Portal:Current events/2010 May 26

May 26, 2010 (Wednesday)

More than 80 students are sickened in a girls' school in Kunduz, Afghanistan, in a poison gas attack suspected to have been carried out by Taliban assailants whose version of Islam is opposed to girls being educated.(USA Today)
International Criminal Court judges tell the UN Security Council that the Sudanese government is protecting suspects wanted for war crimes in Darfur instead of arresting them to face trial. (The Globe and Mail)
Jamaican police arrest more than 500 people after an unsuccessful attempt to arrest a suspected drug kingpin in Kingston, the capital, results in violence that leaves at least 44 people dead. (CNN) (BBC)
Two of Ethiopia's main opposition leaders call for a rerun of Sunday's elections won by Western-backed Meles Zenawi. They say the elections were not free and fair and that two politicians were killed by security forces. (Al Jazeera) (BBC) (The Hindu) (Reuters)
Brandenburg reaches level four on the disaster alert scale as water levels along the Oder and Neisse rivers continue to rise. (Deutsche Welle)
Israel launches two night-time air strikes on the Gaza Strip in response to mortar attacks and the detonation of 200 kg of explosives laden on a donkey-cart next to the border fence. (BBC) (The Jerusalem Post)
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas condemns Iran, saying his people were “hijacked, at the hands of the Iranians”; possibly referring to Hamas's refusal to reconcile with Fatah on Iran's command by announcing on that it would boycott the Palestinian municipal elections (The Jerusalem Post)
Palestinian Authority security forces arrest scores of Hamas officials and supporters in the West Bank a day after Hamas announced that it would boycott the Palestinian municipal elections scheduled for July 17. (The Jerusalem Post)
The chief rabbi of a West Bank settlement declares that women should be prohibited from standing in a local community election. (BBC)
Nuclear program of Iran:
- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev disagree over Russia's support for United Nations sanctions concerning Iran's nuclear program, with some analysts describing it as the worst row between the countries for several years. (Reuters)
- Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva questions why American President Barack Obama ignored Iran's nuclear agreement with Brazil and Turkey and presented new sanctions to the United Nations Security Council, saying this is "not the attitude that someone who won the Nobel Peace Prize has" and describing himself as "disappointed". (Buenos Aires Herald)
Lori Berenson is freed on parole after serving 15 years in a Peruvian prison for aiding the Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement. (BBC)
Iraq announces the dissolution of state-owned Iraqi Airways over the next three years and the pursuit of private options to avoid asset claims made by Kuwait over their 1990-91 war. (Al Jazeera)
The International Criminal Court reports Sudan to the United Nations Security Council for refusing to arrest former Minister Ahmed Haroun and militia leader Ali Muhammad Al Abd-Al-Rahman. (BBC)
A Lusaka court convicts former Zambian Finance Minister Katele Kalumba of corruption and sentences him to five years with hard labour. Six other people, including former officials in the finance ministry, are also found guilty of corruption. (BBC) (IOL)
Two people are injured and several vehicles are destroyed during a blast in Kandahar. (Al Jazeera)
Charles Djou is sworn into the United States House of Representatives, representing Hawaii's 1st congressional district. (Fox News)
Space Shuttle Atlantis completes its final scheduled mission after landing at Kennedy Space Center, Florida. (Xinhua) (CNN) (BBC)
Elton John makes his Moroccan debut at the Mawazine festival in Rabat, ignoring calls for him to be banned by Islamists who feared he would offend public morals. (BBC)
Virtual band Gorillaz are announced to replace U2 as headliners of the Glastonbury Festival 2010. (BBC) (CBC) (RTÉ) (Reuters) (The Times)
The Alaotra grebe, a grebe endemic to Madagascar, is declared extinct 25 years after its last reported sighting. (BBC)