Russia, Kazakhstan to develop KazSat-2 project

Russia, Kazakhstan to develop KazSat-2 project

21.05.2009, 23.26

ASTANA, May 21 (Itar-Tass) - Prime Ministers of Russia and Kazakhstan on Thursday discussed further bilateral steps in the field of space research and orbital activity, including the KazSat-2 satellite project, Kazakhstani Prime Minister Karim Massimov said upon the completion of inter-governmental talks.

The case in hand is the construction and launching of Kazakhstan's second satellite for telecommunications and broadcasting.

Massimov said Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and he had looked at energy sector problems, including the replenishment of energy resource balances, and cooperation in transport.

In February, President Nursultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan asked Russian partners to take measures towards raising reliability of the new Kazakhstani satellite KazSat-2.

The first satellite, KazSat-1 that was launched last summer has been practically lost in orbit.

According to Talgat Musabayev the director of Kazakhstan's Space Agency, an emergency situation occurred at the satellite that stopped performing commands from the Earth because of a glitch of the onboard digital system and started drifting in the geostationary orbit.

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Europe may not even want to improve ties with Russia at all
22.05.2009 Source: Pravda.Ru URL: http://english.pravda.ru/world/europe/107609-europe_russia-0

Vaclav Klaus, the President of the Czech Republic, chairs the delegation of the European Union at the EU-Russia summit in Khabarovsk. The Russian-speaking politician conducted successful reforms to establish capitalism instead of socialism in his country. However, the European Union sees the Czech leader as a politician who impedes the process of the European integration. Klaus has never released any anti-Russian statements, despite the problem of the notorious US missile defense system.

Klaus is considered the prime adversary of the European integration. His counterparts did not want him to chair the European Union six months ago. Vaclav Klaus refused to introduce the euro in his country. He was the only European politician, who welcomed the results of the Lisbon Treaty referendum in Ireland in 2008 (the EU Constitution thus remained unchanged).

In February, Klaus compared the European Union to the USSR, when he said that the EU had become a non-democratic structure that left no freedom of choice, similarly to communist regimes of Eastern Europe.

Vaclav Klaus is probably the most prominent politician in Europe’s former socialist camp during the recent 15 years. He became the finance minister of the Czech and Slovak Federative Republics after the collapse of socialism in 1989. Klaus became the president of the Czech Republic in 2003 and was reelected last year.

Vaclav Klaus’s reforms to change the political and economic regimes in the country were absolutely painless. Czech cars are competitive and reputable in Europe; the country’s agriculture can fully supply the nation with high-quality and inexpensive food. The Czechs do not travel to neighboring states for earnings as it happens in most of other countries of the former socialist camp. The living standard in the Czech Republic has become higher than that in Poland, Hungary and in the Baltic States.

In the beginning of the 1990s, Klaus wanted to make his country become a NATO member. However, he harshly criticized the wars in Yugoslavia and Iraq in 1999 and in 2003. He also stood up against Kosovo’s independence. He repeatedly supported the idea to deploy elements of the US missile defense system in the Czech Republic, although he did not take any efforts to give the process a go.

Klaus’s attitude to Russia has been changing periodically. He was a totally pro-Western politician in the beginning of the 1990s. As soon as he became the president, he said that he did not share anti-Russian sentiments of his predecessor, Vaclav Havel. Klaus has never said anything negative about Russia during the recent six years. When Georgia attacked South Ossetia in 2008, the Czech president stated that Georgia should not be justified for its actions.

On May 13 Klaus set out a protest against the attempts to rewrite the history of Second World War and urged other leaders not to blacken the role of the USSR and Russia in the history of the 20th century.

Vaclav Klaus can considerably improve the relations between Russia and the European Union. However, his European counterparts may not want it at all.

Vadim Trukhachev

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Bilderberg: the meeting of the mediocre minds
22.05.2009 Source: Pravda.Ru URL: http://english.pravda.ru/opinion/columnists/107607-Bilderberg-0

By Hans Vogel

Practically no one has been reporting on the 2009 meeting of the Bilderberg group in a fancy seaside resort near Athens. The Greek newspaper To Vima, however, published a list of the 150-odd participants at the conference. The Guardian has published some articles by Charlie Skelton, who was incessantly being harrassed by Greek police and even arrested for trying to do his job as a journalist. Nothing new here, since from the very beginning, the Bilderberg conferences have been shrouded in secrecy.

Russian-born Daniel Estulin, the man who knows most about the Bilderbergers and who has published extensively about their wheelings and dealings, has declared that this year's attendants discussed how to manage the world economic crisis they allegedly engineered themselves. Basically, details are unknown, although one may deduct some facts from the publication, by Wikileaks, of the reports of earlier Bilderberg conferences. I have no reason to disagree with Estulin, but I would like to suggest some points to take into consideration.

The list of participants is a good starting point. Led by four representatives of European royalty, the list contains mostly the names of politicians, high civil servants, bankers and CEOs. Politicians are dependent on public favor, which today is largely manufactured by venal media. And as we all know, if there is anything politicians, especially modern ones, are lacking, it is a spinal column. The bankers are just that: bankers, managing other people's money. The CEOs are lavishly-paid employees of corporations, taking decisions about other people's investments. Mind you, none of these bankers and CEOs have adventurous minds. They are not entrepreneurs who have set up their own business, risked their own savings and turned te venture into a success, like, for instance, Richard Branson. These bankers and CEOs are mere bureaucrats. So are the high civil servants from various nations and the “European Union.” Needless to say, the high civil servants are bureaucrats, by nature. As for the occasional soldier (David Petraeus), or glorified thug (Richard Holbrooke), these are also people who must carry out orders. If their biographies show anything, it is precisely that they are very good at this.

In case you would be looking for innovative ideas, for ideas on how to cope with the ongoing crisis, who would you ask: a succesful businessman like Richard Branson or some incompetent CEO who was foolish enough to take his bank to the edge of the abyss by buying obscure financial products from failed US companies such as Lehman Brothers?

Thus, the overwhelming majority of those attending the recent Bilderberg conference are dependent people, men and women who made their careers by suppressing their own initiative and taking orders, always alert to any opportunity for advancement. In other words, most 2009 Bilderbergers, like most of their many predecessors, are people of limited imagination, with a limited capability of independent thought. For if they had any independent or original ideas in the past, these would certainly have interfered with their careers or they would by now be suffering from awful cancers and other nasty diseases. Apparently, however, all are in good health. Besides, a round table conference in a big room with well over a hundred participants, no matter how open and freely they may express themselves, is hardly conducive to the transmission of creative thoughts. As anybody knows who has been present at large meetings with more than a dozen people, many participants will be fighting against boredom, yawning, looking at the ceiling, doodling on a sheet of paper. On similar occasions, I have witnessed people dozing off, even snoring. Usually during conferences, the real business is done in the corridors, over coffee, or while strolling through the garden. Even then, shop talk is often squeezed between longer and more interesting discussions on second homes, vacations, the kids, the looks and legs of the secretaries, or the finer points of tax evasion. I am talking about scholarly conferences (just read David Lodge's novels to get an idea). Why should it be different at a Bilderberg conference?

There was a significantly strong presence this year of Greeks, Turks and Spaniards. The Greek participation is expmained by the fact that the Bilderberg meeting took place in their country. Moreover, Greece is one of the countries where violent street demonsrations earlier this year have shaken the government and where the effects of the current crisis are being felt most acutely. But the Turks? They are the neighbors of the Greeks, but we may suspect there was a lot of talk of how to get them to join the “European Union” after all, overriding both official (French) and widespread popular opposition all over Europe. The Spanish presence, led by their Greek-born Queen, was also interesting. Coincidentally, Spain has been affected very badly by the economic crisis, with staggering unemployement rates, a collapse of the real estate market, and structural, widespread discontent among the young. For years now, young Spanish men and women have been unable to find jobs. Over the past years, Spain has had the highest unemployment rate among the young. It must have been interesting and disconcerting for the Bilderbergers, to hear about the Greek and Spanish experience of the effects of the crisis.

The conference participants may have been doing a lot of talking, but we can be pretty sure imaginative or new ideas, fresh approaches, exciting concepts, daring proposals were at the very best few and far between. And even that is probaby a kind assessment. Of course, something new, fresh, exciting or daring may have been discussed, but then it will not have sprung from the minds of any of the participants, but rather picked up from one of their underlings at home.

Some Bilderbergers (such as Roger Altman or Neelie Croes, the Dutch Eurocommissioner) are known to have been associated with white collar crime, others are just plain criminals, such as Holbrooke, who in the 1990s played a major role in the massacre of 6.000 Serb civilians. Nato scretary general Jaap de Hoop Scheffer is another criminal, who by officially supporting the US conquest and occupation of Iraq, is in part guilty of the murder of close to 1.5 million Iraqu civilians. No doubt quite a few others could be added to this list. With such criminals in their midst, the moral authority of the Bilderberg conference goers is quite limited, to say the least.

Essentially the majority of the Bilderberg group meeting at Vouliagmeni last week may be defined as mediocrities. “Apparatchiks” as they used to used to be called in the Soviet Union, well-paid “salarymen” as they say in Japan. Mind you, the real movers and shakers in the world were not present. Most, such as Obama, Medvedev, Soros, the Pope were doing their moving and shaking at home or elsewhere. Moreover, the Bilderberg conference was attended exclusively by men and women from Europe and the US. Okay, a few from Turkey as well, if you would consider it a European nation, which many people, including French President Sarkozy do not. There was no one from Russia, China, India, Japan or Brazil, to name just a few essential powers. This was not the G-20 conference at London. That was much more representative of real power in the world today.

Of course, the Bilderbergers may BELIEVE they are powerful and influential. In fact, they are riding a huge monster that is growing stronger every day. A monster they may believe they can control, but all they can see is the back of the fearsome creature they are sitting on. If they would be standing were the rest of us are standing, namely on the ground, they would be able to see the full size of the monster. Its name is CRISIS, spelled in capitals, because it is an economic, a social, a cultural and a political crisis.

Now, apart from the current crisis and its effects, what may have been the topics on the Bilderberg agenda? I suspect one of the main points of discussion has been the imminent threats to national security, public safety and governmental stability posed by the crisis. That is why US National Security adviser James Jones was there along with an NSA-boss (Alexander), former British spy chief Dearlove and US black leader Vernon Jordan (“for Heaven's sake let's make sure the Blacks are on our side,” must have been one of the main reasons for inviting him). There was also the Dutch minister of justice (Hirsch Ballin) and one Hans Vissers, whose professional identity may be that of a Dutch police chief. Another topic must have been the military disaster in Afghanistan, which explains the presence of both Holbrooke and Petraeus. Their accounts must have been depressing indeed. At any rate, the prevailing mood at the meeting has most likely been one of despair and puzzlement.

Clearly, the Bilderbergers are not superior minds, have no moral authority and are for the most part just “willing executioners,” taking their orders from higher up and for the rest, groping in the dark, like most people. Why then are they suspected of wielding a lot of influence? Part of the answer lies in the fact that the Bilderbergers obviously will not help to destroy the myth of their might. The more their meetings are kept secret, the tighter the security that surrounds them, the stronger the myth will be. Let us, for the sake of argument, assume that indeed the Bilderberg meetings set the political and economic agenda for the US and Europe. That would mean that those who ultimately wield the real power—presidents, prime ministers, cabinets, parliaments—are relying on a disparate group of mediocrities. This may indeed be the real situation, but it would only emphasize their own mediocrity and lack of ideas and imagination. Of course, this may actually be true, but in that case, a revolution making an end to the rule by halfwits and nincompoops may be a lot nearer than we think. Come to think of it, perhaps that is why there was such a notable presence of national security and “intelligence” officials at the Vouliagmeni meeting! At least, the Bilderbergers are intelligent enough to appreciate the seriousness and the looming threat of the current crisis. There is still hope!

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Bomb neutralized at gas pipeline in North Caucasus

Ivan Rudnev

11:3224/05/2009

MAKHACHKALA, May 24 (RIA Novosti) - Police have found and neutralized a bomb planted near a gas pipeline in the Russian North Caucasus Republic of Daghestan, the republic's Interior Ministry said on Sunday.

The explosive device was discovered early on Sunday at a section of the Mozdok-Kazimagomed trunk pipeline 45 km (28 miles) south of the Daghestani capital, Makhachkala, the ministry said.

The bomb was neutralized by bomb exports. No one suffered during the mine-clearing operation, the ministry said.

Gas supplies at the pipeline section where the bomb had been discovered were temporarily cut off, the ministry said.

Sporadic terrorist attacks and militant clashes are common in Daghestan, and in neighboring Chechnya, although the Kremlin has officially ended its military campaign against separatists and terrorists there.

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Russia's richest man to pay taxes in Siberian gold village
Vitaly Bezrukih

19:5122/05/2009

MOSCOW, May 22 (RIA Novosti) - Metals magnate Mikhail Prokhorov, Russia's richest man, has registered in a Siberian gold mining village, a move that will see his tax contribution go to the local budget, regional authorities said.

"Evidently, Mikhail Prokhorov will now pay his taxes into the regional budget. Information on his registration in our region only emerged a few days ago", a spokesman for the Krasnoyarsk Territory's governor told RIA Novosti on Friday.

The village of Yeruda has the largest gold field in the Kranoyarsk Territory, operated by Polyus Gold, controlled by Prokhorov, who reached the top of Russia's rich list earlier this year with net wealth of $9.5 billion.

A PR piece on the website of the world's largest nickel producer Norilsk Nickel, formerly controlled by Prokhorov, describes the village in glowing terms, saying: "Thanks to ZAO Polyus, Yeruda has turned into a prosperous village of 2,300 inhabitants, with everything necessarily for the harsh northern life."

However, Prokhorov, who made headlines in Europe last summer with his purchase of a mansion on the French Riviera for 500 million euros, is unlikely to relocate to the Siberian village.

A spokesman for Prokhorov's investment vehicle Onexim explained: "Given the difficult economic period, one of the main social responsibilities of a business is to pay its taxes in full, and it would seem proper to pay them where the main sources of income are. For Prokhorov, one of his main assets is Polyus Gold."

Prokhorov had previously been registered in Moscow.

He stepped down as head of Norilsk Nickel two years ago after a scandal involving alleged prostitutes in France's Courchevel ski resort. However, he was never charged over the incident.

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Gazprom, Slovenia sign 15-year gas supply agreement
Iliya Pitalev

17:1222/05/2009

LJUBLJANA, May 22 (RIA Novosti) - Gazprom and Slovenia have agreed on a deal extending Russian natural gas supplies for another 15 years, the Russian communications and media minister said on Friday.

The current agreement expires next year.

Igor Shchyogolev said the agreement was signed between a Gazprom subsidiary and Slovenia's state-controlled Geoplin.

The Slovenian economy minister said Slovenia and Russia would sign a deal on the South Stream gas pipeline project in June.

South Stream is a rival to the Western-backed Nabucco pipeline, designed to bring gas from Central Asia and the Caspian to Europe bypassing Russia. The EU, nervous about growing energy dependence on Russia, is backing the project despite the current economic crisis.

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Russia, Jordan sign civil nuclear cooperation deal
Eugeny Bezeka

15:4322/05/2009

MOSCOW, May 22 (RIA Novosti) - Russia and Jordan signed on Friday a nuclear cooperation agreement, under which power plants, desalination stations, research facilities and personnel training centers will be built in the Mideast country.

The 10-year agreement, which also stipulates cooperation in the production and use of nuclear materials, was signed in Moscow by Sergei Kiriyenko, the head of Russia's Rosatom nuclear corporation, and Jordanian Atomic Energy Commission chief Khaled Toukan.

"The signed agreement is the beginning of major strategic cooperation between the two countries. We intend to cooperate in the construction of nuclear power plants... and plan to build four plants in Jordan in the coming decades," Kiriyenko said.

Toukan told reporters: "We have started negotiations on various areas of cooperation, but the most important of them is the construction of a nuclear power plant for production of electric power, and of a desalination station."

He said Russia's participation in processing of uranium in Jordan is also an important part of the deal.

Russian nuclear power plant constructer Atomstroyexport, established in 1998, has completed or is working on reactors in Iran, Bulgaria, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, China and India.

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Jewish lobby attacks President Obama
POOL | Buy this image
10:5923/05/2009

MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti commentator Dmitry Babich) – Comparison of Barack Obama to Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev before the November 2008 elections turned out to be true by at least one count.

Although he has assumed office only four months ago, Obama already has many opponents who accuse him of weakness, pandering to the enemies, and betraying principles. These are the sins Gorbachev was accused of by the Communist Party’s conservatives.

Obama’s opponents are criticizing his plans of major financial injections in the economy, expected to produce a “growth miracle.” However, many analysts fear that this will only spur inflation, which will boomerang at all dollar holders across the world.

Their other targets are a record-high budget deficit and the bankruptcy of several companies that had seemed to be unsinkable.

But Obama’s biggest sin, according to his opponents, is his neglect for the security of Israel, even though that neglect has so far been only verbal.

Several weeks ago, the U.S. President made an unprecedented direct appeal to the people of Iran, a country with which the United States has had no diplomatic relations for 30 years and which it planned to bomb five years ago, inspired by the initial success of its invasion of Iraq.

This week, Obama gave a cool welcome to Benyamin Netanyahu, Israel’s new conservative prime minister. He pointed to the need for establishing an independent Arab Palestinian state under the so-called two-state solution, which stipulates the establishment of a Jewish and an Arab states in the territory of Israel with a common capital in Jerusalem.

So far Israel is not on the itinerary for the president's June trip to the Middle East, although he plans to go to Egypt.

Conservative WASPs in the U.S. expert community interpreted all of the above as betrayal of America’s old ally in the Middle East.

Ariel Cohen, a Russian and Eurasian expert at the Heritage Foundation, has published a most radical article on this issue in The Washington Times on May 18, 2009.

He writes that the Obama Administration’s policy “is dangerously close to extorting concessions with the threat of a nuclear holocaust, which may be initiated by the vitriolic Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.”

“The administration wants Mr Netanyahu to retreat fully to the June 4, 1967, cease-fire lines, including partition of Jerusalem,” Cohen writes. “A vast majority of Israelis oppose such an untenable scenario. Those lines are widely considered indefensible. The late, dovish Israeli Foreign Minister Abba Eban called them ‘the borders of Auschwitz.’”

Another critic of Obama, Marc Gerecht, a former CIA officer and a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, writes in The Wall Street Journal: “A European effort to cripple Iran's production and transport of liquefied gas – an enormous future financial reservoir for Iran given its reserves – could cause a political earthquake in Tehran. The mullahs just might suspend uranium enrichment. But the Obama administration appears deeply conflicted about using ‘sticks.’”

Obama is definitely uneasy about that criticism. Even though claims that the new Nazis intend to force their allies into new concentration camps or to incinerate them in a nuclear strike sound demagogical, they are still supported by part of the U.S. population.

According to the last Zogby International survey, the situation in the Middle East is polarizing U.S. public opinion. As many as 73% of McCain supporters are against forcing a two-state solution on Israel and only 16% support this formula, which is part of the new president’s Mideast policy.

As for Obama backers, 71% believe that the United States should “get tough with Israel” to stop settlements and achieve a two-state solution to the conflict, while 18% are against such a move.

Even if Obama chooses to ignore the opinion of 73% of McCain backers, his overzealous attempts to pressurize Israel into concessions could lose him an important part of his electorate, namely the liberal American Jews.

During the 2008 election, 76% of Jewish Americans voted for Obama, partly because of their dislike for George W. Bush and their disappointment with the war in Iraq. But they may turn their backs on Obama if he refuses to honor his commitment to “leave Jerusalem the undivided capital of Israel.”

So far, Obama has been responding to criticism just as Mikhail Gorbachev did, by making optimistic statements, pretending not to hear harsh criticism, or speaking in favor of everything good and against everything evil.

Still, he will have to answer even the most unpleasant questions sooner or later.

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

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Chinese traders leave as Kyrgyzstan closes markets

5 hours 10 mins ago
AFP Matt Siegel


Bright bolts of fabric, toys and construction materials still crowd the shelves of Central Asia's largest bazaar but its once ubiquitous Chinese traders are beginning to dwindle in number.


Tucked away from the crush of bargain hunters in the courtyard of a crumbling Soviet-era apartment block, a sign dangling ominously in a window captures the mood here at Kyrgyzstan's Kara-Suu market.

The hand-written poster announces simply, in Russian and Chinese: "Apartment for Rent."

Once a destination for thousands of Chinese traders, the financial crisis has turned this outdoor market in the volatile Fergana Valley into the site of an exodus that has traders and the government very nervous.

As the financial crisis bites deep into the region's coffers, Kyrgyzstan and some other Central Asian states are succumbing to protectionism, possibly at the expense of booming trade and ties with China fostered over a decade.

"As other governments have lowered their taxes and given out incentives, Kyrgyzstan has done the opposite for us," said Yan Tsou Pin, head of the Association of Chinese Entrepenuers in Southern Kyrgyzstan, a lobbying group.

"Little by little, gradually and quietly like water, our Chinese people have begun to flow away from here."

A major conduit for Chinese goods and influence into what was Russia's backyard, Kara-Suu has now become a test of the viability of Beijing's plans to expand its presence into neighbouring Central Asia.

Since last year, thousands of Chinese traders have left Kyrgyzstan in reaction to protectionist economic measures taken by local officials, who are themselves panicked by the country's worsening economic situation.

The moves by the local government in Osh province, where the bazaar is located, illustrate the delicate balancing act that has come to define the "special relationship" that has developed between the poorer states of Central Asia and an ascendant China.

The earnings of Chinese business people were already taxed at a higher rate than their local counterparts, but last year these taxes were raised an astonishing 500 percent.

At the same time, the number of business licenses granted to Chinese citizens was slashed, a move defended by the head of Osh's Migration and Employment Committee, Daniyar Tolonov.

"No one can compete with Chinese traders today, because they have direct supplies from China, and their goods are cheaper," he said. "Today, we are protecting jobs for our citizens."

A politically unstable state bordering China, Kyrgyzstan has been battered by falling remittances from its own migrant labour force in Russia and Kazakhstan.

Taxes levied on Chinese traders and entrepreneurs dwarf those paid by locals, Tolonov said, providing a key source of revenue for the state without which it would simply be unable to meet citizens' basic needs.

Or, as Yan succinctly put it: "If you want the eggs, you can't kill the chicken."

But at the same time officials must monitor the political temperature among locals who are angry at what they see as the unfair business practices of the Chinese.

Competing with the Chinese, who have a distinct advantage due to their native language fluency and personal relationships with wholesalers in China, has proved a daunting task for many in the market.

"We have no problems with the Chinese. They don't bother anyone at all. They're very honest and trustworthy people. But they're ruining our business," said 49-year-old Zulfiya Khaidarova.

However that particular complaint may soon be a thing of the past -- if the authorities choose to ignore the concerns of Chinese representatives like Yan.

More than half of the nearly 5,000 Chinese traders -- both official and unofficial -- have already left for neighbouring Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, said Yan, who herself came here more than a decade ago.

While both neighbouring states have their drawbacks -- Uzbekistan's legal system is draconian and Tajikistan is poor and unstable -- Yan said anything would be an improvement on Kyrgyzstan's heavy-handed economic policy.

Others however seem unconvinced of this.

Only one of the dozens of Chinese traders approached by AFP was willing to speak to a reporter, and then on condition that her real name not be used.

Sensing the delicate political mood in the market, many said they feared irking either the authorities or their neighbours by speaking to the press.

The one who did speak asked to be called Tanya, a nickname she picked up while working in Russia before she moved to Kara-Suu.

She said that despite problems, she wouldn't be leaving and explained that the hazards associated with living across the border in tense Uzbekistan could be even greater.

"The route is not good. When you cross the border, border officials take your money, ask for bribes," she said. Uzbek police "are very bad. There, they are worse than in Kyrgyzstan."

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コンタクト専門店、ＨＯＹＡが中国への出店加速

　ＨＯＹＡは中国でコンタクトレンズ専門店「アイシティ」の出店を加速する。新しいブランドコンセプトに基づいた店舗を上海中心に展開。中国のコンタクトレンズ市場は急成長が見込まれており、海外の主力市場として攻勢をかける。2010年3月期に30―40店の出店を目指す。

　ＨＯＹＡは05年12月に中国・上海に1号店を出店。これまでに8店舗を運営している。中国市場が年率30―40％の勢いで急成長し、13年には日本市場に匹敵する規模に育つと判断。中国の消費者が親しみやすい新しいロゴを活用した店を展開し、シェア拡大を狙う。

　ＨＯＹＡのコンタクトレンズなどヘルスケア分野は、09年3月期の売上高営業利益率が23.1％と不況下でも高収益をあげている。中国などアジアを成長市場と位置づけ事業拡大を狙う。(12:44)

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政府・与党、武器輸出三原則の緩和検討　共同開発・生産を容認

　政府・与党は23日、武器や武器技術の輸出を禁止する武器輸出三原則の緩和を検討する方針を固めた。年末に改定する予定の防衛計画の大綱に、他国との武器の共同開発・生産の容認や、共同開発国への輸出の解禁を盛り込む。欧米諸国が進めている次世代戦闘機など主要装備の共同開発・生産への参加の道を開き、調達コストの抑制と、国内の防衛産業の活性化につなげる狙いだ。

　武器輸出三原則は1967年に佐藤栄作首相が表明した共産国や国際紛争の当事国などへの武器禁輸方針だった。76年に三木武夫首相が事実上の「全面輸出禁止」に転換。現在も米国とのミサイル防衛（ＭＤ）システムの共同開発などを除き、禁輸が続いている。(14:57)

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次期戦闘機：米がＦ３５購入を打診　空自、Ｆ２２困難に

　航空自衛隊の次期主力戦闘機（ＦＸ）の選定を巡り、浜田靖一防衛相が今月１日に訪米した際、ゲーツ国防長官から戦闘機Ｆ３５の導入を打診されていたことが２３日、分かった。会談では、防衛省が最有力候補にしてきた最新鋭のステルス戦闘機Ｆ２２について、ゲーツ長官が禁輸条項を理由に輸出は困難と説明した。米側がＦ３５購入を強く促したことで、Ｆ２２の導入は困難な状況となった。

　Ｆ２２は現状では世界最高水準のステルス技術を内包しているため、技術の流出を懸念する米議会の意向で輸出禁止措置が取られている。さらに４月、ゲーツ長官が、現在計画中の１８７機で生産を終了し、米軍には最新鋭ステルス機で英豪などと共同開発しているＦ３５の導入を推進することを表明していた。

　浜田防衛相とゲーツ長官はワシントンで会談。ゲーツ長官が米議会の状況について説明した。この中で、Ｆ３５の機種名を挙げて、日本側が選定するよう示唆したという。浜田防衛相は「防空能力のしっかりしたものを考えたい」と述べ、Ｆ２２を選択肢として残す意向を示したが、米側は軍事機密優先という構えを崩しておらず、防衛省では「Ｆ２２導入が難しいのは間違いない」（幹部）との見方が大勢だ。

　防衛省はＦＸ候補として、Ｆ２２とＦ３５のほか欧州の共同開発によるユーロファイター・タイフーンなど計６機種から選定作業を進めてきた。中でも高度のステルス機能を有し防空能力が群を抜くＦ２２が本命とされていた。Ｆ３５は１機約９０億円で１機約１４０億円のＦ２２よりも価格が安いが、ステルス性能が劣り、実戦配備は１４年ごろの予定となる。

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新型インフル：簡易検査の４割陰性　国立感染研が分析

　新型インフルエンザに感染した大阪府茨木市の関西大倉中・高と同府八尾市立小の患者計６９人について、国立感染症研究所が分析結果をまとめた。遺伝子検査前の簡易検査での陽性反応は発症翌日が８８％だったが、発症当日と３日目はともに５７％だった。感染研は「簡易検査で陰性でも新型インフル感染を否定することはできない」としている。

　神戸で確認された高校生ら４３人についての感染研の分析は２０日に政府が発表しているが、大阪分の分析内容が明らかになったのは初めて。

　分析対象の６９人は１９日までに感染が確定された患者。簡易検査についてはこのうち、小学生５人と入院した関西大倉関係者１８人の計２３人を調べた。発症翌日に検査を受けた８人のうち７人が陽性だったが、発症当日と３日目に簡易検査を受けた計１４人のうち陽性は８人だった。

　一方、６９人のうち多くは突然の高熱が出たが、せきなどの急性の呼吸器症状や嘔吐（おうと）を訴えた数日後に３８度以上の高熱を発症した例もあった。感染研は「症例数が少ないため、さらに多くの患者の検討が必要」としている。

　また、感染研は感染ルートに絡み、関西大倉は学年ごとに校舎が分かれているが食堂が中・高共通で、スクールバスも満員状態で運行されていたことを指摘した。