Greek PM vows to keep savings plan

Greece will meet ambitious savings targets despite a deepening recession this year, the prime minister said, to secure the continued flow of international rescue loans that are protecting the debt-crippled country from a catastrophic bankruptcy.

As George Papandreou delivered his annual, keynote speech on the economy in Greece's second-largest city of Thessaloniki, police on the streets outside clashed with violent demonstrators as more than 25,000 people - from taxi-drivers to sports fans - joined a wave of anti-austerity protests.