The World 5/19/11

THURSDAY

“Unabomber” Ted Kaczynski’s handwritten manifesto against industrialism, his typewriters and other items from his Montana cabin are to be sold at auction to benefit his victims, the U.S. Marshals Service announced.

Business has been booming for Shalotte Hydorn, a 91-year-old California woman who has been selling $60 asphyxiation kits to help terminally ill people end their own lives. The product consists of a plastic hood that closes around the neck and tubing that connects the hood to a tank of helium or other inert gas. Patients have to acquire the helium themselves.

FRIDAY

Washington and Oregon won authorization from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Fisheries Service to kill sea lions eating endangered salmon at Bonneville Dam.

A climber with a broken leg was rescued by National Parks rangers from a snowy spot 800 feet below the 20,320-foot summit of Mount McKinley, while one of his expedition partners was found dead farther down the mountain.

A Philadelphia woman reached a settlement with Disney, ending a $50,000 suit she filed after claiming she had been fondled by Donald Duck at Walt Disney World in Florida.

High-pitched whirring sounds are filling the air in the U.S. south as millions of red-eyed cicadas have begun hatching after 13 years underground.

With a $2 million grant from the Department of Agriculture, schools in San Antonio have installed cameras to monitor the trays of students in their cafeterias in an effort to cut down on childhood obesity by gleaning information on what types of food their students are eating.

WEEKEND

Connecticut high schooler James Tate got his highly publicized ban from the senior prom overturned after Shelton High School headmaster Beth Smith reversed her decision to prohibit him from prom. Tate sneaked onto school premises before dawn and pasted large cardboard letters onto the building’s facade asking a girl to be his date.

The head of the International Monetary Fund, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, was arrested in New York on Saturday, accused of a sexual attack on a maid in a Times Square hotel.

The crown prince of Abu Dhabi hired Erik Prince, the founder of private security firm Blackwater Worldwide, to set up an 800-member battalion of foreign troops for the United Arab Emirates. The unit, formed to thwart a potential revolt, was formed with $529 million.

MONDAY

U.S. national debt hit its congressionally-alloted limit of $14.294 trillion as talks between political parties stalled an increase to the cap. The Treasury Department is halting contributions to federal employee pensions funds to pay other bills.

Space shuttle Endeavour blasted off on the next-to-last flight in NASA’s shuttle program. The flight is being commanded by Mark Kelly, a four-time shuttle veteran who is married to U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords, who is recovering from a January 8 assassination attempt.

The 59-year old Sahara hotel and casino, one of the oldest landmarks on the Las Vegas Strip, closed its doors at 2 p.m. The joint was once a favorite for the Rat Pack, Elvis and many other entertainers.

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is suing Starbucks for firing a barista in El Paso because she is a dwarf. The woman had requested a stool or small stepladder to perform her job, but was denied.

TUESDAY

The U.S. Coast Guard reopened the Mississippi River one day after stopping vessel traffic due to a threat to levees holding back high Mississippi River flood waters. The Coast Guard is limiting shipping along a 15-mile stretch of the Mississippi to prevent erosion of earthen levees.

Russian police detained a man who was caught eating the liver of a friend. Police tracked down the suspect after a trail of severed body parts including limbs and a head were found across Moscow.

Scientists found a gene linked to diabetes and cholesterol is a “master switch” that controls other genes found in fat in the body.Scientists say it should help in the search for treatments for obesity-related diseases.

WEDNESDAY

Al Qaeda appointed Saif al-Adel, an Egyptian militant, as temporary leader and named Mustafa al-Yemeni new head of operations following the killing of Osama bin Laden by U.S. commandos.

Queen Elizabeth was set to visit Ireland’s Croke Park stadium, site of the Bloody Sunday massacre in which British troops killed 14 civilians, one age 10. Before her visit to the stadium the queen laid a wreath of poppies in honor of the near 50,000 Irish soldiers who died fighting for Britain in World War I. The Queen’s visit to Ireland is the first since the nation won its independence in 1921.

Compiled by the Gazette from a variety of sources.