James Simons.

James Simons. German rift opens over Opel sale. October 9 2009 23:00. A rift opened up at the top of the German government on Friday over the state-sponsored sale of Opel, just as Berlin haggled with other European governments over their financial contributions for the deal. The Financial Times has learnt that a dispute has broken out between the office of Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, and the economics ministry over the protracted negotiations to secure financial support for the deal from the UK, Spain and Belgium. The German government brokered the agreement to sell a 55 per cent stake in Opel-Vauxhall, the European operations of General Motorsof the US, to Magna International. But success hinges on securing €4.5bn ($6.6m) in state-backed loans and credit guarantees, mostly provided by Berlin, but topped up with contributions from the other European countries. The chancellery is understood to be unhappy about the way Jochen Homann, deputy economics minister, has conducted the talks. Tensions over the deal have been simmering since Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, the German economics minister, rejected the Magna deal earlier this year, only to be overruled by Ms Merkel. The German government rift surfaced after talks between European government officials in Berlin, and between the unions and Magna ended without resolution, threatening to delay next week’s planned signing of the deal. Berlin has faced mounting resistance to the deal from Spain, the UK and Belgium, which are concerned they are bearing a higher proportion of the 10,500 planned job cuts. Germany is home to 50 per cent of the Opel workforce of 50,000 but internal documents show it has some of the least efficient plants. After meeting Siegfried Wolf, Magna’s co-chief executive, on Friday, Miguel Sebastián, Spain’s industry minister, reaffirmed his scepticism about the deal. He said Magna, which plans further talks in Madrid next Tuesday, had not been able to convince him of its industrial concept for Opel. Mr Sebastián insisted that the Spanish Opel plant in Zaragoza should not lose any of its capacity to less or equally productive plants in Germany. Magna plans to shift one production line from the Figueruelas factory, which employs around 7,500 and is among Opel’s most efficient plants, to Eisenach in Germany. Sources close to the German government said Spain was insisting on a guarantee for the plant, which they said could conflict with European state aid rules. Another round of talks in the UK between the government, the unions and Magna also failed to come to an agreement on Friday. “We have not yet reached a conclusion which is acceptable to either the union or the government,” a UK government spokesman said. But British government officials indicated they thought there could be a resolution next week after “good progress” was made in the past few days. The unions want Magna to commit to producing 150,000 vehicles per year at the Ellesmere Port plant in north-west England, 20 per cent more than foreseen under its plan. The unions claim this could halve the planned 830 job losses. There were further signs of political unease in Germany over the deal on Friday when Rainer Brüderle, one of the senior members of the Free Democratic Party, which is the future junior coalition party of Ms Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union party, expressed concern about the deal. “My fears are gradually being realised that nothing has been properly worked out on this,” he said.

В центре Москвы обстреляна автомашина. 9 октября 2009, 19:08. В центре Москвы в пятницу вечером была обстреляна автомашина Toyota Landcruiser, по предварительным данным, пострадавших нет. Трое неизвестных около 18.40 открыли стрельбу по поворачивавшей из Оружейного переулка на Садовую-Триумфальную улицу автомашине. В результате машина с номерами С001АР регион 199 врезалась в бетонное ограждение над тоннелем. При этом она зацепила несколько находящихся рядом транспортных средств. Сейчас движение в данном районе практически остановлено, на месте находятся работники ГАИ. По предварительным данным, в машине находился только водитель. Он не пострадал при ДТП – сработали подушки безопасности. Некоторые очевидцы происшествия предположили, что огонь по машине велся из травматического оружия – на лобовом стекле видны следы от пуль, однако отверстий не видно, сообщает«Интерфакс».

Se retira uno de los gurús de los hedge fund. 21:00 09-10-2009. James Simons, fundador y director del hedge fund cuantitativo Renaissance Technologies, ha anunciado su intención de retirarse a finales de 2009. Simons se dio a conocer a nivel mundial y a todas las escalas el año pasado, cuando compareció junto a George Soros, John Paulson, Philip Falcone y Ken Griffin en el Congreso de los Estados Unidos por las acusaciones de haber provocado el estallido de la crisis financiera. Este profesor de matemáticas aplicó todos sus conocimientos académicos al mundo de la inversión hace 27 años. Desde entonces, sus hedge fund fueron ganando reconocimiento y aumentando sus activos año tras año. Simons es en la actualidad la 55º mayor fortuna del mundo y 29º de Estados Unidos, con un patrimonio valorado en 8.500 millones de dólares y fue nombrado en 2006 como el billonario más listo del mundo, según Financial Times. Simons seguirá participando puntualmente en la gestión de los hedge fund de Renaissance, gestora de la que seguirá siendo el máximo accionista y presidente, pero a sus 71 años dejará el día a día para sus hombres de confianza. Este gestor empezó su carrera en 1978, año en el que ganó más de 1.000 millones. En 1982 fundó Renaissance, que actualmente gestiona en torno a 20.000 millones de dólares. Sin embargo, los dos últimos años ha supuesto los peores momentos para este hedge fund, que ha perdido cerca del 50% de sus activos por la crisis financiera y la oleada de reembolsos de clientes institucionales de hedge fund. Antes de gestor, Simons fue profesor de matemáticas en el Instituto de Tecnología de Massachussets, en Harvard y la Universidad Stony Brook hasta que en 1976 ganó una condecoración de la Asociación Americana de Matemáticas. Durante la guerra de Vietnam descifró códigos para el departamento de defensa norteamericano.

A lot the Science et Vie.

A lot the Science et Vie. When it comes to my laundry, M.O. is this: Deciding precisely what I want; get myself to the exact location using a ‘Point A to Point B’ strategy; then lay my hands in a proper washing. After this, lay out the battle plan for anyone who’s along for the ‘trip’, and make my escape. I’m joking. Many years ago I had complicated period in my life when I read a lot the Science et Vie. Stories which will help you ‘enjoy the ride’ with me much more. Classic example from those readings is a common syndrome, looking far away when you ought to be dealing with something on your own doorsteps. If seriously, it’s like make the emphasize the keeping my eyes on the goal, and not in a silly arguments which are constantly erupted by some “medvedev” or “put in”, who’s continually in needs to beat everyone else. To don’t be too much bombastic, let’s rephrase this “El Valiente Soldado del Plomo” in other form. The Terry Pratchett in “The Unadulterated Cat” say: “Getting Real cats to take medication can be a problem”. And you start to see how touches in the “Born in 1838”, make possible that Irish O’Bama becomes the laureate of Nobel Peace Prize. Mean, look at yourselves. First, you should emphasize team work – than speak. Firs pay, - than send for me the “aca ca” (assassins) from Las Americas. Where I ask you this: Why would I sacrifice a project which is going through? (Portland 450 Cement between others) Your opinion is good, they can offer pause for thought, but they aren’t the law. Even when they are discarded by law-makers with axe. With these, I own my own mind – and my actions.

Fundos soberanos pouco expressivos para serem ameaça política. Os fundos soberanos ganharam protagonismo na actual crise, ao salvarem do colapso financeiro os grandes bancos de Wall Street, como o Citigroup, Merrill Lynch ou Morgan Stanley. As bandeiras do capitalismo ficaram a meia haste com a entrada em força de dinheiro fresco oriundo do mundo árabe e da China, cujos regimes políticos, de pendor totalitarista são contestados e receados no Ocidente. Mais do que a entrada meramente financeira no capital das empresas, teme-se o aumento da influência política no mundo ocidental. Durante a campanha eleitoral dos EUA, o actual presidente Barack Obama mostrava apreensão: "Preocupa-me que estes... fundos soberanos tenham outras motivações que não as meramente de mercado e essa é obviamente uma possibilidade". Na sequência das intervenções dos fundos soberanos na banca norte-americana, o Congresso dos EUA solicitou um estudo para aferir o nível de desconforto dos países em relação à entrada dos fundos de capitais nas suas empresas. E o resultado foi revelador: Seis em cada 10 países inquiridos expressaram desconforto em relação as fundos. O presidente francês foi mais longe. Em Outubro de 2008, no período mais crítico da crise financeira, que se seguiu à queda da Lehman Brothers, Nicolas Sarkozy anunciou a criação de um fundo soberano que teria como única missão impedir que a indústria francesa considerada estratégica caísse nas mãos de estrangeiros por se encontrar demasiado fragilizada pela crise. A medida proteccionista foi amplamente criticada pelos líderes europeus. Mas Sarkozy avançou.

Spain demands rework of Magna’s Opel plan. October 9 2009 02:34. The political row over Magna International’s plan to buy Opel escalated on Thursday when UK and Spanish politicians lashed out against the carmaker’s restructuring plan, culminating in Madrid boycotting a planned ministerial meeting to discuss the deal on Friday in Berlin. The German government was scrambling to prevent negotiations on state-backed financing for the deal with Magna, the Canadian car parts supplier, from falling apart after Spain boycotted the inter-governmental talks. Miguel Sebastián, Spain’s industry minister, will instead meet Siegfried Wolf, Magna’s co-chief executive, to try to convince him to rework the business plan and delay the deal, which could be signed next week. A Spanish official said on Thursday that Madrid was “not prepared to help finance a plan which could lead to the destruction of the Opel brand in Spain and Europe”. Lord Mandelson, the UK’s business secretary, took a similar stance on Thursday. Speaking to the Financial Times on a visit to Seoul, South Korea, he said the UK government could not “sign off” on the current form of the deal, which would see Magna and Russia’s Sberbank buy 55 per cent of Opel and Vauxhall, its UK subsidiary. Spain, the UK and Belgium are concerned that they are bearing a higher proportion of the 10,500 planned job cuts than Germany, which brokered the deal for General Motors’ European operations. Its success hinges on securing €4.5bn ($6.6bn) of state-backed loans and credit guarantees, mostly provided by Berlin. Lord Mandelson pointed to a report from PwC, the accounting firm, on Opel that stopped short of declaring Magna’s restructuring plan unviable but identified serious weaknesses. “Those need to be addressed. If there are not to be negative consequences for Vauxhall, the plan needs to be redressed in certain ways,” he said. UK government insiders said “progress has been made” this week on resolving the concerns in relation to the share of work that would be allocated to the Vauxhall plants under the deal. One person involved in the talks between Magna and the unions said Magna had proposed cutting 830 jobs at Vauxhall’s Ellesmere Port plant and 354 at the Luton site. The unions want Magna to commit to producing 150,000 vehicles per year at Ellesmere Port, 20 per more than foreseen under the plan, which they claim could reduce job losses to as little as 200. A German government official conceded that the preliminary report from PwC highlighted areas of concern. However, a spokesman for Angela Merkel, German chancellor, told German daily Financial Times Deutschland: “An agreement on this won’t fail. We’re in good talks with our European partners and are working towards a joint solution.”

Born in 1838.

Born in 1838.What I know for sure, is that the methods of working should be reorganized. When I trade with big struggles in political and financial arena – only the intuition can lead me correctly to the practical deal. Although, in other hand, the taking too much notice of my emotive responses when a decision need a clear and calm head. Seems, it’s like the “Working Instruction” for Sovereign, or for Big Taicho. Only difference is that it doesn’t have two golden rules from normal, standard instructions. It simply stated, - Put the cattle in the old barge – and sink them all! Well. Right. It was right these cattle who make for me the life of Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Brave Tin Soldier”. With one leg and unique alternative to be a spoon for, again, these cattle. Looking at myself I know that this is the exact moment where the illusions and fantasies can be more important then the concrete reality. Was dreaming tonight with a wide river. In the middle of frightening calamity. Because of ice cap melting (see the “Cats don't hunt seals.”) many gorgeous yachts are pulling by the force of the water from theirs dry docks out. I don’t know what’s exactly happen, but they all right at my eyes – are sinking! The 40,-60,-120 feet beauties – all they very, very quickly sink like a stone. I know that I have some degree of erratic idiosyncrasy and absent mindness. But in this case it will be better to play a little bit of “mama in charge”. To prevent further surprises and misunderstandings. (For example, the how yesterday I treat my flu with the ‘Florida spring vegetable soup’. The old whore understand the miracles of “Mai-preta-sopa”. She doesn’t need to read the national media to see how the Aunty Poly at the end find the his Tom Sawyer/Miliband…): Contango is a term used in the futures market to describe an upward sloping forward curve (as in the normal yield curve). Such a forward curve is said to be "in contango" (or sometimes "contangoed"). Formally, it is the situation where, and the amount by which, the price of a commodity for future delivery is higher than the spot price, or a far future delivery price higher than a nearer future delivery. This is a normal situation for equity markets. And where the everyone is double. Formally, backwardation means a downward sloping forward curve (as in an inverted yield curve). A backwardation starts when the difference between the forward price and the spot price is less than the cost of carry, or when there can be no delivery arbitrage because the asset is not currently available for purchase.

Copper mine to transform Mongolia. October 6 2009 19:08. Mongolia has positioned itself to become a large copper exporter, after it on Tuesday signed an agreement with multinational mining companies to develop an enormous deposit near the Chinese border. Mongolia’s economy and its social fabric – many Mongolians are semi-nomadic – stand to be transformed by the project, which would represent one-third of gross domestic product if it were operational today. Oyu Tolgoi, the copper-gold deposit in the south Gobi desert, is expected to produce 450,000 tonnes of copper per year after it is built and expanded over nine years at a cost of $4bn. That compares with 1.2m tonnes produced last year at Escondida, the Chilean copper mine that is the world’s largest. The agreement signed with Rio Tinto, one of the largest mining companies, and its partner Ivanhoe Mines, run by Robert Friedland, the Canadian mining entrepreneur, follows five years of negotiations over how to divide up the profits. Ivanhoe, which discovered the deposit, lobbied hard to overturn legislation passed by Mongolia’s fledgling democratic government in 2006 imposing a windfall profits tax on foreign miners. Mongolia’s parliament repealed the profits tax in August and revised other disputed laws around the same time, paving the way for the agreement. Under the deal, Mongolia owns 34 per cent of Oyu Tolgoi, with the remainder in the hands of Ivanhoe. Rio, however, is the project’s principle financier, as it plans to buy Ivanhoe stock in tranches with money that will then be used for project development. Rio’s stake in the Canadian miner is capped at 47 per cent. The agreement is a coup for Ivanhoe’s billionaire founder Mr Friedland, who made his name in 1994 by discovering a huge nickel deposit in Newfoundland. “We anticipate that the vast majority of output will go to China,” said Bret Clayton, head of Rio’s copper division, prior to a signing ceremony in Ulan Bator on Tuesday. It will be an important source of supply for the Chinese market.” A railroad from Oyu Tolgoi to China remains to be built. But the deposit is only 80Km from the border, where there is infrastructure around the coal-producing Chinese province of Inner Mongolia. Ivanhoe and Rio said last month they were considering “one or more strategic shareholders” to invest in Ivanhoe and Oyu Tolgoi, adding several sovereign wealth funds are interested. Mr Clayton said on Monday no discussions had taken place with Chinese sovereign wealth funds, adding that preliminary talks were limited to the International Finance Corp, the for-profit lending arm of the World Bank. Oyu Tolgoi will also produce 330,000 ounces of gold when it reaches top productivity around 2018, five years after first production planned for 2013. “This will be the next world-class copper resource in the world, hands down,” Mr Clayton said. Rio, he added, facilitated a delegation of Mongolians travelling to Alaska and Chile to study how other governments harnessed their mineral wealth.

China help. У Олега Дерипаски может появиться новый партнер. UC Rusal предпринимателя готова в ходе декабрьского IPO в Гонконге продать часть своих акций китайской Chinalco. 08.10.2009, О том, что китайская Chinalco — один из возможных претендентов на покупку акций UC Rusal, «Ведомостям» рассказали сотрудники двух банков, работающих с компаниями, и подтвердил источник, близкий к UC Rusal. Произойти это может в декабре — в рамках IPO UC Rusal. Его компания собирается провести в Гонконге. Chinalco или ее алюминиевому подразделению — Chalco(владеет 41,82% акций) предлагается принять участие в размещении, переговоры уже начались, говорит один из собеседников «Ведомостей». Факт переговоров с Chinalco подтвердил и один из консультантов китайской компании. А руководителю Российско-китайского центра торгово-экономического сотрудничества Сергею Санакоеву известно, что 13 октября в ходе визита премьер-министра Владимира Путина в Пекин UC Rusal и Chinalco могут подписать соглашение о сотрудничестве. Его суть он не раскрыл. Пресс-секретарь Путина Дмитрий Песков подтвердил, что в программе поездки есть такое мероприятие. Но премьер не планирует на нем присутствовать. Представители UC Rusal Вера Курочкина и лондонского офиса Chinalco от комментариев отказались, представитель китайского офиса на запрос «Ведомостей» не ответил. Сколько акций может купить Chinalco, не ясно, китайцы пока даже не дали окончательного ответа по поводу своего участия в IPO, говорит один из банкиров. Всего UC Rusal намерена продать инвесторам около 10% новых акций, получив за них до $3 млрд. Для сравнения: капитализация Chalco (производит около 3 млн т алюминия в год) сейчас равна $22,3 млрд. Chinalco — один из крупнейших металлургических холдингов Китая. 100% ее акций принадлежит государству. Кроме алюминия компания производит медь и титан, ее финансовые показатели не раскрываются. Компания уже давно стремится к зарубежной экспансии. В начале 2009 г. она договорилась инвестировать вRio Tinto $19,5 млрд. В перспективе это позволило бы Chinalco стать владельцем до 18% акций Rio Tinto. Но в июне Rio Tinto отказалась от сделки. Правительство не имеет ничего против того, чтобы китайские компании покупали небольшие пакеты акций российских стратегических холдингов, говорит чиновник аппарата правительства. Однако, по его информации, UC Rusal такую сделку с правительством еще не обсуждала. Участие крупного стратегического инвестора помогло бы UC Rusal успешнее разместиться, отмечает аналитик Deutsche Bank Ольга Окунева, ведь рынки пока нестабильны. Переговоры UC Rusal ведет и с китайскими суверенными фондами, и с Temasek, писала ранее WSJ. А российские компании уже прибегали к помощи крупных стратегов при размещении акций. К примеру, во время IPO «Роснефти» 0,6% акций на $500 млн купила китайская CNPC, 1,3% на $1 млрд — BP и 1,9% на $1,5 млрд — малазийская Petronas.

The catch of the fake rabbit.

The catch of the fake rabbit. I knew it. I knew that my plan for today to be just sick, be at home, consume acetylsalicylic acid and acetaminophen in huge quantities with a lot of fluids will be interrupted. Unique regularities in the life of one who’s “uncovering the facts”. The one of “what you do to find the job”. The one who want for one day make an interval in his silly rhetoric’s. Just to be sick, talk less and listen much. But not today. Day when I “loosing all my truth”. Not exactly loosing the truth, but because of my (everyone had) blind spot/s, the truth become imperceptible, almost invisible. A casual comment from home, (i.e. “Nada”), have an unexpected and far reaching developments. To have for anyone who want a clearer picture, just for yourselves make the image of a dog racing. Where they all (read the “Busy like a busy bee on busy bee day” and the “Aquele vigario…”) run all circuit to catch the fake rabbit. This isn’t easy. But, it’s easy to get caught up in the “rush” of my everyday (the real prison) life, that I could easily miss something crucial.

The mystery investor who is turning the tin market on its head. A single investor – thought to be a hedge fund – is sitting on thousands of tonnes of tin in warehouses across London. According to traders almost the entire stocks of tin on the London Metals Exchange (LME) was bought up by a single, mysterious investor, last week. Published: 6:31PM BST 04 Oct 2009. One fund has warrants for more than 90pc of all physical tin stocks because the market rules dictate that above this threshold, the buyer must lend out the commodity, if asked, at the cash price with no premium. Industrial buyers are furious that they are paying up to $730 per tonne for immediate delivery more than it would cost them to buy three-month futures contracts, arguing this stranglehold on the market should not be allowed to happen. Contango – where spot prices are lower than forward prices – is considered normal for tin because of the interest, warehouse costs and insurance incurred in carrying the metal. Backwardation – which is happening with tin today – is a sign of shortages to come. Traders are also claiming that prices have only inflated so high – at other times plunging to extreme lows – because the dominant position has made the market illiquid and disorderly with distorted prices. "It's a ridiculous situation to have when there is clearly not a shortage of tin and the LME is refusing to admit that anything's wrong," said one metals trader. So why would a fund take the decision to stockpile a metal when there is an enormous surplus of tin around the world? At the moment, tin for three-month delivery is trading at above $14,000 on the LSE, a 40pc rise in prices after a 35pc drop last year. But the mysterious buyer is clearly convinced that the commodity's price has further to soar. China, the world's biggest consumer of tin, has already fired up its consumption sharply this year. The nation's imports more than doubled to 18,222 tons in the eight months to August, according to customs data. And its purchasing managers index shows that China's manufacturing expanded for a seventh month in a row in September. PT Timah, the world's second largest producer of tin, last week forecast that global consumption will jump by 7pc in 2010 and the company's stock has advanced 99pc this year. Global demand for the metal, primarily used for soldering and making tin cans, is expected to rise to 320,000 tons compared 300,000 tons next year. Timah's president director Wachid Usman believes that next year's demand will be supported by China, Korea, Taiwan and Japan – no surprises there. Just over a week ago, Macquarie Bank raised its 2010 tin forecast by 6.9pc to $6.75 a pound, or $15,120 a tonne, due to a stronger-than-expected rebound in Chinese economic activity. Add to this the fact that Indonesia, a major tin producer, has started a fresh crackdown on illegal tin mining, making several arrests in August. Cynics claim the ulterior motive is to reduce supply and support its export prices, meaning there will soon be less tin on the global markets. The mysterious tin buyer clearly subscribes to this view and that the current oversupply is not here to stay. But Neil Buxton, managing director of GFMS Metals Consulting, believes that the fund is playing a risky game that will soon come to an end one way or another. "It's easier to do with tin than copper or aluminium because those would be prohibitively expensive," he explains. "But it could backfire if the LME set conditions against that position. It's understandable that traders are concerned but my view is that it's going to be relatively shortlived and the backwardation is going to revert to its normal state, which is contango. At the moment, it's good for sellers, not great at all for the buyers – but this will change." The LME certainly believes that there is no need to interfere in the market. Trading is still continuing, mostly where contracts for tin are only borrowed from its ultimate owner and there are some signs that the mystery buyer may have offloaded some of its stock. "The traders are only complaining because they have called it wrong," one senior source at the LME said. "Rather than admit this, they are saying there's something wrong with the market. The building up of this position was no secret because we publish a lot of information about the market. You can't call it disorderly at all." Whether the dominant position causes real shortages or not, worsened by rising Asian demand, it looks as though the traders can angrily bang their tin drum all they like. The LME seems intent on ignoring the fact that the metal, still in surplus above the world's needs, does indeed appear to be artificially overpriced.

Cats don't hunt seals.

Cats don't hunt seals. They would if they knew what they were and where to find them. But they don't, so that's all right.

New diamond find in Canada: Canada's Peregrine Diamonds said it made a new discovery of diamonds at the Chidliak exploration property in the northern Canadian territory of Nunavut, Reuters reported. The minerals and precious gems explorer said a 220.9 kilogram sample collected yielded 664 diamonds, including 11 diamonds larger than the 0.600 mm sieve size at the CH-7 kimberlite formation. The largest diamond recovered was a 0.64 carat off-white, translucent octahedroid, the report said. Peregrine said two more kimberlite formations, the CH-4 and CH-8, also contained diamonds with 201.6 and 187.9 kilogram samples yielding 15 and 17 diamonds, respectively. Peregrine is the operator of the 2009 Chidliak exploration programme, which is being fully funded by BHP Billiton Ltd.

AQUELE VIGARIO…

AQUELE VIGARIO…

Hedge funds win Church of England blessing. October 6 2009 20:18. Barely a fortnight after attacking the modern day equivalent of biblical money changers in the City of London, leaders of the Church of England have sprung to the defence of an oft-reviled pillar of the finance industry. While greater regulation of some sectors of the industry is necessary, the church has concluded that hedge funds are still needed to maintain the temple. In a letter to the House of Lord’s EU select committee, the church commissioners – the custodians of its ancient wealth – raised “serious concerns” about new plans from the European Union to regulate hedge funds. “We are concerned that the directive as currently drafted will significantly restrict our ability to generate funds to pursue our charitable missions and thus reduce our impact for public good,” said the letter. The plea comes after a disastrous year for the church’s investments. Accounts filed in May show the value of the investments dropped from £5.7bn in 2007 to £4.4bn in 2008. The commissioners – who include both Rowan Williams, the archbishop of Canterbury, and John Sentamu, the archbishop of York – were backed by other charitable foundations. The Wellcome Trust, the Paul Hamlyn Foundation, the Nuffield Foundation, Esmée Fairbairn Foundation and the Henry Smith Charity – between them managing £15.1bn of charitable wealth – also signed the letter. “Maximising the returns on our investment portfolios is an essential part of delivering our foundations’ missions, for the benefit of society,” said the letter. “The draft directive, while well-intentioned, threatens this goal.” The foundations singled out three areas of concern: proposals to limit EU investors to investing in EU-domiciled funds, requirements for funds to use EU-registered depository banks, and limits on funds’ use of leverage. Instead of “imposing restrictions” which would “reduce our freedom”, said the foundations, the EU should concentrate on enforcing transparency, in order to enable investors to “make a judgment”. At the height of the financial crisis last September, Dr Williams said it was right to ban short selling, while John Sentamu called traders who cashed in on falling prices “bank robbers and asset strippers”. Hedge funds pointed out that a large portion of the church’s endowment was invested with them.

Busy like a busy bee on busy bee day.

Busy like a busy bee on busy bee day. And yet, there’s little chance that someone would mistake my kindness for weakness. May core of stability keep me grounded. This makes it easy to stay in touch with reality, even when someone appeals to my soft side and take me for granted: see how the UK’s Foreign Office щенок “… nos temos uma b-a-n-a-n-a”. Which again, the cocaine bastards from PS’s of European Portland 450 Cement fairly well speaking in Japanese through the “web” of the Telenor/Alfa Group/Vimpelcom/Kyivstar, calling themselves “каміняри жебраки” and like the $19 billion dollars clowns like the offered image of the “Galeria de Sua peж”. It’s good that the Trichet like this confusion. Dam! I don’t know if any one can catch my cliff when I speak in this way. To help myself, I go to put “fallacy” of one of many sober people to whom we should sometimes listen to. In way of, the received from the president of Hedge Fund Standard Board in one hand, and the good laugh in respect the nobody (and I think about 7 billion people of this planet) knows how the Lemberg’s “гоп-стоп” happen. Writing this, I want immediately put the “Stop Loss”, like the Brotherhood of City do. For one reason only. The expressing my ideas, I’ll have to drop back to later on see where the best “avenue” of support can be endorsed. Also, it should be good time to exercise caution and care in my present “business” dealings, both in the physical (WB) and financial realm (read: Calderon, not the Caldeira). Look for yourselves. Picture is this: the part of me that deals with how I analyze the events can be apparently very confuse and busy – busy like a busy bee on busy bee day. Exactly like the incredible bastard Soares like to frieze. See the before “Gee” article and than confirm how I am may be over-thinking things. And than, I am convinced, even YOU agree with the fact that I should stop my FREIGHT and start seeking (the “Good laugh article”) some honey elsewhere.

Five year jail sentence for former president Calderon. A judge has sentenced former Costa Rican president Rafael Calderon to five years in jail for corruption. Calderon is the first former head of state to be tried for corruption in the country. AFP - A judge Monday sentenced former Costa Rican president Rafael Calderon, the first former head of state tried for corruption here, to five years in jail, likely shooting down his plans to seek reelection. Calderon, leader of the opposition Social Christian Unity Party who was president from 1990-1994, maintains he is innocent, and had planned to stand for president again in the February 2010 election. After an 11-month trial, Judge Alejandro Lopez McAdam sentenced Calderon to five years behind bars for embezzlement, but rejected the prosecutor's call for Calderon to be detained immediately pending his expected appeals. The court also handed down jail terms to another seven people charged with taking kickbacks for the purchase of almost 40 million dollars in medical equipment by the state health care system from Finnish firm Instrumentarium Medko Medical. Calderon and his co-accused also were ordered to pay the equivalent of almost 700,000 dollars in damages to the state, said another judge in the case, Franz Paniagua. Prosecutors had sought 24 years in jail for the former president. Calderon spent five months in detention when the scandal broke out in 2004. Both Calderon and the former health care director Eliseo Vargas were handed five-year terms for embezzlement.

Robert Zoellick, President, World Bank. FRIDAY 02 OCTOBER 2009. At the World Bank and International Monetary Fund Annual Meetings that took place this week end in Istanbul, Turkey, Robert Zoellick, President of the World Bank, discussed the necessary steps to follow-up the road to recovery, after the worst recession since the Great Depression.

Telenor and Alfa Group strike Vimpelcom deal. October 5 2009 20:37. A corporate battle that has blighted Russia’s investment climate for years took a big step towards resolution on Monday whenTelenor, the Norwegian telecoms operator, and its Russian partner, Alfa Group, said they would merge their Russian and Ukrainian holdings. The deal would merge Vimpelcom, Russia’s number two mobile operator, with Ukraine’s Kyivstar to create a new New York-listed entity worth more than $23bn. But Telenor and Alfa warned a great deal still had to be done to remove outstanding disputes, including a legal threat to Telenor’s strategic 29.9 per cent stake in Vimpelcom, before the deal could be closed as planned in the second quarter of next year. The two partners have been locked in battle ever since Vimpelcom moved to expand into Ukraine in 2004, sparking a series of legal disputes from Siberia to New York over the company’s strategy. The standoff caused fears over the safety offoreign investments in Russia fafter a Siberian court in March ruled to freeze Telenor’s stake in Vimpelcom in preparation for forced sale to pay off a $1.7bn court fine. The ruling was based on a claim filed by Farimex, a minority shareholder, claiming that Telenor had blocked Vimpelcom’s expansion in Ukraine. Telenor had claimed the suit was part of an attempt by Alfa to raise the pressure for a deal. Alfa had always denied any connection to the case. Telenor and Alfa said in a statement that both sides “have agreed to suspend all their ongoing legal proceedings and take action to withdraw or settle them prior to the transaction being completed”. But the definition of what that might mean for the Farimex case still seemed to be in dispute. The deal comes just one week after Jon Frederik Baksaas, Telenor’s chief executive, met Vladimir Putin, the Russian prime minister, at a lunch that was also attended by other businessmenand sent the shares sharply higher. On Monday afternoon they were 12.6 per cent higher at SKr71.55. A merger of the two companies’ holdings had long been the expected outcome of the battle which began in 2004 over Vimpelcom’s expansion strategy into Ukraine. But the battle reached fever pitch this year after a Siberian court ruled to freeze Telenor’s strategic 30 per cent stake in Vimpelcom, a move that Telenor claimed was an attempt by Alfa to “steal” its stake and raise the pressure for a deal. The Siberian court ruling came as a result of a claim made by an obscure minority shareholder in Vimpelcom which claimed Telenor had blocked Vimpelcom’s expansion into Ukraine. Alfa Group, controlled by Russian billionaire Mikhail Fridman, had insisted it had nothing to do with the case. However, now the company says an end to the case is a condition for the deal. The stake had been frozen in preparation for a forced sale of the Telenor stake in order to pay off a $1.7bn court fine. The Siberian court had repeatedly postponed hearings on Telenor’s appeal, while Russian bailiffs had repeatedly threatened to sell the stake off in the near future. Telenor fought back, winning a contempt of court ruling against Alfa in a New York court for failing to comply with an earlier ruling that it divest itself of its assets in Ukraine. Telenor said in a statement that both sides had agreed to suspend the legal battles. “The parties have agreed to suspend all their ongoing legal proceedings and take action to withdraw or settle them prior to the transaction being completed,” said Telenor. “We have turned a five-year struggle into an exciting venture for the future,” said Telenor’s Mr Baksaas in a statement. Telenor currently holds 30 per cent of the votes in Vimpelcom, while Alfa has 44 per cent of voting stock. Alfa has 43 per cent of Kyivstar and Telenor 56.5 per cent of the Ukrainian company. Current minority shareholders in Vimpelcom, which is also listed in New York, would be offered one depositary receipt in the new entity for each Vimpelcom depositary receipt currently held, or be bought out for 0.05 kopecks per depositary receipt. The two sides said they would set up a new corporate structure that would help eliminate future disagreements over strategy, an announcement that sounded similar to a peace deal Alfa reached with BP, the UK oil giant, following a bruising battle over control of their TNK-BP joint oil venture. The new company’s board will have nine members with Telenor and Alfa nominating three each.

France Telecom executive quits over suicides. October 5 2009 12:24. France Telecom replaced its senior manager in charge of French operations as it sought to contain a crisis of confidence triggered by a spate of suicides among employees. Louis-Pierre Wenes, a former management consultant who, as deputy chief executive for, led France Telecom’s drive to cut costs in its domestic business, was replaced with immediate effect by Stéphane Richard. Mr Richard joined France Telecomin September as the designated successor of Didier Lombard, chief executive, in 2011. In the meantime, he was supposed to oversee the group’s international operations. Mr Richard, a former chief of staff to the finance minister and friend of Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, will now be at the forefront of the company’s efforts to regain the confidence of its employees, 24 of whom have committed suicide since the beginning of 2008. The company – 27 per cent owned by the French state – said Mr Wenes’ departure came at his own request. Nevertheless, it is a concession to the unions who had demanded his sacking and suggests Mr Lombard has made it a priority to work with them. The management changes came the day before two days of planned industrial action by staff in protest at the company’s perceived mishandling of the suicides. Patrice Diochet of the CFTC union said: “We’ve succeeded”. He called the change “the first measure to demonstrate France Telecom’s way of thinking and its willingness to change the way the business is managed”. The company is expected to announce a second concession on Tuesday, extending a temporary moratorium on compulsory staff reassignments until the end of the year. The unions said Mr Wenes, who spent much of his career at consultants AT Kearney, embodied an aggressive and harsh management culture at the top of the company. They maintain that cost-cutting, constant reorganisation, forced mobility, demanding individual performance targets and insensitive management had demoralised employees and pushed the more vulnerable to desperate acts. Mr Wenes’ departure will help to shore up Mr Lombard. By putting Mr Richard in charge of domestic operations – where he will play a central role in reviewing management practices and regaining the confidence of staff – it is harder for Mr Lombard’s critics to ask for his immediate replacement for the sake of a clear slate. However, Mr Richard’s move to the centre of the company’s operations means he may not have to wait until 2011 to take over as chief executive.

‘Hedge Funds’ voltam à ribalta. 06/10/09 00:05. António Borges, presidente do Hegde Fund Standards Board, defende a indústria dos fundos de alternativos e crítica o excesso de regulação sobre o sector. Culpados, não. Os ‘hedge funds' são vítimas da crise e mais: são uma boa estratégia de saída da mesma. Contra os ataques de alguns responsáveis políticos, que atribuem a estes fundos a responsabilidade pela origem da crise, António Borges assume-se como porta-voz da indústria e defende-se. Em entrevista ao Diário Económico, não só afirma que "esta indústria não esteve na origem" da crise, como diz que "foi aliás vítima da crise" e adianta mesmo que "é agora o instrumento natural" para sair dela. "A grande especialidade dos ‘hedge funds' é estar em segmentos do mercado onde não está mais ninguém, em particular, aqueles onde há riscos mais elevados. Tomam riscos que outros actores não estão dispostos a tomar", defende. Explica que "isto é particularmente útil num momento como o actual, em que há muitas instituições que estão expostas de forma inaceitável e querem desfazer-se desses riscos. Os ‘hedge funds' acabam por ser o instrumento natural para resolver o problema. Sobretudo quando muitas das medidas em prática para resolver os problemas da banca passam por transferir o risco para outros investidores".

O ex-chefe de Estado enalteceu hoje a solidez do regime que "é liberdade, é tolerante e é democracia", durante a apresentação do livro "A Maçonaria e a Implantação da República". Matt Lucas's former partner Kevin McGee found hanged. October 6, 2009. The former civil partner of Matt Lucas, the comedian behind Little Britain, has been found dead after posting a desperate message on the social networking site Facebook. Police in Edinburgh broke into the flat of Kevin McGee, 32, at 8am yesterday after being alerted by his friends. They found him hanged. Three hours earlier Mr McGee, a television producer, had posted a message on Facebook saying: “Kevin McGee thinks that death is much better than life”. A spokesman for Lothian and Borders Police said that there were no suspicious circumstances and that a file was being prepared for the coroner. Lucas, 35, was said to have been “utterly destroyed” by the news. The comedian is currently starring in the West End play Prick Up Your Ears . He plays Kenneth Halliwell, who committed suicide after murdering his lover Joe Orton, the playwright. A friend of Lucas told The Sun newspaper: “Matt was floored when he heard the news. He always loved Kevin, despite their differences and their difficult marriage.” They met in 2002 when McGee worked for Comic Relief and before Lucas found fame with his sketch show Little Britain. They tied the knot in a civil partnership ceremony at a register office three years ago and celebrated with a spectacular panto-themed wedding reception with a star-studded guest list, including Elton John and Paul O’Grady. They split up in September last year after going through a rocky 18 months together. The partnership was officially dissolved in January. At the time, people said that the couple had grown apart. In the intervening years Lucas had become a star, and while he filmed Little Britain in America they did not spend enough time together. The comedian hired Mishcon de Reya, the law firm used by the late Diana, Princess of Wales, and Heather Mills for their divorces, to arrange a settlement. They were one of the first high-profile couples to end a civil partnership since new laws allowing same-sex unions came into force in December 2005. Notoriously publicity shy, they signed a legal agreement not to discuss their relationship in public and turned down offers from magazines wanting to photograph their wedding. In an interview with The Times in June , Lucas confessed that he still felt “very protective” towards his former partner. He also said that he had started another relationship but refused to divulge any information. Last month, he told the Evening Standard that the break-up had been tough. “Time is a great healer,” he said. “We have an agreement we both honour that we won't discuss the circumstances surrounding it. But I’m OK.” A neighbour of Mr McGee said that he had not appeared suicidal. The neighbour said: “A month ago he got a labrador puppy. He seemed a nice guy with no signs of obvious problems. He never mentioned Matt Lucas.”

Gazprom consigue vía libre para vender luz en España. Publicado el 06-10-2009 , por Expansión. El gigante ruso de la energía considera la Península Ibérica una asignatura pendiente dentro de sus ambiciones en Europa. El Ministerio de Industria, Turismo y Comercio ha autorizado al gigante de energía ruso Gazprom a comercializar electricidad en todo el ámbito nacional a través de la filial Gazprom Marketing & Trading. La Dirección General de Política Energética y Minas, dependiente del departamento que dirige Miguel Sebastián, ha cursado la autorización y ha procedido a la inscripción administrativa definitiva de la nueva comercializadora, según constaba ayer en el Boletín Oficial del Estado (BOE). La nueva comercializadora, con sede en Londres, tiene un mes de plazo para hacer uso de su licencia para comercializar energía. Contra la resolución publicada ayer cabe recurso de alzada ante el Ministerio de Industria.El grupo ruso está especializado en la exploración, producción, transporte y almacenamiento de gas, pero también dispone de un área de negocio de generación y comercialización de energía eléctrica. Tras el mercado español Gazprom lleva sondeando desde hace meses diversas posibilidades en España. De hecho, fue uno de los grupos a los que señalaron todas las quinielas cuando Sacyr sondeó diversas alternativas el año pasado para vender su 20% en Repsol. En marzo de 2009, en plena visita del presidente ruso, Dimitri Medvédev, a España, Gazprom y Gas Natural anunciaron el reforzamiento de los acuerdos previos de compraventa de gas natural licuado (GNL), que se remontaban a julio de 2008. Gazprom añadió la posibilidad de comprar las centrales de ciclo combinado que Gas Natural tiene que vender por imperativo legal tras su fusión con Fenosa. GDF Suez Por otra parte, la participación del 6,18% de GDF Suez en Gas Natural es “estratégica” y tiene vocación de permanencia, indicaron a Europa Press en fuentes del grupo energético francés, cuya participada Suez Environnement vendió la pasada semana casi todas sus acciones en la gasista española. “Estamos satisfechos con nuestra participación y no tenemos intención de modificarla, ni al alza ni a la baja”, señalaron las fuentes. Por su parte, Gas Natural se ha adjudicado, por 6,6 millones de euros, el contrato de suministro eléctrico de todas las instalaciones del Ayuntamiento de Pamplona. Llega un gigante Liberalización. En julio de este año, se dio un paso más en la apertura del mercado eléctrico. Todos los usuarios con potencias de 10 kilovatios o menos pueden contratar libremente una comercializadora. Objetivo ruso El interés de los grupos rusos como Gazprom por el mercado español creció a raíz del intento de venta del 20% de Repsol por parte de Sacyr durante el año pasado. Conexión con el Gas Gazprom mantenía desde hace un año acuerdos con Gas Natural en gas licuado. La alianza podría ser ampliada a centrales eléctricas.

Inquest hears laughter seconds before fatal helicopter crash. Published Date: 05 October 2009. An inquest has heard a recording of a helicopter crew laughing and joking just moments before a crash in which three of them died. The audio clip was played to Harrogate Magistrates' Court yesterday, the opening day of the inquest into the deaths of Flight Lieutenant David Sale, 28, Sergeant Phillip Burfoot, 27, and 17-year-old Army recruit Private Sean Tait. The 12 men on board could be heard whooping and laughing as the Puma helicopter flew low over land near Catterick Garrison, North Yorkshire, on August 8, 2007.