GAME VIDEO: Hold-up data over a giant 77 million users of Playstation Network

Sony is currently facing one of the most serious cases of computer security in recent years. One (or several) computer hacker had access to personal data of nearly 77 million subscribers to online gaming (Playstation Network) and online music (Qriocity) of the Japanese giant.

"A person could get your name, date of birth, address, email, password and ID," said Sony in a message posted on his blog Tuesday evening. The manufacturer of the Playstation game console adds that it is possible that the bank details of customers (billing addresses, credit card number) have also been compromised.A problem of such magnitude that Sony advises all users of its services to notify their bank and closely monitor the progress of their account.

The announcement was greeted by freshly fans of video games on Playstation. They were already, for a week without access to online services of their favorite console without knowing, until today, what was happening online. Sony has the vee the veil on this interruption in confirming that a computer intrusion had taken place between 17 and 19 April. This attack had pushed so close to all these services online.Having initially said that everything should return to normal within one or two days, the group now speaks more Japanese than a week at least to be able to resolve the problem.

A security server after drying?

"This information comes with six days of delay, Sony has absolutely no respect for these customers," protested a user on the blog of the Japanese manufacturer. Others threaten the electronics giant with legal action if their bank accounts would be emptied by hackers or the origin of the attack. United States, the case has even been taken up by politicians.The Democratic senator from Connecticut, Richard Blumenthal, has sent to Sony executives a letter deploring the lack of open communication in this story. The Japanese group has, moreover, the FBI warned [the U.S. domestic intelligence service] days ago, according to The New York Times dated Wednesday.

The question is how such a misadventure Digital was possible. Sony does not fit, for now, not in the details of this computer attack. Silence does not prevent Internet users multiply hypotheses. The track most credible, as the U.S. expert Brian Krebs security, appears related to recent change of server centralization of information ax players in the Playstation network.Sony has actually done in late March, an update to the Playstation Network to open all users access to a new server hitherto reserved for a small minority of developers. However, the security of the server left it seems to be desired. Many Internet users were thus found that the server change made it possible to enter credit card numbers cans and perform as if nothing had happened, shop online. Is that on this occasion that hackers were able to easily recover data from all users of the PlayStation Network?

YEMEN: The Security Council is launching a "call for restraint" but fails on a statement

AFP - The Security Council of the UN, which met Tuesday for the first time on the situation in Yemen, failed to agree on a joint statement, some diplomats expressing their "concern" about the bloody repression of Yemeni regime.

A press statement was drafted by Germany and Lebanon, two members of the Security Council, but was eventually blocked by a minority, diplomats have said.

"There was a call for restraint and we heard some disturbing reports on Yemen," he told reporters Susan Rice, U.S. Ambassador to the UN.

"The members of the Security Council had a discussion that was worth it," she said without further detail.

Since late January, the violent protest of the regime of President Ali Abdullah Saleh has more than 125 deaths among the protesters.

The ambassador added that the Council had expressed its support for the mediation of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), charged with finding a solution to the crisis in Yemen, where the president clings to power despite a strong challenge from the street .

"We expressed our concern about the deteriorating situation in Yemen and we called for restraint and dialogue," said Peter Wittig, German ambassador to the UN, led to the meeting.

However, he did not specify if it was the German position or that of the Security Council.

Before the meeting, he told reporters that negotiations were not "bogged down" and that "any further bloodshed would be avoided."

The foreign ministers of the GCC began Tuesday night in Abu Dhabi meeting with a delegation from the Yemeni regime on how to find a political solution to the crisis in their southern neighbor.

LIBYA: Resigned, the Libyan foreign minister flees UK

AFP - Faithful servant of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, the Libyan foreign minister, Musa Kusa, who announced his resignation Wednesday at his arrival in London, was in recent years in all negotiations and turnovers that had allowed the return of Libya in the comity of nations frequentable.

Chief of Intelligence from 1994 to 2009, Musa Kusa, 59, was a strong man of the revolutionary committee, the backbone of the Libyan regime, and the prisoners of Muammar Gaddafi.

He has been responsible for large files including Libya in Africa and regards its relations with the West.

It was thus a key negotiator in the business of the Bulgarian nurses that led to their release in July 2007 and in 2003 the dismantling of Libya's nuclear program that opened the way for lifting the trade embargo imposed by the United States against Libya in 1986.

He is best known for his role in compensating the families of victims of the Lockerbie bombing (1988, 270 dead) and the UTA DC-10 (1989, 170 dead), removing the remaining obstacles to the normalization of relations Tripoli with the West.

After two decades, embodied the dark side of the Gaddafi regime, symbolized this Tripolitan recent years the opening.

Born into a poor family, scholarship and holds a Masters of the American University of Michigan (1978), he began his career in special services such as security official Libyan embassy in Northern Europe.

In 1980, Koussa was appointed ambassador to Libya in London before being expelled in the same year by the British after stating his determination to liquidate the "enemies of the revolution" on British soil.

In 1984, he joined the Mathaba, a Foundation to coordinate the liberation movements worldwide, especially in Africa and Latin America.

Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1992 to 1994, he was later appointed head of intelligence, a position he held until 2009, before being responsible for Foreign Affairs, replacing Abdulrahman Shalgham, Libyan ambassador to the UN, who had also defected a few weeks ago.

USA: Justice is a blow to Google's digital library

It was one of the most ambitious of Google. But since Tuesday night, the giant project of the Internet to scan then upload all books published worldwide has suffered a serious setback. A U.S. federal court has decided that this great work "googlesque" was "way too far" and allowed the giant Mountain View (California) to crush the market for online publishing.

More concretely, the American judge Denny Chin ruled, at the request of the Department of Justice on the legality of a 2008 agreement between Google and the two main associations of the U.S. edition: Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers.He found that too much to compromise the benefit of Google and found that virtually gave him the right to post any book without permission of the author.

The agreement in question provided for the creation of a fund, fed by Google, to compensate authors. The Internet giant had thus committed $ 125 million. In return, the multinational could quietly continue to scan all books published in English in the world. Authors who did not want to be included in this virtual library were, themselves, notify Google. This posed a problem for books "orphans" - those we can not find the copyright holders.This system has not pleased the judge Denny Chin, who argued that the search had to ask permission to scan books.

"Not only the literature"

The ruling was eagerly awaited. "We are disappointed by the decision because we believe it is important to bring to the world millions of otherwise hard to find books," he lamented in a statement Tuesday night Hilary Sware, spokesman for Google. But the real issue lies elsewhere: it is rather a story of "big money".

It is no coincidence that, in addition to the U.S. Department of Justice, the prosecution received the support of the Open Book Alliance.Which includes the major competitors of Google - starting with Microsoft and Yahoo's agreement, subject to the judge "allowed Google to interfere a little more privacy and awarded him a monopoly in the internet search" said Gary Reback Tuesday night, co-founder of the Open Book Alliance.

For Google, the works are, in fact, not only in literature. Since 1998, Larry Page, co-founder (with Sergey Brin) Google's dream of a virtual digital library that would work hand in hand with its search engine. Since its IPO in 2004, the group began to scan books. It is now more than 15 billion digital works.

Not dead yet

These pages can be very lucrative.Indeed, if users can use Google to search the contents of a book, the search engine benefit to retrieve information about their reading habits - which would sell more personalized advertisements.

Microsoft, which tries to impose its search engine against Google Bing, did not want to see his enemy to raid the market. Others, like Amazon, do not want a new competitor to sell books online. In December 2010, Google has, in fact, the U.S. launched a virtual library.

But the Google project is not dead, however. Judge Denny Chin has hinted that he might reconsider his decision if the agreement was renegotiated.If Google is trying so hard since 2004 to achieve its ends, it is likely he will return to discuss with publishers and authors.

LIBYA: The ICC opened an investigation for crimes against humanity against Gaddafi

AFP - The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court Luis Moreno-Ocampo said Thursday an investigation for crimes against humanity in Libya, Colonel Muammar Gaddafi for his son and several senior Libyan officials.

"We would like to announce that March 3, 2011 the prosecutor's office decided to open an investigation into crimes allegedly committed against humanity in Libya since February 15," said Mr. Moreno-Ocampo in a press conference at The Hague.

"We have identified certain individuals who enjoy a de facto authority," said Mr.Moreno-Ocampo added, referring to Qaddafi, his inner circle, including his son. "

The prosecutor also cited "the foreign minister, the head of the regime's security and military intelligence, the chief of personal security of Mr.Gaddafi and head of the organization of internal security ", without giving names.

"We want to take this opportunity to notify that if the forces under their command have committed crimes, they could be held criminally responsible," continued the prosecutor.

The Security Council UN was Saturday, in a resolution, before the prosecutor of the ICC of the situation in Libya, whereas "systematic attacks" against the civilian population of this country "may be treated as crimes against humanity ".

According to the Libyan League for Human Rights, the repression was 6,000 dead, 3,000 in Tripoli and 2.Benghazi-000 to a balance sheet significantly larger in the latter city, that killed 220 to 250 put forward by local hospital officials and the ICRC.

AFGHANISTAN: NATO accused of killing 65 civilians in eastern DRC

Sixty-five civilians, including about forty children, were killed by NATO forces in mid-February in Kunar province, eastern Afghanistan, according to revised figures provided Sunday by a fact-finding mission appointed by President Hamid Karzai.

A total of 21 boys, 19 girls, 10 women and 15 adult men were killed in the series of operations conducted by NATO forces in Kunar province, said the mission in a statement quoted by the Afghan presidency.

Mr.Karzai ordered the government officials responsible for security to raise this issue with international forces, add services without more details.

In response, the spokesman for the NATO force in Afghanistan (ISAF), Lieutenant Colonel John Dorrian, said he was "deeply sorry" for "civilian casualties that could have resulted from this operation."

But he disputed the outcome of the fact-finding mission, saying only five to seven civilians may have been injured.Investigations into this matter were continuing, he added.

On Thursday, the inquiry commission announced that 62 civilians had been killed in these operations in the district of Ghaziabad.

On 20 February, President Karzai, saying relying on information from the Afghan intelligence service (NDS), has said that ISAF had killed "50 civilians" during several days of operations in Kunar.

The international force, consisting of about 132,000 soldiers to two-thirds American, is regularly accused by the authorities of killing civilians in its air operations and ground against insurgents, which she admits sometimes after investigation.

The death of these civilians builds resentment of the population against foreign forces, more than nine years after their arrival in the country.

Civilians bear the brunt of the Afghan conflict. At least 2,400 were killed in 2010 by the Afghan NGO (ARM Afghan Rights Monitor) and 3,200 were injured.

GREECE: The 24-hour general strike marred by incidents in Athens

Clashes erupted Wednesday in central Athens between dozens of youths and riot police, splitting in two a procession of demonstrators protesting against the austerity as part of a general strike for 24 hours, was a journalist the AFP.

The security forces, deployed by cable to the Ministry of Finance, at the bottom of the central square of Syntagma fired tear gas to repel irritants and young people, who were of various projectiles.

The police then deployed to push beyond the square mass of protesters split into two incidents and many were coughing and choking.But échaufourrées continued down from the parliament with the firing of Molotov cocktails by young troublemakers.

Police said the various processions union in Athens and Piraeus have collected some 20,000 people, and more than 60,000 according to union estimates, a significant mobilization. In Salonika, the police amounted to some 16,000 demonstrators.

Some 5,000 policemen were deployed in central Athens against the possibility of such excesses, almost automatically give in recent years at events and in particular that had marred the last union demonstration accompanying a general strike on December 14.

The Minister of Citizen Protection, Christos Papoutsis on Tuesday called for calm and "responsibility" to safeguard the country's image in front of the "international community".

The demonstrations were organized by the two major power plants in the country, the GSEE and ADEDY private to the public, and by the communist trade union front Pame, as part of a day of action against the treatment of 24H austerity prescribed in the country by the Union duropéenne and the International Monetary Fund in exchange for his financial rescue.

TUNISIA - FRANCE: Business Tunisian parents Alliot-Marie revive the controversy

AFP - The parents of Michele Alliot-Marie bought Dec. 30, in full journey controversial foreign minister in Tunisia, shares owned by businessman Aziz Miled in a company, said Tuesday the weekly Duck chains.

Michèle Alliot-Marie defended her parents and immediately spoke out against the "excesses" of new attacks against it.

"Their privacy is theirs.The acquisitions they make for themselves than they are for, and nobody else, "she said in a statement.

Bernard and his wife Mary, aged 94 and 92 years were already minority partners (with about 13% of capital) in the real estate company (SCI) which Ikram owned Tunisian Aziz Miled their friend and his son Karim, as the satirical newspaper.

Also according to the weekly, Miled sold them, December 30, Sentido Beach Hotel in Tabarka, all their shares of the SCI.The Minister was also present in the hotel, the newspaper said.

"Everyone would be honored to avoid falling into the excesses which do not grow those that are appropriate," responded the chief diplomat, saying "could not conceive that we can address the family policy and in this case to my parents. "

"I assumed the attacks, even unfair, even unfounded, even personal (...). When you have finished moving my life, including private, fine-tooth comb is that of my parents that investigation, "she said.

According to the newspaper, which is the source of previous revelations about the theft of the minister and his family aboard the private plane of M.Miled late December, the exact amount of the transaction spouse Mary is not known.

In a statement sent to AFP, Bernard Marie explained himself on this transaction. "Mr. Miled is one of my friends. The transactions we conduct with my wife and I do not watch it and do we," he said, customs clearance and his daughter.

"On the occasion of Christmas, I proposed to my girl that we went to Tunisia rather than Dordogne as we had originally planned. We stayed from Dec. 25 to Jan. 2 at the hotel Tabarka (north-western Tunisia, ed), and I paid the hotel bill myself as flights Paris-Tunis-Paris had been settled by my daughter, "said MrMary.

"I am committed since the summer with Mr. Miled in a transaction that involves the purchase of a SCI, which owns an option to purchase an apartment under construction. This stay in Tabarka (north West of Tunisia) for Christmas gave me the opportunity to certify the signatures of my wife and myself on the surrender of shares, "said Mary.

Michèle Alliot-Marie has faced calls for his resignation for having proposed a security cooperation with Tunisia and have used twice during his Christmas vacation in Tunisia, the plane of Aziz Miled, while the revolution Jasmine began.

This was presented as a close brother of the deposed president.But it is not on the list of Tunisian officials of the former regime whose assets freeze was requested by the European Union.

The minister had claimed the bonds of friendship between her parents and herself to Mr. Miled, who came to visit them in France. She had defended him, saying that Mr. Miled had been victim of the system financially Ben Ali.

President Nicolas Sarkozy had defended his minister, while acknowledging that "this was not the best idea to go in Tunisia" at this time.

Many Socialist leaders have criticized the minister, the MP Pierre Moscovici asking again Tuesday the resignation of Michele Alliot-Marie.

Iran: An Iranian-Dutch executed by hanging

A woman with dual Dutch and Iranian nationality, was arrested after participating in antigovernment demonstrations in 2009, was hanged in Iran for drug trafficking, reported Saturday's semi-official Mehr news agency.

"A trafficker named Zahra Bahrami, daughter of Ali, was hanged today for concealment and sale of narcotics," Mehr wrote, citing the court.

According to the daughter of this woman of 45 years, cited by the advocacy organization Human Rights International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, the drug trafficking charges were fabricated after arrest Zahra Bahrami for his participation in demonstrations in December 2009.

Mehr reported that she was convicted of importing cocaine from the Netherlands in Iran and that 450 grams of the drug were found on her.

Iran does not recognize dual nationality.

FRANCE: Carlos Ghosn explained the case of industrial espionage at Renault

REUTERS - Renault has followed the "usual process" by maintaining secrecy for several months on the internal investigation that led him to dismiss three of its officers suspected of espionage on its electric car program, said Carlos Ghosn, the CEO, in an interview published in the Sunday newspaper.

The prosecution announced January 14 the opening of a preliminary police investigation on this issue.Renault had filed a complaint against X for the day "for acts that constitute industrial espionage, bribery, embezzlement, theft and handling stolen goods, committed by an organized gang."

Ghosn aware since August 2010

If the first public information about the suspicions of the group date from the early, early internal warnings date back nearly five months.

"In late August, the ethics group, Christian Husson, who is also our general counsel, and the boss of Renault's safety came to see me," said Carlos Ghosn in the interview with JDD."They have shared information of very high concern about the integrity of some of our senior staff."

Asked to explain the reasons which led the group to keep the information confidential, he said that "Renault has very specific procedures for such cases.""I decided that the usual process would be used," he adds.

He refused to specify if Renault has used a private investigator to conduct its own investigations.

"Everything we have is now in the hands of justice," says he.

"We were unbeatable"

"It is not for me to go here into details of what we did. But we were blameless in relation to the law," he says.

"An investigation services spy-cons has been open since last week. I repeat, they have all the elements.Today, we expect that justice do its job, "he says.

The three officers covered by the suspicions of Renault, laid off at first, were dismissed. They have since announced the filing of a complaint for malicious prosecution or defamation case to case.

"His target is our strategy in the electric car", explains Carlos Ghosn in the Sunday newspaper. "We launched in 2006 in the most total skepticism.Today, we are the only ones in the world to manufacture both the battery, motors and chargers, to produce the whole system. "

"When a manufacturer is in technological advance, do not be naïve, ca lot of people interested."

He stated that the leaks do not correspond to information "technology" but it could be information on the "economic model" Renault's electric.

Carlos Ghosn assurance that it had "no doubt" the identity of the recipient of such information.

"We await the results of the investigation which I'm told it should last several months," he said.

The record floods over 600 dead

AFP - The president of Brazil Dilma Rousseff declared Saturday a national mourning for three days after torrential rains that killed more than 600 dead in the mountains near Rio where desperate people are facing chaos and shortages.

According to the latest report from the Civil Defense, at least 610 people perished in this disaster, one of the worst in Brazilian history.

On the other hand, 14,000 people are homeless in this agricultural region and resort to a hundred kilometers from Rio, where peaks rising to 2,200 meters.

Pope Benedict XVI said Saturday sent a message of solidarity to the victims and families of victims posted on the website of the Archdiocese of Rio, where he said he was "appalled by the tragic consequences of heavy rains and expressed his" spiritual solidarity to the people Rio.

A seven-day mourning was also declared in the State of Rio in memory of the victims most of whom were surprised in their sleep by the rivers of mud that took everything in their path.

A Teresopolis, 100 km from Rio, where 263 deaths were counted, people buried their dead.

In the municipal cemetery "a dog, Leao, do not leave the grave of his mistress, Maria Cristina Santana, buried two days ago," said one undertaker told AFP.

Inside the morgue, "it's like a horror movie," he told AFP a voluntary worker, Michelle Tosetti.

The bodies are so decomposed that medical examiners do more photo identification for fear of scaring the families of survivors and also because the photos are not used for anything, "she said.

Now, families are asked to describe the tattoos and any particular sign. In some cases, DNA testing by saliva are made.

The rain had stopped resumed in the afternoon.The soil remains saturated with water and the risks of further landslides remains high.A dozen agricultural areas are still isolated and as relief overtook them, the death toll rise, firefighters have warned.

"I think at the end of it all, we have over a thousand bodies," said Mauricio Berlim, a municipal cemetery sexton.

The Secretary of Health, Solange Sirico, warned against "the risk of epidemics such as hepatitis and leptospirosis.

She also asked people "not to drink well water is contaminated" and it appealed for donations of medical supplies and volunteer doctors.

A Nova Friburgo where 274 people were killed, the streets of this peaceful city, founded by Swiss emigrants in the early nineteenth century and valued by Cariocas for its mild climate, back images of ruins and chaos.

The people trying to leave the city, but gasoline is rationed and the road is dangerous because the yield point in several places.

Important economic consequences ahead: it was already very difficult to find fresh vegetables in Rio, the region serrana (mountain) is the main vegetable production area of the state of Rio.

The tourism sector has already lost 30 million dollars, said the vice-president of the Brazilian Hotel, Michel Chertouh.

This tragedy has generated a wave of solidarity throughout the country. Twenty tons of food were collected by Civil Defense and Rio several hundred people gave their blood.