Headlines

U.K. home repossessions rose to the highest since 1996 last year and may almost double in the next 12 months as Britain’s recession deepens, the Council of Mortgage Lenders said. Banks took possession of 40,000 properties last year, a 54 percent increase from 2007, the London-based group said in an e- mailed statement today. It predicted the total will reach 75,000 this year. Ministry of Justice data showed 142,626 repossession proceedings began in courts in 2008, the most since 1991.

Sir Anthony O'Reilly long has been a symbol of Irish resurgence, a national rugby hero and raconteur who conquered the U.S. corporate world before returning home to oversee a sprawling business empire. That empire now shows signs of unraveling, The Wall Street Journal reported. Concerns about a €200 million ($253 million) debt payment that Independent News faces in May have sent its shares down 90% over the past year to 18 European cents--less than the price of most of its newspapers.

The combination of government bailouts and falling tax revenue combined Thursday to show the perilous state of the U.K.'s balance sheet, The Wall Street Journal reported. The country's Office of National Statistics said two bailed-out banks--Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC and Lloyds Banking Group PLC--have been classified as public-sector entities, moving as much as £1.5 trillion ($2.136 trillion) of liabilities to the country's balance sheet. Meanwhile, the U.K. Treasury reported that tax receipts for January, usually a bumper month, dropped 10% from a year ago to £53.8 billion.

Donor countries to the Khmer Rouge tribunal have commended the war crimes court for beginning its first trial on Tuesday, a step it claims moves Cambodia much closer to achieving justice and national reconciliation. But as congratulatory messages flood in, donors remain silent on further pledges to the financially troubled chambers, failing to allay fears by officials that the court's Cambodian side looks set to become bankrupt by the end of the month, The Phnom Penh Post reported.

Multinational companies are hiring less or cutting existing staff in China as they struggle through the global economic crisis, according to state media, Agence France-Presse reported. Nearly 70 percent of firms polled in a survey by FESCO, a Beijing-based, state-run recruitment agency targeting foreign companies, said they were scaling back their recruitment plans this year, the China Daily reported. In addition, 27 percent said they had already started laying off employees, the survey found after polling 356 of its clients in different industries across China, the newspaper said.

Switzerland embarked on an uphill battle to retain its treasured banking secrecy on Thursday, hours after UBS agreed to hand over client data to Washington in a landmark settlement of tax fraud charges, Reuters reported. With observers fearing the overnight deal marked the end of an era for the country's financial industry, Finance Minister Hans-Rudolf Merz told a press conference: "It is evident there has been tax fraud (at UBS) ...

General Motors' loss-making Swedish carmaker Saab could decide on Thursday to file for reorganisation which would grant it protection from creditors, Swedish radio reported. A reorganisation filing, which is an alternative to an outright bankruptcy filing, would be made with a Swedish court after which the viability of continuing operations is assessed. Saab's board was scheduled to meet on Thursday morning and would then decide to request a reorganisation of the carmaker, public service radio reported without disclosing its sources.

General Motors Europe said on Wednesday it was prepared to discuss partnerships or outside investment for its Opel unit as pressure mounted on the government in Berlin to help rescue the German brand, Spiegel Online reported. But Chancellor Angela Merkel said Opel must first present a clear restructuring plan before her government can consider giving assistance. GM Europe's United States parent company on Tuesday night announced plans to reduce its global workforce by 47,000 jobs this year and to cut five additional American plants by 2012.

Precision Nuclear Inc. and its sister company Precision Metal Works Ltd., both owned by Fredericton-area businessman David Rioux, were placed under the receivership of Green Hunt Wedlake Inc., the New Brunswick Business Journal reported. The Halifax-based bankruptcy trustees and insolvency consultants were appointed by the Court of Queen's Bench for 30 days while Rioux, the president, chief executive and sole shareholder of the companies, tries to come up with a reorganization plan that would meet the approval of its creditors.

U.K. law firm Simmons & Simmons has revealed that it may lay off up to 20 attorneys and 49 other employees this year as a result of a slowing legal market, Bankruptcy Law360 reported. The firm has begun a month-long consultation that may result in the layoffs of up to 20 junior attorneys, 35 secretaries and 14 other support staff, according to a firm spokesman. The firm has no plans to lay off senior attorneys. “This is a business decision to ensure that we remain efficient faced with a contracting market in some areas,” said Mark Dawkins, the firm's managing partner.