Headlines

In its fifth decade, the agricultural subsidies program is a bedrock of European Union spending, now totaling €55 billion ($79 billion), almost half of the group’s budget. It amounts to a huge redistribution of income to farm interests from taxpayers, The New York Times reported. But most farmers get the crumbs because payments are typically based on land size: 80 percent of beneficiaries receive about 20 percent of the payments, European Commission figures show. Originally, the purpose of aid was clear.

Shares in Japan Airlines plunged to a record low today amid rumours that Asia's biggest carrier could file for bankruptcy in an attempt to turn around its failing business, the Guardian reported. The transport minister, Seiji Maehara, and other cabinet ministers were this evening holding crisis talks to discuss JAL's options ahead of an official decision on the airline's future late next month.

Opel's works council on Wednesday rejected a restructuring plan that will cut 9,000 jobs, proposed by its U.S. parent company, General Motors, Xinhua reported. "As far as we are concerned, the loss of 9,000 jobs in Europe is unacceptable," Klaus Franz, head of Opel's works council said, according to local media reports. He said the job cuts were "economic nonsense" and that Opel would anyway lose 10,500 jobs by 2013 through voluntary departures and retirements. Franz is also a member of Opel's supervisory board. No detail of the plan has been published.

Former clients of Lehman Brothers' European operations voted in favor of a plan to speed up the return of about $11 billion in frozen client assets, the collapsed bank's European administrator said Tuesday, The Wall Street Journal reported. The administrator, PricewaterhouseCoopers, said more than 90% of the bank's former clients voted for the plan, a multilateral contract known as a claim-resolution agreement. The agreement governs the basis on which the administrators can return the assets.

After two years of crashing banking systems and economic recession, the euro zone enters 2010 with a full-blown debt crisis. The European Commission warns that public finances in half of the 16 euro-zone nations are at high risk of becoming unsustainable, The Wall Street Journal reported. Governments will spend the next year and beyond balancing the urgent need to fix public-sector debt and deficits -- without imperiling what appears to be a feeble economic recovery.

General Motors has extended a December 31 deadline for bids for its Swedish car brand Saab, which will restart some production lines in January after a shutdown, Saab said on Wednesday, Reuters reported. GM had given itself to the end of this month to consider bids for loss-making Saab while continuing a process to wind down the company, which has drawn interest from Dutch luxury carmaker Spyker Cars and others.

Germany's short-time working program has helped prevent massive unemployment during the current recession. Although the model has been admired internationally, its biggest test is still ahead, Spiegel Online reported. The hugely expensive scheme is a risky bet that the economy will turn around in 2010. In past crises, companies often laid off their workers and then rehired them later on. Today, however, there is a shortage of specialized workers, a trend that is expected to continue into the future.

Canada's industry minister approved Ciena Corp's $769 million bid for a unit of bankrupt Nortel Networks Inc. and said on Tuesday the deal was likely to be of net benefit for Canada, Reuters reported. "This investment will maintain jobs, R&D activity and corporate leadership in Canada, Industry Minister Tony Clement said in a late night statement that also noted Ciena's promise to invest in Canada.

Polaris World, a privately held Spanish real estate company that develops golf courses designed by Jack Nicklaus, is in talks with lenders to avoid filing for protection from creditors, BusinessWeek reported. The developer, whose courses designed by 18-time golf Major winner are dubbed the “Nicklaus Trail”, notified a court in Murcia about the talks with lenders, an official for the Murcia Superior Court said today in a phone interview.

Japan Airlines Corp., its major lenders and a quasi-government investment fund are studying a bankruptcy filing for the struggling airline if it doesn't win concessions from retirees, according to a person familiar with the matter, The Wall Street Journal reported. The carrier, known as JAL, is still considering an out-of-court restructuring as it said last month, the person said. But the prospect of a court-led turnaround procedure is likely to add pressure on the company's retirees to accept a proposed cut in their pension allowances.