Headlines

Nottingham Council has been slapped down by the head of a new local government watchdog, which said that councils are going bankrupt because of poor financial management, not a lack of money, GB News reported. Nottingham Council, which declared effective bankruptcy earlier this year, cited the impact of inflation as a cause. It also blamed increased demand for children's and adults' social care and rising homelessness.

In an alarming development, German hospitals are grappling with an unprecedented wave of insolvencies, threatening the stability and efficacy of the nation’s health care system, BNN reported. According to recent reports from the German Hospital Association, there has been a significant uptick in bankruptcies, with almost 40 hospitals going insolvent in 2023 alone. If projections hold, this figure could see a two-fold increase in 2024, heralding a potential health care crisis. Surveys paint a somber picture for the future of Germany’s health care system.

Thousands of items from Habitat France worth an estimated €8m - €9m have not been delivered to customers as the company continues to experience severe financial difficulties, The Connexion reported. The company, which has been independent of the original U.K. Habitat store since 2011, is in judicial administration, and as of Dec. 18, administrators have called for the liquidation of the company due to bankruptcy at the Bobigny Commercial Court. The company has been struggling to pay its suppliers, or fulfill existing orders for months.

Italy's government will agree on a limited extension of costly "superbonus" subsidies for home improvements which Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni had previously blamed for wrecking public finances, a coalition party said on Thursday, Reuters reported. The Forza Italia party, which pushed hard for the concession, said 110% tax credits would remain in place for low-income households who have not completed home renovations this year. They otherwise faced having to draw on less generous 70% tax credits, kicking in next year.

Opposition councillors have warned that the ruling Conservatives at County Hall have risked the financial future of the authority in their determination to get the proposed 3.9-mile road built, the Eastern Daily Press reported. They say that Norfolk County Council has now committed so much cash to the project that if it does not now go ahead, the authority would not be able to balance the books. It comes at a time when a number of English councils have been forced to effectively declare themselves bankrupt because of their financial dire straits.

Mexicana de Aviación is back in the air, Air Data News reported. One of the oldest airlines in the world, founded in 1921, completed the first flight of its new phase on Dec. 26, as Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador intended. The carrier, which had gone bankrupt in 2010, had its remaining assets acquired by the Mexican government, which funded its return to the skies as an airline focused on cheap air tickets. Although he launched the project in August with ambitious goals, Obrador had to wait until almost the end of the year for Mexicana to complete its first flight.

European property company Signa on Thursday said that two key divisions are filing for insolvency, a significant development in the unraveling of founder Rene Benko's real estate empire, Reuters reported. Signa Prime Selection filed for self-administrated restructuring in a Vienna court on Thursday, and Signa Development Selection will file on Friday, Signa said. The announcements are the latest twist in the saga for Signa, the biggest casualty so far in Europe's real estate crisis.

One of China’s largest investment firms, Citic Trust, had a clear pitch to investors when it was aiming to raise $1.7 billion to fund property development in 2020: There is no safer Chinese investment than real estate, according to a New York Times analysis. The trust, the investment arm of the state-owned financial conglomerate Citic, called housing “China’s economic ballast” and “an indispensable value investment.” The money it raised would be put toward four projects from Sunac China Holdings, a major developer.

Poland's culture minister has decided to put its state television, radio and news agency into liquidation, he said on Wednesday, deepening a dispute over the future of publicly owned media after a momentous change in government, Reuters reported. A pro-European Union coalition headed by Donald Tusk took power in Poland this month and started an overhaul of state media institutions which critics say had become propaganda outlets during the nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party's eight years in power.

The Serie A leaders are currently leading their domestic league and they have also qualified for the knockout stage of the Champions League, CaughtOffSide reported. The news of their bankruptcy started surfacing in the media after they paid their 10 board members their annual compensation. Their corporate CEO, Alessandro Antonello, and the CEO of the sports area, Giuseppe Marotta, received less compensation compared to the previous financial year.