Greece, Spain 'in depression': Stiglitz

GREECE and Spain are in "depression, not recession", Nobel prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz said, blaming tough austerity measures for their downward economic spiral.

Mr Stiglitz also said that the IMF was "a little too optimistic" in its forecast last week that the euro zone economy would shrink by 0.4 per cent in 2012 and rise by 0.2 per cent next year.

"I'm more pessimistic than they are (about growth)... I see significant risk of continuing turmoil," he said in New Delhi on the sidelines of a conference held by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.

"Spain and Greece are in depression, not recession. That impact was brought about by austerity" with the countries now trapped in a vicious cycle of spending cuts and slumping growth, he said.

Mr Stiglitz, who served as a top advisor to former US president Bill Clinton, was speaking on the eve of a key two-day summit of EU leaders in Brussels that will seek to address the eurozone crisis.

"Austerity is bringing Europe down and diminishes chances of making things work," said the Nobel laureate who is a professor at New York's Columbia University.

Unemployment in nearly bankrupt Greece is at 25.1 per cent as its economy contracts and it negotiates with lenders about more budget cuts.

In Spain, the jobless rate is 24.6 per cent with the government unveiling new spending curbs as it seeks to fend off another bailout that would bring more foreign supervision of the Spanish budget.

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Five dead in arson-homicide at bar

Police investigate at Fero's Bar and Grill in Denver where the bodies of a man and four woman were discovered after firefighters extinguished a fire at the bar. Police believe the fire was lit to cover up a multiple homicide. Source: AP

DENVER police believe a bar was set fire to hide the slayings of the five people found inside who apparently were killed by other means.

The blaze at Fero's Bar & Grill was reported around closing time at 2 a.m. Wednesday, Police Chief Robert White said.

Firefighters responding to the fire found four women and one man dead inside the bar. Police don't think they died in the fire.

"The business has obviously been set on fire, an arson, I'm guessing, to mask the homicide that occurred inside," said police Commander Ronald Saunier.

"There is just trauma, enough information to believe that we have a homicide that occurred here. They didn't perish in the fire."

The bar is located in a strip mall about five miles south of downtown Denver on one of the city's busiest streets, Colorado Boulevard. It serves bar food and a few Asian dishes. Other businesses in the strip mall include a check cashing store.

The bar's owner couldn't immediately be reached for comment.

The five are believed to be the only ones in the bar when the fire started - other than whoever is responsible for their deaths -so police are asking anyone else who was at the place earlier to come forward, as investigators try to piece together what happened.

The victims haven't been identified. Autopsies were expected to be completed later in the day.

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30 people killed in central Nigeria attack

POLICE say that at least 30 people have been killed in an attack on a Christian village by Muslim herdsmen in central Nigeria.

The attacks happened in Benue state, where the herdsmen burned a village of the Christian Tiv people. Benue police spokesman Daniel Ezeala said the attack occurred on Sunday morning and blamed the killings on land disputes between the two groups.

The Tiv represent one the largest of the minority ethnic groups in Nigeria, a nation of more than 160 million people and more than 250 different ethnicities.

The Tiv and the Hausa-Fulani herdsmen have previously fought over land in Benue. In December, authorities said fighting between the two groups displaced some 5000 people in Benue.

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US embassy staff in Stockholm return

US embassy staff in Stockholm have returned to their workplace after a suspect envelope prompted an evacuation earlier in the day.

"The personnel has been allowed to go back to the embassy," embassy spokesman Jeff Anderson told AFP.

Staff and members of the public had been evacuated during a "preliminary investigation", he said.

Swedish police said on their website that a patrol had been sent to the embassy after "a letter with unidentified contents had arrived at the embassy".

"It's a substance one would not expect to receive," Stockholm police spokesman Albin Neverbery said.

News agency TT said the letter contained an unidentified white powder, but police would not confirm the report.

"When it comes to a sensitive location like an embassy, we take no chances," Neverbery said, adding that police had no information about any threats issued against the US mission.

"A police bomb squad has taken care of the envelope. We're securing the site."

The US mission in Stockholm has some 170 employees.

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Worst grape harvest in half century

DROUGHT, frost and hail have combined to ravage Europe's wine grape harvest, which in key regions this year will be the smallest in half a century, vintners say.

Thierry Coste, an expert with the European Union farmers' union, said that France's grape harvest is expected to slump by almost 20 per cent compared with last year. Italy's grape crop showed a 7 per cent drop - on top of a decline in 2011.

"Two big producing nations, France and Italy, have not known a harvest so weak in 40 to 50 years," Mr Coste said. "All the major producing nations have been hurt."

France's Champagne and Burgundy regions were hard hit by weather conditions that particularly affected the prevalent Chardonnay grape, used to make the world's most famous sparkling wine and the luxurious whites from those regions.

In places where vintners were already facing a small margin of profit, many could be facing survival problems, said Mr Coste of the Copa-Cogeca union.

"In certain regions, there will be many vintners in big difficulties because of the collapse of the harvest," he said.

The European wine harvest automatically has a global impact since it accounts for some 62 per cent of the worldwide wine production.

In Europe, about 2.5 million families live off the wine sector. It makes the dependency on the vagaries of weather a sometimes cruel business.

Drought hit the Mediterranean rim hard this year, Mr Coste said. As a cooperative leader in southern France's Herault region, he should know.

"First and foremost, climate change or not, we see that we have ever more dry spells," he said. Making matters worse is that even winter was dry this time.

"It was almost zero (degrees Celsius) in the south."

In the northern wine regions, it was the inverse, with cold and wet weather wreaking havoc. Hail in particular hurt the crops.

"Natural phenomena happened all at the same time to make sure the harvest is so small," Mr Coste said.

French figures show that in Champagne the harvest could decline by 40 per cent, with Bourgogne Beaujolais expected to decline 30 per cent. Bordeaux would get away lightly with a drop of 10 per cent.

Mr Coste said there may be an upside to the bad harvest - it is not a bitter one when it comes to taste. The quality of the wine produced will be good as it is expected to be more concentrated.

"When it comes to quality, we are looking at a good year," Mr Coste said.

While some price increases were on the cards, Mr Coste hoped they could be contained.

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Big Bird wants out of debate

WHAT do a Navy mum, Big Bird and AARP have in common? They want US President Barack Obama and Republican Mitt Romney to leave them alone.

Both candidates are encountering cross words from third parties they've mentioned in their campaign ads, stump speeches and debate zingers.

The creator of TV show Friday Night Lights asked Mr Romney to stop using the show's slogan "Clear eyes. Full hearts. Can't lose".

The mother of a former Navy SEAL killed in Libya also asked him to stop talking about her son on the trail.

Seniors group AARP and the producers of "Sesame Street" have asked Mr Obama to quit mentioning them in ads.

Reporters for NBC have asked both candidates to stop using footage of them in ads.

Legal experts say candidates are protected by free speech unless they are explicitly claiming a false endorsement.

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Architect Oscar Niemeyer in hospital

BRAZILIAN architect Oscar Niemeyer, who is aged 104, has been in the hospital since the weekend, a hospital spokesman said.

An official at the Samaritano hospital in Rio said no official bulletin on Mr Niemeyer's condition has been released.

In May of this year he was hospitalised for pneumonia and dehydration.

Mr Niemeyer is considered the father of Brazilian architecture. He took part in the design of the Brazilian capital Brasilia in 1960, among 600 other works around the world over the course of his storied career.

Mr Niemeyer currently has some 20 projects underway in several countries.

He won the Pritzker prize, likened to the Nobel for architecture, in 1988.

The master's only daughter, Anna Maria Niemeyer, died of emphysema in June at the age of 82.

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