When Argentina defaulted on its debt in 2002, the economy was collapsing and a bloody popular revolt had helped topple two presidents in a week. Now, the country could default again, but it would be over a matter of principle rather than necessity, Reuters reported. After a decade of sleepy litigation, investors got a jolt late last year when U.S. courts ruled in favor of "holdout" creditors who had rejected Argentine debt exchanges in 2005 and 2010 and sued to be repaid in full on their defaulted bonds. A U.S.

Canadians keep getting new credit cards. And, despite all the worries about record-high household debt, they keep paying them off, The Wall Street Journal Real Time Canada blog reported. Overall consumer credit, excluding mortgages, has grown robustly in the years since 2009, but delinquency and default rates have remained at low levels, according to credit-card data released Thursday by credit rater Equifax and Moody's Analytics.

Mexico's government proposed a sweeping overhaul of the banking sector Wednesday to make credit cheaper and more available, a move desperately needed in a country where bank loans represent less than 20 percent of GDP - one-tenth the level seen in the United States, the Associated Press reported. The plan would encourage banks to compete and lend more, create incentives for mid-size companies to list shares on the stock market, and modify bankruptcy laws to make it easier for lenders to seize debtors' assets.

Global youth unemployment is set to continue growing over the next five years, putting a generation at risk of lasting damage to their earnings potential and job prospects throughout their lives, the International Labour Organisation has warned, the Financial Times reported. The UN agency said in a report released on Wednesday that it expected the worldwide youth jobless rate to increase from 12.4 per cent last year to 12.8 per cent by 2018.

Some of Canada’s mid-sized cities are flourishing – but not all: Almost half of them have not recouped the jobs they lost during the recession, The Globe and Mail reported. New analysis by the Conference Board of Canada finds that 21 of the 46 medium-sized cities it tracks haven’t yet seen employment return to pre-recession levels. Most of these cities had been bustling up until the 2008-2009 recession. But the ensuing downturn caused economies to contract in 29 of the cities tracked.

A U.S. court is expected on June 11 to confirm the restructuring plan of Bahrain-based Arcapita , the company said, making it the first Gulf company to file for bankruptcy protection under Chapter 11 rules, Thomson Reuters News & Insight reported. Like most investment companies in the region, Arcapita was hit by the financial crisis as it struggled to exit its investments and its fee income from raising fresh funds in the Gulf Arab region collapsed.

Troubled German regional lender HSH said it had cut its exposure to bad shipping loans by persuading struggling debtors to transfer ownership of some vessels to U.S.-listed shipping company Navios, Reuters reported. The deal, unveiled on Monday, may provide a blueprint for the financing of ships that are insolvent and a way for the Hamburg-based lender to cut its 9 billion euro ($11.7 billion) portfolio of bad ship loans, which has already forced it to seek state aid.

Nortel Networks Corp.'s European units on Wednesday appealed a Delaware bankruptcy judge’s decision to forego arbitration and, instead, hold a cross-border trial in conjunction with a Canadian court to decide how to split $7.3 billion in cash between the company’s far-flung affiliates, Law360 reported. The appeal — lodged in Delaware district court — challenges U.S.

George Osborne is to go toe-to-toe with the International Monetary Fund next month in a battle over the credibility of his Plan A on austerity for the UK, amid signs that incoming Bank of England governor Mark Carney will be a key ally in his fight, the Financial Times reported. The chancellor is said by aides to be prepared to “aggressively” defend his policies when an IMF team arrives in London to make an annual assessment of the British economy, and is prepared to defy their recommendations if necessary.

When Wolfgang Schäuble, the German finance minister and war horse of European politics, celebrated his 70th birthday at a theater in Berlin last September, two of the most powerful women in the world offered warm words in his honor, the International Herald Tribune reported. One was Chancellor Angela Merkel. The other, delivering the keynote speech, was Christine Lagarde, the managing director of the International Monetary Fund. Ms. Lagarde’s presence reflected her close, longtime friendship with Mr. Schäuble. But it also was a confirmation of the enormous stature that Ms.