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• The facts. Between January 1 and March 31, 2012, it sold 419.1 million mobile phones worldwide, according to figures from research company Gartner reported Wednesday. This is the first time since the second quarter of 2009 as the market retreats.

• Why is it sold less mobile. According to Gartner, the main reason is to be sought in Asia. Demand between January and March, traditionally driven by the Chinese New Year, has slowed, due to deferrals of purchases and a lack of new landmark.

Mobile phone makers have had mixed fortunes, however. So, Nokia has been the most impacted. Its sales have collapsed, from 107 million units last year to 83 million, a global market share of 19.8%. The Finnish group has lost its leading position in mobile, he had held since 1998. Samsung (20.7%), with sales however rose from 68 to 86 million units, an increase of over 25%, is now number one industry.

In fact, manufacturers are well positioned in smartphones that are best left in the quarter. It sold 144.4 million smartphones between January and March, an increase of 44%. Together, Apple and Samsung have concentrated almost half of sales (49.3%), against a little over a third last year. Interestingly, smartphones represent the total sales of Apple and 44% of those from Samsung, against only 16% for Nokia.

• The conservative projections for 2012, despite the iPhone 5. Given this trend, Gartner considers "inevitable" a downward revision of sales forecasts throughout the year. The research institute recognizes that the arrival of new Android smartphones and Windows phone, and the launch of the iPhone 5, will encourage strong growth in Europe and the United States. Similarly, the new BlackBerry, BB10, is expected by the end of the year.

During the first quarter, more than one smartphone sold in two (56.1%) was an Android, against 36.4% a year ago. IOS, the system of the iPhone, is it rose from 16.9 to 22.8% market share. In contrast, all other systems are now fallen below 10%. Smartphones running Microsoft's Windows phone have such great difficulty to penetrate. They represented 1.9% of sales this quarter, or 2.7 million units sold.

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Presidential in major cities Paris | Leeds | Lyons | Toulouse | Leeds | Sheffield | Liverpool | Bordeaux | Lille

In 2018, there will be two newcomers in the Parisian sky: two all-glass towers whose upper portion is tilted in wave form. Achievement of 500 million euros by Jean Nouvel and funded by an investment fund Quebec, Ivanhoe Cambridge, and an American, Hines.

Specifically, this set will find its place in the ZAC Seine Rive Gauche, the area is being completely remodeled, close to the BNF (Bibliothèque nationale de France) in the thirteenth arrondissement. The first skyscraper peak at 231 m with 38 floors. His little brother will reach 115 meters, 24 floors. Clearly, these IGH (tall buildings) will be much lower than the highest tower of France, First (231 meters and 50 storeys), inaugurated in Defence in May 2011.

"Our city should not become a museum city"

But these skyscrapers, which will be occupied by offices and a hotel, have a symbolic value. They will mark the return of the towers in Paris after a long wait. With their design on tile anti-friendly design and unimaginative, high-rise buildings built in the 1970s (Montparnasse tower, towers along the Seine and the Olympics in the thirteenth arrondissement) had disgusted the people of this type of construction. "We decided to rebuild the towers in Paris because land is scarce and must be used to best effect and because our capital must not become a museum city," argues Anne Hidalgo, first deputy mayor of Paris in charge of urbanism. This policy does not unanimously. The Greens, for example, are opposed.

However, these two skyscrapers of Jean Nouvel announce other. In 2016, a tower of 160 meters and 40 floors, designed by architect Renzo Piano to house the TGI (High Court), should be delivered to the Batignolles in the seventeenth arrondissement. If the project is proceeding normally, Triangle tower installed Porte de Versailles in the fifteenth district would be delivered in 2017. "And we have three other projects of a turn in the thirteenth arrondissement, on the same area as the skyscrapers of Jean Nouvel," said Hidalgo.

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Taxpayers can breathe: the local tax rates should not increase this year. Tax notices will arrive in mailboxes this fall only. But local officials, who had until April 15 to vote on their budgets, have made their decisions. "Overall, the mayors chose not to raise rates in 2012 of the housing tax and property taxes on both, on the frame and the non-built" summarizes Laurent Philippe, President of the variety right to the Finance Committee Association of Mayors of France (AMF). Paris, Lyon, Marseille, Toulouse, Lille, Grenoble, Nantes, Nice, Rennes or Bordeaux opted for stability in 2012. As medium-sized cities like Perpignan, Orléans or direction. Communes of Issy-les-Moulineaux, near Paris, and Chatillon-sur-Seine, in Burgundy, has even dropped their local taxes! Departments follow the same path. "The majority of councils in 2012 froze the property tax rate on the frame. And most of those who did have increased moderately, between 1% and 2%, "says one to the Assembly of Departments of France (ADF). Among the few above this low water we find the Maine-et-Loire (rate increase of 5.1%) or the Haute-Garonne (2.8%)

But this apparent wisdom must not forget two things. On the one hand, the housing tax and property taxes are the product of the rental value of housing by a tax rate, which is voted by local councilors. The leasehold basis, they are indexed annually at the national level. For 2012, the parliamentarians decided a 1.8% increase (from 2% in 2011, 1 payday loans.2% in 2010 and 2.5% in 2009). Result, local taxes paid by households will increase by 1.8% where the tax rates of the department and the municipal block are stable.

Later in the rigor

However, in municipalities having decided to increase the rate of 1% tax bill will rise by 2.8%. On the other hand, the lull follows the fiscal shock in previous years. Newly elected in 2008, mayors and councilors have "benefited" from the beginning of their mandate to fill the coffers. Paris and has increased its local tax rates of 9% in 2009 and 8% in 2010. In Nice, the increase was as high as 14.8% in 2009. The Perpignan have been put to them in 2010 (+8%) and 2011 (+4%). The approach of the 2014 elections produced the opposite effect. "Elected officials will do everything to not raise taxes until the election" said Philippe Laurent.

The climate has changed in local communities. Transfers paid to them by the state were frozen in 2011 and declined slightly in 2012. Bank credit is harder to obtain. After years of massive hiring, operating expenses slowed (+2.4% in 2011). Departments will reduce their investment in 2012 for the third consecutive year. Nicolas Sarkozy wants to go further and impose discipline in the regions, counties and cities with more than 30,000 inhabitants not to replace a retiring on two of their agents. Francois Hollande and if does not want a "two", he advocates a stabilizing state transfers.

Who has not dreamed of just open my hand to touch the money immediately? Tomorrow is reality, or almost, Japan.

Ogaki Kyoritsu Bank will offer its customers, in September, cash machines with a floppy schema veins, a sensor capable of recognizing the lines of the hand.

Other institutions are already in the Archipelago of biometric authentication technique. But it simply serves to replace the numeric code if it has been forgotten, to prove that the credit card into the machine belongs to the person using it. This time, no need to map. The machine will compare the vascular pattern of the palm, pre-recorded by the bank, with the distributor free business cards. No question that someone other than the card owner uses the account. The margin of error, it seems, almost zero. The idea came, says Takeshi Usui, Executive Director of Ogaki Kyoritsu, the tsunami of March 11, 2011 where thousands of people lost all their identification papers and credit cards.

The only thing that we should not lose is memory. Indeed, distributors will claim any biometric same date of birth of the customer. And a password.

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500, 700 or 1 trillion? The euro area has an appointment this Friday in Copenhagen for the latest additions to its financial firewall and anti-crisis to its arsenal, while the political fatigue sets in Europe against austerity.

The divisions that have come to light between Paris, Berlin and Brussels on the future size of the bailout fund serious concern to markets, while in bad times, according to the OECD. Thursday, the Milan Stock Exchange fell 3.30%, that of Paris lost 1.43% and the euro retreated to $ 1.32.  

After months of negotiations, the seventeen ministers of finance of the common currency must agree on how the European Stability Mechanism (MES), the permanent emergency fund that will begin to relay the temporary established in 2010 .

The lending capacity of the firewall, initially set at 500 billion, will undoubtedly raised to 700 billion or more through a tardy concession of Germany, the main funder. For their part, the European Commission, IMF, OECD and France, through the voice of Baroin, grow to a figure of around 1 trillion.

Haggling

But setting this ceiling, watched by the markets, is largely theoretical. The ultimate capacity of loans depends on the leverage chosen, from a capital contribution set at 80 billion, for all seventeen countries. It also depends on the timing of national inputs, the speed of repayment of loans and additional committed instant payday loan lenders. In practice, the total actually available would increase from 250 today to 500 billion in the summer of 2014, according to internal documents.

The other unknown in Copenhagen is the estate of Jean-Claude Juncker, for seven years as head of the Eurogroup. The German finance minister, Wolfgang Schäuble, appears as a favorite difficult to unseat. But several factors could delay his consecration. Other seats are vacant at the European Central Bank (ECB), the EBRD (European Bank of Development) and the MES, and the capitals hear bargain their support. In France and Greece, the decisive elections also prohibit release too fast or too openly extra power in Berlin.

Among all these bargains is a reluctance on course to be risks that creep. Except Germans, Europeans impatient with an austerity too severe. Spain is a general strike and Portugal still struggling to finance its debt, despite EU support. Ireland hopes to win the support of the ECB to deal with an immediate deadline. The Netherlands, once model of rigor, in turn sink into an endless government crisis against a backdrop of budget cuts emergency.

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After the Millers last week, it was the turn of the manufacturers of dry dog ​​and cat to be sanctioned by the Competition Authority. In a country of 8 million dogs and 10 million cats, groups Nestle (Purina), March (Royal Canin) and Colgate-Palmolive (Hill's Pet Nutrition) were sentenced to pay 35.3 million euros for cartel with their wholesalers.

According to the sages of the Rue de l'Echelle, Nestle and Mars agreed for five years (2004-2008) with their wholesalers, who then sold their stores croquettes (BHV Jardiland, Leroy Merlin, Truffaut …).

The two market leaders have imposed their resale prices, exclusive territorial or customer, thus limiting competition between them. Royal Canin had already been convicted in 2005 by Constable competition.

As for the subsidiary of Colgate-Palmolive, she has arranged with its veterinary wholesalers to ban the export of its products outside the Hexagon.

If Nestlé and Mars are the most heavily penalized (19 and 11.6 million fine), they nevertheless benefited from reductions of approximately 20% penalty for not contesting the facts. They also set up compliance programs to competition rules. Finally, they reorganized their distribution system and p

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1040 new aircraft worth $ 145 billion. This, according to the latest Airbus market research, the need for airlines in India in the next twenty years. Of these, the vast majority of planes (860) will be ordered to meet the growth in air traffic – to + 7.2% per year, it is already growing faster than the average in Asia (5.9%) . In total, the current fleet will more than triple to 1080 devices.

According to Airbus, the airline purchases will be predominantly (646 copies) on medium-haul aircraft type A320 and A320 Neo (version remotorisée). It to meet soaring domestic traffic should move quickly on a rate of 10% per year, which will make India one of the strongest markets in the world. The European manufacturer estimates that the market for 308 long-haul A350-type and 66 copies of the ultra-high capacity aircraft type A380.

Two giant orders

Airbus hopes to win a beautiful place in this promising market. Already, the European manufacturer claims "70% market share of new orders," his "ambition is to retain its leadership in the Indian market." To support its strategy to win business, Airbus has established local partnerships for forty years. It is manufactured locally A320 passenger doors, his best-seller. It is also recruiting Indian engineers in its Engineering Center opened in 2006 in Bangalore. The manufacturer employs 270 in total and has to hire another 180 by 2014.

Airbus' strategy has paid off. In 2011, the manufacturer has scored a major coup by winning two giant commands from Indigo (180 A 320 150 of Neo) and Go Air have ordered that, between them, 252 units.

Two threats

But the clouds on the horizon. On the one hand by the poor health of major customers such as local Kingfisher.Depuis his birth in 2005, the company has never made any money – it lost $ 90 million in the third quarter of fiscal year – and has accumulated a debt of $ 1.3 billion. Kingfisher international flights still canceled Wednesday, postponed delivery in 2014 of A 380 and ordered it does not exclude cancellations. In total, current orders are of 32 A320s, 20 A330 long-haul, long haul lonq five A350s and five A380 super-jumbo. The company promises tonight released a recovery plan within two to three days.  

Moreover, the implementation of the carbon tax by the European Union in January, also poses a threat to aircraft orders. Just as Beijing has frozen the purchase of 45 Airbus A 380, including 10 of its airlines, New Delhi is opposed to this tax. India may decide to retaliate. It threatens to bar its airlines to fly to Europe.

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Since last summer, bank credit has become scarce for local elected officials. New regulations have made loans to local banks for less advantageous, when Dexia, their traditional bank, plunged. So it is impossible for municipalities, counties and regions to find in private schools 16 to 18 billion in loans they need each year to finance their investments. Aware of the danger, the government called the Deposit to the rescue. Twice, in late 2011 and early 2012, the Fund has allocated credit of 5 billion euros.

But if the fire was extinguished in the short term, elected officials are worried about post-2012. They look for alternative sources of funding. The use of bond markets is limited to major cities and regions. Quite expensive and reserved for communities heavily populated, borrowing from the people is not ideal. Hence the idea, supported by associations of elected officials since September, to create an agency of local government financing, which could provide 25% of their funding. She would borrow on financial markets and then offer loans to member communities. With this system, small communities would have access to the bond market.

But in a report requested by the Parliament, the government is wary shows the feasibility of such an agency. The report doubts that the structure can be rated AAA or even AA +, as expected by local officials. The state itself has lost its triple A!

Risk of debt

Furthermore, "the device does not yet appear likely to develop a truly autonomous structure and without government guarantee," the report said. But the state itself in debt, does not consider such a bond. Moreover, the structure will have significant equity. The equity will be provided by local, that may … have to go into debt to provide money destined to be blocked.

Anyway, the Minister for local government, Philippe Richert, believes that the Agency is not required. Local councilors, who were attached to the agency, probably will challenge this analysis.

Questions … Philippe Richert, minister for local government.

Funding for communities been secured for 2012?

Yes. Private banks are committed to providing just under 11 billion in loans. The new public bank, Dexia replacing, should provide 2 billion from the summer. To the join, the government asked the Caisse des Depots (CDC) to release $ 5 billion. An initial budget of 2 billion will be available until late March. In total, the account will be there.

But the CDC can not put out the fires forever

.

From 2013, we no longer need to resort to the CDC. Indeed, the public bank will rise in power. I think she may grant 4 billion of loans in 2013.

The funding agency will she need?

Local elected officials want to create an agency that would borrow on their behalf in the bond markets. In principle, this is a good idea. But the establishment of this agency, as it is now conceived, is problematic. This type of structure exists in Northern Europe. But in these countries, communities have more resources and are much less numerous, there is not 36,000 municipalities. The situation is not comparable. In the immediate future, it is better to focus on the new public bank.

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LE FIGARO. – Your mission in the Ministry of Agriculture will soon end, what measures are you most satisfied?

Bruno Le Maire. – I am proud to have initiated the Battle of regulation in Europe and having secured the CAP budget. I do not regret the hundreds of hours of negotiations that allowed us to achieve: for without the CAP, farmers know that French agriculture is not as strong today. There are also contracts between producers and manufacturers that provide visibility and stability to farm incomes, modernizing sectors of slaughter cattle and finally the reform of the wine that allowed him to resume in 2011 its first place worldwide.

With what results?

We handed agriculture at the heart of the national pact. We have him set the objective: competitiveness, with the aim of sustainable agriculture. No one will return our choice because they produce results. The price of beef back, and demanding meat markets French saving account pay day loan. This is the first time in 14 years! The average income of farmers increased from € 14,500 in 2009 to € 30,200 in 2011. The surplus of the agricultural trade balance has doubled in two years. There are still too many gaps, and I remain vigilant on prices. But it gets better. And more personally, farmers have learned a lot myself. They can always count on me.

What are the issues that remain unresolved?

We must first deal with the chain of fruit and vegetables which is more fragile today. Will largely continue to reduce labor costs, as decided by the president. When I hear Francois Hollande said that there is no problem of labor costs, I see he does not know the reality of the agricultural world.

Finally, it will come to correct misunderstandings and clashes between environmentalists and agricultural world.

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