France became the first nation to recognize the opposition government in eastern Libya on Thursday, even as rebel fighters protecting a key oil complex on the Mediterranean coast were reported to be retreating under a fierce assault by government forces, LA Times reports.

Deputy Foreign Minister of Russia Grigory Karasin met with his Italian counterpart Alfredo Mantica on March 10, Russian Foreign Ministry press service reported. The deputy foreign ministers of the two countries discussed Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement.

The OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Audronius Ažubalis, will travel to Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia next week to meet government leaders and representatives of political parties to discuss OSCE work in the region and the Lithuanian Chairmanship’s priorities for 2011.

The official ceremony, granting scholarship certificates to the 22 best students of the French University in Armenia (UFAR) by the Armenian General Benevolent Union (AGBU), took place at the French University on March 9th. This year the total amount of AGBU’s financial support to the University was 30,000 USD.