Spain and Portugal were hit by a major power outage that caused widespread disruption to flights, traffic and telecommunications across the Iberian Peninsula, the Wall Street Journal reported. Businesses, hospitals and other critical infrastructure were forced to rely on backup generators and homes were without electricity as authorities scrambled to identify the cause of Monday’s blackout. Grid operators in both countries said they were progressively reinstating power.

Homelessness represents the "single biggest risk" to council finances and may cause effective bankruptcy, according to the organisation that represents London boroughs, BBC.com reported. London Councils, a cross party group that represents all 32 boroughs and the City of London, estimated that councils in the capital had been forced to overspend on their homelessness budgets by at least £330m in 2024-25. Local authorities have a legal duty to provide temporary accommodation to anyone who qualifies as homeless - the number of which has risen in recent years.

Nearly one-tenth more companies went insolvent in England and Wales in March than the same time last year, according to new figures, The Independent reported. The number of registered firms that went bust was 1,992 last month, according to the Insolvency Service, a 2% fall compared with February but a 9% increase compared with March 2024. Creditors’ voluntary liquidations (CVLs), when the directors of a company choose to close it down, made up the majority of the numbers, at 1,543, an 8% year-on-year rise.

Ukraine said Thursday that it failed to strike a deal to restructure $2.6 billion of debt securities, heightening its risk of default, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Ukraine’s finance ministry said it didn’t accept a proposal from a group of investors holding warrants linked to the country’s gross domestic product ahead of a payment due around the end of May. Ukraine intends to continue to engage with warrant holders and consider all available restructuring options, the finance ministry said.

The head of the Swiss National Bank said on Friday that cryptocurrencies failed to meet the institution's currency reserve standards, rebuffing calls by crypto advocates that it hold bitcoin as a hedge against growing global economic risks, Reuters reported. Cryptocurrency campaigners are ramping up pressure on the SNB to buy bitcoin, arguing that the economic turmoil triggered by U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs made it more important for the central bank to diversify its reserves.

There were 1,175 Scottish corporate insolvencies in the year 2024-2025 - a slight increase of 0.6% from 2023-2024’s figure of 1,168 - and up 3.8% on 2022-2023’s figure of 1,132, Insider.co.uk reported. The latest Accountancy in Bankruptcy report showed that there were 294 corporate insolvencies in the fourth quarter, compared with 301 during the same period in 2023-24 - a decrease of 2.3%. There were 128 voluntary liquidations in in the fourth quarter, up by a third from 96 year-on-year.

Rachel Reeves is to follow Donald Trump in closing a tax loophole exploited by Chinese online giants Shein and Temu as she seeks a US trade deal, The Telegraph reported. The Chancellor is preparing to change a statute in the UK tax code, known as the de minimis rule, which means products worth less than £135 are exempt from UK import duties. The decision comes after the US and EU both moved to scrap it following a flood of cheap Chinese goods undercutting local businesses.

Reducing uncertainty is urgent for economies and businesses, German Finance Minister Joerg Kukies said on Wednesday, talking about negotiations on trade tariffs with the United States, Reuters reported. "The longer we wait for an agreement, the longer we let the uncertainty (in) both of our economies linger," he said at the Semafor World Economy Summit in Washington. Germany was the only member of the Group of Seven advanced economies that failed to grow for the last two years, and the tariffs announced by U.S.

European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde said on Wednesday U.S. tariffs could have a disinflationary impact in Europe if there are no European countermeasures but they prompt China to reroute exports to the region, Reuters reported. U.S. President Donald Trump ratcheted up tariffs on Chinese imports this month, raising them effectively to 145% when levies imposed earlier this year are taken into account.

Cryptocurrency campaigners have stepped up calls for the Swiss National Bank to buy bitcoin, saying that the global economic turmoil triggered by U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs made it more important for the central bank to diversify its reserves, Reuters reported. Supporters launched a referendum campaign in December to change the Swiss constitution to require the SNB holds bitcoin in its reserves alongside gold.