Barack Obama begins his European tour

AFP - U.S. President Barack Obama arrived Monday morning in Ireland, the first stage of a European tour a week and land of his ancestors, has been a photographer for AFP on board the presidential plane Air Force One.

The President's plane, which is accompanied by his wife Michelle landed in Dublin about 9:30 (0830 GMT), slightly earlier than expected.

Mr.Obama, who planned to stay 24 hours in Ireland, will hold talks with President Mary McAleese and Prime Minister Enda Kenny, while Ireland is facing a serious economic crisis.

But the highlight of his visit to the island, under high security to be its displacement in the small village of Moneygall, which is from his great-great-great grandfather.

Cobbler's son, the grandfather of Obama, Falmouth Kearney, lived in this village located 130 km from Dublin up to 19 years in 1850 before emigrating to the United States, driven by famine like of thousands of his countrymen.

In this village, waiting for Obama as the prodigal son, still lives a distant cousin of the president, Henry Healy, an accountant for 26 years.

Obama is expected late in the day to speak outdoors on the steps of the Bank of Ireland, in the center of the capital which are expected tens of thousands of people.

On Tuesday, Obama is expected in London.

PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES: Israeli Prime Minister rules out any withdrawal to 1967 borders

AFP - Israel has disappointed on Thursday rejected a call by U.S. President Barack Obama to the creation of a demilitarized Palestinian state on extending Palestinian Territories occupied by Israel since June 1967, while the Palestinians reacted with caution.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ruled out immediately any "withdrawal to 1967 lines," while refraining from frontally oppose to Obama before the meet Friday in Washington.

Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas called on Israel for its part to "give the peace process the chance it deserves," the Palestinian leadership calling for "an emergency meeting."

In a highly anticipated speech on the Middle East, Mr.Obama voted for the first time on Thursday for a Palestinian state based on the lines of June 1967, that is to say, the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem.

"The borders of Israel and Palestine should be based on the 1967 lines with exchanges in which both parties would agree to establish secure and recognized borders for both states," said Obama.

But Mr.Netanyahu expressed hope that Obama "would reaffirm commitments" U.S. 2004 "Israel would not withdraw to the June 1967 lines indefensible," said an official statement issued before his departure for the United States.

He emphasized here that these "commitments had received overwhelming support from both houses of Congress," in allusion to the support is often arranged in the past Israel to the U.S. House, before which he is scheduled to speak next Tuesday.

Benjamin Netanyahu has categorically ruled out that the "major Israeli population centers in Judea and Samaria" are found on the Palestinian side of the border, referring to the major Jewish settlement blocs in the West Bank.

He referred to a letter from U.S. President George W.Bush in 2004 to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon at the time excluding a pure and simple return to the armistice lines of Israel before the war of June 1967, implying an Israeli withdrawal from the occupied West Bank and annexed east Jerusalem.

According to his entourage, the Israeli prime minister was "disappointed" by the stance of U.S. President on a number of subjects in the first place "because it did not address the problem of refugees" as Israel hear it, that is to say, excluding the return of Palestinian refugees to Israel.

A senior Israeli official has however downplayed the differences between the two leaders, pointing out that Mr.Obama reiterated the U.S. opposition to the approach of the Palestinians to recognize their state before the UN in September without a peace agreement first.

"We're not worried, but further clarification will be needed," said the official who requested anonymity.

Palestinian side, the spokesman of President Mahmoud Abbas, Nabil Abu Rudeina, called "Netanyahu's opposition to a return to 1967 borders blow to the efforts of Obama and rejection of peace in the Middle East."

The spokesman also condemned the green light on Thursday by a planning commission of the Interior Ministry to build 1,520 new homes in two neighborhoods of Jewish settlement in occupied East Jerusalem and annexed.

For its part, the spokesman of the Islamist movement Hamas in power in Gaza, Sami Abu Zuhri, called on Bush to "perform concrete actions to protect the rights of Palestinians and the Arab nation."

Mr Abu Zuhri also rejected calls from U.S. President to resume peace negotiations and recognize Israel.

For its part, the head of British diplomacy William Hague has supported the position of Mr. Obama.

"I particularly support the clear message that the borders of Israel and Palestine should be based on the 1967 lines with mutual exchanges accepted," he said.

JUSTICE: The prosecution will request a cons Christine Lagarde in the case Tapie

The Attorney General at the Court of Cassation, Jean-Louis Nadal, on Tuesday urged the Court of Justice of the Republic (CJR) to open an investigation against the Minister of Economy Christine Lagarde for abuse of authority in the arbitration favorably to Bernard Tapie.

Jean-Louis Nadal before the petitions committee of the RGC, said the prosecutor's office said in a statement.

Within a month, it should rule on the case and determine if the complaint is admissible.

If this were the case, the Attorney General immediately seize the commission investigating the RGC, which would conduct its investigation, before a possible referral to the RGC.

A few weeks ago, Socialist deputies sent a letter to Mr.Nadal to get a referral to the RGC.

They were the choice of the Minister of Economy to resort to arbitration in settling this matter, rather than relying on traditional justice in this case the Court of Appeal of Paris.

Jean-Louis Nadal gave the Ministry of Economy, the Court of Auditors and the Finance Committee of the National Assembly until April 20 to submit additional elements relating to the award of the arbitral tribunal.

"All these pieces allowed the Attorney General pointed out many reasons to suspect the regularity or legality of settlement by arbitration dispute that may characterize the crime of abuse of authority," the prosecutor general.

In late 2007, Christine Lagarde ordered the appointment of three umpires to decide once and for all the litigation between sprawling Bernard Tapie twelve years at Credit Lyonnais in connection with the sale of Adidas.

After six months of work in July 2008, the arbitral tribunal had sentenced the Consortium de Réalisation (CDR, managing the liabilities of the bank) to pay 240 million euros in compensation to Mr Tapie, with an additional one hundred million euros in interest and 45 million for pain and suffering. This decision was then outraged many members left.

SYRIA: Impatiens, the Syrian youth trying to break the silence

The wall of silence is cracking. "Deraa is Syria," "We sacrifice ourselves for Deraa," "God, Syria, and freedom is everything" ... The slogans continue to resonate in Dera in the region Harouan (South) where the dispute appears to show no signs of weakness despite the violent repression of the Syrian authorities that killed more than 100 deaths in one week.

Believing themselves immune from any challenge, the regime in Damascus is seen now faced with the uprising of youth galvanized by the revolutionary wave that swept the Arab world. March 18, protesters defied the military and much feared secret services (the "Mukhabarat") by setting fire to public buildings Deraa, city yet acquired the ruling Baath Party.Since then the movement has spread to Hama, Damascus, Latakia, Banias or Hassakeh. A month ago, yet the head of state Bashar al-Assad assured in an interview with the Wall Street Journal that his country is guarded against any form of rebellion. "We're out of it, certified it by speaking of the revolutions of Tunisia and Egypt. The Syrians do not rebel. It's a matter of ideology." A sealed system to challenge ideology Actually, people had resigned to decades of silence imposed an iron hand by the Baath party in power since 1963 which has made Syria one of States most of the locked region."The Syrian system does not accept the challenge, said Thursday on France Info radio waves Gilles Kepel, head of the chair Middle East-Mediterranean Institute of Political Studies (IEP) in Paris. It has to one side a president who is young, friendly, loves to talk with intellectuals and academics, and, on the other, the resilience of a system of power inherited from the father [Hafez al-Assad] is absolutely ruthless. " The last Syrian rebellion began in 1982 in Hama, the fourth largest city. The then president, Hafez al-Assad, Bashar's father, had ordered the army to crush the uprising, killing between 10,000 and 25,000 dead.During the 1980s, nearly 70,000 people were missing. Since the establishment of a state of emergency in 1963, protests are banned, intellectuals and political opponents routinely jailed. Nearly 4,500 political prisoners are currently in Syrian jails, according to the Foundation for Defense of Human Rights in Syria. "Young people are expecting a 180 degree turn" Faced with pressure from the street, President Al-Assad, who has not yet announced publicly, was shown on Thursday, more inclined to make concessions.Through the voice of his advisor Boussaïna Shaaban, the strong man of Damascus announced consider canceling the state of emergency and set up mechanisms "effective" to fight against corruption. Inadequate gestures of openness, according Ajlani Mohammed, director of the Center for Strategic Studies in Paris and an expert on Syria. "Youth has waited too long, says he told FRANCE 24. She wanted the president to go further, faster in the reforms, he dismisses all the caciques who enriched themselves at the time of his father. It has been ten years since the public expects.Young people were expecting a 180 degree turn. "Arrived at the head of the country to the death of his father in 2000, Bashar al-Assad succeeded in imposing on the nomenklatura political-military importance of economic reforms, opening up Syria the market economy. But this rapid liberalization has mainly had the effect of widening social inequalities and enhancing the close of the al-Assad. Syria has "not yet slipped into the red zone," said Mohammed Ajlani, but time is short. "If al-Assad is taking bold economic and social decisions, a way out of crisis then offer himself to him who will go through compromise and negotiation.If the power of new represses any movement in the blood, it will not work much longer. "

COTE D'IVOIRE: Allied Ouattara take position in western

AFP - Allied Alassane Ouattara, Gbagbo recognized by the international community, took a fourth place Sunday in western countries with forces loyal to the outgoing Head of State Laurent Gbagbo said on from both sides.

At the end of fighting, the "rebel" New Forces (FN) "took the town of Doke, between Toulépleu and Bloléquin," he told AFP pro-Gbagbo militia, joined by telephone from Abidjan.

"Our troops are currently stationed in Doke," confirmed a senior FN based in Man, the main town of the "Great West" Ivorian border of Liberia.

Since mid-February, the FN, who held the north since 2002, and took four towns in the west, making them most was the town of Toulepleu, fell on March 6 after a battle against the Defence Forces and Security (FDS) loyal to Mr.Gbagbo and the militia who support them.

The objective of the pro-Ouattara is to take the city of Bloléquin, about ten miles Doke, which would open access to the center-west and the port of San Pedro (south-west), the largest port export of cocoa in the world.

"They are moving towards Bloléquin," said the pro-Gbagbo militia, describing the fighters FN as "well equipped" with "rocket launchers, machine guns".

"We are preparing to defend with SDS Bloléquin Bloléquin because after they count up Guiglo and Duekoue," two strategic towns in the region, he said.

Guillaume Soro, leader of the FN and Prime Minister Mr.Ouattara, had made this week in the West, calling his men to "secure" area and drive out the "mercenaries" pro-Gbagbo.

"We received orders from the Prime Minister. We will not lay down their arms," ​​the official added FN.

The western region is crossed by the former front line between the north of FN-controlled south Gbagbo camp.

Renewed fighting in the most unstable region of the country comes as Abidjan was itself the scene of armed clashes between insurgents and pro-Ouattara SDS, in the district of Abobo (north), stronghold of the rival M . Gbagbo.

The SDS has led an offensive Saturday to Abobo, which resulted in the death of ten people but did not seem to have made time move the lines on the ground.

COTE D'IVOIRE: Fighting with heavy weapons resume in the Abobo neighborhood in Abidjan

AFP - The heavy gunfire resumed Saturday in the Abobo neighborhood in Abidjan that families fled after a week of clashes between forces loyal to incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo and the armed insurgents who have left Cote d'Ivoire on the verge of explosion.

According to these witnesses, the shooting resumed in early afternoon outside the sector "PK-18" in the heart of the fighting that has turned into a battlefield this northern district supports Alassane Ouattara, recognized head of state by the international community after the disputed November 28 presidential election.

Residents said the firing had almost ceased since Friday but "Baghdad", is now known as Abobo, retained traces of those days of fire and blood.

"This morning I saw bodies, apparently civilians, which no one recovered," he told AFP driver, but did not say when they were killed.

An assessment of the fighting was still impossible to establish, but several witnesses reported clashes very deadly.

"The work goes on" in Abobo, told reporters the General Philippe Mangou, Chief of Staff of the Defence Forces and Security (FDS) loyal to Gbagbo.

Meanwhile, the exodus continued."The area is empty," said a resident after a night under curfew, a measure introduced for the weekend by the Gbagbo regime in the southern half of the country under its control.

"The mini-buses could enter and are attacked" by mothers and their children, told this young woman, herself part of the family join in the Yopougon (west).

Called by the local press "commando invisible" group, including armed with rocket launchers, which attacked the SDS since January in Abobo before intensify activity in recent days, continues to generate queries.

For SDS, it is composed of elements infiltrated the "rebellion" of the Forces Nouvelles (FN) holding the north since the failed coup of 2002 and joined forces with Alassane Ouattara in the beginning of the crisis resulting from November ballot.

But the camp is Ouattara denies any involvement, saying it is people who took up arms or SDS defectors.

In the political capital Yamoussoukro theater for the first time fighting with heavy weapons on the night of Thursday to Friday, calm had returned Saturday.

The city "timidly resumed its activities, many shops are closed and there is little busy the market," he told the morning a local journalist.

In the "Great West" unstable region near Liberia, the situation was uncertain following the decision by the FN from two localities on the borders of the southern zone.FDS assured Saturday having driven the enemy.

The past week has given an almost surreal to mediation efforts led by the African Union to resolve the crisis, which has already killed at least 315 deaths according to UN and driven tens of thousands of Ivorians to flee the country.

Four Heads of State - Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz (Mauritania), Jacob Zuma (South Africa), Idriss Deby (Chad) and Jakaya Kikwete (Tanzania) - Ivorian rivals met earlier this week in Abidjan.

Charged initially to develop solutions "binding" on the parties by the end of February, they will consult again on March 4 in Nouakchott. "We're not out of the woods", agreed by the Mauritanian president.