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 fallout from the CIA’s vaccination ploy in Pakistan
The reaction from public health workers was understandably fierce when the Guardian reported last week that the CIA had staged a vaccination campaign in an attempt to confirm Osama bin Laden’s location by obtaining DNA from his family members. We recognize the importance of the mission to bring bin Laden to justice. But the CIA’s reckless tactics could have catastrophic consequences…

Seven great reads about space
Before humans ever went into space, there were books about the possibility. Some were fantasies about life in the cosmos. Some were scientific histories. Eventually, after the Space Age began, some profiled the men and women who brought space exploration to life. With the shuttle Atlantis concluding America’s 30-year space shuttle program, it seems only fitting that we sample a few books…

South Sudan: the world’s biggest development challenge
In South Sudan, the party is over and the majority of the world’s media has moved on. Once the novelty factor of the world’s newest country has faded, what comes next is the hard task of building a nation virtually from scratch. The scale is daunting. The education ministry barely has a functioning computer. Few in the embryonic civil service have an education beyond primary school. A new currency…

Aung San Suu Kyi leads thousands in Yangon march
More than 3,000 democracy supporters led by Aung San Suu Kyi marched Tuesday in Myanmar’s biggest city in honor of her father, the nation’s independence hero. The short march from the headquarters of Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy to the Martyrs’ Mausoleum was the biggest public demonstration since 2007, when the military junta launched a bloody crackdown on pro-democracy protesters…

Samsung’s Next Galaxy Phone Set for August U.S. Release
Samsung plans a U.S. release for the sequel to its most successful Android smartphone by the end of the summer, according to a senior executive of the company. “We expect to release the Galaxy S2 in the U.S. market sometime in August,” said Shin Jong-kyun, Samsung president of mobile business and digital imaging, in a briefing with reporters in South Korea on Wednesday. The story was first reported…

Space Shuttle Atlantis Makes Historic Final Landing, Ending 30-Year Era
Atlantis and four astronauts returned from the International Space Station in triumph Thursday, bringing an end to NASA’s 30-year shuttle journey with one last, rousing touchdown that drew cheers and tears. A record crowd of 2,000 gathered near the landing strip, thousands more packed the space center and countless others watched history unfold from afar as NASA’s longest-running spaceflight…

Realist painter Lucian Freud dies aged 88
Lucian Freud, a towering and uncompromising figure in the art world for more than 50 years, has died, his New York-based art dealer said Thursday. He was 88. Spokeswoman Bettina Prentice said that Freud died after an illness at his London home late Wednesday night, but didn’t give any further details. Freud was known for his intense realist portraits, particularly of nudes. In recent years his paintings…

Pentagon to Announce Friday Repeal of Military Gay Ban
The Pentagon will announce Friday that it is ready to certify the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell,” the controversial 1993 law that banned gays from serving openly in the military, two U.S. officials told Fox News. By law, a 60-day waiting period then goes into effect before the repeal is officially implemented, likely by the end of September. The certification was expected after all the military services…

Blast hits government buildings in Oslo, Norway; shooter arrested at youth camp
Undetonated explosives were found on Utoya Island, where a gunman opened fire earlier in the day on a Labour Party Youth Camp, Oslo, Norway, acting Police Chief Sveinung Sponheim said late Friday night. Authorities believe the man traveled to the island from Oslo, where at least seven were killed in a bombing in the city center. The suspect, a 32-year-old Norwegian, was taken into custody after…