THE WORLD

THURSDAY

Shrimpers in Louisiana and Alabama filed class-action lawsuits against oil giant BP and owners of the drilling platform that exploded in the Gulf of Mexico, as claims for economic losses anticipated from the disaster began to mount. More than $442 million worth of shrimp were pulled from the region’s waters in 2008, 70 percent of the U.S. total.

Belgium’s lower house of parliament banned burqa-type Islamic dress in public. The law states no one can appear in public with their face fully or partially covered. France passed a similar measure earlier this year.

United and Continental airlines announce they are combining operations to create the world’s largest airline.

FRIDAY

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal said the giant oil slick from last week’s deadly BP offshore rig explosion hit ground in the key wildlife habitat in the Pass-A-Loutre Wildlife Management Area.

Chinese experts are working to permanently preserve a chalk message translated to “There will be new schools! There will be new homes!” written by President Hu Jintao this month at a school for survivors of a deadly quake in the remote Tibetan county of Yushu.

Russian businessman Vasily Bukhtiyenko, who set up a museum dedicated to Soviet dictator Josef Stalin was electrocuted and bludgeoned to death in Volgograd, previously called Stalingrad. Motives for the attack were unclear.

WEEKEND

New York City’s Times Square is evacuated Saturday night after street vendors alerted police to a smoking and sparking sports utility vehicle that had been parked awkwardly with the engine running and hazard lights on near a Broadway theater where Disney’s “The Lion King” is performed.

May Day Protesters took to the streets around the nation Saturday to denounce Arizona’s new law on illegal immigrants. In L.A., tens of thousands of marchers, dressed in white among a sea of American flags, held up banners painted with “We Are All Arizona” and “Overturn Arizona Apartheid.” In D.C. a congressman was one of 34 people arrested in a protest outside the White House.

Super jockey Calvin Borel rode 9 to 1 shot Super Saver to an easy Kentucky Derby victory in the muddy Churchill Downs track on Saturday. The derby win was Borel’s third in four years. Super Saver covered the 1 miles over the dirt in 2:04.45. The horse paid off $18, $8.80 and $6 for a $2 ticket.

MONDAY

Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen announced a new relief well to cap the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico will take about 90 days “if we’re lucky.” Such an operation, at about 18,000 feet below the surface, is the only real solution to relieve the pressure and cap the existing well, he said.

More than 2 million Boston area residents faced their third day without drinkable tap water. A 10-foot pipe burst in Weston, Massachusetts, a suburb about 15 miles west of Boston, pouring millions of gallons of potable water into the Charles River. Authorities drew on emergency water supplies, including local ponds, prompting the order to boil water. Once the repair was fixed, millions of gallons of heavy chlorinated water was added to the system.

A New York man filed suit against Starbucks after he allegedly suffered second-degree burns after being served tea that was too hot. The company’s negligence, said plaintiff Zeynep Inanli, caused him “great physical pain and mental anguish.”

TUESDAY

Faisal Shahzad, a 30-year old naturalized U.S. citizen born in Pakistan, admitted responsibility for the weekend’s bomb scare in Times Square. He also told prosecutors he had received bomb-making training in a known Taliban and al Qaeda stronghold in Pakistan. He faces five counts, including attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction and trying to kill and maim people within the United States.

WEDNESDAY

Hotel and motel cancellations began to spike in tourist mecca Pensacola, Florida, as the spreading tide of oil from the BP oil rig explosion spreads throughout the Gulf of Mexico. Known for the “World’s Whitest Beaches,” leaders along Florida’s west coastline are worried about their livelihoods since they normally look to summer for sun-seeking tourists after the busy spring break season.

Compiled by the Gazette from a variety of sources.