More Than Half of Police Officers Voted For Neo-nazi Party

GreekReport – More than half of all police officers in Greece voted for pro-Nazi party Golden Dawn in the elections of May 6. This is the disconcerting result of an analysis carried out by authoritative newspaper To Vima in several constituencies in Athens, where 5,000 police officers in service in the Greek capital also cast their ballot. At some polling stations, Golden Dawn obtained 19 to 24% of votes. Read article

Greece to hold new election on 17 June

BBC – Council of State president Panagiotis Pikramenos will head the caretaker government until the election. The election date was announced after party leaders met Greek President Karolos Papoulias on Wednesday. Final talks to form a coalition failed on Tuesday, raising new concerns over Greece’s eurozone future. No party won a majority in the 6 May election. Read article

UK Unemployment falls unexpectedly but worse ‘still to come’

Telegraph – The number of people out of work fell by 45,000 between January and March to 2.63m, official figures show. The unemployment rate fell to 8.2pc over the period, down from 8.3pc the previous quarter and below analysts’ estimates that it would rise by 0.1pc. The number of people in work increased by 105,000 to almost 30m, but this was entirely due to a rise in part-time workers, prompting concerns of “underemployment” in Britain as workers are forced to accept shorter hours when they really want full-time jobs. Read Article

Baby Boomers: A ‘Gray Wave,’ Now Permanently Jobless Read more: Baby Boomers: A ‘Gray Wave,’ Now Permanently Jobless

Money News – Who are the long-term unemployed? Increasingly, it’s baby boomers who have the bad luck of getting laid off and then find they are locked out of the work force, possibly for good. A new study by the Pew Charitable Trusts throws a harsh light on the retirement prospects of millions of middle-income Americans. “In the ?rst quarter of 2012, older workers were less likely to lose their jobs in the first place,” Pew researchers write in an update on the job crisis.  Read Article

Greek leftists reject proposal for technocrat government

Reuters – Greece’s president will ask politicians on Tuesday to stand aside and let a government of technocrats steer the nation away from bankruptcy, but leftists have already rejected the proposal and look set to force a new election they reckon they can win. Read article

Occupy London

Reuters – Occupy protesters demonstrate outside St. Paul’s Cathedral and scuffle with police in the City of London. Read article

‘Indignants’ cleared from Madrid’s Puerta del Sol square

BBC – Police intervened following a clash between protesters, local media say. Police dispersed a similar protest on Sunday. It was part of a weekend in which tens of thousands protested. The square is a focal point for the movement of “indignants”, which erupted in response to economic crisis and austerity policies exactly a year ago. Read article

Shortfall in California’s Budget Swells to $16 Billion

NYtimes – The state budget shortfall in California has increased dramatically in the last six months, forcing state officials to assemble a series of new spending cuts that are likely to mean further reductions to schools, health care and other social programs already battered by nearly five years of budget retrenchment, state officials announced on Saturday. Read article

Thousands march against economic gloom in Spain, UK

Reuters – Thousands of Spaniards fed up with economic misery and waving banners against bankers marched on Saturday to mark the first anniversary of the grassroots “Indignados” movement that has sparked similar protests around the world. Read article

Going Out of Business in Greece: 1,000 Stores Per Week

Greek Reporter – While Greek politicians squabble over who can – or can’t – form a coalition government in the wake of May 6 elections in which anti-austerity rage caused a fractured result, more than 1,000 businesses in Greece are closing up shop each week, victims of a deep recession caused by pay cuts, tax hikes and slashed pensions that have made many Greeks simply stop spending on anything than goods needed for their survival. Read Article

UK addicted to sleeping pills: Stress-related insomnia on rise since start of the economic crunch

Daily Mail – Britain has become a nation of sleeping pill addicts since the start of the economic downturn, figures revealed yesterday. Stress-related insomnia has been blamed for a sharp increase in the number of people prescribed powerful drugs to help them sleep. The annual cost to the NHS of handing out the pills has risen by a sixth in the past three years to nearly £50million. Read article

Riot police scuffle with demonstrators in Naples

Reuters – Scuffles break out between protesters and police outside a tax office in Naples as public anger grows against tax authorities Read article

Greece bailout crisis: President seeks unity government

BBC – If the president’s bid fails, another election will have to be held. Earlier, Pasok became the third party to fail in coalition talks when leader Evangelos Venizelos formally returned the mandate to the president. Last Sunday, voters backed parties opposed to Greece’s bailout deal, which requires deep budget cuts. Read article

China economy shows unexpected signs of weakness

Reuters – China’s economy stuttered unexpectedly in April with lower than expected output data, softening retail sales and easing prices suggesting economic headwinds might be stiffer than thought, requiring more robust policy responses to counter them. Industrial output expanded at its slowest annual pace in April in nearly three years, while fixed asset investment growth dipped to its lowest in almost a decade. Read Article

China’s Gold Imports Jump as Country May Become Biggest User

Bloomberg – Mainland China’s gold imports from Hong Kong surged more than sixfold in the first quarter, adding to signs that the country may displace India as the world’s largest consumer of the precious metal on an annual basis. Imports from Hong Kong were 135,529 kilograms (135.53 metric tons) between January and March, from 19,729 kilograms in the year-earlier period, according to data from the Census and Statistics Department of the Hong Kong government. Shipments in March rose 59 percent from February, yesterday’s data showed. Read Article

Nigel Farage warns of EU ‘mass unrest’ and ‘revolution’

BBC – He told the European Parliament the rise of “extreme” parties “could cause the rebirth of National Socialism” in countries such as Greece. Mr Farage, whose party wants the UK to leave the EU, urged an end to the eurozone project. It was “headed the wrong way”, he said. In Greece, the leader of the left-wing Syriza bloc, Alex Tsipras, has tried to form a government following inconclusive elections on Sunday. He has described the EU-International Monetary Fund bailout, and its resulting austerity measures, as “barbaric”. Read article

Pasok’s Venizelos in third bid for Greece coalition

BBC – Pasok leader Evangelos Venizelos has been asked to make a third attempt to form a coalition government in Greece, amid turmoil after Sunday’s elections. Read article

Keep cutting or EU aid stops, Greeks told

Telegraph – The political turmoil triggered market turbulence yesterday as shares fell on fears that Greece will be forced out of the euro within months. Concern that the problems may spread pushed up the price of borrowing for Spain and Italy. Guido Westerwelle, the German foreign minister, warned that unless Greece implemented £12 billion of new austerity measures next month the EU will stop aid “tranches”, a move that would cause the collapse of public services and make the Greek state bankrupt. Read article

Spain nationalises Bankia as euro crisis escalates

Telegraph – Spain has nationalised crippled lender Bankia in a dramatic move to contain the esalating crisis and restore faith in the country’s management. The forced rescue was ordered by premier Mariano Rajoy after auditors Deloitte refused to sign off the bank’s books, amid allegations of €3.5bn (£2.8bn) of inflated assets. Half of the bank’s €37bn of property exposure is deemed “problematic” by regulators. Read Article

Cameron says Euro needs single government: report

Reuters – A successful euro zone requires a single government if it is to work properly, British Prime Minister David Cameron said in a newspaper interview on Wednesday. Read article

German government forced to hand over secret documents that exposed euro flaws – before they became a reality

DailyMail – The German government has been forced to hand over hitherto secret documents that expose the flaws of the euro – and the misgivings of European politicians – in the years before it became a reality. Der Spiegel news magazine made a successful request for the release of the euro files at a time when the odds on Greece quitting the common currency within 18 months rise to 75 per cent and the chances of a complete shattering of the eurozone have never been higher. Read article

Romania’s parliament approves new Social Democratic government

PressTV – The Romanian parliament has approved a new interim government headed by Social Democrat Victor Ponta, who says he has pledged to fight social injustices caused by austerity measures. Read article

US reportedly abandons plans for Afghan consulate after already spending $80M

FoxNews – US officials abandoned plans to open a consulate in northern Afghanistan over security concerns — despite spending more than $80 million on the site, The Washington Post reported Sunday. Read article

Wall St. hits two-month low

Fascism rises from the depths of Greece’s despair

Independent – A neo-Nazi party that wants work camps for immigrants is on course to win its first seats in parliament on Sunday. Read article