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Jeremy Vandel/Flickr There's no magic bullet to living beyond the age of 100. But some places are on the right track.  National Geographic writer Dan Buettner seeks out "Blue Zones," a few pockets around the world where a higher number of people live for a remarkably long time. The remote island of Ikaria in Greece is one hotspot of exceptional human longevity. Here, there are more healthy people over 90 than any other place on the planet. Buettner and his team spent 15 months studying the centenarians of Ikaria. The trip was documented in a series of videos, in which...

New cars and vans in the European Union will produce one-third less carbon dioxide within eight years, under proposed new rules set out on Wednesday (11 July) in Brussels. By 2020, the average emissions from new cars will have to be no more than 95 grams of carbon dioxide per kilometer driven (5.4 oz/mile), a cut of more than 40 grams from today's levels and of 35 grams per kilometer compared with the 2015 target, if the proposed new regulations are accepted. Connie Hedegaard, climate chief of the European commission, said the goals were "ambitious but achievable" and would benefit...

The figure amounts to 6.2pc of the debt-stricken country's GDP, Ekathimerini reported, citing data posted on the website of the Finance Ministry’s General Secretariat of Information Systems. The report comes as Prime Minister Antonis Samaras today presents his economic plans for a country mired in a fifth year of recession despite two international bailouts and a raft of reforms. As Greece struggles with an unemployment rate of 22.6pc, the country's tax collection mechanism has only managed to take in €630m - 4.77pc of the total €13.2bn fines - due to being understaffed and the absence of electronic applications. The court...

Greece conceded on Thursday it had slipped "in some respects" in implementing the cuts and reforms demanded by lenders in exchange for saving Athens from bankruptcy, and tried to persuade them to cut the country some slack. Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras made the admission after meeting senior officials from Greece's "troika" of lenders from the EU, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund, whose inspectors have begun picking through the country's books after weeks of political paralysis.

<p>It isn’t only that the immediate outlook looks grim but also that they can apparently see no way out. Yet throughout the post-war period, economists have tended to think that there is always a way out – and they have been trained to try to find it. Is the current abject pessimism justified?</p>

Gunmen driving a van packed with gas canisters firebombed the Athens headquarters of Microsoft on Wednesday. Fire gutted the ground floor of the blue four-story HQ of the U.S. software giant, blackening its walls with flames, on the eve of yet another European summit seeking a solution to a regional debt crisis first unleashed by Greece. At least two attackers were involved in the sophisticated assault at 4.45 a.m. in Maroussi, a northern suburb of the sprawling Greek capital, police said. Brandishing pistols and an automatic rifle, they kept security guards at bay and set fire to the van carrying...

By commenting that Germany should perhaps leave the euro and exerting significant pressure on Prime Minister Mario Monti, former Italian premier Berlusconi is back in the headlines. Are his political escapades those of a senile billionaire or is he seriously thinking of returning to power? On Tuesday afternoon in Rome, Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti and his predecessor Silvio Berlusconi were sitting at a table with a few close associates. Monti, alarmed by Berlusconi's recent statements, which were sometimes threatening and sometimes confused, was seeking clarity. Monti said that in such a sensitive and decisive moment, Italy's parliament must stand...

The Whole World Will Revolve Around The Tiny Island Of Cyprus Wolf Richter, Testosterone Pit Jun. 28, 2012, 8:41 AM Finland doesn’t get the white-hot attention Germany does, but it should because it could be the driving force behind a breakup of the Eurozone. And it fired another shot: it demanded collateral for its share of the billions of euros that Cyprus would receive from the bailout Troika. Cyprus is the fifth of 17 Eurozone countries to ask for a bailout. It’s panic time. The first tranche, €1.8 billion, is needed by June 30 to prop up its second largest...

Despite the euro crisis becoming increasingly dire as European governments scramble to patch up the broken banking system in Spain and shore up sovereign debt and budget deficits, French citizens still overwhelmingly want to go on vacation this summer. According to an l’Institut Français d’Opinion Publique (IFOP) poll, 73 percent of French citizens — a sizeable increase from last year — are still considering going on vacation this summer, with nearly a quarter saying that vacations of “three weeks” are ideal. If you thought the French weren’t belt-tightening, however, you’d be wrong. More French citizens seem to prefer shorter vacations...

Earlier today, Angela Merkel issued a dramatic ultimatum about sharing debt loads with other Eurozone countries. We've often discussed how this would actually be something of a silver bullet to solving Europe's PIGS problem. Now, we have a map that helps illustrate the point — thanks to our friends at the Economist, by way of Taegan Goddard and Matt Yglesias. Below you'll see the geography of net federal transfer payments in the U.S. by state. The more pink the state, the more it takes out of the federal pot than it puts in...(or, if you prefer, the more freeloading off...

Egan-Jones Ratings Co. downgraded Germany's rating one notch Tuesday to single-A-plus. Regardless of whether Greece or other members of the 17-nation common currency bloc leave the euro zone, Germany will be left with "massive, additional, uncollectible receivables," Egan-Jones said in downgrading the country. The ratings company estimates that Germany is owed EUR700 billion, of which only about 50% is collectable. That figure doesn't include the exposure of Germany's banks to troubled countries in the euro zone. Egan-Jones's rating of Germany is four notches lower than the big three ratings firms', Standard & Poor's, Moody's Investors Service and Fitch Ratings, view...

Germany has told Greece to stop asking for more help and get on with implementing the reforms it has already promised as tensions mount before this week’s crucial summit of European Union leaders. German finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble In unusually blunt remarks, German finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said: “The most important task facing new prime minister [Antonis] Samaras is to enact the programme agreed upon quickly and without further delay instead of asking how much more others can do for Greece.” His comments highlight Germany’s growing impatience with the eurozone’s problem nations in what is shaping up to be another...

Turkey says future visa-free travel will work out well because Turks no longer want to live in the EU. (Turkey's) European affairs minister Egemen Bağış told EUobserver on Friday (22 June) that Turks these days travel to EU capitals "to spend [money]" in shops and hotels. "In the past, when Turks were asked do you want to live in Europe, 80 percent would say Yes. Now, 85 percent say No. Turkish citizens feel there is more hope in Turkey; better job opportunities," he said. He noted that in 2010, 27,000 Turks went to live in Germany, but 35,000 German citizens...

(CBS News) ATHENS - Greece is broke, and it agreed to big cuts in government spending in return for a bailout by other European countries. However, because that austerity deal was so hated by Greeks, the government fell. The country will vote for a new parliament Sunday. The question is: Will a new government abandon the bailout agreement, undermining the euro currency and the European Union? Why would Greeks risk that? Dr. Chris Rokkas is a top cardiologist at Attikon hospital, but these days the U.S.-trained surgeon rarely sets foot in an operating room, which is bad news for Georgia...

The European Central Bank is discussing a medium-term plan to scrap rating rules on euro zone sovereign bonds and instead set their value when used as collateral in lending operations on its own internal assessment, central bank sources said. With the ECB not yet ready to take over the technical but highly political responsibility for rating sovereigns, the bank's policymakers will also discuss more immediate ways to help Spain and its banks at their meeting on Thursday, such as further widening the types of collateral Spanish banks can use. The discussion come as Spain braces for a downgrade from small...

We spent most of yesterday on a beach in Devon — the family and me, that is. The sun was shining, the sand golden; gentle surf washed the shore against a backdrop of soft woods and green fields rising from the shore. I mention these holiday scenic details only to make the point that our world yesterday — and yours, too, I expect — looked pretty much the way it did the day before and, for that matter, in years gone by. Because this is so, because no bombs are dropping, nor Viking hordes sacking villages nor dinosaurs roaming city...

EU: Staring down the abyss of isolation offered by the far left, Greece's voters had the sense to pull back, electing a pro-bailout center-right party in Sunday's vote and staying in the euro. But are they ready for real austerity? As surprising and relieving as it was to see Greeks vote for the New Democracy party which took 29.4% of the votes in Sunday's multiparty election, the result is the best of bad alternatives. Voting in New Democracy for a second time since the government failed in May bought time, but the real issue is whether Greece has the will...

snip.... Old News and Current Events: I have written before that the fundamentals of the Euro and European Union didn’t bode well. They still don’t. Each step of these “rescues”, Iceland in 2008, Ireland in 2009, Portugal in 2011, Italy and Greece in 2011 and 2012….and now Spain ….are all just shocking the dying patient back to life for a few more moments of pain and chaos. The inevitable and permanent straight-line on the EKG is coming. It will be a collapse of the Euro and a financial crisis of a size not seen since WWII or the Great Depression....

The Greek boss learns a few lessons about economics as he makes his rounds, on the very eve of the election… As a minor mob boss in the south, Greco had had some serious setbacks. His operation was crumbling around him, and he didn’t know what to do. Deep in hock to the big Mob Bosses in Brussels, Greco had gone back to the well for renegotiations again and again, and neither his bosses nor his grubber list seemed to understand his situation at all. No compassion, no understanding. What was the world coming to? But it was Saturday, and...

LOS CABOS, Mexico -- President Barack Obama on Monday called the results of Greece's election a "positive prospect" with the potential to form a government "I think the election in Greece yesterday indicates a positive prospect for not only them forming a government, but also them working constructively with their international partners in order that they can continue on the path of reform and do so in a way that also offers the prospects for the Greek people to succeed and prosper," Obama said after a meeting with the G-20 Summit's host, Mexican President Felipe Calderon.