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Argentine president Christina Kirchner asks trade unions to accept wage increases of 18% instead of 25%. Estimates of inflation in Argentina range from 20% to 25%. Official estimates of 10% inflation are highly understated.

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AT&T will have to pay $3 billion in cash to Deutsche Telekom for a failure to complete the merger with T-Mobile. Anti-trust objections killed the deal. Deutsche Telekom is the owner of T-Mobile.

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Public opinion in France is divided about France's dependence on nuclear power. Ifop's survey of Nov. 13, 2011, shows 40% of the French are now "hesitant" about nuclear power, about 33% favor nuclear power and 17% are against it. About two-thirds of the ruling UMP party of Nicholas Sarkozy supports nuclear power, while half of the Socialist party supporters say they are not sure about the path ahead. The issue is becoming important in the election, as the UMP claims the Socialist party's proposal to shut down 24 of the 58 reactors if elected will cost thousands of jobs and solar power cannot take its place overnight. The French are a bit puzzled by the nuclear issue in contrast to Germany where the issue arouses strong emotions, because nuclear energy had become accepted in France till the Fukushima nuclear disaster raised safety issues. EDF which operates the plants plans to increase spending on safety measures and on maintenance after audits by the French nuclear regulator. EDF's share price was down 40% since the nuclear accident at Fukushima, Japan....

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India needs to develop a better bond market to finance $1 trillion in infrastructure in the next 5 years.

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Sir Howard Davies, director of the London School of Economics, and the expanded ties of the London School of Economics with the one party Ghadafi regime in Libya. Sir Howard was the first chairman of the Financial Services Authority, the UK's financial regulator, and deputy governor of the Bank of England from 1995 to 1997.

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Microsoft is making management changes in the unit which makes the Xbox, Zune music player, phone software. There have been some successes with the Xbox gaming console, but the Zune music player and phone software have done poorly. Robbie Bach, the head of this group is leaving. Microsoft has also cancelled a project to make a tablet computer to compete with Apples's iPad. After years of working on the tablet computer Microsoft found itself falling completely behind when Apple's iPad became a sensational seller, and HP's acquisition of Palm also sent signals to Microsoft. Analysts say the departure of Bach who was with Microsoft for 22 years, and of other executives in the revamping, will do little to change things. They question that Ballmer has the same touch and feel for the customer, which is something rare, and which Apple has at this time.

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Analysts say Abbott has paid a steep price for India's Piramal Health Care. Abbott is buying the Indian drug company for $3.72 billion, which is 48% above Piramal's market cap. Going by Piramal sales of $500 million a year , this is 7 times expected sales. Daiichi Sankyo paid 4 times sales for Ranbaxy in 2008. Analysts say this will give Abbott a 7% market share in India's branded generics market. Yet this market is highly fragmented with the top 20 makers having 60% of the market and many small companies.

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The Federal Reserve reports show capacity utilization in the U.S. at 76.9% in April 2011. This is less than the 81% when the recession began in 2008. It shows an increase from the 67% capacity utilization in June 2009. The capacity utilization figures are 78.1% for the chemical industry, 80.5% for the computer and electronics industries, and 74% for the auto industry in March (which dropped temporarily to 63% in April as a result of the earthquake in Japan).

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Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, says "the integrity of the City matters to the economy of Britain," as he takes strong action to safeguard financial benchmark rates set in the City of London. Following the manipulation of LIBOR for which banks paid heavy fines this is a major issue. New legislation will make it a criminal offense, punishable with 7 years in prison. Manipulation will be determined based on the intentions of traders to place trades or share information so that their interests are served above a client's interest. Not just LIBOR, other benchmarks such as London foreign exchange benchmark rate, key gold and silver rate, ICE Brent index and Sterling Overnight Index Average (Sonia), ISADFix, are also included in this legislation.