World Articles

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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 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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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.

France succeeded his exam. "Frankly, we are satisfied, we are not far from having achieved more than we hoped," let go Sunday a collaborator Christine Lagarde, visibly relieved. It must be said that the meeting this weekend in Paris was a test for the French presidency.

"Not many of you believed in!" Launched Saturday night a French negotiator to reporters, his eyes riveted on the final communique obtained at the price of a colossal task. The strong statements of China before the summit in fact left little hope for an agreement on indicators. Christine Lagarde, herself, had prepared the minds of this hypothesis: it would "not a tragedy," she said."You have no right to fail, it would be the death of the G20!" Was firmly told, however, Nicolas Sarkozy, welcoming ministers and central bankers at the Élysée.

"Not a wink" of the night

The objective was clear: get an agreement, which does someone lose face. During the day Friday, Christine Lagarde received most of G20 ministers to move forward in bilateral negotiations. The dinner that evening was unsuccessful, however, China – backed by Turkey – camping on his refusal to see the exchange rate listed as an indicator of global imbalances. Xie Xuren, the Minister of Finance of China even tried, after dessert, get the support of its German counterpart, Wolfgang Schäuble. This, however, tried to persuade him that an agreement would be beneficial to all …

22 hours, it was the turn of deputy ministers take over.The Director of Treasury, Ramon Fernandez and his colleagues spent the night Friday to Saturday, without a wink. But without success. Several formulation projects were rejected. "I just had time to shave in the toilets before the talks resumed on Saturday morning," confided Saturday Sherpa of the minister, smiling despite the missing hours of sleep.

Saturday morning, the French presidency then decided to leave everything flat. At dawn, Christine Lagarde and Ramon Fernandez were drafting a new compromise text, new working basis: in the new version not only foreign exchange reserves were disappearing, but the exchange rate, although mentioned, were no longer a indicator per se.

Noting this change in tone of the French presidency, during a coffee break, the Chinese Minister Xie Xuren lifted his veto.Still had to approve the document by 18 other countries …. The game was less difficult. During lunch, based on feedback, "we changed a word, then another," says Ramon Fernandez.

At 15 am, a bailiff distributed the final text, while another offered a plate of macaroons designer colors of 20 countries. A general reading was made without objection, which allowed a deal to snatch a few minutes before the closing press conference … "Everyone applauded, but it's true we had doubts until the last time, we recognize in the French camp."The talks were frank and sometimes tense," said Christine Lagarde modestly summary, aware that the hardest work to do to achieve this unprecedented agreement.

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Hesitation waltz at the Paris Bourse. After opening slightly higher, the CAC 40 decreased again. Halfway through, the Paris index lost 0.21% to 4143.78 points. While the G20 opens, investors try to digest another round of corporate earnings continues in Paris.

Lack of energy also on other major European markets, the Stock Exchange of London, the FTSE-100 dropped 0.58% to 6051.90 points. Exchange and the Frankfurt the Dax lost 0.19% to 7391.49 points.

The industrial morale slightly lower

On the macroeconomic front, industrial morale dipped slightly in February, down two points from the previous month, with 106 points, Insee said Friday.It remains above its long-term average (100 points).

The business climate in manufacturing industry in France worsened slightly, according to the monthly business survey released Friday by INSEE.

Once is not custom, no economic statistics are expected in the United States. However, the president of the Central Bank, Ben Bernanke, will participate in the G20 ministerial held in Paris, which will be attended by Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors of the twenty richest countries in the world. Bernanke will talk about "global imbalances and financial stability" (14 hours).

On the currency markets, the euro lost it again a little ground against the dollar on Friday.About 11:00 am in Paris, the euro bought 1.3554 dollars against 1.3605 dollars on Thursday night.

Results and well made for Lafarge Bull

Lafarge: + 4.14% to 47.90 euros – the largest increase CAC 40

Lafarge said Friday anticipate a rebound between 3% and 6% (-1% cons + 3% expected in 2010) of cement demand in 2011 after a strong fiscal 2010 results by globally online.The world's leading cement has published results in line with expectations.

Bull: + 8.59% to 3.83 euros, the biggest increase SBF 120

Bull this morning unveiled a net profit of EUR 6.5 million in 2010, a profit quadrupled from a year earlier, when it reached 1.4 million euros payday loan companies.

Bouygues: + 0.21% to 33.57 euros

A consortium led by Bouygues has been chosen by the State to build the future "at the Pentagon French" on the site Balard, in south-west of Paris, as Le Figaro said Thursday.Information confirmed by the MoD in a statement.

The consortium led by Bouygues includes Thales (-0.1% to 27.39 euros) for computing, Sodexo (1.15% to 50.57 euros) for services, Dalkia Energy and FIDEPPP – bringing together the Savings and Natixis (-1.04% to 4.09 euros) – and SEIEF as financial investors.

Eutelsat: -1.71% to 28.40 euros

Eutelsat has released interim results that put it on track to exceed its targets for 2010-2011.

Societe Generale: + 0.04% to 52.06 euros, BNP Paribas: -1.36% to 57.97 euros

The Government of Côte d'Ivoire has declared Thursday the nationalization of local subsidiary of Societe Generale and BNP Paribas have suspended their activities, including the two French institutions.

France Telecom: + 1.02% to 16.35 euros

Orange filed a complaint against Bouygues Telecom before the Commercial Court of Paris, following the January 1 bug that caused an increase in involuntary SMS.Orange seeking millions of euros in damages.

Nearly eight million shares traded Archos, the title takes off

Peugeot: -0.69% to 29.57 euros

Workers and employees of Peugeot should be increased by 1.7% with a minimum of 34 euros, from 1 March.

Air France-KLM: -0.16% to 12.43 euros

According to the report of the court in Bobigny, including Le Figaro has obtained a copy, the Central Works Council of Air France needs of 20.5 million to continue its activity in 2011 and avoid defaulting .

Archos: + 3.76% to 8 euros

Archos, which will release its quarterly and annual results after market close on February 22, jumped over 34% to 7.71 euros on Thursday on the financial markets. Nearly eight million shares, or approximately one third of the capital of Apple competitor on the shelves, were exchanged.