Ministry calculations show that out of the 76 billion euros of outstanding debts by taxpayers and corporations to the state, no more than 9 billion euros can actually be collected. Social security funds are anticipating a total of 1.2 billion euros from debt repayments this year thanks to the new plan, from total arrears of 20 billion euros.

RBI also said banks are permitted to import gold on consignment basis. Domestic sales will be, however, permitted against upfront payment only.

Almost 91 of Russia's credit institutions have been incorporated into a newly launched Russian domestic 'SWIFT' analogous.

Also firmly on the radar are the ongoing efforts between Greece and its international creditors to find agreement on conditions bailout the country's newly elected anti-austerity government is seeking to change. Greece's government said it will submit a request to the euro zone on Thursday to extend a "loan agreement" for up to six months, Reuters reported.

The European Central Bank on Wednesday approved a request from Greece’s central bank to lend €68.3 billion ($77.8 billion) to its country’s banks through an emergency credit facility, a person familiar with the matter said.

www.thelocal.es/20150217/spain-not-greece-says-pablo-iglesias

The leader of left-wing protest party, Podemos, is in New York this week, criticizing the 'dogmatism' of European austerity politics and calling on political leaders to 'rectify' their policies.

harvardpolitics.com/world/growing-european-politics/

Nigel Farage forecast “an earthquake in British politics” ahead of the 2014 European Union elections, but who could predict that across the Channel, the Spanish Podemos (We Can) party would cause similar tremors? Within three months of its founding, Podemos burst onto the political center stage in the 2014 European elections with 8 percent of the vote, and rose in less than a year to an astounding first place in voting intention with 27 percent. Farage’s United Kingdom Independence

www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-02-17/spanish-bonds-to-suffer-as-

Pablo Iglesias’s pledge to restructure $1.1 trillion of Spain’s debt could make investors more cautious about the nation’s bonds, a survey showed.

The rising popularity of Iglesias’s anti-austerity Podemos party could mean Spain pays an extra 50 basis points on securities maturing in ten years, according to the median estimate of nine economists surveyed by Bloomberg News.

www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-31500763

Young people out of work, education or training for six months will have to do unpaid community work to get benefits if the Tories win the election.

As the supposed cease-fire in Ukraine fails to end the bloodshed in the east of the country, fresh data on Tuesday showed the extent of the pain being felt within the country's economy.

Despite talks between Greece’s finance ministers and those from the Eurozone collapsing last night, investors kept a cool head this morning.

"Equation Group" ran the most advanced hacking operation ever uncovered.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - The U.S. National Security Agency has figured out how to hide spying software deep within hard drives made by Western Digital, Seagate, Toshiba and other top manufacturers, giving

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - A Greek government official said that a draft text presented to euro zone finance ministers meeting in Brussels on Monday spoke of Greece extending its current bailout package and

* Athens behaving quite irresponsibly, minister says* Schaeuble against deal just for the sake of a compromise (Adds more Schaeuble quotes, Austrian finance minister)By Michael NienaberBERLIN, Feb

Georgia’s ex-President, who is wanted in his country, has been appointed an aide to the Ukrainian President to help the war-torn country on its path to reform.

As Gawker reported, just hours after they were posted online by the Beacon, a group effort to vet the photographs had revealed that one of the images, taken in October, actually showed separatists in Ukraine, while the other two did show Russian troops, but driving near Russia’s border with Georgia more than six years ago during the brief conflict in South Ossetia.

LOS ANGELES — Troubles on the West Coast waterfront are getting worse.

Amid an increasingly damaging labor dispute, 29 West Coast seaports that handle about $1 trillion of goods annually will be mostly closed four of the next five days

www.reuters.com/article/2015/02/12/markets-bonds-spain-idUSL5N0VM4DM20

* Contagion from Greek crisis quite limited so far

* Spanish yields edge higher as anti-austerity party gains

* Podemos could win Spanish election expected in November

* Analysts see Spanish yields outstripping Italy's

Spain's left-wing party Podemos, founded a year ago, is heading the polls, El Pais reported Monday. The anti-austerity party received 27.7% of support, with the governing Partido Popular at 20.9%. National elections will be held later this year.

www.reuters.com/article/2015/02/12/eurozone-greece-budget-idUSA8N0V900

Greece's tax revenues fell 1 billion euros below the targeted level in January as Greeks held off on making tax payments ahead of a snap election on Jan. 25, the deputy finance minister told Reuters on Thursday.

www.reuters.com/article/2015/02/12/ecb-greece-ela-idUSF9N0V900F2015021


European Central Bank policymakers held a telephone conference on Thursday concerning the provision of Emergency Liquidity Assistance (ELA) to banks in Greece, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters.

In Greece's negotiations with its creditors, both sides need to look like they've won.

ATHENS, Feb 12 (Reuters) - Greece's jobless rate was steadyat 25.8 percent in November, the country's statistics agencyELSTAT said on Thursday, as the economy emerged from a six-yearrecession.November's

The European Central Bank’s quantitative-easing program will have its greatest impact by encouraging investors to shift funds into riskier assets, such as loans to companies and households, Executive Board member Peter Praet said.

Kiev says 19 of its soldiers were killed and 78 wounded as European leaders
set to meet in Minsk to agree peace deal. Follow the latest developments
here

www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-02-09/greece-said-to-seek-10-bill
Greece’s Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis will present a proposal at a Wednesday meeting of euro area finance ministers in Brussels that will ask for an 8 billion-euro increase in the stock of Treasury Bills the country is allowed, said a government official who asked not to be named as the negotiations are confidential.

www.reuters.com/article/2015/02/10/us-eurozone-greece-kammenos-idUSKBN

reek Defence Minister Panos Kammenos said that if Greece failed to get a new debt agreement with the euro zone, it could always look elsewhere for help.

"What we want is a deal. But if there is no deal - hopefully (there will be) - and if we see that Germany remains rigid and wants to blow apart Europe, then we have the obligation to go to Plan B. Plan B is to get funding from another source," he told Greek television show that ran in to early ..

www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-31310348

Russian President Vladimir Putin is holding talks with his Egyptian counterpart, Abdul Fattah al-Sisi, at the start of a two-day visit to Cairo.

Both men are seeking to boost bilateral ties, with Mr Putin emphasising Egypt's status as Russia's "trusted partner".

He presented Mr Sisi with a Kalashnikov AK-47 rifle when he arrived on Monday.

A court in the western Ukrainian city of Ivano-Frankivsk has ordered the arrest of a local freelance journalist on charges of espionage and high treason after he published a video on YouTube calling on Ukrainian citizens to boycott the mobilisation of Ukrainian men to fight a ‘fratricidal war’ in Ukraine’s east.

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Taken at face value, India on Monday became the fastest growing major economy in the world after its statisticians changed the way they measure Asia's third-largest economy and showed

Windows were shattered and homes shaken in Donetsk after a huge blast rocked the vicinity of a city chemical plant which was under rebel control.

The Germany-founded anti-islamist movement Pegida is set to holds its first rally in Sweden on Monday, reports Svenska Dagbladet. The demonstration, along with a counter-demonstration, is to take place in Malmo. Similar marches have been held in Austria, ...

Rolling economic and finance news, as Greece’s government defies European pressure and insists it will seek a bridging loan

Rolling coverage as finance minister Yanis Varoufakis meets Wolfgang Schäuble, after the ECB hits Greece with the news it will no longer accept its junk-rated debt as collateral

Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis is due to meet with his German counterpart Wolfgang Schäuble to continue talks on Greece’s debt, in Berlin on Thursda...

Leaders of Germany and France launch new diplomatic effort to ease Ukraine
crisis with surprise visit to Kiev and Moscow, as Nato bolsters eastern
Europe against Russia and EU agrees new sanctions

The Ukranian hryvnia is down over 40% hitting new record lows against the dollar after a central bank rate hike failed to calm nerves.

Eligibility of Greek bonds used as collateral in Eurosystem monetary policy operations

At least 12 people are killed as a TransAsia plane clips a bridge and crashes into a river near the Taiwanese capital, Taipei, say officials.

India looks likely to harvest a bumper wheat crop this year, its eighth in a row to exceed demand, possibly encouraging the government to allow exports from overflowing grain bins.

DUBAI, Feb 4 (Reuters) - Oil prices are likely to remainrelatively low until the summer, the chief executive of Total was quoted as saying on Wednesday, leading the Frenchoil major to assume an average

Saudi Arabia has been trying to pressure President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia to abandon his support for President Bashar al-Assad of Syria, using its dominance of the global oil markets at a time when the Russian government is reeling from the effects of plummeting oil prices.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro says the owners of an unnamed chain of shops have been arrested for artificially creating long queues.

President Barack Obama expressed sympathy for the new Greek government as it seeks to rollback its strict bailout regime, saying there are limits to how far its European creditors can press Athens to repay its debts while restructuring the economy.

France’s Socialist government offered support Sunday for Greece’s efforts to renegotiate debt for its huge bailout plan, amid renewed fears about Europe’s economic stability.

Upon the recommendation of Danmarks Nationalbank, the Ministry of Finance has decided to suspend the issuance of domestic and foreign bonds until further notice.The large surplus on the government finances in 2014 implies that the sale of government bonds has been greater than the funding requirement. Given the foreign currency situation, it is no longer appropriate to reduce the issuance of government bonds over several years. The balance on the central government's account at Danmarks Nationalbank is more than sufficient to cover the financ

Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams spoke to Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras this week, backing the new Greek leader's campaign for a European Debt conference like the one that wrote off German debt after World War II.

"Austerity has heaped severe hardship on citizens in Greece, Ireland and across Europe," Adams said, according to a statement on Sinn Fein's website.

The overall index, which gauges the cost of shipping resources including iron ore, cement, grain, coal and fertiliser, was down 34 points, or 5.11 percent, at 632 points, the lowest since August 1986. The index is also seen by investors as an indicator of global industrial activity.

Norges Bank Governor Oeystein Olsen had kept rates higher than warranted by inflation alone to protect the economy from overheated credit and housing markets. The bank ended a 1,000-day pause in rates in December with a surprise cut to 1.25 percent after oil prices collapsed.