World: South Korea put its troops on alert after North Korea claimed to have unilaterally cancelled the 1953 armistice that ended the Korean War. The North also shut down the Red Cross telephone hotline between the two countries used for aid discussions and to link separated families. North Korea has escalated its rhetoric in recent weeks in protest of international sanctions, even threatening nuclear attack. The United Nations says that despite what the North claims, the armistice stands.

• The 115 Catholic cardinals today begin their secret deliberations to select a new pope. They lock themselves in and don’t come out until they have chosen.
• The number of dead pigs in a river floating through Shanghai, China has reached 3,300. Authorities still don’t know where they came from.

National: Former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick has been found guilty of racketeering, extortion, bribery, mail, wire fraud, and tax charges during his seven years in office. Prosecutors said Kilpatrick steered $85 million in city contracts to his friend Bobby Ferguson, who was also found guilty.  Some attribute part of Detroit’s steep decline to Kilpatrick’s stewardship. The city government is about to be taken over by a state-appointed manager. Kilpatrick could get up to 20 years in prison.

• The administration at Harvard has been caught secretly checking the Emails of 16 deans to find out who leaked news of a student cheating scandal to the press. At least 125 students in a government class last spring were involved and half were suspended. The administration apologized for snooping. But just to re-cap: One of the world’s most respected universities founded on free speech and thought, at which students learning about good government cheated, spied on its employees in order to punish the ones who told the truth to a free press, which is protected by good government and fostered by great universities.

Hole in One: A golfer in Waterloo, IL was swallowed by a sinkhole 18 feet deep. Mark Mihal is quoted as saying, “I was standing in the middle of the fairway. Then, all of a sudden, before I knew it, I was underground.” It took 20 minutes to pull him out. He dislocated a shoulder.

Big Gulp: Celebrate with a 32-ouncer! A New York judge threw out Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s ban on large, sugar-loaded drinks. The judge called the ban “arbitrary and capricious”.  The city’s rule applied only to businesses governed by the city health department, but not stores regulated by the state, like 7-11, where the 41oz Slurpee was never in danger. The mayor is trying to fight obesity.

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