Greece

The German government is urging “compulsory” hiring of outside experts to help collect taxes, fight corruption and privatise government assets in Greece in return for agreeing an overhauled bailout that would include two more years of EU aid for Athens, the Financial Times reported. The measures would go further than ever before in asserting international control over Greek budgetary decision-making.

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble suggested on Wednesday that his country may be prepared to show flexibility on Greece's fulfilment of its bailout terms if there are obstacles that are beyond Greece's control, Reuters reported. Greek Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras said earlier on Wednesday that Athens had been given additional time by the European Union and the International Monetary Fund to implement new austerity measures.

A concession from Greece's lenders on Tuesday failed to win over two junior parties in the ruling coalition who blocked agreement on a vital austerity package because they oppose labour reforms. Hopes that a final deal on the austerity cuts was near had grown after inspectors from the lenders left Athens last week saying the two sides had agreed on most reforms and austerity cuts needed to unlock the country's next tranche of aid.

One of the hottest trades of the past few months has been the bonds of a country so shaken by economic and social turmoil that a neo-Nazi party is running third in the polls, The Wall Street Journal reported. That's right: Hedge funds have been buying Greece. Ever since Greece completed a debt restructuring in March that turned €200 billion in bonds into about €60 billion, distressed-debt investors—many at U.S. hedge funds—have been picking them over. Hedge-fund analysts have flooded Greek finance officials with requests for information. Prices have climbed.

At first glance, the shop on a nondescript street in this chaotic capital looks standard-issue military, The Washington Post reported. Fatigues. Camouflage. Hunting gear. Deeper inside, the political message emerges. Black T-shirts emblazoned with modified swastikas — the symbol of the far-right Golden Dawn Party — are on sale.

Tens of thousands of Greeks joined a second nationwide strike in three weeks on Thursday, moving to bring the country to a near standstill in a bid to show European Union leaders meeting in Brussels that new austerity cuts being demanded by Greece’s lenders would cripple society and further depress the economy, the International Herald Tribune reported. Protest rallies began peacefully but were disrupted when demonstrators broke away from the crowd near Syntagma Square outside Parliament and threw rocks, bottles and firebombs at the police, who responded with tear gas.

Germany is proposing to toughen Greece’s access to international aid by setting up an escrow account outside its reach to guarantee payments of interest and debt to creditors, a government official said, Bloomberg reported. Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble, who suggested that Greece will get more aid even while struggling to meet the conditions, wants a lasting solution to the country’s debt crisis to restore confidence in financial markets, the official, who asked not to be named, told reporters.

Greece has come to an agreement with international lenders on most measures in a new €13.8bn package of spending cuts and tax increases, although hopes of being able to present a deal to EU leaders at Thursday’s summit were dashed by a disagreement over labour market reforms.

Greece's jobless rate topped 25 percent and its biggest company said it would quit the country on Thursday in a fresh blow to an economy that German experts warned cannot be "saved" without writing off more debt, Reuters reported. The announcement by drinks bottler Coca Cola Hellenic that it was switching its primary listing from Athens to London, and moving its corporate base to stable, low-tax Switzerland, is a bitter blow to the debt-crippled nation.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, making her first visit to Athens since Europe's debt crisis began in late 2009, on Tuesday said she saw "light at the end of the tunnel" for Greece as the debt-stricken country battles through a painful austerity program aimed at restoring its fiscal health, The Wall Street Journal reported. Ms.