PAKISTAN: Ten dead in a burning tanker truck NATO

AFP - At least 15 people were killed Saturday near the Afghan-Pakistan border in the fire, caused by a bomb, a truck that NATO was en route to Afghanistan, Pakistani officials said .

The victims were youths who had gathered to collect the leaking fuel tank near the town of Landi Kotal in the Frontier Province du Nord-Ouest, said an official of the local government, Shafeerullah Wazir.

"The tanker caught fire after an explosion caused by a small bomb," he said."The villagers of nearby houses rushed to collect leaking gasoline truck damaged after the fire was under control," he added.

"Suddenly, the fire resumed and at least 15 people, including five young boys, who collected the fuel in buckets, were fatally burned."

According to another Pakistani official Iqbal Khattak, eleven trucks and tanker trucks from NATO were destroyed Friday around midnight near Torkham (northwest). The vehicles caught fire after the explosion caused one of them, it seems, by a bomb placed under his frame.

No casualties have deplored, "saidKhattak told AFP.

These 12 destruction have not been claimed, but authorities suspect the Taliban of being the authors.

These attacks occurred in the aftermath of the attack against two cars in the U.S. consulate in Peshawar, northwestern Pakistan, which slightly wounded two Americans and killed a passerby. It was the first direct attack on the United States since the death of Osama bin Laden.

The Pakistani Taliban insurgents who have pledged allegiance to Al Qaeda in 2007 and lead since a very bloody campaign of bombings in Pakistan, claimed responsibility for the attack to avenge the mastermind of the Sept. 11, killed on 2 May in the north by a helicopter-borne U.S. commandos.

INTERNET: Syria Goes to War against Facebook

Served to suppress the popular uprising that opposes the regime of Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian leadership does not forget all the social media front. These days, Damascus has decided to launch an attack on Facebook.The "crime" of the famous social network? Having closed last Friday, the page electronic Syrian Army that supports the Syrian president without having informed his leaders when it had over 60,000 fans, reported Tuesday the Arabic version of the American CNN news site.

A few hours later, the ax fell on a clone of this page of pro-Bashar created by "sympathizers" in the words of the Syrian government daily Al-Thawra.

Earlier this week, the newspaper also accused Facebook of "supporting the alleged Syrian revolution."In short: Damascus suspected site of playing a double game, recalling in passing that the pages of the opposition continued, they, on their merry path digital.

If leaders of the social network have always kept to stand at the recent events that have affected the Arab world, it must be noted, however, he allowed the protesters to organize the Egyptian and Tunisian easier. Remains that Facebook is not accustomed to close the pages and do not typically occur in cases of flagrant and repeated violations against its rules.Contacted by FRANCE 24, the company declined to respond.

Call to spam

The directors of the famous Egyptian Facebook page "We are all Khaled Said", which was particularly illustrated in the uprising against the regime of former President Hosni Mubarak, advance, them, the following explanation for the closure of page E-Syrian Army: they ensure that its officers have violated the code of conduct on Facebook.

"We are all Khaled Said" reproduced well, a message posted on the "wall" of the electronic page of the Syrian Army to its members explaining the procedure for "spam" (flood of spam) - which is prohibited - Facebook groups calling for revolution in Syria.

But Internet Syrian lend, themselves, to Facebook noblest motives. The social network would react to the information of the British daily "The Telegraph" that in recent days, opponents of Syria were tortured to reveal their access codes to Facebook, they say.

Much refute accusations that Damascus.The daily Al-Thawra "said, meanwhile, that" those responsible for the electronic page of the Syrian army preparing to launch an offensive that Facebook will remember "to avenge the alleged bias of the social network.

EGYPT: Muslim Brotherhood created their own political party

AFP - The Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, the most influential movement oppositon, have created their own party Saturday, with the ambition to contest half the seats in parliamentary elections scheduled for September, the first since the fall of the regime of Hosni Mubarak .

The new party, dubbed the "Party of Freedom and Justice", has denied having an orientation "theocratic" and said he would be "independent" of the Brotherhood, whose pronouncements are often the distrust of the population.

The Advisory Board of the movement decided to launch the party and adopted at the same time its political program, said at a news conference Mohammed Hussein, Secretary General of the brotherhood born there over 80 years.

The party, headed by a politburo member of the Muslim Brotherhood, Mohammed al-Mursi, will coordinate its positions with the Brotherhood while remaining an independent body.

"It will be a civil party and not theocratic," repeated Mr. Mursi. The Egyptian constitution bans parties based on religion.

According to Dr. Mursi, the Party for Freedom and justice will run for between 45 and 50% of seats in parliamentary elections in September, the first poll since Mr.Mubarak has stepped down under pressure from the streets Feb. 11.

The army, which Mr.Mubarak handed over the reins of the country to his departure, announced in late March it would give legislative power to the future parliament elected in September, then the executive power at the head of state chosen by ballot at the end of the year .

The ambitions of the new party should raise the dismay of other political parties who have engaged in rebellion against the old regime and who may fear being marginalized if they do not present a united front.

"This announcement is depressing to political forces in the country," he told AFP Rashawan Dia, an expert on Islamist movements at the Al Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies.

"The revolution was not Islamic.We must now reconsider the idea that the Muslim Brotherhood are the most important force in the country, "he said.

The Muslim Brotherhood, the Mubarak regime nemesis, were officially banned from the Egyptian political sphere, but were tolerated in practice.Drawing on influential social support networks, he presented their candidates as "independents".

After a breakthrough in the legislative elections of 2005, which saw them win nearly 20% of the seats, the Muslim Brotherhood came out empty handed from the first round of the legislative end of 2010, and had decided to boycott the second round, alleging massive fraud and violence.

The brotherhood is particularly active in the mosques, where it carries out actions to help the disadvantaged, in universities and within unions.

Founded in 1928 in Egypt by Hassan al-Banna, it is the oldest movement of Sunni Islam.His doctrine organized around the doctrine of "Tawheed" (Oneness of God), the fusion of religion and politics.

During its history it has oscillated between violent opposition to power and collaboration, between pleas for an Islamic state and insurance companies respect the democratic game. It thus remains an enigma and creates fear of Westerners, who fear the establishment of an Islamic regime in Egypt.

UNITED STATES: The Federal Reserve has revolutionized the communication

Chairman of the Central Bank of the United States (Fed), Ben Bernanke, has dealt a further blow to the reputation of secrecy and opacity of the institution in deciding to hold regular press briefings.

Mr. Bernanke will hold press briefings four times a year to present the latest economic forecasts Monetary Policy Committee of the Fed and to provide additional circumstantial evidence on the Committee's decisions, "the Fed said in a statement.

The first briefing is scheduled for April 27, after the next monetary policy meeting of the Federal Reserve.Two more are planned for 2011: June 22 and November 2.

It is a revolution in communication and transparency for the Fed, which until 1994 did not communicate the decisions taken during meetings of its Monetary Policy Committee (FOMC).

It was then scrutinize the evolution of the interbank lending market on a daily basis, on which the Fed has daily, to get an idea of ​​what she had decided.

Since then, the FOMC announces its decision in a statement issued at the end of its meetings and whose every word is weighed and analyzed by experts.

The Fed said that "the launch of regular press briefings designed to further improve the clarity and timeliness of [his] communication."

The FOMC holds a regular meeting every six weeks, eight times a year.

At the Committee meeting in December, several members had insisted on "communication challenges" facing the Federal Reserve to make it understand as precisely as possible its intentions.

Quiet by nature, Mr. Bernanke seemed rather reluctant to exercise press conferences.

He had participated in early February at a Washington press conference - where the questions were filtered by a moderator - who had the air of a trial run.

Mr.Bernanke said last year that his institution had not yet taken the decision "difficult" to communicate more often, just like what the European Central Bank (ECB) and Bank of Japan, whose respective presidents, Jean -Claude Trichet and Masaaki Shirakawa, give regular press conference.

"We do not want to create inappropriately uncertainty or volatility in financial markets by saying things that could be misinterpreted," he had said the same.

At the head of the Fed since 2006, Mr.Bernanke has profoundly changed the habits in the central bank, rejecting the "cult" which was under his predecessor Alan Greenspan, and leading the Fed to communicate a lot about his action.

Where Mr. Greenspan had made a specialty of small cryptic sentences, Mr. Bernanke, a former economics professor, is trying to explain in the simplest possible action.

The announcement of regular press briefings of the President of the Fed takes place while the U.S. central bank will soon have to clarify how it intends to fly the "crisis", that is to say how she intends to use to return smoothly to the hundreds of billions of dollars it has pumped into the U.S. economy to enable it through the crisis.

SOUTHEAST ASIA: Third day of fighting on the border between Thailand and Cambodia

Fighting with heavy weapons broke out Sunday morning for the third consecutive day between Cambodian and Thai troops at the disputed border between the two countries, hours after the UN call for a cease-fire.

According to a Cambodian military official, the clashes resumed around 10:00 local time (0300 GMT) around a disputed group of temples.

A Thai official has confirmed new incidents."Cambodia opened fire first," he added.

As usual, the two neighbors blame the cause of clashes that killed six soldiers and four Cambodian Thai since Friday.

The gunfire was clearly audible 20 km away fighting the Cambodian side, where villagers were evacuated found shelter in schools and temples, according to an AFP photographer.

The UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon urged the two neighbors to "take immediate steps to implement a cease-fire effective and verifiable," said a spokesman.

Cambodia and Thailand have clashed several times in recent years in the jungle near the ancient temples located on a border that has never been fully demarcated, partly because of mines left by decades of civil war in Cambodia.

Phnom Penh on Saturday accused the Thai army have used "heavy weapons containing poison gas," that the Thai authorities have denied.

Thai Prime Minister Abhisit him Sunday accused its neighbor of wanting to "internationalize" the conflict.

Cambodia calls since the latest fighting in February mediation to resolve the border disputes, but Bangkok urges bilateral talks.

After these clashes, the two countries had given their agreement to send observers to the border, after mediation organized by the Association of Southeast Asian (ASEAN) in February.

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

The fighting of February 4 to 7, which had ten dead, including civilians, were held in more than 100 km further 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 that has not been delineated.

UK: Hundreds of thousands of Britons in the streets against the austerity plans

AFP - Britons are descended en masse on Saturday in the streets of London to say no to austerity, a manifestation of a magnitude rare in a country not customary for such demonstrations social, but tarnished by vandals.

The unions, who dreamed of making this day a milestone in the mobilization against the austerity policy, believe they have won their bet, even if they complain clashes with police at the march, which ended in nine arrests five policemen injured.

"We are absolutely delighted: there are hundreds of thousands of people, perhaps half a million, welcomed Paul Nowak, an official of the organization.

A spokesman for the Confederation of British unions, the Trades Union Congress (TUC), said that "between 250,000 and 300,000 people" had responded, and some media evoked in the absence of police estimates, 400,000 to 500,000 participants.

"This is the biggest event in London for a generation," enthused the union Unite.

This rally is actually the largest in London since the war against Iraq, which brought together nearly one million people in 2003.It is also the largest social movement since the riots two decades ago and which precipitated the fall of Margaret Thatcher.

A large police contingent had been set up by the TUC, in addition to the 4,500 police officers mobilized, not to relive the excesses of student demonstrations this fall, who had stunned the British.

But clashes have broken out anyway in the march. Disrupters were attacked with paint and glass bottles of stores and banks and smashed windows, around Oxford Street, a major shopping street.

Bulbs filled with ammonia were thrown at the police, police said.The Ritz has been made the target of projectiles and activists broke into the famous department store Fortnum & Mason.

Unions have bitterly deplored the violence scenes, especially as the parade itself was held for more than five hours in a friendly atmosphere.

Many had come with family, strollers and vuvuzelas, the famous horns used by fans at football matches in South Africa.

Scots played the bagpipes and musicians and dancers have joined the march, giving it an air of carnival.

"Do not break Britain," "Defending our public services," proclaimed the banners.

"I'm here because the government wants us to pay to repair what did the bankers.It is currently building a society where the rich are even more, and weak, the poor, "said Gillian Siddons, a retiree of 60 years.

"People are gathered today the spokespeople of Great Britain deep," shouted the leader of the opposition Labour Ed Miliband as a warning to the government, which imposed a cure to the country of unprecedented stringency with wage freeze for civil servants and removal of more than 300,000 public sector jobs.

"Of course people are worried and even angry at times, but we inherited an economic situation that we must take steps to bring public finances back in balance," pleaded the Minister of Education Michael Gove.

BAHRAIN: The king declared a state of emergency for three months

AFP - The King of Bahrain Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa has declared a state of emergency on Tuesday for three months, following the arrival of troops from the Gulf came to help contain the Shiite challenge.

"Due to circumstances that crosses Bahrain (...) King declares a state of emergency for a period of three months," said a statement broadcast by state television.

The statement said the king instructed the commander of the armed forces to restore order by using the army, police forces, units of the National Guard and "any other force, if necessary" .

This last statement appears to refer to units sent to Bahrain by its partners of Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

This decision comes as Shiite protesters block streets in Manama and are gathered in a square in the capital, following the arrival of troops from the joint force of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) called "Shield Peninsula ", in this small kingdom ruled by a Sunni dynasty.

SAUDI ARABIA: Violent repression of a Shiite demonstration in the eastern United

AFP - Three Shiite demonstrators were injured Thursday in eastern Saudi Arabia by gunfire from police attempting to disperse a rally, according to a witness on the eve of a call for protests in the kingdom.

The shootings have occurred, while between 600 and 800 people, including women, demonstrating in Al-Qatif to demand the release of nine prisoners Shiite, said the witness, who requested anonymity.

"While walking in the heart of the city was completed, the soldiers started shooting at demonstrators, and three of them were injured," he added.

The three injured men were hospitalized but their injuries were "moderate," the source said, that the shooting lasted about 10 minutes.

These incidents occurred on the eve of a call to protest launched on Facebook.

The call claims that "the leader and members of the Majlis al-Shura (consultative council appointed) be elected", "the release of political prisoners" and "freedom of speech and assembly" in the kingdom.

Saudi officials have stated several times in recent days that the demonstrations were banned in the kingdom and that the police were authorized to intervene to enforce the law.

In Riyadh, the situation was normal on Thursday but police patrols were more numerous than usual, residents said.

In Washington, Deputy Adviser for National Security President Barack Obama, Ben Rhodes, said the U.S. closely monitoring developments in Saudi Arabia, one of its main allies in the Middle East, and defended " universal values ​​"such as the right to protest.

The prospect of turmoil in the heart of the world's largest exporter of crude oil has contributed to nervousness in the oil market.Brent Thursday evolved around $ 114 a barrel.

"The attention is focused on the crisis in the Middle East, while demonstrations potential for + the + day of rage Friday in Saudi Arabia could push crude prices, with Brent who could brush against the new $ 120 barrel, "he told AFP analyst Sokou Myrto.

The Saudi foreign minister, Prince Saud al-Faisal, had told reporters Wednesday the "rejection of any interference in internal affairs" of his country.

"Reform can not be done through demonstrations," he said, adding that "dialogue" was the best way for citizens to make their voices heard.

Following appeals on Facebook, a few hundred people had already expressed last week in eastern Arabia, where Shiites are concentrated, demanding the release of a cleric.

This dignitary, Sheikh Toufic al-Aamer, was released on March 6 and 26 Shiites arrested during demonstrations last week have been released in recent days.

Inmates whose demonstrators demanded the release Thursday are nine people arrested in 1996 after the assassination of anti-American Khobar in eastern kingdom.

The Shiites are concentrated especially in the eastern province, rich in oil, make up about 10% of the population of Saudi Arabia.The community complains of marginalization in a country ruled by Wahhabism, a puritanical Sunni doctrine.