The World

THURSDAY

The strongest solar storm since 2004 sent an electromagnetic pulse toward earth, creating a strong Aurora Baurealis, but sparing problems to satellite and power systems.

A video made by non-profit Invisible Children that called for the arrest of Joseph Kony, fugitive leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army in Uganda, went viral across the Internet, sparking a trendy wave of celebrity outrage.

A Puyallup woman learned her estranged husband had remarried a second woman without divorcing her after Facebook suggested the second wife as a “friend” to the first wife. Corrections officer Alan L. O’Neill, 41, was booked on bigamy charges and released.

Robert Young, 43, and Mark Rubinson, 25, plead guilty to misdemeanor charges of abusing the corpse of their friend Jeffrey Jarrett after driving around Denver with the dead man and using his debit card to fuel a strip club adventure. Jarrett died from a lethal combination of drugs and alcohol.

FRIDAY

The Department of Agriculture defended the use of ammonium-treated beef, dubbed “pink slime,” in school lunches. The product, beef trimmings treated partly with ammonium hydroxide to fight contamination, could appear on cafeteria trays this spring. McDonald’s deemed the product too shady for their restaurants.

The federal government withdrew funding for a Texas program providing more than 100,000 poor women with birth control and other health services because Planned Parenthood clinics were banned by the state Legislature.

Banks foreclosed on a record 138 churches in 2011 as more and more religious institutions have defaulted on balloon mortgage payments.

A group of plant scientists warned federal regulators that action is needed to mitigate a growing problem with biotech corn produced by Monsanto that is losing its resistance to plant-damaging pests, costing farmers steep losses in yields.

WEEKEND

A U.S. soldier went on a door-to-door killing rampage in an Afghanistan village in Kandahar province, killing 16 villagers, including nine children. The killings stoked more anti-American sentiment in Afghanistan, including retaliatory strikes by Taliban forces over ensuing days. Video footage from an overhead blimp showed the soldier walk back to his base after the attack, lay down his weapon and surrender. He was ordered detained by a military tribunal Tuesday. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Monday the U.S. government may seek the death penalty for the soldier. The soldier’s name has yet to be released.

An Egyptian army court acquitted an army doctor of forcing a virginity test on a pro-democracy protester.

A San Diego area school district agreed to pay a $4.4 million settlement to Scott Eveland, a 22-year-old man who suffered a head injury playing high school football and now must communicate through a keyboard.

MONDAY

Illinois Governor Pat Quinn derided FEMA for denying federal aid to five counties that were hit by a deadly tornado which left seven dead last month. FEMA administrator Craig Fugate said there was adequate support from local sources.

A budget battle in New Jersey’s capital city of Trenton has led to a shortage of toilet paper at police headquarters, fire stations, senior centers and municipal offices. The city council in November rejected a $42,000 spending request for a year’s supply of paper products.

A Guatemalan court sentenced former special forces soldier Pedro Pimentel, 55, to 6,060 years in prison for participating in a 1982 massacre that claimed 201 lives. The soldiers blindfolded, strangled and bludgeoned villagers and a newborn child to death with a sledgehammer before dumping them down a 49-foot-deep well.

TUESDAY

Six-year-old Lori Anne Madison of Woodbridge, Virginia, became the youngest contestant ever to gain entry in the Scripps National Spelling Bee after winning a regional competition in Prince William County. Her winning word: “vaquero,” a word of Spanish origin meaning cowboy.

A ferry carrying more than 250 passengers sank in a south Bangladesh river after colliding with a barge. At least 150 people are still missing.

A near-bankrupt Los Angeles Little League that allowed some 300 children to play ball reversed its decision to accept a $1,200 donation from the Jet Strip gentleman’s club. Teams would not have had to wear the Jet Strip logo on their uniforms, as the Bad News Bears did for “Bo-Peeps Gentleman’s Club.”

Compiled by Gazette staff from a variety

of sources.