Greeks' crisis is personal as well as political

ATHENS, Greece (AP) ? Like many Greeks left unemployed by their country's economic tailspin, Dimitris Spachos finds it easier to talk about his nation's problems than his own.

Enormous debt accumulated over decades sent the country into a recession so deep it kills 200 businesses and 900 jobs every day. Elections this month failed to produce a government, and Greeks will vote again in June. Meanwhile, life for most Greeks continues to get worse.

"Every day I see more people sleeping rough on the street," said Spachos, 72. "They can't even wash their clothes or themselves. ... It worries me."

Spachos, who has been staying with different friends in recent months, may soon join them. A former doctor, he could not afford to retire and found work as a hospital orderly. But as Greece's woes mounted so did his own, and he lost his job, then two more: one as a gardener and one as a groundskeeper.

Now, he is unemployed and homeless, and spoke this week at a municipal soup kitchen, where he ate a plastic bowl of bean soup, a thick slice of bread and a banana.

"I am ashamed to be here," Spachos said, his eyes filling with tears. "My heart is broken."

"Greeks have fight in them, so maybe things will improve in a couple of years," he said, opening his shirt to reveal a scar from surgery to implant a pacemaker. "But I won't be around to see it."

Here is a look at some of Greece's problems as it struggles to pay its debts:

UNEMPLOYMENT

Over the past three years unemployment has roughly doubled, and Greece has lost more than 10 percent of its output.

Nearly 320,000 people lost their jobs in the 12-month period ending in February, pushing the unemployment rate to 22 percent. Greece's 3.8 million employed people are supporting the 4.5 million who don't work ? 1.1 million officially unemployed and 3.4 million considered financially inactive.

BUSINESS WOES

Some 80,000 businesses were shuttered last year, and 136,000 more are expected to fail in 2012, according to estimates from the Athens Chamber of Commerce.

"Out of 900,000 businesses currently operating, that would be a major blow," said Constantine Michalos, the chamber's president. "I fear the (next) government may be called upon to administer the ruins of the Greek economy."

CRIME

The Public Order Ministry has reported an increase in nearly all categories of crime between 2010 and 2011, with murder up 5 percent and armed robberies in occupied homes up 110 percent.

HOMELESSNESSS

Homelessness, the most visible sign of Greece's financial despair, has risen by around 25 percent, according to estimates by a state-funded relief agency. That number includes more people from traditionally stable background such as high school and university graduates.

HEALTH PROBLEMS

Greece's Center for Disease Control and Prevention reported 954 new HIV infections in 2011, a 57 percent increase from the previous year. It attributes most of the rise to drug use.

DEPRESSION

All these problems have led to a general rise in depression. According to several state-funded health and relief agencies, rates of suicide, drug dependency and depression have all broadly risen by 20 to 25 percent since the financial crisis hit in late 2009.

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Obama, Hollande hunt for Afghanistan compromise

Hollande and Obama (Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP)

Visiting French President Fran?ois Hollande told President Barack Obama on Friday that France's combat troops would leave Afghanistan by year's end and pledged to find a way "for our allies to pursue their mission" in talks at a looming NATO summit. The two leaders also bonded over jokes about fast food, a move that recalled ugly Franco-American tensions ahead of the war in Iraq.

France will support Afghanistan "in another way, another form" Hollande told Obama as they met for the first time in the Oval Office. But "the date of the end of 2012 is, for (French) combat troops, the final date."

Obama's NATO-backed strategy for ending the deeply unpopular war calls for shifting the burden of security to Afghan forces next year (a step the NATO summit in Chicago this weekend is expected to detail) on the way to a full withdrawal of alliance combat troops by the end of 2014. At the same time, he recently signed an accord with Afghan President Hamid Karzai that may keep American military trainers and counterterrorism troops in the war-torn country to 2024. U.S. officials have expressed hope that France will consider a similar compromise, which could avert a possible rush to the exits by other war-weary allies.

"We'll discuss this again at the summit in Chicago, and I think that we'll be able to find a way to make it possible for our allies to pursue their mission and for France to keep the promise I made to the French people," said Hollande, who campaigned on a pledge to pull France's combat troops out by the end of the year.

"We agreed that even as we transition out of a combat phase in Afghanistan that it's important that we sustain our commitment to helping Afghans build security and continue down the path of development," said Obama.

Obama and his guest, the first Socialist French president in 17 years, seemed far closer on other issues: Both cited the need to stimulate the sputtering global economy. "Growth must be a priority, even as we get our public accounts in order," said Hollande, whose calls for jobs initiatives is a break from predecessor Nicolas Sarkozy's austerity agenda. Obama and the French president were to meet hours later at Camp David with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who has called for stricter fiscal discipline, at a summit of the Group of Eight industrialized nations.

"We're looking forward to a fruitful discussion later this evening and tomorrow with the other G8 leaders about how we can manage a responsible approach to fiscal consolidation that is coupled with a strong growth agenda," said Obama.

The French president also said he and his host had agreed on the need for Greece to remain in the eurozone?Europe's common currency area?despite the country's profound debt crisis and calls from some quarters for dropping it from the 17-nation economic union.

"We share the same belief, that Greece must remain in the eurozone and that all of us must make an effort to achieve that goal," said Hollande. "And I wanted to send the Greek people this message: Your place is in the eurozone."

Both leaders also showed a united front on the tense diplomatic crisis over Iran's suspect nuclear program and international efforts to end Syria's bloody crackdown on opposition to President Bashar al-Assad.

Obama's talks with Hollande kicked off a frenetic four days of guns-and-butter diplomacy, starting with the G8 meeting at Camp David and continuing through the NATO summit in Chicago.

Both Afghanistan and the economy are central to Obama's legacy?not to mention his hopes for re-election in November. And the back-to-back summits offer vital opportunities to get the United States and its closest allies in closer harmony.

White House officials have worriedly watched Europe's debt crisis, concerned that a recession there could infect the already-weak American economy. And the president has made a successful handover of security responsibility from NATO-led forces to their Afghan counterparts by the end of 2014 one of his signature foreign policy goals.

"Our economies are interdependent. What happens in Europe has consequences on the United States. And what happened in the United States had consequences for Europe," said Hollande. "The more coordinated our actions, the more effective we can be."

As the meeting began, Obama referred to Hollande's youthful adventures in the United States, which he traveled in 1974 on a grant from a business school. The future president of a country famed for its food studied McDonald's and Kentucky Fried Chicken, both unknown at the time in France. "I could have made a fortune in cheeseburgers, but I finally chose politics," he recently told The New York Times.

After offering Hollande a "hearty congratulations" on his election victory, Obama noted that his guest "actually spent some time in the United States in his youth, studying American fast food?and although he decided to go into politics, we'll be interested in his opinions of cheeseburgers in Chicago."

"I want to thank President Obama for his vast knowledge of my life before I became a politician. And I want to say nothing that might suggest that cheeseburgers might have any flaws," replied Hollande.

"I just want to remember that cheeseburgers go very well with french fries," joked Obama. "No declaration about french fries," Hollande said, in English.

That light banter recalled deep tensions between Paris and Washington in the run-up to the March 2003 invasion of Iraq, a war France fiercely opposed. U.S. lawmakers at one time voted to change the name of french fries to "freedom fries" in their cafeteria, while Air Force One served "freedom toast." Neither food is known as "French" in France.

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Want more of our best political stories? Visit The Ticket or connect with us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, or add us on Tumblr. Handy with a camera? Join our Election 2012 Flickr group to submit your photos of the campaign in action.

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Dewey to consider bankruptcy filing: source

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Ailing law firm Dewey & LeBoeuf is considering a bankruptcy filing as new debtholders take a more aggressive track, shifting away from earlier attempts at an out-of-court liquidation, a person familiar with the matter said on Friday.

The majority of Dewey's partners have quit as a result of concerns about compensation, and $225 million in bank loans and bond debt.

Buyers of distressed debt who have acquired Dewey's debt at a discount on the secondary market are more open to seeing the firm wound down in bankruptcy court rather than out of it, said the person, who requested anonymity because the information was not public.

With the emergence of new creditors, Dewey on Tuesday replaced restructuring adviser Development Specialists Inc. (DSI) with competitor Zolfo Cooper. Joff Mitchell, a senior managing director at Zolfo, is now Dewey's chief restructuring officer, two people familiar with the situation said.

Bill Brandt, chief executive of DSI, confirmed that his firm's involvement in the matter was coming to an end.

"Our firm is transitioning out," Brandt said. "We've been replaced by Zolfo at the insistence of the debt holders. It now becomes a creditor-driven case."

A bankruptcy filing is not certain, and the timing of any potential filing remains unclear. The firm has been consulting with restructuring lawyers since April at the latest, and has retained bankruptcy attorney Albert Togut of law firm Togut Segal & Segal.

Neither Stephen Horvath III, Dewey's executive partner, nor Janis Meyer, its general counsel, responded to requests for comment. Mitchell and a spokesperson for Zolfo also did not respond to requests for comment.

Togut did not respond to a request for comment on Friday.

A spokesman for the firm's primary bank lender, JPMorgan Chase & Co, declined to comment late on Friday.

Once one of the largest law firms in the United States, Dewey & LeBoeuf has lost all but a handful of the 300 partners with which it opened 2012. It has laid off 433 of 533 employees in New York, according to the New York State Labor Department.

Dewey's debtholders have been selling their stakes during the firm's downfall. As of May 3, bankruptcy analyst Kevin Starke of CRT Capital Group said Dewey's $150 million in notes privately placed following a 2010 bond offering were trading at between 45 cents and 55 cents on the dollar on the secondary market.

The shift toward a possible bankruptcy filing would be a major change in direction. As recently as March 12, Martin Bienenstock, formerly a top bankruptcy partner at Dewey and an outgoing member of the firm's office of the chairman, told the Wall Street Journal that the firm had "no plan to file a Chapter 11 bankruptcy."

"We've had a completely non-adversarial relationship with our lenders, and right now the cash we're using is the lender's collateral," he said at the time.

Bienenstock did not respond to a request for comment late on Friday. He was one of four members of Dewey's top management team, the office of the chairman, to decamp to other firms in recent days, joining Proskauer Rose. The last member of that office, Washington, D.C., lobbyist L. Charles Landgraf, said he had joined Arnold & Porter on Wednesday.

Lawsuits are mounting against Dewey. The U.S. Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation sued the firm Monday in Manhattan federal district court in order to take control of three of the firm's pension plans, which the agency said were underfunded by $80 million.

Bankruptcies are often driven by creditors. On Wednesday, Annette Jarvis of Dorsey & Whitney, a bankruptcy lawyer who represents a group of 51 retired pension partners at Dewey predecessor LeBoeuf Lamb Greene & MacRae, said that in her view the firm "has to be put into a bankruptcy."

Jarvis did not respond to a request for comment on Friday.

(Reporting By Nate Raymond and Nick Brown; Editing by Daniel Magnowski)

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Diggs Construction | MBEConnect

About Us

Diggs Construction, LLC is a construction management firm offering a full range of construction services. We serve both the private and public sector, including commercial construction, industrial construction, and educational facility construction. As a minority-owned company, Diggs Construction?s philosophy is simple: there are no challenges, only opportunities. This philosophy allows Diggs to find solutions other firms overlook. From individual projects to concerns commonly associated with the building industry, our unique insight has lead us to be one of the best construction service providers available. We believe in upfront and honest communication, enhancing the quality of life of the communities we build in, reducing environmental impact through green building techniques, and as always, providing excellent service.

The core of every relationship must have integrity, respect, honesty, and true, heartfelt commitment. Based on this fundamental belief, Diggs Construction, Inc. was founded in1977 offering general contracting services nationwide for projects of all sizes.

Since its formation, Diggs Construction has always sought to utilize the concept of ?system integration? within its management, technical facilities, partners and clients. Thoroughly analyzing each project to determine the right personnel and chemistry needed has been a crucial step that allows Diggs to deliver top quality projects to its clients, on time and within budget from the onset of any project.

Our Team

(From Left to Right) Chief Operating Officer, Robert H. Kimmig; Vice President, Derrick Diggs, LEED AP; and Director of Civil Group, Jerry Morrow, PE.

Services

Program Management

Diggs manages large, multi-year, multi-project master plans, tracking a large number of projects in stages ranging from early development through design, construction and close out. Master budgets and schedules keep the owner up-to-date on the entire program.

Construction Management

Diggs Construction teams with the owner and the architect during preconstruction to insure that the project?s schedule and budget will meet the owner?s needs and requirements.

General Contracting

Although nearly a lost art, general contracting is still the most efficient delivery method for the sophisticated owner who wants to keep an uncomplicated job uncomplicated. Depending on the market, Diggs Construction offers the owner hard bid project solutions, with services extending from the end of the design phase through close out.

Healthcare Group

Our skilled staff has strong knowledge in the healthcare construction industry/regulations and extensive expertise in building, renovating and expanding complex medical projects including nursing homes, specialty care units, medical office buildings and dialysis clinics.

Civil Group

Diggs Civil Group is a consortium of civil engineers that combine construction management services with over 150 years of experience in providing road, bridge, and water/waste water engineering. Our design/build capabilities maximize efficiency and cost savings in infrastructure construction where unforeseen conditions are more likely to arise.

Projects

Partial Project List

Mary M. Hooker Environmental Studies Magnet School
LEED Platinum ? Hartford, CT ? Program Manager
101,150 SF $41,775,000

Honda Parts Distribution Warehouse Expansion
Windsor Locks, CT ? Construction Manager
185,000 SF $16,450,000

DaVita Dialysis Center
Glen Burnie, MD ? General Contractor
14,300 SF $1,347,500

Stop & Shop #0651
Bloomfield, CT ? General Contractor
76,000 SF $818,000

Lone Star Parking Garage
Houston, TX ? Design/Build
979 Spaces and 1,000 SF Police Substation $8,400,000

US Army Reserve Center
Dodge City, KS ? General Contractor
35,000 SF $8,275,000

Clients

?Focusing on client satisfaction is how we do business. And that makes all the difference.?

• Ahold, Inc./Stop & Shop Supermarkets
• American Honda Motor Company
• American Renal
• Capitol Region Education Council (CREC) ? Hartford, CT
• City of Hartford ? Hartford, CT
• City of Kansas City ? Kansas City, MO
• DaVita, Inc.
• Greater Hartford Transit District ? Hartford, CT
• Housing Authority of the City of New Haven ? New Haven, CT
• Lone Star College Systems ? Houston, TX
• Rice University ? Houston, TX
• Sikorsky
• Spirit Aerosystems ? Wichita, KS
• Texas Southern University ? Houston, TX
• Town of Bloomfield ? Bloomfield, CT
• Town of Hamden ? Hamden, CT
• Wichita Public Schools ? Wichita, KS

Business Statistics

?

Locations

?

Contact:
1001 East 101st Terrace
Suite 200
Kansas City, MO 64131
Phone: (816) 994-6950
Fax: (816) 994-6951
www.diggsconstruction.com

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U.S. Cellular adds Samsung mobile hotspot to its 4G LTE lineup, because three's company

And then there were three. U.S. Cellular's picking up the pace where its next-gen offerings are concerned, adding yet another device to that lonely LTE product portfolio. Starting today, Samsung's SCH-LC11 mobile hotspot will be available on the regional carrier's site with some sweet, limited time promotional pricing in tow: a mere $50 for subscribers residing in one of the operator's designated 4G coverage areas. For everyone else hunkered down in plain 'ol 3G territory, it'll ring in at $200 -- that's after a $50 mail-in rebate and required two-year contract. So, if you're a fan of deals and like to keep your plethora of portable gadgetry always connected, hit up the source link below and get to ordering.

Continue reading U.S. Cellular adds Samsung mobile hotspot to its 4G LTE lineup, because three's company

U.S. Cellular adds Samsung mobile hotspot to its 4G LTE lineup, because three's company originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 17 May 2012 16:06:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Wedding photography Seattle: expressive wedding photography

Wedding photography Seattle is talented photographers with skills that can amaze you, with the artistic touch and the experience that they have earned throughout the past years they deal with weddings high professionalism, they advice the couples to think ahead about the shots that they ?d like to capture on the day and compile a list so that you can check them off as its the couple?s day and their wishes must be followed, otherwise wedding photography Seattle is? always ready with their lens to look through the emotions that you will be going through on your day and turn it into a series of photographic memories. With many years of experience behind the camera they have acquired the immense expertise in still photography, based on their expertise, their team is committed to deliver a unique, expressive wedding photography that captures the event?s best moments and expressions.

Quality is the primary objective of their team as it is very well reflected through their work. Their constant efforts provide services and top most priority to their clients. They are everywhere and nowhere, they will be there from the beginning of the evening till the wrap up, they are even available for destination weddings as the world becomes a global village, a larger percent of weddings take place away from the couple?s home area and many times the couple?s home country and wedding photography Seattle is pleased to inform their clients that they will follow the couples till their dream destination.

With Seattle wedding photography transforms the events of your wedding day into unique memories that will be cherished for years to come. Through the use of black and white, colour, sepia and cross processing techniques, the spontaneity, love, laughter and excitement of one of the most special days of your lives will be captured in their unique photojournalism and traditional style. From custom designed albums to flexible wedding packages, together Seattle wedding photography will create photographic memories as unique, special and perfect as your wedding day. For the professionals in their team the magic of photography is in capturing the essence of one fleeting instant and seeing things from a new perspective because weddings are about the birth of a new family and regardless of orientation , age or ethnicity , their goal is to document the awesome momentousness of this great event in living colour. The Seattle wedding photography loves the little details, candid emotions and fun portraits .Their favourite thing is that nostalgic feeling of the mixed emotions you went through the entire day displayed when you look at the really great photograph. Their expertise is in catching the right light and pushing a little button and they can make an image that will last forever, you can call them crazy, adventurous, and live to try new things. They believe in photography that captures who you are, just beautiful, honest and enduring images of the most important , most fun and fantastic moments in your life.
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Army reviews mental health cases going back to 2001 | Health and ...

The move by Army Secretary John McHugh and Gen. Raymond Odierno, Army chief of staff, comes after findings this year that several post-traumatic stress disorder diagnoses at a base near Seattle were wrongfully reduced to lesser illnesses during medical retirement evaluations.

?We owe it to every soldier to ensure that he or she receives the care they need and deserve,? McHugh said in a statement, adding that the military ?must ensure that our processes and procedures are thorough, fair and conducted in accordance with appropriate, consistent medical standards.?

Army Undersecretary Joseph Westphal, and Gen. Lloyd Austin, Army vice chief of staff, will lead the review.

This year, the Army investigated behavioral health cases at Madigan Army Medical Center at Joint Base Lewis-McChord outside Seattle, where soldiers complained that their PTSD diagnoses were downgraded to lesser illnesses.

The probe is ongoing, but more than a hundred of those PTSD diagnoses have since been restored. In addition, three officers, including the hospital commander, Col. Dallas Homas, and William Keppler, head of a psychiatric team that had changed PTSD diagnoses, have been placed on administrative leave.

Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., who pressed for an investigation after soldiers complained to her about the way they were treated at Madigan, applauded the servicewide review.

?The Army clearly realizes they have a nationwide, systematic problem on their hands,? she said. ?The Army needs to fix the inconsistencies we?ve seen in diagnosing the invisible wounds of war.?

A statistically valid cross section of cases and retirement evaluations from Army hospitals across the country dating back to 2001 will be reviewed to see whether problems exist beyond Madigan, the Army says.

The effort by Westphal and Austin will be supported by a new task force led by Lt. Gen. David Perkins, who led the first troops to seize and hold the center of Baghdad during the Iraq invasion in 2003.

Raymond Chandler, sergeant major of the Army, will be a special adviser to the project.

The service will develop processes for current and former soldiers to seek redress if they were not properly compensated for their combat-related mental illness, the Army says.

Last month, the Army issued new guidelines for the assessment and treatment of PTSD, urging ?particular caution? in reducing a diagnosis to a lesser illness.

At Madigan, soldiers blamed the problem on a special ?forensic? psychiatric team established to review medical retirement evaluations. If the providers found it necessary, a PTSD diagnosis could be reduced to a personality or adjustment disorder, or even a finding that a soldier was faking the illness.

According to an Army investigative document, Keppler was quoted as complaining that PTSD diagnoses pay out $1.5 million in retirement over a veteran?s lifetime and that doctors should be ?good stewards? of tax dollars or the Army and Department of Veterans Affair would ?go broke.?

Article source: http://www.usatoday.com/news/military/story/2012-05-16/PTSD-army-review-mental-health/55024632/1?csp=34news

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