Europe moves to safeguard interests in Iran after US pullout

Europe's largest economies lobbied to protect their companies' investments in Iran today, seeking to keep the nuclear deal with Tehran alive after Washington pulled out and threatened to impose sanctions on European companies.

Government of Greece and TAP sign host government agreement / Endgültiges Aus für Nabucco - Konsortium entscheidet für TAP

The Greek Government (the Ministry of Energy, Environment and Climate Change – MEECC) and the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) project have today signed the Host Government Agreement (HGA) in Athens, agreed in principle last week.

The HGA sets out the framework by which the project will be realized and operated on Greek territory. This includes processes related to land easement and acquisition, the implementation of technical, safety, environmental and social standards and permitting.

TAP will be one of the largest sources of foreign direct investment in Greece, and is estimated to cost approximately Euro 1.5 bn for the Greek section. During construction, TAP is anticipated to create some 2,000 direct, and up to 10,000 indirect, new jobs across a number of industries including manufacturing and utilities, transport, communications and financial and business services. The project already collaborates with a number of Greek businesses and experts, and will seek to expand such cooperation in line with its commitment to Local Content.

Nοrth Korean Leader Makes Overture to South/ Kim Jong Un kündigt Ende der Konfrontation an

SEOUL, South Korea — The North Korean leader Kim Jong-un called for an end to the "confrontation" with rival South Korea on Tuesday in what appeared to be an overture to the incoming South Korean president as she was cobbling together South Korea’s new policy on the North. 

North Korea on Tuesday issued a major policy statement on New Year’s Day, following a tradition set by Mr. Kim’s late grandfather, the North Korean founder Kim Il-sung, and his late father, Kim Jong-il, who died in December last year, bequeathing the dynastic rule to Mr. Kim.

Mere cash injection may not be enough

By Dimitris Kontogiannis
The Greek government has invested a lot in the long-awaited bailout tranches to cope with the developing credit crunch and bring the economy to the stabilization phase late next year. However, a closer look at the figures indicates the positive impact may be less than hoped for, and therefore the risk of disappointment on the back of fostering high expectations should not be ignored or underestimated.