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.

First Step at Iran Nuclear Talks Is Rebuilding Trust
Diplomats gathered here on Friday for talks with Iran about its nuclear enrichment program, with European officials suggesting that a serious commitment from Iran to negotiate may be enough to continue the talks at another round in late May. Iran agreed to resume these talks with six major world powers — the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, plus Germany — after more than a year…

South Sudan accuses north of attacking new front
South Sudan’s army has accused Khartoum of trying to open a second front in the northeast of its territory, an area so far spared the fierce border clashes of recent days. South Sudan’s SPLA army repulsed fresh attacks launched by Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) troops Sunday near the village of Kuek, a widening of the fighting outside the contested Heglig oil field, the SPLA’s spokesman said. “SAF is trying to…

Anders Behring Breivik, Norway Mass Killer, Claims ‘Self Defense’ As Trial Begins
A right-wing fanatic admitted Monday to unleashing a bomb-and-shooting massacre that killed 77 people in Norway but pleaded not guilty to criminal charges, saying he was acting in self-defense. On the first day of his long-awaited trial, Anders Behring Breivik defiantly rejected the authority of the court as it sought to assign responsibility for the July 22 attacks that shocked Norway and…

Saudia Arabia Bans Gays And Tom Boys From Schools
A new report released this morning states that Saudia Arabia has asked its Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice to begin enforcing the banishment of gay and “tom boy” students from schools and universities in an attempt to further thwart homosexuality in the country, where it is already considered a capital offense. Emirates247.com quotes the Arabic language newspaper Sharq…

Afghanistan Schoolgirls Poisoned In Suspected Anti-Education Attack
Afghanistan, April 17 (Reuters) – About 150 Afghan schoolgirls were poisoned on Tuesday after drinking contaminated water at a high school in the country’s north, officials said, blaming it on conservative radicals opposed to female education. Since the 2001 toppling of the Taliban, which banned education for women and girls, females have returned to schools, especially in Kabul. But periodic attacks still…

North Korea Says It Will Abandon Deal With U.S.
North Korea said on Tuesday that it was abandoning an agreement it made in February with the United States, in which it promised to suspend uranium enrichment, nuclear tests and long-range missile tests. The North Korean Foreign Ministry said that it “resolutely and totally” rejected the United Nations Security Council’s condemnation of its failed rocket launching last week, and that it would continue…

Wives of U.N. diplomats tell Syria’s first lady to ‘stop being a bystander’
The wives of the British and German ambassadors to the United Nations have taken on Syria’s first lady in an online video, calling on Asma al-Assad to “stop your husband” and “stop being a bystander.” The roughly four-minute video, posted to YouTube, juxtaposes pictures of an elegant al-Assad, the wife of Bashar al-Assad, against images of other Syrian women, dead and wounded children. “We want her…