Hughes Hughes, the bookshop chain, went into receivership last night, putting more than 200 jobs at risk. Difficulties in negotiating lower rents and a collapse in passenger numbers at Dublin and Cork airports, where the majority of its business is generated, were blamed for the insolvency, The Irish Times reported. The company also cited the impact on bookselling of online sales through outlets like Amazon. Insolvency expert David Carson, of accountancy firm Deloitte, has been appointed by Ulster Bank as receiver.

General Motors Co. is considering putting more of its own money into the restructuring of its Opel unit in Europe in a bid to win €2.7 billion in state aid from European governments, people familiar with the situation have said, The Wall Street Journal reported. According to these people, who spoke in recent days, GM is open to increasing its share of the funding needed to turn around Adam Opel GmbH, the German-based unit that makes up the bulk of its operations in Europe.

Standard & Poor's Ratings Services weighed in on increasing concerns about financial distress in the euro zone, with the ratings agency saying it doesn't see a nation defaulting, The Wall Street Journal reported. All euro-zone nations are currently rated investment grade, and S&P said Thursday it believes their creditworthiness is at least adequate to meet their financial commitments. The comments stem from recent tension over Greece, which has prompted warnings downgrades from ratings agencies.

Bets by some of the same banks that helped Greece shroud its mounting debts may actually now be pushing the nation closer to the brink of financial ruin, The New York Times reported. Echoing the kind of trades that nearly toppled the American International Group, the increasingly popular insurance against the risk of a Greek default is making it harder for Athens to raise the money it needs to pay its bills, according to traders and money managers.

Tens of thousands of Greeks took to the streets Wednesday as much of the country went on a 24-hour strike against government austerity measures, The Wall Street Journal reported. Public- and private-sector unions called the strike to protest a range of measures aimed at reducing Greece's budget deficit. The government has announced a freeze on civil-service wages, cuts in public-sector entitlements and the closing of tax loopholes for certain professions, including some civil servants. It has also announced a fuel-tax increase.

Greece set off the crisis rattling the euro zone. Spain could determine whether the 16-nation currency stands or falls, The Wall Street Journal reported. The euro zone's No. 4 economy, Spain has an unemployment rate of 19%, a deflating housing bubble, big debts and a gaping budget deficit. Its gross domestic product contracted 3.6% in 2009 and is expected to shrink again this year, leaving Spain in its deepest and longest recession in a half-century. The problem is that, thanks largely to its membership in the euro, Spain lacks tried-and-true means to heal its economy.

The bankruptcy of a European Union nation or an exit from the euro would be the end of the euro region, Carl Heinz Daube, head of Germany’s debt agency, told a conference organized by Euromoney in London, Bloomberg reported. German government bond yields are likely to stay within a range in 2010, he said. Germany has a “clear picture” of how to bring down the country’s deficit, he said. Read more.

Workers at General Motors Co.'s European arm, Adam Opel GmbH, produced a list of demands Tuesday for managers, aimed at minimizing job losses as the business undergoes a mammoth restructuring, Dow Jones reported. Members of the European Metalworkers' Federation and affiliated unions in Belgium, Germany, Austria, Spain, the Netherlands and the U.K. gathered in Brussels to coordinate a response to measures drawn up by management to reduce a crippling overcapacity. Leading German trade unionist Klaus Franz complained at a lack of communication from GM. "There have been no discussions," he said.

Some of the biggest creditors to the landlords of stricken German department store chain Karstadt are set to approve a landmark debt restructuring plan that could make it appealing to a white knight buyer, Reuters reported. Sources close to the situation said more than 75 percent of noteholders in the 1.2 billion pound Fleet Street 2 Commercial Mortgage Backed Securitisation (CMBS) will agree emergency measures to protect the value of their bonds, boosting Karstadt's survival prospects. If the plan is agreed as seen, this will be one of the largest CMBS restructurings of its kind.

The Greek government is moving closer to choosing new austerity measures in discussions with a visiting delegation of European Union and International Monetary Fund officials over how to tame its deficit, according to people familiar with the government's thinking, The Wall Street Journal reported. According to these people, the new package is likely to include an increase in the current value-added tax rate of 19%, more cuts in civil-service entitlements and higher duties on luxury items such as boats and expensive cars. Greece is also mulling a further increase in fuel taxes.