Current Events for the Week of 1 March 2010
Current Events for Monday, 1 March 2010
- Tsunami warnings canceled after huge 8.8-magnitude Chilean earthquake kills at least 708
- Chilean copper mines restart mining despite limited power supplies
- Chilean troops impose curfew in worst-ravaged cities
- Four Afghans killed by suicide attack on North Atlantic Treaty Organization-led (NATO) convoy
- Pew Research Center survey: Americans choose online newspapers over print
- 500,00-name petition opposing Ugandan anti-gay bills to be presented to the speaker of parliament
- Huge eight-foot-tall red granite head of Egyptian pharaoh Amenhotep III unearthed in Luxor
- Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic begins defense at genocide trial
- Hundreds of activists walk-out during Dutch masses to protest Roman Catholic Church’s denial of communion to homosexuals
- Violence flares at al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem, Israeli police surround holy site
- Violent storms kill at least fifteen in western Europe
- Taliban militants detonate device in southern Afghanistan, eleven civilians dead
- Spanish Interior Ministry claims Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA, Basque Homeland and Freedom) lead commander Ibon Gogeascoechea captured in northern France
- Yemen arrests twenty-one southern separatists as tensions rise
- Republicans rejects compromise over financial regulatory reform
- U.K. opens formal inquiry into passport deal
- Yemeni sappers enter northern Shi’a rebel stronghold to clear mines as part of Saada truce
- U.S. House of Representatives (House) Committee on Oversight and Government Reform finds evidence of Toyota “concealment”
- Colombian Constitutional Court blocks President Alvaro Uribe from seeking another term, former Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos Calderón leads in polls
- U.S.-led International Security Assistance Force—Afghanistan (ISAF-A) to head into Kandahar offensive later this year
- Strong 7.3-magnitude earthquake hits Okinawa
- Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak: Israeli, U.S. perspectives on nuclear Iran differ, two nations may part ways on what actions to take
- U.N. General Assembly urges further Gaza war investigation
- New York State Governor David Patterson (D.) abandons reelection campaign wrought with setbacks, allegations of improprieties
- U.S. Vice-President Joseph “Joe” Biden (D.) proposes new rules to help protect retirement savings
- Russian Federation blames drug problems on North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s (NATO) inability to curb Afghan poppy production
- Egyptian Supreme Court overrules lower court ruling banning gas sales to Israel
- Al-Qa`ida-linked Filippino group raids village, kills at least eleven
- At least nineteen killed in Guangdong fireworks explosion
- U.S. Department of Defense (Pentagon) to permit U.S. soldiers to use social networking website, like Facebook and Twitter
- Sri Lanka accused of stiffling dissidents’ voices
- Gatorade ends promotion deal with Tiger Woods
- Ivoirian opposition agrees to join coalition government
- Main Sudanese political parties reach deal on distribution of parliamentary seats
- South African navy confirms confiscation of illegal weapons aboard North Korean ship heading to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)
- Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah makes rare public appearance, meets with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
- Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan vows justice for those who planned coup attempt
- U.S. Senator Jim Bunning (R., KY) blocks passage of $10 billion package extending unemployment cash, health benefits
- CNN/Opinion Research Corporation (ORC) poll: 56% of Americans feel the federal government is a danger to our liberty
- Canada defeats U.S. in Olympic ice hockey final, becomes most watched hockey game in history
Current Events for Tuesday, 2 March 2010
- China stands its ground that diplomatic approach to Iran would be more useful than economic sanctions
- General Motors (GM) to recall some 1.3 million compact vehicles in North America over steering issues, to spend some $2.6 billion on struggling European unit Opel
- Afghan government announces ban on covering Taliban attacks
- Toyota Corporation to announce March incentives in U.S. including zero-percent financing, two-years free maintenance
- New York prosecutors clear Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) workers of any wrong-doing
- Chilean police, soldiers struggle to keep looting down in Concepción
- U.S. Institute of Medicine study: working with food industry to cut salt inclusion by ten-percent could save billions of U.S. dollars ($) in healthcare
- French President Nicolas Sarközy: Russian Federation President Dmitry Medvedev would back new Iranian economic sanctions if they do not cause a humanitarian crisis
- Western Europe storm deathtoll rises as more bodies are unearthed
- European Union (E.U.) urges deeper Greek financial cuts, pledges to help the nation; Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou: corruption is the heart of the crisis
- Sony fixes “millenium-style bug” which kept thousands of PlayStation3 owners from using its online gaming network
- Google set to purchase online photograph-editing site Picnik
- At least one coal miner dead, thirty-one trapped in flooded Inner Mongolian mine
- Australian central bank increases lending rates to four-percent in effort to curb booming economy
- U.S. consumer spending rose, again, in January
- Radar experiment aboard Indian Space Agency’s Chandrayaan-1 lunar spacecraft detects large deposits of water ice near Moon’s north pole
- Influential Pakistani Muslim scholar Dr. Tahir ul-Qadri to issue fatwa forbidding terrorism
- Nigerien junta names transitional government with renewed promises for elections
- U.S. State Department weighs-in on Argentine-British row of Falkland Islands
- U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) clears Ogden, Utah federal building housing U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) offices after hazardous material discovered
- Iranian authorities ban “reformist papers”
- Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) denies writ of certiorari for seven Chinese Uighur being held in Guantánamo Bay Naval Base detention center (Gitmo), to hear Second Amendment case McDonald v. Chicago
- Delhi, India police arrest Hindu “holy man” Shiv Murat Dwivedi for running prostitution ring
- U.S. White House: U.S. President Barack Obama planning “dramatic reductions” in American nuclear arsenal
- E.U. approves Orange, T-Mobile merger under certain conditions
- International monitors: Tajik parliamentary elections marred with fraud
- Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych to seek closer ties with E.U.
- International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA): Iran no longer cooperating with inspections
- U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Latin America on diplomatic swing
- Zimbabwean law requiring foreign-owned firms operating in that nation to sell majority stake to indigenous shareholders comes into effect
- Georgia, Russia reopen border pass closed since tensions rose in 2006
- U.S. President Obama wants federal government to do more to help prevent school dropout
- One word is on the lips of all political talking heads right now: reconciliation
Current Events for Wednesday, 3 March 2010
- Chile steps-up search for earthquake survivors
- Chinese parliament to debate long-term growth plan
- Incumbent Republican Governor of Texas Rick Perry defeats challenger U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson (R., TX) in primary election for governor
- U.S. Senate ends stand-off for extension of jobless benefits
- U.S. congressional hearing enters into evidence 2006 memorandum showing Toyota knew of defects
- U.N. Security Council (UNSECO) President Emanuel Issoze-Ngondet: Council ready to tackle Iran, despite Chinese reluctance and new-found Russian push for diplomacy
- Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman: U.S. should adopt “Cuba-like” sanctions against Iran
- Ukrainian ruling coalition collapses as newly-elected President Viktor Yanukovich moved to oust Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and consolidate power
- Bosnian Serb commander Radovan Karadzic describes Sarajevo, Srebrenica as “myths perpetuated by Bosnian Muslims”
- U.S. President Obama proposes $3,000 tax credit for homeowners who renovate in a “green” manner
- Three separate Baquba suicide attacks kill at least twenty-nine ahead of local elections
- In about-face, U.S. Special Envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke claims U.S. is “concerned” over recent press restrictions by Afghan government
- BBC uncovers evidence some money given to Ethiopia during the 1984-1985 famine was spent on weapons
- Guatemalan national chief of police Baltazar Gomez, main anti-narcotics czar Nelly Bonilla arrested for ties with drug traffickers
- Fossil find hints at prehistoric snake eating dinosaur eggs
- Ford Motors reports sales jump of 43% in February 2010
- Apple files legal action to U.S. International Trade Commission, U.S. federal district court alleging rival mobile phone maker HTC violated some twenty patents
- German Constitutional Court: vast amount of telephone, email data held by companies must be deleted
- European Commission clears genetically-modified (GM) Amflora potato for non-human consumption cultivation in European Union (E.U.), only the second GM food to be allowed
- Somali pirates hijack three U.N. trucks in worrying new development
- Explosion topples six-story building in southern Yemen, at least ten killed
- Widow of assassinated Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana arrested in France, accused of connections with 1994 genocide
- Chad agrees to extend U.N. peacekeeping operations for Darfuri refugees
- 60,000-year-old etching on South African ostrich eggs amount to graphic communication according to anthropologists
- Three pilots die as two South Korean fighter jets collide into eastern mountain
- Head of Pakistani militant group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, Qari Mohammad Zafar, dies in U.S. unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV, drone) attack
- Greek cabinet backs sweeping austerity plan
- Washington, D.C. becomes latest to legalize same-sex marriage
- Former California governor, current California Governor Jerry Brown (D.) officially declares for gubernatorial election
Current Events for Thursday, 4 March 2010
- U.S. President Obama tells congressional Democrats to “push through” healthcare reform bill
- U.S. President Obama announces clear support for banning proprietary trading by banks, U.S. Congress unlikely to pass legislation
- Iraqi infirmed, police, prisoners, soldiers vote early in Iraq elections
- Greek Deputy Foreign Minister Dimitris Droutsas calls for clear, direct E.U. statement on backing of debt
- Families of killed California state trooper, three civilians sue Toyota for knowingly allowing defects in vehicles
- Even more aftershocks felt in Chile, hampers relief efforts
- New York Governor David Patterson (D.) formally charged with breaking ethics law
- At least twenty killed in Uttar Pradesh temple collapse
- British Prime Minister Gordon Brown meets with South African President Jacob Zuma in formal state visit
- Dutch anti-immigration Freedom Party makes key gains in local elections
- Anheuser-Busch InBev declares $1.28 billion profit rise in fourth quarter of 2009
- Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono under-fire from parliament for bank bailout
- International Committee of the Red Cross and Red Crescent (ICRC) calls on international community to help Uganda after mudslide wipes-out three eastern villages
- Taiwan suffers 6.4-magnitude earthquake that disrupts power supplies, high-speed rail
- China to slow military spending, 7.5% budget commitment still worries West
- U.N. discussing end to Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) peacekeeping mission
- Indonesian police arrest thirteen suspected rebels in Aceh
- Togolese voters head to the polls hoping for no violence
- University of Texas, Austin researchers identify “oldest dinosaur,” Asilisaurus kongwe
- U.S. Federal Reserve report: economic recovery hampered by East’s snowy winter
- U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) investigating cases of children directing flights taking-off from John F. Kennedy International Airport
- Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim: U.S. cannot pressure Brazil over trade deals with Iran
- Ukrainian parliament passes motion of no-confidence in Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko’s government
- Push to have former U.S. President Ronald Reagan (R.) replace former U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant on the $50 bill gains steam
- U.S. House of Represenatives (House) Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charlie Rangel (D., NY) to take “leave of absence” from chairmanship, not to step-down
Current Events for Friday, 5 March 2010
- Violence mars early Iraq voting, suicide bombers kill a dozen
- Icelanders upset with repayment plan for Anglo-Dutch bailout set to veto terms in weekend referendum
- U.S. Obama administration struggles with where to hold terrorism suspects’ trials
- U.S. Senators Joseph “Joe” Lieberman (I., CT), John McCain (R., AZ) to propose legislation requiring terrorism suspects to be tried by military commission
- U.S. investigating claims Toyota accelerator fixes have not worked, Toyota denies
- Chile to ask international community for loans, not aid
- U.S. House Foreign Relations Committee votes 23-22 to put non-binding resolution condemning Turkish killing of Armenians during World War I as genocide to a full vote, Turkey condemns and recalls Turkish Ambassador to the U.S. Nabi Sensoy
- Man shot, wounded two Pentagon security officers before being shot, killed himself
- California university students rally against planned tuition hikes at state universities
- Afghan imam Ahmad Afzali pleads guilty in U.S. court for tipping-off Najibullah Zazi, lying to FBI
- Commander, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) U.S. Army General David Petraeus gives Command, International Security Assistance Force—Afghanistan (ISAF-A), Commander U.S. Forces Afghanistan (USFOR-A) U.S. Army General Stanley McChrystal more authority, virtual control over all personnel in Afghanistan
- Southern Poverty Law Center survey: extremist right-wing groups, militas have surged since election of U.S. President Obama
- U.S. House approves $15 billion jobs bill
- Indonesian, Malaysian navies step-up security in Malacca Strait after Singapore issues warning about possible terrorist attacks on oil tankers
- Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych visits Russian Federation in key trip
- At least three killed in Hangu, Pakistan suicide attack
- Four militants, one soldier die in two-day gun-battle in Indian-administered Kashmir
- Indian police investigating negligence in temple stampede that killed at least sixty-three
- Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao tells annual parliamentary conference the gap between rich and poor must be closed for China to move forward
- Stanford University researchers: simple deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) test could determine “best” diet to follow for weight-loss
- Another top Afghan commander, Agha Jan Mohtasim, being held by Pakistani authorities
- Mexico City enacts law allowing same-sex couples to marry
- Germany suggests Greece sells some of its uninhabited islands to help pay-off debts
- Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s memoir to be published this autumn
- European Central Bank keeps Eurozone key interest rate at 1%
- Microsoft releases first application intended for mobile phones running Google’s Android operating system (OS)
- U.S. Representative Sander Levin (D., MI) named acting U.S. House Ways and Means Committee chairman