France’s troublesome unemployment rate has fallen to the lowest level since the depths of the eurozone crisis, with an impressive drop from 10 per cent to 9.6 per cent in the three months to March, the Financial Times reported. Double digit unemployment has been a persistent bug bear of the French economy, where the jobless rate has climbed above the eurozone’s average and is well above Germany’s record-low levels around 3 per cent. The March drop was ahead of expectations of no change and is the lowest since 2012.

Greek unions staged a nationwide strike on Wednesday to protest against fresh austerity measures that parliament is being asked to approve as part of the country’s €86bn international bailout, the Financial Times reported. Civil servants and staff at state hospitals and public utilities took part in the 24-hour walkout, which disrupted international flights and other transport across the country.

Claimants against Lehman Brothers’ main European arm will receive at least £5bn in interest payments on top of previously awarded claims after the UK’s most senior court ruled they should receive the statutory interest that has built up over the last eight years, Reuters reported. PwC, the administrator of Lehman Brothers International (Europe), has already paid out 100% of creditors' original £11.5bn in claims but had sought direction from the courts on which creditors should receive extra money that has built up since those claims were met.

Italian regional lenders Popolare di Vicenza and Veneto Banca may need to raise capital privately to cover loan losses to win European Union approval for a state bailout they have requested, six sources familiar with the matter said on Wednesday. The two banks, together with fellow bailout candidate Monte dei Paschi di Siena, are stuck in rescue talks with European authorities that are keen to limit the amount of taxpayer money used to help ailing lenders in accordance with new EU rules on banking crises, the International New York Times reported on a Reuters story.

Greek seamen and journalists walked off the job Tuesday, a day before a nationwide general strike to protest new austerity measures the government is legislating for in return for more bailout funds, the International New York Times reported on an Associated Press story. The seamen's union announced Tuesday afternoon they would extend their strike, originally planned to last 48 hours, for a further two days, leaving ferries servicing Greece's islands tied up in port until midnight Friday night.

Dominic Chappell, a former bankrupt who bought BHS for £1 and received millions of pounds while presiding over the retailer’s collapse, has lost a bid to keep his company afloat after a judge questioned the value of its recent investment in Portuguese property, the Financial Times reported. Administrators for BHS Group have been granted a winding-up order for Retail Acquisitions, a company owned by Mr Chappell, after it failed to keep up with repayments on a £6m loan it received from BHS shortly after buying the doomed chain from Sir Philip Green in 2015.

Tata Steel has agreed a settlement “in principle” to the long-running pensions saga at its UK business, a deal that could remove the last hurdle to a merger of the group’s European steelmaking operations with those of German rival ThyssenKrupp, the Financial Times reported. The £15bn British Steel Pension Scheme has been an increasing financial burden on Tata Steel UK, the country’s largest steelmaker, which its Indian parent acquired in 2007. The deal “in principle” would mean handing over £550m and a 33 per cent stake in the UK subsidiary to the retirement fund.

Air France-KLM has ruled out stepping in to save near-bankrupt Alitalia, with its chief executive telling shareholders on Tuesday that its past experience of cross-shareholdings and a failed merger plan would discourage it from investing directly in Italy again, Reuters reported. In 2008 Air France-KLM walked away from a planned takeover of Alitalia after talks with the Italian carrier's unions broke down. Earlier this month Alitalia went into administration for the second time in less than a decade after workers rejected a restructuring plan.

Since Emmanuel Macron’s victory in the French presidential election removed fears of a chaotic “Frexit”, many pessimists have turned to Italy as the next likely cause of problems for investors in Europe. So far, however, investors don’t seem to be listening, the Financial Times reported. The FTSE MIB – Italy’s benchmark stock index – has been the best performer among major European stock indices since the first round of the French vote last month, climbing more than 10 per cent. That’s well ahead of even France itself, where the CAC has risen only 6.9 per cent.

Britain's new relationship with the European Union is still a long way from being settled, but Brexit has started a process that is bound to hurt the City of London, a Bloomberg View reported. Earlier this month, the European Commission launched a review of the rules governing one of the City's lucrative lines of business -- the clearing of derivatives denominated in euros. The U.K. wants to keep it in London. The European Central Bank was skeptical about that even before Brexit.