February 20th, 2012
European finance ministers are to meet on Monday to decide on another bailout plan for Greece – this time Greece needs 130bn euros (£110bn; $170bn) by mid-March to avoid bankruptcy.
This is a hard test for Greek PM Lucas Papademos who went to Brussels on Sunday to discuss his country’s urgent need and try to clinch the bailout deal.
Greece faces a debt that is more than 160% of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which needs to be brought down to a more sustainable level of 120% of GDP by 2020. The country is confronting five straight years of recession.
Meanwhile, austerity measures introduced on Saturday through budget cuts evoked more protests in Athens – several thousand people took part in riots on Sunday. And two more pieces of emergency legislation relating to wage and pension cuts is expected to be introduced in the Parliament on Monday.
The government has to show the willpower to continue with budget cuts and reforms and the political leaders will have to convince the agitating citizens that these measures are unavoidable. The ministers should also work out concrete plans to sail through the recession period.
We at Hillgrove PR feel that this is a critical situation for Greece and the whole Eurozone. If the protest demonstrations continue unabated, the credibility of the government will be questioned.
Tags: Greek bailout, Greek debt crisis, rescue loan for Greece
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February 18th, 2012
Media tycoon Rupert Murdoch arrived in London on Friday and announced that News Corp would soon launch the Sun on Sunday to replace the News of the World, which was abruptly shut last year following phone tapping scandal.
Media commentators see this as a step by Murdoch to appease angry staff after the company supplied information to police which led to the arrest of current and ex-journalists of The Sun. This is unlikely.
With his tabloids as the only profit making arm of his British newspaper portfolio, there was a real economic void left by Murdoch not having a tabloid to soak up Sunday sales. His intention is still likely to be the sale of his British newspaper assets, but they really aren’t a draw without a profitable Sunday tabloid to complete the loss making Times and Sunday Times. Hillgrove PR thinks that this is all part of a long term strategy which will see him concentrate on TV and video content.
Tags: News Corp, Sun tabloid, The Sun scandal
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February 18th, 2012
The UN General Assembly on Thursday, 16 February, voted 137 to 12 and approved a non-binding resolution asking Syria to stop the government forces’ crackdown on the civilian uprising. The civilians were running violent protests against President Bashar al-Assad’s rule for the last several months now.
Twelve countries, including Iran, China and Russia, voted against the UN resolution. President Bashar al-Assad gets strong support from Iran and Russia.
Even after passing the UN resolution, Syria continued shelling at civilian protest centres, and 22 people were reportedly killed in the military crackdown. Hundreds of protesters have been killed so far and the Syrian people have been appealing to the Western powers such as US, UK and France to intervene.
The Arab League also demanded President Bashar al-Assad relinquish power in line with the people’s demands.
This is a clear decision taken by US, UK and other Western countries to support the Arab League that brought forward the resolution in the UN assembly. Syria has not much oil reserves like Iraq, but we at Hillgrove PR, emphasise that the UK and NATO should vehemently support the innocent civilians in Syria and show to the world that we are champions of human rights, not purely aiming to topple governments of oil rich nations.
Tags: riots in Syria, Syria uprising, UN resolution on Syria
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