PAKISTAN: Terrorists kill four people in Karachi

Militants attacked Sunday a Pakistani air base in Karachi, killing four people, said a spokesman for Pakistani naval forces.

According to the Express television channel TV, five explosions were heard on the Naval Air Station.

Officials of the intelligence services have said that between 15 and 20 attackers were inside the base of Mehran and had attacked three aircraft hangars.

Witnesses reported gunfire and saw smoke rising from buildings.

"We have four dead and five wounded, but the balance may go up," he told Reuters an official security services, who requested anonymity.

Images on television, we can see flames and smoke rising from the site.

The Pakistani Taliban have vowed to avenge the death of Osama bin Laden, killed May 2 in Pakistan by American special forces.

SOUTH AFRICA: Municipal elections in a test for the ANC

AFP - South Africans voted Wednesday for their fourth city since the end of apartheid, a test for the African National Congress (ANC), which is struggling to overcome growing frustration towards his performance after 17 years in power.

Polling stations officially closed at 19.00 pm (1700 GMT), but voters who were still queuing at this time have been able to deposit their ballots in the ballot box, according to the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC).

The results arriving only a very partial, it was still impossible to identify a trend towards midnight (2200 GMT). The final results must be published Friday.

Pansy Tlakula, the owner of the IEC, said she thought the turnout exceeded 40%.She had reached 48.4% in the previous municipal 2006.

Apart from some delays due to delays in delivering ballots, failures scanners identity cards of voters, power cuts or the presence of crocodiles preventing tellers to access a remote polling station, the election went well, according to the IEC.

23.6 million South Africans renewed the elected eight cities, 226 municipalities and 44 districts ordinary.

The ANC, still basking in the glow of his image as a liberator, remains the favorite in the poll.But discontent against the failures of public services could lead some voters to the opposition or abstention.

"I'm very optimistic because we've made great progress," however, said the South African President and ANC leader Jacob Zuma, by voting mid-day in his village of Nkandla in Zululand ( is).

"We're going to surprise a lot," he said while acknowledging that more work to improve drinking water, electricity and roads.

Since the advent of multiracial democracy in 1994, marked progress has been made. Some 93% of households have a water point near their homes, against 62% last seventeen years, 84% are electrified as against 36% ...

But rural areas and former black townships have been left on the sidelines or equipped with failed installations, giving the impression to the poorest being left-nots.

These frustrations have led to a resurgence of protests demanding better public services.

Electorally, this discontent could undermine the dominance of the ANC. In a poll released Monday, the party captured 58.3% of the vote, 8 points lower than his score for the 2006 municipal.

The main opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) that controls the city of Cape Town, expects this to continue growing discontent.The party won nearly 15% of the vote in 2006 and 17% in the 2009 parliamentary and could reach almost 20% this time.

The DA plans to take the ANC mayors, especially in the west and south.

"Our democracy is maturing and people are beginning to understand that we must vote on the parties' ability to act in their favor," said its leader Helen Zille, before dropping his ballot into the ballot box."No party owns the voters for eternity," she added.

During the campaign, the ANC has played its past as liberator, the president Zuma even calling on voters to vote for the party in memory of deceased heroes of the anti-apartheid struggle.

Tuesday, he also visited the bedside of the country's first black president, Nelson Mandela, 92 years, still recovering from a hospitalization in January for an acute respiratory infection.

In a country that still bears the scars of decades of racial segregation, the message is still fly with some of the black population.

FLYING RIO PARIS: The black box flight AF 447 are readable

AFP - Investigators of flight AF447 from Rio to Paris announced Monday that it managed to "collect all the data contained" in the two black boxes of the Airbus A330 of Air France crashed in June 2009 and this summer will publish a first report the causes of the disaster.

After 23 months at the bottom of the Atlantic, all the data contained in the recorders could be read over the weekend and collected, said in a statement the Bureau of Investigation and Analysis (BEA) responsible for the technical investigation into the accident still unexplained.

Analysis of the black boxes would "take several weeks, after which a report will be drafted and made public during the summer," said BEA.

The two recorders, one containing the flight parameters, the other sound recordings in the cockpit, contain crucial data to try to explain the disaster, which had been 228 deaths there nearly two years off Brazil .

So far, investigators have determined that the malfunctioning (icing at high altitude) and speed sensors of the device, said pitot probes, manufacturer Thales, was one of the failures established in the disaster. But they believe that their failure can not alone explain the crash.

COMMEMORATION: 30 years after the socialist victory, the "Tontonmania" sweeps over France

"People seem to take pleasure in recalling that day, and to trust their memories," said Pascale Kremer, a journalist with Le Monde magazine, the weekly supplement of the daily Le Monde. "We received over 500 submissions in response to our appeal for witnesses to our May 7 issue published, which is pretty unusual," she notes.

In bookstores, the heads of gondolas full of souvenir books. And not without success.Published earlier this year, "Assault and battery: 50 years of shared secrets with Abraham Lincoln" (Editions du Cherche Midi), Roland Dumas's book, companion of the former president, was ranked especially late April third best-selling test as classified Ipsos / Livres Hebdo.

Two hundred festivals throughout France

The Web is no exception. The Twitter feed from the radio station France Inter took an original initiative by offering Internet users to relive the events live, exactly as if they had taken place 30 years ago.
In addition to this media storm, many events are held in homage to François Mitterrand through France, where about two hundred festivals are planned Tuesday.In Paris, a grand concert will be held instead of the Bastille, echoing the one organized in 1981 to celebrate the historic victory of the Left. The headquarters of the Socialist Party, political party of former president, will also open its doors to the public on the occasion of this anniversary.

Race to the legacy of the Socialist Party

More than 16 years after his death, Mitterrand remains pervasive among Socialists. One year after the presidential election, while the primary campaign begins in the party, several big names from left to openly call for the former president.The former first secretary of the Socialist Party, Francois Hollande, had chosen Clichy-la-Garenne, where Mitterrand made a speech a few days before his victory in 1981 for his first campaign rally on April 27. On Tuesday he will travel to Chateau-Chinon, a town which Mitterrand was mayor, to give a speech.

Her rival Segolene Royal on Sunday presented before his supporters, his new slogan, "Strength citizen," which is reminiscent of the "quiet strength" of Mitterrand.At this gathering, the businessman Pierre Bergé, patron and support of the defeated candidate of 2007, received a thunderous applause by declaring: "I think I can say that the true successor to Francois Mitterrand called Ségolène Royal.

This race to the political heritage can be interpreted as a search for unity within the Left. "As we approach the primaries socialist Mitterrand call illustrates that the left needs unity to win the election in 2012," said Jean Yves Camus, a political scientist at the Institute of International Relations and Strategic Relations (IRIS). "His candidacy in 1981 was consensus within his party and the nomination process had proceeded smoothly," he recalls.A serenity that can only be welcome at a time when the knives are sharpened in anticipation of the primaries.

FRANCE: Le Quai d'Orsay 14 expels Libyan diplomats loyal to Gaddafi

AFP - France has declared "persona non grata 14 ex-Libyan diplomats" who have a "period of 24 or 48 hours" to leave French territory, said Friday the spokesman of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a statement.

"France has declared persona non grata 14 ex-Libyan diplomats stationed in France.Depending on circumstances, allow interested parties within 24 or 48 hours to leave the country, "said spokesman Bernard Valero Quai d'Orsay.

They were accused "of behaviors and activities not consistent with relevant UN resolutions and particularly 1973 and contrary to the protection of Libyan civilians," the ministry said, when asked to AFP.

The 14 diplomats were appointed by the regime of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, that Paris, which recognized the National Transitional Council (CNT, rebellion), no longer considered legitimate.

The ambassadors of Libya in France and Unesco (whose headquarters is in Paris) had announced on February 25, they resigned to condemn "acts of repression in Libya" and they "joined the revolution" cons Colonel Muammar Gaddafi.

A group of Libyan dissidents had taken control of the day the Libyan embassy in Paris.

An international coalition - led by France, the United Kingdom and the United States - occurred on March 19 in Libya under UN mandate to end the bloody suppression of the uprising against the Gaddafi regime.

Resolution 1973 adopted in mid-March by the UN authorizes such "take all measures necessary" to "protect civilians" in Libya, while "excluding a foreign occupying force" in that territory.

Scenes of jubilation in Washington after the announcement of the death of bin Laden

AFP-Thousands of Americans gathered spontaneously outside the White House Sunday night to shout their joy after the announcement of the death of Osama bin Laden. "We had waited so long," said one student while the crowd sings "USA, USA".

"I've never felt such emotion," said John Kelley, a 19 year old student from New Jersey, near New York. "It's something we've waited so long. When I heard the news, my legs were shaking."

"As soon as I heard the news, 'says he," I called my best friend who lost her brother in the attacks of Sept. 11.He was overwhelmed with joy. It sounds too good to be true, I can not believe it, "he said.

Behind him, a young man crying in his phone: "we have had!". Students return to the campaign slogan of Barack Obama's to accommodate the news of the day: "Yes we can, yes we did" ("We can, we have done). Others sing the American anthem .

The crowd is very young. Many donned a sweatshirt "USA", some football shirt of the United States.The smile, the shouts, one picture taken in front of the White House to mark this historic day in a carnival atmosphere worthy of a victory in the "Superbowl".

Hoping to be heard by the U.S. president, students yelling "It cancels exams, which begin in a few weeks.

Anna Howell, 27, came with her husband. They look at the crowd, a little away, waving their flags. "It's great, what joy for the families who lost relatives on Sept. 11," she said."It's not every day that America and communion."

She lives in Alexandria, a suburb of Washington, near the Pentagon, the headquarters of the Ministry of Defence targeted for Sept. 11. Would she have preferred that Bin Laden is captured alive? "Dead or alive, I do not care. They have, that's what counts," she replied before thinking: "It would have been nice to bring him to justice."

Nearby, a young man disagrees.It exhibits a cardboard sign on which he wrote in black marker: "We got rid of the junk bin Laden."

In the streets of Washington overlooking the White House, Americans come in clusters. Taxis honk filled as for a wedding. Jon Garcia, a 19 year old student came to the White House to "be part of history."

"I feel a sense of justice. It took so long but we got it. It is only fair for families bereaved by Sept. 11," he said."It gives meaning to our mission in Afghanistan," he adds.

David Abel, an "Obama fan" of forty years, is "shared". "For many people it is a symbolic victory. But it's too selfish. We sing + USA + USA, we only think we are forgetting the rest of the world," he laments before returning to his hotel .

The ambassador of Syria off the list of guests at royal wedding

The British Foreign Minister, William Hague, announced Thursday the withdrawal of the invitation by the Syrian ambassador to the marriage of Prince William and Kate Middleton, said it was "unacceptable" after the repression of demonstrations in the country.

"In light of attacks against civilians this week by Syrian security forces, which we have condemned the Minister of Foreign Affairs has decided that the presence of the Syrian ambassador to the royal wedding would be unacceptable and that it should not take part, "said the Foreign Office in a statement.

Questioned by AFP, the royal service said they "share" this opinion.

The invitation to the Syrian ambassador had generated considerable controversy in the United Kingdom, after the violent suppression of demonstrations in Syria against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad. Since their beginning March 15, at least 453 people were killed, according to the Syrian Observatory of Human Rights.

Buckingham Palace, in charge of invitations with the Foreign Office pointed out that all the representatives of countries with which London has "normal diplomatic relations" were among the 1,900 guests at royal wedding.This explained why Libya was not invited to the UK conducting military operations.

But the presence of Syrian diplomat in royal wedding on Friday became all the more incongruous that he had been summoned Tuesday to the Foreign Ministry to be told that London considered "unacceptable" use of force by the government against the demonstrators.

This meeting was conducted as part of a joint effort by several European countries including France, Italy and Germany.