愛犬が見つめると飼い主に「変化」 ホルモン上昇、きずな強まる

愛犬が見つめると飼い主に「変化」　ホルモン上昇、きずな強まる
2009.1.24 08:56

　愛犬に見つめられると、相手への信頼感やきずなを強める働きのあるホルモン「オキシトシン」が飼い主の体内で増加することを、麻布大と自治医大の研究グループが確認した。

　オキシトシンは、哺乳（ほにゅう）類の母子関係や夫婦のきずな形成に関係しているとされるが、異種間での作用が確かめられたのは初めて。「見つめる」という行為がオキシトシン増加を招くことについて、永沢美保・麻布大助教（比較認知科学）は「『目は口ほどに物を言う』と言われるが、人間と犬の間でも視線が重要なのだろう」と話す。

　研究グループは５５組の飼い犬と飼い主で実験。室内で１組ずつ３０分間触れ合ってもらい、飼い主の尿に含まれるオキシトシンの濃度を測定した。すると、事前アンケートで犬との関係が「良好」と判断された飼い主１３人では実験後に濃度が大きく上昇したが、「普通」の４２人では変化が無かった。

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Argentina’s Jewish heritage

By Colin Barraclough

Published: January 24 2009 00:28 | Last updated: January 24 2009 00:28

The charms of Entre Ríos, a northeastern province of Argentina, are more modest than those of Patagonia’s snow-dusted peaks or the waterfalls at Iguazú. Its rural culture is founded on old-fashioned etiquette, stirring folk music and bountiful nature. It also has an important place in Jewish history, as it was once the home of thousands of east European Jews who escaped the pogroms and came to farm here in the 19th century. Close to Buenos Aires, it also makes a great short break from the Argentine capital.

An hour’s drive will bring you to Zárate, where two 500m bridges boldly span the almost impossibly exotic Paraná river. The river teems with fish identified only in Guaraní, the region’s indigenous language; they have yet to earn names in Spanish, let alone English.

Conquistadores sailed up the Paraná as early as 1537 on their way to establish their first South American colony, at Asunción, now the capital of Paraguay. Two centuries later, they laid out Entre Ríos’s cities as a defence against Portuguese incursion.

Jewish gravestones at Novibuco cemetery
But Entre Ríos’s fortunes were really transformed by the toil of 19th-century European immigrants as millions of Europe’s poor were lured by the promise of unlimited land and unfettered immigration laws.

Unlike those thrust together in Buenos Aires’s tenements and shanty towns, settlers in Entre Ríos – largely from central and eastern Europe – set up homogeneous colonies, where they nurtured mother-country traditions alongside the culture of their new neighbours. Even today, local radio stations broadcast in German, Polish and Russian.

At Villa Eleonora, the station master presented me to his children, each of them blond-haired and blue-eyed. The fastidiously kept hamlet, clustered around a one-platform railway halt, was settled by Germans, colonists who first populated Russia’s Volga region in the 1760s, subsequently seeking more fertile land in the New World.

From 1888, Jews fleeing pogroms in Russia also began to head for the New World as part of a mass emigration experiment orchestrated by Parisian Jew and railroad owner Baron Maurice de Hirsch.

Hirsch bought vast tracts with the aim of organising Jewish farming colonies. The great bulk of his holdings, an astonishing 600,000 hectares, lay in Argentina, where 40,000 Jews eventually lived in more than 200 settlements. Once there, the newcomers set about adopting the language and customs of rural, Catholic Argentina while preserving their Jewish heritage, a challenge eloquently described in Alberto Gerchunoff’s The Jewish Gauchos of the Pampas, a collection of short stories published in 1910 about the author’s childhood in Argentina’s Jewish settlements.

Russian Jews began to arrive in Entre Ríos in 1895, founding an extensive network of farming colonies. In their heyday, the most successful settlements boasted synagogues, Yiddish-language schools, public baths, and cultural centres that played host to touring theatre troupes from Europe. Basavilbaso, a town once populated by Russian Jews, has a statue of a menorah in its main square and its three synagogues minister to the 700 Argentine Jews who remain.

It was also the home of a much-mythologised figure, the Jewish gaucho. The house of León Borodovsky, Basavilbaso’s most famous gaucho – “He wore the tallith [prayer shawl] and poncho with equal style,” says the town’s tourism official Juan José Britch – has been a museum since Borodovsky died in 1997.

Not all the settlements prospered. “In eastern Europe, the Jews weren’t allowed to own land,” says Britch. “When they arrived here, they had no experience of tilling the soil or working with horses. They came from the cold Russian steppe to a land of subtropical heat, of insects, summer hail and burning sun. They found it hard to adapt.”

With disease and starvation rampant, Basavilbaso’s immigrant children began to drift to larger provincial towns. The third generation, Britch tells me, resettled in Buenos Aires; the fourth emigrated to the US or Israel.

At Colonia Novibuco No 1, once Basavilbaso’s busiest farming community, just four Jewish families work the soil. The simple synagogue, containing ceramic lamps and a torah brought from Russia, stands locked and unused.

Perhaps the most poignant reminder of Basavilbaso’s past is the Novibuco cemetery, where hundreds of settlers lie beneath gravestones inscribed with the Star of David. The tombstones are dwarfed by the vastness of the Argentine plain that stretches unbroken from the cemetery gate to the faraway horizon.

Among the Hebrew inscriptions and Stars of David in Basavilbaso’s Jewish cemetery stands a statue of what at first sight appears to be a German army officer. In fact, the bust marks the grave of Jacobo Rosquín, an Argentine Jew who served under Lt Colonel Juan Perón in the 1940s when the Argentine military was equipped by the German Wehrmacht. Rosquín’s died in 1945. Shortly after, Perón, newly appointed president, presented the statue to the town as a gift it would have been unwise to refuse.

Fifty years later, Rosquín’s German-uniformed bust is still among Basavilbaso’s Jewish graves, staring out across the Pampas.

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Arabs and Israelis note subtle shifts

By Tobias Buck in Jerusalem, Heba Saleh in Cairo and,Abeer Allam in Riyadh

Published: January 24 2009 02:00 | Last updated: January 24 2009 02:00

Officials and analysts in the Middle East were yesterday poring over Barack Obama's first policy speech on the region, amid some disagreement over how radically the new US president would break with the approach of his predecessor.

In Israel, his promise to work "aggressively" for lasting peace as well as the appointment of George Mitchell as the new US Middle East envoy were met with cautious approval.

One government official observed that most of the senior US officials in charge of Middle East policy under Mr Obama had served in the Bill Clinton administration - a tenure that is remembered fondly by most Israelis.

"Welcome back to the year 2000," he said. "It is the old Clinton guard riding again, but this time under a new leader. If you have here a revived version of the Clinton administration, then I don't see what we have to fear."

What struck both Israeli and Arab observers about Mr Obama's speech was not so much a change of substance but a change of tone: the new president reiterated standard US policy on issues such as dealing with Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist group, and stopped well short of criticising directly Israel's conduct during the three-week war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

But his comments on the suffering of the Palestinians, strong endorsement of the 2002 Arab peace initiative and call for the opening of Gaza's border crossings were seen as a shift in emphasis. "He has reiterated what are fixed American positions," said Emad Gad, an analyst at Egypt's Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies.

"What's new is the degree of importance he is allocating to the issue. He has a financial crisis to deal with and Iraq to address, and he has still pledged action on the Arab-Israeli conflict."

"I think both what he said and the appointment of George Mitchell is a reflection of [Mr Obama's] more balanced position [compared with the Bush administration]," said Roni Bart, a fellow at Israel's Institute for National Security Studies and an expert on US-Israel relations.

Mr Mitchell, who was described by Israeli officials as "an old friend" yesterday, is best remembered for pushing the issue of Israeli settlements higher up the US agenda in the early years of the Bush administration.

Mr Bart said he expected the new envoy to "have less patience with Israeli foot-dragging", especially on the matter of Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank.

Adel al-Torafei, a Saudi political analyst, also pointed to a shift in the US approach: "Asking Israel to open the borders with Gaza is a strong gesture of support and understanding. But his choice of George Mitchell as Middle East envoy is an even greater gesture and a great step, because this man enjoys credibility and experience in the Middle East and people remember him here for criticising Israel . . .which is very rare from an American official."

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Shoppers flock to London for luxury on the cheap

By Richard Milne and Tom Braithwaite in London

Published: January 24 2009 02:00 | Last updated: January 24 2009 02:00

London is emerging as the low-cost capital for luxury shoppers. Be it Germans wanting Porsches, Egyptians purchasing houses or Middle Easterners in Harrods, rich shoppers are flocking to the UK to take advantage of the plummeting pound.

An Aston Martin DBS sports car is €60,000 ($77,000, £57,000) cheaper in the UK than in rest of Europe, said Raj Bedi, director of Import Marques. He added that other brands such as Porsche and Bentley were proving popular with German, Swiss and Dutch visitors. "Germans are buying a German-produced car from us and taking it back into Germany, and it is cheaper. It is bizarre."

HR Owen, the listed luxury car dealer, said there had been a "significant increase" in purchases by foreigners in the past three months to a record level, just as domestic buyers such as hedge fund managers had all but disappeared.

UK retailers are also finding a fillip in increased spending from overseas visitors. Global Refund, which helps tourists claim back value added tax on items purchased in the UK, found a 55 per cent increase in spending in December on the same month last year.

Tourists from the Middle East accounted for 45 per cent of VAT reclaims, and their spending was up 93 per cent year on year. Spending by Chinese tourists was up 146 per cent.

The surge in sales to foreigners highlights the fact that London's reputation as one of the world's most expensive cities needs revising, at least for visitors from a country whose currency is strong.

House buyers stand to get similar bargains. Because of the simultaneous slump in sterling and in house prices, Japanese buyers of a property valued at £3m in September 2007 could buy it today for under half that price in yen, while Egyptians would save 45 per cent.

At Harrods yesterday, the luxury department store was seeking to remind its overseas visitors of the parlous state of sterling. Giant video screens with a majestic golden euro symbol implored European tourists to take advantage of their newly powerful currency.

"There is only one euro - Approfita! " it tells Italians. " Toma ventaja! " Spanish shoppers are advised. Blanca Prado, visiting from Madrid, was taking a breather on the street outside. Clutching Harrods bags containing toys for her children and clothes for herself, she said: "We're hoping to buy more."

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Gas supplier plans to fight after sidelining

By Roman Olearchyk in Kiev and Stefan Wagstyl in London

Published: January 23 2009 02:00 | Last updated: January 23 2009 02:00

On the face of it, this week's Russian-Ukrainian natural gas deal eliminates controversial intermediary trading companies from a key corner of the European market.

But the joy of European Union officials - who welcomed the agreement as a big step towards greater transparency in what is often seen as an opaque business - might prove short-lived.

Rosukrenergo, the Swiss-registered company that has lost its monopoly in supplying gas from Russia to Ukraine, is not giving up without a fight.

It is determined to recover what it says is $650m (€503m, £470m) in debts from Kiev, retain control of gas held in storage in Ukraine and to hang on to a very profitable separate contract for shipping gas from Russia across Ukraine to central Europe.

The company is half-owned by Gazprom, the state-run Russian monopoly, and half by two Ukrainian businessmen, Dmytro Firtash and Ivan Fursin. Since mighty Gazprom is well-placed to adapt to an intermediary-free trade, it is Mr Firtash and Mr Fursin who have the most to lose.

Rosukrenergo says it is transparent and plays a valuable role as a buffer between Ukraine and Russia. But political leaders have condemned it. Vladimir Putin, Russia's prime minister, has accused it of channelling money to Ukrainian politicians and Yulia Tymoshenko, his Ukrainian counterpart, has called Mr Firtash Ukraine's "number one corrupt person".

Mr Firtash said on Ukrainian television this week he was ready for Rosukrenergo to give up the loss-making Ukrainian contract.

But Gazprom seems to have decided Rusukrenergo must leave the transit trade as well. Alexander Medvedev, Gazprom's deputy chief executive, said this week that Rosukrenergo no longer had any gas from central Asia or Russia to supply to Europe.

An associate of Mr Firtash said talks were ongoing. As well as the transit trade, these concerned some 10bn cubic metres of gas - worth perhaps $2bn - that the company stored in Ukraine and $650m owed to the company by Naftogaz, the Ukrainian state gas company.

Besides earning Rosukrenergo more than $795m net profit in 2007, the transit trade supplies gas to Emfesz, a wholly-owned subsidiaryof Group DF, Mr Firtash's holding company, which distributes gas in Hungary and elsewhere in central Europe.

Emfesz is a big gas supplier and plans a 2,400MW gas-fired power plant. Vienna-based Group DF, with revenues of $4.6bn in 2006, has interests in energy, trading and chemicals.

Andris Piebalgs, the EU energy commissioner, welcomed this week the exclusion of intermediaries from the Russia-Ukraine gas agreement, saying that while the deal would bring higher prices for Kiev, by pegging Ukraine's prices to oil prices and cutting out middlemen it would improve energy security in the region.

He said: "It was very clear to me that, without a comprehensive agreement, there would not be stable gas supplies - not even for a week. We now have very transparent gas contracts."

The history of the gas trade shows that, with powerful people in central Asia, Russia and Ukraine involved, it has so far been impossible to eliminate intermediaries.

Before Rosukrenergo, the key intermediary was another company in which Mr Firtash had a stake called Eural Trans Gas. This was preceded by Itera, a Florida-registered company. And in the 1990s one of the most successful gas traders was Ms Tymoshenko, who made a fortune before going into politics. It remains to be seen whether the current deal is any more effective in cutting out intermediaries.

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Germany extends wage floor for 1m more

By Chris Bryant in Berlin

Published: January 23 2009 02:00 | Last updated: January 23 2009 02:00

More than one million more German workers are to receive a minimum wage, after the grand coalition yesterday voted to extend rules to six sectors, including security guards, carers and waste collectors.

Subject to agreement by parliament's upper house, those employees will join about 1.8m cleaners, postal and construction workers who are already guaranteed a minimum wage.

A separate cabinet agreement is also due to set a wage floor for some 700,000 temporary agency employees, meaning around 3.7m of Germany's 40m workers would be covered by minimum wage legislation.

Olaf Scholz, labour minister, said: "It is a good day for many people who work hard but who today receive a wage which does not provide for their own subsistence."

Germany remains one of the few European Union states without a national minimum wage.

The rise of the service economy has diminished the ability of some unions to secure big pay increases, in part because low-paid, foreign labour has undercut collective bargaining.

The Social Democratic party, led by foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, is hoping to make political capital out of the matter in this year's election campaign and has backed a €7.50 minimum wage for every worker.

Although her Christian Democratic Union party supported yesterday's vote, the issue is a thorny one for Chancellor Angela Merkel, as some members oppose it.

Together with the free-market FDP - which voted against the bill - they argue German companies have a good record of deciding wages through negotiation.

A national minimum wage would threaten industrial competitiveness in a period of economic crisis, they argue, and would be a step in the wrong direction after a period of labour market reform. Dissenters could yet stir up trouble when the legislation reaches the Bundesrat, parliament's upper chamber, next month.

As chancellor of a grand coalition, and with a keen eye on the polls, Ms Merkel has tried to build a consensus by taking a piecemeal approach to wage policy. Postal workers were granted a minimum wage in 2007.

The Confederation of German Trade Unions (DGB) yesterday said the minimum wage was widely supported.

"During the election and beyond we will fight for the minimum wage in the knowledge that an overwhelming majority of the population agrees with us," Michael Sommer, head of the DGB, said.

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Sarkozy unveils €600m press rescue

By Ben Hall in Paris

Published: January 23 2009 23:28 | Last updated: January 23 2009 23:28

President Nicolas Sarkozy on Friday unveiled a mini-stimulus package worth €600m to help “save” the French newspaper industry from a plunge in advertising revenues, high production costs and the effects of its difficulty in adapting to the internet age.

The measures costing €200m ($260m, £188m) a year over three years include doubling the amount of government advertising in newspapers, reduced social charges for newspaper delivery workers, a postponement of a planned increase in postage costs, and more generous tax breaks for investment in digital services.

State aid, mainly in the form of tax breaks and subsidised postage, already accounts for 10 per cent of the turnover of France’s national newspapers but they are hamstrung by low circulation and high production costs relative to the rest of Europe.

Only two national newspapers – L’Equipe, the sports daily, and Les Echos, the business daily – made a profit in 2007. Prestigious titles such as Le Monde, France’s paper of record, and Libération, the left-wing tabloid, have faced dire financial problems in recent years and that was before the recent sharp downturn in advertising.

Mr Sarkozy said it was the “duty of the state” to help support the press. Given his creeping influence over the media – he is close to many media owners and recently changed the rules to allow himself to name the head of public television – public intervention might be regarded as controversial.

But editors and media executives who listened to Mr Sarkozy at the Elysée palace welcomed the measures.

“It is bizarre. But this is France,” said Laurent Joffrin, editor of Libération and strong critic of the president’s authoritarian leanings.

Mr Sarkozy said it was necessary to reduce newspaper production costs by 30-40 per cent, but he gave no indication the government was prepared to take on the heavily unionised and inefficient print monopolies.

Mr Joffrin said that if production costs could be reduced by 40 per cent, Libération would immediately become profitable.

Perhaps the most significant measure were the cuts in social charges for distribution staff, in effect an €80m a year tax break for home delivery, in an attempt to extend France’s notoriously patchy distribution system.

Another eye-catching scheme was to enable all 18-year olds to receive a title of their choice for free for 12 months to encourage newspaper reading.

One of the trickiest issues facing the French newspaper industry are the droits d’auteur, or journalists’ copyright, which means that titles have to pay extra to reproduce a story on-line. Journalist unions are determined to protect this privilege. Mr Sarkozy suggested the right should apply for 24 hours after initial publication only.

The president also said the government would lift the 20 per cent foreign ownership ceiling on French newspaper groups by agreeing “bilateral conventions” with other governments outside the EU.

“All of the measures proposed go in the right direction,” said Didier Quillot, head of Lagardère Active, one of France’s leading press groups. “Now we need to implement them.”

Mr Sarkozy’s workmanlike and unusually detailed speech came in place of the traditional new year address to journalists and was in sharp contrast to last year’s event when he appeared more concerned about his impending marriage to Carla Bruni than to boosting living standards, his top government priority.

That combative performance was judged a fiasco by Mr Sarkozy’s advisers and contributed his plunge in popularity.

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Iceland’s prime minister resigns

By David Ibison in Stockholm

Published: January 23 2009 14:40 | Last updated: January 23 2009 15:27

Iceland’s embattled prime minister resigned on Friday citing medical reasons and called an early election for May, a move that could prompt a dramatic shift to the left after a 20-year experiment in free market economics.

Geir Haarde said a medical examination had revealed he had a malignant tumour of the oesophagus. He will have surgery abroad at the end of January or early February. Elections had been scheduled for 2011.

The resignation comes as Iceland continues to grapple with the most serious crisis in its recent history, with the economy expected to contract by 10 per cent this year following the collapse of its banking system last year.

The tiny north Atlantic nation of 320,000 people was forced to turn to the International Monetary Fund and its Nordic neighbours for a $6bn bail-out, and has been ordered to implement a series of punitive financial and structural reforms by the IMF.

Mr Haarde’s resignation and the decision to call an early election will generate significant uncertainties over the nation’s political future that could have consequences for the stability of its struggling currency, the krona.

The latest opinion poll conducted by MMR revealed the Left-Green Movement would emerge victorious if elections were held today with 28.5 per cent of vote, compared with 24.3 per cent for Mr Haarde’s Independence party and 17 per cent for the Social Democrats.

The Left-Greens – an anti-big business, pro-environment party – have benefited from a dramatic rise in anti-capitalist sentiment in Iceland following the crisis as people expressed disgust at prominent and flashy young businessmen known as the ‘Viking raiders’.

These entrepreneurs led Iceland’s overseas corporate expansion, lived a high life characterised by designer corporate jets, and are regarded as a symbol of the ways in which Iceland lost touch with its more modest and puritan economic past.

Mr Haarde’s right wing Independence party introduced the policies that allowed these free marketeers to prosper – alongside large parts of the rest of the population, who got rich speculating in property.

The Left-Green party espouses a radically different set of values and if its recent performance in the polls is matched in May’s election, Iceland will be set on a dramatic new political course.

The party’s manifesto states that “all natural resources shall be public property and utilised without reducing them”.

It also “rejects further building of power plants for the use of polluting large scale industry and demands conservation of the highland”. This would spell an end to Iceland’s aluminium smelting industry, an important source of revenues.

Iceland’s foreign relations would also undergo a shift, as the Left-Greens have said they will “fight for an independent, Icelandic foreign policy that maintains the sovereignty of Iceland” and “opposes participation in military organisations such as Nato”.

In the past, government officials have expressed deep concerns that a victory for the Left-Green party would result in a disastrous government at this critical juncture in Iceland’s history, given its anti-business stance and radically pro-environment manifesto.

These uncertainties will do little to reassure international markets, which remain wary over the the krona.

The country’s central bank estimates international investors own up to IKr400bn ($3.2bn, €2.5bn) of Icelandic bonds and has warned it should be prepared for a “massive currency outflow” once the krona is fully refloated.

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Slim wedges his foot in door at New York Times

By Adam Thomson in Mexico City and Kenneth Li and Andrew,Edgecliffe-Johnson in New York

Published: January 21 2009 02:00 | Last updated: January 21 2009 02:00

Carlos Slim, who has ridden to the rescue of the New York Times with a $250m loan this week, professed to know little about the closest thing America has to a newspaper of record just six months ago.

"Do you know the New York Times?" the world's second-richest man asked one visitor in July. "Do you know this guy [Arthur] Sulzberger and some woman called Janet [Robinson, chief executive]? What do you think?"

Mr Slim had reached out to the company over the summer to let them know he was considering acquiring a big stake in the company's common stock and to reassure its controlling Ochs-Sulzberger family that he had no ulterior motive.

By September, Mr Slim disclosed he had purchased a 6.9 per cent stake, worth about $127m, over a one-month period.

"It's a great company, the price is cheap and it gives a good dividend," Arturo Elías Ayub, Mr Slim's son-in-law and communications director, said, calling the investment "purely financial".

Mr Slim's latest deal, for which the Times will pay more than 14 per cent in annual interest, buys the company breathing space on its $1.1bn debt. The Times, which has $46m in cash, faces a May deadline when

a $400m credit facility matures. It said it would use the $250m loan to help refinance the debt.

When Mr Slim converts warrants granted as part of the financing package, it will cement his position as one of the publisher's biggest shareholders.

Only he knows his ultimate goal, but a look at his past actions is an indication that Times management has little to worry about for now.

One media executive, who discussed the Times with Mr Slim last summer, said his main interest lay in its brand equity. "He believes in great brands," this person said. "He doesn't strike me as a guy who's looking for world domination."

One deal that captures his approach came in 2002 when he purchased warrants in WorldCom. That left him holding a 13 per cent stake in the then bankrupt company, which he subsequently sold to Verizon for $1.12bn, netting a $1bn profit.

In Mexico, Mr Slim's investing strategy has won him the reputation as a lender of last resort, bailing out numerous companies in transactions that almost always turned out very well for the billionaire.

Eduardo García, director of Sentido Común, an online business publication in Mexico, said the Times deal is no different. "He is playing it as a banker at the moment: a banker of last resort," he says, pointing out that it is also particularly attractive for Mr Slim. It leaves him with a foot wedged in the newspaper's front door, if he changes his tactic.

The Times, along with the rest of the newspaper industry, is experiencing a seismic shift. Newspaper advertising revenue is expected to fall

17 per cent and 7.5 per cent in 2009 and 2010, respectively, according to Barclays Capital. Meanwhile, circulations are falling as readers search the internet more.

Newspapers are cutting budgets and shedding jobs as they attempt to navigate the twin threats of the transformation of the industry and the broader economic downturn.

At least, as a quiet benefactor, Mr Slim's stake could shield the Times from public battles with irate shareholders. The family owns about 20 per cent of the company's equity but controls it through super-voting shares, making a seizure of control practically impossible.

But there is little protection from the bad press

generated by shareholders' attacks, of which Mr Sulzberger has endured several since he took over as publisher in 1992.

The company has suffered open warfare from former investor Hassan Elmasry, a Morgan Stanley portfolio manager, who in 2005 demanded changes to its dual-class shareholder structure, and hedge fund Harbinger Capital Partners, which threatened a proxy fight unless the company reallocated capital and sold non-core properties.

The Times avoided the battle last year when it agreed to give two board seats to Harbinger.

This aversion to controversy makes the understated Mr Slim, who prefers to dine with his family on Sundays and who has lived in the same house in Mexico City for decades, an attractive partner.

Unlike Mexico's other billionaires, the 68-year-old businessman holidays in Mexico, does not own a yacht and does not own apartments in New York or other cities.

Mr Slim smokes Cohiba cigars, considered one of the world's finest, but lights them with disposable plastic lighters.

The last time the Financial Times interviewed him, he wore a Swiss Army wristwatch, available at the time on Amazon for less than $70.

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Ukraine calls for talks with RF on changes in gas contract

23.01.2009, 14.28

KIEV, January 23 (Itar-Tass) -- The Ukrainian presidential secretariat considers it necessary to begin consultations not later than summer 2009 with Russia to make some changes in the gas contract between Naftogaz Ukrainy and Gazprom, first deputy chief of the presidential secretariat Alexander Shlapak told a press briefing on Friday.

“The terms of the contracts on Russian gas supplies to Ukraine and Russian gas transit to Europe are asymmetrical. Specifically Ukraine obliged to pay for 40.52 billion cubic meters of gas in 2009-2010 regardless gas consumption volume. That is to say the principle “pump and pay” is applied. Even if we consume a smaller gas volume we should pay for the gas volume specified in the contract,” Shlapak said.

Meanwhile Shlapak noted that gas transit volume across Ukraine is not guaranteed in the contract with Gazprom. “So another principle is applied – to pay for the transit volume. These are asymmetrical things,” he said.

He also emphasized that the gas contracts concluded between Naftogaz and Gazprom are not specified the conditions of using Ukrainian underground gas storage facilities to stock Russian gas.

According to Shlapak the gas consumption volume in Ukraine amounted to 66 billion cubic meters in 2008 taking into account the gas volume in the underground gas storage facilities.

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Russian oil consortium in Venezuela to expand to Cuba
20:35 | 23/ 01/ 2009

MOSCOW, January 23 (RIA Novosti) - A Russian national oil consortium created to run oil projects in Venezuela will also cooperate with Cuba's state-run oil company Cubapetroleo, a memorandum signed between the two companies stated on Friday.

The deal was signed in the presence of Russian Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin and Vice President of the Cuban Council of Ministers Ricardo Cabrisas.

The oil and gas consortium of Russian companies to work in Venezuela, which was formed on October 8, 2008, includes Gazprom, Rosneft, TNK-BP, Surgutneftegaz and LUKoil.

The consortium of Russian companies is operated by Gazprom, while control of the Russian-Venezuelan oil and gas alliance is exercised by Venezuela's state-controlled Petroleos de Venezuela S.A. (PDVSA).

Oil to be produced by the consortium will be exported to the United States, China and Europe.

Cubapetroleo announced in October last year that Cuba may have more than 20 billion barrels of oil in its offshore fields. Cuba currently produces 60,000 barrels of oil per day.

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Bulgaria seeks gas compensation from Gazprom
19:24 | 23/ 01/ 2009

ATHENS, January 23 (RIA Novosti) - Bulgaria estimates its losses from recent cuts in Russian gas supplies at about $320 million and is demanding compensation from Russia's Gazprom, the country's economy and energy ministry said on Friday.

"Economy and Energy Minister Petar Dimitrov handed Gazprom's deputy CEO Alexander Medvedev an official request during talks in Sofia, insisting that Bulgaria be compensated for the crisis caused by cuts in gas supplies [from Russia]," the ministry said in a statement.

"As a result of unprecedented cuts in supplies of natural gas on January 6, 2009, the Bulgarian economy suffered enormous losses. Current estimates are at 500 million leva [$327 million]," the document said.

Russia suspended supplies to Ukraine on January 1 after the former Soviet neighbors failed to reach an agreement on a new gas contract for 2009. A week later, Gazprom cut off gas deliveries to the European Union, saying Ukraine was stealing gas intended for EU consumers.

Gazprom resumed supplies to Europe on January 20 following the signing of a new contract with Ukrainian energy company Naftogaz on Russian gas supplies to Ukraine for 2009-2019.

According to the Bulgarian ministry, 123.8 million cu m of gas were not supplied to Bulgaria during the crisis.

Bulgaria listed three possible ways of compensation: to pay direct damages, supply the lost gas at preferential prices, or to allow Bulgaria to transport gas from third countries via Russian pipelines without paying transit fees.

"The future of relations between Bulgaria and Russia depends on restoring trust in Gazprom," the ministry said.

Alexander Medvedev announced during talks in Sofia that Gazprom would fulfill all its contractual obligations with Bulgaria and would provide the Balkan country with additional supplies to restore the lost supplies at preferential prices, rather than pay compensation.

Bulgaria has yet to respond.

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The fifth-generation fighter
16:31 | 23/ 01/ 2009

MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti military commentator Ilya Kramnik) - Russian designers are currently developing a fifth-generation fighter plane, also known as the Advanced Front-Line Aviation Complex (PAK FA) for Russia's Air Force.

The new warplane is to replace fourth-generation fighters, namely, the Sukhoi Su-27 Flanker and the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-29 Fulcrum.

The program caught the public's eye after Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov recently said it must be expedited.

The decision to develop the fifth-generation T-50 fighter was made in the early 2000s. The Sukhoi, Mikoyan-Gurevich and Yakovlev design bureaus, who primarily develop new fighters, offered their concepts. The Sukhoi Design Bureau was eventually awarded the program.

Various maiden flight and delivery deadlines have been mentioned. The fighter is expected to make its appearance sometime between 2008 and 2010. In late 2008, Colonel General Alexandr Zelin, commander of the Air Force, said the warplane would perform its initial flight in August 2009.

Last summer, the fighter's design was approved, and the prototype blueprints were delivered to the Komsomolsk-on-Amur Aviation Production Association (KNAAPO), where production will reportedly be sited. Currently, the company is building three experimental fighters for testing. These prototypes are due to last for five or six years. However, a production run will not be launched before 2015.

Although T-50 specifications remain classified, fragmentary data on its engines imply that this heavy-duty fighter will have a take-off weight of more than 30 metric tons and will be close in dimension to the Su-27.

The Tikhomirov Instrument Engineering Research Institute, which designed the Irbis radar system for the Su-35BM Flanker generation four-plus fighter, is now developing the T-50 warplane's radar. It appears that its radar and fire control system will be based on the Su-35BM system.

Although nobody knows what the new fighter will look like, most analysts believe it will closely resemble the Lockheed Martin/Boeing F-22 Raptor. However, this cannot be verified at this point.

Under declassified request for proposal (RFP) provisions, the new highly maneuverable fighter will have a supersonic cruise speed, and its weapons will be stored inside the fuselage. Compared with fourth-generation planes, the T-50 will be much less visible in the radio and infrared bands.

The Air Force will be enhanced by these fifth-generation fighters, their weapons and radio-electronic equipment, as well as by ground and airborne combat-support and combat-control systems.

Although the various systems are being developed at different paces and to a varying degree of success, they are vitally important to the T-50 program's success. Without them, the fifth-generation fighter would remain an expensive toy and would fail to expand the combat potential of Air Force units.

The opinions expressed in this article are the author's and do not necessarily represent those of RIA Novosti.

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Expensive friends in Central Asia
18:44 | 23/ 01/ 2009

MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti political commentator Dmitry Kosyrev) - The relatively few agreements signed by President Dmitry Medvedev during his visit to Uzbekistan in no way reflect the breathtaking complexity of the forthcoming changes in global Central Asian policy.

It is with good reason that Uzbek President Islam Karimov tried to tone down the signing of agreements by drawing his guest's attention to the fact that "the world is changing very fast, the alignment of forces is changing, and the reference points are changing." He added that "as a country that has always been present in the region and determined the alignment of forces here, Russia should not only track these changes but also direct them."

Importantly, new U.S. President Barack Obama plans to wind down operations in Iraq and concentrate on Afghanistan that borders on Uzbekistan.

It is clear that Afghanistan poses a global problem, and Russia is closer to it geographically than the United States. It is also obvious that Russia and other regional countries stand to gain from the invigoration of U.S. military operations in Afghanistan. This may drastically change Russian policy in the region, albeit only in theory for the time being.

Moscow should not reduce its policy to dissuade the United States from the region if only because it may have to pay too high a price for its presence. Some of Russia's partners may use the traditional Russian-U.S. rivalry to their advantage by using both sides for their own purposes. They would not push either of them out of the region completely in the hope of keeping this game of using one against the other.

Russia's Central Asian policy, started at the beginning of this century, has never been aimed at ousting the United States from the region but has been based on partnership with it. One reason is that Uzbekistan, Tajikistan Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan will never tolerate any single country, be it Russia, America, or China to dominate the region. There are advantages in having everyone there. In particular, this strategy underlies the philosophy of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).

The United States weakened itself by trying to do in Central Asia what it did in Georgia and Ukraine, that is, overthrow existing regimes and replace them with weak and incompetent pro-American surrogates. After these failures, Washington might have said good-bye to its influence in the region. However, it has a chance to return to Central Asia if it conducts a smart Afghan policy, and it will be welcomed there.

Following the results of Medvedev's visit to Uzbekistan, the Uzbek and Russian presidents proposed convening an international conference under the SCO aegis. U.S. participation will be welcomed.

Needless to say, Russia and the Central Asian countries will remember the deeds of the old U.S. administration rather than believe the words of the new one. The Obama team should not forget this.

The opinions expressed in this article are the author's and do not necessarily represent those of RIA Novosti.

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Russia to rebuild army by 2016
19:48 | 22/ 01/ 2009

MOSCOW. (Nikita Petrov for RIA Novosti) - The financial crisis has affected Russia's military reform plan. That became clear after Dmitry Medvedev signed a corresponding decree, now posted on his website.

In contrast to Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov's order issued last year to finalize the army and navy reforms by 2012, the new presidential decree sets the date at January 1, 2016.

It is not the transition from the "district-army-division-regiment" hierarchy to "district-operations command center-brigade" pattern, or the reduction in number of cadre units, reshaping the regiments and divisions into permanent readiness brigades, which is a major challenge in terms of organization and expenditure, that is the main obstacle to Russian military reform.

The biggest headache is the reduction of 200,000 officers and the abolition of chief warrant officers and midshipmen. During the reform, all the reduced personnel with a service record of over 10 years are to be provided with housing.

Estimates show that 60,000 officers and 60,000 warrant officers who will be dismissed from service or transferred to the reserve, have no personal residences. Given that by mid-2008, around 122,400 servicemen needed official or personal housing, while the Defense Ministry provides only 30,000 apartments annually by construction or purchasing, it is clear that it will be a complex task to execute the social protection measures envisioned by law in the next two or three years.

A decision not to speed up the reform in some directions, including the reduction of officers and WOs, however, would help resolve housing issues.

Military education is another problem. Currently, there is no demand for the 15,000 to 16,000 officers that graduate from Russia's 65 higher military education institutions each year. By 2016, the total strength of the Russian Armed Forces will be at 1,000,000 men, including 150,000 officers; and they will therefore require as few as 7,000 to 7,500 graduates. This will decrease the number of military schools to approximately 10 backbone institutions.

According to the plan, the first stage will involve the creation of three military training and research centers for the Army, Navy and Air Force.

The bulk of the funding will apparently be allocated for the establishment of a Naval Academy on Kotlin island in the Kronshtadt district outside St. Petersburg, which will include five military schools, professional officer courses, three naval research institutes, the Nakhimov Naval Academy and St. Petersburg-based Naval Cadet Corps. The transfer will require the construction of educational and laboratory buildings, houses and dormitories. The infrastructure will include operational models of surface ships and submarines and separate compartments. The project requires enormous funding, and it is unclear what the amount will be.

The transfer of naval schools from St. Petersburg to Kronshtadt will be performed only after the new station is commissioned. It could take three to five years. It is clear that the military education reform cannot be finalized by 2012, let alone the military reform itself.

Along with the naval training and research center, other branches of the armed forces need similar facilities. Additional funding is needed to finance troop exercises, including sea exercises and aviation training, and also to purchase modern combat equipment.

Military experts regard the presidential decree signed on December 29, 2008, as reasonable. There is no need to hurry, as there's no large-scale war in sight, and quality is therefore a higher priority than time. If no unnecessary haste takes place, it looks possible that by 2016, Russia could have the army it deserves.

The opinions expressed in this article are the author's and do not necessarily represent those of RIA Novosti.

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地元企業の製品、自治体挙げ購入　税収・雇用へ好影響狙う

　景気後退による消費低迷で企業の売り上げが落ち込む中、地方自治体が地元企業の製品を積極的に購入し、経営を支援する動きが広がってきた。マツダのおひざ元の広島県などは相次いで公用車向けの購入拡大を表明。ソニーが生産拠点を構える宮城県多賀城市は2009年度から薄型テレビなどデジタル家電を同社製品に切り替える。立地企業の業績悪化に歯止めを掛け、税収や雇用への悪影響を最小限に抑える狙いだ。

　広島県はマツダの小型車「デミオ」を200台購入するため、1月補正予算に約2億7000万円を計上した。保有する公用車760台のうち、購入後12年以上たつ車両をデミオに入れ替える。広島市も公用車の更新を前倒しし、マツダ車の購入を増やす考え。

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野村、米国債取り扱い再参入　公認ディーラー申請へ

　野村ホールディングスが米国債の取扱事業に再参入することが23日、明らかになった。米国債の政府公認ディーラー（プライマリーディーラー）の資格の取得を目指し、近く再申請の手続きに入る見込み。野村は米国事業で損失が表面化した2007年秋に公認資格を返上していたが、破綻したリーマン・ブラザーズの欧州・アジア部門を買収したのを機に、いったん縮小した米国債事業の増強に動く。

　プライマリーディーラーは米国債の入札に参加し、米ニューヨーク連邦銀行と直接取引ができる政府公認の証券会社。野村は登録が認められた1986年以来、米国事業の柱として売買を手がけてきたが、07年に信用力の低い個人向け住宅融資（サブプライムローン）に関連し、住宅ローン担保証券（ＲＭＢＳ）事業で多額の損失を計上したのを機に撤退。同年11月にプライマリーディーラーの資格を返上し、米国債券事業も大幅に縮小していた。

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景気判断、３カ月連続下方修正　日銀、１月の金融経済月報

　日銀は23日、1月の金融経済月報を公表し、景気の総括判断を3カ月連続で下方修正した。前日までの金融政策決定会合の議論も踏まえ「大幅に悪化している」と判断し、前月の「悪化している」から表現を一段と後退させた。個別項目では輸出と設備投資を「大幅に減少している」との判断に引き下げたほか住宅投資や生産も下方修正した。経済の急激な落ち込みを反映し、景気判断は総崩れとなった。

　今回の総括判断は、月報の公表が1998年1月に始まってから最も厳しい表現で、日銀幹部は「（70年代の）石油危機と比べても厳しい」との認識を示した。

　輸出を「大幅に減少」と表現するのは2001年4月以来、設備投資は99年3月以来となる。日銀がまとめた昨年12月の実質輸出は前月比9.8％減少した。生産は「減少幅はさらに拡大している」とし、前月の「大幅に減少」からさらに後退させた。内外需の急速な悪化を受け、先行きも「悪化を続ける」との厳しい見方を示した。(23日 20:01)

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一般企業に公的資金、政府が注入制度　経済安定へ安全網

　政府は23日、銀行だけでなく、一般企業にも公的資金を使って資本注入する制度を創設する方針を固めた。世界同時不況による一時的な業績不振で赤字に陥った企業などを国が信用補完し、再生を促す狙い。2008年度中に数千億円規模の枠を確保する。与党内には保険会社や証券会社も対象に含めるべきだとの議論があり、09年度を含め注入規模は最大で数兆円に達する可能性がある。米欧に続き、日本でも公的資金を活用した安全網を大幅に拡充し、経済の安定化につなげる。

　政府は日本政策投資銀行を通じ、企業に資金を資本注入する。元手となる資金は政府系金融機関の日本政策金融公庫（日本公庫）が政府から借り入れたり、政府保証を受けて市場から調達したりする。これまで銀行や信用金庫などに公的資金を資本注入する仕組みはあったが、一般企業にはなかった。(07:00)

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消える「ゆうパック」と「ペリカン便」　10月に新ブランド

　宅配便事業の統合を決めている日本郵政グループの郵便事業会社と日本通運は23日、10月から新しいブランドで営業を始めると発表した。長年親しまれてきた「ゆうパック」「ペリカン便」の両ブランドは姿を消す。新ブランドは5月末をメドに発表する。

　2007年10月に宅配便事業の統合を決めた両社は新ブランドについて協議を重ねてきた。一時は郵便会社の「ゆうパック」への統一に傾いたが、日通側の社員の士気を保つため、第3のブランドを探すことにした。「利用者に浸透しているブランドを捨てるのは得策でない」との声もあったが退けられた。

　「ペリカン便」は1977年、「ゆうパック」は87年に誕生。知名度は高いが、近年は利用が低迷している。07年度のシェアは日通が10.7％、郵便会社が8.3％。ヤマト運輸と佐川急便の2強に大きく水を開けられていた。(01:02)

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デジタル家電、価格急落　薄型ＴＶなど、1カ月半で1割安

　家電量販店でデジタル家電製品の値下がりが急速に進んでいる。薄型テレビやブルーレイ・ディスク（ＢＤ）レコーダーの平均単価は1月第3週（12―18 日）平均で、昨年12月初旬より1割程度下がった。年末商戦で量販店各社やメーカーは全般に苦戦を強いられ、在庫が積み上がったことから安売りが加速した。

　民間調査会社のＢＣＮ（東京・文京）によると、1月第3週の薄型テレビの平均価格は10万6000円と、昨年12月初旬（1―7日）より1万4000円下がった。ＢＤレコーダーも8万7000円と12月初旬に比べ8％下落し、デジタルカメラは2万7000円と同11％下がった。(09:11)

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自動車国内生産、４割減　１―３月、トヨタなど８社見通し

　トヨタ自動車など乗用車8社の今年1―3月の国内生産台数は170万台前後にとどまり、前年同期を4割強下回る見通しになった。トヨタの2、3月の生産台数は前年のほぼ半分と、石油危機に見舞われた1970年代前半の水準に落ち込む。日産自動車やホンダも3―4割の減産に踏み込む。内外の新車需要急減に対応した大幅減産が部品や素材、工作機械など周辺産業に打撃を与え、雇用調整圧力が一段と強まる公算が大きい。

　年度末商戦を控える1―3月は例年、生産が高水準となり大幅減産は異例。減少幅の130万台は過去最大とみられる。販売動向次第で減少幅が広がる可能性がある。(07:00)

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日産、14年ぶり営業赤字　今期1000億円超、販売不振・円高響く

　日産自動車の2009年3月期連結決算は、本業のもうけを表す営業損益が1000億円超の赤字（前期は7908億円の黒字）になる公算が大きい。営業赤字転落は1995年3月期以来、14年ぶり。世界的な販売不振や円高が収益を圧迫する。既にトヨタ自動車が通期赤字見通しを公表しており、世界的な景気悪化の直撃を受け自動車大手の赤字転落が相次ぐ。

　カルロス・ゴーン社長が最高執行責任者（ＣＯＯ）に就任した99年6月以降では初の営業赤字となる。1―3月期の販売動向次第では赤字額が2000億円程度まで膨らむ可能性も残る。

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三菱商事、新油田を開発　西アフリカ・ガボン鉱区、総事業費100億円

　三菱商事は50％の権益を持つ西アフリカ・ガボンの鉱区で新油田を開発する。共同で発見したフランスの石油開発会社と開発に着手し、2011年にも生産量を日量2000バレルまで引き上げる。総事業費は100億円程度の見通し。アフリカは世界の原油生産量の1割強を占め、深海部などで大型油田が存在する可能性も指摘されている。日本勢は同地域の権益獲得で中国に後れを取ってきたが、探鉱・開発の地域分散により資源の安定調達につなげる。

　ギニア湾沖合の「ロシュ・イースト油田」を仏ペレンコ社（パリ市）と共同発見した。開発・生産も折半出資で進め、三菱商事の権益生産量は日量1000バレルとなる。新油田の可採埋蔵量は1400万バレル程度で、20年間近い操業が可能とみられる。(07:00)

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道産米、味で勝負　高級米が全体の２割に

　全国のコメ市場で道産米が存在感を増している。代表的な品種の「きらら３９７」を筆頭に、味の改良と割安な価格で評価がじわじわと上昇。今年から本格的に作付けが始まる新品種「ゆめぴりか」は、最高級米として官民上げてブランド浸透に取り組む。高級米市場を中心に攻勢をかけ、量だけでなく質でも国内トップの座を目指す。

　「北海道米のエースとして大事に育て、全国のシェアを取っていく」。22日、札幌市内で初めて開いた「北海道米の新たなブランド形成協議会」。道産米の7割強を販売するホクレン農業協同組合連合会（ホクレン）の森江義信米穀事業本部長は、ゆめぴりかに大きな期待を寄せた。

　主食用のコメは一般的に、たんぱく質やでんぷんの主成分であるアミロースの含有率が低い方が食感がやわらかく、強い粘りで「高級米」とされる。道産米は気温の低さからアミロースが多くなりがちで、炊飯後の粘りの弱さが食味向上の壁だった。

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千葉県、農業産出額が全国２位　07年2.6％増、振興策実る

　農林水産省がまとめた2007年の千葉県の農業産出額は06年比2.6％増の4119億円に増加し、全国順位が06年の3位から2位に上がった。4年連続の前年割れにも歯止めをかけた。千葉県は05年に全国4位まで落ち込んだが、作付面積の拡大などを盛り込んだ農業緊急戦略を策定し、県を挙げて農業振興に取り組んでいる。

　品目別では、米と雑穀・豆類を除く全部門の産出額が前年を上回った。全産出額の4割を占める野菜は前年比4.9％増の1647億円になった。県によるとネギとニンジンなど冬場の野菜の価格上昇が大きく寄与した。

　全体の2割強の畜産は、ワクチン接種の推進などで死亡率が低減したほか、堂本暁子知事の肝いりで誕生した豚肉「ダイヤモンドポーク」などが評判を集め同1.1％増の1014億円と伸びた。

　全国1位の生産量を誇るナシの栽培では木の植え替えなどを進め、生産量と単価ともに好調だった結果、果実全体の産出額も同9％増の182億円に増えた。米は0.3％減の704億円、イモ類は5.1％増の228億円、花きは1％増の209億円だった。

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ロシア大統領、２月首脳会談を提案　麻生首相をサハリンに招待

　麻生太郎首相は24日、ロシアのメドベージェフ大統領と約15分間電話で協議した。大統領は2月中旬にロシアのサハリンで開かれる液化天然ガスの生産開始を記念する式典に首相を招待。その際に首脳会談を開いて「2国間のすべての問題について話し合いたい」と提案した。

　首相は「検討の上、回答したい」と応じるとともに、日ロの課題について「話し合いを積み重ねて良い結果を得られるようにしたい」と述べた。式典への出欠は、国会審議などを見極めた上で判断する見通しだ。

　電話協議はロシア側の申し入れで行われた。両首脳の会談が実現すれば、昨年11月のペルー以来。(22:01)

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政府、ロシア原潜解体事業に40億円を追加支援へ

　政府はロシアの極東地域で進めている退役済みの原子力潜水艦の解体事業に、約40億円を追加支援する方向で調整に入った。海上に放置しているロシア原潜の原子炉を陸上に保管する施設などを提供する。核物質がテロ組織などに流出しないようにするとともに、原子炉の腐食を食い止めて環境汚染を防ぐ。

　今春に来日する見通しのプーチン首相と麻生太郎首相の会談で正式合意したい考えだ。オバマ米政権は環境対策や核不拡散・軍縮を重要課題に掲げており、日本としても引き続き、これらの分野で貢献を果たしていく姿勢を示す意味合いもある。(16:00)

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給付金はギャンブルに？　豪の景気刺激策に批判

　【シドニー＝共同】オーストラリアで昨年12月にスロットマシンに記録的な金額がつぎ込まれたことが判明、政府が景気刺激策の一環として同月に配った一時給付金が「ギャンブル業界を潤わせた」と批判の声が出ている。

　ＡＡＰ通信などの23日の報道によると、同国ビクトリア州の12月のスロットマシンへの賭け金が過去最高の2億4800万豪ドル（約144億円）に達したほか、クイーンズランド州でも前月比で10％増加。ラッド政権は昨年のクリスマス前に、年金受給者や低所得家庭などに1人当たり1000―1400豪ドルの一時金を支給し、金融危機への素早い対応が評価されていた。

　ギャンブル規制強化を訴える専門家や野党議員らは「給付金と賭け金増加の因果関係は明らか。個人消費刺激のもくろみ通りにいかなかった」と批判している。(23:01)

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安全性高いｉＰＳ細胞、遺伝子を使わずに作製　米ハーバード大

　米ハーバード大学の研究チームは安全性の高い新型万能細胞（ｉＰＳ細胞）を作製することにメドをつけたと、24日に都内で開いたシンポジウムで発表した。細胞をがん化する恐れがあった遺伝子は使わず、化合物だけでｉＰＳ細胞を作る。再生医療への実用化を後押しする成果だ。

　研究チームは、京都大学の山中伸弥教授らがｉＰＳ細胞を作るときに使った3つの遺伝子を置き換えられる複数の化合物を発見。マウスのｉＰＳ細胞を近く作製して効果を確かめる考え。作製効率も遺伝子より上がる可能性があるという。

　ｉＰＳ細胞の再生医療への応用では、遺伝子を使うと細胞ががん化する可能性が指摘され、新しい作製方法の開発が課題だった。日本も含めて各国のチームが安全性の高い化合物によるｉＰＳ細胞作製研究を進めていた。(23:01)

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人類、２度移住　ピロリ菌の遺伝子解析で、米大チーム発表

　人の胃にすむピロリ菌の遺伝子解析から、人類は3万年以上前と5000年前の2度に分けてアジアから太平洋に向けて広まっていったことを、米ベイラー医科大消化器内科の山岡吉生准教授らの国際チームが突き止め、23日付の米科学誌サイエンスに発表した。

　別の研究グループは400の土着言語を分析して5000年前の広まりを確認。山岡准教授は「全く手法が異なるピロリ菌の研究と言葉の研究が、同じ結論を導き出したとは驚きだ」と話している。

　チームはすでに、各地の先住民から採取したピロリ菌遺伝子の変化の度合いを比べる手法で、人類が約5万8000年前に東アフリカから世界に広まったのを確認している。

　今回はアジアから太平洋の島々への広まりについて調査。その結果、氷河期のため多くの島が陸続きになっていた3万7000―3万1000年前に、一部の集団がアジアからオーストラリア、パプアニューギニアに移住し、そのまま定着したとみられるのを突き止めた。〔共同〕(15:02)

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遊技産業同友会：会員企業９社が１２０人新規採用

　悪化した雇用情勢の受け皿になろうと、パチンコホールの経営者団体の日本遊技産業経営者同友会（高濱正敏代表理事）の会員企業９社が、計約１２０人の新規採用を行うことを決めた。関東、東海・北陸、中四国・九州の各地区の９社で電話で受け付けるほか、ハローワークでも求人する。各企業の連絡先などは、ホームページ（ｈｔｔｐ：／／ｗｗｗ．ｅ－ｐａｃｈｉｎｋｏ．ｃｏｍ）で。問い合わせは事務局（０３・５６８８・３５１１）まで。

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ＵＡＥ：米百貨店・バーニーズを再び売却か　国営投資会社

　アラブ首長国連邦（ＵＡＥ）の国営投資会社イスティスマルが傘下の米高級百貨店チェーン「バーニーズ・ニューヨーク」の売却を検討していると、米メディアが２３日伝えた。

　イスティスマルは０７年、カジュアル衣料品店「ユニクロ」を運営するファーストリテイリングと競り合った後に、潤沢なオイルマネーをつぎ込み９億４２３０万ドル（約８４０億円）で買収にこぎ着けた。再び売りに出された場合、ファーストリテイリングが買収に乗り出すかどうかが注目される。

　景気後退で米国では高級品の売れ行きが落ち込んでおり、バーニーズも経営不振が続いている。原油価格の暴落に伴いイスティスマルの資金繰りも厳しさを増しているため、売却の検討に入ったとみられる。バーニーズは経済情勢の悪化で高くても４億ドル程度の“割引価格”で売られることになりそうだ。

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農林漁業：就職希望が殺到　農水省窓口に１カ月で３千件

　雇用情勢が悪化する中、農林漁業への就職を希望する人が急増している。農林水産省や関連団体が、派遣切りなどの雇用問題に対応するため０８年１２月２４日に設けた窓口への相談件数は、２０日までで３０００件を突破した。後継者不足に悩む農林漁業にとっては、不況の深刻化が思わぬ「追い風」となっている形で、この機会に人材を確保しておこうという農業法人や林業組合などからの求人も１９００件近くに達している。

　農水省は雇用問題への緊急対策として、本省や全国７カ所の地方農政局、３９カ所の農政事務所などのほか、都道府県や関係団体なども常設の窓口を設置し、就労希望者を対象に相談会などを開いている。同省の集計では、これらの窓口に２０日までに寄せられた相談件数は計３１４９件で、希望職種は林業が最多で農業、漁業の順という。求人は林業８５５件、農業８３７件、漁業１９５件の計１８８７件に上る。

　就農希望者をあっせんするため、全国農業会議所（地方の農業委員会の全国組織）が常設している全国新規就農相談センターも、８～２１日の相談件数は２５８件で、通常の２倍程度のペースになっている。これまでに２３の農業法人に就職が決まった４７人は、すべて家電メーカーで「派遣切り」に遭った人など失業者だった。昨年末に１００人規模で求人した日本養豚生産者協議会によると、今月２３日までに応募した８８人の２割近くが派遣を打ち切られた人だという。

　大阪市で９、１０日に開かれた全国森林組合連合会の相談会には、昨年より８割多い１２５４人が詰めかけた。同連合会は定期的に就職相談会を開いているが、「今年は農林業に縁の薄い文系学生の就労希望も増えている」と話す。

　新規就農者数はバブル崩壊後の９０年代も増加傾向を示したが、０３年に８万人を突破した後は横ばい状態で、引退する高齢者の穴を埋められない状態が続いている。農水省は「就労希望者を農山漁村に定着させることが今後の課題」と話している。

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コンピューターウイルス：警視庁の端末が感染　一部業務に支障

　警視庁は２３日、一部のオンライン端末がコンピューターウイルス「Ｗ３２．Ｄｏｗｎａｄｕｐ．Ｂ」に感染し、車庫証明事務を管理する端末装置などに支障が生じていると発表した。外部には接続していないため情報流出の恐れはないという。

　情報管理課によると２２日正午ごろから警察署のパソコン数台の処理能力が低下し、２３日は数十台に拡大。同日午前から一部のオンライン業務を停止し、手書きで書類を作成するなどしている。ＵＳＢメモリーなどから感染した可能性があるとみて感染経路を調べている。

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ＪＡＸＡ：低コストの小型科学衛星開発へ　基盤を共通化

　宇宙航空研究開発機構（ＪＡＸＡ）は、低コストで短期間に製作できる小型科学衛星シリーズの開発に乗り出した。どの衛星にも共通で使える基盤部を開発し、目的に応じた観測装置を取り付ける「セミオーダーメード」化で、開発費を抑える。若手研究者のチャンスが増える一方、測位など実用衛星に押されがちな科学衛星の打ち上げ機会を増やす「苦肉の策」とも言える。

　科学衛星は、天文観測など科学的な観測を担う。ＪＡＸＡが開発する従来の衛星は、４００キロ以上の中型が中心。観測の目的に合わせ、すべての部品を一から設計・製造するため、百数十億円以上の開発経費と５年程度の期間が必要だった。また、最近は、宇宙基本法で宇宙の利用が重視されるなど、実用衛星などへの関心が高く、宇宙科学の遅れが懸念されていた。

　今回の構想では、開発費を従来の約５分の１、期間も半分の約２年に抑える。第１号は金星や火星を紫外線で観測する惑星観測衛星を、１２年度に打ち上げる計画だ。その後、５年で３機程度の頻度で打ち上げる。

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後継者いなくて社長辞められぬ　０８年の交代率、最低に

2009年1月24日22時30分

　０８年中に交代した社長は３万２４４０人で、交代率は２．８４％と、７年連続で過去最低を更新――。帝国データバンクの調査で、そんな結果が出た。中小企業の場合、後継者がいなくて社長がなかなか辞められない、という傾向も浮かび上がる。

　調査は「全国社長分析」で、中小零細企業から大企業まで、全国の社長１１４万９９９人を対象に実施した。交代率が低下している理由について、同社は「中小零細企業では後継者難が進み、自分の代で事業をたたもうと考えている経営者が増えているため」と分析している。

　社長の平均年齢をみると、資本金１０億円以上の企業では６３歳で、この１０年間、ほぼ横ばい。資本金１千万円未満の小規模企業では５８歳で、９７年の５５歳に比べ、高齢化が進んでいる。

　出身地別にみた「人口１０万人あたりの社長輩出数」では、福井県が１６３４人と、２７年連続でトップ。山梨県の１４８８人、新潟、島根両県の各１３１３人が続く。福井県の独走は、眼鏡産業や繊維産業などの地場産業で、家業を地元の次世代に引き継ぐ傾向が強いためだという。逆に、サラリーマン家庭が多い埼玉県は４３０人で最下位。４４２人の千葉県や４５３人の神奈川県も同じ理由で輩出数が少なくなっている。

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リニア、品川始発の公算大　ＪＲ東、東海の調査に協力へ

2009年1月23日23時8分

　ＪＲ東海は２３日、首都圏と名古屋を結ぶリニア中央新幹線計画で、品川駅地下の地質調査などへの協力をＪＲ東日本に要請した。ＪＲ東日本が前向きな姿勢を見せたため、品川駅が首都圏の始発駅になる公算が大きくなった。

　ＪＲ東海の松本正之社長がＪＲ東日本の清野智社長を訪ねた。清野社長は「実務面の話も聞いて協力する」などと応じたという。リニアは２５年開業を目指し、用地買収の難しい首都圏や名古屋周辺では地下深くを走行する計画だ。調査のうえ、品川駅を始発駅とするか、最終判断する意向とみられる。

　首都圏の始発駅について、松本社長は昨年夏の記者会見で「横浜は（東京から）遠い。（地下に構造物が多い）東京駅は難しい」と述べ、品川駅を有力候補に挙げていた。駅改良工事に併せて、東京駅は調査済みという。

　名古屋の始発駅は名古屋駅の地下に造る方針。神奈川、山梨、長野、岐阜の沿線各県にも途中駅を設けると見られる。一部は、ＪＲ東日本の中央東線と並行する形になるため、途中駅と在来線のアクセスについても、今後、両社間の協議が進められる模様だ。