Posts Tagged ‘customer’

November 19, 2011 - 1:08 am Comments Off

Large deviation from the European Central Bank. Mario Draghi, warned on Friday that a central bank "may quickly lose credibility" and that "it would have a huge economic and social costs." It refers to market demand and France, reject, would be for the ECB buys massive state debt to halt the rise in interest rates in the euro zone and end to the crisis. A policy that the institution refuses to take on behalf of his economic principles.

"Our credibility implies the success of our monetary policy to anchor inflation expectations in the medium and long term (…) to sustain growth, job creation and financial stability. And we make this contribution in full independence, "insisted Mario Draghi.

Ceiling of 20 billion euros

So much so that they would even be subject to a weekly maximum of 20 billion euros, reports the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. This limit, which apparently exists since the beginning of these operations, in 2010, was set recently in this new threshold, the newspaper said.

The ECB acts only waiting for the States to establish their own anti-crisis mechanism, the European Financial Stability Fund (EFSF), Mario Draghi repeated on Friday. Four weeks ago, European leaders decided to increase the powers so he could buy the debt of state. But these reforms are still not operational. "Where are we in the implementation of these decisions? questioned the President of the ECB.

November 17, 2011 - 11:00 am Comments Off

The escalation of tensions on the Italian and Spanish debt complicates the crisis in the euro zone and precipitates the search for new solutions. Thus, the Minister of European Affairs in Finland would defend today the creation of a two-speed Europe, guided by the inner circle of six European countries rated AAA. Alex Stubb does not want "out of some countries in the euro area, but the loss of influence in some countries," reports the Financial Times quick payday loan. He concluded: "a country that is not rated triple-A is not in the best position to advise management of public finances."

These proposals are the Finnish Minister echoes those of the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, who argues for the establishment of programs of fiscal consolidation and strengthening of the integration of the euro area.

November 4, 2011 - 11:32 am Comments Off

Papandreou prepared to withdraw his referendum and the new president of the European Central Bank, Mario Draghi, lowering interest rates in his first press conference in this position. Is good news that financial markets did not fail to acknowledge yesterday. And should continue to welcome Friday.

The Greek government plays its survival tonight in Parliament in a vote of confidence but the fate of Prime Minister George Papandreou seemed sealed after the failure of the referendum proposal. According to government sources, the leader of the socialist government has concluded an agreement Thursday with his ministers in which he agrees to resign and make way for a coalition government if they help him win the vote of confidence.In the first nine months of the year, net income rose 21.8% to 388.9 million euros and sales of 9.6% to 3.15 billion euros.

Sales of Hermès saddle-jumped over 18% in the third quarter to 683.2 million euros, the leading luxury group to raise its forecast for annual sales. The group also now expects an operating margin in 2011 "slightly above the historical level" reached last year.

SNCF, RATP: Insights on the disturbances

October 12, 2011 - 4:16 am Comments Off

Traffic in the transport is disrupted Tuesday, following the call for mobilization of CGT-CFDT, UNSA, FSU-Solidarity, who report an austerity program "inadmissible" the government and require "a different distribution of wealth. "

With the exception of SUD-RATP, who filed a notice of indefinite strike on July 31, no organization has called to stop work in transport.However federations CGT filed a notice with the RATP and SNCF, as well as SUD-Rail, to enable staff who wish to go forward.

Here are the latest traffic forecasts:

• At the SNCF

Tuesday, more than 4 of 5 TGV move on departure or arrival in Paris, except for the Atlantic TGV trains close to 3 to 5, and more than 2 runs a train on the TGV on average province-province.

For Transilien, traffic during rush hour is on average close to 2 trains of 3, and the TER, the traffic is close to 2 of 3 services at the national level. Locally, the traffic is 4 trains of 10 to a near-normal movement between regions.

For Intercités day (including Teoz), traffic is on average a train 2.

No Lunea (national traffic at night) will flow, however the nights of Tuesday to Wednesday.On international routes to night, no disturbance is expected to Germany and Italy. Traffic will also be normal day on the Eurostar (England) and Thalys (Belgium, Germany) and near normal on Lyria (Switzerland).

The other lines of Paris and Paris-Nord-Est have a service close to two out of three trains, and those of Paris-Saint Lazare, Paris-Montparnasse and Paris-Lyon train in two.

• In the RER RATP zone

Traffic is normal on the line A and the interconnection is maintained at Nanterre Prefecture. A train runs on two rush hour on the line B, and a train of four off-peak payday advance lender. Interconnection is suspended from Gare du Nord, but maintained at Nanterre Prefecture.

For portions of RER managed by SNCF, the traffic is normal on the line A (from Nanterre Prefecture in Cergy and Poissy) and Line E.There is a train of two outstanding on lines B and C of the RER, without interconnection to Paris Nord. On line D, it takes two to three trains with an average interconnection between Paris-Lyon and Paris Nord.

• In the metro and bus in Paris

In the metro, the traffic is normal on all lines except line 5, where it takes with two trains of 3.

Traffic is normal on lines 2 and 3 of the tramway. For T1, a train of 2 is outstanding.

• In the province

Strike notices were filed in 39 urban transit systems, including Lille, Marseille, Lyon, Bordeaux, Toulouse and Strasbourg.Such notice having been filed in most cases by a single union, the traffic should be only slightly affected.

The notice concerning the networks of the following cities: Amiens, Angers, Angouleme, Belfort, Besançon, Bordeaux, Bourges, Caen, Cannes, Chambery, Dijon, Douai, Lille, Limoges, Lorient (strike 55 minutes), Lyon, Le Mans, Marseille (strike 3:30), Maubeuge, Metz, Montluçon, Montpellier, Moulins Mulhouse, Nantes, Nice (strike from 9 to 12), Nîmes (strike 9:30 to 10:30), Pau, Poitiers, Reims, Rennes, La Rochelle, Rouen, Royan, Saint-Nazaire (strike from 10:30 to 14h), Strasbourg, Toulouse, Tours, Vichy.

• To monitor traffic

Hotlines are available to travelers by SNCF: 0805.90.36.35 for the Outline, TER, Téoz and Intercity, and 0805.70.08.05 for Transilien.

For traffic forecasts, two websites are available: www.sncf.com and www.infolignes.com for all traffic forecasts.

For the RATP, the number is 0800.15.11.11.

Shale Gas: Total wants explanation

October 4, 2011 - 5:24 pm Comments Off

The hatchet between opponents of the exploitation of shale gas and industry is far from buried. Following the withdrawal of operating licenses for three shale announced yesterday by the Government, José Bové, leader of the anti-shale has expressed its "satisfaction". Overall, however, said he was "very surprised by this decision." The group has indeed been canceled the license of Montelimar in the Drome and is seeking clarification from the government "to understand what legal grounds" takes place this cancellation. Two other permits, assigned to the U.S. Schuepbach, were also removed, one in the Ardèche and the other in the Larzac.

And if the state backed down on these permits is due to law of 13 July.After a major mobilization led by José Bové and the Greens, elected officials voted this summer a law banning the use of controversial mining technique called hydraulic fracturing. The government had thus given two months to holders of operating licenses for shale gas to specify what operating techniques they planned to use.

In both reports, Schuepbach had clearly stated its intention to use hydraulic fracturing, however, prohibited, said Minister of Ecology. In the report of Total, "it was not the case but I made the point that the report was not credible," said Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet. According to the minister, "Total announces to continue to search for shale gas with techniques that are not hydraulic fracturing, or we now know that these techniques are not operational no fax cash loans."

Decision on 13 octobreTotal not digest these ads. "We are very surprised to learn through the press that the government has decided to revoke the exploration permit without Montelimar Total whom the license was awarded in itself has been informed." The State must publish the full effect of those decisions and those on other 61 operating permit on October 13 in the Official Gazette. Thus remains to be seen what will be the decision of the State concerning the 61 other permits still in progress for which the industry had mentioned the use of a hydraulic fracturing technique. If the majority of these licenses relate to the operation of conventional hydrocarbons, twelve are for non-conventional hydrocarbons and potentially gas from coal or oil shale, especially in the Paris basin.

José Bové is awaiting the decision of the state.Already, the Green MEP which combined movement against the gas and oil shale warns that "continued engagement on the ground and before administrative tribunals" in case of maintenance allowed the industrial explicit mention of an appeal to the technique of hydraulic fracturing or operation of these products shale.

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The Bundestag adopted the rescue plan of the euro

September 30, 2011 - 7:08 am Comments Off

The news is reassuring. With a large majority, the Bundestag adopted the new rescue plan the Eurozone. If the vote was little doubt that the amplitude of the majority was still uncertain.

Exactly 523 of 620 deputies voted "for", said the chairman of the meeting Norbert Lammert. Germany is the eleventh country to approve the expansion of the envelope and the powers of the European emergency fund created in 2010 to assist countries in the euro area in need. This will be the largest contributor.

The new rescue plan foresees an expansion of European powers of the fire in the euro area, the Financial Stability Fund (EFSF), and increased its capacity from 440 to 780 euros milliarsd.

Half of French lives with at least 19,000 euros per year

August 30, 2011 - 4:32 pm Comments Off

The debate is raging right now about the notion of "very high income" – the government, which plans to tax them, has so far estimated at 500,000 euros per year, but lawmakers are likely to set the lower threshold above. That of poverty, by contrast, is much more accurate.

In a study published on Tuesday, INSEE said that the threshold is 60% of the median standard of living – one who shares the French population in half – or 954 euros a month (11,450 euros per year) in 2009. That same year, 8.2 million people lived below the poverty line.

Thus 13.5% of the population that was struggling to cope with loan repayments, which was regularly exposed or who would dip into its savings to balance its budget.Or 0.5 point more than in 2008, where they were 7.84 million.

The gaps widen

This increase in the number of poor people is due to the increase in unemployment during the economic slump. "However, one-off measures and the ramp-up phase of active solidarity income helped limit the effects of the crisis," the study said payday advance. The fact remains that in 2009, 10.1% of assets in excess of 18 are poor.

While the differences in living standards between the French the most fragile and the richest had decreased until 2004, they continue to grow since.In 2009, 10% of French people living with the smallest less than 10,410 euros per year (a figure calculated per consumption unit, which takes into account economies of scale when several people are in the home), down 1.1 % compared to 2008.

Meanwhile, the wealthiest 10% had a standard of living of at least 35,840 euros, up 0.7%, but less strong than in previous years.

As for the median standard of living, it is 19,080 euros per person per year, or 1590 euros per month. It increased by 0.4% compared to 2008 (an increase also lower than in previous years).

Overall, the economic crisis "affects all households, but it is the smallest that are most affected," says INSEE.

The largest group of nursing homes will close

July 11, 2011 - 11:44 pm Comments Off

From our correspondent in London

Despite a series of desperate measures taken last month to try to save the company, Southern Cross, the largest group of nursing homes in Britain, will have to end its activities. The company is in a position of near bankruptcy and will have to transfer all of the 752 homes it had to other management structures. Agreements are already being negotiated for a third of them. The listing of the group Southern Cross was suspended Monday for the London Stock Exchange.

An announcement has angered unions and associations for the protection of older people, worried about the future of 31,000 residents and 43,000 employees of the group.The bankruptcy of a private operator managed by investment funds of the City is also very bad news for the government to David Cameron, the reform of public health plans to provide a much greater role to the private sector.

Southern Cross tried last month to set up a restructuring plan which included the sale of hundreds of homes and the deferred payment of a quarter of rents for 752 homes, but these efforts have not been sufficient.

The magnitude of the crisis had forced the Prime Minister to take a stand last month. David Cameron was first started by saying that the state did not intervene in a private matter, but ended promise that he would do everything to ensure the situation of pensioners affected.A spokesman for Downing Street said Monday that no retiree "does homeless" because "there are currently about 50,000 places in the country" in nursing homes.

Reduced spending

The fate of Southern Cross also challenges the rapid privatization of the medical sector and assistance for the elderly in Britain for twenty years, a trend initiated by the Conservatives but pursued by Tony Blair. More than two thirds of homes in the country, many of which provide a public service, are now managed by private companies. The quality of their service is also criticism since private retirement residence with seven scored "poor" or "inadequate" in the inspections, said the Financial Times.

The cause of the collapse of Southern Cross is quite simple.The group had signed leases with annual increases of 2.5% guarantees but finds himself in is at odds because its major customers, municipalities and communities, reduce average spending of welfare benefits by 10% year, due to the combined effects of losses due to bad investments during the financial crisis and the massive budget reduction plan launched by the government Cameron.

This is the unfortunate consequence of a strategy set up by Blackstone, the investment fund that took control of the group in 2004. The fund wanted to increase the financial profitability of the group by selling its stock of homes, at a time when the UK property market was in a bubble.

The exorbitant cost of cyber attacks

July 2, 2011 - 8:08 am Comments Off

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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Typewriters, it's over

April 28, 2011 - 1:36 am Comments Off

The order of keys on computer keyboards is now the last vestige of the era of typewriters. In India, the last factory in the world still producing the devices on which generations of typists have damaged their nails, just down the curtain.

The Daily Star has revealed that, without controls, the group Godrej & Boyce, based in Bombay, not surprisingly, decided to cease production after more than half a century of production.The fault, of course, the irresistible rise of the computer, which has reduced from 50,000 units in 1990 to only 800 in 2010, the number of units produced annually by the conglomerate of the subcontinent.

The Indian government has given the coup de grace by deciding to gradually move to IT, to the chagrin of officials who say old type faster on a machine.

To liquidate the latest machines in stock, Godrej & Boyce shakes the rope speculation. "This is the last opportunity for fans of typewriters," said the Indian press one of the leaders of the group.

Accuracy before rushing to Mumbai: Most of them are intended for texts in Arabic.