Portal:Current events/2012 May 29

May 29, 2012 (Tuesday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

Syrian uprising:
- Several Arab and Western countries expel Syrian diplomats in response to the Houla massacre. (Al Jazeera)
- A senior Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander admits that the country has sent troops to Syria to fight against opposition forces. (RIA Novosti)
- The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights estimates that 98 people were killed in Syria today including 61 civilians. (AAP via News Limited)
Rebels attack the convoy of Somali president Sheikh Sharif Ahmed during an overland trip; he escaped unharmed. (Reuters)
2012 South Sudan–Sudan border conflict: Sudan and South Sudan restart talks to avoid war amid accusations of bombing raids. (Reuters)

Arts and culture

The gallery which exhibited Brett Murray's controversial painting The Spear agrees to take down an image of the artwork from its website as thousands of people march in protest through the streets of Johannesburg. (Al Jazeera)
China's best-known microblogging site Sina Weibo introduces new restrictions on the content its 300 million users can post. (Radio Television Hong Kong)

Business and economy

Four of Wall Street's market makers involved in Facebook's botched IPO are expecting losses from technical glitches to be around US$115 million. (Reuters)
Three Spanish savings banks - Ibercaja, Liberbank and Caja3 - approve a merger. (BBC)
Russian social network VK announces that it will postpone its planned initial public offering indefinitely, following the recent botched float of Facebook. (Reuters via Chicago Tribune)

Disasters

A 5.8-magnitude earthquake rocks northern Italy near Bologna, killing at least 24 people. (Al Jazeera) (AP via Google News)
North Korea faces its worst drought in 50 years. (CNN)

International relations

Law and crime

Assange v The Swedish Judicial Authority:
- WikiLeaks editor Julian Assange learns he will find out tomorrow if he is to be deported to Sweden from the UK. (The Guardian)
- The mother of Assange arrives in London ahead of his final legal bid against extradition to Sweden. (The Sydney Morning Herald)
- Assange interviews representatives of the Occupy movement on World Tomorrow ahead of the verdict. (Digital Journal)
The Senate of the Philippines finds the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Renato Corona guilty of failure to disclose to the public his assets following a four-month-long impeachment trial. (Philippine Daily Inquirer) (Channel News Asia) (Al Jazeera)
Police in Indonesia seize over 1 million ecstasy pills totalling US$45 million, in the biggest drug bust in 10 years. (Bangkok Post)

Politics and elections

Voters in the US state of Texas go to the polls for primary elections, with Mitt Romney securing the Republican nomination in the Republican primary. (AP via Yahoo! News) (Boston Globe)
Groups of indigenous peoples in Brazil block roads and occupy government buildings. (BBC)
The Deputy Speaker of the Parliament of Papua New Guinea declares that the Prime Minister's office is vacant following a ruling by the Supreme Court. (ABC News Australia)
Chen Xitong former mayor of Beijing apologises for deaths during the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests, adding that they could have been avoided, in a book released in Hong Kong this week. (AFP via Google News)
U.S. president Barack Obama gives out the Presidential Medal of Freedom to 13 recipients, including Israeli president Shimon Peres, astronaut John Glenn and musician Bob Dylan, at the White House. (BBC)

Sports

Italian prime minister Mario Monti suggests that professional football in Italy should be suspended immediately after the latest match-fixing row to hit the country. (BBC)
More than 150 runners complete the world's highest marathon on Mount Everest. (AFP via Google News)