Current Events for the Week of 29 March 2010
Current Events for Monday, 29 March 2010
- High-level Israeli cabinet minister Benjamin Begin: U.S. stance on settlements will bolster Palestinian hardliners, hinder peace efforts
- Chinese court sentences four Australian Rio Tinto employees to seven to fourteen years in-prison for taking bribes, stealing commercial secrets
- Two female suicide bombers kill at least thirty-seven, wound at least thirty-eight on crowded morning rush-hour Moscow subway
- Japanese retail sales jumped in February, credit given to government stimulus measures
- Former Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi declared winner of Iraqi election, “open to all” in coalition talks, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki vows court challenge
- Latest Apple iPad buyers will have to wait until 12 April 2010 due to demand
- Sheikh Ahmed bin Zayed Al Nahayan’s plane goes-down in Morocco, authorities searching resevoir for wreckage
- Iceland hopes for International Monetary Fund (IMF) review within weeks
- Arab League fails to find accord on whether to back indirect talks between Israelis, Palestinians
- Mexican President Felipe Calderón: powerful American lobby groups “hurdle” in drug war
- United States (U.S.) President Barack Obama makes first presidential visit to Afghanistan, rallies troops
- Group of Eight (G8) foreign ministers to meet, discuss economic sanctions on Iran
- Thousands protest against Russian Federation Prime Minister Vladimir Putin in Arkhangelsk
- Russian Federation accuses U.S. of collusion with Afghan drug lords
- United Nations’ (U.N.) Human Rights Watch (HRW), Special Representative of the Secretary General of the United Nations in Democratic Republic of the Congo Alan Doss: more peacekeepers needed to secure area under Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebels
- BBC uncovers evidence of LRA massacre of at least 321 people
- Clashes along Gaza border prompt harsh words from Israel
- U.S. White House: U.S. President Obama to make fifteen recess appointments held-up by Republicans in U.S. Congress
- Party official among six killed in western Iraq bombings
- Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva holds talks with Red Shirt protesters
- Millions worldwide turn-off lights for Earth Hour
- Ethiopian opposition barred from seeing jailed leader Birtukan Mideksa after U.S. Department of State report questions her mental health
- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad welcomes regional leaders for Persian New Year
- Former Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin (R.) stumps for former running-mate U.S. Senator John McCain (R., AZ)
- Northern Chile hit by 6.2-magnitude earthquake, no immediate damage reported
- South Korean navy vessel sunk, North Korea claims responsibility
- Russian Federation President Dimitry Medvedev, U.S. President Obama sign new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START)
- North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen: NATO must sign missile defense pact
- Bomb explodes outside Athenian public building, kills one
- Fox cancels 24
- Chinese automaker Geely to purchase Volvo from Ford Motors for $1.8 billion
- Prominent Chinese human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng tells journalists he is in hiding in northern China
- Captured Colombian soldier freed by Fuerzas Armidas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC, Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia)
- Palestinian Authority (P.A.) President Mahmoud Abbas rules-out direct talks with Israel
Current Events for Tuesday, 30 March 2010
- Two Chinese economists urge renewed yuan (¥) rise
- U.S. National Traffic Safety Board (NTSB) turns to National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) for help in analyzing Toyota electronics
- G8 ministers call for tough measures against Iran, unveil Afghan-Pakistani economic plan
- Russian subway bombing details emerge, deathtoll rises to thirty-nine
- U.S. Department of Justice: Tennessee man pleads guilty to plotting to kill U.S. President Obama, others
- Suspected Mexican drug cartel hitmen kill ten children, teenagers in restive North
- U.S. Department of Defense (Pentagon) to put pressure on Afghan President Hamid Karzai over corruption
- U.S. military official: U.S. eyeing unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV, “drone”) sales to Pakistan by end of the year
- Nine members of Michigan Christian militia group Hutaree charged in federal court with conspiring to wage war against the U.S.
- Israel to permit clothes, shoes to enter Gaza Strip for first time in three-year blockade
- Iranian diplomat Heshmatollah Attarzadeh freed by Pakistani kidnappers after eighteen months in detention
- Roman Catholic Church in Germany launches telephone hotline for victims of sexual abuse
- Hyderabad, India imposes curfew after religious clashes kill one, injure dozens
- NATO to fully launch Kandahar offensive “in June”
- Amnesty International: China executes “thousands” each year, only reports a fraction
- Mexican soldiers arrest several in-connection with Cuidad Juarez consular shooting
- Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi makes gains in regional polls
- South Korean Defense Minister Kim Tae-young: mine may have sunk naval vessel
- Former U.N. International Atomic Energy Association (IAEA) chief Mohammed ElBaradei uses Facebook to urge political reform in Egypt
- Libyan leader Muammar Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi urges ethnic divisions to solve Nigerian crisis
- Twin car bombs in Karbala kill five, wound scores more
- U.S. consumer spending growth slows
- U.S. Department of the Treasury: U.S. government planning to sell its 27% stake in Citi
- Swedish telecommunications manufacturer Ericsson announces $1.8 billion deal with China Mobile, China Unicom
- Nigerien junta arrests ten former ministers, cabinet members loyal to ousted president Mamadou Tandja
- Delaware, Tennessee to receive “Race to the Top” funds
- U.S. Department of Justice: 33-year-old Pennsylvania man arrested, charged with threatening to kill U.S. House of Representatives (House) Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R., VA)
Current Events for Wednesday, 31 March 2010
- Two blasts, one a suicide bomber, kill at least eleven in Kizlar, Dagestan, Russian Federation
- Some Yahoo email accounts hacked in China, Taiwan
- New iPhone specifics leaked, front-facing camera and possible multi-tasking on list
- ABC News: Iranian nuclear scientist Shahram Amiri has defected to the U.S., helping U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
- U.S. President Obama seeking U.N. sanctions on Iran “within weeks”
- Chinese uproar over hospital dumping dead babies’ bodies into river
- Dallas Federal Reserve Bank President Richard Fisher: U.S. rebound on good footing
- Federal judge dismisses shareholder lawsuit alleging American International Group (AIG) missed “red flags”
- U.S. President Obama signs final healthcare bill changes
- Group of Twenty (G20), IMF urge nations to tighten financial rules
- U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman U.S. Navy Admiral Mike Mullen in Afghanistan, hears litany of needs
- Google: Chinese “Great Firewall” blocked search on Tuesday
- The European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) turns-on Large Hadron Collider (LHC), slams two protons traveling at 99% the speed of light together
- U.S. President Obama set to sign new student loan initiative
- Apple application developers: iPad apps will cost more
- Helmand, Afghanistan suicide blast kills seven
- At least five Pakistani soldiers killed in militant attack on Khyber camp
- International donors meet at U.N. to decide money for Haiti
- Chinese, Taiwanese officials meet, discuss more liberal trade deals
- California teacher who inspired the film Stand and Deliver, Jaime Escalate, dies at age 79
- Group of British parliamentarians fear Olympic budget “worryingly tight”
- Nigerian Shari’a court confirms Twitter ban
- Heavy rains collapse part of Roman Emperor Nero’s palace
- U.N. report on Benazir Bhutto’s assassination postponed at Pakistani request
- Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir threatens South any delay in planned June polls would damage January secession talks
- Iyad Allawi accuses Iran of involving itself in the Iraqi political process
- Stalemate at Thai Red Shirts talks
- Serbian parliament condemns 1995 massacre of Bosnian Muslims in Srebrenica
Current Events for Wednesday, 1 April 2010
- U.S. Navy’ USS Nicholad captures five Somali pirates off Seychelles
- Afghan President Karzai lashes-out at “interfering” West
- Russian Federation President Medvedev visits North Caucus region after recent suicide attacks
- Chinese President Hu Jintao to visit Washington, D.C. nuclear meeting
- Top Vatican legal official: Roman Catholic Pope Benedict XVI cannot face legal charges against Catholic Church in sex abuse scandal because he has immunity as head of state
- International donors raise $5.3 billion for Haitian relief
- U.S. federal judge rules U.S. law protecting whistle-blowers at publicly-held firms also covers mutual fund firms
- Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari back in court facing more corruption charges
- U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman U.S. Navy Admirial Mullen: Iran shipping weapons to Afghanistan
- In effort to shore-up Republican support of climate drive, U.S. President Obama clears way for limited off-shore drilling
- Brazilian election race kicks-off, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’ Chief of Staff Dilma Rousseff and Sao Paulo Governor José Serra expected front-runners
- Most Sudanese opposition parties pull-out of first multi-party election in twenty-four years
- Nepalese mountaineer to take Sir Edmund Hillary’s ashes to Mt. Everest summit
- Kenya to end Somali pirate trials due to lack of support from other nations
- U.S. manufacturing numbers hit six-year high
- Group of army officers detain Guinea-Bissau army Chief of Staff Jose Zamora Induta, Prime Minister Carlos Gomes Junior in apparent coup
- Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah confirms U.N. has questioned Hezbollah members in-connection with former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri’s assasination
- Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe swears-in nation’s first human rights and electorial commission ministers
- Dozens of prisoners escape southern Yemen prison after explosion
- Indian law making education a human right comes into effect
- India launches census in which everyone over the age of fifteen years will be fingerprinted to create national biometric database
- Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa visits Jaffna, Tamil cultural center
- International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate human rights claims after 2007 Kenyan poll
- Conservative Family Research Council President Tony Perkins: members should stop donating to Republican National Committee
Current Events for Friday, 2 April 2010
- Billions of Christians celebrate Good Friday
- U.S. federal judge denies bail for Hutaree militia members
- Preacher of the Pontifical Household Father Raniero Cantalamessa: attacks o$
- Supporter of anti-American Shi’a cleric Moqtada al-Sadr stand in long$
- U.S. private sector hirings boost March payrolls
- Israeli helicopters, jets mount additional Gaza attacks
- Anti-abortionist who killed late-term abortion doctor received life-in-pris$
- U.S. Secretary of the Army John McHugh steps-back from moratorium comment on gay expulsions
- Hamas leadership vows to reign-in Gaza militants
- Key northern Sudanese opposition group issues ultimatum to President al-Bashir on fair elections
- South Korean Defense Minister Kim renews speculation on torpedo sinking naval vessel off North’s coast
- Kenyan parliament approves draft constitution to check presidential powers
- Pakistani parliament debates measures to limit presidential powers
- Toyota sees U.S. sales rebound, up 41%
- U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), U.S. FBI: American extremist group sends letters to thirty state governors demanding they resign