IBT Staff Reporter

Greece has no plans to restructure its debt and the International Monetary Fund is not considering a plan, the country's finance minister, George Papaconstantinou, said on Saturday.

Greece has no plans to restructure its debt and the International Monetary Fund is not considering a plan, the country's finance minister, George Papaconstantinou, said on Saturday.

Following are highlights of comments by financial leaders attending the International Monetary Fund and World Bank spring meetings on Saturday.

Greece should restructure its debt soon to help rebuild its economy, former Socialist Prime Minister Costas Simitis was quoted as saying on Saturday.

The United Arab Emirates will stop individuals and small businesses accessing the most private data services offered by BlackBerry, a UAE newspaper said, but the government said no services would be disrupted to any subscribers.

Nearly a decade worth of work to reach a world trade deal is on the verge of failure, World Trade Organization Director General Pascal Lamy said on Saturday in a plea for countries to rise above their own narrow interests for the good of the global economy.

World finance leaders on Saturday chastised the United States for not doing enough to shrink its massive overspending and warned that budget strains in rich nations threaten the global recovery.

Palm Sunday is Christian feast before Easter, when the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem is celebrated. Palm Sunday always falls on the Sunday before Easter Sunday. In 2011, Palm Sunday will be celebrated on April 17.

IMF member nations, acknowledging resistance from emerging markets to limits on capital controls, said rich nations' policies that spur large capital outflows that could harm other economies also need oversight.

The German finance ministry on Saturday denied it was drawing up contingency plans for a Greek debt restructuring after the Financial Times reported the ministry was studying various options if Athens fails to meet its fiscal targets.

Bank of America said it has hired Gary Lynch, a former director of enforcement at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, to head its legal, compliance, and regulatory relations efforts.

Developing countries on Saturday pushed back hard against attempts to restrict how they manage money pouring into their fast-growing economies and said rich nations should reconsider their own policies instead.

A downgrade of Iceland's credit rating would be unjustified now that the country's economy is improving, Finance Minister Steingrimur Sigfusson said on Saturday.

Russia is looking to the experience of other countries, including China, to regulate Internet use, though Moscow has no plans to broaden web censorship, a government spokesman said on Saturday.

Mexican magnate Carlos Slim plans to invest about $1.5 billion in Argentina's telecoms sector, a newspaper reported on Saturday, citing the government.

Germany is urging Athens to adopt contingency plans that would foresee a voluntary, market-friendly debt restructuring should Greece fail to meet its ambitious fiscal targets, the Financial Times reported.

Leading world economies agreed on Friday to put the policies of seven major nations under a microscope as part of a plan to prevent a repeat of the global financial crisis.

Johnson & Johnson is in preliminary talks to acquire Swiss medical device maker Synthes for a price which could be about $20 billion, a source familiar with the situation said on Saturday.

China's monetary policy tightening will continue for some time as inflation remains higher than the government is comfortable with, and the yuan will be one of the tools used to fight it, the central bank governor said on Saturday.

A recent study says IT professionals and executives are more concerned about cyber criminals than insider trading.

The United Arab Emirates will stop individuals and small businesses accessing the most private data services offered by BlackBerry, a newspaper said, but email and web access will not be disrupted, said the government.

NASA has released spectacular never-seen-before space images captured by its Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE.

The FA Cup enters its semifinal stage with a Manchester derby on Saturday as City and United clash at Wembley vying for a place in the final.

The FA Cup enters its semifinal stage with a Manchester derby on Saturday as City and United clash at Wembley vying for a place in the final.

Chinese firms and government bodies need to accelerate a shift toward value-added products to seek a better balance in trade, Chinese Vice Premier Wang Qishan said in comments published on Saturday.

China plans to support its integrated circuit sector as a strategically important industry over the next five years, aiming for over a fourth of microchips used in the country by 2015 to be made in China, Xinhua news agency said on Saturday.

China's monetary policy tightening will continue for some time as inflation remains higher than the government is comfortable with, and the yuan will be one of the tools used to fight it, the central bank governor said on Saturday.

The owners of three of the largest Internet poker companies operating in the United States were accused on Friday of tricking regulators and banks into processing billions of dollars of illegal Internet gambling proceeds.

Bringing Swiss miners Glencore and Xstrata together would add value but is not on the agenda at the moment, Glencore Chief Executive Ivan Glasenberg said in a newspaper interview on Saturday.