Does Europe need a default? As euro-zone leaders work to defuse the dangerous debt crisis that is raging at their periphery, more and more observers seem to believe that part of the solution should be a major cut in the face-value of outstanding Greek and possibly Irish government bonds, The Wall Street Journal reported in a commentary.

Rosneft is set to take on Gazprom when Russia puts the Kovykta gas field on the block on Tuesday as the country's top crude producer aims to muscle in on the gas export monopoly's plans to supply China. Gazprom and state holding firm Rosneftegaz have been allowed to bid for the right to develop the Kovykta field, which is located near Lake Baikal and has reserves of 2 trillion cubic metres. That's enough to meet world demand for eight months.

General Motors Corp. is pushing to speed up a restructuring at its European Opel operation, long an unprofitable quagmire for the auto maker and the missing link in its budding turnaround, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. GM Chairman and Chief Executive Dan Akerson, impatient with the losses, is turning his attention to the Opel problem now that the company has returned to the public markets and is producing a solid profit in North America, people familiar with the matter said.

Portugal's plan to cut its budget deficit could be hurt by a rise in oil prices and raw materials, but the government is ready to launch new austerity measures to stay on track, Finance Minister Fernando Teixeira dos Santos said Monday, The Wall Street Journal reported. "We have correction mechanisms that will allow us to meet the targets we have set," Mr. Teixeira dos Santos said at a Reuters-Radio TSF conference in Lisbon.

Lloyds Banking Group PLC posted a net loss for 2010 because of its exposure to bad Irish loans, and warned that a slower U.K. economy and higher funding costs will put a lid on growth in net interest margins this year, The Wall Street Journal reported. The British bank said Friday its net loss was £320 million ($516.4 million), compared with a £2.83 billion profit a year earlier when Lloyds benefited from an £11.2 billion "negative goodwill" gain from its takeover of mortgage lender HBOS at the height of the financial crisis. Pretax, precharge profit—a figure closely watched by U.K.

Portugal is under increasing pressure to take a bail-out as its borrowing costs have stayed above a level widely considered unsustainable for longer than Greece and Ireland before their rescues last year, the Financial Times reported. Portugal’s benchmark market interest rates were above 7 per cent for the 16th consecutive trading day on Friday, closing at 7.55 per cent. Greece and Ireland, the two eurozone countries to seek bail-outs so far, lasted 13 and 15 trading days respectively with bond yields of more than 7 per cent.

Ireland's main opposition party, Fine Gael, won a clear victory in Friday's election, setting Dublin on course for a showdown with the European Union over the terms of its €67.5 billion ($92.83 billion) international bailout, The Wall Street Journal reported. Enda Kenny, the Fine Gael leader widely expected to become prime minister, said Saturday that the bailout was "a bad deal for Ireland and a bad deal for Europe" and added: "We are not going to cry the poor mouth, other than to say the reality of this challenge is too much." Mr.

Anglo Irish Bank has said for the first time that it is likely to object formally to David Drumm’s debt to the bank being written off by a Boston court, the Irish Times reported. The disclosure is made in the bank’s latest filing to the US court in the bankruptcy proceedings being taken by its former chief executive. To succeed in preventing Mr Drumm’s debt to Anglo being written off, it will have to demonstrate to the court that he has acted in bad faith.

German prosecutors expanded a probe of Porsche SE's former top managers to new allegations tied to the sports-car maker's failed attempt to take over Volkswagen AG, likely delaying the two companies' planned merger, The Wall Street Journal reported. Shares in Porsche closed down 11% on Thursday after the German car maker said there is now only a 50% chance that the merger agreement—struck after Porsche's effort to swallow VW nearly drove Porsche into bankruptcy—would be completed before 2012.

Europe's debt crisis is set to claim its first political scalp on Friday in an Irish election dominated by the trauma of economic collapse and the harsh path back to financial stability, the International Herald Tribune reported. Irish voters are in a vicious mood over the bursting of a property bubble that has left them steeped in debt and facing years of austerity to repay the European Union and the International Monetary Fund for an 85 billion euros bailout.