Headlines

The U.K. economy will contract at its fastest pace in six decades this year, causing unemployment to peak at over three million and interest rates to remain mired around historic lows, the Confederation of British Industry said Monday. In its quarterly economic forecast, the CBI said the U.K. will experience a deeper and broader recession than the downturn of the early 1990s, as the economy contracts more than at any time since official records began in 1949, The Wall Street Journal reported. The CBI predicted that the U.K.

The Bombay High Court has rejected an application made by IDBI Bank and ICICI Bank seeking appointment of a court receiver to oversee the administration of Maytas Infra, India Infoline reported. The report stated that Maytas is carrying out 62 infrastructure projects and has Rs40.45 billion debt outstanding, in term loans and working capital facilities from various banks. Maytas' financial health and its ability to complete the ongoing projects is crucial for the banks, report adds. On February 9, a HC judge had refused to grant ad-interim relief sought by the two banks.

Japanese property developer Nichimo Corp said on Friday it has filed for bankruptcy protection with total liabilities of $830 million, the latest casualty of extended land-price slides and weak condominium sales, Reuters reported. Founded in 1955, Nichimo filed for court protection under the civil rehabilitation law with 75.7 billion yen ($830 million) in liabilities, as people stopped buying houses and apartments amid a deepening recession.

The pressure on Network Ten's majority owner, CanWest, is not letting up, and analysts are raising the spectre of bankruptcy for the cash-strapped media group, The Sydney Morning Herald reported. The company, controlled by the Asper family, early this week began looking for buyers for five of its free-to-air television stations in Canada as it is seeking to avert breaching its lending covenants this quarter.

Sanlu Group, the dairy firm at the heart of China's huge contaminated milk scandal, has been formally declared bankrupt, state media reported Thursday, citing a local court. Xinhua news agency said a court in the northern city of Shijiazhuang, where Sanlu is based, had accepted the company's bankruptcy filing as it faced 1.1 billion yuan (161 million dollars) of debt, Agence France-Presse reported. "The Shijiazhuang city intermediate court has formally declared Sanlu Group bankrupt," Xinhua said.

The European Union's emergency summit on March 2 to discuss growing protectionism is a make-or-break moment for the 27-nation bloc. At stake is its greatest achievement -- the single market for goods, people and capital. A row over France's latest car-industry bailout plan threatens to drive a wedge between member states. How the EU responds will have consequences not just for the EU but for global free trade. Unfortunately, the omens don't look promising. On the face of it, the French plans look like a clear case of state aid--illegal under EU rules.

British care-home operator Four Seasons Health Care cut its restructuring deadline after junior creditors threatened to take security over its assets, a company spokesman said on Thursday. Four Seasons, which was bought by Qatari investment firm Three Delta in 2006, has been locked in talks with creditors since August 2008, Reuters reported. Four Seasons agreed to bring its standstill agreement forward to May 5 from July 22 after junior creditors gave the company 90-days notice that they intended to enforce security over its assets, the spokesman said.

Australia’s A$42 billion ($28 billion) stimulus package may keep the nation from sliding into its first recession since 1991 by stoking consumer spending and building schools, roads and hospitals, Bloomberg reported. The Treasury department forecasts Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s stimulus plan will help Australia defy a global recession by creating 90,000 jobs and boosting consumer spending. Almost one third of the package includes cash handouts of as much as A$900 to low and middle-income earners.

Two New Brunswick companies will likely be put into receivership next week after lawyers for the firms and their creditors negotiated throughout the day Thursday, The Daily Gleaner reported. Precision Nuclear Inc. was before Court of Queen's Bench Justice Paulette Garnett on Thursday seeking protection under the Companies Credits Arrangements Act, which would give it a chance to continue operation.

One of India's largest grocery-store chains, Subhiksha Trading Services Ltd., has shuttered its 1,600 stores and laid off most its workers, in another sign of how the financial crisis is striking even industries that have little exposure to the global economy, The Wall Street Journal reported. Even though demand among Indian consumers remains strong, Subhiksha and other major Indian retailers are paying the price of over-expansion. Some are struggling to stay in business now that financial backing has dried up.