Europe's rescue fund cleared a major hurdle Thursday when German lawmakers voted overwhelmingly to beef it up, boosting markets as attention turned to a key international audit of debt-mired Greece.

Stock markets on both sides of the Atlantic greeted the news with relief as Chancellor Angela Merkel survived a vote that proved a hard-fought test of her political authority as the world looks to her to defuse the euro debt crisis.

With six million tons of trash piled up in temporary storage sites in the Naples area, the European Commission is giving Italy an ultimatum -- clean up your act or face a major fine.

The European Union's executive arm sent a final warning to Italian authorities demanding that they implement waste management measures ordered by Europe's top court back in December 2010.

Turkey threatened Thursday to revoke a contract to purchase six billion cubic meters of natural gas, a third of its Russian imports, if the price is not reduced.

"We have asked them (Russia) for a reduction. If Russia does not sufficiently meet this demand, we will display the will to end the contract," Energy Minister Taner Yildiz told reporters in Ankara.

European stocks fell and Wall Street rose in cautious trade on Wednesday amid doubts that Eurozone leaders were any closer to resolving the debt crisis before EU-IMF auditors were due to arrive in Athens.

After see-sawing during the session European stocks closed down with London's FTSE-100 index dropping 1.44 percent to 5,217.63 points.

Oil prices slid on Wednesday after official data showed a bigger than expected increase in energy stockpiles in the United States, indicating weak demand in the world's biggest economy and oil consumer.

New York's main contract, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for delivery in November, slid $1.90 to $82.55 a barrel.

A controversial European Union bid to impose a tax on financial transactions is intended to make the finance sector pay something back after massive public sector bailouts in recent years.

Draft European Commission legislation endeavors to prevent companies from relocating outside the single market, as critics claim, or consumers from picking up the tab further down the line, as campaigners fear.

Global creditors announced Wednesday the return of auditors to Greece in a bid to break an impasse over billions of euros in blocked bailout loans Athens needs to avoid default.

Nearly four weeks after abruptly leaving the city, EU and IMF negotiators will restart tough number crunching from Thursday amid mounting social tension and what the European Union describes as the biggest challenge of its history.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati stressed on Tuesday that the cabinet is keen on protecting the Lebanese banking sector from any harm.

He said at a press conference in New York that “we’re following all the required measures… The Lebanese banks can’t carry out any action that might provoke the international community.”

Europe's failure to tackle crippling Greek debt is "scaring the world," U.S. President Barack Obama warned as Germany rejected plans to boost funding for the EU's debt rescue facility.

Asian stocks rallied sharply Tuesday, following a see-sawing recovery on U.S. and European markets as investors absorbed mixed messages over how the Eurozone intends to chart its way out of the debt crisis.

Goldman Sachs is mulling drastic spending cuts as it braces for what could be one of its worst quarterly reports since it went public more than a decade ago, the New York Times reported Tuesday.

After Goldman set out this summer to cut costs by $1.2 billion by mid-2012, including slashing some 1,000 jobs, or three percent of its workforce, the Times said the firm is now considering cutting up to $1.45 billion.