ATHENS (Reuters): Greece’s cabinet unanimously approved the terms of its international bailout on Wednesday, hours after euro zone countries formally approved the 130 billion euro financial package that Athens needs to stay afloat. The deal to keep Greece funded until 2014 will now be sent for approval to the Greek parliament, which is expected to ...

Reuters: Greece claimed a major success for its bond swap offer to private creditors on Friday after it won heavy acceptance for a deal that averts the immediate risk of an uncontrolled default on its massive public debt.  The finance ministry said 85.8 percent of its 177 billion euros in bonds regulated under Greek law ...

Reuters: A planned referendum in Ireland and a German court ruling cast new uncertainty on Tuesday over efforts to overcome the euro zone’s debt crisis, just when a flood of central bank money appeared to be calming financial markets.  Ireland’s prickly electorate, which has twice voted “No” to European Union treaties before reversing itself, will ...

Sri Lanka’s benchmark stock index, the world’s worst performer this year, may extend its slump as the central bank raises interest rates to curb inflation, according to HSBC Holdings Plc’s private banking unit. HSBC Private Bank, which oversees about $499 billion, will wait for stock valuations to fall to “single digit” multiples before it considers ...

Surveillance videos publicly aired for the first time Thursday show Dominique Strauss-Kahn leisurely checking out of a New York hotel where he was accused of committing sexual assault and show his accuser appearing to act out the alleged attack.It was not immediately clear how France's BFM television acquired the minutes-long segments. The clips were the basis of recent news reports suggesting Str...

ATHENS (AFP):  Greeks on Thursday reacted with anger and disbelief at a new wave of austerity cuts enacted to keep the country in the eurozone as a public transport strike caused road chaos in Athens. The embattled socialist government announced pension and tax break cuts and put 30,000 state employees on temporary lay-offs after pledging ...

JACKSON HOLE: Central bankers gathered at an annual retreat in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, this weekend had a message for political leaders: monetary policy alone can’t keep the global expansion going. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke urged adoption of “good, proactive housing policies” to reverse the depressed US real estate market and warned lawmakers to ...

By S. V. Kirubaharan - in France Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly, and applying the wrong remedies.” — Julius Henry, Groucho Marx, American comedian and film star (1890-1977). When life is smooth and everything goes in the right direction, normal civilians can become President, Prime Minister ...

by Darini Rajasingham Senanayake On 4 February, Sri Lanka celebrated its 63rd birthday. After nearly three decades of armed conflict, it is now one of Southasia’s calmest and fastest-growing countries. Its social indicators, apart from the northeast zone, remain the...

by Rick Westhead Toronto Star, South Asia Bureau TRINCOMALEE, SRI LANKA—The weathered wooden bench that serves as an open-air confessional booth at Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church doesn’t enjoy much down time nowadays. It’s not that more people are...