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The information, published Sunday in the Official Journal, surged as health minister, Roselyne Bachelot. The prices of three brands of cigarettes will fall by 20 cents from Monday. This Rothmans, Lucky Strike and packets of Drum rolling tobacco. The government has no way to prohibit it.

Reacting on RTL, the health minister, Roselyne Bachelot, said Sunday it would propose an increase in tobacco taxes to counter the move by the industry when considering the budget bill. The minister, who denounced a "blow to public health", said she was "absolutely shocked".

Recalling that tobacco was responsible for 60,000 deaths a year, more than half due to cancer of the airways, Roselyne Bachelot said she heard "get cigarettes at a price deterrent.""Do not our mobilization efforts on public health is undermined by the initiative of industry," commented the minister.

"A health scandal"

The public health associations have criticized the approach on their side of tobacco. According to Bertrand Dautzenberg, pulmonologist, president of the French Office for the Prevention of smoking, the decline in the price of tobacco is "a marketing offensive aimed at attracting new smokers, particularly youth and women" instant payday loan.

"Variations on the price of tobacco, which are the only effective lever for reducing consumption, are now in the hands of industrialists," he laments."This is a health scandal since this will automatically translate into increased consumption," adds Yves Martinet, president of the National Committee against Smoking (NCTC), which campaigns for "a new tax policy."

There are currently 29% of daily smokers and occasional 5% among French people aged 18-75 years. According to the French Observatory for Drugs and Drug Addiction (OFDT), the daily smoking for 28% of girls and 30% of boys and 17 years.

"And all indicators are now red," according to Professor Albert Hirsch, vice president of the National League against Cancer.The latest results from the annual survey conducted by the association without tobacco Paris, in partnership with the rector of Paris and the Fund's primary health insurance, and have recently shown a tendency to relapse to smoking among adolescents Paris, while the latter had given up smoking massively in the wake of the cancer plan.

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The NYSE opened Thursday near equilibrium, having finished the previous lowest in eight months, dragged down by a new indicator on the disappointing U.S. employment market: the Dow Jones lost 0.05% and NASDAQ 0.03%.

"Nobody seems eager to take advantage of market declines to buy shares, at least for now", believes Patrick O'Hare of Briefing.com financial site. "This reluctance reflects a decline in market confidence about the ability of companies to achieve their performance goals in the second half of the year."

Influenced by the European public debt crisis, the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and fears of slowing global economy, U.S. equity indices closed sharply lower Wednesday for the second consecutive month to reach their worst quarter since the second quarter of 2002.They returned to their lowest level in eight months … Yesterday, the Dow Jones finished down 1% to 9774 points, the S & P 500 also lost 1% and the Nasdaq 1.2%.

The banking sector might react after the removal of a proposed tax credit and the approval by the House of Representatives, the final version of the broader reform of financial regulation in the United States. President Barack Obama reiterated Wednesday during a speech in Racine (Wisconsin, North) that the bill would "prevent a crisis" such as that of 2007-2009. "This is a reform that will protect our economy from the recklessness and irresponsibility of some," he said.

On the face of macroeconomic indicators, the employment figures expected Friday should mark a return to job losses after five months of improvement.On Wednesday, already, enrollment weekly unemployment rose unexpectedly last week in the United States, according to the Labor Department. Applications for unemployment benefits rose 13,000 to $ 472,000 in the figures as at June 26, while economists on average expected a decline to 452,000 over the figure of 457,000 originally reported. This does not augur the best.

Even more than other countries engine of global growth, China has seen, precisely, growth prospects are heavily depressed by the Conference Board and the Chinese manufacturing activity slowed in June, according to two indices Chinese purchasing managers released Thursday.

Investors will closely monitor the repayment by the European banks, expected on Thursday.They will have to repay 442 billion euros Thursday to the European Central Bank, with the maturing of a loan granted exceptional giant a year ago.

Unemployment, housing sales and the ISM Menu …

In this context, the statistics of Thursday afternoon should be highly supervised, investors watching for any sign of improvement. They may be disappointed. The promise of home sales in May and the ISM manufacturing activity in June should be more than mixed.

Technology stocks, IT and telecom will be well attended.

Setbacks Chinese Google could find exits. The license renewal application filed by the U.S. giant in China will be considered by the government and the result will be published shortly, have indeed shown this Thursday, the Chinese media.The U.S. group has shown good will by announcing in Beijing that he would terminate the automatic rerouting of its Chinese site to its site of Hong Kong. The track lost 0.11% to 444.47 dollars.

The internet group Yahoo! else has announced Wednesday that its board had approved a share repurchase program of $ 3 billion over three years. During Wednesday's closing, this amount represents approximately 15% of the market capitalization of the group.After the announcement, the stock price Yahoo!, The lowest since a year has risen by 1.59% to 14.08 dollars.

The Microsoft IT group (+ 0.56% to 23.14 dollars) announced Wednesday it would gradually stop marketing its phone launched in April, the Kin, especially for the youth market of amateur social networks. " Microsoft has decided to focus on the launch (OS) Windows 7 and Phone will not deliver the Kin in Europe this fall as planned, "the group said in a statement

The small business Internet distribution Woot, offers its followers not more than one model per day at deflated prices, said Wednesday that she was redeemed by the giant Amazon, without specifying financial terms of the transaction."The name of a dog! Woot has signed an agreement with Amazon – yes, then the Amazon – to become an independent subsidiary of the giant e-commerce, "said the little Texas company on his blog. The title gained 0.14% to 109.40 dollars.

Finally, Boeing could react because the World Trade Organization asks Brussels to halt "without delay" to the subsidies paid to Airbus. Boeing sees this decision as "a great legal victory, the European union will be Apel.les action leaves 0.51% to 62.46 dollars.

A year after its introduction, the majority and the government seem divided on VAT at 5.5% in restaurants. To reduce the government deficit, Budget Minister Francois Baroin, this plane would "very, very large niche for tax, estimated at 3 billion euros Bercy. Its minister, Christine Lagarde, has cropped Tuesday morning: the reduced rate of VAT "is legitimate on the merits.

But the revolt against the old promise of Jacques Chirac, applied from 1 July 2009 thanks to the activism of Nicolas Sarkozy, also scolded the Assembly. Without naming the VAT on food, the general rapporteur for the Budget, Gilles Carrez (UMP), has questioned "a number of consumer items that are 5.5% and that should not be at 5.5 %. He advocates instead an intermediate rate to 12%.

Since the introduction of the measure for the restoration, the context is not the same.The government, which has hitherto led a recovery policy, had to change tack in recent months under pressure from the markets. It is now to reduce the deficit. Especially in the planing tax loopholes.

Nevertheless, the statements and Gilles Carrez Baroin were poorly received by restaurants. "It's absolutely outrageous to say that the 5.5% VAT tax is a niche!" Reacts Philippe Villalon, president of the National Federation of the restoration (FNRF). "We buy our products and we sell 5,5% to 5.5%. As is the case for all areas of the mouth.Moreover, if we repeat the policies they want to end VAT at 5.5%, we should not translate that we lower our prices, nor that we hired, as the state would break its part of contract. "

During the implementation of the measure, the restorers had promised to lower prices, to invest and hire. These commitments, which would take over in case of cancellation of VAT at 5.5%, would have been more or less respected. The Court of Auditors estimated last October that the measure would involve only 6,000 new jobs. The profession claims to the contrary today promised 21,700 against 20,000 a year.

The Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) to better protect investors. Like announced last April, the MFA has launched with the collaboration of the supervisory authority, a new public financial information. His goal? To better inform its clients on banking, savings, insurance, financial markets or the credit. The public will get information on insurance products (home, auto, life, health …), bank accounts, means of payment, bank books or the functioning of financial markets, products collective savings, companies listed on the Stock Exchange, the securities account.

"Applications will be redirected by the operators to specialists of the AMF or the supervisory authority," says Madeleine Guidoni, mediator of the AMF.The policeman of the Exchange hopes to meet customer expectations disappointed that their banks do not have better information about the content of such Fund.

Life buoy

"The financial institution has taken to bad habits for marketing of financial products", regrets the AMF Ombudsman Paperless payday loans. With this new service, the regulator should thus be able to better track business practices of banks and better focus the control activities.

After the merger of the bank authorities and insurance giving birth to the supervisory authority, the creation of this service, as required by the economy minister, Christine Lagarde, is like a lifeline to investors, including confidence in financial markets has been severely affected by the numerous cases of fraud or scam.

Called Bank Savings Insurance News Service, is available in a website – www.abs-infoservice.fr – a telephone helpline – 0811901801 – and a postal address – 61 Rue Taitbout, 75009 Paris. The domestic number is available Monday through Friday from 8:00 to 6:00 p.m..

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The board of managers of the Society of Editors of the World (SRM) would have voted on Friday morning in favor of the project's trio Pigasse-Niel-Berge (GDP) by eleven votes in favor and one abstention. The vote therefore recommends that the General Assembly of the RS, representing the journalists of the daily evening to vote for the BNP bid, to the detriment of the competing offer.

Still, as revealed by the website of Le Nouvel Observateur, the association Hubert Beuve-Mery (HBM), without representing the current personnel of World, would it, in favor of the offer Perdriel-Orange Prisa.

In this context, the absence of a clear majority on Friday afternoon for the one or the other offer, the arbitration will be Monday in the supervisory board of the World.Because Monday's effect on the 20 votes to be voted on Monday SupervisoryCouncil World (including eleven called internal, referring to the personal and the HBM and 9 persons from external), 9 votes External likely to weigh very heavy much heavier than those of the staff of the World by shifting votes in favor of a project that would not have the support staff themselves …

Decisive day for the mobilization against the pension reform. The objective of unions is clear: to gather more demonstrators than previous events, which led to another since the beginning of the year. On 27 May, between 395,000 and one million people (according to the police and unions respectively) took to the streets.

Since then, times have changed. The government has announced plans for pension reform last week. A text that unions have unanimously considered "unfair." Guests this Thursday on RTL, the secretary general of the CFDT, Francois Chérèque, regretted "being faced with a country that is willing to change, but change in the wrong direction." Therefore, he hopes an "exceptional mobilization" for this inter-action day.

"The hope was to surpass the one million demonstrators.I think that this figure will be exceeded is obvious, "said François Chérèque, saying that" perhaps two million people "will demonstrate this Thursday. And this, especially since "more than 200 gatherings" are already planned across France. And calls for strikes in the business (as in Saint-Gobain, Michelin, Total, Airbus, BNP Paribas, L'Oreal, France Telecom, La Poste …) have followed since the beginning of the week.

At the Post, some 19.86% of staff were on strike Thursday morning, said the Directorate in a statement against 12.80% last May 27. For its part, the direction of the station has recorded 39.8% of strikers among the railway workers in mid-morning, against 23.2% during the last day of action interprofessional.

The teachers were 31.9% to strike Thursday in schools and 10.3% in secondary schools (including 18.7% in colleges), according to figures from the Ministry of Education published in mid-morning. The schools were little affected, the degree requires organization. On the day of 23 March, the mobilization in the primary had reached 29.8% of strikers, the ministry said.

Another sector to have mobilized public broadcasting had a strong participation in the strike on Thursday. Several television and radio have been deleted throughout the morning. The directions of France Televisions and Radio France, however, had not reported figures to the mid-day. Finally, the publication of several regional newspapers has been disrupted. To major national newspapers will not seem morrow Fridays.

For the secretary general of the CGT, Bernard Thibault, the one million demonstrators should be passed this afternoon. "If that's not enough, we have the sequence of ideas, this is not the end of a cycle, only the announcement of a bill," he warned in a interview with the newspaper 20 Minutes. "I've seen governments fall as safe as this one, particularly on the subject of pensions, has finally found the union leader.

If Nicolas Sarkozy pledged on Tuesday to be "tuned" during discussions with the unions this summer, and it spoke of "possible developments" of the reform bill late last week, some key points text does not change as raising the legal age to 62 years in 2018. And, whatever the mobilization this Thursday."The mobilization will certainly strong, we expect, we do not fear," warned the Labour Minister, Eric Woerth.

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The rating agencies do not trust Japan. "Without a strong fiscal consolidation plan and credible by the Government of Japan notes will be threatened with demotion to the long term," he said Monday in Tokyo Andrew Colquhoun, director of public debt ratings for Asia-Pacific .

The warning is not innocent. It was made just hours before Prime Minister of Japan, Naoto Kan, announces an increase in the consumption tax, now one of the world's lowest, 5%, designed to rebalance country's finances, would not the day "before two or three years" paydayloans.

In the eyes of Fitch, Tokyo is obviously not fast enough, while the country's debt reaches 201% of its gross domestic product (GDP).

The world leader in chemistry, German BASF, is expected to sign Tuesday the acquisition of fellow Cognis according to the Financial Times Deutschland. Owned by Permira and Goldman Sachs, Cognis manufactures additives for cosmetics and detergents.

According to sources close to the case interviewed by the newspaper, the transaction amounted to 3.2 billion euros. In 2009, sales of Cognis representing 2.6 billion euros and EBITDA was $ 364 million. On its website, the company states employ approximately 5,600 people and be present in thirty countries.

Originally, Cognis was a subsidiary of Henkel, resold in 2004 to 2.5 billion euros. In 2006, the efforts of its new owners to sell it failed. In recent years, the company split from two of its five subsidiaries.BASF has already bought in 2009 the Swiss Ciba for 3.8 billion euros to strengthen in the mill.

Between the French listed companies and U.S. investors, the reports are looking good. Despite the crisis, Paris remains the third preferred destination after Great Britain and Germany. But this affinity could become even more intensity, if we believe a research firm Financial Dynamics on the attractiveness of companies listed on the Paris Stock Exchange with 30 institutional investors on Wall Street. Europe weighs only 13.8% of their portfolio and the size of France went a small 1.6%, which suggests the study, could grow if the managements of French companies were showing "greater transparency and if the publications were more accurate results and frequent. All these qualities, however, already claimed by large listed companies. Yet Americans remain unsatisfied.While 62% feel well informed about investment opportunities, 38% complain that they do not quite grasp the subtleties of the governance and regulation at the French. This does not prevent them from playing for high: 39% of respondents prefer large-cap, over 10 billion euros. And 23% opt for those between 5 and 9.99 billion euros.

To choose between two companies in the euro area, 53% of investors focus first on to dissect the "fundamentals", only 16% consider the prospects for growth as critical. Which is good in this day and age.