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China’s energy industry is caught between a rock and a hard place, OilPrice.com reported. As the world’s second-largest economy has surged back to life in the wake of the novel coronavirus pandemic, energy demand has skyrocketed, leading to soaring fuel prices and unprecedented decisions out of Beijing to compromise some of the country’s energy security in the interest of keeping the lights on in the immediate term. What’s more, all of this is taking place as the Chinese economy enters a slowdown and inflation rates are on the rise.

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Adria Bankruptcy to Be Concluded by 2024

The bankruptcy procedure of Slovenia’s former national carrier, Adria Airways, will be concluded within the next three years, according to its administrator, Janez Pustatičnik, Ex-Yu Aviation News reported. Adria Airways’ creditors have reported 151 million euros in claims against the company. However, Mr. Pustatičnik has approved only 87.7 million euros in claims. Among them, the largest claim, at 6.6 million euros, has been made by Lufthansa and Austrian Airlines. Jet owner AeroCentury has four million euros in claims, while the Rolls Royce Corporation has 2.2 million.

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The Ninth Commercial Court of Appeals has dismissed an appeal filed by ex-president of VIM Airlines Rashid Mursekayev and his wife Svetlana against a ruling declaring them bankrupt, according to court records, RAPSI reported. The Moscow Commercial Court declared the spouses bankrupt in late May. The asset-sale procedure was introduced in their case for six months. In November 2020, the Basmanny District Court of Moscow issued an arrest warrant for co-owner of VIM Airlines Svetlana Mursekayeva in absentia on scale credit fraud charges.

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ITA Prepares to Bid for Alitalia’s Brand

The change of the guard between the historic Alitalia and the newly created ITA as Italian flag carrier is less than a month away, but the situation is far from defined, airlinegeeks.com reported. Alitalia is going through its bankruptcy procedure and will stop flying on Oct. 15; on the same date, new state-owned carrier Italia Trasporto Aereo (ITA) will take over some of its routes and will begin its adventure with 52 aircraft and 2,800 employees, putting it at roughly half the size of its predecessor.

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Philippine Airlines, Inc. (PAL) said on Tuesday that it has filed a petition before a Pasay City court seeking recognition of the proceedings and decisions of a U.S. bankruptcy court hearing its chapter 11 case, BusinessWorld reported. “The recognition petition filed by PAL before a local court is a petition which aims to ensure that the Philippine legal system recognizes all proceedings and decisions rendered by the foreign court handling the Chapter 11 case,” PAL Spokesperson Cielo C. Villaluna said in a statement sent to BusinessWorld.

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The U.K.’s grid operator delayed the restart of a key power cable from France by almost a month, potentially deepening the nation’s energy crisis, Bloomberg News reported. Half the capacity of the IFA-1 U.K.-France line will come online Oct. 23, following a fire that knocked out the conduit earlier this month, National Grid Plc said in a remit notice. It had originally targeted Sept. 25 for the partial restart. Full 2,000-megawatt capacity is not expected until March 27. The delay comes as the U.K.

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Amazon has begun an investigation into allegations of corruption by its legal representatives in India and has placed a senior member of the team on leave, The Morning Context reported. The company later issued a statement, saying it does not tolerate corruption and will investigate all such allegations fully. The statement came in response to a report by The Morning Context, which said, citing three sources, that Amazon has begun an internal investigation into allegations that its legal representatives in India used legal fees paid by the company to pay bribes.

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Cryptocurrency prices were sliding Monday as China Evergrande Group's bond-payment problems rattled international markers, TheStreet reported. Bitcoin, the world's largest cryptocurrency, fell 7.4% to $43,780 at last check, according to CoinDesk. Ethereum was down 9.4% to $3,034, and Dogecoin sank 11% to 21 cents. Evergrande, China's second-largest property developer, has more than $310 billion in debt. The company has held urgent talks with many of its creditors in hopes of delaying payment on two separate bond obligations due later this week.

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Chinese President Xi Jinping’s campaign against private enterprise, it is increasingly clear, is far more ambitious than meets the eye, the Wall Street Journal reported. President Jinping is not just trying to rein in a few big tech and other companies and show who is boss in China. He is trying to roll back China’s decades-long evolution toward Western-style capitalism and put the country on a different path entirely, a close examination of his writings and discussions with party officials, as well as interviews with people involved in policy-making, shows.

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The U.K. energy industry is facing a wave of bankruptcies amid a gas-supply crunch that has sent electricity prices soaring, leaving suppliers vulnerable, OilPrice.com reported. Since the start of the year, seven electricity suppliers in the country have gone under, Bloomberg reports, because of failing to hedge against price hikes. This meant that they sold electricity to clients at lower prices than the current ones. They must now buy it expensively and then sell it cheaply, which is the fastest way to bankruptcy.

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