Hedge funds have been known to use hardball tactics to make money. Now they have come up with a new one: suing Greece in a human rights court to make good on its bond payments, The New York Times reported. The novel approach would have the funds arguing in the European Court of Human Rights that Greece had violated bondholder rights, though that could be a multiyear project with no guarantee of a payoff. And it would not be likely to produce sympathy for these funds, which many blame for the lack of progress so far in the negotiations over restructuring Greece’s debts.

Last week’s claims that Greek public debt restructuring talks had “collapsed” would have sent jitters through the eurozone had not Standard & Poor’s downgrades created bigger waves, the Financial Times reported in a commentary. As it is, the private bondholders’ bluff may be counterproductive. It should galvanise Athens’ official creditors in their effort to capture more of the market discount on Greece’s debt. If they jettison their misguided wish for a “voluntary” debt ex­change, a deal remains achievable.

Greece will resume talks with its private-sector creditors next week on a massive debt restructuring plan, with an aim to reach the outlines of a deal in time for a Feb. 23 meeting of euro-zone finance ministers, The Wall Street Journal reported. In remarks to fellow socialist party members, Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos insisted the talks will resume in the coming days despite breaking down Friday amid disagreements over the future interest rate Greece will pay.

Talks between Greece and its private sector creditors over a debt restructuring plan are "on track," a senior finance ministry official said Thursday, with the outlines of a final deal expected to be reached by late next week, Dow Jones reported. "We are completely on track. Exploiting the momentum, by the end of the next week we could have the final outline for a deal with the private sector," the official said.

Negotiators for banks and governments are working to complete a promised debt restructuring for Greece that will slice in half what the nation owes its private bondholders, The Wall Street Journal reported. But the deal sets up other governments in the euro zone to bear any additional burden if—many analysts say when—Greece needs more help to get out of its deep fiscal rut. The concerns about additional costs have made some European capitals wary of consummating the deal, said people familiar with the talks, and are among the reasons they have dragged on for months.

Germany and France on Monday pressed Greece and its bondholders to agree on a reduction of Athens's debt burden, warning that Greece's bailout loans from the euro zone and the International Monetary Fund are on hold until a deal is reached with private investors, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos told a group of labor-union leaders Wednesday that he expected that a deal on a 50% haircut on Greek government bonds would be sealed within two weeks, The Wall Street Journal reported. A day earlier, a government spokesman had warned that without a deal, Greece would be forced out of the euro and into a hard default. The trouble for Athens is that the prime minister's statement looks increasingly doubtful, and avoiding default may no longer be possible. Of Greece's €350 billion or so in debt, only about €206 billion is still held by investors.

Greece will have to leave the euro zone if it fails to clinch a deal on a second, 130 billion euro (108 billion pound) bailout with its international lenders, a government spokesman said on Tuesday, Reuters reported. It was an unusually public stark warning from the embattled country, aimed at shoring up domestic support for tough measures and possibly also at the lenders themselves. Greece is racing against the clock to agree with the EU, the IMF and private bondholders on the details of the rescue plan before a major bond redemption in March.

Greece's creditors are resisting pressure from the International Monetary Fund to accept bigger losses on holdings of the indebted nation's government bonds, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. Lenders want the 70 billion euros ($91 billion) of new bonds the government will issue in return for existing securities to carry a coupon of about 5 percent. The IMF is pushing for creditors to accept a smaller coupon in order to reduce Greece's debt-to-gross domestic product ratio to 120 percent by 2020, a key element of the Oct. 27 agreement by European Union leaders.

Private creditors are balking in talks about forgiving €100 billion ($130 billion) in Greek debts, European officials warned Friday, just as negotiations heated up on the debt restructuring that aims to save Athens from bankruptcy, The Washington Post reported on an Associated Press story. European and Greek negotiators met with representatives from banks and investment funds Friday in Paris, after holding talks earlier this week in Athens.