Sunday Roundup is a rendezvous on Max Dana’s Blog. It sounds like our weekly Friday Digest which Max said it inspired her but we have to admit her news roundup is far more detailed than ours!

You can also read this post on Max Dana’s Blog.

When will international community take action? This is the question asked on Twitter by Susan Morgan, co-founder and the Director of Communications for Investors Against Genocide (I mention them here). Many people are asking the same question right now. I wrote many times about #Sudan and #Darfur and I’m glad I could, for over two decades now (since the bloodless coup d’état by Omar al-Bashir in 1989) bring my humble contribution to raising awareness about the situation in the country.

But as the years pass, the question remains: When will international community take action?

Rebecca Hamilton, author of the book ‘Fighting for Darfur: Public Action and the Struggle to Stop Genocide‘ (I organized a reading group, I will post about it soon) said on Twitter: ‘Perhaps more depressed on #Sudan than I have felt since 2005‘. First time I heard about Sudan I was a teenager; now I’m not anymore but the situation seems to remain the same if not even worse. Hamilton added: ‘To any tweep who follows me: If you are not paying attention to southern kordofan, start now.’ She is right and she masters the subject.

I have clearly expressed my opinion on the carrot and stick policy several times in my previous Sunday Roundups and in The power of carrot and stick: reductio ad absurdum? so you may already know my point of view on it. But by asking ‘When will international community take action?‘, what does Susan Morgan suggest, exactly? Military support or diplomacy? #Nicholas Kristof recently tweeted: ‘There are no easy solutions to the South Kordofan mess in Sudan, but vigorous int’l diplomacy might forestall massacres. It’s worth a try‘.

You can add the useless carrot and stick policy to the ‘worth a try’ list.

It was hard to bring Darfur on the front pages, but it seems to be even harder to bring the recent news from Abyei and South Kardofan as well. According to Bloomberg: ‘Fighting and air strikes by Sudan’s military in the past two weeks in Southern Kordofan, northern Sudan’s only oil- producing state, led to the flight of 60,000 people, while another 113,000 people fled their homes after the Sudanese army occupied Abyei on May 21, accusing southern forces of attacking them, according to United Nations estimates‘. But that’s not all.

Bloomberg also reports the words of al-Bashir in a speech in Red Sea state, broadcast on the state-run Sudan TV: ‘We told our brothers in the south, do you want peace? Everything we’ve done is for peace [...] But if you want war, you can see what’s going on in Abyei and in Southern Kordofan, and these are all lessons [...] Unfortunately, some of our brothers in the SPLM understand things very late [...] If we’re dragged to war, your sons in the Armed Forces will not let you down.’ Al-Bashir knows exactly what he’s doing and makes it very clear.

International diplomacy? #China and #Russia didn’t move one finger, yet. Carrot and stick? Even the Sudanese government says it doesn’t work: ‘The Sudanese government does not perform its responsibilities in desire for normalization or in fear of sanctions, and the U.S. administration should cease its carrot and stick policy which it has kept practicing,” El-Obaid Ahmed Marawah, spokesman of the Sudanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said in a statement Wednesday.’ On SudanVote: ‘US threats to cancel debt relief and demand international intervention if the SAF do not leave Abyei have not swayed Bashir. “We do not want the carrot of the US and we are not afraid of its stick,” he said.’

The message is clear. Even #Enough Project who strongly supported the carrot and stick policy is now calling for additional military support for South Sudan…

Eric Reeves posted a very good article on The Washington Post: In Sudan, genocide anew? ‘We are, once again, on the verge of genocidal counterinsurgency in Sudan. History must not be allowed to repeat itself [...] Too often with Sudan, empty demands and threats signal to the regime that the world is not serious about halting atrocities. Either the international community gets serious about preventing further violence in Abyei and the adjacent region of South Kordofan, or we will again see “tens of thousands of civilians… die in the weeks and months ahead in what will be continuing genocidal destruction.’ His website is a must-read.

Eric Reeves also says in Obama’s Second ‘Rwanda Moment: ‘President Obama failed to make good on his campaign commitments to Darfur; unless he takes strong action, urgently, he will have failed in the face of the second genocide on his watch, currently accelerating in the Nuba Mountains of South Kordofan [...] President Obama confronts his second “Rwanda Moment,” and how he responds—now—will determine the moral character of his historical legacy for decades.’

I know nothing is black and white. Economic interests and politics are intertwined. All sides have good and bad people on them but it has been quite some time now the cursor is stuck on one side. So maybe it’s time for some countries to take their responsibility, and I don’t care if China opposes politicizing trade and economic ties (read my post: China’s Fabulous Deals: Curb Your Enthusiasm), as the biggest foreign investor in Sudan, the country has leverage because of its economic influence in Khartoum and it should use it. All countries should, and not look away to protect their investments.

So when will international community take action? When the international community will decide to. Meanwhile, we are Dancing with a dictator in Sudan, again.

This is our new Friday Digest! Every Friday, this weekly news round-up gives us the occasion to share with you news from various topics: politics to arts, entertainment, media, science, sports, fun and less fun news… This digest is a list of news published this week on the Internet (Friday to Friday), selected by the Sama Team, and it is by no means exhaustive.

If you want to suggest a news to be added in the next Friday Digest, contact us.

Divisions Are Clear as Obama and Netanyahu Discuss Peace
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel told President Obama on Friday that he shared his vision for a peace between Israelis and Palestinians, and then promptly listed a series of nonnegotiable conditions that have kept the two sides at an impasse for years. Sitting at Mr. Obama’s side in the Oval Office, leaning toward him and at times looking him directly in the eye, the Israeli leader bluntly rejected compromises…

North Sudan says controls key town in Abyei
North Sudanese forces took control of the main town of the disputed Abyei border region on Saturday, state television and the southern army said, as tensions escalated ahead of southern secession in July. “Enemy forces” had been expelled to the south, Khartoum-based state television said in a news bulletin after fighting was reported throughout the day in Abyei, the main dispute between north and south…

Georgia Says Russia Committed Genocide in 19th Century
The Georgian Parliament voted Friday to recognize the 19th-century killings and deportations of ethnic Circassians by czarist Russia as genocide, a move that is likely to inflame tensions between the two countries. Moscow is extraordinarily sensitive to any anti-Russian movements in the North Caucasus, a region on Russia’s southern border where it has been battling insurgents since the collapse of the Soviet Union…

Iceland volcano eruption spits plume 10 miles high
A volcano in Iceland spat a plume of white smoke almost 10 miles into the air as it erupted last night. The Grimsvotn volcano, which sits beneath one of the country’s biggest glaciers, also triggered small earthquakes. However, geologists said they did not expect the eruption would lead to a repeat of the disruption to air travel caused by the ash cloud emitted by an Icelandic volcano in May last year…

MYANMAR: Urgent need to prepare for earthquakes
The recent 6.8 quake that shook Myanmar’s northeastern Shan State, killing 74 and affecting 18,000, serves as a stark warning for this largely unprepared, earthquake-prone country, say experts. Myanmar rests on one of the world’s two main earthquake belts, with one of its many fault lines running 1,000km north to south through the country’s agriculturally rich central plain, placing major Burmese cities…

Lady Gaga deal overwhelms Amazon servers
Lady Gaga fans were delighted Monday to learn that they could download her new album, Born This Way, from Amazon for a mere $0.99 — until, of course, technical difficulties set in. Downloads of the album are delayed, leaving folks unable to get the entire album immediately upon purchase. Amazon issued the following statement: “Amazon is experiencing high volume and downloads are delayed. If customers…

Netanyahu AIPAC Speech: Israeli Prime Minister Says Country Cannot Return To 1967 Borders
Israel’s prime minister promised to present his vision for an Israeli-Palestinian peace in a speech before U.S. lawmakers on Tuesday, but vowed his country would not return to mid-1967 borders that he termed “indefensible.” Benjamin Netanyahu made this pledge in an address Monday to thousands of pro-Israel American Jews and U.S. lawmakers. His speech drew roaring cheers and standing ovations, a sign…

Searches Restart in Deadliest U.S. Tornado in 60 Years
The sun shone for the first time in days on this battered city Tuesday, lifting spirits even as rescue workers performed the grim task of searching for survivors and victims in buildings leveled by the United States’ deadliest tornado in more than 60 years. At least 117 people have died. On Tuesday morning, as search teams with dogs took advantage of a break in windy, rainy weather to comb the wreckage that includes…

France’s Lagarde bids to lead IMF after Strauss-Kahn resignation
French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde announced her bid to become head of the International Monetary Fund Wednesday, after its former managing director Dominique Strauss-Kahn resigned in the wake of charges he tried to rape a hotel maid in New York. “I have decided to present my candidacy. I did this after an agreement with President (Nicolas Sarkozy) and Prime Minister (Francois Fillon) of France,”…

Iran considers ‘sanctions’ against US for ‘human rights violations’
Iran is considering imposing sanctions on United States officials for “human rights violations”, in an attempt to turn the tables after years of sanctions imposed by the West. As European Union foreign ministers added 100 Iranian companies and individuals to a sanctions blacklist yesterday, Iran’s parliament was set to debate censuring 26 US officials, the Arman daily newspaper reported. “Under this plan…

New Prosecution Team as Strauss-Kahn Moves
The Manhattan district attorney’s office has assigned two senior prosecutors to the sexual assault case against Dominique Strauss-Kahn for what promises to be a vigorous court battle. Joan Illuzzi-Orbon and Ann P. Prunty will work alongside Artie McConnell on the case, according to several people briefed on the matter, including two assistants currently in the office. Mr. Strauss-Kahn, the former managing…

Gaddafi’s Regime Stored Over $5B In Western Investment Banks: Report
A British lobbying group has released a leaked document showing that several major investment banks, including HSBC, Goldman Sachs, Societe Generale and Nomura, held billions of dollars of Libyan state funds. The internal report for the Libyan Investment Authority leaked to London-based Global Witness on Thursday shows that the world’s biggest banks held more than $5 billion in accounts for Libyan…

Former Hutu militia leader arrested over Rwanda genocide
A suspected mastermind of the Rwandan genocide has been captured 17 years later in neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo, a United Nations court has announced. Bernard Munyagishari, a former Hutu militia leader, is wanted on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity, including rape, the Tanzania-based international criminal tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) said. The fugitive, who had…

This is our new Friday Digest! Every Friday, this weekly news round-up gives us the occasion to share with you news from various topics: politics to arts, entertainment, media, science, sports, fun and less fun news… This digest is a list of news published this week on the Internet (Friday to Friday), selected by the Sama Team, and it is by no means exhaustive.

If you want to suggest a news to be added in the next Friday Digest, contact us.

Misrata survivor: ‘Oh God, it’s like a horror movie’
The United Nations’ humanitarian chief is expected Monday to brief the Security Council on fighting between Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi’s forces and rebels, including the heavy toll it has taken in the port city of Misrata. Survivors in Misrata — the only city in western Libya held by rebels — described what the carnage inflicted by indiscriminate shelling has wrought: crushed bones, burns and amputations…

Malik Obama’s ‘Barack H. Obama Foundation’ Raises Questions
A charity organization founded by President Barack Obama’s half brother is raising eyebrows, prompting one watchdog group to file a request for an official investigation. The National Legal and Policy Center (NLPC) has asked the IRS to investigate the Barack H. Obama Foundation, which collects donations in Kenya and Virginia, the New York Post reports. Abon’go Malik “Roy” Obama started the Barack H. Obama…

Is Microsoft About To Overpay For Skype?
The deal buzzards are swirling around Skype, and Microsoft may end up with the prize. Om first reported the rumor, which is now getting major play by the WSJ. Microsoft is in final negotiations to buy Skype for $7 billion, according to the WSJ report. The final price might go closer to $8 billion. Google and Facebook were also sniffing around Skype, which put off its IPO earlier this year to buy more negotiating time…

Japan’s Nuclear Future in the Balance
The accident at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant has done more than spew radiation into the air and sea and force tens of thousands of people to evacuate their homes. It has blown a big hole in Japan’s energy policy, which had assumed that nuclear power would supply a growing part of the country’s needs. Prime Minister Naoto Kan and other government officials said over the weekend that Japan would…

Osama Bin Laden’s Compound Recreated In ‘Counter Strike’ Video Game
An independent developer recently made waves for designing a video game level based on Osama bin Laden’s Abbottabad compound. The developer, who calls himself Fletch, created the level as an add-on for the first-person shooter game “Counter Strike: Source.” The level is set in a compound resembling photographs of the bin Laden hideout, which last week became the site of a U.S. Navy SEALs…

A Revolution’s Namesake Is Contraband in China
Do not be lulled by its intoxicating fragrance or the dainty, starlike blossoms whose whiteness suggests innocence and purity. Jasmine, a stalwart of Chinese tea and the subject of a celebrated folk song often heard while on hold with provincial bureaucrats, is not what it seems. Since Tunisian revolutionaries this year anointed their successful revolt against the country’s dictatorial president the “Jasmine Revolution,”…

Film ‘Staging Hope’ Premieres in Washington
Last Wednesday, Politics on Film kicked off its third annual film festival with actress and activist Melissa Fitzgerald’s documentary “Staging Hope: Acts of Peace in Northern Uganda.” “Staging Hope” documents a two-week theater program, run by a group of American actors, for 14 Ugandan youth from the Labuje IDP camp in northern Uganda. Through the intensive drama workshop, the Ugandan teens were able…

Uganda “Kill The Gays” Bill Could Get Vote This Week
The notorious bill moving through Uganda’s legislature that would render homosexuality a crime punishable by death in some cases may come up for a vote this week, the AP reported Monday. The main backer of the bill, Ugandan lawmaker David Bahati, told the AP that the death penalty clause is “something we have moved away from.” But there has been no official announcement that it has been dropped…

A Rite of Torture for Girls
People usually torture those whom they fear or despise. But one of the most common forms of torture in the modern world, incomparably more widespread than waterboarding or electric shocks, is inflicted by mothers on daughters they love. It’s female genital mutilation — sometimes called female circumcision — and it is prevalent across a broad swath of Africa and chunks of Asia as well. Mothers take…

Blast Kills at Least 70 Military Cadets in Pakistan
More than 70 paramilitary soldiers were killed when a suicide bomber blew himself up Friday morning at a military training center in northwest Pakistan, a local police chief said. The bombing was the first major terrorist attack since the American raid in Abbottabad on May 2 that killed Osama bin Laden. It was not immediately clear if the attack was in revenge for the Americans’ action. Local officials said that it was likely…

John Demjanjuk guilty of Nazi death camp murders
A German court has found John Demjanjuk guilty of helping to murder more than 28,000 Jews at a Nazi death camp in World War II. He was sentenced to five years in prison, one year less than prosecutors had asked for, but will be released pending a possible appeal. Prosecutors said the Ukraine-born Demjanjuk, 91, was a guard at Sobibor camp in Nazi-occupied Poland in 1943. He denied serving as a guard… 

SEALs who killed bin Laden concerned for their safety
The Department of Defense is looking into ways to “pump up the security” for the team of Navy SEALs who helped kill Osama bin Laden after the commandos expressed concern for their safety and the safety of their families, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Thursday. Gates made the comment in response to a question at a town hall meeting at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. A Marine asked what measures were…

This is our new Friday Digest! Every Friday, this weekly news round-up gives us the occasion to share with you news from various topics: politics to arts, entertainment, media, science, sports, fun and less fun news… This digest is a list of news published this week on the Internet (Friday to Friday), selected by the Sama Team, and it is by no means exhaustive.

If you want to suggest a news to be added in the next Friday Digest, contact us.

Director Sidney Lumet remembered by Hollywood stars
Hollywood stars including Woody Allen, Martin Scorsese and Al Pacino have paid tribute to film director Sidney Lumet – maker of New York-based classics including 12 Angry Men – following his death at the age of 86. Fellow New York director Allen said Lumet was “definitely the quintessential New York film-maker”. “I’m constantly amazed at how many films of his prodigious output were wonderful and how many actors…

Citizens Fight to Protect the Grand Canyon from Uranium Mining
Every year, 5 million tourists from all over the world flock to the Grand Canyon in Arizona, where they can view 2 billion years of geologic history in its glory. Today, this national landmark is under threat. In only the last few years, the uranium mining industry has lined up more than 1,000 claims throughout hundreds of thousands of acres of pristine ecosystem that surrounds the official protected park. Mining these claims…

Obama set to appoint America’s first special envoy to Burma
The Cable has confirmed that President Barack Obama is set to appoint Derek Mitchell as the first U.S. special envoy to Burma. Mitchell, a well-respected Asia hand who was a foreign policy advisor to the Obama campaign, is currently the principal deputy assistant secretary of defense for Asian and Pacific affairs under Assistant Secretary Gen. Chip Gregson, who will soon be departing himself. Previously, Mitchell worked at the…

Gadhafi OKs plan to end fighting; UNICEF reports kids dying
Embattled Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi has agreed in principle to stop all hostilities in his North African nation and let in outside forces to help keep the peace, his government and African Union mediators said Monday in a joint statement. The announcement came the same day UNICEF released a statement saying at least 20 children — including some as young as 9 months old — have been killed from shrapnel or bullet…

French ban on Islamic face veil comes into force
A law has come into force in France which makes it an offence for a Muslim woman to conceal her face behind a veil when in public. Anyone caught breaking the law will be liable to a fine of 150 euros (£133, $217) and a citizenship course. People forcing women to wear the veil face a much larger fine and a prison sentence of up to two years. France is the first country in Europe to publicly ban a form of dress some Muslims regard as…

Ivory Coast strongman Laurent Gbagbo arrested
Forces stormed the bunker where Ivory Coast’s strongman Laurent Gbagbo hung on to power Monday, arresting the man whose refusal to hand over the presidency to the election winner left hundreds dead and threatened to re-ignite a civil war in the world’s largest cocoa producer. Gbagbo’s dramatic arrest came after days of heavy fighting during which French and U.N. helicopters fired rockets at his presidential residence…

Japan ups nuke crisis severity to match Chernobyl
Japan raised the crisis level at its crippled nuclear plant Tuesday to a severity on par with the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, citing high overall radiation leaks that have contaminated the air, tap water, vegetables and seawater. Japanese nuclear regulators said they raised the rating from 5 to 7 – the highest level on an international scale of nuclear accidents overseen by the International Atomic Energy Agency – after new assessments…

Italian activist found dead in Gaza after abduction
An Italian pro-Palestinian activist has been found dead in the Hamas-governed Gaza Strip hours after being abducted. Vittorio Arrigoni, 36, was seized on Thursday by a radical group that has been in conflict with Hamas and is seeking the release of its leader. Police said he was found hanged in a Gaza City house after receiving a tip-off. Two people have been arrested. Italy denounced the “barbaric murder”, calling it an “act of vile…

Sunday Roundup is not a new rendezvous on the Sama Gazette but it is one on Max Dana’s Blog. Last Sunday she started this new series of posts about what caught her attention during the week. It sounds like our weekly Friday Digest which Max said it inspired her but we have to admit her news roundup is far more detailed than ours. We still have to learn a lot from her, we know that!

So we decided to cross post it here. You can also read this post on Max Dana’s Blog.

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Sunday Roundup. Everything is said, the title of this post is quite self-explanatory. I have been inspired by the Sama Gazette and their weekly Rendezvous Friday Digest. I think this is an interesting way to share with you the news that caught my attention and which are worth mentioning on this blog. This is my first #Sunday Roundup, I hope you will appreciate it!

ART

#Graffiti is Art. No question about it. Cool Hunting posted an article about Martha Cooper’s exhibition at L.A.’s Carmichael Gallery: “Martha Cooper: Remix” (9 April 2011 – 7 May 2011). “A major part of the early graffiti scene, photojournalist Martha Cooper is now on the other end of lens as the focus of a new exhibition at L.A.’s Carmichael Gallery. “Martha Cooper: Remix” sees over 50 artists recreate their favorite images by the ever-present documentarian, including works by Lady Pink, Faust, Neck Face, Fumakaka (all pictured here) and more…“. If you live in Los Angeles, don’t miss this exhibition.

Read this week on BCC website: Sir Patrick Stewart leads actor protest over arts cuts. “Some of the UK’s leading actors have gathered in London to protest against the recent round of Arts cuts. Sir Patrick Stewart, Penelope Wilton and Samuel West are among the stars who have signed and delivered a petition to Downing Street calling for a “coherent” arts policy. Last week, more than 200 organisations lost out on annual funding from Arts Council England...”. Let’s talk money if it can save Art: the arts industry was the “second most profitable sector in Britain“.

MOVIES

Great news, Torontonians! #Thelma and Louise are making a road trip to Toronto. “Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon, who played the title characters in the celebrated 1991 film, will participate in an onstage discussion about the movie on June 7. The evening at Roy Thomson Hall is being billed as “Thelma & Louise: The 20th Anniversary Homecoming.” It will feature reflections by Sarandon and Davis, an onstage interview, clips from the film as well as other movies from the actresses’ careers, video memories and behind-the-scenes interviews with people involved in making the film“. Read more here about this great movie.

I think Cate Blanchett is a wonderful actress. AP‘s movie critic, Christy Lemire, picks Cate Blanchett’s five best performances: “Whether she’s front-and-center as the star of a film or playing a juicy supporting part, Cate Blanchett is always fascinating to watch, with her astounding versatility and transfixing, chameleon-like features.” Agreed.

Boing Boing always selects interesting #geek news. Faux software interfaces in film is a good example. “Access Main Computer File is a marvelous celebration in images of (mostly phony) computer user interfaces from Hollywood. Once there, mouse over the pictures to see the movie name and year. Notably absent is the instant messaging screen from Pretty In Pink’s library scene“. I always look at computer user interfaces in movies; if you do too, visit Access Main Computer File.

Roger Ebert tweeted about an article posted on Film Detail by Ambrose Heron. “Various pieces of film music often end up in trailers for other movies but some appear more frequently than others. When you watch a trailer for an upcoming film, the music featured is not necessarily what you hear in the final cut. Often this is because the film and score haven’t been finished, but there are some musical cues that keep re-appearing. The movie music website Soundtrack.net have compiled a long list of frequently used cues from trailers and here are the top five...”.

And last but not least: New York film director Sidney Lumet dies at 86. The Los Angeles Times writes: “Sidney Lumet, a four-time Oscar nominee, was known for guiding strong performances in films such as ’12 Angry Men,’ ‘Network’ and ‘Dog Day Afternoon.’ He directed more than 40 films in his long career, many of them in his hometown of New York.” Add ‘Serpico’ (with the amazing performance of #Al Pacino) and you get four of my favorites movies.  R.I.P Mr Lumet.

AFRICA

Last week Enough Project asked us to “Tell President Obama & Secretary Clinton: Send an Envoy to Congo!“. You can sign the petition on Change.org: “In 2005 & 2006, as a freshman senator, Barack Obama tried to pass 156 pieces of legislation. Only a single bill of his was signed into law – The Democratic Republic of Congo Relief, Security, and Democracy Promotion Act. Obama’s bill asked that the United States appoint a Special Envoy to the Great Lakes Region. The bill passed with bipartisan support and was co-sponsored by Secretary Clinton…“

On his side, #Nicholas Kristof retweeted: “A call for an American special envoy to Congo“. A very well designed website with interesting information and photos you can visit here.

In #Sudan, things are not taking the right road, obviously. Satellite Sentinel Project posted: Range of Attack: Deployment of SAF Attack Helicopters, Tanks Near Abyei. “In recent weeks, the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) has deployed heavy offensive weaponry, including attack helicopters and tanks, at Muglad, the reported headquarters of the SAF’s 15th Division. These units include two helicopters consistent with Mi-24 Hind gunships, at least nine main battle tanks consistent with T-55s, and trucks consistent with support vehicles needed for the forward deployment of heavy armor…“. You can find more information on the Washington Post.

In #Darfur. You can sign a petition on Change.org started by Investors Against Genocide asking: “JPMorgan Chase: Stop Investing in Companies that Support Genocide“. “On May 17, shareholders at JPMorgan Chase will vote on whether or not the company should make an effort to avoid investments in companies that substantially contribute to genocide or crimes against humanity. The choice seems obvious.  But JPMorgan Chase (JPM) opposes the proposal and tells shareholders that they should vote against it.  JPM says it already factors human rights issues into its decision-making, even though it owns about 5% of the outstanding shares of PetroChina, worth $1.3 billion.  PetroChina, through its closely related parent, China National Petroleum Company, is internationally recognized as the worst offender helping fund the Government of Sudan’s genocide in Darfur.”

I am not following @tara_kendyle on Twitter ( I may very soon) but the people @SamaGazette forwarded me a poem Tara wrote “for the millions who perished in the #genocide in #Rwanda, for the #children who now cry in #Darfur“. Tara Kendyle is the teacher and creator of TeensMAD4Rwanda. I loved her poem and I invite you to read it on this page.

#Every Human Has Rights retweeted an article posted on The Zimbabwean: CSOs statement on the harassment and persecution of human rights defenders. This is a must-read article for anyone concerned about what is currently happening in #Zimbabwe. “The continued harassment of Mr. Abel Chikomo, the Executive Director of the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum (the Forum) by unnamed state agents – using police officers from Harare Central’s Law and Order Section as a front – is as deplorable as it is unjustifiable. The attack on Chikomo and the Forum is not just an attack on one individual and/or one organization but an attack on all civil society organisations (CSOs) in Zimbabwe. Police and all other state agents must stop attacking the messenger and start attending to the message.”

For the French speaking readers. Vague de solidarité dans le sillage du fil #CIVsocial sur Twitter. Le soutien à la Côte d’Ivoire et la solidarité s’organisent malgré tout. Du côté de Haïti. Sophie Chavanel est journaliste pour Radio-Canada lorsqu’elle apprend la nouvelle du séisme en Haïti. Ébranlée, elle décide de tout quitter pour se joindre à l’équipe de la Croix-Rouge à Port-au-Prince. Voici son journal, poignant mais aussi très instructif que vous pouvez lire ici.

WORLD / SOCIAL TRENDS

#Al Gore has posted a blog about Coal escapes consequences for its deadly track record. “The Charleston Gazette ran an excellent article Sunday on how big coal often escapes consequences for its deadly track record“. The full article can be found here: “On Jan. 14, 2009, officials from Aracoma Coal Co. pleaded guilty to 10 mine safety crimes. Prosecutors uncovered the violations during their investigation of a January 2006 fire at Aracoma’s Alma No. 1 Mine in Logan County. Delorice Bragg and Freda Hatfield were in court that day, too. Their husbands, Don and Elvis, died in the fire. The widows came to speak out against the government’s promise not to bring any future charges against Aracoma’s parent company, Massey Energy. It wasn’t the first time government officials went after Massey but settled for a deal with one of the Richmond, Va.-based coal giant’s subsidiaries or a low-level company staffer…“. The day when companies and big corporations will take their environmental responsibilities is yet to come.

Joseph Stiglitz is an American economist and a recipient of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences (2001). He writes in this month’s Vanity Fair about “how in our own democracy, 1 percent of the people take nearly a quarter of the nation’s income—an inequality even the wealthy will come to regret“. Inequality is a great problem and as always, Stiglitz finds the right words to explain the whys. “Some people look at income inequality and shrug their shoulders. So what if this person gains and that person loses? What matters, they argue, is not how the pie is divided but the size of the pie. That argument is fundamentally wrong. An economy in which most citizens are doing worse year after year—an economy like America’s—is not likely to do well over the long haul. There are several reasons for this…“

We read about the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant leak everyday since the earthquake. Japan is facing one of the world’s biggest nuclear crises and we have all the reasons to feel concerned. Kyodo News writes: Radioactive materials spread around northern hemisphere in 2 weeks. Things are simple and yet not reassuring at all as we speak of radioactive contamination lasting for decades if not more: “The organization runs 63 monitoring stations around the world, including one in Takasaki, Gunma Prefecture in Japan. The Takasaki station detected radioactive substances on March 12, followed by detection in eastern Russia on March 14 and in the west coast of the United States two days later. The radioactive materials then crossed the Atlantic and reached Iceland on March 22, it said. According to a simulation by a German research institute, a path of the radioactive materials involved moving from Fukushima to the United States on air currents before they were dispersed from northern Canada to the Arctic Sea to spread around the hemisphere.”

Beware, #Twitter and Facebook users! US terrorist attack warnings to be made on Twitter and Facebook. Get used to it, terror alerts will appear on Twitter and Facebook. Everything is explained on The Guardian: “Terror alerts may be broadcast on Twitter and Facebook only “when appropriate”, according to the hitherto top-secret document. Terror threats are made public only when members of Congress, various counter-terrorism officials, governors and mayors have been informed. The document even specifies how many minutes US officials can wait before organising urgent conference calls to discuss pending threats. The new advisory system is designed to be easier to understand and more specific. The present warning levels have been lampooned by comedians and criticised by TV broadcasters for being too vague and open to interpretation.”

When Did Girls Start Wearing Pink? This is a question I asked myself a long time ago. Why girls have to wear pink and boys blue? Since I don’t like pink that much, I always have a thought for little girls who have to wear pink. Hopefully I grew up during a ‘Gender-neutral clothing era‘. But everything has changed now and Jeanne Maglaty provides useful facts. “John Money, a sexual identity researcher at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, argued that gender was primarily learned through social and environmental cues. “This was one of the drivers back in the ’70s of the argument that it’s ‘nurture not nature,’ ” Paoletti says. Gender-neutral clothing remained popular until about 1985. Paoletti remembers that year distinctly because it was between the births of her children, a girl in ’82 and a boy in ’86. “All of a sudden it wasn’t just a blue overall; it was a blue overall with a teddy bear holding a football,” she says. Disposable diapers were manufactured in pink and blue.“

Talking about girls who may never have the chance to wear pink or blue or any other color.  The Economist published: Gendercide in India – India’s sex ratio is getting worse. The trend can be reversed. The facts are there, chocking: “Parents choose to abort female fetuses not because they do not want or love their daughters, but because they feel they must have sons (usually for social reasons); they also want smaller families—and something has to give. Ultrasound technology ensures that this something is a generation of unborn daughters, because it lets them know the sex of a fetus…“

A wonderful news and a great lesson of courage: Joao Silva Doing Exceptional Following Major Reconstructive Surgery. The news was posted on the National Press Photographers Association website by Donald R. Winslow. “Photojournalist Joao Silva is doing exceptionally well this morning following extensive reconstructive surgery at the hands of three teams of specialized surgeons yesterday at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, DC, his boss New York Times assistant managing editor Michele McNally told News Photographer magazine this morning. In October 2010, war photographer Silva, 44, lost both legs when he stepped on a landmine while on patrol with American soldiers near Arghandab in southern Afghanistan. He also suffered extensive internal injuries in the blast…“

SCIENCE

Is it a new particle, or just a fluke? That’s a good question asked in this article posted on CNN: “The possible discovery at Tevatron is not a Higgs-like object, said Rob Roser, a scientist at Fermilab who works with Tevatron’s CDF particle detector experiment, where the new data came from. But that doesn’t rule out the potential new particle’s involvement in explaining mass, experts said. Physicists Estia Eichten, Kenneth Lane, and Adam Martin said the Tevatron findings may be evidence of a “technicolor” theory involving a brand new force leading to mass. The forces we know about are gravity, electromagnetism and the strong and weak nuclear forces — “technicolor” would add a fifth….” No Higgs-boson yet but some other interesting ‘things’ to come!

On the BBC website, we read: Kepler star trio find is mystery to astroseismologists. Why is the star unexpectedly quiet? Why doesn’t the red giant star pulsate? “The graceful dance between three stars seen by the Kepler telescope has drawn the attention of astronomers because it is not accompanied by a song. Most stars are known to generate great booming sounds in their interiors, and Kepler can spot the resulting change in the light that they emit. However, astronomers reporting in Science say a red giant they have spotted is unexpectedly quiet…“

Something some of you will appreciate for sure: Hubble has online resources for the blind and visually impaired. “Tactile astronomy: Making the Universe Touchable. This new section of Amazing Space features “Tactile Images of the Month” — a collection of the latest Hubble images that can be printed in a tactile format. The section opened in celebration of Hubble’s 20th Anniversary, in April, 2010…“. More information here!

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This is our new Friday Digest! Every Friday, this weekly news round-up gives us the occasion to share with you news from various topics: politics to arts, entertainment, media, science, sports, fun and less fun news… This digest is a list of news published this week on the Internet (Friday to Friday), selected by the Sama Team, and it is by no means exhaustive.

If you want to suggest a news to be added in the next Friday Digest, contact us.

Hundreds killed as battle for Ivory Coast turns streets into war zones
Forces loyal to Alassane Ouattara took control of state-run television and attacked the residence of Laurent Gbagbo on Friday as Ivory Coast’s bloody, four-month battle for political power appeared to enter its final stages. Artillery and mortars joined the cacophony of gunfire Friday in Abidjan, the nation’s commercial center and largest city, witnesses said. French and United Nations troops beefed up their presence…
http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/africa/04/01/ivory.coast.unrest/index.html

Cashing in on growing interest in African art
Last year, Osei Kofi, a journalist and an international art dealer, made a pretty return on a piece of painting he had collected from Gallery Watatu some years back when the space was still active. The Tinga Tinga piece auctioned in Paris alongside several others thrust East African art at an international level, attracting attention from dealers who knew little about the artists from the region. This, among other reasons…
http://www.africareview.com/Arts+and+Culture/Demand+for+African+art+
opens+doors+at+Watatu/-/979194/1137160/-/5mn91m/-/

Mission Accomplished, Nonprofits Go Out of Business
A few nonprofit groups have recently announced plans to wind down, not over financial problems but because their missions are nearly finished. Most notable, perhaps, is Malaria No More, a popular nonprofit that supplies bed nets in malaria zones. Its goal is to end deaths from malaria, a target it sees fast approaching. The charity has announced plans to close in 2015, but it is keeping its options open in the unlikely event…
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/02/business/02charity.html

Who is Saif al-Islam Gadhafi?
Once thought to be a leading reformer inside the Libyan government, Saif al-Islam Gadhafi has emerged as one of his father’s most visible defenders. Saif, 38, has never lived a day in which his father Moammar didn’t rule Libya — as its undisputed leader inside the country and an enigmatic, controversial voice for the world. And yet, as the Libyan government faced a stiff popular uprising, it was Moammar Gadhafi’s second-eldest son…
http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/africa/04/01/libya.saif.gadhafi/index.html

Japan Nuclear Leak: Radioactive Water Continues Pouring Into The Sea
Engineers pinned their hopes on chemicals, sawdust and shredded newspaper to stop highly radioactive water pouring into the ocean from Japan’s tsunami-ravaged nuclear plant Sunday as officials said it will take several months to bring the crisis under control, the first time they have provided a timetable. Concrete already failed to stop the tainted water spewing from a crack in a maintenance pit, and the new mixture did not…
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/03/japan-nuclear-leak-radioactive-water_n_844184.html

China Takes Dissident Artist Into Custody
 The Chinese authorities on Sunday detained Ai Weiwei, a high-profile artist and stubborn government critic, as he tried to board a plane for Hong Kong, his friends and associates said. Mr. Ai’s wife, his nephew and a number of his employees were also taken into custody during a raid on his studio on the outskirts of the capital. Rights advocates say the detentions are an ominous sign that the Communist Party’s six-week crackdown…
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/04/world/asia/04china.html

President Obama’s Re-election Bid: the $1 Billion Candidate?
President Obama is on the verge of making a very important announcement — one that we all probably could have predicted — that he wants to keep his job as leader of the free world. Obama is expected to send an e-mail message to supporters as early as next week and file his official papers with the Federal Election Commission, effectively announcing his re-election bid, unidentified Democratic officials who are familiar with…
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/obama-set-announce-election-bid/story?id=13283111

Plane crash in Congo takes the life of Dr. Boubacar Toure
The International Rescue Committee is profoundly saddened to confirm that Dr. Boubacar Toure, our senior reproductive health advisor in Congo, was among those who died in a United Nations plane crash today in Kinshasa. Dr. Toure, 63 and a native of Guinea, was an internationally recognized leader in the maternal health field and was deeply committed to reversing high levels of maternal mortality in Congo and other countries…
http://www.rescue.org/news/plane-crash-congo-takes-life-dr-boubacar-toure-10564

Fears hit all things Japanese
In times of crisis, fears run faster than facts. That axiom has never been truer than the aftermath of the March 11 Japanese earthquake and tsunami, and the ongoing drama at the Fukushima nuclear power plant. And every new headline with the words “radioactive” only heighten those fears, like news that crews at the damaged plant are now dumping thousands of tons of radioactive water into the sea. To be sure, the news is troubling…
http://business.blogs.cnn.com/2011/04/05/irrational-fear-hits-all-things-japanese

Radioactivity in sea up 7.5 million times
Radioactive iodine-131 readings taken from seawater near the water intake of the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant’s No. 2 reactor reached 7.5 million times the legal limit, Tokyo Electric Power Co. admitted Tuesday. The sample that yielded the high reading was taken Saturday, before Tepco announced Monday it would start releasing radioactive water into the sea, and experts fear the contamination may spread well beyond Japan’s…
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20110405x1.html

Teen study: 5 or more drinks a day, no biggie
Downing five or more alcoholic drinks nearly every day isn’t seen as a big problem for many of the nation’s teens, says a new report. When asked if they see “great risk” in drinking that much, almost half the teens questioned – 45 percent – didn’t see it as a big deal. The study being released Wednesday by The Partnership at Drugfree.org also showed upward trends in marijuana and Ecstasy use among young people in grades 9…
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_TEENS_ALCOHOL

TweetDeck Launches #NewTwitter Rival
After the success of its Chrome web app, TweetDeck is launching a full-fledged web app, which should pose major competition to both Twitter and Seesmic. According to a blog post, TweetDeck Web is built on the same core as Chrome TweetDeck and features a similar UI and product features. Unfortunately, TweetDeck Web does not include Twitter streaming. The reason why TweetDeck, which makes a massively popular desktop Twitter…
http://techcrunch.com/2011/04/06/tweetdeck-launches-newtwitter-rival/

Hydrogen buildup spurs more concern at Japanese nuclear plant
Engineers began injecting non-flammable nitrogen into the No. 1 reactor at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant Thursday to counter a buildup of potentially explosive hydrogen, the plant’s owner reported. The Tokyo Electric Power Company said the danger of another hydrogen explosion, like the one that blew the roof and upper walls off the reactor building in March, was “extremely low.” But it warned that more hydrogen…
http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/04/07/japan.nuclear.reactors/index.html

This is our new Friday Digest! Every Friday, this weekly news round-up gives us the occasion to share with you news from various topics: politics to arts, entertainment, media, science, sports, fun and less fun news… This digest is a list of news published this week on the Internet (Friday to Friday), selected by the Sama Team, and it is by no means exhaustive.

If you want to suggest a news to be added in the next Friday Digest, contact us.

Obama announces Libya sanctions
Jeremy Bowen, invited to Tripoli by Libyan authorities, says the revolt is spreading. The US has announced sanctions against the Libyan government, as UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon urged the body’s Security Council to take “decisive action” over the Libya crisis. US President Barack Obama signed an executive order blocking property and transactions related to the country. Transactions involving assets of Muammar Gaddafi…
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12585949

US scientists examine possible link between dolphin deaths and BP oil spill
Scientists are looking for a possible link between a surge in deaths among baby dolphins in the Gulf of Mexico and the BP oil spill. So far this year, 29 newborn dolphins have washed up on the northern shores of the Gulf of Mexico, far higher than seen in typical years. US government scientists said it was too early to conclude that there is a link with the explosion at BP’s well last April, which dumped 4.9m barrels of oil…
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/feb/25/gulf-of-mexico-dolphin-deaths

U.N. Votes to Impose Sanctions on Qaddafi
The U.N. Security Council moved as a powerful bloc Saturday to try to halt Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi’s deadly crackdown on protesters, slapping sanctions on him, his children and top associates. Voting 15-0 after daylong discussions interrupted with breaks to consult with capitals back home, the council imposed an arms embargo and urged U.N. member countries to freeze the assets of Gadhafi, four of his sons and a daughter…
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2011/02/26/world/africa/AP-Libya-Diplomacy.html

‘King’s Speech’ rules at the 83rd Oscars
The story of a king overcoming a speech impediment to lead his people through World War II took top honors at the 83rd Annual Academy Awards. “The King’s Speech” won the best picture, best actor, best director and best original screenplay Oscars at Hollywood’s Kodak Theatre Sunday night. The saga of how a college student created Facebook, which is now credited helping citizens overthrow their leader in the Mideast, lost out on…
http://edition.cnn.com/2011/SHOWBIZ/Movies/02/27/academy.awards/index.html

X-Rays and Unshielded Infants
It was well after midnight when Dr. Salvatore J. A. Sclafani finally hit the “send” button. Soon, colleagues would awake to his e-mail, expressing his anguish and shame over the discovery that the tiniest, most vulnerable of all patients — premature babies — had been over-radiated in the department he ran at State University of New York Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn. A day earlier, Dr. Sclafani noticed that a newborn…
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/28/health/28radiation.html

The top 10 tweets on Academy Awards night
As much competition as there is at the Academy Awards, Oscar night on Twitter is far more cacophonous. Social network traffic soars during the Oscars, as viewers compare notes on the broadcast. The Academy Awards might be “movie’s biggest night,” but it’s also social media’s. Multitasking co-host James Franco tweeted from backstage. Mark Ruffalo, nominated for best supporting actor in “The Kids Are All Right,” even tweeted his…
http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/97647fa212f54cf6bf9b2e98ee19fa57/Article_2011-02-28-Oscars%20Top%20Tweets/id-80192137d51f4e0a801cc7f2b86c895e

Well-Oiled Security Apparatus in China Stifles Calls for Change
The call to action shot across mobile phones and Internet chat sites, urging people to converge on 13 Chinese cities to demand an end to corruption, inflation and the strictures of authoritarian rule. “The Chinese people do not have the patience to wait any longer,” said one message. The anonymous organizers got a sizable turnout — but in China, most of those who poured into squares and shopping centers were police officers…
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/01/world/asia/01china.html

John Galliano Fired By Dior
Designer John Galliano is set to be fired by Christian Dior, Women’s Wear Daily reports. Dior’s president and CEO told the fashion newspaper, “I condemn most firmly the statements made by John Galliano which are a total contradiction with the essential values that have always been defended by the House of Christian Dior.” Last week, a couple called the police at a Parisian cafe after the designer was said to have made anti…
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/01/galliano-fired-dior_n_829629.html

Ashton Kutcher’s Twitter Account Hacked At TED
Ashton Kutcher is one of the most popular users on Twitter, now with 6.3 million followers. Only five accounts have more followers, but Kutcher’s account was hacked today at TED, RWW reported this evening. The hack appears to have taken place over a local network at TED by someone nearby Kutcher. RWW noted it was “particularly humorous,” but also embarrassing for Twitter, and speculated it could hurt the social network…
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/02/ashton-kutcher-twitter-hacked_n_830619.html

Ivorian women fatally shot at rally
Security forces loyal to Laurent Gbagbo, Cote d’Ivoire’s disputed president, have shot dead at least six women at a demonstration in support of his rival, Alassane Ouattara. Thursday’s shooting took place after several hundred women gathered in the Abobo neighbourhood of Abidjan, the country’s commercial capital, shouting “Gbagbo, get out!” and “Alassane for president”, a resident told the AFP news agency. Mohamed Dosso, an assistant…
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2011/03/201133135346891629.html

In Colombia, New Gold Rush Fuels Old Conflict
Officers pored over intelligence reports describing the movements of two warlords with private armies. Then the helicopters lifted off at dawn, carrying an elite squad armed with assault rifles to the newest front in this country’s long war: gold mines. Seizing on the decade-long surge in gold prices, combatants from multiple sides of the conflict are shifting into gold mining, among them leftist guerrillas from the Revolutionary…
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/04/world/americas/04colombia.html

Apple refunds $100 to recent buyers of old iPad
Apple will give $100 back to shoppers who bought a first-generation iPad at one of its retail stores or through its online store in the past two weeks. This Apple policy kicks in when the company permanently reduces the price for one of its products. Apple unveiled a new version of its tablet computer, the iPad 2, on Wednesday. At the same time, it cut prices for old iPads by $100. Apple Inc. says retail customers need to present the original…
http://hosted2.ap.org/APDefault/f168093f9a814015b5d643bdfacd8014/Article_2011-03-03-Apple%20iPad%20Refund/id-6b63800e0c6a4c85bd1ca2bc4489b2bf

COTE D’IVOIRE: Paul, “People burn tyres with the bodies to defuse the smell”
When people in parts of Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire’s commercial capital, see smoke these days, they don’t know if just tyres are burning, or tyres and bodies, resident Paul* told IRIN. Paul lives in Abobo, a district thousands of people have fled in recent days because of heavy fighting between forces loyal to Laurent Gbagbo and armed groups backing Alassane Ouattara. “When we see smoke, we figure residents are probably taking…
http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=92092

This is our new Friday Digest! Every Friday, this weekly news round-up gives us the occasion to share with you news from various topics: politics to arts, entertainment, media, science, sports, fun and less fun news… This digest is a list of news published this week on the Internet (Friday to Friday), selected by the Sama Team, and it is by no means exhaustive.

If you want to suggest a news to be added in the next Friday Digest, contact us.

Court Issues Warrant for Musharraf
An anti-terrorism court judge issued an arrest warrant Saturday for former Pakistani military ruler Pervez Musharraf in connection with the 2007 assassination of ex-premier Benazir Bhutto, state-run television reported. The warrant is the latest legal trouble to face the retired general, a one-time U.S. ally who left Pakistan for Britain in 2008 after being forced out of the presidency he secured in 1999 military coup…
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2011/02/11/us/politics/AP-US-US-Pakistan.html

Sudan governor expels French aid group from Darfur
Sudanese authorities said on Monday they had expelled French aid group Medecins du Monde from a state in the Darfur region, accusing it of spying on the government and helping rebels. U.N. sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Sudanese security officials raided the group’s compound and arrested staff in south Darfur’s capital Nyala on Thursday. “I announced today my decision to expel the group from the state,”…
http://af.reuters.com/article/sudanNews/idAFHEA44798820110214

Oscar Favorites: Who’s Ahead?
The top contenders for the 83rd Academy Awards, according to the latest votes on NYTimes.com and from The New York Times Facebook community…
http://oscars.nytimes.com/favorites

Silvio Berlusconi: Sex charge trial to begin in April
Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi has been indicted to stand trial on charges of paying for sex with an under-age girl and abuse of power. Examining judge Cristina Di Censo said the process would start on 6 April, after prosecutors in Milan asked for an immediate trial. Mr Berlusconi denies paying for sex with Karima El Mahroug when she was 17. He also rejects claims that he abused his power by seeking her release when she…
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-12083491

Where has Mubarak stashed his millions?
Global efforts are intensifying to seize assets belonging to Egypt’s former president, Hosni Mubarak, following the revolution in the north African nation. The former Egyptian leader may now be residing in Sharm el-Sheikh following his flight last week from Cairo — but where is his fortune? What moves have been made to track down Mubarak’s assets? Switzerland’s government said Friday it had moved to freeze assets in the country’s…
http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/africa/02/14/chasing.mubaraks.millions
/index.html

Revealed: how energy firms spy on environmental activists
Three large energy companies have been carrying out covert intelligence-gathering operations on environmental activists, the Guardian can reveal. The energy giant E.ON, Britain’s second-biggest coal producer Scottish Resources Group and Scottish Power, one of the UK’s largest electricity-generators, have been paying for the services of a private security firm that has been secretly monitoring activists…
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/feb/14/energy-firms-activists-
intelligence-gathering

Aung San Suu Kyi threatened with ‘tragic end’ over stance on sanctions
Aung San Suu Kyi, the Burmese pro-democracy leader, and her party will “meet their tragic ends” if they keep up their opposition to an end to Western sanctions, state media has warned in a commentary. The threat follows a recent statement by Ms Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) that argued that the punitive measures were helping to pressure the authorities and had not affected the economy of Burma, also known as Myanmar…
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/burmamyanmar/8324847/
Aung-San-Suu-Kyi-threatened-with-tragic-end-over-stance-on-sanctions.html

Apple Supplier Sustainability Report Shows 24.5% More Audits
Apple released its 2011 Progress Report for Apple Supplier Sustainability Monday, ahead of next week’s Apple shareholder meeting. The report offers several examples of Apple improving worker conditions, employer practices, material sourcing, and other changes in its supply chain, including a 24.5% increase in the number of independent audits on work sites in that chain. In 2009, Apple conducted 102 such audits, including 83…
http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/apple_supplier_sustainability_report
_shows_24.5_more_audits/

World Bank: Food prices at “dangerous levels”
Global food prices have hit “dangerous levels” that could contribute to political instability, push millions of people into poverty and raise the cost of groceries, according to a new report from the World Bank. The bank released a report Tuesday that said global food prices have jumped 29 percent in the past year, and are just 3 percent below the all-time peak hit in 2008. Bank President Robert Zoellick said the rising prices…
http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/ff45248c3e2c422eb7de21b0e606e700/Article
_2011-02-15-Food%20Prices/id-2a7a0c859fdc40bfbbcca0a4a2c3f1f6

Thousands attend funeral of man killed in Iranian protests
Thousands of people, many of them Iranian government supporters, turned up in Tehran on Wednesday for the funeral of a man killed in anti-government protests. The gathering near Tehran University comes amid tension in the nation following a crackdown on anti-government protests. Government officials said 26-year-old Saneh Jaleh was shot to death Monday by members of an outlawed group called the People’s Mujahedeen of Iran…
http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/meast/02/16/iran.protests/index.html

Made in China: World’s Harshest Water Shortage
China is running out of water. Fast. Which is troubling for a growing nation of 1.3 billion people. Lots of water-poor nations are out there, but today’s average Chinese exists on one-tenth the amount of water used by the average global citizen. Water shortages may be China’s number-one long-term problem; the World Bank warns of “catastrophic consequences for future generations.” Though giant rivers criss-cross China…
http://www.takepart.com/news/2011/02/15/made-in-china-worlds-harshest-water-shortage

CBS News’ Lara Logan Assaulted During Egypt Protests
On Friday, Feb. 11, the day Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak stepped down, CBS chief foreign correspondent Lara Logan was covering the jubilation in Tahrir Square for a “60 Minutes” story when she and her team and their security were surrounded by a dangerous element amidst the celebration. It was a mob of more than 200 people whipped into frenzy. In the crush of the mob, she was separated from her crew. She was surrounded…
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/02/15/60minutes/main20032070.shtml

Riot police attack Bahrain protesters
The swelling protests against Bahrain’s rulers gained momentum Wednesday with huge crowds calling for a sweeping political overhaul and the kingdom’s stunned leaders appearing to shift tactics after attempts to crush the uprising stoked rage on the streets and sharp criticism from Western allies. The widening challenges to the Arab world’s political order — emboldened by the downfall of old-guard regimes in Tunisia and Egypt…
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/top/all/7430633.html

Secret Report Ordered by Obama Identified Potential Uprisings
President Obama ordered his advisers last August to produce a secret report on unrest in the Arab world, which concluded that without sweeping political changes, countries from Bahrain to Yemen were ripe for popular revolt, administration officials said Wednesday. Mr. Obama’s order, known as a Presidential Study Directive, identified likely flashpoints, most notably Egypt, and solicited proposals for how the administration could push…
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/17/world/middleeast/17diplomacy.html

Facebook revolution – bad for business?
Over the course of the last week Egyptian protestors have credited Facebook for helping them organize and over throw the government. Talking to CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, Wael Ghonim said he’d like to meet Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg one day and thank him. Facebook has played down its role, saying it was, “their bravery and determination [of protesters] that mattered most.” The revolution that took place in Tunisia and then in Cairo…
http://business.blogs.cnn.com/2011/02/17/facebook-revolution-bad-for-business

EU seeks to unblock funding for South Sudan
Unblocking development aid to help South Sudan will provide the European Union’s development ministers with a conundrum at their informal meeting in Brussels on Tuesday (22 February). In the south of what is still Africa’s largest country, voters overwhelmingly backed independence from the north in a referendum last month. The split is expected to take place in July. But close to €300 million in development funding for the whole of Sudan…
http://www.europeanvoice.com/article/imported/eu-seeks-to-unblock-funding-for
-south-sudan/70277.aspx

Raucous supporters rally around Libyan leader after day of violence
Raucous pro-government demonstrators took to the streets of Libya’s capital overnight Thursday, state television reported, hours after at least seven were killed in clashes between security forces and those opposed to the North African nation’s longtime leader Moammar Gadhafi.Images from state television, labeled as “live” at what would be early Friday morning, featured men chanting pro-Gadhafi slogans, waving flags and singing…
http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/africa/02/17/libya.protests/index.html

This is our new Friday Digest! Every Friday, this weekly news round-up gives us the occasion to share with you news from various topics: politics to arts, entertainment, media, science, sports, fun and less fun news… This digest is a list of news published this week on the Internet (Friday to Friday), selected by the Sama Team, and it is by no means exhaustive.

If you want to suggest a news to be added in the next Friday Digest, contact us.

Pres. Obama and China’s Human Rights: Real Change or Rehashed Rhetoric?
The headlines are clear. President Obama exerted pressure on Chinese President Hu Jintao about China’s human rights record during this week’s summit. While Amnesty International applauds President Obama for speaking publicly about human rights during the press conference, the question remains: will US policy in practice reflect President Obama’s rhetoric? The challenge for President Obama is to convert the overly…
http://blog.amnestyusa.org/us/president-obama-and-chinas-human-
rights-real-change-or-rehashed-rhetoric/

A Creator Prepares to Take the Reins at Google
Things that get Larry Page excited: tossing around programming lingo with engineers, picking the brains of scientists and championing ideas that belong in science-fiction novels, like cars that drive themselves. Things he would be happy to live without: long meetings, press conferences and a regimented schedule. But Mr. Page, the Google co-founder, will have to get used to those things quickly as he prepares to take over…
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/22/technology/22google.html

Apple Reveals Top Free iPad Apps Of All Time (PICTURES)
Of the thousands of apps available for the iPad, a handful have resounded so well with customers that Apple is featuring them on a special iTunes page devoted to 40 of the most popular apps for iOS devices. Since Apple opened its App Store service for iOS devices in 2008, mobile users have been downloading content at a rate of more than three billion apps per year. Now, the App Store’s download counter is hurtling towards the 10 billion…
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/21/top-free-ipad-apps_n_
811589.html#s226802&title=10__Solitaire

Caravan rally reaches Tunisia’s capital
Protesters have not been satisfied by the prime minister’s pledge to quit after elections. A protest march against Tunisia’s interim government has reached the capital, adding to pressure on Prime Minister Mohamed Ghannouchi. Some 1,000 demonstrators from the rural area where protests against Tunisia’s authoritarian rule began had joined the “Caravan of Liberation” to Tunis. They want the resignation of Mr Ghannouchi…
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12261236

Baby Doc was in Haiti ‘trying to unlock Swiss bank accounts’
The surprise return of ousted dictator Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier to Haiti may have been part of a plan to unlock $5.7 million (£3.6 million) held in Swiss bank accounts. Duvalier, who presided over a nightmarish period in Haitian history with his infamous Tonton Macoute secret police force, flew into the earthquake ravaged country on Sunday after 25 years in exile in France. The reason for his visit had been murky but…
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/centralamericaandthecaribbean
/haiti/8274853/Baby-Doc-was-in-Haiti-trying-to-unlock-Swiss-bank-accounts.html

Singers strive for peace in new Sudan
The bumping beats of African percussion and contemporary hip-hop meet the smooth rhythms of a classic Middle Eastern oud. A confident, youthful rapper’s conscience, spat out in Dinka, Nuer and English, unites with poetic Arabic lyrics of love and peace, mixing the sounds of north Sudan and its independence-seeking southern region. It is the music of “Ceasefire,” a 2005 collaboration between Southern Sudanese rapper Emmanuel Jal…
http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/africa/01/18/sudan.musicians/index.html

Afghan infants fed pure opium
In a far flung corner of northern Afghanistan, Aziza reaches into the dark wooden cupboard, rummages around, and pulls out a small lump of something wrapped in plastic. She unwraps it, breaking off a small chunk as if it were chocolate, and feeds it to four-year-old son, Omaidullah. It’s his breakfast — a lump of pure opium. “If I don’t give him opium he doesn’t sleep,” she says. “And he doesn’t let me work.” Aziza comes from a poor…
http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/01/20/afghan.opium.kids/index.html

Will leaks end Mideast peace process?
It’s being called a Palestinian Wikileaks: a dump of 1,600 Palestinian Authority documents to Al-Jazeera and the British newspaper The Guardian. The first releases reveal Palestinian negotiating concessions. Later releases will (the Guardian claims) detail the extent of Israeli-Palestinian Authority security cooperation. In the words of a Guardian columnist today: “Who will be most damaged by this extraordinary glimpse into…
http://edition.cnn.com/2011/OPINION/01/24/frum.mideast.papers/index.html

France sends Rwandan Hutu to world court
France is transferring exiled Rwandan Hutu rebel leader Callixte Mbarushimana to the International Criminal Court to face charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity, prosecutors said Tuesday. French authorities arrested Mbarushimana last October on a warrant issued by the ICC in September for charges of murders, rape, torture and destruction of property in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2009…
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110125/wl_africa_afp/rwandafrancedr
congowarcrimesicc

Tunisia Issues Warrant for Arrest of Ousted Leader
The interim government in Tunisia has issued an international arrest warrant for the overthrown president, Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, and members of his family for financial offenses, the justice minister said Wednesday, as protesters continued their call to rid the government of cabinet members connected to Mr. Ben Ali. The warrant has been sent to Interpol. Meanwhile, Switzerland announced that it has blocked funds worth tens…
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/27/world/africa/27tunisia.html

Ugandan gay rights activist bludgeoned to death
A Ugandan gay rights activist whose name was published on a list of the nation’s “top homosexuals” was bludgeoned to death in his home near the capital, his lawyer said Thursday. A neighbor found David Kato dead and notified authorities, according to his lawyer. Kato’s money and some clothes were missing after the attack, said John Onyango, his attorney. It was unclear whether his killing was linked to a front-page story…
http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/africa/01/27/uganda.gay.activist.killed
/index.html

By helping other people look happy, Facebook is making us sad
There are countless ways to make yourself feel lousy. Here’s one more, according to research out of Stanford: Assume you’re alone in your unhappiness. “Misery Has More Company Than People Think,” a paper in the January issue of Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, draws on a series of studies examining how college students evaluate moods, both their own and those of their peers. Led by Alex Jordan, who at the time…
http://www.slate.com/id/2282620/

Wall Street Appears To Have Violated Federal Securities Law, Crisis Panel Finds
Wall Street firms that sold mortgage-backed securities appear to have violated federal securities laws by misleading investors on the quality of the underlying mortgages, a bipartisan panel created by Congress to investigate the root causes of the financial crisis concluded. Banks that sold home loan bonds often didn’t disclose key details that would have helped investors accurately judge the quality of the investments…
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/27/wall-street-appears-to-ha_
n_815206.html

Concern for Nelson Mandela grows as ex-SA president remains in hospital
Speculation over Nelson Mandela’s health escalated last night as family members and senior political figures were seen visiting the frail 92-year-old in hospital. They included his ex-wife, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, who reportedly left the hospital in tears. Millions of South Africans were anxiously awaiting news of the former president’s condition, but little news was forthcoming from the Milpark hospital in Johannesburg…
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jan/27/nelson-mandela-hospital-
south-africa

Davos 2011: Why do economists get it so wrong?
If there’s one thing that’s in demand here at the World Economic Forum in Davos, it’s economic forecasts. Where are the economic bubbles? How fast will China grow? When and where will the debt crisis strike? How large should the economic stimulus be? And at its most basic: when should I invest, and where? There’s just one problem: economists have a poor track record for getting it right. So what are “the perils of economic…
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-12294332

Latest Updates on Protests in Egypt
Mohamed Ibrahim Elmasry, a professor emeritus of computer science at a Canadian university who is in Cairo has found a way to update his Facebook wall with reports on what he has been seeing on the streets below his apartment near Tahrir (Liberation) Square in the Egyptian capital. A few minutes ago, he wrote: “I live on the 17th floor near Lib square – smoke and tear gas reached my room with window CLOSED!”…
http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/28/latest-updates-on-protests-in-egypt/

This is our new Friday Digest! Every Friday, this weekly news round-up gives us the occasion to share with you news from various topics: politics to arts, entertainment, media, science, sports, fun and less fun news… This digest is a list of news published this week on the Internet (Friday to Friday), selected by the Sama Team, and it is by no means exhaustive.

If you want to suggest a news to be added in the next Friday Digest, contact us.

What’s your sign? Minn. prof suggests it’s off
A Minneapolis astronomy professor says he’s stunned by the attention he’s getting for suggesting the signs of the zodiac are all wrong. Parke Kunkle said in a newspaper interview that the Earth’s wobbly orbit means it’s no longer aligned to the stars in the same way as when the signs of the zodiac were first conceived. He said that means when astrologers say the sun is in Pisces, it’s really in Aquarius, and so on…
http://hosted2.ap.org/APDefault/APOdd/Article_2011-01-14-Zodiac%
20Shifting%20Signs/id-562c7d458b64408b89497afa29c43af9

Tunisian president arrives in Saudi after mass uprising
The president of Tunisia landed in Saudi Arabia on Saturday, a day after he fled massive demonstrations calling for his ouster in the northern African country. A plane carrying President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and his family landed in Jeddah, where he was welcomed by the Saudi king. The government said the gesture was to support Tunisia. “The government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia announces that it stands fully by…
http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/africa/01/15/tunisia.protests/index.html

Marine Le Pen ‘chosen to lead France’s National Front’
France’s far right National Front has chosen Marine Le Pen as its new leader, replacing her father Jean-Marie Le Pen, party officials say. The results will be officially announced on Sunday, but party sources said she had secured about two-thirds of members’ votes. Mr Le Pen is stepping down after leading the ultra-nationalist party, which he founded, for almost 40 years. In 2002 he came a shock second in the first round…
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-12198370

Obama prepares to engage China on human rights as Pres. Hu visits next week
President Obama is planning to refocus attention on China’s record of suppressing free speech and political freedom in the coming weeks, despite the risk of further destabilizing an important relationship after a contentious year. After elevating human rights as a guiding principle of his foreign policy at the United Nations last fall, Obama has been looking for ways to engage China’s leaders on the issue without undermining…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/14/
AR2011011404091.html

Insiders Say Facebook’s Goal Is To Be The First TRILLION Dollar Company
Goldman Sachs clients are buying $1.5 billion worth of Facebook stock at a $50 billion valuation. Yesterday, Wedbush analyst Lou Kerner said that if Facebook were a public company, it would be valued closer to $100 billion right now. On the secondary markets, accredited investors are actually buying Facebook stock at much steeper implied valuations – sometimes higher than even $124 billion. Crazy numbers right? Wait till you…
http://www.businessinsider.com/50-billion-hah-facebooks-goal-is-to-be-the-
first-trillion-dollar-company-2011-1

Israel Tests on Worm Called Crucial in Iran Nuclear Delay
The Dimona complex in the Negev desert is famous as the heavily guarded heart of Israel’s never-acknowledged nuclear arms program, where neat rows of factories make atomic fuel for the arsenal. Over the past two years, according to intelligence and military experts familiar with its operations, Dimona has taken on a new, equally secret role — as a critical testing ground in a joint American and Israeli effort to undermine…
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/16/world/middleeast/16stuxnet.html

China Leader’s Limits Come Into Focus as U.S. Visit Nears
With President Hu Jintao at the helm, China has become a $5 trillion industrial colossus, a growing military force, and, it sometimes appears, a model of authoritarian decisiveness, navigating out of the global financial crisis and sealing its position as the world’s fastest rising power. But as Mr. Hu prepares to visit Washington this week in an attempt to defuse tensions with the United States, Obama administration…
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/17/world/asia/17china.html

Apple Says Steve Jobs Will Take a New Medical Leave
Steven P. Jobs, the co-founder and chief executive of Apple, is taking a medical leave of absence, a year and a half after his return from a liver transplant, the company said on Monday. Mr. Jobs announced his leave in a letter to employees that said he was stepping aside “so I can focus on my health” but would continue to be involved in major strategic decisions at the company. “I love Apple so much and hope to be back as soon as I can,”…
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/18/technology/18apple.html

Facebook Starts Sharing Your Home Address, Phone Number With Developers
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has said that his company’s mission is to “make the world more open and connected.” The quest for greater openness now involves sharing Facebook users’ home addresses and mobile phone numbers with the third-party developers that create Facebook apps. In other words, a Facebook app can now access your address and phone number, though that application or website can only obtain…
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/17/facebook-home-address_n_
809901.html

Christina Taylor Green Cornea Donation Saves Eyesight Of 2 Children
Donated corneas from the young girl killed in the Arizona mass shooting have saved the eyesight of two children, the girl’s father told The Associated Press on Monday. John Green said the Donor Network of Arizona told him and his wife about the successful transplants. He said he doesn’t know whether any of 9-year-old Christina Taylor Green’s other organs have gone to any other children, but he’s under the impression that…
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/18/christina-taylor-green-cornea
-donation_n_810144.html

Haitian police take ex-dictator to court
Haitian police led ex-dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier out of his hotel and took him to court Tuesday without saying whether he was being charged with crimes committed under his brutal regime. His longtime companion denied that he had been arrested. A contingent of police led the former dictator known as “Baby Doc” through the hotel and to a waiting SUV. He was not wearing handcuffs. Duvalier, 59, was calm and did not say anything…
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110118/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/cb_haiti_ex_
dictator_returns

Bin Laden threatens France in new message
Al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden called on France to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan in exchange for releasing French hostages being held by affiliates of the extremist group, according to a new audio message broadcast on an Arabic news channel Friday. “The exit of your hostages out of the hands of our brothers depends on the exit of your troops from Afghanistan,” bin Laden said in the message broadcast by al-Jazeera…
http://hosted2.ap.org/APDefault/*/Article_2011-01-21-Al%20Qaida%20France/
id-15e123feede048dead60f9d8fe2556d2