Colombian coffee prices reach 11-year high as supplies tighten

Colombian coffee prices reach 11-year high as supplies tighten

By Javier Blas in London

Published: April 9 2009 03:00 | Last updated: April 9 2009 03:00

Colombian coffee prices have hit their highest level in 11 years in the wholesale market, forcing leading brands in the US to announce increases in their retail prices of almost 20 per cent at a time when consumers are tightening their belts.

Colombian coffee is sought after for its superior flavour. The Latin American country is the world's largest producer of top-quality mild washed Arabica coffee and the third largest supplier of coffee overall after Brazil and Vietnam.

The surge in Colombian prices comes amid tight supplies due to heavy rains in the last few months and a government-sponsored programme to replace old coffee trees with new ones to improve productivity in the medium term, analysts said.

In the cash market, Colombian coffee was quoted yesterday at 177.7 cents per pound, the highest since mid-1998, widening its premium above New York's coffee futures to almost 60 cents. ICE May coffee moved 0.6 per cent higher to 118.20 cents per pound, reflecting larger supplies from Brazil and other countries. Kraft Foods and Folgers, two leading US companies, said yesterday they would increase the retail price for their "100 per cent Colombian coffee" brands in the US by 18.5-19.5 per cent. The increases do not affect other coffee varieties.

"The market [for Colombian coffee] is very tight," said José Sette, head of operations at the International Coffee Organisation in London. The ICO forecast Colombia's output in the crop year to September would be 10.5m bags of 60kg, down 16 per cent from the previous year, and the lowest since 2000-01.

The scarcity of top-quality coffee in Colombia has prompted buyers to seek other similar mild washed Arabicas produced in countries such as Honduras, Guatemala or Costa Rica. However, "Central America's situation is not better than in Colombia. They have weather problems and exports are running low," Mr Sette added.

Production in Guatelama is expected to drop about 5 per cent while Honduras will see a 0.5 per cent drop. Smaller producers Nicaragua and El Salvador will suffer drops of 6-10 per cent. Costa Rica's output is expected to drop 0.2 per cent.

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２月の普通鋼鋼材受注、41％減　低水準続く

　日本鉄鋼連盟は10日、2月の普通鋼鋼材受注量が390万8000トンと前年同月に比べ41.8％減少したと発表した。前年を下回るのは7カ月連続。減少率が過去最大だった1月よりは落ち込み幅が縮小したが、依然、低水準。

　国内向けは44.1％減の267万6000トン。用途別にみると建設用が29.9％減、製造業向けが52.0％減、販売業者向けが41.8％減だった。海外向けは36.2％減の123万2000トンだった。(16:05)

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三菱化学、塩ビなど２事業撤退　成長分野にシフト

　総合化学最大手の三菱化学は年内にも汎用樹脂2事業から撤退する。家電や雑貨の原料となるポリスチレンの事業統合会社への出資を引き揚げ、建材や配管に使う塩化ビニール樹脂の統合会社は解散する方針。内需縮小とアジア勢などの生産拡大で採算が悪化、国内で過当競争となっている事業を切り離し、太陽電池向けなどの新素材、医薬品など成長分野を中心にした構造に転換する。日本の大手製造業は総合型の品ぞろえを維持する傾向が強いが、厳しい景気後退を受け事業を絞り込む動きが広がりそうだ。

　ポリスチレン事業は旭化成、出光興産との統合会社で国内首位のＰＳジャパン（東京・文京）の持ち株を両社に売却し、同事業から撤退する。出資比率は現在、旭化成が45％、三菱化学と出光興産が各27.5％。売却額は今後詰めるが20億―30億円前後とみられる。ＰＳジャパンは三菱化学の撤退を受けて国内工場の統廃合を進める。(10:03)

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‘Lehman Shock’ Fuels New Wave of Homeless in Osaka (Update1)
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By Stuart Biggs and Masatsugu Horie

April 9 (Bloomberg) -- Within two months of losing his job packing shelves at a cold-storage company in Osaka, Toshiyuki Miki says, he was homeless. “Lehman Shock” turned his life upside down, he says.

Lacking the 60,000 yen ($600) a month he needs to pay rent, Miki, 40, sleeps in cardboard boxes under the elevated Hanshin expressway in Umeda, Osaka’s central business district. It’s his home as the global recession triggered by the implosion of Wall Street banks batters Japan. About 460,000 people have lost their jobs since the Sept. 15 collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., according to government data.

“I never realized it would affect me in this way,” said Miki, who picked up the Japanese phrase “Lehman Shokku” from the pages of discarded newspapers. “Before, I could always find some kind of job, but now there’s nothing.”

Miki’s loss of housing shows how Japan’s 2.95 million unemployed people threaten to fuel a rise in homelessness. Prime Minister Taro Aso may unveil a 15.4 trillion yen stimulus package tomorrow, according to a document obtained by Bloomberg News. Finance Minister Kaoru Yosano said April 6 the package will include a new social safety net for non-regular workers.

Yosano didn’t specify what help would be given to the lower-paid temporary or part-time workers. They accounted for 34.5 percent of Japan’s 55.3 million employed in September 2008 compared with 24 percent in 1999, official data show.

‘Crisis Situation’

Japan’s jobless rate will soar to a record of 5.7 percent by the end of March 2010 after reaching a three-year high of 4.4 percent in February, according to a Bloomberg survey of 11 economists. That’s the highest since 1953 when records began. Companies from Toyota Motor Corp. to Sony Corp. are firing thousands of workers and reducing output as Japan’s exports plunged a record 49.4 percent in February.

“We’re seeing a crisis situation here,” said Martin Schulz, a senior economist at Fujitsu Research Institute in Tokyo. “The spike in unemployment is much faster, and younger people have much less of a buffer.”

Many are temporary workers like Miki who find themselves in a downward spiral with little savings and an inadequate welfare system to fall back on, said Michihiko Okino, secretary-general of a nonprofit group that manages a homeless shelter in Osaka.

Across Japan, 77 percent of unemployed people don’t receive benefits, according to an International Labor Organization report released March 24. That compares with 57 percent in the U.S. and 13 percent in Germany.

‘Serious Problem’

“You’re going to have a serious problem,” Okino said. “People will use their savings first, then stay with friends if they can. It’s what happens after that we are bracing for.”

Japan’s average unemployment rate since 1953 is 2.5 percent, less than half the 5.7 percent in the U.S., according to Bloomberg data. Unemployment is above 8 percent in the U.S. and the euro region.

The rate in Japan is historically lower because there are fewer women in the workforce and men have tended to have long- term contracts they hold onto, according to Julian Jessop, chief international economist at Capital Economics Ltd. in London. He forecasts a rate of about 5.5 percent for the end of March 2010.

A rush of newly homeless is expected starting in May as workers exhaust their savings after being released from six- month or annual contracts that expired at the end of the fiscal year on March 31, Okino said.

Welfare Applications

Applications for state welfare assistance in Osaka surged 30 percent in December and 54 percent in January. City officials say they fear a rebound in homeless numbers that they have brought down to 4,024 from 7,757 in 2003, according to an official count, as the economy expanded for 5 1/2 years to October 2007.

“The numbers will definitely increase,” said Kazuo Furuya, head of homeless affairs in the city government, which is already 5 trillion yen in debt. “It’s not just Osaka, it’s a national problem.”

Osaka, with its blue-collar working base centered on traditional steel, manufacturing and shipping industries, is an indicator of the nation’s economic health, Schulz said.

Miki is two decades younger than most men sleeping in the streets of Osaka, a city of 2.64 million people that is 400 kilometers (250 miles) southwest of Tokyo. It has the largest number of homeless of any Japanese city.

Miki said he came to Osaka a decade ago, having previously worked on building sites in Yokohama, 30 kilometers south of Tokyo, after graduating from high school in Hiroshima when he was 18. Until his cold-storage job ended, he secured enough short-term contracts and part-time jobs in construction to feed and house himself, he said.

Soup Kitchens

Homeless since October, he keeps his hair neatly groomed and his red jacket, blue jeans and sneakers clean. The only hint of his circumstances is the black nylon suitcase he carries everywhere, containing his belongings.

A 15-minute drive south of where Miki spends his nights is Airin, a district where shelters and soup kitchens have sprung up to serve hundreds of older day laborers who are veterans of the streets.

Workers came to Airin, known locally as Kamagasaki, in the 1960s to work on construction sites for the 1970 Osaka Expo, which is regarded as marking Japan’s recovery from World War II. During the building boom of the 1980s and early 1990s, Airin’s population swelled to as many as 120,000 in an area the size of 116 football fields. There were more jobs than workers, and accommodations were cheap.

200 per Job

Now there are 200 applicants for every job, up from 30 to 40 a year ago, said Eriko Otani, a career counselor at Hello Work, a placement agency that fills lower-paid or temporary jobs. The number of factories in Osaka declined to 16,913 in 2005 from 28,392 in 1995 as manufacturers shifted jobs overseas, government data show.

On a cold March afternoon, more than 300 men stood in line at the labor office that assigns the next day’s shifts. Most left dejected. In the evening in Airin’s dirt-covered park, dozens of men with graying hair and thick coats warmed themselves around a fire as others rummaged through trash piles.

A stream of homeless men arrived at the entrance of the area’s largest shelter, whose 20-foot pale green metal walls dominate the park. Each got a pack of plain biscuits and could take a shower before claiming one of the 1,040 iron-framed beds with a thin mattress and a blanket. The only rule is no alcohol.

Beds Filling Up

“The situation has never been as bad as this for the residents of Airin,” said Yoshiko Mochihara, manager of the shelter. Its beds, which usually fill up in May and June, are already approaching full capacity, and the nonprofit group is considering building another shelter in the north of the city, she said.

“Most newly homeless will choose net cafes and other parts of the city before they come here,” she said.

Noboru Moto, 60, said he is too old to be hired for one of the few construction jobs available, so he collects aluminum cans around Airin’s park to sell to scrap metal merchants.

Until last year, he could earn 160 yen a kilogram, or 2,300 yen a day, enough for three square meals, he said. A drop in aluminum prices means he now gets 50 yen a kilogram, reducing him to a solitary lunch box of rice, vegetables and a little meat sold at convenience stores, he said.

“I’ll keep collecting; what else can I do?” Moto said, pausing by his cart with his prized possession, a pocket radio in a plastic bag tied to the handle.

‘Dirty and Smelly’

Miki tried sleeping in Airin but was put off by the conditions.

“It’s just not a good place, dirty and smelly,” he said. “There are better places to go that aren’t so desperate.”

No one knows how many like him are moving on to Osaka’s streets, charity officials say.

In 2004, then-Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi extended labor laws, allowing carmakers and other manufacturers to use more lower-paid temporary workers and for longer periods. That helped employers cut production costs because they could hire and fire to meet demand.

“The labor laws switched the burden for supporting Japan’s workforce from the companies to the government,” said Wataru Kishi, in charge of welfare assistance at Osaka’s city government. “The issue is whether the government can provide the support or the entire system will collapse.”

Japan’s national government, which pays 75 percent of welfare costs, according to Kishi, has already pledged 1.1 trillion yen in economic stimulus to subsidize temporary workers’ jobs and house those out of work.

‘Felt Ashamed’

In December, the government announced it secured 13,000 housing units nationwide to give to the newly unemployed. It also said it would pay companies 60,000 yen a month to keep temporary workers they planned to eliminate on the payroll. The subsidy lasts for 6 months.

Miki said he didn’t know he might be entitled to assistance and hasn’t applied for any.

Instead, he makes around 3,600 yen a day from selling the Big Issue, a magazine for the benefit of homeless people, outside the Hankyu railway station in northern Osaka from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m., he said. That’s far less than the 260,000 yen a month he reports making in a 60-hour week at his packing job.

“The first time I sold Big Issue, I felt so ashamed,” he said. “But I’m not doing it out of choice. This could happen to anyone.”

Miki said he reads newspapers he finds looking for signs of an economic rebound. For now, he said, he worries that a prolonged recession may reduce the number of shoppers who buy the Big Issue.

“If that happens,” he said. “I’m really going to be in a tough spot.”

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Barclays Maroons Secret of Stable Banking in Suburb (Update1)
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By Simon Clark

April 9 (Bloomberg) -- Hidden in a blue warehouse on an industrial park 200 miles (320 kilometers) northwest of London, Barclays Plc stashes historic documents that provide a lesson for bankers nursing record losses.

For most of the British bank’s 319 years, financial statements put balancing assets and liabilities before showing profit growth. Some investors say banks such as Barclays would be in better financial health if that were still the case.

“The historic switch in focus to the income statement from the balance sheet helped hide the asset bubble and bust,” said Neil Dwane, who helps oversee $83 billion as chief investment officer for Europe at Allianz Global Investors’ RCM unit in London. “We must refocus attention on the balance sheet.”

The credit crisis is proving a painful reminder of why it’s important to constrain assets and liabilities. Profit at London- based Barclays more than tripled to 4.38 billion pounds ($6.45 billion) in the 10 years through 2008, while its balance sheet swelled more than ninefold to 2.05 trillion pounds, exceeding the size of the U.K. economy.

Barclays plans to sell assets to boost capital after loans and other investments soured, pushing the bank’s shares down 66 percent in the past 12 months. The London-based bank today agreed to sell its iShares exchange-traded funds unit to private equity firm CVC Capital Partners Ltd. for 3 billion pounds. The bank has so far avoided tapping government funds, unlike Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc and Lloyds Banking Group Plc.

Balance Book

In Manchester, documents on 1 1/2 miles of shelving at the Barclays archive show finance was different in the 18th century, when author Daniel Defoe was a client of the bank and writing the tale of marooned sailor Robinson Crusoe.

In the 1700s and 1800s, bankers “simply needed to know where the money was coming from and where it was going to and how much they were able to allocate to themselves as profit after everything else was balanced,” said Barclays archivist Nicholas Webb, his fingers black with the Victorian-era soot that clings to some records.

Barclays’s earliest surviving “balance book,” from 1733, contains 20 yellow pages of creditors and debtors written in brown iron gall nut ink from a quill pen. By contrast, the first pages of Barclays’s 2008 annual report focus on profit at its units and include a table of income statement highlights.

Primary Statement

“The balance sheet was seen as the primary financial statement,” said Stephen Walker, professor of accounting at Cardiff Business School. “In a context where shareholders and especially creditors were concerned about the risk of insolvency, it was important to show that the company had sufficient assets to meet its liabilities.”

Bank balance sheets expanded in the credit bubble as money was borrowed to make new loans and investments. When capital markets froze in 2007, customer deposits weren’t sufficient to fund a bank’s business.

Barclays Chief Executive Officer John Varley acknowledged in March to members of the U.K.’s House of Lords, the upper chamber of Parliament, that Barclays had lost its balance in the debt-fueled boom years.

“There was an asymmetrical growth of assets versus liabilities over the course of the last years,” Varley said.

Ribbon-bound documents at RBS’s archive in Edinburgh tell a similar story to Barclays. Stephen Hester, CEO at the Scottish bank, told shareholders on April 3 that the company lost its way by focusing too much on income.

‘Borrowed too Much’

“We have to make profit, but it has to be seen in a long- term sustainable” formula, Hester said, “which we did not succeed in doing,” he added. “We borrowed too much and then lent too much.”

RBS lost 24.1 billion pounds in 2008, the biggest loss reported by a British company. The bank’s balance sheet boomed 2,685 percent to 2.22 trillion pounds during the past decade as it increased lending, trading and acquisitions.

U.K. bank lending exceeded customer deposits last year by 700 billion pounds, making the lenders dependent on foreign capital for funding, data compiled by the Bank of England show. In 2001, total lending to customers roughly equaled deposits.

“Profit growth at banks like Barclays distracted attention from balance sheet growth,” RCM’s Dwane said. “We’re all paying a price for that now.”

Balance sheets have been a key measure of financial health since at least 1494, when Luca Pacioli, an Italian mathematician, Franciscan friar and friend of Leonardo da Vinci codified balanced book-keeping in Renaissance Venice.

Luncheons, Sherry

In the Barclays storeroom, visited by 77 people last year, 19th century balance books are supplemented by green-covered, hand-written ledgers of partners in the then-private bank. The books detail thousands of pounds spent on luncheons, French wine and sherry, and investments ranging from Anglo American Telegraph Cos. shares to Birmingham Canal debentures and donations to Leicester Square Soup Kitchen, Asia Minor Famine Relief Fund and London’s Royal Free Hospital.

Barclays first printed a financial statement in 1896, when it combined with 19 other banks. The following year, it reported a net profit figure for the first time in a 10-line report opposite the balance sheet, the archive shows. In 1914, Barclays published a profit and loss account for the first time, beneath the balance sheet. The account took up about two-fifths of a page. In 1958, the profit and loss account was first printed ahead of the balance sheet, and it still is today.

Barclays’s 326-page report for 2008 “bears testament” to the bank’s balance sheet disclosure and analysis, spokeswoman Gemma Abbott said.

Mass Shareholding

The income statement became more prominent as banks like Barclays attracted increasing numbers of public shareholders who focus mainly on earnings and dividends, said Walker of Cardiff Business School.

“This was a result of mass shareholding and the consequent importance attached to delivering returns for investors and the emphasis placed on profit generation as a way of gauging the performance of managers,” Walker said.

Alexander Hoare, CEO of his family’s 337-year-old bank, said bankers can benefit from history lessons.

C. Hoare & Co., which funds itself from profits and has increased deposits during the credit crunch, keeps an archive in its London headquarters.

“An institutional memory helps avoid repeating elementary banking errors,” Hoare said. “The balance sheet is the all important measure.”

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Credit Suisse Selling Chinese Bonds Shows Markets Opening Up
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By Tom Kohn and Bryan Keogh

April 9 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama can look to China’s corporate bond market for evidence Premier Wen Jiabao is opening up his currency to the world.

Sales of non-financial bonds rose to a record 199 billion yuan ($29.1 billion) this year, making it the third most popular currency for company debt behind the U.S. dollar and euro. The market overtook offerings in Japanese yen for the first time after being ranked sixth in 2007, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

During last year’s presidential campaign, Obama said in a letter to the National Council of Textile Organizations that Chinese “manipulation” of the yuan creates a reliance on exports that hurts the U.S. and global economies. While denying the charge, China in December promised to open capital markets and is also easing rules limiting foreign banks’ role in bond sales and trading.

“A sizable and vibrant domestic corporate bond market is a precondition” for the yuan to become an international currency, said Shang-Jin Wei, professor of Chinese business and economy at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Business in New York.

While attacking the dollar’s dominant role in global finance, China is boosting its currency by bolstering the corporate bond market and making it easier to do business in yuan.

Since November, the world’s third-largest economy has set up 650 billion yuan in so-called currency swaps to help importers in Argentina, Belarus, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia and South Korea avoid having to pay dollars for Chinese goods.

‘Hugely Liquid’

Record bond issuance and loosened regulations have persuaded at least six overseas investment banks, including New York-based Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and UBS AG of Zurich, to start underwriting local-currency debt.

“It’s a hugely liquid market,” said Joseph Chee, head of capital markets at UBS Securities Co. in Beijing, who forecasts securities sales, including those of corporate bonds and short- term paper, will jump about 50 percent to 1 trillion yuan this year. “It will continue to grow.”

The pace of expansion provides “a striking contrast between the health and growth of financial markets in China and the condition of markets in the West, which are still struggling,” said Mark Williams, an economist at London-based Capital Economics Ltd. who advised the U.K. Treasury on China from 2005 to 2007.

China is using a 4 trillion-yuan stimulus plan to bolster capital markets by encouraging infrastructure spending and boost growth above last quarter’s 6.8 percent, the weakest in seven years. That’s attracting European and U.S. banks as they grapple with recession at home and $1.25 trillion of losses and writedowns triggered by the collapse of the mortgage market.

State Support

The $256 billion of Chinese corporate notes outstanding are dwarfed by $1.96 trillion in government debt as of Dec. 31, according to the Asian Development Bank.

China’s currency has gained 21 percent against the dollar since a fixed peg to the greenback was scrapped in 2005. The country’s central bank now manages the yuan against a basket of currencies, including the dollar, euro and yen.

The yuan traded at 6.84 to the dollar yesterday.

Government support for state-controlled banks, the yuan’s managed exchange rate and regulations curtailing foreign companies from buying or selling local securities are limiting growth in the corporate debt market, according to Nicholas Lardy, an economist specializing in China at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington.

‘Super-Sovereign’

Still, Wen has ambitions to play a bigger role in global financial markets. While stopping short of promoting the yuan as a replacement for the dollar, Central bank Governor Zhou Xiaochuan said in March that the International Monetary Fund should create a “super-sovereign reserve currency.”

Zurich-based Credit Suisse Group AG and Deutsche Bank AG of Frankfurt won licenses for joint ventures with Chinese securities firms since December, joining Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, UBS and CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets in starting local partnerships.

The $29.1 billion of yuan-denominated company debt issued this year compares with bond sales of 16.6 billion pounds ($24.4 billion) and 1.79 trillion yen ($17.9 billion), Bloomberg data show.

Dollar-denominated debt sales totaled $201 billion while offerings in the European currency reached 109 billion euros ($144.7 billion).

Underwriting Licenses

China National Petroleum Corp., the country’s biggest oil producer, sold 20 billion yuan of bonds on Oct. 27, Dec. 11 and March 20 in the nation’s biggest corporate offerings. The 2.25 percent the Beijing-based company paid on the March notes, due 2012, is 4.25 percentage points less than the coupon that South Korea-based Hana Bank was charged for similar-maturity government-backed debt in dollars this month.

Credit Suisse in December said China granted it permission to underwrite shares and bonds. The bank’s local affiliate, Credit Suisse Founder Securities Ltd., this year helped Shaoxing Water Group Co., Peking University Founder Group Corp. and Lin’an City Urban Construction Development Co. raise a combined 3.1 billion yuan.

Deutsche Bank won approval in January to underwrite bonds through Zhong De Securities, a Beijing-based venture with Shanxi Securities Co. Morgan Stanley has a 34 percent stake in China International Capital Corp., the second-biggest underwriter of non-financial corporate debt last quarter and one of only two brokers permitted to underwrite medium-term note sales.

‘Enormous Demand’

“The government is trying to get more capital into state- owned enterprises and companies in China generally,” said Chris Keogh, managing director of Gao Hua Securities Co. in Beijing, New York-based Goldman Sachs’s partner. “We’re seeing enormous demand from companies who want to issue.”

Companies in China, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan face higher refinancing risks than peers in the rest of Asia-Pacific because they’re “over-reliant” on bank loans to meet debt obligations, Fitch Ratings said in a March 18 report.

China must open the debt market to foreign investors and loosen capital controls if it wants the yuan to take a bigger role in global finance, said Brad Setser, a former Treasury official and Council on Foreign Relations economist in New York.

“It’s hard to have a more global currency if you don’t let foreigners own your debt as an asset,” Setser said.

Foreign Borrowers

China is increasing the amount of domestic securities overseas funds can buy under the qualified foreign institutional investor program. Standard Chartered Plc, the U.K.’s second- largest bank by market value, said April 7 that its local unit became the first foreign-owned lender to trade Chinese corporate debt after a commercial-paper transaction.

As authorities ease restrictions, foreign companies with operations in China may find the yuan bond market useful for raising cash, Columbia’s Wei said. Regulators may begin to allow such international issuers within two or three years, Keogh of Gao Hua forecasts.

For now, the global credit crisis is hindering banks’ ability to garner more market share, said Michael Pettis, a finance professor at Peking University.

“They’re dealing with much bigger problems, and a number of them are looking to get out of their Chinese investments,” he said. “I don’t really see a gold rush going on here yet.”

Li Pumin, policy research director of the planning ministry responsible for China’s bond sales, declined to comment. Ma Jihua, the National Development and Reform Commission deputy fiscal and financial affairs director governing corporate debt, couldn’t be reached for comment.

Wen said last month that China must speed up financial changes to combat the financial crisis. “We can’t slow down the process of reforms,” the premier told a press conference after the close of the annual parliament session. “Instead, we would rather speed up.”

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ECB chief says economy on track for recovery

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The head of the European Central Bank Jean-Claude Trichet said Thursday that the world economy would recover next year after a "very bad" performance this year. Skip related content
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"I confirm... that after a very bad 2009, the recovery should start during 2010," he said during an interview on French channel TV5 Monde Europe.

He also urged that "very important" decisions taken by G20 leaders at a summit this month be put in place "very rapidly."

"I believe that we all have elements to put in place very quickly, which the whole world expects," he said.

Among other measures, the Group of 20 developed and emerging economies agreed to commit one trillion dollars to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and other global bodies to help struggling economies.

Trichet also suggested that the European Central Bank could decide on another "measured" cut to its main interest rate.

The ECB surprised analysts last Thursday by cutting its rates by only 0.25 percent to 1.25 percent when a larger cut had been expected.

Commenting on the need for further fiscal stimulus, he said: "The stimulus plans that have already been approved are generally sufficient."

He stressed that financial limits had to be taken into account, with governments raising billions of euros (dollars) of debt to pay for the expensive packages.

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Looking back at Washington, Baghdad wants to revive cooperation with Moscow
00:34 | 10/ 04/ 2009

Print version

MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti commentator Andrei Murtazin) - The first official visit of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to Moscow is not likely to be easy but it may become a breakthrough. The goal of the visit is to discuss economic and military cooperation with the Russian leaders.

On April 10, he will meet President Dmitry Medvedev and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin for talks on a broad range of issues. The Iraqi Government's official spokesman Ali ad-Dabbag reported that during this visit the prime minister will be accompanied by foreign, defense, and electric power industry ministers, as well as a delegation of the national oil ministry.

After the talks, on April 11, al-Maliki will hold a RIA Novosti-organized news conference in the President Hotel.

The overthrow of the Saddam Hussein regime in April 2003 set the beginning of Iraq's new history and new relations with Russia. It is no secret that many Russian politicians and political scientists from the Old Guards, especially from the communist and liberal democratic parties, vigorously opposed the new Iraqi leaders, calling them George W. Bush's puppets. As distinct from them, the Kremlin did not stick labels but expressed its desire to cooperate with the new Iraqi authorities. Receiving in the Kremlin head of the Temporary Governing Council of Iraq Abdel-Aziz al-Hakim in December 2003, President Vladimir Putin promised him to write off 80% of Iraq's ten billion debt and carried out his promise.

The debt was written off in 2006, but in response Moscow did not get the preferences it had expected. This became clear during the visit of Iraqi oil minister Hussein al-Shahristani in August 2007. After the talks with Minister of Industry and Energy Viktor Khristenko, he declared that the decision to write off the debt would not be linked with other issues, and that Russian companies, including LUKoil, will not have any preferences in Iraq, but will take part in investment contests on a common ground.

In March 1977, LUKoil signed an agreement with the Iraqi government to develop the Western Kurna-2 deposit, but in 2002 Saddam Hussein unilaterally severed the contract, referring to Russia's failure to abide by its commitments. The new Iraqi authorities declared their refusal to recognize the agreements signed under Saddam Hussein. They specified that the deposit's future will be decided by a tender, in which Russian companies can take part on a par with others.

During his visit to Moscow, the Iraqi oil minister met LUKoil President Vagit Alekperov but the results of the meeting were not made public.

The Iraqi prime minister is not going to Moscow empty-handed. As RIA Novosti was told by a source in the Iraqi government, Al-Maliki will bring proposals on cooperation in trade and the economy, and also in the military sphere. "It is not ruled out that a revision of the contracts signed by Russian companies under the previous regime will be the result of the Iraqi prime minister's talks in Moscow," he said.

Incidentally, Russian specialists worked in Iraq during the war of 2003, and are still working there now, for instance power engineers at the Dora and Yusifiya electric power stations near Baghdad.

Military cooperation is a special issue. Under Saddam Hussein, the Iraqi army was armed with Soviet weapons by 80%. Iraq was supplied with Soviet weapons up to 1991 when the troops of the international coalition launched their Desert Storm Operation in response to Iraq's occupation of Kuwait. After this war, Russia joined UN sanctions, which included an embargo on military supplies to Iraq.

Today, the Iraqi army and police are being taught by American and British instructors but Iraqi soldiers and officers are much more confident with the Kalashnikov rifle than the American M-16 rifle. They have been taught to handle Russian (Soviet) weapons. Baghdad may ask Moscow to equip its army with new Russian military hardware. It is very interested in new aircraft, tanks, and air defense weapons. In addition to this, Iraq wants to train its military specialists in Russia as it used to do before.

However, there are no reasons to be too tempted by the prospects of cooperation with Baghdad. As distinct from Saddam's Iraq, where the Soviet Union and Russia had very strong positions, today's Iraq is giving priority to U.S. and other Western companies. Therefore, in building new relations with Russia, the al-Maliki government will always look back at Washington. The only question is to what extent.

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

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Russia, Brazil to cooperate on fifth-generation fighter program
18:14 | 09/ 04/ 2009

Print version

MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti military commentator Ilya Kramnik) - Russia continues to look for partners to help implement its fifth-generation fighter program, also known as PAK FA - Prospective (promising) Aircraft System of the Frontline Aviation.

Apart from India, which has agreed to cooperate with Russia's Sukhoi Civil Aircraft Company (SCAC), now working on the fifth-generation fighter program, Brazil could also join in. Alexander Fomin, Deputy Director of Russia's Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation, said Moscow and Brasilia were negotiating technology exchanges and the possibility of assembling PAK FA fighters in Brazil under a Russian license.

The new warplane is to replace the Russian Air Force's fourth-generation fighters in the next decade.

The Soviet Union launched fifth-generation fighter programs in the 1980s. By the mid-1990s, the Mikoyan Design Bureau developed the Project 1.44/1.42 warplane, also known as the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG MFI. MiG is now using this designation for an advanced MiG-29 Fulcrum fighter. Despite the non-production status of the 1.44/1.42 program, NATO assigned the reporting name Flatpack to it.

The Sukhoi Aviation Corporation came up with the S-37/Su-47 Berkut -- Golden Eagle/Firkin experimental supersonic forward swept-wing jet fighter. The S-37/Su-47 aircraft is an advanced technology demonstrator prototype not intended to be mass-produced.

Due to the lack of allocations, the Project 1.44/1.42 aircraft was not streamlined and never entered production.

By the late 1990s, it became obvious that existing fifth-generation fighter projects were becoming obsolete, that their production versions would be inferior to the brand-new Lockheed Martin/Boeing F-22 Raptor air-superiority fighter, and that the Air Force would receive such warplanes a decade too late.

In the early 2000s, the Russian government decided to develop an entirely new fifth-generation fighter. Sukhoi, Mikoyan and Yakovlev design bureaus boasting a reputation for their hard-hitting fighters offered several warplane versions.

The Sukhoi Aviation Corporation received project manager status and was placed in charge of the new T-50 fifth-generation fighter program.

Various maiden flight and supply deadlines were discussed from the very beginning. The T-50 was scheduled to perform its first flight in 2008-2010. In late 2008, Colonel General Alexander Zelin, Commander of the Russian Air Force, said the plane would take off for the first time in August 2009.

In the summer of 2008, the officials involved said the T-50 design had been approved and prototype aircraft blueprints sent to the Komsomolsk-on-Amur Aircraft Production Association (KNAAPO) in Russia's Far East where production will apparently be sited. KNAAPO is currently building three prototype T-50 fighters for subsequent tests, due to last five to six years, while mass production will not get underway before 2015.

Although T-50 specifications remain undisclosed, prototypes and the first production aircraft will be fitted with 117S (AL-41F1A) turbofan engines, a major upgrade of the AL-31F engine from Russian aircraft engine manufacturer NPO Saturn.

Consequently, the T-50 will be a heavy fighter with a take-off weight of more than 30 metric tons and will have the same dimensions as the well-known Sukhoi Su-27 Flanker. The Tikhomirov Instrument Engineering Research Institute which had invented the Irbis radar for the Su-35BM Flanker-E 4.5generation air-superiority/strike fighter is currently working on the T-50 radar.

It appears that the new fighter's radar and fire-control system will be developed on the basis of the Su-35BM's systems.

A search for foreign partners in the development and production of the fifth-generation aircraft has been caused by the desire to share a very high financial burden involved in it. The United States has opted for this road in the F-35 aircraft program.

Apart from investing in the fifth-generation fighter program, Brazil could provide Russia with state-of-the-art aviation technology. Notably, Brazilian aerospace conglomerate Embraer manufactures EMB-312 Tucano turboprop basic trainers and EMB-314 Super Tucano turboprop aircraft designed for light attack, counter-insurgency (COIN) and pilot-training missions.

Many analysts think both planes are especially adapted for low-intensity conflicts and are just as popular as fighters. Quire possibly, Russia will manufacture such planes using Brazilian technology.

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

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日銀、劣後ローン供与策の詳細発表　銀行、活用検討へ

　日銀は10日、銀行の資本増強を支援する劣後ローン供与策の詳細を発表した。資金供与期間は10年と無期限（永久）の2種類で、3年経てば銀行側の判断で前倒し返済できる仕組みが特徴。具体的な内容が分かったことで、対象になる大手銀行と地方銀行の合計14行は活用法について本格的に検討する考えだ。

　劣後ローンは返済順位の低い特殊な融資で、銀行は自己資本に組み入れることができる。銀行の資本増強支援策としては既に新しい金融機能強化法に基づく公的資金があるが、日銀の劣後ローン供与策の追加で銀行側の選択肢が増える。公的資金のように中小企業向け融資の目標設定などがないため、銀行界からは「使い勝手がいい」との声が出ている。

　銀行側は日銀が返済期限を設けない「永久劣後ローン」の導入を決めたことも評価している。劣後ローンは自己資本の中でも質が高い中核的自己資本（Ｔｉｅｒ１）の範囲内で積める補完的項目（Ｔｉｅｒ２）に算入する。期限付きの劣後ローンは中核的自己資本の半分までしか算入できないが、永久劣後の場合は目いっぱい積める。(22:01)

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対局中の羽生名人に朝日委託記者がサイン求める
2009.4.10 21:39
このニュースのトピックス：囲碁・将棋
名人戦対局中の羽生善治名人（左端）のそばで扇子を取り出すフリー記者（左から２人目）＝ＮＨＫより名人戦対局中の羽生善治名人（左端）のそばで扇子を取り出すフリー記者（左から２人目）＝ＮＨＫより

　将棋の羽生善治名人（３８）に郷田真隆九段（３８）が挑戦する「第６７期名人戦」（朝日新聞社など主催）で１０日、朝日新聞の委託を受けて観戦記者として立ち会っていたフリー記者（７５）が、対局中の羽生名人にサインを求めるトラブルがあった。同社は記者に口頭で厳重注意するとともに、対局終了を待って羽生、郷田両氏や共催の毎日新聞社など関係者に陳謝する。

　同社によると、トラブルがあったのは名人戦第１局２日目の１０日午前９時４５分ごろ、羽生名人が自らの手番で４４手目を考慮中、記録係と並んでいた記者が白い扇子とペンを取り出し、羽生名人にサインをするよう求めた。

　羽生名人は対局を中断する形でサインに応じ、頭をかく仕草をしながら盤面に目を戻した。この間、郷田９段は水を飲むなどして様子を見守った。

　この様子はＮＨＫが中継しており、実況担当者が「今、何か書いているようですけれども…」と当惑しながらその様子を伝えた。

　問題の記者は昭和５１年から平成１１年まで、朝日新聞社の嘱託記者として取材活動を行い、この日は同社の委託を受けて取材にあたっていた。

　休憩時間に担当者が、問題の記者に「対局中に声をかけるような行動は慎んでほしい」と注意したところ「郷田さんの手番だと思っていた。うかつだった」と釈明したという。朝日新聞社は「両対局者はもちろんのこと、主催する名人戦実行委員会のほか、関係者にご迷惑をおかけしたことを深くお詫びします」とコメントしている。

------------------------
力士も親方も…相撲協会が抜き打ち尿検査早期実施へ (1/2ページ)
2009.4.11 08:00
このニュースのトピックス：スポーツ群像・深層
記者会見する日本相撲協会の伊勢ノ海生活指導部特別委員長（右）＝７日午後、東京・両国国技館記者会見する日本相撲協会の伊勢ノ海生活指導部特別委員長（右）＝７日午後、東京・両国国技館

　ノーモア不祥事－。日本相撲協会の生活指導部特別委員会は７日に東京・両国国技館で開いた会合で、力士だけでなく、親方、行司、呼び出し、床山ら全協会員を対象とした大麻や違法薬物使用をチェックする「抜き打ち尿検査」の早期実施を確認した。協会は検査実施に向け、協会員からの同意書もすべて回収しており、実施態勢は４月中にも整う見込みだ。

　■近日中に実施可能

　伊勢ノ海委員長（元関脇藤ノ川）は「抜き打ちだから時期は言えないが、いつでもゴーサインという態勢は整った」と説明した。

　検査結果の分析を行う専門機関との契約も近日中に完了予定で、日本アンチ・ドーピング機構専門委員でもある大西祥平委員は「検査が実行可能なところまでこぎ着けた」と話した。

　■不祥事の再発防止

　生活指導部特別委員会とは、一昨年の力士死亡事件を機に発足した再発防止検討委員会が名称変更したもの。再発防止検討委は、大麻取締法違反で現行犯逮捕された十両力士、若麒麟が協会から解雇処分を下された２月２日の会合で、全協会員を対象にした抜き打ち尿検査を年数回、継続的に行うことを決めた。実施の目的は、「角界の信頼回復」と「不祥事の再発防止」だ。

　元ＮＨＫアナウンサーの山本浩委員は「（相撲協会は）力士の犯した過ちがどれだけ大きいかを認識している。尿検査の決まり事は良くできていて、薬物乱用の抑止力になる」と話している。

　■前回の反省生かし

　大西委員は、抜き打ち尿検査の実施方法は昨年９月の簡易尿検査とは異なることを強調した。「相撲協会によるデータ操作の疑いを避けるため」という。

　元露鵬、元白露山と２人が陽性反応を示した簡易尿検査ではその場で簡易キットを用いて判定を下したが、一次検査から専門機関に検体を持ち込む。また力士会の場で行って報道陣に検査情報が漏れた前回とは違い、今度は実施した場合も陽性反応が出ない限り公表しないという。

-------------------------
Iron ore points to lean years

By William MacNamara

Published: April 11 2009 03:00 | Last updated: April 11 2009 03:00

The annual benchmark price of iron ore is an overlooked gauge of the global economy. Negotiated each year between the world's top iron ore miners and steelmakers, it is a strong indicator of demand for almost anything that requires steel: ships, houses, cars, refrigerators.

Last week it emerged that Rio Tinto, the world's second-biggest iron ore miner, was in talks with Asian steelmakers about cutting its iron ore prices for the contract year starting April 1 by 20 per cent, a target steelmakers view as provisional until a permanent settlement can be reached.

Rio does not comment on price negotiations. But talk of such a discount - half of what China's steelmakers are demanding - cuts to the core of Rio's decision to raise as much money as possible this year to prepare for two years of weak revenues from commodities.

Steel prices have crashed, leading top Asian steelmakers like Baosteel of China and Posco of South Korea to ask for iron ore price reductions of 40-50 per cent. This would mark a reduction to levels seen two years ago before Brazil's Vale, the world's biggest iron ore miner, and London-listed Rio and BHP Billiton pushed contract prices up last year as steel demand boomed, particularly in China.

Negotiations for the 2009-10 benchmark price - starting this month - are stalled. The practice of accepting the previous year's price until a new contract is struck has broken down as steel demand has more than halved and steelmakers strive to stay profitable.

According to Reuters, Kwon Young-tae, senior vice president at Posco, the world's fourth-biggest steelmaker, told analysts yesterday it had reached a preliminary deal with Rio for a 20 per cent discount.

"Miners are demanding a 20 per cent reduction but we believe it has to go down by 45-50 per cent to 2007-2008 levels, as steel market conditions are very poor, especially in Europe and Japan."

Posco's first-quarter operating profits dropped 71 per cent to Won373bn (£200m).

The China Iron & Steel Association, representing the world's biggest buyers of iron ore, said some big miners had agreed to provisional iron ore price cuts of 40 per cent, the level demanded by the association.

Iron ore prices are central to Rio's proposal to raise $19.5bn (£13.3bn) from Chinalco, the Chinese state-owned aluminium company. Last year Rio's iron ore division generated $6bn in underlying earnings, 58 per cent of the group total. Over the next two years Rio is expecting lower revenues not only from iron ore but also from copper, coal, diamonds, and other mined commodities.

Raising $20bn is necessary, according to Tom Albanese, Rio chief executive, to see it through the next two years, when it expects weak commodity prices and must repay $19bn of debt. The Chinalco deal, Rio's board has concluded, was the only proposal that neared the $20bn mark. A rights issue would have only raised about $10bn, according to Paul Skinner, outgoing chairman.

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Former Dubai finance minister to face bank corruption trial

By Simeon Kerr in Dubai

Published: April 9 2009 03:00 | Last updated: April 9 2009 03:00

Dubai's public prosecution has charged a former minister of state for finance with embezzlement and "damaging state interests".

Mohammed bin Kharbash is to be sent to trial after an investigation into events at Deyaar, the real estate unit of Dubai Islamic Bank. Essam al-Humaidan, the office of the attorneygeneral, said in a statement Mr bin Kharbash, the former chairman of Deyaar, had allegedly helped Zach Shahin, the developer's former chief executive, to seize company money. Mr Shahin, a US national detained by Dubai's authorities last year, will also face charges of alleged bribe-taking.

The Financial Times in November revealed that the former minister was being investigated for alleged financial wrongdoing at the publicly listed Deyaar.

Mr bin Kharbashis the most high-profile figure to have been charged in connection with an extensive 15-month graft probe into state-linked developers that has seen at least 25 executives arrested.

Trials have already started against other executives at Dubai Islamic Bank, in which the government holds a 30 per cent stake, as well as developers such as Sama Dubai, part of the Dubai Holding conglomerate. Prosecutors are still deciding when the Deyaar cases against 12 individuals of various nationalities will go to court.

Mr bin Kharbash relinquished his role as chairman at Deyaar and Dubai Islamic Bank last year, while also leaving cabinet in a February reshuffle near that time. He declined to comment yesterday.

Charges of alleged bribe-taking have also been brought against two UAE nationals, one of whom is Saad Abdul Razak, the former chief executive of Dubai Islamic Bank and a Deyaar board member, who was working for a government holding company, Investment Corporation of Dubai, when he was detained last year.

Another case has been brought against several other employees on charges of fraud and forgery.

-------------------------
Georgia protesters urge president to quit

By Isabel Gorst in Tbilisi

Published: April 9 2009 13:25 | Last updated: April 9 2009 16:47

Tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets of Tbilisi, capital of Georgia, on Thursday demanding the resignation of Mikheil Saakashvili, the president, who led his country into a disastrous war with Russia last August over the breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

Popular discontent has risen since the war when foreign investors fled, triggering an economic downturn now intensified by the global financial crisis.

Independent observers estimated that about 53,000 protesters joined the rally outside the parliament in Tbilisi under cloudy skies. Georgia’s interior ministry said the turnout was about 25,000 and denied opposition accusations that the authorities had prevented protesters from the regions from reaching the capital.

Irakli Alasania, the leader of Alliance, an opposition group, said at least 130,000 protesters joined the rally.

”It was unprecedented. There is huge demand for change in the country,” he said.

Early in the day riot police were deployed inside the parliament and administrative buildings in Tbilisi. But few police were visible on the streets.

Mr Saakashvili called for unity after attending a church service with the Patriarch in the morning to mark the 20th anniversary of a violent crackdown by Soviet police on anti-government protesters.

”In spite of different opinions we should stick together. We need to continue to develop as a democratic country,” he told reporters.

The opposition has pledged to continue the protest until the government resigns, but analysts have warned that participation will fizzle out as the Orthodox Easter holiday approaches next weekend.

Mikheil Vacheishevili, an historian, said,”This is just the beginning. We will stay here until the government goes. We want to live in a democracy.”

Political turmoil in Georgia could play into the hands of the Kremlin which has made no secret of its wish to see the pro-western Mr Saakashvili gone.

Eka Tkeshelashvili, the head of the Georgian national security council, said Russia had moved extra forces into the Akhalgori district of South Ossetia, 62km north of Tbilisi, to exert psychological pressure on Georgia and position for possible action if the demonstration spun out of control.

“It is a well placed plan. They are calculating for several scenarios,” she said.

Russia told the European Union’s monitoring mission in Georgia this week that the military build-up in Akhalgori was the temporary result of a routine troop rotation.

Russia has denied the EU mission access to South Ossetia, violating the terms of a ceasefire that ended the war.

The opposition has accused the government of stoking tension to discourage Georgians from joining the demonstration they said would be the biggest protest since the Rose Revolution in 2003 that swept Mr Saakashvili to power.

Ten men linked to the opposition were arrested last month on charges of buying weapons and plotting unrest.

Mr Saakashvili has carved an image in the west as a democratic reformer, but his critics in Georgia say he has monopolized power and stifled the independence of the media and the judiciary.

Irakli Alasania said, the leader of the Alliance opposition group, said, “dramatic changes in the style and philosophy of government are needed if Georgia is to emerge from the military, political and economic crisis. “

Mr Alasania, who resigned as Georgia’s ambassador to the United Nations last December to join the opposition, said the protest will be peaceful and will demonstrate the unity of the Georgian opposition until now weakened by infighting.

However, opposition groups are divided on whether to continue the protest until Mr Saakashvili steps down.

Mr Saakashvili, who won a 53 per cent majority at an election last year his critics say was falsified, insists he will stay on until the next poll in 2013.

Law enforcers have consulted with European crowd control experts and pledged to avoid a repeat of mistakes in November 2007 when police fired rubber bullets and tear gas on anti government protesters undermining Georgia’s democratic credentials.

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Georgia protesters demand elections

By Isabel Gorst in Tbilisi

Published: April 11 2009 03:00 | Last updated: April 11 2009 03:00

Mikheil Saakashvili, president of Georgia, vowed to see out the remainder of his term in office yesterday defying tens of thousands of anti-government demonstrators in Tbilisi.

Attendance at the demonstration, now in its second day, was smaller than on Thursday when an estimated 65,000 Georgians gathered in front of the parliament building calling for snap elections. The participants, mainly middle-aged and elderly Georgians, insisted they would protest until Mr Saakashvili resigned.

The normally outspoken Mr Saakashvili spoke calmly to reporters at his residence saying the peaceful conduct of the protest was a victory for democracy.

"The world was watching and we proved once again that Georgia is a European democracy in content and action," he said.

"I've faced ultimatums like these every other month for the last five years," Saakashvili added. "Welcome to Georgian politics. Georgia's not the only country like this. It must be something about our temperament." A dialogue between the opposition and the government could bring "tangible results", including constitutional reforms to bolster the power of parliament.

Protesters slammed Mr Saakashvili for failing to alleviate poverty and for allowing human rights abuses to persist despite his claims to have introduced democracy. Few were willing to criticise his handling of the war with Russia last August when Georgia lost control of about 20 per cent of its territory.

"This is a serious protest against everything that is happening in Georgia," said one demonstrator, an artist, who gave her name as Nelly. "Saakashvili is a tyrant. He has allowed unemployment to rise and crushed the independence of the judiciary."

Late in the day protesters split into groups and blocked the roads to the central television station and the presidential administration.

The ministry of interior said it had not yet taken action: "our policy is still for maximum restraint". It said it had consulted with European crowd control experts and deployed riot police in Tbilisi's administrative and strategic buildings; police presence on the streets was being kept at a minimum to avoid inciting anger.

The opposition appeared divided on how to continue the protest. Kakha Kukava, leader of the Conservative Party, said the opposition would launch a "campaign of civil disobedience" if its demands were not met. A spokesman for Irakli Alasania, leader of the Alliance opposition group, pledged to respect the rule of law.

Peter Semneby, European Union representative for the South Caucasus, praised the authorities and the opposition for "restraint and handling the demonstration in a dignified way . . . both sides understand what is at stake". "This demonstration could show the way for a profound dialogue about the way this country is governed," he said after meeting opposition leaders.

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Thai protesters force Asean summit cancellation

By Tim Johnston in Pattaya, Thailand

Published: April 11 2009 11:39 | Last updated: April 11 2009 11:39

Anti-government protesters derailed Asia’s most important multi-lateral summit on Saturday, invading the conference venue in the Thai resort town of Pattaya and forcing the cancellation of the bulk of the three-day meeting.

The Thai government was forced to cancel the much-anticipated summit and declare a state of emergency after hundreds of red-shirted protesters broke through lines of police and military guards to reach the heart of the conference venue.

The authorities were forced to rely on the goodwill of the protesters and a thin chain padlocked round the handles of the hotel’s glass doors to protect the leaders inside.

The protesters were demanding the resignation of the four-month old government of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva. Mr Abhisit came to power in a controversial parliamentary vote in December, a route his opponents say detoured round the democratic process. They accuse him of relying on powerful unelected elites in the country’s barracks and boardrooms.

After a few minutes of chanting slogans, the protesters dispersed when one of their leaders borrowed a police megaphone to tell them that Mr Abhisit had left the building.

A government spokesman said that they hoped to reschedule and hold the meeting in two months time, but diplomats said they thought the plan was unlikely to succeed.

Some 600 protesters seemed to have little trouble pushing through the security cordon, raising questions about the stability of Mr Abhisit’s administration. The cultural prohibition against using state power against street protests runs strongly through Thai politics, but some observers suggested that the military guards did even less than expected to stop the protesters.

There was no violence and very little animosity between the protesters and the security guards, who wore helmets and riot shields but were unarmed apart from batons. A young army lieutenant offered his bottle of water to a sweltering older protester who was returning to the hotel gates in the tropical midday heat.

“They are just like us, we are friends,” Surya Lamthong, a designer who was among the vanguard of the protesters, said on Saturday, indicating the military guards who were by then resting under the resort’s trees.

As the protesters moved out, helicopters buzzed overhead, evacuating the leaders from the roof of the conference hotel.

“This is like a game of hide and seek,” said Mr Surya. “And we will keep playing it all over the country until Abhisit resigns.”

However, Mr Surya said that he had seen two fellow protesters shot in the early hours of the morning when they clashed with pro-government supporters a short distance from the conference venue.

He said he and hundreds of other supporters of the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship, known as the UDD, had come out onto the streets because he disagreed with the way that Mr Abhisit had come to power. The prime minister won office in a controversial parliamentary vote in December after the courts disqualified the incumbent who came from a party aligned with the UDD.

Most of the red shirts are supporters of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was removed from power in a military coup in 2006. He is in exile, fleeing a two-year prison sentence for breaking conflict of interest laws while he was in office, but he has used nightly video links to address rallies held in Bangkok over the past two weeks.

Mr Thaksin, a self-made telecommunications billionaire, represents one pole of a deeply divided Thai society. He draws his support from the rural lower classes, who feel they have been cut out of Thailand’s power equation by the middle and upper class establishment in Bangkok. The army, the business elite and powerful royalists all supported Mr Abhisit’s rise to power and are also in the cross hairs of the red-shirted protesters.

Mr Abhisit had intended the summit to be a showcase for Thailand’s new stability after months of street protests last year culminated in the seizure of Bangkok’s main airports.

"The task for me and the government now is to provide security for the leaders to travel back home safely,” Mr Abhisit said in a brief television address.

Thitinan Pongsuhirak, a political scientist at Bangkok’s Chulalongkorn University, said Thailand is moving closer to a social precipice.

“The situation we have now is untenable,” he said.

“The red-shirts are regrouping in Bangkok, so we have to be concerned about the government imposing an emergency decree there. That would be risky because it would inflame the red-shirts even more.”

He said there was an increased risk of another military coup.

The Pattaya summit was supposed to bring together the leaders of the 10-nation Association of South East Asian Nations with the premiers of Australia, China, India, Japan, South Korea and New Zealand.

The agenda was dominated by the search for a common response to the international financial crisis, but leaders were also going to sign an important Asean-China agreement on investment and China, Japan and South Korea were due to discuss North Korea’s recent missile test.

The annual meetings are almost the only time that Asian leaders gather without other players such as the US or European powers. The meeting had already been deferred once. It was supposed to be held in December but a different group of protesters had threatened that event.

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Steinbrueck told the Bild daily "we are preparing the next crisis with (stimulus) measures financed by enormous debts," from the hundreds of billions of euros (dollars) poured into the plans by the United States, Germany and other countries.

While inflation may not be a problem in the short term, he said, "there is so much money pumped into the markets that there is a danger of overcharging financial markets and relaunching inflation."

Steinbrueck also rejected a third stimulus plan for Germany, saying it was necessary to first see the results of the first two.

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Colorado bank biggest US bank failure of 2009

10 hours 12 mins ago
AFP

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New Frontier Bank, one of Colorado state's biggest banks, was closed down by state regulators, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation said in a statement. Skip related content
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Based in Greeley, Colorado, New Frontier had, as of March 24, total assets of two billion dollars and and total deposits of about 1.5 billion, the FDIC said.

It was the 23rd bank closed to business since January. Until New Frontier, the bigges bank failure this year had been California's Merced Bank, with 1.7 billion in assets.

Unable to have a rival bank take charge of New Frontier's credits and deposits, the FDIC said it "created the Deposit Insurance National Bank of Greeley (DINB), which will remain open for approximately 30 days to allow depositors time to open accounts at other insured institutions."

New Frontier's failure will cost the FDIC around 670 million dollars.

After suffering no bank failures at all in 2005 and 2006, the US banking system saw three banks going under in 2007, followed by 25 in 2008 and 23 so far this year.

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OECD regrets Swiss veto over tax havens

Yesterday, 09:15 pm
Reuters

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The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development said on Friday that it regretted Switzerland's decision to veto part of the OECD's budget in a dispute over bank secrecy in the Alpine tax haven. Skip related content
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World leaders agreed at a G20 summit last week to crack down on tax fraud and asked the OECD to publish lists of tax havens.

Switzerland landed on a list of financial centres that have yet to deliver on pledges to meet international standards of bank information disclosure.

"The OECD acted in good faith," OECD chief Angel Gurria said in a letter to Swiss President Hans-Rudolf Merz, a copy of which was released to journalists.

"As you know very well, Switzerland does not yet have a single agreement on the exchange of tax information that conforms to the OECD standard," he said in the letter.

The Swiss veto Gurria referred to concerns a budget line of 134,800 euros (121,000 pounds) the Paris-based OECD has earmarked for G20-related work. OECD budget need approval from all 30 of its members, which include all of world's wealthy economies.

As pressure mounted ahead of the G20 summit on April 2, the Swiss government announced that the world's largest offshore financial centre would shift towards OECD standards on disclosure of bank information.

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Islamic banking sees light amid crisis

Yesterday, 11:51 am
Reuters John Irish

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Islamic finance is slowing as the global financial crisis hits its hubs in Malaysia and the Gulf, but the sector now has a chance to move on to Western economies seeking to boost their financial centres. Skip related content
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Regulatory differences still plague efforts to build cross-border Islamic banking, and harmonisation among different schools of thought is one of the nascent industry's main obstacles as it looks to grow in European countries with large Muslim communities.

"There is a need for petrodollars in the West so more countries will be pandering to the rhetoric of Islamic finance to try to recycle petrodollars to their own financial capitals, be that London, Singapore or Kuala Lumpur," said Mahmoud El-Gamal, chair of Islamic Economics at Rice University.

In a sign that cultural barriers may be coming down, some experts see sovereign wealth funds injecting cash into global financial centres with the aim of advocating Islamic finance.

As the industry expands into non-Muslim or secular states, the need to educate others about the sector has become greater.

With much high-flying banking talent available after the collapse of the Western banking system, a shortage of staff with Islamic finance knowledge may no longer be a challenge.

But with crisis comes opportunity. The easing market has provided scholars, lawmakers and bankers a window to reassess structures including the sukuk, known as Islamic bonds, which are still under the spotlight as different bodies debate on how compliant instruments are with Islamic law.

Sukuk, once the industry's hottest product, have dried up, with the Gulf Arab region seeing no issues in the first quarter of 2009.

Activity in the Islamic loan sector is picking up with two Dubai government entities managing to refinance about $2.8 billion (1.9 billion pounds) through Islamic instruments in April, but experts remain unconvinced the market will return to its previous highs.

"There has been a sharp slowdown in Islamic financing," said Mohsin Khan, senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington.

"So much so that last week last, when Dubai's Department of Civil Aviation renewed $600 million, eyebrows went up thinking it was a big deal, but relative to a couple of years ago it isn't."

Next week, Reuters journalists in London, Dubai, Bahrain, and Kuala Lumpur will bring together the industry's heavy hitters to ask them how they will overcome those challenges, and where they see future opportunity.

Interviewees at the Reuters Islamic Banking and Finance Summit include the chief executive of Bursa Malaysia, a senior official of the UK treasury, some of the world's largest Islamic financial institutions as well as regulatory and ratings agencies.

KEEPING UP THE DEMAND

Demand from the world's 1.3 billion Muslims for investments that comply with their beliefs has soared, and assets that comply with Islamic law range between $700 million and $1 trillion, with some estimates seeing assets growing to $1.6 trillion by 2012.

"Islamic finance instruments were structured the same way as conventional finance instruments so I think it was propaganda to say they were insulated," said Gamal. "In 2009, Islamic finance could grow faster because many multinational banks had to cut back quite a bit on lending..."

Islamic law bans interest, and bond holders are paid returns derived from underlying assets. Investing in sectors such as alcohol, pornography and gambling is also prohibited, and deals must also be structured so that risk and reward is shared.

The industry needs to diversify from property loans and ordinary lending to include advanced treasury services, innovative asset management, balance sheet and securitisation management, consultancy Oliver Wyman said this week.

"This will allow them to address needs of underserved market segments such as Islamic financial institutions, corporates, sovereign wealth funds and private wealth clients," it said.

Islamic and other Arab lenders have spent on expensive schemes to reconcile an ethical image with the possibility of mortgage foreclosures, an increasing possibility as economies feel the pinch of the global financial crisis.

Former boomtown Dubai has suffered the sharpest downturn in its property market, where prices could fall almost 40 percent this year according to a Reuters poll. Standard and Poor's has said Dubai's economy could shrink 2-4 percent in 2009 as thousands of expatriates leave the Gulf's commercial hub.

"Islamic banks have been active in trade finance and property and -- both of them falling -- these are the two main profit centres for Islamic finance," said Khan, a former IMF director. "If these don't recover they will face problems building up their loan portfolio."

The financial crisis is also raising questions about whether consolidation in the sector is the right way to go given the mixed success in conventional markets.

Despite the popularity of Islamic banking and the desire by bankers to develop a greater range of products, the days of Islamic derivatives may still be further down the road as the industry looks to avoid taking a riskier direction.

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Russia-Turkmen gas conflict looms: report

Yesterday, 08:43 am
AFP

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A blast on the main gas pipeline between Turkmenistan and Russia reflects rising tensions between the two countries and could signal a Ukraine-style "gas war," a Russian newspaper said. Skip related content
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The Kommersant broadsheet pointed to growing problems between Russia and its ex-Soviet gas partner ahead of Thursday's explosion on the main gas export pipeline from the Caspian Sea state to Russia.

Russia generally sources Turkmen gas in order to boost its own reserves and help meet European demand.

"Russia could start a new gas war, but this time on the southeastern front," Kommersant said. "Russia has decided to use the same weapon as in the gas war with Ukraine," the paper added, referring to a dispute with Kiev in January.

The blast was the result of a decision by Russian gas giant Gazprom to sharply cut gas purchases from Turkmenistan -- leading to strain on the Turkmen section of the pipeline.

Kommersant said the cut amounted to 90 percent. The controversy came as Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was in the Turkmen capital for a regional foreign ministers' meeting.

Whereas Russia in the New Year cut off supplies to Ukraine, a gas war with Turkmenistan would follow the reverse pattern with Moscow drastically scaling down its imports of Turkmen gas.

There is commercial logic to reducing the purchases as demand drops in Europe, particularly from crisis-hit Ukraine, and Kommersant said that Gazprom stood to profit from selling its own reserves.

The Vedomosti newspaper, in an article headlined "The Welcome Accident", said that Gazprom would be easily able to compensate customers with its own supplies.

"Russia is not receiving Turkmen gas because of the pipeline explosion. But that could even be advantageous for Gazprom whose production has fallen in line with demand," it said

Gas demand in Europe has fallen sharply due to the economic slowdown and as a consequence gas reservoirs are full.

Gazprom's deputy chief executive, Valery Golubev, said on Thursday that the crisis will force Gazprom to maintain a 10 percent cut in output over the next 4-5 years from its peak last year.

He said that output would reach only 492 billion cubic metres this year compared with 549.7 billion cubic metres in 2008.

But Turkmenistan had angered Russia since a notably unproductive visit by President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov to Moscow last month that the Kremlin hoped would strengthen its grip on Turkmen energy, the paper said.

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政府、農産物の安定輸入を支援　緊急時にらむ

　政府は海外で作った日本向け農産物を緊急時にも安定的に調達するため、今夏にも包括的な生産・輸入支援策をまとめる。中国やインドなど新興国の経済発展で世界の食料需給ひっ迫が懸念されることが背景。日本向けに農産物を作る民間企業に国際協力銀行（ＪＢＩＣ）を通じて融資することなどが柱となる。月内に農林水産省や外務省など関係省庁の会議を立ち上げ、検討に着手する。

　政府が円滑な食料輸入に向けた対策に乗り出すのは、新興国を中心に他国で農地を借りて自国向けの供給確保に乗り出す動きがあるなど、世界的な「食料争奪戦」が強まっているためだ。穀物などの国際価格もなお高止まりしているため、日本も民間支援の形で食料の確保に本腰を入れる。(16:00)

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消費者相談にも「匿名希望」５件に１件　「個人情報だから…」

　暮らしを巡るトラブル相談を受け付ける国民生活センターに電話してきた相談者が「個人情報だから」などと氏名や連絡先を明かさない事例が相次いでいる。同センターによると、相談5件のうち1件に上る。問題解決に支障が出る恐れもあり匿名相談は原則として認めていないが、同センターは「むげに断るわけにもいかない」と対応に苦慮している。

　4月上旬、若い男性の声で国民生活センターに電話が入った。「アダルトサイトに接続しただけで請求書が届いた」。女性相談員が名前を尋ねると「言いたくない」。後日伝えるべきこともあるからと連絡先を聞いても「どうしても言わなければいけないのか」。結局、匿名のまま一般的な対処方法を伝え相談を終えた。

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韓国：化粧品などからアスベスト検出　流通禁止で薬局混乱

　【ソウル西脇真一】韓国でアスベストを含む工業原料の流通が判明し、ベビーパウダーや化粧品からアスベストが検出される事態となっている。さらに、韓国政府はこの原料を使用した医薬品の販売・流通を一斉に禁止。ただ、適用を受けたのが１１２２品目（１２０社）にも及び、混乱が広がっている。

　原料のタルクは、滑石を微粉砕した粉末で、セラミックスなどのほか、化粧品や錠剤などにも使われる。

　不純物としてアスベストを含む場合があり、韓国では今月、食品医薬品安全庁が汚染タルクを使ったベビーパウダーや化粧品から、アスベストが検出されたと発表。さらに、同庁は９日「人体への害はほとんどないが、危険物質は口にしてはだめだ」と、このタルクを使った抗生物質などの医薬品１１２２品目を禁止。国内流通量の数％にものぼる品目で、薬局や病院は対応にてんてこ舞い。一方、禁止薬を服用中の患者も困惑している。

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コアラ：国内の９割ウイルスに感染　短命の原因？
２００７年２月、リンパ性白血病のため１０歳で死んだ神戸市立王子動物園のコアラ「モモジ」＝同園提供
２００７年２月、リンパ性白血病のため１０歳で死んだ神戸市立王子動物園のコアラ「モモジ」＝同園提供

　全国の動物園で飼育するコアラの９割近くが、白血病などを起こす恐れのあるウイルスに感染していることが、日本動物園水族館協会の調査で分かった。コアラの故郷の豪州では、北東部のコアラにこのウイルスの感染が広がっているが、日本国内のコアラの大半は豪州北東部生まれかその子孫。国内で白血病などで死ぬコアラが目立っており、このウイルス対策が急務になりそうだ。

　調査は、国内で飼育されているコアラの血液を０７年から採取し、京都大ウイルス研究所で解析した。これまでに５０頭分（豪州北東部出身とその子孫計３９頭、同南東部出身とその子孫計１１頭）の解析が終了し、そのうち日本生まれも含め北東部系の全頭と南東部系の４頭の計４３頭で感染が確認された。

　ウイルスは「レトロウイルス」と呼ばれるタイプで、自らの遺伝子を宿主の染色体に組み込む。人には感染しないが、コアラではリンパ性白血病や免疫力の低下による感染症発症の原因になる。ウイルスはコアラの生殖細胞にも入り込み、親から子へ伝わる。

　日本では昨年８月現在、東京都多摩動物公園（日野市）や東山動植物園（名古屋市）など全国９動物園に計６０頭がいる。ウイルス感染がコアラの寿命に与える影響は明らかになっていないが、日本国内のコアラは豪州のコアラより寿命が短い傾向があるという。

　血液解析を担当した京大ウイルス研究所の宮沢孝幸准教授は「ウイルスの解析結果を今後の病気予防や治療法の開発に役立てたい」と話している。

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エストロゲン：記憶力改善の効果－－理研が発見

　女性ホルモンのエストロゲンに、脳の血管を広げて血流を増やし、記憶や学習の能力を改善させる効果があることを、理化学研究所（理研）がマウス実験で発見した。老化に伴い、血流が減って起こる記憶障害の予防や治療薬の開発につながる成果で、１０日付の米科学誌プロス・ワンに発表した。

　研究チームは、遺伝子操作で慢性的に脳の血流量が減少するマウスを作った。すると、エストロゲンを分泌する卵巣を切除した雌と雄だけ、神経細胞の周囲にあるアストロサイトという細胞が膨張して、神経細胞同士のつながりを邪魔し、記憶障害が起きた。

　また、遺伝子操作で血流が減った雄に、正常な雌の分泌量と同程度のエストロゲンを投与すると、脳の血管が拡張して血流が回復した。

　理研の山田真久ユニットリーダー（神経生物学）は「アストロサイトの膨張を防ぐ薬を開発できれば、脳機能の改善に役立つのではないか」と話す。