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.

ECONOMY: Hong Kong became a convert to the minimum wage without fervor

Hong Kong, a paradise for lovers of wild unfettered market? From 1 May, this image may take a lead in its liberal wing. For Labor Day, Hong-Kong authorities will establish a minimum wage. A revolution for the city-state accustomed to having no regulation of the labor market. So much so that besides the bosses, some of the employees and some unions are opposed.

This "minimum wage" sauce Hong Kong provides a minimum hourly wage of 28 Hong Kong dollars (2.43 euros). Its principle was passed in July 2010 and the government has fixed the amount in January. The authorities have decided to take this course in light of the growing wage inequality.Hong Kong has indeed been singled out by the United Nations Program for Development (UNDP) has ranked in 2010, the last place of developed countries on equal pay.

And Hong Kong was also rather isolated internationally. "90% of countries have some sort of minimum wage," says FRANCE 24 John Richotte, Asia specialist for the International Labour Organisation (ILO). Even in Asia, the city-state was exceptional. Only Malaysia and Singapore do not yet have the minimum wage. "Malaysia has committed to build one by the end of the year," said John Richotte.Singapore, after hesitating a year ago, still holds.

Lobbying employers ready to fight

A victory would be in social work? The views of Hong Kong is much more mixed on the issue. "The lowest paid employees fear being laid off, not increased," reports the Hong Kong daily The Standard. Others fear losing some benefits such as paid leave. The unions expect to "historical events" in Hong Kong on May 1 to put pressure on employers.

The showdown promises to be severe indeed.The major fast-food chain in the country, Cafe de Coral, announced that the minimum wage would force it to revise downward its profit ... and probably to cut payroll. The employers' lobby, in any case, is developed. "So we have to reconnect with an unemployment rate before the crisis, establishing a minimum wage falls ill," said one CEO Hong Kong EconomyWatch on the site. But the threat of unemployment is not their only weapon. They also predict an inevitable increase in prices. Inflation in Hong Kong is already greater than 3% and the minimum wage would further increase prices. This would, according to employers, to negate the advantage of uen salary increase for workers."Actually this is not the minimum wage causes inflation, but inflation, which increases the minimum wage," says John Richotte. That prospect does not appeal to employers Hong Kong.

THAILAND - Cambodia: Bangkok and Phnom Penh compete again at their shared border

AFP - New fighting with heavy weapons erupted Friday Thai and Cambodian soldiers, killing six of them and ending two months of relative calm between the two countries competing for a border area.

As in previous violent clashes on February 4 to 7, both parties have mutually rejected responsibility for the incidents that erupted at dawn near the temples of Ta and Ta Krabei Muean Tom and lasted several hours.

"The Cambodian soldiers opened fire with assault rifles on Thailand's first and now they started to bombard us with artillery and we took appropriate measures of retaliation," he told AFP the Thai minister Defense Prawit Wongsuwon.

"I think Cambodia is to take control of temples at the border," he added.

Thai Prime Minister Abhisit has ordered an inquiry after three soldiers from his country were killed and ten others wounded in the fighting that has forced the evacuation of thousands of villagers on the Thai side.

Three soldiers were also killed and several wounded on the Cambodian side, as the spokesman of the Cambodian Ministry of Defence Chhum Socheat.

Phnom Penh has accused neighboring troops have penetrated 400 meters inside its territory.

Thai soldiers "launched an unprovoked attack," said government spokesman Phay Siphan.

"This is a new invasion of Cambodia by Thailand.We can not accept that. "

The border between the two countries has never been fully demarcated, in particular because of the presence of many mines left behind by decades of civil war in Cambodia.

In February, the fighting had mostly taken place a hundred miles to the east near the Khmer temple of Preah Vihear.

These ruins of the eleventh century, whose classification by UNESCO in 2008 had rekindled tensions within the sovereignty of Cambodia by a ruling of the International Court of Justice in 1962.

But the Thais its main access control, and both countries claim an area of ​​4.6 km2 below the building.

Analysts said the border dispute both sides are used to glorify the nationalist sentiments of the population.

Following the fighting in February, which had at least ten deaths, seven Cambodian side, the Security Council of the United Nations had called for a cease-fire permanent, but rejected the request from Phnom Penh to send peacekeepers on the border.

Both then neighbors had given their agreement to send observers to the border, after mediation organized by the Association of Southeast Asian (ASEAN).

But since the Thai military said that these observers were not welcome and they were never deployed.

Indonesia, which holds the rotating presidency of ASEAN, on Friday urged the two neighbors to "an immediate cessation of hostilities" and to "resolve their disputes by peaceful means."

Phnom Penh calls since February mediation to resolve these disputes, but Bangkok urges bilateral talks only.

Thailand secondly recently acknowledged using during the fighting in February controversial weapons, the "improved conventional munitions double effect" (DPICM), while insisting that they were not munition munition.

Coalition against weapons munitions (CMC) acted his part that it was indeed weapons munitions, denouncing their use.

COTE D'IVOIRE: The humanitarian emergency takes precedence over the political conflict

Food shortages, poor access to health care, electricity cuts, water, gas ... After four months of political degradation between Alassane Ouattara, President recognized by the international community, and Laurent Gbagbo, outgoing president, "the Ivorian humanitarian situation has become absolutely tragic to civilians," said Elisabeth Byrs on Tuesday, a spokesman for the Office Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs UN.

Caught between two fires, the population is paying the brunt of this conflict post-election. It now days that separate the end of reserves of food and medicines.In Abidjan, as in Western countries, the humanitarian emergency is gradually taking precedence over the political conflict.

Humanitarians blocked by the fighting

Unfortunately, many NGOs on the ground, as Action against Hunger (ACF), are unable to work due to insecurity. Its members have to stay cooped up, "are helpless", laments Francois Danel, director of ACF posted at Man in the West. "It is extremely dangerous to go out for the moment and it is beyond question that our teams risk their lives," he says."It's outrageous they can not fulfill its humanitarian role because the two camps have not adopted a clear stand to protect civilians."

Even admission of impotence - medical this time - from Doctors Without Borders (MSF). For six days, teams of NGOs, posted in Abobo, a district north of Abidjan, are unable to get potential patients - no ambulance can circulate. "The injured are out of reach," said Lawrence Sury, Deputy Head of Emergency Operations at MSF, who reported to France24.com what his team unreachable since Monday."The Abidjan phoning our teams to come and look for injured patients, but it's impossible," he says. "The team still treats 30 to 40 casualties per day, but these are mainly people in the vicinity or brought in carts by residents."

For civilians, holed up at home and frightened by continued firing, the situation became unbearable. Jean-Paul, a resident of the neighborhood of Abobo, tells the hell of everyday life. "We survive," he says. "All the shops are closed, there are more markets, I can not buy food.I did not reserve a few days and I have nothing to eat. "For security reasons, he separated from his wife and daughter, have fled to Ghana. As for him, he decided to stay in Abidjan to "protect his house against looters."

West hit by mass exodus

Like John Paul, "many Ivorians fleeing the fighting and send their families in Liberia and Ghana," said Francois Danel. The latter is also concerned about the movements (mass) population that also affect Western countries - especially Duékoué strategic city and gateway to the main area of ​​cocoa production. Today the town is deserted by its inhabitants.Some 20,000 of them took refuge in the precincts of the Catholic Mission after the massacre of 800 people on 29 March. An exodus "among many others," blows the Director of ACF. "Between Man and Duékoué, whole villages were emptied of their population," he laments. Since the conflict began, more than a million civilians have been displaced by fighting between forces loyal to both candidates in the presidential election of November 2010, reports the UN agency for refugees (UNHCR).

"These outflows are always synonymous with extreme insecurity," worries the director of ACF.Because if they do not leave the country, these people - consisting mainly of women and children - crowded into refugee camps where the seats are missing. Some were accommodated in shelters. "At Duekoue, living conditions are extremely difficult and by far the most disturbing, access to water is increasingly problematic and food becomes scarce," said Francois Danel after spending a few days.

Moreover, MSF is concerned about the number of newly arriving wounded to medical facilities in the region. "Between March 28 and April 3, 146 wounded arrived at Bangolo and Duékoué 285" lists Lawrence Sury.And continuing: "New wounded continue to arrive, despite the end of the offensive zone. This indicates that the violence continues. If this is indeed the case, the humanitarian disaster will quickly turn into disaster."

LIBYA: The insurgents forced back towards the town of Ben Jawad

Syria: The government has submitted his resignation to President Bashar al-Assad, who accepted it. Prime Minister Mohammad Naji Otri, who headed the government since 2003, has been charged with handling current business. The composition of the new government should be known by the end of the week. Bashar al-Assad will address the nation Wednesday for the first time since the start of the contest. Libya: The insurgents were repulsed by Ben Jawad, east of Sirte, the hometown of Muammar Gaddafi, the cons-offensive by the armed forces. The latter are accused of killing at least 142 people in their offensive in Misrata, according to a doctor at the hospital in the city.Two loud explosions also rocked Tripoli in the area of ​​residence of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, and seven others were heard in Tajura, a suburb east of the capital, according to an AFP reporter and witnesses. United Kingdom: A forty countries and organizations met in London in the wake of military strikes in Libya have shown their unity to build the country's political future around an almost unanimous conclusion: "Gaddafi has to leave."
Among them, the United States, France and the United Kingdom, but several Arab countries, including Kuwait, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Qatar, Tunisia, Turkey and the UAE.

To follow the events from a smartphone, click here.

SYRIA: Impatiens, the Syrian youth trying to break the silence

The wall of silence is cracking. "Deraa is Syria," "We sacrifice ourselves for Deraa," "God, Syria, and freedom is everything" ... The slogans continue to resonate in Dera in the region Harouan (South) where the dispute appears to show no signs of weakness despite the violent repression of the Syrian authorities that killed more than 100 deaths in one week.

Believing themselves immune from any challenge, the regime in Damascus is seen now faced with the uprising of youth galvanized by the revolutionary wave that swept the Arab world. March 18, protesters defied the military and much feared secret services (the "Mukhabarat") by setting fire to public buildings Deraa, city yet acquired the ruling Baath Party.Since then the movement has spread to Hama, Damascus, Latakia, Banias or Hassakeh. A month ago, yet the head of state Bashar al-Assad assured in an interview with the Wall Street Journal that his country is guarded against any form of rebellion. "We're out of it, certified it by speaking of the revolutions of Tunisia and Egypt. The Syrians do not rebel. It's a matter of ideology." A sealed system to challenge ideology Actually, people had resigned to decades of silence imposed an iron hand by the Baath party in power since 1963 which has made Syria one of States most of the locked region."The Syrian system does not accept the challenge, said Thursday on France Info radio waves Gilles Kepel, head of the chair Middle East-Mediterranean Institute of Political Studies (IEP) in Paris. It has to one side a president who is young, friendly, loves to talk with intellectuals and academics, and, on the other, the resilience of a system of power inherited from the father [Hafez al-Assad] is absolutely ruthless. " The last Syrian rebellion began in 1982 in Hama, the fourth largest city. The then president, Hafez al-Assad, Bashar's father, had ordered the army to crush the uprising, killing between 10,000 and 25,000 dead.During the 1980s, nearly 70,000 people were missing. Since the establishment of a state of emergency in 1963, protests are banned, intellectuals and political opponents routinely jailed. Nearly 4,500 political prisoners are currently in Syrian jails, according to the Foundation for Defense of Human Rights in Syria. "Young people are expecting a 180 degree turn" Faced with pressure from the street, President Al-Assad, who has not yet announced publicly, was shown on Thursday, more inclined to make concessions.Through the voice of his advisor Boussaïna Shaaban, the strong man of Damascus announced consider canceling the state of emergency and set up mechanisms "effective" to fight against corruption. Inadequate gestures of openness, according Ajlani Mohammed, director of the Center for Strategic Studies in Paris and an expert on Syria. "Youth has waited too long, says he told FRANCE 24. She wanted the president to go further, faster in the reforms, he dismisses all the caciques who enriched themselves at the time of his father. It has been ten years since the public expects.Young people were expecting a 180 degree turn. "Arrived at the head of the country to the death of his father in 2000, Bashar al-Assad succeeded in imposing on the nomenklatura political-military importance of economic reforms, opening up Syria the market economy. But this rapid liberalization has mainly had the effect of widening social inequalities and enhancing the close of the al-Assad. Syria has "not yet slipped into the red zone," said Mohammed Ajlani, but time is short. "If al-Assad is taking bold economic and social decisions, a way out of crisis then offer himself to him who will go through compromise and negotiation.If the power of new represses any movement in the blood, it will not work much longer. "

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.

ITALY: Judge orders an "immediate trial" against Berlusconi in Ruby

AFP - The Judge Cristina Di Censo decided Tuesday an "immediate trial" for the Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi for use in prostitution of a minor and abuse of office in a sex scandal Rubygate, according to judicial sources quoted by Italian media.

The magistrate set the first hearing of this accelerated procedure under the Italian Penal Code in cases of "clear evidence" to 6 April at 0830 GMT.

"We do not expect anything," responded the lawyer of Berlusconi.

The billionaire is thought to have paid for sexual services of Ruby, a young Moroccan Karim El Mahroug when she was a minor between February and May 2010 and to be reached with the police in Milan to secure the release after his arrest the night of 27 May 28 robbery.

Both Mr Berlusconi has denied that Ruby had sex, the girl who turned 18 in November, admitting only to have participated in dinners "perfectly normal and wise."

In addition, the defense of Mr.Berlusconi says he intervened to free the girl because he believed it was "the niece of President Hosni Mubarak" and wanted to preserve good relations with his country.

The Rubygate is the third sex scandal involving Mr. Berlusconi, after business Noemi (May 2009), a minor whose attendance had reached a divorce from his wife, and D'Addario (June 2009), a prostitute who had told a torrid night with Berlusconi.

But this is the case the most serious because it is punishable by three years in prison for engaging in prostitution and twelve years in prison for abuse of office.