World and National News

Good news for European women: since the month of May 2009, their unemployment rate, usually systematically higher than men, for the first time fell below theirs. A sudden catch that unfortunately we can not impute to the crisis. The sectors of industry and construction, traditionally male, have been particularly affected by the decline in economic activity, while those within the tertiary sector, more investment by women were generally spared. But this statistic, although seemingly positive for women, also stresses that many sectors are overwhelmingly invested in either one or the other sex.

The report Grésy devoted to professional equality between men and women, has certainly highlighted the "tremendous progress" already observed in the field: women now represent France in 47% of the workforce in 2007, and this 83% are women 25 to 49 years who work. Above all, the mix has risen sharply among the most skilled trades. The social portrait of INSEE reports that young women who leave the education system with a level of training on average than that of boys, have become a large majority among the legal profession (there are now so many lawyers than lawyers), communication, or doctors.Even among the skilled trades to more technical nature, where they remain in low numbers, a trend is emerging: there are now nearly 40% of female engineers or technical managers fresh out of school, as against 9% among older !

A marked polarization in low-skilled occupations

But the picture is not all rosy. And it seems that both ends of the scale of qualifications is the rub. At the top level, the proportion of women remains marginal: 8% of women just sit on boards of directors of the 500 largest French companies, so that a bill is to introduce a quota for women in these bodies. And it's almost the same sound of a bell among the least skilled jobs."The mix has even declined," says Florence Chappert, special assistant to the department skills, work and employment Anact (National Agency for the Improvement of Working Conditions). "Among low-skilled occupations, trades polarization between men and women is sometimes even more pronounced among beginners in the former, confirming Insee.

Overall, if the girls were always reduced appetite for professional studies, they are still more likely to opt for health and social sectors or specialties Secretariat, when it run. For boys, it is instead the power-electronic outweighs their votes.Result: the construction workers are at 98% of men, those in process industries are at 76%, while, unsurprisingly, 98% of secretaries are women, and that 98% of home helps, 75% administrative workers of category C, 99% of childminders … If the cultural environment is of course a factor in explaining this distribution, Florence Chappert said he is not alone: "If we wanted a stronger proportion of men among the home support, this would require review and atypical partial schedules that are so frequent, often at the expense of women, and raise wages, "said she. Just as the introduction of female workers would necessarily lead to a mitigation of the harshness of the trade."However, there is no question of the mix at any price: the men and women can sometimes lose to find exactly the same positions.

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DOCUMENT:

The journal "Gender and Labor Conditions of Anact

NicOx is still in the red, but less. The pharmaceutical company announced on Thursday evening a net loss of 60.4 million euros in 2009, cons -73.9 million euros in 2008.

The operating loss amounted to 62 million euros against 79.2 million last year. Operating expenses were reduced by more than 20 million euros, to 66.7 milllion euros. "The majority of these expenses was related to research and development, including expenses related to the two regulatory submissions for naproxcinod, moderates the group.

Revenues NicOx stands at 1.1 million euros at December 31, 2009 against 3.4 million million a year ago.No revenue was recognized during the last quarter of 2009, NicOx said in a statement.

Finally, NicOx closing the year with cash of 148.3 million euros, up 42% through a capital increase generated net total proceeds of $ 94.6 million at the end of year.

NicOx provides no forecast for 2010 but says he will continue to spend this year preparing for the commercialization of Naproxcinod, which he expects to run a turnover of over one billion euros Payday Advance .

The company announced Wednesday it had granted Bausch & Lomb the exclusive worldwide rights of NCX 116, treatment of glaucoma and ocular hypertension, for a total of up to $ 169.5 million.

In exchange, investors reacted immediately: the NicOx shares rose almost 6%. Rebelotte Thursday with unehausse of 5.7%. Thus, actions cotent at closing 5.92 euros. The bar is close to EUR 6.

However, the exchange price is still below its levels there are still four months (the title was worth € 7.9) or June 2009 (it was over 10 euros) … or all of its first steps on the Paris stock exchange (the record stands at 39 euros). It was late 1999.

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The "Teorem" Thales is not a math problem. The Telephone Network Cryptography for state and military, made by Thales, is exclusively for heads of state and military, for its qualities in terms of security of confidentiality. RTL radio this morning reminded the many business-related policies tapping conversations with enemy states as well as by allies. With encryption, the conversations transmitted by Teorem can escape from such plays.

In moving in Cholet, Maine-et-Loire, to present his greetings to economic forces, the President of the Republic Nicolas Sarkozy will go through the factory, where 850 employees are working on making this phone. The terminals will exchange sensitive information secrecy protection.Only two companies in the world are able to produce such a device.

In 2010, the Head of State, representatives of ministries and military staffs will have the 14,000 copies ordered by France in March (price not known at this time).

To ensure the security of sensitive communications that must relay any lost or stolen device will be excluded from the network.

The crisis has backfired in China. With more than 8% growth in 2009, Beijing table already on a growth of 9.5% for 2010, relegating the slowdown of the first and second quarters to the level of vague memory. In any case the forecast of the State Council Development Research Center, near the Chinese government, which estimates that investment driven by the market will gradually take over from the recovery plan launched by the Chinese state during the coming year.

The property "become the main source of investment growth," said Zhang Liqun, an economist with the think-tank, in a report published Friday in the China Economic Times, a newspaper that publishes all research center. Investments in this sector are expected to jump 30% to 40%. Inflation, which feeds a lot of concern among analysts, should be contained below 3%.

Mr.Zhang also provides for a resumption of exports, which depends on the Chinese economy, which had declined in 2009. For his part, Minister of Commerce Chen Deming, recalled earlier in the week a foreign trade up 10% to 15% in 2010.

These estimates are supported by the leading indicators of economic conditions, past the green for several months already. The index of purchasing managers has reached 56.6 in December, registering its highest level in twenty-two months. Above 50, the index indicates an expansion of production.

Concerns about credit

In the third quarter of last year, China's economy recorded 8.9% growth. Even in 2008, which saw the economic slowdown begin has not broken a positive revision of growth figures – like previous years.The National Bureau of Statistics announced a correction of + 0.6% of the increase in gross domestic product (GDP) in 2008 to 9.6% after a reassessment of the place of service sector growth.

For 2010, the Chinese machine should not make a break. President Hu Jintao called for continued rapid economic development and stable, when television delivered his vows December 31. Most analysts expect growth to exceed that of 2009. The Asian Development Bank on a table and GDP growth of 8.9%, against 9% for the International Monetary Fund and 9.3% for the Economist Intelligence Unit.

But challenges remain unchanged. Faced with the explosion of credit in 2009, which helped finance the generous recovery plan, the Chinese Premier did not hide some concerns."It is good that our bank loans are more balanced, better structured and to a lesser extent," confided Wen Jiabao to the official news agency Xinhua last weekend. He asserted, however, want to maintain the stimulus to avoid the risk of jeopardizing the country's development. In 2010, Beijing will need more than ever think about a way of sustainable growth for the drafting of the new five-year plan, covering the period 2011-2015.

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Sheikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan has denied reports published by Spanish newspaper AS that he wanted to buy the Spanish club Real Madrid for the sum of one billion euros. In a statement released by the official WAM news agency, a source close to the sheik, said he wanted to "[focus] now all his efforts and attention on Manchester City to assure him a place among the elite clubs of the United Kingdom" .

It is true that such transaction is impractical. And for two reasons. Initially, Sheikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan was to get rid of Manchester City, which is the current owner, one person can not have two clubs at once, according to UEFA rules.

Second, it proves to be much more complicated to solve. Real Madrid had to change its constitution and become a sports company.A development which requires the approval of … "socios". Contrary to most Spanish clubs, Real Madrid, like FC Barcelona is an association "nonprofit" that belongs to its members that are other than the supporters club.

327 million euros of debt accumulated

For now, Real Madrid continued to accumulate debts, which reached this year, 327 million. And nothing says recall that last summer, the Madrid club has paid a quick one, Brazilian Kaka (65 million euros), the French Karim Benzema (35 million euros) and Portuguese Cristiano Ronaldo (94 million euros). In total, the club Castilian spent last summer, the tidy sum of 250 million euros.It is club football that generates the most revenue in the world with revenues of 365.8 million euros.

Although he denied the report, Sheikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan keeps an eye on Real Madrid. The UAE dignitary "rightly appreciates the experience of Real Madrid and he is a big supporter of the twinning agreement signed in 2005 between the Spanish club and the club Al-Jazira in Abu Dhabi which he chairs.

British Airways won a first victory against his crew. The British airline, which deemed it illegal to vote on a strike by its employees last Monday, just win the case on Thursday. A British judge of the High Court in London took the view that the strike, scheduled from December 22 to January 2, was not legal.

According to the interim ruling issued Thursday, irregularities were committed during the vote in which employees were asked to vote on the principle of the strike. The judge ruled that the company disputed the fact that such employees being dismissed have taken part in the poll.

The management of British Airways welcomes the victory. "We are delighted for our customers that the threat of a strike at Christmas has been lifted.It is a decision that will be welcomed by hundreds of thousands of families in the United Kingdom and around the world. "

The conflict is not over

This decision does not preclude the union Unite, causing the motion to proceed to another vote. For employees in anger, the movement will only end if the negotiations succeed. But for now, discussions are taking the wrong direction.

The direction of the British airline and representatives of Unite had met on Wednesday but failed to agree on a compromise. British Airways refuses to reverse the changes already implemented such as reducing the number of crew members on long distance flights and short haul.

If such a work stoppage occurs, it would be the first strike at British Airways since 1997, and the longest in the history of British aviation.The company would lose big on this account since the holiday season to carry one million passengers on Flight 7000.

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The first results of the survey of 102,000 employees of France Telecom are falling, and they are not in favor of the operator. "Felt generally very degraded", "weakening the physical and mental health of some employees'" work atmosphere tense, even violent "are some of the findings prepared by the firm specializes Technologia at the end of the investigation since mid-October in France Telecom. A summary of 75 pages which had access to the Associated Press was delivered Monday morning to both management and unions of the operator.

They were more than 80,000 employees of the group or 77.9% to the questionnaire prepared by Technologia, Workforce oldest in the company and the most experienced showing particularly concerned.

"A functional mobility badly accompanied"

The summary report shows the "strong concerns" of employees surveyed, with the consequence including the loss of the "pride of belonging to France Telecom" and "felt generally very degraded." They were in fact 96% say that proud of this membership cons only 39% today. The difficult working conditions, with a "weakening of the physical and mental health", mainly those in charge of sales and "interventions customers.

More generally, the investigation reveals a "functional mobility badly together," and a "geographical mobility of non-sensitive framework, thus confirming an earlier observation made by many employees.In total they are 55% declare themselves "somewhat dissatisfied" on a professional level, and 65% believed that their working conditions have deteriorated, according to the CFE-CGC.

Moreover, "social relations deteriorated" are found among non-executives, including a "major failure of management" and "working atmosphere tense, even violent.

"The diagnosis is indicative of the internal situation" responded Patrice Diochet the CFTC, adding hope that "this diagnosis is a detonator." "We must use this tool to put pressure on the ongoing negotiations on stress," he added.

Playing the card of transparency in anticipation of these results, France Telecom announced a total of 32 suicides among its members for two years. The operator has not yet made public its reaction.

The boss of EDF, Henri Proglio, presented Thursday to Laurent Wauquiez report on the promotion and development of alternation that Nicolas Sarkozy had ordered in April. Secretary of State for Employment wants some of its proposals – the promotion of alternation in terms of performance of public contracts, creating a portal to alternate or launching a campaign communication – to be "implemented immediately. To achieve the objective that five young people either in training by alternating between 2015 'and is closer to Germany in the field, it will launch workshops alternation.

Simplifying funding

These "think-tanks of learning", composed of representatives of training centers of chambers, organizations collecting funds and training of young apprentices must make by February "concrete answers to three questions major.

Primo, Laurent Wauquiez asked to indicate "how to help trainees in their daily lives, especially their conditions of transport, accommodation, purchase of equipment, their enterprise search or choice of their training.

Deuzio, he asks "how to develop alternate" and "extend to all levels of curriculum" and "tertiary trades" that employ only 8% of apprentices in France while there are massive deposits in tourism or call centers. The issue of quota systems, mentioned in the report Proglio, should be particularly addressed.

Thirdly, the Secretary of State for Employment will "simplify the steps or funding to encourage more companies to capitalize on the alternation.