Current News Headlines

The European Union (EU) comes to the rescue of its farmers. The Agriculture Ministers of the EU meeting in Luxembourg this afternoon, should decide to unfreeze 150 million euros in aid proposed by Brussels on Tuesday morning. This is to cope with the losses suffered by the fruit and vegetables after the psychosis to EHEC bacteria has killed 23 people in Europe.

"We will propose a $ 150 million" financial aid to cover losses of farmers, whose products are shunned by consumers, concerned as salads, tomatoes, cucumbers and others may be carrying the potentially deadly bacterium , told the press the Agriculture Commissioner, Ciolos. The exact amount of aid will however be adjusted estimates by country."We will take the period from late May, marking the beginning of the crisis at the end of June" to calculate the amount of compensation, "said the European official.

Already, the 150 million mentioned seem insufficient, as the amount of losses made by European farmers. The only Spaniards consider that the bill because of the boycott of their products by European consumers has cost them 200 million euros. In France, the bill, according to professionals, is approaching 5 million.

Berlin slammed

Germany on the other hand was roundly criticized for his handling of the crisis by European Commissioner for Health in the European Parliament meeting in Strasbourg on Tuesday. She had made allegations, soon withdrawn, cons of cucumber Spanish after the demonstration of the first cases of contamination."It is critical that national authorities are not lining up to give alerts unproven, because it creates problems and psychosis," warned John Dalli. "It is important to trigger alerts when certain scientific data," he said.

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Monday night, Steve Jobs must have Apple's service icloud. Using a deal with record companies, the Cupertino company will upgrade its online music service iTunes. Customers can purchase their music from Apple's online store and listen to their wishes, where they are. The service called "cloud computing, or cloud computing, grow fast. This is a new revolution in computing. It is to connect to the Internet to access data and applications. Individuals no longer need to store on their PC or hard drive at home, and businesses no longer need to invest in high-performance computers.

The computer then used to open the application as a water faucet or turn on a light.Apple already offers a first service "cloud" to synchronize the network, contacts, emails and diary, from an iPhone or an iPad. The MobileMe service is very expensive (99 dollars or 79 euros per year from France).

Click on the thumbnail to enlarge the graphic.

Amazon has shown the way

Google will launch this summer the free operating system for PCs, Chrome OS, designed and filmed for the cloud. "The biggest users of cloud services are already without knowing it, individuals using tools such as Gmail or Google pay services data storage from Amazon," said Lew Tucker, Director Technical cloud at Cisco.With his offensive, Apple created a new front against Google, Amazon and Microsoft.

One of the largest global provider of cloud services Amazon is the world leader in cultural services in line with an estimated turnover in this area at one billion dollars in 2010. The original idea of ​​the champion of e-commerce, which has expanded its services to music storage for individuals, was to lease excess capacity of its own "farms" of computers. "It comes down to your apartment when it is empty during the workday and when you go on vacation," says one expert. All the giants of the Web follow the lead of Amazon. In economic terms, the marginal cost is low for providers of computing power and storage capacity. The additional revenue generated almost as much profit.For ten years, computer manufacturers, software publishers and computer services companies dream of a paradigm shift.

56 billion market

With the development of the Internet and especially because of the economic crisis, companies have converted to cloud computing. "After years of germination, cloud computing takes off. Partly for macroeconomic reasons. The crisis led all organizations to scrutinize their spending. In this context, a solution which can offer more for less is difficult to ignore, "says Ben Pring, vice president of research firm Gartner. For now, most of the market is done by software. The turnover of the software on demand is estimated around $ 11.7 billion in 2010 by Forrester Research. Today, 60% of worldwide turnover is made in the United States.But the phenomenon should spread to other countries. By 2020, the worldwide market will reach $ 56 billion, says Forrester Research.

With about 3 million business customers worldwide including one million in Europe, Google makes between 500 million and $ 1 billion in sales in the cloud. Finally, Microsoft will invest 90% of its budget on R & D in the cloud this year, said Jean-Philippe Courtois, senior vice president of Microsoft. But its sales in the area is estimated at "several hundred million dollars a year," admits a group leader. Each offers its solution. IBM, HP, Dell, Microsoft and Oracle want to use huge "farms" of servers to store and rent computing power to their customers. To this end, HP and Dell have acquired companies in the storage and data virtualization, in order to compete with VMware, a subsidiary of EMC.The market also attracts telecom giants like Cisco, Ericsson and Huawei, and specific actors, such as Akamai, Rackspace Hosting or Salesforce.

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Rising energy prices could rise even faster. EDF, controlled nearly 85% by the State, public authorities have offered to pass on higher energy prices on the individual invoice. The increase in electricity prices would range between 5.1% and 6.5% per year until 2015, including inflation, reports Les Echos. At EDF said this morning it had not formally asked the government increased tariffs. On the government side, it also denies the information.

The Energy Minister, Eric Besson announced in effect a "slight increase" in electricity prices this summer. Before the National Assembly, he added that the government did not study "no significant increase" of these awards, underlining that "EDF did not transmit the request to increase rates corresponding to the ranges cited.He had said this morning: "In any event, a document emanating from EDF does not commit the Government." According to Eric Besson, "future pricing decisions will be made with a view to protecting the purchasing power of French people should continue to benefit from electricity 40% cheaper than the average of other European countries, thanks to the nuclear .

Increase between 28% and 37% in five years

The minister however said in February that the increase in electricity prices was "inevitable" in France to finance investments in nuclear power and renewable energy development. And this increase is expected to reach between 28% and 37% in five years, says Les Echos.

The increase in electricity prices depend on the price of Arenh (regulated access to nuclear power history).As part of the liberalization of Europe's electricity, law Nome, EDF is forced to sell up to 25% of its production of nuclear energy to its competitors prices Arenh no fax pay day loan. This rate has not been fixed and is continuing to debate. GDF Suez campaign for a level of 35 euros per megawatt hour (MWh), where the group chaired by Henri Proglio claims 42 euros in 2011 and steady increases to reach 46 euros in 2015. For now, the Regulatory Commission of Energy recommends a redemption price of 37.20 euros and the Champsaur report favors him a price of 39 euros.

Two scenarios

Eventually, the Nome Law provides that the cost of nuclear power in the rates converge to the price of Arenh 2015. But the cost of megawatt is estimated at 35 euros today.So to mitigate rising electricity prices on the invoice particular, EDF has scaffolded several scenarios, reports Les Echos. The electrician tricolor believes that the rise may reach 4.7% per year above inflation to 6.5% including inflation. However, if the government agrees to a modification of certain taxes, including the ability to finance renewable energy, the annual increase in rates could be limited to 3.3% above inflation to 5.1% with inflation.

At the debates on nuclear safety and the needs of investment in nuclear power seem to dominate after catastrophe Fukushima, appeals to higher energy prices could be heard. Still, the context is already loaded for the French who are with increases in fuel and gas.These potential increases could well fuel a new controversy and the fourteen months of a presidential election.

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The CAC 40 should pouruivre its momentum on Tuesday. The benchmark index of the Paris Stock Exchange closed yesterday up 2.47%, exceeding the threshold of 3900 points. The mood on Wall Street Monday to beyond 12,000 points and Asian markets this morning should encourage him to continue on this path.

The increase was sustained by the hopes surrounding the nuclear plant in Fukushima. On site, the nuclear situation remains uncertain but appears to have stopped deteriorating. The operator of the plant, TEPCO announced that the work of rehabilitation of cooling systems had resumed Tuesday morning after being suspended the previous day following release of smoke.

Further intervention by the BoJ also came to reassure the markets. This last Tuesday, in 2000 has injected billions of yen (17 billion) more on the money market to support the Japanese economy.It has increased to 39,000 billion yen from the money released March 11. In this atmosphere a little calmer, operators go hunting for bargains.

The Libyan military action criticized

However, they keep an eye on the situation in Libya. The international coalition, headed by the United States, France and Great Britain continued its operations in the night of Monday to Tuesday. Critics, from Germany, Italy or Russia, rise against, however, the intensity of the bombing in the West.

This tension plays anyway back on oil prices. In morning trading, a barrel of light sweet crude for April delivery took 19 cents to 102.52 dollars. That of Brent North Sea crude for May delivery, however, yielded 15 cents to 114.81 dollars.

International news should be the main préocuppation markets, lack of macroeconomic indicators. Like yesterday, the only statistically expected will come from the United States with the publication of the index of house prices (15 hours).

As for currencies, the euro remains stable against the greenback at 1.4224 dollar.

Values ​​to follow

PSA Peugeot Citroën

The automaker announced Monday that the halt in production at one of its Japanese suppliers affected by the earthquake of March 11 would cause a decrease in its activity in diesel engines and probably induce measures layoffs.

Renault

The Chinese Ministry of Commerce has launched an appeal Tuesday for vigilance against the "vicious allegations" against China for stealing technology from foreign companies after the country has been implicated in the espionage case in the French group Renault .

Latecoere; EADS

Based on information from Figaroce Tuesday, the Chinese Avic, Britain's GKN and the Dutch Stork Fokker-filed a complaint with a price estimate.EADS and Airbus are under pressure to attend a Franco-French solution.

Sanofi-Aventis

Merck and Sanofi Aventis announced Tuesday it had terminated the agreement in March 2010 through a joint venture in animal health, combining Merial Animal Health business of Sanofi, with Intervet / Schering-Plough animal health unit Merck.

Technip

The group announced Tuesday it had won with TAQA Bratan installation contract for the development of Falcon Field, located in the North Sea about 560 kilometers northeast of Aberdeen (Scotland), for a water depth of 160 meters.

EDF

Edison, controlled jointly by the French EDF and Italy's A2A Monday issued an annual profit weighed down by asset writedowns and said it would not pay a dividend for fiscal 2010.

BNP Paribas

The bank granted a bonus of 1.67 million euros to its chief executive Baudouin Prot at the financial year 2010.

SeLoger.com

The group announced Monday expect a double digit growth of its key financial indicators in 2011 thanks to record audience levels.

The symbol will say anything to anybody, or almost. Yet Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) is the world's largest bank by market capitalization. But so far the banking giant, his stationed – gigantic – domestic market, had little visibility on the international level. It is precisely this that is changing. Having shown its ambitions in Southeast Asia and the Middle East, the organization announced Monday the opening in the coming days, five new branches in Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam, Milan and Madrid. What a double presence in Europe was limited to the United Kingdom, Germany, Luxembourg and Russia. Coordinated from Luxembourg, the European network is now comparable with that of his fellow Bank of China.

Xavier Thouvenin, lawyer Michel Balthazar, was confirmed earlier this evening that his client, one of three executives at Renaultsoupçonnés spying, received Saturday morning by his employer a letter of dismissal for gross misconduct. "We're going to tribunal. However we decided to take a few days of reflection before deciding whether further proceedings, made a point Xavier Thouvenin.

Christian Charriere-Bournazel, a lawyer Bert Rochette, also suspected of espionage, means, in turn, make an action for defamation direct quote non-public proceedings before the police court on Monday."I want to force the Renault company to give us what they consider their evidence," Le Figaro said Mr Charriere-Bournazel.

It is possible that Michel Balthazard also calls a procedure to the extent that the letter he received is very similar to that of his colleague. "In his letter, the manufacturer says that my client received money from foreign sources leading Renault to be satisfied, in exchange for money, as Michel Balthazard gave strategic information to the company, said Xavier Thouvenin . The company offers no real proof and serious. She has only one conviction. That Renault made the deduction. I find it very light. It looks like a rush job. "

Another point emphasized by counsel, the change in qualifying action.The letter speaks of strategic counsel notes, while Patrick Pelata, deputy CEO of Renault, said, a week ago in an interview with Le Monde, no "nugget technology strategic plan Innovation has been filtered out of the business, including nearly 200 patents issued or pending filing.

Travel in China

In this case, Michel Balthazar, 56, a member of the steering committee, was nominally appointed by the anonymous informant. According to sources familiar with the matter, a number of trips to China within a family have been recorded as part of investigations by the manufacturer.

Michel Balthazard visited frequently in the country just to visit his son who worked there, says his lawyer.It was during trips to Korea and Japan, two countries where the manufacturer has subsidiaries, Samsung Renault and Nissan, as Michel Balthazard was organized to spend a few days in China, not really hide it in Since its tickets were booked by the travel agency of Renault. "He went one last time in China in November 2007, before her son parte settle in the United States," added Xavier Thouvenin. It was three years ago.

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After Portugal, the attention of financial markets on Thursday will turn to Spain and Italy have provided for their turn to launch bonds (around 11 hours). Spain hopes to raise between two and three billion euros. Less than three hours later, the Governing Council of the European Central Bank will meet and discuss in particular the maintenance or not, its interest rates.

If his American counterpart, the Fed has seen growth "moderate" at the end of 2010, it nevertheless welcomes signs of improvement in U.S. employment front. Suddenly, Wall Street finished higher in two years and a half points to 11,755.44.

Meanwhile the Spanish and Italian bonds, investors are cautious, if optimistic before returning operations prove successful.This wait is also predictable because the Cac 40 was reached Wednesday in closing a technical threshold, which is the last address before the 4000 points.

At the opening, the CAC 40 catches his breath after climbing more than 2% Wednesday. The index in Paris gained 0.14% to 3950.91 points. If successful programs Spanish and Italian, the CAC 40 could break the symbolic barrier of 4000 points.

At the London Stock Exchange, the FTSE-100 fell by 0.09% to 6,045.23 points and Frankfurt Stock Exchange, the Dax is 0.10% to 7075.54 points.

The Livret A 2% increase to 1 February

On the macroeconomic front, the rise in consumer prices accelerated in December to 0.5% over the month and +1.8% YoY.Suddenly, the Livret A rate increase to 2% on 1 February, confirmed on Thursday the Minister of Economy and Finance.

In economic news, too, the price index in retail in December (24:00).

United States, are scheduled on the foreign trade in November (1430), the producer prices in December (1430) and weekly claims for unemployment alllocations (1430).

Industrial espionage: Renault must file a complaint

On the podium of the largest increases include Saint-Gobain (3.29% to 42.35 euros), Alstom (3.04% to 39.10 euros) and Schneider Electric (2.73% to 118, 65 euros).

Conversely, Publicis (-1.02% to 36.94 euros), Carrefour (-0.91% to 32.55 euros) and L'Oreal (-0.81% to 83.26 euros) display largest declines the CAC 40.

Sanofi-Aventis: -0.18% to 51.16 euros

The European Commission gave the green light Wednesday to the offer from Sanofi-Aventis U guaranteed payday loan.S. on Genzyme. In addition, U.S. health officials announced that they were continuing to examine the carcinogenic risks of Lantus, blockbuster drug from Sanofi-Aventis against diabetes, having considered the data from four studies in this area were inconclusive.

Renault: +0.55% at 48.76 euros

The carmaker Renault is to file a complaint in the day with the Paris prosecutor in the espionage affair that shakes.This process, expected yesterday, was postponed.

Peugeot: 0.78% to 32.43 euros

PSA Peugeot-Citroen has confirmed its record 3.6 million vehicles sold worldwide in 2010.

Bouygues: 0.61% at 33.06 euros

The operator Bouygues Telecom announced Thursday that he does not pass the VAT increase on its mobile phone plans, unlike its competitors, but it would increase, like them, the price of subscriptions to the Internet.

Michelin: -0.06% to 53.59 euros

Moody's raised to positive cons stable outlook on its Baa2 rating from Michelin.

Lucien Barriere Fimalac replaces Accor

Accor: -0.84% to 35.5 euros

Accor sells eventually amounting to 268 million euros its 49% stake in the group of hotels and casinos Lucien Barriere.

Vinci: +0.18% at 40.88 euros

Vinci has won within the grouping BBMV, a 35% share in the contract to build tunnels for the stations of Liverpool Street and Whitechapel in London, for a total of 275 million euros.

ArcelorMittal: -0.59% to 27.62 euros

Aperam, the division of ArcelorMittal Stainless Steel debuts on the Stock Exchange on January 31, said the world number one steel.

Essilor: 0.39% to 49.03 euros

Essilor announced Thursday the creation of a joint venture with Wanxin Optical, one of the leading optical industry in China. The group will hold a 50% stake in Optical Wanxin under this Agreement. The value of the transaction were not disclosed.

Vicat: +0.11% to EUR 62

The cement company Vicat issued $ 450 million and 60 million of bond debt from private institutional investors in the U.S. to extend the average maturity of its debt.

After market, Carrefour will issue its turnover for the year 2010 and fourth quarter 2010.

Turmoil in the euro area for several months have not undermined the determination of the Estonian government. The Baltic state became the first of January the seventeenth member of the EU to adopt the euro, although one wonders about the next beneficiary of the European financial stabilization (FESF) and we even mentions the risks of an outbreak of the currency area. The 1.3 million Estonians, whose support has eroded to 52%, according to a survey of 21 December, do not share the same enthusiasm as their rulers. "The inhabitants are mainly concerned to see prices soar," said Maris Lauri, chief economist at Swedbank. Opponents have also nostalgic for the national crown, symbol of their independence, which replaced the Soviet ruble in 1992. Since then, the krona was pegged to the mark with a fixed exchange rate, then the euro from 1999.For the center-right prime minister, Andrud Ansip, only the logical conclusion of a long process, after independence in 1991 and entry into the European Union in 2004.

Unlike neighboring Lithuania, which narrowly missed joining the euro in 2007 for a small 0.1% inflation, Estonia fully complies with the requirements of Brussels. The results of the small Baltic economy, which posted a deficit for 2009 of 1.7% of GDP as against 3% required by the Maastricht Treaty and … 7.2% debt, well below the 60% limit, are impressive compared to the larger Member States of the euro area.Estonia will be by far the country most virtuous of seventeen, but also the poorest with 10,350 euros of GDP per capita check cash advance.

In Tallinn, the day is marked by a severe austerity measures, equivalent to 9% of GDP, after a very severe recession summarized by a fall in GDP from 14.1% in 2009 and unemployment at 14%. For a year, supported by the recovery in world trade, the country emerged from the red. "Growth is driven by exports which rose last month by 40%. The share of Sweden has risen sharply in our trade, especially in the electronics sector, "said economist Maris Lauri.

The funds already in euros

In the third quarter, GDP rose 5.5% yoy increase over 2010 and should reach 2.5% and 4.5% in 2011.The government relies on the single currency to attract investors and boost trade, of which two thirds are made in the eurozone. "It definitely removes any risk of devaluation and secure investments," added the economist. This is a security for the inhabitants, who acquired most of their credits in euro. For Maris Lauri, the arrival of the euro should accelerate recovery by generating more activity and job creation. Unemployment began its decline in recent weeks, in the industrial sector. Estonia will she provided an example? Nothing is less certain. Thus, Poland, the only country in Eastern Europe to have escaped the recession has already extended the maturity of its membership from 2012 to 2015.

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France Telecom is about to take a step forward in its expansion strategy in the Middle East. The French telecommunications group, led by Stéphane Richard, is in fact currently in talks to acquire a minority stake in Korek Telecom, the third mobile operator in Iraq, according to the Financial Times in its Thursday edition.

According to business daily, citing people familiar with the matter, the transaction is not finalized yet. Eventually, France Telecom would be interested in taking control of Korek Telecom, a company valued around 1.5 billion dollars (1.1 billion euros), says the FT added.

Founded in 2000, Korek Telecom now has three million customers, placing it on the third step of the podium behind Iraqi operators Zain and Asia Cell.

Focus on emerging markets

France Telecom, this approach has shown its willingness to push his pawns in emerging markets, with the crosshairs in Africa and the Middle East. The group is already present in several African countries like Senegal, Mali, Niger, Côte d'Ivoire and Cameroon, but its presence in the Middle East is less important: France Telecom operates in Jordan and Bahrain and raised his flag, a year ago, Armenia.

Last transaction date, the purchase of 40% of Meditel, number two mobile phone in Morocco, for 640 million euros. An acquisition that allows France Telecom to return to a market leading Maghreb that eluded him.

As part of its strategy called "conquest 2015," France Telecom has set a goal of doubling its revenues in those markets within five years.And that to compensate for sluggish demand in developed countries, particularly in Europe.

On September 30, 2010, France had Telelcom over 203 million customers in 32 countries, including 144.5 million mobile customers and 13.3 million broadband customers in the world.

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Port reform was to restore the competitiveness of French ports. It is killing them slowly. One hundred employees of the Grand TMC Sea port of Marseille (GPMM) blocks since September 27 and the oil terminals, intermittently, the container terminal and inland basins of the city. The majority union refused the application of the reform passed in July 2008 which provides for the transfer of private operations of ports, mostly cranes and their drivers. The CGT union wants to maintain its majority in the GPMM and therefore his power over the port. Yet the reform, by transferring to private operating activities, will deprive the biggest battalions unionized.Hence his insistence on claiming that the 220 employees who must be transferred to the subsidiary created to gather oil terminals retain payroll of GPMM.

Therefore, approximately sixty boats and their crews at sea are blocked And Friday, in reaction to the release by the SRC of an oil depot blocked by strikers, the CGT has closed the access road to the port. These actions substantially disrupt economic activity in the region. According to the CMU, the union bosses of the port, they lose three direct jobs and 350,000 euros per day on the container terminal at Marseille and 1.5 million per day on oil terminals. $ 30 million in three weeks. For shipowners, the detention of a container costs more than 50,000 euros per day.

Containers blocked

"It's been over thirty years that it lasts.The state should not let a handful of CGT destroy the port, "Storm Jean-Luc Chauvin, president of the Employers' Union of the Bouches-du-Rhone cash advance to savings account. Dellaporta Christian, owner of ERS, a company specializing in the removal of expatriate managers, has seen its business drop by 40% over the last three months. "I have clients who have been waiting for their summer move to America or Asia, says he. Containers are stranded in ports and other owner does not come at this time in Marseille. "The paint manufacturer Thierry Fabre hoped to refloat the vessel after a difficult 2009 thanks to a big contract with the United States. His first container remained on the docks for a month and the second, to avoid Marseille, had to be transported by rail to Havre, where he was going to sea Alas, the strike has blocked the railway in Paris. He must have it shipped by road.Total: an additional cost of Euro 1300 with a cargo of 40,000 euros. Thierry Fabre plague of "being delivered to the whims of 36 crane overpaid blocking economic activity of an entire region."

Some employers are turning their backs on the port phocéen. "We had already decided in late August to spend two thirds of our flow through other ports and today it all, sorry Metadier Christian, executive vice president of Canavese, a leading French fruit and vegetables costs. Marseille is ongoing strike is unmanageable. Freight rates are 20% higher than in Antwerp. And besides, the cost of unloading the container is 15% more for a service that can take up to four hours a week against Antwerp! "

The second to fourth place in Europe