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.

Gay Marriage In New York: Celebrities Celebrate
Finally, the New York State Senate passed a long-awaited law granting marriage equality to gay couples, launching a celebration of massive proportions throughout New York City. Hollywood has long pushed for equality, breaking restrictive taboos with its honest, emotional depictions of gay men and women in positive ways. So many stars have advocated for passage of marriage equality, and upon the passage of…

Zimbabwe Diamond Exports Approved Over Objections
Over strong opposition from the United States, Canada and the European Union, a global body tasked with preventing the trade in diamonds that fuels conflict has given Zimbabwe the go-ahead to export stones from rich fields that were violently seized by Zimbabwe’s military in 2008 and, according to civic groups, are still plagued by human rights abuses. Decisions of the body known as the Kimberley Process are supposed…

New Yorkers cheer historic vote in gay pride parade
Forty-two years after a police raid sparked rioting and perhaps the birth of the American gay rights movement, New Yorkers rejoiced at their city’s annual pride parade Sunday in celebration of same-sex couples’ newly-acquired right to wed. The parade, or march, meandered along Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue and passed in front of the famous Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village, where the rioting took place in 1969…

Prominent Chinese Dissident Hu Jia Is Released From Jail
Hu Jia, one of China’s most prominent social activists and a leading political dissident, was released from prison on Sunday after completing a 42-month sentence for state subversion,  his wife, Zeng Jinyan, stated in a post on the American microblog Twitter. Mr. Hu, 37, was detained in December 2007, shortly after testifying on China’s human-rights situation before a European Parliament committee, and…

Arrival of Sudanese president to China delayed
The arrival of controversial Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir in China for the start of a four-day visit Monday has been delayed without explanation, Chinese ministry officials told CNN. The Chinese Foreign Ministry said it had no information about why al-Bashir has been delayed in his visit, which has put China under international pressure. The Sudanese Embassy in Beijing said it did not know how…

Black student locked to locker, fellow students walk off yelling “Slave for Sale!”
A 17-year-old African American student in Santa Monica, California (a beachside LA enclave known mostly for yoga, kombucha, surfers, and actors) was victimized by fellow students on his high school wrestling team. They assembled a mock-lynching scene with a wrestling dummy and a noose, then tackled the child, locked him to a locker, and walked away yelling “slave for sale!” Students took pictures on their cell…

Strauss-Kahn’s Demeanor at Lunch May Play Key Role in His Trial
Dominique Strauss-Kahn was running late. A street fair had shut down a stretch of Avenue of the Americas between his Midtown hotel and the restaurant where he was due for lunch. Stuck in traffic, he called his daughter, Camille, from a taxi to tell her he was on his way; she should go ahead and order for him, he said. Once he arrived, they had fish and shared a chilled bottle of white wine…

Supreme Court Violent Video Games Ruling: Ban On Sale, Rental To Children Unconstitutional
The Supreme Court on Monday refused to let California regulate the sale or rental of violent video games to children, saying governments do not have the power to “restrict the ideas to which children may be exposed” despite complaints about graphic violence. On a 7-2 vote, the high court upheld a federal appeals court decision to throw out the state’s ban on the sale or rental of violent video games to minors…

South China Sea – Asia’s most dangerous waters
The South China Sea — a 1.3 million square mile patch of the Pacific Ocean bracketed by China and several Southeast Asian nations — is dotted with hundreds of largely uninhabited islands and coral atolls that are home to some of the world’s most diverse marine life. Also under its waves lie potentially huge reserves of natural gas and oil. A Chinese estimate suggests as much as 213 billion barrels of oil…

Myanmar deports Hollywood star Michelle Yeoh
The military-backed government of Myanmar has deported Hollywood actress Michelle Yeoh, who stars as pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi in an upcoming movie, officials said Tuesday. The Malaysian actress arrived in the country’s main city, Yangon, on June 22 and was deported the same day because she was on a blacklist, a government official said. The official, who declined to be identified because he…

Christine Lagarde Becomes First Female IMF Chief
The International Monetary Fund has tapped French finance minister Christine Lagarde as its new leader. The decision makes Lagarde, 55, the first woman to lead the fund in its history. She takes the reins as a worsening debt crisis in Greece continues to shake global financial markets. “The results are in: I am [honored] and delighted that the board has entrusted me with the position of MD of the IMF!”…

France sent arms to Libyan rebels
French officials announced Wednesday that they had armed rebels in Libya, marking the first time a NATO country has said it was providing direct military aid to opponents of the government in a conflict that has lasted longer than many policymakers expected. France dropped light armaments, including guns and rocket-propelled grenades, in the Nafusa Mountains in western Libya in early June to help…

Another Area Girds for Revolt as Sudan Approaches a Split
Children with shrapnel wounds lie on metal hospital cots. Thousands of others have been huddling in caves and stony riverbeds, fleeing the fighter jets and bombers prowling the skies. Villages are empty, fields unplowed. At the faintest buzz of a plane, people scatter into the bush, in a panic. “Just lie flat, or you could get killed,” warned Nagwa Musa Konda, the director of a local aid organization…

Dominique Strauss-Kahn Freed Without Bail By Judge
A judge has agreed to free former International Monetary Fund leader Dominique Strauss-Kahn without bail or home confinement in the sexual assault case against him. The move Friday comes after prosecutors said an extensive background investigation of the accuser caused them to reassess the case. The agreement OK’d by State Supreme Court Justice Michael Obus in Manhattan does not give…