CHAMPIONS LEAGUE: With Messi, Barca is a great step towards the final

This Act III of the series of "clasicos" which pitted FC Barcelona and Real Madrid, was expected by all Europe football. Even if Barca, winning 2-0 at the Bernabeu, made a big step towards the final of the Champions League, the summit has finally given birth to a mouse.

In his den the Santiago-Bernabeu, Real Madrid, Mourinho has opted expected to refuse the game and wait for his opponent to trap it against the best. The strategy of "Soft" does not work. Worse, it has sealed his team and especially given the "clasico" a bitter taste, where the physical commitment took precedence over the talents of 22 actors.

On the ground, the tactical duel between Mourinho and Guardiola has materialized into open warfare.By the half, the goalkeeper of Barcelona, ​​Pinto was sent off after an altercation with Arbeloa in the corridor leading to the locker room.

At the hour mark, defender Pepe also distinguished himself by engaging in an actual attack on Dani Alves and won a red turn. Mourinho exceeded, then went after the refereeing corps and was expelled in the wake.

Three "facts of the game" finally culmination of a meeting that never gave way to the beautiful game it promised on paper.And that would almost double from Messi anecdotal, although it will obviously be a determining factor in sporting terms.

2-0 away winners, the Catalans have a foot and a half in the final. And Real will have to show something in the return match in a week if he wants to double its eternal rival in the race for the final of the Champions League.

Clashes in series

Faced with Madrid encamped in defense, Barca took the game very logically to his account from the start. Xavi reserved the first chance of the game by clearing a heavy strike from 30 meters in the axis.Casillas, well placed, capturing the carefree leather (5th).

In the aftermath, Real managed to react, but the attempt of Cristiano Ronaldo, eccentric left, fleeing through the Catalans (6e).

The quarter-hour mark, the match had already significantly muscular. In this flood of rough action, David Villa was trying to turn realize the dominance of Blaugrana. Upon receipt of a beautiful opening signed Xavi, former Valencian transplanted into the shaft and arming a curling shot that passed within inches of cage Madrid (12th).

As we approach the half-hour mark, Barça had clearly taken an advantage over his rival (82% of possession), but was always vague in the area of ​​truth.Xavi, again served by Messi was on the verge of scoring the right but his shot from 6 meters was easily repelled by Casillas (26th).

Paradoxically, the Real, curled up until then was close to making a difference in stoppage time of the first period. Cristiano fired in a sublime strike that difficult Valdes repelled along the axis. Ozil, receiving, striking turn toward the goal, but Valdes was able finally to deflect the ball of the right foot (45 '+1).

Messi savior

In the second half, the match resumed on the same pace, with a wait-Real who was content to proceed against and block offensive Catalan.

The expulsion of Pepe in the 61st minute, would tilt the game.Seven minutes after the attack on Madrid's Dani Alves, Pedro, head repeated a deflected shot from Villa but missed the target. And from the start of the last quarter of an hour, hello Barca's Messi would eventually come.

Afellay on center, the Argentine prodigy managed to deflect the ball and catapult into the nets of Casillas in the silence of Bernabeu (76th). And the nightmare would continue even for Madrid.Ten minutes later, Messi, party of 45 feet, dribbling four defenders and arming a superb diagonal shot along the ground which had deceived Casillas (87th).

The end game in an atmosphere poisonous, at least had the merit of taking place in relative calm.

Remains with only two goals conceded at home, Real now has every chance to leave the Champions League next week at Camp Nou. If he wants to reverse the trend, he will make a copy much more successful and find the arguments that have allowed the weekend, to blaze in Valencia (6-3).

PORTUGAL: Lisbon has revised upwards its deficit and public debt

AFP - Portugal's public deficit for 2010 was revised upwards to 9.1% of GDP, against 8.6% previously estimated, said Saturday the National Statistics Institute (INE).

The INE has informed the EU statistics office Eurostat revised deficit "due to higher financing needs and government debt, respectively, 0.5 and 0.6 percentage point GDP relative to baseline, "said the Institute of Statistics in a statement.

The country's public debt has also been revised upwards from 92.4 to 93% of GDP, or about 160.4 billion euros.

This result reflects the impact of such contracts associated with the operation of highways, saying "at no cost to users (SCUT), through public-private partnerships that raised doubts about their accounting in public finance said the Ine.

Discussions were underway between INE and Eurostat on these issues "complex" which should be "analyzed after" but "following the request for foreign aid by Portugal, it was necessary anticipate the calendar to collect stable data for 2010 constitute a starting point for negotiations, "said the Ine.

This revision comes as Portugal is currently in a mission of the European Commission, the European Central Bank (ECB) and International Monetary Fund (IMF) responsible for negotiating with the Portuguese authorities and counterparts contours of the bailout, the amount currently estimated at 80 billion euros, requested on April 7.

The EU and the IMF have already expressed willingness to help Portugal, Lisbon but only if adopted by mid-May an "adjustment program" that will include austerity measures "ambitious" and policy of "growth and competitiveness."

Disallowed by the Parliament rejected new austerity measures, the Socialist Prime Minister Jose Socrates has resigned, paving the way for early parliamentary elections scheduled for June 5.

On March 31, INE had already revised up the 2010 deficit to 8.6% of GDP, due to the inclusion of additional spending of about 3 billion euros, corresponding in particular to injection of funds in various public transport companies and losses of the nationalized bank BPN.

The new 2010 deficit figure is well above initial forecasts of the government which envisaged a target of 7.3% of GDP for 2010 and 4.6% for this year.

"There are no hidden costs in the Portuguese public finances, argued Saturday night the Minister of Economy, José Vieira da Silva. It's just a different way to deal with statistics," in Following a change of method.

LEBANON: Seven Estonians removed ask for help in a video

September Estonians kidnapped in Lebanon last month appeared on a video posted late Tuesday unauthenticated YouTube, imploring leaders Lebanese, Jordanian, Saudi and French to help them so they can return home.

Lebanon Files website was informed Wednesday of the publication of this video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIHXHk4c5Gw&feature=player_embedded), posted by a user who is as thekidnaper2011 (the ravisseur2011 " , Ed).

The video, which lasts over a minute, shows perfectly shaved seven men in sportswear and appear healthy. They speak English and beg to turn for help.

"We look to you, Prime Minister of Lebanon Saad Hariri, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, King Abdullah of Jordan, French PresidentSarkozy, please do anything to help us go home, "said one of them.

"Please give what they (the kidnappers) asked (...), do everything so that we can go home, our families as soon as possible."

"It's really a difficult situation," said another. "Please do anything, all it takes for you to go home."

The video was released just hours after the Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Paet had concluded a visit to Lebanon without any news about the seven Estonian tourists kidnapped March 23 in eastern Lebanon.

The seven cyclists Estonians were abducted by a group of Lebanese and Syrians, according to security services.From Syria through the border post of Masnaa, they were intercepted by gunmen in Zahle in the Bekaa Valley.

In an email sent on April 5 at a website of Lebanon, a previously unknown splinter group, Al Nahda Haraket Wal Islah (Movement for Renewal and Reform), claimed the kidnapping of seven Estonians and demanded a ransom for their release , saying they were healthy.

Friday, 11 people, seven in custody and four at large, were charged in the kidnapping of Estonians.

Since the crisis of Western hostages in the 1980s in civil war (1975-1990), kidnappings of foreign tourists are very rare in Lebanon.

The Bekaa Valley is plagued by drug trafficking and rivalries between clan groups.

Increased tensions between Rome and Paris on a train of Tunisian immigrants

AFP - Some 200 activists of human rights, Italian and French but also of Tunisian immigrants, blocked roads Sunday to the station of Ventimiglia, the French border, where trains to France were canceled.

"We'll stay here until we moved the beds to sleep tonight at Ventimiglia, because we want to take a train to France tomorrow morning," said speaker by a militant Italian.

Activists of Human Rights, many Italians but the French had planned to board a "train the dignity" of Ventimiglia (north-west Italy) starting at 1:17 p.m. (11:17 GMT ) to Nice (southern France), along with Tunisian candidates for immigration.A match was to take some of them to Marseilles.

But in mid-day on all regional trains in the direction of France, was canceled by the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes, said a French controller.Information confirmed by the illuminated signs indicating the train departure.

In Rome, Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini gave "instructions to the Italian ambassador in Paris to express the strong protest of the Italian government" after the cancellation of trains.

Wishing to express their dissatisfaction with the Consulate of France in Ventimiglia, protesters and Tunisian immigrants have been identified in the station area by carabinieri.vest They then ini station.

"The train will depart from Dignity Ventimiglia to cross the border and arrive in Marseille.Italian, French and Migrants, together, will challenge the government to block open borders, guaranteeing free access to European territory, and remember that no human being is illegal ", the organizers had announced in a statement.

CINEMA: The 64th Cannes Film Festival Unveils Official Selection

Follow the announcement at 11 am on the Twitter account and wire CultureF24 # Cannes2011

AFP - A little less than a month before the opening festivities, the 64th Cannes Film Festival unveiled Thursday at 11:00 the selection of films that will compete for the prestigious Palme d'Or awarded by a jury chaired this year by the American Robert De Niro.

The official selection includes twenty films competing for the Palme, and the twenty works of the Un Certain Regard, chaired by Serbian filmmaker Emir Kusturica.

Among the possible present, the names rumored breath Danish director Lars Von Trier, the Italian Nani Moretti, the Dardenne brothers, and the French side, Marjan Satrapi, Zem Roschy Mathieu Kassowitz or ...

The selection also includes special screenings, midnight screenings of films shown out of competition.Some have already been released in dribs and drabs by the festival.

"Midnight in Paris", the latest Woody Allen with Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, will be screened in the festival's opening on May 11

U.S. director Gus Van Sant's award at Cannes for "Elephant" and "Paranoid Park" will open Un Certain Regard with "Restless". This film explores the relationship of two teenagers, played by Mia Wasikowska and Henry Hooper.

The organizers also announced a special evening will be dedicated May 17 in Jean-Paul Belmondo, in the presence of the actor.The latter, which should be surrounded by his many friends in the cinema, including attending the premiere of the documentary and Jeff Vincent Perrot Domenech "Belmondo, Directions ...".

A Palme d'Honor - awarded to an important director, but never crowned by the festival - will be handed to the Italian director Bernardo Bertolucci at the opening ceremony.

French actress Mélanie Laurent officiate as Master of Ceremonies for the evening and for the closing ceremony on May 22

Egypt: Hosni Mubarak broke his silence to denounce an "unjust campaign"

AFP - Former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said the victim of "smear campaigns" and denies owning property abroad, in an audio message broadcast Sunday on Al-Arabiya, his first speech since his fall.

"I can not remain silent against the smear campaigns and attempts to harm my reputation and my integrity and the reputation and integrity of my family," says the former president, who has resigned February 11 under pressure from the street.

It also evokes "unjust campaign" which he said had "suffered greatly".

Mr.Mubarak assures that neither he nor his wife Suzanne have "property or accounts abroad," while new Egyptian authorities announced the creation of a commission to investigate his assets and those of his relatives.

ISRAEL: A hundred Palestinian arrested by IDF

The Israeli army arrested Thursday over a hundred women in a Palestinian town near Nablus, West Bank, as part of the investigation into the murder of a family of Jewish settlers, local officials said.

The women, some elderly, were placed in a military camp near Awarta where their fingerprints were found, and most of them were later released, according to an AFP journalist.

Hundreds of Israeli soldiers penetrated Awarta in the night and imposed a curfew before stopping these women, told AFP the head of the municipal council of the locality Tayis Awwad.

The soldiers conducted in the night raids on the premises, he added, citing officials of the Palestinian security services.

The Israeli army arrested Tuesday a forty Awarta Palestinians for questioning.

Israeli troops entered regularly and massively Awarta since the massacre of 11 March in which a family of the neighboring Israeli settlement of Itamar, parents and their three children including a baby, were slaughtered in their sleep.

The Israeli army imposed last week including a curfew for five days Awarta following the killings, attributed to Palestinians, whose perpetrators have so far not been identified.

SYRIA: Bashar al-Assad appointed a new prime minister

AFP - Thousands of people accompanied the remains of Sunday killed eight demonstrators Friday Duma, near Damascus, when Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has appointed the outgoing Minister of Agriculture Adel Safar to lead the new government.

The protesters have announced new protests this week when the Internet was cut more than six hours and that the mobile communications were very difficult because, officially, a "congestion" of the network.

"Eight dead were buried Duma today.There are three other protesters were killed but neighboring villages and Sbinah Arbin, "said Mazen Darwish, head of the National Centre for Information and free expression, closed since 2009, who attended the funeral.

He said "tens of thousands of people attended the funeral. They chanted slogans in homage to the martyrs, and demanded the freedom to have attacked the official press."

"Where are the gangs," proclaimed the banners to make a mockery of the official version blaming "armed bands to have opened fire Friday from rooftops.

Some calls to the "fall of the regime" were suffocated by the crowd.The funeral is part of the Great Mosque of Duma to the cemetery through the streets of the city. There was no visible presence of security forces.

For his part, al-Atrash Muntaha, spokesman of the Syrian Organisation for Human Rights "Sawasiyah", who also attended the funeral, assured that "the protests will continue. The people do not keep silent over because the barrier of fear has fallen. "

On Friday, eight protesters were killed during demonstrations after a presidential speech was disappointingly low.

One resident said 90 people arrested by security forces have been released but there are 15 whose whereabouts are unknown.

The appointment of Safar, "a gesture"

Moreover, Assad "has issued a decree instructing Adel Safar to form the government," according the official news agency Sana.

Baath Party member, Mr. Safar, 58, is an expert on agricultural especially in arid regions."It's a gesture toward this population particularly affected in recent years by a terrible drought," he told AFP an economist.

The government led by Mohammad Naji Otri, in place since 2003, has not survived the challenge and submitted his resignation Tuesday.

But this appointment did not satisfy the protesters.They call for a "week of martyrs" with a day of protest on Tuesday to "boycott" on Wednesday that mobile phones have offered a free hour to the public for supporting the regime, and rallies on Thursday at the headquarters of the Baath Party to mark the anniversary of the founding of the party in 1947.

They also asked their supporters to march on Friday in all Syria to show "The dissatisfaction of the people."This will be the fourth Friday in which the Syrians are expected to take to the streets to show their displeasure with the lack of liberalization.

"The challenge is limited in scale but rooted," he told AFP a Syrian businessman who wished to remain anonymous.

And if the number of protesters remained limited, the challenge has expanded geographically. Friday demonstrations were held together for the first time in the northern, predominantly Kurdish.

In total, about 80 protesters were arrested since Friday in Damascus, Homs, Duma Deraa and Deir Ezzor (450 km northeast of Damascus).