Headlines

Much hangs on the interpretation of a word, and in the case of Greece and the euro zone that word is: insolvent, Reuters reported in a commentary. New Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis has been unusually frank, likening his country’s case to that of a jobless person being advised to take out advances on her credit card to pay the mortgage. “Would you advise them that they should continue to take these tranches of loans from the credit card in order to deal with what is essentially an insolvency problem?” Varoufakis said days after taking office under the new Syriza-party-led coalition.

Greece’s radical new government revealed proposals on Monday for ending the confrontation with its creditors by swapping outstanding debt for new growth-linked bonds, running a permanent budget surplus and targeting wealthy tax-evaders. Yanis Varoufakis, the new finance minister, outlined the plan in the wake of a dramatic week in which the government’s first moves rattled its eurozone partners and rekindled fears about the country’s chances of staying in the currency union.

The property developer Kaisa Group said on Monday that its chief executive had resigned — another blow to the embattled company that may become the first Chinese home developer to default on foreign bonds, the International New York Times reported. The company said its chief, Jin Zhigang, had stepped down “to devote more time to his personal career development” and would continue as executive director. It added that there had been no disagreement with the board.

Solar-Fabrik, one of the last remaining PV module manufacturers still in German ownership has filed for insolvency, but under self administration, at the local court of Freiburg, PV-Tech reported. The company said that the insolvency proceedings were due to liquidity issues it had projected could occur in the course of the second quarter of 2015, without providing further details. Solar-Fabrik noted that it was not suffering from any form of over-indebtedness and was not insolvent.

Croatia’s poorest citizens may start applying today to have their debt erased under a one-time measure passed by the government last month. About 60,000 people with low incomes whose bank accounts have been frozen for at least a year and whose debt doesn’t exceed 35,000 kuna (€4,500) can participate, according to the government’s website, the Irish Times reported. Applications are now open only to those who live on welfare, while debtors whose income is no greater than 2,500 kuna a month for a single person household or 1,250 kuna per family member may start applying on April 2.

Canadian miner SouthGobi Resources Ltd. said it could be forced into insolvency if a Mongolian court’s ruling that it evaded taxes isn’t reversed, the Financial Post reported. SouthGobi and three former employees were found guilty of the charge on Friday, ending a three-year investigation that’s been scrutinized for its impact on foreign investment and the nation’s treatment of overseas nationals. U.S.

In the heart of Macau stands a 56-story tower with soaring gold-trimmed arches. On the second floor of the L’Arc Macau, there’s a sight that would have been unimaginable a year ago: An abandoned room for high-end gamblers, Bloomberg News reported. There are no tables, no dealers and no players. Carpets have been rolled up, leaving a trash-covered concrete floor. A sign on the VIP room reads “Heng Sheng Group,” one of Macau’s top junket operators, which shuttle Chinese high-rollers to exclusive gaming venues and finance their bets.

In January 2013, as Cypriot banks faced collapse, Jens Weidmann, Germany’s powerful representative at the European Central Bank, made it clear how unhappy he was with the Cyprus bank bailout, the International New York Times DealBook blog reported. It was not the E.C.B.’s job to “fund the gap of any bank runs,” Mr. Weidmann told the central bank’s governing council, according to confidential minutes of the meeting, citing both the Cyprus rescue and the Greek bank bailout in 2012. As depositors yank their savings from Greek banks, the question is being asked if the E.C.B.

Cyprus’ international creditors appear to have red-flagged a provision linking guarantors’ obligations to those of the borrower, meaning they should be let off the hook if the borrower has declared bankruptcy, and that their obligations should be reduced in line with concessions made to the borrower. But the Troika delegates, in town to discuss the progress made on the country’s economic adjustment programme, appeared resolute that guarantors’ obligations should remain unaffected by any settlement the bank may agree with borrowers.

An upstart leftist party gathered tens of thousands of followers Saturday for one of Spain’s largest antiausterity rallies in years, throwing down a populist challenge to a government already facing a secessionist movement in wealthy Catalonia, The Wall Street Journal reported. The marchers wound through central Madrid to the Puerta del Sol plaza in support of Podemos, a year-old party that aims to replicate the recent electoral victory of kindred leftists in Greece. They filled the plaza, which can hold an estimated 45,000 people, and spilled into adjacent streets.