The World - Oct. 8, 2009

THURSDAY

The Philippines ordered the evacuation of people living in low-lying coastal areas on Friday as a “super typhoon” threatened devastation a week after flash floods killed nearly 300 people in and around Manila.

A U.S. advocacy group filed a lawsuit against German drugmaker Bayer AG, saying the company made false claims about Men’s One A Day, a vitamin supplement it makes.

Northrop Grumman Corp. beat out rival Boeing Co. for a $3.8 billion deal to provide logistics services for the KC-10, a fleet of aerial refueling tankers.

FRIDAY

The unemployment rate rose to 9.8 percent in September as employers cut more jobs than expected, evidence that the longest recession since the 1930s is still inflicting widespread pain.

Cyprus began construction on a 200 million euro ($290.7 million), 82 megawatt (MW) wind farm, the first on the island nation. The farm is expected to be operational by the summer of 2010.

Robert Joel Halderman, a producer for CBS, pleaded not guilty on Friday to a $2 million extortion attempt against talk show host David Letterman a day after the comedian stunned Americans by revealing the plot — and his sexual affairs with co-workers — on his own show.

Olympia mixed martial arts champion Jeff Monson avoided jail time during his sentencing for spray-painting anarchist graffiti on the state Capitol and a Lacey armed services recruitment center last year.

WEEKEND

Greenpeace said 19 activists scaled an under-construction upgrader at Shell’s Scotford facility in Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta to protest “the climate crimes of the tar sands.”

A dust storm caused several accidents in Central Washington and closed Interstate 90 in both directions west of Ritzville from midnight until 8 p.m., while gusting winds brought scattered power outages to areas of Spokane and North Idaho.

Geologists have found a cluster of fossilized dinosaur eggs, said to be about 65 million years old, in a village in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu.

Hundreds of Nigerian rebel fighters gave up their weapons and accepted an amnesty deal in the most concerted effort yet to end years of fighting in the oil-producing Niger Delta.

MONDAY

A suicide bomber walked into an Iraqi funeral tent and blew himself, killing at least six mourners and wounding 15, Iraqi police said.

A retired sales manager for airplane maker Boeing Co pleaded guilty to hiding nearly $2 million in Swiss UBS AG accounts, as the United States pursues Americans illegally stashing funds abroad to avoid taxes.

An Italian scientist says he has reproduced the Shroud of Turin, a feat that he says proves definitively that the linen some Christians revere as Jesus Christ’s burial cloth is a medieval fake.

Cash-strapped Cuba is slashing the amount of land devoted to growing its famous tobacco by more than 30 percent as the global recession and worldwide spread of smoking bans bite into sales of the country’s prized cigars.

TUESDAY

Charles Kao, Willard Boyle and George Smith, pioneers in fiber optic transmission who figured out how to turn light into electronic signals — work that paved the way for the Internet age — were awarded the 2009 Nobel Prize for physics.

Oil companies scouring the coastline of Alaska’s North Slope for new production sites are converging on the same territory as hungry polar bears trying to escape shrinking and thinning sea ice.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating whether HCA Inc, the biggest U.S. hospital chain, violated securities law by manipulating its books and records to receive tens of thousands of payments for phantom nursing shifts.

WEDNESDAY

The Minnesota Twins rallied from a three-run deficit to beat the Detroit Tigers 6-5 in 12 innings and claim the American League Central division title. The twins will now face the New York Yankees in the first round of MLB playoffs. Seattle Mariners watched comfortably at home, as their season ended Sunday.

Ugandan security forces have questioned Sheikh Yusuf Mohammad Siad, a former Somali warlord also known as “Inda’ade” or “white eyes,” and freed him following his dramatic arrest by plainclothes officers in Kampala, Uganda’s military spokesman said.