Qatar scheme to tackle youth unemployment

Qatar scheme to tackle youth unemployment

By Simeon Kerr in Doha

Published: June 3 2008 02:47 | Last updated: June 3 2008 02:47

Qatar on Monday launched an initiative to tackle youth unemployment in the Arab world, investing $100m in research and programmes designed to tackle one of the region’s thorniest problems.

Silatech, the body that will co-ordinate the initiative, the brainchild of the emir of Qatar’s wife Sheikha Mozah bint Nasser al Missned, wants to tackle the social marginalisation created by unemployment and a lack of economic opportunities for all in the Arab world. A quarter of the region’s youth is out of work.

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British win orders back from China

By John Willman, Business Editor

Published: June 2 2008 23:31 | Last updated: June 3 2008 05:28

British manufacturers are winning back work from China, as customers find the cost of using Chinese producers higher than expected, the results poor and delivery times unreliable, according to research by the FT.

While many large multinational companies continue to move production offshore to the lower-cost Asian manufacturing centres, others prefer the shorter supply chain of UK-based suppliers.

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Italy car sales down almost 20 percent in May
Reuters - Sunday, June 1 10:59 pm

TRENTO, Italy (Reuters) - New car sales in Italy dropped by almost 20 percent in May compared with a year earlier, the chief executive of Italian carmaker Fiat said on Sunday.

Italy's Transport Ministry is due to release figures on new car registrations for May on Tuesday.

"The market fell by almost 20 percent compared with 2007," Fiat's CEO Sergio Marchionne told journalists on the sidelines of a conference. "We'll see that in May's data."

Marchionne reiterated that Fiat's share of the market was fundamentally stable and the company would meet its targets for 2008.

In April Italy's new car sales fell by 2.86 percent. Fiat, whose three main brands control about a third of the market, bucked the trend with a 1.4 percent rise.

Marchionne had said last week Fiat should be able to defend its market share in its home market despite an expected sharp drop in sales in May.

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自動車輸出23年ぶり最高　08年度計画700万台

　自動車メーカー12社合計の2008年度の輸出台数が約700万台に達し、23年ぶりに過去最高を更新する見通しになった。最大輸出先の北米向けは景気減速を受け8％前後減少するが、トヨタ自動車、日産自動車などが中東やロシア、中南米など資源国向け輸出を軒並み拡大する。国内市場の低迷が長期化するなか、購買力を増した資源国での販売増が各社の収益や国内生産を下支えする構図が鮮明になってきた。

　輸出台数のこれまでのピークは日米自動車摩擦が激しくなった1985年度の685万台。日本経済新聞が集計した08年度の12社の輸出計画はこれを上回り、07年度比でも20万台以上の上積みになる。

　85年度は北米向けが全輸出の52％を占めたが、07年度は37％に縮小。半面、中東向けが13％（85年度は5％）、中南米向けが9％（同4％）、アフリカ向けが5％（同2％）に拡大。08年度は資源国シフトがさらに進む。

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US loses in cotton dispute at WTO
US cotton farmer harvesting

The US could face billions of dollars in trade sanctions for failing to scrap illegal subsidies paid to US cotton growers.

A World Trade Organization (WTO) panel upheld last year's ruling, which said that the subsidies helped US cotton growers undercut foreign competitors.

Brazil, which brought the case in 2002, must now decide whether to impose retaliatory trade sanctions on the US.

The US said it was "very disappointed" by the ruling.

"We believe that the changes made by the United States brought the challenged payments and guarantees into full compliance with the WTO's recommendations and rulings," Sean Spicer, a spokesman for the US Trade Representative Susan Schwab, said.

Sanctions

The ruling allows Brazil to seek WTO approval for more than $1bn a year in sanctions on imports of goods and services from the US.

The WTO suggested that it could retaliate by suspending US intellectual property rights.

US cotton subsidies are one of the most contested issues in the Doha round of world trade talks.

Developing country producers, especially in Africa, say the US subsidies squeeze their own poor farmers out of the market.

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Fishing strikes falter as French farmers, truckers protest fuel price
AFP - Monday, June 2 08:06 pm

PARIS (AFP) - Splits emerged in Europe's fuel-price fishing strikes Monday, with some Spanish trawlers returning to work and most French fishing ports operating normally after a three-week stoppage.

The gradual resumption of fishing came ahead of a meeting in Madrid this week of Spanish, Italian, French and Portuguese officials to coordinate an appeal to Brussels for aid for European fishing fleets, hit by a 30 percent increase in marine diesel since the start of the year.

Fuel protests on land gathered steam, however, with riot police clashing with dozens of protesting farmers attempting to blockade a French Mediterranean oil depot and truckers staging go-slow convoy protests across France.

Dozens of French riot police fired tear gas at the farmers attempting to blockade the Total depot in Frontignan, who were seen hurling bolts and empty bottles at police lines.

That disturbance was cleared by late morning, although 50 trucks and around 100 taxis cut off another Total refinery outside the Mediterranean port city of Marseilles.

Other protests by slow-driving truckers took place near Nice, Lille, Cherbourg, Rennes, Brest, Lyon and Strasbourg.

The secretary general of the French truck owners' federation FNTR, Jean-Paul Deneuville, said he expected an answer "by the end of the week" from the government on its suggestions for helping truckers, after a meeting with France's transport minister Dominique Bussereau on Monday.

But most French fishing ports were operating Monday after three weeks of strikes and blockades, and the national fisheries committee, the CNPEM, said it did not expect the movement to pick up again this week.

In Spain, fishermen in some Mediterranean ports returned to work Monday as the indefinite national strike launched Friday began to ease.

However, the deep-sea fleets in the north and northwest remained in port, said the secretary general of the Spanish Fisheries Confederation (Cepesca), Javier Garat.

"For the deep-sea fleet, the situation is quite clear -- the decision to stop work has been taken," he said. "For the smaller fleets, the situation is more complicated with some ports continuing the stoppage and others not."

Cepesca, which represents around 1,400 businesses and 20,000 fishermen in Europe's largest national fishing industry, is to meet on Tuesday to decide how its movement should continue, with no negotiations planned with the government.

In Portugal, striking fishermen picketed the country's largest wholesale fish auctions to disrupt deliveries early Monday morning.

"We picketed from midnight (2200 GMT Sunday) at the principal auctions at Olhao, Matosinhos, Peniche and in smaller wholesale markets, ensuring that the fish weren't allowed in," the President of the Federation of Fishing Unions, Antonio Macedo, said, according to Portugal's LUSA news agency.

A meeting was scheduled for Monday afternoon between fishermen and trawler owners to plot out the protest's next moves, after the start of the strike Friday.

That comes ahead of Tuesday's meeting between unions and Portugal's Agriculture and Fisheries Minister Jaime Silva, who has hinted at an aid package to for the fishermen.

The European Commission said last week it was willing to show more flexibility towards assistance for the fishing industry.

"The commission is following the evolving situation very closely so as to be able to respond as necessary," the European Union's executive arm said in a statement last Thursday.

However, EU Fisheries Commissioner Joe Borg said last week that fuel subsidies were not an answer to the industry and would only exacerbate overcapacity in the face of dwindling stocks.

EU member states can currently give fishermen a subsidy of up to 30,000 euros (47,000 dollars) over a three-year period without seeking European Commission approval.

The French government last week announced 100 million euros in immediate aid.

Strikes and protests by truck drivers have also taken place across Europe, from England to Bulgaria.

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景気が影響！？福田無策で暗い影…全国自殺率ランク

２００７年１月から１１月までの自殺者数の都道府県比較（クリックで拡大） 　内閣府がまとめた昨年１－１１月の自殺者数は２万８５４２人で、通年では２年ぶりに３万人を超えることが確実になった。都道府県別の自殺死亡率では秋田が１３年連続で全国ワースト１を更新しそうだが、秋田は自殺の減少率でも全国３位と状況を改善しつつある。反対に、増加率で西日本が高い傾向が顕著になった。増加数では大都市部が目立ったが、「不況の影響も感じる」という自治体関係者も多く、ここでも福田無策が暗い影を落としている。

　秋田は人口１０万人当たりの自殺者数を示す自殺死亡率が３５．４と、今年も全国最悪となりそうだ。だが、減少率も１３．１％と全国で３番目に高かった。

　秋田などの東北地方では元来、自殺率が高い傾向にある。高齢化や求人の少なさといった経済的な問題、冬場の日照量や活動の不足、社会的支援や医療資源の不足－などの要素が複合しているとみられ、特に自殺を誘う「うつ」になりやすい環境ともいわれる。

　秋田の好転について、自殺対策の専門家として知られる秋田大医学部の本橋豊教授は「対策の効果が出た」と分析する。

　全国の都道府県が、足並みを揃えて自殺対策に本腰を入れ始めたのは、２００６年の自殺対策基本法の施行以後だが、秋田では００年ころから産官学民の枠を超えた連携を積極的に進めるなどの取り組みが続く。特にうつ対策では全国のモデルケースとなっている。同様に早くから対策を進めてきた山形も、今回の減少率は１３．７％と全国２位の高さで、対策の効果が出ているという話もうなずける。

　反対に増加率のワースト上位を見ると、（１）岡山（２）京都（３）高知（４）大阪（５）東京（６）宮崎－と、６位までに西日本の５県が入っている。

　大阪府の自殺対策担当者は「詳細なデータがなく、詳しい検証は難しい」としながら、「現場の皮膚感覚では、景気の影響が大きいという感じはしています」と話す。京都府の担当者も「『京都いのちの電話』のスタッフから、経済的な問題が原因で相談をする人が多いといった話は聞いています」と証言する。

　一方、増加率が１７．４％とワースト１になった岡山の担当者は、「母数が小さいので、少し増えると比率が大きく変わってしまう…。それくらいしか理由が思いつかない」と戸惑い気味だった。自殺死亡率が３８位と危機感も薄いためか、関係各所に自殺対策のパンフレットを配り始めたばかりで、後手というイメージはぬぐえない。

　昨年、東国原知事の登場で注目度の高まった宮崎だが、増加率は急増し、自殺死亡率で全国ワースト２位に浮上した。県の担当者は首をひねるが、「県民所得が低い」という経済的な問題のほか、「県の西南部から鹿児島にかけて、何か不平不満があっても『議を言うな』という気質。いわば『黙ってがんばれ』という気質があり、それが影響しているという説もあります」とも説明する。

　本橋教授は、西日本や大都市部で自殺の増加率が高くなったのは、「経済的に厳しいことや、対策をしていないことが原因と推察される」と指摘。景気の先行きに不透明感が広がるなか、今後は自殺の理由に経済的な要素が占める比重が高くなってきそうだ。