CASE DSK: Emerging covet the IMF, the stronghold of Europeans

The debate over the estate of Dominique Strauss-Kahn to head the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has launched since Tuesday. There "is no longer able to lead the IMF," said Tuesday night, Timothy Geithner, the Secretary of State U.S. Treasury, before calling for a quick change at the head of the institution. Same story in France: "The question of succession will be resolved in the coming days," he said Wednesday Jean-Francois Cope, head of the UMP.

Must still agree on the name of a replacement.The departure of Dominique Strauss-Kahn is there an opportunity to put an end to more than 70 years of EU presidency IMF? Emerging countries hope to take this opportunity to promote one of their favorites, the South African Trevor Manuel and the Turkish Kemal Dervis.

For their part, Europeans want to perpetuate an unwritten rule in effect since 1944 that the IMF management amounts to one of their own and the presidency of the World Bank falls to an American.

But for several years, emerging countries reiterate that the world is not bipolar like in the 70s and should be taken into account.It is this new balance of power that Dominique Strauss-Kahn has also tried to reflect through the reform in 2008, voting rights at the IMF.

"Emerging markets now have more voice in the institution and therefore more weight on the designation of the future CEO", said FRANCE 24 Nicolas Dromel, associate researcher at Paris School of Economics.

"Earthquake with multiple aftershocks

In this, Europe contends that the timing is wrong."The first record of the future will be the crisis manager in the euro area and the Europeans believe that one of them will be more sensitive to this problem and better equipped to manage it," says Christine Rifflart, an economist at the French Observatory of conjunctures economic (OFCE), FRANCE 24."A European as Dominique Strauss-Kahn will have the necessary relationships to facilitate future agreements, including Greece and Ireland," adds Robert Wade, an expert on international organizations at the London School of Economics, FRANCE 24.

But beyond the European battlefield, the arrival of a representative of an emerging nation it change something for the operation of the IMF? "Dominique Strauss-Kahn has already done much to meet the demands of emerging economies such as to make the institution less dogmatic in his political allocation of loans," recalls Christine Rifflart. "The IMF has also put in place adequate filters to prevent the arrival of a president too heterodox," she adds.Moreover, "all candidates have been educated in the same high school and are awarded by the IMF," says Nicolas Dromel.

Still, the arrival of an emerging economy to head the IMF would be a powerful symbol and could act as "an earthquake with many aftershocks," says Robert Wade. "Once the barrier of the IMF will sell, there will be no reason to prevent leaders from emerging countries to take the lead of other international financial institutions", says British economist. Pre-square American Bank would he in turn threatened? In theory yes, but nothing is done."The United States has pushed for emerging countries take a greater role within the IMF and in return, they could thank them by giving them the leadership of the World Bank," said Robert Wade.

GERMANY: After 18 months of trial, the former Nazi Demjanjuk soon learn his fate

AFP - The last great trial of Nazi crimes in Germany draws to a close one against John Demjanjuk, accused of involvement in the Holocaust as an extermination camp guard, whose verdict could fall Thursday.

After some 18 months of trial, a court in Munich (south) should indicate whether such a stateless person of Ukrainian descent aged 91 years is complicit in the murder of nearly 27,900 Jews at the Sobibor camp (Poland), where he was in custody six months in 1943, prosecutors said.

But the uncertainty was still up Thursday morning: the court must first decide on a defense motion that wants to present new evidence before closing the debate, said prosecutors Wednesday.

The prosecutor demanded six years in prison on the 15 he faces a maximum.The accused, who has remained silent, denying the facts, and his defense has claimed the acquittal of the "victim of German justice."

The prosecution had no direct witness or document compromising, if not a map showing its quality SS guard at Sobibor, challenged by the defense as a fake from the Soviet era.

For defense, there is no evidence that Demjanjuk was at Sobibor, and if there was a soldier of the Red Army prisoner of the Nazis, he acted only under duress.

Whatever the outcome, this trial may leave a "general feeling of frustration" and suspicion "partial justice" if the direct participation of the accused is not shown, commented to AFP Nazi hunter Serge Klarsfeld.

Demjanjuk, who was expelled two years ago the United States where he lived since the '50s, after a long legal battle centered on his health is shaky saying, attended the debates stretcher or wheelchair, and has not say a word.

He has already served eight years in prison in Israel, accused of being a guard at the Treblinka camp under the nickname "Ivan the Terrible."Sentenced to death in 1988 he was acquitted by the Israeli Supreme Court because of doubts about his identity.

His trial will be one of the last Nazi crimes, with that of the Hungarian Sandor Kepiro, 97, who has just started in Budapest.

But after Germany, Spain wants to try him for having been a guard in another concentration camp where prisoners have died in Spain.

INTERNET: Microsoft launches assault against Google in Europe

AFP - The U.S. computer group Microsoft has openly declared war in Europe with his compatriot and great rival Google on Internet, by filing Thursday for the first time in its history, a complaint with the European Commission for abusing its dominant position.

Brad Smith, vice president of Microsoft, announced the complaint in a blog published on the website of the group in Redmond.

It has been confirmed by the services of EU Competition Commissioner, Joaquin Almunia, who already have a formal investigation against Google open since November.

Brad Smith accuses Google of using "an increasing number of technical measures" to "build walls" preventing proper access to certain content to Internet search engines online competitor of his.

It "blocks of content and data that competitors need to provide search results to consumers and to attract advertisers," source of income for the free services on the Internet, he acknowledges, with several examples support.

Brad Smith evokes including restrictions on access to online video site YouTube to search engines other than Google Search or the multifunction phones using Microsoft software.

Ultimately, Google and reinforces the dominance of Google Search, whose market share in Europe is estimated at 95%, against 5% for Bing, the search engine from Microsoft.

The Commission had already received several complaints in the past against Google.His investigation is focused for now on two markets where the giant internet hyperdominant in Europe, research and online advertising.

It seeks to verify if it promotes its own services and penalizes those of competitors in the results provided by its search engine, or if it imposes exclusivity to advertising partners.

In the immediate future, its services have "taken note" of the new complaint, saying they would like the procedure provided, request a response to Google.

They will then assess whether or not to include it in the file, allowing Microsoft to be more involved in the investigation.

For its part, Google is "not surprised," he assured his spokesman in Brussels, Al Verney, recalling that one of the subsidiaries of Microsoft had been "one of the first plaintiffs in Brussels.

The group suggested all along that Microsoft is behind his troubles in Europe.

Upon revelation of the first complaints, he noted that two of them were related to the group from Redmond: the Internet portal Ciao, acquired by Microsoft in 2008, and that of Foundem compare prices, part of him as association lobbying ICOMP.

From this point of view, the complaint of Microsoft clarifies the debate.

She is also a backlash, because a few years ago, the positions were exactly reversed: it's Microsoft that was in the sights of Brussels for abuse of dominant position, at the time because of its Internet Explorer browser, and Google on the side of plaintiffs.

The standoff lasted for years, and Microsoft had to pay heavy fines.

Brad Smith acknowledged Thursday "irony" of the situation, but assured that Microsoft had not taken his decision lightly. Google "should not be allowed to continue practices that restrict innovation and offer competing services," he stressed, saying "hope" that Brussels' decision to stop. "

FRANCE: Two French planes of humanitarian aid towards Benghazi

AFP - Prime Minister Francois Fillon said Monday morning that two French planes were leaving "in a few hours" to Benghazi, a city in eastern Libya in the hands of opponents of Colonel Gaddafi, referring to the beginning of a humanitarian operation " massive. "

"In a few hours, two planes will leave for Benghazi at the request of the French government with doctors, nurses, medical equipment, drugs. It will be the beginning of a massive humanitarian support to people in the liberated territories," he saidFillon on RTL.

Sunday, Washington, for his part said to be "ready" to provide "any assistance" to opponents of the regime of Muammar Gaddafi.

According to a report Sunday in the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), a total of 256 people were killed and 2,000 injured in Benghazi (1,000 km east of Tripoli), second largest city which is part of the challenge People on February 17.

And if the insurgency has managed to prevent chaos, most shops remain closed, as well as schools, while the port's activity is limited to the evacuation of foreigners.

Extending his remarks on the popular uprisings underway in several Arab countries, Francois Fillon has also questioned the manner in which France and Europe could "help these revolutions (...), which are far from be accomplished to bring the Arab people towards democracy. "

"This is an immediate issue" because "if Tunisia does not quickly an example of a successful transition to democracy, so it's a terrible signal that is sent to all countries of the region with consequences that can be the return of the darkest forces, "he warned.

"The role of France is to help is to support, it support, including on economic and financial terms, these countries moving towards democracy," insisted Francois Fillon.

EGYPT: Negotiations begin between the regime and opposition

AFP - The Muslim Brotherhood, one of the main components of the Egyptian opposition, announced in a statement on the night from Saturday to Sunday to have decided to "initiate dialogue" with the heads of power "to find out how they are willing to accept the demands of the people. "

A Hizbullah official told AFP on condition of anonymity that "a meeting is scheduled between officials of the Muslim Brotherhood and the Vice-President Omar Suleiman," without specifying the date.

"Desiring to preserve the interests of the nation and its institutions and concerned with preserving the country's independence and their rejection of any international or regional interference in our internal affairs, we decided to start a dialogue session to see how they are willing to accept the demands of the people. "

Brothers and want to distance itself from Iran in particular has called for the establishment of an Islamic regime in Egypt.

Leaders of the movement have repeatedly said this week that the Muslim Brotherhood "will not" present a candidate in upcoming presidential elections scheduled for September.

Mr. Sulaiman announced Thursday that the Muslim Brothers were invited to the dialogue that began with representatives of various political forces on democratic reforms.He said that "it is a valuable opportunity" for the Islamist movement.

This is the first time that the Egyptian regime called the Brothers, his nemesis, the dialogue to find a solution to the unprecedented popular protest that has continued for 12 days demanding the resignation of President Hosni Mubarak.

Mr.Suleiman met in recent days several prominent independent and opposition to discuss ways to end the political crisis facing the country.

The most prominent opponent in Egypt, the former director general of the International Agency for Atomic Energy Mohamed ElBaradei, was not invited to the dialogue so far.

He demanded a resignation of President Mubarak before any dialogue on the country's political future.

TUNISIA: The Interior Minister made the household within the security services

The Interior Ministry raided by nearly 2 000 people, attacks against schools and colleges, protesters harassed ... In recent days, the incident - and rumors of incidents - are multiplying in Tunisia. The interior minister of the transitional government, Farhat Rajhi, tried to calm the situation on Tuesday night, speaking on television and in dismissing some thirty senior security services.

"Day after day we hear of attacks, kidnappings and violence against innocent Tunisians, wrote on his blog Lina Ben Mhenni, professor at the University of Tunis. The dictator is gone but the plan is still there.Officers of State Security, supported by militia have sown terror in the country. "

A week marred by incidents

Tuesday, they are different schools of Tunis, the capital and its suburbs that have panicked. "The gangs are terrorizing the colleges and high schools," as this Wednesday the Tunisian daily Le Temps.

English teacher in a school district Bardo - High School November 7th, renamed the school in the revolution of the 14th-January - Nabila Lakhdar Serian said that chaotic day. "Members of the former regime came in some institutions they hit the teachers, students and terrorized everyone.My high school was not attacked but friends called us to tell us to go home. Everyone was panicking. "

The day before, is the headquarters of the Ministry of Interior which was in turn attacked, this time by a crowd of over 2000 people. "Rashid Ammar [Chief of Defence Staff, note] and I escaped by a miracle, said the interior minister in person on television. Without the anti-terrorist units, the attackers would have killed us."Farhat Rajhi, which was stolen coat, his glasses and his computer during the attack, said the attackers "were armed, drunk and drugged."

At Kasserine, in central-west, the same day, several buildings, including the sub-prefecture, were ransacked. On Friday, demonstrators from within the country were violently evicted from the esplanade of the Kasbah, Tunis, where they camped for several days.

"They sow mayhem to slow change"

For Tunisians, there is no doubt that members of the former regime are behind these incidents. "We are living a revolution, said Hatem Frikha, a manager in a consulting and player associations.We just dropped a police state. It is normal for a fringe of the former regime does not want to let things take their course. "

"These people try to mess to slow the pace of change, Hatem Frikha analysis. They want to save some time either to try to rebuild their virginity, or to run away ..."

Alleging a conspiracy against the state after the attack on the Interior Ministry, Farhat Rajhi acknowledged in his address to the private channel Hannibal TV that "evil comes from within.""Fifty invaders, many of whom were armed, were arrested before being released, showing a fail-safe and collusion between the attackers and the law enforcement agencies," he said.

It is for this reason that 34 senior security officials, including heads of national security, safety and general presidential security, was retired Tuesday.Meanwhile, seven new directors were appointed to head various departments of national security.

Farhat Rajhi, the "new face of the police"

These ads and the general tone of the new interior minister, who spoke in Tunisian dialect, seem to have convinced some of the population. "Farhat Rajhi is a very sympathetic character, charming," says Nabila Lakhdar Serian. It embodies a new face of the police. " "The interior minister gave a very interesting speech, confirms Hatem Frikha. It is unanimously behind him."

On Wednesday, the calm seems to income in the country.An authorized source at the Interior Ministry, quoted by the Agence Tunis-Afrique Presse (TAP), has also denied rumors of child abductions, which have proliferated on Tuesday. A hotline was made available to the public by the Ministry of Interior.

Police also made a comeback in the Tunisian streets. After several days of strikes, wage increases were granted on Tuesday, agents of security services. Schools are functioning normally.

"We still always in fear because we are in a transitional period," says Nabila Lakhdar Serian.We do not want an abortion militias our revolution. "" There are incidents, but the situation is quite manageable, assured of his side Hatem Frikha. The police and army are playing their role. The general trend is very positive. "

INTERNET: How Ben Ali was trying to identify users of Facebook

"We had never encountered a security problem of scale that took place in Tunisia." Facebook has detailed this weekend, he led the battle to counter attempts by the regime of Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali to retrieve the identifiers of users of the famous Tunisian social network during the unrest that led to the leakage the former president. A communication operation that gives, of course, the handsome star at the role of Web 2.0, but also casts a harsh light on how the authority was trying to control access to the Net.

In an interview on Monday, the American cultural monthly "The Atlantic", Joe Sullivan, the head of security within Facebook, talks about the incident.It all began during the holiday season, says he. Many users complain Tunisian then seeing their Facebook account deleted.

Tunisian Internet by boiling following the immolation of young Mohamed Bouazizi, Sidi Bouzid, December 17, fear of censorship. At first, Facebook can not identify the problem.

Apolitical posture

Ultimately, it will take about ten days the team of Joe Sullivan to understand what's happening in the country. "The main service provider (ISP) [Tunisia] had established an unprecedented system for recovering logins and passwords for Tunisians registered on Facebook," said one.The social network accuses unnamed Tunisian Internet Agency (ATI) to have engaged the pleasure of hacker crime.

The organization, under the Ministry of Telecommunications, was injected on the login page to Facebook a cookie to save the email address and password that users wrote in logging.

Malicious code online

To circumvent the problem, Facebook has implemented a secure login page (one address "https" instead of "http") for all Tunisians. The user who wanted access to their account should also confirm his identity by answering a security question.Two steps, by Joe Sullivan, were sufficient to prevent the regime of Ben Ali can delete or edit their Facebook accounts.

The firm of Mark Zuckerberg has therefore been drawn into a major political event. "We decided to treat this as a mere technical problem and keep an apolitical stance," said Ted Sullivan, however. That is why the American group waited until the former president Ben Ali stepped down to reveal the story.

This episode confirms, in any event, the tight control on the Net Tunisian denounced for months by both Tunisian and by international organizations to defend freedom of expression.In July 2010, the Internet and Global Voices was moved to an attempt by authorities to retrieve the identifiers of the subscribers to Gmail, Google's e-mail.

January 3, malicious code intended to allow Tunisian government to control access to Gmail, Yahoo Mail and Facebook have even been published on the Internet.

ALGERIA: Algiers Violent clashes outside the headquarters of the RCD

The streets of Algiers were the scene of violent clashes on Saturday between riot police and protesters from defying the authority to call for an opposition party.

Outside the headquarters of the Rally for Culture and Democracy (RCD), some 300 people including recovered blocked by hundreds of policemen. According to Said Saadi, leader of the RCD, 42 of them were injured and transferred to city hospitals. Among them would be Amazouz Othman, the parliamentary leader of the RCD. Official sources have reported wounded seven policemen, including two in serious condition.The independent newspaper El Watan also reported that a dozen arrests were made.

The newspaper always, clashes also erupted on the outskirts of Algiers between security forces and protesters who tried to reach the capital. AFP reports that the local leader of the RCD, Reda Boudraa was beaten with sticks to Bejaia, 260 km east of the capital. The head was bleeding, he was evacuated by ambulance.

The police, present en masse in the Algerian capital, trying to prevent a planned rally by the RCD to demand democratization."The police prevented the protesters to meet, shows Tazir Ahmed, FRANCE 24's correspondent in Algiers. Any group of people over 10 is dispersed."

An impressive police presence was deployed in the early hours of the day, crisscrossing the entire town. "The atmosphere is tense currently in Algiers," said Faisal Métaoui by phone, a political reporter for the independent daily El Watan. " "There are police everywhere, the main entrances of the city are blocked, rail traffic is stopped, the buses are controlled.Some are forced to turn back, mainly those from Kabylie [region traditionally opposed the regime of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, Ed], "he says.

"Historical Impasse"

RCD called for the release of political prisoners, lifting the state of emergency in force since 1992, respect for individual and collective freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution and the dissolution of elected assemblies, "the source of all the political instability since they were imposed by electoral fraud, according to Said Saadi. It is a catchword very consensual, "says the leader of the RCD.

"We're not just in a state of political crisis, we are in a historical dead end, says the latter.There is no longer any bridge between the authorities and society.If we fail to initiate a process towards a peaceful transition, violence will be much more devastating in Algeria than it was in Tunisia. "

Friday, local authorities have, meanwhile, called on residents of Algiers to ignore calls to the event scheduled for Saturday before the Parliament at 11am.

"He asked citizens to exercise wisdom and vigilance, and not respond to any provocation intended to undermine their peace, their peace and their serenity," said a statement from the prefecture Algiers.

Demonstrations are banned in Algeria since 1992, when the state of emergency was declared.

For now, popular protest has not led to a shift of the Algerian government. "It is too early to tell whether this movement has the same consequences as that which takes place in Tunisia, said Faisal Métaoui. The Algerian police are more experienced in Tunisia concerning the riots, said the journalist. But indeed, if nothing changes, if the government does not give a little ground, things may get tougher. "