Oil industry executives jailed for price fixing
By Megan Murphy, Law Courts Correspondent
Published: June 11 2008 23:29 | Last updated: June 11 2008 23:29
Business leaders involved in price-fixing were warned on Wednesday that they faced substantial prison terms, as three oil industry executives were jailed for between 30 months and three years in Britain’s first criminal cartel case.
The landmark Office of Fair Trading (OFT) prosecution resulted in longer sentences for the three businessmen than they received in the US after admitting similar charges over the supply of marine equipment.
As part of their plea-bargain arrangement with US prosecutors, they were allowed to return to the UK to plead guilty to cartel offences and to serve their terms in a British prison.
Lawyers said the sight of executives being jailed for cartel activity – as they have been for years in the US – would be a shot across the bows for the City amid the OFT’s crackdown on price-fixing.
OFT says cartel put 15% on prices
The Office of Fair Trading estimates that the cartel on the global supply of hoses used in the oil industry forced prices up by at least 15 per cent between 2003 and 2007. About £17.5m worth of UK contracts – a third of the worldwide market – were affected by the price-fixing arrangements.
One of the main victims was the Ministry of Defence, which sought to procure in excess of £500,000 worth of hoses through contractors such as Pipeline Pigging Consultants. Documents seized during the investigation show that after Pipeline inquired about cost, members of the cartel exchanged a series of e-mails about the pricing level and which company should “win” the MoD contract.
Insiders, who referred to the cartel as The Club, used simple code names, such as A1 and D2, to refer to participants. Market share was formally divvied up, while any company that breached the group’s rules was warned of facing significant financial penalties.
In one meeting, captured by a hidden camera just before the cartel was broken up, Peter Whittle, the group’s official co-ordinator, urged participants to stick to the pricing plan in spite of a series of official inquiries.
Bryan Allison, David Brammar and Peter Whittle showed no emotion as they were led from the dock at Southwark Crown Court.
Judge Geoffrey Rivlin QC said they would have faced longer terms, had the cartel not been operating for decades before the introduction of legislation specifically outlawing price-fixing in 2002.
“To anyone minded to commit an offence of this nature now, that line of mitigation will not be open to them and any likely sentence will be higher than that imposed in this case,” the judge said.
The worldwide cartel on the supply of flexible marine hoses, which are used to transport oil between tankers and storage facilities, was a sophisticated and labour-intensive operation, referred to by insiders as “The Club”.
The OFT estimates that price co-ordination and bid-rigging in the £60m market forced contracts up by at least 15 per cent.
Mr Whittle was paid $50,000 (£26,000) annually to co-ordinate prices between six main marine hose manufacturers, which included Dunlop Oil and Marine, part of Germany’s Continental, and Japan’s Bridgestone. He also accepted “commissions” for helping members of the cartel to, in effect, cheat each other out of contracts.
Mr Brammar, Dunlop’s former sales manager, was responsible for the day-to-day workings of the group under the supervision of Mr Allison, the company’s former managing director.
Kickbacks paid to facilitate the cartel were transferred between a network of Swiss bank accounts. The three men were arrested while attending a 2007 cartel meeting in Houston, Texas, which was secretly taped by US officials.
Both Mr Allison and Mr Whittle were sentenced to 36 months in prison on Wednesday, while Mr Brammar received a 30-month term. They were also disqualified from serving as corporate directors from between five and seven years. They will probably be released after serving half their sentences.
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Nepal’s former king turns in crown
By Prateek Pradhan in Kathmandu and agencies
Published: June 11 2008 11:05 | Last updated: June 11 2008 11:05
Nepal’s deposed king, Gyanendra, left the palace in Kathmandu on Wednesday night, a fortnight after parliament ended his 240-year-old dynasty, as political parties prepared to name the president and new prime minister.
“I have no intention of leaving the country and will stay in Nepal and contribute to the independence and prosperity of the Nepali nation,” Gyanendra said, addressing his first press conference at the Narayanhity royal palace in Kathmandu.
He turned over the royal crown and sceptre to the government as he set out for a modest bungalow on the edge of the capital.
The departure brings to an end the Shah dynasty, which founded Nepal in 1768 with the conquest of several small states – deftly keeping the country independent of the expanding British colonial empire.
Political analysts said the king was caught off-guard by April’s constituent assembly elections, in which former Maoist insurgents, who had fought for a decade to abolish the monarchy, captured almost half the seats.
The Maoists have been in prolonged talks with other parties to form a new government, and a special assembly was due to name a president and new prime minister on Wednesday night.
Gyanendra was crowned in 2001 after his brother, King Birendra, and other members of the royal family were killed in a violent outburst blamed on Crown Prince Dipendra, a son of Birendra who is then said to have fatally shot himself.
A year later, the new king deposed the democratically elected prime minister and, in 2005, imposed emergency rule and suspended civil rights to take on the spreading Maoist rebellion.
But the monarch’s manoeuvre pushed Nepal’s democratic parties into an alliance with the Maoists, and a joint series of strikes and protests eventually forced him to yield power.
Januka Regmi, who used to keep photographs of the reigning king and queen in her prayer room, said: “I feel no pity that Gyanendra has become a civilian.
“After the massacre of King Birendra, my faith waned gradually. I found Gyanendra more a power-hungry dictator than a soft-hearted monarch.”
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DATES TO DETHRONEMENT
1990 Popular movement leads to establishment of constitutional monarchy
1996 Maoists launch insurgency
2001 King Birendra’s family massacred by son Dipendra who then commits suicide
2002 King Gyanendra sacks democratically elected prime minister
Feb 2005 King Gyanendra imposes emergency rule and suspends constitutional rights
Nov 2005 Maoists sign agreement with democratic parties. Join forces to end monarchy and establish democratic republic
2006 Political parties, with Maoists, take control of government after king backs down following death of 23 during 19 days of protests
2007 Parliament declares Nepal a republic
2008 Maoists finish with most seats in April election for constituent assembly
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Italy and France form ‘trade axis’
By Guy Dinmore in Rome
Published: June 12 2008 03:24 | Last updated: June 12 2008 03:24
Italy has hitched its wagon to the forthcoming French presidency of the European Union, declaring a new trade “axis” to push their case within the World Trade Organisation.
Diplomats on Wednesday said a stronger protectionist stance against China, India and other developing countries was emerging under Italy’s new centre-right government. Silvio Berlusconi, the prime minister, views Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, as an economic and security ally.
In return, Italy is strongly supporting Mr Sarkozy’s controversial proposals for a “Mediterranean Union” that will be formally launched next month when Paris takes over the EU presidency. Italy is also backing a French move to establish an EU commission against counterfeiting.
“Foreign trade – an Italy-France axis is born,” said Adolfo Urso, Italy’s under-secretary for trade, when meeting Anne Marie Idrac, his French counterpart, on Tuesday.
The two ministers criticised the latest WTO proposals, saying Europe was being asked to make big concessions on agriculture while seeing no progress in industries and services, especially among emerging countries such as Brazil, Argentina and Mexico but particularly China and India.
They said geographical names for products were not adequately protected under the Doha Round proposals, and expressed opposition to the European Commission’s anti-dumping proposals, saying barriers should not be lowered while emerging countries refused to open their markets.
The ministers were speaking at Rome’s Farefuturo, a think-tank backed by Mr Berlusconi’s People of Freedom coalition and linked to the neo-conservative American Enterprise Institute in Washington.
Farefuturo, headed by Mr Urso, held a seminar on “A common policy for development of the Mediterranean”, in which he voiced Italy’s support for the Mediterranean Union. Ms Idrac will host 40 trade ministers from the EU and littoral states to discuss the proposal on July 2, ahead of a summit led by Mr Sarkozy on July 13.
Analysts said that as well as the economic interests, Italy was equally keen to strengthen joint efforts to prevent illegal immigration from North Africa and to combat Islamist extremism.
Muammer Gaddafi, the Libyan leader, has dismissed the French plan as an “insult to us Arabs and Africans”.
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BAE and VT seal warships tie-up
By Alistair Gray
Published: June 11 2008 23:13 | Last updated: June 11 2008 23:13
Britain’s two largest shipbuilders have sealed a long-awaited deal to form a joint venture that will provide the Royal Navy with the largest surface warships constructed in the UK.
The shipbuilding champion created by BAE Systems and VT Group is expected within weeks to sign a £3.9bn contract to supply HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales, two new aircraft carriers.
The duo has appointed Sir John Parker, who heads the board of National Grid, as chairman designate. Alan Johnston, a previous managing director of helicopter maker AgustaWestland and who has a long background in naval shipbuilding, is chief executive designate.
In signing the legally binding agreement after months of delay, BAE and VT have paved the way for construction and assembly of the carriers at shipyards at Glasgow, Rosyth, Barrow-in-Furness and Portsmouth, safeguarding some 10,000 jobs.
They had made clear to the government that the creation of the merged entity – seen as a key step towards the consolidation of the UK shipbuilding industry – was dependent upon its winning the carrier manufacturing contract. The joint venture had to be formed before the contract could be placed.
Meanwhile the Ministry of Defence – which had been expected to place the contract at the end of 2007 but confirmed only last month it was to order the carriers – had sought consolidation in the sector before it agreed to go ahead. Executives at both groups had awaited confirmation of the order for more than six months.
The department had put off equipment procurement decisions as it faced an estimated £2bn budget shortfall. Gordon Brown, prime minister, last month agreed to let it free hundreds of millions of pounds through a change to its accounting arrangements.
BAE and VT this year offered to defer £100m of government spending over two years.
BAE, the defence group, will hold 55 per cent of the joint venture, to be named BVT Surface Fleet with a near-£1bn turnover, and VT the rest. A 50-50 joint venture, Flagship Training, will revert to VT’s control.
Its creation confirms a key plank of VT’s strategy: to focus on support services and move away from its a shipbuilding origins. The group has an option to sell its stake to BAE for at least £380m after three years.
Mike Turner, BAE chief executive, said its creation would “help secure the long-term sustainability of the UK naval sector and the thousands of jobs it supports”.
The joint venture, whose creation has been cleared by regulatory authorities, will become operational at the start of July, assuming VT shareholders approve the deal. The two companies will have equal board representation and voting rights.
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ArcelorMittal eyes Dillinger Hütte
By Peter Marsh in London
Published: June 11 2008 17:30 | Last updated: June 11 2008 17:30
ArcelorMittal has held talks about taking control of Dillinger Hütte, a German steel supplier valued at about €3.5bn ($5.4bn), in a move designed to strengthen its position in the fast moving sector of specialist plate for energy pipelines.
The effort by the world’s biggest steelmaker to expand in this field fits in with the ambition of Lakshmi Mittal, its chief executive and main owner, to move ArcelorMittal towards the “high-tech” sectors of the steel industry where long-term growth prospects are strong.
But the plan has been rebuffed by Montan-Stiftung Saar, a private trust based in the German state of Saarland where Dillinger is located, and which is the second biggest shareholder in the steel company, in which ArcelorMittal already owns just under half.
A person involved with the talks said :“The discussion does not appear to be about money. It’s more to do with the principle that the trust does not want to sell.”
The stand-off is regarded as a test of Mr Mittal’s ability to use his powers of diplomacy to convince the trust that Dillinger would have a better future inside ArcelorMittal than as part of a loosely constituted Saarland group of companies.
As well as Dillinger, the trust owns part of Saarstahl, a steelmaker, and local iron and coke making plants.
Montan-Stiftung controls all the shares in Struktur Holding Stahl (SHS), a holding company that owns 38 per cent of Dillinger, with this stake estimated by analysts to be worth about €1.3bn.
ArcelorMittal owns 48.8 per cent of Dillinger, which made 2.3m tonnes of steel last year and has more than 5,000 employees.
Under Dillinger’s constitution, a shareholder can control the company only if it has a stake of 70 per cent or more.
Montan-Stiftung is controlled by seven trustees – all individuals connected with the steel industry in the Saarland – and is not directly linked to the state. But the Saarland government retains considerable influence.
As part of his efforts to win over opinion in the region, Mr Mittal has put his arguments in private talks with Peter Müller, the Christian Democrat premier of the state of Saarland, and a senior ally of Angela Merkel, the German chancellor.
Mr Mittal told the Financial Times: “We would like to own a controlling stake in this company [Dillinger], which is one of the world’s top plate makers. We are working on the ways of allowing this to happen. We have talked to the various other shareholders in the business but so far we have not found a solution to allowing us to take a greater share.”
SHS said: “Neither SHS nor the foundation intend to sell shares” the company said it wanted to “safeguard and strengthen Saarland’s steel industry” by allowing the Saarland steel companies to move “even closer together in order to exploit synergies between them”.
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Shipowner who puts profit before dreams
By Robert Wright
Published: June 11 2008 19:41 | Last updated: June 11 2008 19:41
Peter Georgiopoulos opens the door of his London hotel suite and offers a large, firm hand to shake. With a sharp suit, a tan, hair slightly longer than normal for a businessman and his surname, he could easily be mistaken for one of the younger members of a Greek shipping dynasty.
Yet Mr Georgiopoulos, chairman of three New York Stock Exchange-listed shipping companies, is quick to distinguish between himself and the sector’s established royalty. He is Greek-American not Greek, has no family background in shipowning and claims to take a cold, calculating approach to making money. “I don’t fall in love with these things,” he says of his companies’ ships.
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US hedge fund fraudster's disappearance sparks manhunt
AFP - Thursday, June 12 01:54 am
NEW YORK (AFP) - US authorities have launched a manhunt for a convicted hedge fund fraudster, Samuel Israel, who failed to report to prison this week, officials said.
Israel was sentenced to a hefty 20-year jail term in April after pleading guilty to defrauding investors out of over 450 million dollars tied to the now-collapsed Bayou hedge funds.
The missing hedge fund manager, 48, was meant to report to prison to begin his long jail term on Monday, but he failed to show up.
A sport utility vehicle (SUV) belonging to Israel was found abandoned on Monday near the Bear Mountain Bridge which spans the Hudson River in New York state.
The words "suicide is painless" were scrawled in dust across the front of the SUV, according to a photograph of the vehicle released to the media.
A warrant has been issued for Israel's arrest and as of Wednesday afternoon, the convicted fraudster had still not been found by the police.
"No new developments," a New York state police official said.
The United States Marshals Service, which tracks down missing fugitives, said in a statement that it had joined the hunt for Israel and was acting as the lead agency in trying to locate the missing financier.
The US Marshals released a poster featuring Israel's picture and a warning that he "should be considered armed and dangerous."
Dozens of people have committed suicide from the Bear Mountain Bridge since the 1980s, but police usually find the bodies after people jump off the bridge, according to media reports.
No witnesses have come forward so far to say they saw Israel jump from the high bridge, which sits 41 meters (135 feet) above the Hudson River's mean high-water mark.
"We are looking for Samuel Israel and haven't foreclosed any possibilities," a spokeswoman for the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York said.
Israel pleaded guilty to conspiracy, fraud and mail fraud charges set by the Southern District office in late 2005.
Government investigators have said that Israel participated in the investment scam between 1996 and 2005 and that he misappropriated millions of dollars in investors' money for his personal use.
Israel was also accused of telling investors that the funds he managed were profitable when in fact they never posted a year-end profit.
His trial marked one of the largest hedge fund fraud cases prosecuted by the government.
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Prosperity varies from U.S. city to city: think tank
15 minutes ago
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Large U.S. cities are economically strong -- generating 75 percent of the country's gross domestic product -- but only one-fifth enjoy a mix of healthy productivity, narrow wage inequality and environmental sustainability, according to a survey released on Thursday.
Portland, Oregon, and Boise, Idaho, are among cities achieving higher levels of prosperity, according to the liberal-leaning Brookings Institution, which spent a year analyzing the 100 largest metropolitan areas in the United States.
But disparities remain within and among cities, and "virtually no metropolitan area can be said to have secured true prosperity," the group said in its report.
The 20 most productive metropolitan areas generated about $110,000 worth of gross domestic product per job, while the 20 least productive produced only $71,000 worth of goods and services, the survey found.
At the same time, the collective GDP per person was $57,800 in the 20 cities with the highest standard of living, such as Boston, Dallas, Denver and Philadelphia. The per capita GDP was slightly more than half that level at $30,700 in the 20 cities with the lowest rankings. They included Akron, Ohio, El Paso, Texas, and Fresno, California.
The survey also found that Hartford, Connecticut, and Portland, Maine, were among cities with the smallest income differences between top earners and bottom ones, while Houston, Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles had some of the largest differences.
In weighing environmental sustainability, the survey considered how much carbon was emitted per person in each city. Columbus, Ohio, along with Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and St. Louis, Missouri, emitted around 1.9 times the amount of carbon as cities such as Chicago and San Francisco, the report said.
Across the map, one type of prosperity blooms while another shrivels, the think tank said, pointing to San Jose, California, as an example. The metropolitan area just south of San Francisco has the second-highest annual productivity growth rate, at 5 percent, but also contends with some of the worst wage inequality. The top 10 percent of workers earn 7.6 times as much as the bottom 10 percent.
The institution this week is hosting mayors and civic leaders from across the country to pressure presidential candidates to create policies that address problems unique to urban areas.
If 35 of the U.S. cities were treated as nations, they would rank among the world's largest 100 economies, officials at the gathering said, and their prosperity has tremendous influence on the well-being of the entire U.S. economy.
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Onassis jewel sale breaks records
By Jane Peel
BBC News
Jewels belonging to Christina Onassis - including a 38-carat diamond which sold for £3.5m - have sold for twice their estimated value in London. How did the auction go?
Onassis diamond
If, like me, you rarely grace the sale rooms of the top auction houses, then you would probably be forgiven for feeling a frisson of excitement when stepping into Christie's for their London jewellery sale.
It is a "sale" in just one sense of the world.
Only the wealthiest individuals would have considered the lots on offer a bargain (the starting price for an art deco diamond necklace was just £150,000, for example).
But a buzz there certainly was, not least because going under the hammer today were spectacular diamonds and jewels once owned by the super-rich Christina Onassis, the troubled daughter of the Greek shipping magnate, Aristotle Onassis.
The collection was inherited by the sole survivor of the Onassis dynasty, Christina's daughter Athina, who was just three years old when her mother died in 1987.
Athina has not fallen victim to the credit crunch.
Designer handbags
With a fortune some estimate to be a £1bn or more, she has reportedly decided that the gems which graced her mother at grand society balls in another century do not fit with her modern lifestyle.
As John Souglides, international director of jewellery at Christie's told me: "It's being sold because you can't keep jewels in safety deposit boxes forever.
"So it was time for other people to enjoy these items."
Faberge Buddha
Some of those people, eager to pick up a morsel from the collection, packed into the sale-room - men in suits, women with designer handbags.
Most of the serious bidders were invisible, at the end of a telephone line, possibly relaying their offers from their third home in Monaco, or one of the yachts in the Med.
But they could not see the jewels close up. We could.
They dazzled from the other side of the room on the necks, wrists and fingers of beautiful young models, dressed in black low-cut cocktail dresses.
There was a big smile on the face of the model who got to wear the prize in the collection.
The Christina Onassis Diamond is a pear-shaped flawless 38-carat diamond pendant necklace.
Soaraway sale
Its estimated sale price was between £1.8m and £2.2m. It went to an anonymous telephone bidder for £3.625m.
E-bay this was not.
If you fancied something a little cheaper, there was a bangle made of braided elephant hair (yes, elephant hair), inscribed with the inititals of Christina Onassis and her husband - a snip at around £1,500.
The quirkiest item was surely the Faberge Buddha. Standing just over 11 centimetres high, the finely carved bowenite figure has a nodding head, waving hands and a ruby tongue.
It once had pride of place in the study of Aristotle Onassis's yacht. It would not be to everyone's taste. It sold for more than £1.2m.
The entire collection dramatically exceeded its estimate of £2.5m, reaching a total of £6.8 million.
You can be sure that the lucky new owners will not be fretting too much about the soaring price of fuel.
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'Scottish Islamic state plotted'
Police officer
Plans to set up a secret Islamist state in Scotland were discussed by two supporters of jihad, a court has heard.
The pair said it could provide a safe haven for those who felt "oppressed", London's Blackfriars Crown Court heard.
Aabid Khan, from Bradford, West Yorkshire, said the only problem was the availability of weapons, the court was told.
The 23-year-old and three others deny terrorism-related counts of possessing articles or documents.
In the dock are Mr Khan and Sultan Muhammad, 23, also from Bradford, Ahmed Sulieman, 30, from Woolwich, south-east London, and Hammaad Munshi, 18, from, Dewsbury, West Yorkshire.
Incriminating material
Jurors heard the state would also be run according to Sharia law and eventually be used as a base to "discreetly train" for attacks against non-believers.
The court heard the online exchange was part of a "mass" of allegedly incriminating material found by police during a series of swoops in Bradford and London two years ago.
Prosecutor Simon Denison said the MSN exchange between Khan and Muhammad about the secret Islamic state in Scotland occurred on 12 November 2005.
He said it began with Mr Muhammad explaining how he and work colleagues had allegedly been chatting about "hijrah" or emigration for Muslims feeling oppressed in Britain.
He then continued: "So like maybe a remote part of Scotland - people were like 'What the hell?' - at least to a place where there were Muslim communities."
Sharia law
Mr Khan is said to have replied: "A group of Muslims can go to a remote place and set up a mini Sharia state and they can rule according to Sharia law, like this and stay there, building them up and their children up, preparing for fitness, and then launching jihad once they strengthen themselves."
Mr Denison claimed he then added: "In the UK you can isolate with a group discreetly and train, but better in the US as they have weapons there. Over here weapons is problem."
All defendants deny possessing articles or documents likely to be useful to terrorists in 2005 and 2006.
Mr Khan and Mr Muhammad also deny possessing articles for a terrorist purpose.
The trial continues.
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In Europe, Debate Over Islam and Virginity
By ELAINE SCIOLINO and SOUAD MEKHENNET
PARIS — The operation in the private clinic off the Champs-Élysées involved one semicircular cut, 10 dissolving stitches and a discounted fee of $2,900.
But for the patient, a 23-year-old French student of Moroccan descent from Montpellier, the 30-minute procedure represented the key to a new life: the illusion of virginity.
Like an increasing number of Muslim women in Europe, she had a hymenoplasty, a restoration of her hymen, the vaginal membrane that normally breaks in the first act of intercourse.
“In my culture, not to be a virgin is to be dirt,” said the student, perched on a hospital bed as she awaited surgery on Thursday. “Right now, virginity is more important to me than life.”
As Europe’s Muslim population grows, many young Muslim women are caught between the freedoms that European society affords and the deep-rooted traditions of their parents’ and grandparents’ generations.
Gynecologists say that in the past few years, more Muslim women are seeking certificates of virginity to provide proof to others. That in turn has created a demand among cosmetic surgeons for hymen replacements, which, if done properly, they say, will not be detected and will produce tell-tale vaginal bleeding on the wedding night. The service is widely advertised on the Internet; medical tourism packages are available to countries like Tunisia where it is less expensive.
“If you’re a Muslim woman growing up in more open societies in Europe, you can easily end up having sex before marriage,” said Dr. Hicham Mouallem, who is based in London and performs the operation. “So if you’re looking to marry a Muslim and don’t want to have problems, you’ll try to recapture your virginity.”
No reliable statistics are available, because the procedure is mostly done in private clinics and in most cases not covered by tax-financed insurance plans.
But hymen repair is talked about so much that it is the subject of a film comedy that opens in Italy this week. “Women’s Hearts,” as the film’s title is translated in English, tells the story of a Moroccan-born woman living in Italy who goes to Casablanca for the operation.
One character jokes that she wants to bring her odometer count back down to “zero.”
“We realized that what we thought was a sporadic practice was actually pretty common,” said Davide Sordella, the film’s director. “These women can live in Italy, adopt our mentality and wear jeans. But in the moments that matter, they don’t always have the strength to go against their culture.”
The issue has been particularly charged in France, where a renewed and fierce debate has occurred about a prejudice that was supposed to have been buried with the country’s sexual revolution 40 years ago: the importance of a woman’s virginity.
The furor followed the revelation two weeks ago that a court in Lille, in northern France, had annulled the 2006 marriage of two French Muslims because the groom found his bride was not the virgin she had claimed to be.
The domestic drama has gripped France. The groom, an unidentified engineer in his 30s, left the nuptial bed and announced to the still partying wedding guests that his bride had lied. She was delivered that night to her parents’ doorstep.
The next day, he approached a lawyer about annulling the marriage. The bride, then a nursing student in her 20s, confessed and agreed to an annulment.
The court ruling did not mention religion. Rather, it cited breach of contract, concluding that the engineer had married her after “she was presented to him as single and chaste.” In secular, republican France, the case touches on several delicate subjects: the intrusion of religion into daily life; the grounds for dissolution of a marriage; and the equality of the sexes.
There were calls in Parliament this week for the resignation of Rachida Dati, France’s justice minister, after she initially upheld the ruling. Ms. Dati, who is a Muslim, backed down and ordered an appeal.
Some feminists, lawyers and doctors warned that the court’s acceptance of the centrality of virginity in marriage would encourage more Frenchwomen from Arab and African Muslim backgrounds to have their hymens restored. But there is much debate about whether the procedure is an act of liberation or repression.
“The judgment was a betrayal of France’s Muslim women,” said Elisabeth Badinter, the feminist writer. “It sends these women a message of despair by saying that virginity is important in the eyes of the law. More women are going to say to themselves, ‘My God, I’m not going to take that risk. I’ll recreate my virginity.’ ”
The plight of the rejected bride persuaded the Montpellier student to have the operation.
She insisted that she had never had intercourse and only discovered her hymen was torn when she tried to obtain a certificate of virginity to present to her boyfriend and his family. She says she bled after an accident on a horse when she was 10.
The trauma from realizing that she could not prove her virginity was so intense, she said, that she quietly borrowed money to pay for the procedure.
“All of a sudden, virginity is important in France,” she said. “I realized that I could be seen like that woman everyone is talking about on television.”
Those who perform the procedure say they are empowering patients by giving them a viable future and preventing them from being abused — or even killed — by their fathers or brothers.
“Who am I to judge?” asked Dr. Marc Abecassis, who restored the Montpellier student’s hymen. “I have colleagues in the United States whose patients do this as a Valentine’s present to their husbands. What I do is different. This is not for amusement. My patients don’t have a choice if they want to find serenity — and husbands.”
A specialist in what he calls “intimate” surgery, including penile enhancement, Dr. Abecassis says he performs two to four hymen restorations per week.
The French College of Gynecologists and Obstetricians opposes the procedure on moral, cultural and health grounds.
“We had a revolution in France to win equality; we had a sexual revolution in 1968 when women fought for contraception and abortion,” said Dr. Jacques Lansac, the group’s leader. “Attaching so much importance to the hymen is regression, submission to the intolerance of the past.”
But the stories of the women who have had the surgery convey the complexity and raw emotion behind their decisions.
One Muslim born in Macedonia said she opted for the operation to avoid being punished by her father after an eight-year relationship with her boyfriend.
“I was afraid that my father would take me to a doctor and see whether I was still a virgin,” said the woman, 32, who owns a small business and lives on her own in Frankfurt. “He told me, ‘I will forgive everything but not if you have thrown dirt on my honor.’ I wasn’t afraid he would kill me, but I was sure he would have beaten me.”
In other cases, the woman and her partner decide for her to have the operation. A 26-year-old French woman of Moroccan descent said she lost her virginity four years ago when she fell in love with the man she now plans to marry. But she and her fiancé decided to share the cost of her $3,400 operation in Paris.
She said his conservative extended family in Morocco was requiring that a gynecologist — and family friend — there examine her for proof of virginity before the wedding.
“It doesn’t matter for my fiancé that I am not a virgin — but it would pose a huge problem for his family,” she said. “They know that you can pour blood on the sheets on the wedding night, so I have to have better proof.”
The lives of the French couple whose marriage was annulled are on hold. The Justice Ministry has sought an appeal, arguing that the decision has “provoked a heated social debate” that “touched all citizens of our country and especially women.”
At the Islamic Center of Roubaix, the Lille suburb where the wedding took place, there is sympathy for the woman.
“The man is the biggest of all the donkeys,” said Abdelkibir Errami, the center’s vice president. “Even if the woman was no longer a virgin, he had no right to expose her honor. This is not what Islam teaches. It teaches forgiveness.”
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豪州産鉄鉱石価格85％上げか・資源大手が中国勢と妥結見通し
【シドニー＝高佐知宏】オーストラリア産鉄鉱石を巡る中国の鉄鋼大手と豪英系ＢＨＰビリトン、英豪系リオ・ティントの資源大手2社との2008年度の価格交渉が、前年度比85％の引き上げで妥結する見通しとなった。豪メディアが6日伝えた。中国勢と資源大手2社がこの水準で妥結すれば日本の鉄鋼業界も同様の値上げ受け入れを余儀なくされる見通し。
鉄鉱石の値上げ幅は05年度の同71.5％を上回り過去最高となる。すでに鉄鋼原料用石炭（原料炭）の価格は同3倍で妥結しており、鉄鋼各社は一層のコスト増への対処が求められることになる。
鉄鉱石の価格交渉をめぐっては、中国や日本の鉄鋼大手が先にブラジルの資源大手ヴァーレ（旧リオドセ）と同65％引き上げで妥結した。これに対しＢＨＰとリオは大手3社横並びの慣例を破り、豪州からと南米からの運賃の違いを踏まえ価格の上積みを求めていた。
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自動車保険料、大手損保が一斉引き上げ 直販勢は値下げ
大手損害保険各社が一斉に自動車保険料を引き上げる。東京海上日動火災保険と三井住友海上火災保険は7月、平均1―1.5％上げる。保険料の割引などが進み、収支が悪化したためで、収支が改善しなければ再引き上げも検討する。一方、インターネットなどで販売する直販損保の一部は値下げに動き始めている。ガソリン価格の上昇が長期化すれば消費者が直販商品に一段とシフトする可能性もある。
7月の商品改定に合わせ、東京海上日動は平均1.5％、三井住友海上は同1.0％強上げる。値上げは東京海上日動で7年ぶり。損害保険ジャパンは先行して4月に3％弱引き上げている。
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滝野川信金、希望退職73人応募
滝野川信用金庫（東京・北）が5月に募った希望退職について、受け付け初日に募集を上回る73人の応募があったことが11日、分かった。募集人数は50 人だったため即日締め切った。その後も自己都合による退職者が相次ぎ、合計の退職者は職員数（2007年3月末で692人）の14％にあたる100人に達するもようだ。
人員リストラによる経費削減に一定のめどがついたことから、今後は浅香重夫理事長ら経営陣の責任が問われることになりそうだ。
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飼料高で700億円追加支援、畜産などの補助金上げ 自民など
自民党と農林水産省は11日、世界的な穀物高を背景とした家畜の飼料の価格高騰を受け、畜産・酪農の生産者に総額700億円規模の緊急対策を実施する方針を固めた。財源は農水省所管の独立行政法人「農畜産業振興機構」の保有資金を使う。加工原料乳の生産者への補助金の引き上げなどが柱。農水省は12日に開く外部有識者による審議会に提案し、政府として決める見通しだ。
政府は今年2月に飼料高騰で経営が悪化している酪農家など向けに、1871億円の支援を決定。バイオ燃料向けの需要増などで飼料となるトウモロコシの価格が高騰しており、追加対策を実施することにした。
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森永製菓、群馬新工場の着工延期 原材料高で計画見直し
森永製菓は群馬県高崎市に建設予定の新工場の着工を、2010年３月期以降に延期する。当初は今秋の計画だった。原材料高や値上げの影響で、生産や販売計画を見直すため。同社最大の生産拠点として10年の稼働を目指していたが、少なくとも１年以上は遅れる見通しだ。
同社は昨年末に一部菓子の出荷価格を引き上げた影響から、販売が伸び悩んでいる。原料高で一層の合理化も必要なことから計画を変更。これに伴って14年に国内製菓工場を現在の半分の３カ所に減らす再編も遅れる。
新工場は同社が昨年、80億円前後で取得したキリンビールの高崎工場跡地（約17万8000平方メートル）に計画。建設する意向は変わらないという。
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国産ナタネを守ろうと集会
市民ら「助成金必要」
安全・安心で地域振興になる国産ナタネを振興させようと、市民団体と超党派の国会議員の集会が十一日、国会内で開かれました。集会では、農水省が来年度から助成金を廃止する方針を示していることから、農水省の担当者を招き、実情を聞きました。環境保護団体、生協や農民連など生産者団体から五十人が参加しました。
国産ナタネは最盛期には二十五万ヘクタール以上ありましたが、輸入におされ、北海道や青森県を中心産地として全国で六百ヘクタールほどに減っています。遺伝子組み換えのナタネ輸入がほとんどとなるなか、自給率は０・０４％に下落しています。
農水省の担当者は、六十キロあたり五千円交付する現行助成金（総額七千万円）について、「六十キロいくらという助成制度はできない。地域特産としてどんな支援策ができるか検討中。消費者が高く買い支えられないか」などと答弁しました。
参加者は、「それではどこでも栽培できない」「消費者が選択できるように食用油の遺伝子組み換え表示こそ実施せよ」との声がでました。農民連の石黒昌孝事務局次長は、「生産のため助成金は絶対必要だ」と訴えました。
日本共産党の高橋千鶴子衆院議員、紙智子参院議員が出席し、自給率向上のため価格保障の重要性を強調。民主、社民、新党日本の代表も参加しました。ヨーロッパでは価格・所得保障でナタネ油を増やしているとのべ、政府の姿勢を追及していくことを確認しました。
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Pest threatens Brazil's Sao Paulo cane fields
11 Jun 2008, 1109 hrs IST, REUTERS
SAO PAULO: A new pest in Brazil's largest sugar cane growing state, Sao Paulo, could cause annual crop losses of up to $245 million, if it spreads as expected, a leading sugar cane research center said on Tuesday.
The giant cane borer ( Telchin licus ), which is common in Brazil's northeastern states, was spotted for the first time in Sao Paulo last July, in the Limeira area and "has disseminated," the Sugar Cane Technology Center said.
"As it is a new plague in the center-south, combative methods have not yet been developed," said Enrico De Beni Arrigoni, technological research coordinator at the CTC.
"Chemical treatments have not shown any positive results," he said, adding that in the Northeast, where the plague was identified for the first time in 1927, the only solution was to catch the insects manually in the cane fields.
Sao Paulo accounts for about 60 percent of the national sugar cane crop and has the world's highest productivity. The current crop is estimated at around 340 million to 350 million tonnes.
The insect larvae can reach up to 8 centimeters (3 inches) and reduces cane yields significantly, Arrigoni said. The larvae bore holes, causing damage to the cane.
"After the infestations in the Limeira region, CTC draws a worrying picture for the ethanol and sugar sector in Sao Paulo," CTC said in a statement.
Considering the planted area of around 4 million hectares (10 million acres) in the state, CTC projects crop losses could reach 400 million reais ($245 million) per year "just in Sao Paulo."
"We do not know when the plague will arrive through the whole region, but there's no way of impeding its spread. We don't know if this would be fast," Arrigoni said by telephone.
One branch of the studies to combat the giant cane borer is a genetically modified variety of sugar cane.
Arrigoni said the cane pest is restricted to Brazil and Guiana.
CTC is sponsored by 180 ethanol and sugar mills in Brazil's center-south.
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Researchers Assessing Safety and Benefits of GM Cotton in Burkina Faso
St. Louis, MO (PRWEB) June 5, 2008 -- In a new online video and podcast released today, Dr. Ouola Traorй, an agronomist and head of the cotton program at the Institute for the Environment and Agricultural Research (INERA), discusses the field trials and evaluations that have been conducted since 2003 to assess if transgenic cotton crops provide advantages to farmers in Burkina Faso (http://www.monsanto.com/biotech-gmo/asp/experts.asp?id=OuolaTraore).
Burkina Faso in Western Africa is one of the poorest countries in the world with 90 percent of the population engaged in subsistence agriculture. Where possible, farmers are producing cotton as a cash crop, yet are susceptible to frequent drought and insect infestations.
“It’s true that we have some varieties that are productive, but we also have to use a lot of pesticides first to treat the seed, then to protect the plants until they are virtually mature,” explains Dr. Traorй. “At present, the cost of insecticide treatment means that often we can’t be competitive internationally.”
GM insect-protected cotton crops contain a protein from Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) that protects the plants from specific lepidopteron insect pests.
“The experiments are intended – with transgenic cotton – to see what the advantages are. … It’s to see if there is some other alternative to battling the various pests chemically,” continues Dr. Traorй.
Once approved for commercial use, Burkinabe farmers are expected to benefit from less labor, less pesticide spraying and increased income. According to a recent report from the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA), the adoption of genetically modified crops among resource-poor farmers in other countries is resulting in unprecedented benefits that are contributing to the Millennium Development Goals of reducing poverty by 50 percent by 2015.
In addition to assessing the agronomic characteristics and effectiveness of GM cotton, researchers at INERA are evaluating the impact of the technology on the environment and the composition and safety of the cotton seed and oil byproducts used for animal feed and human consumption.
“I’m interested in giving the best possible information to the producer. And it’s not in the interest of others, but in my own interest – as a scientist,” says Dr. Traorй. “It’s in the interest of the country, in the interest of the producers – because I myself am the son of a producer – to convey to them the right information.”
This new video can be viewed, downloaded or embedded into another Web site from the Conversations about Plant Biotechnology (http://www.monsanto.com/biotech-gmo/) Web site. In addition, visitors to the Web site can view videos with farmers about the need for GM crops in Burkina Faso (http://www.monsanto.com/biotech-gmo/asp/country.asp?cname=Burkina%20Faso), as well as with global experts who want greater access to GM technology in developing countries to benefit subsistence farming (http://www.monsanto.com/biotech-gmo/asp/topic.asp?id=SustainableFarming).
The Conversations about Plant Biotechnology is designed to give a voice and a face to the farmers and families who grow GM crops (http://www.monsanto.com/biotech-gmo/asp/country.asp) and the experts who research and study the benefits of biotechnology in agriculture (http://www.monsanto.com/biotech-gmo/asp/experts.asp). The Web site contains more than 70 two- to three-minute, extremely candid, straightforward and compelling video segments with the people who know the technology best. The Web site is hosted by Monsanto Company — a leading global provider of technology-based solutions and agricultural products that improve farm productivity and food quality.
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Swiss bank secrecy at risk as America presses UBS for 20,000 client names
A general view of UBS offices
Tom Bawden and Michael Herman
The veil of secrecy that has protected the wealthy clients of Swiss banks for centuries was under severe threat last night after the US Justice Department moved to force UBS to reveal the names of 20,000 clients.
The US Government believes that the Swiss bank has helped some of the wealthiest Americans to evade $300 million (£152 million) in taxes.
Under Swiss law, UBS can reveal clients’ identities to a foreign regulator or law enforcer only if ordered to do so by the Swiss Government. However, the US Justice Department is discussing a settlement with UBS under which the department would make a request to the Swiss authorities for the names of the bank’s American clients. UBS declined to comment on any aspect of the Justice Department’s investigations except to say that it was treating them “with the utmost seriousness”.
The Justice Department, which has the power to bring criminal cases, has charged a former UBS banker and a consultant based in Liechtenstein – like Switzerland, a leading tax haven – with helping clients to avoid taxes by opening secret accounts.
Related Links
* Ex-UBS banker to admit tax evasion charges
* More pressure on UBS as America holds banker
* UBS prepares to cut 8,000 jobs after $12 billion loss
It is working to broaden the investigation into UBS by examining its American account holders, whom it believes the Swiss bank may have helped to dodge at least $300 million in taxes by using undisclosed offshore accounts.
Even if UBS does not reveal the identities of its American account holders, many of its bankers and richest clients are in danger of being identified as part of a plea bargain between one of the group’s former bankers and the Justice Department.
If Bradley Birkenfeld, a former UBS banker, is called to testify he is expected to say that he helped Igor Olenicoff, a property developer in California, and other clients to evade taxes. Mr Olenicoff has pleaded guilty to filing a false tax return for 2002. Mr Birkenfeld, who helped him to hide $200 million, is hoping to agree a plea bargain to reduce his penalty. “He’s going to sing like a parakeet,” one of Mr Birkenfeld’s clients apparently said. Danny Onorato, Mr Birkenfeld’s lawyer, and the Justice Department both declined to comment.
Any disclosure would be a second big setback to UBS’s reputation as a conservative and watertight guardian of its customers’ money. The bank has been the biggest European victim in the US sub-prime mortgage crisis, with $38 billion in losses so far.
UBS’s shares have fallen by half in New York this year, cutting its market capitalisation to $61 billion. The bank still has $45 billion in US mortgage-related assets, $8.6 billion in leveraged loan commitments and $10.4 billion of American student loans on its books.
Separately, it emerged that Lehman Brothers has stepped up its quest for new capital to bolster its balance sheet after an estimated $4 billion of sub-prime-related losses this year. The US investment bank is understood to be considering releasing second-quarter results next week, a week earlier than scheduled, and coupling the disclosure with an announcement that it will raise up to $5 billion of fresh capital as it seeks to calm nervous investors.
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雪印乳業、チーズなど２ケタ値上げ ２月に続き
雪印乳業は12日、家庭用のチーズやマーガリンなどを８月から順次値上げすると発表した。価格を変えずに量を減らす実質値上げを含め、85品目を値上げする。原材料である生乳や輸入チーズ、油脂類の値上がりを転嫁する。同社は２月にもチーズと油脂の値上げを実施している。
値上げするのは「切れてるチーズ」など71品目。希望小売価格でみた上げ幅は、チーズが平均で10％、マーガリンなどの油脂が18％、贈答品が15％。８月１日出荷分から値上げする。「北海道コンデンスミルク」などの食品は12％で９月から。
内容量を減らすのは10品目で、チーズは13％、油脂は11％減らす。「ネオソフト」の180グラム入りは８月から160グラムになる。ほかの食品は、９月から７―８％減量する。
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専業主婦の夫も育休取れます 厚労省が法改正へ
2008年6月12日3時1分
専業主婦がいる家庭の夫も育児休業を取れるよう、厚生労働省は育児・介護休業法を改正する方針を固めた。共働きかどうかにかかわらず育休が取れる環境を整え、少子化対策の柱としている男性の育児参加を進める狙いだ。
厚労省の「今後の仕事と家庭の両立支援に関する研究会」が１２日、報告書素案として示す。夫が育児に積極的に参加するほど、第１子出産後も妻が仕事を続ける割合が高く、夫婦が２人目、３人目の子どもを考える割合も高いという調査結果がある。短時間勤務や残業免除の制度導入の義務化と併せて同法改正案に盛り込み、来年の通常国会への提出を目指す。
現行法では、事業主は従業員が育休を希望した場合は認めなければならない。しかし、労使で合意すれば、専業主婦（夫）がいる家庭の従業員を対象外にできる規定がある。事業所の７５％がこの規定を適用している。
厚労省によると、４０歳以下の男性正社員の３割が「育休を利用したい」と考えている。こうした実態をふまえ、除外規定をなくして男性の育休取得を促し、女性の子育ての負担軽減にもつなげる。
育休は原則、子どもが１歳になるまでに１回取れる。育休を取ると雇用保険から休業前賃金の５割が「育児休業給付」として出る。政府は、男性の育休取得率０．５％を、１７年までに１０％まで引き上げることを目指している。
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Russian becomes enemy language in former USSR
11.06.2008 Source: Pravda.Ru URL: http://english.pravda.ru/world/ussr/105493-russian_language-0
The Russian administration has decided to do everything possible to make Russian the official language in all countries of the former USSR (currently known as the Commonwealth of Independent States, CIS). However, the leaders of some of those countries are not eager to follow Russia at this point.
The idea to make the Russian language the official language on the post-Soviet space is not new. Russia’s Foreign Affairs Ministry started working on the subject in 2003.
“If a country decides to acknowledge Russia its official language then it is up to this country to elaborate necessary mechanisms for it,” a spokesman for the Institute of the CIS, Vladimir Zharikhin told Pravda.ru.
The specialist urged not to politicize the issue of the Russian language in post-Soviet states. “This is a humanitarian mission, first and foremost. Studying the Russian language and culture is one of the ways to become a part of world culture,” he said.
A spokesman for the Center of Strategic Research, Sergei Mikheyev, was more skeptic in his comments about the problem. “We remain on the declarative level of the Russian language status, as it was five years ago. The situation has only worsened during those years. Nationalist forces in some countries strive to distance themselves from Russia, its language and culture as much as possible. Like Viktor Yushchenko said – Russia ends where the Russian language ends,” Mikheyev told Pravda.ru.
Fore the time being, none of the countries of the former Soviet Union has agreed to acknowledge Russian its official language. In addition, nationalist movements in many of those countries try to get rid of the Russian language. People already start to forget it.
“Many young people do not speak and do not understand Russian. Russian can become an elite language in Georgia, which is a great misfortune,” the Russian Ambassador to Georgia, Vyacheslav Kovalenko said.
Speaking about Georgia, this country does not see any reason for its citizens to study Russian. Knowledge of Russia is not required for job seekers even at the companies owned by Russian entrepreneurs. However, it will be difficult for young Georgians to come to Russia or try to enter a Russian university.
If the situation continues to develop like that in the future, CIA organizations, Like GUAM for example, will have to acknowledge English its international communication language.
Armenia gradually forgets Russian too. Despite Armenia’s friendly ties with Russia, it was decided not to broadcast programs in the Russian language on Armenian TV channels.
As for Ukraine, about 50 percent of its population speaks Russian. The Ukrainian authorities have discussed the question of the Russian language on numerous occasions. However, President Yushchenko is not going to spend any funds to support the Russian language and culture in Ukraine.
Many guest workers from Central Asia, who come to Moscow or other cities of Russia for earnings, can hardly speak Russians. The governments of Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan are too busy with their economic problems to tackle the language problem.
It just so happens that studying Russian has become a person problem on the post-Soviet space. The number of Russian schools continues to decline, whereas the Russian-speaking population leaves. The former USSR seems to forget that language is a highly important part of the cultural code of a nation.
Ivan Shmelev
Pravda.ru
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Guantánamo detainees win right of appeal
By Demetri Sevastopulo in Washington
Published: June 12 2008 17:29 | Last updated: June 13 2008 00:40
The US Supreme Court dealt the Bush administration a blow on Thursday by ruling that detainees at Guantánamo Bay could challenge their detention using US civilian courts.
In a landmark 5-4 decision, the court ruled that the Bush administration could not ignore the constitution by denying detainees at the US detention facility habeas corpus, or the right to challenge their detention.
President George W. Bush, during a visit to Rome, disagreed with the decision but said he would abide by the ruling.
The Justice department later said the administration would proceed with military commissions. “To the extent that [the Supreme Court decision] addresses matters that could affect the commission trials, those matters will initially be litigated before the military commissions themselves,” the Justice department said.
The court rejected the Bush administration’s argument that detainees were not entitled to the right of habeas corpus partly because Guantánamo Bay is not sovereign US territory. Justice Anthony Kennedy said US “laws and [the] constitution are designed to survive, and remain in force, in extraordinary times”.
The Pentagon has brought charges against 20 of the 270 detainees at Guantánamo Bay.
While the administration says the commissions will proceed, lawyers for the detainees are likely to ask federal US courts to halt the military trials while they assess the habeas corpus claims.
A lawyer for Salim Ahmed Hamdan, a former driver for Osama bin Laden who was the first detainee to face a commission, on Thursday said he would challenge his client’s detention.
In a scathing dissent, Justice Antonin Scalia wrote that “the nation will live to regret what the court has done today”.
The decision was also likely to reignite the debate within the administration over how to close Guantánamo, which has stained the US image around the world.
Barack Obama and John McCain, the Democratic and Republican nominees for president, have both said they would close the prison.
The ruling was welcomed by human rights groups and lawyers who have spent years fighting the administration over the issue. Vincent Warren, executive director of the Center for Constitutional Rights, which represents detainees at Guantánamo, said the decision would “sound the death knell” for the prison.
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Court fight over right to bonuses on quitting
By Megan Murphy, Law Courts Correspondent
Published: June 12 2008 23:04 | Last updated: June 12 2008 23:04
Seven brokers are suing ABN Amro for forcing them to forfeit part of their bonuses because they were poached from the bank by another company.
The case brought by the brokers, who now work for inter-dealer Tullett Prebon, challenges one of the City’s most contentious compensation practices.
Banks and financial services firms keen to tie in top performers have long relied on schemes that require employees to take a proportion of their annual bonuses in shares, or company “units”, instead of cash.
The Tullett case centres on whether it is lawful to revoke this deferred compensation when high-earning executives depart to work for another employer.
The issue, known as the “good leaver, bad leaver” distinction, has rankled City workers who already see a hefty slice of their pay packet shunted into share schemes.
Typically, bankers receive about 30 per cent of their total remuneration in stock and 70 per cent in cash. However, that mix varies from bank to bank and also fluctuates widely according to market conditions.
One of the ABN Amro deferred-compensation plans at issue in the case paid as much as 50 per cent of bonuses above €100,000 (£79,180) in company units that could be cashed in only after a waiting period of two to three years.
Paul Humphrey, former global head of electronic business at ABN Amro and the executive leading the High Court case, was brought in to Tullett last year to build the firm’s electronic brokerage business. He took a six-person team with him when he left, all of whom are now suing the bank over bonus entitlements that accrued between 2004 and 2006.
They claim that forcing them to forfeit their deferred-compensation rights is an unlawful restraint of trade in that it effectively penalises them for taking a new job. It is an argument that lawyers specialising in big-money employment disputes have been keen to see litigated. If successful, the Tullett claim would upend a compensation system that has thrived on its promise of big rewards for big risks.
Despite the credit crunch, City workers took home a record £12.6bn in bonuses in the first three months of 2008, according to the Office for National Statistics. The brokers’ casehinges on whether Tullett, as an inter-dealer broker, should be classified as a competitor to the Dutch bank, which was last year acquired by Royal Bank of Scotland. Undermost deferred-compensation schemes, employees who leave to work for a rival are classified as “bad leavers” and must forfeit any entitlements that have not yet vested.
By contrast, those who depart as “good leavers”, such as bankers who retire after a long period of service, are generally paid out. It is also common for financial institutions to compensate arriving workers for any deferred rights they may have given up to ensure they are not out of pocket.
Investment banks say such schemes help to breed employee loyalty, allowing them to better plan their total compensation outlays from year to year.
The seven brokers involved in the ABN Amro case, however, argue that the Dutch bank acted irrationally and unfairly in casting them as bad leavers because the bank does not compete with Tullett in the same market.
They also point out that they each agreed to work through their notice periods, despite ABN Amro’s general policy of immediately placing departing employees on paid leave.
At issue are three separate deferred-compensation plans that operated at ABN Amro between 2001 and 2006 – known as the “Key Employee Equity Programme” and the “Global Key Employee Retention Plan”. The plans state that any rights that have not yet vested at the time an employee leaves will lapse immediately unless the firm’s executive committee decides otherwise.
An ABN Amro spokesman declined to comment on the specifics of the case. It is thought to be unlikely, however, that the lender will look to settle given the plans’ wording and prior High Court decisions affirming the discretionary nature of bonus programmes.
Brokers likely to face uphill struggle
The seven brokers suing ABN Amro for forcing them to forfeit part of their bonus payments when they left for Tullett Prebon may face an uphill struggle in court.
In recent years, British judges have rejected a series of cases over disputed bonuses, generally affirming the principle that banks have wide discretion in setting the amounts awarded.
In fact, many employment lawyers believe the courts are effectively closed off to bonus challenges in the wake of a 2006 Court of Appeal decision to throw out an €8m (£6.3m) claim brought by former Commerzbank trader James Keen, on the grounds that he had no case.
The claims put forward by the seven Tullett brokers are not unique. Last year Garrett Curran, a former Dresdner Kleinwort executive, brought a £7m lawsuit on similar grounds. But that case was settled on undisclosed terms before reaching the High Court.
The type of deferred compensation schemes at issue in the lawsuit are also not unique. Most investment banks have similar plans, and say they are vital in retaining key employees who otherwise would have little or no financial incentive to stay with one firm.
The plans are structured so that part of an employees’ bonus is paid in stock, rather than cash. Those shares can only be cashed in typically after a two to five-year “vesting” period, as long as the employee is still employed by the same firm.
That system would be thrown into disarray should the High Court rule that forcing City workers to forfeit their deferred bonus payments when they leave for another employer was an unlawful restraint of trade. The issue is especially acute in the current climate, where banks are looking to defer paying ever larger slices of employees’ bonuses.
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Caterpillar to quit US engine market
By Bernard Simon in Toronto
Published: June 12 2008 18:30 | Last updated: June 12 2008 19:54
The shake-up in the global truck industry took another step forward on Thursday, as Caterpillar announced its withdrawal as a supplier of engines to US truck makers and said it would pursue a global joint venture with Navistar International.
The two companies plan to produce medium and heavy-duty commercial trucks outside North America. But Caterpillar will in future focus its North American truck business on the joint development of a “severe service” off-highway vehicle used for road construction, large infrastructure projects and oil development.
Questions have hung over Caterpillar’s North American truck-engine business for some time. Its market share has declined and one of its biggest customers, Paccar, builder of the Peterbilt and Kenworth brands, is currently building its own engine plant in Mississippi.
The slowing US economy has severely dented demand for new trucks, and truck makers face heavy investments to comply with tighter US diesel emission regulations that take effect in 2010.
Caterpillar does not disclose engine sales volumes. Sales to truck makers made up 9 per cent of its worldwide total last year, behind industrial, power-generation, oilfield and marine users. Caterpillar also produces engines for its own construction and mining equipment.
Caterpillar’s planned withdrawal from the US on-highway truck market boosted shares of Cummins, one of its chief rivals, by 14 per cent in early trading on Thursday.
Navistar said that the joint venture would combine its expertise in truck design, development and manufacturing, with Caterpillar’s 4,700 distributors around the world.
Navistar has a significant presence in Mexico, Chile and South Africa, as well as a manufacturing joint venture with India’s Mahindra & Mahindra. But it has lacked resources to expand into other parts of the world.
The latest deal “allows us to reach the entire world using Caterpillar’s distribution base”, Dan Ustian, Navistar’s chief executive, said on Thursday. “Maybe China will be the first place”, he added.
The two companies have set up teams to assess truck and engine opportunities.
Navistar said that the deal with Caterpillar would have no impact on its project with Germany’s MAN to build heavy-duty truck engines at a plant now under construction in Alabama.
Volkswagen owns 30 per cent of MAN. Oliver Dixon, a truck-industry consultant, suggested that the German carmaker might at some point consider selling its stake to Caterpillar and Navistar.
Caterpillar shares gained 2.7 per cent to $81.06 in early trading. Navistar was almost 4 per cent higher at $74.70.
The consolidation of the truck industry is already well advanced in other parts of the world. A prolonged takeover battle for Sweden’s Scania, one of the industry’s most profitable players, ended in March, with Volkwagen buying a stake previously held by the Wallenberg family.
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Ford calls for US help on electric cars
By John Reed in London
Published: June 12 2008 19:33 | Last updated: June 12 2008 19:33
Ford Motor has joined General Motors in calling for direct US government intervention to boost the market for plug-in electric vehicles, which Detroit’s carmakers fear could become dominated by Asian manufacturers.
Mark Fields, head of Ford’s Americas business, said that government should be a “key partner in promoting American manufacturing” of plug-in cars and the lithium-ion batteries that power them through tax incentives, research subsidies and other measures.
“A business case will not evolve, in the near term, without support from Washington,” Mr Fields said on Wednesday in a speech at Washington DC.
GM, Toyota, and Renault-Nissan plan to launch plug-in cars by 2010 but Ford has not set a target for bringing one to market.
It is road-testing plug-in hybrid versions of its Escape sport utility vehicle and working with utility company Southern California Edison on charging infrastructure for cars.
Plug-in hybrid and electric cars are moving up global carmakers’ agendas rapidly as petrol prices soar and sales of large and inefficient vehicles plummet.
Both GM and Ford are cutting jobs and production capacity of SUVs and trucks and shifting more resources into fuel-efficient cars.
Tax breaks for conventional hybrid cars currently on the road, like Toyota’s market-leading Prius model, helped to promote their adoption in the US.
GM is pressing Congress to offer tax incentives for extended-range electric vehicles to help defray the cost to consumers of the Volt and also wants more government support for battery development.
Carmakers worry that US consumers, already stretched by high petrol prices and a slower economy, will be reluctant to pay the higher sticker prices needed to recoup plug-in cars’ development costs and new components.
Japanese government support of R&D for current-generation hybrids has become a sore point for America’s struggling domestic carmakers after seeing Toyota capture most of the global market, led by the Prius.
The governments of China, South Korea and India are also funding R&D on technology for plug-in hybrid and electric cars, which will have longer electric-only driving ranges than current hybrids.
Development of advanced lithium-ion batteries, due to become a core automotive technology, is thus far taking place primarily in Asia, although there are some American producers.
“For those looking to plug-ins to answer our energy security concerns, we must ensure a domestic battery supply,” Mr Fields said. “Moving from imported oil to imported batteries clearly wouldn’t address this growing concern.”
Government should “aggressively advance” R&D and commmercialisation of lithium-ion batteries through direct funding for technology and retooling of facilities to produce electric vehicles, he said.
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LG eyes GE appliance arm bid
By Sundeep Tucker, and Anna Fifield in Seoul
Published: June 12 2008 23:30 | Last updated: June 12 2008 23:30
South Korea’s LG Electronics is considering a bid for General Electric’s appliance business and is likely to hire an investment bank to advise on the deal, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Senior executives at LG have been authorised to prepare a detailed evaluation of the merits of a bid, and recently returned from a fact-finding mission to the US to study the potential acquisition.
Potential bidders with an interest in acquiring the GE operations, which could fetch up to $7bn, span the globe.
People familiar with the process said that white-goods makers from Asia, Germany, Turkey, Mexico, Sweden and Italy, as well as private equity groups, were looking at the business, which had sales of $7.2bn last year, or about 4 per cent of GE’s total.
GE’s appliances division has been plagued by low margins and slim profitability, and has long been considered to be a candidate for disposal.
A bid by LG could pitch it against Qingdao Haier, the Chinese white goods maker, which the Financial Times reported this week is also considering a bid.
In recent years, Chinese groups have bid for manufacturing companies in the US, seeking to marry their low-cost production facilities with US brands and distribution.
Chinese makers of white goods and consumer electronics have been able to compete not only on price, but also in terms of quality with rivals in Korea and Japan.
However, LG is understood to believe that it is the leading Asian contender to acquire GE Appliances, on the grounds that the South Korean company has greater financial muscle and management expertise than a rival such as Haier.
LG is regarded by some dealmakers as a likely bidder for the GE unit, as the acquisition could help the Korean group to strengthen its position in the US market.
LG has made big strides in the US appliances market in recent years with its popular range of washing machines, air conditioners and television sets.
However, others believe that LG could struggle to secure attractive debt financing from local banks in the wake of the US economic downturn.
Nam Yong, LG chief executive, hinted at the company’s interest in the sale two weeks ago when he said: “We are carefully looking at the situation, as it will have a significant impact on the global appliances industry.”
The South Korean company on Thursday declined to comment on what it described as “speculation” but added that LG was “monitoring” its options.
LG last month announced plans to restructure its portfolio over the next five years, pulling out of loss-making businesses, expanding outsourcing overseas and developing new engines of growth such as energy and healthcare.
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BP considers route out of Russian minefield
By Ed Crooks and Catherine Belton
Published: June 12 2008 23:16 | Last updated: June 12 2008 23:16
After weeks of guarded, diplomatic language through gritted teeth, BP has been provoked to the point where it can no longer be polite.
Peter Sutherland, the company’s outspoken chairman, on Thursday attacked BP’s Russian partners in the TNK-BP joint venture and criticised Russia’s leaders. “The fate of TNK-BP will be an early test of the ability of President [Dmitry] Medvedev to turn his vision [of restoring respect for the rule of law] into reality,” Mr Sutherland said. “Much of the world is watching as well.”
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UK retail market ‘worst since early 1990s’
By Daniel Thomas, Property Correspondent
Published: June 13 2008 03:24 | Last updated: June 13 2008 03:24
Rents on high streets and in shopping centres are falling at their fastest rate in 15 years as the economic slowdown takes its toll on the retail sector, according to a report published on Friday.
In a chilling warning to retailers and their landlords, the annual midsummer retail report states “this is the worst retail market since the early 1990s”.
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Shell Tanker Strike Fuels Petrol Fears
By Sky News SkyNews - 18 minutes ago
Hundreds of Shell petrol tanker drivers have begun a four-day strike - a walkout that will affect around one in 10 of Britain's petrol stations.
The Government is warning that many garage forecourts may run short of fuel - and has asked people not to panic buy petrol.
Union leaders predicted that supplies would start to run out "almost immediately" and all Shell's forecourts would be affected within 24 hours.
But the UK Petrol Industry Association (UKPIA) has insisted that fuel supplies at Britain's forecourts are currently at normal levels.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown has refused to rule out calling in the Army to keep fuel flowing, warning that the Government was willing to do "everything we can" to stop pumps running dry.
The strike by around 500 Shell drivers who deliver petrol across the country is expected to continue until 6am next Tuesday.
In Stanlow, Cheshire, some 300 people have walked out but drivers from companies other than Shell are still filling up to go out to work.
Sky News correspondent Michelle May was there when one driver from another firm drove into the site and turned around, leaving without filling up.
The gesture of solidarity was greeted by excited applause from those picketing.
"There is a great feeling of support for the men here this morning," May said. "But this really is only the start."
The drivers claim their average pay, before overtime, of £32,000 has not increased since 1992.
Employers Hoyer UK and Suckling Transport offered to up pay by 7.3% backdated to January 1, 2008. That would have taken average earnings to over £39,000 but was rejected by union negotiators.
Talks aimed at averting the strike broke down yesterday evening.
The employers also offered a further 6% increase from January 1, 2009, which would have taken the drivers' earnings to around £41,500.
Shell has 892 petrol stations across the UK. Most are concentrated in Central Scotland, the North West, the Midlands and the South East.
Demonstrations are due to take place at around 14 fuel depots and terminals across the country.
They include Stanlow in Merseyside, Avonmouth, Plymouth, Pembroke, Cardiff, Kingsbury, Basildon, Grangemouth, Aberdeen, Inverness, Jarrow and a small site at Luton Airport.
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Maersk Oil Gives 20% of Shipper's Revenue, 50% of Net (Update2)
By Christian Wienberg
June 12 (Bloomberg) -- A.P. Moeller-Maersk A/S, owner of the world's biggest container-shipping line, is a Persian Gulf oil producer in disguise.
Copenhagen-based Maersk fell 11 percent in the past year even as it increased petroleum production in Qatar and crude prices doubled. The oil unit produced almost half of net income in 2007 and about 20 percent of revenue. David Hallden of Credit Agricole Cheuvreux, one of five analysts who recommend buying the shares among the 22 tracked by Bloomberg, predicts the stock may rise a third in 2008.
``We're very pleased with their oil and gas investment,'' said Jim LaTorre, a principal at Boston-based Northern Cross LLC, an adviser to Maersk's biggest shareholder after the Moeller family. ``Qatar will have a significant effect on the company's earnings over the next 5 to 10 years.''
LaTorre advises Hakan Castegren, who runs the $30 billion Harbor International Fund and raised his stake in the shipper to 1.4 percent as of March 31, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
With oil revenue rising, container-shipping earnings are also poised to recover as Maersk completes the company's biggest cost-reduction program, firing more than 3,000 workers and pledging to favor profitability over growth.
``The new management is taking very strong measures to improve the container business and we think that this will have a positive effect on profit margins within two to three years,'' LaTorre said.
Richest Dane
The shipper is controlled by Maersk Mc-Kinney Moeller, 94, Denmark's wealthiest person, according to the publication Berlingske Nyhedsmagasin. Moeller, whose father founded the company, established the petroleum unit in 1962. It began production in Qatar 14 years ago and by 2007 its sales had exceeded those of the oil and gas business of Devon Energy Corp., the biggest U.S. independent producer.
Maersk says it has crossed a threshold where the added revenue from rising crude outweighs the higher cost of fuel used to operate its 500 container vessels.
Since April, the shares have risen 13 percent, 11 percentage points greater than the OMX 20 Copenhagen Index and 19 percentage points more than the Standard & Poor's Europe 350 Index. Maersk declined 200 kroner, or 0.4 percent, today to 56,300 kroner in Copenhagen trading.
Dividend Yield
Maersk remains cheap by some measures, trading at 12 times estimated earnings per share. That's below the company's average price-earnings ratio of 13 for the past three years, and the 16- times valuation for the 118 stocks in the Bloomberg World Transportation Index. Maersk's 1.2 percent dividend yield is about twice that of Devon Energy and three times the average payout of the S&P Supercomposite Oil & Gas Exploration Index.
Brian Boersting of LD Markets in Copenhagen, whose recommendations on Maersk produced a 66 percent return in the past 12 months, raised his target price to 60,000 kroner ($12,515) on May 16, while Stockholm-based Hallden predicts the stock may rally to 75,000 kroner by year-end, a 33 percent increase.
The oil unit produces from fields in the Danish and U.K. sectors of the North Sea as well as in Algeria, Kazakhstan and offshore Qatar, which may surpass Denmark this year as the company's biggest site.
Qatar production almost doubled last year to 51 million barrels of oil equivalent while production at maturing Danish fields fell 7.9 percent to 58 million barrels, the company said in the annual report.
Negative Outlook
Lars Heindorff, an analyst at ABG Sundal Collier in Copenhagen, expects the shares to fall this year because of increased competition in shipping.
``I believe the container business is the swing factor when it comes to future earnings,'' said Heindorff, one of six analysts recommending selling the shares, who has a 50,000- kroner price target. ``It's very uncertain how their container business will perform.''
Maersk in November replaced Chief Executive Officer Jess Soederberg, 63, with Nils Smedegaard Andersen, 49, the first chief brought in from outside in the company's 103-year history. Andersen came from Carlsberg A/S, where he doubled the value of the brewer's shares in his last two years in charge.
Since Andersen's arrival, Maersk said it may fire 250 workers at its unprofitable Lindoe shipyard, which Denmark last year chose as one of the country's 25 national industrial heritage sites. The company also plans to replace Danish crew members on container vessels with lower-paid eastern Europeans and Filipinos.
`Top Priority'
``Restoring Maersk Line profitability continues to be our top priority,'' Andersen said during a May 15 teleconference.
Maersk's moves to improve disclosure will also boost the stock as investors discover the company is more of an oil producer than a shipper, according to Cheuvreux's Hallden. Of the 22 analysts covering Maersk, at least 19 are transportation or shipping specialists and don't follow other energy companies.
Under Andersen, who was voted executive of the year in 2007 by the Danish Association of Managers and Executives, Maersk has started to make quarterly earnings reports. The company didn't include revenue in its statements until 1989, and held its first teleconference one year ago.
``The new management has shown its willingness to give more information and that is a huge step forward,'' said Tim Stevenson, who helps manage the 60 billion pound ($118 billion) Henderson Global Investors Ltd. fund in London. ``Many people don't recognize that Maersk is so much more than a container line.''
Henderson's purchase of 10,200 Maersk shares in the first quarter, for a 0.5 percent stake, made the fund the biggest buyer of stock in the oil producer and shipper this year through March, according to Bloomberg data.
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厚労相、日雇い派遣「やめる方向」 法改正を検討
違法派遣の横行が指摘されている日雇い派遣問題について、舛添要一厚生労働相は13日、閣議後の記者会見で「決して好ましいとは思っていない、やめるような方向でやるべきではないかと思っている」と述べた。舛添厚労相は日雇い派遣について、「かなり厳しい形で考え直すべきだ。秋には法律の形できちんと対応したい」と述べ、秋の国会で労働者派遣法の改正法案を提出したいとの意向を示した。
日雇い派遣はサービス産業を中心に広く活用されており、今後議論になりそうだ。
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サムライ債発行額急増 08年度9000億円突破
海外の国や企業が日本で発行する円建て外債（サムライ債）の発行額が今年度に入り急増している。12日時点で合計9122億円と前年同期の2.7倍になり、実質過去最高だった2007年度を上回るペースだ。オーストラリア、カナダの資源国、タイ、韓国のアジア勢の発行が目立つ。米住宅ローン問題の混乱が続く欧米市場を避け、相場が安定し金利も相対的に低い日本で調達する動きが広がっている。
今年度に入り4月に豪コモンウェルス銀行（1471億円）、5月にタイ（550億円）などが発行した。12日にはシティグループが個人向けサムライ債を1865億円発行すると発表した、新年度入りして初の米金融機関の起債となった。
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東証、30日にも金ＥＴＦ上場 初の商品連動
東京証券取引所は30日にも、金価格に連動する上場投資信託（ＥＴＦ）を上場する。商品相場に連動するＥＴＦの上場は初めて。原油価格の高騰などで関心が高まる商品に、個人投資家が比較的低コストで投資できるようにする。
金のＥＴＦは米運用会社大手のステート・ストリートなどが、ニューヨーク証券取引所に上場しているＥＴＦを重複上場する。最低投資金額は45万円程度になる見通しで、株式と同様にいつでも売買できる。
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アブダビ政府系ファンド、日本の医療特区に投資
アラブ首長国連邦（ＵＡＥ）のアブダビ首長国の政府系ファンド（ＳＷＦ）が、神戸市の医療特区にできる高度医療の専門病院に100億円規模の投資をすることが明らかになった。投資収益に加え、研修医を派遣して日本の医療技術を吸収する狙いがある。日本にとっては、アジア各国が競い合う高度先端医療の拠点づくりに産油国の資金を活用するとともに、先端医療産業の育成につなげる試みになる。
投資するのはアブダビ政府の投資機関、ムバダラ開発。エネルギーや情報通信など戦略産業への投資で知られ、約170億ドル（1兆8000億円）の資産を持つ。2010年に神戸市内の人工島ポートアイランドにつくる民間病院「神戸国際フロンティアメディカルセンター」に投資する。
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外国人研修、受け入れ団体を許可制に 厚労省見直し案
厚生労働省が検討している外国人研修・技能実習制度の見直し案が明らかになった。法外な手数料を徴収する仲介業者（ブローカー）を排除するため、実習生の受け入れ団体に許可制を導入。実習の実効性を確保するため、一企業内の実習生の比率も規制する。13日の「研修・技能実習制度研究会」でまとめる最終報告書に盛り込む。法務省と調整したうえで、出入国管理法などの改正案を来年の通常国会に提出する方針だ。
外国人研修・技能実習制度は主に発展途上国の労働者が働きながら技能を身につける制度。期間は3年間で、最初の1年は座学などの研修期間、残り2年は現場での実習期間となっている。
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日清サイエンス、腎臓病患者向けインスタント丼２種
日清オイリオグループ子会社で食事療法に適した食品の開発・販売を手掛ける日清サイエンス（横浜市）は、食事制限がある腎臓病患者向け食品「レナケアー」シリーズの新製品、「茶わんでカレー丼」と「同中華丼」を16日に発売する。いずれも1食あたりのエネルギーは約100キロカロリー、タンパク質は約3グラム、塩分は1グラム以下に抑えた。
カレー丼はかつおだしをベースにした和風味で、中華丼はごま油を使って風味豊かに仕上げた。フリーズドライ式で、お湯で戻してからごはんにかけるだけで食べられる。
希望小売価格はいずれも200円。病院などを通じて販売する。
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ロイヤルパークホテル、近隣飲食店に外国人接客支援
ロイヤルパークホテル（東京・中央）は近隣にある日本橋の飲食店向けに外国人の接客を支援する。無料で英語メニューを提供するほか、ホテルのスタッフによる英会話レッスンも計画。六本木や丸の内地域のホテルとの競争が激しくなる中、日本料理店を中心に日本橋の観光資源を活用し、訪日外国人の取り込みを強化する。
同ホテルは三菱地所グループで、客室は400室強。今回の支援はまず会席料理店や小料理屋など50店舗と共同で、英語と日本語を併記した「バイリンガルメニュー」を作製した。月内から順次、各店舗に配布する。同メニューを置いた店舗一覧やお薦め料理を記載した地図を作製し、ホテルロビーなどに設置する。
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海外旅行、行きたいのはイタリア！ リクルート調べ
リクルートがまとめた海外旅行に関する調査によると、これから行きたい場所（複数回答）は未婚や既婚、子どもの有無にかかわらず、イタリアが1位となった。世界遺産や食事、買い物といった観光資源が豊かなことが主な理由で、未婚女性では48.1％が行きたいと答えた。既婚者で40％超、未婚男性も 35.1％が希望しており、日本人の同国へのあこがれは強いようだ。
ほかには、フランスやスペインなど西欧諸国の人気が全般的に高かった。ただし、子どものいる既婚者では、治安の良いイメージのあるオーストラリアと答えた人が31.7％おり、3位に食い込んだ。
一方、2007年の実際に行った旅行先（複数回の場合は最後の渡航先）は韓国が最も多く、友人同士やカップル、ひとり旅、親を連れた家族で1位となった。日本から近く安価なため全体の12.6％の人が渡航しており、週末を使った旅行も多かったという。子ども連れの家族では、日本語が通じる場所の多いグアムとハワイ（オアフ島）がともに17.1％で最多だった。
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超電導を利用した電気自動車、住友電工が試作
住友電気工業は12日、世界初となる超電導モーターを使った電気自動車の試作品を公開した。電気抵抗がほとんどないため、動力源となる電池が生み出す電流をロスなく利用できる。二酸化炭素（ＣＯ2）の排出の大幅削減につながる。今後はモーターの性能向上や製造コスト削減を進め、10年以内にバスやトラックなど大型車両で実用化する。
超電導とは金属を一定の温度まで冷やしたときに電気抵抗がゼロになる現象のこと。住友電工は超電導線を開発し、電気自動車用のモーターの部材に応用した。
電気抵抗を抑えられるので従来の銅線に比べ断面積当たり200倍の電流を流せるという。同社の試算ではエネルギー効率の向上でハイブリッド車に比べＣＯ2の排出量を25％程度削減できる。モーターの回転力も銅線を使う場合の2倍になり、変速機も不要になるという。試作車の開発コストは1000万円超。今後は超電導線の開発コストの低減が課題となる。
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伊藤忠、バリー・ジャパンを売却 スイス本社に
伊藤忠商事はスイスの紳士靴、革製品などの高級ブランド「バリー」を国内で展開するバリー・ジャパン（東京・千代田）を売却する。8割の全保有株式を 13日付で、バリー本社に当たるバリー・インターナショナル（スイス、マルコ・フランキーニ最高経営責任者）に売却する。「世界戦略を統一する」（フランキーニ氏）バリーの方針に応じた。これを機に伊藤忠は衣料品などのブランドの入れ替えを加速する。
バリーは1973年に日本に進出した。現在は全国の百貨店など95カ所で販売している。
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私鉄各社、介護・医療に不動産活用 沿線人口の増加狙う
首都圏の私鉄各社が高齢者向け住宅や老人ホームを相次ぎ開設している。沿線や鉄道施設周辺に多くの不動産を持つ強みを生かし、介護や医療分野を新たな事業の柱に育てる。少子高齢化が進んで将来の鉄道利用客は減少が予想される。お年寄りが暮らしやすい街づくりに取り組むことで長期的に沿線人口を確保する狙いがある。
東京急行電鉄は2010年、大田区内に高齢者向けマンション（約160戸）を建設する。隣接地にはグループが運営する東急病院があり、連携して入居者の健康管理ができる体制をとる。入居者向けの介護サービスも検討する。
5月には全額出資で東急ウェルネス(東京・渋谷)を設立。東急沿線で14年度までに同種のマンションを5施設以上建設する計画だ。
京王電鉄は2月、積水ハウスグループと共同で、八王子市に介護サービス付き有料老人ホーム（85室）を開設した。駐車場だった土地に京王が施設を建設し、積水グループの積和サポートシステム（東京・港）が管理・運営する。京王はベネッセコーポレーションと組んで、府中市内でも有料老人ホームを開設している。
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朝日グループ不安…あの外資が朝日放送株を大量取得
保有比率で朝日新聞抜く
大証２部上場の朝日放送（大阪市、ＡＢＣ）が米投資ファンドのターゲットになっている。すでに発行済み株式数の１４．４３％を取得し、昨年９月末時点で筆頭株主だった朝日新聞社の保有比率を抜き去ったとみられる。このファンドは「米スティール・パートナーズの別動隊」ともいわれ、ＡＢＣ関係者も「とりあえず見守るしかない」と警戒心を強めている。
ＡＢＣ株を大量保有しているのは、米デラウェア州に本拠を置くリバティ・スクェア・アセット・マネジメント。２００３年１２月に５．１１％を取得して以降、積極的に買い増しし、昨年１２月２６日時点で１４．４３％となっている。昨年９月末時点で１４．２％を保有し、筆頭株主だった朝日新聞社を保有比率で抜き去ったとみられる。
リバティがＡＢＣに目を付けた理由は何なのか。ファンドに詳しい関係者は次のように分析する。
「放送局は放送法の外資規制で守られているため、外資が放送局の経営権を支配することはできない。株式の大量報告書でも取得目的を純投資としており、最終的にはＡＢＣやグループの朝日新聞社、テレビ朝日にＡＢＣ株を高く取ってもらい、利益を得る算段ではないか」
リバティが大株主として浮上して以降、テレビ朝日が防戦するようにＡＢＣ株を買い進め、同社株は右肩上がりで上昇している。
リバティはＡＢＣ株の１４．４３％（６０万３７１０株）を約６７億円をかけて取得。平均取得価格１万１１００円強に対して１２日の終値は１万６２３０円。１株あたり５２００円強の含み益がある計算で、この水準で全株を売却すれば３０億円規模の利益をゲットできることになる。
そのリバティは、５月に開かれたアデランスホールディングスの株主総会で社長らの取締役再任案を否決に追い込んだスティールと関係が深く、「スティールの別動隊」（市場筋）ともいわれている。
昨年５月にスティールがブルドックソースにＴＯＢ（株式公開買い付け）を仕掛ける際、公開買付届出書のなかでリバティを「特別資本関係を有するリミテッド・パートナーシップ」と蜜月ぶりを強調。それ以外でも、サッポロホールディングスの株式などをスティールとともに共同保有し、「モノ言う株主」としての横顔もある。
先のファンドに詳しい関係者は「株式を有利な条件で買い取らせるため、スティールばりに、ありとあらゆる手を尽くしてくるだろう」とみる。
当のＡＢＣはリバティについて、「特定の株主さまの個別の活動についてコメントすることは控えます」（広報）としているが、あるＡＢＣ関係者は「朝日グループの再編が進むなか、どの社も資金面に余裕がなく、見守るしかない」と不安を隠さない。
ＡＢＣも厄介なファンドに狙われたものだ。
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職場のトラブルが直接の引き金？ 秋葉原無差別殺人
事件後の行動調べで問われ被害者への考えなし
１７人が死傷した東京・秋葉原の無差別殺人事件で、派遣社員の加藤智大容疑者（２５）が調べに事件後にどうするつもりだったか言及しないため、警視庁万世橋署捜査本部が追及したところ、「じゃあ、捕まるんでしょう」と供述していることが１２日、分かった。捜査本部は計画的に事件を起こす一方で、襲撃後や被害者への考えが欠如していると判断。発想や行動が自己中心的であるとみて解明を進めている。
加藤容疑者は犯行の動機について、「世の中が嫌になった。誰でもよかった。犠牲者に申し訳なかった」と言いながら、涙を見せることもあるという。
もともと記憶力がしっかりしているとみられ、事件前の会話や行動を鮮明に覚えていた。しかし、事件当時の状況については、「頭の中が真っ白になった」と説明。事件後にどうするつもりだったかの言及がないため、取調官が白昼の人通りの多い中での犯行だった点などを挙げてただすと、「じゃあ、警察に捕まるんでしょう」と話したという。
一方、加藤容疑者は捜査本部の調べに、「直近で最大の不満は職場だった」と供述していることも分かった。続いて、人生をさかのぼって親への不満を口にしており、捜査本部は複合的な不満がうっ積した状況で、職場のトラブルが直接の引き金になった疑いもあるとみて調べている。
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北大がミカドチョウザメの人工孵化に成功、キャビア量産化に期待
北海道大水産学部（函館市）の研究グループが、国内の河川では絶滅したとされるミカドチョウザメの人工孵化(ふか)に成功した。
近海で捕獲された同種のチョウザメの卵を使用しており、国内種と遺伝的に同一であることが確認されれば、絶滅種の「復活」も可能となる。研究グループは今後、高級食材として知られる「キャビア」の量産化にもつなげたい考えだ。
ミカドチョウザメは北海道の石狩川や天塩(てしお)川などに生息していたが、乱獲や相次ぐ河川改修で激減した。ロシア・サハリンで少数の生息が確認されている。
研究グループは１９９１年から、近海で他の魚とともに捕獲された個体を使い、悲願だった卵の孵化に今年５月、初めて成功した。約５００匹の稚魚は体長数センチ程度にまで成長した。
研究グループは今後、飼育法を確立させ、将来は石狩川などでの放流も検討している。養殖の道も開けるため、研究グループの足立伸次教授は、「キャビアとチョウザメ料理をぜひ北海道の名物にしたい」と意気込んでいる。
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脱北女性が朝鮮総連を提訴、帰還事業「誘拐行為を実行」
帰還事業で北朝鮮に渡り、劣悪な環境での生活を強いられたのは、「地上の楽園」などと虚偽の宣伝をした在日本朝鮮人総連合会（朝鮮総連）の責任として、脱北者で韓国籍の高政美(コジョンミ)さん（４７）（大阪府八尾市）が１３日、朝鮮総連に慰謝料など１１００万円の損害賠償を求める訴訟を大阪地裁に起こした。
日本に住む脱北者が朝鮮総連を相手取り、帰還事業を巡って提訴したのは初めて。
帰還事業は１９５９年、日本と北朝鮮の両赤十字社が共同で始め、日本政府も閣議了解していたが、高さん側は「日本政府などは帰還者をだます意思はなかった」として被告にはしなかった。
訴状では、高さんは３歳だった６３年、家族で北朝鮮に渡った。２０００年に脱北して中国に入ったが、強制送還され、拷問を受けたという。０３年に再び脱北し、０５年に日本へ戻った。
高さんは「朝鮮総連は北朝鮮の内情を説明する義務を怠り、地獄のような環境に送り込む誘拐行為を実行した」と主張している。
提訴後に記者会見した高さんは、「北朝鮮で私に人権はなかった」と涙ながらに話し、「姉らは今も残っている。裁判をきっかけに帰還者を助ける動きが高まってほしい」と語った。
朝鮮総連の話「同じような訴えを棄却した判例がすでにある。今回の訴えは同胞社会と日朝関係に害を与える以外のなにものでもない」
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'Jewish settler attack' on film
By Tim Franks
BBC News, Jerusalem
Footage from a video camera handed out by an Israeli human rights group appears to show Jewish settlers beating up Palestinians in the West Bank.
An elderly shepherd, his wife and a nephew said they were attacked by four masked men for allowing their animals to graze near the settlement of Susia.
The rights group, B'Tselem, said the cameras were provided to enable Palestinians to get proof of attacks.
A spokesman for the Israeli police said that an investigation was under way.
So far, no-one has been arrested.
Baseball bats
For the past year, B'Tselem has handed out video cameras to Palestinians as part of its "Shooting Back" project.
Video of alleged attack near Susia (08 June 2008) (Footage courtesy of B'Tselem)
The BBC has been given exclusive access to the footage of this particular attack, which happened earlier this week. The date and time on the camera footage shows that it is Sunday afternoon.
Over the brow of the hill walk four masked men holding baseball bats. To the right of the screen, in the foreground, stands a 58-year-old Palestinian woman.
Thamam al-Nawaja has been herding her goats close to the Jewish settlement of Susia, near Hebron in the southern West Bank.
Within a few seconds, she, along with her 70-year-old husband and one of her nephews, will be beaten up.
As the first blows land, the woman filming - the daughter-in-law of the elderly couple - drops the camera and runs for help.
'Ten-minute warning'
Mrs Nawaja spent three days in hospital after the attack.
Returning to the small Palestinian encampment close to the red-roofed houses of Susia, she stepped slowly and unsteadily out of the minibus.
"They don't want us to stay on our land, but we won't leave - we'll die here"
Thamam al-Nawaja
Thamam al-Nawaja returns to her village following the attack
A dark stain showed through the white gauze covering her broken right arm. Her veil was lifted gingerly away from her lined face. A bloodshot eye and intersection of scars revealed a fractured left cheek.
"The settlers gave us a 10-minute warning to clear off from the land," she told me, her voice a tired, cracked whisper.
She and her husband had stood their ground. It is at this point that her voice grows louder.
"They don't want us to stay on our land. But we won't leave. We'll die here. It's ours," she added.
Indeed, the rest of the world regards Jewish settlements in the West Bank such as Susia, as illegal, built on occupied territory.
Those settlements have been a large part of the conflict between Palestinians and Israelis for the last 41 years. The daily confrontation is not often caught on camera. That, now, is beginning to change.
Video proof
The attack near Susia was filmed with one of 100 video cameras that B'Tselem has handed out to Palestinians in the region.
"When they have the camera, they have proof that something happened - they now have something they can work with, to use as a weapon"
Oren Yakobovich
B'Tselem
The thinking behind the project is that when trouble flares, rather than just giving a statement to the Israeli police or army, video carries much more weight.
"The difference is amazing," says Oren Yakobovich, who leads the Shooting Back project.
"When they have the camera, they have proof that something happened. They now have something they can work with, to use as a weapon."
We asked a spokesman from the Susia settlement for a comment on Sunday's incident. He declined.
Inside one of the tents belonging to the Palestinians living near Susia, we watched the footage of the aftermath of the attack - the victims slumped by the roadside, bloodied, waiting for an ambulance.
The bright, wide eyes of the children shone with the light of the small television screen.
Violence against Jews as well as Palestinians has long scarred this place. Video may now may be giving us a new and raw view.
But for most people here, the only answer - a political deal - remains out of sight.
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Bomb kills head of Saddam's tribe
Iraq map
The head of Saddam Hussein's tribe has been blown up in a car bomb in the town of Awja, near Tikrit, Iraqi police say.
They said explosives may have been attached to the underside of the car belonging to Sheikh Ali al-Nida, head of the al-Bu Nasir tribe.
Sheikh Ali's driver was also killed in the blast and at least one of his guards was seriously wounded.
The car exploded as it was travelling back to Awja, the executed leader's birthplace, after a trip to Tikrit.
Maj Ahmed Subhi, head of a counter-terrorism unit in Salahuddin province, said the sheikh "was the victim of assassination".
"When he left his house there was a bomb in his car that killed him and a driver," Maj Subhi added.
Assassination targets
Members of the al-Bu Nasir, a 20,000-strong Sunni Arab tribe, held some of the most important security and political positions in Iraq under Saddam Hussein.
People paying respects at grave of Saddam Hussein in Awja, 28 April 2008 Some security forces - such as the feared Intelligence Service and the Special Republican Guard - were exclusively manned by clansmen from the al-Bu Nasir
Last year, Sheikh Ali founded a so-called Awakening Council in Awja, part of a movement in which Sunni Arab tribes teamed up with US forces to fight al-Qaeda-inspired militants in the area.
At the end of 2006, as head of the tribe he received Saddam Hussein's body for burial in Awja following the former leader's execution in Baghdad.
Members of the al-Bu Nasir have been targeted before during the five years of violent instability that followed the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq.
Correspondents say it is unclear if the tribe's ties to the late leader were the motive or long-standing tribal rivalries.
Mahmoud al-Nida, the sheikh's brother, was killed by unknown gunmen in 2006.
Members of Awakening Councils, which are in part credited for the recent reduction in violence in Iraq, have also been frequently the targets of assassination.
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Warnings over body piercing boom
Belly button piercing
Problems over botched body piercings could be a "substantial burden" on the NHS in the near future, a study says.
The British Medical Journal study found one in 10 people - and nearly half of all younger women - have a body piercing other than on the earlobe.
Just over a quarter of people reported complications, including swelling, infection and bleeding.
Many avoid specialist clinics, and face greater risks piercing themselves, or trusting friends or relatives.
Non-specialist piercings could also mean hepatitis infection, experts said.
"There is a message here for the health service, that body piercing is really very common"
Dr Angie Bone
Health Protection Agency
Despite the increasing popularity of body piercing in recent years, these are the first firm figures showing the extent of the boom.
The joint study between the Health Protection Agency and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine asked a sample of more than 10,000 people aged 16 and over in England whether they had been pierced somewhere other than the ear lobe, and suffered any complications as a result.
They found approximately 10% had some sort of body piercing, with women and younger people most likely to have one.
Half of those who had experienced complications said the problems were bad enough to seek further help, and a small number required hospitalisation.
Four out of five piercings were carried out at specialist shops, which are licensed and inspected by the local authority, and complications were less likely among piercings carried out.
A small number of those surveyed, however, admitted that they had carried out piercings of the tongue, lips and genitals without official expert help - 9% of tongue piercings were carried out this way.
10 months to heal
Dr Angie Bone, one of the research authors, said she had been surprised by the finding that 46% of 16-to-24-year-old girls had a body piercing, and said that if this generation, and following generations, continued this way, it might be a problem for the NHS.
She said: "There is a message here for the health service that body piercing is really very common and, if it remains fashionable, in the near future one in two women will have a body piercing and there will be more complications."
Dr Bone said many people were unaware of the potentially serious nature of a piercing and stressed the importance of using a specialist clinic.
"I was surprised to find, for example, that a navel piercing can take up to 10 months to heal."
Another potential risk from piercings, especially those carried out abroad or away from regulated clinics, comes from blood-borne viruses.
A spokesman for the British Liver Trust, which offers advice on avoiding hepatitis infection, said: "It is important to remember the long-term problems that can occur, particularly if you get a piercing from a non-specialist.
"You put yourself at a high risk of contracting hepatitis B or C, both of which are serious, life-threatening conditions which can be fatal.
"You may not know you have contracted the virus until later on in life when the damage has already begun."
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Hundreds of museum staff walk out
A visitor to the Science Museum in London
Hundreds of museum workers are to go on strike over pay, bringing disruption to some of the country's most popular tourist attractions.
The walkout will affect the Science Museums in London and Swindon, the National Media Museum in Bradford, and the National Railway Museum in York.
Unions said staff were "furious" after being given a below-inflation pay deal.
About 200 museum staff in London walked out earlier this week in another dispute over pay.
The museums say they will remain open, despite the strikes.
The Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union said the pay deal on offer to staff at the museums had been delayed by more than a year and would mean many people would receive less than 3% for 2007-08 and 2.7% for 2008-09.
The Prospect union said the increase was "insulting" and only set aside 1.5% for a cost-of-living increase in 2007.
It also said the only pay increases allocated to 2008 were performance-related.
'Draconian policy'
Mark Serwotka, general secretary of the PCS, said: "Strike action is not a step our members take lightly but, faced with pitiful pay levels and real-term pay cuts, hard-working staff have taken the decision to make a stand.
"Museum staff along with other civil and public servants have grown increasingly frustrated with the government's policy of below-inflation pay, which is driving down the living standards of a diverse and dedicated workforce.
"Management have to recognise that it has to pay a fair wage and the government needs to rethink its draconian pay policy."
Prospect national officer Emily Boase said: "Members are furious and their patience has been exhausted."
Workers at the Museum of London and the organisation's Archaeology Services went on strike on Monday in protest at a two-year 2% pay rise.
The museum said it was bound by public sector pay policy set by the government.
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Saudi Arabia in Talks With Ukraine, Sudan for Farms, FT Reports
By Jake Lloyd-Smith
June 13 (Bloomberg) -- Saudi Arabia, the world's largest barley importer, is in talks with Ukraine, Pakistan, Sudan, Turkey and Egypt about establishing farms to grow grains to meet the nation's strategic food needs, the Financial Times reported.
Projects of at least 100,000 hectares (247,105 acres) may be set up to grow wheat, corn, rice, soybeans and alfalfa, with a fixed portion of the harvests to be shipped to Saudi Arabia, the report said, citing Deputy Agriculture Minister Abdullah al-Obaid.
The drive to set up overseas farms was spurred by soaring food prices and Saudi Arabia's decision to halt a wheat-producing project from 2016, curtailing production of about 2.5 million metric tons, the report said.
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Countries Are Renting Farmland Abroad
As food crisis worsens, some nations are desperate for arable land
By Kent Garber
Posted June 12, 2008
The Persian Gulf may be flush with money from oil, but it is desperate for food. Many of the richest countries in the region, including Saudi Arabia, are handicapped by a dry, unforgiving climate and a shortage of farmland; thus they must import more than 60 percent of their annual food supply. Existing water stores are expected to be exhausted in 30 years, and yet, food demand is growing. Population growth in the region is more than double the world average, the prices of some staples are up more than 30 percent this year, and civil unrest is mounting.
A rice harvest in Dong Hoi, Vietnam, which is losing farmland at a rapid rate.
A rice harvest in Dong Hoi, Vietnam, which is losing farmland at a rapid rate.
(Mark Leong/Redux)
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It is, in short, a daunting situation, and conventional responses appear inadequate. Continuing to rely on food from other countries, many government leaders believe, is not only risky but shortsighted in an era of tight trade restrictions and projections of even higher prices. And so officials have begun laying the groundwork for a new approach: buying or renting farmland in other countries—sometimes thousands of miles away.
In recent weeks, officials and businessmen from Saudi Arabia have met with representatives of Thailand and South Africa to talk about buying farmland. The United Arab Emirates has looked at arable land in Sudan, Egypt, and Yemen and is pursuing a $3 billion deal in Pakistan with several private companies to build large corporate farms for growing rice, wheat, sugar cane, and fruits. Abu Dhabi has reportedly signed a deal with Sudan to develop 70,000 acres there.
Looking to Asia. The Persian Gulf states have been the most aggressive in these pursuits, but they are not alone. In April, the president of South Korea, Lee Myung-Bak, expressed interest in renting farmland in eastern Russia or Southeast Asia. Chinese firms, many with close government ties, have recently pursued deals in the Philippines and Africa and are rumored to be eyeing land in Australia.
Even individual farmers from the United States and Australia have started looking in larger numbers to overseas farmland, particularly in South America. "We have certainly seen an increase [here]," says Andy Duff, a Rabobank International analyst based in Brazil. "There are the investors who see land as the root of all commodities and believe land may be an interesting investment, and we have also seen bona fide farmers who are looking to expand their operations from other parts of the world."
Globally, farmland is disappearing at an alarming rate. According to estimates, approximately 50 million acres vanish each year to urbanization, population growth, and economic and industrial development. In Iraq, where the Tigris and Euphrates rivers have nourished riverbanks since the start of civilization, farmland is expected to shrink 30 percent because of upriver damming in Turkey. Vietnam lost 1.2 million acres of farmland from 2001 to 2007; 123 golf courses, among other developments, have gone up since.
A few developing countries have tried to slow or halt the turnover. China, after seeing its farmland dwindle by tens of millions of acres in the first part of the decade, has imposed tight restrictions on land conversions and, in January, began prosecuting thousands of alleged offenders. But, says Chietigj Bajpaee, an analyst for Global Insight, a forecasting company, "t rying to stop the conversion of land is the exception rather than the rule."
From a historical perspective, land grabs are nothing new. Imperialism and colonialism were defined to a large extent by efforts to acquire power through land. These campaigns, how-ever, were characterized not by diplomacy or money but by violence and force. What's happening now is different, although it raises old questions about sovereignty and workers' rights.
Though the terms of the deals vary—some involve land pur-chases, others, large investments in existing farms—most will result in the employment of local workers and require negotiations about where the food goes after harvest. In Sudan, for instance, where food riots broke out last month, officials don't want to create the impression of helping others and not their own.
Some observers see the potential for large and enduring benefits on both sides. The reported sellers of under-developed farmland, Pakistan and Sudan, for example, are poor and lack the resources to make their own land productive. Foreign investment is meant to help the investor, but in these cases it might also help the host countries by improving roads and irrigation and, of course, providing cash. The question is ultimately one of balance: wooing the big spenders without ceding too much land or control at home.
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商業捕鯨再参入、水産大手３社は否定 「良いことない」
2008年6月13日20時11分
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商業捕鯨の中核企業だったマルハニチロホールディングス、日本水産、極洋の水産大手３社は、商業捕鯨が解禁されても再参入しない方針を明らかにした。商業捕鯨は、国際捕鯨委員会（ＩＷＣ）が８６年からの凍結を決定。水産庁は解禁を目指しているが、企業の意向とはずれている。
背景には、欧米の環境団体の強い反対がある。日水の小池邦彦取締役は「世界で魚を販売する企業として、鯨にかかわって良いことは全くない」。
凍結された当時、売り上げに占める商業捕鯨の割合は１％に満たない水準に低下していた。再参入しても鯨肉への需要は見通せない。日水の佐藤泰久専務は「昔食べた人は懐かしいだろうが、他の肉のほうがおいしいのでは」とし、極洋の多田久樹専務も「若い人は鯨肉を食べない」とする。マルハニチロの河添誠吾常務は「捕鯨船は数十億円の投資がかかり、収支があわない」と語る。
水産庁遠洋課は「それぞれの経営判断だ。我々は捕鯨の技術を維持していくことを重視しているし、事業も採算はあうと思っている」と話す。
商業捕鯨は６０年代がピーク。衰退に伴い水産大手３社が捕鯨部門を統合し、いまの共同船舶（東京）になった。３社は０６年に共同船舶の株を農林水産省所管の５財団法人に譲渡し、完全撤退。共同船舶が調査捕鯨を行っている。
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創価学会提訴の矢野元公明党委員長「国会招致応じる」
2008年6月13日19時13分
印刷
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元公明党委員長の矢野絢也氏が１３日、野党議員の求めに応じて国会内で講演し、「政治評論家としての活動を中止させられた」などとして創価学会や学会幹部を提訴した経緯を説明した。「参考人や証人で呼んでいただけるなら喜んで出させていただく」とも述べ、国会での証言にも前向きな姿勢を示した。
講演は、民主党の菅直人代表代行や国民新党の亀井静香代表代行ら野党議員有志が呼びかけて開いた。菅氏は「言論妨害があるとすればゆゆしき問題だ」と述べた。次期総選挙に向け、創価学会を支援団体にもつ公明党を揺さぶる狙いがあるとみられる。
一方、公明党の太田代表はこの日の記者会見で、矢野氏について「支援団体にお世話になったと言いながら、支援団体を提訴しており、人間として信じがたい。率直に言って情けない。許せない話だ」と批判した。
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Korea's `Gold Misses' Dump Men for Fendi Bags, Seduce Marketers
By Bomi Lim
More Photos/Details
June 13 (Bloomberg) -- Kim Ji Won spent $2,400 on a Fendi handbag, one of only two of that design imported into South Korea, during a recent shopping spree. Then she dropped $1,700 on a turquoise chiffon dress.
``I buy designer goods as a reward for having worked hard,'' the 31-year-old freelance interpreter says as she caresses the bag's purple and gold spangles at an Italian eatery in Seoul's Apgujeong district, dotted with clothing boutiques and spas. ``I'm happy with my life. Why give up all that by marrying?''
Kim, who earns $100,000 a year, is one of a new generation of women who are forsaking marriage to pursue professional careers, upsetting the country's patriarchal order. These so- called gold misses have attracted the attention of banks and retailers who offer special accounts and wine-tasting classes to win their business.
``Women started to realize that they no longer have to rely on men for a happy and comfortable life,'' says Bae Eun Kyung, an assistant sociology professor at Seoul National University. ``They started to really question the system.''
The average age at which women first marry rose to 28.1 years in 2007 from 25.7 in 1997, National Statistical Office data show. The average number of children a woman has in her lifetime fell to 1.26 from 1.54.
South Korea ranked 64th last year for the level of female participation in society, according to the United Nations Development Program, behind the Philippines and Vietnam.
Subordinate Role
The social and economic status of women lags behind because the country was historically influenced by the teachings of the ancient Chinese philosopher Confucius, says Hyun Taik Soo, a sociology professor at Korea University in Seoul.
``One of the major teachings of Confucianism was that men are superior to women, making women's role peripheral and subordinate to men,'' Hyun says. Korean women are belatedly catching up with trends in the West, he says.
The number of gold misses, defined as single women aged 30 to 45 with college degrees and annual income of at least $40,000, soared to 27,233 in 2006 from 2,152 five years earlier, according to the state-run Korea Employment Information Service.
Still a small part of the female workforce at 0.3 percent, these women are being monitored because their ranks are expected to swell as lifestyles change, says Park Sang Hyun, a researcher at the Seoul-based agency.
Traditionalists say the trend is undermining South Korean society.
``It was instigated by a few feminists and youngsters who indulge in Western culture,'' says Choi Jong Dong, secretary general at an alliance for preserving traditional family values. ``It is lamentable how women's selfishness is leading to the rupture of families in Korea, which has historically valued families as the root of sound ethics.''
Disapproving Eyes
Until now, social prejudice stopped Ha Eun Kyung, 36, vice president of luxury-villa management company Dongyaloo, from buying a foreign car. Now the $150,000-a-year executive is preparing to purchase either a Lexus or Mercedes Benz sedan.
``When you are a woman and single in Korea, driving a foreign car will draw more disapproving eyes than envious ones,'' says Ha, who has spent as much as $10,000 in a weekend to relieve stress. ``People don't think I worked hard to deserve it. Instead they assume there must be something fishy behind my wealth.''
Ha says some male superiors quit their jobs, unable to accept her rapid promotions during 10 years at the company.
``Gold misses are still viewed as just women, rather than as professionals like men,'' says Bae of Seoul National University. ``Most people still don't understand women can make that much money through their own efforts and capabilities.''
Wine Tasting
Marketers have adapted faster. Kookmin Bank, South Korea's largest lender, offers interest rates as much as 0.2 percentage points higher to female depositors who attend language or computer classes or join a gym.
``It's aimed at attracting female customers who become more and more involved in diverse extracurricular activities as their social status rises,'' says bank spokesman Choi In Seok.
The Millennium Seoul Hilton hotel is offering a ``Girls' Night In'' package that provides female guests with free cosmetics, pizza, and wine-tasting and coffee-brewing classes, increasingly popular among single women.
``Gold misses have the money and they set the trends,'' says Park Jae Hang, head of the Brand Marketing Institute at Cheil Worldwide Inc., the country's largest marketing agency. ``They are here to stay.''
Lee Ae Shil, a 33-year-old housewife who is studying to become an accountant with full support from her husband, says marriage doesn't necessarily mean sacrifice.
``Having a husband and a child hasn't prevented me from doing things I want to do,'' says Lee, who quit her job as a fixed-income analyst when she married in 2004 and decided to go back to work after giving birth to a daughter two years ago.
Wedlock still comes with too many responsibilities for translator Kim, who is content with meeting men on casual dates.
``I don't believe in the theory that marriage provides security,'' Kim says. ``In the end, only you can look out for yourself.''
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Crude Oil Falls as Naimi Says Record Prices Are `Unjustified'
By Mark Shenk
Enlarge Image/Details
June 13 (Bloomberg) -- Crude oil fell as Saudi Arabian Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi said record prices are ``unjustified'' and the state oil company signaled it may soon start pumping from a new field.
The June 22 ``meeting in Jeddah will discuss the price rise, which are unjustified by fundamentals, and suggest appropriate solutions,'' al-Naimi said in a statement today. The kingdom will start pumping oil from its new 500,000 barrel-a-day Khursaniyah field within the next month, a board member of Saudi Aramco said.
``The Saudis are trying to get some of the heat out of the market and off of them at the same time,'' said Antoine Halff, head of energy research at Newedge USA LLC in New York. ``The meeting is an attempt to get beyond the blame game and find solutions to the problem of high prices.''
Crude oil for July delivery fell $1.88, or 1.4 percent, to settle at $134.86 a barrel at 2:46 p.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Futures reached a record $139.12 a barrel on June 6. Oil fell 2.7 percent this week.
Prices have moved more than $3 each day this week as the market digested Saudi announcements, falling U.S. crude-oil stockpiles, increasing price forecasts from Wall Street banks and a strengthening dollar.
``This meeting is expected, God willing, to produce positive results that will contribute to stabilizing the international oil market,'' al-Naimi said.
Saudi Arabia invited nations including the U.S., Russia, Norway, U.K., China, Germany, India and Japan to the meeting, al- Naimi said. The kingdom is the world's largest oil exporter and the most influential member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.
OPEC Gridlock
``The meeting underscores the central position the Saudis hold,'' Halff said. ``It's clear that OPEC is somewhat paralyzed and too divided to take action. The meeting is a way to bypass OPEC and end the gridlock.''
Members of OPEC, which pump more than 40 percent of the world's oil, have kept production targets unchanged at the group's past three meetings, on Dec. 5, Feb. 1 and March 5.
``There is a need for an increase in oil production, but price gains are outstripping the growth in demand,'' Russia's Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said in Osaka, where he is attending a meeting of Group of Eight finance ministers.
``The position that more development, more investment and an increase in supply are needed is becoming universal and is something we support,'' said Kurdin.
`Sizable' Increase
Saudi Arabia is likely to propose a ``sizable'' increase in oil production at the meeting, the Middle East Economic Survey reported today, without saying where it got the information.
Current oil prices threaten the global economy and hurt the long-term interests of oil producers, Ibrahim al-Muhanna, an adviser to al-Naimi, was cited as saying by the newsletter.
Khursaniyah will start ``very, very soon, definitely within the next month,'' Khalid A. Al-Falih, who is also an executive vice president at Saudi Aramco, said in a telephone interview today. He couldn't say when full production would be reached. The field is forecast to produce as much oil as the daily output of Ecuador, OPEC's smallest member.
Oil in New York rose more than sevenfold since trading at $17.45 a barrel in November 2001, and reached 28 record highs this year. A similar pattern was seen in equities eight years ago, when Internet-related stocks sent the Nasdaq Composite Index up 640 percent to its highest level ever, according to data compiled by Bloomberg and Bespoke Investment Group LLC.
``I think that at about $80 the market crossed into the irrational exuberance level,'' said Michael Lynch, president of Strategic Energy & Economic Research in Winchester, Massachusetts. ``It's hard to find a rational explanation for the gain of the last six months.''
Falling Demand
Oil demand this year will rise 1.1 million barrels to 86.88 million barrels a day, OPEC said in a report today. That's about 60,000 barrels a day lower than last month's estimate.
Global oil-market volatility, reflected in price moves of more than 2 percent in two-thirds of the trading days this month, has snarled attempts by industry players to plan for the future.
Volatility is a measure of how far the price of a commodity such as oil deviates from average closing prices over a prior period, such as 30 or 365 days. Futures traded in New York veered 41 percent from the 30-day average today, according to Bloomberg data. They strayed 41.7 percent from the average June 11, the highest volatility in 16 months.
Brent crude oil for July settlement declined $1.84, or 1.4 percent, to $134.25 a barrel on London's ICE Futures Europe exchange.
Rising Dollar
Prices also dropped because the rising dollar reduced the appeal of commodities to investors looking for an inflation hedge. The U.S. currency is heading for its biggest weekly gain versus the euro in more than three years as inflation accelerated in May, raising speculation the Federal Reserve will increase borrowing costs this year.
The dollar increased 0.6 percent to $1.535 euro at 2:57 p.m. in New York, from $1.5439 yesterday.
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Saudis willing to act to bring oil prices down: UN chief
By Gerard Aziakou AFP - 15 minutes ago
JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia, June 15, 2008 (AFP) - Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah views current oil prices as "abnormally high" and is willing to do whatever he can to bring them down to "adequate levels," visiting UN chief Ban Ki-moon said on Sunday.
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Briefing reporters on his meeting with the Saudi monarch late on Saturday, Ban said they spent a great deal of time focusing on the link between soaring crude prices and the worsening food crisis as well as climate change.
"He acknowledged that the current oil prices are abnormally high due to speculative factors and some other national government policies," the UN secretary general said in the Red Sea city of Jeddah.
"He is willing to what he can to (bring) the price of oil to adequate levels."
Ban said the Saudis, whose desert kingdom is the largest oil producer in OPEC, "seem to be considering very seriously how they can address this issue by increasing production."
"I expect that they will take some concrete measures," said Ban, who is due to wrap up his 24-hour visit to Saudi Arabia later on Sunday.
Saudi Arabia is organising a summit in Jeddah on June 22 for consumer and producers to discuss oil prices, which struck a record high of nearly 140 dollars a barrel earlier this month, stoking fears of surging global inflation and weaker economic growth.
Ban, on his second visit to Saudi Arabia since March 2007, expressed hope that the Jeddah meeting would yield a productive outcome.
He also said he conveyed to the king the concern expressed by several world leaders, notably at the Rome food summit early this month, about the impact of the soaring prices on global food security.
"I am confident that he (the monarch) shares this concern," the UN chief said, although he noted that King Abdullah felt that other factors were behind the surge in food prices.
Ban said he stressed to the king that the high food prices were placing a heavy burden on the least developing countries, which in turn affected their ability to implement the poverty-reduction Millennium Development Goals.
Media reports last week suggested that Saudi Arabia was planning to increase oil production next month by about half a million barrels a day to 10 million barrels.
Ban said he also commended Abdullah for his initiative to invest in other developing countries to boost agriculture productivity and encouraged other countries to do the same.
The UN chief added that the Saudis were committed to investing in Egypt, Pakistan, Ukraine, Turkey and Sudan.
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Free-Trade Era May Be Nearing End Amid Food, Growth Concerns
By Matthew Benjamin and Mark Drajem
Enlarge Image/Details
June 13 (Bloomberg) -- After six decades of ever-expanding international commerce, the high tide of free trade is ebbing.
As tens of thousands of South Koreans protest U.S. beef imports, rising commodity prices push nations to keep more food for domestic consumption and the U.S. chooses a new president who might be less supportive of free trade than his immediate predecessors, the world may be facing the end of a cycle that began in the immediate aftermath of World War II.
The liberalization of global trade has come ``to a screeching halt,'' said Fred Bergsten, director of the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington. ``It'll take years to rebuild the foundations of free-trade policy.''
The cause is more political than economic. ``This is a challenging time to be in the pro-trade wing of any party in virtually any country,'' U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab said June 12 at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. ``It's hard to be for open trade, whether you are in India or the European Union or in China.''
Fueling the backlash is a convergence of trade-related anxieties: national-security concerns, worries about food safety and sufficiency, the desire to protect local jobs and the environment. In addition, the benefits of trade are often widely dispersed -- think low prices at Wal-Mart -- and entail high adjustment costs, including the loss of manufacturing jobs.
Beggar-Thy-Neighbor
The modern era of trade dates to the late 1940s, when the U.S. and United Kingdom pushed for the establishment of a global organization to avoid the beggar-thy-neighbor policies often blamed for exacerbating the Great Depression.
The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, established in 1948, succeeded in cutting industrial duties in developed countries from an average of 40 percent to about 4 percent over six decades.
Now known as the World Trade Organization, it is stuck in negotiations that began in 2001 over U.S. and European agricultural subsidies. The Doha Round, as the talks are called, has also been held up by disagreements between rich and poor countries about how much to reduce import taxes.
``The Doha Round isn't dead yet, but it's being pushed around a nursing home,'' said Doug Goudie, director for international trade at the National Association of Manufacturers in Washington.
The EU's Concerns
European Union trade negotiators expressed concern this week about ``a re-emergence of protectionist sentiment in the U.S.'' after Congress approved a new $289 billion farm bill that extends price supports and other subsidies developing nations oppose.
The bill ``heads agriculture policies in the wrong direction at a decisive juncture'' of WTO negotiations, a group of agriculture-exporting countries led by Brazil said in a June 3 statement. ``The unfair competition brought by subsidies hinders the process of market liberalization.''
Reservations about a new WTO agreement have grown into a general aversion to free trade in many countries, including France and Italy, where cheap imports are blamed for job losses. That's causing some governments to rethink their pro- trade policies.
Most important is the U.S., the world's largest economy and biggest importer. Democrats, who took control of Congress in 2007, have postponed a decision on a trade deal with Colombia by amending so-called fast-track authority, which guards against amendments and filibusters and requires a timely vote.
Undermining the Foundation
Their action ``undermined the whole foundation of U.S. trade policy,'' Bergsten said, adding that it creates a loss of confidence in the U.S. to lead the way on trade. Luis Guillermo Plata, Colombia's trade minister, said April 11 that U.S. rejection of the accord would be tantamount to imposing ``trade sanctions'' on one of America's staunchest allies.
Meanwhile, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama says that if elected, he might reopen the world's largest trade deal, the North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico. The Illinois senator, 46, says the pact should include new labor and environmental standards.
Mexican farmers want to renegotiate Nafta too: They shut down Mexico City's main boulevard in January to protest the pact, which they say hasn't done enough to protect them from cheaper U.S. imports of sugar, beans, corn and milk.
All these developments ``are portents that the politics of trade are certainly becoming more difficult,'' said Claude Barfield, a trade expert at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington.
Shaking South Korea
Nowhere is that more evident than in South Korea, where public anger related to a pact aimed at increasing trade with the U.S. by 20 percent is shaking the government of President Lee Myung Bak. Lee has seen his popularity plunge from 50 percent when he took office in February to 17.1 percent in a poll this month by Korea Research and the YTN cable news network; his cabinet this week offered to resign over the dispute.
On June 10, about 80,000 South Koreans flooded the streets of Seoul to protest a proposal to resume beef imports from the U.S. Korea must remove the five-year-old ban, which was designed to prevent the possible spread of mad-cow disease, before the U.S. Congress will consider approving the trade agreement, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus of Montana said June 11.
Extending the ban would affect South Korean exports of products such as automobiles and semiconductors to the U.S., Lee said the same day.
New Barriers
The 60 percent increase in the price of rice, wheat, corn and other food commodities since the beginning of 2007 has led some nations to erect new barriers to exports to make sure they have adequate supplies at home.
India, the world's second-biggest producer of rice and wheat, has banned shipments of the food grains. Egypt, Vietnam and Indonesia have also banned certain food exports. And Philippines President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo said her country wants to become self-sufficient in food production by 2010.
``For a long time, it made sense to buy food from the international market,'' Arthur Yap, the Philippines agriculture minister, said in an interview. ``The situation has changed.''
Doug Irwin, an economic historian at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, and author of ``Free Trade Under Fire,'' said much of the current opposition to trade may subside when commodity prices fall and the U.S. economy recovers.
``Free trade is always being attacked,'' Irwin said. ``The question is, how high is the threat level?''
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三井物産、資源大手ヴァーレに750億円追加出資
三井物産は13日、ブラジルの資源大手ヴァーレ（リオドセ）に約750億円を追加出資すると発表した。三井物産は英豪ＢＨＰビリトン、英豪リオ・ティントなどと並ぶ資源メジャーの一角を占めるヴァーレに現在、実質約5％を出資している。ヴァーレが最大150億ドル（約1兆6000億円）規模の公募増資を準備しており、今回の追加出資で増資後も従来の出資比率を維持する。
三井物産は2003年に971億円を投じ、ヴァーレ株の約32％（議決権ベースでは約52％）を保有する持ち株会社ヴァレパールの株式の15％を取得。同持ち株会社を介し、ヴァーレに間接的に約5％を出資した。ヴァレパールとヴァーレの双方に2人ずつ取締役を派遣、経営にも関与している。
ヴァーレは今年から5年間で総額590億ドルの投資を計画しており、その資金に充てるため今月12日、巨額の公募増資計画を表明していた。持ち株会社は増資後も現在の出資比率を維持するため新株を引き受ける意向で、三井物産も応分の資金を拠出する。
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家電量販、実質値引き拡大
大手家電量販が実質値引きを拡大する。最大手のヤマダ電機は2008年度の割引ポイント販促費を07年度比3割増やし、過去最高の約1300億円とする。4位のケーズホールディングスは16日から優待会員カードの発行を始め、電球など消耗品を最大10％割り引く。家電量販はこれまでも値引き販売を競ってきたが、薄型テレビなどデジタル家電の販売に減速感があり、需要喚起のため低価格攻勢を強める。
ヤマダの割引ポイントは商品購入時に発行、1ポイント1円換算で同社店舗での買い物に使える。想定する1300億円は発行したポイントが使われる見込み額で、07年度比12％増を見込む08年度連結売上高の6.7％に相当。昨年度より1ポイント強高く、販売管理費として予算計上する。
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トリチウム：方位磁石に規制超す線量
文部科学省は１３日、放射線障害防止法に基づく届け出を同省にせずに、放射性同位元素のトリチウムを夜光塗料に使った方位磁石を販売、所有している事例が判明したと発表した。複数の販売業者に対し届け出手続きをするか、方位磁石を製造元へ返却するよう求める注意喚起文を送付した。購入者にも販売元への返品を呼び掛けている。
同省によると、この方位磁石は一般に「トリチウムコンパス」と呼ばれ、裏面にトリチウム使用の表示があるという。
方位磁石を私物として所持していた陸上自衛隊の自衛官から「ふたが壊れたため、どう処分したらよいか」と相談があり、同省が調べたところ、使用されているトリチウムの線量が同法の規制対象値を超えていた。販売業者、自衛官とも所持に必要な届け出をしていなかった。トリチウムは密封された状態で、周囲の人や環境への影響はなかった。これらの製品の国内販売数は不明だが、ほとんどが米国製という。
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幸田シャーミンさん：パワハラ申し立て問題 パワハラは、どっち？ 会見で反論の応酬
◇「国連本部が」「幸田さんが先」
元国連広報センター所長の幸田シャーミンさん（５２）＝今月２日付で辞任＝が「国連広報局の上司からパワーハラスメント（権力や地位を利用した嫌がらせ）を受けた」と申し立てた問題で、国連広報局の赤阪清隆局長は日本時間の１３日にニューヨークの国連本部で会見し、公式に反論した。同日に会見した幸田さんもセンターの新たな経理問題を取り上げるなど、両者の対立は深まっている。
申し立てなどによると、幸田さんは０６年９月にセンター内の不適切な経理に気付き、上司に報告、監査を要求。内部監査は０７年８月に入ったが、上司は幸田さんが監査を求めた翌月に、「監査が必要とは思われない」と上層部に報告していたという。一方、同年１月には、センターのスタッフ６人が幸田さんをパワーハラスメントなどで告発、審査委員会が幸田さんを調査した。
赤阪局長は「問題は、彼女自身による部下へのハラスメントから始まっている。部下を信頼するよう何度も指示した」と反論。上司については「国連内で最も信頼されている職員」とし、「突然の辞任は不可解で困惑している」と述べた。
これを受けて、幸田さんも会見し、国連側の見解に訂正と謝罪を求めた。さらに「センターには内部監査報告にも出てこない５００万円の定期預金が存在する。どういう性質の金なのか明らかにすべきだ」と新たな追及をした。預金について国連広報センターは「９３年から記帳があり、毎年予算で残った金額がたまったものだと聞いている。問題を指摘されたことはない」と説明している。
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大阪・西成署前でまた労働者ら騒動 投石など繰り返す
2008年6月14日23時28分
大阪市西成区の大阪府警西成署前にあいりん地区（釜ケ崎）の労働者ら約３００人が集まって投石するなどした騒ぎで、労働者約２００人が１４日夕から再び署の前に集まり、府警機動隊員と小競り合いを繰り返した。騒動は数時間断続的に続き、府警は新たに労働者ら４人を公務執行妨害容疑で現行犯逮捕。大阪市消防局によると、警察官１人を含め、けが人が数人出ているという。署などによると、労働者を支援する釜ケ崎地域合同労働組合幹部が１３日夕に引き続き１４日夕、「団結して警察へ抗議しよう」と呼びかけた。同調した労働者らが同日午後７時過ぎから、投石したり、消火器を噴射したりした。
興奮した労働者が、段ボールに火をつけて機動隊員へ投げ入れるなどしたため、放水車が出動し、水をかける一幕もあった。コンクリート片を投げつけるなど、労働者の暴れ方も激しくなっているという。現場にはあいりん地区の労働者とは無関係とみられる若者らも見物に集まった。
今回の騒ぎは、同労組が「労働者が警察官に暴行を受けた」などと署に抗議するよう労働者に呼びかけたのがきっかけとされるが、西成署は「暴行の事実はない」と否定している。１３日夜から１４日未明にかけ、建造物侵入や公務執行妨害の容疑で労働者と府内の女子高校生（１６）ら１０人が現行犯逮捕され、警察官８人と労働者とみられる１人が軽いけがをした。
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関東地方整備局やればできた？ 問題発覚後タクシー帰宅激減
6月14日12時38分配信 産経新聞
■問題発覚後、昨年の１０００分の１
国土交通省関東地方整備局道路部の職員が平成１９年度に多額の深夜帰宅用タクシー代を使っていた問題で、問題発覚後の今年４、５月に同部の深夜のタクシー帰りが１回もなかったことが分かった。利用があったのは、緊急時に夜間登庁した約７０００円分だけ。同整備局は１９年度、約４２００万円分のタクシー券を利用しており、１カ月の平均利用額では１０００分の１に激減したことになる。関係者からは「本当に必要があったのか」と疑問の声が上がっている。
国交省の資料などによると、同部のタクシー券利用は今年４月には一度もなく、５月に２回あった。地震発生時の夜間登庁のために利用されたもので、総額は７３６０円。１カ月平均では３６８０円になる。
同部では１９年度、約４２１７万円分のタクシー券を使用。大半が深夜帰宅用のタクシー利用とみられる。１カ月平均にすると約３５１万円になることから、タクシー券の“無駄遣い”が発覚し、券の使用規定が整備された今年４月以降、１０００分の１に減ったことになる。
利用額が減った理由について、同整備局は「ソファやデスクの上に布団を敷いて寝たり、終電で帰宅したりしている」と説明。今後は、業務の平準化を進めるなどして深夜残業を圧縮する努力を行うという。
国会開会中だった４、５月でタクシー券の使用を大幅に減らすことができたことに対し、一連の問題を追及してきた大久保勉参院議員（民主）は「これまで年間４０００万円ものタクシー券を使う必要があったのか。適切な利用がなされたか厳しく調査すべきだ」と指摘する。
同整備局の職員は「原油高などで国民の生活が厳しくなっていることを考えれば、当然のことなのだろう。時代にあった仕事の仕方があるということ」と話していた。
全国８地方整備局の職員が１９年度に使った深夜帰宅用タクシー代で金額が大きかった１０人のうち、９人は関東地方整備局職員。最高額は同整備局道路部の職員で、１９年度の１１カ月間で出勤日のほぼ毎日にあたる計１９０回、総額５００万円分の深夜帰宅用タクシー券を使っていた。
今月に入り開示されたタクシー券には、使用要領に定められた時刻の記入がないものがあったことから、国交省は利用実態を再調査する意向を示していた。
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騒動 「暴行受けた」と大阪・西成署前に集結、１０人逮捕
6月14日14時4分配信 毎日新聞
１３日午後５時ごろ、大阪市西成区の府警西成署に無職男性（５４）が押しかけ、「昨日、警官に暴力を振るわれた。謝罪しろ」などと要求した。男性は間もなく引き揚げたが、その後、署周辺に労働者ら約２００人が集結し、署に空き瓶などを投げ始めた。警察官８人と、通行人とみられる１人の計９人が軽傷。同署は建造物侵入容疑などで１０人を現行犯逮捕した。機動隊も出動し、１４日未明まで騒然とした状態が続いた。
同署は１２日、この男性が区内の飲食店で店員に言いがかりをつけたとして事情を聴いた。男性はその後、仲間に「取り調べで首を絞められた」などと話したという。府警は、暴力などについて「まったく事実無根」としている。
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西成署前に200人集結、連夜の騒動に
１３日夜に労働者らが騒ぎを起こした大阪市西成区の大阪府警西成署前に１４日夜、前夜と同様に約２００人が集結、機動隊員ともみ合いとなり、連夜の騒ぎとなった。
石や瓶を投げたり、消火器を噴射したりしたため、府警は公務執行妨害の現行犯で３９～６４歳の男４人を逮捕。警察官１人が軽傷を負った。
府警警備部によると、労働者らは午後５時半ごろから、労働者支援団体「釜ケ崎地域合同労働組合」（釜合労）の呼び掛けで集まった。
自転車や火のついた段ボールを機動隊員に投げる者も現れ、府警は放水車から数度、群集に向かって放水した。周囲にはやじ馬も多数群がった。
発端は、近くに住む無職男性（５４）が１２日夕、飲食店で店員とトラブルになり西成署に連行されたこと。署員の対応に不満を持った男性が釜合労に相談し、騒ぎにつながったとされる。
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Lloyds eyeing Deutsche Postbank
Reuters - 57 minutes ago
LONDON (Reuters) - Lloyds TSB is in the early stages of considering a takeover bid for Germany's Deutsche Postbank , the Sunday Times reported.
The German retail bank has long been seen as a takeover target and media reports have previously named Lloyds TSB as one of many possible suitors.
The report said if it decides to proceed, it would be advised by Lehman Brothers. No one at Lloyds TSB was available to comment on the report.
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Japan, Seeking Trim Waists, Measures Millions
By NORIMITSU ONISHI
AMAGASAKI, Japan — Japan, a country not known for its overweight people, has undertaken one of the most ambitious campaigns ever by a nation to slim down its citizenry.
Summoned by the city of Amagasaki one recent morning, Minoru Nogiri, 45, a flower shop owner, found himself lining up to have his waistline measured. With no visible paunch, he seemed to run little risk of being classified as overweight, or metabo, the preferred word in Japan these days.
But because the new state-prescribed limit for male waistlines is a strict 33.5 inches, he had anxiously measured himself at home a couple of days earlier. “I’m on the border,” he said.
Under a national law that came into effect two months ago, companies and local governments must now measure the waistlines of Japanese people between the ages of 40 and 74 as part of their annual checkups. That represents more than 56 million waistlines, or about 44 percent of the entire population.
Those exceeding government limits — 33.5 inches for men and 35.4 inches for women, which are identical to thresholds established in 2005 for Japan by the International Diabetes Federation as an easy guideline for identifying health risks — and having a weight-related ailment will be given dieting guidance if after three months they do not lose weight. If necessary, those people will be steered toward further re-education after six more months.
To reach its goals of shrinking the overweight population by 10 percent over the next four years and 25 percent over the next seven years, the government will impose financial penalties on companies and local governments that fail to meet specific targets. The country’s Ministry of Health argues that the campaign will keep the spread of diseases like diabetes and strokes in check.
The ministry also says that curbing widening waistlines will rein in a rapidly aging society’s ballooning health care costs, one of the most serious and politically delicate problems facing Japan today. Most Japanese are covered under public health care or through their work. Anger over a plan that would make those 75 and older pay more for health care brought a parliamentary censure motion Wednesday against Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, the first against a prime minister in the country’s postwar history.
But critics say that the government guidelines — especially the one about male waistlines — are simply too strict and that more than half of all men will be considered overweight. The effect, they say, will be to encourage overmedication and ultimately raise health care costs.
Yoichi Ogushi, a professor at Tokai University’s School of Medicine near Tokyo and an expert on public health, said that there was “no need at all” for the Japanese to lose weight.
“I don’t think the campaign will have any positive effect. Now if you did this in the United States, there would be benefits, since there are many Americans who weigh more than 100 kilograms,” or about 220 pounds, Mr. Ogushi said. “But the Japanese are so slender that they can’t afford to lose weight.”
Mr. Ogushi was actually a little harder on Americans than they deserved. A survey by the National Center for Health Statistics found that the average waist size for Caucasian American men was 39 inches, a full inch lower than the 40-inch threshold established by the International Diabetes Federation. American women did not fare as well, with an average waist size of 36.5 inches, about two inches above their threshold of 34.6 inches. The differences in thresholds reflected variations in height and body type from Japanese men and women.
Comparable figures for the Japanese are sketchy since waistlines have not been measured officially in the past. But private research on thousands of Japanese indicates that the average male waistline falls just below the new government limit.
That fact, widely reported in the media, has heightened the anxiety in the nation’s health clinics.
In Amagasaki, a city in western Japan, officials have moved aggressively to measure waistlines in what the government calls special checkups. The city had to measure at least 65 percent of the 40- to 74-year-olds covered by public health insurance, an “extremely difficult” goal, acknowledged Midori Noguchi, a city official.
When his turn came, Mr. Nogiri, the flower shop owner, entered a booth where he bared his midriff, exposing a flat stomach with barely discernible love handles. A nurse wrapped a tape measure around his waist across his belly button: 33.6 inches, or 0.1 inch over the limit.
“Strikeout,” he said, defeat spreading across his face.
The campaign started a couple of years ago when the Health Ministry began beating the drums for a medical condition that few Japanese had ever heard of — metabolic syndrome — a collection of factors that heighten the risk of developing vascular disease and diabetes. Those include abdominal obesity, high blood pressure and high levels of blood glucose and cholesterol. In no time, the scary-sounding condition was popularly shortened to the funny-sounding metabo, and it has become the nation’s shorthand for overweight.
The mayor of one town in Mie, a prefecture near here, became so wrapped up in the anti-metabo campaign that he and six other town officials formed a weight-loss group called “The Seven Metabo Samurai.” That campaign ended abruptly after a 47-year-old member with a 39-inch waistline died of a heart attack while jogging.
Still, at a city gym in Amagasaki recently, dozens of residents — few of whom appeared overweight — danced to the city’s anti-metabo song, which warned against trouser buttons popping and flying away, “pyun-pyun-pyun!”
“Goodbye, metabolic. Let’s get our checkups together. Go! Go! Go!
Goodbye, metabolic. Don’t wait till you get sick. No! No! No!”
The word metabo has made it easier for health care providers to urge their patients to lose weight, said Dr. Yoshikuni Sakamoto, a physician in the employee health insurance union at Matsushita, which makes Panasonic products.
“Before we had to broach the issue with the word obesity, which definitely has a negative image,” Dr. Sakamoto said. “But metabo sounds much more inclusive.”
Even before Tokyo’s directives, Matsushita had focused on its employees’ weight during annual checkups. Last summer, Akio Inoue, 30, an engineer carrying 238 pounds on a 5-foot-7 frame, was told by a company doctor to lose weight or take medication for his high blood pressure. After dieting, he was down to 182 pounds, but his waistline was still more than one inch over the state-approved limit.
With the new law, Matsushita has to measure the waistlines of not only its employees but also of their families and retirees. As part of its intensifying efforts, the company has started giving its employees “metabo check” towels that double as tape measures.
“Nobody will want to be singled out as metabo,” Kimiko Shigeno, a company nurse, said of the campaign. “It’ll have the same effect as non-smoking campaigns where smokers are now looked at disapprovingly.”
Companies like Matsushita must measure the waistlines of at least 80 percent of their employees. Furthermore, they must get 10 percent of those deemed metabolic to lose weight by 2012, and 25 percent of them to lose weight by 2015.
NEC, Japan’s largest maker of personal computers, said that if it failed to meet its targets, it could incur as much as $19 million in penalties. The company has decided to nip metabo in the bud by starting to measure the waistlines of all its employees over 30 years old and by sponsoring metabo education days for the employees’ families.
Some experts say the government’s guidelines on everything from waistlines to blood pressure are so strict that meeting, or exceeding, those targets will be impossible. They say that the government’s real goal is to shift health care costs onto the private sector.
Dr. Minoru Yamakado, an official at the Japan Society of Ningen Dock, an association of doctors who administer physical exams, said he endorsed the government’s campaign and its focus on preventive medicine.
But he said that the government’s real priority should be to reduce smoking rates, which remain among the highest among advanced nations, in large part because of Japan’s powerful tobacco lobby.
“Smoking is even one of the causes of metabolic syndrome,” he said. “So if you’re worried about metabo, stopping people from smoking should be your top priority.”
Despite misgivings, though, Japan is pushing ahead.
Kizashi Ohama, an official in Matsuyama, a city that has also acted aggressively against metabo, said he would leave the debate over the campaign’s merits to experts and health officials in Tokyo.
At Matsuyama’s public health clinic, Kinichiro Ichikawa, 62, said the government-approved 33.5-inch male waistline was “severe.” He is 5-foot-4, weighs only 134 pounds and knows no one who is overweight.
“Japan shouldn’t be making such a fuss about this,” he said before going off to have his waistline measured.
But on a shopping strip here, Kenzo Nagata, 73, a toy store owner, said he had ignored a letter summoning him to a so-called special checkup. His waistline was no one’s business but his own, he said, though he volunteered that, at 32.7 inches, it fell safely below the limit. He planned to disregard the second notice that the city was scheduled to mail to the recalcitrant.
“I’m not going,” he said. “I don’t think that concerns me.”
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Genetically-modified crop field destroyed by eco-warriors
By Vincent Moss 15/06/2008
Eco-warriors have destroyed an entire crop of genetically modified potatoes - wiping out vital research to help end famine worldwide.
No one has claimed responsibility for the destruction of thousands of the spuds in a field near Tadcaster, North Yorks.
But Environment Minister Phil Woolas, who had sanctioned the trial by scientists at Leeds University, last night launched a furious attack on the "gutless" group behind the incident.
Supporters of GM foods believe they could help alleviate food shortages and stop prices spiralling.
But critics claim they harm the environment and have dubbed them "Frankenstein foods".
Mr Woolas said: "The people behind this should have the guts to go public and join the debate about GM foods. Their arrogance appalls me."
The attack on June 5 leaves Britain with just one remaining field of GM crops, government sources said last night.
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Saudis eye large boost to oil output capacity
By Carola Hoyos in London, Javier Blas in Madrid and Andrew England in Abu Dhabi
Published: June 15 2008 17:48 | Last updated: June 15 2008 17:48
Saudi Arabia is considering boosting oil production to its highest level in more than 25 years in order to bring down record prices and ease political pressure from the US and other developed countries.
The kingdom would complete the development of its giant Khursaniyah field soon, industry executives and diplomats said, increasing its output capacity by up to 500,000 barrels a day.
However, the Saudis have already hinted they would not bring all that amount to market.
The kingdom has dismissed ideas it would boost production all the way to 10m b/d, up from the 9.45m b/d it pumps today, which is already 300,000 b/d higher than last month.
Ban Ki-moon, United Nations secretary-general, who was visiting the country on Sunday, said that King Abdullah told him he viewed oil prices as “abnormally high”. Mr Ban said the Saudi leader was “willing to do what he could to bring the oil price to adequate levels”. But by acting unilaterally Saudi Arabia could cause division within the Opec oil cartel, many of whose members are unable to boost production.
After a series of hints by Gulf and industry officials in the past few days, oil traders now expect Saudi Arabia to announce a substantial increase in supplies when oil ministers meet in Jeddah on Sunday, although the announcement could come beforehand. This has significantly upped the stakes of the hastily called summit, making it more likely prices will rise from current levels if Saudi Arabia’s actions fail to match expectations.
“Saudis are working on a massive increase in output capability and could announce it at Jeddah,” an industry official said.
There is still a large degree of uncertainty about what exactly the world’s biggest oil exporter will do, meaning oil prices will likely be volatile this week.
Saudi Arabia may soon have the capacity to pump more oil. But how much the country will chose to bring to the market remains unclear.
As it brings Khursaniyah on line, the kingdom could ship all the extra barrels to market or perhaps reduce output from some fields that produce less desirable heavy crude.
Adam Sieminski, analyst at Deutsche Bank, says: “A disappointment would be that they say nothing other than ‘markets are well supplied and speculators are driving the price up’.
“A substantive result” would be if they announced the Abu Hadriya, Al Fadhili and Khursaniyah upstream project that was due in late 2007 was on line and that they would like to see some build in inventories.
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Iran shows interest in nuclear compromise
By Najmeh Bozorgmehr in Tehran, James Blitz in London and Daniel Dombey in Washington
Published: June 15 2008 18:53 | Last updated: June 15 2008 18:53
Senior diplomats from the world’s big powers said they had received an unexpectedly positive response from Iran at the weekend when the international community presented Tehran with a fresh package of proposals aimed at settling the dispute over its nuclear ambitions.
After a visit to Tehran to meet senior Iranian officials, diplomats accompanying Javier Solana, the European Union’s foreign policy chief, said Iran showed no sign yet of suspending its uranium enrichment programme as the international community has demanded.
However, officials working for Mr Solana, and diplomats from the UK, France, Germany, Russia and China, who accompanied him, said Iran had made clear that it would carefully study the fresh offer and had given the international delegation a warmer welcome than it had been accorded in the past.
Mr Solana’s visit got off to a bad start on Saturday when Iran’s government spokesman repeated the standard line that any proposal demanding suspension of uranium enrichment “could not be raised” with Tehran. This led George W. Bush, the US president, on a visit to Paris, to condemn Iran’s rejection of the offer.
But diplomats accompanying Mr Solana said that the mood had significantly improved during meetings later in the day with Manouchehr Mottaki, Iran’s foreign minister, and Saeed Jaleeli, its chief nuclear negotiator.
The diplomats said that Mr Mottaki and Mr Jaleeli had expressed strong interest in the offer, under which the international community would help Iran to develop a state-of-the art civil nuclear energy programme if it suspended uranium enrichment.
Cristina Gallach, Mr Solana’s spokeswoman, said: “The atmosphere and initial reaction from the Iranians was better than expected.”
One of the diplomats accompanying Mr Solana said the positive impression created by the Iranians had been “the strongest ever”.
Diplomats said one of the factors underscoring the positive mood was that Iranian state television had broadcast interviews with Mr Solana in which he was allowed to spell out details of the “generous” offer.
They said they were still sceptical that Tehran would accept. However, Mr Solana gave Mr Jaleeli a paper spelling out how Iran and the international community could take the first step towards full-blown negotiations on the matter.
Under the proposal, Iran would continue enrichment but, as a first step, declare that it had frozen installation of more centrifuges at its nuclear facilities. In return, the United Nations Security Council plus Germany would freeze steps to apply more sanctions.
In Washington, a senior US official told journalists that if Tehran refused the offer, the US would push the EU to step up sanctions – particularly on Bank Melli, Iran’s largest bank.
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Credit Suisse gets go-ahead for China venture
By Sundeep Tucker and Jamil Anderlini in Beijing
Published: June 15 2008 18:46 | Last updated: June 15 2008 18:46
Credit Suisse has secured regulatory approval to set up a Chinese securities joint venture, a decision expected to herald a wave of foreign investment in the sector following a two-year ban.
Over the weekend, Credit Suisse received clearance from the China Securities Regulatory Commission to establish an entity that will provide investment banking services to mainland clients.
The vehicle will be 33.3 per cent-owned by Credit Suisse, the maximum allowed, with the remainder held by its partner Founder Securities, a subsidiary of a mainland conglomerate. It is expected to begin operations later this year.
The news will be welcomed by overseas banks, which have lobbied Beijing to re-open the sector to foreign investment in China’s nascent capital markets.
Only Goldman Sachs and UBS won approvals for mainland securities joint ventures before China stopped such deals, fearing that the better managed and more experienced overseas companies would dominate the industry.
The Credit Suisse approval is the first since the CSRC last December introduced new regulations governing foreign investment in the sector.
The revamped regulations sparked a flurry of behind-the-scenes horse-trading, with most global investment banks racing to strike deals with local securities firms.
Morgan Stanley and Citigroup each inked an agreement with a mainland partner, although neither has yet secured approval.
In a statement, the CSRC said that it was committed to opening the Chinese capital markets to foreign investors in a “safe and orderly” process.
Chinese shares closed Friday down almost 14 per cent from the start of the week, the biggest weekly drop in percentage terms since 1996.
In private, CSRC officials often refer to greater foreign involvement in Chinese capital markets as their “silver bullet” – to be used only in times of severe crisis.
By allowing foreign investors increased access to the largely closed Chinese stock market, Beijing could revive flagging sentiment as domestic investors anticipate a flood of new money from abroad.
The announcement comes just ahead of this week’s strategic dialogue between senior Chinese and US officials, and is likely to be cited by Beijing to rebuff any further accusations that it is dragging its feet on financial sector liberalisation.
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High cost of iron ore and coal hurts steel producers
By Julie MacIntosh in New York and Neil Hume and Peter Marsh in London
Published: June 15 2008 19:22 | Last updated: June 15 2008 19:22
Rocketing prices for coking coal and iron ore, the two main components of steel, have left steelmakers shell-shocked. But the price spikes have lit a “For Sale” sign atop the coal mining sector, and a range of assets could change hands this year.
Some of the world’s biggest steelmakers, after divesting their coal and iron ore assets over the past decade to adopt so-called pure-play strategies, are now reversing course to gain more control over raw material supplies.
The price increases, triggered by disruptions in some coal supplies and growing steel demand, are also prompting consolidation within the sectors that supply the raw materials.
Accordingly, the entire coking, or metallurgical, coal sector is being combed over for takeover targets, which could include companies with mines in the three main US regions that yield high-quality coal, sources close to the industry say.
“It’s fair to say there are a number of North American coal companies up on the block,” according to one banker familiar with a range of sale processes.
Thanks to the run-up in coal prices, even companies that produced no cash flow last year could end up selling for several billions of dollars, the banker says.
“Everyone is for sale at a certain price,” says Ted Pile, of Alpha Natural Resources, a coal miner in Abingdon, Virginia, which went public in 2005 and has a market capitalisation of $6.5bn.
“Consolidation has to happen within the industry,” Mr Pile said.
ArcelorMittal, the world’s largest steelmaker, is moving aggressively to boost its self-sufficiency within the market for coking coal.
The company, which meets just one-sixth of its own coal requirement, agreed last month to pay $606m for a 14.9 per cent stake in Macarthur Coal, the Australian coal miner, and might target US companies, industry sources say.
Arcelor’s bidding competition could be steep, even though a sharp increase in publicly traded US coal producers’ share prices could give some potential acquirers pause.
Apart from the steel producers, mining giant Xstrata has aggressively bought coal assets over the past year.
Rivals Vale and Rio Tinto could circle various assets, and US companies Arch Coal, Peabody Energy and Consol Energy could try to strengthen their market positions.
Potential targets could include companies such as Alpha Natural or fellow Appalachian miner Massey Energy – which are large producers of both metallurgical coal and steam coal, a more prevalent type of coal that is used by electric utilities.
If a steelmaker pursued such a target, however, it might want to divest its steam coal operations.
Steam coal and metallurgical coal assets can sometimes be intertwined, which can make separating them a challenge.
For that reason, miners with less steam coal exposure, including Walter Industries, in Florida, or Canada’s Fording – which holds a stake in coking coal giant Elk Valley Coal – could also generate attention, along with smaller companies that industry sources say are up for sale.
Spokesmen for Walter, Massey and Fording did not return requests for comment.
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Swedish army at ease over Telia
By Robert Anderson
Published: June 14 2008 03:00 | Last updated: June 14 2008 03:00
Sweden's armed forces have cleared the way for the full privatisation of TeliaSonera to go forward, removing a potential obstacle to France Telecom's $41bn takeover bid for the Nordic operator.
"The Swedish armed forces believe that a change in ownership of TeliaSonera AB is possible from a security point of view - provided that necessary measures are taken to ensure the security of the Swedish armed forces and other authorities," concluded their report delivered to the government yesterday.
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金融相「欧米の巨大金融機関、公的資金必要」
渡辺喜美金融相は15日、クアラルンプールで開幕した世界経済フォーラム東アジア会議で、米住宅ローン問題をきっかけにした金融市場の混乱を収束するには欧米の巨大金融機関への公的資金注入が必要になるとの認識を示した。「被害を比較的受けていない日本が最後のとりでになるかもしれない」と述べ、米欧政府が動き出せば、日本も協調して資金協力する考えも披露した。
同会議のパネル討論会で金融相は「財政出動だけで問題は解決しない」と強調。「抜本的な解決には、金融機関のソルベンシー（健全性）を高める必要がある」と指摘し、公的資金による資本増強が欠かせないとの見方を示した。
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外国人持ち株比率、東証１部企業の64％で低下 ３月末時点
東京証券取引所第1部に上場する企業の2008年3月末時点での外国人持ち株比率を日本経済新聞が調べたところ、全体の64％にあたる780社で07年 9月末から低下していた。円高や原材料高で輸出関連銘柄に売りが拡大した。07年度は外国人投資家の日本株離れが進んだことを裏付けた。
売られ過ぎの反動もあり、5月の投資主体別売買動向（東証まとめ）では外国人が2カ月連続で買い越している。
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海外の政府系ファンド、邦銀への大幅出資容認 金融相
【クアラルンプール＝玉木淳】マレーシア訪問中の渡辺喜美金融相は15日、同行記者団に対し、海外の政府系ファンドが日本の銀行に対し20％以上出資することを容認する考えを明らかにした。銀行法に基づく認可が必要だが、「ルール（認可条件）を守れば歓迎する」と述べた。
中東などの政府系ファンドが欧米金融機関へ活発に投資している。世界経済フォーラムの議論でも「中東の政府系ファンドが成長力のあるアジアにシフトしている」との発言も出た。
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１０億の黒字…敷地に埋める？“金満”相撲協会にメス
ついに相撲協会にもメスが入る。北の湖理事長にまたもや難問が－
ついに相撲協会にもメスが入る。北の湖理事長にまたもや難問が－
裕福、ということで定評のある相撲協会のサイフに、きょう１６日にも財務調査のメスが入ることになった。松浪健四郎・文科省副大臣が１４日の講演で「相撲協会は、ほかの公益法人に比べて、１ケタも２ケタも違うお金を持っているのでチェックさせてもらう」と明らかにしたもの。この爆弾発言で、大相撲界はハチの巣を突いたような騒ぎになっている。
裸一貫、元手いらずの大相撲界がお金持ちなのは事実。そのことが明らかになったのは１９８５年、東京・両国国技館を新設したときだ。建築期間３年、建築費用１５０億円という大相撲界始まって以来の大事業だったが、当時の春日野理事長（元横綱栃錦）は無借金でやってのけ、落成式に参列した中曽根康弘首相はこんなお祝いの言葉を述べている。
「どうしてこんな立派な建物を、１銭の借金もしないで建てることができるのか、ぜひ教えてもらいたい。国家経営の参考にする」
相撲人気がどんなに低迷していても、相撲協会の決算はいつも黒字。
たとえば貴乃花が引退して館内に閑古鳥が鳴いていた２００４年ですら、１億６０００万円の余剰金を計上している。去年の黒字額は１０億５９８５万円あまりだった。
金持ち金使わず。この裏に、０１年を最後にこの７年間、不入りを理由に力士をはじめ協会員の給料は据え置かれたまま、という低賃金があるのは確かだが、それ以上に強いのが親方たちの危機意識だ。
「相撲は浮き沈みの激しい興行。みんな、お客が入らなくなったときの怖さを知っているんですよ。数年前、銀行が相次いで破綻したとき、預けている銀行に万一のことがあったらいけないので、下して国技館の敷地に埋めておいたらどうだろう、穴を掘る力自慢なら何人もいる、と真剣に話す親方がいました」と協会関係者は話している。
ツメに火を灯すようにしてためた虎の子が大ピンチ。なるほど、これはジッとしてはいられない。
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官僚ＯＢらが「脱藩官僚の会」、天下り全廃など提言
霞が関ＯＢらが「官僚国家日本を変える元官僚の会（脱藩官僚の会）」を設立する。霞が関や族議員主導が目立つ政治の改革が目的で、発起人代表は江田憲司衆院議員（無所属、元通商産業省）。高橋洋一東洋大教授（元財務省）、寺脇研京都造形芸術大教授（元文部科学省）らが名を連ねる。政党色をできるだけ排除し、天下り全面禁止と税金の無駄一掃など霞が関改革を打ち出す方針だ。
発起人ら8人が近く記者会見して、中央省庁出身の参加者らを募り、臨時国会が召集される見込みの8月下旬から9月上旬に設立総会を開く予定だ。霞が関の手法を熟知した官僚出身者だからこそ追及できる法律・規制の問題点の指摘や、政策を提言。当面は官僚の抵抗が目立つ公務員制度改革や道州制・地方分権改革、消費者庁の設立問題などを中心に取り組む。
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常用漢字：「岡」「頃」など１８８字候補に 第２次素案
漢字使用の目安となる常用漢字表の見直しを進める文化審議会国語分科会の漢字小委員会は１６日、第２次候補素案を公表した。常用漢字に加える可能性のある漢字は「岡」「頃」など１８８字。来月の次回分科会で素案を決め、国語分科会に提出する予定だ。
候補に挙げられたのは「誰」「俺」のように広く使われる代名詞や、近畿の「畿」など地名で使われる字。一方、「銑錘勺匁脹」の５文字は使用頻度が低いため、常用漢字表から外す候補とされた。
１次案の常用漢字候補は２２０字。さらに熟語として使われる頻度が高い字として、５４字を別表に掲げることを提案していた。これら計２７４字のうち、「栗」「釜」など８６字は入れない可能性の高い漢字となった。
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三菱電機オスラム：家庭向け白熱電球の製造中止へ
三菱電機子会社の照明メーカー「三菱電機オスラム」（横浜市西区）は１６日、家庭で一般的に使われている白熱電球の製造・販売を１２年までに中止すると発表した。経済産業省が打ち出した「１２年までに白熱電球を原則的に消費電力が小さい蛍光ランプに切り替える」との方針を受けた措置で、電球型蛍光ランプへの切り替えを進める。
調光用や小型など特殊なものは製造を続ける。三菱電機オスラムは、照明の国内シェア数％で業界３位。大手２社は電球型蛍光灯への切り替えを発表済み。
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