Headlines

Fourteen groups have expressed an interest in investing in Aer Arann and the examiner hopes to have secured a deal for the airline by October 10th, the High Court has been informed, The Irish Times reported. In a report submitted to the court, Michael McAteer of Grant Thornton, who was confirmed as examiner of the airline yesterday by Ms Justice Finlay Geoghegan, states that indicative offers must be lodged on September 20th while final offers will have to be presented on October 6th.

French labor unions vowed Wednesday to amplify their protests against government plans to increase the retirement age after President Nicolas Sarkozy said he wouldn't give in on elements of a proposed pension overhaul, The Wall Street Journal reported. A coalition of six unions called on workers to participate in another one-day nationwide strike and march on Sept. 23 to challenge Mr. Sarkozy's "unfair and unacceptable" proposal to raise the standard pension age to 62 from the current 60 years old.

Three banks, which between them are owed a total of €114.5m by house builder McInerney Homes, are opposing examinership of the construction group, The Independent reported. Barrister Rossa Fanning, counsel for Bank of Ireland, Anglo Irish Bank and KBC, told Ms Justice Mary Finlay Geoghegan yesterday that the banks were against the appointment of an examiner by the High Court. Judge Finlay Geoghegan said the matter would be heard by Mr Justice Frank Clarke on Friday.

Ireland's troubled banking system became the latest flash point in Europe's continuing economic crisis, as the government said it would split up the weakest of its major banks to stave off a run by depositors. Irish Finance Minister Brian Lenihan, days after meeting European Union officials, said state-owned Anglo Irish Bank Corp. would be divided into a government-backed bank that would hold customer deposits and an "asset recovery bank" holding the bank's increasingly bad loans. The asset-recovery bank could be sold in whole or part down the road. Mr.

European Union nations agreed to create new financial oversight institutions Tuesday, hoping to prevent a repeat of the government debt crisis that nearly left Greece bankrupt and brought the European banking system to its knees, The Associated Press reported. The union's 27 finance ministers also agreed to give Greece the next chunk of its bailout funds but failed to find common ground on the introduction of a levy on banks or on a new tax on financial trading.

The Minister for Finance, Brian Lenihan, TD today announced that the State bank guarantee for short term bank liabilities, including corporate and interbank deposits as well as debt securities would be extended from its current expiry date of September 29 2010 to 31 December 2010, Finfacts reported. The Department of Finance said a State guarantee will therefore be available for both short- and long-term liabilities up to the end of the year.

A judge has granted bankruptcy protection to ailing Mexicana airline, which indefinitely suspended all its flights last month, judicial sources said Tuesday, Agence France-Presse reported. The group has one year to restructure and avoid bankruptcy, judge Felipe Consuelo Soto, from the Federal Judicial Council, said in the ruling late Monday. The judge called for the Communications and Transportation Ministry to name a new administrator to deal with the airline's creditors within five days.

Demand for withdrawals from the beleaguered Afghan bank whose troubles have sparked a political and economic crisis here dropped sharply Tuesday, a day after the country's central banker said the bank would get a bailout if it needed one, The Wall Street Journal reported. Nearly a week of massive withdrawals sapped Kabul Bank's cash reserves, threatening to render the politically connected lender insolvent.