Newspapers : 16th September (en)

Nato bolsters links with Tbilisi. Stefan Wagstyl and Tony Barber, The FT (en)
IMF approves $750m loan for Georgia .

New Russia conflict looms. Bruno Waterfield, The Telegraph (en)

Proposal to tax plastic forks sticks in the throats of les pique-niqueurs. John Lichfield, The Independent (en)

Russia shows off the spoils of war in Georgia. Shaun Walker, The Independent (en)

EU confident of co-ordinated response to Lehman. Nikki Tait, Ben Hall and Gerrit Wiesmann, The FT (en)

ECB and Bank of England inject funds . Ralph Atkins, Delphine Strauss and Norma Cohen, The FT (en)

" The European Central Bank said on Monday it had allotted €30bn ($42.04bn) in one-day liquidity to counter financial turmoil in the wake of the crisis in the US banking system, while the Bank of England said it would offer £5bn of extra reserves to help stabilise conditions in the sterling money markets.
The ECB said it had alloted the money at a marginal rate of 4.30 per cent and an average rate of 4.39 per cent. Altogether 51 banks bid €90.27bn. Earlier, using language similar to that previously used to signal possible intervention in financial markets, the Frankfurt-based institution said it “continues to closely monitor the conditions in the euro area money market” ..."

Top court rules in GSK parallel trade case. Nikki Tait, The FT (en)

" ... The European Court of Justice ruled that if a dominant company refused to meet ”ordinary” orders for medicinal products, because it wanted to put a stop to parallel exports, it was breaching EU competition law. But the judges said that it was up to individual countries’ courts to decide whether orders were ”ordinary” ... "

Russian business doubts stability pledge. Charles Clover, The FT (en)

"... Aleksander Shokhin, head a group of the country’s main business leaders, told a summit with the president: “The financial markets are falling, we observe a very severe shortage of liquidity in the banking sphere ... The oil price is falling, and there is a strengthening of inflationary tendencies. The central bank and the government are taking a number of steps, but these may not be sufficient. There needs to be an active, anti-crisis policy ..."

Survival of fittest for mid-tier oligarchs. Catherine Belton, The FT (en)

" ... More than $680bn (€479bn, £380bn) – more than one-third of the country’s gross domestic product – has been wiped off stocks on Russia’s exchanges since they reached their heights in May ...

... bankers say they are most concerned about a lesser-known middle belt of Russian businessmen worth between $50m and $1bn each who have borrowed heavily to fund growth, mainly in retail and property development. Many have funded growth pledging shares as collateral for loans and have faced a wave of margin calls as the market sank ... "