The UK has rejected a call from European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso for a new continent-wide banking tax to help raise billions to ease the Euro zone debt crisis.
Commodity prices fell and stocks ended a three-day rally on Wednesday on anxiety over a looming German vote to strengthen the fund set up to help the Euro zone combat its debt crisis.
Germany will do all it can to rebuild confidence in debt-stricken Greece as it implements reforms to meet the conditions of its international bailout package, Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Tuesday.
Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero dissolved parliament on Monday, but pledged more measures to tackle Spain's economic crisis before a November election that is expected to hand power to the conservative opposition.
US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has called on European leaders to take urgent new steps to create a 'firewall' against the crisis spreading. He added that decisions on how to tackle Euro zone debt could not wait until the crisis gets more severe.
History's first sovereign default came in the 4th century BC, committed by 10 Greek municipalities. There was one creditor: the temple of Delos, Apollo's mythical birthplace.
Beijing's plan to provide financial aid to the European Union is not contingent on Europe supporting a proposal that could protect China from trade sanctions, a Commerce Ministry spokesman said on Tuesday.
Leading lawmakers in German Chancellor Angela Merkel's coalition have agreed a draft law on an enhanced Euro zone bailout fund to give a greater say to parliament in line with a court ruling earlier this month.
The IMF cut its growth forecast for the 17-nation Euro zone by nearly half a percentage point to 1.6% in 2011 and even weaker conditions are seen for next year with growth of just 1.1%. Currently the single currency region is scarcely growing at a 0.25% annual rate.
The head of the World Bank on Monday said a drop in investor confidence was already feeding through to developing nations from a growing debt crisis in advanced economies and urged cooperative action.