Greece heads into Sunday’s crucial referendum – a last-minute challenge to the legality of the vote was rejected on Friday and it will go ahead – on a knife-edge, as both sides make their final pitches to their fellow citizens, many of whom say they are still undecided, according to latest polls.
Reuters reports that Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is framing the ballot “as a battle for democracy, freedom and European values.”
..The 40-year-old left-wing leader told Greeks to “turn your backs on those who terrorize you daily”.
“On Sunday, we are not just deciding that we are staying in Europe, but that we are deciding to live with dignity in Europe,” he told the crowd of at least 50,000.
Here’s 18 key facts on the situation, via the Washington Post, while Vox has 12 charts and maps that explain the Greek crisis, including one that shows the country’s debt-to-GDP ratio is “an insane 172%”.
In a Reuters exclusive, “Eurozone countries tried in vain to stop the IMF publishing a gloomy analysis of Greece’s debt burden which the leftist government says vindicates its call to voters to reject bailout terms, sources familiar with the situation said on Friday.”
Also, according to Reuters, the Financial Times reported that Greek banks were preparing contingency plans for a possible “haircut” on deposits amid fears of financial collapse, but the country’s banking association said the report was “completely baseless”.
Meanwhile the FT‘s Martin Wolf runs down the options facing the Greek people, saying
One does not put an overweight patient on a starvation diet just after a heart attack. Greece needs growth. Indeed, the economic collapse explains why its public debt has exploded relative to GDP. The programme should have eliminated further austerity until growth was established, focused on growth-promoting reforms, and promised debt relief on completion.
Here’s the latest dispatch from the streets via Vice News.
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* WORLD * A nuclear deal between Iran and western powers is understood to be close. The BBC reports that “Russia’s chief negotiator Sergei Ryabkov said the text of the agreement was more than 90% complete. Some of the major sticking points have included the timing of sanctions relief and the question of access for UN nuclear inspectors.”
The Los Angeles Times reports that the US is “stockpiling powerful bunker-buster bombs in case the talks fail.”
U.S. officials have publicized the new bomb partly to rattle the Iranians. Some Pentagon officials warned not to underestimate U.S. military capabilities even if the bunker-busters can’t eliminate Iran’s nuclear program.
Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, suggested at the same Pentagon news conference Thursday that airstrikes might be ordered multiple times if Iran tries to build a bomb.
Egypt’s ISIS affiliate claimed responsibility for a rocket attack in southern Israel. No damage or casualties were reported. The BBC reports that “The affiliate, which calls itself Sinai Province, said it had acted in retaliation for what it says is Israeli support for the Egyptian army,” and that “at least 17 Egyptian soldiers and 100 IS militants have died in fighting in northern Sinai since Wednesday.”
Ahead of the 4th of July holiday weekend, New York Gov Andrew Cuomo ordered heightened security measures in New York City and across the state, saying the area “remains a top target for terrorists.” The move comes after warning in recent days of possible threat activity and calls for greater public vigilance.
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* POLITICS * Building on his 10,000 crowd in Madison Wisconsin this week, Bernie Sanders drew his largest-ever Iowa crowd – and the largest so far for any candidate in this cycle – when 2,500 showed up in Council Bluffs on Friday, as candidates on both sides spend the holiday weekend in the early primary states.
With Sen Sanders gaining on Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton in the latest Iowa poll, the former Secretary of State will be spending time in the state next week, even as her lawyers are fighting a new effort to uncover more details of emails stored on her private server.
On the GOP side, defeated 2012 candidate Mitt Romney is hosting two of this year’s hopefuls in New Hampshire, as Chris Christie and Marco Rubio spend the weekend at Romney’s vacation home. Romney will also travel to Maine next week to meet with Jeb Bush, according to the Washington Post.
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* BUSINESS * Shell is thought to be set to start drilling for oil in the Arctic at some point in the next two weeks.
India’s Business Standard reported that Airbus and Mahindra had agreed to form a joint venture to bid for helicopter orders from the Indian government.
The latest issue of Newsweek looks at business and same-sex marriage. Emily Cadei writes that
At a time when America’s political class is catering to ever-narrower slices of the electorate, Fortune 500 corporations are trying to appeal to (or at least avoid offending) the widest possible swath of Americans. “Inclusiveness” may not be good politics in this day of polarization and micro-targeting, but it seems to be good business. And that is making the business community the sort of “big tent” political force that neither major political party can claim to be.
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* CULTURE * This weekend sees the Grateful Dead’s final “Fare Thee Well” shows at Soldier Field in Chicago. One local man thought their career deserved recognition.
http://twitter.com/TrendStyleDaily/status/617224376098910208
Have a safe and peaceful 4th of July.
The Overnight Note 