Austrian president signs expansion of euro rescue fund into law

Austrian Federal President Heinz Fischer on Thursday signed the expansion of the "euro rescue umbrella" for the debt-ridden eurozone nations into law, a week after the plan was approved by the parliament. The law took effect as from Thursday, which empowered the finance minister to increase Austria's liability in the eurozne bailout scheme from 12.2 billion euros to 21.6 billion euros (16.26 billion U.S. dollars to 28.79 billion U.S. dollars). In addition to coming costs and interest, which could amount up to 7.1 billion euros according to the current estimation, a total of 28.7 billion euros is standing for Austria. The amount applies only to the worst case that Greece, Ireland, Portugal or other cash-strapped euro zone countries fail in repayments.