政府・日銀保有の米住宅公社債、８兆円規模 民主党が試算

政府・日銀保有の米住宅公社債、８兆円規模　民主党が試算

　米政府が救済に乗り出した米住宅公社の発行した債券について、政府・日銀の保有額が8兆円規模に達することが19日明らかになった。参院財政金融委員会が19日開いた閉会中審査で、民主党が試算を提示。財務省や日銀は「金融市場に影響を与えかねない」として、個別商品ごとの保有額を公表していないものの、伊吹文明財務相が「なかなかしっかりした計算をしている」と答弁し、試算が的確であることを示唆した。

　政府・日銀の保有規模が明らかになったのは、米国の連邦住宅抵当公社（ファニーメイ）と連邦住宅貸付抵当公社（フレディマック）が発行した債券。2公社はともに経営危機が表面化し、米政府の管理下に置かれることになった。

　この日の参院委では民主党の大久保勉氏が、米連邦準備理事会（ＦＲＢ）の資料を基に、日本の公的部門と民間部門が保有する米2公社の債券が2007年6 月末時点で約24兆円に上ったと指摘。一方、日本の民間が保有する米住宅公社債は16兆1000億円との金融庁資料を用いて、差額を算出。(22:02)

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三菱ＵＦＪ、米会計基準で5424億円の最終赤字　08年3月期

　三菱ＵＦＪフィナンシャル・グループ（ＦＧ）は19日、米国会計基準による2008年3月期の連結最終損益が5424億円の赤字になったと発表した。日本の会計基準では6366億円の黒字だった。米基準では株式や債券の価格下落を厳密に反映するため、技術的な要因で6期ぶりの最終赤字となった。日本の決算や経営への影響はないという。

　三菱ＵＦＪはニューヨーク証券取引所に上場しており、日本の会計基準と米基準による決算をそれぞれ発表している。07年3月期の米基準決算は5812億円の黒字だった。米基準で最終赤字となるのは、旧三菱東京ＦＧが不良債権処理のため約2100億円の赤字となった02年3月期以来、6期ぶり。

　05年10月に旧三菱東京ＦＧと旧ＵＦＪが合併した際、買収価格とＵＦＪの純資産の差額1兆7300億円をのれん代として資本に計上した。08年3月期に三菱ＵＦＪの株価が当時より下落したのに伴い、米基準では約8900億円を減損処理しなければならなくなった。(22:01)

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「足腰弱くて転ぶ」　侵入盗の７７歳男自首
2008.9.20 00:58

　民家に忍び込み、現金を盗んだとして自首してきた７７歳の男が１９日、千葉県警東金署に窃盗容疑で逮捕された。「今月、刑務所を出所したが、足腰が弱くなり道で転んだりする。この先暮らしていけないと思い自首した」と供述しているという。

　男は住所不定、無職の小滝亅（すすむ）容疑者で、東金市内の交番に同日午前に自首してきた。

　調べでは、小滝容疑者は今月１１日午後１０時半から１２日午前６時半の間、千葉市中央区の無職男性（７４）方に１階台所のガラス窓を破って侵入。居間にあった財布から現金約１万３０００円を盗んだ疑い。犯行当時、被害者の男性は寝ていたという。

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Long View: Increased regulation of financial markets

By John Authers, Investment Editor

Published: September 19 2008 21:41 | Last updated: September 19 2008 21:41

“I think therefore I am.” That was the one certainty the philosopher Descartes could find after he set himself a discipline of radical doubt – trying to doubt everything, so that he would be left only with what was certain, starting with his own existence.

This exercise is useful after a week that changed the parameters of global capital markets, probably for generations. More news of huge import will come this weekend, as politicians in the US try to hammer out a rescue vehicle for the US mortgage market.

After this week, is there anything we cannot doubt?

First, the independent investment bank, as a business model, is over. Much more capital, of the kind boasted by big universal banks, is needed if you want to take the kind of risks the investment banks have been taking.

Second, the model that will emerge triumphant will look a lot like a traditional commercial bank, built around deposit-taking and strong balance sheets, with lending decisions taken by humans, not markets. Among the few winners from this crisis are Bank of America (which won Merrill Lynch), and Lloyds TSB, which gets HBOS for a knockdown price.

Third, the market for credit derivatives – swaps of debts between banks that created a myriad of financial relationships – is also dead in its current form. Any doubt about this was extinguished when the US swallowed hard and spent $85bn of US taxpayers’ money to rescue American International Group only two days after it had tried to draw a line in the sand by refusing to bail out Lehman.

Why? AIG was more central to the credit derivatives market. This proves beyond doubt that credit derivatives were too important to be left unregulated: if this market is to be reinvented, it will be based on some kind of exchange.

Fourth, the fate of New York as the unquestioned capital of global finance is sealed. And London’s pretensions to take over are dead. Not even two years ago, London was trumpeting the success of its “light-touch” financial regulation, and Wall Streeters complained of over-regulation. Such claims now seem both distasteful and foolish.

Finally, the regulation system that has overseen the globalisation of finance for the past decade has, beyond doubt, failed. It must be replaced, with something more intrusive. That means the profitability of the financial services industry, even if the US can bail out its worst excesses, will stay below the levels that it had been enjoying, probably for a generation. We now see, beyond doubt, that banks are a public utility and must be treated as such.

What can we doubt? We can doubt market timers, who say the bear market has hit bottom. They have points on their side. The panic in midweek was of historic proportions. The yield on three-month Treasury bills, the world’s safest investments, dropped to 0.02 per cent, its lowest since 1941, when the world was at war. That was plainly senseless. Extreme panics generally come before rallies, so a “bear market rally”, like others in the past two years, is likely.

But the extent of the problems for US banks, and the drag they could place on the economy, suggest that stocks could still go much lower than their low of this week in the long run. At its worst, the S&P was down only 26 per cent. If the market can really limit the damage to that, it will have escaped very lightly. A rally followed by new lows seems likely.

But it is possible to doubt these things. A balanced portfolio remains as advisable as ever.

More radically, we can doubt capitalism. The US government evidently does. Most of the time, markets are efficient instruments for raising and allocating capital. Hence democratic governments have an interest in letting them get on with the job.

But the past week rams home that market outcomes should not be endowed with any moral glow. Market participants are motivated by fear and greed. They will do what they can get away with, and laws are necessary to regulate them. If laws are not strict enough, the credit bubble makes clear that markets cannot be trusted to regulate themselves.

When governments intervene in markets, they can have perverse effects – as seen when the decision not to bail out shareholders in Lehman and AIG turned short-selling financial stocks into a one-way bet and forced a crude ban on short-sellers.

Markets are a useful tool for society. But they are a function of the legal environment created for them, and they can act in ways that are detrimental to the public good. It may be a generation before the free-marketeers’ contention that governments should never interfere in markets gets taken seriously again.

Finally, you do not need to be Descartes to doubt the planned US bail-out will be a success. Its total cost will be massive. It must be agreed by rival politicians who are not expert in finance, and who face re-election in weeks. And it must rescue fiendishly complicated instruments invented during a historically irresponsible lending binge. Its success is far from a certainty.

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Dollar muted in spite of turmoil

By Peter Garnham

Published: September 19 2008 11:00 | Last updated: September 19 2008 22:08

A tumultuous week on the financial markets saw economic fundamentals take a back seat as currency investors pondered the effects of the current shake-out.

With the collapse of Lehman Brothers, the US investment bank, followed by the state-sponsored bail-out of AIG, the largest US insurer, the natural reaction might have been a sharp sell-off in the dollar.

However, it was clear that broader themes were at work with the crisis of the US financial system permeating every market across the globe.

Indeed, in the midst of the turmoil, the dollar found support as rising risk aversion prompted US investors to unwind overseas investments and repatriate funds.

“Despite seismic shifts occurring in financial markets, the dollar’s performance has been somewhat muted,” said Bilal Hafeez of Deutsche Bank.

He said there appeared to be a clear pattern emerging with the dollar over the past week: it rallied during the London trading session but weakened outside of it.

“This is likely due to financial institutions unwinding various structures during the liquid London session,” he said. “Therefore, any recent dollar strength may well be due to more technical factors.”

The dollar therefore seesawed all week before staging a rally on Friday on news that the US government was planning to launch a vehicle to take on toxic assets that have wreaked havoc across financial markets. Hopes that a deal could be in sight to create a vehicle loosely modelled on the Resolution Trust Corporation used to clean up the mess after the Savings and Loan crisis of the 1980s fuelled a surge in stocks and boosted the dollar.

Over the week, the dollar eased 0.4 per cent to $1.4370 against the euro, lost 1.2 per cent to $1.8225 against the pound and eased 0.7 per cent to SFr1.1115 against the Swiss franc.

However, not all analysts were convinced that the dollar’s relative resilience would last. Maurice Pomery, head of FX research at IDEAglobal, said the danger was that the bail-out vehicle would probably have to sit on the US balance sheet.

“This is very bad news in the longer run as, at some point, it may constitute a downgrade of US debt and the ensuing dump of US assets could spark a huge run on the dollar,” he said. “This is some way off and there is a lot of noise to get through but the US Treasury is playing with fire.”

The dollar rose against the yen, however, climbing 0.8 per cent to Y107.70 over the week. However, that move belied large intraday swings as the yen acted as a barometer of investor risk appetite.

This was because the low-yielding yen has been widely sold by carry trade investors to fund investments in riskier, higher yielding assets elsewhere. Thus any drop in equity markets saw the yen rally, while, conversely, rising stock markets prompted investors to abandon the Japanese currency.

Those swings were most violent against the high-yielding Australian and New Zealand dollars, the traditional targets of carry trade investors. The yen, therefore, lost ground on Friday as stock markets rallied on news of the US government’s rescue plan.

Over the week, the yen fell 2.3 per cent to Y196.28 against the pound, lost 1.2 per cent to Y154.78 against the euro, eased 0.3 per cent to Y87.80 against the Australian dollar and dropped 2.7 per cent to Y73.36 against the New Zealand dollar.

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Hedge funds scramble on shorting ban

By Joanna Chung in Washington, Henny Sender in New York and James Mackintosh in London

Published: September 19 2008 19:40 | Last updated: September 19 2008 19:40

Hedge funds were forced to scramble to unwind trading positions on Friday after a massive assault by global regulators on short selling aimed at calming the turmoil in global markets.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission joined top market watchdogs in the UK, France, Portugal and Ireland to temporarily ban short-selling and other investors from engaging in trades allowing them to profit from falling share prices of financial companies.

Other regulators in Europe could take similar actions.

Christopher Cox, the SEC chairman, said the regulator was committed to using “every weapon in its arsenal to combat market manipulation that threatens investors and capital markets”.

The moves raised fears that some hedge funds might suffer deep losses, caught out by the surge in share prices around the world on Friday.

“There will be wounds,” said the head of one prime brokerage. However, many of the largest funds had already drawn back from their positions.

Several managers said their losses had been limited as the plunging value of banks meant they had already taken profits on their short positions or, in some cases, been buying stock in banks such as Morgan Stanley.

There were also fresh doubts about the latest rash of new measures. Some hedge fund managers were already working on finding ways around the rules.

Jim Chanos, who runs a large short-selling hedge fund in New York and is chairman of the Coalition of Private Investment Companies, said the emergency measures would do little to stabilise the market.

“Investors are best served when they can hear both the reasons to buy and the reasons to sell any given security,” he said.

“We also believe that markets cannot withstand for long constantly changing rules in which each new regulation is announced in the middle of the night without any public comment or participation.”

The head of one hedge fund of funds firm also said: “By stopping the short sellers, you are artificially inflating prices and rewarding speculators on the long side. The measures will increase volatility.”

Some hedge fund managers who had bet against many financial institutions expressed support for the measures. They argued that short selling had created a dangerous downward spiral as ratings agencies cited plunging share prices as a reason to downgrade investment banks and other financial firms.

“If Goldman [Sachs] went down, if the financing was gone and the prime brokers were gone, the hedge funds would be next,” says one hedge fund manager with more than $15bn under management.

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Russian market soars after bail-out

By Catherine Belton and Charles Clover in Moscow

Published: September 19 2008 11:26 | Last updated: September 19 2008 19:48

Tensions between conservative anti-western forces and their western-oriented, relatively liberal opponents in the Kremlin burst into the open on Friday as the Russian stock market soared nearly 30 per cent in response to a government rescue plan.

As trading resumed after a two-day closure to halt panic selling, the rouble-denominated MICEX Index surged 28.7 per cent and the dollar-denominated RTS 22.4 per cent, its biggest one-day rise, after the government pledge to boost liquidity by more than $100bn (€70bn, £55bn).

Alexei Kudrin, Russia’s finance minister, defended the support plan for the stock market as preventing the crash spreading to the rest of the economy. The market fall “created problems on the balances of enterprises, in collateral, loans and led to margin calls. It could have grown into a very big system of non-payments,” he said.

But Mr Kudrin appeared to be coming under increasing political pressure as infighting between rival factions in Russia’s government started to leak out into the public on Friday.

Russia’s market turmoil
Russia finance

Timeline: key moments of the recent market slump and how it is different from the 1998 crisis

The war in Georgia and the ensuing collapse of Russia’s financial markets has put conservative anti-western forces on a collision course with a clique of western-oriented, relatively liberal opponents. President Dmitry Medvedev and Vladimir Putin, prime minister, both said Russia would not change its course towards integration with the world economy.

But a flurry of competing public denunciations and press leaks from opposite sides of the political spectrum indicate a behind-the-scenes struggle over Russia’s future course and its relationship with the west.

Just Russia, the second largest pro-Kremlin political party after United Russia, which is headed by Mr Putin, called for the resignation of the relatively liberal Mr Kudrin, who has been the subject of critical headlines.

“We think that the resignation of the leadership of the finance ministry and fundamental change in the ministry’s policies would be good news for the market,” said Oksana Dmitrieva, spokesperson for the political party, which is headed by Sergei Mironov, speaker of the upper house of Russia’s parliament.

Sergei Markov, a political scientist and member of parliament, said Mr Kudrin had been under fire in the past and survived because of his close relationship with Mr Putin. But this time “Kudrin is in real political trouble.” Mr Kudrin, a fiscal hawk, won a postponement until 2009 for a decision on VAT cuts that were being pushed by a pro-growth camp. But he appeared to be fighting a battle over greater tax cuts for the oil industry with Arkady Dvorkovich, the Kremlin’s top economic adviser, announcing further cuts for the sector to be implemented in 2010.

Standard and Poor’s said it was revising Russia’s outlook to stable from positive in spite of the apparent initial success of the government support package.

“The outlook revision is based on growing uncertainty regarding Russia’s economic policy response as the liquidity crisis in its financial markets has deepened,” it said. Bankers warned that volatility could still lie ahead as the global credit crisis was yet to unwind, while the systemic risks in Russia’s financial markets that helped drive markets down this week to wipe nearly $800bn off stocks since May still remained.

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Spain urges jobless immigrants to leave

By Victor Mallet in Madrid

Published: September 19 2008 19:19 | Last updated: September 19 2008 19:19

Spain’s cabinet, alarmed by fast-rising unemployment, on Friday launched a plan under which it will pay jobless immigrants their social security benefits in a lump sum provided they go home and promise not to return to Spain for three years. Most of those entitled to take up the offer are from Ecuador and Morocco.

Millions of immigrants from North Africa and Latin America, as well as from other member states of the European Union, have poured into Spain in recent years to find work on building sites, in hotels and as domestic servants.

Spain’s rapid economic growth over the past decade and its lenient approach to illegal immigrants has made the country one of Europe’s most attractive destinations for jobseekers. More than 4.4m immigrants live legally in Spain. They now account for a tenth of the country’s population, the highest proportion in the European Union.

The opposition Popular party, and some politicians in the Socialist government, have begun to talk of a link between rising Spanish unemployment and the large number of immigrants, although most migrants do low-paid work not favoured by native Spaniards.

Unemployment has risen sharply following a slump in the property market and construction, and the broader economy is stagnant. More than 2.5m people in Spain – 11 per cent of the workforce – are now unemployed.

Of those, about 165,000 are legally resident, non-EU citizens who may be able to take advantage of the plan proposed by Celestino Corbacho, the labour and immigration minister, although officials think only about 10,000 will actually do so.

The repatriation plan, which was first mooted six months ago and will come into effect in November, is voluntary and applies only to citizens of the 19 countries with which Spain has social security agreements. Those accepting the deal would receive 40 per cent of their entitlement in Spain and the remainder only after returning home.

Immigrant associations immediately criticised the plan, saying it would make only a small dent in the unemployment figures but would reinforce the notion that immigrants were the cause of Spanish job losses.

Illegal migrants, meanwhile, continue to make their way to Spain in large numbers. On Friday a further 129 people were reported to have arrived in the Canary Islands from west Africa in two small boats.

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Toshiba losses hurt plans for rival offer

By Robin Harding in Tokyo

Published: September 20 2008 03:00 | Last updated: September 20 2008 03:00

Toshiba, the Japanese consumer electronics group, may struggle to bid for a memory card rival after yesterday warning that it would make a first-half loss.

Toshiba is pondering how to respond to a $5.8bn bid for US-based SanDisk, with which it jointly makes Nand flash memory chips, from Samsung of South Korea.

But the downgrade to Toshiba's profit forecast - which is primarily due to falling prices in the same memory chip market - will make a bid harder to finance and harder to sell to its shareholders.

Toshiba said yesterday that it expected to make an operating loss of Y30bn ($280m) in the first half of its 2008 fiscal year, compared with the Y70bn profit that it forecast in April. It also cut its full-year operating profit forecast by 48 per cent to Y150bn for the full year to March 2009.

"The outlook cut is almost entirely due to losses in the chip business, and we will concentrate on turning that around in the next year," said Fumio Muraoka, Toshiba's finance director.

Toshiba is second to rival Samsung in the market for Nand flash chips - which are used to make plug-in storage cards for digital cameras, mobile phones and computers.

Demand is growing rapidly, but supply has now caught up, and the price per megabyte has slumped 45 per cent between April and September.

Nand flash has become crucial to Toshiba's prospects after setbacks in other business lines. The Japanese group was the main backer of the HD-DVD format, which lost out to Blu-Ray as the definitive nextgeneration DVD format. Toshiba has also suffered during the shift to flat panel televisions.

SanDisk is therefore an important strategic partner. Toshiba is already highly leveraged for a Japanese company, and the weak results will make it hard to use equity in a bid.

Toshiba's share price, already down 42 per cent this year, is likely to fall further when the market responds on Monday.

The group reported weak demand for other chips used in consumer electronics - bad news for Sony, for which it makes the main processor in the PlayStation 3 - and said that its mobile handset business "struggled" in a declining Japanese market. But PCs remained "buoyant" and the television business was performing to target.

There was better news from Toshiba's industrial business, however, where the full-year operating profit forecast was revised up by Y20bn to Y150bn. That suggests that Toshiba continues to win orders for new power stations in emerging markets.

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General Motors draws out cash
AFP
By Joseph Szczesny AFP - 59 minutes ago

DETROIT, Michigan (AFP) - General Motors said that it intended to draw down the remaining 3.5 billion dollars of its 4.5-billion-dollar secured revolving credit facility to maintain what the auto giant described as "high level of financial flexibility" at a time when the financial markets are uncertain.
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"Accessing the funds available to us is a prudent liquidity measure. Drawing on the revolver now improves our liquidity position at a time when the capital markets have become more challenging," GM Treasurer Walter Borst said Friday.

"The revolver draw will bolster the company's liquidity position," Borst said.

Borst said the proceeds from the draw would also be available to be used to retire 750 million dollars of debt maturities coming due in October, and to pay Delphi Corporation in excess of 1.2 billion dollars as part of its reorganization efforts, assuming court approval of the revised agreements between GM and Delphi that were filed with the court earlier this month.

The US Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation had demanded that bankrupt the Delphi Corp come up with 1.2 billion to cover pension liabilities by the end of September.

Delphi, which is based in Troy, Michigan, filed for bankruptcy and has solicited more than 11 billion dollars in financial assistance from GM, which originally spun of the company in 1999.

GM secured the 4.5-billon-dollar revolving credit facility in July 2006 from a consortium of banks and provides liquidity that GM can draw on from time to time to fund working capital and other needs.

At the time, GM executives had said they doubted they would need to draw on the facility.

However, car and truck in the United States have dropped sharply this year and are not expected to recover until 2009 at the earliest and GM reported slender cash reserves of approximately 16 billion dollars at the end of June.

The slender reserves had prompted speculation GM could be forced into bankruptcy.

In July, GM announced a plan to bolster liquidity through internal operating actions, asset sales and the capital markets.

"The internal operating elements of the plan remain on track and the company continues to look to opportunistically access the capital markets," GM said in a statement.

GM also announced the completion of a 322-million-dollar debt to equity to exchange. The amount involved in the transaction is relatively. In addition, the debenture will mature in June in less than one year.

GM also is campaigning to have the US government release 25 billion dollars in guaranteed loans that could be used to finance the development of new technology.

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Santander seen likely eyeing U.S. over Ireland
Reuters
By Judy MacInnes Reuters - Friday, September 19 12:24 pm

MADRID (Reuters) - The eurozone's largest bank Santander on Friday declined to comment on a media report it is eyeing Bank of Ireland , but analysts thought the Spanish heavyweight would be more interested in Washington Mutual .
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Bank of Ireland, whose exposure to a property market collapse in its home market has seen its shares pummelled during the hurricane shaking world finance, also declined to comment on the report.

"We just don't comment on market speculation," a spokesman for Bank of Ireland said on Friday. A Santander spokesman declined to speak about either Bank of Ireland or a report on the Financial Times website that the Spanish bank was also considering bidding for U.S. bank Washington Mutual.

Irish radio station NewsTalk quoted senior market sources as saying the Spanish bank, whose international reach and relatively cautious lending during a property boom has left it in a strong position, was considering the bid.

Bank of Ireland shares were almost 40 percent higher at 11:55 a.m. British time amid general banking sector euphoria on hopes for a U.S. taxpayer-funded plan to mop up toxic mortgage-related debt. Santander was 8.4 percent higher.

Bank of Ireland has a market capitalisation of $5.5 billion (3 billion pounds) compared with Santander's $89.2 billion, according to Reuters data.

"Buying Washington Mutual makes much more sense for Santander than the Bank of Ireland, because it could use Washington Mutual's branches to sell its consumer finance products...There would be some substantial synergies in that sense," Renta 4 analyst Nuria Alvarez said.

The FT cited people familiar with the matter as saying that five banks including Santander have come forward to evaluate WaMu's financial records as part of an auction run by the Seattle-based savings and loans company's adviser.

Apart from Santander, JPMorgan Chase , Wells Fargo, Citigroup and HSBC are looking at WaMu's books, the FT said.

Santander's U.S. growth ambitions have been limited to its just under 25 percent stake in Sovereign Bancorp Inc and a foray into consumer finance with the purchase of Drive Financial, specialising in auto financing.

"But the Sovereign investment has really not panned out well for Santander which has been caught up in a battle with dissident shareholders at the U.S. bank" who did not want it to fall under the control of a Spanish financial institution, a Madrid-based fund manager said.

Santander agreed to buy an initial 19.8 percent stake in Sovereign in October 2005 and has until mid-2011 to exercise an option buy the rest.

Over the last three years, Santander's domestic rival BBVA has expanded rapidly in the United States, spending more than $13 billion buying Laredo National, State National, Texas Regional and Compass.

Last week, Santander lost out to Deutsche Bank in a bid for Deutsche Postbank's Postbank arm.

Both Ireland and Germany have been slated by analysts as target markets for Santander, as it continues on the acquisition trail, taking advantage of the sharp drop in banking share prices as a result of the global credit crunch.

In July, Santander agreed to buy mortgage lender Alliance and Leicester for about 1.3 billion pounds in shares, about half what it would have cost in late 2007 when talks were reported to have floundered.

"Santander is still on the acquisition trail, and having lost out in Germany, it could well be looking at WaMu", said a U.S. asset manager who did not wish to be named.

"But I don't rule out the Bank of Ireland talk either. Ireland and Germany, as well as the U.S. and the UK, are target markets for the Spanish bank.

"And there are so many price attractive potential banking buys out there in the wake of the financial crisis, that Santander has got to be champing at the bit."

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Illegal gold transit channel from Irkutsk Region closed

19.09.2008, 11.07

NOVOSIBIRSK, September 19 (Itar-Tass) - The Federal Security Service's Novosibirsk regional department has stopped activities of a criminal group dealing with illegal transit of big batches of natural gold.

Three suspects were detained and over 16 kilogrammes of gold dust and nuggets were seized in the operation, a source at the department told Itar-Tass on Friday.

It is one of the largest batches of gold ever seized in Siberia, spokesman Arkady Sheludkov noted.

It has been established that the criminal group bought stolen gold at mines in the Irkutsk Region and smuggled it to Novosibirsk where sold it to jewelers. The three detained persons were gold carriers. They are charged with illegal possession and transportation of precious metal committed by a group.

Organisers of the criminal group in Novosibirsk and the Irkutsk Region will be detained in the near future, the official said.

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Putin tells foreign investors econiomic policy remains unchanged

19.09.2008, 01.36

SOCHI, September 19 (Itar-Tass) -- Prime Minister Vladimir Putin met leaders of major foreign companies on Thursday to assure that Russia will not close its market because of recent political tensions with the West over Georgia and may even amend restrictions on foreign investments into strategic industries.

“Our policy remains unchanged. There will be no closure of the market and we are not going to make any politically-motivated decisions in the economy,” he said.

“I perfectly understand the importance of stability and predictability of the economic policy. Therefore, I would like to stress that despite the latest developments, which had an acute political character, the Russian economic model will remain unchanged,” Putin said.

Speaking on the latest restrictions on foreign investments into strategic industries, Putin said the new legislative procedure will be launched in the coming months.

“I want to draw your attention that the talk is not about closing the industries for foreign investments, but about getting permissions, which can be done in case the necessary procedures are implemented,” Putin said.

The government will monitor how the new procedure works, will be in contact with foreign investors and will be ready to quickly react to their comments.

Putin said the current situation on the Russian stock market was an aftermath of the situation in the United States and Europe.

“We do not have systemic problems. All fundamental economic indicators are normal: double budget and trade balance surplus, growing hard currency and gold reserves, and stable possibilities in the social sphere,” Putin said.

“Nobody will disagree that the basic reason is the situation on the financial markets of the United States and Europe,” the prime minister said, adding the current downward trend in Russia was definitely short-term, as the government designed measures to back the domestic stock market.

The main one will decrease the amount of obligatory reserves of banks, which will free up to 300 billion rubles.

Besides, the finance ministry will place 1.514 trillion rubles of free funds on the market and trading will take place on Friday.

The same funds will be used to auction three-month credits. The first auction is scheduled for Monday. “We have never before placed free funds for such a period,” Putin said.

The government will raise the authorized capital of the Mortgage Credit Agency by 60 billion rubles to back the mortgage market.

It will also reserve up to 500 billion rubles of budget money to back the stock market. Initially 250 billion will be reserved to buy the stock of major Russian companies if it continues to fall.

“We believe such a measure is economically substantiated,” as the capitalization of Russian companies is currently undervalued, the prime minister said.

Putin stressed all the funds will be earmarked from the state budget, while reserve funds will be kept intact.

“I do not believe it possible to use reserve funds, including the National Welfare Fund. I do not think it is time to spend oil and gas proceeds. However, we have them and, if necessary, may use them to support the financial market,” the prime minister said.

The government will work to decrease the tax burden, but will do it cautiously. “It is our strategic choice,” Putin said.

“The government will consider decreasing the unified social tax, but after determining the parameters of the pension system. We shall consider further tax cuts for the oil and gas sector, and next steps will be made already in 2010,” Putin said, adding the government will “take a pause” regarding VAT cuts.

Putin is convinced the flow of foreign investments will be in the black in 2008 despite recent exodus and said 46.5 billion dollars arrived in Russia in the first six months of the year, including 11 billion of direct investments.

“The question is not whether to invest in Russia. The question is where to invest, how much and in which form,” Putin said.

The heads of Deutsche Bank, Royal Dutch Shell, IKEA, Siemens, ConocoPhillips, Total, LG Electronics, Mitsubishi, Chevron, and BP participated in the meeting.

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Russian govt says using Reserve Fund to support markets impossible

18.09.2008, 22.56

SOCHI, September 18 (Itar-Tass) - Russian government does not find it possible to use assets of the Reserve Fund and the Fund of National Well-Being to support financial markets, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said Thursday as he met with foreign businessmen here.

"Time hasn't come yet to spend Russia's oil and gas revenues this way," he said.

The first auction for placing loans maturing in three months’ time will be held already next Monday, Putin said.

Also, the government will allow the lending institutions to hold back the deposits they were supposed to return by January 1, 2009.

Putin gave an assessment to the situation on the Russian stock markets, saying it is not linked to any systemic problems in the Russian economy.

“This isn’t linked to us because we don’t have systemic problems,” he said. “All the fundamental showings of the economy are quite normal. We have a double proficit in the budget and in the trade balance, growing foreign exchange/gold reserves, and steady opportunities in the social sphere.”

“There’s no arguing that the root-cause of the situation lies in the U.S. and European financial markets,” Putin said.

He voiced the hope that the current tendencies will be short-term.

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Russia’s strategic Tu-160 bombers set two world records
19.09.2008 Source: Pravda.Ru URL: http://english.pravda.ru/russia/politics/106398-tu_160_bombers-0

Two strategic Tu-160 bombers of Russia’s Air Force completed the flight in accordance with the plan to patrol remote geographical territories and returned to the airbase in Russia’s Saratov region from Venezuela, RIA Novosti reports with reference to a senior Air Force official, Lieutenant Colonel Vladimir Drik. The two planes landed Friday at 01:16 a.m. Moscow time.

Alexander Anfinogentov, Deputy Commander of the Russian Air Force, told the news agency that the two bombers set two world records during the flight from the Russian air base to Venezuela and back. The flight duration of the planes made up over 15 hours for the first time ever. In addition, for the first time ever, the planes accepted 25 tons of fuel during the process of aerial refueling over Great Britain.

As for the rest, the flights did not differ much from usual flights, although they were complicated with weather conditions in Venezuela.

The flight experience will be taken into consideration during the modernization and the development of new aircraft. The crews of the two bombers spent over ten hours in the textureless area above the ocean with no radio aids whatsoever.

“The flight demonstrated the professionalism of the crew and the reliability of the aircraft, Deputy Commander of the Russian Air Force said.

The official pointed out that never before had strategic aircraft approached the equator so close (about 400 kilometers were left). “Flights have their own peculiarities in those latitudes. This experience will be summed up and used to train young pilots in the future,” Anfinogentov said.

The Tupolev 160 bombers completed the air alert mission along the coast of South America and took off from the air base in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday at 10:00 Moscow time. The flight route was designated above neutral waters of the Atlantic and the Arctic oceans.

The flights were performed in strict correspondence with the international rules for airspace use over neutral waters with no transgression of other countries’ borders.

The Tu-160 bombers landed in Venezuela September 10, after 13 hours of continuous flight. NATO’s F-16 fighters accompanied the Russian bombers over Iceland and the Norwegian Sea. There were no nuclear weapons on board the Tu-160 bombers, although the planes are capable of carrying 12 long-range cruise missiles on board.

The planes performed several flights over neutral waters in the water area of the Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea.

The Tupolev Tu-160 is a supersonic, variable-geometry heavy bomber designed by the Soviet Union. The Tu-160 is the heaviest combat aircraft ever built. The aircraft is similar to the B-1 Lancer, but 430mph (692 km/h) faster than the Lancer, and possesses greater range and payload capabilities. Produced 10 years later than the B-1, it flies at 10,000 ft (3,048 m) lower maximum altitude.

Introduced in 1987, it was the last Soviet strategic bomber designed, but production of the aircraft still continues, with at least 16 currently in service with the Russian Air Force.

Its pilots call the Tu-160 the “White Swan”, due to the surprising maneuverability and antiflash white finish of the aircraft. Russia currently has 16 strategic Tu-160 bombers.

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Hydrocarbons - the formula of war
14:35 | 19/ 09/ 2008

MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti military commentator Ilya Kramnik) - Hydrocarbon prices, new nuclear and hydro-power plants, oil blackmail - energy is now one of the central issues discussed in the world. Even the defense sector is not immune: many analysts tend to view most 20th century wars as wars for energy. The role and significance of energy resources and the part energy plays in wars is worth examining.

As industrial society forges ahead, energy and energy resources play a more significant role in the affairs of nations. Eventually, a nation reaches a point at which accessible energy resources become vital for its existence, and any shortage in these resources may result in serious consequences for its economy. Control over energy production was not the ultimate goal for Germany, Italy or Japan - the aggressor countries in World War II - but it was one of the overriding objectives.

The significance of that objective can be understood from the objectives set by the armed forces of the three countries. For Germany and Italy, one of the aims of the 1942 campaign was to capture the oil resources in the Caucasus (on the Soviet-German front) and on the Arabian peninsula (on the African front). This was the result of a severe fuel shortage experienced by both, which could not be met either by oil fields at Ploesti in Romania or synthetic gasoline plants in Germany. For Japan, the embargo placed on oil in South East Asia triggered a war for vital resources.

Throughout the war, oil fields, coal mines, tankers, oil storage facilities, fuel-filled freight trains, and power plants were regarded as targets of the utmost importance. For the submarines of all warring nations, tankers, for example, ranked after aircraft carriers and battleships, while oil refineries, synthetic fuel factories and power plants in Hitler's Germany were prime targets for Allied bombers.

The situation did not change much after the war. Oil-bearing regions have become the scene of rivalry between leading nations of the world which rushed to seek allies with the holders of the black stuff. The attractiveness of oil among other energy resources is easy to explain: it is a very calorie-rich fuel (a small amount yields a large volume of energy), its production, transportation and storage are simpler than that of other resources, and it is these advantages that have ultimately led oil and petroleum products to become the main resource of our machine-based civilization. Soon natural gas joined oil to become a near ideal source of energy for thermal power plants.

The history of Middle East conflicts bears excellent testimony to the role of oil. The interests of the great powers have turned the region into a flaming bonfire of conflicts, with "the oil barrel of the planet" being the main prize. There used to be an equally sharp debate about Vietnam, whose economic zone (in the sea) includes large stocks of hydrocarbon reserves. The debate still continues - leading South East Asian countries are hotly vying for oil-rich parts of the shelf but have avoided an open clash.

Within the next few years, the Arctic is likely to become another area of conflict in the drive for energy. Global warming, which is opening up long-term access to the Arctic shelf, combined with large proven hydrocarbon resources, is bound to make the leading world powers challenge neighbors' rights to some parts of the shelf.

Meanwhile, energy resources have turned from an end into the means to an end. If before World War II, restricted access to oil meant no more than slow development (coal, peat and wood were more important), now such a restriction spells an economic collapse for a large state, involving stoppage of transportation, outage of industry and, especially during wintertime, a heavy toll of life and the evacuation of megacities.

Awareness of these factors lends to one's understanding as to why the European countries worry over fuel supplies from Russia. The hydrocarbons from the North Sea, the Persian Gulf and elsewhere are running out and cannot meet the needs of the European economy. Such interdependence of the sides works well in bringing them closer together and softening their stance over disputes - regardless of the fine words in which politicians and diplomats couch the description of the process.

Energy is not only a great divider, it is also a gap bridger.

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Russia set to enter African market
17:32 | 19/ 09/ 2008

MOSCOW. (Nikita Petrov for RIA Novosti) - On September 17-21, the largest regional aerospace, defense, and security exhibition, Africa Aerospace and Defense-2008 is held at the Air Force Base Ysterplaat near Cape Town in South Africa.

The biennial event involving weapons manufacturers from all over the world attaches priority to aerospace and defense systems, as well as military and dual-purpose equipment.

A massive Russian delegation will attend the exhibition for the fifth time. The Russian pavilion, set up by Rosoboronexport, the main national state-owned arms exporter, and the Federal Military-Technical Cooperation Service, features over 250 displays in the form of mock-ups, models, posters, video footage and advertising pamphlets.

The Russians are also displaying their Sukhoi Su-27 and Su-30MK Flanker fighter-interceptors and the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-29SKM Fulcrum air-superiority fighter.

The Dzerzhinsky Ural Railroad Car Works (Uralvagonzavod) based in Nizhny Tagil, Russia's Ural region, that has developed most of the country's post-war battle tanks is displaying its T-90S tank.

The Arzamas Engineering Plant and the Tula Instrument Design Bureau have brought their BTR-80A armored personnel carrier (APC), Metis-M and Konkurs-M guided anti-tank missiles and surface-to-air-missile (SAM) systems, respectively.

The Tula-based Splav (Alloy) State Research and Production Association has contributed its Grad and Smerch multiple-launch rocket systems.

The Popov Radio Plant based in Omsk, West Siberia, is displaying a new-generation mobile telecommunications system carried by the Vepr off-road vehicle.

The Russians have also brought the Hashim RPG-32 rocket launcher system, developed by the Jordan Russian Electronic Systems Co. Ltd. and Basalt Co., near Moscow.

The Russian-Indian joint venture BrahMos is displaying its BrahMos supersonic anti-ship cruise missile that can be launched from warships or aircraft.

It takes 14 hours to fly from Russia to Cape Town with stopovers in Amsterdam and Dubai, while the exhibition lasts only a few days. So, is it worth it?

Sergei Demensky, official representative of the Omsk-based Popov Radio Plant, said many African countries were Russia's traditional partners, and that the company offered unique engineering solutions making it possible to set up emergency and reserve telecommunications networks in conditions of high temperatures, earthquakes and sandstorms.

Alexander Fomin, first deputy director of the Federal Military-Technical Cooperation Service, said Russian involvement could become an important stage in expanded cooperation with regional countries and other foreign states, and that all technology, shown in Cape Town, would be used to uphold regional peace.

Other experts said off the record that current Russian efforts to enter the African market were motivated by the fact that Moscow has overlooked the region for many years since the break-up of the Soviet Union.

The U.S.S.R. actively supported African national-liberation movements, delivering military equipment to all pro-socialist regimes that promised not to cooperate with the United States.

Even though African countries still have many Soviet-made tanks, APCs, artillery systems, airplanes and mountains of small firearms and other weaponry, China, Romania, Bulgaria, Ukraine and Israel supply parts and implement all local modernization programs.

China is actively operating in the African market because other leading arms exporters, including Russia, tend to neglect the region. Judging by the countries involved in Africa Aerospace and Defens-2008, this is not exactly so.

Beijing also takes advantage of the fact that Africa cannot afford to buy expensive hi-tech equipment offered by Paris, Berlin, Brussels, Washington and Moscow.

Chinese-made copies of Soviet-era weapons are quite popular in Angola, Namibia, Tanzania, Congo, Chad and other African states because Beijing can afford to dump them on the local market and to loan money to prospective customers.

However, Moscow stopped offering such loans several years ago because the former pro-socialist countries have failed to repay similar Soviet-era loans and because the Russian government was forced to write them off, all the more so as it could not get anything in exchange for the combat equipment.

But Angola is ready to allow Moscow to develop local diamond, polymetallic-ore and other mineral deposits. The Angolan government and other African governments would like to set up joint ventures with Russian capital.

However, Russian businessmen are reluctant to operate in Africa, citing excessive risks, such as political instability and inter-ethnic disagreements at every state-administration level. Moscow could lose its regional position because European and Asian investors do not fear such risks.

Russian weapon makers have drawn the right conclusions from their old-time mistakes. In 2002, the mixed Russian - South African commission for military-technical cooperation was established. In late November 2005, representatives of national defense industries held a joint seminar. In 2006, both countries signed an inter-governmental agreement on mutual copyright protection during their military-technical cooperation.

Russia and South Africa are moving to implement several attractive projects in this realm. For instance, unmanned aerial vehicles earmarked for third countries would be equipped with small Russian engines.

There are plans to establish a regional center that would service and repair Russian aircraft and to develop small-scale radar for the South African Armed Forces, to cooperate on third countries markets and to train South African officers at Russian military academies, to hold a joint tender for a new South African main battle tank and to cooperate in the sphere of space exploration.

Russian specialists are also ready to facilitate peace-keeping operations in African states.

Consequently, Moscow had every reason to display its weapons systems in South Africa because it should not relinquish control of this attractive market segment.

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米金融再編めぐり、資金出し手に野村が浮上　欧米メディア

　米証券大手リーマン・ブラザーズの破綻をきっかけにした金融再編をめぐり、資金の出し手として野村ホールディングスが浮上していると欧米メディア（電子版）が19日、相次ぎ報じた。野村は資金に比較的余裕があるうえ、海外戦略の強化を打ち出しているだけに、こうした観測が台頭したようだ。

　英紙フィナンシャル・タイムズはリーマン・ブラザーズの欧州部門の買収をめぐり、野村が英大手金融グループのバークレイズなどと競っていると報道。近く結論が出る見通しという。

　また米紙ウォールストリート・ジャーナルは米証券大手モルガン・スタンレーが野村のほか英銀最大手ＨＳＢＣなどに資本参加を求める検討に入ったと報じた。(13:57)

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金融機関の資金市場、外銀なお調達難　流動性不安、金利上振れ

　日米欧中央銀行による協調ドル供給策発表を受けて一夜明けた19日も、流動性不安は根強く残った。国内の短期金融市場では特に外国勢が資金を調達しにくい状況が続いた。

　金融機関が日々の資金をやりとりするコール市場では、外国銀行が無担保の翌日物を一時0.7％で調達した。日銀の誘導目標（0.5％）を大きく上回る水準。同時間帯に調達した国内大手銀の金利からも0.2％近く高い水準だった。(07:00)

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ＡＩＧ救済要因の信用デリバティブ、国内取引残高3年で10倍超

　茂木敏充金融担当相は19日の参院財政金融委員会で、米保険最大手のアメリカン・インターナショナル・グループ（ＡＩＧ）が公的に救済される要因となった、信用デリバティブの一種であるクレジット・デフォルト・スワップ（ＣＤＳ）を巡り、日本国内の取引残高（想定元本ベース）が2007年6月末時点で 8128億ドルと、3年前の10倍超に急増したことを明らかにした。

　企業の倒産リスクを「保険料率」の形で売買するＣＤＳの残高は04年6月末で784億ドルだった。世界の取引残高はこの間、8兆4222億ドル（04年末）から62兆1732億ドル（07年末）に増加したとも説明した。(07:00)

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もみ殻から先端素材　栗本や阪大など、シリカ抽出技術

　栗本鉄工所は大阪大学などと共同で、もみ殻から省燃費タイヤや半導体封止材などに使う高純度シリカ（二酸化ケイ素）を取り出す技術を開発した。このほど全国農業協同組合連合会（全農）などと量産化に向けた実証設備を建設、2010年度の事業化を目指す。原料の大半を輸入に頼るシリカは資源高の影響で過去 2年間で価格が2倍程度に急騰している。農産廃棄物を活用し、国産技術で安定供給を目指す。

　実証設備として滋賀県に1日10キログラムのもみ殻を処理できる装置を稼働させた。栗本鉄工所、阪大、全農のほかプリント基板を製造する昭和ＫＤＥ（東京・渋谷）も運営に参加する。09年度までに量産技術を確立し、新潟県や東北地方など稲作の盛んな地域に量産設備を建設する計画。(16:00)

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三菱商事など３商社、ベネズエラのＬＮＧ事業に参画へ

　三菱商事、三井物産、伊藤忠商事がベネズエラで液化天然ガス（ＬＮＧ）事業への参画を検討していることが明らかになった。総事業費1兆円超のプロジェクトで、3社は最大2割程度を出資。それに見合う販売権を獲得し、日本の電力会社などに供給する。日本の主要なＬＮＧ調達先であるインドネシアが対日輸出削減を表明するなどエネルギー争奪が激しさを増すなか、調達先を多様化して安定確保を目指す。

　同事業はベネズエラ国営石油会社のＰＤＶＳＡが主導し、欧米石油メジャーなども参画する見通し。日本の3商社を含め、近くＰＤＶＳＡと事業化への覚書に調印する。(07:00)

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日光プリンスホテルを閉鎖　軽井沢スケートセンターも

　西武ホールディングス傘下のプリンスホテル（東京・豊島）は19日、日光プリンスホテル（栃木県日光市）、軽井沢スケートセンター（長野県軽井沢町）、軽井沢千ケ滝温泉ホテル（同）の3施設を閉鎖すると発表した。いずれの施設も老朽化が進んでおり、利用者の減少で採算も悪化していた。今後は他事業への転換も含めて新たな利用策を検討する。

　営業終了の時期は日光プリンスホテルが11月24日、軽井沢スケートセンターと軽井沢千ケ滝温泉ホテルが2009年3月末。ただスケートセンター内にある日帰りの温浴施設「千ケ滝温泉」の営業は継続する。閉鎖後も同じ場所で何らかの事業展開を検討しており、売却はしない方針だ。

　軽井沢千ケ滝温泉ホテルは1977年7月の開業で、178室を持つ。日光プリンスホテルは76年4月の開業。部屋数は60で、32棟のコテージも持つ。軽井沢スケートセンターはグループの元オーナー、堤義明氏が企画し、56年1月に開業した。今回の閉鎖により「堤色」は一段と薄れることになる。(07: 00)

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花善、マタギ伝統料理で駅弁　「クマ肉、食べてみて」

　駅弁の花善（秋田県大館市、花岡多香子社長）は10月11―13日、狩猟民のマタギの伝統料理を駅弁にした「マタギな鶏めし」を販売する。マタギが山中で食べる天然マイタケやクマ肉などを使った。価格は5250円。秋田駅と東京駅、花善の本社で取り扱い、3日間で400食の販売を目指す。

　昨秋売り出した新作弁当「曲げわっぱ『黒』鶏めし」は、販売開始前に行列ができるなど人気を博した。マタギな鶏めしは第2弾で、「地域の話題づくりに」（八木橋秀一常務）と企画した。

　容器は縦24.5センチ、横19センチ、高さ7.5センチ。器とはしに秋田スギの間伐材を使った。再生利用が可能という。クマ肉、子持ちアユ、山菜など15品目のおかずはすべて秋田県産という。9月22日から予約も受け付ける。

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農水省、2業者の刑事告発検討　事故米問題

　愛知県の2業者が残留農薬などで汚染された事故米を不正流通させた問題で、農林水産省は、生化学品製造・販売会社「浅井」（名古屋市）と米穀販売会社「ノノガキ穀販」（三重県四日市市）の刑事告発について検討に入った。一連の事故米問題で同省は既に「三笠フーズ」（大阪市）を告発しており、告発すれば 2件目となる。

　同省の調査などによると、浅井は2003―07年度、残留農薬やカビ毒で汚染された事故米約1297トンを国から購入。このうち、06、07年度に購入し、ノノガキ穀販に転売した中国産もち米（570トン）は、有機リン系殺虫剤「メタミドホス」が基準値（0.01PPM）を超えていた。うち11トンが主食用に転売されていたことが判明している。(17:10)

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着服：東京外語大で学生後援会の会費着服

　東京外国語大（東京都府中市）は１９日、関根彰・前入試課長補佐（５８）が０５年３月から約５０回にわたり、理事を務めていた学生後援会の会費積立金計約２３７０万円を着服したとして、同日付で懲戒解雇処分にした。全額が弁済されたため、刑事告訴は見送るという。

　大学側によると、関根前課長補佐は０４年４月から、学生のクラブ活動などを助成する後援会の出納責任者となり、会費を積み立てていた二つの口座から引き出した。

　消費者金融への借金返済や競馬に使ったという。今年７月の引き継ぎ時に発覚した。

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米財務省：ＭＭＦの払い戻しを保証する臨時制度を導入

　【ワシントン斉藤信宏】米財務省は１９日、米国内で幅広く普及している投資信託型金融商品「マネー・マーケット・ファンド」（ＭＭＦ）の払い戻しを保証する臨時の保証制度を導入すると発表した。総額５００億ドル（約５兆４０００億円）の基金を創設し、払い戻しに充てる。米連邦準備制度理事会（ＦＲＢ）も同日、金融機関に公定歩合で融資してＭＭＦからの資産買い取りを支援する対策を発表した。

　ＭＭＦは国債や社債などを中心に運用されており、米国民に浸透している。ところが、経営破綻した証券大手リーマン・ブラザーズの社債が運用対象に組み込まれていたＭＭＦが損失を計上。元本割れする商品が出たため解約が殺到するなど混乱が拡大し、米国の家計に影響を及ぼす恐れが出ていた。

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ブッシュ米大統領：演説で「不良資産買い取る制度」強調

　【ワシントン斉藤信宏】ブッシュ米大統領は１９日、ホワイトハウスで演説し、「金融機関の不良資産を買い取る制度が必要だ」と述べ、不良資産を公的資金で買い取る新組織の設立の必要性を強調した。さらに大統領は、そのためには、巨額の税金が必要になると、国民に理解を求めた。

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羽田－シンガポール線を新設

　国土交通省は１９日、シンガポールとの航空協議で、１０年に予定される羽田空港の再拡張後、深夜早朝時間帯（午後１０時～午前７時）に羽田－シンガポール線を新設することで合意した。

　両国の航空会社がそれぞれ１日２便（うち１便は貨物便）運航する。成田－シンガポール線の旅客便も成田空港の第２滑走路延伸後、シンガポール側が週１便増便して週２１便にする。

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東電、値上げ幅圧縮へ　09年1月、半分程度　他社も追随

　東京電力は19日、2009年1月に実施する予定の電力料金の値上げ幅を圧縮する検討に入った。標準家庭で1カ月800円前後としていた値上げ幅を半分程度にする方向。公共料金の大幅値上げを回避したい政府の意向を受けた措置で、原油価格が下落していることも背景にある。関西電力なども追随する見通し。家計への負担は軽減されるが、電力各社の業績が悪化する可能性がある。

　東電は柏崎刈羽原発の運転停止に伴う代替燃料費の上昇などを受け、7月28日に料金見直しを発表。10―12月は値上げを見送ったが、09年1月からは燃料費上昇を料金に反映させる燃料調整制度によって「月額800円程度、約12％値上げする可能性がある」としていた。その後、原油価格下落で燃料費は下がっている。(07:00)

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異臭あんこ、中国の工場で製造　成分を検査

　長野市の食品製造販売会社「丸生本店」の従業員2人があんを味見し、嘔吐や手足のしびれを訴えた問題で、あんは長野市の食品材料販売会社「丸冨士」が中国に持つ合弁企業の工場で作られていたことが20日、分かった。

　長野市保健所が19日に行った簡易検査では有機リン系などの物質は検出されなかったが、あんは石油のようなにおいがしたといい、同保健所と長野県警が成分を詳しく調べている。

　丸冨士によると、問題のあんは3月に中国・青島市の合弁企業の工場で製造された砂糖入りの小倉あん。密封し、一袋5キロ入り四袋を一箱に梱包、船で日本に運ばれた。賞味期限は1年間。

　同社は「問題があったのは7月中旬以降に輸入した約270箱のうちの一袋だけ。製造過程で何かが混入したとは考えにくい」と説明した。

　丸生本店の従業員2人は19日午後3時ごろ、彼岸用のおはぎを作るため、真空パックを開封し、刺激臭がしたため、指ですくって味見した。

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野良猫への餌やり、ゴミ屋敷に罰金…荒川区が条例案

　東京都荒川区は１９日、野良猫やカラス、ハトなど飼い主のいない動物に餌を与えたり、自宅にごみをため込むことを罰金付きで禁止する条例を制定すると発表した。区によると、動物への餌やりを罰則付きで禁じる条例は全国初という。可決されれば、来年４月１日から施行する。

　条例の適用は、生活環境を脅かす被害が住民の共通認識となることが前提。区は住民らが世話をしている“地域猫”には去勢手術の費用を助成し、対象外とする。

　区内の男性が約５年前からほぼ連日、未明に自宅周辺で生肉をまいてハトや野良猫に与えていたが、今年夏ごろにはカラスが集まり始め、ふんで道路が汚れたり、鳴き声で眠れないといった苦情が寄せられていた。

　区は地元町会から要望を受けたが適用できる法律が見つからず、警察庁との協議の上、今回の条例案をまとめたという。

　ごみをため込む“ごみ屋敷”は区内で２軒を確認。悪臭の苦情や火災を心配する声が寄せられていた。

　条例案によると、区は区民の苦情を受けて立ち入り調査を実施。違反行為を確認すれば勧告し、従わなければ、弁護士らでつくる審査会の意見を踏まえて氏名を公表する。最終的に従わなければ行政代執行を行う。

　立ち入り調査を拒んだり、妨げれば罰金最高１０万円、勧告に従わなければ同５万円を科す。

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「工業用糊に限り販売」　農水省の説明は大ウソだった
2008/9/11

農薬や毒カビに汚染された「事故米」が食用として出回っている事件で、農林水産省の説明に大きな疑惑が浮上している。農水省は「事故米」を、工業用糊や、木材の合板や集成材の接着剤の原料使用に限り販売を許可していると説明していたが、実は、国内では接着剤などの原料に米を使用することは殆どないことがわかった。使い道のない米を穀物業者に販売していた形になり、今後農水省の責任が厳しく追及されるのは必至だ。
糊に使うのは「事故米」でなくタピオカや小麦

問題を起こした三笠フーズの場合も「工業用糊加工品」に用途を限定することを条件に販売したという。しかし、工業用糊メーカーの大手ヤマト、不易糊工業、住友3MにJ-CASTニュースが取材すると、いずれも、澱粉糊のうち「米を原料にしているものはない」という答えが返ってきた。また、「米を原料に糊を作っているメーカーがあるという話は聞いたことがない」のだという。ちなみに澱粉糊はヤマトがタピオカ、不易糊工業はコーンスターチを原料にしている。

また、森林総合研究所によれば、合板を作る際や、集成材に使う接着剤の原料に小麦を使う例はあるものの、米を使ったものは見たことがないそうだ。工業用糊や接着剤に使われないとなると、「事故米」を工業用糊などに使用を限定、という農水省の「前提」が全く崩れてしまう。

「三笠フーズ」を発端とする今回の「事故米」の食品使用問題では、2008年9月10日に、新たに食品・資料販売会社「浅井」(名古屋市)、肥料製造会社「太田産業」(愛知県小坂井町)が米穀の仲介業者に転売していたことが発覚。食用に転用されている可能性が強まっている。

今回の「事故米」は、日本政府が世界貿易機関(WTO)のルールで輸入を義務づけられたミニマムアクセス(MA)米で、年間約77万トン輸入している中の一部。農水省のホームページには、

「MA米によって国産米の価格・需給に影響を与えないよう、加工用中心の輸入・販売を行うなどの措置を講じている」

と書かれている。
「何でも工業用に回すというわけではありません」

08年9月10日のテレビ朝日系「報道ステーション」では、東北の穀物業者が匿名でインタビューに応じていた。

「農政事務所からカビの生えた270キロの米があるという話があり、食用以外なら何でも処理していいと。それで、堆肥にするということで私が買った。(事故米は)手を出す人がいないので、お金にならない」

穀物業者に直接の依頼があるのは驚きで、それだけ「汚染米」の使い道は少なく、在庫が膨らみ、農水省は頭を痛めていた様子がうかがえる。

農水省の報道担当はJ-CASTニュースに対し、「三笠フーズ」に「事故米」を販売したのは「三笠フーズ」が工業用穀物も扱っていたため、契約通りに加工すると考えたからだと話した。しかし、「事故米」が工業用糊としては需要がないのでは、と指摘したところ、これまでの農水省の発表やJ- CASTニュースの取材に答えたこととニュアンスが一変した。

「台風で水に浸った事故米は食用としてすぐに出荷するように、事故米も臨機応変に、何でも工業用に回すというわけではありません」

という理解不能の説明だった。食用に転売される可能性にうすうす気が付いていた、といわれても仕方がないような対応だ。

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事故米転売：商品回収費用、国が負担　購入業者を救済

　汚染米不正転売問題で、汚染米を使用した商品の回収に追われる焼酎や和菓子などの製造・販売業者を救済するため、政府は２０日、事実関係を知らずに購入した業者の回収費用について、国が負担する方針を固めた。ほとんどの業者が事情を知らずに購入したとみられていることから、回収費用は１００億～２００億円と見込まれており、０８年度予算の予備費で対応する。

　農林水産省は１６日、一連の問題のうち三笠フーズ（大阪市北区）からの汚染米流通先として２４都府県、３７５の業者・施設名を公表した。政府は「消費者重視の立場」として公表の正当性を主張するが、業者側からは「検査を怠った農水省の責任を棚上げしたものだ」と批判が続出。鹿児島県酒造協同組合が「農水省の検査不備で商品が流通し、風評被害を受けた」として、国に対する損害賠償請求訴訟を検討している。

　こうした動きを受けて、政府は「このままでは賠償請求訴訟が相次ぐ」（政府高官）と判断。関係業者に経営体力に乏しい中小企業が多いことも考慮し、回収費用を国で負担することを決めた。

　政府は、２２日に発表する汚染米問題の対応策に、国の回収費用負担を盛り込む。さらに廃棄費用の負担のあり方などについても具体的な検討を進める。

　回収費用については臨時国会に提出予定の０８年度補正予算案での計上も検討したが、衆院解散・総選挙をにらみ補正予算の成立が流動化していることを踏まえ、閣議決定で対応できる予備費を活用することになった。

　０１年にＢＳＥ（牛海綿状脳症）問題で、検査をしていない国産牛肉の在庫の買い上げや焼却などの処分費用を国で負担したことがあり、政府はこの事例を参考に検討を進めてきた。【坂口裕彦】

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事故米転売：胃腸薬９５万個回収　富山の医薬品メーカー

　医薬品製造会社「日参製薬保寿堂」（富山県滑川市）は１９日、販売する胃腸薬「丸剤熊膽園（まるざいゆうたんえん）Ｓ」の原料に、カビ付きの事故米が使われた疑いがあるとして、自主回収すると発表した。対象商品は計約９５万個に上る。配置薬（置き薬）業者や卸業者など全国の約５００業者に出荷したが、健康被害の報告はないという。

　同社によると、対象は０３年７月～今年８月に製造された商品。事故米の転売が発覚した「島田化学工業」（新潟県長岡市）が、事故米と通常の米を区別せず製造した米でんぷんが原料に含まれていた。同社は「製造工程で精製され、不純物は除去されると判断しており、健康被害の可能性は低いと考えられる」としている。問い合わせは同社（０７６・４７５・０１７８）。【茶谷亮、蒔田備憲】

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丸大食品：菓子に汚染牛乳混入の疑い　中国子会社が製造

　中国の大手乳製品メーカーが製造した牛乳に化学物質メラミンが混入し、中国で死者が相次いでいる事件で、丸大食品（大阪府高槻市）は２０日、このメーカーが製造した牛乳が使われていた製品があったとして、３製品を回収することを決めた。混入の有無については検査機関に分析を依頼しており、健康被害は今のところ報告されていないという。

　丸大食品によると、この牛乳が使われていたのは、▽「クリームパンダ」▽「抹茶あずきミルクまん」▽「グラタンクレープコーン」の３品。

　いずれも中国山東省にある同社の現地子会社が製造して輸入している。中国の大手乳製品メーカー「伊利集団」から牛乳を購入し、まんじゅう皮のつなぎ材料などとして使用していたという。

　中国国内で伊利集団などの牛乳からメラミンが検出されたことが報道されたのを受けて同社が調べたところ、購入が判明したため回収を決めた。同社は「メラミンの混入は確認されていないが、念のために回収することを決めた」としている。

　中国の粉ミルク汚染事件を巡っては、中国甘粛省蘭州市の医師が今月８日、同じ粉ミルクを使っていた乳児１４人が腎臓結石の治療を受けたと公表。その後、全国で被害が報告され、５人が死亡、患者は６２００人を超えた。

　河北省石家荘市の大手乳製品メーカー「三鹿集団」が０５年４月から粉ミルクにメラミンを混入していたことが原因と判明。中国政府の検査の結果、伊利、蒙牛など大手乳業メーカーを含む２１社の粉ミルク製品からもメラミンが検出された。さらに、大手乳業メーカー３社の牛乳からもメラミンが検出され、国民の不安が広がっている。

　１８日までに三鹿集団の元代表や搾乳業者ら計１８人が逮捕・拘束されたほか、石家荘市党委員会副書記が免職になった。また、被害者や弁護士が製造業者と政府機関を相手取り、集団訴訟を準備している。

　【ことば】メラミン

　無色固体の有機窒素化合物。耐熱、耐水に優れ、食器やボタン、接着剤などに用いられるメラミン樹脂の主原料。０７年、米国などに輸出された中国製ペットフード原材料にメラミンが混入しており、犬や猫が腎不全などで死亡する事故が起きたことが発覚。商品内のたんぱく質含有量を多くみせるために混ぜられていた。

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メラミン乳混入　検疫の盲点に厚労省驚き
2008.9.21 00:13

　日本にも波及したメラミンの汚染牛乳問題。品質をごまかすために工業用の物質を混ぜる「贋造（がんぞう）」と呼ばれる行為に厚生労働省幹部は「何十年も前の話だと思っていた」と驚きを隠せない。農薬や抗生物質、細菌の検出に重点を置く現在の検疫体制で、工業用物質は盲点となっている実態が明らかになった。

　中国で被害が相次いだのを受け、厚労省は今月１２日からマーガリンの原料となる乳脂肪調整品の輸入を保留していた。ただ、厚労省は「中国側からは『加工品に使った』という情報はなかった」（監視安全課）として、原材料に乳製品を使った菓子、加工食品の輸入は、１９日まで続いた。

　メラミンは工業用の樹脂として使用されるため、厚労省は「食品に混入することはあり得ない。国際的にも食品の添加物にはなり得ない」（同）として検査項目に入れていなかった。しかし、中国では牛乳を水で薄めてもメラミンを混ぜることで、タンパク質を高く見せかける「贋造」が横行していた。

　現在の検査項目は大腸菌などの細菌、食品添加物、抗生物質、残留農薬に重点が置かれている。「終戦直後の厚生省（当時）は、酒にメチルアルコールが混入していないかなどさまざまな『贋造』を検疫で調べていた」（厚労省幹部）というが、近年、品質を重視する消費者志向から「贋造品」を輸出してくるケースは皆無だったという。

　厚労省幹部は「工業用の化学物質は数万種類はある。次は何が出てくるか分からない中で、検査をするのは費用に加え、技術面でも不可能。日本の輸入業者が、中国の工場に衛生管理者を常駐させて、原料から製品まで一括管理するしか手がない」と検疫体制の限界を認めている。

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「安全」な牛乳を中国で展開　アサヒが販売開始

　【莱陽（中国山東省）＝多部田俊輔】アサヒビールやイトーヨーカ堂、イオンが中国で「食の安全」をアピールした乳製品の販売を強化する。中国では粉ミルクなど乳製品が有害物質メラミンに汚染される事件が広がっており、消費者の中国メーカーへの不信感が募っている。衛生管理を徹底した商品の製造や販売により、中国市場での浸透を目指す。

　アサヒビールなどが設立した「山東朝日緑源乳業」は19日、山東省莱陽市で製造した成分無調整牛乳の出荷を始めた。上海や北京、青島（山東省）へ供給する。(10:35)

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白露山「１０００％吸ってない」提訴も…ロシア大使館に救済求める

　精密検査でも大麻の陽性反応が出たロシア出身の十両・白露山（２６）＝北の湖＝が７日、東京・江東区の部屋でスポーツ報知の取材に応じ、日本相撲協会の再発防止検討委員会による検査の不当を訴えた。中でも簡易検査の段階で実名を発表されるなど著しく名誉が傷ついたことを重視。今後、ロシア大使館へ出向き救済を求める考えも明言。さらに８日に開かれる理事会で解雇処分が出た場合は再防委の委員を民事提訴する強硬姿勢もあらわにした。

　ついに白露山が沈黙を破った。「１００じゃない。１０００％大麻を吸ってません」。２日の家宅捜索後の会見以来となる肉声は悲痛な叫びに満ちていた。

　２日の抜き打ち尿検査に続き、６日には精密検査でも陽性反応が出た。「最初の検査自体がおかしいと思っているので信じることはできないんです」と明言。不当検査を主張する理由は２日の簡易検査に疑問を抱いているためだ。

　検査への疑いは４点。

　〈１〉他の力士は任意で紙コップを選んだが、白露山と露鵬だけある親方から手渡された。

　〈２〉陽性反応が出た時点で痛み止めなどの薬物使用を聞かれなかった。

　〈３〉検査途中で日本アンチ・ドーピング機構の大西祥平専門委員から帰宅の許可が出たが、ある親方が居残りを命じた。

　〈４〉検査中に大西委員から「大麻使用は１００％ではない」と聞いたが、会見で「２、３日中に吸引した可能性が高い」と発言し、あたかも常習であるかの印象を一般に与えた。

　警察へは任意同行にもかかわらず、まるで連行されているように警察車両に乗せられた。何よりも検査途中にもかかわらず実名を発表され、精密検査の結果前に「犯罪者のように扱われている」と憤る。こうした事態に「露鵬と一緒にロシア大使館に行って“助けてください”と訴えにいくつもりです」と明言した。

　関係者によると、２人の訴えをロシア大使館が認めれば外務省を通じ日本相撲協会へ抗議する事態も出てくるという。大麻疑惑が外交問題へ発展する可能性が浮上してきた。さらに、白露山は８日の理事会で解雇処分が出た場合は大西専門委員、居残りを命じた再発防止検討委員の親方らを「訴えます」と名誉棄損で民事提訴する強硬姿勢も打ち出した。

　処分次第で元力士が親方を訴える泥沼の法廷闘争が現実味も帯びてきた。ただ、ある協会幹部は２人への処分に関し、現時点で立件されていないため「最大で半年間の出場停止が濃厚」と明かす。他の幹部も同様の方針だ。「１６歳でロシアから来て体がボロボロになっても相撲が好きで土俵に上がってきた。もちろん、秋場所には出ます」白露山の叫びがどこまで届くか。すべては８日の理事会で結論が出る。

（2008年9月8日10時29分 スポーツ報知）