The World - Sept. 24, 2009

THURSDAY

The Arctic ice pack melted to only 1.97 million square miles. This area is the ice pack’s third-smallest size on record, continuing an overall shrinking trend symptomatic of climate change, U.S. scientists said.

A U.N. investigator’s report accuses Israel and Palestinians of war crimes during the December-January Gaza War. The report said both had terrorized and killed civilians.

Turk Sultan Kosen is crowned the world’s tallest man in London. The 26-year-old Kosen stands at 8 feet 1 inch, making him the first person in more than a decade to officially measure over 8 feet, and one of only 10 confirmed cases in history.

FRIDAY

Phillip Arnold Paul, a 47-year old patient at Eastern State Hospital, escapes supervision while on a trip to the Spokane County Interstate Fair. Paul was institutionalized after he was ruled criminally insane while on trial for murder charges. Authorities searched three days for Paul, eventually capturing him Sunday afternoon near Goldendale.

Democratic Senator Russell Feingold introduces legislation aiming to strip telecommunications firms that took part in a hugely controversial Bush-era spying program of immunity from lawsuits.

The U.S. soap opera “Guiding Light” — the world’s longest-running TV drama — aired its final episode, ending a 72 year run which included both radio and TV.

Bulgarian authorities found the draw of the same six winning lottery numbers twice in a row was a statistical coincidence. The national lottery was investigated after the numbers 4, 15, 23, 24, 35 and 42 were selected, in a different order, by a machine live on television on September 6 and 10. Odds of the same numbers being drawn are one in four million.

WEEKEND

A U.S. soldier was killed and twelve others wounded when their helicopter crashed in the U.S. military’s main airbase in Iraq Saturday. The helicopter went down over Balad, about 50 miles north of Baghdad.

A federal judge ordered the 600 grizzly bears in and around Yellowstone National Park be placed back on the threatened species list.

A Maui judge has ordered a 19-year-old man who pleaded no contest to starting a restaurant fire with a flicked cigarette to stop smoking for a year.

University of Washington kicker Erik Folk nailed a 22-yard field goal with 3 seconds remaining to cap a 16-13 upset win over third-ranked USC at Seattle Saturday.

MONDAY

U.S. scientists in the Gulf of Mexico unexpectedly netted a 19.5-foot giant squid off the coast of Louisiana, the Interior Department said. The 103-pound squid was the first spotted in the Gulf since 1954.

About 80,000 European dairy farmers set hay on fire and spilled milk in front of the European Commission headquarters in Brussels and warned their protest over low milk prices would intensify.

Two Sydney men broke a world record when they shook hands for 12 hours, surpassing the previous 11-hour record.

TUESDAY

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said in remarks to the House of Representatives’ Financial Services Committee the United States would not identify in advance financial firms that it views as systemically important.

U.S. authorities closed the world’s busiest land border crossing for several hours after suspected Mexican human traffickers tried to enter with illegal immigrants. U.S. agents fired at three vans packed with about 70 illegal immigrants that tried to evade heavy security and cross into the United States.

Australia’s worst dust storm in 70 years blanketed the heavily populated east coast Wednesday in a cloud of red Outback grit, nearly closed the country’s largest airport and left millions of people coughing and sputtering in the streets.

Archaeologists in the ancient city of Troy in Turkey have found the remains of a man and a woman believed to have died in 1,200 B.C., the time of the legendary war chronicled by Homer. The bodies were found near a defense line within the city built in the late Bronze age.

WEDNESDAY

Pittsburgh officials ramped up security efforts to prevent violent protests of this weekend’s G20 summit. Thousands of additional police were brought in and tall steel fencing was built around the convention center.

The Obama administration unveiled a new policy that will make it more difficult for the government to invoke state secrets to shield details of sensitive national security strategies. Under the new policy, agencies will have to convince the attorney general and a team of Justice Department lawyers that release of certain information would significantly hurt “national defense” or “foreign relations.”

Germany promised to walk out of the U.N. General Assembly if Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad denies the Holocaust in a speech he was scheduled to give today. Denying the Holocaust is a crime in Germany.