The European Central Bank dropped the hammer on Greece by denying it the ability to use its bonds as collateral to receive money from possible lenders. The move means that Greek banks will no longer be able to raise capital easily because they will no longer be able to use Greek government bonds as collateral to those loans. The banks will still be able to apply for loans from the ECB’s Emergency Liquidity Funds, but at a substantially higher interest rate. Check out the difference in reporting this move from Bloomberg (a business news outlet) to Ekathimerini (a Greek source). It is hard to believe both are reporting on the same event.
Nigerians will vote next week for a new government, but it appears as if the conditions for a legitimate vote are far from optimal. It appears as if it will be virtually impossible to conduct a fair and honest vote, and the major parties are engaged in election ploys that will make it extremely difficult for all voters have equal access to the ballots. The Nigerian political system is already fragile and a broken election will only diminish the authority of the government even more.
The conflict in Ukraine has been in many respects a “stealth” war. The rhetoric about the conflict is heated, but much of the violence remains hidden to outsiders as both the Russian separatists and the Kiev government really do not wish their activities to be closely scrutinized. Alan Taylor has taken some extraordinary photographs of the war which clearly indicate that the conflict is much more savage than many of us believed. I should warn everyone that some of these photographs show the dead and are quite unnerving. So do not go the site if you do not wish to view such photos.
Check out how climate change may alter the way people in the US will live in 2100 in certain cities. Boston will have summer temperatures close to that of Palm Beach in Florida.
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