Japan Airlines to be domestic carrier

The Japanese government is discussing an option to strip debt-ridden Japan Airlines of its international operations to enable it to survive as a domestic carrier, a newspaper reported on Thursday. It calls for rival All Nippon Airways to take over JAL's international flights as part of its downsizing scheme, the Mainichi Shimbun said. The scheme was apparently on the table when key cabinet officials, including transport minister Seiji Maehara, met on Wednesday to discuss JAL's rehabilitation programme. But the transport ministry is strongly opposed, despite growing calls for a drastic restructuring of JAL's international operations where losses weigh heavily on the airline, the newspaper said. '[JAL] will be a good company if it abandons international routes and concentrates on domestic flights,' an unnamed JAL executive was quoted by Mainichi as saying. In a related move, Maehara held talks with vice-prime minister Naoto Kan and other officials on Saturday and agreed that the state-run Development Bank of Japan will expand loans to JAL from its early offer of 100 billion yen [$1.08 billion], Jiji Press said. The DBJ has already disbursed 55 billion yen of the credit line extended in November. 'On top of the remaining 45 billion yen, [DBJ] is to expand the limit,' Maehara told reporters, according to Jiji. Cabinet officials will discuss details of further loans to JAL on Sunday before making an official announcement, Jiji added. JAL, battered by the global recession and swine flu pandemic, is scrambling to slash costs and is seeking its fourth government bailout since 2001 to keep flying in the face of mounting losses. Shares in Asia's biggest carrier plunged to a record low on Wednesday as media reports that bankruptcy is one option for the cash-strapped carrier spooked investors. The Tokyo stock market was closed for a holiday on Thursday. Local media have reported that the state- backed Enterprise Turnaround Initiative Corp, which is overseeing JAL's restructuring, is considering the possibility of the carrier filing for protection from creditors. It has also been offered financial assistance by both American Airlines and Delta Air Lines, who are competing to take a minority stake in the Japanese carrier, eyeing its coveted Asian landing slots. JAL, which lost about $1.5 billion in the six months to September, has said it plans thousands of job cuts and a drastic reduction in routes as part of its efforts to return to profitability.

London and Paris stock advance

British and French stock markets rose Thursday ahead of their early closure for the New Year holiday, as investor confidence grew over economic recovery heading into 2010, analysts said. In morning deals, London's benchmark FTSE 100 index added 0.30 per cent to 5,414.17 points and in Paris the CAC 40 index increased 0.29 per cent to 3,947.32 points. Frankfurt closed for festivities the previous day. Trading volumes were thin amid the year-end holiday season. London will shut for the holiday weekend at 1230 GMT, shortly followed by Paris at 1300 GMT. 'Looks set to be a good finish to the year,' ETX Capital senior trader Manoj Ladwa told the AFP. 'I expect more of the same in the first quarter of 2010. Although volumes are low, recent rise in (the) market has been broad, indicating wide interest for equities.' All three main European markets have won more than a fifth in value this year, boosted by signs of global economic recovery after a vicious downturn that was rooted in the global financial crisis. The eurozone, Japan and the United States all pulled out of recession this year — but Britain has yet to escape. 'Investors can look back on the last twelve months with a sigh of relief,' said UBS analyst Geoffrey Yu. 'The global financial system stabilized, helping avert a depression, as most asset classes began to feel the effects of extraordinary and coordinated policy intervention by the second quarter. 'Risks remain in 2010, but the world economy is back from the brink,' he added. Markets worldwide had slumped in early 2009 on fears about governments' abilities to overcome a deep global recession. But they were boosted as many of the world's central banks and governments launched radical measures to boost lending, stabilise the troubled banking sector and slash interest rates to historically low levels. On Wednesday, Germany's DAX 30 index of leading shares sank 0.90 per cent to finish at 5, 957.43 points on Frankfurt's final trading day of 2009. However, the DAX gained almost 24 per cent this year, boosted by the nation's emergence from a deep recession in the second quarter of 2009. Frankfurt, London and Paris will remain shut on Friday and will reopen for business on Monday, January 4. Sentiment was hit this week after Tokyo finished in the red on its final trading day of the year on Wednesday. The market also reopens on January 4. However, Wall Street stocks edged higher overnight after a better-than-expected report on US manufacturing activity, indicating that a recovery from recession was on track. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.03 per cent to 10,548.51, a day after the blue-chip index fell for the first time in seven sessions that saw new 2009 highs. The New York market swung back from negative territory partly due to a report showing manufacturing activity in the Chicago area accelerated for the third straight month in December, analysts said. US financial markets are closed Friday for the New Year holiday and will reopen on Monday.

North Korea will ban use of forex

North Korea will ban the use of foreign currency from New Year's Day in another move to reassert the communist regime's control over the economy, South Korean officials and analysts said Thursday. A government official, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed a report of the ban carried by China's Xinhua news agency earlier this week. Xinhua, reporting from Pyongyang, quoted a decree from the North's ministry of people's security prohibiting all entities and individuals from using foreign currency from January 1. Foreigners will have to exchange money into North Korean won, the decree said, adding that any violation would be 'severely punished'. The ruling came less than a month after the North issued new won banknotes as part of a 100-to-one currency revaluation. It restricted the amount of old notes which could be changed for new currency, sparking widespread anger. The revaluation was widely seen as an attempt to clamp down on a growing free-market economy, which emerged after the state food distribution system collapsed during famines in the 1990s. In 2002 the regime introduced limited wage and price reforms, causing prices to rise sharply. The reforms were rolled back three years later and in recent years officials have been cracking down on trading in street markets. Professor Kim Keun-Sik of South Korea's Kyungnam University said the forex ban was aimed at further curbing private markets. 'As part of efforts to tighten state control over the economy, it needs to crack down on merchants and the new rich who have been dealing in foreign currencies at private markets,' Kim told AFP. The North officially limits the use of foreign currency to designated outlets. But visitors say it is accepted at many places in Pyongyang. South Korea's defence minister Kim Tae-Young said the currency revaluation, and the North's succession plans, could pose a threat. 'It is difficult to estimate the threat to us that will arise in the aftermath of the currency reform and from the regime instabilities as leader Kim Jong-Il goes ahead with a hereditary power handover,' the minister said in a New Year message to the South's 655,000-member military. Leader Kim is widely believed to be promoting his third son Jong-Un as eventual successor. 'North Korea is continuing to expand its armaments despite a lack of food and serious economic challenges,' minister Kim said, calling on the military to stay alert to the potential threat. Kim Yeon-Chul, director of the independent Hankyoreh Peace Institute, said the ban on using foreign exchange was aimed at stabilising the value of the new won against overseas currencies. 'In the end, all will depend on whether the North will be able to curb inflation, especially whether it can rein in rampant food prices through a stable supply of food rations,' he told AFP. He said chronic food shortages eased somewhat this year thanks to favourable weather conditions and inflows from abroad, giving Pyongyang a chance to carry out the currency revaluation. Kim Yeon-Chul said the success of the revaluation and the forex ban would ultimately depend on progress in nuclear disarmament talks. 'Stability in commodity prices and wages depends on supply, which in turn relies on its ties with foreign countries,' he said.

Bangladesh want to set more tourist spot in Sundarban

The forest department sent a proposal to the government for the establishment five tourist spots in the Sundarban, world's largest mangrove forest. While talking to the news agency, tourists visiting the forest said steps should be taken to make the tourist spots in Sundarban more attractive. Sundarban [east zone] DFO Mihir Kumar said they have sent the proposal to higher authorities to set up tourist spots in Chandpai, Harbaria, Sharankhola, Kalagachhia and Munshiganj. Named after the dominant mangrove species Heritiera fomes, locally known as Sundari, the Sundarban eco-region is the world's largest mangrove ecosystem covering 20,400 square kilometres across southern Bangladesh and Indian state of West Bengal. This is the only mangrove eco-region that harbours the Indo-Pacific region's largest predator, the Royal Bengal Tiger. Thousands of tourists visit the world's largest mangrove forest every year especially from November to January to enjoy the natural beauty of the forests. Unlike in other habitats, tigers in Sunderban live and swim around the mangrove islands, where they hunt scarce prey such as chitra deer [ Cervus axis], barking deer [Muntiacus muntjak], wild pig [Susscrofa], and even macaques. As per the census conducted in 2004, there are 440 royal Bengal Tigers, 1.5 lakh deer, 40,000- 50,000 monkeys and 150-200 crocodiles in the mangrove forest. Three wildlife sanctuaries were established in 1977 under the Bangladesh Wildlife [Preservation] Order, 1973. These are the Sundarban East Wildlife Sanctuary, South Wildlife Sanctuary and West Wildlife Sanctuary.

Bangladeshi banks profit rise

Despite global economic recession, local commercial banks posted record operating profits in 2009, banking sources said. Operating income for most banks rose by 5 to 100 per cent in 2009 compared to previous year, according to data collected from different banks. 'Despite a noticeably deteriorated macroeconomic environment due to the global recession, the banking sector did better in 2009 for their innovative planning and strategy,' said Muhammad Ali, managing director of the Shahjalal Islami Bank. He also said that most of the commercial banks would gain profit from the spread between cost of fund and lending rate. EXIM Bank's operating income rose by more than 19.85 per cent to Tk 320 crore from Tk 267 crore in 2008, officials said. Islami Bank Bangladesh Limited's income increased by 1.56 per cent to Tk 845 crore, Social Investment Bank's registered an increase in their income by about 100 per cent while National Credit and Commerce Bank's income marked a rise of 33.05 per cent in 2009. Shahjalal Islami Bank made operating profit of about Tk 220 in 2009 compared to its last year's income of Tk 183 crore while the operational profit of Prime Bank surpassed Tk 580 crore, National Bank made operating profit Tk 350 crore, Duch-Bangla bank Tk 270 crore, First Security Islami Bank Tk 78 crore and Basic Bank Tk 167 crore . State-owned Sonali, Janata, Agrani and Rupali banks also showed significant rise in their respective operating income, ranging between 20 per cent and 25 per cent. 'Banks are coming out from the global financial recession,' said Muhammad Ali commenting on the overall performance of the commercial banks in 2009. Pubali Bank's managing director Helal Ahmed Chowdhury told New Age that the country's capital markets have contributed to raise the profit of the commercial banks in the first half of 2009. 'The last quarter of year was the turn around time of the commercial banks in global recession, ' he added.