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...Solis and other political foes that she's a puppet of Arias, under whom she served as Vice President, and his social-democratic National Liberation Party, to which she belongs as well. The daughter of a former Costa Rican comptroller general, Chinchilla earned a master's degree in public policy at Georgetown University in Washington in the 1980s. But while she often wore indigenous fashions as a college student and criticized the Reagan Administration's involvement in Central America's conflicts, she is a social conservative, opposing abortion rights as well as gay civil unions and efforts to remove...
...Europe's less profligate members are realizing, the problem with family is that a good name can be tarnished by a single member's bad behavior. Concern over Greece's public deficit - which now exceeds 12.7% of GDP, well over the E.U. limit of 3% - has sent the euro tumbling and caused stock markets across the continent to fall. And with the finances of eurozone countries now under a market microscope, questions are now being asked about Spain and Portugal, which are also battling high deficits. (See pictures of the global financial crisis...
...should be the responsibility of the International Monetary Fund, not other E.U. countries. "A large-scale bailout would make taxpayers across Europe liable, either directly or indirectly, for the mistakes of a government over which they have no democratic control. Such a policy simply isn't reasonable and lacks public support," says Pieter Cleppe, head of the Brussels office of Open Europe, a think tank that opposes greater centralization of power in the E.U. Indeed, the IMF has already given millions in bailout money to E.U. countries like Hungary and Latvia, neither of which uses the euro, but eurozone countries...
...economic news is being followed with obsessive intensity. Widows in black are chattering about "the spread" - the premium investors demand to buy Greek debt - while the country's unions are mustering their strength, hoping to show the government they will not accept pay and benefit cuts quietly. Thousands of public sector workers and their supporters took to the drizzly streets of Athens on Wednesday to protest the government's proposed austerity measures, which include a 10% cut on bonuses, which make up a large percentage of many state employees' total wages, and increases in the retirement age for women...
...That may have been a reasonable expectation in the real estate go-go days. Yes, the digs are nice, and the development has won kudos from environmentalists for the energy-efficient design of the complex, which has green roofs and will reuse rainwater, and for its easy access to public transportation. Metro Vancouver housing prices have rebounded from the worst recession lulls - year-over-year condo prices were up 15% in January - but it's still not the best time to be betting on real estate. "Things could still be peachy and wonderful," says Chris Shaw, an ophthalmology professor...