ROLAND GARROS: The French Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, headlining the first day

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga will be the attraction of a lean first day at Roland Garros where Manceau, as opposed to modest Czech Jan Hajek, will be responsible to lead the way to the French camp.

Introduced in 2006, the "Sunday start" allows the tournament to start gently with a small lineup that has only one Top 10 player, David Ferrer, and the outgoing runner Samantha Stosur this year.

The projectors will therefore focus trained on the eleven French and especially Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, whose beginnings are expected in Paris where he lines up for the fourth time this year without a coach.

For N.18 world, it is better to start than last year when, also scheduled the first Sunday, he struggled for five sets to the unknown German Daniel Brands, a burst of energy that would cost him dearly since it had left behind in eighth in the final against Mikhail Youzhny.

On paper, Jan Hajek, 121st World, it can be a danger even less. Skimming the circuit for a while now, the player Olomouc, 27, has never been ranked higher than 71st, 2006, and was easily beaten Tsonga 6-3, 6-2 in their only meeting, Barcelona on clay in 2010.

"This is a first round of Grand Slam. There is always some tension.But I realize that it is within my reach, "admitted Tsonga who said this time ready to play", unlike last year when he did not expect to have to enter the track on Sunday.

"My coaches prepared me to start on Monday or Tuesday, remembers there. It hurt me a bit. The evidence, I came with soreness on the Central face Daniel Brands.I came close to disaster because I remember he had made the break at the beginning of the fifth set ... "

Manceau addition, the French public will face Julien Benneteau in Portuguese Rui Machado and watch a feat David Guez before the Ukrainian Sergiy Stakhocvsky, seeded N.31, or Augustine Gensse face Switzerland's Stanislas Wawrinka (N.14 ) Tsonga potential opponent in the third round.

Note also the two fratricidal duels between Adrian Mannarino and Guillaume Rufin and between Vincent Millot Maxime and Texeira.

Among girls, Mathilde Johansson has the honor of facing the Central German Julia Goerges (n.17) Aliz Cornet then open the tournament on the Suzanne Lenglen before the Czech Renata Voracova.

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.

MEXICO: 85 000 people protested against violence related to drug trafficking

More than 85,000 people, according to an estimate of city officials, marched silently Sunday in Mexico City against the violence unleashed by drug traffickers and the military response of the state, culminating in a march of four days left Thursday for Cuernavaca 90 km south of the Mexican capital.

The march "for peace, security and justice" was launched at the initiative of the poet and journalist Javier Sicilia, whose son was murdered in March.At the head of a crowd carrying a silent sea of ​​white balloons bearing the names of victims of violence, Javier Sicilia entered in the late afternoon on the Zocalo, the huge central square of Mexico, while only were heard the bells of the cathedral.

Protesters call for end to violence by drug traffickers and the rapid withdrawal of the 50,000 soldiers who have to confront the drug cartels since December 2006, the date of arrival in power of President Felipe Calderon.

According to official figures, this offensive has killed 34,600 between December 2006 and December 2010.According to estimates by the press, more than 3,000 additional people have died since early 2011.

"We want to give the faces, names, dates, each of these 40,000 victims has left behind this deadly strategy," told AFP Javier Sicilia from the event.

"National security is not only letting the troops on the street is a lot of other things," he said."We have to sit around a table and think about strategy, because what has been done so far has been a mistake."

The march had started on Thursday in the city of Cuernavaca, 90 km south of the Mexican capital - where last March 28, were found dead in a car and a son of Javier Sicilia, Juan Francisco, and six other people showing signs of torture. The killings were attributed by the government to a cartel of drug traffickers.

This is the second protest called by Javier Sicilia since the death of his son.The next initiative will be the signing of a pact in June for the national dignity, in Ciudad Juarez, northern Mexico, the city hardest hit by violence, with more than 3,000 deaths in 2010.

Leading the demonstration, carrying the flag of Mexico, also appeared Sunday Julian LeBaron, leader of a Mormon community in the state of Chihuahua (northern), whose son was murdered after being abducted."I'm here to be remembered for an end to impunity."

Behind him, holding his arms, marched Javier Sicilia and other relatives of victims with dozens of posters bearing the pictures of men and women dead or missing in the past four years.

Practicing Catholic, the poet had begun the day from the campus by a group prayer with other supporters. On the way, joined the procession Solalinde Father Alejandro, an advocate for immigrants from Central and South America who pass through Mexico to reach the United States.In August 2010, 72 immigrants from these regions had been murdered in a town north of the country by the cartel Zetas, a gang formed by former military elite of the Mexican army.

COTE D'IVOIRE: Ibrahim Coulibaly, head of the Commando invisible, killed by FRCI in Abobo

Forces Ivorian president Alassane Ouattara killed Wednesday night the former coup leader Ibrahim Coulibaly, known as "IB", head of the commando invisible "in the north of Abidjan, which was perceived as a threat even if the power had contributed to the fall of Laurent Gbagbo.

Several hundred members of the Republican Forces of Côte d'Ivoire (FRCI), equipped with pickup topped with heavy machine guns and rocket launchers, launched Wednesday morning a major attack against the stronghold of "IB" in the popular district of Abobo (north), noted AFP.

After this "security operation and peace", "IB + + is sought refuge in a yard (residential) near a factory in PK-18 (north of Abobo)," said the AFP Captain Leo Kouakou Alla, spokesman of the Ministry of Defence.

Hostage taking and summation

In this court, Ibrahim Coulibaly "took hostage an entire family. FRCI made warning shots twice and he responded with gunfire.The FRCI had no choice but to retaliate, and the response has been fatal, "added the spokesman.

The clash that took place around 20:00 (GMT) has made "two soldiers killed and several wounded," FRCI side, and "seven lives" in the opposing camp, where "IB" itself, he said.

The FRCI had progressed during the day in his fief without encountering any real resistance.

The "commando invisible" had contributed to the downfall of former President Laurent Gbagbo on April 11, destabilizing his regime by increasing control of the north of Abidjan at the beginning of the year.

The appeal of Alassane Ouattara

President Ouattara had Friday called the former coup of 1999 and 2002 to disarm his men, under penalty of being compelled by force.

"We asked for a week, ten days, the time to explain to the combatants that they must disarm unconditionally. We must convince them that they can lay down their arms without fear for their lives", told AFP at the beginning Felix the offensive ennobled, number two commando invisible. "

"IB" had asked to be received by the Head of State to make available. His entourage had accused Prime Minister Guillaume Soro to block this request.

Mr.Soro was historic adversary of Ibrahim Coulibaly in charge of the rebellion of 2002 failed coup against Gbagbo, whose forces he finally took the head and which now forms the bulk of FRCI.

Ibrahim Coulibaly, one of the most mysterious of the Ivorian scene for a decade, had claimed in recent days his part in the downfall of Mr. Gbagbo, while providing stand under the authority of Alassane Ouattara, which had been the bodyguard.

In an interview with French daily La Croix, published Thursday, Mr. Ouattara has estimated that nearly 3,000 death toll of post-election violence in Côte d'Ivoire, while the UN reported nearly 1,000 dead.

FRANCE: A premium "required" for employees of large companies

AFP - After several days of debate within the government, Nicolas Sarkozy on Tuesday decided to impose on companies with more than 50 employees each year for the payment of a premium "binding" to their employees if they increase their dividends.

After a final arbitration meeting at the Elysee Palace with Prime Minister François Fillon and several members of his government, the head of state has ruled for a binding mechanism, as he had hinted Tuesday during a trip in the Ardennes.

"In all companies with more than 50 employees subject to the law on participation, if dividends are higher than the year before, there will be obliged to pay a premium negotiated with social partners," said a government source after the meeting.

The government hopes that the scheme is applied "this year". François Fillon also announced in the evening a bill to that effect would be submitted to Parliament "before summer".

This bonus will be subject to an amount of at least 1,000 euros at the same rate of social insurance premiums for participation that is to say 8%, sued the government source.This amount could possibly be revised upwards in arbitrations to come.

Firms with fewer than 50 employees will in turn "encouraged" to pay a premium equal to their employees. This premium will be exempt from taxes, said the source. "There will be no obligation for these companies," we insisted.

Studied by Labor Minister Xavier Bertrand, Economy Christine Lagarde and Budget Baroin, this "bonus", its amount and terms feed a confused debate over several days, both between the State and the social partners that 'within the government.

April 13 Evoking an amount "of at least 1,000 euros," Mr.Baroin had attracted a replica of the patron saint of dry MEDEF Laurence Parisot, who had denounced as "incomprehensible". Ms. Lagarde was then ruled to impose a fee for the premium.

Despite the hostility of employers and unions that it reserves prefer higher wages, Nicolas Sarkozy Tuesday reaffirmed its commitment to implement this scheme, which aims to improve the purchasing power of the French.

"The sharing of value, I would like because it's a matter of justice," he said."When there is recovery, I say it is normal for employees and workers who have sought work during the crisis benefit from the recovery, it is a principle I will not give in," had he insisted, noting the failure of the negotiations he had requested in 2009 the social partners on this topic.

In a financial crisis, the head of state asked them to discuss the "value sharing", defending himself the idea of ​​a rule of "three tier" where corporate profits would be divided into three parts equal shareholders, employees and investment.

"In two years, negotiations have not moved an inch", "he lamented Tuesday," so the government will take responsibility. "

One year before the presidential election and while the economic recovery starts to take shape, Nicolas Sarkozy is trying to revive its 2007 election promise to be the "president of purchasing power".

Even if it does not affect the 5.2 million civil servants, whose salaries have been frozen for the second consecutive year, this "bonus" is likely to affect at least 8 million people employed in businesses with more than 50 employees .