Headlines

The Tasmanian timber company Gunns has rejected reports an insolvency firm has been inspecting its books, ABC News reported. Gunns says it has hired the firm KordaMentha to provide advice on the sale of some of it woodchip processing assets. Newspaper reports claim the insolvency specialists were appointed by lender ANZ to examine Gunns' finances. Gunns has revealed an $800 million devaluation of a range of assets because of a fall in global woodchip process, leaving its balance sheet in the red.

Laws that dilute the influence of labor unions have crept across the crisis-hit periphery of the euro zone over the past two years, pushed by the European Union, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund. The goal is to remedy what policy makers in these institutions see as a root cause of the Europan crisis: a rise in wages since the creation of the euro that has left Greece, Portugal, Spain and Italy uncompetitive compared to Germany and other "core" euro-zone countries—the stronger nations in the bloc, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The European Commission plans to detail proposals for a euro-zone banking supervisor—seen by backers as key to stemming the bloc's sovereign-debt crisis—by Sept. 11, a European Union official said Monday, The Wall Street Journal reported. Leaders of the European Union decided at a Brussels summit in late June to establish a banking supervisor, part of measures to contain the crisis that has seen Greece, Ireland, Portugal and more recently Cyprus and Spain seek bailouts from international lenders to finance their economy or banking systems.

The International Monetary Fund, facing discontent among its members about the huge sums it has lent to the euro zone, is pushing the currency bloc's governments to take steps to lighten the burden of the bailout loans they made to Athens, officials familiar with ongoing discussions said. The IMF pressure, which has been evident in private discussions with euro-zone officials, comes in response to mounting evidence that the country's deep recession has thrown the Greek bailout program woefully off track from targets set earlier this year, Dow Jones reported.

During an all-night European summit in June, Mario Monti, the Italian Prime Minister, gave German Chancellor Angela Merkel an unexpected ultimatum: He would block all deals until she agreed to take action against Italy's and Spain's rising borrowing costs, The Wall Street Journal reported. Ms. Merkel, who has held most of the euro's cards for the past two years, wasn't used to being put on the defensive. "This is not helpful, Mario," Ms. Merkel warned, according to people present.

The Bank of England looks set to slash its growth and inflation forecasts for 2012 and beyond on Wednesday, bolstering expectations for more economic stimulus later this year as Britain's economy remains stuck in recession, Reuters reported. Inflation is falling faster than expected while the economy has suffered hits to growth from the euro zone debt crisis, government austerity and some one-off factors, raising the question of whether the Bank will announce extra asset purchases before the current round is complete in November.

Spyker NV, the owner of Swedish car maker Saab Automobile AB before its financial collapse late last year, Monday said it has filed a $3 billion lawsuit against General Motors Co. claiming the U.S. car giant drove the Swedish company into bankruptcy, The Wall Street Journal reported. Spyker filed the claim in the U.S. District Court of the Eastern District of Michigan. Saab Automobile declared itself bankrupt last December, ending a long struggle for survival by the auto maker after attempts by Spyker to revive and then sell the company failed.

Spyker NV, the owner of Swedish car maker Saab Automobile AB before its financial collapse late last year, Monday said it has filed a $3 billion lawsuit against General Motors Co. claiming the U.S. car giant drove the Swedish company into bankruptcy, The Wall Street Journal reported. Spyker filed the claim in the U.S. District Court of the Eastern District of Michigan. Saab Automobile declared itself bankrupt last December, ending a long struggle for survival by the auto maker after attempts by Spyker to revive and then sell the company failed.

The Central Bank official who argued for the appointment of administrators to Quinn Insurance in 2010 will attend the High Court today to help explain why the cost of covering the firm’s losses to the State’s Insurance Compensation Fund could rise to €1.65 billion, the Irish Times reported. Domhnall Cullinan, the head of the general insurance division at the Central Bank, will attend the court hearing for the purpose of assisting Mr Justice Nicholas Kearns in questioning why the call on the fund has risen significantly.

Austerity isn't just for governments anymore. As countries across Europe slash their budgets to tackle the sovereign-debt crisis, individual Europeans are reining in spending, too, The Wall Street Journal reported. They are trading down to cheaper groceries, buying fewer big-ticket items, and searching more for bargains online. "Suddenly, we're becoming more cautious, more restrained," said Rose-Marie Hall, 38, whose family of four east of Paris is holding off on replacing its 11-year-old car and has avoided their usual trips to nearby Disneyland Paris this year.