Headlines

Pakistan’s National Accountability Bureau (NAB) is said to be under “immense pressure” not to pursue cases of wilful default of bank loans because some leaders of opposition parties and a number of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) stalwarts were among defaulters, sources told Dawn on Sunday. They alleged that the NAB had put off a meeting scheduled for Wednesday to review default cases because of “government pressure”. Top NAB officials may meet later this week to decide how to deal with the cases of wilful default in the light of new government instructions.

A group of financiers is trying to put a U.S. mattress maker now under bankruptcy court protection into play by encouraging Chinese bidders to top an already arranged offer for Simmons Bedding Co., Reuters reported on a Wall Street Journal story. Success looks unlikely for the eleventh-hour effort to encourage a Chinese bidder to challenge a deal already worked out between Simmons, its creditors and new investors, the report said, quoting sources involved in the effort.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao warned of growing inflation expectations in a rare domestic media interview, expressing concerns about the nation's fast-rising real-estate prices and acknowledging that Beijing may be paying a price for its aggressive response to the global financial crisis, The Wall Street Journal reported. Speaking to the state-run Xinhua news agency on Sunday, Mr. Wen also flatly rejected foreign criticism of China's exchange-rate policy, saying that stability in the yuan's value helps the global economy and that China won't bow to pressure to let it appreciate.

The near-default of Dubai developer Nakheel’s Islamic bond will trigger calls for better bankruptcy rules in the Gulf as investors wake up to legal and financial risks now that the boom years are over, Pakistan’s Daily Times reported. “Each (Gulf) country has a bankruptcy code and in many cases that bankruptcy code is antiquated compared to countries like the UK or the US that had 200 years to develop,” said a source at a large law firm in the Gulf region, asking not to be named because of client sensitivities.

Cestas--hampers of Christmas goodies--are a longstanding tradition. But Spain's weak economy--the country may face unemployment of 20% in 2010--is forcing companies to make uncomfortable decisions, The Wall Street Journal reported. Of major publicly traded Spanish companies here, few responded to a request for information about cestas, with a handful saying that cesta weren't part of their company traditions. Only retail giant Inditex, which owns the Zara chain, said it would distribute cestas, or other holiday gifts, in some form to employees world-wide this year.

Aiful Corp. rose in Tokyo, adding to last week’s 35 percent gain, after Japan’s third-largest consumer lender reached an agreement with creditors that will help it avoid bankruptcy, BusinessWeek reported on a Bloomberg story. The Kyoto-based lender, which said Dec. 24 that creditors approved a plan to delay repayments on 279.1 billion yen ($3.05 billion) of debt, rose as much as 3.6 percent to 144 yen and traded at 140 yen at the 11 a.m. break in Tokyo. Aiful met 65 creditors in Tokyo last week and won approval to resume repaying its loans from Sept.

The Netherlands, Germany and Austria have all relied heavily on so-called short-work programs to keep people in their jobs in the wake of the financial crisis. All three have managed to keep unemployment from soaring, but the Dutch have been particularly effective, The Wall Street Journal reported. At 3.7% in October, according to the European Union statistics office, the country's jobless rate is one of the lowest among the world's wealthy nations. After the crisis hit, the Dutch government, labor unions and employers quickly reached an agreement to begin payroll subsidies.

When a Seattle-based Chinese language program in Beijing suddenly canceled classes and shut down, more than a dozen students were left stranded, though they had prepaid their tuition and housing, The Seattle Times reported. Now, the company's Seattle headquarters is closed, its phones disconnected and its Web site claims it has filed bankruptcy. The owners have moved to Sweden. Most of the 67 students — from all over the world — have either gone home or arranged for classes at other schools in Beijing, at additional expense.

The U.K. government has issued further clarification on its tax on bankers' bonuses, exempting even more financial-sector employees from the levy, The Wall Street Journal reported. Last week, Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs agency issued guidance making it clear staff at nonbanking financial companies wouldn't be impacted by the tax. Late Wednesday, HMRC issued a further clarification exempting some employees within banking groups from the tax. They include employees providing nonfinancial insurance services or collective investment schemes for external investors.

Italy’s amnesty for tax evaders holding funds outside the country has been successful in attracting more than €80 billion so far, Giulio Tremonti, the finance minister, declared on Wednesday in setting out a record haul for the centre-right government, the Financial Times reported. The figure, equal to about 5 per cent of gross domestic product, sets a record for an overseas tax amnesty for Italians. It also confirms Italy as the European league leader in successful tax amnesties, thanks to the generous terms and anonymity offered.