Archive for the ‘life’ Category

A bailout of the bank Dexia was proposed

Posted in features, finance, international, life, top news by admin on October 10th, 2011 | Comments Off

The French, Belgian and Luxembourg governments announced Sunday mid-day they had found a solution for the bank Dexia, about to be dismantled. Their proposals were still to be considered by the Board of Directors of the bank has been meeting for 15 hours in Brussels.

In a statement, the three governments reaffirmed their solidarity in the search for a solution that is shaping the future of Dexia, and ensure the management of the banking group, their full support."The proposed solution, which is also the result of intense consultations with all relevant partners, will be presented to the Board of Directors of Dexia which is responsible for approving proposals", they said, without giving more details on how they have learned.

A purchase of 100% of the Belgian branch

Sunday morning, Finance Minister Didier Reynders had indicated in an interview with the RTBF channel that Belgium did not exclude to redeem all of Dexia Bank Belgium (DBB), the Belgian entity of the bank. The price of DBB is estimated between 3 and 7.5 billion euros, and the Belgian State is priced in the low end. "The state will rise sharply in power. If we were 100% (in the capital of Dexia Bank Belgium), I do not rule, we do not intend to stay indefinitely. This does not mean that we will stay three months or six months, "he said.Given the scale of the debt crisis, the Minister of Finance estimated even possible that the state is still present in the capital of DBB in three to five years on line pay day loans.

The scheme favors dismantling of Dexia now a nationalization of the Belgian entity, Dexia Bank Belgium and in France the creation of a new bank dedicated to local communities. This would take the portfolio of loans to local Dexia's a small part comes in the form of toxic loans in the heart of the turmoil for several months. Other assets such as Denizbank, the Turkish subsidiary, Dexia BIL in Luxembourg or be sold. Quatar's sovereign wealth fund would also be interested in the latter entity. The amount of these operations is unknown.

Belgium Dexia has already saved the first time in 2008 by injecting, like Paris, three billion euros.So now it seeks to limit the bill, said Saturday the Belgian daily L'Echo.

In the spirit of Belgian politicians, the idea is to have a solution on the table before Monday morning and the opening exchanges in Europe. Belgian Prime Minister Yves Leterme wants the government proposals to be endorsed soon.

(With agencies)

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Globalization depresses employment, according to the IMF

Posted in economy, events, features, life, technology by admin on September 26th, 2011 | Comments Off

The IMF Christine Lagarde would it become anti-globalization? Long, the subject is taboo: that globalization does not please everyone, it tends to increase inequality in rich countries, everyone sensed. But it was a lesser evil. Cons weighed in the balance somewhat, compared to the prowess of China, India or Brazil and the hundreds of millions of people out of poverty through free trade. "Globalization" as the Anglo-Americans, was an apotheosis for the IMF. Its original mission, and still relevant, is to eliminate protectionism and the specter of the Depression of the 1930s. Light of Sirius, all was well in the brave new world.

This good report is no longer appropriate. The IMF recognizes that since the "Great Recession" of 2008-2009, more than 200 million people are unemployed worldwide. A record.And three-quarters of the 30 million unemployed appeared in the "advanced" countries. However, the phenomenon looks durable.

The World Economic Outlook, which forecasts 2011-2012 were published last week, a special chapter devoted to "labor markets in advanced economies" and their structural changes. That is to take stock of two decades of globalization flawless. "Technological change and trade are as old as civilization," warns the Fund. But this time it's different. Strange coincidence, the revolution in information technology broke out when China, India and the countries of the former Soviet empire have joined the global market, which they were previously excluded.Overnight, shortly after 1990, the global employment has almost doubled to $ 3 billion.

The new communication technologies, including container transport, helped to internationalize production lines. One of the most eloquent symbol is provided by Apple's products are designed in California and assembled in China by Foxconn. Apple includes only about fifty thousand employees, researchers and managers, while the second largest global market capitalization, after Exxon. Less glamorous, Foxconn is working a million people.

25% of the United States would be "relocated"

These are the United States as a whole that work on this model, specializing in highly paid office jobs and relocating industrial production. The international division of labor has been entirely satisfactory in the first place."Until a decade ago, the effects of globalization on the distribution of wealth and jobs were safe," according to Professor Michael Spence, the IMF quotes extensively from the work instant credit report. The Nobel Prize in Economics notes that from 1990 to 2008, the U.S. managed to create 27 million jobs, keeping unemployment low. But 98% of these positions were offered by the sector working exclusively for the U.S. domestic market, including 10 million from government agencies and health. In contrast, industries whose products are exportable, "tradable", as the term of Michael Spence, did not increase their employment, except in highly skilled occupations. The biggest loser is the middle class, who was employed by the industry.According to Professor Alan Blinder, former number two of the Fed, 25% of all jobs in the United States would be "relocated".

This reconfiguration of the labor market was not prejudicial as the United States grew at a rate of 2.5% per annum. It became unbearable to the crisis, while the construction, public agencies and service companies hire less and less, even at low wages. The IMF notes that all the old industrialized countries are housed in the same boat. For his part, Michael Spence said the exception of Germany, "which has clearly failed to protect his employment in export industries when they were threatened." He noted also that the de-industrialization resulting in collective impoverishment.According to his calculations, the value added per employee increased from 72,000 to 80,000 dollars between 1990 and 2008 across the Atlantic in non-exporters, while it jumped from 79,000 to 120,000 dollars in industries working for the world market.

Globalization is certainly not a zero sum game in which emerging economies prosper at the expense of old nations. But within each country, certain social groups benefit while others suffer. IMF sees not only a factor of inequality, but also a drag on overall growth: by venting industries, which have much higher potential productivity service activities, the United States and Europe condemned to decline. Not wishing to embark on a highly political terrain, the IMF experts take shelter behind the recommendations of Professor Spence.They are twofold: win back lost industrial jobs by the middle class while practicing a specific social redistribution in favor of the victims of globalization clearly identified.

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Goldman Sachs: the new lawyer worries

Posted in Uncategorized, life, news, publications, resources by admin on August 24th, 2011 | Comments Off

While many criminal investigations are underway in the United States against Goldman Sachs, the management of the investment bank is taking the lead. Concordant sources, its chief executive, Lloyd Blankfein, has hired Reid Weingarten, a lawyer outside the company. The establishment said that such recruitment is not exceptional. Thus, a spokesman for the group stated that: "As is common in such situations, Lloyd Blankfein and other members of society must be heard as part of an investigation by the Justice Department U.S. response to the issues raised by a report (of a commission of inquiry of the Senate) have hired a lawyer. "

But in exchange, the reaction was particularly violent: the title of the bank plunged 4.7% to 106.51 dollars on Monday.The action that had opened up a hook at the very end of the session in the wake of the announcement by Reuters, the recruitment of Reid Weingarten. The decline then continued as in trade after the market fell to 105.45 dollars. The markets are worried because of legal troubles that will face the bank and could affect the company and its future profits.

Profile Reid Weingarten feeds the fears of Wall Street

The profile of the chosen lawyer, Reid Weingarten, fueling fears of investors. The latter is one of the most renowned lawyers in the defense of white collar crimes. He has defended the former CEO of WorldCom, Bernard Ebbers and former CFO of Enron, Richard Causey credit reports free. Both men are currently incarcerated for fraud.Reid Weingarten recently said to be "used to defend difficult cases where my clients are hated by all." He has also defended including the former legal adviser to the U.S. energy broker Tyco, former executive director of classifieds site Monster.com employment and CEOs of U.S. Neteller online banking and the reinsurer Gen Re . All suspected fraud, tax or other.

After being hired by executives of Goldman Sachs, some are asking: "Why hire someone like that?" And for them, "it means only one thing: they take the matter seriously."

Goldman Sachs is not his first brush with the law. Accused of misleading its customers at the height of the crisis, the bank had paid $ 550 million in June 2010 to settle a complaint by the U.S. authority to regulate stock exchanges (SEC).And recently, the U.S. Senate issued a 650-page report very critical of the bank for its handling of the subprime crisis. The Justice Department is also continuing its investigation into Goldman Sachs and questions about its activities and its role in financial crisis. The bank is particularly accused of misleading its customers shortly before the outbreak of the financial crisis. She also denies two years of accusations of fraud and conflict of interest.

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Baroin calls for "cool heads"

Posted in business, events, life, money, special by admin on August 6th, 2011 | Comments Off

While European stock markets, starting with Paris, still closed on Friday decreases, Baroin called to remain calm. The Minister of Economy, which had cut short his vacation to "take stock with his teams," according to the Elysée, stressed the need to "keep a cool head and not make a tracing paper of the excitement that can be observed on a given market. "

Invited to France Info, just after the close of the Paris Bourse, which for the first time ever signed a tenth meeting of consecutive decline, including the minister explained that "the questions posed from a double question mark: the character of the strong global economic growth and the important issue in Europe and worldwide of this problem of public debt. "

On this last point, Baroin said that "the determination of the 17 heads of state of the euro area should not doubt the investors." And remember, in reference to the plan of aid to Greece reached July 21, that "in Europe, there was an agreement by the Heads of State very important because it offered answers online cash advance. These responses must be heard by the markets. "

Latency

The Minister of Economy, however, admitted that there was "a latency reduction" between the announcement of the plan, which is "a good plan," and its practical implementation. It must indeed be ratified by national parliaments. In this regard, Baroin was keen to dispel doubts about the possibility of rejection by the German parliamentarians. "The plan will be voted on July 21. There is no other way to protect our currency which is the common good of the countries in the region, "said he.But "time is not the Democratic one click of a market operator," he said.

In order to "restore investor confidence," Baroin also ensures that "we must strengthen the governance of the euro area to make it optimal."

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Cac 40: Greek and American debt burden

Posted in international, life, news, technology, top news by admin on July 26th, 2011 | Comments Off

Back in the red for the Paris Bourse. At closing, the Cac 40 drops 0.77% to 3812.97 points. Investors are concerned about the United States. The elected representatives of the U.S. Congress again tried Sunday to reach an agreement on raising the debt ceiling, but without success. While the Speaker of the House John Boehner had slammed the door to negotiations with the White House on Friday night, they have continued behind the scenes throughout the weekend between the Democratic allies of President Barack Obama, the Senate majority and their opponents Republicans, who control the House of Representatives. But John Boehner told his troops on Sunday night that no breakthrough had yet been obtained.

The situation becomes very tense nine days of the deadline mentioned by the Treasury before a U.S. default.This morning, this concern has led to a relapse of the Asian markets. For their part, the U.S. markets, which had already ended Friday without direction, changing declined Monday. According to the IMF, the United States may suffer a "severe shock" if the debt ceiling of the federal state was not found in time.

Greece is also in the news: Moody's today lowered the country's sovereign rating of "Caa1" from "It" with a development, saying the country was still facing major challenges medium-term credit.

Oil down

On the currency side, the euro declined slightly against the greenback at 1.4347 dollar dollar in late afternoon. Oil is also down.To 17.30 U.S. a barrel fell by 0.542% to 99.35 dollars, while the gold, he goes back to 0.84% ​​and is trading at 1615 dollars an ounce.

The banking sector in heavy losses

Dexia lost 8.09% to 1.95 euros, Crédit Agricole 5.44% to 8.92 euros, BNP Paribas 4.47% to 46.63 euros and Societe Generale 4.70% to 36.28 euros. Bank stocks suffer after degradation of the note of Greece by Moody's.

Axa (-4.26% to 13.72 euros), while welcoming the agreement reached by EU leaders on Greece, the insurers of the French Federation of Insurance Companies (FFSA) said they consider favorably participation in the project initiative of private investors, as part of the options.

Values ​​to follow

Areva: 0.10% to 25.37 euros, EDF: -0.28% to 27.09 euros

The new president of Areva, Luc Oursel, who succeeded Anne Lauvergeon end of June, will make his first official Monday by hosting one of its plants in the CEO of EDF, Henri Proglio, showing the warming of relations between the two groups. EDF and Areva have signed an agreement at that time technically and commercially, prior to a more ambitious partnership to be signed in September.

JCDecaux: -3 pay day loans.87% to 20.24 euros

JCDecaux was down sharply, after seeing the recommendation on its way down to "hold" against "buy" before, by Citigroup.

Alstom: -0.16% to 39.42 euros

RATP has ordered 66 additional subway trains for more than 300 million euros, of which 200 million will fall into the hands of Alstom Transport, Alstom said in a statement.

Score: -0.59% to 18.44 euros

The reinsurer Scor reveals a growth of 22% at constant exchange rates, the treaty renewals in non-life and specialties of the 320 million of premiums up for renewal in mid-year.

Saint-Gobain: -1.26% to 41.94 euros

The group will buy the British network Build Center and French Brossette in Wolseley, which is the world leader in the distribution of equipment, plumbing and heating.He will spend 145 million pounds (165 million) to Build Center and 186 million euros for Brossette. "These two acquisitions (…) represent a contribution of over one billion euros in sales," says Pierre-André de Chalendar, CEO of Saint-Gobain, said in a statement.

Unibail-Rodamco: -3.44% to 143.88 euros; Klépierre: 0.88% to 27.41 euros

HSBC has initiated coverage of Unibail-Rodamco to "overweight" with a target price of 175 euros and raised its recommendation on Klépierre to "underweight" to "neutral."

LVMH: 1.01% to 130.55 euros

Consob is considering a complaint from an investment fund over the price offered to pay the French to buy the balance of Bulgari, confirmed Sunday a spokesman for the Italian stock market.

Total: -0.48% to 39.26 euros

The oil amounts to ten billion dollars (seven billion euros) of investment needed to develop the oil field north of Moho Bilondo off the coast of the Republic of Congo, said its CEO, Christophe de Margerie.

Valeo: 0.05% to 47.32 euros

The group announced Friday that its U.S. subsidiary Valeo Inc., based in Troy, Michigan, had received a request for information from the U.S. court as part of an antitrust investigation.

Fimalac: 0.07% to 27.84 euros

The group announced a sales increase of 11.9% on a comparable basis to 515.8 million euros in the first nine months of fiscal year 2010-2011.Its subsidiary, the rating agency Fitch Ratings has led to an increase of 11.7% of its turnover over the same period to 401.5 million euros.

After market, Seb and Klépierre publish their half year results, April Group will announce its earnings for the second quarter, Faiveley the first quarter. Mercialys and STMicroelectronics will publish their results for the second quarter.

The banking sector beating down on the Paris Bourse

Posted in life, news, online, opinions, special by admin on July 18th, 2011 | Comments Off

Pessimism still dominates the Paris Stock Exchange on Monday. After a complicated weekend, marked by a loss of almost 5% for the CAC 40, investors do not find easily morale, as evidenced by the opening of a down, 12%% to 3684.79 pooints. The London Stock Exchange also opened down 0.76% to 5799.51 points and the DAX index of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange was down 0.79% to 7162.82 points.

The Asian market has not sent a clear signal this morning. Only U.S. markets manage to stay the course despite the many warnings about agency debt. In this regard, President Barack Obama issued an ultimatum to Congress on increasing the debt ceiling while Republicans are sticking to their positions.In Europe, the problems of sovereign debt will also be central to discussions of heads of state on Thursday at a special summit meant to calm markets.

Meanwhile, next currency, the euro fell slightly against the greenback at 1.4074 dollar. Gold, meanwhile, took advantage of the nervousness of investors to assert its status as a safe haven: an ounce on Monday has risen to 1598.60 dollars, linking 11 consecutive sessions of gains. The most since July 1980.

In terms of indicators, the day will be particularly quiet with only the index of the real estate market in the United States waited for the afternoon. The rest of the week will be richer with, among others, the German ZEW index (Tuesday), the U.S. existing home sales (Wednesday), the weekly jobless across the Atlantic (Thursday) and the confidence index Business in France (Friday).

Oil markets, oil prices were without direction in morning trading Monday. A barrel of "light sweet crude" for August delivery lost 9 cents to 97.15 dollars while that of Brent North Sea crude for September delivery took 22 cents to 117.48 dollars.

Bank stocks led the largest declines

By sector, the entire banking sector unscrewed, after publication of the study undigested JPMorgan Cazenove, which assessed the need for additional capital of European institutions on the basis of more stringent capital adequacy ratio payday advance. According to JPMorgan, BNP Paribas (-2.99% to 43.92 euros), Societe Generale (-3.44% to 33.50 euros) and Credit Agricole (-2.83% to 8.24 euros) should raise 20 billion euros, one quarter of the amount to raise in Europe.This study follows the results of stress tests of the European Union that French banks have yet passed. In turn, AXA (-3.30% to 13.17 euros) and Natixis (-3.06% to 3.03 euros) drop sharply.

For beyond this study, a European project to create a tax on banks to help Greece is under consideration, according to Die Welt. It concerns all European banks, whether or not active in the Greek market.

France Telecom: -0.29% to 13.73 euros

The operator plans to launch a bid for the fourth mobile operator in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Congo-China Telecom (CTC).The terms of any agreement, still being negotiated, would provide for the redemption of 51% of CTC held by the Chinese manufacturer ZTE telecom equipment, and 49% owned by the Congolese state.

ArcelorMittal: -0.33% to 22.58 euros

The group could respond to the study of the British consulting firm Meps specializes in the steel industry that China would underestimate production. Beijing would have produced 672 million tons of steel, half of the world, against 627 million tonnes officially announced. Meps suspects including small local mills continue to run ads despite the closure due to pollution problems and productivity.

Publicis: -1.22% to 36.82 Euris

The group has obtained a syndicated multi-currency $ 1.2 billion.

As for publications, Edenred deliver its sales in the first half after market. Guyenne et Gascogne announce its second quarter earnings as Audika.

Debt: dialogue of the deaf in the United States

Posted in economic, economics, events, international, life by admin on July 16th, 2011 | Comments Off

The lack of consensus in Washington on ways to prevent a default by the U.S. Treasury in early August was still crying Friday. "We are clearly running out of time we have left. So I asked members of Congress to give me, within 24 to 36 hours, an indication of the plan that will raise the debt ceiling, "said Barack Obama. The American president has reiterated its willingness to accept adjustments in social programs, that number of elected its own camp, however, refused. But he asks the same time to give the Republicans on tax increases, or at least, on the elimination of tax loopholes, "The Republican voters are willing to (in) to accept," he said, citing recent surveys.

"We're not Greece or Portugal. We do not need to do something drastic, "said Barack Obama.The situation of the United States is indeed very different from the peripheral countries of Europe are grappling with the crisis of sovereign debt. Nevertheless: the absence of a congressional vote before August 2, the U.S. Treasury can no longer borrow as it has already reached the limit of its debt. It would be forced to stop paying some of its creditors.

"Golden Rule" Republican

Shortly before the intervention of Barack Obama, John Boehner, chairman of the House of Representatives, promised the adoption by his fellow Republicans of a "robust plan" to raise the debt ceiling to 2.4 trillion dollars. This text does not include any tax increases, cap on federal spending and also provides for the adoption of a constitutional amendment such as "golden rule" to prevent budget deficits. In other words, it is unlikely to generate a consensus in the Senate.Barack Obama has confirmed that he opposed it.

In the Senate, bipartisan negotiations, subtle and inventive, continue. The leaders of both parties hope to combine a reduction of expenditures in the order of at least 1 000 billion over ten years, raising the ceiling to be de facto delegated by Congress to the President.

The aim is to enable elected not to vote explicitly for raising the ceiling or to the tax increase. Increasing the cap would take place in three stages and maximum total amount would be 2 500 billion, just enough to allow the Treasury to pay all his debts until after the 2012 elections.

According to the proposed scheme, only two-thirds majority in both houses can block increases ceiling decided by Barack Obama. It does not say that this effort to succeed.Or that the elected House of Representatives accept the principle or detail. The installation is complicated as it may be associated with a new method of reduction in social health (Medicare) and retirement (Social Security). A bipartisan commission would draw up by the end of a list of savings to be realized.

Brazil: Carrefour retreats

Posted in life, news, online, publications, special by admin on July 14th, 2011 | Comments Off

Carrefour and its major shareholders still have progress to make to master the subtleties of samba. The merger of the Brazilian subsidiary of global distributor with the second casino, Grupo Pao de Acucar (GPA), is abandoned.

Scaffold for months in the back of its local partner Casino Abilio Diniz (President and owner of 21% of GPA), with the support of BNDES, the Brazilian equivalent of the Deposit, the project would have allowed Crossroads take control of all activities involving the two Brazilian groups. The company, known as Pao de Acucar Novo, would have made 30 billion euros in sales and held 32.3% of the local market, against 11.1% for the U.S. WalMart.

Las.Faced with fierce opposition from Casino, which supports the development of this project is contrary to the shareholders' agreement binding Abilio Diniz, BNDES announced its withdrawal on the night of Tuesday to Wednesday. While Diniz seeks private investors to substitute for Brazilian BNDES, he lost some of its political support.

This halted the project is mostly a failure for Carrefour, which had the most to gain. The group chose to take advantage of the disagreement between Diniz and Casino to join in a risky project, rather than seeing the Brazilian partner with WalMart. If successful, Carrefour could forget his many disappointments. The group is not out of a serious area of ​​turbulence in its domestic market, putting pressure on its outstanding CEO Lars Olofsson and its principal shareholders, Groupe Arnault and Colony Capital payday advance lenders.The latter, entered the capital of the retailer in March 2007, when the action was worth 53 euros, have increased the project, or attempted to bounce the stock price, which dropped by half since: sale of Brazilian and Chinese subsidiaries , public offerings of real estate branch, split Dia. In vain.

Brazil lost the battle has also cast a cruel light on the performance of Carrefour in the country, its first growth opportunities ahead of China. Abilio Diniz revealed that the operating profitability of Carrefour Brazil was 1%, seven times less than that of GPA. Casino and pointed the loss of market share of hypermarkets in Brazil, for the benefit of supermarkets and convenience stores.If its chain of wholesale stores Atacadao is a success, Carrefour, local leader, sees its hypermarkets suffer against those of Extra, a subsidiary of ABM.

Overconfidence

After 550 million of provisions recorded by Carrefour last year as a result of accounting fraud at its Brazilian subsidiary, the latter saw his image tarnished again. The withdrawal of the BNDES also shows that Carrefour had underestimated the political power relations in Brazil, or too trusted Abilio Diniz …

If new proposed combination with GPA must be submitted to the board of Carrefour in the coming months, it would still be opposed to casino, and no political support in Brazil. This time, the independent directors of Carrefour might well make their voices heard.

Wall Street gains cancels the previous day

Posted in economic, features, life, money, people by admin on July 8th, 2011 | Comments Off

The U.S. stock markets are yo-yo. After closing sharply higher Friday, Wall Street declined sharply on Friday. The Dow Jones lost 0.76% to 12,622.54 points, the Nasdaq yield 0.84% ​​to 2848.44 points and the S & P 500 0.99% to 1339.84 loose points. Thursday, Wall Street has ended sharply higher, reassured by the employment figures in the private sector.

These declines are explained by the release this Friday afternoon, disappointing numbers in employment in June that contradict the good results of the ADP survey released Thursday.The hires are in fact remained at a standstill for the second consecutive month, with only 18,000 jobs created, while the unemployment rate continued its rise, to 9.2%, according to figures released by the Department of Travail.Le report Official "is seen as a crucial gauge for assessing the short-term capacity of the world's largest economy to withstand" the signs of slowdown in the country's economic recovery, analysts explained the broker FXCM.

On the macroeconomic front, investors will also monitor the numbers of consumer credit in May (21 hours).

For his part, President Barack Obama acknowledged yesterday that the disagreement persisted with the Republicans on the budget and debt.He has given a new appointment on Sunday to elect to provide an update on the progress of talks will take place by then.

First results expected Monday half

Attention should also be strengthened by the forthcoming opening of the ball half-year results. As usual the aluminum giant Alcoa (-1.33% to 16.27 dollars) will open the show these ads on July 11 or next Monday. Generally considered a barometer of the health of the U.S. economy, the aluminum companies would announce analysts said a sharp rise in earnings in the second quarter.The rise of aluminum prices and increased demand, especially from aircraft manufacturers, accounted for much of this improvement.

On the foreign exchange market, the euro lost ground against the dollar on Friday, traders moved cautiously before the release of the official report on employment and unemployment in the United States, major indicator to assess the strength of resumption of the world's largest economy.In early afternoon in Paris the European single currency was worth 1.4323 dollars against 1.4356 dollars Thursday

The side of values, given the green light Thursday by the shareholders of the transatlantic exchange operator NYSE Euronext (-0.40% to 35.26 dollars) a merger with Deutsche Börse marks a victory for its chief executive Duncan Niederauer, who strongly defended the project since mid-February.

Always on the side of values, the U.S. pharmaceutical company Pfizer (0.10% to 20.25 dollars) is considering "strategic alternatives" including the potential sale of its animal health business and infant feeding.The animal health division of Pfizer in 2010 achieved a turnover of 3.6 billion and nutrition Pfizer $ 1.9 billion.

Moreover, after the close of Wall Street, CEO of Exco Resources (7.46% to $ 0.72) Douglas Miller has revised its bid on the company to 18.5 million in cash and a part in actions against 20.5 million in cash earlier.

For its part the News Corp. (-2.84% to 17.42 dollars) will close the British tabloid Sunday News of the World, in the heart of a wiretapping scandal.

Also note, the Taiwanese SemiLEDS (-8.06% to 5.70 dollars), listed on Wall Street has announced a loss of 5.1 million dollars, or 16 cents per share against 6 cents expected. Turnover was down to 5.6 million against 9.9 million last year and 6.3 million expected.

The exorbitant cost of cyber attacks and opaque

Posted in events, features, life, money, online by admin on July 1st, 2011 | Comments Off

The numbers are staggering. In Germany, the financial damage caused by cyber crime amounted to 61.5 million euros in 2010, according to figures released Thursday by the criminal police and the Federation of high tech Bitkom. This is equivalent to an increase of 66% over the previous year. As the United States, the FBI estimated the cost of crime to some digital $ 560 million in 2009. A world-wide, according to McAfee, cyber crime would have generated some 1000 billion in 2008, about 1.64% of world GDP for that year. Remains that, without minimizing the scale of the scourge, these figures are perplexing.

Many experts give little credence to these studies because most of them emanate from computer security specialists. For the record, other than McAfee is the world number two antivirus software.In addition, "less than 10% of companies report having experienced cyber attacks," said Jean-Paul Pinte, senior lecturer in strategic intelligence at the Catholic University of Lille. According to the specialist risk management and cyber terrorists of enterprises affected societies fear the bad publicity due to media coverage of cyber attacks.

Jean-Paul Pinte, "we know nothing of the legacy and financial losses suffered indirectly." He added: "If an attack is to relieve a company of sensitive information, loss of data will generate multiple costs, such as loss of competitiveness, or the upgrading of security."

"Hard to get a comprehensive view"

Director of the National Security Information Systems (Anssi), Patrick Pailloux abounds in this direction."When a site is the victim of an attack, he takes as an example, it is first blocked, causing a shortfall. Then we must add additional costs to set up a hotline strengthened. "And on the practices of industrial espionage initiated via the Internet," How can we measure in terms of losses that a competitor could steal ?, "asks the director of Anssi. Clearly, "it is difficult to get a comprehensive view of the problem," says he.

Despite these criticisms, these figures are held up to each event on Cybercrime. However dated, the estimated one trillion dollars of McAfee is authoritative. Last May, it appeared even in the "reminder" of the fourth Parliamentary Forum on Information Society in Geneva, on the initiative, among others, the United Nations.Trompe-l'oeil, the text quoted a source stamped Europol, the pharmacy police intergovernmental European Union, which actually refers to the numbers … the software publisher.

If governments do not hesitate to chopping these impressive figures, it is often necessary to legitimize, but costly reinforcement of their agencies against digital piracy. Or clear, make the pill easier to swallow from taxpayers. In January, the UK has estimated that cyber attacks cost him a whopping 27 billion pounds per year (32.2 billion euros) in a government study.An amount (by far) greater than the harm claimed by the United States … A few days before making public figure, London has announced the release of 650 million pounds over four years to "strengthen its cyber security "…

International cooperation in the war-horse

Without waving the national figures, France is no exception, as evidenced by the announcement of piracy Bercy in March. Patrick Pailloux it was for the state to "lead by example" to encourage companies to report piracy they wipe. The Director of Anssi said that 150 computers were then infiltrated by hackers to steal documents for the French presidency of the G20. "We were able to counter the threat," he goes on, noting that thirty experts have been mobilized for two months to "clean up" more than 130,000 positions in the Department.A communication that is timely, since Anssi plans to double its workforce (360 employees) by 2013.

Such methods may be distasteful, but experts and politicians agree: there is no time to waste on the face of digital crime. "For a long time in France, we thought that hacking and computer intrusions were not really dangerous, says Jean-Paul Pinte. But now we know that it's become a real business, and that the threat can come from anywhere: a simple USB key, hard drives or even photocopiers, which, connected to the Internet can become the target of hackers ".

Therefore, international cooperation, which requires significant resources, is "a priority," insists Patrick Pailloux. And for good reason: "90% of attacks are international," says the director of Anssi.In the columns of The Tribune, Laurent Wauquiez, Minister for European Affairs, recently recalled that a hacker "can be installed in Latvia, while in France to intervene through a Canadian site." He even considers urgent that Europe adopts "a kind of cyber-FBI-backed Europol" to stem the digital crime. And one last statistic to shoot, ensuring that "a user of thirty lost money in Europe over the last year" due to a hacker.

Businesses, prey selection

Having surveyed 45 U.S. companies in 2010, the Ponemon Institute found that on average, the financial damage caused by hackers and data theft was $ 3.8 million.Like that of McAfee, this figure is to be taken lightly, as though Ponemon shows his independence, his study was commissioned by ArcSight, a specialist in digital security. However, it appears that large groups are increasingly being targeted by hackers. Since the beginning of the year, the list of companies or institutions that have suffered cyberattacks has continued to grow. Sony has suffered more than ten attacks since mid-April, leading to theft of confidential data of more than 1 million customer accounts. Recently, Sega has had the same misfortune: the editor of the series of Sonic hedgehog found in mid-June have been stolen names, email addresses, birth dates and passwords of almost 1.3 million customers on its servers.Google or Citigroup also suffered cyber attacks.

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