German train drivers voted on Monday to go out on strike, a move which could bring the country's rail network to a standstill. Several other unions are likewise demanding higher wages this year -- a trend experts say is very worrisome given the delicate economic recovery, Spiegel Online reported. Economists in Germany are concerned that the rail strikes could merely be the tip of the labor conflict iceberg this year. After years of stagnating wages, the result of labor market reform followed by economic recession, workers in the country appear to be losing their patience.

Greece launched a tirade against U.S. credit ratings agencies Monday after Moody's downgraded its debt grade further below junk status, warning the bailed-out euro country might have to default on its massive borrowings, the Associated Press reported. The agency slashed its rating by three notches to B1 from Ba1 and warned it may cut again if the government's commitment to austerity wanes or international creditors become less willing to support it - Greece was saved from bankruptcy last May after accepting a €110 billion ($154 billion) bailout from the EU and the International Monetary Fund.

A court has rejected a “mechanical” definition of balance sheet insolvency in a ruling that could deter creditors from using this route to push struggling companies into collapse, lawyers have claimed, the Financial Times reported. On Monday the Court of Appeal upheld a lower-court ruling against bondholders in a Lehman Brothers mortgage-backed securitisation deal known as Eurosail-UK 2007-3BL.

A major creditor filed an insolvency claim against the dominant Czech lottery firm Sazka, the second such move against the indebted company over the past two months, a spokesman said on Friday, Reuters reported. Privately-held KKCG Structured Finance, which holds debt past maturity worth 410 million crowns ($23.59 million) and some of the company's bonds, filed the claim with Prague City Court on Friday, KKCG spokesman Daniel Plovajko said.

Klaus Regling, the chief executive of the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), has said he does not expect Portugal or Spain to ask for bailouts, the Irish Times reported on an Austrian state radio ORF story. “At the moment it looks like Ireland will be the only country to have tapped the EFSF,” Mr Regling said. “I don’t see any need at all any more for Spain” to take money, he said, adding that “Portugal still has to do some work”. While the EFSF would have sufficient funds for additional bailouts, giving funds “currently doesn’t look necessary”, he said.

Ireland's new government will stick to the budget targets laid down in an 85 billion euro EU/IMF rescue package as it seeks to win European partners round to giving it easier terms on the loans, Reuters reported. Ireland's prime minister in-waiting Enda Kenny is under huge pressure to persuade Europe's paymaster Germany to cut the interest rate Brussels is charging and give Dublin more time to restructure its banks before a Europe-wide deal on the debt crisis is hammered out at summit on March 24-25.

Europe's conservative leaders, meeting here Friday to plot a response to the Continent's persistent sovereign debt crisis, said they were committed to pushing tough economic reforms as the price of aid to weak states, The Wall Street Journal reported. They also made clear that private investors who lend to euro-zone countries would, in the future, face losses if those countries got in trouble. So far in Europe's bailouts, taxpayers have paid the entire cost.

Struggling British sportswear retailer JJB Sports is offering its landlords a share of up to 7.5 million pounds ($12.25 million) if they back its rescue plan, Reuters reported. JJB Sports, in which America's richest man Bill Gates holds a 5.5 percent stake, on Thursday set out the details of its second company voluntary arrangement (CVA) in as many years. It needs creditors, including landlords, and shareholders to back the plan or it will likely go into administration, threatening 6,300 jobs.

Last month, a tough negotiation between banks and the British government seemed to yield a victory for bonus-bashing politicians: Employees of two partly nationalized banks would be limited to upfront cash bonuses of £2,000 ($3,265) this year, The Wall Street Journal reported. What the government didn't announce was that many employees of the two banks—Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC and Lloyds Banking Group PLC—will have just a short wait for bigger bonus checks.

Bank of Ireland repeatedly misled outgoing Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan by insisting that no performance-related bonuses had been paid to its senior management, a report by the Department of Finance reveals, the Irish Times reported. The bank is to pay €2 million to the State in recompense for misleading Mr Lenihan and the Oireachtas on bonuses. Following a parliamentary question in November 2010, the bank insisted to Mr Lenihan that no performance-related bonuses had been paid in respect of the financial years ending in March 2009 and December 2009.