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Financial circles opposed to the Tobin tax

By delivering on their dream table Tuesday to tax financial transactions in Europe, Nicolas Sarkozy and Angela Merkel could expect an outcry. It has taken place. From Dublin to London via Stockholm, policy makers have expressed reservations about the proposal, while the financial community condemnation."It would be a drag on economic growth," has outraged the Association for European financial markets.

In fact, European stock markets have imposed a new session Wednesday down to banking stocks, involving an opportunity for companies to NYSE Euronext, Deutsche Börse or London Stock Exchange, may be penalized by a Tobin tax, named after its inventor.

While the Franco-German plans to develop detailed proposals in September, the Swedish finance minister, Peter Norman, shows him, already his skepticism: "I do not see the positive effects that a tax on transactions in Europe could be, "he said.

Swedish experience

Sweden keeps a bad memory from his own experience of tax established in the 1980s, before being abolished in 1991.According to researcher Marion Wrobel, the Swedish Treasury was then recovered some 50 million SEK per year, far from the expected 1.5 billion minimum. And above all, by 1990, half of the activities on the actions of the financial Nordic had flown to London, those on bonds and derivatives that have been decimated.

Well placed to know that financial businesses relocate overnight, the City has no desire to suffer a similar fate. The British Treasury has hammered yesterday that a tax on financial transactions should be global. Last year, Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy had failed to join the G20 … Even obsession with competitiveness for Ireland. London looks so New York, Dublin has eyes only for London.The Irish Finance Minister has warned its partners against the temptation to limit the tax to the euro area, to bypass the "no" British.

These had led opposition last year, the failure of the tax already led by France and Germany. The government had then opted for a direct drain on bank profits, easier to implement. Since this refusal, however, the terms of debate have changed.

This proposal is in fact in a context of unprecedented turbulence in the European markets and defense of the euro. Proponents of the Tobin Tax ensure that it is likely to limit speculation, even if professionals swear otherwise. Above all, the proceeds of the levy would not have the same use. In 2009, it was intended to finance development aid.In 2011, the EU would be well integrated in the tax budget with revenues swell to 350 billion euros between 2014 and 2020. What changed the political balance of power? Vienna, Madrid, Helsinki or Madrid yesterday reported good interest in the Franco-German project.

Riots in London, the press questioned the role of the BlackBerry

The day after a second night of riots in the suburbs of London, the British press is concerned about the impact of new technologies in organizing rallies. If the use of Twitter and Facebook was highlighted during Arab riots in recent months, a new player is on Monday stormed the British media: the BlackBerry Messenger (BBM), who played a key role in events.

BBM is a service available only on BlackBerry brand phones, allowing users to exchange messages for free via the Internet, and not through the telephone network. Messages can be exchanged only if both corresponding to communicate their personal code (PIN) before.The interception of messages by a third party, or by the police is complicated.

The principle of BBM is similar to that of SMS, to the last detail BBM messages that cost nothing. One argument that has made the BlackBerry smartphone's favorite British adolescents (37%), according to a study cited by the Guardian. For The Urban Blog Mashup, taken by the Telegraph, BBM is very popular among young 'for three reasons: it's fast, it's free, and unlike Facebook or Twitter, the messages exchanged are completely private. " .

"The gangs have been using BlackBerry for organizing the riots"

"The device, previously reserved for businessmen and politicians, are now the preserve of thugs and young (…) through this application," says the Telegraph.The conservative daily notes and Mark Duggan, the young man whose death was the cause of the night of riots in Tottenham, had sent a message via BBM to his girlfriend shortly before being shot by police. "The message said: 'The cops follow me,'" wrote the daily.

"The gangs have been using BlackBerry for organizing the riots," says the Telegraph. A Guardian journalist is in the same direction, explaining that "many sources (him) confirmed that BBM, inciting to raid the town of Enfield, was heavily circulated on the BlackBerry network Sunday early afternoon noon ". The journalist claims to have read other messages about plundering six other districts in north London on Monday night. "There is no doubt that BBM is used to organize the violence."

The BBC website, he does not deny the use of BBM in the events of the weekend, minimizing its impact."While smartphones have helped those who participated in the riots, they were certainly not convinced those who were not interested to join rallies," writes the site based on the analysis of Dr. Chris Greer, Professor of Sociology and Criminology at City University in London. For its part, RIM, the manufacturer of BlackBerry phones, said Monday in the evening he would "cooperate fully with the Interior Ministry and the British police force."

British police monitors Twitter users

Scotland Yard warned on Monday that it would arrest any person to become involved in urban riots on Twitter. "Provocative and inappropriate messages were posted on Twitter" during the weekend, said the British police.The Times cites several messages such as "Everyone at Tottenham n **** the police, I hope that there will be a dead tonight" (the message has since been deleted).

For its part, the Telegraph has collected pictures of rioters and that of a young man posing in front of several games he had stolen during the violence. "Do you know? Send us an email if you have any information, "wrote the site, without specifying for what purpose he seeks to know the identity of these people.

EDF and Areva will strengthen their partnership

After months of tensions, the thaw begins between Areva and EDF. Luc Oursel, the president of the giant nuclear, will perform this afternoon its first official release by hosting one of its plants in Chalon-sur-Saone, the chairman of EDF Proglio. The symbol is more powerful than the two heavyweights of the team of France's nuclear plans to sign three agreements "technical and commercial." The information, which was unveiled by the Tribune was confirmed by the Minister of Industry, Eric Besson, who will also visit the website of Saône-et-Loire.

These agreements clarify the relationships that must maintain the two groups. They should focus on "the pursuit of optimizing the EPR, increased maintenance of the park" or "strengthening industrial cooperation on the storage of radioactive waste."

These agreements will be "historic in some ways," said Eric Besson on France Inter and will "ensure consistency throughout the French nuclear industry."

"A willingness to cooperate more»

A fourth agreement should include the development of medium-power reactor Atmea which EDF would not participate. The date of its signature was not specified by Eric Besson, but it should occur in September. Which will complete the strategic partnership, called by President Nicolas Sarkozy in July 2010.

According to the Tribune, other issues will be discussed later, as the organization of supply for export or supply in the long-term uranium for EDF. In the latter case, a stake of the electrician in the future subsidiary of Areva mines will be considered. The hypothesis is "neither foreseen nor ruled out," according to Eric Besson."There is a current subsidiary of the Areva mining activity that had been recorded and we will see who will enter the capital," he said.

The latter, however, said on France Inter does not "feel" at Henri Proglio will "particular" to enter the capital of Areva. "I feel from Proglio a willingness to cooperate more with Areva, what we today RECORDED agreements very important, but I do not feel particular pressure at home to enter the capital of Areva" said he.

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Air France: towards an agreement to avoid a strike in late July

Unions and management are on track to avoid a strike announced for the end of July. Thursday night, representatives of hostesses and stewards of Air France was optimism about reaching agreement with management in the day, on the organization of the work of flight personnel. This Friday is indeed crucial in the negotiations. "If we do not find a solution before tonight, we can not turn back. The organization of air activity is very heavy, told AFP Jean-Marc Jaouen, delegate of the National Union of cabin crew (SNPN).

The seven unions involved threatening a strike since Monday 29 July to 1 August in protest against the new organization of work proposed by management.The CEO of Air France, Pierre-Henri Gourgeon, has in fact recently released a project to install four bases in the provinces to increase the productivity of the company based on the model low cost. It would be particularly asked the crew to work longer on a reduced number of days to be able to fly more planes. The sailing team would also be reduced from four to three people in some aircraft. In return, Air France did not want to donate 20% maximum productivity gains and made its staff.

The pilots union still in conflict

Towards unions as there was optimism yesterday about the possibility to find here tonight common ground bad credit payday loans. "We had five areas of disagreement, three have already been accepted by management", said last night at the AFP Jean-Marc Jaouen, the SNPN.Remains still to be discussed include the reduction of crews on long flights and medium-haul 142 passengers. "There is progress in the negotiations, although they are still insufficient. An agreement to end conflict can be signed, "also found Philippe Sports, the UNSA. Air France was doing its part to know last night told AFP that it "was very open in discussions" and that "all flights were kept" from July 29 to August 1.

If the conflict started with the hostesses and stewards are being addressed, it is not the same with the pilots' union, which called the strike on August 5 to 8. The powerful SNPL validated last week at 55% the new organization of work desired by management. But he opposes the hostesses and stewards on measures to sustain the supplementary pension fund for cabin crew, currently in deficit.Despite a law passed in 2008 providing for a reform of the fund, the implementing decrees have still not been published, failing agreement between the two parties.

(With AFP)

Germans advocate a nap at work

A small cultural revolution awaits German companies. In defiance of German prejudices about the South on suspicion of engaging in one guilty of "dolce vita" in numbing the Mediterranean sun, a leader of the German DGB trade union confederation considers that every German should have the right to take a nap on the workplace. "A siesta reduces the risk of heart attack and can replenish your energy," pleads Annelie Buntenbach, a member of the DGB executive committee and board of directors of the Employment Agency.

In a country facing the shock of the falling birth rate, the idea does not seem totally crazy to arrange an aging workforce. Especially a nap of half an hour would also increase efficiency at work payday advance lenders… and thus competitiveness."The midday rest time can compensate for poor performance and when the risk of accident is higher. Nap improves the efficiency, responsiveness and mood, "said Jürgen Zulley, professor of biology at the University of psychological Regensburg.

The debate arises when Angela Merkel said that Southern Europeans are less frequent at work than the Germans. A theory refuted by the OECD statistics, in which the average annual working hours of German (1390 hours) is less than that of a Greek (2119 hours).

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Slump on the stock exchanges in Asia

Investors are serious threats to U.S. debt. After Moody's, Standard & Poor's is who placed the AAA rating of U.S. debt on negative watch, a move that paves the way for a potential degradation of this note in three months. The debates in Congress about raising the ceiling of the debt of the United States because struggling to move forward. If an agreement is not reached on this issue, the United States would be in default on 2 August. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Fed chairman, Ben Bernanke, multiply the exhortations to heed the warning of the rating agencies and to establish "a credible policy of fiscal stabilization and deficit reduction" . U.S. President assured that "the time for decisions has come."Barack Obama held this afternoon a press conference.

These concerns, coupled with the persistent confusion in Europe after the breakdown of the note of the Greek debt, pushing investors to turn to gold. The yellow metal hit a new all-time high last night at 1583 dollars an ounce.

Crude prices evolve without trend: a decline of 0.22% observed on futures contracts for Brent North Sea, but the future of the light sweet crude advance of 0.08%.

The Nikkei keep your head above water

Despite this background of mistrust, the Nikkei in Tokyo managed to stay close to balance just before the closing, (0.03%) to 9939.36 points.

In China, foreign direct investment in the first half display, up 18.4% year on year to 60.89 billion dollars.But the Shanghai Stock Exchange, investors hold above the overall context of market and the strengthening of restrictions on the purchase of apartments in several Chinese cities. Therefore, the CSI gives 0.11% to 3112.44 points.

And Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index was down 0.26% at 21,883 points, to 7.30.

The Chinese joint venture with Auchan, Art Sun Retail, which raised $ 1.14 billion as part of his introduction to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, has postponed the start of its listing, expected this Friday, July 27. The postponement is due to an error in the presentation material from the introduction on its earnings per share. New documents will be issued Monday.

In Bombay, the Indian Sensex was down 0.18% to 18,585, 40 points.

The Australian market, unconvinced by the acquisition of BHP Billiton

In Australia, the ASX 200 was down 0.48% to 4469.10 points.The Australian market was led by the announcement of an acquisition by mining giant BHP Billiton. Putting his hand on the American Petrohawk Energy for 12.1 billion dollars (8.6 billion euros), it opens the doors of U.S. shale gas. Following the announcement last night, the action of BHP Billiton has sold 1.7% to the Australian Stock Exchange, to 42.84 Australian dollars (45.83 U.S. dollars) after reaching a low in two weeks early session.

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Benefit fraud estimated at 20 billion euros per year

In early June, Labour Minister Xavier Bertrand estimated at "several billion" the amount of social fraud and abuse annually, detected or not. On Tuesday, a parliamentary report published by AFP gives a figure a little more specific: over 20 billion euros. "Either 44 times more than the fraud being detected," wrote the rapporteur for the assessment mission statements for Social Security (MECSS) of the National Assembly, Dominique Tian, ​​UMP deputy of the Bouches-du-Rhone. In 2010, social security fraud was detected, in fact amounted to 458 million euros, a figure nevertheless up 20% year on year.

"Between 10% and 12% of companies are in breach"

Specifically, the report evaluates the existing fraud parliamentary levies (employer and employee contributions not paid because of the black) between 8 and 15.8 billion and those benefits (sick leave benefits, family allowances, RSA etc. .. ) 2 to 3 billion. With respect to illegal work, the UMP elected judge that "the practice is common, if not commonplace in some sectors of the economy." He said that "between 10% and 12% of companies are in breach and between 5% and 7% of employees are not reported." The report is also concerned about the development of "fraud by organized networks of smugglers."

While stressing the government's efforts in the fight, the report points to the results "insufficient".Its authors point out, that "the magnitude of the social deficits and the desire to better control public spending necessitate greater control over social spending." And the example of several European countries that have already moved in this direction, including the United Kingdom and Germany.

Vitale card biometric

The report, made 53 proposals, recommended to "improve the control of the state policy against social fraud" and simplify the "legal framework". The MECSS calls to "restore the face to face for the initial creation of files of requests for benefits and for which the remote procedures facilitate fraud."It also calls for a biometric card Vitale, limited duration, "which would include all social security data of the insured" and that would be issued by municipalities, such as for passports or identity cards.

To better "target audiences fraud", the report also encourages the spread of "Data Mining", or data mining, which involves crossing multiple data from different sources. Social agencies that can now exchange information with tax authorities or banks will benefit by the end of 2011 a common national directory of social protection (RNCP) that will identify compatible services in different branches.

Regarding sick leave abuse, the report suggests developing the "cons-visits" in the private and what is new among public servants.

Premium "presenteeism"

Finally, the fight against absenteeism, the report suggests "the principle of premiums presenteeism" in the image of anything done by the hospitals of Marseille, paying 219 euros gross officers with no absence in the years."This policy, in some ways depressing, had an immediate effect since the rate of abstentéisme fell 0.5% in 2010," while it increased in other hospitals, the report said.

For its part, the government needs Wednesday, the Council of Ministers, to review its action in the fight against fraud social communications with the Minister of Budget, Baroin, the Minister of Labour and Health, Xavier Bertrand, and Solidarity Minister, Roselyne Bachelot.

(With agencies)

3.3 billion euros of overall fraud detected

3.3 billion of fraud have been detected globally in 2010, says Le Parisien-Aujourd'hui en France on Wednesday morning. In detail, it is tax evasion, which represents most of the scams to the public finances, amounting to 2.4 billion euros.Social fraud is only for its "only" 458 million euros. The Minister of Budget, Baroin, is expected to announce the figures in the day after the cabinet meeting, and give details of its plan to fight against fraud.

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BlackBerry breaks teeth on the shelves

There is no cause for celebration. After having downgraded its forecasts for its first quarter, Research In Motion (RIM), the Canadian manufacturer of BlackBerry, is predicting a difficult year 2012 (year ended March 31). Thursday evening after the close of trading, the group reported poor results for its first quarter, significantly down compared to previous quarter performance. At three months, sales of BlackBerry fell 11% to 13.2 million units. Consequently, the turnover will decline from 12% to $ 4.9 billion and profit down 10% to 695 million.

Layoffs

"The slowdown we saw in the first quarter continued in the second and delays in new product launches in late August lead to lower than expected forecast for the second quarter," said Jim Balsillie, co-president of RIM .He also announced a restructuring plan that will lead to a downsizing of the company to "avoid duplication." Without giving more details on its size payday loans. The group currently has approximately 12,000 employees worldwide.

The words of Jim Balsillie on the Group's financial strength has not reassured the markets. Nor does the sales duPlayBook, the tablet group, including 500,000 copies were sold in six weeks. This figure is almost too good to be true. It fits perfectly with the objectives the group, but failed to mention that it comes on the market one year after the outbreak of hostilities initiated by the iPad.Moreover, sales of PlayBook are well below those from Apple, which sold nearly 2 million iPad in two months.

Consequence of the performance against the first quarter and the bleak outlook for the future, during the informal session transaction after the market closes, the title has sold more than 15% yesterday in New York.

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iOS 5 and icloud: updates to the iPhone

Serious competition from Google's Android, Apple gave Monday a facelift to the iPhone. Surrounded by a cohort of leaders, CEO Steve Jobs introduced from San Francisco, California, the new version of IOS, the operating system behind the iPhone, iPad, iPod touch. This software, including a 5 iOS draft was made available to developers on Monday, will be available for the iPhone 3G, iPhone 4, iPad iPad 2, and the latest iPod touch here in the fall short term personal loans. Here's what we can learn from this presentation.

Devices iOS archive their data on Wi-Fi and 3G. Photo credits: Kimihiro HOSHINO / AFP

The chances of Christine Lagarde at the IMF confirms

Christine Lagarde is likely to succeed Dominique Strauss-Kahn to head the International Monetary Fund (IMF). In any case, the scenario that emerges, as the Japanese business daily Nikkei, citing sources close to the international finance on Wall Street. The newspaper said the French Minister of Economy, the only officially declared candidate with the Mexican Agustin Carstens, get the support of the United States and Japan, the first two countries of the organization by number of votes. Also according to the Japanese daily, this support would be provided by Washington and Tokyo from June 10, the official date of filing of nominations.

No reaction from Tokyo at the moment on these assumptions, the finance minister Noda Yoshikiko having limited to clarify that the new IMF chief should be chosen through an open, transparent and based on merit.

Priority to emerging

These signals confirm a nomination well under way for Christine Lagarde. But out of interest, no premature triumphalism. The French minister continues his world tour to defend his candidacy and try to answer the demands of emerging countries in search of better representation.

These are also priority figure in his travels. After being in Brazil May 30, she will visit India on Tuesday, then in China. In total, four or five days of campaigning in Asia "" listen to the voice of these countries on the IMF and possibly take into account their recommendations into its program, "according to his entourage. Finally on June 10, the Minister will travel to Lisbon to meet his African counterparts.

In its international campaign, Christine Lagarde also can probably count on strong support from Germany.Monday's visit of Angela Merkel in Washington to discuss with Barack Obama instead of the IMF is emerging from this point of view of good omen. It could allow the German chancellor to convince Washington, if not already done so, whether to support the European candidate.

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