Greece

Greek election winner Antonis Samaras begins a second day of talks Tuesday to form a coalition after holding "constructive" meetings with two party leaders, racing to forge a government that keeps bailout aid flowing. Samaras secured initial agreement Monday from Socialist Pasok leader Evangelos Venizelos, the former finance minister who negotiated the second rescue, and said he'd hold further talks Tuesday with Fotis Kouvelis, leader of the Democratic Left party. If those three team up, they will hold a majority of 179 seats in the 300-member Greek parliament.

Greece held off a relentless Russian attack Saturday for a 1-0 win in Warsaw, Poland, that put the 2004 champions into the European Championship quarterfinals and eliminated heavily favored Russia. The Greeks took the lead just before halftime when Giorgos Karagounis sent a low shot under Russian goalkeeper Vyacheslav Malafeev in the final touch of the first half. The Greeks then did what they do best: defend. "The moments are pure magic for all of us. This is a great night for all Greeks," Karagounis said.

ATHENS, Greece - Alexis Tsipras has rarely been on good terms with Greece's establishment. During high school, he took part in a three-month student protest against education reform that shook the conservative government of the time in the early 1990s, appearing on television as a confident 16-year-old spokesman for the protest movement. Two decades later, he's rattling Europe and the world economy as he campaigns to become Greece's next leader with a simple if startling pledge: to tear up a multibillion-euro international agreement that bailed out Greece as it hurtled toward bankruptcy.

Will Greece exit the eurozone? Hard to believe, but the answer to this question could determine the fate of the U.S. economy this year. Global investors have been driving stock prices down, as odds rise that Greece will quit the European currency union. Greece is at loggerheads with Germany, the dominant European economy that dominates policy decisions for the continent. German leaders want the Greeks to get their financial house in order; i.e, to stop borrowing money and ultimately to repay the hundreds of billions of euros they owe. Most of those euros are owed to Germany.

ATHENS, Greece — European leaders insist that they want to keep Greece in the eurozone but are putting off any agreement on how to accomplish that. Greece says that it, too, wants to stay in the eurozone, but whether it can implement the austerity Europe has required will be uncertain until after its elections. Essentially, both are playing for time — about a month. The question is whether financial markets will wait or force their hand. Concerns that European leaders lack the political will and wherewithal to tackle the continent's economic problems have worried markets for weeks.

BRUSSELS — Europe's leaders gathered in Brussels under pressure to soften their tough-love approach to the weaker economies among them. With Greece locked in political chaos, much bigger Spain warned that it couldn't stay afloat without help. Stock markets around the world tanked Wednesday over fears that European leaders won't have the political will to act. The summit will have to fight multiple fires: political uncertainty in Greece that could see it renege on commitments made to secure rescue loans; rising borrowing costs in Spain and Italy that could force them to seek bailouts; and sluggish growth across the region made worse by budget cuts meant to reassure markets about high debt.

ATHENS, Greece - Critical last-ditch talks to form a coalition government in crisis-struck Greece foundered once more Sunday, leading the country one step closer to new elections, although the socialist party leader said he retained "existing but limited' optimism for a deal. The political uncertainty has alarmed international creditors who have given Greece billions of euros in bailout loans over the last two years, and has thrown the country's continued presence in the European Union's joint currency into serious doubt.

Concerns grew that Greece's departure from the euro was near. Yet there were also hints that a new phase of talks with European lenders could begin. A3.

ATHENS, Greece - President Karolos Papoulias called for the leaders of Greece's political parties to meet Sunday in a last-ditch effort to broker a deal for a coalition government and avoid another general election. Papoulias took the step Saturday when Greece's socialist leader, Evangelos Venizelos, officially gave up the mandate to form a coalition government after three rounds of negotiations proved fruitless. Papoulias' office announced that the president would meet initially with the heads of the three parties that won the most votes in last Sunday's inconclusive elections - the conservative New Democracy, the Radical Left Coalition (Syriza)

ATHENS, Greece - Hopes rose slightly Thursday that Greece could end its post-electoral deadlock without having to hold new elections, as international partners warned that Athens must stick to its hugely unpopular austerity program or abandon the euro. Socialist leader Evangelos Venizelos, who received the presidential mandate to try and form a government after two other party chiefs failed, said a meeting Thursday with a left-wing potential kingmaker had proved encouraging. If this third mandate fails, President Karolos Papoulias will convene party leaders in a last-ditch effort to get a deal - otherwise new elections will be held in a month.