Europe

British children's clothing retailer Adams Childrenswear Ltd. is on the brink of a form of bankruptcy protection, a spokeswoman for the 75-year-old company said Monday, which would make Adams the latest well-known British retailer to fall victim to the economic downturn. The spokeswoman said the central England-based kids clothing retailer had applied to go into administration on Wednesday and was expected to be placed in the hands of administrators at PricewaterhouseCoopers on Monday.

The Financial Times reported that, as a symbol of the extraordinary boom of the past decade, the rise of the big emerging economies rivalled the soaring US housing market. China led the way, followed at a slower pace by the likes of India and Brazil. Though they tried to insulate themselves against the boom-bust cycle by building up foreign exchange reserves, no amount of inoculation could render them completely immune to the virulence of the financial contagion that swept the world in September and October.

Britain's economic downturn claimed another prominent retailer Wednesday as music, games and DVD retail chain Zavvi filed for a form of bankruptcy protection, blaming the collapse of the Woolworth Group's distribution arm, the Associated Press reported. Ernst & Young administrators, appointed to run the company, said that they would continue to trade "with a view to selling all or part of its business as a going concern." Zavvi, created by a management buyout of the Virgin Megastores just over a year ago, is Britain's largest independent entertainment retailer.

Italian airport officials say 14 flights at Rome's main airport have been canceled because Alitalia ground workers are in union meetings, the Associated Press reported. The officials say the flights, including eight destined for other countries, were scrapped Monday morning at the peak of the Christmas holiday season at Leonardo da Vinci airport. The workers are protesting hiring procedures by the new Alitalia, which is launching on Jan. 12 after a group of Italian investors officially took possession of the bankrupt company's profitable assets.

King Albert II of Belgium named a former premier to begin consultations on forming a new government after Prime Minister Yves Leterme was toppled by the financial crisis, Bloomberg reported. Wilfried Martens, 72, who ran nine Belgian coalitions from 1979 to 1992, was tapped by the monarch to take soundings from political leaders and report back “quickly” with recommendations, according to a statement late yesterday. Leterme quit over his cabinet’s role in the breakup of Fortis, knocked from its perch as Belgium’s biggest financial-services firm by the banking crisis.

Ireland's finance ministry said it will inject €5.5 billion ($7.66 billion) into three banks and take large stakes in them, days after a loan-accounting scandal at Anglo Irish Bank Corp. further weakened the country's already fragile banking sector, The Wall Street Journal reported. The government said it would make an initial investment of €1.5 billion in Anglo Irish in exchange for preference shares that will give it 75% of the voting rights of the bank.

Troubled memory-chip maker Qimonda AG on Sunday secured a rescue package of €325 million ($452 million) in loans from a German regional government, parent company Infineon and a Portuguese state bank, the Associated Press reported. The Economy Ministry in the German state of Saxony, where Qimonda has a major plant, said in a statement that it achieved a "breakthrough" when Portugal agreed to join the rescue package through its state investment bank. The company has a facility in Porto, Portugal.

Toyota Motor Corp. said Monday it expects to post its first-ever operating loss in the fiscal year through March 2009 and barely eke out a net profit, showing how severely the global economic downturn is hitting even the world's most competitive companies, The Wall Street Journal reported. Japan's biggest company by market cap said it expects consolidated operating loss of ¥150 billion, or about $1.68 billion, in the fiscal year through March 31, 2009, hurt by sliding demand in the U.S., Europe and Japan and the rising yen against the dollar.

Ukraine’s hryvnia pared a record two-day plunge after the central bank said a rate above 9 per dollar was “unacceptable,” Bloomberg reported. The currency fell 1.7 percent to 9.1000 per dollar by 6:28 p.m. in Kiev. It pared an earlier 18 percent two-day drop to a record 9.78 after the central bank sold reserves to support the currency. Petro Poroshenko, head of the central bank council, said at a press conference a weak hryvnia is a threat to the economy.

Several former top Alitalia officials have been placed under investigation as part of a probe into the national carrier's bankruptcy earlier this year, the ANSA news agency reported Wednesday. ANSA said Rome prosecutor Nello Rossi had placed eight former top officials, including presidents and CEOs active from about 2000-2007, under investigation. Alitalia, which has been losing some $3 million a day, filed for bankruptcy protection in August, plagued by labor unrest, competition from budget airlines and high fuel prices.