Europe, Europe Debt Crisis | featured news

Stress tests on Ireland's four main lenders will reveal a capital hole of around 20 billion euros ($28.2 billion), The Sunday Business Post reported, without citing any sources.

More than 250,000 people took to London's streets to protest the toughest spending cuts since World War II - one of the largest demonstrations since the Iraq war - as riot police clashed with a small groups. More than 200 people were arrested.

Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Socrates resigned Wednesday and warned of grave consequences for the country after parliament rejected his government's latest austerity measures aimed at avoiding a bailout.

Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen's surprise plan to reshuffle his cabinet weeks before a general election risked backfiring badly on Thursday with coalition partners and backbenchers fuming over the move.

Prime Minister Brian Cowen said Sunday that he won’t resign despite criticism of his management of the country’s its deficit and the international bailout.

If we did not find ourselves smack in the middle of the Holiday season, I’d probably be talking about how the bull camp’s momentum appears to be waning and that we should be bracing for a meaningful pullback in response to the tiring trend, the overbought condition, and the overly optimistic sentiment readings. And while these issues are indeed present, it appears that the holiday spirit and the corresponding portfolio allocations may be the primary driver to what I will loosely term the current trend.

Portugal was put on notice on Tuesday that its credit rating could be cut and fellow euro zone debtor Spain had to pay more to issue new debt, suggesting the currency bloc's crisis will rage unabated in 2011.

Ireland's parliament approved a multi-billion euro EU/IMF bailout package on Wednesday in the face of opposition threats to renegotiate the deal to force losses on some senior bondholders in Irish banks.

The Belgian finance minister and International Monetary Fund suggested that the scope of measures to stabilize the euro should be strengthened.

As they try to recover, the U.S. and Europe could use a refresher course in Eastern studies.