COTE D'IVOIRE: Violence earn Yamoussoukro, political capital

AFP - Former Ivorian rebels allied with Alassane Ouattara, who hold the north, took Friday two localities in the west under the control of outgoing President Laurent Gbagbo, while violence has won Yamoussoukro, political capital, Abidjan after .

Torn from the November 28 presidential between Laurent Gbagbo and Alassane Ouattara, head of state recognized by the international community, the country descends from a week in the violence.

In the aftermath of fighting in Zouan-Hounien between elements of the former rebel New Forces (FN) and Defence Forces and Security (FDS) loyal to Mr.Gbagbo, the FN held Friday, "the whole city," one resident testified.

An official of the SDS in the area confirmed the capture of this town near the Liberian border by the opponent, but spoke of a "tactical withdrawal".

All units pre-positioned on the SDS old front line from west to east cutting the country since the clashes of 2002-2003 are "on alert", he added.

Going a little further south, the FN has also taken on Friday the small village of Bin Houyé, residents said.Farther south, in the same area, fighting raged throughout the day at the entrance to the great city of Toulépleu, witnesses said.

Fighting in the west but also in Abidjan have pushed 24 hours some 5,000 Ivorians flee to Liberia, said the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. This movement of population brings to nearly 45,000 the number of refugees in Liberia.

In Yamoussoukro (center), and political capital city symbol, the exchange of gunfire during the night left several people injured in the area of pro-Ouattara Dioulabougou, residents said, referring to shootings and firing "at the heavy weapons. "

In Abidjan, the neighborhood of Abobo (north), in favor of Mr.Ouattara, increasingly resembled a war zone after three days of fighting, including rocket launchers, between SDS and insurgents.

"There are bodies everywhere," said one pensioner, terrified.

Tanks were deployed but residents reported a lull on Friday.

Thousands of families fled terrorized however Abobo.Bundles on the head or shoulder, people were walking along a highway along the city zoo in the south.

"We can not stay there! Children cry," he told a mother.

The Gbagbo government has accused the "rebels" FN have "infiltrated" Abobo and other popular areas, with the complicity of the UN mission in the country, UNOCI.

Charles Ble Goude, minister and leader of the "patriotic" pro-Gbagbo, has called on young people to organize themselves into "self-defense committees" to prevent "by all means" to move UNOCI.

"Today it is not the rebels that we are at war, that UNOCI which we did," he said before about 3.000 people gathered in the district of Yopougon (west), the bastion of his champion.

The United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon "strongly deplored" the threats and demanded their "immediate cessation".

At Yopougon also clashes erupted in the morning. Young pro-Ouattara burned a bus and "patriots" have responded by burning several mini-cars ("gbakas"), a mode of transportation deemed controlled by the opposing camp, according to several witnesses. Clashes continued throughout the day.

MIDDLE EAST: The two Iranian warships entered the Suez Canal

AFP - Two Iranian warships entered the Suez Canal on Tuesday at dawn to spend in the Mediterranean, a first since 1979, described as "provocation" by Israel, officials said official sources.

"The two ships (Iranian war) have crossed the canal (Suez) to Tuesday at 5:45 local time (3:35 GMT)" to enter the Mediterranean, told AFP a source of the Canal Authority.

In general, a ship needs 12 to 14 hours to cross the channel.

An official with the Supreme Council of the Egyptian army said Monday night at the private TV Dream, that permission had been given under the Constantinople Convention of 1888 and built which allows the passage of warships through the Suez Canal .

Egypt has allowed both ships to transit the Suez Canal after sending conflicting signals, saying at first did not receive a request for passage and then suggesting that the buildings were indeed blocked.

According to the official news agency Fars, the buildings in question are the Kharg, a supply ship and support of 33,000 tons, and Alvand, a patrol frigate, both of British construction.

The Kharg has a crew of 250 people and can accommodate up to three helicopters.The Alvand is armed with torpedoes and antiship missiles.

Israel, which considers Iran a major threat to its security, denounced on Wednesday a "provocation" by the voice of its Minister of Foreign Affairs, the hawk right nationalist Avigdor Lieberman.

According to Iranian diplomatic sources, the two buildings should visit "routine" of a few days in Syria.

TUNISIA: Hospitalized in Jeddah, the former deposed President Ben Ali would be "in a coma"

AFP - Former Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, 74, who fled his country on 14 January under pressure from the street after 23 years of unchallenged power, is "comatose" for two days in a Jeddah hospital following a stroke, said Thursday AFP close to his family.

"He went into a coma two days ago. He is in hospital in Jeddah," said this source contacted by telephone by the AFP in a Gulf country. "He had a stroke (cerebrovascular accident), it is in a serious condition," she added.

"If he dies, a dictator is gone and I say good riddance. You turn the page, we have other things to do in this country," Adel responded, teacher of 50 years."If her death is confirmed, however, that I say this without divine punishment fell immediately," said a student of 25 years, Amin, interviewed in downtown Tunis. "I object to his burial in our country," he added.

Asked about the hospitalization of Ben Ali, spokesman for the Tunisian government, Taieb Baccouch, has not been able to confirm.He said that "his health will be discussed on Friday by the Cabinet."

The ousted president, who suffers from prostate cancer, and his family fled to Saudi Arabia on January 14 after nearly a month of unprecedented popular protest quelled in blood with dozens of deaths.

The Tunisian newspaper The Daily had published an article Thursday titled "Ben Ali suffered a stroke," citing the blog of a French journalist Nicolas Beau, expert from Tunisia, where he stated that Ben Ali is in serious condition and that for safety reasons, it "would be treated under the identity of a Saudi Emir.

Touafik Ben Brik, the Tunisian dissident journalist who has experienced the jails of the regime of Ben Ali for his critical articles, told AFP he felt "almost in mourning:" I could not forget it is still in us, it's part of our past and it will live long in us. "

One of the most famous Tunisian opposition, the Communist Hama Hammami, said that "it is the fate of all dictators in the world."

Tunisian lawyer for Yadh Ben Achour, president of the national commission of political, hospitalization Ben Ali proves that "there is justice on earth."

Ben Ali has ruled the country by building his regime on a balance between iron fist based on a policy now disgraced and prosperity, which eventually failed, causing his fall.

Father of six children, three from his first marriage, it appeared the last time often accompanied by his wife Leila Trabelsi.According to observers, he seemed fragile and under the influence of her husband's family accused of grip on the economy.

The revolt against the government began in Sidi Bouzid (West Central) after the suicide in mid-December Bouazizi Mohammed, an unemployed youth of 26 years unable to perform as a peddler by police and became the symbol of the frustration of young people in this country where unemployment is nearly 30% of young people.

The riots had gradually taken a political turn, had spread throughout the country and had won the capital affecting the bourgeois elites.The army played a vital role by refusing to fire on demonstrators at the height of the controversy.

Since his departure, the assets of the deposed president were frozen in several countries, many family members were arrested and international arrest warrant was issued against him and his wife.

Since then, a transitional government led by former Prime Minister Mohamed Ghannouchi and comprising members of the former opposition, promised to devote pluralism and democracy. The first free elections - presidential and legislative-are planned in 6 months.An amnesty law is foreseen and the legalization of former opposition parties banned.

The new authorities, who continue to face social instability and a strong political protest, fear a "conspiracy" of the former regime loyalists.

EGYPT: Hundreds of protesters are resisting Tahrir Square

The Egyptian army began Sunday to dismantle the institutions of the regime of Hosni Mubarak after the ousted president has ceded power Friday night. The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces has announced the dissolution of the People's Assembly and Shura Council, both Houses of Parliament, and the suspension of the Constitution.Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, head of the Council, also said he would preside over the destiny of the country to organize the next parliamentary and presidential elections, that Mubarak had planned before his departure in six months.

Decisions that consider Cairenes whole "positive," according to Melissa Bell, special correspondent for FRANCE 24 in Egypt. But the political transition will be difficult.

Thousands of Egyptians gathered in Tahrir Square on Sunday night (instead of "Liberation", in French), Cairo, refused to leave the scene to "maintain pressure on the new government," said Melissa Bell."They told us to collect our belongings quickly or they would fall over," said Sunday, a protester at the microphone from our correspondents. "The army wants to suppress the revolution for failing to meet the demands of the demonstrators, they make us ... just promises," confided another. Some scuffles broke out elsewhere between soldiers and dozens of demonstrators. But all the protesters were asked to leave the square, the symbol of revolution, on Monday under the threat of the army that threatens to arrest them if they insist on staying.

Traffic has resumed for the first time in twenty days, around Tahrir Square. The soldiers removed all their dams, but maintain a significant presence.A return to normal as the organizers wanted the protest movement, even if they continue to call for holding events every Friday.Nagib Ahmed, spokesman of the "supervisory board of the revolution", explained on Sunday afternoon, the protesters "will come each week to celebrate our victory but also to ask the highest military authorities to respect its commitments."

Egypt in the post-Mubarak faithful to its international obligations

According to the Special Envoy of FRANCE 24, "the population as a whole, but trusted the military remains vigilant, because the army has still not responded to two of their demands: the release of political prisoners and the lifting of state of emergency."

For his part, Prime Minister Ahmed Shafik, said his first priority was to "restore security and facilitate the daily lives of the people." He also assured that the former president was still in the resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, bordering the Red Sea, denying rumors of a move abroad.

Sunday always, nearly 1 000 police officers have also filed past the Interior Ministry to demand higher wages, better working conditions and the sentencing to death of their former minister, Habib el-Adli, revoked under pressure Street at the end of January.Accused of corruption and despised by much of the population, the police wanted to gather "for their honor." "We are not traitors," have we heard in the processions. They assured that they had received orders to brutally suppress the protests that began on January 25.

Side of international relations, Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi said the country remained committed by its international treaties and obligations. A message intended to allay the concerns of the United States and Israel about the future of the peace accords Israeli-Egyptian, who make Cairo a key partner for peace efforts in the region.

Appeal to Florence last chance Break Thursday

Cassez, sentenced to 60 years in prison in Mexico for kidnapping and maintains his innocence, should be attached to his fate on Thursday, with the review by three judges of the cassation appeal, after five years and two months already spent in locks.

The French had been arrested Dec. 8, 2005 on a road from Cuernavaca (center) in Mexico with his former partner, Israel Vallarta, suspected by police of leading a criminal group, "Los Zodiaco", which would have been its credit a dozen kidnappings.

The next morning at dawn, police had arranged before the Mexican television cameras, a scene of arrest and Break Vallarta on a ranch where three hostages were held.The assembly was falsely presented as a live arrest.

Now aged 36 years, Florence Break has always protested his innocence and said she was unaware of the activities of Vallarta, which is still awaiting trial.

She was sentenced to 96 years in prison in the first instance in April 2008 for four kidnappings, involvement in a criminal conspiracy and weapons possession.This sentence was reduced on appeal to 60 years in prison in March 2009.

For advocates of the young woman, the cassation appeal (amparo) filed in August 2010 suggests that all the charges "built on sand" on "falsified evidence."

At the beginning of the case, the opinion was unanimous Mexican Cassez been hostile to media and the verdict was no appeal against the "evil French".

But since the conviction on appeal, the activities of lawyers and press-depth investigations have cast doubt in circles wider and wider in Mexico.

In November, the French received two notable supporters: that the Catholic Church of Mexico and a former federal Attorney-General, the equivalent of the Minister of Justice.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy, convinced of the innocence of Florence Break, was personally involved in defending the young woman with whom he has since maintained regular telephone contacts for almost three years.

The announcement of the conviction on appeal from the French, just days before the visit of French president in Mexico in March 2009 and, three months after the formal refusal of Mexican President Felipe Calderon to consider a transfer to France, had emerged as a snub to France.

Associations of Mexican kidnap victims are most opposed to any leniency towards the French.Wednesday night again, four of them have urged the judiciary and the Mexican government to "not yield to pressure the French government" in the case of Florence Break, on behalf of the fight against impunity.

The Embassy of France in Mexico responded in a statement condemning the "direct pressure on the judicial power" exercised by these organizations on the eve of a trial in cassation.

"Many Mexican institutions and individuals have rallied to denounce what they consider serious irregularities and violations of safeguards that have characterized this case since the initial assembly, which in itself casts doubt on the whole the judicial process, "said the embassy.

HAITI: Former President Aristide is no longer persona non grata in Port-au-Prince

The Haitian government has a diplomatic passport issued Monday for former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, giving him the opportunity to enter the country of which he was ousted by an armed insurrection in 2004, told AFP an official Haiti.

"The passport was issued Monday. All the formalities have been completed," the official said under condition of anonymity.

The passport must be presented to a lawyer for Mr. Aristide, Ira Kurzban. The latter, based in Miami, was unable to confirm this information.

"If they issued a passport, they have not told me," said the lawyer told AFP.Asked about the chances of a quick return of the former president in Port-au-Prince, Mr. Kurzban said: "I think it comes close, but we're not there yet."

The lawyer, who was recently in Port-au-Prince, plans to return to the Haitian capital in the coming days, but he would not say when.

The Haitian government announced last week that he was willing to surrender a passport to the former president if he so requested.

In a statement released mid-January, Mr.Aristide installed in South Africa, explained wanting to return home for medical reasons and also "to help serve my brothers and sisters in Haiti as a private citizen in the field of education."

If his return is confirmed, Mr. Aristide still popular among the poor, would be the second former president to return to Haiti after Jean-Claude Duvalier.The former dictator "Baby Doc" has returned to Port-au-Prince on January 16 after 25 years of exile in France, while the country was facing a crisis consecutive election in the first round of the disputed presidential election on November 28.

The outgoing president, Rene Preval, had originally due to hand this Monday, Feb. 7, but its mandate is extended, pending the second round of presidential elections, scheduled March 20. The consultation will oppose Mirlande Manigat, an intellectual age 70, the singer Michel Martelly, 49.

The Electoral Council has reversed last week's first round results, excluding the race of the candidate Mr.Preval, Jude Celestin.

Jean-Bertrand Aristide, 57, a former opponent of the Duvalier dictatorship (1957-86) and priest advocate of "liberation theology", was first elected to lead the country in 1990 before being expelled the country eight months later by a military coup.

Revenue at the head of state in October 1994 through a military intervention by the United States, he completed his term in 1996, leaving power to his heir, the current President Rene Preval.

The former slum priest, relieved of his vows by the Vatican for a dispensation to marry, was reelected in November 2000.But he was forced into exile in February 2004 under the threat of armed insurrection coupled with international pressure, including U.S. and France, who accuse it of incompetence.

EGYPT: New mass demonstrations are expected across the country

Further demonstrations are planned Friday in Egypt at the invitation of the protest movement that hopes to make the day of departure of President Hosni Mubarak, after 10 days of protests and unprecedented bloodshed in the country.

Organizers hope to raise as Jan. 28, one million people after the weekly Muslim prayer at the beginning of the afternoon.

According to the journalist Christiane Amanpour of the ABC, the Vice-President of Egypt Omar Suleiman, met during an interview with Mr.Mubarak in Cairo, told him that the army deployed reinforcements would use "never" force against the population.

After dismissing the appeal of the regime "illegitimate" dialogue, brotherhood Islamist Muslim Brotherhood, reviled by the authorities, felt that the calls for negotiations "will not affect the mass rallies planned Friday to bring down the regime ".

The opposition, composed also of secular parties and movements from civil society as the National Coalition for the change that has formed around the Nobel Peace Mohamed ElBaradei, has made the immediate departure of Mr Mubarak's condition to negotiate with the regime.

Mr.Sulaiman said that the request amounted to a "call to chaos" and urged the protesters to leave the Tahrir Square, the epicenter of protest in Cairo.

On the night of Thursday to Friday on Tahrir Square, thousands of protesters have again defied the curfew at night, camping in tents and warming themselves around fires after a day of intermittent clashes between opponents and supporters of M .Mubarak.

The latter, according to Ms. Amanpour, assured to have "enough to be president," said wanted to "give up power now, but he could not do so for fear that the country could descend into chaos."

For its part, the New York Times has assured Washington that talks with Egyptian officials the terms of an immediate departure of Hosni Mubarak and the transfer of power to a transitional government led by Omar Suleiman, a project to gather support of the Egyptian army.

Mr.Mubarak said Tuesday he does not be seeking a sixth term in the presidential elections of September but this ad has not softened street.

At the same time, the authorities opted for the hard way by arresting seven young leaders of the protest movement, after meeting with Mohamed ElBaradei, the opponent, according to relatives.

At least eight people were killed and over 800 injured Wednesday and Thursday morning in violent clashes between the two camps.More than 300 people died in the first week of protest, according to an unconfirmed report of the UN.

Dozens of foreign journalists were beaten, arrested or intimidated these days, and no television has broadcast images live from Tahrir Square on the night of Thursday to Friday.

A foreigner of unknown nationality was beaten to death nearby, witnesses and rescue services.

Thursday, hundreds of supporters of the regime armed with clubs, knives and some guns, prevented the entrance for several hours on the place of reinforcements or supplies to opponents who are holed up.

The army, the backbone of the system, monitors without intervene.It is rarely intervened to disperse the players or try to save people assaulted.

Other supporters of the plan, posted on the bridge on October 6, threw stones and Molotov cocktails on the opponents. Pavers and curb stone were used as projectiles and barricades were erected.

The authority has rejected accusations that he orchestrated the violence, pointing to the Muslim Brotherhood, the main opposition force.

The West has condemned these attacks. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton condemned "in strongest terms" attacks against journalists, calling on security forces to protect them.She also called for "serious negotiations" between the immediate government and opposition "to a peaceful transition and in good order" in Egypt.

In Berlin, the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said it was "outrageous and totally unacceptable" the repression in Egypt against the media and human rights.

Faced with the alarming situation, Western leaders are maintaining pressure on Mr. Mubarak in calling for an immediate transition of power.

The international community also continues to assist its citizens to leave the country.

Despite the troubles, the Pentagon has assured he would not stop supplying arms to its ally Egypt.Its annual military support amounted to $ 1.3 billion.

U.S. intelligence has warned the Obama administration unrest in Egypt in late 2010, said Thursday before Congress an intelligence official.

Mr. Mubarak, 82, is accused of all evils in this country of 83 million people-poverty, unemployment, deprivation of liberty and police state.

This wave of social protest and political unprecedented swept Egypt since January 25, after Tunisia, which has seen the flight of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali under pressure from the street.