, and the fact that these investors can now see the opportunity is good for us,” he said.
Several myths have been shattered through the recent disclosure of the conversation between IMF employees Poul Thomsen and Delia Velculescu, which shows how they conspire to reach their goals, and for us, the subject is even more interesting, especially since they both are connected to Romania.
Poul Thomsen is the head of the IMF for the European Division, responsible for the IMF program in Greece and Portugal, which also oversees the activity of the IMF country teams, (including) those in charge of Iceland, Ukraine and... Romania. Merkel couldn't wage a war on three fronts - "the British front", "the Greek front" and "the German front" - and, according to the plans of Poul Thomsen and Delia Velculescu, would be forced to strike a deal. The first myth that the knowledge of this conspiracy shatters is the fact that the IMF is involved in conspiracies. For years, the people who have been saying that they are suspicious of conspiratorial nature of the IMF have been ridiculed in every possible way. The "high life" of the financial sector said about these distrustful people that they don't understand that the World Bank and the IMF are just "devices" of international financial coordination, without any political agenda, driven only by technical objectives. They said that the suspicion is a sign of the discontent of the people forced to implement the reforms and the restructurings required by the IMF, but which were in fact necessary.
Unemployment rate in Greece increased slightly in January this year, to 24.4%, from 24.3% in the previous month, and down from 25.7% in January 2015, according to the Athens Statistics Bureau - ELSTAT. Thus, unemployment in Greece remains almost double than in the Eurozone and almost three times higher than in the European Union. According to seasonally adjusted data, the January level is the lowest since May 2012, when the unemployment rate was at 24.1%. The highest level, of 27.9%, was seen in September 2013. According to ELSTAT, 1,169,119 people did not have a job in January, down 62,999 over the previous month. Also, the number of employees in Greece was 3,613,483, up 59,789 over the previous month, ELSTAT announced. The highest unemployment rate, of 51.9%, was seen among young people aged 15 to 24. In January 2015, the unemployment rate on this segment was 50.5%. Greece's economy fell 0.3% last year, according to revised data recently published by ELSTAT. In 2014, the Greek economy exited a recession which lasted almost six years, posting an advance of 0.7%.
Austria says it has begun work to tighten immigration controls at a key north-south European crossing point. Police say concrete was poured on Tuesday as building commenced of a control centre at the Brenner crossing on the border with Italy in the Alps. It is the latest in a series of hardline steps taken by Austria to clamp down on migration. But the EU, Germany and Italy, as well as refugee agencies, have criticised the measures. Aid groups say the steps effectively mean decisions on asylum will be made within minutes or hours at border centers. They say that means asylum seekers could then be refused entry to the country - breaching both European law and the Austrian constitution, and encouraging migrants to turn to human traffickers. Austria has become known for its strict stance on migration, including introducing border fences and controls and tough asylum rules including a cap on numbers claiming asylum. Last year, it became a major transit country for migrants seeking to claim asylum in Germany and correspondents say the influx has contributed to the popularity of the far right, raising tensions within the governing coalition. That approach, pledged incoming Interior Minister Wolfgang Sobotka on Sunday, "will be continued". "This is probably the most fundamental change in recent decades," Michael Landau, head of the Catholic non-governmental organisation Caritas, told reporters on Monday. "A change which means Austria virtually takes leave of the right to asylum."
