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Greece says it met deficit-cutting targets in 2012

The Greek government says its painful austerity drive is paying off, with the budget deficit reduced to 6.6 percent of annual output in 2012 from 9.4 percent a year earlier. A finance ministry statement Monday said that, not counting the cost of servicing Greece's debt mountain, the government posted a modest budget surplus of €434 million ($588 million) last year.

 

Protesters break into gov't building in Athens

Protesters from a Communist-back labor union forced their way into a government building and clashed with police who used tear gas to expel them.

 

Standard & Poor’s Upgrades Greece’s Credit Rating

Greece

Standard & Poor's ratings agency on Tuesday upgraded Greece's credit grade by 6 notches, yanking the debt-heavy country out of default but still keeping its devalued bonds in junk status.

 

Investors offer about 30 billion euros in Greek debt buyback: source

ATHENS (Reuters) - Greek and foreign bondholders offered about 30 billion euros ($38.8 billion) in a buyback plan that is key to the country's international bailout, a Greek government official said on Saturday.

 

Greek debt buy-back will not apply to Greece's pension funds: PM

Greek pension funds will not take part in a debt buy-back that is a key part of the country's international bailout, Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras said in a newspaper interview.

 

Merkel acknowledges Germans' frustration on Greece

Germany's chancellor says she understands the frustration felt by many Germans over the repeated bailout programs for Greece.

 

Greeks vote for more economic pain

Greece

Over the course of five days, the Greek government -- led by the understated conservative Prime Minister Antonis Samaras -- overcame two high hurdles in a dash to qualify for the austerity program set out by the so-called troika, made up of the European Central Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the European Commission.

 

No final decision on Greece next week, slower austerity assumed

Euro Zone

Euro zone finance ministers are unlikely to release a new tranche of loans to Greece on Monday as there is no agreement yet on how to make its debt sustainable but Athens is set to get two more years to cut debt, officials said.

 

Big fat Greek strike: MPs and govt say no escaping austerity

Anti-Austerity Protest in Greece

Debt-ridden Greece enters yet another week of anti-austerity protests. The country risks coming to a standstill as the parliament votes on a fresh austerity package of cost cuts and tax hikes for a new cash injection from its international creditors. A 24-hour strike starting Monday is expected to unite hospital doctors, journalists, Metro, taxi and train drivers and other transport workers, reports RT's Peter Oliver from Athens.

 

Hit by crisis, Greek society in free-fall

A sign taped to a wall in an Athens hospital appealed for civility from patients. "The doctors on duty have been unpaid since May," it read, "Please respect their work." Patients and their relatives glanced up briefly and moved on, hardened to such messages of gloom. In a country where about 1,000 people lose their jobs each day, legions more are still employed but haven't seen a paycheck in months. What used to be an anomaly has become commonplace, and those who have jobs that pay on time consider themselves the exception to the rule.

 

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