Deal for Greek coalition gov't collapses

A deal on forming a Greek national unity government collapsed late Wednesday, hours after outgoing Prime Minister George Papandreou said he was handing over power to a coalition. Papandreou and New Democracy leader Antonis Samaras held talks with President Karolos Papoulias on a new coalition to save Greece from bankruptcy. But the talks disintegrated into chaos, with political leaders failing to name a new prime minister. Greece's opposition leaders have blamed the governing Socialists for the deadlock in critical power-sharing talks, withou giving any details. Earlier, there were also reports saying that the head of a smaller right wing party had stormed out of the meeting, accusing the heads of the two main parties of using trickery. The president's office said a meeting of party leaders would be held Thursday morning. The latest setback in more than a week of political turmoil came less than an hour after Papandreou made a televised address to the nation, saying Greece's political parties were joining together to save the debt-ridden country from rapidly approaching bankruptcy. Greece will run out of money next month unless the new government comes to an agreement on emergency funding with the European Union and International Monetary Fund, Greece's last remaining lenders.