ICELAND: The ashes of the volcano eruption threatens Scotland

Icelandic volcanic ash Grímsvötn could reach the north of Scotland on Tuesday mid-day and part of Great Britain, France and Spain by Thursday or Friday if the eruption continues at the same rate, according to a notice sent Sunday to the airlines.

This warning is based on weather forecasts to five days should be viewed with caution because of changes which might occur between now and then on air currents, officials said European Meteorology.

Sunday, the air traffic control agency Eurocontrol reported in mid-day it did not anticipate any impact on European and transatlantic flights for the next 24 hours at least.

The Grímsvötn, beneath a glacier in southeast Iceland, erupted on Saturday, leaving out a huge plume of white smoke reached an altitude of 20,000 meters.

Its eruption has forced the management of the Icelandic Civil Aviation to order the closure of the main island's airport, Keflavik, located about forty miles from the capital,
Reykjavik.

Egypt: The Egyptian al-Arabi replaces Nabil Amr Moussa at the head of the Arab League

AFP - Egyptian Foreign Minister, Nabil al-Arabi, called Sunday at the head of the Arab League, has emerged since the overthrow of President Hosni Mubarak as the architect of the new Egyptian diplomacy.

Appointed March 6, in a few weeks he felt his mark in the Israeli-Palestinian relations with Iran or the thorny issue of sharing the Nile waters.

Aged 75, he took over from Ahmad Aboul Gheit, a baron of the team's deposed president.

Familiar arcane diplomatic, he is shortly to take the records in hand, to the point that commentators in the media have hailed the new diplomacy acquired one of the safest in the regime change, in contrast to political uncertainties and economic stagnation.

Unknown to the general public, but his name was on a list of people deemed able to lead the transition, proposed by a coalition of youth groups that launched the uprising in January and February.

Former UN ambassador, a respected diplomat and international lawyer, he worked in 2001 to the International Court of Justice.

Nabil al-Arabi was also part of the Egyptian team that negotiated peace with Israel in 1978-1979.Egypt and Jordan are the only Arab country to sign peace with Israel.

Supporter of maintaining the peace treaty with Israel in 1979, he believes this should not prevent Cairo to take more distance with the Jewish state that under Mr.Mubarak, including the controversial blockade of the Gaza Strip.

He was also involved in the recent reconciliation agreement between Fatah and Hamas Palestinian side of the Egyptian intelligence chief Murad Mouafi.

The Minister has also repeatedly expressed a desire for rapprochement with Iran, but did not reveal to this day a formal restoration of diplomatic relations.

He also worked for a more open and active vis-à-vis the African upstream Nile Basin, in rivalry with Egypt for use quotas of the river water.

At his retirement, Mr.Arabi was established in Cairo Regional Centre for International Commercial Arbitration, a nonprofit organization that operates nationally and internationally.

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CINEMA: Fifty cult films from the Soviet era to (re) watch on YouTube

AFP - The Russian film studios Mosfilm and Google, through its YouTube video platform, announced Wednesday it posted a free fifty of the greatest Soviet films in original version with subtitles.

Mosfilm said in a statement that every week five additional films will be made available on its channel www.youtube.com / Mosfilm.

Many cult films are already available: "The White Sun of the Desert", a western transposed in Central Asia on the adventures of a Soviet soldier, "Ivan Vasilyevich changing profession," a comedy about a scientist inventing a machine to travel back in time , or "The irony of fate" a romantic comedy about the trials of a man drunk on the evening of New Year.

"The goal of this project is to give the public an opportunity to legally watch quality videos and block illegal use of our films," said the director general of Mosfilm, Karen CHAKHNAZAROV.

"Most movies are online with subtitles in foreign language for the public to other countries can also watch movies of Mosfilm," he said in a statement.

At the time of the USSR, Mosfilm was one of the largest film studios in the world, whereas the Soviet cinema as a vital tool for propaganda in the country and abroad.

Image: YouTube screenshot.

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.

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PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY: The Fayyad government is about to be revamped

AFP - Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, presented Monday his government's resignation to the President of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, told AFP a minister under cover of anonymity.

"Fayyad told the Cabinet that the government had resigned. I will see President Abbas and give him a letter formalizing our resignation," said the minister.

A senior Palestinian official announced Sunday night that Mr. AFPFayyad would deliver his government's resignation to President Abbas to form a new cabinet.

The Prime Minister must promptly enter into consultations with the Palestinian parties and civil society, the source said.

President Abbas had announced at the end of last year its intention to overhaul the government headed by Fayyad, an independent economist. He then said that he, aged 58 years and prime minister since 2007, would be reappointed.