The World

THURSDAY

A computer glitch was determined to be the cause of the premature and thunderous end to an Independence Day pyrotechnic show in San Diego, where all 20,000 fireworks of the $350,000 show lit the sky in 15 seconds, instead of the scheduled 17 minutes.

A VIP mortgage program run by now-defunct Countrywide Financial Corp was used to influence lawmakers with the aim of killing legislation that could hurt the company’s profits, according to a newly-released congressional report.

Seychelles’ vital fishing industry is recovering after international anti-piracy efforts and boats carrying armed guards deterred attacks by Somali pirates that sank the industry over the past two years.

At least 10 people died earlier in central Honduras after drinking moonshine spiked with methanol.

FRIDAY

Firefighters, police and other public workers in Scranton, Penn., saw their pay slashed to the $7.75 minimum wage as part of a plan initiated by Mayor Chris Doherty to close a $16.8 million budget gap. The plan cut the wages for 390 workers who had been earning between $19 to $36 an hour.

A helicopter carrying voting material for Saturday’s election in Libya made a forced landing near the eastern town of Benghazi after being struck by anti-aircraft fire in an attack which killed one person on board, a local official said.

WEEKEND

Democratic Representative Barney Frank wed his longtime partner, James Ready, on Saturday, becoming the first sitting congressman to enter into a same-sex marriage.

Ronn Matt, a 46-year-old Chicagoan, pulled an upset win in the International Cherry Pit Spitting Championship in southwestern Michigan after expelling a pit 69 feet to become the first champion not named Krause or Lessard in 20 years.

American tennis great Serena Williams won her fifth Wimbledon crown with a 6-1 5-7 6-2 win over Agnieszka Radwanska. On the men’s side, Brit Andy Murray ended his bid to become the first Englishman to win the grand slam event in 76 years by pushing a forehand shot just out of bounds to give Swiss great Roger Federer his record-equaling seventh Wimbledon title in a 4-6 7-5 6-3 6-4 match.

A voluntary tax on tourists who visit the luxury resorts and white sands of the Maldives, the beautiful island chain threatened by rising sea levels, could raise up to $100 million a year towards the country’s aim to become carbon neutral by 2020.

MONDAY

Scorching temperatures in June’s second half helped the continental United States break its record for the hottest first six months in a calendar year the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said. Every state except Washington had warmer-than-average temperatures for the June 2011-June 2012 period.

Police in Saanich, Victoria, British Columbia, nabbed the notorious “BBQ bandits,” a pair of university students who stole a bag of potato chips from a neighbor’s garage. Saanich Police Sgt. Dean Jantzen said the bandits nabbed “very specific, and hard-to-obtain, barbecue chips” in an honest-to-God press conference held on the burglary.

A great white shark attacked a California man’s kayak off the Pacific coast, biting a chunk out of the boat and throwing the kayaker from the vessel, but the man survived without a scratch.

Francesco Schettino, captain of the wrecked cruise liner Costa Concordia, apologized for the accident in which as many as 32 people died and said he had been distracted when the vast ship struck the rock which holed it.

TUESDAY

A Texas law requiring voters to have photo identification was passed to discourage Hispanics and African-Americans from casting ballots, an expert witness for the U.S. government testified in a landmark trial. The federal government has blocked the law and Texas has sued to overturn the decision.

Dairy farmers sprayed thousands of liters of milk outside the European Parliament in Brussels, creating a “milk lake” to protest against low prices.

Jewish religious leaders will hold an international meeting in Berlin to discuss how to respond to a German court ruling against performing circumcision on baby boys.

WEDNESDAY

A federal judge will consider whether Mississippi’s last abortion clinic should remain open while it challenges a new state law that tightens requirements.

Researchers say a pair of 3,000-year-old mummified corpses that were recently discovered in Scotland are actually composed of body parts originating from six different people.

Compiled by Gazette staff from a variety

of sources.