The horror in Syria has intensified, with a massacre in the town of Houla leaving 108 people – half of them children – dead. Britain and a number of other countries have expelled Syrian diplomats in the wake of the horror, but many are now asking about the collective impotence of the West in the face of a country sliding into a bloody civil war.

Alex Thomson from the UK’s Channel 4 News is the only Western journalist in Houla, and he has been witnessing the devastation. You can see all of his reports here.

Economy

There have been lots more gloomy stats on the economy – from poor jobs data from the U.S. to unemployment in the eurozone hitting record highs. And many fear the grim situation could only get worse if struggling Greece exits the eurozone – in fact, it’s become such a common topic of conversation that it has its own hashtag, the #Grexit. Here’s an interesting Economist article on whether the medicine currently being administered across Europe in the form of austerity is going to kill or cure the patient.

Other news

Also this week, former Liberian president Charles Taylor was sentenced at The Hague to a 50-year jail term for war crimes committed in the conflict in Sierra Leone between 1991 and 2002 and the UK’s Supreme Court ruled that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange should be extradited to Sweden over rape accusations.

Mitt Romney finally officially clinched the US Republican nomination, and in the UK, wages for Premier League footballers hit an all-time high.

In Australia, there are weird things afoot as the sky began raining sheep (luckily no humans were badly hurt or killed although sadly the sheep did not come off so well).

And in the UK the nation prepared to come to a standstill to celebrate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee this weekend (or the fact that they have two bank holidays off in a row, but who’s asking).

The photo on this page is courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.Net

Egypt

More than a year on from the Arab Spring, which toppled dictators across the Middle East and North Africa, Egypt is in the midst of its first free presidential elections.

Here’s The Guardian’s live blog to keep you up to date throughout the next few days – and while the spokesman of one of the candidates has declared “The revolution has ended”, others – including this writer - disagree.

Facebook

Not many websites get a film made out of them – but then, not many websites make headlines globally when they list on the stock exchange. Nor are they valued at $100bn.

Enter Facebook, the social-networking behemoth of our age. The floatation created billionaires and millionaires out of the company’s top executives, not least hoodie-wearing founder 28-year old Mark Zuckerberg. But it’s gone a bit pear-shaped since then, with Congress set to review the IPO and investors suing the company for how the floatation was handled. The shares have lost value as well.

This expert from The Telegraph even describes the floatation as a “disaster” – but also has some handy tips for where else to invest, if that’s your bag.

Telescope

In science news, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand have vowed to work together to host the biggest radio telescope ever built, one of the great science projects of this century.

Europe

And the eurozone is still staring into the abyss, with the OECD warning this week that the instability in the single currency nations is the biggest threat to the global outlook.

The situation remains extremely tense, with relations between countries strained. A perfect time, then, for the Eurovision Song Contest, which takes place this year in Baku, Azerbaijan. It’s always a political event as much as a musical one – how is the voting going to work out this time round?

Greece

Following elections in which pro-austerity incumbents have been punished across Europe (in France, Greece and Germany), the situation in Greece has continued to unravel.

The nation is preparing for its second election in six weeks (slated for June 17) after the initial vote produced an inconclusive result. The lack of action in the political sphere has fueled fears that the country will be forced to exit the euro, throwing the single market into turmoil and hitting the already fragile economies of many other countries at the same time. Unsurprisingly, the financial markets are spooked. So what’s next? Well, the Financial Times has gathered some economists to get their views on the situation and The Guardian has also had a go with its clear analysis – Greek crisis: what happens next?

Nature

The natural world has leapt into headlines this week with a report which confirmed that the world has lost 30 percent of its wildlife since 1970, a shocking statistic. The WWF’s Living Planet report also showed that the world is living beyond its means.

The report piled on the pressure for world leaders, who meet at Rio+20 in June to try and put global society on a sustainable path, and came in the same week as the latest round of UN climate talks.

Sport, scandal and song

For the UK, it has been an interesting week in sport at least, with Manchester City clinching the Premiership football title in dramatic style, prompting acres of “the best Premier League ever” coverage.

Separately, in the ongoing phone-hacking scandal, police decided to charge former News of the World editor Rebekah Brooks and her husband Charlie with perverting the course of justice. That’s the latest, but all the background on this unbelievable scandal, which has shaken Britain’s political sphere, its media and its police to the core, can be found here from Channel 4 News.

Also this week the world has paid tribute to the ‘Queen of Disco’, Donna Summer, who died aged 63.

And finally, The Prague Post is falling slightly prey to Olympic fever (not long to go!) and recommends this diverting feature from the BBC on how you transport the Olympic flame (which can never go out) on a plane (where flames are, understandably, not allowed).

The photograph on this page is courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.Net

The scandal has already toppled newspaper bosses, key political advisors and top policemen in the UK, prompting a re-think of the country’s media landscape with profound implications which are still reverberating.

Murdoch himself was not finished either. He told the inquiry this week that the News of the World (the paper, now closed, at the center of the hacking scandal) had “covered up” its actions and accused former British PM Gordon Brown of saying he would “wage war” on Murdoch. Meanwhile his son James got UK Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt into some serious hot water, specifically regarding his conduct during the BSkyB takeover bid.

Here’s a fun round-up of the web reaction via The Guardian and Storyful but you can find the meat of the story here. And if you’ve forgotten what the whole thing is all about anyway, Channel 4 News has this helpful infographic.

In more UK news, the country slipped back into recession this week - according to The Daily Mail, the first double-dip for 37 years.

Across the globe

There’s concern in Ukraine, just six weeks ahead of its joint hosting with Poland of the Euro 2012 football  championships, after four blasts in the city of Dnipropetrovsk injured 27 people.

In the Hague this week, judges found former Liberian president Charles Taylor guilty of all the charges against him: 11 counts of war crimes, crimes against humanity and serious violations of international humanitarian law.

In China, one of the country’s most famous dissidents has escaped house arrest and released a video for Premier Wen Jiabao.

And finally – in news which is actually out of this world, rather than around the globe – a group of billionaires including Google’s Larry Page, as well as film director James Cameron, are looking into asteroid mining, hoping they can get a depot within a decade. Scientists are less convinced…read more from the BBC here.

There have been shocking and horrific headlines across the world as Breivik has calmly delivered his reasoning behind the murders. Many of the relatives and friends of those killed are in the court, and have watched in tears as Breivik has said he wished to kill many more and maintained that he is “normally a very nice person”.

Despite Breivik’s confession, he denies criminal responsibility, saying he was acting to protect Norway and Europe from multiculturalism. Some have questioned the rationale behind giving the extremist, in court, the platform he so clearly desires, however others believe it is imperative that he has a fair trial.

Earlier in the week, he delivered a far-right salute as he arrived each day – something his lawyers have since stopped. The trial continues – you can follow the latest from The Guardian’s live blog here.

Bahrain

Controversy is swirling around the decision to hold the latest F1 Grand Prix in Bahrain despite ongoing human rights abuses, protests and violence. Protesters are holding a “day of rage” in the country as the drivers begin practice laps ahead of Sunday’s race.

Here’s a passionate post from ABC about how the race has become “sport as propaganda” and this from The Mirror about why F1 is playing with fire by holding the race in the country. However, others have defended the decision to continue with the race, saying it is not F1′s job to take a ‘political lead’. What do you think? You can get in touch with The Prague Post on Twitter or Facebook, or leave a comment below.

Across the world

Also this week, in Syria the violence is ongoing despite the UN-backed ceasefire; scientists believe being happy can protect the heart; and some hope is born of avoiding all-out war in Sudan.

And finally some fun – Pippa Middleton has made it onto Time Magazine’s list of the 100 most influential people in the world. Who else made the cut? Take the quiz here on the BBC and check out the list itself here.

The photo on this page is courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.Net/Jon Whiles

Syria

For North Korea, an embarrassing setback as its much-heralded rocket launch failed. The launch itself has been widely condemned, with the United States claiming it was cover for a ballistic missile test. Here’s The Guardian on what the failure could mean for international politics.

In the United States, Rick Santorum’s official withdrawal from the Republican race means that the presidential contest will now effectively be a straight fight between President Obama in the blue corner, and Mitt Romney in the red (we can only say ‘effectively’ because Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul are not saying die just yet). The Wall Street Journal’s comprehensive Election 2012 has all the news, including the row that has blown up over ‘stay-at-home’ moms after a Democratic consultant got the party in hot water by saying Romney’s wife Ann had ‘never worked a day in her life.’

And finally, a visual Friday afternoon treat from the BBC’s Day in pictures series, including an Eastern Bongo calf, a basketball player, and Shakira. Now don’t say we never give you anything.

It was the first election the party had taken part in since 1990, when its overwhelming victory was overruled by the ruling junta and Suu Kyi herself imprisoned.

This week, Suu Kyi – who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 for her peaceful fight for democracy in Burma – told supporters she hoped the polls marked the beginning of a new era for the country, calling them a “triumph of the people”.

As the BBC puts it:  “Like the South African leader Nelson Mandela, Aung San Suu Kyi has become an international symbol of peaceful resistance in the face of oppression. The 66-year-old spent most of the last two decades in some form of detention because of her efforts to bring democracy to military-ruled Burma.”  You can read more here and here.

Europe’s financial pain

Across Europe, the economic crisis is continuing to bite. In Spain, the jobless numbers hit new records, while austerity-hit Greece has been rocked by the suicide of one pensioner, who shot himself over his debts outside the Athens parliament. He left a note saying he did not want to pass his debts onto his child.

While Hungary has hardly escaped unscathed from the euro crisis, it was not this issue which forced the resignation of the country’s PM earlier this week. Instead, Pal Schmitt stepped down after being stripped of his doctorate amid allegations of plagiarism, telling people he had become “a symbol of division”.

Remembrance

Moving ceremonies took place in Sarajevo this week, where events marked 20 years since the beginning of the war in Bosnia-Hercegovina, a conflict that saw some of the worst atrocities in Europe since World War II. The BBC’s now Middle East Editor Jeremy Bowen, who was in Sarajevo during the siege, described one memorial on Twitter: “Like a red scar through the heart of #Sarajevo. A chair each for the dead. Utterly and unbearably moving http://pic.twitter.com/Rn05oZci”.

This week also saw the 30th anniversary of the Falklands War between Britain and Argentina – and many articles pointing out that the dispute which caused the conflict is ongoing, including this from the Washington Post.

A new reality?

And finally, a bit of sci-fi coming true for you on a Friday afternoon, courtesy of web giant Google. You can check out its “augmented reality” glasses here…

The plan calls for the immediate laying down of arms by both sides – but even in the last day, activists say government forces have been fighting armed rebels in the north west of the country. There are also reports of shelling in Homs. At least 20 people were killed on Thursday alone, the day after Assad agreed to the plan. The UN estimates that 9,000 have been killed in Syria since pro-democracy protests swept the streets in March last year.

You can read more on the latest from the BBC here. Another interesting take came this week from Channel 4 News in the UK, which heard how desperate the citizen journalists in Syria are to tell their story – sometimes so desperate they are even prepared to “embellish” their stories to make the world take notice. You can see the Channel 4 News film here.

Also this week the Pope has been in South America; Senegal has elected a new president; and film director James Cameron made a trip to the bottom of the sea.

And finally, some good news ahead of Easter – apparently chocolate can make you thinner. Enjoy!

Photo courtesy of FreeDigitalPhoto.net/Luigi Diamanti

Global news 19-23 March

One of the biggest stories in Europe was in France, where a militant Islamist who had killed seven people was shot dead by police after a 32-hour siege. The gunman, Mohamed Merah, was surrounded by police after murdering seven people in three separate attacks in Toulouse – three children and a teacher outside a Jewish school, and three soldiers. He also filmed the murders.

France has been rocked by the tragedy – here’s how it happened, from Le Figaro (in English). As Toulouse residents try to pick up the pieces, the next question for political commentators in France is what impact the tragedy could have on the country’s presidential race.

There’s another big presidential race going on (if you hadn’t noticed), or the beginnings of one anyway with the battle to be the US Republican nominee unfolding in America. Mitt Romney won Illinois but it’s not over yet, and it won’t be for a while if he and his team continue to throw away good news with gaffes like this one, comparing the candidate to an Etch-a-Sketch - see what the New York Times made of it here. As the NYT goes on to say, Romney’s main rival Rick Santorum hardly boosted his own standing with the Republican base almost immediately afterward, when he suggested that four more years of President Obama would be better than President Romney.

Fierce fighting continues in Syria, with harrowing reports of civilian casualties. Here’s a backgrounder from the BBC on what’s happening, why, and what’s at stake - the latest development is the EU slapping sanctions on President Assad’s wife, Asma, along with 12 other people.

This week has also seen a military coup in Mali, the capture of Australia’s most wanted man, and a new study suggesting taking aspirin can prevent cancer. But should you take it? Experts consider the risks versus the benefits here, in the LA Times.

And if all of that has got you down – don’t worry, it could be worse, you could be a sex-starved fruit fly forced to turn to drink. This is a real headline from the BBC in the UK – enjoy.

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