United States

Arclin, a closely held maker of resins and other construction-related materials, said on Monday it filed for bankruptcy protection in Canada and the United States and that it reached an agreement in principle to restructure its debt with some of its key lenders, Reuters reported. Under the terms of the agreement, Arclin will have its debt reduced to $60 million from $234 million, the company said in a statement. A post-petition financing facility of $25 million is also part of the deal.

Lower revenue and bad debts pushed profit in the second quarter down 71 percent for Deutsche Post DHL, The Journal of Commerce reported. The world's biggest logistics company warned of tough market conditions ahead. The Bonn-based company, which ceased domestic express deliveries in the United States in January after mounting losses, forecast full year profit of $1.7 billion compared with $3.42 billion in 2008. It expects to post a net profit in 2009 thanks to cash proceeds from the sale of its banking unit, Deutsche Postbank.

Workers at the French arm of telecommunications manufacturer Nortel have threatened to blow up their factory unless they secure decent layoff terms, but gas cylinders placed around the plant were empty, the National Post reported on a Reuters story. French daily Le Parisien said on Wednesday the workers had placed gas cylinders in front of the plant in the Yvelines area near Paris, where 480 jobs are set to be axed following bankruptcy proceedings.

It may take until late fall or even early next year for a federal lifeline to begin flowing to Canada's embattled forestry companies and help them weather the impact of hefty tax subsidies to their U.S. rivals, The Globe and Mail reported. Ottawa's $1-billion fund, announced nearly a month ago, was designed to partly offset the impact of $6-billion to $8-billion (U.S.) in "black liquor" subsidies to American pulp producers.

Paris has set aside €100 million in stimulus funds earmarked for what the French like to call their cultural patrimony, The New York Times reported. It is a French twist on how to overcome the global downturn, spending borrowed money avidly to beautify the nation even as it also races ahead of the United States in more classic Keynesian ways: fixing potholes, upgrading railroads and pursuing other “shovel ready” projects.

Bankrupt commercial printer Quebecor World Inc on Tuesday gained approval of its bankruptcy reorganization plan from judges in the United States and Canada, clearing the way for the company to exit bankruptcy protection. Quebecor World, which expects to emerge from its insolvency proceedings in July, prints books, magazines, directories and advertising materials. It filed for court protection in January 2008 and has about 20,000 employees. In a rare joint cross-border hearing conducted via video teleconference, Judge James Peck of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan also gave U.S.

Zimbabwe’s prime minister, Morgan Tsvangirai, said Tuesday that an official he had appointed had secured lines of credit worth $950 million from China, President Robert Mugabe’s longtime ally, The New York Times reported. Mr. Mugabe’s party has mocked Mr. Tsvangirai for failing to bring home much aid from his three-week tour of the United States and Europe. Zimbabwe’s government — a virtually bankrupt contraption led by Mr. Mugabe and his rival, Mr. Tsvangirai — needs an estimated $8 billion to rebuild the country’s ruined economy.

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.

Beijing is diversifying its overseas investments and pressing U.S. officials for an "exit strategy" from the ultra-loose fiscal and monetary policies that China fears will eventually inflate away the value of its U.S. bond holdings and fell the dollar. But China's pragmatic policymakers also know there is no practical alternative to the dollar as the world's main reserve currency.

Canadian doormaker Masonite International Inc said on Tuesday it had completed a financial restructuring allowing it to emerge from bankruptcy protection in both the United States and Canada, Reuters reported. The company had filed for protection under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code, and the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA) in Canada, on March 16.