Money market rates fall as big freeze eases

Money market rates fall as big freeze eases

By Michael Mackenzie in New York

Published: October 20 2008 19:57 | Last updated: October 20 2008 19:57

Money market rates fell again on Monday in a sign that the programmes of central bank liquidity are thawing the recent freeze in short-term lending.

By a number of measures, conditions across the money markets improved. With the banking system now supported by governments and hefty amounts of short-term central bank funding, traders reported renewed lending in both the money and commercial paper markets.

Analysts say this crucial first step in conjunction with central bank liquidity programmes accelerating into the end of the year, should ultimately facilitate renewed lending from money market funds.

George Goncalves, a strategist at Morgan Stanley, said: “We need to see money market funds provide credit and not central banks, but we are moving up against the window of year-end when credit usually contracts.”

Plans by the US Federal Reserve to support the commercial paper market, an important source of funding for companies, is helping ease some of the recent freeze in lending beyond one day, say traders.

While money rates remain well above normal levels, traders are hopeful that the peak of extreme risk aversion has passed.

The three-month dollar London Interbank Offered Rate, the main reference level for floating rate loans, mortgages and interest rate derivatives, was fixed at 4.06 per cent, a drop of 36 basis points from Friday. Libor has eased from a peak of 4.82 per cent this month but remains well above the overnight target rate of 1.50 per cent set by the Fed.

The drop in Libor alleviated some of the stress measured by the so-called Ted spread, which is the difference between yields on three-month Treasury bills and three-month dollar Libor.

This measure of risk aversion between the haven of short-term Treasury and money market credit was at unprecedented levels above 4.5 percentage points last week. On Monday, the Ted spread was at 3.15 percentage points.

Three-month sterling and euro Libor fell. Both benchmarks have fallen sharply, but remain above levels of early September. That means Libor has not yet accounted for the recent half a percentage point ease by central banks.

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Short View: Is it safe to go back in the water?

By John Authers

Published: October 20 2008 20:58 | Last updated: October 20 2008 20:58

Is it really safe to go back in the water? The easing of tension in the money markets in the week since world governments made their most drastic efforts to deal with the credit crisis is now palpable.

Credit default swaps suggest the risk of a default by a series of big banks – the true “Armageddon scenario” – has fallen significantly.

Banks’ own behaviour, as shown by the rates at which they lend to each other, also suggests that the worst is behind us. In the US, banks will now lend to each other overnight at 1.51 per cent, compared with an incredible 5.37 per cent earlier this month. Three-month rates have also receded significantly, but remain far above historical norms.

But there are many caveats. Continuing extreme volatility in equities shows persistent fears of another accident, most likely from a hedge fund rather than a bank. And fears around emerging markets remain acute. South Korea’s Kospi index, even after its government rescued its banking sector, is now trading lower in dollar terms than it did before the 1997 Asia crisis.

The credit market still shows extreme concern over the creditworthiness of anything other than the highest quality companies.

The iTraxx crossover index in Europe, and the CDX high-yield index in the US, which show the cost of insuring against default, are both at or near their highs for the crisis.

And the still tiny yields available on US T-bills (0.06 per cent for four weeks) suggest that money market funds, which have taken in mountains of cash in the past week, are not comfortable lending to anyone other than Uncle Sam.

Ultimately, the crisis will only end when investors, using their own money not borrowed cash, buy credit (or, in other words, lend). People are still unprepared to lend their own money – and that is a brake on stocks and the economy.

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Brazil issues dollar loans to aid exporters

By Jonathan Wheatley in São Paulo

Published: October 20 2008 21:49 | Last updated: October 20 2008 23:59

Brazil’s central bank issued $1.62bn (£940m) in six-month loans on Monday in an attempt to provide relief to exporters.

The bank had offered $2bn to companies starved of trade finance as the crisis on global financial markets worsened over the past month.

The move, designed to provide much-needed liquidity in US dollars, follows initiatives to provide liquidity in Brazil’s currency, the Real, to companies that have been unable to tap usual sources of short-term credit in Brazil’s banking sector.

“Credit lines have dried up,” said Claudio Andrade of Polo Capital, a fund manager in Rio de Janeiro. “It’s mostly on the margin, but the market operates on the margin and once prices go up the whole market feels it.”

The central bank has recently reduced its stringent reserve requirements – under which banks are obliged to leave a substantial proportion of their deposits at the central bank – to release more than R$100bn (US$47.5bn, £27.7bn) into the economy.

But many banks have chosen not to use the money to provide credit and have instead been buying high-yielding government bonds.

Henrique Meirelles, governor of the central bank, said Monday's loans must be used exclusively to provide trade finance – and that banks using the funds for other purposes would be punished under Brazilian law.

The country’s exporters, especially in the farming sector, have been hit by a conjunction of factors including falling commodity prices that would have caused trouble for many even without the credit squeeze.

Several companies have also got into difficulty by betting on the continued appreciation of the Real, which advanced from R$3.95 to the US dollar in October 2002 to R$1.56 in May, before falling sharply to as low as R$2.33 earlier this month.

Sadia, a food processor, Aracruz, a paper and pulp producer, and Votorantim, an industrial conglomerate, have announced heavy losses. Votorantim paid R$2.2bn this month to exit positions in currency derivatives.

The government fears that as many as 250 other companies may be in similar difficulties.

This is just one reason why Brazilian banks have been unwilling to lend to companies in recent weeks. More general concerns about a slowdown in the country’s economy have added to their reluctance.

Until the financial crisis worsened over the past month, many economists expected Brazil to post growth in gross domestic product of up to 5.5 per cent next year, in line with growth this year and last. Many have since reduced their predictions to less than 3.5 per cent.

Other commodities exporting countries in the region, such as Argentina, Chile and Peru, face a slump in growth next year as global demand falls. Mexico – where companies have also suffered badly by betting the wrong way on the currency – is especially vulnerable to a slowdown in the US.

Brazil’s central bank accepted four loan proposals, setting the interest rate at 0.11 percentage points above the London interbank overnight rate. Participating banks will have to post collateral equal to 105 per cent of any loans in the form of Brazilian sovereign bonds.

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OECD countries take aim on tax havens

5 mins ago
AFP

Representatives of 20 of the world's leading economies meet Tuesday to discuss how to crack down on so-called tax havens, with the global financial crisis boosting calls to tighten the screws.

The meeting of 20 Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries had been scheduled for sometime, but the financial crisis has brought a great sense of urgency to the meeting.

"We cannot resolve the financial crisis by introducing more regulation and leaving pockets of non-regulation to prosper," said Pascal Saint Amans, head of the OECD's international tax division.

While they are not the cause of the crisis, the 50 tax havens across the world that are estimated to hold 10 trillion dollars of financial assets are seen as having contributed to the instability of the financial system.

The countries will publish an open letter in which they will underline their wish to crack down on tax havens.

Tax havens are countries with a tax structure established to allow wealthy individuals or companies to pay less, or even no tax.

They attract overseas investors because money can be parked there with a high level of secrecy and protection from international tax investigators.

For Christian Chavagneux, author of a book on the subject, the offshore centres contributed to the global financial crisis by allowing banks such as Britain's Northern Rock or the US investment bank Bear Stearns to hide their losses.

They also affect the system's stability as they play host to most hedge funds, many of which are based in the Cayman Islands. These non-regulated speculative funds have been selling their assets in the past two weeks, owing to the fall of the stock markets and raw materials prices.

According to the lobby group, Transparency International France, there are approximately 50 tax havens worldwide in which more than 400 banks, two-thirds of hedge funds and two million top corporations have stashed some 10 trillion dollars of financial assets -- four times France's gross domestic product (GDP).

The political climate no longer favours turning a blind eye to them.

After the US and European governments bailed out a number of banks, many politicians are now beginning to question why some of those same financial institutions can continue to operate in countries that encourage tax evasion.

"Is it is normal that a bank that to we guarantee loans to or we allocate our own funds ... continues operating in tax havens," said French President Nicolas Sarkozy last week.

Liechtenstein has particularly come under fire recently for the level of secrecy it awards investors and account holders. The OECD described the small principality earlier this year as "uncooperative".

Germany is pursuing a number of its nationals, including the former head of the German postal service, for unpaid taxes after they sheltered their assets in Liechtenstein financial institutions.

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Equatorial Guinea, Russia’s Gazprom ink deal on gas cooperation

20.10.2008, 02.59

PARIS, October 20 (Itar-Tass) -- Equatorial Guinea’s liquefied natural gas company EG LNG and the Russian gas giant Gazprom signed an agreement on cooperation in the gas industry and the energy sector on Sunday, said the national radio of this Central African country, which is one of the largest African producers of hydrocarbons. The terms and the timeline of the agreement were not specified.

Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller signed the foresaid agreement during his visit to Equatorial Guinea as a head of a authoritative Russian delegation, the national radio of the country said.

Equatorial Guinea is the third largest oil producer in Africa south of the Sahara Desert after Angola and Nigeria. The gas reserves of the country are estimated at 40 billion cubic meters. American and Japanese companies are among the EG LNG major shareholders.

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Ukraine to sign nuclear fuel deals with Russia by yearend
11:07 | 21/ 10/ 2008

KOLONTAYEVO (Moscow Region), October 21 (RIA Novosti) - Ukraine is set to sign three nuclear fuel deals with Russia by the end of this year, the president of the Ukrainian nuclear power plant operator Energoatom said on Tuesday.

Yuriy Nedashkovskiy said two of the deals involved fuel supplies for Ukrainian nuclear power plants, while the other covers the production and enrichment of nuclear fuel from Ukrainian raw materials.

Nedashkovskiy said Energoatom planned to sign nuclear fuel contracts with the Russian state-controlled nuclear fuel producer TVEL.

"We plan to sign a contract with TVEL on "customer-owned" raw materials by the end of the year. Moreover, we plan to sign it earlier than agreements for nuclear fuel supplies for Ukrainian nuclear power plants," Nedashkovskiy said.

Under a contract on "customer-owned" raw materials, Ukraine will supply uranium to Russia for enrichment to be subsequently delivered to Ukrainian nuclear power plants as nuclear fuel.

Ukraine plans to sign a long-term contract with Russia on Russian nuclear fuel supplies for all Ukrainian nuclear power plants from 2010 after the expiry of the current agreement.

Nedashkovskiy said Ukraine could only cover 30% of its uranium requirements at the present time and planned to switch to full supplies of Ukrainian nuclear fuel for its domestic nuclear power plants from 2015.

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Missionaries are Colonialists
21.10.2008 Source: Pravda.Ru URL: http://english.pravda.ru/opinion/columnists/106593-missionaries_colonialists-0

Christian missionaries make no secret of the fact that they use medical services, education, and employment opportunities to lure impoverished indigenous populations throughout the world into conversion to Christianity.

According to the popular and scholarly history of Christianity, the early Christian Church found its greatest appeal and attracted its greatest number of converts from the poor people of the Roman Empire. The early Christian churches raised money through a tithe, or ten per cent income tax, levied on their members, and the early Christian church is said to have had a strong 'sense of community', which implies that it had a well-organized social, financial, and political network among its membership.

Using your wealth to purchase other people's loyalty is a game as old as humanity itself. Rich men use their wealth to attract women, unscrupulous employers use material incentives and disincentives to manipulate their workers, and wealthy countries like the USA use their national wealth to keep their citizens loyal to the cause of aggressive and genocidal Imperialism. But historical longevity and common practice don't make the manipulation or exploitation morally or ethically right.

Organized religions are inherently POLITICAL organizations. There is a fundamental difference between the financial enterprise and political machinations of an organized religion versus a mass of independent, unaffiliated believers, philosophers, and mystics who do not support any organized religion.

Christianity and Islam are known as proselytizing religions because they make an organized and systematic effort to gain converts, and they often provide services, products, or employment to attract converts. Judaism, Hinduism, and Buddhism show far less zeal about gaining converts, which is why you almost never hear about Jewish, Hindu, or Buddhist missionaries.

Modern medical and nursing schools usually teach their students the moral principle that the provision of medical services should never be used as a means to proselytize or promote a religion, but that does not deter many Christian health care providers from doing exactly that. Most of the medical and charitable organizations based in Christian countries are fronts for Christian proselytizing activities.

One of the largest international medical relief organizations based in the USA, Northwest Medical Teams, states in their recruitment brochure that their chief 'mission' is to 'spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ', that their medical relief services are subordinate to their stated goal of proselytizing Christianity, and that their medical relief work is merely an 'aegis', or facade, for spreading Christianity.

The religious and cultural Imperialism performed by missionaries nearly always goes hand-in-hand with political and economic Imperialism. Christian missionaries often work in partnership with the CIA, with the US government, and with wealthy corporations to subvert the religion, the culture, the economy, and the politics of vulnerable indigenous populations. The CIA often uses planes owned by Christian missionary organizations and flown by Christian missionary pilots to smuggle drugs, arms, and prisoners.

During the CIA's illegal Iran/Contra scam of the 1980s, Christian missionary pilots and planes smuggled drugs into the USA and arms into Central America and Iran. Now the CIA is using Christian missionary planes to smuggle heroin from Afghanistan, cocaine from Latin America, and for 'rendition' flights of 'Terrorist' prisoners to secret prisons that practice torture and commit extra-judicial executions.

The USA's Faith Based Initiative law provides Christian missionary organizations with taxpayer funds that are used to proselytize Christianity to indigenous populations throughout the world. Christian missionaries are the leading edge of a religious, cultural, economic, and political aggression supported by the US government.

When missionaries bring outside wealth to an impoverished Third World country and use that wealth to provide services that are meant to attract converts, they are interfering with the local social and economic structure as well as the local cultural traditions. Indigenous people who take advantage of the privileges provided by the missionaries and convert to Christianity partake in a social organization that uses foreign wealth as a tool to eliminate the indigenous culture and replace it with Christianity.

A small and reclusive population of a few hundred people with a primitive Stone Age culture lives on North Sentinel Island, in the Andaman chain, which is administered by the government of India. To protect the culture of the inhabitants of North Sentinel Island, the Indian government has wisely banned anyone from visiting the island. I approve of the Indian government's policy of protecting the unique culture of the North Sentinels from outside influence. If anyone on North Sentinel Island should ever desire to leave, they can build a boat and do so.

Among a total of 195 nations in the world today, fifty-seven of those nations have a legally established, official State Religion. There are fourteen nations that claim Christianity as their State Religion, twenty-six nations that claim Islam as their State Religion, six nations that claim Buddhism as their State Religion, and the Jewish State of Israel. The Jewish State of Israel discriminates against its non-Jewish citizens and within its borders Israel officially prohibits the proselytizing of any religion other than Judaism. Many people believe that Israel has a ‘right to exist’ in this manner as a Jewish State.

Many Islamic countries strive to protect the cultural identity of their citizens by enforcing a ban on preaching any religion but Islam. Considering the aggressive, insidious, and highly political nature of Christian missionary programs, the banning of non-Moslem religious preaching by Moslem governments makes sense.

Currently there is no officially Hindu State anywhere in the world, but perhaps India should become a Hindu State in order to protect its indigenous religion and culture from the predatory missionaries and State-sponsored cultural Imperialism that are coming from both Christian and Moslem countries. If the Jews have the right to establish and maintain Israel as a Jewish State, then the Hindus certainly have a right to establish and maintain India as a Hindu State.

When Western leaders talk about a 'Clash of Civilizations', what they really mean is Judeo-Christianity and corporate Capitalism versus all non-Christians and non-Capitalists. Christian missionaries are essentially colonialists working for Christian cultural Imperialism.

When the Hindus of India rise up in riot and drive out the Christian missionaries and the Christian 'cash converts', they are doing what the Iraqi, Afghani, and Palestinian Freedom Fighters are doing. They are protecting themselves and their indigenous culture from wealthy and unscrupulous invaders who have no respect for them or for their culture. I wish the Hindu nationalists well in their efforts to defend and maintain the independence and survival of their indigenous culture and religion against the onslaught of predatory and disrespectful foreigners whose goal is to replace indigenous traditional cultures with a global Christian empire.

If Christian missionaries want to come to India and try to make converts to Christianity, let them come with empty pockets and compete on a level playing field. And if most of the locals don't want the missionaries interfering with their traditional way of life, they have the right to make the missionaries and their converts leave.

Gregory F. Fegel

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09:14 GMT, Tuesday, 21 October 2008 10:14 UK
India Moon probe ready for launch
By Paul Rincon
Science reporter, BBC News

Chandrayaan 1 (ISRO)

India is counting down to the launch of its first mission to the Moon.

On Wednesday, the unmanned Chandrayaan 1 spacecraft will blast off from a launch pad in Andhra Pradesh to embark on a two-year mission of exploration.

The robotic probe will orbit the Moon, compiling a 3-D atlas of the lunar surface and mapping the distribution of elements and minerals.

The launch is regarded as a major step for India as it seeks to keep pace with other space-faring nations in Asia.

An Indian-built launcher carrying the one-and-a-half-tonne satellite is due to blast off from Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota at about 0620 local time (0020 GMT) on Wednesday.

Competitive mission

"Everything is going perfectly as planned," the centre's associate director MYS Prasad told the AFP news agency, after the official countdown began in the early hours of Monday.

One key objective will be to search for surface or sub-surface water-ice on the Moon, especially at the poles.

Another will be to detect Helium 3, an isotope which is rare on Earth, but is sought to power nuclear fusion and could be a valuable source of energy in future.

Powered by a single solar panel generating about 700 Watts, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) probe carries five Indian-built instruments and six that are foreign-built. The mission is expected to cost 3.8bn rupees (£45m; $78m).

CHANDRAYAAN 1

* 1 - Chandrayaan Energetic Neutral Analyzer (CENA)
* 2 - Moon Impact Probe (MIP)
* 3 - Radiation Dose Monitor (RADOM)
* 4 - Terrain Mapping Camera (TMC)
* 5 - Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3)
* 6 - Chandrayaan 1 X-ray Spectrometer (C1XS)
* 7 - Solar Panel


Infographic (BBC) The Indian experiments include a 30kg probe that will be released from the mothership to slam into the lunar surface.

The Moon Impact Probe (MIP) will record video footage on the way down and measure the composition of the Moon's tenuous atmosphere.

"Chandrayaan has a very competitive set of instruments... it will certainly do good science," said Barry Kellett, project scientist on the C1XS instrument, which was built at the Rutherford-Appleton Laboratory in the UK.

C1XS will map the abundance of different elements in the lunar crust to help answer key questions about the origin and evolution of Earth's only natural satellite.

Researchers say the relative abundances of magnesium and iron in lunar rocks could help confirm whether the Moon was once covered by a molten, magma ocean.

"The iron should have sunk [in the magma ocean], whereas the magnesium should have floated," Mr Kellett told BBC News.

"The ratio of magnesium to iron for the whole Moon tells you to what extent the Moon melted and what it did after it formed."

The instrument will look for more unusual elements on the Moon's surface, such as titanium. This metallic element has been found in lunar meteorites, but scientists know little about its distribution in the lunar crust.

Chandrayaan will also investigate the differences between the Moon's near side and its "dark side". The dark side is both more heavily cratered and different in composition to the one facing Earth.

Infographic (BBC)

On Wednesday, the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) rocket will loft Chandrayaan into an elliptical "transfer orbit" around Earth.

The probe will later carry out a series of engine burns to set it on a lunar trajectory.

The spacecraft coasts for about five-and-a-half days before firing the engine to slow its velocity such that it is captured by the Moon's gravity.

Chandrayaan will slip into a near-circular orbit at an altitude of 1,000km. After a number of health checks, the probe will drop its altitude until it is orbiting just 100km above the lunar surface.

India, China, Japan and South Korea all have eyes on a share of the commercial satellite launch business and see their space programmes as an important symbol of international stature and economic development.

Last month, China became only the third country in the world to independently carry out a spacewalk.

But the Indian government's space efforts have not been welcomed by all.

Some critics regard the space programme as a waste of resources in a country where millions still lack basic services.

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Lebanese banks provide welcome stability

By Anna Fifield in Beirut

Published: October 20 2008 18:51 | Last updated: October 20 2008 18:51

As the financial crisis sends shock waves through global markets, Lebanon’s banks are bucking the trend as the beneficiaries of an unprecedented flow of remittances from overseas.

Unlike their counterparts in many western financial centres, Lebanese banks find themselves in the enviable position of having excess capital – bank deposits are on course to grow by almost 50 per cent this year from 2007.

“Contrary to what is happening in the rest of the world, Lebanon has seen a very significant increase in deposits over the past few weeks,” says Marwan Barakat, head of research at Bank Audi, the country’s largest lender.

“This is due to the confidence that Lebanese have in their banking system, which is conservatively managed and very well regulated,” Mr Barakat says.

The inflow into bank deposits totalled $7.7bn in the first eight months of this year, according to central bank figures, easily surpassing the 2007 full-year total of $6.6bn, itself a record.

The increase in deposits has been driven by an increase in overseas remittances, which are set to top the $5.5bn total recorded last year. There are 4m Lebanese at home but about 12m abroad, many of whom retain strong ties to their country, sending money home and investing in local real estate.

Many analysts expect deposit growth to reach $10bn by the end of this year, putting banks on track to improve on a 27 per cent growth in profits they recorded last year.

This strong cash base – deposits comprise 85 per cent of Lebanese banks’ assets, making them among the most liquid in the world – and experience of survival through times of turbulence mean that Lebanese lenders are still confident enough to expand aggressively across the Middle East. They say that they are almost entirely unaffected by the international financial crisis.

Banks are prohibited from having more than half of their equity outside the country, and from investing in real estate or derivative products.

“Lebanese banks have very little room to place bets – they are not allowed to invest in or lend to non-investment grade entities, and that protects the system,” says Jean Riachi, chairman of FFA Private Bank, Lebanon’s biggest investment bank.

“Some banks might have some exposure to Lehman Brothers because it was an AA-rated company, but because of the limitations, the exposure cannot be big. The banking system in Lebanon is quite immune,” he says.

Lebanese banks were already enjoying an improving domestic economy, after three years of sluggish growth due to political disasters that included the assassination of Rafiq Hariri, the former prime minister, and the 2006 war with Israel.

Private sector economists expect Lebanese gross domestic product to increase by about 5 per cent this year, partly thanks to a peace agreement signed between rival Lebanese factions in Doha in May that has ushered in a period of relative stability.

That deal, coupled with investors from the Gulf looking for places to invest their oil profits, has contributed to a sudden jump in capital inflows into Lebanon, which has one of the most advanced banking systems in the region.

This has led to an unusual situation where banks dwarf the real economy – Lebanese banks have total assets of $100bn in a country with a GDP of $25bn.

“You don’t find that in any other part of the world, except maybe Switzerland,” says Mr Barakat.

This environment means Lebanese banks will be able to continue to expand around the Middle East. In just three years, Bank Audi has gone from having no branches in the region to having operations in Syria, Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Sudan.

Meanwhile, Blom, Lebanon’s second-largest bank, will start a corporate and private banking business in Qatar before the end of this year, and will move into the Saudi Arabian financial sector soon after, says Saad Azhari, chairman.

“There are a lot of companies in Saudi Arabia that need to do IPOs [initial public offerings]. The stock market there is very important, so we are going to have a brokerage and do fund management,” Mr Azhari tells the Financial Times.

Blom has businesses in five Arab countries, including Egypt, Syria and Jordan.

“In the future, our plan is to grow our network in the countries where we already are, and to enter into new Arab countries,” he says, adding that these were likely to be in the Gulf but declining to specify target markets.

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Argentina to make offer to default-bond holders

By Jude Webber in Buenos Aires

Published: October 20 2008 23:59 | Last updated: October 20 2008 23:59

Argentina is pushing ahead with plans to make a new offer to holders of bonds on which it defaulted when its economy collapsed in 2001-02.

The move comes despite global market turbulence and, according to a filing to US regulators, Argentina could extend the offer to current domestic bonds as well.

President Cristina Fernández announced last month that Argentina had received a proposal from Barclays Capital, Citigroup and Deutsche Bank to make a new offer to the investors who rejected its 2005 bond restructuring as too cheap. Argentina acknowledges it now owes them $30.6bn including interest.

That would pave the way for a return to international capital markets, from which Argentina has been excluded since it crashed to the world’s biggest sovereign default in 2001.

The plan also includes a swap of so-called Guaranteed Loans, which were issued in 2001 and make up some 9 per cent of total public debt of $149.8bn, in order to ease a debt servicing hump over the next two years. The loans make up 40 per cent of Argentina’s $21bn commitments in 2009.

But according to a filing this month to the US Securities and Exchange Commission, required because Argentina has debt issued in the US, the plan also foresees “the exchange of up to the full outstanding amount of Argentina’s current short- and medium-term debt governed by Argentine law”. That could make the offer significantly wider and more ambitious than first thought.

In the 18-K filing, Argentina said that as of June 30, its total peso-denominated debt was 217.4bn pesos ($68bn), representing 48 per cent of gross public debt. Foreign-denominated debt totalled $78bn. A senior official told the FT that no formal offer to domestic bondholders had yet been made.

Under the plan, bondholders will be required to put up new money by subscribing to a new bond in addition to tendering their old paper. “In some cases, even with tighter market conditions than a month ago, I think it is possible [to raise new money]. With other bonds, it’s not likely to be possible,” he said.

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17年前のテープであぶり出された　北の湖前理事長の「偽証」疑惑
2008/10/21 このエントリーを含むはてなブックマーク はてなRSSに追加 この記事をBuzzurlにブックマークする この記事をクリップ！ Yahoo!ブックマークに登録 newsing it! コメント

大相撲の八百長疑惑を報じた「週刊現代」を相手取って日本相撲協会が損害賠償を求めている裁判が、新たな展開を見せそうだ。公判では、北の湖前理事長が「八百長」や「故意の無気力相撲」の存在を全否定したばかりだが、17年前に協会幹部が「故意による無気力相撲が一部の不心得者によって行われることは許されない」と発言したテープの存在が明らかになったのだ。中には「カネで手に入れる」という八百長を認める発言もあり、裁判での証言と真っ向から対立するにもかかわらず、協会側は「現段階では何もわからない」と口をつぐんでいる。
「カネで手に入れる」という発言まで飛び出す
17年前に国技館で行われた会議の内容が波紋を呼びそうだ
17年前に国技館で行われた会議の内容が波紋を呼びそうだ

2008年10月16日に行われた公判では、北の湖前理事長が証人として出廷。被告の講談社側の弁護士が「故意による無気力相撲は存在しないということか」と問うと、北の湖前理事長は「力が抜けたり、ということはあり得ると思います。八百長はありません」などと返答。弁護士と北の湖前理事長との会話がかみ合わず、「八百長」と「故意による無気力相撲」の違いがはっきり明らかになることはなかったが、いずれにしても、北の湖前理事長は、「八百長」と「故意による無気力相撲」の両方の存在を否定してみせた。

ところが、この前提を覆しかねないテープの存在が明らかになったのだ。民放各局が08年10月20日から21日にかけて、無気力相撲の存在について指摘するテープを放送。テープを録音したとされるのは、公判に講談社側の証人として出廷している、元小結の板井圭介氏だ。91年9月6日に、東京・両国国技館で親方衆と十両以上の関取全員を集めて行われた緊急会議の様子を収録したものだという。

テープでは、二子山理事長が、

「皆様方にお忙しい中、今日来てもらったことは、無気力相撲について出席していただいたところであります。よーく耳の穴を掃除して、右から入ったら左へ抜けないように、左から入ったら右に抜けないように頭の中で止めていただきたいと思います」

と、強い口調で切り出したのに続いて、当時は監察委員長だった出羽海理事が

「優勝とか大関になろうとかいう時でも『何回挑戦しても跳ね返される、夜も寝れない、心臓がどきどきする』、そういう思いを何回も何回もして勝ち取るもの。これが得がたいものですよね。これを簡単に『カネ』で手に入れるということは、もうこれは稽古も何もしなくていい」

「絶対にあってはならない、故意による無気力相撲が、一部の不心得者によって行われることは許されないことであります」

などとして当時の状況を強く批判。仲介者を含む関係者は厳しく罰する方針を明言した。
「まだ何も分かりません。申し訳ございません…」

二子山理事長も、

「君らよく聞けよ! これは重大なことだから、親方衆! 若い親方衆! 自分たちの相撲を見てみれ! 師匠はなんとも思わないか!」

と声を荒げた。

10月16日の公判の場でも、講談社側は、テープに収録されたとされる緊急会議の内容についても、北の湖前理事長に質問をしている。前理事長は二子山理事長の発言については

「力士会で聞いたことがある」

としたが、その内容については

「『病気でもけがでも、力が抜けた相撲を取ったらだめだぞ』と(いう内容)」

と、あいまいな回答にとどまっていた。

仮にテープの発言内容が本当であった場合、北の湖前理事長は、緊急会議の内容を知りながら「八百長も無気力相撲もない」と証言していたことになり、偽証の疑いを指摘されても仕方のない状況だ。

講談社側は、今回放送されたテープを、今後の裁判で証拠として提出する見通しだという。

一方、日本相撲協会の広報部では、今後の対応について

「まだ、その内容を把握してないのではわかりません」

とした上で、

「これから把握するつもりはあるのか」

という記者の問いには、

「現段階では、まだ何も分かりません。申し訳ございません…」

と話していた。

-------------------------------
元若ノ鵬の証人申請を却下 八百長疑惑訴訟で東京地裁

　週刊現代の八百長疑惑記事をめぐり、日本相撲協会と横綱朝青龍ら現役力士が発行元の講談社などに損害賠償と謝罪広告を求めた訴訟で、東京地裁（中村也寸志裁判長）は２１日、講談社側による元幕内若ノ鵬のガグロエフ・ソスラン元力士（２０）の証人申請について「必要がない」として却下した。

　ガグロエフ元力士が同誌上で「八百長をした」と名指しし、講談社側が尋問を求めた原告の大関琴欧洲ら４力士に関する判断は出ていない。

　同社代理人の的場徹弁護士は「協会側も反対していないのに、理解できない判断。原告４力士の尋問は当然採用されるはずだ」と話した。

　ガグロエフ元力士は８月に大麻取締法違反（所持）容疑での逮捕後、同協会から解雇され、「処分が厳しすぎる」として地位確認を求め提訴する一方、週刊現代で八百長疑惑を告発。「法廷で証言する」と話していた。

　ほかに尋問を申請されているのは、大関の魁皇と千代大海、十両春日錦。４力士は、いずれも協会の事情聴取に対し疑惑を否定している。

------------------------------
三浦元社長：他殺の主張にロス市警が否定会見

　【ロサンゼルス吉富裕倫】米ロサンゼルス市警は２０日会見し、三浦和義・元輸入雑貨販売会社社長（６１）の死因は他殺だったとするマーク・ゲラゴス弁護士の主張について、「自殺以外の犯罪行為の証拠は何もない」と否定し、改めて自殺とみていることを強調した。

　マーク・ペレズ副本部長が会見し、弁護側が指摘した血腫などの病理所見については、「警察ではなく、検視局が判断すること」と言及しなかった。

　また、看守が元社長の独房に行ったのは、うめき声に気付いた別の房の被拘置者が窓をたたいて知らせたことがきっかけだったことを明らかにした。元社長の独房と付近の廊下に監視カメラがなかったことも認めた。

　一方、ロス郡検視局は弁護側の独自鑑定について、「まだ最終報告書を出していない。終わっていない検視をもう一度する考えはない」と述べ、コメントしなかった。

-----------------------------------
ロス市警「自殺以外の証拠ない」、弁護側の他殺説否定
特集 ロス疑惑

　【ロサンゼルス＝飯田達人】１９８１年１１月のロス疑惑「一美さん銃撃事件」を巡り、移送先のロサンゼルス市警の拘置施設で１０日夜（日本時間１１日昼）に自殺した三浦和義・元輸入雑貨会社社長（６１）（日本で無罪確定）について、同市警のマーク・ペレズ本部長補佐は２０日、記者会見し、「自殺以外の可能性を示す証拠は一切出ていない」と述べ、他殺だとした弁護側の主張を強く否定した。

　ペレズ補佐によると、三浦元社長の近くの房に拘置されていた男がうめき声に気付き、壁をたたいて異変を知らせ、すぐに看守が駆け付けたという。

　弁護側が「首を絞められてできた血腫がのどにあった」と指摘している点について、ペレズ補佐は「遺体の検視はロス郡検視局が行っており、細かい点は捜査が終わらないと言えない」と述べるにとどめた。
（2008年10月21日10時20分 読売新聞）

--------------------------------------
悪性リンパ腫も労災対象に　原発、核燃再処理の従事者
2008.10.4 11:26

　厚生労働省の検討会は、原子力発電所や使用済み核燃料再処理工場での業務に従事し悪性リンパ腫を発症した労働者について、肺がんや白血病などと同様に放射線業務の労災対象疾患とする方針を固めた。近く正式に報告書をまとめる。

　放射線医学の専門家らでつくる検討会は、放射線業務に従事し、３年半前に悪性リンパ腫で亡くなった沖縄県うるま市の喜友名（きゆな）正さん＝当時（５３）＝の遺族や支援者らの訴えを機に、昨年秋から検討を重ねていた。

　喜友名さんの遺族は大阪市の淀川労働基準監督署に労災申請したが、同労基署は平成１８年９月「対象疾患ではない」と労災補償を不支給とする決定をした。

　大阪労働局は喜友名さんの件について改めて判断。労災と認められれば、原発労働者が悪性リンパ腫で労災認定される初ケース。

-------------------------------
はげる確率、一気に７倍　英など遺伝子変異研究

2008年10月21日20時12分

　特定の２種類の遺伝子変異を持っている人は、はげる確率が７倍になることが、英国やスイスなどの共同研究による全遺伝情報（ゲノム）の解読で明らかになった。米科学誌ネイチャー・ジェネティクス（電子版）に発表した。

　研究チームはまず、スイスの研究データをもとに１１２５人の白人男性のゲノムを調べ、はげるリスクを高めている二つの特徴的な遺伝子変異を見つけた。さらに英国、アイスランド、オランダのサンプルで１６５０人の白人男性のゲノムを調べ、この遺伝子変異は７人に１人が持っていることを確認した。

　今回調べた「はげ方」は男性ホルモン性脱毛症といわれ、生え際が後退し、頭のてっぺんが薄くなっていくタイプ。二つの遺伝子変異のうち、一つは男性ホルモンの受容体で以前から関連が指摘されていたものだったが、もう一つはこれまで知られていないものだったという。

　研究チームは、「複数の遺伝子が関与していると考えて遺伝子を探した。早期に見つけられれば、なんらかのケアができるかもしれない」と話している。（竹石涼子）

-----------------------------
サルコジ大統領、預金勝手に引き出される　ネット詐欺か

2008年10月21日19時3分

　【パリ＝国末憲人】フランスのサルコジ大統領の銀行口座から、何者かが預金を勝手に引き出していたと、仏ジュルナル・デュ・ディマンシュ紙が報じた。当局が詐欺事件として捜査に乗り出した。

　同紙によると、大統領が被害届を出したのは９月。インターネットで利用したクレジットカードのデータか、銀行口座の入金状況などを確認するパスワードが漏れた可能性が高く、同紙は「これで誰もが被害者になりうることが明確になった」と指摘した。

--------------------------------
URGENT: GE Papaya ALERT

* By Neil Carman
STOP GE Trees Campaign, October 18, 2008
Straight to the Source

COMMENTS NEEDED BY NOVEMBER 3 TO STOP GE PAPAYA IN FLORIDA!

Help stop the commercial planting of genetically engineered papayas in Florida and the mainland US -- the first major cultivated GE tree on the US mainland.

The US Department of Agriculture is accepting public comments between now and November 3, 2008 on a petition that would allow commercial growing and marketing of the first genetically engineered (GE) papaya trees on mainland US soil. If approved, this would remove all regulatory oversight of this GE variety by USDA of a virus-resistant papaya tree known as the Ring Spot Virus Resistant Papaya.

This petition has implications for all other GE tree species, as the USDA and the industry want to gauge what the public's reaction will be. It is critical that all concerned about the threat of GE foods and GE trees respond to this USDA petition. Several hundred field trials of GE trees have been conducted already, many for forest trees, such as poplar, loblolly pine, and sweetgum, that grow on millions of acres in natural environments across the US.

The USDA admits that this GE papaya will contaminate both organic and conventional non-genetically engineered papaya groves if it is approved. Since all commercial papaya trees are cultivars that are relatively cross compatible within the same species, Carica papaya, contamination via GE papaya pollen carried by wind, bees and other insects will infiltrate the papaya groves of organic and conventional growers. The proposed buffer zones between GE papaya and other papayas will not prevent genetic contamination from being spread by pollinating insects.

Approval of this GE papaya tree also further opens the door to the commercialization of GE varieties of other tropical and subtropical tree species. In Hawaii, a previously approved virus resistant [Hawaiian] papaya has caused extensive contamination of organic, conventional and wild papaya groves on most of the Hawaiian Islands in just a few years. This contamination has spread far more quickly than the USDA predicted in its initial assessment. Once native and cultivated papaya varieties are contaminated with transgenic pollen and the resulting seeds are planted, there is no calling it back.

[Sample comments to submit below. Please add any additional comments of your own.]
1. Go to: http://www.regulations.gov/fdmspublic/component/main?main=DocumentDetail&o=09000064806cf607

2. Double click on Docket - APHIS-2008-0054 - at the top of the page

3. Double click on small yellowish box directly below "ADD COMMENTS" in the right hand column

4. Enter public commenter information. You may add attachments to document your concerns!

5. Double click on NEXT STEP under ACTION at page bottom to enter your comments into Docket.

The following comments are in reference to Docket No. APHIS-2008-0054 I oppose the deregulation of genetically engineered papaya trees for the following reasons:

1. Genetic contamination is a serious and growing threat. Flowers and seeds in organic and conventional papaya groves will become contaminated with GE papaya genes via pollen transported by bees and other insects that travel many miles in search of pollen. The result is that organic and conventional papaya growers will lose their markets for non-GE papayas as DNA testing confirms the contamination, as it already has with GE papayas in Hawaii. An organic tree might remain organic itself, but the pollen, honey and seeds will be contaminated, and trees planted from the GE papaya seeds will bear contaminated fruit.

2. The approval of perennial GE papaya trees would be a dangerous precedent setting step by USDA, opening the floodgates for more GE trees including fruit, nut, ornamental, and paper-pulp and timber species, as well as trees engineered for soil remediation, and other traits. Approximately 80 species and varieties of trees are currently undergoing gene splicing research and development for commercial use. Many of these are native species vital to ecosystems in much of the US.

3. There are serious and mounting concerns about a broad range of health effects associated with consumption of GE crops, GE pollen, and GE-produced honey. For example, consumers may suffer allergic reactions due to unexpected toxins in GE foods. The GE papaya pollen may produce unintended effects such as allergic reactions in sensitive individuals and the USDA has not properly evaluated the potential for allergic reactions. The USDA has also failed to consider the potential for allergens or other novel substances in the GE papayas, GE papaya pollen, or GE papaya-produced honey to interfere with pharmaceuticals being used by consumers.

4. The papaya fruit, seeds, latex, and leaves contain carpaine, an anthelmintic alkaloid that could be dangerous in high doses to the heart (it affects myocardium directly) and the circulatory system. Carpaine is one of the major alkaloid components of papayas, and has been studied for its cardiovascular effects. The USDA has not fully evaluated the health effects of alkaloids such as carpaine and related alkaloids on consumers eating GE papaya, pollen, honey or fruit juices and foods containing GE papaya ingredients. The USDA has not fully studied whether the GE papaya trees produce a different alkaloid chemistry or overall phytochemistry compared to organic, conventional or wild papayas. Other papaya alkaloids and phytochemicals have not been adequately studied for their human health effects. This despite widespread evidence that the genetic engineering of plants can alter expression of genetic traits apparently unrelated to the intentionally inserted trait.

5. There are serious and mounting concerns about the genetic stability of the artificial gene combinations and the artificially inserted genes used in GE papaya trees. The USDA claims that the papaya ring spot viral resistance gene and other inserted genes are sufficiently genetically stable, but the testing has only been performed for approximately ten years and not the entire, decades-long pollen-producing life span of a papaya tree. Over the long life of a papaya tree, an RNA virus such as papaya ring spot virus is susceptible to many cycles of recombination, leading to the creation of new plant viruses that could infect a wide variety of plants. This can also occur with the viral DNA that has been inserted into these papayas.

6. The deregulatory petition completely ignores potential effects on bees and other pollinator species. Today honey bee colony collapse disorder known as CCD is a serious and growing problem for apiaries and bee-pollinated crops including in Florida where the GE papaya trees will be grown. Although unintended effects are common in GE crops (and are part of regulatory human health assessments), there is extremely little assessment of possible environmental impacts from unintended effects. There are no studies that would allow us to evaluate the potential hazards of GE tree pollen or GE papaya tree pollen for a variety of insects, or for consumers of honey. We also do not know how animals and insects that browse on papaya leaves might be affected.

7. The USDA's environmental assessment admits that the GE papaya readily hybridizes within its species Carica papaya. Thus, there may be a significant potential for gene flow into native perennial papaya varieties. GE papaya trees will be long lived, and capable of contaminating orchards and native papaya tree populations for several decades. One GE papaya tree will be able to produce thousands of GE seeds and extensive quantities of pollen, and will be capable of spreading fertile GE papaya seeds and pollen into the environment for many years. The petition did not adequately evaluate the relative fitness of GE papaya varieties as compared to native papayas; it is possible that the GE varieties would become more successful in natural settings, and out-compete non-GE varieties, as they have in parts of Hawaii. We challenge the USDA's spurious claim that contamination would be positive by reducing potential reservoirs for harboring the papaya ring spot virus in the wild; this claim is not supported by any data.

8. There has been no short-term or long-term safety testing or feeding trials for toxicity or other adverse effects of the construct of eight genes inserted into the GE papaya trees. GE papayas have not been tested on animals, birds or humans for safety. Toxicity tests are necessary since unintended genetic effects are known to occur with gene splicing. USDA has ignored the need for scientific studies of gene splicing and for comprehensive studies of the environmental consequences of GE plantings since the USDA has not adequately consulted with the Food and Drug Administration or the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for their regulatory input.

Neil Carman, Ph.D. Sierra Club Genetic Engineering Committee

This Action Alert is a cooperative effort of the STOP GE Trees Campaign: http://www.nogetrees.org

---------------------------------
Mutant Seeds for Mesopotamia

* By Andrew Bosworth, Ph.D.
Uruknet.de, October 15, 2008
Straight to the Source

One would think that Iraqi farmers, now prospering under "freedom" and "democracy," would be able to plant the seeds of their choosing, but that choice, under little-known Order 81, would be illegal.

But first, it is important to set the context. Most people have never heard of the infamous "100 Orders," but they help explain why the majority of Iraqis remain opposed to foreign occupation. The 100 Orders allow multinational corporations to basically privatize an entire nation, and this degree of foreign and private control has not been witnessed since the days of the British East India Company and its extraterritoriality treaties.

A few examples of the 100 Orders are illuminating:

* Order 39 allows for the tax-free remittance of all corporate profits.
* Order 17 grants foreign contractors, including private security firms, immunity from Iraq's laws.
* Orders 57 and 77 ensure the implementation of the orders by placing U.S.-appointed auditors and inspector general in every government ministry, with five-year terms and with sweeping authority over contracts, programs, employees and regulations. (1)

Back to one of the most blatant orders of all: Order 81. Under this mandate, Iraq's commercial farmers must now buy "registered seeds." These are normally imported by Monsanto, Cargill and the World Wide Wheat Company. Unfortunately, these registered seeds are "terminator" seeds, meaning "sterile." Imagine if all human men were infertile, and in order to reproduce women needed to buy sperm cells at a sperm bank. In agricultural terms, terminator seeds represent the same kind of sterility.

Terminator seeds have no agricultural value other than creating corporate monopolies. The Sierra Club, more of a mainstream "conservation" organization than a radical "environmentalist" one, makes the exact same case:

"This technology would protect the intellectual property interests of the seed company by making the seeds from a genetically engineered crop plant sterile, unable to germinate. Terminator would make it impossible for farmers to save seed from a crop for planting the next year, and would force them to buy seed from the supplier. In the third world, this inability to save seed could be a major, perhaps fatal, burden on poor farmers." (2)

What makes this Order 81 even more outrageous is that Iraqi farmers have been saving wheat and barley seeds since at least 4000 BC, when irrigated agriculture first emerged, and probably even to about 8000 BC, when wheat was first domesticated. Mesopotamia's farmers have now been trumped by white-smocked, corporate bio-engineers from Florida who strive to replace hundreds of natural varieties with a handful of genetically scrambled hybrids.

Where does such hubris come from? It comes from the entire mission surrounding the invasion of Iraq, which, upon closer inspection, had been planned years in advance by a faction of "neo-cons" who adopted Leon Trotsky's glorification of the state, his theory "permanent revolution," and his goal of exporting revolution worldwide. The neo-con revolution aims to alter the economic, political and cultural foundations of nations on the other side of the planet (rejecting old-fashioned notions of self-determination, popular sovereignty and even the nation-state system). This mission includes the transformation of agriculture and the establishment of "food control" over local populations.

Order 81 fits into this revolutionary program, and it is quite diabolical upon closer inspection. First, it forces Iraq's commercial farmers to use registered terminator seeds (the "protected variety"). Then it defines natural seeds as illegal (the "infringing variety"), in a classic Orwellian turn of language.

This is so incredible that it must be re-stated: the exotic genetically scrambled seeds are the "protected variety" and the indigenous seeds are the "infringing variety."

As Jeffrey Smith explains, author of Order 81: Re-Engineering Iraqi Agriculture:

"To qualify for PVP [Plant Variety Protection], seeds have to meet the following criteria: they must be 'new, distinct, uniform and stable'... it is impossible for the seeds developed by the people of Iraq to meet these criteria. Their seeds are not 'new' as they are the product of millennia of development. Nor are they 'distinct'. The free exchange of seeds practiced for centuries ensures that characteristics are spread and shared across local varieties. And they are the opposite of 'uniform' and 'stable' by the very nature of their biodiversity." (3)

Order 81 comes with the Orwellian title of "Plant Variety Protection." Any self-respecting scientist knows, however, that imposing biological standardization accomplishes the exact opposite: It reduces biodiversity and threatens species. So Order 81 comes with an Orwellian title and consists of Orwellian provisions.

Jeffrey Smith peels away the layers of mischief behind Order 81, finding it nonsensical that six varieties of wheat have been developed for Iraq:

"Three will be used for farmers to grow wheat that is made into pasta; three seed strains will be for 'breadmaking.'

Pasta? According to the 2001 World Food Programme report on Iraq, 'Dietary habits and preferences included consumption of large quantities and varieties of meat, as well as chicken, pulses, grains, vegetables, fruits and dairy products.' No mention of lasagna. Likewise, a quick check of the Middle Eastern cookbook on my kitchen shelves, while not exclusively Iraqi, reveals a grand total of no pasta dishes listed within it.

There can be only two reasons why 50 per cent of the grains being developed are for pasta. One, the US intends to have so many American soldiers and businessmen in Iraq that it is orienting the country's agriculture around feeding not 'Starving Iraqis' but 'Overfed Americans'. Or, and more likely, because the food was never meant to be eaten inside Iraq at all…" (4)

Just in case Iraqi farmer can't read, Order 81 enforces the new monopoly on seeds with the jackboot. Order 81 makes this clear in its own text, buried at the bottom of the document, as is most screw-you fine print:

"The court may order the confiscation of the infringing variety as well as the materials and tools substantially used in the infringement of the protected variety. The court may also decide to destroy the infringing variety as well as the materials and tools or to dispose of them in any noncommercial purpose." (5)

Order 81 is about power and profit, but it disguises itself as humanitarian legislation.

Topping it all off, the entire document puts on rather magisterial airs. It was signed by L. Paul Bremer himself, with his own hand, and presumably with his own pen:

"Pursuant to my authority as Administrator of the Coalition Provisional Authority…"

Like the Roman Proconsuls, Paul Bremer also spent a year in the provinces, governing the so-called barbarians…

-The above is an excerpt from Andrew Bosworth’s new book: Biotech Empire: The Untold Future of Food, Pills, and Sex, available at Amazon.

-Andrew Bosworth, Ph.D. is an assistant professor of Government at the University of Texas at Brownsville.

Notes

1. Uruknet Report, "Have You Ever Heard of Bremer's 100 Orders?" 11 April 2008.

2. Institutional Report, Genetic Engineering at a Historic Crossroads," The Sierra Club Genetic Engineering Committee Report, March 2001.

3. Jeffrey Smith. "ORDER 81: Re-Engineering Iraqi Agriculture - The Ultimate War Crime: Breaking the Agricultural Cycle." Global Research and The Ecologist, 27 August 2005, Vol 35, No. 1.

4. Jeffrey Smith. "ORDER 81: Re-Engineering Iraqi Agriculture - The Ultimate War Crime: Breaking the Agricultural Cycle." Global Research and The Ecologist, 27 August 2005, Vol 35, No. 1.

5 CPA/ORD/26 April 2004/81, p. 27.

------------------------------
Bayer Facing A Billion Dollars in Lawsuits After Polluting Thousands of Rice Fields with Genetically Engineered Rice

* GM Watch (EU), October 15, 2008
Straight to the Source

NOTE: This article includes information we hadn't seen elsewhere about the settlement of the earlier Starlink GM contamination fiasco, that not just growers but also consumers received compensation.

It seems, "People who ate the tainted food, some of whom said they became nauseated, received $9 million worth of coupons for corn products, according to their lawyer, Krislov."

The rest of the $119 million settlement went to growers. In this case, rice farmers are looking for considerably more by way of compensation for their losses.

EXTRACTS: Don Downing, a St. Louis-based lawyer for the growers, said in a court filing last year that damages might exceed $1 billion. The figure will be lower because class-action status was denied, he said this month, declining to estimate the total.

The $1 billion would be equivalent to 16 percent of Bayer's 2007 net income...

------

Bayer Avoided Class Actions, Faces 1,200 Rice Suits
By Andrew Harris and Margaret Cronin Fisk
Bloomberg, October 15 2008

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=auu3BOBRYwaE&refer=home

Bayer AG's defeat of a bid by U.S. rice farmers to sue the company as a group doesn't end the matter. The German producer of genetically altered seeds still faces 1,200 individual claims of crop contamination.

Farmers in five states sued after trace amounts of types of modified rice being grown experimentally by Bayer in Louisiana were found in rice raised for consumption. U.S. District Judge Catherine Perry in St. Louis in August refused to allow the claims to be combined in class-action suits, one per state. She may set a date tomorrow for the first individual trial.

While the farmers lost group leverage for forcing settlements because of the ruling, they may regain it should Bayer lose early trials, said Carl Tobias,a University of Richmond law professor. If the facts are "very similar,"early verdicts "might be applied to other cases" by the court, leaving only the amount of damages for juries to decide, he said.

"That ups the ante for the first few trials," said Tobias, who teaches tort and product-liability law and is an expert on federal courts and civil procedure. "It might push the pressure to settle."

Don Downing, a St. Louis-based lawyer for the growers, said in a court filing last year that damages might exceed $1 billion. The figure will be lower because class-action status was denied, he said this month, declining to estimate the total.

"We wouldn't feel comfortable until our experts are finished with their analysis," Downing, of the law firm Gray, Ritter & Graham, said in an interview.

2007 Profit

The $1 billion would be equivalent to 16 percent of Bayer's 2007 net income of 4.7 billion euros ($6.4 billion) and 13 percent of CropScience's sales of 5.8 billion euros. Bayer lawyer Mark Ferguson in Chicago said it's impossible to know whether jury findings in one trial would be applied in another. The outcome "would depend on the specific case or issue involved and the precise facts and circumstances," he said.

Bayer shares have fallen 28 percent from a year ago. The German Stock Index fell 39 percent in the same period as the global credit crisis pushed down shares. The company shares today fell 3.44 euros, or 7.6 percent, to 41.86 euros in Frankfurt, and the index fell 6.5 percent.

Bayer's LibertyLink brand of genetically altered rice was being studied at Louisiana State University in an effort to create a crop that could be safely sprayed with a weed-killer, the U.S. Agriculture Department said. Two strains of LibertyLink were found amid commercially grown long-grain rice in Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas, Arkansas and Missouri, the agency said.

Export Bans

The farmers blame Bayer, based in Leverkusen, Germany, and its CropScience unit for damages caused by temporary bans on two kinds of high-yield seeds, export restrictions and a plunge in prices that followed discovery of the contamination. Because LibertyLink rice wasn't approved for human consumption, the European Union, Japan and Russia restricted its sale, according to the complaint. Within four days of the 2006 announcement, a decline in rice futures had cost U.S. growers about $150 million, according to the farmers' complaint in federal court in St. Louis. News of the contamination caused futures prices to fall approximately 14 percent, and American rice exports also fell, the growers said.

Restrictions were eased after Bayer's rice was declared safe by the Agriculture Department in November 2006. There are no claims in the rice litigation that LibertyLink harmed or risked human health.

Tiny Amounts

Only "minute'' amounts of LibertyLink were found in U.S. crops, Bayer attorney Ferguson said. "It's our view most of these plaintiffs didn't suffer market losses in selling their rice,'' said Ferguson, of Bartlit Beck Herman Palenchar & Scott in Chicago. "There was a short time when rice futures prices dropped, but that doesn't necessarily translate to losses to farmers.'' Prices later rose to "record heights,'' he said.

Bayer, where the aspirin was invented in 1897 according to the company, is the world's seventh-largest seed maker as well as Germany's largest drugmaker. The 17,800-employee CropScience unit's sales of 5.83 billion euros were about 19 percent of Bayer's total of 32.39 billion euros, according to the company.

Analysts Andrew Benson of Citigroup Inc. in London, Richard Logan of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Karl-Heinz Scheunemann of Landesbank Baden-Württembergin Stuttgart, who follow Bayer, said they haven't studied the cases and declined to comment. Jeffrey LaFrance, a University of California agricultural economist in Berkeley, said rice prices rebounded rapidly after the taint was disclosed. Still, at least some of the 1,200 farmers suffered during the import-ban period, he said.

Corn Lawsuits

LaFrance played a role in U.S. litigation that ended six years ago as an expert for Aventis CropScience, a French company later bought by Bayer. Aventis was sued over crop contamination by genetically modified corn. Separate cases by growers and consumers were settled out of court for $119 million.

People who ate the tainted food, some of whom said they became nauseated, received $9 million worth of coupons for corn products, according to their lawyer, Krislov. The rest went to growers and their attorneys.

In deciding against rice class actions, the St. Louis judge ruled there were too many ways for the farmers to sell their crops, and to have lost money, to treat them as cohesive groups.

Defendants generally oppose class certification, Krislov said.

"The hope is that the plaintiffs give up, which is a strategy that certainly works plenty,'' he said. ``But when you have a significant numberof people with sizable claims, maybe that backfires.''

The case is In Re Genetically Modified Rice Litigation, 06- md-1811, U.S.District Court, Eastern District of Missouri (St. Louis).