Greece, creditors stepping up talks as debt deadline looms

BRUSSELS >> Greece and its international creditors are stepping up talks on issues holding up the release of more loans to keep the country’S debt-wracked economy afloat.

Eurogroup chairman Jeroen Dijsselbloem said finance ministers from the 19 nations that used the shared euro currency agreed Monday on more talks “intensified in the coming days here in Brussels.”

He said the aim is to “clear those last big issues out of the way,” including tax, pension and labor market reforms.

It’s hoped the problems can be resolved by the next Eurogroup meeting on April 7, but Dijsselbloem said “there is no promise that all the work will be done by then.”

Brazil meat scandal deepens with EU barring some imports

RIO DE JANEIRO >> A scandal over expired meats in Brazil deepened on Monday with the European Union announcing it was temporarily halting some imports of meats from Latin America’s largest nation.

The companies involved in the scandal would be temporarily barred, said European Union spokesman Enrico Brivio, speaking to reporters in Brasilia, the capital.

The EU “will guarantee that any of the establishments involved in the fraud will be suspended,” said Brivio, who didn’t cite companies by name or expound on how long the ban will last.

The decision is a blow to Brazil, one of the world’s largest exporters of meat.