Greek PM says determined to avoid early elections

Antonis Samaras, Prime Minister of Greece arrives for a meeting of leaders of the European People's Party (EPP) in Vienna, Austria on Thursday, June 20, 2013. On the agenda will be the preparation of the European Council, scheduled for June 27 and 28. (AP Photo/Hans Punz)

Antonis Samaras, Prime Minister of Greece arrives for a meeting of leaders of the European People's Party (EPP) in Vienna, Austria on Thursday, June 20, 2013. On the agenda will be the preparation of the European Council, scheduled for June 27 and 28. (AP Photo/Hans Punz)

Fired employees of the Greek state broadcaster ERT are protesting outside a high court that convened to consider union objections to the closure of broadcaster ERT in Athens on Thursday june 20, 2013 ahead of talks by the troubled coalition government on restarting the station's transmissions. Conservative Prime Minister Antonis Samaras is due to meet center-left coalition partners for a third time this week to decide on the fate of the future public TV and radio company and its nearly 2,700 employees, which it closed down nine days ago. (AP Photo.Dimitri Messinis)

Fired employees of the Greek state broadcaster ERT are protesting outside a high court that convened to consider union objections to the closure of broadcaster ERT in Athens on Thursday june 20, 2013 ahead of talks by the troubled coalition government on restarting the station's transmissions. Conservative Prime Minister Antonis Samaras is due to meet center-left coalition partners for a third time this week to decide on the fate of the future public TV and radio company and its nearly 2,700 employees, which it closed down nine days ago. (AP Photo.Dimitri Messinis)

Socialist party leader Evangelos Venizelos leaves the prime minister's office after a meeting in Athens, on Thursday, June 20, 2013. Conservative Prime Minister Antonis Samaras was meeting with coalition partners for a third time this week late Thursday to decide on the fate of public broadcaster ERT, after it was shut down nine days ago, causing a political crisis. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

Leader of Democratic Left party Fotis Kouvelis leaves the prime minister's office after a meeting in Athens, on Thursday, June 20, 2013. Conservative Prime Minister Antonis Samaras was meeting with coalition partners for a third time this week late Thursday to decide on the fate of public broadcaster ERT, after it was shut down nine days ago, causing a political crisis. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

ATHENS, Greece (AP) ? Greece's prime minister said Friday he's determined to avoid early elections despite a deep rift with a coalition ally, which threatened new political instability in the bailed-out country and prompted warnings from international creditors.

One year into his mandate, at the head of a three-party coalition formed to stave off financial collapse, Antonis Samaras said his overriding priority was to persevere with reforms demanded to keep the country's rescue loans flowing.

"We have three years left, and we will see them through," Samaras said in an address televised live.

The political crisis was sparked by Samaras' unpopular decision last week to yank the state-run broadcaster ERT off the air to save money ? axing all 2,656 jobs. Both his center-left minority partners objected strongly, but matters came to a head late Thursday when the Democratic Left party rejected a compromise that Socialist Pasok accepted.

"I want us to proceed all together, as we started," Samaras said after the negotiations broke down. "But I will forge ahead in any case."

With Pasok, Samaras' conservatives have a slim parliamentary majority that would allow the government to pass key reforms, including the pledged sackings of some 15,000 public sector employees by 2015. It was not immediately clear whether the Democratic Left would remain in the coalition.

Austerity inspectors from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund are in the course of reviewing Greece's progress with reforms, and will return to Athens by early July.

The European Union's top economics official, Olli Rehn, said the ball is in Greece's court.

"It is very important that the Greek government and the administration identify the technical work on the fiscal policies and the structural reforms that need to be adopted before the review can be completed," he said after a meeting of eurozone finance ministers in Luxembourg late Thursday.

Rehn argued that recent stability in Athens has yielded encouraging signs of a recovery for the recession-mired Greek economy.

"I do hope for the sake of the Greek people that this stability will be preserved," he said. "I want to appeal to the sense of responsibility of political leaders in Greece."

IMF spokesman Gerry Rice warned that Greece has just over a month to deliver quickly with pledged reforms to ensure smooth release of bailout payments.

"If the review is concluded by the end of July, as expected, no financing problems will arise because the program is financed till end-July 2014," he said.

ERT, whose workforce costs have been considerably trimmed over the past three years, is funded by obligatory contributions from all Greeks ? whether they own a TV set or not ? and by advertising revenue. After years of murky finances, the corporation is now turning a modest profit, and critics argue that sacking its entire workforce makes no financial sense, particularly as the state budget will have to bear the cost of compensating all laid-off workers.

ERT's closure on June 11 sparked days of protests outside the corporation's Athens headquarters, and was sharply criticized abroad.

The Geneva, Switzerland-based, European Broadcasting Union has backed ongoing broadcasts by ERT employees that are being streamed online, while Amnesty International also condemned the shutdown.

EBU Director General Ingrid Deltenre, speaking at the European Parliament Thursday, sharply criticized Samaras' actions.

"The abrupt decision to close down ERT ... actually isn't going to save the country any money," she said. "ERT was funded from the license fee by citizens. ERT was generating a small surplus. The channel was not bankrupt."

A high court has sanctioned ERT's closure but condemned shutting off the signal, in a provisional ruling issued this week. Fired ERT employees protested outside the central Athens court Thursday as judges met to reach their final decision.

___

AP Writer Juergen Baetz in Luxembourg contributed.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-06-20-Greece-State%20Broadcaster/id-145757fdc9c54175b15d7f1ff4affdc4

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BlackBerry Q10 (T-Mobile)

BlackBerry's new Q10 smartphone?is almost exactly the same across the big four wireless carriers, but T-Mobile has a compelling argument to put forth: the lowest up-front and ongoing prices for BlackBerry service. T-Mobile's version also adds HD Voice calling, although it lacks T-Mobile's Wi-Fi calling tricks.

Physically and functionally, the T-Mobile Q10 is nearly identical to the Verizon Wireless model we reviewed earlier this week. Take a look at our Verizon Wireless BlackBerry Q10 review and our BlackBerry 10 OS review for more details. Here we'll focus on the differences with the T-Mobile model.

To summarize, it's difficult to compare the Q10 to any other smartphone on the market. T-Mobile doesn't have any other keyboarded smartphones we'd recommend, just the bulky, so-so Samsung Galaxy S Relay 4G and the laughably basic BlackBerry Curve 9315. So that makes the Q10 the only choice for people wanting a classy phone in a pocketable size, with a high-quality keyboard and a tight focus on messaging.

But that doesn't mean the Q10 is the best choice overall. The price of a physical keyboard is a smaller screen for Web browsing, and more importantly, BlackBerry 10 lacks many of the popular apps and third-party experiences enjoyed on other platforms.?

Call Quality, Networking and Service Plans
T-Mobile's BlackBerry Q10 runs on T-Mobile's and foreign HSPA+ 42 networks as well as T-Mobile's budding LTE network. It'll work on AT&T's HSPA+ network, but it doesn't have all of AT&T's LTE bands, so really, just buy the AT&T model if you intend to use it with AT&T.

I got very good speeds on T-Mobile's HSPA+ 42 network in New York City, up to 12Mbps down and 1.3Mbps up. That was measured through the Flash-based Ookla Speedtest.net Web site, by the way. That's a good thing and a bad thing: It's great that the complex Flash site works on the Q10, and sad that there are no reliable, native speed testing apps for the device.

Call quality, like on the Verizon Q10, is decent but not extraordinary. T-Mobile's HD Voice pulls in another variable. When I called non-HD Voice phones from the Q10, the earpiece was a bit quieter than I'd prefer. But with an HD Voice call to another T-Mobile phone, volume jumped up a few notches, as did the entire treble side of the audio. The bottom-ported speakerphone was about the same volume as the Verizon Q10's?good for indoor use, not quite loud enough for a noisy outdoor area.

Unfortunately, the Q10 doesn't have T-Mobile's Wi-Fi calling solution (at least for now). That's a pity, as being able to make clear calls over Wi-Fi is a strong differentiator for T-Mobile. While BlackBerry's built in BBM has audio and video integrated into the platform, it doesn't work with your T-Mobile phone number to call anyone with a telephone.

One of the joys of the BlackBerry Q10 is the almost total lack of bloatware. T-Mobile has only added one app, an account manager which is a badly laid-out port from Android. There's a "T-Mobile" section in the BlackBerry World app store, but it doesn't have any exclusive apps in it.

Battery life was pretty good. I got 12 hours, 5 minutes of talk time from the 2,100mAh battery on T-Mobile's HSPA+ network, in the same league as the HTC One and Samsung Galaxy S 4 and much better than on the BlackBerry Z10. LTE video streaming time fell short of the One, though; tested on the very similar AT&T unit, I got 4 hours, 14 minutes.

T-Mobile's Q10 costs either $99.99 plus $20/month for 24 months, or $579.99 total. That first price is $100 less than AT&T's or Verizon's subsidized prices, and the full price is $5 less than AT&T and $20 less than Verizon. T-Mobile's plans are less expensive, too. One line with 2GB data and unlimited voice and text is $60 on T-Mobile (or $80 if you're paying off the phone by installments). A similar deal would be $100 on Verizon or $90-110 on AT&T. Of course, both Verizon's and AT&T's LTE networks are more responsive than T-Mobile's HSPA+, although I'd call all three 4G and broadband.

Sprint, right now, is claiming to match T-Mobile's price with a $99.99 up-front phone and a $79.99 "Everything Data" plan, which includes unlimited data, messaging, and 450 minutes of voice. But Sprint also isn't selling the Q10 quite yet, and its network has its own issues: Outside of Sprint's LTE coverage areas, it's much, much slower than T-Mobile.

Conclusions
There are two things to ask here: If I'm with T-Mobile, should I buy the Q10? And: If I'm shopping for a Q10, should I consider T-Mobile?

The BlackBerry Q10 is a niche product. It's for people who want the best possible Microsoft Exchange messaging and Web access, and don't care much about popular third-party apps from other platforms. These people probably wouldn't be satisfied with any other smartphone on the market, and mainstream smartphone buyers probably wouldn't be satisfied with the Q10.

T-Mobile offers the most affordable nationwide Q10 plan for heavy voice callers, so if that describes you, take a very close look at whether T-Mobile's coverage area works for you. You could save up to $600 per year over the larger carriers.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/rEW3s4LWois/0,2817,2420371,00.asp

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