Antigua and Barbuda's government on Tuesday dismissed the country's chief financial regulator over his alleged role in the Allen Stanford fraud case, and vowed to root out further corruption "cancer" if it existed, Reuters reported. Leroy King had already been suspended last week as head of the Caribbean nation's Financial Services Regulatory Commission over U.S. charges that he collaborated with Texas billionaire Stanford in a $7 billion "massive Ponzi scheme". In announcing the Antigua and Barbuda cabinet's decision, Attorney General Justin Simon told Reuters he had received from U.S.

Strains in pensions systems, in both private and public provision, threaten to turn the financial crisis of the past two years into a social crisis lasting for decades, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development warned on Tuesday. In its annual analysis of the health of pensions systems globally, the Paris-based organisation found private pension plans lost 23 per cent of their value last year, while higher unemployment “leaves little room for more generous public pensions”, the Financial Times reported.

Business and political leaders are reacting with a surprisingly philosophical sense of calm to the final breakup of Nortel Networks, the Financial Post reported on a Canwest News story. New owners will replace old ones, they say, and there’s still opportunity for innovation and jobs, whether the employer is a century-old Canadian icon, a foreign-based multinational, or a startup run by ex-Nortel staffers. The Canadian Council of Chief Executives for its part said "a shift of ownership by itself may not be a bad thing" for Nortel, or for any company sold to a foreign firm.

Insolvent printing giant Quebecor World Inc. is a step closer to exiting from bankruptcy protection after its Canadian creditors strongly endorsed its restructuring plan yesterday, The Globe and Mail reported. The yes vote, concluded at a downtown Montreal hotel, was a positive indicator of the outcome of a similar vote by U.S. creditors. The tally of that vote was not expected until late yesterday, said Quebecor World spokesman Tony Ross.

Nokia Siemens Networks says it will hang onto about 800 Canadian employees of Nortel Networks Corp. as part of the plan to buy a major portion of the former technology giant's wireless business, The Canadian Press reported. Simon Beresford-Wylie, chief executive officer of Nokia Siemens, said Monday in a conference call that about 2,500 Nortel employees would transfer to Nokia Siemens, with about a third of them in Canada. About 500 of those jobs are expected to stay in Ottawa, where the company houses most of its Canadian operations. Most of the other jobs will be at Nortel's U.S.

Nortel Networks, once a technology giant, has decided to sell itself off in pieces rather than attempt to emerge from bankruptcy as a restructured company, the Associated Press reported. Nokia Siemens Networks agreed to buy some wireless operations of Canada's Nortel Networks Corp. in a $650 million deal as the more than century-old Nortel announced it is looking for buyers for the rest of its assets.

The federal government could have prevented the liquidation of Nortel Networks Corp. with a massive bailout, but instead Ottawa has decided that the best way to salvage something from the biggest corporate bust in Canadian history is to help fund a foreign breakup, The Globe and Mail reported. Through the Export Development Corp. (EDC), which normally helps Canadian exporters and investors expand their businesses abroad, the government will provide $300-million toward a credit facility for Nokia Siemens Networks' $650-million (U.S.) bid for Nortel's wireless assets.

Beleaguered oil and gas producer Canadian Superior Energy Inc. said Friday it will buy partner and sidecar company Challenger Energy Corp. in a paper deal valued at $77.8 million, including debt, the Calgary Herald reported. The acquisition would consolidate Canadian Superior's stake in a contentious gas field offshore Trinidad and Tobago in which Challenger holds a 25 per cent interest.

Fraser Papers Inc. and its subsidiaries have initiated a court-supervised restructuring under Canada’s Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act and will seek similar relief pursuant to Chapter 15 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code, Dow Jones Newswires reported. Fraser Papers, Toronto, said PricewaterhouseCoopers Inc. was appointed by the Ontario Superior Court of Justice as Monitor to assist the company through its restructuring process.

Nortel Networks Corp. sought financial aid from the Canadian government to avoid filing for bankruptcy protection but was refused, Nortel President and Chief Executive Mike Zafirovski told a parliamentary committee Thursday. The telecommunications-equipment company filed for protection under the Companies Creditors Arrangement Act in Canada in January, Dow Jones reported. Testifying before the House of Commons Finance Committee, Zafirovski said he had private discussions with Finance Minister Jim Flaherty and Industry Minister Tony Clement.