Headlines

The Australian company behind local denim fashion label ksubi has been placed into voluntary administration to help ensure its future, The Sydney Morning Herald reported. Co-founders Dan Single and George Gorrow said they had been "struggling to achieve the margin necessary to fund the growth and development of the brand". Voluntary administration was the "only way to ensure the future of ksubi", they said in a statement. The pair said there had been "significant attempts" in recent times to address ksubi's financial difficulties.

As much of the world struggles to clamber out of a serious recession, a gradual flow of economic power from West to East has turned into a flood, The New York Times reported. Beijing’s state-run news media, indulging in a moment of self-congratulation, have hailed China’s new economic prominence as proof of national superiority. The country’s economic miracle, the newspaper People’s Daily boasted last week, exists because its leaders — unlike those in other, unnamed nations — can make quick decisions and ensure underlings carry them out.

Declining sales isn't the only big problem facing Chrysler Group LLC. Another, according to Chief Executive Sergio Marchionne, is the almost ingrained tendency to react to falling sales by slashing prices, The Wall Street Journal reported. In Detroit, "there's almost a fanatical, maniacal interest in [market] share," Mr. Marchionne told reporters Monday on the opening day of the North American International Auto Show. But rarely, he added, has heavy discounting in pursuit of high volumes helped auto makers generate profits in the long term.

Japan Airlines is thought to be only hours away from being forced by the Government to declare bankruptcy and begin a restructuring that would see the carrier eliminate 16,000 jobs and dozens of routes. The Government’s decision on JAL’s future, which is expected to be made in the next day or two, will set in motion a process that is likely see the deeply indebted carrier entering court bankruptcy protection as early as next week, people close to the situation told The Times. The same people said that, after repeated failure to control its costs, JAL had painted itself into a corner.

In a related story, the Associated Press reported that Japan Airlines Corp. is set to cut about 15,600 jobs, a third of its work force, and reject billion-dollar cash offers from Delta and American Airlines, as it files for bankruptcy and embarks on a government-led turnaround. Under a rehabilitation plan now being hammered out by a state-backed corporate turnaround body, JAL would make the job cuts during the three fiscal years through March 2013, Kyodo News reported.

Milan prosecutors have asked for insolvency procedures to be started for Burani Designer Holding NV, one of the holding companies controlling troubled Mariella Burani Fashion Group SpA, a person familiar with the situation said Monday, Dow Jones reported. Beleaguered Italian apparel maker Mariella Burani said Sunday it is looking for another advisor after investment bank Mediobanca SpA ended its role, aimed at reaching a debt-restructuring deal with creditor banks, which include Intesa Sanpaolo SpA and UniCredit SpA.

There are many ways to decide whether to repay your debts but a national referendum is surely a first. That is what is going to happen in Iceland after its president refused to sign a bill paying €3.8 billion ($5.5 billion) to the British and Dutch governments over 15 years, The Economist reported in an analysis. Given that a quarter of the Icelandic population has signed a petition opposing such payments, it is not difficult to imagine how such a poll will turn out. “Vote for lower incomes” is not going to be a very popular slogan. And the Icelanders will only be the first.

With property prices soaring in key cities, many investors and bankers worry that China has the next great real estate bubble waiting to be popped, The Washington Post reported. The Chinese government is worried, too. On Sunday, the nation's cabinet, citing "excessively rising house prices" in some cities, said it will monitor capital flows to "stop overseas speculative funds from jeopardizing China's property market." It also said that any Chinese family buying a second home must make a down payment of at least 40 percent.

General Motors Co. hired an outside firm to begin liquidating its Swedish Saab unit, further dimming hopes of a last-minute rescue for the troubled brand, The Wall Street Journal reported. GM said Friday it is continuing to evaluate offers for Saab, and that the hiring of restructuring firm AlixPartners to oversee Saab doesn't necessarily doom its survival. Meanwhile, the auto maker requested Swedish government approval to begin closing the car maker's operations. The moves have Saab supporters—from U.S.

A tough new requirement by Britain’s securities regulator that top banking executives and earners must defer 60 percent of their total compensation for a three-year period is pushing some American banks with extensive London operations to say that they just won’t take it anymore, The New York Times reported. Their taxes are on the rise, they have become political piñatas and now, just as one of the richer bonus seasons in recent years gets under way, they are being told by regulators how to pay — or not to pay, to be precise — their employees.