INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND

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.

Germany Economy Minister Philipp Roesler said on Monday the country's gold reserves with the central bank cannot be touched, adding his voice to opposition to an idea reportedly discussed at the G20 summit of using reserves to boost euro zone bailout funds.

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.

With Silvio Berlusconi's fate resting on a group of party rebels threatening to pull the rug from under his government next week, the Italian prime minister is using carrot and stick to try to win over the doubters and pull off yet another parliamentary escape.

After another week of confusion and turmoil in Europe, investors are ditching whatever hopes they once had for a conclusive solution to the debt crisis.

After another week of confusion and turmoil in Europe, investors are ditching whatever hopes they once had for a conclusive solution to the debt crisis.

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.

China is confident that Europe will be able to overcome its debt crisis, Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said, adding stability in the Eurozone was crucial for the global economic recovery.

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.

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.

Berlusconi is facing a mountain of opposition to his reforms.

The Irish Republic will also shut down its embassies in Iran and East Timor.

Jose Manuel Barroso, the president of the European Commission (EC), nonetheless told reporters in Cannes that Berlusconi was not forced into it.

Stocks were set to drop at the open on Friday, and a mixed report on the U.S. labor market could make trading volatile.

The uncertain outcome of Greece's sovereign debt crisis and its implications for Europe's economy kept U.S. stock futures mixed on Friday, with indexes little changed following two days of steep gains.

Our Greek friends must decide whether they want to continue the journey with us,” Sarkozy said.

Cannes is the incongruously glamorous backdrop for a meeting designed to desperately find a solution to Europe’s greatest crisis in more than 70 years.

Cannes, the beach resort in the south of France, is the ideal locale for the G-20 economic summit.

Stocks pared gains and the Nasdaq Composite hit a session low in afternoon trading on Wednesday after a source said the European Union and International Monetary Fund will not release an 8 billion euro payment to Greece until after its planned referendum.

This means that an eight billion euro ($11 billion) payment will be in limbo until after the referendum vote – which isn't even scheduled to be held until December.