Greek Debt, Greek Debt Crisis | featured news

China offered on Saturday to buy Greek government bonds when Athens resumes issuing, in a show of support for the country whose debt burden pushed the euro zone into crisis and required an international bailout.

Moody's Investors Service downgraded Greek debt by four notches to junk status. It follows Standard & Poor's, which put the debt-laden country in the speculative-grade camp almost seven weeks ago.

The European Union agreed on a 500 billion-euro ($670 billion) emergency fund in the early hours of Monday to protect highly indebted eurozone countries from the "wolfpack" of financial markets.

The International Monetary Fund on Sunday approved a 30 billion euro ($38.6 billion) loan for Greece as part of a larger European Union-led effort to help ease the country's economic crisis.

Both houses of Parliament approve unpopular financial plan to save Greece from bankruptcy.

Stocks are plunging as investors give in to fears that Greece's debt problems will spread and halt the global economic recovery.

European debt problems sent another wave of pessimism through the markets.

The move by Standard & Poor’s on Tuesday deepened Europe’s debt crisis, and investors sold off government bonds amid fears of a default.

Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany said that Greece should solve its own problems, ahead of a summit meeting scheduled for Thursday.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Greece must take additional measures to reach its deficit-cut target of 4 percent of GDP in 2010 but it is not yet clear how far short Athens is with steps announced so far, the European Commission said on Tuesday.