Manhattan property joins race to the bottom

Manhattan property joins race to the bottom

By Daniel Pimlott in New York

Published: October 3 2008 14:59 | Last updated: October 3 2008 14:59

Manhattan real estate prices have joined the rest of the US in a downward tumble.

The average sales price of property on the island fell by 11.3 per cent to $1,480,363 in the three months to the end of September according to data from Miller Samuel, a real estate appraiser, compared with the previous quarter.

The data points to still deeper plunges ahead because it registers closings of sales, which are normally at least three months - and in the case of newly built apartments can be more than a year - after parties agree to a sale.

Real estate brokers say that sales have come to a near standstill since the government takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in early September.

“At the moment...there’s a lot of wait and see,” said Hall Wilkie, president of Brown Harris Stevens, a broker.

“The events of the second half of September in the financial markets and Washington have not shown up in the market data for the quarter aside from the continuation of a lower level of sales activity compared to last year’s record levels,” said Jonathan Miller, who runs Miller Samuel.

“The reduction in affordable mortgage products continues to hamper buyers, not only in New York, but in most housing markets across the country.”

Over the year, the picture appeared rosier, with average prices significantly higher, up 8.1 per cent on average. The median price was up 7.4 per cent to $928,263.

The sharp drop in price more recently came as banks tightened lending standards and the number of properties changing hands shrank, but also because initial sales of super-luxury properties costing as much as $40m at locations like 15 Central Park West and The Plaza have nearly completed.

The median price of the top 10 per cent of properties sold fell by 18.7 per cent in the quarter, even as the inventory of these high end apartments and condos soared by 89 per cent.

However, even excluding the sales of properties at these spots the sales price of apartments was down 6 per cent at $1,399,524, according to data from Brown Harris Stevens.

The price of condominiums (which fell by 6.6 per cent to $1,809,684) held up better than that of co-ops ( which dropped by 9.3 per cent to $1,161,302). Condominium prices were stronger.

A litany of other figures underlined the downward slope that the market appeared to be on.

Sales fell 24.1 over the year to 2,654 units compared with 3,499 units sold a year ago.

The inventory of homes for sale was up 34.6 per cent to 7,003 units from the prior year total of 5,204 units.

The average number of days properties waited on the market rose by 11 to134 days.

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Banks braced for insurance crackdown

By Michael Peel, Legal Correspondent

Published: October 3 2008 22:54 | Last updated: October 3 2008 22:54

Britain’s banks are braced for another setback next week when the competition watchdog is due to announce a sweeping crackdown on the huge profits it claims the lenders make on their insurance products, the Financial Times has learnt.

The Competition Commission plans to impose severe limits on the £5.5bn market for sickness and unemployment insurance that banks sell to people taking out personal loans, according to people familiar with the case say.

The move could eat into the £1.4bn of excess profits the watchdog claims the banks earn through the sales, and lead to a knock-on rise in the already soaring price of personal credit.

The commission will recommend banks are banned from selling insurance at the same time as loans, instead forcing them to hold back for a number of days to give customers a chance to shop around.

The watchdog – which is likely to publish its report at the end of next week – will also propose a halt of banks’ much-criticised practice of charging customers a lump up-front sum for their policies, on which interest is then levied. Instead, they will be asked to stagger the payments as is done with most other insurance premiums.

Banks, already under pressure from the global financial turmoil, are expected to fight the plan and argue it could stop people buying loan insurance at precisely the time they need it most.

The British Bankers’ Association, the main industry body, said: “It would strike us that now is not the time to be discouraging people from looking at how they meet their financial commitments if the worst happens.”

Advocates of the commission’s tough approach say there is no need to go easier on the banks because of the financial crisis, as institutions’ problems are related to money supply rather than profitability.

The recommendations are the latest stage in a 20-month-old probe by the commission into the banks’ sales to what it sees as a captive market.

The Office of Fair Trading last year alleged that banks were harming customer interests by loading cheap loans with expensive insurance policies.

The Competition Commission declined to comment.

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Crisis takes toll on Deripaska

By Catherine Belton and Charles Clover in Moscow

Published: October 3 2008 23:20 | Last updated: October 3 2008 23:20

Oleg Deripaska became the first Russian oligarch to be publicly hit by the global financial crisis on Friday after he was forced to divest his 20 per cent stake in Magna International, the Canadian car parts maker, to creditors.

Mr Deripaska had faced margin calls on the $1bn loan that helped fund the $1.4bn investment as the value of the stake in Magna he had offered as collateral plummeted, two people familiar with the situation said.

On paper, Mr Deripaska is Russia’s richest man with an estimated fortune of $28bn. But concern is growing about the level of indebtedness in his empire which spans aluminium, cars and construction amid the liquidity squeeze and a stock market rout that wiped more than half of the value off Russian stocks since May.

Mr Deripaska himself has taken issue with the tag of richest man because it does not take into account the high level of debt in his empire, otherwise known as Basic Element. His UC Rusal aluminium business has said it owes a total $14bn.

Rusal is battling to pay off part of a $4.5bn loan it raised to purchase a 25 per cent stake in Norilsk Nickel, the world’s biggest nickel miner, this April which was backed by shares in Norilsk, several people familiar with the situation said.

The value of the stake held as collateral has more than halved since the loan agreement was reached. Mr Deripaska has won a preliminary agreement to raise partial refinancing for the loan, three people close to the company said.

Rusal said yesterday it had planned to repay part of the loan ahead of time regardless of the global turmoil. ”We have no problems with this loan,” the company said.

A spokesman said Basic Element’s overall debt was at an ”acceptable level” and said the company would not seek to reduce its other large foreign investments – a 25 per cent stake in Austrian construction giant, Strabag, and 10 percent in Germany’s Hochtief.

The news of Mr Deripaska’s forced divestment contributed to another dramatic slide of more than 7 per cent on Friday on the RTS with trading suspended three times to halt a wave of selling. Magna shares lost 4.7 per cent on Friday.

Magna said that it would continue to pursue other opportunities in Russia, including with companies controlled by Mr Deripaska.

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Long view: Consequences game plays out to bitter end

By John Authers, Investment Editor

Published: October 3 2008 20:09 | Last updated: October 3 2008 20:09

There is a harmless parlour game called Consequences. It is great fun. People pass around a piece of paper, writing down the name of a man and a woman, where they met, what they said to each other, the consequence and the outcome.

By the end, the consequences are divorced from the original event.

A more serious version of this game is playing out in the markets. Until the final outcome is known, it is hard to make any long-term investing decisions.

Some versions of the game have been going on for a long time. For example, when President Lyndon Johnson decided it would be a good idea to sell the government mortgage agency Fannie Mae, to balance the books in the Vietnam war era, the outcome took four decades to become clear.

The presence of giant mortgage lenders with an implicit government guarantee, taking risks on the assumption that there would be a government backstop if things went wrong, forced private sector lenders to give up on trying to compete with them. Instead they headed for an area where Fannie (and Freddie Mac, which came a little later) could not go: subprime lending. We now know the consequences.

Other long-ago technical decisions now loom large. When computers were in their infancy, programmers saved space by feeding only the last two digits of the year into computers’ clocks; that prompted widespread fear that the world’s computer infrastructure would collapse at the turn of the millennium; that prompted the Federal Reserve and other central banks to flood the market with cheap money, just in case; that fuelled the boom and bust in technology stocks; that prompted fears of a downturn and led to even cheaper money from the Fed; and that made all kinds of manoeuvrings in the credit market possible that would not have made sense had base rates been higher. We are learning about the consequences of that one too.

Another string of consequences still unfolding came from the decision by the US Treasury to stop borrowing over 30-year terms (in other words, stop issuing the 30-year “long bond”). Many companies and fund managers had planned around the long bond. Its absence prompted them to look for substitutes, such as mortgage-backed securities. That boosted demand for them, with consequences we now know.

Other consequence games are working themselves out with frightening speed. Allowing Lehman Brothers to fail was in many ways a necessary gambit to show to market participants that their risk-taking could lead to ugly consequences. But it left hedge fund money stranded in Lehman, creating perverse reactions in the marketplace.

And it forced money market funds that were holding bonds issued by Lehman – and who are based on the premise that whatever they do they will never lose money – to admit that they had lost money. That caused the worst panic the money markets had seen in generations.

Then there was the ban on short selling (borrowing a share and selling it, to profit when its share price goes down) in financial stocks. That helped push the market up two weeks ago, but now there are consequences.

Many hedge funds had relied on shorting financials to make money of late. Where could they go?

They knew that fellow hedge fund managers needed to raise cash to cover losses, and that they would do this by taking profits in their most successful investments. They also knew what those investments were. Lists were circulating in Wall Street. High-tech, energy, transport and resources stocks, all bets on a global growth story that ever fewer investors truly believed, were chief among them. So the ban on shorting financials helped to prompt investors to short sell these stocks – and pushed their price down.

Politicians also now know more about the consequences of their own actions. That may explain yesterday’s vote by the US House of Representatives to reverse its staggering Monday vote against the $700bn financial bail-out package.

And it creates fresh challenges for Europe’s politicians. Ireland’s decision to insure all Irish deposits has created fears that it will lead to a rush of cash out of other countries’ banks and into Ireland’s. The eurozone has one currency, and hence one monetary policy, but it has numerous national banking systems and national fiscal policies. The game of consequences as different European states decide their own responses to the crisis should be fascinating.

The underlying reality to all these games grows ever clearer. Economic data, and falling commodity prices, suggest the world is in for a recession, probably quite a bad one. As stock markets tend to discount economic recoveries in advance, and as they have sold off in an extreme way, it is sensible to hope that there will be a tradable rally very soon, and the bottom of this bear market is not too far ahead.

But the market is in the grip of the games of consequences. Until we know their outcome it is unwise to bet on an imminent recovery.

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小包みの駅受け取り、利用できない状態に　運営会社が離脱

　郵便事業会社のサービス「ポストキューブ」が8月下旬以降、利用できない状態になっていることが分かった。「ゆうパック」を駅のコインロッカー型の機械で受け取れるサービスで、運営会社のエックス・キューブ社（東京・中央）から「サービスを継続できない」との連絡があったという。郵便会社は新たな運営会社を探し、再開にこぎ着けたい考えだ。

　ポストキューブは利用者があらかじめ登録し、受け取り場所を指定しておけば、配達したという連絡が携帯電話にメールで届き、荷物を好きな時に無料で受け取れるサービス。旧日本郵政公社時代の2005年に始まり、当初はサービス向上の切り札と期待された。(13:01)

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米ＡＩＧ、アリコ売却へ　損保事業に集中

　米保険最大手アメリカン・インターナショナル・グループ（ＡＩＧ）の日本法人は3日、ＡＩＧエジソン生命保険とＡＩＧスター生命保険に加え、アリコジャパンを含む米アリコを売却すると発表した。これに先立ちＡＩＧ本社は事業の再構築（リストラ）の方向性について「損害保険事業に経営資源を集中する」方針を示した。日本の生保3社が売却されても保険契約は基本的に継続される見通し。

　ＡＩＧが売却意向を示した日本の生保3社の保険料収入の合計額は2兆円を超え、日本生命保険など4大生保に次ぐ規模。すでに海外の大手生保を中心に買収に関心を寄せているとの見方もあり、米金融危機が国内の生保再編の引き金を引く可能性が大きい。(00:34)

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ＡＩＧ、日本の３生保売却　日生・東京海上など関心

　米アメリカン・インターナショナル・グループ（ＡＩＧ）が日本国内の生命保険3社の売却方針を発表したことで、国内の大手生損保や外資系保険会社による大型の争奪戦に発展しそうだ。業界関係者によると、日本生命保険、東京海上ホールディングスが買収に関心を示しており、独アリアンツ、英プルーデンシャルなどの名も挙がっている。保険業界の大再編につながる可能性も出てきた。

　生保3社の保険料収入は合計で2兆1000億円と国内大手生保に匹敵する。仮に全株売ると、売却額は計1兆数千億円に達するとの見方もある。(07:00)

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大手銀、９月中間業績大幅下振れ　「米金融危機」などで

　大手銀行8グループの2008年9月中間期決算は当初予想より大幅に下振れしたもようだ。米金融危機に伴う株安による減損処理や不良債権処理損失の増加、金融商品の販売不振という3つの重しにより、利益が計画を3割強下回り、下方修正に追い込まれる銀行も相次ぎそうだ。邦銀は米欧の金融機関に比べて危機の影響は軽いとはいえ、業績面では厳しさが増している。

　大手銀8グループ（三菱ＵＦＪ、みずほ、三井住友、りそな、住友信託、中央三井トラスト、新生、あおぞら）は今年度当初、9月中間期の連結純利益が合計 1兆円強と前年同期に比べて微減にとどまると見込んでいた。しかし、国内外で経営環境が急速に悪化。4―6月期の純利益は合計で前年同期比3割のマイナスとなった。9月中間期は減益幅がさらに広がり、前年中間期から半減した可能性もある。(07:00)

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軍事転用防止へ汎用品の輸出規制拡充　炭素素材など32品目追加

　経済産業省は兵器の開発につながりそうな素材などの汎用品の輸出規制を強化する。すでに規制している約200品目の汎用品に、炭素素材など32品目を加える。兵器の輸出を適正に管理している「先進国」と、兵器を輸出できない禁輸国のどちらにも入らない「中間国」も規制対象とする。欧米は同様の規制をすでに導入しており、安全保障上の観点から監視を強める。

　外国為替令と輸出貿易管理令を改正し、11月に施行する。ミサイル部品にもなる炭素繊維やニッケル合金、ウラン濃縮用遠心分離機にも応用できる工作機械などが新たな規制品目となる。(07:00)

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二輪、インドで販売攻勢　ホンダ、農村に専任500人

　【ニューデリー＝稲井創一】二輪車各社がインドで相次ぎ販売体制を拡充する。インド市場で最大手のホンダは手薄だった農村部の開拓のために500人の専任販売チームを創設する。川崎重工業は提携先の現地大手を通じて年内にも同国市場に参入する。日本勢が販売攻勢に乗り出すことで、低価格を武器とする現地メーカーとの市場争奪戦が激しくなりそうだ。

　ホンダは現地大手ヒーローグループとの合弁会社に農村部の営業活動を手掛ける専門部署を設置した。今年度中にも各ディーラーから計500人の販売員を選抜する。トラックを使った移動式販売店の展開も始める。穀物価格の上昇などで農村部は所得水準が向上しており、ホンダは販売体制をいち早く確立する。

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ＢＭＷ、超小型電気自動車「開発に着手」　大都市向け

　【パリ＝後藤未知夫】独ＢＭＷのノーベルト・ライトホファー社長はパリ市内で日本経済新聞のインタビューに応じ、大都市での利用を想定した超小型電気自動車の開発に着手したことを明らかにした。同社長は「東京や欧米の大都市を走る超小型車はハイブリッド車よりも電気自動車を基本に開発する」と述べた。ハイブリッド車に続き、電気自動車でも世界の自動車大手の開発競争が激しくなりそうだ。

　ＢＭＷはすでに傘下の小型車「ミニ」で電気自動車を開発しており、これをもとに大都市向け超小型車を実用化する。ベースとなる電気自動車は今年末から来年にかけて、米国の都市部に500台を配備し、通勤や買い物など大都市での利用の実証試験を始める。欧州ではロンドンとベルリンで実証試験を実施する。

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フルキャストの日雇い撤退、中小企業の経営に影響

　フルキャストホールディングスは3日、2009年9月末までに日雇い派遣から完全撤退すると発表した。グッドウィルに次ぎ、フルキャストまで手を引くことで、大手の日雇い派遣業者はなくなる。ユーザーの中小企業の経営にも影響を及ぼしそうだ。

　日雇い派遣を利用している企業のなかでも、中小・零細業者が大きな打撃を受ける。春には人手不足に陥る引っ越し業者などは労働力を日雇い派遣に依存しているケースも多い。携帯電話などの検品を手がける業者も「数カ月ごとに訪れる新製品発売の前の大量の人手確保に日雇い派遣の活用は欠かせない」。

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企業の資金調達急減　公募増資は15年ぶり低水準

　金融混乱で企業の資本市場からの資金調達が急減している。1―9月の公募増資は約600億円で前年同期から8割以上減り15年ぶりの低水準。社債発行を延期したり金額を減らす企業もあり、市場の「資金供給機能」は停滞している。金融不安が実体経済を冷やし、企業収益が悪化して資金需要も細る悪循環が鮮明だ。

　1―3月の公募増資（新規株式公開を除く）は432億円、4―6月は123億円で、米リーマン・ブラザーズ破綻などで株式相場の下落幅が拡大した7―9月は100億円を割り込んだ。(07:00)

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山崎製パンと日清食品、再値上げ見送り　食品価格上昇に転機

　山崎製パンと日清食品は3日、年末年始に予定していたパン類や即席めんの再値上げをそれぞれ見送ることを決めた。10月から政府が輸入小麦の売り渡し価格を10％上げたが、消費不振が深刻なため価格を据え置く。製パンと即席めん最大手が見送りを決めたことで、パン、めん、菓子などの食品会社が追随するのは必至。昨春から続いた食品値上げの流れに変化が出そうだ。

　政府は10月から小麦価格を約20％上げるとみられていたため、両社は当初「製品価格に転嫁せざるを得ない」（安藤宏基日清食品ホールディングス社長）と、値上げの意向を示していた。(07:00)

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October 3, 2008, 11:33 am
What’s the Healthiest Diet of All?
By Peter Libby, M.D.
INSERT DESCRIPTIONDiners at an outdoor cafe in Corsica, France. (Ed Alcock for The New York Times)

What exactly do doctors mean by a “healthy diet”?

Many of us consider the Mediterranean diet to be the closest thing known to an ideal meal plan, rich in vegetables, fruits, legumes, cereals, fish, olive oil and, yes, a bit of red wine with meals. Compared to traditional American menu — high in red meat and in butter and other dairy products — the Mediterranean diet is lower in saturated fat, more varied and often more satisfying.

Decades worth of research also suggests that this way of eating is healthier. Many studies have documented reduced rates of heart disease and cancer among those adhering to a Mediterranean diet, compared to those eating more red meat and dairy-based regimens. Most of these studies have involved observations rather than actual intervention trials, however, and they have varied in size.

Now the British Medical Journal has published a systematic compilation of a dozen of the most methodologically sound of these observational studies, which included over 1.5 million people followed for up to eighteen years, analyzing cardiovascular consequences and some other important health outcomes. This large meta-analysis found decreased cardiovascular death as well as cancer mortality, as well as a lowered incidence of Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease, in those following the Mediterranean diet versus those on other diets.

While such meta-analyses have limitations and cannot be considered as persuasive as large, randomized intervention trials, the new study further supports the idea that the Mediterranean diet can confer important health benefits.

Different diets abound, many even promoted by physicians. But it’s a mistake to think of a diet as a temporary measure; instead, it is a lifetime commitment to healthy choices. Need to lose weight now? Don’t rush. Take comfort in knowing that even a modest incremental reduction can confer significant health benefits, lowering your risk of heart disease or diabetes. Crash diets only set us up “yo-yo” weight loss and regain.

Whatever eating habits you adopt must be sustainable over the long term. Many researchers regard this as the Mediterranean diet’s greatest strength. You can stick to it, and like it, year after year.

How sad, then, to learn that a diet that whose adherents were among the longest-lived in the world is now fading from view. The governments of Greece, Italy, Spain and Morocco have asked that UNESCO designate the Mediterranean diet an “intangible piece of cultural heritage.” But as The Times recently reported, fast food is proliferating across the Mediterranean region, threatening to propagate a U.S.-style obesity epidemic.

In Greece, three-quarters of the adult population is now overweight or obese, and at increasing risk for diabetes, heart disease and arthritis, among other maladies. “Much of the highly praised diet didn’t exist any more,” said a senior economist at the United Nations. ”It has become just a notion.” Rather than turning our backs on this traditional diet, the new data suggest we could all derive substantial health benefits from it.

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Russia backs idea of creation of Caspian Economic Coop

03.10.2008, 11.59

ASTRAKHAN, October 3 (Itar-Tass) - Russia backs the initiative on the creation of the Caspian Economic Cooperation Organisation, First Vice Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov said at the first intergovernmental economic conference of Caspian littoral states on Friday.

“Russia backs such an initiative, the establishment of the organisation will promote consolidation of the Caspian “five,” he said.

It is planned that the organisation members will become Russia, Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan. “The main spheres of the organisation’s activity would be cooperation in the energy industry, transport, aquatic biological resources sphere, as well as in finances, investments and trade,” believes the Russian first vice prime minister.

“It is possible to create two centres in the future – a centre of Caspian economic and political studies and centre for biological resources’ research,” Zubkov stated. He also believes that it is possible in the future to establish “a special organisation for the financing of joint investment projects – a joint bank.”

According to a report of the Azerbaijani news agency APA, the first Intergovernmental Economic Conference of the Caspian littoral states started in Astrakhan, Russia with the participation of that government representatives of Russia, Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan and representatives of international companies will attend the conference.

The meeting of governments and related ministries of the Caspian region, sessions of the representatives of business and expert circles, press conferences, introduction of investment projects of the Caspian states, cultural and industrial facilities of Astrakhan have been scheduled within the two-day conference, it said.

The sessions will focus on improvement of economic cooperation, development prospects of oil, gas, transport infrastructure, ecological security of the region and other issues. International exhibition of investment projects and technologies of regional countries will also take place within the framework of the conference. Russia’s Prime Minister Vladimir Putin addressed the participants of the conference. According to the press service of Astrakhan governor, the appeal says that the aim of the forum is to give impetus to the development of effective partnership in the Caspian.

Voice of Russia reported that the economic conference is discussing ways to build a regional economic cooperation organization. The delegates want this new organization to resemble that of the Black Sea in its efforts to encourage the free flow of commodities, money, services, and labour force across the member-nations’ borders. Chances for the creation of a Caspian bank were discussed in the run-up for the Astrakhan conference but final decisions will be made at the Caspian summit conference, which is to be held early next year in Baku, Azerbaijan.

The Caspian Sea is the largest enclosed body of water on Earth by area, variously classed as the world’s largest lake or a full-fledged sea. It has a surface area of 371,000 square kilometres (143,244 sq mi) and a volume of 78,200 cubic kilometres (18,761 cu mi). It is an endorheic body of water (has no outflows), and lies between the southern areas of the Russian Federation and northern Iran. It has a maximum depth of about 1,025 metres (3,363 ft).

It was perceived as a sea by its ancient coastal inhabitants because it is salty and seemed boundless. It has a salinity of approximately 1.2 percent, about a third the salinity of most seawater. According to Strabo, it is named after an ancient people called Caspians.

The Caspian Sea is the largest inland body of water in the world and accounts for 40 to 44 percent of the total lacustrine waters of the world. The coastlines of the Caspian are shared by Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Turkmenistan. The Caspian is divided into three distinct physical regions: Northern, Middle, and Southern Caspian. The North-Middle boundary is the Mangyshlak threshold, which runs through Chechen Island and Cape Tiub-Karagan. The Middle-South boundary is the Apsheron threshold, a sill of tectonic origin that runs through Zhiloi Island and Cape Kuuli.

The oil in the Caspian basin is estimated to be worth over US $12 trillion. The sudden collapse of the USSR and subsequent opening of the region has led to an intense investment and development scramble by international oil companies. In 1998 Dick Cheney commented that “I can’t think of a time when we’ve had a region emerge as suddenly to become as strategically significant as the Caspian.”

A key problem to further development in the region is the status of the Caspian Sea and the establishment of the water boundaries among the five littoral states. The current disputes along Azerbaijan’s maritime borders with Turkmenistan and Iran could potentially affect future development plans.

Much controversy currently exists over the proposed Trans-Caspian oil and gas pipelines. These projects would allow western markets easier access to Kazakh oil, and potentially Uzbek and Turkmen gas as well. The United States has given its support for the pipelines. Russia officially opposes the project on environmental grounds. Analysts note that the pipelines would bypass Russia completely, thereby denying the country valuable transit fees, as well as destroying its current monopoly on westward-bound hydrocarbon exports from the region. Recently both Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan have expressed their support for the Trans-Caspian Pipeline.

On September 4, 2008, Mehti Safari, Iran’s deputy foreign minister, told journalists that Tehran opposes the construction of any undersea pipelines in the Caspian.

The project is heavily criticized by Russia and Iran, current export countries of Turkmen gas. Alexander Golovin, special envoy on Caspian issues, has stated that a major gas pipeline would pose a serious, dangerous risk to the prosperity of the entire region. According to the Russian Natural Resources Ministry, any gas or oil pipelines across the floor of the Caspian Sea would be environmentally unacceptable. Russia has also taken the legal position that a potential pipeline project, regardless of the route it takes on the seabed, would require the consent of all five Caspian littoral states in order to proceed.

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Putin to Ukraine: Don’t bite the hand that feeds you
03.10.2008 Source: Pravda.Ru URL: http://english.pravda.ru/world/ussr/106520-putin_ukraine-0

Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko conducted negotiations with her Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on October 2. Tymoshenko arrived in Moscow to discuss the question with the price on natural gas, which Ukraine buys from Russia.

Experts say that Tymoshenko may take an advantage over her political rivals in Ukraine in the event the problem is solved positively for Kiev.

Tymoshenko’s trip to Moscow was quite an adventure. Her flight on board the presidential jetliner was canceled shortly before the departure. It was said that President Yushchenko supposedly needed to use the plane too for a flight to Lvov. As a result, Tymoshenko had to board a charter plane. Spokespeople for the Ukrainian prime minister in Kiev said that the incident with the plane had been plotted by Yushchenko’s camp.

Putin reminded Tymoshenko during their meeting in the Moscow region that Ukraine was making arms shipments to Georgia.

“It is a great pity that Ukraine considered it possible to deliver arms to the conflict zone,” Interfax quoted Putin as saying. “There could not be a bigger crime committed to the people of Ukraine and Russia than making arms shipments to the conflict zone,” he added after the talks.

“It was impossible to imagine several years ago that Russians and Ukrainians will be fighting each other,” Putin said. The prime minister emphasized that the shipments per se were not that significant since it was a commercial matter. “But there were military systems and people used to kill soldiers – Russian people, which is an alarming signal for us,” Putin stated.

“Has it been done for the sake of the Ukrainian nation? What are the interests of the Ukrainian people there? This is a political intrigue, an irresponsible and harmful crime, the crime, when the Russian and the Ukrainian nations clash,” Putin said.

Yulia Tymoshenko was not so emphatic in her remarks. She stated that all the accusations need to be proved first. “I do not think that the facts will be confirmed,” she said.

Vladimir Putin pointed out that the unstable political situation in Ukraine may eventually question the effectiveness of the signed agreements between Moscow and Kiev. “But I hope that they won’t be revised,” he added.

“Unfortunately, our meeting is taking place under very complicated conditions. It is connected with the uncertainty in the decisions linked with the political situation in Ukraine. One question arises in connection with the agreements that we are discussing today – what is going to happen with them tomorrow?” Putin told Tymoshenko.

Tymoshenko stated that Ukraine considers Russia as an absolute strategic partner.

Russia 's use of force in Georgia has deepened nervousness among many Ukrainians about their larger neighbor, whose leaders are vehemently opposing Yushchenko's efforts to bring Ukraine into NATO. The Kremlin has warned NATO against granting membership to Ukraine or Georgia.

Moscow could use the price for its natural gas as a bargaining chip in its effort to stem Ukraine's strengthening of ties with the West.

The gas cooperation memorandum signed Thursday leaves ample room for wrangling over prices in actual contracts. But Tymoshenko said she won a Russian commitment that prices would rise only gradually.

"The parties confirmed their desire to gradually move to free-market prices over the next three years," Tymoshenko said. "We have reached an agreement that our countries don't need shock therapy."

The dealings with Putin are something of a turnaround for Tymoshenko, who has strongly criticized Russia in the past.

She allied with Yushchenko during the Orange Revolution that propelled him to the presidency in 2004 over a pro-Russia candidate, and she said last year the West should thwart Moscow's ambition to regain influence over countries that were once part of its empire.

But Yushchenko and Tymoshenko have been feuding bitterly — the governing coalition of their political parties collapsed last month, raising the prospect of new elections — and she has increasingly talked about the need to improve ties with Russia.

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Russian entrepreneur claims his rights for Kremlin’s royal treasures and buildings
03.10.2008 Source: Pravda.Ru URL: http://english.pravda.ru/russia/history/106518-kremlin_treasures-0

Many Russian imposters have been attracted to the idea of pronouncing themselves the successors of a royal family or a dynasty to obtain all adequate privileges. The Romanovs continue to emerge here and there claiming that their ancestors survived the Bolshevik execution.

A new descendant of Russia’s ancient tsarist Rurikovich family, a writer and the chairman of the Orthodox Democracy Party, Valery Kubarev, claims that he has a right to obtain the title of a Grand Duke and several buildings of the Moscow Kremlin.

Kubarev posted the address to “the presidents of Russia” on his website on March 31, shortly before Dmitry Medvedev’s inauguration.

“At masons’ and people’s will you have found yourself on the top of the state power of the Russian Federation. A Varangian and a Grand Duke of All Russia, Valery Viktorovich Kubarev is addressing to you. I herewith ask you to make the following state decisions to retrieve the historical justice and stability in Russia,” the newly-made Grand Duke wrote.

“Assign the Faceted Chamber, the Tower Chamber of the Moscow Kremlin and the Rurikovich relic – the Monomakh’s Cap, the crown of the Russian Empire – to my family. Stop anonymous power groups from occupying the Russian Federation,” the “descendant” stated.

“The claims should be met through the decree of the Russian President about the assignment of the above-mentioned property and the imperial insignia to the clan deriving from God. The time for you to make the decisions expires on April 1, 2009,” the “Duke” concluded.

Kubarev published a benediction from the Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia Aleksi II, which, as the author believed, should confirm the legitimacy of his intentions.

Needless to say that no one has ever responded to the words from the Grand Duke of All Russia. Kubarev decided to proceed with his endeavor and asked the powers that be to give their power to him.

Valery Kubarev said in his new address to President Medvedev and Prime Minister Putin that they only had six months left to issue and sign the decree to assign the Kremlin property to him.

“I offer you to have a sober look at the consequences of your possible refusal in meeting my claims. The events in Russia and in the world prove that your persistency can be dangerous,” Kubarev wrote.

The self-proclaimed Grand Duke was born in Moscow in 1962 and graduated from the Moscow Aviation Institute. He subsequently became a successful entrepreneur and organized the Orthodox Democracy Party in 2004. The party backed up actions of protest in support of disgraced oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky.

He is also known as the author of pseudo-patriotic books “Christ”, “Armageddon,” “The Conservative” and others.

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Norilsk Nickel's 1H08 net profit down 33% to $2.68 bln - 2

15:27 | 03/ 10/ 2008

MOSCOW, October 3 (RIA Novosti) - Russian metals giant Norilsk Nickel said on Friday its net profit calculated to International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) declined 33% year-on-year to $2.68 billion in the first half of 2008.

Revenue increased 5.4% to $8.31 billion in the reporting period.

The company's shares dropped 10.94% on the MICEX exchange and by more than 8% on the RTS as of 14:05 Moscow time (10:05 GMT) on the news.

Norilsk Nickel accounts for more than 20% of global nickel output, more than 10% of cobalt production and 3% of copper. Its nickel output increased almost 13.8%, year-on-year, to 143,400 metric tons in January-June 2008.

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元若ノ鵬の出廷微妙、裁判長が消極的

　９月２９日に八百長裁判の証人となる意思を表明した元幕内若ノ鵬（２０＝本名ガグロエフ・ソスラン）が、以後の裁判に出廷するか微妙となった。３日に行われた日本相撲協会と講談社の「八百長裁判」で、中村也寸志裁判長が先月末に提出された証拠申立書を見て、出廷に消極的な姿勢を示した。なお、次回弁論ではビデオ検証もされる見込み。

　講談社側の“切り札”が不発に終わる可能性が出てきた。この日の弁論の中で、中村裁判長は元若ノ鵬が提出した証拠申立書を見て「この内容では（証人出廷には）消極的になりますね」と、裁判の本筋とのズレがあることを理由に、出廷申請の許可を見送った。

　講談社側にとって朝青龍とも対戦経験のある元幕内力士はうってつけの証人だった。大麻事件が不起訴となり、先月８日に釈放されると、元若ノ鵬側に「八百長裁判で話してくれ」とアプローチ。同２９日には元若ノ鵬が、会見を開き証人として出廷すると宣言。３０日には証拠申立書を提出していた。だが、その証拠申立書に裁判長が難色示していることに加え、元若ノ鵬の興行ビザが１１月１８日に切れるため、次回裁判に間に合わない可能性も出てきた。

　元若ノ鵬側も足並みが乱れている。解雇撤回を求めて協会を訴えた裁判の代理人である宮田真弁護士は、八百長裁判の証人になることには断固として反対の姿勢を示している。だが２９日の会見以後、元若ノ鵬は「友達と一緒にいて会えない。心配しないで」と電話で話すだけで、直接会う機会を持てず、思うように説得ができないという。

　中村裁判長は、陳述書の提出期日を１０月２０日までとし、その内容次第で証人出廷の是非と、次回期日を決めると話した。講談社側は次回裁判でビデオを用い、八百長を立証していく構えだが、満を持して用意した強力な味方が、効力を成さなくなる可能性が出てきた。

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「週刊現代」側“第２の刺客”元若ノ鵬の証人申請を保留

　日本相撲協会と朝青龍ら力士が八百長疑惑を報じた週刊現代を発行する講談社などへ名誉棄損による損害賠償などを求めた訴訟の口頭弁論が３日、東京地裁であり、朝青龍が協会側の証人として現役横綱で事実上、初めて出廷した。

　週刊現代側は３日、大麻所持法違反で逮捕され日本相撲協会を解雇されたロシア人の元幕内・若ノ鵬（２０）の証人申請を行った。しかし、中村裁判長は「積極的には採用できない」と回答。裁判所は２０日までに証人尋問を行う際に必要とされる陳述書の提出を求め、申請を保留した。現代側は若ノ鵬の入国ビザが１１月１８日に切れるため、その前に証人尋問をしたい考えで、１１月１１日の小法廷も確保されたが、陳述書を検討した上で決定する。

　昨年４月に始まった今回の八百長疑惑裁判は、３日の口頭弁論でようやく、当事者同士の法廷での対決が実現して最大の山場を終えた。しかし、物証もなく、朝青龍が否認するという形で終了。現代側にとって、元若ノ鵬は裁判を有利に進めるための最後の刺客。本人も９月２９日の会見で、アンフェアな取組が現役時代にあったことを認め「現代のために証人になる」と話している。有力な証人になると予想されるが、協会側の弁護士も元若ノ鵬が証人として出てきた場合には「こちらも新証人を出すことになると思う」と対抗策を検討し始めた。

　今後の見通しに関し、協会側の吉川弁護士は「いずれにしても、来年の春には判決が出るでしょう」とした。また、大麻の陽性反応で日本相撲協会を解雇された元露鵬（２８）、元白露山（２６）が今回の裁判では原告側に名を連ねているが、協会側弁護士は「２人を外す可能性がある」と話した。

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「どんな気持ちで…聞きたい」＝暴行死亡力士の父－時津風兄弟子ら７日に初公判

　大相撲時津風部屋の序ノ口力士斉藤俊さん＝当時（１７）＝が宿舎で暴行を受け死亡した事件で、傷害致死罪に問われた伊塚雄一郎被告（２５）＝番付外怒涛＝ら兄弟子３人の初公判を前に、俊さんの父正人さん（５１）が取材に応じ「知りたくないような思いもあるが、どういう気持ちであそこまでしたのか聞きたい」と心境を語った。

　初公判は７日午前１０時から名古屋地裁で開かれる。兄弟子３人は起訴事実を大筋で認める方針で、有罪が確定すれば解雇するという日本相撲協会の方針もあり、既にまげは落としているという。

　正人さんは「裁判では何発殴ったとか、想像以上にひどいものが出てくるかもしれない。知りたいような、知りたくないような思いで不安だが、真実を受け止めたい」と心情を吐露。「楽しんでなのか、憎くてなのか、どういう気持ちであそこまでしたのか…」と言葉を詰まらせた。　

　暴行を指示したとされる元親方山本順一被告（５８）＝公判前整理手続き中＝については「死ぬまでかわいがったのに自分だけ非を認めず、弟子に責任をなすり付ける姿勢には憤りを感じる。本当に赤い血が流れているのか。同じ親として聞きたい」と語気を強めた。

　俊さんの事件を契機に、別の部屋の暴行なども少しずつ明らかに。大麻や八百長疑惑で揺れる角界のニュースを前に「とんでもない世界と分かっていたら、入れなかったのに」と悔やんだ。

　「日本一になる」という夢を持っていた俊さん。正人さんは遺影に向かい「お前はもう日本一になったよ。あと少しだけ力を貸してくれ」と語り掛けているという。（了）

斉藤俊（さいとう・たかし）怒涛（どとう）正人（まさと）