The world

THURSDAY

A machete-wielding man rode his bicycle into a little girl’s birthday party in Florida, clipping the right pinkie of the girl’s father, before he snatched up all the beer from the party and rode off.

Astronomers discovered a planet twice the size of Earth, named “55 Cancrei e” that is made primarily out of diamond.

Alaska Airlines ordered 50 new Boeing 737 jetliners worth $5 billion, its largest order ever.

Florida Gov. Rick Scott gave out a phone sex hotline number to Floridians seeking information on a deadly fungal meningitis outbreak.

Orthodox Jewish groups sued New York City to block a new rule requiring parental consent for a circumcision ritual in which the circumciser uses his mouth to draw blood from the baby’s penis.

FRIDAY

A U.S. Border Patrol agent shot at suspected drug smugglers near Nogales, Ariz., who were hurling rocks from Mexico into the U.S. One was killed.

An experimental communications satellite flying piggyback aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket fell out of orbit and burned up re-entering the atmosphere. The flight was the first of 12 SpaceX is making for NASA under a $1.6 billion contract.

Dallas mother Elizabeth Escalona was sentenced to 99 years in prison for supergluing her 2-year-old daughter’s hands to the walls of their apartment because of toilet-training problems.

Animals at the Rotterdam Zoo in the Netherlands received an extra shipment of bananas after customs agents in Antwerp found massive amounts of cocaine in boxes of bananas. The drugs were destroyed before the fruit was given to the zoo’s monkeys.

WEEKEND

Austrian daredevil Felix Baumgartner, 43, jumped from a skateboard-sized shelf at the edge of space 24 miles above the earth, setting a record for the highest skydive and breaking the sound barrier in the process. His body pierced the atmosphere at 833.9 miles per hour. He landed safely on the ground outside Roswell, New Mexico, raising his arms in a victory salute just 10 minutes after he began his plunge.

A U.S. Navy cruiser collided with a nuclear submarine during training exercises off the East Coast Saturday, but little damage ensued.

Space Shuttle Endeavor rolled through the narrow streets of Los Angeles in a paradestyle move to its retirement home at the California Science Center.

Hikers in McKelligon Canyon outside El Paso, Texas, were chased away when they walked too near to a cave in which a half-naked man has been living for about three years, according to residents of the area.

MONDAY

Both the King County Council and the Seattle City Council approved a public financing deal to build a new NBA arena.

Emergency crews found the body of Jose Malena, 62, who had been cooked to death inside a device called a “steamer machine” at the Bumble Bee Foods factory in Santa Fe Springs, Calif.

A Chinese scientist said recently discovered fossil records reveal prehistoric Chinese people ate giant pandas as part of their diet.

The body of Tomas Puerta, 54, who was killed and partially eaten by a bear, was discovered near the southeast Alaska city of Sitka.

TUESDAY

A gunman in a van shot and critically wounded a Canadian border officer at the Peace Arch border crossing at Blaine. The shooter then immediately killed himself.

A rare magnitude 4.5 earthquake struck Maine and was felt as far away as Boston for 20 to 30 seconds.

The new South Sudan parliament ratified a border and oil deal with Sudan intended to settle the countries’ two-decade civil war.

United Kingdom officcials denied a United States request to extradite computer hacker Gary McKinnon who is accused of causing more than $700,000 damage to American military systems because of the risk he would kill himself.

WEDNESDAY

Nike terminated its long-time endorsement contract with cycling legend Lance Armstrong after U.S. anti-doping officials issued a report detailing his use of performance-enhancing drugs while he was the world’s premier cyclist.

Nigerian pirates seized a ship and kidnapped six Russian and Estonian crew members off the Gulf of Guinea.

Compiled by Gazette staff from a variety

of sources.