The World

THURSDAY

After 244 years, the Encyclopedia Britannica is going out of print, citing its obsolescence in the digital age. Final version of the leather-bound reference books once sold by door-to-door salesmen is the 32-volume 2010 edition, which weighs 129 pounds.

Greg Smith, a Goldman Sachs executive, resigned with a scathing editorial exposing the firm as greedy profiteers who referred to their clients as “muppets.” Smith, who noted he won a bronze medal for ping pong in the Jewish olympics, also criticized the sun for rising in the east.

A German camerman trampled and killed a fawn-colored baby rabbit he was sent to film because it was uniquely born without ears at a zoo in Limbach-Oberfrohna.

Convicted former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich surrendered at a federal prison in Colorado to begin serving a 14-year sentence on corruption charges. He was assigned inmate number 40892-424.

FRIDAY

The U.S. Army identified Staff Sergeant Robert Bales as the soldier implicated in the massacre of 16 villagers in Afghanistan. Bales, a four-tour veteran, is suspected of walking off his base and gunning down the 16 civilians. Bales, 38, was transferred to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. His attorney said Monday Bales did not remember the incident.

Dharun Ravi, 20, a former Rutgers University student, was found guilty of hate crimes for using a computer webcam to spy on a homosexual tryst of his roommate in a case that put a national spotlight on gay bullying. His roommate, Tyler Clementi, 18, committed suicide by jumping off the George Washington Bridge three days after learning Ravi posted the film on the internet.

A group of U.S. lawmakers and film star George Clooney were arrested at Sudan’s embassy in Washington in a protest accusing the country’s leaders of launching air strikes at its starving citizens in a border clash with South Sudan.

A 56-year-old worker was killed when he was buried under a 20-foot mound of pinto beans at a warehouse in eastern Colorado.

WEEKEND

A militia loyal to Iraqi Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr freed Randy Michaels, an American former soldier after holding him captive in Baghdad for nine months.

Julian Assange, founder and leader of WikiLeaks, plans to run for a seat in Australia’s upper house of parliament.

Ogden, Utah, great-great grandmother Mary Allen Hardison became the oldest woman to paraglide after taking to the air to celebrate her 101st birthday.

Mexican authorities found the severed heads of 10 people killed in a suspected outbreak of drug gang violence in a small city north of Acapulco.

MONDAY

The Idaho Senate approved a measure requiring women seeking abortions to undergo an ultrasound before ending a pregnancy, joining a number of states passing ultrasound measures to discourage abortions.

Four-time NFL Most Valuable Player Peyton Manning announced he will sign a free agent contract with the Denver Broncos after leaving the Indianapolis Colts, for whom he had played the previous 14 years. The contract was said to be for five years and $96 million, the richest in the league.

Koga, a 400-pound, 24-year-old silverback male gorilla, escaped his cage at the Buffalo Zoo, biting a female zookeeper before being tranquilized and captured in what a SWAT team leader called, “the scariest thing I’ve ever done.”

TUESDAY

Scientists announced a new phase in the search to resolve the disappearance of Amelia Earhart. Citing fresh evidence from a remote Pacific Island, scientists and aviation archaeologists will set out from Honolulu in July to probe underwater areas around the Phoenix Islands in Kiribati where they believe Earhart may have crashed 75 years ago.

Researchers discovered mother chimpanzees have been teaching their children how to communicate with humans, using similar calls, from lip-smacking to blowing kisses.

A major 7.4-magnitude earthquake struck Mexico City, unleashing panic as it damaged hundreds of buildings and caused homes in the capital to bounce like “trampolines.”

WEDNESDAY

A Russian court rejected a call from prosecutors to ban one of Hinduism’s holiest books. Prosecutors argue that the book - a translation of the Bhagavad Gita - included a commentary that was ‘hostile to other faiths’.

Compiled by Gazette staff from a variety

of sources.