Current Events for the Week of 31 May 2010
Current Events for Monday, 31 May 2010
- China releases final deathtoll for Yushu quake: almost 3,000
- China, Japan agree to create “hotline” to deal with maritime issues
- Thai parliament opposition leaders accuse Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva of human rights violations during Red Shirt crackdown
- Pakistan lifts Facebook ban, leaves guards in-place
- China warns European debt threatens global economic growth
- Israeli commandos storm convoy of Gaza-bound aid ships, more than ten mostly international activists killed
- Former Colombian Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos heads to June run-off election as solid favorite
- BP, U.S. government warns Gulf Coast oil spill may last through August after so-called top-kill fails
- Remnants of Tropical Storm Agatha kills at least ninety-six in Central America
- California polling shows Former eBay chief executive officer (CEO) Meg Whitman has recovered wide lead over California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner in gubernatorial race
- France admits maintaining credit rating “a stretch,” Germany may raise taxes to tackle debt
- U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff U.S. Navy Admiral Mike Mullen: U.S. Congress should hold-off on gays in the military legislation until U.S. Department of Defense (Pentagon) can complete its most recent study
- Czech center-right parties enter coalition talks after surprisingly decisive election win
- Chinese judicial authorities issue new rules for confessions secured under duress
- Crash investigators have found no technical fault in Libyan air crash
- Commander, International Security Assistance Force—Afghanistan (ISAF-A), U.S. Army General Stanley McChrystal: Afghan Taliban insurgents trained in Iran
- Xinhua: Chinese coal mine explosion in Chenzhou kills at least seventeen
- British Airways cabin crews begin second five-day strike
- Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama refuses calls to resign, poll numbers dive
- Bloomberg News: U.S. Department of the Treasury, General Motors (GM) may select lead underwriter for inital public offering (IPO) as early as next week
- Gunmen kill at least seventy in Pakistani mosque attacks
- South Korea, Japan vow “agreement” in danger North Korea possesses
- The Washington Post: most of those being held at Guantánamo Bay Naval Base detention center are “low-level” fighters
- Former child star Gary Coleman dies in Utah hospital of brain hemorrhage at age forty-two, legendary Hollywood actor Dennis Hopper dies in his home after long struggle with prostate cancer at age seventy-four
- U.S. White House admits to pushing U.S. Representative Joe Sestak (D., PA) to drop-out of Democratic primary race against U.S. Senator Arlen Specter (D., PA)
- Mexican police discover twenty-five bodies thrown down abandoned mine ventilation shaft
- Chinese supercomputer researchers succeed in getting second computer on top ten “fastest” list, America “Jaguar” still fastest at 1.75 petaflops per second
- Cleveland Clinic Learner Research Institute researchers: breast cancer vaccine “successful” in mice, human trials next
- Six Turkish soldiers die in rocket attack on naval base along Mediterranean Sea
- Indian Maoist leader Comrade Akaash vows to punish any rogue rebels found to have been involved in train derailment
- German President Horst Koehler announces he will quit immediately over remarks he made critical of German military missions
- Thousands in Phoenix protest Arizona’s immigration law
- Arizona Governor Jan Brewer (R.) will not use Attorney-General Terry Goddard (D.) to defend immigration bill in lawsuits
Current Events for Tuesday, 1 June 2010
- BP shares drop 15% on word “top-kill” has failed
- U.S. Attorney-General Eric Holder to meet with lawyers in Gulf region, possible criminal charges for BP to be discussed
- Environmental scientists claim new plume coming from Gulf well-head, BP denies
- Chinese economic output eased last month as part of gradual tightening policy, seasonal factors
- Gunmen attack Lahore, Pakistan hospital, at least five killed
- Pakistan, U.S. believe U.S. unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV, “drone”) strike killed al-Qa`ida “number three,” Sheikh Sa'id al-Masri (Mustafa Abu al-Yazid)
- Israel deals with United Nations (U.N.) Security Council (UNSECO) resolution condemning military action against “Freedom Flotilla”
- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu defends action, deplores deaths, cancels meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama (D.)
- Turkish outrage at Israeli storming of ships pours-over in Ankara, Istanbul
- Tropical Storm Agatha rescuers continue work, deathtoll rises to 146
- U.S. Geological Survey (USGS): 6.4-magnitude earthquake hits off Indian Andaman Islands, tsunami alert issued
- International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) report: Iran expanding atomic work
- U.S. President Obama heavily criticized by conservatives, Republicans for sending U.S. Vice-President Joseph “Joe” Biden (D.) to Memorial Day service at Arlington National Cemetery instead of going himself
- Thai parliament prepares for no-confidence vote over government’s handling of Red Shirts protest
- Sherpa mountaineers issue warning over Mount Everest ice, snow melt forming lake at foot of mountain
- China formally bans evidence gathered through torture
Current Events for Wednesday, 2 June 2010
- Afghan Taliban suicide commandos attack large jirga, meeting of elders, called by Afghan President Hamid Karzai, no deaths reported
- Afghan President Karzai pushing new peace proposal to reintegrate Afghan Taliban
- U.S. Department of Justice challenges Transocean’s bid to limit its liability in Gulf oil spill
- Arizona Governer Brewer to meet with U.S. President Obama on immigration
- Tropical Storm Agatha deathtoll reaches 180
- Israel deports Palestinian activists after world outcry
- Japanese Prime Minister Hatoyama suddenly announces resignation
- FoxConn production line workers to receive 30% pay rise
- Iraqi Supreme Court ratifies last March election results
- U.S. military ends major relief operations in Haiti
- International political observers: many Egyptians who support opposition parties turned-away from polls in local elections
- Israeli Defense Force (IDF) moves into Gaza Strip to quell unrest, five Palestinian militants killed
- BP shares continue tumble on increasing likelihood of U.S. criminal investigation
- Conservationists raise awareness around the possible extinction of the Hispaniolan solenodon, a mammal dating-back to the age of the dinosaurs and the only known mammal with a venomous bite
- South Koreans head to local election polls viewed by many as a referendum on President Lee Myung-bak’s handling of the crisis with the North
- Thai Prime Minister Vejjajiva survives no-confidence vote, 246-186
- Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) rules Somalis living in the U.S. under the Torture Victim Protection Act may sue former Somali Prime Minister Mahamed Ali Samantar for alleged torture, U.S. Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act of 1976 does not cover former officials
- U.S. Army psychiatrist Major Nidal Hasan, accused of killing thirteen at Fort Hood shooting last year, in-court for first time
- British archaeologists uncover “earliest” Neanderthal stone tools in Britain, dating-back to 110,000 years ago
- Indian Union Minister of Home Affairs P. Chidambaram lays-out conditions for peace talks with Maoist rebels
- Five Burundian opposition candidates pull-out of next month’s presidential election
- Sri Lankan government “lashes-out” at U.N. High Commissioner on Human Rights Navi Pillay for “hounding the country”
- Three Namibian women sue over being sterilized without their consent after an human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) diagnosis
Current Events for Thursday, 3 June 2010
- European Council President Herman Van Rompuy backs French-inspired “economic government” for eurozone
- Group of Twenty (G20) ministers not expecting to come to agreement on global banking levy in most recent talks
- Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu: Gaza blockade is vital for Israeli security and will remain
- Texas police seize 147 Mexico-bound AK-47 rifles, bayonets, and over 10,000 rounds of ammunition
- BP shares stabilize, progress made in cutting well-head pipe
- U.S. President Obama expands federal benefits to same-sex partners
- South Korea ready to ask UNSECO to censure North Korea of maritime attack, waiting for “best time”
- AT&T to end unlimited use mobile data plan, claims it will save money for some 98% of customers
- New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg: teacher lay-offs will not occur, salary freezes for next two years
- Iranian envoy to IAEA Ali Asghar Soltanieh: Iran enriching more nuclear material as a backup plan if international agreements cannot fulfill its need
- Gunman kills twelve in northern England rampage
- Federal’naya sluzhba bezopasnosti Rossiyskoy Federatsii (FSB, Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation) Director Alexander Bortnikov: international terrorists trying to garner nuclear weapons from former Soviet Union republics
- Powerful Cyclone Phet heads to Oman, quickly gaining strength
- U.N. Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Executions Philip Alston: U.S. should cease all drone attacks
- Falkland Islands Fisheries Department: it is unclear why three deep-sea northern Pacific Ocean species made their way to the southern Atlantic Ocean
- Mining company Xstrata halts investment in two Australian mines due to proposed taxes on profits
- BP to pay for six sand barriers to be built off Louisiana coast, estimated cost is $500 million
- Chinese newspaper prints cartoon seemingly representing the Tiananmen Square massacre of 1989
- Former U.S. President George W. Bush (R.) attracts thousands of friends in first-day on Facebook
- At least nine killed in clashes between two of Colombia’ left-wing rebel groups
- Six astronauts to begin simulated eighteen-month mission to Mars in Moscow
- Saudi Arabian religious police investigating three Saudi teens who challenged the country’s strict laws in an MTV program
- U.S. Representative Artur Davis (D., AL) falls just short of becoming Alabama’s first-ever black governor
- Kanye West vs. Arizona?
Current Events for Friday, 4 June 2010
- The Washington Post reports U.S. military expanding Special Operations against al-Qa`ida targets
- Afghan jirga to call for peace between Afghan government, Taliban
- South Korean President Lee Myung-bak to call on world to reign-in North
- U.S. federal grand jury indicts Texan accused of aiding Yemeni al-Qa`ida wing
- Fire rages through Dhaka, Bangladesh neighborhood, over 100 dead
- BP cuts-off bent pipe on Gulf well-head, places containment cap onto it, storm approaching
- Democratic Party of Japan picks fiscal conservative Naoto Kan as new prime minister ahead of elections
- New York City begins same-sex couples “commitment ceremonies,” draws ire from lesbian, gay, transgender, bisexual (LGBT) community
- European Union (E.U.), U.S. issue joint declaration stating human rights should play key role in fight against terrorism
- Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank President Thomas Hoenig: key interest rate should be increased to 1% by the end of summer
- U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates: Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) trying to thwart closer military ties with U.S.
- Private space firm SpaceX set to launch Falcon 9, expected to one day ferrry astronauts to and from the International Space Station (ISS)
- McDonald’s recalls some twelve million Shrek glasses over fears of cadmium toxication
- G20 finance ministers expected to back euro (€) rescue deal
- U.S. President Obama to visit India in November
- Heavy fighting in Mogadishu, Somalia between government forces, Islamists kills seventeen
- “Golden Girl” Rue McClanahan dies, 76
- Ukrainian parliament approves bill effectively ending ambition to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
- Magistrate, court clerk killed by lone gunman in Brussels, Belgium courtroom
- Egyptian opposition group the Muslim Brotherhood to back former IAEA director Mohammed ElBaradei in upcoming elections
- Fraud trial of former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich (D.) begins