IMF head: Euro under 'acute stress'

The head of the International Monetary Fund warned the euro is under “acute stress” and piled pressure on Germany by advocating a series of measures to pull Europe out of its crisis that Chancellor Angela Merkel has strenuously opposed.

Christine Lagarde urged leaders of the 17 countries that use the euro to consider jointly issuing debt, aiding troubled banks directly and perhaps relaxing strict austerity conditions on countries that have received aid – all measures that Ms Merkel, the leader of the eurozone’s largest and most powerful economy, has resisted.