Greece Debt, Eurozone Bailout | featured news

Finance ministry officials in Greece have calculated that the debt-stricken country's economy will recover faster and its debt be more sustainable if it is given two more years to reduce its budget deficit, a Greek newspaper reported on Saturday.

BERLIN —Greece’s new leaders have had only a month to confront their country’s dismal tangle of economic problems, but some in Europe think the troubled Mediterranean country is up against a hopeless task.

Greece's new government promised on Thursday to renegotiate the terms of the country's bailout without endangering its future in the euro, responding to intense pressure to ease mounting social tensions but also risking a showdown with European powers.

The German parliament approved a second, euro130 billion ($173 billion) loan package for Greece on Monday after Chancellor Angela Merkel warned lawmakers that it would be irresponsible to abandon the country to bankruptcy.

Debate over Greece’s rescue plan now shifts to the International Monetary Fund, which must decide if it is willing to risk more on a bailout effort that the fund’s own analysis shows has a strong probability of failing.

Greece's cabinet agreed on Saturday to launch a debt swap for private creditors on March 8 with the aim of completing it by March 11, a government official said.

U.S. stocks closed in on the psychologically important mark of 13,000 for the Dow Jones industrial average as optimism about the Greek bailout and the European financial situation sent stocks up in early trading.

The letters aim to satisfy one of the key demands set by Greece's international lenders, but other issues remained unresolved.

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.