ROME (Reuters) - Italian Prime minister Mario Monti, French President Francois Hollande, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and British Prime Minister David Cameron will hold a video conference on Thursday ahead of this weekend's G-8, an Italian government source said on Wednesday. The source said the conversation would give the four European leaders a chance to prepare for this weekend's summit at Camp David and well as to discuss European economic issues. (Reporting By Philip Pullella)

PARIS (Reuters) - Francois Hollande will be sworn in as France's first Socialist president in 17 years in a hurried ceremony on Tuesday before a dash to Berlin to challenge German Chancellor Angela Merkel's focus on austerity policies. Hollande, whose election comes as the euro zone is teetering back into crisis with fears about Greece's future in the single currency, will give his first presidential news conference in Berlin in the evening, flanked by the centre-right Merkel. ...

BERLIN/PARIS (Reuters) - Five years ago, Nicolas Sarkozy flew straight to Berlin after his inauguration and shocked his hosts with some blunt talk on planemaker Airbus, one of the most sensitive of Franco-German issues. That first visit set the tone for the months that followed. German officials looked on in horror as the new French president reneged on budget pledges, announced plans for nuclear cooperation with Libya and claimed credit for influencing decisions by the European Central Bank. ...

Leading European Union finance officials have pleaded with Greece not to renege on its bailout terms and to stay the course of its painful austerity program to prevent even worse economic hardship.