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Linklaters notched up more than £33 million in fees for its first six months of work advising on the collapse of Lehman Brothers, Legal Week reported. A progress report from administrator PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) has revealed that the law firm billed PwC £33.5 million for advice given between September 2008 and March this year. The figure equates to the firm billing almost £1.3 million every week throughout the six-month period. PwC itself racked up fees of more than £77 million over the six months, taking total legal and accounting costs to more than £100 million so far.

Governments should not subsidise the destruction of old goods simply to increase demand for the new, the Financial Times reported in an editorial. The solution to unemployment among builders is not a rash of state-sponsored house fires. What is more, while governments should try to save jobs, they should not try to prop up specific industries. This plan might increase aggregate demand a little, but its strongest effect would be to divert money from other sectors – and the public purse – into the pockets of carmakers.

UBS AG, Switzerland’s largest bank, plans to cut another 7,500 jobs, bringing total staff reductions to almost 20 percent of the workforce, amid mounting losses and customer defections, Bloomberg reported. UBS remains in a “precarious situation” after clients withdrew 23 billion Swiss francs ($20.1 billion) from the main wealth management unit and the bank posted a first-quarter net loss of almost 2 billion francs, Chairman Peter Kurer, who steps down today, told shareholders today in Zurich.

Fiat SpA's chief executive, facing a two-week deadline to work out a partnership with Chrysler LLC, warned the troubled U.S. carmaker's unions he would ditch the idea unless they agreed to cut labor costs, Reuters reported. In a clear message to U.S. and Canadian unions, Sergio Marchionne told Wednesday's Globe and Mail newspaper a deal on the partnership had only a 50-50 chance of succeeding because of lack of progress in talks with union leaders. "Absolutely we are prepared to walk.

Britain's biggest childcare provider will carry on as normal, despite speculation over the immediate future of childcare centres run by its owners in Australia, the trade journal Children & Young People Now reported. Australian firm ABC Learning acquired the Busy Bees Nurseries group in 2006, but is currently in receivership. Receivers have sold 65 of the 241 settings ABC owned in its homeland and will make a decision on what to do with the remaining settings today.

Austria is not on the brink of default and can cope with any risks caused by the exposure of domestic banks to emerging Europe, Austrian officials said. Austrian banks are among the biggest lenders to formerly Communist areas of central and eastern Europe and have lent the equivalent of 75 percent of its gross domestic product to clients in the region, Forbes reported. 'The creditworthiness of the state of Austria and of the Austrian banking sector is beyond any doubt,' Austrian National Bank Governor Ewald Nowotny said in a statement late on Tuesday.

Asarco LLC, the bankrupt Grupo Mexico SAB unit, must wait for a ruling on its proposed sale to Sterlite Industries Ltd., India’s biggest copper producer, for $1.1 billion in cash and a $600 million note. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Richard Schmidt declined to rule on Asarco’s request to sign a sale contract with Sterlite at a hearing today in Corpus Christi, Texas. Lawyers for the buyer said they would try to get an extension of tomorrow’s deadline to allow the judge more time to reach a decision.

German department store chain DWW Woolworth GmbH Co, owned by British investor Argyll Partners, has filed for insolvency, a court said on Tuesday. Slowing sales, increased competition, and insufficient liquidity are believed to have contributed to the company's collapse, Sky News reported. Business at its roughly German and Austrian stores would continue as usual, with the Austrian and logistics operations not believed to affected by the filing. Woolworth employs about 9,000 staff in Germany and generated about €900 million ($1.2 billion) in sales in its fiscal year to end-October 2008.

Creditors of Ontario-based Durham Furniture have accepted the company's restructuring plan, a move that has saved 200 jobs and kept the company from slipping into bankruptcy, The Post reported. In a meeting last Tuesday, 178 of the 243 creditors--which include dozens of employees laid off from the Chesley plant when it closed and some at the Durham plant--voted to accept the offer put forth under the Companies Credit Arrangement Act. Suppliers and ex-employees agreed to accept eight per cent of what they are owed. Durham Furniture began its restructuring process in January.

Under pressure from its bankers, Gehl Co. must either forge new loan terms or face possible bankruptcy, its new French owner has said, Construction Equipment reported. After the West Bend construction equipment maker violated conditions of its loan agreement, Gehl's bankers demanded March 31 that it make early repayment of about $118 million of financing, the Manitou Group said in a statement last month announcing its 2008 results. Manitou acquired Gehl in a friendly takeover last year for about $310 million.