2009-01-07T05:05:05Z AFNOR Copyright 2009, AFNOR SPHPBLOG
L'exposition professionnelle au froid, naturel ou artificiel, peut se rencontrer dans de nombreuses situations professionnelles. Les principaux effets sur la santé d'une exposition directe au froid sont l'hypothermie et l'engelure, ainsi qu'un risque accru de troubles musculosquelettiques (TMS).

Il faut être particulièrement vigilant dès que la température ambiante est inférieure à 5 °C. Un certain nombre d'accidents sont évitables si une prévention adaptée est mise en place. Ce dossier fait le point sur le sujet, propose une grille d'évaluation du risque et des pistes opérationnelles de prévention (conception et aménagement des situations de travail, organisation du travail au froid, formation et information, mise à disposition de vêtements de protections adaptés).

Le dossier de l'INRS:
www.inrs.fr/dossiers/froid.html
]]> http://www.enjeux.org/index.php?entry=entry090106-172235 2009-01-06T00:00:00Z 2009-01-06T00:00:00Z
Brazil's National Institute of Space Investigations (INPE) has begun additional tests on two satellites that are expected to be launched in five years as part of a joint program with China.
The INPE announced on its web site Sunday that scientists are testing dynamic resistance, sine-wave and acoustic vibrations on the satellites of the Chinese-Brazilian Remote Vigilance Program (CBERS).

The tests are being conducted in the INPE labs in the southern city of Sao Jose dos Campos. The satellites CBERS-3 and CBERS-4 are scheduled to be launched in 2010 and 2013 respectively.

The CBERS program was established in 1988 to allow China and Brazil to develop, build, launch and operate satellites together.

The first satellite, CBERS-1, was launched in 1999 and operated for four years till August 2003. A second one, CBERS-2, was launched in 2003, and fulfilled its five-year mission in orbit on Oct. 22. CBERS-2B, the third of its kind, was launched on Sept. 19,2007.

The CBERS is currently part of the world's main Earth-observing mission program that includes the U.S. Landsat, the French Spot and the Indian Resource Sat.

Brazil uses satellite images to monitor the deforestation of the Amazons and to get agricultural information.

Brazil this year also started to provide free satellite images to Latin American and African countries.

]]> http://www.enjeux.org/index.php?entry=entry090106-172137 2009-01-06T00:00:00Z 2009-01-06T00:00:00Z
Two years ago, some Republican lawmakers floated a proposal to require all undocumented workers wishing to become Americans to first return to their countries of origin and apply for U.S. citizenship.
Here's how Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano characterized that proposal in a February 2007 speech at the National Press Club: "What a joke."
"That would be like asking everyone who lives in New York City and Los Angeles to get up and move," Napolitano said, noting that many of those workers risked their lives to come to the United States or were brought here as children, and have children who are themselves U.S. citizens. "That presumes we have the administrative and legal infrastructure to handle such a mass exodus. We don't."

"We must have the courage to talk openly and honestly with the American people about the need to address immigration. And we must have federal legislation that is reality-based," Napolitano said.
As President-elect Barack Obama's choice to lead the Homeland Security Department, Napolitano will have an opportunity to pursue reality-based proposals of her own. Some of them are likely to involve the Secure Border Initiative, the Bush administration's multi-year plan for reducing illegal immigration and bolstering protections at U.S. borders.

"I think the new administration is clearly going to look at the whole SBI program and see what is the best strategy going forward," said John Mayer, a vice president at consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton in McLean, Va. "Gov. Napolitano is very familiar with border operations and the impact SBI has had on the states."
As a former federal prosecutor and border-state governor, Napolitano has an understanding of the security and economic implications of what she has called failed federal immigration and security policies. In mid-2006, with an estimated 4,000 immigrants then crossing Arizona's 376-mile border from Mexico every day, she declared a state of emergency and deployed the National Guard.
But Napolitano also has been critical of the physical barrier the Bush administration has been building along much of the southwest border. "As I often say, 'You show me a 50-foot wall, and I'll show you a 51-foot ladder,'" Napolitano told the Press Club audience.

Mayer believes any redirection of SBI needs to be risk-based. "There are a lot of ways you can do border security. You can build fences, hire more Border Patrol agents, use unmanned aerial vehicles and cameras. None of these by themselves is the right answer, yet if they're integrated into a program that you balance with risk analytics, I think you can come up with a pretty sound border protection program that will not only work but be efficient in terms of allocation of resources," he said.

Homeland Security needs to do a better job of developing strategies and plans that are integrated across agencies within the department, according to Mayer. For example, he said, border security strategy must involve support from DHS' Immigration and Customs Enforcement bureau, not just the Border Patrol and Customs and Border Protection.
"A new secretary has the opportunity to be able to start with what's been accomplished over the last five years and really push this concept of one department in terms of how they collectively look at the missions across the department," Mayer said.

]]> http://www.enjeux.org/index.php?entry=entry090106-171529 2009-01-06T00:00:00Z 2009-01-06T00:00:00Z
Dr. James E. Hansen, director of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, speaks in July 2008 at the National Press Club to mark the 20th anniversary of the "Hansen Hearing,

" the Senate Energy Committee's hearing on climate change, which marked the first time a top climate scientist declared that global temperatures had risen beyond the range of natural variability.

James Hansen, one of the world’s most eminent climate scientists, and his wife, Anniek, have written an open letter to Barack and Michelle Obama on the urgency of the need to halt global warming.
The four-page letter which Hansen has asked Mr. Obama’s science adviser, John Holdren, to forward to the president-elect, warns of the “profound disconnect between actions that policy circles are considering and what the science demands for preservation of the planet.”
Mr. Hansen, who heads NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies and is an adjunct professor in earth sciences at Columbia University, testified before the Senate in 1988 about the dangers of greenhouse gases and is largely responsible for first introducing the concept of global warming to the American public.
“Factories of Death”

The Hansens propose a three-pronged approach to tackling the climate crisis. First, they call for a moratorium on all new coal-fired power plants that do not effectively capture carbon dioxide emissions (a technology that has yet to be proven reliable). Burning coal, they point out, releases more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere than all other fossil fuels combined. Phasing out coal, they say, “is the sine qua non for solving the climate problem.”
They predict that the continued construction of coal plants would raise atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations to the point at which one million species would be driven to extinction, which roughly works out to 400 species per plant. “Coal plants,” they write “are factories of death.”
An accumulated burnings tax
Second, they call for a straightforward, revenue-neutral carbon tax, as opposed to cap-and-trade mechanisms. The tax would apply to all oil, gas, and coal at the well-head or at the point of entry, so that it would affect all goods that rely on fossil fuels. One hundred percent of the revenue from the tax would be redistributed equally, with monthly deposits in citizen’s bank accounts. Such a tax, they argue, would penalize those with high carbon footprints and reward those with low ones. They write:

No large bureaucracy is needed. A person reducing his carbon footprint more than average makes money. A person with large cars and a big house will pay a tax much higher than the dividend. Not one cent goes to Washington. No lobbyists will be supported. Unlike cap-and-trade, no millionaires would be made at the expense of the public.

The Hansens also point out that this scheme would discourage illegal immigration and encourage naturalization “because everybody pays the tax, but only legal citizens collect the dividend.” (They don’t mention that this plan would also penalize foreign students and resident aliens.)
A carbon tax is something of a hard sell in today’s political climate. Obama prefers a cap-and-trade plan as did his rival, John McCain, along with much of the political establishment. And the ball is already rolling on cap-and-trade: On Jan. 1. the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative a carbon-trading plan with mandatory emissions caps, went into effect for 10 northeastern states.
But the notion still has some friends in high places. According to the Carbon Tax Center supporters of carbon taxes include Steven Chu, Obama’s Energy Secretary-designate; Lawrence Summers, who will head the White House’s National Economic Council; and Rex Tillerson, the CEO of Exxon-Mobil, to name a few.
Former vice president Al Gore supports replacing the personal income tax with a carbon tax. “We should tax what we burn, not what we earn he likes to say.
A green nuke deal
The third prong in the Hansens’s approach is nuclear power. They propose greatly increasing R&D for so-called fourth-generation nuclear power technology, which is designed to improve safety and greatly minimize nuclear waste.
Most scientists believe that such technology will not be commercially available until 2030, but the Hansens say that stepped-up government support could make it a reality sooner.
As for the dangers of fissionable materials getting into the hands of militants or hostile foreign powers, the Hansens write:
Potential proliferation of nuclear material will always demand vigilance, but that will be true in any case, and our safety is best secured if the United States is involved in the technologies and helps define standards

Eoin O'Carroll ]]> http://www.enjeux.org/index.php?entry=entry090106-170453 2009-01-06T00:00:00Z 2009-01-06T00:00:00Z

Les changements de lois et mesures qui entreront en vigueur dès le début de l'année 2009 en Allemagne concernent principalement le renforcement de la compétitivité allemande sur le marché de l'énergie, l'augmentation de l'efficacité énergétique dans différents domaines et le développement des énergies renouvelables.

D'après le Ministre de l'économie et de la technologie, Michael Glos, une série de mesures doit être prise pour atteindre les objectifs fixés par l'Allemagne qui sont d'un intérêt majeur à la fois pour l'industrie et pour les consommateurs.

- Prix du réseau
Le règlement d'incitation concernant les prix du réseau énergétique débutera au 1er janvier 2009 : le décret renforcera l'attrait financier pour les gestionnaires de réseau afin de rentabiliser l'exploitation.

- Initiative de transparence
L'initiative de transparence établie par le Ministère de l'économie et de la technologie (BMWi), sera mise en oeuvre et fournira davantage d'informations relatives aux centrales qui seront publiées dans la bourse de l'électricité. Des informations plus pertinentes et plus compréhensives seront également fournies au consommateur sur les factures d'électricité. Aussi, le BMWi développera son service d'information sur le portail Internet dédié à la "compréhension de l'énergie" : <http://www.energie-verstehen.de>

- Frais de chauffage
Grâce au décret, les consommateurs pourront ajuster le montant de leur facture en contrôlant leur consommation. Les passeports énergétiques [1] pourront être exigés pour tous les immeubles habités. Ainsi, un locataire pourra connaître la portée de son engagement énergétique quelque soit le bâtiment.

- Cogénération
Le renouvellement de la loi sur la cogénération permettra de développer le soutien à cette forme d'utilisation conjointe de l'électricité et de la chaleur.

- Energies renouvelables
D'ici 2020, le gouvernement fédéral souhaite porter la part des énergies renouvelables à 30% de la production d'électricité globale dans le cadre de la loi EEG [2] (loi allemande de promotion des énergies renouvelables). Le taux de rémunération de l'électricité produite en mer (éolien) augmentera, ainsi que celui de l'électricité provenant des centrales géothermiques, ou encore de biogaz.

- Chaleur d'origine renouvelable
La loi sur la chaleur d'origine renouvelable ("EEWärmeG") sera valable à partir du 1er janvier 2009. Elle visera à réguler la consommation d'énergie et les émissions de CO2 avant tout dans le domaine des bâtiments.

- Développement des réseaux d'énergie
Des mesures supplémentaires seront prises dans le cadre de la loi de développement des réseaux d'énergie ("Energieleitungsausbaugesetz"). Elles devraient permettre d'écarter les obstacles juridiques de planification encore trop nombreux. Les énergies renouvelables pourront ainsi être intégrées d'autant plus rapidement.

"Même si la baisse du prix du pétrole est réconfortant pour tout le monde, les consommateurs doivent se faire à l'idée que cela ne durera pas indéfiniment. [..] Avec les mesures entrant en vigueur prochainement [..], nous renforçons la compétitivité et [augmentons] la transparence et nous assurons notre approvisionnement en énergie pour le futur", résume M. Glos.
Nadia Heshmati, nadia.heshmati@diplomatie.gouv.fr
]]> http://www.enjeux.org/index.php?entry=entry090106-164935 2009-01-06T00:00:00Z 2009-01-06T00:00:00Z

Les Etats-Unis ont pris la première place mondiale en terme de capacité éolienne installée. C'est en tout cas ce qu'affirme l'AWEA, l'association américaine de l'énergie éolienne.
Lors de l'été 2008, l'industrie éolienne américaine a passé le cap des 20 000 MW de capacité installée. Avec 21 000 MW en fonctionnement en septembre, les Etats-Unis ont même dépassé le niveau de l'Allemagne, assure l'Association américaine.
En deux ans, le pays a réalisé autant de projets qu'au cours des deux dernières décennies.
En 2009, L'association s'attend à une nouvelle année de croissance record pour la filière, et table sur une production d'électricité de 60 milliards de kWh. Soit l'équivalent de la consommation de 5,5 millions de foyers américains.
"Les installations d'énergie éoliennes sont bel et bien dans la course pour assurer 20% de l'approvisionnement électrique d'ici 2030, tel que préconisé par le Département américain à l'Energie", se félicite Randal Swisher, Directeur exécutif de l'AWEA.
Toujours à l'affût de nouveaux records, l'AWEA s'attend également à voir cette année le parc éolien texan de Horse Hollow perdre sa couronne. Avec 736 MW de puissance installée, il est depuis 3 ans le plus grand parc éolien du monde. Plus pour longtemps, puisque E.ON Climate & renewables devrait mettre en service cet été un parc de 781,5 MW.
]]> http://www.enjeux.org/index.php?entry=entry090106-160523 2009-01-06T00:00:00Z 2009-01-06T00:00:00Z Cyrille Courtier est nommé Directeur du centre de production de Poissy au 19 janvier 2009.

Jean-Marie Dailland, 58 ans, titulaire d'une Maîtrise de Sciences de Gestion Financière, a fait l'essentiel de sa carrière sur le site de Rennes où il a passé 23 années. De 1995 à 2002 il a été notamment Directeur de l'emboutissage et du ferrage puis Directeur de l'unité de production montage de Rennes. Depuis 2002, il a occupé successivement le poste de Directeur du centre de production de Sevelnord à Valenciennes puis celui de Directeur du centre de production de Poissy.
Cyrille Courtier, 45 ans, diplômé de l'ICAM Lille et de l'IAE Paris, a débuté sa carrière sur le site de Poissy où il a occupé pendant une dizaine d'années différents postes industriels et notamment celui de Responsable du département montage avant d'être nommé Directeur du montage à Sevelnord.

Il a ensuite été Responsable des relations avec les organisations syndicales du groupe puis Responsable des Ressources Humaines du centre de production de Sochaux, Responsable RH de la Direction des Plateformes, Technique et Achats et enfin, Directeur du Développement des RH à la Direction des Ressources Humaines du groupe.



]]> http://www.enjeux.org/index.php?entry=entry090106-155229 2009-01-06T00:00:00Z 2009-01-06T00:00:00Z

The Indian government has signed a $2.1bn deal to buy eight long-range maritime reconnaissance aircraft from Boeing its largest ever acquisition of military hardware from the US, its old cold war nemesis.
New Delhi’s purchase of the P-8I Poseidon aircraft highlights India’s rapidly deepening defence ties with the US, a process facilitated by last year’s civil nuclear deal which buried the biggest bone of contention between the two countries.
The urgent need for India to enhance its maritime security capacity was exposed during the November terror assault on Mumbai, mounted by attackers who commandeered a small fishing boat and landed it on the waterfront in the heart of India’s financial capital.
The deal comes as Boeing is vying with five other companies – including Lockheed Martin maker of the F-16; France’s Dassault; a European defence consortium led by EADS and Russia’s Mikoyan Design Bureau – to supply 126 fighter jets in a $10bn (€7.3bn, £6.8bn) deal that would modernise India’s decrepit Soviet-era strike force.
The Boeing P-8Is – which will replace the 25-year-old patrol aircraft – have the capacity to detect submarines moving deep into India’s territorial waters and also possess advanced missile systems that could be used to destroy hostile submarines.
Defence analysts argue that the aircraft – based on the platform of a Boeing 737 – are badly needed to plug the massive gap in India’s ability to patrol and defend its 7,500km coastline. The first aircraft are due to be delivered in four years, and Indian defence analysts say India may eventually acquire up to 20 of them.
“This is something that should have been done years ago,” said C. Uday Bhaskar, former head of India’s Institute of Defence Studies and Analyses. “It was very long required for India as far as maritime surveillance. But the general mood in the country post-Mumbai has allowed this to go ahead.”
The Poseidon deal is not the first arms purchase from the US by India, which is now in the process of trying to modernise and upgrade its military.
New Delhi spent $1bn last year to acquire six Super Hercules C-130J transport aircraft from Lockheed Martin. In 2002 – against the backdrop of high tensions between India and Pakistan, India bought 12 ThalesRaytheonSystems radars capable of locating long-range mortars, artillery and rocket launchers.
However, the Poseidon deal represents the largest and most sophisticated acquisition from a US company, and reflects the rapidly warming ties between Washington and New Delhi after many decades of prickly relations.
During the cold war India – with its socialist-leaning economic policies – was seen as firmly in the camp of the Soviet Union, which was its primary supplier of arms and armaments.
After India’s 1974 nuclear weapons test, the US imposed sanctions on New Delhi, denying it access to any US technology that Washington deemed to have military potential.
But the relationship between the countries has undergone what Mr Bhaskar describes as a “tectonic shift” during the presidency of George W. Bush, who identified India as a potentially important strategic partner for the US.
Amy Kazmin in New Delhi
]]> http://www.enjeux.org/index.php?entry=entry090106-153729 2009-01-06T00:00:00Z 2009-01-06T00:00:00Z
M. Martin prendra ses fonctions le 16 février et participera aux réunions de Direction Générale dès la mi-janvier.

Denis Martin, 52 ans, titulaire d’une maîtrise de gestion de l’Université Paris-Dauphine est rentré dans le groupe le 2 juin 2008 et a pris la direction du centre de production de Rennes.

Directeur du Matériel de la SNCF de 2005 à 2008, il avait auparavant occupé différents postes de direction chez Valeo, Philips et des postes de responsable de Ressources Humaines chez Magneti Marelli.


]]> http://www.enjeux.org/index.php?entry=entry090106-152614 2009-01-06T00:00:00Z 2009-01-06T00:00:00Z
Décret n°2008-1458 du 30 décembre 2008 pris pour l'application de la loi n°2008-136 du 13 février 2008 relative à la sécurité des manèges, machines et installations pour fêtes foraines ou parcs d'attractions

Au sens du présent décret, on entend par :
« Matériel(s) » : les manèges, machines et installations pour fêtes foraines ou pour parcs d'attractions ou tout autre lieu d'installation ou d'exploitation destinés à être installés et assemblés en vue d'accueillir, de mouvoir ou de propulser des personnes dans un but de divertissement.
« Mise en service » : la première mise en fonction sur le territoire français d'un matériel par l'exploitant à l'issue de sa phase de réception et avant sa mise en exploitation.
« Attestation de bon montage » : le document par lequel l'exploitant d'un matériel atteste que celui-ci a été installé et calé dans le respect des prescriptions techniques émises par son constructeur ou, à défaut, dans le respect des règles de l'art

En savoir plus sur ce décret:
http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/affichTex ... rieLien=id
]]> http://www.enjeux.org/index.php?entry=entry090106-151916 2009-01-06T00:00:00Z 2009-01-06T00:00:00Z
"Les systèmes énergétiques de nombreux pays européens sont menacés, cela est inacceptable", a déclaré Joseph Daul, qui a appelé le Premier Ministre tchèque et Président en exercice du Conseil de l'Union européenne, Mirek Topolanek, et le Président de la Commission, José-Manuel Barroso, à prendre toutes les mesures nécessaires "pour que le continent européen ne soit pas la victime collatérale du conflit entre Kiev et Moscou".

"Une solution doit être trouvée au plus vite à cette situation intenable, qui risque d'aggraver encore les conditions de vie des Européens déjà frappés de plein fouet par la crise économique et sociale", a souligné Joseph Daul.

"Si l'Europe est forte et unie, elle peut convaincre les parties au conflit à tenir leurs engagements et à revenir à une situation raisonnable. Au-delà, cette crise renforce le Centre-Droit européen dans son travail de mise au point d'une politique européenne commune dans le domaine de l'énergie", a conclu le Président du Groupe parlementaire le plus influent au Parlement européen.



]]> http://www.enjeux.org/index.php?entry=entry090106-151521 2009-01-06T00:00:00Z 2009-01-06T00:00:00Z
The Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence-described by one industry CEO as “probably the single most influential document in the modern history of American business”-

serves both as the standard for selecting the annual recipients of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award and the road map for organizations worldwide seeking improved operations through innovation and performance excellence. The three editions of the 2009-2010 Criteria-for Business/Nonprofit, Health Care and Education-are now available for downloading* at <http://baldrige.nist.gov>.
The most significant revisions to the criteria are:
An increased focus on customer (or patient/stakeholder or student/stakeholder) engagement. With the improved Criteria, organizations can better assess their ability to deliver relevant programs, services and products, develop a customer culture, and listen to the “voice of the customer.”
An enhanced emphasis on core competencies that stresses their importance to an organization’s mission, strategy and sustainability.
A new consideration of societal responsibilities that explores how organizations contribute to the environmental, social and economic sustainability of themselves and their community.
Over 10 million copies of the criteria have been distributed since the first Baldrige Award cycle in 1988, and about 2 million copies are downloaded annually. Seven categories make up the criteria: leadership; strategic planning; customer focus; measurement, analysis and knowledge management; workforce focus; process management; and results.
Named after Malcolm Baldrige, the 26th Secretary of Commerce, the Baldrige Award was established by Congress in 1987 to enhance the competitiveness and performance of U.S. businesses. The award is not given for specific products or services. Since 1988, 75 organizations have received Baldrige Awards.
The Baldrige program is managed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in conjunction with the private sector
]]> http://www.enjeux.org/index.php?entry=entry090106-145830 2009-01-06T00:00:00Z 2009-01-06T00:00:00Z
The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has announced the implementation of new regulations that require slaughterhouses to ask for information about calves received for slaughter.
The new legal requirement for Food Chain Information (FCI) applies to calves, which are defined as animals less than eight months of age. FCI includes information about the farm from which the calves came, their history of rearing and their health, including details of medicines they may have received.
The responsibility for obtaining the FCI will be with slaughterhouse operators. The FSA has worked closely with them and other stakeholders to develop guidance, which can be found at the link below, and to make them aware of the new requirements for calves, which were implemented on 1 January 2009. This follows a similar process that came into force at the beginning of 2008 where operators were required to provide FCI for pigs.
Kenneth Clarke, FSA Veterinary Adviser, said: 'Food chain information is an important element of the farm-to-fork approach to food safety and can contribute to the application of risk-based inspection systems at slaughterhouses. We wish to encourage slaughterhouse operators to use the guidance we have published to develop FCI systems that best suit their businesses. We have a bigger task ahead to implement FCI for all cattle and sheep in 2010, and will continue to work with industry to produce useful and practical solutions.'
]]> http://www.enjeux.org/index.php?entry=entry090106-145427 2009-01-06T00:00:00Z 2009-01-06T00:00:00Z
Entamée sous les 40 dollars, la dernière semaine de l’année 2008 s'est achevée à plus de 46 dollars le baril à New York comme à Londres.
Le 5 janvier 2009, le lancement de l’offensive terrestre de l’armée israélienne dans les territoires palestiniens a fait monter la pression sur le marché londonien. Dans la foulée, l’Iran a demandé aux producteurs arabes qu’ils cessent de livrer les pays soutenant l’Etat hébreu. Cette déclaration presque attendue de la part du pourfendeur traditionnel d’Israël n’a eu qu’un impact limité. Car aucun dirigeant arabe ne s’est laissé entraîner sur ce terrain. Au contraire, des sources internes à l’Organisation des pays exportateurs de pétrole (OPEP) ont fait savoir qu’un tel plan n’était pas d'actualité. Douchés par la dégringolade des cours, les pays membres du cartel cherchent aujourd’hui davantage à impressionner le marché par leurs actes, que par leurs discours. Et c’est, en partie, réussi puisque le début de la mise en oeuvre des coupes décidées lors de la dernière réunion du cartel, à la mi-décembre 2008 à Oran, est de bon augure.
A partir du premier janvier 2009, l’offre de l’Opep doit baisser de 2 500 000 barils. Et, fin décembre 2008, l’Angola, la Libye, le Nigeria puis l’Equateur ont successivement annoncé des mesures prouvant qu’ils participaient à l’effort traditionnellement porté par la seule Arabie Saoudite.
Cette rigueur a contribué, autant que les tensions géopolitiques, à redonner de l’élan aux marchés pétroliers. Les Etats-Unis ont, par ailleurs, annoncé qu’ils allaient procéder à des achats massifs de brut jusqu’au printemps pour renflouer à bon prix leurs réserves stratégiques. Le deuxième consommateur au monde de pétrole, la Chine, fait de même. Et là, les appels d’offre sont beaucoup plus importants, Pékin doit remplir les cuves nouvellement construites pouvant contenir jusqu’à 100 millions de barils. C’est un soutien autant psychologique que réel au marché, mais tant que la demande continuera à s'affaisser, le retournement de la tendance est encore artificiel.

]]> http://www.enjeux.org/index.php?entry=entry090106-144145 2009-01-06T00:00:00Z 2009-01-06T00:00:00Z
C’est le 5 janvier 2009 que Louis Gallois S, CEO d’EADS, et Christian Cornille, Président d’AEROLIA, ont signé à Paris les actes fondateurs du leader français des Aérostructures et du n°2 mondial des sous ensembles de Pointes avant.

« La création d’AEROLIA en France et celle de Premium AEROTEC en Allemagne concrétisent la volonté d’Airbus et d’EADS, de se concentrer sur leurs coeurs de métiers, précise Louis Gallois, CEO d’EADS; ces sociétés, filiales à 100% d’EADS, bénéficient d’une activité importante reposant sur l’ensemble des produits série et en développement d’Airbus tout en ayant la capacité à s’ouvrir à de nouveaux clients, au niveau mondial ».

Pour Tom Enders, CEO d’Airbus, « Aerolia est bien équipée pour être à la fois un partenaire d’Airbus sur le long terme et devenir un acteur majeur sur le marché mondial des Aérostructures. L'implication significative de la société dans tous les programmes d'Airbus et sa contribution importante à l'A350 XWB sont la base d'excellentes perspectives pour Aerolia ».

Cette étape juridique marque, dans les faits, la maturité opérationnelle d’AEROLIA au terme de trois mois dédiés à la vérification de tous les processus opérationnels, de la conception à la fabrication et de la livraison au support à ses clients, des Aérostructures et des sous-ensembles de Pointes avant.
« De la conception à la production et au support, AEROLIA, acteur mondial de référence des Aérostructures et des Pointes avant, s’engage auprès de ses Clients et les accompagne sur la voie de leur développement. Cette création dans le respect du calendrier annoncé est le résultat d’un travail d’équipe que je tiens à saluer, note à cette occasion Christian Cornille, Président d’AEROLIA. Plus de 800 domaines ont ainsi fait l’objet de la plus grande attention afin de permettre à nos fournisseurs et à tous nos clients, la transition la plus transparente et la plus sécurisée possible ».
AEROLIA, ce sont 2200 salariés qui ont en charge la conception et la fabrication chaque année de 4 millions de pièces élémentaires et de 500 sous-ensembles complets de pointes avant de la gamme Airbus.

Quatre directions opérationnelles ( Etudes, Achats, Opérations, Programmes & Ventes ) et quatre directions supports ( Finances, Qualité, Ressources Humaines, Stratégie & Communications ), privilégiant la proximité avec ses clients et ses équipes en interne, sont réparties sur les 3 sites de la Société.

Le Bureau d’Etudes basé à Toulouse, rassemblera les compétences de 250 ingénieurs et collaborateurs issus, pour la majorité, des bureaux d’études d’Airbus.
A Saint-Nazaire, 500 personnes assurent la production de plus de 3 millions de pièces élémentaires et panneaux livrés 7 jours sur 7 aux Clients. Sur ce site, une 1ère technologique mondiale réalise l’usinage mécanique en 3 dimensions des panneaux de fuselage.
A Méaulte, 1 300 salariés réalisent les Pointes avant sur ce site où des technologies sont développées en réponse aux exigences qu’impose le profil aérodynamique des Pointes avant. Une nouvelle unité de production complètera prochainement les savoir-faire métalliques de cet établissement à l’occasion du lancement en production de l’Airbus A350.
Enfin, AEROLIA a en projet la création d’un Parc Aéronautique en Tunisie qui contribuera à la compétitivité de l’ensemble de la société. Ce parc sera composé d’une filiale Aerolia, responsable de la production de sous ensembles structuraux, associée à un réseau de partenaires industriels installés à proximité immédiate.
Better, Faster, Greener,
AEROLIA offre à ses clients une gamme de pièces élémentaires reconnues représentant plus de 100.000 références et se fixe pour ambition de proposer à ses clients un service de qualité dans des standards « best in class » grâce au savoir-faire et aux capacités de ses sites, des Etudes au Support, des Achats à la Production, dans ses domaines des sous-ensembles de pointes avant et des pièces élémentaires complexes.
Better, car l’amélioration continue est le moteur d’Aerolia,
Faster, car l’agilité est le pilier des entreprises modèles,
Greener, car Aerolia innove pour l’éco-efficience des avions et la protection de l’environnement.
Une société ouverte sur le monde et prête à conquérir de nouveaux marchés
Les activités intégrées au sein d’AEROLIA ont, de tout temps, entretenu et développé des relations commerciales et industrielles avec de grands noms de l’aéronautique tels Airbus, ATR, Bombardier, Latécoère, Sonaca, Sogerma, Stork Fokker, Piaggio, SAAB, SABCA…
A l’occasion de sa création, AEROLIA certifiée EN 9100 et ISO 14 001, affiche sa volonté de conquête commerciale des marchés, au niveau mondial et auprès de tous les constructeurs.
En tant que partenaire de production ou en charge de solutions globales, de la conception à l’industrialisation et à la livraison en AOG, AEROLIA s’engage auprès de ses clients et les accompagne sur la voie de leur développement. ]]> http://www.enjeux.org/index.php?entry=entry090106-143520 2009-01-06T00:00:00Z 2009-01-06T00:00:00Z
While there's a great deal of evidence about Chinese aid to Pakistani nuclear weapons projects dating back to at least the early 1980s, a recent book by Thomas Reed, a top US nuclear scientist, makes some startling disclosures about the extent to which such aid might have gone.

According to Reed the Chinese actually tested a nuclear weapon for Pakistan in 1990. When India tested at Pokhran in 1998 Islamabad could respond with its own tests within 17 days. No one can build a nuclear device in such a short period. But, as everyone knew at that time, Islamabad merely needed to demonstrate for political effect something it already possessed.

Despite overwhelming evidence of the Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) hand in Mumbai's 26/11 attack Islamabad has done very little so far in assuaging Indian concerns by restraining the JuD. It doesn't fear provoking a war with India at all, perhaps because it knows the world will intervene to prevent such a war because of apprehensions that it might turn nuclear. Chinese nuclear aid to Pakistan could thus have changed South Asia's strategic calculus. Beijing provides diplomatic cover to Islamabad as well. For example, it resisted past efforts at declaring the JuD a terrorist organisation at the UN Security Council. While it has changed its stance on JuD since 26/11, the issue is the cost of such dilatoriness. While earlier action might have prevented 26/11, the JuD has invented a new calling card for itself in order to circumvent the UNSC ban even as we speak, the Tehreek-e-Hurmat-e-Rasool.

While New Delhi must, of course, pursue good relations with Beijing, the question that needs to be raised is why Beijing is happy to keep India in a box. It has resolved boundary disputes with most of its neighbours; India is the prominent exception in this regard. While Beijing's approach to New Delhi is cautious and calibrated, the Indian response to China is effusive and emotional, with an undertow of anxiety. New Delhi needs to move towards a strategically informed view of its relationship with Beijing, so that there are rewards for a better understanding of Indian interests and a cost for disregarding them.

Chinese diplomacy, nowadays, is geared towards protecting its economic interests. Like Beijing, New Delhi too can leverage access to its market and point out that China has far more to gain by economic and strategic cooperation with India than by putting all its eggs in Islamabad's basket. India could press upon Chinese vice foreign minister Hu Yafei, currently on a trip to Delhi, that if the Chinese could influence Pakistan to cooperate in bringing to book the perpetrators of 26/11, that action alone would boost China's prestige sharply in South Asia as well as in the global community of nations.

]]> http://www.enjeux.org/index.php?entry=entry090106-142410 2009-01-06T00:00:00Z 2009-01-06T00:00:00Z
Le standard Homeplug devient la norme pour le CPL
Au terme d'un vote réalisé à Kyoto le 18 décembre dernier, l'Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) a retenu le standard Homeplug comme base technologique pour sa future norme de courant porteur en ligne (CPL) P1901. Homeplug couvrira les trois types d'applications définis par l'IEEE : sur le réseau électrique interne d'un bâtiment, sur le réseau public externe et sur les deux (« coexistence »).
Cette décision devrait unifier une industrie dans laquelle coexistent beaucoup de standards différents (Homeplug, DS2, EHS/Konnex, Freeplug, Echelon, Cebus...). Le standard Homeplug, qui est soutenu par un consortium de 70 industriels <dont Cisco, Intel, Comcast, GE Energy ou Motorola, était déjà leader dans les déploiements internes. Il a été implémenté dans plus de 160 produits réalisés par une trentaine de fournisseurs.
Dell et Lenovo se réorganisent
Face à la crise, les constructeurs se réorganisent. Dell vient ainsi de créer trois nouvelles divisions (des business units, ou BU) qui seront dédiées aux professionnels et déployées au niveau global : Large Enterprise pour les multinationales, Small and Medium Business pour les petites et moyennes entreprises et Public pour les organisations du service public. Dell disposait déjà d'une division BU globale similaire, dédiée au grand public.
Chez Lenovo, au contraire, l'heure n'est pas à la création de divisions, mais à leur fusion. Selon China Business News et Reuters, l'entreprise va fusionner ses activités russes et chinoises avec la division Asie-Pacifique. L'actuel responsable de cette division, David Miller, devrait partir. Il sera remplacé par Chen Shaopeng, qui dirigeait jusqu'alors les opérations en Chine. Selon Reuters, le constructeur prévoit par ailleurs de licencier 200 personnes au siège social, à Pékin. Lenovo n'a pas confirmé ces informations.
BT France transforme Net2S en BT Services
L'opérateur anglais a décidé de regrouper en France ses activités de services informatiques professionnels et managés dans Net2S, une SSII de presque 900 personnes rachetée en octobre 2007 . Ce nouveau pôle services portera le nom de BT Services. Il résultera de la fusion des activités de Net2S, des divisions Global Professional Services et Applications Hosting de BT France et de la filiale BT Infrastructures critiques SA. Le nouvel ensemble comptera près de 2 300 personnes.
Orange a également procédé à une réorganisation interne, avec la création d'une nouvelle entité e-lob (enterprise-line of business). Adossée à Orange Business Services, cette structure sera spécialisée dans les services aux entreprises.
La faille critique Microsoft sévit toujours
Microsoft a profité de la Saint-Sylvestre pour faire une piqûre de rappel concernant la faille critique exceptionnelle-d'octobre dernier. En effet, une nouvelle variante de virus exploitant cette faille s'est propagée récemment dans les systèmes qui n'ont pas encore été mis à jour. L'éditeur invite donc les administrateurs à installer le patch le plus vite possible
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Representatives from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) have confirmed that the organisation has opted to suspend its strategy of suing individuals accused of illegal file-sharing in the United States

and to instead work more closely with internet service providers to thwart copyright infringement, but some doubts remain. Details of the RIAA’s revamped campaign remain murky.

After five years and over 30,000 lawsuits targeting individuals in the United States, an RIAA spokesman told Intellectual Property Watch that leading US-based internet service providers (ISPs) have agreed to increasingly take action when put on notice by copyright owners that customers are engaged in illicit file sharing. The ISPs might, for example, send warnings to subscribers then later suspend services if the communications are ignored.

The RIAA spokesman also said the organisation is working with New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo to form a broad framework for a solution that would involve graduated response tactics against alleged infringers and that would also reduce network congestion due to massive file distribution.

However, RIAA has not yet disclosed the names of the ISPs with which it said it has formed an agreement, which remains confidential. Nor has it specified the terms of the alliance with Cuomo (whose office could not be reached for comment). The RIAA also has not released a statement about its plans to end its lawsuit campaign.

The organisation’s spokespersons and published reports claim that RIAA and its affiliates have not filed lawsuits in recent months against alleged infringers, but some observers dispute these claims. “The press reports all contain misinformation. In fact, the RIAA has just started a flurry of hundreds of new lawsuits which will keep their lawyers busy, and the targets of the lawsuits in pain, for years to come,” Ray Beckerman an internet law attorney who has represented defendants RIAA and affiliates have sued, wrote to Intellectual Property Watch in an email response.

“First place, it’s a lie,” Beckerman said. “Reports in AP that no suits have been filed since August, in Wired that no suits have been filed for months, and in the Wall Street Journal that no mass litigation has been commenced since early fall, are all lies.”

Meanwhile, action taken by US ISPs against alleged illegal file-sharers is not new. Despite the Wall Street Journal and, subsequently, numerous other press outlets alluding to how the graduated response program in the United States is a new initiative, ISPs have been informing subscribers of alleged illegal file-sharing activity for several years.

A leading ISP, Cox Communications, has been actively communicating to customers acts of copyright violations through illegal file-sharing since the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) took effect a decade ago, Cox Communications spokesman David Deliman told Intellectual Property Watch. “We use the same customer notification process for complaints from all copyright holders, whether it’s the RIAA, the MPAA [Motion Picture Association of America], or any others,” Deliman said.

Deliman also said Cox sends customers warning letters and works with subscribers extensively to resolve any allegations of copyright violations before “we even consider termination of their account.”

AT&T has opened negotiations with NBC Universal and Walt Disney to mitigate video file distribution and Comcast has initiated measures to limit file-sharing over peer-to-peer (P2P) networks.

European Approach

RIAA’s strategy to rely more on ISPs to apply pressure on consumers directly to thwart illegal file-sharing in the United States mirrors copyright-enforcement strategies in Europe. There, Virgin recording company, in conjunction with the British Phonographic Institute (BPI), has begun to send warning letters to customers whose accounts have been allegedly used to share copyright-protected music files. Under new measures initiated by the French government, ISPs in France will soon likely take a similar approach as their UK counterparts while other European countries may also follow suit.

The RIAA may have decided that relying on the ISPs, as opposed to suing individuals, represents the most viable solution in the United States where service providers have already quietly begun to take action, said Fred von Lohmann, a staff attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), a California-based digital consumer rights group, said.

“The RIAA may be retreating to the status quo,” von Lohmann said. “They may be simply ready to put up with what the ISPs are going to give them.”

How the different ISPs may or may not change their interpretation of the DMCA mandate to take action against copyright violations over their networks in conjunction with the RIAA in the future remains to be seen, von Lohmann said. “The question mark is what will be the diversion from the status quo?” von Lohmann said.

Privacy concerns, retention of customer data, possible “blacklisting” of alleged file-sharers, lack of due process to contest the shutdown of internet accounts, and the nebulousness of how the DMCA is interpreted and complied with by the different ISPs poso customers whose accounts have been allegedly used to share copyright-protected music files. Under new measures initiated by the French government, ISPs in France will soon likely take a similar approach as their UK counterparts while other European countries may also follow suit.

The RIAA may have decided that relying on the ISPs, as opposed to suing individuals, represents the most viable solution in the United States where service providers have already quietly begun to take action, said Fred von Lohmann, a staff attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), a California-based digital consumer rights group, said.

“The RIAA may be retreating to the status quo,” von Lohmann said. “They may be simply ready to put up with what the ISPs are going to give them.”

How the different ISPs may or may not change their interpretation of the DMCA mandate to take action against copyright violations over their networks in conjunction with the RIAA in the future remains to be seen, von Lohmann said. “The question mark is what will be the diversion from the status quo?” von Lohmann said.

Privacy concerns, retention of customer data, possible “blacklisting” of alleged file-sharers, lack of due process to contest the shutdown of internet accounts, and the nebulousness of how the DMCA is interpreted and complied with by the different ISPs pose concerns, von Lohmann said.

“It’s long overdue that they stopped the litigation,” von Lohmann said. “But the alternative does not hold much promise for the future either. Artists still do not get paid and it will not stop file-sharing.”

It has always been a matter of time before the RIAA ended its litigation campaigns, Beckerman said. “I’m not surprised, it was inevitable for them to stop their suicidal litigation campaign at some point,” Beckerman said. “It was just money down the drain, and was accomplishing nothing except moving them closer to bankruptcy.”

RIAA’s decision to forgo its litigation campaign and to form alliances with the ISPs in the United States will help to stop infringements of copyright-protected music files and free up bandwidth previously taken up by file sharing, said Patrick Ross, executive director of the Copyright Alliance. However, the issue now is to determine “how far does each ISP go in terms of going after the infringers?” Ross said. “But if you go after someone who is infringing, then I think you would be hard-pressed to argue that somehow that is in violation of [inter]net neutrality, because that is already a violation of the terms of use,” Ross said.


Multi-Pronged Approach

The RIAA has always contended that its lawsuit campaigns is part of a multi-faceted strategy to mitigate illegal file sharing, while the organisation says its program, taken as a whole, has served as a deterrent. Citing NPD Group statistics, the RIAA says the number of households using peer-to-peer networks to download music rose “modestly” to 7.8 million in March 2007 compared to 6.9 million households in April 2003 before the litigation began, while broadband penetration more than doubled during the period.

According to an RIAA survey, 37 percent of those polled in 2003 said making music available for free from a personal computer was illegal, while the RIAA now says the percentage of people who think downloading music for free is illegal is 73 percent.

Bruce Gain may be reached at info@ip-watch.ch.
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Alors que la phase de pré-enregistrement de Reach s’est achevée le 1er décembre 2008, les entreprises s’attèlent désormais à la préparation de leurs dossiers d’enregistrement.

Le règlement leur impose de se regrouper au sein de forums d’échange afin de partager données et coûts des études de dangers et de risques
Le 19 décembre dernier, l’Agence européenne des produits chimiques (Echa) publiait une liste provisoire de l’ensemble des substances -près de 150.000- pré-enregistrées par les entreprises européennes entre juin et décembre dernier (1). La version définitive sera publiée une fois éliminées les substances en doublons, celles non concernées par le règlement -comme les mélanges ou les articles (chaussures, jouets)- ou encore celles émanant de sociétés non basées dans l’Union européenne

La suite sur le site du JDLE:
http://www.journaldelenvironnement.net/ ... mp;ctx=291]]> http://www.enjeux.org/index.php?entry=entry090106-135512 2009-01-06T00:00:00Z 2009-01-06T00:00:00Z

In the comics, the Phantom is a masked crimefighter who protected the innocent from pirates, hijackers and other evildoers.


While not as dashing or exciting as its costumed namesake, this electromagnetic phantom-a carbon and polymer mixture that simulates the human body-is being readied by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) for its upcoming role as a different kind of protector. The NIST phantom serves as a mannequin in a standardized performance test for walk-through metal detectors or WTMDs such as those used at airports.
Metal detectors currently are evaluated by using “clean testers” (human subjects) who walk through the detector adorned with different types of innocuous metal objects, such as eyeglasses, belt buckles, watches, jewelry and coins, or by a piece of plywood pushed through the metal detector with the same items mounted on it. The disadvantage of using human subjects is that person-to-person variability in physical makeup and walking style and changes in a particular person’s gait or position at each pass makes standardization impossible. The second method is reproducible, but it can’t tell evaluators how a human body may impact the WTMD’s ability to discriminate between weapons and innocuous objects.
The solution for both problems came from the lab. With funding from the U.S. Department of Justice’s National Institute of Justice (NIJ), researchers in NIST’s Electromagnetics Division mixed a polymer with carbon black-a fine powder made almost entirely of elemental carbon-to yield a low-cost, easily molded compound that can mimic the average electrical conductivity of the human body (which includes blood, bone, fat, organs, muscle and skin). The material is shaped into brick-like blocks and then arranged on a non-conductive fiberglass frame in a form that simulates the mass and height of the average American adult male.
Once assembled, the NIST phantom is placed atop a low-friction nonmetallic cart and passed through a WTMD at a speed of 0.5 meters per second by a computer-controlled actuator. This speed was selected because it is a common walking pace for an adult male. Engineers in NIST’s Office of Law Enforcement Standards used the data from recent trials to design and support a reproducible process incorporating the phantom that will evaluate a walk-through metal detector’s ability to discriminate between threatening and non-threatening objects, such as the simulated eyeglasses or belt buckle. Plans call for the testing protocol to be considered in a future revision of the NIJ standard on metal detector performance
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