Headlines

The European Commission is to consider Wednesday whether to start formal talks with Hungary on a precautionary loan package, after delaying negotiations for months amid disagreements about the independence of the country's central bank and other contentious issues, The Wall Street Journal reported. After a meeting in Brussels on Tuesday with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, the commission's president, José Manuel Barroso, said he welcomed Mr. Orban's promises of "prompt and full implementation" of changes to Hungary's new central-bank legislation.

International Monetary Fund staff said Tuesday governments should consider mandatory debt restructuring for systemically important banks as part of a policy tool set to prevent new financial crises, Dow Jones reported. By instituting a so-called bail-in rule, governments could prevent the type of excessive risk-taking and market disruptions that fueled the 2008-2009 global financial meltdown, senior IMF economists said in a new discussion paper.

The Dutch prime minister, Mark Rutte, announced the resignation of his coalition government on Monday after its partners failed to agree on austerity measures, leaving the Netherlands with a messy leadership vacuum at a time of anxiety about the euro, the International Herald Tribune reported. Mr. Rutte has been an ally to Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany on fiscal matters and a strong voice in favor of austerity for other European countries.

Several parties have shown interest in German solar company Q-Cells since it filed for insolvency earlier this month, including domestic and foreign investors, an administrator said on Monday, Reuters reported. "Our goal is to save most of the company and as many jobs as possible," preliminary insolvency administrator Henning Schorisch said in a statement, noting financial and strategic investors were among the parties but not giving further details. "The coming weeks will now show how big interest is," he said.

The Chinese city of Chongqing accumulated tens of billions of dollars in liabilities during Bo Xilai's term as local Communist Party chief, as it juiced growth that helped launch the former high-flyer's campaign for a top political post.

Spain in recent days has taken center stage in the euro crisis, Spiegel Online reported. The country's banks are threatened with collapse and the government in Madrid has not been successful in efforts to get the national budget under control. Will the country be forced to request aid from the euro bailout fund? Spain's banks are widely regarded as time bombs, with portfolios of volatile loans on their balance sheets that could explode at any time. The country is sliding deeper into recession and international financial investors are slowly but surely withdrawing.

All countries are unequal, but Korea seems to be among those that are more unequal than others, The Korea Times reported. And as the scourge of inequality worsens by the day, the nation appears to be at a loss in attacking the problem: Policymakers here are reluctant to introduce dramatic changes to the country’s tax and benefit systems, claiming that the risk would be a bankrupt government, while schools and businesses continue to be woefully inept at educating and training a quality workforce.

Dubai Group LLC, the investment company owned by the emirate’s ruler, proposed paying interest of 1 percent to 2.5 percent in a $6 billion debt restructuring proposal, three people familiar with the plan said, Bloomberg reported. Four different interest rate classes have been proposed depending on the currency and the type of creditors, two people said, declining to be identified because the information is private. Secured creditors, whose loans are backed by assets, will be repaid principal in three years, according to the people.

After months of wrangling, government leaders have assembled a pair of war chests to guard against deepening euro-zone turmoil, The Wall Street Journal reported. Now their plan faces the big test: Will markets buy it? The world's finance ministers, who concluded meetings in Washington on Sunday, hope their new funds will convince investors that governments have the financial firepower to combat the crisis. The war chests could be used to provide emergency loans to governments in danger of debt defaults because of soaring borrowing costs.

BlackBerry maker Research In Motion has hired law firm Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP to work out a restructuring plan that could include selling assets, seeking joint ventures or licensing patents, people briefed on the matter said, Reuters reported. As part of the struggling Canadian smartphone maker's strategic review, the RIM board is discussing ways to boost revenue from its new BlackBerry 10 operating system and possibly opening up its proprietary network, the sources said.