Thursday, April 28, 2011

TECH 24: A royal marriage celebrated also in digital

It is far from the marriage between Prince Charles and Diana in 1981: the British monarchy has this time coverage of the event ... very 2.0 way, the Twitter feed of Clarence House, the official residence of Prince Charles and Camilla distills information such as seating arrangements, or the floral composition of the ceremony ...

The wedding will be seeing, and again, on YouTube.

The Queen has become a geek

It must be said that Queen Elizabeth II is itself passionate new technologies. Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, YouTube, all that has no secrets for her. It was already the case in 1953, when she brought the television cameras to Westminster for his coronation.She had also filmed his Christmas message in 1957.

Queen Elizabeth wrote her first email in 1976 from a military base ... For the renovation of the British monarchy in 2009, Tim Berners-Lee, the father of the Web, was part ... The Queen of England also has his Facebook page since November 2010 ... You can "liker" Her Majesty, but out of the question to be his friend or his comment on current events, protocol requires ... And to join the happiness of bride and groom, it is now possible to leave them a video message of congratulations!

Are you traced?

Apple on the spot and within the scope of collective action in the U.S. for invasion of privacy ...According to researchers, a fixture on iOS 4 records the location data, and maintain them without encryption. Steve Jobs' terse response: "We do not follow anyone. But Google, yes."

Nokia 1616: a reliable phone for emerging markets.

No miracles or tablets overpriced gadget this week, but a phone that has managed to create a market in emerging countries: the Nokia 1616. Finally a phone that is used to call!

And that is precisely what attracted you.We asked our African members on Facebook to tell us why Nokia 1616 had a preference.
Watch this reaction Awada ehem Chad: "Two reasons: the battery lasts longer than other mobile phones, and especially his torch is very useful at night in places where electricity is unreliable. It even a luxury. " Affordable luxury, since it costs 35 euros.

A high-tech advertising targeted

We close this issue by the Royal buzz of the moment. A video where the operator T-Mobile does not care about traditions and away the monarchy for a march to the altar House more than ever. advertising exceeds 12 million views on YouTube.Look!

This recalls another viral video, "J & K wedding entrance, which was all the rage on the Web a few months ago (with 65 million unique visitors).

Apple FRANCE 24 Internet Wedding Prince William TECH 24 YouTube

Monday, April 25, 2011

Syria: Repression bloody Deraa, the epicenter of protest

The crackdown by the Syrian regime hardens a little more. Monday, tanks and soldiers armed to the teeth have penetrated for the first time in Deraa, birthplace of the challenge set in the South, according to witnesses on the spot. A change of tactics by the regime which suggest that Bashar al-Assad is playing its trump card, "says Jean-Bernard Cadier, a specialist in international politics of France 24:" He can not turn back now. "

Contacted by France 24, a resident of the city has traced the events of the morning. "Just after the prayer, we heard gunshots. We tried to know where the shots came from. Here we have seen at least eight tanks military who took the road of the old city.They asked us to stop all form of protest. There is nobody to help us and they can shoot us! "

Panicked face this sudden military deployment, the population has increased calls for help with the means at hand. "People are using loudspeakers in mosques to ask for help. Electricity has been cut off, the telephone network as well," said Isabelle Dellerba, France 24 correspondent in Beirut. "Ambulances are struggling to reach victims. The wounded are lying on the ground in the streets, there are also dead."

Deraa, prime target of the regime in Damascus

Scenes of war are told by many people on the spot."Men are ambushed government forces in public buildings and shooting at houses," said one of them told Reuters. "They shoot in all directions and move behind the tanks, which protect them," related another. A witness contacted by AFP already reported five deaths.

Isabelle Dellerba, the current confrontation between the regime and the protesters should go crescendo. "Bashar al-Assad could decide to take a new direction by launching operations against punches home the most important challenge," she says.

And not only Deraa. Activist Syrian Human Rights, contacted by AFP reported heavy fighting in Douma, located on the outskirts of Damascus."On Monday, Syrian security forces and armed supporters of President Bashar al-Assad stormed the city Duma. They fired on civilians and arresting people."

Sign of the escalating security of the regime in Damascus, the government of Bashar al-Assad has ordered the closure of the border with Jordan.

As a reminder, these bloody confrontations abound for three days. The crackdown left at least 120 dead between Friday and Saturday, according to a list of names compiled by the Committee of the martyrs of the revolution 15-Mar.

Sunday at Jableh, near Latakia, thirteen people were also killed and several others injured by police, told AFP from an activist for human rights.This brings to 366 the number of victims since mid-March.

Thursday, April 21, 2011

BURKINA FASO: President Blaise Compaore took over the Ministry of Defence

The Burkinabe President Blaise Compaore, whose country has been faced with mutinies of soldiers, has assigned the Ministry of Defence in the new government, whose composition was announced Thursday night, according to decrees read on state television RTB.

"The president of the (Burkina Faso) Faso, supreme commander of armed, took office as Minister of Defense and Veterans Affairs," reads one of the decrees.

This position is particularly sensitive in the present context, the regime of President Compaore, a soldier who seized power in a coup in 1987, facing more than a month to the mutinies of soldiers who received up his own personal guard.

These riots occurred in parallel with other protest movements of most of society in Burkina Faso which began in late February.

Fifteen new ministers enter this government comprises 29 ministers (against 38 previously), all members of the ruling party or the presidential movement.This is the team most ressérée history of Burkina Faso.

Djibril Bassolé, former joint mediator of the UN and African Union (AU) for Darfur (Sudan), was appointed foreign minister.

Economy and finance back to Lucien Marie-Noel Bembamba, brother-in-chief of the State, Territorial Administration, Decentralization and Security, Jerome Bougouma, another close to Blaise Compaore.

The new team includes three women appointed to the Ministries of National Education, Social Action and Promotion of Women.

This government was formed by the new Prime Minister Luc Adolphe Tiao, a journalist by training and former ambassador to Burkina Paris, appointed Monday to replace Tertius Zongo, who was fired after a mutiny within the leader's own presidential guard of State, April 14.

Mr.Compaore had also replaced the main army officials, including Chief of Staff.

The new team of faithful head of state, while many observers had expected an opening to members of civil society and opposition, will have to try to stem a wave of protest unprecedented in history of the country.

Since late February, all segments of the population, youth, students, judges, soldiers, traders, expressed with varying degrees of violence across the country against Compaore's regime and the high cost of living while most of the 16 million Burkinabe live with about 1.5 euro per day.

Balance: At least six deaths, injuries, looting, damage to property.

Monday, April 18, 2011

NIGERIA - PRESIDENTIAL: Victory Goodluck Jonathan backdrop of riots in the north

The outgoing leader Goodluck Jonathan, won the presidential election in Nigeria, shaken Monday by rioting in the predominantly Muslim north, where the dead were enrgistrées.

Result of the 36 states of the Nigerian federation, the federal capital Abuja over, give 22 million votes out against 12 million in the second, a former military junta leader, Muhammadu Buhari, according to full results released Monday by the Electoral Commission National.

Jonathan also won over 25 per cent of the votes in more than two-thirds of the 36 states, a necessary condition for being declared the winner in the first round.

But the victory of Goodluck Jonathan, a Christian South, led to riots in the Muslim north.

"Deaths have been reported," particularly in Kano and in the neighboring state of Kaduna, said a security official, Yushau Shuaib, unable to give a more accurate assessment.

In a country marked by deep divisions and regional community, the rioters burned the house of Vice President Namadi Sambo in Zaria, Kaduna State, and that of the emir of the city, according to one resident.They also released many detainees.

"The protesters burned the residence of the Vice-President, the palace of the emir, before attacking the jail," said Mahmud Aliyu by telephone.

The first violence erupted Sunday after the vote, provoked by accusations of fraud against the camp of Mr. Jonathan.

Monday, they were still burning in Kano, the second largest city, and had won Jos in the Centre, and other cities.

In Kano, mobs armed with clubs, knives and boards faced soldiers, a shopping center was burned and shops and schools were closed.A curfew twenty-four hours was imposed in the neighboring state of Kaduna.

The crowd supported Muhammadu Buhari, a Muslim North unsuccessful rival for the presidency of Jonathan, also attacked two suspected Christians.

In the city of Potiskum in Yobe State, north-east, witnesses reported that the crowd had tried to sacrifice a Christian passing a flaming tire around the neck but she was saved by residents.

"Young people set fires in the streets and burning the houses of supporters of the ruling party. Soldiers were called.The streets are deserted except for the demonstrators, "said one resident, Kabiru Usman.

Violence has also been reported in the cities of Kaduna, Zaria and Sokoto in the north, and Jos in the Centre, which marks the frontier between Christian and Muslim majorities and scene of frequent sectarian violence.

The main opposition party, Congress for Democratic Change which Mr.Buhari was the candidate has formally objected to the irregularities of the presidential result.

These accusations are contained in a complaint sent to the electoral commission said the party chairman, Tony Momoh.

Before the end of the count, the commission on Monday gave an advance Goodluck Jonathan as he is assured of winning. He came first in 22 of the 36 states of the federation with more than 21 million votes against 9,000,000 for Mr. Buhari, former head of a military junta in 1984-1985.

Although in general, observers judged the election on Saturday more honest than previous results in abnormally high for Mr.Jonathan, in its strongholds of South Christian, have cast doubt: the state of Akwa Ibom State gave him 95% of the vote and that of Bayelsa, his home state, 99.63%.

"Such figures above 95% seem invented and raise serious questions about the credibility of the election," said Jibrin Ibrahim of the NGO Centre for Democracy and Development.

These results confirmed a clear division between the pro-Muslim north and Christian south Buhari pro-Jonathan.

In the North, many hoped a victory by Mr.Buhari, 69, to revive a North economically marginalized by the oil rich south of the country's most populous country.

Goodluck Jonathan, 53, is a candidate of the People's Democratic Party (PDP) won the first round every presidential since the end of military rule in 1999.

Friday, April 15, 2011

RUSSIA: NATO beyond the mandate of the UN in Libya, says Moscow

AFP - NATO oversteps in Libya on UN mandate, said Friday the Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called for a political settlement of the Libyan crisis.

"Today we are witnessing the actions in a number of cases go beyond the mandate of the Security Council of the United Nations" as set out in resolution 1973, saidLavrov after meeting with his counterparts from the Atlantic Alliance in Berlin.

"We believe it is important to move urgently to the political phase and move towards a political and diplomatic settlement" of the Libyan crisis, "he added.

"In this context, Russia supports the initiative of the African Union" said the Russian minister, condemning "excessive use of military force that would lead to further losses among civilians."

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev had already high Thursday against the NATO operations in Libya in these terms: "What we as a result. We have essentially a military operation.The resolution says nothing about that. "

Shortly before, the secretary general of the Alliance Anders Fogh Rasmussen said in reporting the meeting of NATO-Russia Council that "Russia (was) clear that the NATO operation was legitimate."

He even described as "very, very positive" exchange of views "between Lavrov and his 28 counterparts in the Atlantic Alliance.

Operation Protector unified NATO "takes place in accordance with resolution 1973 of the Security Council," he said, adding: "Let me emphasize that in the conduct of the operation we will not beyond the text and the spirit of EVs resolution.

"Quite the opposite," Mr. launchedRasmussen, "we are implementing in strict conformity with the letter and spirit" of the resolution.

The text voted on March 17 authorizes "all necessary measures" to protect civilians.

NATO took over the reins March 31 military operations launched March 19 by an international coalition led by the United States, France and the United Kingdom, which had relied on the resolution to bomb Gaddafi's troops since they represented a danger to the civilian population.


Monday, April 11, 2011

The leftist candidate, Ollanta Humala, led the first round

The leftist candidate Ollanta Humala will play the second round of presidential elections in Peru, but the identity of his rival, Pedro Pablo Kuczynski and Keiko Fujimori, is still very uncertain, according to projections and partial official count on Sunday night.

The former Lieutenant-Colonel Humala, 48, who was beaten in the second round in 2006, obtained 27% of the vote, according to partial results announced by the electoral body (ONPE) with 43% of the votes counted, around 22:30 local (0330 GMT Monday).

But much indecision reigned over his rival for ONPE, former Wall Street financier and former Liberal prime minister (2005-06) Pedro Pablo Kuczynscki, 72, came in 2nd place with 23.6% voice.

Behind him, Keiko Fujimori, the populist right-wing member of 35 years and daughter of former authoritarian President of the years 1990-2000 now imprisoned Alberto Fujimori obtained 21.8% of votes.

According to the polls to exit polls, on the contrary that Fujimori would face Humala in the second round: she would surpass Kuczynski 1.8 to 3 points, according to the institutes.

"They gave us dead, and here we resurrect!" Kuczynski began his supporters in Lima, calling for patience.

According to some pollsters, Kuczynski could be caught, as the late arrival of voting provinces, supposed him to be less favorable.

But a reliable picture of the second round, June 5, might not emerge for several days, as in 2006, due to a slow count of official recounts.

"Everything leads us to believe that we will be in the second round," he told his supporters Humala Sunday night, giving them an appointment "on July 28th (the date of nomination) to the Presidency, for a big change, a major redistribution wealth ".

"We are in the second round!" Keiko Fujimori also provided at the center of Lima, to a crowd chanting "Chino" Chino "," nickname of his father.

A possible second-round Humala Fujimori has been described by analysts as heralding a sharp polarization of political life: "Humala is the leftmost, the rightmost Keiko, the two models are authoritarian," has said AFP has Luis Benavente Group opinion of the Catholic University of Lima.

He put a face to face left-nationalist candidate, accused by his opponents of being close to President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela illiberal, and the daughter of a former head of state autocratic prison for massacres of civilians during the repression of the guerrillas of the 90s, and corrutpion.

A choice "between a dark past and a leap into the void," said Alejandro Toledo, the centrist former president (2001-06), distanced with 15.4% of votes.

For the Nobel Prize for Literature Mario Vargas Llosa, Alberto Fujimori defeated for the presidency in 1990, the duel would be "a disaster".

Nearly 20 million Peruvians voted without incident on Sunday to elect a successor to Alan Garcia (center right) after a campaign dominated by the urgency of sharing the record growth (+ 8.78% in 2010), which has forgotten the way 34% of people living in poverty.

Toledo, conceding defeat, said Humala "was able to channel the anger of Peru", for this growth without distribution of profits.

Humala, who fought in the 90 Maoist guerrillas, is very popular in the Andean regions underdeveloped.

Since 2006, he moderated his rhetoric and anti-liberal marked his distance from Chavez, whose support had probably cost him the victory five years ago.

The Peruvians also renewed their unicameral parliament. According to the partial count, it comes out fragmented, with Humala's party in the lead, followed by Keiko Fujmori.

Friday, April 8, 2011

JAPAN: At least four people dead and hundreds injured after a new earthquake

Four people were killed and over one hundred injured when the 7.1 magnitude earthquake that struck Thursday night the north-eastern Japan, there already devastated nearly a month by an earthquake and tsunami giants According to the Agency Disaster Management and Media.

A woman of 63, who was on life support, died in Yamagata Prefecture, according to the Agency.

Two men aged 79 and 85 were killed in Miyagi Prefecture, according to public broadcaster NHK and Jiji Press.

In the city of Tome (Miyagi Prefecture) a woman of 83 years died after being admitted to hospital, Jiji said, quoting a doctor.

She has reassessed the number of injured at about 140, after the shock, identified as a replica of the magnitude 9 earthquake of 11 March.

The earthquake occurred at 11:32 p.m. (2:32 p.m. GMT) at a depth of 49 km, according to the American Institute of Geophysics USGS. Its epicenter was located in the Pacific Ocean, 66 km east of the city of Sendai (Miyagi Prefecture).

An alert for a tsunami up to two meters high was lifted half past one later without there having been a reported abnormally high waves on the shore.

The Nuclear Safety Agency said no nuclear power station in the area had been damaged.Staff working on the site of the central hilly Fukushima Daiichi (No. 1) had been evacuated as a precaution to the interior.

Some 3.3 million homes were without power in the north-east, said the local power company, Tohoku Electric Power.

The giant earthquake and tsunami of 11 March killed more than 27,000 dead or missing, police said.

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

CHINA: A wave of shock after the arrest of Chinese dissident Ai Weiwei

Main photo taken from the blog of Ai Weiwei (blog.aiweiwei.com /)

Since his arrest Sunday morning in broad daylight, at the international airport in Beijing, Ai Weiwei has given more news. This internationally renowned artist, troublemaker Chinese policy was to go to Hong Kong and Taiwan to discuss the organization of an exhibition. His wife was interviewed Sunday night by local police and then released, but said he could not collect any information about her husband. The eight assistants from studios headed by Ai Weiwei, the district Caochangdi, north-west of Beijing, were also released on Monday afternoon, reports the website on Ai Weiwei.The studio has been excavated and is still under police surveillance, several computers and hard disks were confiscated, and Internet access was cut in the neighborhood.

The absence of new Ai Weiwei, more than a day after his arrest, is not a good sign. The Wall Street Journal points out that Chinese law provides that the relatives of a detainee must be alerted within 24 hours. Neither his lawyer nor his wife could not contact him.

"The time of open dissent is over"

Concern about the fate of Ai Weiwei is all the greater because it follows "the arrest of dozens of people in recent months," the statement from Amnesty International.The authorities have reacted to the appearance on the Internet encouraging messages at rallies in China regularly on Sunday to protest against inflation, corruption and the gap between rich and poor.

By these waves of arrests, the Chinese government wants to "send the message that the time of open dissent is over," understands the organization of human rights based in London."If the Chinese authorities have the audacity to question a world-renowned artist in broad daylight at the Beijing airport, one can only worry at the thought of how treaties are likely to be other dissidents least known, "says the NGO.

"What I find most disturbing is the fact that these activists have" disappeared "and that the government refuses to take responsibility for their detention. It has been almost over a month they are unreachable.There is serious risk of torture and abuse ", reports the China specialist at Human Rights Watch based in Hong Kong, Nicholas Bequelin, interviewed by Le Monde.

Very popular on the blogosphere

The arrest of Ai Weiwei is an important step in this "wave of repression, the largest since more than ten years," said Agnes Gaudu, head of the section China, Singapore and Taiwan International Mail. "For the first time since the criminal detention of twenty people - activists, lawyers, activists, bloggers, known to a limited circle - someone who is extremely popular in China has been arrested," decrypt- she said.Ai Weiwei had made known to the general public during his survey of public buildings that collapsed during the earthquake in Sichuan province in 2008. "It also has built a solid reputation for his impertinence and his political jokes," recalls Agnes Gaudu.

His subversive photos on Tiananmen Square have been around the Chinese web, and his blog on the consumer website Sina.com has been a big success, before being censored two years ago. So much so that he had been elected by Chinese netizens "Artist of the Year" in a poll conducted by Sina.com earlier this year. The website had finally had to back off and hold a new vote.Ai Weiwei's works are currently exhibited at the Tate Modern Gallery in London. They should have been the subject of a first major exhibition in Beijing, before the Belgian gallery UCCA will withdraw in February.

Friday, April 1, 2011

GERMANY: The energy giant RWE attacked the moratorium on nuclear

Bang nuclear Germany. RWE, the German number 2 in the nuclear sector (and number 3 worldwide), filed a complaint Friday against the government's decision to temporarily close two of its reactors. The energy giant considers illegal moratorium on nuclear introduced by Chancellor Angela Merkel, March 18.

An approach that could negate one of the most popular government decisions in recent weeks.Supporters of the anti-nuclear issue in Germany and elsewhere in the world had found the appropriate response after the nuclear catasprophe occurred in Japan as a result of the earthquake and tsunami of 11 March.

"Our reactors meet all the safety conditions imposed by German law. So there is no legal argument for closing them," said RWE in a press release posted Friday morning.Contacted by FRANCE 24, the company declined to give details.

Under the moratorium, the German authorities had decided to close for three months the eight older reactors still in operation, including two owned by RWE.

The world's No. 1 does not follow RWE

The attack against RWE is German public opinion against the grain. The anti-nuclear message has indeed gained strength in recent days. On Sunday, the Greens, the Social Democrat allies of the SPD, have also won a historic election victory in Baden-Württemberg, the Land (administrative region German, Ed)'s richest countries.Success largely due to the sling anti-nuclear environmentalists.

"It's a brutal approach [to file a complaint, Ed] who points out that RWE has no regard for the public interest and public opinion and thinks only of profits," laments Karsten Smid, M . Nuclear Greenpeace Germany.

A complaint that also throws in trouble the other industry players, including E. ON, the world's No. 1 nuclear power. The latter, which had to close two reactors, decided Friday not to complain."We discussed at length this morning and we believe it is not possible in the context of emotion today to have a reasonable debate on this issue," says FRANCE 24 Christian Drepper, spokesman for E . ON.

A poorly conceived moratorium

However, the Spokesperson of E. We understand the legal process of its competitor. "We also have doubts about the legality of the decision to close the reactors," he adds.

Moreover, everyone seems to agree on this point: the moratorium is poorly conceived. It is based on a law that allows closing the reactors that if "an immediate danger to human life.""On the one hand, the immediate danger is not proven, and secondly, if a reactor is considered dangerous, it must be shut down, not only for three months," said the AFP Morlok Martin, professor law at the University of Düsseldorf.

A rookie mistake of the government of Angela Merkel? For the head of Greenpeace Karsten Smid, Berlin has either acted in a hurry without thinking or voluntarily created a way for the nuclear lobby to challenge that moratorium.