Current Events for the Week of 14 June 2010
Current Events for Monday, 14 June 2010
- Israel sets-up own Gaza raid inquiry
- Kyrgyz ethnic violence kills 117 and leaves Osh in flames, Russian Federation sends 115 paratroopers to aid in security
- Japanese asteroid mission returns to Earth, brings-back “remarkable” dust
- Gunmen, bombers target Iraq central bank, at least fifteen killed and dozens wounded
- The New York Times: U.S. exploration shows possible $1 trillion in untapped Afghan mineral deposits
- Harvard University Joint Center for Housing Studies: U.S. economy tied to unemployment
- Honda claims Chinese labor dispute solved, workers continue to sit-out
- South Africa police use tear gas, rubber bullets on disgruntled World Cup workers
- U.S. President Barack Obama (D.) pushes for added economic stimulae
- Iranian security police arrest thirteen “rebel terrorists” in-connection with attacks on minority Sunna
- Crude oil storage tank, believed to have been on TransOcean’s Deepwater Horizon rig, washes ashore on northwest Florida beach
- Afghan President Hamid Karzai visits Taliban “homeland” of Kandahar to push for reconciliation talks
- London School of Economics report: Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency has an “official policy” of aid and support for Afghan Taliban
- U.S. Geological Survery (USGS): strong 7.2-magnitude earthquake strikes near Indian Nicobar Islands, prompting tsunami warning
- Arkansas flash flood rips through campground, at least eighteen dead
- Indian police claim to kill ten Maoist rebels in major raid in northeastern India
- Belgian New Flemish Alliance (NVA) wins big in elections, wants to split Beligium between Dutch-speaking Flanders and French-speaking Wallonia
- Polish police arrest Israeli agent wanted in Germany in-connection with murder of Hamas commander in Dubai
- Venezuelan prosecutors seek arrest of private television network owner Guillermo Zuloaga on business irregularities charges
- Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB) documentary accuses military junta of trying to procure nuclear weapons
- European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope (VLT) astronomers record orbit of exoplanet Beta Pictoris b around its sun
- Restoration workers identify probable cause of death for Saint Rosa: blood clot from Cantrell’s syndrome
- Adobe announces fix to severe security flaw in Flash
- U.S. President Obama to address the nation Tuesday night on Gulf of Mexico oil spill
- Cuba, U.S. to sit-down for talks on immigration issues
- Newly released financial records show international travel for Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) justices
- New York Governor David Patterson (D.) warns of imminent government shut-down after budget talks flounder
- Internal U.S. Army inquiry finds 211 graves “mishandled” at Arlington National Cemetery
Current Events for Tuesday, 15 June 2010
- U.S. Congress set to grill BP America chief executive officer (CEO) Lamar McKay just hours before presidential address on accusations it knowingly cut security measures for profit
- USGS: 5.7-magnitude earthquake hit remote part of southern California near Mexican border overnight
- U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) declassifies file on U.S. Senator Edward “Ted” Kennedy (D., MA), over 100 death-threats on-file
- Armed couple detained trying to gain entry to MacDill Air Force Base, Florida
- United Nations Special Envoy Miroslav Jenca: Kyrgyz refugee numbers could reach 100,000
- Iraqi parliament meets for first-time since March elections
- Wikipedia to “unlock” thousands of article currently under strict editing regulations
- Landslides kill thirty in Bangladesh
- Harvard University Medical Center study: white rice increases diabetes risk by one-third
- DZero experiment at the Tevatron particle accelerator, operated by Fermilab: there may be as many as five “versions” of the Higgs boson particle
- French President Nicolas Sarközy, German Chancellor Angela Merkel renew call for global bank tax
- International crude oil prices jump on good news for global stocks
- Flash floods sweep through Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
- India to send paratroopers into northeastern state of Manipur to lift blockage by tribal groups
- 100-million-year-old mammal hairs discovered encased in amber in southern France show little change
- Moody’s credit rating agency downgrades Greek bonds to “junk”
- Somali Islamists warn of harsh punishments if one is caught watching the World Cup
- Microsoft unveils Xbox “Kinect” at Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3)
- Jimmy Dean, famous as much for his country music as his sausages, dies at age 81
- U.S. congressional investigators: no evidence now-defunct Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) mishandled $40 million in federal funding it had received
- Three New York Republican state senators cross party lines, vote for budget to keep state running
- U.S. Representative Bob Etheridge (D., NC) apologizes for incident involving two university students
Current Events for Wednesday, 16 June 2010
- U.S. President Obama addresses the nation, vows to make BP pay, calls for independent escrow fund to be created
- USGS: series of earthquakes hit off Indonesia’s Papua province within a few minutes of one another, strongest a 7.0-magnitude
- Kyrgyz refugees now number as many as 250,000
- U.S. President Obama’s nominee for U.S. Deputy Attorney General James Cole comes under-fire from Republicans who do not like the Obama administration’s handling of terrorism suspects
- British Prime Minister David Cameron apologizes for 1972 killings by British soldiers of thirteen Northern Irish protesters, known as Bloody Sunday
- Commander, U.S. Central Command (USCENTCOM), U.S. Army General David Petraeus faints at congressional hearing, blames dehydration and skipping breakfast
- Rating agencies like Moody’s, Standard & Poors dodge bullet, provision that would up-end their business model stripped from financial reform bill
- Two U.S. astronauts, one Russian Federation cosmonaut blast-off aboard Soyuz rocket from Kazakhstan bound for International Space Station (ISS)
- Team of U.S. scientists once again increase high-end estimate on amount of oil escaping Gulf well by 50%
- U.N. Human Rights Council (UNHRC) rebukes Iran on record
- U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) staff: French drugmaker HRA Pharma’s “morning-after pill” ella safe and effective up to five days after unprotected sex
- Pakistani authorities detain American “hunting” Osama bin Laden
- RMT union calls-on London Mayor Boris Johnson to hold direct talks to avert planned forty-eight-hour subway workers strike
- Dutch researcher Dr. Harold van Heerde investigating ways to make certain online information “degrade” over time
- French retirement age to be raised from sixty to sixty-two over the next eight years
- Mexico places new restrictions on the use of the U.S. dollar ($) to try and curb money-laundering by drug lords
- South Africa celebrates Youth Day, anniversary of 1976 Soweto uprising
- World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) researchers: those with elevated levels of Vitamin B in their blood experience reduced risk of lung cancer
- At least thirteen killed in collision between several freight trains in western Mexico
- Nintendo unveils 3DS at E3
- Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA, International Federation of Association Football) considers legal action over Dutch brewery’s “stunt” of dressing several fans identically
- Joint U.N., Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) report: Brazil, China, India, Russia to see agricultural boom over next decade, Europe in decline
- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: nuclear swap deal “still alive”
- Police called to St. Aelred’s Catholic Technology College in Newton-le-Willows, England after U.S. FBI picks-up credible threat of attack on Facebook
- Chinese Prime Minister Web Jiabao calls for better migrant worker living conditions
- Proposed Arizona law denies Arizona citizenship to children of illegal immigrants
Current Events for Thursday, 17 June 2010
- Israel announces relaxation of Gaza blockade, humanitarian goods among those to be permitted
- France, Spain announce publicly unpopular labor, pension reforms ahead of European Union (E.U.) summit on eurozone
- U.S. government sources: new financial regulation legislation likely to keep independence of U.S. Federal Reserve intact
- BP Chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg apologizes for referring to those hurt by the Gulf oil spill as “little people”
- BP CEO Tony Hayward set to undergo heavy questioning by U.S. Congress
- U.S. Senate votes 60-37 to extend homebuyer tax credit
- U.S. imposes new, harsher sanctions of its own on Iran
- U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) National Center for Health Statistics report: 15% of Americans lacked health insurance in 2009, an “insignificant” uptick from 2008
- Iranian President Ahmadinjed: Iran ready to resume nuclear talks if certain conditions are met
- U.S. White House announces $22 billion escrow fund paid by BP and administered by third party
- Southeastern France devastated by flash flooding, deathtoll still rising
- German State Office for Heritage Management and Archaeology researchers: bones discovered in Magdeburg Cathedral are the remains of Queen Eadgyth, granddaughter of Alfred the Great, King of Wessex and wife of Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor
- At least forty-six killed in Burmese landslides
- Syrian President Bashar al-Assad: Israel’s attack on humanitarian flotilla has increased likelihood of Middle East war
- International Committee of the Red Cross and Red Crescent (ICRC) warns of “imminent crisis” in Kyrgyzstan
- Four police officers, five gunmen die in Dagestan shoot-out
- San Francisco set to pass law requiring radiation levels be published for mobile phone handsets
- U.S. government-sponsored mortgage giants Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac to cease New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) trading
- Turkish troops cross into northern Iraq, attack Partiya Karkerên Kurdistan (PKK, Kurdistan Workers’ Party) rebels
- Russian Federation President Dmitry Medvedev warns Belarus of gas cut unless it pays debt within five days
- Opel, Vauxhall withdraw bailout applications due to delays
- Human Rights Watch calls for eradication of female genital mutilation (FGM) in Kurdish areas of Iraq
- E.U. ministers approve plans to make food labels clearer, reject “traffic light” color-coding
Current Events for Friday, 18 June 2010
- Utah firing squad executes Ronnie Lee Gardner, third execution using such method since 1976
- Interim Kyrgyz President Roza Otunbayeva travels to Osh, vows peace and security
- UNHRC: as many as 400,000 Kyrgyz refugees
- U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) talks small, but significant, step forward in regulating broadband Internet
- Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) permits review of text messages received by employee on employer-issued pager
- Sixteen Iraqi men claim violent abductions, deportation from U.K.
- Chinese parts supplier for Toyota hit by strike
- Spanish banking giant Santander makes bid to purchase more than 300 branches from the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS)
- Two killed in fresh Karachi, Pakistan violence
- Swedish parliament approves plan to replace old nuclear power plants with new ones
- U.N.: panel to investigate human rights claims from Sri Lankan civil war could be in-place by next week
- Chulalongkorn University, University of Toronto researchers warn of gap between stem cell therapy knowledge, treatment
- Despite U.S. President Obama’s struggling poll numbers in U.S., still popular internationally
- New, harsher E.U. sanctions against Iran approved by ministers
- Fujitsu, Toshiba announce mobile phone business merger
- Republican filibuster keeps extension of unemployment benefits, prevention of Medicare cuts on the table