NIGERIA: The main rival of Goodluck Jonathan alleges electoral fraud

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Muhammadu Buhari, the main Muslim candidate for president of Nigeria on Wednesday denounced the election fraud that gave the victory to Goodluck Jonathan, a Christian from the South, while condemning the post-election riots in the mainly Muslim north.

In the region of the Niger Delta, the oil predominantly Christian south, "and in the south-east there is not (really) elections and our fans were not allowed to vote," said General Buhari, who headed the military junta in 1984 and 1985, broadcast on Voice of America (VOA).

In several Southern states have announced results from 95% to over 99% of the vote in favor of Mr. Jonathan after the election on Saturday.

Mr.Buhari condemned but, as before, the deadly riots that started Sunday night: "I urge people to calm down and respect the law as we go (to the National Electoral Commission) to get justice," he said in a broadcast in Hausa.

Goodluck Jonathan, the outgoing president, won 57% of the votes in the election, which observers say, seemed on the whole more honest and transparent than the previous ones in Nigeria.

The balance of riots in several cities and regions of the North was not disclosed, but according to the Red Cross there were many dead, hundreds injured and thousands displaced.

CANNES FESTIVAL: Old and young wolves lions to conquer the Palme d'Or

You do not become one of the most famous cultural events in the world by chance. By dint of stunts as the Cannes Film Festival has established itself since its inception in 1946, as the rendezvous of cinema and the creatures that inhabit it. The recipe works every time: a selection demanding, rhinestones, glitter ... and steps that a horde of celebs in their Sunday best contrives to fit the smile. Unstoppable.

For its 64th edition, the general rout Cannes has offered, among other international stars known and recognized, a presidential couple as a communication plan: Nicolas Sarkozy and his wife Carla.No one yet knows if the head of the French State and the First Lady will parade on the red carpet, but their silhouettes should haunt the Croisette during the 12 days of competition (11-22 May).

The first will be represented in the guise of actor Denis Podalydès in "The Conquest", Xavier Durringer biography traces the rise to power of the current occupant of the Elysee. The second appears in the latest Woody Allen, "Midnight in Paris", will be screened at the opening May 11No chance, however, that Mr. and Mrs. receive a prize from the hands of Robert de Niro, the jury foreman 2011: Both films are presented out of competition.

Four films for a crow

Still in the "crow", note that among the 19 films that have a chance to compete for the coveted Palme d'Or include works by four French filmmakers. In fact, the Hexagon is this year represented the nation of the fortnight. But filmmakers Bertrand Bonello ("The Apollonides"), Alain Cavalier ("Our Father"), Radu Mihaileanu ("The Source for Women") and Maïwenn ("Polished") are not aware that nobody is a prophet in his country.Especially as the competition looks fierce.

Festival regulars regulars, Spaniard Pedro Almodovar defend "La Piel habito that" the Italian Nanni Moretti "Habemus Papam", the Danish director Lars von Trier's "Melancholia", Belgian Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne's "Le Gamin in bike "and the Finns Ali Kaurismaki" Le Havre ". These "customers" of the Croisette, as they are called gossips, will deal with them a serious customer, the highly anticipated and too rare American director Terrence Malick, who will present his fifth feature film "The Tree of Life" with Brad Pitt and Sean Penn. Just that.

Faced with these old lions, a young guard very feminine.The ratio has not escaped the general delegate of the festival, Thierry Fremaux, who said with some pride: four directors, out of 19 directors, will compete this year. Unheard of memory festival. The elected are happy, Maïwenn addition, Japan's Naomi Kawase ("Hanezu no tsuki"), the British Lynne Ramsay ("We Need to Talk About Kevin") and Australian Julia Leigh ("Sleeping Beauty") who, in Like the Austrian Markus Schleinzer ("Michael"), will travel to Cannes as the author of a first film.

A list of recalibrated?

They were expected, they will not come, because they have seduced the selection committee or have been able to complete their work.At the center of rumors that rustled on the Croisette before the announcement of the official selection, the French Mathieu Kassovitz, Marjane Satrapi, Christophe Honore and Dominik Moll does not tread the red carpet at Cannes this year. Ditto for Canadian David Cronenberg, the Hong Kong director Wong Kar-wai and the Brazilian Walter Salles yet approached.

Also cited, the American director Gus Van Sant will finally open the parallel competition Un Certain Regard with "Restless".Compete with him "Out Satan" of the French Bruno Dumont, "The Snows of Kilimanjaro" by his compatriot Robert Guediguian, and "Arirang" South Korean Kim Ki-duk, to name a few.

A month before we know the successor of "Uncle Boonmee" Apichatpong Weerasethakul, the organizers have already raised a bit of sailing on the charts 2011: during the opening ceremony hosted by the young actress Melanie Laurent, May 11 The Italian director Bertolucci Bertrand will receive the first Gold Award of Honor from the festival's history.A follow-up session for the author of "Last Tango in Paris" (1972) and "Innocents" (2003) that Cannes has never been able to distinguish.zer;

"This Must Be The Place" by Paolo Sorrentino;

"Melancholia" by Lars von Trier;

"Drive" by Nicolas Winding Refn.

Liveblogging: For Washington, the first phase of air strikes is a success

Basic information about the military operation in Libya:

The international military coalition bombed Tripoli by air and sea before dawn Sunday. These strikes have a "stop ahead" of the pro-Gaddafi in Benghazi, "said Admiral Michael Mullen, the highest ranking American on the ABC television network.
The bombings have intensified from 19h (GMT) on Saturday night. French fighter jets have carried out the first shots against the forces of Muammar Gaddafi at 16:45 (GMT).Warships and submarines, British and American then fired over 110 Tomahawk missiles against Libyan twenty sites.
In a televised address shortly after the first strikes, Muammar Gaddafi said that the Mediterranean and North Africa was now a "battlefield" and that air and sea targets, military or civilian, were now exposed to a real danger in the region.
France, Great Britain, the United States, Italy and Canada are participating in this operation, dubbed "Dawn of the odyssey", coordinated from a U.S. military base in Germany.This is the largest military intervention in the Arab world since the invasion of Iraq in 2003 led by the United States.

If you want to follow the liveblogging from a smartphone, click here.

LIBYA: New clashes in Benghazi, where dozens of people were killed

AFP - At least 173 people were killed in Libya since the start of the protest on February 15 according to Human Rights Watch (HRW), while the movement of revolt against Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, in power for nearly 42 years, began Sunday reach Tripoli.

Most victims were killed in Benghazi, the second largest city 1,000 km east of Tripoli, but according to witnesses contacted by AFP, bloody clashes erupted Saturday in Musratha, 200 km east Capital.

Opposition stronghold, Benghazi became the scene of "massacres," said Fathi Terbeel, one of the protest organizers, on Al Jazeera."It looks like a war zone opened between protesters and security forces."

In the Libyan capital, dozens of lawyers have participated in a sit-in protest against repression in court, witnesses and opposition websites. Many residents were food reserves while traders emptied their shops for fear of coming events.

Members of revolutionary committees in plainclothes patrolling the streets of Tripoli, very few moving sometimes in cars without license plates, according to other witnesses.Clashes also took place Sunday at Zaouia, 60 km west of Tripoli, the sources said.

According to the director of HRW's office in London, Tom Porteous, "at least 173" people have been killed since Tuesday. This statement is based on hospital sources in four cities in eastern countries including Benghazi, he said, adding that it was incomplete because a number of communication difficulties in the country.

According to an AFP count compiled from various sources Libyan stock of protest against the regime of Colonel Gaddafi was at least 77 dead, mostly in Benghazi.In this city, thousands of people protested in court, told AFP Mohammed Mughrabi, a lawyer.

Security services, quoted by state news agency Jana reported that clashes were continuing around a barracks in Benghazi, causing deaths and injuries among the attackers and the military. Witnesses said several protesters were killed Saturday in an attempted attack against the barracks.

"We asked the Red Cross to send field hospitals. We can no longer cope," said Mr. Mughrabi."It seems that the Libyan leader has ordered his security forces to end the protests at all costs, and the Libyans are now paying the price with their lives," Amnesty International has denounced.

Prime Minister Al-Baghdadi Al-Mahmoudi said Libya was "right to take all measures" to preserve the unity of the country, during a meeting with ambassadors of European Union countries in Tripoli according to the agency Jana.

The Arab League has called for his part in a statement "to cease immediately all acts of violence."The Permanent Representative of Libya to the League, Abdel Moneim al-Honi, announced he was resigning to join "the revolution" and to protest against "violence against demonstrators" in his country.

Many western countries were preparing to evacuate their citizens, while Turkey has already repatriated more than 500 people since Saturday, saying some have been targets of violence in Benghazi. According to a union official Tunisian, hundreds of Tunisians have left Libya on Sunday to take refuge in their country and run "a real massacre."

Muammar Gaddafi has made no official statement since the beginning of the movement.Libyan state television announced that Seif al-Islam, a son, would speak Sunday night.

A Musratha third largest city, the police were supported Saturday by "African mercenaries" who "shot (have) on the crowd without distinction", according to testimony consistent.

In addition, a senior Libyan official said Sunday that a "group of Islamic extremists" was holding hostage members of law enforcement and citizens in Al-Baida, in Eastern countries, demanding the lifting of head around it.

Meanwhile, authorities announced they had arrested dozens of Arab nationals belonging to a "network" with a mission to destabilize the country, according to Jana.

According to the Hungarian presidency of the EU, the Libyan authorities have summoned a representative of the EU to threaten to Tripoli to stop its cooperation in the fight against immigration if Europe continues to "encourage" unprecedented events in the countries.

Despite these threats, Europeans strongly condemned the bloody suppression of protests. "We call for restraint, we urge an end to violence and dialogue," said the head of European diplomacy Ashton.

A U.S. customs official gunned down in Monterrey

AFP - A member of the U.S. Agency Customs and immigration (ICE) was gunned down in Mexico Tuesday "in the exercise of his duties" by "unknown assailants" and a second is in a state serious, it was learned from official sources and Mexican American.

In a statement, U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano said she was "deeply saddened by the news" of the assault by bullets with the two victims were American agents, one of whom subsequently died from his injuries .

The Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs has "condemned" this act of violence in which "an agency official U.S. Customs and immigraton (ICE) was killed and another injured.

They "have been targeted in the exercise of their functions by unknown assailants while they were driving between Mexico City and Monterrey," Napolitano said, adding that the injured officer "was shot in the arm and leg and is in stable condition. "

"The U.S. agency responsible for law enforcement are working closely with Mexican authorities who are investigating the shooting, to ensure that the perpetrators of this horrendous crime are caught as quickly as possible," adds it.

The shooting occurred in a context of increasing violence in recent days in Mexico, ravaged by war between drug cartels for control of territory and by repression of drug trafficking conducted by the army for four years.

More than 34,600 people died in violence related to drugs since December 2006, when President Felipe Calderon deployed the army and federal police to fight cartels.

"Let me be very clear: an act of violence against personnel from ICE, or anyone working for the Department of Homeland Security, is an attack against all those who serve our country and put their lives at risk to our security "Napolitano wrote.

It was unclear Tuesday night whether the two officers had been specifically targeted because they worked for the U.S. government.

MIDDLE EAST: The Palestinian Authority was ready for major concessions in 2008

They are presented as "the most important leaked documents in the history of Israeli-Palestinian conflict." The few papers published since 1600 on Sunday night by the pan-Arab channel Al-Jazeera and the British daily "The Guardian" bring a new light on the peace negotiations in the Middle East between 1999 and 2010. They reveal the extent of such concessions that the Palestinian Authority was ready to go, especially on the crucial issues of the status of Jerusalem and the return of refugees.

These revelations "concerning bids Palestinian, all the more explosive than the other for the street," says Gallagher Fenwick, FRANCE 24's correspondent in Jerusalem.They have something seriously damage the credibility of the already weakened Palestinian Authority to the Palestinian population. They portray leaders almost desperate face confident Israeli negotiators, backed by the Americans. "

From Monday morning, the Islamist party Hamas has denounced the "implication" of the Palestinian Authority "in attempts to liquidate the Palestinian cause."

Asked about Al-Jazeera on Sunday, chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat told him that these documents were a "tissue of lies.""What was broadcast was distorted and taken out of context, and contains lies," he said Monday.

"The biggest Yourshalayem of history"

According to these confidential documents, mainly reports of meetings, and contrary to the positions shown in public, the Palestinian Authority would have done behind the scenes of major concessions to the Jewish state over the past two decades. For example:

Jerusalem: In 2008, a leading Palestinian negotiator, Ahmed Qureia, proposed that Israel annex the Jewish settlements built in and around East Jerusalem since 1967 with the exception of Abu Ghneim - called Har Homa by the Israelis.

"This is the first time in history that we do such a proposal, we had refused during the discussions at Camp David, in 2000, said Ahmed Qureia on this occasion. "It's no secret that we have proposed the largest Yourshalayem - Jerusalem in Hebrew - of history," said his side the chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat to the former Israeli foreign minister, Tzipi Livni.

Proposals completely contrary to the official position: "From our perspective, there are no negotiations over Jerusalem.Jerusalem is ours ", repeated Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian Authority president, there is another week.

The Israeli authorities did nothing at the time proposed in exchange for these concessions the Palestinian ruling that they "did not go far enough."

Esplanade of the Mosques: Regarding the Temple Mount, Saeb Erekat has proposed an "innovative solution" which is that an international committee monitoring this area in the old city of Jerusalem and the Temple Mount houses the third holiest of Islam.Refugees: On the thorny issue of right of return for Palestinian refugees, Saeb Erekat said he was ready to accept "the return of 10,000 of them per year over 10 years, a total of 100 000. Yet it is estimated about five million people the number of refugees. Safety: These documents also reveal a high level of security cooperation between Israeli security forces and the Israel, and prove that President Mahmoud Abbas was informed of an imminent Israeli attack against Gaza - Operation Lead Cast - in late 2008.

A senior Israeli official denied Monday that information. "This is an example of inaccuracy.No specific warning about an attack has been sent to the Palestinian Authority, "said Maj. Gen. Amos Gilad Reserve, Director of Political-Military Affairs at the Ministry of Defence.

Blockade: In 2008, Saeb Erekat also asked Livni to "strengthen the Israeli blockade" imposed on the Gaza Strip, controlled by Hamas.

"It takes political courage"

On Monday, former Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Haim Ramon, a member of Kadima, he has found that these documents prove that the Israeli government "has a true partner for peace"."It is further necessary that the search" sincerely, "he added.

For Ofer Bronchtein, president of the Forum for Peace and Reconciliation in the Middle East, these are the parameters of a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict which, with these revelations publicly exposed: a recognition in principle of Israel's right to return for Palestinians and a sharing of Jerusalem, which would become the capital of two states. "The secret negotiations, that's enough! Says Ofer Bronchtein to FRANCE 24. There is nothing left to invent for peace between Israelis and Palestinians."

"Ehud Olmert [former Israeli Prime Minister, ed] and Mahmoud Abbas arrived in a millimeter of a peace agreement," he says.Unfortunately, the political situation in Israel has not allowed that agreement to be signed. Today we must strengthen the Palestinian Authority so it can get these decisions to public opinion, and Israel must show some political courage. It is political courage needed by the Middle East, "said Ofer Bronchtein finally.