Europe

Iran has completed negotiations with some European companies wanting to invest in projects in the country following a nuclear deal reached between Iran and world powers this month, an Iranian deputy minister said on Thursday.

The Greek parliament passed a sweeping package of austerity measures as the price for opening talks on a multi-billion euro bailout package.

Greek anti-establishment protesters threw dozens of petrol bombs at police in front of parliament on Wednesday ahead of a key vote on a bailout deal, in some of the most serious violence in over two years.

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras defended the bailout deal struck at Sunday's euro zone summit and ruled out resigning, saying that the "bad deal" was the best available under the circumstances.

A total of 84 percent of Greeks want to keep the euro, with just 12 percent favoring a return to the drachma, an opinion poll showed on Friday, as the country races to clinch a cash-for-reforms deal with its creditors.

Greek banks will remain closed until July 13 and a 60-euro per day ATM withdrawal limit will remain in force, the Greek finance ministry said on Wednesday.

Greece has five days to strike a deal with its international creditors over a new bailout program before European Union leaders convene in Brussels on July 12, European Council President Donald Tusk said Tuesday.

France and Germany told Greece to come up with serious proposals in order to restart financial aid talks, raising pressure on Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras to compromise.

Greeks overwhelmingly rejected conditions of a rescue package from creditors on Sunday, throwing the future of the country's euro zone membership into further doubt.

The International Monetary Fund on Tuesday confirmed Greece had not made its 1.5 billion euro ($1.7 billion) loan repayment to the Fund, making it the first advanced economy to ever be in arrears to the Fund.

Oil prices bounced from three-week lows on Tuesday, with U.S. refined fuels markets leading the rally on bets for strong summer demand, even as Greece's move toward a debt default threatened to jolt global markets.

The Greek people should brace for a spike in poverty as an exit from the Eurozone appears likely. 

Crude futures hit 3-week lows on Monday as Greece shut its banks and imposed capital controls, causing widespread risk aversion, while Iran looked likely to extend nuclear negotiations with the West to export more of its oil into an oversupplied market.

Greek banks and the stock exchange will be shut on Monday after creditors refused to extend the country's bailout and savers queued to withdraw cash, taking Athens' standoff with the European Union and the International Monetary Fund to a dangerous new level.

If history is any indicator, European fiscal leaders will negotiate some type of agreement with Greece before Greece either defaults or is forced out of the Eurozone.