Headlines

Ireland's cash-strapped government wants some of the country's workers to do something they haven't for years: pay income taxes, The Wall Street Journal reported. Roughly half of Ireland's 2.2 million workers don't pay any tax on personal income, a policy likely to disappear over the next few years if Ireland's new budget is approved Tuesday as is widely expected. European officials have said passing the new austerity budget for 2011 is a requirement of the European Union and International Monetary Fund's €67.5 billion ($90 billion) rescue.

The pained debate over a $112 billion international rescue package for Ireland will come to a crunch on Tuesday when a politically weakened Prime Minister Brian Cowen goes to Parliament seeking approval for the harshest austerity program of any government in Europe. But beyond the financial pain, the bitterest pill for the Irish may be the dawning realization that the country’s finances could fall under a foreign yoke for the next 20 or 30 years, the International Herald Tribune reported.

Germany beat back bids for more expansive approaches to Europe's rescue of its fiscally troubled countries, leaving the euro zone to muddle through in the near term as markets warily watch Portugal and Spain, The Wall Street Journal reported. The European Union's chief economic power said that for now, it wouldn't support an enlarged rescue facility, nor the issuance of joint bonds that would let weaker nations ride the coattails of its sterling credit, though it didn't rule them out in the future.

The German Bank Restructuring Act, which takes effect next year, could be a template for a European Union-wide law, Moody's Investors Service Inc. said Monday, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. The new German bank restructuring regime "is an important step in forming the post-crisis European regulatory landscape," the rating agency said. Moody's expects the European Commission "to scrutinize the legislation and to consider it as a blueprint for its own legislative proposal" due next spring.

Famed-but-failed Calgary chocolatier Bernard Callebaut, the man, is attempting to rebuild his once-proud empire with a new sweets company starting this week. His chief competitor is Bernard Callebaut, the company he founded 27 years ago, The Canadian Press reported. His stores, his recipes and the rights to his name are no longer his he went into receivership earlier this year. He will rely on his skills, pedigree and reputation to craft a new run. The company went into receivership in August. Callebaut made a bid to buy the business back from the receiver, but on Oct.

Fast food franchise Souvlaki Hut has been placed into voluntary administration, despite being named as one of the fastest growing franchises in Australia just 10 months ago, StartupSmart.com.au reported. Souvlaki Hut ranked third on the 2010 BRW Fast Franchise list, with revenue of $17.36 million and growth of 217.89%. But Laurie Fitzgerald from BDO Australia, who has been appointed as the company’s administrator, says poor retail sales, threats of litigation and disgruntled franchisees led to its demise.

German chipmaker Infineon said it would defend itself vigorously against legal action by the insolvency administrator of Qimonda, its former memory chip unit, seeking an unspecified payment, Reuters reported. "We are firmly convinced that we have done nothing wrong," an Infineon spokesman said, adding that the company would defend itself against this action and pursue all avenues of legal proceedings. Qimonda collapsed in 2009 as chip prices plunged and then filed for insolvency after failing to hammer out details of a rescue package in time.

The Spanish government approved new austerity measures and a limited economic stimulus package to ease investor fears about its debt - and insisted again it was taking strong steps to right its ailing economy, the Associated Press reported. Markets responded positively to Friday's actions after weeks of turmoil, but the country was thrown into chaos again after air traffic controllers unexpectedly staged a massive sickout just hours after top government officials endorsed a move to partially privatize key airports. At least 200,000 travelers were stranded on the eve of a long holiday weekend.

European finance ministers are debating whether the €750 billion bailout fund for euro zone countries should be enlarged to boost confidence in the currency, the Irish Times reported. Amid fear that Ireland’s rescue may soon be followed by an intervention in Portugal or Spain, the possibility of increasing the fund is one of a range of options for discussion tonight as euro zone finance ministers try to find a way of gaining the initiative in the sovereign debt crisis.

A unit of HSBC Holdings PLC is protesting an attempt by Bahrain's Awal Bank BSC to pursue Chapter 11 protection in the U.S., saying Awal is seeking to cherry-pick the portions of the Bankruptcy Code it would like to use while ignoring other aspects of the law, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. HSBC Bank USA, which claims to be among Awal's largest creditors, said the Bahrain bank is trying to take advantage of U.S. laws in an attempt to claw back an errant $13 million wire transfer.