Portal:Current events/2011 June 29

Current events of June 29, 2011 (2011-06-29) (Wednesday)

Armed conflicts and attacks Arab Spring: 2011 Egyptian revolution: At least 66 people are injured in violent clashes between protesters and security forces in Cairo's Tahrir Square. (Al Jazeera) (McClatchy via Sacramento Bee) Protesters demand the resignation of the head of the military council General Mohamed Hussein Tantawi and interior minister Mansour Essawi over the violence blamed on police, the worst the country has seen in weeks since the toppling of the Hosni Mubarak-led regime. (BBC) 2011 Libyan civil war: The French military reports France air-dropped weapons to anti-regime Berber rebels trying to bring down Muammar Gaddafi in the west's Nafusa Mountains in early June. Le Figaro suggests rocket launchers and anti-tank missiles were among the weapons dropped. (BBC) (Al Jazeera) 2011 Syrian uprising: At least 4 people are killed by government troops in the northwestern province of Idlib.(Al Jazeera) 2011 Bahraini uprising: King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa orders an independent investigation into the protests. (Al Jazeera) 2011 Omani protests: A court jails 13 people who had demanded better jobs in protests in the city of Sohar. (The Times of India) Freedom Flotilla II: The international flotilla sets sail one year after the deadly raid on a previous flotilla by Israeli commandos in international waters of the Mediterranean Sea. (Asia Times Online) (The Globe and Mail) Greek protests against government cuts: Barriers, batons and tear gas are in use as hundreds of riot police engage with demonstrators around the Greek parliament building over the government cuts. (The Guardian) Greek MPs call this "chemical warfare" against civilians "outrageous" and state that it has "assumed lethal dimensions", with a chorus of complaints rising against the police for overreacting violently and hitting protesters. (The Guardian) BBC correspondent in Athens calls riot police response brutal and of the kind that would not be tolerated in other European nations, as police threw stones and pieces of marble at the protesters and even threw tear gas inside a metro station. (BBC) At least 5 people are killed during a gunfight in Lubumbashi in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, with President Joseph Kabila in town to view Independence Day ceremonies on Thursday. (BBC) The International Organization for Migration (IOM) expresses concern about thousands of Chadian people, mainly women, children and the elderly, stranded on dangerous territory on the border between Chad and Libya. (BBC) (IOM) Research by Brown University finds the U.S. wars on Iraq and Afghanistan are expected to cost at least $3.2 trillion, and maybe as much as $4.4 trillion, higher than previously expected. (Al Jazeera) A curfew is imposed on Abuja by the Nigerian government due to recent deadly attacks. (BBC) The President of Colombia Juan Manuel Santos condemns a FARC ambush that killed a senior police officer. (BBC) Arts and culture Pope Benedict XVI launches a new Vatican website, news.va, and performs the first tweet by a pope. (AFP via Herald-Sun) Rick Gekoski, the chairman of the Man Booker International Prize judging panel, admits they were "animated by disagreement" over the controversial decision to give the 2011 award to Philip Roth amid fears that it would offend women after one of the female judges resigned in disgust. (BBC) Chinese artist Ai Weiwei's wife says he is to challenge a bill of more than 12 million yuan in unpaid taxes and fines which the Chinese government, of which he is a critic, has charged him with. (BBC) Business and economy The Greek parliament votes in favor of austerity measures to deal with the country's economic crisis; global markets rise as a result. (The Guardian) (The Wall Street Journal) (Al Jazeera) Approximately 750,000 workers in the United Kingdom commence strike action over pension reform plans. (Sky News) The Alderney Gambling Control Commission suspends Full Tilt Poker's gaming license prior to a hearing over an indictment by the United States Department of Justice. (Las Vegas Review Journal) Media conglomerate News Corporation sells MySpace to Specific Media. (BBC) Disasters A wildfire worsens near major U.S. nuclear weapons research lab Los Alamos National Laboratory in the U.S. state of New Mexico; residents express concern about contamination. (BBC) The death toll from a tropical storm kills 22 people in Vietnam. (The Straits Times) 18 children - 15 girls and 3 boys - are killed when lightning strikes a primary school in Masindi in the Western Region of Uganda. (BBC) (Uganda Monitor) International relations South Sudan accuses Sudan of supporting rebels. (Christian Science Monitor) North Korea accuses South Korea of slander and threatens "a retaliatory sacred war". (AFP via Channel News Asia) Omar al-Bashir of Sudan and Hu Jintao of the People's Republic of China meet. (BBC) Law and crime A lawsuit of $25 million is brought by the mother of a U.S. teen, who was kidnapped, bound and forced to consume alcoholic substances before his death at a fraternity house, against the group responsible for his ordeal in the U.S. state of New York. (BBC) Six members of a paramilitary force and a civilian are charged with murder in relation to the death of unarmed Sarfaraz Shah in Karachi, whose 8 June shooting was filmed and later broadcast on television. (BBC) A court ruling restricting the powers of police bail throws thousands of cases in England and Wales into disarray. (BBC) Politics and elections Malaysia arrests 14 people ahead of a planned pro-reform rally. (The Straits Times) New pictures and video footage of a fit Hugo Chávez chatting to Fidel Castro are shown on Cuban state television after concerns were expressed for the President of Venezuela's health following recent surgery. (BBC) (Taiwan News) Burma's government asks Aung San Suu Kyi and her party to stop its political activities. (BBC) (Zee News) Some United Kingdom Border Agency staff begin industrial action ahead of tomorrow's strike involving several hundred thousand civil servants in protest at changes to their pensions. (BBC) Irish senator Ned O'Sullivan admits making "around a dozen" of the thousands of phone calls originating from Dáil Éireann to help TD Michael Healy-Rae win a charity reality TV show four years ago. Taxpayers then picked up the bill. (RTÉ) (BBC) The Rhode Island General Assembly passes legislation allowing same-sex couples in the US state to enter civil unions. (ABC 6) Sport In association football, Choi Sung-Kuk, a former forward with the South Korea national football team, admits involvement in a K-League match fixing scheme. (AFP via France 24) In tennis, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga comes back to defeat Roger Federer at Wimbledon, the first loss Federer has sustained from being two sets ahead at a Grand Slam. (BBC Sport) (Al Jazeera) (Reuters) (The Denver Post) Carson Yeung, president of England's Birmingham City F.C., is quizzed by police in Hong Kong over criminal investigations. (BBC News)