Oct 4




It is half a relief to senior citizens out of work. Labour Minister Xavier Bertrand said Monday on RMC and BFM TV partial restoration of the retirement equivalent allowance (REA) abolished on 1 January. At a cost of 1000 euros per month maximum, this aid was a replacement income for the unemployed who have reached the required number of quarters, but not the legal age of retirement.

Established in 2002, the EAR allowed these people, who generally have started working very early, wait until they receive a full pension. Its removal has the financial difficulties some 40,000 people who benefited and who have seen their incomes for many fall by half.Most do in fact perceive more than the specific solidarity allowance, amounting to 467 euros maximum.

"Poor"

As the government had already hinted in September, the retirement allowance equivalent will be restored retroactively from July, but on narrower grounds. The device now called "transitional allowance of solidarity" will concern only those born between July 1951 and December 1953 or, as determined by the Department of Labor, about 11,000 people. It is designed primarily for senior citizens affected by the pension reform adopted last year, which pushes for four months a year the legal age of retirement, from 1 July.

The disbursements are therefore not the same: the retirement allowance equivalent relieve the coffers of more than 200 million euros a year according to the unions, when the new version should not cost more than 30 million. "This is clearly insufficient, responded on Monday the association against the removal of the AER. It ensured the precarious for more than 30,000 people. " "We find that inuspportable employees with a full career are found in social minimum," adds Laurent Berger, in charge of employment at the CFDT.

The decree establishing this recovery, however, should be published in the coming weeks. The issue is even more sensitive than the unemployment of older workers continues to widen, inflating the number of employees who would have been entitled to the allowance equivalent withdrawal before its reform.According to the latest figures released by the Dares, 560,300 people over age 50 were unemployed in August, a number up 13.5% year on year.

Sep 30




This incident linked to the nuclear industry had caused a stir in the summer of 2008. On the night of July 7 to 8, at least 20,000 liters of effluent containing uranium were accidentally released into the environment by the company Socatri, a subsidiary of Areva, which deals with radioactive waste on the site of Tricastin in Bollene in the Vaucluse.

Rivers and ground water surrounding the uranium had been contaminated at levels above the standards of the World Health Organization (WHO).The court believes, however, that no "adverse effects on health" or "no damage to the fauna and flora" could not be found.

Acquitted at trial in October 2010 of the offense of "water pollution that caused an adverse effect on health or damage to flora or fauna," the Socatri was convicted Friday by the Court of Appeal of Nîmes , the offense of "discharge of toxic substances into groundwater causing a significant change in the normal operation of water supply guaranteed high risk personal loans." Areva's subsidiary was fined 300,000 euros, to pay 20,000 euros in damages to each of the plaintiffs associations (including Greenpeace and the Nuclear Exit) and 10,000 euros in moral damages to a dozen residents. Of these, several had been forbidden to consume the water they were drawing ground water from their property.Some seeking compensation following the decline in the value of their homes due to the incident.

The Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN), which classified the incident at 1 on the INES scale has seven who had criticized the Socatri him failing initially to provide information on pollution the environment.

Sep 29




The U.S. stock markets fro in the red on Wednesday. The Dow Jones was down 0.94% to 11,083 points in early trade and the Nasdaq by 1.39% to 2511 points. Tuesday on Wall Street, the Dow Jones gained 1.33% and the Nasdaq 1.20%. The New York Stock Exchange and had lined up a third session in the green row.

Fears about the strength of global growth is also back in force. Economist Nouriel Roubini known to have foreseen the financial crisis of 2008 before anyone else, believes that the United States and most advanced economies are already in recession.

Wall Street keeps his eyes riveted on the crisis in public finances in Europe and particularly Greece. In recent days, world stock markets are won by a wave of optimism about the ability of Europeans to stop the debt crisis.Europeans should take measures to stabilize Greece and the banking sector. Strengthening the emergency fund indebted countries (EFSF) was particularly mentioned. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Wednesday await the outcome of the audit conducted by the troika of creditors of Greece on its financial statement, to determine whether or not to renegotiate the terms of the second aid plan in the country decided to July 21.

At the same time, the rigor required around among the major economies of the world. After Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Spain and Italy, it was the turn of France to deliver a message of rigor. On Wednesday, the Council of Ministers, France also will formalize its budget to reduce public deficits and contain the debt.The stated objective is to respect the European Treaties and convince the markets.

Among the macroeconomic indicators of the day across the Atlantic, are particularly durable goods orders in August in the United States. They fell by 0.1% in August, while the market was waiting for the same, due to a decline in demand for motor vehicles, according to figures released Wednesday by the Commerce Department. The traditional weekly inventory of crude oil will be announced at 16:30.

As for the oil market, has opened a barrel, down 92 cents in New York at 83.53 dollars a barrel. A barrel of Brent North Sea crude for November delivery gave 96 cents to 106.18 dollars.The previous day, oil had spread over 4 dollars in New York.

Values ​​to follow

Among the values ​​to follow, the company management consulting, technology services and outsourcing, Accenture (4.19% to 55.90 dollars), reported fourth quarter earnings per share of $ 0.91 against $ 0.90 expected and 0.66 dollar last year. Revenues jumped 23% to $ 6.7 billion. New orders reached a record $ 8.4 billion. The Board of Directors has increased its semi-annual dividend 50% to 0.675 dollar and allowed five billion additional share repurchases.For the year 2011/12, the group provides an annual EPS of 3.80 to 3.88 dollars, a growth in turnover of 7% to 10% and order intake in the range of from 28 to 31 billion.

Amazon (3.34% to 231.92 dollars) Wednesday to unveil its multimedia tablet Kindle Fire, highly anticipated, which could by its attractive price to become the first serious competitor to the Apple iPad.Analysts expect the shelf of Amazon is marketed around $ 250, almost two times cheaper than the iPad, sold from $ 499.

Family Dollar Stores (0.31% to 541.01 dollars), posted Wednesday for its fiscal fourth quarter earnings rose to $ 79.8 million (66 cents per share) against 73.9 million (56 cents per share) a year earlier.

For its part, Google (0.43% to 541.71 dollars) will invest $ 200 million in the construction of three data centers in Asia in Singapore, Taiwan and Hong Kong.

Sandridge Energy (0.31% to 6.51 dollars) sold its natural gas fields in Texas, in the counties of Gregg, Harrison, Rusk and Panola to NFR Energy LLC for $ 231 million.Sandridge should reinvest the money in its program of drilling for oil.

Also note, the brand new 787 Dreamliner airplane from Boeing (1.43% to 63.68 dollars) landed Wednesday morning at the airport in Tokyo.

Sep 4




RATP talk about an incentive for training. The unions see it as an attempt to affect the right to strike. According to them, the Paris Transport Authority plans to propose an annual premium of 1,200 euros (100 euros per month) to executives who volunteer to attend regular training and maintain their qualification of driver. "At the RATP, the operating framework is formed, has always been to run trains and buses with passengers. The training concludes with obtaining driver's licenses and requires maintenance, "says the authority. A training effort that the RATP wants to encourage and validate the allocation of a premium.Officially, there is no question of getting managers and trained in the cockpit, but only "to formalize a useful practice to social cohesion and understanding of the complex rules of railway operations," says RATP, which states that it is for the time that a project to be discussed, and will apply only to volunteers.

"On behalf of the Ethics and danger

Arguments that jump unions, especially the South who deplores the lack of response from other unions. Jean-Christophe Delprat following the record for the organization is still furious. "The creation of the premium is included in a document entitled" contribution in terms of predictability. " This plan is implemented in the event of a strike, "said Steward.For him, it is clear that the RATP will be given to its executives a new rating, rewarded 100 euros per month, and use cases of social conflict to break the strike. As the project progresses, SOUTH says the discussion stage must already be exceeded according to his information as "84 frames, about 150 volunteers expected by management, are currently in training Online payday loans."

Beyond the reservations expressed in terms of ethics and how to proceed in the company, the union warns of potential danger. "I do not recommend users to get on a train driven by a non-accustomed to driving metros and RER, which is more one day strike in which many users are on the docks," warns the delegate.However, it is unlikely that this warning benevolent comforts travelers stranded at the station during the next strike.

"Clumsiness managerial"

He also noted that the managerial level, "it's pretty awkward." If he does not doubt the success of the measure with executives who can "more money make progress by volunteering," he warns that "relations may be strained between the manager and drivers when they know he broke the strike. " The trade unionist said to illustrate that none of the executives who agreed to drive the RER during the strike of December 2009 is now in the position he then occupied. A word …

"It's a funny way to start the social return," he says.Jean-Christophe Delprat even sees a signal of bad omens, "if management is beginning to organize themselves to deal with the strike is that it anticipates social conflict. One can imagine for example that it intends to return soon to the agreements on the reduction of working time. "

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Aug 16




German growth disappoints economists. The country announced on Tuesday, an initial estimate, an increase of 0.1% of GDP in the second quarter against a 0.5% increase expected by observers. This is a lowest since the first quarter of 2009.

In one year, growth stood at 2.8%, a performance is still below the 3.2% forecast. The previous quarter, the German economy had grown 1.3% a quarter over quarter and 5% year on year. These figures themselves have been subject to a downward revision, having been originally announced respectively 1.5% and 5.2%.

This result is partly due to the disappointing performance of foreign trade, yet strength of the German economy. The trade surplus narrowed to 11.5 billion euros against 12.8 billion in May. Economists had forecast 13 billion.Imports were further advanced in June by 0.3% while economists were betting on a decline in the same order. Exports, they, down 1.2% over the same period after growing 4.4% in May

With orders up to industry

Industrial production also fell 1.1% in June, surprising economists who had expected an increase of 0.1%. The figure for May was also revised downward, the increase being reduced from 1.2% to 0.9%. The Ministry of Economy said that the month of June was characterized by an unusually high number of long weekend, which has affected production. He also noted that industrial production remained on a positive trend, driven by a high level of orders.

These have in fact increased by 1.8% in June, against a 0.5% decline expected.But the figures show a slowdown in domestic demand after rising by more than 10% in May, has dropped significantly in June (-10.8%), while orders from abroad have experienced an opposite trend with an increase of 13.7% in June after a 5.8% decline the previous month. Finally, wholesale sales fell 0.6% in July compared to June

"Private consumption and investment in construction slowed the German economy in the second quarter," said the Statistical Office, without giving details. Confident, the German finance minister, Wolfgang Schäuble still hopes for 2011 "growth above 3%."

Aug 7




The penalty was expected but it still sounds like a shock. In the night from Friday to Saturday, the rating agency Standard and Poor's (S & P) has dared to lower the rating for government debt of the United States, and deprived of their "AAA" for the first time in history . S & P said in a statement it had degraded to the next level this note, the best possible, to bring it to 'AA +'. It also lowered its outlook to "negative", which means that Standard and Poor's believes that the next time the note will change, it will be to be devalued again. The United States were rated "AAA" by S & P since the creation of this agency in 1941.They remain in the other two major agencies, Moody's Dean (since 1917) and Fitch Ratings.

Standard and Poor's, which had warned in April that it was considering lowering, justified its decision with "political risks" to see the country taking insufficient measures against its budget deficit. For her, the political debate on these issues is not up to the problems caused by a debt of more than 14,500 billion. "The plan for balancing the budget on which Congress and the Executive have recently agreed is insufficient compared to what, in our view, would be needed to stabilize the dynamics in the medium term public debt" said S & P, citing the law known as "control the budget" passed Tuesday.

S & P is the second rating agency to downgrade the American note, after the Chinese – less powerful – Dagong.Other – mostly American and French Moody's Fitch – are currently at Triple A.

The U.S. public debt to more than 100% of GDP

The first power of the world is, well, so sure before. The United States and joined Japan, Spain and Ireland have lost that status envied no fax payday loan. The loss of this seal of excellence is expected brutal impact on the financial markets, difficult to imagine right now. But while the financial world is upside down, the risk that markets continue to dive is high. The announcement of S & P comes in effect when the markets were closed for the weekend, closing on both sides of the Atlantic one week black.

China, by far the world's largest creditor United States, found that she had "every right now to require the United States to address their structural problems of debt."Second World holder of U.S. debt, Tokyo assured him that his confidence in the U.S. Treasury and its strategy of purchasing these bonds were unchanged. In France, the Minister of Economy Baroin reiterated his "total confidence in the strength of the U.S. economy."

Two days ago, the U.S. debt has passed a symbolic milestone. Because it exceeded the threshold of 100% of GDP, just after raising the debt ceiling by Congress. The United States saw their public finances sealed by the harsh recession that crossed their economy from late 2007 to mid-2009. Since then, economic growth has returned, but they are not able to restore the health of their public finances. According to estimates by the International Monetary Fund, they should acknowledge this year, with about 9% of GDP, the highest budget deficit of the G20 countries, except Japan.It is sixteen countries rated "AAA" by Standard and Poor's, four of the G7: Germany, Canada, France and Great Britain.

(With AFP and Reuters)

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Aug 1




While its main competitor, the German Linde, announced Friday a 14% increase in quarterly profit and revenue of 7.5%, Air Liquide has nothing to be ashamed: the manufacturer of industrial and medical gases Air Liquide published on Monday morning a net profit of 750 million euros (+11%), and annual sales up 9.2% to 7.1 billion euros in the first half of fiscal 2011. The revenue growth was primarily driven by developing economies, which now generate 21% of sales activity "gas services" and where growth was 28%. Revenues in the advanced economies have increased by 7% each.

After the announcement, the stock exchange, Air Liquide shares rise from 1.57% to 97.46 euros in First Prev exchanges in a market (the Cac 40) up 0.98%, driven by the agreement reached with U.S. debt.

Despite an impact of tsunami in Japan and revolts in the Arab world, the operating margin was 16.7%, up 10 basis points over one year Payday advance. Excluding the effect of changes in natural gas prices, the margin improved by 30 basis points. Air Liquide has also reduced costs by 132 million euros, while it wants to cut more than 200 million euros over the year."In this context, and in a normal environment, Air Liquide is confident in its ability to continue in 2011 the steady growth in net profit," said CEO Benoit Potier said in a statement.

A half-year performance that is part of the strategic plan for 2015 presented in December, and expects an average annual increase in sales of 8 to 10%, higher than the expected growth of the market.

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Jul 14




Carrefour and its major shareholders still have progress to make to master the subtleties of samba. The merger of the Brazilian subsidiary of global distributor with the second casino, Grupo Pao de Acucar (GPA), is abandoned.

Scaffold for months in the back of its local partner Casino Abilio Diniz (President and owner of 21% of GPA), with the support of BNDES, the Brazilian equivalent of the Deposit, the project would have allowed Crossroads take control of all activities involving the two Brazilian groups. The company, known as Pao de Acucar Novo, would have made 30 billion euros in sales and held 32.3% of the local market, against 11.1% for the U.S. WalMart.

Las.The latter, entered the capital of the retailer in March 2007, when the action was worth 53 euros, have increased the project, or attempted to bounce the stock price, which dropped by half since: sale of Brazilian and Chinese subsidiaries , public offerings of real estate branch, split Dia. In vain.

Brazil lost the battle has also cast a cruel light on the performance of Carrefour in the country, its first growth opportunities ahead of China payday advance lender. Abilio Diniz revealed that the operating profitability of Carrefour Brazil was 1%, seven times less than that of GPA. Casino and pointed the loss of market share of hypermarkets in Brazil, for the benefit of supermarkets and convenience stores.If its chain of wholesale stores Atacadao is a success, Carrefour, local leader, sees its hypermarkets suffer against those of Extra, a subsidiary of ABM.

Overconfidence

After 550 million of provisions recorded by Carrefour last year as a result of accounting fraud at its Brazilian subsidiary, the latter saw his image tarnished again. The withdrawal of the BNDES also shows that Carrefour had underestimated the political power relations in Brazil, or too trusted Abilio Diniz …

If new proposed combination with GPA must be submitted to the board of Carrefour in the coming months, it would still be opposed to casino, and no political support in Brazil. This time, the independent directors of Carrefour might well make their voices heard.

Jul 8




This year, 12 million tax returns were made via the Internet, according to Bercy. Now a taxpayer in three (there are 36 million homes tax in France) chose the Web to meet in the spring of this task which then allows the tax authorities to calculate the income tax (IR) to pay.

Set up in 2002, the Electronic Filing is getting stronger year after year: 7.4 million followers in 2008, 10.5 million in 2010. This is due, among other things, the simplification of the system. In 2009, the State has decided not to ask for electronic certificate, which allows their returns from any computer. The IR, which is paid 53% of the 36 million tax households, reported 47 billion euros to the state in 2010.

Jul 5




Brussels off again to war against the invoices received shock after summer vacation by Europeans who used their laptops in a neighboring country with a new legislative proposal expected this week.

The Commission often evokes the German and French tourists who go to Spain, to use their phone to call or download a movie, as they would at home, and are then claiming hundreds or even thousands of dollars by their operator.

Commissioner for telecoms, Neelie Kroes, on the other hand aims to have a genuine single market for telephony in Europe by 2015 with a near zero difference between the price of mobile home and those roaming abroad ("roaming").

Neelie Kroes will present a legislative proposal Wednesday to allow Europeans to buy separate packages for their specific communications abroad, with the operator of their choice without having to change the number. The proposal, which will be submitted to MEPs and EU governments, would take place from the summer of 2014.

Three out of four are rationing their calls abroad

The EU currently imposes maximum prices, called "Eurotariff". Introduced in summer 2007, initially only for voice calls, they were reduced steadily and expanded to other mobile services like SMS.Brussels will propose to extend the Eurotariff, which were removed in 2012 but will remain until end 2016, and continue to drive down.

From a maximum of 35 cents per minute excluding VAT today, roaming voice calls could fall to 32 cents in July 2012, 28 cents in July 2013 and 24 cents in July 2014. For receiving a call, the Euro-tariff increase from 11 cents a minute today to 10 cents in July 2013. And the price of SMS would decrease by 11 cents today to 10 cents in July 2012.

Brussels wants to finally introduce a new price limit on data downloaded when the user surfs the Internet, check e-mails on a BlackBerry or iPhone … Retail prices are still about 50 times higher abroad that domestically, in Brussels.Such prices are "a nightmare for businessmen, tourists, young people," who "do not dare to use their mobile phones, let alone multi-function" when traveling in Europe, denounced Neelie Kroes.

A European survey published in mid-February has proved him right: 72% of European travelers surveyed said limit their roaming calls because of their cost.

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