FRANCE: Dominique Strauss-Kahn was arrested in New York for alleged sexual assault

The Director General of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Dominique Strauss-Kahn, was arrested Saturday at JFK Airport in New York before his departure for France and placed in custody for an alleged sexual assault at a hotel in the city.

Mr.Strauss-Kahn, known as "DSK", was unloaded from an Air France flight to Paris just minutes before takeoff, officials said.

By late evening Saturday, French official was in a police station in Harlem in New York pending a formal indictment, according to police sources.

"We have placed in custody and delivered to the New York Police Department (NYPD), told AFP on condition of anonymity, an official at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. "We did it at the request of the NYPD," the source said.

Strauss-Kahn "was placed in custody. He is asked about an alleged sexual assault.He was not charged, "he told AFP by telephone on NYPD spokesman Michael Debon.

According to police sources, Mr Strauss-Kahn would have hurriedly left the Sofitel Hotel where he was staying, leaving his mobile phone and personal belongings. A housekeeper told police she was assaulted by the Director of the IMF as he left naked in his shower.

Earlier, the New York Times announced the arrest of Mr. Strauss-Kahn, former finance minister and a leading French political figures, likely candidate for the Socialist Party's primary for the presidential election of 2012.

"Mr.Strauss-Kahn has been unloaded from an Air France flight by officials of the Ports Authority of New York and New Jersey and delivered to investigators in Manhattan, "writes the New York Times, quoting a spokesman of the Authority.

"He is accused of sexually assaulting an employee of a hotel in Times Square in New York earlier in the day" on Saturday, the source said.

An IMF spokesman in Washington made no immediate comment.

Contacted by AFP in the early evening, the lawyer for Mr. Strauss-Kahn in Washington, William Taylor, was unaware of the case.Contacted later, he said he had never managed to reach his client.

The New York Times, "It was 4:45 p.m. when undercover investigators from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey have suddenly taken on board of Air France Flight 23 (...) and took Mr. Strauss-Kahn in custody, "said John Kelly, spokesman for the Authority.

"It happened 10 minutes before scheduled flight departure," the spokesman quoted by the newspaper.

Officials of the Authority acted on the basis of information from the New York Police investigating "a brutal assault of an employee of the Sofitel New York, located at 45 West 44th Street, according to the same source.

Mr.Strauss-Kahn had planned a visit in Berlin on Sunday and should be received by Chancellor Angela Merkel.

It should normally attend Monday at a meeting of finance ministers from the euro area in Brussels, then a speech Wednesday at the 12th Economic Forum in Brussels, an event organized by the European Commission.

Mr.Strauss-Kahn was appointed in September 2007 to head the IMF for a fundamental reform that institution.

In 2008, the IMF had ordered an investigation of its director after an extramarital affair between the former Minister of Finance, 62, and a former head of the Africa Department, Ms Piroska Nagy.

The investigation established that she had received no special treatment, and that "there was no harassment or favoritism or any other abuse of authority."

But then the IMF had criticized a "serious misjudgment" in a case that had made the front of the world press.

Economist acknowledged his candidacy for the French presidential election in 2012 to wear the colors socialists is acclaimed in the polls.

Socialist nomination in 2006, it was widely anticipated by Ségolène Royal, finally beaten by Nicolas Sarkozy, who then supported his candidacy for the IMF.

OLYMPIC GAMES: Six new disciplines in Sochi-2014

AFP - The IOC Executive Board has agreed in London on Wednesday to include six new events at the Olympics in Sochi in 2014: women's ski jumping, skiing halfpipe men and women, the figure skating team, the mixed relay in biathlon and team relay luge.

The other five candidate events, ski and snowboard slopestyle, both men and women, and the alpine ski event team will be decided later which should take place late May or early June, after further studies Feasibility sites in Sochi, said the IOC sports director Christophe Dubi.

The six new tests should represent an additional contingent of 150 athletes.

"The introduction of these new tests will be appreciated by athletes and spectators," said Jacques Rogge, IOC President. "These are exciting sport, which perfectly complement the existing program and increase the number of women participating in the Olympics."

JAPAN: Radioactive contamination recorded in several food

Abnormally high levels of radioactivity were found in milk and spinach in the prefectures of Fukushima and Ibaraki, near the nuclear plant accident, said Saturday the government spokesman, Yukio Edano.

"A level of radioactivity exceeding the legal limit in Japan was detected in a milk sample collected in Fukushima Prefecture and six samples of spinach in Ibaraki prefecture," he said.

These levels are not hazardous to health, however, said Mr.Edano has urged people to remain calm, announcing the results of samples taken from food samples.

"Compared to the average consumption of milk of Japanese, even if someone would start to drink contaminated milk for a year, the dose of radiation he would receive would be equivalent to a single scanner" in hospital said the spokesman, speaking of the prefecture of Fukushima.

"Even if a person was still eating contaminated spinach for one year, the level of radiation would be equivalent to one fifth of the dose received during a scan," he added.

The Ministry of Health has ordered local authorities to investigate to determine the exact origin of contaminated food, knowing where they were distributed, and based on the result, halt the sale and take appropriate action, "said M . Edano.

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.

EGYPT: When different generations of critics find themselves in challenging

Who leads the revolt? And who could, if the Egyptian president was leaving office, driving the transition? A week after the start of the protest movement, and while tens of thousands of protesters again gathered Tuesday in downtown Cairo to demand the departure of Hosni Mubarak, no leader has yet to embody the imposed alternative.

"Most opposition parties have very limited ability to mobilize," says Nadim Shehadi, an expert member of the think tank Chatham House in London. These events are not run by the opposition but from the street.The traditional opposition parties have never been at the forefront of this movement. "

Young online activists, spearheaded the protest

According to Nadim Shehadi, the opposition would, however, currently structured. The older generation, fragmented and repressed, joined youth groups cyberactivists who stormed the Web to shake a moribund political landscape for nearly three decades.

Among this new generation of opponents, the Movement of 6 April is one of the main actors of the protest movement, said Samir Shehata, Center for Contemporary Studies in the Arab world of Georgetown University.This movement emerged in 2008 in the wake of the revolt of cotton workers.

Samir Shehata also cites the Kifaya, or Egyptian Movement for Change, one of the spearheads of the dispute. This group, which brings together activists from various trends, emerged in July 2004, launching a campaign against Hosni Mubarak. Kifaya members were particularly far mobilized against the prospect of succession to power of Gamal Mubarak, son of the president.

Kifaya is Arabic for "Enough."A message that resonated in the streets of Cairo and other cities of Egypt such as Cairo or Alexandria, in recent days.

Mohamed el-Baradei, figurehead activists

January 27, Mohamed el-Baradei himself left Vienna, Austria, where he resides, and to return to Egypt to join the protest. The former director of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which suggested that the transition is a recognized and respected figure on the international scene, but credibility in the local scene is more difficult to establish .

"I think the influence of Mohamed el-Baradei is minimal, said Nadim Shehadi.Before these events, his popularity was very low and his chances of being elected very limited. "

Mohamed ElBaradei, however, an obvious figurehead for the network of activists behind the protest. His National Association for Change, a nonpartisan coalition founded a year ago, rallied all the opposition groups, including the powerful Muslim Brotherhood, officially banned but tolerated by the regime.

Shortly after the arrival of Mohamed ElBaradei last week, the Muslim Brotherhood said they were seeking to form a broad political committee with the former diplomat.Speaking to a crowd at Tahrir Square in Cairo on Sunday night, one of the leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood and former MP, Mohammed el-Beltagui said the move "argued Mohamed el-Baradei to drive change." "We're trying to establish a democratic arena, before they can begin to play inside," he added.

The Muslim Brotherhood, a strong presence in the streets since the beginning of the dispute, have networks of charitable associations, schools and hospitals, enabling them to establish their influence in the vast lower class.

A committee of ten persons to lead the transition

Other representatives of the opposition were quick to join Mohamed el-Baradei.Among them, the liberal Wafd party, a great nationalist party founded in 1919 but which now has only a limited audience, the dissident Ayman Nour, who came in second place far behind Hosni Mubarak in the presidential election of 2005; or Osama al-Ghazali Harb, president of the Democratic Front.

According to the U.S. daily The New York Times, the new generation of online activists and opponents older held since Sunday a series of meetings to try to plan a response to a motion. Nadim Shehata says that this coalition has agreed on a list of ten names, including Mohamed ElBaradei, Ayman Nour and Osama al-Ghazali Harb.This committee would lead a unity government if President Hosni Mubarak left the office.

"Young people continue to pursue these discussions," says New York Times Ibrahim Issa, a prominent intellectual of the opposition.

If all these opponents want the departure of the Egyptian president, remains to agree on how to use. Monday, they certainly all called for "a million march" held Tuesday.

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.