New Greek govt faces confidence vote

The government of Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras faced a confidence vote on Sunday, capping three days of often-heated debate over how the country can emerge from crisis and satisfy EU-IMF lenders.

The outcome of the vote in parliament held little mystery with Samaras's conservative New Democracy party leading a coalition of 179-seats in the 300-seat chamber with the socialist PASOK party and the much smaller Democratic Left.

"The goal of the government is to guarantee the place of Greece in the eurozone against those who want to undermine it," Samaras told lawmakers in his first major address as Greece's new leader after winning an election in June.