Portal:Current events/2011 June 21

June 21, 2011 (Tuesday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

2011 Yemeni uprising: 2,000 Ethiopian migrants are evacuated from the country. (BBC)
2011 Syrian uprising: Security forces kill seven people during clashes between opposition and pro-government supporters in three cities. (Al Jazeera)
2011 Libyan civil war:
- NATO's command centre in Naples loses contact with an MQ-8 Fire Scout drone during reconnaissance operations over Libya. (BBC)
At least 20 people are killed when a car bomb explodes outside a local governor's house in Al Diwaniyah in Iraq. (Reuters via MSNBC)

Business and economics

Disasters

Pilot error is suspected to be the cause of the crash of RusAir Flight 9605 in Petrozavodsk, Russia, which killed 44 people on 20 June.(Al Jazeera)
Flights in Australia are again disrupted due to volcanic ash from the 2011 Puyehue-Cordón Caulle eruption in Chile. (WA Today)^{[permanent dead link]}
At least 28 children die mysteriously in the Indian state of Bihar. (BBC) (One India)
Central United States storms
- More than 270,000 people in the US city of Chicago, Illinois, are left without power due to thunder storms with some reports of funnel clouds. (Chicago Tribune), (NBC Chicago)
- More than 300 flights are cancelled from O'Hare International Airport and passengers are stuck on Chicago passenger trains for three hours. (AP via Houston Chronicle)
- More than 114,000 people in the city of Knoxville, Tennessee, are without power due to storms. (Knox News)

International relations

A 2014 deadline that would have moved a U.S. airbase opposed by politicians and civilians off Okinawa is cancelled following last year's resignation of Prime Minister of Japan Yukio Hatoyama over his own inability to remove the base. (BBC)
Politicians and civilians in Indonesia protest after Saudi Arabia used a sword to behead a maid without telling them they were planning to execute her; Indonesia recalls its ambassador to express its fury and civilians gather outside the Saudi embassy in Jakarta wearing t-shirts with the slogan "corrupt government, workers are beheaded". (BBC) (Jakarta Post)
At the United Nations General Assembly in New York City, Secretary-General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon wins a second five-year term by acclamation through applause without a vote after the United Nations Security Council fails to put forward another candidate. (Al Jazeera) (BBC) (news.com.au)
First Lady of the United States Michelle Obama begins a six-day visit to southern Africa with her daughters; they are granted an audience with Nelson Mandela. (BBC)

Law and crime

A Chinese court sentences a forklift driver to death for killing a protester in an incident that started unrest in Inner Mongolia. (Straits Times)^{[permanent dead link]}
A French court upholds a life sentence for Yvan Colonna, a former shepherd and Corsican separatist convicted of fatally shooting police prefect Claude Érignac near a concert hall in Ajaccio in 1998. Colonna has denied killing Érignac. (BBC)
Former French minister Georges Tron, who resigned last month due to allegations of sexual assault, is arrested by police. (BBC)
British Prime Minister David Cameron confirms that controversial plans to allow sentence reductions of up to 50% for criminals who plead guilty in England and Wales have been scrapped. (BBC)

Politics and elections

In a rare House of Commons procedure, British MPs have voted by a majority of 73 to have parts of the controversial Health and Social Care Bill re-examined by the Health Select Committee. (BBC)

Science

An Emperor Penguin is sighted on a New Zealand beach, the first time this has happened in 44 years. (BBC) (AP via The Guardian)

Sport