Finance Minister Vitor Gaspar, the architect of Portugal's austerity drive under an EU/IMF bailout, resigned on Monday in a potential blow to its planned exit from the rescue program. Widely blamed by the Portuguese for the painful tax hikes and wage cuts since the mid-2011 deal, Gaspar said in his resignation letter he quit because of the growing erosion of public support for the adjustment plan. His departure marks the biggest political casualty from the country's debt crisis since the previous Socialist government collapsed in the spring of 2011 after it was forced to request the bailout. The centre-right Social ... (full story)