It was among the most exciting periods of Playboy founder Hugh Hefner's life, so what could be better in a bad economy than to retrace the 1960s' good times and give readers a break on the price of his magazine? Hefner is slashing the cost of Playboy's October issue, which hits newsstands this Friday, to

Greek workers threatened on Monday to sabotage a new property tax decided by the government as a last-ditch effort to please international lenders, ignoring warnings that Athens will run out of cash next month. The move casts doubt on the government's goal to plug a 2 billion euro hole in its 2011 budget and meet

European shares hit a 26-month low on Monday, led by financials on concerns that policymakers are failing to find a permanent solution to the euro zone sovereign debt crisis and as fears of a Greek default intensified. French banks, which have high exposure to debt issued by peripheral euro zone countries, were particularly hard hit

Britain's banks should shield their retail operations from riskier investment banking units and boost capital levels to protect taxpayers from future crises, according to far-reaching proposals that could cost the industry 7 billion pounds ($11 billion) a year. The Independent Commission on Banking (ICB) also said on Monday banks must hold core capital of at

Financial markets are showing no sign of dropping frenzied antipathy to risk and, with a Group of Seven meeting in Marseilles failing to pull off a major surprise, the mood will likely spill into the new week. The euro zone crisis will also be a focus again with German politics and disagreement in the European

Asian stocks slid on Monday and the euro sank to a 10-year low against the yen, after the resignation of a top German European Central Bank board member cast further doubt on the region's ability to tackle its worsening sovereign debt crisis. Oil and copper prices fell and the dollar gained broadly as worries about

Greece on Sunday slapped a new tax on real estate to plug a 2011 budget hole, please international lenders and secure a key new loan tranche as concerns mounted in Europe over its euro zone membership. The European Commission welcomed the measure, just days before EU and IMF inspectors arrive in Athens to hear how

Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou said on Saturday he would do whatever it takes to rescue his country from bankruptcy and stay in the euro zone, as doubts in Europe grew over its membership in the bloc. Sending a message to international lenders increasingly frustrated with delays in reforms and missed fiscal targets, Papandreou said