Portal:Current events/2014 June 16
June 16, 2014 (Monday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- 2014 Northern Iraq offensive:
- ISIL takes control of the town of Tal Afar, Iraq. (Voice of America)
- The Pentagon sends the USS Mesa Verde to the Persian Gulf to join a contingency of U.S. Navy ships already stationed there to monitor the northern offensive. (NBC)
- War in North-West Pakistan:
- The Pakistan Air Force conducts airstrikes against six Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan positions in North Waziristan, killing 27 militants. (New York Times)
- Syrian Civil War:
- A barrel bomb is dropped from a helicopter in Aleppo, Syria, killing at least 25 people. (Reuters)
- 2014 pro-Russian conflict in Ukraine:
- Ukraine's president Petro Poroshenko says he will put forward a detailed peace plan that will include a ceasefire in the conflict. (Voice of America)
- Violent riots between Muslims and Buddhists rage in the town of Welipitiya, Sri Lanka, leaving three dead, 78 injured, and multiple mosques and shops burned or vandalized. (New York Times)
- The Al-Shabaab militant group launches a second attack near the Kenyan town of Mpeketoni killing another 10 people. (BBC News)
Disasters and accidents
- June 16-18 Tornado Outbreak begins. Twin EF4 tornadoes devastate northeast Nebraska. A town particularly hit hard being Pilger, NE where a young girl is killed. At night several other tornadoes touch down and one of them, an EF3, tears through the southwest portions of Madison, Wisconsin. June 16-18 Tornado Outbreak (www.ustornadoes.com)
International relations
- Russia's state-owned gas giant Gazprom says that Ukraine must pay up front for its gas after the country failed to settle its debt. (BBC News)
- Russian lawmakers call for the dismissal of Ukraine's interim foreign minister, Andrii Deshchytsia, after he joins protesters in the singing of "Putin khuilo!". (Sydney Morning Herald)
- The U.S. Supreme Court finds against the Republic of Argentina on a discovery issue in its litigation against hedge fund NML Capital, and refuses to hear appeals on the substantive issues in the same litigation: a victory for hold-out bond-holders against a defaulting sovereign. (Reuters)
Law and crime
- A warrant is issued for the arrest of Peter O'Neill, Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea, in relation to a fraud case related to alleged payment of millions of dollars in illegal payments to a law firm. The Supreme Court of Papua New Guinea later stays the warrant. (ABC News Australia), (The Australian)
- The People's Republic of China sentences three men to death for a deadly attack at Beijing's Tiananmen Square last October. (Reuters via The Straits Times)
- Israeli police arrest Aziz Duwaik, Speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council and Hamas member, during a wave of arrests linked to a manhunt for three kidnapped teenagers. (AFP via NineMSN)
Sport
- German ex-Formula 1 champion Michael Schumacher is out of an induced coma and has left Grenoble Hospital in France for further rehabilitation. (ABC Australia)