Greece expects 'no final agreement' at May 11 Eurogroup: Varoufakis

5 May10:41 PM

[BRUSSELS] Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis said Athens expected no deal on its debt crisis at talks with his counterparts in Brussels on May 11, but added that it would be a step towards a final agreement.

"We are certainly going to have a fruitful discussion that will confirm the great progress achieved and will be yet another step in the direction of final agreement," he said after talks with EU Economic Affairs Commissioner Pierre Moscovici.

Varoufakis visited Brussels and Paris on Tuesday as Greek officials toured European capitals on Tuesday to push for a desperately needed bailout deal that will save Athens from bankruptcy.

Varoufakis said he and Moscovici, the former French finance minister, "had constructive discussions paving the ground for a successful meeting in the Eurogroup, the purpose of which is to further establish the common ground achieved in the Brussels group." The "Brussels Group" is a new format for backroom talks between Greek officials and counterparts from the European Union and International Monetary Fund who have been meeting in the EU headquarters in recent days in a bid to thrash out a deal.

"It is important that the good progress being made is solidified," Varoufakis said.

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said earlier on Tuesday that he was "somewhat sceptical" a deal could be found by next Wednesday.

The feverish diplomacy comes as Greece owes one billion euros to the IMF in the coming days, putting it under huge pressure to agree to a solution as soon as possible.

Varoufakis, who has denied recent reports that he has been sidelined, heads to Rome and Madrid later in the week.

Deputy Prime Minister Ioannis Dragasakis, a close ally of Premier Alexis Tsipras, was separately meeting with European Central Bank head Mario Draghi in Frankfurt later on Tuesday in a bid to increase liquidity for Greece's stretched banks.

AFP

    
 

India's Modi debuts on China's Weibo

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has joined Sina Weibo, China's version of Twitter, ahead of his visit to the country next week, attracting tens of thousands of followers within hours. 

PHOTO: BLOOMBERG

5 May12:54 PM

[BEIJING] Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has joined Sina Weibo, China's version of Twitter, ahead of his visit to the country next week, attracting tens of thousands of followers within hours.

In his initial post on the microblogging service on Monday, the Indian leader, who already has accounts on Facebook and on Twitter where he is followed by more than 12 million people, wrote: "Hello China! Looking forward to interacting with Chinese friends through Weibo." By Tuesday morning he had accumulated nearly 30,000 Weibo followers.

Some welcomed Mr Modi, who is set to visit China for three days starting May 14.

"Hello Prime Minister," wrote one user. "Hope you will adapt to the stormy waves on Weibo as soon as possible. Looking forward to communicating with you." Chinese authorities impose strict censorship on social media, but nationalist sentiment is often allowed to run rife.

Most comments following Mr Modi's sign up were more confrontational.

Beijing claims a border area in the northeast Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh as Zangnan, or South Tibet.

"Zangnan has been an inherent part of China since at least 600 years ago, when the United States was the Indians' and India was not united yet," one user said.

Another posting said: "Return Zangnan to us. Otherwise there is nothing to talk about with you." China defeated India in a brief but bloody war in 1962 and their border disputes - which also involve a Beijing-controlled area in the far west, on the border between Xinjiang and Kashmir - remain unresolved, with both sides regularly accusing soldiers of crossing over into the other's territory.

Mr Modi, whose time as chief minister of Gujarat was marred by Hindu-Muslim riots that saw at least 1,000 people killed, most of them Muslims, devoted his second Weibo post to Buddhism.

"I wish everyone happiness on Buddha's birthday. Today we remember Buddha's ideals and missions. He preached the ideals of harmony and brotherhood and had a vision of a peaceful world.

"Buddhism is a unifying force connecting Asian countries. It can be one form of strong cohesion to turn this century into the Asian era," he said.

Both his posts were in Chinese.

Buddhism entered the country over 2,000 years ago and the religion's Chinese administrators say it has more than 100 million adherents.

AFP