Portal:Current events/May 2011

Armed conflicts and attacks

Death of Osama bin Laden:
- President of the United States Barack Obama announces in a special TV broadcast that Osama bin Laden, the founder and leader of the militant Islamist group Al-Qaeda and the most-wanted fugitive on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives, was killed on May 2 (Pakistan Standard Time) during an American military operation in Abbottabad, near Islamabad, Pakistan and that his body is in U.S. custody. (CNN) (SBS Television) (The Guardian) (BBC) (ABC News)
- At least 3 other people were killed in the fatal U.S. attack on Osama bin Laden, officials later disclose. (Reuters)
- Former president George W. Bush congratulates president Barack Obama on his "momentous achievement". (Boston Herald) (Reuters)
- Bill Clinton also expresses his delight at developments. (ABC News)
- American televisions interrupt their scheduled programming to broadcast the news to viewers of shows such as The Apprentice. (InsideTV)
- Crowds gather outside the White House in Washington D.C. and the World Trade Center site in New York City to celebrate bin Laden's death after the announcement by President Obama. (News Limited), (CBS News)
- In the wake of the American defeat of Osama bin Laden, the United States Department of State issues a global travel alert to all U.S. citizens, warning of the "enhanced potential for anti-American violence". (Inquirer)
Syrian civil war:
- Citizens of the city of Daraa, a focal point of the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad, report being fired on by government soldiers and tanks. (BBC) (The Jerusalem Post)
- Activists vow to begin a "week of breaking the siege" protests in Daraa, with Damascus to join in tomorrow. (Al Jazeera)
- UK Prime Minister David Cameron condemns Syria's crackdown on anti-regime protesters and calls for more pressure to be put on the government after Syrian troops continue to kill civilians in the city of Daraa. (AFP via Google News) (Voice of America News)
- Syrian forces arrest a prominent human rights lawyer, Abdallah Khalil, in the city of Raqqa after he criticised the authorities' reaction to anti-government protests. (The Jerusalem Post)
Libyan Civil War:
- Witnesses report that Gaddafi's forces in Misrata are preparing to use chemical weapons against the civilian and rebel population. (Times of Malta)
- The United Nations is withdrawing all its international staff from Tripoli after "angry" crowds protest outside US, UK and Italian embassies against NATO airstrikes. (BBC)
- Following an attack on the British embassy in Tripoli, UK Foreign Secretary William Hague says that Britain will expel the Libyan ambassador to the UK; smoke is also seen rising from the Italian embassy in Libya.(The Jerusalem Post)
2011 Saudi Arabian protests:
- Saudi Arabia increases media restrictions, threatening fines and closure of publications that "threaten" the country's stability. (Al Jazeera) (AFP)
2011 Yemeni revolution:
- Ali Abdullah Saleh refuses to sign a Gulf Arab states-brokered agreement intended to resolve the situation, and the deal has collapsed. The opposition in Yemen promises to escalate the protests. (BBC)
- As a result of Saleh's refusal, Yemeni opposition cancels its trip to meet Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) foreign ministers in Riyadh. (Al Jazeera)
The Taliban stages offensives in two provinces of Afghanistan, killing six people. (AP via MSNBC)
Police use tear gas and batons on people protesting against their government in Maldives. (BBC)
A crowd of hundreds of people attack a Christian seminary, a church and houses of local Christians in Gujranwala, Pakistan, after finding out that two Christians who had been accused of blasphemy have been released from protective custody by the police. (The Express Tribune)

Arts and culture

At memorial services on Holocaust and Heroism Remembrance Day in Israel, thousands of Holocaust survivors and Israelis commemorate the Jews who died during the Holocaust. (UPI) (The Jerusalem Post)
Pope John Paul II is beatified by Pope Benedict XVI in Saint Peter's Square, Rome. (The Guardian) (Al Jazeera)
Pope Benedict XVI also removes William Martin Morris as the Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Toowoomba in Australia for allegedly advocating the ordination of women and married priests. (National Catholic Reporter)
Australian television personality Karl Stefanovic wins the Gold Logie Award for Most Popular Personality on Australian Television at the Logie Awards of 2011. (The Sydney Morning Herald)

Business and economy

British head teachers vote 99.6 per cent in favour of staging a ballot on a strike over pension cuts in what would be a first national strike by the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT). (BBC)
Hong Kong introduces a minimum wage after public pressure to resolve a wealth gap, though business leaders complain about the cost. (BBC)
Hundreds of thousands of people attend May Day parades in Cuba. (BBC)

Disasters

The International Atomic Energy Agency is sending a team to Japan this month to inspect the crippled Fukushima nuclear plants and will present its preliminary evaluation of the crisis in June.(The Japan Times)
The Memory Unit of the Flight Data Recorder from Air France 447 is recovered from the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, nearly two years after the jet crashed. (The Wall Street Journal)
The Indian Air Force searches unsuccessfully for a helicopter containing Dorjee Khandu, the Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh state and four others. (CNN)
Police investigate a blogger Teacher Wang for fraud after he predicts a magnitude-14 earthquake and 170m (560ft) high tsunami is to strike Taiwan on 11 May, toppling the Taipei 101 skyscraper and Presidential Office building. The prediction is removed from the internet. (BBC)

International relations

Israel withholds 300 million NIS ($89 million) in tax and customs revenue collected on behalf of the Palestinians to the Palestinian Authority after Fatah and Hamas agree a unity deal intended to lead to a transitional government and fresh elections. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expresses his disregard for the agreement. (Al Jazeera) (The Jerusalem Post)
Israel opposes Egypt's plan to open the Rafah Border Crossing with Gaza to two-way traffic due to its fears of "terror operatives". (Xinhua) (The Jerusalem Post)

Law and crime

It is reported that the United States has denied the United Nations access to imprisoned serviceman Bradley Manning whom the U.S. accuses of disclosing government information to the general public. (GLW)
German officials say they have foiled a terror plot with the arrest of three suspected al-Qaeda bomb-makers. (The Denver Post)(The Times of India)
China outlaws smoking in public places, affecting one third of smokers internationally. (BBC)

Politics and elections

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is to end a boycott of official duties, amid an apparent rift with the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. (The Straits Times) (Al Jazeera)

May 2, 2011 (Monday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

Reactions to the death of Osama bin Laden:
- Thousands of people gather at Ground Zero of the September 11 attacks in New York to celebrate the news that Osama bin Laden has been killed. (SKY News) (CNN)
- Bin Laden's body, which was handled in accordance with Islamic practice and tradition, is buried by the U.S. forces at sea less than a day after his death, thus preventing a burial site from becoming a "terrorist shrine".(abcnews)
- Most international leaders respond positively to the news. (Sky News)
- US political leaders across the political spectrum welcome the announcement that Osama bin Laden had been killed, congratulating American troops, the intelligence community and the White House for putting an end to the hunt for the mastermind of the September 11 attacks. (USA Today)
- British Prime Minister David Cameron says bin Laden's death will "bring great relief to people across the world" and that it is a time to remember all those murdered by Osama bin Laden, and all those who lost loved ones.(Sky News)
- NATO head Anders Fogh Rasmussen says bin Laden's death is a “success” for security and that NATO should continue its mission in Afghanistan to ensure it "never again becomes a safe haven for extremism." (The Jerusalem Post)
- Leader of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, condemns the killing of bin Laden as "the killing of an Arab holy warrior," while Hamas' prospective power-sharing partner Fatah in the Palestinian Authority led by Mahmud Abbas issues a statement welcoming the al Qaida-leader's death.(The Jerusalem Post)
- Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari says that Iraq is "delighted" by the news, noting that thousands of Iraqis had died "because of his ideologies". (AFP)
- Newspapers carry it on their front pages. (BBC)
Syrian civil war:
- Hundreds of dissidents have been arrested across Syria, including in the town of Daraa and a Damascus suburb, after dozens were killed in weekend protests, activists say. (The Australian)
- The UN Security Council fails to agree a statement to condemn the killing of Syrian protesters, as Russia and China block a statement proposed by Britain, France, Germany and Portugal that would have condemned the violence, which has led to hundreds of dead, and backed calls for an independent investigation. (Herald Sun)
- Al Jazeera demands that Syria provide information on Dorothy Parvaz, a journalist missing since her arrival in Damascus on Friday. (Al Jazeera)
- The Iranian foreign minister Ali Akbar Salehi, speaking at a news conference in Doha, demands that Syria's government investigates last Friday's disppearance of journalist Dorothy Parvaz. (Al Jazeera)
Bahraini uprising (2011–present): Bahrain arrests two senior members of the Opposition Al Wefaq party, Jawad Ferooz and Mattar Ibrahim Mattar. (Al Jazeera)
Libyan Civil War:
- Forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi continue to attack the city of Misrata. (News 24)
- The United Nations withdraws all of its international staff from the capital Tripoli. (BBC) (Al Jazeera)
- Almost $1 billion linked to besieged Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and overthrown Egyptian and Tunisian leaders Hosni Mubarak and Zine El Abidine Ben Ali are found in Switzerland. Mubarak had previously denied having wealth in foreign bank accounts. (Al Jazeera)
The Taliban sends a 12-year-old boy as a suicide bomber in a new wave of attacks that kills four civilians, in one of several attacks across Afghanistan that kills at least seven people. (BBC) (The Australian)
Thousands of Sri Lankans protest against a United Nations report calling for both sides involved in the civil war to be investigated for possible war crimes. (Angola Press)

Business and economy

Oil prices fall following news that U.S. forces have killed al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. (CNN) (The Jerusalem Post)
Asian stocks and U.S. stock index futures rise on initial reports that Osama bin Laden was dead. (Reuters)
The Australian dollar reaches $1.10 in United States dollars, its highest level since the Australian dollar was floated in 1983. (The Australian)
Sony advises that hackers may have stolen personal details of 24.6 million users of Sony Online Entertainment resulting in the site closing. (Business Insider)

Disasters

At least 106 people disappear after a boat capsizes on the Kasai River in Kasai-Occidental. (CBC News) (BBC) (AFP via Google News) (Reuters Canada)
A massive search operation continues amid severe weather conditions for the helicopter of Arunachal Pradesh's chief minister Dorjee Khandu which disappeared while carrying him and four other people. (BBC)
The United States Army Corps of Engineers explodes a large part of a Mississippi River levee to protect the Illinois town of Cairo from floodwaters. (MSNBC)

International relations

Egypt's Foreign Minister Nabil al-Araby calls on the United States to support an independent Palestine, stating that the U.S. should consider a re-united Palestinian movement as a positive development and that Israel ought to negotiate with Palestine. (BBC)

Law and crime

As part of one of the four cases currently against him, Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi appears in court on charges of corruption and attacks his prosecutors again. (BBC)

Politics and elections

Canadian federal election, 2011
- Voters in Canada go to the polls for a federal election. (Reuters via ABS CBN)
- Twitter users break an Elections Canada rule by announcing election results before all voters have had the chance to vote. (CBC)
- Results indicate that the Conservative Party of Canada led by Prime Minister Stephen Harper is on track to retain government with a majority of seats. (Reuters), (BBC), (Global News), (The Globe and Mail)
- The New Democratic Party becomes the Opposition in the parliament with the Liberal Party of Canada relegated to third place for the first time in its history. (Global News), (The Globe and Mail)
- Environmental activist Elizabeth May becomes the first member of the Green Party of Canada member elected to Parliament. (The Globe and Mail)
President of Brazil Dilma Rousseff is hospitalised with pneumonia in São Paulo. (BBC)
In Guatemala the country's electoral supreme court calls for general elections to be held on September 11 to elect President and Vice President, Mayors of the 333 municipal corporations, members for a new Congress and members for the Central American Parliament (PARLACEN). A second round of voting for President and Vice-President will be held on November 6 if needed.^[1]

Sport

John Higgins wins the World Snooker Championship for the fourth time. (The Guardian)

May 3, 2011 (Tuesday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

Reaction to the death of Osama bin Laden:
- White House Press Secretary Jay Carney reveals that Osama bin Laden was not armed but did put up resistance when U.S. forces entered his compound. (CNN)
- US officials deliberate releasing “gruesome” photographs of the corpse of Osama bin Laden, to dispel doubt by Islamic militants that U.S. forces really killed him. (Reuters)
- Hundreds of people in Quetta, Pakistan, join a rally in honour of Osama bin Laden. (One Pakistan)
- Pakistani officials criticize the US raid that killed Osama bin Laden, saying that the United States had made “an unauthorized unilateral action” that would be not be tolerated in the future. (The New York Times)
- US officials caution that bin Laden’s death does not remove the threat of terrorist attacks and say that the battle against al-Qaida and other terrorist groups will continue. (VOA News)
- US officials describe remarks by leader of militant Islamic group Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, condemning the killing of bin Laden as "outrageous", while UK Foreign Secretary William Hague criticizes Hamas for mourning bin Laden's death. (VOA News) (AFP) (JTA)
- UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay says the UN wants more details regarding the death of bin Laden and that all counter-terrorism operations must respect international law, even though bin Laden had committed crimes against humanity and "the most appalling acts of terrorism.”. (Reuters) (Huffington Post)
2011 Libyan civil war
- Thousands of people are at risk of death from thirst and starvation in Yafran due to Muammar Gaddafi's forces besieging the city, shutting off water and blocking food supplies. (Libya TV)
- Forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi bombard the rebel-held town of Zintan with Grad rockets. (Alertnet)
Saudi Arabian protests
- Human Rights Watch has asked the government of Saudi Arabia to release a rights activist who was arrested for participating in peaceful demonstrations, saying a recent wave of arrests is jeopardizing any chance of reform. (VOA News) (Bloomberg News)
Syrian protests
- Syrian forces and gunmen loyal to President Bashar al-Assad moved into the center of the city of Baniyas, which had been under the control of pro-democracy demonstrators in recent weeks. (The Jerusalem Post)
- More than 1,000 people have been detained across Syria since Saturday in security crackdowns in to keep people off the streets and aimed at suppressing the uprising against President al-Assad, according to human rights activists. (RTT) (AP)
- UK Foreign Secretary William Hague says that Britain is working with European allies to impose targeted sanctions on Syrian leaders, including asset freezes and travel bans, in response to the ongoing government suppression of pro-democracy protesters. (Los Angeles Times) (The Telegraph)
At least nineteen people die in northern Kenya in clashes with raiders from Ethiopia. (Reuters via Yahoo News)
A car bomb in Baghdad, Iraq, kills at least 16 people in a cafe with young men watching a football match. (AP)
Up to ten Afghan police officers are killed in a NATO air strike on a highway in Ghazni Province. (AFP via The News)
Dozens of people are killed in fighting between the National Armed Forces of Côte d'Ivoire and forces loyal to former President of the Ivory Coast Laurent Gbagbo in Abidjan. (Al Jazeera)

Business and economy

The Reserve Bank of India increases interest rates by 50 basis points to 7.25 per cent. (Reuters)
José Sócrates, the Prime Minister of Portugal, announces a bail out deal with the European Union and International Monetary Fund. (BBC)

Disasters

A tornado hits Albany, a northern suburb of the New Zealand city of Auckland, causing at least one death, injuries and property damage. (New Zealand Herald), (TV New Zealand), (News Limited), (New Zealand Stuff)
Searchers find the second flight recorder from Air France Flight 447 that crashed into the Atlantic Ocean on June 1, 2009. (Reuters)
The US Army Corps of Engineers blasts a hole in two levees along the Mississippi River, flooding some 200 square miles (520 km²) of Missouri farmland in an effort to save the town of Cairo, Illinois further downriver from record-breaking flood waters. (CNN)
The US city of Tuscaloosa, Alabama revises the number of missing there during the April 25–28, 2011 tornado outbreak from 340 on Monday to 80. (Alabama)
A mine explosion in San Juan de Sabinas Municipality in the Mexican state of Coahuila kills three people, injures one and leaves another 11 trapped. (AP via Salon)

International relations

Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu calls on Palestinian Authority President Abbas to choose peace with Israel and not Hamas, saying that the Fatah-Hamas unity government deal would jeopardize the already-stalled peace process because Hamas opposes the existence of Israel; Abbas rejects the call as “unacceptable interference”. (CNN) (Ynet) (The Jerusalem Post)
European Union Foreign Affairs head, Catherine Ashton, condemns Iran for its ongoing executions of juvenile offenders following the public execution of two juveniles in Bandar Abbas, Iran. (The Jerusalem Post)
A Tibetan parliament-in-exile delegation appeals to foreign embassies in New Delhi, India, for help to release three monks from the Kirti monastery in northeastern Tibet detained by Chinese authorities and to address additional human rights violations in Tibet by China. (The Tibet Post)

Law and crime

Five people are arrested near the Sellafield nuclear power plant in Cumbria, England, under the Terrorism Act. (The Independent)
Iranian police clash with protesters at a club soccer match between Piroozi Athletic and Saudi Arabia's Ittihad FC. (AP via Denver Post)
The murder of a South African lesbian activist who was stoned and stabbed to death is condemned as part of an "epidemic" of hate crimes against gays in South Africa. (AFP) (Mail & Guardian) (Times Live)

Politics

Shelley Hancock is elected as the first female Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Australia's most populous state, New South Wales. (AAP via Sydney Morning Herald)
Results from the 41st Canadian General Election give the Conservative Party of Canada a majority government while the NDP will form the Official Opposition for the first time in Canadian political history.(CBC), (NYT), (BBC), (CNN), (Globe and Mail)
American Republican politician Beth Gaines is elected to the district in the California State Assembly previously held by her husband Ted Gaines who is now serving in the California State Senate. (AP via Silicon Valley News)

Science

The United Nations projects that the world's population will pass 7 billion on October 31, 2011. (Reuters)

Sports

American basketball player Derrick Rose of the Chicago Bulls wins the NBA Most Valuable Player Award Award for the 2010-11 NBA season, the youngest player to do so. (Chicago Sun-Times)
Francisco Liriano of the Minnesota Twins pitches the first no-hitter of the North American 2011 Major League Baseball season against the Chicago White Sox. (NBC Sports), (New York Times)
Barcelona qualify for the 2011 UEFA Champions League Final (their third final in 5 years) after a 1-1 draw with El Clasico rivals Real Madrid, winning 3-1 on aggregate. (BBC Sport)

May 4, 2011 (Wednesday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

2011 Syrian uprising
- Syrian security forces arrest two people outside of the University of Damascus as student demonstrators rally for the release of political detainees and army convoys and tanks rolled into the capital city, setting up what eyewitnesses described as a base in the central square. (CNN) (Sky News)
- More than 1,000 people are arrested in Syria amid ongoing protests (UPI)
- Eye-witness reports say dozens are killed in clashes as thousands of people across Syria rallied to show support for residents of the southern border city of Daraa who have been living under siege since government forces attacked earlier this week. (CNN)
- UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon calls Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and urges him to immediately end the violent crackdown against anti-government protesters in Syria, as Syrian tanks and armored vehicles deployed around the town of Rastan, witnesses said, raising fears of another deadly attack on protesters challenging Assad's rule. (The Jerusalem Post) (Channel 6 News)
- Syrian officials confirm the detention of an Al Jazeera reporter, Dorothy Parvaz, who has been missing since Friday. (CNN)
2011 Libyan civil war
- The chief prosecutor for the International Criminal Court, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, reports that there are "reasonable grounds to believe that crimes against humanity have been committed and continue being committed in Libya, and says he will soon request arrest warrants against three individuals who are "most responsible for the crimes committed." (CNN) (The Telegraph)
- An aid ship is forced to cut short its mission to evacuate civilians from Libya after Muammar Gaddafi's forces shell the port of Misrata shortly after it docked; at least four people, including a woman and two children, were killed in the shelling. (The Telegraph)
Reactions to the death of Osama bin Laden:
- Barack Obama decides not to release photos of Osama bin Laden following his death but Reuters releases photos taken at the Abbotabad compound. (CBS News), (The Guardian) (CNN)
- An official of the radical Palestinian Islamist party, Hizb ut-Tahrir, calls Osama bin Laden a "lion" and denounces President Barack Obama as a "dog who deserves to be hanged”. (The Telegraph)
- Newspapers and television in Uzbekistan have still not reported the death of Osama bin Laden three days after it occurred. (The Telegraph)
Russian security forces kill Doger Sevdet, an al-Qaeda emissary who fought alongside Chechen insurgents, in the northern Caucasus region of Russia. (CNN)
One policeman is killed and another injured when Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's convoy is attacked after a campaign rally in northern Turkey; Erdoğan was not in the convoy at the time of the attack. (CNN) (The Telegraph)

Arts and culture

Art exhibit of Chinese dissident, Ai Weiwei, jailed by the Chinese government last month for unspecified "economic crimes," opens in New York City. (CNN)
Bollywood actor, Shiney Ahuja, is released on bail in Mumbai a week after being jailed for allegedly raping his maid. (BBC)
Daniel Barenboim, a conductor and pianist and "supporter of Palestinian rights", holds a "Peace Concert" in the Gaza Strip. (The Jerusalem Post), (Deutsche Welle)

Business and economy

Richard Branson announces that the operations of airlines Virgin Blue, V Australia and Pacific Blue will be merged to form Virgin Australia. (WA Today)
Intel announces it will begin shipping the new Ivy Bridge chips, using three-dimensional design to conserve battery power, later this year. (Reuters)

Disasters

At least 16 people are feared dead and 21 injured following a bus crash in Nepal. (Nepal Mountain News)
The wreckage of a crashed helicopter containing Dorjee Khandu, Chief Minister of the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh, is found with three bodies nearby. (BBC), (Indian Express)
2011 Midwest floods:
- Despite the breach of a levee on the Mississippi River to ease flood pressure in southern Illinois, massive flooding continues from Minnesota to Louisiana and hundreds of square miles of mostly farmland in Missouri are under water. (CNN)
- The government of the US state of Arkansas decides to close Interstate 40 between Little Rock and Memphis due to floodwaters. (Arkansas Highways)
Two trains collide near US Highway 30 near the US city of Portland, Oregon, causing a fire and necessitating the evacuation of nearby residents. (KGW)
A building explosion occurs in the US city of Warren, Michigan. (WXYZ News)
Experts from Chile who helped rescue 33 miners trapped for more than three months in a mine last October go to assist rescue efforts in northern Mexico, where nine workers remained trapped in a mine after an explosion. (CNN)

International Relations

Public executions, death by starvation and torture are common in North Korean political prisoner camps, according to testimony given to human rights group Amnesty International, which they say could contain as many as 200,000 prisoners. (CNN) (The New York Times) (AFP)
Sarah Shourd, an American hiker released last year from an Iranian prison on $500,000 bail because of a medical condition said she will not return to Tehran to face espionage charges in a court hearing scheduled for next week; her fiancé, Shane Bauer, and their friend, Josh Fattal, are still being held in Evin Prison in Iran. (CNN)

Law and crime

The trial of two Rwandan rebel leaders charged in connection with their part in crimes against humanity and war crimes carried out by their militias in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2008 and 2009, begins in the Stuttgart high court, Germany. (CNN)
China announces the creation of a State Internet Information Office to 'direct, coordinate, and supervise' online content management, prompting fears that online censorship will grow even more stringent. (RFA)

Politics

The United States House of Representatives passes the "No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act" banning the direct Federal funding of abortions. (CBS News)

Sport

The United States Department of Justice considers launching an antitrust action against the National Collegiate Athletic Association over the bowl system. (CNN)
Manchester United F.C. beat FC Schalke 04 4-1 to progress to the final (their third final in 5 years) of the 2010-11 UEFA Champions League against Barcelona at Wembley Stadium on May 28. (CNN)

May 5, 2011 (Thursday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

2011 Libyan civil war
- Members of the multi-state coalition conducting the military campaign in Libya hold talks in Rome, Italy, and agree to set up a new fund to aid Libyan rebels, with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton promising to use frozen assets of Muammar Gaddafi's regime. (Washington Post) (Al Jazeera) (The Australian) (The Jerusalem Post)
- Mortar rounds fired from Libya land near the Tunisian border town of Dehiba. (Reuters Alertnet)
2011 Syrian protests:
- Dozens of tanks have been sent to the Syrian city of Homs as the Government continues to crack down on protesters. (Sky News)
- Syrian troops arrest 300 people in a raid on the Damascus suburb of Saqba and tanks and troops are also reported to have been sent to other to quell anti-government demonstrations in Homs and Hama.(BBC) (The Telegraph)
- About 100 tanks and troop transports converge on the town of Al-Rastan, after anti-regime protesters toppled a statue of the late Syrian president Hafez al-Assad and pledged to press ahead with their "revolution" despite sweeping arrests by Bashar al-Assad's regime. (The Australian)
- Syrian military forces begin withdrawing from the town of Daraa after a mission to "restore security and calm," according to Syrian state TV, after more than 500 people were killed during the clashes and thousands more detained. (CNN)
A car bomb explodes in the southern Iraqi city of Hilla, killing at least 21 police officers and injuring 65; in northern Iraq and in Baghdad, four people are killed in other attacks. (Reuters via Yahoo News) (New York Times) (CNN)
Vietnamese soldiers clash with thousands of Hmong Christians in Dien Bien Province demanding religious freedom and autonomy in the northwest of the country, in the worst ethnic unrest in Vietnam in years. The US-based Center for Public Policy Analysis claims that at least 28 protesters were killed and hundreds more were missing, while 3,000 protesters remained at the site, according to officials. (BBC) (Straits Times) (Bangkok Post)
A US drone attack kills two suspected al-Qaeda members in Shabwa province, Yemen. (The Telegraph)
Claude Choules, the last known combat veteran from World War I, dies in Perth, Western Australia. (AP via MSNBC) (BBC)

Arts and culture

American playwright and theatre director Arthur Laurents dies at the age of 93. (New York Times)

Business and economy

Foreign investment into Latin America grows by around 40%, with China named as the fastest growing investor in the region. (BBC) (People's Daily)

Disasters

Workers enter one of the buildings at Japan's Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant for the first time since an explosion in the days following the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. (AP via MSNBC) (CNN)
The body of Dorjee Khandu, the Chief Minister of the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh is found near the crash site of the helicopter that crashed in the Himalayan foothills on April 30. (AP via Yahoo News) (CNN)
Rising flood waters from the Mississippi River force evacuations around Memphis, Tennessee, as near-record flooding along the river occurs from Canada and the Dakotas down to the Gulf of Mexico. (Reuters)

International relations

The Sudanese cabinet approves a bill to add two new states to Darfur's existing three, in what rebels have condemned as plan to strengthen the central government’s control over the region. (Reuters) (AFP)
The South Korean National Assembly ratifies a free trade agreement with the European Union. (BBC)
The United Kingdom expels two more Libyan diplomats, a week after expelling the ambassador, in order to increase diplomatic pressure on the regime of Muammar Gaddafi. (The Independent)
During a visit to the United Kingdom, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu says that Iranian Supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei is the biggest threat to world peace now that Osama bin Laden has been killed. (The Jerusalem Post)

Law and crime

Former Egyptian interior minister Habib al-Adli is sentenced to 12 years imprisonment on corruption charges. (Al Arabiya)
Sándor Képíró goes on trial in Hungary for alleged war crimes during World War II while serving with the Hungarian Army in Serbia in 1942. (BBC) (The Jerusalem Post)
Dutch man Vincent Tabak pleads guilty to the manslaughter of Joanna Yeates, but denies murdering her. However, the plea is rejected by prosecutors and he is committed for trial in October. (Sky News) (BBC)
Calisto Tanzi, the founder of Italian group Parmalat, is arrested on tax charges. (Wall Street Journal)
Italian police seize assets worth around $1.38 billion from the Polverino mafia clan in the Naples region, and arrest 39 alleged clan members, including two who were local elections candidates from Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's People of Freedom party. (The Australian)
A shipping vessel registered in Taiwan with a history of oil spills is fined CAD $80,000 for the illegal dumping of pollutants in Canadian waters south of Newfoundland. (The Toronto Star)

Politics and elections

British elections
- Voters in the United Kingdom go to the polls for a referendum on whether to use the alternative vote electoral system for the House of Commons. (The Guardian)
- Voters in Wales go to the polls for the election for the Welsh National Assembly. (BBC)
- Voters in Scotland go to the polls for the Scottish Parliament elections. (BBC)
- Voters in Northern Ireland go to the polls for the Northern Ireland Assembly election. (BBC)
- Voters throughout England go to the polls for local government elections. (BBC)
President of the United States Barack Obama visits the World Trade Center site in New York City to commemorate the victims of the September 11 attacks following the death of Osama bin Laden. (New York Times)
A United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit rules that former Olympic champion Carl Lewis be placed on the ballot for a Democrat primary election for a New Jersey State Senate seat. (NJ.com)
The Ivory Coast Constitutional Council confirms that Alassane Ouattara won the 2010 presidential election reversing a decision that had found in favour of the previous incumbent Laurent Gbagbo. That original decision (now reversed) had sparked a brief war. (Al Jazeera)
The Brazilian Supreme Federal Court unanimously rules in favour of extending to same-sex couples the same rights of existing civil unions. (AP via Yahoo! News) (BBC) (AP via Washington Post)
Republican Party candidates for the nomination in the 2012 United States presidential election hold their first debate in Greenville, South Carolina. (Fox News)

Science

A report warns of accumulating mercury in the Arctic regions and that global emissions of mercury could increase by 25% by 2020, after another report suggested a global sea level rise by 1.6 metres by 2100, while a previous study detected chemical changes from elemental mercury to neurotoxic monomethylmercury occurring in the Arctic Ocean. (The Canadian Press) (Montreal Gazette) (Nunatsiaq Online)

Sport

FC Porto and SC Braga, both from Portugal, qualify for the 2011 UEFA Europa League Final at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin, after aggregate wins over Villarreal CF and Benfica respectively. The final is also the first ever time that two finalists have been situated less than 50 kilometers from each other. (UEFA)

May 6, 2011 (Friday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

2011 Yemeni protests: Protests continue in Yemen. (Al Jazeera)
2011 Syrian uprising:
- 27 people are killed in a "day of defiance" against the regime in Syria on Friday, including 15 protesters, and 5 security forces in Homs. (BBC) (The Jerusalem Post)
- Syrian security forces kill 15 protesters in Homs when they fired on a crowd of demonstrators to disperse them. (The Australian)
- Riad Seif, a Syrian opposition figure and former member of parliament, is arrested in Damascus. (CNN)
Tunisian Revolution: Riot police break up an anti-government demonstration calling for a "new revolution" in the capital Tunis. (AFP via Google News)
Pakistan
- Pakistani militants open fire on Shi'ite Muslims in Quetta killing at least 8 and wounding 10. (Reuters)
- At least five people are killed and 18 are injured after someone throws a hand grenade into a crowd in Karachi. (Xinhua)
The inquest into the 7 July 2005 London bombings concludes with the ruling that the victims had been unlawfully killed. (BBC) (CNN)
Vietnam closes off an ethnic Hmong area that was the scene of rare protests demanding autonomy and religious freedom. (BBC) (AFP via Google News)
Death of Osama bin Laden
- The President of the United States Barack Obama thanks service personnel in the operation against Osama bin Laden at Fort Campbell and awards them a Presidential Unit Citation. (MSNBC), (AP via AL.com) (CNN)
- Al-Qaeda issues a statement confirming bin Laden's death and threatens revenge. (Reuters) (The Australian) (CNN)
- The Taliban in Afghanistan advises that it will reinvigorate its efforts in fighting NATO. (CNN)

Arts and culture

British musician Sir Paul McCartney gets engaged to American businesswoman Nancy Shevell. (AP via KOMO News)
Two Montana residents sue American author Greg Mortenson and his Central Asia Institute for alleged fabrications in his book Three Cups of Tea. (AP via CBS News)

Business and economy

CNET reports that a group of computer hackers is planning another cyberattack against Sony over its handling of the PlayStation Network outage. (CNET)

Disasters

Spring 2011 Mississippi River Floods
- The United States Coast Guard closes a section of the Mississippi River near Caruthersville, Missouri due to heavy flooding. (CNN)
- The President of the United States Barack Obama declares a state of emergency for Louisiana due to concerns about floods. (WDSU)
Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan orders the closing of the ageing Hamaoka nuclear power plant in a densely populated area southwest of Tokyo because it is located close to a tectonic fault line. (The Australian) (CNN)
Russia launches an urgent rescue mission after the nuclear-powered icebreaker Taymyr in its fleet develops a nuclear leak in the frozen seas of the Arctic and was forced to abandon its mission. (The Australian)
Rescuers recover a seventh body from inside a coal mine near Sabinas, Mexico, more than three days after an explosion there; seven remaining miners trapped inside are presumed dead. (CNN)
Spanish maritime rescue services look for 22 would-be immigrants missing after their boat capsized south of Spain. (BNO)

International relations

Samoa announces that it will switch time zones. (RNZI)
Burma formally applies to take over the rotating chairmanship of ASEAN in 2014. (Bangkok Post)
The People's Republic of China, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan hold an antiterrorism drill in Xinjiang. (People's Daily)

Law and crime

A court in Russia sentences ultranationalist Nikita Tikhonov to life imprisonment for the murder of human rights lawyer Stanislav Markelov and journalist Anastasia Baburova in 2009. (RIA Novosti)
Former US baseball player Lenny Dykstra is indicted on 13 counts of bankruptcy fraud. (NBC Sports)
Japanese police launch an investigation after four people die of food poisoning after eating raw meat at a Yakiniku restaurant chain in Ishikawa Prefecture. (Japan Today)

Politics and elections

Mass protests against rising inflation continue in the Maldives. (Hindustan Times)
Police in Azerbaijan break up a demonstration against a ban on female students wearing the hijab. (Interfax)
Iranian politics:
- A political row between Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei intensifies, with Ahmadinejad said to contemplating resignation. (Al Jazeera)
- Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei issues an ultimatum to the President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to accept his intervention in a cabinet appointment or resign. (The Guardian)
The counting of votes in UK local elections continues with the Labour Party making gains and the Liberal Democrats losing seats. (BBC), (The Guardian)
Scottish Election
- The Scottish National Party wins an absolute majority in the Scottish elections with a referendum on independence likely. (STV), (BBC)
- Scottish Labour Party leader Iain Gray announces his resignation after his party loses key seats in constituencies across Scotland. (BBC)
The counting of votes in the Welsh elections continue with the Labour Party to retain control possibly with an absolute majority. (BBC)
Counting starts in the Northern Ireland election. (BBC)
Voters reject proposals to introduce the alternative voting system in the UK. (BBC)
Labour candidate Jon Ashworth wins the Leicester South by-election. (BBC)
Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva seeks King Bhumibol Adulyadej's endorsement to dissolve the lower house of parliament and calls for a national election. (The Australian)

Sport

Craig Whyte, the Scottish businessman, completes his takeover of Glasgow Rangers, succeeding Sir David Murray, who was owner of the club for 23 years. (BBC Sport)

May 7, 2011 (Saturday)

Armed conflict and attacks

2011 Syrian uprising
- Sources claim that the Syrian Army storms into the city of Baniyas attacking Sunni districts that have opposed President Bashar al-Assad during the 2011 Syrian protests. (Reuters via Alertnet), (Al Jazeera)
2011 Libyan civil war
- The Libyan Armed Forces bomb large fuel storage tanks in the town of Misrata, destroying the tanks and causing a large fire. (Reuters)
Sectarian violence in northern Nigeria kills at least 16 people. (Reuters)
Gunmen attack the compound of the Governor of Afghanistan's Kandahar Province and other facilities in the city of Kandahar with two dead and 29 injured. (AP via Washington Post), (AFP via France 24)
Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb denies responsibility for a bomb attack on a Marrakesh cafe that killed 16 people on April 28. (Reuters)
The United States releases videos of Osama bin Laden captured in last Sunday's raid. (MSNBC)
At least five people are killed and 54 injured in sectarian clashes in the Imbaba area of Cairo. (Reuters via Yahoo! News)
The government of Tunisia declares an overnight curfew in the capital Tunis following three days of unrest. (France 24)

Business and economy

Sony states that it will delay the restart of its PlayStation Network following the PlayStation Network outage, and that it has managed to remove user data that had been posted online by a third party. (Reuters via HuffingtonPost)

Disasters

A Merpati Nusantara Airlines Xian MA60 passenger plane with 25 passengers crashes into the sea near the Indonesian province of West Papua with no survivors. (AP via Yahoo News) (BBC) (AFP viaCalgary Herald)
Spring 2011 Mississippi River Floods
- The Spring 2011 Mississippi River Floods continue, with thousands of homes now ordered evacuated. (Voice of America)
- The 1927 Mississippi flooding record expected to be broken. (Slate)
- The floods have disrupted major food and energy distribution in affected states. (Bloomberg).
The wreckage of a plane that crashed in Bolivia on Thursday has been found with four United Nations staff and two pilots dead. (United Nations)

International relations

China, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan conduct an anti-terror drill in the restive Xinjiang region of western China. (AFP via Google News) (Xinhua)
Three Russian human rights activists monitoring trials of opposition activists in Belarus are expelled. (RIA Novosti)
The Yomiuri reports that Japan and the United States have given up on plans to relocate Marine Corps Air Station Futenma from Okinawa by 2014. (Reuters via MSNBC)

Politics and elections

Voters in Singapore go to the polls for a general election.
- The ruling People's Action Party retains control of government, winning 81 of 87 seats. (Straits Times) (Al Jazeera), (The Hindu)
- Singapore Cabinet members George Yeo and Lim Hwee Hua lose their seats, making them the highest ranking ministers to be unseated in a general election since 1963. (Channel NewsAsia)
The Scottish National Party urges British Prime Minister David Cameron to amend the Scotland Bill to give the Scottish Parliament greater legislative powers. (BBC)
Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Tavish Scott resigns after a collapse of his party's support at the Scottish Parliament election. (BBC)
British Secretary of State for Business Vince Cable launches a fierce attack on the tactics of his party's Conservative coalition partners as "ruthless, calculating and very tribal" for the way they conducted themselves in the Alternative Vote referendum. (BBC)
Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg describes the result of the referendum as a "bitter blow". (BBC)
Counting for the Northern Ireland Assembly election finally ends with the DUP and Sinn Féin winning the most seats, 38 and 29 respectively. (BBC)
The Welsh Labour Party says it expects to be in government by the end of next week, and may govern alone after winning 30 of the 60 Welsh Assembly seats in Thursday's election. (BBC)
Voters in Ecuador go to the polls for the Ecuadorian constitutional referendum with the government declaring victory based on exit polls. (AP via Connecticut Post)

Sport

Golf champion Seve Ballesteros dies after surgery to remove a brain tumour in Spain. (AFP via Sport 24), (Sky News)
Jockey John R. Velazquez wins the 2011 Kentucky Derby riding Animal Kingdom. (Courier-Journal)
American baseball pitcher Justin Verlander of the Detroit Tigers throws a no-hitter against the Toronto Blue Jays. (Detroit Free Press)

May 8, 2011 (Sunday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

2011 Syrian protests:
- Syrian forces enter the cities of Homs and Tafas, where anti-government demonstrations were taking place. (BBC) (Al Jazeera)
Bahrain's King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa orders an end to the emergency law imposed after anti-government protests. (Al Jazeera)
Fourteen people are killed in fighting at the Iraqi Ministry of Interior including six members of the police. (AP via Fox News)
2011 Egyptian revolution:
- The Prime Minister of Egypt Essam Sharaf to discuss fatal clashes between Muslims and Christians in the Imbaba district of Cairo. (BBC)
- The Egyptian Army will try the 190 people arrested in the unrest in a military court. (Reuters)
Witnesses claim that there have been two large explosions in the Pakistan town of Abbottabad. (AP via MSNBC)
2011 Libyan civil war
- Alleged Libyan rape victim Iman al-Obeidi flees to Tunisia fearing reprisals from the regime of Muammar Gaddafi. (CNN)
- Libyan rebels fight a heavy battle with Gaddafi's forces near Misrata Airport. (Reuters)

Business

There is a near riot in the Beijing Apple Store as the Apple iPad 2 goes on sale in the People's Republic of China. (AFP via Straits Times)
Peter Beale, Nick Stephenson, John Edwards and John Towers - the so-called "Phoenix Four" who ran MG Rover following its collapse - have agreed to be disqualified from serving as company directors for between 3 and 6 years. The deal was made with the UK's Department of Business, Innovation and Skills, following a "lengthy and complex investigation" into the affair. (BBC)

Disasters

2011 Mississippi River floods
- Flooding along the Mississippi and tributaries has worsened, exceeding record levels since a three day tornado outbreak over a week ago, with ten dead, more than a thousand homes ordered evacuated in Memphis, Tennessee, more than 2,000 in Mississippi state, and about 13% of US refinery output disrupted. (Bloomberg), (Toronto Sun)
- The flood is expected to peak at 48 feet on Tuesday just below the record of 48 feet 7 set in 1927 with the Mississippi River three miles road at Memphis, Tennessee. (Commercial Appeal)
Radiation levels in the number 1 reactor building fall at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant following the installation of ventilation. (Times of India)
A ship carrying 300 African migrants headed for Malta runs aground near Lampedusa in Italy with many on board having to be rescued from the sea. (Al Jazeera)
An international search and rescue mission is launched in Kiribati after six teenagers on an outrigger canoe go missing in the Pacific Ocean. (BNO)

International relations

Hun Sen, the Prime Minister of Cambodia and Abhisit Vejjajiva, the Prime Minister of Thailand, meet during an ASEAN summit meeting in Jakarta to try to resolve an ongoing territorial dispute, but fail. (AP via MSNBC)
The Pakistan Army places its forces on high alert following last Sunday's raid on Osama bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad. (Times of India)

Politics and elections

Voters in Albania go to the polls for local elections. (AFP via Google News)
Four people are killed in land protests in northern India. (Economic Times of India) (AP via Straits Times)
In a BBC interview British Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg promises that the Liberal Democtrats will be "a moderating influence" on the Conservatives and will block planned reforms of the National Health Service unless changes are made to them. (BBC)
Thousands of people march in Mexico City to protest the 38,000 people that have died in drug-related violence since the beginning of the Mexican Drug War in 2006. (Reuters)
The President of the United States Barack Obama claims that "there had to be some sort of support network for bin Laden inside of Pakistan" on 60 Minutes. (CBS News)

Sport

Basketball
- Panathinaikos BC beats Maccabi Tel Aviv B.C. 78-70 in Barcelona to claim their sixth Euroleague Basketball championship. (Sports Illustrated)
- The Dallas Mavericks complete a sweep in the Western Conference Semifinals by beating the Los Angeles Lakers by 122 to 86. (ESPN)

May 9, 2011 (Monday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

2011 Syrian uprising: Heavy shooting is heard in a western suburb of Damascus as the Syrian Army advances against anti-government protesters. (BBC)
In the wake of the 2010–2011 Ivorian crisis, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights states that mass graves containing 68 bodies have been found in the Ivorian city of Abidjan. (CNN), (UPI)
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev presides over the Victory Day Parade on Moscow's Red Square. (AP) (Wikimedia Photos)
- World War II veterans and the Russian consul general are attacked by members of the Ukrainian ultranationalist party "Svoboda" in Lviv, Ukraine. (RT)
Ali Gomaa, the Islamic Grand Mufti of Egypt, warns of the potential of civil war because of "outlaws who want to defy the authority of the state". (Al Arabiya and AFP)
2011 Libyan civil war: Five explosions rock Tripoli in Libya following the heaviest NATO bombing offensive in a week. (Al Jazeera), (Sky News)

Business and economy

China's yuan reaches a record level against the United States dollar. (Market Watch)
Chubu Electric Power considers a call by the Prime Minister of Japan Naoto Kan to close down the Hamaoka Nuclear Power Plant due to its vulnerability to a large earthquake. (Reuters)
Values in the United States housing market decline by 1.1% for March and 3% in the March quarter, the heaviest fall since late 2008, with values falling for 57 months in a row since the United States housing bubble burst in 2007. (Wall Street Journal)
Qantas flights face disruptions as 1600 aircraft maintenance engineers announce plans to go on strike. (Sydney Morning Herald)
The Ivory Coast, the world's largest cocoa producer, makes its first shipment since January, after the cocoa industry was disrupted by the 2010–2011 Ivorian crisis. (AP via Forbes)
Officials in the European Union acknowledge that Greece will need a second bailout program soon, and American ratings agency Standard & Poor's downgrades Greek bonds to junk status. (Reuters)

Disasters and accidents

At least 36 people are killed after several boats capsize during a storm on Lake Togo in southeastern Togo. (News24) (Reuters)
More than 20 quarry workers are buried by a landslide in Luojiang near the Chinese resort city of Guilin. (AP via Washington Post)
A boat carrying up to 600 people trying to flee from the 2011 Libyan civil war sinks outside the port of Tripoli. (AP via MSNBC)
Floods in Mississippi worsen, with the Army Corps of Engineers saying an area between Simmesport, Louisiana and Baton Rouge may be inundated under 20-30 feet of water. (CBS News)
A province-wide state of emergency is declared for Manitoba in the wake of hundred-year floods on the Assiniboine River and Red River of the North near Brandon. (CTV) (The Canadian Press) (CJOB 68)

International relations

The Mainichi Shimbun reports that Japan and the United States are planning to build a spent nuclear fuel storage facility in Mongolia. (Reuters)
Death of Osama bin Laden
- The Prime Minister of Pakistan Yusuf Raza Gilani warns the United States that it will defend its air space from incursions following the raid on Osama bin Laden's compound and denies collaborating with al-Qaeda. (The Telegraph), (AP via MSNBC)
- Gilani also launches an investigation into how bin Laden was able to live in Abbottabad undetected for so long. (BBC)

Law and crime

Indonesia drops some of the key terrorism charges against radical cleric Abu Bakar Bashir, meaning that it is unlikely that he will receive the death penalty. (AFP via Channel News Asia)
A Twitter user tries to unmask some celebrities who have obtained super-injunctions to prevent publication of details of their private lives. (BBC) (Twitter)
Accused drug lord Walid Makled Garcia is extradited from Colombia to Venezuela. (CNN)
The Governor of Arizona Jan Brewer asks the United States Supreme Court to overturn a ruling putting parts of its 2010 Immigration Law on hold. (Arizona Republic)
American billionaire Louis Bacon wins a judgement in the United Kingdom against Wikipedia, the Denver Post and WordPress about disclosure of identities of people who published allegedly defamatory comments although the judgement does not apply in the United States. (The Guardian)
Pennsylvania State Senator Bob Mensch is convicted of disorderly conduct after showing a handgun to another motorist on US Interstate 78. (NBC)
52 sled dog corpses have been exhumed as part of an on-going investigation into the killing of 100 healthy dogs by a dog tour company. (The Vancouver Sun)

Politics

British Security Minister Baroness Pauline Neville-Jones resigns from the government "at her own request". She is replaced by Baroness Angela Browning. (BBC)
Scottish Conservative leader Annabel Goldie announces her intention to step down from the role after the Party's poor results at the recent general election. (BBC)
Republican Dean Heller is sworn in as a United States Senator representing Nevada replacing John Ensign who resigned. (Las Vegas Review-Journal)
The Texas Senate approves legislation containing an amendment allowing university students in the US state of Texas to carry handguns on campus. (Dallas Morning News)

Science

Samoa announces plans to shift west of the international dateline from the east, putting it a day ahead to make trading with Australia and New Zealand easier. (AP via MSNBC)
NASA reschedules the final mission of the Space Shuttle Endeavour for Monday. (AP via Houston Chronicle)

Sport

Belgian professional cyclist Wouter Weylandt is killed in a crash in the 2011 Giro d'Italia. (The Telegraph)

May 10, 2011 (Tuesday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

2011 Syrian uprising:
- The European Union imposes sanctions on 13 Syrian officials in response to a violent crackdown on protests in the country. (Al Jazeera)
- The Syrian Army releases 300 people in the city of Banias. (Reuters)
Opposition forces in Libya make gains amid NATO bombing, reportedly operating out of the capital Tripoli. (DPA via M&C)
More than 80 people are killed after rebels attack a cattle camp in South Sudan. (Reuters)
CNN reports that the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) will show the photos of the dead body of Osama bin Laden to members of the United States Congress military and intelligence committees. (USA Today)
Four United Nations peacekeepers are shot while on patrol in the disputed Abyei district of Sudan. (United Nations)

Arts and culture

Former Governor of California and actor Arnold Schwarzenegger and journalist Maria Shriver announce their separation after 25 years of marriage. (Washington Post)
The Middleton family make a complaint to the Press Complaints Commission after pictures of Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge and her sister Pippa Middleton in beachwear appear in four newspapers. (BBC)
The Victorian iron gates of a children's home which inspired John Lennon to write the Beatles hit Strawberry Fields Forever have been removed by the property's owners and placed in storage. (BBC)
Immigration papers documenting Albert Einstein's 1933 escape from Nazi Germany and his arrival at Dover, England, are to go on display for the first time, at Liverpool's Merseyside Maritime Museum. (BBC)
The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) votes to approve openly gay and lesbian people in same sex relationships to be ordained. (New York Times)

Business and economy

Ivory Coast resumes exports of cocoa after a political crisis and brief civil war. (AFP via Google News)
Wayne Swan, the Treasurer of Australia, will deliver his fourth budget. (The Australian)
Google launches Google Music, an application that will enable users to upload their music libraries to company servers. (CNet)
Microsoft announces that it is purchasing Internet phone service Skype for US$8.5 billion. (All Things Digital)
Chineseexports for April reach a record level, attaining a total monthly value of US$155.69 billion. (New York Times)

Disasters

54 Somalis fleeing the civil war in Libya drown after their boat sinks off the coast of Tripoli. (UPI)
Tropical Storm Bebeng kills at least 20 people in the Philippines. (The Philippine Star)
China reports that 95% of post-earthquake reconstruction is complete in Sichuan, three years after a deadly earthquake, in a "victory" for the country. (Xinhua) (RTHK) (AFP via Google News)
2011 Mississippi River floods:
- Mississippi River flooding worsens, with the Army Corps of Engineers saying an area between Simmesport, Louisiana and Baton Rouge will be submerged 20-30 feet, and 13% of US oil refinery output disrupted. (Business Week)
- Flood levels at Memphis, Tennessee reach 47.87 feet (14.59 meters) the highest level since 1937' when it reached 48.7 feet (14.8 meters). (NASA Earth Observatory)

International relations

East Timor rejected Chinese plans to build a radar on its territory in 2007, due to fears it would be used for intelligence purposes, according to Wikileaks. (Straits Times)

Law and crime

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev calls for the chemical castration of pedophiles. (RIA Novosti) (BBC)
The British Press Complaints Commission has ruled that the Daily Telegraph breached rules on the use of subterfuge when it sent reporters to secretly tape Liberal Democrat ministers, including Secretary of State for Business Vince Cable, late last year. (BBC)
Former motorsports executive Max Mosley loses his European Court of Human Rights bid to force newspapers to warn people before exposing aspects of their private lives. (BBC)
The trial of Levi Bellfield begins for the murder of Amanda Dowler. (BBC)

Politics and elections

Laos announces the results of elections to its one-party parliament. (Reuters)
Welsh Labour Party leader Carwyn Jones confirms that Labour will form a one-party government after winning 30 of the 60 Welsh Assembly seats in last week's election, but also states that it will continue to talk to other parties. (BBC)
Former British Treasury minister David Laws is found guilty of breaking six rules over his parliamentary expense claims. (BBC)
British Prime Minister David Cameron rejects suggestions that the government is considering allowing wealthy students to pay for extra university places after one of his ministers had earlier refused to rule the idea out. (BBC)
Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels cuts government funding for Planned Parenthood because it provides abortions. (Indianapolis Star)
Voters in Qatar go to the polls for municipal elections, with women allowed to vote for the first time. (Al Arabiya)

Sport

Former Football Association chairman David Triesman alleges that four members of FIFA sought "bribes" in return for backing England's failed bid to host the 2018 World Cup. (BBC)
The Minnesota Vikings NFL team and Ramsey County announce plans to build a $1.2 billion stadium for the team at Arden Hills. (Star Tribune)

May 11, 2011 (Wednesday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

2011 Syrian uprising: Syrian Army tanks shell the suburb of Bab Amro in the city of Homs, killing at least five people. (Reuters via Alertnet) (Al Jazeera)
2011 Libyan civil war:
- Opposition forces in Misrata claim to have seized the city's airport from forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi. (Al Jazeera)
- NATO launches four more air strikes on Tripoli. (AP via MSNBC), (BBC)
Two grenades are thrown into the Saudi Arabian consulate in Karachi, Pakistan; no injures are reported. (Al Arabiya)
Four Zambian peacekeepers are shot and injured after their convoy comes under attack by suspected armed tribal groups in the disputed border area between Sudan and Southern Sudan. (Post Zambia)

Business and economy

Venezuela starts rationing electricity in the wake of nationwide blackouts earlier in the week. (BBC)
Trial runs begin for the Beijing–Shanghai High-Speed Railway in the People's Republic of China, ahead of the railway's official opening on 20 June 2011. (AFP via The West Australian)
The Bank of England says it expects inflation to reach 5% this year, due to higher fuel bills that could rise by up to 15%, and revises down its growth projection for the UK economy. (BBC)

Disasters

2011 Lorca earthquake: At least ten people are killed and dozens injured in the Spanish city of Lorca following a 5.3 magnitude earthquake. (AP via MSNBC) (Daily Mail) (BBC)
Tokyo Electric Power Company will accept involvement from the Government of Japan and will not cap compensation payments resulting from the Fukushima I nuclear accidents. (Wall Street Journal)

International relations

Julian Assange, founder of Wikileaks, receives an award for "exceptional courage in pursuit of human rights" from the Sydney Peace Foundation. (ABC News Australia)

Law and crime

An international study reports that, on average, 48 women and girls are raped in the Democratic Republic of the Congo every hour. (BBC) (New York Times)
The trial of United States citizens Josh Fattal and Shane Bauer in Tehran, Iran, on espionage charges is again delayed. (CNN)
The Supreme Court of India dismisses a government petition for seven people convicted for their role in the Bhopal disaster in 1984 to receive tougher sentences. (Reuters) (Times of India)
Former member of the Virginia House of Delegates Phillip A. Hamilton is convicted of bribery and extortion. (Richmond Times-Despatch)
A judge grants John Hinckley, Jr., the man who tried to assassinate then-President of the United States Ronald Reagan in 1981, additional visits to his family from the Washington, DC psychiatric hospital where he is confined. (AP via MSNBC)
Two people are arrested in New York City for allegedly planning a terrorist attack. (New York Times)
John Clark Wilson is arrested in Edinburgh, Scotland, during a high-profile Hearts v Celtic tie in the SPL; the 26-year-old Hearts fan invaded the pitch and attempted to attack Celtic manager Neil Lennon. He is charged with breach of the peace and assault. (BBC)

Politics

President Manny Mori and Vice President Alik Alik are re-elected to a second term in the Federated States of Micronesia. (Saipan Tribune)
Former Premier of the Australian state of Tasmania David Bartlett resigns as a government minister and will resign from the House of Assembly. (AAP via Sydney Morning Herald)
The Scottish Parliament meets for the first time since the victory of the Scottish National Party in the recent general election. (BBC)
The Ugandan political opposition, the Forum for Democratic Change, claims that its leader Kizza Besigye has been barred from boarding a flight to Kampala from the Kenyan capital Nairobi. (Reuters via Alertnet)
Greek police fire teargas at leftist demonstrators, as thousands of striking Greeks protest against austerity measures. (Reuters)
British Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg says his party will be more "muscular" and mark out their identity more clearly, following their poor results in recent council elections and the Scottish Parliament general election. (BBC)
British government plans for the introduction of directly-elected police commissioners in England and Wales are defeated with the help of Liberal Democrat peers in the House of Lords. (BBC)
Former Speaker of the House of Representatives Newt Gingrich formally announces that he will be seeking the Republican Party Presidential nomination. (Newt Gingrich Youtube Channel), (CNN)
Silvana Koch-Mehrin, Vice President of the European Parliament, resigns amid claims that she plagiarised her doctoral thesis. (BBC)

Sport

The Nepalese Sherpa Apa Sherpa climbs Mount Everest for a record 21st time. (AFP via Google News)
The Miami Heat beat the Boston Celtics 97-87 to go through to the Eastern Conference Final in the US National Basketball Association. (NBC Sports)

May 12, 2011 (Thursday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

The Syrian military continues to crack down on protesters, with students in the city of Aleppo the latest target. (Al Jazeera)
Two anti-government protesters are killed by Yemeni security forces. (AP via Google News)
2011 Libyan civil war:
- Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi appears on state television for the first time in two weeks. (IOL)
- The North Korean embassy in Tripoli is reportedly damaged in a NATO air raid. (Xinhua)
- The Gaddafi compound is hit again in airstrikes. (BBC)
Nigerian soldiers raid suspected militant camps in the Niger Delta in a new offensive. (Reuters)
Police in Uganda open fire on a crowd as it attacks a car carrying Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan in the capital Kampala, killing one person. (Reuters) (Vanguard Nigeria)

Arts and culture

ITV axes the Scottish police drama Taggart after 28 years, citing poor viewing figures in other parts of the UK. (BBC)
The BBC is to broadcast its political debate programme Question Time from inside a prison for the first time next Thursday. Ten members of staff and ten prisoners from London's Wormwood Scrubs prison are to join 100 other audience members, while panelists are to include Secretary of State for Justice Kenneth Clarke and former Home Secretary Jack Straw. (BBC)
Queen Elizabeth II becomes the second-longest-reigning British monarch. (BBC)

Business and economy

A US$600 million project to revamp the Democratic Republic of the Congo's colonial-era railway system is launched in the capital Kinshasa, primarily funded by the World Bank and China. (BBC)
The Brazilian Senate approves a plan to triple payments to Paraguay for the use of excess electricity generated at the jointly-run Itaipu Dam. (The Wall Street Journal)
The Australian airline Qantas is fined NZ$6.5 million for breaches of the Commerce Act in New Zealand, the biggest penalty for price fixing in the history of that country. (The New Zealand Herald)
News sources report that a long-planned offering of a portion of the U.S. Treasury's equity interest in giant insurance company American International Group may be indefinitely postponed because the price of AIG stock has fallen to near the Treasury's break-even point. (Reuters)
Plans are cancelled to install prismatic glass on the bottom base of One World Trade Center due to technical problems.

Disasters

Flooding along the Mississippi River in the United States threatens $2-4 billion estimated damages. (NOLA.com) (MSNBC) (WWL TV)

International relations

The International Criminal Court asks the United Nations Security Council to take action over Djibouti's failure to arrest Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who was indicted by the court on charges of war crimes. (Reuters)
Thousands of asylum seekers from Ethiopia and Somalia are stranded in camps in northern Mozambique after measures adopted by the government to restrict their movements. (IRIN)

Law and crime

A former Cambodian prosecutor is jailed for 19 years on charges of corruption in the first case brought by the country's new anti-corruption unit. (Phnom Penh Post) (Taiwan News)
Indonesia deports an alleged people smuggler to Australia to face charges in connection to the death of 48 asylum seekers at Christmas Island last year. (AAP via NineMSN)
John Demjanjuk is convicted by a German court of killing over 28,000 Jews in Nazi Germany.(BBC) (Deutsche Welle)
The High Court of England and Wales grants the Attorney General permission to bring a case against The Sun and the Daily Mirror for the way they reported aspects of the hunt for the killer of Joanna Yeates. (BBC)
Police in South London launch a murder hunt after a 15-year-old schoolboy is stabbed to death in the street. (The Guardian)
A corpse is found in Bradford, the third since Tuesday. (The Guardian)

Politics and elections

Yoweri Museveni is sworn in for a fourth term as President of Uganda, amid protests. (The Guardian)
Belarus jails six election protesters for up to three and a half years. (AFP via Google News)
The Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt says it will expel any member that attempts to run for President. (AFP via Google News)
A petition is delivered to the Chinese parliament by underground Christian churches asking for their religious freedom to be respected. (AFP via Google News)
The ruling National Alliance Party in Papua New Guinea to elect an interim leader with concerns that Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare may not return to office after having heart surgery in Singapore. (AAP via The Australian)
The Parliamentary Standards Commissioner has recommended that Liberal Democrat MP and former Chief Secretary to the Treasury David Laws be suspended from the House of Commons for 7 days over wrongly claimed expenses. (BBC)

Science and technology

Anti-retroviral drugs reduce the risk of people spreading HIV to uninfected partners by 96%, according to a new study. (BBC) (Mail & Guardian)

May 13, 2011 (Friday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

2011 Bahraini uprising:
- The Bahraini government tortures doctors into confessions of "trying to overthrow the monarchy" by aiding wounded civilians who protested during the uprising. (Al Jazeera)
2011 Yemeni uprising:
- 3 people are killed and 18 others are wounded as troops shoot at medics, witnesses and people protesting against the Saleh regime in Ibb, Ta'izz and Sana'a, though Saleh remains defiant. Qatar withdraws from mediation efforts, saying Saleh has been full of "indecision and delays". (BBC)
2011 Syrian uprising:
- Soldiers are reportedly ordered not to fire on protesters. (Buenos Aires Herald)
- Authorities close off entire areas in cities across Syria, setting up roadblocks and checkpoints in an attempt to prevent protests after Friday prayers. (AP via Google News)
- At least 3 people are killed in the centre of the city of Homs, with one being seen to be shot in the head after forces loyal to the regime fire into crowds of people. Gunfire erupts in the city of Daraa. (BBC)
2011 Libyan civil war:
- A video shows 11 dead imams and 45 wounded Muslim holy men, 5 of whom are in a coma, alleged to have been caused by a NATO airstrike. Those attacked were said to have been at rest and sleeping while participating in a long peace march; Muslims and Christians unite in condemnation of the attack. (The Guardian)
- Upon speculation that Gaddafi was injured in a NATO air-strike, Libyan State TV released an audio tape of what it claims to be Gaddafi giving a message saying that he was not hurt and is alive. (Al Jazeera)
2011 Egyptian revolution:
- Authorities extend for 15 more days the detention of Hosni Mubarak, whose regime was overthrown by a recent popular revolution. (BBC)
- Suzanne Mubarak, the wife, is detained for 15 days on allegations of corruption and has a heart attack. (BBC)
- Tens of thousands of people gather in Tahrir Square to display unity against sectarian tension and solidarity with the plight of the Palestinian people and the other popular uprisings against regimes in the region. Cheers erupt as Suzanne Mubarak is incarcerated. (The Guardian)
Dozens of people are injured in a petrol bomb attack on a bank in Gansu, northwest China. (BBC) (Xinhua) (Times of India)
Catholic priest Father Mussie Zerai alleges that as many as 400 people, mainly Eritreans, are being held for ransom by human traffickers in the Sinai Desert, and that at least one has been killed after experiencing electric shock torture. (BBC) (UPI)
2011 Charsadda bombing. 80 people were killed when two suicide bombs exploded in the Frontier Constabulary training center in Charsadda District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan.

Disasters

Japan's government approves a compensation plan to assist with the tens of billions of dollars for those affected by the malfunctions of the country's tsunami-crippled nuclear plant, fearing that Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) could go bankrupt without the money. (BBC)
A funeral Mass occurs in Lorca, Murcia, following the fatal disaster of Wednesday. (BBC)
Two TTC buses collide at Wilson Station in Toronto, injuring 14 people. (CBC) (Toronto Star) (Inside Toronto)

International relations

US Envoy George J. Mitchell, representing United States interests in the Middle East, is to resign. (BBC)

Law and crime

Vietnam unveils a five year plan to tackle widespread prostitution in the country. (AFP via Google News)
8 decapitated corpses, including that of a deputy prison governor, are located by police in Durango, Northwest Mexico. (BBC)
A 62-year-old British woman is beheaded in a supermarket on the Spanish island of Tenerife in what officials say appears to be a random attack. An individual is arrested. (BBC) (The Guardian)

Politics and elections

Republika Srpska President Milorad Dodik, speaking after meeting Catherine Ashton in Banja Luka, says a referendum "for the time being is not necessary". The referendum would have been a challenge to both Ashton and the courts of Bosnia. (BBC)
Plaid Cymru leader Ieuan Wyn Jones vows to stand down from the role in the first half of the Welsh assembly's five-year term following the party's poor results at the recent election. (BBC)
FIFA President Sepp Blatter fears being plunged into "a black hole" if AFC President Mohammed Bin Hammam defeats him in next month's leadership election. (BBC)

Religion

Pope Benedict XVI tells Roman Catholic bishops around the world they must obey Summorum Pontificum, a papal order allowing priests to say the old-style Tridentine Mass, regardless of their opinion on it. (Washington Post) (Reuters)
Following a decision made at its Bishops' Spring Conference, the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales announces the reinstatement of the rule of abstaining from eating red meat on Fridays. The practice, last observed in 1984, will be reintroduced on 16 September to coincide with the first anniversary of the visit of Pope Benedict XVI. (The Telegraph)

May 14, 2011 (Saturday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

2011 Libyan civil war:
- More than 400 people fleeing Libya and Tunisia arrive on the Italian island of Lampedusa in two boats, the latest in a stream of refugees fleeing the ongoing conflicts in North Africa. (CNN)
- Muammar Gaddafi is among three Libyans facing arrest warrants from the International Criminal Court for alleged crimes against humanity including the killing of unarmed protesters, forced displacement, illegal detentions and airstrikes on civilians. (CNN)
- Opponents of the Gaddafi regime seek recognition in Europe after the United States stopped short of granting the National Transitional Council full diplomatic recognition, but the White House said it was a "legitimate and credible interlocutor". (Al Jazeera)(VoA)(Tripoli Post)(BBC)
2011 Syrian protests:
- 3 people are killed and others are injured as the regime shells Talkalakh, a city near the border with Lebanon; injured Syrians are taken to Lebanese hospitals with at least one man reported to have died. (BBC) (Al Jazeera) (CNN)
- Syrian Army troops pull out of the cities of Banias and Deraa after operations to crack down on anti-government protests. (BBC)
- At least six people were killed in demonstrations yesterday, as the government promises to hold national dialogue. (Journal of Turkish Weekly)
2011 Yemeni protests:
- Pro-government republican guard forces attack a defected military unit near the capital Sana'a. Three soldiers are killed. (Xinhua)
- Gunmen open fire on protesters in the city of Ta'izz with 35 people being injured. (Reuters)
2011 Egyptian revolution:
- Two protesters are shot and 60 injured in clashes in Cairo in opposing Coptic and Muslim demonstrations, while a large explosion is reported near the tomb of a Muslim sheikh on the Sinai Peninsula. (CNN) (Reuters)
Suspected al-Qaeda militants kill six soldiers and injure five others in the town of Rada in Yemen while security forces in other cities injure three dozen anti-government protesters demanding the departure of President Ali Abdullah Saleh. (CNN)
Six people are killed and at least 19 injured in a blast on a passenger bus in the Punjab province, Pakistan. (CNN)
Street preachers clash with gays and lesbians during a peaceful rally to mark International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia in Adelaide, Australia. (ABC News)
There are clashes in east Jerusalem ahead of "Nakba Day" commemorations, with Palestinians being arrested by Israeli police. (Al Jazeera)
Turkey requests that Israel pass on the names and addresses of the soldiers who raided a Gaza-bound flotilla, killing nine Turks last May. (AFP via Google News)

Gunmen kill a United Nations driver in Ethiopia's Ogaden region. (Reuters via Yahoo! News)
An Indian Army soldier is killed in an exchange of fire with the Pakistan Army over the Kashmir border. (AFP via AsiaOne)

Arts and culture

Azeri duo Eldar & Nigar win the 2011 Eurovision Song Contest in Düsseldorf, North Rhine-Westphalia, with the song "Running Scared". (Deutsche Welle) (BBC) (RTÉ)
Musician Bob Dylan responds on his website to allegations he gave in to censorship during a recent series of concerts in China, including criticism from The New York Times over his failure to mention the plight of imprisoned artist and dissident Ai Weiwei. (BBC)
North Korean leader Kim Jong-il's youngest son Kim Jong-un reportedly lifts restrictions on women's fashion, while cosmetic surgery–though illegal–takes place in return for bribes. (AFP via Google News)
Australian singer Dannii Minogue resigns as a judge on The X Factor. (BBC)

Business and economy

President of the United States Barack Obama uses his weekly address to vow to seek oil in Alaska and in the Gulf of Mexico. (BBC)

Disasters

Japanese earthquake, tsunami and nuclear crisis:
- A worker at the Fukushima power plant dies while working on crisis-fighting operations. (Mainichi Shimbun) (CNN)
- The confirmed death toll from the March 11 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami exceeds 15,000 with over 9,000 still missing and 115,500 evacuees still in shelters.(PanARMENIAN)
Flooding in North America:
- The Morganza Spillway on the Mississippi River is opened for the second time in its history, deliberately flooding 3,000 square miles (7,800 km²) of rural Louisiana and placing a nuclear power plant at risk to save most of Baton Rouge and New Orleans. (WWL-TV)
- In a controlled breach of the Assiniboine River southeast of Portage la Prairie, Manitoba, floodwaters are released over farmland to prevent twice the flooding elsewhere amidst ongoing floods. (CTV) (Canoe.ca)

International Relations

Pakistan's parliament adopts a resolution that demands an immediate stop to drone strikes and an end to raids by U.S. troops within Pakistan's borders and threatens to cut off access to a facility used by NATO forces to ferry troops into Afghanistan, as the rift between the US and Pakistan grows, following the killing of Osama bin Laden. (CNN)

Law and crime

Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), is arrested at John F. Kennedy International Airport in the U.S. city of New York for alleged sexual assault. (New York Post) (New York Daily News) (BBC)
The US Justice Department says that two South Florida imams and a third family member were arrested on charges of providing support to the Pakistani Taliban. (CNN)
A human rights group urges Iranian authorities not to put acid in the eyes of a man found guilty of blinding a woman who scorned him; a seni-official Iranian news agency reports that the punishment has been postponed. (CNN)
A supporter of imprisoned Welsh-born U.S. serviceman Bradley Manning sues the U.S. government after it confiscates his laptop without a warrant. (UPI)
Tenerife's randomly beheaded British woman is named by her family as 60-year-old Jennifer Mills-Westley. (BBC) (The Guardian)

Politics and elections

Belarusian opposition leader Andrei Sannikov is sentenced to five years' imprisonment for "organizing mass disturbances" following his role in protests disputing the results of the 2010 presidential election. (BBC)
Singapore's founding father Lee Kuan Yew resigns from the cabinet after 52 years. (BBC) (AP via Salon) (China Daily)
Former Governor of Arkansas Mike Huckabee announces he will not seek the Republican nomination for the 2012 United States presidential election. (The Washington Post)

Sports

Badr Hari defeats Gregory Tony via first round technical knockout in his return to kickboxing after a year away from the sport, at It's Showtime 2011 Lyon in Lyon, France. (Liver Kick)
The Confederation of African Football (CAF) disqualifies reigning African champions and FIFA Club World Cup finalists TP Mazembe of the Democratic Republic of the Congo from the CAF Champions League. (BBC Sport)
Thai head of football Worawi Makudi takes legal action against former Football Association chairman David Triesman, Baron Triesman after being implicated in alleged bribery over the FIFA World Cup. (BBC Sport)
Manchester:
- Manchester City F.C. defeats Stoke City F.C. 1-0 in the 2011 FA Cup Final. (The Daily Telegraph) (BBC Sport)
- Manchester United F.C. wins the 2010–11 Premier League becoming the most successful team in English league history. (BBC Sport), (Sky Sports)

May 15, 2011 (Sunday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

2011 Bahraini uprising:
- Saudi armored vehicles roll into the city of Sitra as fresh video footage of atrocities committed by Saudi-backed Bahraini forces surface. (Press TV)
2011 Egyptian revolution:
- Muslim mobs attack Christian protesters calling for the Egyptian government to take action to reduce religious tensions in Cairo; 65 people are injured. (AP via MSNBC) (BBC)
- Suzanne Mubarak, wife of ousted Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, is expected to undergo open-heart surgery following a heart attack after being questioned in a corruption investigation. (CNN)
- An explosion occurs near the tomb of a prominent Muslim Sheikh. (Reuters)
Israeli–Palestinian conflict:
- A truck plows through traffic and pedestrians in the Israeli city of Tel Aviv, killing one person and injuring 16 in what is believed to be a terrorist attack, as Palestinians mark Nakba Day.(The Jerusalem Post) (CNN) (Haaretz) (San Francisco Chronicle)
- 10 people are reported shot dead around the Israel-Lebanon border (near Maroun al-Ras in Lebanon), as a crowd try to enter Israel through a border fence. Protesters also pelt Lebanese security forces and Israeli soldiers with stones. Over a hundred enter the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights, with 4 shot dead, after Palestinians and Syrians crossed the de facto Israel-Syria border. Over 45 are injured in total.(Christian Science Monitor) (Voice of America) (The Jerusalem Post) (Nowlebanon) (Haaretz)
- More than 1,000 Palestinians march on the Erez border crossing between the Gaza Strip and Israel; at least 60 Palestinians are injured after troops open fire to stop them from crossing. (Bloomberg) (The Australian)
- Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu responds to the events of Nakba Day, saying that the protesters were denying Israel's right to exist, and that Israel is determined to defend its border against infiltration attempts from Syria, Lebanon and the Gaza Strip. (The Jerusalem Post) (CNN)
- Egyptian police fire teargas at protesters trying to storm the Israeli embassy. (Al Jazeera)
- At least 15 people are reportedly killed in the Nakba demonstrations. (CBS News)
2011 Libyan civil war:
- The United Nations envoy to Libya, Abdul Ilah Khatib, arrives in Tripoli to try to negotiate a cease-fire between Muammar Gaddafi's forces and rebel fighters.(CNN)
2011 Moroccan protests:
- Police use truncheons to break up an opposition protest in the capital Rabat, injuring several people. (Reuters) (AFP via Google News)
Syrian uprising:
- Syrian forces shell villages near the Lebanese border, and heavy gunfire is heard in Talkalakh, with reports of 8 people having died, in the latest phase of a crackdown by Syrian forces on protesters demonstrating against the rule of President Bashar al-Assad. Lebanon tries to seal the border after hundreds flee from Syrian troops and a wounded Syrian woman dies of her injuries after entering Lebanon. (The Jerusalem Post) (CNN)
- Women protesters are targeted as thousands of protesters take to the streets in cities across the country for a "Friday of Free Women" protest, in solidarity with those killed or imprisoned in the eight-week uprising. (The Australian)
2011 Yemeni protests:
- Gunmen open fire on two soldiers in southern Yemen, killing one. (AP via Google News)
- The opposition movement says a deal to end the crisis must not extend President Ali Abdullah Saleh's rule. (Reuters)
Ugandan opposition leader Kizza Besigye says the government may fall amid ongoing protests, unless President Yoweri Museveni offers concessions. (Reuters)
Tunisian security forces arrest two suspected members of Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb carrying bombs and explosives near the city of Ramada. (Reuters)
29 people are decapitated in a massacre in Caserio La Bomba, Petén, Guatemala, in an atrocity possibly linked to the Los Zetas Cartel. (NPR) (Radio-Canada)

Arts and culture

Singer Bob Dylan denies censoring his shows while performing in China. (The Independent)

Business and economy

Dominique Strauss-Kahn sex, rape and imprisonment charges:
- New York City police question International Monetary Fund head Dominique Strauss-Kahn, arrested yesterday, over allegations that he sexually attacked a hotel maid near Times Square. Strauss-Kahn's schedule is threatened with interruption, with a meeting over the bailouts of Portugal and Greece with European Union finance ministers due in Brussels tomorrow. (BBC)
- Police announce that Strauss-Kahn is expected to be formally arrested and charged. (Al Jazeera)
- Strauss-Kahn is charged with a criminal sexual act, attempted rape and unlawful imprisonment. (Sky News)
- The leadership of the IMF, and plans for banking bailouts of European countries, are thrown into disarray. (The Wall Street Journal)
- Former United States Treasury official John Lipsky is named as the acting Managing Director. (New York Times)
Sony starts restoring its PlayStation Network following the recent PlayStation Network outage on a country-by-country basis, with all services to be restored by the end of May. (Reuters via MSNBC) (The Australian)

Disasters

Three de-miners are killed in an explosion during landmine detection and removal operations in Kampong Speu Province, western Cambodia. (Straits Times)
Floods in North America:
- The Morganza Spillway on the Mississippi River has been opened for the first time in 37 years, deliberately flooding 3,000 square miles of rural Louisiana to save most of Baton Rouge and New Orleans. (WWL-TV)
- Thousands of residents are ordered to evacuate their homes in Louisiana as the Mississippi River spillway opens (CNN)
- Amidst ongoing floods, a controlled breach of the Assiniboine River is carried out southeast of Portage la Prairie, Manitoba, releasing floodwaters over farmland to prevent increased flooding elsewhere. (CTV) (Canoe.ca)
- Severe flooding has continued for weeks along the James River from Canada to South Dakota, as well as in Burlington, Vermont and North Platte, Nebraska. (National Weather Service)
Six people are killed in an apartment fire in the city of Aurora in the US state of Illinois. (Breaking News)
More than a thousand people are evacuated from the Canadian town of Slave Lake, Alberta, due to a wildfire. (CTV Edmonton)

International relations

A United Nations report alleges that Iran and North Korea have been secretly exchanging ballistic missile technology. (Al-Masry Al-Youm)
The New York Times reports that private military company Xe Services LLC (previously Blackwater Worldwide) is putting together an army of mercenaries in the United Arab Emirates. (The New York Times)
Nabil el-Araby is elected as Secretary General of the Arab League, succeeding Amr Moussa, who will run as a candidate in the Egyptian presidential election in September. (Press TV)
Fiji declares Lieutenant Colonel Ratu Tevita Uluilakeba Mara a fugitive after he flees the country with the help of the Royal Tongan Navy. He had been charged a week earlier with mutiny and attempting to overthrow the Fijian government. (The New Zealand Herald)

Law and crime

Northern Ireland Police have charged Marian Price with encouraging support for an illegal organisation following a recent dissident republican rally in Derry. Price, who is secretary of the 32 County Sovereignty Movement, was jailed for her part in the bombing of the Old Bailey in the 1970s. (BBC)
A man who plunged to his death from a seventh-floor balcony in Brisbane, Australia was participating in the internet craze of "planking", Australian police have said. (BBC)
It is reported that Jennifer Mills-Westley, a British woman recently decapitated in a random attack in Tenerife, complained of harassment moments before being attacked in a supermarket. (BBC) (The Guardian) (CNN)
US rapper M-Bone, of the hip hop group Cali Swag District, is killed in a drive-by shooting in the Los Angeles suburb of Inglewood. (Los Angeles Times)

Politics and elections

The Iranian Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, publicly accuses President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of being "under a spell", amid a deepening political crisis in the country. (The Telegraph)
Haitian general election, 2010–2011:
- Michel Martelly is sworn in as the democratically-elected President of Haiti. (CNN)
- Jean-Max Bellerive resigns as the Prime Minister of Haiti, allowing Martelly to choose his own Prime Minister. (Miami Herald)
In Switzerland, the people of Zurich vote to reject a ban on assisted suicide in the country, and also reject the restricting of assisted suicide to Zurich residents only. British pro-euthanasia group Dignity in Dying hails the result as a "brave decision". (BBC)
Italy tests the popularity of its controversial prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, who is embroiled in several criminal trials and sex scandals; Berlusconi alleges the opposition does not "wash much". (BBC)
British Prime Minister David Cameron confirms that his government will write into law the principles of the Military Covenant. (BBC)

Sport

Sepahan FC wins the 2010-11 Iran Pro League, marking its third league victory and becoming the most successful team in Iranian football league history. (football3)
Finland wins the 2011 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships, defeating Sweden 6-1 (0-0, 1-1, 5-0).
Rangers F.C. win their 3rd consecutive Scottish Premier League title, beating 2nd-placed rivals Celtic by a single point.

May 16, 2011 (Monday)

Armed conflict and attacks

Gunmen fire on a Saudi Arabian consulate car in Karachi, Pakistan, killing the driver. (AP via MSNBC), (Pakistan Express-Tribune)
The Israeli Navy fires warning shots at a Malaysian ship travelling to the Gaza Strip, forcing it to return to Egypt. (AFP via Google)
A Syrian activist claims that a mass grave has been found in the town of Deraa, the town at the centre of the 2011 Syrian uprising. (Al_Arabiya)
NATO forces find a small boat loaded with explosives outside the Libyan port of Misrata, with forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi believed to be responsible. (Reuters)
Four members of the United States Army are killed by a bomb in southern Afghanistan. (AP via NPR), (AP via Anchorage Daily News)
Irish republican dissidents have issued a bomb threat for London, the first coded warning outside Northern Ireland in 10 years, officials have said. (BBC)

Arts and culture

The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in the Vatican tells Roman Catholics to cooperate with police in investigating alleged cases of sexual abuse by clergy. (AP)
The Fox TV network cancels America's Most Wanted after 23 years on the air and 1151 fugitives caught. (Fox40)

Business and economy

The Sahara Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, closes down after 59 years of operation. (Yahoo)
European Union finance ministers approve a 78 billion euro bailout package for Portugal (Bloomberg)
The International Monetary Fund approves another US$2 billion loan to Ireland. (Reuters)
Nasdaq OMX Group and the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) withdraw their hostile bid for NYSE Euronext, apparently leaving a clear path for NYSE's friendly merger with Deutsche Boerse AG. (Reuters)

Disasters

2011 Mississippi River floods
- It is reported that the Waterford Nuclear Generating Station in St. Charles Parish, Louisiana, USA, was restarted three days ago after a refueling shutdown on April 5, as the floodwaters are diverted to the Atchafalaya River. (Bloomberg), (MSNBC)
- The United States Coast Guard closes 15 miles of the Mississippi River near Natchez, Mississippi. (Reuters)
French investigators report that flight recorders recovered from the wreckage of Air France Flight 447 nearly two years after the crash are still readable. (AP)
At least one person is killed and at least six injured following a building collapse in the US town of Morrilton, Arkansas. (Fox 16)
A wildfire destroys one third of the Canadian town of Slave Lake, Alberta. (News 1130)

Law and crime

The High Court of Kuala Lumpur rules that Malaysian Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim has a case to answer on sodomy charges. (Malaysiakini), (BBC)
International Monetary Fund head Dominique Strauss-Kahn is ordered to be held without bail on sexual assault charges in New York City. (BBC), (Bloomberg)
American mafia boss Vincent Basciano is convicted of murder in New York. (New York Daily News)
Suzanne Mubarak, the former First Lady of Egypt, offers to hand over $3 million to prosecutors, claiming that this is all she has. (Al Arabiya)

Politics

Ahmed Haroun, wanted by the International Criminal Court on charges of war crimes, is re-elected governor of the state of South Kordofan in Sudan. (Al Jazeera)
Rahm Emanuel is sworn in as the Mayor of Chicago, Illinois. (Chicago Tribune)
Businessman Donald Trump announces he will not seek the Republican nomination for the 2012 United States presidential election. (Politico)
Queen Silvia of Sweden orders an investigation into her father Walther Sommerlath's alleged ties with the German Nazi Party. (The Telegraph)

Science

NASA's Space Shuttle Endeavour successfully launches from the Kennedy Space Center in the U.S. state of Florida on its final mission. (Space.com), (AP via Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

May 17, 2011 (Tuesday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

2011 Libyan civil war:
- A NATO airstrike on the Libyan capital Tripoli damages two government buildings. (Los Angeles Times)
- The Libyan oil minister, Shukri Ghanem, reportedly defects to Tunisia. (Al Jazeera)
- Libyan forces claim to have hit a NATO warship near Misrata, but NATO dismisses this as a "fabrication." (Reuters)
2011 Syrian uprising: At least one mass grave is reported to have been discovered in the city of Daraa; the government denies it exists. (BBC)
NATO invasion of Pakistani airspace:
- A NATO helicopter based in Afghanistan intrudes into North Waziristan in Pakistan and fires at a Pakistan Army checkpoint, wounding two soldiers. (Reuters)
- The Pakistan Army protests, saying NATO "violated Pakistan airspace". (BBC)
The U.S. killing of Osama Bin Laden may act as a precedent for "targeted killings," according to a report prepared by the library of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom. (BBC)
A "state of siege" is declared in northern Guatemala after a massacre is committed by The "Zetas" Drug Cartel. (AFP via Google News)
A suicide bombing occurs in Aktobe, western Kazakhstan, injuring three people. (AFP via Google News)

Arts and culture

The final episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show is recorded in the US city of Chicago. (Chicago Tribune)

Business and economy

The publisher Condé Nast agrees to be the anchor tenant at One World Trade Center, the largest building of the World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan, and prospectively the tallest building in the United States. (New York Times)

Disasters

Fukushima I nuclear accidents:
- Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) announces new plans to tackle the ongoing Fukushima I nuclear crisis, after it is discovered that the problems with the number 1 reactor at the Fukushima I plant are worse than thought. (Nikkei)
- TEPCO will also start pumping water from the flooded number 3 reactor. (Japan Times)
- The President of South Korea, Lee Myung-bak, calls for transparent release of nuclear safety information. (Yonhap)

International relations

The Prime Minister of Pakistan Yusuf Raza Gilani commences a state visit to the People's Republic of China. (Reuters)
Queen Elizabeth II's visit to the Republic of Ireland:
- Queen Elizabeth II starts her first state visit to the Republic of Ireland, the first visit of a British monarch since Ireland's independence from the United Kingdom in 1921. Elizabeth is also the first British monarch to visit Ireland since George V's state visit in 1911. (BBC) (RTÉ) (The Guardian)
- A suspect package is found in Dublin ahead of the Queen's visit. (Sky News) (The Daily Telegraph)
Israel reopens its embassy in Cairo a day after it was closed following the 2011 Nakba Day protests. (Jerusalem Post)
The Government of Canada expels five diplomats from the Libyan embassy in Ottawa. (Montreal Gazette)

Law and crime

Burma begins to release thousands of prisoners in a general amnesty, though few political prisoners are released. (BBC) (The Hong Kong Standard) (Al Jazeera)
The gold mining company African Barrick Gold says seven "intruders" have been shot dead and several injured at one of its mines in northern Tanzania. (Bloomberg)
Dominique Strauss-Kahn rape scandal:
- IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn is remanded in custody at New York City's notorious Rikers Island jail after being dragged from a plane, charged with trying to rape a hotel maid and denied bail. (BBC)
- Pressure mounts for the jailed Dominique Strauss-Kahn to resign as head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). (BBC)
Former Rwandan Armed Forces (FAR) chief of staff Augustin Bizimungu is sentenced to 30 years imprisonment for his role in the 1994 Rwandan genocide. (BBC)
The US state of Arizona proposes that a $50 fine should be in place for overweight Medicaid recipients who do not follow a strict health regime discussed with the recipient and their doctor.(BBC)
The Environmental Protection Agency delays its proposed rules for the United States for cutting pollution from industrial boilers used at oil refineries, chemical plants, paper mills and other factories. (Marketwatch)(WSJ)

Natural history

Ming Ming, the oldest panda in the world, dies at the age of 34 in Guangdong, China. (BBC)

Politics and elections

Indian National Congress MP Rahul Gandhi alleges that police murdered farmers and raped women during recent protests against a new road in Uttar Pradesh. (BBC)
Former Governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger admits to fathering the child of a longterm member of his household staff. (Los Angeles Times)

Sport

In golf, France is declared the host country for the 2018 Ryder Cup, defeating the favourite, Spain. (BBC Sport)
The Cleveland Cavaliers win the NBA Draft Lottery earning first and fourth picks in the 2011 NBA Draft. (Cleveland Plain Dealer)
An outbreak of Equine herpesvirus 1 in the western United States leads to the cancellation of scores of horse events such as equestrian events and rodeos. (Reuters)
In Australia, football legend Bob Davis dies.

May 18, 2011 (Wednesday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

Three Tunisian security officers are killed in a clash with gunmen in the north of the country. (IOL)
2011 Libyan civil war:
- Forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi shell towns and villages in the western mountains in an attempt to capture higher ground. (Al Jazeera)
- Sources from the Tunisian defence ministry claim that Gaddafi's wife and daughter have fled there. (Reuters)
Militants attack a checkpoint near the city of Peshawar in northwest Pakistan, resulting in the deaths of two police officers and 15 insurgents. (AP via Houston Chronicle)
Iran frees detained Al-Jazeera journalist Dorothy Parvaz, who had not been seen since being detained in Syria on April 29. (Seattle Times)
At least twelve people are killed and 80 injured during a protest in the Afghan city of Taloqan against the killing of four civilians in a NATO raid. (BBC)
The United States announces plans to impose sanctions on the President of Syria, Bashar al-Assad, and six members of his government, for alleged human rights breaches during the 2011 Syrian uprising. (AP via The Washington Post) (Reuters via al-Jazeera)
The United Nations claims that Sudan has bombed a village in Darfur. (BBC)

Arts and culture

American novelist Philip Roth wins the Man Booker International Prize, recognizing his body of work. (AP via ABC News America)

Business and economy

Moody's Investors Service cuts the credit ratings of Australia's four major banks, the Commonwealth Bank, Westpac, National Australia Bank and ANZ, to Aa1, due to their reliance on wholesale funding. (Sydney Morning Herald)

Disasters and accidents

Fifteen people are killed after two buses collide in Mwanza Province, northern Tanzania. (IOL)
The United States Coast Guard reopens a section of the Mississippi River to shipping that was closed on Tuesday as a result of the 2011 Mississippi River floods. (BBC)
A tornado hits the US city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania for the first time since 1999. (NBC Philadelphia)
Sol Líneas Aéreas Flight 5428 aircraft crashes in the southern Patagonia region of Argentina with all 22 people on board dying - icing of the propellor driven Saab 340 is cited as a possible cause. (RIA Novosti), (AP via MSNBC)

International relations

The Palestinian Authority calls on Israel to reinstate the rights of up to 140,000 people who lived in the occupied West Bank and lost their residency after travelling abroad. (BBC)
Dmitry Medvedev, the President of Russia, warns of a potential new Cold War if the United States does not listen to Russia's concerns about its proposed missile defense system. (AFP via Google News)
UK royal state visit to Ireland: Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom visits Croke Park in Dublin, where British troops killed 20 people in the Bloody Sunday massacre of 1920. (Sky News)
Ali Akbar Salehi, the Foreign Affairs Minister of Iran, claims that the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant is operational. (Jerusalem Post)

Law and crime

Andrew Fastow, the former Chief Financial Officer of Enron Corp., now in the custody of the Federal Bureau of Prisons with a release date of December 17, 2011, moves to a half-way house in Houston, Texas. (Reuters)
The jury is seated for the trial of Chicago businessman Tahawwur Hussain Rana for his alleged role in the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks. (AP via Silicon Valley Mercury News)
The President of Guatemala, Alvaro Colom, claims that Hugo Alvaro Gomez Vasquez, who has been arrested in relation to the killing of 27 cattle ranch workers, is a leader of the Los Zetas drug cartel in the country. (AP via MSNBC)
An Afghan detainee commits suicide at the US run Guantanamo Bay detention camp. (AP via MSNBC)

Politics and elections

Voters in South Africa go to the polls for municipal elections. (BBC)
Voters in the US city of San Francisco, California, will vote on a proposition to ban male circumcision in November. (AP via the Washington Post)

Science

The Space Shuttle Endeavour docks at the International Space Station for the final time. (Space via Yahoo)

May 19, 2011 (Thursday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

Syria condemns the decision by the United States to impose sanctions on President Bashar al-Assad in response to ongoing anti-government protests. (Al Jazeera)
2011 Libyan civil war:
- Rebels in Libya launch a television channel to counter Muammar Gaddafi's state media. (Reuters)
- NATO claims to have sunk eight Libyan Navy warships in airstrikes on Tripoli's main port. (C News)
Two Vietnamese sailors are shot and wounded in the disputed Spratly Islands. (Straits Times)
A double bombing in the city of Kirkuk in northern Iraq kills 27 people and injures dozens. (Los Angeles Times)

Arts and culture

Danish filmmaker Lars von Trier is banned by the Cannes Film Festival for remarks, made in jest, that he sympathizes with Adolf Hitler. Trier later apologises for his comments. (AP) (The Guardian)
US journalist Katie Couric signs off as the host of the CBS Evening News. (E! Online)
A special edition of the BBC's political debate programme Question Time is recorded at Wormwood Scrubbs Prison in London. (The Guardian)

Business and finance

A civil service strike in Botswana closes many hospitals. (BBC)
Dominique Strauss-Kahn sexual assault charge:
- Dominique Strauss-Kahn offers his resignation as head of the International Monetary Fund following the charges. (BBC), (CBS News)
- Strauss-Kahn has another bail hearing in the US city of New York, after being charged with rape, and is given home detention and a million dollars bail. (Reuters), (BBC), (Fox New York)
The Japanese economy officially goes into recession, in part due to the effects of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. (AP via Yahoo! News)
John Malone's Liberty Media makes a USD $1 billion bid for bookseller Barnes & Noble. (Reuters)
The Eurasian Economic Community, led by Russia, offers Belarus a $3 billion bailout package. (Financial Times)

Disasters and accidents

22 people are killed when Sol Líneas Aéreas Flight 5428 crashes in southern Argentina. (CNN)
A magnitude 6.0 earthquake hits western Turkey, about 230 km south of Istanbul, killing at least two people and leaving many injured. (The Associated Press)

International relations

The United Nations World Food Programme calls for "urgent assistance" for the North Korean people due to a food crisis. (Channel News Asia)
Barack Obama Middle East speech:
- President Obama gives a speech in support of the Arab Spring during which he states that the solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict must include Israel reverting its borders back to the pre-1967 borders.(BBC)
- The Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu rejects the proposal. (Israel National News)
Members of the Falun Gong spiritual movement in the People's Republic of Chinafile a lawsuit in the United States against Cisco, maker of internet routing gear, alleging Cisco has helped China's government violate their human rights. (Reuters)

Law and crime

Police in China search for a man who threw eggs and a shoe at the creator of the "Great Firewall of China", Fang Binxing. (BBC) (The Telegraph) (Business Insider)
The daughter of Uzbek President Islam Karimov sues a French website for calling her father a "dictator". (RFE/RL)
Authorities in Egypt suspend the prison sentences of 120 protesters who participated in the 2011 Egyptian revolution. (CTV)
The former boss of the Royal Bank of Scotland, Sir Fred Goodwin, is named as allegedly having had an affair with a colleague after the High Court of England and Wales lifts an injunction. (BBC)
The Supreme Court of British Columbia rules that anonymity for sperm donors and egg donors is unconstitutional in Canada. (Canadian Press via Global National)

Politics and elections

Voters in the Seychelles begin voting in the country's presidential election. (Reuters)
Former Taoiseach (Prime Minister) of the Republic of Ireland Garret FitzGerald dies in Dublin aged 85. (RTE)
Ugandan opposition leader Kizza Besigye is placed under house arrest. (AP via Google News) (Daily Monitor)

Sport

Tyler Hamilton, a former teammate of American Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong, tells 60 Minutes that he saw Armstrong use performance-enhancing drugs while a member of the US Postal Service Pro Cycling Team. (CBS News)

May 20, 2011 (Friday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

2011 Syrian protests:
- Syrian security forces fire into crowds of demonstrators, as thousands protest across the country after Friday prayers. (euronews) (The Australian)
- At least 30 people are killed in the protests, according to human rights activists. (AFP via Canada.com), (New York Times), (Voice of America)
- Human Rights Watch calls on the Lebanese government to grant asylum to people fleeing from Syria. (Al-Jazeera)
2011 Libyan civil war:
- The family of Anton Hammerl, a South African journalist missing in Libya since 5 April 2011, claim that he was shot by forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi. (IOL News)
- The Government of France claims that four French nationals held in Libya since May 11 will be released. (Al Jazeera)
At least one person is killed and ten people injured following an explosion in the Pakistani city of Peshawar, with a United States consular convoy targeted by the Pakistani Taliban. (Dawn), (Pakistan Tribune), (BBC), (Reuters via Alert Net)

Arts and culture

Claude Choules, the last person alive to have fought in World War I, is buried in the West Australian port of Fremantle, having died aged 110 on 5 May. (Melbourne Age)
The New York City Opera announces plans to leave the Lincoln Center. (New York Times)

Business and economy

The Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) announces its financial results, with a 1 trillion Japanese yen loss predicted due to the Fukushima I nuclear accidents and the resignation of Masataka Shimizu as president of the utility following Japan's highest ever annual loss. (Reuters), (AP via Yahoo News)
The International Monetary Fund approves a 26 billion euro loan to Portugal as part of a joint bailout package with the European Union to try to resolve the European sovereign debt crisis. (Bloomberg), (AFP via Google News)
The TMX Group, parent corporation of the Toronto Stock Exchange, rejects an acquisition offer from a consortium of Canadian banks, opening the way to an expected deal with the London Stock Exchange. (Reuters)

Disasters

More than 850 people are injured after a train collision in Soweto, South Africa. (RTE)
A mini-tornado hits the suburb of Canning Vale in Perth, Western Australia. (WA Today)
A disaster alert is issued for Fiji, after giant waves triggered by a deep pressure system in the Southern Ocean hit the Coral Coast. (New Zealand Stuff), (Radio Australia)
Travel on the Mississippi River is closed for five miles near the US city of Baton Rouge, Louisiana due to flooding. (Associated Press)

International relations

Georgia becomes the first country to recognize the 19th-century Russian military campaign against the Circassians in the northwest Caucasus as a "genocide". (Civil Georgia), (Reuters)
Japan agrees to join an international child custody agreement under the 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction. (Kyodo)
North Korean leader Kim Jong-il reportedly visits China, the third such visit in a year. (Yonhap) (CNN) (Al Jazeera)
President Barack Obama meets with the Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House, during which Netanyahu emphasizes that Israel would not make a full withdraw to the pre-1967 borders as Obama requested yesterday, because these borders are "not defensible".(ABC News), (CNN)

Law and crime

Military prosecutors in Taiwan indict a senior general on charges of spying for China. (BBC) (Radio Television Hong Kong)
Former United Kingdom Labour Party MP Elliot Morley is jailed for 16 months for dishonestly claiming more than £30,000 in parliamentary expenses. (BBC)
A report by senior judges in England and Wales has concluded that the media should have the chance to contest applications for injunctions and "superinjunctions" before they are granted, and that these should only be issued in exceptional circumstances. (BBC)
A footballer who took out a superinjunction to stop the publication of details of an extra-marital affair, obtains a disclosure order against Twitter to learn the identities of people who have published confidential information on the website. (BBC)
A parole decision on the former Mayor of the US city of Detroit, Kwame Kilpatrick, is delayed because of the prospect that he could face federal government corruption charges. (ClickonDetroit)
Two prisoners are injured in a riot at California State Prison, Sacramento. (Sacramento Bee)
Former International Monetary Fund head Dominique Strauss-Kahn is released from Rikers Island to electronically-monitored house arrest in the US state of New York, having been held on rape charges. (NBC New York), (Reuters via ABC News)

Politics

The 2011 Spanish protests continue in the Puerta del Sol in central Madrid, despite a ruling by Spain's electoral board that it should end by the weekend. (BBC)
Tens of thousands of people protest in Santiago, Chile about plans to build two dams on wild rivers in southern Patagonia with an minority of people turning violent. (AP via MSNBC)

Science

The Government of the People's Republic of China acknowledges that there are "urgent problems" associated with the country's Three Gorges Dam project, as it is linked to soil erosion, earthquakes, drought and social upheaval. (The Guardian)

Sport

Former US professional wrestler Randy Savage dies in a car accident in Largo, Florida. (Yahoo! Sports)

May 21, 2011 (Saturday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

Dawn, Pakistan's largest English-language newspaper, begins publication of thousands of U.S. diplomatic cables it has obtained in a deal with WikiLeaks and Julian Assange. The cables show that the Pakistani military asked the United States to increase its drone attacks against insurgents on Pakistani territory, a request Pakistani authorities have not admitted in public. (Al Jazeera)
Arab Spring:
- 2011–2012 Syrian uprising:
  - Several people are killed and dozens of others are injured in Homs as Syrian security forces attack the funeral of protesters killed in yesterday's protest events during the country's uprising against the regime. (Al Jazeera)
  - The Syrian regime attacks women protesters, shooting them dead during all-women marches and arresting the female relatives of male protesters. (The Guardian)
- 2011 Libyan civil war:
  - The cities of Yafran and al-Qalaa in the Nafusa Mountains are in critical condition following ongoing attacks by Muammar Gaddafi's forces, with heavy artillery shelling continuing, water supplies shut off, and no food or medical supplies coming into the towns for weeks. (CNN)
  - A bus carrying foreign journalists is attacked by a pro-Muammar Gaddafi crowd; soldiers fire into the air to disperse the crowd. (Reuters)
- 2011 Yemeni uprising: The opposition sign a deal that will allow President Ali Abdullah Saleh out of power within a month. (Reuters) (Al Jazeera)
- 2011 Egyptian revolution:
  - Scuffles in court (as families reportedly yell "Butcher! Butcher!") lead to the postponement of the trial of Hosni Mubarak's former interior minister Habib el-Adly and six others after "three or four minutes". Habib el-Adly is accused of massacring people who demonstrated against the Mubarak regime, prior to its downfall as a result of a popular revolution in February 2011. (Al Jazeera)
  - Egyptian border guards shoot and injure an Eritrean woman as she attempts to cross into Israel. (Journal of Turkish Weekly)
Other anti-government protests:
- 2011–2012 Spanish protests: Thousands of people defy a government ban on gatherings to protest across the country against the Spanish government's economic policies. (BBC)
- 2011 Georgian protests:
  - More than 10,000 Georgians protest against the regime of Mikheil Saakashvili. Protests are led by Nino Burjanadze, ex-parliamentary speaker and leader of the Democratic Movement-United Georgia party. (Reuters)(Civil.ge)
  - Police clash with protesters in Batumi. (Civil.ge)
  - Hackers attack the website of the Georgian opposition TV station Maestro. (Interfax)
At least 15 people are killed near the town of Landi Kotal in Pakistan after a bomb destroys an Afghanistan-bound oil tanker. (AFP via WA Today)
At least 3 people are killed in a suicide attack at the Charsad Bestar Hospital in Kabul, Afghanistan. (BBC) (Al Jazeera)
A bomb explodes in a bank in the city centre of Derry, Northern Ireland; no damage is done. (BBC)
Sudanese invasion of Abyei:
- Southern Sudan says forces from Sudan have attacked the disputed Abyei border region. (Reuters)
- Abyei is reported to have been taken under the control of soldiers from the North, with the United Nations confirming events. (BBC)
- The United Nations Security Council cancels a visit to the Sudan’s Abyei region. (Voice of America)
Police clashed with protesters in Valparaíso, Chile over the government's proposed hydro-electric dam project and education and labour policies which, student leaders say, are going "in the opposite way from those the population were demanding". The demonstration coincides with Sebastián Piñera's state of the nation address. (BBC)

Arts and culture

Harold Camping's May 21, 2011 end times prediction:
- Hundreds of Hmong people are reportedly forced into hiding in north-west Vietnam, after security forces disperse thousands awaiting the supposed Second Coming of Christ. (Straits Times)
- According to American Christian radio broadcaster Harold Camping, May 21 is the date of the Rapture for all Christians around the world, happening at 6:00pm in their respective time zones. (The New York Times) (New York magazine)
- The date passed without incident around the world, while protesters gather outside Harold Camping's Family Radio Network headquarters to celebrate the failed rapture claim. (The New York Times)

Business and economy

Britain formally backs French politician Christine Lagarde to become the next managing director of the International Monetary Fund, following the resignation of Dominique Strauss-Kahn over his alleged rape of a hotel chambermaid in New York City. (BBC)

Disasters

At least 42 people are killed and over 50 injured in dust storms and thunderstorms in Uttar Pradesh, northern India, adding to the three-day toll of over eighty dead. (Xinhua) (Times of India) (Rediff)
24 people are buried alive following a landslide at an orphanage in Malaysia, and 16 people are killed. (Bernama) (Reuters) (Al Jazeera), (AP via MSNBC)
Iceland's most active volcano, Grímsvötn, erupts, triggering 50 small earthquakes. (Ice News) (AP via MSNBC)
A tornado in the US town of Reading, Kansas kills at least one person and destroys 20 homes. (CNN), (KSN)

International relations

North Korean leader Kim Jong-il reportedly visits Changchun in Northern China. (AFP via Google News) (Yonhap)
The World Food Programme cuts aid rations to Somalia, amid a shortfall in donations. (UPI)
The Premier of China, Wen Jiabao, and the President of South Korea, Lee Myung-bak, visit areas of northern Japan devastated by the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, ahead of a trilateral summit tomorrow. (AP via MSNBC)

Law and crime

Hundreds of Twitter users post the name of an English Premier League footballer who won a superinjunction to stop details of his affair going public, in protest at the player's attempts to sue the social networking site. (BBC)

Politics and elections

Alassane Ouattara is inaugurated as President of the Ivory Coast. (BBC) (Al Jazeera)
Polls close in the Seychelles after a three day three day presidential election with the incumbent President James Michel winning 55 per cent of the vote. (AP via Google News) (Reuters)
U.S. businessman Herman Cain announces that he will be seeking the Republican Party nomination in the 2012 U.S. presidential election. (KETV) (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
The Minnesota House of Representatives votes to put a constitutional referendum on marriage before voters in the US state of Minnesota. (Minnesota Star-Tribune)

Sport

In rugby union, Leinster defeat Northampton Saints after a surprise comeback in the 2011 Heineken Cup Final at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, Wales. (The Guardian) (The Irish Times) (The Independent) (BBC Sport)
Cristiano Ronaldo of Real Madrid scores a record 40th goal in La Liga. (ESPN Soccernet)

May 22, 2011 (Sunday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

2011 Yemen protests:
- Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh reportedly refuses to sign a Gulf-brokered accord allowing him to resign within 30 days in exchange for immunity; the opposition signed the deal yesterday. (BBC) (Al Jazeera)
- The embassy of the United Arab Emirates is attacked in the capital Sana'a as it holds a meeting of Arab and Western mediators leading to an evacuation by helicopter. (AFP via Google News), (CNN)
2011 Libyan civil war: NATO warplanes attack the port of Tripoli and the residence of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. (AFP via France 24)
Gunmen wearing explosive suicide vests storm a government building in Khost, Afghanistan. (AP via Forbes)
A series of bomb attacks around the Iraqi capital of Baghdad kills at least 18 people, including 7 policemen. (AFP via ABC News Australia)
Sudanese seizure of Abyei:
- South Sudan says the capture of the disputed Abyei region is a "declaration of war". (Arab News)
- The United Nations Security Council calls on Sudan to withdraw its forces. (Reuters)
African Union and Somali troops advance on Mogadishu's Bakara market, a rebel-held area, amid intense fighting. (Reuters)
Three explosions rock a Pakistan Air Force base in the southern city of Karachi. (AP via Yahoo! News)
The UK's military operation in Iraq will officially end at midnight, after the Royal Navy completes its training of Iraqi sailors. (BBC)
The Taliban warn that Kazakhstan's decision to send troops to Afghanistan will have "severe consequences". (Trend News Agency)

Arts and culture

The Tree of Life, directed by Terrence Malick and starring Brad Pitt, wins the Palme d'Or at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival. (Bloomberg)
The BBC television series Sherlock wins two prizes at the 2011 British Academy Television Awards ceremony in London, including best drama series. (BBC)
The infamous hat worn by Princess Beatrice at the 2011 Royal Wedding has been sold on auction site eBay for £81,100.01. Funds raised from the sale will go to the charities UNICEF and Children in Crisis. (BBC)

Business and economy

US company Jimmy Choo is sold to private equity firm Labelux for $800 million. (New York Times)

Disasters

The Government of Iceland imposes a flight ban, following the eruption of Iceland's most active volcano, Grímsvötn. (BBC)
May 2011 tornado outbreak in the Central United States:
- Tornados hit the city of Minneapolis, Minnesota, damaging scores of homes and killing at least one person. (AP via Saint Cloud Times) (Minneapolis Star-Tribune)
- A curfew is introduced in Minneapolis following reports of looting and gunfire. (Fox Twin Cities)
- The city of Joplin, Missouri, is hit by a tornado, causing "major damage" in the downtown area and at least 30 fatalities. (News Leader), (CNN), (News Leader), (Reuters via Yahoo News)
- Jay Nixon, the Governor of Missouri, declares a state of emergency in the state following the Joplin tornado and activates the Missouri National Guard. (Missouri Governor)
- Patients are evacuated from St John's Regional Medical Centre in Joplin due to damage caused by the tornado. (News-Leader)
- Tornado warnings were posted in states from Texas to Michigan. (AP)
- Interstate 44 is closed near Joplin after the tornado hit. (News Leader)

International relations

The Prime Minister of Japan Naoto Kan, the Premier of China Wen Jiabao and the President of South Korea Lee Myung Bak meet in Japan and agree to improve cooperation on nuclear and economic issues. (Bloomberg via San Francisco Chronicle)

Law and crime

Hamid Baqai, the Chief of Staff of the Iranian President, is banned from public office for four years, after it was exposed that he was involved in a multi-million dollar embezzlement during the construction of a building on Kish Island in 2010. (NCR)
Scottish newspaper The Sunday Herald names a footballer accused of being linked to a privacy superinjunction by users of social networking website Twitter, arguing that the injunction is only enforceable under English law and does not apply in Scots law. (BBC)
The Attorney General for England and Wales is being asked to consider prosecuting a journalist who allegedly broke a privacy order on Twitter in respect of another footballer who has taken out an injunction. (BBC)

Politics and elections

Voters in Vietnam go to the polls for a parliamentary election. (AP via Google News)
Voters in Cyprus go to the polls for a parliamentary election. (BBC)
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, President of Iran, nominates Ali Nikzad to head the newly-established Ministry of Infrastructure. (PressTV)
20,000 people attend an anti-nuclear rally in Switzerland. (Swiss Info)
2011 Georgian protests:
- Approximately 10,000 protesters march in Tbilisi and Batumi calling for early elections and the ouster of President Mikhail Saakashvili. (Al Arabiya)
- Georgian protesters and police reportedly clash in Tbilisi. (Bloomberg News)
- Protesters reportedly attack a government-controlled television building in the western city of Batumi. (Reuters Africa)
2011 Spanish protests:
- People continue to peacefully protest against cuts and unemployment in cities across Spain as the country votes in regional elections; the number of participants increases despite a government ban on such occurrences. (BBC)
Police officers from more than 40 forces unveil plans for protests against funding cuts authorised by the British government, including a "national day of action" in July. (The Observer)
In local and regional elections in Spain, the conservative People's Party performs well, while the ruling Socialist Party suffers heavy losses. (Bloomberg)
Tim Pawlenty, ex-Governor of Minnesota, announces his candidacy for the Republican nomination as President of the United States. (Tim Pawlenty)

May 23, 2011 (Monday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

The death toll from a Pakistani Taliban attack on a Pakistan Navy station in Karachi rises as the attack continues, with several explosions reported. (NDTV) (Sky News) (AFP via SBS World News)
Arab Spring:
- 2011 Yemeni uprising:
  - The Gulf Cooperation Council suspends mediation efforts in Yemen after President Ali Abdullah Saleh refuses to sign a transition agreement for the third time. (Sky News)
  - At least 14 people are killed and 38 others are injured in Sana'a. (Xinhua)
  - A gunbattle kills a further six in Sana'a. (Al Jazeera)
- 2011 Syrian uprising:
  - Syria's foreign minister Walid al-Moualem, speaking on television, attacks the European Union for imposing travel bans and asset freezes on officials. (Al Jazeera)
  - Veteran British journalist Robert Fisk questions whether the sanctions will affect the Syrian government's crackdown on dissent, as such sanctions have failed to work before. (Al Jazeera)
- 2011 Libyan civil war:
  - French officials confirm France and UK are to deploy attack helicopters as part of a boost to NATO's attacks on Muammar Gaddafi. (Al Jazeera)
- 2011 Egyptian revolution:
  - Egyptian pro-democracy groups call for a new round of protests on May 27 due to dissatisfaction at progress in implementing reform. (Bloomberg)
  - A Cairo court sentences an Egyptian police officer to death in absentia for killing protesters demonstrating during the 2011 Egyptian revolution. (CNN)
One Australian Army soldier is killed and five others wounded following two bomb explosions in Afghanistan; the total number of Australian soldiers killed in the Afghan conflict now stands at 24. (The Australian)

Arts and culture

The Church of Scotland votes to allow gay men and lesbians to become ministers. (The Guardian)
Lady Gaga releases her Born This Way album, which is certified platinum in many countries across the world.

Business and economy

The Maritime Union of Australia commences industrial action at cargo terminals at Melbourne, Sydney and Fremantle, affecting half of Australia's maritime trade. (AAP via NineMSN)
Steve Ballmer, the Chief Executive Officer of Microsoft, promises that Windows 8 will be on the market in 2012. (LA Times)

Disasters

Iceland volcanic explosion:
- Iceland's main airport remains closed following the worst eruption of the Grímsvötn volcano since 1873, with the ash cloud starting to spread towards Europe. (Reuters)
- Airlines cancel flights to and from Scotland as the ash reaches northern Britain.(BBC)
May 2011 tornado outbreak in the US:
- The National Weather Service continues issuing tornado warnings for parts of the Central United States, including Arkansas, Oklahoma and Missouri. (NOAA)
- The death toll from the Joplin, Missouri, tornado reaches 116, becoming the deadliest single US tornado since 1947. (Joplin Globe)
- There are reports of multiple structure collapses following a heavy storm and possible tornado in the village of Richfield, Pennsylvania. (ABC 27)
- A severe storm in Cincinnati, Ohio knocks out power to 84,000 homes. (Cincinnati.com)

International relations

U.S. President Barack Obama addresses an audience at College Green in Dublin, speaking of strong ties between the United States and Ireland. (Xinhua) (The Belfast Telegraph) (The Irish Times)

Law and crime

British MP John Hemming uses parliamentary privilege to identify a married footballer named on Twitter as having an injunction over an alleged affair as being Ryan Giggs. (BBC) (The Guardian) (Al Jazeera)
The People's Republic of China detains 300 Tibetan monks for "legal education" after a monk sets himself on fire. (The Guardian)

Politics and elections

Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad suffers a heart attack and undergoes surgery during a trip to the United States to attend his son's graduation. (Al Jazeera)

Sports

Former Iranian football player and manager Nasser Hejazi dies at 61 after a bout with lung cancer. (ISNA)

May 24, 2011 (Tuesday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

Clashes break out in southern Tunisia between local residents and Libyan refugees fleeing that country's civil war. (Reuters)
Fresh clashes take place in Yemen between police and opposition tribesmen who have taken control of several government buildings in the capital Sana'a. (AFP via Google News)
Smoke is seen rising from Muammar Gaddafi's compound in Tripoli, Libya, following a NATO airstrike which reportedly kills three people. (CNN), (AFP via News Limited)
A suicide bomber attacks the headquarters of Kazakhstan's security service, causing casualties. (AFP via Sydney Morning Herald)
A roadside bomb in Afghanistan's Kandahar Province kills ten people and injures 28. (AP via Houston Chronicle)
2011 Syrian protests
- Human rights organisations estimate that the Government of Syria has killed 1,000 civilians so far during the protests.(Al Jazeera)
- John Baird, the Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs announces that Canada will be imposing sanctions against Syria. (Al Jazeera)
Situation in Sudan:
- The United Nations claims that about 20,000 people have fled the Abyei region for Agok in Southern Sudan after Sudanese forces took control. (Reuters)
- A southern minister in Sudan's national government, Luka Biong Deng, resigns over the incident. (BBC)

Arts and culture

US television personality Oprah Winfrey records the final episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show. (Herald-Sun)

Business and economy

Gearbox Software announces that the video game Duke Nukem Forever, infamous for its 14-year development cycle, has gone gold and will (presumably) meet its current release date of June. (Engadget.com)

Disasters

The Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) claims that three reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant suffered partial meltdowns following the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami; it had previously announced that only one reactor had suffered a meltdown. (DPA via The Hindu)
Ash from the Grímsvötn volcanic eruption continues to spread over the United Kingdom and Western Europe leading to cancellation of up to 500 airline flights. (The Daily Telegraph) (New York Times)
An explosion at an Abadan oil refinery in southwestern Iran during a visit by the President of Iran Mahmoud Ahmadinejad leads to a fire killing two workers and injuring 20. (Ynet) (AP via Washington Post)
May 2011 tornado outbreak in the Central United States
- The search continues for survivors of the 2011 Joplin tornado as 1,500 people are unaccounted for in the US town. (New York Times)
- At least five people die and many more are injured as tornadoes and severe storms hit near the US city of Oklahoma City. (CNN), (The Oklahoman)
- Two people are killed in a tornado in central Kansas. (Wichita Eagle)

International relations

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses a joint session of the United States Congress and says he is prepared to make "far-reaching compromises" for a peace deal with Palestinians, but states that Israel will not return to its pre-1967 borders. (CNN) (The Jerusalem Post)
A delegation from the United States arrives in the North Korean capital Pyongyang to assess the food shortage in the country. (CNN) (Radio Television Hong Kong)
U.S. President Barack Obama meets Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh and senior royals at the start of a three-day state visit to the United Kingdom. (BBC)

Law and crime

Malaysian authorities break up a mass gathering of Shiite Muslims, detaining four. (Straits Times)
Security forces in Somalia seize two planes carrying ransom money for pirates, and detain six foreigners. (Reuters) (Bernama)
Former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and his two sons are to be tried over the deaths of anti-government protesters. (BBC) (Al Jazeera)
Human Rights Watch calls for the release of a Saudi woman detained for driving. (AFP via Google News)
A British police officer is to be charged with manslaughter over the death of newspaper seller Ian Tomlinson during the 2009 G-20 protests. (BBC)
Thai authorities lift a special security law used to curtail violent demonstrations ahead of elections on 3 July. (Thai News Agency) (CP)

Politics

More than 30 political prisoners go on hunger strike at Insein Prison in Burma to protest against their treatment. (Straits Times) (BBC)
The Tunisian government confirms 24 July as the date of elections to the assembly. (Reuters)
Lord Wei, who was in charge of David Cameron's Big Society project, has announced he is standing down from the role. (BBC)
Kathy Hochul, the Democratic Party candidate, wins a special election to represent New York's 26th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives. (New York Times), (AP via MSNBC)

Science

The Soyuz TMA-20 spacecraft, carrying half of the members of Expedition 27 back from their crew rotation aboard the International Space Station, lands safely in Kazakhstan. (AFP via Herald-Sun)

May 25, 2011 (Wednesday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

A Pakistani Taliban suicide bomber attacks a police station in Peshawar, killing at least seven people. (AFP via Yahoo! News), (AFP via France 24) (CNN)
Violent clashes occur between tribesmen and government officials in Sana'a, Yemen. (CNN)
South African President Jacob Zuma will visit Libya for talks with Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, in renewed efforts by the African Union to broker a cease-fire in the 2011 Libyan civil war. (CNN)
Police in the eastern European state of Georgia use teargas to disperse a protest in central Tbilisi. (Al-Jazeera)

Arts and culture

Veteran talk show host Oprah Winfrey presents her final Oprah Winfrey Show, after 25 years on air. (BBC)
U.S. author Jeffery Deaver unveils his James Bond novel, Carte Blanche. (BBC)
Scotty McCreery becomes the tenth season winner of American Idol.

Business and economy

An influential investor and stock trader, David Einhorn, demands the resignation of Steve Ballmer, the CEO of software giant Microsoft, speaking at the Ira W. Sohn Investment Research Conference. (Reuters)

Disasters

Grímsvötn eruption:
- Germany shuts down part of its airspace as volcanic ash from the eruption of Iceland's Grímsvötn reaches northern Europe. (VOA)
- Flights are also cancelled in the United Kingdom and Scandinavia. (Sky News)
Powerful storms and tornadoes continue across the Central United States, claiming at least 10 more lives across Arkansas, Kansas and Oklahoma. (CNN)
Two of the reactors damaged in the March earthquake and tsunami at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan may be riddled with holes, according to the facility's owner, Tokyo Electric Power Co. (CNN)
At least 12 people die after an air ambulance crashes in Faridabad, India. (Times of India)

International relations

Barack Obama, the President of the United States, addresses the Parliament of the United Kingdom. (Los Angeles Times)
Christine Lagarde, the French Minister for Finance, announces her candidacy to be head of the International Monetary Fund. (New York Times)(CNN)
Palestinian officials dismiss Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu's speech to the US Congress, saying it will not lead to peace. (BBC) (The Jerusalem Post)
North Korean leader Kim Jong-il arrives in Beijing for a meeting with the President of the People's Republic of China, Hu Jintao. (Yonhap)

Law and crime

Jared Lee Loughner, accused of murder in the 2011 Tucson shootings, is found to be incompetent to face a trial because of mental health issues. (ABC Australia)

May 26, 2011 (Thursday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

2011 Libyan civil war:
- Thousands of civilians are reportedly at risk of dying from starvation in the Libyan city of Yafran, as Muammar Gaddafi's forces have blockaded the city for over 7 weeks, and what food the people have left is quickly running out. (Dailymail)
- NATO launches a fourth night of air strikes on Tripoli. (Al-Jazeera)
2011 Syrian protests:
- Security forces reportedly fire on a night-time demonstration in the city of Deraa. (Reuters)
2011 Yemeni protests:
- Large explosions are reported in the Yemeni capital of Sana'a in the midst of ongoing protests against President Ali Abdullah Saleh; opposition forces claim that the violence threatens to escalate into a civil war. (Reuters)
- The United States Department of State warns Americans not to travel to Yemen, and recommends that US citizens already in the country leave due to "terrorist activities and civil unrest". (CNN)
The General Directorate of Security reports an explosion in Istanbul, Turkey, most likely caused by a bomb, with a number of people injured. (AP via Google News), (Al-Jazeera)
Salva Kiir Mayardit, the President of Southern Sudan, calls on the government of Sudan to withdraw its forces from the province of Abyei. (Reuters) (Al Jazeera)
Authorities in Vietnam find a mass grave of North Vietnamese soldiers killed during the Vietnam War 40 years ago. (Straits Times)
Rebels in the ethnically Somali Ogaden region of Ethiopia say they have seized a town from government troops and freed two United Nations workers. (Reuters)
Two people are killed in an anti-government demonstration in the Georgian capital Tbilisi. (Financial Times)
A series of bombings take place against two government buildings in the city of Fuzhou, Jiangxi, China; at least two people are killed. (AFP via Google News) (BBC)

Arts and culture

John Banville wins the 2011 Franz Kafka Prize. (The Guardian) (Irish Independent) (CBS News)

Business and economy

The US Financial Industry Regulatory Authority reports that Merrill Lynch and Credit Suisse have agreed to pay multi-million fines for subprime mortgage securities they sold in the lead up to the global financial crisis of 2008. (New York Times)

Disasters

A small plane carrying 10 people crashes into a suburban area of New Delhi, India, killing all on board. (Xinhua)
Severe storms in the US city of Atlanta, Georgia, kill at least three people and leave 193,000 people without power. (Atlanta Georgia-Constitution)

International relations

The United States announces the removal of a number of troops from Pakistan, following a request from the Pakistani government. (BBC)
Leaders of the Group of Eight countries meet in Deauville, France, for the 37th G8 summit. (AFP via Google News)

Law and crime

Rwandan genocide suspect Bernard Munyagishari is arrested, accused of murdering Tutsis and moderate Hutus in 1994. (BBC)
War crimes fugitive, former Chief of Staff of the Army of the Republika Srpska and former Colonel General Ratko Mladić has been arrested in Serbia. (AP via Palm Beach Post), (SBS News), (The Telegraph)
In Britain, the former leader of Essex County Council and Conservative peer Lord Hanningfield is found guilty of six counts of false accounting relating to his expenses. (BBC)

Politics and elections

The United States House of Representatives votes overwhelmingly against funding the involvement of ground troops in Libya. (AP via the Military Times)
The United States Congress votes to approve a four year extension of powers in the USA PATRIOT Act and President of the United States Barack Obama signs it into law. (Los Angeles Times), (AP via Atlanta Journal Constitution)

Sport

The Miami Heat wins the Eastern Conference in the North American National Basketball Association and will meet the Dallas Mavericks in the 2011 NBA Finals. (NBC Sports)

May 27, 2011 (Friday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

2011 Libyan civil war
- The cities of Yafran and al-Qalaa in the Nafusa Mountains are in critical condition following ongoing attacks by Muammar Gaddafi's forces, with heavy artillery shelling continuing, water supplies shut off, and no food or medical supplies coming into the towns for weeks. (Dailymail) (CNN)
2011 Yemeni protests:
- Government planes bomb tribesmen opposed to President Ali Abdullah Saleh. (UPI) (BBC)
- A ceasefire is later announced to end street battles in the capital Sana'a. (Xinhua)
2011 Syrian protests:
- More towns witness large anti-government demonstrations; three people are reportedly killed by security forces. (Al Jazeera)
- Syrian security forces allegedly detain a young boy, torture him, and then shoot him to death. (Egyptian Chronicles)
David Cameron, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, confirms that his government will be sending AgustaWestland Apache attack helicopters to Libya to assist the 2011 Libyan civil war. (Sky News)
A camp in Tunisia for people fleeing the conflict in Libya is destroyed after clashes among refugees and local residents. (BBC)
Six Italian peacekeepers are injured in an attack on their UNIFIL vehicle in Lebanon. (Al Arabiya)

Arts and culture

British Labour Party leader Ed Miliband marries his long term partner Justine Thornton in a low-key ceremony at Langar Hall in Nottinghamshire. (The Guardian)

Business and economy

India gives Tanzania US$180 million in aid to support its development. (Reuters)

Disaster

A wildfire causes the evacuation of hundreds of homes in Lake Isabella, California. (Bakersfield Californian)

Law and crime

Bhutan's opposition leader Tshering Tobgay condemns the country's anti-smoking law as "utter madness" as three more people are jailed for possessing cigarettes. (AFP via Google News)
Bernardo De Bernardinis of Italy's Civil Protection Department and six other seismologists are charged with manslaughter for failing to predict the 2009 L'Aquila earthquake that struck the country. (CBS News)
A Serbian court rules that former Bosnian Serb military leader Ratko Mladić is fit to stand a genocide trial at The Hague. (Reuters)
Tom Horne, the Arizona Attorney General takes the United States Department of Justice to court over the states medical marijuana laws. (AP via MSNBC)

Politics

37th G8 summit:
- The G8 leaders agree to give US$20 billion in support of Tunisian and Egyptian reforms after the Arab Spring. (MSNBC)
- The leaders, including Russia, call for Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi to step down. (Reuters) (RIA Novosti)
Chinese activist Zhao Lianhai is back home after being detained for campaigning for victims of the 2008 Chinese milk scandal. (Straits Times)

Science

More than 270 people are hospitalised after an E. coli outbreak in Germany, thought to have originated from Spanish cucumbers. (AFP via Google News)
A second woman dies of a mystery virus, reported to be similar to pneumonia, in South Korea. (Joongang Daily) (Antara News)
Space Shuttle Endeavour crewmembers Mike Fincke and Greg Chamitoff undertake what is expected to be the last spacewalk ever conducted by a space shuttle crew. (Space via MSNBC)

Sport

The Boston Bruins defeat the Tampa Bay Lightning 1-0 in the Eastern Conference of National Hockey League to progress to the 2011 Stanley Cup Finals against the Vancouver Canucks. (Boston Globe)

May 28, 2011 (Saturday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

2011 Libyan civil war: Fresh explosions are heard in the Libyan capital Tripoli as NATO bombing continues. (Al Jazeera)
2011 Egyptian revolution: Ousted President of Egypt Hosni Mubarak receives the first ruling against him, being fined US$34 million for cutting off communications services during the revolution that overthrew him. (BBC)
The Department of Homeland Security advises that the United States Department of Defense's largest supplier Lockheed Martin has been hit by hackers. (Reuters via MSNBC)

Disasters and accidents

39 people are injured after an express train derails and catches fire in a tunnel on Hokkaido, Japan. (AFP via Google News)
At least 10 people in Germany die after eating cucumbers infected with E. coli. (BBC)

International relations

Vietnam accuses the People's Republic of China of "violating" its sovereignty after Chinese ships damaged a Petrovietnam boat in the disputed Spratly Islands. (Channel NewsAsia)
North Korea releases Eddie Jun, a United States citizen who was held in custody for half a year. (The Chosun Ilbo)

Politics

Martial law is declared in the city of Xilinhot, Inner Mongolia, China after days of protests. (CNN) (Pakistan Daily Times)
Protesting indigenous people take over half of the city of Puno in south-eastern Peru, demanding an end to a Canadian mining project. (BBC)
Malta votes on the introduction of divorce. (Times of Malta)

Sport

Football
- FC Barcelona wins the 2010-11 UEFA Champions League beating Manchester United F.C. 3-1 in the 2011 UEFA Champions League Final. (AP via MSNBC)
- Mohamed Bin Hammam withdraws from the race to be President of FIFA as a result of bribery allegations. (Sky News)

May 29, 2011 (Sunday)

Armed conflict and attacks

NATO killing of civilians in Afghanistan:
- NATO kills 14 civilians, 12 children and 2 women, with an airstrike on homes in Helmand Province. (BBC) (Al Jazeera)
- Afghan President Hamid Karzai issues a "last warning" to the United States and NATO after yet another raid kills 14 more civilians. (BBC)
U.S. defense contractor Lockheed Martin, the largest military contractor in the world, is targeted by a "significant and tenacious" cyber attack. (Al Jazeera)
2011 Yemeni uprising:
- Three French foreign aid workers disappear in Yemen's Hadramout province. (TV New Zealand)
- Reports from the coastal town of Zinjibar claim that al-Qaeda gunmen have captured the town. (Al Jazeera) (The Telegraph)
2011 Syrian uprising:
- The regime's forces attack the towns of Rastan and Talbisa, located north of Damascus, storming houses and using tanks and helicopters to cut the towns off from the outside world. (BBC)
- Students and pro-democracy demonstrators are attacked by the government, killing at least two. (Al Jazeera)
A bomb blast in the Nigerian city of Bauchi kills 12 people and injures 25. (Reuters via MSNBC)

Business and economy

Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa issue a joint statement criticising Europe's 66-year stranglehold on the leadership of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), calling it "obsolete" and requesting that developing nations be given a chance. (Al Jazeera)

Arts and culture

US hip-hop singer Sean Kingston is rushed to hospital after crashing his jet-ski into a Miami Beach bridge. (Miami Herald)

Disasters

3 Greenpeace activists successfully evade a Danish warship to scale an oil rig off the coast of Greenland, attempting to begin deepwater drilling in the arctic. (Irish Independent)
Dennis Daugaard, the Governor of the US state of South Dakota, warns residents living south of the state capital of Pierre to prepare evacuation plans ahead of likely flooding of the Missouri River. (AP via MSNBC)
Storms in the US state of Michigan lead to the loss of power to 100,000 houses. (Detroit Free Press)

Politics and elections

Ferenc Mádl, the President of Hungary (2000-2005), dies in Budapest. (Index.hu)
Sergei Bagapsh, the President of the breakaway Georgian province of Abkhazia, dies from complications of lung surgery in Moscow. (BBC)
Goodluck Jonathan is sworn in as President of Nigeria at a ceremony attended by foreign heads of state in Abuja. (BBC) (Al Jazeera) (AFP via France 24) (Reuters)
Malta legalises divorce, becoming the last European Union country to do so. (BBC)
At least 10,000 people protest in central Belgrade against the arrest of Ratko Mladić. (Al Jazeera)
Political parties in Nepal agree to extend the term of the Constituent Assembly for three months. (Al Jazeera)
Mohamed Bin Hammam of Qatar announces he is to no longer run for the presidency of FIFA. (BBC)
Sepp Blatter is found to have no case to answer. (Al Jazeera)
Georges Tron resigns from his position as Civil Service Minister in the French government over accusations of sexually harassing his own staff. (BBC)

Sport

English auto racing driver Dan Wheldon wins the 2011 Indianapolis 500. (NBC Sports)

May 30, 2011 (Monday)

Armed conflict and attacks

An explosion at an army barrack in northern Nigeria kills 12 people. (Reuters)
Documents discovered in a Russian archive suggest that Adolf Hitler ordered Rudolf Hess to go to the United Kingdom to negotiate with Winston Churchill over a World War II peace deal in 1941. (The Scotsman)
War in Afghanistan (2001–present):
- United States Marine Corps General John Toolan issues a statement apologising for the deaths of nine Afghan civilians in a NATO bombing raid on behalf of himself, General David Petraeus and Lieutenant General David Rodriguez. (AAP via Herald-Sun), (Sky News Australia)
- Taliban insurgents including suicide bombers attack a NATO base in Herat. (Reuters via MSNBC)
Arab Spring:
- 2011 Syrian uprising:
  - 11 people are killed and scores injured in a military crackdown on protests. (Al Arabiya)
- 2011 Yemeni uprising:
  - Four Yemeni army soldiers are killed and dozens injured in an ambush while travelling to the al Qaeda held city of Zinjibar. (Reuters)
  - Yemeni security forces kill at least 20 people in the city of Taiz. (BBC)
- 2011 Libyan civil war:
  - Al Jazeera captures "western troops on the ground" in Libya, the first time this has been confirmed. (The Guardian)
2011 Spanish protests:
- Thousands of anti-government demonstrators vote to continue a mass sit-in against economic cuts in Madrid, following last Friday's targeting of civilians in Barcelona by police with batons and rubber bullets. (BBC) (iAfrica)

Business and economy

Germany's ruling coalition led by Chancellor Angela Merkel pledges to end all nuclear power by 2022. (BBC)
The Development Bank of Japan announces plans to establish a 50 billion yen fund to assist auto parts manufacturers hurt by the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. (Daily Yomiuri)

Disasters

The death toll from an E. coli outbreak in Germany rises to 14 as it spreads to other parts of northern Europe. (Reuters via MSNBC)
The Associated Press claims that an unreleased U.S. Agency for International Development report claims that the death toll from the 2010 Haiti earthquake was much less than claimed by the Government of Haiti. (AP via Washington Post)
At least 26 people die following a bus crash near Guwahati, the capital of India's Assam state. (AP via San Francisco Chronicle)

Law and crime

Eun Jin-soo, a former aide to the President of South Korea Lee Myung-bak, is arrested on bribery charges. (Yonhap)
A human rights advocate claims that Saudi Arabia has released Manal al-Sherif, detained for breaking the law against women drivers. (AP via Huffington Post)
The sons of former President of Egypt Hosni Mubarak, Alaa Mubarak and Jamal Mubarak, are detained in custody for another 15 days over accumulating wealth by unfair means. (Al-Arabiya)

Politics

A Han Chinese man is to face trial for the killing of a Mongolian man, amid a crackdown on ethnic protests in the Inner Mongolia region of China. (AP via Google News)
Voters in Italian cities including Milan and Naples go to the polls for the second round of local government elections with candidates supported by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi losing in both cities. (BBC), (Voice of America)(Bloomberg BusinessWeek)

Science

Space Shuttle Endeavour undocks from the International Space Station to return to earth on its final mission. (MSNBC)

Sport

Ohio State football head coach Jim Tressel resigns amidst a scandal over NCAA rules violations committed by him and members of the team. (ESPN)

May 31, 2011 (Tuesday)