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!

IRAN: Controversial attempt to break Israeli blockade of Gaza called off
OK, people, relax. World War III is not going to break out this weekend over a high-seas confrontation between Iranian aid ships headed to the Gaza Strip and Israeli gunboats aiming to stop them. International observers (including certain overworked Middle East correspondents) breathed a deep sigh of relief…
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/babylonbeyond/2010/06/iran
-attempt-to-break-israeli-blockade-of-gaza-called-off.html

Swiss graffiti man faces Singapore caning
A Swiss man has been sentenced to five months in jail and three strokes of a cane for spray-painting graffiti on a train in Singapore. Oliver Fricker, 32, a software consultant, admitted breaking into a depot and vandalising the train. The judge called it a serious breach of security…
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/asia_pacific/10417167.stm

Sudan says Libya’s expulsion of JEM chief ’imminent’
The Sudanese government said today that the leader of the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) currently residing in Libya will be asked to leave shortly upon direct orders from Muammar Gaddafi. The pro-government Sudanese Media Center (SMC) website quoted the director of the National Intelligence and Security Services…
http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article35502

Family of Captured Israeli Soldier Presses for Deal
 The family of Gilad Shalit, the Israeli soldier who has been held captive by Hamas in Gaza for four years, began a march to Jerusalem on Sunday aimed at pressing the government to make a deal for the soldier’s release. “We won’t wait any longer in our home,” said Noam Shalit, the soldier’s father, as the march began…
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/28/world/middleeast/
28mideast.html

Taxi driver’s £250,000 tip of a lifetime
A Cornish taxi driver has received the tip of a lifetime – a £250,000 bequest from a grateful customer. Mary Watson left her entire estate to cabbie Don Pratt and his wife Gill who ferried her around Newquay for 20 years, reports the BBC. She died, aged 86, last December, leaving the couple her estate, which included…
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk/index.php?option=com_
content&view=article&id=32103:taxi-drivers-p250000-tip-of-a-lifetime&catid=70:sunday-issue

France/Germany/United Kingdom: Wrong Message on Torture
France, Germany, and the United Kingdom use foreign intelligence obtained under torture in the fight against terrorism, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. The 62-page report, “No Questions Asked: Intelligence Cooperation with Countries that Torture,” analyzes the ongoing cooperation by the governments…
http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2010/06/28/francegermanyunited
-kingdom-wrong-message-torture

FIFA President Apologizes for Refereeing Errors
England and Mexico’s misfortunes prompted a previously recalcitrant Sepp Blatter, the president of FIFA, to apologize on Tuesday for refereeing errors and to announce he would reopen the discussion about the use of goal-line technology in soccer. “I deplore when you see the evident referees’ mistakes,” Blatter told…
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/30/sports/soccer/30ref.html

Israel Rules Out Palestinian State by 2012
In remarks that could further strain peace efforts, Israel’s foreign minister said on Tuesday there was no chance a Palestinian state would be established in the next two years. “I’m an optimistic person, but there is absolutely no chance of reaching a Palestinian state by 2012,” the foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, said…
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/30/world/middleeast/
30mideast.html

Cyprus police arrest man sought by US for involvement in spy ring
A man suspected of being the 11th member of a U.S. spy ring allegedly working for Russia was arrested and released on bail in Cyprus, AFP reported Tuesday. Christopher Robert Metsos, 54, was arrested at Cyprus’ Larnaca airport as he tried to leave the island for Budapest early Tuesday, police said. Police spokesman…
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/international/cyprus_police_
arrest_man_sought_ClTTIt0KpPUWvmCiqg4ikN

Scientists Cite Fastest Case of Human Evolution
Tibetans live at altitudes of 13,000 feet, breathing air that has 40 percent less oxygen than is available at sea level, yet suffer very little mountain sickness. The reason, according to a team of biologists in China, is human evolution, in what may be the most recent and fastest instance detected so far. Comparing the genomes…
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/02/science/02tibet.html