AWARD: Glencore breaks for good with the legacy of its founder

Since Baar Swiss town of 20,000 inhabitants, the giant commodities Glencore pilot one of the most important steps in its history: its market introduction. This introduction, which should be finalized in mid-May, would allow the group to emerge between 9 and 11 billion euros. Glencore would succeed and the third largest IPO in history for a European company (after those of the German Deutsche Telekom in 1996 and Italy's Enel, 1999).

The company, which acquires its credentials in the financial markets, turn the page of his early years, under the leadership of sour Belgian businessman Marc Rich. There is no doubt that he is behind the success of Glencore.No doubt also that its leaders do not regret the departure in 1993, a man who imagined a time on the top ten most wanted by the FBI.

When Marc Rich founded in 1974, at age 40, his trading company in raw materials - Marc Rich + Co - he already has the reputation of a trader of genius. During the oil embargo decided by the Gulf States in 1973, he plays on his own - or almost - from OPEC.This Belgian then succeeds in buying oil in Iraq and Iran to sell twice as expensive in the United States.

Paranoid and hunted by the FBI

In early 1980, Marc Rich was able to get their hands on 40% of global aluminum market and "undertaker" also a large market share of the money. Marc Rich also sells, for years, oil to South Africa - while the country is on the blacklist of the world trade because of apartheid.It is with a lot of such shots, not always legal, Marc Rich made his company one of the major players in commodity markets. His methods earned him strong enemies.

But his crime, at least in the eyes of Washington, is to buy millions of barrels of oil to Iran crisis of American hostages in 1979. A fact which earned him a weapon to be prosecuted by U.S. authorities in 1983 for violating the embargo and tax evasion.Marc Rich refuses to appear and becomes hunted by the FBI, which is considered as one of the ten most wanted criminals in the world.

He continues to lead his company from the canton of Zug, Swiss tax haven, but would have lived from this time in a permanent state of paranoia, according to Daniel Ammann, a journalist who has devoted a biography called "The King of oil" , released in November 2010.

The wildest rumors begin to circulate about his lifestyle, as reported by the newspaper The Observer in May 2001. It would have to build a tunnel under his office to avoid being assassinated on his way to his favorite restaurant.In addition, Marc Rich never moves without a dozen bodyguards - all former Mossad.

The shot of (the) presidential pardon

A lifestyle wearing. In 1993, he ended up making a bad transaction that makes it lose hundreds of millions of dollars. Marc Rich is then obliged to sell its stake in Marc Rich + Co's co-shareholders, who pushed him toward the exit.

It seems so out of business and devotes part of his fortune, estimated by Forbes at $ 800 million to charitable and cultural activities. But the FBI did not forget it either. At least until the end of the term of Bill Clinton in 2001. While it does have a few more hours at the White House, he grants his forgiveness to everyone's surprise.He explained later that he received several requests by influential people, including Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak.

COTE D'IVOIRE: Laurent Gbagbo continues to negotiate his departure

Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo out Tuesday still refused to concede defeat despite the collapse of his regime and demand a cease-fire of his army, reeling from strikes in France and the United Nations before the advancing forces Alassane Ouattara.

While France and the United Nations require him to sign a document in which he relinquished power and recognizes his rival as president, he warned that he was not concerned.

"I do not recognize the victory of Ouattara.Why do you want me to sign it? "He said Tuesday during an interview on French TV channel LCI.

After days of fighting with heavy weapons that have made "dozens of deaths" according to the UN in Abidjan, and a bloody post-election crisis of four months, the guns are virtually silent in the Ivorian city.

"There is a ceasefire but there is sporadic gunfire from youth groups who are not" fighting forces, said the UN mission ONUCI.

Some heavy weapons fire rang out in the Cocody district (north), which houses the presidential residence.

The people, the vast majority holed up at home, remained suspended on the announcement of the end of the era Gbagbo, while television TCI camp Ouattara broadcast excerpts from "The Downfall", a film about the last days of Adolph Hitler.

"Entrenched" according to the UN in a bunker in the basement of his residence, to which had converged in the morning fighters president recognized by the international community Alassane Ouattara Laurent Gbagbo insisted.

"I find it absolutely astounding that the life of a country hinges on a gamble of foreign capitals," he dropped.

"I go to worship and pray for the wisdom that lives in each other, so that we discuss," he said this fervent evangelical Christian.

"Whether we sit down and discuss it, but it does not sit, because it relies on foreign forces," he said.

"Me, I'm not a kamikaze, I love life. My voice is the voice of a martyr, I do not seek death, but if the death happens, it happens," he further explained.

There are currently "negotiations" about Laurent Gbagbo but "not yet reporting," said the French presidency told AFP. Same story on the side of the UN.

According to a source familiar with the matter, another stumbling block was the destination of M.Gbagbo: Does it remain on his land or the fierce nationalist will he forced into exile?

According to the French Prime Minister Francois Fillon, "two generals close" to Mr Gbagbo were currently "trying to negotiate terms of surrender."

President Barack Obama called the former strongman from Abidjan to "resign immediately", arguing "strongly" strikes the UN and France on Monday on its last strongholds.

The shelling on the heavy weapons of the pro-Gbagbo had precipitated the collapse of his regime after more than a decade of power and eight days in a lightning offensive of the pro-Ouattara, from the north.

Foreign Minister Mr.Gbagbo and among close relatives, Alcide Djedje played a key role in the epilogue in progress.

He went to the Ambassador of France, whose residence adjoins that of Mr. Gbagbo, to negotiate a cease-fire "on demand", he said, the incumbent.

The Chief of Staff of the army loyal to Mr. Gbagbo, General Philippe Mangou shortly thereafter told AFP that his forces had "asked the commanding general UNOCI a cease-fire.""We stopped the fighting," he added.

The former opponent of the "Father of the Nation" Felix Houphouet-Boigny, who became president in 2000 in a ballot already challenged, has never conceded defeat in the presidential election of November 28, 2010, a vote yet certified by the UN.He always refused to resign or go into exile.

But the fierce resistance of his troops in Abidjan, which were before the crisis about 5 million people, has plunged the city into chaos.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has reported "dozens of deaths" in recent days of fighting with heavy weapons.

The humanitarian situation "has become absolutely dramatic in Abidjan," the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs United Nations.

The UN has estimated that "hundreds" the number of people who perished in massacres last week in Duekoue, in the West - the balance sheets show, according to sources, 330 to a thousand people - and revealed the existence of a mass grave containing 200 bodies.The forces pro-Ouattara have been particularly singled out.

The African Union condemned the "misuse" and "violations of human rights" and again called for "mandatory protection of the civilian population."

A controversy has finally broken out on strikes UN and France.

The chairman of the AU, the head of state of Equatorial Guinea Teodoro Obiang Nguema, has condemned Russia and said their study "legality".

Conversely, Nigeria has supported this commitment. For Senegal, another key ally of Mr. Ouattara, the intervention was responding to a request from West Africa.

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. "

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.

Libya: Muammar Gaddafi threatens to intensify law enforcement

AFP - Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi faces an unprecedented popular revolt last week, vowed on Tuesday in a televised speech to restore order, wielding the threat of a bloody crackdown.

Promising to fight "until the last drop" of his blood, he called the police and army to regain control of the situation and assured that any demonstrators armed deserved "punishment."

"Make your arms immediately, otherwise there will be butchers," he said referring to a response "similar to Tiananmen," in reference to military repression of the "Beijing Spring" in June 1989 which had claimed hundreds, if not thousands dead, according to sources.

Draped in a brown tunic, his first official response since February 15, Colonel Gaddafi was speaking in front of his house bombed by the Americans in April 1986 and left for further processing.

"Muammar Gaddafi has no official position he resigned.Muammar Gaddafi is the leader of the revolution is synonymous with sacrifice until the end of days, "he said in a fiery speech of over an hour, punctuated with large hand gestures and sometimes silence and stuttering .

"All young people need to create tomorrow's defense committees of the revolution: they protect roads, bridges, airports," he said, calling on his supporters to show from Wednesday.

"No fool can cut our country into pieces," said Colonel Gaddafi, in power for over 40 years, threatening to "purge (country) house by house".

"We have not yet made use of force, but if the situation requires the use of force, we will resort," he said.

According to Human Rights Watch (HRW), the repression has already been "at least 62" dead in the capital Tripoli since Sunday.

Monday morning, HRW announced a review of at least 233 deaths since February 15, without mentioning casualties in Tripoli. The International Federation of Human Rights (FIDH) had put the figure at "300 to 400" deaths in the country.

The first bloodshed concentrated in Benghazi, the second largest city 1,000 km east of Tripoli, the capital hit Sunday night, when calm had returned to Benghazi on Monday night, according to testimony at the AFP.

According to the FIDH President, Belhassen, violence continued in the morning in Tripoli."The militias, security forces loyal to Qadhafi rampant so terrible, breaking doors, looting (...). It is impossible to remove the bodies in the streets, one gets shot," she explained to AFP.

Tunisians who fled the country told AFP nights of terror in Tripoli, Gaddafi's men and mercenaries firing in all directions, stopping, shining, raping, while the wounded were bleeding.

In the capital, many foreigners were confined to their homes. The airport was crowded, hundreds of expatriates seeking to leave the country.Many countries said on Tuesday sending planes to evacuate nationals.

The Security Council of the UN was an emergency meeting Tuesday in New York while the West calls for "swift and clear" face of repression.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, spoke of a "bloodbath totally unacceptable."

The Arab League announced that the participation of Libya in its meetings were suspended "until the Libyan authorities to accept the claims" of the Libyan people "and ensure his safety."

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has held the speech of Colonel Gaddafi "very frightening" and demanded "a cessation of violence", adding that otherwise Germany "would consider sanctions."

But the Europeans were divided over whether to impose sanctions, some countries fearing a backlash against their nationals on site or opening the valves of illegal immigration. Rome has said such fear that flow from 200 to 300,000 migrants fleeing Libya.

The Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, whose country has very close economic relations with Libya, met with Colonel Qaddafi.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay called for the opening of an "independent international investigation into the violence, raising the possibility of" crimes against humanity. "

Several Libyan officials have defected to protest against violence against demonstrators, as well as diplomats abroad.

Economically, the deadly escalation in Libya, a leading global producer of black gold, pushed oil prices to levels not seen since 2008.OPEC has indicated its willingness to increase production if needed, while ensuring that the market remained well supplied.

However, the only pipeline connecting Libya to Italy and Europe was cut Tuesday.

EGYPT: EU looks into the freezing of assets of Egyptian officials

AFP - The Egyptian authorities have asked several European countries to freeze assets of former senior officials of the regime of Hosni Mubarak, but not the deposed president himself, and the issue will be addressed by the entire EU on Tuesday at a meeting in Brussels.

Paris was seized by the Egyptian authorities "a request to freeze assets of former Egyptian officials," said AFP Monday the spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign AffairsBernard Valero.

"We consider this request and we will cooperate well with the Egyptian authorities," added the spokesman stating that it "does not cover former President Hosni Mubarak nor members of his family."

In London, British Foreign Minister William Hague also said to have "received a request from the Egyptian government to freeze the assets of several ancient Egyptian officials.

"We will of course cooperate" with the Egyptian authorities "working with EU and international partners as we did in the case of Tunisia," saidHague, referring to the gel by the European Union of assets of former Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and his family.

"If there is evidence of misuse or illegal use of public funds, we will take firm and swift action," he assured the chief of British diplomacy.

The same request to freeze assets of former officials was made by the Egyptian government in the United States, said a senior State Department official in Washington also said it was not about Mr.Mubarak.

At the request of Great Britain in particular, the EU finance ministers have decided to put the issue of a possible freezing of assets of seven former Egyptian officials on the menu at a meeting Tuesday that they must have in Brussels, told AFP a diplomatic source.

"There are six or seven Egyptians on the list, but it does not definitively Mubarak," she said.

The EU will also discuss aid to countries on the southern shore of the Mediterranean.

"I asked what was mentioned together, and I know it will be tomorrow, the situation in countries such as Tunisia, Egypt in particular, to examine the financial and economic aspects is ie at a time, investment opportunities and support, including the European Investment Bank, through the various development agencies in each of our countries, "said French Minister of Economy Christine Lagarde.

We need to "see how we can all support the democratic movement that is taking root in these countries," she added.

Germany has also announced it was approached by Egypt with a request to freeze assets.

"A request for assistance from the Egyptian authorities concerning the freezing of assets of former members of the Egyptian government and parliament came to us," he told AFP a spokesman of the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs. "We are reviewing this request," he added.

None of the three capitals has detailed the immediate amount of the assets concerned or the personalities involved.

The name of Hosni Mubarak, who left the presidency of Egypt on Friday after 30 years in power was not mentioned either in London and Berlin. According to the British press, Mr.Mubarak holds millions of euros of assets in Britain.

Switzerland, she decided on Friday to freeze with immediate effect "the assets that could detain Mr. Mubarak and his entourage.

Barack Obama calls for innovation in his State of the Union

Two months after the resounding defeat of his party in midterm elections, Bush has urged people to mobilize for the prosperity of the country, in his traditional speech on the state of the Union. Addressing representatives of Congress, Barack Obama made the leap to innovation and investment in education and research. He also expressed hope that Republicans and Democrats work together.

For over an hour, he outlined his policy in 2011 and was applauded repeatedly. "This is a bet that Barack Obama overall has proposed to members of Congress, said on FRANCE 24 Marjorie Spangle, co-founder of the website" I love politics. "He called for innovation in both the economic sphere, creating jobs, and political matters, he calls on all parliamentarians to work together. "

If the Senate is still a Democratic majority, the House of Representatives is dominated by Republicans since the mid-term elections (November 2010). For the first time, representatives from both sides sat side by side on Capitol Hill in Washington, and wore a ribbon in honor of Gabrielle Giffords, a Democratic congresswoman injured in the shooting of Tucson. His seat remained empty."This tragedy reminds us that we are part of a whole, the American family, which goes beyond political parties," Obama said at the outset of his speech.

"Launch our Sputnik!"

While the country is now facing an unemployment rate of 9.4%, the U.S. president has spent most of his speech on the economy. "Yes, the world has changed. The rules have changed. And for many of us, this change has been difficult to manage.I heard the frustration of Americans who have seen their salaries shrink to a trickle and their jobs disappear. "

Barack Obama has especially highlighted the growing competition from India and China - now the largest research center in the world solar industry. "This should not discourage us," he said yet. The United States still the most prosperous economies. "

To meet these challenges and create jobs, Bush has advocated the use of innovation and investment in research, information technology, infrastructure and clean energy.By comparing current America to those of the Cold War, Barack Obama said that if the Soviet Union was capable of launching the satellite Sputnik into space in 1957, the United States had then been able to create new industries and millions of jobs. "Let's launch, we too, our Sputnik!" he said.

Barack Obama has stressed the importance of education, with emphasis on the responsibility of parents and teachers. He also asked Congress to eliminate subsidies for oil companies to invest more in the future of energy. "I do not know if you noticed, but the oil companies are doing well for themselves," he said."I challenge you," he added in 2035, 80% of our electricity will be produced by clean energy sources. "

To reduce the budget deficit of $ 400 billion in coming years, Barack Obama has proposed to freeze all spending "excessive" state over a period of five years. "Republicans continue to claim the reduction of public spending, said William Meyer, FRANCE 24's correspondent in Washington. But the magnitude of this decline will surely not be sufficient for them."

"A campaign speech"

"In his speech, Barack Obama spoke of the crisis, but not negatively," said Marjorie Paillon its side.He stressed how the U.S. would sublimate these expenses, to make investments for the future. "

Steven Ekovich, professor of political science at the American University of Paris FRANCE interrogated on 24 with his State of the Union is like "largely to a campaign speech," while the presidential election will be held in 2012 the United States.

In terms of international politics, finally, Barack Obama affirmed his country's solidarity with the Tunisians. The United States "support the democratic aspirations of all peoples," he said.

He also said the terrorist network Al Qaeda "had never been under greater pressure in Pakistan," since the attacks of Sept. 11.In Afghanistan, "thanks to our heroic troops, there is less of Afghans who are in the grip of insurgents," he said. The United States will work with a fifty countries to establish "a lasting partnership" with the Afghan government. As for American soldiers, they begin to reenter the United States in July, he added.