reporter: the uphill battle continues for alexis tsipras.thens needs its creditors to sign off, but 10 hours of negotiations between the greek government and creditors over the weekend came to nothing. the greek prime minister, on monday, pointed the finger at the imf for not learning from past policy mistakes. that thoseparadox who admitted these policies were a mistake and it on making the mistakes again. reporter: the main sticking points are pension system reforms and regulating nonperforming loans. tsipras's government is reluctant to put the measures into effect. and 86 billion dollar bailout deal last summer in exchange for reforms. if athens holds up its end of the bargain, they will give the green light on the review, unlocking up to 5 billion euros in aid. >> we will find a solution in the next few weeks. but, that has nothing to do with debt relief. greece has to do more to find a way to make its economy competitive. more must be done, and this needs to be explained again and again to the greek people. reporter: without relief of

as --ors resumed talks in as tensions heightened between e u leaders and greek prime minister alexis tsipras. welcome to "countdown" this monday morning. anna: it has just gone 6:00 here, let's talk about the oil price. it seems appropriate. we have this big interview, before the weekend. stories coming with the saudi royal family. they are putting their money where their mouth is. manus: two weeks ago, we talked with the single biggest squeeze that went on, on record. record short positions. they are back. the money managers are back. that is what the risk is telling us. speculators have boosted their bearish bets up by 17% in the last week. that is behind part of that precipitous drop we saw on the back of that interview. they were there for five hours talking about everything under the sun. anna: checking where the oil prices now, continuing to retreat. $38.28, wti at $36.25. both of them moving further from the $40 mark. manus: the brent volume is barely above average, but the wti volume is 25% above average. you have russia and iran as well. anna: it is not enough for the irradiance jus

words from christine lagarde to alexis tsipras.ed about progress in an environment of extreme sensitivity. wikileaks released a transcript of the imf looking to want to push more debt relief toward greece. let's get more on this story. it is a fascinating one. let's talk to bloomberg news in athens. set the scene, if you will. arguments between creditors and greek politicians and heated words from either side. yes, well this weekend has been a game changer in our of how the talks were going. if you asked me on friday, i would say we are a week away from an agreement between the two sides. now, the imf has stated that we i ways away. the greeks are not ready to meet the fiscal targets that the imf and their european peers look for the greeks to hit. ally greecehe only has on debt relief. this has been tsipras' holy grail so far. tom: i like what you said about the imf he and the only ally. where are we in the crisis? is the crisis over for athens? >> i think this is more of a play that is intending for greek inner politics. i think

. >> mr alexis tsipras is trying to manufacture the crisis in the hopes of pushing the i.m.f.out of negotiations, and negotiating with a commission, that appears more willing to accept the conditions. and pushing for measures of high quality. many thing they'll be dancing to the statement steps. this looks like a well-rehearsed gripe. others have lived short lives, only to be replaced by other governments. >> the israeli mincery tripled its ownership of palestinian owned documents. 165 dem police stations a month, human rights groups say the move is a deliberate form of discrimination, and the israeli government defended the actions as lawful. war veterans say they've been ignored despite having helped the career. >> zimbabwe's war veterans have a list of demands. they say they were poor and neglected, providing a trouble. trench shall access. education. they want a stake in the mining sector. mugabe says they want it all. zimbabwe's 92-year-old leader is under pressure to deliver. war veterans helped him to stay in power for 36 years. last time they were paid out by the gover

legislation would get the support of the 2 coalition , thees, including syriza party of prime minister alexis tsipras, and the opposition to the most controversial issue until today was the idea that greece should declare turkey as a country so that migrants can be sent back under international asylum trees. greece refused to do this. they say that turkey is not safe for everyone -- for instance, for kurds. they have found a way to work around this by basically bringing the great asylum legislation into line with other eu countries and according to the european commission, the should be enough, and under this legislation, the deal implemented by -- can start to be implemented by monday when we see the first returns of migrants from greece to turkey. tom: interesting to know what the general public in greece makes of this law because, after all, we have seen it spillover into rather tense scenes during the course of the last couple days on some of the outlying islands. reporter: yes, and this tension is only increasing. right now there are several hundreds of migrants in the port of death were one of

this comes as alexis tsipras continues negotiations with his country's creditors. about is not simply a demand of the german government against a dead haircut, but within the euro area, we believe legally speaking it is simply not possible. anna: our bureau chief in greece joins us now from athens. good morning to you. angela merkel says she wants the imf to stay in the great program, and yet she says she is not willing to give greece debt relief. there's a bit of conflict. help us determine what is good and bad news for greece. it's bad news for greece's government. it risks getting the full imf's treatment in terms of the painful economic overhauls and austerity measures that have been asked for. greek prime minister alexis tsipras is fully aware of these risks, and he has been trying to the last fewer weeks. it was a heated exchange over the weekend. it seems his efforts didn't yield any results. as german chancellor angela merkel said yesterday, germany wants the plan to stay on board. of course, greece will get something. that's what misses merkel hinted at in

scarlet: in the meantime, alexis tsipras and joe biden have been discussing the greek bailout reviewgee crisis. something that assess and a conference call monday. they agreed this needs to be concluded as soon as possible so that debt relief talks can begin in april. alix: 2012 anyone we will be right back. ♪ alix: this is bloomberg markets. scarlet: i am scarlet fu. what are you saying, 2012, anyone? great future in the euro could be back in place as this drags on july. christine lagarde said the beleaguered country is a good distance away from a loan agreement. the greek prime minister alexis tsipras has held calls for joe biden, as well as french president and cloth along about the bailout. they agreed the deal need to be concluded as soon as possible so the debt relief talks can begin in april. welcome back, joe weisenthal. right to see you. -- great to see you. you are really focused on this today. it seems like last year this story was finally behind us. there was a series of resolutions -- revelations or even as they are trying to hammer out the forms. you see them talking ab

how much political capital if any those alexis tsipras have right now?hat he has is a government that has gone through two elections last year, referendum, and is still hanging together. his party broke up last year, and the people who remained on board did so knowing that it would have to implement this third bailout. is that he has lost to mps already from the governing coalition, so they are down to 153 out of the 300, and the package on the table is not oft the 5.4 billion euros austerity measures, but the extra set of contingent measures they have to pass. that is a problem for him. the difference with last year is that the government seem more determined to remain in power what ever the costs. the feeling is that they are going to try to get this through parliament. the question is whether a few mps decide that it is too much or there will be too much of a reaction and local constituencies, or if it does pass, if they can survive after that. greekt: we have seen the bond spread come in a little bit here. what is the next event on the calendar that

. >> during his visit there to lesbos, the pope met with the greek prime minister, alexis tsipras.e a listen. >>> i think it was a significant chance to give the correct messages to the global community in order to recognize the efforts of the greek people and to greece, in order to face this humanitarian crisis, this refugee crisis. i think it was very -- it was too important for us because we tried from the very beginning to phase this crisis in high difficulties. i think that during the day we managed to keep our values and principles. at the same time in europe, there were some of our partners that didn't do the same. >> reporter: what countries, hungary, for instance, others? >> no sense now to say specifically, but i can say that it's not so easy for me. it is european councils. when my colleagues ask me to protect the borders by pushpack, to people on the scene. it was not so easy for me to explain to them that this is against our principles, secondly, out of the international legislation, and it was difficult to convince my colleagues when their public opinion went against

there was a follow-up between alexis tsipras and the imf the.e will hear more about that later from our main in athens. this is the six-month chart. toay, the yield is rising the highest in over two weeks. last august of course, when we had the fears that greece was not going to receive its third bailout, that is when it rose to 30%. it is still a far cry from there. investors are starting to say they need a deal soon or there may be talks of a grexit rather than a brexit that will be familiar with investors. betty: it is good to get that perspective though even if you had to use the word grexit. vonnie quinn is that the news desk. vonnie: thank you so much. a new series of reports says world leaders, criminals, and celebrities have used companies to hide their well. ofording to a group investigative journalists, $2 billion of transactions involve people like vladimir putin for example. this is firm files from a law firm and panama after the head of a major russian state-owned bank dismissed the allegations. >> nobody said that mr. putin was inv

. >> greek foreign minister alexis tsipras is trying to -- commenting on police using rubber bullets to stop refugees from crossing the border as a disgrace. 11,000 people remain at the site, ignoring instructions from the greek government to move to the organized shelters, fearing they will then be deported. >> the u.s. secretary of state john kerry's made a historic visit to the hiroshima memorial which commemorates the world's first atomic bombing. 140,000 people dialed in the attack. he was joined by foreign ministers who have been holding talks in hiroshima. >> in in spring, hiroshima feels hounded. 71 years after the united states military dropped an atomic bomb, john kerry became the first u.s. secretary of state to visit this place. the foreign ministers of the six other g7 countries were there, as well. including those from britain and france, who like the united states, are nuclear powers. mr. kerry said nothing prepared him for the pause museum, with photographs taken days after the attack. >> it is a stunning display, a gut wrenching display. it tun at all of your sensibi

but greek prime minister alexis tsipras said today the european union's deal with turkey has sharply the flow to his country. >> sreenivasan: in afghanistan, the death toll from a taliban attack in kabul more than doubled overnight, to 64. a suicide bomber and gunmen assaulted a government security agency yesterday, nearby the presidential palace. officials now say most of the victims were civilians, including women and children. >> woodruff: president obama arrived in saudi arabia today, hoping to reassure a skeptical ally. tensions were evident as the president arrived, and was greeted by the local governor and not king salman. the two leaders did meet later, and offered smiles and graciousu words. the saudis have opposed the president's outreach to iran and his approach to syria. >> sreenivasan: the u.s. supreme court has upheld a judgment that forces iran to compensate victims of terror attacks. they include relatives of 241 u.s. marines killed in a beirut bombing in 1983. their families will collect from nearly $2 billion in frozenil iranian funds held in the u.s. >> woodruff: t

we have an editorial piece this morning from alexis tsipras in the financial times, people may question but it is now down to the imf. i highlight that because it is one of the stories you look at the timeframe through june and july, the brexit, was happening in big greek payments due in that period as well, just wanting to maybe an interesting little summer. anna: no shortage of things for europe to worry about. the migrant crisis continues. does it look to you that the greek crisis is going to rear its head over the summer? gabriel: whether it will do so over the summer, we are having discussions over last year's deal, if it was enough. it certainly is causing a worry. and from what i know, it might play a role in our referendum here. everything is likely to. and long-term, it is still the case that it is not sustainable. how sustainable is a euro with all the current members? it has survived so far. that is amazing. will it survive another 10 years? who knows? anna: jack lew is having a number of fascinating meetings. must be a firewall in those meetings. guy johnson will be back wit