Personal Finance News & Advice

Already weakened by the scandal of illegal wiretapping in Britain, News Corp., the media group owned by Rupert Murdoch, is central to new accusations in Britain and Australia.

This new case involves the alleged actions of a subsidiary of the group which had the mission of promoting piracy of pay TV channels competing.

The Australian Financial Review reported Wednesday that News Corp. has used Operational Security, a subsidiary established in the mid 1990s, to sabotage its competitors. The Panorama program, broadcast in Britain by the BBC, had already reported similar suspicions.

"These are serious allegations, and allegations of criminal activity must be forwarded to the Australian Federal Police" told Reuters a spokesman for the Australian Communications Minister Stephen Conroy.

News Ltd, the Australian arm of News Corp., on Wednesday condemned the accusations.

"This story is full of factual inaccuracies, references imperfect conclusions fanciful and unfounded accusations, which were rejected by foreign courts," it said in a statement. 

Operational Security was a branch of NDS, a subsidiary of News Corp. specializes in signal encryption, a crucial activity for pay-TV channels.

Since the broadcast of Panorama, NDS has denied "ever having been in possession of codes for the purpose of promoting piracy" and News Corp., who sold this month at Cisco Systems for five billion dollars, said accepting "full" insurance provided by its former subsidiary.

HACKERS AND FORMER INTELLIGENCE

But according to the Australian Financial Review, Operational Security employees, former police officers or intelligence officers, allegedly recruited "hackers" computer to decipher codes or access cards provided by pay channels competing for their subscribers. These codes were then sold on the black market via "yes cards" to monitor programs encrypted channels without paying a penny.

The Australian Financial Review suggests a shortfall amounting to millions of dollars and says that these actions reduced the value of competitors like DirecTV in the U.S. or Telepiu in Italy, a former subsidiary of Canal Plus, facilitating their acquisitions at low cost by News Corp.

These charges echo the report released Monday by the BBC as part of its documentary program. According to the journalists of Panorama, NDS would have hired a consultant to broadcast via its website access codes to ITV Digital, a competitor to Sky TV, which then belonged to Murdoch.

ITV Digital, which has accumulated difficulties at launch (rivalry between shareholders, lack of flagship programs, price war with BSkyB), disappeared in 2002.

"These allegations, if proved, are the most serious to date," said British MP Tom Watson, who took the Ofcom, the UK media regulation and communication. "If what Panorama says is true, this suggests the existence of a global conspiracy to undermine a major British company, ITV Digital," he told Reuters on Tuesday.

A COMPLAINT OF CANAL PLUS WAIVED IN 2003

The Australian Financial Review, owned by Fairfax Media, a rival to News Corp in Australia, said particular rely on 14,400 emails found on the hard drive of a laptop qu'utilisait Ray Adams responsible for Europe NDS Operational Security from January 1996 to May 2002.

"Nothing suggests that Sky or News Corp. knew what was NDS. But if all this turned out, the News Corp. will end up once again accused of behaving so anything less than appropriate, "said Steve Hewlett, consultant specializing in the IR dias

. In the past, NDS has already been the subject of several lawsuits for alleged piracy ….

….. In 2002, Canal Plus had requested $ 3 billion in damages. The French group, which had provided its ITV Digital signal encryption technologies, NDS accused of having "cracked" the code and using them to fuiter internet.

Canal Plus withdrew its lawsuit in 2003, when News Corp. bought by Vivendi, the parent company of Canal, the Italian television channel Telepiu, renamed Sky Italia.

In other court records, NDS has been largely exempt from acts he was charged and was even awarded this month $ 19 million compensation after rejection of a complaint by the U.S. provider of satellite TV EchoStar and Swiss digital security company Kudelski.

Enhanced lending capacity of bailout funds in the euro area would reassure markets, which are not persuaded that the debt crisis is over and fear of further declines in ratings, estimates Klaus Regling, who heads the European Financial Stability Fund (EFSF).

"More money would reassure markets, wrongly or rightly, large numbers subside," said Regling, in an interview published Sunday by the German magazine Focus.

Finance ministers of the euro area (Eurogroup) will meet in Copenhagen on 30 and 31 March to decide whether to increase the lending capacity of the bailout mechanism euro area.

That of the EFSF is 500 billion euros. 

Der Spiegel reported on its side that German Chancellor Angela Merkel, strongly opposed to increased firepower of European aid mechanism, is currently changing his opinion, con frequency of pressure from its European partners and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

According to Spiegel, Merkel and Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble agreed that the EFSF and its successor the European Stability Mechanism (MES), could both be operational during a transitional period. 

Two possibilities are being studied: group the 500 billion euros of MES with 200 billion euros of EFSF already set aside for Greece, Portugal and Ireland; combine EFSF and MY ability to reach a loan of 940 billion euros.

A spokesman for the Ministry of Finance would not comment on the Spiegel article but said, about the Eurogroup meeting at the end of the month: "Discussions are continuing but we were hopeful that a solution will materialize at the Copenhagen meeting, which satisfies everyone. "

'The bailouts did not cost a penny to Germany. The idea that money is lost forever is false, they are ready, to be repaid, "argues his side Regling, adding that Germany has benefited from the crisis in the euro area, to the extent that borrowing costs have fallen

.

Emirates Airline Airbus account to claim compensation for cracks appeared on the jumbo A380, the Financial Times on Friday.

"From a business perspective, this is a horrendous experience. It has caused many difficulties in trade and we are not very happy with how it happened, "says the FT President Tim Clark of Emirates. He adds

Emirates expects to lose up to 90 million by the end of March due to the immobilization of the A380, which began in January

. Emirates has found cracks on the ten A380s that have been inspected to , but now all of 21 aircraft from the fleet will be subject to repairs, said Tim Clark

. President Emirates Airbus accuses of having initially denied the extent of the problem, while recognizing that the manufacturer was working now to rectify the situation …… Emirates has yet

… 69 A380s on order. 

Airbus was not immediately available.

Group management Peugeot Citroën confirmed Wednesday that alliance projects from an article by LaTribune.fr evoking discussions in the finals with General Motors.

After had tried to ally with Japan's Mitsubishi, having denied rumors of a partnership with Fiat, PSA Peugeot Citroen acknowledged Wednesday review "projects of cooperation and alliances" but did not specify with whom the French group was under discussion. These statements came as the site reported Tuesday LaTribune.fr advanced negotiations for a marriage with General Motors. The U.S. giant has also refused to confirm specific talks, merely referring to regular discussions with automakers.

The site is LaTribune.fr meanwhile status talks between General Motors and PSA "started several months ago" and "entered their final phase." He cites a confidential source that these discussions are "advanced" and are "an alliance, not ad hoc cooperation." They "have not yet been successful, there is no agreement at this stage," said the source.

Finding the right partner

PSA has denied rumors in January in the Italian press for a merger with Italy's Fiat-Chrysler. But the new director of the brands is the French sector, Frederic Saint-Geours, had indicated that PSA was "quite open" to the idea of ​​a marriage, provided "the right partner." "For now, there is no alliance in progress", he added.

Two years ago, PSA had attempted to ally with Japan's Mitsubishi, but the operation had failed. The project was buried in March 2010. The press then reported a reluctance on the Peugeot family, which holds 30.3% stake to 45.74% of voting rights. Sales of French number one industry, and number two in Europe, suffered in 2011 from the poor health of the European car market.

PSA wants to expand internationally. But there is lack of funding and somewhat isolated on the world stage, in front of Volkswagen, GM, Toyota or Nissan Alliance, said LaTribune.fr. Partner with the world number one what General Motors, which posted record profits last year, could be a solution, according to the website.

An announcement could be made in early March at the Motor Show of Geneva, according LaTribune.fr.

The Greek government on Saturday approved the final version of the austerity measures demanded by the EU and the IMF to release an aid package of 130 billion euros .

The government approval was a formality after the adoption, last week, a series of measures aimed at saving 325 million euros including through reductions of wages, salaries and pensions.

"These austerity measures were approved unanimously," said one minister, who requested anonymity. 

The government during the same meeting set for March 8 opening date of the exchange of Greek sovereign bonds held by private creditors, with the hope to complete the operation before March 11, said an official source.

This exchange will result in a discount of 70% of the real value of debt held by private investors.

The Greek government hopes that these initiatives will enable the adoption of the bailout by member countries of the eurozone at their summit in Brussels on Monday.

"The Greeks did everything they could and we are committed to keeping our commitments," said Minister of Public Order, Christos Papoutsis. 

Prime Minister Lucas Papademos said in a statement regretted having to solve a new lower pensions but assured that the impact of this measure would remain limited as it only concerns a pension exceeding 1,300 euros.

"We all agree that the support of economic activity is our priority," he added, without specifying what measures he intends to eventually take to restore growth.

A poll for the Sunday newspaper Realnews, 72.7% of Greeks want a continuation of Greece in the euro area, but only half of them think it will get there.

France is already in recession and is expected to slow growth of 0.3% in 2012 according to the OECD considers it essential to save 0.4% of additional GDP. 8 billion euros.

The OECD has drastically revised down its growth forecast Monday for France, which would be barely positive in 2012 after a "short" recession, a situation that "requires" a new anti-deficit to take the international commitment of Paris. Far from the 1% growth still officially expected by the French government next year, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development is no longer considering a meager increase of 0.3% of GDP in its latest economic forecast delivery biannual. Six months ago, it expected 2.1% but still on the deepening crisis in the euro area has been through it.

The recession that know France in the fourth quarter 2011 and first quarter 2012 would be "small scale", according to the organization. But faced with these projections, the poorest to date of an international institution, it urges Paris to a new fiscal tightening. "Given the slowdown in economic growth and the increasing burden of debt," the goal of returning the public deficit to 4.5% of GDP in 2012 "will require new measures of fiscal consolidation," says she said.

"We would suggest a further fiscal consolidation to achieve the desired objective," confirmed its chief economist Pier Carlo Padoan, during a press conference.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has extended its credit instruments Tuesday and announced the creation of a new liquidity line to six months to support the country weakened by the European budget crisis.

The IMF said that the new line Precaution and Liquidity would act as "insurance against future shocks and as a window for short-term liquidity to meet the needs."

This new line will provide access to liquidity to finance six months, up to five times the quota of the member country concerned, and may also be used as part of an arrangement for a period of 12 to 24 months with this time access up to 10 times the quota of the country.

The IMF also created a new Financial Instrument for Rapid countries with balance of payments is facing urgent needs due to "external shocks" such as natural disasters.

"We acted quickly and the new instruments will respond more quickly and efficiently for the benefit of all members (IMF)," said Executive Director of the IMF, Christine Lagarde said in a statement.

On the occasion of the International Forum of Culture of Avignon, the company publishes Tera Consultant on Thursday a report claiming that a city that invests 0.7% of GDP per capita in the culture can hope to gain in return for 9% of the same GDP per capita. The Palais des Papes in Avignon

The International Forum for Culture Avignon began Thursday. On this occasion, the society of economic expertise and strategic Tera Consultant, in partnership with consulting firm Kurt Solomon, published a report on the impact of spending on culture of cities, based on criteria such as the migration rate, the number of visitors, the number of cultural sites of all types (including universities) and the share of cultural spending in GDP, studied in 47 cities on 21 countries.

Spending on culture of the cities studied are, on average, 0.7% of GDP per capita.

The Prime Minister had offered his resignation from the government if his ministers to help get the vote of confidence tonight. It would then form a unity government with the right. Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou at the EU summit of June 23, 2011.

The Prime Minister was prepared to resign, reports Reuters. The agency, quoting government sources said that Papandreou would have reached an agreement with his ministers in which he agrees to resign if his ministers are supporting the vote of confidence to be held on the night of Friday Saturday. Which would be for the Prime Minister an honorable exit after the controversy in his own party on the usefulness of the referendum that Papandreou wanted to implement.

France is preparing to revise its growth forecast for 2012, currently set at 1.75% of GDP, writes Le Figaro Friday, citing a source within the government.

The announcement would follow the warning earlier this week by the rating agency Moody's on the signing of the French debt and that made Thursday by Germany, to review its own growth forecast for the year year.

Economists on average expect a French growth around 0.9% of GDP in 2012.

"We know that we are above the consensus of economists and we are prepared to adapt and make the necessary budgetary measures, as did the Germans," says the government source quoted by Le Figaro.

The decision to review the press the growth forecast for 2012 is little doubt but France has yet to define the timing and scope of this review, writes Le Figaro.

Moody's announced that it would evaluate within three months the stability of the Aaa rating enjoyed by the French sovereign debt and allows France to borrow at lower cost in the financial markets.

This period of three months should assess the impact on French public finances of an agreement – or lack of understanding – of the countries in the euro area over the settlement of the debt crisis in general and the Greek problem in particular.

The topic will be the focus of European Council discussions on Sunday, which means to increase the power of the European financial stability and improve European governance should be the order of the day, and a plan recapitalization of European banks.

Francois Fillon said this week that the austerity measures it announced in August, based on a growth forecast of 1.75% next year, would still be effective for growth of around 1.5 %.

The prime minister did not rule out the need to introduce more rigor in the event that growth in France would be even lower.

The government has committed a reduction of tax loopholes to allow France to achieve its objectives to reduce its public deficit to 4.5% of GDP in 2012, 3% in 2013 and 2% in 2014.