SYRIA: Damascus regime predicted the imminent end of the revolt

It is a media outlet even more remarkable that Syrian officials were not usually speak in Western media. Boutheina Shaaban, Special Advisor to President Bashar al-Assad - who often takes on the role of spokesperson - awarded the "New York Times an interview in which she displays confidence regime against the protests that rocked the country for two months.

"I hope we are going through the end of this story. I think the most dangerous moment is behind us.I hope, I think, "said Councillor journalists from U.S. daily, which had special permission to enter a couple of hours in the country to meet briefly with their interlocutor.

Since the beginning of the protest movement, Syria is in effect closed to journalists and the few reports emerging about the violence between security forces and opponents of the regime come from witnesses and activists of human rights.

On Monday, the Syrian Observatory of Human Rights (OSDH) has reported that authorities have made further arrests in the capital, Damascus and Banias, a town on the Mediterranean coast.Since the beginning of the revolt in mid-March, between 600 and 700 people were killed and at least 8,000 arrested, according to NGOs.

In this regard, Boutheina Shaaban justified in the New York Times "the repressive regime, which" may not be sympathetic with people who lead an armed rebellion. "

Sanctions "manageable"

The international community does not share this analysis. The sanctions against 13 officials and Syrian arms embargo adopted by the European Union (EU) to halt "repression against the people" came into force on Tuesday.

Among these leaders face particular Maher al-Assad, younger brother of Syrian president and head of the Republican Guard, officials said Tuesday morning.The Head of State, himself, is currently not covered by the EU sanctions.

The United States has in turn imposed economic sanctions on officials of the country and warned Friday that they could adopt new measures if Damascus did not put an end to repression.

But these retaliatory measures do not undermine the optimism of the plan. In the interview with U.S. newspaper, Councillor Bashar al-Assad believes that these sanctions are manageable. "This is a form of pressure that has often been used against us. Just arrange a time that our country will be safe again. We're not going to live forever this crisis," says she.

SYRIA: The Council for Human Rights convened at the request of Washington

The Commission on Human Rights UN meets on Friday for a special session on Syria at the request of the United States who want a resolution on violence committed during the repression is adopted.

This special meeting of the 47 member states of the Geneva-based organization was convened on Wednesday by the United States.Fifteen countries have signed the application session, including France, Britain, Spain, Japan, Poland, Switzerland, Mexico, Zambia and Senegal.

This session comes as the Security Council failed Wednesday to agree on a statement condemning the repression in Syria and that representatives of 27 countries of the European Union (EU) are to meet Friday Brussels to discuss possible sanctions against Damascus.

The Council meeting should start at 11:00 (0900).

"We expect members of the Council of Human Rights they call the government of Syria to fulfill its responsibility to protect its people and stop these attacks," noted the U.S. ambassador to the Council, Eileen Donahoe.

"The international community has been shocked by the hundreds of civilians killed in peaceful political demonstrations last week," she added.

The crackdown on protests against the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Syria killed at least 107 dead between Friday and Sunday, as the High Commission of the United Nations for Human Rights, which requested the initiation of an investigation into these events.

The UN media release a first draft resolution prepared by the countries that have requested the holding of the session, asking "urgent dispatch of an independent commission of inquiry and internationally to investigate alleged human rights violations rights in Syria. "

The Commission on Human Rights meets in special sessions rarely but they generally lead to the adoption of a joint resolution, as on February 25 concerning Libya.

For NGOs, this attention on Syria could jeopardize the recent nomination to the Council of Syrian human rights.

In early March, Damascus has in fact formally launched his candidacy for one of the available seats in the Council of Human Rights, based in Geneva and consists of 47 members.

IMMIGRATION: The Tunisian migrants in the heart of a summit between France and Italy

AFP - President Nicolas Sarkozy met Tuesday in Rome, the prime minister Silvio Berlusconi to try to ease tensions arising between France and Italy on the issue of immigrants from Tunisia, Libya and the acquisition of French in the Peninsula.

Immigration and Review of the Treaty of Schengen free movement will be the most sensitive points of the summit, taking place in the bucolic setting of the Villa Madama, sixteenth century mansion surrounded by gardens on the banks of the Tiber.

France "does not suspend Schengen" but "review the safeguard clauses in special circumstances," he assured Henry Guaino, special adviser to Nicolas Sarkozy.

Italy supports a kind of "technical control" to determine how the treaty was adapted to current realities, "said chief diplomat Italian Franco Frattini

On 17 April, Paris had raised the ire of Rome in suspending the movement of trains from the Italian town of Ventimiglia to France, saying that a train with onboard demonstrators wanting accompany Tunisian immigrants posed a risk to public .

France was upset by Italy, which has decided to grant residence permits of six months to more than 20,000 Tunisians arrived on its shores since January so they can join "friends and family" in France and elsewhere in Europe.

Other friction: Libya, where the peak position of France upset Italy, the former colonial power which it has significant economic interests.

Again, following a winded departure from Italy, which has been reluctant to release his ally Muammar Gaddafi, the positions converge: both countries have officially recognized the Libyan rebellion and sent military advisers on the spot.

Finally, MM.Sarkozy and Berlusconi should address the "problem" of the thirst for acquisition of French groups in the peninsula: LVMH and Bulgari grabbed the dairy group Lactalis is party to storm the local giant Parmalat.

All these topics should be addressed during this summit-flash, which begins at 0900 GMT and will result in a joint press conference expected around 1030 GMT.

BURKINA FASO: Mutiny on the presidential guard of disorder in Ouagadougou

AFP - The head of state of Burkina Faso Blaise Compaore left Ouagadougou facing a mutiny by soldiers of his presidential guard to his hometown, located about thirty miles north of the capital, officials said Friday, a military source .

President Compaore, in power for 24 years, who usually resides at the presidential palace in Ouagadougou which is a party mutiny, has left on the night of Thursday to Friday to visit Ziniaré, the city where he was born, the source said.

Dozens of soldiers from the presidential regiment divided two barracks in the capital, including one inside the walls of the residence of Mr.Compaore, mutinied on Thursday evening to protest against non-payment of premium housing that was promised to them.

They took to the streets, firing into the air, looted many shops in the city center and torched the home of General Diendiéré Gilbert, Chief of Staff of Blaise Compaore as well as that of two other officers , said a journalist from AFP.

Several people, civilians, have been "slightly injured" when looting the home of one of those officers, according to a military source.

The mutiny was then extended to three other barracks in Ouagadougou.

"Discussions were held with the rebels and they are trying to lay down their weapons," a military source said an AFP reporter who did hear gunfire in the morning near the three barracks.

Late March, soldiers angry protesting against the conviction and imprisonment of some of their comrades charged in sex cases and rape, had seized weapons in war garrisons in several cities, including Ouagadougou.

They had already fired in the air in the streets, looted shops and released some of their imprisoned comrades.

After these incidents, President Compaore had met all the components of its army, privates to generals, and announced the "end of the crisis" after these meetings.

JAPAN: Discovery of a crack in the No. 2 reactor in Fukushima

Technicians working tirelessly to rugged central Fukushima discovered Saturday that the highly radioactive water flowed into the ocean from a well cracked, announced the company operating the site.

"Today around 9:30 (0030 GMT), workers have discovered that water from a radioactivity of 1.000 mSv per hour had accumulated in a well" near the sea, an official said Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO).

"They realized that the well was a crack of 20 cm and radioactive water escaped into the sea," he added.

TEPCO intends to plug the crack and perform analysis of the level of radioactivity in seawater, by taking samples near the plant and three locations located 15 kilometers from the site, said spokesperson.

TEPCO announced Thursday that measured in seawater collected at 300 meters south of the central rate of radioiodine 4,385 times the legal limit.

The Japanese authorities make every effort to avert the risk of nuclear catastrophe in Fukushima (northeastern Japan), while continuing radioactive releases that are sustainable and pollution fears of widespread environmental.

To keep the oil at a temperature below the melting point, thousands of tons of water were dumped on the reactors. Consequence of this "wash", huge quantities of contaminated water seeped into the crawl underground and runoff into the Pacific Ocean nearby.

This accumulation of highly radioactive water in the site is very problematic in terms of storage and treatment and severely hindering operations to boost the cooling circuits of the plant.

The situation in Fukushima "remains very serious," said Friday the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

TUNISIA - Feature: The flight of migrant workers continues in Egyptian port of Zarzis

The Egyptian military frigate "The Nasser" is the third of its kind to land on for a day in the Tunisian port of Zarzis, 70 km from Ras Jdir, a border post where, for 13 days, thousands of workers to leave Libya to safety.

After landing 25 tons of food, the Egyptian sailors of "Nasser" took over 400 of their countrymen, which will require two to three days at sea to return to their homeland. The passengers, waiting for the departure, look bleak for those who do not know what the future holds. "I returned poorer than when I'm gone", says Mohammed al-Abd al-Sayeh Rabou, province of Kana.

The men carrying bundles or canteens, tell their flight from the hostility of the Libyans.In the aftermath of the revolutions of Tunisia and Egypt, the Egyptians living in Libya have been suspected of being agitators and even echoing the discourse of the "Guide" Muammar Qaddafi, 24 February, "to have distributed drugs to resistant" as reported by Ahmed Hazou, from Al-Mansoura.

The military checkpoints, thirty of the 250 kilometers between the Libyan capital Tripoli, the border crossing, have marked their flight.

Each dam was a pretext for a body search, which it was impossible to escape.Ahmed Hazou had to get rid of its Euro 2000, three telephones and tools for ceramics to avoid being beaten.

Through the words of these men, Libya, and its petrodollars, no longer appears as the El Dorado it has long been the eyes of these young men, driven from their countries by unemployment and population pressure.Neither Mohammed or Ahmed never return, they swear.

Egyptian diplomats present at the port of Zarzis on Saturday, felt that the million and a half Egyptian workers living in Libya, some 500 000 have already fui.12 000 are still capable of crossing the border in coming days if the situation Libya deteriorated.

In addition to 400 evacuees with "The Nasser, 600 others waited to be airlifted to rejoin their families. All Egyptian refugee camp of Shusha, situated at the border will then have left Tunisia.

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.

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.