Portal:Current events/2010 May 25

May 25, 2010 (Tuesday)

Curfew imposed in central Nepal after clash. Central Nepal district Dolakha’s government issued curfew order on Sunday following clashes between the police and the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist)-aligned Young Communist League (YCL) activists. (alice.boseviews)^{[permanent dead link]}
The death toll from the fighting in Kingston, Jamaica's capital, jumps to 27. (BBC)
May 2010 Central European floods:
- Warsaw residents prepare to flee floodwaters as the Vistula river overflows. (The Guardian) (The Hindu)
- Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk announces 2 billion złoty from budget reserves to be given to those affected. (Reuters) (Voice of America)
- Polish Minister of the Interior, Jerzy Miller, says beavers caused the floods; local authorities up hunting quotas for the animals. (The Daily Telegraph)
- A Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations plane with humanitarian aid for Poland begins its flight to Warsaw. (RIA Novosti)
- The Oder's water levels rise in eastern Germany as flood warnings are issued in Ratzdorf and Eisenhüttenstadt. (Sky News)
An international operation against a major drug trafficking gang deals "a major blow" as 26 people are arrested in Ireland, Spain and the United Kingdom, including a capo di tutti capi. (RTÉ) (The Irish Times) (BBC) (France24)^{[permanent dead link]} (The Sydney Morning Herald)
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva launches TV Brasil Internacional, an international television station currently broadcasting to African nations. (BBC) (France24)^{[permanent dead link]} (MercoPress)
Increased tensions over the sinking of the South Korean warship ROKS Cheonan (PCC-772): South Korea begins broadcasting propaganda over its border with North Korea. North Korea severs all ties and communications with the South and expels Southern workers from a jointly-run factory above the border. (Yonhap) (BBC)
A court in Thailand issues an arrest warrant for former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra on charges of terrorism, following a report by the Thai Department of Special Investigations, which concluded that he had financed Red Shirt protesters and had helped them smuggle in weapons and fighters from Cambodia, during the 2010 political crisis. (Al Jazeera)
At least 17 people die after a tourist bus crashes in Antalya. (RIA Novosti) (BBC) (CBS News) (Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review) (Today's Zaman)
A white teacher in Dahlonega, Georgia is suspended after permitting non-black students to bring bed sheets and cone-shaped party hats to school to dress in the traditional costume of right-wing white supremacist nationalist organisation Ku Klux Klan for a film project. She refuses to apologise after the issue is raised by African-American students when one of them was asked to take part in a re-enactment of a lynching. (BBC) (Pretoria News) (The Daily Telegraph)
Iran releases film director Jafar Panahi after more than two months in custody, including a hunger strike, following an international campaign led by the actress Juliette Binoche. (BBC) (The Daily Telegraph) (The Guardian)
The Malaysian tanker MT Bunga Kelana 3 and a bulk carrier collide in the Singapore Strait, resulting in an estimated 2,000 tonnes of oil spilled. (Reuters) (The Times) (Straits Times)
The Supreme Court of Pakistan dismisses a government appeal to detain Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, a Muslim cleric suspected by India to have masterminded the 2008 Mumbai attacks. (Reuters) (AP)
Italy's cabinet approves an austerity budget to cut its deficit by €24 billion in 2011 and 2012. (BBC) (Reuters) (The Miami Herald)^{[permanent dead link]}
Sicilians react with outrage to an advert for a clothing shop in Palermo featuring Adolf Hitler dressed in pink and a heart instead of a swastika. (BBC)
Russia's new Cyrillic Internet domain (.рф) launches on 476 sites. (RIA Novosti)
A study indicates that the Pac-Man game Google put on its home page Friday led to the loss of almost five million man-hours (or 550 years) of work time. (BBC) (CBC News) (Daily Mail)
Bono is released from hospital in Munich following his spinal surgery as U2 confirm the postponement of the North America leg of the U2 360° Tour and cancel their headlining slot at the Glastonbury Festival 2010. (The Irish Times) (CNN) (The Sydney Morning Herald)
Swedish model Charlotte Lindström is released from Long Bay Prison in Sydney after serving a three year sentence for plotting to kill two people; she served the time in total isolation because of death threats towards her. (Herald Sun)
South African opera star Siphiwo Ntshebe, chosen by Nelson Mandela to sing "Hope" at the opening ceremony of the 2010 FIFA World Cup next month, dies suddenly aged 34 after contracting meningitis. (IOL) (BBC) (CBC) (The Daily Telegraph) (The Guardian)
Ivor Powell, the world's oldest football coach and "one of the great footballers of his generation" retires at the age of 93. (BBC)