Greek PM: Back cuts or face chaos

ATHENS - Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos has told lawmakers to back a deeply unpopular international financial rescue in a vote on Sunday or condemn the country to "uncontrolled economic chaos and social explosion".

He made the statement in a televised address to the nation ahead of the vote on 3.3 billion euros ($4.35 billion) in wage, pension and job cuts - the price of a 130-billion-euro bailout from the European Union and International Monetary Fund.

Papademos said parliament had a historic responsibility to back the bill, or face catastrophic consequences if Greece misses a March 20 deadline to service its debt.