Harry Papachristou

Greece's finance minister has resigned because of ill health, throwing the government's drive to soften an international bailout into confusion.

Polls planned for next month may produce no clear result and could threaten the implementation of the bailout plan that saved Greece from bankruptcy.

Greece's Lucas Papademos will seek to take advantage of a rare political truce to push austerity and radical reform and stave off bankruptcy.

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi lost his parliamentary majority on Tuesday and his opposition are calling for his resignation.

Under pressure from the EU to push through a bailout to save their country, Greek party leaders were struggling to agree on a new prime minister.

George Papandreou's shock announcement that he will put Greece's bailout to a referendum has threatened to intensify the eurozone crisis.

Troika inspectors gave a lukewarm approval for a vital aid tranche to Greece, saying Athens was lagging on reforms needed to exit its debt crisis.

Greek police with teargas and batons fought hooded youths near Parliament on Tuesday as violence broke out at a rally against anti-austerity measures.

Greece's government faces an electorate opposed to austerity measures which must be passed in Parliament next week to avert default.

Greece's government will approve its new austerity package on Wednesday after it survived a confidence vote.

Ancient Greeks knew it as a cure for bellyaches. Roman emperors used to spice their wine with it. And Turkish Sultans' harem ladies chewed it for fresh breath and fighting boredom. Mastic, the aromatic resin produced by a small, eponymous evergreen tree that grows around the Mediterranean sea, has been a big hit for more than 2 000 years.

A bomb attack in Athens on two buses carrying riot police caused no injuries early on Friday, but sparked fears of a reinvigorated leftist radical scene after a pre-Olympics crackdown. The remote-controlled bomb was placed at the railings by the side of a road and went off just after 7am local time when the buses drove by.