Europe

The economic problems in the German fashion industry are getting more and more companies into trouble. The men's fashion manufacturer Ahlers announced that it would file for insolvency at the District Court of Bielefeld for Ahlers AG and seven subsidiaries due to impending insolvency, IndoNewYork.com reported. The trigger for the decision was essentially the business development, which was below planning, said company boss Stella Ahlers.

Credit Suisse Group AG bondholders have launched a legal challenge in Switzerland against regulators’ decision to write down $17 billion in securities as part of UBS Group AG’s rescue of the troubled bank last month. Bondholders holding about 4.5 billion Swiss francs ($5 billion) of Credit Suisse’s canceled debt want the decision to write down their bonds revoked or amended, according to an outline of their appeal made in a Swiss administrative court and reviewed by the Wall Street Journal.

British health minister Steve Barclay said on Friday that he intends to pursue legal action against the Royal College of Nursing's upcoming strike action, Reuters reported. "Following a request from NHS Employers I have regretfully provided notice of my intent to pursue legal action to ask the courts to declare the Royal College of Nursing's upcoming strike action planned for 30 April to 2 May to be unlawful," he said. "Bullying nurses and dragging us through the highest courts would not be a good look for government," the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) said in a response to his statement.

Food prices have risen dramatically across Europe in recent months, jumping 19.6% in March from a year earlier and becoming the main driver of inflation as energy costs have fallen. But in Hungary, food prices have surged more than 45% over the year, according to EU statistics office Eurostat, far surpassing the next highest figure of just over 29% in Slovakia, the Associated Press reported.

The European Union is set to propose a ban on many goods from transiting through Russia as the bloc attempts to tighten the screws on the enforcement of sanctions imposed over the past year, Bloomberg News reported. he transit ban would extend to numerous technologies and other goods, including several types of vehicles, but not all items would be barred from traveling via Russia en route to third countries. The ban would be part of a new package of sanctions that’s being prepared by the European Commission. Moscow has been able to get around restrictions on several sanctioned technologies.

Poland is close to overcoming inflation pressures and has done so without overreacting in a way that could have damaged the economy for years, said ruling party leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski, Bloomberg News reported. Polish policy has been aimed at protecting the nation’s labor market, Kaczynski said in Janow Lubelski in the nation’s east on Saturday. An overresponse to the sudden price increases following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 could have suppressed the nation’s growth for as long as six years, he added.

Boy George is reportedly facing bankruptcy after a £1.75million damages claim brought by a former Culture Club bandmate, the Mirror reported. The "I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! 2022" star, 61, reached an out-of-court settlement with ex-drummer Jon Moss in March this year after being sued for a loss of earnings. Mr Moss, 65, had previously brought legal action against Boy George (real name George O'Dowd), guitarist Roy Hay and bassist Michael Craig, after allegedly being 'expelled' by their manager in September 2018 after 37 years playing together.

Richard Branson's Virgin Orbit Holdings Inc and its subsidiaries in the United States filed a chapter 11 bankruptcy plan with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, the company said in a statement on Wednesday, Reuters reported. Earlier this month, Virgin Orbit filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after the satellite launch company struggled to secure long-term funding following a failed launch in January.

Credit Suisse has lodged a $440 million claim against Japan's SoftBank Group Corp in London as it presses ahead with formal proceedings in a dispute borne from the failure of Greensill Capital, a finance firm, Reuters reported. The Swiss lender is trying to recover client funds that Greensill had lent to Katerra, a SoftBank-backed U.S. construction group that filed for bankruptcy in 2021. SoftBank has vowed to vigorously fight the claim. The collapse of Greensill, along with a string of scandals, helped dent confidence in the 167-year-old Swiss bank.

Fifty-nine jobs at a historic Dundee business have been saved after a U.S. synthetic sports turf specialist stepped in, Herald Scotland reported. Joint administrators Michelle Elliot and Callum Carmichael, partners of FRP Advisory, have sold Dundee-based carpet yarns specialist Bonar Yarns to Newman Yarns, a new business created for the purposes of the acquisition. Newman Yarns was founded by John Newman, owner of Elite Turf USA, a distributor and installer of synthetic sports turf.