FOOTBALL: Lille is France champion

AFP - Lille was champion of France of football after Saturday's draw at the Parc des Princes against Paris Saint-Germain (2-2) at the 37th day of the Championship of France.

With 6 points ahead of Marseille (2nd), LOSC can not be caught since there remains only one day to play on Sunday, 29.

Already winners of the Coupe de France a week ago, against Paris SG (1-0), the players of coach Rudi Garcia's second drop doubled the club's history after that achieved in 1946. This is the third championship won by Lille in France after the 1946 and 1954.

As in the Cup final in France, midfielder Ludovic Obraniak who scored the first goal Lille, from the 5th minute.Then it was shown that Mickaël Landreau, pushing many shots of Paris.

Lille goalkeeper could do nothing, however, just before halftime on a goal by Hoarau, following a free kick on which two players were Parisian offside.

After an early second period very stormy, marked in particular by the evictions Guillaume Hoarau and Antoine Kombouare, Moussa Sow is the best scorer (22 goals), who restored the advantage in Lille (59).

Mathieu Bodmer then reduced the height of a PSG magnificent strike (73), but the point made at the park just to Lille.

The reception of Rennes at the 38th day will be nothing at stake for Lille, who will find the Champions League next season after a last appearance in the 2006-2007 season.

COTE D'IVOIRE: the pro-Ouattara control the last bastion of pro-Gbagbo in Abidjan

AFP - Yopougon in the west of Abidjan, the last stronghold of militiamen loyal to ousted President Laurent Gbagbo, is now entirely under the control of the forces of the new leader Alassane Ouattara of State, announced late Wednesday authorities Ivorian.

"This is the only sector that remains (to be conquered, Ed) and the whole area is now permanently occupied by us," said the Ivorian television TCI commander Cherif Ousmane, operations officer in the military republican Coast Ivory (FRCI).

Yopougon was the last neighborhood that escaped the control of the forces of the new power.Militiamen loyal to Laurent Gbagbo made it their stronghold and fought again in the morning in the area of ​​the naval base in southeastern district, bordering the lagoon.

Guillaume Soro on site

Prime Minister and Defence Minister, Guillaume Soro, visited the premises in the afternoon.

"I saw the streets littered with corpses. Militiamen At HQ, we saw a makeshift cemetery. I guess all the abuses that have occurred. I'm still in shock from all the dead, all dead," he said on the TCI.

"The militiamen executed civilians, if you had a name that was not correct. I find this unacceptable," he said.

"Everything Yopougon throughout Abidjan must be secure.I count on you, "Guillaume Soro launched his troops.

AFP journalists accompanying a team from the Ivorian Red Cross noted Wednesday that dozens of bodies, riddled with bullets and burned or reduced to skeletons, littered the streets of several areas of this vast neighborhood of more than one million inhabitants.

Corpses and mass graves

Mass graves contained the bodies of residents killed by militiamen, according to testimony gathered by residents told AFP.Of half-naked body lying on the ground: the militia for some residents, neighborhood youth killed by FRCI according to others.

In two days, the bodies of more than 60 people killed in recent violence have been recovered by the team of the Red Cross.

The area was Wednesday unrecognizable stalls that have not been looted and burned retain their iron curtain fell, garbage are collected over a long time. Yopougon has nothing to do with Abidjan, where life has returned to normal and it brings back even with the morning traffic jams.

"The mercenaries and pro-Gbagbo militias have been taken out of harm's way (...).Yopougon just been released, "said the captain on the TCI Alla Kouakou Leon, spokesman for the MoD, calling the area" from which fortress had desperately caciques Gbagbo camp.

He also warned against "criminals and bandits" armed and in uniform, who claim to belong to FRCI, ensuring that steps were taken to "neutralize".

President Ouattara, in power since April 11 arrest of Mr.Gbagbo, had threatened on April 22 to "disarm by force" the last remaining armed groups, must not file a "fast" guns.

Three independent international experts, commissioned by the UN to investigate serious violations of human rights allegedly committed in Côte d'Ivoire since the presidential election on Nov. 28, arrived Wednesday in Abidjan and remain in the country until the end of May.

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.

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.

PORTUGAL: The Parliament rejected the austerity plan, the Prime Minister resigns

REUTERS - Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Socrates has presented his resignation Wednesday evening after the rejection by parliament of the austerity measures proposed by the
minority Socialist government.

President Anibal Cavaco Silva was charged with handling current business and said he would receive on Friday leaders of political parties.

Jose Socrates warned that the rejection of the austerity measures would compel Portugal, like Greece and Portugal, to seek international assistance, a solution he is hostile.

The decline of the euro against the dollar accelerated after the rejection of the austerity program, the single currency back below the 1.41 dollar.Around 2100 GMT, the euro yielded 0.8% against the greenback.

Parliament's vote is not a surprise, the main opposition, the Social Democratic Party, said Monday that it would not support such measures.

The cost of debt Portuguese has also registered higher before the vote in parliament.

Insurance against default on sovereign debt Portuguese was more expensive on the market for CDS (credit default swap) while the yield spread between government bonds and German Portuguese widened.

Lisbon had hoped to get his plan before the EU summit dedicated to the comprehensive plan for the debt crisis, which begins Thursday.

All opposition parties voted for a resolution to reject the measures, which are part of the stability and growth for the years 2011-2014.

Only the Socialists, who hold 97 of the 230 seats in Parliament, voted in favor of the measures.

COTE D'IVOIRE: Fighting with heavy weapons in a district of Abidjan

The Ivorian crisis has taken a more violent turn Wednesday, with clashes involving heavy weaponry between forces loyal to incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo and unidentified fighters in a district of Abidjan supports Alassane Ouattara.

Defence Forces and Security (FDS), loyal to Mr.Gbagbo, lead a "major operation" to "secure" the neighborhood of Abobo (north), told AFP a senior military official on condition of anonymity.

"Exchanges of heavy weapons" are held in the neighborhood where fighting, sporadic since January between the FDS and the gunmen have stepped up in recent days, he confirmed in the afternoon.

According to several residents contacted by AFP, fighting in the northern Abobo started around 16:00 (GMT) and ended around 20:30.

"It takes all the time", said one resident, adding that "everyone is locked up at home."A taxi driver said that the SDS had made earlier fired warning shots to residents returning home.

Ten elements of the Centre for Security Operations Command (Cecos), an elite unit of the SDS, were killed Tuesday night in Abobo in fighting after an ambush by "attackers," said a security source.

Witnesses reported a death toll will FDS side, and several civilian casualties.The body of a civilian shot dead lay in pools of blood in the morning near a service station.

A senior Cecos but assured on Wednesday that the unit had lost only three men, lamented "seven bullet wounds" in her womb and killed "seven attackers.

In the morning, the SDS were deployed in Abobo, blocking access to certain areas, while many streets were deserted and shops closed, noted AFP.

Dozens of people, especially women and children, then fled the area."I leave the area," a woman let go, sack on his head.

The government accuses Gbagbo of "rebels" to operate in this neighborhood before Tuesday's fighting, at least a dozen of SDS had been killed since January.

The camp Ouattara, combined with the former rebel New Forces (FN) controlling the northern Ivory Coast since 2002, denies any involvement in these actions.

Inspired by the examples of Egypt and Tunisia, supporters of Mr.Ouattara has turned up the heat last week calling for a "revolution" to hunt out.

More than 300 people have been killed since mid-December according to the UN in the violence that marked the crisis resulting from the November 28 presidential, between Gbagbo and Alassane Ouattara, President recognized by the international community.

Since Saturday, at least a dozen pro-Ouattara demonstrators were killed by the SDS, which dispersed the crowd with live ammunition, according to several sources, but also in Abobo areas in Kumasi and Treichville (south).

This renewed tension comes as African Union deploys fresh efforts for a solution to the crisis, so far found.

Monday and Tuesday, four African presidents to a panel appointed by the AU met Laurent Gbagbo and Alassane Ouattara. Objective: To arrive by 28 February solutions "binding".

Group members, chaired by Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz (Mauritania), left the country since Tuesday evening and will meet in Nouakchott "in the coming days."

AU favors a peaceful settlement, but the former mediator Raila Odinga, Kenyan Prime Minister, has found that if economic sanctions fail to achieve "regime change, then of course the force will be used" as "West Africa has brandished the threat against Mr. Gbagbo.

Iran: Release of two German journalists detained for four months

Iran has released on Saturday after four months of custody, two German journalists who left for Germany on Sunday night with Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle came specially to find them.

During his visit of several hours, the first by a minister of the EU in Iran for several years, Westerwelle was received by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad held talks with his Iranian counterpart Ali Akbar Salehi.

Mr Ahmadinejad also drew attention with Westerwelle "regional issues, the situation in Afghanistan and the need for cooperation against terrorism and drug trafficking," the Iranian presidency website.

During a brief joint press conference with Mr. Salehi, M.Westerwelle said the meeting between the two ministers had allowed "an" exchange of views and opinions, "the direct translation made by the Iranian television channel Press-TV in English.

"It was a meeting to get acquainted," he said, adding she had "not been time to discuss major issues."

Salehi for his part said that the visit of Mr. Westerwelle Tehran was to "strengthen bilateral relations" and that the two ministers had "agreed to further meetings already planned in the future."

He expressed the desire of Iran to "look to the future" in its relations with Germany, saying the two countries had "many issues to discuss."

Iran has been subjected since 2007 to severe political and economic sanctions imposed by the EU because of its controversial nuclear program, which prohibit particular high-level bilateral contacts with Tehran.

Westerwelle departed for Germany immediately after the talks, about 2:00 local Sunday (2230 GMT Saturday) with the two journalists released, Marcus Hellwig, Jens Koch, the newspaper Bild am Sonntag (BAMS).

The two Germans held in Tabriz (northwest) since October 10, 2010, arrived by plane to Tehran in early evening."No comment," replied one of them to journalists who asked them questions.

Before their release, they were each sentenced to a term of imprisonment of 20 months which was immediately converted to a fine of 500 million rials (50,000 dollars), according to the judicial authority who said they were convinced "crime against national security".

The two journalists were arrested in Tabriz while interviewing the son and attorney-Ashtiani Sakineh Mohammadi, an Iranian woman sentenced to stoning in a case of murder and adultery and for which the international community 's is mobilized.

The Iranian authorities accused them of being entered Iran with tourist visas, without asking permission and special press visa that foreign journalists must obtain in order to work in Iran.

The Iranian Sakineh Mohammadi-Ashtiani, imprisoned in Tabriz, was sentenced to death by two courts in 2006 for his involvement in the murder of her husband and adulterers. His murder conviction was reduced to 10 years in prison on appeal in 2007 but his sentence of stoning for adultery was upheld by another court of appeal. The court decided to review his case and has not yet delivered its final verdict.

HAITI: The date of the second round of presidential elections scheduled for March 20

The publication of the final results of the first round of presidential Haiti will be held on February 2, announced Friday the Haitian Provisional Electoral Council (CEP), indicating that the second round would take place March 20.

"The final results of the second round of elections will be announced April 16," we read in the electoral calendar.

In detail, the electoral timetable is as follows: publication of final results of the first round will be held Feb. 2, then the election of 17 February to 18 March.The second ballot will be held March 20, preliminary results of the second round will be announced March 31 and finally, the final results of the second round will be announced April 16.

Since the first round of presidential elections on 28 November, the country is plunged into a political crisis linked to qualification for the second round, alongside the former first lady Mirlande Manigat, Jude Celestin, the government candidate, according to Preliminary results released in early December by the POC.

These results have been denounced by supporters of the candidate who came in third place, Michael Martelly.They were also challenged by an audit of the votes of the Organization of American States (OAS), which suggested a duel between Mr. and Mrs. Manigat Martelly the second round.

Close to the outgoing president Rene Preval who was appointed to succeed him, Jude Celestin is accused of fraud by his opponents.

To break the deadlock, the party of Mr.Celestine Wednesday took the decision to remove him from the ballot, but the candidate has not indicated what his intentions were.

President Préval, who was originally scheduled to leave power on February 7, has already said he plans to stay in office until the electoral process to succeed.

"We need things to be clarified before the 7", Wednesday urged the Secretary General of the OAS, Albert Ramdin. "We need to know what will happen because the situation is too confusing," he told reporters before a meeting of the organization in Washington.