MOSCOW, Oct. 15--Foreign investment in Russia reached $60.3 billion (42.6 billion euros) in the first six months of 2007, Russian Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov told foreign investors in Moscow on Monday.
Zubkov, who was speaking at a meeting of the Foreign Investment Advisory Council (FIAC), said the record amount was almost three times higher than in the first six months of 2006, Interfax news agency reported.
A survey conducted by the advisory council found overwhelmingly positive attitudes towards investment in Russia, with more than 90 percent of companies planning to expand their business in the country, the Vedomosti daily reported.
But respondents also complained about strict rules on hiring foreign personnel, the poor general quality of infrastructure, as well as complex customs legislation, Vedomosti said.
The FIAC was set up in 1994 with the aim of improving the investment climate in Russia. Members include British energy major BP, US soft drinks maker Coca-Cola and German technology giant Siemens.
Meanwhile, Russian officials vowed to stabilize food prices in the country after President Vladimir Putin said he found the increases alarming. The rising cost of grain on the world market was cited as one reason for food price increases in Russia, Itar-Tass reported Sunday.
Russian officials vowed to reduce duties on imported dried milk, eggs, cooking oil and other food products after Putin urged them to respond promptly to price fluctuations in world markets. “It is the duty of the state, our duty, to protect our people, primarily those with low incomes, from price rises no matter what causes them,“ Putin said.
Russian agriculture officials predicted food prices would stabilize within two to three months, aided by Russia’s strong grain crop this year.
The government is going to reduce import duties on some foodstuffs, in order to facilitate their access to the Russian market in the interests of consumers, Deputy Prime Minister, Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said at a meeting with members of parliament on Saturday. He said as well that the government would increase grain export duties and would reduce them on some imported foodstuffs for the purpose of achieving the stabilization of prices.

TOKYO, Oct. 15--The outlook for the global economy remains uncertain following recent financial market turmoil and signs of slowing US economic growth, Bank of Japan governor Toshihiko Fukui said Monday.
Japan’s central bank needs to keep a close watch on international developments, although the fallout from problems in US subprime mortgages to risky borrowers does not appear to be hurting Japan significantly, he said, AFP wrote.
“There remains uncertainty regarding the outlook of the global economy, such as the volatility on international financial markets that was triggered by problems in US subprime housing loans, and a risk of a US economic slowdown,“ Fukui said in a speech to a meeting of Bank of Japan branch managers.
“Therefore, we need to closely observe the trend in the international financial market and the global economy,“ he said.
However, Fukui added that Japan’s financial system remains stable overall.
“The subprime problem is not seen as having a serious impact on the stability of Japan’s financial system at the moment,“ he said.
Fukui reiterated the central bank’s view that Japan’s economy is gradually expanding and is set to maintain sustained economic growth.
The Bank of Japan last week left its benchmark interest rate on hold at 0.5 percent, where it has been since February, opting to wait for clearer evidence that recent financial market distress has fully subsided.
Market views are mixed on when the next rise in Japanese interest rates will come, with some analysts predicting a possible hike in November or December.

Japanese customers display Nintendo's video game consol "Wii" they purchased at a Tokyo electric shop.

TOKYO, Oct. 15--Nintendo Co Ltd surpassed 10 trillion yen ($85 billion) in market value on Monday, joining Toyota Motor Corp and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group as one of the bluest of Japanese blue-chip stocks. Toyota is the world’s most valuable automaker and Mitsubishi UFJ is Japan’s largest bank, Reuters reported.
Nintendo shares have soared more than fivefold over the past two years, driven by blistering demand for the DS handheld player and the Wii game console.
Shares in the videogame maker rose 4.6 percent to 70,800 yen as of 0434 GMT, bringing its market capitalization to 10.03 trillion yen, on expectations the DS and Wii will lead rival game gear in the coming year-end shopping season.
Although Nintendo’s market cap is still less than half that of Toyota’s 23 trillion yen, it is 80 percent higher than that of rival Sony Corp, whose total revenue is more than eight times as big as Nintendo’s.
Kyoto-based Nintendo offers easy-to-play but innovative games to expand the game population beyond core gamers, who are often young males, helping the Wii and DS outsell Sony’s rival machines--PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable.
Shares in Nintendo got a further boost after the company said last week it would start selling its new “Wii Fit“ home fitness game in Japan on December 1.
The new game, which features a pressure-sensing mat that looks like a bathroom scale and lets users “head“ virtual soccer balls and experience ski jumping on a TV screen, is expected to be the next major sales driver for the Wii after initial demand was ignited by the popularity of “Wii Sports“ software.
Nintendo, known for such game characters as Mario, Pokemon and Zelda, competes with Sony and Microsoft Corp in the global videogame market.

COPENHAGEN, Denmark, Oct. 15--The bluetongue virus continues to spread north in Europe and has now been detected in sheep at the Danish island of Lolland, authorities said.
The Danish Veterinary and Food Administration said 250 animals at a farm in Sakskoebing, Lolland are being tested for the virus after one sheep tested positive for the disease, AP reported.
The bluetongue virus is carried by a certain species of tiny fly once common only in Mediterranean areas. However, since August 2006, outbreaks have also occurred in Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg and Netherlands. It was detected in Britain for the first time last month.
The disease does not affect humans, but can be potentially fatal to ruminant livestock. Experts say the insect has moved farther north due to global warming, and bluetongue may now be endemic in northern Europe.
As a result of the outbreak in Lolland, restrictions have been imposed on the handling of cattle, sheep, goats and deer within a radius of 150 kilometers of the infected farm.
Farmers in large parts of southern Denmark were already following strict regulations, following the outbreak of bluetongue in Germany.
Jan Mousing, Chief Veterinary from the Danish Veterinary and Food Administration, said he had hoped the country would be spared because there would have been fewer tiny flies during autumn and winter. “We expect that a vaccine will have been developed next year. But unfortunately the disease has come to Denmark already now,“ Mousing said.

Roger Myerson

STOCKHOLM, Sweden, Oct. 15--Americans Leonid Hurwicz, Eric Maskin and Roger Myerson won the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences on Monday for work that helps explain situations in which markets work well. The three researchers “laid the foundations of mechanism design theory,“ the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said, AP reported.
“Mechanism design theory initiated by Leonid Hurwicz and further developed by Eric Maskin and Roger Myerson has greatly enhanced our understanding of optimal allocation mechanisms in such situations, accounting for individuals’ incentives and private information.“

Leonid Hurwicz

Their theory allows economists, governments and businesses to “distinguish situations (that) work well from those in which they do not.“
Hurwicz, born in Moscow, is Regents’ Professor of Economics Emeritus at the University of Minnesota and in 1990 won the US National Medal of Science in Behavioral and Social Science for his pioneering work in mechanism design Maskin is professor of Social Science at Princeton University and Myerson professor of Economics at Chicago University.
Last year, the economics prize went to Edmund Phelps of the United States for his work on how overall economic policy affected welfare for present and future generations.
This year’s laureates will receive a gold medal, a diploma and 10 million Swedish kronor (1.53 million dollars, 1.08 million euros), to be shared between them.

Eric Maskin

The formal prize ceremony will be held in Stockholm as tradition dictates on December 10, the anniversary of the death in 1896 of the prize’s creator, Swedish industrialist and inventor of dynamite Alfred Nobel.
The Nobel prizes were first awarded in 1901 after Nobel bequeathed his fortune to the creation of the prizes in his 1895 will.
The economics prize is the only one not originally mentioned in the will being created by the Swedish Central Bank to mark its tercentenary in 1968. It was first awarded in 1969 and is also funded by the bank.
The economics prize wraps up this year’s Nobels after medicine, physics, chemistry, literature and peace.

GEORGETOWN, Guyana,
Oct. 15--Global-warming and its devastating environmental effects were to top the agenda of a two-day meeting of finance ministers from more than 50 Commonwealth countries due to open here Monday.
Ransford Smith, deputy secretary general of the 53-nation organization, said the international community needs to balance economic growth with the use of new and clean technologies because climate change would adversely impact on agriculture outputs in many developing countries, as well as employment patters and populations shifts, AFP reported.
“There will be other consequences that you need to be able to cost and be aware of in making the chances,“ Smith told journalists here Sunday ahead of the October 15-17 meeting whose theme is “Climate Change: The Challenges Facing Finance Ministers.“
The Commonwealth nations, sometimes known as the British Commonwealth, is a voluntary association of 53 former British colonies which now are sovereign states, plus the United Kingdom itself and Mozambique.
One topic of discussion is the severe weather that has affected inhabitants of many of the member countries.
Millions of people have been victims of frequent and violent devastating storms and floods due to rising sea levels and unusually heavy rainfalls.
Floods and droughts have been destroying properties, killing people and wiping out agricultural activities and threatening livelihoods and food security.
Jamaica-born Smith, who noted that the Commonwealth had been pointing to the issue of climate change since 1987, expressed disappointment that it was only in recent years that international financial agencies like the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank have begun paying attention to the issue.
“The issue has now become a global one because its global consequences, it’s global import, it’s global implications have been recognized, and I think that is part of the reason why it has taken some time, and I think we must also be grateful that it has occurred even though we might be disappointed that it has taken so long,“ he said.
The meeting’s agenda included a Commonwealth Action Plan on reforming the international aid architecture, public financial management and gender responsive budgets.

FRANKFURT, Germany, Oct. 15--The biggest German power company, E.ON, will raise electricity and gas prices sharply next year, it said Monday, a move likely to fuel inflation in the biggest eurozone economy.
From January 1, the cost of electricity for individuals is to increase by 7.1-9.9 percent according to the region, adding between 4.30 and 5.8 euros (6.10 to 8.22 dollars) per month to their bills, a statement said, AFP reported.
Gas prices would rise by 3.4-8.8 percent, E.ON added.
The hikes “are explained by increased production prices and taxes on renewable energies,“ the statement quoted Karl-Michael Fuhr, head of its E.ON Energie division as saying.
The announcement comes as German inflation climbs above the European Central Bank’s medium term target of 2.0 percent, mainly owing to higher prices for energy and agricultural products.