The World 6/30/11

THURSDAY

Two men were arrested and charged with plotting to attack a military center for enlistees in Seattle with grenades and machine guns.

Former mob boss James “Whitey” Bulger, captured near his coastal California hideout after 16 years on the run, was ordered held without bond for transfer back to Boston to face charges of murder, extortion and conspiracy.

Umpires suspended the 105th “Midnight Sun Baseball Game” in Faribanks, Alaska, with the score tied 1-1 in the 10th inning at about 1:30 a.m. local time, after the visiting Waves of Oceanside, California, complained it was too dark.

Self-styled Taiwanese “prophet” was convicted of “spreading rumors” when he said a monster earthquake would destroy the island last month. Wang Chao-hung was fined $Tw40,000 ($1,313).

FRIDAY

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed into law a bill that legalized same-sex marriage, just hours after it was approved by the Legislature. New York is the sixth and largest state, along with the District of Columbia, to legalize gay marriage.

The United Nations Refugee Agency said 170 women were victimized in a mass rape by gunmen in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The rapes have been blamed on a group of about 200 rebels who had been integrated into the Congolese army before deserting this month.

The Pakistan army condemned a report in the New York Times that a cellphone found in the raid that killed Osama bin Laden contained contacts to a militant group with ties to Pakistan’s intelligence agency.

Luke Irvin Chrisco, 30, was arrested 100 miles west of Boulder in Vail, Colorado on sexual contact and invasion of privacy charges for allegedly hiding inside the waste tank of a portable toilet at a yoga festival.

WEEKEND

A tear on Sunday in a temporary berm allowed Missouri River flood waters to surround containment buildings and other vital areas of a Nebraska nuclear plant, but reactor systems at the 478-megawatt facility were not affected.

Two bombs were found inside a Borders Bookstore in a suburban Denver shopping mall overnight.

The only authenticated photograph of infamous Wild West gunslinger Billy the Kid was auctioned off to Florida billionaire William Koch for $2.3 million.

A study published in the journal Pediatrics showed TV ads for junk food really do make children hungry for those treats, especially if they watch a lot of television.

It was revealed that Japanese pop star Aimi Eguchi with thousands of fans is not human, but a computer-generated creation.

MONDAY

A lactating Ohio woman was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct after she sprayed sheriff’s deputies with breast milk as they tried to remove her from a vehicle.

The International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, and rebels trying to oust him said their forces had advanced to within 50 miles of the capital.

A jury convicted disgraced former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich of corruption for trying to trade the U.S. senate seat once held by President Barack Obama for financial and personal gain.

The Los Angeles Dodgers filed for bankruptcy protection, blaming Major League Baseball for rejecting a television deal that would have given the storied baseball team an urgent injection of cash.

An asteroid with an estimated girth as large as a garbage truck soared within 7,500 miles of the Earth as it passed harmlessly over the Atlantic Ocean.

Although it’s known for its beautiful horse farms and as the “Thoroughbred Capital of the World,” Lexington, Kentucky has gained a new distinction — as the most sedentary city in the United States, according to a new ranking by Men’s Health magazine.

TUESDAY

Six astronauts were forced to take refuge aboard the International Space Station’s “lifeboat” crafts, bracing for the threat of a collision with floating space debris.

A young Emperor penguin that washed up on a New Zealand beach last week after straying thousands of miles from home was perking up a day after hundreds of people watched it undergo endoscopic surgery to remove sand from its stomach.

Tourists in Times Square were treated to a free “show” when a man scaled a light pole, halting traffic for nearly two hours as police tried to coax him down.

WEDNESDAY

Brown University’s Watson Institute for International Studies found the U.S. has spent some $2.7 trillion on its wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan, with at least $1 trillion more in interest payments coming due and massive costs of treatment of wounded veterans coming in the future.

New Mexico fire managers scrambled to reinforce ground crews battling for a third day against a fierce blaze roaring out of control at the edge of the Los Alamos nuclear weapons production center.

Russian president Dmitry Medvedev nearly wiped out a crowd of supporters after leaving the drivers seat of his black Mercedes SUV without putting the car in park. Medvedev, whose motto is “Forward, Russia!”, jumped in the car to take it out of gear before anyone could be injured.

Compiled by the Gazette from a variety of sources.