Athens/Madrid
- A renewed selling frenzy gripped Euro zone financial markets on Tuesday as concern mounted that a record EU/IMF bailout for Greece would not stop a debt crisis spreading in the single currency
area. Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero dismissed as 'complete
madness' a market rumor that his country would soon ask for 280 billion euros in aid from the
Euro area. The Euro sank to a one-year low of beneath US$1.31.
In Athens, striking public workers challenged Greece's 110 billion euro bailout-for-austerity deal, starting a 48-hour national strike that shut down ministries, tax offices, schools, hospitals and public
services. The main Greek public sector union, ADEDY, rallied thousands of protesters outside parliament to reject planned wage and pension cuts and demand that the rich foot the
bill.
