The bond-holders represented the last obstacle to the second bail-out of Greece's debt-shattered economy. They had to agree by 8 p.m. Athens time.  80 percent have, enough for the Greek bail-out to go forward.

From the moment the crisis went from smoldering to explosive, last summer this deal has been haggled over, delayed, brought the single currency to the brink of extinction and threatened to take the world economy through a worm hole into a new dimension - a very dark one.

A three-way deal between Greece, its EU partners and the private bond-holders often seemed as if it might be impossible to reach. This last piece of the puzzle was open to question even after Greece and the EU had reached agreement on their part.

The Greek parliament voted to bite down harder on the austerity bullet and passed a further 3.3 billion euros ($4.4 billion) cuts to government spending. The headline measures were a 22 percent reduction in the minimum wage and another 15,000 government employees being laid off,

On top of that euro zone finance ministers are saying the Greek government must find another 325 million euros in savings if it is to receive an EU funded 130 billion euro bail-out ($172 billion).

No wonder there were violent demonstrations last night.