The Cheat Sheet

newsweek:

Angelina Jolie just published a piece on The Daily Beast about Malala Yousafzai,  the 14-year-old Pakistani girl who the Taliban shot in the head for publicly promoting girls’ education (she survived—but is in stable condition from her wounds):

As girls across Pakistan stand up to say “I am Malala,” they do not stand alone. Mothers and teachers around the world are telling their children and students about Malala, and encouraging them to be a part of her movement for girls’ education. Across Pakistan, a national movement has emerged to rebuild the schools and recommit to educate all children, including girls. This terrible event marks the beginning of a necessary revolution in girls’ education.

Malala is proof that it only takes the voice of one brave person to inspire countless men, women, and children. In classrooms and at kitchen tables around the world, mothers, fathers, sons, and daughters are praying for Malala’s swift recovery and committing themselves to carry her torch. As the Nobel Committee meets to determine the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, I imagine brave Malala will be given serious consideration.

Read the full piece by Angelina Jolie: We All Are Malala. (The above is just an excerpt.)

More of our coverage on Malala’s story. 

Frontpage: Wednesday, Apr 18th

1. Burma’s Suu Kyi to Go Abroad: Burma’s pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi plans to visit Norway and the U.K. this summer, her first trip out of the country in 24 years. She spent almost 20 years under house arrest in Burma, and refused to leave the country lest the military government refuse to let her back in. 
2. Zuckerberg Made Instagram Deal: Facebook’s purchase of Instagram for $1 billion took everyone by surprise—including Facebook’s board. Mark Zuckerberg told his board the day before the deal was publicly announced that they were buying the photo-sharing app. He’d worked out the deal himself, in three days of negotiations with Instagram founder Kevin Systrom in Zuckerberg’s home. 
3. U.S. Soldiers Posed with Taliban Bodies: A soldier from the U.S. Army’s 82nd Airborne division has released photographs showing soldiers posing with the remains of Afghan suicide bombers. He told the Los Angeles Times he released the photos in order to bring attention to a breakdown in leadership and discipline. The photos show soldiers holding limbs and smiling after being sent to recover the remains of a suicide bomber. 
4. Obama, Romney in Dead Heat: A new CBS News/New York Times poll released Wednesday has President Obama and Mitt Romney in a dead heat, with each receiving 46 percent of registered voters. 
5. GOP Chooses Kelly for Giffords’s Seat: Republicans chose Jesse Kelly to go against Gabrielle Giffords’s former aide Ron Barber in what will likely be a closely contested special election for the congresswoman’s vacated seat. Kelly, an Iraq War veteran and Tea Party favorite, lost to Giffords by only 4,000 votes in 2010.

Photo: Photographer Jon Lowenstein, who recently received a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship, has spent a decade documenting the neighborhoods and the lives of the people living on the South Side. On assignment for Newsweek and The Daily Beast, he photographed the neighborhoods of Englewood and Little Village, among others, to look at the rise in violence and the impact it is having on the people there. View more photos. (Jon Lowenstein / NOOR for the Daily Beast)

Frontpage: Thursday, Mar 15th

1. Dems Demand Domestic Abuse Law: The battle over President Obama’s contraception mandate is just winding down, but Congress looks set to divide along party and gender lines once again. This time the issue is the Violence Against Women Act. The legislation would extend grant programs to law enforcement and shelters for battered women, expanding free legal assistance to victims of domestic violence.
2. Taliban Quits Peace Talks: In a blow to a nascent peace process, the Afghan Taliban announced on Thursday that they would be suspending their negotiations with the United States. The group cited Washington’s “alternating and ever changing position.” It’s not clear whether the pullout is related to the shooting of Afghan civilians on Sunday or the recent burning of Qurans at a NATO base. 
3. Romney Dismisses Split Convention: Mitt Romney refuses to believe that the GOP primary contest will end without a presidential nominee. “We’re not going to go to a brokered convention,” he said on Fox News Thursday. “The states that remain will vote for that person, and that person will get the delegates, become the nominee.” 
4. Syria Loyalists Mark Protest Anniversary: Bashar al Assad is marking what he is calling the anniversary of a “year-old conspiracy” against the country by sending thousands of regime supporters into the streets of Damascus. Meanwhile, tanks invaded the city of Daraa, where the protests first began, and shelling continued in Homs for a sixth straight day.
5. Blagojevich Bids Farewell: In his final speech before heading to prison, former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich said that he’s going to “follow the law.” Blago heads to Colorado to begin a 14-year sentence.

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Photo: Samantha Cameron, First Lady Michelle Obama, British Prime Minister David Cameron, and President Barack Obama pose for a photo at White House state dinner. (Mark Wilson / Getty Images). More photos from the dinner. 

Frontpage: Thursday, Feb 16th

1. Congress Reaches Deal on Payroll Tax: Congressional negotiators reached a deal on a $150 billion plan that will extend a payroll tax holiday for 10 months and unemployment benefits through the end of the year. 
2. Karzai: Talks With Taliban Have Begun: “There have been contacts between the U.S. government and the Taliban, there have been contacts between the Afghan government and the Taliban,” Afghan President Hamid Karzai said.
3. U.N. to Hold Symbolic Syria Vote: A day after the Syrian president promised reform, his troops launched an attack on the cities of Deraa, Hama, injuring an estimated 50 people. The U.N. General Assembly will vote Thursday on the symbolic resolution condeming Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s brutal crackdown. 
4. Santorum Releases Tax Documents: He’s no Mitt Romney when it comes to income, but presidential candidate Rick Santorum has been doing OK lately. The former senator from Pennsylvania released four years—more than any other candidate—of tax returns, covering 2007 to 2010. 
5. OK Senate Passes Personhood Act: Oklahoma legislators moved a step closer to in their attempted to outlaw abortion on Wednesday as the state Senate passed the Personhood Act, 34-8. The bill now moves to the House where pro-life Republicans outnumber democrats two-to-one. 

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Photo: Backstage at Marchesa Fall/Winter 2012 by Kevin Tachman. Our article and more photos from the show.