Current Events for the Week of 19 April 2010

Current Events for Monday, 19 April 2010

Israeli Defense Minister, former Prime Minister Ehud Barak expresses concern over American-Israeli ties
5.3-magnitude earthquake hits central Afghanistan, at least seven killed
Supporters of ousted Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev rally against self-proclaimed interim government in southern Kyrgyzstan
U.S. Security and Exchange Commission files civil charges of fraud against Goldman Sachs, criminal charges still a possibility
Pew Research Center survey: only 22% of Americans say they trust the government “just about always,” “most of the time”
Global finance leaders meet to debate shifting more voting powers to emerging economies in World Bank, prelude to bigger fight to happen in International Monetary Fund (IMF)
Toyota expected to pay $16.4 million U.S. fine
International Air Transport Association (IATA) criticizes five-days of European airspace closures, airlines losing an estimated $250 million each day
Thai soldiers guard Bangkok business zone from Red Shirt protesters
Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez kicks-off nation’s 200^th anniversary of independence with speech that ires foes
U.S. Department of Defense (Pentagon) officials: U.S. weighing “all options” against a nuclear Iran
Commander, United States (U.S.) Forces—Iraq (USF-I) U.S. Army General Raymond Odierno: draw-down “on schedule”
Newly appointed Afghan Independent Election Commission head Fazl Ahmad Manawi vows to clean-up his nation’s election process
Roman Catholic Pope Benedict XVI prays, cries with eight sexually abused victims in Malta
Indian police defuse three bombs near cricket stadium in Bangalore
Suicide bomber kills seven in violent northwestern Pakistan
Yushu earthquake deathtoll tops 1,700 as President Hu Jintao flies to site
Powerful tremors add to fear over Icelandic volcano under Eyjafjallajokull glacier
Ecuadoran President Rafael Correa threatens to take-over foreign oil firms unless they agree to new contracts
U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents open-fire on, kill man who tried to drive through border checkpoint from Mexico to U.S.
Iran holds its own nuclear summit, hits-out against nuclear bullies and calls U.S. world’s only “nuclear criminal”
International election observers: latest Sudanese poll does not meet world standards
U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates: Obama administration will not share information with U.S. Congress that could compromise its prosecution of suspected gunman in last year’s shooting at Ft. Hood military installation, despite subpoena
Cairngorms National Park Authority photo-traps yield images of elusive Highland tiger
Nottingham University study: behavorial modification works “just as well” as pharmaceuticals on attention deficit disorder (ADD)
BBC World Service poll: global views on U.S. have improved over the last year
Turkish Cypriots elect nationalist Dervis Eroglu as president of break-away northern republic
New York Society Library will not seek late fees for unreturned books taken-out by U.S. General, former President George Washington
6.3-magnitude earthquake hits off coast of Papua New Guinea, no immediate casualities, damages, or deaths reported and no tsunami warning issued
Austalian publisher recalls, destroys thousands of cookbooks misprinted to have on recipe read “salt and freshly ground black people”
Toyota announces more recalls, 600,000 Sienna minivans
Eight International Committee of the Red Cross and the Red Crescent (ICRC) workers released by Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) rebels
U.S. Senate Republicans offer cool reception to U.S. President Barack Obama’s nomination of University of California, Berkeley law professor Goodwin Liu for the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals
Former U.S. President William “Bill” Clinton (D.), conservative radio talkshow host Rush Limbaugh trade barbs

Current Events for Tuesday, 20 April 2010

Kyrgyz interim government move to quell ethnic violence threatening their fragile coalition after ousting President Bakiyev
South Korean news agency YTN: North Korea readying for third nuclear test
Thai Red Shirts call-off march on Bangkok business district to avoid confrontation with soliders
Most European flights resume, ash cloud continues to disrupt
Unclassified U.S. Pentagon report: Iran could have missile capable of hitting U.S. mainland by 2015
Toyota agrees to pay record $16.4 million fine to U.S. regulators, recalls Lexus GX 640 sport utility vehicle (SUV)
U.S. to end military aid mission to Haiti on 1 June
U.S. Department of State spokesman P.J. Crowley: U.S. “still open” to nuclear fuel swap deal with Iran
Peshawar, Pakistan bomb kills twenty-three
Citigroup posts $4.4 billion profit for first-quarter of 2010, praises bailout
U.S. intelligence: joint American-Iraqi raid kills al-Qa`ida’ Iraq leader Abu Ayyub al-Masri, purported head of al-Qa`ida’s local affiliate the Islamic State of Iraq Abu Omar al-Baghdadi
Iraqi election review panel calls recount of votes cast in Baghdad during recent elections
Iran announces it will start work on new uranium-enrichment facility
Yushu earthquake deathtoll climbs again: 1,944
Indonesian Constitutional Court rejects efforts to change existing blasphemy law
U.S. Department of State summons Syrian Deputy Chief of Mission Zouheir Jabbour to answer questions about arms sale to Hezbollah
United Kingdom (U.K.) considering cash incentives to increase egg, organ, and sperm donation
Two alleged Colombian Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia—Ejército del Pueblo (FARC, The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia—People’s Army) soldiers killed in clash with Ecuadoran soldiers
Turkish parliament begins debate on series of constitutional changes that would move power away from highly secular judiciary, army
Human Rights Watch (HRW): Somali Islamists have brought stability to regions of Somalia, but at huge human rights cost
Microsoft debuts Fix It, a version of its Windows 7 self-diagnosing program
Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center study: one-third of sunbed users become addicted
Second Amendment gun advocates use anniversary of the domestic terrorist attack on the Oklahoma City federal building for march
Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) to hear case dealing with employer-supplied electronics and private texting

Current Events for Wednesday, 21 April 2010

Ousted Kyrgyz President Bakiyev claims he is still president, urges nations not to recognize interim government
Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko: ousted Kyrgyz President Bakiyev in Minsk
Greek debt outlook worsens, unemployment climbs, social unrest begins
Thai Red Shirts “open” to talks with government to avert showdown
Acting Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski leading polls
China holds day of mourning for Yushu earthquake dead
Ethnic violence continues to flare in Kyrgyzstan, village on outskirts of Bishkek raized
U.S. Senate Republicans tone-down anti-financial regulation rhetoric
Canadian Office of the Privacy Commissioner: Canada, nine other nations issued joint letter pushing Google to improve respect for online privacy
Cross-sectarian coalition headed by former Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi backs Baghdad vote recount
SCOTUS strikes-down 1989 animal cruelty law banning videos depicting animal cruelty on broadness
Somali pirates take three Thai cargo ships, seventy-seven crew
Longtime American civil rights advocate, chairwoman of the National Council of Negro Women Dorothy Height dies, 98
Goldman Sachs announces $3.4 billion first-quarter 2010 profit despite recent bad news
Two small eastern Sudanese political parties admit defeat in polls, cry fraud
Thousands gather in Delhi, India to protest high food prices
General Motors (GM) has repaid $8.1 billion in the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP) bailout money it received
Four Saharan states—Algeria, Mali, Mauritania, Niger—open joint military headquarters meant to better equip them for the fight against al-Qa`ida
“Giant” prehistoric scorpion fossil found in England measuring two meters (~6.6 feet) long
Brazil awards consortium of nine companies bid to build controversial hydroelectric dam on Amazon River tributary
Former Argentine President General Reynaldo Bignone sentenced to twenty-five years in-prison for deaths he ordered before his presidency in the 1980’s
Facebook shuts-down “lite” version
International Monetary Fund (IMF) proposes “radical” changes to the global banking network
Turkey enters international fray with Iran, offers to mediate between Iran and the West
New ash cloud drifts south, shuts British airspace
Joint American-Iraqi forces kill third al-Qa`ida “leader,” Ahmed al-Obeidi, in northern Iraq raid
Two killed, dozens wounded when a car explodes in western Iranian city of Ilam
International crude oil prices rise on positive economic reports
Fundamentalist Shi’a cleric Hojjat ol-eslam Kazem Sediqi blames immodest women for devastating earthquakes
CNN: U.S. President Obama meeting with possible SCOTUS nominees this week
Arizona passes nation’s strictest immigration law, requires police to determine legality of citizenship at any stop
Former top military officials: enlistment down because young Americans are “too fat to fight”

Current Events for Thursday, 22 April 2010

Iranian Revolutionary Guards begin three days of “war games” in Persian Gulf, Strait of Hormuz
Greek public sector workers begin strike against European Union (E.U.), IMF austerity demands
Liberation Army Daily print article detailing Chinese intent to have “second strike” ability in nuclear deterrence
Tension rise in Bangkok business district where Red Shirts are camping-out
South Korean news report claims joint South Korean, U.S. intelligence shows North torpedoed naval vessel
U.S. President Obama to announce SCOTUS nominee by the end of May
German state bank severs ties with Goldman Sachs, France mulls own investigation
U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee votes to ban banks from lucrative swaps market, regulate derivatives
University of Maryland medical researchers find combining a commonly available diabetes medication with a gene silencing technique can shut-down a gene called ABCC8, which produces a molecule sulfonylurea receptor 1 (SUR1) that spreads spinal disaster
U.S. Department of Treasury report: GM firmly on road to viability
Eleven workers missing, seventeen injured in Transocean oil rig explosion off Louisiana coast
Former International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Juan Antonio Samaranch dies, 89
Embattled Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama reiterates end of May as deadline for decision on U.S. military base in Okinawa
Belgium begins debate on bill to ban full-face veil in-public, bill expected to pass
International Crisis Group (ICG) report warns over growing danger of the spread of terrorism in Indonesia
Islamist group issues warning for South Park creators Matt Stone, Trey Parker after show illustrates the Prophet Muhammad in a bear suit
U.S. issues warning to Americans abroad over “increased indications” of terror attacks on Delhi
Syria becomes first Arab state to ban public smoking
Rwandan opposition leader Victoire Ingabire Umuhoz arrested by government authorities, accused of collaborating with a terrorist group and denying the genocide
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa names party veteran Disanayaka Mudiyanselage Jayaratne as prime minister
Ukraine extends Russian Federation naval base lease for twenty-five years in-exchange for cheaper natural gas imports
British Supreme Court: sex offender registry breaches the human rights of the offenders
Eurocontrol: European flights to back to normal by today
Benjamin Franklin gets facelift as U.S. Department of the Treasury releases new $100 bill

Current Events for Friday, 23 April 2010

Combative second British political debate leaves election “wide open”
U.S. Special Envoy George Mitchell tries to restart stalled Israeli-Palestinian talks
Group of Twenty (G20) meeting in Washington, D.C., Greek economic woes weigh heavily
The Financial Times: Goldman Sachs was involved as underwriter, investor in Lloyds Banking Group’s refinancing in late 2009
Thai riot police confront Red Shirts after grenade attacks killed one, wounded eighty-six
U.S. President Obama scolds Wall Street for resisting reforms
HSBC Bank survey: city dwellers more likely to cite climate change as major concern
U.S. Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimate: four million Americans could be charged healthcare fine
Last surviving American prosecutor at the Nuremburg Trials, Whitney Harris, dies at age 97
U.S. Vice-President Joseph “Joe” Biden sees Iranian sanctions by May
Gulf of Mexico oil rig sinks, environmental damage still possible
U.S. Airways Corporation pulls-out of merger talks with United Airlines
French government announces it would extend proposed burqa ban to foreign nationals
U.S. existing home sales rose 6.8% in March
Jordanian security forces: rockets fired at Israel from Jordan fall short
Iran to permit International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) observers greater access Natanz uranium-enrichment site
Disney announces Monsters, Inc. sequel
French man, Algerian driver kidnapped in northern Nigerien al-Qa`ida enclave
North Korea announces plans to seize five properties owned by South Korea in South at the Mount Kumgang tourist resort
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) ministers meet to discuss Afghan draw-down
Prototype military “space plane” (X-37B) launches from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station
Two people injured as car bomb explodes outside police station in Newtownhamilton, County Armagh, Ireland
Man who claims to have been abused by his priest files lawsuit in U.S. court naming Roman Catholic Pope Benedict XVI as a conspirator
Bosnia receives NATO membership plan
Pakistan eases restrictions for U.S. to interrogate Taliban leader Mullah Baradar
NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen: NATO must keep nuclear capability so long as rogue states, terrorist groups pose threat
Thousands of computers crippled after Microsoft Windows update labels part of the operating system itself a virus
U.S. Department of Justice to defend federal law creating the National Day of Prayer
Lawyers for disgraced former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich (D.) to subpoena U.S. President Obama