Europe Debt, Europe Debt Crisis | featured news

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.

Thousands of South Asian migrants have left Greece in recent months to escape the country's growing economic crisis, community leaders tell the BBC.

Greece's lawmakers approved a key austerity bill Wednesday needed to avert default next month, despite a second day of rioting on the streets of Athens that left dozens of police and protesters injured.

Riot police fired tear gas at youths hurling rocks and petrol bombs near the Greek finance ministry Tuesday, trying to quell the anger unleashed during mass protests and a general strike as parliament debated new cost-cutting measures.

Under the plan, French banks would give Athens more time to pay back loans as they come due over the next three years.

Greece has secured a second bailout from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund, and it too will be on the order of €110 billion, Prime Minister George Papandreou said.

The crown jewels of Greece’s socialist state are now likely to go to the highest bidder.

Austerity measures being adopted by many industrialized world governments in the wake of the 2008-09 financial crisis are undermining economic recovery, a United Nations report said on Wednesday.

Unlike their government, Greek banks were seen as well-managed and prudent before the crisis. Now they are struggling to find funding.

If the U.S. economic slowdown weren't enough to deal with, the Federal Reserve this week must consider a new threat: a resurgent European debt crisis that could imperil the global economy.