Portal:Current events/2011 May 18

May 18, 2011 (Wednesday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

Three Tunisian security officers are killed in a clash with gunmen in the north of the country. (IOL)
2011 Libyan civil war:
- Forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi shell towns and villages in the western mountains in an attempt to capture higher ground. (Al Jazeera)
- Sources from the Tunisian defence ministry claim that Gaddafi's wife and daughter have fled there. (Reuters)
Militants attack a checkpoint near the city of Peshawar in northwest Pakistan, resulting in the deaths of two police officers and 15 insurgents. (AP via Houston Chronicle)
Iran frees detained Al-Jazeera journalist Dorothy Parvaz, who had not been seen since being detained in Syria on April 29. (Seattle Times)
At least twelve people are killed and 80 injured during a protest in the Afghan city of Taloqan against the killing of four civilians in a NATO raid. (BBC)
The United States announces plans to impose sanctions on the President of Syria, Bashar al-Assad, and six members of his government, for alleged human rights breaches during the 2011 Syrian uprising. (AP via The Washington Post) (Reuters via al-Jazeera)
The United Nations claims that Sudan has bombed a village in Darfur. (BBC)

Arts and culture

Business and economy

Disasters and accidents

Fifteen people are killed after two buses collide in Mwanza Province, northern Tanzania. (IOL)
The United States Coast Guard reopens a section of the Mississippi River to shipping that was closed on Tuesday as a result of the 2011 Mississippi River floods. (BBC)
A tornado hits the US city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania for the first time since 1999. (NBC Philadelphia)
Sol Líneas Aéreas Flight 5428 aircraft crashes in the southern Patagonia region of Argentina with all 22 people on board dying - icing of the propellor driven Saab 340 is cited as a possible cause. (RIA Novosti), (AP via MSNBC)

International relations

Law and crime

Andrew Fastow, the former Chief Financial Officer of Enron Corp., now in the custody of the Federal Bureau of Prisons with a release date of December 17, 2011, moves to a half-way house in Houston, Texas. (Reuters)
The jury is seated for the trial of Chicago businessman Tahawwur Hussain Rana for his alleged role in the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks. (AP via Silicon Valley Mercury News)^{[permanent dead link]}
The President of Guatemala, Alvaro Colom, claims that Hugo Alvaro Gomez Vasquez, who has been arrested in relation to the killing of 27 cattle ranch workers, is a leader of the Los Zetas drug cartel in the country. (AP via MSNBC)
An Afghan detainee commits suicide at the US run Guantanamo Bay detention camp. (AP via MSNBC)

Politics and elections

Voters in South Africa go to the polls for municipal elections. (BBC)
Voters in the US city of San Francisco, California, will vote on a proposition to ban male circumcision in November. (AP via the Washington Post)

Science