Portal:Current events/2012 May 21

May 21, 2012 (Monday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

A suicide bomber attacks soldiers rehearsing for the annual Unity Day parade in the Yemeni capital Sana'a, killing at least 120 people and injuring more than 350 others. Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula claims responsibility. (BBC) (Al Jazeera) (Trust)^{[permanent dead link‍]} (Yemen Post)
FARC rebels kill 12 Colombian soldiers and wound four more in an ambush near the Colombian border with Venezuela. (AFP via Google) (AP)
Two people are killed in ongoing clashes in the Lebanese capital Beirut between supporters and opponents of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. (Ya Libnan)

Business and economy

Australian airline Qantas announces cuts to 500 maintenance jobs. (News Limited)

Disasters

At least 13 people – most of them students – are killed and 22 others are injured after a bus plunges 80 metres (260 ft) off a cliff in Albania. (BBC)
Four climbers from Canada, China, Germany and South Korea die whilst returning from the summit of Mount Everest; a Nepalese guide is missing. (The Himalayan Times)

International relations

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) director general Yukiya Amano begins talks in Tehran aimed at convincing the Iranian government to co-operate with the agency. (Al Jazeera)
US President Barack Obama speaks at a NATO summit concerning the future of war-ravaged Afghanistan. (BBC)
Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, the only person convicted in the case concerning the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, is buried in a private ceremony in a western suburb of Tripoli, having died of cancer aged 60. (BBC) (Al Jazeera)

Law and crime

Dharun Ravi, the U.S. student who secretly filmed the sexual activities of his gay room-mate Tyler Clementi, who later committed suicide when the film was exposed, is sentenced to 30 days in prison by a New Jersey judge. Ravi avoids the maximum sentence of 10 years' imprisonment. (BBC) (Al Jazeera)
Sri Lanka's former army chief Sarath Fonseka is freed from prison with a pardon from President Mahinda Rajapaksa. (Times of India)
The criminal trial of Rajat Gupta on charges of insider trading begins in a federal courtroom in New York. (Reuters)

Politics and elections

The Acting President of Mali, Dioncounda Traoré, is taken to hospital after an angry encounter with demonstrators who object to a deal for the 70-year-old to remain in office for a year. (BBC)
Greek leftist politician Alexis Tsipras, head of the Coalition of the Radical Left, begins a tour of European capitals. (Reuters)

Science