Unless the Winter Olympics are on television or someone is clubbing baby seals, Americans don't pay much attention to what's happening in Canada. It's as if we live in a house with a set of quiet, orderly neighbors on one side and a bachelor pad with drunken parties, girls in the hot tub and occasional gunshot eruptions on the other. To whom would you pay more attention?
Moody's slashed Ireland's credit rating five notches on Friday and warned of further downgrades if the country cannot regain command of its debts and tame its deficit.
European Union nations agreed to give $89.4 billion in bailout loans to Ireland on Sunday to help it weather the cost of its massive banking crisis, and sketched out new rules for future emergencies in an effort to restore faith in the euro currency.
European Union nations agreed an 85 billion euro ($113 billion) bailout deal for Ireland on Sunday to help the debt-struck country with its banking crisis, and sketched out new rules for future emergencies in an effort to restore faith in the euro currency
Anger and fear about Europe's seemingly unstoppable debt crisis swept through the continent Wednesday. Striking workers shut down much of Portugal, Ireland proposed its deepest budget cuts in history and seething Italian and British students clashed with police over education cuts.
Portuguese and Spanish borrowing costs rose sharply Wednesday as investors worried that the governments' debt loads will prove unsustainable, putting them next in line for a European bailout, and as a major public sector strike hit Portugal.
Political infighting engulfed Ireland on Tuesday, threatening to trigger a quick election and delay a massive EU-IMF bailout. Rebels from Prime Minister Brian Cowen's own party pressed to oust him and opposition leaders demanded an election before Christmas.
Ireland's banks will be pruned down, merged or sold as part of a massive EU-IMF bailout taking shape, the government said Monday as a shellshocked nation came to grips with its failure to protect and revive its banks.
The European Union's promised bailout set off a political crisis in Ireland on Monday while it did little to calm market fears that Portugal — and possibly Spain — will be the next to need assistance.
