International Headlines and Stories

 

The Internet giant strikes another blow. Google announced an update to its search engine in the U.S. who will soon be extended to the world, to refine and contextualize his responses. To make, in short, more in tune with reality, according to the ambition of the group. So you type "taj mahal"? Google offers, in a box right, to limit the results to the famous Indian monument, a singer using this pseudonym or a casino in New Jersey of the same name. Also new is learned as well as the results page of Google as the Taj Mahal is a white marble mausoleum located in Agra, India, it opened in 1648 and it is 174 meters high. Research "Taj Mahal" is associated with that of "Ustad Ahmad Lahauri," the name of the architect of the monument.

"This is not just a catalog of objects is a presentation of the relationships between them. One is understanding between these different elements is the key, "says Amit Singhal, Google's vice president. To add to these changes a lighter note, Google will also offer information on the unusual subject of research. Consequence: the user can get answers to their questions without leaving the Google page.

Behind these new features lies a technology: the "graph of knowledge," or "knowledge graph", "built to understand the real things of the world," says an official from Google, Ben Gomes payday advances. The group has worked there since the acquisition in 2010, the company specializes in managing Metaweb database of movies, books, companies or celebrities. Thus, Google has learned, and quickly: from Freebase, Wikipedia or the CIA World Factbook, the giant has registered 500 million objects, places, characters and memorized some 3.5 billion relations between them.

Update Bing last week

In parallel, the group has expanded his knowledge on user searches. Google has announced in January new privacy policy to share user accounts on all its sites (like Gmail and Youtube). A change that is controversial and will be subject, in France, a meeting with the CNIL next week to clarify the new rules.

The goal for Google is taking another step ahead to face competing search engines, starting with Bing Microsoft announced last week its largest update since its launch three years ago. Among the new Bing strengthens its integration within the social network Facebook, which Microsoft is a shareholder. According to the firm Comscore, Google has widened its lead over its competitors, concentrating 66.4% of online searches in the U.S. in April, against 65.7% a year earlier. Well ahead of the 15.3% posted by Bing and 13.7% for Yahoo!.

The best way to check out the lowest prices you can possibly get on low cost car insurance is to look it up online via a comparison engine.

 

New trial for Yahoo!. The U.S. internet group announced Sunday it had appointed a new temporary chief executive, Ross Levinsohn, replacing Scott Thompson less than five months after the arrival thereof at the head of the company. "Scott Thompson left the company" Yahoo! justifies no further details. The group further states that Fred Amoroso has been named president of the board to replace Roy Bostock.

This change in the leadership of a pioneering Internet companies, now embattled, was announced a few hours after the release of information on the site dedicated to news reports All Things Digital. The article reported an imminent departure of former CEO in the wake of a controversy provoked by the discovery of falsification of his CV. A few days earlier, Patti Hart, director of the group, had also been forced to leave the band for the same reasons: she had embellished his CV.

According to All Things Digital, the reason for the "abrupt departure" is only due to the activism of hedge fund Third Point, a leading shareholder of Yahoo! with 5.8% stake. A shareholder who has been trying for several years to gain seats and influence within the board had asked the head of Scott Thompson on line pay day loans. And the fund has been successful. In fact, Yahoo! has agreed that the boss of Third Point, Daniel Loeb, and two persons selected by him, Harry Wilson and Michael Wolf, are seated on the board from Wednesday. The Board is pleased to announce these changes and this agreement with Third Point, and is confident they will be in the best interests of our shareholders, "we read in Yahoo! News.

The group did not, however, extends the strategy it intends to follow in the future, simply stating that "in as interim CEO, Ross Levinsohn will direct the day to day running of the company, helped by the existing team of executives from Yahoo! ". This last Sunday was up global director of the media branch of Yahoo! It is the fifth CEO to take the reins of the group in five years. The question is whether Yahoo! will manage to raise the head above water.

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From Sunday morning, Japan will be left without nuclear energy. The shutdown of the country's last active reactor actually began on Saturday, shattering the share of nuclear energy in electricity Japanese a little over a year after the disaster of Fukushima. A provisional release in principle. The last operating reactor, Tomari 1, on Hokkaido Island (north), farm inspection. The 54 reactors of the Archipelago, which provided nearly 30% of electricity needs of the country until March 11, 2011, thus find themselves at a standstill. The four reactors in Fukushima are destroyed, them finalized.

The Government intended to review its engines one by one and reboot – he wants – is a politically sensitive issue. This nuclear phase, anticipated for months, has enormous economic consequences not only for Japan but for the rest of the world.

In 2011, the trade balance of the third world economy went into the red for the first time in thirty-one years. Half of the degradation observed between 2010 and 2011 due to higher energy bills. Until January, Japan wiped especially the soaring price of oil and natural gas. But since the volume of gas imports are growing exponentially. For more than oil (which imports fell last year), more than coal is liquefied natural gas (which Japan is already the largest importer) which replaces the uranium to run power plants. For the ten power companies already tight financial situation, which share the country, this is a massive overhead. They are already preparing their users to jump to the invoice.

Concerns in Korea and Taiwan

The first of them, Tokyo Electric (Tepco, the operator of Fukushima), announced a 17% increase in tariffs for the industry and has requested another 10% for households. TEPCO had to accept its takeover by the state last week to survive. The operator of Kansai (western Japan), the second lung of industrial countries after the Tokyo area, he believes his side will not spend the summer with reactor shutdown cheapest personal loan rates. "Kansai Electric announced a cost of generation of 6 yen per kilowatt hour from nuclear. With natural gas, the cost increases to 9 yen. It is the user who will pay "this leap of 50%, warns Paul J. Scalise, specialist electricity sector in Japan.

The archipelago is so important a part of the world economic stage that their choices weigh on all. "The new gas demand in Japan has caused concern in Taiwan and South Korea in April 2011," says one foreign player in the gas market in Tokyo. Ever on the global gas market the differences were so great between Asian prices and U.S. prices, driven down by the boom in shale gas.

The ANA, which has joined the burgeoning renewable energy industry, believe that the release of their country's nuclear factodu is proof he can do without. The cost of the energy bill can not match that of the Fukushima disaster, priceless, they argue among their arguments. "False, says a nuclear framework: simulations of the costs of insurance against such a disaster Fukushima show that nuclear power is still profitable even in this case."

Before the disaster, Japan planned to increase the nuclear share to over 50% of electricity production in 2030. The government is preparing in principle for the summer, its new energy strategy for the long term. It should instead provide a reduction instead of the atom. In the immediate future, without it will prove costly for the Archipelago.

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For once it is not Airbus which organizes the festival, but ATR, the second aircraft manufacturer based in Toulouse, in the shadow of European giant. Equal subsidiary of EADS and Italy's Finmeccanica, the manufacturer of regional aircraft propeller book on Thursday, Air Nostrum, Iberia subsidiary of Spanish, the thousandth machine out of its assembly site.

A symbolic milestone for ATR's plans to increase its production by 60%, to 54 aircraft per year in 2010 to 70 this year to reach 80 to 90 per year by 2014. At the same time, its turnover has to go from 1.3 to 2 billion.

Consequently, extensions are underway on the site and "hundreds of jobs will be doubled," said Filippo Bagnato, ATR CEO. ATR employs 1,000 people in Toulouse and in 6000 made working in France and Italy with subcontracting. Sitting on a record backlog representing three years of delivery, ATR new ambitions: "it is possible to reach the 2,000 aircraft delivered within ten to fifteen years," says the president.

China threat

To listen, you almost forget that the company, founded in 1981 with the launch of the ATR 300, narrowly escaped death in 2004 with a backlog of five aircraft. The manufacturer was the victim of the craze for jets that, throughout the 1990s, have conquered the regional aviation market while surfing a bit expensive oil.

"Our shareholders have been clear. They did not put the key under the door but had to hold ATR not to lose money, be in equilibrium. We therefore reduced the size of the company. It was that or death, "recalls Filippo Bagnato. ATR gathers her remaining strength to attract new customers. "We had to sell the plane three times to the airline, to subcontractors who were reluctant to invest and banks." ATR increases its range and benefits of soaring oil prices which increase operating costs of a regional jet. Propeller airplanes take their revenge. This is the slaughter. Only Canada's Bombardier and ATR survive, but not Saab, Fokker, Dornier, Jetstream, Fairchild … The airlines have their accounts: in the same journey, the "turboprop" consumes two times less fuel than a jet.

Despite its success, the manufacturer remains vigilant. The turboprop market is promising – with a projected delivery of 3,000 units from 50 to 90 seats in the next 20 years. It arouses desires. ATR expects a reaction which should give Bombardier a successor to its Q-400. He is also concerned about competition from China. "China has had limited success with the M 60 which is nothing more than an evolution of a Russian aircraft. But it launched a 70-seat aircraft and is considering a 90-seat aircraft, "said Filippo Bagnato. The M 700, a copy of ATR according to experts, is being developed. It is expected on the market within three to four years.

To stay ahead, ATR continues "feasibility analysis" on a larger aircraft with 90 seats. The development of a new propeller device costs twice cheaper than a jet – less than $ 2 billion. But the decision belongs to EADS and Finmeccanica.

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The gavel to jackhammer … Business leaders now dare to push the door of auctions. They never are all equipped at an auction conducted by volunteer auctioneers. The amount of auctions of industrial sales (excluding used vehicles) is still marginal, although they jumped 19% to 93 million euros in 2011. "The attraction already noticeable in recent years has increased as a result of the crisis," says Thierry Savy, Secretary General of the Council of voluntary sales. These, which still account for only 4% auction in France, grew two times faster than the market.

"We must be aggressive on price"

Between D and management system of family man, the stakes were driven by familiarity with this process through Internet sales, but largely through the efforts of new players such qu'AVE Auctions, Second Market or the Ritchie Bros. Canada. This group, world leader in the specialty, recorded a turnover of 42 million euros in France last year, against 29 million in 2010. "Customers are attracted to our policy of no reserve price," says Cedric Jandet, marketing director for the Eastern Europe, Ritchie Bros.

"To win public sector contracts, we must be aggressive on price, while protecting our production costs, says Florent Martoia, Martoia construction manager. We can not act on either the cost of labor nor materials. This leaves the equipment. On average, the gain at auction is 25%, but sometimes the prices vary from simple to double. "

Brokers also

And companies want more. "There are more and more participants to sales, says Xavier Godrucheau, president of XXL Auctions, however, prices do not soar." Means buyers are limited and the development of second-hand market is hampered by Banks that do not like finance material more difficult to resell. "We are witnessing a terrible credit crunch since last summer, said Eric Leprince, CEO of Agora Financial and Vice President of CGPME in Paris. Banks resort to litigation, and suddenly chains are organized. "

The world of opportunity is not just auction. Sites such as brokers or Webenchères Agriaffaires appeared on the Internet. "As the sales sites for individuals, we simply buyers and sellers together," said Arnaud Comyn, owner of Ocazoo. CEO Site interencheres.com for auctioneers, Dominique The Coent claims an annual increase of 20% of the audience and 17 million page views per month. "Given the interest of the customer, the auctioneers have understood the need to communicate," says he.

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Nestle will soon be able to give free rein to its ambitions on the Chinese baby milk market. After several months of a tight battle with its main competitor, Danone, the Swiss have been selected by Pfizer to buy its infant nutrition business, the Wall Street Journal. The agreement could be signed before the end of the month.

The amount of the transaction be around ten billion. "This operation has a real strategic sense for Nestle, said Andrew Wood, analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein, because it deals with good grades and good markets and is performed at a reasonable price. "Nestle has maintained through his status as favorite, because of its financial muscle and posture. He chose to go it alone, while Danone had allied his forces earlier this year with the U.S. Mead Johnson. The French had indicated during February to be interested only in "certain assets, certain brands in some countries," adding that he was not on the verge of acquiring a structuring of the type of Numico in 2008. It might have sinned, according to some experts, by his lack of enthusiasm on this issue. The alliance with Mead Johnson made it more complex to build a competitive offer.

Assets to be sold

Danone, however, could catch up. For competitive reasons, Nestlé will indeed be compelled to give up certain activities, including Mexico, Southeast Asia or South Africa. Danone will then compete with Heinz. The king of ketchup, which carries 11% of its sales with child nutrition, waived bid for the branch of Pfizer, but he is interested in potential sales, particularly in Latin America. Nestlé is about to offer a real nugget, who made last year $ 2.1 billion in sales (+15%). Activity following the acquisition by Pfizer in 2009, the Wyeth for $ 68 billion. Pfizer had announced its intention last summer to focus on the heart of its business. Officially, the pharmaceutical group was still hesitating between an assignment and a split.

Returning to the child nutrition branch of Pfizer, world number five in the sector, with over half of its business in emerging countries, Nestlé could catch up in China. With the SMA brand, Pfizer is already comfortably installed, with 6.7% market share.

Arrived late in the Middle Kingdom, the group of Vevey occupies only the eighth (3.7% market share), behind Abbott. But this market dominated by Mead Johnson, which are born each year 16 million babies, weighs 7 billion. It is set to double by 2015, according to Euromonitor. Number 3 in China, Danone sells more boxes of Dumex baby milk in France. In a rapidly growing market, the cards of infant nutrition are about to be reshuffled in the coming months.

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"Choose well, choose Goal!" The old slogan of the number three of the furniture it always goes well. The company creates envy and indeed could, as revealed yesterday, Les Echos, soon change hands.

Reportedly, no less than five French investment funds have indeed shown interest in the brand of furniture from the current owners, Goldman Sachs and Colony Capital funds and OpCapita (former Merchant Equity Partners). Paragraph (Auchan group) looked at the file, but refrained. The name of the Austrian Lutz teaches that attempts since 2008 to enter France, is also advanced.

Officially, however, the group is not for sale. "No process was launched. Goldman Sachs and Colony Capital, which each hold 48.5% stake in Aim, rather sought a refinancing solution, "says a source close to the two actors, who adds:" They received expressions of interest, among others of Axa Private Equity and PAI, but they will refuse the offers if they are insufficient. "

Develop and design the kitchen

The three shareholders hope to sell Aim for 450 or 500 million euros, valuing the company at about six times its Ebitda (80 million euros in 2011). This is less than what was paid for Conforama Steinhoff – nearly seven times Ebitda – but the amount is close to that that the three had paid Kesa (Darty parent) in March 2008, ie 550 million euros.

Under the leadership of a new CEO, Regis Schultz Purpose managed to change course. The brand is losing its image with cheesy a thorough review of its range. More modern, but also more focused on the shelves carriers, such as decorating and cooking business card. And especially to lower prices, more in line with those of its competitors, thanks to tremendous work on own brands and supplies. Particular aim was to ally Cafom (Habitat-unique.com sale …) and joined the Central Purchasing SELECTIS to buy at cheaper prices.

The fleet of approximately 200 stores, almost unchanged for three years, was renovated. Purpose and City, a store designed for smaller and larger cities where the supply of appliances is only available on the terminals, was born in late 2010.

A nice improvement

The efforts are paying. Last year, sales grew 4.2 Goal% (LFL), reaching 1.8 billion euros. The company gained market share for the third consecutive year, from 9.2% in 2008 to 10.3%, despite the loss of eight franchised stores. But Goal acquired almost as many (five) since the beginning of the year, thanks to 200 million euros released by the sale of the walls of twenty-five stores last November. An operation orchestrated by Colony Capital, as he did at Buffalo Grill and encouraged at Accor. "Certainly, Goal has almost no debt and the bride looks very nice. But, with higher rents, its profitability will be even more difficult, "says one industry expert. Especially since prospects are rather gloomy furniture. In 2011, the market had grown by only 1.5%. "Goal should instead focus a competitor, French or European, who can achieve economies of scale in procurement," says this source.

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The decline in unemployment in the U.S. in March to 8.2% against 8.3%, not fooling anyone. The labor market has actually worsened last month. He created only 120,000 jobs, almost twice less than expected. The favorable review of the February numbers limited to just disappointment. As also those of January proved slightly worse.

According to the Labour Department, the private sector hired only 121,000 people in March, when he was recruited 233,000 people in February. The service sector is the main troublemaker with only 90,000 new jobs, against 204,000 the previous month. Yet on the increase for months, temporary jobs have vanished completely. The new posts have also declined significantly in the transport and independent professionals. In trade and distribution, staff reductions have accelerated.

Even more disturbing was the drop in unemployment is largely due to the cessation of 164,000 job seekers find work. Out of the workforce, they are no longer counted as unemployed.

Misleading effect of a mild winter

Some analysts believe that these figures, on the whole disappointing, confirming the misleading effect of the warm temperatures of winter. We have attributed the relatively strong hiring in December to cyclical factors, while the mild winter would have been an essential support activity. The explanation is not fully convincing because in the construction sector most sensitive to climatic hazards, the trend since February has not changed: the job cuts are modest between 6000 and 7000.

Wall Street will react Monday that these disappointing data, because U.S. markets are closed for Good Friday. The debate on the need for the Federal Reserve, to reconnect with exceptional measures to stimulate the supply of credit is restarted. It had been thought earlier in the week, however, that the continued expansion in industry and services in March, according to the ISM index, the Fed had converted to the wait. If job creation in April again proved mediocre, the U.S. central bank may reconsider the option to buy Treasury bonds to further lower interest rates long term.

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We knew the fabric of SMEs insufficient in France. Comparisons with the German model, its "large SMEs' innovative and exporting family, were hardly flattering. But the new method adopted by INSEE to classify firms by size is even better in this light French weakness. The definition of the company formalized the end of 2008 no longer regarded as subsidiary companies of its own: it links them to the group they belong. In a study published on Tuesday, INSEE describes the corporate landscape of hexagonal resulting from this change. Conclusion: "The production base is much more concentrated than it seemed."

The breakdown by company size – large companies, medium-sized companies (ETI), SMEs and microenterprises – is turned upside down. In 2009, France had 2.7 million and entities (excluding agriculture and financial sector). Under the old way of counting, only a hundred of them exceeded the threshold of 5,000 employees that large companies. With the new definition and the inclusion of the concept of group, they spend a little over 200.

So, they employ 28% of employees, which is double what was the scope of large enterprises in the previous definition fast payday loan. They carry 33% of the value added (or 17% of GDP, also double the valuation date chosen) and account for half of exports. Similarly, with this new definition, the share of large enterprises in research and development expenses increased from less than 40% to 60%.

SMEs overrated

"Symmetrically, the weight of the other three categories of firms is less important," said INSEE. It is SMEs whose share "decreases the most." For nearly half of these companies with 10 to 249 employees are subsidiaries of a group or a larger enterprise.

Another lesson of the study, the weight of each sector is modified for the benefit of the industry, as the subsidiaries making or supporting business functions, previously classified in the service sector, are reinstated. The industrial workforce is located in "reinflated" by more than 2 points, representing 27.5% of total employees.

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So far, Francois Hollande was very talkative on controlling public spending. To prove his seriousness in budgetary matters, the PS argued the EUR 49 billion of tax increases planned – both graded increases to fund new measures and to reduce the public deficit to 3% in 2013. Change in tone Thursday on France 2. The Socialist candidate was more explicit result: the return to balance accounts in 2017 will also "by 50 billion savings on public spending," he said, highlighting a point that appears from the origin, but discreetly, in its program.

In fact, in a country where public expenditure accounts for 56.6% of GDP, while fiscal consolidation achieved through an action on the charges. Except as we stay in France. Unlike the choices made in the UK and measures imposed in Portugal or Greece, or Francois Hollande nor Nicolas Sarkozy proposed to actually reduce government spending, that is to say, the return of 100 euros a year to 95 next year. The two main candidates simply promise to slow the rise.

From 1978 to 2008, public spending grew on average by 2.6% per year, plus inflation. "We will limit their increases to 1% per year," said Francois Hollande. Right, this government promised in Brussels an increase of 0.4% per year until 2016. Then where are the savings put forward by both sides? This is actually a smaller increase in expenses, compared to their natural tendency (which is explained by the increase in salaries of civil servants, the increase in health spending, the rising number of retirees, etc.. ). This is supposed to be parallel to that of GDP. Example project with Holland. Without special measures, the approximately 1 trillion of government spending should increase as the national wealth (1.7% per year initially, 2.25% at the end, according to forecasts of the candidate). An average increase of about 2% per year during the future five-year-around 20 billion euros each year. The PS wants to limit their growth to 1% per year. The economy compared to the natural drift is 10 billion per year and $ 50 billion in the five year term. The weight of public expenditure in GDP would decline to 53.9% while in 2017 the government is 52.8% in 2016. In both cases, the action will inevitably unpopular.

Divisive options

Social benefits-health costs, pensions, family allowances or unemployment … – indeed absorb 45% of public expenditure. Just to bring growth in public spending to 0.7% in 2011, the current government had to reform pensions, act on Medicare and not to replace staff on two retiring.

Thursday, Francois Hollande suggested avenues for savings: lower prices and consumption of drugs, focus on health prevention, cuts in aid to enterprises, decentralization. Displaying its objective of stabilizing the size of the public, he admitted that there would be job cuts in all departments except Education, Justice and Home Affairs. "The salary policy will be serious," said Michel Sapin, program officer of the applicant, being careful not to promise any pay rise. And state transfers to local (one hundred billion a year) "will not progress." Not to mention that if economic growth is not at the rendezvous, the scheme collapses. Michel Sapin no plans yet not to intensify efforts in this case: "A real spending cuts could destabilize the economy," he retorts.

Advocating a greater effort, Nicolas Sarkozy announced the continuation of "one in two." The UMP also wants to cut $ 2 billion per year transfers to communities. Magnitude of the cuts, selected sectors: these options are politically divisive. But in a camp like in the other, the information disclosed so far are not enough.

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