Headlines

A messy Greek default would harm almost everybody, The Economist reported in an editorial. As markets and governments know only too well, behind Greece stand others: Portugal, Ireland, Spain and even Italy, the world’s third-biggest sovereign debtor. Hence the selfish case for other euro-area countries to help. There is plenty of money around. The EU can advance structural-fund aid that is due to be paid in future years. The European Investment Bank can lend more.

European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet delivered an impassioned defense of Europe's common currency as the market continued to cast doubt on the ability of Greece and other debt-ridden euro zone countries to get their deficits under control, The Wall Street Journal reported. Mr. Trichet's remarks came as worries spread through financial markets that Greece's fiscal woes will extend to other countries including Portugal and Spain. The cost of insuring the sovereign debt of those countries against default soared Thursday, putting downward pressure on the euro.

The Australian sharemarket fell to a five-month low today, taking the market's loss this week to $30.83 billion, The Australian reported. The surprise 268 point plunge on the Dow Jones Index on Wall Street overnight created an instant negative lead for equities markets across the Asia Pacific region. In Australia, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 dropped 107.3 points to 4514.3 while the All Ordinaries was down 111.4 points to 4532.7.

More resort woes in the Caribbean, Luxist reported. The Wall Street Journal reports that Credit Suisse, which represents investors in the Temenos resort on Anguilla, has taken over the project and appointed a receiver to manage it. The resort, which was supposed to have a 32-room hotel and 78 villas offered for sale in the millions, carried a $180 million mortgage. The luxury development was the brainchild of entertainment mogul Robert F.X. Sillerman, who began planning the resort in 2002 and put $180 million of his own money into the project in addition to the monster mortgage.

The Chief Executive officer of the Capital Markets Authority Stella Kilonzo said the firm has been found not to be in compliance with the legal and regulatory provisions as outlined in the CMA Act for some time. Wycliffe Shamiah has been appointed the Statutory Manager with effect from 5 February 2010 for a period of six (6) months, the Kenya Broadcasting Company reported. This is the third brokerage firm to be put under receivership after Nyaga stockbrokers and Discount Security limited. Read more.

A Southern NSW abattoir which went into receivership this week is attracting interest from potential buyers, ABC Rural reported. Up to 300 workers were sacked, and their entitlements left in doubt, at Burrangong Meat Processors in Young, after a deal with a Chinese company fell through. Receivers say so far more than 10 parties have approached them to buy the company. Meanwhile, the Greens have called for an overhaul of workplace laws following the shock closure of the abattoir. Read more.

BTA Bank, the second-largest bank in Kazakhstan by assets, filed for bankruptcy protection to shield itself from U.S. creditors while it restructures about $11.6 billion in debt, BusinessWeek reported on a Bloomberg story. The Almaty-based bank listed both debt and assets of more than $1 billion in Chapter 15 documents filed today in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan. Chapter 15 of the bankruptcy code is designed to block U.S. lawsuits against a foreign company with assets in the U.S. while it restructures in its home country. Most of BTA Bank’s U.S.

Dubai’s failure to reassure investors its restructuring plan will succeed is causing the emirate’s benchmark stock index to drop the most in the world and forcing companies to scrap bond sales, Bloomberg reported. The Dubai Financial Market General Index lost 13 percent since Dec. 14, wiping out a rally sparked by Abu Dhabi’s bailout of Dubai World that day.

The euro gained against the dollar Wednesday after the European Commission accepted Greece's budget-reducing plan, though the common-currency has come off its highest levels of the day, The Wall Street Journal reported. Many currency analysts said the acceptance of Greece's plan, in which it detailed how it would strip spending from an over-the-limit budget, had already been "priced in" to the euro, limiting its gains on the report's release.

About 500 students from a Perth English language school that closed on Friday will be offered positions in other similar schools across the city, ABC Perth reported. Eight schools in Australia run by the GEOS Group of companies went into voluntary administration after failing to repay millions of dollars debt. At a meeting this afternoon students of St Mark's college in the Perth suburb of Highgate were told they would not have to pay if they needed to extend their student visas as a result of the school closure.