Italy allows use of air bases
Italy is one a growing number of countries willing to take part in UN, EU and Nato backed military action against Libya. Its air bases, such as the one at Sigonella in Sicily, are likely to play a key role in implementing the resolution.
On Thursday the UN voted to authorise a no-fly zone over Libya and to use “all necessary measures” to protect civilians from Colonel Gaddafi’s forces.
Italy, which has close ties with its former colony , has already suspended a 2008 “friendship treaty” prohibiting its bases being used for military action against Libya.
France, the country that led the calls for action, has confirmed that it will take an active part in military operations.
Denmark and Norway have now joined the list which also includes the UK and the USA.
A number of Arab countries are also expected to play a role.
Do you agree with the UN resolution authorising military action in Libya?
A Javascript enabled browser that accepts cookies is required in order to participate in the poll.
yes (52%) no (45%) i don't know (3%) // pollTS[0]) { pollTS = cookie; cValid = true; }; }; warning.parentNode.removeChild(warning); if(cookie && cValid) { for(var i = 1; i < pollTS.length; i++) { votes += parseInt(pollTS[i], 10) || 0; }; var total = 0; for(var i = 1; i < pollTS.length; i++) { per = pollTS[i] > 0 ? Math.round(pollTS[i] / (votes / 100)) : 0; if(total + per > 100) { per = 100 - total; total = 100; } else { total += per; }; output[output.length] = '' + questions[i - 1] + ' (' + per + '%) '; }; pollHTML += "" + output.join("") + ""; }; if(!cookie) { pollHTML = ' yes no i don’t know'; }; if(pollHTML) { content.innerHTML = pollHTML; }; })();// ]]>
HMS Cumberland back in Benghazi to rescue Britons
The British naval frigate, HMS Cumberland, has returned to the Libyan port of Benghazi to evacuate remaining Britons.
Read our news file
It comes as volunteers from Libya, Egypt, Tunisia and Turkey combine efforts to distribute food and aid to residents of the city.
Benghazi has been under the control of a disparate coalition of people and rebel military units for a week now.
Freelance journalist Francesa Cicardi talked to euronews about conditions in the city: “Life in Benghazi has not yet returned to normal because people here are thinking only about the revolution and they’re waiting for Tripoli to fall,” she said.
“Nevertheless, there is some semblance of normality. Some shops are open, traffic is more or less the same. Banks are shut and schools remain closed. But communication is far from normal. It’s very difficult, there’s no internet for example. As a result, the city feels isolated from the rest of the country,” Cicardi added.
Mock Mars mission ‘lands’ on red planet
After eight months inside a cramped steel capsule, astronauts from the Mars 500 project have ‘touched down’ in a virtual landing on the red planet.
The simulated landing and walk on a fake Mars surface – in a hall at the Institute of Biomedical Problems in Moscow – was the highlight and halfway point in an ambitious isolation exercise.
Six astronauts from Russia, China and Europe ‘blasted off’ in June last year.
The experiment is designed to study the effects of isolation over the 520-day return trip to Mars.
Berlinale: Cinema for Peace
The Cinema for Peace charity gala is one of the highlights of the Berlin Film Festival, attracting film-makers, artists, politicians and celebrities from around the world.
HSBC profit disappoints
HSBC is the latest UK based bank to disappoint investors with lower than expected earning for last year, even though pretax profit more than doubled from 2009 to the equivalent of 13.7 billion euros.
HSBC, which is Europe’s biggest bank in terms of market value, also cut its profitability targets due to the cost of tougher banking regulations.
Its share price fell to their lowest level in nearly a month.
HSBC’s decision to cut back its profitability expectations followed a similar move by rivals Barclays and Credit Suisse as regulatory requirements require banks to hold more money in reserves.
New chief executive Stuart Gulliver said he did not think that HSBC would need a rights issue to raise new capital.
However, its finance director Iain Mackay said the bank’s new, scaled back return on equity target reflected the tougher capital requirements for banks, as well as global economic uncertainty, as highlighted by recent political tensions in the Middle East and north Africa.
Saudis up output as Libyan oil exports disrupted
Oil prices retreated from their recent highs on Friday as a senior industry official said top exporter Saudi Arabia has increased output following disruptions to supplies from Libya.
Saudi Arabia’s Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi said this week that the producers’ cartel OPEC is prepared to meet any shortage if needed and has enough spare capacity to do that.
OPEC has resisted calls for a formal increase in output and does not plan to meet until June.
But sources say Saudi Arabia – the only country able to pump large amounts of extra oil at short notice – has raised output about eight percent to above nine million barrels per day.
Some European oil firms said they plan to buy crude from Iran as well as Russia and other Caspian countries.
The West’s energy watchdog, the International Energy Agency, said on Friday there was no need for an immediate strategic stock release.
Angry protester in front of Libyan consulate in Paris
A man protests at the Libyan consulate in Paris after ripping the Libyan flag from the front wall of the building.
By Rapha?�l Beaugrand
Lactalis lifts stake in Parmalat
The French dairy group, Lactalis, has strengthened its grip on Parmalat by raising its stake in the Italian firm.
Europe’s largest dairy goods company is buying 15.3 percent of Parmalat, taking its overall stake to 29 percent, despite loud resistance from Rome to a foreign takeover.
With a turnover of some 4.3 billion euros, Parmalat is widely seen as an attractive target because of it dominates Italy’s liquid milk market.
Lactalis, however, says it has no intention of taking over the firm. Nevertheless, counter-measures are now expected from a consortium of potential Italian buyers ahead of an April 12-14 shareholder meeting at which the French outfit could win overall control.
Lactalis, the maker of President camembert cheese, has grown through acquisitions and in Italy also owns top cheese brand Galbani. Its greater share in Parmalat will give it a springboard for growth into new markets and broaden its product range.
Egyptians celebrate a week without Mubarak
Celebrations have gone on through the night in Cairo, as hundreds of thousands turned out for what has been dubbed a victory march.
The event came exactly a week after the popular revolt that toppled Hosni Mubarak.
One man said: “All we want is for Egypt to be Egypt again … a president that is aware, a country that’s aware, and a good government that takes the people into consideration and takes the poor into consideration.”
A woman said: “I’m very proud to be Egyptian. And when I travel abroad I can now tell people that I’m Egyptian and not be embarrassed. All of them will respect me because I’m Egyptian and I took part in this revolution.”
Amid the celebration, however, Egypt’s ruling military council has warned it will not allow any further strikes that harm the economy and what it calls national security.
An abandoned house near Chernobyl in Belarus
Makar Krosovsky, 73, visits his abandoned in the state radiation ecology reserve in the 30 km (18 miles) exclusion zone around the Chernobyl nuclear reactor in the village of Pogonnoe, in Belarus. REUTERS/Vasily Fedosenko
Protests in Tunisia continue to have an effect
Ongoing protests in Tunisia are continuing to wield an effect.
The interim government has legalised a moderate Islamist group which was banned under former President Zine al-Abedine Ben Ali.
Legalisation was one of the protesters’ key demands, and paves the way for the group, Ennahda, to form a political party to take part in elections.
Meanwhile, new Prime Minister Beji Caid Sebsi is to announce the creation of a new council responsible for rewriting the constitution ahead of the next elections.
Many who helped oust Ben Ali have continued to protest, angry that some of his former allies were included in the interim administration.
Two more ministers quit on Tuesday, meaning five senior figures including the former Prime Minister Mohammed Ghannouchi have left so far this week.
Uprising spreads further across Libya
Libya’s uprising is moving ever closer to Tripoli with rebels taking Zawiyah.
There are reports that troops loyal to Gaddafi are waiting to launch a counter-attack.
Zawiyah’s strategic significance lies in it being only 50 kilometres from the Libyan leader’s stronghold in the capital Tripoli.
But each gain for the rebels has not been without cost. Fierce fighting has left an unconfirmed number dead.
A doctor told reporters that he had been in Zawiyah for three days and he had seen 24 people shot dead.
“The militia shot the people with heavy guns, by using a bullet that explodes,” he said.
However there are pockets of Zawiyah, in the town’s suburbs where Muammar Gaddafi supporters kissed photographs of their leader, showing where their loyalties lay.
Kurdish protesters clash with police in Turkey
There have been clashes between Kurdish protesters and police in Turkey during demonstrations marking the 12th anniversary of the capture of Kurdish separatist leader Abdullah Ocalan.
Protesters threw missiles during clashes in 12 towns and cities. Police used tear gas and water cannons to break up the crowds, angry about Kurdistan Workers’ Party leader Ocalan’s ongoing imprisonment. At least 30 people were arrested.
Italian woman unite in anger over PM’s sex scandals
Pressure is growing on Italy’s prime minister after Italian women in Rome, Milan and numerous cities abroad held rallies, claiming he had disgraced their country.
Incensed with the latest prostitution scandal to have engulfed Silvio Berlusconi, hundreds of thousands said enough was enough.
Calls for him to resign rang out reflecting just how much damage has been done to Berlusconi’s standing in opinion polls.
But for many of the protesters their anger was rooted in a more fundamental issue with Italian culture.
One protester said she thought that women were almost invisible in Italy, in politics and at work and that she wanted to change this situation.
Berlusconi supporters dismissed the rallies saying their leader had survived worse.
However, this time prosecutors want him tried for allegedly paying for illegal sex with an under age night club dancer.
Ivory Coast on the brink of civil war, UN warns
Violence across Ivory Coast has brought the world’s top cocoa grower to the brink of another civil war, the UN has said.
The latest warning came as further clashes erupted in the main city Abidjan between loyalists to incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo and Alassane Ouattara, the man widely seen internationally to have won November’s disputed election.
Thousands of residents are now fleeing the city to escape the heavy fighting.
On Friday, rebels controlling the north of the country seized a small western town in government territory on the border with Liberia and are reported to be moving South.
Although not a key axis, the fighting there is being seen as a major escalation in hostilities between the rival camps.
Merkel adviser to head Bundesbank
The new head of Germany’s central bank is Jens Weidmann, who was Chancellor Angela Merkel’s top economic adviser for the last five years.
The 42-year-old replaces Axel Weber, who is quitting the Bundesbank post early and has pulled out of the race for the job of president of the European Central Bank which comes free in October when Jean-Claude Trichet steps down.
Merkel’s choice means continuity in terms of the German’s central bank’s focus on fighting inflation and makes it less likely she will insist on a German running the ECB.
But does the appointment raise political questions? Analyst Robert Halver of Baader Bank said: “One could argue and indeed say: what about the Bundesbank’s independence if a close aide is given this job? But I believe that the current difficult times we are facing – such as the euro crisis and the stability crisis and how the ECB and the Bundesbank deal with them – demands unconventional solutions.”
Merkel herself played down concerns expressed by some opposition parties that she was making an overtly political appointment.
“Everyone acquainted with Jens Weidmann knows he is highly competent on the issues, has a brilliant intellect and an independent mind,” she said.
“We are all convinced that he will be an outstanding president of the Bundesbank and will represent Germany and use his voice in the European Central Bank to promote a stability culture,” Merkel said. “He will defend Germany’s own interests.” As Bundesbank chief, Weidmann will sit on the ECB’s governing council.
At the Bundesbank, Weidmann is expected to bring a softer profile, more low key style and greater political experience, in contrast to the sometimes brusque Weber, who alienated other European countries with his criticism of the ECB’s buying of weaker euro zone members’ government bonds.
Diplomatic and military pressure builds against Gaddafi
The international response to the Libyan crisis is becoming a two pronged attack – on one hand diplomatic pressure has been intensified, with the United Nations unanimously suspending Libya’s membership of the UN’s Human Rights Council.
Read our news file
United Nations Secretary-General, Ban Ki-Moon told the Assembly: “The world has spoken with one voice: we demand an immediate end to the violence against civilians and full respect for their fundamental human rights, including those of peaceful assembly and free speech.”
The other approach is a flexing of military muscle by both NATO and the US due to fears that this – the most violent of the recent Arab revolts – may grow bloodier if Gaddafi doesn’t soon quit.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, speaking to the House of Foreign Affairs Committee, said:
“We have also with NATO allies and with the Pentagon begun to look at potential planning, preparedness in the event that we feel it’s necessary for both humanitarian and other reasons that there would have to be actions taken. One of those actions that is under review is a no-fly zone.”
Three US military ships have now passed through the Suez Canal towards the Libyan coast. As yet their deployment is only for a possible humanitarian effort, but that could change.
Bahrain’s king announces probe into protester deaths
The King of Bahrain has said an investigation will be launched after at least three people, including a policemen, were killed in violent clashes between protesters and security forces.
The tiny Gulf state has been hit by a wave of demonstrations since Sunday inspired by those in nearby Egypt and Tunisia.
On Tuesday, thousands of people marched into Bahrain’s capital Manama against the monarchy, some setting up tents and taking money, mirroring what took place in Tahrir square.
In a bid to ease tensions King Hamad bin Issa Al Khalifa made a rare appearance on TV to condemn the violence and offer his regrets and condolences to the families of the victims.
That address came after a man was killed by police as he attended the funeral of a fellow anti-government protester.
Ruled by a Sunni minority since the 18th century, the majority Shi’ite Muslims are demanding greater equality and political freedom in the Kingdom.
No united front on no-fly zone over Libya
Britain and France claim they would be prepared to support a no-fly zone over Libya, if forces loyal to
Muammar Gaddafi continue to attack fellow Libyans.
British Foreign Minister William Hague said both countries were working together to present a “bold and ambitious” plan to a European Union meeting on Libya next week.
French Foreign Minister Alain Jupp?� said Paris supported a NATO planned no-fly zone.
His British counterpart William Hague claimed a number of options are under discussion: “We also agreed that the international community, including the United States and our other partners, should continue to plan different contingencies including a no-fly zone to ensure that we can respond swiftly and resolutely to events in Libya.”
The experience of previous no-fly zones over Bosnia, Kosovo and Iraq have led to a reluctance on the part of some to commit, particularly China and Russia.
US Defence Secretary Robert Gates said that before a no-fly zone is set up, US forces would have to launch pre-emptive strikes against Libyan air defences.
Yet, the idea is not off the menu. The Arab League and African Union back a no-fly zone and the UN would consider the option if it were called for by the interim National Council formed by rebels in Libya.
But many in the Arab world would mean see it as yet more Western interference in a sovereign Arab and Muslim state.
Egyptian shares tumble as bourse reopens
Shares on Egypts stock exchange plunged as the market reopened on Wednesday. It had been shut for seven weeks because of the mass protests that ousted former President Hosni Mubarak.
After ringing the opening bell, Egypts finance minister Samir Radwan said the dip in share prices was normal given the circumstances but added: What I advise is to stick to your papers [shares], dont rush to sell, you may regret it. Go on buying, go on buying, this is the time to buy, its a buyers market.
The benchmark index ended the session down 8.9 percent. From the start of the political turmoil on 25 January to when the market closed two days later Egyptian shares slumped, losing the equivalent of 8.5 billion euros in value
Investor uncertainty was in evidence right from the start of trading on Wednesday and the index immediately fell 10 percent, triggering market circuit breakers so that the bourse had to be closed for half an hour.
News urexwhelti
