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…