Current Events for the Week of 7 June 2010
Current Events for Monday, 7 June 2010
- Floods, landslides kill fifty-three in southwest China
- U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates plays-down replacement of two top Afghan security officials, calls it an “internal matter” for President Hamid Karzai
- Israeli naval patrol kills at least four Palestinian militants in diving gear off Gaza coast
- North Korean parliament prepares for rare second session today
- U.S. said to be “weighing new options” over North Korea
- BP capturing an “increasing amount” of oil spilling from Gulf of Mexico well-head, up to 10,000 gallons per day
- Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez: Venezuela to purchase an additional $82 million in Chinese-made K-8 attack aircraft
- Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations (U.N.) Michael Oren: Israel will not accept international inquiry into sea raid on “Freedom Flotilla”
- Israeli navy intercepts new Gaza-bound ship
- Turkey hosts Eurasian security summit in-midst of current disagreement with Israel
- Australia joins nations probing Google over privacy issues
- Two men with terror links arrested late Saturday at John F. Kennedy International Airport headed to Somalia
- Bangladesh lifts Facebook ban after the social networking sites removes “objectionable” content
- Russian Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov: international community must do more to aid Afghanistan in stabilizing
- Bank of America workers sue for overtime, other wages
- U.S. President Barack Obama (D.) names retired U.S. Air Force General, U.S. Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence James Clapper as new Director of National Intelligence, some congressmen react negatively
- Hungarian debt fears drive euro (€) down to four-year-low against U.S. dollar ($)
- McDonald’s expands Shrek glass recall to include American-made products, 13.4 million in-total
- FoxConn to raise wages at Chinese plant for second-time in two weeks
- New Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan set to name new cabinet
- Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh expected in Indian-administered Kashmir for two-day visit
- New research shows European great apes were wiped-out during major climate shift some nine million years ago
- Amnesty International: American missiles used in Yemeni security offensive against al-Qa`ida in which women and children were killed
- Tornadoes rip through American Midwest, kill seven
- Slovenes vote in referendum to accept agreement on border dispute with Croatia
- University College London Hospitals (UCLH) researchers find single high-dose radiation during surgery is as effective as prolonged course of radiotherapy for breast cancer
- U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton travels to Latin America for four-day diplomatic trip
- U.S. White House announces postponement of President Obama’ planned Asia trip later this month
Current Events for Tuesday, 8 June 2010
- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: nuclear fuel swap deal with Brazil, Turkey “one-time offer,” as U.N. Security Council (UNSECO) vote on new sanctions looms
- European Union (E.U.), International Monetary Fund (IMF) react negatively to proposed Hungarian plan to channel private pension funds into state budget as way to raise extra revenues
- One dead, seven injured in central Texas when power-line pole digging hits natural gas pipeline
- Apple unveils iPhone 4 in hopes to fend-off Google’s Android platform phones
- U.S. President Obama wants to know “whose ass to kick” over BP oil spill failures
- Hearst Corporation announces White House reporter Helen Thomas’ resignation after remarks considered by some to be anti-Semitic
- Yemeni security forces arrest fifty foreigners accused of links to al-Qa`ida
- U.S. Army Specialist Bradley Manning charged in-connection with leaked video showing U.S. attack helicopter shooting at group in Baghdad
- Indian court convicts seven former Union Carbide employees of negligence over Bhopal methyl isocyanate leak in 1984 that killed as many as 16,000
- International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director-General Yukiya Amano: bomb concern makes Iran “special case”
- Istanbul bomb blast injures fifteen, at least two police officers, no immediate claim of responsibility
- “Low-allergy” peanuts may be on the way
- Indian Prime Minister Singh renews pledge to work with those Kashmiri separatists who denounce violence
- Spain prepares for public sector employee strike
- U.N. Human Rights Special Envoy for Cambodia Surya Subedi in Cambodia to assess progress of judicial branch
- Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa begins three-day trip to India, to discuss Tamil outreach program
- Commandant of the United States Coast Guard (USCG) Admiral Thad Allen: Gulf oil clean-up will take years
- IMF urges European nations to speed-up budget cuts
- About 600 died in Darfur fighting last month, the largest single-month deathtoll since 2008
- U.S. Secretary of State Clinton urges Organization of American States (OAS) to readmit Honduras, accept President Porfirio Lobo
- British archaeology team identifies Roman gladiator cemetery at Driffield Terrace
- Interim Kyrgyz Chief of Staff Edil Baisalov abruptly resigns over President Roza Otunbayeva’s commitment to reform
- Yahoo unveils deal to integrate Facebook
Current Events for Wednesday, 9 June 2010
- Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd faces-down mining tax protesters, promises increased spending to off-set tax
- UNSECO to hit defiant Iran with new economic sanctions
- Two female Republican candidates win respective primaries, former eBay chief executive officer (CEO) Meg Whitman for governor and former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina for U.S. Senate
- Mexico demands U.S. investigate border shooting of Mexican teenager
- Suspected Taliban gunmen attack North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) caravan near Islamabad, at least seven dead
- Natural gas pipeline explodes in Texas panhandle, at least two dead
- U.S. Senator Blanche Lincoln (D., AR) survives close primary run-off
- Yemen holding three U.S. citizens on terror charges
- New tensions surface in U.S. Senate over so-called “Volcker Rule” in financial regulation bill
- General Motors (GM) recalls 1.5 million vehicles made between 1996 and 1999
- Joran Van der Sloot, questioned in 2005 disappearance of Natalee Holloway, admits to killing Peruvian woman
- Chinese Foreign Ministry: North Korean border guards shot-dead three Chinese smugglers
- Official figures show Finland has fallen back into recession
- FoxConn to stop making “condolence payments” to families of workers who kill themselves
- Honda hit by second workers’ strike in China, closes two of its four assembly plants
- Dutch begin voting in national elections as polls show gaining support of immigration limitations, center-right
- Bolivian parliament approves law permitting indigenous groups to operate their own justice systems
- BP shares fall another 5% on tough language from U.S. President Obama
- Polish legislation requiring some rapists, pedophiles to be chemically castrated comes into effect
- Ugandans protesting state of Kampala roads go fishing in potholes
- Mysterious gray whale sighted off Spanish coast
- Gambian security forces seize some two tons of cocaine in raid
- Brazilian economy grew at 9% in quarter one of 2010
- U.S. government scientists show oil plume below surface
- Benigno Aquino declared winner Filippino presidential election last month
- U.N. High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) expelled from Libya
- Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) temporarily blocks Arizona election reform law
- U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke: economic recovery “won’t feel terrific”
- U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Peter Orzag: White House is directing agencies to cut budgets by 5%
Current Events for Thursday, 10 June 2010
- Chinese labor unrest spreading from Pearl Delta region inward
- Chinese exports beat May expectations, reignites U.S. criticism of yuan (¥)
- UNSECO hits Iran with “significant” economic sanctions
- Iran to “review” ties with IAEA
- Suicide bomber kills at least forty, injures seventy-seven at southern Afghanistan wedding party
- BP shares plunge 12% as U.S. threatens new penalties and gives seventy-two hours for BP to produce clean-up plan
- U.S. President Obama: situation in Gaza “unsustainable”
- Israel eases Gaza embargo to allow some additional food, drink in
- North Korea issues letter to U.N. denying role in sinking of South Korean naval vessel
- Amnesty International: millions in tribal Pakistan live in “human rights-free zone”
- South Africa prepares for opening of World Cup
- Privacy International accuses Google of criminal intent in wireless row
- Oxford University researchers: many more genes involved in autism than first thought
- Germany rejects GM request for state aid for its Opel brand
- U.S. Secretary of Defense Gates blames European Union (E.U.) for Turkey “drift”
- Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Karen Christiana Figueres Olsen: wealthier nations must do more to cut emissions
- France is closing all its military bases in Senegal, some fifty years after that nation’s independence
- Galileo Galilee fingers emerge at auction
- Chicago Blackhawks win Stanley Cup
Current Events for Friday, 11 June 2010
- Kyrgyz interim government imposes curfew after rioting in southern city of Osh kills seventeen, injures 201
- Striking Chinese Honda workers continue to demand better pay, unionization
- United Kingdom (U.K.) calls for harsher penalties in regards to Iranian nuclear program, Iran defiant
- Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas: hope erroding for two-state solution
- U.S. government scientists double projected Gulf oil spill, as much as 40,000 barrels (1.68 million gallons) per day
- U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) opens investigation into AT&T iPad hack
- British Prime Minister David Cameron rules-out sending more soldier to the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan
- U.S. authorities arrest more than 400 in Mexican drug cartel sweep in over sixteen states
- Suspected U.S. unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV, “drone”) attack in Pakistan kills three militants
- Dutch Liberals squeak-by in elections, to attempt coalition
- Roman Catholic Pope Benedict XVI begs forgiveness for sex abuse scandal, defends clergy celibacy
- Former Taiwanese Prime Minister Chen Shui-bian has his appeal against corruption conviction denied by Taipei court
- Guatemala city police find four severed heads, two bodies in public areas of city
- U.S. trade deficit widens to $40.3 billion in May
- International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) convicts two Bosnian Serbs on genocide charges for 1995 Srebrenica massacre, sentenced to life-in-prison
- Commander, ISAF and Commander, U.S. Forces Afghanistan (USFOR-A) U.S. Army General Stanley McChrystal: Kandahar offensive to move more slowly than first planned to help it gain local support
- Archaeologists believe they have found earliest use of leather for shoes in Armenian cave, dates to about 5,500 years-ago
- U.S. President Obama “signs-on” to updating of laws after Gulf disaster
- National Association of Evangelicals urge U.S. White House to alter immigration law, provide path for citizenship