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Romeo Langlois, correspondent for FRANCE 24 in Colombia and the daily "Le Figaro", was captured after an attack this Saturday, April 28 by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), according to the Foreign Minister, Alain Juppe. He was wounded in the left arm was caught in crossfire between rebels and the army, said Sunday night the Colombian Minister of Defense.

According to "have told me that people who were with him until the last moment" before he disappeared, "he was hit by a bullet in his left arm", and the "confusion" that prevailed in the field, "he certainly made the decision to remove his jacket and his helmet" to signal that he was a guerrilla Civil, said the minister, Juan Carlos Pinzon.

The freelance journalist was then 35 years on assignment alongside the Colombian Navy aircraft as part of an anti-narcotics operation in the region of Caquetá (South). 

The military patrol was accompanied Romeo Langlois was attacked on the morning of Saturday by FARC. At least four members of Colombian security forces were killed in the attack, described as "heavy fighting" a spokesman for the Colombian Ministry of Defense. ;

Six people were missing, including Romeo Langlois, according to the commander of Military Region. But the Colombian army announced Sunday that it had found the five soldiers who had disappeared with the journalist, it is no news at this time

.

Four other soldiers were also injured during the operation that does lead to the destruction of five laboratories manufacturing cocaine, according to a spokesman for the Ministry Colombian Defense.

"Concerned"

Romeo Langlois, who lives in Colombia for years, has produced many reports in the region. "We know it is a dangerous region. We are of course worried, but we trust that Romeo knows the area well and has lots of experience. So we hope he is safe, "said Nahida Nakad, editorial director of the Audiovisual outside of France (AEF).

Simone Bruno, also FRANCE 24 correspondent in Colombia, interviewed by telephone on Sunday, was to accompany the mission was postponed several times due to bad weather. "We were in a military base camp until the operation was to begin Tuesday, then was postponed to Wednesday, Thursday, Friday … So, I left but remained Romeo says Simone Bruno. The last time I talked to him it was Friday night and he told me that the operation would start at 4 am on the night of Friday to Saturday. He had to send me news on his return. "

In the day Saturday, when he heard about the attack in the region, Simone Bruno made several attempts to contact Romeo for news: "At first, the information e ; taient very confused, he says. Then the commander [of the military region] told us that Romeo was missing and they were looking for him. "

Ransom and drug trafficking

Created in 1964, the Farc is one of the last groups of Marxist revolutionary South American continent. The splinter group has been waging for decades of kidnapping campaigns, whose ransoms, parallel to the drug trade, have become their main sources of income. Ingrid Betancourt, French-Colombian politician, was selected for more than six years before being released in 2008.

In recent months, the Colombian security forces have nevertheless won some victories against the rebels, mainly in the north. Weakened by the campaign by the Colombian military with the support of the United States, the FARC freed some hostages and announced they would no longer benefit from Remo movements.

If the Colombian president, Juan Manuel Santos, saw a "step in the right direction," he nevertheless expressed doubts about the willingness of the FARC abandon kidnapping as a source of income or to negotiate lasting peace. An analysis confirmed by the experts who agree that the peace negotiations, even informal, will probably not any results before the 2014 elections.

The day after the crucial debate that pitted the incumbent President Nicolas Sarkozy, Francois Hollande ensures no regrets. The Socialist Party candidate, interviewed by Roselyne Febvre (FRANCE 24) and Frédéric Rivière (RFI) under the "Visit RFI / FRANCE 24", expressed his satisfaction following the conduct of the program.

"I think the debate was not as I expected, but as I had hoped," said Francois Hollande, who admitted having had the trac, especially because there was "a great expectation and a considerable number of viewers."

In line with the game held the day before with his opponent, the Socialist candidate repeats the results he has drawn from the presidency of Nicolas Sarkozy: there were "many die sordre and divisions in the five-year term that ends, "he says. 

Francois Hollande is also expressed in more detail on international issues without deciding sharply with the current policies by French diplomacy on Iran nuclear issue, the Sahel , Syria and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

"A state of grace"

He castigates the other hand the country's image conveyed by the current president: "There were phrases, behaviors, attitudes, choices that have hurt our country a lot and sometimes disturbed the internationally. Remember the speech in Dakar for Africa, let us remember the receptions that were made to Gaddafi or Bashar al-Assad. "

The candidate Holland also emphasizes the need to restore the prestige of French identity abroad and "increase the attractiveness of our language and our culture."

At European level, it reaffirms its wish to renegotiate the pact EU budget adopted last January, but also to rely on "borrowing capacity of Europe" to revive the economy.

It also recalls its priorities for France: education and the economy. Two axes from which he defended once again some of the key measures of its program: the creation of 60,000 jobs in education and contract generation, among others.

Finally, if elected, it expects "a state of grace, like every presidential election," but the duration of which depend especially "measures" which will be implemented.

Russian Viktor Bout, convicted last November of trafficking arms for the guerrillas in Colombia, was sentenced Thursday by a New York judge to 25 years in prison.

While prosecutors had requested life imprisonment, Judge Shira Scheindlin of the view that these 25 years in prison was "sufficient", given the "unique circumstances" of this file.  

She stressed that the arms dealer arrested in Thailand in 2008, and extradited to the United States in 2010 after two years of legal battle, had been the subject of an operation mounted by U.S. police, and that if he had "seized an opportunity that presented itself to him to make money, he did had not sought ".

"There is no evidence that he sought to actively engage in a terrorist organization," she said, acknowledging however that Viktor Bout had sold weapons in the past to "re ; regimes cruelest and most violent in the world ". 

Before the verdict, the former pilot of the Red Army in the thick mustache, wearing a suit of olive green and held the hair carefully coiffed back, has a theatrical voice said through an interpreter his innocence.

"I am not guilty, I never intended to kill anyone, I never had any intention of selling arms to anyone, God knows the truth ; ", he said, pointing to the small packed federal court.

Her daughter Lisa, 17, who had written the judge to proclaim the innocence of his father, and his wife Alla, were in 2nd place.  

He who had inspired the character played by Nicolas Cage in the movie "Lord of War" ("The Lord of War"), is considered by the United States as one of the largest dealers 'illegal weapons in the world.

"He was for years the arms dealer, number one enemy, arming some of the most violent conflicts of the world," said after the verdict the Manhattan District Attorney Preet Bharara , rejoicing that Viktor Bout "has finally been brought to justice before an American court." 

Beyond the proceedings that led to his conviction Thursday, Bout, sometimes dubbed the "Merchant of Death", is suspected of using a fleet of cargo aircraft made after the end of the Cold War to transport weapons in Africa, South America and the Middle East, and helping Muammar Gaddafi or Charles Taylor.

He was convicted in November for trying to sell in 2008 an arsenal of guns and missiles with American intelligence agents posing as guerrillas of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). 

He was arrested in Thailand, after accepting, prosecutors said, to sell these weapons, these pseudo-guerrillas said they wanted to use to shoot down helicopters U.S. helping the Colombian military in its fight against the FARC.

Before the sentencing, his attorney Albert Dayan once again asserted that there was against him "just words". "It did hurt someone, that e ; silent a businessman, "he added.

The prosecutor had stressed that unlike Viktor Bout was remarkably intelligent, and that "no one forced him to act as he did." It was he who had suggested a number of 100 surface to air missiles, it was he who said he was ready to provide 5 tons of C4 explosive, he said such ;.

A 25-year sentence is "the least of what merited Mr. Bout," said Anna Macdonald on his side of Oxfam, noting "the almost total impunity" with which he had for 20 years "conducted operations responsible for deaths and suffering of countless people in Latin America and Africa".

AFP - Fighting between the army and deserters in Syria for the first time Thursday since the establishment of a cease-fire, whose strength will be put to the e ; show Friday with new events scheduled at the call of anti-regime.

The international community still wants to take advantage of the lull to send observers to the country to evaluate the field application of the peace plan of the Kofi Annan International envoy.

A few hours after its entry into force, power and opposition have reported violations of the cease-fire. Advocates point out that despite including the Annan Plan, tanks and troops are still deployed in cities, in anticipation of mass demonstrations which they called on Friday under the slogan "Revolution for all Syrians. "

For activists and experts alike, the real test will be played after the weekly Muslim prayers in mid-day, usual starting point for parades.

"Once the troops are forced to relieve the pressure, the Syrians can decide for themselves to join or not this popular revolution," says Karim Bitar , associate researcher at IRIS, specializes in the Near and Middle East.

"If people descend en masse on the streets (…), Bashar al-Assad will have two options: continue its repression in which case it will be much more difficult for Russians to support the Security Council, or take note of what happens " says he.

The six point plan includes Kofi Annan, in addition to the cessation of hostilities, withdrawal of the army and the cities' right to demonstrate peacefully "in particular.

The Syrian National Council (CNS), the main opposition coalition, called for further mobilization for the downfall of President Bashar al-Assad, the only head of state challenged in the Arab Spring always in place.

The Ministry of Interior in the wake reminded that any person wishing to demonstrate must obtain permission in advance. 

After a relatively quiet day Thursday, fighting with heavy weapons took place Friday in the province of Idleb, on the border with Turkey, according to Syrian Observatory of Human Rights, man (OSDH), weakening a little truce intended to end more than a year of violence.

If arméea claimed to have terminated its operations and the Syrian Army deserters free (ASL) said they were "100% committed" to respect the cease-fire, both parties have warned they would respond to attacks.

Before the Security Council of the United Nations, Mr. Annan said that, technically, Damascus had not complied with its plan but the fragile cease-fire was "an opportunity," while the UN boss Ban Ki-moon , said he wanted "to send an observer team as soon as possible".

General Robert Mood of Norway, at the head of a UN technical mission, will also again in Syria Friday to prepare for their arrival, after a draft resolution to that effect was filed Thursday evening the UN.

The Security Council could adopt the UN Friday, said Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin. 

The project involves sending an "advance team of several dozen observers in the coming days and in the wake of a force that could be hundreds" of observers, has detailed the French Minister of Foreign Affairs Alain Juppé.

The text, of which AFP obtained a copy, "requires in addition that the Syrian government withdraws its troops and heavy weapons of the towns and confine them to barracks."

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said he agreed with his U.S. counterpart Barack Obama that "it is essential to deploy observers, at least for that one knows what happens." 

Saying not to believe in the "sincerity" of Bashar al-Assad, nor the cease-fire, he said he was "convinced that the international community will (…) credit er conditions of humanitarian corridors for the unfortunates who are massacred today can escape a dictator ".

The foreign ministers of the G8 have called for action on their part "immediate" to send observers to Syria.

Thursday, the OSDH has reported 10 dead, including seven civilians, a record that marks a clear break with the past few months, during which the NGO recensait every day dozens of deaths.

AFP - The personality and motives of a "Korean" 43, an alleged shooting that left seven dead and three wounded Monday in a small Christian university Oakland (California), and stopped in a daze after the tragedy, remained elusive Tuesday. "The police work and trying to understand what was the motive that led to take the life of seven people and injuring three others, "he told CNN the president of the Oakland City Council, shortly after the arrest. The motivations of the alleged killer had still not been made public. Identity and status within the institution vary according to sources. According to statements Monday night's police chief of Oakland, the shooter pre mary, by the name of One Goh, surrendered to authorities in nearby Alameda after the shooting in the small private religious university and Oikos, in Oakland, city ​​that is part of the San Francisco area. "The suspect, who appears to be a resident of Oakland, surrendered to officers Alameda police in their city, "said Howard Jordan to the press. "This is a Korean" 43 years, he added, without specifying whether he was from North Korea or South Korea. According to the South Korean agency Yonhap, citing officials the South Korean Consulate in San Francisco, the shooter is actually called Ko Won-Il and is a U.S. citizen of Korean origin. A witness quoted in the San Francisco Chronicle, assured that the alleged ; facts, nursing student, was attending a course when he suddenly got up and started shooting at the audience. According to Mr. Jordan, this is actually a former student of the institution. The alleged gunman had left the University of Oikos before the arrival of Police on campus shortly after 10:30 (5:30 p.m. GMT). "He took the car from a victim, drove to Alameda and that's where he went, "said Mr. Jordan, describing the scene as" very bloody ". Ten people in total have been affected. Five were pronounced dead at the scene of the shooting, and two others died in hospital. Several people were found hidden in the classrooms of the university, said the police chief. One Goh was arrested at about 8 km from the university, pre s of a supermarket, according to local media. CNN said it had provided service to customers in the store he had just shoot people. The case has caused consternation, particularly in the Korean community in the city. The mayor of Oakland, Jean Quan, told the press that "no mayor wants find themselves in this situation. " "It seems that during the past decade, we soyions accustomed to mass murder like this … This is a terrible tragedy. " The municipality will hire more experts in the psychological trauma of speaking Korean, because " ; community "home coréeenne the city" will long to ask questions "in the wake of this tragedy, she said. The website of The Oakland Tribune has heard of a woman who attended the arrest of the suspect. Lisa Resler said she was leaving the supermarket with her daughter when she saw a young Asian man wearing a cap that had trouble with security. The young man, handcuffed, according to her has offered no resistance when arrested. She described him as "very groggy". The police described him as "physically robust and wearing khaki clothes". Angie Johnson, 52, said for his part in the San Francisco Chronicle that she had seen a young woman out of the building, crying, with blood flowing from his arm and shouting: "You shot me." According to the victim, the shooter followed him with her classes at the nursing school. He would have stood in the middle class, allegedly fired point blank at someone, before pulling the whole room. "She said it always seemed crazy," said Ms. Johnson, quoting the victim. But she did not know how far he could go + + ". The victim had "a hole in the right arm of the size of a coin, and Blood was gushing, "she added. The University of Oikos says on its website that it strives to "provide the most high educational standards, with an inspiration and Christian values ​​"and it" aims to offer educational programs in the fields of religious studies, music and health ".

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte has called Monday morning an extraordinary cabinet meeting which should pave the way for early elections, after the failure of negotiations on Saturday reducing the public deficit.

"Towards the Binnenhof (the seat of government, Ed) to the Cabinet: the main concern is how we will keep the economy and finances on track," he tweeted early morning Deputy Prime Minister and Economy Minister Maxime Verhagen, leader of the Christian Democratic Party (CDA).

The coalition agreement reached between the Liberal party (VVD) Mark Rutte and CDA M. Verhagen, who form a governing coalition of center-right minority, with the far-right party of Geert Wilders who had agreed to support them in parliament, has fizzled out after a year and a half just .

Mark Rutte is expected to visit Queen Beatrix in the day Monday, after the Cabinet intended to draw lessons from the failure of negotiations, which started ; at 0730 GMT.

Since March 5, Mark Rutte, Maxime Verhagen and Geert Wilders, head of the Party for Freedom (PVV), Islamophobic and eurosceptic, found themselves almost daily Catshuis, re ; residence of the Prime Minister's work in The Hague. 

Their mission: to agree on measures to generate 16 billion euros savings to reduce the deficit of the Netherlands, which reached 4.7% of GDP in 2011, well beyond the norm of the Eurozone by 3%.

For seven weeks, virtually nothing had been leaked on the content of discussions, negotiators have decided to remain silent in the media.

Geert Wilders, whose party secured a majority government of 76 seats out of 150 until the March 21 resignation of one of his deputies, had a surprise Saturday Catshuis leaving the car without saying a word.

Ninety minutes later, Mark Rutte and Maxime Verhagen announced the failure of seven weeks of negotiations. "The three parties have failed to find common answers", sorry Mark Rutte, adding that early elections seemed "obvious".

The package on the table provided in particular a slight increase in VAT, a freeze on civil service salaries and a reduction in the health budget and aid to countries developing.

"This project was not in the interest of PVV voters", had commented Geert Wilders: "We do not want to submit a bleeding because our pensions the diktat of Brussels ". 

"The bomb that the PVV leader Geert Wilders has launched against the government Rutte plunged the Netherlands into uncertainty", stressed Monday the leftist daily Volkskrant, that "none of the major players could predict Sunday it's going to happen. "

Analysts said the Netherlands would risk losing the precious triple-A they receive from the three major rating agencies.

The minority government of Mark Rutte was formed after the early elections after the fall in February 2010 the government of Christian Democrats in January Peter Balkenende because of disagreements within the coalition center-left on the extension of the Dutch military mission in Afghanistan.

He fled to the nose and the noses of the Chinese authorities. The lawyer Chen Guangcheng, a famous advocate for women and destroyer of the Malthusian policy of one child, escaped from his home in Dondshigu in Shandong Province, where and he was under house arrest for over a year and a half. His flight, which dates back to Sunday, April 22, was unveiled on Friday on the Internet.

This escape, a real "coup", is prima facie a severe blow to the country's authorities. First, because the bane of the regime has undermined its security system by escaping from his home yet monitored by dozens of men hand of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Moreover, because this activist, blind moreover, found a new way, even provocative, revealing his flight to the world.

Taking witness to the Internet community, Chen chose to settle their accounts directly with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao via a video posted on the website Boxun dissenting. Dared challenge facing one of the most repressive regimes in the world. "Dear Premier Wen, I finally escaped. I can prove that all the information circulating on the Internet on the abuses I have suffered are real, "Cheng said on camera, sunglasses over his eyes and Nike jacket on the back. The man, whose voice is emotionally charged, does not hesitate either to challenge power. "If something bad happens to my family, I will continue to demand that those responsible accountable," he adds before demanding justice for the mistreatment of his family since 2010 .

Dissent: the last of the problems of the Chinese

An act of protest "unprecedented," says Jean-François Brisset, China specialist and senior researcher at the Institute of International and Strategic Relations (IRIS). If the dissidents regularly use the Internet to present their grievances and condemn the regime, never one of them had taken the risk to challenge the prime minister directly to confront the IR ; facts of his government. But this courageous act he can actually destabilize the government in power? Nothing is less certain, the expert provides.

The political context is admittedly "quite feverish" right now, if not harmful. China is preparing, in fact, a profound change in its executive [in October, President Hu Jintao has to give way to the current vice president, Xi Jinping ] while a clan war is raging between conservatives and reformists to take the reins of the country. But to speak of "setback" for the regime, we must keep our heads, said Jean-Francois Brisset. The reason is simple: the problems of interest to dissent, he said that the Chinese people very moderately, unlike the West who loves the subject - the names of the re tants Ai Weiwei, a famous Chinese artist and Liu Xiaobo, Nobel Prize for Peace in 2010, also returned regularly in the international media.

The case Bo Xilai monopolizes the interest of the public

A low interest Alice Ekman, China specialist at the French Institute of International Relations (IFRI) and professor at Sciences Po, seeks to explain. "China is fully focused on the case Bo Xilai, a political scandal and people with multiple twists [Bo Xilai is a prominent Chinese politician recently ousted Central Committee CPC for violating Party discipline. His name is also mentioned in an investigation into the death of a British national, Ed]. This is the case, which currently monopolizes the interest of public opinion, "she says.

The case of Chen Guangcheng was therefore not enough to frighten the Chinese apparatchik. "The population is primarily concerned with the live-better, problems of corruption, unemployment. Bo Xilai concentrates on its own all these problems. The Chinese do not really feel concerned by the theme of lack of freedom of expression, violating human rights symbolizes that Chen Guangcheng, "adds his colleague of the Iris.

The moving message of Chinese dissident internet should therefore have that "little impact" in a country already severely locked by a major Internet censorship. Even the word "blind" is now forbidden on Weibo, the Chinese Twitter. Inevitable that sounds like a sad irony. As even freedom of movement, Guangcheng continues to this private view, and visibility.

AFP - American Jim Yong Kim was Monday named President of the World Bank, the institution announced in a statement issued after a meeting of its board of directors.

"The directors chose Jim Yong Kim as president for a term of five years commencing on 1 July," said Bank.

Mr. Kim, 52 year old doctor born in South Korea, was preferred by the member states to its rival, the Nigerian Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala . He will become the twelfth American citizen to chair this organization multilateral development assistance, succeeding Robert Zoellick.

The candidate of the United States was leaving heavily favored given the support he had gleaned in recent weeks, and which assured him a comfortable lead.

The appointment of Mr. Kim continues the tradition that allows the U.S. and Europe to share the presidency of the World Bank and the Managing Director of the institution-sister, the International Monetary ; International Monetary.

But this was the first time that there were several candidates for this position.

"The final candidates have received support from different member countries, which is an indication of the caliber of these candidates," said the Washington-based institution.

"We, the directors wish to affirm our deep appreciation for all candidates, Jim Yong Kim, Jose Antonio Ocampo and Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala. Their application has enriched the discussion about the role of president and the future direction of the World Bank, "the statement said the World Bank.

Mr. Ocampo, Colombian economist, had withdrawn from the race Friday, lack of sufficient support.

As for Mr. Kim, he was Monday in Lima, a city where he spent part of his career in the 1990s to fight against tuberculosis.

Since the coup of 22 March which ousted President Amadou Toumani Toure, known as "ATT", the studio of rapper Rameses, in the district of Badalabougou, the one of the few green spaces in Bamako, has turned into political headquarters. The night following the takeover of the junta, a handful of musicians, artists and radio presenters held a council, discussing the actions and positions to take.

Discussion of these nights were born in the Republic Sofas, a collective of artists involved. Mandinka language, the "sofas" are the warriors who served and ensured the maintenance of the empire that ruled from the 13th to the 17th century in Mali, covering an area at its peak is e ; tending to Timbuktu in the north to the Atlantic coast.

On their Facebook page, the sofas of the Republic with more than 2,000 fans and offer an online forum on the evolution of political and social situation in Mali. They regularly call Malian youth to unite for a return to democracy.

"They see themselves as defenders of the Constitution," said Ras Bathily, a lanky native of Bamako who proudly sports a T-shirt bearing the image of Bob Marley. Around her neck, a pendant of Thomas Sankara, the Burkina Faso Head of State who was assassinated in 1987, an anti-imperialist and pan-Africanist often presented as the African Che. Hiding behind his sunglasses, Ramses - Sidy Soumaoro real name - approves a nod. Without a word. The rappers engaged early morning hours are not the best to meet a rapper. But when the sun begins to decline, Ramses and his cronies are Djodama Dixon and groove the night in Bamako to the sound of hip-hop to Mali. Their group, Tata Pound, has revolutionized the genre with songs that are invariably on the daily struggle of Malians. Again, the name is significant: "Tata" meant the enclosure that protected the city of Sikasso in the south, invasion, in the era colonial "Pound" refers to the British currency … Ramses not extend to the latter explanation. In the rap world, everything is not explained. In 2002, Tata Pound had sung the victory of ATT, whose election to the presidency had raised a wave of optimism. Their song, "President Cikan" ("Message to the President" in Bambara), had become a tube. Shortly after his inauguration, ATT had also invited the group to go on stage at a rally held at the presidential palace with leading cultural figures Mali. But in 2006, the group is no longer so enthusiastic. At the time, the release of his album "Revolution" is widely seen as a critique of power in place. Radio and television stations refused to broadcast their music so while their sponsors withdrew their funding. This did not dampen the political commitment of the group. "During the disturbances, we must continue working," said Ramses. "Today, we no longer trust politicians" Ramses and six other Malian artists are now working on a song in Bambara and French who "talks about the situation in Mali." "Just after March 22, Malian society was divided into pro and anti-coup. We started to see a polarization of opinion, says the rapper. Today we live in a world of democracy. We, Malians, we want to belong to this world and we refuse a coup cuts us off from the rest of the planet. "For Ramses, this is not the setting place of the transition agreement signed April 6 between the junta and the Economic Community of West Africa (ECOWAS) or the appointment of the Head of dice ; whores, Dioncounda Traore, as transitional president who will solve the situation in the country. "The question is not who comes and who goes. Today, we no longer trust any politician, "he says. The humanitarian situation in northern Mali, passed under the control of the Tuareg rebellion and Islamist which unilaterally declared independence of the region last week, is also a central concern of the artists. "The situation in the North breaks my heart," said Mamani Samassekou Abba, television producer and presenter a popular show. "The MNLA [National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad, Ed] said to have liberated the area, but it does not protect the population. We, Malians, we do not want the Islamists. We want to live in harmony. "A harmonious Mali, this is the message that Ramses and his cronies of the Republic of Sofas are determined to move into their mix, up & rsquo ; that the Mali gets back on the rails of democracy.

AFP - Three people won the record jackpot of $ 640 million (480 million) lottery in the United States, officials announced Saturday the lottery on their website.

"Three tickets included all six winning numbers from Friday, March 30 draw," said a statement posted on the site megamillions.com, adding that the winners "will share $ extraordinary record of $ 640 million" ;.

The winning tickets "were purchased in Illinois, Kansas and Maryland," the statement said.

The winning numbers were: 2, 4, 23, 38, 46 and Bonus number 23.

Jackpot Saturday is the highest amount ever brought into play in a lottery in the world. 

Given the importance of the sum, genuine gambling fever had seized the U.S. these days. However, the organizer of the lottery, Mega Millions, had made it clear that a player had less chance of winning … than being killed by lightning.