Greek civil servants have walked out at the start of a 48-hour public sector strike, the second in two weeks, to protest at job cuts required for the country to continue receiving international rescue loans.

Greece’s government has announced emergency powers to force striking subway workers back to work, with those defying it risking arrest.

Greece’s government has said that negotiations with private creditors aimed at lightening Greece’s debt load have been suspended unexpectedly and that the creditors’ representative has left Greece.

Greece has “exhausted” its ability to pay more taxes to cover budget gaps, its deputy prime minister declared today, adding that he himself cannot pay a new emergency tax without selling property.

GREECE’S Socialists trounced the governing conservatives in a landslide election yesterday, with voters angered by scandals and a faltering economy ousting Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis halfway through his second term.