GERMANY: After 18 months of trial, the former Nazi Demjanjuk soon learn his fate

AFP - The last great trial of Nazi crimes in Germany draws to a close one against John Demjanjuk, accused of involvement in the Holocaust as an extermination camp guard, whose verdict could fall Thursday.

After some 18 months of trial, a court in Munich (south) should indicate whether such a stateless person of Ukrainian descent aged 91 years is complicit in the murder of nearly 27,900 Jews at the Sobibor camp (Poland), where he was in custody six months in 1943, prosecutors said.

But the uncertainty was still up Thursday morning: the court must first decide on a defense motion that wants to present new evidence before closing the debate, said prosecutors Wednesday.

The prosecutor demanded six years in prison on the 15 he faces a maximum.The accused, who has remained silent, denying the facts, and his defense has claimed the acquittal of the "victim of German justice."

The prosecution had no direct witness or document compromising, if not a map showing its quality SS guard at Sobibor, challenged by the defense as a fake from the Soviet era.

For defense, there is no evidence that Demjanjuk was at Sobibor, and if there was a soldier of the Red Army prisoner of the Nazis, he acted only under duress.

Whatever the outcome, this trial may leave a "general feeling of frustration" and suspicion "partial justice" if the direct participation of the accused is not shown, commented to AFP Nazi hunter Serge Klarsfeld.

Demjanjuk, who was expelled two years ago the United States where he lived since the '50s, after a long legal battle centered on his health is shaky saying, attended the debates stretcher or wheelchair, and has not say a word.

He has already served eight years in prison in Israel, accused of being a guard at the Treblinka camp under the nickname "Ivan the Terrible."Sentenced to death in 1988 he was acquitted by the Israeli Supreme Court because of doubts about his identity.

His trial will be one of the last Nazi crimes, with that of the Hungarian Sandor Kepiro, 97, who has just started in Budapest.

But after Germany, Spain wants to try him for having been a guard in another concentration camp where prisoners have died in Spain.

Bin Laden enjoyed support in Pakistan, according to Obama

Barack Obama has revived debate on Sunday on the thesis of a possible government complicity in Islamabad about the presence of Osama bin Laden on Pakistani soil until his death on May 1, during a raid U.S. special forces.

"The Pakistani government must initiate an investigation"

The U.S. president said on CBS that the leader of al-Qaeda most likely disposed of support in Pakistan and urged the Pakistani government to investigate the subject.

"We think there should be a network of support in one form or another, for bin Laden inside Pakistan," he said in a television interview aired Sunday night on the show " 60 Minutes "CBS.

"But we do not know where," he added. We do not know if there could be people [who helped bin Laden, ed] within or outside the government.We need to investigate it and, more importantly, the Pakistani government must initiate an investigation. "

The founder of Al Qaeda, who masterminded the attacks of September 11, 2001 in the United States, was killed on May 1 by U.S. special forces in his cache of Abbottabad, about sixty miles from the Pakistani capital Islamabad.

The Americans want to interrogate the three widows of bin Laden captured in Abbottabad

Prior to the release of about Barack Obama, the U.S. administration, it seems, spared its ally Pakistan by saying it did not have evidence to suggest that Islamabad qu'Ousama knew bin Laden was living in a city stationed nearby before his death.

"I can tell you frankly that I have seen no evidence to suggest that political leaders, military or intelligence services were aware of [the hiding place] bin Laden," said Tom Donilon, Counsellor national security of the White House during the show "Meet the Press" on NBC.

The hiding of the head of Al-Qaeda must "be an investigation," but he had added.

"The Pakistanis have said they would open an investigation, said Donilon. It is a very important issue in Pakistan at this time. How does this have happened in Pakistan? We have to investigate that.We must work with the Pakistanis. "

Pakistani authorities, he added, must provide U.S. authorities with the information they have gathered in the residence where bin Laden was killed, and enable them to meet his three widows who are currently detained in Pakistan.

Islamabad has already promised an investigation

On Monday, Pakistani Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani could deliver clarification on this point during his speech to parliament in Islamabad.

And its ambassador to Washington, Husain Haqqani, has promised in the show "This Week" ABC that the Pakistani authorities would take action after investigation.

"Heads Will Roll, once the investigation is completed, he said.If proven incompetence, we'll tell you. But if, and God forbid, complicity are unearthed, we will apply the principle of zero tolerance. "

Despite the difficult relations between Washington and Islamabad, "we work closely with Pakistan in the cons-terrorism, said his side Tom Donilon.There were more terrorists and extremists captured or killed in Pakistan than in any other country "

American suspicions about the Pakistani intelligence

Pakistan, heavily dependent on billions of dollars of U.S. aid, is under pressure to explain how Bin Laden has been living so long in a garrison town so close to the capital without being flushed.

These questions reinforce the doubts about the relationship that could keep members of Pakistani intelligence (ISI) with Islamic extremists.

Pakistan vehemently denies any complicity and states have paid a heavy price for supporting the U.S. offensive launched after the attacks of September 11, 2001.

Officials said Pakistani security service, the head of al-Qaeda could have lived more than seven years in Pakistan before he was killed on May 1 by U.S. commandos.

One of the widows of bin Laden told investigators that he had spent about two and a half years in a Pakistani village before moving to Abbottabad.

This woman, Amal Ahmed Abdoulfattah, said the leader of Al Qaeda and its relatives had lived five years in Abbottabad.

Donilon said Sunday that the death of Osama bin Laden was a "real blow" to Al Qaeda.

"With the measures we have taken during the assault on the home run against Pakistan and the death of Osama bin Laden, they are even more vulnerable," he said.

Washington said Saturday that the complex where bin Laden lived Ouassama housed a "command post and Active Control" operations of Al Qaeda.

"It sounds ridiculous, responded Sunday a senior Pakistani intelligence. He did not seem in the process of directing a terrorist network."

"That's bullshit," added a senior Pakistani security services asked about the active role played by bin Laden since Abbottabad.

FLYING RIO PARIS: A first body of Flight 447 passenger rescued

A first body of a victim's flight from Rio to Paris found in the wreckage of the aircraft could be remounted on board the vessel involved in research, announced Thursday the direction of the police.

The discovery of two black boxes from Flight 447, apparently in good condition, Sunday and Monday in the Atlantic, should help elucidate the causes of the accident, which has killed 228 on 1 June 2009.

The wreckage was located early April, 22 months after the accident, at 3,900 m depth and a dozen bodies were in a part of the fuselage of the Airbus.Fifty others were rescued at sea shortly after the disappearance of the aircraft.

Experts have warned that the recovery of the bodies was not guaranteed, some corpses can not resist any manipulation and transfer in the warmer waters of the Atlantic.

A first body was nevertheless rebounded Thursday.

Remained submerged for two years or to a depth of 3900 meters, this body, still strapped to a seat on the plane, "appears degraded," said the police in a statement.

Samples were made by investigators and will be sent next week to a laboratory for analysis to determine the possibility of identifying victims through DNA.

The police said that large uncertainties remain about the possibility of raising other body, attempts to lift itself down "in a particularly complex and hitherto unpublished."

Investigators as the families of the victims hope that the analysis of the two black boxes of the device will remove the mystery of the crash of Paris-Rio.If they prove workable, they could allow investigators to recover by late May the scenario of the disaster.

A patrol is gone Monday in Cayenne, French Guiana, to join the cable ship Ile de Sein offshore Brazil and recover the two black boxes, which are sealed. The recorders will then be sent to Paris, where their openness and analysis should begin within the next ten days.

AFGHANISTAN: Eight ISAF soldiers killed by an Afghan military airport in Kabul

Eight soldiers from the NATO force in Afghanistan (ISAF) and a sub-contractor were killed Wednesday during a shooting at a military airport in Kabul, said the training mission to NATO in Afghanistan ( NTM-A) in a statement.

"Eight soldiers of ISAF and a sub-contractor were killed" during small arms fire at the Kabul airport, which "houses the Training Center of NATO air," said NTM- Who depends on the ISAF.

Command of ISAF in turn had previously announced that six foreign soldiers were killed in a shooting at the training center.

The Afghan Ministry of Defense attributed the shooting to a dispute between a military pilot in Afghanistan and foreign troops, saying the pilot had been shot. The Taliban on their side said that one of their activists "employee" on the base had led an attack.

BAHRAIN: Two Shiite opposition parties threatened to dissolve

The Department of Justice and Islamic Affairs of Bahrain has launched a lawsuit to dissolve the two parties of the Shiite opposition, including the powerful Al-Wefaq, a month after the end of the protest in the kingdom, reported Thursday the official agency BNA.

The lawsuit relates to "Islamic Action Association and Al-Wefaq," the agency said, accusing the two Shia groups have "seriously violated the rules of the Constitution and the laws and have been activities that have affected the civil peace and national unity. "

These two associations have also "encouraged institutions to non-compliance," the agency said, quoting a ministry statement.

Al-Wefaq was the main opposition group in parliament, where it controlled 18 of 40 seats. It was during the events of mid-February to mid-March, called for political reforms to transform Bahrain into a genuine constitutional monarchy where the Prime Minister is the head of the parliamentary majority.

The Islamic Action Association has also joined the protest, led mainly by Shiites, the majority among the local population against the Sunni dynasty of the Al-Khalifa.

INTERNET: Microsoft launches assault against Google in Europe

AFP - The U.S. computer group Microsoft has openly declared war in Europe with his compatriot and great rival Google on Internet, by filing Thursday for the first time in its history, a complaint with the European Commission for abusing its dominant position.

Brad Smith, vice president of Microsoft, announced the complaint in a blog published on the website of the group in Redmond.

It has been confirmed by the services of EU Competition Commissioner, Joaquin Almunia, who already have a formal investigation against Google open since November.

Brad Smith accuses Google of using "an increasing number of technical measures" to "build walls" preventing proper access to certain content to Internet search engines online competitor of his.

It "blocks of content and data that competitors need to provide search results to consumers and to attract advertisers," source of income for the free services on the Internet, he acknowledges, with several examples support.

Brad Smith evokes including restrictions on access to online video site YouTube to search engines other than Google Search or the multifunction phones using Microsoft software.

Ultimately, Google and reinforces the dominance of Google Search, whose market share in Europe is estimated at 95%, against 5% for Bing, the search engine from Microsoft.

The Commission had already received several complaints in the past against Google.His investigation is focused for now on two markets where the giant internet hyperdominant in Europe, research and online advertising.

It seeks to verify if it promotes its own services and penalizes those of competitors in the results provided by its search engine, or if it imposes exclusivity to advertising partners.

In the immediate future, its services have "taken note" of the new complaint, saying they would like the procedure provided, request a response to Google.

They will then assess whether or not to include it in the file, allowing Microsoft to be more involved in the investigation.

For its part, Google is "not surprised," he assured his spokesman in Brussels, Al Verney, recalling that one of the subsidiaries of Microsoft had been "one of the first plaintiffs in Brussels.

The group suggested all along that Microsoft is behind his troubles in Europe.

Upon revelation of the first complaints, he noted that two of them were related to the group from Redmond: the Internet portal Ciao, acquired by Microsoft in 2008, and that of Foundem compare prices, part of him as association lobbying ICOMP.

From this point of view, the complaint of Microsoft clarifies the debate.

She is also a backlash, because a few years ago, the positions were exactly reversed: it's Microsoft that was in the sights of Brussels for abuse of dominant position, at the time because of its Internet Explorer browser, and Google on the side of plaintiffs.

The standoff lasted for years, and Microsoft had to pay heavy fines.

Brad Smith acknowledged Thursday "irony" of the situation, but assured that Microsoft had not taken his decision lightly. Google "should not be allowed to continue practices that restrict innovation and offer competing services," he stressed, saying "hope" that Brussels' decision to stop. "

BENIN: The UN, African Union and ECOWAS called for a postponement of the presidential

The UN, AU and ECOWAS called on Thursday for a second postponement of the presidential election scheduled for Sunday in Benin, including claimed by the opposition who claimed that more than one million voters were not registered .

A high level delegation of these three organizations, arrived Thursday in Cotonou to "inquire into the state of preparations for elections," made the announcement after talks with outgoing President Boni Yayi candidate and his main opponents and election officials.

"The delegation expressed its support for a postponement of a few days of the presidential election," said the Special Representative of the Secretary General of the United Nations West Africa, Said Djinnit, who read a joint declaration at a briefing.

The panel suggests that the vote be postponed until "a date that is consistent with the deadlines prescribed by the Constitution, including one on the inauguration of President of the Republic set for April 6, 2011.

With the approach of the vote, opposition, unions and civil society organizations have stepped up calls for a postponement, arguing that more than one million voters were not registered in the new electronic electoral register, with about 3.5 million enrolled.

Several demonstrations have taken place and many voters also said they did not always be in possession of their card.

A postponement would, according to the panel UN-AU-ECOWAS, "the finalization of the process of distributing electoral cards, completion of necessary measures by the (electoral commission), the appointment and training of all officers of polling stations' .

In addition to Mr.Djinnit, the delegation includes the Commissioner for Peace and Security of the AU, Ramtane Lamamra and Chairman of the Commission of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Victor Gbeho.

The first round of presidential elections in the former French colony, originally scheduled on Feb. 27, has already been delayed one week due to delays in compiling the file.

The government has warned that a further postponement could cause a constitutional crisis.

The five-year term expires Boni Yayi on April 6 and the Basic Law provides that his successor is sworn by that date.If no candidate obtains an absolute majority, a sencond round must take place 15 days after the first, a very likely scenario according to observers.

The law also provides that the first round takes place 30 days before the end of the current presidential term, but ways to circumvent these requirements were already being examined Thursday at the parliament in particular.

Fourteen candidates are running for election, to be played mainly between the opponent and Yayi Adrien Houngbedji, who covets the presidency for twenty years. A third man, Abdoulaye Bio Tchane economist, could find themselves kingmaker.

UNITED STATES: Boeing and EADS suspended Washington's decision on tanker

AFP - The Pentagon is expected to unveil Thursday its decision on the mega-tanker contract from the U.S. Air Force, for which the U.S. aviation giant Boeing and Europe's EADS are competing for several years.

Several congressional sources said on condition of anonymity Wednesday that the decision on the contract of $ 35 billion was to be unveiled Thursday.

The solicitation is 179 tanker aircraft to replace the aging fleet of KC-135 U.S. Air Force from the 50.The Pentagon will buy these devices at a rate of 15 per year maximum and plans to spend $ 900 million in 2012.

According to Loren Thompson, an analyst at the Lexington Institute, a think tank based in Arlington, near Washington, EADS appears poised to win the contract.

The history of this tender is peppered with twists, including a spy scandal, and the contract was canceled twice, having been awarded to Boeing for the first time in 2003 and a second in 2008 to Airbus and Northrop Grumman.

EADS, the parent company of aircraft manufacturer Airbus, launches this time without a major trading partner, but with the support of hundreds of U.S. equipment.

EADS submitted a military version of its Airbus A330, the KC-45, it boasts as "the only real-tanker aircraft already in operation" while the version presented by the 767 Boeing is "on paper" and argues that its production in the United States would generate 48,000 jobs in the country.

The European firm announced last week it had revised its price down to steal the contract.

Boeing says his side as he presented the instrument ensure "better operational capabilities to U.S. combat aircraft with a fuel consumption 24% lower than the unit proposed by EADS," and that support 50,000 jobs in the United States.

In Congress, elected representatives of the States of Washington, Kansas (center), Missouri (center), Michigan (north) and South Carolina (southeast), where Boeing plants or subcontractors working with the manufacturer, have been campaigning for months for the selection of the American.

However, elected officials in Alabama (south) where the tanker would be assembled to support the European Airbus.

ALGERIA: After Tunisia and Egypt, the revolt of wind can blow on Algeria?

Several Algerian cities could be drama, February 12, events "for democratic change." In any case, the meaning of the appeal launched by an unprecedented coalition of political parties and civil society associations.

For the opponent Fodil Boumal, member of the National Coordination for Change and Democracy and host of the Facebook Res Publica II, "the goal is the break, leaving the government and the establishment of genuine democracy. " Objective has already struck the ban including brandished by the municipality in Algiers.The rally, however, must take place on May 1 instead of the center of the city.

A similar event has been held in Algiers in January at the invitation of an opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change (RCD). Offset by a large police presence, protesters had not yet made not far away. Surrounded by police, 300 people were left stranded at the party headquarters.The opposition had complained about forty injured in the clashes that followed as authorities were seven police officers injured.

A call that leaves some skeptical observers

Hafidh Daamache, deputy editor of the newspaper El-Khabar Arabic expression, is skeptical about the success of a new event, banned in the capital. "Here, people think for themselves, their housing, their jobs." Northern residents more mobilized - particularly the people of Kabylie - fail to enter the capital, he says. "The place from May 1 can be locked with 300 policemen. And the road to Algiers entries are few and easy to hang.On the east entrance, there are at least five dams. "

Organizers concede: "If we compare with Tunisia and Egypt, it will not Tahrir Square," says in a burst of laughter Abdelmoumen Khelil, Secretary General of the Algerian League of Human Rights.

Optimistic, yet it ensures that the dynamics of the opposition is changing. "The Coordination brings together people who are not accustomed to talk together," says Fodil Boumal."The event is already a success, having attracted a mobilization, the vibrancy of public debate, is already a victory," added Khelil Abdelmoumen.

Algeria can it be carried away by the momentum of Tunisia?

In a country where the opposition is very divided and difficult to mobilize, the very fact that different movements together like a step forward. Journalist Nicole Chevillard, Algeria specialist and editor of the journal International Risk, remains doubtful. She notes that already, the organizing movement splits. "There are so divisive. The power to manipulate public opinion by using false pretenses and avatars for years.This explains the distrust of the Algerians, "she says.

Although the Tunisian and Egyptian uprisings have marked the minds of activists, all agree, however, assert that the Algerian situation is too different to be compared. "In Algeria, the issue is not so much that people can not speak, but nobody listens," explains Nicole Chevillard.

She remains surprised by the multiplication of sacrifices that followed the suicide by fire of Mohammed Bouazizi Tunisia. "It is not at all part of local culture, or Arabic also!" She says.Sign of discouragement which would have reached its climax, these acts of desperation he could agree with those who ensures that Algeria is living a real change? "At the stage where is Algeria, it will take time, says Khelil Abdelmoumen. But people would like that to change."

EGYPT: Government resigns, protesters still in the street

Of army tanks positioned in the capital, paving stones littered with debris, the headquarters of the National Democratic Party (NDP) who is still smoking ... While traces of Friday's riots were still present in Cairo, thousands of protesters again gathered in the center of the Egyptian capital on Saturday morning. The speech by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, who has notably announced the sacking of the government, did not appear sufficient to calm the anger of the population.

A speech "meaningless"

The resignation of the cabinet must be formally confirmed in the coming hours this Saturday, and Hosni Mubarak should then appoint the new prime minister. The government could be formed in the day.Leaving his silence Friday night, Hosni Mubarak assured, in a short speech, had "fully aware of the legitimate aspirations of the people."He also said he is determined to ensure stability.

In an exclusive interview with FRANCE 24, the opponent Mohamed el-Baradei, former Director General of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), found the speech "meaningless" and called Hosni Mubarak from. "The Egyptian president has clearly not understood the message that emanated from the Egyptian people," he said. It was almost an insult to his intelligence. "

According to Egyptian expert Aklimandos Toufik, associate researcher at the contemporary history of the Arab world at the College de France, the speech contained no concrete announcement. "Hosni Mubarak gave a speech that is his for years," he explained to FRANCE 24.It was a good speech, except that it contained no new element, able to reassure the population. "

The attitude of the army, which is decisive

"If the day on Friday was decisive in mobilizing and this Saturday will be equally critical of his side says Gallagher Fenwick, a FRANCE 24 special correspondents in Cairo. The protesters are back on the streets after a night of riots, and they will be very attentive to the attitude of the army, positioned at strategic locations in the Egyptian capital.The question is whether the army is going to marry this movement, as was the case in Tunisia, or whether it will instead protect the regime ".

By late Friday, President Hosni Mubarak has indeed called in the army reinforcements to enforce security in the country.

Tens of thousands of people protested Friday in the country, demanding the departure of the Egyptian president, in power since 1981. Clashes have opposed the police who used water cannons, tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse the procession.Long after nightfall, and despite the curfew introduced by the authorities, many protesters continued to press into the streets of major cities. The clashes killed at least 13 victims in Suez, east of Cairo, Alexandria and six to the north, and many more injured - more than a thousand in Cairo.

Besides the start of Hosni Mubarak, Egyptian call for the lifting of the state of emergency in force for 30 years, more freedoms and better living conditions. While over 40% of Egyptians live on less than two dollars a day, they protest against rising prices of basic commodities and lack of jobs.