Europe, Europe Debt | featured news

Under the plan, French banks would give Athens more time to pay back loans as they come due over the next three years.

The crown jewels of Greece’s socialist state are now likely to go to the highest bidder.

Austerity measures being adopted by many industrialized world governments in the wake of the 2008-09 financial crisis are undermining economic recovery, a United Nations report said on Wednesday.

Unlike their government, Greek banks were seen as well-managed and prudent before the crisis. Now they are struggling to find funding.

Hours of talks between eurozone finance ministers on the imploding finances of Greece broke up early Monday morning without the ministers signing off on a vital installment of rescue loans needed to avoid bankruptcy next month.

Eurozone finance ministers meet in Luxembourg, where they are expected to approve a 12bn-euro (£10bn) loan to debt-stricken Greece.

Prime Minister George Papandreou has vowed to stay on and fight to pull his country out of a crippling debt crisis, facing down a revolt in his Socialist party over new but widely unpopular austerity measures....

Standard & Poor's cut its ratings on Greece three notches on its expectations of the likelihood of one or more defaults over the next 12 months.

The European Central Bank said on Thursday it opposed forcing private creditors to take part in debt relief for Greece, pushing back against Germany, which has demanded a bond swap to lengthen Greek debt maturities.

President Barack Obama said on Tuesday that he and German Chancellor Angela Merkel agreed that Europe's debt crisis must be contained.