The World

THURSDAY

Chick-fil-A reported a record-selling day after customers descended on its roughly 1,600 locations across the United States in support of the chain’s president’s contentious stance against gay marriage.

“Get me a rope, get me a ladder...I think the brakes got stuck,” declared London Mayor Boris Johnson after being stalled midair while zip-lining through the city to celebrate the U.K.’s first gold medal at this year’s Olympics.

FRIDAY

The National Collegiate Athletic Association rejected an appeal of sanctions against Penn State filed by the family of late coach Joe Paterno, after the conviction of one of the coach’s long-time assistants on child abuse sex charges.

Gay rights activists and backers of same-sex marriage held “kiss-ins” at Chick-fil-A restaurants to protest the fast-food chain president’s opposition to homosexual unions.

Roger Pion, 34, of Newport, Vermont, was arrested after allegedly running over seven police cruisers with a tractor. State police estimated the damages at $250,000.

WEEKEND

Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt retained his title of “World’s Fastest Man” by clocking a time of 9.63 seconds to win his second straight gold medal in the Olympic 100 meter sprint Sunday. Three other runners ran under 9.8 seconds to make it the fastest race ever recorded. The 100m world record was 9.85 until 2008.

Scottish tennis star Andy Murray crouched down at Centre Court in Wimbledon after topping Swiss Roger Federer 6-2 6-1 6-4 for the gold medal in Olympic men’s singles tennis play. Murray had fallen to Federer on the same court in the hallowed tournament one month earlier. Murray rebounded 45 minutes later to claim a share of the silver medal in the mixed doubles final. American Serena Williams topped Russian Maria Sharapova in the women’s singles and teamed with her sister, Venus, to top Czechs Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka in women’s doubles.

Canadian Rosannagh MacLennan claimed gold in the Olympic trampoline tournament by jumping really well.

White supremecist Wade Michael Page opened fire with his legally-purchased 9mm handgun in a Sikh temple in Wiscconsin Sunday morning, killing five men and one woman, aged between 39 and 84, including the president of the congregation and a priest.

Lightning killed a NASCAR spectator and injured nine others at Pocono Raceway in Pennsylvania on Sunday as bolts struck after lap 98 of the 160-lap race.

Toad Suck, Arkansas, was voted the “most unfortunate” town name in the U.S., edging out Climax, Ga., and Boring, Ore., for the “honor.” Toad Suck reportedly takes its name from a once popular drinking location for boaters on the Arkansas River.

MONDAY

NASA landed its rover Curiosity on the surface of Mars, where the one-ton, six-wheeled laboratory wil study the red planet as NASA’s first astrobiology mission since the 1970s Viking probes.

The military contractor formerly known as Blackwater, now Academi LLC, agreed to pay a fine of $7.5 million for trying to operate in Sudan in violation of trade sanctions and for other arms-trade breaches.

The tiny Montana town of Garryowen, where U.S. Army commander George Armstrong Custer made his last stand in 1876 against Sioux and Cheyenne warriors, was put on the auction block by owner Chris Kortlander of Malibu.

TUESDAY

Iran’s Behdad Salimikordasiabi became the world’s strongest man after lifting 455kg in the clean and jerk finals to claim gold in the London Olympic weightlifting competition.

A 15-year-old Ohio boy was hospitalized after becoming severely dehydrated in the wake of a four-day binge of playing Modern Warfare 3 on his Xbox. His mom has taken away the Xbox.

A 10 bedroom and 14 bath home on an island overlooking Miami’s Biscayne Bay sold for $47 million, setting a new record for the city’s renowned luxury real estate market.

A single home in Florida filed 741 different tax returns in a single year, receiving more than $1 million in refunds, according to a report issued by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration.

WEDNESDAY

Heavy rains pounded the Philippines, prompting a new danger alert as emergency workers rushed food, water and clothes to almost one million people after 11 straight days of monsoon downpour. Nineteen people were reported killed since Tuesday, bringing the death toll to 72 since steady rains started with Typhoon Saola last month.

An Omani court sentenced 12 people to up to a year in jail for “illegal gathering” in a further move against unrest inspired by last year’s Arab Spring revolts.

Compiled by Gazette staff from a variety of sources.