Headlines

Irish house prices continued to fall last month, and at a faster pace than the previous month, the Irish Times reported. House prices dropped 1.6 per cent in August, compared to a 0.8 per cent fall in July. On an annual basis, house prices were 13.9 per cent lower last month than the previous August. This compares to an annual rate of decline of 12.5 per cent in July. The latest monthly figures, which were released by the CSO today, mean that residential properties are now 43 per cent lower than in 2007.

Sir Michael Fay says his group's bid for the Crafar farms remains on the table despite being rejected by the receivers yesterday, The New Zealand Herald reported. The group's $171.5 million offer is almost $30 million short of that from China's Pengxin International Group. KordaMentha receiver Brendon Gibson said the accepted Pengxin offer was by far the best offer and remained so. Regarding Fay's offer, he said: "It was conditional and a collaboration of several companies and was a price that we think was unacceptable, so no go on any of those fronts.

The German government is pushing a plan to restructure Greece's debt that would include up to a 50% loss to bond holders and new draconian budget measures imposed on the Greek government, local media report Sunday. According to the center-right Kathimerini newspaper, the German plan would involve a forced, non-voluntary restructuring of Greece's public debt, that would include slashing the value of that debt by between 40% and 50%, Dow Jones reported.

As the Gillard government digests a set of submissions on how to clean up the insolvency industry after a Senate inquiry found the Australian Securities and Investments Commission was not regulating it properly, Senator John Williams has put the spotlight back on the commission using parliamentary privilege to do so, The Sydney Morning Herald reported in a commentary.

China's massive economic-stimulus program has supported near double-digit growth, but also stoked inflation, piled up debt and fueled another unwelcome development: social unrest, The Wall Street Journal reported. In 2010, China was rocked by 180,000 protests, riots and other mass incidents—more than four times the tally from a decade earlier. That figure, reported by Sun Liping, a professor at Tsinghua University, rather than official sources, doesn't tell the whole story on the turmoil in what is now the world's second-largest economy.

France has denied reports that it had drafted a plan to inject up to €15 billion into its major banks amid fears over their heavy exposure to Greek debt, the Irish Times reported. The Journal du Dimanche yesterday reported that the state offered a €10-15 billion bank recapitalisation at a meeting earlier this month with senior officials from five institutions: BNP Paribas, Société Générale, Crédit Agricole, Banque Populaire-Caisse d’Épargne and Crédit Mutuel.

A Nova Scotia judge has approved a plan to pay a portion of the debts owed to about 300 wood suppliers and silviculture operators while a buyer is sought for the shuttered NewPage Port Hawkesbury paper mill, CanadianBusiness.com reported on a Canadian Press story. The Supreme Court order would see the money come from the provincial government and a fund set up by NewPage, which closed its Point Tupper operation earlier this month. The government is eager to keep the woodland operators in business as the search for a possible buyer continues.

Wellington businessman and former Phoenix football owner Terry Serepisos has been declared bankrupt in the High Court at Wellington after his last-minute bid for more time to pay debts was rejected, The New Zealand Herald reported. Judge Gendall granted an application by South Canterbury Finance, owed some $22.5 million, to declare Serepisos bankrupt after he failed to convince the court to grant him four more days to secure funding from a Hong Kong-based merchant bank.

European banks are fanning out across Asia, seeking to borrow money from wealthy individuals and cash-rich companies in a race to replace funding sources that are becoming harder and more expensive to tap, The Wall Street Journal reported. Rather than make loans and do deals, bankers from France, Italy and other countries are under orders to find sources of funding. While they are having some success, people with knowledge of their efforts say, they aren't raising enough to make a difference, leaving the banks still struggling to fund their assets.

Greek workers staged a 24-hour strike today, forcing the transport system to a standstill in protest against the government's intensified austerity drive to secure aid to save the country from bankruptcy, RTÉ News reported. Striking taxi drivers and bus, metro and rail workers meant commuters had to use their own cars, triggering long traffic jams and stranding tourists at hotels in Athens city centre for several hours. Unions said more strikes were planned. In his first public comments on yet more austerity moves, Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou said they were vital.