Several cabinet members of the Japanese government want Japan Airlines Corp to withdraw completely from its international flights business and consolidate it with that of All Nippon Airways Co, the Mainichi Shimbun newspaper reported on Thursday, Reuters reported. The cabinet members met on Wednesday and appeared to have floated the idea in order to improve JAL's financial condition, Mainichi reported, without citing any sources. But Transport Minister Seiji Maehara was opposed to the plan of having only one international flight service airline from Japan, the newspaper said.

Some hedge funds are starting to wager on painful times ahead for Japan, the world's second-largest economy, The Wall Street Journal reported. These investors, including some who made successful bets against risky mortgages and financial companies in recent years, anticipate trouble for Japan's financial system. Their concern: Government borrowing continues to climb while demand for the nation's debt could taper off.

Aiful Corp.'s debt restructuring is a credit event and has triggered an auction of the credit default swaps written on the Japanese consumer credit firm's debt, a committee of dealers and investors ruled Wednesday, The Wall Street Journal reported. The Japan Determination Committee of the International Swaps and Derivatives Association, or ISDA, determined that a "restructuring credit event" had occurred, according to ISDA's Web site.

Shares in Japan Airlines plunged to a record low today amid rumours that Asia's biggest carrier could file for bankruptcy in an attempt to turn around its failing business, the Guardian reported. The transport minister, Seiji Maehara, and other cabinet ministers were this evening holding crisis talks to discuss JAL's options ahead of an official decision on the airline's future late next month.

Bankruptcy has been proposed by a state-backed fund as an option in the restructuring of Japan Airlines Corp., two sources familiar with the matter said, Reuters reported. The state-backed Enterprise Turnaround Initiative Corp of Japan (ETIC) has been holding talks with creditor banks on how to revive JAL, and is expected to make a final decision on whether to support the struggling carrier next month.

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.

Aiful Corp., Japan’s third-largest consumer lender by assets, won approval from creditors for a debt restructuring plan that will enable it to avoid bankruptcy, according to two people with direct knowledge of the matter, BusinessWeek reported on a Bloomberg story. The Kyoto-based company met with about 70 creditors, including Goldman Sachs Group Inc., in Tokyo today and they agreed to allow the company to delay payments on 280 billion yen ($3.1 billion) of loans, said the people, who declined to be identified before an official announcement.

Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.'s European and Japanese units have swapped $2 billion in assets, allowing $1 billion to be dispersed under the European division's claims resolution agreement, Bankruptcy Law360 reported. Read more. (Subscription required.)

Capmark Financial Group Inc's Japanese loan servicing unit is being sold to Elliott Management for 3.4 billion yen ($38 million), a U.S. fund management firm, which outbid Japan's Orix and others, U.S. court documents show, Reuters reported. Elliott outbid to buy Capmark's Japanese loan servicing business called Premier Asset Management, according to the documents, by beating Sandringham Capital Partners, a UK-based fund management firm which had agreed to buy Premier in October.

Gold’s rally to a record may be related to investors seeking to protect themselves from a government defaulting on its debt rather than inflation, according to economists at Fathom Financial Consulting, Bloomberg reported. Gold’s advance of about 35 percent this year suggests the metal may be in a “micro-bubble” even though it’s hard to argue that there is a generalized asset bubble forming in the world economy, the London-based consultancy said.