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The Syrian Pound’s Black Market Moves are a Futures Contract on Bashar Al Assad - MoneyBeat - WSJ
▻http://blogs.wsj.com/moneybeat/2016/04/01/the-syrian-pounds-black-market-moves-are-a-futures-contract-on-bashar-al-

Sur la chute récente de la livre syrienne.

Most of the drop came in one steep leg from March 15 to March 27, following Russian President Vladimir Putin’s surprise announcement that Russia was to begin withdrawing its military presence from the country.

An earlier dip seemed to follow reports that Saudi Arabia would consider deploying troops inside the country. Both circumstances were perceived as bad news for Mr. Assad.

It’s not the first time that black-market currencies have shadowed military and political developments.

Vour aussi : ▻http://syriadirect.org/news/syrian-pound-meets-%E2%80%98a-bout-of-extreme-weakness%E2%80%99-after-m

#syrie

Rupture d’un barrage au #Brésil : #BHP_Billiton et #Vale impliqués dans un désastre environnemental historique
▻http://multinationales.org/Rupture-d-un-barrage-au-Bresil-BHP-Billiton-et-Vale-impliques-dans-

Une double rupture de barrages plonge le Minas Gerais au Brésil dans ce qui pourrait être la plus grande catastrophe environnementale d’origine industrielle que ce pays ait jamais connue. La catastrophe s’est produite le jeudi 5 novembre à la mine de fer Germano, exploitée par l’entreprise Samarco, filiale de BHP Billiton et Vale. Des bassins contenant des déchets de la mine ont cédé, déversant un « tsunami de boue » qui a inondé la région. Onze personnes sont mortes, dont sept ont été identifiées, et (...)

Actualités

/ #Industries_extractives, Brésil, #Gresea, Vale, BHP Billiton, #Industries_extractives, #influence, #industries_extractives, #impact_social, #impact_sur_l'environnement, #responsabilité_juridique_des_entreprises, (...)

#eau
« ▻http://www.afp.com/fr/info/coulee-de-boue-au-bresil-etat-durgence-pour-200-communes »
« ▻http://cobertura.brasildefato.com.br »
« ▻http://presrepublica.jusbrasil.com.br/legislacao/256176296/decreto-8572-15 »
« ▻http://blogs.wsj.com/briefly/2015/11/08/5-questions-facing-bhp-following-deadly-brazil-spill »
« ►http://www.gresea.be »
« ▻http://www.gresea.be/spip.php?article1447 »

Q&A: How Does the Syrian Refugee Screening Process Work?
▻http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2015/11/18/qa-how-does-the-syrian-refugee-screening-process-work/?mod=WSJBlog

Q: What kind of screenings do Syrian refugees go through?

A: Refugees from all countries receive “the most rigorous screening and security vetting of any category of traveler to the United States,” a senior administration official told reporters Tuesday. That process includes biographic and biometric security checks – i.e. checking records and doing fingerprinting. Law enforcement, the Pentagon and the intelligence community all vet information provided by and obtained about refugees to help make a determination about whether they will ultimately be allowed to come to the U.S. Syrian refugees go through an enhanced review process on top of that with extra national security checks. All Syrian refugees considered for resettlement in the U.S. are interviewed in person by specially trained staff, mostly in Amman and Istanbul, but also in Cairo and elsewhere. Refugees must also undergo health screenings and a cultural orientation before they arrive in the U.S.

Q: How long does it take?

A: The process usually takes between 18 to 24 months and generally begins with a referral from the U.N. refugee agency. Those referrals include biographic and other information that the Department of Homeland Security uses to determine if the cases meet the criteria for refugee status. If DHS decides a refugee qualifies on one of five protected grounds – race, religion, nationalist, political views or belonging to a certain social group, the extensive screening processes described earlier begin. For comparison, an international student seeking to study in the U.S., for example, usually schedules a consular interview three to five months in advance of beginning schooling.

Q: Who are the Syrian refugees coming to the U.S.?

A: Half of the Syrian refugees resettled in the U.S. so far are children, according to a senior administration official. Of the rest, 2.5% are adults over 60 and 2% are single men. The refugees are roughly half men and half women, with slightly more men.

#migrants #réfugiés #Syrie #Etats-Unis #sécurité

Google’s ‘Don’t Be Evil’ Becomes Alphabet’s ‘Do the Right Thing’ - Digits - WSJ
▻http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2015/10/02/as-google-becomes-alphabet-dont-be-evil-vanishes

http://si.wsj.net/public/resources/images/BN-KP367_google_P_20151002191657.jpg

Google’s code of conduct, of course, is best-known for its first line, which was also included in Google’s 2004 filing for its initial public offering: “Don’t be evil.”

Alphabet’s code doesn’t include that phrase. Instead, it says employees of Alphabet and its subsidiaries “should do the right thing – follow the law, act honorably, and treat each other with respect.”

“Don’t be evil” marked Google’s aspiration to be a different company. But the phrase also has been held up by critics who say Google has not always lived up to it.

#veille #GAFA

The Typical Male U.S. Worker Earned Less in 2014 Than in 1973
▻http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2015/09/18/the-typical-male-u-s-worker-earned-less-in-2014-than-in-1973

http://si.wsj.net/public/resources/images/BN-KJ323_Median_G_20150918120116.jpg http://s1.epi.org/files/91664-figA-body.png

Mom Throws Dream Party for Personal Injury Lawyer-Obsessed Toddler
▻http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2015/07/28/mom-throws-dream-party-for-personal-injury-lawyer-obsessed-toddler

http://si.wsj.net/public/resources/images/BN-JP437_morris_G_20150728171038.jpg

Congratulations, Class of 2015. You’re the Most Indebted Ever (For Now) - Real Time Economics - WSJ
▻http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2015/05/08/congratulations-class-of-2015-youre-the-most-indebted-ever-for-now

http://si.wsj.net/public/resources/images/BN-II029_STUDEB_G_20150508083923.jpg

The average class of 2015 graduate with student-loan debt will have to pay back a little more than $35,000, according to an analysis of government data by Mark Kantrowitz, publisher at Edvisors, a group of websites about planning and paying for college. Even adjusted for inflation, that’s still more than twice the amount borrowers had to pay back two decades earlier.

#dettes #Etats-unis

Russia and China Pledge Not to Hack Each Other - Digits - WSJ

▻http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2015/05/08/russia-china-pledge-to-not-hack-each-other

Pacte de non-agression sur Internet :) (c’est déjà ça...)

http://si.wsj.net/public/resources/images/CN-AA315_Putin_G_20150507232829.jpg

MOSCOW—If the U.S. intelligence community believes that Russia poses a greater cyber spying threat than China, what will it make of this?

Russia and China signed a cyber-security deal on Friday, which experts say could firm up Russia’s ties with the east and may become a foundation for binding cyber security ties in the future.

According to the text of the agreement posted on the Russian government’s website on Wednesday, Russia and China agree to not conduct cyber-attacks against each other, as well as jointly counteract technology that may “destabilize the internal political and socio-economic atmosphere,” ”disturb public order” or “interfere with the internal affairs of the state.”

Thoughts on Gender Equality in Tech, Interrupted - Digits - WSJ
▻http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2015/03/16/thoughts-on-gender-equality-in-tech-interrupted

Google Executive Chairman #Eric_Schmidt had a lot to say Monday about the lack of racial and gender diversity in the technology industry.

In fact, Schmidt had so much to say that he often interrupted and spoke over his co-panelist, Megan Smith, the U.S.’s chief technology officer and a former Google executive. The two appeared on a panel at the South by Southwest conference in Austin, Tex.

(...) Toward the end of the session, one woman in the audience asked the two to address how personality biases in men and women affect workplace dynamics. She noted that Schmidt repeatedly talked over his former colleague — prompting applause from a full exhibit hall.

#femmes #technologie #pousse-toi-de-là

Japan Space Agency Advances in Space-Based Solar Power - Japan Real Time - WSJ
▻http://blogs.wsj.com/japanrealtime/2015/03/09/japan-space-agency-takes-step-forward-in-space-based-solar-power

http://si.wsj.net/public/resources/images/BN-HH514_jsolar_P_20150308231541.jpg

In space-based solar power generation, sunlight is gathered in geostationary orbit and transmitted to a receiver on earth. (...)

satellite-based solar panels can capture the energy around the clock and are not affected by weather conditions.

If implemented, microwave-transmitting solar satellites would be set up approximately 35,000 kilometers from earth. Jaxa says that a receiver set up on earth with an approximately three-kilometer radius could create up to one gigawatt of electricity, which is about the same as one nuclear reactor.

#énergie #solaire #espace #faut_bien_viser

Le constructeur de PC ripou #Lenovo livre ses poubelles avec un #adware pré-installé, quoi vous affiche des pubs dans vos sessions Web. Bien pire, le navigateur est pré-configuré avec une Autorité de Certification pirate (#SuperFish), ce qui permet de casser TLS (attaque de l’Homme du Milieu) et donc de mettre les pubs même sur les sessions HTTPS.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B-LnO_4CUAAHo5c.png

Seule solution : reformater tout PC acheté et y mettre un système d’exploitation de confiance (en attendant que les entreprises capitalistes mettent le malware dans le BIOS).

#publicité #X.509 #sécurité_informatique

L’alerte initiale (mais qui était passée inaperçue) ▻https://forums.lenovo.com/t5/Lenovo-P-Y-and-Z-series/Lenovo-Pre-instaling-adware-spam-Superfish-powerd-by/m-p/1863174

Un bon résumé ►http://thenextweb.com/insider/2015/02/19/lenovo-caught-installing-adware-new-computers

La discussion chez Mozilla pour savoir comment gérer ce genre de piratages ▻https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1134506 (avec une copie du certificat pirate)

Pourquoi est-ce gravissime pour la sécurité ▻http://marcrogers.org/2015/02/19/lenovo-installs-adware-on-customer-laptops-and-compromises-all-ssl

The 4 types of #audio that people share, from explainers to sounds that make you go “Whoa!”
▻http://www.niemanlab.org/2015/01/from-explainers-to-sounds-that-make-you-go-whoa-the-4-types-of-audio-that

How can public #radio make audio that breaks big on social media? A NPR experiment identified what makes a piece of audio go viral.

#viralité cc @booz @intempestive

Facebook Touts Its ‘Economic Impact’ but Economists Question Numbers | WSJ, REED ALBERGOTTI, 20/01/2015
▻http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2015/01/20/facebook-touts-its-economic-impact-but-economists-question-numbers

http://si.wsj.net/public/resources/images/BN-GM627_fbdelo_P_20150118230533.jpg

A report commissioned by #Facebook concludes that the social network was responsible for $227 billion in global economic impact, and 4.5 million jobs, in the year ended October 2014, roughly equal to the gross domestic product of Portugal. The report was prepared by the consulting firm Deloitte.

(…) “The results are meaningless,” Stanford economist Roger Noll said in an email. “Facebook is an effect, not a cause, of the growth of Internet access and use.”

(…) The study also estimated that Facebook is responsible for 16% of smartphone sales. Ana Aguilar, the Deloitte director who oversaw the study, cited a European survey in which 16% of respondents said they could not live without social media.

She said the study relied on statistics from #Facebook as well as qualitative discussions with Facebook about its economic impact on the world. Some of the details of the study are confidential. For instance, Aguilar would not reveal the estimated value of a single “#Like.”

via @antoniocasilli qui commente : « En 2014, Facebook aurait créé 4,5 millions d’emplois rémunérés… à partir du #digital_labor gratuit d’1,3 milliard d’utilisateurs ! »

How Davos Has Grown – The Numbers - WSJ

▻http://blogs.wsj.com/briefly/2015/01/20/how-davos-has-grown-the-numbers-the-numbers

http://si.wsj.net/public/resources/images/BN-GN264_davos0_P_20150120120617.jpg

Quelques chiffres sur Davos (en plus @cdb_77 signalait que 1700 jets privés étaient attendus à Zurich/Davos...

The politicians, business leaders and celebrities in attendance at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, give the annual event its buzz. A look at the guest list from 2005 to 2014, the years for which data was released, shows how the event has grown.

Source: World Economic Forum

#Xinhua: “#CharlieHebdo attack shows need for #press limits”. ▻http://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2015/01/12/charlie-hebdo-attack-shows-need-for-press-limits-xinhua-says #journalisme #Chine #China

No Chinese official representative participated in sunday’s gathering, so at least they are not hypocrites.

Ça faisait longtemps que Charlie Hebdo ne faisait plus rire, aujourd’hui il fait pleurer. | quartierslibres
►http://quartierslibres.wordpress.com/2015/01/07/ca-faisait-longtemps-que-charlie-hebdo-ne-faisait-plus-ri

Il est minuit moins le quart dans le siècle. Nous sommes à un point de bascule historique sur l’islamophobie et le déchaînement du racisme en France et plus largement en Europe. La lecture simplifiée à l’extrême par les médias de cette journée du 7 janviers 2015 va se résumer et s’imprimer dans de nombreux cerveaux « par l’attaque meurtrière contre un journal « de Gauche » par des Musulmans. Cela va déstabiliser et retourner des positionnements politiques. La Peur, la colère, la tétanie, l’incompréhension, la panique morale vont chez certains laisser largement place à la Haine.

Is Global Poverty Falling? Not in Absolute Terms - Real Time Economics - WSJ
▻http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2015/01/02/is-global-poverty-falling-not-in-absolute-terms

http://si.wsj.net/public/resources/images/BN-EJ938_SWAZ09_G_20140904120822.jpg

Economic growth and social policies have helped pull millions out of poverty in the developing world. Or have they?

The often-heard narrative is based on data from the World Bank showing a sharp reduction in the number of people living below $1.25 per day, adjusted for inflation.

However, new research suggests a deeper look into poverty statistics paints a different picture. While there has been progress in reducing the number of people living below the poverty line, this has been achieved largely by raising those considered ultrapoor to just above the poverty line, rather than by boosting the standard of living of the poor more broadly, according to a paper from Martin Ravallion, economist at Georgetown University’s Center for Economic Research.

“There has been very little absolute gain for the poorest,” Mr. Ravallion writes in a new working paper from the National Bureau of Economic Research. “Using an absolute approach to identifying the floor, the increase in the level of the floor seen over the last 30 years or so has been small—far less than the growth in mean consumption.”

The author cites Mahatma Gandhi and the late philosopher John Rawls as a basis for looking at poverty in absolute rather than comparative terms.

“Recall the face of the poorest and the weakest man whom you may have seen, and ask yourself if the step you contemplate is going to be of any use to him,” the paper cites Mr. Gandhi as saying in 1948. “Will he gain anything by it?”

According to the data, the answer so far is not very much.

Wealth inequality has widened along racial, ethnic lines since end of Great Recession
▻http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/12/12/racial-wealth-gaps-great-recession

http://www.pewresearch.org/files/2014/12/FT_14.12.11_wealthGap2.png

Pour ce photographe de vues aériennes les drones ne valent rien.

Luftfotograf Rose : « Wenn man abstürzt, dann direkt in die Leute » | heise Foto
▻http://www.heise.de/foto/artikel/Luftfotograf-Rose-Wenn-man-abstuerzt-dann-direkt-in-die-Leute-2462226.html?sei

http://www.heise.de/foto/imgs/13/1/3/8/3/1/2/3/antoine_rose01_ho_2zu1-eb1bb83d00d17eb1.jpeg

Drohnen können nicht so lange in der Luft bleiben, vielleicht so 20 Minuten, dann ist der Akku leer. Außerdem finde ich sie ziemlich gefährlich. Wir wären fast einmal mit einer Drohne zusammengestoßen. Wenn sie in die Flügel des Helikopters gekommen wäre, dann hätten wir abstürzen können. Und neulich habe ich gelesen, wie ein junger Mann, der eine Drohne bedient hat, gestorben ist. Die Flügel haben ihm den Kopf abgetrennt. (keh)

En plus c’est vrai :

Remote Controlled Helicopter Kills Man in Brooklyn
▻http://blogs.wsj.com/metropolis/2013/09/05/remote-control-helicopter-kills-man-in-brooklyn

http://s.wsj.net/public/resources/images/OB-YU509_nyheli_DV_20130905182030.jpg

Mr. Pirozek – depicted in the above YouTube video he posted in July — was flying a remote-controlled helicopter worth about $2,000 when it struck him, cutting off the top of his head, the official said. The Woodhaven, Queens, resident was pronounced dead at the scene.

#drones

Arabie Saoudite/Bourse : La 2ème plus importante introduction en bourse de 2014 a été faite par le royaume – WSJ

▻http://blogs.wsj.com/briefly/2014/11/06/why-the-second-largest-ipo-this-year-has-come-out-of-saudi-arabia-the-sho

The $6 billion initial public offering of Saudi Arabia’s National Commercial Bank (NCB) that ended earlier this week was oversubscribed as retail investors in the kingdom placed orders worth more than 23 times the shares offered, despite religious controversy that made some investors hesitant at the beginning. The IPO was the world’s second largest this year after Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.’s $25 billion IPO and the largest ever in the Middle East.

How big was this IPO?
About 1.25 million people ordered shares at a total value of 310.7 billion Saudi riyals ($82.8 billion) for the 300 million shares, or 15% of the bank’s stock, offered to retail investors. An additional 10% of the bank was allocated to the kingdom’s Public Pension Agency.

Why was this IPO heavily oversubscribed?
NCB is Saudi Arabia’s largest bank by assets. When the government announced earlier this year that it would sell some of its shares in the lender, investors were highly anticipating it as this was the country’s first IPO since 2008. The IPO was also attractively priced, at 45 Saudi riyals ($12) per share, as the oil-rich kingdom often uses such share sales in government-controlled companies to distribute wealth among its citizens.
Did international investors participate?
No, this share sale was limited to Saudi citizens as foreigners currently are only allowed to participate in the Saudi stock market indirectly through swaps. However, this will change because the government plans to open the country’s market, capitalized at $530 billion, to direct investment by international investors in the first half of 2015. It is expected to draw hundreds of millions of dollars in investment to the kingdom.
What’s behind the religious controversy surrounding the IPO?
NCB, like most banks around the world, takes interests on loans. This practice is forbidden in Islam. That’s why a number of Saudi senior clerics said it wasn’t permissible to take part in the IPO. A Sharia committee appointed by the bank later said it was fine to buy shares in the IPO because NCB plans to become a fully Islamic bank in the near future. Still, the controversy resulted in a slow start to the IPO, with 80% of the orders coming in the last day.

Débat sur la licéité :

Halal ? Réactions mitigées en Arabie Saoudite concernant l’introduction en bourse de 6 milliards de $ de la National Commercial Bank. Il s’agirait de la plus grande opération de ce type du monde arabe - WSJ

▻►http://blogs.wsj.com/middleeast/2014/10/14/ncbs-6-billion-ipo-plan-evokes-mixed-reactions-in-saudi-arabia

Several senior clerics expressed their disapproval of the $6 billion IPO because the bank takes interests on loans, a practice that is considered haram or forbidden in Islamic economic jurisprudence, while others saw the IPO as a test for the public’s trust in the government as it sells some of its shares.

Sur @OrientXXI Le Coran, le capitalisme et les musulmans - Rodinson ►http://orientxxi.info/lu-vu-entendu/le-coran-le-capitalisme-et-les,0568