The world - Jan. 13, 2010

THURSDAY

About 500 dead birds were discovered in Louisiana, after more than 5,000 were found dead in Arkansas on New Year’s Day. Scientists with the U.N. Environmental Program said there was no apocalyptic connection, suggesting instead hail, lightning or fireworks were responsible for the deaths.

Jim McCullar, a retired aerospace worker from Ephrata, won $190 million for holding one of two winning tickets in the Mega Millions lottery. He has three times been pronounced dead at a Wenatchee hospital for heart problems.

Stock broker Paul George Chironis was ordered by the Securities and Exchange Commission to pay $350,000 to settle charges he fleeced the Sisters of Charity order of nuns.

FRIDAY

The massive floods striking Australia have wiped out much of the country’s key coal mining infrastructure. Experts predict a five percent reduction in steel-making coal and an increase of one-third or more in coal prices.

India and Sri Lanka signed an agreement to restart sea ferry services shut down for nearly 30 years, the latest sign of resurgent economic ties since the end of Sri Lanka’s quarter-century civil war.

Ted Williams, a 53-year-old former radio announcer who became homeless after battling drugs and alcohol, became an internet sensation when a YouTube video showed him using his radio MC imitations to beg for money. He has since been offered jobs with the Cleveland Cavaliers basketball team and foodmaker Kraft.

Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour freed two sisters from a state prison where they were serving life sentences for an $11 armed robbery on condition that one donate a kidney to the other.

WEEKEND

Five people, including federal judge John Roll and a 9-year-old girl, were killed after Jared Loughner, a 22-year-old Tucson man, went on a shooting spree at a political meeting held by Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords on Saturday. Giffords was hospitalized and was said later in the week to be recovering.

Authorities found 15 bodies, 14 of which had been decapitated in an Acapulco, Mexico, shopping mall with threatening hand-written messages that are typically left as a calling card by drug cartels, as the nation’s drug war escalated even further.

Belgium’s King Albert announced he will order a plan to tackle the nation’s mounting debt crisis after talks stalled between parties in the nation’s parliament.

Kenya recovered 81 elephant tusks weighing 249 kg and valued at $30,830 in a poaching containment sweep in the northern part of the country.

MONDAY

U.S. researchers said people who were infected with the H1N1 swine flu have developed antibodies that could protect them from many types of flu strains, including the Spanish flu and the bird flu.

Researchers with Carnegie Mellon University unveiled a study that showed Twitter users have regional dialects. The study found Twitter users in southern California might tweet “coo” for “cool,” while those in northern California are more likely to write “koo.” The word “very” is often expressed as “OD” in New York and “hella” in northern California, the study found.

George Manuel Flores, aka “Boxer,” the former kingpin of the Barrio Hawaiian Gardens gang in Los Angeles, was sentenced to 30 years in prison for trafficing cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin and marijuana.

TUESDAY

Boston emergency services debuted a specialized ambulance designed to carry obese patients. The ambulance is equipped with a special stretcher that can hold 850 lb. and a hydraulic lift with a 1,000 lb. capacity.

Thousands of dead gizzard shad, a small fish of the herring family, were found frozen in ice or floating in open patches of water along the Chicago lakefront in what officials believe is a weather related die-off.

The Newark, N.J., police department disbanded its 120-year-old horse-mounted unit because of budgetary constraints.

WEDNESDAY

The United States Department of Agriculture announced the country’s grain stockpiles are the lowest in years, as global bad weather and rising demand have drained worldwide food supplies. Forecasts for year-end inventories of U.S. corn fell nearly 8 percent to 10.1 billion bushels, the lowest level in a decade and a half.

North Korea contacted South Korea via a border “hotline” in the first direct communication between the neighbors since the North’s deadly shelling of a South Korean island in November.

The British government announced it will allow taverns to stay open until 1 a.m. on April 29 and 30 in celebration of the marriage of Prince William to his fiancee Kate Middleton. Pubs close at 11 p.m.

Compiled by Gazette staff from a variety of sources