Greece

BRUSSELS, Belgium - Greece faces further hurdles and delays before it can receive a second, $171 billion, bailout, even though its lawmakers approved more austerity measures in the face of violent protests. European Union Economic Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn on Monday called the Greek parliament's approval of a further round of budget cuts a "crucial step forward," but Germany insisted a second bailout would be some time in coming. Germany, which as Europe's biggest economy pays the largest share of bailout deals, said it wouldn't give its final approval for new aid payments until early March - after it becomes clear how many banks and investment funds are willing to take losses on their Greek bonds and the parliament in Berlin votes on the new measures.

ATHENS, Greece - Greece's beleaguered government said Thursday that it would start taxing minimum-wage earners and encourage local banks to help the state delay debt payments for bonds maturing as late as 2015. New finance minister Evangelos Venizelos also said the government was encouraging a deferment scheme under the so-called Vienna initiative, signing up private investors to voluntarily renew their debt holdings as they expire. The next big challenge for Greece is for parliament to approve new austerity measures before getting the vital next batch of loans, worth 12 billion euro ($17.1 billion)

ATHENS, Greece - Greece's parliament narrowly passed a crucial austerity bill early Thursday, in a vote that left the coalition government reeling from dissent as it struggles to secure vital bailout funds. The bill, which will further slash pensions and salaries, passed 153-128 in the 300-member parliament. It came hours after rioters rampaged outside the parliament during an 80,000-strong anti-austerity demonstration, clashing with riot police who responded with tear gas, stun grenades and water cannon.

LONDON - The massive new bailout approved for Greece early Tuesday should rescue it from immediate bankruptcy. But can the country survive being saved? No matter how you cut it - and plenty is being cut - Greece is only at the start of a long-term retrenchment and overhaul program that will inflict yet more pain on its people, who already have seen their living standards plummet. The question, analysts say, is whether the country can come out the other side of the process with its democracy, economy, and society intact.

ATHENS, Greece - Greek lawmakers on Monday approved harsh new austerity measures demanded by bailout creditors to save the nation from bankruptcy, after rioters in central Athens torched buildings, looted shops, and clashed with police. The historic vote paves the way for Greece's European partners and the International Monetary Fund to release $170 billion in new rescue loans. Without the loans, Greece would default on its massive debt next month and likely leave the eurozone - a scenario that would further roil global markets.

BRUSSELS, Belgium - Eurozone leaders on Thursday agreed to a sweeping deal that will grant Greece a massive new bailout - but likely make it the first euro country to default. The deal also will radically reshape the currency union's rescue fund, allowing it to act preemptively when crises arise. The agreement calls for the eurozone countries and the International Monetary Fund to give Greece a second bailout worth $155 billion, on top of about the same amount granted a year ago. Banks and other private investors will contribute some $71 billion to the rescue package by either rolling over Greek bonds that they hold, swapping them for new ones with lower interest rates or selling the bonds back to Greece at a low price.

With Chancellor Angela Merkel cheering them on, Germany reached the European Championship semifinals for a record seventh time by beating Greece, 4-2, on Friday in Gdansk, Poland, in a match played amid the contentious political atmosphere between the countries. As in economics, where Germany has been a major contributor to bailouts while insisting on deep austerity measures in return for funds for Greece, the three-time champions were in control of the game. Philipp Lahm put Germany in the lead in the 39th minute as his team dominated nearly every facet.

ATHENS, Greece - Hundreds of youths smashed and looted stores in central Athens and clashed with riot police during a huge antigovernment rally against new austerity measures that won initial parliamentary approval in a vote Wednesday night. The rioting came on the first day of a 48-hour nationwide general strike that brought services in much of Greece to a standstill, grounding flights for hours, leaving ferries tied up in port, and shutting down customs offices, stores, and banks.

NEW YORK - Stocks resumed their slow but steady climb Tuesday as Greece appeared close to announcing a deal with creditors to cut its debt. The Dow Jones industrial average ended at its highest level since May 2008. Stock indexes rose after a report that Greece and the investors who bought its government bonds were close to a deal to reduce what Greece owes. Athens' crushing debt has unnerved financial markets around the world for two years. "Just some kind of optimism overseas is going to be positive, considering many didn't think anything was going to come to fruition," said Stephen J. Carl, head equity trader at the Williams Capital Group.

THESSALONIKI, Greece - Cheap potato fever is spreading in austerity-pummeled Greece. It started last month when a producer from the northern Nevrokopi area, fed up with selling to wholesalers at a loss, off-loaded 24 tons at cost prices directly to consumers in the town of Katerini. Now, he has been swamped by demand. Lefteris Kessopoulos said Thursday that he has been contacted by resident groups in Athens, the northern towns of Kavala and Larissa - even Pyrgos, 620 miles south of Nevrokopi.