Portal:Current events/2011 June 30

June 30, 2011 (Thursday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

Arab Spring:
- 2011 Syrian uprising:
  - The Syrian army kills a man and his 1 year old infant son after they attack his house in the village of al-Bara. (CNN)
  - Al Jazeera reports that there have been many arrests in the southern town of Deraa with people fleeing to either Damascus or Jordan. (Al Jazeera)
- 2011 Libyan civil war:
  - France's dropping of arms for tribal fighters in Libya is a "crude violation" of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1970 according to Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov, echoing African Union concerns that it risks "a Somalia-sation" of Libya". (BBC)
  - The UK Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs William Hague announces that Britain would supply body armour, police uniforms and communications equipment to Libyan National Transitional Council police forces. (AP via San Jose Mercury News)^{[permanent dead link‍]}
- 2011 Egyptian revolution: A court says that it will issue a ruling on the murder case of two policeman allegedly involved in the death of Khaled Mohamed Saeed on August 24, rather than today as was expected, in a case that helped spark the revolution. (Reuters via Alertnet) (Al Jazeera)
Afghanistan:
- Two freed French journalists, Herve Ghesquiere and Stephane Taponier, return to France after being held captive in Afghanistan by the Taliban for 18 months. (AFP via France 24)
- The International Security Assistance Force blames the Pakistani Haqqani network for a recent attack on the Kabul Inter-Continental and claims to have killed the organiser of the attack in a targeted strike on Wednesday. (CBS News)
- At least five private security contractors are killed and nine others are injured in a U.S. airstrike in Afghanistan. (Press TV)
The Pakistani media reports Defence Minister Ahmad Mukhtar as claiming that the United States will no longer be able to use the Shamsi Airfield to launch drone attacks on militants. (Reuters) (Al Jazeera)
Official records on the 2002 Gujarat violence, which killed more than 1,000 people, are reported to have been destroyed in line with regulations. (BBC)
The United Nations extends MONUSCO, its mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, for a thirteenth year, with 5 million people dead so far. (Al Jazeera)
Amnesty International calls on the People's Republic of China to stop the harassment, arbitrary detention and torture of human rights lawyers. (Reuters via Alertnet)
Al-Shamukh, a popular jihadist Internet forum, is knocked off the Internet by a fairly sophisticated cyberattack. (CBS News)
Iraq War: The United States has lost a total of 15 troops in Iraq this month, making it the deadliest month for U.S. forces in Iraq since June 2009, when 14 soldiers were killed fighting the Iraqi insurgency. (AP via Kansas City Star)

Arts and culture

Glenn Beck hosts his final program on the US Fox News Channel. (New York times)

Business and economy

The Beijing–Shanghai High-Speed Railway commences commercial operation in the People's Republic of China. (Economic Times of India)^{[permanent dead link‍]}
The Japanese auto industry begins designated weekday shutdowns as part of an effort to save energy as a result of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster. (Kyodo)
Samsung Electronics lodges a claim with the US International Trade Commission to stop Apple Inc. importing six products including the iPhone, iPod and iPads for alleged patent infringements. (Yonhap)
Italy's government attempts to bring in its own austerity measures to calm turbulent markets and reassure investors. (AFP via Google News) (Reuters) (The Financial Times)
In the United Kingdom, the cheque guarantee card scheme – which ensures some cheques are honoured even if the account holder does not have sufficient funds in their account – is being withdrawn today after operating for over 40 years. (BBC)

Disasters

According to a study by a team of epidemiologists and physicians, evidence "strongly suggests" that United Nations peacekeepers brought a cholera strain to Haiti that has killed thousands of people. (AP via Google News) (Press TV)
The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and the European Food Safety Authority announce investigations suggest that fenugreek seeds imported from Egypt are implicated in the E. coli outbreaks. (Reuters)
Tropical Storm Arlene, the first tropical storm of the 2011 Atlantic hurricane season, makes landfall near Cabo Rojo bringing heavy rain to Mexico and southern Texas. (Houston Chronicle), (National Hurricane Centre)
A 5.4 magnitude earthquake hits Nagano Prefecture in Japan, resulting in at least seven injuries. (Kyodo)
A heavy thunderstorm hits the midwestern United States of Illinois and Wisconsin leaving thousands of homes without power and causing transport problems in Chicago. (WISN), (Chicago Tribune)

International relations

Saudi Arabia stops issuing permits for workers from Indonesia and the Philippines as the row over the beheading of an Indonesian maid by Saudi Arabia continues. (BBC)
The inaugural meeting of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States due to be held in Venezuela next week is deferred due to a slow recovery of President of Venezuela Hugo Chavez from an operation in Cuba. (AFP via Google) (Al Jazeera) (Press TV)
Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge start a nine-day 2011 royal tour of Canada. (Canadian Press via Winnipeg Free Press) (BBC)
United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is in Budapest today. (BBC)
Freedom Flotilla II:
- Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu says that Israel is "fully entitled to work against" attempts by the Gaza-bound "provocation flotilla" to smuggle arms into the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip. (The Jerusalem Post)
- Ireland's Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore expresses concern over reports that €15,000 worth of damage to the flotilla's Irish ship MV Saoirse may have been caused by sabotage, after similar damage was caused to the Greek ship. (RTÉ) (Haaretz) (Press TV) (BBC)
- It is later confirmed that the ship will be unable to participate with other members of the flotilla. (Newstalk) (Al Jazeera) (Evening Herald) (The Daily Telegraph)

Law and crime

Taiwanese media reports that former President Lee Teng-hui has been indicted on charges of embezzlement from a state diplomatic fund. (The Washington Post)
A man who attempts to knock down President of France Nicolas Sarkozy in Brax is arrested by officers. (AP via MSNBC)
Carson Yeung, the Hong Kong businessman who owns English Football League Championship side Birmingham City F.C., is formally charged with money laundering and released on bail. (Reuters)
The United Nations-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon investigating the killing of Lebanon's former prime minister and business tycoon Rafic Hariri in 2005 issues 4 arrest warrants. (BBC) (Al Jazeera)
Head of Naples police intervention brigade Vittorio Pisani is investigated in Italy after coming under suspicion of leaking information to the mafia. (Press TV)
Englishman Neil Entwistle is appealing his murder conviction of his wife and daughter in Massachusetts, USA. (Guardian.co.uk)
Thomas Masuku, a senior judge in Swaziland, is suspended over allegedly insults to King Mswati III. (BBC)

Politics and elections

Protests against austerity in Greece:
- The Greek parliament in Athens holds a second vote on cuts, this one to put in place pay cuts, tax increases, privatisations and redundancies. (BBC)
- Protests continue outside parliament as MPs consider this the second part of their austerity package. (Al Jazeera)
- Greece's rulers pass the second austerity bill asked for by the European Union (EU) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) by a margin of 155 in favour of it, 136 against it and 5 abstaining. (Al Jazeera)
Protests against austerity in the UK:
- Hundreds of thousands of people go on strike across the United Kingdom in relation to worsening pension conditions being discussed by the government and opposition, while MPs from both the government and opposition condemn them for going on strike. (BBC) (Press TV) (Al Jazeera)
- 26 people are arrested while protesting their government's pension cuts in London as clashes and the controversial police tactic of kettling get underway. (Press TV)
2011 Spanish protests: Riot police in full gear surround scores of "indignados" protesting against austerity, political corruption and rising unemployment and evict them from their six-week encampment in Barcelona's Plaza de Catalunya. (AFP via Google News) (Expatica Spain)
The Indonesian National Police arrests at least one suspect in connection to the alleged forgery of documents associated with the 2009 legislative elections. (Jakarta Post)
Bangladesh's parliament overturns a requirement, dating from the mid-1990s, that general elections be watched over by non-partisan caretaker governments; the opposition protests over fears that future elections could be rigged. (BBC)
A by-election is held in the UK Parliament constituency of Inverclyde to elect a new MP following the death of the previous incumbent, Labour's David Cairns in May. (BBC)
The President of Venezuela Hugo Chavez speaks on Venezuelan television that he is fighting cancer in Cuba. (AP via ABC News)

Sport

In tennis, Petra Kvitová defeats Victoria Azarenka to reach her first Grand Slam final at Wimbledon. (BBC Sport)
Owners in the North American National Basketball Association are expected to start a lockout after failing to reach a new collective bargaining agreement. (Washington Post)