LONDON, England - January 16, 2012 - The European Financial Stability Facility lost its top credit rating at Standard & Poor’s after the rating company downgraded France and Austria.

NEW YORK (PNN) - January 13, 2012 - Standard & Poor's will cut the credit ratings of Italy, Spain and Portugal by two notches and downgrade France and Austria by one notch, a French newspaper said Friday, without citing its sources.

NEW YORK - January 12, 2012 - As government, federal regulators, and big-money private investors try to figure out a plan for bulk sales of foreclosed properties, big banks are already making deals, but they are few and far between.

ATHENS, Greece - January 11, 2012 - Children are being abandoned on Greece's streets by their poverty-stricken families who can no longer afford to look after them.

Youngsters are being dumped by parents who are struggling to make ends meet in what is fast becoming the most tragic human consequence of the ongoing Depression in Europe.

NEW YORK - January 10, 2012 - There's a report that Hostess Brands, the maker of Wonder Bread and Twinkies, is preparing to refile for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection just two years after emerging.

PARIS, France - January 9, 2012 - French savers are squirrelling away their spare cash at the fastest rate in nearly 30 years, putting a drag on consumer spending in the eurozone’s second-biggest economy while helping its banks’ balance-sheets.

Even in the best of times France is among the most thrifty nations in the developed world, but the threat of Europe’s debt crisis spreading to France has savers running for the perceived safety of bank accounts and becoming more wary of life insurance policies exposed to volatile markets.

NEW YORK (PNN) - January 5, 2012 - Eastman Kodak Co. is preparing to seek bankruptcy protection in the coming weeks, people familiar with the matter said; a move that would cap a stunning comedown for a company that once ranked among Amerika's corporate titans.

The 131-year-old company is still making last-ditch efforts to sell off some of its patent portfolio and could avoid Chapter 11 if it succeeds. But the company has started making preparations for a filing in case those efforts fail, including talking to banks about some $1 billion in financing to keep it afloat during bankruptcy proceedings.