Bailouts | featured news

Europe agreed Saturday to allow Spain to tap a rescue fund of up to (EURO)100 billion ($125 billion) to bail out its troubled banks, which are struggling under the weight of soured real estate loans after a Spanish housing bubble burst. Spanish Economy Minister Luis de Guindos said the country will reveal how much money it needs within coming weeks, after audits of its financial sector are completed.

The International Monetary Fund says it has not been asked by Spain for a bailout and has not begun preparing one.

Students are protesting on Barcelona's elegant boulevards, public-sector wages are being cut for the second time in three years and resentment is growing against the central government and beneficiaries of bank bailouts.

Let Greece go: It's a possibility that's being considered more and more publicly in Europe. There have been two and a half years of bailouts, on top of broken promises by Greece to reform. The result: a fifth year of recession and, this week, political chaos. Voters on Sunday favored parties that either oppose the terms of the country's international bailout or want to renegotiate them. If it cannot get more rescue loans, Greece will go bankrupt and likely have to leave the eurozone, the currency union of 17 countries.

Romney has been consistent on his position that a managed bankruptcy was the best course of action. But he keeps digging a bigger hole for himself when he claims that the path he recommended — which included no public assistance — would have been successful from the start. Both Presidents Bush and Obama rejected that advice, and there is little evidence the industry would have survived without the breathing room provided by public funds.

The leaders of Greece's once-dominant political parties made a last push on Friday to avert a new election, which a poll showed would give victory to a radical leftist and doom an EU bailout.

The government-backed mortgage financier said it made a profit in the first quarter and that it does not need additional bailout money — a first since the federal government took it over in 2008.

U.S. mortgage giant Fannie Mae made money in the first three months of the year and is not seeking additional federal aid. It's the first time the company has reported a net income gain since it was taken over by the government during the 2008 financial crisis....

Japan’s government on Wednesday approved a 1 trillion yen ($12.55 billion) bailout for the operator of the disaster-hit Fukushima nuclear plant, putting the massive utility under temporary state control as it continues to deal with the colossal damages.

The U.S. may wind up posting a profit of more than $15 billion from the rescue of AIG, the Government Accountability Office said.