China

China Southern Airlines is now Asia's largest carrier by passenger numbers after overtaking troubled Japan Airlines Corp, or JAL, according to figures provided by the two companies, Agence France-Presse reported. China Southern actually overtook JAL in 2008 when its passenger volume rose to 58.24 million, according to data supplied by the Chinese carrier to AFP on Wednesday. The airline, which has China's largest fleet, extended its lead even further last year as its numbers climbed to 66.28 million passengers, China Southern said.

China’s biggest developers are borrowing record amounts in Hong Kong, taking advantage of lower interest rates to circumvent a lending crackdown at home, Bloomberg reported. While banks demand at least 5.2 percent in annual interest for three-to-five year money in mainland China, the cost of credit in Hong Kong dollars has fallen to the least since November 2004, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. China Overseas Land & Investment Ltd. agreed to an HK$8 billion ($1.03 billion) loan in February that pays 1.45 percent at current market levels, the data show.

China's real estate rush, once confined to a handful of leading cities, has spilled into the hinterlands with a ferocity reminiscent of American expansion into exurbs like the Inland Empire, the Los Angeles Times reported. "The situation in Hefei is a symbol of the craziness in China's real estate market," said Cao Jianhai, a professor of economics at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, a government think tank. "Prices in second- and third-tier cities are increasing more dramatically than in the first tier.

France and Germany traditionally have been the “motor” of the European Union, but relations between the two countries are badly strained over the Greek debt crisis, which is just the latest example of a new German willingness to resist the demands of Europe and assert its self-interest under Chancellor Angela Merkel, The New York Times reported. The European Union is facing a serious crisis over financing and its currency, the euro.

Yuan forwards fell by the most in three weeks after President Hu Jintao said China would follow its own path in reforming the nation’s currency policy. China won’t yield to outside pressure on the exchange rate and any changes will be “based on its own economic and social- development needs,” Hu told Barack Obama yesterday during a visit to Washington, the official Xinhua News Agency reported. Non-deliverable forwards rose on April 9 to an 11-week high on mounting bets for an imminent shift in yuan policy. Bonds rose after the central bank kept bill yields stable at an auction.

High profile dairy farmer Allan Crafar says he will stay on his family land at Reporoa, despite an offer from receivers that was due to expire at the end of today, The New Zealand Herald reported. It was not clear whether that meant the end of the business day, however it appeared that the property was still being used by the family at around 6pm this evening. A spokesman for receivers KordaMentha said they were following a process but would not provide any further details.

A senior Chinese central bank official criticized the handling of the Greek debt crisis, highlighting global concern about the situation in Europe, The Wall Street Journal reported. Speaking at a conference in Hong Kong, Zhu Min, deputy governor of the People's Bank of China, also said China "should and could" import more goods to keep its trade surplus small. And he noted that the central bank's efforts to tighten monetary policy were having their intended effect, even without China having to raise interest rates.

A senior Chinese trade official warned that any further appreciation of the Chinese currency risked driving exporters out of business, underscoring the domestic political pressures on Beijing amid growing international calls for China to let the yuan rise, The Wall Street Journal reported. Vice Commerce Minister Zhong Shan, in an exclusive interview Thursday ahead of a visit to the U.S., said that the profit margin on many Chinese export goods was less than 2%.

A string of villages on the outskirts of Beijing has become the unlikely focus of a national discussion about China's stubbornly tough job market for young people, as officials meet in the capital for the annual session of China's legislature, The Wall Street Journal reported. Government statistics show 87% of college graduates found work last year. But many graduates doubt those figures, and they say that jobs that are available often pay a barely livable wage.

Chinese real estate prices accelerated last month, rising by their fastest pace in two years despite government efforts to cool the market amid fears of a looming property bubble, the Financial Times reported. Prices of commercial and residential property in China’s 70 largest cities rose by 10.7 per cent in February from the same period a year earlier, a marked increase from the 9.5 per cent year-on-year gain in January, according to China’s statistics bureau.