Le monde agricole ne décolère pas contre le Mercosur, voté à Bruxelles

Repli des tracteurs de la Coordination rurale et entrée en scène de ceux de la Confédération paysanne, qui dénonce l’interpellation de deux de ses responsables devant l’Arc de Triomphe: la mobilisation agricole se poursuit vendredi en France, contre le Mercosur et la politique sanitaire du gouvernement.Le vote vendredi à Bruxelles de ce traité de libre-échange entre l’Union européenne et des pays latino-américains, malgré l’opposition de la France et des agriculteurs qui craignent un déferlement de boeuf, volailles et sucre produits avec des normes moins disantes que les règles européennes, devrait amplifier la colère qui éclate depuis début décembre dans les campagnes.Deux porte-parole de la Confédération paysanne ont été interpellés devant l’Arc de Triomphe où ils marchaient avec des militants après une opération escargot sur le périphérique parisien. Le syndicat a dénoncé des “arrestations scandaleuses” et “violentes”.Jean-Luc Mélenchon a dénoncé sur X “une grave mise en cause de la liberté de manifestation”, peu après le dépôt par son parti la France insoumise d’une motion de censure contre le gouvernement, notamment pour protester contre l’accord de libre-échange.Avant l’aube, plusieurs dizaines d’agriculteurs de la Confédération paysanne sont entrés sur le périphérique à l’est, porte de Montreuil, avec six tracteurs. Vers 11H00, des tracteurs étaient bloqués dans l’ouest de Paris, porte Maillot, accompagnés de militants de la CGT et des Soulèvements de la terre.”C’est le Mercosur qu’il faut abattre, pas nos vaches!”, a déclaré Nicolas Fortin, secrétaire général du 3e syndicat agricole français, historiquement marqué à gauche, opposé au libre-échange et très engagé contre la gestion actuelle de l’épizootie de dermatose qui frappe les bovins.- “Un exploit” -Une position défendue la veille par les “bonnets jaunes” de la Coordination rurale (CR), 2e syndicat agricole, coutumier des opérations coup de poing et dont certains responsables dans le Sud-Ouest ne cachent pas leur proximité avec l’extrême droite.”Mercosur mort à coup sûr”, clamait une pancarte accrochée à un tracteur de la CR jeudi à l’Arc de Triomphe, où ils n’ont pas été inquiétés par les forces de l’ordre.Après avoir cheminé de leurs bastions du Sud-Ouest, de Normandie ou du Nord, les agriculteurs de la CR ont réussi leur démonstration de force, parvenant à entrer dans la capitale, jusque devant l’Assemblée nationale malgré les interdictions de rassemblements non déclarés devant le grandes institutions parisiennes.Onze interpellations, 12 mises en fourrière et 65 verbalisations ainsi que plus de 600 manifestants ont été recensées jeudi par le ministère de l’Intérieur en Ile-de-France, hors de la capitale. Laurent Nunez a assumé de n’avoir pas dispersé cette action “illégale”.Dans la soirée, le président du syndicat, l’éleveur Bertrand Venteau, a appelé ses troupes au repos, promettant de “revenir” en force si besoin.- Actions dans plusieurs régions -Des actions sont prévues vendredi dans plusieurs régions, mais aussi en Belgique ou encore en Pologne.Dans le Nord, les autoroutes A27 et A2, qui mènent aux autoroutes belges E42 et E19, sont fermées depuis jeudi soir dans le sens France-Belgique. L’entrepôt pétrolier de Haulchin (Nord) est bloqué par des tracteurs de la CR.La gendarmerie a fait état de plusieurs blocages routiers à 7h30, à Beaune (Bourgogne) mais aussi en Lozère, dans le Tarn et dans le Pays Basque.L’accès au dépôt de carburant de Bassens, sur le port de Bordeaux, est toujours bloqué par des agriculteurs de la CR.”C’est une descente aux enfers (…) Les produits qui rentrent du Mercosur sont moins chers, parce qu’ils produisent du maïs sur des milliers d’hectare”, avec des OGM interdits en Europe, se désole ean-Michel Larrère, président de la FDSEA des Landes lors d’un rassemblement dans une zone portuaire près de Bayonne. “C’est une distorsion complète”, ajoute cet éleveur de poulet qui compare son prix, 7 euros, au “poulet ukrainien deux fois moins cher au poulet brésilien à 2,5 euros”.Depuis début décembre, la mobilisation s’est durcie, pour dénoncer la gestion sanitaire de la dermatose nodulaire, la signature imminente du traité de libre-échange UE-Mercosur, la faiblesse des prix des céréales et la hausse de celui des engrais. Les annonces de Paris et de Bruxelles en faveur des agriculteurs n’ont pas suffi et l’annonce d’un “non” au Mercosur de la France, qui n’est pas parvenue à réunir une minorité de blocage à Bruxelles, signifie surtout, pour les syndicats, la “faiblesse” et “l’isolement” de la première puissance agricole européenne.La FNSEA, premier syndicat avec ses alliés des Jeunes agriculteurs, a appelé à un grand rassemblement devant le Parlement européen à Strasbourg le 20 janvier contre l’accord de libre-échange.

‘All are in the streets’: Iranians defiant as protests grow

Tear gas burning his eyes, his voice hoarse from shouting anti-government slogans as cars honked around him, Majid joined crowds of Iranians taking to the streets in defiance of a crackdown on a swelling protest movement. He used a pseudonym for security reasons and like all those who spoke about the protests was reached by AFP journalists outside Iran.Majid described how he rallied with hundreds of others in the streets of eastern Mashhad on Wednesday night, even as police tried to disperse the crowd that nonetheless kept reforming. “Police are targeting people with pellets, tear gas and shotguns,” Majid said.”At first, people dispersed, but they gathered again,” rallying in the streets until the early hours of the morning. “We know that if we go out there, we might not survive, but we are going and we will go out there to have a better future,” he said. The demonstrations sparked in late December by anger over the rising cost of living and a currency nosedive have spread nationwide, their numbers — and death toll — growing.Protesters filled the streets of the capital Tehran and other cities on Thursday night, despite a crackdown leaving dozens killed by security, according to the Norway-based NGO Iran Human Rights. Local media and official statements have reported at least 21 people, including security forces, killed since the unrest began, according to an AFP tally.Violent crackdowns accompanied the last mass protests to sweep Iran in 2022-2023 sparked by the custody death of Mahsa Amini, who had been arrested for allegedly violating the strict dress code for women. – ‘Last fight’ -Majid, a mobile shopkeeper in his thirties, said this time felt different.”During these protests, even those people or those classes that had never felt the pressure before are now under pressure,” he said.”You can see 50-year-old women, I saw someone who used to collect garbage on the streets chanting slogans along with shopkeepers. Young, old, men, women, all are in the streets.” This wave of protests has hit as the clerical authorities under the supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei are already battling an economic crisis after years of sanctions and recovering from the June war against Israel.”This is going to be the last fight against the government,” Majid said, though he’s uncertain of what would take the Islamic republic’s place. “Right now, we just want to get rid of this bloody government because no matter who comes to rule, it won’t be as bloody as them.”Another shop owner in Kermanshah in western Iran, which has seen intense protest activity, shuttered his store as part of a strike called in protest on Thursday.The 43-year-old said he had taken part in every protest since 2009, when mass demonstrations flooded the streets after disputed elections. But this one felt different from previous movements, because “people’s economic situation is heading towards complete collapse and life is no longer as it once was”.”No matter how hard we work, we cannot keep up with the inflation for which the regime is responsible,” he told AFP via messaging app, saying protesters wanted “radical change in Iran”. “Although I have a relatively good job, our lives have been severely affected this year by these economic conditions. We want a free and democratic Iran, and a free Kurdistan.” Another merchant in Saqqez in Kurdistan province said he expected “more intense and widespread waves of protests in the coming days in Kurdish cities”, echoing other Iranians.- ‘We stay alive’ -One Tehran resident said she and neighbours had been shouting slogans from their windows at night — something she did for months during the “Woman, Life, Freedom” protests in 2022. But, she said, now the “level of dissatisfaction is higher than ever”. And while President Masoud Pezeshkian has called for “restraint” and announced measures to try to address grievances, “the issue for us is the end of the regime, and nothing else is satisfactory”, she said. “Living and continuing our daily lives has been one of our major struggles for the past 47 years after revolution” that brought the Islamic republic to power, she said. “But we stay alive and fight until (we) get freedom.” Another Tehran resident, a mother of two, sent a message to a relative abroad saying she was safe but warning her connection was becoming unreliable, not long before the internet went dark across the country ahead of protests on Thursday night.She said it was becoming difficult to get groceries after days of demonstrations as stores restricted opening hours and that bigger protests were looming.  “Hoping for better days for all of us,” she said.burs-sw/sjw/ser

Kurdish fighters refuse to leave Syria’s Aleppo after truce

Kurdish fighters rejected a call to leave Syria’s Aleppo on Friday after the government announced a truce in deadly fighting that forced thousands of civilians to flee.Since Tuesday, government forces had been fighting the US-backed Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in Aleppo, the country’s second city.The violence killed 21 people and was the latest challenge for a country still struggling to forge a new path after Islamist authorities ousted longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad just over a year ago.It also forced around 30,000 families to flee their homes, according to the UN.Both sides traded blame over who started the fighting, which came as they struggled to implement a deal to merge the Kurds’ administration and military into the country’s new government.On Friday, the defence ministry announced a ceasefire in the fighting with the SDF, which controls swathes of Syria’s oil-rich north and northeast, and was key to the defeat of the Islamic State group in 2019.”To prevent any slide towards a new military escalation within residential neighbourhoods, the Ministry of Defence announces … a ceasefire in the vicinity of the Sheikh Maqsud, Ashrafiyeh and Bani Zeid neighbourhoods of Aleppo, effective from 3:00 am,” the ministry wrote in a statement. Kurdish fighters were given until 9:00 am Friday (0600 GMT) to leave the three neighbourhoods, while the Aleppo governorate said the fighters would be sent, along with their light weapons, to Kurdish areas further east.Hours later, the local councils of Sheikh Maqsud and Ashrafiyeh said the Kurdish fighters would not leave.”We have decided to remain in our districts and defend them,” the statement said, rejecting any “surrender”.An AFP photographer located on the edge of Ashrafiyeh saw members of the security forces enter the area, as well as vehicles that appeared to be preparing to evacuate Kurdish fighters.The United States welcomed the ceasefire in a post on X by its envoy Tom Barrack.He said Washington hoped for “a more enduring calm and deeper dialogue” and was “working intensively to extend this ceasefire and spirit of understanding”.- ‘Children were terrified’ -An AFP correspondent reported fierce fighting across Ashrafiyeh and Sheikh Maqsud districts into Thursday night. On Friday morning, the truce appeared to be holding.Syria’s military had instructed civilians in those neighbourhoods to leave through humanitarian corridors ahead of launching the operation.State television reported that around 16,000 people had fled on Thursday alone.”We’ve gone through very difficult times… my children were terrified,” said Rana Issa, 43, whose family left Ashrafiyeh on Thursday.”Many people want to leave”, but are afraid of the snipers, she told AFP.Mazloum Abdi, who leads the SDF, said attacks on Kurdish areas “undermine the chances of reaching understandings”, days after he visited Damascus for talks on the March integration deal.The agreement was meant to be implemented last year, but differences, including Kurdish demands for decentralised rule, have stymied progress.Sheikh Maqsud and Ashrafiyeh have remained under the control of Kurdish units linked to the SDF, despite Kurdish fighters agreeing to withdraw from the areas in April.Turkey, which shares a 900-kilometre (550-mile) border with Syria, has launched successive offensives to push Kurdish forces from the frontier.Aron Lund, a fellow at the Century International research centre, told AFP that “Aleppo is the SDF’s most vulnerable area”.”Both sides are still trying to put pressure on each other and rally international support,” he said.He warned that if the hostilities spiral, “a full Damascus-SDF conflict across northern Syria, potentially with Turkish and Israeli involvement, could be devastating for Syria’s stability”.Israel and Turkey have been vying for influence in Syria since Assad was toppled in December 2024.In Qamishli in the Kurdish-held northeast, hundreds of people have protested the Aleppo violence. “We call on the international community to intervene,” said protester Salaheddin Sheikhmous, 61, while others held banners reading “no to war” and “no to ethnic cleansing”.burs-ser/yad

Grok turns off AI image generation for non-payers after nudes backlash

Elon Musk’s AI chatbot Grok has turned off its image creation feature for non-paying users following backlash over its use to create sexualized deepfakes of women and children.Musk has been threatened with fines, and several countries have recently pushed back publicly against the tool over its creation of the sexually explicit imagery.Some users reportedly used Grok to generate pictures of women and children undressed, sometimes putting them in sexualized positions. Replying to users Friday on Musk’s social media platform X, Grok posted: “Image generation and editing are currently limited to paying subscribers. You can subscribe to unlock these features.”The change means many of the tool’s users can no longer generate or edit images using the AI. Paying customers must give the platform their credit card information and personal details. The European Commission this week said the photos of undressed women and children were unlawful and on Thursday ordered X to retain all internal documents and data related to Grok until the end of 2026.UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said X has “got to get a grip of this” and noted he asked communications regulator Ofcom “for all options to be on the table,” according to media reports. He called the images “unlawful” and said Britain was “not going to tolerate it.” France, Malaysia and India have also criticized Musk’s platform over the issue. “Anyone using Grok to make illegal content will suffer the same consequences as if they upload illegal content,” Musk wrote on X last week in response to a post about the explicit images.X’s official “Safety” account subsequently said it addresses illegal content on X “by removing it, permanently suspending accounts, and working with local governments and law enforcement as necessary.”

Incendie de Crans-Montana: la Suisse se recueille, les propriétaires auditionnés

Toute la Suisse est appelée vendredi à rendre hommage aux jeunes victimes de l’incendie d’un bar qui a endeuillé la station de ski de Crans-Montana la nuit du nouvel an, faisant 40 morts et 116 blessés.Après le drame, les enquêteurs devront faire la lumière sur les responsabilités des propriétaires Jacques et Jessica Moretti, un couple de Français qui se retrouve mis en cause. Ils étaient auditionnés vendredi par le ministère public à Sion, la capitale régionale. L’affaire est entourée de nombreuses interrogations sur ce qui a pu conduire au drame, mais aussi de polémiques, notamment sur l’absence de mesures de privation de liberté des propriétaires du bar, ou le fait que l’établissement – Le Constellation – n’a pas été contrôlé depuis 2019.Dans l’ensemble de la Confédération, le gouvernement et les Eglises ont invité la population à observer une minute de silence à 14H00 (13H00 GMT). Les cloches des églises retentiront ensuite partout en Suisse.Dans le même temps, une cérémonie commémorative doit se tenir à Martigny, ville située dans la vallée du Rhône, non loin de Crans-Montana, et elle aussi dans le canton du Valais. La France et l’Italie, particulièrement endeuillées par le drame avec respectivement neuf et six morts et de nombreux blessés, seront représentées par les présidents Emmanuel Macron et Sergio Mattarella. Les capacités d’accueil et les conditions météo devraient y être plus favorables qu’à Crans-Montana, balayée par la neige depuis jeudi soir, mais où des écrans géants permettront aussi à la population de suivre les cérémonies.- “C’était dur” -Devant Le Constellation, un mémorial orné de fleurs, de bougies, de peluches et de photos des victimes, était recouvert d’une toile blanche en forme d’igloo pour le protéger de la neige.Sur une table, un épais livre de condoléances est déjà presque rempli. “Un deuil, un grand deuil national à jamais gravé dans nos esprits. Paix à leur âme. Toutes mes pensées aux parents, familles et amis”, dit l’un des messages.Johan Verthoogen, un Belge de 31 ans qui réside à Genève, se trouvait dans un autre établissement tout près du bar incendié. Il raconte à l’AFP avoir assisté les secours comme il a pu.”On les a couverts et tout ça, par des couvertures. C’était dur (…) De voir des corps comme ça… c’est des enfants, ils ont 16 ans, 17 ans”, se remémore-t-il.Au total, 19 nationalités ont été frappées par la tragédie qui a fait 40 morts – dont une moitié de mineurs – et 116 blessés. Selon un dernier décompte, un total de 83 blessés demeurent à ce jour hospitalisés en Suisse, mais aussi dans des services pour grands brûlés en France, en Italie, en Allemagne et en Belgique.A Sion, Jacques et Jessica Moretti sont arrivés main dans la main vendredi peu avant 8H00 au siège du ministère public, au milieu d’une nuée de journalistes. Il s’agit de leur première audition depuis l’ouverture le 3 janvier d’une instruction pénale les visant pour “homicide par négligence, lésions corporelles par négligence et incendie par négligence”.- Responsabilités de A à Z -“On attend que nos clients, que les familles puissent avoir des réponses, (…) que toutes les responsabilités de A à Z soient établies”, a commenté sur place un des avocats des victimes, maître Romain Jordan, qui devait assister à cette audience portant – selon une source proche du dossier – sur la situation personnelle du couple.Selon l’avocat, les familles veulent savoir “pourquoi ce drame, qui n’aurait jamais dû avoir lieu, a pu se produire ici, en Suisse, malgré tout un arsenal juridique, un arsenal législatif, un arsenal de surveillance.”Mardi, la commune de Crans-Montana avait provoqué une première secousse dans l’enquête en reconnaissant une faute grave: aucune inspection sécurité et incendie du bar n’a été effectuée depuis 2019. Ce qui a suscité la consternation des familles de victimes.Jacques Moretti – connu de la justice française et condamné pour une affaire de proxénétisme en 2008 – et son épouse n’ont été ni placés en détention provisoire, ni assignés à résidence, provoquant l’étonnement notamment des autorités italiennes. D’après les premiers éléments de l’enquête, le drame aurait été provoqué par des bougies étincelantes entrées en contact avec le plafond du sous-sol du bar Le Constellation, sis en bas d’un immeuble de la station cossue du Valais.L'”embrasement généralisé” et soudain du local aurait ensuite piégé les clients, principalement des adolescents et de jeunes adultes.En cette soirée de la Saint-Sylvestre, l’établissement était bondé et des vidéos diffusées sur les réseaux sociaux ont montré des bousculades de personnes tentant désespérément de sortir au niveau du rez-de chaussée.

Trump says US oil pledged $100 bn for Venezuela ahead of White House meeting

US President Donald Trump said Friday the world’s biggest oil companies pledged to invest $100 billion to revive Venezuela’s oil sector as he prepared for a meeting with top industry executives.US forces seized Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro in a sweeping military operation on January 3, with Trump making no secret that control of Venezuela’s oil was at the heart of his actions.”At least 100 Billion Dollars will be invested by BIG OIL, all of whom I will be meeting with today at The White House,” Trump wrote on his social media platform ahead of the gathering, where he was expected to convince the oil heads to support his plans in Venezuela.The Trump administration has repeatedly said that it is running Venezuela, with Energy Secretary Chris Wright on Wednesday asserting that Washington will control the country’s oil industry “indefinitely.”Venezuelan interim President Delcy Rodriguez, who was Maduro’s deputy, has said that her government remains in charge, with the state-run oil firm saying only that it was in negotiations with the United States on oil sales. In his social media post, Trump said he cancelled a second wave of strikes on Venezuela due to what he called “cooperation” from the country.He noted Venezuela began releasing political prisoners this week and said the countries are “working well together, especially as it pertains to rebuilding… their oil and gas infrastructure.”US outlet NBC News reported that the heads of Exxon Mobil, Chevron and ConocoPhillips are expected at the White House meeting.”It’s just a meeting to discuss, obviously, the immense opportunity that is before these oil companies right now,” Trump’s spokesperson Leavitt told reporters Wednesday.Chevron is the only US company that currently has a license to operate in Venezuela. Exxon Mobil and ConocoPhillips left the country in 2007, after refusing then-president Hugo Chavez’s demand that they give up a majority stake in local operations to the government.- Suffering under sanctions -Sanctioned by Washington since 2019, Venezuela sits on about a fifth of the world’s oil reserves and was once a major crude supplier to the United States.But it produced only around one percent of the world’s total crude output in 2024, according to OPEC, having been hampered by years of underinvestment, sanctions, and embargoes.Trump sees the country’s massive oil reserves as a windfall in his fight to further lower US domestic fuel prices, a major political issue. But he could face an uphill task convincing the major US oil companies to invest in Venezuela due to uncertainty about governance post-Maduro, security and the massive expense of restoring production facilities. – ‘Controlled by me’ -On Tuesday, Trump said that Venezuela’s interim government would deliver up to 50 million barrels of oil to the United States, and that the proceeds “will be controlled by me.””The Interim Authorities in Venezuela will be turning over between 30 and 50 MILLION Barrels of High Quality, Sanctioned Oil, to the United States of America,” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform. “This oil will be sold at its market price, and that money will be controlled by me, as President of the United States of America, to ensure it is used to benefit the people of Venezuela and the United States.”He later added that the proceeds spent by Venezuela would be used solely to purchase US products. US Energy Secretary Wright has downplayed concerns about the investments required to ramp up Venezuelan production, saying it should be possible to increase output by several hundred thousand barrels a day in the short- to medium-term.He admitted, however, that it would require “tens of billions of dollars and significant time” to bring production back to historic highs of more than three million barrels per day.In his first term, Trump imposed an oil embargo aimed at economically suffocating Venezuela, which heavily depends on exports of the commodity.When he returned for his second term, he also ended most of the licenses allowing oil and gas multinationals to operate in the country, with the exception of Chevron. Washington now says it is “selectively rolling back sanctions” to enable the sale and transport of Venezuelan crude oil on global markets. Wright said that the Trump administration would also help major US oil companies to establish a long-term presence.Venezuelan crude is known to be viscous and difficult to refine. The US Department of Energy is already planning to ship light oil to be mixed with Venezuelan crude in order to make that process easier. It also plans to authorize the shipment of equipment and experts to the country to upgrade infrastructure.