World and National News

The blows rained down from all sides on Google. Friday, the U.S. competition has announced the opening of an investigation into the Internet group. Today was the turn of French society 1PlusV attack. Editor of topics such as search engines ejustice.fr, Google it assigns to the court of commerce of Paris to seek redress for damages caused by anticompetitive practices of the American giant. 1PlusV assesses his damages at 290 million euros, corresponding to the lost revenue (74 million) and potential revenue lost since the establishment of its business in 2007. The company also claims the publication of the disputed practices on the home page of the famous search engine.

"Unfair Competition"

This assignment in Paris in addition to two cases brought against Google by 1PlusV in Brussels.The first complaint, filed in February 2010, led the European Commission to investigate Google in November 2010. A few months later, in February 2011, filed a complaint 1PlusV further to extend the complaint to all of its search engines. It accuses two things at Google. First, the search engine "rigged" results in both favoring its own thematic search engines (called "vertical"), as in the book, video, maps, and feeding its index data Public collected without the consent of the site publishers business

All real estate transactions involve the payment of notary fees. The note, which is completing the acquisition process where the buyer is usually borrow more or less important to his bank, still seems a bit expensive … especially if one confuses notary fees, and fees. Fees, expenses, registration fees … Mazodier Carolina, a journalist with the monthly individual, decrypts the invoice.

The player has to use default in the articles of figaro.fr. maj1

Introduced in 1992, the French legislation on sexual harassment tends to approach similar laws across the Atlantic. U.S. law prohibits "harassing a person (employee or job applicant) because of her sex." Based on equity of all citizens before the law, it seeks to protect the rights of all segments of society, in order to defend the weakest minorities.

In the French Penal Code, the definition of harassment has been expanded to "any order, threat or coercion in order to obtain favors of a sexual nature." Civil law and criminal law French, however, saw a case of harassment differently. Before the Labour Court, just as the employee establishes the reality of harassment to the accused is compelled to defend his behavior.But at a hearing before the criminal court is the accuser who must provide evidence of guilt. This is where the difficulty lies in proving a case of harassment in France. In most cases the harassment does not leave visible traces, and it is difficult for victims to prove the guilt of the perpetrator.

The legal provisions on sexual harassment in France and the United States also has a very large difference in the amount of damages. "The French courts are less generous than their U.S. counterparts," says Peter Jung, a lawyer with Cohen Amir-Aslani Ngo & Associates. "The American concept of punitive damages to punish a fault, does not exist in France where the damages are only intended to repair an injury suffered by a victim.Legal action in France is not a gamble, as it may be in the Anglo-Saxon. "

A question of manners

Why sexual harassment cases when they have an echo as important to U.S.? Martine Bouccara, lawyer with Cohen Amir-Aslani Ngo & Associates, is a matter of criminal policy, more or less on certain crimes and misdemeanors. "In terms of gravity, the prosecuting authority (the prosecutor) does not act the same way on different elements of public policy. That is his right because he was also elected on a platform. United States, it is the sexual offenses that hold the attention of prosecutors, because the fact of Puritanism, there is an exacerbation of sensitivity around this issue. "

For sociologists, this exacerbation have been linked to the American concept of privacy (privacy), which is much larger in the U.S. compared to France.It includes not only everything about a person but also what that person is able to control. "Tell me who you are in private life, and I'll tell you who you are in public life," summarizes Virginia Martin, a sociologist and research professor at Euromed Management. Thus, when a boss is convicted of harassment by the U.S. justice system, the message perceived by society is that it is unable to control a large company because it has no self control itself. "An American will feel more easily knocked in his privacy than French. And when his "protection zone" can be more easily reached, the scope of prevention is broader, "the lawyer Martine Bouccara analysis.

But according to Eric Albert, president of the firm IFAS, this trend is often taken to extremes."Even jokes on the topic of sex are sometimes criticized. Some people complaining of sexual harassment have no idea what it is. However, it is a very serious act that has great psychological impact on victims. "

The lawyer Peter Jung finds in recent years the "legalization" of French society in terms of sexual harassment. "In the U.S., relations between people in the world of work are fairly complicated and even codified. The rules of behavior that society demands can affect the spontaneity of relationships. But it is undoubtedly the price to pay to eliminate discriminatory behavior. In France, there is a growing number of lawsuits to try to punish inappropriate behavior. Our country takes its cue from the U.S. in this regard, but it remains very far from him look like.A remark or sexist behavior is unfortunately often perceived as a sign of virility. "

The revolution of mentalities in France is not about to happen, say the lawyers. But in our society, the facts of harassment have long been denied and suppressed by the companies. That is why today we are witnessing a rather violent denunciation of these facts.

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AREVA will be able to breathe. His former ally Siemens will pay him $ 648 million plus interest by a fortnight, following the breakdown of an agreement between the two groups. Chamber of Commerce (ICC) has in effect made public last night the penalty imposed by the German group for a case that began in March 2009.

Two years ago, Siemens has decided to withdraw from their joint venture Areva NP owned 34%, after failing to take a larger share. The German group did not then expected to reach an agreement with Areva output to form a new alliance with Russia's Rosatom nuclear.

Siemens has thus not met the terms of predetermined separation between the two groups. The French decided to launch an arbitration against Siemens, liable to a penalty of 40% of the value of the shareholding of Areva NP.

The ITC has agreed with Areva and Siemens believes that has broken the pact of shareholders. The German group scoop the maximum penalty, a penalty of 40% of the value of its stake in Areva NP. The 34% share capital of Siemens Areva NP was valued 1.6 billion euros in March, when Areva took over Siemens' share in Areva NP.

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The U.S. stock market should open down on Monday. Futures on Standard & Poor's 500 and Nasdaq 100 respectively retreating from 1.47% to 1327.70 points and 2365.50 points to 1.72%. The uncertainties surrounding the Greek debt reinforced by the arrest of the director of the IMF are likely to weigh on the financial sector américain.L arrest of Dominique Strauss-Kahn shook European stock markets this morning, including the CAC 40.

On Friday, Wall Street has closed down already pulled down by the financial sector and producers of raw materials. The Dow Jones lost 0.79% at 12,596 points, the Nasdaq 1.21% to 2828 points and the Standard & Poor's 500 fell 0.81% to 1337 points.Falling commodity prices, oil and metals in the lead, led a growing number of investors to stay away compartments riskier equity markets.

On the currency markets, the euro against the dollar on Monday, but remained under pressure ahead of a meeting of finance ministers of the euro area. About 11:00 am in Paris, the European single currency was worth 1.4121 dollars against 1.4108 dollars on Friday night.

On the macroeconomic front, the United States, include the program of industrial activity in the area of ​​New York (1430) as well as flows of capital invested in the long term in March (15 hours).

The side of values, the earnings season coming to an end the United States. The markets expect a few more quarterly performances.This week will mark the publications of U.S. companies in retail, including Lowe's, today, Home Depot and Wal-Mart tomorrow and Stables and Target on Wednesday instant payday loan. These companies bear a heavy pressure on their margins and could provide indications about the strength of consumption in the current quarter. In terms of technology stocks, Dell (Tuesday), HP (Wednesday) and Autodesk (Thursday) will also publish their quarterly results.

The approximately $ 9 billion of shares in the U.S. insurer AIG held by the Treasury receive a good reception from investors and the government could reap a profit, said Sunday the Wall Street Journal.According to the website of business daily, citing sources familiar with the matter, the banks responsible for the sale of shares in AIG nationalized 92% were "signs of interest in about half of the Offer ".

The oil giants BP and Rosneft, which is listed on Wall Street, leading to final negotiations on Monday, the deadline to materialize, despite a legal mess, their strategic alliance to exploit huge reserves of oil in the Arctic.

For his part, Honeywell announced an extension of its contract with China's air transport AST.

U.S. authorities have approved the drug Victrelis, a new drug used to treat hepatitis C. Merck.

Wells Fargo seeking to divest its brokerage subsidiary and tax advisory HDVest, whose value is estimated at over $ 200 million according to Bloomberg.

Yahoo, Alibaba Group and Softbank Corp. announced that he "engaged in constructive negotiations to resolve issues relating to the sale of Alipay soon as possible and in the interest of shareholders. "

Notaries, tax and estate planning departments of banks are preparing for busy week. Many individuals want to make donations before the vote – scheduled for early July – the tax reform Heritage presented last week. "There is a window of opportunity for all those who want to give," says Bertrand de la Grandière at Compagnie Financière Edmond de Rothschild.

The reform removes, of course, the tax shield and landscape ISF, but also increases the taxation of gifts and estates. The allowance of 159,325 euros remains for transmission to a child, and the surviving spouse is exempt from inheritance tax. But the fees payable in case of large gifts will increase as a result of several measures.

Standard & Poor's (S & P) lowered its outlook this morning on the note of the long-term debt of Japan became "negative", fearing the consequences of the earthquake and tsunami that occurred on March 11 for the Japanese economy. Note in Tokyo is currently set at "AA-", the fourth best possible out of a total of 22, which corresponds to a transmitter of high quality but could be reduced soon. The rating agency expects indeed a worsening of the deficit, caused by the cost of the natural disaster that the country will have to bear. S & P, the reconstruction would cost "between 167 and 417 billion euros, with an average forecast of 250 billion euros".

The rating agency believes that only substantial measures such as tax increases, to increase state revenues will be in Tokyo this financial burden.Otherwise it will be assumed by local and central government, the deficit could grow to "two points of gross domestic product (GDP) this year and a point next year." S & P expects a deficit above 8% until 2014 and not 2013, as previously calculated.

Retail sales have also fallen by 8.5% last month, following the earthquake guaranteed payday loans. It is the largest decline in thirteen years. Consumers have clearly deserted shops for anything other than food staples.

The BoJ is 0.8% growth in 2011/2012

These signs of the deterioration of the Japanese economy are published while the Bank of Japan is preparing to revise downwards its growth prospects.The Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of Japan (BoJ), which will meet on Thursday, is expected to announce a new perspective of growth of 0.8% for the fiscal year of April 2011 to March 2012 against 1.6% expected before. The nine members of the BoJ might also consider Thursday that the recovery will intensify in the next budget year (April 2012-March 2013).

The Bank of Japan should also detail the measures to support the economy after the earthquake of March 11, according to economists. The BoJ should also emphasize the great uncertainty in Japan.It is particularly difficult to measure the business impact of restrictions on products of Japanese origin because of radioactive leaks from the central hilly Fukushima.

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While the new law Lagarde which governs consumer credit and debt situations will apply to early May, the French seem to turn away from credit. According to a study conducted by TNS Sofres for the French Banking Federation (FBF) the share of French households owning a credit had not reached a level this low since 15 years. Less than half (49.5%) of households had a credit and the end of 2010, down 1.3 points compared with 2009 (50.3%) and 3.1 points compared to 2008. These figures confirm the results of the previous Barometer published in January 2011.

Under consumer credit

This decline is due to a decline in the use of consumer credit.For the first time in 15 years also, the number of households holding a mortgage (30.5%) is higher than with consumer credit (30.1%). The share of households using a consumer credit to finance a project (equipment for home, auto, housing improvements) has remained virtually unchanged. At the same time, the use of consumer credit to finance spending on leisure, vacation, "or consumption, has also declined sharply (13.8% in 2010 against 15.8% in 2009).

"This decline is mainly due to changes in the use of consumer credit," says Michel Mouillart, professor of economics at the University of Paris X-Nanterre, and author of the study payday loans for bad credit.Franck Lehuédé, project manager of the Research Centre for the Study and Observation of Living Conditions (Credoc), "this is not a new trend, it's just the fact that consumer credit has rather suffered from years of crisis, "he said on Europe 1. For him, we are witnessing a rebalancing, and the French have refocused on the basics: investing in stone. The number of home loans has indeed jumped 18% over 2009. Households – those under 30 years in particular have benefited from historically low interest rates, and aid to the accessions introduced by the government (tax deductibility of loan interest …).

Finally, Marc William's Circle economists, believes the speech and alarming warnings about the risks of the government's revolving credit facility, could discourage a number of French borrowing.

(With AFP)

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After two months of fantastic imaginary spy story, the direction of the manufacturer was nice apology and promises of compensation or reinstatement against three executives unjustly dismissed, she failed to calm the criticism. For now, the questioning is limited at Renault. Carlos Ghosn, CEO of the group, has announced an audit group in identifying deficiencies and renunciation of DG premiums 2010, but has ruled out resigning.

The epilogue of this fiasco was not particularly convinced that the state owns 15% of the manufacturer. "Amateurism improbable" that Renault has shown in this case is that "we can not leave it without further action," even if the resignation of Carlos Ghosn is "not the subject today," said Tuesday Baroin, spokesman of the government.He added that the decision of the CEO to give up his bonus and stock options was "the least of things."

"It's good that the president of Renault has introduced immediately his public apology," said Eric Besson, Minister of Industry. But "this is not the end of this internal history," he said, adding that an "audit" was asked to "know their exact responsibilities in the company." Its findings must be presented April 28 at the board manufacturer.

Martine Aubry, the first secretary of the Socialist Party, for its part said that "when an employee makes a mistake in a business, he did not apologize, he is outside." According to her, "Carlos Ghosn would take a little more impact."

Broken spring

Conversely, the main trade unions have stood together with management."This is not the time to knock heads, we're not there, we want to know more about the merits of the case," said Gerard Blondel, Delegate Central CFE-CGC. "Beheading the company would add a fix on the stack, without providing a solution to the shortcomings revealed by this case," adds Fred Dijoux, CFDT. "It would be premature to introduce new charges and disciplinary proceedings before letting justice do its work until the end," according to the CGT.

"Sanctions will come later, if the audit reveals that beyond a given trust too easily, misconduct were made in decision making," said a member of the steering committee. "A dozen" of executives were involved in this case, the group said.For now, only members of the security is "subject to disciplinary procedures."

Among employees, some are much more severe than their representatives. "Logically, if someone has made a significant mistake, he was fired. There, the leaders abandoning their bonuses, but remain in place. This will not help clean the atmosphere, "said one executive who wondered" why the pretext that it controls both Renault and Nissan, the CEO would be untouchable? ".

The unions, however, require a comprehensive reform of governance mode. "Arrogance, conceit and dogmatism leaders Renault must give way to respect and listen to employees" has dealt the CGT. A director employee does not always explained "why no one has raised the red card internally for over two months."For him, directing, which invested heavily in the electric car, "was blinded by his fear that the business is in jeopardy" if the information leaks. At the point of being paranoid.

Having apologized to log 20 hours, as requested by Michel Balthazar, one of the executives dismissed in Le Figaro, Carlos Ghosn on Tuesday sent a similar message to employees via the internal intranet. It will take time to restore confidence in management. "This story will leave a legacy, perhaps indelible," said a representative of the CFE-CGC. "There is a spring that is broken or damaged, sighs Fred Dijoux Meanwhile, the CFDT. We'll have that many leaders make show of humility to leréparer.

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Between the political tensions in the Middle East, the new wave of results announcements and unemployment figures, the meeting promises to be eventful Thursday for the CAC 40. Futures on the benchmark index in Paris fell by 0.10% to 4011 points.

Wednesday, Wall Street closed down for the second straight session, losing more than 2% in two days.Same atmosphere in Tokyo where the Nikkei loose over 3.5% since the beginning of the week.

Announced unemployment down sharply in January

About unemployment, the Labour Minister, Xavier Bertrand, ensures that it would be down sharply for the month of January.

Aside from employment to 18 hours, the monthly business survey of the INSEE household for the month of February is the program (8.45).

For the euro area, the confidence index of entrepreneurs and consumers in February will be released in 11 hours.

United States, are due on weekly claims for unemployment benefits (1430), orders for durable goods in January (1430), sales of new homes in January (16 hours) and the weekly inventory of crude oil (16 hours ).

On the currency markets, the euro continues to gain ground against the dollar, the euro this morning quoting 1.3766 (+0.12%).

Oil at more than 112 dollars in London

Crude prices have reached levels not seen for two years Thursday on markets in Asia, supported by the surge of violence in the Arab world and particularly in Libya, a major producer of black gold, analysts said. In morning trading, a barrel of light sweet crude for April delivery gained $ 1 to 99.10 dollars.That of Brent North Sea crude for April delivery has appreciated by 85 cents to 112.10 dollars.

The King of results announcements continues today.

Stéphane Richard officially CEO of France Telecom

Credit Agricole posted Thursday a net profit in 2010 increased 12% to 1.263 billion euros, despite a loss in the fourth quarter due to an impairment charge.

France Telecom on Thursday posted a 2010 turnover of 45.5 billion euros, up 0.6% excluding regulatory measures, while its net profit also rose to 4.88 billion, in line with analysts' expectations.

The board of directors of the telephone company has formalized Wednesday, the eve of the publication of annual results of the group, the appointment of Stephane Richard as CEO from 1 March 2011.

The aerospace and defense OEM French Safran announced Thursday it made a profit adjusted net up 29% in 2010 and is optimistic for 2011 with the objective of increasing its operating income by at least 20% .

Supply: Washington will decide

The prepaid industry, Accor, Edenred, reported Thursday a net profit of 68 million euros for 2010, against a pro forma net loss of 57 million euros a year earlier.

Vallourec 2010 results on Wednesday declined due to lingering effects of the crisis on its activity and said that its margins are under pressure in the first half of 2011.

Dexia announced the results below expectations in 2010 but maintained its financial targets for 2014.

The Pentagon is expected to unveil Thursday its decision on the mega-tanker contract from the U.S. Air Force, for which the U.S. aviation giant Boeing and Europe's EADS are competing for several years.

Air France postpones Paris-Tripoli

Air France has decided to postpone until further notice the opening of its Paris-Tripoli, scheduled for March 29 because of the situation in Libya, said the airline.

Vilmorin has confirmed its full-year after a first half marked by a reduced loss from one year to another through the bond of its activity.

Ipsos has announced plans to increase its operating margin to 11% and do better than market growth studies expected 5% in 2011, having exceeded its targets for 2010.

Dassault Aviation, a subsidiary of Dassault, owner of Le Figaro, is hopeful of winning a contract to supply 60 Rafale fighter jets in the UAE, for $ 10 billion, officials said adding that the group negotiations continued.

Technicolor announced Wednesday it had received a firm offer for the activities of headends from Grass Valley, balances and its assets in the subsidiary being restructured and terminating its program of asset disposals. The group is in advanced talks with Orange to build its next generation of decoders in France.

In meeting, Crédit Industriel et Commercial release its quarterly results. After market, it was the turn of Thales, Saint-Gobain, Valeo and Eiffage present their annual results.