1 Germany not to cancel more Greek debt (The
Guardian) The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, has ruled out cancelling more
of Greece’s debt, saying the country has already received billions of cuts from
bankers and creditors.
Merkel’s intervention comes after the Greek finance
minister, Yanis Varoufakis, refused to work with the troika of lenders – the
European commission, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund – to
renegotiate the terms of the debt-ridden country’s €240bn (£180bn) bailout
programme.
Greece’s leftwing Syriza party won last weekend’s
election with a pledge to have half the debt written off and has already begun
to roll back the austerity measures the creditors had demanded of the previous
government.
But the German chancellor said that she still wanted
Greece to stay in the eurozone. “The aim of our policies was and is for Greece
to remain a part of the euro community permanently,” Merkel said. The size of
the Greek economy has shrunk by more than a quarter – the worst slump in modern
times – as a result of consecutive waves of budget cuts and tax rises enforced
at the behest of creditors.
Alexis Tsipras, the new Greek prime minister, will
visit Rome on Tuesday to meet with his Italian counterpart Matteo Renzi and
Paris on Wednesday for talks with French president Francois Hollande with the
aim of winning support for his anti-austerity policies.
2 Spain rally in support of Greek way out of debt
(BBC) Tens of thousands of people massed in central Madrid for a rally
organised by radical Spanish leftists Podemos. The "March for Change"
is one of the party's first outdoor mass rallies, as it looks to build on the
recent victory of its close allies Syriza in Greece.
Podemos leader Pablo Iglesias told the crowd a
"wind of change" was starting to blow through Europe. Podemos has
surged ahead in opinion polls, and has vowed to write off part of Spain's debt
if it comes to power.
Protesters are parading in the same streets that
over the past six years have seen many other gatherings against financial
crisis cutbacks imposed by successive governments. But Spanish Prime Minister
Mariano Rajoy said Podemos had no chance of winning elections. Many Spaniards
are enraged over reports of political corruption and public spending cuts
implemented by Mr Rajoy's People's Party and before that by the Socialists.
Our correspondent says that since Podemos stormed
onto the political scene in last May's European elections, it has moved from
strength to strength with its uncompromising message against austerity and
corruption. But both left-wing and right-wing media have criticised Podemos,
accusing it of having ties with Venezuela's left-wing leaders and alleging
financial misconduct by some of its senior members.
Spain has now officially come out of recession but
nearly one in four workers remains unemployed. Last year was the first time
there has been full-year economic growth in the country since 2008, when a
property bubble burst, putting millions of people out of work and pushing the
country to the brink of a bail-out.
3 Dealing with ‘frenemies’ at work (Johannesburg Times/Harvard
Business Review) Friends at work who are trusted confidantes may sometimes
gossip about you. Co-workers who encourage you may also disparage you in front
of others. How can you navigate these relationships with "frenemies"?
A. Focus on the positive: Having a frenemy is better
than having an enemy. Start by sharing some personal information and building a
small degree of trust; even if these relationships do not ever make it into a
"friend" zone, they have some unexpected benefits. B. Try to work
together on an important project: Frenemies are a source of motivation, and
working alongside them will make you work harder to prove yourself.
C. Turn your enemies into frenemies: Aim to
transform your worst relationships not into friendships but into ambivalent
ones, which have more benefits in terms of your motivation and personal
success. You can do this by getting to know your enemy better and focusing on
his or her more positive characteristics.
D. Appreciate your varied social ledger: Remember
that it is not just you who feels ambivalent toward others at work. Stop
feeling guilty about these uncomfortable feelings and appreciate that you have
a wide range of relationship types at work, as does everybody else.
Despite the benefits, we do not want all our
relationships to be ambivalent. There is much more to be gained by having as
many positive relationships as possible — and that is where your priorities
should lie. But navigating relationships at work is complicated, and not only
are love-hate relationships unavoidable, but having a few is good for us.
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