GREECE

Greece's European creditors told Athens to stop wasting time and flesh out as of Wednesday its proposals for economic reforms, which are crucial to releasing vital funds to assure financial survival.

"We have spent now two weeks apparently discussing who meets whom where, in what configuration, and on what agenda and it is a complete waste of time," Jeroen Dijsselbloem, the Dutch finance minister who heads the meeting known as the Eurogroup, said Monday.

After a meeting of the 19-nation group using the euro single currency, Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis agreed that technical talks on the reforms proposed by Greece to secure a four-month bailout extension should begin in Brussels on Wednesday. "There has been no time wasted, not by the Greek government," he said. "We were very speedy." - AP