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Thunder on Corsica. The Administrative Court of Appeal overturned Monday in Marseilles the public service delegation (PSD) of maritime transport between the island and the mainland, a delegation intended to ensure territorial continuity and with a coquettish grant.

Upon assignment to the SNCM and CMN service contract for the period 2007-2013, Corsica Ferries had attacked him. Peter Mattei, the director general of the company, so savor his victory: "It shows that we were in our right and that has suffered!"

The leader has always considered abnormal grant of 33 million euros allocated by the Transportation Agency Corsican (OTC) for the SNCM ferry for peak periods, in addition to the 66 million allocated for the basic service (cargo passengers and freight throughout the year) to SNCM and CMN.The Court found that there was violation of the European regulation on maritime cabotage.

The "safeguard clause" included in the delegation contract is also in the sights of the Court. This clause makes it possible for companies to benefit from a delegated additional grant anticipated revenue when the contract is not to go. This supplement is considered state aid and tens of millions of euros may have to be repaid.

"An overhaul of the system"

A new bid must be launched for a new contract operational on 1 September 2012. "It will be very difficult to meet this deadline," Paul said yesterday Mary Bartoli, president of the CTA.

Disturbing signal. The leading indicator of the economy, the PMI fell to 46.8 points in October, against 50.2 in September, Markit Economics reported. The index, published in draft form, is passed below 50, reflecting a contraction in activity.

"The PMI data are currently consistent with a negative growth rate (of about -0.5 or -0.6%) for the third quarter," that is the beginning of a recession, worries Jack Kennedy, economist at Markit. The French government, which still formally table a growth of 1.75% in 2012, suggested Friday that it has revised downwards this goal.

The contraction in activity has particularly affected the service sector. He has recorded its sharpest fall for 27 months, 46 points, against 51.5 in September. The industry is not much better.Despite a slight improvement, she underwent her third consecutive month of decline, to 49 points against 48.2 the previous month.

"The impact of European debt crisis may be felt on the real economy," says Jack Kennedy. Markit Economics and recorded "a further decline in confidence in the services sector." "The growing uncertainty surrounding the evolution of the economy leads in fact companies to revise downward its business prospects to twelve months, the optimism of the service providers also display its lowest level since April 2009" , notes the Institute for Financial Studies.

Very little sign of hope for a quick turnaround the economy, companies have seen a decline in the volume of new business, "the highest in almost two years," notes Markit Economics.Especially in services, providers are concerned about "the largest decline in new contracts since July 2009." In industry, the decline in sales is that alarm. A trend in both export and domestic market.

Slowdown in Germany

The slowdown in activity is not only France, but also German industry. For the first time in two years, the PMI for the sector fell to 48.9 points in October, against 50.3 in September. Unlike the Hexagon, however, services are able to climb out of the area's 50 points marked a growth in sales, to 52.1 points, 49.7 points against the previous month.Overall, notes Tim Moore, economist at Markit, "uncertainty about the euro area largely explain, according to the companies, investment reports and cuts in non-essential spending."

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Markets take a breather. After four sessions chained up in a row, the CAC 40 lost 0.25% to 3153.52 points. The volumes remain thin. About 2.7 billion changed hands on the great values ​​of the Paris stock exchange. Operators have benefited from the strong performance of the last day to reap a share of profits.

Lack of energy also in other major European markets, which ended in a disorganized. In London, the FTSE fell symbolically 0.06%, while in Frankfurt the Dax was up 0.30%. Of the European indices, the Euro Stoxx 50 slipped 0.50%.

Wall Street was also on the reserve. In session, the Dow fell by 0.26% and 0.35% Nasdaq clawing. Investor caution was reinforced by the expectation of several major events.In Europe and the United States.

For specialists in Barclays stock, the markets were essentially "focused on the voting Slovakia for the ratification of the European Financial Stability Fund." Slovakia is the last of 17 countries in the euro area to decide. In order for this tool, designed to help fragile countries in the euro area to work, the votes of 17 countries in the euro area is needed.

Opening of the ball results on Wall Street

Febrile, investors have minimal response to green light by the Troika, comprising the creditors of Greece, the release "early November", a new tranche of the loan in Athens, vital for the country low interest rate personal loans.

The outgoing president of the European Central Bank, Jean-Claude Trichet, also dampened investor optimism.He said that "for three weeks, things have deteriorated, the crisis has become systemic."

The launch of the quarterly earnings season in the U.S., added to the uncertainty, while the U.S. economy is idling.

As usual the aluminum giant Alcoa will open the show of these announcements after the close of Wall Street. These publications will tell more about the economic outlook of the world's largest economy, which continue to worry the markets.

Bank stocks up

In Paris, as in the rest of Europe, however, the banking sector continued its forward march.José Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso said on Wednesday that he would "proposals" concrete to the European Commission on the recapitalization of European banks.

Credit Agricole SA has gained 1.12%, BNP Paribas was up 2.96% and 5.28% Societe Generale. Operators, disoriented and obviously out of inspiration, wore special attention to the beliefs of analysts. Vallourec (-1.42%) and Aéroports de Paris (-0.85%) have seen their recommendation downgraded by JPMorgan and Essilor (-3.83%) by Morgan Stanley.

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The president Nicolas Sarkozy is scheduled to visit tomorrow, Tuesday in the Creuse to meet the farmers. The daily Les Echos, they confirm that occasion a very expected: a decrease in payroll of approximately one euro per hour at the minimum wage. This reduction would occur in 2012 and aims to improve the competitiveness of industries that use lots of labor, such as fruit and vegetables. This announcement, however, could be accompanied by a far less popular.

The boost will cost the charges because the state just over 200 million euros. Effort that the government wants to compensate for not widening the deficit. As announced in Le Figaro, the doubling of the tax on sugary drinks should help.The state estimates that from a euro cent to two cents per can, he should recover over 120 million euros. And the remainder, Bercy wishes to the agricultural sector contribution.

Movement of the plane 10%

To do this, the Ministry of Finance, armed with his plane, went through the 40 tax loopholes enjoyed by farmers. Two possibilities were considered. According to Les Echos, the reduction of capital investment (DPI) would be a first option. In its report on tax loopholes, the General Inspectorate of Finance (IGF) emphasized that the device "does not respond only partially to its original purpose to help finance investment." It allows however to 110,000 farmers to reduce their taxes, and farmers are very attached.The government should turn to another niche: the tax benefit for the use of heating oil as fuel. The fuel is taxed at 5.66 euros per hectolitre, against 42.84 euros for diesel, and that niche cost one billion euros per year. So the government is considering a movement of the plane by 10%.

The construction further penalized

To justify this possible movement of the plane, the General Inspectorate of Finance argued that this advantage is at odds with environmental goals, even if it contributes to competitiveness. She also points out that the niche overlap with the tax rebate on energy products, another niche that costs 150 million to the state.

The decision could, however upsetting beyond the agricultural sector. More than the farmers, are in fact the public works professionals who take advantage of this niche.They pick up about 550 million of tax benefits, against only 450 million (300 euros per vehicle) for farmers.

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"GAME NEWS –

The Louvre is just a trial balloon. Haier, the giant Chinese electronics and appliances, a partner in the last Asian Film Festival in Deauville, is found now official sponsor of the exhibition "The Forbidden City in the Louvre," while the group Fosun, active in the steel industry, mining, property development, distribution and services, financed the catalog.

"This is the first time that we sponsor an event abroad. Traditionally Chinese companies involved in the financing of aid to natural disasters, earthquakes or floods. They argue that very few art events. But we made several acquisitions in Europe and you want to get closer, "says Jane Zhang, director of brand and strategy Fosun.

This, indeed, holds 9.5% of Club Mediterranean.It has also invested in a chain of jewelry and fashion accessories in Greece. Haier, meanwhile, set up last year, the seat of his European office in Paris. For one as for the other, cultural patronage that they are discovering can be a powerful tool to better integrate. But the payments remain a state secret.

Open the Forbidden City

As many as 350,000 Chinese visited the Louvre last year. The country is now the fifth largest foreign tourists to the museum, behind the United States, Brazil, Italy and Russia. So Wan Jie, head of Artron, specializing in printing, which was not 50 years, is very interested in the Young Patrons Circle of the Louvre.All they need to pay 2,000 euros per year if they are under 40 years beyond 5000 to be included, says Christophe Monin, head of development and sponsorship of the museum.

"The demand from wealthy individual to the corporate philanthropy is very strong in Asia, but their goal is to first do something for their country," says Nathalie Sauvanet, BNP Paribas. In its own way, Chen Dongsheng, president of Taikang Life Insurance, is a pioneer in China. He is a founding member of the China Social Entrepreneur Foundation and one of the best friends of the owner of Fosun, Guo Guangchang. He believes that "companies need to focus on modern culture."

It is also believed that Wang Yamin, deputy director of the Museum of the Forbidden City in Beijing. It does not hide it, the Louvre gives him ideas. The palace is full of treasures that can not hardly watch the public.They are crammed into the reserves of the City. If he succeeded in attracting Chinese businesses, it could more easily escape by appealing to the state. The tourists would stay longer when on the site. "The Forbidden City needs to develop cooperation with private companies," he pleads.

Christophe Monin, for whom "patronage is essential today," just waiting to help. But in the meantime, the Louvre would like to create a Chinese version of its multimedia guide … he hopes to be financed by entrepreneurs from the Middle Kingdom.

"After three years of starvation wages, marked by wage freezes or increases in general very limited, 2012 could confirm the recovery that began this year," said Bruno Rocquemont, responsible for investigating compensation at Mercer France.

According to the survey (1) conducted by the consulting firm in human resources, business plan for most occupational categories increased by 3% (median) budget increase (collective and individual), against 2.5 % in 2011. The exceptions are the workers (+2.8%) and senior (2.9%). But in any case, it would exceed the average inflation of 1.7% in 2012 by the government.

End of the wage freeze

Two major trends. On the one hand an almost complete disappearance of the wage freeze, a measure widely implemented at the height of the crisis.However, 4% of companies plan to freeze the workers and managers.

In addition, the company forecasts reflected the "sacrosanct" rate increase of 3%, which was applied during the years before the crisis erupted instant payday loan.

In addition, both groups seem to be emerging. First, the majority, has given the 3% salary increase. A second, more prudent, considering between 2.1% and 2.5%.

The survey was conducted between March and mid-July, ie before the great economic and financial events of the summer (crisis in the euro area, downward revision in growth for 2011 and 2012, falling stock markets …), Mercer, again, questioned 142 of the 329 companies in its original sample.

"Eight out of ten believe that these events will bring them to scale back their budgets for salary review.This reduction could be 0.5 point fall. In contrast, companies planning to date, a wage freeze, are still a small minority, said Bruno Rocquemont. In this context, we have to closely follow the mandatory annual negotiations (NAO), which launched just been given in some societies and that will continue into March. "

(1) survey of 329 companies, mostly French subsidiaries of multinational corporations.

A new session promises to be eventful Thursday on Wall Street. In early trade, the Dow posted a loss of 2.70% at 10,869 points, the Nasdaq lost 2.72% to 2468 points and the S & P drops 2.71% to 1135 points.

Like European and Asian stock markets, Wall Street is not immune to the anxiety surrounding the health of the global economy. This pessimism has been going on yesterday and pessimistic of the U.S. central bank. The Fed has held that the U.S. economic recovery was "slow" and threatened by "high risk". The central bank, in this context, announced an operation to extend the maturity of the assets it holds up to 400 billion dollars by June 2012."You can interpret this decision as the Fed's will not to launch three quantitative easing (monetary easing to boost the U.S. economy, ed) immediately, says Arnaud Poutiers, executive vice president of IG Markets.

The general concern about global growth has been reinforced by concerns about the economic situation in China. Manufacturing activity in the country has deteriorated in September, reaching its lowest level in two months, according to preliminary PMI bank HSBC said on Thursday. PMI Purchasing Managers calculated by HSBC in September reached 49.4 against 49.9 in August, knowing that a figure below 50 means contraction.

In France, the growth of private sector activity in September fell to its lowest level since the beginning of the recovery in 2009, while in Germany, the composite PMI, which includes industry and services, has emerged to 50.8, its lowest level since July 2009 against 51.3 in August.

The U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner also said Thursday in Washington that the slow economic growth was a challenge "greater" than the debt and that the governments around the world should give priority to support growth .

On the issue of European debt disturbing fact, little progress.Greece has just announced yesterday it will launch new austerity measures to get the funding it needs Troika in October to avoid bankruptcy.

Bad news on employment front

The announcement of a rise in weekly jobless across the Atlantic is not reassuring. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, 423,000 people registered as unemployed during the week of September 10 to 17. The consensus of analysts expected 420,000 new applications for unemployment benefits.

Other important indicators, such as managers' index index advanced sprix estate, are in the program.

In this context, oil prices plunged more than 5% Thursday to open in New York, returning to their lowest levels in a month.On the New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex), a barrel of "light sweet crude" for November delivery traded at 81.28 dollars, down 4.64 dollars (5.4%) compared to the previous day. On the currency markets, the euro continued to sink against the dollar: the euro back below the $ 1.35 dollar to 1.3462 (-0.82%).

Values ​​to follow

On the corporate side, Bank of America (-5.02% to 6.06 dollars), Wells Fargo (-2.02% to 23.23 dollars) and Citigroup (-4.47% to 24.38 dollars) should still suffer from the deterioration of their rating by Moody's. The agency that the state may fly to their rescue.

Fedex (-10.15% to 65.14 dollars) has reported an EPS according to the consensus of $ 1.46 in the first quarter, a turnover of 10.52 billion dollars.

United Technologies (-7.16% to 69.51 dollars) will buy the equipment manufacturer Goodrich Aviation (10.06% to 120.50 dollars) to $ 16.5 billion (12.2 billion euros) cash, a transaction that would be the largest acquisition of U.S. industrial giant in 10 years.

The salvation of the euro area could come from China. Forced to borrow at prohibitive rates Monday morning, Rome had in fact asked Beijing to make significant repurchases of its sovereign debt, reports the Financial Times. A member of the Italian government confirmed on Monday the existence of discussions with the Middle Kingdom on potential investments in Beijing in the third largest economy in the euro area. The latter emphasizes, however, that the purchase of debt as of the Italian state was not central to the negotiations which took place several weeks ago, the agency Bloomberg.

The Financial Times for its part indicated that Lou Jiwei, the chairman of China Investment Corp (CIC), accompanied by a delegation, arrived in Rome last week to meet with Finance Minister Giulio Tremonti, and officials the Cassa despositi e Prestiti.

In any case, the information had an immediate impact on equity markets and bonds. The news triggered a rapid rise of U.S. indexes, which ended the session up when they were, like all European markets, a sharp decline shortly before the information.L all the indices of world is indeed suspended at the least information related to the status of sovereign debt in the euro area. In fact, the fear of contagion shook the Greek market.

In addition, the bond market has also relaxed.Good news for countries forced to place their debt securities, especially Italy. Interest rates have soared Monday in an issuance of public debt in Italy. Rome has indeed placed a total of 11.5 billion euros of shares, including 7.5 billion of bonds a year at a rate of 4.153% against 2.959% in the previous similar exercise conducted on August 10.

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While the price war is raging in the mobile, the controversy swells at the end of unlimited Internet packages, the operators challenge the tender on licensing 4G, Eric Besson, Minister of Industry, responds to Figaro on all issues and criticizing the socialist project on digital.

LE FIGARO. – The bidding on licenses 4G is attacked. Will you give up?

Eric Besson. – The State Council will vote Wednesday. Expect. But thanks to this call for nominations, France will be part of the forefront of the mobile broadband Internet. The government is selling rare frequency of the highest quality, which all countries say they are strategic. We do this with the twin goals of coverage and stimulating competition, the benefit of consumers. Traders feared that a monopoly or duopoly is not recreated.But this call for applications is the first to include criteria as pro-competitive: the creation of four lots so that all current operators can expect to find their place, creating a criterion favoring offers to host virtual operators. We have gone as far as possible to encourage competition. But we also need strong operators, able to achieve very significant investment for years to come, both for the deployment of mobile broadband as that of the optical fiber.

How will you deal with interference of DTT by 4G?

As has always been the case in all countries of the world, a trader who buys frequencies is liable for any interference that they can generate. We assess that risk to less than 2% of households.To facilitate the processing of any such interference, the government will establish a single telephone number, with a small call center, so that individuals can report any such interference on their TV and get the linkage with operator responsible. This device will be funded by all operators at a rate of 2 million euros per year for five years.

You advocate for changing the standard of TNT. Chains bonus going to be frozen, and consumers will they have to buy a TV?

I am not campaigning for anything, and there will be no change in standard of TNT in the coming years. The French continue to receive 19 free channels and 10 pay channels of TNT, with no changes.What we're talking about is the next step, and new services to be launched in the coming years: new TV channels, personal mobile TV, 3D TV … The question is whether these new services will use the older DVB-T or the new DVB-T2 which allows to get 70% extra services. Chains on bonus, not the government that calls into question, but the European Commission, which initiated proceedings no teletrack payday loans. It would be irresponsible to issue permits for them to be canceled two years later, and that the state is then ordered to pay $ 800 million to 1 billion euros in compensation.Let the president of the CSA put its proposal and the prime minister officiate.

Packages Unlimited Internet at home are at risk?

The unlimited plans are at the heart of the development of the digital economy and are not threatened, quite the contrary. New unlimited call plans appear almost every week. Some operators have started to consider to better segment their offer, which does by no means the end of the unlimited. With the development of very high speed, there will be even more unlimited in the months and years to come.

How do you protect consumers?

We have set up with the social tariff Frédéric Lefebvre mobile phone, which allows 40 minutes to communicate and send 40 SMS for less than 10 euros per month.We will implement in the coming days the social tariff of the Internet, or 20 euros per month for telephone and broadband Internet, plus 3 euros per month for a box. We will sign an initial agreement on September 13. The order that I issued on August 26 also includes important measures as the establishment of an impartial mediator to each operator, the requirement to obtain consent from consumers for the automatic sending of commercial messages or for the establishment of witnesses navigation.

What are the issues you organize inter-ministerial seminar on October 21?

This is progress in the implementation of the declaration of Deauville.Networks (both funding and security), protection of personal data and the fight against the digital divide will be on the agenda.

What do you think of socialist proposals on digital?

The project of the PS is archaic. It is based on a tax Internet access, known as "socially progressive". Internet access will be paid based on their income! The PS also wants to abolish Hadopi and create a global license. This proposal has been accepted anywhere in the world. This would be the end of copyright in the land of the cultural exception! The PS also provides for the creation of a single public operator for the deployment of high-speed fixed and mobile. He still has not understood that the introduction of competition was the key factor in broadband deployment and growth of the digital economy.

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It's a battle of titans. On one side of the ring, Google and its $ 39 billion in cash. On the other, Apple, which has a strike force of 75 billion. And the challenge of combat is the title of world champion all kinds of platforms for the exchange of content on the Internet and mobile. These famous platforms (YouTube, iTunes, Amazon, Netflix, Facebook, Twitter …) named by the Anglo-Saxons' OTT "(over the top), have made off the Internet. The report "Global Internet Phenomena Report" Netflix accounts for 30% of Internet streams in the United States, YouTube and iTunes 11% 3.2%. Between them, they weigh already 43% of U.S. Internet traffic!

The famous vision of the convergence of content and pipes dear to Jean-Marie Messier is totally outdated. Today, a group that controls a movie studio and a telecom operator has only his eyes to cry.The new Web giants like Google and Apple do not control any of this. They just developed a huge platform of exchange on the Internet on which they aggregate to music, movies, television series, electronic books, newspapers, video games and entertaining thousands of small applications. The challenge for them is to distribute such content on devices (mobile phones, tablets, PCs, TVs connected) and to levy a tithe in the process. But to control the distribution, they need three pieces of the puzzle: the platform, the terminal and finally the software that connects the platform and the terminal.

This is Steve Jobs, the genius head of Apple, who developed the concept cash advance. His platform called iTunes and Apple Store. Its terminals are called iPod, iPhone and iPad. Finally, the software that links is called IOS.Engineering is to develop an easy to use and so user friendly that consumers choose to voluntarily shut themselves in a world of Apple and even give him the credit card number! A dream!

Next step: the network

In this strategy, Google has a delay time. But in the world of technology, the positions are turning very quickly. The platform called Google and now Google + YouTube, social networking competitor Facebook, which has already gathered more than 25 million users. Google has also developed its software: Android. Used by 150 million mobile phones and hundreds of thousands of tablets, Android than Apple the IOS.

However, Google has never succeeded in producing a terminal. His first mobile, the Nexus One, was a failure.Its case for Google TV connected TV is not taking off and there is still no tablet Google. A huge hole in the strategy. Larry Page, Google CEO, knows that to win against Apple, it needs to control the terminals. Motorola is a strong brand and its laboratories are full of excellent telecom engineers. Specifically, the next battleground may be the control of telecom networks. In 2007, Google was a candidate for the purchase of mobile frequencies in the United States. Without success. But this is only a postponement.

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