Fed workers told: Stay away from leaked cables
Sure, tens of thousands of U.S. diplomatic cables are out in the open, but the Obama administration is still warning federal government employees, and even some future diplomats, that they must refrain from reading any for themselves.
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Trillions to nation’s economy could come from DREAM Act beneficiaries
Beneficiaries of the DREAM Act, a bill that would grant certain undocumented students and military service members permanent residency in the U.S. and provide a path to citizenship, could contribute trillions to the nation’s economy over the next four decades, according to a new study by researchers at UCLA’s North American Integration and Development Center.
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Kraft Foods Initiating Arbitration To Prevent Starbucks From Ending Partnership
Northfield, IL, United States (AHN) – Kraft Foods Inc. is fighting an attempt to end a partnership arrangement the two have been in for more than a decade. Kraft announced Monday that it initiated an arbitration proceeding to challenge Starbucks Coffee Co.’s attempt to put a halt to their retail grocery coffee business.
Kraft Foods has successfully built the Starbucks retail grocery component to the coffee maker’s business.
In 1998 Kraft and Starbucks entered into a retail grocery coffee business, which at the time was generating less than $50 million in annual revenues. Since then, the business has grown to approximately $500 million in annual revenues.
According to Kraft, under the terms of the deal Starbucks could take over the business in order to pursue a different arrangement. However, Kraft says it needs sufficient time to execute an orderly transition. Kraft said Starbucks must compensate it for the fair market value of the business plus a premium of up to 35 percent of that value.
“Starbucks unilaterally and unjustifiably declared in public statements the agreement’s termination, needlessly risking confusion among customers about the agreement’s status,” said Marc Firestone, executive vice president and general counsel.
He added, “In effect, Starbucks is trying to walk away from a 12-year strategic partnership, from which it has greatly benefited, without abiding by contractual conditions. Kraft reasonably expected Starbucks to honor the contract. We are confident in our position and look forward to presenting the facts before the arbitrator.”
Until the matter is resolved, Kraft is continuing to conduct business as usual.
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Payday Cash Advance Loans: -get Rid From Your Financial Impediments
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As per the needs and emergencies, borrowers can avail payday loans. These cash advances are unsecured by nature and there is no possession of any collateral. Without pledging any collateral like valued property, home, luxury car, building or land etc. borrowers can avail loan amount ranging from £100 – £1500. As these cash advances are non-collateralized so, it’s beneficial for the borrowers but risky for the lenders. This is the main reason that lenders carry higher interest rate from the borrowers and offer shorter repayment duration to say 14 – 31 days.
In the case of payday loans, some requirements and conditions are mentioned. Only on the basis of these below written conditions, borrowers can acquire loan amount:-
* The applicant must be adult or have the age of 18 years or above
* He/she should have valid or live bank account
* He/she should have sound monthly income
* He/she must the permanent resident of UK
Pay day cash advances are free from the formality of credit checking, lengthy paperwork and documentation. Like this, it becomes quite useful and beneficial for the bad credit loan holders. Bad creditors have blemished credit history and called by different names like CCJs, IVAs, late or missed loan payers, arrears, defaults etc. With this cash facility, poor creditors can complete their urgent needs quickly. Their timely and properly monthly loan repayment helps them in improving their credit rating and scores.
Instead of visiting personally to the lenders, online mode is considering the best mode. Through online method, you can choose the finest services and quotes, offer by the lenders. This process saves time and botheration of the borrowers. Sitting at home, you can apply for loan amount and the cash will instantly transfer within 24 hours into your current account.
In short, in the loan market, a number of lenders and finance companies are available to serve their customers. Before choosing the loans amount, you have to consider the rate of interest, repayment duration, loan amount etc.
Obama Approval Advances to 47%, Up From 43% Pre-Election
After the strong rebuke of President Obama’s party in last Tuesday’s midterm elections, as well as a stock market rally and the beginning of his trip to Asia, Obama’s job approval rating has increased slightly in the past few days.
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French Police Wrest Key Paris Refinery From Striking Workers
Paris, France (AHN) – French riot police have broken a key oil refinery blockade outside Paris acting on orders from the president who has refused to back down from pension reform plans.
Oil refinery workers striking over President Nicolas Sarkozy’s plans to hike the retirement age had blocked 12 refineries, resulting in nearly one-third of the nation’s gas stations either running out of gas or running short. In addition, Paris airports were running out of jet fuel.
Paris airports and area gasoline stations get aviation, diesel and gasoline fuels through a pipeline from the nearby Grandpuits refinery. Police broke through strikers there and regained control of that critical refinery on Friday.
Police also removed strikers from two fuel depots. However, protesters are still blocking other refineries and unions have called for another two days of protests along with rolling strikes.
In the meantime, the Senate is scheduled to vote on raising the minimum retirement age from 60 to 62 and full state retirement age from 65 to 67. A committee vote could take place later today. If the bill clears the committee, the next step would be a vote in both houses of parliament.
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Sarkozy calls for calm from protesters
Cars burned, shop windows smashed and 4,000 petrol stations ‘awaiting supplies’ on sixth day of French protests
Strikes gathering pace against Nicolas Sarkozy’s pension reforms appeared to be pushing France closer to crisis today as fuel shortages were felt across the country and violence erupted on the sidelines of protests by children.
On a sixth day of the national demonstrations, Sarkozy was forced to appeal for calm and “responsibility” after cars were burned, shop windows smashed and at least two photojournalists assaulted in Nanterre, west of Paris, and Lyon. Authorities said they believed those responsible for the incidents were not genuine protesters but “thugs” who had come to disrupt the proceedings.
While the violence was kept on a limited scale, the president could do little to stop the oil refinery strike from biting hard in large parts of the country. Jean-Louis Borloo, the ecology minister, said today that just under 4,000 petrol stations, of a total of 12,500, were “awaiting supplies” – without saying all these were suffering actual shortages.
On the outskirts of Paris and in parts of Normandy and the north-west, long queues formed as motorists waited for deliveries. The manager of one petrol station in the centre of the capital, who did not want to be named, said there had been no diesel delivered since Monday morning. “If this carries on we’ll see things kick off,” he said.
Nicolas Paulissen, deputy head of the FNTR haulage union, said tomorrow would see fuel supplies for freight vehicles become a big problem. “Without trucks it’s impossible to supply factories and shops and the economy becomes paralysed,” he told Reuters.
Of all the sectors that have been disrupted by the unions’ strategy of “soft” rolling strikes, it is the action in the fuel sector that has most rattled the government. Despite repeatedly assuring France that chronic shortages are out of the question, ministers have formed a crisis centre to deal with the situation.
Speaking from an international summit in Deauville, Sarkozy said an emergency meeting would be held to “unblock a certain number of situations”. Shortages, he added, “cannot exist in a democracy”.
“There are people who want to work, the immense majority, and they cannot be deprived of gasoline,” he said.
Sarkozy insists he has no intention of rowing back on his pension reforms, which include raising the symbolic and much-fought-for basic age of retirement from 60 to 62.
He is facing what is arguably his toughest week in power as he waits for a vote in the senate which, although not quite the end of the reform’s passage into law, will close the main chapter of parliamentary debate.
But those marching in Paris today refused to let the prospect of a vote, already postponed once last week and now due to take place at the end of this week, get them down. For them, the reform is unjust, hitting hardest women, workers in hazardous jobs and those who start work at a young age – and worth fighting against tooth and nail.
“The vote is of no importance,” said Didier Caron, a 51-year-old Renault employee. “It’s the street. If the street works well, it could still win.”
As the familiar chants rang out and students and children rubbed shoulders with pensioners and postmen, the manifestation drew 3.5 million people on to the streets, according to the unions, and 1.1 million, according to the interior ministry. Some shouted their calls for an intensified grève générale (general strike). Others took a quieter approach. One man’s sticker read: ” rêve générale ” – general dream.
“I am here to show my discontentment with this government’s politics in general,” said one hospital worker, Armelle, who like many protesters was expressing her rage with the Sarkozy agenda as a whole, rather than just the pension reform. “This is my fifth time. I am mobilising for myself and for all French people. I feel as though our public services, which are so important to us in France, are disappearing.”
For most, however, the issue of the day was the now infamous réforme des retraites , the law which the embattled rightwing president is said to regard as his single most important piece of legislation in the latter half of his presidency. A reform which the government and many economists say is long overdue, it aims to cancel a deepening pensions shortfall and, in political terms, display Sarkozy’s reformist credentials to an electorate weary of his failure to deliver on lofty promises.
Reiterating his commitment to the law, which would also raise the age of full pension entitlement from 65 to 67, the president said that carrying out the controversial changes to secure future generations’ pensions was his duty.
But it is those future generations of pensioners that Sarkozy is having the most trouble convincing. Today, days after they entered the fray for the first time, children ramped up their action even further, leaving 379 secondary schools blocked or disrupted to varying degrees – a record since the beginning of the protests. Mixed views of pension reform
Véro Du Cheyron, 51 , s ocial worker with the mentally disabled: “I am protesting today because this reform is a symbol of a society which always favours the rich and hurts the little people. When the banks go under, the government saves them. But it’s not saving us. So I’m fighting for me and my children. They say that people are living longer so they have to work longer, but they don’t say anything about the health problems that come by doing that. Also, as a woman, the reform will hurt me as we’re usually the ones who have to stop work at certain times. I had always planned on retiring at 60, but it looks like that won’t be possible any more.”
Laura Tanniou, 22 , s tudent : “We may be only students now but we still want to make the most of our retirement! The government is talking about demographics but a lot of what they’re saying is not true. The reality is that we’re getting older but also getting to an age where you shouldn’t be working. At 67 you’re more likely to be unemployed than in work. You do hear people saying the French should just face up to it, but they don’t understand: we are fighting to hold on to the benefits our grandparents won for us. I suppose that if there has to be reform, the better-off should contribute more than the less well-off.”
Nicolas Sene, 27, restaurant manager: “I think the French should get up and, instead of whining, just work a bit harder. I started at 19 and have never stopped. Yesterday, I worked a 13-hour day. I think that as time goes on, we are finding new ways to enable the body to resist old age, and we’re therefore capable of working a bit longer. There are certain industries, mind you, which are tough – mining, or even the restaurant business. But for people who just sit in offices all day I think they could be made to do a little bit more time. As for me, I’d like to think that as a manager I could carry on as long as I have the lucidity and the strength.”
Benjamin Debry, 28, florist : “It’d be difficult for me to join the strike today, but I do support those who have. As for the protests, we French are the specialists in this. We are the country of justice and freedom and so we, the people, have a right to shout out when something’s not right. It’s important. We all care about our pensions and obviously we’d like to not be totally worn out by the time they arrive. I agree that some people are going to have to work longer. But it should be done on a case-by-case basis. Some people are in very hard jobs. I don’t think it would hurt others to do an extra two years.”
Frédéric Delouche, 40, postman: “My work is very hard on a physical level. I’ve been doing it for 10 years now and after a while various parts of your body begin to hurt – your back, your wrists, your joints. For people like me in arduous jobs, what this reform is suggesting is just not doable. I certainly can’t see myself still coping with it at the age of 67, and to me it is completely unfair that I should be made to do so. What I want is to be able to retire at 60 – or, OK, at 62 – but on a full pension. And to get rid of [Nicolas] Sarkozy. He shouldn’t be president. He just doesn’t know how to negotiate.” France v Britain
Retirement age
France 60 for men and women (provided they have paid social security contributions for 40½ years) but full pension only at 65. Under Sarkozy’s reforms, full pension only at 67
UK 65 for men and 60 for women (will be 65 for both from 2020)
Unemployment (2009)
France 9.1%
UK 7.8%
Population over 65 (2008)
France 16.5%
UK 16.2%
Average annual wage (2008)
France £23,119
UK £28,135
Guardian research: Luc Torres
Source: OECD France Nicolas Sarkozy Protest Lizzy Davies guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
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Payday Loans Online: Apply From The Convenience of Your Home
Payday loans online are now easily available through internet. These money credit services provide fax less loans, short term receipts and payday cash advance. These services are available in three easy steps. Applicants can get a grant up to $1500 in a day, if requirements are met. These loans are quick installment loan, they can be acquired online easily. Customers can apply for these loans from anywhere on the internet. Instant online loans, pay day method cash and quick cash advance can be a great help to those who want to pay emergency bills.
Online advance money grants and no fax cash advance by renowned finance providers offer hassle-free money online in minutes. Applicants can borrow money up to $1500 on the next business day if their application is approved. Applicants can apply for online payday loans by filling a 2 minute application form. They have to give details of their job, bank account with contact details to get loans by payday method. The World Wide Web has made our lives a lot simpler in plenty of ways. We can now shop from the convenience of our homes, pay our bills online & keep in contact with relatives & friends on the Web. Another great benefit provided by the web is the fact that we can apply for payday loans online from our home computers.
Payday loans online, or short-term loans were first offered only by ‘brick & mortar’ banks. In this system it was necessary money borrowers had to travel to a bank, sit down with a lender & speak about the reasons the loan was needed. Now applicants can apply for this kind of loans right from their home at any time of the day or night including five days a week. The convenience of shopping for a loan from home is really amazing. There is basically is no simpler way than this to borrow much-needed funds. Online payday loans are easy & straightforward to understand.
The money in these loans is basically deposited into the applicant’s bank account soon after they apply. Usually they will be sent a loan agreement by e mail. After their consent to the agreement the money is transferred to their bank account. Often the money lenders decide simple terms to repay online loans by pay day method. Payday loans online are ideal in the event when a person requires funds quickly. They can help in case if the applicant is sure to repay these loans on the very next day. One can use these online loans for paying ‘final demand’ or emergency bills, medical or dental treatment, school fees, automobile repairs & a whole lot more. These loans, including funds advance and high risk loans are for individuals with credit history troubles.
RBI needs to take lessons from China
The rupee has depreciated by 2% in the quarter, which was positive for the margins to the extent of 80 bps. We are assuming the rupee to be at Rs 44.50 for the rest of the year, which means an appreciation of 4.5% compared to fiscal 2010.
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Advice from 1999
Back in 1999, the dot-com boom seemed as inevitable and endless as the housing boom a few years later – the new economy would continue to create new wealth because everything was digital now and the world was different….
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