The world - March 24, 2011

THURSDAY

Diet Coke overtook Pepsi as the number two soda in the U.S.

The U.N. Security Council authorized a no-fly zone over Libya and “all necessary measures” to protect civilians against the forces of leader Muammar Gaddafi.

Maine officials began paying hunters to kill coyotes in an effort to pump up the state’s whitetail deer population.

Utah named the Browning model M1911 automatic pistol as the official state firearm, the first state in the union to name an official gun. The gun, which turns 100-years-old this year, is made in Ogden.

FRIDAY

Forty Indonesians were trapped between lava flows after Mount Karangetang erupted, sending lava streams 5,000 feet down the mountain and spewing ash clouds 12,500 feet into the air.

Saudi King Abdullah offered up to $93 billion in handouts while boosting his security and religious police forces in an effort to stave off unrest in the Arab kingdom.

Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh declared a state of emergency after gunfire killed dozens of protesters in Sanaa after morning prayers.

Syrian security forces killed three protesters demanding political freedoms in the southern city of Deraa.

The council in New Jersey’s Hopewell Township approved an ordinance that limits conjugal visits between roosters and hens in backyard farms to 10 days a year and no more than five consecutive nights in a measure intended to hold down crowing.

WEEKEND

Western forces began air strikes against Libya Saturday in an effort to force Muammar Gaddafi’s troops to stop attacks on civilians. French planes fired the first shots and U.S. and British warships launched missiles against air defenses around Tripoli. Gaddafi called it “colonial, crusader” aggression.

The most extreme supermoon in 20 years appeared in the night sky, as the full moon passed through its closest approach to earth, known as the perigree.

Thieves using a water pump stole near $30,000 worth of coins from the wishing well of a theme park in the Australian city of Geelong.

A 6-year-old child died and 18 others were injured when a miniature train crashed at Clevelend amusement park in Spartanburg, S.C.

MONDAY

Texas resident Dallas Wiens, 25, became the first U.S. recipient of a full face transplant after a 15-hour procedure at Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

San Antonio police engaged in a standoff with a man who fired a BB gun through the drive-thru window at a Taco Bell because he was angry the price of a Beefy Crunch Burrito had gone up from 99 cents to $1.49.

A 6-year-old Brooklyn turtle named Giovani sparked a fire after escaping from his terrarium and knocking over a heat lamp which ignited art supplies lying near the tank in his family’s apartment.

Doctors at Tufts Medical Center in Boston said recent studies show people in poor shape are 2.7 times more likely to have heart attacks when having sex compared with when they are not.

TUESDAY

Colville resident Kevin William Harpham, 36, was indicted on federal charges for attempting to plant a backpack bomb at the Martin Luther King Jr. Day parade in Spokane.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration blocked imports of milk and fresh produce from four northern Japanese prefects that surround a crippled nuclear power plant.

A baby dolphin was returned to the ocean after being found by animal rescue crews in a flooded rice field in Japan about one mile from the ocean shore. The dolphin was stranded inland by the March 11 tsunami.

Helen Staudinger, 92, was jailed after firing a pistol into her neighbor’s house after he refused her a kiss.

U.S. Census data shows the population of Detroit fell 25 percent between 2000 and 2010. The population of the city hit so hard by plant closures brought on by the collapse of the American automotive industry was 713,777 last year, compared to 951,270 in 2000. The 1950 population of the Motor City was 1.85 million people. The 2010 count was the lowest total since the 1910 census showed a population of 295,704.

WEDNESDAY

Japanese authorities advised water not be given to babies after radiation exceeding health limits was found in a Tokyo city water purifier.

The U.N. said more than 335,600 Libyans have fled the country, mainly to Tunisia and Egypt since fighting began between rebel forces and leader Muammar Gaddafi’s government.

Compiled by Gazette staff from a variety of sources.