Portal:Current events/2013 May 30
May 30, 2013 (Thursday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- Syrian civil war:
- An Israeli official says the Israeli government is looking into reports that Syria received a shipment of S-300 missiles. (The Jerusalem Post)
- Doctors in the besieged city of Qusayr request urgent medical aid as they run out of supplies to treat eight-hundred wounded. (The Jerusalem Post)
- Syrian state television reports that forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad have killed three westerners including an American woman and a British man fighting for the Opposition. (CNN)
- Iraqi insurgency (post-U.S. withdrawal):
- Abdul-Baki Todashev, father of Ibragim Todashev who was killed by the FBI last week, describes U.S. agents as "bandits" who killed his son "execution-style". (The Guardian) (Al Jazeera)
Arts and culture
- Maroon 5 frontman Adam Levine makes an "unpatriotic" comment on television, prompting calls for him to be removed to a "Communist country" or pursued by secretive anti-terrorism hit squads. Levine responds by tweeting dictionary definitions of words such as "joke", "humourless" and "lighthearted" but is later forced to apologise for his indiscretion. (The Guardian)
- It is announced that Internet sensation Grumpy Cat will star in a feature-length movie. (Reuters)
Health and environment
- There is no added benefit obtained from a double dose of Tamiflu according to a new study. (Reuters)
International relations
- Following the controversial discovery of genetically modified wheat on a U.S. farm on May 29, Japan suspends imports of wheat from the U.S. (Associated Press via The Washington Post) (The Huffington Post)
- Nigeria soldiers uncover a large stock of weapons that they believe belonged to Hezbollah. (Fox News)
Law and crime
- Parents in Polk County in the U.S. state of Florida protest against their children having their irises scanned by authorities without permission by schools. The EyeSwipe-Nano program is temporarily suspended. (RT)
- U.S. president Barack Obama appoints James Comey, a former member of the Bush administration, as the new director of the FBI. (The Guardian) (The Independent)
- After a three-year trial, a U.N. tribunal in The Hague acquits two former Serbian security officials accused of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity during the 1990s Bosnian War. (Al Jazeera)
- A court in Mold, Wales, finds Mark Bridger guilty of abducting and murdering five-year-old April Jones in October 2012. (BBC)
- Nigeria passes a law banning same-sex marriage. (AP via News12)[permanent dead link]
- Seton Hall University is shut down due to a bomb threat that turns out to be a hoax. (USA Today)
Science and technology
- New analysis suggests that turtles evolved a shell 40 million years earlier than previously thought. (Nature World News)
- Russian scientists discover a "perfectly preserved" woolly mammoth carcass containing liquid blood. (Newsday)
- Stanford University researchers unveil a zinc–air battery that is more energy-dense and cheaper than lithium-ion counterparts. (GlobalPost)
- The asteroid (285263) 1998 QE2, expected to approach within 3.6 million miles of Earth on May 31, is discovered to have its own moon.(Los Angeles Times)
Sport
- In association football, a judge suspends England's match against Brazil over safety fears at the Estádio do Maracanã in Rio de Janeiro. (BBC) (The Guardian)
- FC Barcelona releases Éric Abidal, who had fought back from a liver tumour and a liver transplant to play again. (Associated Press)
- Arvind Mahankali wins the 86th annual Scripps National Spelling Bee. (USA TODAY)