Bangkok int'l flights to normalize on Friday

International flights have partly resumed at Bangkok's main international airport after more than a week of turmoil due to the airport seizure by anti-government protestors.

At Suvarnabhumi International Airport, the passenger terminal's arrival hall reopened on Thursday, one day after the protesters ended their sit-ins.

Travelers were greeted in the hall after flights arrived from Amsterdam and Frankfurt.

Airport officials say Thai Airways used the airport for 12 departing and 8 arriving flights on Thursday, and that more airlines are also resuming services there.

2 Japanese carriers, Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways, plan to resume flights connecting Bangkok and Japan's Narita Airport on Friday.

Airport officials say they have nearly completed checking airport computers and facilities and will resume full service shortly before noon on Friday.

Airlines have used a naval base for special flights during the closure of Bangkok's 2 airports but officials say these will end on Saturday.
2008/12/04 19:55

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Nikkei marks new low for the year

Shares fell sharply on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Thursday morning with the key Nikkei index at one point dropping to a new low for the year on concerns over the future of the world economy and a rapidly appreciating yen.

Immediately after the opening Tokyo shares plunged across the board. The drop followed the quick rise of the yen against the dollar and Euro on the foreign exchange market and an overnight plunge in share prices in New York that saw the Dow Jones industrial average lose more than 500 points.

The Nikkei average of 225-selected issues ended the morning session at 8,195, down 478 points from Wednesday's close.

The broader TOPIX index of all first-section issues was down 42 points to finish the morning at 846.

Market concerns are growing that a rapid rise of the yen may have a serious impact on corporate earnings of Japanese exporters and on Japan's economy as a whole.

Market sources say there are also renewed worries that market jitters worldwide may continue for some time as a result of the rapid depreciation of the Euro and currencies of emerging economies.

The sources say investors placed sell orders due to concerns over corporate earnings, with many Japanese firms scheduled to release their mid-year earnings reports starting this week.
2008/10/23 12:52

(NHK)

US doubts N Korea nuclear claims

There is no evidence to support claims that North Korea has begun rebuilding a nuclear plant, US officials say.
The US state department said the North appeared to be moving equipment out of storage at its Yongbyon plant, but there was no effort to reconstruct it.
Earlier reports from South Korea and Japan had claimed the North was actively rebuilding Yongbyon, breaking an international denuclearisation deal.
Pyongyang had previously warned that it had stopped disabling its facilities.
For years, the North has been locked in discussions over its nuclear ambitions with five other nations - South Korea, the US, China, Russia and Japan.
In June this year, the regime blew up the cooling tower of its Yongbyon facility in a symbolic gesture of its commitment to the process.
But last month Pyongyang was angered by the US refusal to remove it from the list of states that sponsor terrorism, and announced it would halt the disabling process.
Reactor 'intact'
On Wednesday reports in Japan, backed up by South Korea's foreign ministry, claimed the North Koreans were actively reconstructing the plant.
But state department spokesman Sean McCormack said it appeared that the North was moving previously stored equipment rather than rebuilding. He told reporters: "To my knowledge, based on what we know from the folks on the ground, you don't have an effort to reconstruct, reintegrate this equipment back into the Yongbyon facility."
He said Christopher Hill, the lead US negotiator in the six-nation nuclear talks, would leave for Beijing on Thursday.
The claims emerge as the UN's nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), published a report on North Korea.
It said the regime had already removed large quantities of essential nuclear materials from Yongbyon even before it agreed to dismantle the plant.
Experts believe the North's facilities would take a year to restore, and the IAEA's report appears to support that view.
Former UN weapons inspector David Albright says the reactor at Yongbyon is mostly intact.
But he said the regime would need to manufacture hundreds - possibly thousands - of fuel rods and rebuild a cooling tower that was blown up in June to get it fully operational.
He believes the North is unlikely to rebuild the plant, but is instead using the threat as a bargaining chip to gain more concessions from the six-party talks.
In June, North Korea finally submitted a long-delayed account of its nuclear facilities - and was expecting to be removed from the US list almost immediately in return.
But the US said that would not be possible until North Korea agreed to inspections aimed at verifying the details that it had disclosed.
That move has been delayed amid wrangling among the six nations over exactly how these details can be verified.

(From BBC)

'Free loans' offer to homebuyers

The government is to promise first-time buyers in England "free" loans of up to 30% of their home's value, in an effort to reinvigorate the housing market.
Households earning less than £60,000 will be offered loans free of charge for five years on new properties, co-funded by the state and developers.
The move comes as Gordon Brown attempts a political fightback, amid an economic downturn and poor opinion poll ratings.
The Tories said it was a "short-term survival plan" for the prime minister.
'Large-scale'
House prices are reportedly falling at their fastest rate since the early 1990s, while rising fuel costs and the global credit crunch are denting economic confidence.
Communities Secretary Hazel Blears will announce a raft of proposals on Tuesday aimed at buoying the property market. She is one of several cabinet ministers putting forward plans seen as the beginning of Mr Brown's "recovery plan".
The loans system, called HomeBuy Direct, is to be run together with "large-scale" property firms.

Once the five-year "free" period is up, homebuyers will be asked to pay a fee, the Department for Communities and Local Government said - although no more detail of this was provided.
A spokesman added that "hundreds of millions of pounds" had been put aside in the last Budget for such a move.
In a statement, the DCLG said: "Not only will this [HomeBuy Direct] help first-time buyers, but it will also support the industry by identifying buyers for their new homes.
"This will help the housebuilding industry weather difficult conditions, so that, when the market recovers, they are ready to expand and get back on with building the new homes the country needs for the long term.

'More homes sooner'
For existing homeowners who can no longer afford mortgage payments, the government says councils or social housing landlords can pay off the debt and instead charge tenants rent "at a level they can afford".
The DCLG is also promising to "bring forward funding for social housing from existing budgets, delivering more social homes sooner".
BBC political editor Nick Robinson said "there may be an important announcement on a stamp duty holiday", which has been the subject of much speculation in recent weeks.
He added: "There is an attempt to say 'We can't end these global problems but we can help some people through them."
The prime minister has faced a difficult few months, with Labour losing two parliamentary seats in by-elections, the London mayoralty and many councillors in May's local elections.

'Resilient'
On Monday, he said the UK faced "unique circumstances", including oil prices trebling and the global credit crunch.
But Mr Brown said the government was "resilient in... dealing with these problems".
He earlier denied a rift with Chancellor Alistair Darling, who had said the country was facing its worst economic crisis in 60 years

For the Conservatives, shadow chancellor George Osborne said: "We will look at the details of these measures and we will support those that will work.
"But let's be clear, they are not going to help the vast majority of families facing a rising cost of living and falling house prices.
"Nor do they amount to the first instalment of the economic recovery plan we were promised.
"I suspect that what we will see in the coming weeks is a desperate and short-term survival plan for the prime minister rather that the long-term economic plan the country needs."
Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg said: "This looks like a hotchpotch of measures thrown together to save Gordon Brown's political skin.
"The social housing stock could be increased far more easily by allowing local authorities to buy up unsold properties and use them for new social housing.
"Yet again the government is desperately scrabbling around for a way to fix problems of its own making.

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