They said they needed a year to prepare the case

Sales or the irst eight months o the year are down 4.3 per cent.. Prices o metals such as copper and aluminium that hit record highs on the back o soaring demand are set to drop as much as 60 per cent o er the next i e years, the International Monetary und warned yesterday. The global inancial watchdog, which is widening its co erage to areas such as asset markets, said prices were unsustainable at their current le els. Its warning runs contrary to optimism in the industry that prices will stay abo e their historic highs, although it accepts there is a risk o a correction.In an analysis o non- uel commodities to be published next week in its biannual world economic outlook, the IM said prices would all as new production capacity came on stream.Metals prices ha e soared 180 per cent in real terms since 2002. Sunderland beat o competition rom ri al car plants in rance, where Nissan has a controlling shareholding in Renault.The launch o the Qashqai came as the UK new-car market continued to go into re erse. Registrations last month were down 6 per cent on August 2005 at 77,961.The Society o Motor Manu acturers and Traders also cautioned that September sales may disappoint, despite the number plate change this month with an estimated 395,000 new cars expected to be bought. It is the irst all-new ehicle to come out o the company's design centre in London.The decision to build the Qashqai in Sunderland, backed by &8364;300m (?204m) o new in estment, was announced in ebruary last year a ter the Go ernment agreed to gi e ?5m in grant aid towards the project. Nissan un eiled the new model to be built at its Sunderland plant yesterday, pledging that the expansion in production would sa eguard or create 1,200 jobs.

The Qashqai - a cross between a amily hatchback and a 4x4 - will go into production in December, making it the i th car to be built at the North-east plant. Nissan expects to produce 130,000 o the new cars a year, increasing Sunderland's output to about 400,000.Un eiling the car in Paris, Nissan's chie executi e Carlos Ghosn said the Qashqai demonstrated the Japanese company's con idence in the Sunderland plant which began production 20 years ago.The Qashqai is the irst Nissan model to be de eloped wholly in Europe. Howe er, the go ernment then asked the magistrate to stay his decision until the direction hearing.Another bail hearing is expected in the next ew days to determine whether the ankle bracelets can be remo ed.. The irm helped Enron create the o -shore in estment ehicles that led to the bankers' indictment.In a separate bail hearing, a US magistrate rejected the US go ernment's attempts to put the trio under house arrest and instead ruled that their electronic tags could be remo ed. They said they needed a year to prepare the case. Da id Bermingham, 43, Giles Darby, 44 and Gary Mulgrew, 43, are accused o conspiring with senior Enron executi es in 2000 to de raud NatWest o $19m (?10m), pocketing $7m themsel es. The judge rejected a de ence motion calling or him to remo e himsel rom the case, saying he had se ered ties with his ormer law irm, inson & Elkins, 14 years ago. A US judge set the trial date yesterday or 4 September, a ter the trio's de ence lawyers rejected 5 ebruary. The trial o the three ormer NatWest bankers, whose recent extradition to the US on Enron-related raud charges attracted huge contro ersy, will take place in a year's time.

"These proposals all ail the low- and a erage-paid bene iciaries o the new pensions scheme," Brendan Barber, the TUC general secretary, said. "Expecting competition to keep charges down among pensions pro iders would be a triumph o hope o er experience."The Go ernment is expected to announce the inal design o the personal accounts scheme by the end o the year.. "To us, with all the mis-selling issues in the past, it's key that consumers' interests are put at the heart o this new system rom the start," he said.The TUC claimed the ABI had ailed to pro e its proposals were superior to Lord Turner's. Doug Taylor o Which? said: "I don't accept that e eryone's now said 0.3 per cent is unrealistic. Certainly i you look at the international comparisons, such as Sweden and the United States, it does not seem to be unrealistic."Mr Taylor said he was appalled that so little attention had been paid to the consumer in the debate o er the design o the new pension system. He said that it was increasingly accepted that pension charges would realistically be in the range o 0.6 to 0.7 per cent.The ABI also called on the Go ernment to allow the insurance industry to create and own a central clearing house to acilitate the new pension accounts, rather than outsource the work.It said the Go ernment should also take steps to ensure that in estment returns are standardised and more predictable.The insurance industry's response angered consumer groups, who described the proposals as simply "an act o sel -preser ation". Publishing its response to the Pensions White Paper, the Association o British Insurers (ABI) said the actual le el o charges or the Go ernment's proposed personal pension accounts would depend on participation rates in the scheme, which could not be accurately predicted.