The world - April 22, 2010

THURSDAY

The eruption of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano in Iceland intensified, shooting a plume of ash nearly four miles into the air after 40 hours of activity. Fumes melted up to a third of the Eyjafjallajokull glacier, causing floods on the island nation.

A U.S. trade panel slapped punitive duties on billions of plastic shopping bags made in Indonesia, Taiwan and Vietnam. U.S. shoppers used about $1.5 billion of the bags in 2008.

U.S. police arrested 47 people and broke up a human smuggling network that used rogue shuttle firms to ferry thousands of illegal immigrants from the Arizona-Mexico border across the United States.

FRIDAY

Aviation authorities closed 24 airports across northern France, including in Paris, because of the ash cloud from Eyjafjallajokull.

Goldman Sachs was charged with fraud by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission over its marketing of collateralized debt obligations - a subprime mortgage product. The civil lawsuit is the biggest crisis in years for Wall Street’s most influential bank. Goldman called the lawsuit “completely unfounded,” adding, “We did not structure a portfolio that was designed to lose money.”

President Barack Obama issued a memo that would require hospitals accepting Medicare or Medicaid funds to allow visitation rights to gay and lesbian partners.

A letter mistakenly sent in 1790 to the French village of Saix instead of another town called Seix will soon be delivered the 200 kilometers to its proper destination. The letter was discovered 10 years ago when Saix’s municipal archives were being sorted out, but it was put aside and again forgotten about until recently when Mayor Henri Blanc decided it should finally be delivered.

WEEKEND

A British-Australian couple’s wedding guests watched them take their vows over the internet after the volcanic ash cloud disrupting European flights left them stranded in Dubai. They had planned a ceremony for family and friends in west London. Staff at their airport hotel helped them take their vows over the web.

Colorado Rockies right hand Ubaldo Jimenez pitched the first no-hitter in franchise history, blanking the Atlanta Braves 4-0 Saturday night. Jimenez walked six before moving to the stretch in the sixth inning. His final pitch was clocked at 97 mph.

President Hu Jintao visited China’s earthquake-stricken Yushu county Sunday, as Tibetan monks prayed over victims of an earthquake in the northwest that killed at least 1,706 people.

A Ferndale man was arrested on fourth-degree assault charges after punching a grocery clerk that complained about his body order.

MONDAY

The Eyjafjallajokull ash cloud brushed up against Canada’s Eastern seaboard, but airlines said domestic flight cancellations were mostly because of fog.

NASA delayed the shuttle Discovery’s homecoming from an International Space Station servicing mission after cloudy skies scuttled two landing attempts.

TUESDAY

The International Monetary Fund and World Bank announced this weekend’s meeting of global finance leaders in Washington will go on as scheduled despite air travel disruptions caused by Eyjafjallajokull.

Hundreds of unmarked end-of-year exam papers from Kathmandu’s Tribhuvan University were handed to a local police station for safe-keeping, but were inadvertently placed in a storeroom infested with rats and eaten.

WEDNESDAY

About 75 percent of flights in Europe took to the air Wednesday, after having been grounded by the Eyjafjallajokull ash plume. Authorities said Iceland could take days or even weeks to clear the backlog, which is estimated to have cost European airlines more than $1.7 billion in revenue.

Stranded in New York because of the Eyjafjallajokull ash cloud, a rare 13th century Magna Carta will unexpectedly go on public display. The 1217 Magna Carta, one of the most important documents in the history of democracy, is held by Oxford University’s Bodleian Library and had been in New York for a special event. The Magna Carta established the rights of the English people and curbed the power of the king.

Uniformed doormen in New York settled with building owners just in time to avert a strike that would have left residents running elevators, disposing of trash and doing other chores themselves.