IRELAND: Croke Park, the symbol of the march towards Independence

On the second day of his visit to Ireland, Queen Elizabeth II visited this Wednesday at Croke Park stadium in Dublin. A highly symbolic passage in the process of reconciliation between Britain and its neighbor.Croke Park has long remained the undisputed temple of Gaelic sports - such as hurling, Gaelic football and Camogie.

The stadium, which has a capacity of 82,300 seats, was opened to other sports (like football and rugby) in 2005, 92 years after its commissioning in 1913.

Most importantly, Croke Park was in 1920, the scene of a massacre orchestrated by British forces that helped lead to independence.

On the morning of November 21, 1920, the Irish Republican Army (IRA), Armed Force independence, launched a commando in several places in Dublin to remove a network of agents of British intelligence.The review of the operation was high: in the ranks UK, 12 people were killed and two paramilitaries in the pay of the Crown.

In the afternoon, the regular British police, backed by paramilitaries, decides to conduct a "punitive expedition" during a Gaelic football match, sports flagship of Ireland.

Catalyst for the march towards Independence

The British forces entering Croke Park, where 5,000 people gathered, and opened fire on the crowd. Fourteen people, including a woman, two children and two players were killed.

London, which had not been informed of the operation, is struggling to justify the massacre.The official version of the authorities reported a police action aimed at searching the audience to uncover potential supporters of the IRA and said that it is they who opened fire first.

Subsequent surveys will invalidate this thesis.Seventy-nine years later, the "Bloody Sunday" ("Bloody Sunday", not to be confused with the 1972 in Londonderry, Ed) is still remembered for the Irish as one of the pivotal events of the march the country to Independence.

Indeed, he helped establish the resentment against Great Britain in the Irish population, until the formal independence of Eire in 1922.

In Ireland, Croke Park is more than a major sporting complex. It is a temple of Irish culture, a monument dedicated to the memory of the struggle for national independence.

FLYING RIO PARIS: One of the black box flight AF447 crashed into the sea is fished out by investigators

AFP - The box containing the flight parameters of the Air France Airbus which crashed in 2009 off the coast of Brazil, rescued Sunday is "in good physical condition", leaving the investigators hope to be able to read valuable data, told AFP the director of the Bureau of Investigation and Analysis (BEA).

"At this stage, the box looks in good physical condition.Our experts tell us that we can hope to read these data, "said Jean-Paul Troadec.

He however expressed caution noting that for the moment, it was unclear whether or not there was corrosion.

Shortly before, the BEA, in charge of the technical investigation said it had recovered the memory module of the flight data recorder, Flight Data Recorder (FDR)

"If these data are usable, it will help advance the investigation because the FDR recorded altitude, speed, different positions of the government," he explained Troadec.

Questioned by AFP, a spokesman for Airbus said the group did at this stage "absolutely no comment".

The module is for the time being immersed in water.It must be transported to BEA, where he will be husked. "He should be in our office by 8 to 10 days, the time a Navy ship to pick him and lead him home," he said Troadec.

The objective is to recover the second black box, recording the conversations in the cockpit before the Navy come first search box to route both recorders simultaneously.

The disaster, which has killed 228 on 1 June 2009, remains so far unexplained.

FRANCE: Police exonerated after the death of two teenagers in Clichy

Five and a half after the tragedy, the Court of Appeal of Paris gave a non-suit Wednesday in favor of two officers initially referred to a court investigation into the death of two teenagers in Clichy-sous-Bois in the origin of the 2005 riots.

Both officers were dismissed in October by the judges in charge of the investigation before the criminal court for "failure to assist persons in danger" but the prosecutor of Bobigny had appealed that decision.

The Court of Appeal of Paris followed the submissions of the prosecutor general who believed that the two officers were not aware of the reality of danger.

On October 27, 2005, Zyed Benna, 17, and Bouna Traore, 15, died electrocuted in a power substation where they fled after a chase with police. A third teenager, Muhittin Altun, who survived.

Urban violence had started the night in Clichy-sous-Bois and had spread to all the French suburbs.The state of emergency had been imposed even on November 9.

"The issue has always been empty," said the lawyer for Mr. Daniel Merchat police after the decision in closed session by the Board of Education.

"After 5 years, the small voice of truth, justice eventually cover the decoys media uproar," said the lawyer.

The lawyer for the families of two young was in high contrast against this decision and announced an appeal.

"It is a justice of fear that was made this morning," responded Jean-Pierre Mignard on France Inter. But "we will go through," he said, accusing prosecutors of being "not independent" and "not impartial".

The police initially questioned had seen criticized for not having tried to assist the youth entered the peril of their lives in the transformer.

But for prosecutors, police officers were unaware that the three youths had entered the transformer.Well for one of the policemen who, in exchange radio, "announced that he saw two individuals in the process of stepping over a fence to move to the EDF website.

He also said in this exchange: "At the same time, if they fall on the EDF site, I would not give much of their skin."

Claude Dilain, Socialist Mayor of Clichy-sous-Bois (Seine-Saint-Denis), regretted the decision of the appellate court.

"From day one, I called for an independent investigation and adversarial," he recalled elected to AFP.

"It will not happen and I regret it, even for police officers," he said."Their non-responsibility might have been more clearly demonstrated after the debate," he said.

Mohamed Mechmache, president of the collective associations AC-Fire in Clichy-sous-Bois has also expressed its disappointment. "We work so that young people believe in justice, but after a decision like that is hard for us," he said.

CINEMA: Egeria the auteur cinema of the 1970s, Marie-France Pisier died

Reuters - French actress Marie-France Pisier, muse of auteur cinema, died at the age of 66 in the night from Saturday to Sunday
Saint-Cyr-sur-Mer (Var), where she lived, it was learned from the gendarmerie.

Actress "intellectual" and committed, Marie-France Pisier was crowned twice the Cesar for Best Actress for "Cousin Cousine" (1976) Jean-Charles Tacchella and "Barocco" (1977), a work that Andre Techine made him one of its
favorite actress.

Marie-France Pisier, born May 10, 1944 in the former French Indochina, the cinema began in 1961 by Francois Truffaut, who enlisted for the sketch "Antoine and Colette" face
Jean-Pierre Léaud (Antoine Doinel) in the film "Love at Twenty."

Seventeen later, she embodied Colette in "Love on the Run," the last chapter of the adventures of Antoine Doinel she co-wrote with Truffaut.

Silhouette sophisticated distance any bourgeois tone of voice unparalleled, Marie-France Pisier was at the heart of the universe of Alain Robbe-Grillet, Luis Bunuel and Jacques Rivette.

Film copyright in popular cinema

But it is also found in popular hits, like "Ace of Aces" with Jean-Paul Belmondo (1982) or "The Price of danger" (1983) where she played a producer of reality TV before hour.

Yves Boisset, the director of "Price of risk", on Sunday welcomed an actress "a great class and (of) a great intelligence."

More rare in cinema in the 90s, she toured with young filmmakers in recent years. She made her last screen appearance in "The rest of the ham?" (2010), a comedy by Anne Depetrini.Theater actress, she was also a writer, screenwriter and director.

It was published in 1984 "Governor's Ball," a novel inspired by her childhood, she adapted for film in 1990 with actress Kristin Scott-Thomas in the lead role.

"C" was a woman of solar energy absolutely, who was curious about everything, who never rests on its laurels as an actress, "said Kristin Scott-Thomas on ITélé.

NIGERIA: The main rival of Goodluck Jonathan alleges electoral fraud

Some images in this video may offend the sensibilities of viewers.

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.

EURO AREA: "The ECB is acting too soon by raising its key rate"

Everyone expects the central bank increased its key interest rate Thursday for the first time since the crisis began. It should be fixed at 1.25% to fight against inflation in Europe. A gamble for Christophe Blot, économine European specialist at OFCE (French Office of Economic Conditions).

FRANCE 24 is the first time since the crisis began that the ECB will increase these rates, why?

Christophe Blot: Jean-Claude Trichet, president of the European Central Bank, has made clear it was time to fight against inflation in the euro area. Since the beginning of the year it is 2.4% while the target of the ECB is to maintain inflation at 2%.By increasing the policy rate by 0.25% even as it should be the case, Jean-Claude Trichet hopes to curb this trend.

This approach questionable because current inflation is due solely to rising oil prices and it is by definition a highly volatile indicator. If we remove the price of oil and food prices, also volatile, inflation is only 1%. By not taking this into account, the ECB adopts a reflection only in the short term, then it is supposed to reflect the medium-term.Also if you look abroad, particularly in the United States and Great Britain, central banks are not as stringent goals against inflation.

F24: The low rate was that of the ECB so far was supposed to promote growth in times of crisis. Does it increase suggests that the crisis is over by the central bank?

CB: You can ask. Indeed, another reason to raise the rate indicator is that the ECB has always believed that monetary policy before the crisis was too lax.She often said that with interest rates too low, the funds had flowed afloat and had encouraged the emergence of bubbles [real estate speculation] that played a role in triggering the crisis. So by raising rates, it is conceivable that the central bank believes it must now work to prevent future bubbles rather than supporting growth.

F24: Yet one can hardly say that Europe is growing ...

CB: It is indeed a matter of timing. I think the ECB is acting too soon. By increasing interest rates, banks will pay more to finance when the banking sector in Europe is still very fragile.Moreover, ultimately, the banks will raise rates at which they lend money, which will not improve purchasing power. If we add to that all plans rigorously determined in the countries of the euro area is a very risky bet that the ECB does. And all that while inflation is not that strong!

COTE D'IVOIRE: In Abidjan, thousands of Ivorians express support for Laurent Gbagbo

The camp of the Ivorian head of state Laurent Gbagbo mobilized out Saturday thousands of supporters near the presidential palace in Abidjan, when international pressure is growing to force originally, amid fears of civil war.

France, former colonial power, announced this week that have submitted a draft resolution to the Security Council of the United Nations to halt the firing with heavy weapons in Abidjan, which are a "scandal" according to President Nicolas Sarkozy.

The text, which must be considered in the coming days, explicitly requires the departure of Laurent Gbagbo and his rival Alassane Ouattara recognizes as legitimate president after the November ballot, which plunged the country into a deadly crisis.

At the invitation of Charles Ble Goude, leader of the "patriotic" pro-Gbagbo, several thousand people, mainly young, have invaded in mid-day the Republic Square in the Plateau district, heart of the bristling power many young dams.

"Gbagbo or nothing", "Côte d'Ivoire belongs to the Ivorians," or "Sarkozy, the country is your last stop," proclaimed banners and posters.

Mr.Ble Goude has entered to the cheers by wearing a mattress on the shoulder of the rally-style festive campsite was to continue all night prayer sessions, and ended Sunday morning.

"Before attacking Laurent Gbagbo, you (should) kill all these people there," he said at the international community, pointing to the crowd.

"There will be no civil war," he stressed, attacking Mr Sarkozy, but also to President Barack Obama, the United Nations and the Economic Community of African States of the (ECOWAS).

While Pascal Affi N'Guessan, head of Gbagbo's party, accused MrOuattara from being "a mercenary in the service of Western imperialism," Charles Ble Goude, echoing Laurent Gbagbo, has renewed its call for "dialogue" to "find a solution to the post-election crisis."

The African Union (AU) last Saturday appointed a senior representative in Abidjan, the former Minister of Cape Verde José Brito Foreign Affairs in charge of opening negotiations between the two sides to implement the decisions taken by the AU March 10 in Addis Ababa: she recognized Mr. Ouattara as president and asked him to find an "honorable exit" for its rival.

But Mr. Ouattara was immediately challenged Mr.Brito for "his personal and political connections" with Laurent Gbagbo.

The crisis has never been so dramatic consequences for the Ivorians or generated as much concern outside. Over 460 people were killed in violence since late 2010, one million people may have been displaced in the country, the UN says.

Mr Ble Goude said that "over 100,000" young people had registered with the staff to enlist in the Army, responding to his call last weekend.The army said it would call these recruits to the "appropriate time".

In the West as in Abidjan, the time remaining in the clashes, and the use of heavy weapons, as in the districts of Abobo and Anyama, pro-insurgent strongholds Ouattara in the economic capital.

Abobo remains the epicenter of fighting. In the sector "Samankè" shots were heard Friday and two light armored Defense Forces and Security (FDS) loyal to Gbagbo were visible at a crossroads, charred.Witnesses said they had fallen into an "ambush" of insurgents, called "Commando invisible."

In the north, controlled by the former rebel pro-Ouattara, the population was from Wednesday night's private water and electricity, according to residents. The Ivorian Electricity Company (CIE, private) has blamed on the Gbagbo government, which controls the system since mid-January.

"The children are sick because they can not sleep well (lack of ventilation, ed.) There is also a lack of hygiene", said a resident of Bouake, the stronghold former rebel in the center of the country.

An accident on a carnival float made a couple of dead

At least 16 people were killed in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais (southeast) when a high voltage cable was accidentally touched a carnival float, according to local media on Monday, citing emergency services.

The accident occurred late Sunday in the small town of Bandeira do Sul, 5,000 inhabitants, when the cable broke and struck a car carrying an orchestra, according to the websites of newspapers O Globo and Estado de Sao Paulo .

"It was a disaster.There were many people on the float and we do not yet know the exact number of deaths or injuries, serious or light, "he told Globo Jose Balducci, a senior regional health issues.

According to a report of fire at least 12 people died instantly electrocuted.

Emergency services quoted by newspapers ensured that an unspecified number of serious injuries were transported to hospitals in the region.

Brazil prepares for major carnival festivities, which begin this weekend, but many traditional carnival floats roam the streets of the country in the days before the formal period of carnival.

A week ago a young man of 21 years died by falling four meters from the top of a tank on which he danced in a parade in the tourist area of Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro.

Carnival in Rio has also been threatened this year by an apparently accidental fire that erupted on Feb. 7 City of samba, a set of warehouses and workshops in the port area, destroying tanks and costumes for three nine samba schools taking part in parades on "sambodrome," scheduled this year on 6 and 7 March.

Solidarity with other groups and prices of hard work, the samba schools affected should, however, scroll normally.

Regarded as the greatest show on earth, the Rio carnival attracts hundreds of thousands of Brazilians and tourists and an important source of revenue for the city.

THEATER: "MIDInight in Paris" by Woody Allen opening the next Cannes Film Festival

AFP - The latest Woody Allen movie "Midnight in Paris" including the First Lady of France Carla Bruni-Sarkozy will be screened on opening the 64th Cannes Film Festival May 11, organizers announced Wednesday.

"It's Midnight In Paris + +, the new film by Woody Allen will open the Cannes Film Festival May 11 next in the great room light in the presence of the jury chaired by Robert De Niro" the statement said.

The film will be released the same day in theaters in France.

It will be "a priori out of competition, Woody Allen refusing on principle to be included," he told AFP the general delegate Thierry Fremaux Festival, which has still trying to convince him "until the last moment."

The official selection will be announced in mid-April, he said.

"Midnight in Paris + + is a wonderful love letter to Paris," Mr Fremaux said in a statement.

"This is a work in which Woody Allen deepens the questions in his latest film: our relationship to history, art, pleasure and life.For his 41st feature film, he again showed a great inspiration, "he adds.

Furthermore Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, who holds is his first movie role, this "romantic comedy," shot last summer in the French capital, met the French actor Marion Cotillard, Lea Seydoux and Gad Elmaleh, and an important distribution International starring Owen Wilson, Rachel McAdams, Kathy Bates and Adrien Brody.