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divdiv class=BodyText readability=25The Greek parliament has given initial approval to new austerity measures, as clashes broke out between protesters and police in Athens.p As a 48-hour general strike paralysed the country, a march by tens of thousands of people outside the parliament turned violent./pp Parliament will vote a second time on the details of the bill, which includes pay cuts and tax rises, on Thursday./pp Greece is saddled with a huge public debt and an economy in deep recession./pp There are fears the government could default and set off a wider crisis that could engulf other struggling eurozone countries such as Spain and Italy./pp With Greece unable to borrow long term on international bond markets to finance its debt, the EU and IMF have stepped in with two bailout packages./pp But they have demanded tough budget cuts in return, which have angered many in Greece who say the medicine is killing the patient.br / Running battles/pp As tens of thousands of Greek protesters marched to the parliament in Athens to protest the cuts, riots broke out./pp Some protesters threw petrol bombs and stones at police who fired tear gas as running battles broke out./pp The 48-hour strike, called by both public and private sector unions, has closed government departments, businesses, offices and shops and cancelled transport services./pp Domestic and international flights were grounded as air traffic controllers staged a 12-hour walkout./pp Parliament is due to vote on the details of the new round of cuts on Thursday. They include further cuts to pensions and salaries and temporary lay-offs of 30,000 public sector workers./pp But the government is struggling to convince lenders that it is cutting effectively enough. Greece says it needs the next 8bn euros ($11bn; £7bn) of a bailout agreed to last year or it will soon be unable to pay its bills./pp European leaders and global finance chiefs are in talks over the eurozone crisis ahead of an EU summit on the weekend./pp French President Nicolas Sarkozy flew to Germany late on Wednesday to meet German Chancellor Angela Merkel and senior officials from the European Central Bank and IMF.BBC NEws/p/div/divbrbrcentera href=http://www.wizardrss.comPowered By WizardRSS.com/a | a href=http://www.wizardrss.comFull Text RSS Feed/a | a href=http://www.wpzonbuilder.comAmazon Plugin/a | a href=http://www.hud-1.infoSettlement Statement/a/center