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.

The list goes from oldest to newest news.  See you on Sunday, for our weekly Twitter Sunday!

Why we should build the proposed Islamic center in Lower Manhattan
Are we at war with Islam? That’s the central question now in the debate over the proposed Islamic center near Ground Zero. On Friday, President Obama entered the debate, defending the right of Muslim-Americans to worship where they choose. He was then chastised by Sarah Palin, Newt Gingrich…
http://www.slate.com/id/2264046/

LACMA Muse: After-hours art, a steampunk saloon, photo booths and more
Muse is LACMA’s premier membership group for art enthusiasts in their 20s, 30s, and 40s. Offering everything from private exhibition tours to penthouse after-parties, we support the arts through a dynamic series of social, educational, and philanthropic activities within LACMA and throughout Los Angeles…
http://www.lacma.org/membership/Muse.aspx

Support UNICEF’s disaster relief for the children of Pakistan
14 million people — 6 million of them children — have been affected by recent flooding in Pakistan. Food, clean water and health supplies are desperately needed. UNICEF has already…
https://secure.unicefusa.org/site/Donation2?df_id=8320&8320.
donation=form1

Taliban ‘kill adulterous Afghan couple’
A man and a woman who allegedly had an adulterous affair have been stoned and killed in the northern Afghan province of Kunduz. The punishment happened in a crowded bazaar on Sunday in the Taliban-controlled village of Mullah Quli. The Taliban have not commented on the public killing…
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-10983494

Deadliest for Walkers: Male Drivers, Left Turns
It has never been easy to safely navigate the streets of New York, where today automobiles zip inches away from smartphone-carrying pedestrians and the footrace across an intersection seems like a human version of the arcade game Frogger. But a report released Monday by the city’s transportation…
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/17/nyregion/17walk.html

Jellyfish Invasion: A Stinging Reminder of Overfishing and Climate Change
Jellyfish—those gelatinous, stinging, floating, pint-sized bogeymen of the ocean—are appearing this summer in increased abundance along coastlines around the globe. Jellyfish do little more than float with the currents and sting anything they bump into. They offer painful evidence of just how badly…
http://www.takepart.com/news/2010/08/16/jellyfish-proliferation
-is-a-stinging-reminder-of-overfishing-and-climate-change

Businesses resist ‘conflict minerals’ law
US manufacturers are mounting a lobbying campaign over a provision slipped into the financial reform legislation requiring companies to declare products containing minerals from the Democratic Republic of Congo. The Dodd-Frank act includes a clause which effectively classifies resources from Congo…
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/BUSINESS/08/17/congo.minerals.us.ft
/index.html

Wyclef Jean In Hiding After Death Threats
Hip hop artist Wyclef Jean said he was in hiding Tuesday after receiving death threats as he and more than 30 other potential candidates for Haiti’s presidency waited to find out if they would be allowed to run in the November election. The musician disclosed the threats in a series of e-mails to…
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/18/wyclef-jean-in-hiding-
aft_n_686042.html

With Russian Help, Iran Enriches Its Nuclear Future
Russia will move forward with its plans to supply an Iranian nuclear facility with uranium fuel, setting off consternation among Western nations that have worked in concert to neutralize the threat of the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program. The enrichment facility in the Iranian port city of Bushehr will…
http://www.takepart.com/news/2010/08/18/with-russian-help-iran-
enriches-its-nuclear-future

Afghan women, children turn to drugs
The 18 women sit cross-legged on metal beds, wearing long, loose dresses and nightgowns, their heads completely covered with shawls. They do not want us to see them. Some of them are holding babies in their laps. They are addicted to heroin and opium, products of Afghanistan’s richest and cruelest crop…
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/08/18/afghanistan.drugs.
women/index.html

Moscow Weather Back to Normal After Fires
The warm voice of a tenor rehearsing at the open window of an opera house here floated out over a breezy courtyard filled with people doing what until Thursday was downright unpleasant and at times potentially life threatening: relaxing outdoors. After weeks of gagging on noxious fumes from surrounding…
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/20/world/europe/20moscow.html