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Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi tried on Tuesday to calm fears that Italy could be swept into a full-scale financial crisis and the opposition pledged to smooth the passage through parliament of tough debt-cutting measures.

European Council President Herman Van Rompuy has called an emergency meeting of top officials dealing with the euro zone debt crisis for Monday morning, reelecting concern that the crisis could spread to Italy, the region's third largest economy.

The International Monetary Fund's executive board on Friday said it approved a disbursement of about 3.2 billion euros to help Greece pay debts due this month.

An outspoken Chinese writer and government critic has left his homeland for Germany after police repeatedly threatened him with imprisonment to prevent him from publishing any more of his controversial works overseas. Liao Yiwu arrived in Berlin two days ago at the end of a secretive journey that included transfers in the Vietnamese capital of Hanoi and Warsaw, Poland, the writer said in a phone interview with The Associated Press.

An investigation in Spain into the disappearances of newborn children from 1950 to 1990 has involved allegations of abductions and the existence of criminal networks.

Nearly one-third of 91 European banks undergoing the latest round of public stress tests could need external support to be brought up to scratch, Moody's said.

A credit agency warning that Greece could face default if it follows an international plan designed to help the country cope with its massive debts caused Asian markets to stall Tuesday.

A French novelist will file a complaint on Tuesday accusing Dominique Strauss-Kahn of attempted rape, her lawyer said, raising the prospect of a new sex assault investigation starting just as the U.S. case against the former International Monetary Fund chief falters.
The announcement threw Strauss-Kahn’s legal situation in his home country into question, and injected fresh uncertainty into a national debate about whether he will be able to return to his political career and enter the 2012 presidential race.

The rating agency said a plan proposed by the French government and banks to roll over some debt could fall within the definition of default.

Dormant anti-Americanism has been reawakened in France, fueled by a sense that the culture of the United States has undermined fair play.