The World - April 29, 2010

THURSDAY

Eleven workers had still not been found after a British Petroleum oil rig sank into the Gulf of Mexico after burning for 36 hours about 42 miles off the Louisiana coast. More than 120 workers were on the rig when the fire began, most being evacuated to land before the collapse.

Air Force officials blasted off a prototype X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle carrying a miniature space station from Cape Canaveral. Built by an alliance of Boeing and Lockheed Martin engineers, the unmanned rocket is being considered as a next-generation space shuttle.

Burglars for the second time in a week broke into a minimum security Dutch prison and stole TV sets from cells while prisoners were on weekend furloughs.

FRIDAY

Arizona Governor Jan Brewer signed into effect the toughest immigration law in the United States. The law requires police in the border state with Mexico to determine if people are in the country illegally if there is “reasonable suspicion” that is the case. Critics, including President Barack Obama and Homeland Security Chief Janet Nepalitano, charge the new law will open the door to racial profiling.

Facing an unprecedented financial disaster, Greece asked the 16 nations that use the Euro as well as the International Monetary Fund for a $60 billion bailout.

Hundreds of children lined up to see the circus in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, for the first time in a decade. President Saparmurat Niyazov, who ruled the nation for 21 years until his 2006 death had banned the circus as “alien” in the former soviet state. Successor Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov sat ringside for the show, calling it a “state-level event.”

WEEKEND

Promising a “gripping, never-before-heard detail” on events like the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the 2000 U.S. Presidential election, Crown Publishers announce former President George W. Bush will release his memoirs, a book entitled “Decision Points,” this November.

Tornadoes swept through Mississippi, killing 10 people, destroying hundreds of homes and inflicting tens of millions of dollars in damage on shopping centers, cars and farm buildings.

Weber State University wide receiver Tim Toone was dubbed “Mr. Irrelevant” after being selected by the Detroit Lions with the 255th and final pick in the 2010 NFL first-year player draft.

MONDAY

The Treasury Department announced it will place up to 1.5 billion shares of the nation’s common stock in Citigroup – the massive, “too big to fail” bank bailed out by federal agents during the height of the financial crisis. That sale would amount to about 20 percent of the 7.7 billion shares the government received as compensation for the bailout.

Playboy magazine founder Hugh Hefner donated the last $900,000 sought by a conservation group to purchase land and save the vista of the famous Hollywood sign from being spoiled by development. Chicago investors had planned to build a massive housing development on the ridge below the sign. The Chicago set purchased the land, called Cahuenga Peak, from the estate of billionaire Howard Hughes in 2002.

Chile announced it will build the world’s largest telescope in its northern desert at a cost of more than $1 billion. The 42-meter telescope will watch the skies for exoplanets, or planets around stars, as well as seek to unravel the mystery of dark matter and dark energy.

TUESDAY

U.S. police arrested 34 people and broke up a drug smuggling network that hauled at least 20 tons of marijuana over the Mexico-Arizona border.

A team of Chinese and Turkish evangelical explorers announced they may have found Noah’s Ark about 4,000 meters up Mount Ararat in eastern Turkey. Carbon dating from the wooden structure proved it was 4,800 years old, around the same time the ark is said to have been afloat. Yeung Wing-cheung, a member of the team, says the structure has several compartments, some with wooden beams, which were believed to house animals.

The U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear a California appeal of a lower court decision that struck down the state’s strict video game labeling law, which forbid the sale and rental of violent games to minors, as an unconstitutional violation of free speech.

WEDNESDAY

Egypt convicted 26 men it linked to Lebanon’s Hezbollah of planning attacks inside the country. The case underscores Sunni Arab concerns about the rising influence of the Iranian-backed group.

One person is dead and 18 other lie injured after Thai troops clashed with about 2,000 “red shirt” anti-government protestors. Protestors have been rioting against what they call an oppressive government for weeks.