from today's Nikkei

国家公務員に能力昇進制　政府、２００９年にも　談合防止　OB口利きに罰則
The outline of the revision of the public employees system,which is now under discussion by the government, was made clear Saturday.According to it, The government likely will newly introduce the meritocracy in the personnel management of (for) the state government employees in fisacal 2009.Other rules include the penalty which is applied when retired officials exert their influnce on their former subordinates active in office so that bid-riggings should be prevented.

from today's Nikkei

主要銀行　融資再び減少　１０・１１月残高前年割れ　金利機能が回復　企業、資金需要を見極め
Domestic major banks' balances of loans have turned to (be) declining again.The total balances of loans as of the ends of October and December of 12 major banks including Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ Bank were less than tose at the same points of the previous year.Agianst the backdrop of this phenomenon, there is a fact that these banks all soon raised their interst rates of loans after the Bank of Japan's lifting the so-called zero-interest-rate policy in September.This means the recovery of interest rates of banks' adjustment function,by which the volume of loans to firms would be adjusted.In these circumstances,the firms are looking into the needs of funds they want more seriously.

参考：Domestic major banks' balances of loans で　名詞を複数形にしているのは、ここの銀行の残高をそれぞレ意識しているから。それらをまとめた集合的な概念として意識すれば単数になります。agianst the backdrop of 、in these circumstances,は便利な言い回しです。

from today's Nikkei

日本企業、Ｍ＆Ａ１５兆円　今年３割増、件数は最高　海外投資が大型化
Japanese companies have been accelerating to be engaged in the merger and acqusition deal, with the money invested in 2006 coming to be 15 trillion yen,up 30% comapred with that of a year earlier(ago),which is the highest level since 1999.And the number of this year's M&A s is the highest ever.Against the backdrop of this, comapnies' overseas investments have recently been becoming bigger and bigger.

from today's Nikkei

景気拡大　「１年以上続く」３５％　消費を懸念　「ペースは鈍化」２６％
「来年賃上げ」２６％どまり　社長１００人アンケート
According to the data of the answers to the questionnaire to 100 company's presidents compiled by The Nihon Keizai Shimbun, 90% of the respondents replied," The domestic economy is expanding." Thirty-five percent of them said ,"The expansion will continue further for more than one year."On the other hand,26% of the respondents answered, "The pace of the economic expansion has been declining gradually due to concerns about U.S. economy and consumer spending in the future." With regard to the wage increases next spring, those who replied they will increase their own companies employees' wages accounted for only 26% of the total.
参考：この種の文章はパターンが大体決まっている。まずAccording to が必ず出てくる。次に○○％ of the respondents が出てくる。reply, say, answer いずれも同じ意味ですが、英語では重複を避けたがるセンスがあるので、同じ単語で続けるよりも、所々で言い換えたほうがいいと思います。続けても間違いではもちろんない。数字の関係は明確にすべきで、上記でThirty-five percent of them は　回答者の９０％の人の３５％の意味です。この関係はofを使って明確にします。それから文章のはじめには数字を使えません。必ずスペル・アウトします。「３５％　of them」となっていないのはそのためです。

from today's Nikkei(間違い発見）

トヨタ　フォードとトップ会談　環境技術など　提携を模索
It was learned Tuesday that top executives of Toyota Motor Corporation and Ford Motor Company had met in Japan. It is believed that the two companies will likely to seek business alliances in the fields such as environmental technology.
間違いの箇所：ここで　will likely to seek としているのは間違いですね。正しくは、will likely seek で　toは不要です。
it is likely to という言い方はありまして、今回それと混同しました。
副詞のlikelyの位置は、will の前の場合もあるように思います。つまり、likely will seek です。実際の使用例がそうなっています。副詞の位置は原則があるものの柔軟性があります。