Portal:Current events/2011 June 1

June 1, 2011 (2011-06-01) (Wednesday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Arab Spring:
  • Syrian civil war:
    • The torture and eventual killing of a 13-year-old child held in custody causes further outcry among the people of Daraa. (Al Jazeera)
  • 2011 Yemeni uprising:
    • At least 41 people are killed in fighting between Government of Yemen forces and tribal groups in the capital Sana'a. (AP via Google News) (BBC)
  • Libyan Civil War:
    • NATO extends its mission on Libya for an additional 90 days. (NATO)
• Sudan agrees to demilitarize its border with South Sudan. (Al Jazeera)

Business and economy

• Australia's economy shrinks 1.2 per cent in the first quarter due to various disasters. (AP via The Guardian)
• An earthquake occurs in Blackpool, Lancashire: a company, Cuadrilla Resources, suspends gas drilling operations. (The Guardian)

Disasters

• An explosion at an oil storage tank in Gibraltar closes the port and injures workers and cruise ship passengers. (Gibraltar Chronicle)
• Haitian officials stand by their own death and homeless toll figures as the U.S. government claims fewer people were affected by last year's earthquake than previously believed. (BBC)
• A United Nations nuclear safety team looking into the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster claims that Japan underestimated the potential threat of tsunamis to nuclear power plants. (Reuters)
• The cleanup efforts begin in the U.S. city of Joplin, Missouri, after the recent 2011 Joplin tornado with the death toll confirmed at 134. (KSPR), (News Leader)
• German health officials report 365 new cases of the E. coli outbreak as it continues to spread throughout Europe. (Sky News)
• 2011 New England tornado outbreak
  • One tornado hits the US city of Springfield, Massachusetts, with injuries reported and significant property damage. (WWLP)(Boston Globe). The tornado eventually went on to Monson, causing devastation. (CT Now) The tornado traveled thirty-nine miles from Westfield to Charlton, Massachusetts.(NECN)
  • The Governor of Massachusetts Deval Patrick declares a state of emergency following the impact of the tornadoes. (CNN)
  • At least four deaths have occurred, with one person reported dead in a car that overturned in West Springfield as a result of the tornados. (The Herald), (CBS Local Boston)
• A United Nations report states that there are 2 million adolescents in the world living with HIV with 86 per cent of them living in sub-Saharan Africa. (Xinhua)

International relations

• South Korea reissues an invitation to North Korean leader Kim Jong-il to a nuclear summit next year. (Yonhap)
• The U.S. government states that it will boycott a United Nations anti-racism conference because of concerns over anti-Semitism. (AP via Washington Post)

Law and crime

• The Committee to Protect Journalists claims that there have been 251 murders of journalists in 13 countries where the murderer has remained unpunished in the past decade with Iraq, Somalia, the Philippines and Sri Lanka being considered the worst environments for journalists. (BBC)

Politics and elections

• Lieutenant General David Hurley of the Australian Army is announced as the successor to Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston as the Chief of the Australian Defence Force. (ABC News Australia)
• Iran's parliament finds that the President of Iran Mahmoud Ahmadinejad acted illegally by appointing himself as Oil Minister and refers it to the Judiciary, increasing pressure on him to resign. (Reuters)
• Japan's Opposition lodges a no-confidence motion in the Diet against Prime Minister Naoto Kan. (AP via Washington Post)
• Badri Bitsadze, husband of Nino Burdzhanadze, a former Speaker of Parliament, is arrested and charged with attempting to orchestrate a government takeover using paramilitary groups during the 2011 Georgian protests.

Science

• The Space Shuttle Endeavour finishes its final mission. (AP via Google News) (Reuters via Times South Africa) (BBC)

Sport

• Sepp Blatter is to be elected unopposed as the Head of FIFA at its 61st Congress despite an ongoing bribery scandal and calls by the English Football Association to delay the election. (The New York Times) (Daily Mail) (The Guardian) (BBC Sport)
• CONCACAF general secretary Chuck Blazer survives attempts by FIFA to fire him after Blazer blew the whistle on alleged corruption within the world football governing body. (BBC Sport)
• Murray McCully, the New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs, advises that the NZ Government ban on all members of the Republic of Fiji Military Forces entering the country for the 2011 Rugby World Cup means that several members of the Fiji national rugby union team will have to sit out the competition. (3 News)
• Veteran US National Basketball Association star Shaquille O'Neal announces his retirement by Twitter. (Shaquille O'Neal), (USA Today)
• The Vancouver Canucks beat the Boston Bruins 1-0 in the first game of the 2011 Stanley Cup Finals with Raffi Torres scoring the winning goal. (AP via Atlanta Journal Constitution)

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