1. American man has 29 college degrees

An American from Michigan has earned 29 degrees and is now pursuing his 30th.

Michael Nicholson of Kalamazoo, 71, has one bachelor's degree, two associate's degrees, 22 master's degrees, three specialist degrees and one doctoral degree. Most of the degrees are related to education such as educational leadership, library science and school psychology*, but other degrees include home economics, health education and law enforcement.

2. Samaras takes office as Greece's PM 22

Antonis Samaras, a 61-year-old U.S.-educated economist, became the fourth prime minister of Greece in eight months.

On June 20, Samaras, leader of the New Democracy party, was sworn into office, ushering* in a new coalition government that will put Greece back at Europe's bargaining table and ending a seven-week leadership vacuum* that had destabilized this already fragile nation and cast a shadow over the euro zone's future.

3. Turkey calls for NATO meeting over Syria

Turkey on June 24 called for an extraordinary meeting of NATO after one of its planes was shot down by Syria in international airspace after it had mistakenly strayed* into Syrian territory.

Turkey insisted the plane was not on a spying mission, and filed an official protest note to Damascus. State-run TRT television reported that Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu had called the meeting for June 26 over article 4 of the NATO charter concerning June 22's incident.

4. German banker admits bribery in Ecclestone F1 case 22 P6

A former German bank boss admitted on June 20 receiving tens of millions of euros in bribes from Formula One mogul* Bernie Ecclestone, breaking months of silence in the case.

Gerhard Gribkowsky told a court in Munich, southern Germany, that the charges against him were "essentially true." He stands accused of receiving nearly 44 million euros (US$56 million) from Ecclestone in 2006 and 2007 in connection with the sale of Formula One rights to CVC, the private equity investor which owns most of the multi-billion-dollar sport.

5. Nigeria violence kills at least 80

At least 80 people have been killed since June 18 in clashes in two northern Nigerian cities triggered by Islamists waging* an insurgency* against the government, figures from police and the Red Cross showed on June 20.

Boko Haram insurgents waged gun battles with security forces in the remote northeastern city of Damaturu, near the radical sect's heartland, throughout June 19, police chief for the surrounding Yobe state Patrick Egbuniwe told reporters.

6. WikiLeaks' Assange seeks asylum

WikiLeaks' founder Julian Assange has taken refuge in Ecuador's embassy in London and asked for asylum*, officials said on June 19, in a last-ditch* bid to avoid extradition* to Sweden.

Ecuadorean Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino said his country would weigh the request from the self-styled anti-secrecy campaigner, whose Web site is famous for leaking hundreds of thousands of U.S. diplomatic cables.

7. Morsi wins Egypt election

Mohammed Morsi was declared Egypt's first Islamist president on June 24 after the freest election in the country's history, narrowly defeating Hosni Mubarak's last Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq in a race that raised political tensions in Egypt to a fever pitch.

The country's last four presidents over the past six decades have all came from the ranks of the military. This is the first time modern Egypt will be headed by an Islamist and by a freely elected civilian.