Current Events for the Week of 2 January 2012

Current Events for Monday, 2 January 2012

• New York City Police Department (NYPD) investigating four fire bomb attacks on Sunday night, including one against mosque and another against Hindu site
• Draft Libyan bill would disallow those citizens with links to ousted leader Muammar Gaddafi from running in elections
• Nigerians hit the streets to protest skyrocketing fuel prices, President Goodluck Jonathan declares state of emergency in northeast and blames Islamic insurgents
• Republican party (GOP) presidential hopeful, U.S. Representative Michele Bachmann (R., MN) cast her struggle in biblical terms
• Armed Syrian rebels capture government troops in north of country
• French President Nicolas Sarközy, German Chancellor Angela Merkel to meet, discuss crisis exit strategies
• Trial of ousted Egyptian President Hosni Mubarrak restarts as prosecutors begin to make their case
• Global manufacturing numbers subdued entering 2012
• The Independent: hackers working for newspapers hacked into former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown‘s email when he was still finance minister
• Spanish Minister of Economy and Finance Luis de Guindos: public deficit for 2011 may be higher than projected 8%
• Iran test-fires two long-range missiles in Persian Gulf exercises, also fires several medium-range radar-evading missiles and announces nuclear fuel breakthrough
• GOP presidential hopeful, former U.S. Senator Rick Santorum (R., PA) surges in Iowa, rivals race to discredit conservative roots
• Israel, Palestinian Authority to meet, prospects hazy
• Adderall shortage persists, manufacturers warn of long-term shortage
• North Korean government calls on citizens to rally behind new leader Kim Jong-un, act as “human shields”
• Chinese President Hu Jintao congratulates North Korean leader Kim for military promotion
• GOP presidential hopeful, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney (R.) says he would veto Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM Act)
• Man carrying explosives in “military grade wrapping” stopped at western Texas airport
• U.S. President Barack Obama (D.) signs into law defense spending bill imposing sanctions on financial institutions that choose to do business with Iranian central bank
• European Central Bank (ECB) policymaker Christian Noyer: euro (€) could become world’s leading currency
• Russian police detain some 60 protesters in Moscow anti-government demonstration
• U.S. inks $3.5 billion arms deal with United Arab Emirates (UAE)
• Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos: Greece must stick to austerity in 2012
• People’s Bank of China Governor Zhou Xiaochuan: China moving to more convertible yuan (¥)
• Chinese authorities confirm death of Guangdong man as being caused by Influenza A virus subtype H5N1
• U.S. Department of Defense (DoD, Pentagon) announces The Boeing Company beat-out rival Lockheed Martin to deliver missiles
• Cellco Partnership Inc. (Verizon Wireless) announces it will no longer charge $2 online account management fee

Current Events for Tuesday, 3 January 2012

• Let the circus begin: the Iowa caucuses start
• GOP presidential hopeful, former U.S. House of Representative (House) Speaker Newt Gingrich (R., GA): I won’t win in Iowa
• Gallup report: this GOP field as “wide open” as 2004 Democratic party primary season
• American businessman Donald Trump: I’m ready to run
• Arab League claims Syrian monitors helping, activists dispute assistance and argue the organization was being manipulated by President Bashar al-Assad
• Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA): Iranian army commander-in-chief General Ataollah Salehi threatens military action if U.S. Navy (USN) aircraft carrier returns to Persian Gulf
• France urges E.U. action against Iran after it becomes “convinced” they are developing nuclear weapons
• American retailers expected to show 4.3% increase in same-store sales
• Hundreds of Nigerians continue protests against fuel price hikes
• Nigerian ethnic clashes kill at least 50
• Brand new government headquarters in Hong Kong tests positive for Legionella pneumophila bacterium
• Dutch VU University Medical Center report links academic performance with exercise
• Oil giant BP plc asks subcontractor Halliburton to pay all costs, damages related to Deepwater Horizon drilling rig explosion in Gulf of Mexico
• Egyptian voters hit polls for third, final round of voting
• NYPD continues investigation of firebombs, likely hate crimes
• Former U.S. Senator Santorum causes GOP rivals agina
• World-famous musician Youssou N’Dour announces his intent to run for Senegalese presidency
• Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki promises Libya his nation will extradict former Libyan Prime Minister Baghdadi Ali Mahmudi if he can be guaranteed a fair trial
• Tens of thousands of Hungarians protests against new constitution introduced by governing center-right Fidesz - Magyar Polgári Szövetség (Fidesz - Hungarian Civic Union) party
• Google Inc. begins roll-out of redesigned homepage
• Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) announces it has made arrest in holiday week arson case
• British Phonographic Industry (BPI): album sales down, legal downloads up 24% in 2011
• Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniya tours Turkish Mavi Marmara aid ship
• Venezuela announces it will only pay Exxon Mobile $255 million in compensation for nationalized assets, despite court awarding three times that amount
• Tens of thousands of South Sudanese flee homes in ethnic violence
• Australia warns of possible Murray Valley encephalitis virus (MVEV) outbreak in New South Wales chickens
• Fijian military ruler Frank Bainimarama announces end to martial law

Current Events for Wednesday, 4 January 2012

• Iowan GOP Chairman Matt Strawn: final vote-count in:
1. Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney—30,015 votes—25%
2. Former U.S. Senator Rick Santorum (PA)—30,007 votes—25%
3. U.S. Representative Ron Paul (TX)—26,219 votes—21%
4. Former U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Newt Gingrich (GA)—16,251 votes—13%
5. Texas Governor Rick Perry—12,604 votes—10%
6. U.S. Representative Michele Bachmann (MN)—6,073 votes—5%
7. Former U.S. Ambassador Jon Huntsman—763 votes—1%
• Governor Perry to return to Texas, assess future
• Anonymous sources: U.S. Senator John McCain (R., AZ) to officially endorse Governer Romney
• AllThingsD.com: Yahoo! Inc. to name new chief executive officer (CEO) “soon,” likely to be PayPal Inc. President Scott Thompson
• Institute for Supply Management’s (ISM) index of national factory activity hits highest level since June, coming in above forecasts at 53.9
• U.S. construction spending near one-and-one-half year high in November
• China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation Limited (Sinopec Ltd.), Total S.A. have invested some $4.5 billion into American shale
• U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) chief-elect José Graziano da Silva: food prices may ease in 2012
• Free Syrian Army (FSA) leader Colonel Riad al-Asaad threatens to escalate attacks
• Iran continues anti-USN rhetoric as new sanctions take effect
• Daughter of former Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani sentenced to six months in jail for producing anti-government propaganda
• Libya names retired general from anti-Gaddafi bastion of Misrata, Yousef al-Manqoush, as new head of military
• Chinese authorities announce they have discovered some $84 billion in local government irregularities
• Unintended collateral effect of a better economy: more expensive oil
• NYPD: 40-year-old unemployed tow-truck driver confesses to firebombings
• U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta: DoD to release cost-cutting guidelines
• U.S. Federal Reserve Board (Fed) to publish rate path forecasts
• JPMorgan Chase & Co. sued for $95 million over mortgage securities
• Scotland Yard opens murder investigation into body found on British Queen Elizabeth II’s Sandringham estate
• Singapore ministers set for 51% pay cut
• South Korean President Lee Myung-bak to visit Beijing next week
• University of Wisconsin scientists genetically modify silk worms to produce “Spiderman silk”
• Ecuadoran court upholds Chevron Corp. record fine of $18.2 billion
• At least two Yemeni soldiers killed in clashes with Islamist militants in south

Current Events for Thursday, 5 January 2012

• U.S. Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl’s family “hopeful” over Qatari talks to secure his release after two year of captivity in Afghan Taliban hands
• Pakistani Taliban kills 15 kidnapped Pakistani police officers in retaliation for recent attacks against their border outposts
• The Wall Street Journal: U.S. congressional investigators looking into rating agencies’ role in MF Global Holdings Ltd. collapse
• The Wall Street Journal: Eastman Kodak Co. preparing to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection
• Syrian opposition activists say government’s agreement to withdraw troops from strife-torn towns “a sham”
• Defiant U.S. President Obama to make a number of politically volatile recess appointments, including Richard Cordray to head-up the newly created U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and three vacancies on the U.S. National Labor Relations Board (NLRB)
• Texas Governor Perry will continue presidential campaign in South Carolina
• U.S. Representative Bachmann suspends presidential campaign after poor Iowa caucuses showing
• France expected to draw solid demand for its 10-year bonds at auction today, despite lingering rating agencies’ threat to downgrade its credit rating
• Yahoo! Inc. formally announces PayPal President Thompson as new CEO
• E.U. member countries agree in principle to ban imports of Iranian oil, Iran counters claiming it has “alternatives in place” to let it cope with such action
• Private Swiss bank Wegelin & Co. confirms three of its employees have been charged by U.S. authorities for helping U.S. taxpayers hide some $1.2 billion in assets
• Bluefin tuna sets world record for sale record at Tokyo’s Tsukiji fish market: $736,000
• Lone zebra shark in Dubai aquarium lays eggs, gives birth
• China Air Transport Association (CATA): Chinese airlines will not pay new E.U. carbon tax
• Four explosions rock Shi’a areas in Baghdad, kill at least 24
• Honda Motor Company, Ltd., Toyota Motor Corp. announce steep 2011 losses, blame natural disasters in Japan, Thailand
• Deadly floods hit southeastern Brazil, at least six dead
• At least 25 dead, more than 150 missing after mudslide in southern Filippino mining village
• Congolese army: at least 26 have been killed recently by Rwandan Forces démocratiques de libération du Rwanda (FDLR, Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda) in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)
• Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos warns of March default if unions do not agree to further salary cuts
• Tens of thousands of Hungarians hit the streets to protest new constitution
• Roman Catholic Pope Benedict XVI accepts resignation of Bishop Gabino Zavala after it is discovered he had a secret family
• Two killed, 16 injured in Kigali grenade attack
• Google Inc. acquires another 127 International Business Machines (IBM) patents
• Google Inc. in spin-control after it comes to light public relations firm Essence Digital paid bloggers to promote video about Chrome browser
• Microsoft Corp. celebrates the death of IE6
• Bangladeshi university lecturer Ruhul Khandakar sentenced to six months in jail after making disparaging Facebook posts about Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina
• Chinese trade surplus narrowed for third straight year in 2011
• Former GOP presidential hopeful Herman Cain to launch 9-9-9 bus tour
• Senior Adviser to the President David Axelrod goes after Governor Romney in interviews, calls him “Mr. 25%”
• Netflix Inc. stocks up on word its customers streamed over two billion hours of media in the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2011

Current Events for Friday, 6 January 2012

• Samsung Electronics reports record profits, mainly on smartphone and related equipment sales
• Reuters survey shows economists believe U.S. December employment report will show more robust growth
• The Wall Street Journal: MF Global’s bankruptcy trustee Louis Freeh refusing to turn-over some documents to U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC)
• Barnes & Noble Inc. cuts Nook sales forecast, announces it may spin-off e-book reader, digital business and shares plunge 17%
• U.S. December retail sales up, discounts likely cut into corporate profits
• HTC Corp. Q4 profits collapsed 25% in struggle to compete with rivals
• Nielsen Soundscan: U.S. music sales increased in 2011 for first time since 2004
• Internet security firm Seculert warns Ramnit malware is stealing Facebook usernames, passwords
• E.U. member countries agree to Iranian oil embargo
• Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu delivers Iranian message to West about restarting nuclear talks
• Egyptian prosecutors demand death sentence for ousted President Hosni Mubarrak
• Bombs targeting Shi’a Muslims kill at least 73 across Iraq
• Former Chief of the General Staff of Turkey Mehmet İlker Başbuğ arrested, charged with being part of a wide network planning to overthrow the government
• U.S. President Obama unveils new defense strategy focused on Asia, cyberwarfare, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV, “drones”) and moving away from the Bush administration focus on counter-insurgency, nation-building
• GOP presidential hopefuls denounce U.S. President Obama’s recess appointments in unison, former U.S. Senator Santorum calling them “illegal”
• The Boston Globe announces its endorsement for GOP dark horse former U.S. Ambassador to China Jon Huntsman (R.)
• Former U.S. House Speaker Gingrich confirms on Fox News he thinks former Massachusetts Governor Romney is a “liar”
• Washington Governor Christine Gregoire (D.): “It is time in Washington state for marriage equality.”
• Swedish government formally recognizes kopimism as religion
• One police officer killed, five wounded after shoot-out ensued during execution of drug warrant in Utah
• African National Congress (ANC) turns 100
• University College London study shows human brain function begins to diminish “at age 45”