Update: Greek PM Alexis Tsipras has announced a referendum in a televised speech to the nation after another day of fractious negotiations with creditors closed without a deal.
The dramatic move comes after Athens rejected a proposal from the troika aimed at delivering some €16 billion in aid to Greece as part of an extension of the country's second bailout program.
Protothema now says the Greek parliament will meet on Saturday and a referendum will be called as early as next week. Whether this is simply a last minute attempt to put pressure on EU finance ministers ahead of Saturday's Eurogroup meeting remains to be seen, but one thing is for sure: Tsipras is playing a dangerous game with the ECB ahead of a difficult week that could very well see the imposition of capital controls.
The dramatic developments of the last few hours, following the government's move to reject the proposal of the creditors may conceal preparation for use of the popular verdict, a decision which is expected to be finalized in the next few hours if the lenders do not move from its rigid positions. According secure information protothema.gr, a few hours ago he Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras European leader confided in Eurozone member country adjacent friendly in Greece that the data are up to this moment is ready even to call early elections.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel implored Tsipras to accept what she calls a “generous” offer and has been adamant that a deal must be struck by the time the market opens on Monday which effectively means that EU finance ministers will need to strike an agreement at tomorrow’s Eurogroup meeting which starts at 2 pm local time. “I spoke today about a very generous offer because we simply have moved a step toward Greece, also with respect to the February agreement,” Merkel said.
In the wake of this morning’s news, the rhetoric from Tsipras has only hardened with the Greek PM pledging to uphold the democratic values upon which the euro was founded and to not accept “blackmail” (which of course is rather ironic, considering Merkel said precisely the same thing with regard to the Greek on Thursday)
On Tuesday the Islamic State urged its followers to engage in attacks against Christians, Shi’ites and Sunni Muslims.
An audio message attributed to Muhammad al-Adnani instructed Muslims to create “calamity for the infidels … Shi’ites and apostate Muslims” during Ramadan, a month long observance of fasting to commemorate the first revelation of the Quran to Muhammad.
Ramadan began on June 17 and ends on July 17.
“Muslims everywhere, we congratulate you over the arrival of the holy month,” al-Adnani said. “Be keen to conquer in this holy month and to become exposed to martyrdom.”
The recording did not specifically instruct Muslims to attack tourists in Tunisia, a factory at Saint-Quentin-Fallavier in France, or did it call for the suicide bombing of a mosque in Kuwait City. All three terror attacks occurred on Friday.
The terror operation in Kuwait is viewed as especially significant because it marks the first time ISIS has attacked inside a Gulf state.
The emir of ISIS in Syria told Muslims to attack Sunni Muslims fighting with a U.S.-led coalition against ISIS and engage in attacks in Iraq, Syria and Libya.
ISIS has previously urged followers to attack Americans, Canadians, Australians, the French and other Europeans.
“If you can kill a disbelieving American or European – especially the spiteful and filthy French – or an Australian, or a Canadian, or any other disbeliever from the disbelievers waging war, including the citizens of the countries that entered into a coalition against the Islamic State, then rely upon Allah, and kill him in any manner or way however it may be. Smash his head with a rock, or slaughter him with a knife, or run him over with your car, or throw him down from a high place, or choke him, or poison him,” al-Adnani said in a speech released last September.
In a related development ISIS has declared a governorate in the South Caucasus region of Russia.
“Abu Muhammad al-Adnani, Islamic State group spokesperson, has reportedly already appointed a ‘governor’ of the new Islamic State Caucasus region, while thousands of fighters from the region have pledged their allegiance to the group and the group’s leader, Abu Bakl al-Baghdadi,” the TeleSUR television network reported on Friday.
“We need to hurry up and unite so we can cut off the heads of the infidels,’ Aslan Byutukayev, the proclaimed leader of the Caucuses Emirate, said in a video earlier this month.
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