North America

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau 's government announced plans Thursday to temporarily lift the federal sales tax off a number of items and send checks to millions of Canadians who are dealing with rising costs and as a federal election looms, the Associated Press reported. The measures come as a cost of living crisis has left voters unhappy with Trudeau and ahead of an election that could come anytime between this fall and next October. “Our government can’t set prices at the checkout, but we can put more money in people’s pockets,” Trudeau said at a news conference in Toronto.

Canada’s banking and insurance regulator said it expects executives and boards to be accountable for their company culture, and it’s beefing up its rules on how to do that, Bloomberg News reported.

Canada’s Flair Airlines Ltd. is looking to raise around $150 million of senior debt as part of an ongoing overhaul at the budget carrier, Bloomberg News reported. The firm, which said in August that it was in talks to raise funds, is working with Haywood Securities Inc. to do so. Flair recently reported C$14.7 million ($10.5 million) of third-quarter Ebitda. “We had a great third quarter and look forward to serving the Canadian public for the long term,” a Flair spokesperson said in a statement to Bloomberg News while declining to comment on financial details.

The founder of bankrupt Indian tech firm Byju’s tried to use loan proceeds that he allegedly hid from US lenders to secretly buy back a software company that was taken over by an American trustee, according to a new court filing, Bloomberg News reported. Byju Raveendran has been trying to regain control his capsizing education technology empire, which is under court supervision in both India, where the parent is based, and the US, where some of its valuable units are located, according to a court declaration filed by Nebraska businessman William R. Hailer.

Indian billionaire Gautam Adani has been indicted by U.S. prosecutors for his alleged role in a $265 million scheme to bribe Indian officials, plunging his conglomerate deep into crisis for the second time in two years, Reuters reported. Multiple counts of fraud - which U.S. authorities say involved a firm that was listed in New York and affected American investors - were levelled against Adani, who is one of the world's richest people, as well as seven other defendants.

The Biden administration told Congress it plans to cancel $4.65 billion in debt owed by Ukraine, according to a letter obtained by Bloomberg News, the latest in a series of moves meant to bolster support for Kyiv before President-elect Donald Trump takes office, Bloomberg News reported. The White House will cancel half of a $9 billion loan delivered to Ukraine as part of a $60 billion supplemental package approved in April.

Some lenders to Canada’s distressed condo developers are finding they have little choice but to buy the troubled projects they backed and finish the buildings themselves, Bloomberg News reported. As the country faces its biggest wave of receiverships among real estate developments in at least a decade, lenders are going to new lengths to avoid losses.

Swedish debt collector Intrum is asking a U.S. bankruptcy court to help reduce its debt, but will have to overcome a group of bondholders who allege it is misusing chapter 11, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. After Intrum filed for bankruptcy in Houston on Friday, creditors holding some of its bonds due in 2025 asked for the chapter 11 case to be dismissed. The bondholders say the company manufactured its bankruptcy venue by creating a U.S. affiliate last month, six days before seeking creditors’ votes on its restructuring plan, according to papers filed by the bondholders with the U.S.

WeWork Inc. is giving up space in two prime locations in Singapore, underscoring the company’s challenges in one of its most promising markets, Bloomberg News reported. One co-working space spanning the 17th to 20th floors at Manulife Tower along Singapore’s 8 Cross Street has ended operations. Another three-floor space in an office building at 83 Clemenceau Avenue on the city center fringe will close next year. A WeWork spokesperson said in a statement that despite Singapore being a “priority market,” it has “made the difficult decision” not to renew leases at the two locations.

The defendants in the $1.6 billion alleged fraud case linked to the Baha Mar casino, in the Bahamas, have requested a stay of enforcement on the court’s ruling noting that the companies in question ‘will be forced into insolvency,’ Asia Gaming Brief reported. According to a reply affirmation filed with the Supreme Court of the State of New York Appellate Division, CCA Construction Inc, CSCEC Bahamas Ltd and CCA Bahamas Ltd requested the stay. Collectively the defendants are referred to as CCAB, while the plaintiff is BLM Properties Ltd.