IRANIAN PRESIDENTIAL: High turnout in Iran to elect the successor of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

 

Follow the president in Iran in Farsi language on the site Observers here.

Some 50 million voters to the polls on Friday, June 14, of which 1.6 million will vote for the first time to choose a successor to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at the head the Islamic Republic of Iran, after two terms of four years. The crowd is such that the Interior Ministry has extended four hours the polls closed. According to the head of voting for Tehran province, Safar Ali Baratlou, participation should be at least 70% in this region. "Until now, participation is more important than it was four years ago," he said, quoted by Fars news agency. Various local officials also reported in the media a participation of at least 70% to 18 pm local time in other provinces.

Voters apparently he followed the call of the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who has asked the Iranians to participate massively in the presidential election "for the country's future" ,. "Let the people involved because it is the future of the country," he said after putting his ballot shortly after the polls opened. "I advise everyone to vote and do so in the early hours of the morning," said the Iranian leader.

The United States played down the scope of the election, saying that voters had the six remaining candidates, all chosen by the Guardian Council of the Constitution "limited choice", an instance controlled by the ultra-conservatives. "Go to hell if you do not agree to the election, the Iranian people are not expected to know what you agree or what we do not agree," said Ayatollah Khamenei.

Security measures

Among the five conservative candidates account the election, all expressed their allegiance to guide

Supreme "of the Islamic Revolution, Ali Khamenei. Three of them have chances to win or enter the second round.

Of the three favorites only Jalili, current chief negotiator on the nuclear issue and the most prominent candidate, wants Tehran maintains an uncompromising attitude despite the proliferation of sanctions intended by the Westerners. They believe that the Iranian government is trying to develop nuclear weapons, a charge Tehran denies.

The other two serious contenders, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, mayor of Tehran, and Ali Akbar Velayati, a former foreign minister, has promised to continue their nuclear program while criticizing Jalili for its intransigence in negotiating. This dispersion in the conservative camp could promote the ambitions of religious Hassan Rohani, only moderate running.

The result of the election, whatever it is, is unlikely to change the foreign policy of Iran or its relations with the West and its Gulf neighbors.

Security measures have been strengthened after a relatively quiet campaign, no comparison with that of 2009, when the reformers had glimpsed the hope of victory and a change in Iran.

With news

TURKEY: Social Networks, "greatest threat to society," according to Erdogan

 

Arab revolutions to Occupy Wall Street, the role of social media in the organization and dissemination of mobilizations never denied: difficult today to imagine a citizen movement without Twitter or Facebook. The events that take place in Turkey since May 31, add to this list that keeps getting longer and sometimes tremble governments.

Sunday, June 2, during a television interview, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said bluntly: "The threat today is called Twitter. This is where the biggest spread lies. Social networks are the greatest threat to society. " This position might appear paradoxical given that the Turkish Prime Minister has a Facebook page "likee" by more than 2 million people and its Twitter account is followed by more than 2.7 million people. But if it is followed, we also note that absolutely following anyone on the microblogging site where the web culture is that we are talking about but you are listening following others. He spoke – his team tweets in its place – but never as a response to other users.

Use the Turks are social networks himself is quite different from that of their Prime Minister. Turkey, which has 75 million inhabitants, is a country very connected. More than half the population has access to Internet, according to a report by the Pew Research Center published in December 2012, 35% of Turks are using social platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr or Instagram. According to a study published on Saturday by two doctoral students from New York University (NYU), the use of Twitter by the Turks since the protests began has been "phenomenal." To follow the events, several keywords were used on the network of microblogging: direngeziparki #, # # and occupygezi geziparki.

Tweets Turks

On the night of Friday, May 31 to Saturday, June 1, then the first place that had violent clashes in the center of Istanbul, thousands of tweets were sent every minute, even the most advanced hours es of the night. These statistics could be even higher if the 3G mobile networks were not very quickly saturated in the center of Istanbul, around Taksim Square.

According to two research students from NYU, the use of Twitter by the Turks during these days is "unique" compared to other protest movements. In the night from Friday to Saturday, from the first overflow, 90% of geolocated tweets about events in Turkey were sent from Turkish territory – which approximately 88% in Turkish – and 50% of these tweets were sent from Istanbul itself. By comparison, at the height of the Egyptian revolution, only 30% of tweets sent came from users actually present on Egyptian territory, according to a study published in 2012 by two researchers from the University of Colorado.

Censorship?

The proliferation of social platforms complicates any attempts to control the governments. Moreover, the widespread use of social networks in these events can be explained by the desire of Turkish citizens to overcome the absence of traditional media. In Turkey, many voices have been raised in recent days to protest government censorship and self-censorship of journalists.

Monday, at the time of writing, several hundred people had made an appointment – via social networks – outside the headquarters of the TV channel NTV vision to denounce its collusion with power. Hundreds of others were outside the headquarters of the pro-government newspaper "Sabah". If the mainstream media does not broadcast live events, activists have taken the lead. For several days, a continuous video stream from the center of Istanbul is available on the Internet. It is for all these reasons that Erdogan treats enemies social networks themselves up as alternative sources of information. Internet makes it well: the Anonymous, an international hackers so, have already given their support to the protest movement in a video posted Sunday on YouTube. It has already been viewed over 500,000 times.

CINEMA: "? Turn 'Taxi Driver' not today!"

 

In the office of the U.S. producer Michael Phillips, a poster with a young Robert De Niro standing in the night before a yellow taxi. "This is the first draft of the poster for 'Taxi Driver', he explains. Finally, we chose the photo in black and white where we see Bob walk headlong into the streets of New York … "

In the library, books of course, but also a shelf with a series of trophies, surprisingly placed in front of a vent. Among them, the Palme d'Or in 1976 for the now cult film that revealed the tandem Scorsese-De Niro. "Taxi Driver" is registered in the catalog of the American Film Institute and dialogues – "Talkin 'to me?" – Are legendary. But, says Michael Phillips, no studio is today take the risk of investing in this story nor veteran tormented young unknown.

The reign of marketing

Today, he says, "a movie is saved or doomed from the first weekend of its release in the United States. If it has not been enough entries on Sunday evening, it is removed from the rooms next week. With the globalization of outputs, marketing teams are in control, they invest millions of dollars in promoting and require guarantees of profitability: stars, superheroes, series … "

In comparison, the 1970 makes heyday figure. A break between the golden age of the majors and the dictates of blockbusters. Creative teams studios are then decision: they bet on some promising filmmakers. They have the "final cut" and inspired at the time of auteur cinema.

For Michael Phillips, "this was the era of young artists, film buffs, who knew by heart the French New Wave and the films of Fellini and Antonioni. With Easy Rider in 1969, studios have the time epics and musicals is over. But they still do not know where to find ideas, and how to recruit new talent. "

The "New Hollywood"

So they rely on youth. Michael and his wife Julia, originating in New York, just 25 years old when they create their production company with a friend, Tony Bill. They bet their life savings on a few scenarios. One knows first success is "The Sting" written by David Ward and directed by George Roy Hill, starring Robert Redford and Paul Newman in the ro key.'s western won the Oscar for Best Picture in 1973.

Phillips left the East Coast to California. They live in a house on the beach north of Malibu, which found a community of iconic filmmakers of "New Hollywood." Their neighbors are Brian De Palma, Al Pacino, Michael Douglas, Bruce Paltrow, Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese … "As incredible as it may seem today, there was a real camaraderie between us, evidenced by the producer. We share a love of cinema. We talked about movies all day, we exchanged ideas and scenarios. "

Palme d'Or booed

This is Brian De Palma brings the script by Paul Schrader Michael Phillips. From his reading, the producer has a passion for this ancient history of Vietnam, who avenged a society in which there is no markers … But three years he needs to convince a studio to edit the film. "Finally, Columbia Pictures has decided on giving us a budget. For this, we imposed Robert De Niro in the lead role – while Scorsese wanted as Harvey Keitel in Mean Streets – and Cybill Shepherd, which was requested to e era. After we left Martin to his work as a director until the end. "

"Taxi Driver" has not had immediate success: first, no one under 17 years old, he spent several weeks in theaters before being noticed by critics . Then he received word of mouth. Selected at Cannes in 1976, the film is controversial because of its violence. Michael Phillips recalls: "When Robert Wagner and Natalie Wood announced the winner, half the room booed. As Martin Scorsese had already left the festival, I went to get one the Palme d'Or booed the public. "

FRANCE: In Lyon, Roma expelled attack the prefect of the Rhone justice

 

Sitting on blankets laid on the ground, fifty Roma, including 25 children, and several members of support groups spent the night before the Administrative Court of Lyon. Wednesday, they sued the prefect of the Rhone to force him to relocate them after their expulsion, March 28, land unsafe in Villeurbanne, a suburb of Lyon. The decision is expected on Thursday afternoon.

Céline Amar and Myriam Matari, counsel twelve Roma families have filed several appeals on emergency basis, in particular, European law and ministerial circular of 12 August 2012 imposing accompaniment upstream and downstream of each discharge. Provisions which, according to them, were not met. This appeal, which began after the camp was dismantled Villeurbanne, is a first in France.

The prefect of the region, Jean-François Carenco was neither present nor represented at the hearing attended by 50 Roma expelled yet. Interviewed by France 3 Rhône-Alpes, he said he merely enforcing the law. "These are evictions that are requested by the landowner and approved by the court," he said Wednesday, before wondering, "Is that Lyon should accommodate everyone? My answer is no principle, and anyway, I do not have the means. The state does not have the means to do that. "

Welcomed by the Church

After the dismantling of their camp, Roma families had taken refuge in the parish hall of a church in Lyon, managed by Father Matthieu Thouvenot. This is not the first time that the priest opens the Roma. "I do not understand how you can remove people in the rain and cold when there is no urgency," he told AFP Wednesday.

But, far from being ashamed Prefecture, the home of the twelve families evicted, on the contrary, grist to his mill. "It is not people in distress as they are hosted by the parish. I guarantee that I do not deport the parish, "said Jean-François and dropped Carenco Wednesday at a breakfast with the press, which regularly delights LY thundering declarations of the official.

These statements have not been to the liking of father Matthew nor lawyers of the plaintiffs. "I do not think that is a good parish hall of the State [...], the prefect can not have this room as it pleases," replied ironically, Ce , Amar line. All the more so since Wednesday, Roma were forced to leave the place. "I could not physically accommodate them," said the priest, who has also spent the night court. The parish did not want the house any longer due to lack of space, but also fear that the prefecture will discharge its responsibilities in this regard. France to troll

"The European Union has created a number of tools to enable the integration of these populations in the Member States, says Myriam Matari FRANCE 24. But in France, it does not. And if some areas are more open than others, Rhône-Alpes, the prefect position remains purely security of deportation and return of Roma. " France has in this respect been repeatedly condemned by the European Court of Human Rights.

But a year ago, Jean-François Carenco stood out the national policy making very quietly – "not to make the game of FN," he had then said , at Rue89 – the issuance of one-year stay in a hundred Roma. The operation called "full integration" provided for the education of children, family housing, training and employment support. Similar initiatives involving insertion villages had already been implemented in the Paris region, Lille and Nantes.

In light of recent statements by the Minister of the Interior, Manuel Valls, in Le Figaro, this kind of experience is likely to be short-lived. "It may only involve a minority because, unfortunately, the occupants of camps do not want to integrate into our country for cultural reasons or because they are in the hands of paid networks , s in begging or prostitution, "said the first cop of France, which will intensify the dismantling of Roma camps. Then he added: "I agree with the Romanian Prime Minister when the latter said: 'Roma are intended to remain in Romania". In 2012, 12,800 Romanians and Bulgarians were renewed in their country, more than a third of expulsions carried out by France.

FRANCE: Djamel the alleged jihadist become French policeman in Mali

 

Djamel, whose name was not released, was arrested by soldiers Serval operation in northern Mali in early March. It was the first French jihadist arrested since the beginning of the war in Mali, January 11. Monday, his sister, rebellious, trusts in the daily newspaper "Le Parisien" and tells the story of the Franco-Algerian turned terrorist.

"I am ashamed of what he did, I'm ashamed of what he has become. Since I knew he was in Mali, it is not my brother. It is no longer a member of the family. He committed the worst of the worst fighting the French troops when it is France that did grow, enabled him to study, work, have a wife, children … " , says this mother of 30 years.

A few days ago, the Minister of Defence confirmed the arrest of a French in the ranks of Islamist fighters. Jean-Yves Le Drian declared March 8 as one of Europe from Bamako: "We made a French prisoner who is to be extradited to France in the times to come. This shows that there was a kind of constitution instead of a terrorist war industry, which could accommodate some young people in search of a radical destiny, as some have done Afghanistan or Syria. " Today, rookie terrorist always expect his extradition to France, the newspaper said.

When Djamel part of Algeria for France, he is still a child. With his mother, his brothers and sisters, he joined his father in Grenoble. At his age, he obtained French nationality. Then, according to his sister, he worked in the police, the BAC, the anti-crime brigade of Grenoble, in the late 1990s. "He has worn the uniform of French," she insists.

"He started the wrong crowd"

After passing through the police, he left and moved to Grenoble Haute-Savoie, Bonneville, where he met his future wife. It connects jobs: security officer employed in a slaughterhouse … At the time, "Djamel was like everyone else. He loved to party. He went to the mosque, without more, says his sister. After his marriage in 2005, he started to grow a beard, the wrong crowd with bearded trying to indoctrinate young people. He told us he was just doing his prayer, it does not go any further. " Then the couple has faltered. "He cared more for his children, his wife," says his sister. The young Salafist begins to declare his relatives want to join Al-Qaeda. At that time, nobody takes his words seriously.

Separated from his wife, he then returns to his mother in Grenoble. Finally, last November, he announced that he will work in Paris. However, it is gone much further. His ex-girlfriend has included receiving a phone call. "One day he called his wife asking him to move his children. My sister then noticed he called from abroad. She then checked the number and saw that phoned in Mali! You do not really expect that it will act on like that. "

Her sister tells her anger: "We live in France, you respect secularism. Can not deny that our religion is part of our life. But to go like that do jihad, no! That is why I hope he will pay. But first, it must be explained vis-à-vis his family in France. He say why he did it, how he got there. "

After the publication of this article, the Interior Ministry said that Djamel has never been a policeman. According to a source quoted by the newspaper Le Parisien, the alleged jihadist filed two applications to become deputy security. In vain.

DIPLOMACY: Both Sudan are moving slowly towards a peace agreement

AFP

The presidents of Sudan and South Sudan met Sunday night in Addis Ababa in the hope of ending fighting in the border areas, but no agreement has yet e , ty reached safety after two weeks of negotiations, officials said.

South Sudan said nevertheless expect the conclusion of an agreement Monday between the Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir and his South Sudan counterpart Salva Kiir, after an informal extension deadline set by the UN this weekend.

"Tomorrow it will be finished. There will be an agreement, "he told reporters Deng Alor, Minister of the Government of Southern Sudan, after the start of the summit.

Juba has accused the afternoon the Sudanese army have dropped Friday and Saturday weapons to a rebel group led by David Yau Yau militia in eastern South Sudan.

"(Planes) Antonov dropped weapons and ammunition around Likuangole before Toutle world, including the Minus," said Philip Aguer, spokesman for the South Sudanese army , referring to the UN mission in the country.

The Sudanese army immediately denied these allegations, and Minus was not immediately available for comment. 

Sudan accuses its southern neighbor to support the People's Liberation Movement (SPLM North), Khartoum's forces fighting near the border. Juba said for his part that the government of Omar al-Bashir supporting rebel militias in the territory of the new state.

Omar Hassan al-Bashir and Salva Kiir began discussions Sunday evening in order to conclude two weeks of negotiations under the auspices of the African Union (AU) in the Ethiopian capital. Indirect talks between Khartoum and the SPLM North, however, are blocked.

The two men will meet again on Monday, officials said.

They had already seen briefly in July on the sidelines of the African Union, but they were not given official summit last year.

"We agreed on many issues, but there are still areas in which we did not yet heard, particularly on the issue of security," said Badr al-Din Abdullah, spokesman for the Sudanese delegation.

The two countries should conclude this weekend a comprehensive peace agreement otherwise they would face sanctions of the Security Council of the UN. 

Demilitarized zone

The discussions between the two states of the partition of Sudan in July 2011 aimed to find a security agreement on their common border of 1,800 km, Khartoum prerequisite for the establishment of interim plan on transporting oil reached last month.

Khartoum had raised hopes Saturday accepting, under certain conditions, an agreement already approved by Juba, which provides for the establishment of a demilitarized zone along the border.

South Sudan was arrested in January its oil production, which accounts for almost all of its revenue due to disagreement with Khartoum on the amount of compensation , to pay for the delivery of its oil to the ports of the Red Sea. 

A summit between the leaders of the two countries was already scheduled for April but was canceled after the outbreak of armed clashes between the two countries and the temporary capture of a Sudanese oilfield by its southern neighbor.

The secession of South Sudan, mostly Christian and animist, its northern neighbor, predominantly Muslim, was made under the terms of the peace agreement that ended a civil war in 2005.

It did not solve a series of disputes over the demarcation of the border, the customs duties on oil and mutual accusations of support rebellions in the respective territories of the two countries . 

The two leaders also need to find a solution to the situation in the border area of ​​Abyei, whose sovereignty is disputed and where the implementation of a reference , dum is regularly hampered by a dispute between Khartoum and Juba on the composition of the electorate.

Reuters

HANDBALL: The attitude of the experts made after the Games spot

 

Video of removing a plate on the issue of London & Co Team TV a player of the France team handball coach and has e ty viewed over 100,000 times in recent days on the site of the chain, becoming subject to controversy in the sporting French.

The incident is at first almost unnoticed when it took place, before surfacing on the Internet. Just hours after the victory of Experts August 12 in the final against Sweden (22 -21), Claude Onesta, coach of the Blues, and player Nikola Karabatic guests by the sports channel to comment on this success, began to dismantle the live table top studio in the presence of the presenter of the program exceeded e by their actions.

"Settlement Account"?

The act was not responsible for the taste of "The Team" who are on the frontlines one by one to disapprove the claim and re preparation. The executive editor of Team TV said Monday AFP that "the limits were exceeded, especially by Claude Onesta". If he expected to see the players' happily put the mess in the program, "Pensivy Benedict said he was" very surprised at the side of reckoning Claude Onesta ".

Experts coach would not have well digested the criticisms of "The Team" on the delivery of his players during competition. Gold medal around his neck, Claude Onesta has perhaps not resist taking vengeance on his detractors. "That there may be a bit of revenge, to be told 'listen, you have a little annoyed, you have jostled during the competition, will now play a with little ', it is possible. Frankly, this is not the hooliganism, "he argued Tuesday to micro RTL.

"Not everything is permitted" reminded him Morinière Francis, the Group Chief Executive Team on Twitter. "Attitude unacceptable Claude Onesta [Sunday night] on the set of TV Team leader of drunk break from the studio," he denounced the social network.

Fabrice Jouhaud last responsible for "The Team" to have spoken so far about the incident, had words even harder at the point of Nikola Karabatic and Claude Onesta. "They pose as great heroes and people full of moral and, in fact, behave like thugs," he told Europe 1 on Wednesday. And adds: "A football player would have done half of that, it would be a national scandal. We do not want it to be a scandal. We, we just want to report it: these people are not what they claim. "

A view shared by Nicolas Docao, contributor to the site the more participatory, who notes that "at the time of the excitement of the Olympic values ​​through the media and politicians, with a low of comparison with the attitude of French footballers to Krysna in 2010 and in the Euro this summer, this divergence is task ". The Internet also protested the "relative silence [that] surrounds this unfortunate episode of the French handball".

Mea culpa Karabatic

Given the scale that takes this matter, the handball player Nikola Karabatic is now trying to calm things down. On his facebook page, the star at the heart of the controversy has apologized to the journalists of the TV Team. "Do I know enough to know that you make sense of things," he reminded them.

If the chain victim of this act, calling it "vandalism" refuses to prosecute alleged perpetrators to justice, she plans to send to the French Handball Federation bill damage, estimated at 20,000 euros.

NUCLEAR: In Belgium, restarting a nuclear reactor is compromised

 

AFP – The head of the Belgian Federal Agency for Nuclear Control (FANC) Roovere Willy said he was "skeptical" Friday about the possibility of re-re No. 3 player in the Doel nuclear power plant, near Antwerp, shut down since the discovery of anomalies in its tank.

"I am quite skeptical at the moment," he told public radio RTBF in response to a question about the possibility of reusing the reactor vessel after discovery of anomalies.

"There is still a chance to prove I'm wrong," he clarified, however. "But there are a few too many defects to our liking," he warned.

According to the daily Le Soir, a crack 15 to 20 millimeters was detected in the tank during a routine check. This information has not been disproved.

"A possible repair of the tank is nearly impossible and is not the preferred option, because it is feared that such an operation give rise to new tensions in the vessel wall, it must be avoided, "says the FANC.

"A replacement of the tank is extremely difficult (high dose of radiation) and has never taken place anywhere in the world," said the FANC.

The audit showed "defects in the steel base material of the tank." The manufacturer, the Dutch group Rotterdamsche Droogdok Maatschappij (RDM), which has since ceased operations, has equipped a dozen reactors in Europe.

The Belgian central Tihange, near Liege, is so affected. The Spanish authority for his part said that the reactors had Cofrentes Garona and similar facilities. The Swiss authority has confirmed that the Dutch company had equipped the reactor Mühleberg and Swedish counterpart said the No. 2 engine plant Ringhals had the same type of tank.

The authority of the Netherlands, for his part said that the firm RDM had provided the reactor vessel of Borssele, but she had not made.

The Dutch group also acted for reactors in Germany, officials said a source familiar with the matter.

Representatives of authorities responsible for nuclear safety in the countries concerned will meet in Brussels on August 16 for "an exchange of information," indicated FANC. This will be a "technical meeting" stressed the Belgian agency.

"Each country is responsible" for its power plants. A routine inspection is scheduled in September for the reactor number 2 of the Belgian central Tihange. Switzerland has also provided a control Mühleberg.

The Dutch, however, "have not yet decided" whether an inspection of the reactor Borssele "was needed", said Friday in an AFP Spokesman of the Ministry of Economy.

The European Commission calls for such inspections, but has no power to impose them. They should determine if the deficiencies identified in the reactor of the Belgian central Doel are specific to that vessel or in the case of "lack of manufacturing ".

The challenge is heavy because the shutdown of Doel 3 and Tihange 2 will deprive Belgium of a third of its electricity production.

If both reactors were to be finalized, a possibility considered by the FANC, the group Electrabel (GDF Suez subsidiary of the French), which operates seven reactors NUCLEAR ; area operating in the Kingdom has told AFP that the fact would be necessary to ensure supplies via other central group in France and market purchases.

USA: Several killed in a shooting in a Sikh Temple of Wisconsin

 

AFP – At least seven people including the gunman died in a shooting that occurred Sunday in a Sikh temple in Oak Creek (Wisconsin), in the northern United States, it was learned Wednesday.

Police said four people were shot Sunday mid-morning on the inside and three outside, a temple of this town of 35,000 inhabitants in the Milwaukee suburb north of Chicago, by a gunman who opened fire at 1530 GMT.

The police rushed to the site, had feared for a moment that a second gunman is found in the temple but now says that this is not the case. 

In addition, three people – adult men – were transported in critical condition at Froedtert Hospital in Milwaukee, said a spokesman for the hospital AFP.  

According to a local police chief, Bradley Wentlandt, a policeman was wounded by a gunman and "returned fire and the gunman was shot," he said to the IR dias in a press conference.

According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, quoting a member of the Sikh community, a white man of thirty years would be responsible for the shooting.

It would have started shooting in approaching a priest who was outside the temple where the faithful had begun to converge in the early morning to a religious ceremony.

The police commandos would come around noon (1700 GMT) in the temple and had evacuated people were not injured. 

The temple president, Satwant Kaleka, was shot and hospitalized, according to local newspaper for which there could be 20 to 30 people affected.

The newspaper also quoted a member of the executive committee of the temple, Fri Boba Ri, indicating that "he had no idea" the motive of the shooting. "This is probably a hate crime, it does not come from someone inside."

Sikhs, who wear a turban and beard, are often mistaken for Muslims and are the subject of racist attacks in this capacity in the U.S., particularly since the attacks of Sept. 11.

The country has recently been marked by a fatal shooting. In a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado (west), 12 people were killed and 58 injured on July 20 by a young man of 24, James Holmes, the first during the last Batman movie.

DIPLOMACY: Hillary Clinton's visit to Egypt to meet President Mohamed Morsi

 

AFP – U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived Saturday in Egypt to meet the new president, Mohamed Morsi Islamist, and provide the support of the United States in the difficult transition ; Democratic in the country, according to an AFP journalist. During his two day visit to Egypt, Clinton is scheduled to meet with Mr. Morsi, from the Muslim Brotherhood, Marshal Hussein Tantawi, the head of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (AFSC), and representatives of civil society, including Copts and of women's rights activists. Clinton will discuss with Egyptian leaders "measures that the Egyptians plan to take ( …) concerning the Constitution, Parliament and other aspects of institutions, which ultimately lead to a full transition to a democratic civilian government, "said an official of the dice ; State Department reporters. "These are questions that only the Egyptians can answer. It does not come with recommendations or with a specific set of proposals, but rather to seek to better understand how they will proceed, "he said. Clinton's visit comes during a showdown between Mr. Morsi, the military – to whom Mubarak had handed over power when he resigned under pressure from the street in February 2011 – and justice. Clinton will seek to highlight the idea "that a dialogue between the parties for develop a consensus (…) is crucial to avoid any kind of instability or confrontation that could derail the transition, "the official added.