Les spiritueux entrainent la Bourse de Paris dans le rouge à la clôture
La Bourse de Paris a terminé en petit recul jeudi, les investisseurs digérant les termes de l’accord commercial entre les Etats-Unis et l’Union européenne, dont l’absence d’exemption pour le secteur des spiritueux.Le CAC 40 a terminé en baisse de 0,44% jeudi, soit un recul de 34,74 points, pour s’établir à 7.938,29 points. Mercredi, l’indice vedette de la place de Paris avait terminé autour de l’équilibre (-0,08%).L’Union européenne n’a pu obtenir d’exemption pour le secteur du vin, qui sera taxé à 15% à son entrée aux Etats-Unis, a annoncé jeudi le commissaire européen Maros Sefcovic.Cette déception pour le secteur des spiritueux a suffi à faire basculer le CAC 40 dans le rouge, compte tenu de l’importance de LVMH, qui détient la maison Hennessy, dans l’indice, explique Guillaume Chaloin, directeur de la gestion actions de Delubac AM. Cette exemption de droits de douane pour les vins est spiritueux était vivement réclamée, en particulier en France et en Italie.”Il y a une immense déception, parce qu’on a travaillé énormément pour obtenir l’exemption et elle était à portée de main. Nous avons la certitude que cela entraînera de grosses difficultés pour la filière des vins et spiritueux”, a déclaré à l’AFP Gabriel Picard, président de la Fédération française des exportateurs de vins et spiritueux (FEVS).Rémy Cointreau a perdu 1,77% à 55,60 euros. LVMH a lâché 1,73% à 485 euros. Le géant des vins et spiritueux Pernod Ricard a reculé de 1,80%, à 101,15 euros.En 2024, l’UE a exporté pour huit milliards d’euros d’alcools, dont plus de cinq milliards de vin, aux Etats-Unis, son premier marché à l’exportation. La France représente environ la moitié: 2,4 milliards d’euros de vin et 1,5 milliard de spiritueux ont été écoulés aux Etats-Unis (environ 25% de ses exportations).”Les effets des droits de douane américains sur les marchandises européennes laisseront des traces”, estime Andreas Lipkow, analyste indépendant.”La défense de nos secteurs à l’export reste notre priorité. L’accord laisse ouverte la possibilité d’exemptions additionnelles, nous y travaillerons”, a écrit jeudi le ministre français délégué au Commerce extérieur Laurent Saint-Martin, estimant que “l’histoire n’est pas finie”.Le marché a désormais les yeux rivés sur le colloque des banquiers centraux s’ouvrant jeudi à Jackson Hole (Wyoming).”La réunion de trois jours des banquiers centraux doit débuter plus tard dans la journée, et les investisseurs suivront de près le discours du président de la Fed, Jerome Powell, vendredi, pour obtenir des indications sur une possible baisse des taux d’intérêt en septembre” et dans les prochains mois, commente Patrick Munnelly, de Tickmill Group.Carmat dégringoleLe fabricant français de coeurs artificiels, en redressement judiciaire, a repris sa cotation en Bourse jeudi après plusieurs séances de suspension, dans l’attente d’une audience devant le tribunal des activités économiques de Versailles le 30 septembre, après avoir reçu une offre de reprise de la part du président de son conseil d’administration.Le cours de Carmat a dégringolé de plus de 50%, à 0,23 euros le titre.
Le braqueur Rédoine Faïd transféré de sa prison de Vendin-le-Vieil à celle de Condé-sur-Sarthe
Le braqueur multirécidiviste Rédoine Faïd, à l’isolement depuis plus de dix ans, a été transféré jeudi par hélicoptère de sa prison ultra-sécurisée de Vendin-le-Vieil (Pas-de Calais) vers celle de Condé-sur-Sarthe (Orne), a appris l’AFP auprès de son avocate et d’une source syndicale.Son transfert, révélé en premier par Ici Nord, intervient un mois après que la chambre d’application des peines de la cour d’appel de Douai a confirmé la décision d’une juge de Béthune ordonnant à l’administration d’assouplir ses conditions de détention. La justice avait relevé que sa détention à l’isolement à Vendin étaient “contraires à la dignité humaine” de par “leur combinaison, leur durée et l’absence de perspectives concrètes et objectifs réalisables”. La cour avait donné un mois à l’administration pénitentiaire pour les assouplir. Cependant avec ce transfert à Condé-sur-Sarthe, prison jumelle de Vendin, “j’ai davantage le sentiment qu’on cherche à aggraver ses conditions de détention plutôt qu’à les améliorer”, a regretté auprès de l’AFP Me Salomé Cohen, l’avocate de Rédoine Faïd.Il a été également placé à l’isolement dans sa nouvelle prison, selon elle.Véritables forteresses high-tech, Vendin-le-Vieil et Condé-sur-Sarthe sont les deux premières prisons à avoir été sélectionnées pour accueillir les plus gros narcotrafiquants de France. Près de 90 détenus de cette catégorie ont déjà été transférés à Vendin depuis fin juillet.”On a surtout cherché à mettre en scène son transfèrement par hélicoptère pour encore une fois faire état d’une démonstration de force du ministère de la Justice”, a estimé Me Cohen.”Il s’agit encore une fois d’une pirouette de l’administration pénitentiaire pour échapper à la décision de la cour d’appel de Douai et à l’humanité dont pouvait faire preuve la juge d’application des peines”, a-t-elle ajouté.Agé de 53 ans, le braqueur avait fait de multiples recours contre ses conditions de détention, faisant valoir qu’elles entraînaient une “détérioration de son état de santé physique et psychique causée par un isolement sensoriel et social”, citant le manque de lumière du jour, le manque d’exercices appropriés, de contacts humains et d’éveil sensoriel.Surnommé le “roi de la belle”, Rédoine Faïd a été condamné en octobre 2023 à 14 ans de réclusion criminelle par la cour d’assises de Paris, pour sa spectaculaire évasion par hélicoptère de la prison de Réau (Seine-et-Marne) en juillet 2018. Il purgeait déjà des peines pour des braquages, dont l’un a coûté la vie à une policière municipale, et une précédente évasion en 2013. Sa date de fin de peine est actuellement fixée au 17 août 2057.
Trump hails ‘total victory’ as US court quashes $464 mn civil penalty
A US court threw out Thursday a $464 million civil penalty against President Donald Trump imposed by a judge who found he fraudulently inflated his personal worth, calling the sum “excessive” but upholding the judgment against him.Judge Arthur Engoron ruled against Trump in February 2024 at the height of his campaign to retake the White House, which coincided with several active criminal prosecutions that the Republican slammed as “lawfare.””It was a Political Witch Hunt, in a business sense, the likes of which no one has ever seen before,” Trump said on his Truth Social platform Thursday, adding that “everything I did was absolutely CORRECT and, even, PERFECT.”When Engoron originally ruled against Trump, he ordered the mogul-turned-politician to pay $464 million, including interest, while his sons Eric and Don Jr. were told to hand over more than $4 million each.The judge found that Trump and his company had unlawfully inflated his wealth and manipulated the value of properties to obtain favorable bank loans or insurance terms.Alongside the financial hit to Trump, the judge also banned him from running businesses for three years, which the president repeatedly referred to as a “corporate death penalty.”On Thursday, five judges of the Appellate Division of the New York Supreme Court upheld the verdict, but ruled that the size of the fine was “excessive” and that it “violates the Eighth Amendment of the United States Constitution.”The Eighth Amendment prohibits excessive or cruel punishments and penalties.- ‘Massive win! -State Attorney General Letitia James, who brought the initial case, vowed to take Thursday’s ruling to the state’s highest court, the New York Court of Appeals.Thursday’s appeals court ruling “affirmed the well-supported finding of the trial court: Donald Trump, his company, and two of his children are liable for fraud,” James added. Following the initial verdict, Trump subsequently sought to challenge the civil ruling as well as the scale and terms of the penalty, which has continued to accrue interest while he appeals.He repeatedly condemned the case and the penalty as politically motivated.His son Don Jr. termed the appellate court ruling a “massive win!!!””New York Appeals Court has just THROWN OUT President Trump’s $500+ Million civil fraud penalty! It was always a witch hunt, election interference, and a total miscarriage of justice… and even a left leaning NY appeals court agrees! NO MORE LAWFARE!” he wrote on X.During hearings, conducted without a jury under state law, Trump accused then-president Joe Biden of driving the case, calling it “weaponization against a political opponent who’s up a lot in the polls.”As the case was civil, not criminal, there was no threat of imprisonment.Trump’s economic advisor Peter Navarro said at the White House Thursday that “James is another one that belongs in jail,” referring to the New York attorney general.”The Democrats really overplayed their hand on this because they thought they could take Donald Trump out,” he said.
Jury convicts US Navy sailor of spying for China
A US Navy sailor has been convicted of espionage for selling military secrets to China for $12,000, the Justice Department said Thursday.Jinchao Wei was found guilty by a federal jury in California on Wednesday after a five-day trial, the department said in a statement.Wei, a machinist’s mate on the amphibious assault ship USS Essex, and another sailor, Wenheng Zhao, were arrested in August 2023 and charged with spying for China.Zhao pleaded guilty and was sentenced in January of last year to 27 months in prison.Wei went to trial and was convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage and other charges. He is to be sentenced on December 1.Roman Rozhavsky of the FBI’s Counterintelligence Division said Wei sent photographs and videos of US Navy vessels, ship movement information, technical manuals, and weapons capabilities to a Chinese intelligence officer, for which he was paid $12,000.According to US officials, Zhao, who was stationed at a naval base north of Los Angeles, received nearly $15,000 from a Chinese intelligence officer for sensitive information regarding navy operational security, exercises and critical infrastructure.Zhao specifically provided information about a large-scale maritime training exercise in the Pacific and electrical diagrams and blueprints for a radar system located in Okinawa, Japan, they said.
US singer signs on for Russia’s answer to Eurovision
An American R&B artist will take part in Russia’s revival of a song contest billed as a rival to Eurovision, which has excluded Russian singers since the Ukraine offensive, organisers said Thursday.Brandon Howard, known professionally as B. Howard, is mostly famous for his resemblance to Michael Jackson — sparking media speculation in the past that he was a son of the late pop icon.Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered this year a revival of the Intervision Song Contest, which showcased artists from the Soviet Union and Eastern Bloc states in the 1960s and 1970s to rival the West. “Brandon, we hope that your emotional depth and electrifying energy will captivate our audience,” contest organisers said in a Telegram post.”We are looking forward to his brilliant performance at Intervision’25 in Moscow!”B. Howard, who has around 150,000 monthly listeners on Spotify, will be joined by performers from 21 countries including China, India, South Africa, Serbia, Venezuela, Cuba and former Soviet republics. It was not clear if his participation was a state-backed or private initiative.There was no immediate comment on the Intervision participation matter on Howard’s social media accounts. The contest will be held in Moscow on September 20, with organisers promising “unforgettable emotions”. Before the Ukraine offensive launched in February 2022, Russia had taken part in Eurovision since 1994, winning the wildly popular event in 2008.
Chaotic return for Kenya’s former deputy presidentThu, 21 Aug 2025 16:33:47 GMT
Violence erupted in Kenya’s capital on Thursday, with police deploying teargas, as impeached former deputy president Rigathi Gachagua returned from a political tour in the United States.Gachagua campaigned for President William Ruto during the 2022 election but the two dramatically fell out last year, leading to his impeachment, and he has now become one of …
Chaotic return for Kenya’s former deputy presidentThu, 21 Aug 2025 16:33:47 GMT Read More »
Hurricane Erin brings coastal flooding to N. Carolina, Virginia
Hurricane Erin brought coastal flooding to parts of North Carolina and Virginia as it made its closest approach to the US mainland early Thursday.High waves washed over Highway 12 that links the Outer Banks island chain, making parts impassable, images posted by local authorities showed — proving the giant storm’s ability to kick up dangerous seas hundreds of miles from its center.Local news channel WRAL reported some damage to buildings on Hatteras Island, particularly to beachside homes on stilts. Sand washed over by the storm covered streets and parking lots.”The Outer Banks are extremely vulnerable to sea level rise, because the land is slowly sinking, and the seas are rising largely because of climate change,” Chip Konrad, a professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, told AFP.”Even with the modest storm surge such as what we’re experiencing here with Hurricane Erin, you can still have really major impacts.”Though the Mid-Atlantic bore the brunt of the impacts, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) urged beachgoers throughout the entire US East Coast to refrain from swimming to avoid being caught in potentially life-threatening conditions.In a morning update, the NHC said Category 2 Erin was packing winds of 105 miles (169 kilometers) per hour and creeping slowly north-northeast. It is expected to weaken as it moves further out to sea in the next couple of days. The Atlantic hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to November 30, has entered its historical peak.Despite a relatively quiet start with just five named storms so far, including Erin, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration continues to forecast an above-normal season.Scientists say climate change is supercharging tropical cyclones: warmer oceans fuel stronger winds, a warmer atmosphere intensifies rainfall, and higher sea levels magnify storm surge.There is also some evidence, though less certainty, that climate change is making hurricanes more frequent.