LIBYA: Misrata bombed despite "stop" operations of the pro-Gaddafi

REUTERS - The Libyan government denied Sunday that the army was withdrawing from Misrata's third largest city in Libya, as was said before the insurgents who held this important port city in western countries.

"The armed forces do not withdraw from Misrata.They stopped their operations because Misrata tribal leaders have decided to take action to restore the course of life, "said Khaled Kaim, Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs of Libya.

He said nearly 60,000 civilians are willing to fight for their city, only city held by insurgents in the western part of the country.

The rebels say, them, very few people support Muammar Gaddafi and the Libyan leader they accuse of paying mercernaires to impersonate people.

Saturday, the rebels said the soldiers had left the city Gaddafi but they stayed outside and were able to bombard.

Soldiers loyal to the Libyan colonel captured by the opponents had said the army had received orders to withdraw from the port city.

Khaled Kaim has also indicated that NATO planes have carried out attacks against targets in Sirte, Garian, Aziziah, Tripoli and Hira Saturday.

LIBYA: According to Alain Juppe, the situation in Misrata "can not continue"

The situation in Misrata in Libya, a city subject for several days at the firing forces of Muammar Gaddafi, "can not last," said Wednesday the French foreign minister, Alain Juppe, stating that he would inform the Secretary General of NATO.

"Misrata is in a situation that can not last and I'll talk in a few hours with the Secretary General of NATO," Anders Fogh Rasmussen said the minister to France Info radio.

The Libyan military leader of the rebels on Tuesday accused NATO of "letting people die of Misrata (west) under fire from forces of Muammar Gaddafi.

Recognizing that in Libya, "the risk of getting bogged down there," Alain Juppe said he did not return to the international coalition "to start reclaiming the land."

"We have formally requested that there be no collateral damage on civilians, it makes intervention more difficult because of Qaddafi's troops have understood things and tend to be closer to civilian populations," said he said.

"We support all our strength the National Transitional Council (opposition), it must also be organized. Finally the field all depend on them.We're here to protect civilians, not to start from the reconquest of the territory, "insisted the minister.

He reaffirmed that Libya was moving towards a political solution, implicitly recognizing that international military action is not sufficient to reach a departure from office of Muammar Gaddafi.

The latter regime is the target since February 15 of a popular uprising that turned into a civil war between insurgents and forces loyal to the leader.

FRANCE: François Fillon will not participate in the debate on secularism

REUTERS - Prime Minister Francois Fillon will not participate on April 5 at the convention organized by the UMP on secularism, Matignon said Wednesday, adding that the decision had been taken long-standing agreement with Nicolas Sarkozy.

"He was fulfilling a long with the president that he would not go," they say at Matignon, confirming information given by the website of Le Figaro.

"This is not the place to express the government's position," says one in the entourage of Prime Minister.

The secretary general of the UMP Jean-Francois Cope had nevertheless invited the Prime Minister in this debate, says the website of Le Figaro.

François Fillon and Jean-Francois Cope had formally signed the peace on Tuesday, after the tensions caused by criticism of the secretary general of the UMP to the Prime Minister.

The "boss" of the majority party had accused the prime minister not to "play group" in distancing himself from the debate on secularism.

In an interview with Le Figaro, to be published Thursday, Jean-Francois Cope defends again organizing this debate controversial and arouses opposition from representatives of six major religions.

"When we have this debate on April 5, we finish with the hysteria of the debate on the debate leading finally to the real answers," he said.

"This debate will not give rise to confusion." My letter to a Muslim friend, published yesterday in L'Express, is the most honest answer to the fear of a possible drift, "he adds.

FORMULA 1: Sebastian Vettel started 2011 by winning the Australian Grand Prix

The German Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull) won Sunday in Melbourne Australia Grand Prix Formula 1, first event of the season, ahead of Briton Lewis Hamilton (McLaren) and Russian Vitaly Petrov (Lotus Renault).

The reigning world champion, after dropping three in as many races on the circuit at Albert Park, has finally vanquished the curse of Australia and won the race handily. With a few laps left to his heir Hamilton, Vettel has occupied all the time the race leader.

He won with 22 seconds ahead of Columbia, giving the impression of having always dominated his subject.

Hamilton, earning 2nd, McLaren can thank for the outstanding work done in a few weeks.The MP4-26 (model 2011), completely out of touch during all the winter tests, achieved a dramatic increase in the favor of the change in its rear part.

Third, Vitaly Petrov continues its metamorphosis. The Russian, used weekends drafts last year, his first season in the discipline, has transcended Australia.

Obnoxious Perez

After a good qualifying Saturday, punctuated with a 6th place, Petrov has made a great start Sunday, allowing him to finish third, the first podium of his career in F1. A result which also marks the progression of Lotus Renault.

Fernando Alonso was fourth in a Ferrari not at the podium.Australian Mark Webber in the second Red Bull continues to run bad at his home GP, he finished in 5th place, just ahead of Jenson Button (McLaren, 6th), a great leader of the race.

Mexico's Sergio Perez (Sauber) completed a fantastic first race, he finished seventh, ahead of teammate Kamui Kobayashi of Japan. Brazilian Felipe Massa (Ferrari) is ninth, while Switzerland's Sebastien Buemi (Toro Rosso), 10, has assembled the last point at stake

Mercedes has had a calamitous start to the season, with the abandonment of Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher before the halfway point. Nick Heidfeld, Robert Kubica's replacement, injured in rally in February, has experienced first weekend very difficult, punctuated with a sad 14th place.

Liveblogging: Launch of international offensive in Libya

What you should remember:

The French army has carried out its first shot against the forces of Muammar Gaddafi at 17:45 (GMT +1, Paris time).
Earlier in the afternoon, French President Nicolas Sarkozy announced that fighter jets had entered French airspace to prevent the Libyan Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's forces to attack the city of Benghazi, a stronghold of the opposition.


The statement by the French head of state concluded an international summit on the situation in Libya, which gathered in Paris this Saturday the Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, British Prime Minister David Cameron and many Arab and European politicians.
A military plane was shot Saturday morning while flying over the city of Benghazi. The aircraft belongs to the opponents of Muammar Gaddafi.
According to the insurgents in Benghazi, forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi bombed roads leading into town. The regime denies the accusations and says its planes remained on the ground, according to the cease-fire it announced Friday.

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SAUDI ARABIA: Authorities deployed a vast apparatus of preventive security

AFP - The security forces were deployed en masse on Friday in Riyadh and other Saudi cities where no event was reported, despite a call Facebook a "day of anger" in the oil kingdom.

The United States, the main ally of Saudi Arabia had called again Thursday to respect freedom of expression in the kingdom after an incident that left three wounded in eastern countries, where most minority Shiite.

Militants had launched on social networks Facebook and Twitter calls for a demonstration in an upscale neighborhood north of the Saudi capital after Friday prayers.These calls also apply to other cities like Jeddah and Dammam in the west to the east.

These unidentified militants demanding the establishment of elected institutions to replace the Shura consultative council whose members are appointed by the king and government, also left to the discretion of the sovereign.

But no event was reported earlier this afternoon in Riyadh or other cities of the kingdom.

The capital was gridded from morning by security forces, and dozens of police cars took up positions in Olaya, a commercial area in northern Riyadh.

Around the mosque where a demonstration was to start, hundreds of police were deployed and checked the identities of drivers.

No events have been reported in Jeddah, the major port city in western kingdom.

The situation was also quiet in the eastern province, according to a witness.

The police were heavily deployed in the Shiite region where three protesters were injured Thursday night when police dispersed a demonstration in Al-Qatif calling for the release of prisoners, witnesses said.

But according to a Saudi official, a protester fired at police who returned fire."The man was wounded and arrested," the official said on condition of anonymity.

The Shiites, who form 10% of the estimated 28 million Saudis consider themselves victims of discrimination in the kingdom ruled by a Sunni dynasty which advocates a strict vision of Islam.

Saudi authorities have recently reminded that demonstrations were banned in the kingdom.

A view that their American ally disagrees: "What we told the Saudis and everyone in the region (Middle East) is that we will support a set of universal values," he Thursday said Ben Rhodes, an advisor to President Barack Obama.

These values ​​include "the right to assemble peacefully, freedom of expression," he said.

The activists behind the calls for protest, often based abroad, also demand a minimum wage to 10,000 riyals (2,667 dollars) and job creation for Saudis in a country where unemployment is estimated at more than 10% and 30% among those aged 20 to 30 years.

On 23 February, King Abdullah announced a package of social measures for more than 35 billion dollars. Other Gulf states have followed suit and Thursday, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) has provided financial support of $ 20 billion in Bahrain and Oman, two members most affected by the wave of revolt.

Obama lifted the suspension of military trials at Guantanamo Exception

The U.S. president Barack Obama will lift the suspension of new military trials at Guantanamo exception and decided to rules governing the indefinite detention of prisoners in U.S. military base on the island of Cuba, said Monday the White House .

"The Defense Secretary will issue a decree annulling its previous suspension of the submission of new charges in military courts," said the American presidency in a statement.

The suspension of new military trials at Guantanamo had been one of the earliest actions of President Obama, the very day he took office January 20, 2009.

In the case of Guantanamo detainees who have been neither charged nor convicted and are not likely to be transferred to a third country, Obama gave the order to conduct "regular reviews crossings," and detailed process.

The White House, however, assured that "the administration remains committed to closing the prison at Guantanamo and maintain a system of legal custody, and based on sustainable principles."

She also renewed the commitment of the administration to try to try selected detainees in federal courts.

On January 22, 2009, Obama had signed a decree ordering the closure in the year of the prison of his predecessor, George W. Bush.But this promise was not fulfilled, largely because of congressional initiatives.

After putting a spoke in the wheels of Obama by prohibiting the coming of Guantanamo detainees on American soil for anything other than trial, the Congress decided in December to ban the Pentagon in 2011 to use its funds to close Guantanamo and in particular for any "transfer, release or assistance" to inmates in the United States.

TUNISIA: Beji Caid Mohammed Ghannouchi Essebsi replaced as Prime Minister

AFP - Beji Caid Essebsi, Sunday appointed Prime Minister of Tunisia, replacing Mohamed Ghannouchi, challenged for being the last leader of the ousted government of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, is reputed to be a liberal.

Born November 26, 1926 a family Tunis, Mr. Kingpin Essebsi, a lawyer by training, has been a companion of Habib Bourguiba, the first president of independent Tunisia, holding several ministerial posts including those of the Interior, Defense and Foreign Affairs.

Following the independence of Tunisia in 1956, he joined the government as an advisor to Habib Bourguiba, before being appointed Director General of State Security, and in 1965 Minister of Interior.It is then defense minister from November 1969 until June 1970.

Longtime Socialist Party Destour, Bourguiba's party, from which he retired in 1971 calling for political reforms in the country, Mr. Essebsi joined in 1978 the Movement of Socialist Democrats (MDS), a group of Liberal opposition.

In December 1971, he rejoined the government as Minister Delegate to the Prime Minister Mohamed Mzali, who then attempted a political opening.

Appointed April 15, 1981 Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Kingpin Essebsi spent nearly six years as head of the Tunisian diplomacy.The highlight of this passage is his role to snatch the Security Council of UN resolution condemning the Israeli air bombardment of the headquarters of the PLO in Hamma Chott, in the southern suburbs of Tunis.

In 1989 he was elected, then president of the Chamber of Deputies until 1991.

At the expiration of his term as MP in 1994, he resumed his law career until his new appointment to head the transitional government, which must prepare Tunisia to an era of democracy after the fall of President Ben Ali .

Mr.Essebsi Kingpin "is known for his patriotism, his loyalty and selfless service of our country," said Tunisian President Fouad Mebazaa Acting, announcing his appointment in his new role.

AVIATION: EADS revises its offer price of tanker aircraft for the U.S. Army

The European aerospace and defense group EADS has modified the content and price of its final response to the call for tenders to renew the fleet of tanker aircraft to the U.S. Air Force said Wednesday its President North America, Ralph Crosby.

"We've actually revised our proposal and our prices," saidCrosby during a press conference.

EADS, parent company of aircraft manufacturer Airbus and U.S. rival Boeing had announced Thursday they have filed their final offer for the mega-tanker contract, valued at $ 35 billion, they are fighting for many years.

Boeing said it had revised its offer to make it more competitive with Airbus to EADS but had previously refused to say whether he had changed his.

RUSSIA: The bomber Airport Moscow from the Caucasus north

AFP - Russian investigators announced Saturday that the suicide bomber at the Moscow airport was from the volatile Russian Caucasus and that he sought "primarily" to kill strangers, a finding of bad omen Safety Olympics 2014 in Sochi.

The bomber was identified by the Investigation Committee of Russia as a "man of 20 years, from one of the republics of North Caucasus", Southern Region of the country plagued for years to a bloody Islamic rebellion army.

Investigators do not yet want to disclose his name to "identify and arrest the organizers and accomplices" of the attack.However, they stressed that the attack, which killed 35 people Monday, including eight from other countries that Russia was "primarily" foreign citizens.

"It is no coincidence that the terrorist act took place in the arrivals hall for international flights (from Moscow-Domodedovo airport).Investigators said the terrorist attack aimed to kill before all foreign nationals, "said the spokesman.

According to the list of victims published by the Government, 27 Russians were killed and two citizens of Tajikistan, an Uzbek citizen, two Austrians, a German, a Ukrainian and a Briton.

Tracking the Caucasus

This is the first time that an attack in Moscow is admittedly authorities before any foreigners, while many observers question the ability of Russia to guarantee the security of the Olympic Games of Winter 2014 in Sochi, a city along the Black Sea located a few hundred kilometers from unstable areas of the Caucasus.

Investigators had not given any official information on the progress of their investigations since Monday, but many police sources had told the Russian media that the track was largely Caucasian privileged.

All suicide bombings in recent years Moscow has been claimed by the Islamist rebels Caucasians, like the double attack in the Moscow subway in March 2010 which had killed 40 people.

The attack Monday in the main airport in Russia has still not been claimed, but the fact that the bomber is from the Caucasus suggests that rebels in the region are the organizers.

After the first Chechen war (1994-1996) between Russian forces and separatist rebellion has gradually Islamized and has increasingly spilled over the borders Chechnya to become the mid-2000s in an armed Islamist movement active in all the North Caucasus.

Outside Chechnya, the republics of Ingushetia, Dagestan and Kabardino-Balkaria are regularly the scene of bombings and armed attacks, which generally target security forces.

The Russian Committee of Inquiry has also confirmed Saturday the information revealed by the press that the Islamists had attempted to commit a suicide attack Dec. 31 in Moscow.

The bomb exploded accidentally, however, according to press reports, in a room of a sports complex in the district of Kuzminki. Four suspects were arrested, according to the Committee.

Investigators ensure that the attack Domodedovo and attempting to attack Dec. 31 are "not linked", but both were committed by "armed groups operating in different Caucasian republics."

The Investigation Committee does not mention by cons in its press Razdoboudko Vitali, 32, a Russian convert to Islam than the Russian press had for several days as the number one suspect for the attack at the airport.