Headlines

Portugal has reached agreement with the European Union and International Monetary Fund on a three-year bailout loan of 78 billion euros or about $116 billion, the caretaker Prime Minister Jose Socrates said on Tuesday, the International Herald Tribune reported on a Reuters story. Portugal’s government collapsed last month, sparking a sharp rise in borrowing costs that forced Lisbon to become the third euro zone country to seek a bailout after Greece and Ireland. Mr.

The percentage of New Zealand's $168.2 billion worth of mortgages on floating, or variable, interest rates has popped up above half for the first time since the Reserve Bank started collecting the data on floating versus fixed-term rates in June 1998, The New Zealand Herald reported. Figures out from the central bank show $84.6 billion, or 50.29 per cent, worth of mortgages on floating interest rates and $83 billion, or 49.34 per cent, on fixed-term interest rates. A small sum is recorded as unallocated.

Britons with billions of pounds hidden in Switzerland will pay tax at 50 per cent under a groundbreaking deal that will legitimise their undeclared assets, according to a source familiar with negotiations between the Swiss and British governments, the Financial Times reported. The agreement, which is expected to be announced this month, marks a shift in emphasis in the international crackdown on tax havens. Over the past two years, the focus has been on lifting bank secrecy and exposing evaders.

A Mexican court threw out an involuntary bankruptcy proceeding against glassmaker Vitro on Friday, easing the way for its own prepackaged bankruptcy to proceed, the company said on Monday, Reuters reported. The court in Monterrey, where the company is based, ruled on Friday against the involuntary bankruptcy petition filed by creditors, but made its decision public on Monday. Vitro, which has been fighting with creditors over its plans to restructure about $3.4 billion in debt, filed its own bankruptcy plan in December.

Developers Ray and Danny Grehan have until the close of business tomorrow to repay debts of €650 million owed by their Glenkerrin Group or Nama will place the group back into receivership, the Irish Times reported. At midnight on Friday, the State assets agency stood down the statutory receivers that had been appointed to Glenkerrin earlier in the week. Control of the properties was returned to Glenkerrin on Saturday morning. A spokesman for Nama said the agency had acceded to a request from Glenkerrin for additional time to respond to Wednesday’s developments.

Nortel Networks Corp. said Monday it has received court approval for a $900-million "stalking horse" bid by Google for the company's remaining patents and patent applications, the Winnipeg Free Press reported on a Canadian Press story. Qualified bidders hoping to top the Google offer will be required to submit offers by June 13, while the auction is set for June 20. The winning bid will require approval by the U.S. and Canadian courts overseeing the sale process.

Saab Automobile AB said Monday it has agreed to a strategic partnership with China's Hawtai Motor Group, just hours after Saab owner Spyker Cars NV secured EUR30 million ($44.6 million) in short-term funding that will enable the Swedish company to restart production, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported.

Italy's market watchdog Consob is to speed up its examination of the offer prospectus filed by French dairy group Lactalis for Italian rival Parmalat, Consob's head said in an newspaper interview on Sunday, Reuters reported. "We will examine it (the prospectus) rapidly, even before the legal timeframe limit," Giuseppe Vegas was quoted as saying in La Stampa. Under Italian law Consob has 15 days to look at a takeover offer but can ask for more time if it needs further information. Lactalis filed documents with Consob on Friday.

The government announced a package of measures designed to stimulate the housing market by helping first-time buyers and property investors, which included creating a bad bank to soak up soured construction loans, The Korea Times reported. Reducing transfer taxes for homeowners in Seoul and the metropolitan area and extending tax incentives for real estate investment trusts (REITs) and funds that buy unsold properties were also part of the plan unveiled Sunday.

Spain's first-quarter unemployment rate soared to 21.3%, with the economy losing more jobs in the three-month period than in the whole of 2010, as the country's government said talks for much-needed labor market reform may soon result in a deal, The Wall Street Journal reported. Spain's unemployment rate, the highest in the industrialized world, rose from 20.3% in the fourth quarter as the economy lost jobs across all sectors, data released Friday by the country's statistics institute INE shows.