World news July 30, 2009

World News

Thursday

Canada’s only government-sanctioned marijuana farm may soon close. The farm, deep in a mine shaft under the tundra of Flin Flon, Manitoba, was growing too large, said operator Prairie Plant system. The mine had been producing legal marijuana for nearly a decade since Canada legalized medical marijuana.

Gidget, the Taco Bell Chihuahua who became famous as company spokesperson in the late 1990s dies of a stroke.

Dow Jones industrial average jumps above 9,000 for the first time since January.

The state department recommends that the new $700 million American embassy in Iraq needs to be downsized.

Chicago White Sox pitcher Mark Buehrle pitched a perfect game, only the 18th perfect game in the game’s professional history.

Friday

Hundreds of tiny footprints left by mammals some 190 million years ago have been found on a canyon wall in a remote part of Dinosaur National Monument, park officials said. The tracks are a rare find,mostly because they were left at a time when the area looked like the Sahara desert. The tracks were found by local paleontologist Don Chure and another paleontologist from the University of Nebraska.

President Obama, reacting to the uproar his comments caused about the Cambridge, Mass., police acting stupidly in the arrest of a black Harvard professor, invites the professor, Henry Gates, and Police Sergeant James Crowley to the White House for a beer.

Weekend

New projections estimate that 40 percent of Americans could be infected with swine flu this year. Preparations include arranging for adequate vaccine supplies, 80 percent of which must be produced outside the country.

A pistol owned by legendary 1930s gangsters John Dillinger was sold at an auction Sunday for $95,600, according to the auction house. The pistol, a Remington .41 caliber Double Derringer, was said to have been found hidden in one of the man’s socks when he was arrested in Tucson, Arizona, 1934. A private collector from Los Angeles made the winning bid, proving someone in the United States still has extra cash in this recession.

The electrical smell that caused a Southwest Airlines company flight to make an unexpected flight was because of something burning in the plane’s coffeemaker. The flight left from Connecticut and made an emergency touchdown on Long Island at 8 a.m. Sunday.

Penn State is ranked as the nation’s No. 1 party school.

Monday

Virgin Galactic gave a first glimpse of its WhiteKnight Two in flight. The plane is designed to launch a ship into space, providing commercial space travel. The company has taken 300 reservations at $200,000 each. The maiden flight is not yet scheduled.

Germany’s Social Democrat health minister was feeling the heat from the public after she and her chauffeur droveher official limousine into Spain, where it was stolen. Thieves stole the limo keys from the chauffeur’s sleeping quarters near the town of Alicante. Schmidt had been using the Mercedes to drive around discussing healthcare and pensions with retired Germans living in Spain.

A British teenager who phoned the White House two years ago claiming there was a bomb in the center of New York escaped prison Monday. The hoax landed Thomas Hutchinson, then 17 years old, with six-months of jail time and 250 hours of unpaid work. “One minute’s thoughtlessness by you, one moment of madness, one drunken prank, all had very serious consequences, “ said the presiding judge Tony Browne.

Tuesday

New home sales improve at the fastest pace in eight years although still 72 percent below the peak of 14 years ago.

Wednesday

Tanning beds are declared a risk, with dangers as high as arsenic and mustard gas.