Headlines

Worries over Greece's swelling debt will dominate two days of talks between European Union finance ministers that started Monday, as the euro fell to a ten-day low against the dollar, The Canadian Press reported. Greece is trying to assure financial markets - and other EU governments - that it will reduce debt with a program of deep spending cuts and higher taxes. It is aiming to bring its massive deficit down to the EU limits intended to underpin the stability of the euro.

Dubai's $10 billion aid from Abu Dhabi in December, which helped the emirate avoid default on a state-linked developer's bond, included $5 billion previously lent by two Abu Dhabi banks, a Dubai government spokeswoman said on Monday, Reuters reported. It had been unclear whether Abu Dhabi's $10 billion lifeline on December 14 -- which enabled Dubai World to repay a $4.1 billion Islamic bond, or sukuk by developer Nakheel -- was entirely new money or included the bond to Abu Dhabi-controlled banks.

Creditors, believed to be mostly book stores, are unlikely to get all their money back from a voluntary administration of Independent Magazine Distributors Ltd., The National Business Review reported. The voluntary administration relates to the Independent Magazine Distributors Ltd business that was left over when distribution rights for magazines were sold to PMP Ltd last year. Administrator Steven Khov of Waterstone Insolvency said in excess of $1.5 million was owed to creditors. He expected there would be a shortfall but it was too early to say how big it would be.

From his home in the quiet village of Rorbas, outside Zurich, Rudolf M. Elmer is chipping away at the centuries-old traditions of Swiss banking secrecy, The New York Times reported. Mr. Elmer, who ran the Caribbean operations of the Swiss bank Julius Baer for eight years until he was dismissed in 2002, moved to Mauritius in the Indian Ocean and began parceling out to global tax authorities what he said were the secrets of his former employer.

The state’s main banks have pressed developers to take advantage of an uplift in the UK property market to sell land and investment assets to recoup loans before they are sold to the National Asset Management Agency (Nama) over the coming months, The Irish Times reported. A number of developers have been encouraged to put land in the UK, including some prime sites in London, on the market as the banks believe they will receive a better deal than if they were to sell the loans at a discount to Nama.

Nearly eight years after Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez was briefly forced from office by a coup attempt, deterioration in Venezuela's infrastructure and economy has continued. City centre shops are now subject to raids by soldiers, checking to make sure prices have not been artificially raised in the wake of this month's currency devaluation. The bolivar's official exchange rate, which is set by government decree, had been held at 2.45 to the US dollar since the last devaluation in March 2005.

The two core units of Japan Airlines Corp in charge of operating flights and procuring funds will file for bankruptcy protection along their parent, the Nikkei newspaper reported on Friday. Japan Airlines Corp, Asia's largest airline by revenues, will file for bankruptcy protection as early as Tuesday as part of a restructuring package being crafted by a state-backed turnaround fund, sources have told Reuters.

Japan Airlines moved a step closer to bankruptcy Friday by drawing down $1.6 billion in emergency funding, and the nation’s transport minister said the government would decide Tuesday on a state-led restructuring plan for the troubled carrier, The New York Times reported. JAL, the largest airline in Asia by revenue, has seen its market value collapse as probability has increased that it will file for bankruptcy protection. “We are doing everything possible to reduce anxiety,” said Seiji Maehara, the transport minister.

The ongoing restructuring of Japan Airlines has landed legal advisory roles for Steptoe & Johnson, Hogan & Hartson, Jones Day, and two of Japan’s leading law firms, The AmLaw Daily reported. Eiji Katayama, a name partner at Japanese firm Abe, Ikubo & Katayama in Tokyo, is advising ETIC on JAL’s restructuring efforts. Under Japanese bankruptcy law, Katayama will likely be appointed trustee for JAL, where he would perform most of the duties traditionally reserved for debtors’ counsel in the U.S.

A Japan Airlines Corp bankruptcy will have a wide-spread impact on small businesses that account for half of the nearly 3,000 Japanese companies that do business directly with the carrier, a research firm said. Tokyo Shoko Research said small firms with less than 1 billion yen ($10 million) in sales make up half of JAL's major business partners, supplying goods to or buying from JAL's 91 group firms. "It's highly likely these small companies will feel the pinch because they depend heavily on business with JAL," said Kazufumi Masuda, a researcher at Tokyo Shoko, which tracks bankruptcy data.