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…