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With Silvio Berlusconi's fate resting on a group of party rebels threatening to pull the rug from under his government next week, the Italian prime minister is using carrot and stick to try to win over the doubters and pull off yet another parliamentary escape.

After another week of confusion and turmoil in Europe, investors are ditching whatever hopes they once had for a conclusive solution to the debt crisis.

After another week of confusion and turmoil in Europe, investors are ditching whatever hopes they once had for a conclusive solution to the debt crisis.

Financial aid to rescue Europe's debt-stricken countries is set to dominate talks between Christine Lagarde, the head of the International Monetary Fund, and Russia's president, government and monetary officials during her visit to Moscow.

The European Union turned up the heat on bickering Greek politicians Sunday to agree on a crisis coalition, demanding progress toward backing an international bailout deal in the next 24 hours.

China is confident that Europe will be able to overcome its debt crisis, Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said, adding stability in the Eurozone was crucial for the global economic recovery.

Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou is meeting with Greek President Karolos Papoulias Saturday in the drive for a new coalition government to save the nation from bankruptcy and prevent its debt crisis from spreading chaos across the Eurozone.

Gold fell on Friday in one of the quietest trading day, as the metal tracked riskier assets on fresh worries about the euro zone bailout fund and a mildly encouraging U.S. nonfarm payrolls report.

Berlusconi is facing a mountain of opposition to his reforms.

Stocks retreated on Friday after two days of gains as wealthier nations appeared to pull back from a European Union plan to broaden funding for a plan to deal with the region's sovereign debt crisis.

Here's the full text of the final communique issued at the Group of 20 summit in Cannes, France.

The Eurozone won verbal support but no new money at a G20 summit on Friday for its tortured efforts to overcome a sovereign debt crisis, while Italy was effectively placed under IMF supervision.

The Irish Republic will also shut down its embassies in Iran and East Timor.

Italy will allow the IMF to monitor its progress with long overdue reforms of pensions, labor markets and privatizations, European leaders announced on Friday, looking beyond the crisis in Greece to the far graver threat to the euro zone.

Jose Manuel Barroso, the president of the European Commission (EC), nonetheless told reporters in Cannes that Berlusconi was not forced into it.

Stocks were set to drop at the open on Friday, and a mixed report on the U.S. labor market could make trading volatile.

The uncertain outcome of Greece's sovereign debt crisis and its implications for Europe's economy kept U.S. stock futures mixed on Friday, with indexes little changed following two days of steep gains.

Italy, under fierce pressure from financial markets and European peers, has agreed to have the IMF and the EU monitor its progress with long- delayed reforms of pensions, labor markets and privatization, senior EU sources said Friday.

The IMF said on Thursday it backs the European Central Bank's interest rate cut and its aid to Greece is tied to the country, rather than a specific government, and would continue as long as its terms were met.

Our Greek friends must decide whether they want to continue the journey with us,” Sarkozy said.

Cannes is the incongruously glamorous backdrop for a meeting designed to desperately find a solution to Europe’s greatest crisis in more than 70 years.

Cannes, the beach resort in the south of France, is the ideal locale for the G-20 economic summit.

Stocks pared gains and the Nasdaq Composite hit a session low in afternoon trading on Wednesday after a source said the European Union and International Monetary Fund will not release an 8 billion euro payment to Greece until after its planned referendum.

This means that an eight billion euro ($11 billion) payment will be in limbo until after the referendum vote – which isn't even scheduled to be held until December.

Underscoring the magnitude of the crisis, a virtual who’s-who of European political and financial elite will also join the emergency summit,

DXK is based on Strauss-Kahn's hotel maid scandal

Congolese state mining firm Gecamines has refused a request from the mines ministry to publish all revised contracts, saying it cannot do so without the permission of firms involved, according to a letter from Gecamines published on the ministry website.

Kenya's central bank bared its teeth against stubbornly high inflation on Tuesday with a record rate rise that is seen supporting the shilling, boosting appetite for long-term bonds and helping secure the approval of extra funds from the IMF.

Congolese state mining firm Gecamines has refused a request from the mines ministry to publish all revised contracts, saying it cannot do so without the permission of firms involved, according to a letter from Gecamines published on the ministry website.