Portal:Current events/2011 June 28

June 28, 2011 (2011-06-28) (Tuesday)

Armed conflict and attacks

• U.S. drone attacks on North Waziristan:
  • Two U.S. drone missile attacks are reported to have killed at least 15 people in North Waziristan in a late night attack by the U.S. on the region. (BBC)
  • Tribal sources later indicate that the death toll from the U.S. strikes has increased to 26. (The News International)
• A report from Refugees International blames NATO's air strikes, its arming of militias, and home raids for the displacement of more than 250,000 people in Afghanistan, a problem which is increasing. (Al Jazeera) (Refugees International)
• Attack on Kabul InterContinental Hotel:
  • Afghan militants attack the Kabul InterContinental Hotel resulting in the deaths of nine Taliban members and five or six hotel workers or guests. (CNN) (Al Jazeera) (AP via Atlanta Journal Constitution)
  • NATO helicopters fire on the hotel roof. (BBC)
• 2010–2011 Greek protests:
  • Greek trade unions go on a general strike with transport links including airline flights being cancelled. (AFP via France 24)
  • Police fire tear gas and stun grenades on the anti-austerity protest in Athens, causing injuries and breathing difficulties. (BBC)
  • The protesters include doctors, ambulance drivers, journalists and actors plying their trade at a state-funded theatre. (Al Jazeera)
• Freedom Flotilla II: The propeller house and propeller shaft of the pro-Palestinian flotilla's Swedish ship Juliano are damaged by "hostile divers" in the Greek port of Piraeus, with participants suggesting sabotage. (Al Jazeera) (CBC News)
• Arab Spring:
  • 2011 Libyan civil war:
    • Hospitals in Benghazi are reported to be running low on vital supplies. (BBC)
    • People in Misrata celebrate on the streets as news reaches them that arrest warrants have been issued by the International Criminal Court for Muammar Gaddafi, Saif al-Islam Gaddafi and Abdullah Senussi. (Al Jazeera)
  • 2011 Syrian uprising:
    • Syria's ambassador to the United Kingdom is summoned to answer to allegations that a diplomat is intimidating U.K.-based Syrians. (BBC)
    • The opposition meets in Damascus to call for democracy and to support the "peaceful uprising". (Al Jazeera)
  • 2011 Egyptian revolution:
    • A Cairo court rules in favour of calls by anti-regime protesters and rules Egypt's local councils elected under the ousted regime of Hosni Mubarak are to be dissolved. (Al Jazeera)
    • Egyptian protesters clash with police in Cairo's Tahrir Square. (Al-Jazeera)
• Iran tests 14 surface-to-surface missiles on the second day of war games. (Ynet News)

Arts and culture

• Myanmar deports and blacklists actress Michelle Yeoh who is due to depict Opposition Leader Aung San Suu Kyi in an upcoming movie. (AFP via Asia One) (BBC) (The Guardian) (The Daily Telegraph)
• Chinese authorities order artist Ai Weiwei, released from his 80-day imprisonment last week, to pay more than 12 million yuan in unpaid taxes and fines thought by those who know him to be related to his activism. (BBC)
• BBC reporter Urunboy Usmonov, imprisoned in a Tajikistan jail in Dushanbe, is reported to be "frail". (BBC)

Business and economy

• Christine Lagarde, France's finance minister since 2007, is named the new head the International Monetary Fund (IMF) following the resignation of Dominique Strauss-Kahn. (BBC) (Al Jazeera)
• The Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) incurs wrath from shareholders at its first annual meeting since the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, with a motion asking the company to abandon nuclear power being defeated. (BBC)
• The New York Court of Appeals rules that insurance policyholders opposed to a restructuring plan undertaken by MBIA in 2009 with the approval of its primary regulator, New York's insurance authorities, may sue for fraudulent conveyance in a trial court in that state. (Wall Street Journal)

Disasters

• The crew of the International Space Station rush to a rescue shuttle amid concern of the need for a possible emergency evacuation back to Earth as a piece of space debris hurtles dangerously close. (BBC)
• Los Alamos National Laboratory, a major U.S. nuclear weapons research facility, is shut down and is to remain closed as fire fighters battle a raging wildfire nearby. (BBC)
• The United Nations reports the worst drought in six decades is affecting more than 10 million people and forced people in Somalia to flee to Kenya and Ethiopia as they starve to death. (BBC)
• At least 12 people are injured in a gas explosion and fire at the Surgut-1 Power Station in the Russian city of Surgut, Tyumen Oblast. (ITAR TASS) (RIA Novosti) (Reuters)
• Tropical storm Arlene, the first of the 2011 Atlantic hurricane season, forms in the southwestern Gulf of Mexico. (Houston Chronicle)
• A ferry sinks off the coast of Haiti near Port-au-Prince resulting in at least five deaths and seven people missing. (AP via Washington Post)
• Fourteen people die following a flash flood in Davao City in the Philippines. (Manila Bulletin)

International relations

• The President of Sudan Omar Hassan al-Bashir arrives in Beijing for talks with Hu Jintao, the President of the People's Republic of China to discuss the recent partition with Southern Sudan. (Al Jazeera)
• Germany and the People's Republic of China hold a joint cabinet meeting in Berlin with many lucrative contracts signed. (AFP via Google News)

Law and crime

• Six police officers are found guilty of crimes against the security of the state as a result of last September's attempted coup against President of Ecuador Rafael Correa who was tear gassed and imprisoned in a hospital. (BBC)
• Saudi Arabia approves a law regulating marriages between Saudi citizens and citizens of other countries. (Emirates 24/7)
• The TechCrunch web publication reports that the Anonymous computer hacking group has declared war on the U.S. city of Orlando, Florida, in supposed retaliation for the arrest of members of Food Not Bombs. (Tech Crunch)

Politics and elections

• Sir Michael Somare, veteran Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea, resigns due to ill-health according to his family. (The Australian) (ABC News Australia)
• Opposition parties boycott the swearing-in of the new parliament in Ankara after judges ban nine elected MPs. (BBC) (Al Jazeera)
• Ireland's parliament is involved in controversy amid newspaper reports that thousands of phone calls were made from Dáil Éireann to help TD Michael Healy-Rae win a charity reality TV show four years ago. Taxpayers then picked up the bill. (Irish Independent) (The Irish Times) (TV3) (Newstalk)
• The California State Legislature passes a 2011-12 budget containing significant increases in taxes. (AP via KCRA)

Science

• Anti-pi groups mark Tau Day. (BBC)

Sport

• In baseball, a judge in the U.S. state of Delaware authorizes the Los Angeles Dodgers to enter into a $150 million bankruptcy financing deal after the club addresses concerns of Major League Baseball. (AP via News 3)
• In association football, 8 players from the Mexico national football team's Copa América squad are suspended for six months. (BBC Sport)

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