LIGUE 1: Lille is a giant step towards the title, PSG wins

REUTERS - Lille took another step towards his first title of champion of France for over half a century from win (2-1) Tuesday night in Saint-Etienne in advanced match of the 35th day of Ligue 1 .

Two goals from Tulio De Melo and Rio Mavuba, after an initial advantage for the Greens, allow Losc bring their lead to seven points in Marseille, which hosts Brest Wednesday.

However, Paris Saint-Germain has seen his hopes of delighting in Lyon the third qualifying place for the preliminary round of the Champions League dwindle after conceding a draw (2-2) at Parc des Princes against Nancy.

The people of Nancy, struggling to avoid relegation, were conducted twice and reached the mark every time to revert to their opponents.

After this result, PSG has a point behind the third, Birmingham, which moves Wednesday with another ill-classified, Auxerre.

In Stade Geoffroy-Guichard not completely filled, the ASSE opened the scoring in the 5th minute by his center-forward Emmanuel Rivière, well placed to take a shot rejected by Lille goalkeeper Mickael Landreau.

Ten minutes later, the Losc reacted and center Frank Beria from the left, Tulio De Melo mistaken Jeremie Janot an outside right foot.

Master Lille

Stéphanois were about to take the lead shortly after on a penalty whistled for a foul on River, but turned away Landreau hits Bakary Sako.

In the second half, the championship leader showed his technical mastery and collective and finally took the lead through captain Rio Mavuba, author of a magnificent strike from thirty yards (66th) deflected by Sylvain Monsoreau.

At Park, Parisians were detached input through a head of his victorious Turkish striker Mevlut Erding, on receipt of a center for Ludovic Giuly (4th).

But the visitors back into the game on a penalty converted by Lee N'Guemo for a foul on Christophe Jallet Feret into the surface.

In this action, Jallet handed a red card and PSG found himself with ten men after 21 minutes of play

But the Parisians showed their mental strength this season and they regained the advantage in injury time through Zoumana Camara on a flawless delivery of Guillaume Hoarau.

In the second half, Youssouf Hadji, entered the match just minutes before, brought the heads of the two teams tied (69th).

Nancy and PSG also ended the game tied in terms of numbers when Lemaitre picking up a second yellow card mean expulsion (71).

TUNISIA: Alain Juppe went to Tunis for the Tunisians of French support

In Tunis, the parade of French ministers continues. After Christine Lagarde, Laurent Wauquiez, Pierre Lellouche, Nathalie Kociusko-Morizet and Frédéric Lefebvre, it was the turn of the head of French diplomacy Alain Juppe to stand at the head of the Tunisian democracy recovering. The Foreign Minister went there Wednesday and Thursday for a two-day visit.

Three months after the fall of the regime of former president Ben Ali, Tunisia is struggling to find its bearings.Despite elections scheduled on July 24, the country has already experienced two Prime Ministers and the economy is still suffering.

In 2011, various estimates put economic growth in Tunisia between 0 and 1%, weighed down by the very slow recovery of the tourism industry.

Bilateral diplomacy eroded

Beyond its economic aspect, the visit of Alain Juppe in Tunis must be the starting point for normalizing relations between the two countries.Having shown his mistakes in the handling of the case of Tunisia, the Quai d'Orsay - then headed by Michelle Alliot-Marie - has increased clumsiness.

Replacing its ambassador Pierre Ménat, January 26, 2011, had initially been perceived favorably by the Tunisians. The choice of his successor, Boris Boillon, came quickly undermine the efforts of French diplomacy.

Boillon, a close ally of President Sarkozy, was forced to apologize publicly after a series of exchanges unhappy with Tunisians. He specifically described as "stupid" and "nonsense" questions of journalists.Boillon was maintained, but events are regularly held in Tunisia demanding his departure.

Convince the Tunisians that France supports

Three months after the fall of Ben Ali, France has stepped up calls to support the country's economic recovery. But in fact the purse strings are still struggling to extricate itself. All in all, Paris has announced the release of almost anecdotal 350,000 euros under an emergency social assistance to Tunisia.

In Tunis, Alain Juppe's primary mission will be to cope with this heavy legacy and strive to "ensure [its] partners the commitment of France", in his own words.

Court reporters, Alain Juppe tried to emphasize this commitment."Tunisia is not abandoned, he said. We're working hard to help."

On the spot, he must convince its leaders.He should talk to his counterpart Meld Kefi, President Fouad Mebazaa and Prime Minister Beji Caid Essebsi, but also the presidents of the three committees of the transition.

The investment, the cornerstone of recovery

Saturday on the sidelines of a conference held at the Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris, Alain Juppe called for "massive investment to help countries in democratic transition to restore their economic situation and find a sufficient rate of growth."

A subject on which he should agree with the Prime Minister Beji Caid Essebsi Tunisian who acknowledged that his country "needs investment for the future" on the air Tuesday FRANCE 24.

This joint effort towards reconciliation is crucial both for Tunisia for France. If the economic stakes are obvious for Tunis, Paris knows that the success of the democratization process of its neighbors is essential trans in several respects: it will give Europe an additional lever in the sensitive issue of illegal immigration, Tunisia, and may also serve as an inspiration to others who know, too, their "Arab Spring".

NIGERIA: organizational problems require the postponement of legislative and presidential

AFP - The elections, presidential and local governments in Nigeria, most populous country in Africa, have been reported respectively to 9, 16 and 26 April, said Sunday the head of the electoral commission.

"The commission has weighed all options, taking into account the general opinion of Nigerians, and decided to postpone all elections as follows: Saturday, April 9 (for elections) Senate and House of Representatives, Saturday, April 16, presidential election Tuesday, April 26 (elections in) governorates and regional assemblies, "said Attahiru Jega told reporters.

The elections initially scheduled April 2 had already been postponed due to organizational difficulties to 4 April while the presidential poll was originally scheduled for April 9 and April 16 locales.

Many organizational problems

Motions to postpone these elections had been filed by particular political parties and civil society organizations, and the postponement of legislative elections has had an impact on the conduct of other elections.

The Nigerians had placed much hope in the appointment of a respected academic, Attahiru Jega, head of the electoral commission and the President Goodluck Jonathan had promised free and fair elections.

After the discovery Saturday - the day had to hold legislative elections - many organizational problems, with a lack of staff and election materials in many polling stations, the chairman of the electoral commission has determined, in environment of the day to announce a postponement of the poll.

Several human rights and politicians there had been a "national disgrace" but other officials have said a Nigerian was preferable to delay a vote that could be considered "credible".

Following the announcement of the first reactions of the two main political parties were positive, their spokesmen saying that they can better prepare.

"We'll be in a position to get what we need," said Yinka Odumakin, spokesman for the Congress for Democratic Change (CPC), the party of Muhammadu Buhari, the main rival to incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan."We can only hope that the election commission to overcome its problems and prevent all acts of sabotage," he added.

A spokesman for the Action Congress Nigeria, it is a "welcome development". "This shows that the Electoral Commission is sensitive and listens to the people is a Democrat," said Ibrahim Modibbo.

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: The election of a Constituent Assembly announced for July 24

AFP - The Tunisian President Fouad Mebazaa Acting announced Thursday evening in a televised address to the nation, the election July 24 for a Constituent Assembly charged with drafting a new constitution for the post-Ben Ali.

"We announce today entered a new era (...) through a new political system that breaks definitively with the former regime," saidMebazaa.

To do so, elections will be held July 24 for "the formation of a National Constituent Assembly (ANC) who will prepare a new constitution," he added.

"Place to work and stop sit-ins, including the Kasbah (the government district in the heart of Tunis), reacted Ali Ben Romdhane, deputy secretary general of the powerful trade union UGTT (General Union of Tunisian workers) who had contributed to the events that brought down Ben Ali.

"We will work with other political forces to help the public authority to carry out its mission.The agenda is clear, there is more blur, "he told AFP.

"This is a victory of the people and the revolution," he told AFP Hamma Hammami, head of the Tunisian Communist Workers Party (PCOT), while expressing reservations about the particular period "too short four and a half months "he said in the election of the ANC.

Mr. Mebazaa implicitly also announced the dissolution of the current Constitution that "no longer meets the aspirations of the people after the revolution" of January 14 (the fall and flight of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali) and "an obstacle to transparent elections. "

Mr.Mebazaa, whose interim mandate expires on March 15 under the current Constitution, said he would stay in place "Contrary to rumors" that he had lent the intention to withdraw.

"I pledge to continue my mission (...) to the deadline of 15 March," he said.

The interim president and the transitional government, which must be the new Prime Minister Beji Caid Essebsi, will form the "public authority" whose actions "cease the day of the election of the Constituent National Assembly," Has he said.

In view of this election, detailed the president, "a special electoral system" be prepared "at the latest before the end of March" by the "High Committee for the achievement of the revolution, political reform and democratic transition. "

The High Commission now comprises two bodies: the Council and the Commission of Experts, told AFP its chairman, Ben Achour Yadh.

The text will be voting "the subject of consultations within the Council of the High Commission, composed of personalities, representatives of political parties and civil society organizations" who participated in the revolution or have sustained " .

This seems clearly out of the process the Democratic Constitutional Rally (RCD) party of Ben Ali, suspended pending its dissolution by the court.

The acting president urged Tunisians to "get back to work" when the economy is being impacted by problems that peppered the popular uprising that led to the escape of Ben Ali.

A source close to the government, Beji Caid Essebsi expected to announce Friday its transitional government, a cabinet of "technocrats" after the resignation of five ministers two days, two representatives of opposition parties.

This will be the third government since the fall of Ben Ali, the first two having been led by Mohammed Ghannouchi.

FRENCH POLICY: After MAM, Francois Fillon, in turn, attacked on his holidays

After the controversy caused by the escapades of the Tunisian Foreign Minister, Michele Alliot-Marie ("MAM") in December, it was the turn of Prime Minister Francois Fillon, to cross a zone of turbulence. This Wednesday, "Le Canard chained" reveals that family vacations as head of government has spent in Egypt at Christmas time were partly paid by the Egyptian authorities ...Anticipating the release of the weekly satirical French, Matignon Tuesday detailed the conditions that trip along the Nile, which ran from December 26 to January 2.

In the statement issued by the Prime Minister, it is stipulated that Francois Fillon, his wife and children, were sheltered by the regime and used a plane "of the government fleet" graciously provided by Cairo for a tour the whole family Fillon at Abu Simbel. "He also made a boat trip on the Nile under the same conditions", further clarify the text.

"Mixing genres"

"The hierarchy is respected, the Prime Minister has hit even harder than the Minister of State," quipped on his side "Le Canard chained" which states that the device used by the leader of the French government during his stay in Egypt belonged President Hosni Mubarak himself. "How can we demand the departure of a chief of state and have a critical eye on his diet when you become indebted to him?" Went on air on FRANCE 24 Brigitte Rossigneux, the journalist who signed the article in the satirical newspaper.She says "do not mix genres, because it was not a State visit, but rather a private residence with his wife and children."

For his part, Martine Aubry, the boss of the Socialist Party (PS) expressed "dismay" by this new case, saying the government had "lost the sense of public spirit." The Minister of Labour, Employment and Health, Xavier Bertrand, François Fillon responded that "[could] not behave like tourists."His stay in Egypt was responding to "safety," he said, accusing the opposition to the passage to draw "a smokescreen".

This revelation comes as the Foreign Minister Michele Alliot-Marie is accused of having used it twice in late 2010, the private jet of a businessman close to the famous clan Tunisian Ben Ali on the occasion of his holiday in Tunisia.Overwhelmed by opposition calls for his resignation last week, criticized by the media, the patron saint of French diplomacy fought back as best they could attack which is the subject and has received support from Matignon.

Specifically French Republic and impeccable

If the holiday in Tunisia and MMA Francois Fillon in Egypt have certainly taken place in different contexts - those of the Minister of Foreign Affairs took place in Tunisia full revolution while those of the Prime Minister were held before the uprising in courses in Cairo - these two cases converge on one point: to reveal a common practice at the top of the French state which is being offered for travel and private stays abroad by authoritarian regimes ...

The daily Le Parisien "and recalls in its Wednesday edition" African hunting parties "of former President Valery Giscard d'Estaing in the Central, then headed by the capricious and violent Emperor Bokassa," the holidays Mitterrand in Aswan, "or" Cuban cruises Jack Lang, "the former Culture Minister, on the yacht Fidel Castro. According to Brigitte Rossigneux, "a story like that would have triggered the immediate resignation of the minister implicated in countries such as Canada or the United States."

Yet if these two cases are as loud today because they add to the recent controversy arising from the case-Woerth Bettencourt and the resignations of Secretary of State for Greater Paris, Christian Blanc and Secretary of State for Cooperation and Francophony, Alain Joyandet, last July. The first was forced to leave his post after it was learned that he had paid his personal cigars by his department to the tune of 12,000 euros. The second had rented, meanwhile, a private jet for a total of 116,500 euros for a ministerial trip to the West Indies.A series of law that undermines the "Republic impeccable" advocated by President Nicolas Sarkozy during his presidential campaign in 2007. The latter has also asked Wednesday his team at the Council of Ministers, now "focus on France" for their holidays and approval by the Prime Minister their invitations abroad.

TUNISIA: At least two people dead during a demonstration against the police in Kef

The Tunisian government is betting on Saturday on an improved security situation, lowering again the curfew, but remains vigilant about security and social situation remains uncertain, three weeks after the fall of Ben Ali.

Two people were killed Saturday in clashes between protesters and police in the town of El Kef (North-west), told AFP a source at the Interior Ministry.

According to union sources attached to Kef, 200 to 300 people had gathered to demand the departure of the head of the local police.

The demonstration degenerated into clashes when it slapped a protester, to the anger of the mob who burnt the police station.The police responded by firing two demonstrators and 19 and 49 have been killed, according to these same sources.

The previous day, several hundred people protested outside a police station in Sidi Bouzid (center) after the death of two people who were detained there. Three police cars were torched, according to a witness contacted by AFP.

Two security officers suspected of involvement were arrested Saturday, said the official news agency TAP.

For the Minister of Interior, Farhat Rajhi, it is a crime that could be the work of supporters of the former regime.

The authorities announced Friday a reduction of two hours of the curfew will apply from this Saturday from 0:00 to 4:00 local, "because of improved security in the country."

Britain had also lifted its warning Friday about travel in Tunisia.

Vital for the country, tourism is expected to regain its level in the spring before the troubles that have driven thousands of foreigners, on Friday assured Tourism Minister Mahdi Houas.

CEO Fram second French tour operator, said Saturday in Tunis that his group was "fully prepared to support the revival of tourism."

Tunisia "has been and continues to be one of the top destinations Fram Voyages with over 100,000 French tourists a year," said Antoine Cachin, following a meeting with Tourism Minister Mehdi Houas.

The curfew was eased for the first time January 26 (2200-04HOO) since its inception on the 12th of that month, two days before the flight of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.

The transitional government did not fall so far custody. The memory of the "assault" given Monday by hundreds of people against the Ministry of Interior is still fresh.

The minister had to flee the building and spoke the day after a "conspiracy against the state."

The Government is also facing a persistent social unrest in the phosphate mines of Gafsa (center-west) crippled by job seekers who block sites.

For two weeks, two public companies CPG (Gafsa Phosphates Company) and Groupe Chimique Tunisien (GCT) lose about 3 million dinars (1.5 million) each day, according to TAP.

While twelve members of the European parliament Saturday continued their mission of support and information in Tunis, the French Socialist Party has provided "support to all democratic forces engaged in the construction of a new Tunisia", after a mission in the country.

Not a day goes by now without the team in charge of the transition does not receive outside support.

Denmark and he announced a strengthening of support for democratic reform in Tunisia but also in Egypt, with a budget of 1.34 million euros to include "free media and civil society."