Tens of thousands of protesters gathered in central Athens and other Greek cities today for May Day rallies fuelled by anger at expected harsh austerity measures needed to secure rescue loans for near-bankrupt Greece.

IRELAND may have to tighten fiscal policy further to put its economy back on an even keel, a senior Fitch Ratings official has said.

WORLD markets estimate there is a one in four chance Ireland will go bankrupt over the next five years, pushing the cost of insuring government debt of e51.16 billion to e1.66bn a year.