Portal:Current events/2012 May 28

May 28, 2012 (Monday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

Arab Spring:
- Syrian uprising:
  - The Syrian opposition claims that the Syrian Army has killed at least 41 people in the city of Hama over the past day. (Reuters via The Daily Star)
  - United Nations Special Envoy Kofi Annan visits Syria a day after the Security Council unanimously condemns the Houla massacre. (BBC)
  - France says Syrian regime leaders will answer for "murderous folly". (Al Arabiya)
- Bahraini uprising:
  - Bahraini authorities release human rights activist Nabeel Rajab on bail, though he still faces a travel ban and criminal charges. (AFP via Google News) (Al Jazeera)
  - Reports are coming in that Bahraini human rights activist Abdulhadi al-Khawaja is to consider ending his 110-day hunger strike against the regime. (BBC)
Colombian armed conflict (1964–present):
- The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) releases a video proving that Romeo Langlois, a French reporter they kidnapped on 28 April 2012, is still alive. (Reuters)
A suspected bomb explodes in a shopping complex in Nairobi, Kenya, injuring 33 people. (BBC)
For the first time a series of self-immolations have reached the Tibetan capital of Lhasa when two Tibetans set themselves on fire.(Al Jazeera) (The Times of India)
Following the UN Committee Against Torture's condemnation of the Irish government's failure to acknowledge and assist former detainees of the country's Catholic-run Magdalene asylums, the Justice for Magdalenes campaign group announces its discovery that women were transferred from State-funded mother and baby homes to Magdalene laundries, where they were held against their will and without their children. (RTÉ)

Arts and culture

Against Me! singer Laura Jane Grace performs in public for the first time since announcing she is transgender. (The Guardian)
An image of Brett Murray's controversial painting The Spear is removed from the website of a South African newspaper. (BBC)
Awaara has been included in the All-Time 100 greatest films by the Time Magazine. (Time Entertainment)

Business and economics

Financial irregularities are revealed at Bloxham Stockbrokers. (RTÉ)

Disasters and accidents

A helicopter crashes in eastern Afghanistan, killing two ISAF troops. (CNN)
19 people are killed in a fire at a shopping centre in Doha, Qatar. (BBC)

International relations

Prime Minister of India Manmohan Singh makes the first official visit to Myanmar by an Indian PM since 1987. (BBC) (The Times of India)

Law and crime

Leveson Inquiry:
- Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair tells the Leveson Inquiry he had a "working relationship" with News Corporation chairman Rupert Murdoch, but that Murdoch did not influence policy during his time in office. (BBC)
- An intruder interrupts proceedings to accuse Blair of being a war criminal, on the payroll of U.S. multinational JPMorgan Chase and implicit involvement in war crimes committed in Iraq. (Al Jazeera) (UPI) (MSNBC) (The Belfast Telegraph)

Politics and elections

The Parliament of Malawi reverts the Flag of Malawi to the original version used between 1964 to 2010. The outgoing flag was introduced in 2010 by the late President Bingu wa Mutharika. (The Nation) (Nyasa Times)
The father of a victim of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests commits suicide in Beijing after failing attempts for government redress. (Washington Post)
The Chinese Communist Party expels the former railways minister, Liu Zhijun, over corruption. (China Daily)
Political parties in Nepal fail to agree on a new constitution, leaving the country with no constitution and no sitting national Legislature. (UPI)
Early voting begins in the Irish European Fiscal Compact referendum, 2012. (The Daily Telegraph)

Sport

Several Italian football players, including Lazio captain Stefano Mauri, are arrested as part of an ongoing investigation of a sports betting scandal involving match fixing. (AFP via Yahoo! News)