Greece, Eurozone | featured news

Political leaders in Greece need to show the resolve to stay in the euro zone, which will require Athens to stick to the terms of its rescue package, International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde said on Thursday.

The head of Greece’s top administrative court, Panayiotis Pikrammenos, was named the nation's caretaker prime minister Wednesday as voters prepare for another election on June 17 that is widely viewed as a referendum on whether Greece stays in or leaves the Eurozone.

Latest austerity cuts approved as 100,000 take to the streets in protest; 93 buildings damaged in Athens.

Greece's Cabinet approved austerity measures demanded in return for a new eurozone bailout of the debt-stricken country Saturday, a day ahead of a crucial vote in Parliament.

European Central Bank policymaker Athanasios Orphanides called for euro zone leaders to abandon plans to make private sector investors help reduce Greece's debts, but his push showed no sign of gaining any traction in Europe's capitals on Friday.

The country that seems to crop up more and more in the current eurozone discussions is Italy, but why should it be affected by the Greek crisis?

A top bank lobbyist insisted Saturday that banks and the eurozone are far from reaching a deal to cut Greece's debt, despite claims by eurozone finance ministers that they will ask banks to take steeper losses on their Greek bonds.

France is ready to do whatever it takes to rescue Greece, the government said, and urged the debt-laden euro-zone member to swiftly implement the July 21 plan to prevent bankruptcy.

By insisting that it receive collateral from Greece in return for aid, Finland threatens to upend an agreement that euro zone countries made in July to expand the E.U. bailout fund.

Standard & Poor's cuts Greece's credit rating, saying eurozone plans to restructure the country's debts would constitute a default.