Europe

Greece moved to check the growing strains on its crippled financial system on Sunday, closing its banks and imposing capital controls that brought the prospect of being forced out of the euro into plain sight.

Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis told reporters on Tuesday the nation will not be able to pay its 1.6 billion euro debt payment to the International Monetary Fund by its 6 p.m. ET deadline.

Austria's finance minister said on Thursday the process of working out a deal with Greece and other creditors was getting more difficult quickly as Greece's prime minister held firm on proposals he submitted earlier this week.

The United States said on Tuesday that world powers and Iran would keep negotiating over an outline accord on curbing Tehran's nuclear program beyond a midnight deadline, even though tough questions remain.

Learn more about the European Central Bank's new bond-buying program and what the euro's devaluation means for you as a U.S. consumer and investor.

Three days of capital controls means Greeks can no longer buy goods or services from many big, international players like Google, Apple, and Facebook.

Two separate hostage standoffs in France came to a violent end Friday, with the main suspects involved in the murder of 12 people at the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo killed.

Greece's outspoken finance minister resigned on Monday, removing a major obstacle to any deal to keep Athens in the euro zone after Greeks voted resoundingly to back the government in rejecting the austerity terms of a bailout.

The European Central Bank left interest rates unchanged on Thursday, holding them at record lows as it continues a money-printing scheme to lift the economy.

Factions of Greece's ruling left-wing party were concerned ahead of a crucial vote on austerity measures which will test whether the prime minter can hold his government together to satisfy creditor bailout demands.

After 17 hours of negotiations, Eurozone leaders clinched a deal with Greece on Monday to negotiate a third bailout to keep the near-bankrupt country in the euro and avoid a collapse of its banking system.

Investors were facing another potentially manic Monday after the latest in a series of weekend twists and turns in Greece's debt crisis.

Euro zone leaders told near-bankrupt Greece at an emergency summit on Sunday that it must restore trust by enacting key reforms before they will open talks on a new financial rescue to keep it in the European currency area.

The International Monetary Fund cut its global economic growth outlook for 2015 to take into account the impact of recent weakness in the United States. Still, growth prospects for next year remained upbeat despite Greece and China volatility.

Greece promised to implement pension and tax reforms as early as next week as the first step to securing a three-year rescue loan to cover debt obligations, according to a letter requesting the funding from European partners on Wednesday.

Greek officials said on Tuesday they had submitted credit proposals to euro zone partners based on those it put forward last week, rejecting suggestions that Athens had not put forward new proposals for a euro summit.

The International Monetary Fund warned on Thursday Greece will need an extension of its European Union loans and a large debt writeoff if it grows more slowly than expected and economic reforms are not implemented.

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras wrote a letter to his nation's international creditors saying Greece would accept their latest bailout offer if some conditions were changed. Germany expressed skepticism but said the door was open for negotiations.

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras resigned on Thursday, hoping to strengthen his hold on power in snap elections after seven months in office in which he fought Greece's creditors for a better bailout deal but had to cave in.