More panic in the streets of Bishkek. "After a day of bloody protests forced Kyrgyzstan’s president to flee the capital, a transitional government led by a former foreign minister said Thursday that it had dissolved Parliament and would hold power for six months."

Smokin' in the boys' room. A Qatari with diplomatic ties tries to smoke in an airplane bathroom, mouths off to air marshals, causes a ruckus.

Little criminals. "One of three teens convicted of manslaughter in the killing of Seattle's beloved 'Tuba Man' has been charged in the robbery of another youth, and prosecutors plan to seek an exceptional sentence if he is convicted."

Dying industry. The Wall Street Journal launches its "professional edition," combining its own content with stuff from Factiva and the news wires. Watch its stock prices react here.

Suicide is painless (and contagious). "The newspapers are saying a social plague has struck mankind. Scientists contend that everything from obesity to happiness to loneliness can be 'socially contagious'—meaning that if your friend gets fat, gets happy or grows lonely, you are at increased risk of doing the same."

Mining's a hazard. "Rescue teams were turned back from a search for four missing workers at a Massey Energy Co. mine in West Virginia because of explosive conditions, Kevin Stricklin, chief of the Mine Safety and Health Administration, said today at a news conference."

It's the bomb that will bring us together. "With flourish and fanfare, President Obama and President Dmitri A. Medvedev of Russia signed a nuclear arms control treaty on Thursday and opened what they hoped would be a new era in the tumultuous relationship between two former cold war adversaries."

UPDATE

A Seattle P-I writer, who shall remain nameless, wants me to let the world know that his website had the Tuba Man story before the Times did. So now you know.

More importantly: new species of hominid discovered in South Africa.