Barclays wins approval for capital raising

Barclays wins approval for capital raising

By Kate Burgess and Peter Thal Larsen

Published: November 25 2008 02:00 | Last updated: November 25 2008 02:00

Barclays Bankhas won shareholder approval for its controversial capital raising by the skin of its teeth.

Without Legal & General Investment Management's last-minute decision to throw the weight of its 5 per cent shareholding behind the proposal to raise about £7bn ($10.6bn), most of it from Middle Eastern investors, the deal might not have gone through. Barclays needed three-quarters of votes cast at the meeting yesterday to be in favour of the deal. Between 13 and 15 per cent of votes cast were against the various resolutions.

Barclays' long-term investors are still angry that the bank turned its back on the UK government's bail-out in favour of a more expensive deal offering Middle Eastern investors preferential terms.

Worse, Barclays did not offer existing investors the chance to participate. Shareholders will not forgive the Barclays' board easily for overriding their much cherished right of first refusal to new shares.

In stark contrast, shareholders in Standard Chartered, the Asia-focused bank, are widely supporting its plans, outlined yesterday, to raise £1.8bn by offering shareholders 30 new shares for every 91 they own.

The terms of the deal underscore the risks associated with banking rights issues in the current volatile market - Stanchart has priced the offering at 390p, a 49 per cent discount to its closing price last Friday. It is also paying a total of 275 basis points - equivalent to about £54m - in fees to banks and investors who are underwriting the deal.

Like Barclays, Stanchart had turned its back on the UK government's offer last month. But there the similarities end. Peter Sands, Stanchart's chief executive, said the bank had explored a range of options for raising capital but was determined to give shareholders the opportunity to participate.

"We very deliberately chose to raise capital through a rights issue because we think it is important to respect pre-emption," he said.

"Standard Chartered is raising money in a sensible way and the management is highly regarded," said one of the bank's biggest investors who is highly critical of the Barclays' board.

Peter Montagnon, director of investment affairs at the Association of British Insurers, described Stanchart's issue as a "blueprint" for rights issues in the future.

The ABI, along with other investors, the UK government, and the Financial Services Authority, has been working on ways to speed up and streamline rights issues.

Stanchart managed it by getting blanket approval from shareholders in May at this year's annual meeting, allowing the bank to raise up to a third of its share capital without having to call a special meeting for approval.

Companies routinely ask their shareholders for this authority, but it is a mark of shareholders' confidence in a company's management that they give it.

Marcus Agius, Barclays' chairman, told investors yesterday that its options were limited. He said the board was faced with a "devil's dilemma" whereby it needed to raise a lot of capital quickly, but could not find a way that would allow existing shareholders to participate in an offering. In the end, the board decided that it was more important to end the uncertainty about Barclays' capital base.

"Our concern was that further pressure on our share price would feed through to a loss of depositor and investor confidence," he said.

Barclays' investors appeared unmoved yesterday. They say the board has sacrificed their goodwill and will have to work very hard to get their support in the future.

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Rogers Says Dollar to Be ‘Devalued,’ Buys Commodities (Update1)

By Ron Harui and Mike Schneider
Enlarge Image/Details

Nov. 25 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. dollar will be “devalued” as policy makers seek to weaken it, undermining the greenback’s role as an international reserve currency, said Jim Rogers, chairman of Rogers Holdings in Singapore.

“They think that if you drive down the value of your money, it makes you more competitive, now that has never worked in history in the long term,” said Rogers. The ICE’s Dollar Index has gained 19 percent since Rogers said in an interview on April 27 he expected a dollar rally “about now.”

The U.S. dollar gained since June 30 against all the 16 most-traded currencies except for the yen as investors fled for the perceived safety of Treasuries after the global financial crisis struck, tipping the world into recession. U.S. politicians are seeking to reverse those gains to revive growth, Rogers said.

The dollar is “going to lose its status as the world’s reserve currency,” Rogers said yesterday in an interview with Bloomberg Television. “It will be devalued and it will go down a lot. These guys in Washington, they want to debase the currency.”

Rogers said that he is buying the Japanese yen. All of the 16 most-active currencies have weakened against the yen this year, with South Korea’s won falling 46 percent as the worst performer.

The ICE’s Dollar Index, which tracks the greenback against the currencies of six major trading partners, fell to 86.053 as of 2:50 p.m. in Tokyo from 86.081 late in New York yesterday. It reached 88.463 on Nov. 21, the highest level since April 2006.

Plan to Exit Dollars

The U.S. currency’s rally has “already lasted several months” and “will probably go into next year,” Rogers said. “What I plan to do sometime during this rally is to get out of the rest of my U.S. dollars.”

“If I were doing it today and what I have done today is buy the yen,” Rogers said. “But, it is also an artificial move that’s going on. It’s a difficult problem to find out what is a sound currency.”

Democratic lawmakers including Senator Charles Schumer of New York said this weekend they plan to design a package as large as $700 billion and deliver it to President-elect Barack Obama on his first day in office. Obama has called for a large economic- stimulus package, saying the U.S. faces the loss of “millions of jobs” unless immediate steps are taken to stimulate growth and rescue the nation’s automakers.

Buying Commodities

Rogers also is buying commodities, saying their “fundamentals have not been impaired and, in fact, are improved.” He correctly forecast in April 2006 that the oil price would reach $100 a barrel and gold $1,000 an ounce.

“In mid-October, I started buying commodities, I started buying China and I started buying Taiwan,” he said. “I bought them all, but I’ve been focusing more on agriculture. I mean sugar is 80 percent below its all-time high. It’s astonishing how low some of these prices are.”

The Rogers International Commodity Index Total Return has plummeted 52 percent from a record in July, including an 11 percent slide this month. The index has risen 124 percent over the past seven years.

Sugar surged the most in two weeks yesterday amid speculation that higher crude-oil prices will boost demand for alternative fuels, including ethanol made from cane.

Raw-sugar futures for March delivery rose 0.44 cent, or 3.9 percent, to 11.72 cents a pound on ICE Futures U.S. in New York yesterday. The gain was the biggest for a most-active contract since Nov. 4. Sugar has declined in each of the past three weeks.

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London, Tokyo, New York Office Rents Fall First Time Since 2002

By Daniel Taub
More Photos/Details

Nov. 25 (Bloomberg) -- Office rents in London’s West End, midtown Manhattan and Tokyo fell in the third quarter for the first time in almost seven years as the global financial crisis cut demand, CB Richard Ellis Group Inc. said.

The total office occupancy cost in the West End was 139.50 pounds ($248.66) per square foot a year in the 12 months ended Sept. 30, down 5.1 percent from a year earlier, Los Angeles-based CB Richard Ellis said today in its semiannual global-office survey. Rents in London, midtown Manhattan and central Tokyo last fell from a year earlier in January 2002, during the last recession.

Rents fell in the three cities as the economic crisis dampened demand for space among banks and investment companies. Rents worldwide are likely to fall for the rest of this year and the first quarter of 2009 as the financial crisis spreads throughout the world’s economies, Raymond Torto, CB Richard Ellis’s global chief economist, said in an interview.

“London’s West End or places that are showing declines right now are the leading edge of what’s going to happen the next six months, obviously,” Torto said.

Even as financial centers showed declines, office costs in the 172 markets CB Richard Ellis tracks increased 8 percent on average in the past year, almost double the global inflation rate. Three of the five fastest-growing cities were in the Middle East, with costs up the most in Abu Dhabi, with a 95 percent rise.

“You’ve got a lot of places that are not feeling the effects of the financial crisis,” Torto said. “Not every place is a financial center.”

Tokyo, Manhattan

Total office occupancy costs dropped 5.3 percent to $184.26 per square foot annually in central Tokyo, and 9.9 percent to $151.69 in outlying wards of Tokyo, said CB Richard Ellis, the world’s largest commercial real estate brokerage.

In midtown Manhattan, they dropped 2.7 percent to $98.08. Total office occupancy costs are rents plus other service charges by landlords.

Even with the rent decline, London’s West End remained the world’s most expensive office market in the third quarter, CB Richard Ellis said. It was followed by Moscow, where office costs rose 30 percent to $234.73 a square foot, and Hong Kong’s central business district, where they rose 29 percent to $231.59.

Tokyo Gains

Central Tokyo was the fourth most expensive office market in the third quarter, followed by Mumbai’s central business district, with annual occupancy costs of $170.85 a square foot; Dubai, at $156.53; Tokyo’s outer wards; London; Singapore, at $135.13; Hong Kong’s prime districts, at $132.97; and Abu Dhabi.

Among the 50 office markets with the fastest-growing office costs, only nine were in North America in the third quarter, down from 15 when CB Richard Ellis last reported rankings six months ago. “The slowing economic situation in North America has started to dampen occupancy cost growth rates,” CB Richard Ellis said in today’s report.

The Asia Pacific region had the fastest growth in office costs in the third quarter, with an average increase of 26 percent, CB Richard Ellis said. Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, had the fastest growth in rents worldwide after Abu Dhabi, with total occupancy costs rising 51 percent to $92.83 in the third quarter, the brokerage said.

“Places like Abu Dhabi or Ho Chi Minh City, there is a theme to why they’re at the top of the list,” Torto said. “The theme is that they’re new places for financial markets. They don’t have a lot of quality space, and the little bit that there is, is wildly bid up.”

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Emirates to make Italy a 'hub' in Europe: Italian government

AFP

Dubai's Emirates airline has chosen Italy as its European hub and has asked for more than 50 weekly landing slots in Milan, Rome and Venice, the Italian government said Monday.

"Emirates ... has chosen Italy as a hub to access Europe," said Italian Under Secretary for Economic Development Adolfo Urso in a statement.

"Thanks to this agreement, Italy will more easily become a tourist destination for the newly rich from the Gulf and from southeast Asia."

Urso issued the statement after meeting United Arab Emirates Economy Minister Sultan Ben Said Al-Mansouri for talks in Abu Dhabi.

Government-owned Emirates, which currently has less than 10 landing slots per week in Italy, has asked for 21 slots in Rome, 21 in Milan and 14 in Venice, the statement said.

The group will also launch 28 cargo flights per week.

The deal also covers Abu Dhabi's Etihad Airways, which is in line for seven landing slots in Rome and the same number in Milan.

Emirates reported earlier this month that its net profit for the first half of the financial year had plummeted 88 percent to 77 million dollars (60 million euros) because of high oil prices.

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Hedge funds steer clear of currencies

By James Mackintosh

Published: November 24 2008 17:39 | Last updated: November 24 2008 17:39

Hedge fund investors pounded by the plummeting value of sterling have abandoned currency hedges.

That move has been taken after facing heavy cash calls on derivatives designed to limit foreign exchange risk.

Listed funds of hedge funds run by Goldman Sachs, Dexion, Gottex, KGR Capital and Thames River have abandoned or cut back currency hedging.

That is leaving investors in sterling and euro share classes less protected against a fall in the dollar.

According to investors, several unlisted offshore funds of hedge funds have the same problem.

At the same time, other funds have had to increase their borrowing to meet hedging costs.

There has been a big shift in sterling – down from $1.85 to the pound to $1.50 in two months.

That sharp decline has forced the funds to cash in hedge fund holdings in order to pay hefty hedging costs, adding to the pain of the troubled sector.

“This is quite a big negative for the sector,” said Mark James, an analyst at Royal Bank of Scotland.

He added that “people obviously bought these funds on the basis that they are currency hedged”. The funds have run into trouble because they need cash to settle the derivatives used for their currency hedges.

Those derivatives lost money as sterling and the euro devalued against the dollar.

But they cannot easily sell dollar-denominated assets – on which they have made an offsetting profit – because hedge funds typically demand three months’ notice for withdrawals.

Listed funds have been hit particularly hard because the euro and sterling share classes tend to make up more of the fund than in offshore funds.

Goldman’s Dynamic Opportunities, which manages about £360m, extended its overdraft facility by $46m (£30.4m) on Friday and said it would stop hedging currency risk.

“In view of the risk of a further appreciation in value of the US dollar against sterling and euro, resulting in further realised currency hedging losses requiring cash settlement, the board has resolved to suspend the operation of the company’s currency hedging arrangements with immediate effect,” the fund said in a statement.

Dexion, which manages listed funds, has extended overdrafts and stopped hedging at three of them.

That move, ironically, has leading to big profits for investors in the sterling shares as the fund’s dollar-denominated assets are now worth more in sterling terms.

In one fund, Dexion Equity Alternatives, it spent 4.7 per cent of its assets buying an option on the dollar which would make a profit if the dollar fell. This gave Dexion a partial hedge. The manager of listed funds said this was because the cost of the option was fully covered by the profits it had made.

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Swissie’s haven status endangered

By Peter Garnham

Published: November 24 2008 17:26 | Last updated: November 24 2008 17:26

When global markets are volatile, the Swiss franc normally rises because it is regarded as a safe haven. Not this time.

The currency’s limited role in the global carry trade, deep interest cuts from the Swiss National Bank and concerns over Switzerland’s banking sector all threaten to destroy its appeal as a refuge as volatility grips global markets.

The loss of status can be seen in the fall of the franc against both the dollar and the yen since the collapse of Lehman in mid-September. The Swiss franc is down 7.5 per cent against the dollar and down 15.5 per cent against the yen.

The franc is still up against some currencies – it has risen 3.7 per cent against the euro and 10.1 per cent against the pound since Lehman – but analysts say its prospects are increasingly bleak.

That seems surprising given Switzerland’s favourable external position. Relative to its size, Switzerland is not only the world’s largest net creditor, but it also runs one of the world’s largest current account surpluses.

Were the loss of safe- haven status to prove permanent, it would mark a reversal of the received wisdom that has been in place since currency trading took off in the 1970s.

First, the franc has failed to benefit as much as expected from the unwinding of the global carry trade.

The franc, dollar and yen have all been used to fund carry trades, in which the purchase of riskier, higher-yielding assets is funded by selling low-yielding currencies.

Thus, when confidence in the global financial system and economic growth plunged, sparking a wave of deleveraging across markets, the franc, dollar and yen all rose as carry trades were unwound.

Analysts say it is clear now, that the franc is the laggard.

Steve Barrow at Standard Bank says this reflects the likelihood that the franc was used in a more limited way than the yen and dollar as a funding currency by carry trade investors.

He says the yen was sold to fund carry trades in Asian currencies, against the Australian and New Zealand dollars and against some higher-yielding currencies, such as the pound. In contrast, the dollar was mainly sold to fund long positions in emerging market currencies, like the Brazilian real, South African rand and Turkish lira.

Mr Barrow says the franc’s use may have been narrower, confined for the most part to funding positions in other European currencies.

“These suspicions about the relatively limited role [in the carry trade] for the franc have been borne out by the way it has fallen both against the dollar and the yen during the sharp risk-reduction process of the last few months,” he says.

“Clearly, the currency has made some good gains elsewhere, but this could be in the process of changing.”

The Swiss franc not only dropped to a 16-month low against the dollar but also fell sharply against the euro after the Swiss National Bank delivered a surprise cut in interest rates last Thursday.

The 100 basis-point cut took the central bank’s three-month Libor target down to 1 per cent.

This was the third time the central bank had lowered rates outside of a regular meeting in two months, following a 25bp cut on October 8 as part of a globally co-ordinated move and a 50bp cut on November 6.

The central bank said as a result of the decline in the prices of raw materials and oil, inflation was likely to fall below 2 per cent as early as the end of this year.

Ulrich Leucthmann at Commerzbank says the Swiss authorities deliberately chose to shock the market in an attempt to undermine the Swiss franc.

“The market is still worried about global risk aversion, but clearly the Swiss authorities are interested in the domestic economy, which is threatened by a slowdown in the eurozone and its reliance on the financial sector,” he says.

Concern over the health of the country’s banking system has increasingly weighed on the franc.

Switzerland has a larger banking system relative to gross domestic product than any major country – liabilities equal to 675 per cent – raising potential systemic concerns for its currency.

Paul Meggyesi at JPMorgan says these worries have been fuelled by the adverse fate suffered by the currencies of other countries with bloated financial systems, notably the pound and the Icelandic krona.

“In the boom times, the Swiss banking and financial system was seen very much as an asset for the country,” he says.

However, he says ever since the banking crisis reached its crescendo nearly two months ago, the market has become more concerned that the size of the banking system represents something of a liability for the franc.

As well as the Swiss banking sector’s size relative to GDP, the level of its foreign currency borrowing is also a cause for concern.

Swiss banks have huge foreign currency balance sheets, with some SFr2,100bn ($1,751bn) denominated in foreign currencies at the end of September.

At nearly 400 per cent of GDP, this FX exposure is larger than that of UK banks, though less than the 700 per cent built up by Icelandic banks prior to its banking crisis.

Mr Meggysesi warns the sheer scale of the Swiss banking sector and the extent of its foreign currency liabilities constitutes a potential problem for the franc.

“Large-scale FX borrowing by the banking system can be implicated in all manner of currency crisis, most notably the Asian currency crisis and latterly the collapse of the Icelandic krona,” says Mr Meggyesi.

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Tax hit to fund £20bn fiscal stimulus

By Chris Giles and George Parker

Published: November 24 2008 15:37 | Last updated: November 24 2008 23:27

Taxpayers face six years of austerity, paying for the consequences of recession and a £20bn fiscal stimulus unveiled on Monday by Alistair Darling as he detailed the most dismal Budget outlook seen since 1993.

National insurance contributions for both employees and employers will rise by 0.5 per cent. Those earning more than £100,000 will pay more income tax – with those on £150,000 facing a new higher tax rate of 45 per cent – and public spending faces its biggest squeeze for 15 years – although all these measures will not kick in until 2011, well after the next election. The tax clawback would leave someone earning £150,000 paying an extra £3,040 in tax.

Mr Darling detailed the planned tax rises and spending restraint as he sought to show the City and foreign investors that Britain had a clear plan to restore prudence to the public finances after truly shocking forecasts for public borrowing in the next two years.

Public borrowing will hit a record level of £118bn in 2009-10 and will fall to a level the government considers prudent only in 2015-16, far later than City forecasts had expected.

Government debt will blast through the current 40 per cent of national income limit, racing to 57 per cent in 2012-13, when it will top the £1,000bn mark for the first time.

Britain’s output will continue to fall until the second half of next year, the chancellor added, as he presented a gloomy forecast with the recession mitigated only in part by the fiscal boost delivered predominantly through a 2.5 percentage point cut in value added tax from next week and lasting until the end of 2009.

Over the next year, the cut in the VAT rate to 15 per cent will be augmented by £2.5bn of additional capital expenditure projects brought forward from 2010-11, a £60 payment to every pensioner, an earlier increase in child benefit and a deferral in the planned increases in vehicle excise duties.

Mr Darling also used the crisis to stage a series of tactical retreats from earlier decisions, announcing a rethink of his plans to reform air passenger taxes and an exemption from tax for the dividends of UK companies’ foreign subsidiaries.

Together the Treasury assumes the £20bn package – about 1 per cent of national income for a little over a year – will prevent the economy sinking by a further 0.5 per cent, although Mr Darling’s forecast was for a contraction of 0.75 per cent to 1.25 per cent in 2009.

George Osborne, shadow chancellor, claimed the speech proved the “time-old truth that in the end all Labour chancellors run out of money”.

But responding to Conservative jeers that the huge government deficit should prevent a stimulus package, Mr Darling said: “I will do whatever it takes to support people through these difficult times.” He added that “exceptional times require exceptional measures”.

The grim outlook does not improve much in the coming decade. While the Treasury predicts growth to recover after 2011, the severity of the credit crunch has forced ministers to conclude that 4 per cent of national income – some £60bn of output – will be lost for good.

Mr Darling’s political gamble is that the fiscal boost will raise the morale of the public, while any pain will come in tax rises deferred until after the next general election.

Instead of public spending growing at 1.9 per cent above inflation every year, the real growth rate of day-to-day expenditure is cut to less than 1.2 per cent. Capital investment has been frozen from 2010 onward, a U-turn for Labour, which had always criticised the Tories for cutting infrastructure projects whenever the going got tough.

Mr Osborne claimed the country was getting ”tax giveaways for Christmas paid for by tax rises for life” and said that even Mr Darling’s projections of a record £118bn borrowing next year rested on what he claimed were optimistic growth forecasts.

The Tories have decided not to oppose the new 45p tax rate for high earners. One senior Tory said: ”That’s a classic Gordon Brown trap and the best thing to do is walk around it.”

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Architects face downturn as developers scale back schemes

By Raphael Minder in Hong Kong

Published: November 22 2008 02:00 | Last updated: November 22 2008 02:00

In late August, Woods Bagot, an international architectural firm, invited clients to an office party to celebrate the hiring of its 100th employee in Hong Kong.

In the following days, the firm started to let go or transfer some of those architects, reducing its Hong Kong head count to 88.

Other leading Hong Kong practices have made similar cuts. Aedas, the largest architectural practice in Hong Kong, started the year with 650 employees and reached 820 over the summer, before recently cutting back to 750.

"We've had to tell some people who were just preparing to move here not to turn up," says David Roberts, Aedas chief executive. "This is a profession that acts as a barometer. We're the first ones to grow, but also the first ones to lose out when things go bad."

The profession is facing a downturn worldwide, as cash-strapped developers struggle in a slowing economy, but the impact may be emerging first in Hong Kong following an aggressive recruitment drive. Woods Bagot, for example, had just 25 people in Hong Kong at the end of 2005.

Architects, often fresh out of European universities, flocked to Hong Kong to work on China's urban development, venues for the Olympic Games and Macao's transformation into the world's largest gaming centre. Hong Kong also acts as a platform for projects across Asia and the Middle East.

Since September, however, thousands of Macao construction workers have been made idle as Sands and other casino operators scramble for cash. Chinese developers have started shelving or scaling back

big projects. Hopewell announced this week that its flagship Hong Kong hotel project would rise to 55 instead of 93 floors.

The boom-and-bust scenario is also exacerbated by labour legislation that offers much weaker protection for employees than in Europe. "The situation in France is also bad, but there's just no way you can fire as easily as in Hong Kong," said Marie-Pierre Blanc, partner at Archibat, a Paris-based recruitment company specialising in architecture.

Stephen Jones, Asia managing principal of Woods Bagot, said the biggest risk was payment delays. "Architect businesses don't typically have cash reserves to carry payroll for long periods," he said. "In addition many firms have been funding aggressive growth over the last two years and this places them in a weak position when the market slows."

The downturn is forcing practices to switch rapidly to government-backed projects, whether in infrastructure or second-tier Chinese cities. "I now travel more to places like Ningbo," says Massimo Bagnasco, director at Progetto CMR. "We all prefer the main cities, but work has stopped there."

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German political system creaks under strain

By Bertrand Benoit in Berlin

Published: November 24 2008 20:36 | Last updated: November 24 2008 20:36

A proposal by Germany’s interior minister to change the voting system in parliament’s upper house sparked a storm of protest on Monday, in what could be the prelude to a broader debate about the ability of Germany’s institutions to cope with the fragmentation of its political landscape.

Wolfgang Schäuble, a Christian Democrat, suggested the Bundesrat, which represents Germany’s 16 regional governments, should stop counting abstentions as rejections when voting on bills, making it easier for draft legislation to obtain a majority.

Given the emotional reaction the suggestion has sparked – opposition politicians and even some member of the SPD have accused Mr Schäuble of betraying the constitution – the minister’s proposal has little chance of every being implemented.

Yet the debate is symptomatic of the mounting concern over the capacity of the country’s electoral and institutional framework to keep delivering working parliamentary majorities as more parties enter the house.

While the Bundestag had only three parliamentary groups a generation ago, the rise of the Green party in the 1980s and of the radical Left Party more recently - coupled with the gradual loss of appeal of the older, bigger parties - has raised this number to five.

This was the reason behind the electoral draw of 2005 that forced SPD and CDU, long historical rivals, to join forces in a government of national unity. Opinion polls suggest a similar outcome is likely at the next general election in September 2009.

Such a result could trigger a fresh - and divisive - debate about the need to water- down Germany’s strict proportional electoral system, an arrangement favoured after the war and the Nazi experience as most likely to prevent the rise of a dominant political force.

The backdrop to MrSchäuble’s suggestion is a draft reform boosting the powers of the Federal Criminal Office, which the parliamentary opposition thinks could turn the relatively weak body into a German equivalent of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation to the detriment of the regional states.

Chancellor Angela Merkel’s grand coalition already pushed the bill through the Bundestag, or lower house of parliament, where it enjoys an overwhelming majority. Yet the bill faces almost certain defeat in the Bundesrat because several states have said they would abstain when voting.

Most regional governments where one of the two parties of the grand coalition share power with a smaller party – either the Free Democratic Party or the Greens, which are both in opposition at the national level – generally abstain in the Bundesrat when voting on “grand coalition” bills on which they cannot agree.

This practice has made it increasingly difficult to pass legislation in the upper house. Two months ago, the “grand coalition” lost its paper-thin majority in the Bundesrat when the Christian Social Union, the Bavarian sister party to Ms Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union, lost its absolute majority in the southern state for the first time in 40 years and was forced to bring in the FDP as a coalition partner.

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Police seize Mafia boss

By Guy Dinmore

Published: November 25 2008 02:00 | Last updated: November 25 2008 02:00

Italian and Dutch police have seized Giuseppe Nirta, one of Italy's most wanted Mafia suspects and alleged cocaine cartel boss, in a combined operation in Amsterdam on Sunday, police said yesterday.

Mr Nirta, 35, is wanted in Italy on charges of drugs trafficking and had been on the run for 10 years. He was allegedly head of a clan of the Calabrian Mafia. His wife and two of her sisters - all from the Strangio family - were also arrested.

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Turkey and Armenia in tentative talks

By Delphine Strauss in Ankara

Published: November 25 2008 03:14 | Last updated: November 25 2008 03:14

Turkey and Armenia’s foreign ministers met on Monday in Istanbul under growing pressure to resolve one of the most intractable disputes in the fraught politics of the Caucasus.

Both countries are working to mend relations after decades of mutual suspicion. They have no formal diplomatic relations, and Turkey closed its border with Armenia in 1993, supporting Azerbaijan over the disputed territory of Nagorno Karabakh.

In September, Abdullah Gül became the first Turkish president to visit Armenia, attending a football match between the national teams. A return visit by Armenian president Serzh Sargsyan for the next match, in October 2009, now looks on the cards.

Since the burst of “football diplomacy”, grand gestures have given way to low-key contacts – Ali Babacan and his Armenian counterpart, Edward Nalbandian, met for dinner on Monday on the sidelines of a regional economic forum.

But two developments have made it more urgent to resolve a situation that causes Armenia severe economic pain, and makes it hard for Turkey to win full acceptance in the international community.

Firstly, the summer’s conflict in Georgia drove Turkey to seek a bigger diplomatic role in the Caucasus, where energy transit routes now look more vulnerable, and for a time left Armenia able to trade only across its border with Russia. Secondly, Turkish diplomats fear Barack Obama will act on campaign promises and recognise the 1915 massacres of Armenians under Ottoman rule as genocide – or fail to veto a Congress resolution on the issue.

Ankara contends thousands of Turks also died and that deaths were due to war, hunger and displacement, not systematic planning. But the threat of a major upset in US relations makes it imperative to build warmer relations with Yerevan.

Mr Nalbandian called on Monday for Turkey to open its border, telling reporters Armenia was ready to normalise relations “without preconditions”. However, the obstacles to progress remain formidable.

Turkey cannot afford to make a move that would alienate Azerbaijan at a crucial stage in negotiations over energy supplies. It may make a smaller gesture – Turkish Airlines, the national carrier whose routes are usually approved by the foreign ministry, on Monday confirmed it was considering starting charter flights to Yerevan.

For its part, Yerevan has become more open to Turkey’s proposal of addressing the genocide issue through a historical commission – but a western diplomat said pressure from the Armenian diaspora, often more hardline than national politicians, had scotched the latest initiative.

Given the difficulties, Turkey’s foreign ministry was keen to play down the meeting’s symbolism. “It’s not a grandiose affair,” said spokesman Burak Ozugergin. “Historic was our two-nil victory over the Armenian national team ... Now it’s time to do business.”

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Bloggers take German national library to task

By Gerrit Wiesmann in Frankfurt

Published: November 25 2008 02:40 | Last updated: November 25 2008 02:40

For someone writing under the name Robert Basic, it seemed too good to be true.

“My parents are never going to believe I’m going to be catalogued by the German national library,” the blogger wrote about the library’s plans to collect things German on the web to add to its century-old collection of the nation’s books.

But such expressions of delight were drowned out by outraged disbelief as websites reported that the Nationalbibliothek, based in Frankfurt and Leipzig, could force every private website owner and amateur blogger to submit material – and fine the noncompliant up to €10,000 ($13,000, £8,500).

Blogs have since been alive with jokes about German thoroughness, and calls to resist.

“Every home page owner should shunt them a pdf [file] with a copy of their website in highest quality, preferably all on the same day,” one blogger wrote on heise.de, a popular site among techies.

“Then [the library’s] server would burst.”

Another blogger, writing under the pseudonym “night watchman”, published a screed on his homepage. The hassle of submitting pages and the threat of fines would kill the German-speaking internet as a forum of free speech, he thundered. His site was a “personal archive” that was of no value to a public institution.

The internet is often praised for its “viral” qualities, which set it apart from the methods of traditional mass media. But in this case, word-of-mouth authenticity morphed into unreliable Chinese whispers, as many of the things criticised about the library’s plans turned out to be incorrect.

The library had indeed received a government mandate in 2006 to collect web publications and to fine the unco-operative – as a last resort.

On October 22, Berlin released more details: the library should choose what it collected – based on its as-yet modest capacity and what it deemed to be of public interest.

But the webbies’ frenzy had touched on an important and unresolved issue.

Faced with the deluge of online information and limited budgets for gathering and archiving, what could and should a public archive preserve for the nation – and when should easily tapped home pages be considered private rather than public?

With the internet already in its second decade and host to reams of material for which paper was too expensive or too cumbersome, it is startling to realise that the German national library and its worldwide peers are only just beginning to grapple with the problems of systematically archiving the web.

While the US Library of Congress started looking at “web capture” in 2000, and founded an international group to do the same in 2003, its internet archive remains selective. It boasts 17 thematic collections – but its archive about web coverage of September 11 2001, say, gives no idea how news sites’ top story developed that day.

The Germans started making plans in earnest two years ago to save web publications for posterity. Ute Schwens, director of the Nationalbibliothek in Frankfurt, said the collection was still a work in progress, one that was taking shape in consultation with national libraries in France, the Netherlands, the UK and North America.

“At the moment, we’re only collecting e-books and online dissertations but we’re going to be moving into the areas of blogs and websites fairly soon,” she said. “It’s got to be information other people might need but nothing purely commercial” – basically eliminating a huge crop of online shopping and corporate websites.

“We’re talking to [newspaper and magazine] publishers about their sites,” Ms Schwens said, “And we’re interested in blogs by people in public life – but not in every site of every private individual.” The limiting factors were technical: What file types to accept? How often should a library archive an ever-changing website?

Currently targeting e-books and dissertations, much of the collecting in Frankfurt is still done by hand. The 20,000 publishers and academic institutions registered with the library are obliged to submit web material to the library’s server, run by an outside provider, or leave files on their own systems for the library to pick up.

Soon a lot of collecting will be done by machine. Material from news sites, for example, can already be secured automatically using a technique called “harvesting”. The question for each library will be how often to instruct its computers to do this: Ms Schwens said there were 12m active German websites, although not all would deserve a look.

The library has already collected 40,000 e-books, 60,000 online dissertations and 1,200 e-journals, still a modest number compared with a physical archive that counts 24.5m items.

“But in the next few years, we’re going to collect millions of files,” she said – perhaps even the web encyclopaedia Wikipedia. Now that should make all webbies happy.

Indeed, the German blogosphere seems to be coming round to the idea. Admitting it was caught off guard by the deluge of misinformed protest, the Nationalbibliothek now gives comprehensive information about its plans – on its website, of course. One newly enthused webbie recently said on heise.de: “Let’s stop digital amnesia!”

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Catalonia tries to avoid Spain’s blues

By Victor Mallet in Barcelona

Published: November 25 2008 01:34 | Last updated: November 25 2008 01:34

If they feel anxious about the financial crisis wreaking havoc in Europe’s economy, Rosa Oriol and Salvador Tous, the couple in charge of a fast-growing family jewellery and accessories company near Barcelona, are hiding it well.

At 8pm on a weekday, they and many of their employees are busy at the elegant Tous headquarters, a converted 19th-century textile factory in Manresa, overseeing the company’s ambitious international expansion plans.

In the next four years Tous intends to open 100 shops a year, especially in China and the US, increasing the number of its outlets from 350 to 800 and raising turnover from €325m (£275m, $418m) in 2007 to €1bn in 2012. Kylie Minogue has been signed up as the international face of Tous until 2010.

Mr Tous is adamant that the company will overcome the crisis.

“You just have to fight,” he says cheerfully.

Executives at Mango, a much larger family-owned fashion company also based in the Catalonia region of north-eastern Spain, are equally robust about their international growth plans.

Catalonia, says José Oliu Creus, chairman of Sabadell, the bank, “is definitely much more crisis-proof because the prospects of companies dedicated to exports are better and there’s less dependence on property”.

Yet the fact that Catalonia is less exposed than the rest of Spain to the crash of the domestic housing market and more reliant on foreign trade does not make it immune to the global slowdown.

While the region, which accounts for nearly a fifth of Spanish output, is richer in per capita income than the eurozone average, it is no more “decoupled” from the world economy than are Germany and Japan.

“It seems clear, as confirmed by the predictions of the International Monetary Fund and the European Union, that we are entering a recession,” Antoni Castells, finance minister in the Catalan government, said when presenting his budget this month. He predicted that the regional economy would shrink 0.1 per cent next year, after growth of 3.6 per cent in 2007 and 1.2 per cent this year.

This forecast is borne out by events on the streets of Barcelona. On the day Mr Castells spoke, hundreds of employees of Nissan, the Japanese car company, protested against plans to lay off 1,680 workers at its local factory, hurling bottles and fireworks at Nissan’s offices. Vehicle assembly and parts manufacturing are important to Catalonia’s industrial economy and Spanish car sales fell 40 per cent in October compared with the same month last year.

Small wonder that José Montilla, head of the Catalan government, says he will go to Japan next month to talk to Nissan.

Business is not much better on the water than it is on the road. More than a fifth of new pleasure craft in Spain are registered in Catalonia but after a period of solid growth the Spanish marine industry has entered a deep recession. The number of exhibitors at this year’s Barcelona boat show has declined.

The industry says overall sales of boats and associated products are down nearly 16 per cent in the first eight months of this year.

It is scant comfort that the crisis is more serious still in less dynamic parts of Spain. Economists predict that the national economy could shrink by up to 2 per cent next year as Spain goes into recession for the first time in 15 years.

Juan Rosell Lastortras, who chairs the business association Fomento del Trabajo Nacional, has no hesitation answering a question about the biggest problem facing the real economy.

“Financing,” he says flatly. “We have problems getting money from the banks.”

Bankers in Catalonia admit that credit growth is flat, although they blame the reluctance of companies to invest, rather than the meanness of the banks.

Either way, if companies in Catalonia such as Tous and Mango do as well as they expect in the next few years, they are likely to be the exception rather than the rule among Spanish businesses.

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Call for family friendly jobs to sustain EU birth rate

By Tony Barber in Brussels

Published: November 24 2008 14:23 | Last updated: November 24 2008 14:23

Keeping women in jobs will be a vital factor in sustaining European birth rates as the continent’s population grows older in coming decades, according to a new study published on Monday.

France, Iceland, Ireland and Norway are examples of countries that pursue progressive family and employment policies and have fertility rates of roughly two children per woman, just below the replacement rate of 2.1, said the Berlin Institute for Population and Development, a non-profit organisation.

By contrast, fertility rates are significantly lower in Greece, Italy, Poland and Spain, even though fewer women are in the labour force and have in theory more time to raise children, the report said.

All EU countries are grappling with the consequences for education, employment, healthcare, immigration and pension policies of a long-term decline in European birth rates that, according to some projections, means Europe will have almost twice as many people aged over 65 than under 15 by 2050.

“Where parents have the chance to easily combine family life with a job, where high-quality childcare facilities and full-day schools are the standard, the fertility rate is high,” said Reiner Klingholz, the Berlin institute’s director.

“Where the Catholic Church tried to keep the values of traditional families alive, birth rates have collapsed,” he told a news conference.

The report cited forecasts by Eurostat, the European Union’s statistical agency, that indicate the 27-nation bloc’s 500m population could plunge over the next 40 years by 50m – the equivalent of all the inhabitants of today’s Poland and Greece combined – unless it were topped up by the arrival of tens of millions of non-EU immigrants.

Europe’s average fertility rate is 1.5 children per woman, but the level varies greatly from 3.21 in Kosovo, the highest, to 1.32 in Germany, 1.27 in Poland, 1.24 in Slovakia and 1.20 in Moldova, the report said.

Inside the EU, the highest rates are 2.21 children per woman in northern Finland and 2.09 in Lancashire in the UK.

Germany’s former communist eastern regions are expected to undergo a demographic upheaval between now and 2030, losing as much as one-third of their 15m population because of emigration and low birth rates.

“Without immigration, Germany’s population would have been shrinking since 1972,” Mr Klingholz said.

The report identified the Liguria region of north-western Italy as Europe’s “oldest” area, with 13 per cent of its population aged over 75, a proportion forecast to rise to 18 per cent by 2030.

It suggested one reason for Italy’s low birth rate was the fact that more than 70 per cent of Italian men between the ages of 25 and 29 still live with their parents, making them “poorly suited for a relationship on equal terms, or indeed to become parents”.

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Oil and gas sector welcomes North Sea relief

By Ed Crooks

Published: November 25 2008 03:47 | Last updated: November 25 2008 03:47

A tax break from next year for North Sea oil and gas companies was welcomed by the industry on Monday as a chance to stimulate investment, hit by falling oil prices, high costs and a shortage of finance.

The chancellor also said gas and electricity prices would be monitored quarterly by Ofgem, the energy regulator, to make sure that falling wholesale costs were passed on to consumers.

The move was part of a modest package designed to help families struggling with high fuel bills, which also included an extra £100m ($151m) for home insulation.

The chancellor also extended support for renewable energy, with promises of subsidies now lasting until 2037.

Alistair Darling said: “I am determined that the present economic uncertainty does not push aside the importance of protecting the environment and our long-term needs for a greener and secure energy future.”

The output of Britain’s oil and gas industry has been in decline since the start of the decade and is expected to continue falling. In a consultation paper published alongside the PBR, the Treasury said it wanted to maximise the recovery of the 17bn-20bn barrels-worth of oil left in the North Sea. Producers have already extracted 38bn.

It ruled out a general tax cut for North Sea companies or a universal tax relief on their investment, saying it would be a “blunt instrument” that would not target help on the oil and gas fields that most need it.

However, it proposed measures to help the industry, including a new tax relief, called a “value allowance”, that could be targeted at particular fields. The value allowance would cut the tax rate for some projects, which the Treasury said should be the “fields at the margin that are most in need of assistance.”

The industry welcomed the proposal, but said its effect would depend on the detail of its implementation next year.

Mike Tholen of Oil & Gas UK, the industry group, said: “It is the right idea with the right aim.

“The key thing will be the extent to which investments and fields have access to this allowance and how big it is.

“That will determine whether it has a real effect, or is just window-dressing.”

Mr Darling also put more pressure on energy suppliers to pass on falling wholesale gas and electricity prices to customers. Ofgem concluded in last month’s retail market inquiry that there was no evidence retail prices followed wholesale prices faster on the way up than on the way down.

But from now on it will publish a regular assessment of the link between the two.

Mr Darling gave suppliers a “few months” to end what he called “unfair gaps in pricing”, such as the higher charges for using a pre-payment meter.

But Chris Bowden of Utilyx, the energy risk management company, warned that it would be “very difficult for Ofgem to know whether they are being fair or not”.

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Kazakhstan unveils $21bn rescue package

By Isabel Gorst in Ashkabad

Published: November 24 2008 19:55 | Last updated: November 24 2008 19:55

Kazakhstan has unveiled a $21bn (€16.3bn, £13.9bn) rescue package to help soften the impact of the global financial crisis on the economy and buoy growth even as world oil prices fall.

The package, equivalent to 20 per cent of the oil-rich central Asian country’s GDP, includes emergency funding for the banking, property and agricultural sectors and small and medium sized businesses.

It would “allow Kazakhstan to emerge from the global economic crisis with a revitalised, stronger and competitive economy”, Karim Massimov, the Kazakh prime minister, told a meeting of parliamentarians on Monday.

“Our country is part of the global economic system and if the system is feverish then our temperature will also rise.”

Nursultan Nazarbayev, Kazakhstan’s president, last month gave the government ”carte blanche” to take “non-standard” measures to stabilise the economy and authorised use of the national oil fund – a reserve of windfall oil profits – to fund the emergency programme.

Kazakhstan has been suffering a credit crunch since the US subprime mortgage crisis erupted last year stranding its banks with $40bn of foreign debts.

Falling oil prices have exacerbated the crisis posing “huge risks” for the economy, the finance ministry warned last week.

The government has lowered its forecast for economic growth this year to 3 per cent from an earlier 5 per cent and anticipates growth of no more than 5 per cent next year.

“We have got to forget about the time when oil prices were high,” Mr Massimov said.

He added that at least $4bn was required to stabilse the banking system and boost lending to the real economy.

Kazakhstan’s four leading banks have agreed to sell up to 25 per cent of their equity to the government, in a scheme modeled on recent US and UK bank bail-outs.

A $1bn distressed asset fund has been created to mop up bad bank loans.

Some $3bn will support to the debt-laden construction industry and real estate where a property bubble has burst.

Agriculture, already subsidised by the state, will receive an extra $1bn to boost production and stave off food price inflation. Struggling small businesses will also receive a $1bn cash injection.

Another $1bn will be invested in electricity, oil and transport projects to boost employment in the fute future and provide foundation for future economic growth.

The rescue plan has been devised by the government in partnership with the National Bank and the financial supervisory agency.

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OECD backs export credit support

By Naomi Mapstone in Lima

Published: November 24 2008 08:37 | Last updated: November 24 2008 08:37

The United States, European Union, Brazil and Russia will on Monday join Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries in pledging support for export credit to ensure liquidity amid the global financial crisis.

Angel Gurría, secretary general of the OECD, said in an interview with the Financial Times that guaranteed export credit was “absolutely critical” to “oil the wheels” of global finance.

Many banks now either lacked funds or were too risk-averse to extend export credit, he said, which was a particular problem for big exporters such as Brazil, China and Mexico.

“Capitalisation has to proceed, because otherwise the so called de-leveraging happens by contracting credit, or by not giving credit, which is just as bad,” Mr Gurría said. “You can’t have a growth scenario if you do not have the bank doing what they’re supposed to do, which is lending, and even less so if they’re very busy collecting in order to accommodate their lower capital.”

Latin America, as a big commodity exporting region with a high degree of dependence on foreign capital, is particularly vulnerable to a shortage of export credit.

“Just like countries decided to extend guarantees to the banks for the interbank, you can do guarantees of the import/export side to make it possible for the banks actually to provide the loans, for imports as well as exports,” Mr Gurría said. “…China, Brazil, Mexico … these are countries that export a lot but need a lot of imports in order to export. So you need to finance both sides of the ledger.”

The OECD agreement, finalised over the weekend and due to be released on Monday, includes its 30 member countries, non-members Brazil, Estonia, Israel, Romania, Russian Federation and Slovenia, and participants in its arrangement of officially supported export credits, Australia, Canada, European Community, Japan, Korea, New Zealand, Norway, Switzerland and United States.

“OECD member and non-member governments are determined to maintain their export credit support and ensure that sufficient capacity is available with the aim of supporting international trade flows, in line with sound underwriting principles, within the limits of their respective international obligations,” the agreement states.

Mr Gurría, in Lima for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, said he witnessed strong political will and a sense of unity among world leaders to tackle the credit crisis.

“Leader after leader [has made] a commitment to say … ‘We don’t like protection, it’s not the way to go, we will do fiscal stimulus, although we don’t like deficits, we don’t like government intervention, however at some moments it’s absolutely necessary to do it, and after all that’s what governments are for’,” he said.

Last week’s disastrous performance by financial markets should not sway policymakers from holding true to pledges at the G20 in Washington and the Apec meeting to resist protectionism and push for a successful close to the Doha round of trade negotiations, he added.

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Carlyle pulls out of EM ventures

By Martin Arnold in London

Published: November 24 2008 22:16 | Last updated: November 24 2008 22:16

The Carlyle Group on Monday announced a sudden withdrawal from two of its newest emerging market ventures, closing down its central and eastern European operations and its Asian leveraged finance business just months after their launch.

The move came only a month after David Rubenstein, co-founder of Carlyle, told a conference in Dubai that private equity would invest more in emerging markets amid growing nervousness about “submerging markets”.

The Washington-based private equity group blamed the worsening climate for private equity investments and fundraising for the move, which is expected to trigger the departure of the 19 staff employed by the two subsidiaries.

It is the latest setback for Carlyle this year, after the bankruptcy of its $22bn mortgage-backed securities fund in March and its lawsuit against Russia’s Novolipetsk Steel for ditching the $3.5bn purchase of US steelmaker John Maneely.

Carlyle’s job cuts are one of the first examples of private equity groups, which use a mix of investors’ funds and bank debt to buy companies, trimming staff to cope with the financial crisis after a long period of rapid growth. The central and eastern European operation opened in Warsaw in November 2007 and had 12 staff. It was raising a fund for buy-outs in the region, but had not done any deals. Carlyle declined to say how much investors had committed.

The US group said it could still invest in central and eastern Europe via its €5.4bn ($7bn) European buy-out fund.

Carlyle Asia leveraged finance group, which launched in May 2007, hired seven staff, including its head Eric Mason, a former banker for JPMorgan in Hong Kong. It was raising funds to invest in loans for private equity deals.

Buy-out groups, which employ more than 9,000 people in the UK alone, have so far been immune to the wave of job cuts and fund collapses that have swept through other areas of finance, such as hedge funds and investment banks.

But in recent weeks, private equity bosses, such as Guy Hands, Terra Firma’s chief executive, have been predicting that their industry would suffer substantial job cuts, as they suffer heavy losses on many recent deals and the flow of money from investors dries up.

In the now-defunct credit boom, many private equity groups expanded into emerging markets, particularly central and eastern Europe and Asia, which were seen as the two most promising areas for future economic growth. Carlyle, which runs 64 different funds around the world with a total of $89.3bn under management, employs more than 1,000 people.

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Petrobas discovers more oil reserves

By Jonathan Wheatley in São Paulo

Published: November 21 2008 16:47 | Last updated: November 21 2008 16:47

Petrobras, Brazil’s government-controlled oil company, said on Friday it had discovered additional estimated recoverable reserves of 1.5bn-2bn barrels of oil equivalent in fields first discovered last year in Brazil’s coastal waters.

The new find is in a so-called pre-salt field in the Espírito Santos Basin and is likely to add to speculation about the overall size of Brazil’s oil and gas reserves. Petrobras has distanced itself from statements made by government officials, including Haroldo Lima, head of the industry regulatory, who said this month the entire formation might contain more than 100bn barrels of oil and natural gas equivalent.

If true, this would be enough to put Brazil ahead of Russia and Kuwait, for example, in the league table of oil-producing nations. Brazil has proven reserves of about 14.4bn barrels of oil and natural gas.

Petrobras suggested on Friday that the formation may contain more oil and natural gas than previously thought. It said the “excellent” results of two new wells sunk to the north and south of a test well operating since September would lead it “to intensify studies in order to accelerate production from the pre-salt formation in Espírito Santo”.

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円の実質実効為替レート、３年９カ月ぶりの円高水準

　日銀は25日、円の実質実効為替レート（1973年＝100）が11月1日―20日の平均で116.6になったと発表した。前月より5.5ポイント上昇し、3年9カ月ぶりの円高水準となった。実質実効為替レートはドルやユーロなど15の通貨に対して、各国の物価水準の差を考慮して算出され、円が総合的にみて高いか安いかを示す。数値が大きいほど円高が進んだことになる。(20:09)

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シティ救済、金融健全化ぶれる道筋　安定化法、見直しも

　【シカゴ＝大隅隆】米政府のシティグループ救済策は、金融安定化法を軸とする金融機関の健全化シナリオが迷走している現状を示す。打ち出す健全化手法は資本注入と不良資産の買い取りの間で揺れ動く。経済失速が深刻になれば企業部門の経営悪化も進み、銀行の資産は一段と劣化する可能性が高い。金融と実体経済の負の連鎖に備え、他の金融機関も含む追加資本注入や安定化策の拡充も視野に入りそうだ。

　今回のシティ救済の枠組みは、企業再建の基本となる「新旧分離」と呼ばれる考え方に沿っている。健全資産を保有する「グッドバンク＝新勘定」と不良資産の「バッドバンク＝旧勘定」に分離。旧勘定から生じる損失を政府支援で確定させることで経営の安定化につなげるものだ。損失を確定できる点で、不良資産の売却に近い。(15:01)

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国交相、「国土交通アドバイザー」任命　トヨタの奥田氏ら

　金子一義国土交通相は25日の閣議後の記者会見で、国土交通行政の課題を相談するためトヨタ自動車の奥田碩相談役ら11人を国土交通アドバイザーに任命すると発表した。初回会合は「道路特定財源の一般財源化と今後の道路整備のあり方」を議題に27日に開く。参加するのは東国原英夫宮崎県知事、増田寛也前総務相ら。会合のテーマは主要な政策のなかから選び、不定期で開く。(14:01)

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コスモ石油、育毛剤事業に参入　ミルボンと協力

　コスモ石油は25日、育毛剤事業に参入すると発表した。液体肥料に使っている成分を活用し、育毛作用を高めた製品を開発した。製造・販売は業務用ヘアケア製品大手のミルボンと協力する。2009年3月までに厚生労働省に医薬部外品として申請し、認可取得後に発売する。本業の石油事業が低迷する中、事業の多角化を進める。

　コスモが独自の量産技術を持つアミノ酸の一種、５―ＡＬＡ（アミノレブリン酸）を使う。細胞の成長促進作用が強いのが特徴。このほど５―ＡＬＡに鉄分などを配合し、毛根細胞に直接作用することで育毛作用を高めた製品を開発した。(19:40)

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ＪＳＲ、ＡＢＳ樹脂の事業会社を完全子会社化

　合成ゴム大手のＪＳＲは25日、自動車や家電などに使うアクリロニトリル・ブタジエン・スチレン（ＡＢＳ）樹脂の事業会社を完全子会社化すると発表した。三菱化学との共同出資で運営してきたが、来年3月末までに三菱化学保有の株式4割をすべて買い取る。取得額は明らかにしていない。経営権を完全に握ることで意思決定を迅速化し収益拡大を狙う。三菱化学はＡＢＳ事業から撤退する。

　ＪＳＲが完全子会社化するのはＡＢＳ樹脂大手のテクノポリマー（東京・中央）。1996年にＪＳＲが6割、三菱化学が4割出資して発足した。資本金は 30億円。2008年3月期の売上高は536億円。生産拠点は四日市事業所（三重県四日市市）のみで、生産能力は年25万トンと国内最大。

　ＡＢＳ樹脂の07年の国内需要は前年比3.2％増の約36万トンだが、電機各社の海外生産シフトなどにより長期的には減少傾向が続いている。ＪＳＲは設備投資や研究開発投資などの意思決定を速め、自動車向けでの事業拡大を狙う。(19:40)

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10月の訪日外国人数5.9％減、韓国の落ち込み目立つ

　日本政府観光局（ＪＮＴＯ）が25日発表した10月の訪日外国人数（推計値）は、73万9100人と前年同月に比べ5.9％減った。前年割れは3カ月連続。金融危機に伴う景気後退懸念が広がったのに加え、円高も響いた。特に2007年には全体の3割を占めた韓国からの訪問者が、急激なウォン安を受けて 18万8800人と15.2％も減ったのが目立った。米国からの訪問者も6万8000人と14.3％減った。

　日本人の出国者数は9.5％減の134万3000人で、18カ月連続のマイナスだった。株価下落や主要企業の業績悪化で消費マインドが冷え込んだのが原因とみられる。ただ、ＪＮＴＯは円高で海外旅行に割安感が出て、一部の近距離旅行に行く人は増えたと見ている。(16:34)

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古河電工、銅はく５割増産へ　50億円投じ新工場

　古河電気工業はリチウムイオン電池向けの銅はくを増産する。2010年度上期の完成を目指して、国内に専用の新工場棟を建設、生産能力を5割高める。主用途であるノートパソコンや携帯電話などに加え、自動車向けでもリチウムイオン電池の普及が進むと判断。同社は電池向け銅はくで世界シェア55％を占めており、首位固めへ増産を急ぐ。

　今市東工場（栃木県日光市）内に約4000平方メートルの新棟を建てる。現在の生産能力は月間500万平方メートル弱だが、12年夏までに新棟をフル稼働させて750万平方メートルに増やす。投資額は50億円強となる見通し。出荷検査の工程などを含めて20人程度を増員する。

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アルカイダ関連報道、読売新聞社の敗訴確定　最高裁が上告棄却

　国際テロ組織アルカイダと関連があるかのように報道され名誉を傷つけられたとして、埼玉県在住のバングラデシュ国籍の男性（38）側が読売新聞東京本社に計330万円の損害賠償を求めた訴訟の上告審で、最高裁第三小法廷（近藤嵩晴裁判長）は25日、読売新聞側の上告を棄却する決定をした。同社に計220 万円の賠償を命じた1、2審判決が確定した。

　1、2審判決によると、読売新聞は2004年5月、男性がアルカイダ幹部を支援し、資金調達役の疑いがあるとの記事を掲載。男性側は「事実無根」と訴えていた。

　読売新聞東京本社の話　主張が受け入れられず極めて遺憾だ。(20:01)

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米経済「映す」船の墓場…豪華ヨットなどそのまま遺棄

　米国経済が沈没するのに合わせたように、米国内で、最近では金持ちの象徴だったパワーボートや豪華ヨットが川や海に、そのまま捨てられ、まさに沈没寸前だとＡＰ通信が伝えている。

　サンフランシスコの東６０キロの川では今月、古びた船、タグボートやさびたクレーンが一斉に遺棄され、一夜で美しい景観が消えたばかり。車と違い、木とグラスファイバーでできたボートは、スクラップとしての価値がないため、そのまま捨てられるケースが多い。クロムや銀、銅などが汚染物質として川底にたまり、それを魚が飲み込むという深刻な事態になっている。

　約１００万隻の船が登録されているカリフォルニアでは、遺棄された船を回収するために年５０万ドル（５０００万円）の予算をとっているが、それでも間に合わない事態になっているという。

ZAKZAK 2008/11/25

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家賃滞納も無く…小泉容疑者、深まる収入源のナゾ

預金残高は数千円

　警視庁と埼玉県警が小泉毅容疑者宅の家宅捜索で預金通帳を押収、残高が数千円だったことが２５日までに、捜査関係者の話で分かった。また、２２日に警視庁本部に出頭した際の所持金は、約８万８０００円だった。小泉容疑者は１０年前から住んでいるさいたま市北区のアパートの家賃を滞納したことがなく、警視庁と県警はどのように収入を得ていたのか調べている。

　これまでの調べでは、小泉容疑者は１９９８年８月に入居。月額６万２０００円の家賃や更新料を滞納したことはなく、ミニバイクも所有していた。警視庁に出頭した際や、１７日から１９日にかけてはそれぞれレンタカーを借りていた。アパートの管理会社によると、小泉容疑者は入居契約書の職業欄に「自営業」と記入していたが、同社は具体的な仕事を把握していないという。

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たばこ税「１箱６０円増」案浮上…社会保障費に充てる

　自民党内でたばこ税を１本当たり３円引き上げる案が浮上している。増え続ける社会保障費の財源に充てるというのが大義名分で、マイルドセブン（２０本入り）ならば１箱３００円から３６０円に値上げとなる。たばこ特別税はこの１０年間で３回も増税されており、愛煙家の反発は必至だ。

　自民党厚生労働部会がまとめた０９年度の税制改正要望にも重点要望としてたばこ税の引き上げが盛り込まれた。具体的な引き上げ幅には触れていないが、有力なのが１本３円の案。一部の厚労関係議員からは、１本当たり５円引き上げる案も出ている。この場合、１箱１００円の値上げで、マイルドセブンは４００円になる。

　引き上げたたばこ税は社会保障費に回す狙いだ。政府は２００２年度以降、社会保障費の自然増を毎年２２００億円抑制しているが、高齢化の加速で限界に達している。安定財源を確保すればこの抑制幅を小さくできるというわけだ。

　１本当たり３円のたばこ増税が実施されると、約２０００億円の税収増が見込まれる。自民党ではこれを社会保障費の財源の一部とするほか、葉タバコ農家の経営支援にもするとしている。

　ただ、たばこにはすでに重い税金がかかっている。現行の税制では、たばこ１箱３００円のうち、たばこ税が約１７５円、消費税１４円と、１９０円近くが税金だ。

　今年夏に自民党の一部で浮上した「１箱１０００円」という案に比べればマイルドではあるが、取りやすそうなところから取るという魂胆が透けてみえる。非喫煙者も他人事ではない。

ZAKZAK 2008/11/25

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放射性物質：くず鉄の砂から検出…健康被害なし　福島

　福島県西郷村のリサイクル業者の工場で、くず鉄の中から放射性物質のトリウムを含む砂約２００キロが見つかったと、文部科学省が２５日、発表した。放射性の鉱石「モナザイト」とみられる。従業員や周辺住民の健康被害はないという。

　文科省によると、１０月２２日、この業者から箱形のくず鉄の中の砂から放射線を検出したと連絡があった。砂は約３４０枚の布袋に小分けされていた。その後、業者が砂を調べたところ、トリウム約１６キロを含んでいることが分かった。

　文科省は２５日、トリウムの量や濃度が原子炉等規制法に基づく規定値を超えたため、業者に対し届け出を指示した。現在、砂は鉛張りの鉄の箱に密封し、業者が敷地内で保管している。くず鉄の入荷元は不明だが、形状などから浴場で使われた可能性がある。モナザイトをめぐっては、これまでも温泉のような効能を期待し、利用する個人や業者がいた。【西川拓】

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大阪府：医学生対象に奨学金導入　府内勤務なら返済免除

　大阪府は医学生らを対象に、府内の周産期や救命救急分野の病院に勤務することを条件に返済を免除する奨学金制度を来年度から導入する方針を固めた。医師不足が深刻化する中、既に３９道府県が同様の制度を導入。近畿２府４県では大阪府が最後となり、府県間の「医師争奪」をさらに激化させそうだ。

　府内の大学の医学生と臨床研修医が対象で、支給開始は医学部５年生からを想定。府外の医学生でも、府内の高校を卒業していれば資格が得られる。２年間の臨床研修の終了時まで給付し、月額２０万円を検討している。

　奨学金は貸与だが、周産期母子医療センターや救命救急センターなど周産期、救命救急、小児救急を扱う府内６３の拠点病院のいずれかに一定期間、勤務すれば返済を免除する。来年度から３年間募集し、９０人程度に給付する方針だ。

　大阪府内の医師は２万２０７８人（０６年１２月現在）で全国２位。地元勤務を条件に返済を免除する奨学金制度は、医師不足が深刻な地方から導入が進んだが、長時間勤務や訴訟リスクの高さが指摘される救命救急や周産期などの分野は、大阪府でも必要な医師数を満たしていない。府のほか、東京都、神奈川県など５都県も来年度からの導入を予定している。【石川隆宣】

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三井生命保険：５００億円規模の増資

　三井生命保険が、年内をめどに５００億円規模の第三者割当増資を実施することが２５日、分かった。株の含み益が減少し経営体力が低下したためで、一連の金融危機を受けた増資は国内主要生保では初めて。

　増資は、優先株と普通株を組み合わせて実施する見通しで、１２月中旬までに引受先を決定し、下旬に臨時株主総会を開く見通し。

　また、朝日生命保険も、資本増強に向け、資本金に当たる基金の調達を検討している。【辻本貴洋】

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クロマグロ：漁獲枠、２割削減　水産庁「当面影響ない」－－大西洋国際委

　モロッコのマラケシュで開かれていた「大西洋マグロ類保存国際委員会（ＩＣＣＡＴ）」の年次会合は２４日（日本時間２５日早朝）、閉幕し、東部大西洋と地中海での０９～１１年のクロマグロ漁獲枠を現状より約２割削減することを決定した。クロマグロは、トロを多く含む最高級マグロ。水産庁は「マグロ類全体の消費に占める割合や在庫水準から見て国内の供給量や価格に当面、大きな影響はない」としているが、希少生物の国際取引を規制するワシントン条約による保護を求める動きもあり、予断を許さない状況だ。

　年次会合の決定は、０８年２万８５００トン▽０９年２万７５００トン▽１０年２万５５００トンとしている現行の漁獲枠を▽０９年２万２０００トン ▽１０年１万９９５０トン▽１１年１万８５００トンへ減らす内容。このうち、日本への割り当ても、０９年１８７１トン、１０年１６９７トン（１１年は未定）とそれぞれ約２割減らす。

　また、地中海などで盛んな蓄養（稚魚を捕獲し、いけすで育てる方法）への規制を強め、水中カメラによる監視などを導入する。乱獲につながりやすい巻き網漁については、７月から６カ月間の現行禁漁期を６月１５日から４月１５日までの１０カ月間に拡大。日本漁船が行うはえ縄漁も、一部海域で新たに禁漁期を設定する。

　年次会合では、減少が著しい同海域のクロマグロ資源を回復させるため、漁獲枠を年間１万５０００トンに削減するよう求めたＩＣＣＡＴ科学委員会の勧告を日本や米国が支持したが、欧州連合（ＥＵ）や地中海沿岸諸国は反対した。【行友弥】

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Officials attend opening of of the multi-functional Toyota facility in Moscow

25.11.2008, 12.48





MYTISHCHI DISTRICT (Moscow region), November 25 (Itar-Tass) - Presidential aide Arkady Dvorkovich and First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov took part in the opening ceremony of the multi-functional Toyota facility in Russia.

Shuvalov and Dvorkovich talked with chairman of Toyota Motor board Fujio Cho and Toyota Europe president Tadashi Arashima.

"It's particularly important for us that Toyota has launched production in the territory of Russia," Shuvalov said, underlining that the Russian government had always attached considerable significance to investments in the Russian economy.

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Russia, Venezuela warships to hold live firing drills on Dec.1
15:41 | 25/ 11/ 2008

Print version

MOSCOW, November 25 (RIA Novosti) - Russian and Venezuelan warships will conduct artillery live firing drills on December 1 as part of joint naval exercises in the Caribbean, a senior Russian lawmaker said on Tuesday.

A task force from Russia's Northern Fleet led by the Pyotr Veliky missile cruiser has arrived in Venezuela on a planned visit following a two-month sortie in the Atlantic and Mediterranean, which saw Russian ships visiting Libya, Turkey and France.

"The exercises will involve joint sea rescue, maneuvering, and artillery firing drills," said Viktor Zavarzin, chairman of the Defense Committee in Russia's lower house of parliament.

Two Russian warships, the Pyotr Veliky and the Udaloy class destroyer Admiral Chabanenko, will participate, while Venezuela's Navy will be represented by two or three combat vessels, he said.

Zavarzin also said that the exercises will be conducted in line with bilateral agreements and in concordance with international maritime law. They will be held in a zone beyond Venezuela's territorial waters, about 150 nautical miles from the coast.

All shipping in the area will be suspended for the duration of the exercises after proper notification due at the end of November.

Following the Latin American visit the Russian task force is due to take part in drills with ships from Russia's Pacific Fleet in the Indian Ocean.