chrisidlamo

Macky Sall shot to his present political height of Senegal’s president-elect in a space of 12 years, building on experience. He is originally a geological engineer. He was named minister of mining and energy 11 years ago, then interior minister, and prime minister in 2004. He became chairman of the National Assembly for 2007-2008.
Now 50, he led his political career in the shadow of President Wade. He managed Wade’s re-election campaign in 2007, as number two in the Senegalese Democratic Party.
But Wade was furious when the National Assembly called his son, Karim, to explain his actions at the head of an agency responsible for work surrounding an Islamic summit in Dakar in March of 2007.
Wade held it against Sall, and forced him to resign in 2008, not only as Assembly chairman but also from his positions as mayor and parliament member.
But Macky Sall was not planning on leaving politics. He formed his own party and ran for the office of national president, with other candidates’ support after making it into the second round. Singer Youssou’N Dour was one of them.
The Karim Wade affair lent credibility to Sall’s self-definition as a republican who resisted nepotism.
One typical demonstrator said: “We need change. Everybody knows that if Abdoulaye Wade leaves power it’s just to pass it on to his son. To avoid that we need to vote Macky.”
Sall did not campaign on an anti-Wade platform. Just before the voting, for instance, he talked about working to resolve the Casamance conflict over regional independence, now going on for 30 years.
Sall said: “If I am elected president, I will do everything possible to get an immediate cease-fire, and above all to create the conditions for lasting and definitive peace. A national inclusive effort will be organised with all the parties involved, the fighters in the MFDC, all the actors involved in the process and the neighbouring countries Gambia and Guinea Bissau.”
More about: Presidential elections, Senegal, Senegal politicsCopyright © 2012 euronews

The cast of Mirror, Mirror, the new adaptation of the classic fairytale Snow White, was in Los Angeles for the film’s premiere.
Julia Roberts plays the wicked Queen while Lily Collins, daughter of singer Phil Collins,is Snow White.
Julia Roberts says her evil queen is no old harridan:
“Not a witch, she is a queen. Like I say that a hundred times a day. She is not a witch. You know the hag, its not so much the hag in this. It is more the id, the conscience, the magic.”
More about: Cinema, Romantic comedy, USACopyright © 2012 euronews

Mohamed Merah locked himself into his apartment in a small block in the Izards neighbourhood of Toulouse, where the police tracked him down and surrounded the building. That was late on Tuesday night, at around three a.m., and a long standoff began. He told them he had shot the seven people he was suspected of killing.
Here is how investigators found him.
-On Sunday, 11 March, paratrooper Imad Ibn Ziaten identifies himself as a soldier in an Internet advert to sell his motorbike. At a meeting supposedly to close the sale, near a public gym in Montauban, north of Toulouse, he is killed by a bullet to the head. The assailant rides away on a scooter.
-On Thursday, March 15, the gunman fires at three other soldiers, who are drawing cash out of a distributor next to their barracks. This is where Abel Chennouf and Mohamed Legouad die, and Loic Liber is seriously wounded. Detectives identify the weapon as the same used to kill Imad Ibn Ziaten.
Investigators have meanwhile been checking 576 Internet addresses in connection with the advert the first victim posted. On Saturday, they notice the family name of two young men known to the police – it is their mother’s address.
They are Abdelkader Merah and Mohamed Merah. Both have been under surveillance by the intelligence services (DCRI), on and off.
-On Monday, March 19, the younger of the brothers arrives at the Ozar Hartorah Jewish school in Toulouse at morning drop-off time. He kills Rabbi Jonathan Sandler and his two sons, Arieh, 5, and Gabriel, 3, and Myriam Monsenego, aged 8.
The school’s surveillance camera tapes are studied for any recorded information. The behaviour of a helmeted figure in black yields a psychological profile similar to Mohamed Merah, who had a criminal record for violence in the past.
-On Tuesday the twentieth, it is confirmed that the Yamaha scooter used by the killer was repainted. First black, it was white at the school.
A Yamaha dealer in Toulouse tells the police that Abdelkader Merah came to ask him to deactivate the GPS tracer on the scooter. In the afternoon, the police close in.

More about: France, Toulouse shooting, VictimsCopyright © 2012 euronews

A Scottish teenager, ordered to clean up his room by his mother, has found a winning lottery ticket worth nearly 64,000 euros. Ryan Kitching of Midlothian says he will use some of the money to buy his brother a car and take his parents on holiday. He also says that from now on he’ll happily clean his room whenever his mother tells him to!
More about: Odd, ScotlandCopyright © 2012 euronews

Almost a year after the explosion at Japan’s Fukushima nuclear plant, the 1,000 or so residents of the nearby town of Futaba do not know when or even if they will be able to go home.
Premiered at the Berlin Film Festival, Nuclear Nation is their story.
After the earthquake and tsunami rocked the nuclear facility, the entire community fled and were housed in a school 250 kilometres away, where many are still living.
Based on interviews filmed over the course of the year, the movie captures the monotony of daily life for the nuclear refugees.
More about: Documentary, Japan, Nuclear accidentsCopyright © 2012 euronews

Almost a year after the explosion at Japan’s Fukushima nuclear plant, the 1,000 or so residents of the nearby town of Futaba do not know when or even if they will be able to go home.
Premiered at the Berlin Film Festival, Nuclear Nation is their story.
After the earthquake and tsunami rocked the nuclear facility, the entire community fled and were housed in a school 250 kilometres away, where many are still living.
Based on interviews filmed over the course of the year, the movie captures the monotony of daily life for the nuclear refugees.
More about: Documentary, Japan, Nuclear accidentsCopyright © 2012 euronews

The leaders of Spain’s two main labour unions have called for a general strike later this month to protest against government reforms.
New rules cut the amount of compensation workers need to be paid when laid off.
The strike follows massive demonstrations earlier this year.
Mariano Rajoy’s government argues the reforms will create jobs in the long term.
More about: Mariano Rajoy, Protest, Spain, Spanish politics, StrikeCopyright © 2012 euronews

Announcing better than expected earnings for last year, aerospace group EADS is predicting a big jump in operating profit this year to 2.5 billion euros.
The parent company of Airbus credited brisk demand for its passenger jets and progress in controlling costs on its A380 superjumbo.
Announcing the results, Chief Executive Louis Gallois defended plans to focus more of the group’s activities near Airbus headquarters in Toulouse, France, even though that goes against German government wishes.
EADS posted a 38 percent increase in 2011 operating profit to 1.696 billion euros on revenue that rose 7 percent to 49.13 billion. Net income rose 87 percent to 1.03 billion.
The upbeat tone contrasted with word from Air France-KLM that it swung to a loss last year and will not pay shareholders a dividend.
The Franco-Dutch airline also warned that soaring fuel costs will continue to hit its profits this year.
The 2011 operating loss was 353 million euros compared with a 28 million euro profit in the previous year.
Air France-KLM said its turnaround plan — including cutting debt and shrinking its fleet — should start to show benefits in the second half of 2012.
More about: Aeronautical industry, Air France, Airbus, EADS, Market resultsCopyright © 2012 euronews