Ever since it embarked on its ambitious austerity program in June 2010, the U.K. has been regarded as a canary in the economic coal mine. Recent data suggest that if the canary isn't exactly dead, it's certainly ailing, The Wall Street Journal Agenda blog reported. But there are some aspects of the challenge facing the U.K. that are very particular to its situation and disqualify it as a good test of austerity in general.

Banks across Europe are retrenching in efforts to shield themselves from the continent's financial crisis and an increasingly bleak international economic outlook, The Wall Street Journal reported. Some banks are scrambling to dump government bonds and cut credit lines in southern Europe's economic laggards, while others are stockpiling cash. They are also firing thousands of workers and warning about a growing number of red flags they see among customers. On Tuesday, U.K.

The Swedish labor union, Unionen, which represents 1,000 of Saab Automobile's 1,600 unpaid white-collar employees, said Tuesday it will send its first payment requests this week, giving the troubled car maker only a few days to find the money to pay wages and avoid bankruptcy, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. Salaries were due to be paid July 27 but when no money arrived, the union began gathering any members' pay slips that hadn't been honored in preparation for sending payment requests.

While the financial world was watching Capitol Hill last week, offering up febrile prayers for a ceiling-smashing bill, the International Monetary Fund quietly wondered whether France could hang on to its platinum credit card, The Wall Street Journal Agenda blog reported. Last Wednesday it warned that the country would miss its 3% budget deficit target for 2013 unless it took further steps to cut spending, which were also needed to safeguard—guess what—its credit rating.

The International Monetary Fund's UK expert has said the government should be ready to cut taxes and boost the supply of money if Britain's flagging economy suffers a prolonged period of weak growth, high unemployment and low inflation, The Guardian reported. On the day that the monthly health check of manufacturing showed the sector sinking back into recession for the first time in two years, Ajai Chopra warned that ministers would need to be nimble if the economy performed less well than the IMF has been anticipating.

Bankruptcy work may have slowed for restructuring firms in the U.S., but London is calling. And so is Paris, Frankfurt and Reykjavik, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. Read more.

Ireland’s Department of Finance has warned the nationalised banks not to expect approval for big payoffs on redundancy deals for staff, the Irish Times reported. The banks were directed to draw up new plans based around pay rates on voluntary redundancy in the public sector and to prepare for a level of job cuts to reflect the sharp reduction in the size of the Irish banking sector.

Investor concerns over Italy and Spain are complicating efforts to deliver Greece its next chunk of rescue aid, underscoring the increasing difficulty Europe faces in reining its more than year-old credit crisis, The Wall Street Journal reported. Greece is due to receive the next installment of its original, €110 billion ($158 billion) bailout in September. But Italy and Spain, both of which committed to extend bilateral loans to Greece with other euro-zone countries, have seen their own borrowing costs rise recently.

The National Asset Management Agency, which has been tasked with clearing the mountain of bad debt amassed by Ireland's property developers, has launched a firesale of 850 properties including pubs in Somerset, towers blocks in Canary Wharf and golf courses in Ireland, The Guardian reported. The bad bank has just published a full list of properties across the UK and Ireland that are effectively up for sale, having been placed in receivership. It has already been inundated with hundreds of calls from bargain hunters.

The Yukos Oil Company was forced into bankruptcy by the Moscow Arbitration Court five years ago on Monday. Its assets were seized by the state, and its top managers imprisoned or chased from the country. Its legacy of progressive corporate governance and transparency was decimated in favor of shadowy state control, The Moscow Times reported in a commentary. Nobody knows for sure why the Russian government destroyed its most successful post-Soviet company.