Greece, Germany to discuss debt plans
ATHENS, Greece – Greece’s new anti-bailout government confirmed it will hold meetings with lead lender – and critic – Germany this week after markets and European governments reacted with relief to alternatives proposed in Athens to a hard debt write-off.
Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis said he will travel to Germany on Wednesday to meet European Central Bank President Mario Draghi in Frankfurt and German counterpart Wolfgang Schaeuble in Berlin the following day.
Greece’s left-wing Syriza party won elections eight days ago on a pledge to ax more than half its debt to eurozone lenders.
But Varoufakis told the Financial Times newspaper that Greece was proposing alternatives included exchanging debt to bailout creditors for repayment linked to growth.
U.S., Iran working on nuclear compromise
VIENNA – With time for negotiations running short, the U.S and Iran are discussing a compromise that would let Iran keep much of its uranium-enriching technology but reduce its potential to make nuclear weapons, two diplomats tell The Associated Press.
Such a compromise could break the deadlock on attempts to limit Iranian activities that could be used to make such arms: Tehran refuses to meet U.S.-led demands for deep cuts in the number of centrifuges it uses to enrich uranium, a process that can create material for anything from chemotherapy to the core of an atomic bomb.
Associated Press
