Greece's affair with the euro began with the grandest of hopes

Greece's affair with the euro began with the grandest of hopes. The country approved the euro in 2001, in time to be among the first countries to use the new currency.

At first, the most ambitious attempt ever to create a new multinational currency all seemed to go so well. The predicted problems with banks and vending machines never materialized. The euro surpassed the dollar in value. The launch was hailed as a success.

And yet for Greece, it seems now to have all fallen flat. How did it happen?

Suicide bomber kills five in Nigeria church: police, witness

Soldiers speak to people standing near houses burnt by Boko Haram Islamists in Zabarmari, a fishing and farming village near Maiduguri, on July 3, 2015 © AFP

KANO, Nigeria, Jul 6 – A suicide bomber blew himself up inside a church in the restive northeastern Nigerian city of Potiskum, killing five worshippers in the latest in a new series of attacks blamed on Boko Haram, a police officer and witness told AFP.

The attacker entered the Redeemed Christian Church of God in the Jigawa area on the outskirts of Potiskum and detonated his explosives.

Four worshippers died instantly with a fifth succumbing to her injuries shortly afterwards in hospital, a police officer who helped remove the bodies told AFP.

“The victims included a woman and her two children, the pastor and another worshipper,” added the officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Witness Garba Manu told AFP that the bomber arrived on a motorised rickshaw, adding that “as soon as he entered a loud explosion ripped through the church which is under construction.”

Australia moves towards referendum on Aboriginal recognition

Indigenous Australian performers/AFP

AUSTRALIA, Jul 6 – Australia moved closer to recognising Aboriginal people in its constitution Monday after talks with indigenous leaders, Prime Minister Tony Abbott said as he urged an end to the “echoing silence” in the founding document.

Written more than a century ago, Australia’s constitution fails to mention Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander people and a campaign has been underway for several years to “recognise” the continent’s first inhabitants via a referendum.
“I am confident that the time is right to move down this path,” Abbott said after unprecedented bipartisan talks in Sydney with some 40 indigenous leaders and Labor opposition leader Bill Shorten.

“I think that there is an abundance of good will. I think we are good enough, big enough and brave enough to do this, but it is important that we get it right.”