韓国ウォンが急落 金融不安の９月危機説で
2008.9.3 23:41
【ソウル＝共同】韓国で通貨ウォンが経済の先行き懸念から急落している。外国人投資家が９月に資金を一斉に引き揚げ、金融不安が起きるとの「９月危機説」が背景にあり、政府は不安の沈静化に追われている。
３日のソウル外国為替市場はウォンがドルに対し前日比１４・５ウォン安の１ドル＝１１４８・５ウォン（約１０９円）で、３年１１カ月ぶりの安値水準となった。聯合ニュースは金融当局が３日、２０億ドル以上のウォン買いドル売り介入を実施したもようだと伝えた。
外国人投資家が保有する６７億ドル（約７２８０億円）相当の韓国債の償還期限が９月に集中するため、危機説が数カ月前から出ていた。１日には政府が５年間で２６兆ウォンの減税を発表したが好材料と受け止められずに株式相場も急落、金融市場は「不安感の高まりで自ら危機をつくる」（韓国メディア）展開になっている。
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Seoul denies talk of currency crisis
By Song Jung-a in Seoul
Published: September 3 2008 18:42 | Last updated: September 3 2008 18:42
The South Korean won on Wednesday sank to its lowest level in four years despite suspected government intervention to prop up the currency, prompting growing talk about a possible currency crisis.
The won slumped for a fourth day, dropping 1.3 per cent to Won1,148.50 against the dollar. It has been Asia’s worst-performing currency this year, having plunged 19 per cent, as foreign investors sell out of the country amid accelerating inflation and slowing growth.
The weakening currency and heavy foreign selling of local stocks has increased concerns that the country may be heading for a financial crisis similar to the Asian economic crisis a decade ago. Foreign investors have sold a net $22.8bn worth of Korean shares this year. But government officials on Wednesday scurried to downplay concerns and reassured investors that the possibility of a crisis was extremely low, citing huge international reserves and strong economic fundamentals.
“We have enough international reserves, which are larger than the optimum level,” Shin Je-yoon, deputy finance minister, told foreign press reporters. “The rumours about a possible crisis this month are completely groundless.” The won has come under further pressure in recent weeks amid investor concerns about the country’s rapidly rising short-term debt. The government is trying hard to dispel fears that about $6.7bn in government debt held by foreigners maturing next week could lead to a large-scale capital flight.
“The Korean market is rather shallow. There are only one-way expectations and so many herd effects at the moment,” said Mr Shin. “The fluctuations are excessive and not desirable. But we believe it will go back to normal soon.”
Several dealers suspected dollar selling by authorities as the won recovered some losses after breaching the psychologically-sensitive level of 1,150 per dollar. But experts predicted that investors would continue to sell the currency as government intervention failed to turn round sentiment.
“Despite efforts by the South Korean authorities in intervening to stabilise and strengthen the Korean won, the market is convinced that there is less reserve ammunition at their disposal to continue to do this as aggressively as before,” Standard Chartered said in a report. The bank expects the won to weaken further to 1,180 by the end of September before recovering to 1,130 by the end of 2008, cutting its forecast from 1,030 and 990, respectively.
Oh Suk-tae, economist at Citigroup, said the rumours about an imminent currency crisis were “exaggerated”. He said the country was unlikely to repeat the 1997/98 economic crisis, citing much stronger corporate and financial sectors. But he cautioned that the country’s credit cycle was worsening and rising household debts were a cause of concern in the long term.
The country’s stock market closed up 1.4 per cent at 1,426.89 on Wednesday, after tumbling to a 17-month low this week.
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「金」取ったのに…国のソフトボール補助金９５％カット
2008年9月3日19時48分
印刷
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金メダルを取っても、国からの強化補助金は９５％カット――。日本オリンピック委員会（ＪＯＣ）が３日開いた常務理事会で、北京五輪で優勝したソフトボールのランクが最高の「特Ａ」から、来年度は一気に最低の「Ｄ」まで落ちることが決まった。次回１２年ロンドン五輪で実施競技から外れるための措置で、上野由岐子投手の熱投など五輪で多くの感動を呼んだと言われた競技に厳しい現実が待っていた。
ＪＯＣは毎年、国際大会での実績などに基づいて各競技団体をランク付け。今年度特Ａのソフトボールは、水泳の１億７千万円、柔道の１億６千万円に及ばないが、国から７千万円の強化費を受けた。だが、五輪で実施されない競技は一律、Ｄランクになる決まりがあり、ソフトボールと野球（今年度はＡ）は来年度、そろってＤに落ちる。Ｄ競技への補助金は３００万～４００万円程度となる。
遅塚研一ＪＯＣ専務理事は「決まりなので特別扱いは出来ないが、心情的には忍びない」として、ＪＯＣの自主財源で何らかの救済をする考えを示唆。「ただし、これはソフトだけ。（北京で４位に終わった）野球からはむしろ罰金を取りたいぐらいだ」と付け加えた。
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海外邦人、長期滞在者数のトップは上海 ＮＹ抜く
2008年9月3日20時52分
海外で長期滞在する日本人の数が最も多い都市として、中国の上海が米ニューヨークを抜いてトップになったことが外務省の統計でわかった。急成長を続ける中国でも最大の経済都市で、民間企業の進出が主な要因とみられる。
統計は昨年１０月１日時点での、永住者を除く３カ月以上の長期滞在者。現地で勤務する人や家族、留学生などが多くを占める。外務省が同種の調査を始めた１９７１年以来トップの座を守ってきたニューヨークは４万６８人。上海は２位だった前年より約３７００人増え、４万７７３１人になった。
上海では日本人が増えるのに伴い、和食レストランや食材店も増加。現地の総領事館は市場の急成長に加え、こうした日本人向けの環境整備によって「日本企業が進出しやすい好循環を生んでいる」と指摘している。
ただ、国別の長期滞在者の総数では、首位の米国が２４万７７７１人で、２位の中国（１２万６６２７人）を引き離している。また永住者も含めると、日系人の多い米ロサンゼルスが６万１３３６人でトップ。上海は４万７７９４人で、５万１７０５人のニューヨークに続く３位となる。
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室伏、銅メダルの可能性 ２選手がドーピング陽性反応
2008年9月4日0時22分
北京五輪の陸上男子ハンマー投げで２、３位になったベラルーシの２選手が競技後のドーピング検査で禁止薬物に陽性反応を示していたことが３日、明らかになった。関係者によると予備検体の検査でも陽性反応が出ており、近日中に違反が確定する見通し。その場合は両選手が失格となり、５位の室伏広治（ミズノ）が繰り上がりで銅メダルを獲得する。
陽性反応を示したのは２位のワジム・デビャトフスキーと３位のイワン・チホン。チホンの代理人は「（筋肉増強効果のある）テストステロンの数値に問題があったと聞いている。ベラルーシ陸連が対応している」と述べた。
室伏は２００４年アテネ五輪でも、当初は１位だったアドリアン・アヌシュ（ハンガリー）がドーピング違反で失格となり、順位が繰り上がって金メダルとなった経緯がある。
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Rapid rise in global FX reserves show signs of wilting
By Peter Garnham
Published: September 3 2008 17:39 | Last updated: September 3 2008 17:39
One of the defining trends in markets this decade has been the extraordinary growth in global central banks’ foreign exchange reserves.
Much of this money was channelled into western bond markets, helping to keep global interest rates lower than they would otherwise have been, fuelling investor confidence and boosting risk appetite and asset prices.
Now, however, the trend of rising reserve accumulation appears to be peaking, amid increasing signs of a global slowdown. This, analysts say, could add further fuel to the dollar’s recent sharp rise. “This is a major shift in the markets,” says Bilal Hafeez, global head of FX strategy at Deutsche Bank. “Central banks are drawing down their reserves.”
Global central bank reserves now stand at $7,000bn, a record high, up from $2,000bn at the start of the decade. In contrast, it took all of the 1990s for global FX reserves to double from $1,000bn to $2,000bn.
The reserves are concentrated in Asia and oil-producing countries, with nearly 60 per cent of the total held by just six nations. China, with $1,808bn, has the world’s largest stockpiles, followed by Japan with $973bn and Russia with $581bn. Taiwan, India and South Korea have reserves of $291bn, 283bn and 243bn respectively.
Data from the International Monetary Fund show developing countries’ central banks hold around 60 per cent of their reserves in dollars. The remainder is held in euros, sterling and yen.
By diversifying some of their new reserves into other currencies, rather than keeping all their intervention proceeds in dollars, central banks have compounded the weakness in the US currency in recent years. Indeed, the fall in the dollar from 2001 was accompanied by an unprecedented build-up in global foreign exchange reserves as emerging market central banks intervened in the markets to stop their currencies appreciating too quickly.
However, analysts say growth in FX reserves has stalled as the dollar has staged a broad-based rally since hitting a record low against the euro on July 15.
Indeed, since mid-July, the dollar has soared nearly 9 per cent higher against the euro, risen more than 11 per cent against the pound and climbed 4 per cent against the yen. One factor reducing the build-up of global FX reserves and supporting the dollar has been the decline in the US current account deficit.
Since peaking at 6.6 per cent of US gross domestic product in the last quarter of 2005, the US current account deficit has embarked on a down trend that has seen it fall to 5 per cent in the first quarter of this year.
This has been triggered as the US economic slowdown lowers demand for imports, while US exports are still benefiting from the relative cheapness of the dollar.
“The trend decline in the US external imbalance already suggests that last year’s $1,200bn jump in global FX reserves is unlikely to be sustained,” says Mansoor Mohi-uddin, head of FX strategy at UBS.
In addition, oil prices have fallen sharply from their highs, reducing the inflows of dollars into the coffers of the oil-producing nations.
Meanwhile, trade balances in Asia have come under pressure as the effects of the credit crisis spread across the globe. Foreign investors are now pulling money out of the region, putting pressure on local currencies.
Analysts say Asia is experiencing a significant downward adjustment of growth expectations, triggering a wave of capital flight from the region.
Callum Henderson head of FX strategy at Standard Chartered, says he remains bearish on Asian currencies outside of Japan given the prospect of slowing global growth. “Asia has the highest exposure to global trade of any emerging market region,” he says.
“Inflationary concerns and resulting tight monetary policy kept Asian currencies supported in the first half of the year, but the economic baton is being passed from inflation to growth.”
Indeed, instead of intervening to stem the rise of their currencies against the dollar, authorities in South Korea, India, the Philippines are now reducing their dollar reserves to support their weakening currencies.
Meanwhile political concerns in Georgia and Thailand have seen both the Russian Central Bank and the Bank of Thailand dip into their coffers to support their currencies
“FX reserve growth is slowing sharply,” says Mr Mohi-uddin. “The counterpoint of slower reserve accumulation is less reserve diversification activity away from the dollar in favour of other major currencies.”
He says in those economies where FX reserves are now being run down to support domestic currencies, the dollar is benefiting from “reverse diversification”, in which reserve managers have to sell euros, sterling and major currencies in order to rebalance their reduced FX reserves.
“If the growth of FX reserves has indeed peaked globally, the dollar will benefit further against the rest of the major currencies,” says Mr Mohi-uddin.
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The Short View: Emerging markets
By John Authers, Investment Editor
Published: September 3 2008 18:37 | Last updated: September 3 2008 18:37
If you want to buy emerging markets stocks, you no longer need to pay a premium.
For several months last year, the MSCI emerging markets index traded at a higher multiple of earnings than its world index of developed world stocks.
But this gap began to narrow after the world index peaked in October. Now, emerging markets are trading once more at a significant discount.
There are some good reasons for this. The turmoil in states bordering Russia suggests a rise in political risk. For example, stocks in the Ukraine doubled in barely 18 months, but since January they have halved.
This year, the extra spreads payable on emerging market bonds have widened, according to JPMorgan. But bond markets suggest risk is lower than in March this year, while emerging market stock valuations have eroded sharply since then.
Another “good” reason to sell emerging markets stocks is inflation, a serious problem for several big emerging economies.
But above all, valuations seem to be driven by the developed world. A graph of the emerging p/e relative to the world p/e over time looks identical to a graph of the world index itself. The better world stocks are doing, the more of a premium emerging markets command. When developed world prices fall, the more of a discount traders require to buy emerging market stocks.
Under the once-popular “decoupling” argument – that emerging markets could grow independent of the developed world – the emerging market premium should rise when there are problems for the US and Europe, not fall.
Swings of fear and greed in the developed world will work against emerging markets for a while. But in the longer term, decoupling has a kernel of truth. When developed markets hit bottom, emerging markets are likely to trade at a big discount – and be a bargain.
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Syria in talks to buy Airbus jets
By Andrew England in Damascus and Ben Hall and Peggy Hollinger in Paris
Published: September 3 2008 22:14 | Last updated: September 3 2008 23:30
President Nicolas Sarkozy began a two-day visit to Damascus on Wednesday as the French government confirmed that “exploratory discussions” had taken place with Syria over its desire to buy Airbus passenger jets.
Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian president, is hoping that Mr Sarkozy’s visit – the first by a western leader for several years – will help secure his tentative return to the international fold.
But the preliminary talks about the potential sale of Airbus aircraft to Syrianair will add to sensitivities over Mr Sarkozy’s initiative, particularly in Washington. The US has a trade embargo against Syria and Airbus jets contain many US-made components.
Airbus, in partnership with Northrop Grumman, is still hoping to win a $35bn (€24bn, £20bn) deal to supply air-to-air refuelling tankers to the US airforce and any controversy over potential sales by the company to Syria could bolster supporters of rival bidder Boeing.
An Airbus spokesman said: “We are always in discussion with any potential customer. But there is no proposal and no deal and we cannot comment on any early stage of discussion.”
But a senior French official said: “These are exploratory discussions. One of the elements will be to know, when the moment comes, what will be the position of the US. But we are not at that stage as far as I know.”
Mr Sarkozy met Mr Assad to discuss Lebanon and Syria’s indirect peace talks with Israel.
The French and Syrian leaders will sit down on Thursday with Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish prime minister, who has helped mediate the indirect talks between Syria and Israel, and the emir of Qatar, which brokered a Lebanese power-sharing agreement.
Syria’s state-controlled press has billed Mr Sarkozy’s trip as an example of the failure of the US-led policy of isolation and a recognition of Damascus’s regional role.
“It’s a huge public relations coup that will solidify Assad’s claim [to power],” said a diplomat. “For him it is a personal vindication.”
Just nine months ago, Mr Sarkozy suspended diplomatic relations with Damascus, citing the government’s failure to help resolve the political crisis in Lebanon that threatened to drag that country back to civil war.
But in May, Syria supported a Lebanese agreement reached in Doha, the Qatari capital, that paved the way for the election of a president and the formation of a Lebanese government. It was then revealed that Damascus had been holding indirect peace talks with Israel.
Mr Sarkozy rewarded Syria for the developments by inviting Mr Assad to a Mediterranean Union summit and France’s national day celebrations in July – an invitation usually reserved for France’s closest allies.
France’s belief is that by engaging with Damascus it can help dilute Syria’s relationship with Iran and see the Arab state become a positive force in helping resolve the Middle East’s crises.
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N Korea rebuilds nuclear reactor
By Song Jung-a in Seoul and Demetri Sevastopulo in Washington
Published: September 3 2008 19:12 | Last updated: September 4 2008 00:42
An international effort to denuclearise the Korean peninsula has run into another obstacle after it emerged that North Korea has started reassembling its nuclear reactor.
North Korea started disabling the reactor at Yongbyon last year in return for economic aid and diplomatic concessions, including its removal from a US list of countries that sponsor terrorism.
On Wednesday, the South Korean foreign ministry said North Korea had begun reassembling the plant, in a move seen as a protest against Washington’s decision to delay its removal from the terrorism list.
Any collapse in the so-called “six-party” process aimed at disarming North Korea would be a blow to the Bush administration, which has touted the agreement with Pyongyang as a foreign policy success.
Condoleezza Rice, US secretary of state, downplayed the development, saying there would be inevitable “ups and downs” in the complicated six-party process, which includes China, Japan, South Korea and Russia.
The move comes a week after Pyongyang announced it had suspended efforts to disable its nuclear facilities and was considering putting the plutonium-based Yongbyon reactor back into action.
President George W. Bush told the US Congress in June that he planned to remove North Korea from the terrorism list as part of a February 2007 deal to dismantle the Stalinist state’s nuclear programme. But he delayed its removal because of North Korea’s failure to agree to an acceptable “verification” mechanism to prevent future proliferation.
In June, Pyongyang handed over a detailed nuclear declaration to China, and soon after that, it publicly destroyed a water cooling tower at the Yongbyon facility. The declaration paved the way for North Korea’s removal from the terrorism list on the condition that it agree to a verification mechanism to prevent nuclear proliferation.
The two sides have been deadlocked in recent weeks over that verification mechanism. One senior US official said Pyongyang was concerned that the US was “setting the bar too high on verification” and wanted a “less intrusive process” that did not include snap inspections.
The US official said the administration was not overly concerned that North Korea had started moving equipment back to the nuclear plant, saying it seemed to be aimed at extracting a compromise rather than destroying the six-party process.
The Bush administration believes North Korea would need at least six months to return Yongbyon to operation as it would need to rebuild the cooling tower.
“We have done enough disabling that this is not something that is easily reversible,” said the official. “The talks have not broken down. There is still ongoing discussion.”
The official expressed optimism that a deal could be reached. He said one possible outcome was to define verification in a manner that would assuage Pyongyang’s concerns that the US wanted spot inspections to conduct intelligence operations inside North Korea. He added that spot inspections, while sounding tough, have historically not been very useful.
“We need a very credible inspection regime, but it doesn’t necessarily have to be onerous.”
The White House declined to comment on the reports that North Korea had started rebuilding the plutonium reactor, but stressed that Pyongyang needed to agree to a “credible verification protocol” before it could be removed from the terrorism list.
“North Korea knows what it needs to do at this point. The six-party talks operate on a principle of action-for-action,” said Gordon Johndroe, White House national security council spokesman.
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Australian trade balance returns to red
SYDNEY, Sept 4 - Australia’s trade balance swung back into the red in July as the surging cost of fuel imports and supply bottlenecks for coal exports put a disappointing end to what had been only the second surplus in six years.
Thursday’s data from the government showed the country recorded a trade deficit of A$717m (US$598m) in July, compared to a surplus of A$351m in June.
July’s result confounded market forecasts of a A$108m surplus and put pressure on an already ailing Australian dollar. ”The result is disappointing,” said Scott Haslem, chief economist for Australasia at UBS.
”That said, we expect a recovery in export volumes over coming months, while the recent fall in oil prices should also contribute to a return to a monthly surpluses.”
Imports rose 3.9 per cent in July to A$23.6bn, largely due to a hefty 29 per cent increase in fuel imports.
Analysts noted the recent slide in oil prices, from a peak above US$147 a barrel in July to US$109.00 on Thursday, would likely see the import bill fall back in August.
Imports of consumer goods like flat screen TVs and computers fell 2 per cent in July and could well will retreat further given slumping domestic spending.
Figures on gross domestic product (GDP) out this week showed household spending fell 0.1 per cent in the second quarter, the first drop since 1993, as rising living costs and high interest rates crushed consumer confidence.
Exports dipped 0.8 per cent to A$22.88bn in July, with a 9 per cent drop in coal shipments illustrating long-standing problems with Australia’s transport infrastructure. Yet analysts remain optimistic that a sustained improvement is near.
”Resource exports will remain solid, while rural exports should pick up as rural conditions improve,” said Spiros Papadopoulos, an economist at NAB.
A break in the drought means Australia’s farmers are forecast to harvest 23.7m tonnes of wheat in the 2008/09 financial year, up from just 13m the previous year.
”The slowdown in domestic activity will see import growth slow, so we expect regular surpluses in coming months,” said Papadopoulos.
Analysts also noted there were some major resource projects set to come on stream and the full effect of price increases for iron ore and coal had yet to be felt.
Insatiable demand from China and India helped generate contract price increases of between 90 and 200 per cent for coal and iron ore, Australia’s two biggest exporter earners.
These contracts also last until next April, so are insulated from the recent weakness in global commodity prices.
As a result, the country’s terms of trade -- what it gets for exports compared to what it pays for imports -- jumped 13.1 per cent last quarter, the biggest rise in 35 years.
That in turn is showering cash on the economy, boosting profits, wages, investment and tax revenues.
Exports added almost 1 percentage point to economic growth in the first half of the year and more is expected in the second half as the full impact of price rises feeds through.
This boost is one reason analysts suspect the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) will be gradualist in cutting interest rates.
The central bank delivered its first cut in seven years this week, taking its key cash rate to 7.00 per cent from a 12-year peak of 7.25 per cent.
Analysts see perhaps one more easing by Christmas, largely to counter a market-driven tightening in financial conditions caused by the global credit crunch.
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IRA ‘no longer security threat’
By John Murrray Brown in Dublin and Jimmy Burns in London
Published: September 3 2008 17:43 | Last updated: September 3 2008 17:43
The Irish Republican Army, which for almost 30 years fought a low-level insurgency against the British in Northern Ireland, is no longer a threat to security and its leadership structures have been allowed to “wither away”, according to an expert panel set up by the UK and Irish governments.
In a special report commissioned by the two governments, the Independent Monitoring Committee (IMC) said it was convinced the IRA was committed to an exclusively political path, and had abandoned its terrorist structures.
It said it its army council “by deliberate choice is no longer operational or functional”. The seven-member body which masterminded the IRA terror campaign had been allowed to “fall into disuse”.
Shaun Woodward, Northern Ireland secretary, welcomed the findings of the report which he said marked a “groundbreaking” development in the political process.
Questions about the IRA’s continued existence have dogged the work of the province’s cross-party executive, which has not met for more than three months in a dispute over the transfer of policing and justice powers to local politicians.
Ministers hope the report will ease those tensions, ahead of a meeting of the Democratic Unionists and Sinn Féin, political wing of the IRA, on Thursday. The full executive is set to meet on September 18.
In an oblique reference to the ongoing dispute, Mr Woodward said it was “now time to complete the work of devolution”.
Ministers believe if the police are locally accountable it will do much to undercut the support enjoyed by dissident republicans, who in recent weeks have increased their attacks on the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI).
But Peter Robinson, DUP leader first minister in Northern Ireland’s power-sharing assembly, said “an essential part of building confidence in the community is that the army council has moved from a body that is not meeting to one that will never meet again”.
He added: “While it is marked progress that the IRA is no longer doing business, the unionist community needs to be convinced by the republican leadership that the IRA is out of business for good.”
The DUP says it will not support any moves to devolve policing and justice to Northern Ireland ministers until those conditions are met.
The IMC was at pains to point out its “military” departments had been disbanded although the organisation was still intact.
It was not able to say what had happened to IRA funds raised through previous illegal activity, but said there was no evidence that they were being used for paramilitary activities.
It said any intelligence gathering was “mainly for the purpose of ascertaining the nature of any threat from dissident republicans”.
Police and security officials voice growing concern that dissident groups may use the political vacuum to mount further attacks on the PSNI.
There have been significant incidents over the summer. In August shots were fired at the police in Craigavon, while in Fermanagh an improvised rocket propelled grenade was fired at three officers on patrol. Forensic evidence suggested the explosive used in this device had once been part of a consignment controlled by the IRA.
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US and Japan fight overseas aid proposals
By Alan Beattie
Published: September 4 2008 03:00 | Last updated: September 4 2008 03:00
The world's rich donor countries have clashed over plans to improve the quality of their overseas aid, with the US and Japan arguing against setting themselves tougher targets.
In a meeting this week in Accra, Ghana, officials have tussled over proposals to force donor countries to co-ordinate their aid programmes with each other and to use financial systems set up by the recipient developing countries wherever possible. The conference follows the so-called "Paris declaration" of 2005 in which rich governments agreed to make aid more predictable and to reduce requirements to use it to buy exports from the donor country.
Observers at the meeting said that the US and Japan had fought a rearguard action to water down commitments to meet specific targets by a given date. Ministers will meet today to finalise agreement.
Robert Fox of Oxfam International said: "Accra is a key moment to get agreement on the big changes that are needed in the way aid is delivered - tinkering with the status quo just isn't good enough. Given the dire consequences, it's unacceptable that some donors remain reluctant to commit to a more ambitious agenda."
The meeting was called by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the Paris-based intergovernmental policy institute charged with assessing the quality of official aid. An assessment published last week by the OECD found that donor countries were well short of existing targets. A plan to deliver 80 per cent of aid via recipient countries' own public finance management systems by 2010, for example, was way behind schedule, donors having raised the proportion from 40 to 45 per cent in three years.
Simon Burall, a research fellow at the Overseas Development Institute think-tank in London, said developing country governments were tied up with the bureaucracy needed to deal with aid. There were 10,453 donor missions in 34 countries in 2005, including 791 in Vietnam alone and 568 in Cambodia. "There is an urgent need for a stronger political steer to ensure targets are met," Mr Burall said.
Angel Gurria, OECD secretary-general, said: "Often you need a small army in the ministry just to deal with the aid missions."
The US has traditionally used its own disbursement mechanisms, including the Millennium Challenge Corporation set up by the administration of President George W. Bush. Just 3 per cent of US aid last year used the recipient country's public finance system.
Researchers added that the international non-governmental organisations criticising governments also needed to put their own house in order. Dirk-Jan Koch, at the Radboud University in the Netherlands, wrote in a recent OECD study that Ethiopia hosted five separate affiliates of World Vision and seven of Oxfam. "In some developing countries, a myriad of NGOs overburdens the weak administrative capacities of local organisations," he said.
Mr Fox said that Oxfam was continually reviewing its own operations but had a number of long-term commitments to local partners.
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Bush, Cheney Pledge Aid to Shore Up Caucasus States (Update1)
By Roger Runningen and Nadine Elsibai
Enlarge Image/Details
Sept. 4 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. moved to shore up pro-West Caucasus countries with financial aid and a promise to work with them on oil and gas routes from the Caspian Sea that bypass Russia after its war with Georgia.
President George W. Bush announced a pledge of $1 billion to help Georgia recover from war damage and resettle displaced families. In a related action, the International Monetary Fund in Washington agreed to a U.S.-backed proposal to lend Georgia $750 million to replenish its foreign-currency reserves.
``The inherent strength of the Georgian economy, coupled with the industriousness of the Georgian people, have moderated the economic impact of Russia's invasion,'' Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told reporters in Washington. ``Yet, Georgia's needs are great, especially its economic needs.''
Vice President Dick Cheney arrived in the region and met with Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev, who said he hopes for a ``strengthening of security measures'' with the U.S. Azerbaijan is the starting point for Caspian Sea oil flows via a U.S.-backed pipeline that passes through Georgia en route to a Turkish Mediterranean port.
`Diverse and Reliable'
Consumers and producers are best served when ``energy export routes are diverse and reliable,'' Cheney said after conferring with Aliyev at his summer palace. Cheney said the U.S. will cooperate with Turkey and Caucasus states ``on additional routes for energy exports that ensure the free flow of resources.''
During his visit, Cheney met with William Schrader, president of London-based BP Plc's Azerbaijan venture, and Robert Dastmalchi, San Ramon, California-based Chevron Corp.'s Azerbaijan country manager, according to the vice president's office. A spokeswoman for BP in Baku declined to comment on the talks. Chevron couldn't be reached for comment late yesterday.
Bush sent Cheney to reassure pro-West leaders of U.S. support after Russia invaded Georgia to thwart an attempt to retake South Ossetia and then recognized the independence of that pro-Moscow breakaway region and another, Abkhazia. It's the highest-level visit to the area by an American since the five- day war ended last month. Cheney is also due to visit Georgia and Ukraine.
Possible Sanctions
The U.S. is weighing possible sanctions against Russia for its military operations in Georgia and recognition of the breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent on Aug. 26. Cheney will report back to Bush on the views of leaders in the region, according to the White House.
One cost to Russia already is an erosion of investor confidence, according to U.S. officials. That theme was echoed by Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Fried, who said in Brussels that Russia is scaring away foreign investors and sinking deeper into self-isolation.
``The business community is voting,'' Fried said in a Bloomberg Television interview yesterday. ``The billions of dollars that have fled the Russian stock market are an indication that Russia's self-triumphalist rhetoric is not really appropriate.''
About $30 billion in capital left Russia in August as the Georgia crisis unfolded, according to BNP Paribas SA, France's largest bank.
EU Actions
The European Union suspended talks Sept. 1 on a new Partnership and Cooperation Agreement, the fundamental document defining EU-Russian ties, while shying away from tougher measures that would expose the energy-dependent EU to Russian retaliation.
No EU leader called openly for sanctions. Russia delivers more than 40 percent of Europe's gas imports, a figure that will rise to 60 percent in 2030, the European Commission says. A third of Europe's imported oil now comes from Russia.
A U.S. strategy is to create a southern corridor for energy exports outside of Russian control, linking oil and gas fields in the Caspian and points east in Central Asia with European markets.
The planned Nabucco pipeline, backed by the EU, will bring gas from the Caspian region via Turkey to Austria and western Europe by 2013.
Georgia's `Mistake'
As American officials talked of support for Georgia yesterday, the U.S. diplomat most familiar with the region said Georgia's Aug. 7 attack on the South Ossetian capital, Tskhinvali, was a ``mistake.'' Still, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Matthew Bryza said Russia started the conflict by backing provocations by South Ossetian militias before Aug. 7. He said the militias were under the command of Russian officers.
``Georgia did not launch a war,'' Bryza said. ``Georgia was drawn into one.''
Russia says Georgia sparked the conflict by trying to grab the pro-Russian region in violation of peacekeeping arrangements. Georgia's government, which had vowed to bring South Ossetia and Abkhazia under its control, said its forces responded to the shelling of Georgian villages by South Ossetian separatists.
Russia lost 71 soldiers in the fighting, Deputy Prosecutor General Sergei Fridinsky said in televised comments, citing revised figures. Georgia has reported 215 dead. Russian officials say about 2,100 South Ossetian civilians died in the conflict.
Two Phases
Of the $1 billion offered to Georgia by the U.S., as much as $570 million will be made available by the end of the year, and the Bush administration is confident of bipartisan support to pay the balance in a second phase, Rice said.
Georgia's economy sustained $1 billion in damage as a result of Russia's military incursion, Prime Minister Lado Gurgenidze said Aug. 27. The former Soviet republic has taken steps to shore up the economy, selling $187.2 million, or 12.8 percent of its foreign reserves, last month to prop up the lari and cutting its benchmark interest rate.
A U.S. government team met last week with Georgia's leaders to size up their requirements. The U.S. assistance package focuses entirely on humanitarian aid and economic support, excluding help to rebuild Georgia's military.
``It is not yet time to look at the questions of assistance on the military side,'' Rice said. ``Right now, we're responding to what we consider to be urgent needs.''
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Russia reviews trade deals after conflict
By Alan Beattie in London and Luke Peterson in New York
Published: September 3 2008 22:31 | Last updated: September 3 2008 22:31
The collateral damage from Russia’s dispute with Georgia over the breakaway republics of South Ossetia and Abkhazia has spread to encompass its trading relations with the rest of the world.
In the past week Moscow has announced it will suspend agreements to import pork and chicken, banned 19 US companies from exporting poultry to Russia and blocked Turkish trucks at customs posts.
This week it announced it would review its trade agreement with Ukraine, which allows free passage of most goods into Russia. Moscow said that Ukraine, having joined the World Trade Organisation this year, could become a transhipment point for cheap exports from other WTO member countries to enter Russia. The announcement underlines the potential for international trade to become embroiled in politics.
Analysts said warnings by the US and others that Russia’s actions had endangered its own application to join the WTO had encouraged a show of defiance from Moscow. Joe Guinan, a trade analyst at German Marshall Fund think-tank in Brussels, said: “It is unfortunate the US approach over Russia’s WTO membership has provoked this reaction. Tit-for-tat trade wars don’t help anyone.”
Given the global supply shortages of food and oil, two of its biggest exports, Russia’s trading partners have limited scope to punish it with trade sanctions. Indeed, one of the EU’s conditions for Russia to join the WTO was an agreement not to block its own sales of raw materials abroad. Mr Guinan said high commodity and energy prices had strengthened Russia’s hand. “Objective circumstances in the global economy have maximised their leverage,” he said.
Russia’s dispute with Georgia could also hamper the resolution of disputes involving companies that have been active in both countries, which arose after the Mikheil Saakashvili government came to power.
Georgia is locked in a dispute with Itera, a big player in the Russian natural gas market, which supplied gas to Georgia from 1996 until 2002. In the months before the 2003 rose revolution in Georgia, Itera says that it struck a gas delivery deal with Georgia’s ministry of energy for $46.4m. Itera claims payments are overdue. However, the Saakashvili administration disputes the agreement’s validity, leading Itera to sue in a Moscow arbitration court.
In legal papers filed in Florida, where Itera has its headquarters, Georgia expressed suspicion of the timing of the agreements. It speculated that Itera and its allies feared a loss of “influence in Georgian government circles” following any regime change. The ministry also alleged that the contested agreements “bear certain indicia of fraud”.
As yet, the Moscow arbitration court has not given a ruling. The proceeding was suspended in 2006 when a Russian travel embargo prevented Georgian officials from representing themselves in Moscow. The current hostilities could complicate Georgia’s defence.
Itera has also filed an arbitration claim at the World Bank’s International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes accusing Georgia of breaching investment protection treaties with the US and the Netherlands.
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Unease as Ukraine coalition collapses
By Roman Olearchyk in Kiev and Stefan Wagstyl in London
Published: September 3 2008 20:01 | Last updated: September 3 2008 20:22
Western efforts to shore up support for Ukraine, amid growing tensions with Russia, suffered a serious setback on Wednesday with the collapse of Ukraine’s pro-west coalition government.
President Viktor Yushchenko threatened to dissolve parliament and call snap elections unless a new coalition can be formed, blaming the crisis on the supporters of Yulia Tymoshenko, his firebrand prime minister.
The upheaval hit financial markets, where Ukrainian equities fell by nearly 4 per cent and the credit default swap rate – the cost of insuring debt – widened to a record 463 basis points.
The crisis comes just before Dick Cheney, the US vice-president, is expected in Kiev with a message of support for Ukraine and days before Mr Yushchenko is to travel to France for a European Union-Ukraine summit. Kiev wants to join the EU and Nato.
Mr Yushchenko and Ms Tymoshenko joined forces in the 2004 Orange revolution. Both support western policies, but they have engaged in a power struggle that has handicapped the government. Although the coalition has not yet been formally scrapped, ministers backing Mr Yushchenko on Wednesday walked out of a cabinet meeting and their Our Ukraine party threatened to quit the coalition.
The president accused Ms Tymoshenko’s followers of plotting an “anti-constitutional coup” by voting with the opposition communists and the Moscow-leaning Regions party for legislation to cut the president’s authority.
Ms Tymoshenko blamed the crisis on Mr Yushchenko’s “fight” for next year’s presidential election, in which both are expected to run against Viktor Yanukovich, head of the Regions party.
A new coalition must be formed within 40 days to avoid elections, and could include parties that lean towards Moscow.
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Jersey case puts focus on haven cash
By Michael Peel and Megan Murphy
Published: September 3 2008 22:33 | Last updated: September 3 2008 22:33
Wealthy business people could exploit Jersey and other tax havens in an attempt to shield themselves from big money divorce payouts, after a crucial Channel Islands court ruling.
Divorce lawyers said the case – part of a long-running international pursuit of an Indian jewellery magnate by his ex-wife – could make it harder for estranged spouses to gain access to the often huge wealth held offshore.
The ruling is a striking rebuff by a tax haven to a series of English court divorce orders that have required offshore trustees to pay ex-spouses millions of pounds.
Mark Harper, partner at Withers, the city law firm, said the case could lead business people such as hedge fund managers to put their money in tax havens, in an attempt to ring-fence it from divorce settlements. Mr Harper said: “The Jersey court is saying stop meddling in its affairs. The judgment will be influential in other offshore jurisdictions.”
The Jersey case – known as Mubarak v Mubarak – highlights the tensions arising when ex-spouses try to use divorce orders made in England to seek money held by their former partners in tax havens such as the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man and Britain’s Caribbean overseas territories.
In a ruling made last month but not widely publicised until now, Jersey’s Royal Court said assets held in offshore trusts could be released to ex-spouses only if the trustees had the power to do so.
Grant Howell, partner at Charles Russell, the law firm, said the ruling was a sign of offshore centre becoming “increasingly sensitive to what they see as English courts riding roughshod”, after a number of orders from the High Court in London for rich business people to give their wives a share of offshore assets.
The judgment “put an obstacle in the way” of ex-spouses hunting for their former partners’ tax haven riches, he said, although he added that the fast evolution of the law meant super-wealthy divorcees would be unwise to “break open the champagne quite yet”.
The Jersey ruling comes after several judgments in favour of former wives of wealthy business people have led London to be dubbed the “divorce capital of Europe” for ex-spouses seeking to maximise their payouts.
In the biggest contested divorce payout, the Court of Appeal last year upheld a £48m award to the ex-wife of the insurance magnate John Charman. Mr Charman has since been fighting attempts to make him draw money for the settlement from a £68m trust in the British overseas territory of Bermuda.
English High Court judges had warned before the Jersey case that ex-spouses seeking payouts should not automatically assume they would have access to former partners’ assets held in offshore centres governed by independent legal systems.
Lawyers said wealthy business people might be able to safeguard money by putting it in tax havens, although they would still be legally vulnerable if they made obvious attempts to salt away assets offshore shortly before their marriages broke up.
The Jersey ruling adds to the turmoil in English family law, amid big changes in courts’ views on how wealth from a marriage should be divided. A landmark House of Lords ruling last year, known as Miller-McFarlane, said the fruits of a marriage should be shared equally on divorce unless there was good reason for this not to happen.
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London pioneers local crime map website
By Jimmy Burns
Published: September 4 2008 03:35 | Last updated: September 4 2008 03:35
London on Wednesday became the first big British city to provide the public with access to data on local crime, in an initiative launched by Boris Johnson, the mayor, and police chiefs.
The US-influenced crime-mapping website provides a set of interactive coloured maps, showing numbers and rates of certain categories of crime – burglary, robbery and vehicle offences – from borough to sub-ward level.
Mr Johnson described the initiative as a “major step forward” in enabling Londoners to judge better the performance of their police in tackling crime in their neighbourhoods.
“Crime-mapping puts information into the hands of every London citizen about the levels of crime as well as contact details of their local police force,” Mr Johnson said.
The map categorises boroughs and sub-wards on a sliding scale from high to low crime, providing monthly totals of burglary, robbery and vehicle crimes reported to the police, and crime rates per 1,000 people.
According to the information published on Wednesday, Westminster is shown as having a high rate of crime, with Waltham Forest, Newham and Southwark having “above average” crime rates. The boroughs of Harrow and Richmond-upon-Thames show the lowest rates.
Politicians and police chiefs have welcomed publishing more data on local crime as a way to improve co-operation between police and communities, and to help to target crime-fighting resources better.
But concerns about data protection and possible infringement of human rights have given rise to caution over the amount of information being made available, with Wednesday’s crime maps falling well short of the street-level detail available in the US.
The Information Commissioner’s Office, which acts as a privacy watchdog, has warned police, ministers and local government, that reporting crime on a “point data mapping” basis – showing the specific location of an offence – is likely to present data protection concerns, especially where publication of any information could be readily used to identify individual victims.
The ICO said on Wednesday that the police and the Greater London authority had taken its comments “on board” and had developed an approach that it believed built in suitable data protection safeguards.
In developing their plans, policymakers and police have been urged by the ICO to weigh up the intended benefits against the potential intrusion and to continue to consult before publishing more detailed maps.
Meanwhile, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors renewed its warning that local crime maps risked fuelling a further fall in house prices in areas where crime was identified as high.
The maps, however, have been shown to be popular in surveys of public attitudes towards law enforcement and there is a broad political consensus in support of them.
The crime map website is http://maps.met.police.uk/
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BP poised to settle TNK dispute
By Carola Hoyos in London
Published: September 4 2008 02:21 | Last updated: September 4 2008 02:21
BP is on Thursday expected to sign an agreement aimed at preserving its 50 per cent stake in TNK-BP - Russia’s third-largest oil company - after a power struggle with its local partners that focused attention on the rights of foreign investors in Russia.
The memorandum of understanding, agreed this week by BP’s board, follows a long-running dispute over BP’s most important international venture. It supplies 25 per cent of the company’s oil and gas production.
The outline agreement, steered by Tony Hayward, BP’s chief executive, and chairman Peter Sutherland, was reached after fears that BP’s interest in TNK-BP could be at risk because of its fight with its Russian oligarch partners. BP’s control of TNK-BP had also come under pressure from multiple investigations by the Russian authorities into its labour practices.
Under the deal, the 50-50 equity split of the partnership would remain unchanged. But Robert Dudley, its BP-appointed chief executive who fled Russia in July citing a campaign of harassment against him, would lose his job by the end of the year – a move for which the Russian partners have aggressively campaigned.
The accord, details of which have still fully to be thrashed out, provides an option for an initial public offering, equally shared by each partner, of up to 20 per cent of a subsidiary of TNK-BP. This would meet a key demand of the Russian shareholders, who have pushed for a means to sell at least part of their stake in the joint venture for a full market value.
The new chief executive, envisioned to start by early next year, will be nominated by BP and approved by the board of TNK-BP, whose structure will change to end the current gridlock caused by having two sets of five members from each side. The new board will have 11 members, four from each side and three independents. The 14-person management committee will be more than halved.
The deal is critical to BP which has seen its shares suffer from the dispute “This is a much better outcome for BP than people had expected,” said a senior oil industry executive.
Share rose on expectations of an agreement, climbing 2.8 per cent, or 14.3p, to 520.3p in early trading on Thursday.
He said the industry had expected BP’s share in TNK-BP to shrink to about 25 per cent without full compensation. “It gives both partners fair treatment, but the IPO details need to be fully disclosed before the deal can be properly analysed.”
Another senior industry figure cautioned that a key test would be how independent the three new directors proved to be.
BP confirmed the discussions were in progress but declined to comment further.
The Russian shareholders – oligarchs Mikhail Fridman, German Khan, Viktor Vekselberg and Len Blavatnik – hold their stake through the Alfa-Access-Renova group. A spokesman for the group said it had no comment to make on any possible agreement.
They have denied any connection to the official inquiries and investigations targeting TNK-BP.
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Sterling takes a royal pounding
Published: September 3 2008 19:39 | Last updated: September 3 2008 19:39
Gordon Brown, UK prime minister, holidayed in the UK. Who can blame him? Going abroad has become expensive for British people. The decline in sterling, which began last year, is now turning into something of a rout.
The UK is exposed in three ways to the aftermath of the credit squeeze. It has heavily overvalued housing, the most indebted consumers in the world and an economy that is peculiarly reliant on financial services. High borrowing costs, a painful housing market correction and losses in the financial sector mean most of the UK’s assets have been dramatically revalued down. Sterling has suffered.
Against the euro, it has lost a sixth of its value since last summer. Against the US dollar, it has lost 13 per cent of its value. This week has been especially brutal. After nine successive days of falls, the pound is now trading at levels closer to those it plumbed in the aftermath of Black Wednesday than to the highs of last summer. A downbeat medium-term assessment from Alistair Darling, chancellor of the exchequer, some dire economic predictions and weak domestic data led to a 2.5 per cent fall against the dollar since Friday afternoon alone.
This will cause a great deal of fretting. The pound, however, was overvalued last year. A shift was inevitable. Moving away from growth based primarily on consumer and business spending at home to an equilibrium that encourages more exports is a necessary correction.
Investors who worry about this new weakness should appreciate that, on a real trade-weighted basis, the pound is now at its historic average. In the long run, as the North Sea fields wind down and the UK imports more oil and gas, sterling is likely to fall further.
The government response should be to sit on its hands. A feeble package to reflate the housing market, announced this week, gave the impression that something needs to be done while delivering little. If it has had any effect, it will have reduced confidence in the pound. The government should put further questionable schemes, such as Treasury-backed mortgages, out of its mind. The big danger is that a weak government will resort to more of the panic measures that have done such damage to confidence in the UK over the past 12 months.
The authority that ought to worry about the weaker pound is the Bank of England, which meets on Thursday to decide on interest rates. The monetary policy committee must now contend with rising import costs. All else being equal, the weakness of sterling means the Bank will need tighter monetary policy than would otherwise be necessary to bring inflation back down to the target of 2 per cent from its August level of 4.4 per cent.
The slide of sterling is necessary. It may prove to be painful. It is not, however, a cause for panic.
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China unveils plans for huge steel plant: report
AFP
AFP - 27 minutes ago
BEIJING (AFP) - China has unveiled plans to build one of its largest steel plants at a cost of 30 billion dollars, state media reported Thursday.
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The plant is to be located in Fangchenggang, a port city in Guangxi region in China's south, the Economic Information Daily said.
It will require a total investment of 204.9 billion yuan (30 billion dollars), the report said.
"The setup of the steel-making port base in Guangxi is expected to improve the efficiency of iron ore imports," Su Aik Lim, an analyst with Fitch Ratings in Beijing, told AFP.
It can reduce the transportation costs for steel products sold in China's central and western markets, given that the country's large steel makers now cluster in the north and east, he said.
The facility is the result of a joint venture between Wuhan Iron and Steel Group and the Guangxi regional administration's agency for the management of state assets, according to the paper.
The plant is expected to have an initial annual capacity of 10 million tonnes, but that will eventually rise to 30 million tonnes a year, it said.
The Xinhua news agency said the first production line would become fully operational in 50 months, adding the plant was part of a major investment drive launched in 1999.
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SKorea launches project to become Asian oil storage hub
AFP
AFP - 2 hours 54 minutes ago
SEOUL (AFP) - South Korea on Thursday launched an ambitious project to become Northeast Asia's oil storage hub, which officials said will create new business opportunities and ensure energy security.
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A joint venture contract was signed by state-run Korea National Oil Corp. (KNOC), local refiner SK Energy, GS-Caltex, Oiltanking Asia Pacific and Glencore Singapore, officials said.
KNOC agreed to hold a 29 percent stake in the joint venture, which will invest 320 million dollars to increase storage at the southern port of Yeosu to six million barrels by 2011.
South Korea, the world's fifth largest crude importer, also plans to build new storage facilities at Ulsan on the southeast coast.
Details of work there have not been announced but the aim is for Yeosu and Ulsan to hold a combined 28 million barrels.
South Korea imports all its crude needs and officials say the creation of a hub storage facility would help secure oil security.
"This is the first pilot project which has been launched as part of the government's drive to establish a Northeast Asia oil hub," the Ministry of Knowledge Economy said in a statement.
"This will help our country find a new growth engine in the sector ... and secure stable (oil) supply at home."
South Korea sits astride the main North Pacific shipping route, with Yeosu and Ulsan possessing deep water ports and proximity to Chinese and Japanese industrial centres.
South Korea, Japan, China and Taiwan account for 19 percent of world crude consumption.
Officials say there are no immediate plans to increase the country's current refining capacity of up to 2.85 million barrels of crude a day, which is surplus to domestic needs.
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MUFG rejects report to invest in Lehman
Reuters
By Taro Fuse and Sachi Izumi Reuters - Thursday, September 4 06:11 am
TOKYO (Reuters) - Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group said it has no plans to invest in U.S. investment bank Lehman Brothers rejecting a media report that it may bid for a stake.
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The Times of London said Japan's largest bank was ready to bid for a "substantial stake" in the subprime-hit Wall Street firm, and may "seek control" of Lehman, sending shares of the U.S. bank higher in after-hours trade.
The Times, citing "senior sources" close to Mitsubishi UFJ, said the bid could come after Lehman's quarterly earnings results next week.
However a spokesman for Mitsubishi UFJ, who declined to be identified, told Reuters the report was not true.
Separately, an executive at the Japanese bank said it had "absolutely no plans" to invest in Lehman. The executive spoke on condition of anonymity.
Lehman Brothers declined to comment on the report.
Shares of the Wall Street firm rose 1.6 percent in extended trade. They had risen 5 percent in regular trade on a separate report that HSBC Holdings is among potential buyers for the bank.
Shares of Mitsubishi UFJ finished the morning down 1.2 percent at 807 yen, slightly outperforming Tokyo's bank index, which fell 1.5 percent.
One Tokyo analyst said a bid by Mitsubishi UFJ would be a large gamble, given the fallout from the U.S. subprime crisis.
"It would be a huge risk to make a large investment when the future of the U.S. financial industry is uncertain and it's not clear if there will be an end to the chaos in the near future," said Katsuhito Sasajima, Japan bank analyst at JP Morgan.
"Conditions in Japan are not good either, and I simply doubt that they are seriously considering a large investment," he said.
While Japanese banks have largely avoided the massive subprime losses that tore through Wall Street, they are saddled with a slowing domestic economy and a grim outlook for lending at home.
The Times report is the latest about potential suitors for Lehman, which is under pressure to raise capital before announcing its quarterly results.
State-controlled Korea Development Bank has said it is in talks with Lehman about a possible joint investment with other Korean banks, but was unsure whether there would be a deal.
HSBC, also reported to be interested in Lehman, is unlikely to make a move, people familiar with the matter have told Reuters.
Mitsubishi UFJ last month bid $3.5 billion (1.9 billion pounds) to take full ownership of U.S. regional bank UnionBanCal.
Mitsubishi UFJ executives had said prior to the UnionBanCal bid that the bank would be interested in an investment as part of a strategic alliance with a Western firm.
The bank is also likely to spend more than $910 million to raise its stake in consumer lender Acom Co sources told Reuters last week.
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Brazil declines Iranian offer to join OPEC: minister
AFP
AFP - Wednesday, September 3 11:36 pm
BRASILIA (AFP) - Iran has formally invited Brazil to join OPEC, but the South American nation -- which recently discovered vast new offshore oil fields -- turned down the offer, Energy Minister Edson Lobao said Wednesday.
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"I received the ambassador of Iran, and he invited Brazil to become part of OPEC. It wasn't a suggestion but a formal invitation," he told a media conference.
But Lobao said he told ambassador Moshen Shaterzadeh in the meeting two weeks ago that Brazil "does not envisage that possibility" right now.
Brazil in November 2007 announced it had discovered a new oil field 250 kilometers (155 miles) off its coast that could contain up to eight billion barrels of oil.
Early this year, it said other nearby fields could contain another 40 billion barrels of light crude.
If confirmed by tests underway, those finds would multiply the country's proven national oil reserves, which currently stand at 14 billion barrels, and propel Brazil to the same level as OPEC members Nigeria or even Venezuela.
However the technical challenges in getting to the oil, which lies seven kilometers underwater and under a problematic salt layer, mean production is years away, in 2012 at the earliest.
The cartel of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is made up of 13 countries, including Saudi Arabia and Iran, which have the biggest reserves in the world.
Lobao said he had not spoken of Iran's offer to other Brazilian ministers and stressed that "there is no discussion underway" on the subject of joining OPEC in the government.
He said that last May, at Saudi Arabia's invitation, he attended an emergency OPEC meeting at which he outlined the perspectives for Brazil's oil industry.
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Romanian farmers demand 50-percent cut in fuel prices
AFP
AFP - Wednesday, September 3 06:51 pm
BUCHAREST (AFP) - About a thousand farmers protested Wednesday across Romania, driving into the capital with their tractors and lorries to demand a drastic cut in fuel prices, unions said.
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"We want a 50-percent cut in oil prices for farmers," the president of the federation of farmers' unions Agrostar, Nicolae Stefan, told AFP.
"Now that the harvest season has started, we have no resources left," he said.
"If the problem hasn't been solved by next month, we will protest again and blockade roads," Stefan added, noting that farmers currently paid the pump price of 4 lei (1.13 euros, 1.63 dollars) per liter of fuel.
The government introduced a cut in July, "but since the amount of money meant to sustain the cut was limited, only 20 percent of farmers benefited from it," he said.
In Bucharest, a column of about 30 tractors and lorries paraded Wednesday in front of parliament, government buildings and the agriculture ministry, where the farmers handed in their demands.
In the central Romanian town of Sfantu Gheorghe, hundreds of farmers gathered in the city centre, carrying a coffin filled with potatoes, wheat and milk, to mark the death of agriculture.
Similar protests also took place in other major cities around the country, including Timisoara in the west, Cluj in the northwest, Baia Mare in the north and Targoviste in the south.
The agriculture and economy ministers met Monday to consider a possible cut in fuel prices, in line with European regulations.
"We presented our proposals and we're hoping we will receive an answer from the (economy) ministry soon to begin work on this project," Agriculture Minister Dacia Ciolos said.
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Hong Kong considers ban on fishing trawlers: report
58 minutes ago
HONG KONG (AFP) - Hong Kong is considering banning fishing trawlers in its waters to save fish stocks, a report said Thursday. The drastic proposal comes as annual catches were estimated to be 30 percent above sustainable levels, the South China Morning Post said, citing a consultation paper from the Food and Health bureau.
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"Most Hong Kong waters are fish spawning and nursery grounds," said the consultation document, which will be released by the bureau's committee on sustainable fisheries next week.
"The indiscriminate trawling activity will lead to catches of infant fish that lack... economic value and seriously disrupt reproduction capacity."
Under the proposals, the government could buy out some of the 550 fishing trawlers operating in Hong Kong waters.
Environmental groups have long said that of all methods used, trawling has the most damaging effect on the seabed and fish stocks.
The document said annual production of fish in local waters has reached 26,700 tonnes, 30 percent above the maximum sustainable yield set by a recent study on sustainable fishing, the Post said.
The proposal is likely to draw opposition from the beleaguered fishing industry, which provides 12,000 jobs in Hong Kong.
Fishermen have been plagued by a string of problems including marine pollution from China, soaring oil prices, ageing operators, and mounting calls to protect international fish stocks.
Financial help and retraining could be offered to the affected fishermen, with the hope that they could turn to the leisure fishing business or fish farming, the report said.
Other suggestions in the paper included limiting new entrants and capping the number of fishing vessels, the English-language newspaper reported.
A spokesman for the department said the report was not yet available to the public.
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Islamic Bond Decree Cripples Sukuk, Imperils Projects (Update2)
By Haris Anwar
Sept. 3 (Bloomberg) -- The fastest-growing part of the global bond market is faltering, and it has nothing to do with subprime mortgages or the credit crunch.
Sales of Shariah-compliant debt, which financed Dubai's Palm development, the world's largest man-made island and where David Beckham and Donald Trump have homes, fell 50 percent in 2008 and prices dropped an average 1.51 percent, according to HSBC Holdings Plc index data.
The so-called sukuk market, which has doubled each year since 2004 and grown to $90 billion, is declining after a Bahrain-based group of Islamic scholars decreed in February that most bonds ran afoul of religious rules. Only one that complies with the edict has been issued, pushing up borrowing costs on projects including $200 billion of real-estate developments in the United Arab Emirates capital.
``In times of distress, the first thing investors sell are the credits they don't fully understand,'' said James Milligan, Dubai-based head of Middle East fixed-income trading at HSBC, the biggest underwriter of sukuk bonds in the Gulf last year. ``This has hit spreads hard in the region,'' he said, referring to the relative level of the Islamic bonds' yields.
The bonds satisfy Islam's ban on interest by allowing investors to profit from the exchange of assets, rather than money. Sales of the debt fell to $11 billion from January to August, from $21 billion in the same period of 2007, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. They peaked at $38.6 billion last year, growing from virtually nothing six years earlier, the International Monetary Fund said. The decline in prices is worse than the 1.25 percent drop in U.S. corporate bonds, HSBC data show.
No Guns
Banks sell sukuk by using assets to generate income equivalent to interest they would pay on conventional debt. The money can't be used to finance gambling, guns or alcohol.
The Accounting & Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions ruled in February that bonds don't meet religious requirements if they haven't transferred ownership of collateral to holders. About 85 percent of sukuk failed this test, the board said.
Under the new rules, a sukuk issuer passes ownership of an underlying asset, such as a building, to the investor for the bond's duration. Should the price of the asset rise or fall, the change will be reflected in the bond's value. Buyers can't be guaranteed the security's full face value on maturity. Before the new rules, investors weren't the legal owners of the underlying assets and were effectively lenders to the issuer.
Waning Demand
As demand for Islamic-compliant bonds waned, yields rose to 2.94 percentage points more than the London interbank offered rate, or Libor, near a record and compared with 2.43 percentage points for an equivalent non-Islamic bond, Bloomberg data show. The spread was 1.08 percentage point a year ago and about double that in February.
``I wouldn't add anything to'' our ruling, said Sheikh Muhammad Taqi Usmani, chairman of the accounting board and a retired justice of the Pakistan Supreme Court. ``We're just pronouncing what's compliant to Shariah and what's not,'' said Usmani, who advises HSBC, Dow Jones & Co. Inc., the Central Bank of Bahrain and the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector.
The ruling was intended to introduce ``unified rules'' to the market, said Mohamad Alchaar, secretary general of the board, whose rulings are binding in six Arab countries.
Sorouh Real Estate Co., Abu Dhabi's third-biggest property company, sold 4 billion U.A.E. dirham ($1.1 billion) of bonds on Aug. 13, the first sukuk that's ``fully compliant'' with the Shariah Board's ruling, according to Robin Ward, a director of structured finance at arranger Citigroup Inc.
Shariah Scholars
Citigroup's panel of Shariah scholars in London is led by Sheikh Nizam Yaquby, former chairman of the Bahrain-based accounting board. Yaquby, who advises about 40 financial institutions on Islamic financing rules, declined to comment when contacted by Bloomberg News.
``This is a true Islamic sale,'' said Ward. ``You need a tangible asset, and in this case, we had a freehold of land. There's no recourse back to the originator, which is the way previous sukuk have been done.''
The clincher for getting the board's approval, said Ward, was transferring ownership of the underlying asset when the bonds were sold. The bulk of the debt paid interest of 200 basis points more than the one-month Emirates interbank offered rate, according to Citigroup.
``In essence, the previous sukuk structure was replicating a western bond where you get your money back and that's it,'' said Majid Dawood, chief executive officer of Yasaar Ltd., a Dubai- based consultancy that advises Paris-based Societe Generale SA, Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc in Edinburgh and Dublin-based Bank of Ireland Plc.
10 Percent Drop
More than half a trillion dollars in worldwide credit writedowns and losses squeezed lending in the Mideast as the Dubai Financial Market Real Estate Index of property-related stocks dropped 19 percent since January. Morgan Stanley analysts predict a 10 percent decline in property prices by 2010. About 34 percent of Gulf-region sukuk since 2006 were issued by real-estate companies, according to Barclays Capital.
``The sukuk market has been very tough this year,'' said Kuala Lumpur-based Nor Hanifah Hashim, who manages about $1 billion in an Islamic fund at CIMB, the world's largest underwriter of the debt. ``People are adjusting to the new rules and you need to have very good quality of assets to attract investors.''
Most issuers are still able to sell non-Islamic debt. Mideast companies raised $50 billion this year in loans, compared with $73 billion during the same period of 2007, Bloomberg data show.
`Layer of Uncertainty'
``If you look at the big capital raisings, most have been done through the bank market,'' said Philipp Lotter, a senior credit officer at Moody's Investors Service in Dubai. The Islamic board ruling ``added an additional layer of uncertainty. Certain investors will not invest in sukuk,'' he said.
Investment Corp. of Dubai, a state-owned holding company, said last week it was raising $5.6 billion in a dual-currency loan, while Abu Dhabi National Energy Co., the state-controlled energy company known as Taqa, borrowed $3.15 billion for three years last month to refinance debt.
``Investors are trying to get used to the new structure and studying new requirements,'' said Gaurav Agarwal, chief financial officer of Tamweel PJSC, the United Arab Emirates' biggest mortgage provider, which plans $500 million in asset-backed loans by year-end. ``Borrowers are raising money through bilateral loans until the sukuk market becomes hot again.''
Tamweel's last pre-ruling sukuk was one-third backed by completed property and two-thirds backed by projects under construction. Those proportions would have to be reversed now, said Agarwal.
``The sukuk market is clouded by considerable uncertainty and nervousness,'' said Chavan Bhogaita, head of credit research at HSBC's Middle-East unit. ``Spreads have been widening, sukuk have been underperforming conventional bonds and investors have been shying away.''
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日本、国際会計基準を導入へ 11年度以降に
日本経団連、日本公認会計士協会、金融庁などは企業会計の国際化に対応するため、2011年度以降に「国際会計基準」を導入する検討に入った。国際基準は欧州を中心に世界100カ国以上で使われ、米国も採用する方針を表明。独自の会計基準を採用している日本は世界的に孤立する恐れがあり、将来は欧州などで企業の資金調達が困難になるとの見方もあった。国際基準の導入で、企業はグローバルな事業展開をしやすくなりそうだ。
世界の会計基準は主に欧州中心の国際基準、米国基準、日本基準の三つがある。国際基準は資産の時価評価を徹底していることなどが大きな特徴だ。米証券取引委員会（ＳＥＣ）は8月、米国の上場企業に国際基準の採用を認める方針を表明。国際基準が世界共通の会計ルールになる流れが鮮明になっていた。
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政管健保保険料率「0.1―0.3％上げ必要」 09年度、厚労省
厚生労働省は3日、中小企業の会社員らが加入する政府管掌健康保険の2009年度の保険料率について、現行の8.2％を0.1―0.3％引き上げ、最大で8.5％にする必要があるとの試算を明らかにした。保険料率は03年度から据え置かれているが、高齢者医療への拠出金や医療給付費の増加が影響した。
医療費や高齢者医療の拠出金が膨らむため、国庫補助や積立金に当たる「事業運営安定資金」をすべて取り崩しても、保険料収入が不足する見通し。これを賄うためには積立金の取り崩し方に応じて、保険料率を0.1―0.3％引き上げる必要があると判断した。
ただ政管健保は10月に社会保険庁から事業を切り離し、公法人「全国健康保険協会」が運営を引き継ぐ。これまで全国一律だった保険料率は都道府県ごとに決定する仕組みに変わるため、今回の試算値は全国平均の見通しとなる。
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個人の株取引さらに細る ネット証券８月売買代金
個人投資家の株式取引が一段と細ってきた。3日出そろったインターネット証券大手5社の8月の株式売買代金は、8兆8400億円となり、月間ベースでは 3年3カ月ぶり低水準となった。市場全体が買い材料に乏しいところに、建設や不動産業を中心に企業倒産が急増し、投資家心理を冷やした。
米金融不安をきっかけに価格変動リスクの伴う金融商品への投資を控える傾向が強まっており、個人金融資産の「貯蓄から投資へ」の動きはさらに停滞してきている。
5社はＳＢＩ証券、楽天証券、松井証券、マネックス証券、カブドットコム証券。8月の売買代金は、2005年5月の7兆7900億円以来の低水準。売買代金の減少は3カ月連続となる。
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ジャスダック、都内のオフィス集約 来期黒字化へ収益改善策
ジャスダック証券取引所は3日、2010年3月期の黒字転換に向けた収益改善策を固めた。都内に5カ所あるオフィスを2カ所に集約するなどして、システム費用を除いた経費を15％削減。大阪証券取引所傘下の新興市場ヘラクレスとの統合前に、組織のスリム化を完了する。
新興市場の売買や新規株式公開（ＩＰＯ）が低迷している影響で、ジャスダックの09年3月期決算は2期連続の営業赤字となる。来期のＩＰＯ企業数は今期より大幅に増える見通しだが、投資家の新興市場離れが長期化する可能性もあるため、損益分岐点を下げ、着実に利益を出せる体制とする。
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深海漁業、生態系侵せば漁休止 ＦＡＯが初の国際指針
【パリ＝野見山祐史】国連食糧農業機関（ＦＡＯ、本部ローマ）は3日、公海上での深海漁業を規制する初めての国際指針を採択したと発表した。環境保護の観点から、深海の生態系に悪影響を及ぼす漁の休止などを明記した。ズワイガニやキンメダイ、タラ、アンコウなどなじみの深い魚介類が対象となるため、日本の漁業にも影響を与えそうだ。
指針は深海漁業をすべて厳格に管理すべきだと強調。漁に際しての環境影響評価の実施と情報収集、特定魚種の減少に応じた漁のやり方の変更や漁の休止などを盛り込んだ。
ＦＡＯによると公海上の深海漁業は資源調査などが不十分なまま、大規模な底引き網漁などで資源が急速に減っているケースが多いという。
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ＮＨＫ国際放送、増資割当先を発表 米マイクロソフトなどに
ＮＨＫが2009年2月に始めるテレビの国際放送事業を担当する日本国際放送（東京）は4日、10月に第三者割当増資を実施し、米マイクロソフトやＮＴＴコミュニケーションズ、伊藤忠商事などに割り当てると正式に発表した。ＮＨＫエンタープライズなどＮＨＫ子会社2社を含め、合計15社に割り当てる。この結果、出資比率はＮＨＫグループが61％、その他の外部企業13社が合計で39％となる。
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住友商事、仏ブランド「ランセル」独占販売へ新会社
住友商事は4日、フランスの高級ブランド「ランセル」の独占輸入販売を始めると発表した。仏ランセル社の親会社で、「カルティエ」などのブランドを持つリシュモン（スイス）の日本法人と合弁会社を設立し、10月1日から営業を開始する。5年間で大都市圏の百貨店などに40―45店を新規に出店する計画だ。5年後には年100億円以上の売り上げを目指す。
新会社は「ランセルジャパン」で、9月中旬に都内に設立する予定。資本金は3億5000万円で、住友商事が70％、リシュモンジャパンが30％を出資する。
ランセルはハンドバッグを中心とした高級革製品が主力。ハンドバッグの中心価格帯は10万―15万円で、30―40代の女性に人気があるという。これまでランセルの輸入販売は、ハンドバッグなどを製造・販売する西川（東京・台東）が手掛けてきた。
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菓子大手、チョコ実質値上げ グリコやロッテ
菓子大手がチョコレート菓子を実質値上げする。江崎グリコは9月末にかけて「ポッキー」など約20品目の内容量を減らして価格を据え置く。ロッテも8月末に板チョコを実質値上げした。原料となる乳製品や小麦などの価格高騰に対応する。菓子需要期にあたる秋冬商戦で大手2社が値上げすることで、他社に波及する可能性がある。
ポッキーの値上げはほぼ1年ぶり。定番の「ポッキーチョコレート」（オープン価格で実勢150円前後）は、本数を減らして全体の重量を9グラム少ない 63グラムにする。一本当たりのチョコの量は増やすとしている。「メンズポッキー」や「ポッキー極細」は風味改良とともに数ミリ短くして1割余り減量する。
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低公害型ディーゼル乗用車、日本市場に続々投入 自動車各社
自動車各社が相次いで低公害型ディーゼル乗用車を日本市場に投入する。日産自動車が18日、日米欧の新しい環境基準に適応したディーゼル車を世界で初めて発売。2009年以降は欧州勢の新型車投入も本格化する。ガソリン高で燃費効率の良いディーゼル車への注目度が増しており、有力な環境対応車として各社の開発競争が激しくなりそうだ。
日産自は新型ディーゼルエンジンを搭載する多目的スポーツ車（ＳＵＶ）「エクストレイル」を発売する。新開発の触媒装置を備え、窒素酸化物（ＮＯx）など有害物質の排出を大幅に抑制。09年度に日本で施行予定の排ガス規制「ポスト新長期」のほか、欧米で導入される新しい規制にも対応した。
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米ボーイング、三菱航空機「ＭＲＪ」事業に協力
米ボーイングは三菱航空機（名古屋市）が進める小型ジェット旅客機「ＭＲＪ」事業に、技術・ノウハウ面で協力する。就航に必要な米航空当局からの認証取得手続きや、設計の一部で支援する方向。航空機生産で豊富な経験を持つボーイングの後ろ盾を得ることで、今後の受注活動や2013年の就航に向け弾みがつきそうだ。
ボーイングは米連邦航空局（ＦＡＡ）からの認証（型式証明）取得について、膨大な提出資料のチェックや、申請手続きなどのノウハウを提供する。ＦＡＡの審査は世界で最も厳しいとされ、半世紀前の国産旅客機「ＹＳ―11」はＦＡＡの型式証明取得がずれ込み、販売・生産が遅れた経緯がある。ボーイングは今後本格化するＭＲＪの機体開発でも、設計評価など一部で技術協力することを検討している。
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音楽ＣＤを店頭で「生産」 ＵＳＥＮなどが新会社
ＵＳＥＮは3日、音楽ＣＤを作製・販売する新会社を設立したと発表した。エイベックス・グループ・ホールディングスやビクターエンタテインメントなどと共同出資で設立。インターネット経由で音楽データを専用機器に配信し、音楽ＣＤを店頭で生産できる仕組みを整える。店舗側は在庫を抱えずに、消費者からの多様な注文に応えられる利点がある。
新会社はミュージックグリッド（東京・港）。資本金は3億円で、ＵＳＥＮが53.5％、残りをエイベックスやビクターエンタなどが出資する。
来年春をメドにサービスを開始する。再販期間の切れた音楽ＣＤを生産・販売できるシステムを店舗などに販売する。扱うタイトルや価格などは今後詰めるが、一般のＣＤ販売より安くなる見通しだ。音楽配信サイトなどを利用しにくい世代を対象に販売を広げる。
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住商、ＵＡＥで発電・造水事業 200億円で権益取得
住友商事はアラブ首長国連邦（ＵＡＥ）で発電・造水事業に参加する。既に稼働している大型プラントの一部権益を、ＵＡＥ政府系投資会社から約200億円で取得する方針。中東産油国は原油高で得た資金でインフラ整備を加速している。住商はバーレーンとサウジアラビアでも造水・発電事業に参加しており、同地域での営業をさらに強化していく。
アブダビの西部沿岸にある「シュワイハット１」の事業権益20％と保守・運営に関する権益50％をアブダビ・ナショナル・エナジーから取得する。
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「北島選手見たい」けど…地元の行事に出席のメド立たず
北京五輪の競泳平泳ぎで2種目連覇を達成した北島康介選手の地元、東京都荒川区が「北島選手のパレードを見たい」という区民の声に苦慮している。
2004年のアテネ五輪で、現地応援団の先頭に立った当時の区長が地元の凱旋報告会直後の同年9月、汚職事件で逮捕されて以来、北島選手が契約しているマネジメント会社が、区主催の行事への北島選手の出席を断っているためだ。
北京五輪で区は大規模な応援を自粛。祝勝関連行事は「祝金メダル」の懸垂幕を庁舎に掛けたぐらいで、区のホームページへの北島選手の写真や記事の掲載も控えた。
区広報課によると、北島選手が100メートル平泳ぎで金メダルを取った8月11日から電話が鳴りっぱなしとなり「応援イベントに参加したい」「地元で顔見せしてほしい」などの要望が相次いだ。
職員が応援行事や凱旋パレードの予定がないことを告げると、納得せず、理由を問いただす人もいたという。
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東証銘柄急騰ベスト５０…ガソリン食料高騰で様変わり
ＩＴ激減
株式市場では低迷が続いているが、そんななかでも株価を伸ばしている銘柄がある。東証１部上場企業のうち、今年４月以降の株価上昇率が大きかった上位５０銘柄は表の通り。一世を風靡した携帯電話やインターネットといったＩＴ関連銘柄が激減し、自動車部品、農業、食料品など、これまであまり目立たなかった銘柄がいい感じで上昇している。
「上昇率ベスト５０銘柄」は、証券系シンクタンクのデータをもとに、３月３１日終値から、８月の実質的な売買最終日（同月中に株と代金の受け渡しが可能な最終取引日）である２６日終値までの上昇率の上位５０銘柄をまとめたもの。
トップだったのは、自動車部品大手のユーシン（東京）。３月３１日に４０１円だった株価は８月２６日に８９０円となり、わずか５カ月弱で約２．２倍に跳ね上がっている。
世界的な景気低迷で国内自動車メーカーの業績も曲がり角を迎えるなか、同社が施錠部品（キーセット）を納入しているマツダやスズキの業績は好調。海外でも「積極的に営業活動しており、欧州メーカーでも採用されている」（社長室）という。
今後は、キーを近づけるだけでドアを開閉し、ハンドルのロックやエンジン始動もボタン１つでできる次世代キーセットを拡販し、売上高、利益の拡大を目指すという。
２位の古河電池（上昇率１１７．４％、本社・横浜市）、３位のＮＥＣトーキン（同１０７．４％、仙台市）、４位のジーエス・ユアサコーポレーション（同１０４．９％、京都市）はいずれもリチウムイオン電池事業が注目された。
株式評論家の植木靖男氏によると、「ガソリン価格の高騰を背景に、電気自動車向けなど代替エネルギー関連として人気となった」という。
上位で目を引くのが７位の井関農機（同７６．５％、東京）。
ＣＭも流している田植え機「さなえ」をはじめ、耕運機、トラクターなどを手掛ける創業８２年の老舗農機メーカーだ。
株価上昇の背景について同社はこう分析する。
「農機メーカー各社は昨年まで国内市場で低迷していたが、世界的な食物価格高騰の影響で食料自給率を向上させようと農政が本腰を入れ始め、農家も農機の購買意欲が戻りつつある。第１四半期（４－６月期）の業績も計画を上回った」（ＩＲ・広報室）
農業や食料品関連銘柄としては、次のような銘柄もランク入りしている。
６位のＪ－オイルミルズ（同８７．９％、東京）、３８位の日清オイリオグループ（同４８．３％、東京）は食用油メーカー、９位の東洋水産（同７３．３％、東京）は「マルちゃん」ブランドで知られる食品メーカーだ。
３７位のわらべや日洋（同４８．５％、東京）はコンビニエンスストア向け食品メーカー、４３位の米久（同４５．５％、静岡）は食肉加工メーカー、４６位のホクト（同４４．４％、長野）はキノコの生産・販売を手掛けている。
農業関連では、１０位に入ったコープケミカル（同７３．２％、東京）が化学肥料メーカー、２１位の日本曹達（同５７．３％、東京）は農薬メーカーで、２９位のヤマタネ（同５３．８％、東京）は食品事業も手掛ける。
こうした銘柄がもてはやされた理由について、植木氏は「食料品の場合、値上げラッシュをみても分かるように、原材料価格が上昇してもスムーズに価格転嫁できている。そのため、価格転嫁できない他の業種よりも魅力的だったのでは」と分析する。
一方、２００７年３月末から０８年３月末の１年間の上昇率ランキングでは、携帯電話向けコンテンツ配信のドワンゴ、価格情報サイトのカカクコム、セキュリティー対策ソフトのトレンドマイクロ、ネット接続業者のソネットエンタテインメント、任天堂、ヤフーといったＩＴ関連銘柄が多く入っていた。ところが、今年４月以降では、２２位のネットメディアを展開するインプレスホールディングス（同５７．１％、東京）が目につく程度だった。
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「私の退陣も公文書に」…有識者会議でも“人ごと”
「２００８年に急に首相が辞めちゃったことが１００年たっても１０００年たっても分かるようにしなければいけない」。福田康夫首相は４日午前、内閣府で開かれた政府の「公文書管理の在り方に関する有識者会議」（座長、尾崎護・元大蔵事務次官）で自らの退陣に引っかけて厳格な公文書管理の必要性を説く軽口で笑いを誘った。
首相は「公文書は民主主義の原点だ。政権は変わるが、重要政策は変わらない」と述べ、公文書管理の統一ルールづくりに向けた活発な議論を要請。「ルールの完成を見ないまま（政権を）離れるが、新しい立場でしっかりやりたい」とも述べた。
首相の肝いりで設置された同有識者会議に自身が出席したのは最初で最後となる見通し。１０月に最終報告を取りまとめる。
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自民総裁選：与謝野、石原氏も出馬へ 小池氏は推薦人確保
福田康夫首相の辞任表明を受けた自民党総裁選（１０日告示、２２日投開票）で、小池百合子元防衛相が４日午前立候補を決めた。出馬に必要な党所属国会議員２０人の推薦人を確保した。一方、与謝野馨経済財政担当相も同日昼、中曽根康弘元首相に出馬の意向を伝え、石原伸晃元政調会長も記者団に出馬の意向を明らかにした。総裁選はすでに立候補を表明した麻生太郎幹事長を含めた４人を軸に争われる公算が大きくなった。
小池氏は４日午前、党総裁選について党本部で記者団に「いろいろな方々から励ましもいただいている。環境が変わりつつあると思っている」と語り、立候補の環境が整ったことを示唆した。小池氏は党内最大派閥の町村派の所属だが派閥単位の推薦は求めず、党内の若手議員を中心に個別に支援を呼びかけてきた。総裁選では、経済政策で小泉政権の構造改革路線を継承する立場を訴え、これに批判的な麻生氏との違いをアピールする考えだ。
一方、与謝野氏も同日昼、中曽根氏と東京都内の事務所で会い、「日本の現状、自民党の情勢を見て、今の総裁選の状況ではちょっとさみしい。しっかりとした選挙戦にしたい」と述べたうえで「総裁選に立候補したい。推薦人の２０人は集めた」と伝えた。また、与謝野氏は青木幹雄前参院議員会長に総裁選への協力を求め、了承を取りつけた。
石原氏は同日午前、東京都内で街頭演説後、記者団に「麻生さんの考えが自民党の考えではない。私は麻生さんとは逆のウイングだ」と語った。推薦人に関しては「５人くらい越えなければいけない壁がある」と話し、すでに１５人程度を固めていることを明らかにした。このほか、谷垣禎一国土交通相も同日昼、所属する自民党古賀派の会合で「（総裁選に出馬するよう）お話をいただいて光栄だ。大変な危機の局面で話をいただき光栄だ。古賀誠会長と相談して決断したい」と意欲をにじませた。
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検察事務官が店で暴れる…京都、クーポン期限切れに
京都府警七条署は４日までに、暴行の現行犯で京都府木津川市、大津地検検察事務官の男（２６）を逮捕した。
調べでは、男は３日午後１１時ごろ、京都市下京区東塩小路高倉町のファストフード店で、左腕で店長代理の男性（２７）の胸を押して壁に押し付けて暴行した疑い。
男はハンバーガー２個を購入する際、別の店員に携帯電話でクーポン券の画面を示したが、期限切れで使えなかった。店員が店の奥に入った後、大きな音がし、確認するとカウンター下の正面がへこんでいた。
男がけったとみられたことから、店長代理が店を出ようとする同容疑者を呼び止め、暴行を受けた。当時、酒に酔っていたという。
大津地検の白髭博文次席検事は「逮捕は誠に遺憾で、国民の信頼を裏切ったことを深くおわびする」とコメントしている。
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界最速男ボルトの速さの秘密はアノ食べ物にあった？
ボルトの速さはヤムイモのおかげ？ 滋養強壮作用があるとされるヤムイモの一種に、脂肪の代謝を良くして運動機能を高める効果があるとする研究結果を、大津市の医薬品企業タカラバイオが４日までに発表した。
北京五輪の陸上短距離で３つの世界新記録を打ち立てたジャマイカのウサイン・ボルト選手も、普段からヤムイモを食べているという。
同社が研究したのはジャマイカのヤムイモと異なる種類だが、似た成分は含まれており、同社は「ボルト選手の驚異的な速さの秘密に関係しているかも」と話している。
同社は、沖縄などで育つヤムイモの一種トゲドコロに着目。少し混ぜた餌をマウスに与え、週１回の水泳運動を２カ月続けると、普通の餌を食べたマウスより水泳時間が１０―２０％長く続くようになった。体脂肪の量も減少。肝臓を調べると、脂肪を燃やしてエネルギーに変える酵素をつくる遺伝子の活性が高まっていた。
同社によると、トゲドコロはアジア原産で粘りや甘みが強いのが特徴で、国内生産量が年数トンという希少品種。
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地漂流：税金肩代わり横行 開発業者が所有権移転仮登録
農地法で農地を所有できない開発業者らが農家に売買代金を払って所有権移転を仮登記している問題で、仮登記後も農家に課される固定資産税を業者らが負担する行為が横行していることが分かった。農林水産省は「法的には所有者は農家」と仮登記を規制していないが、事実上業者らの所有となっていることが裏付けられた。自治体の公社が税を負担している例もあり、地方税法に違反する可能性も指摘されている。専門家からは農地法の形骸（けいがい）化を危惧（きぐ）する声が出ている。
千葉県の農家が８０年代後半に不動産会社と交わした「土地（農地）売買契約書」によると、「土地に対する公租公課（税金や負担金）は乙（不動産会社）の負担とする」と明記されている。仮登記後は固定資産税を会社が負担する契約だ。
この不動産会社の元社員は「農家数十人に毎年１回、税額分の現金を封筒に入れて配った。作業がわずらわしいので『一括で直接納めたい』と自治体に相談したが拒否された」と証言した。税の肩代わりについては「どこでも行われていると思う」と話している。
こうしたケースでは、厳密には農家側に贈与税がかかるが、肩代わり額が少額で、申告する必要がない場合が多いとみられる。
熊本県天草市では、合併前の旧本渡（ほんど）市と旧五和（いつわ）町が８９年前後に仮登記した農地の固定資産税を、県と旧２市町が設立した天草下島北部地域観光振興公社が肩代わりしている。ゴルフ場誘致を目指して農地２５ヘクタールを１５億円で買収したが、９７年に誘致は頓挫。農地は仮登記がついたまま雑木林となっている。
天草市によると、農家約２３０人に課す固定資産税は年間約１５万円。市は納税通知書を農家に送付せず、公社に総額を伝えて振り込ませている。総務省固定資産税課は「地方税法は市町村が納税通知書を納税義務者に届けるよう義務付けており、法に抵触する可能性がある」と指摘する。
この指摘に対し、天草市固定資産税課は「通常の納付方法ではないが、旧２市町が用地取得の際に、地権者から『税が掛からないようにしてほしい』と要請され、取り決めたと聞いている。延々と引き継がれ、現段階で本来の方法に戻すのは困難」と釈明している。【井上英介】
◇売買自体が問題◇
梶井功・東京農工大名誉教授（農政学）の話 転用が許可されるか分からないのに、開発業者と農家が勝手に許可されると考えて農地を売買すること自体問題だ。農家に課される税金を業者が肩代わりすれば、開発業者が農地を所有しているに等しい。これを認めれば農地法は形骸化しかねない。
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書店売上高：減少率がさらに拡大－－０７年度
取次大手のトーハンが８月に出版した『書店経営の実態』（平成２０年度版）によると、２００７年度（０７年４月～０８年３月）の書店の売上高伸長率の平均がマイナス４・４％と、１３年連続でマイナスだったことがわかった。前年度はマイナス２・２％で、さらに深刻化したことになる。書店へのアンケートでも、書店経営の先行きについて「下降」すると答えた書店が７５・４％と、前年度の６５・８％を上回った。
調査対象は、トーハンと取引のある全国の書店（１４２企業４１７店舗）で、今年１月から６月の間に実施した。
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企業倒産：東海３県は８４件、負債総額１９９億円 ８月
信用調査会社の東京商工リサーチ名古屋支社は３日、東海３県の８月の企業倒産動向をまとめた。倒産件数は８４件（前年同月比１０件減）、負債総額は１９９億円（同３７．１％減）だった。
業種別では、建設業が２６件で全体の３割。▽サービス業２１件▽卸売業１３件▽製造業１１件▽小売業９件－－の順だった。倒産企業の従業員数は計８２９人（同１７３人増）。資本金３０００万円未満の企業が７３件と全体の８６．９％を占めた。
同支社は「東京などで不動産開発業者やゼネコンの倒産が相次いでおり、東海地区でも建設・不動産関連の倒産が続発するだろう」と分析している。
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景気動向指数：企業景況感が悪化 先月、５年３カ月ぶり低水準－－帝国データ調査
帝国データバンクは３日、８月の全国景気動向調査の結果を発表した。企業の景況感を示す景気動向指数（ＤＩ、５０が「良い」と「悪い」の分かれ目）は前月比０・９ポイント低下し３０・３と６カ月連続で悪化、０３年５月以来５年３カ月ぶりの低水準となった。内閣府は８月に景気後退入りを事実上認めており、企業心理の冷え込みを裏付けた。
業界別では１０業界のうち７業界で悪化。マンション不況で倒産が続出している不動産は２・５ポイント低下の２５・２と過去最低となった。資材価格の高騰に見舞われた建設は１・１ポイント低下の２４・４、値上げが相次ぐ小売も０・３ポイント低下の２８・０と、それぞれ５年４カ月ぶりの低水準となった。
地域別では全国１０地域のうち東北を除く９地域が悪化した。帝国データは「ＤＩは先行き見通しも反転の兆しがなく、後退局面が続く」とみている。
調査は８月２０～３１日に実施、１万７５１社から回答を得た。
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公明都議、献金後融資口利き…元都議は相談役報酬１００万円
新銀行東京（東京都新宿区）からの融資を巡り、公明党の現職都議と元都議が２００５～０６年、都内の中小企業から献金を受けた後に融資の口利きをしたり、口利きした中小企業から相談役として報酬を受け取ったりしていたことが、読売新聞の調べでわかった。
元都議の報酬総額は１００万円を超える。両社は融資を受けた後に、事実上、経営が破たんしている。ブローカーの介在が判明した新銀行の融資で、政治家と企業との不透明な関係も新たに浮かび上がった。
機械部品販売会社の社長は都議選前の０５年６月、都議の選挙事務所開きの日に陣中見舞いとして現金１０万円を献金した。資金繰りに窮していた社長はこの都議に新銀行への口利きを依頼し、翌７月、新宿支店長（当時）を紹介されたという。
同社は、不動産を売却した０３年度を除き赤字だったが、申し込みから約１０日間で２０００万円が融資された。社長は「短期間での融資実行は都議の力だと思った」と振り返る。
社長はこの直後、お礼として、新宿区の飲食店で都議を接待（１人約１万５０００円）した。融資から７か月後、同社は破たん、ほぼ全額が焦げ付いた。
都議は「都の担当課に『相談に乗ってほしい』という電話はした」と口利きは認めたが、「『政治活動に有効に使ってください』と言われ献金を受け取った。融資仲介の対価とは思っていない。会食も見返りではない」と話した。
この献金は、都議が都選管に提出した資金管理団体の政治資金収支報告書（０５年分）に記載されている。
一方、元都議は０５年夏、ソフトウエア開発会社の社長の依頼を受け、一緒に新銀行の新宿支店（当時）に出向き、「将来性があるのでよろしく頼む」と融資を依頼。元都議は４回当選し、０１年７月に引退していたが、自分が元都議であることは電話で事前に伝えていた。
約１週間後、３０００万円の申し込みに対し１４００万円が融資された。元都議はその後、同社の相談役となり、０６年１月から約１０か月にわたり、月２０万～１０万円の報酬を受け取った。
同社はその後、資金繰りが悪化し、社長は今年に入り、家財道具を残し自宅から姿を消した。
元都議は「相談役として報酬をもらうことになっていたこともあり、有望な企業なので、できる限り協力した。道義的責任はあるかもしれないが、事業失敗は経営者の問題」と語った。
中小企業向けの融資保証制度を巡り、口利きの見返りに違法な手数料を受け取った都議らが逮捕された事件を受け、都議会は００年１２月、「疑惑が再発しないよう、襟を正す必要がある」と決議している。
読売新聞が今年３月に行った都議アンケート調査では、自民党６人、民主党２人が新銀行融資の口利きを認めたが、公明は全員が回答しなかった。
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イージス衝突原因で真っ向対決、遺族は涙声で「そんな…」
海自の最新鋭イージス艦「あたご」が漁船「清徳丸」と衝突した事故から半年余り。
４日の第１回海難審判で、事故当時の当直士官、長岩友久・前水雷長（３５）らが強調したのは、漁船側の責任だった。
２０年前の潜水艦「なだしお」の事故以来、乗組員と組織の責任が問われた海自。継続監視を怠り、衝突を回避する機会を次々と逃したと指摘する海難審判理事所と、真っ向から対立する構図となった。
審判は午前９時４０分から始まり、スーツ姿で出廷した舩渡(ふなと)健・前艦長（５３）は意見陳述に立つと、「亡くなった吉清(きちせい)さんに大変申し訳なく思います」と神妙な口調で艦長の責任に触れたが、「清徳丸の位置については、我々の意見とも異なるので確認いただきたい」と口火を切った。
続いて、長岩前水雷長は「申立書の方位について、私が見た方位はさらに南だった」と海難審判理事所側の認定に疑問を呈し、「清徳丸の方向は、明らかに（遠ざかる方向で）変化していた。私は衝突の恐れはないと認識していた。だが、右転で新たな危険が生じ、衝突に至った」と淡々とした口ぶりで述べた。
「組織の中でもごくわずかしか知らない事実がある。それをすべて審判で明らかにする。見ていてください」。衝突前の当直士官だった後瀉(うしろがた)桂太郎・前航海長（３６）は８月下旬、横浜市内の官舎で取材に応じ、そう話していた。この日の意見陳述では、「申立書に『動静監視を行わず』とあるが、私はレーダー確認後、目視して動静監視を行っていた。詳細は審判で明らかにする」と語った。
一方、あたごが所属している第３護衛隊の代表者として出廷した末次富美雄・前隊司令（５２）は「事故の再発防止に努める」と述べた。
海自によると、舩渡前艦長と２人の当直士官は、事故後、海自護衛艦隊司令部付となり、横須賀基地内でデスクワークをこなしている。舩渡前艦長らは、死亡した吉清治夫さん（当時５８歳）、哲大(てつひろ)さん（当時２３歳）父子の遺族に、お盆の時期に墓参したいとの意向を伝えたが、都合が合わず、実現しなかったという。
事故後、吉清さん父子の千葉県勝浦市の自宅には、治夫さんの母春枝さん（８４）と妻幸子さん（５２）が残された。
治夫さんの妹美恵子さん（５２）は、春枝さんらを支えるため、同県いすみ市内から長女（３０）と一緒に引っ越した。美恵子さんは、海自側が漁船の責任を強調したことについて、「突然、そんなことが出てきてびっくりした。兄が正しいとずっと信じていた。何を言われても、２人はもう話すことができない」と涙声で語った。
傍聴席では、清徳丸が所属した新勝浦市漁協（勝浦市）の外記(げき)栄太郎組合長（８０）らが、厳しい表情で舩渡前艦長らの姿を見つめた。外記組合長は「私も現場にいたわけではないので分からない」と複雑な表情で語った。
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Russia closes its embassy in Georgia
04.09.2008 Source: URL: http://english.pravda.ru/russia/politics/106294-Russia_embassy_Georgia-0
Russia closed its embassy in Georgia and halted consular operations after Georgia severed diplomatic ties following last month's war, the Russian consul said Wednesday.
A U.S. Navy ship loaded with humanitarian aid, meanwhile, steamed through the Dardanelles on its way to Georgia — a day after Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin complained that too many NATO ships were sailing the Black Sea and promised a Russian response.
The diplomatic suspension means no new applications for Russian entry visas will be accepted, a blow to Georgians who have relatives in Russia or other ties there. Hundreds of thousands of Georgians live in Russia, and many ethnic Georgians in Russia are Russian citizens.
"A break-off of diplomatic ties is an action that has a price," Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko said in Moscow. He said the ministry is considering other measures.
The diplomatic break follows a five-day war and Moscow's recognition of two separatist Georgia regions, South Ossetia and Abkhazia, as independent nations. The conflict has brought tensions between Moscow and the West to their highest level since the end of the Soviet Union.
The United States has already sent two military ships bearing aid to Georgia, and the USS Mount Whitney steamed through the Dardanelles early Wednesday and was expected to pass through the Bosporus later in the day. The two Turkish-controlled straits link the Mediterranean to the Black Sea, the AP reports.
Wednesday's diplomatic suspension means no new applications for Russian entry visas will be accepted, a blow to Georgians who have relatives in Russia or other ties there. Hundreds of thousands of Georgians live in Russia, and many ethnic Georgians in Russia are Russian citizens.
Existing visa applications will be processed, Vasilyev said. Without visas, Georgians cannot travel to Russia unless they have dual citizenship, CBC News reports.
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Russian scientists design new generation of rocket engines
03.09.2008 Source: Pravda.Ru URL: http://english.pravda.ru/science/tech/106287-Russian_scientists_rocket_engin-0
The development of the rocket engine of a new generation, RD-191, has been completed at Enterprise Energomash, the Russian Space Agency said Tuesday.
The message posted on the website of Roskosmos says that the engine has been delivered for tests within the structure of Angara booster rocket.
The message also says that scientists conduct research works on perspective projects of engines with the use of new schemes and components of fuel.
The enterprise also plans to take part in a new program connected with Vostochny spaceport, Interfax reports.
Angara is a booster rocket of new generation, based on the universal rocket module outfitted with oxygen-kerosene engine.
The family includes booster rockets from light to heavy class. The rocket has the unique cargo capacity from 1.5 to 25 tons, which opens new horizons in space exploration.
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Russian sumo wrestlers involved into marijuana scandal
03.09.2008 Source: Pravda.Ru URL: http://english.pravda.ru/sports/other/106283-Russian_sumo_wrestlers-0
The Japanese Sumo Association authorized a sudden visit of a group of neurologists to Moscow’s Riogoku Kokugikan sports complex. The medics took blood and urine samples from 69 sumo wrestlers, including two Russian citizens – Soslan and Bartaz Boradzov.
The urine analysis showed that the two Russian sumo wrestlers were smoking marijuana. The brothers rejected the fact of their addiction to the drug and demanded new analysis be carried out.
According to the law of Japan, the athletes may face up to five years in jail, not to mention a large fine. What is worse, the athletes can be disqualified for life. Another Russian sumo wrestler, Soslan Gagloyev (aka Wakanoho) incurred such punishment for the first time in history on August 21.
The Boradzovs brothers and Gagloyev originate from North Ossetia and maintain friendly relations with each other.
Soslan Boradzov, 28, debuted in the Japanese sumo in May 2002. In March 2006 he was included in Makuuti, the Premier Division of Japanese Sumo Association, where he was known as Roho, the Russian Phoenix. Soslan is 195 cm in height and weighs 146 kilos.
Batraz Boradzov is 26 years old. Like his older brother, he began wrestling in Japan in May 2002. He became a Makuuti member in July 2005, but currently represents the second division, Juryo. The athlete performs under the nickname of Hakurodzan, the White Russian Mountain. He is 137 kilos and 188 cm in height.
Scandals around the Japanese Sumo Association have been happening one after another during the recent several years. Last year, for instance, a younger wrestler was killed by his older colleagues. All these incidents seriously undermine the prestige of the association, for it is believed that sumo athletes must be role models for the youth, ITAR-TASS reports
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Israel says stopped arms supplies to Georgia prior to conflict
14:20 | 04/ 09/ 2008
MOSCOW, September 4 (RIA Novosti) - Israel imposed an embargo on arms supplies to Tbilisi a week before Georgia attacked its breakaway region of South Ossetia, the Israeli ambassador to Russia said on Thursday. (Abandoned Georgian armor and artillery - Image gallery)
Russia's Defense Ministry earlier said Israel had sold unmanned reconnaissance aircraft, and electronic artillery systems to Georgia and planned to supply armored vehicles and small arms. Some reports claimed that Israeli military experts had been training Georgian reconnaissance units since the fall of 2007.
"A week before the conflict we decided to halt all arms supplies to Georgia," Anna Azari said.
She also stressed that Israel previously supplied Georgia only with non-offensive weaponry and refused to sell heavy armor to Tbilisi despite Georgia's request.
"As an example, I can tell you that several months before the start of the conflict [in South Ossetia] the Georgian leadership insisted that we sell 300 Merkava tanks to Tbilisi, but we refused to do so," the Israeli diplomat said.
South Ossetia was attacked by Georgian forces on August 8. The majority of residents of South Ossetia hold Russian citizenship, and Moscow launched a massive operation to expel Georgian troops from the region and to reinforce its peacekeepers.
According to information provided last month by the Russian General Staff, since 2005, prior to August 8 Georgian tank numbers increased from 98 to 183, armored vehicles from 83 to 134, artillery weapons from 96 to 238, combat helicopters from three to nine, and warplanes from seven to nine.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Monday that Moscow would like to see an embargo on arms supplies to Georgia introduced until a change of leadership takes place in the Caucasus state.
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Russia wants Israel to become strategic nanotech partner
15:39 | 04/ 09/ 2008
HAIFA, September 4 (RIA Novosti) - Russia believes that Israel could become a strategic partner in developing nanotechnology projects, the general director of the Russian Rosnanotech state corporation said on Thursday.
"Israel is one of the global high-teach leaders, uniting a large number of inventers, innovative groups, working in the nanotechnology sphere," Leonid Melamed said during a visit to Israel.
The main goal of the visit, which includes trips to educational, scientific and technical centers and meetings with Israeli officials, is to identify investment projects for Russia.
"Considering that almost half of the people working in these laboratories speak Russian, Israel is clearly a strategic partner for us," Melamed added.
In 2007, the Russian government allocated 130 billion rubles (about $5.5 billion) to Rosnanotech, which is aiming to build infrastructure in Russia for nanotechnology projects providing the right research conditions.
Israeli companies are due to display their potential projects on Friday. One of the conditions set by Rosnanotech is that a part of any project should operate in Russia.
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