The happiness of others is felt as an insult when you yourself are in trouble. The relatively strong expansion of the German economy (2% annual rate in the first quarter) in contrast to the recessions of most other major countries (by population), plus Portugal and Greece. As for the zero growth of the Hexagon, it confirms his usual center position, if not congenital ambiguity.

It is no longer "Deutschland über alles", but "alles ohne Deutschland" (Germany without the other), thinks it by reading the 2012 first quarter results released Tuesday by Eurostat. And this singularity is disturbing: it appears that healthy Germanic fail to get out of the rut Euroland.

This justifies the environmental diagnosis of Francois Hollande, advocating a form of stimulus. And already, as the Bundesbank that Wolfgang Schäuble, the finance minister, admitted that Germany should agree to have more inflation than southern Europe, and higher wage increases.

Will this be enough to call it the euro area growth on orbit? The consumer of Munich can give work back to the outskirts of Lisbon? The question is what he could buy them. And this is where things get complicated.

Historical-cultural syndrome

When we look more closely at the 2012 first quarter GDP in Europe, it is clear that Slovakia (0.8%), Finland (1.3%) and Belgium (0.2%) fared rather well. Only the Netherlands in recession, are missing. We know they are victims of the bursting of their bubble and household debt Batavian. Otherwise, all the satellites of Germany, what some call its subcontractors, this meet. And the map taking shape before our eyes is practically that of the Holy Roman Empire, which brought together the Mitteleuropa of northern Italy to the Baltic, from 962 to 1806. Napoleon until the final unraveling, which earned us the title since then, ironically, the "Grande Nation" across the Rhine.

This geography is often invoked today by eurosceptics in France. They believe that the euro should be limited to the former Holy Roman Empire, which certainly included northern Italy, but which will never France or the Iberian Peninsula. This historical-cultural syndrome keeps his weight when we see, for example, how Mario Monti, a native of Lombardy, is working to convert all Italy to Germanic culture.

Clearly, to benefit the motor industry across the Rhine and its market, the first in Europe, it should share its values ​​management and be competitive. Again, the performance of German foreign trade – the largest surplus in the world, all nations combined – are instructive.

That China has become the main supplier (to the Netherlands, then France) demonstrates the wonderful integration of Germany into globalization and its thirst for the open sea. However, we remain French their first customer, and the Franco-German balance, € 35 billion, accounted for half of our overall deficit in 2011. It is a sacred chasm in the Franco-German couple, so-called engine of Europe. The bad boy can he blame the top of the class for being too good?

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New trial for Yahoo!. The U.S. internet group announced Sunday it had appointed a new temporary chief executive, Ross Levinsohn, replacing Scott Thompson less than five months after the arrival thereof at the head of the company. "Scott Thompson left the company" Yahoo! justifies no further details. The group further states that Fred Amoroso has been named president of the board to replace Roy Bostock.

This change in the leadership of a pioneering Internet companies, now embattled, was announced a few hours after the release of information on the site dedicated to news reports All Things Digital. The article reported an imminent departure of former CEO in the wake of a controversy provoked by the discovery of falsification of his CV. A few days earlier, Patti Hart, director of the group, had also been forced to leave the band for the same reasons: she had embellished his CV.

According to All Things Digital, the reason for the "abrupt departure" is only due to the activism of hedge fund Third Point, a leading shareholder of Yahoo! with 5.8% stake. A shareholder who has been trying for several years to gain seats and influence within the board had asked the head of Scott Thompson. And the fund has been successful. In fact, Yahoo! has agreed that the boss of Third Point, Daniel Loeb, and two persons selected by him, Harry Wilson and Michael Wolf, are seated on the board from Wednesday. The Board is pleased to announce these changes and this agreement with Third Point, and is confident they will be in the best interests of our shareholders, "we read in Yahoo! News.

The group did not, however, extends the strategy it intends to follow in the future, simply stating that "in as interim CEO, Ross Levinsohn will direct the day to day running of the company, helped by the existing team of executives from Yahoo! ". This last Sunday was up global director of the media branch of Yahoo! It is the fifth CEO to take the reins of the group in five years. The question is whether Yahoo! will manage to raise the head above water.

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Photo credits: Azylum

This is an unprecedented project in France by its size: 70 local authorities have plans to issue a loan grouped by 1.2 billion euros in the bond market. One way to overcome the credit crisis. Banks are now more reluctant to lend to municipalities, counties and regions. And the establishment of the new structure replacing bank Dexia takes time. Certainly, the Deposit has released this year a budget of 5 billion credit. But despite this, local officials fear they will not find banks to 17 billion needed to finance their investments. That is why they are turning increasingly to bond markets. Issuers usual, like Paris and the Ile de France, joined newcomers as Marseille. But this system has a limit: only a few very large entities have the ability to raise capital markets individually.

Hence the idea of ​​a pooled loan, which will allow a larger number of communities to access the bond market. Indeed, this kind of initiative is not new. Urban communities (Bordeaux, Lille, Lyon, Strasbourg …), joined last year by the departments, cities and regions, have issued loans grouped from 2004 to 2008 business card. "But the amounts were much lower. This time, seven regions, twenty departments and more than thirty cities and towns are part of the project, "said Olivier Landel, the Chief Executive of the ACUF (Association of urban communities in France). Two options are on the table: raising the funds at once in the fall or make a first installment in late June, then another few months. "According to preliminary estimates, the rate of the bond issue would evolve between 3.8% and 4.4%. It's cheaper than bank credit, "says one to AMGVF (Association of Mayors of major cities in France). Associations of elected officials are meeting Thursday to refine the draft. It is urgent. A study shows that AMGVF mayors of large cities, concerned about the financing, have reduced their investments by 8% in 2012.

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The reactor of the nuclear Penly, Seine-Maritime, did not escape unscathed from two outbreaks of fire that led to his arrest early Thursday afternoon. EDF said the evening had detected "a default on a joint of one of the four cooling pumps the coolant in the reactor building of the production unit No. 2." This defect has itself caused a leak of water "collected in tanks provided for this purpose. These tanks are located inside the reactor building, "explains the company in a statement.

According to EDF, the leak of radioactive water "has no effect on the environment." The reactor continues to be cooled and normally the central teams working to reduce the pressure and temperature of the water contained in the circuit payday loans. "By lowering the pressure and temperature, work expertise of the pump and its repair can be undertaken," says the group.

"Small oil spills that were on fire"

EDF argues that the defect is a direct response to outbreaks of fire occurred at the pump to 12:20. At this hour, a fire alarm went off after a smoke in a room located in the reactor building of the production unit # 2. Security systems were then engaged, causing the reactor trip. A first release of EDF, ensured that there were no injuries and that the facilities were "safe." "The event has no effect on the environment," explained the group already.

]]> http://onnewsline.com/edf-has-been-a-leak-of-radioactive-water-at-penly/feed/ 0 http://onnewsline.com/a-shortage-of-spread-creates-panic/ http://onnewsline.com/a-shortage-of-spread-creates-panic/#comments Wed, 21 Mar 2012 00:40:11 +0000 admin http://onnewsline.com/a-shortage-of-spread-creates-panic/  

New Zealand takes action … to a spread! Marmite, British brand of chocolate spread made from yeast prized by the Anglo-Saxons, becomes almost impossible to find in the "land of the long white cloud". This shortage is due to the partial destruction of the only plant in the country after the deadly earthquake of 2011 in Christchurch. Production lines should be operational again in July, but for the moment, no pot over fate of New Zealand site. What cause a real crisis, called "Marmageddon" by the media.

The New Zealand Prime Minister John Key has thus taken to respond to this national tragedy. He said this morning he felt personally the impact of this crisis. "He left me a little bit in my office, and once it runs out, I know that the reserves will be almost finished" in the country, he told the New Zealand television . For his part, Pierre Van Heerden, CEO of the Sanitarium, the group that produced Marmite in New Zealand (as production is also managed by Unilever), spoke on public radio. He recommended to the gourmets to ration: "With the toasted bread, which is a bit hot, it can be more easily spread thinly." The leader says that one should not "panic" because "we have the product again in the same, that we all love."

Orchestrated a buzz?

Too late. The rush to the pot has already begun. The Kiwis went to the supermarket to buy the latest pots still on the shelves direct payday lenders. But not everyone could get their hands on the coveted dishes and they are then folded on auctions sites. Trade Me, the first site for buying and selling in New Zealand, and has served in numerous exchanges of the famous spread. Some sellers offer pots over NZ $ 100 (about 62 euros), or twenty times the usual price of sale. Others do not hesitate to sell pots already started!

And information has already been around the Web. The term "Marmageddon", popularized by the press and Twitter, has its "hashtag" preceded by "#" sign, Marmageddon becomes a key word on the microblogging site, and the topic is the subject of many reactions. "Marmite" is even the first topic of conversation on social networks in New Zealand on Tuesday, Twitter and Facebook. Fans of the sandwich spread to share their tips for dealing with the scourge. Some advise to rationing while others say they turn to its Australian equivalent, the Vegemite.

Many Internet users do not, however the magnitude of the buzz. A New Zealander living in France is surprised on her Twitter account: "The last 20 tweets from my contacts in New Zealand all deal with the shortage of # Marmite. Seriously, nothing happens in my country, "he quips. So much so that many users suspect a well-orchestrated marketing campaign.

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Sell, not sell? The sale of Flammarion stirred microcosm of the French edition, while officially opens the 32nd Book Fair. That same Friday, the board of the Italian Rizzoli Corriere della Sera (RCS), owner of the prestigious, will meet in Milan to validate and formalize its 2011 accounts – or not – the sale of its publishing subsidiary , which weighs more than a third of its business books and two-thirds of operating profit of the division. A nugget with Italian giant RCS Mediagroup, which owns the daily Corriere della Sera and El Mundo, could sell to reduce debt.

Currently, only Gallimard and Editions Albin Michel have formally submitted applications. However, Editis-Media Holdings, Europe's leading BD (Dargaud, Dupuis, Le Lombard …), the British HarperCollins (NewsCorp) and investment funds may be interested. The case is also closely monitored by the Strategic Investment Fund (ISF), which plans to support other investors. For the latter, the idea would be to find a French solution, which advocates or Albin Michel Gallimard, and dismisses a priori Editis, which belongs to the Spanish Planeta. "Gallimard can go alone," says a banker. The ties that bind the current patron of Flammarion, Teresa CREMISI, Antoine Gallimard, she was the editorial director from 1989 to 2005, could weigh in the decision. But the two groups each have a distribution tool. Albin Michel, who does not seem more complementary Flammarion.

The house founded in 1876 by Ernest Flammarion is one of the champions of the French edition, behind Hachette Livre, Editis, Media-Participations and La Martiniere-Le Seuil, but at Gallimard free 3-in-1 credit report. In 2010, the group Flammarion, publisher of the Prix Goncourt Michel Houellebecq and sells 36 million pounds per year, achieved a turnover of 278 million euros (219 million excluding distribution), against 241 million for the Gallimard Group (Denoël, Mercure de France …). He has nice assets, as Casterman (Tintin), and displays a nice profit, with an EBITDA of approximately € 30 million.

Numerical uncertainty

Everything to play. The sale could take months, hoping RCS Mediagroup remove between 220 and 300 million euros of the operation entrusted to the Italian bank Mediobanca, which itself owns nearly 14% of RCS. In 2000, the Italian group had taken control of Flammarion by paying about $ 160 million. The difficulty is to develop an activity whose visibility is parasitized by the development of digital books. While the share of sales of e-books is still marginal, in the order of 2 to 3% of market value, according to Livres Hebdo. But sales of reading lights, which took off in late 2011, shook the area. The book publisher Harlequin romance of France, 50% owned subsidiary of Hachette Livre and a lot of direct sales, and expects to achieve 15% of its business in the digital within two years. 3000 of its securities should be downloadable in late 2012.

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The tension mounts trade with Beijing. The European Union, the United States and Japan have initiated a complaint against China on the issue of "rare earth", the raw materials it has a virtual monopoly and export it rationed in favor of its own high-tech industry.

The proceedings before the WTO, with the support of Barack Obama noticed, shows a profusion of subjects friction. For Europe, they will lock the recent Airbus sales to a recurrent refusal to open government procurement in China. Combined a complaint about the "rare earth" could lead to sanctions. But it may not arrive until after several years.

The political objective of the triple "consultation request" filed Tuesday in the WTO is to press China to immediately deal on quotas, tariffs and other barriers it erected on the export of 17 " rare earth "and two metals, tungsten and molybdenum. Brussels is still no illusions: "The received signals from Beijing does not allow for an early lifting of restrictions," said an official of the file.

Although the People's Republic denies it, there is clearly a "violation of international trade rules," according to the EU. The Chinese restrictions "to be lifted, insists Karel de Gucht, European Commissioner for Trade. They are damaging to European industry and consumers, including in the areas of advanced and green technologies (…) China leaves us no choice. "

For "rare earth", Europe is dependent almost 100% of a global market controlled more than 90% by the People's Republic. The restrictions imposed by Beijing, from June 2010, caused the fever on the course, with increases exceeding 500% on some of these elements.

Relocation of industries of the future

Inflation affects all sectors of high technology, mobile phones, batteries, light bulbs to wind turbines, optical medical equipment. The Pentagon has recently expressed concern about the impact – and a potential shortage – for advanced military applications, including alloys.

Rationing orchestrated by Beijing may also be seen as a subsidy to the industry established the People's Republic, at the expense of its competitors located abroad. The courses go from single to double when the "rare earth" cross the Chinese border, they say in Brussels. This advantage, contrary to the rules, could be the spring of sanctions to come to the WTO.

The EU is worried about more fallout: tariffs and other non-tariff measures would accelerate the relocation of industries of the future, always seeking the lowest cost. "In the field of high technology, supply chain switches still more to China," said the European official. Ultimately, it's about jobs, an argument that has not escaped the United States, or France, both countries launched at full speed towards a presidential election

.

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The Little Shop Becquerel Center is nestled in the popular district of Tokyo Ueno, in the shadow of one of the countless train lines overhead. Since December, people in Tokyo may be measuring the radioactivity of their products, self-service.

Two tables out of sight of prying neighbors are reserved for customers who place their sample into a kind of pressure cooker. In twenty minutes, the gamma spectrometer German brand Berthold gives the result in becquerels per kilogram. Then simply compare the standards posted on the wall.

The thirty daily customers sometimes bring unusual objects, such a degree rescued from a house in the region of Fukushima to see if it can be kept safe, Kazuki tells Kibuchi, the young employee in a blue apron. Most often, customers are farmers who measure the radioactivity of their rice. Kibuchi Kazuki assures its primary goal is not to make profit but to serve the public. Given the investment in the spectrometers, to 3990 yen (37 euros) the measurement session, he just said beneficiary make quick cash.

Geiger counter as a gift

In the bustling Akihabara, famous among others for his little flea market of electronic components, Yasuyo Shibata has turned to his advantage the bad wind came from Fukushima. At the entrance to his electronics store sits a display with more than a dozen models of Geiger counters. Customers prefer the entry-level to 7000 yen (about 65 euros), but can opt for the Belarusian model to 48,000 yen (Belarus was the country most affected by Chernobyl fallout) to 600,000 yen a spectrometer which is a measure of food in five minutes.  

This growing market has stimulated competition and driven prices down. "The clientele is mostly women, notes Yasuyo Shibata, mothers worried. Often customers buy a device to give to parents living near Fukushima. "A present trend.

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With just over six months behind on the Social Agenda 2011-2012 defined at the beginning of last year, the social partners began yesterday a social debate on the quality of work life. The eve of International Women's Day, "a symbol that owes nothing to chance", says Benoit Roger-Vasselin, the leader of the negotiating employers and HR group Publicis. The purpose of this discussion for hours without issue? Achieve a common finding and a "joint diagnosis" before embarking on July 1 negotiation in good and due form and reach a national agreement. Trade unions and employers have arrested three "integrated themes" for this deliberation: reconciling work and family life, working conditions and professional equality between men and women.

Each party begins the discussion with different objectives. The chamber, which agreed to the union's request not to focus discussions on the single issue of equality in the workplace, primarily due to progress on a proposal that advocates Laurence Parisot past year: the establishment of a leave Mandatory paternity. To boost the career development of women, constrained by motherhood, the boss of bosses suggests shortening the leave given to birth mothers and share this time with fathers. "It would encourage them to share, from day one, family work," argues the president of MEDEF who wishes to see the issue of inequality between men and women become one of the stakes of the presidential campaign. "If political parties were becoming aware that this is a real political issue, things budge," she said Monday in Le Parisien / Today in France.

The measures adopted will be tested

Unions, they are not quite on the same wavelength. "We'll wade for four months before returning to the drive, we are wasting our time," Judge Jean-Marc Bilquez, FO. "The existing legislation on these subjects and we need to start applying them before wanting to add a layer," Jean-Francois Naton abounds, the CGT. "I fail to see the final objective of these discussions," sighs meanwhile Jean-Michel Cerdan, the CFTC. Only the CFE-CGC and CFDT seem satisfied, including the integrated approach discussions. "The discussions that we will have will not only equality in the workplace," says Marie-Francoise Leflon, the central executive. "All subjects are interwoven, and we will work on an agreement, the measures chosen will be tested and evaluated before being generalized," said Patrick Pierron, of the CFDT.

Unions and management have agreed to meet once a month by the summer to discuss the three themes. Beginning of the real discussions on April 10.

Mobility: men and women unequal

Inequalities between men and women managers are not in the gender pay gap. In terms of mobility, too. The Association for the employment of executives (APEC) today released a study showing that both sexes are in fact not at all accommodated in the same boat. If their rate of mobility, internal and external, are strictly comparable, however, there are big differences. Women executives in, especially before thirty years, more precarious than men, they leave their companies more frequently following an end of CSD (14% of cases for the former against 4% for the latter). Result, levels of responsibility found following these mobilities are very different, with women less likely than men to keep the same level as before their departure (two-thirds of men against 57% for women). Their male colleagues have also promoted more often in cases of internal mobility (43% against 36%). Another consequence is that wage increases are less frequent after a mobility in women than in men, especially when the transition took place without any period of unemployment. 62% of men see the amount of their payroll advance, against 54% of women. As for the perception of the future, women have less confidence (65%), their mobility was internal or external, and want to move less than men in their company. They also fear more than being unemployed (43% against 36%).

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