World Articles

Tomorrow is the big day Monday for "Total Access". The new brand of the oil company, which will provide service stations with low prices, will make his first steps at Rocquencourt near Paris Gennevilliers and in the Hauts-de-Seine. The two prototypes will offer, according to the Journal du Dimanche, prices aligned with retail, or about 1 cheapest personal loan rates.46 euro a liter of unleaded and 1.38 euro per liter of diesel.

An artist's view of future gas stations cheap Total Access. (CD Total)

After several days of hesitation, the main leaders of the euro area are put together in the front line Tuesday in an attempt to appease the debt crisis. The offensive is part of the first German chancellor, who tried to silence the cacophony in his ruling coalition. "The priority is to do everything to prevent a failure of control of Greece because it affects not only Greece but the risk that affects other countries would be very high," said Angela Merkel. A very strong focus towards members of his coalition, particularly the Vice-Chancellor in charge of Economy, Philipp Roesler, who had set fire to the powder Monday citing a lack of Athens.

True to his style, though Chancellor has not completely closed the door on this idea, stating that the priority was to avoid it."Everything must be done to keep the euro area united politically, because otherwise we could face a domino effect." Angela Merkel has also kept the pressure on Athens, welcoming the signal showing that "the Greek government has recognized the situation and does what he must do. " Finally, after a meeting with the Prime Minister of Finland Jyrki Katainen, it calmed the game on the ongoing negotiations between Greece and Finland, which requires collateral in exchange for his participation in the background of help. "I am optimistic that we find an agreement," she said.

Limit catches of speech

The statements made by German Chancellor multiple contrast with the silence of Nicolas Sarkozy. The French president received Tuesday the president of the European Union, Herman Van Rompuy to a point on the situation, with nothing to filter their conversation.Side of the French government, it is estimated that in the context of extreme nervousness of the markets, which eventually rebounded Tuesday after closing fell sharply at the opening, limit the public speaking up, not to give the serious crisis that Europe wants to avoid. Do not think of a panic. Within the State, it still insists that "banks are strong," they are "fully capable" to absorb the losses to Greece and that "we are far from the situation in 2008, where the interbank market was closed. Today, there is no liquidity problem. "

On the side of the Ministry of Economy, we want even more reassuring: "rumors do not affect the real economy."Therefore, there is "no reason" to think about re-financing of the Society of the French economy (SFEF) or the Company of equity of the state (SPPE), created in the heart of the financial turmoil in 2008 to rescue banks.

As part of nationalizing banks, as the idea begins to circulate, "it is triple no!" Says Minister of Economy, Baroin, Le Figaro. The Government's priority is the speedy implementation of the plan July 21. "What must be avoided, an environment is anxiety sustainable. Because here, the banks would start to select their distribution of credits, "we nevertheless recognize Bercy. A topic that will be at the heart of the Eurogroup expected Friday in Poland. This meeting of European finance ministers promises crucial. Further indication of the challenge, the U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner will participate exceptional.According to European sources, it should call on this occasion the Europeans not to procrastinate in managing the crisis and look closely at increasing the capacity of the SFEF to deal with bank recapitalization.

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After two sessions of gains, the Paris Stock Exchange is divided into negative territory on Friday. At the close, the CAC 40 lost no less than 3.60%, and returned to below 3000 points to 2974.59 points. All index values ​​have completed the session in the red. In its wake, London and Frankfurt show respective losses of 2.36% and 4.13%. Milan, meanwhile, lost no less than 4.93%.

Once again, the banking sector has suffered the wrath of investors. He has stepped up its losses when that Jürgen Stark, member of the Executive Board of the ECB, announced his resignation for "personal reasons" according to the statement of the ECB.The chief economist of the institution has repeatedly expressed his opposition in recent weeks to buyback of government bonds led the ECB to ease the most fragile countries in the euro area.

In addition, the statements of Christine Lagarde, under which a liquidity crisis was not to dismiss as some banks needed additional capital, also weighed on the trend. "This is the effect Lagarde. These statements primarily affect banks that are considered the least well placed in terms of capital ratios, "said one trader.

Result: Société Générale, signing by far the largest decline of the day, tumbling from 10.58% to 17.44 euros.Behind her, Crédit Agricole loose 7.77% to 5.40% euro Natixis 7.60% to 2.40 euros, BNP Paribas 7.54% to 29.80 euros and Axa 7.59% to 9.39 euros .

The opening of the G7 finance ministers and central bank governors of leading industrialized countries, on Friday afternoon in Marseille to find answers to the crisis, will not have enough to reassure the markets.

Obama's plan is not reassuring

Investors also received without enthusiasm details of the plan unveiled by the Employment Barack Obama in the night. U.S. President presented a draft law on the release of 447 billion for the Americans out of unemployment."This plan will give an electric shock to an economy that has stalled, will give confidence to businesses on the fact that if they invest and hire, there will be customers for their products and services," assured the U.S. president to members of Congress .

Clearly, the operators seem to doubt the implementation of this plan. Its funding is already generating questions from Republican opponents could block a vote. Barack Obama urged them to adopt "immediately". The U.S. president also announced that it will issue on September 19 "a deficit reduction plan more ambitious."

Similarly, investors have also not appreciated the remarks of the President of the Federal Reserve on growth and employment on Thursday night.The Fed "will do everything it can to participate in the return of growth and employment rates," said its chairman Ben Bernanke, minimizing inflation fears. This speech, however, feeds the assumption of a new effort of quantitative easing, which could be announced at the next meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee of the Fed, scheduled for September 20 and 21.

Inflation slows in China

Also on the macroeconomic front, Japan has this morning reported a decline of 2.1% of GDP in the second quarter 2011 annualized. This is more than the 1.3% decline initially estimated. The main factor weighing on GDP has been the decline in exports (-4.9% from January to March).

In China, rising consumer prices, the main barometer of inflation, which had accelerated in recent months, slowed slightly to 6.2% in August.Industrial production is she up 13.5% in August.

In France, industrial production rebounded 1.5% in July after a decline of similar magnitude in June, show statistics released Friday by INSEE. The budget deficit of the French government fell in late July to 86.6 billion euros, against 93.1 billion euros a year earlier, thanks to lower costs, said Friday the Department of Budget .

United States, wholesale inventories reached a record high in July, rising 0.8% to 462.4 billion dollars, an unprecedented amount, in accordance with market expectations.

As for currencies, the euro Friday pressed below the $ 1.37 for the first time since late February, weighed down by concerns about increasing the economic health of the euro area and the global economic recovery.At the close, the European currency fell to 1.348 dollar (-1.70%), its lowest level since Feb. 23. For its part, the oil appears also down, despite a surprise drop in U.S. inventories. A barrel of "light sweet crude" for October delivery trading at 86.65 dollars, down 2.70%.

Values ​​to follow

• TF1 (-7.20% to 9.54 euros), M6 (-6.51% to 13.29 euros) Bolloré (3.37% to 161 euros), Vivendi (-0.25% at 16 , 05 euros); NextRadioTV (-0.39% to 10.10 euros)

Chains react in a disorganized to take control of Direct 8 Direct and Star, two DTT channels free of the Bolloré Group, Canal +. The subsidiary of Vivendi will have three DTT frequencies. Be as much as TF1 and M6 more than the group which, in addition to the namesake chain, has only W9.For this operation, fully financed by shares, a stake Bolloré group Vivendi.

• Total (-2.47% to 32.83 euros)

The Anglo-Dutch oil group Shell said Friday that oil was discovered off the coast of French Guiana, during exploratory drilling at about 150 km off the coast.

• Sopra (0.69% to 45 euros)

The group announced the takeover of Delta, specialized in banking software.The transaction is expected to close in early October 2011, will be financed from existing credit lines of business consulting, IT services and software.

• Pierre & Vacances (-4.71% to 37.19 euros)

The group, which operates much of the accommodation ski resorts, opened 369 new tourist residences furnished this winter.

• ArcelorMittal (-7.49% to 13.02 euros)

The group will close as of October 3 for an indefinite period and the second blast furnace at its site in Florange (Moselle), according to a union source quoted by AFP.

• EADS (-1.34% to 21.35 euros)

The group said on Thursday not want to use all of its $ 16 billion (11.45 billion euros) in cash for acquisitions.

The candidate Dupont-Aignan interview by Cadremploi

The head of the Republic Standing employees do not like standing. Or rather is left standing vendors unnecessarily. After a half-hour interview, Nicolas Dupont-Aignan leaves the impression of having really thought about what a recruit.

The one he recalls with Philippe Séguin to those he leads today with the employees it recruits in town hall or in its movement, NDA puts forward some principles. Recruiters, he advises not to destabilize. Candidates, he said, especially not artificially try to stick to the post, do not rewrite their CVs to look at all costs to what is required paydayloans.The bluff always ends up seeing.

And, for the presidential, he idea for the interviews turn into really good jobs for the economy? A "simple idea proposed 100 times": when a company makes a profit it reinvests in France, reducing the corporate tax of 50%. " Political side, which he recruit? Which woman or politician would it work? Arnaud Montebourg. Why not, the ideas are close, as the generation, the former lawyer and professional employee. The team could work. Be careful with egos in the bullpen …

Miserable for the opposition, wobbly for the Court of Auditors and the Bank of Italy, considered a "blatant theft" by the CGIL union, which calls for a general strike on September 6, the budget bill amendment from the agreement Monday between Silvio Berlusconi and his main ally in government, the Northern League, never ceases to cause a stir.

Clearly, the political compromise was drafted in haste, less to meet market expectations and requirements of rigor of the ECB and Brussels as to satisfy the appetites of political coalition.

The plan touches the budget plan adopted on August 14 the Council of Ministers, who remodeled himself the three-year plan adopted July 15 by the Chamber of Deputies.The goal remains unchanged: to return to balanced public accounts or substantially by the end of 2013 with a deficit reduced from 3.9% to 0.2% of GDP. This requires about 48 billion euros in savings or additional revenues in two years.

However, the mechanisms used to differ materially. Abandoned, the removal of "solidarity" on income exceeding 90,000 euros per year announced in mid-August. As the merging of municipalities with fewer than 1,000 inhabitants (Italy has 8100 municipalities) and the consolidation of a number of the 110 provinces, which duplicates the 21 regions. The initial objective was yet to release 70,000 posts the payroll of the state.

Structural reforms are delayed

Wednesday again, the government had to give to exclude the counting of annual pension contribution periods of education or military service.About 100 000-130 000 Italians are concerned. The measure, considered unfair by many, would have saved 500 million euros next year.

As a result, the Bank of Italy said that the draft budget relies too much on tax revenues, which represent three quarters of the effort. Again, structural reforms are referred to the next legislature: it would halve Yet the plethora of parliament (one thousand), scouring utilities and local governments, reduce the exorbitant privileges of the political class. Decisions that require boldness.

Parliament must approve the draft by 15 October. Some 1 300 amendments were tabled. You can bet they significantly exacerbate spending. Silvio Berlusconi is confident to govern until the election deadline of 2013. Markets, they will vote probably before.

At the time of the near-victory against the Gaddafi regime, France officially unveils the treasures accumulated by the Libyan dictator in France. The Elysee Palace announced on Wednesday that 7.6 billion euros of assets had been frozen since the European decision to this effect from 21 March. Initially, Paris has requested authorization from the UN to release 1.5 billion euros by the end of the week. This is to meet the emergency needs of the rebels of the National Transition, said the president.

The request of France aims to prepare the international conference on the future of Libya after the fall of the regime of Muammar Gaddafi. The question of a thaw in Libyan assets will be the focus of discussion. The financial stakes are considerable: the Gaddafi regime has accumulated through the sale of oil and gas, about $ 200 billion worldwide.Among others, the United States had announced in late February, have frozen $ 30 billion, the Bank of England 13.587 billion dollars.

The Security Council authorized the UN London Tuesday to release $ 1.6 billion in frozen Libyan assets to provide humanitarian aid to Tripoli. The UN has also agreed Thursday to release $ 1.5 billion of assets invested in U.S. banks. Germany still waits for its green light to unlock the Council about a billion of Libyan assets frozen and Canada intends to thaw $ 2 billion (1.38 billion euros). The Italian government has already promised to thaw a first tranche of 350 million euros.

The CNT eye on the jackpot for any rebuilding, put the country back in working order pay day advance."Our success will depend on the release of frozen funds" abroad, called Mahmoud Jibril, the number two of the rebels on Friday in Istanbul. "The battle of the reconstruction will be even more intense" than the war, he warned before. The transition looks perilous time and the payment of salaries of civil servants would prevent a resurgence of stabilization.

Disappearance of 25% of funds in three months

To this day, and unlike most other European countries, Paris refused to disclose that it had frozen Libyan petrodollars. However, statistics from the Bank of France, limited to transactions between banks between the two countries, indicated that at December 31, 2010, French banks harbored 8.23 ​​billion dollars (5.84 billion euros).Mysteriously, this amount has shrunk from 25% in 3 months (-2.1 billion, or $ 1.45 billion), while the wind of revolution blowing in the Arab world and earned Libya.

Impossible, from these statistics alone, to know where these billions have evaporated. It could be, as explained a French officer in April, a "reorganization perimeter" in the very opaque investment fund public Libyan LIA. Or capital flight, as was increasing international pressure on the Libyan regime, squeezed by the Tunisian and Egyptian revolutions.

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Click the preview to enlarge the graphic.

Three stars, "samsung" in Korean, were on the first devices from the brand that were sold in Europe in the 1970s. It was the microwave low-end a few dozen francs apiece. This product of Appeal allowed the group to make a name and win in other markets, becoming the world leader in electronics and 19th marks in all categories.

The chaebol (Korean conglomerate), height of 6.2 billion euros in cash, has the means of its ambitions. And they are clear: to be number one everywhere. This is done on the TV market. To achieve the first place, the group has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in advertising around the world. He did not hesitate to cut prices, which allowed him inexorably to nibble market share.He fears, however, LG, another Korean, which, by betting on a technology other than his own in the 3D threatens his leadership.

In the area of ​​mobile, Samsung is the group that made the most progress over the last 12 months, according to IDC. In the last quarter, the Korean group has moved closer to Nokia and is expected soon to become the world's leading brand for mobile phones. While in smartphones and tablet, Apple seems unbeatable.

The finest PC market

There is also high ambitions in the PC. For now, the chaebol has only 3% of the world, behind industry giants, HP, Acer and Dell guaranteed payday loans. But this hides another reality: in 2010, Samsung sold 10 million computers. That's twice in 2009.Korean plans to increase its presence in this field by making efforts in all areas, including the design, which has long been its main weakness. Earlier this year, Samsung introduced the PC's finest on the market.

In keeping with the policy of expansion that has been in place since the early 1990s, the company also addresses the appliance market, where he is currently a relatively marginal player. Now, the time of cheap microwave is over. Place in washing machine and refrigerator art.Samsung is heavily loaded with LED lighting, his mastery of electronics, a way to give a serious and consumers to benefit from the reputation it enjoys in televisions and other devices, though far removed .

The group is also one of the largest manufacturers of memory cards for computer, LCD screen TVs … and provides many of its competitors, including Philips, Toshiba or Apple. This sometimes leads to complicated situations: the American and Korean competitors in smartphones and tablets, are engaged in trials crossed. They accuse each other of patent infringement, a real shadow on the balance sheet of the Asian giant.

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Business leaders employing between 250 and 5,000 employees and producing between 50 million and EUR 1.5 billion in revenue, also called medium-sized companies (ETI), are confident. According to the first barometer of medium-sized companies conducted by Ifop on behalf of PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), 84% of managers are particularly optimistic about their companies.

They are, however, that 56% said that their morale is good when they are asked about the international situation. And 48% share this view when they consider the French economy. "More companies are international, they are more present in Europe and Asia, their leaders are more optimistic," says Bernard Gainnier, partner in charge of developing the audit firm and PwC Consulting.

Sign of good health, the main activity indicators are rising.Whether it's sales (62%), investments (44%) or the order book (43%). Nearly two-thirds of companies plan to hire in the next four months. Those employing more than 800 employees plan to hire 26 people. And over a third of its capacity will increase recruitment.

For control of the tax shield

Despite these positive signs, one in two managers said that his company's growth is constrained by taxes, either in the form of payroll taxes or taxes. 48% guarantee to be disabled by the price of raw materials. More than a third lack of visibility on its business. This figure reached 50% in the financial, technology and entertainment.

Nearly four in five managers believe that governments do not realize enough effort to promote the development of their businesses.They are calling for a legal and fiscal stability. But they are supportive of the measures on the taxation of wealth proposed by the government in May: 62% say that the possibility of being exempt from the TFR is a good idea. 56% say that removing the tax shield is a good measure. In contrast, 78% condemned the increase in transmission costs. Logic, as members of the founding families and leaders often hold the capital of such company.

The world's leading consumer is again in top form. The annual accounts ended June should show an increase in turnover of 5% over last year, when sales reached 78.9 billion dollars. Bob McDonald, who took over the group in the middle of the crisis in July 2009, was last week in France for his first visit since taking office. This former military academy at West Point, who spent five years in the U.S. Army before joining Procter in 1980, his book Figaro battle plan to win every year 200 million new consumers.

Click the preview to enlarge the graphic

The numbers are staggering. In Germany, the financial damage caused by cyber crime amounted to 61.5 million euros in 2010, according to figures released Thursday by the criminal police and the Federation of high tech Bitkom. This is equivalent to an increase of 66% over the previous year. As the United States, the FBI estimated the cost of crime to some digital $ 560 million in 2009. A world-wide, according to McAfee, cyber crime would have generated some 1000 billion in 2008, about 1.64% of world GDP for that year. Remains that, without minimizing the scale of the scourge, these figures are perplexing.

Many experts give little credence to these studies because most of them emanate from computer security specialists. For the record, other than McAfee is the world number two antivirus software.In addition, "less than 10% of companies report having experienced cyber attacks," said Jean-Paul Pinte, senior lecturer in strategic intelligence at the Catholic University of Lille. According to the specialist risk management and cyber terrorists of enterprises affected societies fear the bad publicity due to media coverage of cyber attacks.

Jean-Paul Pinte, "we know nothing of the legacy and financial losses suffered indirectly." He added: "If an attack is to relieve a company of sensitive information, loss of data will generate multiple costs, such as loss of competitiveness, or the upgrading of security."

"Hard to get a comprehensive view"

Director of the National Security Information Systems (Anssi), Patrick Pailloux abounds in this direction."When a site is the victim of an attack, he takes as an example, it is first blocked, causing a shortfall. Then we must add additional costs to set up a hotline strengthened. "And on the practices of industrial espionage initiated via the Internet," How can we measure in terms of losses that a competitor could steal ?, "asks the director of Anssi. Clearly, "it is difficult to get a comprehensive view of the problem," says he.

Despite these criticisms, these figures are held up to each event on Cybercrime. However dated, the estimated one trillion dollars of McAfee is authoritative. Last May, it appeared even in the "reminder" of the fourth Parliamentary Forum on Information Society in Geneva, on the initiative, among others, the United Nations.Trompe-l'oeil, the text quoted a source stamped Europol, the pharmacy police intergovernmental European Union, which actually refers to the numbers … the software publisher.

If governments do not hesitate to chopping these impressive figures, it is often necessary to legitimize, but costly reinforcement of their agencies against digital piracy. Or clear, make the pill easier to swallow from taxpayers. In January, the UK has estimated that cyber attacks cost him a whopping 27 billion pounds per year (32.2 billion euros) in a government study.An amount (by far) greater than the harm claimed by the United States … A few days before making public figure, London has announced the release of 650 million pounds over four years to "strengthen its cyber security "…

International cooperation in the war-horse

Without waving the national figures, France is no exception, as evidenced by the announcement of piracy Bercy in March. Patrick Pailloux it was for the state to "lead by example" to encourage companies to report piracy they wipe. The Director of Anssi said that 150 computers were then infiltrated by hackers to steal documents for the French presidency of the G20. "We were able to counter the threat," he goes on, noting that thirty experts have been mobilized for two months to "clean up" more than 130,000 positions in the Department.A communication that is timely, since Anssi plans to double its workforce (360 employees) by 2013.

Such methods may be distasteful, but experts and politicians agree: there is no time to waste on the face of digital crime. "For a long time in France, we thought that hacking and computer intrusions were not really dangerous, says Jean-Paul Pinte. But now we know that it's become a real business, and that the threat can come from anywhere: a simple USB key, hard drives or even photocopiers, which, connected to the Internet can become the target of hackers ".

Therefore, international cooperation, which requires significant resources, is "a priority," insists Patrick Pailloux. And for good reason: "90% of attacks are international," says the director of Anssi.In the columns of The Tribune, Laurent Wauquiez, Minister for European Affairs, recently recalled that a hacker "can be installed in Latvia, while in France to intervene through a Canadian site." He even considers urgent that Europe adopts "a kind of cyber-FBI-backed Europol" to stem the digital crime. And one last statistic to shoot, ensuring that "a user of thirty lost money in Europe over the last year" due to a hacker.

Businesses, prey selection

Having surveyed 45 U.S. companies in 2010, the Ponemon Institute found that on average, the financial damage caused by hackers and data theft was $ 3.8 million.Like that of McAfee, this figure is to be taken lightly, as though Ponemon shows his independence, his study was commissioned by ArcSight, a specialist in digital security. However, it appears that large groups are increasingly being targeted by hackers. Since the beginning of the year, the list of companies or institutions that have suffered cyberattacks has continued to grow. Sony has suffered more than ten attacks since mid-April, leading to theft of confidential data of more than 1 million customer accounts. Recently, Sega has had the same misfortune: the editor of the series of Sonic hedgehog found in mid-June have been stolen names, email addresses, birth dates and passwords of almost 1.3 million customers on its servers.Google or Citigroup also suffered cyber attacks.

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