Thousands of North African immigrants have landed on the Italian side

AFP - Nearly a thousand immigrants from Tunisia and Libya have arrived in the course of the night from Monday to Tuesday in Sicily and Lampedusa aboard several boats, said the Italian Coast Guard.

The first boat, a large fishing boat about 35 feet long with nearly 500 people on board including women and children, arrived shortly after midnight near the coast of Ragusa, in southern Sicily.

The boat ran aground on rocks near the coast and immigrants, mostly Eritreans, Somalis and citizens of other countries in the Horn of Africa, fleeing the fighting in Libya, were transferred ashore aboard Coast Guard boats in small groups.

About 450 other immigrants also arrived aboard three boats in the night on Lampedusa, a small Italian island that is crumbling under the weight of illegal Tunisian which nearly 20,000 have arrived in recent weeks.

The first boat was carrying 190 people, mostly Eritreans, while two others carried Tunisians.

Faced with overcrowding of immigrants in Lampedusa, an Italian ship left the island with 827 people on board who arrived Tuesday morning in the port of Taranto, in Puglia, southern Italy, where they will be transferred in a temporary shelter set up in this region to cope with the influx of immigrants.

FRANCE - cantonal elections: A candidate FN suspended for a photo showing him to the Nazi hello

AFP - The National Front responded immediately by suspending the party Friday one of its candidates for the cantonal, hours after publishing on the website of the Nouvel Observateur the picture of the man doing the hello before a Nazi swastika flag.

The party intends to show that it sends a "signal" is "no place" in the party frontist for those that revolve around an ideology which Nazi "was an abomination," as the repeated Marine Le Pen on several occasions, at the time of the congress which has brought it to the presidency of the FN.

"Everyone must know that the National Front in it admit such behavior unacceptable carrying a repugnant ideology," said a statement Friday Marine Le Pen, in announcing an investigation "on the reality of this photograph ".

"It is a montage," the person reacts

The NouvelObs.com Friday published a photograph, undated, Alexander Gabriac, FN candidate in the canton of Grenoble-6, making the left hand hello to a Nazi swastika flag.

Several other photos were subsequently posted on the Web, where we see again the man making the same gesture.

Gabriac Alexander, 20, is regional adviser FN Rhone-Alpes and Central Committee member of the FN on the list Gollnisch, Challenger Marine Le Pen in the last party congress FN.

"It's a montage. We do not recognize me in this picture where my eyes are hidden," he told AFP the youngest regional adviser of France. He added that he intended to file a complaint against the website of the Nouvel Observateur.

Aurélien Viers, editor of nouvelobs.com, denied it a mount."We have verified that it is him, we have a whole series of photos we took the most iconic," he told AFP.

"He will have to prove to us that this photo is a montage," replied the FN

The secretary general of the FN Steeve Briois, told AFP that the candidate was "suspended from the FN and, already, is not the FN in the second round of cantonal.

"It will be excluded," continued Mr. Briois, indicating that there was "a good chance that this photo is real." "This man is close to the French Oeuvre (Nationalist Movement, Ed)," he added."He will have to prove to us that this photo is a montage," he said.

"We want to send two signs," he said, "First, the Front National, there is no place for people who have this ideology, and then a message to all those tempted to come to the National Front to make entryism, and I think the French Work, "he said.

Mr. Briois has also said: "This photo is from the Department of the Interior, 48 hours before the second round of cantonal, to try to destabilize the FN. The department "made a serious mistake because the FN is taking its responsibilities. People like that, they turns. They have no place in the Front. It will be a good way to clean house within the FN," he saidBriois.

The interior ministry has told AFP that he "absolutely contradicted these allegations."

Reacting to the publication of this photograph, SOS Racism said in a statement that the candidate of the FN "shown (is) is the true face of the party of Marine Le Pen, a party viscerally plagued by racism and antisemitism (...) nostalgic of Nazism and its evils. "

Yemen: President Saleh loose new ballast but the challenge continues

Dropped by a portion of his army, the President of Yemen Ali Abdullah Saleh on Tuesday proposed to resign in early 2012, but the opposition rejected the offer insisting on his immediate departure.

Earlier, President Saleh, in power for 32 years, warned against the risks of civil war in his country including the capital Sana'a is the setting for Monday in a deployment of military units rival tanks.

In south-east, in the city of Moukalla a first incident on Monday night between elements of the regular army and presidential guard units had two killed, witnesses and medical sources.

This tension redoubled concern the United States, said Tuesday the U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates. Washington has so far seen the president Saleh as an ally in the war against terrorism and Al Qaeda affiliates.

Of the likes of Osama bin Laden are active in Yemen and were involved in attempted attacks against the United States in 2009 and 2010. Washington provides an annual grant of $ 150 million in Sana'a to combat them.

"The instability and diversion of attention vis-à-vis AQPA (Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula) is certainly my primary concern in this situation," said Gates, after a trip to Moscow.

To overcome this crisis, the head of state, whose term expires in 2013, proposed "holding parliamentary elections before the end of 2011, followed by election by members of a president in early 2012," according to a senior Yemeni official, who requested anonymity.

But the opposition immediately rejected this offer: "The Yemeni people calling for the immediate departure" of the president, said his spokesman Mohammed al-Sabri."Only one thing can satisfy the people, and that the resignation of this man," he added.

In Sanaa, the military and officials have continued to succeed in front of the demonstrators University Square, the epicenter of protest, to announce their allegiance to the "youth revolt".

The challenge, launched in late January, has gained momentum after the death March 18, 1952 people in an attack against demonstrators in Sanaa attributed to supporters of the regime.

Representatives of members of the Arab League have condemned Tuesday the "crimes against civilians" and urged the Yemeni authorities to meet the demands of the population to "peacefully".

Protesters on Monday received the support of the army chiefs, including General Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar, head north-east which includes the capital.

Armoured units loyal to General Ahmar were deployed around the Central Bank, the headquarters of the General People's Congress (GPC ruling party) and other vital facilities in Sana'a.

But the tanks of the presidential guard, headed by the president's son, Ahmed Saleh, and special forces, commanded by his nephew Tarek Saleh, took up positions around the presidential palace.

A Moukalla, clashed Monday night soldiers under the command of the Eastern Military District, General Mohammed Ali Mohsen, who joined the protest, members of the presidential guard.

A soldier of the regular army and a member of the presidential guard were killed, medics, and three soldiers wounded, including an officer of the regular army.

Mr.Saleh, 69, warned that any conspiracy to precipitate his departure would lead to Yemen, a poor country of 24 million, to civil war.

"Any attempt to take power in a coup would lead to civil war," he said on television before military leadership, whereas the divisions within the army were "harmful" to the country.

AFP - A "race against time" is bound to cool reactors at the Fukushima nuclear power plant accident in Japan, said Friday the chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Yukiya Amano.

"The cooling is extremely important, so I think it's a race against time," he said in Tokyo after meeting Japanese Prime Minister, Naoto Kan.

The accident at the plant "very serious", it is important that "the international community, including the IAEA," participated in efforts to secure the situation, "he said.

Mr.Amano said further that the IAEA would measure the level of radioactivity in Tokyo, probably on Friday evening, according to comments reported by the agency Jiji.

The level of injury increased by 4 to 5 on a scale of up to 7

The Nuclear Safety Agency Japanese statement Friday from April to May the level of the nuclear accident in Fukushima on the scale of nuclear and radiological events (INES), which runs until 7.

The importance of a problem occurring in a nuclear site is assessed using this scale, level 0 being no abnormality and level 7, the most important, a major accident like Chernobyl ( Ukraine) in 1986.

The increase in severity by the Japanese space agency's accident Fukushima at the same level as that at Three Mile Island (USA) in 1979.

The French Nuclear Safety Authority for its part considers that the accident Fukushima is the severity level 6.

He hopes to "help reassure the Japanese public" by making measurements distinct from those of the Japanese government.

NIGER: Issoufou historical opponent declared the winner of the presidential

AFP - The historical opponent Mahamadou Issoufou won with nearly 58% of the vote in presidential elections in Niger, said Monday the election commission.

Mr.Saturday Issoufou received some 1.8 million votes, or 57.95%, ahead of former Prime Minister Seini Oumarou with 1.3 million votes (42.05%), announced Gousmane Abdourahamane, Commission President Independent National Electoral (INEC), at a ceremony in Niamey.

The turnout reached 48.17%, below the 51.56% of the first round of 31 January.

The second tower, whose effectiveness has been praised by international observers, was intended to restore civilian rule after a year's military junta after the coup of February 2010 against Tandja.

The new president is scheduled April 6.

LIBYA: France recognizes the Libyan National Transitional Council

AFP - France said on Thursday the National Transitional Council (CNT) of Libya, which includes opposition to the regime of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, as the only "legitimate representative of the Libyan people" and will soon send an ambassador to Benghazi, said the Elysee.

"France has recognized the Transitional National Council as the legitimate representative of the Libyan people," he announced to the press an emissary of the CNT, Ali Essaoui after a meeting with Nicolas Sarkozy at the Elysee.

This information was immediately confirmed by the Presidency of the Republic, making France the first country to recognize the NLC as the sole representative "legitimate" of the Libyan people.

"Based on this recognition, we will open a diplomatic representation, so our embassy in Paris, and an ambassador of France will be sent to Benghazi," said Mr. Essaoui."The ambassador will be installed temporarily in Benghazi, before returning to Tripoli," he added.

The next exchange of ambassadors between Paris and Benghazi was also confirmed in the wake of the Elysee.

This recognition comes on the eve of a special summit of Heads of State and Government of the European Union (EU) in Brussels on Friday, in which Nicolas Sarkozy will propose a "comprehensive plan" on the Libyan crisis.

"There will be a strategic plan to be proposed by France tomorrow (Friday) before the European Council," said another of the emissaries of the Libyan opposition received by Nicolas Sarkozy, Mahmoud Jibril.

"The president told us that there was a comprehensive plan that would be proposed and adopted to address the situation but at a European level, to work for the Libyan people and save the Libyan people's sufferings and massacres perpetrated against him, "said Mr. Jibril, whose remarks were translated into Arabic.

The Elysee Palace confirmed that the plan would be presented Friday to the member countries of the EU, without giving further details.

Nicolas Sarkozy is the first Head of State or Government of 27 to receive official representatives of the Libyan opposition.After the interview, he escorted the three emissaries of CNT on the steps of the Elysee Palace and shook hands at length to reporters.

The French initiative contrasts with the withholding expressed so far by the EU, whose foreign minister Catherine Ashton on Wednesday refused to Strasbourg to support the application of CNT to be recognized as the sole legitimate authority in Libya, yet supported by the European Parliament.

CINEMA: The Moroccan film "Pegasus" won the Golden Stallion of Fespaco

The film "Pegasus", the Moroccan Mohamed Mouftakir, won Saturday night the Golden Stallion of Yennenga, the highest award of the Festival Pan African Film and Television of Ouagadougou (Fespaco), the great rendezvous of African cinema .

The director received the trophy from Burkinabe President Blaise Compaore at the closing ceremony of the 22nd Fespaco, held in the largest stadium in the capital in the presence of about 20,000 people.

"The price is a pride, that recognition.That's encouraging, "he told the press the director thanking the jury, chaired by the Gambian university M'Baye Cham.

Located in the Moroccan countryside, "Pegasus", the debut film of a young filmmaker, is a story of rape and incest, the drama of Rihanna, a young girl of twenty years manipulated by his father who believe she is pregnant with a demon.

Eighteen films were competing in the feature film category.

The Silver Stallion went to "A man who cries," Mahamat Saleh Haroun from Chad, who had received the Jury Prize at Cannes in 2010 for this film.

The romantic comedy "The guy ideal" of the Ivorian Owell Brown won the bronze stallion.

The Jury Prize went to "Our foreign" the Burkinabe Sarah Bouyain.

The best actor award was given to Benin Sylvestre Amoussou, also director of "A step forward, the bottom of corruption," and Best Actress Samia Meziane in "Journey to Algiers" the Algerian Abdelkrim Bahloul.

The latter also won the award for best screenplay for "Journey to Algiers."

"The Loves of a zombie" by Arnold Antonin (Haiti) has awarded the African Diaspora.

While some critics and filmmakers have been disappointed by the level of Fespaco, M.Compaore has hailed "a victory for Africa" and "a quality production that can integrate markets. "We need to encourage filmmakers to build partnerships and diversify production," he said.

The ceremony was choreographed by the company Salia Ni Seydou Burkina Faso, and the star of the Congolese song Fally Fally has "made the show.

For this edition, a record number of films, 475 were presented to the organizers who did not expect that 300.But they have retained that 195 works, including 111 competing in various categories.

However, "the South Fund (French agency for the support of cinema in the South, ed), the share of African products has increased from 34% of applications approved for the period 84-88 to 12% in 2005-2009" , said Saturday afternoon the French Minister of Culture Frederic Mitterrand, who attended the closing.

It has announced "before summer" a conference on aid to African cinema, to improve coordination and access.

The general consensus, the organization of the Fespaco was satisfactory, whereas accreditation problems and programming marred the celebration of African cinema in the last edition in 2009.

Fespaco remains a popular festival where moviegoers alongside celebrities and other guests. It was established in 1969 "by passionate movie buffs and some directors in order that the African public look at his own images and appropriates them," says the Tunisian filmmaker Ferid Boughedir.

GRAPHICS: The revolt in the Arab cause a spike in oil prices

The instability of the regimes in North Africa and the Middle East leading to higher oil prices with the global economy, still recovering from the financial crisis of 2008, is without.

In an attempt to limit the soaring prices, the chairman of the Federal Reserve Ben Bernanke is mounted to the front on Tuesday. In a speech to U.S. lawmakers, he tried to reassure the markets by saying that high oil prices will probably lead to no significant inflation.Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil exporter, pledged to increase its crude production.

But that was not enough to counter rising oil prices, which have continued to rise in the markets. In two and a half months, the price of a barrel of crude has increased nearly $ 20.

Souces: db-markets.com; digitallook.com

17 décembre 2010 to 91.67 dollars (U.S.) - In a gesture of despair, the young unemployed Bouazizi Mohammed himself on fire in Tunisia, triggering a wave of protests against the ruling regime unprecedented in the country.The anger against the ruling regimes is rapidly spreading to neighboring countries.

14 janvier 2011 to 98.38 dollars (U.S.) - Tunisian President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali fled the country.

25 janvier 2011 to 95.35 dollars (U.S.) - Thousands of demonstrators gathered in Tahrir Square, Cairo, call for the resignation of President Hosni Mubarak, in power for 30 years in Egypt.

11 février 2011 to 101.11 dollars (U.S.) - After two weeks of protest, the Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak stepped down under pressure from the street.

17 février 2011 to 104.01 dollars (U.S.) - In Bahrain, riot police violently dispersed demonstrators camp who had moved to the center of the capital, Manama.The same day, police opened fire against protesters in Yemen and Libya.

23 février 2011 to 110.34 dollars (U.S.) - Libya's second city, Benghazi, fell to the opposition.