The World 7/14/11

THURSDAY

Scientists in Japan have created teeth - complete with connective fibers and bones - by using mouse stem cells and successfully transplanting them into mice, a step they hope will lead to progress in stem cell research.

Britain’s Gambling Commission granted a license to the fertility charity, To Hatch, to run a “baby” lottery that will award $40,175 worth of treatments at one of the UK’s top five fertility clinics.

Apartment complex manager Deb Logan of Nashua, New Hampshire, has started using a dog DNA-testing system to determine which tenants’ dogs are leaving waste on the complex’s lawn. Owners are fined $100 per offense.

FRIDAY

Space shuttle Atlantis rocketed off its seaside launch pad, rising atop a tower of smoke and flames as it left Earth on the final flight of the U.S. space shuttle program. The 30-year program, which has cost nearly $200 billion and claimed the lives of 14 astronauts, is being retired to make way for private spaceliners. About 1 million sightseers witnessed the liftoff at Kennedy Space Center in central Florida.

Faberge, celebrated for the Imperial eggs created by Peter Carl Faberge for Russia’s ruling Romanov family, unveiled its first new collection of 12 couture egg creations since the Russian Revolution in 1917. The new eggs retail for up to $600,000 each.

The Austrian town of Braunau, Adolf Hitler’s birthplace, revoked the Nazi dictator’s honorary citizenship. The community of Ranshofen, where Hitler was born, made him an honorary citizen in 1933. Ranshofen was incorporated into Braunau in 1939.

Monkeys “Raju” and “Chinki” were united in India’s first simian wedding. Raju is famous in Banetha village for his habit of smoking cigarettes.

WEEKEND

U.S. space shuttle Atlantis arrived at the International Space Station on Sunday to deliver a last batch of supplies to the orbiting outpost on the final flight of the U.S. shuttle program.

Fighter jets intercepted a private plane near Camp David on Sunday, the third civilian plane this weekend to fly the restricted air space while President Barack Obama was at the Maryland retreat.

Britain’s 168-year-old News of the World, owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp, publishes its final edition after what Prime Minister David Cameron called “revolting” revelations that investigators from the paper hacked into cell phone accounts to eavesdrop on the voicemail of victims of crime.

Four people were killed on Sunday when their pleasure boat rammed into a concrete footing and partially sank in shallow waters in the Hudson River in New York.

MONDAY

Scientists found a “superbug” strain of gonorrhea in Japan that is resistant to all recommended antibiotics and say it could transform a once easily treatable infection into a global public health threat.

Just two days after a rare fatal mauling by a mother grizzly in Yellowstone National Park, a black bear interrupted the taping of a television news segment on bear safety.

TUESDAY

President Barack Obama awarded the Medal of Honor to Army Ranger Sergeant 1st Class Leroy Petry. Petry, originally from New Mexico, lost his hand while leading a high-risk raid in broad daylight. While clearing a courtyard, he was wounded in both legs by an insurgent’s round. When another soldier arrived to help, a grenade explosion wounded two other soldiers. Another grenade followed the first, landing just a few feet away. Already injured, Petry disregarded his personal safety to throw away the grenade, which detonated while still in his hand.

Prince Fielder smacked a three-run homer to lead the National League to a 5-1 win over the American League in Tuesday’s All-Star Game and clinch home field advantage in this year’s World Series. The victory gave the National League their first back-to-back All-Star Game wins for 15 years.

Two runaway circus elephants in Germany surprised passersby and police by showing up at a bus stop during a brief bid for freedom in Hanover.

WEDNESDAY

Police fired plastic bullets and a water cannon at Catholic youths in Northern Ireland’s provincial capital Belfast after rioting erupted when a Protestant parade passed their estate.

The Coast Guard ended a search for seven California sports fishermen, now presumed dead, who have been missing since the boat they were on capsized off the western coast of Mexico earlier this month.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai wept and kissed his dead brother’s face as thousands of mourners gathered for the burial of Ahmad Wali Karzai, whose assassination a day earlier has left a power vacuum in Afghanistan’s volatile south.

Compiled by the Gazette from a variety of sources.