EU Offers Trillion-Dollar Bailout

Facing a growing debt crisis, European Union finance ministers struck a deal Sunday night to loan billions of euros to countries with struggling economies. The loans could total a whopping 750 billion euros (or $962 billion)—with the European Commission managing €60 billion, and €440 billion of bilateral loans. The International Monetary Fund has also offered €220 billion. The deal was announced before the Asian stock markets opened Monday, in part to calm panicked investors, but to also to provide liquidity for Greece, Spain, and Portugal—three particularly vulnerable economies. Ollie Rehn, the European commissioner for monetary policy, called the agreement "a consolidation pact" that's "particularly crucial for countries under speculative attacks in recent weeks." The agreement comes on the heels of the IMF's announcement that it will lend $40 billion to debt-saddled Greece on Sunday.