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The world - Dec. 23, 2010

THURSDAY

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, fighting extradition to Sweden over alleged sex crimes, walked free on $312,000 bail from a British jail protesting his innocence and pledging to continue exposing official secrets.

A team of scientists positively identified an embalmed head in the royal basilica of Saint-Denis, near Paris, presumed lost in the chaos of the French Revolution, as that of King Henri IV of France, who was assassinated in 1610.

Baseball Hall of Famer Bob Feller, a pitcher for the Cleveland Indians nicknamed “Rapid Robert,” died at the age of 92 in Cleveland from leukemia, the team said. Feller broke in with the Indians at age 17 in 1936 and his powerful fastball, clocked at more than 100 miles per hour, made him the game’s greatest strikeout pitcher over an 18-season career interrupted for nearly four seasons for military service.

FRIDAY

New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson said he was reviewing a pardon petition for Billy the Kid, the Wild West outlaw who is reputed to have killed 21 men, based on the widespread belief that New Mexico territorial Governor Lew Wallace promised the 19th century gunman a pardon in exchange for his testimony in a murder trial.

The Emirates Palace Hotel in the Muslim desert emirate of Abu Dhab put up a jewel-decorated Christmas tree in the hotel’s rotunda valued at more than $11 million.

WEEKEND

Heavy snowfall and freezing temperatures caused travel chaos across Europe, with hundreds of flights canceled and icy roads wreaking havoc across the continent. A Lady Gaga concert in Paris was cancelled Sunday because restrictions on heavy trucks prevented the show’s equipment from arriving on time.

Nigeria dropped bribery charges against former U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney and oil services company Halliburton after the company agreed to pay a $250 million fine. The firm was charged with paying $180 million in bribes to secure $6 billion in natural gas mining contracts.

MONDAY

The South Korean military started a planned artillery firing drill on an island near the border with North Korea.

U.N. troops in Ivory Coast opened fire in self-defense on Ivory Coast soldiers loyal to incumbent President Laurent Ggagbo, who ordered the “blue helmets” out of the nation after claiming

victory in a disputed presidential elction. U.N.-certified results showed rival Alassane Ouattara as the winner of the election.

An anonymous thief sent an envelope of $45 cash to a family-owned supply store in western Pennsylvania to pay for a hammer stolen decades ago. Owner Lynne Grammling took the money to a nearby shopping mall, where her father was volunteering as a Salvation Army bell ringer.

Russia agreed to export reindeer meat and butcher it in accordance to Muslim halal law to Qatar to help seal an oil trade contract.

TUESDAY

An insurance company study found 37 percent of adults admitted to sneaking peeks at their Christmas presents. However, 56 percent of those admitted feeling regret that their holiday had been spoiled. Top shelves of closets and beneath beds were revealed as the top hiding spots. Women were also found to be twice as likely to peek than men.

President Barack Obama wrapped up support in the Senate for a strategic nuclear arms pact with Russia that would cut strategic atomic weapons deployed by each country to no more than 1,550 within seven years.

Coach Geno Auriemma’s University of Connecticut’s womens basketball team won its 89th consecutive game to break the all-time NCAA record of 88 straight wins set by John Wooden’s UCLA mens team from 1971 to 1974.

A flash mob of some 5,000 Christmas carollers forced the evacuation of a mall in Sacramento, as officials worried the pounding of their footsteps was an earthquake. The singers regrouped and performed outside.

WEDNESDAY

President Barack Obama signed a repeal of the military’s long-standing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”, which Congress approved this month. The repeal would allow gays and lesbians to serve openly.

France ordered its 13,000 citizens in Ivory Coast to flee, as fears increase that the power struggle over the disputed election could escalate into civil war. The World Bank announced it has frozen financing for the Ivory Coast government.

A list of confirmed names of Jews killed by the Nazis in World War II reached the four million mark. Israel’s Holocaust museum officials said the remaining two million may never come to light.

The Abbey Road crosswalk featured on a Beatles album cover was designated a site of national importance by the British government.

Compiled by the Gazette from a variety of sources.

 

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