It is a paradox. Michel Combes, the current CEO of Vodafone Europe will become CEO of SFR and board member of Vivendi from August 1, 2012. Jean-Bernard Lévy, Vivendi's chief executive who assumed the interim of Frank Esser arrived in late March, has finally chosen the man who best knows the file. And for good reason! It is precisely Michel Combes, who just last year, sold at high prices to the 44% Vivendi Vodafone's shareholding in SFR. Since 2008 and became head of European operations of British mobile giant, Michel Combes was also a director of SFR. He proceeded to examine every angle SFR.

Shortly after the departure of Frank Esser, Vivendi launched a search to find a replacement. And soon the name of Michel Combes has surfaced. It is a great French telecom specialist for the financial director of France Telecom in 2003 before becoming the right arm of Didier Lombard until 2006. But it is also a leader who has acquired an international dimension to the head of Vodafone Europe since 2008 low fee pay day loans. Meanwhile, the X Telecom 50 years, known for his enthusiasm and hyperactivity, led TDF, the technical broadcaster of television and radio and wireless mobile telecom. His brief tenure as head of TDF was marked by the construction of an ambitious business model that attracted the new shareholders of TDF, the TPG, Axa Private Equity and the CDC.

At the head of SFR, Michel Combes will have to implement the plan to win back customers attracted by offers Free Mobile. It will also improve profitability of the mobile operator heavily affected by the general decline in package prices. In 2012 and 2013, the EBITDA of SFR should decline by 15%. A challenge for Vivendi, who paid € 8 billion to acquire the entire share capital of SFR few months before the arrival of Free Mobile market. The destruction of value for Vivendi would be valued at nearly $ 2 billion.

The export machine of South Korea is emerging. After suffering the brunt of the crisis of the euro, the Land of the Morning Calm-recorded in the first quarter its strongest growth last year, demonstrating its ability to rebound. Seoul announced Thursday a 0.9% growth, a significant increase compared to 0.3% the previous quarter, fueling hopes of an annual expansion of 3.5%, the OECD predicted.

"We're doing relatively well, given the weak global economy", says Kim Young-bae, director of the Bank of Korea. Relief is required by decision makers of the fourth largest economy in Asia, 46% of GDP depends on exports, particularly to Europe, its second largest trading partner after China. This slight increase is a lifeline ripped by large groups, such as Hyundai Motors, which recorded an increase of 31% of its revenue through increased sales in the U.S. and Europe.

But behind these numbers right, the clouds on the horizon. An OECD report, published Thursday in Seoul, tip the scale of the demographic challenge that awaits the young democracy of 50 million people and threatens its future development. With a fertility rate among the lowest in the world (1.05 children per woman), the country will suffer in the coming year accelerated aging which will impact negatively on growth.

"Marriage strike"

Followed by the specter of Japan, model and longtime rival, the path of decline. The OECD calls on Seoul to take the bull by the horns by implementing proactive measures to adapt to the demographic shock. First, by raising the birth rate by funding systems affordable child care, while most South Koreans are forced to choose between career and motherhood. If women entered heavily on the labor market, often times Stakhanovists companies make it difficult to balance work and motherhood. So, 40% in their thirties who are employed are single. This "marriage strike" is a major cause of the bust according to the Korea Development Institute (KDI).

The OECD also stresses the urgency of improving the productivity per hour, two times lower than that of advanced countries, reforming an education system where cramming is the key to success.

These measures are all the more necessary that the country is not ready for mass immigration, as evidenced by a recent survey that only 36% of South Koreans favor the coexistence of different cultures on their territories. On April 13, Jasmine Lee's election, the first member of foreign origin, has unleashed a slew of racial slurs online, highlighting the challenge.

Only a major geopolitical upheaval in Pyongyang leading to early reunification with North Korea seems able to thwart the predictions of the OECD.

Guarantee legal protection applies when the insured is pursuing a third justice, but also when it is itself continued. It allows the insured to avoid having to pay the legal costs in case of procedure following a dispute automobile. Legal costs are often higher, supported by their guarantee legal protection may therefore be useful.  

Guarantee legal protection can exist in two forms:

Directly-enrolled in the auto insurance policy it refers only to disputes cars (against another driver, a mechanic, …)

-Outside the proposed auto insurance policy, it can be extended to fields larger than the only automotive world.

The warranty coverage legal protection

The warranty coverage can prevent legal protection proceedings in justices (through a mediation phase) and, where appropriate, to ensure their support. Thus, the guarantee allows the insured to receive legal advice provided by professionals.

In case of trial, she supports legal costs: legal fees, court fees and expert fees. In most cases, the guarantee legal protection is still subject to a ceiling as well as a threshold of support. These elements must be clearly presented in the contract signed by the insured.

Namely: the guarantee legal protection also covers dependents of the subscriber.

If the insured has to defend himself or wants to act against someone in court, he must contact his insurance company to obtain approval of management. Then, the insured is free to choose the lawyer who will defend its interests at trial. The fees of the latter are set in agreement with the insured.

Most insurers also offer their policyholders a formal relationship with their network of lawyers. For individuals who are not lawyers, it is often simpler!

Note: the guarantee legal protection does not indemnify the third party. If the insured is ordered to pay compensation, the latter are not supported.

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Very offensive, Eric Leclerc, head of site leparisien.fr, stated flatly: "In 2007 we were in cabbages, with 300,000 unique visitors per month. Today we have peaks at 5.6 million. ".

National information site highly leveraged local info, leparisien.fr is a special case. 74% of its visitors live outside the Ile-de-France. It is therefore the first and by far, in attendance among the sites of the regional daily press, with 38 million total visits, according to OJD. "Our strength is responsiveness, explains Eric Leclerc. Once an event of national scope is identified, it sends reporters then fed into the site every minute. "

The Battle of the hearing, everyone is set. In the footsteps of their fellow Ile, sites in regions learn to boost their traffic, high growth in recent years. Ouestfrance.fr, which generates 45% of its traffic outside its coverage area, also focusing on the hot news, the "breaking news" and the video. The hearing ladepeche.fr out of the Midi-Pyrenees region reached 36%.

The events taking place in regions which detonate hearings fast payday loans. Thus, the case Merah ladepeche.fr allowed to reach over 12 million visits, as many as ouestfrance.fr. And the day after the election of Miss France in Brest, on December 4, the hearing on letelegramme.com reached 290,000 visits.

More services

The next battle is the pay info. Ladepeche.fr is not the only site to clear this minefield. "We do not expect to be profitable to invest," said Fabien Charmetant letelegramme.com support the site, which, as lavoixdunord.fr, began to form bases of loyal readers online and then look to monetize content.

The big question is which. If free access to information is an unavoidable, media groups know that the information value-added will have a future where users have been réhabitués to pay. In the short term, the safest path is to create more services, that, by their proximity to natural, local newspapers are able to do. Even if they have to relearn this role in a highly fluid technological environment.

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The 45 employees of Air France in Corsica term employees who were protesting for months to be appointed permanently to a permanent contract (CDI) will not be reintegrated into the company which already employs 500 people in Corsica.

The Court of Appeal of Bastia has indeed delivered Wednesday for compensation ranging from 9,000 to 14,000 euros for each of the plaintiffs, holding that the CSD were "illegal". But she did not follow the decisions of industrial tribunals which included, besides their tenure, payment of 5 million euros in fines. "In December, we proposed to pay more than five times the amount fixed by the court today. The 45 employees had declined the transaction and offers of reassignment to have us come on the Continent, "says an executive of Air France.  

The CGT, one union representative at Air France in Corsica, caused them to go "to the end." Wednesday after the judgment, Albert Malausse, CGT Air France, stayed on the line: "If we do a cold summer, we will. It is necessary that those responsible for this judgment are paying the consequences. We are ready to fight a flawless, probably illegal, and radical as this decision is absurd. "

A posture that will not facilitate the task of Air France, which seeks to reduce the 25 million loss recorded by the company on the Island of Beauty. The Corsican authorities concluded there ten days an increase of 11 million grant awarded to Air France (41.5 million) as part of the public service delegation. It now remains to make peace.

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In the context of the presidential campaign, while the left and right compete with virulence, it is an image that does not lack piquancy: two former prime ministers of opposite edges, on a single platform, providing in substance that not a leaf of cigarette paper between their appreciation … not on the investment program for the future. "We welcome the results of this initiative," assured Alain Juppé and Michel Rocard, both co-chairs of the supervisory board of investment for the future, the program led by Rene Ricol.

Two years after the decision to launch a national loan of 35 billion euros to fund the priorities of France tomorrow (higher education and research, industrial sectors and SMEs, sustainable development, digital economy), 894 projects are already funded, according to the latest report released Tuesday. To date, 25 billion euros have been allocated to projects and "several thousand companies benefit directly or indirectly cash advance loan." The leverage of the device should also allow the injection of private money euro per euro of public money.

The General Commission for Investment, has been praised for not having done dusting, not to have been influenced by considerations of land use and to have "ended the French habit of the grant ".

The program funds both campuses of excellence that future vehicle projects, digitization of French films, new generation nuclear reactors or the refurbishment of some thermal units. Tuesday, ten projects were selected in the field of e-education (8.3 million euros in total). Two poles university hospital oncology (Ile-de-France and Toulouse) were also selected (10 million each).

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Cedric Mendes, head of recruitment of Colas.

The French are increasingly choosing to sustainable consumption. With the crisis, their new creed is "eat less but eat better." The year 2012 starts elsewhere in the gloom on the front of the consumer. The French have reduced their spending by 0.4% in January, INSEE announced Tuesday. This is despite the sales. A recent survey * Ifop, higher wages and purchasing power is a priority concern for 58% of French people (+ 7 points from August 2011) in the context of the presidential election. In addition to these concerns, the ideals of consumption in ecological hints are an echo in these times of crisis. A brief overview of the latest trends in cutting waste.

• Donations from individuals, to stop throwing

"Donation after donation, we change the world." Is the slogan of Freecycle.org, a global network of gifts between individuals born in the United States in 2003, which now has 7 million members in 95 countries. In France, it boasts just over 44,000 members. The principle is simple: users register for free on the site to enter into relationships with other individuals and to make donations and recovery of objects. With over 345,000 members, the site Donnons.org created in 2006 has never experienced the crisis. In February, over 9,000 people registered on the site, after more than 11,000 new members in January. "With the decline in purchasing power, our members are looking for an alternative way to consume, and want to give new life to objects instead of flooding the waste dumps," said Isabella Geist, moderating Donnons.org. For the poorest, this site allows free access to certain equipment. "Unlike associations, we function as a social network. Some people stay in touch after making a donation. "

The "comeback" the most spectacular remains of the knitting. Photo credits: Karine Image / Flickr

Sluggish start to the year for consumers. The French have reduced their spending by 0.4% in January, reports the INSEE. In December, consumption had fallen by 0.2%, a figure revised up 0.5 point. Compared to January 2011, consumption fell 2.2%.

Household spending fell in virtually all sectors. In particular, they continued to crumble in clothing (-2.3%), despite the sales and after falling 1.7% in December.

This is especially the collapse of automobile purchases by 7.6% in January from 2.8% in December, which sealed the figure released today. Registrations have also unscrewed 20.7% compared with January 2011. "Households may indeed have anticipated their purchases of cars face of tougher no-claims bonus on 1st January 2012," INSEE advance.  

Among the few sectors rising, the food recovers (1.4%), after declining steadily over the past six months. "This decline is expected to continue as households are turning to cheaper goods in shops cheaper", the BNP Paribas economists. Energy costs have in turn bounced (2%) with the return of cold. This trend should continue and thus provide some support consumption in February, economists expect Societe Generale CIB.

Rising unemployment and uncertainties related to the crisis in the euro area seem to continue to weigh on household spending. This traditional driver of French growth had stalled in 2011, dropping by 0.5% over the year.

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After S & P, this could be the turn of Moody's rating of degrading of France. The rating agency had announced last month that it had extended its review of the stable outlook of the Hexagon last night finally decided to lower its outlook to negative while maintaining the Aaa rating, the highest possible. In other words, the U.S. opens the way for a possible deterioration of the country in the coming months. The French Minister of Economy Baroin said "take note" of the decision of the agency.

And France is not the only country: Great Britain and Austria have suffered the same fate. The British Finance Minister George Osborne said that "this is proof that in the present world situation, Britain can not help but care for his debt."

Note of Spain lowered by two notches

Moody's explains that "a number of particular pressures on credit balances exacerbate the sensitivity of these rulers." Moody's also said she hopes to "reflect the sensitivity (the countries concerned) to macroeconomic and financial risks from the growing crisis in the euro area."

Worse, the agency downgraded notes of Italy, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia and Malta by one notch and two notches that of Spain payday loan. And perspectives of these six countries remain negative "given the continued uncertainty regarding the financing conditions in the next few quarters and its corresponding impact on the quality of the signature," said Moody's.

Six European countries are certain to keep their AAA

But she said that the magnitude of downgrades is limited because "the authorities' commitment to preserve the European monetary union and to implement all reforms necessary to restore market confidence."

It also confirmed the preliminary rating of AAA European Financial Stability Fund (EFSF) and AAA ratings assigned to Denmark, Germany, Finland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Sweden. 

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