46 hurt in crashes on eve of key Greek vote
ATHENS, Greece (AP) - Hours of rioting outside Greece's parliament left 46 people injured Tuesday, on the eve of a vote by lawmakers to adopt more painful austerity measures - a condition for bailout funds needed to prevent a potentially disastrous default.
At least 14 people were arrested, authorities said, as youths clashed with riot police on-and-off for more than 10 hours and into the night, leaving the city center filled with tear gas and strewn with smashed-up marble paving stones. Union had begun a 48-hour strike that shut down services and staged mass rallies through the capital in another day of chaotic protest.
The new austerity measures must be passed in a two-part vote on Wednesday and Thursday if Greece's international creditors are to release the next (euro) 12 billion batch of the country's (euro) 110 billion bailout fund - and prevent a default that could drag down European banks and shake the European and world economy.
"Voting these measures is required to maintain our credibility in the (bailout) process," Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos said. "Voting for these measures, regardless of any reservations, is an important, brave act of political responsibility."
The Socialist government, which survived a revolt by party dissenters this month, is again taking them on by imposing the new punishing four-year program of spending cuts and tax hikes on even those on minimum wages - prompting anger inside parliament and out on the street. The government has a majority of just five seats in the 300-member assembly.
Senate panel votes to give Obama limited authority to continue US military operation in Libya
WASHINGTON (AP) - A Senate panel voted Tuesday to give President Barack Obama limited authority to continue the U.S. military operation against Libya, exposing deep divisions in Congress over the commander in chief's actions.
Just three days after the House overwhelmingly rejected a similar step, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee endorsed a resolution to authorize the effort against Moammar Gadhafi's forces for one year while prohibiting U.S. ground troops in Libya. The vote was 14-5 and muddled the message emerging from Congress about the American role in the NATO-led operation.
Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., the panel's chairman, said the bottom-line question three months into the conflict and with Gadhafi "bunkered down in Tripoli" and facing an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court is: "Do we want to stop the operation?"
He called passage of the resolution a critical step that would send a message around the world.
The full Senate is expected to consider the resolution the week of July 11.
French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde is chosen to lead IMF
WASHINGTON (AP) - French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde was chosen Tuesday to lead the International Monetary Organization and will immediately confront a European debt crisis that threatens the global economy.
Lagarde will be the first female managing director of the 66-year-old global lending organization and the 11th European. Next week, she will begin a five-year term.
Among her challenges, she will have to prod fellow Europeans to take painful steps to prevent a default by Greece. She'll face pressure from developing nations that want a greater voice at the IMF. And she'll be looked upon to restore the IMF's reputation, which was tarred by a scandal involving Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the man she's replacing.
Strauss-Kahn resigned last month after being charged with sexually assaulting a New York City hotel housekeeper. He has denied the charges.
"I am deeply honored by the trust placed in me," Lagarde said in a statement in Paris after the vote Tuesday. "I would like to thank the fund's global membership warmly for the broad-based support I have received."
