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Borrowers falling into home mortgage arrears due to an unforeseeable loss of income will gain court protection under new legislation which has cleared the Oireachtas, Irish Legal News reported. The Personal Insolvency (Amendment) Bill 2020, which will now be signed into law, gives insolvent homeowners the right to seek review by a court if their mortgage lender or other creditors refuse a reasonable proposal for a personal insolvency arrangement.
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A cyberattack on Ireland’s health system has paralyzed the country’s health services for a week, cutting off access to patient records, delaying Covid-19 testing, and forcing cancellations of medical appointments, the New York Times reported. Using ransomware, which is malware that encrypts a victims’ data until they pay a ransom, the people behind the attack have been holding hostage the data at Ireland’s publicly funded health care system, the Health Service Executive. The attack forced the H.S.E. to shut down its entire information technology system.
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Concern over China Huarong Asset Management Co.’s financial health is deepening among domestic investors, threatening to worsen a selloff offshore, Bloomberg News reported. The firm’s thinly traded 19 billion yuan note due 2022 fell 12% to 70.2 yuan on Thursday, according to Bloomberg-compiled data, while its 3.54% domestic bond maturing in November dropped 24% to 75.3 yuan, both on pace for record lows. The company’s dollar bonds also declined, with a 3.75% bond due 2022 falling 5.5 cents on the dollar to 73.6 cents, its weakest level in more than a month.
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China is — yet again — looking to deal with its mountain of hidden debt. An absurd solution has emerged: just make it go away. But much like a landfill, it won’t ever quite disappear, according to a Bloomberg commentary. Earlier this month, Zhao Quanhou, a top researcher at the Chinese Academy of Fiscal Sciences, which is affiliated with the finance ministry, proposed that Beijing should dissolve some of its off-balance sheet debt by converting it into legal, or statutory, debt.
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Indonesia's exports racked up their strongest rise in 11 years in April, boosted by a surge in prices of key commodities such as palm oil and copper, though the unexpectedly robust figure is not expected to change the central bank's policy settings, Reuters reported. The resource-rich nation's shipments rose 51.94% on a yearly basis to $18.48 billion, marking the sharpest increase since 2010 and beating a forecast 41% rise in a Reuters poll. The export value was the highest since August 2011.
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Italy and the European Union promised Thursday to support Tunisia’s economy as part of their efforts to stem migration across the Mediterranean Sea toward Europe, the Associated Press reported. Italian Interior Minister Luciana Lamorgese and EU Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson visited Tunisia for talks with President Kais Saied and Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi. More than 67 migrants drowned or disappeared off the coast of Tunisia in recent days after their boats sank.
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Thai Airways International Pcl’s creditors approved the airline’s debt restructuring plan, paving the way for payment extension and unpaid interest waiver on at least 170 billion baht ($5.41 billion) of its debt, Bloomberg News reported. The plan was backed by 91% of creditors at an online meeting, Kitipong Urapeepatanapong, chairman of Baker & McKenzie in Bangkok, the airline’s legal adviser, said by phone on Wednesday.
Ryanair won two victories in its fight against billions of euros extended in state aid to rivals as Europe's second-highest court annulled the support given to KLM and Portugal's TAP on the grounds that regulators failed to justify the huge cash injections, Reuters reported. The Luxembourg-based General Court, however, said the annulments - and the recovery of the money - would be suspended pending new decisions by the Commission. Ryanair can challenge those new decisions at the same court if it is not satisfied with them.
Eurostar’s shareholders have pulled together funds from bank loans, deferred payments and from their own pockets to secure a £250million refinancing deal to save the company from bankruptcy, ConnexionFrance.com reported. “This refinancing is a major step towards securing Eurostar’s future,” Eurostar chief executive Jacques Damas said in a statement. Eurostar’s majority shareholder is the French national railway company SNCF, which owns 55% of the company and headed up the refinancing effort. The U.K.
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European Union governments agreed to allow quarantine-free travel for vaccinated tourists and visitors from countries deemed safe, paving the way for the resumption of hassle-free trans-Atlantic flights, Bloomberg News reported. Ambassadors from the EU’s 27 member states backed a proposal to waive quarantine for those with coronavirus inoculations approved by its drug regulator, including shots from Pfizer Inc., Moderna Inc. and Johnson & Johnson. The approval could be finalized this week and implemented soon after.
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