Merkel eyes third term in first German vote since euro crisis

BERLIN (Reuters) - In the first German election since Europe's debt crisis erupted four years ago, voters are likely to give Angela Merkel a third term on Sunday, but may force her into a coalition with her leftist rivals and catapult a new anti-euro party into parliament.

Greek bailout talk inserts euro crisis into German vote, gives Merkel opponents ammunition

BERLIN – Chancellor Angela Merkel's opponents are assailing her credibility after her finance minister said Greece will need a third bailout package — injecting Europe's debt crisis for the first time into the campaign for next month's German elections.

Germany could expand small business loan scheme to EU strugglers

BERLIN: Portugal and Greece are interested in the same kind of support for lending to small business that Germany agreed with Spain this week, a spokeswoman for the German finance ministry said on Saturday, but they will need a state financing body to qualify.

German government cuts 2013 growth forecast

BERLIN (AP) — Europe's debt crisis and waning economic growth around the world, particularly in emerging markets, prompted the German government to cut its forecast for growth next year.

Once-resilient Germany catches Europe's crisis fever

FRANKFURT: Germany long appeared immune to Europe's debt crisis, as deep reforms undertaken years ago helped steel the economic powerhouse against the current financial storms lashing its neighbours.

Eurozone crisis to keep markets under pressure

LONDON: Growing disillusion over the latest steps to resolve Europe's debt crisis and policy easing by major central banks will dominate market sentiment in the coming week, with equity investors also braced for a new company reporting season.

Euro crisis fears leave world's richest poorer by $9 bn

NEW YORK: The 20 wealthiest people on Earth lost a combined $9.1 billion this week as renewed concerns that Europe's debt crisis might worsen drove the Standard & Poor's 500 Index to its largest decline of 2012.

European crisis more dangerous than 2008 financial crisis: George Soros

BANGALORE: Europe's debt crisis is more dangerous than the 2008 global financial crisis, billionaire investor George Soros said.

Euro zone not working, words alone won't fix it: Buffett

IWAKI, Japan (Reuters) - Billionaire investor Warren Buffett said Europe's debt crisis had shown up a "major flaw" in the 17-member euro zone system and it would take more than words to fix it.

Europe's Debt Crisis Casts Cloud Over U.S. Economy

With all the worry over the ailing U.S. economy, Europe's debt crisis may have seemed a long way off.

But not anymore. The faint tinkle of alarm bells a few months ago are now clanging loudly. What began as a crisis in smaller countries, like Greece, Portugal and Ireland, is now creating serious issues in much larger economies like Italy, France and Germany.

What Italy tells us about Europe's debt crisis

So we all know Italy is a mess. Its government debt to GDP ratio of 127% in 2010 is the third worst in the OECD (after Japan and Greece). Economic growth is practically nonexistent, with growth surpassing 2% only once since 2001. So is it any surprise that Italy has been tarred as one of the PIIGS and fallen into a debt crisis?

Actually, it is. Yes, Italy has its economic problems, but its government has not been fiscally irresponsible, with a much more conservative record than most other countries in the developed world. In other words, Italy has been gripped by Europe's debt crisis even though it really doesn't deserve to be. That scary fact tells us a lot about where Europe's debt crisis may be headed.

Euro crisis solution lies in political arena

WORLD VIEW: The alternative visions of economists must focus better on what is possible internationally

IRELAND BADLY needs a strategy to handle the euro zone crisis, rather than reacting defensively to all its latest twists and turns. This requires a political as well as an economic understanding of the dynamics in play at European and national levels.