France condemns Iran nuclear move

The reactor building at the Russian-built Bushehr nuclear power plant in southern Iran on October 26.NEW: Tehran insists that its nuclear program is peacefulThe French Foreign Ministry says Tuesday's announcement by Iran flouts U.N. resolutionsParis is calling on Tehran to "suspend its sensitive activities"British official said last month Iran is secretly testing missiles

Tehran, Iran (CNN) -- The French Foreign Ministry condemned Tuesday the Iranian government's announcement that it was installing a new generation of centrifuges in its nuclear facilities, describing it as "a new wave of provocation" that flouts United Nations resolutions.

"This is yet another violation of the six Security Council resolutions and the 10 IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) Board of Governors resolutions," the ministry said in a statement. "On top of the announcements that it plans to triple the production of uranium enriched to 20%, it clearly confirms the suspicions of the IAEA and the international community regarding the purpose of a program without any credible civilian objective."

The French Foreign Ministry called on Tehran to "suspend its sensitive activities."

The ministry was reacting to the announcement earlier in the day by a spokesman for Iran's Foreign Ministry, who said the country is installing a new generation of centrifuges in its nuclear facilities. The announcement was reported by the state-run IRNA news agency.

The spokesman, Ramin Mehmanparast, "stressed the peaceful nature of Iran's nuclear activities, saying that all Iran's nuclear activities were carried out under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency," IRNA said.

Iran has been carrying out covert tests of missiles capable of delivering a nuclear payload, in contravention of a U.N. resolution, British Foreign Secretary William Hague said last month.

It has also said it wants to enrich uranium to "levels far greater than is needed for peaceful nuclear energy," Hague said.

Iran's development of missile and nuclear fuel technology has led to U.N. sanctions and accusations from the United States that the clerical regime is trying to develop nuclear weapons.

Iran says it has a right to peaceful nuclear technology, but the IAEA has said it cannot verify whether the intent of Tehran's nuclear program remains peaceful.

Enriched uranium can be used for civilian nuclear purposes, but also to make atomic weapons.

The IAEA raised concerns in February that Iran was not engaging with the agency on claims that it was developing a nuclear payload for its missiles.

The IAEA report discussed possible nuclear activities tied to Iran's military "including activities related to the development of a nuclear payload for a missile."

The United States imposed new sanctions on Iran last month, targeting the country's national airline, Iran Air, other companies and international business executives accused of illicitly building up Tehran's military.

Iran has condemned those sanctions in a letter to the United Nations, saying the international body had a responsibility to look out for "nations who are merely endeavoring to attain their legitimate and undeniable rights under international law."

The United Nations passed a fourth round of sanctions against Iran in June 2010, aimed at pressuring it to suspend its nuclear program.

Journalist Shirzad Bozorgmehr contributed to this report.

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France records first E. coli death (AP)

PARIS – Authorities have recorded France's first death from the European E. coli outbreak.

Health officials in Bordeaux said the 78-year-old woman died early Saturday morning.

She had been hospitalized in Bordeaux since June 24 with hemolytic uremic syndrome — the rare kidney condition that the most seriously ill victims of the outbreak are suffering from.

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France airlifts arms to bolster Libyan rebels (Reuters)

PARIS/MISRATA, Libya (Reuters) - – France said on Wednesday it airlifted weapons to Libya's rebels this month, the first time that a NATO country bombing Libya has openly acknowledged arming rebels seeking to topple Muammar Gaddafi.

A three-month-old bombing campaign has so far failed to dislodge the Libyan leader, straining the Western alliance. The bombing is justified by a U.N. Security Council resolution authorizing force to protect civilians, but Britain, France and the United States say they will not stop until Gaddafi falls.

The rebels' advances have been slow, although they say they have made considerable progress in the past week on the front nearest Tripoli. On Sunday rebels advanced from the mountains southwest of the capital to 80 km (50 miles) from the capital.

A French military spokesman confirmed the delivery of weapons after Le Figaro newspaper cited unnamed sources as saying France had parachuted rocket launchers, assault rifles, machine guns and anti-tank missiles into the western mountains.

"There were humanitarian drops because the humanitarian situation was worsening and at one point it seemed the security situation was threatening civilians who could not defend themselves," armed forces spokesman Thierry Burkhard said.

"France therefore also sent equipment allowing them to defend themselves, comprising light weapons and munitions," he said, adding that the drop also included medicine and food.

The legality of the move could be called into question because of a U.N. arms embargo. U.N. diplomats have said any arms transfers without the prior consent of the U.N. Security Council's Libya sanctions committee could violate the embargo.

A U.N. diplomat familiar with the committee said France had not sought its permission to send arms. Countries have suggested the Security Council's permission to "take any action" to protect civilians might allow shipments of weapons for defense.

Le Figaro said France's decision to send arms had been taken without consulting NATO partners. It quoted a high-level source saying "there was no other way to proceed."

A rebel spokesman in the Western Mountains contacted by Reuters said he did not have an information about the French arms. France's allies reacted cautiously.

"We as NATO are not engaged in this kind of activity, although it is also well known that there are nations that are doing this so it is not up to me to comment or judge," Admiral Giampaolo Di Paola, head of NATO's military committee, told reporters in Brussels.

Britain, alongside France one of the most active members of the coalition behind the bombing, acknowledged the French move raised questions in the light of the U.N. mandate.

"It does raise quite a few issues, not least the United Nations resolution, although in some circumstances clearly that could be justified," British Minister for International Security Gerald Howarth told reporters.

"But it is very much a matter for France and no criticism of France (is) intended therein. But it's not something we shall be doing," added Howarth. Britain has given the rebels items such as body armor while stressing such aid was "non-lethal."

At an Africa Union summit in Equatorial Guinea, AU Commission chief Jean Ping said arms going into Libya could end up in the hands of al Qaeda allies in the region.

"Africa's concern is that weapons that are delivered to one side or another ... are already in the desert and will arm terrorists and fuel trafficking," Ping told reporters.

"A LITTLE BIT NAIVE"

As the NATO operation extends beyond 90 days, fissures have appeared in the coalition against Gaddafi, with Italy calling for a suspension to the bombing and U.S. officials complaining about the lack of European firepower.

U.S. President Barack Obama, who has come under fire for not seeking approval from Congress for the mission, said he had carried it out in "exemplary fashion." His administration has argued that the U.S. role in the operation does not rise to the level of "hostilities" requiring congressional approval.

"We have engaged in a limited operation to help a lot of people against one of the worst tyrants in the world," he told a news conference. "A lot of this fuss is politics."

The Dutch defense minister warned NATO allies on Wednesday against "mission creep" and forecast more arguments about the future of its campaign if it lasted beyond September.

"Libya is a very, very big country indeed. People who thought that merely by throwing some bombs it would not only help the people, but also convince Gaddafi that he could step down or alter his policy, were a little bit naive," he said.

NATO warships off the Libyan coast fired on government forces near the strategic town of Zlitan east of Tripoli, rebels said on Wednesday. Gaddafi's forces have so far successfully blocked the rebels at Zlitan, preventing them from advancing on Tripoli from the east.

"Last night, NATO struck from the sea at Gaddafi's forces positioned in the coastal area," a rebel spokesman inside Zlitan, who identified himself as Mabrouk, told Reuters.

"The (pro-Gaddafi) brigades are preparing for the next days. They have stepped up deployment here. They have brought several rocket-launchers. The number of checkpoints is also growing. The situation is getting more difficult."

CONTRACTS REVIEW?

There was no immediate confirmation from NATO that its warships had been in action off the town. Zlitan is about 140 km (90 miles) east of Tripoli and lies between the capital and the rebel-held city of Misrata.

Libyan state television said 15 people were killed when NATO air strikes hit a vegetable market on Tuesday in the town of Tawergha, south of Misrata, and accused the alliance of hitting civilian targets again on Wednesday.

A NATO spokesman said the alliance had hit "a military facility with military vehicles inside" in the Tawergha area on Wednesday. The alliance was unable to confirm reports of civilian casualties but was looking into them.

Gaddafi's government says NATO bombing has killed more than 700 civilians, although it has not presented evidence of such large numbers of civilian deaths and NATO denies them.

An official with the rebel leadership said if it came to power it would review all contracts signed under Gaddafi. Mahmoud Shammam, a spokesman for the rebel National Transitional Council, told reporters in Paris the council would nullify contracts if it discovered evidence of corruption.

Gaddafi's officials say the NATO campaign is an act of colonial aggression aimed at stealing Libya's oil. They also dismiss International Criminal Court arrest warrants against Gaddafi and his son for crimes against humanity, saying the court is a tool of the West.

(Additional reporting by Hamid Ould Ahmed in Algiers; Lutfi Abu-Aun in Tripoli; John Irish and Elizabeth Pineau in Paris, David Brunnstrom in Brussels; Anis Mili in Arrujban, Libya; Keith Weir in London; Joseph Nasr in Berlin; Louis Charbonneau at the United Nations and David Lewis in Malabo; Writing by Mark John; Editing by Peter Graff)

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E. coli strain resurfaces in France

French Health Minister Xavier Bertrand addresses the E. coli outbreak in Bordeaux on Sunday.The strain "has the same characteristics" as the one in Germany, officials sayA tracing study suggests a possible link to a British companyThe company does not believe its seeds are the sourceGermany's death toll has risen to 46, officials say

Paris (CNN) -- The strain of E. coli blamed for 46 deaths in Germany appears to have resurfaced in France, the French Ministry of Health said.

The new outbreak has sickened eight people, who went to two hospitals in Bordeaux, authorities said.

Officials interviewed seven of them, all of whom reported having attended an open house at a children's recreation center. Six of them reported having eaten sprouts during the visit, "particularly used in decoration of a gazpacho," the health ministry said.

Two of the eight patients have hemolytic uremic syndrome. The strain of E. coli isolated from one of them "has the same characteristics as the strain responsible for a large epidemic" of enterohemorrhagic E. coli in Germany over the past several weeks, which has been blamed on sprouts, the ministry said in a statement.

The seeds for the sprouts consumed at the recreation center were planted and grown in France, officials said.

An investigation found the seeds were supplied by a British company, but no definitive link has been established, an official with France's economy ministry said.

A "tracing study carried out by the Directorate General for Competition, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Control" showed the sprouts came from fenugreek, mustard and arugula seeds supplied by British company Thompson & Morgan, a statement from Frederic Lefebvre said. "The link between symptoms and the consumption of these seeds is not definitively established to date."

Lefebvre has instructed the directorate general to ask distributors to "immediately suspend the marketing of these products," the statement said.

In a statement released to media, Thompson & Morgan noted that the French problems seems to be localized just to the one site, "which would indicate to us that something local in the Bordeaux area, or the way the product has been handled and grown, is responsible for the incident rather than our seeds." The company added that it is fully cooperating with U.K. authorities in their inquiry.

The British Food Standards Agency said investigations into the outbreak in France "have suggested a possible link to sprouting seeds from a company based in the U.K. To date, no cases of food poisoning have been reported in the U.K. linked to the outbreak in France. We are in close contact with the Health Protection Agency who is actively monitoring the situation.

"Following further cases of E. coli in France, the Food Standards Agency is revising its guidance on the consumption of sprouted seeds such as alfalfa, mung beans (usually known as beansprouts) and fenugreek," the agency said in a statement, advising that sprouted seeds should only be eaten if cooked thoroughly, and that equipment used should be cleaned thoroughly as well.

Speaking Sunday on national television, French Health Minister Xavier Bertrand made an appeal for anyone suffering from diarrhea or severe abdominal pain to see a doctor. He also asked all those who had bought the seeds to "refrain from consuming them and take them back pending the outcome of ongoing investigations."

The health minister also revealed that a new drug had been tried at the University Hospital of Bordeaux, "a drug that was used in Germany ... and here was used earlier to enable agencies to cope more effectively."

A conference call with health officials throughout Europe was to take place Sunday, Bertrand said, to "take stock of the traceability of the bean sprouts in order to understand the origin of this bacterium."

German authorities said recently the bacteria in the outbreak there has been detected in sprouts found in a North Rhine-Westphalia household in western Germany.

At least some of the vegetables in question seem to originate from a farm in Northern Germany that has already been linked to the outbreak, ministry spokesman Stephan Melessa said June 10.

The European Center for Disease Prevention and Control said late last week that the number of deaths in the outbreak there had risen to 46, including one death in Sweden.

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Germany and France Reach Greece Deal, but Problems Remain (Time.com)

One down, one to go. A robust rescue package for Greece suddenly seemed a reality on Friday after Germany caved in to France and the European Central Bank by abandoning their demand to roll over Greek debt maturities. Details remain to be finalized on the Franco-Germany deal, but even as the Euro zone's two biggest economies reached agreement, a major obstacle remains - whether the Greek government can survive a vote of confidence next week following this week's cabinet reshuffle.

The collapse of the Greek government would cast doubt on the country's ability to implement the deep market and budget reforms required by the E.U. and the International Monetary Fund in exchange for aid, threaten to derail any bailout and indeed potentially derail other euro zone economies. (See pictures of protests in Greece.)

On Friday, however, German and French officials insisted on focusing on the success of a compromise agreement. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, reeling from five consecutive losses in state polls, has in the past few weeks been reluctant to reach a deal with France given the populist anger in Germany over the massive taxpayer-financed bailouts for Greece, Ireland and Portugal over the past years. But with the global financial markets once again in turmoil over the last few days over fears that Europe's sovereign debt crisis could threaten the entire Euro zone, Merkel decided it was time to do a deal.

The compromise agreement works essentially like this: instead of forcing investors to extend the maturities on Greek debt - as suggested by German Finance Minister Wolfgang SchAuble - Merkel and Sarkozy now support a bailout plan for Greece that is based on the 2009 deal for Eastern European countries facing similar threats of default. Using the so-called "Vienna Initiative" as a template, Merkel and Sarkozy want European banks to maintain their exposure to Greece but to voluntarily roll over their bonds as they come due. This would buy Greece sufficient time to allow its fiscal austerity measures, economic reform and privatization of state holdings to kick in. In the meantime, an estimated 80 billion to 100 billion euros in fresh aid from the E.U. and the International Monetary Fund would provide sufficient funding until 2013 to keep the government running. (See more on Greece's debt crisis.)

"We would like to have a participation of private creditors on a voluntary basis," Merkel told reporters in Berlin Friday at a press conference as Sarkozy stood by smiling. And pressing the point that financial markets were eager to hear - that Merkel would heed European Central Bank (ECB) warnings about forcing investors to roll over Greek debt - Merkel added that any deal regarding a debt rollover "should be worked out jointly with the ECB and there shouldn't be any dispute with the ECB on this."

The details of the Franco-German plan have yet to be made public. But it is fair to wonder just how the scheme is supposed to work. In a rollover, bondholders would reinvest the proceeds of bonds as they mature, putting their money into new securities with long maturity - but with a coupon that is significantly lower than going market yields. "It is hard to see why anyone in the private sector would do that voluntarily," David Mackie, an economist with JP Morgan Chase Bank in London wrote in a note to investors.

The drama could hardly have been more intense ahead of the Franco-German negotiations on Friday. About a month ago, Germany all but derailed talks over a new bailout for Greece by demanding that any deal force bondholders to agree to roll over maturities for Greek debt. Extending debt maturities, effectively restructuring Greek debt, would have forced banks, insurance companies and other investors holding Greek bonds to take losses. Independent economists, Germany's European partners, and the European Central Bank warned that such a forced measure would cause a further downgrade of Greek debt. It was feared that Greece's likely default as a consequence could trigger another global financial crisis.

That scenario, at least, seems to have been averted. "I'm fairly confident that there will be a rescue deal for Greece now," said Nicola Mai, an economist at JP Morgan Chase Bank in London. "Merkel and Sarkozy are sending a strong signal that European policy makers are becoming aligned now that Germany has backed down." (See a TIME story from 2009 on whether France and Germany could fall in love again.)

Now all eyes will turn back to Athens, where Greek citizens have been camped out by the thousands in front of the country's parliament for weeks. Angry protests over the government's austerity measures - a massive plan to privatize state holdings from the telephone company, to hotel chains and a state-owned casino - reached a peak this week and forced socialist Prime Minister George Papandreou to replace his embattled finance minister, George Papaconstantinou, in a broader cabinet reshuffle aimed at salvaging a weakened government.

The new finance chief is Evangelos Venizelos, a veteran politician and law professor who had been Defense Minister. Widely considered an astute and tough strategist with keen political instincts, Venizelos had challenged Papandreou in 2007 for leadership of the center-left PASOK party, which Papandreou leads and his father founded. Though Venizelos lost that race, he became a key powerbroker for Papandreou after PASOK won national elections in 2009.

Some analysts say Venizelos and the rest of the new cabinet are political insiders who won't sit well with many restless Greeks who distrust politicians, blaming them for Greece's economic woes. Others, like University of Piraeus economics professor Theodore Pelagidis, say the new cabinet is more unified than the previous one - and that Venizelos has the skills to convince both the Greeks and the Europeans that the austerity program will produce results. (See how one year after the bailout, Greece is still hurting.)

"Venizelos is in a position to tell the Europeans that Greece will make the reforms to get out of debt, but we also need time and some breathing space, not just new loans," Pelagidis says. "He is politically capable of saying to Brussels, look, we need to set up a new agenda to actually solve this problem, not put it off." Now, finally, Greece is getting concerted action from the major European powers. But the question remains - can it keep its own house in order long enough for that to make any difference?

With reporting by Joanna Kakissis / Athens

See pictures of the global financial crisis.

See photos of the Greeks' spring of protest.

View this article on Time.com

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AF447 crash bodies arrive in France

A ship transporting the remains of around 104 victims of the Air France 447 crash arrives in southwestern France Thursday.Ship transporting remains and wreckage arrives in FranceThere are believed to be around 104 bodiesA long process now begins to identify the victims, French authorities say

Paris (CNN) -- The ship carrying the remains of victims and wreckage from the Rio-Paris Air France 447 crash arrived in France on Thursday morning with around 104 bodies on board, according to French police sources.

A French police spokesman said "it is very difficult to give an exact number of bodies, but we believe there to be around 104."

AF 447 crashed two years ago close to the coast of Brazil, killing all on board.

The Ile-de-Sein, the cable ship chartered by French investigation body the BEA, docked at the port of Bayonne for unloading. All access to the port was blocked by police for the sake of discretion for the families of the victims. Dr. Bernd Gans, father of a German victim, said, "They showed us pictures of freezing containers, saying this is how the remains were transported. I think it's right that the families were not present at the port today."

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Once the unloading procedure has been completed, the remains will be sent to the forensic institute in Paris for autopsy and identification. Debris from the aircraft will be sent to a hangar in Toulouse for technical analysis.

Colonel Francois Daoust, head of the Institute of Criminal Research of French National police told French press that identification would be made in two stages, ante mortem and post mortem, through the use of medical records, dental records, comparison with DNA of relatives, and identification of jewellery.

He also described the state of the bodies: "These bodies have been damaged by the shock of the crash. And then nature does the job, obviously. The temperature at 2-3 ° and the almost total lack of oxygen slowed the deterioration process, but after two years, the bodies are inevitably damaged."

Gans told CNN that he had been in Paris Wednesday with other victim's families. "They explained to us that they would start identifying the remains recovered in contrast to what we were told a couple of weeks ago that the bodies could be identified by photos or clothes," he said. "It turns out it's really just a case of remains being identified by DNA. We are afraid that not much remains.

"When we were first told that the bodies could be identified by looking at them I thought... It's brilliant. With the way thing are now, I have changed my mind. They died all together at this particular spot and we should have left them there."

No exact time frame has been given for the process. Daoust told French media, "It will take time. To give you an idea, identifying the first 50 bodies, two years ago, had taken two months of work. For 104 new bodies, up to 40 people will be mobilized for several weeks."

Gans described the reaction of two French victims' relatives at the meeting held for victims relatives. "They were very emotional at this point. They asked if it could be arranged for all the relatives to get the results at the same time, so that some wouldn't be waiting whilst others had results. This was denied by representatives. They said this is the order we have for the investigation. When we have results we have to contact families," he said. "The victims' families will just have to sit and wait. This was very painful to hear."

Operations onboard the Ile-de-Sein came to an end on June 3. A total of 154 bodies have now been brought up, however this still leaves more than 70 which will never be recovered.

Gans explained, "Difficult days begin now. Some families will have hope; will be in this situation of waiting for the next months. Some will have an answer while others will never know."

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Bodies of 104 Air France crash victims to reach Paris (Reuters)

PARIS (Reuters) – The bodies of 104 victims of an Air France flight that crashed into the Atlantic Ocean two years ago will arrive in France on Thursday, starting what promises to be a long process of identification.

Families of the victims have been divided over whether to retrieve the bodies of their kin, or leave them on the seabed where they have been relatively well preserved due to cold temperatures and high water pressure.

French search teams brought up 104 out of 228 victims from the Air France flight A447 to Paris, which plunged into the sea en route from Rio de Janeiro on June 1, 2009.

Some 50 bodies were found floating in the sea in the days after the crash. The remainder will remain submerged.

The first few bodies recovered from the wreckage have been reasonably well preserved, despite suffering some damage as they were lifted off the seabed.

Investigators are hopeful they will be able to identify all the bodies arriving in Paris with the aid of medical and dental records, as well as DNA information.

The process is likely to be lengthy, however, as they will have to collect "ante mortem" information on each victim -- from when they were alive -- to compare it to evidence retrieved from their dead bodies. It took around two months to identify victims retrieved from the surface two years ago.

The bodies are expected to arrive early on Thursday at the port of Bayonne, on the southwest coast of France.

The analysis of "black box" flight recorders from the Air France plane has shed light on the circumstances of the crash, but investigators have yet to provide a conclusive explanation or to say whether crew or faulty machinery were to blame.

The aircraft plunged out of control for four minutes before crashing into the ocean, raising questions over the way crew handled what appeared to be a "stall alarm" emergency, according to data retrieved from the black boxes.

They showed the pilot was absent from the cockpit and a 32-year old junior pilot had pulled the plane's nose up as it became unstable, generating an audible stall warning.

(Reporting by Sophie Louet in Paris and Claude Canellas in Bordeaux, writing by Nick Vinocur; Editing by Jan Harvey)

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UK, France build case for UN resolution against Syria (The Christian Science Monitor)

Berlin – With thousands of Syrians fleeing to Turkey in fear of more attacks by government forces, Europe is intensifying diplomatic pressure on the regime of President Bashar al-Assad to stop using violence against civilians.

Supported by Germany and Portugal, the UK and France have drafted a UN Security Council resolution condemning Syria’s suppression of pro-democracy protests but not calling for military action or additional sanctions.

While Europe is again taking the lead on rallying international response to a Middle East uprising, many analysts say the West is cautious about moving too strongly against Syria because of its strategic importance in the region. What's more, many say, Assad will continue to act with impunity as long as he feels that the West considers him as part of an eventual solution to ending the violence there.

RECOMMENDED: Syria 101: 4 attributes of Assad's authoritarian regime

“Libya has oil, but it has little strategic importance. Syria is a pivotal state, it has immense strategic importance in the region,” says Jean-Francois Daguzan, a Middle East expert at the Foundation for Strategic Research in Paris. "Regime change in Libya will not change the political landscape of the whole of North Africa. Regime change in Syria will affect the situation of Israel, of Lebanon, of Iran, of Turkey even.”

Mr. Daguzan said Western governments are also worried about what could follow Assad. "What kind of policy would a government of the Sunni majority in Syria stand for? No one knows. Europe’s options in Syria are very limited and a military intervention is out of the question.”

The draft UN resolution put forward by the UK and France asks for political reforms and the release of political prisoners. But it does not authorize concrete action by the international community and it stresses that any solution to this crisis has to include the Syrian authorities.

“Syria was at the center of the Western policy of engagement in the last two or three years,” said Nadim Shehadi, Syria expert with the London-based think tank Chatham House. “A lot of people invested political capital into arguing for engagement with Assad. And the regime is very clever in blurring people’s vision about what could happen. European policymakers are traumatized by Iraq and Libya, so when Assad paints a picture of a bloody sectarian war developing out of this uprising, they are not willing to take that risk.”

But Mr. Shehadi says that for the Assad regime to consider a change of course, the West needs to make a strong statement against its actions.

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“Syria needs a clear message,” he says. “A message by the West that we do not see Assad as the future of Syria, and as the guarantor of stability in the region. Ambiguity is interpreted by him as a sign of support, as a sign that the West cannot see life beyond him. That is a license to kill, a carte blanche to crack down on the opposition. Without a clear message from the international community, people in Syria are afraid to go that last step and get rid of Assad.”

More than 1,000 Syrians crossed the border to Turkey within the past 24 hours, according to a Turkish official. The refugees say they anticipate a violent crackdown by troops closing in on the northwest border town of Jisr al-Shugur, where earlier in the week 120 members of the security forces were killed by armed gangs, according to the Syrian authorities. Turkish media report that the government in Ankara is preparing for an influx of up to 1 million refugees.

The events in northwestern Syria mark a climax in the unrest that started three months ago and cost more than 1,300 lives, according to human rights activists.

The initiative for a UN resolution is supported by the US, but opposed by Russia and China. A vote on the resolution is expected in the next few days.

RECOMMENDED: Syria 101: 4 attributes of Assad's authoritarian regime

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France 24 takes action over Syria hoax

Syria's ambassador to France Lamia Shakkour has threatened to sue the network.Syria's ambassador denies having made call to France 24 saying she was resigningFrance 24 alleges identity theft and impersonation related to the interviewFrance 24 commissioned an analysis that shows the two voices are differentResignation was also reported by Reuters, which cited Syrian Embassy as its source

Paris (CNN) -- A French television network said Thursday it has filed a complaint with the Paris public prosecutor alleging identity theft and impersonation related to an interview it broadcast Tuesday with a woman the network identified as Ambassador Lamia Shakkour, Syria's ambassador to France.

During the telephone interview, the woman said she was resigning her post because of the ongoing violence in Syria. "I cannot support the cycle of extreme violence ... ignore the young men, women and children who have died," she said.

Shortly afterward, Shakkour denied to CNN affiliate BFM-TV that she had made any such statement, alleging in an on-camera interview that she had been impersonated.

In its statement Thursday, France 24 said it had invited Shakkour to participate in its debate program. "This invitation was made via the embassy, which, when contacted by telephone and e-mail, provided a telephone number said to be that of the ambassador, together with a photograph of the ambassador," the network said in a statement.

"It was using this number that the exchange took place, in which the declaration of the ambassador's resignation was made. That resignation was then confirmed in a wire published by the Reuters press agency, quoting the Syrian Embassy as its source."

But France 24 said it "has no option but to take Ms. Shakkour's denials seriously." It said it had commissioned comparative analyses that show the voice on France 24 differs from the voice that later issued the denial broadcast on BFM TV.

"France 24 has no doubt that Ambassador Shakkour and the Embassy of the Syrian Arab Republic in France, who were swift to report the manipulation of which they, like France 24, appear to have been the victims, will give their total support to this complaint and collaborate fully in the ensuing investigations," the network said.

In her interview Tuesday night with BFM, Shakkour had threatened to sue the network. "I am filing a complaint to the French tribunal and also to the international tribunal, and there will probably be some measures against France 24," she said.

Shakkour accused the network of following an agenda. "It's part of a campaign of misinformation by France 24, since the beginning of March, in which it gives voice only to dissidents of Syria and it falsifies videos."

In an interview with CNN carried out Tuesday night, after the two dueling telephone interviews but before the BFM on-camera interview, France 24's deputy editorial director, Renee Kaplan, called the situation "very puzzling."

"She has been a guest on our network before," said Kaplan, who added that station personnel reached Shakkour on a cell phone number that she had answered in the past. Kaplan added, "We are confident that the person we addressed on air was she. There is no other reason to believe that anyone else would have answered on the number."

CNN

France ordered to repay Taiwan banned commissions (AP)

PARIS – A Paris appeals court has ordered France and French defense company Thales SA to pay back euro630 million (about $913 million) to Taiwan in a long-standing dispute over bribes in a 1991 frigate sale, the French prime minister's office said Thursday.

The ruling brings to a close a two-decade-old dispute over enormous bribes that were specifically forbidden in the contract but became an integral part of the transaction to sell Taiwan six Lafayette frigates.

The Taiwanese navy bought the frigates from French firm Thomson-CSF — which has since changed its name to Thales SA — as well as state-owned shipbuilders. The French government guaranteed the contract.

The contract said that if any commissions to intermediaries were uncovered that sum would have to be turned over to Taiwan. Taiwan's government has said that the military paid $460 million — nearly double the original budget — for each of the six frigates.

The case has bedeviled a series of French governments, but Prime Minister Francois Fillon placed the blame on the Socialist government of President Francois Mitterrand, in power when the contract was signed.

The public coffers "must therefore support today the heavy consequences of the decision taken in 1991 to pay commission contrary to the letter of the contract," a statement from Fillon's office said.

"This episode ... weighs heavily on the image of our naval arms exporting industry," the Defense Ministry said.

Fillon's office said the state's part in the payback amounts to some euro460 million. Thales said in a statement it will pay the remaining 27.46 percent, or about euro170 million. Provisions have already been made for the fine so won't reflect on the company's financial results, Thales said.

However, the French government hopes to recover at least some of the funds, according to the prime minister's statement. It said France hopes to obtain "at least a partial reimbursement" should Taiwanese authorities manage to get "all or part of the commissions paid out" from the intermediaries.

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Syrian envoy to France: I've not quit

Syrian opposition members and Turkish activists demonstrate outside the Syrian embassy in Ankara on June 3, 2011.NEW: "I accuse them of misinterpretation," Shakkour says, "It was a lie"2 earlier phone interviews on TV air contradictory announcements, allegedly both from Syrian envoyThe deputy editor of France 24 says network sticks by its story that Shakkour said she was resigningThe U.N. Security Council is to take up a resolution on Syria on Wednesday

Paris (CNN) -- Syria's ambassador to France, Lamia Shakkour, denied Tuesday that she has resigned her post, declaring late in the day that she would remain in her job until President Bashar al-Assad no longer wants her to remain in it.

"At no moment have I thought about doing anything other than serving my country," she told CNN affiliate BFM in an interview carried out in front of a picture of Assad at the Syrian Embassy in Paris.

Shakkour's status had been in doubt since the afternoon, when the television network France 24 broadcast a telephone interview from a woman it identified as Shakkour. During the interview, the woman said she was resigning because of violence in Syria.

"I cannot support the cycle of extreme violence ... ignore the young men, women and children who have died," she said.

But that interview was quickly followed by another telephone interview, broadcast on Syrian state TV, in which a woman also identifying herself as Shakkour denied having resigned, saying, "I am an integral part of this nation."

The woman in the Syrian interview said she plans to sue the French news channel and give the proceeds to the children of "martyrs."

That threat was repeated in Shakkour's BFM interview, which was carried out on camera. "I am filing a complaint to the French tribunal and also to the international tribunal, and there will probably be some measures against France 24," she said.

Shakkour denounced what she said was France 24's misrepresentation of her. "It was a lie," she said. "I accuse them of misinterpretation, false information, misuse of my identity and passing messages under my name."

Shakkour accused the network of following an agenda. "It's part of a campaign of misinformation by France 24, since the beginning of March, in which it gives voice only to dissidents of Syria and it falsifies videos."

In an interview with CNN carried out after the two dueling telephone interviews but before the BFM on-camera interview, France 24's deputy editorial director, Renee Kaplan, called the situation "very puzzling."

Kaplan said her network had invited Shakkour to be a guest on Tuesday night's program, which focused on Syria. "She has been a guest on our network before," said Kaplan, who added that station personnel reached Shakkour on a cell phone number that she had answered in the past.

Asked about Shakkour's later statement that she was not planning to resign, Kaplan said, "Something may have occurred between the time she made the declaration on our network and the time she made the declaration on another network."

Kaplan added, "We are confident that the person we addressed on air was she. There is no other reason to believe that anyone else would have answered on the number."

The confusion came the day before the U.N. Security Council is to discuss a proposed resolution regarding Syria. It was not clear when a vote on the resolution would take place, though Britain and France have said they would like it to take place by Friday.

The Security Council has been criticized for failing to act to stem the violence in Syria. Russia blocked a previous French-British resolution on Syria.

On Tuesday, a delegation of representatives from Syrian and international human rights groups visited the International Criminal Court to press for an investigation into human rights abuses in Syria. The Hague, Netherlands-based court has conducted a similar investigation in Libya.

The group asked ICC officials to review evidence of alleged abuses in the nation, which has been wracked by anti-government protests and a government crackdown for nearly three months.

It is hoping that investigators will determine that crimes could have been committed, a conclusion that might pressure the U.N. Security Council to refer the case to the ICC.

"The international community has to do something to prevent this," said M. Yaser Tabbara, a Chicago attorney working with human rights groups. "Pressure has to be mounted."

An ICC spokesman confirmed that the delegation submitted information and that it will review whether the court has jurisdiction in the case.

The issue of ICC involvement in the Syrian situation has been broached by others, including Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and Australia's foreign minister.

"It must also take decisive action and refer the situation in Syria to the International Criminal Court," Philip Luther, Amnesty International's deputy director for the Middle East and North Africa, said Monday.

"Those responsible for the brutal crackdown of pro-reform protesters must no longer be allowed to get away with murder," he said.

However, getting the Syrian case before the ICC would not be easy.

Syria is not a party to the Rome Statute, the treaty that established the ICC, meaning the court has no jurisdiction over crimes committed in Syria by the forces of President Bashar al-Assad.

But intervention by the ICC on the alleged crimes committed in Syria could occur, Tabbara said.

Under one scenario, Syrian authorities could simply accept the jurisdiction of the court, he said.

The court also would have jurisdiction if people who committed the alleged crimes in Syria or victims of Syrian abuses are citizens of a country that is a signatory to the Rome Statute, he said.

And the U.N. Security Council could decide to refer the situation to the court.

Tabbara said the delegation met with Mark Dillon, the head of the ICC prosecutor office's information and evidence unit.

The group provided a formal "communication" under an article of the Rome Statute with evidence of abuses and asked the court to pursue the "necessary preliminary examinations and analysis" of alleged crimes.

Tabbara is hoping that ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo will determine that what is occurring in Syria amounts to a systematic campaign of crimes against humanity.

If he does, it could "highlight the seriousness of the situation internationally" and pressure the Security Council to refer the case to the ICC.

Tabbara noted that Libya also is not a signatory to the Rome Statute, but the U.N. Security Council referred the case to ICC jurisdiction after seeing evidence of alleged crimes there.

The delegation included family members of victims who have been killed on camera and who have a pending lawsuit in U.S. courts against the Syrian regime.

The activists said they have documented more than 1,168 deaths, 3,000 injuries, 893 forced disappearances, 11,000 arbitrary detentions and the existence of mass graves.

Among the groups that signed the communication are the Syrian National Organization for Human Rights, the Syrian Center for Human Rights Studies, the Union of Syrian Kurds in the Netherlands, and Insan, a human rights groups.

Criticism of Syria mounted Tuesday after scores of people died in recent days in the cities of Hama and Jisr Al-Shugur.

The British Foreign Secretary William Hague told parliament on Tuesday that al-Assad is "losing legitimacy" and should "step aside."

He added that the Britain is working to persuade other countries to lobby for U.N. Security Council sanctions against Syria.

CNN's Bobby Afshar, Marilia Brocchetto, Richard Roth, Joe Sterling, Salma Abdelaziz and Jonathan Wald contributed to this report.

CNN

Air France crash recovery ends with 74 bodies missing

NEW: 74 bodies will never be foundHuman remains and airplane wreckage are en route to France by ship, investigators sayThe Airbus A330 plane crashed two years ago, killing all 228 people aboardIt took four searches to find the wreckage

Paris (CNN) -- The operation to recover bodies from the crash of Air France 447, which plunged into the Atlantic Ocean two years ago, has ended with 27 more sets of human remains brought to the surface, a French official told CNN on Wednesday.

That means 74 bodies will never be found.

The last group of bodies was brought to the surface on Friday, Philippe Vinogradoff said Wednesday.

A total of 104 bodies were recovered from the remains of the mystery crash during this year's operation, in addition to the 50 that were found in the days after the loss of the plane.

Human remains and aircraft parts are headed by ship to the Canary Islands, where they are expected to arrive Thursday, French air accident investigators said.

From there, they will be transferred to Bayonne in southwest France, investigators said.

All 228 people onboard were killed when the plane crashed in stormy weather en route to Paris from Brazil on June 1, 2009.

It took four searches over the course of nearly two years to locate the bulk of the wreckage, still containing many bodies, in a mountain range deep under the ocean.

Seventy-five bodies were recovered late last month, more than doubling the number of remains that have been found, the vice president of the French victims' association told CNN.

The remains have not yet been identified, Robert Soulas said.

Soulas got the news from a French government liaison appointed to deal with victims' families, he said.

"Personally, I would have preferred to leave the bodies of our loved ones on the seafloor," he added, repeating his long-held view.

Other victims' relatives disagree.

Details of the doomed plane's last minutes began to emerge last month as French air accident investigators studied data recorders recovered from the wreck earlier this year.

The Airbus A330 plummeted 38,000 feet in just three minutes and 30 seconds amid conflicting information that may have led the pilots to make bad decisions, France's Bureau of Investigation and Analysis (BEA) said last month.

The pilots got conflicting air speed readings in the minutes leading up to the crash, according to an interim report. The aircraft climbed to 38,000 feet when "the stall warning was triggered and the airplane stalled," the report says.

Aviation experts are asking why the pilots responded to the stall by pulling the nose up instead of pushing it down to recover.

"You push down on the wheel to gain air speed, perhaps they (pilots) were getting information that the air speed was too high," said Miles O'Brien, a pilot and aviation analyst. "Pulling the nose up will exacerbate an aerodynamic stall."

The speeds displayed on the left primary flight display were "inconsistent" with those on the integrated standby instrument system (ISIS), the report says.

The aircraft experienced some "rolling" before stalling and then descending rapidly at 10,912 feet (3,300 meters) per minute.

At the time of the descent, the two co-pilots and captain were in the aircraft cockpit.

The pilots lost contact with air traffic controllers while flying across an area of the Atlantic Ocean known for constant bands of severe turbulence.

Air crash investigators at the Paris-based BEA have been working on the theory that the speed sensors, known as pitot tubes or probes, malfunctioned because of ice at high altitude.

CNN's Thair Shaikh contributed to this report.

CNN

Canada court OKs extradition of France bomb suspect (Reuters)

OTTAWA (Reuters) – A Canadian judge ruled on Monday that a suspect in a bombing that killed four people outside a Paris synagogue in 1980 should be extradited to France.

Justice Robert Maranger, however, told the suspect, Hassan Diab, he would not be surrendered to France for 30 days, during which time he can make submissions to Justice Minister Rob Nicholson on why the minister should not send him there.

Diab is a Lebanese-Canadian, of Palestinian origin, and was arrested by Canadian police in 2008 after French judges issued an international arrest warrant for him.

The bomb, placed in a bag attached to a motorbike that was parked outside the synagogue in Rue Copernic, exploded on the final day of a Jewish festival, just before a crowd was due to emerge from the synagogue.

Maranger ordered Diab taken into custody while he awaits a decision by Nicholson on whether to surrender him to France. He will be able to appeal the minister's eventual decision.

Diab, 57, sat in the front row of the court with his wife, who wore a pink scarf over her head. Police constables led him away after the verdict as he waved to applauding supporters.

Maranger said his decision was in no way a finding that Diab was guilty. In fact, Maranger said: "I conclude that the Republic of France has presented a weak case where conviction is unlikely."

But Canada has a treaty with France that requires extradition if there has been sufficient evidence to mount a trial, he said, adding that he presupposed that would Diab would receive a fair trial in France.

Diab maintains his innocence and says the evidence is based on a flawed handwriting analysis comparing his writing with that found on a Paris hotel registration card in 1980.

French intelligence says Diab had been a member of the militant Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

He has become a Canadian citizen and lectured on sociology at two Ottawa universities before his arrest.

Canadian government lawyers arguing on behalf of France opposed letting Diab stay out on bail, saying that he had lived in six countries and was a flight risk.

The case is Attorney General of Canada (the Republic of France) v. Diab, 2011 ONSC 337.

(Reporting by Randall Palmer; editing by Peter Galloway)

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In France, a Muslim Offensive Against Evolution (Time.com)

By STEPHANIE LE BARS / LE MONDE / WORLDCRUNCH StEphanie Le Bars / Le Monde / Worldcrunch – Thu Jun 2, 2:20 pm ET

This post is in partnership with Worldcrunch, a new global news site that translates stories of note in foreign languages into English. The article below was originally published in Le Monde.

EVRY - On a recent Friday evening, Maroua Gousa is standing behind the latticed wooden partition in the section of an Evry mosque reserved for women, watching a presentation projected onto a screen below in the large prayer hall for men. Fond of exploring religious ideas and practices, the 19-year-old student is taking part in a debate with 200 other participants in this city just south of Paris.

The gathering is actually the most recent installment of a new attack aimed at the science of evolution led by Harun Yahya, an outspoken Turkish-born Muslim advocate of creationism who is considered widely controversial within the Islamic world.

Harun Yahya, the pseudonym of Adnan Oktar, never presents himself in person, speaking either by video or through zealous representatives armed with grandiloquent tracts distributed for free. In France, he made himself known in 2007 when he attempted to introduce thousands of copies of his Atlas of Creation into French schools. His work purports to scientifically demonstrate "the frauds and dictatorship" of the evolution-of-species theory. (See a TIME video about France's ban on the niqab.)

But since January, the 55-year-old with a well-trimmed beard has launched a new campaign that is clearly targeting the Muslim faithful. Gousa, dressed in a traditional black robe decorated with rhinestones and a white veil that she wears only when she comes to the mosque, admits she has always wondered about "the dinosaurs and the origin of man ... but at school, it cannot be refuted: we're taught that man descended from monkeys. At home and in the Koran, [we're taught] that we descended from Adam and Eve, and that God created all living beings."

Ali Sadun Engin, Yahya's representative in the current tour of French mosques, seems to have convinced the young girl. "I find his explanations logical," she says. The proof for creationism is demonstrated with some perfunctory presentations of fossils, including bear, crocodile and tortoise skulls, and can be summarized in a few brief sentences: "If fish left the water to walk, if dinosaurs were transformed into birds, then we should discover fossils of these beings in transition. However this is not the case. Science thus shows one sole truth: creation as we know it from the Koran."

Based on this fact, Engin jokes about "frogs transformed into princes." He insists that a "Muslim cannot be a Darwinist." Yahya himself has promised $7 million to anyone who brings him a fossil from one of the transitional species. (See "Showing Faith in France.")

The scientific content of these works by someone who has studied only art and philosophy in Istanbul was judged to be of "pathetically poor quality" by French academics appointed in 2007 by the Education Ministry to evaluate Atlas of Creation. Yahya's methods are nevertheless known to be as effective as those used by American Evangelicals, and he isn't afraid to shock participants. Engin invoked Hitler and 9/11 in order to declare that "all Darwinists are not terrorists, but all terrorists are Darwinists."

The discussion on the origins of life appears to hit its target in the audience, a mixture of "mainline" believers and devout fundamentalists. Amadou Bah, a 26-year-old student of finance, is happy to have these "clarifications." "Like all Muslims, I am a believer in the theory of creation, but I didn't have arguments to defend it," she says.

"At school, we believed the teachers, but here their theses are disproved," adds Yanina Gelassi, a 19-year-old student veiled in black. "They don't have the truth." Nouri Hamid, 28, a doctoral student in genetics, is not "totally in agreement that there is a complete lack [of evidence] for the evolution of species," but he also says that "science has never demonstrated the connection between Homo sapiens and man." (See why France's voice for Muslims is the target of Islamophobe aggression.)

Similarly, the "concordist" approach to the Koran, defended by the conference speakers, is popular among young Muslims. This concept states that the recent scientific discoveries only confirm the scientific content of the sacred book. "This proves to us that, despite all of the research, God said and wrote everything down in the Koran nearly 1,400 years ago," says Najoua Oubaya, a 21-year-old saleswoman.

"These discussions are good for the people because they prove that the West has discovered nothing and that Islam is superior, even scientifically," wrote Nidhal Guessoum, a Muslim astrophysicist, in Le Monde in 2009. The author of REconcilier l'Islam et la science moderne: l'esprit d'AverroEs (Reconciling Islam and Modern Science: The Spirit of Averroes), he describes Yahya's methods as "do it yourself," and defends the search for connections between science and faith as the same as what has been done in Christianity. In 1996, Pope John Paul II confirmed that the theory of evolution was "more than a hypothesis," but the Catholic Church maintains that science is not the sole contributor to the explanation of the origin of life, as Pope Benedict XVI recalled in 2007.

"The scientific manipulations of Harun Yahya are alarming for the Muslim community," says SaId Branine, who runs the site Oumma.com and organized a training program on the topic.

Branine said he is worried by the lack of reflection among Muslims about the relationship between science and religion. "Creation is subject to faith, and many fear that by questioning this belief, they question the cause of their faith as well," he said. "This demonstrates the need to train Muslim intellectuals. All the more so because Yahya has abundant resources." The source of the funds that support Yahya's Science Research Foundation remains a well-kept secret.

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75 bodies found in Air France wreckage

The remains have not been identified, a French relative saysThe recovery more than doubles the number of bodies found since the 2009 crashAir France 447 plunged into the ocean, killing 228 people

Paris (CNN) -- Seventy-five additional bodies have been recovered from the wreckage of an Air France plane that crashed off the coast of Brazil two years ago, more than doubling the number of remains that have been found, the vice-president of the French victims' association told CNN Tuesday.

The remains have not yet been identified, Robert Soulas said.

Air France 447 plunged into the Atlantic Ocean on June 1, 2009, killing all 228 people aboard. The bulk of the wreckage was found this year after a search by robot submarines of an underwater mountain range.

Many bodies were still in the fuselage, investigators said at the time. Only about 50 bodies were recovered in the days following the crash.

Soulas got the news from a French government liaison appointed to deal with families of victims, he said.

"Personally, I would have preferred to leave the bodies of our loved ones on the seafloor," he added, repeating his long-held view.

The Brazilian national news agency Agencia Brasil reported Tuesday that Nelson Faria Marinho, head of the Brazilian victims organization, said that with the latest recovery, the number of bodies found since the accident now totals 127.

Details of the doomed plane's last minutes only began to emerge last week as French air accident investigators studied data recorders recovered from the wreck earlier this year.

The Airbus A330 plummeted 38,000 feet in just three minutes and 30 seconds amid conflicting information that may have led the pilots to make bad decisions, France's Bureau of Investigation and Analysis (BEA) said Friday.

The pilots got conflicting air speed readings in the minutes leading up to the crash, according to an interim report. The aircraft climbed to 38,000 feet when "the stall warning was triggered and the airplane stalled," the report says.

Aviation experts are asking why the pilots responded to the stall by pulling the nose up instead of pushing it down to recover.

Miles O'Brien, a pilot and aviation analyst, said: "You push down on the wheel to gain air speed, perhaps they (pilots) were getting information that the air speed was too high. Pulling the nose up will exacerbate an aerodynamic stall."

The speeds displayed on the left primary flight display were "inconsistent" with those on the integrated standby instrument system (ISIS), the report says.

The aircraft experienced some "rolling" before stalling and then descending rapidly at 10,912 feet (3,300 meters) per minute.

At the time of the descent, the two co-pilots and captain were in the aircraft cockpit.

All 228 people aboard the Airbus A330 Flight 447 from Rio de Janeiro to Paris were killed on June 1, 2009.

The pilots lost contact with air traffic controllers while flying across an area of the Atlantic Ocean known for constant bands of severe turbulence.

Air crash investigators at the Paris-based BEA have been working on the theory that the speed sensors, known as pitot tubes or probes, malfunctioned because of ice at high altitude.

CNN's Thair Shaikh contributed to this report.

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Report: Air France pilots lost vital data

Aircraft's speed sensors gave invalid readings, the BEA said FridayDescent lasted 3 minutes and 30 seconds, said the reportReport: Two co-pilots and captain were in the aircraft cockpit at time of crashAir France flight 447 crashed into the Atlantic Ocean in June 2009, killing 228 people

(CNN) -- Pilots of the Air France flight that crashed in 2009 and plummeted 38,000 feet in just three minutes and 30 seconds, lost vital speed data, France's Bureau of Investigation and Analysis (BEA) said Friday.

The pilots got conflicting air speeds in the minutes leading up to the crash, the interim reports states. The aircraft climbed to 38,000 feet when "the stall warning was triggered and the airplane stalled," the report says.

Aviation experts are asking why the pilots responded to the stall by pulling the nose up instead of pushing it down to recover.

Miles O'Brien, a pilot and aviation analyst, said: "You push down on the wheel to gain air speed, perhaps they (pilots) were getting information that the air speed was too high. Pulling the nose up will exacerbate an aerodynamic stall."

The speed displayed on the left primary flight display were "inconsistent" with those on the integrated standby instrument system (ISIS), the report says.

The aircraft experienced some "rolling" before stalling and then descending rapidly into the ocean. The descent lasted 3 minutes and 30 seconds and the engines remained operational, said the report. It plunged at 10,912 feet (3,300 meters) per minute.

At the time of the descent, the two co-pilots and captain were in the aircraft cockpit.

How aircraft speed sensors work

Richard Quest, CNN's aviation expert, said: "For whatever reason the aircraft speed sensors failed and the A330 went into a high altitude stall. The pilot's actions were unable to recover the aircraft and some might say, made the bad situation worse.

"The actual falling from the sky will have been horrific. This plane fell out of the sky."

All 228 people aboard the Airbus A330 Flight 447 from Rio de Janeiro to Paris were killed on June 1, 2009.

The pilots lost contact with air traffic controllers while flying across an area of the Atlantic Ocean known for constant bands of severe turbulence.

Air crash investigators at the Paris-based BEA have been working on the theory that the speed sensors, known as pitot tubes or probes, malfunctioned because of ice at high altitude.

Since the accident, Air France has replaced the pitots on its Airbus fleet with a newer model, Agence-France Presse reports.

The report quotes the pilots -- who were not named -- and reveals that they were aware of the storm ahead.

In tech's golden age, why can't black boxes do more?

Four hours and six minutes into the flight, one of the co-pilots, referred to as PF, called the cabin crew, telling them that: "In two minutes we should enter an area where it'll move about a bit more than at the moment, you should watch out... I'll call you back as soon as we're out of it."

The report said that four hours and 10 minutes into the flight: "The autopilot [and] then [the] auto-thrust disengaged," and co-pilot PF said: "I have the controls." The report said the stall warning sounded twice in a row.

A short time later the other co-pilot, referred to as PNF said: "So, we've lost the speeds." A second later the stall warnings sounded again the report said.

You push down on the wheel to gain air speed, perhaps they (pilots) were getting information that the air speed was too high
--Miles O'Brien, pilot and aviation analyst

At about this time, "The speed displayed on the left side increased sharply," the report said. The aircraft was then at an altitude of about 37,500 feet.

The report said that at this time co-pilot PNF tried several times to call the captain back to the cockpit.

The aircraft then climbed to 38,000 feet and at around four hours 11 minutes and 40 seconds into the flight, the captain re-entered the cockpit. During the following seconds all of the recorded speeds became invalid and the stall warning stopped, the report said.

Co-pilot PF said: "I don't have any more indications," and the co-pilot PNF said "we have no valid indications."

About a minute later co-pilot PF said: "We're going to arrive at level one hundred." This is a height of 10,000 feet. About fifteen seconds later, the data recorder indicate "simultaneous inputs by both pilots on the sidesticks."

The recordings stopped at four hours 14 minutes and 28 seconds into the flight. A full investigation into the crash is expected next year.

Air France said in a written statement: "It appears... that the initial problem was the failure of the speed probes which led to the disconnection of the autopilot and the loss of the associated piloting protection systems. The crew demonstrated a totally professional attitude and were committed to carrying out their task to the very end and Air France wishes to pay tribute to them."

Airbus, manufacturers of the A330, said: "The BEA's work constitutes a significant step towards the identification of the complete chain of events that led to the tragic accident. Airbus is committed to continuing to provide support to the BEA investigation with the objective of identifying all potential lessons to be learnt," according to the Press Association.

Earlier this week French air crash investigators said they would be able to identify two bodies recovered this month from the crash site. The recovery team is now working on retrieving all the bodies, French officials have said.

In early May search teams found the crucial "data recorders" from the wreck site, estimated to lie at a depth of between 2,000 to 4,000 meters (6,562 to 13,124 feet).

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Tests to reveal ID of 2 Air France bodies

NEW: It could take months to identify the victims of the crash, an official saysEnough DNA is recovered to identify two bodies found this month, the official saysAll 228 people on Air France 447 died when the plane crashed mysteriously two years agoThe bulk of the wreckage was located this year after an unprecedented search

Paris (CNN) -- French air crash investigators expect to be able to identify two bodies recovered this month from an Air France crash that killed 228 people two years ago, an official close to the investigation told CNN Tuesday.

Having recovered enough DNA to know they will be able to identify the victims, police launched a new operation Saturday to bring up more bodies from the wreck on the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, the official said.

Everyone on board Air France 447 was killed when the plane mysteriously dropped out of the sky en route from Brazil to France on June 1, 2009.

Two years later, no one knows why the Airbus A330 slammed into the ocean in stormy weather, falling so fast that air masks did not have time to drop.

But investigators trying to determine the cause have recovered the complete contents of the flight data recorder and the last two hours of cockpit conversation, they said earlier this month.

It will take several weeks to analyze the data, French air accident experts said May 16.

Discovering that there was data on the recorders "is excellent news. It is really going to help us work out what happened on that plane," said Martine Del Bono, spokeswoman for France's Bureau of Investigation and Analysis (BEA).

The cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder were found at the beginning of May after an unprecedented series of submarine searches of a mountain range 3,900 meters (12,700 feet) under the ocean. They were brought to the surface and taken to Paris by ship and plane.

The investigators recovered two bodies from the fuselage -- after finding only about 50 bodies in the days immediately after the crash.

They said this month that they would not bring up more bodies if they could not identify the two they already have. But after recovering enough DNA to identify the bodies, they launched a new operation this weekend, the official close to the investigation told CNN Tuesday.

The bodies have not actually been identified yet, adding that the process could take months, said the official, who asked not to be identified discussing sensitive details of the investigation.

The bulk of the plane, located earlier this year, contains many more human remains, according to investigators.

Recovering more bodies will be a difficult task, with miles of cable required to bring each one up over a period of three hours, they said.

Investigators also brought an engine and an avionics bay containing computers to the surface, they said.

The pilots of Air France 447 lost contact with air traffic controllers while flying across an area of the Atlantic known for severe turbulence, officials said. But exactly what caused the plane to plunge into the ocean remains a mystery.

The fuselage was discovered in April with bodies still inside, investigators said.

Some relatives of those who died have expressed reservations about remains being brought to the surface.

Last month Robert Soulas, head of a support group for families of flight victims, said: "For me, personally I would like to leave the bodies of my children, my two children, on the seabed."

Other relatives have called for the bodies to be recovered.

CNN's Winnie Andrews in Paris contributed to this report.

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Libyan rebels free detained French: France (AFP)

PARIS (AFP) – Four French employees of a private security firm detained by Libyan rebels in Benghazi after an incident on May 11 when their boss was shot dead have been freed, the French foreign ministry said on Saturday.

"They were taken to Egypt today and taken into the care of our consular authorities," a ministry statement said.

The rebels said Friday they would soon deport the four after arresting them on suspicion of spying for Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi.

The fifth Frenchman, ex-paratrooper Pierre Marziali, was "accidentally" shot dead by the rebels in a murky incident at a checkpoint.

Marziali was the founder of private security firm Secopex which had opened an office in Benghazi and his four companions were also working for the firm.

The rebels charged that the five were not private security contractors but were in Benghazi to sabotage the uprising against Kadhafi.

Secopex Vice President Robert Dulas dismissed the accusations of espionage, insisting that the French authorities and the rebels were aware of the company's activities in Libya.

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France wants $3.5 billion for its 4G frequencies (Reuters)

PARIS (Reuters) – France hopes to get at least 2.5 billion euros ($3.53 billion) for the fourth-generation (4G) wireless frequencies it plans to grant to telecom operators in an upcoming auction, Industry minister Eric Besson told Le Figaro.

France is in the final stages of setting terms for the auction of fourth-generation mobile spectrum, which will shape the competitive landscape of Europe's third-largest telecom market for years to come.

The government had previously said it wanted to receive at least 2 billion euros from the auction but Besson said the new higher amount matched those of similar auctions the United States, Sweden and Germany.

"France must not sell its frequencies at cut-price levels," Besson said in the interview published on Monday.

Besson added the auction would be split into several lots in order to prevent deep-pocketed bidders such as France Telecom from buying the majority of frequencies and gaining a major advantage over smaller players like Bouygues and new mobile entrant Iliad.

The 4G frequencies being sold are of two types. There are four lots up for grabs in the 800 megahertz band, which is more sought after for its ability to carry massive debits over long distances. Besson said the minimum price the government would accept for the lots in the 800 band will be 1.8 billion euros.

Then there is the 2.6 gigahertz band where there is more frequencies available, but given their lower quality will be sold for a lower price. Besson said the government had set a minimum price of 700 million euros for these frequencies.

Asked about the timeframe of the auction, Besson said the government would launch the official bidding process in June, then bids would be submitted in September.

The decisions on the bids would be made in October for the 2.6 gigahertz band, and November for the 800 megahertz band.

($1=.7083 euros)

(Reporting by Matthias Blamont and Leila Abboud; Editing by Mike Nesbit)

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Air France crash flight data recoverable, say investigators

NEW: Discovering there is data on the recorders is "excellent news," investigators sayAll the information on the flight data recorder is recovered, as are cockpit conversationsThe data recorders were pulled up from the bottom of the Atlantic nearly two years after the crashAir France 447 went down in June 2009, killing all 228 people aboard

Paris (CNN) -- Investigators trying to determine why an Air France plane crashed mysteriously two years ago have recovered the complete contents of the flight data recorder and the last two hours of cockpit conversation, they announced Monday.

It will take several weeks to analyze the data, French air accident experts said.

All 228 people aboard Air France 447 were killed when the Airbus A330 belly-flopped into the ocean June 1, 2009, in stormy weather. The cause of the crash is still not known.

Discovering that there was data on the recorders "is excellent news. It is really going to help us work out what happened on that plane," said Martine Del Bono, spokeswoman for France's Bureau of Investigation and Analysis (BEA).

The cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder were found at the beginning of May after an unprecedented series of submarine searches of a mountain range 3,900 meters (12,700 feet) under the ocean. They were brought to the surface and taken to Paris by ship and plane.

The investigators also recovered two bodies from the fuselage -- after finding only about 50 bodies in the days immediately after the crash.

They will not bring more bodies up from the ocean if they cannot identify the two they already have, they said Thursday.

Those two bodies are being examined to see if there is enough DNA to identify them, investigators said, adding that they hope to have results by Wednesday.

If they can identify the remains, they will consider bringing up other bodies from the wreckage.

The bulk of the plane was located earlier this year and contains many more human remains, according to investigators.

Recovering more bodies will be a difficult task, with miles of cable required to bring each one up over a period of three hours, they said.

Investigators also brought an engine and an avionics bay containing computers to the surface, they said.

The pilots of Air France 447 lost contact with air traffic controllers on June 1, 2009, while flying across an area of the Atlantic known for severe turbulence, officials said. But exactly what caused the plane to plunge into the ocean remains a mystery.

The plane slammed into the water while en route from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to Paris, falling so fast that air masks did not have time to deploy.

The fuselage was discovered in April with bodies still inside, investigators said.

Some relatives of those who died have expressed reservations about remains being brought to the surface.

Last month Robert Soulas, head of a support group for families of flight victims, said: "For me, personally I would like to leave the bodies of my children, my two children, on the seabed."

Other relatives have called for the bodies to be recovered.

CNN's Ayesha Durgahee, Catherine Clifford and Niki Cook contributed to this report.

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