Berlin played down talk of Germany paying its whole contribution to the permanent euro zone bailout scheme up front next year instead of over five years to boost market confidence, with the finance ministry saying on Monday this was not very likely. Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble was quoted in a e-mail preview of a newspaper

Greece's central bank liquidated ailing TBank, one of the country's smallest lenders, on Saturday, forcing it to merge with state-run Hellenic Postbank. "TBank's license has been revoked and the bank has been put into liquidation," the Bank of Greece said in a statement. This is the second intervention of the Bank of Greece to shore

Serbia will spend 380 million euros ($495.79 million) to gain full control of its state-run Telekom Srbija, buying back a 20% stake held by Greece's OTE, a unit of Deutsche Telekom. Telekom Srbija's board met on Dec. 16 to approve the terms of the deal, which has yet to be finalised, the company said on

The euro zone will tackle its debt crisis this week by offering more cash to the IMF and long-term liquidity to banks, while moving towards tighter fiscal rules, after ratings agency Fitch cast doubt on its capacity to respond decisively. "We all know that Europe has not been able to convince markets that its governance

The dollar bounced against major rivals in Asia on Monday, as uncertainty following news of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il's death increased the U.S. currency's safe-haven appeal. North Korean state television reported the demise of the leader of the reclusive nation, which had begun the process of transferring power to his son Kim Jong-un. The

Apple's long-awaited iPhone 4S and Samsung Electronics' fresh, broad offering are likely to stand out in this holiday season's smartphone sales which will otherwise be clouded by global economic uncertainty. Apple, which lost its position as the world's largest smartphone maker to Samsung last quarter, could regain top spot as consumers rush to buy the