Sense of crisis prevails in US healthcare

Sense of crisis prevails in US healthcare

By Nicholas Timmins Public Policy Editor

Published: June 30 2008 22:19 | Last updated: June 30 2008 22:19

America’s healthcare system is broken. If there is one statement on which the majority of Republicans and Democrats agree – along with employers and individuals and even some health plans – that is it. Fixing it will be another matter.

Hard numbers explain the sense of crisis – and why all the presidential candidates in recent US primaries felt the need to offer at least a partial blueprint for reform.

Since 2000, premiums have risen 91 per cent on average, while wages have risen 24 per cent, and there are now 47m people – 16 per cent of the population – without insurance for all or part of the year, though they include the young, fit and well-off who eschew cover.

But as worrying for the sense of national wellbeing is what is happening to a 25m-strong group known as the “under-insured”, whose plight is taking the healthcare crisis to the heart of the middle class.

Within this category fall people who have insurance but are being hit by out-of-pocket medical expenses that consume a disproportionately large slice of their income.

Their ranks have risen by a “startling” 60 per cent in five years, according to the Commonwealth Fund, the health research foundation, as small employers, in particular, curtail coverage in the face of rising premiums.

Cathy Schoen, a senior vice-president at the fund, says: “Under-insurance now affects more than 10 per cent of those earning between $20,000 and $60,000 a year. Today in America you can have health insurance and still go bankrupt if you get sick.” A Harvard study undertaken at a few years ago suggests that medical bills play at least a part in about half of all personal bankruptcies – affecting 2m Americans a year once dependants are counted in.

This happens in a country that spends $2,000bn a year on healthcare and rising, about half of it tax dollars and half private spending by employers and individuals. As a share of domestic product, that is half as much again as the next biggest spenders such as Canada and Germany. It is twice as much per head once the amounts have been adjusted for the cost of living.

Yet this expenditure does not deliver good results. The US is bottom of 19 countries for deaths in those aged under-75 for conditions potentially preventable by timely and efficient healthcare. And – on the latest figures available – it is improving on that more slowly than, for example, France, the Netherlands, Australia or even the UK.

A big international study two years ago found that middle-aged English people were far healthier than their US counterparts. “People just couldn’t believe it,” says Sir Michael Marmot, professor of epidemiology at University College London, who led the UK arm of the study. “They assumed that people would be better off if they received more healthcare.”

Europeans tend to view this picture with schadenfreude. But any tendency to smugness should be tempered by a proper appreciation of the US’s achievements.

While it may have some of the worst healthcare in the developed world, the US has much of the best medicine. Its research is cutting edge. It has academic complexes that combine healthcare and science at Johns Hopkins, Massachusetts General and Stanford that Europeans wish to emulate.

Kaiser Permanente, one of the better managed care organisations, has been shown to produce better care at lower costs than Britain’s National Health Service – a finding that has generated controversy in the UK.

And the best US surgical providers, along with some of the insurers with the best health management packages, such as UnitedHealth, Humana and Aetna, are gaining contracts in Europe, though on a small scale.

Furthermore, for all the dire statistics charting rising costs and shrinking coverage, Stuart Butler of the Heritage Foundation notes that the majority of working age Americans still have cover “and many still have first- dollar cover” – paying little or nothing up front. They may be worried about what is happening to friends and neighbours, but for them “healthcare is still pretty close to free to the consumer”. They will take some persuading, he says, that any change will not disadvantage them.

In addition, there is no agreement on the shape of the reforms. Presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama are offering radically different solutions.

Alan Weil of the National Academy for State Health Policy and Joseph Antos of the American Enterprise Institute both say the climate feels similar to the broad consensus that had arisen in the run-up to the ill-fated health plan from the Clinton administration in the mid-1990s.

Everyone agreed change was needed, but when it came to it, the answer was “yes, but not this reform”.

Uwe Reinhardt, professor of political economy at Princeton, also notes that, in so far as reform is aimed at restraining costs, “every dollar of expenditure is a dollar of someone’s income” – and they will defend it.

The states that are trying – Maine, Vermont and Massachusetts – have not found it easy. And the joint plan of a Republican governor and Democratic legislature ran into the ground in California last year.

Trish Riley, the governor’s director of health policy for Maine, which has made some progress in tackling coverage, cost and quality, tells the story of the health reformer who goes to heaven and asks: “Lord, will we ever get comprehensive health reform in the US?” God replies: “Oh, sure. Absolutely sure. Just not in my lifetime.”

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Blogs bring new reality to US polls

By Richard Waters in San Francisco

Published: June 30 2008 22:12 | Last updated: June 30 2008 22:12

Barack Obama and Bill Clinton have crossed swords with the biggest names in the media world, but that did not help either recently when they came up against a 61-year-old Californian amateur brandishing a $40 Sony digital voice recorder.

Mayhill Fowler, a blogger for political maven Arianna Huffington’s Huffington Post website, represents something new in election-year politics.

For all their mastery of the TV soundbite, the stump speech and the staged debate, it is becoming increasingly difficult with “citizen journalists” joining the fray for campaign media managers to influence how their candidate’s message is disseminated.

“The campaigns work harder and harder to prevent disasters but, inevitably, there will be cracks in the façade,” says Ms Fowler, an enthusiast who has paid her own way to be on the campaign trail almost continuously since late December.

“Too often in the past, candidates have talked out of one side of their mouth to one audience and the other side to another. Because of the technology, I think now it’s all going to be on the record.”

Politicians now face the daunting prospect that virtually any impromptu comment or act may be caught digitally and spread far and wide over the internet.

It was Ms Fowler’s presence at a fundraiser in San Francisco in April that led to the low-point so far for the Obama campaign. Her recording of his comments about how “bitter” Pennsylvanians “cling” for solace to guns and religion highlighted what critics said was his elitism.

Ms Fowler says she once hoped to be able to meld her personal enthusiasm for Mr Obama with her reporting. She struggled for several days with whether to report what the Illinois senator had said in front of 400 supporters, though she shows little remorse now. “He was confirming the worst stereotypes of upper-middle class Californians” about working-class voters, she says.

More recently, the Oakland mother was on hand in South Dakota for the final day of Hillary Clinton’s primary campaign, when Bill Clinton stopped to talk to the crowd. In response to her question about an unflattering magazine profile that had just been published, he called the journalist concerned “a slimy guy” and a “scumbag” – comments that ricocheted around the internet.

Inevitably, Ms Fowler’s double-whammy has stirred debate in journalistic circles about whether it is right to report every impromptu remark, and whether any politician can survive such constant scrutiny.

Marc Cooper, her editor at Huffington Post, gives those arguments short shrift. The new reality for politicians, he says, is that “you’d better be clear about who you are, or get used to lying all the time”.

The part of the Huffington Post site given over to volunteer campaign reporting – Off The Bus – makes a virtue of the fact that its contributors are outsiders, not part of the “mainstream” media that travel with the candidates.

Journalists on the bus are subject to constant “impromptu confabs” with campaign staff, says Ms Fowler, and media handlers have now learnt how to “feed tidbits” to favourable bloggers to influence debate on the web. “They don’t want someone like me who’s outside the circle of control,” she adds.

After half a year of quick rests grabbed in cheap motels and long drives between candidate appearances, Ms Fowler bears the scars of a more hardened campaign hack.

Much of her idealism has rubbed off as she has observed the Democratic candidates from relatively close quarters.

And though she still calls herself more citizen than journalist, she has given up trying to bring her partisan enthusiasm to bear. “I’ve become much more detached and objective and dispassionate,” she says. “I’ve become the classic sceptical journalist.”

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Ports risk closure as talks drag

By Robert Wright, Transport Correspondent

Published: June 30 2008 22:26 | Last updated: June 30 2008 22:26

Talks were on Monday continuing to avert potentially massive disruption to US trade with Asia as a contract between dock workers on the US Pacific coast and their employers neared expiry.

The end of the last contract between the Pacific Maritime Association and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union in 2002 eventually led to a 10-day lockout of workers by port employers that is estimated to have cost the US $15bn (€9.5bn, £7.5bn).

Although the contract negotiated then expires at 5pm Pacific Coast Time on Tuesday, there has still been no agreement on a new contract or interim arrangements.

Among the ports that could be affected by disruption are those of Los Angeles and Long Beach, which together handle 40 per cent of US container imports. The north-western ports of Seattle and Tacoma are also major gateways.

The two sides announced on June 17 that they had reached a preliminary agreement on health and welfare benefits but the parties have since made no further announcements. One sticking point is likely to be the introduction of labour-saving technology to improve efficiency at the ports, which are less advanced than those in many other countries.

The PMA said its focus continued to be to keep the ports open. The two sides have shown no sign so far that they will extend the contract to continue talks.

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New naval champion seeks deals abroad

By Sylvia Pfeifer, Defence Industries Correspondent

Published: June 30 2008 22:38 | Last updated: June 30 2008 22:38

Britain’s new naval shipbuilding champion will focus on winning export orders and developing new international relationships, according to its new chief executive.

The new company, BVT Surface Fleet, will combine the shipbuilding operations of BAE Systems and VT Group to form a “national champion” with a turnover of more than £1bn and more than 7,000 employees. Nearly two years in the making, the joint venture will be part of an industry alliance to build two new aircraft carriers for the Royal Navy. BAE and VT will launch the tie-up on Tuesday before the government officially places its £4bn order for the carriers on Thursday.

In his first interview since becoming CEO last September, Alan Johnston, formerly the head of AgustaWestland, said the new company needed to reduce its dependence on a single customer and broaden its customer base.

He hoped to double the company’s non-Ministry of Defence business to 30 per cent in the next five years.

“The carrier is hugely important but we can’t be myopic about it. We have to use this time to build for the future, develop capabilities, develop international relationships and develop new markets,” he said.

Under a partnership agreement with the MoD the company has been granted an unprecedented guarantee to maintain jobs and technical capabilities for the next 15 years. The agreement seeks cost savings of £700m over that period.

Mr Johnston said he expected the integration of the two companies’ operations to take up to 18 months and hinted at potential job losses among management.

“I do not see any reduction in the need for technical or blue-collar labour over the next five to eight years . . . but I stress I am putting together these groups of companies and we will have to restructure the management,” he said.

He added he was looking to take about 20 per cent out of the business in indirect costs.

Transforming the company as part of its agreement with the MoD would probably take up to three years and would focus on improving the supply chain and enhancing its through-life support capabilities.

Under the terms of the joint venture, BVT will be 55 per cent owned by BAE, with the balance held by VT. The latter has an option to sell its stake to BAE for at least £380m within three years.

Thursday’s contract signing will put an end to months of uncertainty over the future of the flagship carrier programme. The MoD has been battling with an unprecedented budget crisis, and indecision over which projects to include in its latest defence budget settlement delayed the signing of the contract.

Mr Johnston said the past few months had been “interesting” and “very occasionally frustrating”. Nevertheless, he never thought the carriers would be cancelled.

Despite the delay in the placing of the contract, he said the ships would still meet their in-service dates of 2014 and 2016.

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Venezuelans enjoy costly petrol subsidy

By Benedict Mander in Caracas

Published: June 30 2008 17:03 | Last updated: June 30 2008 17:03

Sipping a cool midday beer on the banks of the mighty Orinoco river, Antonio frowns with distaste as he reminisces about the days when he used to work hard for a living.

With international oil prices soaring and domestic petrol among the most heavily subsidised in the world, he ditched his job at a remote jungle gold mine in southern Venezuela to sell petrol illegally across the river in Colombia.

“Being a miner was tough,” explains Antonio, as he takes another slug of beer, adding that most of his fellow workers reached the same conclusion. The gold mine is now abandoned.

“Why bother when you can earn more and work far less by buying petrol for next to nothing here and selling it for good money just on the other side of this river? Of course, it helps that the national guard turn a blind eye for a cut.”

Such incentives to smuggle petrol mean the practice is rife in most border areas – locals even say that Farc, the Colombian Marxist guerilla group, is profiting handsomely from petrol contraband in the area.

Venezuelans pay just 3 to 4 cents for a litre of petrol. A tank can be filled for as little as $1.50.

“It is so cheap as to be practically free. As a result, consumption is disproportionately high – people use their cars just to go to the street corner,” says Domingo Maza Zavala, an economist and former director at the central bank.

Together with a booming domestic economy thanks to high oil prices, this has caused Venezuela’s petrol consumption to double in the last five years.

Elsewhere in the world, particularly in south-east Asia, petrol subsidies are being trimmed because of increasing costs and the distortions that they bring as the price of oil rises.

But in Venezuela shorter-term imperatives mean that the subsidy is unlikely to be eliminated soon. On Saturday Hugo Chávez, the president, said he had “no immediate plans” for a petrol price rise.

Economists say the petrol subsidy is costing the government at least $10bn to $12bn (€7.6bn, £6bn) a year in lost export revenues.

However, Mr Chávez is already struggling to contain the highest inflation rate in the western hemisphere – it is over 30 per cent. Raising petrol prices would only push this higher.

Another formidable barrier is that such a move would be hugely unpopular – subsidised petrol has existed in Venezuela for decades and is now practically considered a birthright.

Analysts say Mr Chávez is not willing to risk a backlash with regional elections approaching in November. Memories of the 1989 riots triggered by a rise in petrol prices, which ultimately precipitated the downfall of the government, remain fresh.

The president publicly branded the subsidy as “disgusting” early last year and Gregory Wilpert, an academic sympathetic with Mr Chávez, says the government remains in search of a way to increase petrol prices without affecting the poor, its core constituency. “So far they haven’t come up with a good plan,” he says.

It certainly will not be easy – with prices so low for so long, any meaningful adjustment would inevitably have a significant impact.

“Although a small increase in petrol prices may not be too politically costly, a rise big enough to really get rid of the distortions that the subsidy currently produces could certainly be damaging,” says Tamara Herrera, an economist at Caracas-based Síntesis Financiera.

To make matters worse, Venezuela’s economic boom, triggered by high oil prices, has stimulated consumption across the board.

Car sales in particular have soared, not least because cars have become a form of investment in an environment of negative real interest rates. Chronic traffic jams have become a part of daily life.

With estimates of domestic consumption ranging from 550,000 and 780,000 barrels a day, Venezuelans consume anything from a fifth to a third of total oil production.

The subsidy also creates problems by in effect diverting money away from investment in projects that would diversify the economy away from its dependence on oil, as well as from social programmes, which are the keystone of Mr Chávez’s popular support.

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Rio Tinto contracts lock in ore price

SYDNEY, July 1 – Global miner Rio Tinto has signed further Asian contracts locking in price rises of up to 96.5 per cent for its Australian iron ore, in line with a recent deal struck with China’s Baosteel, Rio said on Tuesday.

Japanese steelmakers Nippon Steel Corp and JFE Steel Corp and South Korea’s POSCO said they have agreed to pay Rio nearly double the previous price.

Nippon Steel, Japan’s largest steelmaker, relies on Australian iron ore producers for some 60 per cent of its supplies.

Last month, Baosteel agreed to pay up to 96.5 per cent more for its iron ore under a term contract with Rio, higher than the 65-71 per cent that Chinese mills and Brazilian miner Vale clinched earlier in the year.

”Rio Tinto announces that it has reached agreement with all of its customers in Asia for iron ore deliveries from Hamersley Iron, Robe River and Hope Downs for the contract year commencing 1 April 2008,” it said in a statement.

Another Australian miner, BHP Billiton, has not announced any deals with Asian mills yet.

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Moscow axes work visas for TNK-BP

By Catherine Belton in Moscow and Ed Crooks in London

Published: June 30 2008 23:34 | Last updated: June 30 2008 23:34

BP’s grip on its Russian oil joint venture was slipping on Monday after authorities in Moscow refused work permits to many of the company’s foreign executives in a ruling that could see all of them forced out of the country by the end of the month.

The ruling is the latest twist in anacrimonious struggle between BP and its Russian partners over control of the TNK-BP joint venture. It means Robert Dudley, the BP-backed chief executive of the joint venture, along with its chief financial officer and a number of other executives will have to leave Russia unless they can secure visas rapidly. Their departure would leave operational control of the company in the hands of their Russian partners.

The hearing at the Moscow city government was held last week – at the same time as TNK-BP Holdings’ annual meeting, an event that Mr Dudley had to attend. TNK-BP said his place at the work permits hearing was taken by more junior staff who found their case contradicted by Viktor Vekselberg, one of the four Russian tycoons and partners in dispute with the UK oil group.

The authorities duly approved a quota of fewer than half the 150 permits sought.

BP described the ruling as “utterly disgraceful”. TNK-BP’s foreign executives will on Tuesday make a last-ditch appeal to the authorities in an effort to safeguard the future of the non-Russian employees.

Lombard: Hayward’s dilemma

The Russian tycoons that are BP’s partners in TNK-BP seem to have engaged Tony Hayward, the oil group’s chief executive, in a game of chicken. They are trying to cut the number of foreign employees at the Russian joint venture – a move that can only reduce the value of the business to both parties.

For the Russians, creating turbulence may prove a path to taking full control of the venture if BP, saddled as it is with quarterly reporting obligations, loses patience and pulls out. Perhaps they suspect weakness in BP’s management, as Mr Hayward has been in harness for more than a year. And with little negotiating leverage, it may be rational for him to give in.

But the least-worst option for BP is probably to hang on in there, and hope that the Russian government pushes TNK-BP into a deal with state-controlled Gazprom or Rosneft. Still, BP investors should expect things get worse before they get better.

For more Lombard, click here

The visas of all TNK-BP’s non-Russian staff expire by the end of the month. To secure new visas they need work permits and even those likely to be granted permits no longer have time to process their applications. They would therefore need special permission to stay in Russia, and there has been no indication that this will be given.

One insider said: “We’re all out of here at the latest by the end of July.

“With all the best will in the world, there is no time.”

People close to the company fear the wrangle over permits is part of an effort by the Russians to gain control by stealth.

The executives’ departure will mark the first real consequence of a corporate battle that came into the open last month with BP accusing its Russian partners of “corporate raiding”.

People close to the company have suggested the Russian shareholders are laying the ground for a sale to a state-owned company such as Gazprom or Rosneft. But the Russian shareholders have repeatedly denied they want to sell.

The Russian billionaire shareholders say they are launching a legal case to win Mr Dudley’s dismissal and cut numbers of expatriate staff because BP was running the group as its own subsidiary.

Separately, 148 BP specialists seconded to TNK-BP have been barred from the company since April firstly because of visa problems and then because of a court injunction barring them from work after a shareholder filed suit against their employment deal.

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Buy-out fund reflects take-off in Africa

By Martin Arnold in London

Published: July 1 2008 02:24 | Last updated: July 1 2008 02:24

The rapid growth of private equity in Africa will be underlined on Tuesday as Kingdom Zephyr announces it has raised $325m for its latest pan-African buy-out fund with backing from Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, the Saudi billionaire.

Africa accounts for only a tiny proportion of the global private equity market and remains a no-go zone for many of the biggest US and European buy-out groups.

However, the fundraising by Kingdom Zephyr highlights how – in spite of occasional setbacks such as Kenya and Zimbabwe – the spread of stable democracy and rapid economic growth is encouraging the rise of private equity across the continent.

Private capital flows to sub-Saharan Africa, including foreign direct investment portfolio flows and loans, reached $53bn last year, a four-fold increase since 2000, according to the International Monetary Fund.

Kingdom Zephyr, which has offices in Accra, Johannesburg, New York and London, invests in mid-sized African companies that are expanding across borders and have the potential to become regional market leaders.

Prince Alwaleed, whose Riyadh-based Kingdom Holding owns big stakes in Citigroup and News Corporation, has agreed to provide half the funds for Kingdom Zephyr, which aims to raise $500m for its latest fund.

This would more than triple the $122.5m it raised after its creation in 2003 as a joint venture between the Saudi prince and Zephyr Management, a New York asset manager that also has funds in Mexico, India and for US distressed debt.

Kingdom Zephyr’s best-known investment so far was a small stake in Celtel, the pan-African mobile phone operator that became the poster child for private equity on the continent when it was sold to MTC of Kuwait for $3.36bn in 2005.

It has also invested in financial services, such as United Bank for Africa, a Nigerian bank that is the 13th largest in Africa, and Micro Provident, a Bots­wana-based consumer lender that operates in Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia and Swaziland.

“What is happening in Africa, which has been largely unnoticed by the rest of the world, is that consumption patterns are changing rapidly,” said Kofi Bucknor, managing partner of Kingdom Zephyr. “This reflects a growing middle class in most countries, the effects of globalisation, rising disposable incomes and significantly improved communication channels, primarily mobile phones, television and the internet.”

”Savvy entrepreneurs and businesses are rapidly responding to these trends with new products and services that are creating attractive investment opportunities across the continent,” added Mr Bucknor.

The commodities boom – driven by fast growing demand from Asia – was also driving rapid economic growth in Africa, said Thomas Barry, chairman of Kingdom Zephyr’s investment committee.

“The democratic governance and economic evolution is progressing quite nicely in Africa, with a few occasional exceptions,” Mr Barry said. “Each of our investments will have country diversification within their own operations, so it will not be too negatively affected by developments in any one country.”

Kingdom Zephyr, which has tripled its investment on its first two exits, has raised money for its new fund from wealthy US families, the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation and the Development Bank of South Africa.

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Commodities Signal Bubble Bursting as First-Half Ends (Update4)

By Millie Munshi and Claudia Carpenter

June 30 (Bloomberg) -- Commodities finished their best first half in 35 years. The next six months may not be as rewarding because record prices for oil, copper and a dozen other raw materials may crimp consumption and encourage growth in supply.

The 19 commodities in the Reuters/Jefferies CRB Index jumped 29 percent through June 30, the most since 1973 and more than any second-half gain in at least five decades, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

High costs are slowing the pace of demand for gasoline in the U.S., and gold purchases in India, the biggest buyer, plunged 50 percent from a year earlier. Producers are expanding supplies of wheat in the U.S. and steel in China.

``We're near some kind of reckoning'' in commodities, said Michael Aronstein, president of Marketfield Asset Management in New York, who returned 15 percent a year in the 1990s managing commodity investments. ``I've probably been positive for seven years and this is the first time I think there could be really a dramatic secular reversal, that it's not just a pullback.''

High energy costs will deter consumers and reduce second- half prices, after oil doubled in the past year to a record $143.67 a barrel today, said Chris Rupkey, chief financial economist at Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd.

Jet-Fuel Costs

In the U.S., the world's largest energy user, the number of travelers over the Fourth of July holiday will drop for the first time this decade, after gasoline rose above $4 a gallon, motoring group AAA said June 26. Surging jet-fuel costs led to the failure of at least a dozen airlines in the past six months, grounding planes.

Demand is slowing for copper after the metal jumped 28 percent this year and reached $4.2605 a pound May 5, the highest ever, partly because of temporary supply disruptions in Chile, Peru and Mexico. China said June 10 its copper imports fell 19 percent last month to the lowest since August. Buyers in China, the world's biggest metals importer, are ``price sensitive,'' according to Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc., the world's second-largest producer.

Gold demand from jewelers, the biggest users, has stalled since September, London-based UBS AG analyst John Reade said May 29. After reaching a record $1,033.90 an ounce March 17, gold will average $850 this year and $750 next year, he said. The World Gold Council said May 20 that first-quarter demand fell to a five-year low.

Rising Output

Price gains that curb demand are encouraging producers.

Katanga Mining Ltd. restarted the largest underground copper mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The Lisbon- based International Copper Study Group on April 28 forecast a supply surplus this year and next.

The world's wheat farmers will boost production by 8.2 percent to 658 million metric tons in the next 12 months, the International Grains Council said June 26. Wheat jumped to its highest price ever in February.

Output is gaining as economic growth slows.

The odds of the U.S. entering a recession in the next 12 months are 50 percent, according to the median forecast of 61 economists in a Bloomberg survey. Slowing global growth signals commodity demand will ``soften,'' the International Monetary Fund said in March. During the last U.S. recession in 2001, the CRB index plunged 16 percent.

`Buying Orgy'

Commodities advanced this year during a ``buying orgy'' by investors seeking better returns than stocks and bonds, Paul Touradji, founder of the $3.5 billion hedge fund Touradji Capital Management, said in March.

The UBS Bloomberg CMCI Index of 26 commodities rose 31 percent this year, touching a record today. Equity markets trailed behind, as the Standard & Poor's 500 Index dropped 13 percent. U.S. Treasuries returned 2.1 percent.

Indexes linked to commodities took in an unprecedented $235 billion as of mid-April, according to Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.

The expansion is now slowing. Second-quarter net inflows into European exchange-traded products linked to commodities fell about 58 percent to $800 million from the previous quarter, Barclays Capital said.

The prospect of increased regulation also may make investing in raw materials less attractive, said Dennis Gartman, whose $250 million fund in commodities, stocks and bonds climbed about 30 percent since April 2007. The House of Representatives approved on June 26 a measure requiring the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to use its emergency authority to curb excessive speculation in energy.

Dollar Rally

Investors also may shift away from commodities as an alternative to dollar-denominated assets. The U.S. currency will end a two-year slide and advance in the second half, according to forecasts compiled by Bloomberg.

Lower prices would ease social tensions. The World Bank warned that 33 countries from Mexico to Yemen faced unrest because of higher commodity costs. The Egyptian government now spends about 5.5 percent of the national budget on bread subsidies and people were killed during food riots.

Some commodities may keep rallying.

Floods across Iowa, the largest corn-growing state, and in Illinois and Missouri threaten to cut corn and soybean plantings.

Seeding More Acres

U.S. farmers seeded more acres with corn than they indicated in March as prices rose to a record and they reduced soybean acres as the worst flooding in 15 years interfered with late-seeding plans, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said today. A more extensive assessment of any flood damage will be included in the Aug. 12 crop production report.

Jim Rogers, who in April 2006 correctly predicted oil would reach $100 and gold $1,000, said investors should steer clear of the dollar and favor commodities.

``Agricultural prices have much higher to go over the next decade,'' Rogers said in a speech in Shanghai today. ``We have a shortage of everything, including seeds.''

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邦銀協調融資、外国企業向け大幅増　米ＩＢＭに500億円

　邦銀が外国企業向けの協調融資を大幅に伸ばしている。三井住友銀行は30日、地銀など14行と米ＩＢＭ向けに500億円の融資をまとめた。ＩＢＭが日本で協調融資を受けるのは初めて。メガバンク他行も米英企業向けの融資を主導した。米住宅ローン問題の余波で欧米銀が融資に慎重になる半面、財務基盤が相対的に安定している邦銀が攻勢に出た格好だ。

　外国企業向けの協調融資は、米国の信用力の低い個人向け住宅融資（サブプライムローン）問題が広がった昨年後半から増加が目立つ。調査会社トムソン・ロイターによると、2007年の協調融資額は2兆470億円で、案件数も38件と、いずれも過去最高となった。

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世界の株価、資源高で明暗　08年上半期の騰落率

　2008年上半期（1―6月）の世界の株式市場の値動きは、資源国と非資源国とで明暗が分かれた。株価騰落率を比較すると、上昇率上位には南アフリカ共和国、カナダ、ロシアなどの資源国が並ぶ一方、中国やベトナムの下げが際立った。日本はデフレが長かったことが、ここへきてインフレに抵抗力があると逆に見直され、株価の下げが小幅にとどまった。

　全世界の動向を示す「ＭＳＣＩ世界株価指数（48カ国・地域ベース、現地通貨建て）」は昨年末比14％下落。こうしたなかで上昇したのは南アフリカ、カナダ、ロシア、ブラジルの4市場で、いずれも資源国だ。

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６月の新車販売台数、２カ月連続減　小型車・トラックが低迷

　日本自動車販売協会連合会（自販連）が１日発表した６月の新車販売台数は前年同月比3.6％減の28万1261台と２カ月連続で減少した。普通自動車は 4.2％増となったが、小型乗用車は6.3％減。トラックも、普通トラックの13.9％減が響いて全体で13.7％減となった。

　普通自動車のブランド別販売台数（前年同月比）では、トヨタが35.5％増、日産が14.9％増と好調だった。小型自動車は「フィット」の売れ行きが堅調なホンダが25.2％増となったが、トヨタが14.7％減、日産が12.9％減となるなど全体的に低迷した。

　普通トラックでは、日野が9.7％減、いすゞが20％減と低調に推移した。

　全国軽自動車協会連合会が同日発表した６月の軽自動車新車販売台数は2.8％減の16万5730台で、15カ月連続での前年割れとなった。

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海外旅行、行って良かったのは「ウィーン」　リクルート調べ

　リクルートは海外の旅行先69都市を対象にした満足度調査をまとめた。それによると、最も満足度が高かったのはオーストリアのウィーンだった。これに米国のラスベガスやイタリアのローマが続いた。高評価の都市は総じて街並みに対する評価が高く、古い建造物や整備された都市景観にあこがれを抱く人が多いようだ。

　満足度は「とても満足」なら5、「どちらともいえない」は3、「不満」は1といった具合にポイントを与え、加重平均した。総合満足度で首位のウィーンは街並みや音楽鑑賞に対する評価が高く4.49ポイントとなり、続くラスベガスは4.45、ローマは4.36だった。

　また食事やショッピングなど8項目について満足度を個別に聞いたところ、食事の満足度では、日本人の口に合う料理が多く物価も安い台北（台湾）が 4.14と最も高かった。韓国のソウルとインドネシアのバリ島がいずれも4.09で3位になるなどアジア地域の評価が高い傾向がみられた。買い物に対する満足度は首位となったハワイのオアフ島でも3.81ポイントにとどまるなど、総じて低い傾向がみられた。

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ＮＥＣ、2万人が在宅勤務可能に　全社員の9割、機密保持を強化

　ＮＥＣは1日から全社員の9割にあたる約2万人の社員を対象に在宅勤務制度を導入する。システム技術者、営業部門などホワイトカラーのほぼ全員が対象。機密保持機能を備えたデータ通信やパソコンを自宅に配備することで職場と同じ仕事をこなせるようにする。松下電器産業やＮＴＴデータも大規模な在宅勤務制を導入しており、ＩＴ（情報技術）を活用した在宅勤務が産業界全体に広がる可能性がある。

　新入社員や生産現場勤務の社員などを除く全社員が対象。週1回を上限に上司の承認を得て利用できる。パソコンに付けたカメラを通じて勤務開始と終了時に上司に連絡する。各部署に利用しやすい体制整備を求め、早期の普及を目指す。

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日航の定期チャーター便、羽田-香港7月1日就航

　日本航空は7月1日から羽田―香港間の定期チャーター便を運航する。昨年6月に羽田空港の国際線に深夜早朝の発着が認められたのを受けたもので、全日本空輸も4月から同路線に参入済み。日航の新路線は深夜に香港を出発し早朝に日本に着く利便性から、7月中の予約率が9割前後と出足は好調だ。全日空との間で訪日客の取り込みが激しくなりそうだ。

　日航の新路線の運航は1日1往復（2便）。香港の訪日観光客を中心に「早朝に羽田に到着後、国内線に乗り継いで東北地方の温泉地を訪れるツアーが好評」（日航）。全日空の新路線も平均搭乗率が約8割と堅調だ。

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セコム、生活支援事業を全国展開　高齢の単身者取り込む

　セコムは戸締まりの確認や郵便物預かりなどの生活支援事業を7月1日から全国に拡大する。首都圏などに限定していたサービスを地方でも手がけ、高齢者世帯などを取り込む。同時に水回り工事や家具修理サービスも地域を広げる。いずれも家庭向け警備の契約先が対象。全国2200カ所の警備拠点を活用して周辺事業を強化し、本業の契約増にもつなげる。

　セコムは全国の警備拠点で簡易郵便局の業務を引き受ける方針も明らかにしており、収益基盤の強化を進める。

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ＮＥＣと住友電工、海底ケーブル大手買収　需要増で安定調達へ

　ＮＥＣは住友電気工業と共同で、海底ケーブル製造大手のＯＣＣ（横浜市、岡田義久社長）を買収する。ＯＣＣの全株式を保有する独立系投資ファンドのロングリーチグループからＮＥＣが75％、住友電工が25％の株式を7月中に取得する。ＮＥＣと住友電工を合わせた株式取得額は最大で80億―90億円のもよう。ＮＥＣはＯＣＣを傘下に収めることで海底ケーブルを安定調達し、需要拡大に対応する。

　ＯＣＣは米タイコテレミュニケーションズや仏アルカテル・ルーセントに次ぐ大手海底ケーブルメーカーで、世界の売上高シェアは約20％。2000年以降の光通信バブルの崩壊で業績が悪化、04年に産業再生機構の支援を受けた。06年からはロングリーチ傘下で経営再建に取り組んできた。07年度の売上高は 175億円で、従業員数は220人。

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京成電鉄、保有地活用し収益源に　千葉市など４ヵ所

　京成電鉄は千葉県内の保有地を活用する。子会社跡地など計4カ所に、分譲マンションを3件、ビジネスホテルを1件建てる。2007年にまとめた中期経営計画で、10年3月期の営業利益を08年3月期より6％以上増やす目標を立てており、マンションなどの開発で収益源を広げる。沿線の居住者を増やし、同社路線の利用増もねらう。

　分譲マンションで最も大きい物件は千葉市中央区千葉港に建てる。ＪＲ千葉みなと駅、京成千葉中央駅から徒歩約10分で、もともとは子会社であるちばシティバスの本社営業所だった。14階建て、延べ床面積は1万2000平方メートルで、予定販売価格は約3000万円。「都心などに通う 30―40代の購入を見こむ」（開発事業部）という。

　同区神明町にも分譲マンションを建てる。京成千葉中央駅から徒歩5分で、今は子会社の西千葉タクシーが本社営業所として使っている。建物の概要、予定販売価格などは明らかにしていないが、総戸数は101戸の見通し。2010年度の発売をめざす。

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「補正予算に漁業支援策」自民政調会長

　自民党の谷垣禎一政調会長は1日午前、原油高騰対策に関する政府・与党と漁業関係者との意見交換会で「補正予算も視野に入れてどういう手を打っていくかを検討しなければならない段階に来ている」と述べた。次期臨時国会への提出を検討している2008年度補正予算案に、漁業支援策を盛り込む考えを示したものだ。

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首相、公益法人改革「再検討を」

　福田康夫首相は30日、行政経費の無駄遣い排除に向けた公益法人改革案の公表を当初予定の7月1日から4日に先送りし、再検討するよう関係省庁に指示した。解散する法人がごく少数にとどまるなど内容が不十分と判断。首相は行政と密接な結び付きのある公益法人に不適切な支出がないか6月末までに総点検する方針を示していた。

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承子さま、英留学から帰国

　高円宮家の長女承子さま（22）が2004年から4年間にわたる英国留学を終え1日午前、帰国された。学習院女子大在学中の04年4月に渡英した後、エディンバラ大に留学。翌年、学習院女子大を中退し、留学期間を3年間延長してエディンバラ大人文科学学科で学ばれていた。

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デンソー、155億円の申告漏れ　移転価格税制で国税局が指摘

　トヨタ自動車グループの自動車部品製造会社「デンソー」が名古屋国税局の税務調査を受け、2007年3月期までの6年間で、約155億円の申告漏れを指摘されていたことが1日、分かった。移転価格税制を適用され、海外子会社に部品を安く売り、デンソーの所得の一部を圧縮したと認定された。同国税局は計約 73億円を追徴課税したもようだ。

　デンソーは処分を不服として、税務当局に異議申し立てを行う。

　同社によると、同社は海外子会社に自動車部品を販売。子会社が現地自動車メーカーなどの取引先に売っている。子会社への販売価格は第三者と取引する際よりも安く、同社の課税対象となる所得が一部、海外に流出したと指摘されたもよう。

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アデランス大リストラ必至…岡本社長が退任し全面敗北

　５月の定時株主総会で取締役再任案が否決されたアデランスホールディングス（ＨＤ）の混乱は、岡本孝善社長（５８）が退任、筆頭株主の米投資ファンド、スティール・パートナーズから社外取締役が送り込まれるという会社側の全面敗北となった。スティール側が従業員削減など痛みを伴う大幅なリストラを迫るのは必至の情勢だ。

　「いろいろな選択肢があったが、熟考した結果」

　６月３０日の記者会見で岡本社長は、自らの退任を含む新人事案についてこう説明した。５月の総会以降、事実上の経営者不在という異常事態で、従業員や顧客に悪影響が出ていることも示唆した。

　スティールが批判する業績悪化について「経営者は数字が通信簿」と認めながらも、「結果の責任はあまり足元を見過ぎると転ぶ可能性がある」と無念さをにじませた。会見中、「（テレビカメラ用のライトで）ものすごく暑いから」とおしぼりで何度も顔をぬぐったが、目は真っ赤だった。

　８月９日の臨時株主総会で提示される新人事案は、新社長にアデランスＨＤの完全子会社で女性用かつら販売会社、フォンテーヌ社長の早川清氏（６０）が就任。岡本社長は特別顧問となり、創業者の根本信男（６７）、大北春男（６６）の両最高顧問とともに取締役を退任する。

　社外取締役にはスティールの推薦で、米スティール幹部のジョシュア・シェクター氏（３５）と、三菱商事元副社長で米投資ファンド、リップルウッド（現ＲＨＪインターナショナル）のアドバイザーも務める相原宏徳氏（７０）が就く。

　スティールは水面下でアデランスを激しく揺さぶった。今年３月には独自の取締役候補を盛り込んだ株主提案を用意。正式には提出しなかったが、５月の総会で岡本社長らの取締役再任案に反対票を投じ、６月１２日には臨時総会に向けてシェクター氏、相原氏、米スティール代表のウォレン・リヒテンシュタイン氏や大学教授、経済評論家など社長候補を含む１０人の取締役候補を株主提案。アデランスはスティールに妥協するしかなかった。

　スティール側から送り込まれた社外取締役は従業員削減など痛みを伴うリストラや株式の非公開化を要求するのは確実で、早川次期社長は苦しい立場に追い込まれそうだ。

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豊胸手術：ショック死で慰謝料７７００万円　神戸地裁支部

　神戸地裁姫路支部（田中澄夫裁判長）は３０日、豊胸手術を受けた女性が薬剤投与のショックで死亡したのは医師の過失が原因として、兵庫県加古川市の美容外科病院「サカネクリニック」を経営する医療法人社団サカネ会（阪根修理事長）と医師に対し、慰謝料など計約７７００万円を遺族に支払うよう命じた。

　判決によると、０４年７月１４日、県内の会社員の女性（当時３３歳）が、術後に吐き気や血圧低下を訴えた。医師は手術中に使った抗生物質を再度投与したが呼吸困難となり、別の病院に搬送され、翌日死亡した。

　田中裁判長は、ショックを引き起こす可能性がある抗生物質の再投与や、集中治療ができる病院への速やかな搬送を怠ったことは、病院の過失だと指摘した。

　病院側は「対応は代理人に任せているのでコメントできない」としている。

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路線価：３年連続の上昇…３大都市は率縮小　０８年

　国税庁は１日、相続税や贈与税の算定基準となる０８年分の路線価を公表した。全国約３８万地点の標準宅地の平均路線価は、前年に比べ１０％アップの１平方メートル当たり１４万３０００円で、３年連続の上昇となった。地方の主要都市は前年を上回る上昇率を記録する一方、東京、大阪、名古屋の３大都市の上昇率はいずれも縮小し、「ミニバブル」と呼ばれた不動産価格の高騰は、沈静化に向かっているとみられる。

　全国の平均路線価は、バブル崩壊直後の９２年をピークに下落してきた。回復の兆しが表れたのは０５年で、東京だけが上昇に転じた。０６年は全国平均で０．９％、０７年には８．６％上がり、これまで上昇傾向が続いてきた。

　都道府県庁所在地の最高路線価路が前年より上がったのは２５都市で、前年よりも５都市増えた。このうち、仙台、さいたま、千葉、岐阜、静岡、津、熊本の７市では、上昇率が昨年よりも５ポイント以上大きくなった。一方「ミニバブル」を引っ張ってきた３大都市の上昇率は、東京で５．７ポイント、大阪で２．４ポイント、名古屋で１０．５ポイント縮小した。

　不動産価格上昇の要因に、投資法人が投資家から集めた資金で不動産を購入し、家賃収入などを分配する不動産投資信託（ＲＥＩＴ）が、００年１１月から国内でも認められたことが挙げられる。超低金利の預金よりも高利回りが期待できるとして、国内外から資金が流れ込んだとみられる。

　しかし、米低所得者向け高金利住宅ローン（サブプライムローン）問題の影響で、昨夏以降は外資マネーが勢いを失い、日本の金融機関も不動産関連への融資を絞り込んでいるとされる。東京商工リサーチによると、不動産価格のさらなる上昇を当て込み、高額での用地取得に動いていた不動産業者が、急激な資金不足に陥っている。今年１～５月の不動産業者の倒産は２２４件（前年同期比３３件増）で、年次ベースでは７年ぶりに前年比増加に転じる可能性があるという。【高島博之】

　▽路線価　主要道路に面した１平方メートル当たりの土地の１月１日時点の評価額。国土交通省が３月に公表する公示地価の８割程度を目安に、売買実例や不動産鑑定士の評価なども考慮し、国税庁が算出する。今回分は０８年１月１日～１２月３１日に相続、贈与で土地を取得した場合に適用される。昨年までは８月１日に公表されていたが、今年から税務署窓口に閲覧用として置いていた冊子の作成を取りやめ、ホームページでの公開だけに切り替えたため１カ月早まった。

■都市圏別の平均路線価■

（１平方メートル当たり）

　　　２００８年　０７年　変動率

東京圏　　３５１　３０６　１４．７

大阪圏　　１７５　１６３　　７．４

名古屋圏　１２２　１１０　１０．９

その他　　　５２　　５２　　０．０

全国　　　１４３　１３０　１０．０

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路線価：ミニバブルが沈静化…売れ残りマンション増加

　不動産価格が上昇し始めた２年前、都市部ではマンションの需要に供給が追いつかず、一部の業者は価格をつり上げようと「売り惜しみ」さえしていた。しかし、今では需要が冷え込み、「売れ残りマンション」があふれている。国税庁が１日公表した０８年分の路線価は、都心部などで上昇率が鈍り始めたことを示した。「ミニバブル」が沈静化に向かう中、資金的体力のない業者の倒産が相次いでいる。【高島博之】

　６月中旬の日曜日午前、東京・上野駅から電車で約１時間の埼玉県東部で、「駅から徒歩４分」と宣伝されたマンションの棟内モデルルームを見学した。

　全国展開する不動産会社が、０６年夏に完成させた約１６０戸のマンションは、２年たってもまだ約３分の１が売れ残っている。標準的な間取りの３ＬＤＫ（約８５平方メートル）が２７００万円台で、東京・豊洲で販売中の地上４８階建てのタワーマンションの半値以下だ。

　男性販売員は「マンションが売れなくなったのは去年の秋ぐらいから。お客様の目は厳しくなった」と嘆く。

　不動産経済研究所（東京都新宿区）によると、首都圏で５月末に販売中のマンションは１万４８２戸で、このうち５４．８％の５７４１戸が完成後も完売していない「売れ残りマンション」。５０％を超えたのは４月からで、９９年４月以来９年ぶりだという。

　自社ブランドマンション「サングレイス」の分譲を行っていた「グレイス」（横浜市中区）は今年１月、売れ残りのマンションを抱えたまま、東京地裁に破産手続き開始を申し立てた。

　昨年１２月にグレイスが完成させた東京都多摩市のマンション（４４戸）は、施工した建設会社がマンション名を変えて販売しているが、６月中旬の時点で半分近くが売れ残っていた。

　東京商工リサーチの友田信男・統括部長は「土地は上がり続けるものとして高値で買い続けた業者が、危険を察知した金融機関から融資を絞られて苦しんでいる。バブルの経験を生かせなかった業者にとっては、既に冬の時代に入っている」と指摘する。

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路線価：日本一は銀座「鳩居堂」前…２３年連続

　路線価日本一は、東京都中央区銀座５丁目の銀座中央通りにある文具店「鳩居堂」前など３地点で、３１８４万円。鳩居堂は２３年連続のトップで、昨年に比べ２７．６％上昇した。ただ上昇率は前年より５．７ポイント縮小した。

　他の２地点は、同じ通りにある銀座４丁目の高級専門店「和光」前と百貨店「三越」前で、昨年に引き続き鳩居堂前と同額だった。この３地点では、はがき１枚当たりの面積が約４７万１０００円になる計算だ。

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路線価：名古屋市都心部でも上昇幅は縮小

　１日公表された名古屋国税局管内（愛知、岐阜、三重、静岡県）の１平方メートル当たりの平均路線価は、前年比７．２％増の８万９０００円だった。管内の上位３地点は前年と同じ名古屋市都心部だったが、いずれも上昇幅は縮小した。

　管内４８税務署のうち昨年より１０署多い２９署で最高路線価が上昇した。管内の最高価格は４年連続で名古屋市中村区のＪＲ名古屋駅前（名駅通り）で７６０万円。だが上昇率は前年の３３．９％から２３．４％に縮小した。一方で、名駅前から「名古屋ルーセントタワー」に延びる名古屋市西区の広井町線通り（１４４万円）は同５０．０％増と前年に続いて上昇率全国１位を保った。

　このほか、同市都心部の上昇の流れが岐阜市や三重県四日市市など周辺都市に遅れて波及し、前年まで１５年連続で下落していた岐阜が横ばいに、三重も下落幅が縮小した。

　県別の平均路線価は▽愛知１２万３０００円（前年比１０．８％増）▽岐阜４万８０００円（増減なし）▽三重３万９０００円（同２．５％減）▽静岡７万４０００円（同４．２％増）。

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イラク：油田開発に外資容認　３６年ぶりメジャー参入へ

　【ロンドン藤好陽太郎】イラクのシャハリスタニ石油相は３０日、南部ルメイラや北部キルクークなど６油田と二つのガス田開発に、欧米の国際石油資本（メジャー）を中心とする外国企業の参入を認めると発表した。主要石油会社が７２年に国有化されて以来、３６年ぶりにメジャーがイラクの油田開発に本格参入する。

　サウジアラビアなど周辺の中東産油国は外資の油田開発を厳しく規制しており、まったく異なる手法による開発となる。

　契約に向けた入札では日本を含む３５社が参加。米エクソン・モービルや英ＢＰなど以前、イラクの油田権益を持っていたメジャーを中心に進出が決まるとみられる。来年６月までに仮契約を締結したい考え。

　イラクの産油量は、現在、０３年３月のイラク戦争開始前と同量の日量２５０万バレルにまで回復している。

　メジャー参入で油田の補修を進め、短期的に５０万バレル、１３年までに、さらに１５０万バレル増産して同４５０万バレルと、イラン・イラク戦争前の７９年に記録した過去最高の同３５０万バレルを上回る産油量を目指す。

　イラクの確認埋蔵量は１１５０億バレルと、サウジ、イランに次ぎ世界３位。西部地域を中心に未探鉱油田が多く、確認埋蔵量の３倍の原油があるとの分析もある。イラク戦争から５年を経て、治安情勢も改善に向かいつつあり、油田開発で復興費用の確保を狙う。イラクの油田は、施設老朽化が進んでおり、増産にはメジャーの技術力と資金力が不可欠だった。

　ただ参入条件などが決まっておらず、不透明な面も残る。

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米軍横田基地：「空域」の一部返還、９月２５日に決まる

　国土交通省は１日、在日米軍横田基地上空周辺の「横田空域」の一部返還が９月２５日に決まったと発表した。在日米軍が管制権を握る同空域については、日米両政府の間で０６年１０月に一部返還で合意していた。

　横田空域については、民間航空機が羽田離陸後にこの空域を避けながら高度を上げなければならず、東京湾上などで大きく巡回するなど無理な飛行を強いられてきた。

　国交省によると、返還で羽田空港から西に向かう出発便の飛行経路の選択幅が広がり、１便平均約３分の時間短縮につながるという。年間ベースでは約７２００時間に上り、燃料削減効果は約３３００万リットルになると試算される。また、コスト削減などの経済効果は約９８億円に上り、ＣＯ２排出量も一般家庭約１万５０００世帯分に相当する約８万１０００トンの削減効果があると推定している。

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Sakhalin region offers to Japanese government joint work to restore historic monuments

01.07.2008, 12.13

YUZHNO-SAKHALINSK, July 1 (Itar-Tass) -- The Sakhalin region proposed to the Japanese government to work out a joint programme for the restoration of Japanese historic monuments on the island.

The southern part of Sakhalin below the 50th parallel was under Japan’ s administration from 1905 to 1945. The Japanese population on the island numbered up to 400,000. Towns and settlements were built on the Japanese part of the island. Most Japanese architectural monuments have disappeared by now. The Sakhalin regional administration suggested that some 200 Japanese monuments that are now in various stages of decay be reconstructed.

The proposal of the joint programme for the restoration of Japanese architectural heritage on Sakhalin was referred on Tuesday to Japan’s consul-general on Sakhalin, Shusuke Watanabe. The diplomat said this was “a very good idea.” Sakhalin and Japan already have experience of restoring one structure, the regional museum built in 1937. The Japanese side has allocated 14 million yen for the purpose, and a tile roof for the museum building was made with the use of ancient technologies in Japan and brought to Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk. The museum building is now regarded as the architectural gem of Sakhalin.

The consul-general said he would convey the proposal of the Sakhalin region to the Japanese government and would give it every support.

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Russia remains Ukraine’s strategic partner in nuclear sphere

29.06.2008, 12.35

MOSCOW, June 29 (Itar-Tass) - Russia remains Ukraine’s traditional strategic partner in the nuclear power industry, assured Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko. “We are traditional partners, and this will continue,” she said after the talks with Vladimir Putin.

According to Timoshenko, the premiers heard on Saturday reports by appropriate departments. “I did not hear a single question which would whip up conflicts and on which we could not come to agreement and could not find a solution,” the Ukrainian premier said.

She noted that a decision was taken to set up a joint interstate centre for uranium enrichment and emphasised that this project proves commitment of the two countries to continue close cooperation in the nuclear sphere.

Ukraine also continues to buy nuclear fuel in Russia, the premier emphasised. “But each country has the right and should diversify deliveries of energy resources,” Timoshenko said. “But this does not mean that any conflict of interests pops up,” she added.

The Energoatom state-owned company, running the Ukrainian nuclear power stations, concluded a contract on March 30 with the Swedish subsidiary of the American Westinghouse Company on purchasing nuclear fuel in 2011-2015. Ukraine intends to buy annually fuel to ensure planned re-loading of at least three out of 15 power units VVER-1000. It is planned to receive 630 fuel packs within five years.

The Russian TVEL Corporation was the only supplier of nuclear fuel for Ukrainian nuclear stations before this contract.

Ukraine and the US started the project of adapting American fuel to Ukrainian nuclear stations in 2000. In August 2005, the South Ukrainian nuclear power station started test exploitation of six American packs. Another 42 packs will be loaded in 2009.

The Ukrainian energy strategy up to 2030 presupposes the presence of at least three supplies of nuclear fuel for nuclear stations.

The contract, concluded between Energoatom and Westinghouse, provides for deliveries of 630 fuel packs to ensure annual planned re-loading of a least three power sets of the VVER-1000 type at the South Ukrainian nuclear station.

Russian experts believe that transition of some Ukrainian nuclear stations to American fuel is a risky and economically unjustified venture.

Deputy director of the Institute of Energy Development of Regions Sergei Komarov is sure that “the use of Westinghouse fuel at Russian reactors in Ukrainian nuclear stations is a risky thing”.

“To understand this venture, I’d like to make the following comparison: compare two cars – Mercedes and BMW. They are good cars! But if the piston set of the Mercedes engine is fitted out instead of the piston set of the EMW engine, the car will not drive,” Komarov noted.

“Ukraine has reactors of the Russian VVER design. We know well how Westinghouse fuel works in these reactors. Incidentally, Czechs and Finns who turned down Westinghouse deliveries, know this pretty well. We believe that Energoatom also thinks about security and efficient work of its nuclear power stations,” the expert underlined.

“The first doubts about economic expediency of the contract between Westinghouse and Energoatom appeared when it transpired that American fuel is already 25 percent more expensive than Russian and, most probably, it will be even more expensive,” said Semyon Dragulsky, director-general of the Russian Union of Energy Efficiency. “It has become clear that the cause is not energy effectiveness: the reason for Ukraine’s partial transition to US nuclear fuel is political.”

The fact that “the contract was concluded without any tender, is another confirmation that it is based not on Energoatom commercial interests,” the expert supposed.

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Russia to end major restructuring of RAO UES of Russia

30.06.2008, 06.45

MOSCOW, June 30 (Itar-Tass) -- RAO UES of Russia officials, reporters and top managers of the Russian major energy holding will meet at the head office of the company in south-western Moscow to hold the last working day of the Russian state energy monopoly on Monday. RAO Unified Energy Systems of Russia will cease to exist officially as a juridical entity as of July 1, 2008. The Russian energy industry will finish its five-year transition period, and the top managers of the energy holding headed by Anatoly Chubais will resign.

Chubais will hold his last press conference in the capacity of the RAO UES of Russia CEO. Then the RAO UES of Russia flag will be hauled down. Instead of this flag the energy companies established during the energy reform in the country will hoist their flags in front of the entrance to the former head office of RAO UES of Russia in Vernadsky Avenue in Moscow. These energy companies include six wholesale generating companies, 14 territorial generating companies, “HydroOGK” (“RusHydro”), the Federal Grid Company (FSK), “System Operator”, “Inter RAO UES” and others.

The reins of management in the Russian energy industry will automatically pass to the state, and shareholders of the former energy holding will receive the shares of new energy companies. FSK, “System Operator”, “HydroOGK”, “Inter RAO UES, “Holding MRSK”, “RAO Energy Systems of the East” will remain under the state control. Retail suppliers, wholesale generating companies and territorial generating companies will pass under management of Russian and foreign private investors, including Gazprom, the Siberian Coal and Energy Company (SUEK), “KES-Holding” (Integrated Energy Systems) owned by Russian billionaire Viktor Vekselberg, Finland’s Fortum, Italy’s Enel, Germany’s E.ON and other companies.

“RAO UES of Russia finishes its work, but the Russian electric power industry receives a great, unprecedented impetus for development,” the outgoing chief executive of the Russian energy monopoly believes. As a result of the sale to strategic investors of generating companies and retail supplies, research institutes and other non-core assets RAO UES of Russia managed to attract over a trillion roubles for the construction of new power generating facilities and the development of the national power grid.

The former head office of the Russian state energy monopoly will not stay idle after the resignation of Anatoly Chubais, who has not announced his new post yet. Under the contract with a new owner new energy companies will rent this skyscraper until January 1, 2009. The project center will be housed in the building to finalize the RAO UES of Russia reorganization until the end of this year.

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Controversial bishop defrocked in Russia's Far East

17:22 | 27/ 06/ 2008

MOSCOW, June 27 (RIA Novosti) - The Russian Orthodox Church degraded from priesthood on Friday Bishop Diomid of Anadyr and Chukotka for criticizing the hierarchy and provoking a schism.

The Church's eparchial council also banned some clerics in the Far Eastern diocese from holding services.

"We have long tolerated every accusation and attack. His statements tempted people," Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia said.

Diomid, 47, has headed the Chukotka diocese since it was established in 2000.

In his letters, published in the Novye Izvestia newspaper, Diomid described the evolving ecumenism as "heretical teachings." He also criticized the Russian Orthodox Church for "implicitly approving instead of denouncing the incumbent government's anti-national policies" and called the church's consent to democracy a mistake.

He argued that monarchy was the only system of government blessed by God.

In an online publication, Diomid accused the Russian Orthodox Church and the Moscow Patriarchate of "deviating from the purity of Orthodox teachings."

The same publication slammed the Group of Eight major industrialized nations as a body of global Masonry, designed to pave the way for the arrival of a single global leader, or antichrist, and warned against any spiritual cooperation with the "dangerous" group.

Diomid also demanded abolishment of the foreign church relations department at the Moscow Patriarchate, said the Church should refuse to communicate with people of other religions, and called for an end to tax payer identification numbers, modern passports and cell phones.

In a resolution, a working group at the eparchial council of the Russian Orthodox Church said there was no reason to consider anti-national the government supported by the bulk of people. It added that the Orthodox Church has always expressed its concerns about negative social phenomena, such as social stratification, demographic problems and the public promotion of immoral behavior.

The resolution said Diomid's calls for rejecting communication with other denominations and religions were a manifestation of sectarian ideology and schism.

However, the council did offer Diomid the chance to repent, saying the decision to degrade him could then be suspended.

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Who benefits from the shower of petrodollars in Russia?
19:33 | 30/ 06/ 2008

MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti political commentator Maxim Krans) - The 12th annual World Wealth Report, published the other day by Merrill Lynch and Capgemini, points to a sustained growth in the number and wealth of high-net-worth-individuals (HNWIs) in Russia.

"Russia was also home to one of the world's 10 fastest-growing HNWI populations, despite growth decelerating from 15.5% in 2006 to 14.4% in 2007," the report says. The world's average growth was 6%.

In 2007, the number of wealthy Russians grew by 17,000 to 136,000, or 10% of Russia's population, largely due to skyrocketing energy prices. Does this mean the living standards of the rest of the people have improved too?

To believe the Federal State Statistics Service (Rosstat), the average Russian's monthly wage was $303 in 2005, $391 in 2006 and $529 in 2007. "Average" is the key word here.

Declared incomes in Russia totaled 5.27 trillion rubles ($224.6 billion) in the first quarter of 2008, or nearly 1 trillion rubles more year-on-year. But nearly 30% of this amount was pocketed by the 10% of the super-rich.

The Gini coefficient, which measures inequality of income (or wealth) distribution, shows that 10% of Russia's richest people earn 16.8 more than 10% of the country's poor. The figure for Moscow, where nearly 100,000 millionaires and 74 billionaires live, is over 50, and the gap keeps growing.

The rich and the poor have always been divided, even in Soviet times. The country of equal opportunities has never had actual equality. The salaries of the Soviet elite were not much bigger, but they had access to special stores where they bought at half-price the foods the rest of the people could only dream about. The same is true about better flats, foreign trips, company cars and health care services provided by the Kremlyovka, a special Fourth Directorate in the Health Ministry.

These benefits look ridiculously modest compared with the wealth accumulated in the 1990s by the former "red directors," Soviet Communist party and Komsomol functionaries, covert operators, smart stock clerks and the mafia, which became the new ruling class of the post-Soviet Russia.

The current gap between the living standards and way of life of the class of owners and the majority of Russians, especially the poor sections, is gaping.

According to Rosstat, 22 million Russians live below the poverty line, but experts say the figure is at least twice as large. To begin with, there are more than 38 million pensioners. The Institute of Social Studies at the Russian Academy of Sciences reports that the number of the poor in the 56-65 age group has grown by 150% in the last decade.

Inflation and growing food prices eat up the bulk of modest state increases in the wages and allowances of senior citizens, the public sector staff, servicemen, new mothers and disabled persons.

In February 2006, the then President Vladimir Putin said one of the state's priorities was to "close the gap between the highly paid groups of population and Russian citizens with modest means." Recent polls conducted by the Levada Center show that only 13% of the respondents think the gap has shrunk during Putin's presidency, while 80% say it has grown or not changed.

Judging by the first decisions of President Dmitry Medvedev, he intends to solve the problem by developing small and medium-sized businesses. He said in Berlin in June, "The quality of life can be improved only by attracting people to business, by giving them an opportunity to start up a business of their own."

If he makes this possible, and businessmen are liberated from excessive taxes and unbearable bureaucratic "patronage," Russia may still attain the goal set for 2020, when the middle class should make up 50%-70% of society.

Another way out is to increase wages and salaries, because a substantial number of working Russians are living from hand to mouth. The wage to prime cost ratio is 20%-25% in Russia, according to Mikhail Shmakov, head of the Federation of Independent Trade Unions.

Yevgeny Yasin, research director of the Russian Higher School of Economics, who was Russia's minister for economy from 1993 to the end of 1997, says it is only 10%-15%, which seems closer to the truth.

The figure for industrialized countries such as Germany and France is 58%-75%.

The wage to cost ratio is only 13.8% at AvtoVAZ, Russia's largest car producer, and 65% at General Motors.

Only the state can help senior citizens, children and the disabled, and it has the opportunity to do this because the current Russian government earns $1 billion daily from hydrocarbons exports.

As you can imagine, the overwhelming majority of Russians get very little, if anything, from this shower of petrodollars.

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吉野家ＨＤの３―５月、純利益88％減　ガソリン高で郊外店低迷

　吉野家ホールディングスが1日発表した2008年3―5月期連結業績は、純利益が前年同期比88％減の1億7000万円だった。牛丼業態が昨年の一時的な客数増の反動やガソリン代高騰の影響で低調に推移。輸入米国牛肉でＢＳＥ（牛海綿状脳症）に関連するといわれる「特定危険部位」が4月に発見されたことも一部店舗で客足を鈍らせた。

　売上高は1％減の397億円だった。主力の国内「吉野家」業態の既存店売上高は前年同期に比べて約1割減少。前年同期に牛丼販売時間延長による一時的な客数増があった反動が出たほか、ガソリン代高騰の余波で郊外店が低迷した。3月から牛丼の24時間販売を再開したが、もともと客数が少ない深夜帯での時間延長だったため、売り上げの押し上げ効果は限定的だった。

　営業利益は70％減の7億9000万円となった。国内の吉野家は24時間販売の再開を受け、今期から出店ペースを前期の約2倍に加速している。