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Portugal has won its third review against its creditors. The troika (EU, IMF, European Central Bank) will be able to unlock a new tranche of aid to € 14.9 billion to be added to 38.2 billion already paid a total of 48, 8 billion if we subtract 4.3 billion earmarked for the recapitalization of banks. "This positive result demonstrates our ability to implement a demanding program," welcomed the Finance Minister, Vitor Gaspar.

Third country to benefit from a bailout after Greece and Ireland, for a total of 78 billion euros, Portugal seems to fare better than its neighbors, even though the government admits it will experience recession of 3.3% this year instead of 3% as initially planned.

In fact, it relies on the good performance of exports despite the crisis. Lisbon was able last year to reduce by 25% through its trade deficit up 15% of its sales abroad. Portugal has also continued its privatization program.

Challenges persist

The airline company TAP and airport operator ANA will be placed on the market very soon. The country has sold 21.35% of Energias de Portugal to China Three Gorges to 2 online cash advance.7 billion euros and 40% of its electricity distribution network to REN Chinese State Grid and Oman Oil for 592.2 million . Transfers of the State also concern the post office, bank Caixa insurance and freight of the national railway.

The aid plan "on track" even if "challenges remain", the judge troika. And Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho rejects any possibility to find themselves obliged to seek an extension. Portugal does not require "no more time or more money," he promises.

Only downside, unemployment continues to explode. He had reached a record 14% in late December, even hitting 35% of youth aged 15 to 24 years. Figures deemed "unacceptable" by the Minister of Economy, Alvaro Santos Pereira. And who said the secretary general of the main union confederation that the troika mission "is not helping the Portuguese but rather to help the markets."

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Barracks, land, old prisons, offices, mansions, forest houses, homes: the state gives each year hundreds of properties it no longer use. These sales it earned 590 million last year. This policy will continue. The State expects to sell 1,870 properties in 2012, 2013 and 2014, for 2.2 billion euros. And everywhere in France (see map).

If sales have accelerated since 2007 (2.8 billion in revenue since then, against 1.8 billion from 2002 to 2006), this is a result of the restructuring of the state initiated by Nicolas Sarkozy. Especially at regional and departmental services of various departments were grouped into two or three entities. Enough free space over the years. The merger of Taxation and Treasury Bercy has the same effect, as the consolidation of the judicial and military maps.

However, over 85% of the gains from these sales were used to renovate or construct public buildings. Only the balance, under 15, reduced the state debt. Playing rules will change, however. Starting this year, 20% of sales (excluding Ministry of Defence in particular) will go to debt reduction. The proportion will reach 30% in 2014.

Another downside: it is often other public, and especially the municipalities, who acquire the assets transferred by the State. Of Commons that value then the operation. Example: the city of Versailles, through the establishment of public land Yvelines, bought at the army barracks in 2011 Pawn in Versailles. The city will create on the site of activity areas and housing. The subject has also become political, presidential forces. Francois Hollande suggested that the state sells its land free of charge to municipalities so that they will develop social housing. Nicolas Sarkozy denies the charge assignment and advocates an acceleration of land sales.

Foreign investors

In Paris, foreign investors are also part. Thus, the former headquarters of Météo France, near the Eiffel Tower, was sold for sixty million to the Russian state, which will build an Orthodox cathedral. Yves Deniaud, UMP deputy chairman of the Real Estate Council of State, has openly on the Qataris, the Russians and Chinese to buy four mansions for sale in the seventh arrondissement. Individuals who are interested in goods, cheaper, in the province can learn about the site of France Domaine which lists properties for sale.

The revolution that began last September by Facebook is now bearing fruit. The founder of social network, Mark Zuckerberg, was then unveiled the "Timeline apps", applications that show the profile of a user's activities on other sites as well-display the songs that played on Spotify read articles the Wall Street Journal. They were accompanied by new action buttons such as "read", "listen," "look" … Several services, including Deezer and Dailymotion in France, had created their applications in the process, followed in January, many other publishers content.

Results published recently by Facebook are spectacular. Since September, 25 million users have installed the application from Yahoo! News. That of the Guardian newspaper has attracted more than 6 million users, half of whom are under 25. More than 10 million people read the Washington Post on Facebook every month five times more than the daily hoped for. In France, the site of movie reviews Cinemur recorded a jump of 40% of its traffic. At Dailymotion, engaging users, who watch more videos on Facebook and connect more often with their IDs on Dailymotion, has tripled.

These successes are helping to win over new Facebook content publishers. Last week, 12 U.S. media, including CBS, the Huffington Post website and portal MSNBC.com, announced the launch of their applications. In France, those of Canal +, Wat (TF1), M6 and Warner Bros. are imminent. "We promise two things to the media: a distribution of their content to potentially 850 million people, and the commitment and recommitment of users," said Julien Codorniou, director of partnerships Facebook France payday loan lenders.

Platform distribution

The virality of social networks operating at full capacity. In France, the fledgling social network travel Wipolo has multiplied by seven the number of users from Facebook. "It was a big accelerator. If we extrapolate these figures, we will save much time on our roadmap, "said Matthew Heslouin, its founder. "The Timeline App provides a distribution platform as powerful as the radio for music," Analysis of turn Spencer Hyman, founder and CEO of Artfinder, a service dedicated to the discovery of works of art. He himself has observed a 60% increase in time spent on its site by users from Facebook.

A priori, the operation is winning for both sides. "The space within the application 100% owned by the publisher who can sell advertising. We do not touch anything over there, "said Julien Codorniou. Facebook sells him, advertising in the sidebar of the browser. To do this, have applications that enrich its database of qualitative information is very valuable. "I listen to Lady Gaga has more value than I like Lady Gaga," says Julien Codorniou. Advantage acquired cheaply: "While Facebook does not touch anything on our advertising revenue, but he pays nothing in buying rights for music and video that contribute to the attractiveness of the platform. The beauty of the tool is that all this work is done by the ecosystem, "says Martin Rogard, CEO of Dailymotion France.

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A wind of change blowing through all unemployment compensation systems in Europe, despite their great diversity. And the phenomenon does not date from the last crisis. "Since the 1990s, virtually all governments have tightened at some point or other conditions of compensation for the unemployed, partly for reasons of economy budget," says Carole Tuchszirer, researcher at the Study Center Employment (ECE).

Some methods have been widely used: reducing the duration of benefits, implementation example in the UK or in Germany, fewer beneficiaries, the Netherlands, Sweden or Spain, decrease the amount of services, enhanced requirements for job seekers in most European countries, including France … The objective of these measures is to encourage the unemployed to return to work. These reforms all the more concerned the most generous countries, like Germany, Belgium, Spain, France or the Nordic countries.

Penalties

But between theory and practice, there is sometimes a step. And obligations that are imposed on the unemployed, sometimes harder on paper than in reality. "When there are no vacancies, the question to accept one or not arise in any case much less," says Christine Erhel, professor at Paris I. In France, the radiation for refusing a reasonable offer of employment were, crisis requires, marginal since the entry into force of the reform in 2008. In Spain and Italy, these constraints are in fact tempered by the inefficiency of public service employment, which is struggling to provide training to the unemployed and job proposals payday loan. Conversely, the success of the Nordic model is based primarily on the association of a number of bonds with an activation policy (provision of training, incentives for rehabilitation, supported employment, assistance with job creation etc.. ) particularly dynamic.

"Bad jobs"

In the current reforms, there is also a contradiction, is Carole Tuchszicher, "to enhance training and to want to simultaneously precipitate the re-employment of the unemployed, even if they take jobs below their qualifications. "

In many countries, like Germany where the Hartz reform has contributed to the rise of mini-jobs paying 400 to 800 euros per month, the tightening of compensation would in fact rather increased the polarization of the labor market, between jobs low-paid or part-time (the "bad jobs" in the Anglo-Saxon), and full-time jobs more protective. "This is a model of society, is Carole Tuchzsicher. At each choose whether to be unemployed, hoping for a job commensurate with his qualifications, or occupy a position more quickly lower quality. "

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PSA Peugeot Citroen could find salvation in America. Held by the French manufacturer Peugeot family experiencing great difficulties – the automotive division has lost money in 2011 – has confirmed tonight that "considering proposed cooperation and alliances (…) in its globalization strategy and performance improvement. " The group does not directly project with General Motors but Latribune.fr and Financial Times both report that the French group is in advanced talks with the U.S. giant. For now, GM has declined comment. Kelly Cusinato, spokesman for the group, simply reaffirmed that GM "regularly speak to other companies in the sector but we do not comment anything beyond that." According Latribune.fr, discussions between the two automakers started there "few months" might even lead to an agreement that would be formalized during the Geneva Motor Show in early March.

The reconciliation between the two groups are "an alliance, not a merger or ad hoc cooperation" as the French group may have with competitors like Ford, Toyota and BMW. Such a project would enable a PSA to get a second wind while the group in crisis is unable to fund the investment needed for its redevelopment internationally.

If this project goes to completion, it would make strategic sense, and would bring synergies for both groups. It would create a powerful global industry leader with over 11 million vehicles sold per year worldwide. PSA lacks international basis although it is a major strength of GM, the first manufacturer in the world. For its part, the American manufacturer said last week that he wants to refocus the strategy of its European subsidiary Opel, which has lost $ 747 million in 2011. "An alliance between Peugeot and Opel would be strategic because their production units do not overlap. PSA is mainly located in France and in southern and eastern Europe as Opel is more present in Germany and the north, "says the Financial Times.

But any agreement must first be approved by the Peugeot family, which owns 30.9% of the capital and 48.3% of the voting rights of PSA, said LaTribune.fr reminder that the American manufacturer is "twice as big "in sales as its French rival.  

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Sony, with its new portable video game console, the PlayStation Vita (Vita PS), released this week in the U.S. and Europe, plays big. The Tokyo group has difficulty in televisions and scalded online players last year due to piracy of bank cards. In addition, Sony should try to forget the limited success of the PSP. Its first handheld console was "to compete with the DS" Nintendo. Finally, in its different versions, it sold half of PSP than DS, with respectively 75 million and 155 million units.

To impose its PS Vita, Sony is betting on innovation in terms of hardware and business model. Faced with the rise of smartphones, the PS Vita has a large touch screen in an advanced display (OLED) and has, on the back, a touch pad used to play. It can connect to the Internet or network of Sony PlayStation Network via Wi-Fi or a 3G mobile operator.

Before subsidies, it is sold between 250 euros (WiFi only) and 300 euros. In stores, Micromania began presenting to potential clients the console.

In addition, the sales model evolves. The PS Vita will be offered by mobile operators. It will be well funded, in part, in exchange for a commitment of subscription for mobile data, such as those proposed for internet tablets. "We have signed a European agreement with Vodafone. In France, SFR will offer the console exclusive, "said Philippe Cardon, the CEO of the gaming division of Sony in France. SFR should have three to six months ahead of other operators, if Orange, Bouygues Telecom and Free Mobile wanted to offer.

Console to a euro

This is the first to launch a portable game console, even if mobile operators, TV channels, pay TV, cable operators and Internet service providers have already offered or sold at prices minimal consoles in exchange for long-term subscription to their service. SFR offers the console and at 29 euros, which includes reimbursement of 100 euros. And its price drops to 1 euro provided a subscription to 37 euros per month, with 3 GB of data included. "The goal is to provide a console that will satisfy both players and allow them to? Socialize? other players who are around them, "said Philippe Cardon. He added that the console will have "at its output a fifty titles. A score can only be downloaded, of which 7 were developed at Sony. "

Download, games should cost about ten dollars less than those available in store. These titles should be richer "that games like Fifa for smartphones that cost 1-2 euros but have fewer features. The casual gaming (single games, Ed) smartphone and tablet is complementary to our business. It serves to broaden the gaming audience, "says the head of Sony. Nevertheless, despite a score of 0.5 million PS Vita sold in Japan in less than a month, some critics ensure it takes off more slowly than the PSP.

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Saturday accused by Marine Le Pen to slaughter according to halal "all meat" distributed in the Ile-de-France, industrialists defend themselves. President of the National Association of interprofessional Livestock and Meat (Interbev), interviewed by France Info, the judge charged the president of the National Front "absolutely false".

"In the Ile-de-France, a vast majority of meat is not slaughtered according to halal or kosher," which involves killing animals without stunning, ensures Dominique Langlois. "It may be that parts or pieces of meat from carcasses are slaughtered according to these rites, but that does not change the quality of meat and it does not change at all the qualities of the product," adds Will it.

For professionals in the meat, the charge of Marine Le Pen "is meant strictly political and did not match the reality of things." "It's a debate that can only be detrimental to both the meat industry to French and French production that does not need it," warned the president of Interbev.

The animal rights groups mobilized

This debate is not new. Since a 1964 decree, the slaughter in France requires the stunning of animals before killing, thereby mitigating their suffering. But European legislation provides an exemption, "when stunning is not compatible with the ritual prescriptions under the free exercise of religion."

Last year, six associations have denounced the increasing proportion of animals slaughtered according to Jewish or Muslim rites. According to the Foundation Brigitte Bardot, who had made an investigation in slaughterhouses, more than 60% of sheep and goats, 28% of adult cattle and 43% of calves were then killed without stunning.

In Ile-de-France, according to a study by the House of livestock and quoted this week on the show Special Envoy on France 2, the five slaughterhouses in the region adhere to Islamic and does not stun their animals. The reasons are economic, in order to distribute the meat in the halal butchers and traditional, where consumers are not necessarily aware of the method of slaughter.

Approval before waive stunning

Two bills were filed in late 2010, the Senate to the Assembly, without success, to obtain a specific labeling of meat slaughtered without stunning paperless payday loans. "The consumer has the right to know what he eats. He has the right not to eat meat slaughtered in a ritual which does not believe him, "argued the UMP deputy Nicolas Dhuicq. A new amendment, introduced in September 2011, was also rejected.

On 29 December, a decree was published in the Official Journal, however, requiring 275 French slaughterhouses to obtain, on or after 1 July 2012, before an official authorization from the rule of stunning. "It does [may] be granted only to slaughterhouses in favor [...] of a registration system to verify that it is used to slaughter without stunning as a result of justifying the commercial orders, "said the Ministry of Agriculture.

Marine Le Pen wants to complain

The animal rights groups have expressed quite satisfied with this text. "Being able to justify a ritual slaughter is a specific order is important because, currently, most of the meat of this kind of slaughter is found in conventional circuits without any indication to consumers," recalled Christophe Marie, spokeswoman Brigitte Bardot Foundation.

Marine Le Pen was not in favor waiting for the entry into force of the decree. On the sidelines of the convention of his party, being held this weekend in Lille, it announced its intention to attack "a few major retail supermarkets in Ile-de-France for misrepresentation of the product." She said wanting to file a complaint with a civil order for a judge to be seized, which could lead to an investigation of several months.

On the government side, said Sunday it does not have "accurate information" about the slaughter in Ile-de-France. But a spokesman for the Ministry of Food said that the meat supply in the region "did not originate exclusively" in the slaughterhouses of "proximity", which "may have to supply a particular community, and therefore work according ritual slaughter of halal or kosher. "

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Hard times for the 380. After the case of microcracks detected in the wing of the superjumbo, Airbus will he deplore a new problem, this time in the "nose" of the device? The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) is interested in any case the rivets of radom, that is to say the cover that protects the radar of the aircraft.

The authority may decide to issue in the coming weeks an airworthiness directive (AD) requiring the change of six rivets aluminum rivets titanium stronger. The 19 airlines that operate the world's fleet of 69 A380, eight months have to do this for an average of 3:30. Clearly, they would have time to schedule it as part of their regular maintenance schedule.

After the decision to order the Efsa a general inspection of the planes of A 380 in service and production, totaling one hundred aircraft, the image of the A380 takes another blow. However, this type of airworthiness directive is very common in aviation. All aircraft receive throughout their careers.

Two types of directives

"The FAA, U.S. aviation safety authority, has issued more than 830 airworthiness directives for Boeing B 747 in forty years," says one at Airbus headquarters in Toulouse. "For an airplane, receiving such a directive is as ordinary as to think about changing the wiper blades on your car or an oil change," says one.

The Aesa issues two types of directives: the current, AD, and urgent, called "emergency AD." In the case of microcracks, the two directives were common. The agency goes up a notch when it considers that the subject can affect flight safety. In this case, companies have little time to react, sometimes not even 24 hours.

In the case of rivets, flight safety is affected in any part, Airbus insists. The manufacturer points out that these are not structural elements. Six rivets 40 to 50 by radom "are not likely to blow up" the unit cover.

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Kellogg's takes its revenge. After being out of the game last year, the world's leading cereal offers Pringles potato chips, for $ 2.7 billion. It takes advantage of misadventures of the seller, Procter & Gamble (P & G), which had entered into negotiations in April 2011 with fellow American Diamon Foods for the sale of Pringles.

These negotiations were unsuccessful, the purchaser being mired in a huge accounting scandal. Within months, the stock price Diamond Foods has lost half its value. But the company had committed to spend $ 2.4 billion, mainly in equities, to get their hands on Pringles. In early January, Diamond Foods announced it would need to reassess its accounts the past two years, following an internal investigation into its accounting practices. Hours later, P & G said look for an alternative.

Kellogg's and P & G should complete the operation by the summer. The withdrawal of Diamond Foods will not result in financial compensation for P & G.

By offering the brand of chips, which generates about $ 1.5 billion in sales and employs 1,700 people, Kellogg's is a giant step for the future. "Pringles has a global presence that propels to Kellogg's second in the world of crackers, helping us achieve our goal of becoming a real business of cereals and snacks," says John A. Bryant, CEO of Kellogg's, which topped last year's $ 13 billion in revenue.

PepsiCo, the leader

Sold in over 140 countries, produced in Belgium and the U.S., the Pringles potato chips become the second brand of Kellogg's Special K behind The U.S. giant has already Keebler cookies and crackers and Cheez-It Townhouse. The group also sells cereal bars and fruit snacks. But he has to go up a gear abroad.

"The acquisition of Pringles it provides a platform for international distribution of its products ready for snacking," analysts said BernsteinResearch. This should lead to synergies, particularly in Asia, where Kellogg's is still low.

Dominated by PepsiCo, the snack market, with sales approaching $ 65 billion, grew twice as fast in the last five years in emerging markets (+9.6% on average) than in mature markets. The sale of Pringles brand disengagement of P & G's food, a segment where the world's leading consumer products had tried to diversify in the 1990s. In 2004, he had already sold its Sunny Delight juice. It intends to focus on cosmetics, personal care and cleaning products.

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The tone rises between Orange and Free Mobile. Both operators have had a long meeting Tuesday afternoon on their roaming contract. Neither party did not wish to comment. This contract allows Free Mobile, which has pledged to cover 27% of the population with its own network, using the Orange network for the remaining three quarters, pending the gradual ramp-up its own infrastructure.

But Orange claims that 90% to 95% of calls made by customers Free Mobile currently go through its network. "The rise of Free Mobile Traffic is bigger and faster than had been anticipated and announced by Free. When you put these offers on the market, is expected to be some demand. There was a big underestimation on the part of the Free ", on Tuesday said the CEO of Orange, Stéphane Richard, on lepoint.fr.

"We manage the network from day to day, but it is in the interest of both parties to adapt the forecast, because the situation is not entirely satisfactory. We're open to our partner Free, and we will talk together. I hope we can ensure that the agreement can continue, "he said. Free Mobile home, he denies any tension or psychodrama, saying it is normal discussion between two partners.

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