One of the world's largest leasing firms has warned India the failure of troubled carriers like Kingfisher Airlines to return airplanes when they cannot pay their bills could put the country's aviation growth at risk by scaring away new funding. ILFC, which owns over 900 aircraft and rents them out to airlines for several years at a time, is the latest industry player to clash with the Indian carrier, whose financial difficulties have left its aircraft grounded since October.

The Bank of Japan announced on Tuesday its most determined effort yet to end years of economic stagnation, saying it would switch to an open-ended commitment to buying assets next year and double its inflation target to 2 percent, Reuters reported. It issued a joint statement with the government promising to reach the inflation goal "at the earliest possible time," drawing praise from Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who has piled relentless pressure on the central bank to take bolder measures to pull Japan out of deflation.

China is losing its competitive edge as a low-cost manufacturing base, new data suggest, with makers of everything from handbags to shirts to basic electronic components relocating to cheaper locales like Southeast Asia, The Wall Street Journal reported. The shift—illustrated in weakened foreign investment in China—has pluses and minuses for an economy key to global growth. Beijing wants to shift to higher-value production and to see incomes rise. But a de-emphasis on manufacturing puts pressure on leaders to make sure jobs are created in other sectors to keep the world's No.

Russia's No. 1 telecoms operator MTS said on Wednesday its Uzbek subsidiary had applied for bankruptcy, Reuters reported. The phone operator had been fighting to restore its Uzbek business after a court revoked its license to operate in August as part of dispute involving a criminal case against local MTS managers and a back-tax claim. MTS was ordered to pay $600 million in fines by an Uzbek court in November.

Widespread speculation about the possible reintroduction of estate duty is proving lucrative for many chartered accountants. Clients, mostly high net-worth ones, are seeking advice on how to restructure ownership of assets to avoid the possibility of huge tax payments by their heirs when the grim reaper comes calling, the Economic Times reported. Estate duty, a tax on inheritance of wealth, is known in many countries as the 'death tax'. In the US, estate tax is imposed on the transfer of the 'taxable estate' of a deceased person.

The Indonesian Supreme Court has granted Telkomsel's appeal and refused the bankruptcy petition against it from PT Prima Jaya Informatika, Singapore Telecommunications (SingTel) said Tuesday, The Business Times reported. SingTel has a 35 per cent interest in the share capital of Telkomsel. Telkom owns the remainder 65 per cent share capital of Telkomsel. On Nov 21, 2012, the Supreme Court granted the Telkomsel appeal and Telkomsel has received the official copy of the decision through the District Court of Central Jakarta on Jan 10, 2013.

China's local governments ramped up their efforts to borrow in 2012, raising concerns that the rebound in growth in the world's second-largest economy has come at the expense of increasing financial risks, The Wall Street Journal reported. China's local governments borrowed big in 2009 and 2010, taking debt levels to around 10.7 trillion yuan ($1.7 trillion), according to government data, as they financed a huge infrastructure stimulus. That led to worries among some economists that hidden debt problems could trigger instability in China's banking system.

The euro zone is not considering a debt restructuring for Cyprus, the EU's top economic official was quoted on Friday as saying, as the heavily indebted island struggles to negotiate an international aid deal, Reuters reported. Cyprus applied for a financial rescue last June after its banks suffered huge losses on the EU-approved writedown on Greece's debt. But it has so far failed to persuade its European partners to sign off on the package, given concerns the level of the island's indebtedness means it would be unable to repay the aid without further concessions from international lenders.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe seeks a “bold policy leader” as the next Bank of Japan governor as he aims to end deflation and drive a recovery from recession, Bloomberg reported. The choice of a successor to Masaaki Shirakawa, whose term ends in April, will be made after consultations with Yale Professor Emeritus Koichi Hamada and others, Abe said yesterday on public broadcaster NHK’s “Sunday Debate” program. The government and central bank need to agree on implementing a 2 percent inflation target to end deflation, Abe said.

Japan's new government will likely soon follow the U.S. and France in raising taxes on its wealthiest citizens, amid continued concerns about the country's massive government debt, The Wall Street Journal reported. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has attracted global attention—and turbocharged the Nikkei Stock Average—with pledges of bold new economic stimulus, including a big spending plan to be unveiled Friday, and pressure on the Bank of Japan to ease monetary policy.