Greece

While all eyes are on European paymaster Germany's ? and to a lesser extent the IMF's ? stance vis-à-vis the resurrected "Greek Eurozone issue" in the wake of Greece's radical leftists' election win last January, it's a handful of small and neophyte euro area members that appear the "strictest" in ongoing negotiations.

Russia denied on Saturday a German media report suggesting that it could sign a gas pipeline deal with Greece as early as Tuesday which could bring up to five billion euros into Athens' depleted state coffers.

The latest "peculiar" scenarios involving the leftist Greek government's "tax safari" reportedly claim a "luxury tax on expensive holidays".
If the unconfirmed reports hold any substance, they would, of course, affect local taxpayers.

Greece needs to urgently do much more to present an acceptable plan to gain further EU financing, European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi says.

With the clock ticking on Greek negotiations with the European Union for the release of another 7.2 billion euros bailout funds, Draghi said Greece's framework for bailout financing going ahead is still lacking.

A total of 34 migrants who set sail from Turkey en route to Greece were rescued April 19 after their boat sank off of Turkey's southwestern coast. 

Initially, the Turkish Coast Guard rescued three migrants, including a three-year-old child, from a boat that sank off the coast of the southwestern province of Bodrum.

By Alexis Papachelas

An extraordinary meeting of the EuroWorking Group, via teleconference, has been scheduled for Wednesday, following Saturday's meeting in Paris between the so-called "Brussels Group" of institutional representatives with Greek officials.

The International Monetary Fund's member nations on April 18 warned of risks to the global economy from exchange rate shifts and geopolitical tensions as they took note of "moderate" global growth and "uneven prospects." 

Moscow has not proposed to Athens to make advanced payment for the construction of a "Greek leg" of the so-called "TUrkish Stream" pipeline, the Kremlin says.

Developments, most negative, continued over the weekend on the so-called "Greek issue", both domestically and overseas, with German FinMin Wolfgang Schauble downplaying the possibility of a deal with Athens to unblock bailout funds at next week's closely watched Eurogroup meeting in Riga.