The World

THURSDAY

Verizon Wireless announces it will add a $2 surcharge to customers who pay their bills online or by phone. Friday, after receiving backlash from customers and federal regulators, the firm scrapped the fee.

Greek tax officials began a 48-hour strike to protest salary cuts and other austerity measures as the government moves to meet budget targets demanded by international creditors.

Two died and 61 other people were injured in a pre-dawn pilup of 40 cars, vans and trucks in a dense early morning fog on Interstate 10 in New Orleans. The route was closed for hours in both directions as ofificals cleaned up the mess.

FRIDAY

A suspected arsonist torched dozens of vehicles in Hollywood during a four-hour onslaught that began shortly after midnight and kept firefighters scrambling to douse fires in 21 spots in the city. Police arrested 24-year-old Harry Burkhart Monday in connection with the fires.

For the first time, the top exported product of the United States is gasoline, diesel and jet fuel, sending $73.4 billion worth of fuel overseas through October 2011. That total topped the number two export, aircraft, which U.S. firms exported $70.8 billion worth.

Samoa cut out Friday as the tiny South Pacific island nation moved its time zone to the other side of the international date line to catch up with trade partners in Asia, New Zealand and Australia.

U.S. officials agreed to sell $3.48 billion worth of missiles and technology to the United Arab Emirates to build up the defense of a friendly middle east ally.

WEEKEND

President Barack Obama signed a $662 billion defense bill that allows the U.S. to detain, interrogate and prosecute suspected terrorists - even those who are American citizens. Obama said his administration will not detain citizens. As for future presidents...

An unusual 4.0-magnitude earthquake struck Ohio on New Year’s Eve, triggered - officials said - by hydraulic fracking of natural gas exploration.

Two doctors were arrested on murder charges in a Maryland suburb of Washington, D.C., after traveling in to perform late-term abortions.

MONDAY

Searchers found the body of Iraq war veteran Benjamin Colton Barnes, 24, partiallly submerged in frozen Paradise Creek at Mount Rainier National Park a day after he shot and killed park ranger Margaret Anderson. Barnes was found dressed only in jeans, a T-shirt and one tennis shoe. Barnes had fled to the mountain after being involved in a New Year’s party shooting in the Skyway neighborhood of Renton.

Iran test fired a surface to surface cruise missile in naval drills at the Strait of Hormuz, gateway for one-sixth of the world’s oil supply. Iran has been undertaking naval maneuvers for the past 10 days.

The price of longshot riches got bigger, as Powerball lottery organizers doubled the price of a ticket in the multi-state lottery to $2.

Soul legend Aretha Franklin, 69, announced her engagement to long-time friend Willie Wilkerson, informing reporters “No, I’m not pregnant.”

TUESDAY

Mitt Romney eked out a decimal-point victory over surging Rick Santorum to claim the Iowa Republican caucus, the first official primary in the 2012 presidential nomination process. Each had 25 percent of the vote, with Romney holding a lead of fewer than 10 votes Wednesday morning. Rep. Ron Paul of Texas was a close third with 21 percent of the vote.

Protestors rioted over spiraling gas prices in Nigeria after the government did away with a gas subsidy program that had kept fuel prices low for more than two decades. Gas stations were vandalized as prices rose from about $1.70 per gallon to more than $3.50 per gallon. Most Nigerians subsist on $2 a day.

A stray cat in West Valley City, Utah, was adopted after twice being sent to the city’s gas chamber and surviving.

Investigators combed Queen Elizabeth II’s country estate after a neighbor walking a dog through trees on the property discovered the body of a woman on the 20,000-acre property. An autopsy revealed the body had been there for one to four months.

The New York Stock Exchange threatened to delist once-powerful Eastman Kodak Co., as its stock price has traded for less than $1 for 30 consecutive days.

WEDNESDAY

Colonel Riad al-Assad, commander of Syria’s armed rebels, threatened to step up attacks on President Bashar al-Assad’s forces as government crackdowns on protestors have escalated despite the presence of Arab League monitors.

A mass grave containing at least 10 human skulls was discovered by construction workers in Afghanistan near the site of a bloody battle during the country’s civil war of the early 1990s.

Compiled by Gazette staff from a variety

of sources.