Greek PM sees end to recession; New Australia govt keeps AAA rating; India men's rights group

1 Greek PM sees end to recession (BBC) Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras says the country's six years of recession will end next year. He said Greece was now an "island of stability" in an ever less stable region. Mr Samaras was speaking at the Thessaloniki trade fair, which has been the scene of protests about the country's tough austerity measures. 

Greece's economy has shrunk by 23% since 2008. So far the country has received two bailouts of about 240bn euros. As part of current bailout conditions, the government has been forced to impose drastic cuts, tax rises, and labour market and pension reforms. The PM told his audience that talk of "Grexit", Greece's departure from the euro, had been replaced by "Grecovery".

He talked up the prospect of foreign investment and said his government was enacting long-delayed reforms such as tackling tax evasion. European Union and International Monetary Fund lenders project the Greek economy will shrink by 4.2% this year, after contracting by 6.4% in 2012. But Mr Samaras said the 2013 contraction would be "smaller than forecast". Greece would achieve a budget surplus this year, Mr Samaras said, apart from interest payments on its loans.

Protesters are holding a rally on behalf of thousands of civil servants who could lose their jobs, and there is also anger at reports that state-owned defence companies could close. Greece's economy has shrunk further than any other in Europe. International creditors are expected to review the country's aid programme in the autumn.

2 New Aus government keeps AAA rating (Straits Times) International credit agencies Standard & Poor's, Moody's and Fitch have reaffirmed Australia's AAA sovereign rating after the conservatives won power, saying they expected little change to the fiscal framework. All said their ratings were not immediately affected by the change of government.

"The ratings on Australia reflect the country's significant fiscal and monetary flexibility, economic resilience, and public policy stability," S&P said in a statement. "We expect the new government to pursue a broadly similar fiscal strategy to the previous government, targeting narrowing budget deficits over time."

3 India men’s rights group (Saptarishi Dutta in The Wall Street Journal) Every Sunday afternoon, dozens of men gather in the Pune’s Sambhaji Park to discuss how they feel they are being tortured by wives or mistreated by women. They are part of the Men’s Rights Association, founded in 2011 to, in the words of its website, fight misandry, or male-hatred, spread awareness about men’s rights, discuss medical problems related to men and lobby for the formation of a men’s welfare ministry in central government.

“We feel that that everybody is talking about women and children. Nobody is thinking that men also need help,” said Atit Rajpara, a 35-year-old software engineer and co-founder of the organization. The organization helps sponsor weekly meetings in dozens of Indian cities in tie-ups with local NGOs. The members assist distressed men, either face-to-face or over the telephone by providing emotional support and advice on how to stand up for their rights.

India is widely regarded as a patriarchal society where men are often given precedence  and women are under-represented in the workforce and politics. Around 40% of all crimes committed in India are offenses specifically against women, such as rape and cruelty by a husband, these are separate from crimes where the target could be a man or a woman, such robbery or murder. The gang rape of a young female student in Delhi in December brought the issue of women’s rights and safety into the spotlight in India and ignited an unprecedented debate in the country about how it treats its women.

In the wake of that rape, the Men’s Rights Association raised the issue of “fake rape” cases with the government commission set up to suggest legal changes to better prevent violence against women. The group argued that most reports of rape are false. The conviction rate in rape cases that come before courts is about 24.2%. “Why [are] the conviction rates so low? Because most of them are false cases,” said Mr. Rajpara. Women’s rights groups, on the other hand, say the relatively low conviction rate is the result of bias against the female complainants.

“Men cannot cry. This a basic stereotype in the society,” said Mr. Rajpara. “Whenever a man comes [to the meetings], we let him cry,” he added. Many feel relieved and happy after sharing their troubles with the members of the group, he added. Mr. Rajpara says he had a rocky marriage and is now separated from his wife. But he said he doesn’t dislike women and has many female friends. What he objects to, he said, is anyone who misuses the law for “selfish interests.”