Israel Named Developed Market at MSCI, Korea Isn’t (Update3)

Israel Named Developed Market at MSCI, Korea Isn’t (Update3)
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By Tal Barak Harif and Shinhye Kang

June 16 (Bloomberg) -- Israel was raised to developed- market status at MSCI Inc., whose stock indexes are tracked by investors with about $3 trillion in assets. South Korea, which was under review for an upgrade, remained an emerging market.

Israel, with $134.5 billion in stock-market value, was the 14th-biggest nation classified as an emerging economy by the New York-based firm, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Korea will be evaluated for the developed-markets designation again in 2010, MSCI said.

The TA-25 Index of Tel Aviv shares has surged 30 percent in 2009, beating 20 out of 23 developed markets tracked by MSCI. Israeli technology and chemical companies may attract increased investment, according to Michael Wang, London-based strategist at Morgan Stanley.

“They deserve that distinction,” said Marc Tommasi, the Fairport, New York-based managing director of global strategies at Manning & Napier Advisors, which oversees $3.6 billion of equities outside the U.S. Becoming a developed market “opens countries to a broader universe of potential investors.”

Israel will shift in 2010. MSCI also said it will consider making Taiwan a developed market. The firm announced that the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Kuwait will remain frontier markets.

South Korea

South Korea wasn’t classified as a developed market because its currency isn’t fully convertible and its stock market’s real-time data didn’t meet the requirement for the change, MSCI said.

“Investors have continued to highlight some significant accessibility issues for Korea which are not characteristic of developed markets,” MSCI said.

The benchmark Kospi index fell for a second day, declining 1 percent to 1,398.63 as of 12:03 p.m. in Seoul trading. The measure has risen 25 percent this year, lagging behind the gain in MSCI’s gauge of emerging markets.

“The South Korean stock market wasn’t interested in the MSCI upgrade, so I don’t think it will negatively affect market,” said Lee Jin Woo, a fund manager at Seoul-based KTB Asset Management Co., which manages $9 billion in assets. “Global money is likely to focus on emerging economies, which will recover faster than developed markets. I cannot see many benefits from the upgrade under the current situation.”

Emerging-Market Rally

The MSCI Emerging Markets Index of 22 developing nations has surged 34 percent this year as oil and metals prices rallied on signs the worst of the global recession is over, boosting the outlook for commodity producers. The MSCI World Index of 23 developed countries has climbed 4.9 percent, while the MSCI Frontier Markets Index that includes companies from 25 nations gained 14 percent through June 12.

Greece, which became a developed market in 2001, was the last nation to win that designation at MSCI.

Valuations on the TA-25 have more than doubled since the fourth quarter. Using the prior 12 months of operating profit, the price-to-earnings ratio for the TA-25 has jumped to 24.5 from 9.6 in November.

Israel’s economy is forecast to expand 0.3 percent in 2010, after shrinking 1.7 percent this year, the International Monetary Fund said in its April World Economic Outlook report.

The TA-25 Index fell 3.3 percent yesterday, the most in 2 1/2 months. Emerging-market investors prevented from owning the nation’s shares should it become a developed market may have sold stock in anticipation of MSCI’s change.

“We expect a significant negative impact on the TA-25,” Daniel Rapoport, the head of trading at Excellence Nessuah Investments Ltd. in Ramat Gan, Israel, wrote in an e-mail following MSCI’s announcement.

Selling by emerging-market investors barred from owning stocks in developed markets will probably exceed purchases from asset managers who specialize in the latter, Rapoport wrote.

“Moreover, while we expect the outflow to start immediately, the inflows will commence only after May 2010 when the implementation starts officially,” he wrote. “This could quickly create a significant downward pressure on the index.”

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Madoff victims spew avalanche of insults

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AFP

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Calling him a "murderer" and a "monster," more than 100 victims of Wall Street swindler Bernard Madoff have asked the judge who will sentence him on June 29 for the maximum sentence. Skip related content
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A total of 113 victims of the fraud have written letters and emails to US District Judge Denny Chin, almost all calling for a life prison term and some demanding even further punishment.

Chin could sentence Madoff, 71, to up to 150 years in prison. The former chairman of the Nasdaq stock exchange operated the fraud for decades, conning investors into depositing billions of dollars that were then used to pay fictitious returns.

"Please make sure the facility in which he rots is extremely uncomfortable," wrote Jesse Cohen, a businessman from New Jersey who lost all his savings to Madoff's massive Ponzi scheme, in one of the letters released by federal prosecutors.

Summarizing the views of many victims, Ron Weinstein, 62, wrote: "This scum should never again see the light of day."

Madoff has been in jail since March after admitting guilt in the scheme, the biggest in Wall Street history and estimated to have involved around 61 billion dollars, of which only one billion has been recovered.

Natalie Erger, who described herself as "an investor sentenced by Madoff to a lifetime of financial ruin and emotional unrest," compared the financier to Adolf Hitler and Saddam Hussein.

Many of the investors were elderly retirees who thought their life savings were in safe hands.

Norman Feinberg, a 70-year-old retiree, said he had turned to Madoff because of his "impeccable reputation".

Carl and Alyse Kornblum, respectively 70 and 66 years old, wrote: "Can you believe as teenagers and school chums and young married we were once friends with Bernie and Ruth Madoff?

"I really can't believe Bernie could be such a sociopathic low-life!"

The angry words reflected the frustration and outrage of those who relied on Madoff for years to handle their funds, ranging from modest life savings to large fortunes.

"You are a murderer," wrote investor Phyllis Lerner, also calling Madoff, a member of New York's elite Jewish society and a frequent fixture at golf courses in Palm Beach, Florida, a "rapist" who committed "generational theft."

Jackie Stone called the former Wall Street star a "killer" and a "destroyer."

"I cry every day," she wrote.

William Cohen, another investor, said Madoff "is a psychopathic lying egomaniac who is still trying to feather his nest with a more moderate sentence."

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日本製紙グループ本社、四国コカ・コーラを完全子会社に、10月に株式交換

2009年6月16日

この記事を携帯へ転送

　日本製紙グループ本社は6月15日、傘下の飲料メーカー、四国コカ・コーラボトリングを10月1日付けで完全子会社にすると発表した。四国コカ・コーラの経営環境が厳しくなっているため、経営基盤の強化を図る。四国コカ・コーラはこれに先立つ9月25日に東京証券取引所で上場廃止になる見込み。

　事業会社の日本製紙が保有する四国コカ・コーラの発行済み株式54.93％分を、6月18日付けで持ち株会社の日本製紙グループ本社が取得する。その後、10月1日付けで日本製紙グループ本社と四国コカ・コーラの株式交換を実施する予定。四国コカ株1株につき日本製紙グループ本社株0.39株を割り当て交付する。

　これに伴い日本製紙グループ本社は新株400万5368株を発行する。同社の発行済み株式は6月15日時点で1億1225万3463株。

　四国コカ・コーラは2009年1―3月期の連結業績で3億700万円の純損失を計上し、前年同期から赤字幅を拡大した。2009年12月期通期は最終損益は3億5000万円の黒字を見込むが、事業地域の四国4県では人口減が進むなど、経営環境は厳しくなっている。

　日本製紙グループは四国コカ・コーラを完全子会社にしたあと、工場の操業改善ノウハウや技術を提供するほか、管理／間接部門の共有化を進める。また今後も厳しい経営環境が続きそうな国内製紙事業を、飲料関連事業の強化で補完する狙いもある。

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統一教会系ＮＰＯイベント、外務省が後援（1/2ページ）

2009年6月16日15時4分

　世界基督教統一神霊協会（統一教会）の関係者が運営するＮＰＯ法人のイベントを外務省が後援したり、そこで自治体の首長や現役官僚が講演したりしていたことがわかった。統一教会をめぐっては、脅迫的な手法で高額商品を売りつける霊感商法との関連が長年問題になっており、最近も福岡と東京で相次いで警察当局に摘発されている。

　ＮＰＯは「未来構想戦略フォーラム」（東京都武蔵野市）。０２年に発足し、０７年に都認証ＮＰＯとして法人化。「日本の未来ビジョンの構築」を目的に毎月、講演会やシンポジウムを開いている。

　共同代表２人のうち実務を担う男性は、統一教会系の「世界平和教授アカデミー」の元事務局長。副代表の男性は、０５年に同教会系の学会の発起人となった。事務局長には、０８年に同教会系の「世界平和青年連合」の支部長となった男性が就いている。さらに、フォーラムが主催するイベントでは、統一教会系の「天宙平和連合」用の受付を会場に設けるなどしている。

　外務省は昨年１２月、このＮＰＯが中心になって開いたシンポジウムを後援。０４年７月の同ＮＰＯ主催の会合では現職の大使が講演した。毎月の講演会でも杉並区の山田宏区長や内閣府、農林水産省の官僚が講演したり、武蔵野市が後援についたりしている。

　後援について、外務省は「規定に従った申請書が出され、趣旨も問題なかった。どんな団体かは、調べていない」。山田区長は「統一教会と関係があると分かっていれば、講師を断っていた」とする。一方、武蔵野市は「後援申請団体の役員に宗教を尋ねることは、信教の自由の点で問題がある。どうすべきか判断が難しい」としている。

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偽造証券？：１３兆円分密輸未遂で拘束の日本人　伊が釈放

　【コモ（イタリア北部）藤原章生】日本人男性２人が今月３日、計１３４０億ドル（約１３兆円）相当の米有価証券をイタリアからスイスに持ち出そうとしたとして、イタリア当局に拘束された事件で、所持していた証券は偽造の可能性が高いことが１５日までの毎日新聞の取材で分かった。また、今年４月上旬にも日本人が関与したとみられる別の偽造証券の押収事案があったことが判明。イタリア財務警察とコモ検察庁は、相次ぐ「巨額」偽造証券の背後に日本人を含む組織的な関与があるとみて捜査している。

　同検察庁は、在ローマ米大使館と連携し、押収した証券について調査。関係者によると、２人が所持していた米国債やケネディ債は「額面の大きさや発行年代が現存しない可能性が高い」という。イタリアの法律では、証券が本物の場合、２人には未申告輸出の容疑で巨額の罰金刑が科せられるが、偽物の場合、使用や提示がなければ処罰されないため、２人は事情聴取後に釈放された。在ミラノ日本総領事館は２人の所在を把握していないという。

　今年４月の事件では、日本人から依頼を受けたイタリア人男性が、額面２００億ドル相当の日本国債の偽造品をスイスに持ち出そうとして、財務警察に押収された。

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Italy to take three Guantánamo detainees

By Guy Dinmore in Rome

Published: June 16 2009 10:37 | Last updated: June 16 2009 10:37

Italy has stepped forward to help the Obama administration close its Guantánamo prison with a specific offer to take three detainees, but already the decision has led to dissent within Silvio Berlusconi’s centre-right coalition.

Barack Obama, US president, thanked the Italian prime minister in the White House on Monday for agreeing to accept “three specific detainees” from Guantánamo, which he intends to shut down by next January.

Mr Berlusconi’s offer was the first from an EU government following an agreement reached between the EU and the US on Monday on accepting detainees. The EU said it was up to each government to decide.

Italian newspapers reported that the three detainees were Tunisians. Officials in Rome were not able to provide immediate details on the agreement reached in Washington. It was not clear whether the three detainees would be released in Italy or imprisoned there.

Roberto Maroni, Italy’s interior minister and a member of the right-wing, anti-immigration Northern League, expressed his personal opposition to accepting detainees. He told Radio 24 that countries belonging to the Schengen open borders pact should only take detainees who would remain in prison.

Mr Berlusconi has been anxious to establish as good a relationship with the new US administration as the one he enjoyed with George W. Bush. Mr Berlusconi also offered to extend the deployment in Afghanistan of several hundred soldiers, Carabinieri and police instructors who have been sent for extra security over the coming election period.

Albania, a close US ally, was the first European government to take Guantánamo detainees, receiving five Muslim Uighurs who could not return to their native China for fear of persecution. Four more Chinese Uighurs were accepted by Bermuda, and 13 more are expected to settle on the Pacific island of Palau.

About 230 inmates still remain in Guantánamo, a US-controlled enclave in Cuba where the former Bush administration set up the prison in 2002.

Belgium, the UK, France, Ireland, Portugal and Spain have also expressed willingness to accept some Guantánamo detainees.

”This is not just talk. Italy has agreed to accept three specific detainees,” Mr Obama said on Monday.

Three Guantánamo detainees were transferred to Saudi Arabia last week, the US Justice Department said. Mr Obama is facing opposition in Congress to sending some detainees to prisons on US soil.

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Putin moves to heal Belarus rift

By Catherine Beltonin Moscow andStefan Wagstyl in London

Published: June 15 2009 17:41 | Last updated: June 15 2009 22:20

Vladimir Putin, Russia’s prime minister, moved to quash a diplomatic rift with Belarus on Monday after a dispute over milk imports threatened to harm relations between the former Soviet neighbours.

Tension between the two countries erupted over the weekend when Alexander Lukashenko, Belarusian leader, pulled out of a regional security summit in Moscow at the last minute.

Dmitry Medvedev, the Russian president, accused Mr Lukashenko of failing to act “as a true partner” after he said Moscow’s ban on Belarusian milk exports “effectively forces Belarusians to their knees”.

But on Monday Mr Putin told ministers, who had complained Mr Lukashenko was “over-politicising” the milk war, to be “more careful” in their statements. “Whatever happens, we are one family with Belarus. There can be all kinds of arguments and scandals in a family, but life takes its course and we need to work,” he said.

The outbreak of tension highlights the difficulties facing Moscow as it vies with the EU to cement its influence over former Soviet states and forge new economic and security ties.

A report published on Tuesday warns the European Union to increase its political and economic support for its eastern neighbours, including Belarus, or “face a ring of failing states and an increasingly active Russia rebuilding its sphere of influence”.

The European Council for Foreign Relations, a London-based think-tank, argues that the EU’s recently launched eastern partnership policy for the six countries – Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan – is not sufficiently dynamic as a response to the region’s political and economic crises. The authors call for country-specific support policies, including an urgent visa liberalisation.

Mr Lukashenko had been due to attend a regional security summit where participants, including Armenia, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, signed an agreement to create a regional rapid reaction security force to deal with terrorism and regional conflicts.

Mr Lukashenko said Belarus’ absence meant the agreement had no legal force.

The spat between Minsk and Moscow broke out just days after Mr Putin led a drive to agree a new customs union with Belarus and Kazakhstan, dropping Russia’s 16-year unilateral bid to join the World Trade Organisation in favour of a joint bid. The move was seen by analysts as part of Russia’s focus on building a regional power base.

Experts said Mr Putin would seek to keep a lid on the differences between Russia and Belarus as the customs union became a central goal.

“I believe the conflict will ease,” said Fyodor Lukyanov, editor of Russia in Global Affairs. “Russia will undertake all efforts to make sure the customs union goes through.”

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足利事件：県警本部長、菅家さんに直接謝罪へ　弁護団に意向伝える　／栃木

　「足利事件」の再審請求即時抗告審で、東京高裁に意見書を提出した菅家利和さん（６２）の弁護団は１２日、東京都内で記者会見し、県警の石川正一郎本部長が菅家さんに直接謝罪する意向を伝えてきたことを明らかにした。コメントでの謝罪から一転、県警トップが自ら直接謝罪する方針を示したことに、菅家さんは「許します」と語り、県警の姿勢を評価したという。

　県警は１１日、石川本部長名での謝罪コメントを発表したが、本人への謝罪の有無や時期については「適時適切に対応する」とし、明示しなかった。しかし弁護団などによると、同日夜、佐藤博史弁護士の事務所に県警から連絡があり、１２日朝、佐藤弁護士が県警に確認すると、「石川本部長は菅家さんに直接謝罪するつもりだ」などと伝えられたという。弁護団は日程を調整して、来週にも県警に予定を伝える方針だという。

　一方、県警刑事総務課によると、１１日夜に本部長コメントを弁護側にファクスで送付し、その後白井孝雄同課長が経緯を説明したという。しかし、石川本部長の直接謝罪について「コメントできない」としている。