Sundial of world news

A slow start. The English concept of "charity shop" landed in France in 2007 when the NGO Oxfam has opened a used bookstore in Lille. Since then, the association has invested Paris, where two "book stores" have settled in the 14th district and in the 11th. It intends to move to the next level, opening mid-December, its first thrift store in Lille. "In line with our three stores, this new store will offer second-hand clothes, good quality at a smart price," said Stephanie Dufour, Deputy Director General in charge of finance and the development of Oxfam France.

With only four stores in four years, the NGO hard to take off his "charity shops" in France. In comparison, there were 45 shops in Ireland in 2010, 36 in Germany (where it is installed since 1995), 42 in Belgium and 697 in Britain, where the phenomenon was born in the 1940s.Today there are nearly 9000 "charity shops" across the Channel, all groups combined. "The concept is relatively new in France. It takes time to make it known, "said Stephanie Dufour. The charge is, however, before encouraging figures. "Our bookshop in Lille will achieve a turnover of 120,000 euros in 2011, a very respectable performance and comparable to those of traditional libraries."

Stores "like the others"

Unlike other charity shops such as boutiques Emmaus 300 or nearly 800 "locker room" and "vestiboutiques" of the Red Cross, Oxfam outlets wants to blend into the landscape business. "We develop like other stores, as well stocked and equipped.

The benchmark index of rents (IRL) continues its momentum. Indexed to inflation, the index increased by 1.90% yoy in the third quarter 2011, according to INSEE, its largest increase since the first quarter of 2009.

Following the same curve as the price index, the benchmark rents had fallen sharply during the crisis, before recovering from the first quarter of 2010. However, according to figures released Wednesday by INSEE, inflation emerged up 2.2% year on year in September, despite a slowdown during the past month.

Consequence of this increase in the IRL, the owners can raise rents to their tenants under lease, 1.90% maximum per year. This ceiling is not to be confused with the increase that may require the owner at the end of the lease, and which itself is not subject to this limit.

Rising rents slows

They are also in the process of marking time, like the sale price. The latest observation Clamor, the rents charged to new tenants were up 0.9% over the first eight months of the year, against 1.4% a year earlier. In 34% of cities in France, this trend is even negative. This is for example the case in Paris (-0.1%), Bordeaux (-0.9%) or Toulouse (-0.4%).

In other cities of the Hexagon, however, rents remain strong on the upside. This is the case in Lyon (+1.2%), Nantes (+1.7%), Lille (1.9%) or Le Havre (+2%). For the full year, Clamor expects an average increase of 1.5% to 1.8% against 2.5% in 2010.

The Observatory notes wide disparities between the cities but also between the quality of rented accommodation.Owners who make improvements before entering into a new lease rent on average well 9.3% more than the previous occupant. However, when the property is rented without work, its rental value decreases by an average of 5.4%.

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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.

After the storm that brought down the CAC 40 over 5%, the Paris Bourse seems unable to stay in the green Thursday. After opening up 2.96% to 3092.16 points, the CAC 40 went back down just before noon and sank below the threshold of 3000 points, already briefly reached Tuesday. Half an hour after the opening up of Wall Street, with two good indicators on employment and housing, the index slope gently went back after plunging 2.40% to 14 hours. He lowered from 0.08% to 3000.60 points to 16 hours.

In Frankfurt, the Dax is in the green at 5647 points, up 0.61%. The FTSE-100 index of London Stock Exchange plays yoyo but is also up 0.82% to 5047 points.

The concerns are far from being dissipated, particularly those relating to the slowdown in the global economy and the issue of sovereign debt on both sides of the Atlantic.Evidence of this tension, gold continues to fly record after record. The precious metal has crossed the threshold of 1800 dollars. It is this Thursday morning in 1790 dollars, after hitting a new record of 1815.50 dollars.

Oil prices also retreated in a market that once again expressed its concerns about future growth and energy demand. On the New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex), a barrel of "light sweet crude" for September delivery was trading at 82.39 dollars, down 50 cents from the previous day.

Bank stocks battered

Among the values ​​of the day include banking, which have been heavily tested yesterday. The Financial Markets Authority (AMF), the stock market regulator, announced that it will monitor developments in the securities sector.Shortly before noon, BNP Paribas (-5.88% to 33.515 euros), and Credit Agricole (-1.51% to 5.981 euros) and plunged into the red after yet open on a rebound.

The title plays yoyo Societe Generale: having lost 14.74% Wednesday, it opened on a rebound of almost 9%.He dived again from 4.13% to 21.265 euros in midday before regroup after the opening of U.S. markets (-0.45% to 22.08 euros to 16 hours).

"The willingness of these attacks is to force the SG to a capital increase, which is the workhorse of some analysts and hedge funds in recent months," said an analyst based in Paris at the agency Reuters. "Their reasoning is that the group does not generate enough capital to cope with the capital ratio of over 9% in 2013." The bank, already shaken in 2008 by the Kerviel affair, only to find the investor confidence after several warnings about its results during the financial crisis.

For its part, the CEO of the bank, Frédéric Oudéa, denounced, in an interview with Le Figaro, "the series of attacks" against the French banking sector "sounds completely fantastic, I struggle with the utmost force, attacked Societe Generale, "he lamented. "We have no fear about our ability to raise capital," he added. SocGen has asked the AMF to investigate the origin of the rumors that have depressed its course Wednesday.

Alcatel-Lucent takes advantage of Cisco's results

Veolia Environnement (4.61% to 10.55 euros) and STMicroelectronics (3.39% to 4.488 euros), especially titles attacked in recent days, return to the field.

In addition, EADS (1.66% to 20.24 euros), the parent company of Airbus, said Wednesday it will not achieve its objectives in the United States in 2020 without new acquisitions.

Title Alcatel-Lucent (2.11% to 2.324 euros) rose after the release of quarterly results from Cisco Systems, above the consensus of Wall Street.

L'Oreal (2.29% to 1.73 euros) benefits from the decision by Goldman Sachs, which added its list of preferred European stocks to buy ("pan-Europe conviction buy list").

Saint-Gobain (1.11% to 31.775 euros) has announced the acquisition of Solar Gard, a subsidiary of Belgian group dedicated to Bekaert Specialty Films, as part of its strategy to accelerate its growth through acquisitions.

Maurel & Prom rose 4.22% to 12.35 euros after opening up over 8%. The oil company has reported a surge of 123% of its revenue thanks to increased revenues in Gabon and Nigeria.

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The proposals "Fund Deposit" and "itching powder" are rarely associated. They are even more often seen as mutually exclusive! Yet the old lady of the Rue de Lille, as we nicknamed the public financial institution, is now ready to shake up some French capitalism. It shows at least now clearly his ideas on corporate governance, an area where it operates through its investment portfolio, worth 45 billion euros. The CDC is thus "the institutional investor of reference in France, said its Deputy General Manager, Antoine Gosset-Grainville. His votes in general meetings of shareholders have a non zero … "

During the 2011 season meetings, the Fund has participated in 238 general meetings, and 6% voted against the resolutions proposed to shareholders.His motives in a bad mood generally join those of other heralds of good governance.

Gender and salaries

The first theme is that of the organization and composition of boards of directors or supervisory board (with attention to gender), the Fund is "generally favorable to separate the functions." Second area of ​​vigilance: the compensation of officers and directors. "We are opposed to the remuneration of executives for which the variable significantly exceeds the fixed portion, and the distribution of bonus shares or stock options to a very small number of people without condition or performance," said Antoine Gosset -Grainville. Third issue: the rights of shareholders no fax pay day loan.The resolutions authorizing such massive capital increase without preferential subscription rights for existing shareholders are not, for example the taste of the Fund.

With a "score" of 6% negative votes, the CDC is far from being a shareholder "activist". But the institution wants to know that she is not inactive. With her as with other large institutional investors, "there is now a very heavy dialogue ahead of meetings to identify the risk of blockage. This is a good mode of regulation, "said Antoine Gosset-Grainville.

By the end of the year, the Fund will publish its "general principles to vote" in assembly. A text that is not a straitjacket."We have deviated in 20% of cases, such as to renew the directors in office for over twelve years, but actually brings more to the company," explains the number 2 of the Fund.

This guide does not directive for special cases, like when it comes to voting for or against a strategic move. Antoine Gosset-Grainville recalls the general philosophy of the institution, "the anti-model of some investment funds that are not as long-term horizon, or good governance to rule."

For specific cases, the CDC prefers silence his choice. But he said, as reported Challenges, for example, it has been against the division of the discounter Dia Carrefour Group, at a meeting that was one of the roughest of the season.

After the accident nucléraire Japan March 11 Fukushima, who questioned the safety of nuclear power in the world, Areva intends to secure its investments by standing as a major player in offshore wind Thus, the group NUCLEAR he announced Wednesday morning that it has signed a strategic partnership with Iberdrola Renewables, a subsidiary of Spanish giant Iberdrola and world leader in offshore wind to meet the tender just launched by the French government. The project, detailed by Nicolas Sarkozy last January after being repeatedly postponed, for the first phase is to establish 600 wind turbines with an installed capacity of 3,000 megawatts (MW) in France. In 2020, Nicolas Sarkozy has described the goal of 6000 MW of offshore wind, or 1200 units to be built.The specifications of the tender will be published in July, two months behind schedule.

"Areva and Iberdrola are two major areas of the five selected for the first phase of the tender," said the French group said in a statement, without giving further details. The five development zones are located on the Atlantic coast and the Channel, between Saint-Nazaire (Loire-Atlantique) and Tréport (Seine-Maritime) easy pay day loans. According to the newspaper Les Echos, the areas of Saint-Brieuc and Saint-Nazaire are cited, and the two companies together produce between 500 and 750 MW of capacity. In addition, a construction group should join them "very soon".If the alliance was successful, Iberdrola Renewables will develop the project as it does in Germany or the United Kingdom while Areva exclusively manufacture and supply of wind turbines of 5 MW.

Recently, GDF-Suez and Vinci jointly responded to the tender which is a whole of 10 billion euros for zones of Dieppe-Tréport, Fecamp (both in Seine-Maritime) and Courseulles -sur-Mer (Calvados). While at the beginning of the year, Alstom and EDF Energies Nouvelles announced together to meet all of the tender.

This announcement could be the last made under the direction of Anne Lauvergeon whose term expires June 30 Luc Oursel then take the head of the Executive tomorrow, Thursday.

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The return of the long weekend of Easter is prudence in the Paris Bourse. Closed since Friday, the latter has only indication for a mixed close on Wall Street Monday and wait very pronounced in Asia on Tuesday morning. The Cac 40, which had just managed to stay above the figure of 4,000 points on Thursday, started on a slight decline from 0.19% to 4014.29 points. But the trend was reversed in late morning. A trend that has strengthened over the meeting, the Cac 40 ended the session on a gain of 0.55% to 4045.29 points.

Even movement on other European markets: the London Stock Exchange up 0.83% to 6068.06 points and the German Dax-30 rose 0.85% to 7357.40 points.

Publications Burst

As expected, the meeting was very volatile, while many major publications are expected in the United States.The Case-Shiller housing index fell further in February (-1.1%) compared to January, its eighth consecutive month of decline, and also shows a decline of 3.3% compared to February 2010 . Analysts polled by Reuters on average expected a decline of 1.0% a month on another after -1.1% in January (revised from -1.0%), and 3.3% of year to year. Conversely, the consumer sentiment starts again from the front, but off its sharp drop the previous month.

On Wednesday, markets will pay close attention to durable goods orders and especially the Fed decision on rates. Thursday will be marked by the first estimate of U.S. GDP in the first quarter, while Friday is expected the Chicago PMI.

Side business publications, many American trucks reveal their quarterly earnings, including 3M, Amazon, Ford, Microsoft, or Caterpillar.The French will not be left with, among others, Renault, Seb, Klepierre, Bull, Safran, Saint Gobain and Total.

Side currency, the euro lost ground against the dollar on Tuesday. By late morning in Paris, the euro bought 1.4609 dollars against 1.4572 dollars late Monday.For their part, oil prices retreated in Asian electronic trading, a barrel of light sweet crude for June delivery lost 91 cents to 111.37 dollars and that of Brent North Sea falling by 66 cents to 123 dollars.

Air Liquide is better than expected

Michelin: + 5.10% to 66.95 euros (largest increase in the ACC)

The group said Thursday it would raise its target volume growth throughout the year if sales continue at levels experienced in the first quarter, which was marked by a turnover in excess of expectations.

Renault: + 2.72% to 39.44 euros

Nissan, the partner of the manufacturer, said Tuesday that its production in Japan would fall by nearly 60% in April 2011 over April 2010.Moreover, the South Korean affiliate of French (Renault Samsung) and Hyundai Motor will recall over 100,000 vehicles because of manufacturing defects, said Monday the Department of Transportation in Seoul.

Despite these announcements, the manufacturer is among the highest increases in the CAC 40.Peugeot is also well oriented with a gain of 3.96% to 30.34 euros.

Areva unchanged at 31.05 euros, GDF Suez: + 0.63% to 27.32 euros

Both groups must announce within weeks a partnership in offshore wind to meet a tender of 10 billion euros to be launched in France in May, reported Tuesday the daily Les Echos.

Saffron: + 1.83% to 24.49 euros

Six years after the founding merger between Snecma and Sagem, Safran Thursday changed its governance to return to a traditional organization, the Chief Executive Jean-Paul Herteman becoming CEO

Air Liquide: + 0.50% to 98.39 euros

The group announced Tuesday a turnover of more than-expected first quarter and confirmed its forecast an increase in net profit this year.World number one industrial gas produced a quarterly revenue of 3.543 billion euros, up 8.8% excluding currency and natural gas.The only gas and services division posted growth of 11.4% on a comparable basis to 3.185 billion.

Technip: + 0.52% to 76.80 euros

The group won, through its subsidiary, KTI, a contract for ten superheated steam generators for the first phase of an oil sands project in Canada.

Scor: + 1.98% to 19.80 euros

The French reinsurer acquired Transamerica Re, the U.S. division of the business mortality Dutch insurer Aegon, for 630 million euros, becoming the second life reinsurer in the U.S., according to a statement.

Eurazeo: -0.26% to 56.65 euros, OFI Private Equity Capital: 12.91% + 10.41 EUR

The investment company said Tuesday the acquisition for 132 million euros of OFI Private Equity Capital, an investment company that specializes in French SMEs currently controlled by the mutual insurance group Macif.

Biomerieux: + 0.37% to 73.56 euros

The group published a turnover up 3.5% in the first quarter.

Valeo: 1.61% to 42.36 euros

The group said Thursday sales rose sharply in the first quarter and said he was confident he will continue to grow faster than the market in 2011, but did not detail his ambitions for the full year.

ADP: + 0.46% to 63.64 euros

The group said they had been exploring the possible sale of the control group Alyzia specialized in ground handling operations for airlines and airport security.

First A380 to Montreal

Air France-KLM: + 1.17% to 11.63 euros

The first Airbus A380 carrying the scheduled Air France between Paris and Montreal landed Friday at the PE airportMontreal Trudeau.

Europacorp: – 8.17% to 4.37 euros

The group has once again launched Thursday a warning on its results 2010-2011, warning that the expected loss for the year would be greater than those anticipated by the market, partly because of new provisions.

L'Oreal: -0.02% to 85.66 euros

The general meeting of shareholders on Friday renewed almost unanimously the appointment as director of the heiress Liliane Bettencourt group, 88 years, for a period of four years.

Wen Jiabao's speech at China's parliament on Saturday took on the appearance of mea culpa. Chinese Premier, speaking at the 3000 delegates to the NPC, met for ten days in Beijing, acknowledged that the price increase was the source of calls for protests that flourished in the country. "We need to consider price stability as the priority of our macro-economic control," he said.

During the inaugural session of the annual meeting of the National People's Congress, Prime Minister described the inflationary expectations of "problems which are closely the standard of living of the population, the overall situation and stability of the country." Rising consumer prices rose 4.9% in January over a year.The government promises to reduce it to "4%" this year.

Always fight against inflation, the Chinese authorities want to implement "a prudent monetary policy," which will require the limitation to 16% of the increase in money supply M2, which includes the aggregate of currency in circulation, accounts demand deposits and savings accounts.

Avoid the shock wave

Even if the Prime Minister made no reference to the popular liberation movements that are shaking the Arab world, his speech illustrated the authorities' concern to avoid any risk of spread to China. "Some issues that are subject to strong reactions among the population have not been resolved completely.Food security is poor and some sectors are vulnerable to corruption "he acknowledged.

To fight against these problems, the government would "continue to pursue a policy stimulus. Efforts will focus on "rural development", "improving the level of the population" and developing "social sectors".

According to this discourse that determines the main directions for the country's official year, "the educational resources and lack of quality medical and their distribution is uneven." Moreover, "the property prices have recorded an excessive increase in some cities," said Wen Jiabao, who promises to develop social housing."Social contradictions raised by the illegal requisition of land and demolition of illegal houses have multiplied," he added.

Target of 8% growth

These investments will be in a GDP growth of around 8% this year and an annual increase of around 7% over the next five years. These figures, which marked a slowdown from the 11.2% GDP growth recorded during the last five years had already been discussed by Wen Jiabao in late February at the Forum on China Internet.

Despite continued efforts to invest, the government wants to reduce the budget deficit will be contained in "about 2% of GDP".

Warning against the challenge

When the Prime Minister recognized the inequality at the source of disputes, an editorial published by the Beijing Daily, official newspaper of the Communist administration, launched a warning against the calls for protest. "Everyone knows that stability is a blessing and a curse chaos," said the newspaper stating that the "disorder" that has shaken the Arab world "has led to a massive disaster for the peoples of these countries." "It is worth noting here or abroad, some individuals feeding on ulterior motives trying to trigger chaos in China, using the Internet to foment illegal gatherings," it said.Following an appeal to all Chinese citizens so that they "conscientiously protect the harmony and stability".

In recent weeks, dozens of Chinese dissidents have been arrested and police have threatened to deprive alongside dozens of visas to foreign journalists if they continue to cover "illegally" appeals from sites based abroad.

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The Courdi accounts furnish his report Friday on the Franco-German tax convergence. According to our information, this report concludes that there is some leeway in France for the VAT hike, but they should be used as part of a major tax reform. He advocated focusing instead on business taxation in order to align the two countries personal loans for people with bad credit.

The Court would consider in the future produce a joint report with the Germans focused on corporate taxation. This time it was a true co-relation. The report was issued Friday, he, been realized only by the French Cour des Comptes, which relied on the help of German authorities.

A real setback. Household consumption of manufactured goods fell 0.5% in January, according to figures released Friday by the INSEE. Other bad news, the jump in spending by French observed in December was revised down from 0.6% to 0.4%. The decline in January mainly due to the drop in auto purchases by 6.3% in January. In addition, purchases of textiles and leather fell 1.8% despite sales.

Cushioning the fall, spending on household equipment held up well, up 2.4% on the month "because of the dynamism of furniture purchases," said INSEE. "Other manufactured products", such as watches and jewelry, DIY and hardware rose 1.1% in January. These figures are "clearly encouraging", says Dominique Barbet, an economist at BNP Paribas."They are more in line with the strong confidence of business leaders found earlier this year with the declining morale of households freecreditscore."

Households increasingly fear a return of inflation, Insee said in the release of the index of consumer sentiment on Thursday. Involved, soaring oil prices which "the psychological impact is very important," as emphasized Alexander Law, chief economist at Xerfi. Particularly because it is a recurring purchase for households. "This climate of suspicion certainly attend a further drop in consumption over the coming weeks," said Alexander Law, chief economist at Xerfi."Without alternative sources of growth, French economic growth will suffer inevitably."

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