These new pictures from last week's riots are pretty amazing - 27 total...
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The story on the Greek austerity budget is detailed inside.
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ATHENS -- The Greek Parliament early Thursday approved the Socialist government's 2010 austerity budget, which aims to slash Greece's fiscal deficit through a mixture of spending cuts and higher taxes.
Parliament passed the measure along party lines, with the Socialist 160-seat majority voting in favor and Greece's four opposition parties voting 139 against, with one lawmaker absent.
The vote comes amid pressure from the financial markets and other European Union countries for Greece to fix its public finances, and just days after the country was slapped with its third ratings downgrade in a month.
"This budget is not just about reordering our economy, but also about rebuilding our credibility," said Prime Minister George Papandreou just ahead of the vote.
Greece has been under intense scrutiny since it disclosed two months ago a ballooning budget deficit that is on track to reach 12.7% of gross domestic product this year.
The 2010 budget aims to cut that deficit to 9.1% of GDP next year through a combined €8 billion ($11.46 billion) in spending cuts and tax increases.
However, the budget has been criticized by the EU and the ratings agencies for relying too much on one-off measures, and too little on permanent reforms like cutting the public sector wage bill or stamping out widespread tax evasion.
On Tuesday, Moody's Investors Service cut its sovereign debt rating for Greece to A2 from A1, following similar moves this month by peers Standard & Poor's Corp. and Fitch Ratings, and warned of further downgrades ahead.
"A further downgrade will depend on the Greek government's plan being followed through -- as demonstrated, for instance, by a sustained increase in tax revenues and/or the effectiveness in reining in expenditure," Moody's said.
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