Banks get ready for Greek failure to pay debt

At meetings here in Washington, the group of twenty leading nations have been working on plans to deal with the potential damage from a Greek default.

A lot of their efforts have been focused on the banking system. If Greece were allowed to go bust, the bonds that banks hold would become worthless.

German and French banks are most at risk. So there's been lots of talk here in Washington on how to inject more capital to shore them up.

The other big worry is that if Greece defaulted, the financial markets would start turning on other countries. If Italy or Spain were to come under pressure, those here say there isn't enough cash available to help them.

That's why finance ministers are working on building a firewall around Greece to stop the situation from getting that far.

Turkey bans men from football match

Turkish football fans are famed for their raucous passion, and the Turkish Football Federation punishes violent behaviour by making the team play without an audience.

But from this week they have moderated that rule, to allow women and children to watch sanctioned matches.

Last night the first such game, at the stadium of the top team Fenerbahce, was attended by an unexpectedly large crowd of 41,000 women and children.

The players said they approved of the changed atmosphere, where, instead of the usual war-like chanting, there were flowers and applause for both teams.

The Federation changed its rules because it's expecting more crowd trouble this season, following the exposure of a big match-fixing scandal.

Turkish television companies, which rely heavily on football for revenue, were worried they would lose subscribers if too many games were played in empty stadiums.

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