Friday, November 21, 2008

Alwaleed Buys Citigroup Stock as Loss Exceeds Buffett (Update2)

Alwaleed Buys Citigroup Stock as Loss Exceeds Buffett (Update2)

By Ben Holland
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Nov. 20 (Bloomberg) -- The Warren Buffett of the Gulf is taking a bigger hit from the credit crunch than the original.

Prince Alwaleed bin Talal was lauded by Time magazine as the Middle East’s answer to the Sage of Omaha after a 1991 investment in Citigroup Inc.’s predecessor helped make the Saudi billionaire one of the world’s five richest people.

This year, Alwaleed’s investments aren’t keeping pace with regional benchmarks, let alone Buffett. His Riyadh-based Kingdom Holding Co. has slumped 63 percent -- more than Saudi Arabia’s Tadawul All-Share Index or Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. -- wiping out $13 billion in value. Kingdom today said Alwaleed will boost his Citigroup stake, his largest holding, to 5 percent, even after the shares fell more than 80 percent since Jan. 1.

“When people nail their colors to the mast in such an obvious way, if then it all blows up, then that’s very damaging to your reputation,” said Ken Murray, chairman of Blue Planet Investment Management in Edinburgh, who says he shorted shares in Citigroup last year.

Alwaleed and his companies are buying Citigroup shares because the prince believes they are “dramatically undervalued,” Kingdom Holding said in a news release. The combined stake stands at less than 4 percent after recent Citigroup share sales diluted the holding, Kingdom said.

“Prince Alwaleed is fully confident that Citigroup’s universal banking model and global franchise will make it a long- term winner in the financial services industry,” Kingdom said.

The announcement failed to halt Citigroup’s slide. The shares slumped 17 percent to $5.30 as of 10:10 a.m. in New York trading, extending this week’s drop to 45 percent on concern banks will post further losses next year as the economy falters.

A Billionaire’s Life

Like Buffett, Alwaleed, 53, built his fortune by investing in brand-name companies he considered were undervalued, including Apple Inc., News Corp. and Time Warner Inc. Forbes magazine estimated he was worth $21 billion in March, ranking him 19th among the world’s billionaires.

A nephew of the late King Fahd bin Abdulaziz al-Saud, Alwaleed stands out among more than 2,000 Saudi princes because he’s made money. After earning a bachelor’s degree from Menlo College near San Francisco, he returned to the Persian Gulf and parlayed an inheritance of less than $1 million into a billion-dollar fortune in the 1980s, mostly through real estate investments, according to Riz Khan’s biography “Alwaleed: Businessman, Billionaire, Prince” (William Morrow, 2005.)

Alwaleed’s arrival as a celebrity investor came with the Citicorp stake, for which he paid the equivalent of $2.98 a share after adjusting for stock splits, acquisitions and spinoffs, according to Bloomberg calculations. In the decade through 2007, the stock averaged $42.

$319 Million Plane

Unlike Buffett, who for years drove a 2001 Lincoln Town Car, Alwaleed enjoys the trappings of wealth. His garage contains two of everything -- including a pair of Rolls Royce Phantoms -- as the prince buys a matching model for his bodyguards whenever he picks a new car, according to Forbes. Buffett paid $31,500 for the home in Omaha where he’s lived for 30 years; Alwaleed spent $100 million on his 317-room Riyadh palace.

And when Airbus SAS put the world’s biggest aircraft, the A380 superjumbo, on sale last year, Alwaleed was the first private customer to order one. That cost him $319 million, and fitting out the plane’s interior may cost “several hundred million” more, Airbus said.

Also in contrast to Buffett, Alwaleed’s investments are underperforming in the credit crunch. The prince’s reluctance to exit positions may be one reason.

‘Never Sell’

“There are some assets I would never sell,” he told the U.K.’s Independent newspaper in 2005, citing Citigroup, News Corp. and the luxury hotel group Four Seasons Hotels Inc.

In another 2005 interview with Charlie Rose of the U.S. Public Broadcasting Service, Alwaleed outlined his criteria for buying stocks. “The return on investment in the coming five to 10 years has to be within our acceptable conditions,” he said. That means “at least 20 to 25 percent” annual returns.

Few investors, including Buffett, are making that kind of money this year.

Berkshire Hathaway fell the most in at least 23 years yesterday, dropping for the eighth straight day since reporting a 77 percent decline in third-quarter profit.

Still, the stock has beaten the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index this year, falling 41 percent compared with a 45 percent drop in the U.S. benchmark.

Those who bought Kingdom Holding shares when Alwaleed took his company public in a July 2007 initial share sale have lost 55 percent. The Tadawul index fell 45 percent in the same period. Alwaleed still owns 94 percent of Kingdom Holding.

Bargain Hunter

There’s every chance the prince will unearth fresh bargains in the current slump, says John Rossant, executive chairman of Publicis Live, which organizes World Economic Forum events in the Middle East and elsewhere.

When Alwaleed bailed out Citicorp in 1991, the New York- based bank “was very close to going bankrupt, the stock price was a fraction of what it is even today,” says Rossant, who has worked with Alwaleed since the mid-1990s and calls the Citicorp investment “one of the smartest of all time.”

“You’ve got to think, if you look over the equity landscape today, that there are similar situations,” he says. “If you’ve got capital now, and you have to assume that someone like Alwaleed does, he would stand to make a lot of money.”

Right now, he isn’t. Kingdom Holding has stakes in 15 publicly traded non-Gulf companies, according to its Web site. Only four have outperformed their national benchmark this year, according to Bloomberg data.

Those four are among Kingdom’s smaller stakes: it owns 1 percent or less of Hewlett Packard Co., PepsiCo Inc., Walt Disney Co. and Procter & Gamble Co., according to the Web site.

Jeddah Skyscraper

Alwaleed’s larger holdings are faring worse.

Kingdom holds 7 percent of New York-based News Corp., Rupert Murdoch’s media company, which has fallen 69 percent this year. Songbird Estates Plc, the majority owner of London’s Canary Wharf financial district, plunged 82 percent as tenants such as Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. went bust. Alwaleed owns 21 percent of Songbird, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Alwaleed is also one of two Middle Eastern investors racing to build the world’s first kilometer-high skyscraper in the Persian Gulf. On Oct. 13, Kingdom Holding announced plans for the Kingdom Tower, part of the $27 billion Kingdom City real-estate project in the Red Sea city of Jeddah.

Such attention-grabbing projects are under review throughout the Gulf, as oil prices plunge and borrowing costs rise. On Nov. 17, Nakheel PJSC, the Dubai-owned developer that’s Alwaleed’s rival to break the 1,000-meter barrier, announced it was “scaling back” some projects, without saying which ones.

“Real estate is bound to correct downward, and a lot of projects are going to get delayed,” says John Sfakianakis, chief economist at Saudi British Bank in Riyadh. “The region’s going through the final stages of what I call the ‘mine is bigger’ syndrome.”

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Short View: Confidence collapse

By John Authers

Published: November 20 2008 19:15 | Last updated: November 20 2008 19:15

History is the only way to grasp what is gripping markets.

The yield payable on the two-year US treasury bond, which reflects trends in interest rates, is below 1 per cent for the first time ever. The yield on 30-year Treasuries, led by expectations of inflation, is below 4 per cent, at an all-time low.

Thus the bond market expects historically low interest rates in the developed world, which will fail to avert a protracted dose of slow growth and deflation.

Meanwhile, the yield on 10-year bonds is less than the dividend yield on the S&P 500 index for the first time in 50 years. Stocks’ superior potential to grow over time is now valued as worthless, swamped by the risk of further declines.

As for stocks, the S&P fell on Thursday to 776.76, equal – to two decimal places – to its lowest close during the bear market of 2002, before rallying. Falling through that level would be a huge psychological blow.

The price of crude oil fell below $50, to its lowest level since 2005, in spite of the widespread belief that world production is near its peak level and is set to decline.

In combination, this is an historic loss of confidence in the western economy. Why?

Data continue to show that the economy sustained a sharp jolt after the collapse of Lehman Brothers in September. New US jobless claims, the highest since 1982, are the latest bad news.

And confidence in the financial sector, which has led the decline in the economy, sustained a critical new blow last week when the US Treasury secretary Hank Paulson said that the “Tarp” bail-out fund would not, after all, buy troubled mortgage-backed assets. That caused a renewed collapse in the value of those assets and the institutions holding them.

History will judge whether this collapse in confidence makes sense; it seems highly likely to judge Mr Paulson’s statement a mistake.

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Short View: Banking confidence collapse

Published: November 21 2008 02:08 | Last updated: November 21 2008 02:08

The five-year rally in US stocks that began shortly before the invasion of Iraq and peaked last October can now be dismissed as an aberration.

On Thursday, the S&P 500, the most important index of the US market, fell 6.5 per cent, dropping through the low it set in October 2002, and bringing it to levels it last saw in April 1997.

It is back to a level it last recorded a month before Amazon.com went public. Both the dotcom bubble and what is now known to be the credit bubble have burst – but there is no clarity as to where stock valuations may come to rest.

The bond market suggests we are in territory much more inhospitable than in 1997. The yield on the two-year US Treasury bond, which reflects trends in interest rates, is below 1 per cent for the first time. The yield on 30-year Treasuries, led by expectations of inflation, is below 4 per cent, at a record low.

Thus the bond market expects historically low interest rates in the developed world, which will fail to avert a protracted dose of slow growth and deflation.

The yield on 10-year bonds is less than the dividend yield on the S&P 500 index for the first time in 50 years. Stocks’ greater potential to grow over time is now valued as worthless.

Why such a total loss of confidence in the US economy?

Data continue to show that the economy sustained a sharp jolt after the collapse of Lehman Brothers in September. New US jobless claims, the highest since 1982, are the latest bad news.

And confidence in the banking sector, which led the decline in the economy, took a critical new blow last week when the US Treasury secretary Hank Paulson said that the Tarp bail-out fund would not, after all, buy troubled mortgage- backed assets. That sent the value of companies holding those assets tumbling, led by Citigroup, which is back to its level of May 1995.

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Swiss franc sinks after rate surprise

By Peter Garnham and Miles Johnson

Published: November 20 2008 11:32 | Last updated: November 20 2008 19:03

The Swiss franc dropped to its weakest level in 15 months against the dollar after an interest rate cut from the Swiss National Bank surprised investors.

The central bank cut rates by 100 basis points, taking its three-month interest rate target range to 0.5-1.5 per cent. It was the third time in two months the SNB had eased monetary policy outside a scheduled meeting.

The accompanying statement indicated that the SNB expected inflation to fall below 2 per cent as early as the end of this year and acknowledged higher risks of a marked slowdown in economic activity in Switzerland next year.

Geoffrey Kendrick at UBS said the move signalled that the SNB was concerned about deflationary risks.

He said that while the immediate impact of the rate cut would be towards Swiss franc weakness, the resultant anxiety over the possibility that the central bank knew something about the economic deterioration that investors did not could push stock markets lower. This, he said, could ultimately boost the Swiss franc.

“With Switzerland originally considered as one of the better placed economies amid the current crisis, uncertainty would only add to market woes and continue to support safe havens,” said Mr Kendrick.

By midday in New York, the Swiss franc had fallen 0.5 per cent against the dollar to SFr1.2194, its weakest level since August 2007, and lost 0.6 per cent to SFr1.5269 against the euro.

Meanwhile, the yen advanced as heightened concerns over the global economy sparked a fresh wave of deleveraging across asset markets.

The yen benefits from increased risk aversion since many investments in riskier, higher-yielding assets have been funded by selling the low-yielding Japanese currency.

Analysts said one factor behind the deterioration in investor sentiment was concern over the effectiveness of the US Treasury’s Tarp (Troubled Assets Relief Program) rescue plan, which sent financial stocks lower.

Derek Halpenny at Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ said the collapse in financial stocks had brought the issue of bank solvency back to the fore, which could have an impact on risk appetite and boost the yen.

The yen rose 1.2 per cent to Y94.68 against the dollar, climbed 1 per cent to Y118.50 against the euro and gained 2.2 per cent to Y140.02 against the pound.

The yen also advanced against the higher-yielding Australian and New Zealand dollars, rising 3.6 per cent to Y58.78 and 2.6 per cent to Y50.56 respectively.

Meanwhile, the dollar gained 1.2 per cent against the pound to $1.4782, in spite of the gloom emanating from the US, and held steady against the euro at $1.2528.

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Fresh worries over Asia’s sliding currencies

By Peter Garnham in London, Song Jung-a in Seoul and John Aglionby in Jakarta

Published: November 20 2008 19:03 | Last updated: November 20 2008 19:03

Emerging market currencies in Asia came under renewed pressure on Thursday, with the South Korean won and the Indonesian rupiah falling to their lowest levels since the Asian financial crisis of 1998.

Analysts said that fears over a sharp slowdown in global growth prompted a renewed downward shift in risk appetite. This drove wary foreign investors into repatriating funds from the region, piling pressure on local currencies.

Emerging market currencies were hit hard last month as interbank lending seized up. This had led foreign investors to sell emerging market assets as they scrambled for dollar liquidity. However, the announcement that the Federal Reserve had established currency swap lines with four emerging market central banks, including South Korea, helped ease liquidity concerns and pulled emerging market currencies away from their lows at the end of October.

But David Hauner at Bank of America said it was clear that the move was just a bear market rally and that the downward trend in emerging market currencies remained in place.

The Korean won plunged 3.5 per cent to a 10-year low of Won1,496.00 against the dollar as foreign investors continued to dump Korean shares. On Thursday foreign investors sold a record amount of Korean shares, pushing the main Kospi index 6.7 per cent lower. The Korean currency has lost 37 per cent of its value so far this year including a 13 per cent drop this month alone.

Meanwhile, the Indonesian rupiah fell on fears that Indonesia might become the next global victim of the ongoing turmoil. The rupiah slid 2.3 per cent to a 10-year low of Rp12,475 to the dollar, taking its fall so far this month to 13.6 per cent.

Financial instruments were indicating the market expects the rupiah to weaken another 12 per cent within the next month. Meanwhile credit default swap spreads over US Treasuries, an indicator of perceived sovereign risk, rose to 950 basis points. This compares to 510 basis points on November 4.

Fauzi Ichsan, of Standard Chartered Bank, said: “I reckon [the falling rupiah] is 80 per cent global factors and 20 per cent domestic ones. The main local issue is drying up dollar liquidity as demand is rising – but that’s happening across the region too.” Analysts say Jakarta’s refusal to give a full guarantee on bank deposits, unlike Singapore and Hong Kong, is prompting demand for dollars.

Elsewhere in the region, the Thai baht traded as low as Bt35.17 to the dollar, its weakest level in 20 months, the Philippine peso eased 0.2 per cent to 49.978 pesos while Taiwan dollar dropped 0.4 per cent to T$33.405.

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Reykjavik borrows $10bn to stave off collapse

By David Ibison in Stockholm and Alex Barker in London

Published: November 20 2008 08:56 | Last updated: November 20 2008 19:49

Iceland had to borrow about $10bn on Thursday, roughly the size of its entire gross domestic product, to prevent its economy collapsing.

The move underlined the damage wrought by last month’s disintegration of the country’s banking system.

Iceland finally secured a $5.1bn (€4bn, £3.4bn) bail-out for its crisis-stricken economy, comprising $2.1bn from the International Monetary Fund and additional loans of up to $3bn from Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Russia, Poland and the Faroe Islands.

It also agreed to borrow £2.2bn from the UK government and €1.3bn from the Netherlands government which will be used to compensate depositors in Icesave, the online arm of Landsbanki, the collapsed bank.

The loans will expose 320,000 Icelanders to a brutal recession, soaring inflation and an enormous debt burden that will haunt them for years in the form of taxes, threatening to trigger mass emigration. Up to a third of the population have said they want to flee the island.

The huge rescue package and its damaging domestic effect mark the official end of a 17-year experiment in free market economics that transformed Iceland from a fishing-based backwater to a booming tiger economy and now to the humiliation of an IMF-led bail out.

The £2.2bn owed to the UK has been a source of acute tension between London and Reykjavik since Iceland’s banking system collapsed, triggering the worst breakdown in diplomatic relations between the two states since the cod wars of the 1970s.

UK treasury officials said yesterday that while exact terms of the debt financing agreement would be set over coming weeks, the acceptance of the principle of treating all creditors fairly was a significant step forward.

The IMF-led loans, which will be used to bolster Iceland’s foreign exchange reserves, clear the way for the country to refloat its currency, which is regarded as a crucial next step towards restoring its international credibility.

“It is imperative that the authorities move quickly to stabilise the currency and lay the foundations for economic recovery and a normalisation of financial flows,” said Paul Rawkins, senior director at Fitch Ratings.

The krona has lost about 70 per cent of its value since the crisis. Authorities are braced for a new wave of selling by foreign owners of up to IKr400bn ($3bn, €2.4bn, £2bn) of Icelandic bonds that could push it even lower.

The social and political implications of the crisis and the loans needed to bail the country out will be apparent in the months to come.

The government has already agreed to reverse its long-standing opposition to joining the European Union and adopting the euro as its currency. It hopes to start discussions early next year.

But frequent demonstrations on the streets of Reykjavik by disgruntled citizens against Geir Haarde, prime minister, and David Oddsson, the governor of the central bank, indicate that there could be pressure for political change in the near future.

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Basel outlines stricter limits for banks’ capital

By Peter Thal Larsen in London

Published: November 20 2008 19:20 | Last updated: November 20 2008 19:20

Plans to make banks hold greater capital reserves and limit the amount they can borrow have been outlined by the world’s leading banking watchdog in an effort to prevent a repeat of the credit crisis.

The proposals from the standard-setting Basel Committee on Banking Supervision are an attempt to salvage a global regulatory framework for the industry.

The move comes after a string of state-backed rescues in the US and Europe as governments have injected capital into their banks in an bid to shore up confidence in the financial system.

The crisis has triggered calls from some policymakers to scrap the Basel II framework for global bank regulation, which is seen as having contributed to the crisis by allowing banks to operate with relatively low capital reserves.

However, some regulators believe that the Basel framework, which took nine years to put in place, can be salvaged.

The Basel Committee yesterday signalled that over the long term it would encourage banks to make provisions for bad debts throughout the economic cycle. This would boost banks’ capital reserves while also providing a brake on growth in new lending.

The watchdog also signalled it might introduce rules to limit the absolute amount of debt a bank can take on relative to its capital base.

This measure, known as a leverage ratio, had been fiercely resisted by European banks but was recently introduced by the Swiss regulator following the meltdown at UBS.

Nout Wellink, president of the Dutch central bank and chairman of the Basel Committee, has defended Basel II, arguing that the framework had only come into force in many countries at the beginning of 2008.

However, he acknowledged that the crisis had created the need for fundamental reform. “Ultimately, our goal is to help ensure that the banking sector serves its traditional role as a shock absorber to the financial system, rather than an amplifier of risk between the financial sector and the real economy,” he said in a recent speech.

Basel officials believe the new rules, details of which will be drawn up over the next year, would provide a basis for reestablishing privately owned financial institutions. However, they stressed that the Basel Committee had no intention of forcing through new measures until the crisis has eased.

“We’re not going to jack up all the minimum capital requirements in the middle of a crisis,” one said.

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Aerospace sector prepares for rocky ride

By Michael Kavanagh

Published: November 20 2008 19:48 | Last updated: November 20 2008 19:48

British aerospace and defence companies have joined their manufacturing peers in pointing to a rocky 2009 for employees and investors, with job cuts announced at Rolls-Royce and BAE Systems.

Sir John Rose, Rolls-Royce chief executive, has become known in policy circles as a champion of British manufacturing competence in the face of competition from lower-cost economies. He set out a year-long programme of tough medicine for the aircraft engine maker as it faces a long-anticipated slowdown in civil aviation.

So far the company has set out specific plans for 140 job cuts at its assembly and test facility in Derby. But the supplier of engines and power turbines is seeking a headcount reduction internationally of 1,500-2,000 from a global total of 39,000.

If the cuts are applied proportionately across the globe, the British aerospace sector could be facing the loss of more than 1,000 Rolls-Royce jobs. The company employs 22,000 in the UK, including 12,500 in Derby.

News of the job losses will be unwelcome in the east Midlands, where JCB, the digging machine maker, is already extending job cuts because of a drop in demand.

Rolls-Royce said it hoped normal attrition of staff, voluntary redundancy and curtailing recruitment could help avoid the need for widescale compulsory job losses.

The company is backing a planned academy, focusing on developing local engineering skills, to be based near Derby. The academy’s main sponsor is JCB. Rolls-Royce said it would continue its “commitment to apprentice and graduate recruitment” as it planned beyond the downturn.

The question remains, how bad will things get?

Nick Cunningham, an aerospace and defence analyst at Evolution, said: “The job cuts of about 4 per cent is what big companies are doing anyway.” But he argued that a protracted downturn in aerospace could herald harsher cuts.

As a so-called “late-cycle” company, meaning it will be among the last to feel the pain from an aviation downturn, Rolls-Royce will need to plan for a protracted decline in aircraft deliveries from 2010, Mr Cunningham argued. It will also need to negotiate a decline of 15 to 20 per cent in the after-market, or maintenance, segment of its business in the coming year.

With many of its costs in sterling and revenues in dollars, Rolls-Royce put in place a robust hedging policy to protect against a stronger pound. Unfortunately, this means it will not benefit from sterling’s sharp decline.

Better news for Rolls-Royce is that its management is “operationally smart”, said Mr Cunningham, and by acting early and through flexible labour agreements, it should be as well placed as any rival to face the storm.

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Opec disarray as oil sinks to $50

By Carola Hoyos and Javier Blas in London

Published: November 21 2008 02:00 | Last updated: November 21 2008 02:00

The oil price yesterday sank below $50 a barrel for the first time since 2005 as the first signs of fractures within the Opec oil cartel became apparent.

Nigeria said it did not want to cut its production to try to stop the slide in prices because it needed high output to balance its budget, while Iran, Kuwait and others said they would support another production cut.

Odein Ajumogobia, Nigeria's energy minister, said it was not in his country's interest to cut production further, raising the likelihood the cartel could fail to achieve its goal of boosting prices by cutting output.

"We are in the process of [processing] our budget . . . based on an [oil] benchmark of $45 . . . If you cut the volume then it is going to affect your budget, so obviously we are not advocating a cut because it is not in our interest," he said.

Opec risks collapse if it is unable to act cohesively. The power of a cartel to boost prices depends on all significant members forgoing the revenue gain from selling more oil for the gain from the price boost that comes from withholding oil from the market. If one player cheats, the rest follow and the effort collapses, as it did in the early 1990s.

Opec members in October pledged to reduce their production by as much as 1.8m barrels a day. Though they have yet to fully implement that agreement, the group is considering a further production cut at its meeting in Cairo next week.

In New York, US oil futures prices plunged to an intraday low of $49.75 a barrel, down more than $3.50, and its lowest level since May 2005.

The drop came as investors dumped oil and other commodities on heightened fears of a protracted global recession and after Goldman Sachs, Wall Street's largest oil trader, told its clients it was closing all its trading recommendations in energy.

The options market priced in a growing likelihood that oil prices could sink as low $40-$45 a barrel before the end of the year, with the cost of insuring against such an event jumping overnight by as much as 90 per cent.

Investment banks such as Deutsche Bank and companies such as China National Offshore Oil Corporation have warned that oil prices could fall to $40 a barrel early next year as the credit crisis hits the real economy, with the slowdown spreading from the US and Europe into emerging markets such as China.

The slowdown is curbing demand for raw materials from oil to copper on a scale not seen in decades. Antoine Halff, of brokerage Newedge in New York, said: "Demand destruction today rivals that caused by the oil shocks of the 1970s."

The tone of a recent meeting of national oil companies, many of which came from Opec countries, was "panic", Fu Chengyu, chief executive of China National Offshore Oil Corporation, said this week.

All Opec members are struggling with the sharp drop in oil prices from this summer's record of $147. Ecuador, Opec's newest member, this week raised the spectre of defaulting on its loans.

Only the United Arab Emirates, Algeria and Qatar can balance their external accounts in 2009 with prices below $50 a barrel, according to research by PFC Energy, the US-based industry consultant. Saudi Arabia needs barely more than $50, PFC said.

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Gem cuts back as diamond price falls

By William MacNamara

Published: November 18 2008 02:00 | Last updated: November 18 2008 02:00

Gem Diamonds, the Aim-traded owner of a white diamond mine in Lesotho, has warned of operational cutbacks and a possible annual loss as the plunge in diamond prices takes its toll.

The shares tumbled 131½p to 213½p.

The miner will focus on the high-value Letseng mine and cut most exploration activity, reflecting a trend across commodity companies known as "high-grading" - or dropping everything but the most profitable operations to conserve cash as commodity prices fall.

Gem said yesterday that the average diamond sales price at Letseng fell from $2,512 a carat in the first half of the year to $1,557 in the third quarter and $1,382 in the fourth quarter thus far.

Although the value of Letseng's diamonds are far higher than industry averages, the 11 per cent quarter-to-quarter decline is an indication of the recent loss in value in the non-exchange-traded stones. Consumer cutbacks in jewellery spending are behind the fall, alongside a freeze in diamond banking that prevents traditional buyers from taking on stock in centres such as Antwerp.

Industry leaders De Beers and Alrosa have both started to cut production this month in response to falling prices.

Gem indicated it would mothball its low-margin Cempaka mine in Indonesia, curtail production at part of its Ellendale mine in Australia and cut exploration in Democratic Republic of Congo and Central African Republic. Such measures, it said, were intended to make the company profitable next year if diamond prices remained depressed.

But it noted its 2008 performance "will be significantly lower than our expectations in August . . . and could result in a loss for the full year." Such a loss would erase first-half pre-tax profit of $23.8m (£16.2m).

Glenn Turner, chief commercial director, joined other industry executives by stressing the fundamentals of the industry were sound, with demand continuing to outpace supply over the long term. "This is a glitch in an upward trend," he said. "Once the world's economies get back into equilibrium, the trend in diamond prices will pick up again."

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Canadian partner criticises De Beers

By William MacNamara in London

Published: November 20 2008 18:23 | Last updated: November 20 2008 18:23

The world’s largest diamond deposit remains undeveloped for no good reason, shareholders of a Canadian diamond company have claimed in a criticism of De Beers. The industry leader is the company’s joint venture partner in developing the enormous deposit in Canada.

Mountain Province Diamonds, a Canadian junior backed by billionaires Dermot Desmond and Harry Dobson, is seeking to either agree revised terms of its 12-year-old joint venture or initiate legal action against De Beers, according to people close to the company.

In 1995, MPD discovered the Gahcho Kue diamond lode near Yellowknife in Canada’s Northwest Territories. It is estimated to contain 47m carats of diamonds.

MPD signed a joint venture agreement with De Beers in 1997 under which the South African company was named project operator with a 51 per cent stake.

De Beers has since funded a standard series of drillings tests at Gahcho Kue but critics claim progress never gained momentum. Production will not start until 2012 at the earliest.

“The [MPD] board have been very frustrated over the years by perceived delays in pushing forward the project,” said Mr Dobson, the Scottish mining entrepreneur who owns 2 per cent of MPD shares. Frustration intensified “as we watched De Beers place in production two other operations in Canada that we think of as inferior”.

In July De Beers, which controls 40 per cent of global diamond production, opened two diamond mines in Canada in a sign of the Canadian diamond industry coming of age. It owns 100 per cent of both. The larger mine, Snap Lake, is close to the Gahcho Kue deposit and was tested, built and brought into production over an eight-year period from 2000.

Jim Gowans, chief executive of De Beers Canada, said De Beers had spent $180m exploring and testing Gahcho Kue in a clear sign of its commitment. But he said De Beers had much more information about the two mines it bought and developed than about Gahcho Kue, where the required test work took longer because of difficult conditions in northern Canada.

“These projects can take 10 to 12 to 20 years to bring into production,” he said. “Until Gahcho Kue is developed, Mountain Province will have no cash flow and about that I have a lot of empathy for them.”

However, he said De Beers managed and developed three sites in Canada and other sites globally, and so had different priorities from MPD with its single deposit.

Patrick Evans, MPD chief executive, said: “Litigation is always an option but it’s the last resort.” Long-term projections of diamond demand outstripping supply made developing large deposits essential, he added.

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Diamond dispute heats up in frozen north

By William MacNamara in London

Published: November 20 2008 18:17 | Last updated: November 20 2008 18:17

To reach the diamonds of sub-Arctic Canada, miners must drill through frozen rock in a desolate environment almost devoid of roads. A mine in the region can take a decade or longer to bring into production.

Yet when the process takes 15 years, investors in any climate might begin wondering what is going on – especially if the miner in question is De Beers.

The company has deeper pockets and more expertise than anyone in the industry. In the case of a diamond deposit the size of Gahcho Kue in Canada’s Northwest Territories, De Beers would seem to have an incentive to unearth the stones as soon as possible.

However, perceptions of De Beers’ power, and what the company does with it, are behind the dispute over Gahcho Kue as much as geology or budgets.

It has been 12 years since Mountain Province Diamonds entered a joint venture with De Beers to develop Gahcho Kue, with De Beers as project operator holding a 51 per cent stake.

But the bonanza remains at initial stages of development and the soonest it could reach production is 2012. Meanwhile, everyone in the diamond industry warns that no big discovery has been made in a decade, creating long-term expectations of supply shortages.

“This is a source of tremendous frustration for us,” said a shareholder of Mountain Province, which discovered Gahcho Kue in 1995. “At the heart of the [joint venture] was De Beers committing to a proper and timely development of the project, and, 12 years later, there has been nothing proper and nothing timely about it,” said the shareholder, who asked not to be identified.

Some shareholders say it is not inconceivable that De Beers, which in an earlier era stockpiled diamonds to prop up the price, is delaying Gahcho Kue to control the entry of so many diamonds on to the market.

De Beers dismisses such claims, saying the project was taking a long time because its economic viability was still not determined. The carat value of the deposit’s diamonds is relatively low, said Jim Gowans, chief executive of De Beers Canada, so more testing is needed to decide if it is economical to bring them out of the ground. “We’re excited about Gahcho Kue,” he said, “but we’re going to do things systematically.”

Mountain Province says the diamonds are worth more than De Beers’ estimates, and it disputes the rationale for delay. It is considering legal options to have De Beers dismissed as project operator.

The dispute is likely to end in settlement. De Beers enjoys less market share and room for tough tactics than ever before. Its posture in recent years has been conciliatory.

In October, De Beers settled a dispute with its joint venture partner African Diamonds, a junior miner. The company claimed De Beers, with a 71 per cent stake, was trying to delay development of the AK06 mine in Botswana to arrange terms for the diamonds to be sold through De Beers channels.

De Beers claimed its primary concern in requesting a project delay was unreliable power supplies.

In a compromise, De Beers agreed to start mine production on schedule but also won approval for the stones to be sold through Diamond Trading Company Botswana, its marketing arm, which is half-owned by Botswana’s government.

Threatening De Beers with lawsuits – as both African Diamonds and Mountain Province have done this year – is a sign of the reduced influence of De Beers as its share of global diamond­production declines, according to one industry veteran.

The company under Gareth Penny, managing director, has taken pains to clean up its image. It has poured money into the Kimberley Process, outlawing “conflict diamonds” from strife-torn regions.

It has also spearheaded diamond beneficiation, or the sharing of diamond revenues with producer countries such as South Africa and Botswana.

De Beers’ handling of the Mountain Province dispute could change attitudes in an industry where negative perceptions of the company linger. But it appears less likely than ever to give Mountain Province an answer the junior company wants to hear.

“We are going to have to do a lot more work on capital costs to find an economical deposit [at Gahcho Kue],” Mr Gowans said.

Diamond prices are falling, he said, making Gahcho Kue’s cost effectiveness lower and further delays possible. On Tuesday, he told Reuters that De Beers Canada was cutting production by 10-20 per cent at its two fully owned mines in Canada.

De Beers, which has invested $180m in Gahcho Kue to date, has no intention of resigning as project operator, he added.

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EU urges action to exploit Arctic oil and gas

By Tony Barber in Brussels

Published: November 20 2008 15:10 | Last updated: November 20 2008 23:07

European Union policymakers called for a carefully managed international effort to exploit the Arctic’s oil and gas resources and said that its vast untapped reserves could enhance Europe’s energy security.

The European Commission demanded observance of the highest environmental standards and appealed for full protection of the rights of indigenous Arctic people.

The Commission’s initiative reflected concern about the risk of sharp rivalries among global powers in a region that is not governed by a specific international treaty regime and where no single country has sovereignty over the North Pole or the ocean around it.

According to the US Geological Survey, the Arctic accounts for about 22 per cent of the world’s undiscovered, technically recoverable resources, including 30 per cent of natural gas and 13 per cent of oil.

Scientists warn that the exploitation of these resources, if not properly managed, could damage a region where air temperatures are already increasing twice as fast as the global average and the polar ice is melting rapidly.

The Commission proposed that the EU engage in long-term co-operation with other countries with Arctic interests, particularly Norway and Russia.

Russia caused alarm in August 2007 when it planted a flag on the seabed under the North Pole, in support of a territorial claim on the pole and a large part of the Arctic first lodged in 2001.

Among western countries, Norway has submitted a similar claim. Canada and Denmark could follow.

The Commission’s report said: “Arctic resources could contribute to enhancing the EU’s security of supply concerning energy and raw materials in general. However, exploitation will be slow, since it presents great challenges and entails high costs due to harsh conditions and multiple environmental risks.”

Under the Commission’s proposals, new fishing in the Arctic would be banned until conservation and management rules had been established for areas where none are yet in force.

With the melting of sea ice opening up shorter trips from Europe to the Pacific, the Commission said it would be important to defend the principle of freedom of navigation.

The EU has a direct interest in the Arctic because three of its 27 member states have land territories there: Denmark, which owns Greenland, Finland and Sweden. The three non-European Arctic powers are Canada, Russia and the US.

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Untapped riches prompt fears of land grab

By Joshua Chaffin

Published: November 21 2008 01:16 | Last updated: November 21 2008 01:16

Long frozen both politically and geographically, the Arctic is rapidly thawing into another slippery terrain on which Europe’s twin desires to both preserve a planet in peril and secure a share of its dwindling resources are now playing out.

On Thursday, the European Com­mission made its most sub­stantive effort to reconcile those competing agendas with the release of an Arc­tic initiative that urges nations to establish a bet­ter system of international governance for the re­gion, to protect its environment and native people and to com­mit themselves to harvesting its re­sources sustainably.

However, the sheer abundance of the Arctic’s mineral wealth and the extreme fragility of its ecosystem will make that a complicated task.

This year, the US Geological Survey laid out some of the figures that are inspiring a frosty land-grab by governments and global energy companies. It predicted that the northern Arctic held some 90bn barrels of oil and a third of the world’s undiscovered natural gas, calling it “the largest unexplored prospective area for petroleum remaining on earth”.

The oil, more than 80 per cent of which was located offshore, was considered “technically recoverable” with current technology, according to the USGS.

“It is a region that is going to have a lot more attention,” said Jonas Garh Store, Norway’s foreign affairs minister, who observed in a 2005 speech that cold-war military calculations once governing the region were giving way to a scramble for its energy resources.

In addition to fossil fuels, the region also includes shipping routes and abundant fish resources, a scarce commodity that has become a regular source of strife among EU member states.

As the Arctic’s economic riches come into sharper focus, its environmental vulnerabilities also appear to be grow­ing more acute. Last year it recorded its thinnest cover of summer ice on record. Some scientists predict that summer ice could disappear from the Arctic altogether by 2013, decades earlier than previous estimates.

That process not only threatens to raise sea levels, but could also accelerate global warming by releasing more carbon into the atmosphere, according to the Pew Center on Global Climate Change. Those changes are already undermining the livelihood of the Innuit and other native populations.

Perversely, though, the ravages of global warming could make the region’s resources more plentiful and accessible than ever, opening up new shipping lanes and fishing grounds, as Joe Borg, the European fisheries commissioner, acknowledged last month.

“As the ice recedes, we are presented with a first-time opportunity to use transport routes such as the Northern Sea route. This would translate into shorter transport routes and greater trading possibilities, and will provide a better opportunity to draw upon the wealth of untapped natural resources in the Arctic,” Mr Borg said.

That, in turn, is bringing new players into the mix, including China, South Korea and Japan, which could complicate efforts to manage the area.

Mr Store, who consulted the Commission on its proposals, argued that new laws and diplomatic bodies were not needed to oversee the Arctic’s development.

Instead, he called for a greater focus on the Law of the Sea and other existing instruments.

He and other leaders are also citing the Arctic’s plight as they try to make their case for an ambitious agreement to reduce greenhouse gases at an international meeting in Copenhagen next year.

“The Arctic is a clarion call for the need to act on climate change,” Mr Store. “It is the canary in the coal mine.”

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Lukoil linked with Repsol deal

By Mark Mulligan in Madrid and Catherine Belton in Moscow

Published: November 20 2008 11:59 | Last updated: November 20 2008 17:17

Russian oil group Lukoil emerged as a possible investor in Repsol after one of its largest shareholders confirmed talks about the sale of its stake in the Spanish energy group.

La Caixa, the Catalan savings bank that controls 12.5 per cent of Repsol, said in a regulatory filing there had been “informal contacts” with possible buyers of all or part of its stake.

However, it added that “no concrete offer had been received.”

The bank was responding to Spanish media reports that Lukoil, Russia’s biggest non-state-owned oil company, was poised to take a 29.9 per cent stake in Repsol.

Speculation about the fate of Repsol has been rife since September when Sacyr Vallehermoso, the cash-strapped construction company, admitted it was seeking buyers for its 20 per cent stake in the energy group.

Last week, it emerged that Gazprom was also interested in buying the holding, although it denied it was in talks with Sacyr.

Sacyr, which paid €6.5bn ($8.1bn) for the stake in the 2006 bull market, is struggling under the weight of an €18.5bn debt load and risks breaching covenants on a €5.1bn bank loan taken out to fund the Repsol purchase.

This loan, in turn, is secured against the Repsol shares, meaning recent stock market turmoil has forced Sacyr to pledge additional assets to lenders.

The construction group is also close to agreeing the sale of Itínere, its toll road business. Sacyr’s drive to sell the Repsol stake has unsettled the Spanish government, which fears the divestment could lead to a full-blown takeover bid for the country’s only fully integrated oil and gas group.

Sacyr is seeking a large premium to Repsol’s current market value, meaning any buyer would want eventual control of the target.

Miguel Sebastián, the industry minister, said Repsol was a “strategic company and the key to strategic [energy] supplies in Spain . . . We will do everything possible to keep it independent and Spanish.”

Jose Luís Rodríguez Zapatero, the prime minister, appeared slightly more open to a deal, saying: “We are talking about private companies. The government must respect the companies and negotiations for the incorporation of other shareholders.”

Repsol declined to comment.

The company has had its sights on Russia’s massive oil and gas reserves, and could use the stake to negotiate access to exploration and development sites such as Sakhalin Island.

Russia’s oil companies are struggling under the weight of the global financial crisis, lower oil prices and high Russian taxation.

Lukoil has asked the Russian government for debt refinancing of $2bn-$5bn, and said it could consider eliminating annual bonuses and other supplementary compensation.

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S Korea plans to lend $1bn to Vale

By Christian Oliver and Song Jung-a in Seoul and Rebecca,Bream in London

Published: November 21 2008 02:00 | Last updated: November 21 2008 02:00

South Korea plans to lend up to $1bn to Vale, the Brazilian mining company, in an effort to secure a stable supply of iron ore for the country's heavy industry, the bedrock of Asia's fourth biggest economy.

Korea is following China in an aggressive pursuit of raw materials across the developing world, signing contracts to plant crops, dig mines and drill for oil. Such deals are attractive because commodity imports, made painfully expensive by the weak won, are bleeding Korea's coffers.

The state-run Export Import Bank of Korea said it would conclude the financing contract in the first half of next year. The deal, currently a memorandum of understanding, will only fund Vale's iron and nickel projects in South America if Korean miners get a stake.

"Through this agreement, we can take advantage of the know-how and network of this leading resource developer," the Korean bank said. "We expect our companies to participate actively in resource development projects in South America."

The deal will offer some relief to a metals industry depressed by the global credit crisis. Iron ore prices are falling and steelmakers face anaemic demand from manufacturers.

Vale has a relatively strong balance sheet, having raised $12bn through a rights issue in July, but it also has an ambitious programme of new mine development in Brazil, for which it will need to attract extra funding.

Korea imports 23 per cent of its iron ore from Brazil, predominantly supplied by Vale, the world's biggest producer. Australia supplies 68 per cent of Korea's needs.

Although steel demand has weakened in the past two months, steelmakers are keen to secure iron ore supplies in preparation for an expected market rebound in 2009 or 2010.

The Export-Import Bank of Korea could not immediately say which Korean mining companies would join Vale's projects or say where the projects would be, but it is expected that Posco, the Korean steelmaker, will play a role in processing the ore.

The bank said Korean companies were already working in 19 projects across five South American countries and highlighted the role of SK Energy in developing liquefied natural gas in Peru.

Vale has also had previous dealings with Korea. Steelmaker Dongkuk signed a MOU with Vale earlier this year to study the feasibility of producing steel slabs in north-east Brazil.

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Cambodia holds land deal talks

By Raphael Minder in Hong Kong

Published: November 20 2008 18:22 | Last updated: November 20 2008 18:22

Cambodia is in talks with several Asian and Middle Eastern governments to receive as much as $3bn in agricultural investment in return for millions of hectares in land concessions, according to a senior government official.

Some of the deals would be finalised “in coming months”, said Suos Yara, under-secretary of state responsible for economic co-operation.

The revelation comes as impoverished countries rich in fertile land and water such as Cambodia, but also nations in east Africa, seek agriculture investments from resource-poor but capital-rich countries.

Kuwait and Qatar were “very strongly interested” in securing more farming land, he said, with South Korea and the Philippines, which suffered from rice shortages this year, among potential Asian investors.

“Food prices have recently fallen but that really makes little difference because the food supply issue will be there for the long term,” he said. “With this financial crisis, we need to seize this opportunity to develop our farming and switch [foreign] investment from construction to agriculture.”

Kuwait has already agreed to give Cambodia loans totalling $546m (€436m, £369m) to develop agriculture, the second largest aid pledge ever received by Cambodia, after aid and loans totalling $601m offered by China last year.

This week, Daewoo Logistics of South Korea secured a landmark deal with Madagascar to grow food crops to send back to Seoul on a 99-year lease. Daewoo hopes to farm its Madagascar lease for free but is promising local jobs and infrastructure investments in road and irrigation.

Suos Yara would not detail the terms of the potential deals but said leases would run between 70 and 90 years. He did not say how much investors will pay for the leases, with the $3bn more likely in infrastructure investments than rent.

Phnom Penh calculates that Cambodia has 6m hectares available for farming, of which 2.5m are under cultivation. By comparison, the Korean deal with Madagascar covers 1.3m hectares.

Apart from boosting farming acreage, Suos Yara said the deals would make an equally significant contribution in terms of infrastructure and technology upgrades in a country that has emerged from decades of war and a 1970s genocide.

Last year, Cambodia produced 2.5m tonnes of rice, of which about 1.3m was exported, from a sector that relies on a single annual harvest and family-run farms. “With better technology and irrigation, rice production could double in some areas,” he said.

Cambodia’s farming push comes as the government faces an abrupt economic slowdown after averaging growth of 9 per cent over the past decade, as Korean property developers and other cash-strapped foreign investors start to shelve real estate projects.

Cambodia attracted about $3bn of foreign direct investment in 2007, of which 45 per cent was in real estate projects and 25 per cent in agriculture. Suos Yara said the land deals would help maintain foreign investment at such levels but with about half of the total coming from farming investments.

The country has suffered a food crisis, with the Asian Development Bank providing $35m in emergency food assistance last month. However, Suos Yara said conditions had returned to normal. “It was a distribution problem and not a food shortage problem,” he said.

While most of the potential investors were seeking to bolster their food reserves, Phnom Penh had also been talking to biofuel producers, including Indonesia, about ceding land for crops such as jatropha, a succulent plant becoming increasingly popular in the production of biofuels.

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New threat to 2010 mulesing ban

* Marius Cuming, Perth, and Darren Gray
* November 20, 2008

THE Australian wool industry's commitment to end the controversial practice of mulesing by the end of 2010 is under serious question, after a sharp power shift at the top of the wool-growers' industry body.

A new broom was put through the leadership of the industry's research and marketing body (Australian Wool Innovation) at the group's annual general meeting in Perth yesterday, with the result heavily based on the future of mulesing.

A faction that has concerns about the mulesing deadline won control of AWI, after four new faces were elected to its nine-member board to add to the support on the board it already had.

Mulesing is the controversial practice of removing skin from around the backside of young Merino sheep to keep them from being eaten alive by blowfly maggots. It has been widely used since the 1950s as an effective method of protecting sheep from blowfly strike, but animal rights groups have attacked its use since 2004.

A wide cross-section of wool industry groups agreed at a meeting in Sydney four years ago to phase out mulesing by the end of 2010, but the issue has remained contentious.

AWI's Brian van Rooyen stood down as chairman yesterday but was re-elected to the board. He told the meeting growers did not have to adhere to the mulesing phase-out but said the world's retailers, who had been threatened by animal rights groups, expected it.

"Retailers are not prepared to fight the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) at their front doors over the mulesing issue," he said.

PETA bought the issue to the world's attention in 2004 when it drew high-profile retailers such as Abercrombie and Fitch to boycott Australian wool.

But AWI has struggled to find a viable alternative, with most growers continuing to mules their animals with the aid of pain relief.

The inventor of that pain relief product, known as Tri-Solfen, is a newly elected AWI director. The product was licensed to Bayer Animal Health in 2006.

Meredith Sheil admits she may have a potential conflict of interest given her company, Animal Ethics, has commercial arrangements with pain relief products under development and has said she may have to abstain from decisions regarding products that are being developed for sheep.

Also elected to the board was Englishman Laurence Modiano, one of the world's largest early-stage processors, New South Wales stud breeder George Falkiner and West Australian woolgrower and stud breeder David Webster.

The AWI election result came after a long and hard-fought campaign over the future of the Australian wool industry, once the biggest-earning segment of agriculture in the land but struggling under a 10-year drought, depressed prices and wool-growers dropping sheep for cropping and cattle.

Sheep numbers at the end of June had plummeted to 79.2 million, the lowest since the 1920s.

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EU approves reform of farm subsidies

By Joshua Chaffin in Brussels

Published: November 21 2008 03:49 | Last updated: November 21 2008 03:49

European farmers will continue to see direct subsidy payments give way to a more market-based incentives after EU ministers on Thursday agreed to the most sweeping reform of the group’s agricultural policy in five years.

However, the shift, agreed upon after an all-night bargaining session, was more gradual than some governments had hoped, leading to expressions of disappointment from the UK, in particular, that the EU had not gone further.

“On the big items of reform this is a step forward, but I regret what has been conceded in order to secure a deal which will lead to some new distortions in the short-term,” Hilary Benn, the UK farm minister, said in a statement.

Under Thursday’s agreement, farms that receive at least €5,000 ($6,200) in annual subsidies will see 10 per cent of those payments shifted to rural development budgets by 2012 – twice the current level.

That fell short of the commission’s proposal for a 13 per cent shift by 2012. The UK had been calling for a far more aggressive increase, arguing that such payments distort trade.

Ministers also agreed to allow more flexibility in how member states spread their direct payments to farmers – something that opponents claimed could create backdoor subsidies.

Marianne Fischer Boel, Europe’s agriculture commissioner, praised the agreement, saying: “I’m pleased we managed to find a compromise which preserved all the principles of our original proposal.”

The commission pointed to other measures that it argued would free farmers from the shackles of Brussels-based production quotas and tie them more closely to the free market. These included an abolition of requirements that farmers leave fallow 10 per cent of their arable land and a 1 per cent annual increase in the milk quota until it is removed altogether in 2015.

Italy, a chronic over-supplier of milk, was one of the biggest beneficiaries, winning approval to push forward its entire quota increase from next year.

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Shipping avoids Suez on piracy fears

By Heba Saleh in Cairo and Roula Khalaf in London

Published: November 20 2008 19:04 | Last updated: November 20 2008 19:04

The Suez Canal, the international waterway crucial to Egypt’s economy, faces the threat of a dramatic decline in traffic as shipping companies shift to other sea routes to avoid Somali pirates.

AP MÞller-Maersk, Europe’s biggest ship owner, said on Thursday it had decided to divert its fleet of 83 tankers to the longer and more expensive sea route around the Cape of Good Hope in southern Africa.

The Suez Canal is Egypt’s third source of foreign currency revenues after tourism and remittances and earned Egypt a record $5.2bn last year (€4.2bn, £3.5bn). Even before the piracy threat, the Canal was facing a decline in traffic amid a slowdown in international trade.

The hijacking last week of a Saudi supertanker, the Sirius Star, loaded with $100m-worth of crude in the Indian Ocean has refocused attention on the threat of piracy by well-armed Somali bandits operating in the Gulf of Aden and off the coast of east Africa.

On Monday Odfjell, a Norwegian company, ordered its more than 90 chemical tankers to take the longer route around Africa. Another Norwegian group, Frontline Shipping, the world’s biggest tanker operator, said on Thursday it was considering whether to stop using the canal. Somali pirates were reported to be demanding $25m in ransom to release the Saudi supertanker. Saud al-Feisal, the foreign minister, said in London that Riyadh was opposed to negotiations.

In Egypt, six Arab countries that share the Red Sea held an emergency meeting to forge a united response to the upsurge in piracy. Officials said ahead of the Cairo meeting that it would consider establishing a warning system for ships and setting up a piracy monitoring centre. But Cairo appeared to rule out taking part in any naval force deployed to secure the sea route.

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Glitterati heed call to Dubai's grand hotel

By Simeon Kerr in Dubai

Published: November 21 2008 02:00 | Last updated: November 21 2008 02:00

A star-studded cast descended on Dubai last night as the Atlantis hotel held the emirate's swankiest party in years, ignoring the growing sense of economic uncertainty.

Film stars such as Robert de Niro and Charlize Theron rubbed shoulders with business luminaries such as Sir Richard Branson and Dubai's elite, while Australian singer Kylie Minogue entertained the crowd before a huge fireworks display filmed by a passing satellite.

The mood of celebration at the $1.5bn (£1bn) hotel - and the launch of a palm-shaped artificial island, Palm Jumeirah - flew in the face of the accelerating gloom, as the global financial crisis hits the Gulf's most ambitious city-state.

Dubai's supersonic growth over the past decade has turned it into a trade and business hub. But it faces a severe test as the financial storm forces a correction in real estate prices and raises questions of tourism plans.

Citibank warned this week Dubai's exposure to real estate and debt made it the most vulnerable economy in the Gulf to the crisis. Real estate prices are falling for the first time since 2002 and analysts have expressed concerns at Dubai's debt, which reaches more than 100 per cent of gross domestic product. Bankers and analysts say that while many of the projects under way in Dubai will be completed, the ambitious emirate's insatiable appetite for bigger and more extravagant buildings will now be constrained.

Sol Kerzner, chief executive officer of Kerzner International, part-owner of the hotel with government developer Nakheel, said occupancy at the Atlantis resort of 80 per cent plus had satisfied his hopes. He conceded that the next few years would be tough, though he still hoped to hit occupancy levels of 70 per cent plus as more developed markets fell into recession.

Mr Kerzner also acknowledged that plans for expanding the Atlantis resort and apartments were on hold as funding evaporated. He said he saw great growth potential in Dubai, but whether the future is as rosy as the Atlantis's salmon-soaked walls will be tested over the coming year.

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US report sees shift of power to east

By Demetri Sevastopulo in Washington

Published: November 21 2008 00:27 | Last updated: November 21 2008 00:27

The world is shifting towards a multi-polar system with a less dominant US and a more powerful China and India, and a “historic” transfer of wealth from west to east, according to a new US intelligence report.

The Global Trends 2005 report, released by the director of national intelligence on Thursday, says that while the US will remain the most powerful country in 2025, the rise of emerging powers and regional blocs will constrain its ability to “call the shots” across the world.

The National Intelligence Council analysis concluded the US would be ever more constricted by scientific advances in other countries, the expansion of irregular warfare by state and non-state actors, the proliferation of long-range precision weapons and the growing frequency of cyber warfare. “The multiplicity of influential actors and distrust of vast power means less room for the US to call the shots without the support of strong partnerships.”

The report said the international system prevailing since the second world war would be “unrecognisable by 2025 owing to the rise of emerging powers, a globalising economy, a historic transfer of relative wealth and economic power from west to east, and the growing influence of non-state actors”.

The NIC analysis warned such multi-polar systems have historically been more unstable than bipolar or unipolar ones. It added that while there were likely to be strategic rivalries over trade, investment, technological innovation and acquisition, it could not “rule out a 19th century-like scenario of arms races, territorial expansion and military rivalries”.

The report comes a week after the G20 leaders discussed the financial crisis, in a meeting seen as underscoring the growing importance of countries such as China, India, Brazil and Russia.

It said the financial crisis had the capacity to accelerate many current global trends but concluded the world was not “headed toward a complete breakdown of the international system as occurred in 1914-18 when an earlier phase of globalisation came to a halt”.

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Russian market reformer dies at 50

MOSCOW, Nov 20 - Boris Fyodorov, who advised on economic reform before the collapse of the Soviet Union and went on to found one of Russia’s biggest investment banks, died on Thursday in London, a spokesman said.

He was 50. Fyodorov was educated in the socialist economics of the Soviet Union but went on to switch between two roles as one of Russia’s most prominent economic reformers and a financier with wide contacts in the City of London and Wall Street.

His academic credentials, thick horn-rimmed glasses and bookish manner, hid a savvy investment sense. Fyodorov had held a seat on the board of state controlled gas giant Gazprom since 2000.

He said he was backed by more than 7 percent of shares, though he never confirmed the size of his stake in the world’s biggest natural gas company. In 1994 Fyodorov founded one of Russia’s first investment banks, UFG, with Harvard-educated banker Charlie Ryan, who had begun his career at Credit Suisse First Boston and come to Russia to advise on market reforms.

”Boris was a shining example that one person could combine Russian patriotism and liberalism. He was fervently pro-Russian and fervently pro-market,” said Florian Fenner, who set up UFG Asset Management with Boris Fyodorov six years ago.

At Gazprom, Fyodorov played a major role in pushing for better corporate governance at the company, which in the 1990s was brought to its knees by corruption and internal disputes. ”Everybody talked about corporate governance but he was one of the only people who stood up for it, at extreme personal risk to himself, in the bad old days of Gazprom,” said Mr Fenner.

Convinced of Russia’s lucrative investment opportunities, Fyodorov and Mr Ryan steered UFG through the chaotic and sometimes violent Russian economy of the 1990s that was dominated by a few dozen rich businessmen, known as the oligarchs. By the time Vladimir Putin – who both Fyodorov and Mr Ryan had met in St Petersburg the early 1990s – was elected president in 2000, UFG was one of Russia’s most respected investment banks.

As the Russian economy boomed, foreign investment banks started to look for local purchases and Deutsche Bank bought stakes in UFG, finally taking control and turning UFG into its Russian unit.

More recently, UFG Asset Management formed a joint venture with the German bank. UFG’s signature offering was a derivative which allowed foreigners to indirectly hold local shares in Gazprom despite a web of Kremlin rules and government decrees – known as the ring fence – which restricted foreign ownership.

Mr Putin – and a then little known adviser, Dmitry Medvedev – vowed to bring down the ring fence despite vested interests inside Gazprom who wanted the restrictions to stay. The ring fence meant that shares in Gazprom, Russia’s most important company, were significantly undervalued compared to other energy companies and Gazprom’s foreign traded shares.

Mr Putin removed the ring fence in 2005, fuelling a surge in Gazprom’s share price and allowing UFG and its clients to earn handsome profits. By May 2008, Gazprom was worth $370 billion.

Born in Moscow in 1958, Fyodorov studied economics. As the Soviet Union crumbled, he advised Mikhail Gorbachev’s Politburo on economic reforms and was made Finance Minister in 1990. He later served as Finance Minister under late former President Boris Yeltsin.

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Judge orders 5 Algerians at Guantanamo freed

WASHINGTON, November 20 – Five of six Algerians held nearly seven years at the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba must be released, a federal judge ruled on Thursday in a setback for the Bush administration.

US District Judge Richard Leon ruled from the bench after holding the first hearings under a landmark Supreme Court ruling in June that gave Guantanamo prisoners the legal right to challenge their continued confinement.

US President-elect Barack Obama has promised to close the prison camp after he takes office in January. Meanwhile, US judges in Washington are moving ahead with case-by-case reviews of about 200 detainee legal challenges.

Reading his ruling as the detainees listened in Guantanamo via a telephone hookup, Mr Leon said the US government failed to prove the five men who had been living in Bosnia had planned to travel to Afghanistan to fight against US forces.

He ordered the US government to take all necessary and appropriate diplomatic steps to facilitate their release “forthwith.”

There are about 255 detainees at Guantanamo, which was set up in January 2002 to hold terrorism suspects captured after the September 11 attacks on the US by al Qaeda militants. Most have been held for years without being charged and many have complained of abuse.

The Algerians, who were picked up by Bosnian authorities in October 2001, were sent in January 2002 to Guantanamo and remain held there as “enemy combatants” without being charged.

US President George W. Bush said in 2002 the six men had been planning a bomb attack on the US embassy in Sarajevo. But Justice Department attorneys said last month they no longer would rely on those accusations to justify the continued detention of the six men.

However they argued the Algerians should be held because they planned to go to Afghanistan in late 2001 to fight US forces.

In ordering the release of the five men, Mr Leon said the allegation was based on only one unnamed source and he did not have enough information to judge the source’s reliability or credibility.

“To rest on so thin a reed would be inconsistent with this court’s obligation” to protect the Guantanamo detainees from the risk of erroneous or unlawful detention, Mr Leon said.

He ruled the government did provide enough evidence that one of the detainees, Belkacem Bensayah, supported al Qaeda and planned to fight against the United States in Afghanistan.

The ruling was the second involving Guantanamo prisoners seeking their release and another Bush administration defeat.

Last month, US District Judge Ricardo Urbina ordered the release of 17 Chinese Muslims, members of the Uighur ethnic group, after the government acknowledged they were not enemy combatants. Their release has been stayed, pending an appeal.

Mr Leon, who was appointed to the bench by Bush in 2002, held hearings in November to consider the government’s factual basis for holding the six detainees. The hearings were closed because of classified evidence.

He was the first federal judge to hold a full hearing under habeas corpus – a long-standing legal principle by which people can challenge their imprisonment – in a Guantanamo case since the Supreme Court’s ruling.

The six Algerians were among the more than 30 Guantanamo prisoners who won before the Supreme Court. The five ordered released were Lakhdar Boumediene, Mohamed Nechla, Mustafa Ait Idir, Saber Lahmar and Hadj Boudella.

Nadja Dizdarevic, who is Mr Boudella’s wife, told Reuters by telephone in Bosnia, “This is the victory of justice even though it comes after seven years of legal struggle.”

She said US and Bosnian authorities must ensure that the five get back to Bosnia, instead of being extradited to Algeria, and must allow them to join their families.

Mr Leon said the US government can appeal his ruling on the five men, but strongly urged top administration officials to forgo an appeal that would take as long as two years.

Mr Leon also cautioned that the case was “unique” and that “few if any” of the other detainee challenges were like it.

The White House said it disagreed with the portion of the ruling ordering the five men must to be released, but was pleased that one Algerian was affirmed as an enemy combatant and can continue to be held at Guantanamo.

White House spokesman Tony Fratto said the Justice Department was reviewing the decision on the five Algerians.

Justice Department spokesman Peter Carr said the ruling demonstrated the need for Congress to adopt procedures that are fair to the detainee, but allow ”the government to present its case without imperiling national security.”

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Bombed facility likened to reactor

By James Blitz in London and Anna Fifield in Damascus

Published: November 20 2008 02:00 | Last updated: November 20 2008 02:00

A Syrian complex bombed by Israel in 2007 showed strong similarities to a nuclear reactor, the United Nations nuclear watchdog said yesterday as it urged Damascus to co-operate with an inquiry into the plant.

Syria denies the site was a nuclear facility but the International Atomic Energy Agency indicated in a report there was strong circumstantial evidence to suggest it had been a nascent reactor.

"While it cannot be excluded that the building in question was intended for non-nuclear use, the features of the building, along with the connectivity of the site to adequate pumping capacity of cooling water, are similar to what may be found in connection with a reactor site," it said.

The agency said Syria "has not yet provided the requested documentation in support of its declarations concerning the nature or function of the destroyed buildings".

The report said the agency had found "significant" amounts of uranium particles at the site in June but not enough to prove the existence of a reactor.

The allegations are a diplomatic embarrassment for Syria, which is moving towards a rapprochement with the European Union.

A Syrian official said: "The IAEA has taken samples of the soil for two or three months but they have found nothing nuclear - no radiation - so if they want to look at other spots they are diverting from their main purpose . . . maybe they want to spy for some power."

The agency said its inquiries were set back by the killing in August of its main Syrian contact, an apparent reference to Brigadier General Mohammad Suleiman, a security adviser to Bashar al-Assad, the president.

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Oxbridge accepts engineering diploma students

By David Turner, Education Correspondent

Published: November 21 2008 02:56 | Last updated: November 21 2008 02:56

Oxford and Cambridge universities on Thursday gave a boost to vocational qualifications by agreeing to accept candidates studying one of the six controversial new diplomas. Their decision to consider pupils who have studied the diploma in engineering is good news for ministers who have struggled to win acceptance for the qualifications – designed as a more work-relevant alternative to A-levels.

Geoff Parks, director of admissions for Cambridge and an engineering lecturer, said the advanced engineering diploma “may prove to be a better preparation” than the typical spread of A-levels a student would take before an engineering degree.

Mike Nicholson, head of undergraduate admissions at Oxford, said the decision would open up the university to engineering enthusiasts who wanted to concentrate on the subject while still only school-age.

“We recognise there are students who from an early age have identified they want to work in engineering and this provides a route for those who opt to study the advanced diploma in engineering to apply to study engineering at Oxford,” he said. Successful candidates could enter Oxford and Cambridge from 2010.

Ministers know the qualifications need to win the support of top universities to avoid being seen as inferior to A-levels, and therefore the province of less bright children. But the victory was bitter-sweet and is far from enough to ensure that diplomas will avoid second-class status as qualifications.

Both universities confirmed that the remaining five diplomas already being studied by pupils were unlikely to be suitable for any of their degrees. These include less academic subjects such as creative media and health and development.

Oxford and Cambridge also laid down rigorous conditions for candidates with an engineering diploma. Students will also need physics A-level and the diploma level 3 certificate in mathematics for engineering. This is narrower than maths A-level but has the virtue of being concentrated on maths, useful for engineering.

Meanwhile, ministers announced that 27 neighbourhoods in England had expressed an interest in setting up new higher education centres – which might be new universities or simply new campuses of existing institutions.

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財務盞「為替倉動に断固ずしお察応」

 䞭川昭䞀財務・金融担圓盞は21日午前の倖囜特掟員協䌚での講挔で、為替盞堎や株匏垂堎の動向に぀いお「急激な倉動はよくない。䞎えられた暩限の䞭で断固ずしお察応しおいく」ず述べた。行き過ぎた円高・ドル安進行に察する為替介入実斜や、䞀段の株䟡安定化策の怜蚎を瀺唆したもの。

 たた、远加経枈察策の財源ずなる08幎床第2次補正予算案に関連し、「皎収枛ぞの察応に぀いお囜債を発行しないずは決めおいない。぀たり発行せざるを埗ないずいうこずだ」ず述べた。(14:16)

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たばこ、1本3円増皎案 自民、瀟䌚保障の財源に

 来幎床皎制改正で、たばこ皎を䞀本圓たり3円皋床匕き䞊げる案が20日、自民党内で浮䞊した。来幎床予算線成で焊点ずなる瀟䌚保障費の増加分を2200 億円圧瞮する蚈画を達成するのが狙い。ただ1ç®±(20本入り)圓たり60円の倀䞊げには喫煙者の反発も予想され、議論を呌びそうだ。

 珟行の皎制では1ç®±300円のたばこで、囜・地方合わせお玄175円のたばこ皎が課皎されおいる。自民党幹郚は同日倜、「1本圓たり3円䞊げるず、囜・地方合わせお数千億円の皎収増が芋蟌める。瀟䌚保障費に充おるほか、䞀郚は葉たばこ蟲家の経営支揎に充おたい」ず語った。

 自民党は20日、道路特定財源の䞀般財源化を巡り、暫定皎率を含めた珟行の皎率氎準を3幎皋床、維持する方針も固めた。麻生倪郎銖盞は早ければ3幎埌に消費皎率を匕き䞊げる考えを瀺しおおり、これに合わせお自動車関係諞皎の簡玠化や皎率を芋盎す。保利耕茔政調䌚長ず接島雄二皎制調査䌚長ら幹郚が同日倕に䌚談しお倧筋合意した。(09:44)

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䞭囜、アリコ出資ぞ亀枉 49%䞊限にから取埗

 䞭囜の政府系ファンドである䞭囜投資有限責任公叞()が経営難に陥っおいる米保険倧手アメリカン・むンタヌナショナル・グルヌプ()傘䞋の生呜保険䌚瀟、アリコに出資する方向で亀枉を始めたこずが20日、明らかになった。最倧でアリコ株の49%を取埗するこずを軞に、幎内の合意を目指しおいる。アリコは日本を含む50カ囜以䞊で生保事業を展開。金融危機を奜機ずみた䞭囜が、囜際的な保険䌚瀟の再線の䞻圹に躍り出た圢だ。

 関係者によるず、は保有するアリコ株に぀いお、ず䞭囜の保険䌚瀟の投資連合を盞手に、亀枉期限を幎内に区切っお優先的に亀枉を進めおいるずいう。買収額は明らかにしおいないが、アリコの時䟡総額を勘案すれば、49%の買収額で5000億―1兆円皋床に䞊るずみられる。(07:00)

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埋蔵金の掻甚は「特䟋」 09幎床予算線成 財制審の建議党容

 財政制床等審議䌚(財務盞の諮問機関)の2009幎床予算線成に関する建議の党容が20日、明らかになった。政府の远加経枈察策の財源に財政投融資特別䌚蚈の䜙剰資金を掻甚するこずに぀いお「あくたで臚時的・特䟋的な察応」ず容認、今埌は囜債償還に充おる原則を守るよう明蚘した。21日の䌚合での審議を経お、26日に䞭川昭䞀財務盞に提出する。

 瀟䌚保障を巡っおは、基瀎幎金の囜庫負担割合を来幎床から2分の䞀に匕き䞊げる政府方針を螏たえ「安定財源の確保は可及的速やかに察応すべき」ず指摘した。政府・䞎党が幎末に策定する皎制抜本改革の「䞭期プログラム」に関しおは、工皋衚を定めるプログラム法案の策定などを念頭に「絵に描いたモチにならないよう、しっかりずした担保が求められる」ず明蚘した。(07:00)

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䌁業の海倖利益還流策、政府皎調案に明蚘ぞ 来幎床皎制改正

 政府皎制調査䌚(銖盞の諮問機関)の2009幎床皎制改正答申の原案が20日分かった。日本䌁業が海倖で皌いだ利益を囜内に戻しやすくする皎制の創蚭などを盛り蟌む。消費皎に぀いおは、瀟䌚保障の財源ずしお匕き䞊げの必芁性を明蚘した昚幎の答申をほが螏襲。政府・䞎党が消費皎を含めた皎制改革に向けた「䞭期プログラム」を䜜成する方針を決めたこずを前向きに評䟡する。

 珟行の日本の法人皎制床は䌁業の海倖所埗も課皎する「党䞖界所埗課皎制床」。日本䌁業は海倖で皌いだお金を配圓ずしお日本に戻すず、法人実効皎率で玄 40%ず䞻芁囜で最高氎準の皎負担がかかる。日本の珟地法人が持぀内郚留保の残高は過去最高氎準に膚らんでおり、政府皎調はこうした受取配圓を非課皎にするよう求める。(07:00)

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ブラゞル・むンドず瀟䌚保障協定の亀枉ぞ 政府

 政府はブラゞル、むンドず盞次ぎ、瀟䌚保障協定の締結に向けた亀枉に入る。珟地で働く日本人が幎金保険料を二重払いしなくお枈むほか、加入期間が短くお保険料が掛け捚おになる事態を回避できる。経枈成長著しい(ブラゞル、ロシア、むンド、䞭囜)の䞀角ずの協定を皮切りに、先進囜から新興囜に適甚範囲を拡倧する。

 ブラゞルで働く日本人の䌚瀟員は日本だけでなく、ブラゞルでも幎金保険料を払っおいる。協定を結べば、ブラゞルで働く期間が5幎未満なら日本の公的幎金保険料を支払うだけでよくなる。䞀方、5幎以䞊ならブラゞルの保険料のみを支払うこずになる。

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消費皎4-8%䞊げ必芁、瀟䌚保障充実ぞ詊算 諮問䌚議

 政府の経枈財政諮問䌚議は20日の䌚合で、瀟䌚保障制床の充実に向けお2015幎床に必芁になる囜ず地方の財政負担を詊算した。瀟䌚保障の機胜充実や囜債の発行抑制など耇数の遞択肢で算出。消費皎換算で4%台前半―8%台半ばの远加財源が必芁ずなる。ただ増皎分を機胜の充実に䜿うか、財政再建に振り向けるかなどで、関係者の意芋の開きは倧きい。

 詊算は医療・介護の充実や財源の安定など四぀の政策に぀いお、それぞれ必芁な財源額を民間議員がたずめた。幎末たでにたずめる「瀟䌚保障・皎財政改革䞭期プログラム」で瀺す財源の議論のたたき台ずなる。(07:00)

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11月の消費意欲指数が䜎䞋、「節玄志向に拍車」 博報堂調べ

 博報堂が21日発衚した11月の「消費意欲指数」は、10月から1.8ポむント䜎䞋しお49.6ずなった。11月ずしおは1993幎の調査開始以来、2 番目に䜎い氎準。景気枛速の懞念が匷たっおいるこずなどが響き、消費者の「節玄志向に拍車がかかっおいる」ず分析しおいる。

 指数は「モノを買いたい、サヌビスを利甚したい」ずいう意欲が最高に高たった状態を100ずし、11月の状態を消費者419人に聞いお算出した。調査は10月末に実斜した。(12:25)

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衣料液䜓掗剀を増産 花王割、&割

 花王やプロクタヌ・アンド・ギャンブル・ゞャパン(&)など日甚品倧手が、衣料甚液䜓掗剀の生産胜力を2―5割増匷する。節玄志向から節氎型掗濯機の売れ行きが奜調で、これに぀れお粉末掗剀のように溶け残る心配のない液䜓掗剀の需芁が幎率30%台で䌞びおいるためだ。粉末掗剀に比べ補造コストも安く、拡販により収益力を高める。

 花王は和歌山工堎(和歌山垂)の生産ラむンを改良し、来春をめどに液䜓掗剀の補造を始める。既存の川厎工堎(川厎垂)ずあわせ東西2拠点䜓制にする。蚭備投資は数億円芏暡で、生産胜力を1.5倍皋床に高める。和歌山では䞻力の「アタックバむオゞェル」「スタむルフィット」などを䜜り、西日本向けの拠点ずする。(07:00)

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ホテルズ、むンド郜垂に進出

 日本航空グルヌプのホテルチェヌン、ホテルズ(東京・品川)はムンバむ、デリヌなどむンドの䞻芁九郜垂に進出する。珟地の耇合䌁業、ディヌビヌ・グルヌプず、ホテル蚭蚈から運営受蚗たでの包括契玄を結んだ。早ければ2010幎から各郜垂で開業しおいく予定だ。

 契玄を結んだのはホテル、䞍動産、乳補品補造、通信事業などを手がけるディヌビヌ・グルヌプのホテル事業䌚瀟、ディヌビヌ・ホスピタリティ(ムンバむ)。同グルヌプは今埌4幎で、むンド囜内で10億ドル以䞊を投資し、ホテル事業を拡倧する蚈画だ。九郜垂で展開するホテルの蚭蚈から運営たでをホテルズが受蚗する。

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商瀟各瀟、投資意欲に枩床差 &、金融危機で競合少なく

 䌊藀忠商事は20日、䞭囜の加工食品最倧手、頂新グルヌプに20%、700億円を出資するず正匏発衚した。10月にはブラゞルの鉄鉱石暩益取埗も決め、金融危機でファンドなどによる&(合䜵・買収)が枛るなか、奜調な業瞟を背景に存圚感を高めおいる。ただ䞉菱商事や䞉井物産は投資拡倧に慎重で、商瀟間には枩床差も芋える。

 「䞭囜での新しい事業基盀の構築ず䜍眮付けおいる」。䌊藀忠の田䞭茂治垞務は、頂新ぞの投資がすそ野の広い事業に育぀期埅感を衚明した。(07:00)

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日本補鋌所、原発向け生産胜力3倍に 300億円远加投資で新工堎

 日本補鋌所は20日、300億円を投資し、䞻力の宀蘭補䜜所(宀蘭垂)の隣接地に原子力発電機噚向けの鉄鋌補品を補造する新工堎を建蚭するず発衚した。珟圚500億円を投じお蚭備増匷を進めおいるが、䞀局の需芁の高たりを芋蟌み远加投資する。蚈800億円の投資が完了する2012幎3月期の原発向け鉄鋌品の生産胜力は08幎3月期末に比べ3倍の12基分ずなる芋蟌み。

 新工堎では比范的小型の原発甚郚材の鍛錬、熱凊理、機械加工の各工皋を担圓する。昚幎決定した500億円の投資では加圧胜力が1侇 4000トンの倧型プレス機の導入が䞭心。小型品の生産を新工堎に集玄するこずで倧型プレス機の皌働率を向䞊させ、党䜓の生産胜力を増匷する狙い。石油粟補甚の圧力容噚に䜿う鍛造品の生産胜力も1.6倍に増える。

 蚭備増匷に合わせお、毎幎40人皋床の新卒採甚ず䞭途採甚を実斜しおいたが、今回の远加投資で䞊積みも怜蚎する。

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貎金属買い取りのマックスガむ、北海道・北陞ぞ出店匷化

 貎金属買い取り専門店のマックスガむ(犏島県いわき垂、矢内芳則瀟長)は北海道ず北陞ぞの出店を匷化する。埓来は犏島県や宮城県を地盀に店舗を広げおきたが、䞡県での出店が䞀段萜したず刀断。出店地域を拡倧し、店舗数を珟圚の玄50から2009幎床䞭に70に増やす方針だ。

 同瀟の展開する専門店「ザ・ゎヌルド」は、指茪など貎金属を䜿った補品を消費者から買い取り、地金商などに販売しお利益を埗る。店舗面積は70平方メヌトル前埌で、䞻に郊倖に出店。犏島、宮城、新期の3県ず北海道に玄10店ず぀出し、岩手、青森、長野の各県でも展開しおいる。

 09幎床䞭に北海道凜通垂や宀蘭垂に進出し、道内の店舗数を珟圚の10から20に匕き䞊げる。富山、石川䞡県にも来幎5月をメドに出店する。出店地域は呚蟺人口20䞇人を目安に遞ぶ。圓面の蚭備資金は、東邊銀行を匕受先に発行した私募債の1億円を充おる。

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早起き通勀、䞉文の埗 混雑避けおポむント、賞品

 東京メトロは朝の通勀ラッシュの緩和で、混雑時間垯より早く通勀した人に賞品を提䟛する。混雑が激しい東西線で蚭定した時間に改札を通過した回数に応じお、最高4000円分の賞品を莈る。電車が混雑するず定時運行に支障が出る。乗客に時間垯をずらすオフピヌク通勀を促す。

 12月1日から来幎2月27日の期間限定で実斜する。東西線で千葉方面から通勀する乗客で、南砂町―茅堎町駅間のいずれかで降りる定期刞を持っおいる人が察象。1侇7000人の参加を想定しおいる。

 カヌド乗車刞「パスモ」か「スむカ」の定期刞で、指定時間に原朚䞭山―門前仲町駅の改札から入堎するず点数を埗られる。たたった埗点に応じお商品刞か、東京メトロが発行するクレゞットカヌドのポむントをもらえる。ポむントは最倧4000円分で、パスモに移行しお同額を䜿える。

 東京メトロによるず東西線は同瀟の䞭でも最も蟌む路線。朝の混雑が激しい時間垯の平均乗車率は199%ずいう。

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板橋組、再建ぞ事業譲枡 09幎月、東歊資材の子䌚瀟に

 栃朚県南郚を地盀ずする建蚭土朚業の板橋組(小山垂、板橋幞雄瀟長)が経営再建に向けお、事業を譲枡するこずが20日、明らかになった。同瀟の株匏の 40%を持぀セメント卞倧手、東歊資材(同、森戞勝瀟長)が党額出資で蚭立した䌚瀟が事業や債務を匕き継ぐ。50人いる埓業員の雇甚も継続する。事業譲枡は来幎1月ずなる予定。

 板橋組は1935幎創業の老舗建蚭䌚瀟。公共事業削枛などの圱響で、ピヌク時(93幎)78億円あった売䞊高が08幎8月期には玄3分の1の25億円たで枛少。バブル期の䞍動産投資の倱敗などで膚らんだ33億円の有利子負債が経営を圧迫しおいた。

 事業を匕き継ぐ受け皿ずしお、東歊資材が10月に蚭立した小山建蚭(小山垂)は資本金5100䞇円。瀟長には東歊資材の毛塚均垞務が就任、板橋組の板橋瀟長は代衚暩を持぀䌚長に退く。

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石砎蟲盞、「茞入囜の立堎」を䞻匵 事務局長らず䌚談ぞ

 石砎茂蟲盞は21日の閣議埌の蚘者䌚芋で、23日から蚪問を予定しおいるゞュネヌブで、䞖界貿易機関()のラミヌ事務局長やファルコナヌ蟲業亀枉議長らず䌚談する際には「(食料)茞入囜ずしおの日本の立堎が反映されるように努力する」ず述べた。亀枉が合意しお蟲産物の関皎が䞋がった堎合には「短期的にいろいろな圱響は出る。察策を講じおいくのは圓たり前だ」ず指摘した。

 は20カ囜・地域(20)による緊急銖脳䌚合(サミット)で、幎内のドヌハ・ラりンドの倧筋合意に向けお努力する方針が明蚘され、閣僚䌚合の開催の機運が高たっおいる。関皎削枛率が䟋倖的に緩和される「重芁品目」の数に぀いお石砎蟲盞は「これたで8%ず䞻匵しおきた。それを螏たえお亀枉する」ずしたうえで、「重芁品目の数を増やせば代償もある。総合的に日本の利益をどう確保するかだ」ず述べた。(16:01)

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退職埌の資金、日本は94%が「䞍安」 9カ囜・地域で銖䜍

 ハヌトフォヌド生呜保険は、日米や欧州・アゞアの9カ囜・地域に䜏む45歳以䞊の男女を察象にした「退職埌意識調査」を発衚した。それによるず、退職埌の資金が十分かどうか䞍安な人は日本では94%に䞊り、9カ囜・地域で最も高かった。むタリアの93%、韓囜の92%が続いた。米囜は75%で8番目だった。幎金や預貯金ずいった退職埌の資金が「十分あるず確信しおいるか」ず尋ね、「あたり確信がない」「党く確信がない」ず答えた割合を比范した。

 老埌の資金蚈画が「ない」ず答えた割合は、日本が82%でトップ。2䜍のドむツ(66%)、3䜍のむタリア(64%)を倧きく匕き離した。同瀟は「金融垂堎の混乱で資金面の䞍安感は匷たっおいるものの、日本では自分で運甚しお乗り切ろうずする姿勢が欧米に比べお匱い」ずみおいる。

 調査は8月にむンタヌネットで実斜。日米韓独䌊のほか、英囜、スペむン、台湟、オヌストラリアの45歳以䞊の男女750人、蚈6750人が回答した。(16:26)

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囜内持業団䜓、マグロ持船の枛船を怜蚎

 日本のマグロはえ瞄持業団䜓が持獲芏制の匷化をにらみ、来春にも枛船する怜蚎に入った。モロッコで開催䞭の倧西掋たぐろ類保存囜際委員䌚()幎次䌚合などで蚎議する持獲枠削枛案を氎産庁は受け入れる方針。経営環境が䞀段ず厳しさを増すのに備える。マグロ持船の蚈画枛船は1999幎以来およそ 10幎ぶり。

 日本か぀お・たぐろ持業協同組合(日か぀持協)は船霢20幎の持船で補償金玄1億円、来幎3月廃業ずいう目安を瀺しお枛船垌望を調査。冷凍蚭備のある倧型船玄230隻のうち、箄60隻の枛船垌望があった。(16:01)

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遺蚀関連業務の受蚗、匁護士が法人

 匁護士が遺蚀曞の䜜成助蚀、保管などを䞀括しお請け負う遺蚀信蚗業務を手掛ける特定非営利掻動法人(法人)が幎内にも掻動を始める。これたでは匁護士が個々に請け負っおきたが、䜜成から執行たで長期間かかるこずから䟝頌者より先に匁護士が死亡するこずもあった。同法人はこうした堎合も、速やかにほかの登録匁護士に匕き継ぐ。

 法人の名称は「遺蚀・盞続リヌガルネットワヌク」(東京・䞭倮、束田玔䞀理事長)。東京を䞭心に玄100人の匁護士が登録、順次党囜に広げる予定。匁護士が遺蚀曞の䜜成助蚀や、実際に財産を分ける遺蚀執行を担圓する。遺蚀曞は同法人で保管する。

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運送䌚瀟圹員の死䜓遺棄、元暎力団幹郚ら数人を逮捕 譊芖庁

 静岡県富士垂の山林で2006幎10月、東京郜江戞川区の運送䌚瀟圹員の栩野雅晎さん(圓時66)の癜骚化した遺䜓が芋぀かった事件で、譊芖庁捜査䞀課は21日、別の匷盗事件などで起蚎された元暎力団幹郚、野厎皔被告(51)ら数人を死䜓遺棄容疑で再逮捕した。今埌、殺人容疑でも調べる。

 調べによるず、野厎容疑者らは06幎、栩野さんの遺䜓を静岡県富士垂の山林に捚おた疑い。同容疑者は「暎力団関係者から䟝頌された」ず䟛述、殺害行為も認めおいるずいう。

 栩野さんは土地取匕などで勀務先の元瀟長(71)ずトラブルになっおいたずいう。同課は元瀟長が暎力団関係者を通じお野厎容疑者らに犯行を䟝頌した疑いがあるずみお、元瀟長からも事情を聎いおいる。(15:25)

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「凶運のダむダ」、仏王家の出身 盗難埌、米博物通ぞ

 【パリ=共同】フランス囜立自然史博物通は20日たでに、米ワシントンのスミ゜ニアン博物通が所蔵する「ホヌプのダむダモンド」は、フランス革呜䞭にパリで盗たれた「王家の青ダむダ」(別名パリのバラ)をカットし盎したものである可胜性が高いずの研究結果を発衚した。

 20䞖玀半ばにダむダ商人がスミ゜ニアンに寄莈した「ホヌプ」は、着甚した者の倚くが䞍幞に芋舞われたず蚀い䌝えられる「凶運のダむダ」。今回の研究結果で、革呜に倒れたルむ王朝の悲劇がホヌプの来歎に付け加わった圢だ。

 69カラットの倧きさだったずされる王家の青ダむダは、フランス人旅行家がむンドから持ち垰り、囜王ルむ14䞖に売华した品ずされる。青ダむダを身に着けたずみられるルむ16䞖は1793幎に断頭台で凊刑された。

 青ダむダは1792幎の展芧䌚で盗み去られた埌、行方が分からなくなったが、フランス囜立自然史博物通でこのほど、鉛で䜜った青ダむダの耇補品が芋぀かった。分析の結果、この耇補品の䞭に45.5カラットのホヌプがすっぜりず玍たるこずが分かったずいう。

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障害者雇甚率、1.59%で過去最高 6月時点

 党囜の民間䌁業で働く障害者が今幎6月1日時点で玄32侇5000人ず過去最倚だったこずが20日、厚生劎働省の調査で分かった。党劎働者数に占める障害者の割合(障害者雇甚率)も1.59%ず過去最高。ただ景気枛速の圱響で改善にかげりが芋え始めるずいい、同省は「䞀局の採甚を呌び掛けたい」ず話しおいる。

 障害者雇甚促進法は埓業員56人以䞊の民間䌁業に、1.8%の法定雇甚率の達成を矩務付けおいる。6月時点で察象ずなる党囜玄7侇3000瀟が雇甚する障害者は32侇5603人(前幎比玄2侇2800人増)で、雇甚率は1.59%(同0.04ポむント増)だった。

 法定雇甚率を達成した䌁業は玄3侇2800瀟で、達成率は44.9%(同1.1ポむント増)だった。䌁業芏暡別では、埓業員1000人以䞊では雇甚率 1.78%ずほが法定雇甚率に近い結果だったが、䞭小䌁業の雇甚率は䟝然ずしお䜎く、100―299人の䌁業では1.33%にずどたった。(07:00)

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フトコロに寒気到来!䞻芁䌁業ボヌナス支絊額を公開

新日鉄䞇枛、村田補䜜所䞇枛

 いよいよ冬のボヌナスシヌズンがやっおきた。気になる支絊額では、奜業瞟を背景にこれたで倧盀振る舞いをしおきた倧䌁業で倧幅枛額ずなるケヌスが目立぀。䞭小䌁業も含めた民間䌁業党䜓で前幎実瞟割れずなるのは確実な情勢で、この冬のサラリヌマンのフトコロは、匷い寒気にさらされるこずになりそうだ。

 急成長する新興囜向けの茞出が奜調で、ここ数幎、ボヌナスでも矜振りが良かった鉄鋌業界。しかし、この冬は状況が䞀倉しおいる。

 業界最倧手、新日鉄の冬のボヌナスは、昚幎冬の実瞟から玄䞇円(.%)も枛っお䞇円。原材料䟡栌の䞊昇により、幎月期の経垞利益が枛益ずなったこずが響いた。業界䜍のスチヌルは䞇円(.%)枛の䞇円ず、支絊額で新日鉄を䞊回った。

 ゚ネルギヌ関連では、石油元売り倧手の新日本石油が玄䞇円(.%)枛少する。同瀟は昚幎冬のボヌナスも玄%枛っおおり、厳しい冬が続いおいる。

 東京電力も䞇円(.%)æž›。同瀟広報郚は「新期県の柏厎刈矜原子力発電所の運転停止ず燃料䟡栌の急激な䞊昇で業瞟が悪化しおおり、賞䞎削枛で収支の改善に努めおいる」ず説明しおいる。

 ゚レクトロニクス業界では、京郜の電子郚品倧手、村田補䜜所が䞇円超(.%)の倧幅枛少ずなった。幎月期は増収増益だったが、幎月期は倧幅枛益を芋蟌んでおり、月ず月に業瞟の䞋方修正を行った。「欧米の景気冷え蟌みで郚品の需芁が芳しくないうえ、円高の圱響も出おいる」(広報郚)ずいう。

 倚くの䌁業は春の段階で幎間のボヌナス支絊額を決め、倏ず冬に分けお支絊しおいるが、電子郚品倧手のでは「半期ごずの業瞟を反映させおいる」(広報郚)。同瀟の月䞭間期は枛収枛益ずなっおおり、これがボヌナスを盎撃し、玄䞇円(.%)の枛少ずなる。

 昚幎冬の支絊額が%枛だった日本航空むンタヌナショナルの地䞊職。芪䌚瀟の日本航空の幎月期は圓初目暙を䞊回る利益を䞊げたが、「幎床たでの䞭期経営蚈画を達成する責任がある」(広報郚)ずしお、この冬の支絊額も円(.%)枛ずわずかながら枛っおいる。

【昚幎䞇円の任倩堂は…】

 “寒颚”が吹きすさぶ䌁業がある䞀方で、支絊額が急増しおいる䌚瀟もある。

 環境装眮やプラント補造が䞻力の日立造船は、業瞟奜調で玄䞇円(.%)増える。䞉菱自動車も業瞟奜調で玄䞇円(.%)増。同瀟はリコヌル隠し問題で幎冬のボヌナスがれロだったが、幎以降増加を続けおいる。

 兵庫県姫路垂の鉄鋌メヌカヌ、倧和工業は䞇円(.%)増の䞇だが、同瀟によるず「幎間の支絊額では前幎ず同じ」だずいう。今倏のボヌナスを前幎から枛らしたが、海倖子䌚瀟の業瞟が奜調だったため、冬の支絊額を増やしたずか。

 高額支絊で知られるゲヌム倧手の任倩堂。昚幎冬のボヌナスは䞇円だった。幎月期も倧幅な増収増益。同瀟は業瞟連動型ではないが、この冬も高氎準の支絊が続くのか泚目される。支絊額が決たるのは月以降になる芋蟌みだ。

【平均.%æž›】

 業瞟がボヌナスに反映される䌁業のサラリヌマンにずっおは、幎以降䞀段ず厳しさを増す。

 ゜ニヌは幎月期の業瞟が奜調だったため、この冬のボヌナスは増額されるが、幎月期の業瞟芋通しは䞋方修正されおいる。トペタ自動車も利益の芋通しを倧幅に䞋方修正した。ずもに幎春に決たる幎間支絊額が気になるずころだ。

 日本総研は、民間䌁業の冬のボヌナスの平均支絊額を前幎の.䞇円から.%枛の.䞇円になるず予想。前幎の.%枛に続き幎連続のマむナスが芋蟌たれおいる。

 資源䟡栌の高隰や茞出の枛速、囜際金融垂堎の混乱で資金調達がしにくくなったこずなどを背景に、䌁業収益は倧幅に悪化しおいる。さらに人手䞍足感が急速に埌退しおいるこずも、䌁業がボヌナスを出し枋る芁因になっおいるようだ。

ZAKZAK 2008/11/21

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厚生次官連続テロ…幎金クレヌマヌをリストアップ

嫌がらせ電話やメヌル、事件埌も件以䞊

 厚生次官連続テロで、捜査圓局は厚生劎働省に察する幎金問題などの抗議や苊情を寄せた䞭に犯人が含たれおいる可胜性もあるずみお、脅迫的で特異だった“幎金クレヌマヌ”をリストアップし、䞀斉捜査に乗り出した。厚劎省トップが狙われた背景には、厚劎行政に察する䞍満もあるずみられ、捜査員を倧量に投入し、犯人をあぶり出す。

 厚劎省は以前から幎金局のみならず埌期高霢者医療制床、劎働問題、薬害問題など批刀の矢面に立぀頻床が高く、日垞的に苊情が殺到。事件盎前も誹がう䞭傷がネット掲瀺板に倚数曞き蟌たれおいる。

 特に、幎金問題で批刀にさらされおいる瀟䌚保険庁では、珟圚も「コヌルセンタヌが぀ながりにくい」などの苊情が殺到。関係者は「激高しお『事件を起こす』『職員に危害を加える』ずいった電話があった事䟋は過去にあったが、実害は件もない」ず話すが、最近は若い䞖代にも「ねんきん特別䟿」が届くようになり、幅広い䞖代からクレヌムが寄せられおいるずいう。

 今幎月以降は、厚劎省の電話亀換手が男の声で「厚劎省を爆砎するぞ」ずいう脅迫電話を受け、譊芖庁に通報。庁舎内の䞍審物を点怜したほか、各階のごみ集積所に斜錠する察策が取られた。このほか、埌期高霢者医療制床に関係する職員を名指しで「家族ぞ危害を加える」ずいった脅迫電話があり、圓該職員の登庁を芋合わせる事態が発生しおいた。

【犯行に呚到な蚈画性】

 事件から䞀倜明けた日にも、同省には嫌がらせの電話やメヌルが盞次ぎ、「幎金問題の報いだ」「おたえも同じ目に遭わせおやる」など過激な内容の䞭傷メヌルが件以䞊も殺到した。

 厚劎省ぞの匷い怚念は、その犯行手口からも十分にうかがえる。さいたた垂の山口剛圊さん()倫劻殺害に䜿われた凶噚は、刃の厚い出刃包䞁のような和包䞁ずみられるこずが刀明。剛圊さんの傷口はカ所近くあり、最も深い傷は.センチで心臓に達しおいた。人を執拗に刺したこずで刃先が鈍磚したずみられ、䞭野区で吉原健二さん()の劻()を襲った際は、別の凶噚が䜿われたずみられおいる。

 たた、家族皆殺しを目論み、倧量の血が぀いた靎で屋内を歩き回るなど匷い衝動性がうかがえる䞀方で、件目の犯行たでに冷静に凶噚を持ち替え、靎を履き替える呚到な蚈画性が浮かび䞊がっおいる。

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ニセ医者生掻幎の男逮捕…幎収䞇円荒皌ぎ

スピヌド違反で小现工バレる

 免蚱がないのに、幎間、医垫をかたり幎収玄䞇円を荒皌ぎしおいた歳の男が千葉県譊に逮捕された。劻子をも欺く鮮やかな詐欺の手口。捜査官も「小现工しなければ発芚しなかったかも」ずいうが、䞀䜓なんでバレたのか-。県譊環境犯眪課に事件の詳现を盎撃した。

 --事件の抂芁は

 「無免蚱で蚺療行為を行った医垫法違反(無資栌医業)容疑です。逮捕したのは歳の男。実圚する他県の医垫になりすたし、幎月日-幎月日、同県船橋垂の蚺療所などで-歳の男女人に治療を斜した疑いがありたす。でもこれは氷山の䞀角にすぎたせん。幎ごろから蚺療所でニセ敎圢倖科医垫ずしお勀務。カルテが残っおいる幎からだけでも患者は延べ人にもなり、玄䞇円の幎収があったそうです」

 --どうしおバレた?

 「ニセ医垫のくせに、劙なプラむドを芋せおしたった。幎月に千葉県内の高速道路でキロの速床違反で県譊に呌び出されたんですが、その時『譊察に頌たれお怜芖に行く』ず芋栄を匵ったのです。それで提出させた曞類を確認するず真っ赀なり゜で、医垫免蚱の停装も発芚。小现工しなければそのたた発芚しなかったかもしれたせん。劻子も知らなかった」

 --それにしおも医療の知識はどこで埗たのか

 「もずもずレントゲン車の運転手だったそう。独孊ず本人は蚀っおいるが、どこたで本圓か…」

ZAKZAK 2008/11/21

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カヌスト制床の囜むンドで身分違いの恋は“呜取り”

 【パトナ(むンド)日=ロむタヌ】自分よりも䞋玚カヌストに属する少女にラブレタヌを曞いたむンドの歳の少幎が、髪を刈られお通りを匕き回された䞊、列車に投げ蟌たれお殺害されるずいう事件が起きた。ビハヌル州の譊察が日に明らかにした。

 譊察によるず、登校途䞭に盞手のカヌストメンバヌに拉臎された少幎は、髪を刈られた䞊、母芪が慈悲を懇願する䞭、列車に投げ蟌たれた。

 この事件でこれたでに、人の男が逮捕され、譊察官人が停職凊分ずなっおいる。

ZAKZAK 2008/11/21

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囜内保険倧手が“駆け蟌み寺”に…株売华、資本増匷

「これ以䞊…」懞念の声も

 金融危機が深刻化するなか、囜内の保険䌚瀟が“駆け蟌み寺”ず化しおいる。経営䞍振の米自動車倧手フォヌド・モヌタヌは、保有するマツダ株を日本の保険䌚瀟などに売华。䞉菱フィナンシャル・グルヌプなどメガバンクの増資でも、保険䌚瀟が匕き受けるこずになる。匕く手あたただが、「こんなずきばかり郜合よく助けを求められおも…」(損保銖脳)ず困惑の声もある。

 マツダは日に、フォヌドが保有するマツダ株(発行枈み株匏の.%)のうち玄%を売华するず発衚。マツダ自身が最倧玄%を取埗し、残りを玄瀟の取匕先が匕き受ける。

 自動車保険で関係が深い損保では䞉井䜏友海䞊火灜保険、損害保険ゞャパン、日本興亜損害保険が、生保では日本生呜保険、䜏友生呜保険が匕き受ける芋通しだ。

 ある損保䌚瀟の幹郚は「取匕関係があるからむげにはできないが、匕受先が玄瀟もある以䞊、金を出したからずいっお特別に関係が匷化できるわけでもない。うたみがある話ではない」ず挏らす。

 䞀方、金融危機の圱響をモロに受けおいるメガバンクは䞀斉に資本増匷に走り、生損保が有力な匕受先ずなっおいる。

 䞉菱は玄兆円の増資を幎内に実斜。このうち億円は月䞋旬に優先株を発行しお調達する。

 優先株の匕受先は日本生呜(億円)、明治安田生呜保険(億円)、倪陜生呜保険(億円)、倧同生呜保険(億円)の生保ず、東京海䞊日動(億円)、日本興亜(億円)、あいおい損害保険(億円)の損保。

 みずほフィナンシャルグルヌプは優先出資蚌刞を発行しお億円芏暡の資本増匷を準備しおおり、第䞀生呜保険、明治安田生呜、損保ゞャパンなどの芪密先に協力を芁請しおいる。䞉井䜏友フィナンシャルグルヌプも億円芏暡を怜蚎しおおり、䜏友生呜が優先出資蚌刞を匕き受ける方向。䞉井䜏友海䞊グルヌプホヌルディングスや日本生呜などにも匕き受けを打蚺しおいるもようだ。

【生保サむド「望たしいわけでは」】

 ただ、圓の生保サむドは「迷惑ずいうわけではないが、望たしいわけでもない」(生保関係者)ず埮劙だ。株䟡急萜により、䞻芁生保瀟のうち瀟で保有株の含み益が消倱。残り瀟も含み益を倧きく枛らしおいるずみられ、各瀟ずも財務的な䜙裕があるずは蚀い難い状態だ。

 豊富な資金を持぀倧手生保ですら「(救枈芁請の)案件がきたら、『はい、そうですか』ず受けられる状況にない。取捚遞択は必芁になる」(幹郚)ず話す。

 これたでも銀行の増資を匕き受けおきたため、「リスク管理䞊、これ以䞊金融株を増やすのは簡単ではない」ず懞念する関係者もいる。

 経営再建䞭の米保険最倧手、アメリカン・むンタヌナショナル・グルヌプ()が蚈画する日本やアゞアの生保事業売华も問題を耇雑にしおいる。具䜓的なスケゞュヌルは明らかになっおいないものの、件あたり数千億円芏暡の資金が動く可胜性が高い。買収を狙っおいる保険䌚瀟にすれば、䜙裕資金を残しおおきたいずころだ。

 救枈芁請があたたくるなか、勢力拡倧のチャンスも目の前にある。各瀟は難しい刀断を迫られそうだ。

ZAKZAK 2008/11/21

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酞玠カプセルは芏制察象倖…ドヌピングで回答

 けがの治癒や疲劎回埩を促進するずされる「高圧酞玠カプセル」に぀いお、販売メヌカヌなどが加盟する日本囜際健康気圧協䌚は日、䞖界反ドヌピング機関()の怜蚎委員䌚から「高圧酞玠カプセルはドヌピングの芏制察象にならない」ずの文曞が届いたこずを明らかにした。

 この問題で日本アンチ・ドヌピング機構()はドヌピング違反の恐れを指摘し、北京五茪前に日本遞手団ぞ䜿甚自粛を求めおいた。同協䌚はに質問状を送付し「月の怜蚎委で協議した結果、競技力を増進する十分な科孊的デヌタの蚌明がない」ずの回答を埗た。によるず、はモントリオヌルで今週末にも理事䌚を開催する予定で「ただ通達がなく、最終芋解に埓う」ず述べるにずどたった。

 日本オリンピック委員䌚もの芋解に埓う方針を瀺した。

ZAKZAK 2008/11/21

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誀認逮捕:無差別殺人予告で䞉重県譊謝眪 別の男を再逮捕

 䞉重県譊は日、むンタヌネットの掲瀺板に、䞉重県桑名垂のナガシマスパヌランドのプヌルでの無差別殺人予告を曞き蟌んだずしお今幎月日に停蚈業務劚害容疑で逮捕した圓時名叀屋垂圚䜏、料理店店員、小平滋圊さん()が事件ずは無関係だったず発衚、謝眪した。たた日、実際に曞き蟌みをしたずしお同県鈎鹿垂岞岡町、䌚瀟員、藀田拓也被告()=別の嚁力業務劚害眪で起蚎=を嚁力業務劚害容疑で再逮捕した。

 調べでは、藀田容疑者は月日午前時半ごろ、小平さんが勀務先の店に眮き忘れた携垯電話を䜿っおむンタヌネット掲瀺板の「ちゃんねる」に「今週日曜日ナガシマのプヌルで氎着女を刺し殺したす」「鈎鹿サヌキットで刺し殺す」「(近鉄の)特急アヌバンラむナヌに爆匟仕掛けたす」などず曞き蟌み、同ランドなどの業務を劚害した疑い。容疑を認めおいるずいう。

 藀田容疑者は自分の携垯電話からも同様に鈎鹿サヌキットでの殺人予告をしおいたため、今月日に同容疑で逮捕された。藀田容疑者は月の事件圓時、小平さんの勀務する店が入ったビルで譊備員をしおいた。

 小平さんは日間拘眮された埌、凊分保留で釈攟されおいた。倉谷守・刑事郚銖垭参事官は「小平さんには倧倉ご迷惑をお掛けした。心よりおわびする。より慎重か぀適切な捜査に努め、再犯防止にも努めおいきたい」ずコメントした。

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メラミン:タむから茞入のクラッカヌから怜出

 倧阪垂は日、菓子茞入販売䌚瀟「゚ヌ゚ス・むンタヌナショナル」(同垂淀川区)がタむから茞入した「コヌヒヌクリヌムクラッカヌ」(袋枚入り)から、有害物質メラミンが怜出されたず発衚した。同瀟の怜査で~が怜出され、同瀟は流通しおいる玄䞇袋の自䞻回収を始めた。タむ産食品からのメラミン怜出は、囜内で初めお。垂によるず、ただちに健康被害が出る量ではないずいう。

 怜出されたのは賞味期限幎月日(䞇袋が流通)の商品ず、同月日(未流通)のもの。同商品は幎月以降、玄䞇袋が茞入されおいる。

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特集ワむド:この囜はどこぞ行こうずしおいるのか ドナルド・キヌンさん
 ◇平垞心で亀流を--日本文孊研究家、ドナルド・キヌンさん()

 玄関のドアを開けるず、花の銙りがした。癜や黄のランの鉢怍えに囲たれたドナルド・キヌンさんは「どうぞ、お入りください」ず、䌚釈をしお迎えおくれた。

 東京郜内の静かなマンションは、このほど授䞎された文化勲章を祝う莈り物や電報でいっぱいだった。「でも、アメリカ倧䜿通は䜕も蚀っおくれたせん。もし、私が映画俳優だったら関心を瀺すでしょうが、ハハハハ」

 母囜をナヌモアでチクリずするず、優しい顔で続けた。

 「受章に感謝しおいたす。幎以䞊前から日本文孊を研究しお、広い局の人に蚎えたいず、なるべく分かりやすい蚀葉で曞いおきたした。日本語ず英語でものを曞いお、二぀の囜で読たれおいるこずを考えるず幞せです。ただ、幎前だったらもっずうれしかったかもしれたせん」

 ず、おっしゃいたすず。

 「文化勲章に倀する人間であるこずをもう䞀床蚌明したい。䜕か新しい䜜品を曞いお、勲章をくださったこずがよかったず蚌明したい。私は歳。幎前だったらもっず自信があったのですが」。なんずいう向䞊心……。

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 キヌンさんは毎幎、倏から幎明けたでを日本で過ごす。「東京の倏は悪くないですよ」。しかし、この囜の政治は立冬を過ぎおもムシムシが続いおいる。代続いお幎で銖盞が代わり、民意を問う遞挙は芋送られた。閉塞(ぞいそく)感を吹き払う颚が吹かない。䞀方、海の向こうではオバマ旋颚。熱狂的な遞挙の末、米囜民は歳の黒人指導者を遞んだ。

 ニュヌペヌク育ちのキヌンさんは歳のずき、人皮差別の珟実を芋た。「(南郚の)ノヌスカロラむナ州で乗ったバスで、黒人は䞀番埌ろの垭だけで、前の垭が空いおも腰をかけるこずができなかった。それが嫌だった」。そのノヌスカロラむナ州も今回、オバマ氏支持が倚数を占めた。「倧きい倉革です」

 キヌンさんの思いを乗せた投祚甚玙も、日本から郵䟿で海を枡った。「どうしおも投祚したいず思いたした、オバマに。私の良心の問題ずしお。ただ、恥ずかしいこずですが、倧統領遞ぞの投祚は幎ぶりなんです。たあ、その間は、äž¡æ–¹(の候補)ずも嫌いだったり……」

 「前回」は、倪平掋戊争䞭にさかのがる。幎、フランクリン・ルヌズベルト倧統領(æ°‘äž»)が遞を果たした。幎のニュヌペヌクでの株䟡暎萜に始たった䞖界恐慌に、ニュヌディヌル政策ず名付けた積極的介入で察凊した。「戊争」ず「経枈危機」ずいう点で、珟圚の米囜ず䞍思議ず重なる。

 自著「二぀の母囜に生きお」(朝日新聞瀟)にルヌズベルトぞの思いが蚘されおいる。<少幎のころ、ルヌズノェルト倧統領は私の偶像であった。蚀いようもない重苊しい䞍況の暗闇に、圌の挔説が垌望の光を攟った。そしお圌はい぀も匱者、圧迫を受けた人々の味方であり、ファシズムぞの抵抗をやめぬ人に芋えた>。オバマ氏ぞの期埅にも通じるのだろう。

 父芪譲りの反戊䞻矩者だったキヌンさんは、苊しんでいた。「幎、ドむツ軍がオランダ、デンマヌク、ベルギヌを攻め、ロンドンに空爆がありたした。次は米囜だず蚀われおいた。戊争は人間の最も悪い行為だず思っおいたした。その時、源氏物語に救われたした」

 圓時歳。コロンビア倧の孊生だった。「アヌサヌ・りェむリヌが英蚳した源氏物語を本屋で偶然買いたした。戊争が党然描かれおいないし、悪い人物がいない。人間は矎を探しおいた。自分の生掻はあらゆる面で、矎しくするこずができるず思った」

 戊争から逃れられるわけではなかった。しかし日本に興味を抱いたキヌン青幎は、海軍日本語孊校ぞ。そしお、日本の文曞を解析するハワむの郚眲に配属された。

 「手曞きの日蚘や手玙の専門でした。日蚘の内容の倚くは、内地の間は暡範的です。しかし、隣の運送船が米囜の戊艊にやられた時から心配する調子が入りたした。島に着いお食べ物がない、病気になったず。『これを拟うアメリカ人の兵隊は戊争が終わったら家族に日蚘を返しおください』ず英語で曞かれおいるものもありたした。途䞭で軍に取り䞊げられたのでできなかったが、返したかったです。日蚘には人間味があり、ずおも深く感動したした」

 日本人捕虜に察する尋問もした。「名前や幎霢、そしお海軍が知りたいこずは聞きたした。倧和ず歊蔵は芋たこずがあるかず。その埌は、奜きな音楜は䜕ですか、奜きな小説家はだれですかず。敵察心は党くなかった。それどころか友達になりたした」。なぜ、敵ず友達になれたのだろう。「同じ人間だず思ったんです」

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 戊埌、京郜に留孊した。京倧助教授だった氞井道雄元文盞や䞭倮公論瀟の嶋䞭鵬二瀟長のほか、谷厎最䞀郎、川端康成、䞉島由玀倫、安郚公房、倧江健䞉郎ら日本を代衚する䜜家たちず亀際を深めた。「ごく普通の日本人ず同じように付き合っただけです。みなさん、日本の友達を呌ぶようにキヌンさんず呌んでくれたした。そう、安郚さんだけがキヌン君だった。䞀緒にご飯を食べお文孊の話をしお冗談を蚀い合った。普通の察応でした」

 「普通」が今もただ日本人には難しいのだろうか。電車をめぐる笑い話になった。「英語のアナりンスで、田端を『た、ばあた』ずか、巣鎚を『す、があも』っお蚀うのを聞くず、えっ?お思う。普通に蚀えばいいのに。日本人が倖囜人に芪切なのはいいけれど、日本語を理解できないず思いこんでいる。普通に付き合うずいうのが䞀番倧事です」

 米囜を「自分が生たれた囜」ず呌び、日本を「粟神的に育おおくれた囜」ず呌ぶキヌンさんにかかれば、囜際亀流ずは実に単玔なこずに芋える。倧事なのは「盞手が同じ人間である」ずいう信頌感ず、「普通に付き合う」ずいう平垞心だろう。個人がそうであるように、囜同士も付き合えないものだろうか。

 珟圚の米囜経枈を問うず、苊笑いした。「経枈のこずは知らないんです。ただ、デパヌトに米囜補はほずんどない。䞭囜、台湟、韓囜、グアテマラずか。安いずころで䜜れば埗をするず思っお、米囜の䌚瀟のものを売らなくなった。グロヌバリれヌションずいっおも、どこの囜のためなんでしょうか。たったく䞍思議な時代です」

 日本では、源氏物語千幎玀のブヌムが続く。私たちは、時代を超えた名䜜から䜕を孊ぶべきなのか。

 「優れた文孊の䞖界に入っお、その矎しさを感謝しお喜びを感じるだけでいいのではないでしょうか。孊ぶ必芁はないし、教蚓はないのでは。心を動かすだけで十分だず思いたす」。小春日和のむンタビュヌ。諭す口調は最埌たで穏やかだった。

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米シティ:身売りや事業の䞀郚売华含め、生き残り策怜蚎

 【ワシントン斉藀信宏】経営䞍安で株䟡が急萜しおいる米金融倧手シティグルヌプは日、身売りや事業の䞀郚売华を含めた生き残り策の怜蚎に入った。耇数の米メディアが同瀟幹郚の話ずしお報じた。合䜵や資本提携も暡玢しおおり、盞手先ずしおゎヌルドマン・サックスやモルガン・スタンレヌ、ステヌトストリヌト銀行などの倧手金融機関が候補に挙がっおいるずいう。

 シティは金融危機などの圱響で経営䞍安に陥り、米政府が公的資金による資本泚入を行った埌も株䟡は䞋萜。日には前日終倀比%安の.ドルで取匕を終えるなど経営危機が深刻化しおいる。米玙りォヌルストリヌト・ゞャヌナル(電子版)によるず、シティは日にも緊急取締圹䌚を開き、株䟡急萜に察応した抜本的なリストラ策を話し合う予定で、身売りを含めた今埌の経営方針も議論の察象になるず芋られる。

 シティは日にも玄䞇人の人員削枛蚈画を発衚したばかり。幎~月期決算では四半期連続の倧幅赀字を蚈䞊。䜎所埗者向け高金利䜏宅ロヌン(サブプラむムロヌン)問題に絡む損倱が億ドル(玄兆億円)ず欧米金融機関では最倧芏暡に膚らみ、株䟡は過去幎間で%も䞋萜しおいる。

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新銀行東京:䞍良債暩、%に䞊昇 圓期赀字は億円--月䞭間

 東京郜から远加出資を受けお経営再建䞭の新銀行東京は日、幎月䞭間決算を発衚した。圓期赀字は億円で、再建蚈画を億円䞋回った。幎月期決算の赀字も蚈画通りの億円を達成できるずの芋通しを瀺した。䞍良債暩残高は前期比億円増の億円、䞍良債暩比率は同・%増の・%に䞊昇した。

 貞し倒れ匕圓金は前期の月期比億䞇円増の億䞇円を蚈䞊した。自己資本比率は・%ず囜内営業基準(%以䞊)を倧幅に䞊回り、財務䜓質に぀いおの健党性は維持した。

 ~月の新芏融資実行額は蚈画比億円枛の億円で、うち玄億円が䞭小䌁業向けずいう。本業のもうけを瀺す実質業務玔益は億円の赀字にずどたった。

 金融庁は月から新銀行に察しお幎の開業埌初の怜査を始め、月日に結果を通知した。今回の決算に぀いお新銀行東京は「怜査結果を反映した」ずしおいる。【朚村健二】

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ラスタヌ爆匟:「最新型」も導入せず 政府方針

 䞍発匟が垂民に被害を䞎えおいるクラスタヌ爆匟に぀いお、政府は、珟有爆匟を党廃したうえで、欧州諞囜が維持する「最新型」のクラスタヌ爆匟も今埌、導入しない方針を固めた。これで日本はあらゆるクラスタヌ爆匟を保持しないこずになる。人道面を重芖したためで、代わりに子爆匟をたき散らさない単匟頭の爆匟を敎備するため、玄億円を来幎床予算に蚈䞊する。

 日本は、子爆匟を数癟個たき散らし、䞍発率が極めお高い「旧型」や「改良型」のクラスタヌ爆匟を皮類保有しおいる。政府は月日、クラスタヌ爆匟犁止条玄に眲名する予定で、幎床から廃棄方法の調査を始める。批准埌は幎以内に廃棄する矩務を負う。

 ただ、犁止条玄案では、子爆匟が数個ず少なく䞍発率が極めお䜎い「最新型」は䟋倖ずしお保有が認められた。独仏などが生産しおおり、欧州諞囜が導入するずみられる。

 政府は人道䞊、䞍発匟による「副次的被害を避ける」こずを重芖。最新型でも䞍発匟による被害が完党になくなる保蚌がなく、コストもかさむため、導入を芋送り、子爆匟による被害の根絶を目指す方針を決めた。

 同時に条玄の芏制による圱響を「極小化」する方策を暡玢。今埌、子爆匟を持たず(党地球枬䜍システム)によっお正確に目暙に誘導し、より遠距離から狭い範囲を攻撃するロケット匟などを導入する。

 日本は、海岞線から䞊陞する敵の「着䞊陞䟵攻」を、倧量の子爆匟をたくこずで「面的に制圧」するため、クラスタヌ爆匟を配備しおきた。条玄案の採択埌、防衛省や自民党内の䞀郚から「廃棄する旧型に代え最新型を導入すべきだ」ずの声が盞次いだ。しかし、珟圚は着䞊陞䟵攻の可胜性が考えにくく、「面的制圧」の効果を疑問芖する芋方もあり、必芁性が䜎いず刀断した。

 犁止条玄案は、ノルりェヌなど有志囜や非政府組織が䞻導する軍瞮亀枉「オスロ・プロセス」が月、日英独仏などカ囜の賛成で採択した。

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呚産期センタヌ:割が土日倜間圓盎人 劊婊拒吊は割

 産科救急の「最埌のずりで」ず䜍眮づけられる党囜カ所の総合呚産期母子医療センタヌのうち、倜間ず土日の産科の圓盎医が人しかいないセンタヌが蚈斜蚭ず党䜓の割に䞊るこずが、厚生劎働省の初の調査で分かった。幎床䞭に母䜓の受け入れを䞀床でも断ったセンタヌは割の斜蚭。受け入れ拒吊の理由に集䞭治療宀の満床を挙げる斜蚭が倚い䞀方、蚺療可胜な医垫が䞍圚ずする斜蚭も割を超え、産科医䞍足が母䜓救呜に支障をきたしおいる実態が裏付けられた。

 厚劎省は総合呚産期センタヌの敎備指針で産科医の時間察応を求めおおり、(母䜓・胎児集䞭治療宀)が床以䞊なら「耇数による察応が望たしい」ずしおいる。

 調査によるず、が床以䞋のセンタヌ斜蚭のうち斜蚭で倜間ず土日の圓盎が人、床以䞊でも斜蚭䞭斜蚭が指針に反しお人だけだった。劊婊の受け入れ拒吊問題が起きた東京郜の郜立墚東病院ず杏林倧病院も、圓時の圓盎は人だった。

 たた、幎床に母䜓の受け入れを断った理由(耇数回答)は「(新生児集䞭治療宀)の満床」が%ず圧倒的で、斜蚭は幎間の病床利甚率が割を超えおいた。満床による受け入れ䞍胜は%、医垫の䞍圚は%だった。

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宇宙地図:倍詳しい地図できた! 倩文衛星「あかり」デヌタで

 玄䞇個の星や銀河をずらえた宇宙地図を、宇宙航空研究開発機構()が日、発衚した。日本の赀倖線倩文衛星「あかり」の芳枬デヌタを基に䜜補した。映し出された倩䜓の数は、埓来の地図より倍も倚い。

 赀倖線のうち遠赀倖線をずらえた地図は、䞭心の赀い郚分が倩の川。星が誕生する際、匷い赀倖線を発するため、倩の川で星が掻発に䜜られおいる様子が分かる。たた、赀倖線芳枬は倪陜系から遠い倩䜓ほど怜出しやすく、遠い倩䜓ほど宇宙のより初期に生たれたもの。このため、今埌の解析で未知の倩䜓が芋぀かる可胜性がある。

 の山村䞀誠准教授は「この地図は、今埌の倩文孊研究の基瀎資料になる。初期宇宙で、どの皋床の星が生たれたかを知るのに圹立おたい」ず話す。【䞋桐実雅子】

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