Silvio Berlusconi appears in court for the first time in 8 years

The Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi appeared Monday in court in Milan for the first time in eight years, for a preliminary hearing for a possible trial, according to an AFP journalist.

He went directly to car inside the courthouse with his escort to visit the offices of a judge for preliminary hearings on the seventh floor of the imposing Palace of Justice in Milan.

This preliminary hearing, the first of a series of four or five, must be used to decide whether to be tried or not to tax evasion and breach of trust on the alleged overbilling of TV rights bought by Mediatrade-RTI, a company his empire, the Paramount and other U.S. majors.

Mr. Berlusconi made a hand sign to the many cameras waiting outside the entrance.Thirty activists from his party, the People of Freedom (PDL), also were waiting outside with banners proclaiming: "politics at the ballot box not in the courts," "Justice does not exist where there is no freedom "or" Silvio you must resist, resist, resist. "

The hearing scheduled at 08:00 GMT will be held in camera. However, Mr.Berlusconi might make a statement at its output.

Before going into court, the chief government complained in a telephone call to one of its private channels, the charges are "ridiculous and baseless."

He also lashed out at opponents of the leftist opposition, saying that "Italy, communism has never changed, there are still people who use the penal code as an instrument of ideological struggle."

Liveblogging: Follow live events in Libya and Syria

LIBYA

- On the sixth day of his speech, the international coalition has maintained Thursday the pressure on Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, with new air strikes in and around Tripoli and intensive raids over Sabha (South), the stronghold of the tribe of Libyan leader. State television confirmed that "military and civilian sites in the region Tajoura near Tripoli, continue to be the target of raids" of the cross and colonialist aggressor. "

- A French fighter shot down a Libyan military plane do not respect the exclusion zone over Misrata third Libyan city, reports the U.S. military.The French General Staff did not confirm this information. Moreover, the French Air Force has led an attack against an "air base" Jamahiriya "250 kilometers south of Odds" on the night of Wednesday to Thursday.

- Side diplomacy, ambassadors of NATO countries were to continue on Thursday, negotiations have been ongoing for several days to try to finalize the role of the Atlantic Alliance in the operation in Libya.

SYRIA

- Thousands of Syrians were again demonstrated on Thursday at Deraa, home to protest in the south. Wednesday, at least one hundred people fell under the bullets of police in Dera, witnesses and activists of human rights cited by AFP.The scheme will make "important decisions" to meet the aspirations of the people, told the press Boussaïna Shaaban, Advisor to President Bashar al-Assad.

YEMEN

- In Yemen, new clashes erupted between the presidential guard and soldiers who joined the insurgency.

If you want to follow the liveblogging from a smartphone, click here.

LIBYA: Tripoli regime announced a new cease-fire

AFP - The regime of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi has announced a cease-fire from 1900 GMT on Sunday in response to the call Saturday by the African Union to "the immediate cessation of hostilities," said a door- Word of the army.

"In respect of the statement issued by the Committee of the African Union on Saturday in Nouakchott and resolutions 1970 and 1973 of the UN military command has given orders for a cease-fire on Sunday from 9:00 p.m." local (1900 GMT), said the spokesman, Milad Fokehi reading a brief statement.

Tripoli had already announced on Friday a cease-fire it did not comply, according to the international community which launched Saturday night's first military operation in Libya.

Libya has also seen Saturday night like no resolution 1973 imposing a no-fly zone after the military operation in western and requested an emergency meeting of the Security Council of the UN.

Resolution 1970 adopted in February provides an arms embargo, a ban on travel to Muammar Gaddafi and 15 of his relatives and the freezing of assets of Colonel Qaddafi and his family.

The committee of the AU on Sunday called on Libya to Nouakchott to "the immediate cessation of all hostilities" in Libya.

The committee, composed of African heads of state, issued a statement in which they also call "the cooperation of the Libyan authorities concerned to facilitate the delivery of diligent humanitarian assistance to populations in need."

They also seek "protection of foreigners including African migrant workers living in Libya" and that "the adoption and implementation of political reforms needed to eliminate the causes of the current crisis."

INTERNET: An online magazine published in Arabic, trying to blend foundation and Jihad ...

What's in common between beauty tips and a Kalashnikov? Not much a priori, but the first issue of Al-Shamika (Woman majestic). This new magazine from the radical Islamist movement, presents itself as a kind of "Cosmopolitan" or "She" for aspiring jihadist wife. Al-Shamika and tries to make jihad a lifestyle.

Released these days, and discovered on Monday by the British daily The Independent, he suggested, in Arabic, an explosive mix between practical advice for the modern Muslim woman and more traditional calls for jihad.The term "jihad", with multiple definitions through the ages, has been hijacked by radical movements to legitimize the armed struggle against fellow Muslims or non-Muslims.

On its front, Al-Shamika shows a submachine gun on purple background with two pictures of women covered by a niqab. The magazine mentions and, throughout its 31 pages, cosmetics (foundation ...) and practical advice (interior design ...).

"Good" raising children

In addition to these subjects "light", the magazine is very clear on his message: "The Nation of Islam requires women who know the truth about their religion and who understand what we expect of them," Can reads the editorial in the first issue.They are asked "to raise children in the tradition of jihad" or develop "a stable home for their husbands can devote itself fully to the Jihad."

"The message of Al-Shamika nothing innovative in the sense that Islamist radicals have always given a very important role to support women as men engaged in jihad," said Gilbert Ramsay, an expert on Islamist networks and Internet Center for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence at the University of St. Andrews (England).Al-Shamika also does not call for violent action.

The magazine follows the example of the ephemeral "Little Girls Khansa" newspaper also for Muslim women who disappeared after two issues.

Jihad everywhere

In terms of women's magazines of this type, the true reference would rather "Inspire", which caused a sensation in 2010. This magazine, promoted by the American preacher of Yemeni origin, Anwar al-Awlaki, became the first online publication written entirely in English, hoping to attract potential recruits in Western countries. He is currently in its fourth edition.Unlike "Inspire", Al-Shamika has not been formally identified as a publication from Al-Qaeda nebula.

"These two magazines convey the same idea: that the precepts of jihad can be applied even in occupations most routine of daily life," Gilbert Ramsay analysis.

He said jihad has led, over the Internet, the emergence of a genuine subculture that is not dominated by calls to violence. "The movements that advocate jihad will give trouble on forums and blogs to explain that support the jihad by small daily gestures, but also to participate," he says.In order to open the mind to these new converts to the next opportunity to participate in violent acts?

Libya: The leader of the Arab League supports the no-fly zone

AFP - UN Secretary-General of the Arab League, Amr Moussa, called for a no-fly zone in Libya and the Arab League hopes that "role" in its implementation, in an interview with German weekly Der Spiegel released before publication on Saturday.

"I do not know how or will impose this area, we will see that. The Arab League may also play a role, that's what I would advocate," said Amr Moussa in the interview to be published Monday.

"I speak of humanitarian action. It is with a no-fly zone, to support the Libyan people in their struggle for freedom and against a regime increasingly disdainful," Moussa said.

As to who should assume the leadership of such a zone, Mr.Moussa believes that "it depends on the decision of the Security Council (UN).The UN, the Arab League, African Union, Europeans - everybody should participate. "

The Arab foreign ministers would hold an emergency meeting in Cairo on Saturday on the subject.

The Arab League said it was opposed to military action against Libya but could support the establishment of a no-fly zone.

Establishing an air exclusion zone amounts to a ban on aerial survey of a specific area in order to prevent the Libyan planes to suppress civilians.

Friday, EU leaders have increased the pressure on the Libyan regime by agreeing to talk with the opposition and the military option cautiously referring to protect civilians, which does however not unanimous.

They decided at a meeting in Brussels that "security of the population (Libya) must be guaranteed by all means necessary" and that we must consider "all options" available, in an allusion to a possible military intervention but specifying that it should be "a demonstrated need, a clear legal basis and support of the region" - which means primarily the Arab League.

Germany, in particular, fears that Europe embarks on "a war" interminable.France and Britain pushing it the other way and try to obtain the agreement of the Security Council of the UN.

Amr Moussa, "Gaddafi lacks awareness that President Ben Ali in Tunisia and Egyptian ruler Mubarak demonstrated by resigning."

Moussa believes in a "domino effect" in the Arab world and the fall of other autocratic rulers: "It is only the beginning," he said, including finding "extremely tense" situation in Yemen.

"The region (Middle East) is about to change radically in a short time. What we live is the discovery by the Arab world of true democracy," Mr. Moussa held, "c is a unique opportunity. "

UNITED KINGDOM: A suspected accomplice of the terrorist attacks of Stockholm arrested in Scotland

Reuters - The Scottish police announced Tuesday the arrest in Glasgow of a foreign national aged 30, in connection with the investigation into the suicide bombing last December 11 in Stockholm.

Taymour Abdoulwahab, a Swede of Middle Eastern background, had been killed by the explosion of the explosive belt he was wearing. The man apparently tried to commit an attack in a busy public place - the central station or department store Ahlens - but his bomb exploded prematurely.

The man arrested in Glasgow is suspected of having provided assistance to terrorist activities outside of Scotland, said a spokesman for the police.His identity was not revealed, nor his nationality.

In January, the director of Iraqi terrorism had claimed qu'Abdoulwahab, which was installed in Sweden in the 1990s before going to study some time in Britain, had received explosives training in Mosul, in northern Iraq.

December 11, a first explosion occurred in a car at 17:00 (16:00 GMT), while the crowd was at its height in central Stockholm. A second explosion took place a quarter of an hour later, 300 meters from the first.This is where the body of the suicide bomber was discovered and two wounded slightly affected.

These explosions were preceded by sending a threatening letter about the Swedish presence in Afghanistan and a cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad in a Swedish designer.

Taymour Abdoulwahab had settled in Sweden in 1992 and had acquired Swedish citizenship six years later.

The University of Bedfordshire, Luton, said it had registered in 2001 and had won three years later a diploma in sports therapy. The English university is attended by many Muslims, according to the American organization that tracks SITE Islamist activists on the Internet.

SUDAN: Thousands of people fled Abyei town after deadly fighting

AFP - Tens of thousands of people fled Thursday the Sudanese town of Abyei, which is now "almost empty" after deadly clashes in the disputed region rich in oil, has alarmed Friday the humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders ( MSF).

"Since yesterday, tens of thousands of people fled the city, leaving it almost empty," the NGO said in a statement.

"The biggest concern of MSF is to be able to reach and treat all patients in an impartial manner," said the organization.

Phil Humphris, MSF program manager for Sudan, told AFP that most of those displaced by the fighting appeared to be heading south.

"I talked to the coordinator on the ground when he left town and he told me that she looked completely empty," he said.

"We have not found anyone (internally displaced persons, ie), but most people seem to have gone south," he said, adding that it was mainly women and children .

Mr.Humpris also stressed he did not know whether the displaced had fled to the north because of the fighting taking place.

The UN said Thursday sending more peacekeepers in the disputed enclave of Abyei, on the border between North and South Sudan, after clashes that killed at least 70 dead in three days.

North and South mutually accuse the army of the other side of supporting attacks in Abyei.

MSF also said that his hospital in Agok, 40 km south of Abyei, received 21 injured in the afternoon and evening of March 3."All patients had gunshot wounds and three required surgery," says the NGO.

To help authorities, the MSF team has donated medicines and supplies to Abyei hospital run by the Ministry of Health.

On Friday, the situation was "relatively calm" but MSF teams on the ground reported that tensions remained "strong in Abyei town and surrounding area," said the organization.

Staff on site conducting a needs assessment of medical displaced in the region of Abyei to try to answer them.

In addition, the delegation of MSF Agok stands ready to welcome and care of potential casualties in case of continued fighting in the region.

Tensions continue to mount in Abyei since the southern Sudanese have voted in favor of independence for the south during a referendum in January. Southern Sudan will therefore secede from the North in July.

In Abyei, a referendum on membership of the city and its oil-producing region in North or South was postponed indefinitely after a disagreement over the participation of Misseriya vote.These nomadic Arabs insist participate because they fear losing access to the region in case of attachment in Southern Sudan.

Officials from North and South America are currently meeting in Addis Ababa to resolve several outstanding issues before the independence of the South in July, and Abyei is the focus of discussions.

Fighting erupted Tuesday in Abyei between armed men of the tribe northerner Arab Misseriya backed by Khartoum, and Dinka Ngok tribe southerner.

About 10,500 peacekeepers are currently deployed to Sudan for police missions and peacekeeping.