Headlines

Greece has reopened to many overseas visitors, including from the U.S., jumping ahead of most of its European neighbors in restarting tourism, even as the country’s hospitals remain full and more than three-quarters of Greeks are still unvaccinated, the New York Times reported. It’s a big bet, but given the importance of tourism to the Greek economy — the sector accounts for one quarter of the country’s work force and more than 20 percent of gross domestic product — the country’s leaders are eager to roll out the welcome mat. And although the U.S.

China’s antitrust watchdog is beefing up its senior ranks as authorities step up efforts to rein in the country’s powerful technology companies, the Wall Street Journal reported. Dong Hongxia will take on a new role as a third deputy director-general of the Antimonopoly Bureau, part of the powerful State Administration for Market Regulation. Ms. Dong, currently director of a division responsible for reviewing mergers, is an expert on antitrust issues and a frequent speaker at seminars and events.

Poland ratified the European Union’s pandemic stimulus package, overcoming a rift in the government to help open the taps for hundreds of billions of euros to flow to all member states, Bloomberg News reported. The approval banished worries that the bloc’s largest eastern nation could torpedo the 800 billion-euro ($961 billion) package after Poland teamed up with Hungary in December to protest efforts by Brussels to attach strings to the money based on adherence to democratic rule of law.

While the drama of Greensill’s collapse is unfolding in financial centers like London and Zurich, and has sparked a scandal at the top of British politics, blue-collar towns could face the worst consequences if GFG fails to refinance, the Wall Street Journal reported. GFG employs about 35,000 people, mainly in economically deprived parts of Europe, Australia and the U.S., with some sites at risk of closure if Sanjeev Gupta doesn’t secure new finance and governments don’t step in.

Argentine President Alberto Fernandez in late March sent Economy Minister Martin Guzman to hold meetings with U.S. officials and the International Monetary Fund over its $45 billion loan, Bloomberg News reported. Back home, Fernandez’s populist vice president took to the microphone to make one thing clear. “We can’t pay because we don’t have the money,” said Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, who held the nation’s top job from 2007 to 2015. The IMF’s terms are “unacceptable.” It was a telling moment. When Fernandez, 62, took office in the final days of 2019, he presented himself as pragmatic.

Last September, deep in debt and with rising losses, Mountain Equipment Co-op filed for creditor protection and announced its sale to U.S.-based private investment firm Kingswood Capital Management, the Canadian Press reported. The B.C.-based retailer had been struggling with an enormous debt burden, inventory problems and steep online competition for years. Then COVID-19 hit, shuttering stores and obliterating in-person sales. Still, the decision to sell came as a surprise to members of the co-operative.

Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd. said the South African state utility is unable to agree to certain union demands over wage increases and declined to make an offer on basic salary until labor groups respond, Bloomberg News reported. The loss-making electricity provider “cannot afford” proposals such as an improvement in pay inequality, according to a May 4 letter reviewed by Bloomberg. A request by unions to raise worker housing allowance has “no justification” and the required funds aren’t available in any case, the company said.

A year-long waiver on insolvency filings has ended in Germany and there are already signs that bankruptcies are starting to pick up in Europe’s largest economy, Reuters reported. Germany introduced the waiver last March, when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, part of a package of measures aimed at supporting businesses but which gave rise to the charge that the government was simply propping up “zombie companies” with no future. Insolvencies duly fell. But since October, Berlin has phased out the waiver.

A U.S. bankruptcy court will allow Grupo Aeromexico, which operates Mexico's largest airline, to increase the size of its fleet of planes, the company said on Friday, Reuters reported. Last week, Aeromexico agreed to purchase two dozen Boeing planes as part of a deal that should yield an estimated $2 billion in savings due to better conditions in some long-term maintenance for its existing fleet and leasing contracts.