Spain

Grupo Corporativo Ono SA, Spain’s biggest cable television operator, got approval from lenders to restructure €3.5 billion ($4.8 billion) of loans, BusinessWeek reported on a Bloomberg story. Holders of more than 80 percent of the debt agreed to the terms, which include delaying loan repayments to 2013, the Madrid-based company said today in a statement. Ono changed the terms of the loans as the worst recession in Spain in six decades eroded prospects for growth in the cable market.

Songbird Peggy Lee never offered herself as an economic forecaster, but her famous 1947 hit song, "Mañana," included such prophetic lines as "My pocket needs some money; once I had some money; my brother isn't working"—all to be attended to mañana. Which seems to be the theme song of Spain's socialist prime minister, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The euro zone's decision to include the International Monetary Fund in any Greek rescue plan extends the Fund's influence to a large swath of the world economy—and gives a political boost to its managing director, The Wall Street Journal reported. Over the past two years, the IMF has worked with the European Union to bail out EU members, including Latvia and Hungary. Now it is clear that the IMF mandate reaches also to Portugal, Spain and other troubled members of the 16-nation euro zone, said Domenico Lombardi, a Brookings Institution expert on the IMF.

A senior Chinese central bank official criticized the handling of the Greek debt crisis, highlighting global concern about the situation in Europe, The Wall Street Journal reported. Speaking at a conference in Hong Kong, Zhu Min, deputy governor of the People's Bank of China, also said China "should and could" import more goods to keep its trade surplus small. And he noted that the central bank's efforts to tighten monetary policy were having their intended effect, even without China having to raise interest rates.

Britain operates one of the largest welfare states in Europe. And that, it seems, is just fine with many of the British, The New York Times reported. Despite the worst recession since World War II, many people here show little appetite for shrinking a system that eats up half the nation’s economic output, more than in Portugal, Greece or Spain — all of which are trying to push through painful cuts. Indeed, as Britain’s Labour government confronts a yawning budget deficit, public sector workers are mobilizing to head off any reductions in wages or jobs.

Debt-laden Ireland is winning applause from financial markets for quickly taking the kind of harsh economic medicine that countries around the world are putting off, The Wall Street Journal reported. Late last year, Ireland looked a lot like Greece. The financial crisis coincided with a housing bust that left Ireland's banks in terrible shape, requiring a government rescue. Ireland's fiscal deficit rose to almost 12% of gross domestic product—a shade under Greece's 12.7%.

France has proven surprisingly stable in the European economic storm. As Greece struggles to avoid default or bailout, Spain and Portugal watch anxiously, Sweden falls back into recession, Germany argues about historically high budget deficits and Britain grapples with deficits and debt of Hellenic proportions, France looks solid and even wise to many, The New York Times reported.

Greece set off the crisis rattling the euro zone. Spain could determine whether the 16-nation currency stands or falls, The Wall Street Journal reported. The euro zone's No. 4 economy, Spain has an unemployment rate of 19%, a deflating housing bubble, big debts and a gaping budget deficit. Its gross domestic product contracted 3.6% in 2009 and is expected to shrink again this year, leaving Spain in its deepest and longest recession in a half-century. The problem is that, thanks largely to its membership in the euro, Spain lacks tried-and-true means to heal its economy.

Greece, which joined the euro two years after its inception, has concealed the dodgy state of its finances. Now it is under attack from speculators. A default could spread panic to other deficit-plagued economies, including those of Spain and Portugal, with scary consequences for Europe’s already shaky banking system. But if Greece’s partners bail it out, defying the euro’s founding treaty, the currency will suffer. Either way, the euro is in trouble, The Economist reported. This dilemma is felt especially keenly in Germany.

The Spanish government got a much-needed boost Wednesday when the nation's new €5 billion ($6.9 billion) bond issue was well received by investors, in spite of recent jitters over some euro-zone countries' public finances, The Wall Street Journal reported. The offering drew about €14 billion of interest from investors, a sign that—despite some recent doubts—Spain still has the confidence of bond markets. The deal followed bond sales by Portugal and Ireland, other nations that have been the source of some investor concern in the wake of Greece's woes.