Italy's austerity drive can't save it from Spanish fate

Italy is just like Spain, just a bit more Catholic. That may seem like an obvious statement in religious terms after a steep fall in observance across Spain and when the Vatican City remains the home of the Catholic leader.

Americans Grew Gloomier About the Economy in May

Americans grew much gloomier about the economy in May, causing a critical measure of consumer confidence to suffer its biggest decline in eight months and ending a period of steady optimism.

EU says China, U.S. also have economic work to do

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The United States and Japan need to tackle their tax issues and China must relax restrictions on the yuan as they share responsibility with Europe for restoring global economic health, EU leaders said ahead of a June summit of the G20 economies.

Christine Lagarde: Greeks can help themselves out of the crisis by 'paying their tax'

Christine Lagarde has warned that Greece can expect little sympathy from the International Monetary Fund on its bail-out terms, and called for its citizens to "help themselves" out of the financial crisis by "paying their tax".

Greek exit would destabilise world economy: lobby

The head of the global banking lobby which handled the private debt write-off for Greece warned on Friday that if the country leaves the eurozone, the world economy would suffer badly.

Australia, China to Push for Europe Stimulus At G-20

SYDNEY—Australia will back China in using next month's Group of 20, or G-20, summit in Mexico to push for Europe's struggling economies to change direction and focus on growth instead of austerity, the country's Foreign Minister Bob Carr said Friday.

Eurozone economy 'in dire straits'

As if Europe needed more bad news, a report Thursday showed a big drop in manufacturing activity across the eurozone.