Eurozone lifeline for Greece; Dozen richest companies of the world; Karachi -- Largest city of have-nots

1 Eurozone lifeline for Greece (Ian Traynor in The Guardian) Greece’s eurozone creditors threw the battered country a summer lifeline, deciding to give Athens €3bn between now and October to prevent a fresh eruption of the sovereign debt crisis, while piling the pressure on the government to further slash jobs and spending. Greece is to get a new €2.5bn in loans this month plus a further €500m in October, a meeting of eurozone finance ministers decided. In addition, the European Central Bank is to return €2bn in profits earned from Greek bonds while the International Monetary Fund is expected to supply €1.8bn in August.

Talks over the weekend between the Greek government and the troika of officials from the European commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund resulted in a last-minute agreement on a new package of spending cuts, job losses and fiscal reforms in Greece in return for the bailout funds. But Germany wanted to increase the pressure on Athens, hold it to benchmarks on the implementation of reforms and calibrate the release of bailout money to tangible results.

The Europeans and the IMF have long been at odds on the terms and targets of the Greek bailout, worth €240bn in total, the world's biggest, with the IMF worried that Greek national debt levels will remain unsustainable.

2 Dozen richest companies in the world (San Francisco Chronicle) Drivers keep driving and oil companies keep cashing in. Oil and energy companies again dominate Fortune’s Global 500 list of companies with the highest revenue this year. Only Wal-Mart at No. 2 could break up the energy industry's dominance of the Top 5. Oil giant Royal Dutch Shell retains the No. 1 spot with $481.7 billion.

Toyota and Volkswagen – whose lineups, perhaps ironically, are littered with fuel conscious gas sippers – came in at No.8 and No. 8, respectively.

The top 12 by revenues reads: Royal Dutch Shell, Wal-Mart Stores, Exxon Mobil, Sinopec Group, China National Petroleum, BP, State Grid, Toyota Motor, Volkswagen, Total, Chevron and Glencore Xstrata.

3 Karachi – Largest city of have-nots (Najmul Hasan Rizvi in Khaleej Times) Karachi needs an efficient public transport system and an honest police force to push the old junk off the road. “This is necessary to turn the world’s largest city of ‘have-nots’ into a modern metropolis,” I told Mr Right who was browsing a newspaper report about a government plan to revive the defunct circular railway. “The circular railway will serve as a ‘merry-go-round´ for the people living in satellite towns around Karachi but who would take care of half the city rushing back and forth from morning till evening every day,” Mr Right said.

“Karachi is a destitute city that is fighting for its survival,” I said. “Charities help us rush the dead and injured to hospitals and dish out free meals to the people dying of hunger. They can even collect heaps of garbage from roadside and ensure uninterrupted water supply to the people if the municipality is handed over to them.”  “I know, the city needs to have a lot of other things too in addition to good transport and ‘well-fed’ policemen,” Mr Right nodded. “And peace comes first.” 

 “Last week, I saw an appeal from an 80-year old pensioner in a newspaper seeking shelter in a safe place,” Mr Right said. “It’s really ironic that in a city which boasts many well-laid-out graveyards, there is a deplorable shortage of accommodation for senior citizens who have not yet been permitted by destiny to kick the bucket.”

 “But I don’t think that expanding graveyards could eventually bring peace to the city,” I said. “Peace could only be restored by bringing all criminals and enemies of sanity to book.” Mr Right smiled and said, “Not a bad idea. “But the problem is that most people think that all the criminals are hiding in the camp of their opponents. I was, therefore, pleased by the views expressed by a Baloch leader in a TV talk show recently that anybody other than a cop or a soldier possessing fire arms must be treated as a terrorist.”

“Certainly, this should be the yardstick to fight criminals in society,” I said. Then what is the problem, why the people with illegal arms are not being given a run for their lives? I wondered. “The answer is simple. There are too many gunmen and also too many mourners. You cannot fight both at a time.”