Country Bankruptcy, Austerity Package | featured news

Greece's new prime minister, Lucas Papademos, won a crucial confidence vote Wednesday on severe austerity measures to be made in exchange for more bailout funds to help the country step back from the brink of bankruptcy.

Greece will miss a deficit target set just months ago in a massive bailout package, according to government draft budget figures released on Sunday, showing that drastic steps taken to avert bankruptcy may not be enough.

Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou sacrificed his finance minister on Friday and put his main socialist party rival into the job in a bid to force through an unpopular austerity plan and avert bankruptcy.