JAL starts consulting to seek help for reconstruction

The transport Ministry and reconstruction said on Thursday that the struggling carrier like JAL need to go through reconstruction under the Enterprise Turnaround Initiative Corp. (ETIC), after around a month evaluating Japan Airlines Corp's assets.

JAL released a statement saying it has begun consulting with ETICon seeking its help for reconstruction.

ETIC is a Tokyo based corporation jointly set up by the government and have 130 private sector financial institutions to rehabilitate debt ridden companies. ETIC, which began operating earlier this month, ia able to buy debt and invest in and provide loans to companies saddled with liabilities, deemed excessive, and can raise up to Yen 1.6 trillion in government guaranteed funds.

Transport minister Seiji Maehara stressed that ETIC will be in charge for reconstruction, so disclosing the task force's specific plan would be meaningless and could possibly make ETIC's job tougher.

The head of the task force, Shinjiro Takagi said separately that the public funds, loans and investments will be necessary to reconstruct JAL, but declined to specify the amount of financial aid necessary.

The task force's proposal reportedly centered on a capital reinforcement of up to Yen 300 billion and Yen 250 billion in debt waivers from JAL's creditors banks. The scheme include to decrease 13,000 of the JAL group workforce by the end of March 2015 and make restructuring  45 unprofitable domestic and international routes.

Asked why the task force did not propose that JAL resort to legal measures to eliminate its liabilities, such as applying for bankruptcy under the corporate rehabilitation law, Takagi said it would badly damage the company's reputation and thereby caused to much risk for Japan's top airline.

"Many  JAL operations involve international dealings on credit, and JAL's business directly depends on passengers. So the risk to its reputation would be too big," Takagi said. Once JAL makes an official application, ETIC will reevaluate the carrier's assets and decide whether to provide financial aid, which could come before year's end.

With JAL facing a cash shortage as early as next month, the airline is likely to seek government guarantees of Yen 180 billion in bridge loans to be provided mainly by the government owned Development Bank of Japan. With its troubled management , JAL has suffered chronic deficits.

In 2007, it got Yen 140 billion to strengthen its capital through a public stock offering. It also issued Yen 150 billion worth of new shares to a third party in 2008.

JAL had to ask for a Yen 100 billion special loan in June, only to post a record April-June group net loss of Yen 99.04 billion.
(Kyodo - The Japan Times Online)

Nygard Cay - at Bahama

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Shell to comply with oil price order

Phillipines :
PILIPINAS Shell will comply with a directive to keep oil prices at October 15 levels but it not ruling out moves to bring the matter to court, said the company's vice president for communications Roberto Kanapi.

Shell will also ask the energy department to clarify some issues concerning Executive Order 839, such as the fuel products included, its period of effectivity, whether it refers to the suggested retail price or actual retail price, and the directive's coveragesince not all Luzon areas where affected by typhoons Ondoy and Pepeng.

"While the intent of the order is to prevent unreasonable increases in prices of petroleum products during a state calamity, the consequences of the (EO 839) would be supply disruptions and a negative impact on the investment climate in our country. We will continue to discuss these issues with the Department of Energy - Department of Justice (DOE - DOJ) Task Force and other relevant government agencies," Kanapi said.

Kanapi said Shell expects the demand for petroleum products to go up since several players have indicated they may stop selling. Also, he added, commercial and industrial users of fuel, which are not covered by EO, may opt to buy from Shell retail stations to take advantage of the low prices.

In a statement, Shell in fact said it expects a "significant" shift in the fuel sourcing of commercial and industrial accounts from oil companies to retail sites. 

Hence, in compliance with the EO and so that victims of calamities would be the ones to benefit from subsidized oil prices, Kanapi said Shell will ration the sale of petroleum products to retail stations, basing the volume on their average sales in recent months.

"We will not accommodate those big volume off-takers that would come to our stations with containers and trucks, unless they are regular customers. These lower rates at retail stations are meant for victims of calamities," added Kanapi.

Another oil company,  Unioil Petroleum Philippines Inc., vowed to comply with directive.

"We would like to assure the public that Unioil has enough supply of petroleum products in our inventory to comply with the President's directive. There will be no problem in the normal flow of petroleum products in all our retails stations," Unioil  general manager Chito Medina Cue said.

He said they can bring in fuel products from foreign suppliers within three days if there is a shortage of supply in the local market.

"There is nothing to be afraid of as there is no shortage of supply in the international market for finished petroleum products. To bring in the products, we will just need three days at the most as long as the appropriate government agencies will expedite the processing of documents for the release of the imported fuels," Medina Cue said.

Medina Cue said the energy department should monitor retail station of Unioil's competitors to make sure they are complying with the order.

Other oil firms have started to roll back prices by P2 per liter for diesel, P1.25 per liter for unloaded premium gasoline, P0.85 per liter for regular gasoline, and P1.50 per liter for kerozene in Luzon. (MSN/Sunnex/Sun Star - Philippines)   

   

H1N1 vaccine in China

More than 54 percent of Chinese people don't plan to receive the A/H1N1 flu vaccine, because they doubt it safety and quality, according to a new survey by China Daily and a major portal Sohu.com.

The initial results from 2,000 respondents stand it significant contrast with a survey conducted by Sohu.com two months ago in which 76 percent of 2,000 said they want the inoculation. It also marks the first time that more than half of a poll's respondents have shown a lack of trust in the vaccine.

Only 30 percent in the latest ongoing survey said they would like to be inoculated and a little more than 15 percent said they would follow others in deciding whether to get the jab.

Currently the inoculation is being scaled up nationwide and would cover 5 percent of population by the end of the year, said Health Minister Chen Zhu. The intensified effort comes as the outbreak is expected  to peak around December in most area of the nation.

"Ten millions could be infected," warned Zeng Guang, chief epidemiologist at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Starting from late September, China has so far inoculated more than 300,000 people , mainly young students and old people against H1N1, with  150 showing mild adverse reactions like swelling and fever.

Worldwide, nearly 5,000 people have reportedly died from H1N1 flu, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
US President Barack Obama also declared on Friday the H1N1 outbreak a national emergency.

The illness, unlike other flu strains, has been particularly tough on children and young adults and everyone is susceptible, experts said.

WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl said the H1N1 vaccine had been used in seasonal flu shot formulation. He said the seasonal flu shot had been among the safest vaccines known to exist.
"The most important tool we have to fight this pandemic is the vaccine. Bad reactions are fully to be expected, especially the mild types though," he stressed. (China Daily/People's Daily Online)

 

China's Largest Property Developer get net profit up 30 %

China :

China Vanke, the country's largest property developer by market value, said Sunday that it ranked in a net profit of 2.96 billion yuan (433.38 million U.S. dollars) in the first three quarters of this year, up 29.9 percent year on year.

The company's business revenue in the first three quarters surged 31.1 percent year on year to 29.54 billion yuan, it said in quarterly report to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange.

The Senzhen-based company sold 5.1 million square meters of housing nationwide during the January - September period, up 26.8 percent over the same period last year in terms of total sales space.

The company's housing sales totaled 5.57 million suare meters for the whole of 2008, down 9.2 percent year on year amid a stagnant property market. Its net profit declined 16.7 percent in 2008 from the previous year.

(People's Daily Online/Xinhua)

China, Japan and South Korea to mull FTA

China, Japan and South Korea agreed on Sunday to begin joint research by academic, government and private-sector representatives on the possibility of forging a trilateral free trade agreement (FTA).

The accord was struck by the economic and trade ministers of the three countries in a meeting, on the sidelines of the series of summits involving the three countries and the Association of  Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). A tripartite working level meeting will study ways on how to proceed with the joint research early next year.

The agreement marks a step forward in Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama's initiative to promote regional cooperation through an "East Asia Community". In line with the concept, Hatoyama has said Japan should cooperate with China and South Korea as much as possible.

So far, only private sector experts have been considering the possibility of the three countries forging a three-way FTA.

"Both China and South Korea want to launch walking level talks as soon as possible", Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry, Masayuki Naoshima told reporters.

The three ministers also agreed to effectively conclude an investment pack at an early date next year.

(People's Daily Online)

Rossi clinched the ninth world title MotoGP

Sepang Circuit, Malaysia :

Valentino Rossi clinched the ninth world title of his career, by finishing third in last Sunday FIM MotoGP race in Sepang, Malaysia, behind Casey Stoner and Dani Pedrosa.

Stpner's second successive race victory was achieved with a yawning gap of 14.666 seconds back to Pedrosa.

Yet it was Rossi's achievement which dominated, as he duly defended the crown he won last year.

For Pedrosa, minor honours were accompanied by the statistic of  a 78th career podium finish.

Torrential rain caused a 35 minutes delay and left behind a saturated track, on which Jorge Lorenzo was relegated from second to the back of the grid after a technical problem on the sighting lap.

The Spaniard nonetheless surged past Rossi, who started on pole but quickly dropped back to 10th.Lorenzo was eventually to finish fourth, just behind the Italian.

As Stoner began to grind out a huge advantage - four second in front after only two laps - Nicky Hayden, Lorenzo and Rossi jockeyed for their positions in behind.

Further back , Pedrosa and his Repsol Honda team mate Andrea Dovizioso were engaged in a duel for second until the latter  slid off on lap 14 on a still greasy track.

Rossi was therefore up to third - and although he could never get Pedrosa, he had done enough.

"It's a great achievement - and for me it's the ninth championship, the seventh in MotoGP,"Rossi added.

(ESPNSTAR)

West Lake International Fireworks Fair 2009

China :

Fireworks lights the night sky and West lake during a show of 2009 West Lake International Fireworks Fair in Hangzhou, east China's Zhejiang Province, China on October 24, 2009.

(People's Daily Online/Xinhua - Zhu Yin Wei)