EUROPEAN UNION

Financial markets held their breath on Tuesday as Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's reform-shy government teetered on the brink and debt-crippled Greece's leaders struggled to put together a national unity government.

Greek party leaders were struggling Tuesday to agree on a new prime minister, under pressure from the European Union to push through a bailout to save the country's finances and end the chaos threatening the euro.

Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega won re-election by a huge margin on Sunday, beating the conservative Fabio Gadea with 62 percent of the total votes after 86 percent of polling stations reported results.

Airlines such as Delta, JetBlue and United Continental have begun offering more flights to Cuba through licensed charter companies.

The Republic of Georgia's President, Mikheil Saakashvili, vowed to transform the small resort town of Batumi into the nation's economic and cultural powerhouse. Stephen Robert Morse traveled to Batumi to investigate Saakashvili's progress.

Venizelos, a long-time rival of Papandreou, is believed to covet the job of Prime Minister.

Euro zone governments rushed to placate feverish bond markets on Monday as the 17-nation currency bloc's debt crisis threatened to accelerate out of control.

Greek political leaders were set to choose who will lead a new coalition on Monday and push through a bailout before the country runs out of money in mid-December, with local media tipping former ECB deputy head Lucas Papademos for the job.

Retail sales in the 17 countries sharing the euro fell more than expected in September despite some resilience in powerhouse Germany, the EU's statistics office said on Monday, reinforcing concern that the bloc's economy may be heading for a recession.

Gold prices climbed from eastern Asia to Western Europe Monday as worries about Europe's sovereign debt crisis spreading to Italy offset news that Greece's prime minster will resign.

Is sentiment in Washington shifting from one of modest deficit reduction to large deficit reduction, including a revenue increase? It may very well be, if the views of two key lawmakers are any indication.

Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou sealed a deal with the opposition Sunday night on a crisis coalition to approve an international bailout, but details remain thin despite an EU ultimatum for Athens to get serious about tackling its huge problems.

Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou sealed a deal with the opposition on a crisis coalition to approve an international bailout, but details remain thin despite an EU ultimatum for Athens to get serious about tackling its huge problems.

The European Union turned up the heat on bickering Greek politicians Sunday to agree on a crisis coalition, demanding progress toward backing an international bailout deal in the next 24 hours.

The European Central Bank frequently discusses the possibility ending the purchase of Italian government bonds in case it concludes Italy is not adopting promised reforms, said Yves Mersch, an ECB governing council member.

The principal opposition party, New Democracy, has demanded that Papandreou call early elections and insisted it will not accept any coalition government with the current Prime Minister.

Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou is meeting with Greek President Karolos Papoulias Saturday in the drive for a new coalition government to save the nation from bankruptcy and prevent its debt crisis from spreading chaos across the Eurozone.

Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou has won a parliamentary confidence vote and avoided snap elections that would have affected Greece's bailout deal and the Eurozone's economic crisis.

Gold fell on Friday in one of the quietest trading day, as the metal tracked riskier assets on fresh worries about the euro zone bailout fund and a mildly encouraging U.S. nonfarm payrolls report.

Stocks retreated on Friday after two days of gains as wealthier nations appeared to pull back from a European Union plan to broaden funding for a plan to deal with the region's sovereign debt crisis.

The Eurozone won verbal support but no new money at a G20 summit on Friday for its tortured efforts to overcome a sovereign debt crisis, while Italy was effectively placed under IMF supervision.