Monday, May 23, 2011

Barack Obama begins his European tour

AFP - U.S. President Barack Obama arrived Monday morning in Ireland, the first stage of a European tour a week and land of his ancestors, has been a photographer for AFP on board the presidential plane Air Force One.

The President's plane, which is accompanied by his wife Michelle landed in Dublin about 9:30 (0830 GMT), slightly earlier than expected.

Mr.Obama, who planned to stay 24 hours in Ireland, will hold talks with President Mary McAleese and Prime Minister Enda Kenny, while Ireland is facing a serious economic crisis.

But the highlight of his visit to the island, under high security to be its displacement in the small village of Moneygall, which is from his great-great-great grandfather.

Cobbler's son, the grandfather of Obama, Falmouth Kearney, lived in this village located 130 km from Dublin up to 19 years in 1850 before emigrating to the United States, driven by famine like of thousands of his countrymen.

In this village, waiting for Obama as the prodigal son, still lives a distant cousin of the president, Henry Healy, an accountant for 26 years.

Obama is expected late in the day to speak outdoors on the steps of the Bank of Ireland, in the center of the capital which are expected tens of thousands of people.

On Tuesday, Obama is expected in London.

Friday, May 20, 2011

PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES: Israeli Prime Minister rules out any withdrawal to 1967 borders

AFP - Israel has disappointed on Thursday rejected a call by U.S. President Barack Obama to the creation of a demilitarized Palestinian state on extending Palestinian Territories occupied by Israel since June 1967, while the Palestinians reacted with caution.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ruled out immediately any "withdrawal to 1967 lines," while refraining from frontally oppose to Obama before the meet Friday in Washington.

Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas called on Israel for its part to "give the peace process the chance it deserves," the Palestinian leadership calling for "an emergency meeting."

In a highly anticipated speech on the Middle East, Mr.Obama voted for the first time on Thursday for a Palestinian state based on the lines of June 1967, that is to say, the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem.

"The borders of Israel and Palestine should be based on the 1967 lines with exchanges in which both parties would agree to establish secure and recognized borders for both states," said Obama.

But Mr.Netanyahu expressed hope that Obama "would reaffirm commitments" U.S. 2004 "Israel would not withdraw to the June 1967 lines indefensible," said an official statement issued before his departure for the United States.

He emphasized here that these "commitments had received overwhelming support from both houses of Congress," in allusion to the support is often arranged in the past Israel to the U.S. House, before which he is scheduled to speak next Tuesday.

Benjamin Netanyahu has categorically ruled out that the "major Israeli population centers in Judea and Samaria" are found on the Palestinian side of the border, referring to the major Jewish settlement blocs in the West Bank.

He referred to a letter from U.S. President George W.Bush in 2004 to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon at the time excluding a pure and simple return to the armistice lines of Israel before the war of June 1967, implying an Israeli withdrawal from the occupied West Bank and annexed east Jerusalem.

According to his entourage, the Israeli prime minister was "disappointed" by the stance of U.S. President on a number of subjects in the first place "because it did not address the problem of refugees" as Israel hear it, that is to say, excluding the return of Palestinian refugees to Israel.

A senior Israeli official has however downplayed the differences between the two leaders, pointing out that Mr.Obama reiterated the U.S. opposition to the approach of the Palestinians to recognize their state before the UN in September without a peace agreement first.

"We're not worried, but further clarification will be needed," said the official who requested anonymity.

Palestinian side, the spokesman of President Mahmoud Abbas, Nabil Abu Rudeina, called "Netanyahu's opposition to a return to 1967 borders blow to the efforts of Obama and rejection of peace in the Middle East."

The spokesman also condemned the green light on Thursday by a planning commission of the Interior Ministry to build 1,520 new homes in two neighborhoods of Jewish settlement in occupied East Jerusalem and annexed.

For its part, the spokesman of the Islamist movement Hamas in power in Gaza, Sami Abu Zuhri, called on Bush to "perform concrete actions to protect the rights of Palestinians and the Arab nation."

Mr Abu Zuhri also rejected calls from U.S. President to resume peace negotiations and recognize Israel.

For its part, the head of British diplomacy William Hague has supported the position of Mr. Obama.

"I particularly support the clear message that the borders of Israel and Palestine should be based on the 1967 lines with mutual exchanges accepted," he said.

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

IRELAND: Queen Elizabeth II will visit historic and highly monitored in Dublin

Queen Elizabeth II Tuesday began a historic visit to Ireland under surveillance, the first movement of a British monarch since independence in 1922 was troubled by the threat from dissident republicans.

The police are on the warpath in both London and Dublin and Belfast, fearing that Republican dissidents opposed to the peace process in Northern Ireland will build upon the movement to attempt a resounding action.

No fewer than 10,000 police and troops deployed in Ireland for a visit and several people were arrested in recent days, suspected of belonging to the dissident republican movement.

On Monday, a bomb threat from dissident Irish republicans caused a commotion of battle police in London. The "Mall" that leads to Buckingham Palace was closed for several hours after an alert, which proved unfounded.

The fear of an assassination of a dissident group was reinforced by threats brandished late April by a masked man at a rally in Londonderry, Northern Ireland."The queen is not welcome," he had started, saying speak on behalf of the Real IRA who is credited with the recent increase of attacks in Ulster, including the murder of a police officer in April.

The tumultuous relationship between Irish and British have largely subsided since the peace accords of 1998 and the first visit by a British monarch since 1911 figure is a gesture of reconciliation.But resentment still against the former colonial power.

At the time of the independence of Ireland, London has retained in her lap the province of Northern Ireland, mostly Protestant.

Sinn Féin, often accused of links with the IRA (Catholic separatists), found the visit "premature," before acknowledging that it represented a "unique opportunity" to establish "a new relationship based on equality and mutual respect ", joining the majority sentiment.81% of Irish people are friendly to visitors, according to a survey.

Tuesday, Elizabeth II is to lay a wreath at the "Garden of Remembrance (Memorial Garden), erected in honor of victims of the war of independence," a powerful symbol of reconciliation, "the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs.

She must decide Wednesday night a highly anticipated speech, joined for the occasion by Prime Minister David Cameron and the head of British diplomacy, William Hague. The movement will end Friday.

Friday, May 13, 2011

PAKISTAN: At least 80 dead in an attack to avenge the death of bin Laden

AFP - Two suicide bombers killed Friday at least 80 people by detonating bombs in the middle of police cadets who went on leave in the north-west Pakistan, the Taliban is claiming a "first attack" in revenge for Osama bin Laden.

These insurgents, who have pledged allegiance to Al Qaeda and making an extremely deadly bombing campaign in Pakistan, had promised reprisals against Islamabad and its security forces, whom they accuse of complicity in the deadly U.S. raid Ben Laden 11 days ago in the north.

At dawn, Shabqadar, a village northwest, a suicide bomber on a motorcycle detonated his bomb when the cadets, who were dressed in their civilian clothes, were preparing to board the minibus to take them home for 10 days of leave, told AFP Nisar Khan Marwat, the police chief of District Charsadda.

The blast targeted a training center of the Frontier Constabulary, a paramilitary police unit responsible for monitoring the borders.

Then, just as police and rescue workers had gathered to help the wounded, another suicide bomber on a motorcycle led a second massacre.

"At least 80 people died, 69 members of the Frontier Constabulary, and 11 civilians," said Bashir Ahmed Bilour, minister without portfolio in the province of Pakhtunkhwa-Khyber, where the tragedy occurred. Over 140 others were injured, one quarantine between life and death, according to medical sources.

"I was sitting in a minibus and waited for my colleagues," he told AFP Ahmad Ali, a cadet injured contacted by telephone to the hospital."I heard someone shout 'Allah Akbar!" (God is greatest!) Before a loud explosion, "he recalls.

"Then I heard a second, so I jumped from the van, I was bleeding," recalls Ahmad Ali yet.

This is the deadliest attack this year in Pakistan.

"This is a first action to avenge the martyrdom of Osama, it was conducted by two of our fighters," said the telephone to AFP Ehsanullah Ehsan, a spokesman for the Movement of Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

"Expect more massive attacks in Pakistan and Afghanistan," he threatened.

TTP, which has pledged allegiance to Al Qaeda in 2007, is primarily responsible for the wave of more than 450 attacks, mostly suicide, who made more than 4.300 deaths across the country in nearly four years. In summer 2007, right after bin Laden himself, TTP had declared jihad on Islamabad for supporting Washington in its "war against terrorism."

Shabqadar is located near the tribal areas bordering Afghanistan, Pakistani Taliban stronghold and the main sanctuary in the world of Al Qaeda.These areas are also the basis behind the Afghan Taliban, Haqqani Network in particular, bete noire of American soldiers who make up two thirds of international forces in Afghanistan.

Training camps of the Pakistani Taliban in the tribal areas are also used by Al Qaeda, who are then trained its suicide bombers who perpetrated the attacks or attempted to commit the United States or Europe, those of September 11, 2001 to those in London in 2005, to Madrid in 2004, and Times Square in New York in 2010.

It is in these mountainous border regions Experts believed ten years to find Bin Laden and not in the tidy town of Abbottabad garrison, two hours drive north of Islamabad.

That's when a lightning raid of 79 elite U.S. soldiers had dug in and killed the night of 1 to May 2

This unilateral operation performed under the auspices of the CIA who said he had not wanted to warn Islamabad for fear of leaks, has sparked a new skirmish between Washington and its allies.

The most senior U.S. officials asked Pakistan to investigate how could bin Laden into hiding for several years without complicity at the highest level in a garrison town populated by about 10,000 soldiers.Charges that Islamabad has described as "absurd", claiming that Pakistan is the country that pays the heaviest price for the "war against terrorism", with the bombing campaign of al-Qaeda loyalists.

Public opinion is overwhelmingly anti-American, whereas the U.S. has "imported" their war against Al Qaeda in Pakistan after an abortive campaign in Afghanistan.

Additional signs of defiance, Islamabad, Washington has threatened Thursday to reconsider its cooperation in fighting terrorism, and number 2 of the Pakistani Army, General Khalid Shameem Wynne, overturned Friday a planned visit to the United States "because of the climate prevail ".

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

JUSTICE: The prosecution will request a cons Christine Lagarde in the case Tapie

The Attorney General at the Court of Cassation, Jean-Louis Nadal, on Tuesday urged the Court of Justice of the Republic (CJR) to open an investigation against the Minister of Economy Christine Lagarde for abuse of authority in the arbitration favorably to Bernard Tapie.

Jean-Louis Nadal before the petitions committee of the RGC, said the prosecutor's office said in a statement.

Within a month, it should rule on the case and determine if the complaint is admissible.

If this were the case, the Attorney General immediately seize the commission investigating the RGC, which would conduct its investigation, before a possible referral to the RGC.

A few weeks ago, Socialist deputies sent a letter to Mr.Nadal to get a referral to the RGC.

They were the choice of the Minister of Economy to resort to arbitration in settling this matter, rather than relying on traditional justice in this case the Court of Appeal of Paris.

Jean-Louis Nadal gave the Ministry of Economy, the Court of Auditors and the Finance Committee of the National Assembly until April 20 to submit additional elements relating to the award of the arbitral tribunal.

"All these pieces allowed the Attorney General pointed out many reasons to suspect the regularity or legality of settlement by arbitration dispute that may characterize the crime of abuse of authority," the prosecutor general.

In late 2007, Christine Lagarde ordered the appointment of three umpires to decide once and for all the litigation between sprawling Bernard Tapie twelve years at Credit Lyonnais in connection with the sale of Adidas.

After six months of work in July 2008, the arbitral tribunal had sentenced the Consortium de Réalisation (CDR, managing the liabilities of the bank) to pay 240 million euros in compensation to Mr Tapie, with an additional one hundred million euros in interest and 45 million for pain and suffering. This decision was then outraged many members left.

Saturday, May 7, 2011

MOROCCO: AQIM denies his involvement in the fatal attack Marrakech

AFP - Al-Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) has denied any involvement in the fatal attack April 28 in Marrakech, Morocco, in a statement broadcast by a private agency Mauritanian information online, Nouakchott Information Agency ( ANI).

In this text, dated Friday published in Arabic, AQIM recalls the attack that killed 17 people, including 8 French and then the information released by the Moroccan authorities describing the main suspect as "an admirer of al-Qaida."

"We deny any connection with the explosion and say no way being involved in this operation," says the regional branch of the Islamist network.

This statement could not immediately be authenticated but the NIA has regularly published in the past releases or statements from members of AQIM have never been disproved.

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

FRANCE: The bodies of victims of the attack in Marrakesh returnees in Paris

AFP - The bodies of eight French killed in the attack in Marrakesh, which killed 16 people April 28, were repatriated Tuesday in France, where President Sarkozy paid tribute to them and promised their families that "crime" would not "go unpunished".

The plane carrying the body, chartered by the French state, landed shortly before 5:00 p.m. Tuesday at Orly.

The eight coffins draped with the tricolor flag were aligned on the tarmac.Nicolas Sarkozy, came with his wife Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, welcomed the families and relatives, then was collected before the coffins before the Republican Guard n'entonne La Marseillaise.



In a very personal speech, in which each victim, including a 10 year old girl, Camille, was mentioned by name, the Head of State promised that the "crime" of the attack would not remain "unpunished" .

"France, I say here I say it before returning the bodies of eight French with a little girl of ten years, I say to you who will now have to live with this pain but with this terrible feeling inside ourselves tonight, France will not let this crime go unpunished, "Sarkozy said.

"Terrorists, my dear compatriots, now know they will have no respite, nowhere, never.Wherever they are, wherever they are hiding they are sought after, followed the trail, flushed out by all means and they will be accountable for their crimes, "he said in an allusion to the death of Chief Al-Qaeda, Osama bin Laden, who was killed Sunday by U.S. commandos in Pakistan.


After his speech, the President spoke about thirty minutes with families in honor of the flag of the airport.

In the morning at the Marrakech airport, shortly before the departure of the plane to Paris, the families had gathered in the intimate, attended by the Moroccan Interior Minister Taieb Cherkaoui, and French diplomats.

"I have a hatred of terrorists, terrorists are not the defenders of Islam", told the press the father of a victim who did not give his name.

A remote-controlled bomb blew coffee on April 28, the Argana, on the Jamaa El Fna, the Mecca of tourism in Marrakech, killing 16 dead and 21 wounded.

Besides the eight French, three Moroccans, a Briton, a Canadian, a Dutchman, one Portuguese and one Swiss were killed in the attack, the deadliest in Morocco since 2003.

The attack was not claimed, and no arrests have been announced, but the involvement of the likes of Al Qaeda in the region was discussed.

The Moroccan authorities have reiterated Monday that they favored the track Al Qaeda."We're still on the track announced that conjured up acquaintances with Al-Qaeda," he told AFP spokesman Khalid Naciri government.

The day of the attack, King Mohammed VI had ordered a prompt and transparent investigation and asked that the public is kept informed of its progress.

Among the tracks contained the sketch of a suspect to statements made by two Dutch tourists.It would be an Arab, young, clean shaven and with long hair who was seen at the Cafe Argana, minutes before the explosion.

All the French wounded in the attack have been repatriated to France, said Tuesday the embassy of France. The latter have been medicalized in two planes Tuesday morning.