Greek voters sent a firm “no” to the demands of European creditors when they voted by a 61-39% margin on Sunday’s referendum on austerity measures.
While the citizens of the country cheered, the rest of the world watched as the nation took steps closer to bankruptcy and bank failure. The banks in Greece had been shut down for the last week because of low balances and were only running because of emergency funds from the European Central Bank. ECB officials plan to meet Monday to see if they continue to prop up the banks and if so, for how long.
Voters told news outlets they were tired of the demands of creditors and that a rejection of tax increases and pension cuts was “a matter of national dignity” according to the New York Times.
The vote was also seen as a victory for Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, who ran on a campaign platform of rejecting new austerity measures. He claims that the vote was not a vote to “rupture” from Europe.
“I’m fully aware that the mandate that I was given (by voters) is not for a rupture with Europe, but a mandate boosting our negotiating strength for reaching a sustainable deal,” Tsipras said. “The people today replied to the right question. They did not answer to the question in or out of the euro. This question needs to be taken out of the discussion, once and for all.”
European observers say, however, it’s now likely Greece will be forced into bankruptcy and removal from the Euro. A possible expulsion from the European Union is now on the table.
Markets across the country saw tumbles due to the Greek rejection of the referendum. The only market that did not show a massive decline was China, because the Chinese government dumped a massive stimulus into the economy.
A heat wave has been baking Europe over the last week setting record high temperatures from Spain to England.
Meteorologists across the continent were reporting temperatures well over 100 degrees fahrenheit including southern France where the daytime highs are expected to top 105 degrees through the rest of the week.
“We have a lot of heat-wave days ahead of us,” MeteoFrance forecaster Francois Gourand told the Associated Press.
Heat in France was causing problems for the power grid, as 120,000 homes in the town of Vannes were left without power on Wednesday.
An all time high temperature for the UK in July was recorded on the first day of the month as London’s Heathrow Airport reported a high of 98.6 degrees.
The heat wave is striking the country at the start of the Wimbledon tennis championships and officials say it’s officially the hottest players have had to compete in the tournament’s history since it began in 1877. The heat was so intense a ball boy collapsed from the heat and had to be taken out on a stretcher.
While the heat bothered some residents, others took it in stride.
“I’m loving it. I can’t complain,” university student Maggie Cloud told the AP. “We pay so much money to go abroad to holidays, and now we have the weather here. It’s cheaper.”
NATO is refocusing their efforts toward Russia in light of Vladimir Putin’s invasion and takeover of Crimea last year.
NATO wants to prevent Russia from doing the same thing to other former Soviet Republics.
“We have reasons to believe that Russia views the Baltic region as one of NATO’s most vulnerable areas, a place where NATO’s resolve can be tested,” said Sven Mikser, Estonia’s defense minister.
“If the Russians sense a window of opportunity, they will use it to their advantage,” said Estonia’s chief of defense, Lt. Gen. Riho Terras. “We must make sure there’s no room for miscalculation.”
U.S. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter has been traveling to the capitals of NATO member nations to talk about the refocus on Russia. He has pledged the U.S. to give weapons and loan commandos to a new NATO rapid reaction force.
The U.S. will also place heavy weapons and tanks in the Baltics and Eastern Europe for the first time.
NATO is facing issues with member nations such as Germany, Italy and France not being in favor of going to war with Russia should an invasion of Estonia or other former Soviet republics take place.
Defense Secretary Ash Carter said Monday that the U.S. will send weapons, aircraft and troops as needed to NATO’s new rapid reaction force. The force will defend Europe in the event of an aggressive move by Russia or ISIS.
President Obama made the commitment last year during a NATO summit but Carter is revealing the details of the plan.
“We do not seek a cold, let alone a hot war with Russia,” Carter said at Atlantik Brucke, a Berlin think tank that focuses on the German-U.S. relationship. “We do not seek to make Russia an enemy. But make no mistake: we will defend our allies, the rules-based international order, and the positive future it affords us. We will stand up to Russia’s actions and their attempts to re-establish a Soviet-era sphere of influence.”
The U.S. will provide intelligence and surveillance capabilities, special operations forces, transport aircraft and a range of weapons from bombers and fighters to ship-based missiles. A large ground force is not part of the U.S. commitment.
Carter is attending his first NATO meeting as Defense Secretary and plans to bring a two-pronged approach to NATO’s needs: the first is a strong defense against Russia in an attempt to stop them from establishing a Soviet-era influence on the region while partnering with Russia to fight Islamic terrorism.
A new report shows that anti-Semitism rose 38 percent across Europe in 2014 although the crime levels have not reached the peaks of 2009.
The report from the Kantor Center for the Study of Contemporary European Jewry of Tel Aviv University recorded 766 official incidents of anti-Semitic violence or activity compared to 554 in 2013.
The conflict in Gaza was seen as a driving factor in the increase of anti-Semitism.
“Many streets in our European cities have become hunting grounds for Jews, and some Jews are now forced to avoid community institutions and synagogues as a result,” said European Jewish Congress President Moshe Kantor. “Some are choosing to leave the continent, many are afraid to walk the streets and even more are retreating behind high walls and barbed wire. This has become the new reality of Jewish life in Europe.”
Attacks on synagogues saw a whopping 70 percent increase over the previous year and arson attacks on Jews tripled. France remained at the top of the list for violent anti-Semitic acts with 164, which is 23 more than the previous year.
Anti-Semitic incidents more than doubled in Germany and England saw a jump from 95 incidents in 2013 to 141 in 2014.
“We need a pan-EU body that will coordinate intelligence efforts between member state and the sharing of such information, assist with legislation changes to enable the member states to address this challenge with proper tools and deal with training and security measures in the protection of Jewish institutions by the authorities.” Kantor said. “The current system is failing to deal with this problem or to prevent the next attack.”
After the terrorist attack outside a Jewish synagogue in Copenhagen, Denmark, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is calling for Jews to move to Israel.
“Israel is your home. We are preparing and calling for the absorption of mass immigration from Europe,” Netanyahu said in a statement. Netanyahu made a similar statement to French Jews after the Charlie Hebdo and kosher deli attacks.
“Extremist Islamic terrorism has struck Europe again… Jews have been murdered again on European soil only because they were Jews,” Netanyahu said in the statement. “To the Jews of Europe and to the Jews of the world I say that Israel is waiting for you with open arms.”
Israel is working on a $45 million plan to “encourage he absorption of immigrants from France, Belgium and Ukraine.”
Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman sent his condolences to his Danish counterpart saying Israel “appreciates Denmark’s cooperation in maintaining the security of Israelis and Jews in Denmark.”
A Swedish woman was denied a job with three different medical clinics because she would not perform abortions.
The Alliance Defending Freedom has filed a brief with the court on behalf of Ellinor Grimmark. Grimmark was subjected to verbal harassment because of her beliefs and openly denied employment because of those beliefs.
“No one deserves to be denied a job simply because she is pro-life,” said ADF Senior Legal Counsel Roger Kiska. “International laws to which Sweden is obligated recognize freedom of conscience and make clear that being pro-abortion cannot be a requirement for employment, nor can medical facilities force nurses and midwives with a conscience objection to assist with practices that can lead to an abortion.”
One of the defendants, Varnamo Hospital, had offered a position to Grimmark but withdrew it when they discovered she was pro-life.
The ADF brief points out that the Council of Europe has ruled “no person, hospital or institution shall be coerced, held liable or discriminated against in any manner because of a refusal to perform, accommodate, assist or submit to an abortion, the performance of a human miscarriage, or euthanasia or any act which could cause the death of a human fetus or embryo, for any reason.”
The case is currently pending.
Jewish leaders across France say that a “new anti-Semitism” is growing within the country.
The group cites four main factors in what they call an enhanced atmosphere of fear for French Jews. The rise of far-right nationalist groups with Nazi sympathies, a deteriorating relationship between black Europeans and Jews, hard economic times and the soaring population of Muslims in France who carry traditional anti-Jew beliefs.
France, the home to the largest Jewish community in Europe, has seen an increase in violence against Jews. Earlier this month, two Jewish youths were jumped and severely beaten as they were heading to synagogue in an eastern Paris suburb. The man who launched a deadly attack on a Jewish museum in Brussels was French and had recently been in Syria with Islamic extremists.
Jewish citizens have been subjected in recent weeks to intimidation from residents who told “dirty Jewesses” that they have too many children and the homes of Jewish residents have had Stars of David spray-painted on the sides of their homes.
A 13-year-old girl told the Washington Post the atmosphere is enough to scare her from being alone with friends.
“I’m afraid that what happened in Toulouse will happen at my school too,” Michele said. (The girl’s last name was withheld for security reasons.) “I hear what people say about Jews. And I am scared.”
A storm with wind gusts near 120 M.P.H. roared across Europe on Monday leaving at least 13 people dead.
At least three were killed when they were crushed under falling trees and the heavy rains and high winds swept at least one woman out to sea. A teen girl in England died when a tree fell on the mobile home her family was living in while their main house was renovated.
Power outages reached 42,000 in northern France and over 600,000 homes in England.
German meteorologists recorded a record 119 m.p.h. wind gust in the North Sea.
The storm’s intensity reached the point that German officials had to stop all train service in the country and all shipping ports were closed for the duration of the storm.
The European Parliament passed a resolution calling for Iran to release Pastor Saeed Abedini, imprisoned for over a year because of his Christian faith.
The resolution states the European Parliament “is deeply concerned about the fate of Pastor Saeed Abedini, who has been detained for over a year and was sentenced to eight years of prison in Iran on charges related to his religious beliefs.”
The Christian Post reports that the resolution was received this week by the American Center for Law and Justice, who is representing the jailed pastor and his family.
Iran imprisoned the Christian pastor in 2012 for allegedly threatening national security. However, many world leaders have stated their beliefs his imprisonment is directly connected to his Christian faith.