yleThe Germans are coming

This text is about the come of Germans hard discounts.

In the first paragraph it explains that the sales of hard discounts like Lidl are booming. Before,
Lidl stuck in the suburbs because poorer people live there. But the increase in prices and
anxiety about purchasing power gave the confidence to Lidl to establish them inside.

The bad economic prospects in Europe allowed discounters like Lidl and Aldi to take market
share. In France, discounters increased their market share to 11.2% in the second quarter of
2008, whereas the share fell at Carrefour, the world’s second-largest retailer. In Belgium, in
Holland, in Britain and in all Europe, discounters are becoming popular.

The low prices of discounters are provoking a price-war. Retailers are trying to slash prices in
response to discounters.

In Britain, Aldi has bought Tesco and pledged to open a store a week and win a tenth of the
market. In Germany, discounters have 30% of the market. In the heartland of discounting,
shopping at Aldi and Lidl is the norm for rich and poor alike.

It’s the best model for retail in the world. Discounters stock a part of the goods that a normal
supermarket offers. When they buy their goods, they buy a high volume, resulting massive
economies of scale. Another characteristic of discounter is that we will find one brand for
each product. In normal supermarkets, we have a lot of brands for each ones. Discounter
products have bar codes in exactly the same place, it means faster checkouts.

Aldi and Lidl dominate the world of discounting. They respectively have annual sales
estimated at 43 billion and 35 billion euro. They want to go on their expansion abroad. New
stores cost little and generate rapid sales. They are stronger than any other kind of retailer
during hard times.

The plans of the two firms (lidl and Aldi) are not very known but stores are opening every
day. They’re planning to expand in France, in Switzerland and USA. Aldi is already present in
Switzerland and in the USA.

In Britain, a quarter of his customers were well-off shoppers; now half of them are(economics
worries are part of the reason). Thus Lidl wanted to open a store in a fashionable street in
Dublin. But critics complained it would lower the tone.

The normal supermarkets should be worry about discounters, because discounters have
proven themselves adept at moving upmarket. In Britain Lidl used to be known for tinned, but
has introduces fresh products. In Germany, they even tried to buy a chain of organic
supermarkets, but consumers were scared it off.

The German discount model was not successful in Norway. Lidl closed their stores after 4 yrs
trying to establish itself. A local discounter will take over Lidl’s stores there.
A clear danger

In 1997 Kyoto Protocol was being debated but the greenhouse effects (which are from
deforestation) were ignored.

Negotiators were unaware of the scale of the emissions because they didn’t know how to
calculate the amount of carbon emitted. Yet, only planting new trees were included in the final
agreement.

Eleven years after and the situation is the same. It is now accepted that land use change causes
some 20 per cent of total emissions. The USA estimates deforestation is occurring almost 50
footballs pitches a minute.

Forest nations, particularly in the developing world, will be rewarded for not cutting down
trees.

It was possible to develop the mechanisms for reducing emissions from deforestation and
degradation. There are four main technical issues:

• how much carbon in land and vegetation

10bn-15bn dollars will be needed to avoid deforestation. But it’s about 5 dollars per tone of
greenhouse saved.

Brazil is responsible for the most emissions from land use change after Indonesia.

For reducing emissions from deforestation there have to be social and environmental
safeguards and measurable carbon benefits.

Negotiators (Ghana) appear to be making progress. They were showing willingness to discuss
issues.

The next step is for Redd to be developed and this has already begun in many countries.
Knight in shining armour

Scaled composites are a company that builds aircrafts composites. Its founder, Burt Rutan,
supervised the construction of two airplanes flying non-stop around the world. Of the 39
airplanes have been built, the best one is “White Knight Two” (WKT).

WKT is not really an airplane; it is rather the first stage of a spaceship. The company which
has ordered the construction of this airplane is Virgin Galactic. She wants to use as much
carbon as possible. The engineering feat is that there will only be one wing 43 metres long.
The second stage is named “SpaceShipTwo”. This one will be slung in the outerspace to make
its own way with six passengers in it.

With the launch of WKT, possibilities are growing by the day. A variety of large objects
(airplanes able to replace Boeing 747s, launch of small satellites into space or pilotless
reconnaissance drones) could be slung under the wind of WKT in the future. Many
organisations are interested in using or buying WKT, the price of one is almost at $30-40.

Furthermore, the craft is able to offer passengers zero-gravity flights. The price for the zero
gravity experience with WKT is cheaper than Boeing 727, roundly $ 1000.

The combination of WKT and SpaceShipTwo could revolutionise the study of atmospheric
physics, according to a former associate administrator of science programmes at NASA.
Routine flights by WKT in the upper atmosphere could offer opportunities for regular
experimental work. It could allow to access to the “ignorosphere” which was inaccessible
before. It could also be useful for studies about climates changes. WKT and SpaceShipTwo
could realise more experience flights to noctilucent clouds than NASA has done in 40 yrs.
The price of $200000 is very low compared with a price of a ride with a rocket.

The construction of WKT (the main structural support on a wing) has demonstrated that the
company is now able to build an aeroplane of “any size”.

At the moment, WKT is already able to carry a single-passenger and it’s not commercially
viable. This is why Mr Rutan says that this aircraft will be bigger in the future to be able to
carry more passengers than now.
Opting out of opting out

First, good news; more than 3000 people in Britain received organs transplant last year. Then
the bad; 1000 died after waiting in vain. And another 8000 are still remaining on waiting lists

Throughout the world, the demand for organ transplants is growing as ageing population,
hypertension and obesity.

Gordon Brown, the prime minister, wants to establish a system of “presumed consent” for
increasing the supply of organs. With this system a person is assumed to be a potential donor
unless he registers his objection.
But the opposites of this new system wish that the people who want to become a donor have
to indicate their willingness to use their organs after they die.

Spain is, with its “presumed consent” law, the world champion of organ donation with 34.4
donors per million inhabitants compared with Britain who have just 10.6.
But Greece, where people also opt-out has a donor rate of only 5-6.
America is second-highest donor rate with 26.6.

However, other factors are obviously at play. In Spain the donor rate didn’t begin to rise until
an effective national transplant infrastructure had been set up and by publicity to educate the
public.

A shift to presumed consent damage the vital relationship of trust between dying patients and
their doctors but it could also remove the emotional benefit to recipients and their families of
knowing that the organs had been freely surrendered - as a gift.

Next five years, donation rates in Britain could be increased by at least 50 % by improving
infrastructure.

Although more than two-thirds of Britons say they would be willing to become donors, only a
quarter have signed up on the Organ-Donation Register.
Some apologies are frequently use ; many people don’t know of its existence. Others feel bad
about contemplating their own death. Some fear they are too old and others worry about
religion prohibitions.

To conclude, the government launched a 6.7 m dollars “donation-awareness campaign” for

People may drink tow litres of water a day, but they consume far more if the water that goes
into the food is taken into account. People tend to eat more meat, which takes far more water
than cereals. If farmers go on with today’s methods, they will need 2000 more cubic
kilometers a year by 2030 to keep everyone fed. Yes in many farming regions, water is scarce
and will continue to get scarcer

The solution is more efficient use of water. A fifth of the world’s population lives in places
that are short of water. Farming accounts for roughly 70% of human water consumption. So
when water starts to run out, as in some parts of the world, farming tends to offer the best
potential for thrift. But governments don’t agree to offer lower prices to farmers, which need a
lot of water. So they are more wasteful than other consumers.

The pressing need is to make water go further (dure plus longtemps). Recycling water until it
can be used in industry or agriculture costs about a third less than desalination, and cuts
pollution.

Yet, there are cheaper ways to save water. A lot of water used by farmers never gets to crops,
often lost through irrigation. Huge savings would be made simply repairing the worst leaks.

Poor farmers can afford such things, such as small rainwater tanks, only if they are growing
cash crops. Some lands are much less water than others. Yet modest water shortage can
hugely improve yield in rain-fed agriculture. As well, pumping water is much cheaper than
building a big dam, and prevents the waste of water through evaporation.

The example of cotton-farmers in Uzbekistan, who used to receive a fixed allocation of water,
has demonstrated that water is often squandered even when it’s scarce. Simply allowing them
to decide how much water they needed, cut consumption by 30%.

Similary, rice farmers flood paddy fields only some of time to cut water consumption.
Leaving a layer of mulch, which absorb rainwater, permit wheat growers to limit evaporation.
In arid regions it’s more efficient to cultivate products needing few water.

Rate at which plants are absorbing and transpiring water can now be known thanks to
satellites. That allows governments and development agencies to concentrate themselves on
the most prodigal areas.

But efficient use of water is just a step to better agricultural yields. Even farmers use the right
amount of water they also need decent seeds and enough fertilizer. In Africa, for example,
there are other factors such as storage and pest control, are more influents than a shortage of
water.

In many parts of Africa, with a little extra water, cereal output can be double. Some three-
quarter of the extra food the world needs could be provided simply by bringing yields in poor
countries closer to those of rich ones.
 Huawei sets sights on US telecoms

Huawei is a Chinese telecom equipment maker which sets sights on US telecoms. Huawei’s
explosive sales growth should be continue despite a global recession.

The rivals batten down the hatches by slashing jobs and trimming spending. But Huawei
expects orders to rise 44 % this year to $23 billion.

Huawei’s marketing president predicts a rapid growth next year without any cut in terms of
human resources.

Huawei is one of China’s company big export successes and inspires admiration and
suspicion. It produces the building blocks of the internet, like broadband connection boxes.

Its headquarters are in Shenzhen near Hong Kong.

5000 graduates will be recruited next year to bolster a global workforce.

The future for telecoms makers should be rosy. However, recently success has been rare for
telecoms equipment makers. For example Vodafone and Orange are exploring other ways to
save money.

Mergers on this sector are not successful. Neither Alcatel and Lucent nor Nokia and Siemens
have proved their worth.

Huawei’s growth is amazing! Its sales have improved 490 % in past five years. However,
suggestions of state financial support and closeness to the Chinese military have prevented it
from breaking into (entrer dans) the one market that would give it a global status: North
America. “We are latecomer in US market” said Huang.

Washington lawmakers think otherwise. They caused a stink (faire un scandale) for Huawei to
take a stake in US Equipment makers, citing security concerns. But Mr. Huang can’t
understand such suspicions.

Vodafone is one of many big customers that have no worries about the company.

In 2003, Cisco filed a lawsuit against Huawei for allegedly copying its software. This lawsuit
damaged the company’s reputation and made many vendors war of dealing with it.

What sets Huawei apart is that it is owned by 20.000 of its staff. Workers draw an annual
dividend but must sell back their shares if they leave the company.

Actually, Huawei is preparing to supply next generation base stations to allow competing
mobile technologies.