Europe

The French government said Tuesday it is prepared to inject as much as €6 billion ($7.86 billion) to jump-start the stalled French automotive industry but warned that companies that close even one plant in France won't get any aid, The Wall Street Journal reported. Prime Minister François Fillon said the government stands ready to provide funds to the cash-starved sector. But Mr. Fillon said that recipients of the aid will have to guarantee they will maintain their industrial operations in France.
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Amid the ongoing restructuring processes of Nortel Networks, the Philippine operations will remain safe, Inquirer.net reported. Nortel Asia Communications Director Matthew Wray said operations in the Philippines, as well as their other affiliates across Asia, are working with partners and suppliers to avoid operational disruptions. "Our affiliates across Asia, including the Philippines, are not subject to the creditor protection filings in North America and Europe and are expected to continue to operate as normal," Wray said in an email.
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A union representing flight attendants, ground workers and pilots staged the first strike against the new Alitalia on Monday, a week after the privatized airline took off, the Associated Press reported. The four-hour strike by the SDL union was called to protest hiring policies at the new Italian carrier and began at 10 a.m. Alitalia said the strike caused the cancellation of four flights. Wildcat protests at Rome and Milan airports marred the launch of the new Alitalia last Tuesday, causing some delays and cancellations, but Monday's was the first scheduled strike in the company's new life.
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Lithuania's troubled FlyLAL airline said Saturday it has suspended its operations after a buyout deal by Swiss investment firm SCH Swiss Capital Holdings failed, the Associated Press reported. Airline officials said it terminated a preliminary agreement with the Swiss company after it failed to pay $1 million (€756,000) that would have cleared FlyLAL's debts and potentially saved it from bankruptcy. Company Chief Executive Vytautas Kaikaris said the suspension was one of the few options left to try to save his company.
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Talks between stricken Hypo Real Estate and the German bank aid fund heated up on Friday with sources saying a rescue would inject more than €10 billion ($13.3 billion) of fresh capital. Earlier in the week, sources close to the talks told Reuters that the German government is set to take a stake in Hypo, a move that would mark the second part-nationalisation of a German bank this year.
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With taxpayers tethered to its fate, Orchestra London moved a step closer yesterday to getting nearly a half-million dollars from city hall, The London Free Press reported. London's board of control unanimously recommended giving the operating grant to the symphony. Effectively, it had no choice: Without it, the orchestra would default on a $500,000 loan council guaranteed last month. The loan guarantee and grant make possible a turnaround by a symphony that had been on pace to run a fourth straight deficit topping $300,000.
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Telecom operator TeliaSonera has given notice to 1,200 employees in Sweden as the recession continues to claim its victims, PC World reported. TeliaSonera is under pressure from trends including lower broadband tariffs and a move to mobile and IP (Internet Protocol) based services from fixed telephony, which is its main revenue source. The personnel cuts are part of a plan announced by TeliaSonera last February. The goal is to reduce its staff by 2,900 employees and save approximately 5 billion Swedish kronor (US$609 million).
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British music and entertainment retailer Zavvi will close another 18 stores and cut 353 jobs, the collapsed company's administrators said Wednesday. Administrators at Ernst & Young, appointed to run the company after it filed for bankruptcy protection on Dec. 24, said they had received many expressions of interest in Zavvi's operations, but did not found a buyer for all the stores, the Associated Press reported. The administrators said they still hope to all or part of the remaining 74 stores. Zavvi's flagship store in central London is one of those earmarked for closure.
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The German government has agreed to take stakes in any large industrial companies facing insolvency because of credit shortages, according to leaders of chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union, the Financial Times reported. Ms Merkel, whose government will today adopt a two-year, €50 billion ($67 billion, £44 billion) fiscal package, the largest stimulus in Europe since the start of the financial crisis, said measures would also include a €100 billion "Germany fund" that would issue credit guarantees to help cash-starved businesses raise debt.
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