Current Events for the Week of 10 May 2010
Current Events for Monday, 10 May 2010
- Afghan President Hamid Karzai to visit U.S. this week, hopes to mend ties with U.S. President Barack Obama (D.)
- Kyodo news agency: Japanese government drops end-of-May deadline for U.S. base decision
- Okinawan officials reject Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama’s proposal they accept U.S. military base
- U.S. White House sources: U.S. President Obama to nominate moderate U.S. Solicitor-General Elena Kagan for Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) vacancy
- “Shock-and-awe” $1 trillion European aid package agreed to for halting of euro (€) slide
- At least nine killed, dozens wounded in morning drive-by attacks in Baghdad, Iraq
- Mass grave believed to hold some 250 Kosovo Albanian bodies from 1998-99 war found in Serbia
- Senior European Union (E.U.) official: Bolivia has right to nationalize major companies if those companies receive compensation
- Man held at Karachi, Pakistan airport after electrical equipment discovered in his shoes
- NYSE Euronext, Nasdaq OMX Group halt bickering, agree to cooperate with federal investigators to find-out what happened in last week’s stock plunge
- British Prime Minister Gordon Brown meets with Liberal Democratic Party leader Nick Clegg
- Internal Vatican fighting over sex abuse scandal intensifies, Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn of Vienna accuses former Vatican Secretary of State Italian Cardinal Angelo Sodano of cover-up
- U.S. now convinced Pakistani Taliban behind failed Times Square bombing
- E.U. finance ministers promise to protect Greek investments from international “wolfpack”
- Russian Federation President Dmitry Medvedev offers North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) olive branch, NATO soldiers march in Red Square parade
- Palestinian Authority (PA) claims indirect talks with Israel have begun
- Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva renews calls for peaceful solution to two-month-long bipass with Red Shirts, as renewed violence in Bangkok kills twenty-nine
- New York Staten Island ferry slams into dock, dozens hurt
- Pakistani security officials: U.S. unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV, “drone”) attack kills nine Taliban militants in South Waziristan region
- BP announces “dome” failure, looks at new plans as oil slick spreads west towards Texas coastline
- At least thirty killed in two Siberian coal mine explosions, search for survivors underway
- U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates: U.S. military spending out of control
- One woman killed, five others injured when bomb exploded on a Dagetan, Russian Federation train station platform
- U.S. Department of Agriculture: 40 million Americans receive food-stamp assistance
- European air traffic agency Eurocontrol: new ash cloud forces rerouting of several flight paths
- Filippino polls set to open for president, local elections after three months of hard campaigning
- U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Kurt Campbell voices fears over upcoming Burmese poll’s fairness
- 7.4-magnitude earthquake hits near site of 2004 Aceh, Indonesia earthquake
- German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s coalition loses key regional election, threatening upper-house majority
- Tea Party Movement claims victory after U.S. Senator Bob Bennett (R., UT) comes-in third-place at Republican Party convention in Salt Lake City, Utah
- Costa Rican President-elect Laura Chinchilla sworn-in as that nation’s first-ever female president
- Nokia sues Apple claiming the iPad 3G and iPhone infringe on five of its patents
- Two Egyptian peacekeepers killed by militants in Darfur
- U.S. Department of State extends warning on travel to three more Mexican states over recent drug-related violence
- U.S. Department of Labor: U.S. jobless rate rose to 9.9% in April, up from 9.7% in March
- Mauritian opposition leader Paul Berenger accepts incumbent Prime Minister Navin Ramgoolam has won parliamentary elections
- U.S. Senators John Kerry (D., MA), Joseph “Joe” Lieberman (I., CT) to unveil climate change bill without support from key Republican architect U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham (R., SC)
- U.S. Senate Republicans vow to continue so-called “secret holds” on fifty-three Obama administration nominees
Current Events for Tuesday, 11 May 2010
- Fannie Mae posts $13.1 billion loss for quarter-one of 2010, asks for additional $8.4 billion in Troubles Assets Relief Program (TARP) money
- Excitement over Eurozone’s $1 trillion bailout fades into doubt whether weakest economies can meet their end of the bargain, euro (€) again slips
- Siberian coal mine deathtoll rises to forty-seven
- U.S. congressional investigation set to grill oil executives over Gulf of Mexico rig explosion
- British Prime Minister Gordon Brown to step-down by September
- U.S. President Obama revives civilian nuclear deal with Russian Federation
- U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Mary Schapiro: major stock and option exchanges, brokerage industry watchdog Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) agree to boost market safeguards
- Filippino presidential front-runner Senator Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino poised for decisive win in polls
- Wave of Baghdad attacks kill over 100
- Pakistani security forces clash with Taliban in Orakzai region, ten soliders and thirty militants killed
- London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS): Iran ten years away from anti-American missile
- U.S. Deputy Trade Representative Michael Punke: there is no “quick fix” for World Trade Organization (WTO) impasse
- International Committee of the Red Cross and Red Crescent (ICRC): U.S. base in Bagram, Afghanistan houses secret U.S. jail distinct from main prison
- At least five killed by Oklahoma tornadoes
- Port-au-Prince police fire tear-gas into protesters demanding President René Préval resign
- Former governor of Mexican state of Quintana Roo, Mario Ernesto Villanueva Madrid, arrives in New York for trial on drug trafficking, money laundering charges
- Social networking site Twitter fixes flaw that could allow users to force followers
- After week of intense rallies and riots, main Bolivian trade union calls for indefinite strikes
- Thai Red Shirts accept electoral timetable, not to end protests until Thai Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaungsuban surrenders to police
- South Korean Minister of Defense Kim Tae-young: explosive residue from torpedo found in wreckage of naval vessel sunk
- Iran executes five accused Kurdish rebels
- U.S. Attorney-General Eric Holder: U.S. Department of Justice may file suit against Arizona over immigration law
Current Events for Wednesday, 12 May 2010
- Passenger plane crashes in Libya and kills 105 people, investigation underway
- Siberian mine deathtoll hits sixty, thirty still missing
- German cabinet backs $1 trillion eurozone bailout plan
- U.S. SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro: no single event has been found to explain last Thursday’s market collapse
- In political shock, Gordon Brown immediately steps-down as prime minister and Queen Elizabeth II asks Conservative Party leader David Cameron to form a government
- U.S. Senator Kit Bond (R., MO) casts doubt on Obama administration belief Pakistani Taliban connected to Times Square plot
- U.S. Department of State mulling whether or not to place Pakistani Taliban on list of “foreign terrorist” groups
- Chilean judge orders Pakistani man held under anti-terrorism laws after trace explosives were found on him at U.S. embassy in Santiago
- Iranian military claims to have “warned-off” U.S. reconaissance aircraft near military maneuvers
- Roman Catholic Pope Benedict XVI: “Sin within the Church“ threat to Catholicism
- Suspected U.S. drone attacks in Pakistan kill at least twenty-four
- Afghan Hezb-i-Islami (HIA) rejects exile offer from President Hamid Karzai
- German economy grew an unexpected 0.2% in the first-quarter of 2010
- North Korea announces it has made “significant progress” towards development of thermo-nuclear power
- Thai government threatens to take measures to “clear protesters’ camp” if they do not leave today
- Six children, teacher hacked to death in latest Chinese school attack
- Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero announces deep budget cuts as E.U. fears Greek contagion
- Microsoft prepares launch of latest Office software meant to rival Google’s online office suite
- Delaware Attorney-General Beau Biden (D.) suffers possible stroke
- French parliament calls Islamic full-face veil an “affront to the nation’s values“
- Pakistani Ambassador to Iran Mohammad Bakhsh Abbasi attacked by Afghan men in Tehran
- Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak issues decree renewing tough emergency laws
- Darfur Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) rebels threaten to break ceasefire, launch “all-out war” after Sudan seeks arrest of their leader Khalil Ibrahim
- Colombian presidential candidate Robinson Devia chains himself to Bogotá statute of national hero Simón Bolívar, launches hunger strike
- University of North Carolina researchers begin human tests on reversible contraceptive for men using ultrasound
- Internet Corporation for the Assignment of Names and Numbers (ICANN): estimates show remaining pool of Internet addresses available is shrinking faster than expected
- The Carter Center questions Sudanese presidential poll results
- Cross war memorial on Sunrise Rock in Mojave National Preserve stolen
Current Events for Thursday, 13 May 2010
- Newly chosen British Prime Minister David Cameron holds first cabinet meeting, to focus on economy
- European Commission seeks right of prior review of national budgets, wants say in future budgets
- Media back-tracks, “infant” who survived crash in Libya ten years-old
- Thai authorities shut roads surrounding Red Shirts
- China, U.S. to resume human rights talks on hiatus for the last two years
- Los Angeles City Council votes to ban future business with state of Arizona over immigration law
- Arizona Governer Jan Brewer (R.) signs into law bill outlawing “ethnic studies”
- BP coming-up with alternatives as oil leak seen as worsening
- U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO): while urging the world to cut business ties with Iran, U.S. government has handed-out some $880 million in contracts to foreign companies that perform work for Iranian energy sector
- U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., KY) seeks assurances of Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) nominee U.S. Solicitor-General Elana Kagan’s independence
- Two-thousand Greeks march on parliament in Athens to protest austerity measures
- U.S. Senate approves measure to include U.S. Federal Reserve audit as part of financial overhaul
- Russian Federation officials: Russia may “lift veil” of nuclear secrecy after recent nuclear talks produced agreement with U.S.
- Two Mexican fossils lead paleontologists to determine certain marine life lived beyond the Middle Cambrian Period, may have been part of the “Cambrian explosion”
- Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan nominates Kuduna state governor Namadi Sambo to be his vice-president
- Supporters of ousted Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev seize government offices in southern city of Osh
- U.N. officials: Afghan poppy fungal infection has driven-up opium prices
- Mobile maker HTC files patent lawsuit against Apple, urges U.S. regulators to ban iPhone sales
- Roman Catholic Pope Benedict XVI visits shrine in Fatima, Portugal
- British health experts warn anthrax-tainted heroin still on Scottish streets
- U.S. trade deficit rises as economy begins to exit recession
- Archaeologists unearth 114 new Terracotta Warriors at the Qin dynasty tomb complex in Xian, China
- European Commission: Estonia may join euro (€) in January 2011
- Fédération Internationale de Football Association (International Federation of Association Football, FIFA) bans El Salvador from international competition due to “political interference” by that nation’s government
- Kazakhstan approves bill giving President Nursultan Nazarbayev more powers, names him “leader of the nation”
- U.S. National Basketball Association (NBA) approves sale of New Jersey Nets to Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov
- British Computer Society’s Chartered Institute for Information Technology study: technology enhances happiness
- U.S. Senators John Kerry (D., MA), Joe Lieberman (I., CT) unveil “landmark” energy bill acknowledging climate change
- U.S. senators question why Pakistani Taliban is not on “terror list”
Current Events for Friday, 14 May 2010
- Thousands of Afghan villagers in Surkhrod protest eleven civilian deaths they say were caused by International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) soliders, protest turns violent and one protester killed
- Thai security troops close-in on Red Shirts, shots heard fired, “renegade” Thai General Khattiya Sawasdipol shot in head
- Foreign journalist shot during Bangkok clashes, condition unknown
- Indonesian National Police Chief Bambang Hendarso Danuri: militants recently arrested were planning attacks on President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, American tourists
- California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to unveil latest budget cuts in projected $20 billion deficit
- New York Police Department (NYPD) shuts Union Square for suspicious vehicle, reopened early this morning
- Portuguese leaders agree to austerity measures, markets calm
- In massive crime net, U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) arrests three, questions two others in-connection with Times Square plot
- U.S. President Obama sends new Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT) to U.S. Senate for ratification, also asks for $80 billion in nuclear funding
- Libya, Thailand among fourteen other nations elected as new members of U.N. Human Rights Council
- Powerful bomb explodes outside Athenian prison, causes extensive damage and no injuries
- U.S. Senator Arlen Specter (D., PA): U.S. Solicitor-General Kagan criticized SCOTUS in meeting
- Venezuelan Energy Minister Rafael Ramirez: natural gas Aban Pearl rig has sunk in Caribbean Sea, no gas escaping, aged and faulty submarine rafts blamed
- Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warns U.S. over unilateral Iranian sanctions
- U.S. President Obama expected to ask U.S. Congress to appropriate $200 million in military aid for Israel to install rocket defense system
- Interim Kyrgyz government claims to have regained control of government offices in Osh
- Southwestern Chinese Guizhou province mine explosion kills at least twenty-one
- Sony shares drop seven percent on recent negative financial outlook
- U.S. SEC investigating eight major American banks
- Hawai’i legislature passes law permitting officials to ignore repetitive requests for U.S. President Obama’s birth certificate
- Human Rights Watch: Israel illegally destroyed private property in 2008-2009 Gaza offensive
- Search for twenty-four still missing after Siberian coal mine explosion is called-off on fears of new blasts
- Nepalese sherpa effort to clean-up Mount Everest on hold for sixty-two miles-per-hour (mph) winds
- The Pfleger Institute of Environmental Research, University of Massachusetts researchers capture video of thresher shark using large tail to stun prey
- At least seven killed in Dagestan militant attack