Austria pleads with Europe for bail-out of east

Austria, home to banks with massive exposure in eastern Europe, is calling on the EU to offer some €150 billion in a bail-out package for the east and warning of a banking "collapse" across the region that could snuff out the Alpine nation's banking system.

European banks have a financial engagement of some €1.1 trillion in the region, but Vienna's financial institutions are particularly exposed, being owed €220 billion - equivalent to around three quarters of the country's GDP - that t...