The Finnish Parliament approved the bailout terms for Portugal last week, knocking down one of the last big hurdles to international aid for the debt-ridden country. The plan will now be forwarded to the euro-zone’s finance ministers, who are expected to approve it in the next few days.
The Parliament backed the bailout after a 15-5 favorable vote. Jyrki Katainen, the Finnish Finance Minister, announced the country’s approval in a meeting with fellow finance ministers in Brussels earlier this week.
At the said meeting, officials will discuss the details of the Portugal bailout. Each country represented is expected to forward its own proposals and conditions, which have to be okayed before the ...
Finland Okays Portuguese Bailout
The Finnish Parliament approved the bailout terms for Portugal last week, knocking down one of the last big hurdles to international aid for the debt-ridden country. The plan will now be forwarded to the euro-zone’s finance ministers, who are expected to approve it in the next few days.
The Parliament backed the bailout after a 15-5 favorable vote. Jyrki Katainen, the Finnish Finance Minister, announced the country’s approval in a meeting with fellow finance ministers in Brussels earlier this week.
At the said meeting, officials will discuss the details of the Portugal bailout. Each country represented is expected to forward its own proposals and conditions, which have to be okayed before the ...
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True Finns May Back Portugal Aid
The political group True Finns, once strongly opposed to the euro-zone bailouts, said in a conference Saturday that aid to Portugal could benefit their native Finland, one of the strongest signs that their opposition may still mellow down.
The party rose to prominence in Finnish elections last month, raising fears that a new government could step in and block the bailout plans. Bailout talks began in Lisbon in mid-April.
In an interview with YLE, a Finnish broadcast station, the True Finns leader Timo Soini said the Portugal bailout could even be the best option for Finland. However, he added, the country’s autonomy remains their main thrust.
Previously little-known in Finland, the True Finns ...
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Portugal Crisis Means Cheaper Vacations
One can see most of Portugal, a strip of land just 350 miles long and a hundred miles wide, in about seven days. And as Spain’s western neighbor sits on the brink of a bailout, it may prove to be a pretty inexpensive week: hotels, restaurants, and transport are all getting cheaper as we speak.
A shoestring budget can take travelers to most of Lisbon’s historic sites, buy a train ticket to the wine region of Porto, and head south to Algarve, a beach town that’s both a cultural and architectural haven, and shares a border with Spain.
A little over 75 euros (US$100) can buy a good night’s sleep at the ...
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Portugal Bailout Talks Begin Amid Finnish Protests
Europe’s financial leaders and leading policymakers refused to give comments yesterday as they headed for the finance ministry in Lisbon’s Commerce Square—a building rife with traces of Portugal’s historical importance. IMF representative Dane Poul Thomsen, who earlier led bailout talks in Greece, is meeting with officials from the European Central Bank and the European Commission today to discuss Portugal’s bailout plan, which is estimated at around €80 billion.
Negotiations are already off to a shaky start. The bailout entered a critical phase yesterday when a Finnish anti-euro party, the True Finns, managed to gain strongly in elections, putting the latter closer to its goal of sabotaging help from the euro-zone and ...
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Former Colonies Can Help Portugal
Amid speculations of a euro-zone bailout and the recent resignation of Prime Minister José Sócrates, Portugal is busy exploring alternative solutions to its fiscal woes. And the solution may lie not in its neighbors, but in its former colonies scattered around the world. Brazil, a former Portuguese colony and now a growing economic force, is offering the to help the country pay off debts approaching €10 billion, which must be settled between April and June.
On a recent official visit, President Dilma Rousseff said that Brazil could help Portugal, just as the latter helped her country economically in the past. Her predecessor, the hugely popular Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, echoed ...
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Conference Room Hire
Hiring conference rooms is fast becoming the norm, especially as businesses increasingly expand across continents. Not all businesses can afford to buy and maintain property in every country, so the next best option is to hire a place to do business. There are meeting rooms for in practically every major city in Europe and North America, and in a number of other destinations.
One advantage to conference room hiring is that everything’s taken care of for you—all the equipment and furniture, and sometimes even a few extras. You don’t need to worry about keeping the place clean or impressing your guests. All you have to do is book the date—well in ...
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Voice Dictation Software
The average person speaks 120 words per minute, but types only about 40 on a standard keyboard. In industries that rely largely on speech-to-text material, such as legal and medical transcription, that’s no small difference. That’s why voice dictation software is particularly valuable in these fields—they can increase productivity as much as threefold. It can also work well for people with disabilities that make typing difficult or impossible.
Voice recognition technology was first used in the 1950s, in simple devices that could transcribe spoken digits into text. A more diverse version appeared in the 1961 IBM Shoebox, this one able to pick up words as well. Experts have spent the last ...
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Portugal Economy and Currency
Portugal is one of the world’s most developed countries, ranked 26th in the world by the International Data Corporation. Classified as an open global economy, the country has made good use of its geographical advantage, natural resources, and social networks to compete alongside large European players such as France, Spain, and Germany. It enjoys good relations with the European Union, of which it has been a member since 1986. The value of the euro, its official currency, has hovered between US$1.3 and US$1.5 in early 2011.
Foreign investment has always played a large role in the Portuguese economy, with its long history of political and social stability attracting investors in the ...
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Portuguese Culture and Traditions
The Portuguese are a mix of Mediterranean, African, and fairly recent East European immigrants, resulting in a varied and vastly interesting culture. Locals are generally very friendly and accommodating, especially in tourist-heavy areas. And although most of the 10-million-strong population speaks Portuguese as a first language, English is taught in schools and everyone is at least conversational.
Family and friends
Portuguese families like to keep close, and extended family members stay in contact even from opposite ends of the country. Family and friends also play important roles in work and professional advancements; in fact, nepotism is seen as a positive move as it implies that one entrusts business to people he knows ...
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Hotels in Lisbon, Portugal
Lisbon, like any major city, offers a variety of accommodations from €25-per-night hostels to luxury hotels charging upwards of €400 daily. On the average, prices are low compared to most European capitals, but stringent rules ensure that even the cheapest hotel delivers top quality. The downtown neighborhoods of Baiza, Rossio, Chiado, and Alfama are generally safe and close to most of Lisbon’s attractions.
The Britania Hotel, one of the 25 Traveler’s Choice hotels at TripAdvisor.com, sits right inside Lisbon’s historic center. The art deco style makes it easily recognizable from the Avenida da Liberdade, a major tourist thoroughfare. All 33 rooms are equipped with satellite TV, free wireless internet, a mini ...
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