LIBYA: The international community puts more pressure on Gaddafi

The opposition controlled vast territories Monday in Libya, including major oil fields, the Gaddafi colènel remaining deaf to the growing pressure from the international community considering all options including the military.

The 14th day of unprecedented upheaval, Muammar Qaddafi and his forces no longer control that Tripoli and its region.According to European Commissioner for Energy Gunther Oettinger, major Libyan oil fields are now "under the control of tribes and interim forces who returned to power."

The opposition has announced the imminent resumption of oil exports from the east under its control, with the departure of a ship bound for China.

The international community sought ways to end the instability in the country and reflected such a ban airspace.

The U.S. military positions in naval and air forces around Libya, the Pentagon said, adding that its planners were studying various options.

"We're repositioning forces to have the flexibility necessary once the decisions have been taken," said Pentagon spokesman, Dave Laplane.

The chief diplomat Hillary Clinton said that no military action involving U.S. ships were expected in the country.

A spokesman for the White House held that "exile" of the leader was also "a possibility".

President Barack Obama received for his part, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to discuss the situation.

In France, Prime Minister Francois Fillon said that all options were under consideration, including that of the ban on flights over the territory of Libya which would however require the involvement of NATO and UN approval. "I know that evokes military solutions, these solutions are being evaluated by the French government," he said.

Italy has supported a ban on flights over Libya.

After the United Nations and the United States, the European Union on Monday adopted an arms embargo against Libya and a freeze on assets and visa bans against Colonel Qadhafi and 25 of his relatives.

The United States has blocked $ 30 billion of assets since the Libyan sanctions announced Friday by the White House, said a senior Treasury official in Washington.

Information obtained from witnesses, air raids on forces loyal to Qadhafi were denied by the Libyan authorities.

These days, flights suspected of being linked to arms trafficking between Belarus and Libya have been identified by the International Institute for Peace Research in Stockholm.

Facing increasing pressure from the international community, Gaddafi, in power for over 40 years, remained adamant.

"My people adore me. They died to protect me," he said in an interview with ABC television.

The West is preparing to help the opposition, which created an "independent National Council" to represent "the liberated cities.

This body will be "the face of Libya during the transition period," said his spokesman Abdelhafez Ghoqa, while the EU has indicated that in the process of "making contacts" with the Libyan authorities in transition.

"We rely on the army to liberate Tripoli," saidGhoqa.

Apart from the East, the opposition claimed control of several towns around the capital and in the west, including Nalout (230 km west of Tripoli) and Zawiyah (60 km west of the capital ).

The strategic cities of Misrata, east, and Gherien the south, also seem under control of the opposition.

In Tripoli, checkpoints were set up in and around the capital by militant pro-Gaddafi and bread and gasoline were rationed, according to one resident.

Beyond sanctions, Hillary Clinton claimed on Monday that are prepared "additional measures for the Qaddafi government accountable, to provide humanitarian assistance and support for the Libyan people in their quest for a transition to democracy."

The United States will send two teams of humanitarian border with Libya, Tunisia and Egypt, "she announced, while the International Red Cross has demanded immediate access to the west of Libya.

France is sending two aircraft to Benghazi to provide humanitarian aid and the World Food Program has announced the shipment of 80 tons of high energy biscuits.

The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) Luis Moreno-Ocampo, is conducting a preliminary investigation into the violence in Libya, prior to any investigation for crimes against humanity.

The UN chief Ban Ki-moon spoke of a balance of a thousand deaths.

Nearly 110.000 people, mostly Egyptian and Tunisian workers have already fled the country, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

Oil prices fell Monday in New York, the commitment of Saudi Arabia to ensure the stability of a market worried about oil production in Libya has calmed tensions.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex), a barrel of light sweet crude for April delivery finished at 96.97 dollars, down 91 cents from Friday.

THEATRE: Men, Gods and Caesar ...

With 11 nominations at the 36th ceremony of Caesar, the film by Xavier Beauvois' Of Men and Gods "collect in advance the honors of the profession that brand again its distance from the box office by ignoring" Little Tissues "from Guillaume Canet and "Camping 2" Fabien Onteniente.

After a great year for cinema hexagonal (over 206 million cinema admissions, 35% for French films), appointments spend yet most beautiful successes of 2010, "Potiche" to "Tour "from" The Heartbreaker "to" The Ghost Writer "by Roman Polanski.

The Academy of Caesar accompanies the unexpected triumph of the film by Xavier Beauvois (more than 3 million viewers), already crowned by the Grand Jury Prize at Cannes, "Of Men and Gods," which recounts the fate of the monks of Tibehirine , abducted and murdered in Algeria in 1996, is quoted in ten categories.

It is proposed to Cesar for best film, best director, best original screenplay, best sound, picture editing, best costumes, sets, best actor Lambert Wilson and twice for Best Actor in a Supporting Role Michael Lonsdale and Olivier Rabourdin.

Nominees in major categories:

Best Film
"The Heartbreaker" by Pascal Chaumeil, "The Name of the people" by Michel Leclerc, "The Ghost Writer" by Roman Polanski; "Tour" Mathieu Amalric, "Of Men and Gods" by Xavier Beauvois; "Gainsbourg, life heroic "by Joann Sfar;" Mammuth "Benoit Delepine and Gustave Kervern.Dr. Nolan, "The Social Network" by David Fincher, "Invictus" by Clint Eastwood, "Bright Star" by Jane Campion; "Heartbeats" by Xavier Dolan, "In his eyes" by Juan Jose Campanella; "Illegal" d Olivier Masset Depasse.

Best First Film
Simon Werner disappeared "Fabrice Gobert," The Heartbreaker "by Pascal Chaumeil," Gainsbourg, heroic life "by Joann Sfar;" All That Glitters "Géraldine Nakache
"Turk's Head" by Pascal Elbe

A Caesar of honor will be awarded by the Academy to the American director Quentin Tarantino during the Feb. 25 ceremony will be broadcast live at 21:00 Clear Channel Canal +.

LIBYA: The challenge wins Tripoli, ransacked several government buildings in the capital

The seat has a TV and radio public were ransacked by demonstrators Sunday in Tripoli where police stations and local revolutionary committees were set on fire, reported the AFP witnesses reached by telephone.

"A room that housed the television station Al-Jamahiriya Radio 2 and Al-Shababia was ransacked," said a witness told AFP on condition of anonymity.

The diffusion of television was suspended Sunday night, resumed Monday.

Al-Jamahariya 2 second public channel, and radio Al-Shababia had been launched by a son of Libyan leader Muammar, Seif al-Islam in 2008, before being nationalized in the future.

Moreover, according to several testimonies gathered by the AFP, public buildings were burned in the capital Sunday night, including police and local revolutionary committees in several neighborhoods, including near the square in downtown Green where violent confrontations took place at night between pro-and anti-regime.

The "Hall of the People", a building located near downtown and where are often organized events and formal meetings, was also burned, told AFP Tripolitan who lives nearby.

This building is located not far from downtown, at the entrance of the residential district of Hay al-Andalus.

In the night, heavy gunfire were heard in several neighborhoods of Tripoli and clashes between opponents and supporters of the Libyan leader had taken place including the Green Square Tripoli, witnesses said.

Violence during demonstrations against the power of Libya Muammar Gaddafi took at least 233 deaths since February 15, HRW said Monday, following a warning from the leader's son Seif al-Islam against the risks of " civil war "in the country.

Benghazi, the second largest city 1,000 km east of Tripoli, is the center of the revolt for six days and for Sunday alone 60 people were killed, according to Human Rights Watch.

The protests have won the capital Sunday.

"Libya is at a crossroads.Either we are hearing today on reforms, or we do not mourn 84 deaths but thousands and there will be rivers of blood throughout Libya, "said Seif al-Islam during a televised speech on the night Sunday to Monday, saying the country is on the verge of "civil war".

He repeated several times the figure of 84 dead in violence in Libya and said the balance sheets provided by "foreign media" were "greatly exaggerated".

Since the beginning of the protest movement in Libya, his father, Colonel Gaddafi, who has for 42 years without a power-sharing in this oil-rich country, made no public intervention.

G20 SUMMIT: The French presidency is trying to defuse controversy

In Paris, during the G20 summit, he will essentially issue of imbalances in the global economy. But the G20 central bankers will also discuss raw materials and exchange rate policy.

For two days, finance ministers of the club of the 20 richest states accompanied by the presidents of their respective central banks will try to harmonize their violins.But political differences and strong business fueled by the turmoil caused by the economic crisis may clutter the discussion.

The three points of contention that the G20 Finance:

- The global economic imbalances

One of the issues of this summit is to assess the reality of economic disparity between the G20 countries to better redistribute the fruits of global growth. The goal is laudable, but to reach the participants at the G20 in Paris will have to agree on concrete indicators.

This is where things could get tougher.Five possible criteria have been identified: current account balance, real exchange rates, foreign exchange reserves, deficit and public debt, and private savings. One particularly problematic: the balance of current accounts in which the trade balance plays an important role. States like China or Germany fear that eventually they blame their strong exports. The French Minister of Economy Christine Lagarde, has already started clearing the ground Thursday at a conference in Paris organized by the Institute of International Finance. "What we do not want is to tell any country: stop being competitive, stop exporting," she said.It evokes rather "guidelines" ... more consensual and more blurred.

- The regulation of commodity markets

French President Nicolas Sarkozy will hold. He wants to make the fight against speculation in commodity markets its workhorse at the head of the G20. "There will be a debate about it," he confirmed the French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde.

But the debate is likely to be stormy, for the role of speculation in the surge in commodity prices is not consensus. Early 2011, a study by the European Commission concluded that there was no correlation between the two.Countries like Brazil and Argentina, leading producers of raw materials are, moreover, strongly opposed to regulation of prices and fear that France is trying to impose one. So, Christine Lagarde had again put water into wine Nicolas Sarkozy. "It does not propose a price administration, not at all," she said without specifying what France wanted.

- Policy Exchange

The war being waged for nearly a year the United States and China on the undervaluation of the yuan remains a central concern. In this regard, Christine Lagarde reiterated that China "should let its currency appreciate more freely."But for Beijing not to input summit in the dock, she returned with another idea to which China is more favorable.

So France should advocate a greater role for the Yuan. It should propose that the Chinese currency is part of IMF's currency basket - called Special Drawing Right - which is replacing gold in large international transactions. One way for France to indicate that the Chinese currency should be treated with the same consideration as the dollar.

AFGHANISTAN: A shopping center in Kabul hit by suicide attack

AFP - At least two Afghan guards were killed Monday in a suicide bombing at the entrance of a shopping center in Kabul, said on television, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry.

The bomber had driven his explosives belt when he was stopped by guards at the entrance of the Kabul City Center, said Zemaraï Bashary the private Tolo television channel.

"Two guards were killed and others wounded.There is only one attacker who blew himself up, "he added.

"Two guards of the mall were killed and two others were injured," he confirmed on site to the press on police chief of Kabul, Mohammad Ayoub Salang.

A senior city police had earlier said that several armed men stormed the Kabul City Center, and that an explosion had been heard.

Ten days ago, a suicide attack claimed by Taliban insurgents had killed eight people in a supermarket in the center of the capital, in an area close to many embassies where many Westerners live.

If security in the Afghan capital has generally improved over the past two years, Kabul is still the target of bombings and attacks often claimed by the Taliban and specifically targeting Afghan and international forces and foreign civilians sometimes.

EGYPT: Strong mobilization of anti-Mubarak despite threats of power

Despite the threat of power to involve the army in case of "chaos", the protesters remained very much involved, Tahrir Square in Cairo Thursday for the resignation of President Hosni Mubarak, who has failed to quell a revolt unprecedented.

The 17th day of the uprising against Mr.Mubarak, in power for nearly 30 years, protesters chanted early morning "The people want to topple the regime," motto of the protest.

"Alaa (eldest son of the president), told Dad that a quarter of a century, enough!" They shouted Tahrir Square, occupied day and night and became the symbol of the movement.

Many carried pictures of "martyrs" killed during the violence that killed about 300 people according to a report from the UN and Human Rights Watch since the beginning of the movement.

Defying the power has toughened their tone on Wednesday against the demonstrators set up new tents on the square, according to an AFP photographer.

The Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit on Wednesday held up the military threat, saying the military institution, considered as neutral, would take place "in case of chaos to take things in hand".

The British daily The Guardian has however reported testimony accusing the military of having been held incommunicado hundreds of demonstrators and to have tortured some.

Protesters spent the night on both sides of the road leading to Parliament, and Thursday morning, the two entries of this road were blocked.

"No to (Omar) Suleiman!", The Vice-President (ex-intelligence chief), "No to American agents", "No to Israeli spies", "Down with Mubarak," they chanted.

Hundreds of protesters surrounded Parliament on Wednesday and the government headquarters, located opposite the center of Cairo.

"If we do not die here, we will die in prison. I'd rather die here," Attiya told AFP Abu El-Ela, a graduate of 24 years of work.

Now the pressure, the White House said that the pursuit of popular mobilization showed that political reforms were still not sufficient, while the State Department urged the Egyptian army to continue to exercise restraint.

Mr.Aboul Gheit, whose country is one of the main U.S. allies in the region, accused the U.S. of seeking to "impose" their will to Egypt in demanding immediate reforms, in an interview on U.S. television PBS.

The calm seemed to be back on Thursday at El Kharga, a town 400 km south of Cairo, where five people injured yesterday in clashes between demonstrators and police who used live bullets, died, according to medical sources. There was also a hundred injured.

Tuesday, Vice-President Suleiman had estimated that an immediate end to the regime "would mean chaos," remarks immediately denounced by the Muslim Brotherhood who ensured that the demonstrations "will continue whatever the threats."

The army, the backbone of the regime, has been named January 28 as reinforcements of police, in particular to enforce the curfew still in force in Cairo, Alexandria (north) and Suez (east).

The situation returned to normal as in Assiut, south of Cairo, where a railway track and a highway linking the northern and southern Iraq, demonstrators blocked Wednesday by anti-Mubarak, have been reopened.

Protesters had also ransacked a government building in Port Said (northeast), the Mediterranean entrance of the Suez Canal.

The protesters still demand the immediate departure of Mr. Mubarak, 82, who has promised to fade at the end of his term in September without appease the protesters.

A political protest were joined by social movements on wages or working conditions in the arsenals of Port Said, in private companies working on the Suez Canal (east) or at the Cairo airport.

Since February 3, events occur most frequently in the tranquility.Clashes between police and protesters during the first days, then between pro and anti Mubarak February 2, however, have claimed nearly 300 lives, according to the UN and HRW, and thousands injured.

The cybermilitant Wael Ghonim, became an icon of the Egyptian revolt after spending twelve days in prison, promised Thursday that he would not make policy and that it "would amount to a normal life once the (...) Egyptians have realized their dream. "

ITALY: Four children die in a fire at an encampment of Roma

Four children aged three, five, seven and eleven years died Sunday in a fire in a camp of Roma in the Italian capital, told AFP spokesman Fire of Rome.

"The bodies were charred and half it could be that there is a fifth victim," he said."Checks are under way, the fire has just been extinguished," he added.

ANSA news agency reported, four others are missing.

The fire broke out, for reasons still unknown, around 8:30 p.m. (1930 GMT) in a hut in a camp located along the Appia Nuova, one of the great arteries from the Porta San Giovanni, in the east of the city towards the airport of Ciampino.

According to NGOs, ten thousands of Roma living in the Italian capital and its suburbs.Most live in illegal settlements whose next closure was announced last year by the city of Rome.

Three new legal settlements, as there are already seven around the Italian capital, must be built by late 2011 with the aim to host 6000 Roma.

Wikileaks: The Mubarak of Egypt under scrutiny of U.S. diplomatic cables

Quarantine of diplomatic cables on Egypt made public by the website Wikileaks between late January and early February depicts a power elite profoundly disconnected from the people. The authorities there seem to be paralyzed by power struggles and very timid on the issue of human rights. Review in detail the main themes raised in these confidential diplomatic exchanges.

Hosni Mubarak: Egyptian The Rais is portrayed as an old wolf of the policy that is clinging to power at any cost, in a long cable in May 2009 dedicated to him.According to the American ambassador stationed in Cairo, he is obsessed by the "threat" of the Muslim Brotherhood and considers Iran "as its main adversary" in the region. The great ideals like human rights do "not interested". Another message of January 2010 provides that he will represent in the 2011 presidential election and that "obviously will be reelected" ...

Inheritance: "This is the topic of conversation in the corridors of power," it said repeatedly in these diplomatic cables. Struggles clan seem to dominate the energy of all those close to Hosni Mubarak.The personality of the president's son, Gamal Mubarak, is considered the main fault line. "The army does not support Gamal and never let settle a dynastic succession," says a cable and September 2008. Better: a parliamentary assured a U.S. representative in 2007, that the only way to resolve the problem of succession would probably one day be "a military coup."

Human Rights: The issue of police violence is one of the most often discussed in these diplomatic cables that run from 2005 to February 2010. The representatives of the Egyptian government then respond systematically denial.On January 31, 2010, the director of security services, Hassan Abdel Rahman, said as there had been no "abuse of prisoners in the last ten years." The Embassy of the United States, however, noted that from 2007, the courts more readily grasp of police brutality case. But the only convictions are generally the "underlings". Between 2005 and 2010, the conclusion is often the same: "Torture and police brutality are rampant and widespread"

Army: A diplomatic cable in 2008 described the army as a body of the state's declining influence that attaches primarily to its economic privileges.U.S. Ambassador Margaret Scobey estimated that the population no longer sees the army as the nation's elite. Above all, the diplomat believes that the power of the military is primarily economic - investment real estate, among others - that politics of economic privatization undertaken by the president especially irritates the military institution.

Public opinion: On several occasions, diplomatic cables echo the growing public resentment against Hosni Mubarak. Cable in particular relating to violent protests in the city of Mahalla in 2008, stresses that the term "corruption and disdain are on everyone's lips."Upon arrival of Mohamed el-Baradei in Egypt in February 2010, a diplomatic cable emphasizes that for the population, it represents a "viable alternative to a corrupt system."