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 ".

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.

AFGHANISTAN: A suicide attack against a military base kills nine soldiers

Nine soldiers, four and five Afghan Force NATO in Afghanistan (ISAF) were killed Saturday in a suicide attack claimed by Taliban insurgents in the headquarters of the Afghan army to the east the country.

"Five ISAF soldiers were killed in an insurgent attack in eastern Afghanistan," said the NATO force said in a statement without specifying their nationality.

A spokesman for ISAF, Major Tim James, confirmed to AFP that the attack in question was the suicide bombing in the morning in the headquarters of the Afghan army to the east located in the area Gambires near Jalalabad, the largest city in eastern Afghanistan.

The Afghan Ministry of Defense confirmed that "four Afghan soldiers were killed and eight people injured, four translators" during the attack.

The ministry said the attack was perpetrated by a suicide bomber who donned a military uniform.

One hundred soldiers of the ISAF, primarily responsible for advising the Afghan army, stationed at this base in the province of Laghman, according to Commander James ISAF.

One of the worst attacks against NATO since 2001

A Taliban spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, contacted by AFP, claimed the attack, among the deadliest for the NATO forces since their arrival in the country in late 2001.

Six NATO soldiers were killed Dec. 12 in southern Afghanistan during an attack.

The attack against the Afghan base is the tenth suicide attack in Afghanistan since early April.It is also the fifth in three days targeting Afghan security forces and international across the country.

On Friday, a suicide bomber managed to penetrate the headquarters, in principle secure, the police in Kandahar, the southern Afghan city, killing the police chief of the province of the same name and two of his bodyguards.

More than 130 000 soldiers present

NATO must send Afghan forces gradually, starting in July and by late 2014, the responsibility for security throughout the territory.

Some 132,000 soldiers from the NATO support the Kabul government against the insurgency since late 2001 by the Taliban, ousted by an international coalition.

Suicide bombings and small mines placed along the road are the favorite weapons the insurgents have focused primarily on the police and Afghan army and foreign troops, but are also numerous civilian casualties.

On 14 March, at least 36 people were killed and forty wounded in a Taliban suicide attack against a military recruiting center in Kunduz, one of the major cities of northern Afghanistan.

The city of Jalalabad was the scene, February 19, one of the most deadly attacks perpetrated in the country in recent years, when many Taliban suicide bombers stormed a bank where police came to collect their wages.Thirty-eight people were killed and 70 injured.

On Thursday, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned against a precipitous withdrawal of NATO forces and warned that spring 2011 would probably be "violent" because of Taliban efforts to resume their offensive.

THEATRE: Bertrand Cantat will not mount on Canadian boards

The former singer of Black Desire, Bertrand Cantat, convicted in Lithuania for beating to death his girlfriend in 2003, will play either in Montreal or Ottawa, said Friday the direction of the Théâtre du Nouveau Monde (TNM), following a wave of protests.

The singer was supposed to happen in the play "The Women - Trachiniae, Electra and Antigone" by Sophocles, directed by Quebec-born Lebanese Wajdi Mouawad.This friend had been commissioned to compose music to make a rock touch to the show.

The decision to present the show without Bertrand Cantat, or cancel the production, will be announced on 18 April by the director, said at a press conference the director of TNM Lorraine Pintal.

Bertrand Cantat, lead singer of former Black Desire, has been sentenced to eight years in prison for beating Lithuania in 2003 death of actress Marie Trintignant, daughter of Jean-Louis Trintignant.Transferred to France, he was released in 2007.

In Canada, a law banned for life entry to any foreigner convicted outside the country, an offense punished in Canada for at least ten years in prison. It therefore applies to the former lead singer of Black Desire, because Canadian law punishes manslaughter by life imprisonment.

Bertrand Cantat should happen in this room in Avignon in July, which the project was dropped after singer Jean-Louis Trintignant said not to participate in an event "occurs when the man who killed his daughter."

NUCLEAR: Bad habits Tepco recall woes of BP in Louisiana

Tokyo Electric Power, better known under the name of TEPCO, tries to restore its image. His vice-president, Norio tsuzumi, has for the first time apologized Tuesday to the Japanese for "anxiety and noise that [this] company has caused to nearby residents of plants, those in the prefecture Fukushima and the country as a whole. "

An almost perfect timing: since Monday, efforts to contain the risk of nuclear power plant in Fukushima seem to bear fruit. Financial markets even as subscribing, 24 hours later, the action of TEPCO gained 16% to the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Yet the Japanese are ready to let bygones be bygones?

The stakes are high for a number of Japanese electricity.These days, TEPCO has been accused of concealing information about the magnitude of the threat and to have been negligent in the maintenance of these plants. "The media has been very critical of the company," says FRANCE 24 Evelyn Dourille-Feer, a specialist on Japan at the CEPII. Shadow of a similar fate to that of BP, media and business mired in the oil spill off the coast of Louisiana, flat on Tepco.

Tokyo Electric Power symbolizes the Japanese dependence of their countries towards nuclear power.The group built its first plant in 1971 and now supplies electricity to more than 30 million Japanese, mostly in the Tokyo area. Its energy empire makes it the fourth group in the world in this sector (behind Germany's E. ON, EDF French and German RWE).

Hazardous communication

But Tepco especially behind a reputation as a liar patented. In 2002, its CEO, Nobuya Minami, had to resign following a case of falsification of reports. Between 1977 and 2002, Tokyo Electric Power had returned to the state nearly 200 falsified documents to conceal a series of incidents within its nuclear plants.

A scandal that has dented the credibility of the sustainable group."Today, the Japanese are still very wary of what TEPCO said," said Evelyne Dourille-Feer.

Political power could take the bad reputation of TEPCO to make a perfect scapegoat.The government has explained on Tuesday that the group would have to compensate all the farmers around damaged plants. The Prime Minister, Naoto Kan, also complained last week that TEPCO had been slow to inform a new fire in one of these plants.

This is not the first time the authorities are attacking Tepco. Shortly before the earthquake, the group had agreed that all necessary safety measures in case of event impérvu had not been taken within its facilities. Incidentally, the Japanese have learned that false documents had been forwarded to the Japanese Nuclear Safety Agency on February 28, less than two weeks before the earthquake.Twenty state officials are on the premises of TEPCO last week to monitor that no information escapes them this time.

For now, Tepco defends itself by arguing that his plants have withstood the earthquake and the damage caused by the tsunami. A double disaster was difficult to predict, does she know. But the best way to get out of Tepco without too much damage is "to succeed in mastering the nuclear issue as soon as possible", says Evelyn Dourille-Feer.

Photo credit: J.Morganized / Flickr

COTE D'IVOIRE: Allied Ouattara take position in western

AFP - Allied Alassane Ouattara, Gbagbo recognized by the international community, took a fourth place Sunday in western countries with forces loyal to the outgoing Head of State Laurent Gbagbo said on from both sides.

At the end of fighting, the "rebel" New Forces (FN) "took the town of Doke, between Toulépleu and Bloléquin," he told AFP pro-Gbagbo militia, joined by telephone from Abidjan.

"Our troops are currently stationed in Doke," confirmed a senior FN based in Man, the main town of the "Great West" Ivorian border of Liberia.

Since mid-February, the FN, who held the north since 2002, and took four towns in the west, making them most was the town of Toulepleu, fell on March 6 after a battle against the Defence Forces and Security (FDS) loyal to Mr.Gbagbo and the militia who support them.

The objective of the pro-Ouattara is to take the city of Bloléquin, about ten miles Doke, which would open access to the center-west and the port of San Pedro (south-west), the largest port export of cocoa in the world.

"They are moving towards Bloléquin," said the pro-Gbagbo militia, describing the fighters FN as "well equipped" with "rocket launchers, machine guns".

"We are preparing to defend with SDS Bloléquin Bloléquin because after they count up Guiglo and Duekoue," two strategic towns in the region, he said.

Guillaume Soro, leader of the FN and Prime Minister Mr.Ouattara, had made this week in the West, calling his men to "secure" area and drive out the "mercenaries" pro-Gbagbo.

"We received orders from the Prime Minister. We will not lay down their arms," ​​the official added FN.

The western region is crossed by the former front line between the north of FN-controlled south Gbagbo camp.

Renewed fighting in the most unstable region of the country comes as Abidjan was itself the scene of armed clashes between insurgents and pro-Ouattara SDS, in the district of Abobo (north), stronghold of the rival M . Gbagbo.

The SDS has led an offensive Saturday to Abobo, which resulted in the death of ten people but did not seem to have made time move the lines on the ground.

Yemen: President Saleh promised a new constitution and a parliamentary system

AFP - Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, subjected to growing popular opposition, promised Thursday a referendum by the end of 2011 on a new constitution paving the way for a parliamentary system demanded by the opposition.

Speaking to thousands gathered in Sanaa, M.Saleh also pledged to "continue to protect" the protesters, whether for or against his regime, after clashes that left at least two dead in violence in the country.

"I propose a new initiative to prevent the country's insurgency," said the Yemeni president, announcing "a referendum before the end of the year on a new constitution clearly stipulates the separation of powers."

He said the Constitution should "establish a parliamentary system, giving all executive powers to a government elected by Parliament in late 2011 or early 2012."

The mandate of MrSaleh, in power for 32 years ending in 2013.

Last week, the head of state, an ally of the United States in the fight against the followers of Osama bin Laden in the region, but increasingly politically isolated, rejected a plan proposed by the crisis opposition for departure before the end of the year.

The opposition had declared then determined to oust him.

Wednesday, medical sources have assured that a young man wounded by police Tuesday night before the University of Sanaa, where camping since February 21 angry students, died in hospital.

The Interior Minister Rashid Metahar Masri denied but Amnesty International has confirmed the death of a protester, calling on authorities to end the night attacks against the demonstrators.

The same day, an official security services said a supporter of the regime had been killed in the province of Hadramout, in south-eastern Yemen.

The U.S. expressed "deep concern" over violence in Yemen."We remain deeply concerned over the continuing violence in Yemen, and we continue to call the security forces, as the demonstrators to show restraint and to refrain from violence," said Mark Toner, a door Speaker of the State Department.

The deteriorating situation in Yemen, a poor country on the Arabian peninsula, had prompted the U.S. State Department to advise its nationals to leave the country.London and Ottawa have also urged their nationals to leave.

The Yemeni regime is challenged since late January with events in Sana'a, Taiz, Aden and the rest of the country.

Since the beginning of the protest movement late January against the regime of President Saleh, thirty people were killed in the violence, according to Amnesty International.

UNITED KINGDOM: The trial of Julian Assange ends this Friday

AFP - Julian Assange arrived Friday mid-morning at Belmarsh court in east London, who must complete the review of the request for extradition to Sweden by the founder of Wikileaks in a case of alleged rape, has a journalist from AFP.

The Australian of 39 years was accompanied by three of his lawyers.

The court must hear from 10.30am (local time and GMT) the conclusions of the defense and prosecution in this case.

The court in Belmarsh, which began to address this matter on Monday, the hearing was originally scheduled to close Tuesday, but the intervention of the witnesses called by the defense was longer than expected.

Justice will rule on the admissibility of extradition made by Sweden.The use is, however, that in such cases, the decision is taken under advisement.

Mr. Assange is claimed by the Swedish court in a case of alleged rapes and sexual assaults on two women during a stay in Sweden in August. He has always denied the charges against him.

His lawyers argue in particular that the fact that the Swedish court wants to question does not justify his extradition. They also argue that the warrant of arrest for their client was disproportionate, and that the charges against Mr.Assange are not crimes under British law.

Arrested in early December in London, founder of Wikileaks has lived for two months on parole in England.

His supporters say the charges against him were intended to discredit the work of its website Wikileaks, which was published last year many secret U.S. documents that have embarrassed Washington. Following the dissemination of American diplomatic telegrams, Wikileaks had been victim of several cyber-attacks last December.

EGYPT: Police conduct a discreet return to the streets of Cairo

Two days after leaving the army the task of maintaining order in the streets of Cairo, police made his comeback this Monday in the Egyptian capital. It was a test day to the regime of Hosni Mubarak and the demonstrators, who were violently opposed to the service of order on Friday. Started in the morning, this return took place in complete secrecy. These are the first traffic officers who have appeared in the center of the city, followed in the day by uniformed police.

The news has not pleased some of the protesters actually making a difference between the police and the army."The soldiers sympathized with us, nothing to do with police brutality, which are themselves corrupt and sadistic with the people," says Hany, a young protester posted near Tahrir Square in the heart of the capital. Other Cairenes as Imad prefer to laugh. "I admit that I have not really missed and I would have preferred that they remain stashed or on vacation," he said.

Absent subscribers

Deployed sparingly, often very close to the protective shadow of army tanks, police intervene in civil case by case basis. They refrain from provoking the people. Some of them are content to call to order bystanders taking pictures with their phones.In their sights, too, Western journalists, some of which have been confiscated equipment and cameras. Experienced a mishap the previous day by a team of France 2, on the initiative of the intelligence service of the army.

In the districts held by the Muslim Brotherhood, very active in the streets since the start of the protest on January 25, the police remained conspicuously absent. In El-Manial on the island of Rhoda, it is the district vigilance committees that manage the traffic. Sometimes armed with sticks and knives, young people will monitor suspicious movements. Day and night.