Daily Press from Newport News, Virginia • A11

TUESDAY, JUNE 30, 2015 Crisis in Greece roils markets Populace squeezed by closed banks, transaction limits By Derek Gatopoulos and costas kantouris Associated Press ATHENS, Greece Anxious pensioners swarmed closed banks Monday and long lines snaked outside ATMs as Greeks endured the first day of serious controls on their daily economic lives ahead of a referendum that could determine whether the country has to ditch the euro currency and return to the drachma. Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras was defiant, urging voters to reject creditors' demands, insisting a "no" vote in Sunday's referendum would strengthen Athens' negotiating hand. "We ask you to reject it with all the might of your soul, with the greatest margin possible," he said on state television. "The greater the participation and the rejection of this deal, the greater the possibility will be to restart the negotiations to set a course of logic and sustainability." Greece's bailout program ends Tuesday, when the nation is unlikely to make a repayment of 1.6 billion euros ($1.8 billion) to the International Monetary Fund. But Athens and creditors from the IMF and the eurozone failed to agree on the terms of an extension.

Tsipras called for the referendum over the weekend, arguing that demands for tougher austerity mea- and called on Greek voters to oppose him. "I'd like to ask the Greek people to vote I very much like the Greeks, and I'd say to them, 'You should not commit suicide because you are afraid of he said in an emotional speech against a backdrop of giant Greek and European Union flags. Throughout Greece, long lines formed at gas stations, with motorists seeking to fill up their tanks and pay with credit cards while they were still being accepted. Although credit and cash card transactions have not been restricted, many retailers were not accepting card transactions Monday. Meanwhile, Greeks were dividing into two camps with most of the opposition backing a "yes" vote in the referendum.

"If you want to stay in the euro, vote If you want banks to open, vote And most important, if you want to stay in Europe, vote former Prime Minister Antonis Samaras told lawmakers. Rallies were planned dur-ingthe weekby the "yes" and "no" camps, with a pro-government protest drawing 13,000 people outside parliament Monday. Chanting "Take the bailout and go!" thousands of protesters gathered in Athens' main Syntagma Square to back a "no" vote. "The government tried too hard to get this agreement. But the creditors kept asking for more," said pensioner Stavroula Noutsou.

"I don't know what else we are supposed to do." Retirees who sought to collect pensions Monday were met by closed doors at the National the government shut banks and imposed capital controls in its standoff with international ANGELOS TZORTZINISGETTY-AFP Bank of Greece in Athens after lenders over the debt crisis. some early warning signs that Greece's problems may prove contagious the borrowing rates of other highly indebted eurozone countries such as Italy and Portugal inched up slightiy. Investors are worried that should Greece leave the euro and say it can't pay its debts, which stand at more than 300 billion euros ($336.5 billion), it will be forced into a chaotic return to the drachma developments that could derail a fragile global economic recovery, as well as raise questions over the long-term viability of the euro currency itself. "The major market concern is that if Greece were to sures could not be accepted after six years of recession. The move shook world markets, saw Greek borrowing rates skyrocket, and set off a credit downgrade further into junk status from Standard Poor's rating agency, which said it now sees a 50 percent chance of Greece leaving the euro-zone.

That has stoked fears of a crippling bank run, a messy Greek debt default and an exit from the euro. As the clock ran out on a Greece deal, Greeks were handed a daily 60 euros ($67) cash withdrawal limit, sending crowds of elderly depositors who do not have ATM cards rushingto closed bank branches. The sight of an economy on the precipice hit global markets hard Monday, driving stocks down in the U.S. and across Europe. U.S.

stocks had their worst day of the year, with the Dow Jones industrial average dropping 350 points to 17,596, while The Standard Poor's 500 index sank 43 points to 2,057. The losses wiped out all the gains for the Dow and 500 indexes this year. In Europe, the Stoxx 50 index of leading shares ended 2.5 percent lower, while Germany's DAX slid 3.6 percent. There were also default andor exit, then it might encourage others to do the same," said Gary Jenkins, chief credit strategist at LNG Capital. "Thus it puts the entire eurozone project at risk of collapse." That message was hammered home by European leaders.

"It must be crystal clear what is being decided: It is essentially the question, yes or not to remaining in the eurozone," German Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel said. In Brussels, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said he had felt betrayed by Tsipras' left-wing government Carolina flag issue home for governor South Carolina state Sen. Larry Martin, from left, Gov. Nikki Haley, state Rep. Chip Huggins wait as the body of the Rev.

Clementa Pinckney arrives at the Statehouse last week. South strikes Growing up, Haley saw racial divisions, now drives change By Abby Phillip The Washington Post BAMBERG, S.C. Public life in this tiny town centers on the Hardee's, the strip mall with the town's grocery store and Family Dollar, and Rusty-n-Paula's Restaurant Visitors could almost miss it altogether if not for the sign on the drive in: "Bamberg, home of Nikki Haley, Governor of South Carolina." Most mornings, Rusty's is where the town comes to chat or argue, as the case may be. Haley comes up often: "Everybody in Bamberg likes her," said waitress Dianna Crosby. And in recent days, the talk has focused on the Confederate flag, which Haley is pushing to have removed from the South Carolina Statehouse grounds in the wake of the racially motivated massacre of nine African-Americans at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston.

Her hometown of Bamberg, Haley often says, has a prominent and confident leader of the New South. "To be a minority female governor leading this charge, I don't look at the boxes that I am," Haley said. "I look at the fact that I'm a wife and a mother and a governor who loves this state, that refuses to let it break and refuses to let it fall apart over a flag." The first thing Haley did the morning after the June 17 shooting was head to the crime scene, spending the next two days there hearing about the horrors that occurred in the church. By that Friday night, she returned home and stayed up late with her husband, Michael Haley. "I didn't even have to think hard about it," said Haley, mother of a 17-year-old girl and a 13-year-old boy.

"It is looking at my kids, knowing where I had come from in Bamberg. I just want them to feel it moving forward. I want them to feel as much of a change as I do. "I just couldn't look them in the face and keep that flag up," she said. She began that Saturday morning after the slayings by telling a small group of staff members that she wanted to meet with them via conference call.

Within hours, another shoe dropped: A RAINIER EHRHARDTAP percent black, and Alton Mc-Collum, the city's former mayor and Haley's elementary school principal, estimates that opinions about the flag closely mirror the demographics. That Haley would take this on "came as a surprise," he said. "I hadn't even thought about her making that decision." Growing up in Bamberg, Haley saw the state's racial divisions firsthand. Haley, her three siblings and her Indian parents mother dressed in a sari and father in a turban were not black enough to be black, or white enough to be white. Now, more than four years into her governorship, Haley is regarded by Republicans as a sign of the party's progress on racial issues.

And by taking on the state's most divisive issue the Confederate flag she has come closer than ever to making that true. delegation's lone African-American Democrat. At 4 p.m, with a bevy of dignitaries behind her, she made her announcement: "It is time to move the flag from the Capitol grounds." Katon Dawson, former chairman of the South Carolina Republican Party, said that, as a candidate, Haley was crusading "against the good old boys." This time is no different "That's a herculean effort that Nikki started," Dawson said, adding that most Carolinians are with her. "One said this morning, 'Katon, I get it, I'm tired of it, I'm tired of the discussion, I'm tired of the excuses. I'm tired of it' Among the political class, Haley's decision to tackle the divisive Confederate flag issue is evidence of her "whatever it takes" leadership style.

But here in Bamberg, people see it a little differently. The city is now around 60 changed since the days when, as an Indian-American, she could not qualify to become either the white or the black pageant queen. But even with one of their own leading the charge, the town is like much of the rest of the state on the flag: sharply divided along racial lines. "Most of 'em I've heard talking say, What's the flag got to do with said Crosby, who is white. "All it is, is a symbol of history.

It ain't going out killing anybody or hurting anybody. It's just out there showing the history of South Carolina." Sitting in her Statehouse office in Columbia last week, Haley reflected on her sudden role as an Indian-American woman serving as the face of a Southern state's reckoning with its past Itmarks a remarkable evolution for a politician who first ran for governor as a state lawmaker waving the tea party banner, but who was also subject to being called a "raghead" and other smears from her own side. Once in office in 2011, she initially struggled to cope with South Carolina's white, male-dominated establishment often reluctant to insert herself into racial politics only to emerge now as Puerto Rico's economy in another jolt to the recession-gripped island. Garcia said he would seek a repayment moratorium of several years but did not provide specifics. "Even if we increase revenues and cut costs, the magnitude of the problem is such that we would not resolve anything given the weight of the debt we're dragging," he said.

"The only way we'll get out of this hole is to join forces and agree, including bondholders, to assume some of the plus-word racist screed had been found online, and it appeared to belong to the accused gunman, Dylann Roof. There were photos too, including one of Roof burning the American flag and another of the brooding 21-year-old holding the Confederate flag. The timing of the two events the discovery of the manifesto and Haley's decision to move forward with the legislative heavy lifting that would be required to take up the flag issue was entirely coincidental, she said. But it proved to be the push that was needed. "This flag didn't cause those nine murders, but the murderer used this flag with him as hate to do it," Haley said.

"And this isn't an issue of mental illness, this is an issue ofhate." On Sunday, June 21, a larger group of staff met at the governor's mansion to strat-egize and begin making calls to lawmakers. Between 1 and 3:45 p.m the next day, Haley met in person with state Democrats, Republicans, religious and civic leaders and the state's congressional delegation. She met separately with U.S. Rep. James Clyburn, the accessing the financial markets, and our economy does not generate enough revenue to repay our obligations," he said.

The White House threw cold water Monday on the notion of bailing out Puerto Rico, instead urging Congress to consider changing the law to permit the island's government and public agencies to declare bank-ruptcy. White House spokesman Josh Earnest said the government would provide financial expertise and access to resources. Puerto Rico will seek debt moratorium JOYERIA AIU RELQJERIA 9 PLATERIA 1 1 1 sacrifices." The team has until Aug. 30 to develop an economic and financial reform plan that would require legislative approval. Legislators are debating a $9.8 billion government budget that calls for $674 million in cuts and sets aside $1.5 billion to help pay down the debt The budget has to be approved by Tuesday.

Garcia said urgent action is needed. "The inherited debt is so big that it bars us from By Danica Coto Associated Press SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico Puerto Rico's governor said Monday night he will form a financial team to negotiate with bondholders on delaying debt payments and then restructuring $72 billion in public debt that he says the U.S. territory can't repay. Gov. Alejandro Garcia Pa-dilla made the announcement just hours after international economists released a gloomy report on I CAR DO ARDUENGOAP A man in San Juan, Puerto Rico, stands in front of a jewelry store that is surrounded by shuttered businesses..