Philadelphia Newspaper Owner Files For Bankruptcy

The owner of The Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News filed for bankruptcy protection Sunday in an effort to restructure its debt load.

Philadelphia Newspapers Inc., owned by Philadelphia Media Holdings LLC, is the second newspaper company in two days, and fourth in recent months, to seek bankruptcy protection.

John Laing Homes, US Subsidiary of Emaar Properties, Filed For Chapter 11

A company that builds under the brand of John Laing Homes – a US subsidiary of Emaar Properties – has filed for Chapter 11 bankrupcy protection, claiming between $500 million and $1 billion in debts.

WL Homes, which operates 105 real estate developments in Colorado, California, Arizona and Texas, has up to 50,000 creditors, according to its bankruptcy filings.

Signs of Recession in Dubai as 86 percent more residency visas are cancelled

Dubai cancelled 86 percent more residency visas in January this year compared with the same period in 2008, official figures revealed on Tuesday.

Data from Dubai’s Ministry of Interior Naturalization & Residency (DNRD) shows that 54,684 residency visas were cancelled during the month of January, compared with 29,418 in January 2008 – an 86 percent increase.

IBM offers to shift workers losing jobs to lower-wage countries

Some of the workers being let go by IBM have a chance to remain with the company — if they’re willing to move to Brazil, India, China or a dozen other low-wage countries. But the expatriate employees would likely be paid local wages as they begin their new lives overseas.

20,000 Indian workers to be flown out of UAE

According to figures released by Indian Consulate in Dubai, 20,000 Indian workers, mostly labourers working in the construction industry, are leaving UAE in bulk booked flights to India.

They are either being sent back home on long leave, or are being redeployed to work on projects in other Gulf countries, such as Qatar.

Banks in Florida, Maryland and Utah closing as Mortgage losses mount

Banks in Florida, Maryland and Utah were closed Friday as regulators wrapped up the busiest month for failures since the housing slump began in 2006.

KPMG UK asking Staff to cut time to beat recession and avoid layoffs

Global accountancy firm KPMG has asked its 11,000 British staff if they would switch to a four-day week or take a long break to help avoid redundancies in the recession, a spokesman said on Saturday.

Visual Guide to Recession

From FlowingData

German jobless hits three million as recession bites

German unemployment has risen for the first time for 33 months with the total number of jobless now above three million, data showed on Wednesday as the recession in Europe’s economic powerhouse begins to bite.