Timeline 2016 (B) April - June
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2016 Apr 1, Arianna Fitts (2) and her mother were last seen in San Francisco. On April 8 the mother's body was found in a shallow grave in John McClaren Park. Arianna remianed missing.
(SFC, 1/30/19, p.A7)
2016 Apr 1, In Virginia Romanian hacker Marcel Lazar, aka Guccifer, made an initial court appearance on charges of wire fraud, cyberstalking and alleged hacks into accounts of the Bush family.
(SSFC, 4/3/16, p.A6)
2016 Apr 1, In western Afghanistan 11 men employed by the HALO Trust mine clearing organization were abducted in Herat province. At least 11 people were killed in a road accident just outside Herat.
(AP, 4/2/16)
2016 Apr 1, Britain's Conservative government raised the minimum wage by 7.5 percent in a move denounced by critics as largely symbolic in an era of state austerity. Workers aged 25 and over will now earn a minimum hourly gross wage of £7.20 ($10.36, 9.10 euros) compared with £6.70 previously.
(AFP, 4/1/16)
2016 Apr 1, In London delivery driver Junead Khan (25) was convicted of plotting to kill US troops based in England by staging road accidents with soldiers' cars and then attacking them with knives and possibly a home-made bombs. He and his uncle Shazib Khan (23) were also convicted of planning to join IS in Syria.
(Reuters, 4/1/16)
2016 Apr 1, The European Union reported sanctions on three Libyan officials accused of hindering the new UN-brokered unity government there from beginning its work.
(AP, 4/1/16)
2016 Apr 1, Lebanon's security forces said they have dismantled the country's largest known sex trafficking ring and freed 75 mainly Syrian women.
(AFP, 4/1/16)
2016 Apr 1, Libya's UN-backed unity government won the support of guards who secure the country's key oil terminals, the latest pledge of loyalty for a cabinet facing strong opposition from rival political forces.
(AFP, 4/1/16)
2016 Apr 1, Mexican investigators said they have found evidence of a large fire in which at least 17 bodies were burned at a dump in the town of Cocula, Guerrero state, where the government has said the students' bodies ended up after disappearing in nearby Iguala on Sept. 26, 2014.
(AP, 4/1/16)
2016 Apr 1, Myanmar's upper house of parliament approved a bill that gives Aung San Suu Kyi a powerful government role, despite opposition from the military on the second day of her party's new administration.
(Reuters, 4/1/16)
2016 Apr 1, Nigeria's army reportedly arrested Khalid al-Barnawi (aka Usman Umar Abubakar), leader of the Islamist militant group Ansaru, in the city of Lokoja. Ansaru is a splinter faction of Boko Haram that has been accused of kidnapping and killing Westerners.
(Reuters, 4/4/16)(SFC, 4/5/16, p.A2)
2016 Apr 1, It was reported that North Korea officially announced this week that it is blocking Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and South Korean websites in a move underscoring its concern with the spread of online information. Very few North Koreans have Internet access.
(AP, 4/1/16)
2016 Apr 1, In the Philippines police clashed with farmers blocking a highway to demand government relief in the drought-stricken south, leaving at least two demonstrators dead and dozens injured, including at least 23 officers in Kidapawan, Cotabato province.
(AP, 4/1/16)
2016 Apr 1, Eight suspected Filipino Muslim gunmen on board a speed boat took four Malaysians from the MV Massive 6 late today but left behind five other crewmen from Myanmar and Indonesia as the tugboat sailed to Tawau island in Malaysia's eastern state of Sabah.
(AP, 4/2/16)
2016 Apr 1, In Poland the PiS government began its “Family 500+" program. Together with families with two children or more, parents with a combined monthly income below 800 PLN (€184) will also be eligible to get 500 extra PLN per month starting from their first child. The first payments would be made in July.
(http://tinyurl.com/jqldesu)(Econ, 10/15/16, p.47)
2016 Apr 1, Syrian state news said troops have identified 45 bodies so far in a mass grave found in the city of Palmyra after it was recaptured from Islamic State.
(Reuters, 4/2/16)
2016 Apr 1, The Syrian government released freelance photographer Patrick Dawes (33), who was captured in 2012.
(SFC, 4/9/16, p.A2)
2016 Apr 1, Turkish warplanes carried out air strikes in northern Iraq, destroying ammunition depots and shelters in an areas where the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) has camps.
(Reuters, 4/1/16)
2016 Apr 1, The UN peacekeeping mission in Democratic Republic of Congo said that it has received allegations of sexual abuse against Tanzanian peacekeepers based in Congo's northeast.
(Reuters, 4/2/16)
2016 Apr 2, Latin Jazz saxophonist Leandro "Gato" Barbieri (83) died in NYC. He composed the Grammy-winning music for the steamy Marlon Brando film "Last Tango in Paris" and recorded dozens of albums over a career spanning more than seven decades.
(AP, 4/3/16)
2016 Apr 2, Heavy fighting erupted between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces over the separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh. Azerbaijan said 12 of its soldiers were killed and claimed to have inflicted heavy casualties on the Armenian forces.
(AP, 4/2/16)
2016 Apr 2, A Belgian national named only as Y.A. (33) was charged with participating in the activities of a terrorist group in connection with a joint Belgian-French investigation into an apparently foiled attack plot. Two others have been named as Rabah N. and Abderrahmane A.
(Reuters, 4/2/16)
2016 Apr 2, Central African Republic President Faustin Archange Touadera announced late today that campaign manager Simplice Sarandji (61) was the new prime minister.
(AP, 4/3/16)
2016 Apr 2, In Colombia tens of thousands of people protested in more than 20 cities across the country against President Juan Manuel Santos and his government's peace process with the FARC guerrillas.
(AFP, 4/2/16)
2016 Apr 2, In western India around 25 female activists were prevented from entering the Shani Shingnapur temple in Maharashtra state, traditionally open only to men, a day after a Mumbai court ruled that women have a fundamental right to enter and pray inside temples.
(AP, 4/2/16)
2016 Apr 2, In Indonesia a teenage girl was raped and murdered by 14 men. This went largely unnoticed at a national level until social media users began highlighting its brutality. The rape and murder reignited calls for Parliament to pass the Elimination of Sexual Violence Act.
(AP, 5/3/16)
2016 Apr 2, Iraq's PM Haider al-Abadi ordered an investigation into corruption allegations against senior oil officials following an expose into bribe-taking published in international media outlets.
(AP, 4/2/16)
2016 Apr 2, Libya's National Oil Corporation said it was working with the U.N.-backed unity government, which arrived in Tripoli this week, to coordinate future oil sales.
(Reuters, 4/2/16)
2016 Apr 2, In Spain 7 people died in a pre-dawn crash between two cars near the northern city of Figueres. 5 people of a car with French license plates were between 19 and 22 and not wearing seatbelts.
(AP, 4/2/16)
2016 Apr 2, Syria's partial cease-fire was unravelling, as fierce fighting between government forces and opposition fighters, including members of the al-Qaida affiliated Nusra Front, erupted outside the country's second largest city of Aleppo. At least 25 pro-government fighters died in clashes south of Aleppo, where the Nusra Front and rebel militias captured a hill overlooking a major highway.
(AP, 4/2/16)
2016 Apr 3, The United States and its allies conducted two dozen strikes against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
(Reuters, 4/4/16)
2016 Apr 3, Amtrak Train 89 struck a piece of heavy equipment on the tracks outside Philadelphia, causing the train's lead engine to derail and killing two Amtrak workers.
(CSM, 4/4/16)
2016 Apr 3, In Texas freshman Haruka Weiser was strangled, sexually assaulted and killed as she walked to her dorm in Austin. Her body was found on April 5.
(http://tinyurl.com/j68je5s)(SFC, 6/11/16, p.A5)
2016 Apr 3, Joseph Medicine Crow (102), last war chief of the Crow tribe, died. He was awarded the US Medal of Freedom in 2009.
(Econ, 4/16/16, p.78)
2016 Apr 3, In Afghanistan at least six police officers were killed in a Taliban ambush on their convoy in northern Balkh province.
(AP, 4/4/16)
2016 Apr 3, Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry announced a unilateral cease-fire against the separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh, but rebel forces in the area said that they continued to come under fire from Azerbaijani forces.
(AP, 4/3/16)
2016 Apr 3, In northern Bangladesh an explosion killed two suspected militants in the Sherpur area of Bogra district. The next day a 12-member bomb disposal unit searched the house and recovered 20 grenades, four pistols and 25 bullets.
(AP, 4/4/16)
2016 Apr 3, Brussels Airport reopened with three "symbolic" flights and strict additional checks for passengers, marking a new high-security era for air travel in Belgium after the March 22 attacks by Islamic State suicide bombers.
(AFP, 4/3/16)
2016 Apr 3, In Cambodia a driver trying to ease his car onto a river ferry stepped on the accelerator instead of the brake, plunging the vehicle into the water and killing 7 passengers.
(AP, 4/4/16)
2016 Apr 3, In Croatia 280,000 euros ($320,000) and two kg (4.4 pounds) of gold were all snatched from the headquarters of the Croatian police.
(AP, 4/4/16)
2016 Apr 3, Iran's Revolutionary Guard detained Zaghari-Ratcliffe (37), a British-Iranian mother and employee of the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of the news agency, at Tehran's Imam Khomeini International Airport and later transferred her to a prison in the country's Kerman province. She faced charges of trying to cause the "soft toppling" of the government.
(AP, 6/15/16)
2016 Apr 3, In northern Iraq militant Jasim Khadijah, a former Iraqi officer not considered a high-value target, was reported killed by a drone strike overnight. He was believed responsible for an attack on US troops in northern Iraq last month that left a Marine dead.
(Reuters, 4/3/16)(Reuters, 4/4/16)
2016 Apr 3, The Israeli defense body that handles civilian issues with the Palestinians expanded the fishing zone. The new easing of restrictions allowed fishermen in Gaza to now sail farther from the coastal territory.
(AP, 4/3/16)
2016 Apr 3, A Japanese submarine made a port call in the Philippines, the first in 15 years, in a show of growing military cooperation amid tension triggered by China's growing assertiveness in the South China Sea.
(Reuters, 4/3/16)
2016 Apr 3, Liberian health officials said a second case of Ebola has been confirmed months after the country had been declared free from transmissions. The son (5) of a woman who died March 31 from Ebola was taken to a treatment center in Monrovia.
(AP, 4/3/16)
2016 Apr 3, Police in the Maldives used pepper spray to break up a protest by journalists and activists accusing the government of stifling press freedom, arresting 11 of the demonstrators.
(AP, 4/3/16)
2016 Apr 3, In northwestern Pakistan flash floods triggered by overnight torrential rains killed at least 36 people in several areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
(AP, 4/3/16)
2016 Apr 3, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas quietly established a constitutional court. The nine-member body, which will have supremacy over all lower courts, was created without fanfare by presidential decree.
(Reuters, 4/11/16)
2016 Apr 3, A year-long worldwide media investigation into a trove of 11.5 million documents, leaked from Panama-based from legal firm Mossack Fonseca with offices in 35 countries, exposed a tangle of offshore financial dealings by the elite, from Russia’s Pres. Putin's aides to relatives of Chinese President Xi Jinping, sports celebrities and screen stars. The files had been anonymously passed to Suddeutsche Zeitung, a German newspaper and emerged in an investigation published by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ). The “Panama papers" unveiled the offshore holdings of 140 politicians and officials, including twelve current and former presidents, monarchs and prime ministers.
(AFP, 4/4/16)(Reuters, 4/4/16)(Econ, 4/9/16, p.14, 59)
2016 Apr 3, Thousands of Poles protested a possible tightening of the country's abortion law, already one of the most restrictive in Europe.
(AP, 4/3/16)
2016 Apr 3, In southwestern Saudi Arabia two vans collided, killing 15 people, including six children in the Wadi bin Hashbal region of Asir province.
(AP, 4/3/16)
2016 Apr 3, Syrian troops seized the key Islamic State group bastion of Al-Qaryatain.
(AP, 4/3/16)
2016 Apr 3, In Syria several Al-Qaeda-linked Al-Nusra Front members including its spokesman were killed in US-led coalition air strikes. Abu Firas al-Suri (aka Radwan Nammous), his son and at least 20 jihadists of Al-Nusra and Jund al-Aqsa and other fighters from Uzbekistan were killed in strikes on positions in Idlib province.
(AFP, 4/4/16)(Reuters, 4/6/16)
2016 Apr 3, The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the Islamic State has killed 15 of its members in the largest execution of the militant group's security services so far in Syria. The killings followed the arrest a day earlier of 35 members in Raqqa. The members were killed in connection with the assassination of senior Islamic State figure Abu Hija al-Tunisi, who died in an air strike on March 30.
(Reuters, 4/3/16)
2016 Apr 3, In central Thailand a train smashed into a double-decker bus carrying Thai tourists at an unguarded railway crossing in Nakhon Pathom province. Local media reported that three people were killed and more than two dozen injured.
(AP, 4/3/16)
2016 Apr 4, US Treasury Sec. Jack Lew announced a renewed crackdown on corporate takeovers (inversions) that allow American firms to switch their nationality to that of the firm they are buying in order to escape America’s tax net.
(Econ, 4/9/16, p.63)
2016 Apr 4, The US Pentagon said it has released two Libyans from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and sent them to the West African nation of Senegal for resettlement. Omar Khalif Mohammed Abu Baker and Salem Abdu Salam Ghereby had been held at Guantanamo for nearly 14 years without charge. 89 prisoners were left, including 35 cleared for release.
(AP, 4/4/16)
2016 Apr 4, The United States and its allies conducted 25 strikes against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, focusing on rebel forces near towns that guard the approach to the key Iraqi city of Mosul.
(Reuters, 4/5/16)
2016 Apr 4, In California work began on the new Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS-II) at the Dept. of Energy’s SLAC national Accelerator Center three miles west of Stanford Univ. Beams from the x-ray laser will reveal the atomic structure of matter and show the molecular movements of living matter such as viruses. The ultimate cost was estimated at $1 billion.
(SFC, 4/8/16, p.D3)
2016 Apr 4, Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy was named this year’s recipient of the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award for his support of the resettlement of Syrian refugees in the US following the Paris attacks.
(SFC, 4/5/16, p.A6)
2016 Apr 4, Tennessee lawmakers gave final approval to making the Holy bible the state’s official book. Gov. Bill Haslam opposed the measure but did not say he would issue a veto.
(SFC, 4/6/16, p.A12)
2016 Apr 4, In eastern Tennessee a sightseeing helicopter crashed near Sevierville killing 5 people.
(SFC, 4/5/16, p.A6)
2016 Apr 4, In Afghanistan 2 people died and six others were wounded in a bomb explosion in eastern Nangarhar province. A gunbattle with the Taliban in southern Uruzgan province late today left at least 12 security forces killed.
(AP, 4/4/16)(AP, 4/5/16)
2016 Apr 4, Australia’s tax agency said more than 800 wealthy Australians are under investigation by the Australian Taxation Office for possible tax evasion linked to their alleged dealings with a Panamanian law firm.
(AP, 4/4/16)
2016 Apr 4, Fighting raged around the separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh, with Azerbaijan saying three of its troops have been killed in the past 24 hours and the Armenian president warning that the hostilities could slide into a full-scale war.
(AP, 4/4/16)
2016 Apr 4, Brazil’s O Estado de S.Paulo said politicians from seven parties were named as clients of a Panama-based firm at the center of a massive data leak over possible tax evasion.
(Reuters, 4/4/16)
2016 Apr 4, In China activists from a coalition of groups said that they will continue press for annual June 20 dog meat festival in Yulin to be banned as well as legislation outlawing the slaughtering of dogs and cats and the consumption of their meat.
(AP, 4/4/16)
2016 Apr 4, Thousands fled fighting in Congo's capital Brazzaville as the government blamed heavy clashes in southern opposition bastions on a rebel group known as "The Ninjas". 3 police officers and 2 gunmen were killed in Brazzaville in heavy fighting touched off by President Denis Sassou Nguesso's disputed re-election.
(AFP, 4/4/16)(Reuters, 4/5/16)
2016 Apr 4, The Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation reported that 23 people were killed and 84 more people were injured when a river that crosses Jigjiga, the regional capital of the Somali region, burst its banks a day earlier.
(AP, 4/5/16)
2016 Apr 4, Iceland's opposition called on PM Sigmundur Gunnlaugsson and his government to resign and planned a no confidence vote after a leak of documents, the so-called Panama Papers, stoked anger over his wife owning a tax haven-based company with large claims on the country's collapsed banks.
(Reuters, 4/4/16)
2016 Apr 4, Air France decided to allow female flight attendants to refuse to work the company's new route to Iran, beginning April 17, for which they must wear a headscarf.
(AP, 4/4/16)
2016 Apr 4, Greece shipped 202 migrants back to Turkey, the first wave of deportations under a hugely controversial deal aimed at easing Europe's worst postwar migration crisis.
(AFP, 4/4/16)(Econ, 4/9/16, p.52)
2016 Apr 4, Mehbooba Mufti, the leader of a pro-India party became the first woman to become the chief minister of Indian-controlled Kashmir following the death of her father, the region's top elected leader.
(AP, 4/4/16)
2016 Apr 4, An Iranian military official said Iran has sent commandos to Syria as advisers, suggesting it is using its army as well as paramilitary forces to help President Bashar al-Assad's forces in the country's civil war.
(Reuters, 4/4/16)
2016 Apr 4, In Iraq about 25 people were killed on across the country, most of them in suicide attacks targeting members of Shi'ite militias and military forces. Iraqi troops entered Hit under cover of heavy air strikes a week after launching an operation to retake the town.
(Reuters, 4/4/16)(SFC, 4/6/16, p.A4)
2016 Apr 4, Norway's government invited the heads of top company boards to talks on corruption as offshore banking revelations added to a string of allegations over the ethics of some of the country's largest firms. The invitation followed the leak of more than 11.5 million documents from the files of a Panama-based law firm, allegedly showing how clients avoided tax or laundered money.
(Reuters, 4/4/16)
2016 Apr 4, Pakistani officials said flash floods triggered by heavy rain have killed at least 55 people and rescuers were trying to help thousands of survivors including some cut off by a landslide in a mountain valley.
(Reuters, 4/4/16)
2016 Apr 4, The Philippines launched the first public immunization program for dengue fever, seeking to administer to a million schoolchildren the world's first licensed vaccine against a mosquito-borne disease that the World Health Organization estimates infects 390 million people a year globally.
(AP, 4/4/16)
2016 Apr 4, Russian investigators found the body of American student Colin Madsen (25) on the outskirts of a Siberian village, a week after he vanished from a guesthouse in the middle of the night.
(AP, 4/4/16)
2016 Apr 4, Swedish banking group Nordea said it would end its end its association with law firm Mossack Fonseca at the center of the Panama Papers scandal.
(Reuters, 4/5/16)
2016 Apr 4, Syrian troops and allied militiamen pressed on with an offensive against Islamic State militants in central Syria, clashing with the extremists around the town of Qaryatain a day after it was captured by pro-government forces.
(AP, 4/4/16)
2016 Apr 4, Syria’s state news agency SANA said the Islamic State group has mounted a deadly gas attack against Syrian troops at a besieged eastern airbase, the latest report of the jihadists' use of chemical weapons.
(AFP, 4/5/16)
2016 Apr 4, The Turkish military carried out airstrikes in northern Iraq against targets belonging to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).
(Reuters, 4/5/16)
2016 Apr 4, It was reported that hackers have posted a database online the seems to contain the personal information of nearly 50 million Turkish citizens.
(SFC, 4/5/16, p.A2)
2016 Apr 5, The United States and its allies conducted 23 strikes against Islamic State in Syria and Iraq.
(Reuters, 4/6/16)
2016 Apr 5, San Francisco became the first US city to require six weeks of paid leave for new parents. The SF Board of Supervisors enacted expansive anti-eviction protections for tenants who work in SF schools.
(SFC, 4/6/16, p.A1)
2016 Apr 5, Mississippi’s Gov. Phil Bryant signed House Bill 1523 allowing religious groups and some private businesses to refuse service to gay couples based on religious beliefs. On May 9 a suit was filed against the measure due to become law on July 1.
(SFC, 4/6/16, p.A12)(SFC, 5/10/16, p.A6)
2016 Apr 5, PayPal became the first and only prominent tech company to commit moving operations out of North Carolina, whose governor last week signed into law a bill that bars local governments from passing antidiscrimination protections for LGBT people.
(SFC, 4/6/16, p.C1)
2016 Apr 5, In Texas the body of Haruka Weiser (18), a dance major from Portland, Oregon, was discovered in a creek near the Univ. of Texas alumni center and football stadium in the heart of campus. On April 8 police announced the arrest of a suspect. On June 10 Meechaiel Criner (17), a runaway from the state’s foster care system, was indicted on a capital murder charge.
(AP, 4/8/16)(SFC, 6/11/16, p.A5)
2016 Apr 5, In Wisconsin Ted Cruz beat Republican front-runner Donald Trump soundly, winning most of the state’s delegates and raising the probability of a contested GOP convention in July. Upstart senator Bernie Sanders also beat Democrat frontrunner Hillary Clinton, bolstering his claim to be a viable alternative standard-bearer to the former secretary of state and first lady.
(AFP, 4/6/16)
2016 Apr 5, Ford announced plans for a new $1.6 billion auto assembly plant in Mexico, creating about 2,800 jobs and shifting small car production from the US.
(SFC, 4/6/16, p.C6)
2016 Apr 5, In Afghanistan a suicide bomber on a motorbike detonated his explosives near a busy bazaar in northern Parwan province, killing at least 6 people.
(AP, 4/5/16)
2016 Apr 5, Azerbaijan and Armenian separatists in Nagorny Karabakh said they had halted fighting after four days of bloodshed, as international powers scramble to resolve the worst violence in decades over the disputed region. The ceasefire was brokered in Moscow. The 4-day war left an estimated 200 people dead.
(AFP, 4/5/16)(Econ, 4/9/16, p.53)(Econ, 5/21/16, p.46)
2016 Apr 5, In Brazil a Supreme Court judge ruled that the lower house of Congress must open impeachment proceedings against Vice-President Michel Temer because he faces the same allegations of breaking fiscal rules as Pres. Rousseff.
(SFC, 4/6/16, p.A2)
2016 Apr 5, In Brazil a gas explosion ripped through an apartment complex north of Rio de Janeiro early today, killing 5 people and injuring 13.
(AFP, 4/5/16)
2016 Apr 5, China banned most imports of North Korean coal and iron ore, the country's main exports, in a significant increase in pressure on the North under UN sanctions against its nuclear and missile tests.
(AP, 4/5/16)
2016 Apr 5, China denounced accusations arising from a massive leak from a Panamanian law firm as "groundless" and moved to limit coverage of documents that may have exposed financial wrongdoing by some of the world's rich and powerful.
(Reuters, 4/5/16)
2016 Apr 5, French finance minister Michel Sapin said France will put Panama back on its blacklist of uncooperative tax jurisdictions, after media revelations about a Panamanian law firm specialised in setting up offshore firms.
(Reuters, 4/5/16)
2016 Apr 5, Paris riot police fired tear gas and charged youths throwing stones, bottles and eggs during fresh protests against France's proposed labor reforms, making over 100 arrests.
(AFP, 4/5/16)
2016 Apr 5, German Justice Minister Heiko Maas said Germany plans to introduce a new national transparency register to make offshore companies disclose their owners' identity, as part of the fight against tax evasion and the financing of terrorism.
(Reuters, 4/5/16)
2016 Apr 5, Iceland's PM Sigurdur David Gunnlaugsson (41) asked Pres. Olafur Ragnar Grimsson to dissolve parliament as his government reeled from a political crisis over the so-called Panama Papers, but the president refused. Gunnlaugsson stepped down, the first major political casualty to emerge from the massive leak of 11.5 million documents detailing hidden offshore accounts held by world leaders and celebrities.
(AFP, 4/5/16)(AFP, 4/6/16)
2016 Apr 5, The Indian state of Bihar completely banned the sale of alcohol in a surprise move, including liquor at bars and hotels.
(AP, 4/5/16)
2016 Apr 5, The Int’l. Criminal Court (ICC) terminated the case against Kenya’s deputy president William Ruto saying there was insufficient evidence he was involved in violence following presidential elections in 2007.
(SFC, 4/6/16, p.A2)
2016 Apr 5, In Nigeria angry motorists queued overnight at petrol stations across the country and lines of cars blocked traffic in the commercial capital Lagos as the worst fuel shortages for years hit Africa's top oil producer.
(Reuters, 4/5/16)
2016 Apr 5, Thirteen North Koreans working at a restaurant in China defected. They traveled to a Southeast Asian country before being flown to South Korea.
(AP, 4/8/16)(AP, 4/11/16)
2016 Apr 5, President Vladimir Putin said Russia is creating a national guard to fight terrorism and organized crime.
(Reuters, 4/5/16)
2016 Apr 5, Saudi police Colonel Kattab Majid al-Hammadi was shot dead in the Riyadh region in an attack claimed by the Islamic State jihadist group.
(AFP, 4/5/16)
2016 Apr 5, South Africa's parliament began a debate on a motion to impeach President Jacob Zuma after the constitutional court ruled that he breached the constitution by ignoring an order to repay some of the $16 million in state funds spent on his private home.
(Reuters, 4/5/16)
2016 Apr 5, In Sweden Meg Rosoff (59) was named the winner of the 5 million kronor ($615,000) Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award for literature aimed at children and young adults. A Boston native living in London, Rosoff's novels include "How I Live Now" (2004), "Just in Case" (2006) and "What I Was" (2007).
(AP, 4/5/16)
2016 Apr 5, Syrian insurgents shot down a government warplane in the north of the country and shelled a predominantly Kurdish neighborhood in the city of Aleppo. A pregnant woman and three children were among 18 civilians killed when Syrian rebels shelled a Kurdish neighborhood in Aleppo.
(AP, 4/5/16)(AFP, 4/6/16)
2016 Apr 5, In Syria Rifai Ahmad Taha, a senior Egyptian al-Qaida figure, was killed along with several others in a US drone strike. Before joining al-Qaida, Taha was a top figure in Egypt's notorious militant group Gamaa Islamiya, which massacred 58 foreign tourists in the ancient Egyptian city of Luxor in 1997.
(AP, 4/8/16)
2016 Apr 5, Turkish police detained almost 70 businessmen, local officials and teachers in a new nationwide sweep against supporters of Pres. Erdogan's arch foe.
(AFP, 4/5/16)
2016 Apr 5, Shelling from Yemen killed two people in a Saudi town, in a rare breach of a calm in the border area agreed with Iran-backed rebels early last month.
(AFP, 4/6/16)
2016 Apr 6, The United States and its allies conducted 27 strikes against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
(Reuters, 4/7/16)
2016 Apr 6, Merle Haggard (b.1937), American country music star, died at his home in Redding, Ca.
(SFC, 4/7/16, p.A1)
2016 Apr 6, Kansas and Oklahoma authorities said wildfires this week have burned through thousands of acres, scorched numerous structures and prompted hundreds of people to evacuate their homes ahead of the blazes.
(Reuters, 4/6/16)
2016 Apr 6, In northern Albania a military helicopter crashed at Shkodra Lake, killing two crew members and injuring the other.
(AP, 4/6/16)
2016 Apr 6, In Bangladesh Nazimuddin Samad, a student who expressed pro-atheist views online, was hacked to death as he walked with a friend in Dhaka. On April 8 Ansar al-Islam, the Bangladesh division of al-Qaida in the Indian Subcontinent, or AQIS, said that its members carried out the attack.
(AP, 4/7/16)(AP, 4/9/16)
2016 Apr 6, In Benin businessman Patrice Talon (57) was sworn in as the country’s new president after winning last month's elections.
(AFP, 4/6/16)
2016 Apr 6, Junior doctors in English hospitals went on strike again, withdrawing all but emergency care in their fourth walk-out in a bitter dispute with the government over working conditions.
(AFP, 4/6/16)
2016 Apr 6, China’s Pres. Xi Jinping launched another ideological campaign named “Two Studies, One Action," aimed to strengthen the Marxist stance of Communist Party members and keep them in line with party leadership.
(Econ, 4/23/16, p.35)
2016 Apr 6, Egypt-based Nilesat satellite operator cut transmission of Hezbollah's television channel Al-Manar amid rising tensions between the Lebanese Shiite group's backer Iran and Sunni powerhouse Saudi Arabia.
(AFP, 4/6/16)
2016 Apr 6, A Paris court convicted Jean-Marie Le Pen (87), founder and former head of France's far-right National Front party, of denying crimes against humanity for repeating that the Nazi gas chambers are a "detail" of World War II history.
(AP, 4/6/16)
2016 Apr 6, France's lower house of parliament held a final vote on a bill against prostitution and sex trafficking that bans buying sex, not selling it. Customers would face fines and be required to attend classes on the harms of prostitution.
(AP, 4/6/16)
2016 Apr 6, French economics minister Emmanuel Macron and Benjamin Griveaux co-founded the En Marche! (On the Move!) political movement. Following Macron’s election in 2017 the party was renamed “La Republique en Marche" (LRM).
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/En_Marche!)(Econ, 7/16/16, p.41)(Econ 5/13/17, p.14, 44)
2016 Apr 6, Italy's coast guard rescued more than 300 migrants from a packed boat in which they had traveled hundreds of km (miles) from Egypt to the Strait of Sicily.
(Reuters, 4/7/16)
2016 Apr 6, It was reported that Chinese author Cao Wenxuan and German illustrator Rotraut Susanne Berner have been awarded the Hans Christian Andersen Prize for children's literature during the Bologna Children's Book Fair.
(AP, 4/6/16)
2016 Apr 6, A Japanese military jet carrying six airmen disappeared from radar over southern Japan.
(AP, 4/6/16)
2016 Apr 6, Libya's UN-backed unity government moved to cement control over the country's finances and institutions after the rival administration in Tripoli ceded power in a boost to efforts to end years of chaos.
(AFP, 4/6/16)
2016 Apr 6, Myanmar’s President Htin Kyaw signed a bill giving Aung San Suu Kyi a new role of state adviser, shoring up her influence across all branches of government despite vehement opposition from the still-powerful military.
(AFP, 4/6/16)
2016 Apr 6, Dutch voters went to the polls and rejected a key EU pact with Ukraine in a referendum triggered by grassroots eurosceptic groups and seen as a yardstick on ties with Brussels.
(AFP, 4/6/16)(Reuters, 4/7/16)
2016 Apr 6, Puerto Rico's House of Representatives approved a bill that would allow the US territory's governor to declare a fiscal emergency and implement a debt moratorium to prevent a shutdown of basic government services.
(AP, 4/6/16)
2016 Apr 6, South Africa's First National Bank (FNB) said it has has closed the accounts of a company owned by the wealthy Gupta family, the latest example of companies cutting ties with the Guptas following allegations over their relationship with Pres. Jacob Zuma.
(Reuters, 4/6/16)
2016 Apr 6, In Sudan an anti-terrorism court in Khartoum sentenced 22 South Sudanese nationals to death and three others to life in prison for belonging to a militant group in Darfur. The defendants belong to the Justice and Equality Movement, a rebel group based in Darfur that took up arms against the Sudanese government in 2003, complaining that their region was being marginalized.
(Reuters, 4/7/16)
2016 Apr 6, In honor of the 250th anniversary of Sweden’s abolishment of censorship, the country’s Swedish Tourist Association debuted its newest marketing strategy: 1-800-CALL-A-SWEDE. Interested people worldwide can, however, call 46-771-793-336 to speak to a random Swedish volunteer about anything and everything.
(CSM, 4/10/16)
2016 Apr 6, Swiss police raided the headquarters of the European soccer body UEFA in Nyon to gather information about a contract signed by Gianni Infantino, now head of the global soccer body FIFA, that was reported in the Panama Papers.
(Reuters, 4/6/16)
2016 Apr 6, The Syrian army and its allies launched a major attack on insurgents south of Aleppo, described as the fiercest government assault in the area since an agreement to ease the fighting came into effect in February. Islamic State fighters launched attacks on government-held areas near Damascus overnight.
(Reuters, 4/6/16)
2016 Apr 6, It was reported that the Panama Papers revealed that Syria’s regime has avoided int’l. sanctions and funded its war effort through three shadowy companies in the Seychelles.
(SSFC, 4/10/16, p.A7)
2016 Apr 6, Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro decreed that all Fridays for the next two months will be holidays for state workers, in a bid to save energy in the blackout-hit OPEC country.
(Reuters, 4/7/16)(SFC, 4/8/16, p.A2)
2016 Apr 7, The United States and its allies conducted 26 strikes against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
(Reuters, 4/8/16)
2016 Apr 7, A US appeals court ruled that Puerto Rico can't prohibit gay marriage.
(AP, 4/8/16)
2016 Apr 7, In San Francisco Luis Góngora Pat, a homeless Yucatecan Mayan, was killed by SFPD officers on Shotwell Street between 18th and 19th Streets. Officers claimed that Luis lunged at them with a knife. Eye witnesses that spoke to the media and to community members, including homeless witnesses, denied that Luis threatened officers in any way.
(https://justice4luis.org/luiss-story/)
2016 Apr 7, A Miami-Dade state attorney said 22 people are being charged in an int’l. money laundering case that funneled cash to drug trafficking cartels through Miami businesses. The undercover operation involved about $1 million a month in drug money throughout North America.
(SFC, 4/8/16, p.A6)
2016 Apr 7, Suth Dina, Cambodia's ambassador to South Korea, was charged with corruption-related offenses, following his arrest on April 4. Investigators said his assets increased by $3 million during his two years as envoy.
(AP, 4/7/16)
2016 Apr 7, The EU's executive said European Union states should agree on a common list of tax havens in the next semester and impose sanctions on countries that hide EU-taxable revenues in the wake of the Panama leaks.
(Reuters, 4/7/16)
2016 Apr 7, Two Indonesian military skydivers plunged to their deaths during an airshow rehearsal in Jakarta.
(AP, 4/7/16)
2016 Apr 7, Kosovo's powerful former premier Hashim Thaci was sworn in as president in a session boycotted by opposition parties which dispute his election to the top job.
(AFP, 4/7/16)
2016 Apr 7, In Kosovo Milovan Bojovic, a former Serb general suspected of war crimes against ethnic Albanian civilians, was detained after illegally crossing into Kosovo at the Merdare border point.
(AP, 4/8/16)
2016 Apr 7, Morocco's official news agency said eight foreigners have been expelled for supporting prisoners convicted for their roles in deadly protests in Western Sahara.
(AP, 4/7/16)
2016 Apr 7, Myanmar democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi announced that her government plans to release all political prisoners as quickly as possible, making the declaration her first act in her newly created job as state counsellor.
(AP, 4/7/16)
2016 Apr 7, In Romania a businessman and five others suspected of defrauding a spa that dates from the Roman empire of 30 million euros (about $34 million) were detained. Iosif Armas, chairman of a company that manages the Herculaneum Spa, and other shareholders were suspected of illegally selling assets and taking out loans in the spa's name that could not be repaid.
(AP, 4/7/16)
2016 Apr 7, Saudi King Salman started a five-day visit to Cairo in a show of support for Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, with the leaders due to sign a raft of investment deals.
(AFP, 4/7/16)
2016 Apr 7, Serbia's presidency defended its decision to decorate Sudan's president and genocide suspect Omar al-Bashir, saying he was honoured for refusing to recognise Kosovo.
(AFP, 4/7/16)
2016 Apr 7, Syrian state television reported that Islamic State fighters have kidnapped 300 cement workers in an area northeast of Damascus where the militants launched an assault against government forces this week.
(Reuters, 4/7/16)
2016 Apr 7, In Turkey Mustafa Tanriverdi, who headed a factory run by the state-owned Mechanical and Chemical Industry Corporation, was arrested in Ankara as he left a restaurant after arranging to sell the designs to an official of a US-based company for a total of 1.2 million Turkish lira ($420,000).
(AP, 4/8/16)
2016 Apr 7, Vietnam demanded China move a controversial oil rig on and abandon plans to start drilling in waters where jurisdiction is unclear, the latest sign of festering unease among the two communist neighbors.
(Reuters, 4/7/16)
2016 Apr 7, Vietnam’s rubber-stamp parliament elected Nguyen Xuan Phuc (61) as prime minister.
(SFC, 4/8/16, p.A2)
2016 Apr 8, In Texas an airman shot his commander in an apparent murder-suicide at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland.
(SFC, 4/9/16, p.A6)
2016 Apr 8, Wisconsin’s right to work law, championed by Gov. Scott Walker, was struck down as violating the state constitution.
(SFC, 4/9/16, p.A5)
2016 Apr 8, SpaceX resumed station deliveries for NASA, and in a double triumph, successfully landed its booster rocket on an ocean platform for the first time.
(AP, 4/9/16)
2016 Apr 8, In Argentina bus and train fares in Buenos Aires doubled as the country’s annual inflation rate approached 40%.
(Econ, 4/16/16, p.27)
2016 Apr 8, Two ethnic Armenian troops died in fighting with Azerbaijani forces as the archfoes accused each other of breaching a ceasefire that halted the worst outbreak of violence in decades over a disputed breakaway region.
(AFP, 4/8/16)
2016 Apr 8, In Belgium the Nov 13 Paris attacks suspect Mohamed Abrini (31) was arrested in Brussels along with five other suspects in raids linked to the March 22 Brussels airport and metro bombings.
(AFP, 4/9/16)(SSFC, 4/10/16, p.A6)
2016 Apr 8, British PM David Cameron faced mounting pressure over his involvement in offshore investments after he finally admitted he benefited from his father's Panama-registered trust, an entity exposed by this week's massive data leak at a law firm specializing in global tax avoidance.
(AP, 4/8/16)
2016 Apr 8, A court in southern China jailed four activists who had publicly supported Hong Kong's pro-democracy Occupy Central movement and who had criticized the Chinese Communist Party on social media.
(Reuters, 4/8/16)
2016 Apr 8, Voters in Djibouti went to the polls, with iron-fisted ruler Ismail Omar Guelleh expected to extend his 17-year rule in the strategic African nation courted by world powers.
(AFP, 4/8/16)
2016 Apr 8, Authorities in El Salvador raided the local offices of Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca, seizing documents and equipment.
(Reuters, 4/9/16)
2016 Apr 8, The German state of Lower Saxony criticized Volkswagen's plans to pay bonuses to top managers when the carmaker is dealing with the diesel emissions crisis and set to cut costs.
(Reuters, 4/8/16)
2016 Apr 8, Greece deported a second batch of more than two hundred migrants to Turkey under a controversial EU deal to stem mass migration as Germany announced a sharp drop in asylum claims.
(AFP, 4/8/16)
2016 Apr 8, Greece signed an agreement to sell a 67 percent stake in operating its biggest port to China's Cosco group, a significant step in the debt-crippled country's ambitious privatization drive. Dockworkers protesting in central Athens against the sale clashed with riot police who responded with tear gas..
(AP, 4/8/16)
2016 Apr 8, Guatemalan prosecutors raided the offices of a bank and froze some $20 million worth of the bank's shares as part of a money-laundering probe involving Hidalgo Rafael Socorro Urdaneta, a Venezuelan said to be the legal representative of DHK Finance INC Panama.
(AP, 4/9/16)
2016 Apr 8, Liberia said it plans to outsource the oversight of its entire primary education sector to USD-based Bridge International Academies, a for-profit company linked to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
(SFC, 4/9/16, p.A4)
2016 Apr 8, A Myanmar court freed dozens of jailed students, in the first wave of detainee releases after Aung San Suu Kyi pledged to make freeing activists and political prisoners a priority of her new government.
(AFP, 4/8/16)
2016 Apr 8, In southeastern Peru a bus trying to avoid an oncoming truck drove off a highway in a remote zone and tumbled into the Mapacho River, killing at least 23 people.
(AP, 4/9/16)
2016 Apr 8, In the Philippines retired Italian missionary Rolando del Torchio -- held hostage for six months by suspected Islamic militants -- was found aboard a ferry docked on Jolo.
(AFP, 4/9/16)
2016 Apr 8, Saudi King Salman announced plans to build a bridge over the Red Sea to Egypt, in a lavish show of support for the government of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.
(AFP, 4/8/16)
2016 Apr 8, In South Africa Ajay and Atul Gupta, two brothers from the family of wealthy Indian immigrants who own a vast business empire with interests in mining, media, technology and engineering, were seen at a Johannesburg airport boarding their private jet for Dubai.
(AFP, 4/10/16)
2016 Apr 8, Thailand authorities said they were investigating 16 citizens with reported ties to offshore companies set up by a Panama-based law firm.
(AP, 4/8/16)
2016 Apr 8, Pope Francis called for the Roman Catholic church to be more welcoming and less judgmental in an apostolic exhortation titled “Amoris Laetitia “The Joy of Love."
(SFC, 4/9/16, p.A2)
2016 Apr 9, The US Air Force deployed B-52 bombers to Qatar to join the fight against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, the first time they have been based in the Middle East since the end of the Gulf War in 1991.
(Reuters, 4/9/16)
2016 Apr 9, In Las Vegas Manny Pacquiao, a candidate Senate candidate in the Philippines, returned from the biggest loss of his career with a bang, knocking down Timothy Bradley twice on his way to a unanimous 12-round decision in their welterweight showdown.
(AP, 4/10/16)
2016 Apr 9, Egypt’s government announced the signing of a maritime demarcation accord that puts two islands at the southern entrance to the Gulf of Aqaba in Saudi waters.
(Reuters, 4/13/16)
2016 Apr 9, In western France clashes broke out between police and demonstrators in Rennes as thousands took to the streets for a sixth day of nationwide protests against a draft law that seeks to loosen some labor protections.
(Reuters, 4/9/16)
2016 Apr 9, Four migrant women and a child drowned off the Greek island of Samos in the first deaths in the Aegean Sea since a controversial EU-Turkey deal took effect three weeks ago.
(AFP, 4/9/16)
2016 Apr 9, Kenya deported a group of 8 Taiwanese to China after they were acquitted in a cybercrime case. On April 12 a 2nd group of 37 was deported in a move that drew an angry reaction from Taipei.
(Reuters, 4/12/16)
2016 Apr 9, Nigerian secret police accused a Biafra separatist group of killing 55 people after discovering their bodies in shallow graves in a thick forest in the country's southeast. The Department of State Service (DSS), Nigeria's domestic spy agency, said the graves were found in Umuanyi forest in Abia state, home to the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) movement.
(AFP, 4/10/16)
2016 Apr 9, Pakistan hanged two brothers convicted of murdering six people from the same family in a land dispute, just days after Amnesty International criticized the country for becoming the world's third most prolific executioner after China and Iran. Nasir Mehmood and Tahir Iqbal were hanged in the eastern city of Sialkot for the 2002 murders.
(AFP, 4/9/16)
2016 Apr 9, In central Peru 3 soldiers and a civilian were killed, and seven others wounded, in two attacks by guerrillas, on the eve of presidential elections. Authorities blamed remnants of the Shining Path communist guerrilla group.
(AFP, 4/10/16)
2016 Apr 9, In the Philippines at least 5 Abu Sayyaf militants, including a Moroccan fighter, were killed after fierce fighting left 18 soldiers dead in the hinterlands on Basilan island. This was the government's largest single-day combat loss so far this year.
(AP, 4/10/16)
2016 Apr 9, In Somalia two members of the Al-Qaeda-linked Shebab jihadist group were executed in Mogadishu by firing squad for the murder of a journalist killed by a car bomb last year.
(AFP, 4/9/16)
2016 Apr 9, In Somalia at least 3 people including a child were killed in a car bomb blast outside a restaurant in Mogadishu.
(AFP, 4/9/16)
2016 Apr 9, A Syrian opposition monitoring group said the Islamic State group has released most of the 300 cement workers it abducted near Damascus after questioning them to find out who were Muslims and killing 4 who were members of the minority Druze sect. The fate of 30 people who were guards at the factory was unknown.
(AP, 4/9/16)
2016 Apr 9, In southern Yemen suspected al Qaeda militants seized and executed 17 soldiers loyal to President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi. The local wing of Al Qaeda in Yemen denied it had killed Yemeni soldiers in the Ahwar region.
(Reuters, 4/9/16)
2016 Apr 9, Ukraine reported a sharp increase in attacks by Russia-backed separatists around the government-held town of Avdiivka in eastern Ukraine, resulting in at least one civilian death. Rebels in eastern Ukraine reported increased shelling from government forces and the death of one of their fighters.
(AP, 4/9/16)
2016 Apr 9, Venezuela’s Digitel cell phone service suspended long-distance calling as the country struggled to pay its bills. The Movistar cell phone service planned to do the same on April 15.
(SFC, 4/12/16, p.A2)
2016 Apr 10, A US official said Navy officer Lieutenant Commander Edward Lin, who had access to sensitive US intelligence, faces espionage charges over accusations he passed state secrets, possibly to China and Taiwan.
(Reuters, 4/11/16)
2016 Apr 10, Rev. Rene Robert (71) was last seen alive in his St. Augustine, Fl. Apartment. In April his body was found in the woods of Georgia following the arrest of Steven Murray, who led police to Robert’s body. Robert had been trying for months to help Murray.
(SFC, 1/30/17, p.A4)
2016 Apr 10, In Louisiana Southern Univ. students Lashuntae Benton (19) and Annette January (19) were shot and killed early today in an exchange of fire outside a Baton Rouge apartment complex. Suspect Ernest Bernard Felton (22) was arrested. Another suspect (24 was wounded.
(SFC, 4/11/16, p.A4)
2016 Apr 10, A SpaceX Dragon cargo ship arrived at the Int’l. Space Station with 7,000 pounds of freight including a soft-sided compartment built by Bigelow Aerospace.
(SFC, 4/11/16, p.A4)
2016 Apr 10, In Bangladesh protesters opposing the construction of a Chinese-backed, coal-fired power plant in the coastal district of Chittagong agreed to halt their activities for 15 days, defusing tensions after four demonstrators were killed last week.
(Reuters, 4/10/16)
2016 Apr 10, British PM David Cameron took the unusual step of publishing his tax records to try to end days of questions about his personal wealth raised by the mention of his late father's offshore fund in the Panama Papers.
(AP, 4/10/16)
2016 Apr 10, Howard Marks (70), a Wales-born convicted drug smuggler, died of cancer. He was arrested in 1988 in an operation led by the US Drug Enforcement Administration and sentenced to 25 years in prison. He was released on parole in 1995. He then reinvented himself as an author after publishing best-selling autobiography "Mr. Nice" (1996).
(AP, 4/11/16)
2016 Apr 10, Chad held elections likely to see President Idriss Deby extend his 26-year rule in a country increasingly on the frontline of the global war on terror.
(AFP, 4/10/16)
2016 Apr 10, The island nation of Comoros voted in a tense three-way presidential run-off election featuring the current VP Mohamed Ali Soilihi and former coup leader Azali Assoumani, who ruled the country for seven years. Assoumani took 40.98 percent of the nationwide vote, just ahead of Soilihi, the ruling party's presidential candidate, who picked up 39.87 percent.
(AFP, 4/10/16)(AFP, 5/12/16)
2016 Apr 10, In France Paris police made eight arrests after demonstrators protesting the government's labor reforms went on a rampage across the capital, attacking a police building, damaging cars and vandalizing bank offices.
(AP, 4/10/16)
2016 Apr 10, Greece said police on the Macedonian side of their joint frontier used teargas, rubber bullets and stun grenades to push back the migrants. Macedonian authorities would only confirm they used teargas.
(Reuters, 4/10/16)
2016 Apr 10, In southern India 108 people were killed and nearly 400 injured when a massive fire swept through a Hindu temple during an unauthorized fireworks display in the Kerala state village of Paravoor. Five employees of a fireworks manufacturer who was given the contract for running the show were soon taken into custody. By April 12 the death toll rose to 112 and seven officials at the Puttingal temple were arrested.
(AP, 4/10/16)(Reuters, 4/11/16)(SFC, 4/13/16, p.A3)
2016 Apr 10, Israel's cabinet unanimously approved a plan for reducing greenhouse gases and increasing energy efficiency to benefit the economy. Government officials expected the cumulative benefit to Israel's economy would reach more than 30 billion shekels ($8 billion).
(Reuters, 4/10/16)
2016 Apr 10, In Japan foreign ministers from the Group of Seven industrialized countries began a two-day meeting in Hiroshima.
(AP, 4/10/16)
2016 Apr 10, In Kenya scores of Shebab fighters stormed a police post near the Somali border early today, injuring three officers and torching nearby shops as they fled.
(AFP, 4/10/16)
2016 Apr 10, In Pakistan a magnitude 6.6 earthquake rattled Islamabad and other cities across the country. 6 people were killed across northern Pakistan. The quake's epicenter was in remote northeastern Afghanistan.
(AP, 4/10/16)(Reuters, 4/11/16)
2016 Apr 10, Peru held elections. Keiko Fujimori held a double-digit lead over her nearest rival among 10 presidential candidates, but not getting the 50 percent she would need to win outright and avoid a June 5 runoff between the two top vote-getters. With 64 percent of votes counted, Fujimori had 39.46 percent support while Kuczynski, a former World Bank economist, had 23.73 percent and leftist lawmaker Veronika Mendoza trailed with 17.12 percent.
(AP, 4/10/16)(Reuters, 4/11/16)
2016 Apr 10, Syrian government forces and rebels clashed across the country's north in the latest indication that a monthlong cease-fire may be breaking down, as the Islamic State group seized two villages along the Turkish border from other insurgents. Clashes around Aleppo killed at least 16 pro-regime fighters and 19 members of Al-Qaeda's affiliate and allied rebel groups over the last 24-hours.
(AP, 4/10/16)(AFP, 4/10/16)
2016 Apr 10, In Turkey the 13th annual meeting of the 57-member Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) opened in Istanbul.
(AFP, 4/10/16)
2016 Apr 10, Ukrainian PM Arseny Yatseniuk tendered his resignation, effective April 12, in a televised broadcast and signaled support for parliamentary speaker and presidential ally Volodymyr Groysman to take over his post.
(Reuters, 4/10/16)
2016 Apr 10, In Yemen sporadic fighting gripped parts of the country, hours before a UN-brokered ceasefire aimed at laying the groundwork for upcoming peace talks was due to take effect.
(AFP, 4/10/16)
2016 Apr 11, The United States and its allies stages 13 strikes against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
(Reuters, 4/12/16)
2016 Apr 11, CIA Director John Brennan, in an aired interview, promised that the US spy agency won't use so-called "enhanced interrogation" techniques, including waterboarding, against terror suspects, not even under a new president's orders to do so.
(AFP, 4/11/16)
2016 Apr 11, California’s Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bill expanding family leave benefits. It will allow workers to receive up to 70% of their pay for time off to care for a new-born or family member.
(SFC, 4/12/16, p.C1)
2016 Apr 11, In Afghanistan at least 12 new army recruits were killed in a suicide bomb attack in the eastern city of Jalalabad. At least 5 members of the border police force were killed in an insider attack in the southern province of Kandahar close to the frontier with Pakistan when a colleague opened fire on them before fleeing.
(AP, 4/11/16)(Reuters, 4/12/16)
2016 Apr 11, In Brazil a congressional committee voted 38-27 that the impeachment process against President Dilma Rousseff move forward, bringing the possible ouster of the embattled leader a step closer.
(AP, 4/12/16)
2016 Apr 11, British children's author Helen Bailey (51) was last seen walking her miniature dachshund Boris in Royston. Her partner Ian Stewart (55) reported her missing soon after and issued a note appealing for her to return. On July 16 Stewart was charged with murder after police found her body in the grounds of her home.
(AP, 7/16/16)
2016 Apr 11, In Burundi gunmen killed at least 5 people and wounded seven when they opened fire on a market late today in the eastern Ruyigi region.
(AFP, 4/12/16)
2016 Apr 11, Cairo Univ., Egypt's oldest secular university, granted King Salman of Saudi Arabia an honorary doctorate for his "unique services" to Arabs and Muslims, the final function in a five-day visit clouded by opposition to Cairo's intention to hand over control of two Red Sea islands to Riyadh.
(AP, 4/11/16)
2016 Apr 11, The French government announced about half a billion euros in aid for students in an attempt to defuse anger from protesters who said they would gather again on a central Paris square for the 12th night in a row.
(Reuters, 4/11/16)
2016 Apr 11, Fresh protests broke at a flashpoint border crossing, as Greece and Macedonia blamed each other for an incident in which tear gas and rubber bullets were fired on migrants trying to breach the closed border to get to western Europe.
(AFP, 4/11/16)
2016 Apr 11, India launched its Unified Payment Interface (UPI), an electronic payments network. It is regulated by the Reserve Bank of India and works by instantly transferring funds between two bank accounts on a mobile platform.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unified_Payments_Interface)(Econ., 5/9/20, p.59)
2016 Apr 11, In India 10 people were electrocuted by an overhead high-voltage wire that fell on them during a demonstration outside a police station in the northeastern state of Assam. Police bullets hit the overhead cable, which came crashing down on the demonstrators demanding that police hand them two suspects arrested for the murder of two members of their tea workers community last week.
(AP, 4/11/16)
2016 Apr 11, Iranian media reported that Russia has delivered the first part of an advanced missile defense system to Iran, starting to equip Tehran with technology that was blocked before it signed a deal with world powers on its nuclear program.
(Reuters, 4/11/16)
2016 Apr 11, Iran’s Tasnim news agency reported that 4 soldiers in its regular army were killed in Syria, the, only a week after Tehran announced the deployment of army commandos to help President Bashar al-Assad in the civil war there.
(Reuters, 4/11/16)
2016 Apr 11, In Italy a clutch of banks and other financial institutions agreed to create a fund called Atlante to bail out troubled rivals and thus allay fears of a systemic crisis in Italian banking.
(Econ, 4/16/16, p.61)
2016 Apr 11, Kyrgyz PM Temir Sariyev and his cabinet resigned after a parliamentary commission accused it of corruption, a move highlighting tensions between different factions of President Almazbek Atambayev's supporters.
(Reuters, 4/11/16)
2016 Apr 11, Nigeria’s Kaduna state government secretary Balarabe Lawal told a commission of inquiry that dozens of soldiers and state officials transported 347 bodies from a mortuary and an army base to a bush site where they were buried after the Dec. 12-14 military raids on Shiite compounds in northern Zaria town. The Shiites say those killed number closer to 1,000.
(AP, 4/13/16)
2016 Apr 11, Puerto Rico released a new proposal to restructure part of its $70 billion debt to buy time to implement a fiscal growth plan as multimillion-dollar payments loom for the US territory facing dwindling cash reserves.
(AP, 4/11/16)
2016 Apr 11, In southern Russia 3 suicide bombers blew themselves up as they tried to storm a rural police station in the village of Novoselitskoye, causing no other casualties.
(AFP, 4/11/16)
2016 Apr 11, In Somalia a car bomb at local government headquarters in Mogadishu killed 5 people and wounded five, in an attack claimed by Somali Islamist group al Shabaab.
(Reuters, 4/11/16)
2016 Apr 11, In Somalia a car bomb at local government headquarters in Mogadishu killed 5 people and wounded five, in an attack claimed by Somali Islamist group al Shabaab. Hassan Hanafi Haji, a former journalist who joined the Islamic extremist group al-Shabab, was executed at a police academy in Mogadishu.
(Reuters, 4/11/16)(AP, 4/11/16)
2016 Apr 11, South Korea said two senior North Korean officials, including an army colonel specializing in espionage against the South, defected to South Korea last year.
(Reuters, 4/11/16)
2016 Apr 11, In Syria Islamic State fighters retook the northern town of al-Rai along the border with Turkey from rebels and government forces and rebels clashed across northern and western Syria.
(AP, 4/11/16)
2016 Apr 11, Venezuela’s Supreme Court scrapped an amnesty law that could have secured the release of jailed opposition activists.
(Reuters, 4/12/16)
2016 Apr 11, In Yemen a UN brokered ceasefire took effect.
(AFP, 4/11/16)
2016 Apr 12, On Equal Pay Day Pres. Obama designated the iconic home and headquarters of the National Woman’s Party as a national monument to highlight the push for women's equality. The currently named Sewall-Belmont House and Museum in Washington, D.C., will become the new Belmont-Paul Women’s Equality National Monument.
(CSM, 4/12/16)
2016 Apr 12, Silicon Valley billionaire Yuri Milner said that he is adding a 2nd $100 million to deploy tiny spacecraft to SETI, the search for alien life in the universe.
(SFC, 4/13/16, p.D1)(Econ, 4/16/16, p.66)
2016 Apr 12, In Georgia Kenneth Fults (47) was executed for killing his neighbor during a burglary in 1996. This was the state’s 4th execution this year.
(SFC, 4/13/16, p.A4)
2016 Apr 12, Anne Jackson (90), American stage actress, died at her home in Manhattan. She had shared a long and distinguished career with her husband Eli Wallach (d.2014).
(SFC, 4/15/16, p.D4)
2016 Apr 12, The Taliban announced the start of their spring offensive, pledging to launch large-scale offensives against government strongholds backed by suicide and guerrilla attacks to drive Afghanistan's Western-backed government from power.
(Reuters, 4/12/16)
2016 Apr 12, China said it will release more water from a dam in its southwestern province of Yunnan to help alleviate a drought in parts of Southeast Asia, following an initial release begun last month.
(Reuters, 4/12/16)
2016 Apr 12, The Catholic Church in France pledged to shed light on all cases of paedophilia, including "historic cases", following a scandal over an archbishop accused of covering up a priest's crimes.
(AP, 4/12/16)
2016 Apr 12, In Indonesia three Thai fishing captains were detained when they were found operating trawlers under Malaysian flags that were fishing off Kalimantan, Indonesia's part of Borneo island. The captains escaped on May 7 after scaling the wall of their detention center in the middle of the night.
(AP, 5/17/16)
2016 Apr 12, Italian PM Matteo Renzi became the highest-ranking European leader to visit Tehran since its nuclear deal with world powers. Renzi began a two-day visit to the Islamic republic aimed at restoring ties that before sanctions had seen Italy ranked as Iran's top European trading partner.
(AFP, 4/12/16)
2016 Apr 12, Gianroberto Casaleggio (b.1954), Italian entrepreneur and political activist, died. He and Beppe Grillo co-founded the Five Star Movement (M5S) in 2009.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gianroberto_Casaleggio)
2016 Apr 12, In Kashmir 2 young men were killed in firing by Indian government forces at rock-throwing protesters, who were demanding the arrest of an Indian soldier for assaulting a girl (16) in a restroom.
(AP, 4/12/16)(Econ, 4/16/16, p.33)
2016 Apr 12, In Lebanon an explosion just outside the southern city of Sidon killed local Palestinian security official Fathi Zeidan amid tensions between the main Palestinian faction and extremists groups.
(AP, 4/12/16)
2016 Apr 12, Malawi's President Peter Mutharika declared a national disaster after a severe drought ravaged the southern African nation and appealed for 1.2 million tons of maize to plug a looming deficit of the staple.
(Reuters, 4/14/16)(Econ, 4/16/16, p.40)
2016 Apr 12, In northern Mali 3 French peacekeeping soldiers died after their armored car ran over a landmine.
(AFP, 4/13/16)
2016 Apr 12, In eastern Nepal at least 22 people were killed when a bus slipped off a mountain gravel road and rolled down a hill.
(AP, 4/12/16)
2016 Apr 12, Panamanian authorities raided the head offices of law firm Mossack Fonseca regarding recently leaked documents about offshore firms it had helped create.
(Econ, 4/16/16, p.60)
2016 Apr 12, The official Saudi Press Agency said under changes approved by the cabinet, religious officers will no longer be allowed to detain people and instead must report violators to police or drug squad officers.
(AFP, 4/13/16)
2016 Apr 12, Spanish police arrested Antoine Denive (27), a Frenchman who they believe supplied weapons to Paris attacker Amedy Coulibaly for use in the January 2015 attacks in the French capital.
(AP, 4/13/16)
2016 Apr 12, Syrian troops and their allies launched an offensive to retake an important hilltop village south of the city of Aleppo from militants, including al-Qaida's local affiliate, as President Bashar Assad's government prepared for parliamentary elections the following day.
(AP, 4/12/16)
2016 Apr 12, Syrian journalist Mohammed Zahir al-Sherqat died from wounds after being shot April 10 in the Turkish city of Gaziantep. The shooting attack was claimed by the Islamic State.
(SFC, 4/13/16, p.A2)
2016 Apr 12, Two Turkish soldiers were killed and more than 50 people wounded when a car bomb exploded at a military post in the restive Kurdish-dominated southeast.
(AP, 4/12/16)
2016 Apr 12, The Turkish army hit Islamic State targets in northern Syria, in response to cross-border rocket fire that struck a border town in southeastern Turkey for the second day in a row.
(Reuters, 4/12/16)
2016 Apr 13, The U.S.-led coalition staged 21 strikes against the Islamic State militant group, according to the coalition leading the operations in Iraq and Syria.
(Reuters, 4/14/16)
2016 Apr 13, The US Centers for disease Control and Prevention said there is no longer any doubt the Zika virus causes babies to be born with abnormally small heads and other severe brain defects.
(SFC, 4/14/16, p.A5)
2016 Apr 13, The Golden State Warriors won a record 73rd regular season game to top the Chicago Bull’s 72 win during the 1995-96 season.
(SFC, 4/14/16, p.A1)
2016 Apr 13, It was announced that Silicon Valley entrepreneur Sean Parker has donated $250 million to launch an effort to combine the forces of six top cancer research centers nationwide to develop treatments in cancer immunotherapy.
(SFC, 4/13/16, p.C1)
2016 Apr 13, In Chicago a task force established by Mayor Rahm Emanuel said city police have alienated blacks and Latinos for decades by using excessive force and honoring a code of silence.
(SFC, 4/14/16, p.A5)
2016 Apr 13, In Texas a jury convicted Dallas-area Dr. Jacques Roy and six co-defendants of fraud for allegedly processing almost $375 million in false Medicare and Medicaid claims.
(SFC, 4/14/16, p.A5)
2016 Apr 13, US-based Peabody Energy, the world’s largest private coal company, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
(Econ, 4/16/16, p.52)
2016 Apr 13, Some 39,000 Verizon landline and cable workers on the East Coast walked off the job after making little progress in negotiations since their contract expired nearly eight months ago.
(SFC, 4/14/16, p.C2)
2016 Apr 13, In Brazil three parties decamped from the government of Pres. Dilma Rousseff diminishing her chances of surviving impeachment.
(SFC, 4/14/16, p.A2)
2016 Apr 13, Prolific British playwright Arnold Wesker (83) died. He drew on his heritage as a working-class Jew to create plays that captured the dialogue and struggles of the common man.
(AP, 4/13/16)
2016 Apr 13, In Burundi Phocas Bakaza, a member of the ruling CNDD-FDD party, was shot dead in Mutimbuza area near the capital Bujumbura. Two people were soon arrested in connection with the attack.
(AP, 4/14/16)
2016 Apr 13, In China a court in Changsha rejected a landmark case by two men who had sought permission to get legally married, a decision that shines the light on gay rights in the world's most populous nation.
(Reuters, 4/13/16)(Econ, 8/13/16, p.29)
2016 Apr 13, Cuba said it is opening its state-controlled wholesale market to a limited number of private business owners in response to rising prices that have angered many ordinary Cubans.
(AP, 4/13/16)
2016 Apr 13, Indian authorities imposed a curfew in parts of Kashmir to stop fresh anti-India demonstrations following the killings of four people by Indian troops and a general strike called by separatists.
(AP, 4/13/16)
2016 Apr 13, Iraqi lawmakers held an all-night sit-in at parliament protesting efforts by powerful political blocs to maintain control of key government posts, pushing the speaker to convene an emergency session.
(AFP, 4/13/16)
2016 Apr 13, In Libya a suicide bomber killed a member of the security forces at a checkpoint south of Misrata. 5 people were killed, including 3 who were beheaded, at a nearby military camp.
(Reuters, 4/13/16)
2016 Apr 13, The Lithuanian government said it has blacklisted 46 Russian citizens involved in criminal prosecutions of several Ukrainians including the imprisoned pilot Nadezhda Savchenko.
(AP, 4/13/16)
2016 Apr 13, Macedonia police fired tear gas and stun grenades at migrants staging a protest at the country's border fence with Greece.
(AFP, 4/13/16)
2016 Apr 13, A magnitude 6.9 earthquake struck Myanmar and was felt in parts of eastern India and Bangladesh, causing residents to rush out of their homes in panic. There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage.
(AP, 4/13/16)
2016 Apr 13, In Pakistan a head-on collision between a passenger bus and truck killed at least 19 passengers, including women and children, in eastern Punjab province.
(AP, 4/13/16)
2016 Apr 13, Puerto Rico said it is publishing for the first time a list of delinquent taxpayers in hopes of recovering a portion of government-owed revenue amid a worsening economic crisis. The list represents those who owe more than $50,000 worth of sales tax.
(AP, 4/13/16)
2016 Apr 13, A Russian court sentenced former naval officer Yevgeny Mataitis (39) to 13 years in jail for selling state secrets to Lithuania concluding he was guilty of state treason. The court said Mataitis had been gathering information in the Kaliningrad region for six years.
(Reuters, 4/13/16)
2016 Apr 13, South Korea held parliamentary elections that were expected to hand a decisive win to President Park Geun-hye's conservative party, and enable her to push ahead with controversial economic reforms. Exit polls, however, indicated her party would not regain its majority in the National Assembly.
(AP, 4/13/16)
2016 Apr 13, Syrians in government-controlled areas cast ballots for a new 250-member parliament. Western leaders and members of Syria's opposition have denounced the vote as a sham and a provocation that undermines the Geneva peace talks. Syria's ruling Baath party and its allies won a majority of seats in parliamentary elections across government-held parts of the country.
(AP, 4/13/16)(AFP, 4/17/16)
2016 Apr 13, In Thailand an elderly British couple (65 and 68) and their son (43) were savagely attacked and beaten unconscious during a family vacation in Hua, Hin. The attack was captured on video. On April 28 police said they have arrested the four suspected attackers. On May 23 the attackers were sentenced to two years in prison.
(AP, 4/28/16)(AP, 6/6/16)
2016 Apr 13, Turkey's armed forces launched new artillery strikes on jihadist positions in Syria, after three days of deadly fire on a Turkish border town that has left residents on edge.
(AFP, 4/13/16)
2016 Apr 13, Local ceasefire monitors arrived at three Yemeni provinces to consolidate a shaky truce, ahead of UN-sponsored peace talks scheduled to start in Kuwait next week.
(Reuters, 4/13/16)
2016 Apr 14, In Colorado police and federal agents arrested more than 40 people and seized piles of pot plants during raids throughout the Denver area, part of a multistate investigation into the illegal distribution of marijuana outside Colorado.
(SFC, 4/15/16, p.A7)
2016 Apr 14, In Kentucky eight black men won a $5.3 million jury award in a lawsuit over claims that they endured a hostile work environment at a UPS in Lexington.
(SFC, 4/15/16, p.A7)
2016 Apr 14, Azerbaijan said one of its soldiers had been killed in fighting over the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh.
(Reuters, 4/14/16)
2016 Apr 14, Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Spain agreed to share information on company ownership to make it harder for criminals and tax cheats to avoid the law.
(SFC, 4/16/16, p.A2)
2016 Apr 14, A Burundi soldier was killed when an armed group attacked a military camp northwest of Bujumbura.
(Reuters, 4/14/16)
2016 Apr 14, Canada introduced an assisted dying law that will only apply to citizens and residents for adults, 18 or older, suffering intolerably and in an advanced state of irreversible decline of capability.
(SFC, 4/15/16, p.A2)
2016 Apr 14, In the Canary Islands a four-story apartment building collapsed in Arona, near the beach on the island of Tenerife. At least 6 people were killed and one resident remained missing.
(AP, 4/16/16)
2016 Apr 14, Chinese human rights lawyer Pu Zhiqiang posted a photo of a letter from the Beijing City Legal Affairs Department to his micro-blog that said his law license was pulled in accordance with regulations. It cited his conviction in December for disturbing public order and inciting ethnic hatred.
(AP, 4/14/16)
2016 Apr 14, The Czech Republic's leaders chose "Czechia" as the one-word alternative name of their country to make it easier for companies, politicians and sportsmen to use on products, name tags and jerseys. On April 12 foreign minister Lubomir Zaoralek had suggested English speakers should begin referring to the Czech Rep. as Czechia. The first use of the English term Czechia came in 1841 in an encyclopedia written by two English churchmen.
(Reuters, 4/15/16)(Econ, 4/23/16, p.43)(Econ, 4/30/16, p.13)
2016 Apr 14, In El Salvador the body of Julio Torres, the mayor of San Dionisio, was found a day after he was reported missing in an area controlled by gangs.
(SFC, 4/15/16, p.A2)
2016 Apr 14, The European Parliament voted to force airlines to share passenger information with EU countries to help detect jihadists, ending five years of debate that intensified after the Paris and Brussels attacks.
(AFP, 4/14/16)
2016 Apr 14, German Chancellor Angela Merkel's ruling coalition agreed on sweeping measures to spur the integration of migrants and refugees in a "historic" first for a country that long resisted embracing immigration. The government agreed to require migrants granted residence rights to show willingness to integrate by learning German and seeking work or see their benefits cut.
(AFP, 4/14/16)(Reuters, 4/14/16)
2016 Apr 14, Iraqi lawmakers voted to remove the parliament speaker and his deputies from office, increasing political turmoil as the country battles jihadists and struggles with a financial crisis.
(AFP, 4/14/16)
2016 Apr 14, Israeli campaigners said Israel has approved plans for more than 200 new settler homes in the occupied West Bank, adding to a sharp increase in settlement projects so far this year. The government disputed the claim, saying nearly all approvals involved "upgrading existing structures" and not new construction, without providing a more detailed breakdown.
(AFP, 4/14/16)
2016 Apr 14, In southern Japan an earthquake of magnitude 6.2 struck 11 km (7 miles) east of Kumamoto, bringing down some buildings. 9 people were killed. More than 100 aftershocks continued to rattle the region.
(Reuters, 4/14/16)(AP, 4/15/16)(AFP, 4/16/16)
2016 Apr 14, Ambassadors to Libya from France, Britain and Spain arrived in Tripoli, reiterating the international community's support for the new unity government and pledging to reopen embassies closed two years ago because of the fighting.
(AP, 4/14/16)
2016 Apr 14, In Macedonia thousands joined antigovernment protests for a third consecutive night demanding the resignation of Pres. Gjorge Ivanov for pardons issued earlier this week for members of the previous government.
(SFC, 4/15/16, p.A2)
2016 Apr 14, A Palestinian armed with an axe attacked an Israeli soldier in the occupied West Bank and was shot dead, ending a three-week lull in deadly incidents.
(AFP, 4/14/16)
2016 Apr 14, Russia's Federal Security Service and tax inspectors searched the offices of Mikhail Prokhorov, a tycoon whose newspaper has published revelations about people close to Vladimir Putin.
(Reuters, 4/14/16)
2016 Apr 14, Saudi Arabia for the first time publicly confirmed Malaysia's claim that $681 million in PM Najib Razak's bank accounts was a donation from the Saudi royal family, countering accusations that the money was siphoned from heavily indebted state investment fund 1MDB.
(AP, 4/15/16)
2016 Apr 14, Saudi Civil Defense said rains and flooding have killed 18 people throughout the country and 915 had to be rescued from inside their vehicles.
(Reuters, 4/14/16)
2016 Apr 14, Syria's army backed by Russian warplanes launched an assault north of Aleppo, threatening to block a vital rebel route into the city in fighting that has cast new clouds over Geneva peace talks.
(Reuters, 4/14/16)
2016 Apr 14, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Muslim nations have agreed to establish a Turkey-based body to fight terrorism, as he urged the countries' leaders to examine the root causes of the migration crisis.
(AP, 4/14/16)
2016 Apr 14, Ukraine's parliament appointed pro-Western speaker Volodymyr Groysman (38) as prime minister in a bid to end months of political gridlock and unlock vital aid to the war torn-state.
(AFP, 4/14/16)
2016 Apr 14, An earthquake of magnitude 6.2 struck 133 km (83 miles) northwest of the Pacific island nation of Vanuatu.
(Reuters, 4/14/16)
2016 Apr 14, Yemeni officials said heavy rainfall in several parts of the country has caused widespread flooding and the collapse of small dams, including one in Hajja province northeast of the capital, Sanaa.
(AP, 4/14/16)
2016 Apr 14, Demonstrators in Zimbabwe held the largest protest against President Robert Mugabe in nearly a decade, marching through central Harare demanding that the 92-year-old leader make a dignified exit.
(AFP, 4/14/16)
2016 Apr 15, It was reported that San Francisco will begin requiring some 37,000 Lyft and Uber drivers who work in the city seven or more days a year to obtain a $91 annual business license.
(SFC, 4/15/16, p.A1)
2016 Apr 15, In Florida an endangered Malayan tiger attacked and killed zookeeper Stacey Konwiser (38) in its Palm Beach Zoo enclosure as the woman prepared to give a talk to visitors.
(AFP, 4/16/16)
2016 Apr 15, Bolivian President Evo Morales met with Pope Francis before attending a Vatican conference on social and economic justice. During the audience, Morales presented Francis with three books: "Coca, a bio-bank," ''Coca, citogenic diet" and "Coca, the anti-obesity factor."
(AP, 4/15/16)
2016 Apr 15, Burundi announced that almost 700 soldiers were to be forced to retire. Almost all of them served in the army when it was an entirely Tutsi institution.
(Econ, 4/23/16, p.37)
2016 Apr 15, Egyptian security forces fired tear gas while thousands gathered in downtown Cairo chanting "leave, leave!" while protesting President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi's decision to hand over two Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia, in the first significant wave of street protests since the former army chief became president in 2014.
(AP, 4/15/16)
2016 Apr 15, France's top administrative court overturned a 2014 ban on a type of genetically modified (GMO) maize in a symbolic victory for GMO supporters that will not allow such crops to be grown in France because of subsequent legislation reinforcing the ban.
(Reuters, 4/15/16)
2016 Apr 15, Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel called a short-notice news conference to personally announce that her government had granted Turkey's request to let prosecutors examine a criminal complaint against Jan Boehmermann. the comic for writing an intentionally offensive poem about Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Under German law, the government has to grant permission before prosecutors can consider whether to press charges against someone for the crime of insulting a foreign head of state.
(AP, 4/16/16)
2016 Apr 15, India said it had suspended the diplomatic passport of embattled tycoon and lawmaker Vijay Mallya, who left the country last March 2 amid pressure from lenders to repay about $1.4 billion in debt owed by his defunct Kingfisher Airlines. On April 18 a Mumbai court issued a warrant for his arrest. In July the airline said its books had vanished.
(Reuters, 4/15/16)(Econ, 4/23/16, p.56)(Econ, 7/9/16, p.55)
2016 Apr 15, New Delhi imposed driving restrictions that will take around a million cars off its roads for the second time this year, seeking to improve air quality in the world's most polluted capital.
(AFP, 4/15/16)
2016 Apr 15, Macedonian President Gjorge Ivanov said he stood by his decision to grant pardons to 56 officials in a wire-tapping scandal despite days of street protests and mounting national and international calls to change his mind. The amnesty granted by Ivanov this week prevents the 56 government and opposition officials from being investigated over revelations of a vast wire-tapping operation that has caused a long-running political crisis in the Balkan nation.
(Reuters, 4/15/16)
2016 Apr 15, Malaysia deported 20 Taiwanese criminal suspects to Taiwan despite Beijing's request that they be sent to China, amid an ongoing battle over jurisdiction involving the self-ruled island. A Malaysia official said another 32 Taiwanese wire fraud suspects sought by China also will be sent to Taiwan.
(AP, 4/15/16)
2016 Apr 15, Malian photographer Malick Sidibe (80) died. He had won international acclaim with his vibrant black-and-white images which captured daily life in his native country.
(AFP, 4/17/16)
2016 Apr 15, The IMF said it suspended lending to Mozambique for failing to disclose some $1.4 billion of hidden debts.
(http://tinyurl.com/y77l7neo)(Econ 6/17/17, p.67)
2016 Apr 15, A North Korea missile launch meant to celebrate the birthday of the country’s founder ended in failure, an embarrassing setback in what was reportedly the inaugural test of a new, powerful mid-range missile.
(AP, 4/15/16)
2016 Apr 15, In the southern Philippines Islamist militants seized four Indonesian crew of a tugboat off Sitangkay Island in Tawi-tawi, the third attack on slow moving vessels in about a month. On nearby Jolo island, militants gave a final deadline on April 25 for payment of 300 million pesos ($6.50 million) ransom for each of the two Canadians and a Norwegian captive or they will behead the three foreign captives.
(Reuters, 4/16/16)
2016 Apr 15, Serbian police detained 49 people, including officials from ministries and state-owned firms, on suspicion of corruption and abuse of office as part of an anti-graft drive that has gained momentum before this month's election.
(Reuters, 4/15/16)
2016 Apr 15, Ethnic Murle gunmen from South Sudan killed 208 people and kidnapped 102 children in a cross-border raid on the Nuer tribe in Ethiopia.
(AFP, 4/17/16)(AFP, 4/18/16)
2016 Apr 15, In Syria fierce fighting raged around Aleppo as a surge in violence forced tens of thousands more to flee their homes, overshadowing the latest round of peace talks in Geneva. Syrian government air strikes hit rebel-held areas north of Homs for a second day, forcing authorities to cancel Friday prayers for the first time in six months.
(AFP, 4/15/16)(Reuters, 4/15/16)
2016 Apr 15, In Uruguay a powerful tornado swept over the small city of Dolores, ripping up houses, hurling cars into the air and killing at least four people.
(AP, 4/16/16)
2016 Apr 15, In Vietnam 9 sixth-grade boys from the same class drowned after going for a swim in Tra Khuc river in central province of Quang Ngai.
(AP, 4/15/16)
2016 Apr 15, Yemeni government troops newly-trained by a Saudi-led coalition routed al-Qaida militants from Houta, the capital of Lahj province, and arrested dozens of militants. The assault came as coalition helicopters and US drones launched a series of airstrikes targeting al-Qaida hideouts and strongholds across the southern region.
(AP, 4/15/16)
2016 Apr 16, The US Pentagon said nine more prisoners have been released from Guantanamo Bay and sent to Saudi Arabia for resettlement. 80 prisoners were now left including 26 men cleared and expected to be released by the end of summer.
(SSFC, 4/17/16, p.A3)
2016 Apr 16, Bernie Sanders, US Democratic presidential hopeful, held a private meeting with Pope Francis just before the pope traveled to meet migrants on the Greek island of Lesbos.
(AFP, 4/16/16)
2016 Apr 16, Afghan security forces drove back Taliban insurgents attacking areas around the northern city of Kunduz, after heavy fighting overnight in which 40 Taliban fighters were killed and around 50 wounded.
(Reuters, 4/16/16)
2016 Apr 16, In Burundi 4 members of the country's ruling party were killed in an attack in continuing violence associated with the extended tenure of Pres. Pierre Nkurunziza.
(AP, 4/17/16)
2016 Apr 16, In Ecuador a magnitude 7.8 earthquake killed 660 people, caused devastation in coastal towns and left an unknown number trapped in ruins. More than 700 aftershocks soon followed.
(Reuters, 4/17/16)(AFP, 4/23/16)(SFC, 5/17/16, p.A2)
2016 Apr 16, In southern Egypt 8 people were killed when a vehicle crashed into a passing train in Aswan province.
(AFP, 4/16/16)
2016 Apr 16, French President Francois Hollande arrived in Beirut at the start of a regional tour that will take him to Egypt and Jordan.
(AP, 4/16/16)
2016 Apr 16, The French and German foreign ministers arrived in Libya for talks with the head of the unity government Fayaz Seraj to offer support as he seeks to stabilize the North African state.
(Reuters, 4/16/16)
2016 Apr 16, French police arrested twenty-two people in Paris during overnight clashes at a demonstration over labor reforms seen as threatening workers' rights.
(AFP, 4/16/16)
2016 Apr 16, Pope Francis brought a message of hope to thousands of people facing expulsion from Greece as he slammed the world community for failing to end the wars fueling the crisis. Francis returned hom with three families of Syrian refugees.
(AFP, 4/16/16)(Reuters, 4/16/16)
2016 Apr 16, Just 41 people were saved by a passing merchant ship and brought to Greece. Up to 500 people are believed to have died, when an overcrowded boat sank in the southern Mediterranean.
(Reuters, 4/22/16)
2016 Apr 16, Conservationists said representatives from 13 Asian countries, meeting in New Delhi this week, have agreed to do more to protect tiger habitats.
(SFC, 4/16/16, p.A2)
2016 Apr 16, Iraqi lawmakers postponed a vote to oust speaker Selim al-Jabouri after failing to reach a quorum in their second failed attempt this week, part of a stalled effort to remove top officials who the parliamentarians accuse of failing to combat corruption and mismanagement.
(AP, 4/16/16)
2016 Apr 16, In southern Japan a magnitude 7.3 earthquake killed at least 32 people just two days after a 6.2 quake. The death from the two quakes rose to 41 and scores of people were feared buried alive. 11 people remained missing.
(AFP, 4/16/16)(Reuters, 4/17/16)
2016 Apr 16, Mali's special forces arrested Alou Doumbia (32), the suspected "Number Two" of a group of Islamists accused of carrying out an attack last month on Ivory Coast's Grand Bassam resort that left 19 dead. The brains of the operation, Kounta Dallah, was still at large, and is suspected of both organizing and taking part in the attack, as well as appointing Doumbia to his role.
(AFP, 4/17/16)
2016 Apr 16, Pakistan's army took over an operation to dislodge a criminal gang holding 24 hostages from a 10 kms (6 mile) long island in the center of the Indus River in Punjab province. The security operation involving more than 1,600 security forces was now in its eleventh day. At least 6 police officials have been killed in the battle for the island.
(Reuters, 4/16/16)
2016 Apr 16, In Papua New Guinea Matthew Damaru, the head of the police anti-corruption unit, was sacked after arresting several high-profile figures close to the government. Officers from his unit last week arrested the attorney general and a Supreme Court judge on charges of corruption. A lawyer working for PM Peter O'Neill was also arrested on charges of perverting the course of justice.
(Reuters, 4/16/16)
2016 Apr 16, In Saudi Arabia a fire at a chemical plant in al-Jubail killed 12 people.
(SSFC, 4/17/16, p.A3)
2016 Apr 16, In Somalia the African Union peacekeeping mission (AMISOM) accidentally killed 4 civilians after soldiers mistook them for Shebab fighters when they failed to stop at a roadblock in the area of Buulo Mareer in the Lower Shebelle region.
(AFP, 4/17/16)
2016 Apr 16, In northern Syria the Islamic State group captured more than a dozen villages and hills during a fresh offensive. IS also clashed with rival insurgent groups near the border with Turkey where they have been on the offensive for days, forcing tens of thousands of residents to flee toward safer areas near Turkey. 22 civilians were killed in an exchange of fire in Aleppo.
(AP, 4/16/16)(AFP, 4/17/16)
2016 Apr 16, Taiwan released 20 fraud suspects just one day after they were deported from Malaysia, citing a lack of evidence.
(AP, 4/17/16)
2016 Apr 16, A 6.1 magnitude quake struck southeast of the Pacific island nation of Tonga, with no immediate reports of damage.
(Reuters, 4/17/16)
2016 Apr 16, In Turkey Iranian President Hassan Rouhani met with Pres. Recep Tayyip Erdogan. They vowed to boost trade between their two countries at talks following the lifting of most international sanctions on Tehran.
(AFP, 4/16/16)
2016 Apr 16, Local Yemeni committees tasked to monitor a week-old cease-fire between Yemen's internationally recognized government and Shiite rebels, agreed to begin their work on the ground at six front-lines.
(AP, 4/16/16)
2016 Apr 17, The United States and its allies conducted 26 strikes against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria over the last 24 hours.
(Reuters, 4/17/16)
2016 Apr 17, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf signed a bill legalizing a comprehensive medical marijuana program, making his state the 24th to do so.
(SFC, 4/18/16, p.A7)
2016 Apr 17, In Pennsylvania a suspect surrendered to police following a short standoff at a Philadelphia home where 3 people were found killed by shotgun blasts to the head.
(SFC, 4/18/16, p.A7)
2016 Apr 17, Afghan forces fought back a renewed series of attacks on Kunduz, killing dozens of Taliban fighters as insurgent forces stepped up their bid to retake the northern city that they captured briefly last year.
(Reuters, 4/17/16)
2016 Apr 17, Brazil’s lower house voted 367-137 in favor of impeachment sending the issue to the Senate. If a majority there votes to put Rousseff on trial, she'd be suspended while Vice President Michel Temer temporarily takes over. The exact date of the Senate vote is not known, but it's widely expected by the middle of next month.
(AP, 4/18/16)
2016 Apr 17, A Chinese spokesman criticized Taiwan after the self-ruled island released 20 fraud suspects just one day after they were deported from Malaysia, citing a lack of evidence.
(AP, 4/17/16)
2016 Apr 17, A Chinese military aircraft on patrol over the South China Sea received an emergency call to land at Fiery Cross Reef to evacuate three seriously ill workers. It was the first time China's military had publicly admitted landing an aircraft on Fiery Cross Reef.
(Reuters, 4/18/16)
2016 Apr 17, In India statewide marches in Gujarat calling for the freeing of Hardik Patel (22), a community leader who has been in jail since last October on sedition charges, turned violent in the town of Mehsana. Across the state more than 400 protesters were detained. Patel emerged overnight last year as leader of a mass movement demanding more government jobs and college places for the Patel -- or Patidar – community.
(Reuters, 4/17/16)
2016 Apr 17, In India a bus carrying members of an opera troupe plunged into a gorge killing at least 25 people in Orissa state.
(SFC, 4/18/16, p.A2)
2016 Apr 17, In eastern Indonesia rain-triggered floods and landslides left six villagers missing in a remote mountainous district of West Papua province.
(AP, 4/18/16)
2016 Apr 17, Italians voted in a referendum on the duration of offshore drilling concessions in territorial waters, as nine regional governments sought to wrestle some influence over energy policy from the central government in Rome.
(AP, 4/17/16)
2016 Apr 17, Thousands of Kuwait's oil workers began an open-ended strike in protest at plans to cut their wages, action which saw the emirate's crude production plunge.
(AFP, 4/17/16)
2016 Apr 17, Myanmar President Htin Kyaw pardoned 83 political prisoners on the country's traditional New Year Sunday, as the fledgling civilian-led administration seeks to cast off the shackles of nearly half a century of military rule.
(AFP, 4/17/16)
2016 Apr 17, In Qatar major oil producers began talks to try to reach a deal on capping production to boost prices, despite Iran's absence. Saudi Arabia blocked an agreement between OPEC and non-OPEC producers to shore up global oil prices by freezing production at January’s levels.
(AFP, 4/17/16)(Econ, 4/23/16, p.64)
2016 Apr 17, In South Africa at least 11 people were killed and 59 more injured when a bus transporting African National Congress (ANC) supporters from an election rally in Port Elizabeth overturned.
(Reuters, 4/17/16)
2016 Apr 17, Four Yemeni soldiers were killed in a suicide attack on a checkpoint near the international airport in, home to a growing jihadist presence.
(AFP, 4/17/16)
2016 Apr 18, The US said it will deploy more than 200 additional troops to Iraq and to send Apache helicopters for the first time into the fight against the Islamic State group in Iraq, the first major increase in US forces in nearly a year.
(AP, 4/18/16)
2016 Apr 18, Destiny Watford (20) of Maryland was one of six winners of this year's Goldman Environmental Prize. She was honored for her 4-year fight to stop a potentially hazardous trash incinerator from being built in her south Baltimore neighborhood of Curtis Bay.
(SFC, 4/18/16, p.C2)
2016 Apr 18, In Texas flooding in and around Houston killed at least five people and prompted mass rescues.
(AP, 4/19/16)
2016 Apr 18, Afghan officials said flash floods in northern provinces killed at least 38 people overnight.
(AP, 4/18/16)
2016 Apr 18, Cambodian Leng Ouch (42) was one of six winners of this year's Goldman Environmental Prize. He worked to uncover mass logging that devastated his homeland.
(SFC, 4/18/16, p.D1)
2016 Apr 18, China's central government said it will investigate a report that close to 500 students became sick with illnesses including cancer at a school built near recently shut chemical plants in the eastern city of Changzhou.
(AP, 4/18/16)
2016 Apr 18, It was reported that India's capital has banned chewing tobacco in an effort to lower the high incidence of mouth and throat cancers. The ban was welcomed by health activists and doctors after it was announced last week.
(AP, 4/18/16)
2016 Apr 18, The Israeli military said it has discovered and destroyed a tunnel burrowing from Gaza into Israel — the first tunnel to be discovered since Israel's 2014 war with the militant Hamas movement that runs the coastal strip.
(AP, 4/18/16)
2016 Apr 18, Lebanon's central bank governor said Beirut will abide by a US law that imposes sanctions on banks that knowingly do business with the militant Hezbollah group.
(AP, 4/18/16)
2016 Apr 18, In Mali at least one civilian was killed during a protest against the presence of UN and French troops in the Malian city of Kidal.
(AFP, 4/18/16)
2016 Apr 18, In Pakistan more than 140 rebels surrendered to government authorities in insurgency-hit Baluchistan province. The government was keen to secure the province as work begins on the $46 billion China Pakistan Economic Corridor, a project that will see a trade route built along the length of Pakistan, culminating in Baluchistan's deep-water port at Gwadar.
(Reuters, 4/19/16)
2016 Apr 18, Maxima Acuna (47) of Peru was one of six winners of this year's Goldman Environmental Prize. She was honored for stopping a potentially hazardous mine from being built in the country’s remote northern highlands.
(SFC, 4/18/16, p.C2)
2016 Apr 18, Puerto Rican environmental planner Luis Jorge Rivera Herrera was one of six winners of this year's Goldman Environmental Prize. He fought to protect 3,000 acres (1,200 hectares) of coastal land that has long lured developers to the US territory.
(AP, 4/18/16)
2016 Apr 18, Zuzana Caputova (42) of Slovakia was one of six winners of this year's Goldman Environmental Prize. She was recognized for her efforts stopping foreign trash facilities from being built in her country.
(SFC, 4/18/16, p.C2)
2016 Apr 18, Syrian rebel groups announced a new battle against government forces, a sign of escalating violence that has undermined a ceasefire deal and threatens to derail UN-led peace talks.
(Reuters, 4/18/16)
2016 Apr 18, Taiwan’s delegation was ejected from a meeting of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's steel committee after China complained, part of an apparent hardening of Beijing's attitude toward the island it claims as its own territory.
(AP, 4/19/16)
2016 Apr 18, Edward Loure, a native of Tanzania’s Maasai community, was one of six winners of this year's Goldman Environmental Prize. He was credited with preventing the government from stripping land from the country’s indigenous people.
(SFC, 4/18/16, p.C2)
2016 Apr 18, Authorities in Thailand said that 442 people died in traffic accidents during the just concluded traditional New Year holiday — a 21 percent rise over the same period last year despite stern efforts to curb drunken and unsafe driving.
(AP, 4/18/16)
2016 Apr 18, Turkish police detained at least 105 people, including top construction executives, in a new crackdown on supporters of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's arch foe, the US-based preacher Fethullah Gulen.
(AFP, 4/18/16)
2016 Apr 18, In Turkey rocket projectiles fired from Syria killed 4 Syrians, three of them children, in the Turkish border town of Kilis.
(AP, 4/18/16)
2016 Apr 18, A Ukrainian court sentenced two Russian servicemen captured last year to 14 years each in prison after finding them guilty of terrorism and waging a war in eastern Ukraine. The ruling opened the door to a possible prisoner swap between the two countries.
(AP, 4/18/16)
2016 Apr 18, A government-backed investment fund in the United Arab Emirates said that heavily indebted Malaysian investment fund 1MDB and the southeast Asian country's finance ministry have defaulted on more than $1.1 billion they owe.
(AP, 4/18/16)
2016 Apr 18, Yemen’s Shiite rebels backed out of UN-brokered peace talks hours before negotiations were to start.
(SFC, 4/19/16, p.A2)
2016 Apr 19, A US federal judge approved an agreement between Ferguson, Mo., and the US Justice Dept. that calls for sweeping changes in the city where Michael Brown (18) was fatally shot on Aug 9, 2014, by a police officer.
(SFC, 4/20/16, p.A7)
2016 Apr 19, District of Columbia law makers voted to enact a permanent ban on smoking marijuana in private clubs.
(SFC, 4/20/16, p.A6)
2016 Apr 19, Intel said it would cut 12,000 jobs, about 11% of its workforce, as demand for personal computers continued to fall.
(SFC, 4/20/16, p.C6)
2016 Apr 19, In Afghanistan Taliban attackers staged an assault on a government security agency in Kabul, killing 64 people and wounding more than 320.
(AP, 4/19/16)(AP, 4/20/16)
2016 Apr 19, A soldier from the Armenian-backed Nagorno-Karabakh region was reportedly killed by gunfire from Azerbaijan.
(Reuters, 4/18/16)
2016 Apr 19, Australian scientists said coral bleaching has been detected in Sydney Harbour for the first time, blaming the damaging phenomenon also found in the Great Barrier Reef on warming sea-surface temperatures.
(AFP, 4/19/16)
2016 Apr 19, Chile’s former Pres. Patricio Aylwin (97) died. He ruled from 1990 to 1994 and was the country’s first elected president following 17 years of brutal dictatorship.
(SFC, 4/20/16, p.A2)
2016 Apr 19, China’s state broadcaster CCTV said Huang Yu (41), a former computer technician at a Chinese research firm specializing in encryption, has been sentenced to death for selling 150,000 classified documents that revealed key secrets about military and government data encryption to an unidentified foreign spy agency.
(AP, 4/19/16)
2016 Apr 19, In Egypt a riot erupted in a Cairo suburb after a policeman shot three people after an argument over the price of a cup of tea, killing one of them. On Nov 16 a court sentenced the policeman to life in prison.
(Reuters, 4/19/16)(AP, 11/16/16)
2016 Apr 19, Germany asked Belgium to take two nuclear reactors temporarily off the grid while questions about their safety are cleared up, an unusual diplomatic move that underscores German concerns about the plants.
(Reuters, 4/20/16)
2016 Apr 19, Indian officials said weeks of sweltering temperatures have caused more than 160 deaths in southern and eastern India.
(AP, 4/20/16)
2016 Apr 19, Indonesia said it has called for joint maritime patrols with the Philippines and Malaysia, after a spate of kidnappings in waters near the southern Philippines by suspected militants.
(Reuters, 4/19/16)
2016 Apr 19, In Iraq arrested Islamic State militants led authorities to two mass graves inside the soccer stadium in Ramadi containing up to 40 bodies.
(SFC, 4/22/16, p.A2)
2016 Apr 19, Israeli actress Ronit Elkabetz (51) died after battling cancer. She helped bring her country's films to the world and became a star in France. Her films included "The Girl on the Train" alongside Catherine Deneuve and "Ashes and Blood".
(AFP, 4/19/16)
2016 Apr 19, Japan's southern quake-hit area was rattled by a strong aftershock and searchers found a woman's body buried under landslide rubble. The death toll soon rose to 48 from two powerful earthquakes last week. Three people remained missing.
(AP, 4/19/16)(AP, 4/20/16)
2016 Apr 19, In northwestern Pakistan a suicide bomber detonated his explosive device outside a government tax office in the city of Mardan, killing at least one person and wounding nine others. Hours after the attack, Ahsanullah Ahsan, a spokesman for the Jamat-ul-Ahrar militant group, claimed responsibility.
(AP, 4/19/16)
2016 Apr 19, Swiss snowboarder Estelle Balet (21) was been killed in an avalanche while filming above Orsieres, near Switzerland's southern border with France and Italy.
(AP, 4/19/16)
2016 Apr 19, In Syria bombing by government forces killed 50 people in two towns of Idlib province.
(Econ, 4/23/16, p.40)
2016 Apr 19, Turkish authorities detained 38 people suspected of "framing" soccer team Fenerbahce's players and directors in a match-fixing investigation in 2011.
(AP, 4/19/16)
2016 Apr 19, President Petro Poroshenko said Ukraine has reached a deal with Russia to free a jailed Ukrainian pilot, suggesting that she will be swapped for two Russian servicemen jailed in Ukraine this week.
(AP, 4/19/16)
2016 Apr 20, US Treasury Secretary Jack Lew announced that abolitionist and women’s rights crusader Harriet Tubman (~1822-1913) will replace Andrew Jackson on the front of the $20 bill.
(SFC, 4/20/16, p.A1)
2016 Apr 20, It was reported that Volkswagen and the US government have reached a deal in principle for the automaker to spend over $1 billion to compensate owners of about 600,000 diesel cars that cheat on emissions tests.
(SFC, 4/20/16, p.C5)
2016 Apr 20, In San Francisco the annual 4/20 marijuana celebration in Golden Gate Park attracted some 15,000 people. They left an estimated 22,000 pounds of trash.
(SFC, 4/22/16, p.A1)
2016 Apr 20, Australian local media said it will cost an estimated A$93 million ($72.68 million) to begin the clean-up of environmental damage at the bankrupt Yabulu nickel refinery in the country's northeast near the Great Barrier Reef.
(Reuters, 4/20/16)
2016 Apr 20, In Belize Julio Rene Alvarado Ruano (13) of Guatemala was killed in a shooting incident apparently involving Belizean soldiers on the Guatemala border.
(AP, 4/22/16)
2016 Apr 20, In Burundi gunmen ambushed Colonel Emmanuel Buzubona as he traveled on the back of a motorbike to his home in Bujumbura. Soldiers on patrol killed two people in a clash with an armed group in Kivumu village in Mugamba southern district, 60 km southeast of Bujumbura.
(Reuters, 4/21/16)
2016 Apr 20, China's statistics bureau said in estimates published today that the mainland population reached 1.373 billion at the beginning of November, up 33.77 million since the last census was held in 2010.
(Reuters, 4/20/16)
2016 Apr 20, In southeastern Congo DRC police fired tear gas to disperse hundreds of anti-government protesters in Lubumbashi, who accused security forces of vandalizing posters of opposition leaders.
(Reuters, 4/20/16)
2016 Apr 20, President Rafael Correa said Ecuador will temporarily increase some taxes, sell assets, and may issue new bonds on the international market to fund a multi-billion dollar reconstruction after a devastating 7.8 magnitude quake. The death toll from the weekend earthquake neared 600.
(Reuters, 4/21/16)
2016 Apr 20, A 6.1-magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Ecuador.
(AFP, 4/20/16)
2016 Apr 20, In Hungary nearly 25,000 of about 150,000 teachers in some 1,200 of 5,000 schools walked out on a one-day strike to demand more freedom, more financing and lighter workloads for themselves and their students. Teachers have been protesting for months against moves by the right-wing government of PM Viktor Orban to strip schools of much of their autonomy and increase central planning and management.
(Reuters, 4/20/16)
2016 Apr 20, Israeli police said they had arrested diamond dealer Hanan Abramovici, head of Hanan Abramovici Diamonds Ltd., on suspicion of embezzlement after a complaint was filed by members of the Israel Diamond Exchange (IDE).
(Reuters, 4/20/16)
2016 Apr 20, In Israel a young Hamas militant (19), from Beit Jala near Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank, died from his wounds following an April 18 “suicide attack" on a bus that left 20 people wounded.
(AFP, 4/21/16)
2016 Apr 20, Japan-based Mitsubishi Motors admitted that it had used improper methods to test the fuel economy of cars sold in Japan for 25 years.
(SFC, 4/27/16, p.C6)(Econ, 4/30/16, p.58)
2016 Apr 20, An earthquake measuring 6.1 magnitude struck off northeastern Japan.
(Reuters, 4/20/16)
2016 Apr 20, Laos, one of the world's last communist nations, elected its top government leaders at a meeting of its newly seated National Assembly.
(AP, 4/20/16)
2016 Apr 20, In Mexico an accidental leak caused a deadly petrochemical plant blast near the port of Coatzacoalcos killed at least 13 people. The death toll soon rose to 32.
(Reuters, 4/21/16)(AP, 4/23/16)(SFC, 4/26/16, p.A2)
2016 Apr 20, A Dutch court quashed a $50 billion award Russia had been ordered to pay the former majority shareholders of Yukos, a major win for Moscow in the high-stakes dispute over the dismantling of what was once Russia's largest oil producer. The Dutch court said a Hague-based arbitration panel in 2014 did not have jurisdiction to rule in the case because the arbitration was based on an energy treaty that Russia had signed but had not ratified.
(AP, 4/20/16)
2016 Apr 20, In northeastern Nigeria two female suicide bombers killed at least 8 people in Banki at a camp for people displaced by the jihadist Boko Haram insurgency. Suspected Boko Haram gunmen on horseback killed at least 11 people overnight in Zango village, Yobo state.
(Reuters, 4/21/16)(AFP, 4/21/16)
2016 Apr 20, Norwegian mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik won his lawsuit against the state over his "inhuman" solitary confinement in prison. The court concluded that the prison conditions constitute inhuman treatment.
(Reuters, 4/20/16)
2016 Apr 20, In Pakistan gunmen on motorcycles shot and killed 7 police officers involved in a polio vaccination campaign in two separate attacks in Karachi.
(AP, 4/20/16)
2016 Apr 20, In the Philippines government agents arrested a suspected hacker (23) at his home in Manila. A hacker group had defaced the website of the election commission last month and a 2nd group posted the entire election database online.
(SFC, 4/23/16, p.A3)
2016 Apr 20, In Saudi Arabia President Barack Obama held talks with King Salman as he began a two-day visit hoping to ease tensions with the historic US ally.
(AFP, 4/20/16)
2016 Apr 20, In north-eastern Syria 2 members of the Syrian Kurdish security force, known as the Asayish, were killed after being targeted by government forces in Qamishli.
(Reuters, 4/20/16)
2016 Apr 20, Turkish warplanes struck militant Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) targets in northern Iraq.
(Reuters, 4/20/16)
2016 Apr 20, The Abdulla al-Ghurair Foundation for Education from the United Arab Emirates launched the Arab world's largest education fund, setting aside $1.14 billion (4.2 billion dirhams) in grants for underserved youth from the region.
(AP, 4/20/16)
2016 Apr 20, Negotiators from Yemen's Houthi group and their allies left Sanaa for delayed peace talks in Kuwait after a dispute over a shaky ceasefire was resolved.
(Reuters, 4/20/16)
2016 Apr 20, Zambia police said they have arrested over 250 people for allegedly attacking Rwandan nationals and looting their shops in Lusaka. The violence, which began on April 18, left two Zambians dead.
(AP, 4/20/16)
2016 Apr 20, The Zimbabwean government suspended Harare Mayor Bernard Manyenyeni accusing him of insubordination, escalating a struggle for control of the capital which has been run by the opposition since 2002.
(Reuters, 4/21/16)
2016 Apr 21, The White House said the US and Gulf Arab allies have agreed to various security initiatives designed to defeat the Islamic State group as well as to counter Iran's actions in the region as Pres. Obama continued meeting with top officials from six Arab nations in Saudi Arabia.
(AP, 4/21/16)
2016 Apr 21, In San Francisco sex trafficker Jamar Geeter (29) was sentenced to 97 years to life in prison for sexually trafficking two girls ages 14 and 16.
(SFC, 4/22/16, p.D1)
2016 Apr 21, Ride-hailing app Uber settled two class-action lawsuits by drivers in California, and Massachusetts. The drivers remained as independent contractors but would be able to form a “driver’s association" to air concerns.
(Econ, 4/30/16, p.61)
2016 Apr 21, The Swiss-made Solar Impulse took off from Hawaii on course to land in Mountain View, Ca. in about 3 days on the 9th leg of its circumnavigation.
(SFC, 4/22/16, p.A8)
2016 Apr 21, Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker unveiled a plan to offer rebates to qualifying students who begin their studies at a community college and go on to earn a bachelor’s degree at a state university.
(SFC, 4/22/16, p.A6)
2016 Apr 21, Prince Rogers Nelson (57), singer, songwriter, arranger and instrumentalist, died at his home in Minnesota. His records sold more than 100 million copies and earned him Grammys and an Academy Award.
(AP, 4/22/16)
2016 Apr 21, Former Albanian PM Sali Berisha called on citizens to arm themselves, saying the government is failing to confront crime.
(AP, 4/21/16)
2016 Apr 21, In Brazil a new elevated bike path collapsed in Rio de Janeiro killing at least 2 people.
(SFC, 4/22/16, p.A2)
2016 Apr 21, China’s ruling Communist Party's anti-graft watchdog said Gong Qinggai, a former deputy head of China's Taiwan Affairs Office, will be prosecuted for "serious discipline violations".
(Reuters, 4/21/16)
2016 Apr 21, Egyptian security forces rounded up dozens of activists, journalists, and lawyers ahead of demonstrations called for April 25 against President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi's policies, including the transfer of two Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia.
(AP, 4/22/16)
2016 Apr 21, The militant Hamas group deployed forces along the Egypt-Gaza border to counter Cairo's concerns that it is aiding Islamic State extremists in Egypt's lawless Sinai Peninsula.
(AP, 4/21/16)
2016 Apr 21, Ethiopian troops were operating in South Sudan after crossing the border to rescue some 125 Ethiopian children who were kidnapped during a bloody cattle raid. Top officials from both countries sought to coordinate their efforts.
(AP, 4/21/16)
2016 Apr 21, European Union Commissioner Johannes Hahn said on a visit to Kiev that the new Ukrainian government must use its first 100 days in office to implement reforms needed to secure 600 million euros in new aid.
(Reuters, 4/21/16)
2016 Apr 21, In Greece two men who were among 41 people picked up over the weekend from a boat found adrift in the Mediterranean Sea described surviving what they say was a shipwreck last week that might have killed up to 500 people.
(AP, 4/21/16)
2016 Apr 21, In Libya military forces loyal to the eastern government said they had carried out air strikes overnight against Islamist fighters in Derna after Islamic State militants retreated from positions close to the city.
(Reuters, 4/21/16)
2016 Apr 21, Malian security arrested Mauritanian man in Bamako suspected of planning and carrying out deadly attacks on popular tourist venues in Mali last year.
(AFP, 4/22/16)
2016 Apr 21, Pakistan arrested al Qaeda operative Abdur Rehman Sindhi in a joint operation between police and intelligence agencies in Karachi.
(AP, 4/22/16)(AP, 4/25/16)
2016 Apr 21, In Syria at least 40 pro-Syrian government fighters surrendered to Kurdish forces in the city of Qamishli in mostly Kurdish-controlled Hasaka province.
(Reuters, 4/21/16)
2016 Apr 21, Turkey's supreme court of appeals overturned the convictions of 275 people, including a former military chief, who allegedly plotted to overthrow the country's Islamist-leaning government. The decision opens the way for a re-trial and their possible acquittal.
(AP, 4/21/16)
2016 Apr 21, Turkish warplanes struck militant Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) targets in southeastern Turkey.
(Reuters, 4/21/16)
2016 Apr 21, Vietnam said it was investigating whether pollution is to blame for a spate of mysterious mass fish deaths along the country's central coast after huge amounts of marine life washed ashore in recent days.
(AFP, 4/21/16)
2016 Apr 22, The US military acknowledged that its air strikes killed 20 civilians in Iraq and Syria between Sep 10, 2015, and Feb 2, 2016. Six of the strikes were in Iraq and three were in Syria.
(SFC, 4/23/16, p.A2)
2016 Apr 22, Leaders from 175 states gathered at the UN on Earth Day to sign the Paris climate deal, a record turn-out that boosted hopes of quick action on combating global warming. The Paris agreement will come into force as soon as 55 countries responsible for 55 percent of the world's greenhouse gases have ratified the accord.
(AFP, 4/22/16)(SFC, 4/23/16, p.A3)
2016 Apr 22, In Ohio 8 members of the Rhoden family were fatally shot in the head in four homes in Piketon. Police found marijuana growing operations at three of the four homes. In 2018 a grand jury indicted a family of four for the killings.
(SFC, 4/23/16, p.A4)(SFC, 4/25/16, p.A6)(SFC, 11/14/18, p.A5)
2016 Apr 22, Foreign ministers of Albania, Bulgaria, Greece and Macedonia said they will work to improve coordination along southern Europe's migrant trial.
(AP, 4/22/16)
2016 Apr 22, In Australia Greens MP Jeremy Buckingham posted a video on Facebook showing him set fire to the Condamine River in Queensland, to draw attention to methane gas he says is seeping into the water due to fracking. The dramatic video quickly attracted more than two millions views.
(AFP, 4/24/16)
2016 Apr 22, Bank of England governor Mark Carney announced that artist J. M. W. Turner will appear on the new £20 note.
(AFP, 4/22/16)
2016 Apr 22, Cuban state media announced the loosening of a policy banning Cuban-born people from arriving by sea, allowing Carnival Corp. to go forward with the first US cruise to the island in a half-century.
(AP, 4/22/16)
2016 Apr 22, The World Bank said it would lend Ecuador $150 million to speed up assistance to victims of last week's major earthquake that devastated large areas of the country's northern coast.
(Reuters, 4/22/16)
2016 Apr 22, The European Broadcasting Union said Romania has been barred from this year's Eurovision Song Contest for failing to pay millions in debts to the EBU.
(AFP, 4/22/16)
2016 Apr 22, In Germany more than 20,000 demonstrators turned out in Hannover to protest the planned US-Europe free trade agreement (TTIP), a day before the arrival of President Barack Obama.
(AP, 4/23/16)
2016 Apr 22, A German government source said around 630,000 Audi, Mercedes, Opel, Porsche and Volkswagen cars are to be recalled in Europe owing to irregularities in their emission of pollutants.
(AFP, 4/22/16)
2016 Apr 22, Germany-based Volkswagen announced a 4.1 billion euros ($4.6 billion) operating loss for 2015 as Europe's largest automaker took a 16.2 billion euros hit to pay for its diesel emissions test-rigging scandal.
(Reuters, 4/22/16)
2016 Apr 22, In northeastern India torrential rains triggered a mudslide that buried a labor camp bordering China in Arunachal Pradesh state, killing 17 people.
(AP, 4/22/16)
2016 Apr 22, In eastern India a fire killed 12 people who were sleeping after they attended a wedding in a village in Bihar state.
(AP, 4/22/16)
2016 Apr 22, In Iraq a suicide bomb attack claimed by Islamic State killed at least 9 people following Friday prayers at a Shi'ite Muslim mosque in southwestern Baghdad. A second suicide attacker at the mosque in al-Radwaniya district was shot and killed by security forces before he could set off his explosives. A separate bomb went off in the district of Abu Ghraib, west of Baghdad, killing 2 and wounding nine.
(Reuters, 4/22/16)
2016 Apr 22, It was reported that explosives planted by Islamic State have killed dozens of Iraqi civilians who returned to Ramadi despite warnings that much of the western city remains unsafe nearly four months after its recapture from the militants.
(Reuters, 4/22/16)
2016 Apr 22, Japanese Transport Minister Keiichi Ishii said he wanted Mitsubishi Motors Corp to respond "with integrity" after revelations that it cheated on test to measure fuel economy, including by possibly buying back the cars in question.
(Reuters, 4/22/16)
2016 Apr 22, In Kuwait delayed peace talks aimed at ending 13 months of conflict in Yemen resumed, a day after UN mediators finally managed to get warring sides to the table.
(AFP, 4/22/16)
2016 Apr 22, Thousands of Nicaraguans marched to oppose a planned interoceanic canal that critics say threatens to displace rural communities and damage the environment. The government has calculated that it will cost $50 billion and create 50,000 direct jobs.
(AP, 4/23/16)
2016 Apr 22, The Pakistani Taliban killed Sikh lawmaker Sardar Suran Singh, an adviser to the chief minister for minority affairs in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
(AP, 4/23/16)
2016 Apr 22, Puerto Rico's financially strapped government was ordered by a federal judge to immediately pay long-overdue bills owed by the Health Department to companies that serve mentally disabled people in the US territory.
(AP, 4/22/16)
2016 Apr 22, In Syria at least 18 people were killed when airstrikes hit several rebel-held neighborhoods in Aleppo and neighboring Idlib province. Islamic State fighters captured Syrian pilot Azzam Eid after he fell by parachute near the site where his plane crashed east of Damascus.
(AP, 4/22/16)(AFP, 4/22/16)(Reuters, 4/22/16)
2016 Apr 22, In northeastern Syria regional Kurdish security forces and pro-Syrian government forces declared a ceasefire, calming a three-day outbreak of violence which killed more than 26 people.
(Reuters, 4/23/16)
2016 Apr 22, Disgraced tycoon Asil Nadir (74), jailed for stealing millions from his Polly Peck empire, was released from a Turkish prison just one night after being extradited from Britain. The Turkish Cypriot was convicted in 2012 of purloining nearly £29 million (37 million euros) -- the equivalent of more than £70 million in today's terms -- from the major UK conglomerate in the late 1980s.
(AFP, 4/22/16)
2016 Apr 22, The United Arab Emirates' official news agency reported that Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan has ordered two billion dollars of investment in Egypt, and will deposit two billion dollars in the Egyptian central bank to increase its foreign reserves.
(AP, 4/22/16)
2016 Apr 23, The United States and its allies conducted 28 strikes against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
(Reuters, 4/24/16)
2016 Apr 23, Solar Impulse 2, an experimental plane flying around the world without consuming a drop of fuel, landed in California, one leg closer to completing its trailblazing trip. Swiss adventurer Bertrand Piccard piloted the craft from Hawaii to California.
(AFP, 4/24/16)
2016 Apr 23, In San Jose, Ca., Shamina Rabbi (57) and her husband Golam Rabbi (59) were shot to death at their home at 3006 Lucas Court. Police soon arrested their sons, ages 22 and 17, as suspects. Hasib Golamrabbi said his younger brother Omar was not involved. In 2018 Hasib was convicted on two counts of first-degree murder.
(SFC, 4/28/16, p.D7)(AP, 4/29/16)(SFC, 10/26/18, p.C1)
2016 Apr 23, In Wisconsin a police officer fatally shot Jakob Wagner (18) after Wagner shot and wounded two students outside a high school prom in Antigo.
(SFC, 4/25/16, p.A5)
2016 Apr 23, In northwestern Bangladesh university professor A.F.M. Rezaul Karim Siddique was hacked to death on his way to work in an attack similar to other killings by suspected Muslim militants. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack. On May 15 police tracked down the regional commander of the group Jumatul Mujahedeen Bangladesh in the northern district of Bogra. The suspect, Maskawath Hasan Sakib, nicknamed Abdullah, confessed involvement in the attack before a magistrate, leading to the arrests of the three other suspects on May 16.
(AP, 4/23/16)(AP, 5/17/16)
2016 Apr 23, President Xi Jinping told a key meeting on religion that Chinese religious groups must obey the staunchly atheist ruling Communist Party.
(AFP, 4/24/16)
2016 Apr 23, In China police stopped five Western diplomats who were trying to visit lawyer Ni Yulan in Beijing after she had been prevented from travelling to the United States to accept an award for her rights work. Yulan was awarded the US State Department's International Women of Courage Award for her work defending people forcibly evicted from their homes.
(AP, 4/23/16)
2016 Apr 23, In Congo DRC elephant poachers killed three rangers in Garamba National Park and wounded two other people including the Swedish park manager. The poachers were believed to have come from South Sudan.
(Reuters, 4/25/16)(SFC, 5/25/16, p.A3)
2016 Apr 23, Republic of Congo's newly-reelected President Denis Sassou Nguesso named former opposition leader and one-time finance minister Clement Mouamba as his prime minister.
(AFP, 4/24/16)
2016 Apr 23, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and top European Union officials arrived near Turkey's border with Syria in a bid to bolster a troubled migration deal with Turkey as they face increasing pressure to reassess the agreement.
(AP, 4/23/16)
2016 Apr 23, Two Britons and an Indian were arrested in Hungary accused of trying to transport more than a dozen migrants illegally to Austria.
(Reuters, 4/24/16)
2016 Apr 23, Ivory Coast musician Papa Wemba (66), known around the world as the king of Congolese rumba, died following a collapse on stage during a concert. Jules Shungu Wembadio Pene Kikumba, rose to fame in the Congolese capital of Kinshasa during the 1970s with the band Zaiko Langa Langa, whose guitar-based fusion of Latin and African dance styles inspired a generation of African musicians.
(AP, 4/24/16)
2016 Apr 23, Japan’s first stealth fighter jet, a prototype called the X-2 built by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, took its maiden flight.
(CSM, 4/24/16)
2016 Apr 23, In Libya Miroslav Tomic, a Serbian maintenance engineer employed by a German company, was abducted while traveling to inspect an oil field around 1,200 km (750 miles) from Tripoli.
(Reuters, 4/26/16)
2016 Apr 23, North Korea fired a submarine-launched ballistic missile off its east coast. North Korea will hold a rare congress of its ruling Workers' Party in early May for the first time in 36 years where its leader Kim Jong Un is expected to proclaim the country was a strong military power and a nuclear state.
(Reuters, 4/23/16)
2016 Apr 23, In South Africa 49 starved and sick monkeys were rescued from filthy living conditions in a private zoo, and were whisked away to a care facility after failed attempts by the owner of Little Falls garden center to improve their living conditions.
(Reuters, 4/24/16)
2016 Apr 23, South Sudan's rebel chief Riek Machar missed an international deadline to return to Juba to become vice-president under a peace deal hoped to end war, claiming the government denied permission.
(AFP, 4/23/16)
2016 Apr 23, Syrian government strikes hit opposition-held areas near Damascus and in Aleppo. At least 27 civilian deaths were reported in regime bombardment across the country.
(AP, 4/23/16)(AFP, 4/24/16)
2016 Apr 23, In Thailand Banharn Silpa-archa (83), a provincial political powerbroker who served a scandal-ridden 16 months as prime minister in 1995-96, died.
(AP, 4/23/16)
2016 Apr 23, Turkey said six foreign nationals were taken into custody in an overnight raid against Islamic State in the central Anatolian city of Konya.
(Reuters, 4/23/16)
2016 Apr 23, Landlocked Uganda announced plans to export its future crude oil production via a new pipeline to be built to a Tanzanian port rather than via Kenya.
(AFP, 4/23/16)
2016 Apr 23, Yemeni forces backed by air power from the Saudi-led Arab coalition launched an operation to drive Al-Qaeda fighters out of Zinjibar. Dozens of fighters loyal to al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) were killed in the clashes. A drone strike killed 2 others further north.
(AFP, 4/23/16)(Reuters, 4/23/16)
2016 Apr 24, President Barack Obama opened a two-day visit to Germany hoping to counter deep public skepticism about a trans-Atlantic trade deal with Europe as the continent grapples with economic challenges, terrorism and other pressing issues.
(AP, 4/24/16)
2016 Apr 24, The United States and its allies conducted 14 strikes against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
(Reuters, 4/25/16)
2016 Apr 24, Austrians voted in the first round of a presidential election expected to mark a historic break with the cozy post-war political establishment at the hands of the anti-immigration far-right and the Greens. The anti-immigration far-right triumphed in the presidential vote. Norbert Hofer of the Freedom Party (FPOe) came a clear first with 36 percent in the first round.
(AFP, 4/24/16)(AFP, 4/25/16)
2016 Apr 24, Equatorial Guinea held elections. President Teodoro Obiang Nguema (73), was expected to extend his 36-year-hold on power in the tiny oil-rich nation.
(AFP, 4/24/16)
2016 Apr 24, Greek press unions expanded a strike to protest bailout creditor-demanded reforms of their taxpayer-funded pension fund, leaving the country without newspapers and news broadcasts for several days.
(AP, 4/25/16)
2016 Apr 24, In Iraq heavy clashes erupted between Kurdish peshmerga forces and Shiite paramilitary troops inside Tuz Khormato, a contested town north of Baghdad. A peshmerga brigadier general and another fighter and two members of Turkmen forces were among the nine people killed.
(AFP, 4/24/16)
2016 Apr 24, In Israel a liberal women's group held a special Passover prayer service at a Jerusalem holy site, drawing criticism from the site's ultra-Orthodox rabbi, who called it a "provocation." The group planned to hold an all-female "priestly blessing," a prayer typically done by men, but Israel's attorney general banned it from doing so.
(AP, 4/24/16)
2016 Apr 24, In Mexico attacks by suspected drug gangs on a police station and hotel housing federal police in Acapulco left one attacker dead and a police officer wounded.
(SFC, 4/28/16, p.A4)
2016 Apr 24, In Mexico the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (GIEI) released a 608-page report on the disappearance of a group of students from Iguala on September 26, 2014. The report suggested that one of the buses was being used to move heroin and had inadvertently been taken over by the students.
(Econ, 4/30/16, p.32)
2016 Apr 24, In Moldova some 7,000 people have staged a protest in the capital, demanding the resignation of the government and early elections.
(AP, 4/24/16)
2016 Apr 24, In Russia former police officer Andrei Gosht and five relatives were discovered dead in their home in Syzran, a village some 620 miles (1,000 km) southeast of Moscow.
(AP, 4/25/16)
2016 Apr 24, Rights group Amnesty International said a court in Saudi Arabia has sentenced Issa al-Hamid, a peaceful dissident, to nine years in prison and banned him from travel abroad for another nine years on charges related to his civil rights work. Al-Hamid was convicted of inciting people to breach public order, insulting the judiciary, defaming the kingdom's senior religious clerics and establishing an unlicensed organization.
(AP, 4/24/16)
2016 Apr 24, Serbians voted in a general election that is likely to return pro-European PM Aleksandar Vucic to power, but also give a voice in parliament to the pro-Russian far right. Serbia's incumbent pro-EU populists won a landslide victory.
(AFP, 4/24/16)(AP, 4/25/16)
2016 Apr 24, In Syria regime and rebel bombardment killed 26 civilians in Aleppo despite an increasingly troubled ceasefire.
(AFP, 4/24/16)
2016 Apr 24, In northeastern Syria, a truce document announced today showed that regional Kurdish security forces will keep territory taken from pro-Syrian government forces during a three-day outbreak of violence, with both sides to release prisoners taken during the clashes.
(Reuters, 4/24/16)
2016 Apr 24, Two rockets hit the Turkish town of Kilis near the Syrian border, wounding 16 people a day after the government promised to protect the area from repeated attacks by Islamic State militants.
(Reuters, 4/24/16)
2016 Apr 24, The Ukrainian government said three troops have been killed in the volatile eastern Ukraine over the past 24 hours. Heavy fighting forced an evacuation of workers repairing a gas main damaged by a previous attack.
(AP, 4/24/16)
2016 Apr 24, In southern Yemen a bomb-laden vehicle exploded killing 7 soldiers, where government forces backed by air power from an Arab coalition have launched an offensive against Al-Qaeda. The attack targeted an army convoy as it entered the jihadist stronghold Zinjibar.
(AFP, 4/24/16)
2016 Apr 25, President Barack Obama announced the deployment of up to 250 US military personnel to Syria, mostly special operations forces, to assist local troops trying to dislodge Islamic State extremists. He called the move essential to keeping up momentum against the group.
(AP, 4/25/16)
2016 Apr 25, The United States and its allies targeted Islamic State with 25 strikes in their latest assault against the militant group in Iraq and Syria.
(Reuters, 4/26/16)
2016 Apr 25, Afghan Taliban delegation arrived in Pakistan to meet officials in a bid to restart a stuttering peace process with Kabul.
(Reuters, 4/26/16)
2016 Apr 25, In Armenia an explosion devastated a bus Yerevan, killing two people and injuring seven. One of the passengers had reportedly quarreled with relatives and told friends that he planned to seek revenge by handing them an explosive device.
(AP, 4/26/16)
2016 Apr 25, Austria re-imposed controls on its border with Hungary, with police checking vehicles at the main regular crossings and soldiers patrolling other stretches of the border.
(AP, 4/25/16)
2016 Apr 25, In Bangladesh a gay rights activist and his friend were killed. Ansar-al-Islam, the Bangladeshi branch of al-Qaida, soon claimed responsibility. Xulhaz Mannan (35), an editor of a magazine for Bangladesh's gay and lesbian community, and fellow activist Mahbub Tonoy (25) were murdered in a Dhaka apartment by about six men carrying machetes and guns. On May 14 police arrested Shariful Islam Shihab (37), a member of the Ansarullah Bangla Team.
(AP, 4/26/16)(AFP, 5/15/16)
2016 Apr 25, In central Bulgaria 2 workers were killed in an explosion in Kazanluk at Arsenal, the country’s biggest weapons maker.
(Reuters, 4/25/16)
2016 Apr 25, In Burundi Athanase Kararuza, a Tutsi general and security advisor to the vice president, was killed in an attack by heavily-armed men, along with his wife and daughter in Bujumbura.
(AP, 4/25/16)
2016 Apr 25, In eastern Burundi nearly 30 schoolchildren and their supervisors were killed and many more injured when their truck crashed outside Musongati.
(AFP, 4/25/16)
2016 Apr 25, The New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society said Cambodia's Royal Turtle is nearly extinct, with fewer than 10 left in the wild, because increased sand dredging and illegal clearance of flooded forest have shrunk its habitat.
(AP, 4/25/16)
2016 Apr 25, In northern China a coal mine flooded in Tongchuan city, Shaanxi province, leaving 11 miners missing.
(AP, 4/25/16)
2016 Apr 25, Egyptian police fired tear gas and birdshot to disperse hundreds of demonstrators calling on President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi to step down over his government's decision to surrender control over two strategic Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia. Police arrested at least 237 people during the protests.
(AP, 4/25/16)(AP, 4/26/16)
2016 Apr 25, Kenyan police fired tear gas into a crowd of opposition leaders and their supporters as they marched on the office of the country's electoral commission to demand it disband before next year's election.
(Reuters, 4/25/16)
2016 Apr 25, Nepal's PM Khadga Prasad Oli announced the start of reconstruction of key heritage sites in and around the capital that were damaged by an earthquake that killed nearly 9,000 people and devastated the country one year ago.
(AP, 4/25/16)
2016 Apr 25, In Nigeria 20 young Fulani herdsmen descended from the hills and emerged from the palm tree forest, shooting AK-47 assault rifles in the air and waving machetes in the village of Nimbo. At least 10 people were thought to have been killed and scores injured.
(AFP, 5/17/16)
2016 Apr 25, In the Philippines Abu Sayyaf gunmen beheaded Canadian hostage John Ridsdel (68) in the southern province of Sulu, sparking condemnations and prompting Canadian PM Justin Trudeau to pledge to help the Philippines pursue the extremists behind the attack.
(AP, 4/26/16)(SFC, 4/26/16, p.A2)
2016 Apr 25, Saudi Arabia's cabinet agreed to implement a broad reform plan known as Vision 2030. Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman overseeing Saudi Arabia's economy unveiled ambitious plans aimed at ending the kingdom's "addiction" to oil. He said Riyadh would raise the capital of its public investment fund to 7 trillion riyals ($2 trillion) from 600 billion riyals ($160 billion) and would sell up to five percent of shares in state oil giant Aramco. He also announced plans to set up a holding company for military industries that would be fully owned by the government at first and listed later on the Saudi bourse.
(Reuters, 4/25/16)
2016 Apr 25, In Syria a car bomb on the outskirts of the Sayeda Zeinab district south of Damascus killed at least 6 people, the third bombing attack in the area this year.
(Reuters, 4/25/16)
2016 Apr 25, Turkey said it has deported more than 3,300 foreigners suspected of links to jihadi groups, particularly Islamic State militants, and another 41,000 foreigners have been barred from entering the country as part of its fight against the militant group.
(AP, 4/25/16)
2016 Apr 25, Turkey's military said it has destroyed Islamic State's missile launcher in Syria some 20 km from the border town of Kilis which has been repeatedly his by rockets from the border. 2 Turkish soldiers were killed and four wounded in an armed attack by Kurdish militants in the southeastern town of Nusaybin near the Syrian border.
(Reuters, 4/25/16)
2016 Apr 25, Yemeni troops recaptured Mukalla, a key port city from Al-Qaeda militants who held it for a year. More than 800 al Qaeda fighters were reported killed. At least 27 Yemeni soldiers were killed in the government offensive, backed by Saudi-led forces. A US drone struck two vehicles carrying Al-Qaeda militants near the town of Azzan -- from which the jihadists have fled -- killing nine extremists.
(AFP, 4/25/16)(Reuters, 4/25/16)(AFP, 4/27/16)
2016 Apr 26, The United States and its allies conducted 23 strikes against Islamic State in Iraq.
(Reuters, 4/27/16)
2016 Apr 26, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump were a giant step closer to their parties' presidential nominations after crushing their respective Democratic and Republican rivals in a string of presidential primaries.
(AFP, 4/27/16)
2016 Apr 26, Australian PM Malcolm Turnbull announced that France has beaten Japan and Germany to win a A$50 billion ($40 billion) deal to build a fleet of 12 submarines for Australia, one of the world's most lucrative defense contracts.
(Reuters, 4/26/16)
2016 Apr 26, Junior doctors in England staged their first ever all-out strike in a bitter, deadlocked row with PM David Cameron's government over pay and conditions. The National Health Service employs more than 50,000 junior doctors.
(AFP, 4/26/16)
2016 Apr 26, In Cape Verde a disgruntled soldier, who had gone missing, was suspected of gunning down eight soldiers and three civilians, including two Spaniards. Suspect Manuel Antonio Silva Ribeiro (22) was arrested after a 24-hour manhunt.
(AP, 4/27/16)
2016 Apr 26, The Supreme Court in the Russia-annexed peninsula Crimea banned a Crimean Tatar group in the latest step to marginalize the minority.
(AP, 4/26/16)
2016 Apr 26, French train services were severely disrupted as tens of thousands of state rail workers protested over plans to reduce rest periods and other protective work practices in preparation for Europe-wide deregulation.
(Reuters, 4/26/16)
2016 Apr 26, German government workers called short-term strikes in the run-up to wage discussions later this week. Lufthansa said it has cancelled 895 flights scheduled for April 27 from six German airports as public-sector workers doing ground handling and security checks were expected to walk off the job.
(AP, 4/26/16)
2016 Apr 26, Iranian state TV said a court has sentenced four pro-reform journalists to prison terms ranging from five to 10 years after convicting them on charges of acting against national security.
(AP, 4/26/16)
2016 Apr 26, Iraqi lawmakers threw water bottles towards Iraq's premier and chanted against the parliament speaker, impeding a planned vote on a new cabinet lineup as thousands demonstrated for reforms nearby.
(AFP, 4/26/16)
2016 Apr 26, Dutch prosecutors said the former spokesman of Geert Wilder, the far-right Dutch politician who wants to ban Muslim immigration in Europe, embezzled nearly 180,000 euros ($203,000) in party funds to finance a luxury lifestyle.
(Reuters, 4/26/16)
2016 Apr 26, Palestinian novelist Rabai al-Madhoun received the $50,000 award, known as the "Arabic Booker," for "Destinies: Concerto of the Holocaust and Nakba" in Abu Dhabi, which sponsors the competition.
(AFP, 4/27/16)
2016 Apr 26, Papua New Guinea's Supreme Court ruled that Australia's detention of asylum seekers at a facility on the Pacific nation's Manus Island is unconstitutional. A day later PM Peter O’Neill announced the detention center would be closed.
(AP, 4/26/16)(SFC, 4/28/16, p.A4)
2016 Apr 26, South Sudan rebel chief Riek Machar was sworn in as vice-president in the capital Juba as part of a peace deal aimed at ending more than two years of ferocious civil war.
(AFP, 4/26/16)
2016 Apr 26, In Syria attacks by government forces and rebels killed at least 30 people, including 8 children, in the last 24 hours in Aleppo. 5 Civil Defense workers were killed west of Aleppo by air strikes and a rocket attack on their center.
(Reuters, 4/26/16)
2016 Apr 26, In Thailand a same-sex American-Spanish couple won a high-profile custody battle against a surrogate mother who gave birth to their child but then decided she wanted to keep the baby when she found out they were gay.
(AP, 4/26/16)
2016 Apr 27, The US-led military coalition targeted Islamic State in Iraq and Syria with 22 strikes.
(Reuters, 4/28/16)
2016 Apr 27, In Chicago Dennis Hastert (74), former US House speaker, was sentenced to 15 months in prison in a hush-money case that revealed accusations he sexually abused teenagers while coaching high school wrestling.
(SFC, 4/28/16, p.A6)
2016 Apr 27, The US state of Georgia executed Daniel Anthony Lucas (37) for the April 23, 1998, killings of a trucking company owner and his two children during a home burglary near Macon.
(SFC, 4/28/16, p.A6)
2016 Apr 27, In NYC police and federal agents arrested dozens of suspects in a wide-ranging investigation of rival street gangs that terrorized a Bronx neighborhood.
(SFC, 4/28/16, p.A6)
2016 Apr 27, It was reported that Islamic State supporters have published the names and addresses of 3,600 New Yorkers in an apparent "hit list" seemingly meant to escalate the group's campaign of sowing fear far from the battlefield in Syria. The names were released last week by a group calling itself United Cyber Caliphate on the encrypted chat application Telegram, which IS supporters are known to use to recruit supporters and spread propaganda.
(CSM, 4/27/16)
2016 Apr 27, Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam signed a bill into law that allows mental health counselors to refuse to treat patients based on the therapist’s religious or personal beliefs.
(SFC, 4/28/16, p.A6)
2016 Apr 27, China's top anti-graft authority said it has found irregularities at the country's second-largest lender, China Construction Bank Corp.
(Reuters, 4/27/16)
2016 Apr 27, In Egypt a roadside bomb in the North Sinai town of El-Arish targeted an armored personnel carrier and killed 3 policemen with 8 others wounded.
(AP, 4/27/16)
2016 Apr 27, The EU's police mission in Kosovo conducted a major operation against an Albanian-Serb organized crime ring. Six people were arrested and authorities were hunting for a governing party lawmaker suspected of being the ringleader.
(AP, 4/27/16)
2016 Apr 27, The French billionaire and art collector Francois Pinault announced the creation of a new contemporary art museum in central Paris.
(AP, 4/27/16)
2016 Apr 27, Paris attacks suspect Salah Abdeslam, Europe's most wanted fugitive until his capture in Belgium last month, was returned to France to face justice. His lawyer said Abdeslam is willing to cooperate.
(AP, 4/27/16)
2016 Apr 27, In Guatemala at least 4 people died in a landslide at a trash dump in Guatemala City. Two days later 24 people were listed as missing.
(http://tinyurl.com/hnqpobv)(SFC, 4/230/16, p.A2)
2016 Apr 27, Israeli police shot dead Palestinian woman Maram Abu Ismail (24) and her brother, Ibrahim Taha (16), saying they were armed with knives and tried to carry out an attack at a checkpoint in the occupied West Bank. Alaa Soboh, a Palestinian bus driver said he witnessed the incident, and that the pair appeared to be unfamiliar with crossing procedures and were swiftly challenged at the checkpoint.
(Reuters, 4/27/16)(SFC, 4/28/16, p.A2)
2016 Apr 27, Jordan banned a performance by popular Lebanese rock band Mashrou’ Leila ("Leila's Project") on religious grounds, spurring criticism of the Western-allied kingdom, which portrays itself as an island of tolerance in a turbulent region.
(AP, 4/27/16)
2016 Apr 27, In Kazakhstan hundreds of people staged street protests in the western city of Aktobe over land reform, a rare act of defiance that could pose a challenge to the leadership of President Nursultan Nazarbayev. Critics had staged their first protest in the city of Atyrau on April 24.
(AP, 4/27/16)
2016 Apr 27, Two of the US Air Force's most advanced jets landed in Lithuania for the first time in a show of force and support for a region worried by Russian military maneuvers. The two F-22 fighters had landed in Romania earlier this week and F-22s last year visited Poland and Estonia, all counties concerned about Russian military ambitions.
(AP, 4/27/16)
2016 Apr 27, A member of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) said thousands of Nepali women are being trafficked every year as sex workers and bonded laborers, and China and South Korea are emerging as new destinations.
(AP, 4/27/16)
2016 Apr 27, In Spain construction workers came across 19 amphoras containing thousands of bronze and silver-coated coins dating from the end of the fourth century in the southern town of Tomares outside Seville. The coins are believed to have been recently minted at the time and had probably been stored away to pay soldiers or civil servants.
(AP, 4/29/16)
2016 Apr 27, In Sudan clashes between government troops and rebels began and continued until late April 29, with fighting initially erupting west of the town of Um Serdiba, South Kordofan state, leaving six insurgents dead and several wounded.
(AFP, 4/30/16)
2016 Apr 27, Thailand's military government turned up the pressure on its opponents, filing a legal complaint against critics of a proposed new constitution and detaining 10 people in connection with social media postings.
(AP, 4/27/16)
2016 Apr 27, In Turkey a woman suicide bomber blew herself up in Bursa, killing herself and wounding at least 10 people.
(AFP, 4/27/16)
2016 Apr 27, In eastern Ukraine at least five people including a pregnant woman were killed and more than 10 injured on the front line in the worst civilian loss of life there in months. The victims were spending the night in their cars at the checkpoint outside the village of Olenivka hoping to cross the line in the morning.
(AP, 4/27/16)
2016 Apr 27, Venezuelan cities cleaned up from a night of looting and fiery protests as government offices closed their doors for the rest of the week in the face of a worsening energy crisis that is causing daily blackouts.
(AP, 4/27/16)
2016 Apr 27, A Zanzibar health official said a cholera outbreak on the island archipelago has killed at least 45 people since March and that 3,000 people have been hospitalized with the disease.
(AP, 4/27/16)
2016 Apr 28, In southern California federal agents arrested three people, including the older brother of San Bernadino gunman Syed Rizwan Farook, on charges of marriage fraud and lying to federal investigators. Farook was one of two people killed by police following the Dec 2 attack at the Inland Regional Center in the city of San Bernardino.
(SFC, 4/28/16, p.A6)
2016 Apr 28, In the SF Bay Area Keith Green (27) disappeared. He was supposed to meet Tiffany Li, the mother of his two daughters, at a Millbrae pancake house. His body was found on May 11 in a field off Highway 101 near Healdsburg. Li was arrested May 21 for orchestrating his murder, which was reportedly carried out by Kevin Bayat (30) and Oliver Adella (41). In 2017 Li posted a $35 million bail, with cash and property valued at $66 million. Bayat and Adella remained in jail. On Nov. 15, 2019, Tiffany Li was found not guilty. A mistrial was declared in the case of Kevin Bayat.
(SFC, 4/7/17, p.D4)(SFC, 11/16/19, p.C3)
2016 Apr 28, A Bahrain court sentenced eight people to life in prison on various terrorism-related charges connected to protests by the country's majority Shiites demanding greater rights from the tiny-island nation's Sunni-led monarchy.
(AP, 4/28/16)
2016 Apr 28, China passed a law tightening controls over foreign non-governmental organizations (NGOs) by subjecting them to close police supervision, a move officials say will help the groups but critics charge is the latest attempt by authorities to clamp down on perceived threats to the ruling Communist Party's control. The “Law of the People’s Republic of China on Administration of Activities of Overseas Nongovernmental Organizations in the Mainland of China" was adopted by the National People’s Congress Standing Committee. It came into effect January 1, 2017.
(https://tinyurl.com/yxvxhlqh)(AP, 4/28/16)
2016 Apr 28, Colombia became the fourth South American country to allow same-sex marriage when the constitutional court definitively legalized it.
(AFP, 4/29/16)
2016 Apr 28, French protesters were back on the streets over proposed reforms to the country's labor rules and strikers have forced cancellations and delays at two airports serving Paris.
(AP, 4/28/16)
2016 Apr 28, Paris-based Drug maker Sanofi said it has made a $9.3 billion bid for San Francisco pharmaceutical firm Medivation, part of the firm's effort to expand its portfolio of cancer treatments.
(AP, 4/28/16)
2016 Apr 28, The former Soviet Republic of Georgia said it has arrested five people have been arrested for trying to sell more than a kilogram of uranium. Georgia announced on April 18 that six people were arrested for trying to sell uranium.
(AP, 4/28/16)
2016 Apr 28, India’s eastern state of Bihar issued an advisory asking people not to cook or conduct religious ceremonies between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. after 10 children and five adults were killed in a fire sparked during a Hindu prayer ceremony in the Aurangabad district. Accidental fires exacerbated by dry, hot and windy weather had swept through shantytowns and thatched-roof houses in villages killing 79 people. At least 300 people have died of heat-related illness this month including 110 in Orissa state, 137 in Talangana state and another 45 in Andhra Pradesh state.
(AP, 4/30/16)(http://tinyurl.com/znslygz)(SFC, 4/30/16, p.A4)
2016 Apr 28, In southern India a female law student (30) was sexually penetrated by sharp objects before being murdered in her home in Perumbavoor, Kerala state. On May 3 police detained three men for questioning in the rape and murder.
(AP, 5/3/16)
2016 Apr 28, Italian police arrested four people suspected of conspiring to join Islamic State in the Middle East in a probe that revealed a plan to carry out a militant attack in Italy.
(Reuters, 4/28/16)
2016 Apr 28, In Japan Rina Shimabukuro (20) went missing, after she messaged her boyfriend that she was going for a walk. On May 19 police arrested Kenneth Shinzato, aka Kenneth Franklin Gadson (32), an American working as a computer and electrical contractor on the Kadena Air Base. After he was questioned investigators found the body at a location he provided, a forest in central Okinawa.
(AP, 5/20/16)(http://tinyurl.com/hezwoak)(Econ, 6/25/16, p.35)
2016 Apr 28, Lebanese soldiers killed Fayez al-Shaalaan, an Islamic State leader known as Abu Fawz, when the army attacked an Islamic State position on the edge of the town of Arsal in north Lebanon.
(Reuters, 4/28/16)
2016 Apr 28, In Myanmar Buddhist monks joined several hundred protesters outside the US Embassy in Yangon to demand it stop using the term "Rohingya" to refer to a Muslim ethnic minority group. The protesters insisted the group be called "Bengali" and be regarded as illegal migrants from Bangladesh.
(AP, 4/28/16)
2016 Apr 28, A Myanmar environment official said the government has banned lucrative logging operations as the newly-elected government of democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi steps up a battle on deforestation. The measure will cover teak and other hardwoods all across the country.
(Reuters, 4/28/16)
2016 Apr 28, Two suspected powerful intermediate-range North Korean missiles failed to launch, bringing the total to three apparent failures in recent weeks.
(AP, 4/28/16)
2016 Apr 28, Russia launched its first rocket from the new Vostochny cosmodrome in the remote Amur Region near China's border, a day after a technical glitch forced a postponement of the event to carry three satellites into orbit.
(Reuters, 4/28/16)
2016 Apr 28, Serbia said it will re-run voting at 15 polling stations after days of bickering among the ruling and opposition parties over alleged irregularities in the April 24 election, a move that could significantly affect the outcome.
(Reuters, 4/28/16)
2016 Apr 28, In Syria rebel rocket and artillery fire on government-held neighborhoods of Aleppo killed 18 civilians. Regime air strikes on rebel-held districts, including the densely populated Bustan al-Qasr neighborhood, killed 31 civilians as the Syrian army prepared an offensive to retake the city. Monitors and activists say at least 60 people have been killed in airstrikes on Aleppo in the last 24 hours, including at least 27 who were killed when an MSF-supported hospital and nearby buildings were hit.
(AFP, 4/28/16)(AP, 4/28/16)(SFC, 4/30/16, p.A3)
2016 Apr 28, In Turkey an Istanbul court sentenced two prominent journalists to two years behind bars for illustrating their columns with a cartoon of the Prophet Mohammed published by French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo.
(AFP, 4/28/16)
2016 Apr 28, The Vatican's financial watchdog said it received 544 reports of suspicious financial transactions last year, thanks in part to beefed-up efforts to flag potential tax cheats who are using the Vatican bank to hide money.
(AP, 4/28/16)
2016 Apr 28, In Yemen a suicide car bomber in women's clothes detonated his explosives-laden vehicle near the house of the southern city of Aden's security chief, wounding two people.
(AP, 4/28/16)
2016 Apr 29, US Vice President Joe Biden came to the Vatican to call for a global commitment to fund cancer research that benefits everyone, not just the "privileged and powerful."
(AP, 4/29/16)
2016 Apr 29, The United States and Russia agreed on a "freeze" in fighting along two major fronts in Syria, but not in war-ravaged Aleppo as of midnight.
(AP, 4/29/16)
2016 Apr 29, US Customs and Border protection said seven tons of marijuana have been seized inside a truck at the Otay Mesa port of entry in San Diego.
(SSFC, 5/1/16, p.A7)
2016 Apr 29, In Michigan former Roman Catholic priest James Rapp (75) was sentenced to at least 20 years in prison for sexually abusing students at Lumen Christi High School in Jackson in the 1980s. Rapp was in prison in Oklahoma for similar crimes when he was charged in Michigan last year.
(AP, 4/29/16)
2016 Apr 29, A former head of Brazil's forestry service said Brazil was still losing tropical forests the size of two soccer fields every minute, despite attempts to tackle illegal logging and improve local land rights.
(Reuters, 4/29/16)
2016 Apr 29, In China a roadside activity center was crushed by stones from an overturned truck, leaving 14 people dead in the southern province of Guizhou. The accident was apparently caused by the failure of the truck's brakes.
(AP, 4/30/16)
2016 Apr 29, Cuban officials said visiting British Foreign Secretary Anthony Hammond has reached an agreement on restructuring Cuban debt payments in a meeting with President Raul Castro.
(AFP, 4/30/16)
2016 Apr 29, The European Union said it was giving an additional 38 million euros in cash aid to Haiti, which is combatting drought and a migration crisis with neighboring Dominican Republic.
(AFP, 4/29/16)
2016 Apr 29, An expert panel told the Finnish government that Finland could expect "harsh" reactions from Russia if it decided to join NATO, but would be better off doing so together with neighboring Sweden.
(AP, 4/29/16)
2016 Apr 29, French riot police arrested 27 people during overnight clashes with dozens of youths in central Paris, following a day of protest marches over labor law reforms that turned violent.
(Reuters, 4/29/16)
2016 Apr 29, French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said France will increase the number of its troops in Ivory Coast from 500 to 900, on a trip to the African nation which hosts a regional base for French forces.
(AFP, 4/30/16)
2016 Apr 29, Germany's federal and local governments reached agreement with public sector workers on a pay rise, settling a dispute that grounded hundreds of flights during a warning strike two days earlier.
(AFP, 4/29/16)
2016 Apr 29, In Guyana four gunmen raided a hotel casino in Georgetown, leading to a shootout in which five people were wounded. One of the attackers was arrested.
(AP, 4/29/16)
2016 Apr 29, Honduran officials fired more than two dozen top police officers in an aggressive move to purge security forces that have been accused of being infiltrated by organized crime.
(Reuters, 4/29/16)
2016 Apr 29, Iranians voted in the country's parliamentary runoff elections for 68 seats where no candidate had won decisively in the first round. Reformist and moderate politicians allied with President Hassan Rouhani won twice as many seats as their conservative rivals in the second round of parliamentary elections.
(AP, 4/29/16)(AFP, 4/30/16)
2016 Apr 29, Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta demanded a total ban on trade in ivory to end trafficking and prevent the extinction of elephants in the wild.
(AFP, 4/29/16)
2016 Apr 29, In Kenya a six-story building in Nairobi collapsed late today following heavy rain. A woman was rescued on May 5 after being trapped for six days in the rubble. Over the next days the death toll rose to 49 people with dozens still missing.
(Reuters, 4/30/16)(AP, 5/5/16)(Reuters, 5/8/16)
2016 Apr 29, In Mauritania thousands of people marched for the rights of former slaves and to denounce injustice against them in the west African nation where slavery persists despite being officially abolished decades ago. Australia-based Walk Free Movement estimated in its 2014 Global Slavery Index that there were 156,000 slaves in Mauritania, or some four percent of the population.
(AP, 4/30/16)
2016 Apr 29, North Korea's Supreme Court sentenced Kim Dong Chul (62), a Korean American man, to 10 years hard labor for subversion.
(Reuters, 4/29/16)
2016 Apr 29, Off western Norway a helicopter traveling from a North Sea oil field to Bergen, 120 km (74 miles) away on the Norwegian mainland, crashed into a tiny island killing all 13 aboard. In 2017 the country's Accident Investigation Board (AIBN) said metal fatigue in the aircraft's gearbox caused the crash.
(AP, 4/29/16)(Reuters, 4/28/17)
2016 Apr 29, In Pakistan the charred body of Ambreen Riasat (17) was found in a burned van in the tourist resort of Donga Gali. On May 5 police said they have arrested 13 members of a local tribal council who strangled a local girl and set her body on fire for helping one of her friends elope.
(AP, 5/5/16)
2016 Apr 29, Saudi Arabia's Interior Ministry said security forces have killed two militants before they were able to detonate a car bomb in the southwestern town of Bisha.
(AP, 4/30/16)
2016 Apr 29, A South African court ruled President Jacob Zuma (74) should face 738 corruption charges that were dropped in 2009.
(AP, 4/29/16)
2016 Apr 29, South Sudan's leaders formed a transitional coalition government bringing together politicians from the government and the armed opposition who have been at war for two and a half years.
(AP, 4/29/16)
2016 Apr 29, In Sri Lanka hundreds of journalists and media rights activists protested to demand the new government start a fresh investigation into the abduction and killing of a prominent ethnic Tamil journalist 11 years ago, during the country's civil war.
(AP, 4/29/16)
2016 Apr 29, Syria called local truces near Damascus and in a northern province but no halt to combat on the main battlefield in Aleppo. Crude barrel bombs crashed into residential neighborhoods of Aleppo amid wailing ambulances. At least 17 people were killed in regime bombardment of the city's eastern districts. Rebel groups fired a barrage of rockets on government-controlled western neighborhoods. At least 15 people were killed when rockets struck the Malla Khan mosque in the government held Bab al-Faraj district.
(Reuters, 4/29/16)(AFP, 4/29/16)(SFC, 4/30/16, p.A3)
2016 Apr 29, Two Ukrainian soldiers were killed in fresh fighting between government forces and pro-Russian rebels in the east even as a new truce took effect.
(AFP, 4/29/16)
2016 Apr 29, The UN Security Council voted to restore the UN mission in disputed Western Sahara but was divided over the steps demanded from Morocco to bring the peacekeeping force back to full operations.
(AFP, 4/29/16)
2016 Apr 29, Thousands of Yemenis took to the streets to call for an end to the fighting in the country's conflict.
(AP, 4/29/16)
2016 Apr 30, The Rev. Daniel Berrigan (b.1921), a Roman Catholic priest and peace activist who was imprisoned for burning draft files in a protest against the Vietnam War, died in NYC.
(AP, 5/1/16)(SFC, 5/2/16, p.C4)(Econ, 5/21/16, p.82)
2016 Apr 30, In Texas a grandmother and 4 of her grandchildren were killed and another person also died in floods caused by storms that unleashed tornadoes, damaging hail and torrential rains on several central US states.
(Reuters, 5/1/16)
2016 Apr 30, Afghanistan said government forces have launched operations against the Taliban in 18 provinces as fighting has intensified since the start of the insurgents' spring offensive this month.
(Reuters, 4/30/16)
2016 Apr 29, Tens of thousands of Argentines marched in a noisy protest against job cuts imposed under President Mauricio Macri's economic reforms.
(AFP, 4/29/16)
2016 Apr 30, In Bangladesh two assailants sped up to a tailor's shop by motorcycle, dragged out Hindu owner Nikhil Chandra Joardar (50) and hacked him to death in Tangail. Islamic State militants claimed responsibility for the killing. Police the next day detained three men in connection to the killing.
(Reuters, 4/30/16)(AP, 5/1/16)
2016 Apr 30, It was reported that Cambodia's PM Hun Sen has ordered a million hectares of forest be included in protected zones as the country faces one of the world's fastest deforestation rates.
(AFP, 4/30/16)
2016 Apr 30, China laid out firm conditions for improved ties with Japan, telling Tokyo's visiting foreign minister Fumio Kishida that there could be "no ambiguity or vacillation" in meeting Beijing's demands over historical interpretation, relations with Taiwan and other key matters.
(AP, 4/30/16)
2016 Apr 30, Colombian officials in Medellin arrested top Peruvian crime lord Gerson Galvez, also known as Caracol (Snail), dangerous enough to be compared to Mexico's Joaquin "Chapo" Guzman. Galvez was extradited to Peru within 24 hours.
(AFP, 5/1/16)(SFC, 5/3/16, p.A2)
2016 Apr 30, An Egyptian court sentenced 20 people to life in prison for storming a prison in the Suez Canal city of Port Said in January 2013. The case stems from a riot that ensued after a court issued death sentences to people allegedly involved in Egypt's worst ever soccer violence at a match in 2012 in violence killed 72 people.
(AP, 4/30/16)
2016 Apr 30, German riot police arrested some 400 protesters as clashes erupted outside a meeting of the right-wing populist AfD party, which is set to adopt an anti-Islamic manifesto amid a rise in European anti-migrant groups. Up to 2,000 left-wing demonstrators clashed with police as they tried to break up the first full AfD conference.
(AFP, 4/30/16)(Reuters, 5/1/16)
2016 Apr 30, In Iraq hundreds of supporters of Shi'ite Muslim cleric Moqtada al-Sadr stormed into Baghdad's Green Zone and entered the parliament building after lawmakers failed to convene for a vote on overhauling the government.
(Reuters, 4/30/16)
2016 Apr 30, In Iraq an Islamic State attack targeted Shiite civilians shopping in an open-air market killing at least 21 people and wounded at least 42 others in Nahrawan.
(AP, 4/30/16)
2016 Apr 30, Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta set fire to the world's biggest ivory bonfire, after demanding a total ban on trade in tusks and horns to end "murderous" trafficking and prevent the extinction of elephants in the wild. Some 100 tons of elephant ivory and more than 1 ton of rhino horn were destroyed.
(AFP, 4/30/16)(SSFC, 5/1/16, p.A4)
2016 Apr 30, In Saudi Arabia employees at the Saudi Binladin Group, a construction giant, set fire to more than seven company buses in the latest protest by disgruntled staff over not being paid salaries for months and a large round of reported layoffs.
(AP, 5/1/16)
2016 Apr 30, In Serbia thousands of opposition supporters protested in front of the state electoral commission over what their leaders said was widespread vote rigging by the ruling populists. Vucic's right-wing Serbian Progressive Party won 48 percent of the seats in the 250-seat parliament.
(AP, 4/30/16)(AP, 5/23/16)
2016 Apr 30, Authorities in South Sudan said they have recovered 32 of the 125 Ethiopian children who the Ethiopian government said were abducted from its Gambela region two weeks ago during a deadly cattle raid blamed on a South Sudanese militia.
(AP, 4/30/16)
2016 Apr 30, In Syria terrified residents fled a new wave of air strikes on rebel-held areas of Aleppo, as a "freeze" in fighting held on two other fronts.
(AFP, 4/30/16)
2016 Apr 30, In Syria a suicide bomber killed five Kurdish policemen at a checkpoint in the divided northeastern city of Qamishli.
(AFP, 4/30/16)
2016 Apr 30, The Turkish military says it conducted overnight airstrikes against Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq and southeast Turkey.
(AP, 4/30/16)
2016 Apr 30, Venezuela's Pres. Nicolas Maduro ordered a 30 percent increase in the minimum wage, the latest move by the socialist government to grapple with high inflation and economic stagnation. The boost comes after a 25 percent increase on March 1.
(AP, 5/1/16)
2016 Apr 30, Yemen's warring parties began face-to-face peace talks in Kuwait on "key issues" in a bid to end the conflict in the impoverished Arab country.
(AFP, 4/30/16)
2016 Apr, Goldman Sachs completed its purchase of GE’s internet banking subsidiary bringing it $16 billion in retail deposits.
(Econ, 4/30/16, p.67)
2016 Apr, US-based Rational Vaccines began testing an experimental herpes vaccine on the Caribbean island of St. Kitts. In 2017 the government of St. Kitts and Nevis announced the opening of an investigation into the clinical trial because officials had not been notified.
(SFC, 9/5/17, p.D1)
2016 Apr, In Austria a woman (21) was raped in a station toilet in Vienna by three Afghan teenagers, one of the first serious crimes committed by asylum seekers after Austria was swept up in Europe's migration crisis in 2015.
(AP, 1/31/17)
2016 Apr, Britain’s Sir John Chilcot, head of the Chilcot Inquiry, delivered a complete record of Britain’s involvement in Iraq from mid-2001 to 2009. Formation of the inquiry was announced on 15 June 2009 by then PM Gordon Brown.
(Econ, 4/23/16, p.48)
2016 Apr, At a London meeting Maltese academic Joseph Mifsud told an adviser to Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump that the Kremlin had "thousands of emails" about his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton.
(AP, 10/22/18)
2016 Apr, Ethereum coders created a sort of venture capital fund without venture capitalist, called DAO. Anyone could join by transferring digital coins called ether, the Ethereum equivalent of bitcoin, to a smart contract which represents the fund. Vitalik Buterin (23), a Russian-Canadian programming prodigy, launched Ethereum, a new type of blockchain meant as a platform for smart contracts. Flaws soon allowed a hacker to take out about $50 million. In July the Ethereum community agreed to change its rules, allowing the original owners to withdraw their contributions.
(Econ, 7/30/16, p.53)
2016 Apr, In China Pony Ma (aka Ma Huateng b.1971), the founder of Tencent, a Chinese gaming and social media giant, said he will donate shares worth over $2 billion to his firm’s charitable foundation.
(Econ, 7/16/16, p.57)
2016 Apr, India's Maharashtra state became the first in the country to ban village councils from imposing "social boycotts" that ostracize individuals or families for defying tradition.
(Reuters, 5/13/16)
2016 Apr, In India an American tourist was drugged and raped in her hotel room. On Dec 26 police said they have arrested four suspects including a tour guide, his associate, a car driver and a hotel worker. The suspects denied the accusations.
(SFC, 12/27/16, p.A2)
2016 Apr, It was estimated that some 5,000 IS fighters were operating in Libya.
(Econ, 4/9/16, p.14)
2016 Apr, Zambia police said a number of murders took place in Lusaka where victims had ears, hearts and genitals removed, raising suspicion of ritual killings.
(Reuters, 5/10/16)
2016 May 1, The United States and its allies conducted 25 strikes against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
(Reuters, 5/2/16)
2016 May 1, A CSX freight train derailed in northeastern Washington DC, with several cars overturned and leaking hazardous liquids near the Rhode Island Avenue Metro Station.
(AP, 5/1/16)
2016 May 1, Virginia officials said a fire that has burned over ten thousand acres in Shenandoah National Park has been fully contained.
(SFC, 5/2/16, p.A6)
2016 May 1, Pacific Alliance members (Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela) eliminated tariffs on 92% of their trade with each other and planned to phase out the rest over 17 years.
(Econ, 5/14/16, p.26)
2016 May 1, In western Canada a wildfire broke out in the of Fort McMurray area of Alberta. By May 22 it had scorched 1,930 square miles.
(SSFC, 5/22/16, p.A6)
2016 May 1, China extended its value-added tax (VAT) from the sale mainly of goods to all major service sectors, including construction and finance.
(Econ, 5/7/16, p.38)
2016 May 1, Egyptian police raided the press syndicate in Cairo and arrested two journalists critical of the government.
(Reuters, 5/2/16)
2016 May 1, In Egypt some 650 workers from several provinces, who came to hold a meeting in Cairo for International Workers' Day, were prevented from assembling by police.
(AP, 5/1/16)
2016 May 1, Delegates from Germany's anti-immigration party Alternative for Germany (AfD) backed an election manifesto that says Islam is not compatible with the country's constitution and calls for a ban on minarets and the burqa.
(Reuters, 5/1/16)
2016 May 1, In Iraq two suicide car bombs claimed by Islamic State killed at least 32 people and wounded 75 others in the center of the southern Iraqi city of Samawa.
(Reuters, 5/1/16)
2016 May 1, Jamaican police said that US missionaries Randy Hentzel (48) and Harold Nichols (53) were found slain in a rural area of the Caribbean island that has long struggled with high rates of violent crime.
(AP, 5/1/16)
2016 May 1, In central Mali Pro-government militia killed 4 members of the Peuhl ethnic group and then struck again at a funeral the next day, killing 9 more victims. the Peuhl community have been accused of collaborating with the Macina Liberation Front, an Islamic extremist group active in the area.
(AP, 5/4/16)
2016 May 1, In Somalia Al Shabaab insurgents killed at least 11 government soldiers and retook Runirgod, a town northeast of the capital Mogadishu, just one day after it had fallen to government forces. Al Shabaab said its fighters had killed 32 soldiers and captured three vehicles.
(AP, 5/1/16)(SFC, 5/2/16, p.A2)
2016 May 1, Taiwanese officials protested Malaysia's deportation of 32 of the self-ruled island's nationals to China this weekend to face wire fraud charges, the latest in a series of disputes that has raised new friction between China and Taiwan.
(AP, 5/1/16)
2016 May 1, Turkish police clamped down on unauthorized protests during a tense May Day in Istanbul, using tear gas and water cannon against demonstrators and imposing a heavy security blanket on the city.
(AFP, 5/1/16)
2016 May 1, In Turkey a car bomb struck the entrance of a police station in the southern city of Gaziantep, killing 2 officials and injuring 23 other people. 3 Turkish soldiers were killed and 14 others wounded in an attack in the Kurdish-dominated southeast blamed on militants from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).
(AP, 5/1/16)(AFP, 5/1/16)(Econ, 5/21/16, p.48)
2016 May 1, In eastern Ukraine 3 deaths were reported in fighting despite a recently brokered armistice for Orthodox Easter.
(AP, 5/1/16)
2016 May 1, Yemen's Houthi movement and its armed allies seized a military base north of the capital Sanaa, dealing a setback to a shaky ceasefire and peace talks in Kuwait aimed at ending a year-long war. A car bomb in a central square in Aden targeted the city's security chief for the second time in a week and killed 4 soldiers.
(Reuters, 5/1/16)
2016 May 1, Yemen’s government delegation suspended its participation in peace talks in Kuwait because of developments in the governorate of Amran, which reportedly came under rebel attack.
(AP, 5/2/16)
2016 May 2, The United States and its allies targeted Islamic State on Monday with 29 strikes against the militants in Syrian and Iraq, including the northern city of Mosul under militant control.
(Reuters, 5/3/16)
2016 May 2, Solar Impulse 2 completed the 10th leg of its journey, landing in Arizona after a 16-hour flight from California. The solar-powered airplane was midway through a historic bid to circle the globe.
(AP, 5/3/16)
2016 May 2, The first US cruise ship in nearly 40 years crossed the Florida Straits from Miami and pulled into Havana Harbor, restarting commercial travel on waters that served as a stage for a half-century of Cold War hostility.
(AP, 5/2/16)
2016 May 2, A St. Louis jury ruled that Johnson & Johnson pay $55 million to a woman who claims its talcum powder caused her ovarian cancer.
(SFC, 5/4/16, p.A5)
2016 May 2, An Afghan police officer accused his wife of having affairs and then shot her in public before shooting himself in eastern Paktika province.
(AP, 5/2/16)
2016 May 2, Craig Wright, an Australian man long rumored to be associated with the digital currency Bitcoin, publicly identified himself as its creator, a claim that would end one of the biggest mysteries in the tech world. BBC News said that Wright told the media outlet he is the man previously known by the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto. The computer scientist, inventor and academic said he launched the currency in 2009 with the help of others.
(AP, 5/2/16)
2016 May 2, China's Communist Party said it has placed Ren Zhiqiang, a property mogul and outspoken government critic, on probation for a year after he criticized state media for pledging absolute loyalty to the party.
(AP, 5/2/16)
2016 May 2, Egypt's journalists' syndicate called for the dismissal of the interior minister and an immediate sit-in at its headquarters in downtown Cairo, to protest the police detention of two journalists on its premises the night earlier.
(AP, 5/2/16)
2016 May 2, Around 400 people gathered in Hong Kong to protest a veteran newspaper editor's dismissal that triggered concerns about press freedom in the semiautonomous Chinese territory.
(AP, 5/2/16)
2016 May 2, In northern India dozens of fires were spreading unpredictably in the states of Uttarakhand and neighboring Himachal Pradesh. Massive wildfires in the two states have killed at least seven people in recent weeks. The fires extended into Nepal where 11 people have died fighting fires across the country, the worst in six years.
(AP, 5/2/16)(Reuters, 5/2/16)
2016 May 2, Survivors of Indonesia's anti-communist massacres in 1965 submitted a list of what they say are more than 100 mass graves to the government after the president called for an investigation into the killings.
(AP, 5/2/16)
2016 May 2, Indonesian police fatally shot Amokrane Sabet (49), a French citizen, after he stabbed a policeman to death while resisting arrest on the resort island of Bali.
(AP, 5/2/16)
2016 May 2, In Iraq an explosives-laden car detonated in Baghdad, killing at least 18 Shiite pilgrims. Tens of thousands of Shiite faithful have been making their way this week to the northern Baghdad neighborhood of Kadhimiyah, where the 8th century Imam Moussa al-Kadhim is buried.
(AP, 5/2/16)
2016 May 2, Japan said it wants to work with countries in the lower Mekong river basin and will help them improve infrastructure and bolster development with 750 billion yen ($7 billion) in aid over three years.
(Reuters, 5/2/16)
2016 May 2, Puerto Rico’s Gov. Alejandro Garcia Padilla announced that the government will not make nearly $370 million in bond payments due today after a failure to restructure or find a political solution to the US territory's spiraling public debt crisis.
(AP, 5/2/16)
2016 May 2, Syria's military extended a unilateral cease-fire around Damascus and opposition strongholds in the eastern suburbs of the capital for another 48 hours, as a humanitarian convoy delivered aid to 12,000 families trapped in a government-besieged area in central Syria.
(AP, 5/2/16)
2016 May 2, Turkish warplanes pounded Kurdish rebel positions in northern Iraq, killing 18 militants.
(AP, 5/3/16)
2016 May 2, A UN arbitration court ruled that India should release Italian marine Salvatore Girone, who has been detained in Delhi for more than four years, and allow him to return home.
(Reuters, 5/2/16)
2016 May 3, The United States and its coalition partners launched 22 strikes against Islamic State in Iraq, including 10 near the key city of Mosul.
(Reuters, 5/4/16)
2016 May 3, In Chicago a 15-year-old student from Spain fell ill and later was found not breathing in her bed. In 2018 Francis Emanuele (38), a suburban Chicago man, pleaded guilty to supplying a fatal dose of methadone to the student.
(AP, 11/6/18)
2016 May 3, In Michigan nearly all of Detroit’s schools were closed for a 2nd consecutive day after hundreds of teachers called in sick over concerns that many may not get paid if the district runs out of money. Classes resumed on May 4 after teachers received assurances they would be paid for the school year.
(SFC, 5/4/16, p.A5)(SFC, 5/5/16, p.A6)
2016 May 3, In New Mexico the body of Ashlynne Mike (11) was found after she and her brother were kidnapped a day earlier near San Juan in the Navajo Nation. Suspect Tom Begaye (27) was soon arrested and faced murder charges.
(http://tinyurl.com/j848mxx)(SFC, 5/7/16, p.A6)
2016 May 3, New York former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (72) was sentenced to 12 years in prison following his conviction last year in a $5 million corruption case. On July 13, 2017, a federal appeals court overturned the conviction.
(SFC, 5/4/16, p.A6)(SFC, 7/14/17, p.A6)
2016 May 3, A new report by Transparency Int’l. said almost a third of the people in nine countries surveyed in the Middle East have had to pay a bribe to access some kind of public service.
(SFC, 5/4/16, p.A3)
2016 May 3, In Bangladesh a special war crimes court sentenced four men to death for killing, torture, arson and looting during the nation's independence war against Pakistan in 1971. Only one suspect, Shamsuddin Ahmed, was in court for the verdict. Authorities were still hunting for the other three: Gazi Abdul Mannan, Hafiz Uddin, and Shamsuddin Ahmed's brother, Nasiruddin.
(AP, 5/3/16)
2016 May 3, Authorities in northern Cameroon said a local self-defense group used a poisoned arrow to kill a woman with explosives strapped to her body. The woman had crossed over from neighboring Nigeria along with a girl (14), who girl also died when she detonated her own explosives.
(AP, 5/3/16)
2016 May 3, A Chinese state-run newspaper reported that the influential Communist Youth League has had its budget slashed by more than 50 percent for this year, after the organization came under fire in official media over graft scandals and inefficiency.
(Reuters, 5/3/16)
2016 May 3, In northeastern Congo DRC 17 people were killed by armed attackers in Beni despite the presence of a UN outpost with 3,000 peacekeepers 20 miles away. UN blue helmets numbered 18,900 in the country.
(Econ, 5/21/16, p.55)
2016 May 3, In Corsica the so-called October 22 splinter group of the National Liberation Front of Corsica (FLNC) said it would end "military operations", two years after the main militant movement on the French island laid down its arms.
(AFP, 5/3/16)
2016 May 3, The Cuban government announced that farm products sold in state-controlled markets would have prices capped at levels affordable for the average person, who earns a state salary of about $25 a month. The government measure included a series of exceptions for private vendors, allowing them to continue to set prices for their goods that are often far higher than prices in state-controlled markets.
(AP, 5/3/16)
2016 May 3, Memos containing internal instructions from Egypt's Interior Ministry were leaked to the media, outlining strategies on how to deflect public outrage over arrests it made inside the journalists' union, handle the media in general, and deal with the case of an Italian student found tortured to death.
(AP, 5/3/16)
2016 May 3, Iranian cartoonist Atena Farghadani, imprisoned over portraying lawmakers as animals to criticize a draft law restricting contraception and criminalizing voluntary sterilization, was released from Evin prison after an appeals court last month reduced her initial 12-year prison sentence to 18 months.
(AP, 5/3/16)
2016 May 3, In Iraq tens of thousands of Shiite pilgrims converged on a golden-domed Shiite shrine in Baghdad to commemorate the anniversary of the death of a revered imam as authorities tightened security measures in the capital amid concerns of more attacks by Sunni extremists.
(AP, 5/3/16)
2016 May 3, In northern Iraq Islamic State militants killed a US Navy SEAL after blasting through Kurdish defenses and overrunning a town in the biggest offensive in the area for months.
(Reuters, 5/3/16)
2016 May 3, Amnesty International said Iraq is holding more than 1,000 detainees, some as young as 15, without charge in "inhumane and degrading conditions" at makeshift holding centers in western Anbar province.
(Reuters, 5/3/16)
2016 May 3, Israel's Tax Authority said inspectors uncovered four tons of ammonium chloride— enough to produce hundreds of rockets— hidden inside sacks of salt about two weeks ago as the shipment was being transferred to Gaza.
(AP, 5/3/16)
2016 May 3, In western Myanmar a fire burned down a camp that sheltered members of the country's persecuted Rohingya minority, leaving 440 families homeless.
(AP, 5/3/16)
2016 May 3, A Nepali official said Canadian Robert Penne, living and working in Nepal, has been ordered to leave the country within two days for criticizing the government on social media.
(Reuters, 5/3/16)
2016 May 3, Pakistan's army chief signed off on the death sentences of 11 members of the Taliban convicted of terrorism, kidnappings, attacks on civilians as well as assaults on police and army officers. The 11 had the right to appeal.
(AP, 5/4/16)
2016 May 3, In Pakistan Aftab Husain, a prominent party activist and an aide to Farooq Sattar, MQM leader in the National Assembly, died two days following his arrest in Karachi. MQM accused the regional paramilitary Pakistan Rangers force of killing Hussain. The Rangers, who answer to the Ministry of Interior and to the army, said Husain was "wanted in several criminal cases" and had died of a heart attack.
(Reuters, 5/3/16)
2016 May 3, The Philippine defense chief said his government has agreed in principle to lease five Japanese surveillance planes to be used in patrolling disputed areas of the South China Sea and in search-and-rescue missions during disasters.
(AP, 5/3/16)
2016 May 3, Spain's King Felipe VI signed a decree setting a historic new election for June 26 after politicians chosen in an inconclusive December ballot failed to agree on which of them should form a government, despite months of negotiations.
(AP, 5/3/16)
2016 May 3, In Syria heavy air strikes throughout the night on the Islamic State group's de facto capital Raqa killed 19 civilians and 10 jihadists. Syrian opposition fighters shelled government-held parts of Aleppo. Battles in the city killed at least 20 people.
(AFP, 5/3/16) (AP, 5/3/16)(SFC, 5/4/16, p.A3)
2016 May 3, Zimbabwe put its wild animals up for sale, saying it needed buyers to step in and save the beasts from a devastating drought.
(Reuters, 5/3/16)
2016 May 4, Pres. Obama visited Flint, Michigan, showing support for the local residents by drinking filtered city water.
(SFC, 5/5/16, p.A6)
2016 May 4, The US government said Japanese-based Takata Corp. will recall another 35-40 million air bag inflators bringing the total recall to as many as 69 million.
(SFC, 5/5/16, p.C1)
2016 May 4, The United States and its allies conducted 18 strikes against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
(Reuters, 5/5/16)
2016 May 4, US Army Gen. Curtis M. Scaparrotti (60) took over as the military leader responsible for the overall direction and conduct of NATO's global military operations.
(AP, 5/4/16)
2016 May 4, California’s Gov. Jerry Brown signed anti-tobacco legislation raising the smoking age from 18 to 21 effective June 9.
(SFC, 5/5/16, p.A1)
2016 May 4, Shares in miner BHP Billiton tumbled after Brazil's federal prosecutor launched a $43 billion civil suit for a dam break last November that killed 19 people and caused the worst environmental disaster in the country's history.
(AP, 5/4/16)
2016 May 4, Three Bulgarian police officers were injured when anti-Roma protesters tried to break through a cordon during a demonstration in the southern town of Radnevo. Some 2,000 people took part in the protest over an incident two days earlier in which four Roma men have been charged with the attempted murder of three young men.
(Reuters, 5/5/16)
2016 May 4, In western Canada a wildfire raged out of control destroying much of one neighborhood in the remote city of Fort McMurray and badly damaging others, with all 80,000 residents ordered to leave in the biggest evacuation in the area's history.
(Reuters, 5/4/16)
2016 May 4, China’s state media said China and Laos have agreed to step up security cooperation after attacks on Chinese nationals in the poor, landlocked Southeast Asian nation in recent weeks, as Laos' new president visited Beijing.
(Reuters, 5/4/16)
2016 May 4, Colombian authorities in Bogota arrested Nidal Waked (46), a prominent Panama businessman sought by the United States, and dismantled an empire of businesses that the US says were part of a top worldwide money-laundering organization for drug traffickers.
(AP, 5/6/16)
2016 May 4, In Dubai a man was shot seven times in the head in the marina neighborhood of luxury high-rise buildings and beachfront property. Authorities believed the man also was allegedly involved in the killing of someone's daughter in Turkey.
(AP, 5/12/16)
2016 May 4, An Egyptian court acquitted former PM Ahmed Nazif (2004-2011) of graft charges in the latest retrial linked to his time serving under longtime autocrat Hosni Mubarak. The ruling was final and could not be appealed.
(AP, 5/4/16)
2016 May 4, Ethiopian media reported that a ban on smoking at public gatherings has been announced by the mayor of Addis Ababa. The new law makes smoking illegal in bars, cafés, restaurants, schools, hospitals and stadiums as well as cultural and religious events, but smoking on the streets is still permitted.
(AFP, 5/4/16)
2016 May 4, The European Union's top court dealt a blow to the tobacco industry by approving sweeping new rules that will require plain cigarette packs, ban menthol cigarettes and regulate the growing electronic cigarette market.
(AP, 5/4/16)
2016 May 4, Central European countries dismissed the EU executive's proposals to share out migrants among member states, saying any plans for forced relocation of people were unacceptable or, in Hungary's view, amounted to blackmail.
(Reuters, 5/4/16)
2016 May 4, The European Commission, the executive arm of the 28-nation EU, gave conditional backing for Turks to get visa-free travel as part of a deal to solve the migrant crisis.
(AFP, 5/4/16)
2016 May 4, French riot police clashed with demonstrators outside a school building in Paris, prompting government and police calls for an end to weeks of violent protests mainly linked to plans for a loosening of France's highly protective labor laws.
(Reuters, 5/4/16)
2016 May 4, Germany’s Health Ministry said the Cabinet has approved a bill that will allow patients to get cannabis as a prescription-only medication.
(AP, 5/4/16)
2016 May 4, In Guam Ricky Sanchez (39), a former Guam Office of Homeland Security employee, pleaded guilty to charges that he conspired to have a package of methamphetamine mailed to the office.
(AP, 5/6/16)
2016 May 4, India's highest court ordered cigarette manufacturers to comply with controversial new rules requiring bigger health warnings on packets that sparked weeks-long factory shutdowns.
(AFP, 5/4/16)
2016 May 4, In central India a passenger bus fell into a dry river bed after crashing through the railing of a bridge, killing 16 people in Chhattisgarh state.
(AP, 5/5/16)
2016 May 4, It was reported that sewage has damaged Gaza’s limited fresh water supplies, decimated fishing zones and is now floating northward and affecting Israel.
(SFC, 5/4/16, p.A3)
2016 May 4, Jamaica sentenced Dalton Forrester of Brooklyn to three years in prison and fined him about $6,000 after authorities found more than $100,000 in undeclared cash in his luggage on April 9. Forrester pleaded guilty to charges that included possession of criminal property.
(AP, 5/4/16)
2016 May 4, Malaysia's finance ministry said it would dissolve the board of advisers at 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) and take over its remaining assets, in an apparent move to scale down a state fund whose scandals have rocked the government.
(Reuters, 5/4/16)
2016 May 4, In southern Nigeria militants used explosives to blow up the Okan platform, a collection facility for offshore oil and gas that feeds the Escravos terminal. This caused Chevron to lose 35,000 barrels per day (bpd) of net crude oil production.
(AFP, 5/7/16)
2016 May 4, In Qatar French Pres. Francois Hollande attended a ceremony to mark the sale of 24 Rafale combat jets plus missiles to the United Arab Emirates.
(Econ, 5/14/16, p.55)
2016 May 4, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said Russia will form three new military divisions to counter what it believes is the growing strength of The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) near its borders.
(Reuters, 5/4/16)
2016 May 4, Russia said it has withdrawn around 30 aircraft from Syria, including all of its Su-25 attack planes stationed in the country.
(Reuters, 5/4/16)
2016 May 4, In Syria at least 22 suspected regime air strikes pounded a key rebel bastion east of Damascus after a local freeze on fighting expired overnight. Rebel forces pressed an offensive against regime troops on the western outskirts of Aleppo.
(AFP, 5/4/16)
2016 May 4, A truce was announced for Aleppo, Syria, by US officials in agreement with Russia, in an effort to extend a fragile cease-fire to the deeply contested city. The Syrian military said the truce would last only 48 hours.
(AP, 5/5/16)
2016 May 4, Turkey said its warplanes have destroyed targets belonging to the militant Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in southeast Turkey.
(Reuters, 5/4/16)
2016 May 4, Yemen's warring parties resumed face-to-face peace talks in Kuwait after a three-day break triggered by a walkout by the government delegation.
(AFP, 5/4/16)
2016 May 5, President Obama commuted the prison terms of 58 non-violent drug offenders, a move that reflects growing efforts to revamp the criminal justice system.
(SFC, 5/6/16, p.A10)
2016 May 5, The United States and its allies conducted 24 strikes against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
(Reuters, 5/6/16)
2016 May 5, The US FDA said it is investigating a listeria outbreak that led to a massive recall of frozen fruits and vegetables by CRF Frozen Foods. 8 people had become infected from food made at its Pasco, Wa., plant. A recall included 358 products under 42 separate brand names since May 1, 2014.
(SFC, 5/6/16, p.A8)
2016 May 5, The Michigan House approved a $500 million restructuring plan for Detroit Public Schools.
(SFC, 5/6/16, p.A8)
2016 May 5, Environmental experts said a project to plant a wall of trees stretching from Senegal in West Africa to Djibouti in East Africa aims not only to halt desertification, but also to improve food security, create jobs, and offer young people an alternative to migration and extremism.
(AP, 5/5/16)
2016 May 5, Armenia's government gave the go-ahead to legislation that calls for recognizing the independence of Nagorno-Karabakh, a separatist region which is officially part of neighboring Azerbaijan. The step appeared intended mainly as a warning to Azerbaijan following a sudden increase in fighting.
(AP, 5/5/16)
2016 May 5, The Bangladesh Supreme Court upheld the death sentence of Motiur Rahman Nizami (73), the leader of top Islamist party Jamaat-e-Islami, for war crimes. Nizami was convicted in 2014 of murder, rape and orchestrating the killing of intellectuals during the country's 1971 war of independence.
(AFP, 5/5/16)
2016 May 5, In Belgium high-speed car chase in which police shot suspected migrant-smugglers as they fled across the border led to a fatal pile-up on a motorway in northern France. A Dutch motorcyclist died when he struck a stationary truck near the French port of Dunkirk. Four Iraqi suspects were hospitalized.
(Reuters, 5/5/16)
2016 May 5, A justice on Brazil's supreme court suspended Eduardo Cunha, the leader of the country's lower house of Congress, removing one of the nation's most powerful politicians who is reviled by many for numerous corruption allegations.
(AP, 5/5/16)
2016 May 5, London held mayoral elections. It became the first EU capital with a Muslim mayor as voters went to the polls and elected Labour lawmaker Sadiq Khan (45), the son of a bus driver, as mayor. Khan took 57% of the vote.
(AFP, 5/5/16)(Reuters, 5/7/16)(Econ, 5/14/16, p.50)
2016 May 5, Canada began airlifting to safety up to 25,000 people from the city of Fort McMurray forced from their homes by raging forest fires in Alberta's oil sands region.
(AFP, 5/6/16)(SFC, 5/6/16, p.A2)
2016 May 5, Colombia authorized the use of all military force, including air strikes, against the country's three biggest criminal gangs in a major escalation against "organized armed groups."
(AFP, 5/6/16)
2016 May 5, Greek labor unions declared a 48-hour national walkout as lawmakers debated unpopular tax and pension reforms Greece hopes will help persuade creditors to approve release of badly-needed bailout cash.
(Reuters, 5/5/16)
2016 May 5, In central India a heavy rainstorm collapsed tents and gates at a sprawling Hindu pilgrimage site, killing at least 6 people and injuring 30 in the town of Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh state. The festival is held every 12 years in Ujjain.
(AP, 5/5/16)
2016 May 5, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines agreed to conduct coordinated maritime patrols after a spate of ship hijackings by Islamist militants in the southern Philippines.
(Reuters, 5/5/16)
2016 May 5, Israeli warplanes struck four new Hamas positions in the southern Gaza Strip, as a flare-up continued to threaten a 2014 ceasefire agreement. The army said Hamas had "repeatedly fired and launched mortar rounds" across the border. Israel's military said it had discovered a cross-border tunnel built by the Islamist Hamas group from the Gaza Strip.
(AFP, 5/5/16)(Reuters, 5/5/16)
2016 May 5, Italian Premier Matteo Renzi hailed the new Alfa Romeo sedan by Fiat Chrysler, which he says will add 3,400 jobs in Italy and symbolizes the country's economic potential.
(AP, 5/5/16)
2016 May 5, In Italy Renato Soru, a leftist politician and chairman of multinational telecoms company Tiscali, was handed a three year jail sentence for tax evasion. Soru Soru, who founded Tiscali in 1998, is the head of PM Matteo Renzi's Democratic Party (PD) in Sardinia and a PD member of the European Parliament.
(Reuters, 5/5/16)
2016 May 5, Jordanian border guards said around 64,000 Syrians are stranded at the border with Jordan after intensified violence around Aleppo.
(AFP, 5/5/16)
2016 May 5, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev said he would delay a planned land reform which triggered a wave of public protests across the Central Asian nation. The protests were sparked by fears that reforms will allow foreigners - especially Chinese companies - to take over farmland.
(Reuters, 5/5/16)
2016 May 5, Kenyan businessman and government critic Jacob Juma was shot dead in his car late today in Nairobi.
(Reuters, 5/6/16)
2016 May 5, In Malaysia a Eurocopter AS350 ferrying Plantation Industries and Commodities Deputy Minister Noriah Kasnon and her husband Asmuni Abdullah from Sarawak's interior to its capital Kuching went missing. All 6 people aboard were killed.
(AFP, 5/6/16)
2016 May 5, Mali's security forces arrested Yacouba Toure, a senior member of Islamist militant group Ansar Dine, who trafficked weapons for attacks in Mali and over the border in Burkina Faso.
(Reuters, 5/9/16)
2016 May 5, In northern Myanmar at least 13 people were killed by a landslide of jade mining waste in Kachin state.
(AP, 5/6/16)
2016 May 5, Saudi security forces shot dead 2 alleged Islamic State fighters and two others blew themselves up outside of Mecca. Cpl. Khalaf Lafi al-Harithi was killed outside of a police station in Mecca.
(Reuters, 5/5/16)(AP, 5/6/16)
2016 May 5, In Syria a car bomb exploded in the main square of a village in Homs province. As people gathered to help the victims, a suicide bomber riding a motorcycle detonated his explosives belt nearby, killing at least 10 people and wounding scores. Air strikes near Sarmada on a camp near the Turkish border killed at least 28 people.
(AP, 5/5/16)(Reuters, 5/6/16)
2016 May 5, In eastern Syria Islamic State militants captured the main Shaer gas field in the first gain for the ultra hardline jihadists in the Palmyra desert area since they lost the ancient city in March.
(Reuters, 5/5/16)
2016 May 5, Human Rights Watch and the Norwegian Helsinki Committee called for the release of at least four human rights lawyers imprisoned in Tajikistan as part of a crackdown on dissenters, as well as two children of another lawyer.
(AFP, 5/5/16)
2016 May 5, Scotland held elections.
(Econ, 4/30/16, p.54)
2016 May 5, In Turkey Ahmet Davutoglu announced that he was stepping down as leader of the ruling AK Party and therefore as prime minister, bowing to President Tayyip Erdogan's drive to create a powerful executive presidency.
(Reuters, 5/5/16)
2016 May 5, In Yemen al-Qaida militants began to pull out of the southern towns of Zinjibar and Jaar, following weeks of mediation by tribesmen for them to exit peacefully rather than resist a Gulf-backed offensive.
(Reuters, 5/5/16)
2016 May 6, The US government said it has suspended millions of dollars in funding to several organizations providing aid for Syria after discovering they were systematically overpaying Turkish companies for basic goods with the collusion of some of their staff.
(AFP, 5/10/16)
2016 May 6, Federal authorities in Pittsburgh said two men have been charged by authorities in Belarus with receiving $1.35 million stolen in a phishing scheme from the bank account of a Pennsylvania oil and gas drilling company. Aleskey Yaroshevich (34) and Egor Pavlenko (41) reportedly received a $1.35 million transfer made in September 2012. Both men were in custody in Minsk.
(AP, 5/6/16)
2016 May 6, The Pentagon acknowledged for the first time it has deployed a small number of US troops to Yemen since the country's collapse last year to bolster government and Arab coalition forces battling Al-Qaeda.
(AFP, 5/7/16)
2016 May 6, A SpaceX rocket landed on an ocean platform for the 2nd time following the successful launch of a Japanese communications satellite at Cape Canaveral.
(SFC, 5/7/16, p.A6)
2016 May 6, Alabama’s Judicial Inquiry Commission filed ethics charges against the state’s Chief Justice Roy Moore over his effort to block same-sex marriages.
(SSFC, 5/8/16, p.A6)
2016 May 6, In San Francisco retired public defender Marla Zamora (65) was stabbed to death at her Potrero Hill home on the 400 block of Arkansas Street. Police detained Angelo Zamora (19), a relative who was found covered in blood at the home. On May 9 Angelo was charged with murder.
(SFC, 5/7/16, p.A1)(SSFC, 5/8/16, p.A8)(SFC, 5/10/16, p.C2)
2016 May 6, In San Diego seaman James Derek Lovelace died from drowning during a Navy Seal basic training program after his instructor pushed him underwater at least twice. On July 6 a medical examiner ruled his death a homicide.
(SFC, 7/8/16, p.A9)
2016 May 6, In Maryland Eulalio Tordil (62), a federal security officer, was arrested following the fatal shooting of 2 people. Tordil had shot and killed his wife a day earlier.
(SFC, 5/7/16, p.A7)(SSFC, 5/8/16, p.A6)
2016 May 6, In New York a fire in Syracuse left 6 people dead, including two men (33 and 34) a girl (7) and 3 boys (10-13).
(SFC, 5/7/16, p.A6)
2016 May 6, In Afghanistan a roadside bomb killed at least four small children from the same family in the southern Zabul province. In the eastern Kunar province Afghan security forces repelled an insurgent attack, killing 26 militants.
(AP, 5/7/16)
2016 May 6, Afghan special forces troops liberated more than 60 prisoners from a Taliban prison in the southern province of Helmand. Two Taliban militants were reported killed and three wounded in the ensuing battle.
(AP, 5/6/16)
2016 May 6, Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto announced the launch of the next stage of a multibillion-dollar gold and copper mine in Mongolia following delays and political tension over revenue sharing and the foreign role in resource industries.
(AP, 5/6/16)
2016 May 6, In Bangladesh Sufi Muslim leader Mohammad Shahidulla (65) was found hacked to death after he disappeared this morning in a suspected Islamist killing.
(AFP, 5/6/16)
2016 May 6, In Chile food and gasoline were running dangerously low on Chiloe Island, which has been blocked from the mainland by desperate fishermen demanding compensation for losing their livelihood to a toxic algae bloom. The government has declared a state of emergency in the region and offered those affected compensation.
(http://tinyurl.com/zal4wzs)(AP, 5/7/16)(SFC, 5/17/16, p.A4)
2016 May 6, In Denmark a jet ski slammed into a rental boat containing a group of students killing Leah Bell (18) of Madisonville, Louisiana, and Linsey Malia (21) of Easton, Massachusetts. On Jan. 4, 2018, a 24-year-old man was sentenced to two years in jail for aggravated manslaughter.
(AP, 1/4/18)
2016 May 6, Prosecutors in El Salvador announced they have arrested five police officers, 16 gunmen and a police administrative employee for allegedly killing street gang member and others.
(AP, 5/6/16)
2016 May 6, Services in Greece, from garbage collection to public transport, shut down as workers kicked off three days of strikes to protest new bailout austerity measures that they say will further reduce incomes.
(AP, 5/6/16)
2016 May 6, Iraqi security forces ramped up their presence across Baghdad, blocking most major roads and bridges to keep followers of Shi'ite Muslim cleric Moqtada al-Sadr from reaching the government district they stormed a week earlier.
(Reuters, 5/6/16)
2016 May 6, In Iraq Australia-born terrorist and former rapper Neil Prakash (24) was killed in an American air strike in Mosul.
(SSFC, 5/8/16, p.A4)
2016 May 6, Irish PM Enda Kenny won narrow re-election on his fourth try, ending 70 days of deadlock and clearing the way for an exceptionally fragile minority government.
(AP, 5/6/16)
2016 May 6, Israeli warplanes launched new strikes against Hamas in the Gaza Strip in response to mortar fire, as the worst cross-border violence since a 2014 war entered a third day.
(AFP, 5/6/16)
2016 May 6, In Kazakhstan Kuandyk Bishimbayev, chief executive of a state financial holding company, was named economy minister following the resignation of his predecessor over public protests against a planned land reform.
(Reuters, 5/6/16)
2016 May 6, In Myanmar hundreds of villagers protested against the resumption of operations at a Chinese-backed copper mine, in one of the first tests for the new government's ability to deal with public anger.
(Reuters, 5/6/16)
2016 May 6, The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria said it is suspending aid to Nigeria’s AIDS agency over evidence that $3.8 million was stolen by its workers and consultants.
(SFC, 5/7/16, p.A2)
2016 May 6, North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un (33) opened the Seventh Workers' Party Congress, the country’s biggest political gathering in 36 years.
(AP, 5/6/16)
2016 May 6, North Korea detained BBC journalist Rupert Wingfield-Hayes along with a BBC producer and cameraman and ordered their expulsion over his reporting as a large group of foreign reporters cover a rare congress of the country’s ruling Workers’ Party. On May 9 the three were on their way to the airport in Pyongyang.
(Reuters, 5/9/16)
2016 May 6, A Papua New Guinea court ruled that a pregnant African woman, who says she was raped at an Australia detention center for asylum seekers on the tiny South Pacific island of Nauru, cannot be forced to have an abortion in Papua New Guinea because it is unsafe and illegal.
(Reuters, 5/7/16)
2016 May 6, Romania's Pres. Klaus Iohannis approved a 150 million euro ($171 million) loan to neighboring Moldova needed to pay state sector salaries and pensions.
(AP, 5/6/16)
2016 May 6, In Syria rebels seized a village from government forces near Aleppo overnight. 43 rebels and 30 government forces were reported killed in the battle for Khan Touman, some 15 km (9 miles) southwest of Aleppo. 13 military advisers with the Iranian Revolutionary Guards were killed as rebels seized the village of Khan Touman. 18 others wounded and five to six were captured.
(Reuters, 5/6/16)(AFP, 5/7/16)(Reuters, 5/9/16)
2016 May 6, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned the European Union that Ankara will not change its anti-terrorism law, despite it being a condition laid down by Brussels to ensure visa-free travel for Turks.
(AFP, 5/6/16)
2016 May 6, Pope Francis accepted the prestigious International Charlemagne Prize, for his "message of hope and encouragement" and warned Europeans against the selfish temptation to put up fences to ward off newcomers, saying he still dreams of a Europe where migrants are welcomed.
(AP, 5/6/16)
2016 May 6, In Yemen the governor of Aden's Mansura prison was killed in a ride-by shooting.
(AFP, 5/7/16)
2016 May 7, The United States and its allies targeted Islamic State in Iraq with 17 air strikes, and hit the militant group with eight air strikes in Syria.
(Reuters, 5/8/16)
2016 May 7, In Florida the first self-driving car fatality took place in Williston when the driver of a Tesla S sports car, using the vehicle’s automated driving system, died in a collision with the truck.
(SFC, 7/1/16, p.C1)
2016 May 7, In Nevada Airbus completed a test flight of a glider set to eventually travel to the edge of space, in a pioneering step into the stratosphere.
(AFP, 5/7/16)
2016 May 7, Voters in Austin, Texas, rejected a $9 million campaign by Lyft and Uber to overturn a requirement for fingerprinting drivers for ride-hailing companies. In response Uber and Lyft on May 9 halted services Austin.
(SFC, 5/9/16, p.A5)(SFC, 5/10/16, p.D1)
2016 May 7, In Bosnia over 10,000 people turned out for the re-opening of a mosque that was blown up by Christian Orthodox Serbs during the 1992-1995 war and that became a symbol of the effort to destroy Bosnia's centuries-long multireligious fabric.
(AP, 5/7/16)
2016 May 7, Canada’s wildfire in Alberta doubled in size to more than 200,000 hectares (494,000 acres).
(AFP, 5/7/16)
2016 May 7, China's navy searched for 17 sailors missing after their fishing boat collided early today with another vessel in the East China Sea. A passing fishing boat pulled the bodies of two sailors from the ocean. State media said the other ship in the collision, the Malta-flagged cargo vessel Catalina, appeared not to have stopped but continued sailing in a southwestern direction.
(AP, 5/7/16)
2016 May 7, In China environmentalist Lei Yang (29) died in Beijing while under police custody. He had been detained on suspicion of soliciting prostitution at a foot parlor. On June 30 an independent autopsy found that Lei Yang had apparently choked to death. On Dec 23 Beijing prosecutors said they had dropped criminal charges against five police officers over the death of Yang. On Dec 29 police said the five officers involved have been fired.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Lei_Yang)(Econ, 7/9/16, SR p.11)(AP, 12/23/16)(AP, 12/29/16)
2016 May 7, An Egyptian court recommended the death sentence against six people, including two Al-Jazeera employees, for allegedly passing documents related to national security to Qatar and the Doha-based TV network during the rule of Islamist president Mohammed Morsi.
(AP, 5/7/16)
2016 May 7, Egyptian police arrested Ezzedeen Khaled (19), a street performer they accuse of inciting anti-government protests and releasing an online video "insulting state institutions." Khaled is member of a satirical group called Awlad al-Shawarea (Street Children).
(AP, 5/8/16)
2016 May 7, Estonian border officials detained seven Iranian migrants who managed to cross the Narva River separating Russia and Estonia in an inflatable boat.
(AP, 5/10/16)
2016 May 7, Israeli aircraft hit two Hamas targets in Gaza early today in response to rocket fire as the worst flare-up of violence since a 2014 war entered a fourth day.
(AFP, 5/7/16)
2016 May 7, Scandal-ridden Malaysian PM Najib Razak secured a major victory for his ruling coalition in elections in Sarawak state on Borneo island, boosting his rule despite corruption allegations.
(AP, 5/7/16)
2016 May 7, In Mauritania thousands of people gathered in Nouakchott to protest against a move by President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz to abolish the senate.
(AFP, 5/7/16)
2016 May 7, In Pakistan gunmen riding motorcycles shot and killed rights activist Khurram Zaki and wounded two other people in southern port city of Karachi.
(AP, 5/8/16)
2016 May 7, In Poland tens of thousands of people marched in central Warsaw to show their opposition to the policies of the conservative government, which they view as anti-democratic and harmful to Poland's position in the European Union.
(AP, 5/7/16)
2016 May 7, In Saudi Arabia a policeman was killed in a shootout with militants in the western city of Taif.
(AP, 5/8/16)
2016 May 7, Singapore's ruling party won a seat in a by-election, cementing its influence on parliamentary decisions with an overwhelming majority.
(AP, 5/8/16)
2016 May 7, Syrian state news agency SANA reported that Russia's defense ministry said a "regime of calm" truce in the northern city of Aleppo and parts of Latakia province had been extended "for 72 hours beginning at 1 am on Saturday" (1700 ET on Friday).
(Reuters, 5/7/16)
2016 May 7, Turkish artillery fired at the Islamic State group across the border in Syria, killing 55 militants and destroying three rocket launchers and three vehicles.
(AP, 5/8/16)
2016 May 7, Yemeni army Colonel Badr al-Yafei was gunned down in Aden in the latest in a spate of assassinations of senior officers that underlines the persistent insecurity in the city.
(AFP, 5/7/16)
2016 May 8, Afghanistan hanged six men convicted of terrorism, signaling a tougher approach toward the Taliban.
(AP, 5/8/16)
2016 May 8, In Afghanistan two buses and a fuel tanker collided on a major highway, killing 52 people in eastern Ghazni province. Another 73 people on the buses were wounded.
(AP, 5/8/16)
2016 May 8, Bulgaria's Socialist Party (BSP), the biggest opposition party in the Balkan country, chose a new leader with the task of winning back disaffected voters and pushing for an early general election. Kornelia Ninova (47), the first female leader in the BSP's 125-year history, won 395 votes from delegates at the party's congress, with her predecessor Mihail Mikov coming second on 349.
(Reuters, 5/8/16)
2016 May 8, In Canada cogeneration power plants in the fire-ravaged oil town of Fort McMurray were operating at about 18 percent of capacity early today, down from around 30 percent on May 6, as oil sands producers in the area continue to shut their operations. 2,400 buildings were lost when the fire surrounded Fort McMurray. The fire was expected to burn for at least a few more weeks.
(Reuters, 5/8/16)(SSFC, 5/15/16, p.A4)
2016 May 8, In China a landslide triggered by heavy rain hit a hydroelectric power station that was under construction in southeastern Fujian province. At least 34 people were killed with four missing.
(Reuters, 5/8/16)(Reuters, 5/9/16)
2016 May 8, In China a man identified only by his surname, Guo, was detained in the western region of Xinjiang. He had allegedly killed six members of a family in 1991 "over a trivial matter." His wife, Wang, was also detained on suspicion of shielding a criminal.
(AP, 5/15/16)
2016 May 8, The Egyptian interior ministry said gunmen killed 8 plainclothes police on the southern outskirts of Cairo overnight, in an assault claimed by Islamic State militants.
(Reuters, 5/8/16)
2016 May 8, In France the sight of cars thundering down Paris's most famous boulevard was replaced by people strolling, cycling and taking selfies in the sun as the Champs-Elysees went traffic-free.
(AFP, 5/8/16)
2016 May 8, In Greece thousands of protesters took to the streets of Athens as parliament prepared to vote on a controversial tax and pensions overhaul which has sparked mass opposition.
(AFP, 5/8/16)
2016 May 8, In Iraq separate attacks in and around Baghdad killed at least 12 people and wounded dozens.
(AP, 5/8/16)
2016 May 8, Lebanese voted in municipal elections in Beirut and the Bekaa Valley amid tight security and a low turnout in the capital. Hezbollah group and its allies won a vast majority of seats in areas where they ran in local elections in eastern Lebanon. A coalition known as "Beirutis" won all of the capital's 24-seat municipal council.
(AP, 5/8/16)(AP, 5/9/16)
2016 May 8, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said his country will not use its nuclear weapons unless its sovereignty is invaded and announced a five-year economic plan at a milestone congress of North Korea's ruling party, which entered its third day.
(AP, 5/8/16)
2016 May 8, In Russia 5 members of a motorcycle club were shot with a hunting rifle shortly after dawn in Chelokhovo. A suspect (27) was arrested at his nearby home and confessed to shooting the bikers after a conflict.
(AP, 5/8/16)
2016 May 8, Syrian warplanes attacked Islamist militants near Aleppo.
(Reuters, 5/8/16)
2016 May 8, In southeastern Turkey 9 PKK members were killed in the towns of Nusaybin and Sirnak.
(Reuters, 5/9/16)
2016 May 8, Yemen's Houthi movement accused a Saudi-led coalition of launching air strikes that killed seven people today, shaking a truce that has largely held through more than two weeks of UN-backed peace talks in Kuwait.
(Reuters, 5/8/16)
2016 May 9, The US Justice Dept. sued North Carolina over the state’s new bathroom law requiring transgender people to use restrooms corresponding to the gender on their birth certificates.
(SFC, 5/10/16, p.A6)
2016 May 9, The Chicago Tribune reported that 8 people were killed over Mother’s Day weekend with at least 1,225 people shot in the city this year.
(SFC, 5/10/16, p.A6)
2016 May 9, In Kansas City, Kan., a police detective was fatally shot while helping respond to a report of a suspicious person near a racetrack. Parolee Curtis Ayers (28) was shot and taken into custody after trying to carjack a woman’s vehicle following a police chase.
(SFC, 5/10/16, p.A6)
2016 May 9, An Australian law firm filed a compensation claim against Russia and President Vladimir Putin in the European Court of Human Rights on behalf of families of victims of Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17, shot down over Ukraine on July 17, 2014. The application names the Russian Federation and Putin as respondents and seeks $10 million in compensation per passenger.
(Reuters, 5/21/16)
2016 May 9, Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann resigned, citing lack of support for his policies within his own Social Democratic party.
(AP, 5/9/16)
2016 May 9, Belgium called up the military to assist in prisons where guards have been on strike for two weeks over what they say is dangerously low staffing due to budget cuts.
(Reuters, 5/9/16)
2016 May 9, In Brazil acting Speaker Waldir Maranhao annulled last month’s vote on impeaching Pres. Dilma Rousseff.
(SFC, 5/10/16, p.A5)
2016 May 9, In Cambodia two foreigners were among eight people arrested by police on in Phnom Penh for protesting the jailing of a group of human rights workers and an election official on what demonstrators said were politically-motivated charges.
(Reuters, 5/9/16)
2016 May 9, The Republic of Congo called on the EU to recall its ambassador to Brazzaville over EU criticism of President Denis Sassou Nguesso's controversial re-election in March. In its response on May 17, Brussels expressed its unwavering support for EU representative Saskia de Lang.
(AFP, 5/21/16)
2016 May 9, In Egypt a fire in downtown Cairo engulfed a hotel and several nearby buildings killing at least 3 people.
(SFC, 5/10/16, p.A2)
2016 May 9, Greek lawmakers passed unpopular pension and tax reforms that a European official said marked a major advance in negotiations towards unlocking more rescue funds from the country's creditors.
(Reuters, 5/9/16)
2016 May 9, Indonesia’s VP Jusuf Kalla spoke before the Int’l. Summit of the Moderate Islamic Leaders meeting in Jakarta and called on Islamic leaders to spread messages a tolerant Islam to curb extremism.
(SFC, 5/10/16, p.A2)
2016 May 9, In Iraq an evening suicide bombing in a commercial Shiite neighborhood of Baqouba killed at least 13 people.
(AP, 5/10/16)
2016 May 9, Japanese artist Megumi Igarashi (44), who makes objects shaped like her vagina, was convicted after a high-profile obscenity trial. The Tokyo District Court slapped her with a 400,000 yen ($3,700) fine. The court fined her for distributing digital data of her genitals but said her figurines, decorated with fake fur and glitter, could be considered "pop art".
(AFP, 5/9/16)(Reuters, 5/9/16)
2016 May 9, In Nigeria 3 soldiers guarding an oil installation were shot and killed when they came under fierce attack. The Niger Avengers claimed responsibility.
(SFC, 5/12/16, p.A2)
2016 May 9, The Philippines held presidential elections. Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte won the presidential election, defeating his four main rivals by a large margin. Ferdinand Marcos Jr., the son of late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, led in the vice presidential race.
(AP, 5/9/16)(AP, 5/10/16)
2016 May 9, In the Philippines Geraldine Roman won the congressional race in the first district of northern Bataan province becoming the country’s first transgender politician.
(AP, 5/11/16)
2016 May 9, Rwanda said at least 49 people have been killed by landslides in the country's north following heavy rains over the weekend.
(AP, 5/9/16)
2016 May 9, In Somalia Islamic jihadists killed 3 police officers in a bomb and gun attack on a police station in Mogadishu. A suicide car bomber and a gunman also died as well as two civilians.
(AFP, 5/9/16)
2016 May 9, The UN World Food Program said up to 5.3 million people in South Sudan may face a severe food shortages during this year's lean season, nearly double the number in the first three months of the year.
(Reuters, 5/9/16)
2016 May 9, In Syria multiple air raids struck rebel-held areas while shelling hit government-controlled parts of Aleppo, hours before a five-day cease-fire was to expire.
(AP, 5/9/16)
2016 May 9, Thailand media reported that a top Thai medical college has caught students using spy cameras linked to smartwatches to cheat during exams.
(AFP, 5/9/16)
2016 May 9, A Turkish soldier was killed in clashes in Nusaybin, located at the Syrian border and under a round-the-clock curfew since mid-March, as fighting continued in both Nusaybin and Sirnak throughout the day.
(Reuters, 5/9/16)
2016 May 10, In Afghanistan a joint raid by US and Afghan forces rescued Ali Haider Gilani, the son of a former Pakistani prime minister, who was held captive for three years by Islamic militants.
(AP, 5/10/16)
2016 May 10, In Afghanistan Taliban insurgents killed at least 15 Afghan policemen when they overran two checkpoints in Helmand province. 8 people were killed and another 18 wounded when a suicide car bomber detonated his vehicle in the Nazyan district of Nangarhar province.
(Reuters, 5/10/16)(AP, 5/10/16)
2016 May 10, In Brazil the mayor of Sao Paulo signed a decree authorizing the use of smartphone-based ride-sharing applications like Uber. Cab drivers protested that Uber is unfair competition because its drivers don’t have to pay city fees or undergo official inspections.
(SFC, 5/10/16, p.C2)
2016 May 10, British researchers warned that fifth of the world's plant species are at risk of extinction, in an unprecedented global census of the plant kingdom.
(AFP, 5/10/16)
2016 May 10, Bulgaria's deputy prime minister and labor minister, Ivailo Kalfin, resigned from his post after his center-left ABV party said it would withdraw its support from the center-right government.
(Reuters, 5/10/16)
2016 May 10, France's government decided to bypass parliament and impose a relaxation of the country's protective labor laws by decree, sidestepping a rebellion against one of socialist President Francois Hollande's flagship reforms.
(Reuters, 5/10/16)
2016 May 10, In France a 19-year-old woman committed suicide by throwing herself in front of a suburban train near Paris and streamed the act live on Periscope. A judicial source said the victim "spoke of a rape and named the aggressor" during the filming, adding that the claims were being treated with caution at this stage.
(AFP, 5/11/16)
2016 May 10, Germany announced plans to add 7,000 military jobs and 4,400 civilians to its armed forces over the next seven years to help tackle demands such as cybersecurity and the fight against Islamic State.
(Reuters, 5/10/16)
2016 May 10, In Germany unemployed carpenter Paul H. (27) stabbed four people at a train station near Munich, killing one and injuring three. The man had reportedly shown up in a different part of Germany a few days ago, suspected of using drugs and exhibiting behavior suggesting he might be mentally disturbed.
(Reuters, 5/10/16)(AFP, 5/11/16)
2016 May 10, Thousands of ecstatic North Koreans joined a mass rally and parade as leader Kim Jong Un capped off the consolidation of his power at a ruling party congress at which he formalized its claim to be a nuclear weapons power.
(Reuters, 5/10/16)
2016 May 10, In Pakistan a bomb exploded in the parking area of a state-run university in Quetta, Baluchistan province, killing 2 police officers and wounding five people.
(AP, 5/10/16)
2016 May 10, The Philippines started the process to strengthen its anti-money laundering and bank secrecy laws, aiming to plug loopholes that allowed $81 million stolen in one of the world's biggest cyber heists to pass through Manila banks and casinos.
(Reuters, 5/10/16)
2016 May 10, In the Philippines Sen. Ferdinand Marcos Jr., the son of late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, who is running for vice president, called for a stop to an unofficial vote count that shows his rival, Congresswoman Leni Robredo, has overtaken him.
(AP, 5/10/16)
2016 May 10, In Syria two airstrikes struck the northwestern town of Binnish, killing at least 10 people, wounding many others and knocking out the dome of a mosque. The LCC said the warplanes were Syrian while the Observatory said it wasn't clear if they were Syrian or Russian.
(AP, 5/10/16)
2016 May 10, Thailand ordered the closure of its only active gold mine by the end of the year after more than 300 people tested positive for arsenic and manganese at Akara Resources' Chatree mine.
(Reuters, 5/10/16)
2016 May 10, In southeastern Turkey 3 people were killed and 23 wounded when a bomb-laden car detonated near a police vehicle in the strife-hit city of Diyarbakir. The state-run Anadolu news agency said the attack was carried out by the PKK.
(Reuters, 5/10/16)(SFC, 5/11/16, p.A2)
2016 May 10, Zambia police said four suspects have been arrested in connection with a string of grisly ritual murders in Lusaka that triggered anti-foreign riots targeting mostly Rwandan migrants in April.
(Reuters, 5/10/16)
2016 May 11, In Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami party leader Motiur Rahman Nizami (73), a main political ally of opposition chief Khaleda Zia, was executed for war crimes committed during the country's 1971 independence conflict with Pakistan. His hanging sparked several outbreaks of violence and heightened tensions.
(AP, 5/11/16)
2016 May 11, Senators in Brazil began debate on whether to oust President Dilma Rousseff. If a simple majority of the 81 senators vote in favor, Rousseff will be suspended from office and Vice President Michel Temer will take over for up to six months pending a decision on whether to remove her from office permanently.
(AP, 5/11/16)
2016 May 11, Former Comoros coup leader Azali Assoumani was elected as president, after last month's election led to a re-run at 13 polling stations due to violence and "irregularities".
(AFP, 5/12/16)
2016 May 11, Democratic Republic of Congo's highest court ruled that President Joseph Kabila would stay in power beyond the end of his mandate if his government failed to hold an election due in November.
(Reuters, 5/11/16)
2016 May 11, Germany’s Justice Minister Heiko Maas announced plans to annul the historic convictions of tens of thousands of men charged under a law that criminalized homosexuality and to grant them financial compensation.
(Reuters, 5/11/16)
2016 May 11, Indian officials announced plans to close a tax loophole that allows its citizens to channel income through the tropical island of Mauritius and avoid paying taxes.
(AP, 5/11/16)
2016 May 11, India's government said South Asian nations will set up a toll-free helpline and online platform to fight human trafficking, and trace the thousands of children who go missing in the region annually. Ministers from India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, the Maldives and Nepal came to the agreement after a conference on child protection held under the auspices of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC).
(Reuters, 5/12/16)
2016 May 11, In Iraq three car bombs in Baghdad, including a huge blast at a market in a Shiite area, killed at least 93 people. IS issued an online statement claiming responsibility for the attack in Sadr City and saying a suicide bomber it identified as "Abu Sulaiman al-Ansari" detonated the explosives-rigged vehicle killing at least 64.
(AFP, 5/11/16)(SFC, 5/12/16, p.A2)
2016 May 11, In Iraq the Islamic State group of Nineveh province released a video showing five alleged "spies" being shot dead in Iraq by young men from a crowd assembled for the execution.
(AFP, 5/12/16)
2016 May 11, Italy's parliament gave a green light for the introduction of gay civil unions in the last major Western country not to legally recognize same-sex relationships.
(AFP, 5/11/16)
2016 May 11, Kenya’s interior security minister said the government will close Dadaab refugee camp. It held an estimated 328,000-344,000 refugees mostly from Somalia and is often referred to as the world's largest camp.
(AP, 5/11/16)(Econ, 5/14/16, p.40)
2016 May 11, In Nigeria Shell closed the terminal exporting the country’s benchmark Bonny Light crude oil as was evacuating workers as renewed militant attacks cut production.
(SFC, 5/12/16, p.A2)
2016 May 11, Syrian regime forces battled jihadists who cut a key supply route west of ancient Palmyra, after new bombardments hit Aleppo city where a ceasefire is due to expire at midnight.
(AFP, 5/11/16)
2016 May 11, In Tunisia two suspected jihadists were killed during a security operation near the capital against a cell planning "simultaneous" attacks. Sixteen others were arrested during the operation in Ariana province.
(AFP, 5/11/16)
2016 May 11, The southern Tunisia of Ben Guerdane went on strike in protest at a decision by Libyan authorities late last month to halt cross-border trade on which its economy depends.
(AFP, 5/11/16)
2016 May 11, In Uganda opposition leader Kizza Besigye was arrested in Kampala after staging his own swearing-in ceremony and whisked to Moroto, a town in the remote Karamoja region of the country, and subsequently charged with treason. On July 12 Besigye was freed on bail.
(AFP, 5/14/16)(AP, 7/12/16)
2016 May 12, The Obama administration unveiled its latest action aimed at reducing methane emissions in the oil and gas industry. The EPA ruling would reduce methane emissions from oil and gas drilling by 40 to 45% by 2025 compared with 2012 levels.
(Reuters, 5/12/16)(SFC, 5/13/16, p.A8)
2016 May 12, The Obama administration said public schools must permit transgender students to use bathrooms and locker rooms consistent with their chosen gender identity. Politicians in Arkansas, Texas and elsewhere soon vowed defiance.
(SFC, 5/13/16, p.A8)(SFC, 5/14/16, p.A6)
2016 May 12, The United States switched on an $800 million missile shield in Romania that it sees as vital to defend itself and Europe from so-called rogue states but the Kremlin says is aimed at blunting its own nuclear arsenal.
(Reuters, 5/12/16)
2016 May 12, Oracle Corp. founder Larry Ellison pledged $200 million to the Univ. of Southern California to create a center designed to combine traditional medicine with holistic approaches to treat and prevent cancer.
(SFC, 5/13/16, p.C1)
2016 May 12, George Zimmerman (32), the former neighborhood-watch volunteer who shot and killed black teenager Trayvon Martin in 2012, said he would sell the gun he used in the shooting at auction.
(AFP, 5/12/16)
2016 May 12, In Oklahoma the Swiss-made Solar Impulse 2 landed in Tulsa after taking off from Arizona on the latest leg of its around-the-world journey.
(SFC, 5/14/16, p.A6)
2016 May 12, In Australia the 4-day Sexpo, Sydney's adult entertainment and lifestyle show, opened for its 20th year.
(http://www.sexpo.com.au/)(AFP, 5/15/16)
2016 May 12, In Brazil centrist VP Michel Temer, of the centrist Party of the Brazilian Democratic Movement (PMDB), took the helm of the country, hours after the Senate voted to suspend President Dilma Rousseff, of the Workers’ Party (PT), to stand trial for breaking budgetary laws.
(Reuters, 5/12/16)(Econ, 5/7/16, p.25)
2016 May 12, Britain’s PM David Cameron, the host of a global anti-corruption summit, announced that countries have pledged to set up public registers of company ownership in a collective effort to make it harder to launder the proceeds of corruption around the globe. Countries taking part in the summit issued a 34-point communique outlining pledges to tackle issues ranging from doping and match-fixing in sports to tax evasion and bribery.
(Reuters, 5/12/16)
2016 May 12, It was reported that China's ruling Communist Party has expelled Zhang Kunsheng, former assistant foreign minister, for graft, including joining private clubs, accepting gifts and bribes, and trading power for sex. Kunsheng was sacked from his government post last January and put under investigation.
(Reuters, 5/12/16)
2016 May 12, French prosecutors said that $2 million tied to Tokyo's winning bid for the 2020 Olympics was apparently paid to an account linked to Papa Massata Diack (50), the son of disgraced former IAAF president Lamine Diack, in the months immediately before and after the Japanese capital won the games.
(AP, 5/12/16)
2016 May 12, Guinea-Bissau's President Jose Mario Vaz sacked PM Carlos Correia and dissolved his government, in a move that threatened to deepen political turmoil in the tiny West African nation.
(Reuters, 5/12/16)
2016 May 12, In India television journalist Akhilesh Pratap Singh was also shot dead by unknown assailants as he returned home on a motorbike in restive Jharkhand state.
(AFP, 5/14/16)
2016 May 12, Iran announced that it will not send pilgrims to Saudi Arabia this year for the annual hajj pilgrimage, after a disaster during the event last year killed at least 2,426 people including 464 of its pilgrims.
(AP, 5/12/16)
2016 May 12, The World Health Organization said air pollution causes more than 3 million premature deaths worldwide every year. The worst air pollution was recorded at Zabol in Iran. The WHO said India has four of the 10 cities in the world with the worst air pollution and Saudi Arabia had two.
(Reuters, 5/12/16)(SFC, 5/13/16, p.A2)
2016 May 12, Islamic State insurgents killed at least 17 Iraqi soldiers with suicide truck bombs in a major attack on government forces in Jarayshi, 10 km (6 miles) north of Ramadi. They also surrounded an army regiment, seized a bridge and cut a key supply route linking Ramadi to the Thirthar district further north. The jihadist group also killed two policemen and wounded eight others in two suicide bombings in Abu Ghraib outside Baghdad.
(Reuters, 5/12/16)
2016 May 12, Kyrgyzstan security services arrested three politicians including a former minister on charges of plotting a coup, ahead of an anti-government rally later this month.
(AFP, 5/13/16)
2016 May 12, In Libya 4 members of military forces loyal to the new UN-backed unity government were reported killed and 30 wounded in clashes with Islamic State (IS) insurgents near the western city of Misrata.
(Reuters, 5/12/16)
2016 May 12, Coca-Cola said it will stop production of all canned drinks in Namibia and has warned consumers of possible shortages, as a regional drought worsened across southern Africa.
(AFP, 5/12/16)
2016 May 12, In northeastern Nigeria 7 people including 2 police officers were killed when a suicide bomber tried to attack government offices in Maiduguri.
(AP, 5/12/16)
2016 May 12, Officials said Pakistan is spending $4 billion a year on cotton imports to support the ailing textile industry, after erratic rainfall and drought in the country's cotton fields slammed growers and the country's economy.
(Reuters, 5/12/16)
2016 May 12, Slovenia said it took in its first 28 migrants under an EU relocation scheme that many other EU countries have been slow to carry out or rejected outright. Slovenia, with a population of 2 million, has committed to accepting a total of 587 migrants, or up to 50 per month through August 2017.
(Reuters, 5/12/16)
2016 May 12, Syrian government forces battled rebels north of Aleppo as a ceasefire expired in the city itself. Insurgents captured the Alawite village of al-Zara from government control in western Syria and abducted civilians living there.
(Reuters, 5/12/16)
2016 May 12, In Syria Lebanon’s top Hezbollah commander Mustafa Badreddine (55) was killed in an explosion in Damascus.
(AP, 5/13/16)
2016 May 12, In Turkey 15 militants were killed in clashes in Sirnak province. 4 suspected bomb makers were killed and 23 people were wounded when an explosion ripped through a village in the southeast as PKK militants loaded explosives onto a small truck. Authorities later identified the remains of 13 people from two families killed from more than 15 tons of explosives in the truck raising the death toll to 16.
(Reuters, 5/13/16)(AP, 5/17/16)
2016 May 12, Uganda’s Pres. Museveni (71) was inaugurated for a 5th term amid arrests of opposition politicians and a shutdown of social media.
(SFC, 5/13/16, p.A2)
2016 May 12, In Yemen a suicide car bombing struck a navy base in the southern port city of Mukalla, killing at least 6 troops in a rare IS attack in a city once occupied by its rival militant al-Qaida branch. Yemen's Islamic State affiliate claimed responsibility.
(AP, 5/12/16)
2016 May 13, President Barack Obama welcomed a group of Nordic leaders to the White House and celebrated the five Nordic nations (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden) as models of reliability, equality, generosity, responsibility, even personal happiness. Obama said that he and the five Nordic nations agreed on the need to maintain sanctions against Russia.
(AP, 5/13/16)(Reuters, 5/13/16)
2016 May 13, The United States and its allies targeted Islamic State militants in Iraq with 17 strikes and five in Syria.
(Reuters, 5/14/16)
2016 May 13, Pfizer announced that it has imposed sweeping controls on the distribution of its products to ensure that none are used in lethal injections.
(SFC, 5/14/16, p.A6)
2016 May 13, Albania’s government fired Shukri Xhelili, mayor of Peshkopi, after he offered a job to a young woman in exchange for sexual favors.
(AP, 5/13/16)
2016 May 13, Former Argentine Pres. Cristina Fernandez was charged with defrauding the state as part of her government’s handling of the dollar futures market.
(SFC, 5/14/16, p.A2)
2016 May 13, In Austria top officials from the senior government coalition party agreed to nominate Christian Kern, the state railways head, as chancellor following the abrupt resignation of the man who led both the party and the country.
(AP, 5/13/16)
2016 May 13, Belgium said it will extend its F-16 air strikes against Islamic State jihadists in Iraq into Syria, as it grapples with the aftermath of deadly IS-claimed bomb attacks in Brussels in March.
(AFP, 5/13/16)
2016 May 13, Belgium-based SWIFT, the global financial system used to move hundreds of billions of dollars a day, said highly sophisticated hackers had gained access to a bank aiming to hijack fund transfers made via the network. SWIFT insisted its own system had not been compromised, but warned that this latest attack was clearly part of a wide-ranging campaign.
(AFP, 5/13/16)
2016 May 13, It was reported that the purported personal details of numerous Chinese business moguls and politically-connected elite were posted this week to an anonymous Twitter account, an embarrassing leak for authorities that has raised concerns about the security of official records.
(Reuters, 5/13/16)
2016 May 13, Congo police fired teargas at thousands of supporters rallying outside the prosecutor's office where a leading opposition presidential candidate Moise Katumbi was facing a hearing over accusations he was plotting a coup.
(Reuters, 5/13/16)
2016 May 13, Germany's domestic secret service accused Russia of a series of international cyber attacks aimed at spying and sabotage, in "hybrid warfare" that also targeted the German parliament last year.
(AFP, 5/13/16)
2016 May 13, In India Rajdeo Ranjan, the local bureau chief for Hindi-language daily Hindustan, was travelling on his motorcycle in Bihar state when a group of unknown assailants shot him five times.
(AFP, 5/14/16)
2016 May 13, In northern Iraq shooting and bomb attacks claimed by Islamic State killed at least 16 people in Balad.
(Reuters, 5/13/16)
2016 May 13, Japan-based Honda said it would recall millions more cars equipped with airbags made by crisis-hit supplier Takata, in a widening of a scandal that has already led to the biggest auto recall in US history.
(AFP, 5/13/16)
2016 May 13, Laos PM Thongloun Sisoulith banned all timber exports in an effort to save the country’s dwindling forests.
(Econ, 6/25/16, p.34)
2016 May 13, In Lithuania local artist Mindaugas Bonanu adorned a barbecue restaurant in Vilnius with a poster showing Donald Trump locking lips with Vladimir Putin along with the text "Make Everything Great Again".
(AP, 5/14/16)
2016 May 13, A North Korean coast guard ship detained a Russian yacht with a crew of five people. Russia's Foreign Ministry sent a note to Pyongyang demanding explanation for the cause of the detention. The yacht was released on May 15.
(Reuters, 5/14/16)(AFP, 5/15/16)
2016 May 13, Portuguese lawmakers voted to change the law on artificial insemination, which previously was restricted to heterosexuals who were married or living together for more than two years. The changes also brought legal recognition for surrogacy, but only for women with health problems preventing pregnancy. The measures are due to come into force within weeks.
(AP, 5/13/16)
2016 May 13, In Russia three key editors at the top media holding firm RBC said they have resigned amid a flurry of probes and police raids around the company.
(AP, 5/13/16)
2016 May 13, In South Africa a judge ruled that gold miners who got lung diseases while working underground, as well as families of miners who died of such diseases, can launch a class action suit against mining companies.
(AP, 5/13/16)
2016 May 13, In Spain a massive fire broke out at a sprawling tire dump in Sesena near Madrid, sending a spectacular billowing cloud of thick black smoke into the air that was visible for at least 30 km.
(AP, 5/13/16)
2016 May 13, Suspected Syrian government airstrikes in the northern city of Idlib killed at least 5 people.
(AP, 5/13/16)
2016 May 13, In Turkey 6 soldiers were killed and eight were wounded in clashes with militants in the southeastern Hakkari province near the border with Iraq. A military helicopter sent to the area crashed due to a technical fault killing 2 pilots. 6 PKK militants were also killed in an operation in that region.
(Reuters, 5/13/16)(SFC, 5/14/16, p.A3)
2016 May 13, Turkish fighter jets carried out nine airstrikes against Kurdish rebels in the southeast of the country and northern Iraq. The warplanes reportedly destroyed 98 targets of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party.
(AP, 5/14/16)
2016 May 13, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro declared a 60-day state of emergency due to what he called plots from within the OPEC country and the United States to topple his leftist government.
(Reuters, 5/13/16)
2016 May 14, In the US state of Georgia 5 people were found dead in a house fire in Colquitt County. Investigators later said the 5 people had been shot dead and the blaze was set to cover up the crimes. Jeffrey Alan Peacock (25) was later arrested for murder and arson.
(SFC, 5/21/16, p.A5)
2016 May 14, Hundreds of climate change activists in New York and Washington state mobilized as part of a global protest against fossil fuels. The so-called Break Free 2016 is a 12-day protest event seeking to call attention to climate change and demanding a transition to clean energy.
(Reuters, 5/15/16)
2016 May 14, In Texas 8 people were killed and 43 were injured after a charter bus heading to a casino in the town of Eagle Pass rolled over on the highway.
(AFP, 5/14/16)
2016 May 14, In Afghanistan at least 3 policemen died after a suicide bomber detonated an explosives-laden vehicle near a police training base in southern Helmand province.
(AP, 5/14/16)
2016 May 14, Bangladesh local media said 64 people have been killed by lightning over the past two days during tropical storms across the country.
(AP, 5/14/16)
2016 May 14, in southeastern Bangladesh body of Buddhist monk Maung Shue U. Chak (75) was found in a monastery with his throat slit.
(AP, 5/14/16)
2016 May 14, In Bosnia tens of thousands of people rallied in separate demonstrations for and against the regional Bosnian Serb government in the northern city of Banja Luka, kept apart by police and barricades to prevent violence. The pro-EU Alliance for Changes accused the Bosnian Serb government of corruption and its leader Milorad Dodik of dictatorship. Dodik's camp accuses the opposition of betraying Bosnian Serb national interests, which according to him lie in seceding from Bosnia and creating a new Serb country with close ties to Russia.
(AP, 5/14/16)
2016 May 14, Cameroon's government said multinational joint forces fighting Boko Haram have arrested five leaders of the extremist group earlier this month and freed 28 children along with at least 18 women.
(AP, 5/14/16)
2016 May 14, In Egypt two Cairo courts convicted and sentenced to five years in jail a total of 101 protesters for taking part in peaceful, anti-government demonstrations last month. The sentences were passed hours after another Cairo court sentenced another 51 protesters to two years in jail for their part in last month's demonstrations.
(AP, 5/15/16)
2016 May 14, In Haiti protesters marched in the capital demanding the departure of an interim president who was supposed to leave office this weekend. The demonstration of ex-President Michel Martelly's Tet Kale political faction reached a peak of a few thousand in downtown Port-au-Prince.
(AP, 5/15/16)
2016 May 14, In southern India a truck and an overcrowded motorized rickshaw collided in Telangana state killing 16 people, half of them from a single family.
(AP, 5/15/16)
2016 May 14, In India an overcrowded boat sank following a village fair in West Bengal state. Rescuers soon recovered 18 bodies from the Hooghly river.
(AP, 5/16/16)
2016 May 14, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said the Internet was promoting un-Islamic thoughts that should be promptly dealt with.
(Reuters, 5/16/16)
2016 May 14, Iranians staged an international contest for cartoons depicting the Holocaust but insisted the event was aimed at criticizing alleged Western double standards regarding free expression and not at denying the Nazi genocide.
(AP, 5/14/16)
2016 May 14, In Iraq more 14 suicide bombers attacked a residential and government complex at Amiriyat Fallujah, killing at least 6 people. Five of the attackers blew up themselves while clashing with security forces, while others holed up inside the buildings, and were later killed.
(AP, 5/14/16)
2016 May 14, Mexican authorities issued a new smog alert for the capital after ozone levels rose above 150 percent of acceptable limits.
(AP, 5/14/16)
2016 May 14, In Mexico 3 men were gunned down in a tourist-hotel quarter of the Pacific Coast resort city of Acapulco.
(AP, 5/15/16)
2016 May 14, In Nigeria regional and Western powers gathered for talks on quelling the threat from Boko Haram as the UN warned of the militants' threat to African security and ties to the Islamic State group.
(AFP, 5/13/16)
2016 May 14, In Peru at least 12 people died when a passenger bus veered off the road and crashed along the country's northern coast.
(AP, 5/14/16)
2016 May 14, In Russia a brawl at a cemetery involving up to 200 people has left two people dead and 10 wounded. Police said the brawl was believed to have been about control over providing burial services at the sprawling Khovanskoye cemetery in southwest Moscow.
(AP, 5/14/16)
2016 May 14, In Syria the Islamic State attacked a hospital in Deir al-Zor and seized territory on the edge of the besieged city still partly controlled by the government. The fighting killed at least 20 members of the Syrian government forces and at least six Islamic State fighters.
(Reuters, 5/14/16)
2016 May 14, Tajikistan's President Emomali Rakhmon signed a law to create a holiday honoring his autocratic rule in a move that fuels fears of a burgeoning personality cult in the Central Asian state.
(AFP, 5/14/16)
2016 May 14, Turkey’s state-run Anadolu Agency reported that Turkish military and US-led coalition forces killed 45 Islamic State militants in shelling and an air strike north of the Syrian city of Aleppo.
(Reuters, 5/14/16)
2016 May 14, Ukraine's interior minister lambasted reporters who were accredited by pro-Russian rebels to cover fighting in the country's east, after their details were leaked by hackers.
(AFP, 5/14/16)
2016 May 14, UN experts said Congolese army officers and police reported receiving pistols from a group of 30 North Korean instructors training their presidential guard and special police forces, which would appear to be a violation of UN sanctions banning Pyongyang from exporting weapons or providing military training.
(AP, 5/14/16)
2016 May 14, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro announced a sweeping crackdown under a new emergency decree, ordering the seizure of paralyzed factories, the arrest of their owners and military exercises to counter alleged foreign threats.
(AFP, 5/14/16)
2016 May 15, San Francisco held its annual Bay to Breakers race with some 40,000 registered runners and thousands more freeloaders. The record for paying customers was 110,000 in 1986.
(SFC, 5/16/16, p.A6)
2016 May 15, Australians cheered contestant and juries' favorite Dami Im for placing second at the annual Eurovision song contest in Sweden.
(AFP, 5/15/16)
2016 May 15, Colombian authorities reported the biggest cocaine seizure in the history of a country long plagued by traffic in the drug. 50 commandos backed by helicopters seized about 8 tons of cocaine on a banana plantation in the northwestern department of Antioquia.
(AP, 5/16/16)
2016 May 15, The Dominican Republic held elections. Dominicans faced a dizzying array of choices in one of the most complex ballots in recent history, with eight candidates for president, all 222 members of Congress up for re-election and thousands of people vying for local offices around the country. Incumbent leader Danilo Medina was tipped to win despite grinding poverty and widespread crime.
(AP, 5/15/16)(AFP, 5/15/16)
2016 May 15, German police said they have arrested more than 100 people demonstrating against a coal mining in eastern Germany. The protest was organized by the groups Klimatecamp (Climate Camp) and EndeGelaende, which loosely translates as "it's finished now." Their goal is to prevent the mining and use of coal.
(AP, 5/15/16)
2016 May 15, Iran’s Tasnim news agency said eight members of a modeling network have been arrested and accused of publishing photos of women without the obligatory hijab headscarf on the picture-sharing application Instagram.
(Reuters, 5/16/16)
2016 May 15, In Iraq Jihadist suicide attackers broke into a gas plant north of Baghdad, killing at least 14 people and setting fire to gas tanks. The Islamic State (IS) group claimed responsibility for the attack on the Taji plant. A string of attacks in or close to Baghdad killed 15 others.
(Reuters, 5/15/16)(SFC, 5/16/16, p.A4)
2016 May 15, Japanese banks lost some 1.8 billion yen ($16.5 million) when fake overseas cards were used at convenience store ATMs. Fake cards of a South African bank were used. Police later arrested three suspects.
(AP, 6/7/16)
2016 May 15, In Nepal Hundreds of minority ethnic group supporters scuffled with police in Kathmandu, restarting protests against the government and the Himalayan nation's new constitution.
(AP, 5/15/16)
2016 May 15, Russian sports minister Vitaly Mutko apologized for the doping scandal that threatens the athletic superpower's participation in the Rio Olympics.
(AFP, 5/15/16)
2016 May 15, A Turkish soldier and six members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) were killed in the largely Kurdish southeast. The Turkish military killed 16 Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) fighters in an operation backed by air power near the Iranian border.
(Reuters, 5/15/16)(Reuters, 5/16/16)
2016 May 15, Turkish and US-led coalition forces struck Islamic State targets north of the Syrian city of Aleppo, killing 27 fighters. The United States and its allies conducted 14 strikes against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
(Reuters, 5/16/16)
2016 May 15, Jubilant Ukrainians erupted in celebration after Jamala won the Eurovision Song Contest with a powerful tribute to her Tatar people's deportation from Russian-annexed Crimea in 1944.
(AFP, 5/15/16)
2016 May 15, In southern Yemen a suicide bomber killed at least 25 new recruits and 6 guards inside a police compound in Mukalla in an attack claimed by Islamic State.
(AFP, 5/15/16)(SFC, 5/16/16, p.A2)
2016 May 16, The United States and its allies conducted 12 strikes against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
(Reuters, 5/17/16)
2016 May 16, The International Federation of Red Cross and the Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) pledged $110 million to a new initiative to help drought-stricken southern African countries including Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland and Zimbabwe.
(AP, 5/16/16)
2016 May 16, In Afghanistan thousands of demonstrators from the Hazara minority marched in protest through Kabul, accusing President Ashraf Ghani's government of cutting them out of a multi-million dollar power transmission line project.
(Reuters, 5/16/16)
2016 May 16, In Austria world powers meeting in Vienna said they supported the lifting of an arms embargo on Libya and were ready to supply weapons to the country's new unity government to help it fight the growing threat posed by the Islamic State group.
(AFP, 5/16/16)
2016 May 16, The UN said more than nine million people in the Lake Chad region are in desperate need of food aid as the violent insurgency continues being waged there by Boko Haram. Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon and Niger have significantly weakened Boko Haram but have been unable to vanquish the Islamists entirely.
(AFP, 5/16/16)
2016 May 16, French energy giant Total officially opened the Shetland Gas Plant in Britain's northernmost outpost, which cost $5 billion (4.4 billion euros) to build.
(AFP, 5/16/16)
2016 May 16, In western Indonesia rescuers found the bodies of 17 people who were among 20 university students and two guides who went missing in rain-triggered floods and landslides at a popular waterfall. One student was found alive. 4 people remained missing.
(AP, 5/16/16)
2016 May 16, Iraqi security forces and allied fighters launched an operation to retake the town of Rutba from the Islamic State jihadist group.
(AFP, 5/16/16)
2016 May 16, Kenyan police fired tear gas and water cannon at stone-throwing crowds protesting in central Nairobi against an election oversight body they say is biased and should be scrapped. Police officers were seen viciously beating an unresponsive fallen protester as they broke up the demonstrations. At least 15 people were arrested and at least one victim died. A day later Kenya's police chief ordered an internal investigation.
(Reuters, 5/16/16)(AFP, 5/17/16)(Econ, 5/21/16, p.41)
2016 May 16, In Nepal supporters of ethnic minority groups demanding changes in the new constitution clashed with police and blocked main streets near the prime minister's office, as their newly started protests entered their second day.
(AP, 5/16/16)
2016 May 16, Presumptive Philippine President-elect Rodrigo Duterte said he will reimpose the death penalty, offer Cabinet posts to communist rebels, and move to amend the constitution to give more power to the provinces. He also said he will launch a major military offensive to destroy Abu Sayyaf extremists on southern Jolo Island.
(AP, 5/16/16)
2016 May 16, Rwanda officials said over 1,500 Burundians have been expelled in recent days, amid worsening relations between the neighbors.
(AFP, 5/16/16)
2016 May 16, Han Kang’s “The Vegetarian" won the Man Booker Int’l. Prize (MBIP) for fiction. The South Korean book was translated by Deborah Smith.
(Econ, 5/21/16, p.77)
2016 May 16, Swedish citizen Claver Berinkindi (61), originally from Rwanda, was sentenced in Stockholm to life in prison for his role in the 1994 genocide in the African country.
(AP, 5/16/16)
2016 May 17, The Obama administration announced changes to sanctions imposed on Myanmar. The new measures took three state-owned banks and seven state enterprises off its blacklist.
(Econ, 5/21/16, p.34)
2016 May 17, Eric Fanning was unanimously confirmed as secretary of the US Army by the Senate, making him the first openly gay leader in the United States military.
(CSM, 5/18/16)
2016 May 17, In the SF Bay Area the Oakland City Council approved laws to regulate the city’s medical cannabis industry.
(SFC, 5/17/16, p.A6)
2016 May 17, It was reported that an epidemic of crystal meth addiction on the remote Fort Peck Indian Reservation in northern Montana has led to sex trafficking amidst poverty, isolation, joblessness and violence. A federal Drug Enforcement Administration report has said number of drug cases on Indian lands nationwide rose seven-fold from 2009 to 2014, and crime rates on some reservations are five times higher than national averages.
(Reuters, 5/17/16)
2016 May 17, South Carolina lawmakers passed a bill to restrict abortions beyond 20 weeks. Gov. Nikki Haley (R) signed the bill on May 25 making South Carolina the 17th state with such a ban.
(CSM, 5/18/16)(SFC, 5/26/16, p.A6)
2016 May 17, The Algerian army began a sweep through the d'Errich forest in Ain Turk in the Bouira region troops. The operation killed 8 Islamist fighters.
(AP, 5/21/16)
2016 May 17, World and regional powers meeting in Vienna agreed to try and turn Syria's shaky pause in fighting into a comprehensive cease-fire as a step toward ending the five-year war that left hundreds of thousands dead and fueled the rise of Islamic extremists.
(AP, 5/17/16)
2016 May 17, An Azerbaijani soldier and an ethnic Armenian fighter for the breakaway Nagorny Karabakh region's army died in fresh clashes, hours after Baku and Yerevan agreed to respect a ceasefire in the disputed territory.
(AFP, 5/17/16)
2016 May 17, Dozens of Belgian trade unionists and prison workers who have been on a three-week strike to demand an end to austerity and better working conditions broke into the justice ministry in Brussels and damaged part of the building. Police pushed them back with tear gas.
(AP, 5/17/16)
2016 May 17, The International Olympic Committee opened disciplinary proceedings against the 31 unidentified athletes from 12 countries who competed in Beijing and were planning to take part in the Rio de Janeiro Games in August. They were caught in the retesting of drug samples from the 2008 Beijing Games.
(AP, 5/17/16)
2016 May 17, Germany’s police said they have received a total of seven complaints alleging sexual harassment or assault at the Carnival of Cultures, an annual festival in Berlin that ran from May 13 to May 16.
(AP, 5/17/16)
2016 May 17, In Greece a ceremony marked the beginning of construction on a new pipeline project bringing Azeri gas through northern Greece and Albania to Italy, reducing Europe's energy dependency on Russia. The Trans Adriatic Pipeline will run for 878 km (550 miles), from Greece's border with Turkey to southern Italy, and includes a 105-kilometer (65-mile) stretch under the Adriatic Sea.
(AP, 5/17/16)
2016 May 17, Iran's parliament passed a bill requiring the government demand payment from the United States as compensation for alleged damages Tehran suffered as a result of American policies over past decades.
(AP, 5/17/16)
2016 May 17, In Iraq four bombings killed at least 69 people and wounded more than 100 in Baghdad.
(Reuters, 5/17/16)(SFC, 5/17/16, p.A2)
2016 May 17, In Kosovo a few hundred people from the gay and lesbian community held their first ever pride parade, seeking acceptance and respect of their rights in the conservative society.
(AFP, 5/17/16)
2016 May 17, In Libya forces allied to the Government of National Accord (GNA) captured the town of Abu Grein as they advanced on Sirte.
(AFP, 6/16/16)
2016 May 17, In Nigeria teenager Amina Ali Darsha, the first of more than 200 schoolgirls missing for over two years after they were kidnapped by Boko Haram militants in Chibok, was found carrying a baby near the Sambisa forest close to the border with Cameroon.
(Reuters, 5/18/16)
2016 May 17, In South Korea a woman (23) was attacked and stabbed to death by a male stranger early today in a building's bathroom near Seoul’s Gangnam subway station.
(AP, 5/21/16)
2016 May 17, Sri Lankan disaster officials said flash floods and landslides, triggered by more than three days of heavy rain, have forced more than 130,000 people from their homes. The death toll soon reached 92 with at least 109 people missing.
(Reuters, 5/17/16)(AP, 5/18/16)(AP, 5/21/16)(SFC, 5/23/16, p.A2)
2016 May 17, Yemen's government said it is suspending its participation in talks with Iran-backed rebels, in a new setback to the UN-backed peace process.
(AFP, 5/17/16)
2016 May 18, The United States and its allies staged 17 strikes against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
(Reuters, 5/19/16)
2016 May 18, In South Carolina police in Simpsonville arrested 54 people in a 2-day prostitution bust.
(SSFC, 5/22/16, p.A11)
2016 May 18, A fifth round of four-nation talks (Afghanistan, Pakistan, the United States and China) aimed at laying the ground for a negotiated end to the Afghan war began in Pakistan, as hopes faded for bringing the Taliban insurgents to the table quickly.
(Reuters, 5/18/16)
2016 May 18, In northern Afghanistan at least 20 people were killed in flash floods that hit the province of Sari Pul. The early morning floods hit the district of Kohistanat in the remote south of Sari Pul.
(AP, 5/18/16)
2016 May 18, Chinese appliance maker Midea made a $5.2 billion takeover offer for German industrial robot maker Kuka, a move that it says would help it capture a larger share of the "future service robots market."
(AP, 5/18/16)
2016 May 18, In Ecuador two earthquakes at magnitude 6.7 and 6.8 struck in the early morning and at midday leaving one person dead and dozens injured.
(SFC, 5/19/16, p.A4)
2016 May 18, Strikes by French railway and port workers halved train services and prompted cancellation of ferry links to Britain. French police staged demonstrations in about 60 cities against a surge of "anti-cop hatred" which they say they have suffered at a series of anti-government protests in recent months.
(Reuters, 5/18/16)(AFP, 5/18/16)(SFC, 5/19/16, p.A2)
2016 May 18, In Libya 32 people were killed and 50 wounded in a car-bomb attack in Abu Grein targeting the forces allied with the GNA.
(AFP, 6/16/16)
2016 May 18, Human Rights Watch released a report documenting atrocities by Libya's Islamic State affiliate — including instances of "crucifixions" and shooting a man to death for "cursing God" — in the coastal city of Sirte, a stronghold of the militants.
(AP, 5/18/16)
2016 May 18, In northeastern Mali 5 Chadian peacekeepers were killed and three others wounded during an ambush in the Kidal region. Three suspects were captured following the attack.
(AFP, 5/19/16)
2016 May 18, The Dutch finance minister said the country's national debt declined last year for the first time since 2006 as the economy reaped the benefits of reforms and recovered from the global economic turmoil of recent years. The 2015 national debt was 442 billion euros, 10 billion less than the previous year. The debt equals 65.1 percent of gross domestic product.
(AP, 5/18/16)
2016 May 18, Norway awarded 10 new licenses for offshore oil and gas exploration in the Barents Sea, including three in previously untouched waters near the Russian border. The 13 companies awarded participating interests in the licensing round included Statoil, Chevron, ConocoPhillips and Lukoil.
(AP, 5/18/16)
2016 May 18, In Pakistan a twin bombing killed a police officer and wounded nine people in the northwestern city of Peshawar.
(AP, 5/18/16)
2016 May 18, In Pakistan 8 al-Qaida operatives and other militants were killed near the city of Multan, Punjab province. Several of the accomplices managed to flee but were traced to the district of Dera Ghazi Khan, where six were killed in a firefight with security forces the following day.
(AP, 5/20/16)
2016 May 18, Somaliland, with a population of approximately 4 million people, celebrated 25 years since the region proclaimed independence from Somalia renewing calls for international recognition of its self-declared independence from Somalia.
(AP, 5/18/16)
2016 May 18, In central Syria a regime air strike killed at least 13 members of the same family, including eight children in Rastan.
(AFP, 5/18/16)
2016 May 18, Turkish warplanes hit PKK targets overnight in southeast Turkey and northern Iraq, killing at least 10 fighters. 4 Turkish soldiers were killed and nine wounded when a bomb was detonated as their vehicle traveled past in the mainly Kurdish southeast of the country. Earlier today a soldier was killed in Nusaybin, situated at the Syrian border some 500 km (310 miles) away, when militants opened fire on him.
(Reuters, 5/18/16)
2016 May 18, Uganda's opposition leader Kizza Besigye was remanded to a maximum security prison in the capital after being charged with treason for organizing protests against the re-election of long-time President Yoweri Museveni.
(AP, 5/18/16)
2016 May 18, Yemen's PM Ahmed bin rejected a unity government proposed by Iran-backed rebels whom he accused of bringing the country's economy to the brink of collapse.
(AFP, 5/18/16)
2016 May 19, Pres. Obama recognized 17 leading scientists and innovators as recipients of the National Medal of Science.
(SFC, 5/20/16, p.A5)
2016 May 19, The United States and its allies conducted 17 strikes against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
(Reuters, 5/20/16)
2016 May 19, In San Francisco the police shooting of Jessica Williams (29), a young black woman, proved the final straw for police Chief Greg Suhr, who resigned as head of the department already weighed down by shootings and racially tinged scandals. No charges were filed against the officers involved.
(SFC, 5/20/16, p.A1)(SFC, 10/19/17, p.A1)
2016 May 19, Alan Young (b.1919), an English-born actor who played the owner of the talking horse “Mr. Ed" (1961-1966), died in Woodland Hills, Ca.
(SSFC, 5/22/16, p.C12)
2016 May 19, Morley Safer (1931-2016), longtime journalist for “60 Minutes", died at his home in Manhattan a week after announcing his retirement.
(SFC, 5/20/16, p.A4)
2016 May 19, In Afghanistan 8 policemen were killed by a colleague who turned his gun on them at a checkpoint in Qalat, Zabul province. In the Dihrawud district of Uruzgan province, two policemen were killed by a colleague in an apparent personal dispute. A senior officer of the Afghan army's 205 Corps, Gen. Abdul Basir Sheerwand, was killed when a roadside bomb exploded in the Shah Wali Kot district of Kandahar province.
(AP, 5/19/16)
2016 May 19, World Health Organization held an emergency meeting on the outbreak of yellow fever in Angola. Yellow fever has been raging since last December, and especially in the capital Luanda, killing 293 people in the country to date and infecting another 2,267.
(AP, 5/19/16)
2016 May 19, An EgyptAir Airbus 320 jet carrying 66 passengers and crew from Paris to Cairo disappeared from radar over the Mediterranean south of Greece. Athens said the plane swerved in mid-air before plunging from cruising height and vanishing. Greek officials soon reported pieces of plastic and two life vests found floating some 230 miles south of Crete. On Dec 15 Egypt’s government reported that traces of explosives have been found on some of the victims of an EgyptAir flight.
(Reuters, 5/19/16)(AP, 12/15/16)
2016 May 19, Egypt’s official gazette said Russia will loan Egypt $25 billion to finance building and operating a nuclear power plant in Egypt.
(Reuters, 5/19/16)
2016 May 19, Indian PM Narendra Modi's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won power for the first time in the northeastern state of Assam.
(Reuters, 5/19/16)
2016 May 19, In northern India Phalodi wilted as the mercury reached a new high of 51 degrees Celsius, equivalent to 123.8 Fahrenheit, beating a 60-year-old record.
(AFP, 5/20/16)
2016 May 19, Iraq announced that its forces have recaptured the western town of Rutba, which had been held by the Islamic State jihadist group since 2014.
(AFP, 5/19/16)
2016 May 19, NATO invited the Balkan nation of Montenegro to become its 29th member, agreeing to expand for only the seventh time in its history despite Russia's angry objections.
(AP, 5/19/16)
2016 May 19, In western Nepal a landslide swept into a mountain village, killing at least four people and leaving three missing in Katwada village.
(AP, 5/20/16)
2016 May 19, In the Philippines boxing great Manny Pacquiao was proclaimed as a winner of a Senate seat, bringing him closer to a possible crack at the presidency.
(AP, 5/19/16)
2016 May 19, Russian performance artist Pyotr Pavlensky, known for his radical, politically charged performances, was convicted of vandalism for a pro-Ukraine protest and sentenced to 16 months in prison. He won't have to serve prison time because the statute of limitations had expired. He remained in custody while awaiting trial in Moscow in a second case after he set fire to the doors of the Russian security agency.
(AP, 5/19/16)
2016 May 19, South African media said authorities have arrested at least 30 students after the torching of a building at the University of Fort Hare during overnight protests. It was not immediately clear why the students were protesting.
(Reuters, 5/19/16)
2016 May 19, In Spain the Castile and Leon government outlawed the killing of bulls at town festivals in a measure that likely will stop the animals being speared to death at one of the country's goriest summer events.
(AP, 5/19/16)
2016 May 19, In northern Spain 3 French people were killed when the light aircraft they were flying crashed in Arbizu after reportedly colliding with a vulture.
(AP, 5/20/16)
2016 May 19, Syrian government forces and allied militias made a swift advance into Damascus's rebel-held suburbs, threatening to disrupt a years-long stalemate in the war around the Syrian capital.
(AP, 5/19/16)
2016 May 19, Thailand’s Department of Land Transport put the brakes on motorbike-hailing services offered by Uber and Singapore-based GrabBike barely two months after they started.
(AP, 5/19/16)
2016 May 19, Turkey's ruling party named Transport Minister Binali Yildirim, a loyal ally of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, as the new prime minister.
(AFP, 5/19/16)
2016 May 20, The White House was placed on lockdown for more than an hour and heavily armed Secret Service agents deployed around the building after a man brandished a weapon nearby. Jesse Oliveri of Ashland, Pa., was shot once by a Secret Service agent and taken into custody.
(AP, 5/21/16)(SFC, 5/23/16, p.A6)
2016 May 20, Coca-Cola said it is halting production in Venezuela of its namesake beverage due to a sugar shortage brought on by the country's grinding economic crisis. Last month, Empresas Polar, Venezuela's largest food and beverage company, stopped production of beer because of a lack of imported barley.
(AP, 5/20/16)
2016 May 20, Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour was killed in a US drone strike in the Afghan-Pakistan border area. US officials later said Mansour was likely killed in an air strike on Pakistani soil.
(AP, 5/21/16)(Reuters, 5/22/16)
2016 May 20, In Bangladesh Sanaur Rahman, a homeopath doctor, was hacked to death and his friend critically wounded by men wielding machetes. The two were hit by three attackers who fled on a motorbike in the western district of Kushtia.
(AP, 5/21/16)
2016 May 20, The Chilean government said it has reached a deal with small-scale fishermen who had blocked access to the Chiloe archipelago after a toxic algal bloom put their livelihoods at risk. They will get $1,000 in compensation. The government aid also extends to other non-fishing families who depend on the sea, including algae gatherers and divers.
(AP, 5/20/16)
2016 May 20, China reported that 135 people have been arrested in 22 provinces for illegally buying and selling vaccines.
(AP, 5/21/16)
2016 May 20, In southern China at least 8 people were killed and another four went missing in a strong storm that hammered the city of Xinyi. Officials said the storm brought the heaviest rainfall since 1954, when authorities started to collect weather data.
(AP, 5/21/16)
2016 May 20, In Egypt a group of Muslims set fire to seven houses belonging to Christians and stripped a woman (70) naked in the southern province of Minya after rumors that her Christian son had an affair with a Muslim woman.
(Reuters, 5/26/16)
2016 May 20, The European Space Agency (ESA) said that a European satellite has spotted a potential oil slick in the area of the eastern Mediterranean Sea where an EgyptAir jet disappeared on May 18 with 66 people on board. The Egyptian navy said earlier today it had found the personal belongings of passengers and other debris floating in the Mediterranean.
(Reuters, 5/20/16)
2016 May 20, Four French gendarmes were killed when a helicopter crashed in a mountainous area of southwest France.
(AFP, 5/20/16)
2016 May 20, In India Masunda Kitada Oliver, a Congolese graduate student who had lived in India for over six years, hailed an auto rickshaw in New Delhi when three men insisted they had hired the vehicle. The men beat him up and hit him on the head with a stone, and he died later that night. India on May 25 promised swift punishment.
(AP, 5/25/16)
2016 May 20, Iraqi forces killed at least two protesters while defending Baghdad's Green Zone. The two supporters of Moqtada al-Sadr were the first casualties of the months-old protest movement started by the young cleric to push for political change.
(AFP, 5/21/16)
2016 May 20, Israel's defense minister Moshe Yaalon resigned, saying the nation was being taken over by "extremist and dangerous elements" after PM Benjamin Netanyahu moved to replace him with a far-right politician in an effort to strengthen his coalition.
(Reuters, 5/20/16)
2016 May 20, In Kazakhstan attempts to hold demonstrations against a land-reform measure were blocked. About forty activists were arrested for trying to organize them.
(AP, 5/21/16)
2016 May 20, Mexico approved the extradition of drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman to the United States after receiving guarantees he would not face the death penalty, and the kingpin’s lawyers vowed to block the move.
(Reuters, 5/21/16)
2016 May 20, NATO foreign ministers and alliance partners said they have agreed to extend the Resolute Support mission that trains, advises and assists Afghanistan's security forces and institutions beyond 2016.
(AP, 5/20/16)
2016 May 20, In Nigeria former militants of the defunct Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) called for a halt to a resurgence of attacks on oil and gas facilities in Nigeria's Niger Delta, saying it is an unnecessary distraction for President Muhammadu Buhari's administration.
(Reuters, 5/21/16)
2016 May 20, Peru's tight presidential race took a surprise turn when prosecutors confirmed they've opened a preliminary investigation against front-runner Keiko Fujimori and her American husband for money laundering.
(AP, 5/20/16)
2016 May 20, In the Philippines Christian missionary Sim Jae-jok (57) from South Korea was bludgeoned to death with a spade and a cooking gas tank by a robber who broke into his home southeast Manila.
(AP, 5/20/16)
2016 May 20, Portugal's finance ministry said it is looking at ways of preventing government departments from using tax havens after the Treasury debt agency was found to have held an investment in Jersey.
(AP, 5/20/16)
2016 May 20, Moscow proposed that Russia and United States, which have been flying separate bombing campaigns in Syria, launch joint air strikes against jihadists in the war-torn country from next week.
(AFP, 5/20/16)
2016 May 20, South Africa's Supreme Court of Appeal dismissed a government bid to keep a seven-year ban in place on the domestic trade in rhino horn. The decision had no bearing on a ban on international trade in rhino horn.
(Reuters, 5/23/16)
2016 May 20, Sudan’s independent Shorouk TV said clashes this week between two clans in southern West Kordofan State left at least 37 people dead. The Awlad Subaih and Jamaaniyah reportedly clashed over the theft of sheep.
(SFC, 5/21/16, p.A2)
2016 May 20, Taiwan’s new President Tsai Ing-wen was sworn in with the country’s export-driven economy on the ropes and China, which views the self-ruled island as its own. She urged China to "drop the baggage of history" in an otherwise conciliatory inauguration speech that Beijing's Communist Party rulers had been watching for any move towards independence.
(Reuters, 5/20/16)
2016 May 20, Turkey's parliament approved a bill to amend the constitution to strip lawmakers of immunity, a move that paves the way for trials of several pro-Kurdish and other legislators. The bill put 138 lawmakers, the vast majority of them from two opposition parties, at risk of prosecution. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan signed the bill on June 7.
(AP, 5/20/16)(AFP, 6/8/16)
2016 May 20, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon appointed former Irish president Mary Robinson and Kenyan diplomat Macharia Kamau as special envoys for El Nino and climate.
(AFP, 5/20/16)
2016 May 20, The United Nations human rights office called on Mexico to properly investigate large-scale extrajudicial killings and bring those responsible to justice, including higher-ranking military officers.
(Reuters, 5/20/16)
2016 May 20, Vietnam granted early release from prison to Rev. Nguyen Van Ly, a Catholic priest who is one of its most prominent dissidents. The move was widely seen as a goodwill gesture before Pres. Barack Obama arrives on an official visit on May 22.
(AP, 5/21/16)
2016 May 20, The World Health Organization said that the Zika virus strain linked to surging cases of neurological disorders and birth defects in Latin America has for the first time been found in Africa.
(AFP, 5/20/16)
2016 May 21, The Swiss-made Solar Impulse 2 took off from Tulsa and landed at Ohio’s Dayton Int’l. Airport on the latest leg of its around-the-world journey.
(SSFC, 5/22/16, p.A11)
2016 May 21, In Afghanistan 6 police were shot and killed by colleagues who turned their guns on them at a checkpoint in southern Uruzgan province. Three officers involved in the shooting escaped the scene, taking weapons and vehicles with them.
(AP, 5/21/16)
2016 May 21, In Austria a gunman (27) fired shots late today into a small crowd attending an open air concert near the town of Nenzing, killing two people and wounding 11 others before shooting himself to death.
(AFP, 5/22/16)
2016 May 21, In Bangladesh cyclone Roanu unleashed heavy rain and strong winds on the southern coastal region, killing at least 11. About 100,000 people were forced from their homes on Moheshkhali island in Cox's Bazar.
(AP, 5/21/16)
2016 May 21, In Bangladesh 3 workers were killed when fire engulfed a textile factory in Narsingdi.
(Reuters, 5/21/16)
2016 May 21, Jan Fawcett (neé Janet Caroline Hughes), WWII British codebreaker and savior of Victorian buildings, died.
(Econ, 6/4/16, p.90)
2016 May 21, In Colombia Spanish journalist Salud Hernandez (59) disappeared while reporting a story in Norte de Santander province. She was known for opinion columns highly critical of Colombia's insurgent groups.
(Reuters, 5/23/16)
2016 May 21, In India Apple CEO Tim Cook laid out his company's plans for the vast Indian market in a meeting with PM Narendra Modi, who in turn sought Apple's support for his "Digital India" initiative focusing on e-education, health and increasing farmers' incomes.
(AP, 5/21/16)
2016 May 21, In Indonesia Mount Sinabung in North Sumatra province blasted volcanic ash as high as 3 km (2 miles) into the sky. At least 7 people were killed while working on their farms in the village of Gamber.
(AP, 5/22/16)
2016 May 21, Italy’s PM Matteo Renzi (41) launched his campaign to win an October referendum on constitutional reform, staking his political future on an attempt to finally give Italy stable governments.
(Reuters, 5/21/16)
2016 May 21, In Japan the Group of Seven (G7) major economies showed a united front on fighting terrorist financing and tax evasion in talks that ended today, but shied away from coordinated action on policies to revive stalling growth.
(AP, 5/21/16)
2016 May 21, In Japan World Bank President Jim Yong Kim announced a new program to mobilize funds quickly against virulent disease outbreaks after the world was caught unprepared in the 2014 Ebola disaster in West Africa.
(AFP, 5/21/16)
2016 May 21, The Church of Scotland voted to let its ministers enter same-sex marriages, but its clergy will not be allowed to conduct same-sex weddings.
(SSFC, 5/22/16, p.A6)
2016 May 21, In northeastern Syria bombings suspected to have been carried out by the Islamic State group killed at least 8 people hours after a top US commander visited.
(AFP, 5/22/16)
2016 May 21, Yemeni police opened fire to disperse dozens of Aden residents protesting power cuts, killing one person.
(AFP, 5/22/16)
2016 May 22, US President Barack Obama arrived on his first visit to Vietnam, a trip aimed at sealing the transformation of an old enemy into a new partner to help counter China’s growing assertiveness in the region.
(Reuters, 5/22/16)
2016 May 22, In Massachusetts Jorge Zambrano (35) shot and killed Auburn Police Officer Ronald Tarentino (42) during an early morning traffic stop. Zambrano was killed later in the day in an exchange of gunfire at a small residence in Oxford.
(SFC, 5/23/16, p.A6)
2016 May 22, In Afghanistan rockets fired in the western city of Herat hit a wall of the provincial governor's building and nearby houses, killing at least one civilian.
(Reuters, 5/22/16)
2016 May 22, Austria held a 2nd round of presidential elections. Far-right Freedom Party candidate Norbert Hofer unexpectedly won the first round with 35% of the vote. Left leaning candidate Alexander Van der Bellen collected 50.3 percent of the votes compared to 49.7 percent for Norbert Hofer of the right-wing Freedom Party.
(Reuters, 5/22/16)(AP, 5/23/16)
2016 May 22, In Austria a gunman (27) fired shots into a crowd at an outdoor concert killing 2 people and wounding eleven others before killing himself.
(SFC, 5/23/16, p.A2)
2016 May 22, In central China some 500 people protested in Zhengzhou city in what they say is a lack of university student placements in Henan province, in the latest protest over education reform.
(AP, 5/22/16)
2016 May 22, Cypriots voted for a new parliament amid public disillusionment with what many see as a discredited political establishment.
(AP, 5/22/16)
2016 May 22, In France director Ken Loach took the Palme d'Or in Cannes for "I, Daniel Blake," a film partly funded by the European Commission.
(AP, 5/23/16)
2016 May 22, In France the Iranian film "The Salesman" won two prizes at the Cannes film festival. Lead actor Shahab Hosseini won a Palme d'Or for best actor and director Asghar Farhadi picked up the award for best screenplay.
(AP, 5/27/16)
2016 May 22, In France Jaclyn Jose (52), famous in the Philippines mostly as a soap opera star, won best actress in Cannes for her mesmerizing performance as a Manila slum matriarch who falls prey to corrupt police in acclaimed Filipino director Brillante Mendoza's "Ma' Rosa".
(AFP, 5/23/16)
2016 May 22, In northeastern India heavily armed rebels ambushed and killed 6 Indian paramilitary soldiers, including one officer. The soldiers were on their way for rescue work after a rain-triggered mudslide hit Chandel district in Manipur state.
(AP, 5/22/16)
2016 May 22, Philippine president-elect Rodrigo Duterte blasted the country's dominant Roman Catholic church in an overnight news conference as "the most hypocritical institution" and accused some of its bishops of corruption for allegedly asking favors from politicians, including him.
(AP, 5/22/16)
2016 May 22, In Romania Dan Condrea, the head of Hexi Pharma, was killed as his car slammed into a tree. Condrea was due to be questioned May 23 and would have been charged with aggravated fraud. His company was indicted this month on charges that disinfectants it provided to hospitals and Romania's troops in Afghanistan were highly diluted and ineffective.
(AP, 5/23/16)
2016 May 22, In Sudan Arab tribesmen shot dead 8 ethnic minority villagers as they prayed in a revenge killing in the war-torn Darfur region.
(AFP, 5/23/16)
2016 May 22, In Syria Russian warplanes hit a key rebel supply route to Aleppo in Moscow's first strikes on Syria's battleground second city since a February ceasefire.
(AFP, 5/22/16)
2016 May 22, Tajikistan held a referendum on changing the Constitution to allow its authoritarian President Emomali Rakhmon (63) to run for the office indefinitely, effectively allowing him to rule for life.
(AP, 5/22/16)
2016 May 22, In northern Thailand a nighttime fire at a dormitory of a primary school killed 18 girls, many of whom had been roused by a dorm-mate but went back to sleep, thinking it was a prank.
(AP, 5/23/16)
2016 May 22, Turkey's Transport Minister Binali Yildirim was formally appointed as head of the ruling party and as the new prime minister, strengthening the grip on power of his mentor President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
(AFP, 5/22/16)
2016 May 22, Turkish authorities lifted a long-standing curfew from parts of a historic neighborhood in the mainly Kurdish city of Diyarbakir.
(AP, 5/22/16)
2016 May 22, The UN envoy for Yemen said peace talks in Qatar aimed at ending fighting in the impoverished Arab country are making "incredible progress" and that a halt in fighting is largely holding.
(AP, 5/22/16)
2016 May 22, Vietnam voted in once-every-five-year-elections for a rubber-stamp 500-seat parliament whose membership has already been largely determined by the Communist Party. Results of the parliamentary election on June 9 showed its members winning 96 percent of seats, and trouncing most of the independent candidates it had approved to run.
(AP, 5/22/16)(Reuters, 6/9/16)
2016 May 23, Pres. Obama announced an end to its embargo on sales of lethal arms to Vietnam as he made his first visit to Hanoi. The historic step draws a line under the two countries' old enmity and underscores their shared concerns about Beijing's growing military clout.
(AP, 5/23/16)(Reuters, 5/23/16)
2016 May 23, US federal prosecutors in New York said a Belize resident has pleaded guilty to money laundering conspiracy for helping clients profit off illegal stock trades and then laundering more than $250 million. Robert Bandfield of IPC Corp. incorporated more than 5,000 shell companies in Belize and the West Indies for securities and tax fraud schemes.
(AP, 5/24/16)
2016 May 23, In Hawaii 5 people were killed when a small plane crashed on Kauai during a skydiving tour.
(SFC, 5/23/16, p.A5)
2016 May 23, In Maryland Officer Edward Nero (30) was acquitted of assault and other charges in a non-jury trial related to the April 19, 2015, death of Freddie Gray. He had died due to spinal injuries suffered in the back of a police van on April 12. Four other officers still awaited trial in the case.
(SFC, 5/23/16, p.A10)
2016 May 23, In Massachusetts the 108-year-old Harvard Club of Boston elected Karen Van Winkle (58) as its first female president.
(http://tinyurl.com/zezx7xa)(SFC, 5/26/16, p.A6)
2016 May 23, Boeing Co. said it is selling 100 aircraft worth about $11.3 billion at list prices to Vietnam's VietJet as the airline seeks to expand its international and domestic flights.
(AP, 5/23/16)
2016 May 23, Brazilian federal police arrested João Cláudio Genu, a former treasurer of one of the parties in the country's ruling coalition, as part of a wide-ranging graft probe centered on state-run oil company Petrobras.
(Reuters, 5/23/16)
2016 May 23, It was reported that temperatures in Burkina Faso have hit as high as 111 degrees Fahrenheit (44 degrees Celsius) in recent weeks, putting a strain on a water system also challenged by a growing population. The short water supply in Ouagadougou has increased the price of a barrel of water more than 10 fold from just a few months ago.
(AP, 5/23/16)
2016 May 23, India said it will invest up to $500 million in a deal to develop a strategic port in Iran and both countries planned a number of projects they say are worth hundreds of millions of dollars as Indian PM Narendra Modi visited Tehran.
(AP, 5/23/16)
2016 May 23, In France petrol shortages caused long tailbacks of motorists in parts of the country, as protesters angry over government labor reforms blockaded some of the country's oil refineries and fuel depots.
(AFP, 5/23/16)
2016 May 23, Bayer of Germany said that it has offered $62 billion to acquire St. Louis-based Monsanto in a deal that would combine two of the world’s biggest companies of crop seeds and pesticides.
(SFC, 5/23/16, p.D1)
2016 May 23, The Indian Space Research Organization launched a small space shuttle on a rocket in southern India and completed a successful 13-minute test flight.
(AP, 5/24/16)
2016 May 23, Israeli police forces shot dead a Palestinian woman after she tried to stab a police officer at a West Bank checkpoint.
(AP, 5/23/16)
2016 May 23, Private cement deliveries to the Gaza Strip resumed after Israel lifted a six-week ban it imposed over the alleged diversion of materials by an official in the Palestinian territory.
(AFP, 5/23/16)
2016 May 23, In Kenya at least two people died when police shot, beat and tear gassed demonstrators across the country who called for the electoral commission to be dissolved due to allegations of bias and corruption.
(AP, 5/23/16)
2016 May 23, Iraqi government forces fought Islamic State militants near Falluja and bombarded central districts at the outset of an offensive to retake the longtime jihadist stronghold on the western approaches to the capital Baghdad. It was estimated that there are currently between 500 and 700 IS militants in Falluja.
(Reuters, 5/23/16)
2016 May 23, In Myanmar a collapse at an illegal mine killed at least 13 people in northern Kachin State.
(Reuters, 5/24/16)
2016 May 23, Presumptive Philippine president-elect Rodrigo Duterte said he will allow the immediate burial of former dictator Ferdinand Marcos at a heroes' cemetery, and will support the release of former President Gloria Arroyo, who is detained on corruption charges, in moves that are likely to spark anti-government protests.
(AP, 5/23/16)
2016 May 23, In South Africa the demolition of shacks north of Pretoria triggered riots that continued into the night with 2 security guards were killed.
(Reuters, 5/24/16)
2016 May 23, Sudanese activists Khalafalla Al-Afif, Midhat Hamdan and Mustafa Adam were arrested after security agents raided their office in Khartoum. The three men worked for the Center for Training and Human Development (TRACKS), a group providing training in human rights issues.
(AFP, 3/5/17)
2016 May 23, In Syria bomb blasts killed scores of people in Jableh and Tartous and wounded many others in the government-controlled territory that hosts Russian military bases. 161 people were killed in attacks by at least five suicide bombers and two devices planted in cars. The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attacks. Those killed included 43 people at the Jableh National Hospital.
(Reuters, 5/23/16)(AP, 5/24/16)
2016 May 23, In Thailand twenty-one Rohingya men escaped from the Phang Nga Immigration Detention Center in the early hours today after sawing through an iron bar in their communal cell. One was shot dead and three caught.
(Reuters, 5/24/16)
2016 May 23, Tunisia's Islamist Ennahda party voted to separate its political and religious work, part of the group's effort to cast itself as a modern political party in line with the North African country's secular heritage.
(AP, 5/23/16)
2016 May 23, In Turkey a new fund which aims to raise more than $3.8 billion for children's education in war zones and natural disasters was launched at the first ever World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul.
(Reuters, 5/23/16)
2016 May 23, At the Vatican Pope Francis met the grand imam of Egypt's highest Islamic authority, Al-Azhar, looking to heal Vatican relations with the influential center of Sunni Muslim learning after dialogue was frozen five years ago.
(Reuters, 5/23/16)
2016 May 23, In Yemen twin bombings claimed by the Islamic State group hit two recruiting stations in Aden, killing at least 45 people.
(AP, 5/23/16)
2016 May 24, The United States and its allies staged 17 strikes against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
(Reuters, 5/25/16)
2016 May 24, The Obama administration defended a deal reached last September that would resolve the 1983 environmental disaster in California’s Central Valley by absolving famers of a $330 million debt to taxpayers, among other benefits. The settlement would relieve the federal government of $3.8 billion in potential liability to Westlands Water District in the San Joaquin Valley.
(SFC, 5/25/16, p.D1)
2016 May 24, Belgian riot police fired a water cannon at protesters after fighting broke out at the end of a major anti-austerity demonstration attended by tens of thousands of people in central Brussels. At least one policeman and several protesters were injured.
(AP, 5/24/16)
2016 May 24, In Brazil an official with the Landless Workers Movement (MST) promised a new wave of farm occupations following President Dilma Rousseff's suspension to stand trial in the Senate. One percent of Brazil's population owns 45 percent of all the country's land, according to a US government report.
(Reuters, 5/25/16)
2016 May 24, British media reported that singer-songwriter Adele has signed a contract with Sony worth up to £90 million (117 million euros, $131 million), in one of the biggest ever record deals. Adele has been at London-based independent label XL Recordings since she was a teenager.
(AFP, 5/24/16)
2016 May 24, In Burundi gunmen killed 3 people including a retired army colonel and a police chief, in continuing violence associated with Pres. Pierre Nkurunziza's extended time in power.
(AP, 5/25/16)
2016 May 24, Cuba announced that it will legalize small and medium-sized private businesses.
(SFC, 5/25/16, p.A5)
2016 May 24, Czech PM Bohuslav Sobotka berated members of ruling coalition partner ANO for blocking a government-proposed anti-smoking bill in parliament, calling their vote against a national ban a "disgrace".
(Reuters, 5/25/16)
2016 May 24, Officials in Dubai announced a new, $270-million project to build homes and shops along part of the under-construction Dubai canal.
(AP, 5/24/16)
2016 May 24, In Finland American biochemical engineer Frances Arnold (59), whose discoveries in "directed evolution" have helped produce medicines, including drugs for treating diabetes, was awarded this year's euro 1 million ($1.2 million) Millennium Technology Prize.
(AP, 5/24/16)
2016 May 24, France's government stepped up efforts to break blockades and strikes at refineries that are threatening to paralyze the country just three weeks ahead of the Euro 2016 football tournament.
(AFP, 5/24/16)
2016 May 24, Greek police started moving some of the 8,000 migrants and refugees stranded in a makeshift camp on the sealed northern border with Macedonia to state-run facilities further south.
(Reuters, 5/24/16)
2016 May 24, In Iran Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati (89) was chosen to lead the Assembly of Experts, a clerical body that picks the country's next supreme leader. The hard-line cleric has been in the country's power structure since its 1979 Islamic Revolution.
(AP, 5/24/16)
2016 May 24, Kenyan troops in Somalia killed 21 suspected al-Shabab extremists who were plotting an ambush in southern Somalia.
(AP, 5/25/16)
2016 May 24, In central Mexico a mob of Atlatongo villagers attacked people suspected of a kidnapping, killing two of them.
(AP, 5/25/16)
2016 May 24, Nigeria’s agriculture commissioner Manzo Daniel said the Tuta absoluta moth, dubbed "tomato Ebola" by local farmers, has destroyed more than 80 percent of tomato farms in the northern state of Kaduna. Tomato prices have been steadily climbing for months, caused by unrest in northern and central states where the crop is grown and this has affected farmers' ability to plant and harvest.
(AFP, 5/25/16)
2016 May 24, South Korean officials said an unspecified number of North Koreans working at a Pyongyang-run restaurant overseas have escaped their workplace and will come to South Korea. The announcement came after South Korean media reported that two or three female employees at a North Korean-run restaurant in China fled and went to an unidentified Southeast Asian country earlier this month.
(AP, 5/24/16)
2016 May 24, South Sudan authorities arrested an army major for allegedly trafficking elephant ivory through the country's Paloich oil fields.
(AP, 5/27/16)
2016 May 24, Yehdego Mered, an Eritrean man suspected of running a huge human trafficking network, was arrested in Sudan.
(Reuters, 6/8/16)
2016 May 24, Switzerland's market supervisor indicated that BSI SA helped transfer money to the Alpine country connected to the Malaysian fund called 1MDB. The Swiss attorney general's office opened criminal proceedings against the bank, whose chief executive resigned.
(AP, 5/24/16)
2016 May 24, The Syrian Democratic Forces, a Kurdish-Arab alliance, announced the launch of a major assault against the Islamic State group north of the jihadists' Syrian bastion of Raqa.
(AFP, 5/24/16)
2016 May 24, In Vietnam President Barack Obama pressed Vietnam to allow greater freedoms for its citizens, arguing that better human rights would improve the communist country's economy, stability and regional power.
(AP, 5/24/16)
2016 May 24, Ukraine’s government said 7 soldiers have died from shelling in the war-torn east over the past 24 hours, the biggest casualty toll in a single day this year.
(AFP, 5/24/16)
2016 May 24, In Yemen a bomb hit a university campus in the rebel-held capital Sanaa killing 2 people at an event commemorating the country's 1990 unification.
(AFP, 5/24/16)
2016 May 25, The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission announced two settlements with Citibank, part of the big Wall Street bank Citigroup Inc. Citibank will pay $425 million to settle federal civil charges of attempting to manipulate key benchmarks used to set interest rates for investments in derivatives and US Treasury bonds as well as a range of consumer loans.
(AP, 5/25/16)
2016 May 25, In Novato, Ca., three suspects attacked two high school students on a hiking trail near the Marin Country Club killing Edwin Josue Ramirez Guerra (17) and wounding the other. Two teenage suspects were arrested the next day. Police later said all involved were from Novato High School and that the incident was possibly tied to an earlier sexual assault. Javier Guevara (19), a purported gang member, was later identified as the 3rd suspect. He reportedly used a machete to slash the victim.
(SFC, 5/27/16, p.A14)(SFC, 5/28/16, p.C2)
2016 May 25, In Vallejo, Ca., Pearl Pinson (15) went missing after she was dragged into a car on an I-780 overpass. Suspect Fernando Castro (19) was fatally shot by Solano County police as he shot at officers in a Solvang mobile home park. Pinson was last seen bleeding as she was dragged into a vehicle by her kidnapper.
(SFC, 5/27/16, p.A14)(SFC, 1/31/19, p.A7)
2016 May 25, Florida Rep. David Jolly said the Dept. of Veteran’s Affairs had cut the benefits of 4,200 people nationwide between 2011 and 2015 after they were wrongly declared dead. He had first raised the issue last November.
(SFC, 5/26/16, p.A6)
2016 May 25, In Pennsylvania the Swiss-made Solar Impulse 2 landed in Allentown 17 hours after taking off from Dayton in the latest leg of its journey around the world.
(SFC, 5/26/16, p.A6)
2016 May 25, The Afghan Taliban named Islamic legal scholar Haibatullah Akhundzada, one of former leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour's deputies, to succeed him. Within an hour of the announcement a Taliban suicide bomber attacked a shuttle bus carrying court employees west of Kabul, killing up to 11 people and wounding several others, including children.
(Reuters, 5/25/16)
2016 May 25, Prominent Azerbaijani journalist Khadija Ismayilova was released on probation following a storm of international protests about her imprisonment, which has been widely seen as an attempt to silence a critical voice.
(AP, 5/25/16)
2016 May 25, Brazil's Congress authorized a major increase in the budget deficit, handing interim president Michel Temer a first victory in his bid to tackle the Latin American giant's sickly economy.
(AFP, 5/25/16)
2016 May 25, In Brazil a video was posted featuring the girl (16) naked on a bed and apparent rapists bragging that she had been raped by more than 30 men. They were suspected of assaulting her on May 21 in Rio de Janeiro. Online social networks quickly erupted with outrage over the video as police launched an investigation.
(AFP, 5/28/16)
2016 May 25, A Democratic Republic of Congo opposition group, the Citizen’s Front, angered by a court decision to let President Joseph Kabila remain in office beyond his term, vowed to hold nationwide protests in defiance of bans imposed in some regions.
(AFP, 5/25/16)
2016 May 25, The European Union's agency for judicial cooperation said a Portuguese national and a Russian were arrested in Rome last week on suspicion of being involved in espionage for hire.
(AP, 5/25/16)
2016 May 25, The French oil industry federation said France has started using its strategic oil reserves for the first time since 2010 to counter union blockades of its refineries. The industry said it has been using the strategic reserves for two days. Workers at the hardline CGT union voted for a 24-hour strike at Nogent-sur-Seine nuclear plant.
(Reuters, 5/25/16)
2016 May 25, Greek police moved hundreds more migrants out of Idomeni, the squalid tent city where thousands fleeing war and poverty have lived for months, on the second day of an operation likely to last a week.
(AfP, 5/25/16)
2016 May 25, Indonesian Pres. Joko Widodo issued a regulation that provides tougher penalties for child rapists, including chemical castration and the death penalty.
(AP, 5/25/16)
2016 May 25, Iraqi troops concentrated artillery fire on Falluja's northern and northeastern neighborhoods. A Falluja hospital source said that six civilians were killed and 11 wounded on Wednesday morning, raising the overall death toll since the May 23 launch of the government offensive to 35 - 21 civilians and 14 militants.
(AP, 5/25/16)
2016 May 25, The Italian navy said a large wooden fishing boat overcrowded with migrants capsized off the coast of Libya, with some 550 people rescued and five found dead so far. An estimated 100 people were missing from the smugglers' boat.
(Reuters, 5/25/16)(AP, 5/29/16)
2016 May 25, Italy's Mount Etna, Europe's highest and most active volcano, erupted spewing red torrents of lava into the sky.
(Reuters, 5/26/16)
2016 May 25, Kenya's opposition said it is suspending weeks of protests to allow for talks with the government after a heavy police crackdown, but warned they would return if no action was taken.
(AFP, 5/25/16)
2016 May 25, Liberia's Information Minister Eugene Nagbe said the Chairman of the ruling Unity Party Varney Sherman, parliamentary speaker Alex Tyler former junior mining minister Ernest Jones all face charges, along with London-based Sable Mining in a massive corruption scandal.
(AFP, 5/25/16)
2016 May 25, Anti-slavery campaigners said the jailing of two slave-owners this week and the release of two leading anti-slavery activists from prison could mark a turning point in Mauritania’s fight to eliminate the practice.
(Reuters, 5/25/16)
2016 May 25, Polish authorities said they have started chopping down beetle-infested trees in parts of the Bialowieza Forest, the country’s oldest forest, saying the move aims to eliminate dying trees and to ensure safety for tourists.
(AP, 5/25/16)
2016 May 25, In South Sudan an airport sniffer dog unit found 10 kg (22 pounds) of frozen pangolin meat in the luggage of a Chinese national upon his arrival in Juba from Paloich where he works as an oil engineer.
(AP, 5/27/16)
2016 May 25, Spanish police said they have arrested 30 people suspected of illegally distributing pay television content and of laundering the proceeds by investing in bitcoin "mining" centers for processing transactions in the digital currency.
(Reuters, 5/25/16)
2016 May 25, Ukrainian military pilot Nadiya Savchenko (35) arrived home to scenes of jubilation after her release by Russia in a prisoner swap and she promptly offered to fight again for Kiev in its conflict with pro-Russian separatists. Russian State television showed Alexander Alexandrov and Yevgeny Yerofeyev, descending the steps of an aircraft at Moscow's Vnukovo airport after being handed over by Kiev.
(Reuters, 5/25/16)
2016 May 25, In Yemen a suspected Saudi-led coalition airstrike hit a mineral water factory in Lahij. Security officials said death toll of a suspected Saudi-led coalition airstrike that hit a family's house in the town of el-Mahala, Lahj province. has been raised to 11, including four children from one family.
(AP, 5/25/16)
2016 May 26, Donald Trump reached the number of delegates needed to clinch the Republican nomination for president, completing an unlikely rise that has upended the political landscape and set the stage for a bitter fall campaign.
(AP, 5/26/16)
2016 May 26, The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said a US patient has been infected with bacteria resistant to colistin, a last resort antibiotic. A woman in Pennsylvania was infected with E. coli and carried a gene resistant colistin.
(SFC, 5/28/16, p.A8)
2016 May 26, The Connecticut Supreme Court upheld its landmark decision declaring the state’s death penalty unconstitutional and abolishing capital punishment.
(SFC, 5/27/16, p.A7)
2016 May 26, Governor John Bel Edwards signed a bill into law that expands the medical accessibility of marijuana in Louisiana.
(http://tinyurl.com/godqw8c)
2016 May 26, Cambodian armed security forces raided the headquarters of the main opposition party and surrounded the car of Kem Sokha, its No. 2 leader, in an apparent attempt to apprehend him, but left empty-handed after not finding him in either place.
(AP, 5/26/16)
2016 May 26, In eastern Congo DRC a protester and a police officer were killed in protests in Goma against President Joseph Kabila over indications November's elections will be postponed.
(Reuters, 5/26/16)
2016 May 26, A Congolese official said at least 23 rebels have been killed in an operation launched in May to combat rebels in the North Kivu province.
(AP, 5/26/16)
2016 May 26, In Cyprus UN envoy Espen Barth Eide said he has asked Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci to help "rectify" the new policy that reportedly limits worship in any church to once a year.
(AP, 5/26/16)
2016 May 26, The European Union issued a warning to Hungary about discrimination against Roma children in the country's education system.
(AP, 5/26/16)
2016 May 26, In France 11 of 58 nuclear power plants were hit with unplanned outages after unionized workers at utility EDF joined a rolling nationwide strike against planned government reforms.
(Reuters, 5/26/16)
2016 May 26, In India a powerful blast in a chemical factory located near a residential area in a Mumbai suburb killed five people and left 92 injured.
(Reuters, 5/26/16)
2016 May 26, In Iran the Mizan news agency said more than 30 college students have been arrested, interrogated and given 99 lashes for attending a graduation party that included men and women.
(SFC, 5/28/16, p.A2)
2016 May 26, Israeli aircraft struck two Hamas militant sites in southern Gaza in response to rocket fire toward Israel.
(AP, 5/26/16)
2016 May 26, Italian officials said another migrant boat has capsized in the Mediterranean off the coast of Libya. Some 20 bodies were spotted in the sea. Officials said 88 people had been rescued. Later estimates by police and humanitarian organizations ranged from around 400 to about 550 missing in the sinking of a wooden fishing boat being towed by another smugglers' boat from the Libyan port of Sabratha.
(Reuters, 5/26/16)(AP, 5/26/16)(AP, 5/29/16)
2016 May 26, In Japan Group of Seven (G7) leaders agreed on the need to send a strong message on maritime claims in the western Pacific, where an increasingly assertive China is locked in territorial disputes with Japan and several Southeast Asian nations.
(Reuters, 5/26/16)
2016 May 26, In Kashmir 3 militants were killed after they were intercepted as they entered the Indian side from Pakistani Kashmir.
(AP, 5/27/16)
2016 May 26, Authorities in Mexico’s border state of Tamaulipas arrested four alleged cartel assassins, ages 18 to 22, responsible for 11 executions between March and May of this year in the state capital of Ciudad Victoria.
(AP, 5/27/16)
2016 May 26, New Zealand’s government released a budget plan that included hiking tobacco prices by 46% over the next four years raising the cost of a pack of cigarettes to about $20.
(SFC, 5/27/16, p.A3)
2016 May 26, In Nigeria a bomb attack forced US-based oil major Chevron to halt onshore activities at its 160,000-barrel a day Escravos export terminal. Participants in a stakeholders' meeting in Warri accused the government of a heavy-handed military response and warned such a campaign will not stop attacks that have cut oil production by more than 40 percent.
(AP, 5/27/16)
2016 May 26, In the Philippines operations began against the Maute group in southern Lanao del Sur province's Butig town. By May 30 intense fighting between troops and the little-known Muslim group, apparently inspired by the Islamic State, killed 54 militants and two soldiers, and were still continuing.
(AP, 5/30/16)
2016 May 26, South Africa's public broadcaster said it would stop screening violent protests involving the firebombing of public buildings -- a move condemned as censorship ahead of crucial elections.
(AFP, 5/27/16)
2016 May 26, Spanish police said they seized 74 illegally hunted African elephant tusks worth an estimated 200,000 euros ($222,000) and arrested a man who was trying to legalize possession of them so they could be sold. The tusks were found last month in a house in the town of Colmenar de Oreja, outside Madrid.
(AP, 5/26/16)
2016 May 26, US-backed Syrian fighters (SDF) and Iraqi forces pursued twin assaults against the Islamic State group, but experts warned the battles will be drawn out.
(AFP, 5/26/16)
2016 May 26, In southern Thailand 3 foreign tourists were killed and a British man left missing after a speedboat crashed and capsized in bad weather near the island of Samui.
(Reuters, 5/27/16)
2016 May 26, In Uganda Issa Luyima, the ringleader of the July 11, 2010, bombing by the Al-Qaeda-linked Shebab that killed 76 people in Kampala, was found guilty along with six accomplices of masterminding one of the region's worst attacks in decades.
(AFP, 5/26/16)
2016 May 27, President Barack Obama became the first incumbent US leader to visit Hiroshima, the site of the world's first atomic bombing. Obama paid tribute to the "silent cry" of the 140,000 victims of the atomic bomb dropped 71 years ago on Hiroshima, and called on the world to abandon "the logic of fear" that encourages the stockpiling of nuclear weapons.
(AP, 5/27/16)
2016 May 27, A US military spokesman said coalition strikes supporting Iraqi forces in the recapture of Falluja have killed 70 Islamic State militants including the group's commander in the city. He said the coalition had carried out 20 strikes in support of the campaign over the past four days.
(Reuters, 5/27/16)
2016 May 27, US-led coalition airstrikes and Turkish artillery fire against the Islamic State group in Syria killed 104 militants.
(AP, 5/28/16)
2016 May 27, Record rainfall and severe flooding hit hard parts of southeast Texas. By May 30 least 6 people person were reported killed.
(Reuters, 5/27/16)(SFC, 5/31/16, p.A5)
2016 May 27, The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration posted documents detailing recalls by Honda, Fiat Chrysler, Toyota, Mazda, Nissan, Subaru, Ferrari and Mitsubishi. More than 12 million vehicles in the US will be recalled to replace potentially dangerous Takata air bag inflators.
(AP, 5/27/16)
2016 May 27, Argentina's last dictator Reynaldo Bignone (88) and 14 other former military officials were sentenced to prison for human rights crimes, marking the first time a court has ruled that Operation Condor was a criminal conspiracy to kidnap and forcibly disappear people across international borders.
(AP, 5/28/16)
2016 May 27, Britain told the G7 industrial powers meeting in Japan to do more to fight killer superbugs as the United States reported the first case in the country of a patient with bacteria resistant to a last-resort antibiotic.
(Reuters, 5/27/16)
2016 May 27, The International Olympic Committee said that 23 athletes from five sports and six countries had positive findings in retests with improved techniques on 265 samples from the 2012 London Games, adding to the more than 30 already caught in retesting from the 2008 Beijing Games.
(AP, 5/27/16)
2016 May 27, A Cambodian court convicted three military commandos of beating up two opposition lawmakers outside the parliament last year, and sentenced them to one year each in prison. The attack occurred in October 2015 when the two opposition lawmakers from the Cambodia National Rescue Party were confronted by a pro-government mob, which was demanding the resignation of the party's deputy leader Kem Sonkha.
(AP, 5/27/16)
2016 May 27, In Colombia rebels identifying themselves as members of the National Liberation Army, or ELN, handed Salud Hernandez-Mora over to a delegation led by Ramon Catholic clergy in the volatile Catatumbo region. Hours later, two other journalists from Colombian network RCN were also freed by the rebels.
(AP, 5/27/16)
2016 May 27, The European Union said it is launching an effort to contain the so-called "grey economy" of undeclared and untaxed work. Under its new plan, the EU will seek to exchange best practices to combat undeclared work among the 28 member states and boost common projects.
(AP, 5/27/16)
2016 May 27, The European Union said it has committed to provide Colombia with a package of 575 million euros ($645 million) to help the nation recover from a half century of civil war.
(AP, 5/27/16)
2016 May 27, A French transport ministry spokesman said the fuel supply situation in the country is improving after a week of disruption and shortages caused by strikes and all but one of the country's fuel depot blockades has been cleared. Union activists disrupted the Marseille airport and halted activity at half of the country's oil refineries in protests over changes to France's labor system, but nationwide gasoline shortages eased slightly after government intervention.
(Reuters, 5/27/16)(AP, 5/27/16)
2016 May 27, The president of the University of Guam said Chamorros must learn to speak their language now if they want it to survive. The UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization has included Chamorro on its list of languages in danger of extinction.
(http://bit.ly/1UgV42v)
2016 May 27, In Guinea at least 59 people were injured when youths frustrated they were being kept out of the opening of a new mosque in the town of Timbo clashed with police. About 85 percent of Guinea's population follows Sunni Islam and Timbo is a center of Islamic learning and the capital of the Foutah branch of Islam in Guinea.
(Reuters, 5/28/16)
2016 May 27, Guinea-Bissau's new PM Baciro Dja was sworn in with a fresh cabinet also anticipated, but current ministers in the split ruling party have declared they will not leave their posts.
(AFP, 5/28/16)
2016 May 27, In Dharmsala, India, Lobsang Sangay was sworn in for his second term as prime minister of the Tibetan government-in-exile and said he will make maximum efforts to achieve regional autonomy for Tibet during his five-year term, but will prepare a strategy for the next 50 years if it's unsuccessful.
(AP, 5/27/16)
2016 May 27, Indonesia's navy fired shots at a Chinese trawler when it refused to stop fishing in Indonesian waters, and then seized the vessel and its eight crewmembers.
(AP, 5/30/16)
2016 May 27, The Italian navy vessel Vega rescued 135 migrants and picked up 45 bodies in the Mediterranean.
(AP, 5/28/16)
2016 May 27, In Japan G7 countries expressed concern over China's increasingly assertive activity in the East and South China seas, renewing their warnings against one-sided attempts to change the situation, and stressed the importance of peaceful resolutions.
(AP, 5/27/16)
2016 May 27, In Kashmir an Indian soldier and a militant were killed. Two other rebels were killed in western Khonshipora village after soldiers and police launched a joint operation on a specific tip, leading to exchange of gunfire.
(AP, 5/27/16)
2016 May 27, In northern Mali 5 soldiers were killed and four others wounded when their vehicles were hit by an explosion.
(AFP, 5/28/16)
2016 May 27, The IMF said it has approved a new, two-year $88 billion flexible line of credit to Mexico to bolster it against uncertainty in the global economy.
(AP, 5/28/16)
2016 May 27, In Nigeria militants attacked the Nembe pipeline in the Delta region, hours after the Niger Delta Avengers militant group claimed a strike on the facility.
(Reuters, 5/28/16)
2016 May 27, Romania's President Klaus Iohannis said his government has ordered an action plan for the country's beleaguered health service following public outrage over the use of diluted disinfectants in Romanian hospitals.
(AP, 5/27/16)
2016 May 27, Romania's top appeals court upheld an earlier decision and sentenced Dan Adamescu, one of Romania's richest businessmen, to four years and four months in prison for bribing judges to rule in his favor in court cases.
(AP, 5/27/16)
2016 May 27, Russian President Vladimir Putin made his first trip to a European Union country this year with a visit to Greece for a two-day visit expected to focus on energy cooperation and Russian investments during talks with Greek PM Alexis Tsipras.
(AP, 5/27/16)
2016 May 27, South Africa's public broadcaster said it would stop screening violent protests involving the firebombing of public buildings -- a move condemned as censorship ahead of crucial elections.
(AFP, 5/27/16)
2016 May 27, In Spain Slovakian model Maria Kukucova (26) was found guilty of murdering Andrew Bush (48), her millionaire ex-boyfriend, by shooting the Briton twice in the head in his home on Spain's Costa del Sol on April 5, 2014. Kukucova was sentenced to 15 ½ years in prison.
(AP, 5/27/16)(AP, 5/31/16)
2016 May 27, The IMF said it will immediately disburse $81 million to Suriname as part of a two-year deal. The South American country landed a $478 million loan from the International Monetary Fund to boost an economic reform program amid a drop in commodity prices.
(AP, 5/28/16)
2016 May 27, In Syria at least 100,000 people were trapped along the border with Turkey after the Islamic State group swept through rebel territory in Aleppo province. IS fighters captured territory from Syrian rebels near the border and inched closer to a town on a supply route for foreign-backed insurgents fighting the jihadists.
(AFP, 5/27/16)(Reuters, 5/27/16)
2016 May 27, Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said warplanes from the US-led coalition have pounded the Islamic State group with at least 150 strikes to bolster a major offensive on the jihadists' Syrian stronghold of Raqa. Coalition warplanes dropped leaflets encouraging residents to flee Raqa.
(AFP, 5/27/16)
2016 May 27, In Ukraine Nadezhda Savchenko (35), the pilot who returned to a hero's welcome after two years in Russian custody, declared she would run for president if that's what Ukrainians wanted.
(AP, 5/27/16)
2016 May 27, The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said around 2.8 million people in Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras need food aid after two consecutive years of severe drought decimated crops and exacerbated hunger among the poor due to prolonged dry spells since mid-2014, linked to the El Niño weather phenomenon.
(Reuters, 5/27/16)
2016 May 28, The US military announced a 30-day period of mourning at its bases on the southern Japanese island of Okinawa, where the killing of a woman has reignited resentment of the heavy US military presence in the region.
(Reuters, 5/28/16)
2016 May 28, NASA successfully inflated its new Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM) in an operation that took three days to complete at the Int’l. Space Station.
(SSFC, 5/29/16, p.A7)
2016 May 28, In Vermont Amos Beede was fatally beaten at a homeless encampment in Burlingame after he poured bodily fluids onto the tent of one of his assailants. On June 2 four suspects were arrested in San Diego on 2nd degree murder charges following a nationwide manhunt.
(SFC, 6/4/16, p.A5)
2016 May 28, Albanian Democrats said they would boycott Parliament for 10 days after Parliament suspended former leader Sali Berisha for 10 days for accusing PM Edi Rama of direct links to criminals.
(AP, 5/28/16)
2016 May 28, In Egypt a girl (17) died while undergoing female circumcision. Authorities ordered the hospital closed and referred doctors for prosecution after the girl died. Female genital mutilation was criminalized in 2008 but remains widespread in Egypt.
(AP, 5/31/16)
2016 May 28, Iran said eight people producing obscene music videos, whose clips were broadcast on a famous anti-revolutionary television channel, were arrested in Tehran last week.
(AFP, 5/28/16)
2016 May 28, Italian coast guard and navy ships, aided by an Irish naval vessel, saved more than 500 migrants from smugglers' boats in the Mediterranean off Libya. 135 people were rescued in a shipwreck, 45 bodies were recovered and an unknown numbers of migrants were still missing.
(AP, 5/28/16)(AP, 5/29/16)
2016 May 28, Mexican soccer player Alan Pulido (25) was nabbed by four armed people on a highway returning from a party in Tamaulipas state. Authorities soon found him in safe house in the southern part of Ciudad Victoria, his hometown, and one of his captors was arrested.
(AP, 5/30/16)
2016 May 28, In Nigeria militants blew up strategic gas and crude pipelines belonging to Shell and Agip in an increasingly fierce campaign that has chopped Nigeria's oil production in half.
(AP, 5/28/16)
2016 May 28, Pakistani media said the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) has banned advertisements for contraceptive products on television and radio over concern that they expose inquisitive children to the subject of sex.
(Reuters, 5/28/16)
2016 May 28, Philippine police killed 3 drug suspects in a shootout on the tiny island of Banacon, the latest such deaths after the election of tough anti-crime firebrand Rodrigo Duterte as president.
(AFP, 5/29/16)
2016 May 28, Spanish police said seven people suspected of involvement in stealing five paintings by the Irish-born painter Francis Bacon worth more than 25 million euros ($27.8 million) have been arrested.
(AP, 5/28/16)
2016 May 28, In northeastern Syria heavy fighting between the Islamic State group and rebels gripped the town of Marea.
(AFP, 5/28/16)
2016 May 28, The World Health Organization said there is "no public health justification" for postponing or canceling the Rio de Janeiro Olympics because of the Zika outbreak.
(AP, 5/28/16)
2016 May 28, Yemeni authorities arrested seven Islamic State group suspects, including one "Westerner", in second city Aden.
(AFP, 5/28/16)
2016 May 29, In Florida the Libertarian Party nominated former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson (63) as its presidential candidate at the party’s convention in Orlando. Johnson served as New Mexico’s governor from 1995-2003 and was the party’s candidate in 2012.
(SFC, 5/30/16, p.A4)
2016 May 29, In Afghanistan the Taliban launched string of coordinated attacks late today on police checkpoints in the increasingly volatile southern province of Helmand. 33 policemen were reported killed.
(AP, 5/30/16)(Reuters, 5/30/16)
2016 May 29, A Dubai court sentenced American businessman Zack Shahin to 15 years in prison after convicting him on theft and fraud charges. He was sentenced at the Dubai Criminal Court over a 2007 Texas land deal. Three other Americans received similar sentences in absentia. The defendants were also fined 56 million dirhams ($15.3 million).
(AP, 5/29/16)
2016 May 29, An Egyptian military court sentenced eight alleged Muslim Brotherhood members to death on terrorism charges.
(AP, 5/29/16)
2016 May 29, German airline Lufthansa said it is suspending its flights to Caracas, citing the difficult economic situation in Venezuela.
(AP, 5/29/16)
2016 May 29, Indian police in New Delhi said that they have arrested five people who assaulted six Africans in the Indian capital last week, as African diplomatic missions urged India's government to ensure the safety of Africans living in the country.
(AP, 5/29/16)
2016 May 29, Iran said its pilgrims would not attend the annual Muslim haj pilgrimage, blaming regional rival Saudi Arabia for "sabotage" and failing to guarantee the safety of pilgrims.
(Reuters, 5/29/16)
2016 May 29, Iraq's special forces completed a troop buildup around Fallujah ahead of an operation to retake the Islamic State-held city west of Baghdad, as the militants attacked Hit, a newly-liberated town to the west. Iraq's Kurdish peshmerga forces launched an offensive to retake areas east of Mosul, the main IS hub in the country.
(AP, 5/29/16)(AFP, 5/29/16)
2016 May 29, In Italy Rome student Sara Di Pietrantonio (22) died before dawn after Vincenzo Paduano (27) first set her car afire. Investigators said her attacker used a cigarette lighter to set her face on fire after dousing her with alcohol.
(AP, 5/30/16)
2016 May 29, Jordan's King Abdullah appointed veteran politician Hani Mulqi as caretaker prime minister after dissolving parliament as its four-year term nears its end, and charged him with organizing new elections by October.
(Reuters, 5/29/16)
2016 May 29, In central Mali at least five UN peacekeepers were killed in an ambush by suspected militants some 50 km out of Mopti.
(AFP, 5/29/16)
2016 May 29, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari vowed to keep and "re-engineer" a controversial amnesty program for Niger delta militants designed to stem attacks that have slashed oil exports but set to be scrapped.
(AFP, 5/29/16)
2016 May 29, In Nigeria at least 10 people were killed during protests by pro-Biafra campaigners. Activists wanting a separate state for the Igbo people in the southeast were commemorating the 49th anniversary of the declaration of an independent Republic of Biafra on May 30, 1967.
(AFP, 5/31/16)
2016 May 29, Syrian rebels retook the villages of Kafr Shoush and Braghida from Islamic State militants, expanding their buffer around the rebel-held town of Azaz. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said thousands of civilians have fled an offensive by the IS group against non-jihadist rebels in the north into territory controlled by a US-backed Kurdish-led alliance.
(AP, 5/29/16)(AFP, 5/29/16)
2016 May 29, Uganda and South Korea signed cooperation agreements on the 2nd day of a visit by South Korean leader Park Geun-hye. The memorandums of understanding in areas such as health and education were signed at the State House in Entebbe. Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni said his country would halt security and military cooperation with North Korea.
(AP, 5/29/16)(Reuters, 5/29/16)
2016 May 29, Ukraine’s military said 5 soldiers have been killed and four wounded in fresh clashes with pro-Russian separatists in the country's east over the last 24 hours.
(AFP, 5/29/16)
2016 May 29, In Ukraine 17 people died when an unlicensed home for elderly people caught fire in the village of Litochky in the early hours.
(AFP, 5/29/16)
2016 May 29, In Yemen fierce fighting claimed the lives of 48 fighters in Bayhan, on the border between Shabwa province in the south and Marib in the east. "Sniper fire" from the Huthi rebels killed Yemeni journalist Abdullah Azizan while he was covering the clashes in Bayhan.
(AFP, 5/31/16)
2016 May 30, Verizon and its unions said they have reached a tentative agreement and that almost 40,000 workers will return to their jobs on June 1.
(SFC, 5/31/16, p.A5)
2016 May 30, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani dedicated an ambitious reconstruction project to restore the ruins of historic Darul Aman palace, which was built in the 1920s. The project is expected to cost $16.5 million to $20 million and take three to five years.
(Reuters, 5/30/16)
2016 May 30, In Afghanistan as many as 24 more police were killed around Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand province in the latest offensive by Taliban insurgents.
(Reuters, 5/30/16)
2016 May 30, Scientists said mass bleaching has killed more than a third of the coral in the northern and central parts of Australia's Great Barrier Reef, though corals to the south have escaped with little damage.
(AP, 5/30/16)
2016 May 30, A Bahrain court more than doubled a jail sentence against opposition leader Sheikh Ali Salman, in a ruling his bloc warned risked stoking fresh unrest among the Sunni-ruled kingdom's Shiite majority.
(AFP, 5/30/16)
2016 May 30, An Egyptian court sentenced Mohamed Badie, the Muslim Brotherhood's leader, and 35 other people to life in prison over violent clashes after the army overthrew Islamist president Mohamed Morsi. Badie has already been sentenced to death and prison terms in other trials.
(AFP, 5/30/16)
2016 May 30, European Union ministers meeting in the Dutch capital endorsed a "Pact of Amsterdam" aimed at improving living conditions in towns and cities throughout the 28-nation bloc.
(AP, 5/30/16)
2016 May 30, Hong Kong activist Ken Tsang was sentenced to five weeks in prison on charges related to a confrontation with police in October 2014. A TV station had videotaped police officers carrying Tsang away in handcuffs and then punching and kicking him in a dark corner of a public park.
(AP, 5/30/16)
2016 May 30, Iraqi forces started pushing into the city of Fallujah as a wave of bombings claimed by the Islamic State group in Baghdad and nearby killed at least 24 people.
(AP, 5/30/16)
2016 May 30, A Kuwait court sentenced three members of the Al-Sabah ruling family and four others to jail terms for insulting the emir and the judiciary on the Internet.
(AFP, 5/30/16)
2016 May 30, Kuwait's supreme court upheld the death sentence handed down to Abdulrahman Sabah Saud, the main convict in the Islamic State group bombing of a Shiite mosque that killed 26 people in June, 2015.
(AFP, 5/30/16)
2016 May 30, Kyrgyzstan's Pres. Almazbek Atambayev dismissed the police chief of the Central Asian country after the arrests of politicians suspected of plotting a coup.
(AFP, 5/30/16)
2016 May 30, In Nigeria protests by pro-Biafra campaigners, wanting a separate state for the Igbo people in the southeast, commemorated the 49th anniversary of the 1967 declaration of an independent Republic of Biafra. Amnesty International later said at least 17 were killed and nearly 50 injured in Onitsha alone in violence linked to the commemoration.
(AFP, 6/10/16)
2016 May 30, In Pakistan schoolteacher Maria Bibi (19) was tortured, doused with gasoline and set on fire for refusing to marry a man twice her age. Before she died she had given a statement to police, saying five attackers had stormed her house in the town of Upper Dewal. All five suspects were soon arrested.
(AP, 6/3/16)
2016 May 30, The Philippine Congress proclaimed crime-busting Mayor Rodrigo Duterte as president-elect and Rep. Leni Robredo as vice president-elect. Duterte did not attend the ceremony at the House of Representatives, telling reporters earlier he shuns such ceremonial proclamations.
(AP, 5/30/16)
2016 May 30, In Senegal former Chad dictator Hissene Habre (1982-1990) was given a life sentence for war crimes, crimes against humanity and a slew of other charges, including rape. The verdict marks the first time a country has convicted a former leader of another nation for rights abuses.
(AFP, 5/30/16)
2016 May 30, In Thailand wildlife officials began removing some of the 137 tigers held at a Buddhist temple following accusations that the monks were involved in illegal breeding and trafficking of the animals.
(AP, 5/30/16)
2016 May 30, In Tunisia 2 civilians were killed and one other injured by a landmine planted by jihadist groups in a mountainous region near the Algerian border.
(Reuters, 5/30/16)
2016 May 30, Zimbabwean officials say poachers killed 5 elephants by poisoning them with cyanide. Rangers discovered the carcasses of the elephants with their tusks removed in a western forest last week.
(AP, 5/30/16)
2016 May 31, It was reported that a Connecticut commission has approved a $22 million package to help Bridgewater Associates, the world’s largest hedge fund, upgrade and expand offices in the state.
(SFC, 5/31/16, p.D2)
2016 May 31, Jurors in Chester, Ill., found former suburban police officer Drew Peterson (62) guilty of trying to hire someone to kill the prosecutor who helped to convict him in 2012 in the killing of his third wife. Peterson was already serving a 38-year sentence for the 2004 murder of Kathleen Savio. On July 29 Peterson was given an additional 40 years in prison.
(SFC, 6/1/16, p.A8)(SFC, 7/30/16, p.A6)
2016 May 31, In Michigan Deontae Mitchell (13) was kidnapped outside a market in Detroit. He was soon found dead in a vacant lot. On June 4 Earnest Coleman (26) was charged with the kidnapping.
(SSFC, 6/5/16, p.A8)
2016 May 31, In northern Afghanistan the Taliban attacked several buses, forcing passengers to disembark and killing 10 people and abducting at least 18 in Kunduz province. Ten of the hostages were soon released. In the eastern Ghazni province, a bomb blast killed a civilian and wounded 12. The Taliban also launched attacks in southern Helmand province on the several districts and on the outskirt of the provincial capital, Lashkar Gah.
(AP, 5/31/16)(AP, 6/1/16)
2016 May 31, A Bangladesh court sentenced to death six militants from the banned Islamist groups Jumataul Mujahedeen Bangladesh (JMB) and Ansarullah Bangla Team, for the killing of 7 people during a bank robbery last year.
(AP, 5/31/16)
2016 May 31, In Belgium strikes by public-sector employees across the country intensified, with train and bus services disrupted along with schools, prisons and mail delivery as workers protested against the government's social and economic policies.
(AP, 5/31/16)
2016 May 31, In London the Walk Free Foundation's Global Slavery Index said about 45.8 million people around the world are trapped in modern slavery. India reportedly had the largest number of modern slaves, 18.35 million, followed by China with 3.39 million and Pakistan with 2.13 million.
(AP, 5/31/16)
2016 May 31, In Burkina Faso unidentified gunmen killed 3 policemen at their station in Intagom near the border with Mali.
(AP, 6/1/16)
2016 May 31, A Czech appeals court ruled that Marek Dalik, a close friend and adviser of former PM Mirek Topolanek, is guilty of fraud and sentenced him to four years in prison.
(AP, 5/31/16)
2016 May 31, The government of Denmark said it will punish preachers who encourage criminal acts and blacklist "hate preachers," after a documentary about imams advocating illegal acts sparked nationwide controversy in February. The documentary showed hidden camera footage of imams in Danish mosques advocating the corporal punishment of children, stoning and whipping unfaithful spouses and requiring women to have sex with violent spouses.
(Reuters, 5/31/16)
2016 May 31, Dubai issued notice informing hotels that alcohol slaes during Ramadan would be governed by normal rules, as opposed to limiting their hours.
(SFC, 6/23/16, p.A3)
2016 May 31, In Egypt a roadside bomb struck a military armored vehicle in the restive northern part of the Sin ai Peninsula. 6 soldiers were killed an six others wounded.
(AP, 5/31/16)
2016 May 31, The European Union reached an agreement with some of the world's biggest social media firms, including Facebook and Twitter, on ways to combat the spread of hate speech online.
(AP, 5/31/16)
2016 May 31, French company Technip signed a preliminary $500 million deal to upgrade a key Libyan oil facility, along with Italy's Eni and Libya's state oil company.
(AP, 5/31/16)
2016 May 31, In Germany Rupert Neudeck (77), the co-founder of Germany-based humanitarian aid group Cap Anamur, died. The NGO helped to rescue more than 10,000 Vietnamese "boat people" in 1979. Following the Vietnamese crisis, Cap Anamur expanded to provide humanitarian aid globally, focusing on medical care and education.
(AP, 5/31/16)
2016 May 31, In western India a fire broke out at a major ammunition depot, killing at least 17 army personnel at the Pulgaon ammunitions depot, Maharashtra state.
(AP, 5/31/16)
2016 May 31, Indonesian police detained more than 300 demonstrators who were demanding the release of political prisoners in restive Papua province.
(AP, 5/31/16)
2016 May 31, Iraqi forces battling their way into Fallujah repelled a four-hour counterattack by the Islamic State group, a day after entering the southern part of the militant-held city with the help of U.S.-led airstrikes. An estimated 50,000 people remain trapped in the city.
(AP, 5/31/16)
2016 May 31, In Kenya South Korea's President Park Geun-hye met Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta on the second day of her three-day visit.
(AP, 5/31/16)
2016 May 31, In Mali 4 people were killed in two attacks on UN projects.
(AP, 6/1/16)
2016 May 31, Malaysia's government said it has fired 15 immigration officers who helped international syndicates sabotage online passport checks for years, allowing some travelers to move freely in and out of the country. The sabotage likely started in 2010 and was led by foreign agents.
(AP, 6/1/16)
2016 May 31, North Korea attempted to fire a missile from its east coast but the launch appears to have failed.
(Reuters, 5/31/16)
2016 May 31, Gaza's Hamas rulers executed three Palestinians convicted of murder, defying an agreement with the rival Palestinian Fatah faction.
(AP, 5/31/16)
2016 May 31, Philippine president-elect Rodrigo Duterte (71) said he will pay bounties to police or military officials who capture suspected drug lords “dead or alive." He also told reporters there was justification for killing journalists who took bribes or engaged in other corrupt activities.
(SFC, 6/1/16, p.A4)(AFP, 6/1/16)
2016 May 31, A Singapore court convicted four Bangladeshi workers of financing terrorism. They were being held on suspicion of planning attacks linked to the Islamic State group in their own country.
(AP, 5/31/16)
2016 May 31, In Syria a wave of overnight airstrikes pummeled the northwestern city of Idlib, killing at least 23 people, wounding dozens and trapping several under the rubble of their homes. Russia denied the strikes.
(AP, 5/31/16)
2016 May 31, In Syria thousands of US-backed fighters opened a major new front, launching an offensive to drive Islamic State out of a swathe of northern Syria it uses as a logistics base, and were reported to be making rapid progress.
(Reuters, 6/1/16)
2016 May 31, In Turkey a court convicted Merve Buyuksarac (27), a former Miss Turkey (2006), of insulting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan through social media postings and gave her a 14-month suspended sentence.
(AP, 5/31/16)
2016 May 31, Turkey's President Recep Teyyep Edorgan arrived in Uganda to promote trade and tourism opportunities between the two countries.
(AP, 6/1/16)
2016 May 31, Western Sahara independence leader Mohamed Abdelaziz died of lung cancer. He was the 3rd Secretary General of the Polisario Front and President of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic from 1976 until his death.
(http://tinyurl.com/zbrqtlv)(AP, 6/4/16)
2016 May 31, In Yemen renewed clashes between pro-government forces and Iran-backed rebels killed at least 38 people during the past 24 hours.
(AFP, 5/31/16)
2016 May, Louisiana became the first state to pass a Blue Lives Matter bill. It treated attacks on police as a hate crime.
(Econ, 7/23/16, p.22)
2016 May, It was reported DAO (decentralized autonomous organization) has raised the equivalent of $150 million in digital money to invest in startups, making it biggest crowdfunding effort ever.
(Econ, 5/21/16, p.67)
2016 May, Albania's government defied local and international opposition and granted initial approval to a proposal by two Turkish firms to build a 25-meter (80-foot),99.5 megawatt dam at Pocem on the Vjosa river, one of Europe’s last wild waterways.
(AP, 7/17/16)
2016 May, Argentina’s INDEC, the nation’s statistical office, launched a new inflation index following directions from Pres. Mauricio Macri.
(Econ 5/27/17, p.34)
2016 May, In Brazil the police of Rio de Janeiro killed 40 people this month.
(Econ, 7/30/16, p.25)
2016 May, A Chinese regulator ordered Apple Inc. to stop selling two versions of its iPhone 6 in Beijing after finding they look too much like a competitor. This was only reported in mid-June by the Chinese press. Apple said sales are going ahead while it appeals. Apple also suffered another setback this month when a court ruled that a Chinese company is allowed to use the iPhone trademark on bags, wallets and other leather goods. Apple said it would appeal.
(AP, 6/18/16)
2016 May, India passed a new bankruptcy law. It will allow banks from next year onward to foreclose on insolvent firms.
(Econ, 7/16/16, p.56)
2016 May, In Libya a single truck bombing killed 32 members of the Misrata brigades late this month. Some 75 fighters were killed and more than 350 injured since the beginning of May.
(Reuters, 5/29/16)
2016 May, Mexico passed legislation creating special economic zones in the southern half of the country to be up and running in 2018.
(Econ, 6/25/16, p.65)
2016 May, In Mozambique the Renamo insurgent group carried out 18 attacks on the main road, killing 7 people and leaving more than 30 wounded. Since 2013, tensions have risen and Renamo fighters have again taken up arms in a battle that it says is against a Frelimo elite who has enriched itself at the expense of the country.
(AFP, 6/19/16)
2016 May, In Nigeria annual inflation jumped to almost 16%.
(Econ, 6/18/16, p.53)
2016 May, Dr. Grigory Rodchenkov, the former head of a Moscow lab, told the NY Times of a system of swapping out urine samples at the 2014 Sochi Olympics to avoid positive tests.
(http://tinyurl.com/ja976aa)(Econ, 7/23/16, p.41)
2016 May, South Africa’s parliament passed a bill making it easier for the state to force whites to sell land for redistribution to blacks.
(Econ, 6/18/16, p.51)
2016 May, In Vietnam a woman, identified only as L. T. N., checked into a Hanoi hospital with one third of her left foot and one third of her left hand severed, but doctors told her they could not reattach the limbs. State-run media later reported that she had paid a friend to cut off her hand and foot in a bid to claim a handsome insurance payout.
(AFP, 8/25/16)
2016 Jun 1, NASA said researchers in the United States and Canada have located 39 unreported sources of major pollution using a new satellite-based method. The unreported sources of toxic sulfur dioxide emissions are clusters of coal-burning power plants, smelters and oil and gas operations in the Middle East, Mexico and Russia that were found in an analysis of satellite data from 2005 to 2014.
(Reuters, 6/2/16)
2016 Jun 1, In southern California engineering Prof. William Klug (39) was shot and killed at UCLA’s engineering complex. Mainak Sarkar (38), an Indian-American engineer, then killed himself. Sarkar had already killed his estranged wife in Minnesota.
(SFC, 6/2/16, p.A6)(AP, 6/3/16)
2016 Jun 1, The Brazos River in Texas surged to its highest in more than a century in an area outside of Houston. The National Weather Service (NWS) issued a flash flood watch for large parts of the state and said storms lasting until the weekend could send even more rivers over their banks.
(Reuters, 6/1/16)
2016 Jun 1, Ford Motor Co. said it is recalling nearly 1.9 million vehicles in North America to replace faulty passenger-side front air bags made by Japanese supplier Takata Corp.
(AP, 6/1/16)
2016 Jun 1, In eastern Afghanistan Taliban gunmen disguised in women's burqas and wearing military uniforms underneath stormed a court building in, killing five civilians and a policeman in Ghazni. In the northern Balkh province district police chief Bismullah Khan was killed when his vehicle struck a roadside bomb. In the north 17 people were kidnapped by insurgents in Sari Pul province. 2 Afghan men and a woman working for an international aid organization were shot dead in the Shekh Ali district of the northwestern Parwan province.
(AP, 6/1/16)(AP, 6/2/16)
2016 Jun 1, A special court in Bangladesh sentenced a man to death and two of his associates to life in prison after finding them guilty of killing two local fighters during the country's 1971 war of independence against Pakistan.
(AP, 6/1/16)
2016 Jun 1, Mohamed Nasheed, a former president of the Maldives now in exile in Britain after being ousted from office and jailed in his country, formed an opposition group aimed at toppling the government of President Abdulla Yameen.
(Reuters, 6/1/16)
2016 Jun 1, Egyptian and French investigators said a French search vessel has picked up signals from one of the black boxes of EgyptAir flight MS804, which crashed May 19.
(Reuters, 6/1/16)
2016 Jun 1, Egypt opened its border with Gaza for the second time in a month, giving Palestinians a four-day respite from a closure stemming from friction between Cairo and the enclave's Islamist rulers.
(Reuters, 6/1/16)
2016 Jun 1, The European Union said Poland's government is not following the rule of law as required by the bloc's membership and has taken a step toward sanctions.
(AP, 6/1/16)
2016 Jun 1, Transport chaos hit France, just nine days before the Euro 2016 football tournament, as railway workers went on strike in the latest salvo of a months-long battle between the government and unions.
(AFP, 6/1/16)
2016 Jun 1, In France Paris City Hall closed roads along the shore of the Seine from the Left Bank in the east to the Eiffel Tower neighborhood in the west after the Seine River overflowed its banks and floods hit towns across France.
(AP, 6/1/16)
2016 Jun 1, In Honduras Rene Martinez (39), a leader in the gay community, was kidnapped in the city of San Pedro Sula. His body was found two days later.
(AP, 6/4/16)
2016 Jun 1, PM Haider al-Abadi said Iraq delayed its assault on the city of Falluja because of fears for the safety of civilians, as his forces halted at the city's edge in the face of ferocious resistance from Islamic State fighters.
(Reuters, 6/1/16)
2016 Jun 1, A Malawi court banned witchdoctors from operating in the impoverished southern African country following a spate of albino killings linked to witchcraft.
(AFP, 6/2/16)
2016 Jun 1, In Mauritania 8 women were trampled to death in a stampede to receive alms being distributed by a charity ahead of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
(Reuters, 6/2/16)
2016 Jun 1, Dutch prosecutors raided a string of locations and seized cash and hundreds of thousands of fraudulent letters in an investigation into worldwide mail scams. The next day US law enforcement authorities said the scams had defrauded "elderly and vulnerable" Americans out of tens of millions of dollars.
(AP, 6/2/16)
2016 Jun 1, Pakistan imposed full border controls across the Afghan-Pakistan border at Torkham near the Khyber Pass.
(Econ, 6/11/16, p.41)
2016 Jun 1, Police in Romania detained 26 people, including a number of border police officers, on charges of smuggling cigarettes and fake Rolex watches and helping migrants illegally enter from Serbia.
(AP, 6/1/16)
2016 Jun 1, Thousands of Romanian teachers demonstrated to demand higher salaries, rallying outside the government's main offices in Bucharest then marching through the capital.
(AP, 6/1/16)
2016 Jun 1, Russian social media users voiced their outrage at Twitter's decision a day earlier to suspend popular accounts parodying Pres. Vladimir Putin and other officials.
(AP, 6/1/16)
2016 Jun 1, The Russian Defense Ministry said that a temporary ceasefire, which it called a "regime of calm", had taken effect for 48 hours in the Damascus suburb of Daraya to allow for the distribution of humanitarian aid to civilians.
(Reuters, 6/1/16)
2016 Jun 1, Saudi Arabia sentenced 14 people to death for terrorism after they were convicted of attacks on police in the Shi'ite Muslim minority area of Qatif in the Eastern Province. Another nine people were given jail sentences of three to 15 years and one was acquitted.
(Reuters, 6/1/16)
2016 Jun 1, Somalia said intelligence agents have killed Sheik Mohamed Mohamud aka Dulyadin, who was the head of al Shabaab's intelligence wing, known as Amniyat. The commander was suspected of organizing the 2015 attack on Kenya's Garissa University that left 148 people dead.
(Reuters, 6/1/16)(AFP, 6/19/16)
2016 Jun 1, In Somalia Shabaab gunmen stormed the Ambassador Hotel in central Mogadishu. Over the next 12 hours they killed at least 15 people including two members of parliament in the latest attack by the Al-Qaeda group. All the gunmen were killed by the security forces.
(AFP, 6/2/16)(SFC, 6/3/16, p.A2)
2016 Jun 1, In Spain American bionic limb specialist Hugh Herr (51) won the Princess of Asturias 2016 scientific research prize in recognition of his work to improve mobility for people with disabilities.
(AP, 6/1/16)
2016 Jun 1, In Switzerland European dignitaries inaugurated the 57-km (35.4-mile) Gotthard Railway Tunnel, a major engineering achievement deep under the Alps' snow-capped peaks. It took 17 years to build at a cost of 12.2 billion Swiss francs ($12 billion).
(AP, 6/1/16)
2016 Jun 1, In Syria Kurdish-led Syrian fighters launched a new advance on Manbij. The US-led international coalition fighting the Islamic State group said it had conducted 18 air strikes near the strategic town of Manbij in northern Syria over the last 24 hours with at least 15 civilians killed. The strikes destroyed an IS headquarters, six IS-used bridges, communication towers, and eight IS fighting positions, among other targets. The Kurdish militia also launched an offensive to capture the IS-held Tabqa air base.
(AFP, 6/1/16)(SFC, 6/2/16, p.A2)
2016 Jun 1, Thai authorities found dozens of dead tiger cubs inside a freezer at the Wat Pha Luang Ta Bua temple in western Kanchanaburi province.
(AFP, 6/2/16)
2016 Jun 2, The United States said it has sanctioned Burundi military commander Marius Ngendabanka, security official Ignace Sibomana and rebel leader Edouard Nshimirimana for engaging in actions or policies that threaten the peace, security or stability of the East African country.
(AP, 6/3/16)
2016 Jun 2, The US attorney's office said Martin Rhys-Jones (52) of the United Kingdom has pleaded guilty in federal court in Buffalo to laundering money acquired in a wire fraud conspiracy. He pleaded guilty to his role in operating a Spain-based "boiler room" operation that conned about 250 investors out of nearly $3 million.
(AP, 6/2/16)
2016 Jun 2, In the SF Bay Area Santa Clara resident Gerald Villabrille Jr. (44) was found dead in a Freemont home following an overnight exchange of gunfire with police. The home was burned after police used tear gas, which likely ignited the fire. The suspect had shot and wounded two officers a day earlier following a traffic stop. His pickup was believed stolen and two people who with him were detained as Villabrille fled. Authorities on June 6 said Villabrille likely died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.
(SFC, 6/3/16, p.A11)(SFC, 6/7/16, p.C4)
2016 Jun 2, In Tennessee a Blue Angels F/A-18 fighter jet crashed in Smyrna. Marine Capt. Jeff Kuss (32) was killed in the crash.
(SFC, 6/3/16, p.A8)(SSFC, 6/12/16, p.A6)
2016 Jun 2, In Texas a new round of storms dumped more rain on flood-hit parts of the state, threatening to aggravate already swollen rivers, deluge homes and force more evacuations.
(Reuters, 6/2/16)
2016 Jun 2, In central Texas a US Army troop carrier overturned in a swollen Fort Hood creek, killing 9 soldiers.
(Reuters, 6/3/16)(AFP, 6/4/16)
2016 Jun 2, In western Afghanistan an explosion at a market place in Laghman province killed two civilians and wounded 16. A roadside bombing killed two policemen and wounded two others in eastern Ghazni province.
(AP, 6/2/16)(AP, 6/3/16)
2016 Jun 2, In Brazil Italo Ferreira (10), chased by police, stepped on the gas in a stolen car until police stopped him with a bullet to the head in Sao Paulo. Police said they fired in self-defense because Italo was armed and shot at them from the car. Investigators later alleged the crime scene was tampered with.
(AFP, 6/22/16)
2016 Jun 2, The European Union and United States signed a deal aimed at protecting personal data shared by law enforcement authorities in the EU and US as they tackle major crime.
(AP, 6/2/16)
2016 Jun 2, German officials said at least 5 people have been killed in floods caused by prolonged heavy rain in southern Bavaria state and thousands of households were cut off from electricity. Earlier this week 3 people were killed in floods in the southwestern state of Baden-Wuerttemberg and a young girl was killed by a train as she took shelter from the rain under a railway bridge.
(Reuters, 6/2/16)
2016 Jun 2, The Int’l. Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala and local officials arrested 25 people and issued warrants for 27 more as they unveiled that former Pres. Otto Perez Molina’s entire political party had been a mere front plan to capture and run the state for personal enrichment.
(Econ, 6/11/16, p.36)
2016 Jun 2, An Indian court convicted 24 Hindu men for their role in one of the many deadly religious riots that swept across the western state of Gujarat for three months in 2002, leaving more than 1,000 dead.
(AP, 6/2/16)
2016 Jun 2, Jordan's border guards killed two suspected infiltrators trying to enter the kingdom from Syria.
(AP, 6/3/16)
2016 Jun 2, Libya’s navy retrieved the bodies of at least 117 migrants on a beach in the western town of Zwara. By June 5 the number reached 133.
(AFP, 6/3/16)(SFC, 6/4/16, p.A4)(Reuters, 6/5/16)
2016 Jun 2, A top Libyan commander loyal to the U.N.-brokered government said his forces have pushed into an Islamic State stronghold in central Libya and are now fighting militants on the streets of Sirte.
(AP, 6/3/16)
2016 Jun 2, Niger reported an outbreak of the highly pathogenic H5N1 bird flu virus among poultry after the outbreak was confirmed at the end of May. The outbreak, which killed all 86,000 poultry birds at the affected site, started in late February, and followed a previous outbreak in the country last year.
(Reuters, 6/3/16)
2016 Jun 2, Norway announced that nine scientists have won this year’s Kavli Prize for their work on gravitational waves.
(SSFC, 6/5/16, p.C8)
2016 Jun 2, A Romanian medical helicopter crashed in southern Moldova, killing all four people on board.
(AP, 6/2/16)
2016 Jun 2, Sri Lanka performed final Buddhist rites at the site of last month's massive landslide and ended the search for some 100 people believed to have been buried under the broken earth.
(AP, 6/2/16)
2016 Jun 2, In Geneva OPEC oil ministers ended a meeting without reaching any kind of consensus on regulating the price and supply of crude, a result that triggered an immediate drop in energy markets. The OPEC oil cartel said that it has appointed Nigeria's Mohammed Barkindo as its new secretary general.
(AP, 6/2/16)(AFP, 6/2/16)
2016 Jun 2, A Tajikistan court sentenced two leaders of the Central Asian nation's banned Islamic opposition party to life imprisonment over an alleged attempted coup.
(AP, 6/2/16)
2016 Jun 2, Thai authorities uncovered a trove of animal parts and intercepted a monk trying to leave the controversial “tiger temple" with tiger skins and fangs, the latest discovery to fuel accusations that the zoo is involved in the illegal wildlife trade.
(AFP, 6/2/16)
2016 Jun 2, Turkey recalled its ambassador to Germany in protest against a parliament resolution declaring the 1915 massacre of Armenians by Ottoman forces a "genocide" at a time when Europe is looking for Ankara's help in the migrant crisis.
(Reuters, 6/2/16)
2016 Jun 2, Yemeni officials said the country's Shiite rebels have retaken ground from forces loyal to the internationally recognized government in two central provinces, with at least 85 fighters killed on both sides over the past three days.
(AP, 6/2/16)
2016 Jun 3, President Obama, under Article II of the Constitution, commuted the sentences of 42 mostly low-level and nonviolent drug dealers, half of whom would have otherwise died in prison.
(CSM, 6/4/16)
2016 Jun 3, US boxing champion Muhammad Ali (74) died in a hospital in Phoenix after a 32-year battle with Parkinson's disease.
(AFP, 6/4/16)(SFC, 6/4/16, p.A1)(Econ, 6/11/16, p.90)
2016 Jun 3, In southern Mississippi two workers disappeared in a landslide at a gravel pit in Crystal Springs. Their bodies were recovered on June 9 and 11.
(SSFC, 6/12/16, p.A6)
2016 Jun 3, In Oregon 16 of 96 tank cars of a Union Pacific train derailed near Mosier in the Columbia River Gorge and an unknown amount of oil was leaked. Mosier’s wastewater treatment plant and sewer system were left inoperative. A fire in four of the cars was extinguished the next day.
(SFC, 6/4/16, p.A5)(SFC, 6/6/16, p.A6)
2016 Jun 3, In France the Louvre and Orsay museums in Paris moved scores of art works and precious artifacts to safety and soldiers evacuated residents trapped in some outlying suburbs as the swollen river Seine hit its highest level in 30 years.
(Reuters, 6/3/16)
2016 Jun 3, Volkswagen said it has received regulatory approval for technical fixes on some models, meaning it could now recall more than 800,000 of the 8.5 million cars affected by its diesel emissions scandal in Europe.
(Reuters, 6/3/16)
2016 Jun 3, Four bodies were recovered and 340 people rescued after a boat carrying migrants across the Mediterranean Sea sank south of the Greek island of Crete. Survivors later said 648 or 650 men, women and children were on the ship. Some 320 migrants and refugees were feared to have drowned.
(AP, 6/3/16)(Reuters, 6/7/16)
2016 Jun 3, Indian officials said overnight slashes between police and followers of a revolutionary sect have left at least 24 dead after an operation in Uttar Pradesh to evict thousands of people from parkland erupted into violence.
(AFP, 6/3/16)
2016 Jun 3, Rebels in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir ambushed a convoy of Indian paramilitary soldiers in a busy market, killing at least 3 and injuring three others.
(AP, 6/3/16)
2016 Jun 3, In Indonesia about a thousand members of hard-line Islamic groups marched in Jakarta to denounce a government plan for an investigation into anti-communist massacres in 1965, saying it would help revive communism in the world's most populous Muslim nation.
(AP, 6/3/16)
2016 Jun 3, In Israel some 200,000 people joined the festivities of Tel Aviv’s annual gay pride parade.
(SFC, 6/4/16, p.A2)
2016 Jun 3, Libya’s UN-backed unity government in Tripoli said it is uniting its various armed factions and will be able to eradicate Islamic State militants on its territory with its own forces.
(Reuters, 6/3/16)
2016 Jun 3, In Mexico Ernesto Canales, the anti-corruption czar in the opposition-controlled region of Nuevo Leon, ordered properties seized against several officials, including ex-state governor Rodrigo Medina, for suspected embezzlement, breach of office and other crimes that cost the state 3.6 billion pesos ($194 million).
(Reuters, 6/3/16)
2016 Jun 3, In Niger 32 troops were killed in a clash with Boko Haram jihadists at Bosso on the border with Nigeria. The dead soldiers included 30 from Niger and 2 from Nigeria.
(AFP, 6/4/16)
2016 Jun 3, Poland's PM Beata Szydlo announced a new program to provide cheap housing for families on low income — the second project the conservative government has launched to support large families.
(AP, 6/3/16)
2016 Jun 3, In Puerto Rico nurse Elena Santos Agosto (59) died in her living room after being struck by gunshots to the head and chest that were fired into her residence from a passing vehicle. Her daughter, ex-Miss Puerto Rico Alba Reyes, quickly called on the public to help police find those responsible for the shooting death of her mother.
(AP, 6/4/16)
2016 Jun 3, In Somalia Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan opened a new Turkish embassy in Mogadishu on his third visit to the country.
(AP, 6/3/16)
2016 Jun 3, Syrian regime air strikes killed dozens of civilians in Aleppo and nearby areas as the UN Security Council prepared to discuss emergency aid drops to besieged areas. Heavy Russian air strikes hit Islamic State-held territory in eastern areas of Syria's Hama province, near the boundary of Raqqa province.
(AFP, 6/3/16)(Reuters, 6/3/16)
2016 Jun 3, A court in Turkey sentenced a Turkish man, Erdal E. (29), to 108 years in jail for sexually assaulting at least eight Syrian children while working as a cleaner at the refugee camp in Nizip in the southern Gaziantep province near the Syrian border.
(AFP, 6/4/16)
2016 Jun 3, The UN accused both the Ukrainian authorities and pro-Russian rebels of torturing fighters and their sympathizers captured in the separatist east.
(AFP, 6/3/16)
2016 Jun 3, Pope Francis signed a declaration along with participants of a Vatican summit of about 100 judges, prosecutors and other public officials involved in fighting human trafficking and organized crime.
(AP, 6/3/16)
2016 Jun 3, In western Yemen 17 civilians were killed and dozens wounded when rockets fired by Houthi rebels hit a busy market in Taiz.
(SFC, 6/4/16, p.A2)
2016 Jun 4, The United States and its allies conducted a total of 23 military strikes against Islamic State in Syria and Iraq.
(Reuters, 6/5/16)
2016 Jun 4, The US government said it has received information that terrorist groups are planning to carry out attacks against places where its citizens congregate in shopping areas in South Africa.
(Reuters, 6/4/16)
2016 Jun 4, Top US Navy Adm. John Richardson said the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman has begun launching airstrikes against the Islamic State group from the Mediterranean Sea.
(AP, 6/4/16)
2016 Jun 4, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and Indian PM Narendra Modi inaugurated a multi-million-dollar dam in western Afghanistan that will bring power and irrigation to vast tracts of the war-torn country. The Afghan-India Friendship Dam in Herat province, which borders Iran, was built with Indian aid at a cost of $300 million and was under construction for about a decade.
(AP, 6/4/16)
2016 Jun 4, China said that it will ignore the decision of an international arbitration panel in a Philippine lawsuit against Beijing's sweeping territorial claims in the South China Sea. The Permanent Court of Arbitration ruled last year that it has jurisdiction over the case despite China's rejection.
(AP, 6/4/16)
2016 Jun 4, In southwestern China a leisure boat capsized on Bailong Lake during strong winds, killing one child and leaving another 14 people missing in Sichuan province.
(AP, 6/5/16)
2016 Jun 4, In France the Seine River peaked early today around Paris, hitting its highest level in nearly 35 years, almost 4.5 meters (15 feet) above average. Authorities warned it could take up to ten days for the river to return to normal.
(AP, 6/4/16)
2016 Jun 4, In Hong Kong tens of thousands of people poured into Victoria Park to remember the victims of the Chinese military's bloody June 4, 1989, crackdown on student-led pro-democracy protests in Beijing's Tiananmen Square.
(AP, 6/4/16)
2016 Jun 4, In Iraq bombings targeting a police checkpoint, a restaurant and two markets killed 15 people and wounded more than 40 in and around Baghdad. Iraqi forces gained new ground from the Islamic State group in a key area west of the jihadist bastion of Fallujah.
(AP, 6/4/16)(AFP, 6/4/16)
2016 Jun 4, In Myanmar over a thousand hardline Buddhists gathered on the outskirts of Yangon for the annual summit of their ulta-nationalist group, as the anti-Muslim network looks to stay relevant under Myanmar's new civilian leadership.
(AFP, 6/4/16)
2016 Jun 4, Nigeria announced that it has seized more than $10.3 billion in looted cash and assets over the past year under Pres. Buhari’s anticorruption campaign.
(SSFC, 6/5/16, p.A4)
2016 Jun 4, The Philippines' president elect Rodrigo Duterte urged the public to join his anti-crime crackdown, offering people huge bounties for killing drug dealers.
(AFP, 6/5/16)
2016 Jun 4, In Poland two former presidents were at the front of tens of thousands of marchers in Warsaw to protest the right-wing government’s policies and mark 27 years since the ouster of communism. The march was led by Mateusz Kijowski (47), founder of the Committee for the Defense of Democracy (KOD).
(SSFC, 6/5/16, p.A4)(Econ, 6/11/16, p.55)
2016 Jun 4, Russian news agencies reported that more than 40 people have been killed and around a hundred injured by Al Nusra militants shelling in the Syrian city of Aleppo.
(Reuters, 6/4/16)
2016 Jun 4, The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the Syrian army has crossed the boundary of Raqqa province, home to the de facto capital of Islamic State.
(Reuters, 6/4/16)
2016 Jun 4, Turkey’s military said cross-border shelling by the Turkish army and air strikes by US-led coalition aircraft have killed 14 Islamic State militants in Syria.
(AP, 6/4/16)
2016 Jun 4, Turkish warplanes struck Kurdish militant targets in northern Iraq and southeast Turkey and the army killed 27 fighters near its borders with Iraq and Iran.
(Reuters, 6/5/16)
2016 Jun 4, UN and police officials said criminal gangs are plundering the Earth's natural resources faster than previously thought, with the value of environmental crimes estimated to be as high as $258 billion annually.
(Reuters, 6/4/16)
2016 Jun 4, Pope Francis scrapped his proposed tribunal to prosecute bishops who failed to protect their flocks from pedophile priests and instead established new legal procedures to remove them if the Vatican finds they were negligent.
(AP, 6/4/16)
2016 Jun 4, The Vatican signed an agreement with Qatar to digitalize Vatican manuscripts relating to the Persian Gulf and other Islamic regions.
(AP, 6/4/16)
2016 Jun 5, In eastern Afghanistan Taliban gunmen stormed a court building, killing 7 people, including a newly appointed chief prosecutor in Puli Alim, Logar province. In Kabul lawmaker Sher Wali Wardak was killed in a roadside bombing.
(AP, 6/5/16)
2016 Jun 5, In Afghanistan NPR photojournalist David Gilkey and his Afghan colleague Zabihullah Tamann were killed by Taliban gunfire on the first day of an embed with local troops in Helmand province.
(Reuters, 6/6/16)
2016 Jun 5, In Australia torrential rain and high winds battered the east coast, leaving up to 26,000 homes without power while flooding forced hundreds of people into evacuation centers.
(Reuters, 6/5/16)
2016 Jun 5, In Bangladesh Mahmuda Aktar (33), the wife of a senior police official known for battling Islamist militants, was stabbed and shot to death in Chittagong. Machete-wielding assailants killed Christian grocer Sunil Gomes (60) in a separate incident in the northern district of Natore.
(Reuters, 6/5/16)
2016 Jun 5, In eastern Belgium a high speed train slammed violently into the back of a slow-moving freight train that was traveling on the same track crash late today, killing at least 3 people with nine others injured.
(AFP, 6/6/16)
2016 Jun 5, India's PM Narendra Modi and Qatar's ruler, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, who visited India in March 2015, signed seven agreements to strengthen ties. Modi had arrived June 4 and met with Indian laborers that evening.
(AP, 6/5/16)
2016 Jun 5, In western India a speeding bus struck two cars on the Navi Mumbai highway in a crash that killed at least 17 people and injured 35 others.
(AP, 6/5/16)
2016 Jun 5, In Iraq Islamic State militants reportedly shot and killed 7 civilians and 7 IS defectors inside Fallujah as they attempted to flee the city.
(AP, 6/6/16)
2016 Jun 5, In Italy an anti-establishment movement was the favorite as voters headed to the polls to pick a new mayor in Rome, among a handful of city hall contests in urban centers that tested the prime minister's governing Democratic Party. Virginia Raggi of the 5-Star Movement took 35.3 percent of the vote in Rome, trailed by Premier Matteo Renzi's Democratic Party candidate Roberto Giachetti, with just under 25 percent. Since no candidate took more than 50 percent in balloting, the top two face a runoff June 19.
(AP, 6/5/16)(AP, 6/6/16)
2016 Jun 5, In Kazakhstan an attack by gunmen on the north-western city of Aktobe left at least 25 people dead. This included 13 attackers, 4 civilians and 3 National Guard servicemen. Eight gunmen have been detained.
(Reuters, 6/7/16)(AP, 6/10/16)(Econ, 7/2/16, p.32)
2016 Jun 5, Mexico held elections in 12 states. The ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party lost four states it has never lost before, including the northern border state of Tamaulipas.
(AP, 6/6/16)(SFC, 6/6/16, p.A5)
2016 Jun 5, Peruvians voted in a tight run-off for the presidency, choosing between right-wing populist Keiko Fujimori (41), the daughter of a jailed former president, and former World Bank economist Pedro Pablo Kuczynski (77). On June 10 Keiko conceded defeat as Kuczynski won 50.1% of the vote.
(Reuters, 6/5/16)(SFC, 6/11/16, p.A2)
2016 Jun 5, Qatar figures from an April 2015 census showed almost 60 percent of the country’s 2.4 million population live in what the government calls labor camps.
(AFP, 6/5/16)
2016 Jun 5, Romanians began voting for local officials in administrations that are plagued with corruption. According to Romania's anti-corruption prosecutors' office, more than 100 mayors, deputy mayors, county council presidents and vice presidents were indicted for corruption in 2015.
(AP, 6/5/16)
2016 Jun 5, South Sudan resumed talks with Sudan on a raft of thorny issues, including borders and oil revenues, still outstanding from its 2011 secession.
(AFP, 6/5/16)
2016 Jun 5, Swiss voters rejected a proposal to require state-controlled companies such as Swisscom, Swiss Post or Swiss railway company SBB not to seek to make a profit.
(Reuters, 6/5/16)
2016 Jun 5, Swiss voters flatly rejected a radical proposal to provide the entire population with a basic income, no work required.
(AFP, 6/5/16)(SFC, 6/6/16, p.A2)
2016 Jun 5, The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said dozens of Syrian regime strikes on Aleppo killed at least 16 civilians. Nearly 40 strikes hit rebel-held areas in and around Aleppo city in some of the heaviest recent raids by Russian and Syrian government war-planes.
(AFP, 6/5/16)(Reuters, 6/5/16)
2016 Jun 5, A top Syrian Kurdish commander died. Abu Layla, who commanded a brigade inside the predominantly-Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces, was hit by IS sniper fire on the outskirts of Manbij, several days earlier during a US-backed campaign to unseat the Islamic State group from its de-facto Syrian capital, Raqqa.
(AP, 6/5/16)
2016 Jun 5, In Turkey more than 1,000 people attended a rally of a pro-Kurdish, opposition party in Istanbul to protest against the abolition of immunity of some Turkish members of parliament.
(AP, 6/5/16)
2016 Jun 5, In southern Turkey a bus carrying school children, teachers and parents plunged into an irrigation canal in Osmaniye province, killing 14 people including 6 children.
(AP, 6/6/16)
2016 Jun 5, Pope Francis proclaimed two new saints: Swedish-born Elizabeth Hesselblad (1870-1957), a Lutheran convert, who hid Jews during World War II and Stanislaus Papczynski (1631-1701), the Polish founder of the first men's religious order dedicated to the immaculate conception.
(AP, 6/5/16)
2016 Jun 5, Police in Vietnam forcibly removed people protesting in the capital Hanoi against a perceived delay in government response to a mass fish death, just days after US President Barack Obama chided the country on its human rights record.
(Reuters, 6/5/16)
2016 Jun 6, More than 450 groups called on the US Congress to reject the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) if it comes up for a vote this fall, saying the trade deal would allow fossil fuel companies to contest US environmental rules in extrajudicial tribunals.
(Reuters, 6/6/16)
2016 Jun 6, The US Navy banned drinking and restricted off-base activity for its personnel in Japan after a sailor was arrested a day earlier on suspicion of drunken driving in Okinawa.
(SFC, 6/7/16, p.A2)
2016 Jun 6, US VP Joe Biden unveiled a public database for clinical data on cancer that aims to help researchers and doctors better tailor new treatments to individuals.
(SFC, 6/7/16, p.D3)
2016 Jun 6, In New Hampshire a predawn fire killed 2 adults and 2 children in a three-story apartment building in Manchester.
(SFC, 6/7/16, p.A4)
2016 Jun 6, In northern Afghanistan a Taliban ambush killed at least 7 people, including a district intelligence chief and his deputy in Sari Pul province.
(AP, 6/6/16)
2016 Jun 6, Millions of Muslims around the world marked the start of Ramadan, a month of intense prayer, dawn-to-dusk fasting and nightly feasts. Others will begin fasting a day later, due to a moon-sighting methodology that can lead to different countries declaring the start of Ramadan a day or two apart.
(AP, 6/6/16)
2016 Jun 6, Australian authorities said 3 people were killed in floodwaters from a strong storm that pounded the east coast over the weekend.
(AP, 6/6/16)
2016 Jun 6, A court in Britain sentenced former schoolteacher Richard Huckle to 22 life sentences for child abuse after using his position teaching English in Malaysia to gain access to victims. He will have to serve a minimum of 25 years for 71 offenses against children aged between six months and 12 years from 2006 to 2014.
(AP, 6/6/16)
2016 Jun 6, In Egypt 12 Education Ministry officials were detained after answers to the final nationwide exams for Arabic and religion were posted on Facebook.
(AP, 6/6/16)
2016 Jun 6, EU nations refused to back a limited extension of the herbicide glyphosate's use, threatening withdrawal of Monsanto's Roundup and other weed-killers from shelves if no decision is reached by the end of the month.
(Reuters, 6/6/16)
2016 Jun 6, In France a fire in an apartment building near the national stadium in Saint-Denis left at least 5 people dead and 11 injured.
(AP, 6/7/16)
2016 Jun 6, Iran arrested Homa Hoodfar (65), a visiting Canadian-Iranian expert in gender and Islam. This was at least the fifth detention of a dual-national reported in recent months.
(Reuters, 6/9/16)
2016 Jun 6, In Jordan a gunman apparently acting alone killed 5 intelligence agents in a daylight "terrorist attack" on their office in the Baqaa Palestinian refugee camp north of Amman. On August 4 Mohammad Masharfeh (22) was sentenced to death for the attack. An accomplice who was charged with "selling weapons for illegal use" was sentenced to a year in prison.
(AFP, 6/6/16)(AP, 8/4/16)
2016 Jun 6, In Kenya one man died and six were injured as police opened fire on an anti-government rally in the western city of Kisumu.
(AFP, 6/6/16)
2016 Jun 6, Palestininan Jamal Dweika (20) died of wounds after being shot by Israeli soldiers in clashes after stones at Jewish worshippers at the Joseph's Tomb in Nablus.
(AP, 6/6/16)
2016 Jun 6, In the Philippines militants of Abu Sayyaf, a small but brutal group linked to al Qaeda, executed Robert Hall on the remote island of Jolo, the second Canadian captive to be killed following John Ridsdel, after their ransom demand went unheeded.
(Reuters, 6/15/16)
2016 Jun 6, The Saudi cabinet approved a major plan to diversify the national economy away from oil and to generate 450,000 non-government jobs by 2020.
(AFP, 6/7/16)
2016 Jun 6, In Saudi Arabia a road accident involving a bus and a truck killed 15 people and left 60 injured on the road between Riyadh and al-Qassim.
(AP, 6/7/16)
2016 Jun 6, Syrian regime troops supported by Russia and US-backed fighters pressed twin offensives against the Islamic State group as pressure built on the jihadists' northern strongholds in the war-torn country. 17 civilians, including 8 children, were killed in air strikes on Al-Shaara, an IS-held town in eastern Deir Ezzor province.
(AFP, 6/6/16)
2016 Jun 6, In Syria Hadiyeh al-Abbas (58), a woman who is a member of President Bashar Assad's Baath party, was chosen as the new parliament speaker, becoming the first woman to ever hold the post.
(AP, 6/6/16)
2016 Jun 6, Turkey’s state-run Anadolu news agency reported that shelling by Turkey's military and attacks by US-led coalition aircraft have killed 7 Islamic State militants in Syria.
(Reuters, 6/6/16)
2016 Jun 6, Pope Francis named a special administrator for the Catholic Church on the Pacific island of Guam after its archbishop was accused of sexually abusing young boys and of keeping church abuse policies weak to protect himself.
(AP, 6/6/16)
2016 Jun 6, It was reported that the parties to over a year of civil war in Yemen agreed to release all child prisoners they are holding.
(Reuters, 6/6/16)
2016 Jun 7, A senior US State Department official said North Korea has restarted production of plutonium fuel, showing that it plans to pursue its nuclear weapons program in defiance of international sanctions. The assessment came a day after the UN nuclear watchdog said it had “indications" that Pyongyang has reactivated a plant to recover plutonium from spent reactor fuel at Yongbyon, its main nuclear complex.
(Reuters, 6/8/16)
2016 Jun 7, The last major primaries of the 2016 White House race kicked off in California, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Dakota and South Dakota hours after US delegate counts showed Hillary Clinton clinching the Democratic nomination.
(AP, 6/7/16)(SFC, 6/8/16, p.A1)
2016 Jun 7, In Alabama former astronaut James Halsell Jr. (59) was charged with murder following an early morning car crash that killed two girls (11&13). Police said alcohol and speed may have been factors in the crash.
(SFC, 6/8/16, p.A4)
2016 Jun 7, Thomas J. Perkins (b.1932), US venture capitalist and former husband of novelist Danielle Steele, died at his home in Tiburon, Ca. He co-founded the firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers in 1972.
(SFC, 6/10/16, p.A11)
2016 Jun 7, Washington DC lawmakers approved a $15-an-hour minimum wage. Mayor Muriel Bowser pledged to sign it.
(SFC, 6/8/16, p.A4)
2016 Jun 7, Tropical Storm Colin blasted torrential rain and winds across the US Southeast, triggering a mix of floods, hazardous surf and other severe weather conditions in a broad swath between Florida and North Carolina as it moved out to sea.
(Reuters, 6/7/16)
2016 Jun 7, The members of the Missile Technology Control Regime, a key anti-proliferation grouping, agreed to admit India as a deadline for members of the 34-nation group to object to India's admission expired a day earlier without any of them raising objections. Later today PM Narendra Modi met with US Pres. Obama in Washington.
(Reuters, 6/7/16)
2016 Jun 7, The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that 40% of US women are obese.
(SFC, 6/8/16, p.A4)
2016 Jun 7, America’s Association of National Advertisers (ANA) published a report accusing advertising agencies of accepting rebates, or kickbacks, from media companies.
(Econ, 6/11/16, p.67)
2016 Jun 7, In southeastern Afghanistan Taliban gunmen killed 12 people they captured in recent ambushes, including policemen and soldiers, in Ghazni province. The dead included 7 policemen, 3 soldiers and 2 officials with the national spy agency.
(AP, 6/8/16)
2016 Jun 7, Albania's prosecutor general's office said police chief Haki Cako has been suspended from his post while being investigated for the illegal use of wiretapping equipment.
(AP, 6/7/16)
2016 Jun 7, The Front for the Liberation of the Enclave of Cabinda (FLEC), a rebel movement seeking independence for Angola's main oil region, said its leader Nzita Henriques Tiago (88) has died in France.
(Reuters, 6/7/16)
2016 Jun 7, In southwestern Bangladesh unidentified bike-riding assailants shot and hacked Hindu priest Anando Gopal Ganguly (70) to death amid a spate of similar attacks allegedly by radical Islamist groups since last year.
(AP, 6/7/16)
2016 Jun 7, Belgian judges, lawyers and court clerks throughout the country protested planned government budget cuts they say will cripple an already overtaxed judicial system.
(AP, 6/7/16)
2016 Jun 7, Chinese State Councillor Yang Jiechi, the country's top diplomat, said China has the right to uphold its sovereignty over the South China Sea, and that it will respect freedom of navigation and overflight there.
(Reuters, 6/7/16)
2016 Jun 7, Egypt's former top auditor, Hisham Genena, who exposed massive corruption in the country went on trial before a court in Cairo, charged with spreading "false news" and "disturbing" the country's security.
(AP, 6/7/16)
2016 Jun 7, The European Union unveiled plans to seal agreements with African and Middle East countries in an effort to persuade refugees to stay close to home and to discourage people looking for jobs from heading to Europe.
(AP, 6/7/16)
2016 Jun 7, The European Union warned Thailand to take "swift and determined action" by next month to improve its fisheries and labor practices or face a serious economic threat of an EU ban on Thai seafood.
(AP, 6/7/16)
2016 Jun 7, Hong Kong culled 4,500 birds after the deadly H7N9 bird flu virus was discovered in a chicken at a local market.
(AFP, 6/7/16)
2016 Jun 7, Hungarian lawmakers approved a constitutional amendment granting the government extended powers, including the possibility of deploying the armed forces, in case of terror acts or threats.
(AP, 6/7/16)
2016 Jun 7, In Iraq a car bombing in Karbala killed 7 civilians and wound almost two dozen.
(SFC, 6/8/16, p.A2)
2016 Jun 7, It was reported that Exporters are rejecting roughly half of cocoa port arrivals from top producer Ivory Coast on quality grounds, adding to problems that are already expected to result in a 180,000 ton global supply deficit this year.
(Reuters, 6/7/16)
2016 Jun 7, Amnesty International said albinos in Malawi are being targeted in an "unprecedented wave of brutal attacks", blaming police for failing to tackle a scourge fuelled by ritual practices.
(AFP, 6/7/16)
2016 Jun 7, Norway's parliament agreed on a goal to cut the country's net greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2030, moving the target forward by 20 years.
(Reuters, 6/7/16)
2016 Jun 7, Russian President Vladimir Putin hosted Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu for talks expected to focus on boosting bilateral ties and the situation in Syria.
(AP, 6/7/16)
2016 Jun 7, Russia's gas monopolist Gazprom says it will resume selling gas to Ukraine, following an official request from Kiev.
(AP, 6/7/16)
2016 Jun 7, In northern Syria thousands of civilians fled Mambij, a key town along the Islamic State group's supply lifeline, as US-backed fighters closed in from three sides. Syrian government troops backed by Russian air power moved to within 25 km of Tabqa, an Islamic State-held town in Raqqa province.
(AFP, 6/7/16)(Reuters, 6/7/16)
2016 Jun 7, In Thailand police raided a massage parlor and arrested 121 sex workers, including 15 who were under the age of 18. Five men running the brothel in Bangkok were soon charged with human trafficking.
(Reuters, 6/10/16)
2016 Jun 7, In Turkey a rush-hour explosion killed 11 people and wounded 36 others in an attack on a bus carrying riot police in Istanbul. Police detained four people in connection with the attack.
(AP, 6/7/16)
2016 Jun 8, In Michigan 5 bicyclists were killed and four injured when a pickup truck slammed into a group of riders in Kalamazoo County. On June 11, 2018, Charles Pickett Jr. (52) was sentenced to at least 40 years in prison.
(SFC, 6/9/16, p.A9)(SFC, 6/12/18, p.A12)
2016 Jun 8, Ohio’s Rep. Gov. John Kasich signed a bill legalizing medical marijuana in the state. The program was expected to be fully operational in two years.
(SFC, 6/10/16, p.A7)
2016 Jun 8, Chad reportedly sent some 2,000 troops to neighboring Niger, where Boko Haram insurgents inflicted heavy losses in the town of Bosso last week. On June 18 Chadian troops were reported to be in Nigeria but not in Niger.
(AFP, 6/8/16)(Reuters, 6/18/16)
2016 Jun 8, China said Zeng Ziheng (44), a man on its list of 100 most wanted corruption suspects abroad, has voluntarily returned from Canada where he fled in 2011.
(Reuters, 6/8/16)
2016 Jun 8, Eritrea's government rejected accusations of human rights abuses after a UN commission of inquiry said Eritrea's "systematic, widespread" human rights abuses should be referred to the International Criminal Court as crimes against humanity that include enslavement of up to 400,000 people.
(Reuters, 6/8/16)(AP, 6/8/16)
2016 Jun 8, The French government released an emergency alert application intended to send swift warnings to smartphone users in the event of a bombing, shooting or other disaster.
(AP, 6/8/16)
2016 Jun 8, Germany-based Volkswagen said it has received regulatory approval to fix another 1.1 million cars, raising the number of VW models cleared for refitting to more than 2.5 million since the start of the year.
(Reuters, 6/8/16)
2016 Jun 8, In southern India annual monsoon rains arrived at the Kerala coast, a day later than forecast, easing fears over farm and economic growth after two straight droughts hit rural income and agricultural output.
(Reuters, 6/8/16)
2016 Jun 8, Iraqi forces said they had begun to make progress against Islamic State inside a built-up district of Falluja, the militants' stronghold to the west of Baghdad.
(Reuters, 6/8/16)
2016 Jun 8, Islamic State insurgents have posted a video showing a 3,000-year-old temple being blown up at the Assyrian city of Nimrud in northern Iraq, in their latest assault on some of the world's greatest archaeological and cultural treasures. The UN confirmed in a statement that satellite imagery showed "extensive damage to the main entrance" of the temple of Nabu, the Babylonian god of wisdom.
(Reuters, 6/9/16)
2016 Jun 8, Israel's army locked down the Palestinian town of Yatta after Palestinian gunmen shot dead 4 people at a popular Tel Aviv nightspot. One of the attackers was arrested, while the other was wounded by gunfire. Both were from Yatta.
(AFP, 6/9/16)
2016 Jun 8, Italian officials said Medhanie Yehdego Mered (35), an Eritrean man suspected of running a huge human trafficking network that sent thousands of migrants to Europe, leaving many to die on the way, was extradited overnight from Sudan to Italy. A woman claiming to be his half-sister said he was just a simple carpenter.
(Reuters, 6/8/16)(AFP, 6/10/16)
2016 Jun 8, Italian media reported that a policeman has shot dead a migrant who stabbed him during a brawl in the vast tent camp in San Ferdinando on the outskirts of Rosarno.
(AFP, 6/8/16)
2016 Jun 8, In Nigeria the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) militant group rejected a truce offer to end attacks on key oil infrastructure and claimed another strike. The Nigerian Navy said nine suspected militants blamed for previous attacks around the port city of Warri had been arrested.
(AFP, 6/8/16)
2016 Jun 8, In Pakistan a woman in Lahore burned her 17-year-old daughter, Zeenat Rafiq, alive to punish her for marrying against the family's wishes.
(AP, 6/8/16)
2016 Jun 8, Papua New Guinea police opened fire on students protesting against the prime minister, injuring almost 40 in Port Moresby. Students have been locked in a month-long standoff with authorities and have been boycotting classes as they demand PM Peter O'Neill step aside over corruption allegations.
(AFP, 6/8/16)
2016 Jun 8, Philippine President-elect Rodrigo Duterte changed his stance regarding journalists, vowing to protect them and pursue their killers after being denounced by journalists' groups for a comment that news people were not exempted from assassination.
(Reuters, 6/8/16)
2016 Jun 8, In Portugal former CIA agent Sabrina de Sousa said she will be extradited to Italy to serve a prison sentence for her part in the US extraordinary renditions program after Portugal's Constitutional Court rejected her final appeal. De Sousa was among 26 Americans convicted for the kidnapping of terror suspect Osama Moustafa Hassan Nasr, also known as Abu Omar, from a Milan street on Feb. 17, 2003. She insists she wasn't involved in the abduction.
(AP, 6/8/16)
2016 Jun 8, The Singapore government's Infocomm Development Authority said it has begun disconnecting internet access from the work stations of some government employees, and will expand the removal to all public workers by next June in an effort to make official information systems more secure.
(AP, 6/8/16)
2016 Jun 8, South Africa's department of environmental affairs said an on-again-off-again moratorium on domestic trade in rhino horn had been reinstated after it appealed to the top court in the land to render judgment on the thorny issue.
(Reuters, 6/8/16)
2016 Jun 8, In Syria airstrikes on rebel-held districts of Aleppo, including one that struck near a hospital, killed 15 civilians and wounded many others. Rebels backed by Islamist groups launched simultaneous attacks from both Marea and Azaz, squeezing IS jihadists out of the villages of Kafr Kalbin and Kaljibrin and reopening the road.
(AP, 6/8/16)(AFP, 6/8/16)
2016 Jun 8, In Syria US-led coalition airstrikes and Turkish artillery fire against Islamic State group targets reportedly killed 18 militants.
(AP, 6/9/16)
2016 Jun 8, RIA news agency, citing the Russian coordination center in Syria, reported that Russia's Defense Ministry has spotted the movement of over 160 Nusra Front fighters from Turkey into Syria to reinforce "terrorists" around the city of Aleppo.
(Reuters, 6/8/16)
2016 Jun 8, In southern Thailand two speedboats packed with 62 tourists crashed off the coast, leaving at least two dead and more than 20 injured.
(AP, 6/8/16)
2016 Jun 8, In Turkey a Kurdish rebel suicide bomber detonated an explosives-laden vehicle outside a police headquarters near the border with Syria in Midyat, Mardin province. The Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militant group claimed responsibility for the bombing that killed six people.
(AP, 6/8/16)(Reuters, 6/9/16)
2016 Jun 9, Pres. Obama and other leading Democrats backed Hillary Clinton as their party’s nominee for president.
(SFC, 6/10/16, p.A1)
2016 Jun 9, The US White House approved plans to expand the military's authority to conduct airstrikes against the Taliban when necessary as the violence in Afghanistan escalates.
(AP, 6/10/16)
2016 Jun 9, Donald Trump's son, Donald Trump Jr., met with Kremlin-linked lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya after being promised damaging information about Hillary Clinton. Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner and campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, also attended the meeting at Trump Tower, two weeks after Trump won the Republican nomination. Rinat Akhmetshin, a Russian-American lobbyist, was also present. He had served in the Soviet military in a unit that was part of counterintelligence.
(Reuters, 7/10/17)(AP, 7/14/17)(SFC, 7/15/17, p.A5)
2016 Jun 9, In Wyoming 3 German motorcyclists were killed and three injured in a traffic accident outside of Yellowstone National Park. Manuel Moreno Defuentes (61) of Oregon was soon charged with misdemeanor homicide by vehicle after his pickup crashed into a group of motorcyclists.
(AP, 6/10/16)
2016 Jun 9, In Afghanistan Judith D'Souza (40), an Indian charity worker for the Aga Khan Foundation, was kidnapped in Kabul.
(AP, 6/10/16)
2016 Jun 9, A bus in southern Brazil veered off the side a highway and crashed, leaving 16 dead and 30 injured on the outskirts of Mogi das Cruzes.
(AP, 6/9/16)
2016 Jun 9, The European Court of Human Rights ruled that Bosnia is violating human rights by not letting a Muslim Bosniak residing in the Serb part of the country run for president. Bosnia has three months to appeal.
(AP, 6/9/16)
2016 Jun 9, El Salvador’s Justice and Security Minister Mauricio Ramirez said that the "extraordinary measures" El Salvador has employed "have managed to reduce the crime rate by more than 50 percent."
(AFP, 6/11/16)
2016 Jun 9, A French court convicted and fined Uber and two of its executives for deceptive commercial practices and illegal business activity over its lowest-cost ride service. The court did not hand prison terms.
(AP, 6/9/16)
2016 Jun 9, In France Rifaat al-Assad (78), Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's uncle, was charged with corruption. He was suspected of using ill-gotten gains to build a real estate empire in France. He had commanded Syria's notorious internal security forces in the 1970s and early 1980s.
(AFP, 6/28/16)
2016 Jun 9, In Iraq two suicide bombings claimed by the Islamic State group killed 31 people with 78 wounded.
(AP, 6/9/16)
2016 Jun 9, In northern Iraq Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and other Islamic State leaders were reportedly wounded in a coalition air strike on one of the group's command headquarters close to the Syrian border according to a local source in Nineveh province.
(Reuters, 6/10/16)
2016 Jun 9, A UN panel said Ireland’s abortion ban subjects women to discriminatory, cruel and degrading treatment and should be ended immediately for cases involving fatal fetal abnormalities.
(SFC, 6/10/16, p.A5)
2016 Jun 9, The Israeli military revoked permits for 83,000 Palestinians to visit Israel and said it would send hundreds more troops to the occupied West Bank a day after a Palestinian gun attack that killed four Israelis in Tel Aviv. Collective punishment is banned under international law.
(AP, 6/10/16)
2016 Jun 9, Italian police arrested two Ukrainians suspected of trafficking Syrians to Italy on a sail boat, and launched a probe to find the criminal organization ultimately responsible.
(Reuters, 6/10/16)
2016 Jun 9, Japanese automaker Honda said it is recalling 784,000 vehicles in Japan due to faulty Takata Corp. air bag inflators for front passenger seats.
(AP, 6/9/16)
2016 Jun 9, In Kenya a national commission announced the firing of 302 police officers who refused to be vetted. So far at least 3,000 officers have been vetted with close to 100 fired as part of a reform package.
(SFC, 6/10/16, p.A2)
2016 Jun 9, Liberia said it was free of Ebola, meaning there are now no known cases in west Africa of the tropical virus that has left more than 11,300 people dead in the region since late 2013.
(AFP, 6/9/16)
2016 Jun 9, Forces aligned with Libya's unity government were engaged in fierce clashes with Islamic State in the group's stronghold of Sirte, but faced resistance from snipers as they edged toward the city center.
(Reuters, 6/9/16)
2016 Jun 9, In Libya 12 people were tortured a killed a day after their release from a militia-run prison. The 12, who were tried on charges of killing protesters during the 2011 uprising that ousted and killed longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi were found with bullet wounds to their heads and bearing signs of torture in different parts of Tripoli.
(AP, 6/13/16)
2016 Jun 9, A court in Papua New Guinea granted an injunction preventing students from protesting on campus with the country on high alert after violent clashes in the capital Port Moresby.
(AFP, 6/9/16)
2016 Jun 9, Russian Maj. Sergei Yeremenko, a pilot for the air force's elite aerobatic squadron, died when his Su-27 fighter jet crashed near Moscow.
(AP, 6/9/16)
2016 Jun 9, In central Somalia at least 30 Ethiopian troops were killed in a suicide bomb attack on a base for African Union peacekeepers. The African Union AMISOM force fighting in Somalia said its troops repelled an attack on one of its bases by the al Shabaab Islamist group and killed 110 militants.
(AP, 6/9/16)(Reuters, 6/9/16)
2016 Jun 9, In northern Syria US-backed fighters closed all major roads leading to Manbij, a stronghold of the Islamic State group, and surrounded it from three sides.
(AP, 6/9/16)
2016 Jun 9, Turkey suspended the sale of fertilizers containing nitrate that are used to make explosives following car bombings this week that killed 17 people.
(SFC, 6/10/16, p.A2)
2016 Jun 9, Zimbabwean police arrested 15 people, including a journalist and the brother of missing political activist Itai Dzamara, while they were holding a vigil in Africa Unity Square in central Harare calling upon Pres. Mugabe to step down.
(AFP, 6/10/16)
2016 Jun 10, The US Dept. of Transportation gave permission to six airlines to resume scheduled commercial air service from the US to Cuba for a total of 155 round-trip flights per week.
(SFC, 6/11/16, p.A2)
2016 Jun 10, Alabama House Speaker Mike Hubbard was convicted by a jury on 12 charges of violating state ethics law. On July 8 Hubbard was sentenced to four years in prison and another eight on probation. Hubbard began serving his prison sentence on Sept. 11, 2020.
(SFC, 6/11/16, p.A5)(SFC, 7/9/16, p.A11)(SFC, 9/14/20, p.A5)
2016 Jun 10, In the SF Bay Area the East Bay Express reported that a Richmond woman (18) said she has had sexual relations with numerous officers from the Oakland, Richmond, Livermore and Stockton police departments during her stint as a sex worker. This followed the sudden resignation a day earlier of Oakland Police Chief Sean Whent. On May 31, 2017, the Oakland City Council voted 7-1 to approve a $989,000 settlement with former sex worker Jasmine (19), aka Celeste Guap.
(SFC, 6/14/16, p.A5)(SFC, 6/1/17, p.E1)
2016 Jun 10, In San Francisco construction site flagger Mitzi Campbell (58) was fatally stabbed by homeless transient Lizette Cauich, who had tried to use a portable toilet at the site. In 2018 Cauich (25) pleaded that she suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
(SFC, 1/24/18, p.A1)
2016 Jun 10, In Florida Kevin James Loibl shot and fatally wounded singer Christina Grimmie (22), a former contestant on the popular TV show "The Voice," at Orlando’s Plaza Live Theater late today during a meet and greet with fans. Loibl (27) shot and killed himself during a struggle with Grimmie’s brother.
(AFP, 6/11/16)(SSFC, 6/12/16, p.A6)
2016 Jun 10, In eastern Afghanistan 4 civilians were killed and around 40 wounded by a bomb blast inside a mosque in Nangarhar province.
(AP, 6/10/16)
2016 Jun 10, In northern Bangladesh suspected Islamist assailants hacked Hindu holy man Nitya Ranjan Pandey (60) to death and fled without anyone witnessing the attack.
(AP, 6/10/16)
2016 Jun 10, In Canada a female German exchange student (18) and a female Canadian (17) were struck by a train in the east coast province of Nova Scotia.
(AP, 6/10/16)
2016 Jun 10, Canada's beloved hockey icon Gordie Howe (b.1928), a fierce competitor who finessed his way into the record books on the ice but was a gentle giant off it, died in Ohio at the home of his son Murray. The Hall of Famer affectionately known as "Mr. Hockey" won four Stanley Cup titles with the Detroit Red Wings in a professional career that spanned an astonishing six decades.
(AFP, 6/11/16)
2016 Jun 10, In China animal rights activists calling for an end to the slaughter and eating of dogs at a Chinese festival delivered a petition with 11 million signatures to authorities in Beijing.
(Reuters, 6/10/16)
2016 Jun 10, EU countries agreed on new measures to tighten gun controls in the wake of the deadly attacks in Paris last year.
(SFC, 6/11/16, p.A4)
2016 Jun 10, Berlin police found 80 kg (176 pounds) of heroin worth an estimated 3 million euros ($3.6 million). Two Lebanese men were arrested on narcotics charges and a third was being sought.
(AP, 6/15/16)
2016 Jun 10, The Israeli military said the West Bank will be closed off until the end of the Jewish holiday of Shavuot on June 12, due to security concerns following a Palestinian shooting attack this week that killed four civilians.
(AP, 6/10/16)
2016 Jun 10, In Kazakhstan 5 suspected militants were killed in gunbattles with police in Aktobe that followed a series of recent armed attacks that have challenged the stability of the energy-rich ex-Soviet nation.
(AP, 6/10/16)
2016 Jun 10, In eastern Libya at least 7 civilians were killed and eight wounded over the last 24 hours by shelling Benghazi.
(Reuters, 6/11/16)
2016 Jun 10, A Maldives court convicted the country's former vice president of masterminding a plot to kill the president by exploding a bomb on his speedboat last year and sentenced him to 15 years in prison. Ahmed Adeeb must serve a total of 25 years after the same criminal court sentenced him earlier this week to 10 years for possessing firearms.
(AP, 6/10/16)
2016 Jun 10, In Mexico two gunmen marched into a remote mountain village and killed 11 members of the same family, including two children, apparently over "personal conflicts" in El Mirador, Puebla state. The prime suspect in the slaying of 11 family members was an alleged rapist seeking revenge against a victim whose complaint had him jailed.
(AFP, 6/11/16)(AP, 6/11/16)(SSFC, 6/12/16, p.A4)
2016 Jun 10, In Mexico five vehicles carrying 34 Central American migrants were apprehended while traveling together between the northern states of Zacatecas and Coahuila. Four of the vehicles were linked to the Uber Technologies platform. The drivers said they weren't the owners of the cars but worked as Uber chauffeurs.
(Reuters, 6/30/16)
2016 Jun 10, New Zealand PM John Key ended a two-day visit to Fiji in an attempt to improve relations following democratic elections in 2014.
(AP, 6/10/16)
2016 Jun 10, Nigeria fired dozens of senior officers accused of corruption and the theft of billions of dollars meant to buy arms to fight the Boko Haram Islamic insurgency.
(AP, 6/11/16)
2016 Jun 10, In Nigeria the Niger Delta Avengers militant group claimed responsibility for an attack on a trunk line owned by Agip ENI.
(Reuters, 6/10/16)
2016 Jun 10, Northern Ireland police commanders in Belfast unveiled a mammoth criminal investigation into a former Irish Republican Army double agent codenamed "Stakeknife," who was allegedly permitted by British Army intelligence officers to interrogate, torture and kill IRA colleagues to maintain his cover as the outlawed group's internal security chief. The London-based investigation is expected to last five years and cost 30 million pounds ($43 million).
(AP, 6/10/16)
2016 Jun 10, In Pakistan 5 worshippers were killed and five injured when a steel shed in the courtyard of a central Karachi mosque collapsed.
(AP, 6/10/16)
2016 Jun 10, In Somalia Shabaab jihadists publicly executed six men they accused of spying, including one they claimed helped kill their supreme leader in a US drone strike.
(AFP, 6/11/16)
2016 Jun 10, A Swedish court awarded 30,000 kronor ($3,700) each in damages to 11 Roma plaintiffs who sued the government for discrimination, saying they were registered by police due to their ethnicity.
(AP, 6/10/16)
2016 Jun 10, Syria's regime bombarded Daraya, a rebel-held town outside Damascus, preventing besieged residents from receiving food aid after its first such delivery in years. US-backed forces seized control of the last route into the IS-held city of Manbij, completing their encirclement of the main target in a major advance against the militants.
(AFP, 6/10/16)(Reuters, 6/10/16)
2016 Jun 10, In Thailand a passenger van overturned and caught fire on a highway in Chonburi, killing 11 school teachers inside.
(AP, 6/11/16)
2016 Jun 10, Turkey's Justice Ministry said it has sent dozens of cases involving 57 lawmakers to public prosecutors after the president lifted their legal immunity. Most of the lawmakers at risk of prosecution belong to the pro-Kurdish People's Democratic Party, HDP, or the opposition Republican People's Party.
(AP, 6/10/16)
2016 Jun 10, In southern Turkey a truck slammed into a van carrying agricultural laborers, killing at least 10 people and injuring four others near the town of Eregli, in Konya province.
(AP, 6/10/16)
2016 Jun 10, Uganda’s army said at least 30 people with suspected ties to a shadowy rebel outfit have been arrested over an alleged plot to topple Pres. Yoweri Museveni.
(AFP, 6/10/16)
2016 Jun 11, In New Mexico Cynthia Villegas and her 4 children were found shot to death in Roswell. Husband Juan David Villegas-Hernandez, identified as the shooter, fled the scene and was arrested in Mexico the next day.
(SFC, 6/13/16, p.A4)(SFC, 6/14/16, p.A4)
2016 Jun 11, The Swiss-made Solar Impulse 2, on a globe-circling voyage that began more than a year ago in the United Arab Emirates, reached a milestone, completing a trip across the United States with a Statue of Liberty fly-by before landing at John F. Kennedy International Airport.
(AP, 6/11/16)
2016 Jun 11, In eastern Afghanistan 6 police officers, including a district police chief, were killed early today by gunmen affiliated with the Islamic State group in Nangarhar province. 15 IS fighters were killed and seven wounded in the battle that followed.
(AP, 6/11/16)
2016 Jun 11, Citgo Aruba announced it will invest $450 million to $650 million to reactivate an oil refinery in Aruba that has been idle since 2012.
(AP, 6/11/16)
2016 Jun 11, Bangladesh police said they have arrested 3,155 people in a sweeping nationwide crackdown following a spate of gruesome murders.
(AFP, 6/11/16)
2016 Jun 11, Bolivia officials said five people have been arrested for allegedly coaching a boy to pretend he was President Evo Morales' son, and paying his family, in a soap opera-style scandal that has riveted the country. The suspects are close to Gabriela Zapata, a former girlfriend of Morales, with whom he had a son who died in 2009.
(AFP, 6/11/16)
2016 Jun 11, In Congo DRC two boats collided on Lake Maindombe capsizing one vessel and killing at least 27 people.
(SFC, 6/13/16, p.A2)
2016 Jun 11, Thousands of people marched in colorful gay pride events in Croatia, Italy, and Poland urging support for minority rights in the mostly Catholic nations.
(AP, 6/11/16)
2016 Jun 11, About a quarter of Air France pilots went on strike to demand better working conditions. Up to a fifth of flights were canceled, both domestic and international. Among those affected were flights carrying spectators to cities holding matches for the European Championship soccer tournament. Train drivers and garbage collectors continued their strikes.
(AP, 6/11/16)
2016 Jun 11, Three senior Guatemalan cabinet ministers were arrested on corruption charges and authorities said they were seeking to detain two more as part of a continuing crackdown that has already seen a former president jailed.
(AP, 6/11/16)
2016 Jun 11, In Hong Kong and South Korea operators of the ACT college entrance exam canceled the tests for some 5,500 students at the last moment over what they said was a verified breach of test materials.
(AP, 6/11/16)
2016 Jun 11, Iraqi forces in Fallujah secured a new exit route, known as al-Salam (Peace) Junction. Over four thousand people used it to flee in the first day it was open.
(Reuters, 6/12/16)
2016 Jun 11, Italy's coast guard said it had picked up at sea 1,348 migrants in 11 rescue operations between Sicily and North Africa, bringing the total number of people saved over the past three days to more than 3,000.
(Reuters, 6/11/16)
2016 Jun 11, Italy’s conservative Milan daily Il Giornal newspaper published Hitler's political manifesto "Mein Kampf," angering Premier Matteo Renzi and the country's tiny Jewish community. The daily is publishing volumes exploring Third Reich history and defended its decision by arguing that reading "Mein Kampf" is the "true antidote to the toxins of national socialism."
(AP, 6/11/16)
2016 Jun 11, Forces allied with Libya's unity government said they had recaptured the port in the jihadist bastion of Sirte, advancing rapidly against Islamic State group fighters encircled inside the city.
(AFP, 6/11/16)
2016 Jun 11, In South Africa 8 people including three children died in a house fire in Cape Town.
(AFP, 6/11/16)
2016 Jun 11, In Syria suicide and car bomb blasts struck the Damascus suburb of Sayyidah Zaynab near the Sayeda Zeinab shrine, the country’s holiest Shi'ite Muslim shrine. At least 20 people were reported killed. The Islamic State claimed responsibility. Sayyidah Zeinab was the daughter of the first Shiite imam, Ali, and granddaughter of the Prophet Muhammad.
(Reuters, 6/11/16)(SSFC, 6/12/16, p.A5)
2016 Jun 11, In northern Syria a siege by US-backed Kurdish and Arab forces of the key jihadist-held city of Manbij left tens of thousands of civilians trapped. At least 159 IS fighters and 22 SDF troops were reported killed as well as 37 civilians, most of the last group in coalition air raids, since the alliance launched its Manbij offensive on May 31.
(AFP, 6/11/16)
2016 Jun 11, Turkish warplanes killed 13 suspected Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants in the southeast province of Diyarbakir.
(Reuters, 6/11/16)
2016 Jun 12, In Florida 49 people were killed and another 53 were injured when a gunman opened fire and seized hostages at the Pulse, a gay nightclub in Orlando, making it the worst mass shooting in US history. The shooter was soon identified as Omar Mateen (29) of Afghan descent from Port Saint Lucie, Florida. Mateen was killed in a gunfight with police officers. In 2018 it was reported that Mateen's father had been an FBI informant at various points in time between January 2005 and June 2016.
(AFP, 6/12/16)(AFP, 6/14/16)(SFC, 8/5/16, p.A5)(SFC, 3/26/18, p.A7)
2016 Jun 12, In San Jose, Ca., the Pittsburgh Penguins won the Stanley Cup after Game 6 of the NHL hockey finals against the San Jose Sharks, seven years to the day after last holding the Cup.
(AP, 6/12/16)
2016 Jun 12, Bangladesh police said they have arrested at least 85 militants as part of a broad crackdown on Islamists after a wave of brutal attacks on minorities and liberal activists. Since the crackdown began on June 9, police have arrested 5,324 people.
(Reuters, 6/12/16)(AP, 6/12/16)
2016 Jun 12, In Brazil indigenous activists from the Guarani-Kaiowa group set up a camp in Mato Grosso do Sul state, in a push to have their ancestral land claims formally recognized by the government. Two days later armed farmers attacked the camp, killing one person and seriously wounding six.
(Reuters, 6/29/16)
2016 Jun 12, In China Liu Xiaohua, a leading official in Guangdong province, apparently hanged himself at his home in the provincial capital of Guangzhou. His death came as the province's anti-corruption watchdog body has been redoubling its probes of government and state industry leaders.
(AP, 6/13/16)
2016 Jun 12, Eritrea's Information Ministry said Ethiopia has unleashed an attack against Eritrea in the Tsorona Central Front.
(AP, 6/13/16)
2016 Jun 12, European soccer's governing body, UEFA, launched disciplinary proceedings against the Russian Football Union after violence marred the end of Russia's Euro 2016 match against England in Marseille the previous evening.
(AP, 6/12/16)
2016 Jun 12, Iraqi forces advanced towards Qayyarah, which lies south of the Islamic State group's main hub of Mosul, reviving a weeks-old operation that has made slow progress so far.
(AFP, 6/12/16)
2016 Jun 12, In Italy at least 3 people were killed and several others injured in Milan when a residential building partially collapsed following an explosion due to a suspected gas leak.
(Reuters, 6/12/16)
2016 Jun 12, Kazakh security forces detained three men suspected of being Islamist militants linked to deadly June 5 attacks in the city of Akrobe. At least 25 people including 18 attackers died during the assaults on a national guard base and firearms shops, and in the subsequent manhunt.
(Reuters, 6/12/16)
2016 Jun 12, In Lebanon an explosion hit the Beirut headquarters of one of the country's largest banks, leaving one person with minor injuries. Several Lebanese newspapers said the attack was intended as a message to the banking industry. Lebanese banks have been working to comply with a 2015 US law imposing sanctions on financial institutions that facilitate significant transactions associated with Hezbollah since May.
(AFP, 7/6/16)
2016 Jun 12, In Libya forces allied with the unity government battled to retake the Islamic State group's last redoubts in its stronghold of Sirte, facing fierce resistance including three suicide car bombings.
(AFP, 6/12/16)
2016 Jun 12, Police in Spain, France and Paraguay have arrested around 14 people and freed up to 15 women as part of a 3-day joint operation against sex trafficking that began on June 7.
(AP, 6/12/16)
2016 Jun 12, In Syria at least 12 people were killed when several airstrikes struck the insurgent-held city of Idlib. Hundreds of civilians escaped the besieged jihadist bastion of Manbij helped by a US-backed Kurdish-Arab alliance surrounding the town.
(AP, 6/12/16)(AFP, 6/12/16)
2016 Jun 12, In Turkey an explosion in central Istanbul killed one person and injured another. A gas leak was suspected.
(Reuters, 6/12/16)
2016 Jun 12, In Uganda attackers carrying machine guns attacked the main police station in the remote town of Gulu killing one soldier before they were repulsed.
(AP, 6/13/16)
2016 Jun 12, In Ukraine about 1,000 gay rights activists held the country’s first major gay pride march through central Kiev amid an unprecedented security operation in the ex-Soviet country where homophobia remains widespread.
(AFP, 6/12/16)(SFC, 6/13/16, p.A2)
2016 Jun 12, A United Arab Emirates military helicopter crashed into the sea, killing two crew members.
(AFP, 6/12/16)
2016 Jun 12, Pope Francis, addressing an audience of 20,000 sick and handicapped people at the Vatican, decried the marginalization of those with disabilities.
(AFP, 6/12/16)
2016 Jun 13, The US Supreme Court rejected an appeal from a group of American Samoans who say the United States should grant full citizenship to people born in the US territory.
(AP, 6/13/16)
2016 Jun 13, In Los Angeles a dispute between homeless people led one of them to set a fire that killed 5 others.
(SFC, 6/16/16, p.A6)
2016 Jun 13, Microsoft Corp. agreed to pay $26.2 billion in cash for LinkedIn, a professional social network company founded in 2002.
(SFC, 6/14/16, p.A1)
2016 Jun 13, Gregory Rabassa (94), former Queens College professor and translator of Latin American authors, died in Branford, Conn. His translations included “Hopscotch" by Julio Cortazar and “One Hundred Years of Solitude" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.
(SFC, 6/15/16, p.D3)
2016 Jun 13, Bahraini security forces rearrested leading human rights activist Nabeel Rajab (51) in a dawn raid in the Gulf kingdom.
(AP, 6/13/16)
2016 Jun 13, In France Officer Jean-Baptiste Salvaing and police administrator Jessica Schneider were knifed to death in their home in the Paris suburb of Magnanville by Larossi Abballa (25), who claimed allegiance to Islamic State. Abballa was killed after a three-hour siege and police raid.
(AP, 6/14/16)(AFP, 6/18/16)
2016 Jun 13, In Germany the chief editor of Turkish newspaper Hurriyet was presented with a Freedom of Speech award by German public broadcaster Deutsche Welle as concerns grow over press freedom in Turkey.
(AFP, 6/13/16)
2016 Jun 13, Iran's state TV reported that a firefight between Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guards and Kurdish militants in western Iran has left 5 militants dead. IRNA news agency reported a clash in the country's restive Sistan-Baluchistan province near the border with Pakistan, saying Iranian security forces killed 5 members of the Jaish al-Adl group. An Iranian police officer was also killed in the clash.
(AP, 6/13/16)
2016 Jun 13, Iraq said it had launched an investigation into possible human rights abuses against civilians fleeing the Islamic State-held city of Fallujah as an aid group said more than 4,000 more people had left the city over the weekend.
(AP, 6/13/16)
2016 Jun 13, In Iraq a suicide attack carried out by Islamic State group fighters killed at least 5 members of the Iraqi security forces in the city of Ramadi.
(AFP, 6/13/16)
2016 Jun 13, The Kosovo government amended a draft law to prolong the European Union rule of law mission, known as EULEX, for two years. Since 2008, EULEX has supported Kosovo on its path to greater European integration in the areas of rule of law and the fight against corruption.
(AP, 6/14/16)
2016 Jun 13, NATO's secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg announced that the alliance will agree this week to send four multinational battalions to the Baltic states and Poland to boost their defenses against Russia.
(AP, 6/13/16)
2016 Jun 13, In Pakistan a transgender woman suffered a gunshot wound to her thigh for refusing to have sex with three attackers who broke into her home in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, in the latest in a series of assaults on trans people.
(AP, 6/15/16)
2016 Jun 13, Qatar convicted a Dutch woman (22) of adultery and gave her a one-year suspended sentence after she reported being raped while on holiday in Doha. Officials said was also fined 3,000 Qatari riyals ($800/710 euros) and will be deported once she pays the fine. The male defendant, said by a court official to be Syrian and named as Omar Abdullah al-Hasan, was sentenced to 100 lashes for having illicit sex and 40 lashes for drinking alcohol.
(AFP, 6/13/16)
2016 Jun 13, In Turkey a car-bomb attack apparently targeting court officials in the mainly-Kurdish southeast region injured at least 9 people in Ovacik, Tunceli province.
(AP, 6/13/16)
2016 Jun 13, In Turkey Ahmed Abdulkader, a Syrian journalist campaigning against Islamic State, was shot in the head by two Islamic State militants riding a motorcycle and is being treated in the intensive care unit of Sanliurfa state hospital.
(Reuters, 6/13/16)
2016 Jun 13, In Uganda a senior officer, wounded in an attack in Gulu a day earlier, died. Six suspects believed to have participated in the attack were arrested, including the driver of a pickup truck used in the assault, and two commanders.
(Reuters, 6/14/16)
2016 Jun 13, In Yemen a suspected US drone killed 3 alleged al-Qaida fighters in an overnight airstrike in the central Shabwa province.
(AP, 6/13/16)
2016 Jun 14, The Democratic National committee said its computer network was hacked by Russian government hackers who gained access to opposition research on presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.
(SFC, 6/15/16, p.A5)
2016 Jun 14, In Florida a boy (2) was dragged into the water by an alligator while wading near Disney’s Grand Florida Resort & Spa.
(SFC, 6/15/16, p.A5)
2016 Jun 14, In Nevada the Riviera Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas was imploded. The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Center expected to spend $42 million to level the 13-building campus with plans for expansion.
(SFC, 6/14/16, p.A4)
2016 Jun 14, In New Mexico the Dog Head Fire broke out about 6 miles (10 km) northwest of the town of Tajique. It soon forced evacuations and by June 17 grew to about 16,000 acres (6,500 hectares).
(Reuters, 6/17/16)
2016 Jun 14, In Texas armed Walmart worker Mohammad Moghaddam (54) was shot and killed by police in Amarillo after he took two people hostage following a work-related dispute.
(SFC, 6/15/16, p.A7)
2016 Jun 14, CEO Jack Dorsey confirmed that Twitter is investing $70 million into SoundCloud, a streaming music service.
(www.cnet.com/news/twitter-invests-in-soundcloud/)
2016 Jun 14, An Afghan border guard was killed and five wounded in renewed clashes late today at the Torkham Pakistani-Afghan border crossing.
(AP, 6/15/16)
2016 Jun 14, In Argentina Jose Lopez, a former public works secretary under former Pres. Cristina Fernandez, was arrested after he was discovered tossing bags containing watches and $9 million in three currencies onto the grounds of a monastery.
(SSFC, 6/19/16, p.A4)(Econ, 7/30/16, p.28)
2016 Jun 14, Australian researchers said the Bramble Cay melomys, a rodent that only lived on Bramble Cay in the Great Barrier Reef, has become the first documented mammal to go extinct due to man-made climate change.
(SFC, 6/15/16, p.A4)
2016 Jun 14, A Bahraini court ordered the suspension of the country's main opposition group al-Wefaq and seized its assets, in what appeared to be an escalating campaign against dissent in the Western-allied Gulf Arab kingdom.
(Reuters, 6/14/16)(AP, 6/14/16)
2016 Jun 14, A Cambodian court sentenced American businessman Brian David Naswall (53) to 10 years in prison for sexually abusing nine underage girls.
(AP, 6/14/16)
2016 Jun 14, Chinese and American officials said they're committed to bridging their differences on cybersecurity and moving to implement recent agreements, as they held talks amid complaints over China-based hacking operations that the US says may have already cost US companies tens of billions of dollars.
(AP, 6/14/16)
2016 Jun 14, An Egyptian court acquitted 52 protesters charged with taking part in anti-government demonstrations in April denouncing the president's decision to hand over two Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia.
(AP, 6/14/16)
2016 Jun 14, In France tens of thousands of people rallied in Paris under heavy police presence for a protest against a planned change of labor laws that would make hiring and firing easier. Masked troublemakers hurled paving stones and other projectiles at businesses and the Necker Hospital. Some 30 police officers and protesters were injured.
(Reuters, 6/14/16)(AP, 6/15/16)
2016 Jun 14, Justice Minister Heiko Maas in an interview with Bild daily said Germany will not recognise polygamy or marriages involving minors, as concern rises over such cases amid a record influx of refugees, many from Muslim countries.
(AFP, 6/14/16)
2016 Jun 14, In northeastern India a passenger bus skidded off a mountain road and fell into a gorge in Meghalaya state, killing at least 25 people near Sonapur town.
(AP, 6/15/16)
2016 Jun 14, In Iraq Brig. Ahmed Badr al-Luhaibi, the commander of Brigade 71st of Division 15, was reported killed by a sniper during an operation to retake a village south of Mosul.
(AP, 6/15/16)
2016 Jun 14, Eight Kenyan politicians were arrested on suspicion of hate speech in the latest sign of rising political tensions a year ahead of elections and were remanded in custody until June 17.
(AFP, 6/15/16)
2016 Jun 14, In Libya 9 pro-government fighters were killed and 50 wounded in latest fighting for the Islamic State group's bastion of Sirte.
(AP, 6/15/16)
2016 Jun 14, In northern Myanmar a military helicopter crashed in the jungle, killing 3 officers on board.
(AP, 6/14/16)
2016 Jun 14, In Pakistan Maj. Ali Jawad Khan, wounded in cross-border clashes near Afghanistan, died of his wounds at a military hospital. He was the second fatality from the artillery exchanges at the Torkham crossing on the Afghan-Pakistan border that erupted late on June 12.
(AP, 6/14/16)
2016 Jun 14, In Venezuela dozens of bakeries, supermarkets and hardware shops were looted in the eastern city of Cumana after gangs of looters on motorcycles raided trucks transporting food as the country's food crisis continued. More than 400 people were arrested, including three suspected gang leaders. Over the next few days at least 5 people were reported killed in food related disturbances.
(AFP, 6/17/16)
2016 Jun 14, A Russian-made Vietnamese fighter jet was missing after disappearing off the radar during a training flight along the central part of the country's South China Sea coastline.
(Reuters, 6/14/16)
2016 Jun 15, Pres. Obama met with the Dalai Lama (80), the spiritual leader of Tibet, for the 4th time. China condemned the meeting, which was closed to news media coverage.
(SFC, 6/16/16, p.A3)
2016 Jun 15, California lawmakers approved a $122.5 billion state spending plan.
(SFC, 6/16/16, p.D2)
2016 Jun 15, In California the Sherpa Fire started this afternoon in Santa Barbara County and burned 250 acres. It then quadrupled in size over the next day and by June 18 burned an estimated 12 square miles and was 45% contained.
(Reuters, 6/17/16)(SSFC, 6/19/16, p.A7)
2016 Jun 15, American surgeon and author Richard Selzer (b.1928) died in Connecticut. His books include “The Doctor Stories" (1999) and “Mortal Lessons: Notes on the Art of Surgery" (1996).
(SFC, 6/17/16, p.D3)
2016 Jun 15, In Kentucky local detectives arrested Bill Birchfield (67), aka Harold Arnold, who had escaped from prison in Georgia in 1979. He had been jailed for fatally shooting his wife on July 5, 1973 in Dalton, Georgia.
(Econ, 7/2/16, p.26)
2016 Jun 15, In Bangladesh Hindu mathematics teacher Ripon Chakraborty was attacked and seriously wounded this evening by three knife-wielding assailants when he answered the doorbell at his home in Madaripur. A student (22) of a college in Dhaka, Ghulam Faijullaha Fahim, was caught by people who came to the rescue of the screaming teacher. Fahim told police the attack had been planned by members of the banned militant group Hizb ut-Tahrir.
(Reuters, 6/16/16)(Reuters, 6/18/16)
2016 Jun 15, Bangladesh police arrested Mohammed Sumon Hossain, a suspected member of the banned Ansarullah Bangla Team. He was suspected of participating in an attack against publisher Ahmed Rashid Tutul in his Dhaka office last October.
(AP, 6/16/16)
2016 Jun 15, A Chinese court jailed the wife and a son of Zhou Yongkang, a former senior politician sentenced to life in prison a year ago for corruption amid an ongoing anti-graft campaign. Zhou's son, Zhou Bin, was sentenced to 18 years in prison for taking 222 million yuan ($34 million) in bribes and running an illegal business trading in restricted commodities. Jia Xiaoye will serve nine years for taking bribes. She was fined 1 million yuan ($150,000).
(AP, 6/15/16)
2016 Jun 15, In Congo Rep. General Jean-Marie Michel Mokoko (69), a former army chief and candidate in the presidential election earlier this year, was detained overnight. His supporters said the president is trying to stifle dissent.
(Reuters, 6/15/16)
2016 Jun 15, French leaders told the hardline CGT labor union it would be denied permission for further street rallies unless it rooted out troublemakers, a day after violent battles between masked youths and police during protest marches in Paris.
(Reuters, 6/15/16)
2016 Jun 15, President Francois Hollande signed a bill formally ratifying the Paris climate agreement reached last December by nearly 200 countries to limit global warming. The agreement will become binding when 55 countries representing 55 percent of emissions of greenhouse gases ratify it. 17 states have done so already.
(Reuters, 6/15/16)
2016 Jun 15, The WHO's research arm issued a report downgrading its classification of coffee as a possible carcinogen, declaring there isn't enough proof to show a link to cancer. The Lyon-based International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) also announced in a report that drinking "very hot" beverages of any kind could potentially raise the cancer risk, and it classified them as "probably carcinogenic" to humans.
(AP, 6/15/16)
2016 Jun 15, In Guam Roland Paul L. Sondia (54) said that he was a 15-year-old altar boy when Archbishop Anthony Apuron sexually abused him during a sleepover in a church rectory in summer 1977, when Apuron was a parish priest. Apuron was convicted this year in a secret Vatican trial and suspended.
(AP, 6/15/16)(SFC, 8/9/19, p.A5)
2016 Jun 15, In Indonesia more than 30 pilot whales began stranding themselves during high tide on the coast of Pesisir village in Probolinggo district in the province of East Java. At least 10 died as a mass rescue operation managed to pull most of the stranded whales into the deep sea.
(AP, 6/16/16)
2016 Jun 15, Iran's Revolutionary Guard battled armed members of an insurgent Kurdish group, leading to fatalities near Oshnavieh, a predominantly Kurdish town in West Azerbaijan province.
(AP, 6/16/16)
2016 Jun 15, In Japan Yoichi Masuzoe, the governor of Tokyo, resigned following a scandal over his use of public funds.
(Econ, 6/18/16, p.40)
2016 Jun 15, Jerusalem's city hall approved the construction of a new building for Jews in the heart of an Arab neighborhood of east Jerusalem, a move that quickly drew rebuke from the Palestinians, who say encouraging settlement in the area is an obstacle to peace.
(AP, 6/15/16)
2016 Jun 15, In Libya the operation room of the unity government lost contact with a six-member scouting unit inside Sirte. Hours later, IS posted pictures online of the bodies of young men in uniform in the back of a pick-up truck, and described them as members of the Misrata forces.
(AP, 6/16/16)
2016 Jun 15, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said NATO allies will maintain troops across Afghanistan, as the US considers whether to reduce its presence there.
(Reuters, 6/15/16)
2016 Jun 15, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg demanded that Russia withdraw its forces and military hardware from Ukraine, and halt its support for pro-Moscow separatists battling Kiev.
(AFP, 6/15/16)
2016 Jun 15, Pakistani troops fired heavy artillery at Afghan forces at their main Khyber Pass border crossing, an escalation after days of clashes at the Torkham crossing that have killed four people and stranded thousands on both sides.
(Reuters, 6/15/16)
2016 Jun 15, Poland said will not meet the European Union's deadline of today to respond to concerns about the country's political crisis.
(AP, 6/15/16)
2016 Jun 15, In Spain US writer Richard Ford, author of the widely acclaimed novel "Independence Day," won the prestigious Asturias prize for literature in recognition of his contribution to American letters.
(AP, 6/15/16)
2016 Jun 15, In Syria at least 70 fighters were reported killed in less than 24 hours of fierce clashes between pro-regime forces, jihadists and rebels in Aleppo province.
(AFP, 6/15/16)
2016 Jun 15, The United Arab Emirates said war is over for its troops in Yemen after a nearly 15-month intervention as part of a Saudi-led coalition in which around 80 lost their lives.
(AFP, 6/16/16)
2016 Jun 16, US Senate Democrats claimed a small victory, forcing the upper house to consider legislation to help keep guns out of the hands of terrorism suspects following a filibuster of over 14 hours led by Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut.
(AFP, 6/16/16)
2016 Jun 16, It was reported that the Koret Foundation has selected twelve Northern California colleges and universities to share $50 million for scholarships, improved technology and research expansion.
(SFC, 6/16/16, p.D3)
2016 Jun 16, Philadelphia became the first major US city to approve a soda tax. The City Council gave final approval to a 1.5 cent-per-ounce tax on sugary and diet beverages with collections to begin next Jan 1.
(SFC, 6/17/16, p.A15)
2016 Jun 16, An Albanian court dropped charges against police chief Haki Cako for allegedly illegal use of wiretapping equipment. The Tirana Appeals Court ruled that Cako had committed no offense, leaving him free to resume his job.
(AP, 6/16/16)
2016 Jun 16, British opposition Labour Party lawmaker Jo Cox (41) died after she was shot and stabbed as she intervened in a scuffle between two men in Birstall near Leeds. Thomas Mair (52), who had a history of mental illness, was arrested by armed police. On Nov 23 Mair was sentenced to life in jail.
(Reuters, 6/16/16)(Reuters, 6/17/16)(Reuters, 11/23/16)
2016 Jun 16, In China the new $5.5 billion Shanghai Disneyland opened with a lavish celebration.
(SFC, 6/17/16, p.A3)
2016 Jun 16, Croatia's government fell after PM Tihomir Oreskovic lost a confidence vote in parliament, in a serious blow to the country's nationalist rulers after only five months in power.
(AFP, 6/16/16)
2016 Jun 16, A search team recovered the cockpit voice recorder from the EgyptAir plane that crashed on May 19 into the Mediterranean last month hours after a deep-sea robot located pieces of the main body of the plane.
(AFP, 6/16/16)
2016 Jun 16, The European Commission said Iran's state airline, which has just reached an agreement with Boeing Co to purchase new jetliners, can resume flights in the EU.
(Reuters, 6/16/16)
2016 Jun 16, France sentenced three Russian fans to prison and planned to deport 20 others next week for their role in the violence in Marseille that marred Russia's opening soccer match against England.
(AP, 6/16/16)
2016 Jun 16, In Greece the Holy and Great Council of Orthodox Christianity convened in Crete and continued to June 26. The Churches of Antioch, Russia, Bulgaria, and Georgia did not participate.
(http://tinyurl.com/jcuptso)(Econ, 6/18/16, p.57)
2016 Jun 16, Indonesia's central bank cut its benchmark interest rate again by a quarter point to 6.50 percent amid slow and uneven recovery of the global economy.
(AP, 6/16/16)
2016 Jun 16, In Kashmir 4 militants who had crossed into the Indian-controlled side from the Pakistani side were killed in fierce fighting that also left one soldier dead in the Tangdhar sector.
(AP, 6/16/16)
2016 Jun 16, Kurdish official Masrour Barzan said that once the Islamic State is defeated, Iraq should be divided into three separate entities to prevent further sectarian bloodshed, with a state each given to Shi'ite Muslims, Sunnis and Kurds.
(Reuters, 6/16/16)
2016 Jun 16, In Libya Islamic State group jihadists, pinned down in Sirte, stepped up suicide bomb attacks on forces of the unity government who suffered 10 dead.
(AFP, 6/16/16)
2016 Jun 16, A Mexican woman (32) was found dead after apparently falling from a border fence about 20 to 25 feet high about three miles east of Arizona’s Morley Port of Entry.
(AP, 6/22/16)
2016 Jun 16, Niger authorities said 34 people, including 20 children, have died while attempting to cross the Sahara Desert in an effort to reach Europe.
(SFC, 6/17/16, p.A2)
2016 Jun 16, In northeast Nigeria Boko Haram militants opened fire at a funeral, killing 18 mourners including many women and children in the Madagali area of Adamawa state near the Sambisa forest.
(AP, 6/17/16)
2016 Jun 16, In central Pakistan Monil Mai (32) was arrested hours after she allegedly threw acid on her boyfriend Sadaqat Ali for refusing to marry her in the Mukhdoom Rashid neighborhood of Multan. She had been having an affair with Ali for several years and wanted him to marry her so that she could divorce her husband. Ali died of his wounds on June 21.
(AP, 6/17/16)(AP, 6/21/16)
2016 Jun 16, A judge in Peru banned First Lady Nadine Heredia from leaving the country while she's being investigated for allegedly hiding undeclared campaign contributions.
(AP, 6/17/16)
2016 Jun 16, Russia floated out a new nuclear-powered icebreaker, said to be the world's biggest and most powerful, to be used for hauling liquefied natural gas from its Arctic terminal.
(AFP, 6/16/16)
2016 Jun 16, The Russian Defense Ministry said a 48-hour cessation of hostilities has been declared in the divided northern Syrian city of Aleppo and activists reported a relative calm in the city. Barrels bombs hit Aleppo just hours after a temporary truce came into effect in the war-torn city. Russian warplanes struck at rebels battling Islamic State militants, including forces backed by the United States, in southern Syria.
(AP, 6/16/16)(AFP, 6/16/16)(Reuters, 6/17/16)
2016 Jun 16, In the Solomon Islands scientists on World Sea Turtle Day tagged hawksbill sea turtles in a key South Pacific breeding ground, hoping that information fed to satellites will help them better understand the endangered species' nesting, feeding and migration patterns.
(Reuters, 6/16/16)
2016 Jun 16, Thai police raided the Wat Dhammakaya Buddhist temple complex to arrest a popular abbot accused of accepting $40 million in embezzled money but were thwarted by thousands of his followers who said he is too ill to be taken into custody. Phra Dhammachayo was accused of money laundering and links to embezzling 1.4 billion baht ($40 million) from a now-defunct credit union.
(AP, 6/16/16)
2016 Jun 16, United Nations investigators said the Islamic State is committing genocide against the Yazidis in Syria and Iraq to destroy the religious community of 400,000 people through killings, sexual slavery and other crimes.
(Reuters, 6/16/16)
2016 Jun 16, A Vietnamese search plane carrying nine people went missing while attempting to locate a pilot from a crashed fighter jet.
(AP, 6/16/16)
2016 Jun 16, In Zambia 19 Ethiopian migrants suffocated to death along the border with Congo inside a container truck, where survivors inside banged on the sides until border officials opened it. A total of 95 Ethiopians were aboard the truck.
(AP, 6/24/16)
2016 Jun 16, Zimbabwe's cash-strapped government announced it will delay paying June salaries for the military and police by up to two weeks. Zimbabwe has been delaying pay dates for its employees for nearly a year due to revenue problems, but this is the first time the salaries have been delayed so long.
(AP, 6/19/16)
2016 Jun 17, It was reported that 51 US State Department diplomats have signed an internal memo critical of US policy in Syria, calling for military strikes against President Bashar al-Assad's government to stop its persistent violations of a civil war ceasefire.
(Reuters, 6/17/16)
2016 Jun 17, The United States expelled two Russian officials in response to an attack by a Russian policeman on a US diplomat in Moscow earlier in the month. On July 9 Russia said it had expelled two US Embassy staff members in June after a similar 'unfriendly' move by Washington.
(Reuters, 7/9/16)
2016 Jun 17, Police in Michigan confiscated 25 dogs and arrested five people in an investigation into dog fighting in the Detroit suburbs of Inkster and Westland.
(SFC, 6/18/16, p.A5)
2016 Jun 17, A hacker siphoned around 3.6 million ether digital money, valued at about $55 million, from the Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO), which had raised $160 million in the form of ether, an alternative to the digital currency bitcoin. The attack likely put an end to the project.
(SFC, 6/20/16, p.D1)(Econ, 6/25/16, p.66)
2016 Jun 17, Brazil's Environment Ministry said it has fined mining company Samarco 142 million reais ($41.6 million) for damages to three protected areas resulting from a tailings dam burst in November.
(Reuters, 6/17/16)
2016 Jun 17, In the Central African Republic a local driver for Medecins sans Frontieres was killed during an ambush on a convoy by unidentified gunmen.
(Reuters, 6/18/16)
2016 Jun 17, Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Serbia for a visit meant to boost relations with the friendly nation and assert China's intention to increase its presence in the Balkans and Europe.
(AP, 6/17/16)
2016 Jun 17, China’s product quality agency announced that Honda Motor Co.'s Chinese joint venture is recalling 1 million sedans and SUVs to replace possibly faulty air bags made by Takata Corp.
(AP, 6/17/16)
2016 Jun 17, It was reported that China has ordered at least 255 Shanghai-based industrial facilities, including part of a major oil refinery operated by Sinopec Corp, to shut for 14 days to reduce pollution ahead of the Aug. 24 - Sept. 6 G20 summit.
(Reuters, 6/17/16)
2016 Jun 17, In China police swept in late today to surround sensitive government buildings and take away Lin Zuluan, the democratically elected leader of Wukan village in Guangdong province. He had planned protests on June 18 against illegal land grabs.
(AP, 6/18/16)
2016 Jun 17, Dagestan police said that at least 4 officers and 6 militants have died in a series of clashes in three regions.
(AP, 6/17/16)
2016 Jun 17, Denmark police conducted raids in Copenhagen against organized hashish sale at the famed Christiania hippie neighborhood and arrested at least 17 people.
(AP, 6/17/16)
2016 Jun 17, Egyptian investigators said a second flight recorder has been retrieved from the crashed EgyptAir flight MS804, containing data from aircraft systems which could shed light on what brought the plane down last month.
(Reuters, 6/17/16)
2016 Jun 17, The EU rolled over for another year sanctions imposed to protest Russia's 2014 annexation of Crimea from Ukraine, which the bloc deems illegal.
(AFP, 6/17/16)
2016 Jun 17, Finland police in Vihti, northwest of Helsinki, dispatched several officers to a property late today. They were targeted by gunfire as they approached the house and one shot fatally wounded a policeman (30) and seriously wounded another. The shooter (73) committed suicide.
(AP, 6/18/16)
2016 Jun 17, In Germany a 94-year-old former SS sergeant who served as a guard at Auschwitz was found guilty of more than 170,000 counts of accessory to murder for helping kill 1.1 million Jews and others at the Nazi death camp. The Detmold state court sentenced Reinhold Hanning to five years in prison, though he will remain free while any appeals are heard. Hanning died on June 1, 2017.
(AP, 6/17/16)(SFC, 6/2/17, p.A2)
2016 Jun 17, In Hong Kong more than 100 activists marched on China's liaison office to protest against the detention of five booksellers. A day earlier Lam Wing-kee told reporters he had been arrested and detained in China for more than eight months, and that one of his colleagues, Lee Bo, a British national, was abducted from Hong Kong by mainland Chinese authorities.
(Reuters, 6/17/16)(Econ, 6/25/16, p.38)
2016 Jun 17, In India the film “Udta Punjab" was released. It dramatized the state’s struggle with drugs. A recent study found that 20% of the young men in Punjab use opioids. Injectable heroine appeared about five years ago and quickly became the drug of choice.
(Econ, 6/25/16, p.34)
2016 Jun 17, Indian PM Narendra Modi and Thailand’s PM Prayuth Chan-ocha agreed in New Delhi to increase cooperation in tackling terrorism, threats to cybersecurity, narcotics, transnational economic offenses and human trafficking.
(AP, 6/17/16)
2016 Jun 17, An Indian court sentenced 11 people to life in prison for murder in one of the many deadly religious riots that swept across the western state of Gujarat in 2002 and left more than 1,000 dead.
(AP, 6/17/16)
2016 Jun 17, Iraqi special forces entered the center of Fallujah city early today, taking over a government complex and a neighborhood that served as a base for the Islamic State group militants after intense fighting.
(AP, 6/17/16)
2016 Jun 17, In Kenya eight politicians were charged with hate speech and incitement to violence following public comments and calls to supporters made in recent days.
(AFP, 6/17/16)
2016 Jun 17, Mexico's Congress passed a package of anti-corruption bills, including stiffer penalties for graft, but the legislation was stripped of a provision that would have required public officials to make public their asset declarations.
(Reuters, 6/17/16)
2016 Jun 17, Thousands of Mexican teachers from a radical union marched in Mexico City to protest an education reform and the arrest of two of their leaders.
(AFP, 6/17/16)
2016 Jun 17, Mexican federal police said they have seized more than 1,300 pounds (600 kg) of cocaine in eight suitcases at the capital's international airport. Three people were arrested when they claimed the suitcases from a flight that originated in Caracas, Venezuela.
(AP, 6/18/16)
2016 Jun 17, In Pakistan a mother and son slit the throat of 22-year-old Muqadas Tofeeq in the village of Butrawala in Punjab province for marrying against the wishes of her family. Tofeeq was the mother of a 10-month-old infant.
(AP, 6/18/16)
2016 Jun 17, In central Romania 4 people were killed when a bus carrying children and teachers traveling to a folklore festival overturned near the village of Persani.
(AP, 6/17/16)
2016 Jun 17, Russia's track and field athletes were banned from competing for their country at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics because the country has failed to do enough to clean up a deep-rooted doping system that tainted athletes who may be clean.
(AP, 6/17/16)
2016 Jun 17, Russia said that at least 4 officers and 6 militants have died in a series of clashes Dagestan region in the North Caucasus.
(AP, 6/17/16)
2016 Jun 17, In South Korea a civilian light plane crashed in Muan, killing all 3 people on board.
(AP, 6/17/16)
2016 Jun 17, Sri Lanka welcomed a European Union decision to remove it from a list of countries that fail to control illegal and unregulated fishing, ending a ban on imports of fish caught by Sri Lanka-flagged vessels.
(AP, 6/17/16)
2016 Jun 17, In Syria the Islamic State carried out two suicide attacks and five car bombings in the southwestern suburbs of Manbij. 6 members of the same family were killed when they were targeted by jihadists while fleeing.
(AFP, 6/18/16)
2016 Jun 17, In Taiwan Tyrel Martin Marhanka (41), American man, killed himself by slashing his neck with a scissor blade inside a courtroom after being given a four-year sentence for growing opium and marijuana at a rented site in Changhua county.
(AP, 6/17/16)
2016 Jun 17, Activists in Taiwan called on the island's largest industrial group, Formosa Plastics, to investigate recent mass fish deaths in Vietnam, near where the company has a steel plant.
(Reuters, 6/17/16)
2016 Jun 17, In Turkey the governor of Istanbul banned gay, lesbian and transgender individuals from holding pride parades at their usual venue, citing security concerns.
(AP, 6/17/16)
2016 Jun 18, In San Francisco a fire destroyed six buildings at Mission and 29th streets in Bernal Heights that included a Cole Hardware store and the El Gran Taco Loco restaurant. 58 people were left homeless. In 2017 El Gran Taco Loco reopened in the Excelsior district.
(SFC, 6/20/16, p.A1)(SSFC, 6/18/17, p.L2)
2016 Jun 18, in Mississippi Tupelo police Officer Tyler Cook shot and killed Antwun Shumpert (37) following routine traffic stop and a foot chase. Cook later said he believed his life was in danger.
(http://tinyurl.com/jwar77p)(SFC, 5/17/17, p.A6)
2016 Jun 18, In Virginia 6 people were killed early today when a van carrying 16 people overturned multiple times on I-95 in Caroline County.
(SSFC, 6/19/16, p.A7)
2016 Jun 18, Adel Mohamed Sallam (30) left the Albanian port of Durres with an Albanian captain and another fisherman. The Egyptian man claimed he is owed 70,000 euros ($79,000) in back pay and threatened to sink the boat together with the two fishermen. The boat owner said he owes no money to Sallam. On June 29 Albanian authorities said fisherman Luan Mema was found "in stable health" but that captain Dhimiter Malja was still missing. Local media said Adel Mohamed Salam was arrested in Alexandria while three other Egyptians were found at the boat which he had allegedly sold for 100,000 euros ($110,000).
(AP, 6/23/16)(AP, 6/29/16)
2016 Jun 18, In Bangladesh Ghulam Faijullaha Fahim (19), who was in police custody, was shot when officers took him with them to help capture his associates. On June 15 Fahim had critically wounded a Hindu college teacher.
(Reuters, 6/18/16)
2016 Jun 18, Belgian police detained 40 people for questioning and 12 among them were arrested in connection with a criminal investigation concerning terrorism.
(Reuters, 6/18/16)
2016 Jun 18, Protesters rallied outside the French embassy in London after an aid convoy intended for migrants was turned back by French border police. A 38-ton truck full of aid was allowed through.
(AFP, 6/18/16)
2016 Jun 18, Colombian authorities said that farmer Jaime Ivan Martinez (44), being investigated for the disappearance of a woman, has confessed to killing 20 people, including the missing person.
(AP, 6/18/16)
2016 Jun 18, An Egyptian court sentenced ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi to life in prison in an espionage trial. The court also sentenced six people, including two Al-Jazeera employees, to death for allegedly passing documents related to national security to Qatar and the Doha-based TV network during the rule of Pres. Morsi.
(AFP, 6/18/16)(AP, 6/18/16)
2016 Jun 18, A French prosecutor announced terrorism charges against Charaf-Din Aberouz (29) and Saad Rajraji (27). They were charged with having links to a terrorist group, but were not found to have any connection to the June 13 IS-inspired murder of the police couple carried out by Larossi Abballa.
(AFP, 6/18/16)
2016 Jun 18, France expelled a Russian far-right leader of a football supporters group, Alexander Shprygin, and 19 other fans after the troubles with England soccer fans at Euro 2016.
(AFP, 6/18/16)
2016 Jun 18, In Hong Kong over 4,000 people marched to protest against China's detention of five booksellers whose shop published gossipy books about Chinese leaders, including President Xi Jinping.
(Reuters, 6/18/16)
2016 Jun 18, The Indonesian navy opened fire at a Chinese fishing boat in the South China Sea, injuring a fisherman and detaining its seven-man crew, for illegally fishing in Indonesian waters.
(AP, 6/19/16)
2016 Jun 18, Iraqi forces hunted down holdout jihadists in Fallujah after retaking the city center and trained their sights on Mosul, the Islamic State's last remaining major hub in the country. Iraqi authorities arrested Iran-backed Shiite militia fighters accused of executing 49 Sunni men fleeing Fallujah.
(AFP, 6/18/16)(SSFC, 6/19/16, p.A4)
2016 Jun 18, In Kazakhstan Tim Peake, the first British astronaut on the ISS, Russia's Yury Malenchenko and NASA's Tim Kopra parachuted down onto the Kazakh steppe in their Soyuz capsule at 0915 GMT after spending 186 days in orbit.
(AFP, 6/18/16)
2016 Jun 18, In Libya fighting erupted south of the coastal town of Ajdabiya between military units loyal to Libya's eastern government and a group calling itself the Benghazi Defence Forces. At least three people were killed and 10 wounded.
(Reuters, 6/19/16)
2016 Jun 18, In Malaysia PM Najib Razak’s United Malays National Organization retained the Sungai Besar seat in central Selangor state and Kuala Kangsar in northern Perak state in parliamentary by-elections.
(AP, 6/19/16)
2016 Jun 18, In southeastern Niger witnesses said Boko Haram extremists killed 7 military police in an attack on a barracks in the Diffa region.
(SSFC, 6/19/16, p.A4)
2016 Jun 18, In Russia at least 11 children and their adult instructor died in a storm while boating on a lake in the northwestern region of Karelia.
(AP, 6/19/16)
2016 Jun 18, In Serbia China’s President Xi Jinping signed a declaration on strategic partnership with Serbia's President Tomislav Nikolic and oversaw the signing of 21 agreements and memorandums ranging from economy, infrastructure, energy and finance to defense industry, technology, culture and media.
(AP, 6/18/16)
2016 Jun 18, In Syria at least 7 people died in rebel shelling of a neighborhood of Aleppo held by the Kurdish YPG militia. Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said a four-day offensive by different militant groups, including the al-Qaida-affiliated Nusra Front, killed 86 troops and pro-government gunmen, including 25 members of Lebanon's Hezbollah group. Militants now controlled the villages of Zeitan and Khalsa, south of Aleppo city.
(Reuters, 6/18/16)(AP, 6/18/16)
2016 Jun 18, In Syria US-led coalition jets and Turkish artillery killed 13 Islamic State militants.
(Reuters, 6/18/16)
2016 Jun 18, At least 8 Syrian refugees, including four children were allegedly shot dead by border guards while trying to cross the frontier into Turkey’s Hatay province.
(AP, 6/19/16)
2016 Jun 18, Turkish fighter jets hit 16 PKK targets early today in the district of Lice, including shelters and ammunition depots.
(AP, 6/18/16)
2016 Jun 19, In Oakland, Ca., the Cleveland Cavaliers defeated the Golden State Warriors 93-89 in game 7 of the NBA finals.
(SFC, 6/20/16, p.A1)
2016 Jun 19, In southern California a fire at a stable outside Los Angeles killed 10 horses.
(SFC, 6/20/16, p.A4)
2016 Jun 19, In Texas the Blue Origin space company completed its fourth successful unmanned rocket launch and safe landing using the same New Shepard vehicle.
(SFC, 6/20/16, p.A4)
2016 Jun 19, The US attorney’s office issued a warrant for polygamous sect leader Lyle Jeffs, who fled home confinement in Salt Lake City pending trial on charges in a multimillion-dollar food stamp fraud scheme.
(SFC, 6/21/16, p.A6)
2016 Jun 19, Algerian troops killed 8 Islamist armed fighters and captured weapons in an operation south of the capital. Four other suspected militants were also arrested during the operation in Rouakeche area of Medea.
(Reuters, 6/19/16)
2016 Jun 19, In Brazil five armed men stormed the Hospital Souza Aguiar in Rio de Janeiro to free a suspected drug trafficker. One patient was killed.
(SFC, 6/20/16, p.A2)
2016 Jun 19, In southern China residents of Wukan, where police have been deployed, took to the streets to protest the detention of the village's democratically elected leader and historic seizures of land.
(AP, 6/19/16)
2016 Jun 19, Indonesia reported that at least 35 people have been killed by landslides and floods on Java island this weekend with many others missing. By the next day the death toll rose to 47.
(AP, 6/19/16)(AP, 6/20/16)
2016 Jun 19, Iran said it has reached an agreement with American aerospace giant Boeing to purchase 100 aircraft to renew its ageing fleet, though the deal must still be approved by the US government.
(AFP, 6/19/16)
2016 Jun 19, The Israeli government approved $18 million in extra funding for Jewish West Bank settlements.
(AP, 6/19/16)
2016 Jun 19, Italians began voting for mayors of their largest cities in a ballot that will test PM Matteo Renzi's popularity. The anti-establishment M5S, founded by comic Beppe Grillo, triumphed in the mayoral runoff elections. Virginia Raggi (37), a lawyer from the 5-Star Movement with a three-year stint as a city councilwoman, took 67.2 percent of the vote in a two-person runof to become the first woman to head Rome’s City Hall.
(Reuters, 6/19/16)(AP, 6/20/16)
2016 Jun 19, In Japan tens of thousands of people on the island of Okinawa protested against the presence of US military bases there, many wearing black to mourn the rape and killing of a local woman in which an American contractor is a suspect.
(AP, 6/19/16)
2016 Jun 19, In southern Mexico 8 people were killed, including journalist Elidio Ramos Zarate (45), and more than 100 injured when unknown gunmen opened fire during clashes between police and teachers in Asuncion Nochixtlan, Oaxaca state.
(AFP, 6/20/16)(Econ, 7/9/16, p.27)(SSFC, 5/21/17, p.E7)
2016 Jun 19, Russia said it had reached an agreement with the United States to improve coordination between their military operations in Syria, where they are backing opposing sides of a civil war and launching air strikes.
(Reuters, 6/19/16)
2016 Jun 19, Syrian media reported that a government jet bomber crashed just after take-off from Hama airport after it encountered a technical problem.
(Reuters, 6/19/16)
2016 Jun 19, In Syria a suicide blast targeted the entrance to a park in Qamishli, which is shared between government and Kurdish forces, killing three people, an hour after a memorial was held there for victims of the 1915 Armenian genocide.
(AP, 6/19/16)
2016 Jun 19, In Turkey riot police in Istanbul fired rubber bullets and tear gas to prevent a "Trans Pride" event taking place during Ramadan.
(AFP, 6/20/16)
2016 Jun 20, The US Supreme Court effectively upheld Connecticut and New York state bans on military-style assault weapons, declining to hear a challenge to bans on guns like the one used to kill 49 people in Orlando earlier this month.
(AFP, 6/20/16)(SFC, 6/21/16, p.A6)
2016 Jun 20, In southern California two wildfires erupted near Duarte. On July 7 the bodies of hikers Jonathan Pardo (16) and cousin Carlos Perez (31) were found burned to death in the Angeles National Forest.
(SFC, 7/9/16, p.A11)
2016 Jun 20, Chicago reported 55 shot over the weekend, 13 fatally. The city counted 306 people killed this year by shooting, stabbing or other means.
(SFC, 6/21/16, p.A6)
2016 Jun 20, The Solar Impulse 2 aircraft took off from New York's JFK airport and soared over the western Atlantic, one of the most difficult legs of its record-breaking bid to fly across the globe using only solar energy.
(AFP, 6/20/16)
2016 Jun 20, In Afghanistan a Taliban suicide bomber killed 14 Nepalese security guards in an attack on their minibus in Kabul. A second Taliban bombing in Kabul killed a civilian and wounded five people. A bomb rigged to a motorbike killed 10 Afghan civilians during morning rush hour in a busy market in a province in the northeast.
(AP, 6/20/16)
2016 Jun 20, In Armenia Jirair Sefilian, a leader of the opposition group Founding Parliament, was arrested and charged with illegal acquisition and possession of weapons. Investigators said he and his supporters were planning to seize government buildings and the television transmission tower.
(AP, 7/17/16)
2016 Jun 20, Bahrain said it has revoked the citizenship of Sheikh Isa Qassim, the Sunni-ruled kingdom's top Shiite cleric, accusing him of sowing sectarian divisions. The move sparked fresh protests among the majority community.
(AFP, 6/20/16)
2016 Jun 20, Belgian police detained six people in connection with a foiled attack last August 21 on a high-speed train travelling from Amsterdam to Paris.
(AFP, 6/20/16)
2016 Jun 20, In Brazil Oi telecom operator made the largest bankruptcy in the country’s history. The company was $19 billion in debt.
(Econ, 6/25/16, p.59)
2016 Jun 20, China’s government said severe floods in the south have killed at least 22 people and left 20 missing June 18, with the rains expected to continue for the next three days. Three days of heavy rain last week had already killed 14 people.
(Reuters, 6/20/16)
2016 Jun 20, Croatian lawmakers voted to dissolve Parliament, paving the way for early elections after the government fell in a no-confidence vote last week.
(AP, 6/20/16)
2016 Jun 20, In Cyprus a large forest fire continued to rage out of control and so far has scorched 15 square km (5.8 sq. miles) of trees and countryside.
(AP, 6/20/16)
2016 Jun 20, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines agreed to designate a transit corridor for commercial vessels crossing a maritime zone hit by a spate of hijackings by Islamist militants in the southern Philippines.
(Reuters, 6/20/16)
2016 Jun 20, Iran's intelligence ministry said it had thwarted a major jihadist plot to carry out bomb attacks in the capital Tehran and other parts of the country.
(AFP, 6/20/16)
2016 Jun 20, In Iran the Ghanoon newspaper said in a statement on its website that Tehran's prosecutor ordered it to halt operations based on allegations of "libel and spreading lies to create public anxiety," following complaints from the Revolutionary Guard.
(AP, 6/20/16)
2016 Jun 20, An Iraqi military commander said his forces are battling Islamic State militants in the northern neighborhoods of Fallujah days after most of the city was declared liberated.
(AP, 6/20/16)
2016 Jun 20, Kenya Forest Service rangers and police began a 2-day eviction of more than 200 families of Ogiek hunter gatherers on the wooded slopes of Mt. Elgon. The indigenous people have suffered repeated expulsions since being moved by the British colonial government in the 1930s.
(http://tinyurl.com/zz37v4q)(Econ, 7/16/16, p.37)
2016 Jun 20, Nepalese police said they have arrested 53 people for allegedly working as doctors with fake credentials or false education certificates and that more suspects would be arrested this week as part of "Operation Quack." Another 17 had been arrested in February when authorities began the investigation.
(AP, 6/20/16)
2016 Jun 20, The Nigerian naira depreciated 30% as the government allowed the currency to float, with business welcoming the move as an overdue step towards reviving Africa's biggest economy. The central bank released the naira from its peg of 197-199 to the dollar.
(AFP, 6/20/16)(Econ, 7/9/16, p.62)(Econ, 3/4/17, p.35)
2016 Jun 20, Al Fatihin, an online newspaper published in the Indonesian language and linked to the Islamic State militant group, was launched in the southern Philippines. It was soon distributed in Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and southern Thailand.
(Reuters, 7/22/16)
2016 Jun 20, Russian investigators announced they had completed a first probe into the February 27, 2015, murder of Kremlin critic Boris Nemtsov, describing the killing as a hit ordered by a low-ranking Chechen official and other "unidentified" suspects. Five suspects currently in detention had been reportedly offered 15 million rubles (about $235,000) for the murder by Ruslan Mukhudinov and other individuals.
(AFP, 6/20/16)
2016 Jun 20, A Serbian court sentenced Miroslav Miskovic (70), one of the richest businessmen in the Balkans, for helping his son evade paying about $3.4 million in taxes linked to his road construction business.
(SFC, 6/21/16, p.A2)
2016 Jun 20, Somalia's al Shabaab militants killed 5 police officers in a border region in northeastern Kenya.
(Reuters, 6/20/16)
2016 Jun 20, The UN said the number of refugees and others fleeing their homes worldwide has hit a new record, spiking to 65.3 million people by the end of 2015.
(AP, 6/20/16)
2016 Jun 20, In Yemen an air strike by the Saudi-led military coalition reportedly killed and wounded 8 civilians in Lahj province.
(Reuters, 6/21/16)
2016 Jun 21, The US FAA announced new aviation rules designed for drones weighing less than 55 pounds. The new rules allow commercial operators to fly drones without special permission. A set of rules known as “part 107" were issued in August.
(SFC, 6/22/16, p.A8)(Econ 6/10/17, TQ p.4)
2016 Jun 21, Pacific Gas & Electric Co. announced it will close California’s last nuclear plant, Diablo Canyon near San Luis Obispo, in 2025.
(SFC, 6/22/16, p.A1)
2016 Jun 21, A federal judge in Wyoming set aside new regulations for hydraulic fracturing on public lands that were vehemently opposed by oil and gas producers.
(Reuters, 6/22/16)
2016 Jun 21, In Afghanistan the Taliban ambushed a series of buses and cars in southern Helmand province, forcing people out of the vehicles and abducting around 60 passengers. The insurgents later said they released all but 27 of those abducted.
(AP, 6/21/16)
2016 Jun 21, A rescue plane from a British base on the Antarctic peninsula landed at the South Pole to evacuate sick workers from the remote US Amundson-Scott science station. The two sick workers were transported to Chile.
(AP, 6/22/16)(SFC, 6/23/16, p.A3)
2016 Jun 21, Central African Republic police said 16 people have been killed in two days of clashes between Fulani herdsmen and the mainly Muslim Seleka militia.
(AFP, 6/21/16)
2016 Jun 21, In southern China Yulin city went ahead with an annual dog-meat eating festival despite heavy criticism and protests from animal rights activists.
(AP, 6/21/16)
2016 Jun 21, In Cyprus 2 firefighters were killed and a third was critically injured in the foothills of the Troodos mountain region while tackling one of the largest forest fires in Cyprus in years.
(Reuters, 6/21/16)
2016 Jun 21, An Egyptian court rejected a border agreement that would have transferred two Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia, and which had sparked street protests in Cairo. The government has 10 days in which to apply for an injunction against the ruling and 60 days to appeal it.
(AP, 6/21/16)
2016 Jun 21, The European Union's Brussels envoys agreed to extend until the end of January the energy, financial and defense sanctions on Russia over the conflict in Ukraine, but formal approval is still pending.
(Reuters, 6/21/16)
2016 Jun 21, India's PM Narendra Modi joined a crowd of 30,000 schoolchildren and other residents of the northern city of Chandigarh for a mass yoga session as millions of people twisted their bodies in complex positions in celebration of International Yoga Day.
(AP, 6/21/16)
2016 Jun 21, In Japan Tokyo Electric Power Co. President Naomi Hirose acknowledged that TEPCO’s delayed disclosure of the meltdowns at three reactors was tantamount to a cover-up and apologized for it.
(AP, 6/21/16)
2016 Jun 21, Israeli troops shot dead Mahmoud Rafat Badran (15), a Palestinian teenager, and wounded four others as they returned from a swimming pool after apparently mistaking them for stone-throwers, sparking outrage and drawing renewed attention to open fire rules.
(AFP, 6/21/16)
2016 Jun 21, A car bomb exploded on the Syrian-Jordanian border early today, killing seven Jordanian border guards. The blast went off close to a makeshift tent encampment where more than 70,000 Syrian refugees are stranded, awaiting entry to Jordan. Soon after Jordan's army chief of staff announced that the country's northern and northeastern borders with Syria were closed military zones.
(AP, 6/21/16)(Reuters, 6/21/16)(Econ, 7/23/16, p.37)
2016 Jun 21, In Libya fierce clashes between pro-government militiamen and Islamic State militants in the city of Sirte and an explosion at a depot near the capital, Tripoli, left more than 60 dead.
(AP, 6/22/16)
2016 Jun 21, In Malaysia Bill Kayong (43), an indigenous land rights defende, was murdered in the city of Miri, Sarawak state. On Juy 15 two men were charged with the murder and abetting in the murder of Kayong.
(www.malaysiakini.com/news/348669)(AP, 7/15/16)
2016 Jun 21, At The Hague the International Criminal Court handed down its toughest sentence yet, ordering former Congolese vice president Jean-Pierre Bemba to serve 18 years in jail for "sadistic, cruel" rapes and murders by his troops in Central African Republic.
(AFP, 6/21/16)
2016 Jun 21, Nigeria said it has agreed a one-month ceasefire with militants behind recent attacks on oil facilities in its southern Niger Delta, as efforts continue to end the unrest that has pushed crude output to 30-year lows.
(Reuters, 6/21/16)
2016 Jun 21, A Polish court convicted and handed a suspended prison term to Gen. Pawel Bielawny, a former deputy head of government security, over the 2010 plane crash that killed President Lech Kaczynski and 95 others.
(AP, 6/21/16)
2016 Jun 21, South African rioters blocked roads, looted shops and burned vehicles in several areas of the country's capital, Pretoria, in a show of anger over the selection of the ruling party's mayoral candidate ahead of local elections. Police shot dead two people suspected of looting shops in Pretoria.
(AP, 6/21/16)(Reuters, 6/22/16)
2016 Jun 21, In Serbia a bus carrying Slovak tourists swerved off the road, killing 5 people and injuring 23.
(AP, 6/21/16)
2016 Jun 21, Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said government forces have lost all the territory they gained in Raqqa province since launching their offensive on June 2. It also said 40 troops were killed over the past two days, raising to 93 the number of troops killed since the offensive began. It added that 126 IS militants have been killed in the area so far, including 21 since June 19.
(AP, 6/21/16)
2016 Jun 21, In Syria warplanes bombed the Islamic State group's de facto capital Raqa, killing at least 18 civilians, after the jihadists drove pro-government forces out of their bastion northern province.
(AFP, 6/22/16)(SFC, 6/23/16, p.A4)
2016 Jun 21, In Yemen a Saudi-led military coalition said it intercepted a missile fired toward Marib.
(Reuters, 6/21/16)
2016 Jun 22, Pres. Obama signed a major overhaul of toxic chemicals rules rewriting the 1976 Toxic Substances Control Act.
(SFC, 6/23/16, p.A6)
2016 Jun 22, The US government said fraud sweeps across the country have led to charges against 300 people including doctors, nurses, physical therapists and home health care providers accused of bilking Medicare and Medicaid.
(SFC, 6/23/16, p.C2)
2016 Jun 22, The Pentagon said a Yemeni man who had been held at the US military prison at Guantanamo for 14 years has been transferred to Montenegro. The transfer of Abdel Malik Ahmed Abdel Wahab al-Rahabi (36) left 79 detainees remaining at the base. He was brought to Guantanamo in January 2002, accused of being a bodyguard for the late al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan.
(AP, 6/23/16)
2016 Jun 22, In San Francisco bicyclist Heather Miller (41) was killed in a hit-and-run in Golden Gate Park. A male driver fled the scene in a white Honda, that that been stolen. On July 15 police announced the arrest of Nicky Garcia (19).
(SSFC, 7/17/16, p.C2)
2016 Jun 22, Twilio, a San Francisco company that makes mobile and Web applications, raised $150 million in an initial public offering of 10 million shares at $15 each. Trading under the symbol TWLO began the next day.
(SFC, 6/23/16, p.C2)
2016 Jun 22, In Louisiana a pedestrian shot and killed sheriff’s deputy David F. Michel Jr. after being stopped by the officer in a New Orleans suburb. One suspect was in custody.
(SFC, 6/23/16, p.A5)
2016 Jun 22, In Afghanistan a roadside bombing in the country's east killed a traffic policeman and a civilian in Jalalabad, Nangarhar province.
(AP, 6/22/16)
2016 Jun 22, US, European and Chinese regulators in Beijing said they will jointly enforce product safety in online commerce.
(AP, 6/22/16)
2016 Jun 22, Cameroon’s parliament voted to change the country’s penal code to criminalize adultery for men. The Senate and Pres. Paul Biya, who proposed the revision, were expected to endorse the change.
(SFC, 6/23/16, p.A3)
2016 Jun 22, In China a six-nation security forum opened in Beijing as a multilateral forum involving high-level policymakers, defense ministry officials, military officers, and researchers from China, Japan, North and South Korea, Russia, and the United States.
(AP, 6/22/16)
2016 Jun 22, The Chinese fishing village of Wukan staged a fourth straight day of protests against what residents say was the unlawful arrest of the village chief. The village of 15,000 once again united to march for the release of Lin Zuluan.
(Reuters, 6/22/16)
2016 Jun 22, The Colombian government and leftist FARC rebels announced that they have reached a deal on a bilateral cease-fire that would be the last major step toward ending one of the world's longest wars.
(AP, 6/22/16)
2016 Jun 22, A Danish court convicted Hamza Cakan (24) a pizzeria owner, of joining Islamic State militants in Syria, dismissing his claims that he had gone there to work as a cook. He faced a maximum seven years in prison.
(AP, 6/22/16)
2016 Jun 22, The European Union agreed to set up a new border and coast guard agency to better manage migrant arrivals after more than a million people came to the EU in search of jobs or sanctuary last year.
(AP, 6/22/16)
2016 Jun 22, Hong Kong flag carrier Cathay Pacific said it will ban carrying shark fin on all its flights, a victory for conservationists concerned for endangered species of the predator.
(AFP, 6/22/16)
2016 Jun 22, Indian officials said lightning has killed 74 people, mostly farm laborers working in fields, across eastern and northern India over the past 24 hours.
(AP, 6/22/16)
2016 Jun 22, In southern Iran a road accident in killed 19 people when a bus plunged into a ravine near Shiraz.
(AP, 6/22/16)
2016 Jun 22, Iraqi forces hunted jihadist fighters in their last Fallujah redoubts as tens of thousands of displaced civilians massed in overcrowded camps around the city.
(AFP, 6/22/16)
2016 Jun 22, Italy's highest court confirmed a lower-court decision making it easier for gays to adopt a partner's biological child but the decision did not give long-sought automatic recognition to the families of same-sex couples.
(AP, 6/22/16)
2016 Jun 22, Moldova's foreign ministry called on Russia to stop recruiting its citizens to the Russian Army. It said the alleged recruitments violate bilateral agreements.
(AP, 6/22/16)
2016 Jun 22, It was reported that the Dutch Ocean Cleanup Foundation has developed floating barriers to try to collect trash from the world's oceans, and will launch a 100 meter-long prototype in the North Sea this week to see how it fares during storms. Chief Executive Boyan Slat (21) first had the idea for the system as a teenager.
(Reuters, 6/22/16)
2016 Jun 22, In Nigeria gunmen kidnapped a group of construction workers in an ambush that killed their driver. All seven were on assignment for Australian mining contractor Macmahon Holdings.
(SFC, 6/23/16, p.A2)
2016 Jun 22, North Korea took a significant step in the development of a powerful ballistic missile intended to reach US bases in the Pacific, launching one of the weapons about 1,000 km (620 miles) high after five failed attempts in recent months.
(AP, 6/22/16)
2016 Jun 22, Norway said it might send troops into Syria, including special forces after parliament authorized it to do so.
(Reuters, 6/22/16)
2016 Jun 22, In Pakistan gunmen killed famous Sufi singer Amjad Sabri in the southern port city of Karachi. Islamic extremists reject Sufi traditions and have targeted Sufis in past attacks.
(AP, 6/22/16)(Econ, 7/2/16, p.82)
2016 Jun 22, Romania's parliament said lawmakers can't be prosecuted for hiring close relatives to work in their offices before it became illegal to do so. A law that came into effect in 2013, made it illegal for lawmakers to employ close relatives to work in their parliamentary offices.
(AP, 6/22/16)
2016 Jun 22, In South Africa rioting continued on the outskirts of Pretoria as looters targeted shops in neighborhoods belonging to immigrants.
(SFC, 6/23/16, p.A2)
2016 Jun 22, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad named electricity minister Imad Khamis (54) as the new prime minister and tasked him with forming a cabinet.
(AFP, 6/22/16)
2016 Jun 22, The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Paris Accord panel was awarded Spain's Princess of Asturias award for international cooperation.
(AP, 6/22/16)
2016 Jun 22, Zambia’s tax authorities shut down the Post, the country’s biggest independent media organization. A week later editor Fred M’Membe was arrested and beaten.
(Econ, 7/16/16, p.39)
2016 Jun 23, In southern California two fires in the Angeles National Forest and foothill communities were 15% contained after burning more than 8 square miles over the last four days.
(SFC, 6/23/16, p.A5)
2016 Jun 23, In central California the Erskine Fire broke out in the foothills of Kern County about 42 miles (68 km) northeast of Bakersfield. By July 26 it charred some 68 square miles, destroyed 200 homes and killed 2 people.
(Reuters, 6/25/16)(SFC, 6/27/16, p.A4)
2016 Jun 23, In southern California as much as 29,400 gallons of oil spilled from a pipeline operated by Crimson Pipeline LLC and flowed down a ravine.
(SFC, 6/23/16, p.A5)
2016 Jun 23, It was reported that Walt Disney Co has had more than 240 "nuisance" alligators captured and killed over the last 10 years at its Florida theme park property.
(Reuters, 6/23/16)
2016 Jun 23, In Maryland police officer Caesar Goodson was acquitted of 2nd degree murder and six lesser charges in the case of Freddie Gray, who died on April 19, 2015, from injuries suffered while shackled in a Baltimore police van.
(SFC, 6/23/16, p.A5)
2016 Jun 23, Ralph Stanley (b.1927), a patriarch of bluegrass music, died in Matoaca, Virginia. He and his brother had formed the Stanley Brothers and their Clinch Mountain Boys in 1946.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph_Stanley)(SFC, 6/23/16, p.A8)
2016 Jun 23, West Virginia Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin issued a state of emergency for 44 counties in his state. By the next day the deluge of rain destroyed or damaged more than 100 homes and killed at least 23 people.
(SFC, 6/25/16, p.A5)
2016 Jun 23, American writer Michael Herr (76) died. His work included the classic non-fiction novel “Dispatches," which documented the ravages of the Vietnam War.
(SSFC, 6/26/16, p.C10)
2016 Jun 23, The World Health Organization (WHO) said if will carry out emergency yellow fever vaccination campaigns along the border between Angola and Congo. Since last December there were 347 suspected deaths from yellow fever in Angola and 75 deaths in Congo.
(SFC, 6/23/16, p.A2)
2016 Jun 23, In Bahrain hundreds of people continued protesting outside the home of Shiite Sheikh Isa Qassim's home in Diraz, a mark of growing unrest sparked by the government's new crackdown on opposition groups.
(AP, 6/23/16)
2016 Jun 23, Britons voted to exit the European Union. Scotland voted decisively to stay in the EU by 62 to 38 percent in the referendum, putting it at odds with the United Kingdom as a whole, which voted 52-48 percent in favor of an exit from the EU, or Brexit. 17.4 million people voted to leave.
(Reuters, 6/23/16)(Reuters, 6/24/16)(Econ, 7/2/16, p.14)
2016 Jun 23, It was reported that schools across China have been ordered to remove running tracks made from toxic materials that have been blamed for sickening students, in the latest in a long line of product scandals blamed on corruption and weak oversight.
(AP, 6/23/16)
2016 Jun 23, In eastern China a violent storm and freak tornado killed 98 people and injured hundreds as it flattened power lines, overturned cars and ripped roofs off houses in Yancheng, Jiangsu province.
(Reuters, 6/24/16)(AP, 7/1/16)
2016 Jun 23, In Cuba FARC leader Timoleón Jiménez signed a cease-fire pact with Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos, seen as a final step before sealing a permanent peace and disarmament deal in coming months.
(CSM, 6/25/16)
2016 Jun 23, Cyprus finally brought a massive wildfire under control after a five-day battle that saw two firefighters killed and five foreign governments send aircraft to help. The blaze destroyed at least 15 square km (six square miles) of orchards and forest in the Solea valley in the northern foothills of the Troodos mountains.
(AFP, 6/23/16)
2016 Jun 23, In Cyprus 4 people were killed in a shootout outside a packed restaurant in the resort of Ayia Napa that had the hallmarks of a gangland vendetta.
(AFP, 6/24/16)
2016 Jun 23, Egyptian hijacker Seif Eddin Mustafa told a Cypriot court that he hijacked the domestic EgyptAir flight in March intending to seek asylum in Italy in order to "point the finger" at the Egyptian military regime. Mustafa claimed he saw Giulio Regeni being interrogated in a Cairo prison.
(AP, 6/23/16)
2016 Jun 23, Hundreds of Eritrean refugees and dissidents in Ethiopia demonstrated against alleged human rights abuses committed by their government back home, expressing support for a new UN commission report that accuses the government of crimes against humanity, including enslavement, rape and torture, over the past 25 years.
(AP, 6/23/16)
2016 Jun 23, In France tens of thousands of people marched in Paris to protest planned labor reforms, gathering for a demonstration that authorities had initially considered banning due to the violence that has accompanied similar recent events. Police arrested around 100 protesters.
(AP, 6/23/16)(AFP, 6/23/16)
2016 Jun 23, A French court ordered the extradition of US rapper Freddie Gibbs (34) to Austria, where he is accused of rape.
(AFP, 6/23/16)
2016 Jun 23, In Germany a masked man (19) was shot dead after taking 18 hostages in a movie theater in Viernheim and firing blank rounds into the air. He was found armed only with a harmless replica rifle, a pistol and dummy grenades.
(AP, 6/24/16)
2016 Jun 23, Gibraltar citizens voted 19,322 to 823 to remain in the EU, a margin of 96%.
(Econ, 7/2/16, p.50)(Econ, 7/16/16, p.43)
2016 Jun 23, Iraqi forces focused on removing roadside bombs and booby traps after having retaken more than 80 percent of Fallujah from the Islamic State group.
(AFP, 6/23/16)
2016 Jun 23, In Italy Virginia Raggi, Rome's first female mayor, took office pledging to raise more than a billion euros a year for flagging public services with a crackdown on waste, mismanagement and corruption.
(AFP, 6/23/16)
2016 Jun 23, In Kenya human rights lawyer Willy Kimani, his client Josphat Mwenda and taxi driver Joseph Muiruri were abducted while coming from court where Mwenda had been charged with possession of narcotics. Mwenda, a motorcycle taxi driver, had been shot by a plainclothes police officer on April 10, 2015, without provocation. Rights groups later said that in an attempt to cover up the shooting an officer charged Mwenda with drug possession.
(AP, 6/29/16)
2016 Jun 23, Northern Ireland citizens voted to remain in the EU by a margin of 56%. The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) under leader Arlene Foster supported Brexit.
(Econ, 7/2/16, p.50)(Econ, 3/11/17, p.57)
2016 Jun 23, A Romanian court sentenced Dumitru Dragomir, the former chairman of the Romanian Professional Football League, to seven years in prison for tax evasion, embezzlement, and money laundering.
(AP, 6/23/16)
2016 Jun 23, The Solar Impulse 2 landed in Spain after completing a 71-hour flight from New York in the first "magical" solo transatlantic crossing in a solar-powered airplane.
(AFP, 6/23/16)
2016 Jun 23, In Syria US-backed forces fought Islamic State militants inside Manbij for the first time since they laid siege to the militant stronghold near the Turkish border.
(Reuters, 6/23/16)
2016 Jun 23, The Yemeni government said that Shiite rebels must withdraw from all territory they have seized since 2014 and hand back control of state institutions ahead of any political settlement. Iran-allied Houthi fighters shot dead seven farmers while searching for the leader of a pro-government militia.
(AFP, 6/23/16)(Reuters, 6/23/16)
2016 Jun 24, Pres. Obama created the first national monument to gay rights designating the site of the 1969 Stonewall riots in Manhattan as Stonewall National Monument anchored by Christopher Park across from the Stonewall Inn tavern.
(SFC, 6/25/16, p.A5)
2016 Jun 24, P-Fund keyboardist Bernie Worrell, aka “Wizard of Woo," died at his home in Everson, Wa. His keyboard sounds helped shape the Parliament-Funkadelic musical empire of the 1970s and 1980s.
(SSFC, 6/26/16, p.C10)
2016 Jun 24, In Afghanistan fighting began late today in the Kot area of the Rodat district in eastern Nangarhar province after a contingent of IS fighters attacked police check posts.
(AFP, 6/26/16)
2016 Jun 24, Brazil’s acting Pres. Michel Temer renewed a bilateral automotive arrangement with Argentina for four years.
(Econ, 7/2/16, p.29)
2016 Jun 24, Britain’s PM David Cameron said he would resign to make way for a new leader by early October after voters opted to exit the 28-nation alliance in defiance of his predictions of economic disaster and isolation.
(AFP, 6/24/16)
2016 Jun 24, Cambodia deported 39 suspected criminals to mainland China, including 25 Taiwanese whom Beijing insists it has jurisdiction over despite protests from Taipei.
(AP, 6/24/16)
2016 Jun 24, EU chairman Donald Tusk said European Union leaders are determined to keep the unity of the EU after Britain voted to leave the 28-nation bloc, noting the EU had been prepared for such an outcome. Britain's vote to leave the EU fired up populist eurosceptic parties across the continent, giving fresh voice to their calls to leave the bloc or its euro currency. Global financial markets plunged as results from the referendum defied bookmakers' odds to show a 52-48 percent victory for the leave campaign.
(Reuters, 6/24/16)(AP, 6/24/16)
2016 Jun 24, Germany imposed limits on fracking, dealing a blow to efforts to develop shale gas. Under legislation passed by its lower house of parliament, fracking will be banned in clay formations, which typically lie between 1,000 and 2,500 meters deep.
(Reuters, 6/24/16)
2016 Jun 24, Iranian security forces clashed with Kurdish separatists who infiltrated a northwestern village to stage "terrorist and propagandist operations." Later reports said 5 armed rebels linked to counter-revolutionary groups were killed.
(AP, 6/25/16)(AFP, 6/26/16)
2016 Jun 24, Israeli soldiers shot and killed a Palestinian woman who rammed a vehicle into a parked car near an Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank, injuring two people sitting inside.
(AP, 6/24/16)
2016 Jun 24, In Libya a car bomb detonated outside a hospital in Benghazi late today killing 5 people and wounding fourteen.
(SSFC, 6/26/16, p.A5)
2016 Jun 24, Moldovan businessman and mayor Ilan Shor was arrested on suspicion of money laundering connected to the disappearance of $1 billion from three Moldovan banks in 2014.
(AP, 6/27/16)
2016 Jun 24, Geert Wilders, the leader of the Dutch anti-immigrant PVV party, said the Netherlands should hold its own referendum on whether to leave the European Union following Britain's vote in favor of exiting the bloc.
(Reuters, 6/24/16)
2016 Jun 24, The Russian parliament adopted a set of controversial counter-terrorism amendments which have sparked alarm among rights activists. The amendments included introducing prison sentences for failure to report a grave crime and doubling the number of crimes that Russians as young as 14 years old can be prosecuted.
(AP, 6/24/16)
2016 Jun 24, In Russia Nikita Belykh, the liberal minded governor of the Kirovsk region, was arrested. He was accused of receiving a $445,000 bribe and faced 15 years in jail. Belykh claims he was set up. The next day a Russian court ordered that Nikita Belykh be taken into custody for two months.
(Reuters, 6/25/16)(Econ, 7/2/16, p.46)
2016 Jun 24, In Saudi Arabia a police officer working on a traffic patrol was shot dead in the kingdom's predominantly Shiite east.
(AP, 6/24/16)
2016 Jun 24, Spain said it will seek to jointly govern Gibraltar with Britain following the British vote to leave the European Union.
(Reuters, 6/24/16)
2016 Jun 24, Sri Lankan lawmakers unanimously approved a law giving citizens the right to demand public information, a move many hope will restore transparency and good governance to a nation long plagued by corruption and misrule.
(AP, 6/24/16)
2016 Jun 24, Uganda's military chief said the country plans to withdraw its more than 6,000 troops from the African Union force in Somalia by December 2017. The Ugandans are the largest troop contingent in the AU force trying to protect the Somali government from the extremist group al-Shabab.
(AP, 6/24/16)
2016 Jun 24, Pope Francis set off for a three-day visit to Armenia, just over a year after he enraged Turkey by using the term genocide to describe the mass killings of Armenians under the Ottoman Empire.
(AFP, 6/24/16)
2016 Jun 25, President Barack Obama declared a major disaster in West Virginia.
(AFP, 6/26/16)
2016 Jun 25, In Afghanistan the US military carried out its first air strikes against Taliban targets under the newly approved rules, which mean US troops can now work more closely with local fighters in striking the Taliban.
(AFP, 6/26/16)
2016 Jun 25, In Armenia Pope Francis issued a rallying cry to protect memory at the genocide memorial in Yerevan, on day two of his trip there.
(AFP, 6/25/16)
2016 Jun 25, The Chinese government said it had stopped a communication mechanism with Taiwan because of the refusal of the self-ruled island's new government to recognize the "one China" principle, in the latest show of tension between the two.
(Reuters, 6/25/16)
2016 Jun 25, The six founding members of the European Union sent a clear message to Britain to leave the bloc as soon as possible after Britons voted to quit in the biggest blow to the project since World War Two.
(Reuters, 6/25/16)
2016 Jun 25, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said in a statement that VP Valdis Dombrovskis, a former PM of Latvia, will take over the EU's financial services portfolio, following the resignation of Britain's Jonathan Hill.
(Reuters, 6/25/16)
2016 Jun 25, In southern France 2 men were killed with a Kalashnikov assault rifle and a 14-year-old girl seriously wounded in a shooting early today in Marseille, which is known for its high crime levels.
(AFP, 6/25/16)
2016 Jun 25, Iceland voted in a presidential election expected to see newcomer Gudni Johannesson waltz to victory with voters angry at the establishment. History professor Gudni Johannesson won the election after riding a wave of anti-establishment sentiment. Johannesson has never held public office and has no party affiliation, as he celebrated his 48th birthday on June 26.
(AFP, 6/25/16)(AP, 6/26/16)
2016 Jun 25, In the Indian portion of Kashmir four suspected rebels killed at least 8 Indian paramilitary soldiers and wounded another 20 in an ambush of their convoy on a highway. Two of the attackers were killed and two escaped.
(AP, 6/25/16)(SSFC, 6/26/16, p.A5)
2016 Jun 25, In Iraq a US airstrike in Mosul killed the Islamic State's deputy war minister, Basim Muhammad Ahmad Sultan al-Bajari, and a military commander named Hatim Talib al-Hamduni.
(AP, 7/2/16)
2016 Jun 25, A Kurdish official and opposition activists said hundreds of Kurds fleeing villages controlled by the Islamic State group in northern Syria have come under fire that killed and wounded several of them, amid mass abductions by the extremist group. Over the past three weeks some 900 Kurdish civilians have been abducted in Aleppo province. At least 26 were reported killed for refusing to follow Islamic State orders.
(AP, 6/25/16)(SFC, 6/25/16, p.A2)
2016 Jun 25, In central Mali 14 people were killed in a clash over land between residents of two villages in Djenne, in the Mopti region.
(AP, 6/26/16)
2016 Jun 25, Myanmar soldiers rounded up dozens of men in the remote village of Mong Yaw, Shan state, an area riven by a long-running ethnic insurgency. They led five men away and a few days later the bodies of the five were found in a shallow grave. On July 20 the military promised to prosecute the perpetrators.
(Reuters, 7/20/16)
2016 Jun 25, In Papua New Guinea a student was killed and several buildings torched in violence at the Papua New Guinea University of Technology campus in Lae.
(AFP, 6/26/16)
2016 Jun 25, Slovakia's far right People's Party launched a petition for a referendum on the country's EU membership, the latest state to see a challenge following Britain's vote to leave the bloc.
(Reuters, 6/25/16)
2016 Jun 25, Somalia's al Shabaab Islamist group launched a suicide bomb attack on the Nasa-Hablod Hotel in the center of Mogadishu before militant fighters stormed the building. A junior minister was among 15 people killed in the attack. 4 attackers died in the assault.
(Reuters, 6/25/16)(AFP, 6/26/16)(SFC, 6/27/16, p.A2)
2016 Jun 25, In South Sudan at least 43 people were killed in two days of fighting between armed groups and government forces around the northwest South Sudanese town of Wau. A church official later said he had seen 50 bodies at a mortuary in Wau.
(Reuters, 6/28/16)(AP, 6/29/16)
2016 Jun 25, Syrian and Russian warplanes pounded rebel-held areas of divided city Aleppo as government forces closed in on the rebels' sole remaining supply line.
(AfP, 6/25/16)
2016 Jun 25, The Thai air force lost contact with a helicopter and three crewmen during heavy rains while on a mission to resupply a radar station in Chanthaburi province. Searchers on June 28 found wreckage of the helicopter and the bodies of the crewmen.
(AP, 6/26/16)(AP, 6/28/16)
2016 Jun 25, Yemen’s former Pres. Ali Abdullah Saleh said he would not recognize Pres. Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi's government and that he had presented an initiative to solve Yemen's crisis to both parties to the peace talks taking place in Kuwait.
(AP, 6/26/16)
2016 Jun 26, In Colorado an Amtrak train collided with a van outside Trinidad killing 5 people after the van failed to yield right of way to the train.
(SFC, 6/27/16, p.A4)
2016 Jun 26, Afghan officials said heavy fighting between government forces and Islamic State fighters has killed dozens of people in Nangarhar province, raising fears the militant group is staging a comeback months after Kabul said they had been defeated.
(AP, 6/26/16)
2016 Jun 26, A lawyer for Bahraini human rights activist Nabeel Rajab said Rajab will face trial in July for tweets condemning the Gulf Arab kingdom's prison system and its involvement in the war in Yemen. Rajab was arrested earlier this month on unspecified charges.
(Reuters, 6/26/16)
2016 Jun 26, Eight members of Britain's opposition Labour party said they had withdrawn support for the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn, plunging the party into crisis in the wake of Britain's vote to leave the European Union.
(Reuters, 6/26/16)
2016 Jun 26, China recovered an experimental probe launched aboard a new generation rocket, marking another milestone in its increasingly ambitious space program that envisions a mission to Mars by the end of the decade.
(AP, 6/26/16)
2016 Jun 26, In central China at least 35 people, including two children, died after a tour bus crashed and caught fire in Hunan province.
(AP, 6/26/16)
2016 Jun 26, A senior Iraqi commander said the city of Fallujah was "fully liberated" from Islamic State militants, after a more than monthlong military operation.
(AP, 6/26/16)
2016 Jun 26, Ernesto Fazzalari (46), Italy's second most sought-after fugitive, was captured as he slept in his bed in a hideout in the Calabrian mountains after 20 years on the run. Prosecutor Federico Cafiero De Raho described Fazzalari as "a merciless killer" and a protagonist of the 1991-1992 turf feud between 'ndrangheta clans that bloodied the Taurianova town area.
(AP, 6/26/16)(SFC, 6/27/16, p.A2)
2016 Jun 26, In Madagascar a grenade exploded in the Mahamasina stadium, killing two people and injuring more than 80 as the country marked its 1960 independence from France. Authorities describe it as a terrorist attack.
(AP, 6/27/16)
2016 Jun 26, Mexican authorities said they have arrested three members of a drug gang in connection with last week's slaying of three federal police officers in Chilapa, Guerrero state.
(AP, 6/27/16)
2016 Jun 26, In Morocco about 30 people forced their way into Spain's North African enclave of Melilla, one of few successful attempts to storm the border so far this year following increased patrols and security.
(Reuters, 6/26/16)
2016 Jun 26, Pakistani counter-terrorist police raided a building in Lahore and arrested three men affiliated with Islamic State who were planning to attack government buildings.
(Reuters, 6/27/16)
2016 Jun 26, Panama formally inaugurated the newly expanded locks of the Panama Canal. The $5.25 billion project was initially scheduled for completion in October 2014, but was delayed by slow approvals for concrete to use in the locks, labor strikes and leaks detected late last year.
(AP, 6/26/16)
2016 Jun 26, Spaniards headed to the polls for an unprecedented repeat election that aimed to break six months of political deadlock after a December ballot left the country without an elected government. Caretaker PM Mariano Rajoy’s center-right People's Party (PP) was the only one to make gains in another hung parliament as voters flocked back to mainstream parties and abandoned newcomers that did well in December. The PP won 33% of the vote and wound up with 137 seats, up from 123 in December. But 176 are required for a majority to govern alone.
(AP, 6/26/16) (Reuters, 6/27/16)(Econ, 7/2/16, p.5)
2016 Jun 26, The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 82 people including 58 civilians were killed in Russian and regime air strikes on an Islamic State group-held region of Al-Quriyah, southeast of Deir Ezzor city.
(AFP, 6/26/16)
2016 Jun 26, Talks between Turkey and Israel to normalize relations advanced in talks as officials said a deal had been reached to end a rift dating back to 2010.
(Reuters, 6/27/16)
2016 Jun 26, Yemeni security and health officials said two days of fierce fighting between Shiite rebels and forces loyal to the internationally recognized government has killed at least 55 people from both sides.
(AP, 6/26/16)
2016 Jun 27, First Lady Michelle Obama landed in Liberia with her daughters and mother for an overseas trip promoting education for girls. The trip includes stops in Morocco and Spain.
(SFC, 6/28/16, p.A2)
2016 Jun 27, The US Supreme Court voted 5-3 to strike down Texas’s widely replicated rules that sharply reduced abortion clinics in the state.
(SFC, 6/28/16, p.A7)
2016 Jun 27, The US Supreme Court voted unanimously to overturn the bribery conviction of former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonald, sending the case back to lower courts to decide whether prosecutors have enough evidence to try McDonald again. The court voted to narrow the scope of a law that bars public officials from taking gifts in exchange for official action.
(SFC, 6/28/16, p.A4)
2016 Jun 27, California’s Gov. Jerry Brown singed a $122 billion budget plan that added $3.3 billion into the state’s rainy-day fund, bringing the reseve to $6.7 billion.
(SFC, 6/28/16, p.D1)
2016 Jun 27, In Oakland, Ca., the City Council voted unanimously to block the handling of and storage of coal effectively halting developer Phil Tagamio’s plans to export coal from a terminal near the east end of the Bay Bridge.
(SFC, 6/28/16, p.A1)
2016 Jun 27, In California ex-Los Angeles County Undersheriff Paul Tanaka was sentenced to five years in prison as part of a federal corruption investigation.
(SFC, 6/28/16, p.A4)
2016 Jun 27, Silicon Valley’s Y Combinator, a startup accelerator and investment firm, announced plans to eventually produce a prototype city with reduced housing costs and simplified law codes.
(SFC, 6/28/16, p.D1)
2016 Jun 27, Former Afghan warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar announced that a much-touted peace deal between his militant group and the Kabul government was effectively “dead." Hekmatyar called Afghanistan's government illegal and said he would not recognize it.
(AP, 6/27/16)
2016 Jun 27, Afghan officials said the Taliban have killed at least five people from a group of eight abducted earlier this month from a bus in northern Kunduz province.
(AP, 6/27/16)
2016 Jun 27, A wave of British lawmakers from the opposition Labour Party resigned in protest from leader Jeremy Corbyn's team, including his most senior business policy chief who said Corbyn was partly to blame for last week's vote to leave the EU.
(Reuters, 6/27/16)
2016 Jun 27, Bahrain's state news agency said a court has stripped five people linked to radical Shiite groups of their citizenship and ordered them jailed after convicting them on terrorism charges.
(AP, 6/27/16)
2016 Jun 27, Hundreds of Egyptian students protested in front of the Education Ministry in Cairo over the cancellation of some high school exams after the answers were leaked.
(AP, 6/27/16)
2016 Jun 27, Egypt banned prominent female activist Mozn Hassan from travelling to a human rights meeting in Beirut, the latest step in a crackdown on free speech and dissent.
(AP, 6/27/16)
2016 Jun 27, The Paris-based International Energy Agency (IEA) warned that each year about 6.5 million deaths worldwide are linked to air pollution, a number that could grow in coming decades unless the energy sector steps up its efforts to slash emissions.
(AP, 6/27/16)
2016 Jun 27, Georgia abolished conscription, becoming one of the first former Soviet republics no longer to require men to serve in the military.
(AP, 6/27/16)
2016 Jun 27, Hong Kong called for an end to local ivory trading within five years, a move activists hailed as significant given the financial hub's reputation as a wildlife trafficking blackspot, while calling for this ban to be speeded up.
(Reuters, 6/27/16)
2016 Jun 27, In Iraq a suicide bomber detonated explosives at a Sunni mosque in Abu Ghraib, killing at least 9 people and wounding at least 28.
(AFP, 6/28/16)
2016 Jun 27, Italian police, in a crackdown on the Lo Russo crime clan, arrested 24 suspects in an alleged extortion scheme targeting bread sales in grocery stores, supermarkets and street vendors.
(AP, 6/27/16)
2016 Jun 27, In northeastern Lebanon 8 suicide bombers detonated their explosives' vests in the predominantly Christian village of Qaa near the border with Syria, killing 5 people and wounding at least 15. Most of the bombers reportedly came over the border from Syria.
(AP, 6/27/16)(Reuters, 6/28/16)
2016 Jun 27, A Moldovan court sentenced former PM Vlad Filat (2009-2013) to nine years in prison on charges of taking bribes and influence trafficking. The sentence was connected to alleged bribes he gave businessman and mayor Ilan Shor. Filat was arrested last October in a separate case which has not gone to trial.
(AP, 6/27/16)
2016 Jun 27, NATO appointed the highest-ranking woman in its history, naming US Under Secretary of State Rose Gottemoeller as its next deputy secretary-general. She will take up her new position October 1.
(AP, 6/27/16)
2016 Jun 27, Palestinians and Israeli police clashed at Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque compound for a second day straight, with Islamic officials accusing Israeli authorities of breaking a tacit agreement on access during Ramadan.
(AFP, 6/27/16)
2016 Jun 27, Philippine president-elect Rodrigo Duterte said he would aggressively promote artificial birth control in the country even at the risk of getting in a fight with the dominant Catholic church, which staunchly opposes the use of contraceptives.
(AP, 6/27/16)
2016 Jun 27, Russia said Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has written to Russian leader Vladimir Putin to apologize over the shooting down of a Russian air force jet by Turkey's military last November.
(Reuters, 6/27/16)
2016 Jun 27, South Africa’s National Treasury said President Jacob Zuma should pay back $500,000 of public funds used to upgrade his private residence with facilities including a chicken coop and swimming pool.
(AFP, 6/27/16)
2016 Jun 27, Spanish caretaker PM Mariano Rajoy said he would reach out to rivals in a bid to quickly form a government after his conservative party strengthened its lead in elections, though still far short of a majority.
(Reuters, 6/27/16)
(AP, 6/27/16)
2016 Jun 27, Negotiators said Yemen's warring parties plan to suspend talks on ending more than a year of conflict after failing to reach a breakthrough. The two sides were drafting a joint statement to announce that they will return to talks mid-July, following the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Iftar.
(AP, 6/27/16)
2016 Jun 27, Zambian President Edgar Lungu defended the tax collection agency's decision to shut down a newspaper critical of the government, saying the revenue service did so to recoup unpaid taxes. The Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA) shut down the Post newspaper last week, demanding $6 million in unpaid taxes. Managing editor Joan Chirwa accused the ZRA of trying to silence it head of general elections in August, and claimed that the outstanding bill was in dispute.
(Reuters, 6/27/16)
2016 Jun 28, Massachusetts-based World Against Toys Causing Harm presented its annual report and cited toy guns, kiddie pools, hover boards and backyard trampolines in its annual list of hazardous summer toys.
(SFC, 6/29/16, p.A4)
2016 Jun 28, Guitarist Scotty Moore (84) died at his home in Nashville. He virtually created the rockabilly style and helped launch the career of Elvis Presley.
(SFC, 7/1/16, p.D3)
2016 Jun 28, In the Texas Panhandle three Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway workers were missing after two freight trains collided.
(SFC, 6/29/16, p.A4)
2016 Jun 28, Bosnian authorities said they have arrested Darko Jeremic, a key suspect in a banking scam in which nearly 140 million euros ($155.4 million) were embezzled through a now-defunct private bank. Ten other suspects have already been arrested for the Bobar Bank scam.
(AP, 6/28/16)
2016 Jun 28, British Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn lost a vote of no confidence among Labour MPs by a vote of 172-40.
(Econ, 7/2/16, p.49)
2016 Jun 28, British researchers reported a huge helium gas field in Tanzania amid a global shortage for the gas.
(SFC, 6/29/16, p.A2)
2016 Jun 28, China’s first locally produce regional jet made its debut flight carrying 70 passengers. The ARJ21 initiative was launched in 2002 and was scheduled to deliver its first plane in 2007, but that was pushed back due to technical problems.
(AP, 6/28/16)
2016 Jun 28, The Czech Constitutional court overturned a law that banned individual gays and lesbians living in registered partnership from adopting children.
(SFC, 6/29/16, p.A2)
2016 Jun 28, Denmark police arrested two men and three women at Copenhagen's airport for using forged passports. They carried dollars and euros worth a total of about 129,600 kroner ($19,300). Under new legislation police seized 79,600 kroner ($11,860). Each person was allowed to keep 10,000 kroner ($1,490).
(AP, 6/30/16)
2016 Jun 28, Lilian Daoud, a prominent dual British-Lebanese journalist who hosted a talk show critical of the government of Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, arrived in Beirut after authorities in Cairo briefly detained her and then deported her.
(AP, 6/28/16)
2016 Jun 28, European Union leaders began plotting a future without Britain, urging the island nation and economic powerhouse to disentangle itself as fast as possible from the other 27 nations in the bloc to avoid extending the turmoil that has been roiling European and global markets.
(AP, 6/28/16)
2016 Jun 28, It was reported that German automaker Volkswagen AG has agreed to pay more than $15.3 billion in a settlement with US regulators over pollution caused by its diesel vehicles.
(Reuters, 6/28/16)
2016 Jun 28, In India Isak Chishi Swu (87), a militant leader of the Naga tribal insurgency, died in New Delhi without being able to see his people reach a long-negotiated peace accord with the Indian government.
(AP, 6/28/16)
2016 Jun 28, Israeli police banned non-Muslims from a contentious Jerusalem holy site until the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan following two days of clashes with Palestinian rioters at the site.
(AP, 6/28/16)
2016 Jun 28, Lebanese troops detained 103 Syrians for illegal entry into the country in a security sweep, a day after a series of deadly bombings struck a village near the Syrian border.
(AP, 6/28/16)
2016 Jun 28, In Malaysia a grenade blast at a bar outside Kuala Lumpur injured eight people. Police later said this the first attack in the country by the Islamic State militant group, and that 15 people have been detained. On Aug 13 police said they have arrested nine militants, including two suspected of carrying out the grenade attack.
(AP, 7/4/16)(Reuters, 8/13/16)
2016 Jun 28, Mexican officials said supplies of gasoline, food and other goods were running out in the southern states of Chiapas and Oaxaca because protesting teachers have blockaded key highways.
(SFC, 6/30/16, p.A2)
2016 Jun 28, Amnesty International released a damning report saying Mexico's police and armed forces routinely torture and mistreat women, sometimes using sexual violence during arrest and interrogation.
(AFP, 6/28/16)
2016 Jun 28, A Myanmar court laid additional charges against Nyi Nyi Lwin (aka Gambira), a former monk and leader of the 2007 "Saffron Revolution" anti-junta uprising, accusing him of trespass and "mischief" committed four years ago. Lwin was arrested in January for illegally entering Myanmar from neighboring Thailand.
(Reuters, 6/28/16)
2016 Jun 28, A Dutch court ruled that Aydin Coban (38) can be extradited to Canada to face charges of using a computer to harass and blackmail teenager Amanda Todd. She committed suicide in October 2012, a month after releasing a widely-viewed YouTube video in which she detailed her suffering.
(Reuters, 6/28/16)
2016 Jun 28, In Pakistan militants ambushed a police patrol in Quetta, killing 4 officers.
(AP, 6/29/16)
2016 Jun 28, A Singapore court sentenced the founder of a website that published anti-foreign content to eight months in jail after he pleaded guilty to sedition. The court said Yang Kaiheng (27) had set up "The Real Singapore" website together with his Australian wife, Ai Takagi, and helped distribute accounts from visitors, some of which contained inaccuracies.
(AP, 6/28/16)
2016 Jun 28, Spanish investigators arrested 14 people in raids over suspected fraud relating to construction work linked to a high-speed rail connection between Madrid and Barcelona. The 621-km high speed train line cost around 9 billion euros.
(Reuters, 6/28/16)
2016 Jun 28, Sweden-based Ikea said it would recall its hugely popular Malm model of chest of drawers in North America after six children were crushed to death when the chests tipped over.
(AFP, 6/28/16)
2016 Jun 28, In Syria the US-led coalition carried out eight air strikes near Albu Kamal and five near Al-Qaim, on the Iraqi side. The New Syrian Army (NSA) advanced overnight on IS territory near the Albu Kamal border crossing and adjacent town, but IS recaptured it by the following afternoon.
(AFP, 6/29/16)
2016 Jun 28, Turkey and Israel signed a deal to restore ties after a six-year rift. Terms of the deal included the transfer of $20 million by Israel to a humanitarian fund that will compensate families of Turkish nationals killed and wounded during a 2010 raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla.
(Reuters, 6/28/16)(SSFC, 7/3/16, p.A6)
2016 Jun 28, A Turkish official said military rules of engagement have been adjusted to allow NATO allies to carry out more patrol flights along its border with northern Syria. NATO was told about the move around three weeks ago.
(Reuters, 6/28/16)
2016 Jun 28, In Turkey three suspect Islamic State suicide bombers killed 41 people with gunfire and explosives at the Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport. Turkish Airlines resumed services in and out of Europe's third-busiest airport within 12 hours. The death toll soon rose to 44 as some of the wounded died. The suicide bombers were later identified as Russian, Uzbek and Kyrgyz nationals.
(Reuters, 6/29/16)(AP, 6/30/16)(Reuters, 6/30/16)
2016 Jun 28, In Turkey a police officer was killed and seven people were wounded in the southeastern province of Diyarbakir when a bomb exploded as an armored police vehicle was passing.
(Reuters, 6/28/16)
2016 Jun 28, In southern Yemen an airstrike early by a Saudi-led coalition targeting Shiite rebels in Taiz province killed 25 people, including 15 fighters and 10 civilians.
(AP, 6/28/16)
2016 Jun 28, In Zambia Post editor Fred M’Membe claimed to have a court order declaring seizures of the newspaper to be illegal. He was arrested for trespass and using false documents.
(Econ, 7/16/16, p.39)
2016 Jun 28, Zimbabwe's wildlife authority said it has suspended its director general and is investigating the disappearance of 228 kg (500 pounds) of the agency's stored rhino horn. Edson Chidziya was put leave with full pay to facilitate the investigation.
(Reuters, 6/28/16)
2016 Jun 29, The US Senate passed a financial rescue package for Puerto Rico, two days before a $2 billion debt payment on the island’s $70 billion debt. Pres. Obama signed the measure on June 30.
(SFC, 6/30/16, p.A5)(SFC, 7/1/16, p.A6)
2016 Jun 29, The US said it has extended a $2.7-billion credit facility to Iraq for the purchase of military equipment amid the ongoing fight against the Islamic State group.
(AP, 6/29/16)
2016 Jun 29, Firefighters in central California contained 60% of the Erskine wildfire ranked as the biggest and deadliest of several blazes raging across the state in an early summer heat wave.
(Reuters, 6/29/16)
2016 Jun 29, In Vallejo, Ca., Elvira Babb (57) was kidnapped and held for ransom. On July 8 police arrested four suspects, but Babb remained missing.
(SSFC, 7/10/16, p.A16)
2016 Jun 29, The Univ. of Connecticut revoked an honorary degree awarded Bill Cosby saying he engaged in conduct incongruent with the university’s values.
(SFC, 6/30/16, p.A5)
2016 Jun 29, In Montana a grizzly bear attacked and killed mountain biker Brad Treat (38) at Glacier national Park.
(SFC, 6/30/16, p.A5)
2016 Jun 29, In Cameroon a young male suicide bomber belonging to Nigerian jihadist group Boko Haram killed at least 11 people when he blew himself up close to a mosque near the Nigerian border.
(Reuters, 6/30/16)
2016 Jun 29, In Canada Pres. Obama met with PM Trudeau and Mexico’s Pres. Enrique Pena Nieto for their annual North American Leaders’ Summit. All agreed to focus on closer economic ties.
(SFC, 6/30/16, p.A3)
2016 Jun 29, Xinhua News Agency reported that China has replaced its internet regulator Lu Wei, the hard-liner responsible for leading the government's efforts to tighten control over domestic cyberspace and export the ruling Communist Party's philosophy of web control. His successor will be his deputy, former propaganda official Xu Lin.
(AP, 6/29/16)
2016 Jun 29, Dubai's transport authority announced it had awarded a French-led consortium a $2.88 billion contract to extend its metro network to the site of the Expo 2020 world trade fair.
(AFP, 6/29/16)
2016 Jun 29, The European Union's executive Commission gave the go-ahead for the popular weed killer glyphosate to be used for up to 18 months longer amid concerns about its possible links to cancer.
(AP, 6/29/16)
2016 Jun 29, Indonesia's Pres. Joko Widodo ordered an expansion of offshore oil exploration and commercial fishing in the waters near the Natuna Islands, the latest in a new campaign to assert sovereignty over the area in the South China Sea.
(Reuters, 6/29/16)
2016 Jun 29, In Iraq more than 20 helicopters took part in a mission that destroyed more than 138 vehicles described as a convoy of Islamic State fighters fleeing the western city of Fallujah. The US-led coalition also conducted airstrikes on two large concentrations of Daesh vehicles and fighters.
(AP, 6/30/16)
2016 Jun 29, The Italian navy said it has recovered the migrant ship that sank off Sicily April 18, 2015, with an estimated 700-800 people aboard in one of the worst known tragedies of the Mediterranean migrant crisis.
(AP, 6/29/16)
2016 Jun 29, Japan-based Toyota announced it is recalling 1.43 million vehicles for defective air bags and another 2.87 million vehicles for faulty fuel emissions controls.
(AP, 6/29/16)
2016 Jun 29, In Luxembourg two whistleblowers in the "LuxLeaks" tax scandal were given suspended jail sentences for leaking thousands of documents that exposed Luxembourg's huge tax breaks for major international companies. Former PricewaterhouseCoopers employees Antoine Deltour and Raphael Halet received 12-month and nine-month sentences respectively while journalist Edouard Perrin was acquitted of all charges. In March 2017 the sentence for Antoine Deltour (31) was reduced to six months suspended with a 1,500-euro fine. Raphael Halet (40) received a 1,000-euro fine instead of a nine-month prison sentence.
(AFP, 6/29/16)(AFP, 3/15/17)
2016 Jun 29, In Malaysia influential opposition politician Lim Guan Eng, chief minister of northern Penang state, was arrested on allegations of corruption. He has strongly criticized financial scandals involving PM Najib Razak.
(AP, 6/29/16)
2016 Jun 29, Mongolians voted in parliamentary elections against the background of a sharp downturn in the mining sector, vital to the landlocked nation's economy. The opposition Mongolian People's Party (MPP) won a decisive victory with 65 of 76 seats.
(AP, 6/29/16)(AP, 6/30/16)
2016 Jun 29, North Korea convened a meeting of its national parliament that is expected to follow up on the first congress of its ruling Workers' Party in 36 years, which was held last month.
(AP, 6/29/16)
2016 Jun 29, In Pakistan gunmen ambushed an army vehicle in Quetta, killing 4 soldiers.
(AP, 6/29/16)
2016 Jun 29, A rights lawyer at the European Court of Human Rights said Romania was paid millions of dollars by the CIA to host secret prisons from 2003-2005.
(SFC, 6/30/16, p.A2)
2016 Jun 29, Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon made a dash to Brussels to tell the EU that Scots were intent on staying in the bloc, hours after David Cameron told a summit that Britain was pulling out.
(Reuters, 6/29/16)
2016 Jun 29, In Syria a joint convoy of UN, the Red Cross and Syrian Red Crescent trucks carrying medical and food aid entered two blockaded towns near Damascus.
(AP, 6/29/16)
2016 Jun 29, In Syria a car bomb killed at least 10 people in Tal Abyad town, held by US-backed Kurdish-led forces, near the Turkish border.
(AFP, 6/29/16)
2016 Jun 29, In southeast Turkey a roadside bomb planted by Kurdish PKK militants ripped apart a military armored vehicle, killing 2 soldiers and wounding three others.
(Reuters, 6/29/16)
2016 Jun 29, In eastern Ukraine Wassyl Slipak, a former baritone opera singer, was killed by sniper fire. He had performed in French opera productions for nearly two decades before joining a volunteer battalion fighting Russian-backed rebels.
(SFC, 6/30/16, p.A2)
2016 Jun 30, The United States placed Myanmar on its list of worst human trafficking offenders for failing to do more to curb widespread abuses, and upgraded Thailand from the lowest grade for what was deemed to be an improved record.
(Reuters, 6/30/16)
2016 Jun 30, The US Pentagon said transgender people will be allowed to serve openly in the military.
(SFC, 7/1/16, p.A9)
2016 Jun 30, A US federal judge blocked a Florida law that places restrictions on abortion clinics hours before it was scheduled to take effect.
(SFC, 7/1/16, p.A6)
2016 Jun 30, A US federal judge blocked an Indiana law prohibiting abortions sought because of a fetus’ genetic abnormalities because the state does not have authority to limit a woman’s reasons for ending a pregnancy.
(SFC, 7/1/16, p.A6)
2016 Jun 30, The Iowa Supreme Court ruled 4-3 that felons may be stripped of their voting rights for life unless those rights are restored by the governor.
(SFC, 7/1/16, p.A6)
2016 Jun 30, In Afghanistan Taliban militants launched a twin suicide attack targeting a convoy of buses carrying police cadets outside Kabul and killing 37 people, mostly policemen, and wounding 40.
(AP, 6/30/16)
2016 Jun 30, In Bahrain a woman was killed in an explosion near her car south of Manama. Police the next day described it as a "terrorist bombing" in the village of Eker. Opposition activists on social media said that witnesses reported seeing security forces fire on the woman's car after it accidentally neared a royal convoy. Two suspects were soon arrested. Suspect Hassan Jassem Hassan al-Hayki (35) died in prison on July 30.
(AP, 7/1/16)(Reuters, 7/31/16)
2016 Jun 30, Bosnia published the results of its 2013 census. It showed the population had shrunk by nearly a quarter to 3.5 million over the past 25 years, a period marked by the devastating 1992-95 war that took 100,000 lives and turned almost half of the population into refugees either within the country or abroad.
(AP, 6/30/16)
2016 Jun 30, Brazil's federal police raided the offices of at least 12 builders to seek evidence of a cartel handling railway projects.
(Reuters, 6/30/16)
2016 Jun 30, British American Tobacco (BAT), the world's second biggest cigarette company, vowed to investigate some of its supply farms in Bangladesh after a Swedish campaign group uncovered the use of child workers to grow and process tobacco.
(Reuters, 6/30/16)
2016 Jun 30, English Poet Geoffrey Hill (84) died.
(Econ, 7/30/16, p.74)
2016 Jun 30, Colombian, Italian and US police seized 11 tons of cocaine and arrested 33 people today and over the last few days from a mafia-linked ring which refined the drug in the jungles of Colombia and smuggled it out in containers of tropical fruits.
(Reuters, 6/30/16)
2016 Jun 30, In Egypt Islamist militants in the Sinai Peninsula gunned down Father Rafael Moussa, a Christian priest, as he was fixing his car. In a separate attack in Arish, one policeman was killed and three wounded when an improvised bomb exploded as their convoy drove near a police station. An armored vehicle escorting an ambulance to el-Arish was ambushed by militants leaving one soldier dead.
(Reuters, 6/30/16)(AP, 6/30/16)
2016 Jun 30, Italian authorities significantly lowered the estimated number of migrants who died in the April 18, 2015, shipwreck that spurred Europe to beef up Mediterranean rescue efforts, suggesting the final death toll could be around 500 rather than 800.
(AP, 6/30/16)
2016 Jun 30, Italy’s coast guard said 10 women died in a sinking boat packed with migrants off the coast of Libya today and hundreds of other people were rescued in two separate operations.
(Reuters, 6/30/16)
2016 Jun 30, In Italy Wisconsin student Beau Solomon (19) disappeared in Rome a day after arriving there. On July 4 police discovered his body in the Tiber river in Rome. A suspect identified as Massimo Galioto (40), who lived in an encampment under a bridge near where Solomon was last seen, was soon arrested and accused of pushing Solomon in the river after a fight.
(AP, 7/4/16)(AP, 7/5/16)(AP, 5/8/18)
2016 Jun 30, In Kashmir Indian forces killed two suspected rebels in a clash, and dispersed hundreds of protesters who took to the streets to show their solidarity with the rebels in the southern Pulwama area.
(AP, 6/30/16)
2016 Jun 30, Libya's UN-backed unity government sacked four of its ministers just three months after it set up office in the capital Tripoli. The dismissed ministers were absent from their work and refused to take up their duties in the Government of National Unity for over 30 days.
(AFP, 7/1/16)
2016 Jun 30, Mexico introduced a 500-peso note featuring the image of a jaguar.
(Econ, 7/9/16, p.27)
2016 Jun 30, Nigerian officials said authorities in Lagos have shut down dozens of churches, mosques and hotels in a bid cut noise pollution.
(AFP, 7/1/16)
2016 Jun 30, Palestinian Mohammed Nasser Tarayra (19) fatally stabbed American-Israeli Hallel Yaffa Ariel (13) in her bedroom in the occupied West Bank settlement of Kiryat Arba. Israeli guards shot the attacker dead. On August 15 the Israeli army destroyed Tarayra’s home.
(Reuters, 6/30/16)(AFP, 8/15/16)
2016 Jun 30, In the Philippines Rodrigo Duterte (71) was sworn in as president. Leni Robredo (52) was sworn into office as vice-president.
(AP, 6/30/16)
2016 Jun 30, Doctors Without Borders said tens of thousands of Syrians are stranded on the Jordanian border and face starvation and dehydration.
(SFC, 7/1/16, p.A2)
2016 Jun 30, Turkey's parliament approved sweeping plans late to restructure the high courts, in a victory for President Tayyip Erdogan that critics say will allow him to remove troublesome judges and tighten his grip over the judiciary.
(Reuters, 7/1/16)
2016 Jun 30, Vietnam's government announced that Formosa Ha Tinh Steel Corp., a Taiwanese-owned steel plant, was responsible for massive fish deaths along the central Vietnamese coast and said it has pledged to pay $500 million in compensation.
(AP, 6/30/16)
2016 Jun 30, UN special envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed said Yemen’s waring sides have freed more than 700 prisoners in an apparent goodwill gesture amid peace talks.
(SFC, 7/1/16, p.A2)
2016 Jun, US health officials warned clinicians to be on the lookout for Candida auris, a deadly and highly drug-resistant emerging pathogen. By March 2017 nearly three dozen people in the US were diagnosed with the fungal infection first found in a patient in Japan in 2009.
(SFC, 3/11/17, p.A10)
2016 Jun, In Utah an elderly man infected with the Zika virus died late this month. He was the first Zika-infected person to die in the continental US. A relative who cared for the man was soon diagnosed with the virus.
(SFC, 7/19/16, p.A4)
2016 Jun, In Brazil a chilly snap in the first days of the southern hemisphere winter claimed the lives of at least six people this month in Sao Paulo, home to an estimated 16,000 homeless population.
(AFP, 6/29/16)
2016 Jun, The China-based Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) held its initial annual meeting in Beijing and approved its first $509 million worth of projects.
(Econ, 7/2/16, p.66)
2016 Jun, The OPPO R9, price at around $400, overtook the iPhone as China’s best-selling handset. China’s BBK Electronics started the OPPO firm in 2009.
(Econ, 2/4/17, p.58)
2016 Jun, In the Czech Rep. there were an estimated 10,000 hard-core injecting drug addicts in Prague. Drug contact centers were unable to keep up.
(Econ, 6/18/16, p.56)
2016 Jun, In western Denmark seven Viking-era (800-1050) bracelets, weighing a total of almost one kg (2.2 pounds), were discovered near Vejen by people using metal detectors. A gold chain was found in the same field in 1911.
(AP, 6/16/16)
2016 Jun, Gambia’s Pres. Yahya Jammeh announced that child marriage is now banned with immediate effect, punishable by 20 years in prison for both the husband and parents of the girl being married. Gambia became the 13th nation in Africa to join the African Union's (AU) campaign to end child marriage.
(Reuters, 7/8/16)
2016 Jun, Indonesian authorities broke up a drug-counterfeiting ring that had been operating for more than a decade. At least 28 health care facilities throughout the country, including Jakarta and the tourist resort island of Bali, were suspected of buying fake booster vaccines for hepatitis B, diphtheria, tetanus and whooping cough.
(Reuters, 7/18/16)
2016 Jun, Morocco ranked 88th in the world in Transparency International’s corruption perceptions index.
(Econ, 6/11/16, p.49)
2016 Jun, Interpol and Nigeria's anti-fraud agency arrested a Nigerian, identified as Mike (40), accused of scamming $60 million from companies around the world through fraudulent emails after months of investigation. He was arrested along with a 38-year-old accomplice in Port Harcourt.
(AP, 8/1/16)
2016 Jun, Russia decriminalized battery. The Duma exempted domestic abuse and made it subject to the same two-year maximum sentence as racially motivated offences.
(Econ, 1/28/17, p.46)
2016 Jun, Saudi Arabia lifted a two-year ban against Guinean pilgrims for the haj in September and allotted the country 7,200 places.
(Econ, 9/3/16, p.43)
2016 Jun, Spanish authorities arrested half a dozen Russian citizens with alleged ties to high-ranking Russian officials and Colombian drug cartels.
(Econ, 7/2/16, p.46)
2016 Jun, In Sri Lanka an explosion at the Salawa army camp, 35 km (22 miles) east of Colombo, killed one soldier. Eight others, including seven civilians, were injured. The explosions sent shrapnel and munitions flying into the surrounding area, damaging 2,031 houses.
(AP, 11/17/16)
Go to July 2016
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Return to home
2016 Apr 1, Arianna Fitts (2) and her mother were last seen in San Francisco. On April 8 the mother's body was found in a shallow grave in John McClaren Park. Arianna remianed missing.
(SFC, 1/30/19, p.A7)
2016 Apr 1, In Virginia Romanian hacker Marcel Lazar, aka Guccifer, made an initial court appearance on charges of wire fraud, cyberstalking and alleged hacks into accounts of the Bush family.
(SSFC, 4/3/16, p.A6)
2016 Apr 1, In western Afghanistan 11 men employed by the HALO Trust mine clearing organization were abducted in Herat province. At least 11 people were killed in a road accident just outside Herat.
(AP, 4/2/16)
2016 Apr 1, Britain's Conservative government raised the minimum wage by 7.5 percent in a move denounced by critics as largely symbolic in an era of state austerity. Workers aged 25 and over will now earn a minimum hourly gross wage of £7.20 ($10.36, 9.10 euros) compared with £6.70 previously.
(AFP, 4/1/16)
2016 Apr 1, In London delivery driver Junead Khan (25) was convicted of plotting to kill US troops based in England by staging road accidents with soldiers' cars and then attacking them with knives and possibly a home-made bombs. He and his uncle Shazib Khan (23) were also convicted of planning to join IS in Syria.
(Reuters, 4/1/16)
2016 Apr 1, The European Union reported sanctions on three Libyan officials accused of hindering the new UN-brokered unity government there from beginning its work.
(AP, 4/1/16)
2016 Apr 1, Lebanon's security forces said they have dismantled the country's largest known sex trafficking ring and freed 75 mainly Syrian women.
(AFP, 4/1/16)
2016 Apr 1, Libya's UN-backed unity government won the support of guards who secure the country's key oil terminals, the latest pledge of loyalty for a cabinet facing strong opposition from rival political forces.
(AFP, 4/1/16)
2016 Apr 1, Mexican investigators said they have found evidence of a large fire in which at least 17 bodies were burned at a dump in the town of Cocula, Guerrero state, where the government has said the students' bodies ended up after disappearing in nearby Iguala on Sept. 26, 2014.
(AP, 4/1/16)
2016 Apr 1, Myanmar's upper house of parliament approved a bill that gives Aung San Suu Kyi a powerful government role, despite opposition from the military on the second day of her party's new administration.
(Reuters, 4/1/16)
2016 Apr 1, Nigeria's army reportedly arrested Khalid al-Barnawi (aka Usman Umar Abubakar), leader of the Islamist militant group Ansaru, in the city of Lokoja. Ansaru is a splinter faction of Boko Haram that has been accused of kidnapping and killing Westerners.
(Reuters, 4/4/16)(SFC, 4/5/16, p.A2)
2016 Apr 1, It was reported that North Korea officially announced this week that it is blocking Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and South Korean websites in a move underscoring its concern with the spread of online information. Very few North Koreans have Internet access.
(AP, 4/1/16)
2016 Apr 1, In the Philippines police clashed with farmers blocking a highway to demand government relief in the drought-stricken south, leaving at least two demonstrators dead and dozens injured, including at least 23 officers in Kidapawan, Cotabato province.
(AP, 4/1/16)
2016 Apr 1, Eight suspected Filipino Muslim gunmen on board a speed boat took four Malaysians from the MV Massive 6 late today but left behind five other crewmen from Myanmar and Indonesia as the tugboat sailed to Tawau island in Malaysia's eastern state of Sabah.
(AP, 4/2/16)
2016 Apr 1, In Poland the PiS government began its “Family 500+" program. Together with families with two children or more, parents with a combined monthly income below 800 PLN (€184) will also be eligible to get 500 extra PLN per month starting from their first child. The first payments would be made in July.
(http://tinyurl.com/jqldesu)(Econ, 10/15/16, p.47)
2016 Apr 1, Syrian state news said troops have identified 45 bodies so far in a mass grave found in the city of Palmyra after it was recaptured from Islamic State.
(Reuters, 4/2/16)
2016 Apr 1, The Syrian government released freelance photographer Patrick Dawes (33), who was captured in 2012.
(SFC, 4/9/16, p.A2)
2016 Apr 1, Turkish warplanes carried out air strikes in northern Iraq, destroying ammunition depots and shelters in an areas where the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) has camps.
(Reuters, 4/1/16)
2016 Apr 1, The UN peacekeeping mission in Democratic Republic of Congo said that it has received allegations of sexual abuse against Tanzanian peacekeepers based in Congo's northeast.
(Reuters, 4/2/16)
2016 Apr 2, Latin Jazz saxophonist Leandro "Gato" Barbieri (83) died in NYC. He composed the Grammy-winning music for the steamy Marlon Brando film "Last Tango in Paris" and recorded dozens of albums over a career spanning more than seven decades.
(AP, 4/3/16)
2016 Apr 2, Heavy fighting erupted between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces over the separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh. Azerbaijan said 12 of its soldiers were killed and claimed to have inflicted heavy casualties on the Armenian forces.
(AP, 4/2/16)
2016 Apr 2, A Belgian national named only as Y.A. (33) was charged with participating in the activities of a terrorist group in connection with a joint Belgian-French investigation into an apparently foiled attack plot. Two others have been named as Rabah N. and Abderrahmane A.
(Reuters, 4/2/16)
2016 Apr 2, Central African Republic President Faustin Archange Touadera announced late today that campaign manager Simplice Sarandji (61) was the new prime minister.
(AP, 4/3/16)
2016 Apr 2, In Colombia tens of thousands of people protested in more than 20 cities across the country against President Juan Manuel Santos and his government's peace process with the FARC guerrillas.
(AFP, 4/2/16)
2016 Apr 2, In western India around 25 female activists were prevented from entering the Shani Shingnapur temple in Maharashtra state, traditionally open only to men, a day after a Mumbai court ruled that women have a fundamental right to enter and pray inside temples.
(AP, 4/2/16)
2016 Apr 2, In Indonesia a teenage girl was raped and murdered by 14 men. This went largely unnoticed at a national level until social media users began highlighting its brutality. The rape and murder reignited calls for Parliament to pass the Elimination of Sexual Violence Act.
(AP, 5/3/16)
2016 Apr 2, Iraq's PM Haider al-Abadi ordered an investigation into corruption allegations against senior oil officials following an expose into bribe-taking published in international media outlets.
(AP, 4/2/16)
2016 Apr 2, Libya's National Oil Corporation said it was working with the U.N.-backed unity government, which arrived in Tripoli this week, to coordinate future oil sales.
(Reuters, 4/2/16)
2016 Apr 2, In Spain 7 people died in a pre-dawn crash between two cars near the northern city of Figueres. 5 people of a car with French license plates were between 19 and 22 and not wearing seatbelts.
(AP, 4/2/16)
2016 Apr 2, Syria's partial cease-fire was unravelling, as fierce fighting between government forces and opposition fighters, including members of the al-Qaida affiliated Nusra Front, erupted outside the country's second largest city of Aleppo. At least 25 pro-government fighters died in clashes south of Aleppo, where the Nusra Front and rebel militias captured a hill overlooking a major highway.
(AP, 4/2/16)
2016 Apr 3, The United States and its allies conducted two dozen strikes against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
(Reuters, 4/4/16)
2016 Apr 3, Amtrak Train 89 struck a piece of heavy equipment on the tracks outside Philadelphia, causing the train's lead engine to derail and killing two Amtrak workers.
(CSM, 4/4/16)
2016 Apr 3, In Texas freshman Haruka Weiser was strangled, sexually assaulted and killed as she walked to her dorm in Austin. Her body was found on April 5.
(http://tinyurl.com/j68je5s)(SFC, 6/11/16, p.A5)
2016 Apr 3, Joseph Medicine Crow (102), last war chief of the Crow tribe, died. He was awarded the US Medal of Freedom in 2009.
(Econ, 4/16/16, p.78)
2016 Apr 3, In Afghanistan at least six police officers were killed in a Taliban ambush on their convoy in northern Balkh province.
(AP, 4/4/16)
2016 Apr 3, Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry announced a unilateral cease-fire against the separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh, but rebel forces in the area said that they continued to come under fire from Azerbaijani forces.
(AP, 4/3/16)
2016 Apr 3, In northern Bangladesh an explosion killed two suspected militants in the Sherpur area of Bogra district. The next day a 12-member bomb disposal unit searched the house and recovered 20 grenades, four pistols and 25 bullets.
(AP, 4/4/16)
2016 Apr 3, Brussels Airport reopened with three "symbolic" flights and strict additional checks for passengers, marking a new high-security era for air travel in Belgium after the March 22 attacks by Islamic State suicide bombers.
(AFP, 4/3/16)
2016 Apr 3, In Cambodia a driver trying to ease his car onto a river ferry stepped on the accelerator instead of the brake, plunging the vehicle into the water and killing 7 passengers.
(AP, 4/4/16)
2016 Apr 3, In Croatia 280,000 euros ($320,000) and two kg (4.4 pounds) of gold were all snatched from the headquarters of the Croatian police.
(AP, 4/4/16)
2016 Apr 3, Iran's Revolutionary Guard detained Zaghari-Ratcliffe (37), a British-Iranian mother and employee of the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of the news agency, at Tehran's Imam Khomeini International Airport and later transferred her to a prison in the country's Kerman province. She faced charges of trying to cause the "soft toppling" of the government.
(AP, 6/15/16)
2016 Apr 3, In northern Iraq militant Jasim Khadijah, a former Iraqi officer not considered a high-value target, was reported killed by a drone strike overnight. He was believed responsible for an attack on US troops in northern Iraq last month that left a Marine dead.
(Reuters, 4/3/16)(Reuters, 4/4/16)
2016 Apr 3, The Israeli defense body that handles civilian issues with the Palestinians expanded the fishing zone. The new easing of restrictions allowed fishermen in Gaza to now sail farther from the coastal territory.
(AP, 4/3/16)
2016 Apr 3, A Japanese submarine made a port call in the Philippines, the first in 15 years, in a show of growing military cooperation amid tension triggered by China's growing assertiveness in the South China Sea.
(Reuters, 4/3/16)
2016 Apr 3, Liberian health officials said a second case of Ebola has been confirmed months after the country had been declared free from transmissions. The son (5) of a woman who died March 31 from Ebola was taken to a treatment center in Monrovia.
(AP, 4/3/16)
2016 Apr 3, Police in the Maldives used pepper spray to break up a protest by journalists and activists accusing the government of stifling press freedom, arresting 11 of the demonstrators.
(AP, 4/3/16)
2016 Apr 3, In northwestern Pakistan flash floods triggered by overnight torrential rains killed at least 36 people in several areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
(AP, 4/3/16)
2016 Apr 3, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas quietly established a constitutional court. The nine-member body, which will have supremacy over all lower courts, was created without fanfare by presidential decree.
(Reuters, 4/11/16)
2016 Apr 3, A year-long worldwide media investigation into a trove of 11.5 million documents, leaked from Panama-based from legal firm Mossack Fonseca with offices in 35 countries, exposed a tangle of offshore financial dealings by the elite, from Russia’s Pres. Putin's aides to relatives of Chinese President Xi Jinping, sports celebrities and screen stars. The files had been anonymously passed to Suddeutsche Zeitung, a German newspaper and emerged in an investigation published by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ). The “Panama papers" unveiled the offshore holdings of 140 politicians and officials, including twelve current and former presidents, monarchs and prime ministers.
(AFP, 4/4/16)(Reuters, 4/4/16)(Econ, 4/9/16, p.14, 59)
2016 Apr 3, Thousands of Poles protested a possible tightening of the country's abortion law, already one of the most restrictive in Europe.
(AP, 4/3/16)
2016 Apr 3, In southwestern Saudi Arabia two vans collided, killing 15 people, including six children in the Wadi bin Hashbal region of Asir province.
(AP, 4/3/16)
2016 Apr 3, Syrian troops seized the key Islamic State group bastion of Al-Qaryatain.
(AP, 4/3/16)
2016 Apr 3, In Syria several Al-Qaeda-linked Al-Nusra Front members including its spokesman were killed in US-led coalition air strikes. Abu Firas al-Suri (aka Radwan Nammous), his son and at least 20 jihadists of Al-Nusra and Jund al-Aqsa and other fighters from Uzbekistan were killed in strikes on positions in Idlib province.
(AFP, 4/4/16)(Reuters, 4/6/16)
2016 Apr 3, The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the Islamic State has killed 15 of its members in the largest execution of the militant group's security services so far in Syria. The killings followed the arrest a day earlier of 35 members in Raqqa. The members were killed in connection with the assassination of senior Islamic State figure Abu Hija al-Tunisi, who died in an air strike on March 30.
(Reuters, 4/3/16)
2016 Apr 3, In central Thailand a train smashed into a double-decker bus carrying Thai tourists at an unguarded railway crossing in Nakhon Pathom province. Local media reported that three people were killed and more than two dozen injured.
(AP, 4/3/16)
2016 Apr 4, US Treasury Sec. Jack Lew announced a renewed crackdown on corporate takeovers (inversions) that allow American firms to switch their nationality to that of the firm they are buying in order to escape America’s tax net.
(Econ, 4/9/16, p.63)
2016 Apr 4, The US Pentagon said it has released two Libyans from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and sent them to the West African nation of Senegal for resettlement. Omar Khalif Mohammed Abu Baker and Salem Abdu Salam Ghereby had been held at Guantanamo for nearly 14 years without charge. 89 prisoners were left, including 35 cleared for release.
(AP, 4/4/16)
2016 Apr 4, The United States and its allies conducted 25 strikes against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, focusing on rebel forces near towns that guard the approach to the key Iraqi city of Mosul.
(Reuters, 4/5/16)
2016 Apr 4, In California work began on the new Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS-II) at the Dept. of Energy’s SLAC national Accelerator Center three miles west of Stanford Univ. Beams from the x-ray laser will reveal the atomic structure of matter and show the molecular movements of living matter such as viruses. The ultimate cost was estimated at $1 billion.
(SFC, 4/8/16, p.D3)
2016 Apr 4, Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy was named this year’s recipient of the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award for his support of the resettlement of Syrian refugees in the US following the Paris attacks.
(SFC, 4/5/16, p.A6)
2016 Apr 4, Tennessee lawmakers gave final approval to making the Holy bible the state’s official book. Gov. Bill Haslam opposed the measure but did not say he would issue a veto.
(SFC, 4/6/16, p.A12)
2016 Apr 4, In eastern Tennessee a sightseeing helicopter crashed near Sevierville killing 5 people.
(SFC, 4/5/16, p.A6)
2016 Apr 4, In Afghanistan 2 people died and six others were wounded in a bomb explosion in eastern Nangarhar province. A gunbattle with the Taliban in southern Uruzgan province late today left at least 12 security forces killed.
(AP, 4/4/16)(AP, 4/5/16)
2016 Apr 4, Australia’s tax agency said more than 800 wealthy Australians are under investigation by the Australian Taxation Office for possible tax evasion linked to their alleged dealings with a Panamanian law firm.
(AP, 4/4/16)
2016 Apr 4, Fighting raged around the separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh, with Azerbaijan saying three of its troops have been killed in the past 24 hours and the Armenian president warning that the hostilities could slide into a full-scale war.
(AP, 4/4/16)
2016 Apr 4, Brazil’s O Estado de S.Paulo said politicians from seven parties were named as clients of a Panama-based firm at the center of a massive data leak over possible tax evasion.
(Reuters, 4/4/16)
2016 Apr 4, In China activists from a coalition of groups said that they will continue press for annual June 20 dog meat festival in Yulin to be banned as well as legislation outlawing the slaughtering of dogs and cats and the consumption of their meat.
(AP, 4/4/16)
2016 Apr 4, Thousands fled fighting in Congo's capital Brazzaville as the government blamed heavy clashes in southern opposition bastions on a rebel group known as "The Ninjas". 3 police officers and 2 gunmen were killed in Brazzaville in heavy fighting touched off by President Denis Sassou Nguesso's disputed re-election.
(AFP, 4/4/16)(Reuters, 4/5/16)
2016 Apr 4, The Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation reported that 23 people were killed and 84 more people were injured when a river that crosses Jigjiga, the regional capital of the Somali region, burst its banks a day earlier.
(AP, 4/5/16)
2016 Apr 4, Iceland's opposition called on PM Sigmundur Gunnlaugsson and his government to resign and planned a no confidence vote after a leak of documents, the so-called Panama Papers, stoked anger over his wife owning a tax haven-based company with large claims on the country's collapsed banks.
(Reuters, 4/4/16)
2016 Apr 4, Air France decided to allow female flight attendants to refuse to work the company's new route to Iran, beginning April 17, for which they must wear a headscarf.
(AP, 4/4/16)
2016 Apr 4, Greece shipped 202 migrants back to Turkey, the first wave of deportations under a hugely controversial deal aimed at easing Europe's worst postwar migration crisis.
(AFP, 4/4/16)(Econ, 4/9/16, p.52)
2016 Apr 4, Mehbooba Mufti, the leader of a pro-India party became the first woman to become the chief minister of Indian-controlled Kashmir following the death of her father, the region's top elected leader.
(AP, 4/4/16)
2016 Apr 4, An Iranian military official said Iran has sent commandos to Syria as advisers, suggesting it is using its army as well as paramilitary forces to help President Bashar al-Assad's forces in the country's civil war.
(Reuters, 4/4/16)
2016 Apr 4, In Iraq about 25 people were killed on across the country, most of them in suicide attacks targeting members of Shi'ite militias and military forces. Iraqi troops entered Hit under cover of heavy air strikes a week after launching an operation to retake the town.
(Reuters, 4/4/16)(SFC, 4/6/16, p.A4)
2016 Apr 4, Norway's government invited the heads of top company boards to talks on corruption as offshore banking revelations added to a string of allegations over the ethics of some of the country's largest firms. The invitation followed the leak of more than 11.5 million documents from the files of a Panama-based law firm, allegedly showing how clients avoided tax or laundered money.
(Reuters, 4/4/16)
2016 Apr 4, Pakistani officials said flash floods triggered by heavy rain have killed at least 55 people and rescuers were trying to help thousands of survivors including some cut off by a landslide in a mountain valley.
(Reuters, 4/4/16)
2016 Apr 4, The Philippines launched the first public immunization program for dengue fever, seeking to administer to a million schoolchildren the world's first licensed vaccine against a mosquito-borne disease that the World Health Organization estimates infects 390 million people a year globally.
(AP, 4/4/16)
2016 Apr 4, Russian investigators found the body of American student Colin Madsen (25) on the outskirts of a Siberian village, a week after he vanished from a guesthouse in the middle of the night.
(AP, 4/4/16)
2016 Apr 4, Swedish banking group Nordea said it would end its end its association with law firm Mossack Fonseca at the center of the Panama Papers scandal.
(Reuters, 4/5/16)
2016 Apr 4, Syrian troops and allied militiamen pressed on with an offensive against Islamic State militants in central Syria, clashing with the extremists around the town of Qaryatain a day after it was captured by pro-government forces.
(AP, 4/4/16)
2016 Apr 4, Syria’s state news agency SANA said the Islamic State group has mounted a deadly gas attack against Syrian troops at a besieged eastern airbase, the latest report of the jihadists' use of chemical weapons.
(AFP, 4/5/16)
2016 Apr 4, The Turkish military carried out airstrikes in northern Iraq against targets belonging to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).
(Reuters, 4/5/16)
2016 Apr 4, It was reported that hackers have posted a database online the seems to contain the personal information of nearly 50 million Turkish citizens.
(SFC, 4/5/16, p.A2)
2016 Apr 5, The United States and its allies conducted 23 strikes against Islamic State in Syria and Iraq.
(Reuters, 4/6/16)
2016 Apr 5, San Francisco became the first US city to require six weeks of paid leave for new parents. The SF Board of Supervisors enacted expansive anti-eviction protections for tenants who work in SF schools.
(SFC, 4/6/16, p.A1)
2016 Apr 5, Mississippi’s Gov. Phil Bryant signed House Bill 1523 allowing religious groups and some private businesses to refuse service to gay couples based on religious beliefs. On May 9 a suit was filed against the measure due to become law on July 1.
(SFC, 4/6/16, p.A12)(SFC, 5/10/16, p.A6)
2016 Apr 5, PayPal became the first and only prominent tech company to commit moving operations out of North Carolina, whose governor last week signed into law a bill that bars local governments from passing antidiscrimination protections for LGBT people.
(SFC, 4/6/16, p.C1)
2016 Apr 5, In Texas the body of Haruka Weiser (18), a dance major from Portland, Oregon, was discovered in a creek near the Univ. of Texas alumni center and football stadium in the heart of campus. On April 8 police announced the arrest of a suspect. On June 10 Meechaiel Criner (17), a runaway from the state’s foster care system, was indicted on a capital murder charge.
(AP, 4/8/16)(SFC, 6/11/16, p.A5)
2016 Apr 5, In Wisconsin Ted Cruz beat Republican front-runner Donald Trump soundly, winning most of the state’s delegates and raising the probability of a contested GOP convention in July. Upstart senator Bernie Sanders also beat Democrat frontrunner Hillary Clinton, bolstering his claim to be a viable alternative standard-bearer to the former secretary of state and first lady.
(AFP, 4/6/16)
2016 Apr 5, Ford announced plans for a new $1.6 billion auto assembly plant in Mexico, creating about 2,800 jobs and shifting small car production from the US.
(SFC, 4/6/16, p.C6)
2016 Apr 5, In Afghanistan a suicide bomber on a motorbike detonated his explosives near a busy bazaar in northern Parwan province, killing at least 6 people.
(AP, 4/5/16)
2016 Apr 5, Azerbaijan and Armenian separatists in Nagorny Karabakh said they had halted fighting after four days of bloodshed, as international powers scramble to resolve the worst violence in decades over the disputed region. The ceasefire was brokered in Moscow. The 4-day war left an estimated 200 people dead.
(AFP, 4/5/16)(Econ, 4/9/16, p.53)(Econ, 5/21/16, p.46)
2016 Apr 5, In Brazil a Supreme Court judge ruled that the lower house of Congress must open impeachment proceedings against Vice-President Michel Temer because he faces the same allegations of breaking fiscal rules as Pres. Rousseff.
(SFC, 4/6/16, p.A2)
2016 Apr 5, In Brazil a gas explosion ripped through an apartment complex north of Rio de Janeiro early today, killing 5 people and injuring 13.
(AFP, 4/5/16)
2016 Apr 5, China banned most imports of North Korean coal and iron ore, the country's main exports, in a significant increase in pressure on the North under UN sanctions against its nuclear and missile tests.
(AP, 4/5/16)
2016 Apr 5, China denounced accusations arising from a massive leak from a Panamanian law firm as "groundless" and moved to limit coverage of documents that may have exposed financial wrongdoing by some of the world's rich and powerful.
(Reuters, 4/5/16)
2016 Apr 5, French finance minister Michel Sapin said France will put Panama back on its blacklist of uncooperative tax jurisdictions, after media revelations about a Panamanian law firm specialised in setting up offshore firms.
(Reuters, 4/5/16)
2016 Apr 5, Paris riot police fired tear gas and charged youths throwing stones, bottles and eggs during fresh protests against France's proposed labor reforms, making over 100 arrests.
(AFP, 4/5/16)
2016 Apr 5, German Justice Minister Heiko Maas said Germany plans to introduce a new national transparency register to make offshore companies disclose their owners' identity, as part of the fight against tax evasion and the financing of terrorism.
(Reuters, 4/5/16)
2016 Apr 5, Iceland's PM Sigurdur David Gunnlaugsson (41) asked Pres. Olafur Ragnar Grimsson to dissolve parliament as his government reeled from a political crisis over the so-called Panama Papers, but the president refused. Gunnlaugsson stepped down, the first major political casualty to emerge from the massive leak of 11.5 million documents detailing hidden offshore accounts held by world leaders and celebrities.
(AFP, 4/5/16)(AFP, 4/6/16)
2016 Apr 5, The Indian state of Bihar completely banned the sale of alcohol in a surprise move, including liquor at bars and hotels.
(AP, 4/5/16)
2016 Apr 5, The Int’l. Criminal Court (ICC) terminated the case against Kenya’s deputy president William Ruto saying there was insufficient evidence he was involved in violence following presidential elections in 2007.
(SFC, 4/6/16, p.A2)
2016 Apr 5, In Nigeria angry motorists queued overnight at petrol stations across the country and lines of cars blocked traffic in the commercial capital Lagos as the worst fuel shortages for years hit Africa's top oil producer.
(Reuters, 4/5/16)
2016 Apr 5, Thirteen North Koreans working at a restaurant in China defected. They traveled to a Southeast Asian country before being flown to South Korea.
(AP, 4/8/16)(AP, 4/11/16)
2016 Apr 5, President Vladimir Putin said Russia is creating a national guard to fight terrorism and organized crime.
(Reuters, 4/5/16)
2016 Apr 5, Saudi police Colonel Kattab Majid al-Hammadi was shot dead in the Riyadh region in an attack claimed by the Islamic State jihadist group.
(AFP, 4/5/16)
2016 Apr 5, South Africa's parliament began a debate on a motion to impeach President Jacob Zuma after the constitutional court ruled that he breached the constitution by ignoring an order to repay some of the $16 million in state funds spent on his private home.
(Reuters, 4/5/16)
2016 Apr 5, In Sweden Meg Rosoff (59) was named the winner of the 5 million kronor ($615,000) Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award for literature aimed at children and young adults. A Boston native living in London, Rosoff's novels include "How I Live Now" (2004), "Just in Case" (2006) and "What I Was" (2007).
(AP, 4/5/16)
2016 Apr 5, Syrian insurgents shot down a government warplane in the north of the country and shelled a predominantly Kurdish neighborhood in the city of Aleppo. A pregnant woman and three children were among 18 civilians killed when Syrian rebels shelled a Kurdish neighborhood in Aleppo.
(AP, 4/5/16)(AFP, 4/6/16)
2016 Apr 5, In Syria Rifai Ahmad Taha, a senior Egyptian al-Qaida figure, was killed along with several others in a US drone strike. Before joining al-Qaida, Taha was a top figure in Egypt's notorious militant group Gamaa Islamiya, which massacred 58 foreign tourists in the ancient Egyptian city of Luxor in 1997.
(AP, 4/8/16)
2016 Apr 5, Turkish police detained almost 70 businessmen, local officials and teachers in a new nationwide sweep against supporters of Pres. Erdogan's arch foe.
(AFP, 4/5/16)
2016 Apr 5, Shelling from Yemen killed two people in a Saudi town, in a rare breach of a calm in the border area agreed with Iran-backed rebels early last month.
(AFP, 4/6/16)
2016 Apr 6, The United States and its allies conducted 27 strikes against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
(Reuters, 4/7/16)
2016 Apr 6, Merle Haggard (b.1937), American country music star, died at his home in Redding, Ca.
(SFC, 4/7/16, p.A1)
2016 Apr 6, Kansas and Oklahoma authorities said wildfires this week have burned through thousands of acres, scorched numerous structures and prompted hundreds of people to evacuate their homes ahead of the blazes.
(Reuters, 4/6/16)
2016 Apr 6, In northern Albania a military helicopter crashed at Shkodra Lake, killing two crew members and injuring the other.
(AP, 4/6/16)
2016 Apr 6, In Bangladesh Nazimuddin Samad, a student who expressed pro-atheist views online, was hacked to death as he walked with a friend in Dhaka. On April 8 Ansar al-Islam, the Bangladesh division of al-Qaida in the Indian Subcontinent, or AQIS, said that its members carried out the attack.
(AP, 4/7/16)(AP, 4/9/16)
2016 Apr 6, In Benin businessman Patrice Talon (57) was sworn in as the country’s new president after winning last month's elections.
(AFP, 4/6/16)
2016 Apr 6, Junior doctors in English hospitals went on strike again, withdrawing all but emergency care in their fourth walk-out in a bitter dispute with the government over working conditions.
(AFP, 4/6/16)
2016 Apr 6, China’s Pres. Xi Jinping launched another ideological campaign named “Two Studies, One Action," aimed to strengthen the Marxist stance of Communist Party members and keep them in line with party leadership.
(Econ, 4/23/16, p.35)
2016 Apr 6, Egypt-based Nilesat satellite operator cut transmission of Hezbollah's television channel Al-Manar amid rising tensions between the Lebanese Shiite group's backer Iran and Sunni powerhouse Saudi Arabia.
(AFP, 4/6/16)
2016 Apr 6, A Paris court convicted Jean-Marie Le Pen (87), founder and former head of France's far-right National Front party, of denying crimes against humanity for repeating that the Nazi gas chambers are a "detail" of World War II history.
(AP, 4/6/16)
2016 Apr 6, France's lower house of parliament held a final vote on a bill against prostitution and sex trafficking that bans buying sex, not selling it. Customers would face fines and be required to attend classes on the harms of prostitution.
(AP, 4/6/16)
2016 Apr 6, French economics minister Emmanuel Macron and Benjamin Griveaux co-founded the En Marche! (On the Move!) political movement. Following Macron’s election in 2017 the party was renamed “La Republique en Marche" (LRM).
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/En_Marche!)(Econ, 7/16/16, p.41)(Econ 5/13/17, p.14, 44)
2016 Apr 6, Italy's coast guard rescued more than 300 migrants from a packed boat in which they had traveled hundreds of km (miles) from Egypt to the Strait of Sicily.
(Reuters, 4/7/16)
2016 Apr 6, It was reported that Chinese author Cao Wenxuan and German illustrator Rotraut Susanne Berner have been awarded the Hans Christian Andersen Prize for children's literature during the Bologna Children's Book Fair.
(AP, 4/6/16)
2016 Apr 6, A Japanese military jet carrying six airmen disappeared from radar over southern Japan.
(AP, 4/6/16)
2016 Apr 6, Libya's UN-backed unity government moved to cement control over the country's finances and institutions after the rival administration in Tripoli ceded power in a boost to efforts to end years of chaos.
(AFP, 4/6/16)
2016 Apr 6, Myanmar’s President Htin Kyaw signed a bill giving Aung San Suu Kyi a new role of state adviser, shoring up her influence across all branches of government despite vehement opposition from the still-powerful military.
(AFP, 4/6/16)
2016 Apr 6, Dutch voters went to the polls and rejected a key EU pact with Ukraine in a referendum triggered by grassroots eurosceptic groups and seen as a yardstick on ties with Brussels.
(AFP, 4/6/16)(Reuters, 4/7/16)
2016 Apr 6, Puerto Rico's House of Representatives approved a bill that would allow the US territory's governor to declare a fiscal emergency and implement a debt moratorium to prevent a shutdown of basic government services.
(AP, 4/6/16)
2016 Apr 6, South Africa's First National Bank (FNB) said it has has closed the accounts of a company owned by the wealthy Gupta family, the latest example of companies cutting ties with the Guptas following allegations over their relationship with Pres. Jacob Zuma.
(Reuters, 4/6/16)
2016 Apr 6, In Sudan an anti-terrorism court in Khartoum sentenced 22 South Sudanese nationals to death and three others to life in prison for belonging to a militant group in Darfur. The defendants belong to the Justice and Equality Movement, a rebel group based in Darfur that took up arms against the Sudanese government in 2003, complaining that their region was being marginalized.
(Reuters, 4/7/16)
2016 Apr 6, In honor of the 250th anniversary of Sweden’s abolishment of censorship, the country’s Swedish Tourist Association debuted its newest marketing strategy: 1-800-CALL-A-SWEDE. Interested people worldwide can, however, call 46-771-793-336 to speak to a random Swedish volunteer about anything and everything.
(CSM, 4/10/16)
2016 Apr 6, Swiss police raided the headquarters of the European soccer body UEFA in Nyon to gather information about a contract signed by Gianni Infantino, now head of the global soccer body FIFA, that was reported in the Panama Papers.
(Reuters, 4/6/16)
2016 Apr 6, The Syrian army and its allies launched a major attack on insurgents south of Aleppo, described as the fiercest government assault in the area since an agreement to ease the fighting came into effect in February. Islamic State fighters launched attacks on government-held areas near Damascus overnight.
(Reuters, 4/6/16)
2016 Apr 6, It was reported that the Panama Papers revealed that Syria’s regime has avoided int’l. sanctions and funded its war effort through three shadowy companies in the Seychelles.
(SSFC, 4/10/16, p.A7)
2016 Apr 6, Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro decreed that all Fridays for the next two months will be holidays for state workers, in a bid to save energy in the blackout-hit OPEC country.
(Reuters, 4/7/16)(SFC, 4/8/16, p.A2)
2016 Apr 7, The United States and its allies conducted 26 strikes against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
(Reuters, 4/8/16)
2016 Apr 7, A US appeals court ruled that Puerto Rico can't prohibit gay marriage.
(AP, 4/8/16)
2016 Apr 7, In San Francisco Luis Góngora Pat, a homeless Yucatecan Mayan, was killed by SFPD officers on Shotwell Street between 18th and 19th Streets. Officers claimed that Luis lunged at them with a knife. Eye witnesses that spoke to the media and to community members, including homeless witnesses, denied that Luis threatened officers in any way.
(https://justice4luis.org/luiss-story/)
2016 Apr 7, A Miami-Dade state attorney said 22 people are being charged in an int’l. money laundering case that funneled cash to drug trafficking cartels through Miami businesses. The undercover operation involved about $1 million a month in drug money throughout North America.
(SFC, 4/8/16, p.A6)
2016 Apr 7, Suth Dina, Cambodia's ambassador to South Korea, was charged with corruption-related offenses, following his arrest on April 4. Investigators said his assets increased by $3 million during his two years as envoy.
(AP, 4/7/16)
2016 Apr 7, The EU's executive said European Union states should agree on a common list of tax havens in the next semester and impose sanctions on countries that hide EU-taxable revenues in the wake of the Panama leaks.
(Reuters, 4/7/16)
2016 Apr 7, Two Indonesian military skydivers plunged to their deaths during an airshow rehearsal in Jakarta.
(AP, 4/7/16)
2016 Apr 7, Kosovo's powerful former premier Hashim Thaci was sworn in as president in a session boycotted by opposition parties which dispute his election to the top job.
(AFP, 4/7/16)
2016 Apr 7, In Kosovo Milovan Bojovic, a former Serb general suspected of war crimes against ethnic Albanian civilians, was detained after illegally crossing into Kosovo at the Merdare border point.
(AP, 4/8/16)
2016 Apr 7, Morocco's official news agency said eight foreigners have been expelled for supporting prisoners convicted for their roles in deadly protests in Western Sahara.
(AP, 4/7/16)
2016 Apr 7, Myanmar democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi announced that her government plans to release all political prisoners as quickly as possible, making the declaration her first act in her newly created job as state counsellor.
(AP, 4/7/16)
2016 Apr 7, In Romania a businessman and five others suspected of defrauding a spa that dates from the Roman empire of 30 million euros (about $34 million) were detained. Iosif Armas, chairman of a company that manages the Herculaneum Spa, and other shareholders were suspected of illegally selling assets and taking out loans in the spa's name that could not be repaid.
(AP, 4/7/16)
2016 Apr 7, Saudi King Salman started a five-day visit to Cairo in a show of support for Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, with the leaders due to sign a raft of investment deals.
(AFP, 4/7/16)
2016 Apr 7, Serbia's presidency defended its decision to decorate Sudan's president and genocide suspect Omar al-Bashir, saying he was honoured for refusing to recognise Kosovo.
(AFP, 4/7/16)
2016 Apr 7, Syrian state television reported that Islamic State fighters have kidnapped 300 cement workers in an area northeast of Damascus where the militants launched an assault against government forces this week.
(Reuters, 4/7/16)
2016 Apr 7, In Turkey Mustafa Tanriverdi, who headed a factory run by the state-owned Mechanical and Chemical Industry Corporation, was arrested in Ankara as he left a restaurant after arranging to sell the designs to an official of a US-based company for a total of 1.2 million Turkish lira ($420,000).
(AP, 4/8/16)
2016 Apr 7, Vietnam demanded China move a controversial oil rig on and abandon plans to start drilling in waters where jurisdiction is unclear, the latest sign of festering unease among the two communist neighbors.
(Reuters, 4/7/16)
2016 Apr 7, Vietnam’s rubber-stamp parliament elected Nguyen Xuan Phuc (61) as prime minister.
(SFC, 4/8/16, p.A2)
2016 Apr 8, In Texas an airman shot his commander in an apparent murder-suicide at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland.
(SFC, 4/9/16, p.A6)
2016 Apr 8, Wisconsin’s right to work law, championed by Gov. Scott Walker, was struck down as violating the state constitution.
(SFC, 4/9/16, p.A5)
2016 Apr 8, SpaceX resumed station deliveries for NASA, and in a double triumph, successfully landed its booster rocket on an ocean platform for the first time.
(AP, 4/9/16)
2016 Apr 8, In Argentina bus and train fares in Buenos Aires doubled as the country’s annual inflation rate approached 40%.
(Econ, 4/16/16, p.27)
2016 Apr 8, Two ethnic Armenian troops died in fighting with Azerbaijani forces as the archfoes accused each other of breaching a ceasefire that halted the worst outbreak of violence in decades over a disputed breakaway region.
(AFP, 4/8/16)
2016 Apr 8, In Belgium the Nov 13 Paris attacks suspect Mohamed Abrini (31) was arrested in Brussels along with five other suspects in raids linked to the March 22 Brussels airport and metro bombings.
(AFP, 4/9/16)(SSFC, 4/10/16, p.A6)
2016 Apr 8, British PM David Cameron faced mounting pressure over his involvement in offshore investments after he finally admitted he benefited from his father's Panama-registered trust, an entity exposed by this week's massive data leak at a law firm specializing in global tax avoidance.
(AP, 4/8/16)
2016 Apr 8, A court in southern China jailed four activists who had publicly supported Hong Kong's pro-democracy Occupy Central movement and who had criticized the Chinese Communist Party on social media.
(Reuters, 4/8/16)
2016 Apr 8, Voters in Djibouti went to the polls, with iron-fisted ruler Ismail Omar Guelleh expected to extend his 17-year rule in the strategic African nation courted by world powers.
(AFP, 4/8/16)
2016 Apr 8, Authorities in El Salvador raided the local offices of Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca, seizing documents and equipment.
(Reuters, 4/9/16)
2016 Apr 8, The German state of Lower Saxony criticized Volkswagen's plans to pay bonuses to top managers when the carmaker is dealing with the diesel emissions crisis and set to cut costs.
(Reuters, 4/8/16)
2016 Apr 8, Greece deported a second batch of more than two hundred migrants to Turkey under a controversial EU deal to stem mass migration as Germany announced a sharp drop in asylum claims.
(AFP, 4/8/16)
2016 Apr 8, Greece signed an agreement to sell a 67 percent stake in operating its biggest port to China's Cosco group, a significant step in the debt-crippled country's ambitious privatization drive. Dockworkers protesting in central Athens against the sale clashed with riot police who responded with tear gas..
(AP, 4/8/16)
2016 Apr 8, Guatemalan prosecutors raided the offices of a bank and froze some $20 million worth of the bank's shares as part of a money-laundering probe involving Hidalgo Rafael Socorro Urdaneta, a Venezuelan said to be the legal representative of DHK Finance INC Panama.
(AP, 4/9/16)
2016 Apr 8, Liberia said it plans to outsource the oversight of its entire primary education sector to USD-based Bridge International Academies, a for-profit company linked to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
(SFC, 4/9/16, p.A4)
2016 Apr 8, A Myanmar court freed dozens of jailed students, in the first wave of detainee releases after Aung San Suu Kyi pledged to make freeing activists and political prisoners a priority of her new government.
(AFP, 4/8/16)
2016 Apr 8, In southeastern Peru a bus trying to avoid an oncoming truck drove off a highway in a remote zone and tumbled into the Mapacho River, killing at least 23 people.
(AP, 4/9/16)
2016 Apr 8, In the Philippines retired Italian missionary Rolando del Torchio -- held hostage for six months by suspected Islamic militants -- was found aboard a ferry docked on Jolo.
(AFP, 4/9/16)
2016 Apr 8, Saudi King Salman announced plans to build a bridge over the Red Sea to Egypt, in a lavish show of support for the government of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.
(AFP, 4/8/16)
2016 Apr 8, In South Africa Ajay and Atul Gupta, two brothers from the family of wealthy Indian immigrants who own a vast business empire with interests in mining, media, technology and engineering, were seen at a Johannesburg airport boarding their private jet for Dubai.
(AFP, 4/10/16)
2016 Apr 8, Thailand authorities said they were investigating 16 citizens with reported ties to offshore companies set up by a Panama-based law firm.
(AP, 4/8/16)
2016 Apr 8, Pope Francis called for the Roman Catholic church to be more welcoming and less judgmental in an apostolic exhortation titled “Amoris Laetitia “The Joy of Love."
(SFC, 4/9/16, p.A2)
2016 Apr 9, The US Air Force deployed B-52 bombers to Qatar to join the fight against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, the first time they have been based in the Middle East since the end of the Gulf War in 1991.
(Reuters, 4/9/16)
2016 Apr 9, In Las Vegas Manny Pacquiao, a candidate Senate candidate in the Philippines, returned from the biggest loss of his career with a bang, knocking down Timothy Bradley twice on his way to a unanimous 12-round decision in their welterweight showdown.
(AP, 4/10/16)
2016 Apr 9, Egypt’s government announced the signing of a maritime demarcation accord that puts two islands at the southern entrance to the Gulf of Aqaba in Saudi waters.
(Reuters, 4/13/16)
2016 Apr 9, In western France clashes broke out between police and demonstrators in Rennes as thousands took to the streets for a sixth day of nationwide protests against a draft law that seeks to loosen some labor protections.
(Reuters, 4/9/16)
2016 Apr 9, Four migrant women and a child drowned off the Greek island of Samos in the first deaths in the Aegean Sea since a controversial EU-Turkey deal took effect three weeks ago.
(AFP, 4/9/16)
2016 Apr 9, Kenya deported a group of 8 Taiwanese to China after they were acquitted in a cybercrime case. On April 12 a 2nd group of 37 was deported in a move that drew an angry reaction from Taipei.
(Reuters, 4/12/16)
2016 Apr 9, Nigerian secret police accused a Biafra separatist group of killing 55 people after discovering their bodies in shallow graves in a thick forest in the country's southeast. The Department of State Service (DSS), Nigeria's domestic spy agency, said the graves were found in Umuanyi forest in Abia state, home to the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) movement.
(AFP, 4/10/16)
2016 Apr 9, Pakistan hanged two brothers convicted of murdering six people from the same family in a land dispute, just days after Amnesty International criticized the country for becoming the world's third most prolific executioner after China and Iran. Nasir Mehmood and Tahir Iqbal were hanged in the eastern city of Sialkot for the 2002 murders.
(AFP, 4/9/16)
2016 Apr 9, In central Peru 3 soldiers and a civilian were killed, and seven others wounded, in two attacks by guerrillas, on the eve of presidential elections. Authorities blamed remnants of the Shining Path communist guerrilla group.
(AFP, 4/10/16)
2016 Apr 9, In the Philippines at least 5 Abu Sayyaf militants, including a Moroccan fighter, were killed after fierce fighting left 18 soldiers dead in the hinterlands on Basilan island. This was the government's largest single-day combat loss so far this year.
(AP, 4/10/16)
2016 Apr 9, In Somalia two members of the Al-Qaeda-linked Shebab jihadist group were executed in Mogadishu by firing squad for the murder of a journalist killed by a car bomb last year.
(AFP, 4/9/16)
2016 Apr 9, In Somalia at least 3 people including a child were killed in a car bomb blast outside a restaurant in Mogadishu.
(AFP, 4/9/16)
2016 Apr 9, A Syrian opposition monitoring group said the Islamic State group has released most of the 300 cement workers it abducted near Damascus after questioning them to find out who were Muslims and killing 4 who were members of the minority Druze sect. The fate of 30 people who were guards at the factory was unknown.
(AP, 4/9/16)
2016 Apr 9, In southern Yemen suspected al Qaeda militants seized and executed 17 soldiers loyal to President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi. The local wing of Al Qaeda in Yemen denied it had killed Yemeni soldiers in the Ahwar region.
(Reuters, 4/9/16)
2016 Apr 9, Ukraine reported a sharp increase in attacks by Russia-backed separatists around the government-held town of Avdiivka in eastern Ukraine, resulting in at least one civilian death. Rebels in eastern Ukraine reported increased shelling from government forces and the death of one of their fighters.
(AP, 4/9/16)
2016 Apr 9, Venezuela’s Digitel cell phone service suspended long-distance calling as the country struggled to pay its bills. The Movistar cell phone service planned to do the same on April 15.
(SFC, 4/12/16, p.A2)
2016 Apr 10, A US official said Navy officer Lieutenant Commander Edward Lin, who had access to sensitive US intelligence, faces espionage charges over accusations he passed state secrets, possibly to China and Taiwan.
(Reuters, 4/11/16)
2016 Apr 10, Rev. Rene Robert (71) was last seen alive in his St. Augustine, Fl. Apartment. In April his body was found in the woods of Georgia following the arrest of Steven Murray, who led police to Robert’s body. Robert had been trying for months to help Murray.
(SFC, 1/30/17, p.A4)
2016 Apr 10, In Louisiana Southern Univ. students Lashuntae Benton (19) and Annette January (19) were shot and killed early today in an exchange of fire outside a Baton Rouge apartment complex. Suspect Ernest Bernard Felton (22) was arrested. Another suspect (24 was wounded.
(SFC, 4/11/16, p.A4)
2016 Apr 10, A SpaceX Dragon cargo ship arrived at the Int’l. Space Station with 7,000 pounds of freight including a soft-sided compartment built by Bigelow Aerospace.
(SFC, 4/11/16, p.A4)
2016 Apr 10, In Bangladesh protesters opposing the construction of a Chinese-backed, coal-fired power plant in the coastal district of Chittagong agreed to halt their activities for 15 days, defusing tensions after four demonstrators were killed last week.
(Reuters, 4/10/16)
2016 Apr 10, British PM David Cameron took the unusual step of publishing his tax records to try to end days of questions about his personal wealth raised by the mention of his late father's offshore fund in the Panama Papers.
(AP, 4/10/16)
2016 Apr 10, Howard Marks (70), a Wales-born convicted drug smuggler, died of cancer. He was arrested in 1988 in an operation led by the US Drug Enforcement Administration and sentenced to 25 years in prison. He was released on parole in 1995. He then reinvented himself as an author after publishing best-selling autobiography "Mr. Nice" (1996).
(AP, 4/11/16)
2016 Apr 10, Chad held elections likely to see President Idriss Deby extend his 26-year rule in a country increasingly on the frontline of the global war on terror.
(AFP, 4/10/16)
2016 Apr 10, The island nation of Comoros voted in a tense three-way presidential run-off election featuring the current VP Mohamed Ali Soilihi and former coup leader Azali Assoumani, who ruled the country for seven years. Assoumani took 40.98 percent of the nationwide vote, just ahead of Soilihi, the ruling party's presidential candidate, who picked up 39.87 percent.
(AFP, 4/10/16)(AFP, 5/12/16)
2016 Apr 10, In France Paris police made eight arrests after demonstrators protesting the government's labor reforms went on a rampage across the capital, attacking a police building, damaging cars and vandalizing bank offices.
(AP, 4/10/16)
2016 Apr 10, Greece said police on the Macedonian side of their joint frontier used teargas, rubber bullets and stun grenades to push back the migrants. Macedonian authorities would only confirm they used teargas.
(Reuters, 4/10/16)
2016 Apr 10, In southern India 108 people were killed and nearly 400 injured when a massive fire swept through a Hindu temple during an unauthorized fireworks display in the Kerala state village of Paravoor. Five employees of a fireworks manufacturer who was given the contract for running the show were soon taken into custody. By April 12 the death toll rose to 112 and seven officials at the Puttingal temple were arrested.
(AP, 4/10/16)(Reuters, 4/11/16)(SFC, 4/13/16, p.A3)
2016 Apr 10, Israel's cabinet unanimously approved a plan for reducing greenhouse gases and increasing energy efficiency to benefit the economy. Government officials expected the cumulative benefit to Israel's economy would reach more than 30 billion shekels ($8 billion).
(Reuters, 4/10/16)
2016 Apr 10, In Japan foreign ministers from the Group of Seven industrialized countries began a two-day meeting in Hiroshima.
(AP, 4/10/16)
2016 Apr 10, In Kenya scores of Shebab fighters stormed a police post near the Somali border early today, injuring three officers and torching nearby shops as they fled.
(AFP, 4/10/16)
2016 Apr 10, In Pakistan a magnitude 6.6 earthquake rattled Islamabad and other cities across the country. 6 people were killed across northern Pakistan. The quake's epicenter was in remote northeastern Afghanistan.
(AP, 4/10/16)(Reuters, 4/11/16)
2016 Apr 10, Peru held elections. Keiko Fujimori held a double-digit lead over her nearest rival among 10 presidential candidates, but not getting the 50 percent she would need to win outright and avoid a June 5 runoff between the two top vote-getters. With 64 percent of votes counted, Fujimori had 39.46 percent support while Kuczynski, a former World Bank economist, had 23.73 percent and leftist lawmaker Veronika Mendoza trailed with 17.12 percent.
(AP, 4/10/16)(Reuters, 4/11/16)
2016 Apr 10, Syrian government forces and rebels clashed across the country's north in the latest indication that a monthlong cease-fire may be breaking down, as the Islamic State group seized two villages along the Turkish border from other insurgents. Clashes around Aleppo killed at least 16 pro-regime fighters and 19 members of Al-Qaeda's affiliate and allied rebel groups over the last 24-hours.
(AP, 4/10/16)(AFP, 4/10/16)
2016 Apr 10, In Turkey the 13th annual meeting of the 57-member Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) opened in Istanbul.
(AFP, 4/10/16)
2016 Apr 10, Ukrainian PM Arseny Yatseniuk tendered his resignation, effective April 12, in a televised broadcast and signaled support for parliamentary speaker and presidential ally Volodymyr Groysman to take over his post.
(Reuters, 4/10/16)
2016 Apr 10, In Yemen sporadic fighting gripped parts of the country, hours before a UN-brokered ceasefire aimed at laying the groundwork for upcoming peace talks was due to take effect.
(AFP, 4/10/16)
2016 Apr 11, The United States and its allies stages 13 strikes against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
(Reuters, 4/12/16)
2016 Apr 11, CIA Director John Brennan, in an aired interview, promised that the US spy agency won't use so-called "enhanced interrogation" techniques, including waterboarding, against terror suspects, not even under a new president's orders to do so.
(AFP, 4/11/16)
2016 Apr 11, California’s Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bill expanding family leave benefits. It will allow workers to receive up to 70% of their pay for time off to care for a new-born or family member.
(SFC, 4/12/16, p.C1)
2016 Apr 11, In Afghanistan at least 12 new army recruits were killed in a suicide bomb attack in the eastern city of Jalalabad. At least 5 members of the border police force were killed in an insider attack in the southern province of Kandahar close to the frontier with Pakistan when a colleague opened fire on them before fleeing.
(AP, 4/11/16)(Reuters, 4/12/16)
2016 Apr 11, In Brazil a congressional committee voted 38-27 that the impeachment process against President Dilma Rousseff move forward, bringing the possible ouster of the embattled leader a step closer.
(AP, 4/12/16)
2016 Apr 11, British children's author Helen Bailey (51) was last seen walking her miniature dachshund Boris in Royston. Her partner Ian Stewart (55) reported her missing soon after and issued a note appealing for her to return. On July 16 Stewart was charged with murder after police found her body in the grounds of her home.
(AP, 7/16/16)
2016 Apr 11, In Burundi gunmen killed at least 5 people and wounded seven when they opened fire on a market late today in the eastern Ruyigi region.
(AFP, 4/12/16)
2016 Apr 11, Cairo Univ., Egypt's oldest secular university, granted King Salman of Saudi Arabia an honorary doctorate for his "unique services" to Arabs and Muslims, the final function in a five-day visit clouded by opposition to Cairo's intention to hand over control of two Red Sea islands to Riyadh.
(AP, 4/11/16)
2016 Apr 11, The French government announced about half a billion euros in aid for students in an attempt to defuse anger from protesters who said they would gather again on a central Paris square for the 12th night in a row.
(Reuters, 4/11/16)
2016 Apr 11, Fresh protests broke at a flashpoint border crossing, as Greece and Macedonia blamed each other for an incident in which tear gas and rubber bullets were fired on migrants trying to breach the closed border to get to western Europe.
(AFP, 4/11/16)
2016 Apr 11, India launched its Unified Payment Interface (UPI), an electronic payments network. It is regulated by the Reserve Bank of India and works by instantly transferring funds between two bank accounts on a mobile platform.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unified_Payments_Interface)(Econ., 5/9/20, p.59)
2016 Apr 11, In India 10 people were electrocuted by an overhead high-voltage wire that fell on them during a demonstration outside a police station in the northeastern state of Assam. Police bullets hit the overhead cable, which came crashing down on the demonstrators demanding that police hand them two suspects arrested for the murder of two members of their tea workers community last week.
(AP, 4/11/16)
2016 Apr 11, Iranian media reported that Russia has delivered the first part of an advanced missile defense system to Iran, starting to equip Tehran with technology that was blocked before it signed a deal with world powers on its nuclear program.
(Reuters, 4/11/16)
2016 Apr 11, Iran’s Tasnim news agency reported that 4 soldiers in its regular army were killed in Syria, the, only a week after Tehran announced the deployment of army commandos to help President Bashar al-Assad in the civil war there.
(Reuters, 4/11/16)
2016 Apr 11, In Italy a clutch of banks and other financial institutions agreed to create a fund called Atlante to bail out troubled rivals and thus allay fears of a systemic crisis in Italian banking.
(Econ, 4/16/16, p.61)
2016 Apr 11, Kyrgyz PM Temir Sariyev and his cabinet resigned after a parliamentary commission accused it of corruption, a move highlighting tensions between different factions of President Almazbek Atambayev's supporters.
(Reuters, 4/11/16)
2016 Apr 11, Nigeria’s Kaduna state government secretary Balarabe Lawal told a commission of inquiry that dozens of soldiers and state officials transported 347 bodies from a mortuary and an army base to a bush site where they were buried after the Dec. 12-14 military raids on Shiite compounds in northern Zaria town. The Shiites say those killed number closer to 1,000.
(AP, 4/13/16)
2016 Apr 11, Puerto Rico released a new proposal to restructure part of its $70 billion debt to buy time to implement a fiscal growth plan as multimillion-dollar payments loom for the US territory facing dwindling cash reserves.
(AP, 4/11/16)
2016 Apr 11, In southern Russia 3 suicide bombers blew themselves up as they tried to storm a rural police station in the village of Novoselitskoye, causing no other casualties.
(AFP, 4/11/16)
2016 Apr 11, In Somalia a car bomb at local government headquarters in Mogadishu killed 5 people and wounded five, in an attack claimed by Somali Islamist group al Shabaab.
(Reuters, 4/11/16)
2016 Apr 11, In Somalia a car bomb at local government headquarters in Mogadishu killed 5 people and wounded five, in an attack claimed by Somali Islamist group al Shabaab. Hassan Hanafi Haji, a former journalist who joined the Islamic extremist group al-Shabab, was executed at a police academy in Mogadishu.
(Reuters, 4/11/16)(AP, 4/11/16)
2016 Apr 11, South Korea said two senior North Korean officials, including an army colonel specializing in espionage against the South, defected to South Korea last year.
(Reuters, 4/11/16)
2016 Apr 11, In Syria Islamic State fighters retook the northern town of al-Rai along the border with Turkey from rebels and government forces and rebels clashed across northern and western Syria.
(AP, 4/11/16)
2016 Apr 11, Venezuela’s Supreme Court scrapped an amnesty law that could have secured the release of jailed opposition activists.
(Reuters, 4/12/16)
2016 Apr 11, In Yemen a UN brokered ceasefire took effect.
(AFP, 4/11/16)
2016 Apr 12, On Equal Pay Day Pres. Obama designated the iconic home and headquarters of the National Woman’s Party as a national monument to highlight the push for women's equality. The currently named Sewall-Belmont House and Museum in Washington, D.C., will become the new Belmont-Paul Women’s Equality National Monument.
(CSM, 4/12/16)
2016 Apr 12, Silicon Valley billionaire Yuri Milner said that he is adding a 2nd $100 million to deploy tiny spacecraft to SETI, the search for alien life in the universe.
(SFC, 4/13/16, p.D1)(Econ, 4/16/16, p.66)
2016 Apr 12, In Georgia Kenneth Fults (47) was executed for killing his neighbor during a burglary in 1996. This was the state’s 4th execution this year.
(SFC, 4/13/16, p.A4)
2016 Apr 12, Anne Jackson (90), American stage actress, died at her home in Manhattan. She had shared a long and distinguished career with her husband Eli Wallach (d.2014).
(SFC, 4/15/16, p.D4)
2016 Apr 12, The Taliban announced the start of their spring offensive, pledging to launch large-scale offensives against government strongholds backed by suicide and guerrilla attacks to drive Afghanistan's Western-backed government from power.
(Reuters, 4/12/16)
2016 Apr 12, China said it will release more water from a dam in its southwestern province of Yunnan to help alleviate a drought in parts of Southeast Asia, following an initial release begun last month.
(Reuters, 4/12/16)
2016 Apr 12, The Catholic Church in France pledged to shed light on all cases of paedophilia, including "historic cases", following a scandal over an archbishop accused of covering up a priest's crimes.
(AP, 4/12/16)
2016 Apr 12, In Indonesia three Thai fishing captains were detained when they were found operating trawlers under Malaysian flags that were fishing off Kalimantan, Indonesia's part of Borneo island. The captains escaped on May 7 after scaling the wall of their detention center in the middle of the night.
(AP, 5/17/16)
2016 Apr 12, Italian PM Matteo Renzi became the highest-ranking European leader to visit Tehran since its nuclear deal with world powers. Renzi began a two-day visit to the Islamic republic aimed at restoring ties that before sanctions had seen Italy ranked as Iran's top European trading partner.
(AFP, 4/12/16)
2016 Apr 12, Gianroberto Casaleggio (b.1954), Italian entrepreneur and political activist, died. He and Beppe Grillo co-founded the Five Star Movement (M5S) in 2009.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gianroberto_Casaleggio)
2016 Apr 12, In Kashmir 2 young men were killed in firing by Indian government forces at rock-throwing protesters, who were demanding the arrest of an Indian soldier for assaulting a girl (16) in a restroom.
(AP, 4/12/16)(Econ, 4/16/16, p.33)
2016 Apr 12, In Lebanon an explosion just outside the southern city of Sidon killed local Palestinian security official Fathi Zeidan amid tensions between the main Palestinian faction and extremists groups.
(AP, 4/12/16)
2016 Apr 12, Malawi's President Peter Mutharika declared a national disaster after a severe drought ravaged the southern African nation and appealed for 1.2 million tons of maize to plug a looming deficit of the staple.
(Reuters, 4/14/16)(Econ, 4/16/16, p.40)
2016 Apr 12, In northern Mali 3 French peacekeeping soldiers died after their armored car ran over a landmine.
(AFP, 4/13/16)
2016 Apr 12, In eastern Nepal at least 22 people were killed when a bus slipped off a mountain gravel road and rolled down a hill.
(AP, 4/12/16)
2016 Apr 12, Panamanian authorities raided the head offices of law firm Mossack Fonseca regarding recently leaked documents about offshore firms it had helped create.
(Econ, 4/16/16, p.60)
2016 Apr 12, The official Saudi Press Agency said under changes approved by the cabinet, religious officers will no longer be allowed to detain people and instead must report violators to police or drug squad officers.
(AFP, 4/13/16)
2016 Apr 12, Spanish police arrested Antoine Denive (27), a Frenchman who they believe supplied weapons to Paris attacker Amedy Coulibaly for use in the January 2015 attacks in the French capital.
(AP, 4/13/16)
2016 Apr 12, Syrian troops and their allies launched an offensive to retake an important hilltop village south of the city of Aleppo from militants, including al-Qaida's local affiliate, as President Bashar Assad's government prepared for parliamentary elections the following day.
(AP, 4/12/16)
2016 Apr 12, Syrian journalist Mohammed Zahir al-Sherqat died from wounds after being shot April 10 in the Turkish city of Gaziantep. The shooting attack was claimed by the Islamic State.
(SFC, 4/13/16, p.A2)
2016 Apr 12, Two Turkish soldiers were killed and more than 50 people wounded when a car bomb exploded at a military post in the restive Kurdish-dominated southeast.
(AP, 4/12/16)
2016 Apr 12, The Turkish army hit Islamic State targets in northern Syria, in response to cross-border rocket fire that struck a border town in southeastern Turkey for the second day in a row.
(Reuters, 4/12/16)
2016 Apr 13, The U.S.-led coalition staged 21 strikes against the Islamic State militant group, according to the coalition leading the operations in Iraq and Syria.
(Reuters, 4/14/16)
2016 Apr 13, The US Centers for disease Control and Prevention said there is no longer any doubt the Zika virus causes babies to be born with abnormally small heads and other severe brain defects.
(SFC, 4/14/16, p.A5)
2016 Apr 13, The Golden State Warriors won a record 73rd regular season game to top the Chicago Bull’s 72 win during the 1995-96 season.
(SFC, 4/14/16, p.A1)
2016 Apr 13, It was announced that Silicon Valley entrepreneur Sean Parker has donated $250 million to launch an effort to combine the forces of six top cancer research centers nationwide to develop treatments in cancer immunotherapy.
(SFC, 4/13/16, p.C1)
2016 Apr 13, In Chicago a task force established by Mayor Rahm Emanuel said city police have alienated blacks and Latinos for decades by using excessive force and honoring a code of silence.
(SFC, 4/14/16, p.A5)
2016 Apr 13, In Texas a jury convicted Dallas-area Dr. Jacques Roy and six co-defendants of fraud for allegedly processing almost $375 million in false Medicare and Medicaid claims.
(SFC, 4/14/16, p.A5)
2016 Apr 13, US-based Peabody Energy, the world’s largest private coal company, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
(Econ, 4/16/16, p.52)
2016 Apr 13, Some 39,000 Verizon landline and cable workers on the East Coast walked off the job after making little progress in negotiations since their contract expired nearly eight months ago.
(SFC, 4/14/16, p.C2)
2016 Apr 13, In Brazil three parties decamped from the government of Pres. Dilma Rousseff diminishing her chances of surviving impeachment.
(SFC, 4/14/16, p.A2)
2016 Apr 13, Prolific British playwright Arnold Wesker (83) died. He drew on his heritage as a working-class Jew to create plays that captured the dialogue and struggles of the common man.
(AP, 4/13/16)
2016 Apr 13, In Burundi Phocas Bakaza, a member of the ruling CNDD-FDD party, was shot dead in Mutimbuza area near the capital Bujumbura. Two people were soon arrested in connection with the attack.
(AP, 4/14/16)
2016 Apr 13, In China a court in Changsha rejected a landmark case by two men who had sought permission to get legally married, a decision that shines the light on gay rights in the world's most populous nation.
(Reuters, 4/13/16)(Econ, 8/13/16, p.29)
2016 Apr 13, Cuba said it is opening its state-controlled wholesale market to a limited number of private business owners in response to rising prices that have angered many ordinary Cubans.
(AP, 4/13/16)
2016 Apr 13, Indian authorities imposed a curfew in parts of Kashmir to stop fresh anti-India demonstrations following the killings of four people by Indian troops and a general strike called by separatists.
(AP, 4/13/16)
2016 Apr 13, Iraqi lawmakers held an all-night sit-in at parliament protesting efforts by powerful political blocs to maintain control of key government posts, pushing the speaker to convene an emergency session.
(AFP, 4/13/16)
2016 Apr 13, In Libya a suicide bomber killed a member of the security forces at a checkpoint south of Misrata. 5 people were killed, including 3 who were beheaded, at a nearby military camp.
(Reuters, 4/13/16)
2016 Apr 13, The Lithuanian government said it has blacklisted 46 Russian citizens involved in criminal prosecutions of several Ukrainians including the imprisoned pilot Nadezhda Savchenko.
(AP, 4/13/16)
2016 Apr 13, Macedonia police fired tear gas and stun grenades at migrants staging a protest at the country's border fence with Greece.
(AFP, 4/13/16)
2016 Apr 13, A magnitude 6.9 earthquake struck Myanmar and was felt in parts of eastern India and Bangladesh, causing residents to rush out of their homes in panic. There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage.
(AP, 4/13/16)
2016 Apr 13, In Pakistan a head-on collision between a passenger bus and truck killed at least 19 passengers, including women and children, in eastern Punjab province.
(AP, 4/13/16)
2016 Apr 13, Puerto Rico said it is publishing for the first time a list of delinquent taxpayers in hopes of recovering a portion of government-owed revenue amid a worsening economic crisis. The list represents those who owe more than $50,000 worth of sales tax.
(AP, 4/13/16)
2016 Apr 13, A Russian court sentenced former naval officer Yevgeny Mataitis (39) to 13 years in jail for selling state secrets to Lithuania concluding he was guilty of state treason. The court said Mataitis had been gathering information in the Kaliningrad region for six years.
(Reuters, 4/13/16)
2016 Apr 13, South Korea held parliamentary elections that were expected to hand a decisive win to President Park Geun-hye's conservative party, and enable her to push ahead with controversial economic reforms. Exit polls, however, indicated her party would not regain its majority in the National Assembly.
(AP, 4/13/16)
2016 Apr 13, Syrians in government-controlled areas cast ballots for a new 250-member parliament. Western leaders and members of Syria's opposition have denounced the vote as a sham and a provocation that undermines the Geneva peace talks. Syria's ruling Baath party and its allies won a majority of seats in parliamentary elections across government-held parts of the country.
(AP, 4/13/16)(AFP, 4/17/16)
2016 Apr 13, In Thailand an elderly British couple (65 and 68) and their son (43) were savagely attacked and beaten unconscious during a family vacation in Hua, Hin. The attack was captured on video. On April 28 police said they have arrested the four suspected attackers. On May 23 the attackers were sentenced to two years in prison.
(AP, 4/28/16)(AP, 6/6/16)
2016 Apr 13, Turkey's armed forces launched new artillery strikes on jihadist positions in Syria, after three days of deadly fire on a Turkish border town that has left residents on edge.
(AFP, 4/13/16)
2016 Apr 13, Local ceasefire monitors arrived at three Yemeni provinces to consolidate a shaky truce, ahead of UN-sponsored peace talks scheduled to start in Kuwait next week.
(Reuters, 4/13/16)
2016 Apr 14, In Colorado police and federal agents arrested more than 40 people and seized piles of pot plants during raids throughout the Denver area, part of a multistate investigation into the illegal distribution of marijuana outside Colorado.
(SFC, 4/15/16, p.A7)
2016 Apr 14, In Kentucky eight black men won a $5.3 million jury award in a lawsuit over claims that they endured a hostile work environment at a UPS in Lexington.
(SFC, 4/15/16, p.A7)
2016 Apr 14, Azerbaijan said one of its soldiers had been killed in fighting over the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh.
(Reuters, 4/14/16)
2016 Apr 14, Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Spain agreed to share information on company ownership to make it harder for criminals and tax cheats to avoid the law.
(SFC, 4/16/16, p.A2)
2016 Apr 14, A Burundi soldier was killed when an armed group attacked a military camp northwest of Bujumbura.
(Reuters, 4/14/16)
2016 Apr 14, Canada introduced an assisted dying law that will only apply to citizens and residents for adults, 18 or older, suffering intolerably and in an advanced state of irreversible decline of capability.
(SFC, 4/15/16, p.A2)
2016 Apr 14, In the Canary Islands a four-story apartment building collapsed in Arona, near the beach on the island of Tenerife. At least 6 people were killed and one resident remained missing.
(AP, 4/16/16)
2016 Apr 14, Chinese human rights lawyer Pu Zhiqiang posted a photo of a letter from the Beijing City Legal Affairs Department to his micro-blog that said his law license was pulled in accordance with regulations. It cited his conviction in December for disturbing public order and inciting ethnic hatred.
(AP, 4/14/16)
2016 Apr 14, The Czech Republic's leaders chose "Czechia" as the one-word alternative name of their country to make it easier for companies, politicians and sportsmen to use on products, name tags and jerseys. On April 12 foreign minister Lubomir Zaoralek had suggested English speakers should begin referring to the Czech Rep. as Czechia. The first use of the English term Czechia came in 1841 in an encyclopedia written by two English churchmen.
(Reuters, 4/15/16)(Econ, 4/23/16, p.43)(Econ, 4/30/16, p.13)
2016 Apr 14, In El Salvador the body of Julio Torres, the mayor of San Dionisio, was found a day after he was reported missing in an area controlled by gangs.
(SFC, 4/15/16, p.A2)
2016 Apr 14, The European Parliament voted to force airlines to share passenger information with EU countries to help detect jihadists, ending five years of debate that intensified after the Paris and Brussels attacks.
(AFP, 4/14/16)
2016 Apr 14, German Chancellor Angela Merkel's ruling coalition agreed on sweeping measures to spur the integration of migrants and refugees in a "historic" first for a country that long resisted embracing immigration. The government agreed to require migrants granted residence rights to show willingness to integrate by learning German and seeking work or see their benefits cut.
(AFP, 4/14/16)(Reuters, 4/14/16)
2016 Apr 14, Iraqi lawmakers voted to remove the parliament speaker and his deputies from office, increasing political turmoil as the country battles jihadists and struggles with a financial crisis.
(AFP, 4/14/16)
2016 Apr 14, Israeli campaigners said Israel has approved plans for more than 200 new settler homes in the occupied West Bank, adding to a sharp increase in settlement projects so far this year. The government disputed the claim, saying nearly all approvals involved "upgrading existing structures" and not new construction, without providing a more detailed breakdown.
(AFP, 4/14/16)
2016 Apr 14, In southern Japan an earthquake of magnitude 6.2 struck 11 km (7 miles) east of Kumamoto, bringing down some buildings. 9 people were killed. More than 100 aftershocks continued to rattle the region.
(Reuters, 4/14/16)(AP, 4/15/16)(AFP, 4/16/16)
2016 Apr 14, Ambassadors to Libya from France, Britain and Spain arrived in Tripoli, reiterating the international community's support for the new unity government and pledging to reopen embassies closed two years ago because of the fighting.
(AP, 4/14/16)
2016 Apr 14, In Macedonia thousands joined antigovernment protests for a third consecutive night demanding the resignation of Pres. Gjorge Ivanov for pardons issued earlier this week for members of the previous government.
(SFC, 4/15/16, p.A2)
2016 Apr 14, A Palestinian armed with an axe attacked an Israeli soldier in the occupied West Bank and was shot dead, ending a three-week lull in deadly incidents.
(AFP, 4/14/16)
2016 Apr 14, Russia's Federal Security Service and tax inspectors searched the offices of Mikhail Prokhorov, a tycoon whose newspaper has published revelations about people close to Vladimir Putin.
(Reuters, 4/14/16)
2016 Apr 14, Saudi Arabia for the first time publicly confirmed Malaysia's claim that $681 million in PM Najib Razak's bank accounts was a donation from the Saudi royal family, countering accusations that the money was siphoned from heavily indebted state investment fund 1MDB.
(AP, 4/15/16)
2016 Apr 14, Saudi Civil Defense said rains and flooding have killed 18 people throughout the country and 915 had to be rescued from inside their vehicles.
(Reuters, 4/14/16)
2016 Apr 14, Syria's army backed by Russian warplanes launched an assault north of Aleppo, threatening to block a vital rebel route into the city in fighting that has cast new clouds over Geneva peace talks.
(Reuters, 4/14/16)
2016 Apr 14, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Muslim nations have agreed to establish a Turkey-based body to fight terrorism, as he urged the countries' leaders to examine the root causes of the migration crisis.
(AP, 4/14/16)
2016 Apr 14, Ukraine's parliament appointed pro-Western speaker Volodymyr Groysman (38) as prime minister in a bid to end months of political gridlock and unlock vital aid to the war torn-state.
(AFP, 4/14/16)
2016 Apr 14, An earthquake of magnitude 6.2 struck 133 km (83 miles) northwest of the Pacific island nation of Vanuatu.
(Reuters, 4/14/16)
2016 Apr 14, Yemeni officials said heavy rainfall in several parts of the country has caused widespread flooding and the collapse of small dams, including one in Hajja province northeast of the capital, Sanaa.
(AP, 4/14/16)
2016 Apr 14, Demonstrators in Zimbabwe held the largest protest against President Robert Mugabe in nearly a decade, marching through central Harare demanding that the 92-year-old leader make a dignified exit.
(AFP, 4/14/16)
2016 Apr 15, It was reported that San Francisco will begin requiring some 37,000 Lyft and Uber drivers who work in the city seven or more days a year to obtain a $91 annual business license.
(SFC, 4/15/16, p.A1)
2016 Apr 15, In Florida an endangered Malayan tiger attacked and killed zookeeper Stacey Konwiser (38) in its Palm Beach Zoo enclosure as the woman prepared to give a talk to visitors.
(AFP, 4/16/16)
2016 Apr 15, Bolivian President Evo Morales met with Pope Francis before attending a Vatican conference on social and economic justice. During the audience, Morales presented Francis with three books: "Coca, a bio-bank," ''Coca, citogenic diet" and "Coca, the anti-obesity factor."
(AP, 4/15/16)
2016 Apr 15, Burundi announced that almost 700 soldiers were to be forced to retire. Almost all of them served in the army when it was an entirely Tutsi institution.
(Econ, 4/23/16, p.37)
2016 Apr 15, Egyptian security forces fired tear gas while thousands gathered in downtown Cairo chanting "leave, leave!" while protesting President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi's decision to hand over two Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia, in the first significant wave of street protests since the former army chief became president in 2014.
(AP, 4/15/16)
2016 Apr 15, France's top administrative court overturned a 2014 ban on a type of genetically modified (GMO) maize in a symbolic victory for GMO supporters that will not allow such crops to be grown in France because of subsequent legislation reinforcing the ban.
(Reuters, 4/15/16)
2016 Apr 15, Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel called a short-notice news conference to personally announce that her government had granted Turkey's request to let prosecutors examine a criminal complaint against Jan Boehmermann. the comic for writing an intentionally offensive poem about Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Under German law, the government has to grant permission before prosecutors can consider whether to press charges against someone for the crime of insulting a foreign head of state.
(AP, 4/16/16)
2016 Apr 15, India said it had suspended the diplomatic passport of embattled tycoon and lawmaker Vijay Mallya, who left the country last March 2 amid pressure from lenders to repay about $1.4 billion in debt owed by his defunct Kingfisher Airlines. On April 18 a Mumbai court issued a warrant for his arrest. In July the airline said its books had vanished.
(Reuters, 4/15/16)(Econ, 4/23/16, p.56)(Econ, 7/9/16, p.55)
2016 Apr 15, New Delhi imposed driving restrictions that will take around a million cars off its roads for the second time this year, seeking to improve air quality in the world's most polluted capital.
(AFP, 4/15/16)
2016 Apr 15, Macedonian President Gjorge Ivanov said he stood by his decision to grant pardons to 56 officials in a wire-tapping scandal despite days of street protests and mounting national and international calls to change his mind. The amnesty granted by Ivanov this week prevents the 56 government and opposition officials from being investigated over revelations of a vast wire-tapping operation that has caused a long-running political crisis in the Balkan nation.
(Reuters, 4/15/16)
2016 Apr 15, Malaysia deported 20 Taiwanese criminal suspects to Taiwan despite Beijing's request that they be sent to China, amid an ongoing battle over jurisdiction involving the self-ruled island. A Malaysia official said another 32 Taiwanese wire fraud suspects sought by China also will be sent to Taiwan.
(AP, 4/15/16)
2016 Apr 15, Malian photographer Malick Sidibe (80) died. He had won international acclaim with his vibrant black-and-white images which captured daily life in his native country.
(AFP, 4/17/16)
2016 Apr 15, The IMF said it suspended lending to Mozambique for failing to disclose some $1.4 billion of hidden debts.
(http://tinyurl.com/y77l7neo)(Econ 6/17/17, p.67)
2016 Apr 15, A North Korea missile launch meant to celebrate the birthday of the country’s founder ended in failure, an embarrassing setback in what was reportedly the inaugural test of a new, powerful mid-range missile.
(AP, 4/15/16)
2016 Apr 15, In the southern Philippines Islamist militants seized four Indonesian crew of a tugboat off Sitangkay Island in Tawi-tawi, the third attack on slow moving vessels in about a month. On nearby Jolo island, militants gave a final deadline on April 25 for payment of 300 million pesos ($6.50 million) ransom for each of the two Canadians and a Norwegian captive or they will behead the three foreign captives.
(Reuters, 4/16/16)
2016 Apr 15, Serbian police detained 49 people, including officials from ministries and state-owned firms, on suspicion of corruption and abuse of office as part of an anti-graft drive that has gained momentum before this month's election.
(Reuters, 4/15/16)
2016 Apr 15, Ethnic Murle gunmen from South Sudan killed 208 people and kidnapped 102 children in a cross-border raid on the Nuer tribe in Ethiopia.
(AFP, 4/17/16)(AFP, 4/18/16)
2016 Apr 15, In Syria fierce fighting raged around Aleppo as a surge in violence forced tens of thousands more to flee their homes, overshadowing the latest round of peace talks in Geneva. Syrian government air strikes hit rebel-held areas north of Homs for a second day, forcing authorities to cancel Friday prayers for the first time in six months.
(AFP, 4/15/16)(Reuters, 4/15/16)
2016 Apr 15, In Uruguay a powerful tornado swept over the small city of Dolores, ripping up houses, hurling cars into the air and killing at least four people.
(AP, 4/16/16)
2016 Apr 15, In Vietnam 9 sixth-grade boys from the same class drowned after going for a swim in Tra Khuc river in central province of Quang Ngai.
(AP, 4/15/16)
2016 Apr 15, Yemeni government troops newly-trained by a Saudi-led coalition routed al-Qaida militants from Houta, the capital of Lahj province, and arrested dozens of militants. The assault came as coalition helicopters and US drones launched a series of airstrikes targeting al-Qaida hideouts and strongholds across the southern region.
(AP, 4/15/16)
2016 Apr 16, The US Pentagon said nine more prisoners have been released from Guantanamo Bay and sent to Saudi Arabia for resettlement. 80 prisoners were now left including 26 men cleared and expected to be released by the end of summer.
(SSFC, 4/17/16, p.A3)
2016 Apr 16, Bernie Sanders, US Democratic presidential hopeful, held a private meeting with Pope Francis just before the pope traveled to meet migrants on the Greek island of Lesbos.
(AFP, 4/16/16)
2016 Apr 16, Afghan security forces drove back Taliban insurgents attacking areas around the northern city of Kunduz, after heavy fighting overnight in which 40 Taliban fighters were killed and around 50 wounded.
(Reuters, 4/16/16)
2016 Apr 16, In Burundi 4 members of the country's ruling party were killed in an attack in continuing violence associated with the extended tenure of Pres. Pierre Nkurunziza.
(AP, 4/17/16)
2016 Apr 16, In Ecuador a magnitude 7.8 earthquake killed 660 people, caused devastation in coastal towns and left an unknown number trapped in ruins. More than 700 aftershocks soon followed.
(Reuters, 4/17/16)(AFP, 4/23/16)(SFC, 5/17/16, p.A2)
2016 Apr 16, In southern Egypt 8 people were killed when a vehicle crashed into a passing train in Aswan province.
(AFP, 4/16/16)
2016 Apr 16, French President Francois Hollande arrived in Beirut at the start of a regional tour that will take him to Egypt and Jordan.
(AP, 4/16/16)
2016 Apr 16, The French and German foreign ministers arrived in Libya for talks with the head of the unity government Fayaz Seraj to offer support as he seeks to stabilize the North African state.
(Reuters, 4/16/16)
2016 Apr 16, French police arrested twenty-two people in Paris during overnight clashes at a demonstration over labor reforms seen as threatening workers' rights.
(AFP, 4/16/16)
2016 Apr 16, Pope Francis brought a message of hope to thousands of people facing expulsion from Greece as he slammed the world community for failing to end the wars fueling the crisis. Francis returned hom with three families of Syrian refugees.
(AFP, 4/16/16)(Reuters, 4/16/16)
2016 Apr 16, Just 41 people were saved by a passing merchant ship and brought to Greece. Up to 500 people are believed to have died, when an overcrowded boat sank in the southern Mediterranean.
(Reuters, 4/22/16)
2016 Apr 16, Conservationists said representatives from 13 Asian countries, meeting in New Delhi this week, have agreed to do more to protect tiger habitats.
(SFC, 4/16/16, p.A2)
2016 Apr 16, Iraqi lawmakers postponed a vote to oust speaker Selim al-Jabouri after failing to reach a quorum in their second failed attempt this week, part of a stalled effort to remove top officials who the parliamentarians accuse of failing to combat corruption and mismanagement.
(AP, 4/16/16)
2016 Apr 16, In southern Japan a magnitude 7.3 earthquake killed at least 32 people just two days after a 6.2 quake. The death from the two quakes rose to 41 and scores of people were feared buried alive. 11 people remained missing.
(AFP, 4/16/16)(Reuters, 4/17/16)
2016 Apr 16, Mali's special forces arrested Alou Doumbia (32), the suspected "Number Two" of a group of Islamists accused of carrying out an attack last month on Ivory Coast's Grand Bassam resort that left 19 dead. The brains of the operation, Kounta Dallah, was still at large, and is suspected of both organizing and taking part in the attack, as well as appointing Doumbia to his role.
(AFP, 4/17/16)
2016 Apr 16, Pakistan's army took over an operation to dislodge a criminal gang holding 24 hostages from a 10 kms (6 mile) long island in the center of the Indus River in Punjab province. The security operation involving more than 1,600 security forces was now in its eleventh day. At least 6 police officials have been killed in the battle for the island.
(Reuters, 4/16/16)
2016 Apr 16, In Papua New Guinea Matthew Damaru, the head of the police anti-corruption unit, was sacked after arresting several high-profile figures close to the government. Officers from his unit last week arrested the attorney general and a Supreme Court judge on charges of corruption. A lawyer working for PM Peter O'Neill was also arrested on charges of perverting the course of justice.
(Reuters, 4/16/16)
2016 Apr 16, In Saudi Arabia a fire at a chemical plant in al-Jubail killed 12 people.
(SSFC, 4/17/16, p.A3)
2016 Apr 16, In Somalia the African Union peacekeeping mission (AMISOM) accidentally killed 4 civilians after soldiers mistook them for Shebab fighters when they failed to stop at a roadblock in the area of Buulo Mareer in the Lower Shebelle region.
(AFP, 4/17/16)
2016 Apr 16, In northern Syria the Islamic State group captured more than a dozen villages and hills during a fresh offensive. IS also clashed with rival insurgent groups near the border with Turkey where they have been on the offensive for days, forcing tens of thousands of residents to flee toward safer areas near Turkey. 22 civilians were killed in an exchange of fire in Aleppo.
(AP, 4/16/16)(AFP, 4/17/16)
2016 Apr 16, Taiwan released 20 fraud suspects just one day after they were deported from Malaysia, citing a lack of evidence.
(AP, 4/17/16)
2016 Apr 16, A 6.1 magnitude quake struck southeast of the Pacific island nation of Tonga, with no immediate reports of damage.
(Reuters, 4/17/16)
2016 Apr 16, In Turkey Iranian President Hassan Rouhani met with Pres. Recep Tayyip Erdogan. They vowed to boost trade between their two countries at talks following the lifting of most international sanctions on Tehran.
(AFP, 4/16/16)
2016 Apr 16, Local Yemeni committees tasked to monitor a week-old cease-fire between Yemen's internationally recognized government and Shiite rebels, agreed to begin their work on the ground at six front-lines.
(AP, 4/16/16)
2016 Apr 17, The United States and its allies conducted 26 strikes against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria over the last 24 hours.
(Reuters, 4/17/16)
2016 Apr 17, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf signed a bill legalizing a comprehensive medical marijuana program, making his state the 24th to do so.
(SFC, 4/18/16, p.A7)
2016 Apr 17, In Pennsylvania a suspect surrendered to police following a short standoff at a Philadelphia home where 3 people were found killed by shotgun blasts to the head.
(SFC, 4/18/16, p.A7)
2016 Apr 17, Afghan forces fought back a renewed series of attacks on Kunduz, killing dozens of Taliban fighters as insurgent forces stepped up their bid to retake the northern city that they captured briefly last year.
(Reuters, 4/17/16)
2016 Apr 17, Brazil’s lower house voted 367-137 in favor of impeachment sending the issue to the Senate. If a majority there votes to put Rousseff on trial, she'd be suspended while Vice President Michel Temer temporarily takes over. The exact date of the Senate vote is not known, but it's widely expected by the middle of next month.
(AP, 4/18/16)
2016 Apr 17, A Chinese spokesman criticized Taiwan after the self-ruled island released 20 fraud suspects just one day after they were deported from Malaysia, citing a lack of evidence.
(AP, 4/17/16)
2016 Apr 17, A Chinese military aircraft on patrol over the South China Sea received an emergency call to land at Fiery Cross Reef to evacuate three seriously ill workers. It was the first time China's military had publicly admitted landing an aircraft on Fiery Cross Reef.
(Reuters, 4/18/16)
2016 Apr 17, In India statewide marches in Gujarat calling for the freeing of Hardik Patel (22), a community leader who has been in jail since last October on sedition charges, turned violent in the town of Mehsana. Across the state more than 400 protesters were detained. Patel emerged overnight last year as leader of a mass movement demanding more government jobs and college places for the Patel -- or Patidar – community.
(Reuters, 4/17/16)
2016 Apr 17, In India a bus carrying members of an opera troupe plunged into a gorge killing at least 25 people in Orissa state.
(SFC, 4/18/16, p.A2)
2016 Apr 17, In eastern Indonesia rain-triggered floods and landslides left six villagers missing in a remote mountainous district of West Papua province.
(AP, 4/18/16)
2016 Apr 17, Italians voted in a referendum on the duration of offshore drilling concessions in territorial waters, as nine regional governments sought to wrestle some influence over energy policy from the central government in Rome.
(AP, 4/17/16)
2016 Apr 17, Thousands of Kuwait's oil workers began an open-ended strike in protest at plans to cut their wages, action which saw the emirate's crude production plunge.
(AFP, 4/17/16)
2016 Apr 17, Myanmar President Htin Kyaw pardoned 83 political prisoners on the country's traditional New Year Sunday, as the fledgling civilian-led administration seeks to cast off the shackles of nearly half a century of military rule.
(AFP, 4/17/16)
2016 Apr 17, In Qatar major oil producers began talks to try to reach a deal on capping production to boost prices, despite Iran's absence. Saudi Arabia blocked an agreement between OPEC and non-OPEC producers to shore up global oil prices by freezing production at January’s levels.
(AFP, 4/17/16)(Econ, 4/23/16, p.64)
2016 Apr 17, In South Africa at least 11 people were killed and 59 more injured when a bus transporting African National Congress (ANC) supporters from an election rally in Port Elizabeth overturned.
(Reuters, 4/17/16)
2016 Apr 17, Four Yemeni soldiers were killed in a suicide attack on a checkpoint near the international airport in, home to a growing jihadist presence.
(AFP, 4/17/16)
2016 Apr 18, The US said it will deploy more than 200 additional troops to Iraq and to send Apache helicopters for the first time into the fight against the Islamic State group in Iraq, the first major increase in US forces in nearly a year.
(AP, 4/18/16)
2016 Apr 18, Destiny Watford (20) of Maryland was one of six winners of this year's Goldman Environmental Prize. She was honored for her 4-year fight to stop a potentially hazardous trash incinerator from being built in her south Baltimore neighborhood of Curtis Bay.
(SFC, 4/18/16, p.C2)
2016 Apr 18, In Texas flooding in and around Houston killed at least five people and prompted mass rescues.
(AP, 4/19/16)
2016 Apr 18, Afghan officials said flash floods in northern provinces killed at least 38 people overnight.
(AP, 4/18/16)
2016 Apr 18, Cambodian Leng Ouch (42) was one of six winners of this year's Goldman Environmental Prize. He worked to uncover mass logging that devastated his homeland.
(SFC, 4/18/16, p.D1)
2016 Apr 18, China's central government said it will investigate a report that close to 500 students became sick with illnesses including cancer at a school built near recently shut chemical plants in the eastern city of Changzhou.
(AP, 4/18/16)
2016 Apr 18, It was reported that India's capital has banned chewing tobacco in an effort to lower the high incidence of mouth and throat cancers. The ban was welcomed by health activists and doctors after it was announced last week.
(AP, 4/18/16)
2016 Apr 18, The Israeli military said it has discovered and destroyed a tunnel burrowing from Gaza into Israel — the first tunnel to be discovered since Israel's 2014 war with the militant Hamas movement that runs the coastal strip.
(AP, 4/18/16)
2016 Apr 18, Lebanon's central bank governor said Beirut will abide by a US law that imposes sanctions on banks that knowingly do business with the militant Hezbollah group.
(AP, 4/18/16)
2016 Apr 18, In Mali at least one civilian was killed during a protest against the presence of UN and French troops in the Malian city of Kidal.
(AFP, 4/18/16)
2016 Apr 18, In Pakistan more than 140 rebels surrendered to government authorities in insurgency-hit Baluchistan province. The government was keen to secure the province as work begins on the $46 billion China Pakistan Economic Corridor, a project that will see a trade route built along the length of Pakistan, culminating in Baluchistan's deep-water port at Gwadar.
(Reuters, 4/19/16)
2016 Apr 18, Maxima Acuna (47) of Peru was one of six winners of this year's Goldman Environmental Prize. She was honored for stopping a potentially hazardous mine from being built in the country’s remote northern highlands.
(SFC, 4/18/16, p.C2)
2016 Apr 18, Puerto Rican environmental planner Luis Jorge Rivera Herrera was one of six winners of this year's Goldman Environmental Prize. He fought to protect 3,000 acres (1,200 hectares) of coastal land that has long lured developers to the US territory.
(AP, 4/18/16)
2016 Apr 18, Zuzana Caputova (42) of Slovakia was one of six winners of this year's Goldman Environmental Prize. She was recognized for her efforts stopping foreign trash facilities from being built in her country.
(SFC, 4/18/16, p.C2)
2016 Apr 18, Syrian rebel groups announced a new battle against government forces, a sign of escalating violence that has undermined a ceasefire deal and threatens to derail UN-led peace talks.
(Reuters, 4/18/16)
2016 Apr 18, Taiwan’s delegation was ejected from a meeting of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's steel committee after China complained, part of an apparent hardening of Beijing's attitude toward the island it claims as its own territory.
(AP, 4/19/16)
2016 Apr 18, Edward Loure, a native of Tanzania’s Maasai community, was one of six winners of this year's Goldman Environmental Prize. He was credited with preventing the government from stripping land from the country’s indigenous people.
(SFC, 4/18/16, p.C2)
2016 Apr 18, Authorities in Thailand said that 442 people died in traffic accidents during the just concluded traditional New Year holiday — a 21 percent rise over the same period last year despite stern efforts to curb drunken and unsafe driving.
(AP, 4/18/16)
2016 Apr 18, Turkish police detained at least 105 people, including top construction executives, in a new crackdown on supporters of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's arch foe, the US-based preacher Fethullah Gulen.
(AFP, 4/18/16)
2016 Apr 18, In Turkey rocket projectiles fired from Syria killed 4 Syrians, three of them children, in the Turkish border town of Kilis.
(AP, 4/18/16)
2016 Apr 18, A Ukrainian court sentenced two Russian servicemen captured last year to 14 years each in prison after finding them guilty of terrorism and waging a war in eastern Ukraine. The ruling opened the door to a possible prisoner swap between the two countries.
(AP, 4/18/16)
2016 Apr 18, A government-backed investment fund in the United Arab Emirates said that heavily indebted Malaysian investment fund 1MDB and the southeast Asian country's finance ministry have defaulted on more than $1.1 billion they owe.
(AP, 4/18/16)
2016 Apr 18, Yemen’s Shiite rebels backed out of UN-brokered peace talks hours before negotiations were to start.
(SFC, 4/19/16, p.A2)
2016 Apr 19, A US federal judge approved an agreement between Ferguson, Mo., and the US Justice Dept. that calls for sweeping changes in the city where Michael Brown (18) was fatally shot on Aug 9, 2014, by a police officer.
(SFC, 4/20/16, p.A7)
2016 Apr 19, District of Columbia law makers voted to enact a permanent ban on smoking marijuana in private clubs.
(SFC, 4/20/16, p.A6)
2016 Apr 19, Intel said it would cut 12,000 jobs, about 11% of its workforce, as demand for personal computers continued to fall.
(SFC, 4/20/16, p.C6)
2016 Apr 19, In Afghanistan Taliban attackers staged an assault on a government security agency in Kabul, killing 64 people and wounding more than 320.
(AP, 4/19/16)(AP, 4/20/16)
2016 Apr 19, A soldier from the Armenian-backed Nagorno-Karabakh region was reportedly killed by gunfire from Azerbaijan.
(Reuters, 4/18/16)
2016 Apr 19, Australian scientists said coral bleaching has been detected in Sydney Harbour for the first time, blaming the damaging phenomenon also found in the Great Barrier Reef on warming sea-surface temperatures.
(AFP, 4/19/16)
2016 Apr 19, Chile’s former Pres. Patricio Aylwin (97) died. He ruled from 1990 to 1994 and was the country’s first elected president following 17 years of brutal dictatorship.
(SFC, 4/20/16, p.A2)
2016 Apr 19, China’s state broadcaster CCTV said Huang Yu (41), a former computer technician at a Chinese research firm specializing in encryption, has been sentenced to death for selling 150,000 classified documents that revealed key secrets about military and government data encryption to an unidentified foreign spy agency.
(AP, 4/19/16)
2016 Apr 19, In Egypt a riot erupted in a Cairo suburb after a policeman shot three people after an argument over the price of a cup of tea, killing one of them. On Nov 16 a court sentenced the policeman to life in prison.
(Reuters, 4/19/16)(AP, 11/16/16)
2016 Apr 19, Germany asked Belgium to take two nuclear reactors temporarily off the grid while questions about their safety are cleared up, an unusual diplomatic move that underscores German concerns about the plants.
(Reuters, 4/20/16)
2016 Apr 19, Indian officials said weeks of sweltering temperatures have caused more than 160 deaths in southern and eastern India.
(AP, 4/20/16)
2016 Apr 19, Indonesia said it has called for joint maritime patrols with the Philippines and Malaysia, after a spate of kidnappings in waters near the southern Philippines by suspected militants.
(Reuters, 4/19/16)
2016 Apr 19, In Iraq arrested Islamic State militants led authorities to two mass graves inside the soccer stadium in Ramadi containing up to 40 bodies.
(SFC, 4/22/16, p.A2)
2016 Apr 19, Israeli actress Ronit Elkabetz (51) died after battling cancer. She helped bring her country's films to the world and became a star in France. Her films included "The Girl on the Train" alongside Catherine Deneuve and "Ashes and Blood".
(AFP, 4/19/16)
2016 Apr 19, Japan's southern quake-hit area was rattled by a strong aftershock and searchers found a woman's body buried under landslide rubble. The death toll soon rose to 48 from two powerful earthquakes last week. Three people remained missing.
(AP, 4/19/16)(AP, 4/20/16)
2016 Apr 19, In northwestern Pakistan a suicide bomber detonated his explosive device outside a government tax office in the city of Mardan, killing at least one person and wounding nine others. Hours after the attack, Ahsanullah Ahsan, a spokesman for the Jamat-ul-Ahrar militant group, claimed responsibility.
(AP, 4/19/16)
2016 Apr 19, Swiss snowboarder Estelle Balet (21) was been killed in an avalanche while filming above Orsieres, near Switzerland's southern border with France and Italy.
(AP, 4/19/16)
2016 Apr 19, In Syria bombing by government forces killed 50 people in two towns of Idlib province.
(Econ, 4/23/16, p.40)
2016 Apr 19, Turkish authorities detained 38 people suspected of "framing" soccer team Fenerbahce's players and directors in a match-fixing investigation in 2011.
(AP, 4/19/16)
2016 Apr 19, President Petro Poroshenko said Ukraine has reached a deal with Russia to free a jailed Ukrainian pilot, suggesting that she will be swapped for two Russian servicemen jailed in Ukraine this week.
(AP, 4/19/16)
2016 Apr 20, US Treasury Secretary Jack Lew announced that abolitionist and women’s rights crusader Harriet Tubman (~1822-1913) will replace Andrew Jackson on the front of the $20 bill.
(SFC, 4/20/16, p.A1)
2016 Apr 20, It was reported that Volkswagen and the US government have reached a deal in principle for the automaker to spend over $1 billion to compensate owners of about 600,000 diesel cars that cheat on emissions tests.
(SFC, 4/20/16, p.C5)
2016 Apr 20, In San Francisco the annual 4/20 marijuana celebration in Golden Gate Park attracted some 15,000 people. They left an estimated 22,000 pounds of trash.
(SFC, 4/22/16, p.A1)
2016 Apr 20, Australian local media said it will cost an estimated A$93 million ($72.68 million) to begin the clean-up of environmental damage at the bankrupt Yabulu nickel refinery in the country's northeast near the Great Barrier Reef.
(Reuters, 4/20/16)
2016 Apr 20, In Belize Julio Rene Alvarado Ruano (13) of Guatemala was killed in a shooting incident apparently involving Belizean soldiers on the Guatemala border.
(AP, 4/22/16)
2016 Apr 20, In Burundi gunmen ambushed Colonel Emmanuel Buzubona as he traveled on the back of a motorbike to his home in Bujumbura. Soldiers on patrol killed two people in a clash with an armed group in Kivumu village in Mugamba southern district, 60 km southeast of Bujumbura.
(Reuters, 4/21/16)
2016 Apr 20, China's statistics bureau said in estimates published today that the mainland population reached 1.373 billion at the beginning of November, up 33.77 million since the last census was held in 2010.
(Reuters, 4/20/16)
2016 Apr 20, In southeastern Congo DRC police fired tear gas to disperse hundreds of anti-government protesters in Lubumbashi, who accused security forces of vandalizing posters of opposition leaders.
(Reuters, 4/20/16)
2016 Apr 20, President Rafael Correa said Ecuador will temporarily increase some taxes, sell assets, and may issue new bonds on the international market to fund a multi-billion dollar reconstruction after a devastating 7.8 magnitude quake. The death toll from the weekend earthquake neared 600.
(Reuters, 4/21/16)
2016 Apr 20, A 6.1-magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Ecuador.
(AFP, 4/20/16)
2016 Apr 20, In Hungary nearly 25,000 of about 150,000 teachers in some 1,200 of 5,000 schools walked out on a one-day strike to demand more freedom, more financing and lighter workloads for themselves and their students. Teachers have been protesting for months against moves by the right-wing government of PM Viktor Orban to strip schools of much of their autonomy and increase central planning and management.
(Reuters, 4/20/16)
2016 Apr 20, Israeli police said they had arrested diamond dealer Hanan Abramovici, head of Hanan Abramovici Diamonds Ltd., on suspicion of embezzlement after a complaint was filed by members of the Israel Diamond Exchange (IDE).
(Reuters, 4/20/16)
2016 Apr 20, In Israel a young Hamas militant (19), from Beit Jala near Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank, died from his wounds following an April 18 “suicide attack" on a bus that left 20 people wounded.
(AFP, 4/21/16)
2016 Apr 20, Japan-based Mitsubishi Motors admitted that it had used improper methods to test the fuel economy of cars sold in Japan for 25 years.
(SFC, 4/27/16, p.C6)(Econ, 4/30/16, p.58)
2016 Apr 20, An earthquake measuring 6.1 magnitude struck off northeastern Japan.
(Reuters, 4/20/16)
2016 Apr 20, Laos, one of the world's last communist nations, elected its top government leaders at a meeting of its newly seated National Assembly.
(AP, 4/20/16)
2016 Apr 20, In Mexico an accidental leak caused a deadly petrochemical plant blast near the port of Coatzacoalcos killed at least 13 people. The death toll soon rose to 32.
(Reuters, 4/21/16)(AP, 4/23/16)(SFC, 4/26/16, p.A2)
2016 Apr 20, A Dutch court quashed a $50 billion award Russia had been ordered to pay the former majority shareholders of Yukos, a major win for Moscow in the high-stakes dispute over the dismantling of what was once Russia's largest oil producer. The Dutch court said a Hague-based arbitration panel in 2014 did not have jurisdiction to rule in the case because the arbitration was based on an energy treaty that Russia had signed but had not ratified.
(AP, 4/20/16)
2016 Apr 20, In northeastern Nigeria two female suicide bombers killed at least 8 people in Banki at a camp for people displaced by the jihadist Boko Haram insurgency. Suspected Boko Haram gunmen on horseback killed at least 11 people overnight in Zango village, Yobo state.
(Reuters, 4/21/16)(AFP, 4/21/16)
2016 Apr 20, Norwegian mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik won his lawsuit against the state over his "inhuman" solitary confinement in prison. The court concluded that the prison conditions constitute inhuman treatment.
(Reuters, 4/20/16)
2016 Apr 20, In Pakistan gunmen on motorcycles shot and killed 7 police officers involved in a polio vaccination campaign in two separate attacks in Karachi.
(AP, 4/20/16)
2016 Apr 20, In the Philippines government agents arrested a suspected hacker (23) at his home in Manila. A hacker group had defaced the website of the election commission last month and a 2nd group posted the entire election database online.
(SFC, 4/23/16, p.A3)
2016 Apr 20, In Saudi Arabia President Barack Obama held talks with King Salman as he began a two-day visit hoping to ease tensions with the historic US ally.
(AFP, 4/20/16)
2016 Apr 20, In north-eastern Syria 2 members of the Syrian Kurdish security force, known as the Asayish, were killed after being targeted by government forces in Qamishli.
(Reuters, 4/20/16)
2016 Apr 20, Turkish warplanes struck militant Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) targets in northern Iraq.
(Reuters, 4/20/16)
2016 Apr 20, The Abdulla al-Ghurair Foundation for Education from the United Arab Emirates launched the Arab world's largest education fund, setting aside $1.14 billion (4.2 billion dirhams) in grants for underserved youth from the region.
(AP, 4/20/16)
2016 Apr 20, Negotiators from Yemen's Houthi group and their allies left Sanaa for delayed peace talks in Kuwait after a dispute over a shaky ceasefire was resolved.
(Reuters, 4/20/16)
2016 Apr 20, Zambia police said they have arrested over 250 people for allegedly attacking Rwandan nationals and looting their shops in Lusaka. The violence, which began on April 18, left two Zambians dead.
(AP, 4/20/16)
2016 Apr 20, The Zimbabwean government suspended Harare Mayor Bernard Manyenyeni accusing him of insubordination, escalating a struggle for control of the capital which has been run by the opposition since 2002.
(Reuters, 4/21/16)
2016 Apr 21, The White House said the US and Gulf Arab allies have agreed to various security initiatives designed to defeat the Islamic State group as well as to counter Iran's actions in the region as Pres. Obama continued meeting with top officials from six Arab nations in Saudi Arabia.
(AP, 4/21/16)
2016 Apr 21, In San Francisco sex trafficker Jamar Geeter (29) was sentenced to 97 years to life in prison for sexually trafficking two girls ages 14 and 16.
(SFC, 4/22/16, p.D1)
2016 Apr 21, Ride-hailing app Uber settled two class-action lawsuits by drivers in California, and Massachusetts. The drivers remained as independent contractors but would be able to form a “driver’s association" to air concerns.
(Econ, 4/30/16, p.61)
2016 Apr 21, The Swiss-made Solar Impulse took off from Hawaii on course to land in Mountain View, Ca. in about 3 days on the 9th leg of its circumnavigation.
(SFC, 4/22/16, p.A8)
2016 Apr 21, Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker unveiled a plan to offer rebates to qualifying students who begin their studies at a community college and go on to earn a bachelor’s degree at a state university.
(SFC, 4/22/16, p.A6)
2016 Apr 21, Prince Rogers Nelson (57), singer, songwriter, arranger and instrumentalist, died at his home in Minnesota. His records sold more than 100 million copies and earned him Grammys and an Academy Award.
(AP, 4/22/16)
2016 Apr 21, Former Albanian PM Sali Berisha called on citizens to arm themselves, saying the government is failing to confront crime.
(AP, 4/21/16)
2016 Apr 21, In Brazil a new elevated bike path collapsed in Rio de Janeiro killing at least 2 people.
(SFC, 4/22/16, p.A2)
2016 Apr 21, China’s ruling Communist Party's anti-graft watchdog said Gong Qinggai, a former deputy head of China's Taiwan Affairs Office, will be prosecuted for "serious discipline violations".
(Reuters, 4/21/16)
2016 Apr 21, Egyptian security forces rounded up dozens of activists, journalists, and lawyers ahead of demonstrations called for April 25 against President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi's policies, including the transfer of two Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia.
(AP, 4/22/16)
2016 Apr 21, The militant Hamas group deployed forces along the Egypt-Gaza border to counter Cairo's concerns that it is aiding Islamic State extremists in Egypt's lawless Sinai Peninsula.
(AP, 4/21/16)
2016 Apr 21, Ethiopian troops were operating in South Sudan after crossing the border to rescue some 125 Ethiopian children who were kidnapped during a bloody cattle raid. Top officials from both countries sought to coordinate their efforts.
(AP, 4/21/16)
2016 Apr 21, European Union Commissioner Johannes Hahn said on a visit to Kiev that the new Ukrainian government must use its first 100 days in office to implement reforms needed to secure 600 million euros in new aid.
(Reuters, 4/21/16)
2016 Apr 21, In Greece two men who were among 41 people picked up over the weekend from a boat found adrift in the Mediterranean Sea described surviving what they say was a shipwreck last week that might have killed up to 500 people.
(AP, 4/21/16)
2016 Apr 21, In Libya military forces loyal to the eastern government said they had carried out air strikes overnight against Islamist fighters in Derna after Islamic State militants retreated from positions close to the city.
(Reuters, 4/21/16)
2016 Apr 21, Malian security arrested Mauritanian man in Bamako suspected of planning and carrying out deadly attacks on popular tourist venues in Mali last year.
(AFP, 4/22/16)
2016 Apr 21, Pakistan arrested al Qaeda operative Abdur Rehman Sindhi in a joint operation between police and intelligence agencies in Karachi.
(AP, 4/22/16)(AP, 4/25/16)
2016 Apr 21, In Syria at least 40 pro-Syrian government fighters surrendered to Kurdish forces in the city of Qamishli in mostly Kurdish-controlled Hasaka province.
(Reuters, 4/21/16)
2016 Apr 21, Turkey's supreme court of appeals overturned the convictions of 275 people, including a former military chief, who allegedly plotted to overthrow the country's Islamist-leaning government. The decision opens the way for a re-trial and their possible acquittal.
(AP, 4/21/16)
2016 Apr 21, Turkish warplanes struck militant Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) targets in southeastern Turkey.
(Reuters, 4/21/16)
2016 Apr 21, Vietnam said it was investigating whether pollution is to blame for a spate of mysterious mass fish deaths along the country's central coast after huge amounts of marine life washed ashore in recent days.
(AFP, 4/21/16)
2016 Apr 22, The US military acknowledged that its air strikes killed 20 civilians in Iraq and Syria between Sep 10, 2015, and Feb 2, 2016. Six of the strikes were in Iraq and three were in Syria.
(SFC, 4/23/16, p.A2)
2016 Apr 22, Leaders from 175 states gathered at the UN on Earth Day to sign the Paris climate deal, a record turn-out that boosted hopes of quick action on combating global warming. The Paris agreement will come into force as soon as 55 countries responsible for 55 percent of the world's greenhouse gases have ratified the accord.
(AFP, 4/22/16)(SFC, 4/23/16, p.A3)
2016 Apr 22, In Ohio 8 members of the Rhoden family were fatally shot in the head in four homes in Piketon. Police found marijuana growing operations at three of the four homes. In 2018 a grand jury indicted a family of four for the killings.
(SFC, 4/23/16, p.A4)(SFC, 4/25/16, p.A6)(SFC, 11/14/18, p.A5)
2016 Apr 22, Foreign ministers of Albania, Bulgaria, Greece and Macedonia said they will work to improve coordination along southern Europe's migrant trial.
(AP, 4/22/16)
2016 Apr 22, In Australia Greens MP Jeremy Buckingham posted a video on Facebook showing him set fire to the Condamine River in Queensland, to draw attention to methane gas he says is seeping into the water due to fracking. The dramatic video quickly attracted more than two millions views.
(AFP, 4/24/16)
2016 Apr 22, Bank of England governor Mark Carney announced that artist J. M. W. Turner will appear on the new £20 note.
(AFP, 4/22/16)
2016 Apr 22, Cuban state media announced the loosening of a policy banning Cuban-born people from arriving by sea, allowing Carnival Corp. to go forward with the first US cruise to the island in a half-century.
(AP, 4/22/16)
2016 Apr 22, The World Bank said it would lend Ecuador $150 million to speed up assistance to victims of last week's major earthquake that devastated large areas of the country's northern coast.
(Reuters, 4/22/16)
2016 Apr 22, The European Broadcasting Union said Romania has been barred from this year's Eurovision Song Contest for failing to pay millions in debts to the EBU.
(AFP, 4/22/16)
2016 Apr 22, In Germany more than 20,000 demonstrators turned out in Hannover to protest the planned US-Europe free trade agreement (TTIP), a day before the arrival of President Barack Obama.
(AP, 4/23/16)
2016 Apr 22, A German government source said around 630,000 Audi, Mercedes, Opel, Porsche and Volkswagen cars are to be recalled in Europe owing to irregularities in their emission of pollutants.
(AFP, 4/22/16)
2016 Apr 22, Germany-based Volkswagen announced a 4.1 billion euros ($4.6 billion) operating loss for 2015 as Europe's largest automaker took a 16.2 billion euros hit to pay for its diesel emissions test-rigging scandal.
(Reuters, 4/22/16)
2016 Apr 22, In northeastern India torrential rains triggered a mudslide that buried a labor camp bordering China in Arunachal Pradesh state, killing 17 people.
(AP, 4/22/16)
2016 Apr 22, In eastern India a fire killed 12 people who were sleeping after they attended a wedding in a village in Bihar state.
(AP, 4/22/16)
2016 Apr 22, In Iraq a suicide bomb attack claimed by Islamic State killed at least 9 people following Friday prayers at a Shi'ite Muslim mosque in southwestern Baghdad. A second suicide attacker at the mosque in al-Radwaniya district was shot and killed by security forces before he could set off his explosives. A separate bomb went off in the district of Abu Ghraib, west of Baghdad, killing 2 and wounding nine.
(Reuters, 4/22/16)
2016 Apr 22, It was reported that explosives planted by Islamic State have killed dozens of Iraqi civilians who returned to Ramadi despite warnings that much of the western city remains unsafe nearly four months after its recapture from the militants.
(Reuters, 4/22/16)
2016 Apr 22, Japanese Transport Minister Keiichi Ishii said he wanted Mitsubishi Motors Corp to respond "with integrity" after revelations that it cheated on test to measure fuel economy, including by possibly buying back the cars in question.
(Reuters, 4/22/16)
2016 Apr 22, In Kuwait delayed peace talks aimed at ending 13 months of conflict in Yemen resumed, a day after UN mediators finally managed to get warring sides to the table.
(AFP, 4/22/16)
2016 Apr 22, Thousands of Nicaraguans marched to oppose a planned interoceanic canal that critics say threatens to displace rural communities and damage the environment. The government has calculated that it will cost $50 billion and create 50,000 direct jobs.
(AP, 4/23/16)
2016 Apr 22, The Pakistani Taliban killed Sikh lawmaker Sardar Suran Singh, an adviser to the chief minister for minority affairs in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
(AP, 4/23/16)
2016 Apr 22, Puerto Rico's financially strapped government was ordered by a federal judge to immediately pay long-overdue bills owed by the Health Department to companies that serve mentally disabled people in the US territory.
(AP, 4/22/16)
2016 Apr 22, In Syria at least 18 people were killed when airstrikes hit several rebel-held neighborhoods in Aleppo and neighboring Idlib province. Islamic State fighters captured Syrian pilot Azzam Eid after he fell by parachute near the site where his plane crashed east of Damascus.
(AP, 4/22/16)(AFP, 4/22/16)(Reuters, 4/22/16)
2016 Apr 22, In northeastern Syria regional Kurdish security forces and pro-Syrian government forces declared a ceasefire, calming a three-day outbreak of violence which killed more than 26 people.
(Reuters, 4/23/16)
2016 Apr 22, Disgraced tycoon Asil Nadir (74), jailed for stealing millions from his Polly Peck empire, was released from a Turkish prison just one night after being extradited from Britain. The Turkish Cypriot was convicted in 2012 of purloining nearly £29 million (37 million euros) -- the equivalent of more than £70 million in today's terms -- from the major UK conglomerate in the late 1980s.
(AFP, 4/22/16)
2016 Apr 22, The United Arab Emirates' official news agency reported that Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan has ordered two billion dollars of investment in Egypt, and will deposit two billion dollars in the Egyptian central bank to increase its foreign reserves.
(AP, 4/22/16)
2016 Apr 23, The United States and its allies conducted 28 strikes against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
(Reuters, 4/24/16)
2016 Apr 23, Solar Impulse 2, an experimental plane flying around the world without consuming a drop of fuel, landed in California, one leg closer to completing its trailblazing trip. Swiss adventurer Bertrand Piccard piloted the craft from Hawaii to California.
(AFP, 4/24/16)
2016 Apr 23, In San Jose, Ca., Shamina Rabbi (57) and her husband Golam Rabbi (59) were shot to death at their home at 3006 Lucas Court. Police soon arrested their sons, ages 22 and 17, as suspects. Hasib Golamrabbi said his younger brother Omar was not involved. In 2018 Hasib was convicted on two counts of first-degree murder.
(SFC, 4/28/16, p.D7)(AP, 4/29/16)(SFC, 10/26/18, p.C1)
2016 Apr 23, In Wisconsin a police officer fatally shot Jakob Wagner (18) after Wagner shot and wounded two students outside a high school prom in Antigo.
(SFC, 4/25/16, p.A5)
2016 Apr 23, In northwestern Bangladesh university professor A.F.M. Rezaul Karim Siddique was hacked to death on his way to work in an attack similar to other killings by suspected Muslim militants. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack. On May 15 police tracked down the regional commander of the group Jumatul Mujahedeen Bangladesh in the northern district of Bogra. The suspect, Maskawath Hasan Sakib, nicknamed Abdullah, confessed involvement in the attack before a magistrate, leading to the arrests of the three other suspects on May 16.
(AP, 4/23/16)(AP, 5/17/16)
2016 Apr 23, President Xi Jinping told a key meeting on religion that Chinese religious groups must obey the staunchly atheist ruling Communist Party.
(AFP, 4/24/16)
2016 Apr 23, In China police stopped five Western diplomats who were trying to visit lawyer Ni Yulan in Beijing after she had been prevented from travelling to the United States to accept an award for her rights work. Yulan was awarded the US State Department's International Women of Courage Award for her work defending people forcibly evicted from their homes.
(AP, 4/23/16)
2016 Apr 23, In Congo DRC elephant poachers killed three rangers in Garamba National Park and wounded two other people including the Swedish park manager. The poachers were believed to have come from South Sudan.
(Reuters, 4/25/16)(SFC, 5/25/16, p.A3)
2016 Apr 23, Republic of Congo's newly-reelected President Denis Sassou Nguesso named former opposition leader and one-time finance minister Clement Mouamba as his prime minister.
(AFP, 4/24/16)
2016 Apr 23, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and top European Union officials arrived near Turkey's border with Syria in a bid to bolster a troubled migration deal with Turkey as they face increasing pressure to reassess the agreement.
(AP, 4/23/16)
2016 Apr 23, Two Britons and an Indian were arrested in Hungary accused of trying to transport more than a dozen migrants illegally to Austria.
(Reuters, 4/24/16)
2016 Apr 23, Ivory Coast musician Papa Wemba (66), known around the world as the king of Congolese rumba, died following a collapse on stage during a concert. Jules Shungu Wembadio Pene Kikumba, rose to fame in the Congolese capital of Kinshasa during the 1970s with the band Zaiko Langa Langa, whose guitar-based fusion of Latin and African dance styles inspired a generation of African musicians.
(AP, 4/24/16)
2016 Apr 23, Japan’s first stealth fighter jet, a prototype called the X-2 built by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, took its maiden flight.
(CSM, 4/24/16)
2016 Apr 23, In Libya Miroslav Tomic, a Serbian maintenance engineer employed by a German company, was abducted while traveling to inspect an oil field around 1,200 km (750 miles) from Tripoli.
(Reuters, 4/26/16)
2016 Apr 23, North Korea fired a submarine-launched ballistic missile off its east coast. North Korea will hold a rare congress of its ruling Workers' Party in early May for the first time in 36 years where its leader Kim Jong Un is expected to proclaim the country was a strong military power and a nuclear state.
(Reuters, 4/23/16)
2016 Apr 23, In South Africa 49 starved and sick monkeys were rescued from filthy living conditions in a private zoo, and were whisked away to a care facility after failed attempts by the owner of Little Falls garden center to improve their living conditions.
(Reuters, 4/24/16)
2016 Apr 23, South Sudan's rebel chief Riek Machar missed an international deadline to return to Juba to become vice-president under a peace deal hoped to end war, claiming the government denied permission.
(AFP, 4/23/16)
2016 Apr 23, Syrian government strikes hit opposition-held areas near Damascus and in Aleppo. At least 27 civilian deaths were reported in regime bombardment across the country.
(AP, 4/23/16)(AFP, 4/24/16)
2016 Apr 23, In Thailand Banharn Silpa-archa (83), a provincial political powerbroker who served a scandal-ridden 16 months as prime minister in 1995-96, died.
(AP, 4/23/16)
2016 Apr 23, Turkey said six foreign nationals were taken into custody in an overnight raid against Islamic State in the central Anatolian city of Konya.
(Reuters, 4/23/16)
2016 Apr 23, Landlocked Uganda announced plans to export its future crude oil production via a new pipeline to be built to a Tanzanian port rather than via Kenya.
(AFP, 4/23/16)
2016 Apr 23, Yemeni forces backed by air power from the Saudi-led Arab coalition launched an operation to drive Al-Qaeda fighters out of Zinjibar. Dozens of fighters loyal to al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) were killed in the clashes. A drone strike killed 2 others further north.
(AFP, 4/23/16)(Reuters, 4/23/16)
2016 Apr 24, President Barack Obama opened a two-day visit to Germany hoping to counter deep public skepticism about a trans-Atlantic trade deal with Europe as the continent grapples with economic challenges, terrorism and other pressing issues.
(AP, 4/24/16)
2016 Apr 24, The United States and its allies conducted 14 strikes against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
(Reuters, 4/25/16)
2016 Apr 24, Austrians voted in the first round of a presidential election expected to mark a historic break with the cozy post-war political establishment at the hands of the anti-immigration far-right and the Greens. The anti-immigration far-right triumphed in the presidential vote. Norbert Hofer of the Freedom Party (FPOe) came a clear first with 36 percent in the first round.
(AFP, 4/24/16)(AFP, 4/25/16)
2016 Apr 24, Equatorial Guinea held elections. President Teodoro Obiang Nguema (73), was expected to extend his 36-year-hold on power in the tiny oil-rich nation.
(AFP, 4/24/16)
2016 Apr 24, Greek press unions expanded a strike to protest bailout creditor-demanded reforms of their taxpayer-funded pension fund, leaving the country without newspapers and news broadcasts for several days.
(AP, 4/25/16)
2016 Apr 24, In Iraq heavy clashes erupted between Kurdish peshmerga forces and Shiite paramilitary troops inside Tuz Khormato, a contested town north of Baghdad. A peshmerga brigadier general and another fighter and two members of Turkmen forces were among the nine people killed.
(AFP, 4/24/16)
2016 Apr 24, In Israel a liberal women's group held a special Passover prayer service at a Jerusalem holy site, drawing criticism from the site's ultra-Orthodox rabbi, who called it a "provocation." The group planned to hold an all-female "priestly blessing," a prayer typically done by men, but Israel's attorney general banned it from doing so.
(AP, 4/24/16)
2016 Apr 24, In Mexico attacks by suspected drug gangs on a police station and hotel housing federal police in Acapulco left one attacker dead and a police officer wounded.
(SFC, 4/28/16, p.A4)
2016 Apr 24, In Mexico the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (GIEI) released a 608-page report on the disappearance of a group of students from Iguala on September 26, 2014. The report suggested that one of the buses was being used to move heroin and had inadvertently been taken over by the students.
(Econ, 4/30/16, p.32)
2016 Apr 24, In Moldova some 7,000 people have staged a protest in the capital, demanding the resignation of the government and early elections.
(AP, 4/24/16)
2016 Apr 24, In Russia former police officer Andrei Gosht and five relatives were discovered dead in their home in Syzran, a village some 620 miles (1,000 km) southeast of Moscow.
(AP, 4/25/16)
2016 Apr 24, Rights group Amnesty International said a court in Saudi Arabia has sentenced Issa al-Hamid, a peaceful dissident, to nine years in prison and banned him from travel abroad for another nine years on charges related to his civil rights work. Al-Hamid was convicted of inciting people to breach public order, insulting the judiciary, defaming the kingdom's senior religious clerics and establishing an unlicensed organization.
(AP, 4/24/16)
2016 Apr 24, Serbians voted in a general election that is likely to return pro-European PM Aleksandar Vucic to power, but also give a voice in parliament to the pro-Russian far right. Serbia's incumbent pro-EU populists won a landslide victory.
(AFP, 4/24/16)(AP, 4/25/16)
2016 Apr 24, In Syria regime and rebel bombardment killed 26 civilians in Aleppo despite an increasingly troubled ceasefire.
(AFP, 4/24/16)
2016 Apr 24, In northeastern Syria, a truce document announced today showed that regional Kurdish security forces will keep territory taken from pro-Syrian government forces during a three-day outbreak of violence, with both sides to release prisoners taken during the clashes.
(Reuters, 4/24/16)
2016 Apr 24, Two rockets hit the Turkish town of Kilis near the Syrian border, wounding 16 people a day after the government promised to protect the area from repeated attacks by Islamic State militants.
(Reuters, 4/24/16)
2016 Apr 24, The Ukrainian government said three troops have been killed in the volatile eastern Ukraine over the past 24 hours. Heavy fighting forced an evacuation of workers repairing a gas main damaged by a previous attack.
(AP, 4/24/16)
2016 Apr 24, In southern Yemen a bomb-laden vehicle exploded killing 7 soldiers, where government forces backed by air power from an Arab coalition have launched an offensive against Al-Qaeda. The attack targeted an army convoy as it entered the jihadist stronghold Zinjibar.
(AFP, 4/24/16)
2016 Apr 25, President Barack Obama announced the deployment of up to 250 US military personnel to Syria, mostly special operations forces, to assist local troops trying to dislodge Islamic State extremists. He called the move essential to keeping up momentum against the group.
(AP, 4/25/16)
2016 Apr 25, The United States and its allies targeted Islamic State with 25 strikes in their latest assault against the militant group in Iraq and Syria.
(Reuters, 4/26/16)
2016 Apr 25, Afghan Taliban delegation arrived in Pakistan to meet officials in a bid to restart a stuttering peace process with Kabul.
(Reuters, 4/26/16)
2016 Apr 25, In Armenia an explosion devastated a bus Yerevan, killing two people and injuring seven. One of the passengers had reportedly quarreled with relatives and told friends that he planned to seek revenge by handing them an explosive device.
(AP, 4/26/16)
2016 Apr 25, Austria re-imposed controls on its border with Hungary, with police checking vehicles at the main regular crossings and soldiers patrolling other stretches of the border.
(AP, 4/25/16)
2016 Apr 25, In Bangladesh a gay rights activist and his friend were killed. Ansar-al-Islam, the Bangladeshi branch of al-Qaida, soon claimed responsibility. Xulhaz Mannan (35), an editor of a magazine for Bangladesh's gay and lesbian community, and fellow activist Mahbub Tonoy (25) were murdered in a Dhaka apartment by about six men carrying machetes and guns. On May 14 police arrested Shariful Islam Shihab (37), a member of the Ansarullah Bangla Team.
(AP, 4/26/16)(AFP, 5/15/16)
2016 Apr 25, In central Bulgaria 2 workers were killed in an explosion in Kazanluk at Arsenal, the country’s biggest weapons maker.
(Reuters, 4/25/16)
2016 Apr 25, In Burundi Athanase Kararuza, a Tutsi general and security advisor to the vice president, was killed in an attack by heavily-armed men, along with his wife and daughter in Bujumbura.
(AP, 4/25/16)
2016 Apr 25, In eastern Burundi nearly 30 schoolchildren and their supervisors were killed and many more injured when their truck crashed outside Musongati.
(AFP, 4/25/16)
2016 Apr 25, The New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society said Cambodia's Royal Turtle is nearly extinct, with fewer than 10 left in the wild, because increased sand dredging and illegal clearance of flooded forest have shrunk its habitat.
(AP, 4/25/16)
2016 Apr 25, In northern China a coal mine flooded in Tongchuan city, Shaanxi province, leaving 11 miners missing.
(AP, 4/25/16)
2016 Apr 25, Egyptian police fired tear gas and birdshot to disperse hundreds of demonstrators calling on President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi to step down over his government's decision to surrender control over two strategic Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia. Police arrested at least 237 people during the protests.
(AP, 4/25/16)(AP, 4/26/16)
2016 Apr 25, Kenyan police fired tear gas into a crowd of opposition leaders and their supporters as they marched on the office of the country's electoral commission to demand it disband before next year's election.
(Reuters, 4/25/16)
2016 Apr 25, Nepal's PM Khadga Prasad Oli announced the start of reconstruction of key heritage sites in and around the capital that were damaged by an earthquake that killed nearly 9,000 people and devastated the country one year ago.
(AP, 4/25/16)
2016 Apr 25, In Nigeria 20 young Fulani herdsmen descended from the hills and emerged from the palm tree forest, shooting AK-47 assault rifles in the air and waving machetes in the village of Nimbo. At least 10 people were thought to have been killed and scores injured.
(AFP, 5/17/16)
2016 Apr 25, In the Philippines Abu Sayyaf gunmen beheaded Canadian hostage John Ridsdel (68) in the southern province of Sulu, sparking condemnations and prompting Canadian PM Justin Trudeau to pledge to help the Philippines pursue the extremists behind the attack.
(AP, 4/26/16)(SFC, 4/26/16, p.A2)
2016 Apr 25, Saudi Arabia's cabinet agreed to implement a broad reform plan known as Vision 2030. Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman overseeing Saudi Arabia's economy unveiled ambitious plans aimed at ending the kingdom's "addiction" to oil. He said Riyadh would raise the capital of its public investment fund to 7 trillion riyals ($2 trillion) from 600 billion riyals ($160 billion) and would sell up to five percent of shares in state oil giant Aramco. He also announced plans to set up a holding company for military industries that would be fully owned by the government at first and listed later on the Saudi bourse.
(Reuters, 4/25/16)
2016 Apr 25, In Syria a car bomb on the outskirts of the Sayeda Zeinab district south of Damascus killed at least 6 people, the third bombing attack in the area this year.
(Reuters, 4/25/16)
2016 Apr 25, Turkey said it has deported more than 3,300 foreigners suspected of links to jihadi groups, particularly Islamic State militants, and another 41,000 foreigners have been barred from entering the country as part of its fight against the militant group.
(AP, 4/25/16)
2016 Apr 25, Turkey's military said it has destroyed Islamic State's missile launcher in Syria some 20 km from the border town of Kilis which has been repeatedly his by rockets from the border. 2 Turkish soldiers were killed and four wounded in an armed attack by Kurdish militants in the southeastern town of Nusaybin near the Syrian border.
(Reuters, 4/25/16)
2016 Apr 25, Yemeni troops recaptured Mukalla, a key port city from Al-Qaeda militants who held it for a year. More than 800 al Qaeda fighters were reported killed. At least 27 Yemeni soldiers were killed in the government offensive, backed by Saudi-led forces. A US drone struck two vehicles carrying Al-Qaeda militants near the town of Azzan -- from which the jihadists have fled -- killing nine extremists.
(AFP, 4/25/16)(Reuters, 4/25/16)(AFP, 4/27/16)
2016 Apr 26, The United States and its allies conducted 23 strikes against Islamic State in Iraq.
(Reuters, 4/27/16)
2016 Apr 26, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump were a giant step closer to their parties' presidential nominations after crushing their respective Democratic and Republican rivals in a string of presidential primaries.
(AFP, 4/27/16)
2016 Apr 26, Australian PM Malcolm Turnbull announced that France has beaten Japan and Germany to win a A$50 billion ($40 billion) deal to build a fleet of 12 submarines for Australia, one of the world's most lucrative defense contracts.
(Reuters, 4/26/16)
2016 Apr 26, Junior doctors in England staged their first ever all-out strike in a bitter, deadlocked row with PM David Cameron's government over pay and conditions. The National Health Service employs more than 50,000 junior doctors.
(AFP, 4/26/16)
2016 Apr 26, In Cape Verde a disgruntled soldier, who had gone missing, was suspected of gunning down eight soldiers and three civilians, including two Spaniards. Suspect Manuel Antonio Silva Ribeiro (22) was arrested after a 24-hour manhunt.
(AP, 4/27/16)
2016 Apr 26, The Supreme Court in the Russia-annexed peninsula Crimea banned a Crimean Tatar group in the latest step to marginalize the minority.
(AP, 4/26/16)
2016 Apr 26, French train services were severely disrupted as tens of thousands of state rail workers protested over plans to reduce rest periods and other protective work practices in preparation for Europe-wide deregulation.
(Reuters, 4/26/16)
2016 Apr 26, German government workers called short-term strikes in the run-up to wage discussions later this week. Lufthansa said it has cancelled 895 flights scheduled for April 27 from six German airports as public-sector workers doing ground handling and security checks were expected to walk off the job.
(AP, 4/26/16)
2016 Apr 26, Iranian state TV said a court has sentenced four pro-reform journalists to prison terms ranging from five to 10 years after convicting them on charges of acting against national security.
(AP, 4/26/16)
2016 Apr 26, Iraqi lawmakers threw water bottles towards Iraq's premier and chanted against the parliament speaker, impeding a planned vote on a new cabinet lineup as thousands demonstrated for reforms nearby.
(AFP, 4/26/16)
2016 Apr 26, Dutch prosecutors said the former spokesman of Geert Wilder, the far-right Dutch politician who wants to ban Muslim immigration in Europe, embezzled nearly 180,000 euros ($203,000) in party funds to finance a luxury lifestyle.
(Reuters, 4/26/16)
2016 Apr 26, Palestinian novelist Rabai al-Madhoun received the $50,000 award, known as the "Arabic Booker," for "Destinies: Concerto of the Holocaust and Nakba" in Abu Dhabi, which sponsors the competition.
(AFP, 4/27/16)
2016 Apr 26, Papua New Guinea's Supreme Court ruled that Australia's detention of asylum seekers at a facility on the Pacific nation's Manus Island is unconstitutional. A day later PM Peter O’Neill announced the detention center would be closed.
(AP, 4/26/16)(SFC, 4/28/16, p.A4)
2016 Apr 26, South Sudan rebel chief Riek Machar was sworn in as vice-president in the capital Juba as part of a peace deal aimed at ending more than two years of ferocious civil war.
(AFP, 4/26/16)
2016 Apr 26, In Syria attacks by government forces and rebels killed at least 30 people, including 8 children, in the last 24 hours in Aleppo. 5 Civil Defense workers were killed west of Aleppo by air strikes and a rocket attack on their center.
(Reuters, 4/26/16)
2016 Apr 26, In Thailand a same-sex American-Spanish couple won a high-profile custody battle against a surrogate mother who gave birth to their child but then decided she wanted to keep the baby when she found out they were gay.
(AP, 4/26/16)
2016 Apr 27, The US-led military coalition targeted Islamic State in Iraq and Syria with 22 strikes.
(Reuters, 4/28/16)
2016 Apr 27, In Chicago Dennis Hastert (74), former US House speaker, was sentenced to 15 months in prison in a hush-money case that revealed accusations he sexually abused teenagers while coaching high school wrestling.
(SFC, 4/28/16, p.A6)
2016 Apr 27, The US state of Georgia executed Daniel Anthony Lucas (37) for the April 23, 1998, killings of a trucking company owner and his two children during a home burglary near Macon.
(SFC, 4/28/16, p.A6)
2016 Apr 27, In NYC police and federal agents arrested dozens of suspects in a wide-ranging investigation of rival street gangs that terrorized a Bronx neighborhood.
(SFC, 4/28/16, p.A6)
2016 Apr 27, It was reported that Islamic State supporters have published the names and addresses of 3,600 New Yorkers in an apparent "hit list" seemingly meant to escalate the group's campaign of sowing fear far from the battlefield in Syria. The names were released last week by a group calling itself United Cyber Caliphate on the encrypted chat application Telegram, which IS supporters are known to use to recruit supporters and spread propaganda.
(CSM, 4/27/16)
2016 Apr 27, Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam signed a bill into law that allows mental health counselors to refuse to treat patients based on the therapist’s religious or personal beliefs.
(SFC, 4/28/16, p.A6)
2016 Apr 27, China's top anti-graft authority said it has found irregularities at the country's second-largest lender, China Construction Bank Corp.
(Reuters, 4/27/16)
2016 Apr 27, In Egypt a roadside bomb in the North Sinai town of El-Arish targeted an armored personnel carrier and killed 3 policemen with 8 others wounded.
(AP, 4/27/16)
2016 Apr 27, The EU's police mission in Kosovo conducted a major operation against an Albanian-Serb organized crime ring. Six people were arrested and authorities were hunting for a governing party lawmaker suspected of being the ringleader.
(AP, 4/27/16)
2016 Apr 27, The French billionaire and art collector Francois Pinault announced the creation of a new contemporary art museum in central Paris.
(AP, 4/27/16)
2016 Apr 27, Paris attacks suspect Salah Abdeslam, Europe's most wanted fugitive until his capture in Belgium last month, was returned to France to face justice. His lawyer said Abdeslam is willing to cooperate.
(AP, 4/27/16)
2016 Apr 27, In Guatemala at least 4 people died in a landslide at a trash dump in Guatemala City. Two days later 24 people were listed as missing.
(http://tinyurl.com/hnqpobv)(SFC, 4/230/16, p.A2)
2016 Apr 27, Israeli police shot dead Palestinian woman Maram Abu Ismail (24) and her brother, Ibrahim Taha (16), saying they were armed with knives and tried to carry out an attack at a checkpoint in the occupied West Bank. Alaa Soboh, a Palestinian bus driver said he witnessed the incident, and that the pair appeared to be unfamiliar with crossing procedures and were swiftly challenged at the checkpoint.
(Reuters, 4/27/16)(SFC, 4/28/16, p.A2)
2016 Apr 27, Jordan banned a performance by popular Lebanese rock band Mashrou’ Leila ("Leila's Project") on religious grounds, spurring criticism of the Western-allied kingdom, which portrays itself as an island of tolerance in a turbulent region.
(AP, 4/27/16)
2016 Apr 27, In Kazakhstan hundreds of people staged street protests in the western city of Aktobe over land reform, a rare act of defiance that could pose a challenge to the leadership of President Nursultan Nazarbayev. Critics had staged their first protest in the city of Atyrau on April 24.
(AP, 4/27/16)
2016 Apr 27, Two of the US Air Force's most advanced jets landed in Lithuania for the first time in a show of force and support for a region worried by Russian military maneuvers. The two F-22 fighters had landed in Romania earlier this week and F-22s last year visited Poland and Estonia, all counties concerned about Russian military ambitions.
(AP, 4/27/16)
2016 Apr 27, A member of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) said thousands of Nepali women are being trafficked every year as sex workers and bonded laborers, and China and South Korea are emerging as new destinations.
(AP, 4/27/16)
2016 Apr 27, In Spain construction workers came across 19 amphoras containing thousands of bronze and silver-coated coins dating from the end of the fourth century in the southern town of Tomares outside Seville. The coins are believed to have been recently minted at the time and had probably been stored away to pay soldiers or civil servants.
(AP, 4/29/16)
2016 Apr 27, In Sudan clashes between government troops and rebels began and continued until late April 29, with fighting initially erupting west of the town of Um Serdiba, South Kordofan state, leaving six insurgents dead and several wounded.
(AFP, 4/30/16)
2016 Apr 27, Thailand's military government turned up the pressure on its opponents, filing a legal complaint against critics of a proposed new constitution and detaining 10 people in connection with social media postings.
(AP, 4/27/16)
2016 Apr 27, In Turkey a woman suicide bomber blew herself up in Bursa, killing herself and wounding at least 10 people.
(AFP, 4/27/16)
2016 Apr 27, In eastern Ukraine at least five people including a pregnant woman were killed and more than 10 injured on the front line in the worst civilian loss of life there in months. The victims were spending the night in their cars at the checkpoint outside the village of Olenivka hoping to cross the line in the morning.
(AP, 4/27/16)
2016 Apr 27, Venezuelan cities cleaned up from a night of looting and fiery protests as government offices closed their doors for the rest of the week in the face of a worsening energy crisis that is causing daily blackouts.
(AP, 4/27/16)
2016 Apr 27, A Zanzibar health official said a cholera outbreak on the island archipelago has killed at least 45 people since March and that 3,000 people have been hospitalized with the disease.
(AP, 4/27/16)
2016 Apr 28, In southern California federal agents arrested three people, including the older brother of San Bernadino gunman Syed Rizwan Farook, on charges of marriage fraud and lying to federal investigators. Farook was one of two people killed by police following the Dec 2 attack at the Inland Regional Center in the city of San Bernardino.
(SFC, 4/28/16, p.A6)
2016 Apr 28, In the SF Bay Area Keith Green (27) disappeared. He was supposed to meet Tiffany Li, the mother of his two daughters, at a Millbrae pancake house. His body was found on May 11 in a field off Highway 101 near Healdsburg. Li was arrested May 21 for orchestrating his murder, which was reportedly carried out by Kevin Bayat (30) and Oliver Adella (41). In 2017 Li posted a $35 million bail, with cash and property valued at $66 million. Bayat and Adella remained in jail. On Nov. 15, 2019, Tiffany Li was found not guilty. A mistrial was declared in the case of Kevin Bayat.
(SFC, 4/7/17, p.D4)(SFC, 11/16/19, p.C3)
2016 Apr 28, A Bahrain court sentenced eight people to life in prison on various terrorism-related charges connected to protests by the country's majority Shiites demanding greater rights from the tiny-island nation's Sunni-led monarchy.
(AP, 4/28/16)
2016 Apr 28, China passed a law tightening controls over foreign non-governmental organizations (NGOs) by subjecting them to close police supervision, a move officials say will help the groups but critics charge is the latest attempt by authorities to clamp down on perceived threats to the ruling Communist Party's control. The “Law of the People’s Republic of China on Administration of Activities of Overseas Nongovernmental Organizations in the Mainland of China" was adopted by the National People’s Congress Standing Committee. It came into effect January 1, 2017.
(https://tinyurl.com/yxvxhlqh)(AP, 4/28/16)
2016 Apr 28, Colombia became the fourth South American country to allow same-sex marriage when the constitutional court definitively legalized it.
(AFP, 4/29/16)
2016 Apr 28, French protesters were back on the streets over proposed reforms to the country's labor rules and strikers have forced cancellations and delays at two airports serving Paris.
(AP, 4/28/16)
2016 Apr 28, Paris-based Drug maker Sanofi said it has made a $9.3 billion bid for San Francisco pharmaceutical firm Medivation, part of the firm's effort to expand its portfolio of cancer treatments.
(AP, 4/28/16)
2016 Apr 28, The former Soviet Republic of Georgia said it has arrested five people have been arrested for trying to sell more than a kilogram of uranium. Georgia announced on April 18 that six people were arrested for trying to sell uranium.
(AP, 4/28/16)
2016 Apr 28, India’s eastern state of Bihar issued an advisory asking people not to cook or conduct religious ceremonies between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. after 10 children and five adults were killed in a fire sparked during a Hindu prayer ceremony in the Aurangabad district. Accidental fires exacerbated by dry, hot and windy weather had swept through shantytowns and thatched-roof houses in villages killing 79 people. At least 300 people have died of heat-related illness this month including 110 in Orissa state, 137 in Talangana state and another 45 in Andhra Pradesh state.
(AP, 4/30/16)(http://tinyurl.com/znslygz)(SFC, 4/30/16, p.A4)
2016 Apr 28, In southern India a female law student (30) was sexually penetrated by sharp objects before being murdered in her home in Perumbavoor, Kerala state. On May 3 police detained three men for questioning in the rape and murder.
(AP, 5/3/16)
2016 Apr 28, Italian police arrested four people suspected of conspiring to join Islamic State in the Middle East in a probe that revealed a plan to carry out a militant attack in Italy.
(Reuters, 4/28/16)
2016 Apr 28, In Japan Rina Shimabukuro (20) went missing, after she messaged her boyfriend that she was going for a walk. On May 19 police arrested Kenneth Shinzato, aka Kenneth Franklin Gadson (32), an American working as a computer and electrical contractor on the Kadena Air Base. After he was questioned investigators found the body at a location he provided, a forest in central Okinawa.
(AP, 5/20/16)(http://tinyurl.com/hezwoak)(Econ, 6/25/16, p.35)
2016 Apr 28, Lebanese soldiers killed Fayez al-Shaalaan, an Islamic State leader known as Abu Fawz, when the army attacked an Islamic State position on the edge of the town of Arsal in north Lebanon.
(Reuters, 4/28/16)
2016 Apr 28, In Myanmar Buddhist monks joined several hundred protesters outside the US Embassy in Yangon to demand it stop using the term "Rohingya" to refer to a Muslim ethnic minority group. The protesters insisted the group be called "Bengali" and be regarded as illegal migrants from Bangladesh.
(AP, 4/28/16)
2016 Apr 28, A Myanmar environment official said the government has banned lucrative logging operations as the newly-elected government of democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi steps up a battle on deforestation. The measure will cover teak and other hardwoods all across the country.
(Reuters, 4/28/16)
2016 Apr 28, Two suspected powerful intermediate-range North Korean missiles failed to launch, bringing the total to three apparent failures in recent weeks.
(AP, 4/28/16)
2016 Apr 28, Russia launched its first rocket from the new Vostochny cosmodrome in the remote Amur Region near China's border, a day after a technical glitch forced a postponement of the event to carry three satellites into orbit.
(Reuters, 4/28/16)
2016 Apr 28, Serbia said it will re-run voting at 15 polling stations after days of bickering among the ruling and opposition parties over alleged irregularities in the April 24 election, a move that could significantly affect the outcome.
(Reuters, 4/28/16)
2016 Apr 28, In Syria rebel rocket and artillery fire on government-held neighborhoods of Aleppo killed 18 civilians. Regime air strikes on rebel-held districts, including the densely populated Bustan al-Qasr neighborhood, killed 31 civilians as the Syrian army prepared an offensive to retake the city. Monitors and activists say at least 60 people have been killed in airstrikes on Aleppo in the last 24 hours, including at least 27 who were killed when an MSF-supported hospital and nearby buildings were hit.
(AFP, 4/28/16)(AP, 4/28/16)(SFC, 4/30/16, p.A3)
2016 Apr 28, In Turkey an Istanbul court sentenced two prominent journalists to two years behind bars for illustrating their columns with a cartoon of the Prophet Mohammed published by French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo.
(AFP, 4/28/16)
2016 Apr 28, The Vatican's financial watchdog said it received 544 reports of suspicious financial transactions last year, thanks in part to beefed-up efforts to flag potential tax cheats who are using the Vatican bank to hide money.
(AP, 4/28/16)
2016 Apr 28, In Yemen a suicide car bomber in women's clothes detonated his explosives-laden vehicle near the house of the southern city of Aden's security chief, wounding two people.
(AP, 4/28/16)
2016 Apr 29, US Vice President Joe Biden came to the Vatican to call for a global commitment to fund cancer research that benefits everyone, not just the "privileged and powerful."
(AP, 4/29/16)
2016 Apr 29, The United States and Russia agreed on a "freeze" in fighting along two major fronts in Syria, but not in war-ravaged Aleppo as of midnight.
(AP, 4/29/16)
2016 Apr 29, US Customs and Border protection said seven tons of marijuana have been seized inside a truck at the Otay Mesa port of entry in San Diego.
(SSFC, 5/1/16, p.A7)
2016 Apr 29, In Michigan former Roman Catholic priest James Rapp (75) was sentenced to at least 20 years in prison for sexually abusing students at Lumen Christi High School in Jackson in the 1980s. Rapp was in prison in Oklahoma for similar crimes when he was charged in Michigan last year.
(AP, 4/29/16)
2016 Apr 29, A former head of Brazil's forestry service said Brazil was still losing tropical forests the size of two soccer fields every minute, despite attempts to tackle illegal logging and improve local land rights.
(Reuters, 4/29/16)
2016 Apr 29, In China a roadside activity center was crushed by stones from an overturned truck, leaving 14 people dead in the southern province of Guizhou. The accident was apparently caused by the failure of the truck's brakes.
(AP, 4/30/16)
2016 Apr 29, Cuban officials said visiting British Foreign Secretary Anthony Hammond has reached an agreement on restructuring Cuban debt payments in a meeting with President Raul Castro.
(AFP, 4/30/16)
2016 Apr 29, The European Union said it was giving an additional 38 million euros in cash aid to Haiti, which is combatting drought and a migration crisis with neighboring Dominican Republic.
(AFP, 4/29/16)
2016 Apr 29, An expert panel told the Finnish government that Finland could expect "harsh" reactions from Russia if it decided to join NATO, but would be better off doing so together with neighboring Sweden.
(AP, 4/29/16)
2016 Apr 29, French riot police arrested 27 people during overnight clashes with dozens of youths in central Paris, following a day of protest marches over labor law reforms that turned violent.
(Reuters, 4/29/16)
2016 Apr 29, French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said France will increase the number of its troops in Ivory Coast from 500 to 900, on a trip to the African nation which hosts a regional base for French forces.
(AFP, 4/30/16)
2016 Apr 29, Germany's federal and local governments reached agreement with public sector workers on a pay rise, settling a dispute that grounded hundreds of flights during a warning strike two days earlier.
(AFP, 4/29/16)
2016 Apr 29, In Guyana four gunmen raided a hotel casino in Georgetown, leading to a shootout in which five people were wounded. One of the attackers was arrested.
(AP, 4/29/16)
2016 Apr 29, Honduran officials fired more than two dozen top police officers in an aggressive move to purge security forces that have been accused of being infiltrated by organized crime.
(Reuters, 4/29/16)
2016 Apr 29, Iranians voted in the country's parliamentary runoff elections for 68 seats where no candidate had won decisively in the first round. Reformist and moderate politicians allied with President Hassan Rouhani won twice as many seats as their conservative rivals in the second round of parliamentary elections.
(AP, 4/29/16)(AFP, 4/30/16)
2016 Apr 29, Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta demanded a total ban on trade in ivory to end trafficking and prevent the extinction of elephants in the wild.
(AFP, 4/29/16)
2016 Apr 29, In Kenya a six-story building in Nairobi collapsed late today following heavy rain. A woman was rescued on May 5 after being trapped for six days in the rubble. Over the next days the death toll rose to 49 people with dozens still missing.
(Reuters, 4/30/16)(AP, 5/5/16)(Reuters, 5/8/16)
2016 Apr 29, In Mauritania thousands of people marched for the rights of former slaves and to denounce injustice against them in the west African nation where slavery persists despite being officially abolished decades ago. Australia-based Walk Free Movement estimated in its 2014 Global Slavery Index that there were 156,000 slaves in Mauritania, or some four percent of the population.
(AP, 4/30/16)
2016 Apr 29, North Korea's Supreme Court sentenced Kim Dong Chul (62), a Korean American man, to 10 years hard labor for subversion.
(Reuters, 4/29/16)
2016 Apr 29, Off western Norway a helicopter traveling from a North Sea oil field to Bergen, 120 km (74 miles) away on the Norwegian mainland, crashed into a tiny island killing all 13 aboard. In 2017 the country's Accident Investigation Board (AIBN) said metal fatigue in the aircraft's gearbox caused the crash.
(AP, 4/29/16)(Reuters, 4/28/17)
2016 Apr 29, In Pakistan the charred body of Ambreen Riasat (17) was found in a burned van in the tourist resort of Donga Gali. On May 5 police said they have arrested 13 members of a local tribal council who strangled a local girl and set her body on fire for helping one of her friends elope.
(AP, 5/5/16)
2016 Apr 29, Saudi Arabia's Interior Ministry said security forces have killed two militants before they were able to detonate a car bomb in the southwestern town of Bisha.
(AP, 4/30/16)
2016 Apr 29, A South African court ruled President Jacob Zuma (74) should face 738 corruption charges that were dropped in 2009.
(AP, 4/29/16)
2016 Apr 29, South Sudan's leaders formed a transitional coalition government bringing together politicians from the government and the armed opposition who have been at war for two and a half years.
(AP, 4/29/16)
2016 Apr 29, In Sri Lanka hundreds of journalists and media rights activists protested to demand the new government start a fresh investigation into the abduction and killing of a prominent ethnic Tamil journalist 11 years ago, during the country's civil war.
(AP, 4/29/16)
2016 Apr 29, Syria called local truces near Damascus and in a northern province but no halt to combat on the main battlefield in Aleppo. Crude barrel bombs crashed into residential neighborhoods of Aleppo amid wailing ambulances. At least 17 people were killed in regime bombardment of the city's eastern districts. Rebel groups fired a barrage of rockets on government-controlled western neighborhoods. At least 15 people were killed when rockets struck the Malla Khan mosque in the government held Bab al-Faraj district.
(Reuters, 4/29/16)(AFP, 4/29/16)(SFC, 4/30/16, p.A3)
2016 Apr 29, Two Ukrainian soldiers were killed in fresh fighting between government forces and pro-Russian rebels in the east even as a new truce took effect.
(AFP, 4/29/16)
2016 Apr 29, The UN Security Council voted to restore the UN mission in disputed Western Sahara but was divided over the steps demanded from Morocco to bring the peacekeeping force back to full operations.
(AFP, 4/29/16)
2016 Apr 29, Thousands of Yemenis took to the streets to call for an end to the fighting in the country's conflict.
(AP, 4/29/16)
2016 Apr 30, The Rev. Daniel Berrigan (b.1921), a Roman Catholic priest and peace activist who was imprisoned for burning draft files in a protest against the Vietnam War, died in NYC.
(AP, 5/1/16)(SFC, 5/2/16, p.C4)(Econ, 5/21/16, p.82)
2016 Apr 30, In Texas a grandmother and 4 of her grandchildren were killed and another person also died in floods caused by storms that unleashed tornadoes, damaging hail and torrential rains on several central US states.
(Reuters, 5/1/16)
2016 Apr 30, Afghanistan said government forces have launched operations against the Taliban in 18 provinces as fighting has intensified since the start of the insurgents' spring offensive this month.
(Reuters, 4/30/16)
2016 Apr 29, Tens of thousands of Argentines marched in a noisy protest against job cuts imposed under President Mauricio Macri's economic reforms.
(AFP, 4/29/16)
2016 Apr 30, In Bangladesh two assailants sped up to a tailor's shop by motorcycle, dragged out Hindu owner Nikhil Chandra Joardar (50) and hacked him to death in Tangail. Islamic State militants claimed responsibility for the killing. Police the next day detained three men in connection to the killing.
(Reuters, 4/30/16)(AP, 5/1/16)
2016 Apr 30, It was reported that Cambodia's PM Hun Sen has ordered a million hectares of forest be included in protected zones as the country faces one of the world's fastest deforestation rates.
(AFP, 4/30/16)
2016 Apr 30, China laid out firm conditions for improved ties with Japan, telling Tokyo's visiting foreign minister Fumio Kishida that there could be "no ambiguity or vacillation" in meeting Beijing's demands over historical interpretation, relations with Taiwan and other key matters.
(AP, 4/30/16)
2016 Apr 30, Colombian officials in Medellin arrested top Peruvian crime lord Gerson Galvez, also known as Caracol (Snail), dangerous enough to be compared to Mexico's Joaquin "Chapo" Guzman. Galvez was extradited to Peru within 24 hours.
(AFP, 5/1/16)(SFC, 5/3/16, p.A2)
2016 Apr 30, An Egyptian court sentenced 20 people to life in prison for storming a prison in the Suez Canal city of Port Said in January 2013. The case stems from a riot that ensued after a court issued death sentences to people allegedly involved in Egypt's worst ever soccer violence at a match in 2012 in violence killed 72 people.
(AP, 4/30/16)
2016 Apr 30, German riot police arrested some 400 protesters as clashes erupted outside a meeting of the right-wing populist AfD party, which is set to adopt an anti-Islamic manifesto amid a rise in European anti-migrant groups. Up to 2,000 left-wing demonstrators clashed with police as they tried to break up the first full AfD conference.
(AFP, 4/30/16)(Reuters, 5/1/16)
2016 Apr 30, In Iraq hundreds of supporters of Shi'ite Muslim cleric Moqtada al-Sadr stormed into Baghdad's Green Zone and entered the parliament building after lawmakers failed to convene for a vote on overhauling the government.
(Reuters, 4/30/16)
2016 Apr 30, In Iraq an Islamic State attack targeted Shiite civilians shopping in an open-air market killing at least 21 people and wounded at least 42 others in Nahrawan.
(AP, 4/30/16)
2016 Apr 30, Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta set fire to the world's biggest ivory bonfire, after demanding a total ban on trade in tusks and horns to end "murderous" trafficking and prevent the extinction of elephants in the wild. Some 100 tons of elephant ivory and more than 1 ton of rhino horn were destroyed.
(AFP, 4/30/16)(SSFC, 5/1/16, p.A4)
2016 Apr 30, In Saudi Arabia employees at the Saudi Binladin Group, a construction giant, set fire to more than seven company buses in the latest protest by disgruntled staff over not being paid salaries for months and a large round of reported layoffs.
(AP, 5/1/16)
2016 Apr 30, In Serbia thousands of opposition supporters protested in front of the state electoral commission over what their leaders said was widespread vote rigging by the ruling populists. Vucic's right-wing Serbian Progressive Party won 48 percent of the seats in the 250-seat parliament.
(AP, 4/30/16)(AP, 5/23/16)
2016 Apr 30, Authorities in South Sudan said they have recovered 32 of the 125 Ethiopian children who the Ethiopian government said were abducted from its Gambela region two weeks ago during a deadly cattle raid blamed on a South Sudanese militia.
(AP, 4/30/16)
2016 Apr 30, In Syria terrified residents fled a new wave of air strikes on rebel-held areas of Aleppo, as a "freeze" in fighting held on two other fronts.
(AFP, 4/30/16)
2016 Apr 30, In Syria a suicide bomber killed five Kurdish policemen at a checkpoint in the divided northeastern city of Qamishli.
(AFP, 4/30/16)
2016 Apr 30, The Turkish military says it conducted overnight airstrikes against Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq and southeast Turkey.
(AP, 4/30/16)
2016 Apr 30, Venezuela's Pres. Nicolas Maduro ordered a 30 percent increase in the minimum wage, the latest move by the socialist government to grapple with high inflation and economic stagnation. The boost comes after a 25 percent increase on March 1.
(AP, 5/1/16)
2016 Apr 30, Yemen's warring parties began face-to-face peace talks in Kuwait on "key issues" in a bid to end the conflict in the impoverished Arab country.
(AFP, 4/30/16)
2016 Apr, Goldman Sachs completed its purchase of GE’s internet banking subsidiary bringing it $16 billion in retail deposits.
(Econ, 4/30/16, p.67)
2016 Apr, US-based Rational Vaccines began testing an experimental herpes vaccine on the Caribbean island of St. Kitts. In 2017 the government of St. Kitts and Nevis announced the opening of an investigation into the clinical trial because officials had not been notified.
(SFC, 9/5/17, p.D1)
2016 Apr, In Austria a woman (21) was raped in a station toilet in Vienna by three Afghan teenagers, one of the first serious crimes committed by asylum seekers after Austria was swept up in Europe's migration crisis in 2015.
(AP, 1/31/17)
2016 Apr, Britain’s Sir John Chilcot, head of the Chilcot Inquiry, delivered a complete record of Britain’s involvement in Iraq from mid-2001 to 2009. Formation of the inquiry was announced on 15 June 2009 by then PM Gordon Brown.
(Econ, 4/23/16, p.48)
2016 Apr, At a London meeting Maltese academic Joseph Mifsud told an adviser to Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump that the Kremlin had "thousands of emails" about his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton.
(AP, 10/22/18)
2016 Apr, Ethereum coders created a sort of venture capital fund without venture capitalist, called DAO. Anyone could join by transferring digital coins called ether, the Ethereum equivalent of bitcoin, to a smart contract which represents the fund. Vitalik Buterin (23), a Russian-Canadian programming prodigy, launched Ethereum, a new type of blockchain meant as a platform for smart contracts. Flaws soon allowed a hacker to take out about $50 million. In July the Ethereum community agreed to change its rules, allowing the original owners to withdraw their contributions.
(Econ, 7/30/16, p.53)
2016 Apr, In China Pony Ma (aka Ma Huateng b.1971), the founder of Tencent, a Chinese gaming and social media giant, said he will donate shares worth over $2 billion to his firm’s charitable foundation.
(Econ, 7/16/16, p.57)
2016 Apr, India's Maharashtra state became the first in the country to ban village councils from imposing "social boycotts" that ostracize individuals or families for defying tradition.
(Reuters, 5/13/16)
2016 Apr, In India an American tourist was drugged and raped in her hotel room. On Dec 26 police said they have arrested four suspects including a tour guide, his associate, a car driver and a hotel worker. The suspects denied the accusations.
(SFC, 12/27/16, p.A2)
2016 Apr, It was estimated that some 5,000 IS fighters were operating in Libya.
(Econ, 4/9/16, p.14)
2016 Apr, Zambia police said a number of murders took place in Lusaka where victims had ears, hearts and genitals removed, raising suspicion of ritual killings.
(Reuters, 5/10/16)
2016 May 1, The United States and its allies conducted 25 strikes against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
(Reuters, 5/2/16)
2016 May 1, A CSX freight train derailed in northeastern Washington DC, with several cars overturned and leaking hazardous liquids near the Rhode Island Avenue Metro Station.
(AP, 5/1/16)
2016 May 1, Virginia officials said a fire that has burned over ten thousand acres in Shenandoah National Park has been fully contained.
(SFC, 5/2/16, p.A6)
2016 May 1, Pacific Alliance members (Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela) eliminated tariffs on 92% of their trade with each other and planned to phase out the rest over 17 years.
(Econ, 5/14/16, p.26)
2016 May 1, In western Canada a wildfire broke out in the of Fort McMurray area of Alberta. By May 22 it had scorched 1,930 square miles.
(SSFC, 5/22/16, p.A6)
2016 May 1, China extended its value-added tax (VAT) from the sale mainly of goods to all major service sectors, including construction and finance.
(Econ, 5/7/16, p.38)
2016 May 1, Egyptian police raided the press syndicate in Cairo and arrested two journalists critical of the government.
(Reuters, 5/2/16)
2016 May 1, In Egypt some 650 workers from several provinces, who came to hold a meeting in Cairo for International Workers' Day, were prevented from assembling by police.
(AP, 5/1/16)
2016 May 1, Delegates from Germany's anti-immigration party Alternative for Germany (AfD) backed an election manifesto that says Islam is not compatible with the country's constitution and calls for a ban on minarets and the burqa.
(Reuters, 5/1/16)
2016 May 1, In Iraq two suicide car bombs claimed by Islamic State killed at least 32 people and wounded 75 others in the center of the southern Iraqi city of Samawa.
(Reuters, 5/1/16)
2016 May 1, Jamaican police said that US missionaries Randy Hentzel (48) and Harold Nichols (53) were found slain in a rural area of the Caribbean island that has long struggled with high rates of violent crime.
(AP, 5/1/16)
2016 May 1, In central Mali Pro-government militia killed 4 members of the Peuhl ethnic group and then struck again at a funeral the next day, killing 9 more victims. the Peuhl community have been accused of collaborating with the Macina Liberation Front, an Islamic extremist group active in the area.
(AP, 5/4/16)
2016 May 1, In Somalia Al Shabaab insurgents killed at least 11 government soldiers and retook Runirgod, a town northeast of the capital Mogadishu, just one day after it had fallen to government forces. Al Shabaab said its fighters had killed 32 soldiers and captured three vehicles.
(AP, 5/1/16)(SFC, 5/2/16, p.A2)
2016 May 1, Taiwanese officials protested Malaysia's deportation of 32 of the self-ruled island's nationals to China this weekend to face wire fraud charges, the latest in a series of disputes that has raised new friction between China and Taiwan.
(AP, 5/1/16)
2016 May 1, Turkish police clamped down on unauthorized protests during a tense May Day in Istanbul, using tear gas and water cannon against demonstrators and imposing a heavy security blanket on the city.
(AFP, 5/1/16)
2016 May 1, In Turkey a car bomb struck the entrance of a police station in the southern city of Gaziantep, killing 2 officials and injuring 23 other people. 3 Turkish soldiers were killed and 14 others wounded in an attack in the Kurdish-dominated southeast blamed on militants from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).
(AP, 5/1/16)(AFP, 5/1/16)(Econ, 5/21/16, p.48)
2016 May 1, In eastern Ukraine 3 deaths were reported in fighting despite a recently brokered armistice for Orthodox Easter.
(AP, 5/1/16)
2016 May 1, Yemen's Houthi movement and its armed allies seized a military base north of the capital Sanaa, dealing a setback to a shaky ceasefire and peace talks in Kuwait aimed at ending a year-long war. A car bomb in a central square in Aden targeted the city's security chief for the second time in a week and killed 4 soldiers.
(Reuters, 5/1/16)
2016 May 1, Yemen’s government delegation suspended its participation in peace talks in Kuwait because of developments in the governorate of Amran, which reportedly came under rebel attack.
(AP, 5/2/16)
2016 May 2, The United States and its allies targeted Islamic State on Monday with 29 strikes against the militants in Syrian and Iraq, including the northern city of Mosul under militant control.
(Reuters, 5/3/16)
2016 May 2, Solar Impulse 2 completed the 10th leg of its journey, landing in Arizona after a 16-hour flight from California. The solar-powered airplane was midway through a historic bid to circle the globe.
(AP, 5/3/16)
2016 May 2, The first US cruise ship in nearly 40 years crossed the Florida Straits from Miami and pulled into Havana Harbor, restarting commercial travel on waters that served as a stage for a half-century of Cold War hostility.
(AP, 5/2/16)
2016 May 2, A St. Louis jury ruled that Johnson & Johnson pay $55 million to a woman who claims its talcum powder caused her ovarian cancer.
(SFC, 5/4/16, p.A5)
2016 May 2, An Afghan police officer accused his wife of having affairs and then shot her in public before shooting himself in eastern Paktika province.
(AP, 5/2/16)
2016 May 2, Craig Wright, an Australian man long rumored to be associated with the digital currency Bitcoin, publicly identified himself as its creator, a claim that would end one of the biggest mysteries in the tech world. BBC News said that Wright told the media outlet he is the man previously known by the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto. The computer scientist, inventor and academic said he launched the currency in 2009 with the help of others.
(AP, 5/2/16)
2016 May 2, China's Communist Party said it has placed Ren Zhiqiang, a property mogul and outspoken government critic, on probation for a year after he criticized state media for pledging absolute loyalty to the party.
(AP, 5/2/16)
2016 May 2, Egypt's journalists' syndicate called for the dismissal of the interior minister and an immediate sit-in at its headquarters in downtown Cairo, to protest the police detention of two journalists on its premises the night earlier.
(AP, 5/2/16)
2016 May 2, Around 400 people gathered in Hong Kong to protest a veteran newspaper editor's dismissal that triggered concerns about press freedom in the semiautonomous Chinese territory.
(AP, 5/2/16)
2016 May 2, In northern India dozens of fires were spreading unpredictably in the states of Uttarakhand and neighboring Himachal Pradesh. Massive wildfires in the two states have killed at least seven people in recent weeks. The fires extended into Nepal where 11 people have died fighting fires across the country, the worst in six years.
(AP, 5/2/16)(Reuters, 5/2/16)
2016 May 2, Survivors of Indonesia's anti-communist massacres in 1965 submitted a list of what they say are more than 100 mass graves to the government after the president called for an investigation into the killings.
(AP, 5/2/16)
2016 May 2, Indonesian police fatally shot Amokrane Sabet (49), a French citizen, after he stabbed a policeman to death while resisting arrest on the resort island of Bali.
(AP, 5/2/16)
2016 May 2, In Iraq an explosives-laden car detonated in Baghdad, killing at least 18 Shiite pilgrims. Tens of thousands of Shiite faithful have been making their way this week to the northern Baghdad neighborhood of Kadhimiyah, where the 8th century Imam Moussa al-Kadhim is buried.
(AP, 5/2/16)
2016 May 2, Japan said it wants to work with countries in the lower Mekong river basin and will help them improve infrastructure and bolster development with 750 billion yen ($7 billion) in aid over three years.
(Reuters, 5/2/16)
2016 May 2, Puerto Rico’s Gov. Alejandro Garcia Padilla announced that the government will not make nearly $370 million in bond payments due today after a failure to restructure or find a political solution to the US territory's spiraling public debt crisis.
(AP, 5/2/16)
2016 May 2, Syria's military extended a unilateral cease-fire around Damascus and opposition strongholds in the eastern suburbs of the capital for another 48 hours, as a humanitarian convoy delivered aid to 12,000 families trapped in a government-besieged area in central Syria.
(AP, 5/2/16)
2016 May 2, Turkish warplanes pounded Kurdish rebel positions in northern Iraq, killing 18 militants.
(AP, 5/3/16)
2016 May 2, A UN arbitration court ruled that India should release Italian marine Salvatore Girone, who has been detained in Delhi for more than four years, and allow him to return home.
(Reuters, 5/2/16)
2016 May 3, The United States and its coalition partners launched 22 strikes against Islamic State in Iraq, including 10 near the key city of Mosul.
(Reuters, 5/4/16)
2016 May 3, In Chicago a 15-year-old student from Spain fell ill and later was found not breathing in her bed. In 2018 Francis Emanuele (38), a suburban Chicago man, pleaded guilty to supplying a fatal dose of methadone to the student.
(AP, 11/6/18)
2016 May 3, In Michigan nearly all of Detroit’s schools were closed for a 2nd consecutive day after hundreds of teachers called in sick over concerns that many may not get paid if the district runs out of money. Classes resumed on May 4 after teachers received assurances they would be paid for the school year.
(SFC, 5/4/16, p.A5)(SFC, 5/5/16, p.A6)
2016 May 3, In New Mexico the body of Ashlynne Mike (11) was found after she and her brother were kidnapped a day earlier near San Juan in the Navajo Nation. Suspect Tom Begaye (27) was soon arrested and faced murder charges.
(http://tinyurl.com/j848mxx)(SFC, 5/7/16, p.A6)
2016 May 3, New York former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (72) was sentenced to 12 years in prison following his conviction last year in a $5 million corruption case. On July 13, 2017, a federal appeals court overturned the conviction.
(SFC, 5/4/16, p.A6)(SFC, 7/14/17, p.A6)
2016 May 3, A new report by Transparency Int’l. said almost a third of the people in nine countries surveyed in the Middle East have had to pay a bribe to access some kind of public service.
(SFC, 5/4/16, p.A3)
2016 May 3, In Bangladesh a special war crimes court sentenced four men to death for killing, torture, arson and looting during the nation's independence war against Pakistan in 1971. Only one suspect, Shamsuddin Ahmed, was in court for the verdict. Authorities were still hunting for the other three: Gazi Abdul Mannan, Hafiz Uddin, and Shamsuddin Ahmed's brother, Nasiruddin.
(AP, 5/3/16)
2016 May 3, Authorities in northern Cameroon said a local self-defense group used a poisoned arrow to kill a woman with explosives strapped to her body. The woman had crossed over from neighboring Nigeria along with a girl (14), who girl also died when she detonated her own explosives.
(AP, 5/3/16)
2016 May 3, A Chinese state-run newspaper reported that the influential Communist Youth League has had its budget slashed by more than 50 percent for this year, after the organization came under fire in official media over graft scandals and inefficiency.
(Reuters, 5/3/16)
2016 May 3, In northeastern Congo DRC 17 people were killed by armed attackers in Beni despite the presence of a UN outpost with 3,000 peacekeepers 20 miles away. UN blue helmets numbered 18,900 in the country.
(Econ, 5/21/16, p.55)
2016 May 3, In Corsica the so-called October 22 splinter group of the National Liberation Front of Corsica (FLNC) said it would end "military operations", two years after the main militant movement on the French island laid down its arms.
(AFP, 5/3/16)
2016 May 3, The Cuban government announced that farm products sold in state-controlled markets would have prices capped at levels affordable for the average person, who earns a state salary of about $25 a month. The government measure included a series of exceptions for private vendors, allowing them to continue to set prices for their goods that are often far higher than prices in state-controlled markets.
(AP, 5/3/16)
2016 May 3, Memos containing internal instructions from Egypt's Interior Ministry were leaked to the media, outlining strategies on how to deflect public outrage over arrests it made inside the journalists' union, handle the media in general, and deal with the case of an Italian student found tortured to death.
(AP, 5/3/16)
2016 May 3, Iranian cartoonist Atena Farghadani, imprisoned over portraying lawmakers as animals to criticize a draft law restricting contraception and criminalizing voluntary sterilization, was released from Evin prison after an appeals court last month reduced her initial 12-year prison sentence to 18 months.
(AP, 5/3/16)
2016 May 3, In Iraq tens of thousands of Shiite pilgrims converged on a golden-domed Shiite shrine in Baghdad to commemorate the anniversary of the death of a revered imam as authorities tightened security measures in the capital amid concerns of more attacks by Sunni extremists.
(AP, 5/3/16)
2016 May 3, In northern Iraq Islamic State militants killed a US Navy SEAL after blasting through Kurdish defenses and overrunning a town in the biggest offensive in the area for months.
(Reuters, 5/3/16)
2016 May 3, Amnesty International said Iraq is holding more than 1,000 detainees, some as young as 15, without charge in "inhumane and degrading conditions" at makeshift holding centers in western Anbar province.
(Reuters, 5/3/16)
2016 May 3, Israel's Tax Authority said inspectors uncovered four tons of ammonium chloride— enough to produce hundreds of rockets— hidden inside sacks of salt about two weeks ago as the shipment was being transferred to Gaza.
(AP, 5/3/16)
2016 May 3, In western Myanmar a fire burned down a camp that sheltered members of the country's persecuted Rohingya minority, leaving 440 families homeless.
(AP, 5/3/16)
2016 May 3, A Nepali official said Canadian Robert Penne, living and working in Nepal, has been ordered to leave the country within two days for criticizing the government on social media.
(Reuters, 5/3/16)
2016 May 3, Pakistan's army chief signed off on the death sentences of 11 members of the Taliban convicted of terrorism, kidnappings, attacks on civilians as well as assaults on police and army officers. The 11 had the right to appeal.
(AP, 5/4/16)
2016 May 3, In Pakistan Aftab Husain, a prominent party activist and an aide to Farooq Sattar, MQM leader in the National Assembly, died two days following his arrest in Karachi. MQM accused the regional paramilitary Pakistan Rangers force of killing Hussain. The Rangers, who answer to the Ministry of Interior and to the army, said Husain was "wanted in several criminal cases" and had died of a heart attack.
(Reuters, 5/3/16)
2016 May 3, The Philippine defense chief said his government has agreed in principle to lease five Japanese surveillance planes to be used in patrolling disputed areas of the South China Sea and in search-and-rescue missions during disasters.
(AP, 5/3/16)
2016 May 3, Spain's King Felipe VI signed a decree setting a historic new election for June 26 after politicians chosen in an inconclusive December ballot failed to agree on which of them should form a government, despite months of negotiations.
(AP, 5/3/16)
2016 May 3, In Syria heavy air strikes throughout the night on the Islamic State group's de facto capital Raqa killed 19 civilians and 10 jihadists. Syrian opposition fighters shelled government-held parts of Aleppo. Battles in the city killed at least 20 people.
(AFP, 5/3/16) (AP, 5/3/16)(SFC, 5/4/16, p.A3)
2016 May 3, Zimbabwe put its wild animals up for sale, saying it needed buyers to step in and save the beasts from a devastating drought.
(Reuters, 5/3/16)
2016 May 4, Pres. Obama visited Flint, Michigan, showing support for the local residents by drinking filtered city water.
(SFC, 5/5/16, p.A6)
2016 May 4, The US government said Japanese-based Takata Corp. will recall another 35-40 million air bag inflators bringing the total recall to as many as 69 million.
(SFC, 5/5/16, p.C1)
2016 May 4, The United States and its allies conducted 18 strikes against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
(Reuters, 5/5/16)
2016 May 4, US Army Gen. Curtis M. Scaparrotti (60) took over as the military leader responsible for the overall direction and conduct of NATO's global military operations.
(AP, 5/4/16)
2016 May 4, California’s Gov. Jerry Brown signed anti-tobacco legislation raising the smoking age from 18 to 21 effective June 9.
(SFC, 5/5/16, p.A1)
2016 May 4, Shares in miner BHP Billiton tumbled after Brazil's federal prosecutor launched a $43 billion civil suit for a dam break last November that killed 19 people and caused the worst environmental disaster in the country's history.
(AP, 5/4/16)
2016 May 4, Three Bulgarian police officers were injured when anti-Roma protesters tried to break through a cordon during a demonstration in the southern town of Radnevo. Some 2,000 people took part in the protest over an incident two days earlier in which four Roma men have been charged with the attempted murder of three young men.
(Reuters, 5/5/16)
2016 May 4, In western Canada a wildfire raged out of control destroying much of one neighborhood in the remote city of Fort McMurray and badly damaging others, with all 80,000 residents ordered to leave in the biggest evacuation in the area's history.
(Reuters, 5/4/16)
2016 May 4, China’s state media said China and Laos have agreed to step up security cooperation after attacks on Chinese nationals in the poor, landlocked Southeast Asian nation in recent weeks, as Laos' new president visited Beijing.
(Reuters, 5/4/16)
2016 May 4, Colombian authorities in Bogota arrested Nidal Waked (46), a prominent Panama businessman sought by the United States, and dismantled an empire of businesses that the US says were part of a top worldwide money-laundering organization for drug traffickers.
(AP, 5/6/16)
2016 May 4, In Dubai a man was shot seven times in the head in the marina neighborhood of luxury high-rise buildings and beachfront property. Authorities believed the man also was allegedly involved in the killing of someone's daughter in Turkey.
(AP, 5/12/16)
2016 May 4, An Egyptian court acquitted former PM Ahmed Nazif (2004-2011) of graft charges in the latest retrial linked to his time serving under longtime autocrat Hosni Mubarak. The ruling was final and could not be appealed.
(AP, 5/4/16)
2016 May 4, Ethiopian media reported that a ban on smoking at public gatherings has been announced by the mayor of Addis Ababa. The new law makes smoking illegal in bars, cafés, restaurants, schools, hospitals and stadiums as well as cultural and religious events, but smoking on the streets is still permitted.
(AFP, 5/4/16)
2016 May 4, The European Union's top court dealt a blow to the tobacco industry by approving sweeping new rules that will require plain cigarette packs, ban menthol cigarettes and regulate the growing electronic cigarette market.
(AP, 5/4/16)
2016 May 4, Central European countries dismissed the EU executive's proposals to share out migrants among member states, saying any plans for forced relocation of people were unacceptable or, in Hungary's view, amounted to blackmail.
(Reuters, 5/4/16)
2016 May 4, The European Commission, the executive arm of the 28-nation EU, gave conditional backing for Turks to get visa-free travel as part of a deal to solve the migrant crisis.
(AFP, 5/4/16)
2016 May 4, French riot police clashed with demonstrators outside a school building in Paris, prompting government and police calls for an end to weeks of violent protests mainly linked to plans for a loosening of France's highly protective labor laws.
(Reuters, 5/4/16)
2016 May 4, Germany’s Health Ministry said the Cabinet has approved a bill that will allow patients to get cannabis as a prescription-only medication.
(AP, 5/4/16)
2016 May 4, In Guam Ricky Sanchez (39), a former Guam Office of Homeland Security employee, pleaded guilty to charges that he conspired to have a package of methamphetamine mailed to the office.
(AP, 5/6/16)
2016 May 4, India's highest court ordered cigarette manufacturers to comply with controversial new rules requiring bigger health warnings on packets that sparked weeks-long factory shutdowns.
(AFP, 5/4/16)
2016 May 4, In central India a passenger bus fell into a dry river bed after crashing through the railing of a bridge, killing 16 people in Chhattisgarh state.
(AP, 5/5/16)
2016 May 4, It was reported that sewage has damaged Gaza’s limited fresh water supplies, decimated fishing zones and is now floating northward and affecting Israel.
(SFC, 5/4/16, p.A3)
2016 May 4, Jamaica sentenced Dalton Forrester of Brooklyn to three years in prison and fined him about $6,000 after authorities found more than $100,000 in undeclared cash in his luggage on April 9. Forrester pleaded guilty to charges that included possession of criminal property.
(AP, 5/4/16)
2016 May 4, Malaysia's finance ministry said it would dissolve the board of advisers at 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) and take over its remaining assets, in an apparent move to scale down a state fund whose scandals have rocked the government.
(Reuters, 5/4/16)
2016 May 4, In southern Nigeria militants used explosives to blow up the Okan platform, a collection facility for offshore oil and gas that feeds the Escravos terminal. This caused Chevron to lose 35,000 barrels per day (bpd) of net crude oil production.
(AFP, 5/7/16)
2016 May 4, In Qatar French Pres. Francois Hollande attended a ceremony to mark the sale of 24 Rafale combat jets plus missiles to the United Arab Emirates.
(Econ, 5/14/16, p.55)
2016 May 4, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said Russia will form three new military divisions to counter what it believes is the growing strength of The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) near its borders.
(Reuters, 5/4/16)
2016 May 4, Russia said it has withdrawn around 30 aircraft from Syria, including all of its Su-25 attack planes stationed in the country.
(Reuters, 5/4/16)
2016 May 4, In Syria at least 22 suspected regime air strikes pounded a key rebel bastion east of Damascus after a local freeze on fighting expired overnight. Rebel forces pressed an offensive against regime troops on the western outskirts of Aleppo.
(AFP, 5/4/16)
2016 May 4, A truce was announced for Aleppo, Syria, by US officials in agreement with Russia, in an effort to extend a fragile cease-fire to the deeply contested city. The Syrian military said the truce would last only 48 hours.
(AP, 5/5/16)
2016 May 4, Turkey said its warplanes have destroyed targets belonging to the militant Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in southeast Turkey.
(Reuters, 5/4/16)
2016 May 4, Yemen's warring parties resumed face-to-face peace talks in Kuwait after a three-day break triggered by a walkout by the government delegation.
(AFP, 5/4/16)
2016 May 5, President Obama commuted the prison terms of 58 non-violent drug offenders, a move that reflects growing efforts to revamp the criminal justice system.
(SFC, 5/6/16, p.A10)
2016 May 5, The United States and its allies conducted 24 strikes against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
(Reuters, 5/6/16)
2016 May 5, The US FDA said it is investigating a listeria outbreak that led to a massive recall of frozen fruits and vegetables by CRF Frozen Foods. 8 people had become infected from food made at its Pasco, Wa., plant. A recall included 358 products under 42 separate brand names since May 1, 2014.
(SFC, 5/6/16, p.A8)
2016 May 5, The Michigan House approved a $500 million restructuring plan for Detroit Public Schools.
(SFC, 5/6/16, p.A8)
2016 May 5, Environmental experts said a project to plant a wall of trees stretching from Senegal in West Africa to Djibouti in East Africa aims not only to halt desertification, but also to improve food security, create jobs, and offer young people an alternative to migration and extremism.
(AP, 5/5/16)
2016 May 5, Armenia's government gave the go-ahead to legislation that calls for recognizing the independence of Nagorno-Karabakh, a separatist region which is officially part of neighboring Azerbaijan. The step appeared intended mainly as a warning to Azerbaijan following a sudden increase in fighting.
(AP, 5/5/16)
2016 May 5, The Bangladesh Supreme Court upheld the death sentence of Motiur Rahman Nizami (73), the leader of top Islamist party Jamaat-e-Islami, for war crimes. Nizami was convicted in 2014 of murder, rape and orchestrating the killing of intellectuals during the country's 1971 war of independence.
(AFP, 5/5/16)
2016 May 5, In Belgium high-speed car chase in which police shot suspected migrant-smugglers as they fled across the border led to a fatal pile-up on a motorway in northern France. A Dutch motorcyclist died when he struck a stationary truck near the French port of Dunkirk. Four Iraqi suspects were hospitalized.
(Reuters, 5/5/16)
2016 May 5, A justice on Brazil's supreme court suspended Eduardo Cunha, the leader of the country's lower house of Congress, removing one of the nation's most powerful politicians who is reviled by many for numerous corruption allegations.
(AP, 5/5/16)
2016 May 5, London held mayoral elections. It became the first EU capital with a Muslim mayor as voters went to the polls and elected Labour lawmaker Sadiq Khan (45), the son of a bus driver, as mayor. Khan took 57% of the vote.
(AFP, 5/5/16)(Reuters, 5/7/16)(Econ, 5/14/16, p.50)
2016 May 5, Canada began airlifting to safety up to 25,000 people from the city of Fort McMurray forced from their homes by raging forest fires in Alberta's oil sands region.
(AFP, 5/6/16)(SFC, 5/6/16, p.A2)
2016 May 5, Colombia authorized the use of all military force, including air strikes, against the country's three biggest criminal gangs in a major escalation against "organized armed groups."
(AFP, 5/6/16)
2016 May 5, Greek labor unions declared a 48-hour national walkout as lawmakers debated unpopular tax and pension reforms Greece hopes will help persuade creditors to approve release of badly-needed bailout cash.
(Reuters, 5/5/16)
2016 May 5, In central India a heavy rainstorm collapsed tents and gates at a sprawling Hindu pilgrimage site, killing at least 6 people and injuring 30 in the town of Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh state. The festival is held every 12 years in Ujjain.
(AP, 5/5/16)
2016 May 5, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines agreed to conduct coordinated maritime patrols after a spate of ship hijackings by Islamist militants in the southern Philippines.
(Reuters, 5/5/16)
2016 May 5, Israeli warplanes struck four new Hamas positions in the southern Gaza Strip, as a flare-up continued to threaten a 2014 ceasefire agreement. The army said Hamas had "repeatedly fired and launched mortar rounds" across the border. Israel's military said it had discovered a cross-border tunnel built by the Islamist Hamas group from the Gaza Strip.
(AFP, 5/5/16)(Reuters, 5/5/16)
2016 May 5, Italian Premier Matteo Renzi hailed the new Alfa Romeo sedan by Fiat Chrysler, which he says will add 3,400 jobs in Italy and symbolizes the country's economic potential.
(AP, 5/5/16)
2016 May 5, In Italy Renato Soru, a leftist politician and chairman of multinational telecoms company Tiscali, was handed a three year jail sentence for tax evasion. Soru Soru, who founded Tiscali in 1998, is the head of PM Matteo Renzi's Democratic Party (PD) in Sardinia and a PD member of the European Parliament.
(Reuters, 5/5/16)
2016 May 5, Jordanian border guards said around 64,000 Syrians are stranded at the border with Jordan after intensified violence around Aleppo.
(AFP, 5/5/16)
2016 May 5, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev said he would delay a planned land reform which triggered a wave of public protests across the Central Asian nation. The protests were sparked by fears that reforms will allow foreigners - especially Chinese companies - to take over farmland.
(Reuters, 5/5/16)
2016 May 5, Kenyan businessman and government critic Jacob Juma was shot dead in his car late today in Nairobi.
(Reuters, 5/6/16)
2016 May 5, In Malaysia a Eurocopter AS350 ferrying Plantation Industries and Commodities Deputy Minister Noriah Kasnon and her husband Asmuni Abdullah from Sarawak's interior to its capital Kuching went missing. All 6 people aboard were killed.
(AFP, 5/6/16)
2016 May 5, Mali's security forces arrested Yacouba Toure, a senior member of Islamist militant group Ansar Dine, who trafficked weapons for attacks in Mali and over the border in Burkina Faso.
(Reuters, 5/9/16)
2016 May 5, In northern Myanmar at least 13 people were killed by a landslide of jade mining waste in Kachin state.
(AP, 5/6/16)
2016 May 5, Saudi security forces shot dead 2 alleged Islamic State fighters and two others blew themselves up outside of Mecca. Cpl. Khalaf Lafi al-Harithi was killed outside of a police station in Mecca.
(Reuters, 5/5/16)(AP, 5/6/16)
2016 May 5, In Syria a car bomb exploded in the main square of a village in Homs province. As people gathered to help the victims, a suicide bomber riding a motorcycle detonated his explosives belt nearby, killing at least 10 people and wounding scores. Air strikes near Sarmada on a camp near the Turkish border killed at least 28 people.
(AP, 5/5/16)(Reuters, 5/6/16)
2016 May 5, In eastern Syria Islamic State militants captured the main Shaer gas field in the first gain for the ultra hardline jihadists in the Palmyra desert area since they lost the ancient city in March.
(Reuters, 5/5/16)
2016 May 5, Human Rights Watch and the Norwegian Helsinki Committee called for the release of at least four human rights lawyers imprisoned in Tajikistan as part of a crackdown on dissenters, as well as two children of another lawyer.
(AFP, 5/5/16)
2016 May 5, Scotland held elections.
(Econ, 4/30/16, p.54)
2016 May 5, In Turkey Ahmet Davutoglu announced that he was stepping down as leader of the ruling AK Party and therefore as prime minister, bowing to President Tayyip Erdogan's drive to create a powerful executive presidency.
(Reuters, 5/5/16)
2016 May 5, In Yemen al-Qaida militants began to pull out of the southern towns of Zinjibar and Jaar, following weeks of mediation by tribesmen for them to exit peacefully rather than resist a Gulf-backed offensive.
(Reuters, 5/5/16)
2016 May 6, The US government said it has suspended millions of dollars in funding to several organizations providing aid for Syria after discovering they were systematically overpaying Turkish companies for basic goods with the collusion of some of their staff.
(AFP, 5/10/16)
2016 May 6, Federal authorities in Pittsburgh said two men have been charged by authorities in Belarus with receiving $1.35 million stolen in a phishing scheme from the bank account of a Pennsylvania oil and gas drilling company. Aleskey Yaroshevich (34) and Egor Pavlenko (41) reportedly received a $1.35 million transfer made in September 2012. Both men were in custody in Minsk.
(AP, 5/6/16)
2016 May 6, The Pentagon acknowledged for the first time it has deployed a small number of US troops to Yemen since the country's collapse last year to bolster government and Arab coalition forces battling Al-Qaeda.
(AFP, 5/7/16)
2016 May 6, A SpaceX rocket landed on an ocean platform for the 2nd time following the successful launch of a Japanese communications satellite at Cape Canaveral.
(SFC, 5/7/16, p.A6)
2016 May 6, Alabama’s Judicial Inquiry Commission filed ethics charges against the state’s Chief Justice Roy Moore over his effort to block same-sex marriages.
(SSFC, 5/8/16, p.A6)
2016 May 6, In San Francisco retired public defender Marla Zamora (65) was stabbed to death at her Potrero Hill home on the 400 block of Arkansas Street. Police detained Angelo Zamora (19), a relative who was found covered in blood at the home. On May 9 Angelo was charged with murder.
(SFC, 5/7/16, p.A1)(SSFC, 5/8/16, p.A8)(SFC, 5/10/16, p.C2)
2016 May 6, In San Diego seaman James Derek Lovelace died from drowning during a Navy Seal basic training program after his instructor pushed him underwater at least twice. On July 6 a medical examiner ruled his death a homicide.
(SFC, 7/8/16, p.A9)
2016 May 6, In Maryland Eulalio Tordil (62), a federal security officer, was arrested following the fatal shooting of 2 people. Tordil had shot and killed his wife a day earlier.
(SFC, 5/7/16, p.A7)(SSFC, 5/8/16, p.A6)
2016 May 6, In New York a fire in Syracuse left 6 people dead, including two men (33 and 34) a girl (7) and 3 boys (10-13).
(SFC, 5/7/16, p.A6)
2016 May 6, In Afghanistan a roadside bomb killed at least four small children from the same family in the southern Zabul province. In the eastern Kunar province Afghan security forces repelled an insurgent attack, killing 26 militants.
(AP, 5/7/16)
2016 May 6, Afghan special forces troops liberated more than 60 prisoners from a Taliban prison in the southern province of Helmand. Two Taliban militants were reported killed and three wounded in the ensuing battle.
(AP, 5/6/16)
2016 May 6, Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto announced the launch of the next stage of a multibillion-dollar gold and copper mine in Mongolia following delays and political tension over revenue sharing and the foreign role in resource industries.
(AP, 5/6/16)
2016 May 6, In Bangladesh Sufi Muslim leader Mohammad Shahidulla (65) was found hacked to death after he disappeared this morning in a suspected Islamist killing.
(AFP, 5/6/16)
2016 May 6, In Chile food and gasoline were running dangerously low on Chiloe Island, which has been blocked from the mainland by desperate fishermen demanding compensation for losing their livelihood to a toxic algae bloom. The government has declared a state of emergency in the region and offered those affected compensation.
(http://tinyurl.com/zal4wzs)(AP, 5/7/16)(SFC, 5/17/16, p.A4)
2016 May 6, In Denmark a jet ski slammed into a rental boat containing a group of students killing Leah Bell (18) of Madisonville, Louisiana, and Linsey Malia (21) of Easton, Massachusetts. On Jan. 4, 2018, a 24-year-old man was sentenced to two years in jail for aggravated manslaughter.
(AP, 1/4/18)
2016 May 6, Prosecutors in El Salvador announced they have arrested five police officers, 16 gunmen and a police administrative employee for allegedly killing street gang member and others.
(AP, 5/6/16)
2016 May 6, Services in Greece, from garbage collection to public transport, shut down as workers kicked off three days of strikes to protest new bailout austerity measures that they say will further reduce incomes.
(AP, 5/6/16)
2016 May 6, Iraqi security forces ramped up their presence across Baghdad, blocking most major roads and bridges to keep followers of Shi'ite Muslim cleric Moqtada al-Sadr from reaching the government district they stormed a week earlier.
(Reuters, 5/6/16)
2016 May 6, In Iraq Australia-born terrorist and former rapper Neil Prakash (24) was killed in an American air strike in Mosul.
(SSFC, 5/8/16, p.A4)
2016 May 6, Irish PM Enda Kenny won narrow re-election on his fourth try, ending 70 days of deadlock and clearing the way for an exceptionally fragile minority government.
(AP, 5/6/16)
2016 May 6, Israeli warplanes launched new strikes against Hamas in the Gaza Strip in response to mortar fire, as the worst cross-border violence since a 2014 war entered a third day.
(AFP, 5/6/16)
2016 May 6, In Kazakhstan Kuandyk Bishimbayev, chief executive of a state financial holding company, was named economy minister following the resignation of his predecessor over public protests against a planned land reform.
(Reuters, 5/6/16)
2016 May 6, In Myanmar hundreds of villagers protested against the resumption of operations at a Chinese-backed copper mine, in one of the first tests for the new government's ability to deal with public anger.
(Reuters, 5/6/16)
2016 May 6, The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria said it is suspending aid to Nigeria’s AIDS agency over evidence that $3.8 million was stolen by its workers and consultants.
(SFC, 5/7/16, p.A2)
2016 May 6, North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un (33) opened the Seventh Workers' Party Congress, the country’s biggest political gathering in 36 years.
(AP, 5/6/16)
2016 May 6, North Korea detained BBC journalist Rupert Wingfield-Hayes along with a BBC producer and cameraman and ordered their expulsion over his reporting as a large group of foreign reporters cover a rare congress of the country’s ruling Workers’ Party. On May 9 the three were on their way to the airport in Pyongyang.
(Reuters, 5/9/16)
2016 May 6, A Papua New Guinea court ruled that a pregnant African woman, who says she was raped at an Australia detention center for asylum seekers on the tiny South Pacific island of Nauru, cannot be forced to have an abortion in Papua New Guinea because it is unsafe and illegal.
(Reuters, 5/7/16)
2016 May 6, Romania's Pres. Klaus Iohannis approved a 150 million euro ($171 million) loan to neighboring Moldova needed to pay state sector salaries and pensions.
(AP, 5/6/16)
2016 May 6, In Syria rebels seized a village from government forces near Aleppo overnight. 43 rebels and 30 government forces were reported killed in the battle for Khan Touman, some 15 km (9 miles) southwest of Aleppo. 13 military advisers with the Iranian Revolutionary Guards were killed as rebels seized the village of Khan Touman. 18 others wounded and five to six were captured.
(Reuters, 5/6/16)(AFP, 5/7/16)(Reuters, 5/9/16)
2016 May 6, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned the European Union that Ankara will not change its anti-terrorism law, despite it being a condition laid down by Brussels to ensure visa-free travel for Turks.
(AFP, 5/6/16)
2016 May 6, Pope Francis accepted the prestigious International Charlemagne Prize, for his "message of hope and encouragement" and warned Europeans against the selfish temptation to put up fences to ward off newcomers, saying he still dreams of a Europe where migrants are welcomed.
(AP, 5/6/16)
2016 May 6, In Yemen the governor of Aden's Mansura prison was killed in a ride-by shooting.
(AFP, 5/7/16)
2016 May 7, The United States and its allies targeted Islamic State in Iraq with 17 air strikes, and hit the militant group with eight air strikes in Syria.
(Reuters, 5/8/16)
2016 May 7, In Florida the first self-driving car fatality took place in Williston when the driver of a Tesla S sports car, using the vehicle’s automated driving system, died in a collision with the truck.
(SFC, 7/1/16, p.C1)
2016 May 7, In Nevada Airbus completed a test flight of a glider set to eventually travel to the edge of space, in a pioneering step into the stratosphere.
(AFP, 5/7/16)
2016 May 7, Voters in Austin, Texas, rejected a $9 million campaign by Lyft and Uber to overturn a requirement for fingerprinting drivers for ride-hailing companies. In response Uber and Lyft on May 9 halted services Austin.
(SFC, 5/9/16, p.A5)(SFC, 5/10/16, p.D1)
2016 May 7, In Bosnia over 10,000 people turned out for the re-opening of a mosque that was blown up by Christian Orthodox Serbs during the 1992-1995 war and that became a symbol of the effort to destroy Bosnia's centuries-long multireligious fabric.
(AP, 5/7/16)
2016 May 7, Canada’s wildfire in Alberta doubled in size to more than 200,000 hectares (494,000 acres).
(AFP, 5/7/16)
2016 May 7, China's navy searched for 17 sailors missing after their fishing boat collided early today with another vessel in the East China Sea. A passing fishing boat pulled the bodies of two sailors from the ocean. State media said the other ship in the collision, the Malta-flagged cargo vessel Catalina, appeared not to have stopped but continued sailing in a southwestern direction.
(AP, 5/7/16)
2016 May 7, In China environmentalist Lei Yang (29) died in Beijing while under police custody. He had been detained on suspicion of soliciting prostitution at a foot parlor. On June 30 an independent autopsy found that Lei Yang had apparently choked to death. On Dec 23 Beijing prosecutors said they had dropped criminal charges against five police officers over the death of Yang. On Dec 29 police said the five officers involved have been fired.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Lei_Yang)(Econ, 7/9/16, SR p.11)(AP, 12/23/16)(AP, 12/29/16)
2016 May 7, An Egyptian court recommended the death sentence against six people, including two Al-Jazeera employees, for allegedly passing documents related to national security to Qatar and the Doha-based TV network during the rule of Islamist president Mohammed Morsi.
(AP, 5/7/16)
2016 May 7, Egyptian police arrested Ezzedeen Khaled (19), a street performer they accuse of inciting anti-government protests and releasing an online video "insulting state institutions." Khaled is member of a satirical group called Awlad al-Shawarea (Street Children).
(AP, 5/8/16)
2016 May 7, Estonian border officials detained seven Iranian migrants who managed to cross the Narva River separating Russia and Estonia in an inflatable boat.
(AP, 5/10/16)
2016 May 7, Israeli aircraft hit two Hamas targets in Gaza early today in response to rocket fire as the worst flare-up of violence since a 2014 war entered a fourth day.
(AFP, 5/7/16)
2016 May 7, Scandal-ridden Malaysian PM Najib Razak secured a major victory for his ruling coalition in elections in Sarawak state on Borneo island, boosting his rule despite corruption allegations.
(AP, 5/7/16)
2016 May 7, In Mauritania thousands of people gathered in Nouakchott to protest against a move by President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz to abolish the senate.
(AFP, 5/7/16)
2016 May 7, In Pakistan gunmen riding motorcycles shot and killed rights activist Khurram Zaki and wounded two other people in southern port city of Karachi.
(AP, 5/8/16)
2016 May 7, In Poland tens of thousands of people marched in central Warsaw to show their opposition to the policies of the conservative government, which they view as anti-democratic and harmful to Poland's position in the European Union.
(AP, 5/7/16)
2016 May 7, In Saudi Arabia a policeman was killed in a shootout with militants in the western city of Taif.
(AP, 5/8/16)
2016 May 7, Singapore's ruling party won a seat in a by-election, cementing its influence on parliamentary decisions with an overwhelming majority.
(AP, 5/8/16)
2016 May 7, Syrian state news agency SANA reported that Russia's defense ministry said a "regime of calm" truce in the northern city of Aleppo and parts of Latakia province had been extended "for 72 hours beginning at 1 am on Saturday" (1700 ET on Friday).
(Reuters, 5/7/16)
2016 May 7, Turkish artillery fired at the Islamic State group across the border in Syria, killing 55 militants and destroying three rocket launchers and three vehicles.
(AP, 5/8/16)
2016 May 7, Yemeni army Colonel Badr al-Yafei was gunned down in Aden in the latest in a spate of assassinations of senior officers that underlines the persistent insecurity in the city.
(AFP, 5/7/16)
2016 May 8, Afghanistan hanged six men convicted of terrorism, signaling a tougher approach toward the Taliban.
(AP, 5/8/16)
2016 May 8, In Afghanistan two buses and a fuel tanker collided on a major highway, killing 52 people in eastern Ghazni province. Another 73 people on the buses were wounded.
(AP, 5/8/16)
2016 May 8, Bulgaria's Socialist Party (BSP), the biggest opposition party in the Balkan country, chose a new leader with the task of winning back disaffected voters and pushing for an early general election. Kornelia Ninova (47), the first female leader in the BSP's 125-year history, won 395 votes from delegates at the party's congress, with her predecessor Mihail Mikov coming second on 349.
(Reuters, 5/8/16)
2016 May 8, In Canada cogeneration power plants in the fire-ravaged oil town of Fort McMurray were operating at about 18 percent of capacity early today, down from around 30 percent on May 6, as oil sands producers in the area continue to shut their operations. 2,400 buildings were lost when the fire surrounded Fort McMurray. The fire was expected to burn for at least a few more weeks.
(Reuters, 5/8/16)(SSFC, 5/15/16, p.A4)
2016 May 8, In China a landslide triggered by heavy rain hit a hydroelectric power station that was under construction in southeastern Fujian province. At least 34 people were killed with four missing.
(Reuters, 5/8/16)(Reuters, 5/9/16)
2016 May 8, In China a man identified only by his surname, Guo, was detained in the western region of Xinjiang. He had allegedly killed six members of a family in 1991 "over a trivial matter." His wife, Wang, was also detained on suspicion of shielding a criminal.
(AP, 5/15/16)
2016 May 8, The Egyptian interior ministry said gunmen killed 8 plainclothes police on the southern outskirts of Cairo overnight, in an assault claimed by Islamic State militants.
(Reuters, 5/8/16)
2016 May 8, In France the sight of cars thundering down Paris's most famous boulevard was replaced by people strolling, cycling and taking selfies in the sun as the Champs-Elysees went traffic-free.
(AFP, 5/8/16)
2016 May 8, In Greece thousands of protesters took to the streets of Athens as parliament prepared to vote on a controversial tax and pensions overhaul which has sparked mass opposition.
(AFP, 5/8/16)
2016 May 8, In Iraq separate attacks in and around Baghdad killed at least 12 people and wounded dozens.
(AP, 5/8/16)
2016 May 8, Lebanese voted in municipal elections in Beirut and the Bekaa Valley amid tight security and a low turnout in the capital. Hezbollah group and its allies won a vast majority of seats in areas where they ran in local elections in eastern Lebanon. A coalition known as "Beirutis" won all of the capital's 24-seat municipal council.
(AP, 5/8/16)(AP, 5/9/16)
2016 May 8, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said his country will not use its nuclear weapons unless its sovereignty is invaded and announced a five-year economic plan at a milestone congress of North Korea's ruling party, which entered its third day.
(AP, 5/8/16)
2016 May 8, In Russia 5 members of a motorcycle club were shot with a hunting rifle shortly after dawn in Chelokhovo. A suspect (27) was arrested at his nearby home and confessed to shooting the bikers after a conflict.
(AP, 5/8/16)
2016 May 8, Syrian warplanes attacked Islamist militants near Aleppo.
(Reuters, 5/8/16)
2016 May 8, In southeastern Turkey 9 PKK members were killed in the towns of Nusaybin and Sirnak.
(Reuters, 5/9/16)
2016 May 8, Yemen's Houthi movement accused a Saudi-led coalition of launching air strikes that killed seven people today, shaking a truce that has largely held through more than two weeks of UN-backed peace talks in Kuwait.
(Reuters, 5/8/16)
2016 May 9, The US Justice Dept. sued North Carolina over the state’s new bathroom law requiring transgender people to use restrooms corresponding to the gender on their birth certificates.
(SFC, 5/10/16, p.A6)
2016 May 9, The Chicago Tribune reported that 8 people were killed over Mother’s Day weekend with at least 1,225 people shot in the city this year.
(SFC, 5/10/16, p.A6)
2016 May 9, In Kansas City, Kan., a police detective was fatally shot while helping respond to a report of a suspicious person near a racetrack. Parolee Curtis Ayers (28) was shot and taken into custody after trying to carjack a woman’s vehicle following a police chase.
(SFC, 5/10/16, p.A6)
2016 May 9, An Australian law firm filed a compensation claim against Russia and President Vladimir Putin in the European Court of Human Rights on behalf of families of victims of Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17, shot down over Ukraine on July 17, 2014. The application names the Russian Federation and Putin as respondents and seeks $10 million in compensation per passenger.
(Reuters, 5/21/16)
2016 May 9, Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann resigned, citing lack of support for his policies within his own Social Democratic party.
(AP, 5/9/16)
2016 May 9, Belgium called up the military to assist in prisons where guards have been on strike for two weeks over what they say is dangerously low staffing due to budget cuts.
(Reuters, 5/9/16)
2016 May 9, In Brazil acting Speaker Waldir Maranhao annulled last month’s vote on impeaching Pres. Dilma Rousseff.
(SFC, 5/10/16, p.A5)
2016 May 9, In Cambodia two foreigners were among eight people arrested by police on in Phnom Penh for protesting the jailing of a group of human rights workers and an election official on what demonstrators said were politically-motivated charges.
(Reuters, 5/9/16)
2016 May 9, The Republic of Congo called on the EU to recall its ambassador to Brazzaville over EU criticism of President Denis Sassou Nguesso's controversial re-election in March. In its response on May 17, Brussels expressed its unwavering support for EU representative Saskia de Lang.
(AFP, 5/21/16)
2016 May 9, In Egypt a fire in downtown Cairo engulfed a hotel and several nearby buildings killing at least 3 people.
(SFC, 5/10/16, p.A2)
2016 May 9, Greek lawmakers passed unpopular pension and tax reforms that a European official said marked a major advance in negotiations towards unlocking more rescue funds from the country's creditors.
(Reuters, 5/9/16)
2016 May 9, Indonesia’s VP Jusuf Kalla spoke before the Int’l. Summit of the Moderate Islamic Leaders meeting in Jakarta and called on Islamic leaders to spread messages a tolerant Islam to curb extremism.
(SFC, 5/10/16, p.A2)
2016 May 9, In Iraq an evening suicide bombing in a commercial Shiite neighborhood of Baqouba killed at least 13 people.
(AP, 5/10/16)
2016 May 9, Japanese artist Megumi Igarashi (44), who makes objects shaped like her vagina, was convicted after a high-profile obscenity trial. The Tokyo District Court slapped her with a 400,000 yen ($3,700) fine. The court fined her for distributing digital data of her genitals but said her figurines, decorated with fake fur and glitter, could be considered "pop art".
(AFP, 5/9/16)(Reuters, 5/9/16)
2016 May 9, In Nigeria 3 soldiers guarding an oil installation were shot and killed when they came under fierce attack. The Niger Avengers claimed responsibility.
(SFC, 5/12/16, p.A2)
2016 May 9, The Philippines held presidential elections. Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte won the presidential election, defeating his four main rivals by a large margin. Ferdinand Marcos Jr., the son of late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, led in the vice presidential race.
(AP, 5/9/16)(AP, 5/10/16)
2016 May 9, In the Philippines Geraldine Roman won the congressional race in the first district of northern Bataan province becoming the country’s first transgender politician.
(AP, 5/11/16)
2016 May 9, Rwanda said at least 49 people have been killed by landslides in the country's north following heavy rains over the weekend.
(AP, 5/9/16)
2016 May 9, In Somalia Islamic jihadists killed 3 police officers in a bomb and gun attack on a police station in Mogadishu. A suicide car bomber and a gunman also died as well as two civilians.
(AFP, 5/9/16)
2016 May 9, The UN World Food Program said up to 5.3 million people in South Sudan may face a severe food shortages during this year's lean season, nearly double the number in the first three months of the year.
(Reuters, 5/9/16)
2016 May 9, In Syria multiple air raids struck rebel-held areas while shelling hit government-controlled parts of Aleppo, hours before a five-day cease-fire was to expire.
(AP, 5/9/16)
2016 May 9, Thailand media reported that a top Thai medical college has caught students using spy cameras linked to smartwatches to cheat during exams.
(AFP, 5/9/16)
2016 May 9, A Turkish soldier was killed in clashes in Nusaybin, located at the Syrian border and under a round-the-clock curfew since mid-March, as fighting continued in both Nusaybin and Sirnak throughout the day.
(Reuters, 5/9/16)
2016 May 10, In Afghanistan a joint raid by US and Afghan forces rescued Ali Haider Gilani, the son of a former Pakistani prime minister, who was held captive for three years by Islamic militants.
(AP, 5/10/16)
2016 May 10, In Afghanistan Taliban insurgents killed at least 15 Afghan policemen when they overran two checkpoints in Helmand province. 8 people were killed and another 18 wounded when a suicide car bomber detonated his vehicle in the Nazyan district of Nangarhar province.
(Reuters, 5/10/16)(AP, 5/10/16)
2016 May 10, In Brazil the mayor of Sao Paulo signed a decree authorizing the use of smartphone-based ride-sharing applications like Uber. Cab drivers protested that Uber is unfair competition because its drivers don’t have to pay city fees or undergo official inspections.
(SFC, 5/10/16, p.C2)
2016 May 10, British researchers warned that fifth of the world's plant species are at risk of extinction, in an unprecedented global census of the plant kingdom.
(AFP, 5/10/16)
2016 May 10, Bulgaria's deputy prime minister and labor minister, Ivailo Kalfin, resigned from his post after his center-left ABV party said it would withdraw its support from the center-right government.
(Reuters, 5/10/16)
2016 May 10, France's government decided to bypass parliament and impose a relaxation of the country's protective labor laws by decree, sidestepping a rebellion against one of socialist President Francois Hollande's flagship reforms.
(Reuters, 5/10/16)
2016 May 10, In France a 19-year-old woman committed suicide by throwing herself in front of a suburban train near Paris and streamed the act live on Periscope. A judicial source said the victim "spoke of a rape and named the aggressor" during the filming, adding that the claims were being treated with caution at this stage.
(AFP, 5/11/16)
2016 May 10, Germany announced plans to add 7,000 military jobs and 4,400 civilians to its armed forces over the next seven years to help tackle demands such as cybersecurity and the fight against Islamic State.
(Reuters, 5/10/16)
2016 May 10, In Germany unemployed carpenter Paul H. (27) stabbed four people at a train station near Munich, killing one and injuring three. The man had reportedly shown up in a different part of Germany a few days ago, suspected of using drugs and exhibiting behavior suggesting he might be mentally disturbed.
(Reuters, 5/10/16)(AFP, 5/11/16)
2016 May 10, Thousands of ecstatic North Koreans joined a mass rally and parade as leader Kim Jong Un capped off the consolidation of his power at a ruling party congress at which he formalized its claim to be a nuclear weapons power.
(Reuters, 5/10/16)
2016 May 10, In Pakistan a bomb exploded in the parking area of a state-run university in Quetta, Baluchistan province, killing 2 police officers and wounding five people.
(AP, 5/10/16)
2016 May 10, The Philippines started the process to strengthen its anti-money laundering and bank secrecy laws, aiming to plug loopholes that allowed $81 million stolen in one of the world's biggest cyber heists to pass through Manila banks and casinos.
(Reuters, 5/10/16)
2016 May 10, In the Philippines Sen. Ferdinand Marcos Jr., the son of late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, who is running for vice president, called for a stop to an unofficial vote count that shows his rival, Congresswoman Leni Robredo, has overtaken him.
(AP, 5/10/16)
2016 May 10, In Syria two airstrikes struck the northwestern town of Binnish, killing at least 10 people, wounding many others and knocking out the dome of a mosque. The LCC said the warplanes were Syrian while the Observatory said it wasn't clear if they were Syrian or Russian.
(AP, 5/10/16)
2016 May 10, Thailand ordered the closure of its only active gold mine by the end of the year after more than 300 people tested positive for arsenic and manganese at Akara Resources' Chatree mine.
(Reuters, 5/10/16)
2016 May 10, In southeastern Turkey 3 people were killed and 23 wounded when a bomb-laden car detonated near a police vehicle in the strife-hit city of Diyarbakir. The state-run Anadolu news agency said the attack was carried out by the PKK.
(Reuters, 5/10/16)(SFC, 5/11/16, p.A2)
2016 May 10, Zambia police said four suspects have been arrested in connection with a string of grisly ritual murders in Lusaka that triggered anti-foreign riots targeting mostly Rwandan migrants in April.
(Reuters, 5/10/16)
2016 May 11, In Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami party leader Motiur Rahman Nizami (73), a main political ally of opposition chief Khaleda Zia, was executed for war crimes committed during the country's 1971 independence conflict with Pakistan. His hanging sparked several outbreaks of violence and heightened tensions.
(AP, 5/11/16)
2016 May 11, Senators in Brazil began debate on whether to oust President Dilma Rousseff. If a simple majority of the 81 senators vote in favor, Rousseff will be suspended from office and Vice President Michel Temer will take over for up to six months pending a decision on whether to remove her from office permanently.
(AP, 5/11/16)
2016 May 11, Former Comoros coup leader Azali Assoumani was elected as president, after last month's election led to a re-run at 13 polling stations due to violence and "irregularities".
(AFP, 5/12/16)
2016 May 11, Democratic Republic of Congo's highest court ruled that President Joseph Kabila would stay in power beyond the end of his mandate if his government failed to hold an election due in November.
(Reuters, 5/11/16)
2016 May 11, Germany’s Justice Minister Heiko Maas announced plans to annul the historic convictions of tens of thousands of men charged under a law that criminalized homosexuality and to grant them financial compensation.
(Reuters, 5/11/16)
2016 May 11, Indian officials announced plans to close a tax loophole that allows its citizens to channel income through the tropical island of Mauritius and avoid paying taxes.
(AP, 5/11/16)
2016 May 11, India's government said South Asian nations will set up a toll-free helpline and online platform to fight human trafficking, and trace the thousands of children who go missing in the region annually. Ministers from India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, the Maldives and Nepal came to the agreement after a conference on child protection held under the auspices of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC).
(Reuters, 5/12/16)
2016 May 11, In Iraq three car bombs in Baghdad, including a huge blast at a market in a Shiite area, killed at least 93 people. IS issued an online statement claiming responsibility for the attack in Sadr City and saying a suicide bomber it identified as "Abu Sulaiman al-Ansari" detonated the explosives-rigged vehicle killing at least 64.
(AFP, 5/11/16)(SFC, 5/12/16, p.A2)
2016 May 11, In Iraq the Islamic State group of Nineveh province released a video showing five alleged "spies" being shot dead in Iraq by young men from a crowd assembled for the execution.
(AFP, 5/12/16)
2016 May 11, Italy's parliament gave a green light for the introduction of gay civil unions in the last major Western country not to legally recognize same-sex relationships.
(AFP, 5/11/16)
2016 May 11, Kenya’s interior security minister said the government will close Dadaab refugee camp. It held an estimated 328,000-344,000 refugees mostly from Somalia and is often referred to as the world's largest camp.
(AP, 5/11/16)(Econ, 5/14/16, p.40)
2016 May 11, In Nigeria Shell closed the terminal exporting the country’s benchmark Bonny Light crude oil as was evacuating workers as renewed militant attacks cut production.
(SFC, 5/12/16, p.A2)
2016 May 11, Syrian regime forces battled jihadists who cut a key supply route west of ancient Palmyra, after new bombardments hit Aleppo city where a ceasefire is due to expire at midnight.
(AFP, 5/11/16)
2016 May 11, In Tunisia two suspected jihadists were killed during a security operation near the capital against a cell planning "simultaneous" attacks. Sixteen others were arrested during the operation in Ariana province.
(AFP, 5/11/16)
2016 May 11, The southern Tunisia of Ben Guerdane went on strike in protest at a decision by Libyan authorities late last month to halt cross-border trade on which its economy depends.
(AFP, 5/11/16)
2016 May 11, In Uganda opposition leader Kizza Besigye was arrested in Kampala after staging his own swearing-in ceremony and whisked to Moroto, a town in the remote Karamoja region of the country, and subsequently charged with treason. On July 12 Besigye was freed on bail.
(AFP, 5/14/16)(AP, 7/12/16)
2016 May 12, The Obama administration unveiled its latest action aimed at reducing methane emissions in the oil and gas industry. The EPA ruling would reduce methane emissions from oil and gas drilling by 40 to 45% by 2025 compared with 2012 levels.
(Reuters, 5/12/16)(SFC, 5/13/16, p.A8)
2016 May 12, The Obama administration said public schools must permit transgender students to use bathrooms and locker rooms consistent with their chosen gender identity. Politicians in Arkansas, Texas and elsewhere soon vowed defiance.
(SFC, 5/13/16, p.A8)(SFC, 5/14/16, p.A6)
2016 May 12, The United States switched on an $800 million missile shield in Romania that it sees as vital to defend itself and Europe from so-called rogue states but the Kremlin says is aimed at blunting its own nuclear arsenal.
(Reuters, 5/12/16)
2016 May 12, Oracle Corp. founder Larry Ellison pledged $200 million to the Univ. of Southern California to create a center designed to combine traditional medicine with holistic approaches to treat and prevent cancer.
(SFC, 5/13/16, p.C1)
2016 May 12, George Zimmerman (32), the former neighborhood-watch volunteer who shot and killed black teenager Trayvon Martin in 2012, said he would sell the gun he used in the shooting at auction.
(AFP, 5/12/16)
2016 May 12, In Oklahoma the Swiss-made Solar Impulse 2 landed in Tulsa after taking off from Arizona on the latest leg of its around-the-world journey.
(SFC, 5/14/16, p.A6)
2016 May 12, In Australia the 4-day Sexpo, Sydney's adult entertainment and lifestyle show, opened for its 20th year.
(http://www.sexpo.com.au/)(AFP, 5/15/16)
2016 May 12, In Brazil centrist VP Michel Temer, of the centrist Party of the Brazilian Democratic Movement (PMDB), took the helm of the country, hours after the Senate voted to suspend President Dilma Rousseff, of the Workers’ Party (PT), to stand trial for breaking budgetary laws.
(Reuters, 5/12/16)(Econ, 5/7/16, p.25)
2016 May 12, Britain’s PM David Cameron, the host of a global anti-corruption summit, announced that countries have pledged to set up public registers of company ownership in a collective effort to make it harder to launder the proceeds of corruption around the globe. Countries taking part in the summit issued a 34-point communique outlining pledges to tackle issues ranging from doping and match-fixing in sports to tax evasion and bribery.
(Reuters, 5/12/16)
2016 May 12, It was reported that China's ruling Communist Party has expelled Zhang Kunsheng, former assistant foreign minister, for graft, including joining private clubs, accepting gifts and bribes, and trading power for sex. Kunsheng was sacked from his government post last January and put under investigation.
(Reuters, 5/12/16)
2016 May 12, French prosecutors said that $2 million tied to Tokyo's winning bid for the 2020 Olympics was apparently paid to an account linked to Papa Massata Diack (50), the son of disgraced former IAAF president Lamine Diack, in the months immediately before and after the Japanese capital won the games.
(AP, 5/12/16)
2016 May 12, Guinea-Bissau's President Jose Mario Vaz sacked PM Carlos Correia and dissolved his government, in a move that threatened to deepen political turmoil in the tiny West African nation.
(Reuters, 5/12/16)
2016 May 12, In India television journalist Akhilesh Pratap Singh was also shot dead by unknown assailants as he returned home on a motorbike in restive Jharkhand state.
(AFP, 5/14/16)
2016 May 12, Iran announced that it will not send pilgrims to Saudi Arabia this year for the annual hajj pilgrimage, after a disaster during the event last year killed at least 2,426 people including 464 of its pilgrims.
(AP, 5/12/16)
2016 May 12, The World Health Organization said air pollution causes more than 3 million premature deaths worldwide every year. The worst air pollution was recorded at Zabol in Iran. The WHO said India has four of the 10 cities in the world with the worst air pollution and Saudi Arabia had two.
(Reuters, 5/12/16)(SFC, 5/13/16, p.A2)
2016 May 12, Islamic State insurgents killed at least 17 Iraqi soldiers with suicide truck bombs in a major attack on government forces in Jarayshi, 10 km (6 miles) north of Ramadi. They also surrounded an army regiment, seized a bridge and cut a key supply route linking Ramadi to the Thirthar district further north. The jihadist group also killed two policemen and wounded eight others in two suicide bombings in Abu Ghraib outside Baghdad.
(Reuters, 5/12/16)
2016 May 12, Kyrgyzstan security services arrested three politicians including a former minister on charges of plotting a coup, ahead of an anti-government rally later this month.
(AFP, 5/13/16)
2016 May 12, In Libya 4 members of military forces loyal to the new UN-backed unity government were reported killed and 30 wounded in clashes with Islamic State (IS) insurgents near the western city of Misrata.
(Reuters, 5/12/16)
2016 May 12, Coca-Cola said it will stop production of all canned drinks in Namibia and has warned consumers of possible shortages, as a regional drought worsened across southern Africa.
(AFP, 5/12/16)
2016 May 12, In northeastern Nigeria 7 people including 2 police officers were killed when a suicide bomber tried to attack government offices in Maiduguri.
(AP, 5/12/16)
2016 May 12, Officials said Pakistan is spending $4 billion a year on cotton imports to support the ailing textile industry, after erratic rainfall and drought in the country's cotton fields slammed growers and the country's economy.
(Reuters, 5/12/16)
2016 May 12, Slovenia said it took in its first 28 migrants under an EU relocation scheme that many other EU countries have been slow to carry out or rejected outright. Slovenia, with a population of 2 million, has committed to accepting a total of 587 migrants, or up to 50 per month through August 2017.
(Reuters, 5/12/16)
2016 May 12, Syrian government forces battled rebels north of Aleppo as a ceasefire expired in the city itself. Insurgents captured the Alawite village of al-Zara from government control in western Syria and abducted civilians living there.
(Reuters, 5/12/16)
2016 May 12, In Syria Lebanon’s top Hezbollah commander Mustafa Badreddine (55) was killed in an explosion in Damascus.
(AP, 5/13/16)
2016 May 12, In Turkey 15 militants were killed in clashes in Sirnak province. 4 suspected bomb makers were killed and 23 people were wounded when an explosion ripped through a village in the southeast as PKK militants loaded explosives onto a small truck. Authorities later identified the remains of 13 people from two families killed from more than 15 tons of explosives in the truck raising the death toll to 16.
(Reuters, 5/13/16)(AP, 5/17/16)
2016 May 12, Uganda’s Pres. Museveni (71) was inaugurated for a 5th term amid arrests of opposition politicians and a shutdown of social media.
(SFC, 5/13/16, p.A2)
2016 May 12, In Yemen a suicide car bombing struck a navy base in the southern port city of Mukalla, killing at least 6 troops in a rare IS attack in a city once occupied by its rival militant al-Qaida branch. Yemen's Islamic State affiliate claimed responsibility.
(AP, 5/12/16)
2016 May 13, President Barack Obama welcomed a group of Nordic leaders to the White House and celebrated the five Nordic nations (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden) as models of reliability, equality, generosity, responsibility, even personal happiness. Obama said that he and the five Nordic nations agreed on the need to maintain sanctions against Russia.
(AP, 5/13/16)(Reuters, 5/13/16)
2016 May 13, The United States and its allies targeted Islamic State militants in Iraq with 17 strikes and five in Syria.
(Reuters, 5/14/16)
2016 May 13, Pfizer announced that it has imposed sweeping controls on the distribution of its products to ensure that none are used in lethal injections.
(SFC, 5/14/16, p.A6)
2016 May 13, Albania’s government fired Shukri Xhelili, mayor of Peshkopi, after he offered a job to a young woman in exchange for sexual favors.
(AP, 5/13/16)
2016 May 13, Former Argentine Pres. Cristina Fernandez was charged with defrauding the state as part of her government’s handling of the dollar futures market.
(SFC, 5/14/16, p.A2)
2016 May 13, In Austria top officials from the senior government coalition party agreed to nominate Christian Kern, the state railways head, as chancellor following the abrupt resignation of the man who led both the party and the country.
(AP, 5/13/16)
2016 May 13, Belgium said it will extend its F-16 air strikes against Islamic State jihadists in Iraq into Syria, as it grapples with the aftermath of deadly IS-claimed bomb attacks in Brussels in March.
(AFP, 5/13/16)
2016 May 13, Belgium-based SWIFT, the global financial system used to move hundreds of billions of dollars a day, said highly sophisticated hackers had gained access to a bank aiming to hijack fund transfers made via the network. SWIFT insisted its own system had not been compromised, but warned that this latest attack was clearly part of a wide-ranging campaign.
(AFP, 5/13/16)
2016 May 13, It was reported that the purported personal details of numerous Chinese business moguls and politically-connected elite were posted this week to an anonymous Twitter account, an embarrassing leak for authorities that has raised concerns about the security of official records.
(Reuters, 5/13/16)
2016 May 13, Congo police fired teargas at thousands of supporters rallying outside the prosecutor's office where a leading opposition presidential candidate Moise Katumbi was facing a hearing over accusations he was plotting a coup.
(Reuters, 5/13/16)
2016 May 13, Germany's domestic secret service accused Russia of a series of international cyber attacks aimed at spying and sabotage, in "hybrid warfare" that also targeted the German parliament last year.
(AFP, 5/13/16)
2016 May 13, In India Rajdeo Ranjan, the local bureau chief for Hindi-language daily Hindustan, was travelling on his motorcycle in Bihar state when a group of unknown assailants shot him five times.
(AFP, 5/14/16)
2016 May 13, In northern Iraq shooting and bomb attacks claimed by Islamic State killed at least 16 people in Balad.
(Reuters, 5/13/16)
2016 May 13, Japan-based Honda said it would recall millions more cars equipped with airbags made by crisis-hit supplier Takata, in a widening of a scandal that has already led to the biggest auto recall in US history.
(AFP, 5/13/16)
2016 May 13, Laos PM Thongloun Sisoulith banned all timber exports in an effort to save the country’s dwindling forests.
(Econ, 6/25/16, p.34)
2016 May 13, In Lithuania local artist Mindaugas Bonanu adorned a barbecue restaurant in Vilnius with a poster showing Donald Trump locking lips with Vladimir Putin along with the text "Make Everything Great Again".
(AP, 5/14/16)
2016 May 13, A North Korean coast guard ship detained a Russian yacht with a crew of five people. Russia's Foreign Ministry sent a note to Pyongyang demanding explanation for the cause of the detention. The yacht was released on May 15.
(Reuters, 5/14/16)(AFP, 5/15/16)
2016 May 13, Portuguese lawmakers voted to change the law on artificial insemination, which previously was restricted to heterosexuals who were married or living together for more than two years. The changes also brought legal recognition for surrogacy, but only for women with health problems preventing pregnancy. The measures are due to come into force within weeks.
(AP, 5/13/16)
2016 May 13, In Russia three key editors at the top media holding firm RBC said they have resigned amid a flurry of probes and police raids around the company.
(AP, 5/13/16)
2016 May 13, In South Africa a judge ruled that gold miners who got lung diseases while working underground, as well as families of miners who died of such diseases, can launch a class action suit against mining companies.
(AP, 5/13/16)
2016 May 13, In Spain a massive fire broke out at a sprawling tire dump in Sesena near Madrid, sending a spectacular billowing cloud of thick black smoke into the air that was visible for at least 30 km.
(AP, 5/13/16)
2016 May 13, Suspected Syrian government airstrikes in the northern city of Idlib killed at least 5 people.
(AP, 5/13/16)
2016 May 13, In Turkey 6 soldiers were killed and eight were wounded in clashes with militants in the southeastern Hakkari province near the border with Iraq. A military helicopter sent to the area crashed due to a technical fault killing 2 pilots. 6 PKK militants were also killed in an operation in that region.
(Reuters, 5/13/16)(SFC, 5/14/16, p.A3)
2016 May 13, Turkish fighter jets carried out nine airstrikes against Kurdish rebels in the southeast of the country and northern Iraq. The warplanes reportedly destroyed 98 targets of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party.
(AP, 5/14/16)
2016 May 13, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro declared a 60-day state of emergency due to what he called plots from within the OPEC country and the United States to topple his leftist government.
(Reuters, 5/13/16)
2016 May 14, In the US state of Georgia 5 people were found dead in a house fire in Colquitt County. Investigators later said the 5 people had been shot dead and the blaze was set to cover up the crimes. Jeffrey Alan Peacock (25) was later arrested for murder and arson.
(SFC, 5/21/16, p.A5)
2016 May 14, Hundreds of climate change activists in New York and Washington state mobilized as part of a global protest against fossil fuels. The so-called Break Free 2016 is a 12-day protest event seeking to call attention to climate change and demanding a transition to clean energy.
(Reuters, 5/15/16)
2016 May 14, In Texas 8 people were killed and 43 were injured after a charter bus heading to a casino in the town of Eagle Pass rolled over on the highway.
(AFP, 5/14/16)
2016 May 14, In Afghanistan at least 3 policemen died after a suicide bomber detonated an explosives-laden vehicle near a police training base in southern Helmand province.
(AP, 5/14/16)
2016 May 14, Bangladesh local media said 64 people have been killed by lightning over the past two days during tropical storms across the country.
(AP, 5/14/16)
2016 May 14, in southeastern Bangladesh body of Buddhist monk Maung Shue U. Chak (75) was found in a monastery with his throat slit.
(AP, 5/14/16)
2016 May 14, In Bosnia tens of thousands of people rallied in separate demonstrations for and against the regional Bosnian Serb government in the northern city of Banja Luka, kept apart by police and barricades to prevent violence. The pro-EU Alliance for Changes accused the Bosnian Serb government of corruption and its leader Milorad Dodik of dictatorship. Dodik's camp accuses the opposition of betraying Bosnian Serb national interests, which according to him lie in seceding from Bosnia and creating a new Serb country with close ties to Russia.
(AP, 5/14/16)
2016 May 14, Cameroon's government said multinational joint forces fighting Boko Haram have arrested five leaders of the extremist group earlier this month and freed 28 children along with at least 18 women.
(AP, 5/14/16)
2016 May 14, In Egypt two Cairo courts convicted and sentenced to five years in jail a total of 101 protesters for taking part in peaceful, anti-government demonstrations last month. The sentences were passed hours after another Cairo court sentenced another 51 protesters to two years in jail for their part in last month's demonstrations.
(AP, 5/15/16)
2016 May 14, In Haiti protesters marched in the capital demanding the departure of an interim president who was supposed to leave office this weekend. The demonstration of ex-President Michel Martelly's Tet Kale political faction reached a peak of a few thousand in downtown Port-au-Prince.
(AP, 5/15/16)
2016 May 14, In southern India a truck and an overcrowded motorized rickshaw collided in Telangana state killing 16 people, half of them from a single family.
(AP, 5/15/16)
2016 May 14, In India an overcrowded boat sank following a village fair in West Bengal state. Rescuers soon recovered 18 bodies from the Hooghly river.
(AP, 5/16/16)
2016 May 14, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said the Internet was promoting un-Islamic thoughts that should be promptly dealt with.
(Reuters, 5/16/16)
2016 May 14, Iranians staged an international contest for cartoons depicting the Holocaust but insisted the event was aimed at criticizing alleged Western double standards regarding free expression and not at denying the Nazi genocide.
(AP, 5/14/16)
2016 May 14, In Iraq more 14 suicide bombers attacked a residential and government complex at Amiriyat Fallujah, killing at least 6 people. Five of the attackers blew up themselves while clashing with security forces, while others holed up inside the buildings, and were later killed.
(AP, 5/14/16)
2016 May 14, Mexican authorities issued a new smog alert for the capital after ozone levels rose above 150 percent of acceptable limits.
(AP, 5/14/16)
2016 May 14, In Mexico 3 men were gunned down in a tourist-hotel quarter of the Pacific Coast resort city of Acapulco.
(AP, 5/15/16)
2016 May 14, In Nigeria regional and Western powers gathered for talks on quelling the threat from Boko Haram as the UN warned of the militants' threat to African security and ties to the Islamic State group.
(AFP, 5/13/16)
2016 May 14, In Peru at least 12 people died when a passenger bus veered off the road and crashed along the country's northern coast.
(AP, 5/14/16)
2016 May 14, In Russia a brawl at a cemetery involving up to 200 people has left two people dead and 10 wounded. Police said the brawl was believed to have been about control over providing burial services at the sprawling Khovanskoye cemetery in southwest Moscow.
(AP, 5/14/16)
2016 May 14, In Syria the Islamic State attacked a hospital in Deir al-Zor and seized territory on the edge of the besieged city still partly controlled by the government. The fighting killed at least 20 members of the Syrian government forces and at least six Islamic State fighters.
(Reuters, 5/14/16)
2016 May 14, Tajikistan's President Emomali Rakhmon signed a law to create a holiday honoring his autocratic rule in a move that fuels fears of a burgeoning personality cult in the Central Asian state.
(AFP, 5/14/16)
2016 May 14, Turkey’s state-run Anadolu Agency reported that Turkish military and US-led coalition forces killed 45 Islamic State militants in shelling and an air strike north of the Syrian city of Aleppo.
(Reuters, 5/14/16)
2016 May 14, Ukraine's interior minister lambasted reporters who were accredited by pro-Russian rebels to cover fighting in the country's east, after their details were leaked by hackers.
(AFP, 5/14/16)
2016 May 14, UN experts said Congolese army officers and police reported receiving pistols from a group of 30 North Korean instructors training their presidential guard and special police forces, which would appear to be a violation of UN sanctions banning Pyongyang from exporting weapons or providing military training.
(AP, 5/14/16)
2016 May 14, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro announced a sweeping crackdown under a new emergency decree, ordering the seizure of paralyzed factories, the arrest of their owners and military exercises to counter alleged foreign threats.
(AFP, 5/14/16)
2016 May 15, San Francisco held its annual Bay to Breakers race with some 40,000 registered runners and thousands more freeloaders. The record for paying customers was 110,000 in 1986.
(SFC, 5/16/16, p.A6)
2016 May 15, Australians cheered contestant and juries' favorite Dami Im for placing second at the annual Eurovision song contest in Sweden.
(AFP, 5/15/16)
2016 May 15, Colombian authorities reported the biggest cocaine seizure in the history of a country long plagued by traffic in the drug. 50 commandos backed by helicopters seized about 8 tons of cocaine on a banana plantation in the northwestern department of Antioquia.
(AP, 5/16/16)
2016 May 15, The Dominican Republic held elections. Dominicans faced a dizzying array of choices in one of the most complex ballots in recent history, with eight candidates for president, all 222 members of Congress up for re-election and thousands of people vying for local offices around the country. Incumbent leader Danilo Medina was tipped to win despite grinding poverty and widespread crime.
(AP, 5/15/16)(AFP, 5/15/16)
2016 May 15, German police said they have arrested more than 100 people demonstrating against a coal mining in eastern Germany. The protest was organized by the groups Klimatecamp (Climate Camp) and EndeGelaende, which loosely translates as "it's finished now." Their goal is to prevent the mining and use of coal.
(AP, 5/15/16)
2016 May 15, Iran’s Tasnim news agency said eight members of a modeling network have been arrested and accused of publishing photos of women without the obligatory hijab headscarf on the picture-sharing application Instagram.
(Reuters, 5/16/16)
2016 May 15, In Iraq Jihadist suicide attackers broke into a gas plant north of Baghdad, killing at least 14 people and setting fire to gas tanks. The Islamic State (IS) group claimed responsibility for the attack on the Taji plant. A string of attacks in or close to Baghdad killed 15 others.
(Reuters, 5/15/16)(SFC, 5/16/16, p.A4)
2016 May 15, Japanese banks lost some 1.8 billion yen ($16.5 million) when fake overseas cards were used at convenience store ATMs. Fake cards of a South African bank were used. Police later arrested three suspects.
(AP, 6/7/16)
2016 May 15, In Nepal Hundreds of minority ethnic group supporters scuffled with police in Kathmandu, restarting protests against the government and the Himalayan nation's new constitution.
(AP, 5/15/16)
2016 May 15, Russian sports minister Vitaly Mutko apologized for the doping scandal that threatens the athletic superpower's participation in the Rio Olympics.
(AFP, 5/15/16)
2016 May 15, A Turkish soldier and six members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) were killed in the largely Kurdish southeast. The Turkish military killed 16 Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) fighters in an operation backed by air power near the Iranian border.
(Reuters, 5/15/16)(Reuters, 5/16/16)
2016 May 15, Turkish and US-led coalition forces struck Islamic State targets north of the Syrian city of Aleppo, killing 27 fighters. The United States and its allies conducted 14 strikes against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
(Reuters, 5/16/16)
2016 May 15, Jubilant Ukrainians erupted in celebration after Jamala won the Eurovision Song Contest with a powerful tribute to her Tatar people's deportation from Russian-annexed Crimea in 1944.
(AFP, 5/15/16)
2016 May 15, In southern Yemen a suicide bomber killed at least 25 new recruits and 6 guards inside a police compound in Mukalla in an attack claimed by Islamic State.
(AFP, 5/15/16)(SFC, 5/16/16, p.A2)
2016 May 16, The United States and its allies conducted 12 strikes against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
(Reuters, 5/17/16)
2016 May 16, The International Federation of Red Cross and the Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) pledged $110 million to a new initiative to help drought-stricken southern African countries including Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland and Zimbabwe.
(AP, 5/16/16)
2016 May 16, In Afghanistan thousands of demonstrators from the Hazara minority marched in protest through Kabul, accusing President Ashraf Ghani's government of cutting them out of a multi-million dollar power transmission line project.
(Reuters, 5/16/16)
2016 May 16, In Austria world powers meeting in Vienna said they supported the lifting of an arms embargo on Libya and were ready to supply weapons to the country's new unity government to help it fight the growing threat posed by the Islamic State group.
(AFP, 5/16/16)
2016 May 16, The UN said more than nine million people in the Lake Chad region are in desperate need of food aid as the violent insurgency continues being waged there by Boko Haram. Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon and Niger have significantly weakened Boko Haram but have been unable to vanquish the Islamists entirely.
(AFP, 5/16/16)
2016 May 16, French energy giant Total officially opened the Shetland Gas Plant in Britain's northernmost outpost, which cost $5 billion (4.4 billion euros) to build.
(AFP, 5/16/16)
2016 May 16, In western Indonesia rescuers found the bodies of 17 people who were among 20 university students and two guides who went missing in rain-triggered floods and landslides at a popular waterfall. One student was found alive. 4 people remained missing.
(AP, 5/16/16)
2016 May 16, Iraqi security forces and allied fighters launched an operation to retake the town of Rutba from the Islamic State jihadist group.
(AFP, 5/16/16)
2016 May 16, Kenyan police fired tear gas and water cannon at stone-throwing crowds protesting in central Nairobi against an election oversight body they say is biased and should be scrapped. Police officers were seen viciously beating an unresponsive fallen protester as they broke up the demonstrations. At least 15 people were arrested and at least one victim died. A day later Kenya's police chief ordered an internal investigation.
(Reuters, 5/16/16)(AFP, 5/17/16)(Econ, 5/21/16, p.41)
2016 May 16, In Nepal supporters of ethnic minority groups demanding changes in the new constitution clashed with police and blocked main streets near the prime minister's office, as their newly started protests entered their second day.
(AP, 5/16/16)
2016 May 16, Presumptive Philippine President-elect Rodrigo Duterte said he will reimpose the death penalty, offer Cabinet posts to communist rebels, and move to amend the constitution to give more power to the provinces. He also said he will launch a major military offensive to destroy Abu Sayyaf extremists on southern Jolo Island.
(AP, 5/16/16)
2016 May 16, Rwanda officials said over 1,500 Burundians have been expelled in recent days, amid worsening relations between the neighbors.
(AFP, 5/16/16)
2016 May 16, Han Kang’s “The Vegetarian" won the Man Booker Int’l. Prize (MBIP) for fiction. The South Korean book was translated by Deborah Smith.
(Econ, 5/21/16, p.77)
2016 May 16, Swedish citizen Claver Berinkindi (61), originally from Rwanda, was sentenced in Stockholm to life in prison for his role in the 1994 genocide in the African country.
(AP, 5/16/16)
2016 May 17, The Obama administration announced changes to sanctions imposed on Myanmar. The new measures took three state-owned banks and seven state enterprises off its blacklist.
(Econ, 5/21/16, p.34)
2016 May 17, Eric Fanning was unanimously confirmed as secretary of the US Army by the Senate, making him the first openly gay leader in the United States military.
(CSM, 5/18/16)
2016 May 17, In the SF Bay Area the Oakland City Council approved laws to regulate the city’s medical cannabis industry.
(SFC, 5/17/16, p.A6)
2016 May 17, It was reported that an epidemic of crystal meth addiction on the remote Fort Peck Indian Reservation in northern Montana has led to sex trafficking amidst poverty, isolation, joblessness and violence. A federal Drug Enforcement Administration report has said number of drug cases on Indian lands nationwide rose seven-fold from 2009 to 2014, and crime rates on some reservations are five times higher than national averages.
(Reuters, 5/17/16)
2016 May 17, South Carolina lawmakers passed a bill to restrict abortions beyond 20 weeks. Gov. Nikki Haley (R) signed the bill on May 25 making South Carolina the 17th state with such a ban.
(CSM, 5/18/16)(SFC, 5/26/16, p.A6)
2016 May 17, The Algerian army began a sweep through the d'Errich forest in Ain Turk in the Bouira region troops. The operation killed 8 Islamist fighters.
(AP, 5/21/16)
2016 May 17, World and regional powers meeting in Vienna agreed to try and turn Syria's shaky pause in fighting into a comprehensive cease-fire as a step toward ending the five-year war that left hundreds of thousands dead and fueled the rise of Islamic extremists.
(AP, 5/17/16)
2016 May 17, An Azerbaijani soldier and an ethnic Armenian fighter for the breakaway Nagorny Karabakh region's army died in fresh clashes, hours after Baku and Yerevan agreed to respect a ceasefire in the disputed territory.
(AFP, 5/17/16)
2016 May 17, Dozens of Belgian trade unionists and prison workers who have been on a three-week strike to demand an end to austerity and better working conditions broke into the justice ministry in Brussels and damaged part of the building. Police pushed them back with tear gas.
(AP, 5/17/16)
2016 May 17, The International Olympic Committee opened disciplinary proceedings against the 31 unidentified athletes from 12 countries who competed in Beijing and were planning to take part in the Rio de Janeiro Games in August. They were caught in the retesting of drug samples from the 2008 Beijing Games.
(AP, 5/17/16)
2016 May 17, Germany’s police said they have received a total of seven complaints alleging sexual harassment or assault at the Carnival of Cultures, an annual festival in Berlin that ran from May 13 to May 16.
(AP, 5/17/16)
2016 May 17, In Greece a ceremony marked the beginning of construction on a new pipeline project bringing Azeri gas through northern Greece and Albania to Italy, reducing Europe's energy dependency on Russia. The Trans Adriatic Pipeline will run for 878 km (550 miles), from Greece's border with Turkey to southern Italy, and includes a 105-kilometer (65-mile) stretch under the Adriatic Sea.
(AP, 5/17/16)
2016 May 17, Iran's parliament passed a bill requiring the government demand payment from the United States as compensation for alleged damages Tehran suffered as a result of American policies over past decades.
(AP, 5/17/16)
2016 May 17, In Iraq four bombings killed at least 69 people and wounded more than 100 in Baghdad.
(Reuters, 5/17/16)(SFC, 5/17/16, p.A2)
2016 May 17, In Kosovo a few hundred people from the gay and lesbian community held their first ever pride parade, seeking acceptance and respect of their rights in the conservative society.
(AFP, 5/17/16)
2016 May 17, In Libya forces allied to the Government of National Accord (GNA) captured the town of Abu Grein as they advanced on Sirte.
(AFP, 6/16/16)
2016 May 17, In Nigeria teenager Amina Ali Darsha, the first of more than 200 schoolgirls missing for over two years after they were kidnapped by Boko Haram militants in Chibok, was found carrying a baby near the Sambisa forest close to the border with Cameroon.
(Reuters, 5/18/16)
2016 May 17, In South Korea a woman (23) was attacked and stabbed to death by a male stranger early today in a building's bathroom near Seoul’s Gangnam subway station.
(AP, 5/21/16)
2016 May 17, Sri Lankan disaster officials said flash floods and landslides, triggered by more than three days of heavy rain, have forced more than 130,000 people from their homes. The death toll soon reached 92 with at least 109 people missing.
(Reuters, 5/17/16)(AP, 5/18/16)(AP, 5/21/16)(SFC, 5/23/16, p.A2)
2016 May 17, Yemen's government said it is suspending its participation in talks with Iran-backed rebels, in a new setback to the UN-backed peace process.
(AFP, 5/17/16)
2016 May 18, The United States and its allies staged 17 strikes against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
(Reuters, 5/19/16)
2016 May 18, In South Carolina police in Simpsonville arrested 54 people in a 2-day prostitution bust.
(SSFC, 5/22/16, p.A11)
2016 May 18, A fifth round of four-nation talks (Afghanistan, Pakistan, the United States and China) aimed at laying the ground for a negotiated end to the Afghan war began in Pakistan, as hopes faded for bringing the Taliban insurgents to the table quickly.
(Reuters, 5/18/16)
2016 May 18, In northern Afghanistan at least 20 people were killed in flash floods that hit the province of Sari Pul. The early morning floods hit the district of Kohistanat in the remote south of Sari Pul.
(AP, 5/18/16)
2016 May 18, Chinese appliance maker Midea made a $5.2 billion takeover offer for German industrial robot maker Kuka, a move that it says would help it capture a larger share of the "future service robots market."
(AP, 5/18/16)
2016 May 18, In Ecuador two earthquakes at magnitude 6.7 and 6.8 struck in the early morning and at midday leaving one person dead and dozens injured.
(SFC, 5/19/16, p.A4)
2016 May 18, Strikes by French railway and port workers halved train services and prompted cancellation of ferry links to Britain. French police staged demonstrations in about 60 cities against a surge of "anti-cop hatred" which they say they have suffered at a series of anti-government protests in recent months.
(Reuters, 5/18/16)(AFP, 5/18/16)(SFC, 5/19/16, p.A2)
2016 May 18, In Libya 32 people were killed and 50 wounded in a car-bomb attack in Abu Grein targeting the forces allied with the GNA.
(AFP, 6/16/16)
2016 May 18, Human Rights Watch released a report documenting atrocities by Libya's Islamic State affiliate — including instances of "crucifixions" and shooting a man to death for "cursing God" — in the coastal city of Sirte, a stronghold of the militants.
(AP, 5/18/16)
2016 May 18, In northeastern Mali 5 Chadian peacekeepers were killed and three others wounded during an ambush in the Kidal region. Three suspects were captured following the attack.
(AFP, 5/19/16)
2016 May 18, The Dutch finance minister said the country's national debt declined last year for the first time since 2006 as the economy reaped the benefits of reforms and recovered from the global economic turmoil of recent years. The 2015 national debt was 442 billion euros, 10 billion less than the previous year. The debt equals 65.1 percent of gross domestic product.
(AP, 5/18/16)
2016 May 18, Norway awarded 10 new licenses for offshore oil and gas exploration in the Barents Sea, including three in previously untouched waters near the Russian border. The 13 companies awarded participating interests in the licensing round included Statoil, Chevron, ConocoPhillips and Lukoil.
(AP, 5/18/16)
2016 May 18, In Pakistan a twin bombing killed a police officer and wounded nine people in the northwestern city of Peshawar.
(AP, 5/18/16)
2016 May 18, In Pakistan 8 al-Qaida operatives and other militants were killed near the city of Multan, Punjab province. Several of the accomplices managed to flee but were traced to the district of Dera Ghazi Khan, where six were killed in a firefight with security forces the following day.
(AP, 5/20/16)
2016 May 18, Somaliland, with a population of approximately 4 million people, celebrated 25 years since the region proclaimed independence from Somalia renewing calls for international recognition of its self-declared independence from Somalia.
(AP, 5/18/16)
2016 May 18, In central Syria a regime air strike killed at least 13 members of the same family, including eight children in Rastan.
(AFP, 5/18/16)
2016 May 18, Turkish warplanes hit PKK targets overnight in southeast Turkey and northern Iraq, killing at least 10 fighters. 4 Turkish soldiers were killed and nine wounded when a bomb was detonated as their vehicle traveled past in the mainly Kurdish southeast of the country. Earlier today a soldier was killed in Nusaybin, situated at the Syrian border some 500 km (310 miles) away, when militants opened fire on him.
(Reuters, 5/18/16)
2016 May 18, Uganda's opposition leader Kizza Besigye was remanded to a maximum security prison in the capital after being charged with treason for organizing protests against the re-election of long-time President Yoweri Museveni.
(AP, 5/18/16)
2016 May 18, Yemen's PM Ahmed bin rejected a unity government proposed by Iran-backed rebels whom he accused of bringing the country's economy to the brink of collapse.
(AFP, 5/18/16)
2016 May 19, Pres. Obama recognized 17 leading scientists and innovators as recipients of the National Medal of Science.
(SFC, 5/20/16, p.A5)
2016 May 19, The United States and its allies conducted 17 strikes against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
(Reuters, 5/20/16)
2016 May 19, In San Francisco the police shooting of Jessica Williams (29), a young black woman, proved the final straw for police Chief Greg Suhr, who resigned as head of the department already weighed down by shootings and racially tinged scandals. No charges were filed against the officers involved.
(SFC, 5/20/16, p.A1)(SFC, 10/19/17, p.A1)
2016 May 19, Alan Young (b.1919), an English-born actor who played the owner of the talking horse “Mr. Ed" (1961-1966), died in Woodland Hills, Ca.
(SSFC, 5/22/16, p.C12)
2016 May 19, Morley Safer (1931-2016), longtime journalist for “60 Minutes", died at his home in Manhattan a week after announcing his retirement.
(SFC, 5/20/16, p.A4)
2016 May 19, In Afghanistan 8 policemen were killed by a colleague who turned his gun on them at a checkpoint in Qalat, Zabul province. In the Dihrawud district of Uruzgan province, two policemen were killed by a colleague in an apparent personal dispute. A senior officer of the Afghan army's 205 Corps, Gen. Abdul Basir Sheerwand, was killed when a roadside bomb exploded in the Shah Wali Kot district of Kandahar province.
(AP, 5/19/16)
2016 May 19, World Health Organization held an emergency meeting on the outbreak of yellow fever in Angola. Yellow fever has been raging since last December, and especially in the capital Luanda, killing 293 people in the country to date and infecting another 2,267.
(AP, 5/19/16)
2016 May 19, An EgyptAir Airbus 320 jet carrying 66 passengers and crew from Paris to Cairo disappeared from radar over the Mediterranean south of Greece. Athens said the plane swerved in mid-air before plunging from cruising height and vanishing. Greek officials soon reported pieces of plastic and two life vests found floating some 230 miles south of Crete. On Dec 15 Egypt’s government reported that traces of explosives have been found on some of the victims of an EgyptAir flight.
(Reuters, 5/19/16)(AP, 12/15/16)
2016 May 19, Egypt’s official gazette said Russia will loan Egypt $25 billion to finance building and operating a nuclear power plant in Egypt.
(Reuters, 5/19/16)
2016 May 19, Indian PM Narendra Modi's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won power for the first time in the northeastern state of Assam.
(Reuters, 5/19/16)
2016 May 19, In northern India Phalodi wilted as the mercury reached a new high of 51 degrees Celsius, equivalent to 123.8 Fahrenheit, beating a 60-year-old record.
(AFP, 5/20/16)
2016 May 19, Iraq announced that its forces have recaptured the western town of Rutba, which had been held by the Islamic State jihadist group since 2014.
(AFP, 5/19/16)
2016 May 19, NATO invited the Balkan nation of Montenegro to become its 29th member, agreeing to expand for only the seventh time in its history despite Russia's angry objections.
(AP, 5/19/16)
2016 May 19, In western Nepal a landslide swept into a mountain village, killing at least four people and leaving three missing in Katwada village.
(AP, 5/20/16)
2016 May 19, In the Philippines boxing great Manny Pacquiao was proclaimed as a winner of a Senate seat, bringing him closer to a possible crack at the presidency.
(AP, 5/19/16)
2016 May 19, Russian performance artist Pyotr Pavlensky, known for his radical, politically charged performances, was convicted of vandalism for a pro-Ukraine protest and sentenced to 16 months in prison. He won't have to serve prison time because the statute of limitations had expired. He remained in custody while awaiting trial in Moscow in a second case after he set fire to the doors of the Russian security agency.
(AP, 5/19/16)
2016 May 19, South African media said authorities have arrested at least 30 students after the torching of a building at the University of Fort Hare during overnight protests. It was not immediately clear why the students were protesting.
(Reuters, 5/19/16)
2016 May 19, In Spain the Castile and Leon government outlawed the killing of bulls at town festivals in a measure that likely will stop the animals being speared to death at one of the country's goriest summer events.
(AP, 5/19/16)
2016 May 19, In northern Spain 3 French people were killed when the light aircraft they were flying crashed in Arbizu after reportedly colliding with a vulture.
(AP, 5/20/16)
2016 May 19, Syrian government forces and allied militias made a swift advance into Damascus's rebel-held suburbs, threatening to disrupt a years-long stalemate in the war around the Syrian capital.
(AP, 5/19/16)
2016 May 19, Thailand’s Department of Land Transport put the brakes on motorbike-hailing services offered by Uber and Singapore-based GrabBike barely two months after they started.
(AP, 5/19/16)
2016 May 19, Turkey's ruling party named Transport Minister Binali Yildirim, a loyal ally of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, as the new prime minister.
(AFP, 5/19/16)
2016 May 20, The White House was placed on lockdown for more than an hour and heavily armed Secret Service agents deployed around the building after a man brandished a weapon nearby. Jesse Oliveri of Ashland, Pa., was shot once by a Secret Service agent and taken into custody.
(AP, 5/21/16)(SFC, 5/23/16, p.A6)
2016 May 20, Coca-Cola said it is halting production in Venezuela of its namesake beverage due to a sugar shortage brought on by the country's grinding economic crisis. Last month, Empresas Polar, Venezuela's largest food and beverage company, stopped production of beer because of a lack of imported barley.
(AP, 5/20/16)
2016 May 20, Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour was killed in a US drone strike in the Afghan-Pakistan border area. US officials later said Mansour was likely killed in an air strike on Pakistani soil.
(AP, 5/21/16)(Reuters, 5/22/16)
2016 May 20, In Bangladesh Sanaur Rahman, a homeopath doctor, was hacked to death and his friend critically wounded by men wielding machetes. The two were hit by three attackers who fled on a motorbike in the western district of Kushtia.
(AP, 5/21/16)
2016 May 20, The Chilean government said it has reached a deal with small-scale fishermen who had blocked access to the Chiloe archipelago after a toxic algal bloom put their livelihoods at risk. They will get $1,000 in compensation. The government aid also extends to other non-fishing families who depend on the sea, including algae gatherers and divers.
(AP, 5/20/16)
2016 May 20, China reported that 135 people have been arrested in 22 provinces for illegally buying and selling vaccines.
(AP, 5/21/16)
2016 May 20, In southern China at least 8 people were killed and another four went missing in a strong storm that hammered the city of Xinyi. Officials said the storm brought the heaviest rainfall since 1954, when authorities started to collect weather data.
(AP, 5/21/16)
2016 May 20, In Egypt a group of Muslims set fire to seven houses belonging to Christians and stripped a woman (70) naked in the southern province of Minya after rumors that her Christian son had an affair with a Muslim woman.
(Reuters, 5/26/16)
2016 May 20, The European Space Agency (ESA) said that a European satellite has spotted a potential oil slick in the area of the eastern Mediterranean Sea where an EgyptAir jet disappeared on May 18 with 66 people on board. The Egyptian navy said earlier today it had found the personal belongings of passengers and other debris floating in the Mediterranean.
(Reuters, 5/20/16)
2016 May 20, Four French gendarmes were killed when a helicopter crashed in a mountainous area of southwest France.
(AFP, 5/20/16)
2016 May 20, In India Masunda Kitada Oliver, a Congolese graduate student who had lived in India for over six years, hailed an auto rickshaw in New Delhi when three men insisted they had hired the vehicle. The men beat him up and hit him on the head with a stone, and he died later that night. India on May 25 promised swift punishment.
(AP, 5/25/16)
2016 May 20, Iraqi forces killed at least two protesters while defending Baghdad's Green Zone. The two supporters of Moqtada al-Sadr were the first casualties of the months-old protest movement started by the young cleric to push for political change.
(AFP, 5/21/16)
2016 May 20, Israel's defense minister Moshe Yaalon resigned, saying the nation was being taken over by "extremist and dangerous elements" after PM Benjamin Netanyahu moved to replace him with a far-right politician in an effort to strengthen his coalition.
(Reuters, 5/20/16)
2016 May 20, In Kazakhstan attempts to hold demonstrations against a land-reform measure were blocked. About forty activists were arrested for trying to organize them.
(AP, 5/21/16)
2016 May 20, Mexico approved the extradition of drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman to the United States after receiving guarantees he would not face the death penalty, and the kingpin’s lawyers vowed to block the move.
(Reuters, 5/21/16)
2016 May 20, NATO foreign ministers and alliance partners said they have agreed to extend the Resolute Support mission that trains, advises and assists Afghanistan's security forces and institutions beyond 2016.
(AP, 5/20/16)
2016 May 20, In Nigeria former militants of the defunct Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) called for a halt to a resurgence of attacks on oil and gas facilities in Nigeria's Niger Delta, saying it is an unnecessary distraction for President Muhammadu Buhari's administration.
(Reuters, 5/21/16)
2016 May 20, Peru's tight presidential race took a surprise turn when prosecutors confirmed they've opened a preliminary investigation against front-runner Keiko Fujimori and her American husband for money laundering.
(AP, 5/20/16)
2016 May 20, In the Philippines Christian missionary Sim Jae-jok (57) from South Korea was bludgeoned to death with a spade and a cooking gas tank by a robber who broke into his home southeast Manila.
(AP, 5/20/16)
2016 May 20, Portugal's finance ministry said it is looking at ways of preventing government departments from using tax havens after the Treasury debt agency was found to have held an investment in Jersey.
(AP, 5/20/16)
2016 May 20, Moscow proposed that Russia and United States, which have been flying separate bombing campaigns in Syria, launch joint air strikes against jihadists in the war-torn country from next week.
(AFP, 5/20/16)
2016 May 20, South Africa's Supreme Court of Appeal dismissed a government bid to keep a seven-year ban in place on the domestic trade in rhino horn. The decision had no bearing on a ban on international trade in rhino horn.
(Reuters, 5/23/16)
2016 May 20, Sudan’s independent Shorouk TV said clashes this week between two clans in southern West Kordofan State left at least 37 people dead. The Awlad Subaih and Jamaaniyah reportedly clashed over the theft of sheep.
(SFC, 5/21/16, p.A2)
2016 May 20, Taiwan’s new President Tsai Ing-wen was sworn in with the country’s export-driven economy on the ropes and China, which views the self-ruled island as its own. She urged China to "drop the baggage of history" in an otherwise conciliatory inauguration speech that Beijing's Communist Party rulers had been watching for any move towards independence.
(Reuters, 5/20/16)
2016 May 20, Turkey's parliament approved a bill to amend the constitution to strip lawmakers of immunity, a move that paves the way for trials of several pro-Kurdish and other legislators. The bill put 138 lawmakers, the vast majority of them from two opposition parties, at risk of prosecution. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan signed the bill on June 7.
(AP, 5/20/16)(AFP, 6/8/16)
2016 May 20, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon appointed former Irish president Mary Robinson and Kenyan diplomat Macharia Kamau as special envoys for El Nino and climate.
(AFP, 5/20/16)
2016 May 20, The United Nations human rights office called on Mexico to properly investigate large-scale extrajudicial killings and bring those responsible to justice, including higher-ranking military officers.
(Reuters, 5/20/16)
2016 May 20, Vietnam granted early release from prison to Rev. Nguyen Van Ly, a Catholic priest who is one of its most prominent dissidents. The move was widely seen as a goodwill gesture before Pres. Barack Obama arrives on an official visit on May 22.
(AP, 5/21/16)
2016 May 20, The World Health Organization said that the Zika virus strain linked to surging cases of neurological disorders and birth defects in Latin America has for the first time been found in Africa.
(AFP, 5/20/16)
2016 May 21, The Swiss-made Solar Impulse 2 took off from Tulsa and landed at Ohio’s Dayton Int’l. Airport on the latest leg of its around-the-world journey.
(SSFC, 5/22/16, p.A11)
2016 May 21, In Afghanistan 6 police were shot and killed by colleagues who turned their guns on them at a checkpoint in southern Uruzgan province. Three officers involved in the shooting escaped the scene, taking weapons and vehicles with them.
(AP, 5/21/16)
2016 May 21, In Austria a gunman (27) fired shots late today into a small crowd attending an open air concert near the town of Nenzing, killing two people and wounding 11 others before shooting himself to death.
(AFP, 5/22/16)
2016 May 21, In Bangladesh cyclone Roanu unleashed heavy rain and strong winds on the southern coastal region, killing at least 11. About 100,000 people were forced from their homes on Moheshkhali island in Cox's Bazar.
(AP, 5/21/16)
2016 May 21, In Bangladesh 3 workers were killed when fire engulfed a textile factory in Narsingdi.
(Reuters, 5/21/16)
2016 May 21, Jan Fawcett (neé Janet Caroline Hughes), WWII British codebreaker and savior of Victorian buildings, died.
(Econ, 6/4/16, p.90)
2016 May 21, In Colombia Spanish journalist Salud Hernandez (59) disappeared while reporting a story in Norte de Santander province. She was known for opinion columns highly critical of Colombia's insurgent groups.
(Reuters, 5/23/16)
2016 May 21, In India Apple CEO Tim Cook laid out his company's plans for the vast Indian market in a meeting with PM Narendra Modi, who in turn sought Apple's support for his "Digital India" initiative focusing on e-education, health and increasing farmers' incomes.
(AP, 5/21/16)
2016 May 21, In Indonesia Mount Sinabung in North Sumatra province blasted volcanic ash as high as 3 km (2 miles) into the sky. At least 7 people were killed while working on their farms in the village of Gamber.
(AP, 5/22/16)
2016 May 21, Italy’s PM Matteo Renzi (41) launched his campaign to win an October referendum on constitutional reform, staking his political future on an attempt to finally give Italy stable governments.
(Reuters, 5/21/16)
2016 May 21, In Japan the Group of Seven (G7) major economies showed a united front on fighting terrorist financing and tax evasion in talks that ended today, but shied away from coordinated action on policies to revive stalling growth.
(AP, 5/21/16)
2016 May 21, In Japan World Bank President Jim Yong Kim announced a new program to mobilize funds quickly against virulent disease outbreaks after the world was caught unprepared in the 2014 Ebola disaster in West Africa.
(AFP, 5/21/16)
2016 May 21, The Church of Scotland voted to let its ministers enter same-sex marriages, but its clergy will not be allowed to conduct same-sex weddings.
(SSFC, 5/22/16, p.A6)
2016 May 21, In northeastern Syria bombings suspected to have been carried out by the Islamic State group killed at least 8 people hours after a top US commander visited.
(AFP, 5/22/16)
2016 May 21, Yemeni police opened fire to disperse dozens of Aden residents protesting power cuts, killing one person.
(AFP, 5/22/16)
2016 May 22, US President Barack Obama arrived on his first visit to Vietnam, a trip aimed at sealing the transformation of an old enemy into a new partner to help counter China’s growing assertiveness in the region.
(Reuters, 5/22/16)
2016 May 22, In Massachusetts Jorge Zambrano (35) shot and killed Auburn Police Officer Ronald Tarentino (42) during an early morning traffic stop. Zambrano was killed later in the day in an exchange of gunfire at a small residence in Oxford.
(SFC, 5/23/16, p.A6)
2016 May 22, In Afghanistan rockets fired in the western city of Herat hit a wall of the provincial governor's building and nearby houses, killing at least one civilian.
(Reuters, 5/22/16)
2016 May 22, Austria held a 2nd round of presidential elections. Far-right Freedom Party candidate Norbert Hofer unexpectedly won the first round with 35% of the vote. Left leaning candidate Alexander Van der Bellen collected 50.3 percent of the votes compared to 49.7 percent for Norbert Hofer of the right-wing Freedom Party.
(Reuters, 5/22/16)(AP, 5/23/16)
2016 May 22, In Austria a gunman (27) fired shots into a crowd at an outdoor concert killing 2 people and wounding eleven others before killing himself.
(SFC, 5/23/16, p.A2)
2016 May 22, In central China some 500 people protested in Zhengzhou city in what they say is a lack of university student placements in Henan province, in the latest protest over education reform.
(AP, 5/22/16)
2016 May 22, Cypriots voted for a new parliament amid public disillusionment with what many see as a discredited political establishment.
(AP, 5/22/16)
2016 May 22, In France director Ken Loach took the Palme d'Or in Cannes for "I, Daniel Blake," a film partly funded by the European Commission.
(AP, 5/23/16)
2016 May 22, In France the Iranian film "The Salesman" won two prizes at the Cannes film festival. Lead actor Shahab Hosseini won a Palme d'Or for best actor and director Asghar Farhadi picked up the award for best screenplay.
(AP, 5/27/16)
2016 May 22, In France Jaclyn Jose (52), famous in the Philippines mostly as a soap opera star, won best actress in Cannes for her mesmerizing performance as a Manila slum matriarch who falls prey to corrupt police in acclaimed Filipino director Brillante Mendoza's "Ma' Rosa".
(AFP, 5/23/16)
2016 May 22, In northeastern India heavily armed rebels ambushed and killed 6 Indian paramilitary soldiers, including one officer. The soldiers were on their way for rescue work after a rain-triggered mudslide hit Chandel district in Manipur state.
(AP, 5/22/16)
2016 May 22, Philippine president-elect Rodrigo Duterte blasted the country's dominant Roman Catholic church in an overnight news conference as "the most hypocritical institution" and accused some of its bishops of corruption for allegedly asking favors from politicians, including him.
(AP, 5/22/16)
2016 May 22, In Romania Dan Condrea, the head of Hexi Pharma, was killed as his car slammed into a tree. Condrea was due to be questioned May 23 and would have been charged with aggravated fraud. His company was indicted this month on charges that disinfectants it provided to hospitals and Romania's troops in Afghanistan were highly diluted and ineffective.
(AP, 5/23/16)
2016 May 22, In Sudan Arab tribesmen shot dead 8 ethnic minority villagers as they prayed in a revenge killing in the war-torn Darfur region.
(AFP, 5/23/16)
2016 May 22, In Syria Russian warplanes hit a key rebel supply route to Aleppo in Moscow's first strikes on Syria's battleground second city since a February ceasefire.
(AFP, 5/22/16)
2016 May 22, Tajikistan held a referendum on changing the Constitution to allow its authoritarian President Emomali Rakhmon (63) to run for the office indefinitely, effectively allowing him to rule for life.
(AP, 5/22/16)
2016 May 22, In northern Thailand a nighttime fire at a dormitory of a primary school killed 18 girls, many of whom had been roused by a dorm-mate but went back to sleep, thinking it was a prank.
(AP, 5/23/16)
2016 May 22, Turkey's Transport Minister Binali Yildirim was formally appointed as head of the ruling party and as the new prime minister, strengthening the grip on power of his mentor President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
(AFP, 5/22/16)
2016 May 22, Turkish authorities lifted a long-standing curfew from parts of a historic neighborhood in the mainly Kurdish city of Diyarbakir.
(AP, 5/22/16)
2016 May 22, The UN envoy for Yemen said peace talks in Qatar aimed at ending fighting in the impoverished Arab country are making "incredible progress" and that a halt in fighting is largely holding.
(AP, 5/22/16)
2016 May 22, Vietnam voted in once-every-five-year-elections for a rubber-stamp 500-seat parliament whose membership has already been largely determined by the Communist Party. Results of the parliamentary election on June 9 showed its members winning 96 percent of seats, and trouncing most of the independent candidates it had approved to run.
(AP, 5/22/16)(Reuters, 6/9/16)
2016 May 23, Pres. Obama announced an end to its embargo on sales of lethal arms to Vietnam as he made his first visit to Hanoi. The historic step draws a line under the two countries' old enmity and underscores their shared concerns about Beijing's growing military clout.
(AP, 5/23/16)(Reuters, 5/23/16)
2016 May 23, US federal prosecutors in New York said a Belize resident has pleaded guilty to money laundering conspiracy for helping clients profit off illegal stock trades and then laundering more than $250 million. Robert Bandfield of IPC Corp. incorporated more than 5,000 shell companies in Belize and the West Indies for securities and tax fraud schemes.
(AP, 5/24/16)
2016 May 23, In Hawaii 5 people were killed when a small plane crashed on Kauai during a skydiving tour.
(SFC, 5/23/16, p.A5)
2016 May 23, In Maryland Officer Edward Nero (30) was acquitted of assault and other charges in a non-jury trial related to the April 19, 2015, death of Freddie Gray. He had died due to spinal injuries suffered in the back of a police van on April 12. Four other officers still awaited trial in the case.
(SFC, 5/23/16, p.A10)
2016 May 23, In Massachusetts the 108-year-old Harvard Club of Boston elected Karen Van Winkle (58) as its first female president.
(http://tinyurl.com/zezx7xa)(SFC, 5/26/16, p.A6)
2016 May 23, Boeing Co. said it is selling 100 aircraft worth about $11.3 billion at list prices to Vietnam's VietJet as the airline seeks to expand its international and domestic flights.
(AP, 5/23/16)
2016 May 23, Brazilian federal police arrested João Cláudio Genu, a former treasurer of one of the parties in the country's ruling coalition, as part of a wide-ranging graft probe centered on state-run oil company Petrobras.
(Reuters, 5/23/16)
2016 May 23, It was reported that temperatures in Burkina Faso have hit as high as 111 degrees Fahrenheit (44 degrees Celsius) in recent weeks, putting a strain on a water system also challenged by a growing population. The short water supply in Ouagadougou has increased the price of a barrel of water more than 10 fold from just a few months ago.
(AP, 5/23/16)
2016 May 23, India said it will invest up to $500 million in a deal to develop a strategic port in Iran and both countries planned a number of projects they say are worth hundreds of millions of dollars as Indian PM Narendra Modi visited Tehran.
(AP, 5/23/16)
2016 May 23, In France petrol shortages caused long tailbacks of motorists in parts of the country, as protesters angry over government labor reforms blockaded some of the country's oil refineries and fuel depots.
(AFP, 5/23/16)
2016 May 23, Bayer of Germany said that it has offered $62 billion to acquire St. Louis-based Monsanto in a deal that would combine two of the world’s biggest companies of crop seeds and pesticides.
(SFC, 5/23/16, p.D1)
2016 May 23, The Indian Space Research Organization launched a small space shuttle on a rocket in southern India and completed a successful 13-minute test flight.
(AP, 5/24/16)
2016 May 23, Israeli police forces shot dead a Palestinian woman after she tried to stab a police officer at a West Bank checkpoint.
(AP, 5/23/16)
2016 May 23, Private cement deliveries to the Gaza Strip resumed after Israel lifted a six-week ban it imposed over the alleged diversion of materials by an official in the Palestinian territory.
(AFP, 5/23/16)
2016 May 23, In Kenya at least two people died when police shot, beat and tear gassed demonstrators across the country who called for the electoral commission to be dissolved due to allegations of bias and corruption.
(AP, 5/23/16)
2016 May 23, Iraqi government forces fought Islamic State militants near Falluja and bombarded central districts at the outset of an offensive to retake the longtime jihadist stronghold on the western approaches to the capital Baghdad. It was estimated that there are currently between 500 and 700 IS militants in Falluja.
(Reuters, 5/23/16)
2016 May 23, In Myanmar a collapse at an illegal mine killed at least 13 people in northern Kachin State.
(Reuters, 5/24/16)
2016 May 23, Presumptive Philippine president-elect Rodrigo Duterte said he will allow the immediate burial of former dictator Ferdinand Marcos at a heroes' cemetery, and will support the release of former President Gloria Arroyo, who is detained on corruption charges, in moves that are likely to spark anti-government protests.
(AP, 5/23/16)
2016 May 23, In South Africa the demolition of shacks north of Pretoria triggered riots that continued into the night with 2 security guards were killed.
(Reuters, 5/24/16)
2016 May 23, Sudanese activists Khalafalla Al-Afif, Midhat Hamdan and Mustafa Adam were arrested after security agents raided their office in Khartoum. The three men worked for the Center for Training and Human Development (TRACKS), a group providing training in human rights issues.
(AFP, 3/5/17)
2016 May 23, In Syria bomb blasts killed scores of people in Jableh and Tartous and wounded many others in the government-controlled territory that hosts Russian military bases. 161 people were killed in attacks by at least five suicide bombers and two devices planted in cars. The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attacks. Those killed included 43 people at the Jableh National Hospital.
(Reuters, 5/23/16)(AP, 5/24/16)
2016 May 23, In Thailand twenty-one Rohingya men escaped from the Phang Nga Immigration Detention Center in the early hours today after sawing through an iron bar in their communal cell. One was shot dead and three caught.
(Reuters, 5/24/16)
2016 May 23, Tunisia's Islamist Ennahda party voted to separate its political and religious work, part of the group's effort to cast itself as a modern political party in line with the North African country's secular heritage.
(AP, 5/23/16)
2016 May 23, In Turkey a new fund which aims to raise more than $3.8 billion for children's education in war zones and natural disasters was launched at the first ever World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul.
(Reuters, 5/23/16)
2016 May 23, At the Vatican Pope Francis met the grand imam of Egypt's highest Islamic authority, Al-Azhar, looking to heal Vatican relations with the influential center of Sunni Muslim learning after dialogue was frozen five years ago.
(Reuters, 5/23/16)
2016 May 23, In Yemen twin bombings claimed by the Islamic State group hit two recruiting stations in Aden, killing at least 45 people.
(AP, 5/23/16)
2016 May 24, The United States and its allies staged 17 strikes against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
(Reuters, 5/25/16)
2016 May 24, The Obama administration defended a deal reached last September that would resolve the 1983 environmental disaster in California’s Central Valley by absolving famers of a $330 million debt to taxpayers, among other benefits. The settlement would relieve the federal government of $3.8 billion in potential liability to Westlands Water District in the San Joaquin Valley.
(SFC, 5/25/16, p.D1)
2016 May 24, Belgian riot police fired a water cannon at protesters after fighting broke out at the end of a major anti-austerity demonstration attended by tens of thousands of people in central Brussels. At least one policeman and several protesters were injured.
(AP, 5/24/16)
2016 May 24, In Brazil an official with the Landless Workers Movement (MST) promised a new wave of farm occupations following President Dilma Rousseff's suspension to stand trial in the Senate. One percent of Brazil's population owns 45 percent of all the country's land, according to a US government report.
(Reuters, 5/25/16)
2016 May 24, British media reported that singer-songwriter Adele has signed a contract with Sony worth up to £90 million (117 million euros, $131 million), in one of the biggest ever record deals. Adele has been at London-based independent label XL Recordings since she was a teenager.
(AFP, 5/24/16)
2016 May 24, In Burundi gunmen killed 3 people including a retired army colonel and a police chief, in continuing violence associated with Pres. Pierre Nkurunziza's extended time in power.
(AP, 5/25/16)
2016 May 24, Cuba announced that it will legalize small and medium-sized private businesses.
(SFC, 5/25/16, p.A5)
2016 May 24, Czech PM Bohuslav Sobotka berated members of ruling coalition partner ANO for blocking a government-proposed anti-smoking bill in parliament, calling their vote against a national ban a "disgrace".
(Reuters, 5/25/16)
2016 May 24, Officials in Dubai announced a new, $270-million project to build homes and shops along part of the under-construction Dubai canal.
(AP, 5/24/16)
2016 May 24, In Finland American biochemical engineer Frances Arnold (59), whose discoveries in "directed evolution" have helped produce medicines, including drugs for treating diabetes, was awarded this year's euro 1 million ($1.2 million) Millennium Technology Prize.
(AP, 5/24/16)
2016 May 24, France's government stepped up efforts to break blockades and strikes at refineries that are threatening to paralyze the country just three weeks ahead of the Euro 2016 football tournament.
(AFP, 5/24/16)
2016 May 24, Greek police started moving some of the 8,000 migrants and refugees stranded in a makeshift camp on the sealed northern border with Macedonia to state-run facilities further south.
(Reuters, 5/24/16)
2016 May 24, In Iran Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati (89) was chosen to lead the Assembly of Experts, a clerical body that picks the country's next supreme leader. The hard-line cleric has been in the country's power structure since its 1979 Islamic Revolution.
(AP, 5/24/16)
2016 May 24, Kenyan troops in Somalia killed 21 suspected al-Shabab extremists who were plotting an ambush in southern Somalia.
(AP, 5/25/16)
2016 May 24, In central Mexico a mob of Atlatongo villagers attacked people suspected of a kidnapping, killing two of them.
(AP, 5/25/16)
2016 May 24, Nigeria’s agriculture commissioner Manzo Daniel said the Tuta absoluta moth, dubbed "tomato Ebola" by local farmers, has destroyed more than 80 percent of tomato farms in the northern state of Kaduna. Tomato prices have been steadily climbing for months, caused by unrest in northern and central states where the crop is grown and this has affected farmers' ability to plant and harvest.
(AFP, 5/25/16)
2016 May 24, South Korean officials said an unspecified number of North Koreans working at a Pyongyang-run restaurant overseas have escaped their workplace and will come to South Korea. The announcement came after South Korean media reported that two or three female employees at a North Korean-run restaurant in China fled and went to an unidentified Southeast Asian country earlier this month.
(AP, 5/24/16)
2016 May 24, South Sudan authorities arrested an army major for allegedly trafficking elephant ivory through the country's Paloich oil fields.
(AP, 5/27/16)
2016 May 24, Yehdego Mered, an Eritrean man suspected of running a huge human trafficking network, was arrested in Sudan.
(Reuters, 6/8/16)
2016 May 24, Switzerland's market supervisor indicated that BSI SA helped transfer money to the Alpine country connected to the Malaysian fund called 1MDB. The Swiss attorney general's office opened criminal proceedings against the bank, whose chief executive resigned.
(AP, 5/24/16)
2016 May 24, The Syrian Democratic Forces, a Kurdish-Arab alliance, announced the launch of a major assault against the Islamic State group north of the jihadists' Syrian bastion of Raqa.
(AFP, 5/24/16)
2016 May 24, In Vietnam President Barack Obama pressed Vietnam to allow greater freedoms for its citizens, arguing that better human rights would improve the communist country's economy, stability and regional power.
(AP, 5/24/16)
2016 May 24, Ukraine’s government said 7 soldiers have died from shelling in the war-torn east over the past 24 hours, the biggest casualty toll in a single day this year.
(AFP, 5/24/16)
2016 May 24, In Yemen a bomb hit a university campus in the rebel-held capital Sanaa killing 2 people at an event commemorating the country's 1990 unification.
(AFP, 5/24/16)
2016 May 25, The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission announced two settlements with Citibank, part of the big Wall Street bank Citigroup Inc. Citibank will pay $425 million to settle federal civil charges of attempting to manipulate key benchmarks used to set interest rates for investments in derivatives and US Treasury bonds as well as a range of consumer loans.
(AP, 5/25/16)
2016 May 25, In Novato, Ca., three suspects attacked two high school students on a hiking trail near the Marin Country Club killing Edwin Josue Ramirez Guerra (17) and wounding the other. Two teenage suspects were arrested the next day. Police later said all involved were from Novato High School and that the incident was possibly tied to an earlier sexual assault. Javier Guevara (19), a purported gang member, was later identified as the 3rd suspect. He reportedly used a machete to slash the victim.
(SFC, 5/27/16, p.A14)(SFC, 5/28/16, p.C2)
2016 May 25, In Vallejo, Ca., Pearl Pinson (15) went missing after she was dragged into a car on an I-780 overpass. Suspect Fernando Castro (19) was fatally shot by Solano County police as he shot at officers in a Solvang mobile home park. Pinson was last seen bleeding as she was dragged into a vehicle by her kidnapper.
(SFC, 5/27/16, p.A14)(SFC, 1/31/19, p.A7)
2016 May 25, Florida Rep. David Jolly said the Dept. of Veteran’s Affairs had cut the benefits of 4,200 people nationwide between 2011 and 2015 after they were wrongly declared dead. He had first raised the issue last November.
(SFC, 5/26/16, p.A6)
2016 May 25, In Pennsylvania the Swiss-made Solar Impulse 2 landed in Allentown 17 hours after taking off from Dayton in the latest leg of its journey around the world.
(SFC, 5/26/16, p.A6)
2016 May 25, The Afghan Taliban named Islamic legal scholar Haibatullah Akhundzada, one of former leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour's deputies, to succeed him. Within an hour of the announcement a Taliban suicide bomber attacked a shuttle bus carrying court employees west of Kabul, killing up to 11 people and wounding several others, including children.
(Reuters, 5/25/16)
2016 May 25, Prominent Azerbaijani journalist Khadija Ismayilova was released on probation following a storm of international protests about her imprisonment, which has been widely seen as an attempt to silence a critical voice.
(AP, 5/25/16)
2016 May 25, Brazil's Congress authorized a major increase in the budget deficit, handing interim president Michel Temer a first victory in his bid to tackle the Latin American giant's sickly economy.
(AFP, 5/25/16)
2016 May 25, In Brazil a video was posted featuring the girl (16) naked on a bed and apparent rapists bragging that she had been raped by more than 30 men. They were suspected of assaulting her on May 21 in Rio de Janeiro. Online social networks quickly erupted with outrage over the video as police launched an investigation.
(AFP, 5/28/16)
2016 May 25, A Democratic Republic of Congo opposition group, the Citizen’s Front, angered by a court decision to let President Joseph Kabila remain in office beyond his term, vowed to hold nationwide protests in defiance of bans imposed in some regions.
(AFP, 5/25/16)
2016 May 25, The European Union's agency for judicial cooperation said a Portuguese national and a Russian were arrested in Rome last week on suspicion of being involved in espionage for hire.
(AP, 5/25/16)
2016 May 25, The French oil industry federation said France has started using its strategic oil reserves for the first time since 2010 to counter union blockades of its refineries. The industry said it has been using the strategic reserves for two days. Workers at the hardline CGT union voted for a 24-hour strike at Nogent-sur-Seine nuclear plant.
(Reuters, 5/25/16)
2016 May 25, Greek police moved hundreds more migrants out of Idomeni, the squalid tent city where thousands fleeing war and poverty have lived for months, on the second day of an operation likely to last a week.
(AfP, 5/25/16)
2016 May 25, Indonesian Pres. Joko Widodo issued a regulation that provides tougher penalties for child rapists, including chemical castration and the death penalty.
(AP, 5/25/16)
2016 May 25, Iraqi troops concentrated artillery fire on Falluja's northern and northeastern neighborhoods. A Falluja hospital source said that six civilians were killed and 11 wounded on Wednesday morning, raising the overall death toll since the May 23 launch of the government offensive to 35 - 21 civilians and 14 militants.
(AP, 5/25/16)
2016 May 25, The Italian navy said a large wooden fishing boat overcrowded with migrants capsized off the coast of Libya, with some 550 people rescued and five found dead so far. An estimated 100 people were missing from the smugglers' boat.
(Reuters, 5/25/16)(AP, 5/29/16)
2016 May 25, Italy's Mount Etna, Europe's highest and most active volcano, erupted spewing red torrents of lava into the sky.
(Reuters, 5/26/16)
2016 May 25, Kenya's opposition said it is suspending weeks of protests to allow for talks with the government after a heavy police crackdown, but warned they would return if no action was taken.
(AFP, 5/25/16)
2016 May 25, Liberia's Information Minister Eugene Nagbe said the Chairman of the ruling Unity Party Varney Sherman, parliamentary speaker Alex Tyler former junior mining minister Ernest Jones all face charges, along with London-based Sable Mining in a massive corruption scandal.
(AFP, 5/25/16)
2016 May 25, Anti-slavery campaigners said the jailing of two slave-owners this week and the release of two leading anti-slavery activists from prison could mark a turning point in Mauritania’s fight to eliminate the practice.
(Reuters, 5/25/16)
2016 May 25, Polish authorities said they have started chopping down beetle-infested trees in parts of the Bialowieza Forest, the country’s oldest forest, saying the move aims to eliminate dying trees and to ensure safety for tourists.
(AP, 5/25/16)
2016 May 25, In South Sudan an airport sniffer dog unit found 10 kg (22 pounds) of frozen pangolin meat in the luggage of a Chinese national upon his arrival in Juba from Paloich where he works as an oil engineer.
(AP, 5/27/16)
2016 May 25, Spanish police said they have arrested 30 people suspected of illegally distributing pay television content and of laundering the proceeds by investing in bitcoin "mining" centers for processing transactions in the digital currency.
(Reuters, 5/25/16)
2016 May 25, Ukrainian military pilot Nadiya Savchenko (35) arrived home to scenes of jubilation after her release by Russia in a prisoner swap and she promptly offered to fight again for Kiev in its conflict with pro-Russian separatists. Russian State television showed Alexander Alexandrov and Yevgeny Yerofeyev, descending the steps of an aircraft at Moscow's Vnukovo airport after being handed over by Kiev.
(Reuters, 5/25/16)
2016 May 25, In Yemen a suspected Saudi-led coalition airstrike hit a mineral water factory in Lahij. Security officials said death toll of a suspected Saudi-led coalition airstrike that hit a family's house in the town of el-Mahala, Lahj province. has been raised to 11, including four children from one family.
(AP, 5/25/16)
2016 May 26, Donald Trump reached the number of delegates needed to clinch the Republican nomination for president, completing an unlikely rise that has upended the political landscape and set the stage for a bitter fall campaign.
(AP, 5/26/16)
2016 May 26, The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said a US patient has been infected with bacteria resistant to colistin, a last resort antibiotic. A woman in Pennsylvania was infected with E. coli and carried a gene resistant colistin.
(SFC, 5/28/16, p.A8)
2016 May 26, The Connecticut Supreme Court upheld its landmark decision declaring the state’s death penalty unconstitutional and abolishing capital punishment.
(SFC, 5/27/16, p.A7)
2016 May 26, Governor John Bel Edwards signed a bill into law that expands the medical accessibility of marijuana in Louisiana.
(http://tinyurl.com/godqw8c)
2016 May 26, Cambodian armed security forces raided the headquarters of the main opposition party and surrounded the car of Kem Sokha, its No. 2 leader, in an apparent attempt to apprehend him, but left empty-handed after not finding him in either place.
(AP, 5/26/16)
2016 May 26, In eastern Congo DRC a protester and a police officer were killed in protests in Goma against President Joseph Kabila over indications November's elections will be postponed.
(Reuters, 5/26/16)
2016 May 26, A Congolese official said at least 23 rebels have been killed in an operation launched in May to combat rebels in the North Kivu province.
(AP, 5/26/16)
2016 May 26, In Cyprus UN envoy Espen Barth Eide said he has asked Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci to help "rectify" the new policy that reportedly limits worship in any church to once a year.
(AP, 5/26/16)
2016 May 26, The European Union issued a warning to Hungary about discrimination against Roma children in the country's education system.
(AP, 5/26/16)
2016 May 26, In France 11 of 58 nuclear power plants were hit with unplanned outages after unionized workers at utility EDF joined a rolling nationwide strike against planned government reforms.
(Reuters, 5/26/16)
2016 May 26, In India a powerful blast in a chemical factory located near a residential area in a Mumbai suburb killed five people and left 92 injured.
(Reuters, 5/26/16)
2016 May 26, In Iran the Mizan news agency said more than 30 college students have been arrested, interrogated and given 99 lashes for attending a graduation party that included men and women.
(SFC, 5/28/16, p.A2)
2016 May 26, Israeli aircraft struck two Hamas militant sites in southern Gaza in response to rocket fire toward Israel.
(AP, 5/26/16)
2016 May 26, Italian officials said another migrant boat has capsized in the Mediterranean off the coast of Libya. Some 20 bodies were spotted in the sea. Officials said 88 people had been rescued. Later estimates by police and humanitarian organizations ranged from around 400 to about 550 missing in the sinking of a wooden fishing boat being towed by another smugglers' boat from the Libyan port of Sabratha.
(Reuters, 5/26/16)(AP, 5/26/16)(AP, 5/29/16)
2016 May 26, In Japan Group of Seven (G7) leaders agreed on the need to send a strong message on maritime claims in the western Pacific, where an increasingly assertive China is locked in territorial disputes with Japan and several Southeast Asian nations.
(Reuters, 5/26/16)
2016 May 26, In Kashmir 3 militants were killed after they were intercepted as they entered the Indian side from Pakistani Kashmir.
(AP, 5/27/16)
2016 May 26, Authorities in Mexico’s border state of Tamaulipas arrested four alleged cartel assassins, ages 18 to 22, responsible for 11 executions between March and May of this year in the state capital of Ciudad Victoria.
(AP, 5/27/16)
2016 May 26, New Zealand’s government released a budget plan that included hiking tobacco prices by 46% over the next four years raising the cost of a pack of cigarettes to about $20.
(SFC, 5/27/16, p.A3)
2016 May 26, In Nigeria a bomb attack forced US-based oil major Chevron to halt onshore activities at its 160,000-barrel a day Escravos export terminal. Participants in a stakeholders' meeting in Warri accused the government of a heavy-handed military response and warned such a campaign will not stop attacks that have cut oil production by more than 40 percent.
(AP, 5/27/16)
2016 May 26, In the Philippines operations began against the Maute group in southern Lanao del Sur province's Butig town. By May 30 intense fighting between troops and the little-known Muslim group, apparently inspired by the Islamic State, killed 54 militants and two soldiers, and were still continuing.
(AP, 5/30/16)
2016 May 26, South Africa's public broadcaster said it would stop screening violent protests involving the firebombing of public buildings -- a move condemned as censorship ahead of crucial elections.
(AFP, 5/27/16)
2016 May 26, Spanish police said they seized 74 illegally hunted African elephant tusks worth an estimated 200,000 euros ($222,000) and arrested a man who was trying to legalize possession of them so they could be sold. The tusks were found last month in a house in the town of Colmenar de Oreja, outside Madrid.
(AP, 5/26/16)
2016 May 26, US-backed Syrian fighters (SDF) and Iraqi forces pursued twin assaults against the Islamic State group, but experts warned the battles will be drawn out.
(AFP, 5/26/16)
2016 May 26, In southern Thailand 3 foreign tourists were killed and a British man left missing after a speedboat crashed and capsized in bad weather near the island of Samui.
(Reuters, 5/27/16)
2016 May 26, In Uganda Issa Luyima, the ringleader of the July 11, 2010, bombing by the Al-Qaeda-linked Shebab that killed 76 people in Kampala, was found guilty along with six accomplices of masterminding one of the region's worst attacks in decades.
(AFP, 5/26/16)
2016 May 27, President Barack Obama became the first incumbent US leader to visit Hiroshima, the site of the world's first atomic bombing. Obama paid tribute to the "silent cry" of the 140,000 victims of the atomic bomb dropped 71 years ago on Hiroshima, and called on the world to abandon "the logic of fear" that encourages the stockpiling of nuclear weapons.
(AP, 5/27/16)
2016 May 27, A US military spokesman said coalition strikes supporting Iraqi forces in the recapture of Falluja have killed 70 Islamic State militants including the group's commander in the city. He said the coalition had carried out 20 strikes in support of the campaign over the past four days.
(Reuters, 5/27/16)
2016 May 27, US-led coalition airstrikes and Turkish artillery fire against the Islamic State group in Syria killed 104 militants.
(AP, 5/28/16)
2016 May 27, Record rainfall and severe flooding hit hard parts of southeast Texas. By May 30 least 6 people person were reported killed.
(Reuters, 5/27/16)(SFC, 5/31/16, p.A5)
2016 May 27, The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration posted documents detailing recalls by Honda, Fiat Chrysler, Toyota, Mazda, Nissan, Subaru, Ferrari and Mitsubishi. More than 12 million vehicles in the US will be recalled to replace potentially dangerous Takata air bag inflators.
(AP, 5/27/16)
2016 May 27, Argentina's last dictator Reynaldo Bignone (88) and 14 other former military officials were sentenced to prison for human rights crimes, marking the first time a court has ruled that Operation Condor was a criminal conspiracy to kidnap and forcibly disappear people across international borders.
(AP, 5/28/16)
2016 May 27, Britain told the G7 industrial powers meeting in Japan to do more to fight killer superbugs as the United States reported the first case in the country of a patient with bacteria resistant to a last-resort antibiotic.
(Reuters, 5/27/16)
2016 May 27, The International Olympic Committee said that 23 athletes from five sports and six countries had positive findings in retests with improved techniques on 265 samples from the 2012 London Games, adding to the more than 30 already caught in retesting from the 2008 Beijing Games.
(AP, 5/27/16)
2016 May 27, A Cambodian court convicted three military commandos of beating up two opposition lawmakers outside the parliament last year, and sentenced them to one year each in prison. The attack occurred in October 2015 when the two opposition lawmakers from the Cambodia National Rescue Party were confronted by a pro-government mob, which was demanding the resignation of the party's deputy leader Kem Sonkha.
(AP, 5/27/16)
2016 May 27, In Colombia rebels identifying themselves as members of the National Liberation Army, or ELN, handed Salud Hernandez-Mora over to a delegation led by Ramon Catholic clergy in the volatile Catatumbo region. Hours later, two other journalists from Colombian network RCN were also freed by the rebels.
(AP, 5/27/16)
2016 May 27, The European Union said it is launching an effort to contain the so-called "grey economy" of undeclared and untaxed work. Under its new plan, the EU will seek to exchange best practices to combat undeclared work among the 28 member states and boost common projects.
(AP, 5/27/16)
2016 May 27, The European Union said it has committed to provide Colombia with a package of 575 million euros ($645 million) to help the nation recover from a half century of civil war.
(AP, 5/27/16)
2016 May 27, A French transport ministry spokesman said the fuel supply situation in the country is improving after a week of disruption and shortages caused by strikes and all but one of the country's fuel depot blockades has been cleared. Union activists disrupted the Marseille airport and halted activity at half of the country's oil refineries in protests over changes to France's labor system, but nationwide gasoline shortages eased slightly after government intervention.
(Reuters, 5/27/16)(AP, 5/27/16)
2016 May 27, The president of the University of Guam said Chamorros must learn to speak their language now if they want it to survive. The UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization has included Chamorro on its list of languages in danger of extinction.
(http://bit.ly/1UgV42v)
2016 May 27, In Guinea at least 59 people were injured when youths frustrated they were being kept out of the opening of a new mosque in the town of Timbo clashed with police. About 85 percent of Guinea's population follows Sunni Islam and Timbo is a center of Islamic learning and the capital of the Foutah branch of Islam in Guinea.
(Reuters, 5/28/16)
2016 May 27, Guinea-Bissau's new PM Baciro Dja was sworn in with a fresh cabinet also anticipated, but current ministers in the split ruling party have declared they will not leave their posts.
(AFP, 5/28/16)
2016 May 27, In Dharmsala, India, Lobsang Sangay was sworn in for his second term as prime minister of the Tibetan government-in-exile and said he will make maximum efforts to achieve regional autonomy for Tibet during his five-year term, but will prepare a strategy for the next 50 years if it's unsuccessful.
(AP, 5/27/16)
2016 May 27, Indonesia's navy fired shots at a Chinese trawler when it refused to stop fishing in Indonesian waters, and then seized the vessel and its eight crewmembers.
(AP, 5/30/16)
2016 May 27, The Italian navy vessel Vega rescued 135 migrants and picked up 45 bodies in the Mediterranean.
(AP, 5/28/16)
2016 May 27, In Japan G7 countries expressed concern over China's increasingly assertive activity in the East and South China seas, renewing their warnings against one-sided attempts to change the situation, and stressed the importance of peaceful resolutions.
(AP, 5/27/16)
2016 May 27, In Kashmir an Indian soldier and a militant were killed. Two other rebels were killed in western Khonshipora village after soldiers and police launched a joint operation on a specific tip, leading to exchange of gunfire.
(AP, 5/27/16)
2016 May 27, In northern Mali 5 soldiers were killed and four others wounded when their vehicles were hit by an explosion.
(AFP, 5/28/16)
2016 May 27, The IMF said it has approved a new, two-year $88 billion flexible line of credit to Mexico to bolster it against uncertainty in the global economy.
(AP, 5/28/16)
2016 May 27, In Nigeria militants attacked the Nembe pipeline in the Delta region, hours after the Niger Delta Avengers militant group claimed a strike on the facility.
(Reuters, 5/28/16)
2016 May 27, Romania's President Klaus Iohannis said his government has ordered an action plan for the country's beleaguered health service following public outrage over the use of diluted disinfectants in Romanian hospitals.
(AP, 5/27/16)
2016 May 27, Romania's top appeals court upheld an earlier decision and sentenced Dan Adamescu, one of Romania's richest businessmen, to four years and four months in prison for bribing judges to rule in his favor in court cases.
(AP, 5/27/16)
2016 May 27, Russian President Vladimir Putin made his first trip to a European Union country this year with a visit to Greece for a two-day visit expected to focus on energy cooperation and Russian investments during talks with Greek PM Alexis Tsipras.
(AP, 5/27/16)
2016 May 27, South Africa's public broadcaster said it would stop screening violent protests involving the firebombing of public buildings -- a move condemned as censorship ahead of crucial elections.
(AFP, 5/27/16)
2016 May 27, In Spain Slovakian model Maria Kukucova (26) was found guilty of murdering Andrew Bush (48), her millionaire ex-boyfriend, by shooting the Briton twice in the head in his home on Spain's Costa del Sol on April 5, 2014. Kukucova was sentenced to 15 ½ years in prison.
(AP, 5/27/16)(AP, 5/31/16)
2016 May 27, The IMF said it will immediately disburse $81 million to Suriname as part of a two-year deal. The South American country landed a $478 million loan from the International Monetary Fund to boost an economic reform program amid a drop in commodity prices.
(AP, 5/28/16)
2016 May 27, In Syria at least 100,000 people were trapped along the border with Turkey after the Islamic State group swept through rebel territory in Aleppo province. IS fighters captured territory from Syrian rebels near the border and inched closer to a town on a supply route for foreign-backed insurgents fighting the jihadists.
(AFP, 5/27/16)(Reuters, 5/27/16)
2016 May 27, Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said warplanes from the US-led coalition have pounded the Islamic State group with at least 150 strikes to bolster a major offensive on the jihadists' Syrian stronghold of Raqa. Coalition warplanes dropped leaflets encouraging residents to flee Raqa.
(AFP, 5/27/16)
2016 May 27, In Ukraine Nadezhda Savchenko (35), the pilot who returned to a hero's welcome after two years in Russian custody, declared she would run for president if that's what Ukrainians wanted.
(AP, 5/27/16)
2016 May 27, The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said around 2.8 million people in Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras need food aid after two consecutive years of severe drought decimated crops and exacerbated hunger among the poor due to prolonged dry spells since mid-2014, linked to the El Niño weather phenomenon.
(Reuters, 5/27/16)
2016 May 28, The US military announced a 30-day period of mourning at its bases on the southern Japanese island of Okinawa, where the killing of a woman has reignited resentment of the heavy US military presence in the region.
(Reuters, 5/28/16)
2016 May 28, NASA successfully inflated its new Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM) in an operation that took three days to complete at the Int’l. Space Station.
(SSFC, 5/29/16, p.A7)
2016 May 28, In Vermont Amos Beede was fatally beaten at a homeless encampment in Burlingame after he poured bodily fluids onto the tent of one of his assailants. On June 2 four suspects were arrested in San Diego on 2nd degree murder charges following a nationwide manhunt.
(SFC, 6/4/16, p.A5)
2016 May 28, Albanian Democrats said they would boycott Parliament for 10 days after Parliament suspended former leader Sali Berisha for 10 days for accusing PM Edi Rama of direct links to criminals.
(AP, 5/28/16)
2016 May 28, In Egypt a girl (17) died while undergoing female circumcision. Authorities ordered the hospital closed and referred doctors for prosecution after the girl died. Female genital mutilation was criminalized in 2008 but remains widespread in Egypt.
(AP, 5/31/16)
2016 May 28, Iran said eight people producing obscene music videos, whose clips were broadcast on a famous anti-revolutionary television channel, were arrested in Tehran last week.
(AFP, 5/28/16)
2016 May 28, Italian coast guard and navy ships, aided by an Irish naval vessel, saved more than 500 migrants from smugglers' boats in the Mediterranean off Libya. 135 people were rescued in a shipwreck, 45 bodies were recovered and an unknown numbers of migrants were still missing.
(AP, 5/28/16)(AP, 5/29/16)
2016 May 28, Mexican soccer player Alan Pulido (25) was nabbed by four armed people on a highway returning from a party in Tamaulipas state. Authorities soon found him in safe house in the southern part of Ciudad Victoria, his hometown, and one of his captors was arrested.
(AP, 5/30/16)
2016 May 28, In Nigeria militants blew up strategic gas and crude pipelines belonging to Shell and Agip in an increasingly fierce campaign that has chopped Nigeria's oil production in half.
(AP, 5/28/16)
2016 May 28, Pakistani media said the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) has banned advertisements for contraceptive products on television and radio over concern that they expose inquisitive children to the subject of sex.
(Reuters, 5/28/16)
2016 May 28, Philippine police killed 3 drug suspects in a shootout on the tiny island of Banacon, the latest such deaths after the election of tough anti-crime firebrand Rodrigo Duterte as president.
(AFP, 5/29/16)
2016 May 28, Spanish police said seven people suspected of involvement in stealing five paintings by the Irish-born painter Francis Bacon worth more than 25 million euros ($27.8 million) have been arrested.
(AP, 5/28/16)
2016 May 28, In northeastern Syria heavy fighting between the Islamic State group and rebels gripped the town of Marea.
(AFP, 5/28/16)
2016 May 28, The World Health Organization said there is "no public health justification" for postponing or canceling the Rio de Janeiro Olympics because of the Zika outbreak.
(AP, 5/28/16)
2016 May 28, Yemeni authorities arrested seven Islamic State group suspects, including one "Westerner", in second city Aden.
(AFP, 5/28/16)
2016 May 29, In Florida the Libertarian Party nominated former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson (63) as its presidential candidate at the party’s convention in Orlando. Johnson served as New Mexico’s governor from 1995-2003 and was the party’s candidate in 2012.
(SFC, 5/30/16, p.A4)
2016 May 29, In Afghanistan the Taliban launched string of coordinated attacks late today on police checkpoints in the increasingly volatile southern province of Helmand. 33 policemen were reported killed.
(AP, 5/30/16)(Reuters, 5/30/16)
2016 May 29, A Dubai court sentenced American businessman Zack Shahin to 15 years in prison after convicting him on theft and fraud charges. He was sentenced at the Dubai Criminal Court over a 2007 Texas land deal. Three other Americans received similar sentences in absentia. The defendants were also fined 56 million dirhams ($15.3 million).
(AP, 5/29/16)
2016 May 29, An Egyptian military court sentenced eight alleged Muslim Brotherhood members to death on terrorism charges.
(AP, 5/29/16)
2016 May 29, German airline Lufthansa said it is suspending its flights to Caracas, citing the difficult economic situation in Venezuela.
(AP, 5/29/16)
2016 May 29, Indian police in New Delhi said that they have arrested five people who assaulted six Africans in the Indian capital last week, as African diplomatic missions urged India's government to ensure the safety of Africans living in the country.
(AP, 5/29/16)
2016 May 29, Iran said its pilgrims would not attend the annual Muslim haj pilgrimage, blaming regional rival Saudi Arabia for "sabotage" and failing to guarantee the safety of pilgrims.
(Reuters, 5/29/16)
2016 May 29, Iraq's special forces completed a troop buildup around Fallujah ahead of an operation to retake the Islamic State-held city west of Baghdad, as the militants attacked Hit, a newly-liberated town to the west. Iraq's Kurdish peshmerga forces launched an offensive to retake areas east of Mosul, the main IS hub in the country.
(AP, 5/29/16)(AFP, 5/29/16)
2016 May 29, In Italy Rome student Sara Di Pietrantonio (22) died before dawn after Vincenzo Paduano (27) first set her car afire. Investigators said her attacker used a cigarette lighter to set her face on fire after dousing her with alcohol.
(AP, 5/30/16)
2016 May 29, Jordan's King Abdullah appointed veteran politician Hani Mulqi as caretaker prime minister after dissolving parliament as its four-year term nears its end, and charged him with organizing new elections by October.
(Reuters, 5/29/16)
2016 May 29, In central Mali at least five UN peacekeepers were killed in an ambush by suspected militants some 50 km out of Mopti.
(AFP, 5/29/16)
2016 May 29, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari vowed to keep and "re-engineer" a controversial amnesty program for Niger delta militants designed to stem attacks that have slashed oil exports but set to be scrapped.
(AFP, 5/29/16)
2016 May 29, In Nigeria at least 10 people were killed during protests by pro-Biafra campaigners. Activists wanting a separate state for the Igbo people in the southeast were commemorating the 49th anniversary of the declaration of an independent Republic of Biafra on May 30, 1967.
(AFP, 5/31/16)
2016 May 29, Syrian rebels retook the villages of Kafr Shoush and Braghida from Islamic State militants, expanding their buffer around the rebel-held town of Azaz. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said thousands of civilians have fled an offensive by the IS group against non-jihadist rebels in the north into territory controlled by a US-backed Kurdish-led alliance.
(AP, 5/29/16)(AFP, 5/29/16)
2016 May 29, Uganda and South Korea signed cooperation agreements on the 2nd day of a visit by South Korean leader Park Geun-hye. The memorandums of understanding in areas such as health and education were signed at the State House in Entebbe. Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni said his country would halt security and military cooperation with North Korea.
(AP, 5/29/16)(Reuters, 5/29/16)
2016 May 29, Ukraine’s military said 5 soldiers have been killed and four wounded in fresh clashes with pro-Russian separatists in the country's east over the last 24 hours.
(AFP, 5/29/16)
2016 May 29, In Ukraine 17 people died when an unlicensed home for elderly people caught fire in the village of Litochky in the early hours.
(AFP, 5/29/16)
2016 May 29, In Yemen fierce fighting claimed the lives of 48 fighters in Bayhan, on the border between Shabwa province in the south and Marib in the east. "Sniper fire" from the Huthi rebels killed Yemeni journalist Abdullah Azizan while he was covering the clashes in Bayhan.
(AFP, 5/31/16)
2016 May 30, Verizon and its unions said they have reached a tentative agreement and that almost 40,000 workers will return to their jobs on June 1.
(SFC, 5/31/16, p.A5)
2016 May 30, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani dedicated an ambitious reconstruction project to restore the ruins of historic Darul Aman palace, which was built in the 1920s. The project is expected to cost $16.5 million to $20 million and take three to five years.
(Reuters, 5/30/16)
2016 May 30, In Afghanistan as many as 24 more police were killed around Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand province in the latest offensive by Taliban insurgents.
(Reuters, 5/30/16)
2016 May 30, Scientists said mass bleaching has killed more than a third of the coral in the northern and central parts of Australia's Great Barrier Reef, though corals to the south have escaped with little damage.
(AP, 5/30/16)
2016 May 30, A Bahrain court more than doubled a jail sentence against opposition leader Sheikh Ali Salman, in a ruling his bloc warned risked stoking fresh unrest among the Sunni-ruled kingdom's Shiite majority.
(AFP, 5/30/16)
2016 May 30, An Egyptian court sentenced Mohamed Badie, the Muslim Brotherhood's leader, and 35 other people to life in prison over violent clashes after the army overthrew Islamist president Mohamed Morsi. Badie has already been sentenced to death and prison terms in other trials.
(AFP, 5/30/16)
2016 May 30, European Union ministers meeting in the Dutch capital endorsed a "Pact of Amsterdam" aimed at improving living conditions in towns and cities throughout the 28-nation bloc.
(AP, 5/30/16)
2016 May 30, Hong Kong activist Ken Tsang was sentenced to five weeks in prison on charges related to a confrontation with police in October 2014. A TV station had videotaped police officers carrying Tsang away in handcuffs and then punching and kicking him in a dark corner of a public park.
(AP, 5/30/16)
2016 May 30, Iraqi forces started pushing into the city of Fallujah as a wave of bombings claimed by the Islamic State group in Baghdad and nearby killed at least 24 people.
(AP, 5/30/16)
2016 May 30, A Kuwait court sentenced three members of the Al-Sabah ruling family and four others to jail terms for insulting the emir and the judiciary on the Internet.
(AFP, 5/30/16)
2016 May 30, Kuwait's supreme court upheld the death sentence handed down to Abdulrahman Sabah Saud, the main convict in the Islamic State group bombing of a Shiite mosque that killed 26 people in June, 2015.
(AFP, 5/30/16)
2016 May 30, Kyrgyzstan's Pres. Almazbek Atambayev dismissed the police chief of the Central Asian country after the arrests of politicians suspected of plotting a coup.
(AFP, 5/30/16)
2016 May 30, In Nigeria protests by pro-Biafra campaigners, wanting a separate state for the Igbo people in the southeast, commemorated the 49th anniversary of the 1967 declaration of an independent Republic of Biafra. Amnesty International later said at least 17 were killed and nearly 50 injured in Onitsha alone in violence linked to the commemoration.
(AFP, 6/10/16)
2016 May 30, In Pakistan schoolteacher Maria Bibi (19) was tortured, doused with gasoline and set on fire for refusing to marry a man twice her age. Before she died she had given a statement to police, saying five attackers had stormed her house in the town of Upper Dewal. All five suspects were soon arrested.
(AP, 6/3/16)
2016 May 30, The Philippine Congress proclaimed crime-busting Mayor Rodrigo Duterte as president-elect and Rep. Leni Robredo as vice president-elect. Duterte did not attend the ceremony at the House of Representatives, telling reporters earlier he shuns such ceremonial proclamations.
(AP, 5/30/16)
2016 May 30, In Senegal former Chad dictator Hissene Habre (1982-1990) was given a life sentence for war crimes, crimes against humanity and a slew of other charges, including rape. The verdict marks the first time a country has convicted a former leader of another nation for rights abuses.
(AFP, 5/30/16)
2016 May 30, In Thailand wildlife officials began removing some of the 137 tigers held at a Buddhist temple following accusations that the monks were involved in illegal breeding and trafficking of the animals.
(AP, 5/30/16)
2016 May 30, In Tunisia 2 civilians were killed and one other injured by a landmine planted by jihadist groups in a mountainous region near the Algerian border.
(Reuters, 5/30/16)
2016 May 30, Zimbabwean officials say poachers killed 5 elephants by poisoning them with cyanide. Rangers discovered the carcasses of the elephants with their tusks removed in a western forest last week.
(AP, 5/30/16)
2016 May 31, It was reported that a Connecticut commission has approved a $22 million package to help Bridgewater Associates, the world’s largest hedge fund, upgrade and expand offices in the state.
(SFC, 5/31/16, p.D2)
2016 May 31, Jurors in Chester, Ill., found former suburban police officer Drew Peterson (62) guilty of trying to hire someone to kill the prosecutor who helped to convict him in 2012 in the killing of his third wife. Peterson was already serving a 38-year sentence for the 2004 murder of Kathleen Savio. On July 29 Peterson was given an additional 40 years in prison.
(SFC, 6/1/16, p.A8)(SFC, 7/30/16, p.A6)
2016 May 31, In Michigan Deontae Mitchell (13) was kidnapped outside a market in Detroit. He was soon found dead in a vacant lot. On June 4 Earnest Coleman (26) was charged with the kidnapping.
(SSFC, 6/5/16, p.A8)
2016 May 31, In northern Afghanistan the Taliban attacked several buses, forcing passengers to disembark and killing 10 people and abducting at least 18 in Kunduz province. Ten of the hostages were soon released. In the eastern Ghazni province, a bomb blast killed a civilian and wounded 12. The Taliban also launched attacks in southern Helmand province on the several districts and on the outskirt of the provincial capital, Lashkar Gah.
(AP, 5/31/16)(AP, 6/1/16)
2016 May 31, A Bangladesh court sentenced to death six militants from the banned Islamist groups Jumataul Mujahedeen Bangladesh (JMB) and Ansarullah Bangla Team, for the killing of 7 people during a bank robbery last year.
(AP, 5/31/16)
2016 May 31, In Belgium strikes by public-sector employees across the country intensified, with train and bus services disrupted along with schools, prisons and mail delivery as workers protested against the government's social and economic policies.
(AP, 5/31/16)
2016 May 31, In London the Walk Free Foundation's Global Slavery Index said about 45.8 million people around the world are trapped in modern slavery. India reportedly had the largest number of modern slaves, 18.35 million, followed by China with 3.39 million and Pakistan with 2.13 million.
(AP, 5/31/16)
2016 May 31, In Burkina Faso unidentified gunmen killed 3 policemen at their station in Intagom near the border with Mali.
(AP, 6/1/16)
2016 May 31, A Czech appeals court ruled that Marek Dalik, a close friend and adviser of former PM Mirek Topolanek, is guilty of fraud and sentenced him to four years in prison.
(AP, 5/31/16)
2016 May 31, The government of Denmark said it will punish preachers who encourage criminal acts and blacklist "hate preachers," after a documentary about imams advocating illegal acts sparked nationwide controversy in February. The documentary showed hidden camera footage of imams in Danish mosques advocating the corporal punishment of children, stoning and whipping unfaithful spouses and requiring women to have sex with violent spouses.
(Reuters, 5/31/16)
2016 May 31, Dubai issued notice informing hotels that alcohol slaes during Ramadan would be governed by normal rules, as opposed to limiting their hours.
(SFC, 6/23/16, p.A3)
2016 May 31, In Egypt a roadside bomb struck a military armored vehicle in the restive northern part of the Sin ai Peninsula. 6 soldiers were killed an six others wounded.
(AP, 5/31/16)
2016 May 31, The European Union reached an agreement with some of the world's biggest social media firms, including Facebook and Twitter, on ways to combat the spread of hate speech online.
(AP, 5/31/16)
2016 May 31, French company Technip signed a preliminary $500 million deal to upgrade a key Libyan oil facility, along with Italy's Eni and Libya's state oil company.
(AP, 5/31/16)
2016 May 31, In Germany Rupert Neudeck (77), the co-founder of Germany-based humanitarian aid group Cap Anamur, died. The NGO helped to rescue more than 10,000 Vietnamese "boat people" in 1979. Following the Vietnamese crisis, Cap Anamur expanded to provide humanitarian aid globally, focusing on medical care and education.
(AP, 5/31/16)
2016 May 31, In western India a fire broke out at a major ammunition depot, killing at least 17 army personnel at the Pulgaon ammunitions depot, Maharashtra state.
(AP, 5/31/16)
2016 May 31, Indonesian police detained more than 300 demonstrators who were demanding the release of political prisoners in restive Papua province.
(AP, 5/31/16)
2016 May 31, Iraqi forces battling their way into Fallujah repelled a four-hour counterattack by the Islamic State group, a day after entering the southern part of the militant-held city with the help of U.S.-led airstrikes. An estimated 50,000 people remain trapped in the city.
(AP, 5/31/16)
2016 May 31, In Kenya South Korea's President Park Geun-hye met Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta on the second day of her three-day visit.
(AP, 5/31/16)
2016 May 31, In Mali 4 people were killed in two attacks on UN projects.
(AP, 6/1/16)
2016 May 31, Malaysia's government said it has fired 15 immigration officers who helped international syndicates sabotage online passport checks for years, allowing some travelers to move freely in and out of the country. The sabotage likely started in 2010 and was led by foreign agents.
(AP, 6/1/16)
2016 May 31, North Korea attempted to fire a missile from its east coast but the launch appears to have failed.
(Reuters, 5/31/16)
2016 May 31, Gaza's Hamas rulers executed three Palestinians convicted of murder, defying an agreement with the rival Palestinian Fatah faction.
(AP, 5/31/16)
2016 May 31, Philippine president-elect Rodrigo Duterte (71) said he will pay bounties to police or military officials who capture suspected drug lords “dead or alive." He also told reporters there was justification for killing journalists who took bribes or engaged in other corrupt activities.
(SFC, 6/1/16, p.A4)(AFP, 6/1/16)
2016 May 31, A Singapore court convicted four Bangladeshi workers of financing terrorism. They were being held on suspicion of planning attacks linked to the Islamic State group in their own country.
(AP, 5/31/16)
2016 May 31, In Syria a wave of overnight airstrikes pummeled the northwestern city of Idlib, killing at least 23 people, wounding dozens and trapping several under the rubble of their homes. Russia denied the strikes.
(AP, 5/31/16)
2016 May 31, In Syria thousands of US-backed fighters opened a major new front, launching an offensive to drive Islamic State out of a swathe of northern Syria it uses as a logistics base, and were reported to be making rapid progress.
(Reuters, 6/1/16)
2016 May 31, In Turkey a court convicted Merve Buyuksarac (27), a former Miss Turkey (2006), of insulting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan through social media postings and gave her a 14-month suspended sentence.
(AP, 5/31/16)
2016 May 31, Turkey's President Recep Teyyep Edorgan arrived in Uganda to promote trade and tourism opportunities between the two countries.
(AP, 6/1/16)
2016 May 31, Western Sahara independence leader Mohamed Abdelaziz died of lung cancer. He was the 3rd Secretary General of the Polisario Front and President of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic from 1976 until his death.
(http://tinyurl.com/zbrqtlv)(AP, 6/4/16)
2016 May 31, In Yemen renewed clashes between pro-government forces and Iran-backed rebels killed at least 38 people during the past 24 hours.
(AFP, 5/31/16)
2016 May, Louisiana became the first state to pass a Blue Lives Matter bill. It treated attacks on police as a hate crime.
(Econ, 7/23/16, p.22)
2016 May, It was reported DAO (decentralized autonomous organization) has raised the equivalent of $150 million in digital money to invest in startups, making it biggest crowdfunding effort ever.
(Econ, 5/21/16, p.67)
2016 May, Albania's government defied local and international opposition and granted initial approval to a proposal by two Turkish firms to build a 25-meter (80-foot),99.5 megawatt dam at Pocem on the Vjosa river, one of Europe’s last wild waterways.
(AP, 7/17/16)
2016 May, Argentina’s INDEC, the nation’s statistical office, launched a new inflation index following directions from Pres. Mauricio Macri.
(Econ 5/27/17, p.34)
2016 May, In Brazil the police of Rio de Janeiro killed 40 people this month.
(Econ, 7/30/16, p.25)
2016 May, A Chinese regulator ordered Apple Inc. to stop selling two versions of its iPhone 6 in Beijing after finding they look too much like a competitor. This was only reported in mid-June by the Chinese press. Apple said sales are going ahead while it appeals. Apple also suffered another setback this month when a court ruled that a Chinese company is allowed to use the iPhone trademark on bags, wallets and other leather goods. Apple said it would appeal.
(AP, 6/18/16)
2016 May, India passed a new bankruptcy law. It will allow banks from next year onward to foreclose on insolvent firms.
(Econ, 7/16/16, p.56)
2016 May, In Libya a single truck bombing killed 32 members of the Misrata brigades late this month. Some 75 fighters were killed and more than 350 injured since the beginning of May.
(Reuters, 5/29/16)
2016 May, Mexico passed legislation creating special economic zones in the southern half of the country to be up and running in 2018.
(Econ, 6/25/16, p.65)
2016 May, In Mozambique the Renamo insurgent group carried out 18 attacks on the main road, killing 7 people and leaving more than 30 wounded. Since 2013, tensions have risen and Renamo fighters have again taken up arms in a battle that it says is against a Frelimo elite who has enriched itself at the expense of the country.
(AFP, 6/19/16)
2016 May, In Nigeria annual inflation jumped to almost 16%.
(Econ, 6/18/16, p.53)
2016 May, Dr. Grigory Rodchenkov, the former head of a Moscow lab, told the NY Times of a system of swapping out urine samples at the 2014 Sochi Olympics to avoid positive tests.
(http://tinyurl.com/ja976aa)(Econ, 7/23/16, p.41)
2016 May, South Africa’s parliament passed a bill making it easier for the state to force whites to sell land for redistribution to blacks.
(Econ, 6/18/16, p.51)
2016 May, In Vietnam a woman, identified only as L. T. N., checked into a Hanoi hospital with one third of her left foot and one third of her left hand severed, but doctors told her they could not reattach the limbs. State-run media later reported that she had paid a friend to cut off her hand and foot in a bid to claim a handsome insurance payout.
(AFP, 8/25/16)
2016 Jun 1, NASA said researchers in the United States and Canada have located 39 unreported sources of major pollution using a new satellite-based method. The unreported sources of toxic sulfur dioxide emissions are clusters of coal-burning power plants, smelters and oil and gas operations in the Middle East, Mexico and Russia that were found in an analysis of satellite data from 2005 to 2014.
(Reuters, 6/2/16)
2016 Jun 1, In southern California engineering Prof. William Klug (39) was shot and killed at UCLA’s engineering complex. Mainak Sarkar (38), an Indian-American engineer, then killed himself. Sarkar had already killed his estranged wife in Minnesota.
(SFC, 6/2/16, p.A6)(AP, 6/3/16)
2016 Jun 1, The Brazos River in Texas surged to its highest in more than a century in an area outside of Houston. The National Weather Service (NWS) issued a flash flood watch for large parts of the state and said storms lasting until the weekend could send even more rivers over their banks.
(Reuters, 6/1/16)
2016 Jun 1, Ford Motor Co. said it is recalling nearly 1.9 million vehicles in North America to replace faulty passenger-side front air bags made by Japanese supplier Takata Corp.
(AP, 6/1/16)
2016 Jun 1, In eastern Afghanistan Taliban gunmen disguised in women's burqas and wearing military uniforms underneath stormed a court building in, killing five civilians and a policeman in Ghazni. In the northern Balkh province district police chief Bismullah Khan was killed when his vehicle struck a roadside bomb. In the north 17 people were kidnapped by insurgents in Sari Pul province. 2 Afghan men and a woman working for an international aid organization were shot dead in the Shekh Ali district of the northwestern Parwan province.
(AP, 6/1/16)(AP, 6/2/16)
2016 Jun 1, A special court in Bangladesh sentenced a man to death and two of his associates to life in prison after finding them guilty of killing two local fighters during the country's 1971 war of independence against Pakistan.
(AP, 6/1/16)
2016 Jun 1, Mohamed Nasheed, a former president of the Maldives now in exile in Britain after being ousted from office and jailed in his country, formed an opposition group aimed at toppling the government of President Abdulla Yameen.
(Reuters, 6/1/16)
2016 Jun 1, Egyptian and French investigators said a French search vessel has picked up signals from one of the black boxes of EgyptAir flight MS804, which crashed May 19.
(Reuters, 6/1/16)
2016 Jun 1, Egypt opened its border with Gaza for the second time in a month, giving Palestinians a four-day respite from a closure stemming from friction between Cairo and the enclave's Islamist rulers.
(Reuters, 6/1/16)
2016 Jun 1, The European Union said Poland's government is not following the rule of law as required by the bloc's membership and has taken a step toward sanctions.
(AP, 6/1/16)
2016 Jun 1, Transport chaos hit France, just nine days before the Euro 2016 football tournament, as railway workers went on strike in the latest salvo of a months-long battle between the government and unions.
(AFP, 6/1/16)
2016 Jun 1, In France Paris City Hall closed roads along the shore of the Seine from the Left Bank in the east to the Eiffel Tower neighborhood in the west after the Seine River overflowed its banks and floods hit towns across France.
(AP, 6/1/16)
2016 Jun 1, In Honduras Rene Martinez (39), a leader in the gay community, was kidnapped in the city of San Pedro Sula. His body was found two days later.
(AP, 6/4/16)
2016 Jun 1, PM Haider al-Abadi said Iraq delayed its assault on the city of Falluja because of fears for the safety of civilians, as his forces halted at the city's edge in the face of ferocious resistance from Islamic State fighters.
(Reuters, 6/1/16)
2016 Jun 1, A Malawi court banned witchdoctors from operating in the impoverished southern African country following a spate of albino killings linked to witchcraft.
(AFP, 6/2/16)
2016 Jun 1, In Mauritania 8 women were trampled to death in a stampede to receive alms being distributed by a charity ahead of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
(Reuters, 6/2/16)
2016 Jun 1, Dutch prosecutors raided a string of locations and seized cash and hundreds of thousands of fraudulent letters in an investigation into worldwide mail scams. The next day US law enforcement authorities said the scams had defrauded "elderly and vulnerable" Americans out of tens of millions of dollars.
(AP, 6/2/16)
2016 Jun 1, Pakistan imposed full border controls across the Afghan-Pakistan border at Torkham near the Khyber Pass.
(Econ, 6/11/16, p.41)
2016 Jun 1, Police in Romania detained 26 people, including a number of border police officers, on charges of smuggling cigarettes and fake Rolex watches and helping migrants illegally enter from Serbia.
(AP, 6/1/16)
2016 Jun 1, Thousands of Romanian teachers demonstrated to demand higher salaries, rallying outside the government's main offices in Bucharest then marching through the capital.
(AP, 6/1/16)
2016 Jun 1, Russian social media users voiced their outrage at Twitter's decision a day earlier to suspend popular accounts parodying Pres. Vladimir Putin and other officials.
(AP, 6/1/16)
2016 Jun 1, The Russian Defense Ministry said that a temporary ceasefire, which it called a "regime of calm", had taken effect for 48 hours in the Damascus suburb of Daraya to allow for the distribution of humanitarian aid to civilians.
(Reuters, 6/1/16)
2016 Jun 1, Saudi Arabia sentenced 14 people to death for terrorism after they were convicted of attacks on police in the Shi'ite Muslim minority area of Qatif in the Eastern Province. Another nine people were given jail sentences of three to 15 years and one was acquitted.
(Reuters, 6/1/16)
2016 Jun 1, Somalia said intelligence agents have killed Sheik Mohamed Mohamud aka Dulyadin, who was the head of al Shabaab's intelligence wing, known as Amniyat. The commander was suspected of organizing the 2015 attack on Kenya's Garissa University that left 148 people dead.
(Reuters, 6/1/16)(AFP, 6/19/16)
2016 Jun 1, In Somalia Shabaab gunmen stormed the Ambassador Hotel in central Mogadishu. Over the next 12 hours they killed at least 15 people including two members of parliament in the latest attack by the Al-Qaeda group. All the gunmen were killed by the security forces.
(AFP, 6/2/16)(SFC, 6/3/16, p.A2)
2016 Jun 1, In Spain American bionic limb specialist Hugh Herr (51) won the Princess of Asturias 2016 scientific research prize in recognition of his work to improve mobility for people with disabilities.
(AP, 6/1/16)
2016 Jun 1, In Switzerland European dignitaries inaugurated the 57-km (35.4-mile) Gotthard Railway Tunnel, a major engineering achievement deep under the Alps' snow-capped peaks. It took 17 years to build at a cost of 12.2 billion Swiss francs ($12 billion).
(AP, 6/1/16)
2016 Jun 1, In Syria Kurdish-led Syrian fighters launched a new advance on Manbij. The US-led international coalition fighting the Islamic State group said it had conducted 18 air strikes near the strategic town of Manbij in northern Syria over the last 24 hours with at least 15 civilians killed. The strikes destroyed an IS headquarters, six IS-used bridges, communication towers, and eight IS fighting positions, among other targets. The Kurdish militia also launched an offensive to capture the IS-held Tabqa air base.
(AFP, 6/1/16)(SFC, 6/2/16, p.A2)
2016 Jun 1, Thai authorities found dozens of dead tiger cubs inside a freezer at the Wat Pha Luang Ta Bua temple in western Kanchanaburi province.
(AFP, 6/2/16)
2016 Jun 2, The United States said it has sanctioned Burundi military commander Marius Ngendabanka, security official Ignace Sibomana and rebel leader Edouard Nshimirimana for engaging in actions or policies that threaten the peace, security or stability of the East African country.
(AP, 6/3/16)
2016 Jun 2, The US attorney's office said Martin Rhys-Jones (52) of the United Kingdom has pleaded guilty in federal court in Buffalo to laundering money acquired in a wire fraud conspiracy. He pleaded guilty to his role in operating a Spain-based "boiler room" operation that conned about 250 investors out of nearly $3 million.
(AP, 6/2/16)
2016 Jun 2, In the SF Bay Area Santa Clara resident Gerald Villabrille Jr. (44) was found dead in a Freemont home following an overnight exchange of gunfire with police. The home was burned after police used tear gas, which likely ignited the fire. The suspect had shot and wounded two officers a day earlier following a traffic stop. His pickup was believed stolen and two people who with him were detained as Villabrille fled. Authorities on June 6 said Villabrille likely died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.
(SFC, 6/3/16, p.A11)(SFC, 6/7/16, p.C4)
2016 Jun 2, In Tennessee a Blue Angels F/A-18 fighter jet crashed in Smyrna. Marine Capt. Jeff Kuss (32) was killed in the crash.
(SFC, 6/3/16, p.A8)(SSFC, 6/12/16, p.A6)
2016 Jun 2, In Texas a new round of storms dumped more rain on flood-hit parts of the state, threatening to aggravate already swollen rivers, deluge homes and force more evacuations.
(Reuters, 6/2/16)
2016 Jun 2, In central Texas a US Army troop carrier overturned in a swollen Fort Hood creek, killing 9 soldiers.
(Reuters, 6/3/16)(AFP, 6/4/16)
2016 Jun 2, In western Afghanistan an explosion at a market place in Laghman province killed two civilians and wounded 16. A roadside bombing killed two policemen and wounded two others in eastern Ghazni province.
(AP, 6/2/16)(AP, 6/3/16)
2016 Jun 2, In Brazil Italo Ferreira (10), chased by police, stepped on the gas in a stolen car until police stopped him with a bullet to the head in Sao Paulo. Police said they fired in self-defense because Italo was armed and shot at them from the car. Investigators later alleged the crime scene was tampered with.
(AFP, 6/22/16)
2016 Jun 2, The European Union and United States signed a deal aimed at protecting personal data shared by law enforcement authorities in the EU and US as they tackle major crime.
(AP, 6/2/16)
2016 Jun 2, German officials said at least 5 people have been killed in floods caused by prolonged heavy rain in southern Bavaria state and thousands of households were cut off from electricity. Earlier this week 3 people were killed in floods in the southwestern state of Baden-Wuerttemberg and a young girl was killed by a train as she took shelter from the rain under a railway bridge.
(Reuters, 6/2/16)
2016 Jun 2, The Int’l. Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala and local officials arrested 25 people and issued warrants for 27 more as they unveiled that former Pres. Otto Perez Molina’s entire political party had been a mere front plan to capture and run the state for personal enrichment.
(Econ, 6/11/16, p.36)
2016 Jun 2, An Indian court convicted 24 Hindu men for their role in one of the many deadly religious riots that swept across the western state of Gujarat for three months in 2002, leaving more than 1,000 dead.
(AP, 6/2/16)
2016 Jun 2, Jordan's border guards killed two suspected infiltrators trying to enter the kingdom from Syria.
(AP, 6/3/16)
2016 Jun 2, Libya’s navy retrieved the bodies of at least 117 migrants on a beach in the western town of Zwara. By June 5 the number reached 133.
(AFP, 6/3/16)(SFC, 6/4/16, p.A4)(Reuters, 6/5/16)
2016 Jun 2, A top Libyan commander loyal to the U.N.-brokered government said his forces have pushed into an Islamic State stronghold in central Libya and are now fighting militants on the streets of Sirte.
(AP, 6/3/16)
2016 Jun 2, Niger reported an outbreak of the highly pathogenic H5N1 bird flu virus among poultry after the outbreak was confirmed at the end of May. The outbreak, which killed all 86,000 poultry birds at the affected site, started in late February, and followed a previous outbreak in the country last year.
(Reuters, 6/3/16)
2016 Jun 2, Norway announced that nine scientists have won this year’s Kavli Prize for their work on gravitational waves.
(SSFC, 6/5/16, p.C8)
2016 Jun 2, A Romanian medical helicopter crashed in southern Moldova, killing all four people on board.
(AP, 6/2/16)
2016 Jun 2, Sri Lanka performed final Buddhist rites at the site of last month's massive landslide and ended the search for some 100 people believed to have been buried under the broken earth.
(AP, 6/2/16)
2016 Jun 2, In Geneva OPEC oil ministers ended a meeting without reaching any kind of consensus on regulating the price and supply of crude, a result that triggered an immediate drop in energy markets. The OPEC oil cartel said that it has appointed Nigeria's Mohammed Barkindo as its new secretary general.
(AP, 6/2/16)(AFP, 6/2/16)
2016 Jun 2, A Tajikistan court sentenced two leaders of the Central Asian nation's banned Islamic opposition party to life imprisonment over an alleged attempted coup.
(AP, 6/2/16)
2016 Jun 2, Thai authorities uncovered a trove of animal parts and intercepted a monk trying to leave the controversial “tiger temple" with tiger skins and fangs, the latest discovery to fuel accusations that the zoo is involved in the illegal wildlife trade.
(AFP, 6/2/16)
2016 Jun 2, Turkey recalled its ambassador to Germany in protest against a parliament resolution declaring the 1915 massacre of Armenians by Ottoman forces a "genocide" at a time when Europe is looking for Ankara's help in the migrant crisis.
(Reuters, 6/2/16)
2016 Jun 2, Yemeni officials said the country's Shiite rebels have retaken ground from forces loyal to the internationally recognized government in two central provinces, with at least 85 fighters killed on both sides over the past three days.
(AP, 6/2/16)
2016 Jun 3, President Obama, under Article II of the Constitution, commuted the sentences of 42 mostly low-level and nonviolent drug dealers, half of whom would have otherwise died in prison.
(CSM, 6/4/16)
2016 Jun 3, US boxing champion Muhammad Ali (74) died in a hospital in Phoenix after a 32-year battle with Parkinson's disease.
(AFP, 6/4/16)(SFC, 6/4/16, p.A1)(Econ, 6/11/16, p.90)
2016 Jun 3, In southern Mississippi two workers disappeared in a landslide at a gravel pit in Crystal Springs. Their bodies were recovered on June 9 and 11.
(SSFC, 6/12/16, p.A6)
2016 Jun 3, In Oregon 16 of 96 tank cars of a Union Pacific train derailed near Mosier in the Columbia River Gorge and an unknown amount of oil was leaked. Mosier’s wastewater treatment plant and sewer system were left inoperative. A fire in four of the cars was extinguished the next day.
(SFC, 6/4/16, p.A5)(SFC, 6/6/16, p.A6)
2016 Jun 3, In France the Louvre and Orsay museums in Paris moved scores of art works and precious artifacts to safety and soldiers evacuated residents trapped in some outlying suburbs as the swollen river Seine hit its highest level in 30 years.
(Reuters, 6/3/16)
2016 Jun 3, Volkswagen said it has received regulatory approval for technical fixes on some models, meaning it could now recall more than 800,000 of the 8.5 million cars affected by its diesel emissions scandal in Europe.
(Reuters, 6/3/16)
2016 Jun 3, Four bodies were recovered and 340 people rescued after a boat carrying migrants across the Mediterranean Sea sank south of the Greek island of Crete. Survivors later said 648 or 650 men, women and children were on the ship. Some 320 migrants and refugees were feared to have drowned.
(AP, 6/3/16)(Reuters, 6/7/16)
2016 Jun 3, Indian officials said overnight slashes between police and followers of a revolutionary sect have left at least 24 dead after an operation in Uttar Pradesh to evict thousands of people from parkland erupted into violence.
(AFP, 6/3/16)
2016 Jun 3, Rebels in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir ambushed a convoy of Indian paramilitary soldiers in a busy market, killing at least 3 and injuring three others.
(AP, 6/3/16)
2016 Jun 3, In Indonesia about a thousand members of hard-line Islamic groups marched in Jakarta to denounce a government plan for an investigation into anti-communist massacres in 1965, saying it would help revive communism in the world's most populous Muslim nation.
(AP, 6/3/16)
2016 Jun 3, In Israel some 200,000 people joined the festivities of Tel Aviv’s annual gay pride parade.
(SFC, 6/4/16, p.A2)
2016 Jun 3, Libya’s UN-backed unity government in Tripoli said it is uniting its various armed factions and will be able to eradicate Islamic State militants on its territory with its own forces.
(Reuters, 6/3/16)
2016 Jun 3, In Mexico Ernesto Canales, the anti-corruption czar in the opposition-controlled region of Nuevo Leon, ordered properties seized against several officials, including ex-state governor Rodrigo Medina, for suspected embezzlement, breach of office and other crimes that cost the state 3.6 billion pesos ($194 million).
(Reuters, 6/3/16)
2016 Jun 3, In Niger 32 troops were killed in a clash with Boko Haram jihadists at Bosso on the border with Nigeria. The dead soldiers included 30 from Niger and 2 from Nigeria.
(AFP, 6/4/16)
2016 Jun 3, Poland's PM Beata Szydlo announced a new program to provide cheap housing for families on low income — the second project the conservative government has launched to support large families.
(AP, 6/3/16)
2016 Jun 3, In Puerto Rico nurse Elena Santos Agosto (59) died in her living room after being struck by gunshots to the head and chest that were fired into her residence from a passing vehicle. Her daughter, ex-Miss Puerto Rico Alba Reyes, quickly called on the public to help police find those responsible for the shooting death of her mother.
(AP, 6/4/16)
2016 Jun 3, In Somalia Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan opened a new Turkish embassy in Mogadishu on his third visit to the country.
(AP, 6/3/16)
2016 Jun 3, Syrian regime air strikes killed dozens of civilians in Aleppo and nearby areas as the UN Security Council prepared to discuss emergency aid drops to besieged areas. Heavy Russian air strikes hit Islamic State-held territory in eastern areas of Syria's Hama province, near the boundary of Raqqa province.
(AFP, 6/3/16)(Reuters, 6/3/16)
2016 Jun 3, A court in Turkey sentenced a Turkish man, Erdal E. (29), to 108 years in jail for sexually assaulting at least eight Syrian children while working as a cleaner at the refugee camp in Nizip in the southern Gaziantep province near the Syrian border.
(AFP, 6/4/16)
2016 Jun 3, The UN accused both the Ukrainian authorities and pro-Russian rebels of torturing fighters and their sympathizers captured in the separatist east.
(AFP, 6/3/16)
2016 Jun 3, Pope Francis signed a declaration along with participants of a Vatican summit of about 100 judges, prosecutors and other public officials involved in fighting human trafficking and organized crime.
(AP, 6/3/16)
2016 Jun 3, In western Yemen 17 civilians were killed and dozens wounded when rockets fired by Houthi rebels hit a busy market in Taiz.
(SFC, 6/4/16, p.A2)
2016 Jun 4, The United States and its allies conducted a total of 23 military strikes against Islamic State in Syria and Iraq.
(Reuters, 6/5/16)
2016 Jun 4, The US government said it has received information that terrorist groups are planning to carry out attacks against places where its citizens congregate in shopping areas in South Africa.
(Reuters, 6/4/16)
2016 Jun 4, Top US Navy Adm. John Richardson said the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman has begun launching airstrikes against the Islamic State group from the Mediterranean Sea.
(AP, 6/4/16)
2016 Jun 4, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and Indian PM Narendra Modi inaugurated a multi-million-dollar dam in western Afghanistan that will bring power and irrigation to vast tracts of the war-torn country. The Afghan-India Friendship Dam in Herat province, which borders Iran, was built with Indian aid at a cost of $300 million and was under construction for about a decade.
(AP, 6/4/16)
2016 Jun 4, China said that it will ignore the decision of an international arbitration panel in a Philippine lawsuit against Beijing's sweeping territorial claims in the South China Sea. The Permanent Court of Arbitration ruled last year that it has jurisdiction over the case despite China's rejection.
(AP, 6/4/16)
2016 Jun 4, In southwestern China a leisure boat capsized on Bailong Lake during strong winds, killing one child and leaving another 14 people missing in Sichuan province.
(AP, 6/5/16)
2016 Jun 4, In France the Seine River peaked early today around Paris, hitting its highest level in nearly 35 years, almost 4.5 meters (15 feet) above average. Authorities warned it could take up to ten days for the river to return to normal.
(AP, 6/4/16)
2016 Jun 4, In Hong Kong tens of thousands of people poured into Victoria Park to remember the victims of the Chinese military's bloody June 4, 1989, crackdown on student-led pro-democracy protests in Beijing's Tiananmen Square.
(AP, 6/4/16)
2016 Jun 4, In Iraq bombings targeting a police checkpoint, a restaurant and two markets killed 15 people and wounded more than 40 in and around Baghdad. Iraqi forces gained new ground from the Islamic State group in a key area west of the jihadist bastion of Fallujah.
(AP, 6/4/16)(AFP, 6/4/16)
2016 Jun 4, In Myanmar over a thousand hardline Buddhists gathered on the outskirts of Yangon for the annual summit of their ulta-nationalist group, as the anti-Muslim network looks to stay relevant under Myanmar's new civilian leadership.
(AFP, 6/4/16)
2016 Jun 4, Nigeria announced that it has seized more than $10.3 billion in looted cash and assets over the past year under Pres. Buhari’s anticorruption campaign.
(SSFC, 6/5/16, p.A4)
2016 Jun 4, The Philippines' president elect Rodrigo Duterte urged the public to join his anti-crime crackdown, offering people huge bounties for killing drug dealers.
(AFP, 6/5/16)
2016 Jun 4, In Poland two former presidents were at the front of tens of thousands of marchers in Warsaw to protest the right-wing government’s policies and mark 27 years since the ouster of communism. The march was led by Mateusz Kijowski (47), founder of the Committee for the Defense of Democracy (KOD).
(SSFC, 6/5/16, p.A4)(Econ, 6/11/16, p.55)
2016 Jun 4, Russian news agencies reported that more than 40 people have been killed and around a hundred injured by Al Nusra militants shelling in the Syrian city of Aleppo.
(Reuters, 6/4/16)
2016 Jun 4, The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the Syrian army has crossed the boundary of Raqqa province, home to the de facto capital of Islamic State.
(Reuters, 6/4/16)
2016 Jun 4, Turkey’s military said cross-border shelling by the Turkish army and air strikes by US-led coalition aircraft have killed 14 Islamic State militants in Syria.
(AP, 6/4/16)
2016 Jun 4, Turkish warplanes struck Kurdish militant targets in northern Iraq and southeast Turkey and the army killed 27 fighters near its borders with Iraq and Iran.
(Reuters, 6/5/16)
2016 Jun 4, UN and police officials said criminal gangs are plundering the Earth's natural resources faster than previously thought, with the value of environmental crimes estimated to be as high as $258 billion annually.
(Reuters, 6/4/16)
2016 Jun 4, Pope Francis scrapped his proposed tribunal to prosecute bishops who failed to protect their flocks from pedophile priests and instead established new legal procedures to remove them if the Vatican finds they were negligent.
(AP, 6/4/16)
2016 Jun 4, The Vatican signed an agreement with Qatar to digitalize Vatican manuscripts relating to the Persian Gulf and other Islamic regions.
(AP, 6/4/16)
2016 Jun 5, In eastern Afghanistan Taliban gunmen stormed a court building, killing 7 people, including a newly appointed chief prosecutor in Puli Alim, Logar province. In Kabul lawmaker Sher Wali Wardak was killed in a roadside bombing.
(AP, 6/5/16)
2016 Jun 5, In Afghanistan NPR photojournalist David Gilkey and his Afghan colleague Zabihullah Tamann were killed by Taliban gunfire on the first day of an embed with local troops in Helmand province.
(Reuters, 6/6/16)
2016 Jun 5, In Australia torrential rain and high winds battered the east coast, leaving up to 26,000 homes without power while flooding forced hundreds of people into evacuation centers.
(Reuters, 6/5/16)
2016 Jun 5, In Bangladesh Mahmuda Aktar (33), the wife of a senior police official known for battling Islamist militants, was stabbed and shot to death in Chittagong. Machete-wielding assailants killed Christian grocer Sunil Gomes (60) in a separate incident in the northern district of Natore.
(Reuters, 6/5/16)
2016 Jun 5, In eastern Belgium a high speed train slammed violently into the back of a slow-moving freight train that was traveling on the same track crash late today, killing at least 3 people with nine others injured.
(AFP, 6/6/16)
2016 Jun 5, India's PM Narendra Modi and Qatar's ruler, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, who visited India in March 2015, signed seven agreements to strengthen ties. Modi had arrived June 4 and met with Indian laborers that evening.
(AP, 6/5/16)
2016 Jun 5, In western India a speeding bus struck two cars on the Navi Mumbai highway in a crash that killed at least 17 people and injured 35 others.
(AP, 6/5/16)
2016 Jun 5, In Iraq Islamic State militants reportedly shot and killed 7 civilians and 7 IS defectors inside Fallujah as they attempted to flee the city.
(AP, 6/6/16)
2016 Jun 5, In Italy an anti-establishment movement was the favorite as voters headed to the polls to pick a new mayor in Rome, among a handful of city hall contests in urban centers that tested the prime minister's governing Democratic Party. Virginia Raggi of the 5-Star Movement took 35.3 percent of the vote in Rome, trailed by Premier Matteo Renzi's Democratic Party candidate Roberto Giachetti, with just under 25 percent. Since no candidate took more than 50 percent in balloting, the top two face a runoff June 19.
(AP, 6/5/16)(AP, 6/6/16)
2016 Jun 5, In Kazakhstan an attack by gunmen on the north-western city of Aktobe left at least 25 people dead. This included 13 attackers, 4 civilians and 3 National Guard servicemen. Eight gunmen have been detained.
(Reuters, 6/7/16)(AP, 6/10/16)(Econ, 7/2/16, p.32)
2016 Jun 5, Mexico held elections in 12 states. The ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party lost four states it has never lost before, including the northern border state of Tamaulipas.
(AP, 6/6/16)(SFC, 6/6/16, p.A5)
2016 Jun 5, Peruvians voted in a tight run-off for the presidency, choosing between right-wing populist Keiko Fujimori (41), the daughter of a jailed former president, and former World Bank economist Pedro Pablo Kuczynski (77). On June 10 Keiko conceded defeat as Kuczynski won 50.1% of the vote.
(Reuters, 6/5/16)(SFC, 6/11/16, p.A2)
2016 Jun 5, Qatar figures from an April 2015 census showed almost 60 percent of the country’s 2.4 million population live in what the government calls labor camps.
(AFP, 6/5/16)
2016 Jun 5, Romanians began voting for local officials in administrations that are plagued with corruption. According to Romania's anti-corruption prosecutors' office, more than 100 mayors, deputy mayors, county council presidents and vice presidents were indicted for corruption in 2015.
(AP, 6/5/16)
2016 Jun 5, South Sudan resumed talks with Sudan on a raft of thorny issues, including borders and oil revenues, still outstanding from its 2011 secession.
(AFP, 6/5/16)
2016 Jun 5, Swiss voters rejected a proposal to require state-controlled companies such as Swisscom, Swiss Post or Swiss railway company SBB not to seek to make a profit.
(Reuters, 6/5/16)
2016 Jun 5, Swiss voters flatly rejected a radical proposal to provide the entire population with a basic income, no work required.
(AFP, 6/5/16)(SFC, 6/6/16, p.A2)
2016 Jun 5, The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said dozens of Syrian regime strikes on Aleppo killed at least 16 civilians. Nearly 40 strikes hit rebel-held areas in and around Aleppo city in some of the heaviest recent raids by Russian and Syrian government war-planes.
(AFP, 6/5/16)(Reuters, 6/5/16)
2016 Jun 5, A top Syrian Kurdish commander died. Abu Layla, who commanded a brigade inside the predominantly-Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces, was hit by IS sniper fire on the outskirts of Manbij, several days earlier during a US-backed campaign to unseat the Islamic State group from its de-facto Syrian capital, Raqqa.
(AP, 6/5/16)
2016 Jun 5, In Turkey more than 1,000 people attended a rally of a pro-Kurdish, opposition party in Istanbul to protest against the abolition of immunity of some Turkish members of parliament.
(AP, 6/5/16)
2016 Jun 5, In southern Turkey a bus carrying school children, teachers and parents plunged into an irrigation canal in Osmaniye province, killing 14 people including 6 children.
(AP, 6/6/16)
2016 Jun 5, Pope Francis proclaimed two new saints: Swedish-born Elizabeth Hesselblad (1870-1957), a Lutheran convert, who hid Jews during World War II and Stanislaus Papczynski (1631-1701), the Polish founder of the first men's religious order dedicated to the immaculate conception.
(AP, 6/5/16)
2016 Jun 5, Police in Vietnam forcibly removed people protesting in the capital Hanoi against a perceived delay in government response to a mass fish death, just days after US President Barack Obama chided the country on its human rights record.
(Reuters, 6/5/16)
2016 Jun 6, More than 450 groups called on the US Congress to reject the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) if it comes up for a vote this fall, saying the trade deal would allow fossil fuel companies to contest US environmental rules in extrajudicial tribunals.
(Reuters, 6/6/16)
2016 Jun 6, The US Navy banned drinking and restricted off-base activity for its personnel in Japan after a sailor was arrested a day earlier on suspicion of drunken driving in Okinawa.
(SFC, 6/7/16, p.A2)
2016 Jun 6, US VP Joe Biden unveiled a public database for clinical data on cancer that aims to help researchers and doctors better tailor new treatments to individuals.
(SFC, 6/7/16, p.D3)
2016 Jun 6, In New Hampshire a predawn fire killed 2 adults and 2 children in a three-story apartment building in Manchester.
(SFC, 6/7/16, p.A4)
2016 Jun 6, In northern Afghanistan a Taliban ambush killed at least 7 people, including a district intelligence chief and his deputy in Sari Pul province.
(AP, 6/6/16)
2016 Jun 6, Millions of Muslims around the world marked the start of Ramadan, a month of intense prayer, dawn-to-dusk fasting and nightly feasts. Others will begin fasting a day later, due to a moon-sighting methodology that can lead to different countries declaring the start of Ramadan a day or two apart.
(AP, 6/6/16)
2016 Jun 6, Australian authorities said 3 people were killed in floodwaters from a strong storm that pounded the east coast over the weekend.
(AP, 6/6/16)
2016 Jun 6, A court in Britain sentenced former schoolteacher Richard Huckle to 22 life sentences for child abuse after using his position teaching English in Malaysia to gain access to victims. He will have to serve a minimum of 25 years for 71 offenses against children aged between six months and 12 years from 2006 to 2014.
(AP, 6/6/16)
2016 Jun 6, In Egypt 12 Education Ministry officials were detained after answers to the final nationwide exams for Arabic and religion were posted on Facebook.
(AP, 6/6/16)
2016 Jun 6, EU nations refused to back a limited extension of the herbicide glyphosate's use, threatening withdrawal of Monsanto's Roundup and other weed-killers from shelves if no decision is reached by the end of the month.
(Reuters, 6/6/16)
2016 Jun 6, In France a fire in an apartment building near the national stadium in Saint-Denis left at least 5 people dead and 11 injured.
(AP, 6/7/16)
2016 Jun 6, Iran arrested Homa Hoodfar (65), a visiting Canadian-Iranian expert in gender and Islam. This was at least the fifth detention of a dual-national reported in recent months.
(Reuters, 6/9/16)
2016 Jun 6, In Jordan a gunman apparently acting alone killed 5 intelligence agents in a daylight "terrorist attack" on their office in the Baqaa Palestinian refugee camp north of Amman. On August 4 Mohammad Masharfeh (22) was sentenced to death for the attack. An accomplice who was charged with "selling weapons for illegal use" was sentenced to a year in prison.
(AFP, 6/6/16)(AP, 8/4/16)
2016 Jun 6, In Kenya one man died and six were injured as police opened fire on an anti-government rally in the western city of Kisumu.
(AFP, 6/6/16)
2016 Jun 6, Palestininan Jamal Dweika (20) died of wounds after being shot by Israeli soldiers in clashes after stones at Jewish worshippers at the Joseph's Tomb in Nablus.
(AP, 6/6/16)
2016 Jun 6, In the Philippines militants of Abu Sayyaf, a small but brutal group linked to al Qaeda, executed Robert Hall on the remote island of Jolo, the second Canadian captive to be killed following John Ridsdel, after their ransom demand went unheeded.
(Reuters, 6/15/16)
2016 Jun 6, The Saudi cabinet approved a major plan to diversify the national economy away from oil and to generate 450,000 non-government jobs by 2020.
(AFP, 6/7/16)
2016 Jun 6, In Saudi Arabia a road accident involving a bus and a truck killed 15 people and left 60 injured on the road between Riyadh and al-Qassim.
(AP, 6/7/16)
2016 Jun 6, Syrian regime troops supported by Russia and US-backed fighters pressed twin offensives against the Islamic State group as pressure built on the jihadists' northern strongholds in the war-torn country. 17 civilians, including 8 children, were killed in air strikes on Al-Shaara, an IS-held town in eastern Deir Ezzor province.
(AFP, 6/6/16)
2016 Jun 6, In Syria Hadiyeh al-Abbas (58), a woman who is a member of President Bashar Assad's Baath party, was chosen as the new parliament speaker, becoming the first woman to ever hold the post.
(AP, 6/6/16)
2016 Jun 6, Turkey’s state-run Anadolu news agency reported that shelling by Turkey's military and attacks by US-led coalition aircraft have killed 7 Islamic State militants in Syria.
(Reuters, 6/6/16)
2016 Jun 6, Pope Francis named a special administrator for the Catholic Church on the Pacific island of Guam after its archbishop was accused of sexually abusing young boys and of keeping church abuse policies weak to protect himself.
(AP, 6/6/16)
2016 Jun 6, It was reported that the parties to over a year of civil war in Yemen agreed to release all child prisoners they are holding.
(Reuters, 6/6/16)
2016 Jun 7, A senior US State Department official said North Korea has restarted production of plutonium fuel, showing that it plans to pursue its nuclear weapons program in defiance of international sanctions. The assessment came a day after the UN nuclear watchdog said it had “indications" that Pyongyang has reactivated a plant to recover plutonium from spent reactor fuel at Yongbyon, its main nuclear complex.
(Reuters, 6/8/16)
2016 Jun 7, The last major primaries of the 2016 White House race kicked off in California, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Dakota and South Dakota hours after US delegate counts showed Hillary Clinton clinching the Democratic nomination.
(AP, 6/7/16)(SFC, 6/8/16, p.A1)
2016 Jun 7, In Alabama former astronaut James Halsell Jr. (59) was charged with murder following an early morning car crash that killed two girls (11&13). Police said alcohol and speed may have been factors in the crash.
(SFC, 6/8/16, p.A4)
2016 Jun 7, Thomas J. Perkins (b.1932), US venture capitalist and former husband of novelist Danielle Steele, died at his home in Tiburon, Ca. He co-founded the firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers in 1972.
(SFC, 6/10/16, p.A11)
2016 Jun 7, Washington DC lawmakers approved a $15-an-hour minimum wage. Mayor Muriel Bowser pledged to sign it.
(SFC, 6/8/16, p.A4)
2016 Jun 7, Tropical Storm Colin blasted torrential rain and winds across the US Southeast, triggering a mix of floods, hazardous surf and other severe weather conditions in a broad swath between Florida and North Carolina as it moved out to sea.
(Reuters, 6/7/16)
2016 Jun 7, The members of the Missile Technology Control Regime, a key anti-proliferation grouping, agreed to admit India as a deadline for members of the 34-nation group to object to India's admission expired a day earlier without any of them raising objections. Later today PM Narendra Modi met with US Pres. Obama in Washington.
(Reuters, 6/7/16)
2016 Jun 7, The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that 40% of US women are obese.
(SFC, 6/8/16, p.A4)
2016 Jun 7, America’s Association of National Advertisers (ANA) published a report accusing advertising agencies of accepting rebates, or kickbacks, from media companies.
(Econ, 6/11/16, p.67)
2016 Jun 7, In southeastern Afghanistan Taliban gunmen killed 12 people they captured in recent ambushes, including policemen and soldiers, in Ghazni province. The dead included 7 policemen, 3 soldiers and 2 officials with the national spy agency.
(AP, 6/8/16)
2016 Jun 7, Albania's prosecutor general's office said police chief Haki Cako has been suspended from his post while being investigated for the illegal use of wiretapping equipment.
(AP, 6/7/16)
2016 Jun 7, The Front for the Liberation of the Enclave of Cabinda (FLEC), a rebel movement seeking independence for Angola's main oil region, said its leader Nzita Henriques Tiago (88) has died in France.
(Reuters, 6/7/16)
2016 Jun 7, In southwestern Bangladesh unidentified bike-riding assailants shot and hacked Hindu priest Anando Gopal Ganguly (70) to death amid a spate of similar attacks allegedly by radical Islamist groups since last year.
(AP, 6/7/16)
2016 Jun 7, Belgian judges, lawyers and court clerks throughout the country protested planned government budget cuts they say will cripple an already overtaxed judicial system.
(AP, 6/7/16)
2016 Jun 7, Chinese State Councillor Yang Jiechi, the country's top diplomat, said China has the right to uphold its sovereignty over the South China Sea, and that it will respect freedom of navigation and overflight there.
(Reuters, 6/7/16)
2016 Jun 7, Egypt's former top auditor, Hisham Genena, who exposed massive corruption in the country went on trial before a court in Cairo, charged with spreading "false news" and "disturbing" the country's security.
(AP, 6/7/16)
2016 Jun 7, The European Union unveiled plans to seal agreements with African and Middle East countries in an effort to persuade refugees to stay close to home and to discourage people looking for jobs from heading to Europe.
(AP, 6/7/16)
2016 Jun 7, The European Union warned Thailand to take "swift and determined action" by next month to improve its fisheries and labor practices or face a serious economic threat of an EU ban on Thai seafood.
(AP, 6/7/16)
2016 Jun 7, Hong Kong culled 4,500 birds after the deadly H7N9 bird flu virus was discovered in a chicken at a local market.
(AFP, 6/7/16)
2016 Jun 7, Hungarian lawmakers approved a constitutional amendment granting the government extended powers, including the possibility of deploying the armed forces, in case of terror acts or threats.
(AP, 6/7/16)
2016 Jun 7, In Iraq a car bombing in Karbala killed 7 civilians and wound almost two dozen.
(SFC, 6/8/16, p.A2)
2016 Jun 7, It was reported that Exporters are rejecting roughly half of cocoa port arrivals from top producer Ivory Coast on quality grounds, adding to problems that are already expected to result in a 180,000 ton global supply deficit this year.
(Reuters, 6/7/16)
2016 Jun 7, Amnesty International said albinos in Malawi are being targeted in an "unprecedented wave of brutal attacks", blaming police for failing to tackle a scourge fuelled by ritual practices.
(AFP, 6/7/16)
2016 Jun 7, Norway's parliament agreed on a goal to cut the country's net greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2030, moving the target forward by 20 years.
(Reuters, 6/7/16)
2016 Jun 7, Russian President Vladimir Putin hosted Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu for talks expected to focus on boosting bilateral ties and the situation in Syria.
(AP, 6/7/16)
2016 Jun 7, Russia's gas monopolist Gazprom says it will resume selling gas to Ukraine, following an official request from Kiev.
(AP, 6/7/16)
2016 Jun 7, In northern Syria thousands of civilians fled Mambij, a key town along the Islamic State group's supply lifeline, as US-backed fighters closed in from three sides. Syrian government troops backed by Russian air power moved to within 25 km of Tabqa, an Islamic State-held town in Raqqa province.
(AFP, 6/7/16)(Reuters, 6/7/16)
2016 Jun 7, In Thailand police raided a massage parlor and arrested 121 sex workers, including 15 who were under the age of 18. Five men running the brothel in Bangkok were soon charged with human trafficking.
(Reuters, 6/10/16)
2016 Jun 7, In Turkey a rush-hour explosion killed 11 people and wounded 36 others in an attack on a bus carrying riot police in Istanbul. Police detained four people in connection with the attack.
(AP, 6/7/16)
2016 Jun 8, In Michigan 5 bicyclists were killed and four injured when a pickup truck slammed into a group of riders in Kalamazoo County. On June 11, 2018, Charles Pickett Jr. (52) was sentenced to at least 40 years in prison.
(SFC, 6/9/16, p.A9)(SFC, 6/12/18, p.A12)
2016 Jun 8, Ohio’s Rep. Gov. John Kasich signed a bill legalizing medical marijuana in the state. The program was expected to be fully operational in two years.
(SFC, 6/10/16, p.A7)
2016 Jun 8, Chad reportedly sent some 2,000 troops to neighboring Niger, where Boko Haram insurgents inflicted heavy losses in the town of Bosso last week. On June 18 Chadian troops were reported to be in Nigeria but not in Niger.
(AFP, 6/8/16)(Reuters, 6/18/16)
2016 Jun 8, China said Zeng Ziheng (44), a man on its list of 100 most wanted corruption suspects abroad, has voluntarily returned from Canada where he fled in 2011.
(Reuters, 6/8/16)
2016 Jun 8, Eritrea's government rejected accusations of human rights abuses after a UN commission of inquiry said Eritrea's "systematic, widespread" human rights abuses should be referred to the International Criminal Court as crimes against humanity that include enslavement of up to 400,000 people.
(Reuters, 6/8/16)(AP, 6/8/16)
2016 Jun 8, The French government released an emergency alert application intended to send swift warnings to smartphone users in the event of a bombing, shooting or other disaster.
(AP, 6/8/16)
2016 Jun 8, Germany-based Volkswagen said it has received regulatory approval to fix another 1.1 million cars, raising the number of VW models cleared for refitting to more than 2.5 million since the start of the year.
(Reuters, 6/8/16)
2016 Jun 8, In southern India annual monsoon rains arrived at the Kerala coast, a day later than forecast, easing fears over farm and economic growth after two straight droughts hit rural income and agricultural output.
(Reuters, 6/8/16)
2016 Jun 8, Iraqi forces said they had begun to make progress against Islamic State inside a built-up district of Falluja, the militants' stronghold to the west of Baghdad.
(Reuters, 6/8/16)
2016 Jun 8, Islamic State insurgents have posted a video showing a 3,000-year-old temple being blown up at the Assyrian city of Nimrud in northern Iraq, in their latest assault on some of the world's greatest archaeological and cultural treasures. The UN confirmed in a statement that satellite imagery showed "extensive damage to the main entrance" of the temple of Nabu, the Babylonian god of wisdom.
(Reuters, 6/9/16)
2016 Jun 8, Israel's army locked down the Palestinian town of Yatta after Palestinian gunmen shot dead 4 people at a popular Tel Aviv nightspot. One of the attackers was arrested, while the other was wounded by gunfire. Both were from Yatta.
(AFP, 6/9/16)
2016 Jun 8, Italian officials said Medhanie Yehdego Mered (35), an Eritrean man suspected of running a huge human trafficking network that sent thousands of migrants to Europe, leaving many to die on the way, was extradited overnight from Sudan to Italy. A woman claiming to be his half-sister said he was just a simple carpenter.
(Reuters, 6/8/16)(AFP, 6/10/16)
2016 Jun 8, Italian media reported that a policeman has shot dead a migrant who stabbed him during a brawl in the vast tent camp in San Ferdinando on the outskirts of Rosarno.
(AFP, 6/8/16)
2016 Jun 8, In Nigeria the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) militant group rejected a truce offer to end attacks on key oil infrastructure and claimed another strike. The Nigerian Navy said nine suspected militants blamed for previous attacks around the port city of Warri had been arrested.
(AFP, 6/8/16)
2016 Jun 8, In Pakistan a woman in Lahore burned her 17-year-old daughter, Zeenat Rafiq, alive to punish her for marrying against the family's wishes.
(AP, 6/8/16)
2016 Jun 8, Papua New Guinea police opened fire on students protesting against the prime minister, injuring almost 40 in Port Moresby. Students have been locked in a month-long standoff with authorities and have been boycotting classes as they demand PM Peter O'Neill step aside over corruption allegations.
(AFP, 6/8/16)
2016 Jun 8, Philippine President-elect Rodrigo Duterte changed his stance regarding journalists, vowing to protect them and pursue their killers after being denounced by journalists' groups for a comment that news people were not exempted from assassination.
(Reuters, 6/8/16)
2016 Jun 8, In Portugal former CIA agent Sabrina de Sousa said she will be extradited to Italy to serve a prison sentence for her part in the US extraordinary renditions program after Portugal's Constitutional Court rejected her final appeal. De Sousa was among 26 Americans convicted for the kidnapping of terror suspect Osama Moustafa Hassan Nasr, also known as Abu Omar, from a Milan street on Feb. 17, 2003. She insists she wasn't involved in the abduction.
(AP, 6/8/16)
2016 Jun 8, The Singapore government's Infocomm Development Authority said it has begun disconnecting internet access from the work stations of some government employees, and will expand the removal to all public workers by next June in an effort to make official information systems more secure.
(AP, 6/8/16)
2016 Jun 8, South Africa's department of environmental affairs said an on-again-off-again moratorium on domestic trade in rhino horn had been reinstated after it appealed to the top court in the land to render judgment on the thorny issue.
(Reuters, 6/8/16)
2016 Jun 8, In Syria airstrikes on rebel-held districts of Aleppo, including one that struck near a hospital, killed 15 civilians and wounded many others. Rebels backed by Islamist groups launched simultaneous attacks from both Marea and Azaz, squeezing IS jihadists out of the villages of Kafr Kalbin and Kaljibrin and reopening the road.
(AP, 6/8/16)(AFP, 6/8/16)
2016 Jun 8, In Syria US-led coalition airstrikes and Turkish artillery fire against Islamic State group targets reportedly killed 18 militants.
(AP, 6/9/16)
2016 Jun 8, RIA news agency, citing the Russian coordination center in Syria, reported that Russia's Defense Ministry has spotted the movement of over 160 Nusra Front fighters from Turkey into Syria to reinforce "terrorists" around the city of Aleppo.
(Reuters, 6/8/16)
2016 Jun 8, In southern Thailand two speedboats packed with 62 tourists crashed off the coast, leaving at least two dead and more than 20 injured.
(AP, 6/8/16)
2016 Jun 8, In Turkey a Kurdish rebel suicide bomber detonated an explosives-laden vehicle outside a police headquarters near the border with Syria in Midyat, Mardin province. The Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militant group claimed responsibility for the bombing that killed six people.
(AP, 6/8/16)(Reuters, 6/9/16)
2016 Jun 9, Pres. Obama and other leading Democrats backed Hillary Clinton as their party’s nominee for president.
(SFC, 6/10/16, p.A1)
2016 Jun 9, The US White House approved plans to expand the military's authority to conduct airstrikes against the Taliban when necessary as the violence in Afghanistan escalates.
(AP, 6/10/16)
2016 Jun 9, Donald Trump's son, Donald Trump Jr., met with Kremlin-linked lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya after being promised damaging information about Hillary Clinton. Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner and campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, also attended the meeting at Trump Tower, two weeks after Trump won the Republican nomination. Rinat Akhmetshin, a Russian-American lobbyist, was also present. He had served in the Soviet military in a unit that was part of counterintelligence.
(Reuters, 7/10/17)(AP, 7/14/17)(SFC, 7/15/17, p.A5)
2016 Jun 9, In Wyoming 3 German motorcyclists were killed and three injured in a traffic accident outside of Yellowstone National Park. Manuel Moreno Defuentes (61) of Oregon was soon charged with misdemeanor homicide by vehicle after his pickup crashed into a group of motorcyclists.
(AP, 6/10/16)
2016 Jun 9, In Afghanistan Judith D'Souza (40), an Indian charity worker for the Aga Khan Foundation, was kidnapped in Kabul.
(AP, 6/10/16)
2016 Jun 9, A bus in southern Brazil veered off the side a highway and crashed, leaving 16 dead and 30 injured on the outskirts of Mogi das Cruzes.
(AP, 6/9/16)
2016 Jun 9, The European Court of Human Rights ruled that Bosnia is violating human rights by not letting a Muslim Bosniak residing in the Serb part of the country run for president. Bosnia has three months to appeal.
(AP, 6/9/16)
2016 Jun 9, El Salvador’s Justice and Security Minister Mauricio Ramirez said that the "extraordinary measures" El Salvador has employed "have managed to reduce the crime rate by more than 50 percent."
(AFP, 6/11/16)
2016 Jun 9, A French court convicted and fined Uber and two of its executives for deceptive commercial practices and illegal business activity over its lowest-cost ride service. The court did not hand prison terms.
(AP, 6/9/16)
2016 Jun 9, In France Rifaat al-Assad (78), Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's uncle, was charged with corruption. He was suspected of using ill-gotten gains to build a real estate empire in France. He had commanded Syria's notorious internal security forces in the 1970s and early 1980s.
(AFP, 6/28/16)
2016 Jun 9, In Iraq two suicide bombings claimed by the Islamic State group killed 31 people with 78 wounded.
(AP, 6/9/16)
2016 Jun 9, In northern Iraq Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and other Islamic State leaders were reportedly wounded in a coalition air strike on one of the group's command headquarters close to the Syrian border according to a local source in Nineveh province.
(Reuters, 6/10/16)
2016 Jun 9, A UN panel said Ireland’s abortion ban subjects women to discriminatory, cruel and degrading treatment and should be ended immediately for cases involving fatal fetal abnormalities.
(SFC, 6/10/16, p.A5)
2016 Jun 9, The Israeli military revoked permits for 83,000 Palestinians to visit Israel and said it would send hundreds more troops to the occupied West Bank a day after a Palestinian gun attack that killed four Israelis in Tel Aviv. Collective punishment is banned under international law.
(AP, 6/10/16)
2016 Jun 9, Italian police arrested two Ukrainians suspected of trafficking Syrians to Italy on a sail boat, and launched a probe to find the criminal organization ultimately responsible.
(Reuters, 6/10/16)
2016 Jun 9, Japanese automaker Honda said it is recalling 784,000 vehicles in Japan due to faulty Takata Corp. air bag inflators for front passenger seats.
(AP, 6/9/16)
2016 Jun 9, In Kenya a national commission announced the firing of 302 police officers who refused to be vetted. So far at least 3,000 officers have been vetted with close to 100 fired as part of a reform package.
(SFC, 6/10/16, p.A2)
2016 Jun 9, Liberia said it was free of Ebola, meaning there are now no known cases in west Africa of the tropical virus that has left more than 11,300 people dead in the region since late 2013.
(AFP, 6/9/16)
2016 Jun 9, Forces aligned with Libya's unity government were engaged in fierce clashes with Islamic State in the group's stronghold of Sirte, but faced resistance from snipers as they edged toward the city center.
(Reuters, 6/9/16)
2016 Jun 9, In Libya 12 people were tortured a killed a day after their release from a militia-run prison. The 12, who were tried on charges of killing protesters during the 2011 uprising that ousted and killed longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi were found with bullet wounds to their heads and bearing signs of torture in different parts of Tripoli.
(AP, 6/13/16)
2016 Jun 9, A court in Papua New Guinea granted an injunction preventing students from protesting on campus with the country on high alert after violent clashes in the capital Port Moresby.
(AFP, 6/9/16)
2016 Jun 9, Russian Maj. Sergei Yeremenko, a pilot for the air force's elite aerobatic squadron, died when his Su-27 fighter jet crashed near Moscow.
(AP, 6/9/16)
2016 Jun 9, In central Somalia at least 30 Ethiopian troops were killed in a suicide bomb attack on a base for African Union peacekeepers. The African Union AMISOM force fighting in Somalia said its troops repelled an attack on one of its bases by the al Shabaab Islamist group and killed 110 militants.
(AP, 6/9/16)(Reuters, 6/9/16)
2016 Jun 9, In northern Syria US-backed fighters closed all major roads leading to Manbij, a stronghold of the Islamic State group, and surrounded it from three sides.
(AP, 6/9/16)
2016 Jun 9, Turkey suspended the sale of fertilizers containing nitrate that are used to make explosives following car bombings this week that killed 17 people.
(SFC, 6/10/16, p.A2)
2016 Jun 9, Zimbabwean police arrested 15 people, including a journalist and the brother of missing political activist Itai Dzamara, while they were holding a vigil in Africa Unity Square in central Harare calling upon Pres. Mugabe to step down.
(AFP, 6/10/16)
2016 Jun 10, The US Dept. of Transportation gave permission to six airlines to resume scheduled commercial air service from the US to Cuba for a total of 155 round-trip flights per week.
(SFC, 6/11/16, p.A2)
2016 Jun 10, Alabama House Speaker Mike Hubbard was convicted by a jury on 12 charges of violating state ethics law. On July 8 Hubbard was sentenced to four years in prison and another eight on probation. Hubbard began serving his prison sentence on Sept. 11, 2020.
(SFC, 6/11/16, p.A5)(SFC, 7/9/16, p.A11)(SFC, 9/14/20, p.A5)
2016 Jun 10, In the SF Bay Area the East Bay Express reported that a Richmond woman (18) said she has had sexual relations with numerous officers from the Oakland, Richmond, Livermore and Stockton police departments during her stint as a sex worker. This followed the sudden resignation a day earlier of Oakland Police Chief Sean Whent. On May 31, 2017, the Oakland City Council voted 7-1 to approve a $989,000 settlement with former sex worker Jasmine (19), aka Celeste Guap.
(SFC, 6/14/16, p.A5)(SFC, 6/1/17, p.E1)
2016 Jun 10, In San Francisco construction site flagger Mitzi Campbell (58) was fatally stabbed by homeless transient Lizette Cauich, who had tried to use a portable toilet at the site. In 2018 Cauich (25) pleaded that she suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
(SFC, 1/24/18, p.A1)
2016 Jun 10, In Florida Kevin James Loibl shot and fatally wounded singer Christina Grimmie (22), a former contestant on the popular TV show "The Voice," at Orlando’s Plaza Live Theater late today during a meet and greet with fans. Loibl (27) shot and killed himself during a struggle with Grimmie’s brother.
(AFP, 6/11/16)(SSFC, 6/12/16, p.A6)
2016 Jun 10, In eastern Afghanistan 4 civilians were killed and around 40 wounded by a bomb blast inside a mosque in Nangarhar province.
(AP, 6/10/16)
2016 Jun 10, In northern Bangladesh suspected Islamist assailants hacked Hindu holy man Nitya Ranjan Pandey (60) to death and fled without anyone witnessing the attack.
(AP, 6/10/16)
2016 Jun 10, In Canada a female German exchange student (18) and a female Canadian (17) were struck by a train in the east coast province of Nova Scotia.
(AP, 6/10/16)
2016 Jun 10, Canada's beloved hockey icon Gordie Howe (b.1928), a fierce competitor who finessed his way into the record books on the ice but was a gentle giant off it, died in Ohio at the home of his son Murray. The Hall of Famer affectionately known as "Mr. Hockey" won four Stanley Cup titles with the Detroit Red Wings in a professional career that spanned an astonishing six decades.
(AFP, 6/11/16)
2016 Jun 10, In China animal rights activists calling for an end to the slaughter and eating of dogs at a Chinese festival delivered a petition with 11 million signatures to authorities in Beijing.
(Reuters, 6/10/16)
2016 Jun 10, EU countries agreed on new measures to tighten gun controls in the wake of the deadly attacks in Paris last year.
(SFC, 6/11/16, p.A4)
2016 Jun 10, Berlin police found 80 kg (176 pounds) of heroin worth an estimated 3 million euros ($3.6 million). Two Lebanese men were arrested on narcotics charges and a third was being sought.
(AP, 6/15/16)
2016 Jun 10, The Israeli military said the West Bank will be closed off until the end of the Jewish holiday of Shavuot on June 12, due to security concerns following a Palestinian shooting attack this week that killed four civilians.
(AP, 6/10/16)
2016 Jun 10, In Kazakhstan 5 suspected militants were killed in gunbattles with police in Aktobe that followed a series of recent armed attacks that have challenged the stability of the energy-rich ex-Soviet nation.
(AP, 6/10/16)
2016 Jun 10, In eastern Libya at least 7 civilians were killed and eight wounded over the last 24 hours by shelling Benghazi.
(Reuters, 6/11/16)
2016 Jun 10, A Maldives court convicted the country's former vice president of masterminding a plot to kill the president by exploding a bomb on his speedboat last year and sentenced him to 15 years in prison. Ahmed Adeeb must serve a total of 25 years after the same criminal court sentenced him earlier this week to 10 years for possessing firearms.
(AP, 6/10/16)
2016 Jun 10, In Mexico two gunmen marched into a remote mountain village and killed 11 members of the same family, including two children, apparently over "personal conflicts" in El Mirador, Puebla state. The prime suspect in the slaying of 11 family members was an alleged rapist seeking revenge against a victim whose complaint had him jailed.
(AFP, 6/11/16)(AP, 6/11/16)(SSFC, 6/12/16, p.A4)
2016 Jun 10, In Mexico five vehicles carrying 34 Central American migrants were apprehended while traveling together between the northern states of Zacatecas and Coahuila. Four of the vehicles were linked to the Uber Technologies platform. The drivers said they weren't the owners of the cars but worked as Uber chauffeurs.
(Reuters, 6/30/16)
2016 Jun 10, New Zealand PM John Key ended a two-day visit to Fiji in an attempt to improve relations following democratic elections in 2014.
(AP, 6/10/16)
2016 Jun 10, Nigeria fired dozens of senior officers accused of corruption and the theft of billions of dollars meant to buy arms to fight the Boko Haram Islamic insurgency.
(AP, 6/11/16)
2016 Jun 10, In Nigeria the Niger Delta Avengers militant group claimed responsibility for an attack on a trunk line owned by Agip ENI.
(Reuters, 6/10/16)
2016 Jun 10, Northern Ireland police commanders in Belfast unveiled a mammoth criminal investigation into a former Irish Republican Army double agent codenamed "Stakeknife," who was allegedly permitted by British Army intelligence officers to interrogate, torture and kill IRA colleagues to maintain his cover as the outlawed group's internal security chief. The London-based investigation is expected to last five years and cost 30 million pounds ($43 million).
(AP, 6/10/16)
2016 Jun 10, In Pakistan 5 worshippers were killed and five injured when a steel shed in the courtyard of a central Karachi mosque collapsed.
(AP, 6/10/16)
2016 Jun 10, In Somalia Shabaab jihadists publicly executed six men they accused of spying, including one they claimed helped kill their supreme leader in a US drone strike.
(AFP, 6/11/16)
2016 Jun 10, A Swedish court awarded 30,000 kronor ($3,700) each in damages to 11 Roma plaintiffs who sued the government for discrimination, saying they were registered by police due to their ethnicity.
(AP, 6/10/16)
2016 Jun 10, Syria's regime bombarded Daraya, a rebel-held town outside Damascus, preventing besieged residents from receiving food aid after its first such delivery in years. US-backed forces seized control of the last route into the IS-held city of Manbij, completing their encirclement of the main target in a major advance against the militants.
(AFP, 6/10/16)(Reuters, 6/10/16)
2016 Jun 10, In Thailand a passenger van overturned and caught fire on a highway in Chonburi, killing 11 school teachers inside.
(AP, 6/11/16)
2016 Jun 10, Turkey's Justice Ministry said it has sent dozens of cases involving 57 lawmakers to public prosecutors after the president lifted their legal immunity. Most of the lawmakers at risk of prosecution belong to the pro-Kurdish People's Democratic Party, HDP, or the opposition Republican People's Party.
(AP, 6/10/16)
2016 Jun 10, In southern Turkey a truck slammed into a van carrying agricultural laborers, killing at least 10 people and injuring four others near the town of Eregli, in Konya province.
(AP, 6/10/16)
2016 Jun 10, Uganda’s army said at least 30 people with suspected ties to a shadowy rebel outfit have been arrested over an alleged plot to topple Pres. Yoweri Museveni.
(AFP, 6/10/16)
2016 Jun 11, In New Mexico Cynthia Villegas and her 4 children were found shot to death in Roswell. Husband Juan David Villegas-Hernandez, identified as the shooter, fled the scene and was arrested in Mexico the next day.
(SFC, 6/13/16, p.A4)(SFC, 6/14/16, p.A4)
2016 Jun 11, The Swiss-made Solar Impulse 2, on a globe-circling voyage that began more than a year ago in the United Arab Emirates, reached a milestone, completing a trip across the United States with a Statue of Liberty fly-by before landing at John F. Kennedy International Airport.
(AP, 6/11/16)
2016 Jun 11, In eastern Afghanistan 6 police officers, including a district police chief, were killed early today by gunmen affiliated with the Islamic State group in Nangarhar province. 15 IS fighters were killed and seven wounded in the battle that followed.
(AP, 6/11/16)
2016 Jun 11, Citgo Aruba announced it will invest $450 million to $650 million to reactivate an oil refinery in Aruba that has been idle since 2012.
(AP, 6/11/16)
2016 Jun 11, Bangladesh police said they have arrested 3,155 people in a sweeping nationwide crackdown following a spate of gruesome murders.
(AFP, 6/11/16)
2016 Jun 11, Bolivia officials said five people have been arrested for allegedly coaching a boy to pretend he was President Evo Morales' son, and paying his family, in a soap opera-style scandal that has riveted the country. The suspects are close to Gabriela Zapata, a former girlfriend of Morales, with whom he had a son who died in 2009.
(AFP, 6/11/16)
2016 Jun 11, In Congo DRC two boats collided on Lake Maindombe capsizing one vessel and killing at least 27 people.
(SFC, 6/13/16, p.A2)
2016 Jun 11, Thousands of people marched in colorful gay pride events in Croatia, Italy, and Poland urging support for minority rights in the mostly Catholic nations.
(AP, 6/11/16)
2016 Jun 11, About a quarter of Air France pilots went on strike to demand better working conditions. Up to a fifth of flights were canceled, both domestic and international. Among those affected were flights carrying spectators to cities holding matches for the European Championship soccer tournament. Train drivers and garbage collectors continued their strikes.
(AP, 6/11/16)
2016 Jun 11, Three senior Guatemalan cabinet ministers were arrested on corruption charges and authorities said they were seeking to detain two more as part of a continuing crackdown that has already seen a former president jailed.
(AP, 6/11/16)
2016 Jun 11, In Hong Kong and South Korea operators of the ACT college entrance exam canceled the tests for some 5,500 students at the last moment over what they said was a verified breach of test materials.
(AP, 6/11/16)
2016 Jun 11, Iraqi forces in Fallujah secured a new exit route, known as al-Salam (Peace) Junction. Over four thousand people used it to flee in the first day it was open.
(Reuters, 6/12/16)
2016 Jun 11, Italy's coast guard said it had picked up at sea 1,348 migrants in 11 rescue operations between Sicily and North Africa, bringing the total number of people saved over the past three days to more than 3,000.
(Reuters, 6/11/16)
2016 Jun 11, Italy’s conservative Milan daily Il Giornal newspaper published Hitler's political manifesto "Mein Kampf," angering Premier Matteo Renzi and the country's tiny Jewish community. The daily is publishing volumes exploring Third Reich history and defended its decision by arguing that reading "Mein Kampf" is the "true antidote to the toxins of national socialism."
(AP, 6/11/16)
2016 Jun 11, Forces allied with Libya's unity government said they had recaptured the port in the jihadist bastion of Sirte, advancing rapidly against Islamic State group fighters encircled inside the city.
(AFP, 6/11/16)
2016 Jun 11, In South Africa 8 people including three children died in a house fire in Cape Town.
(AFP, 6/11/16)
2016 Jun 11, In Syria suicide and car bomb blasts struck the Damascus suburb of Sayyidah Zaynab near the Sayeda Zeinab shrine, the country’s holiest Shi'ite Muslim shrine. At least 20 people were reported killed. The Islamic State claimed responsibility. Sayyidah Zeinab was the daughter of the first Shiite imam, Ali, and granddaughter of the Prophet Muhammad.
(Reuters, 6/11/16)(SSFC, 6/12/16, p.A5)
2016 Jun 11, In northern Syria a siege by US-backed Kurdish and Arab forces of the key jihadist-held city of Manbij left tens of thousands of civilians trapped. At least 159 IS fighters and 22 SDF troops were reported killed as well as 37 civilians, most of the last group in coalition air raids, since the alliance launched its Manbij offensive on May 31.
(AFP, 6/11/16)
2016 Jun 11, Turkish warplanes killed 13 suspected Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants in the southeast province of Diyarbakir.
(Reuters, 6/11/16)
2016 Jun 12, In Florida 49 people were killed and another 53 were injured when a gunman opened fire and seized hostages at the Pulse, a gay nightclub in Orlando, making it the worst mass shooting in US history. The shooter was soon identified as Omar Mateen (29) of Afghan descent from Port Saint Lucie, Florida. Mateen was killed in a gunfight with police officers. In 2018 it was reported that Mateen's father had been an FBI informant at various points in time between January 2005 and June 2016.
(AFP, 6/12/16)(AFP, 6/14/16)(SFC, 8/5/16, p.A5)(SFC, 3/26/18, p.A7)
2016 Jun 12, In San Jose, Ca., the Pittsburgh Penguins won the Stanley Cup after Game 6 of the NHL hockey finals against the San Jose Sharks, seven years to the day after last holding the Cup.
(AP, 6/12/16)
2016 Jun 12, Bangladesh police said they have arrested at least 85 militants as part of a broad crackdown on Islamists after a wave of brutal attacks on minorities and liberal activists. Since the crackdown began on June 9, police have arrested 5,324 people.
(Reuters, 6/12/16)(AP, 6/12/16)
2016 Jun 12, In Brazil indigenous activists from the Guarani-Kaiowa group set up a camp in Mato Grosso do Sul state, in a push to have their ancestral land claims formally recognized by the government. Two days later armed farmers attacked the camp, killing one person and seriously wounding six.
(Reuters, 6/29/16)
2016 Jun 12, In China Liu Xiaohua, a leading official in Guangdong province, apparently hanged himself at his home in the provincial capital of Guangzhou. His death came as the province's anti-corruption watchdog body has been redoubling its probes of government and state industry leaders.
(AP, 6/13/16)
2016 Jun 12, Eritrea's Information Ministry said Ethiopia has unleashed an attack against Eritrea in the Tsorona Central Front.
(AP, 6/13/16)
2016 Jun 12, European soccer's governing body, UEFA, launched disciplinary proceedings against the Russian Football Union after violence marred the end of Russia's Euro 2016 match against England in Marseille the previous evening.
(AP, 6/12/16)
2016 Jun 12, Iraqi forces advanced towards Qayyarah, which lies south of the Islamic State group's main hub of Mosul, reviving a weeks-old operation that has made slow progress so far.
(AFP, 6/12/16)
2016 Jun 12, In Italy at least 3 people were killed and several others injured in Milan when a residential building partially collapsed following an explosion due to a suspected gas leak.
(Reuters, 6/12/16)
2016 Jun 12, Kazakh security forces detained three men suspected of being Islamist militants linked to deadly June 5 attacks in the city of Akrobe. At least 25 people including 18 attackers died during the assaults on a national guard base and firearms shops, and in the subsequent manhunt.
(Reuters, 6/12/16)
2016 Jun 12, In Lebanon an explosion hit the Beirut headquarters of one of the country's largest banks, leaving one person with minor injuries. Several Lebanese newspapers said the attack was intended as a message to the banking industry. Lebanese banks have been working to comply with a 2015 US law imposing sanctions on financial institutions that facilitate significant transactions associated with Hezbollah since May.
(AFP, 7/6/16)
2016 Jun 12, In Libya forces allied with the unity government battled to retake the Islamic State group's last redoubts in its stronghold of Sirte, facing fierce resistance including three suicide car bombings.
(AFP, 6/12/16)
2016 Jun 12, Police in Spain, France and Paraguay have arrested around 14 people and freed up to 15 women as part of a 3-day joint operation against sex trafficking that began on June 7.
(AP, 6/12/16)
2016 Jun 12, In Syria at least 12 people were killed when several airstrikes struck the insurgent-held city of Idlib. Hundreds of civilians escaped the besieged jihadist bastion of Manbij helped by a US-backed Kurdish-Arab alliance surrounding the town.
(AP, 6/12/16)(AFP, 6/12/16)
2016 Jun 12, In Turkey an explosion in central Istanbul killed one person and injured another. A gas leak was suspected.
(Reuters, 6/12/16)
2016 Jun 12, In Uganda attackers carrying machine guns attacked the main police station in the remote town of Gulu killing one soldier before they were repulsed.
(AP, 6/13/16)
2016 Jun 12, In Ukraine about 1,000 gay rights activists held the country’s first major gay pride march through central Kiev amid an unprecedented security operation in the ex-Soviet country where homophobia remains widespread.
(AFP, 6/12/16)(SFC, 6/13/16, p.A2)
2016 Jun 12, A United Arab Emirates military helicopter crashed into the sea, killing two crew members.
(AFP, 6/12/16)
2016 Jun 12, Pope Francis, addressing an audience of 20,000 sick and handicapped people at the Vatican, decried the marginalization of those with disabilities.
(AFP, 6/12/16)
2016 Jun 13, The US Supreme Court rejected an appeal from a group of American Samoans who say the United States should grant full citizenship to people born in the US territory.
(AP, 6/13/16)
2016 Jun 13, In Los Angeles a dispute between homeless people led one of them to set a fire that killed 5 others.
(SFC, 6/16/16, p.A6)
2016 Jun 13, Microsoft Corp. agreed to pay $26.2 billion in cash for LinkedIn, a professional social network company founded in 2002.
(SFC, 6/14/16, p.A1)
2016 Jun 13, Gregory Rabassa (94), former Queens College professor and translator of Latin American authors, died in Branford, Conn. His translations included “Hopscotch" by Julio Cortazar and “One Hundred Years of Solitude" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.
(SFC, 6/15/16, p.D3)
2016 Jun 13, Bahraini security forces rearrested leading human rights activist Nabeel Rajab (51) in a dawn raid in the Gulf kingdom.
(AP, 6/13/16)
2016 Jun 13, In France Officer Jean-Baptiste Salvaing and police administrator Jessica Schneider were knifed to death in their home in the Paris suburb of Magnanville by Larossi Abballa (25), who claimed allegiance to Islamic State. Abballa was killed after a three-hour siege and police raid.
(AP, 6/14/16)(AFP, 6/18/16)
2016 Jun 13, In Germany the chief editor of Turkish newspaper Hurriyet was presented with a Freedom of Speech award by German public broadcaster Deutsche Welle as concerns grow over press freedom in Turkey.
(AFP, 6/13/16)
2016 Jun 13, Iran's state TV reported that a firefight between Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guards and Kurdish militants in western Iran has left 5 militants dead. IRNA news agency reported a clash in the country's restive Sistan-Baluchistan province near the border with Pakistan, saying Iranian security forces killed 5 members of the Jaish al-Adl group. An Iranian police officer was also killed in the clash.
(AP, 6/13/16)
2016 Jun 13, Iraq said it had launched an investigation into possible human rights abuses against civilians fleeing the Islamic State-held city of Fallujah as an aid group said more than 4,000 more people had left the city over the weekend.
(AP, 6/13/16)
2016 Jun 13, In Iraq a suicide attack carried out by Islamic State group fighters killed at least 5 members of the Iraqi security forces in the city of Ramadi.
(AFP, 6/13/16)
2016 Jun 13, The Kosovo government amended a draft law to prolong the European Union rule of law mission, known as EULEX, for two years. Since 2008, EULEX has supported Kosovo on its path to greater European integration in the areas of rule of law and the fight against corruption.
(AP, 6/14/16)
2016 Jun 13, NATO's secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg announced that the alliance will agree this week to send four multinational battalions to the Baltic states and Poland to boost their defenses against Russia.
(AP, 6/13/16)
2016 Jun 13, In Pakistan a transgender woman suffered a gunshot wound to her thigh for refusing to have sex with three attackers who broke into her home in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, in the latest in a series of assaults on trans people.
(AP, 6/15/16)
2016 Jun 13, Qatar convicted a Dutch woman (22) of adultery and gave her a one-year suspended sentence after she reported being raped while on holiday in Doha. Officials said was also fined 3,000 Qatari riyals ($800/710 euros) and will be deported once she pays the fine. The male defendant, said by a court official to be Syrian and named as Omar Abdullah al-Hasan, was sentenced to 100 lashes for having illicit sex and 40 lashes for drinking alcohol.
(AFP, 6/13/16)
2016 Jun 13, In Turkey a car-bomb attack apparently targeting court officials in the mainly-Kurdish southeast region injured at least 9 people in Ovacik, Tunceli province.
(AP, 6/13/16)
2016 Jun 13, In Turkey Ahmed Abdulkader, a Syrian journalist campaigning against Islamic State, was shot in the head by two Islamic State militants riding a motorcycle and is being treated in the intensive care unit of Sanliurfa state hospital.
(Reuters, 6/13/16)
2016 Jun 13, In Uganda a senior officer, wounded in an attack in Gulu a day earlier, died. Six suspects believed to have participated in the attack were arrested, including the driver of a pickup truck used in the assault, and two commanders.
(Reuters, 6/14/16)
2016 Jun 13, In Yemen a suspected US drone killed 3 alleged al-Qaida fighters in an overnight airstrike in the central Shabwa province.
(AP, 6/13/16)
2016 Jun 14, The Democratic National committee said its computer network was hacked by Russian government hackers who gained access to opposition research on presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.
(SFC, 6/15/16, p.A5)
2016 Jun 14, In Florida a boy (2) was dragged into the water by an alligator while wading near Disney’s Grand Florida Resort & Spa.
(SFC, 6/15/16, p.A5)
2016 Jun 14, In Nevada the Riviera Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas was imploded. The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Center expected to spend $42 million to level the 13-building campus with plans for expansion.
(SFC, 6/14/16, p.A4)
2016 Jun 14, In New Mexico the Dog Head Fire broke out about 6 miles (10 km) northwest of the town of Tajique. It soon forced evacuations and by June 17 grew to about 16,000 acres (6,500 hectares).
(Reuters, 6/17/16)
2016 Jun 14, In Texas armed Walmart worker Mohammad Moghaddam (54) was shot and killed by police in Amarillo after he took two people hostage following a work-related dispute.
(SFC, 6/15/16, p.A7)
2016 Jun 14, CEO Jack Dorsey confirmed that Twitter is investing $70 million into SoundCloud, a streaming music service.
(www.cnet.com/news/twitter-invests-in-soundcloud/)
2016 Jun 14, An Afghan border guard was killed and five wounded in renewed clashes late today at the Torkham Pakistani-Afghan border crossing.
(AP, 6/15/16)
2016 Jun 14, In Argentina Jose Lopez, a former public works secretary under former Pres. Cristina Fernandez, was arrested after he was discovered tossing bags containing watches and $9 million in three currencies onto the grounds of a monastery.
(SSFC, 6/19/16, p.A4)(Econ, 7/30/16, p.28)
2016 Jun 14, Australian researchers said the Bramble Cay melomys, a rodent that only lived on Bramble Cay in the Great Barrier Reef, has become the first documented mammal to go extinct due to man-made climate change.
(SFC, 6/15/16, p.A4)
2016 Jun 14, A Bahraini court ordered the suspension of the country's main opposition group al-Wefaq and seized its assets, in what appeared to be an escalating campaign against dissent in the Western-allied Gulf Arab kingdom.
(Reuters, 6/14/16)(AP, 6/14/16)
2016 Jun 14, A Cambodian court sentenced American businessman Brian David Naswall (53) to 10 years in prison for sexually abusing nine underage girls.
(AP, 6/14/16)
2016 Jun 14, Chinese and American officials said they're committed to bridging their differences on cybersecurity and moving to implement recent agreements, as they held talks amid complaints over China-based hacking operations that the US says may have already cost US companies tens of billions of dollars.
(AP, 6/14/16)
2016 Jun 14, An Egyptian court acquitted 52 protesters charged with taking part in anti-government demonstrations in April denouncing the president's decision to hand over two Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia.
(AP, 6/14/16)
2016 Jun 14, In France tens of thousands of people rallied in Paris under heavy police presence for a protest against a planned change of labor laws that would make hiring and firing easier. Masked troublemakers hurled paving stones and other projectiles at businesses and the Necker Hospital. Some 30 police officers and protesters were injured.
(Reuters, 6/14/16)(AP, 6/15/16)
2016 Jun 14, Justice Minister Heiko Maas in an interview with Bild daily said Germany will not recognise polygamy or marriages involving minors, as concern rises over such cases amid a record influx of refugees, many from Muslim countries.
(AFP, 6/14/16)
2016 Jun 14, In northeastern India a passenger bus skidded off a mountain road and fell into a gorge in Meghalaya state, killing at least 25 people near Sonapur town.
(AP, 6/15/16)
2016 Jun 14, In Iraq Brig. Ahmed Badr al-Luhaibi, the commander of Brigade 71st of Division 15, was reported killed by a sniper during an operation to retake a village south of Mosul.
(AP, 6/15/16)
2016 Jun 14, Eight Kenyan politicians were arrested on suspicion of hate speech in the latest sign of rising political tensions a year ahead of elections and were remanded in custody until June 17.
(AFP, 6/15/16)
2016 Jun 14, In Libya 9 pro-government fighters were killed and 50 wounded in latest fighting for the Islamic State group's bastion of Sirte.
(AP, 6/15/16)
2016 Jun 14, In northern Myanmar a military helicopter crashed in the jungle, killing 3 officers on board.
(AP, 6/14/16)
2016 Jun 14, In Pakistan Maj. Ali Jawad Khan, wounded in cross-border clashes near Afghanistan, died of his wounds at a military hospital. He was the second fatality from the artillery exchanges at the Torkham crossing on the Afghan-Pakistan border that erupted late on June 12.
(AP, 6/14/16)
2016 Jun 14, In Venezuela dozens of bakeries, supermarkets and hardware shops were looted in the eastern city of Cumana after gangs of looters on motorcycles raided trucks transporting food as the country's food crisis continued. More than 400 people were arrested, including three suspected gang leaders. Over the next few days at least 5 people were reported killed in food related disturbances.
(AFP, 6/17/16)
2016 Jun 14, A Russian-made Vietnamese fighter jet was missing after disappearing off the radar during a training flight along the central part of the country's South China Sea coastline.
(Reuters, 6/14/16)
2016 Jun 15, Pres. Obama met with the Dalai Lama (80), the spiritual leader of Tibet, for the 4th time. China condemned the meeting, which was closed to news media coverage.
(SFC, 6/16/16, p.A3)
2016 Jun 15, California lawmakers approved a $122.5 billion state spending plan.
(SFC, 6/16/16, p.D2)
2016 Jun 15, In California the Sherpa Fire started this afternoon in Santa Barbara County and burned 250 acres. It then quadrupled in size over the next day and by June 18 burned an estimated 12 square miles and was 45% contained.
(Reuters, 6/17/16)(SSFC, 6/19/16, p.A7)
2016 Jun 15, American surgeon and author Richard Selzer (b.1928) died in Connecticut. His books include “The Doctor Stories" (1999) and “Mortal Lessons: Notes on the Art of Surgery" (1996).
(SFC, 6/17/16, p.D3)
2016 Jun 15, In Kentucky local detectives arrested Bill Birchfield (67), aka Harold Arnold, who had escaped from prison in Georgia in 1979. He had been jailed for fatally shooting his wife on July 5, 1973 in Dalton, Georgia.
(Econ, 7/2/16, p.26)
2016 Jun 15, In Bangladesh Hindu mathematics teacher Ripon Chakraborty was attacked and seriously wounded this evening by three knife-wielding assailants when he answered the doorbell at his home in Madaripur. A student (22) of a college in Dhaka, Ghulam Faijullaha Fahim, was caught by people who came to the rescue of the screaming teacher. Fahim told police the attack had been planned by members of the banned militant group Hizb ut-Tahrir.
(Reuters, 6/16/16)(Reuters, 6/18/16)
2016 Jun 15, Bangladesh police arrested Mohammed Sumon Hossain, a suspected member of the banned Ansarullah Bangla Team. He was suspected of participating in an attack against publisher Ahmed Rashid Tutul in his Dhaka office last October.
(AP, 6/16/16)
2016 Jun 15, A Chinese court jailed the wife and a son of Zhou Yongkang, a former senior politician sentenced to life in prison a year ago for corruption amid an ongoing anti-graft campaign. Zhou's son, Zhou Bin, was sentenced to 18 years in prison for taking 222 million yuan ($34 million) in bribes and running an illegal business trading in restricted commodities. Jia Xiaoye will serve nine years for taking bribes. She was fined 1 million yuan ($150,000).
(AP, 6/15/16)
2016 Jun 15, In Congo Rep. General Jean-Marie Michel Mokoko (69), a former army chief and candidate in the presidential election earlier this year, was detained overnight. His supporters said the president is trying to stifle dissent.
(Reuters, 6/15/16)
2016 Jun 15, French leaders told the hardline CGT labor union it would be denied permission for further street rallies unless it rooted out troublemakers, a day after violent battles between masked youths and police during protest marches in Paris.
(Reuters, 6/15/16)
2016 Jun 15, President Francois Hollande signed a bill formally ratifying the Paris climate agreement reached last December by nearly 200 countries to limit global warming. The agreement will become binding when 55 countries representing 55 percent of emissions of greenhouse gases ratify it. 17 states have done so already.
(Reuters, 6/15/16)
2016 Jun 15, The WHO's research arm issued a report downgrading its classification of coffee as a possible carcinogen, declaring there isn't enough proof to show a link to cancer. The Lyon-based International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) also announced in a report that drinking "very hot" beverages of any kind could potentially raise the cancer risk, and it classified them as "probably carcinogenic" to humans.
(AP, 6/15/16)
2016 Jun 15, In Guam Roland Paul L. Sondia (54) said that he was a 15-year-old altar boy when Archbishop Anthony Apuron sexually abused him during a sleepover in a church rectory in summer 1977, when Apuron was a parish priest. Apuron was convicted this year in a secret Vatican trial and suspended.
(AP, 6/15/16)(SFC, 8/9/19, p.A5)
2016 Jun 15, In Indonesia more than 30 pilot whales began stranding themselves during high tide on the coast of Pesisir village in Probolinggo district in the province of East Java. At least 10 died as a mass rescue operation managed to pull most of the stranded whales into the deep sea.
(AP, 6/16/16)
2016 Jun 15, Iran's Revolutionary Guard battled armed members of an insurgent Kurdish group, leading to fatalities near Oshnavieh, a predominantly Kurdish town in West Azerbaijan province.
(AP, 6/16/16)
2016 Jun 15, In Japan Yoichi Masuzoe, the governor of Tokyo, resigned following a scandal over his use of public funds.
(Econ, 6/18/16, p.40)
2016 Jun 15, Jerusalem's city hall approved the construction of a new building for Jews in the heart of an Arab neighborhood of east Jerusalem, a move that quickly drew rebuke from the Palestinians, who say encouraging settlement in the area is an obstacle to peace.
(AP, 6/15/16)
2016 Jun 15, In Libya the operation room of the unity government lost contact with a six-member scouting unit inside Sirte. Hours later, IS posted pictures online of the bodies of young men in uniform in the back of a pick-up truck, and described them as members of the Misrata forces.
(AP, 6/16/16)
2016 Jun 15, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said NATO allies will maintain troops across Afghanistan, as the US considers whether to reduce its presence there.
(Reuters, 6/15/16)
2016 Jun 15, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg demanded that Russia withdraw its forces and military hardware from Ukraine, and halt its support for pro-Moscow separatists battling Kiev.
(AFP, 6/15/16)
2016 Jun 15, Pakistani troops fired heavy artillery at Afghan forces at their main Khyber Pass border crossing, an escalation after days of clashes at the Torkham crossing that have killed four people and stranded thousands on both sides.
(Reuters, 6/15/16)
2016 Jun 15, Poland said will not meet the European Union's deadline of today to respond to concerns about the country's political crisis.
(AP, 6/15/16)
2016 Jun 15, In Spain US writer Richard Ford, author of the widely acclaimed novel "Independence Day," won the prestigious Asturias prize for literature in recognition of his contribution to American letters.
(AP, 6/15/16)
2016 Jun 15, In Syria at least 70 fighters were reported killed in less than 24 hours of fierce clashes between pro-regime forces, jihadists and rebels in Aleppo province.
(AFP, 6/15/16)
2016 Jun 15, The United Arab Emirates said war is over for its troops in Yemen after a nearly 15-month intervention as part of a Saudi-led coalition in which around 80 lost their lives.
(AFP, 6/16/16)
2016 Jun 16, US Senate Democrats claimed a small victory, forcing the upper house to consider legislation to help keep guns out of the hands of terrorism suspects following a filibuster of over 14 hours led by Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut.
(AFP, 6/16/16)
2016 Jun 16, It was reported that the Koret Foundation has selected twelve Northern California colleges and universities to share $50 million for scholarships, improved technology and research expansion.
(SFC, 6/16/16, p.D3)
2016 Jun 16, Philadelphia became the first major US city to approve a soda tax. The City Council gave final approval to a 1.5 cent-per-ounce tax on sugary and diet beverages with collections to begin next Jan 1.
(SFC, 6/17/16, p.A15)
2016 Jun 16, An Albanian court dropped charges against police chief Haki Cako for allegedly illegal use of wiretapping equipment. The Tirana Appeals Court ruled that Cako had committed no offense, leaving him free to resume his job.
(AP, 6/16/16)
2016 Jun 16, British opposition Labour Party lawmaker Jo Cox (41) died after she was shot and stabbed as she intervened in a scuffle between two men in Birstall near Leeds. Thomas Mair (52), who had a history of mental illness, was arrested by armed police. On Nov 23 Mair was sentenced to life in jail.
(Reuters, 6/16/16)(Reuters, 6/17/16)(Reuters, 11/23/16)
2016 Jun 16, In China the new $5.5 billion Shanghai Disneyland opened with a lavish celebration.
(SFC, 6/17/16, p.A3)
2016 Jun 16, Croatia's government fell after PM Tihomir Oreskovic lost a confidence vote in parliament, in a serious blow to the country's nationalist rulers after only five months in power.
(AFP, 6/16/16)
2016 Jun 16, A search team recovered the cockpit voice recorder from the EgyptAir plane that crashed on May 19 into the Mediterranean last month hours after a deep-sea robot located pieces of the main body of the plane.
(AFP, 6/16/16)
2016 Jun 16, The European Commission said Iran's state airline, which has just reached an agreement with Boeing Co to purchase new jetliners, can resume flights in the EU.
(Reuters, 6/16/16)
2016 Jun 16, France sentenced three Russian fans to prison and planned to deport 20 others next week for their role in the violence in Marseille that marred Russia's opening soccer match against England.
(AP, 6/16/16)
2016 Jun 16, In Greece the Holy and Great Council of Orthodox Christianity convened in Crete and continued to June 26. The Churches of Antioch, Russia, Bulgaria, and Georgia did not participate.
(http://tinyurl.com/jcuptso)(Econ, 6/18/16, p.57)
2016 Jun 16, Indonesia's central bank cut its benchmark interest rate again by a quarter point to 6.50 percent amid slow and uneven recovery of the global economy.
(AP, 6/16/16)
2016 Jun 16, In Kashmir 4 militants who had crossed into the Indian-controlled side from the Pakistani side were killed in fierce fighting that also left one soldier dead in the Tangdhar sector.
(AP, 6/16/16)
2016 Jun 16, Kurdish official Masrour Barzan said that once the Islamic State is defeated, Iraq should be divided into three separate entities to prevent further sectarian bloodshed, with a state each given to Shi'ite Muslims, Sunnis and Kurds.
(Reuters, 6/16/16)
2016 Jun 16, In Libya Islamic State group jihadists, pinned down in Sirte, stepped up suicide bomb attacks on forces of the unity government who suffered 10 dead.
(AFP, 6/16/16)
2016 Jun 16, A Mexican woman (32) was found dead after apparently falling from a border fence about 20 to 25 feet high about three miles east of Arizona’s Morley Port of Entry.
(AP, 6/22/16)
2016 Jun 16, Niger authorities said 34 people, including 20 children, have died while attempting to cross the Sahara Desert in an effort to reach Europe.
(SFC, 6/17/16, p.A2)
2016 Jun 16, In northeast Nigeria Boko Haram militants opened fire at a funeral, killing 18 mourners including many women and children in the Madagali area of Adamawa state near the Sambisa forest.
(AP, 6/17/16)
2016 Jun 16, In central Pakistan Monil Mai (32) was arrested hours after she allegedly threw acid on her boyfriend Sadaqat Ali for refusing to marry her in the Mukhdoom Rashid neighborhood of Multan. She had been having an affair with Ali for several years and wanted him to marry her so that she could divorce her husband. Ali died of his wounds on June 21.
(AP, 6/17/16)(AP, 6/21/16)
2016 Jun 16, A judge in Peru banned First Lady Nadine Heredia from leaving the country while she's being investigated for allegedly hiding undeclared campaign contributions.
(AP, 6/17/16)
2016 Jun 16, Russia floated out a new nuclear-powered icebreaker, said to be the world's biggest and most powerful, to be used for hauling liquefied natural gas from its Arctic terminal.
(AFP, 6/16/16)
2016 Jun 16, The Russian Defense Ministry said a 48-hour cessation of hostilities has been declared in the divided northern Syrian city of Aleppo and activists reported a relative calm in the city. Barrels bombs hit Aleppo just hours after a temporary truce came into effect in the war-torn city. Russian warplanes struck at rebels battling Islamic State militants, including forces backed by the United States, in southern Syria.
(AP, 6/16/16)(AFP, 6/16/16)(Reuters, 6/17/16)
2016 Jun 16, In the Solomon Islands scientists on World Sea Turtle Day tagged hawksbill sea turtles in a key South Pacific breeding ground, hoping that information fed to satellites will help them better understand the endangered species' nesting, feeding and migration patterns.
(Reuters, 6/16/16)
2016 Jun 16, Thai police raided the Wat Dhammakaya Buddhist temple complex to arrest a popular abbot accused of accepting $40 million in embezzled money but were thwarted by thousands of his followers who said he is too ill to be taken into custody. Phra Dhammachayo was accused of money laundering and links to embezzling 1.4 billion baht ($40 million) from a now-defunct credit union.
(AP, 6/16/16)
2016 Jun 16, United Nations investigators said the Islamic State is committing genocide against the Yazidis in Syria and Iraq to destroy the religious community of 400,000 people through killings, sexual slavery and other crimes.
(Reuters, 6/16/16)
2016 Jun 16, A Vietnamese search plane carrying nine people went missing while attempting to locate a pilot from a crashed fighter jet.
(AP, 6/16/16)
2016 Jun 16, In Zambia 19 Ethiopian migrants suffocated to death along the border with Congo inside a container truck, where survivors inside banged on the sides until border officials opened it. A total of 95 Ethiopians were aboard the truck.
(AP, 6/24/16)
2016 Jun 16, Zimbabwe's cash-strapped government announced it will delay paying June salaries for the military and police by up to two weeks. Zimbabwe has been delaying pay dates for its employees for nearly a year due to revenue problems, but this is the first time the salaries have been delayed so long.
(AP, 6/19/16)
2016 Jun 17, It was reported that 51 US State Department diplomats have signed an internal memo critical of US policy in Syria, calling for military strikes against President Bashar al-Assad's government to stop its persistent violations of a civil war ceasefire.
(Reuters, 6/17/16)
2016 Jun 17, The United States expelled two Russian officials in response to an attack by a Russian policeman on a US diplomat in Moscow earlier in the month. On July 9 Russia said it had expelled two US Embassy staff members in June after a similar 'unfriendly' move by Washington.
(Reuters, 7/9/16)
2016 Jun 17, Police in Michigan confiscated 25 dogs and arrested five people in an investigation into dog fighting in the Detroit suburbs of Inkster and Westland.
(SFC, 6/18/16, p.A5)
2016 Jun 17, A hacker siphoned around 3.6 million ether digital money, valued at about $55 million, from the Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO), which had raised $160 million in the form of ether, an alternative to the digital currency bitcoin. The attack likely put an end to the project.
(SFC, 6/20/16, p.D1)(Econ, 6/25/16, p.66)
2016 Jun 17, Brazil's Environment Ministry said it has fined mining company Samarco 142 million reais ($41.6 million) for damages to three protected areas resulting from a tailings dam burst in November.
(Reuters, 6/17/16)
2016 Jun 17, In the Central African Republic a local driver for Medecins sans Frontieres was killed during an ambush on a convoy by unidentified gunmen.
(Reuters, 6/18/16)
2016 Jun 17, Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Serbia for a visit meant to boost relations with the friendly nation and assert China's intention to increase its presence in the Balkans and Europe.
(AP, 6/17/16)
2016 Jun 17, China’s product quality agency announced that Honda Motor Co.'s Chinese joint venture is recalling 1 million sedans and SUVs to replace possibly faulty air bags made by Takata Corp.
(AP, 6/17/16)
2016 Jun 17, It was reported that China has ordered at least 255 Shanghai-based industrial facilities, including part of a major oil refinery operated by Sinopec Corp, to shut for 14 days to reduce pollution ahead of the Aug. 24 - Sept. 6 G20 summit.
(Reuters, 6/17/16)
2016 Jun 17, In China police swept in late today to surround sensitive government buildings and take away Lin Zuluan, the democratically elected leader of Wukan village in Guangdong province. He had planned protests on June 18 against illegal land grabs.
(AP, 6/18/16)
2016 Jun 17, Dagestan police said that at least 4 officers and 6 militants have died in a series of clashes in three regions.
(AP, 6/17/16)
2016 Jun 17, Denmark police conducted raids in Copenhagen against organized hashish sale at the famed Christiania hippie neighborhood and arrested at least 17 people.
(AP, 6/17/16)
2016 Jun 17, Egyptian investigators said a second flight recorder has been retrieved from the crashed EgyptAir flight MS804, containing data from aircraft systems which could shed light on what brought the plane down last month.
(Reuters, 6/17/16)
2016 Jun 17, The EU rolled over for another year sanctions imposed to protest Russia's 2014 annexation of Crimea from Ukraine, which the bloc deems illegal.
(AFP, 6/17/16)
2016 Jun 17, Finland police in Vihti, northwest of Helsinki, dispatched several officers to a property late today. They were targeted by gunfire as they approached the house and one shot fatally wounded a policeman (30) and seriously wounded another. The shooter (73) committed suicide.
(AP, 6/18/16)
2016 Jun 17, In Germany a 94-year-old former SS sergeant who served as a guard at Auschwitz was found guilty of more than 170,000 counts of accessory to murder for helping kill 1.1 million Jews and others at the Nazi death camp. The Detmold state court sentenced Reinhold Hanning to five years in prison, though he will remain free while any appeals are heard. Hanning died on June 1, 2017.
(AP, 6/17/16)(SFC, 6/2/17, p.A2)
2016 Jun 17, In Hong Kong more than 100 activists marched on China's liaison office to protest against the detention of five booksellers. A day earlier Lam Wing-kee told reporters he had been arrested and detained in China for more than eight months, and that one of his colleagues, Lee Bo, a British national, was abducted from Hong Kong by mainland Chinese authorities.
(Reuters, 6/17/16)(Econ, 6/25/16, p.38)
2016 Jun 17, In India the film “Udta Punjab" was released. It dramatized the state’s struggle with drugs. A recent study found that 20% of the young men in Punjab use opioids. Injectable heroine appeared about five years ago and quickly became the drug of choice.
(Econ, 6/25/16, p.34)
2016 Jun 17, Indian PM Narendra Modi and Thailand’s PM Prayuth Chan-ocha agreed in New Delhi to increase cooperation in tackling terrorism, threats to cybersecurity, narcotics, transnational economic offenses and human trafficking.
(AP, 6/17/16)
2016 Jun 17, An Indian court sentenced 11 people to life in prison for murder in one of the many deadly religious riots that swept across the western state of Gujarat in 2002 and left more than 1,000 dead.
(AP, 6/17/16)
2016 Jun 17, Iraqi special forces entered the center of Fallujah city early today, taking over a government complex and a neighborhood that served as a base for the Islamic State group militants after intense fighting.
(AP, 6/17/16)
2016 Jun 17, In Kenya eight politicians were charged with hate speech and incitement to violence following public comments and calls to supporters made in recent days.
(AFP, 6/17/16)
2016 Jun 17, Mexico's Congress passed a package of anti-corruption bills, including stiffer penalties for graft, but the legislation was stripped of a provision that would have required public officials to make public their asset declarations.
(Reuters, 6/17/16)
2016 Jun 17, Thousands of Mexican teachers from a radical union marched in Mexico City to protest an education reform and the arrest of two of their leaders.
(AFP, 6/17/16)
2016 Jun 17, Mexican federal police said they have seized more than 1,300 pounds (600 kg) of cocaine in eight suitcases at the capital's international airport. Three people were arrested when they claimed the suitcases from a flight that originated in Caracas, Venezuela.
(AP, 6/18/16)
2016 Jun 17, In Pakistan a mother and son slit the throat of 22-year-old Muqadas Tofeeq in the village of Butrawala in Punjab province for marrying against the wishes of her family. Tofeeq was the mother of a 10-month-old infant.
(AP, 6/18/16)
2016 Jun 17, In central Romania 4 people were killed when a bus carrying children and teachers traveling to a folklore festival overturned near the village of Persani.
(AP, 6/17/16)
2016 Jun 17, Russia's track and field athletes were banned from competing for their country at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics because the country has failed to do enough to clean up a deep-rooted doping system that tainted athletes who may be clean.
(AP, 6/17/16)
2016 Jun 17, Russia said that at least 4 officers and 6 militants have died in a series of clashes Dagestan region in the North Caucasus.
(AP, 6/17/16)
2016 Jun 17, In South Korea a civilian light plane crashed in Muan, killing all 3 people on board.
(AP, 6/17/16)
2016 Jun 17, Sri Lanka welcomed a European Union decision to remove it from a list of countries that fail to control illegal and unregulated fishing, ending a ban on imports of fish caught by Sri Lanka-flagged vessels.
(AP, 6/17/16)
2016 Jun 17, In Syria the Islamic State carried out two suicide attacks and five car bombings in the southwestern suburbs of Manbij. 6 members of the same family were killed when they were targeted by jihadists while fleeing.
(AFP, 6/18/16)
2016 Jun 17, In Taiwan Tyrel Martin Marhanka (41), American man, killed himself by slashing his neck with a scissor blade inside a courtroom after being given a four-year sentence for growing opium and marijuana at a rented site in Changhua county.
(AP, 6/17/16)
2016 Jun 17, Activists in Taiwan called on the island's largest industrial group, Formosa Plastics, to investigate recent mass fish deaths in Vietnam, near where the company has a steel plant.
(Reuters, 6/17/16)
2016 Jun 17, In Turkey the governor of Istanbul banned gay, lesbian and transgender individuals from holding pride parades at their usual venue, citing security concerns.
(AP, 6/17/16)
2016 Jun 18, In San Francisco a fire destroyed six buildings at Mission and 29th streets in Bernal Heights that included a Cole Hardware store and the El Gran Taco Loco restaurant. 58 people were left homeless. In 2017 El Gran Taco Loco reopened in the Excelsior district.
(SFC, 6/20/16, p.A1)(SSFC, 6/18/17, p.L2)
2016 Jun 18, in Mississippi Tupelo police Officer Tyler Cook shot and killed Antwun Shumpert (37) following routine traffic stop and a foot chase. Cook later said he believed his life was in danger.
(http://tinyurl.com/jwar77p)(SFC, 5/17/17, p.A6)
2016 Jun 18, In Virginia 6 people were killed early today when a van carrying 16 people overturned multiple times on I-95 in Caroline County.
(SSFC, 6/19/16, p.A7)
2016 Jun 18, Adel Mohamed Sallam (30) left the Albanian port of Durres with an Albanian captain and another fisherman. The Egyptian man claimed he is owed 70,000 euros ($79,000) in back pay and threatened to sink the boat together with the two fishermen. The boat owner said he owes no money to Sallam. On June 29 Albanian authorities said fisherman Luan Mema was found "in stable health" but that captain Dhimiter Malja was still missing. Local media said Adel Mohamed Salam was arrested in Alexandria while three other Egyptians were found at the boat which he had allegedly sold for 100,000 euros ($110,000).
(AP, 6/23/16)(AP, 6/29/16)
2016 Jun 18, In Bangladesh Ghulam Faijullaha Fahim (19), who was in police custody, was shot when officers took him with them to help capture his associates. On June 15 Fahim had critically wounded a Hindu college teacher.
(Reuters, 6/18/16)
2016 Jun 18, Belgian police detained 40 people for questioning and 12 among them were arrested in connection with a criminal investigation concerning terrorism.
(Reuters, 6/18/16)
2016 Jun 18, Protesters rallied outside the French embassy in London after an aid convoy intended for migrants was turned back by French border police. A 38-ton truck full of aid was allowed through.
(AFP, 6/18/16)
2016 Jun 18, Colombian authorities said that farmer Jaime Ivan Martinez (44), being investigated for the disappearance of a woman, has confessed to killing 20 people, including the missing person.
(AP, 6/18/16)
2016 Jun 18, An Egyptian court sentenced ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi to life in prison in an espionage trial. The court also sentenced six people, including two Al-Jazeera employees, to death for allegedly passing documents related to national security to Qatar and the Doha-based TV network during the rule of Pres. Morsi.
(AFP, 6/18/16)(AP, 6/18/16)
2016 Jun 18, A French prosecutor announced terrorism charges against Charaf-Din Aberouz (29) and Saad Rajraji (27). They were charged with having links to a terrorist group, but were not found to have any connection to the June 13 IS-inspired murder of the police couple carried out by Larossi Abballa.
(AFP, 6/18/16)
2016 Jun 18, France expelled a Russian far-right leader of a football supporters group, Alexander Shprygin, and 19 other fans after the troubles with England soccer fans at Euro 2016.
(AFP, 6/18/16)
2016 Jun 18, In Hong Kong over 4,000 people marched to protest against China's detention of five booksellers whose shop published gossipy books about Chinese leaders, including President Xi Jinping.
(Reuters, 6/18/16)
2016 Jun 18, The Indonesian navy opened fire at a Chinese fishing boat in the South China Sea, injuring a fisherman and detaining its seven-man crew, for illegally fishing in Indonesian waters.
(AP, 6/19/16)
2016 Jun 18, Iraqi forces hunted down holdout jihadists in Fallujah after retaking the city center and trained their sights on Mosul, the Islamic State's last remaining major hub in the country. Iraqi authorities arrested Iran-backed Shiite militia fighters accused of executing 49 Sunni men fleeing Fallujah.
(AFP, 6/18/16)(SSFC, 6/19/16, p.A4)
2016 Jun 18, In Kazakhstan Tim Peake, the first British astronaut on the ISS, Russia's Yury Malenchenko and NASA's Tim Kopra parachuted down onto the Kazakh steppe in their Soyuz capsule at 0915 GMT after spending 186 days in orbit.
(AFP, 6/18/16)
2016 Jun 18, In Libya fighting erupted south of the coastal town of Ajdabiya between military units loyal to Libya's eastern government and a group calling itself the Benghazi Defence Forces. At least three people were killed and 10 wounded.
(Reuters, 6/19/16)
2016 Jun 18, In Malaysia PM Najib Razak’s United Malays National Organization retained the Sungai Besar seat in central Selangor state and Kuala Kangsar in northern Perak state in parliamentary by-elections.
(AP, 6/19/16)
2016 Jun 18, In southeastern Niger witnesses said Boko Haram extremists killed 7 military police in an attack on a barracks in the Diffa region.
(SSFC, 6/19/16, p.A4)
2016 Jun 18, In Russia at least 11 children and their adult instructor died in a storm while boating on a lake in the northwestern region of Karelia.
(AP, 6/19/16)
2016 Jun 18, In Serbia China’s President Xi Jinping signed a declaration on strategic partnership with Serbia's President Tomislav Nikolic and oversaw the signing of 21 agreements and memorandums ranging from economy, infrastructure, energy and finance to defense industry, technology, culture and media.
(AP, 6/18/16)
2016 Jun 18, In Syria at least 7 people died in rebel shelling of a neighborhood of Aleppo held by the Kurdish YPG militia. Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said a four-day offensive by different militant groups, including the al-Qaida-affiliated Nusra Front, killed 86 troops and pro-government gunmen, including 25 members of Lebanon's Hezbollah group. Militants now controlled the villages of Zeitan and Khalsa, south of Aleppo city.
(Reuters, 6/18/16)(AP, 6/18/16)
2016 Jun 18, In Syria US-led coalition jets and Turkish artillery killed 13 Islamic State militants.
(Reuters, 6/18/16)
2016 Jun 18, At least 8 Syrian refugees, including four children were allegedly shot dead by border guards while trying to cross the frontier into Turkey’s Hatay province.
(AP, 6/19/16)
2016 Jun 18, Turkish fighter jets hit 16 PKK targets early today in the district of Lice, including shelters and ammunition depots.
(AP, 6/18/16)
2016 Jun 19, In Oakland, Ca., the Cleveland Cavaliers defeated the Golden State Warriors 93-89 in game 7 of the NBA finals.
(SFC, 6/20/16, p.A1)
2016 Jun 19, In southern California a fire at a stable outside Los Angeles killed 10 horses.
(SFC, 6/20/16, p.A4)
2016 Jun 19, In Texas the Blue Origin space company completed its fourth successful unmanned rocket launch and safe landing using the same New Shepard vehicle.
(SFC, 6/20/16, p.A4)
2016 Jun 19, The US attorney’s office issued a warrant for polygamous sect leader Lyle Jeffs, who fled home confinement in Salt Lake City pending trial on charges in a multimillion-dollar food stamp fraud scheme.
(SFC, 6/21/16, p.A6)
2016 Jun 19, Algerian troops killed 8 Islamist armed fighters and captured weapons in an operation south of the capital. Four other suspected militants were also arrested during the operation in Rouakeche area of Medea.
(Reuters, 6/19/16)
2016 Jun 19, In Brazil five armed men stormed the Hospital Souza Aguiar in Rio de Janeiro to free a suspected drug trafficker. One patient was killed.
(SFC, 6/20/16, p.A2)
2016 Jun 19, In southern China residents of Wukan, where police have been deployed, took to the streets to protest the detention of the village's democratically elected leader and historic seizures of land.
(AP, 6/19/16)
2016 Jun 19, Indonesia reported that at least 35 people have been killed by landslides and floods on Java island this weekend with many others missing. By the next day the death toll rose to 47.
(AP, 6/19/16)(AP, 6/20/16)
2016 Jun 19, Iran said it has reached an agreement with American aerospace giant Boeing to purchase 100 aircraft to renew its ageing fleet, though the deal must still be approved by the US government.
(AFP, 6/19/16)
2016 Jun 19, The Israeli government approved $18 million in extra funding for Jewish West Bank settlements.
(AP, 6/19/16)
2016 Jun 19, Italians began voting for mayors of their largest cities in a ballot that will test PM Matteo Renzi's popularity. The anti-establishment M5S, founded by comic Beppe Grillo, triumphed in the mayoral runoff elections. Virginia Raggi (37), a lawyer from the 5-Star Movement with a three-year stint as a city councilwoman, took 67.2 percent of the vote in a two-person runof to become the first woman to head Rome’s City Hall.
(Reuters, 6/19/16)(AP, 6/20/16)
2016 Jun 19, In Japan tens of thousands of people on the island of Okinawa protested against the presence of US military bases there, many wearing black to mourn the rape and killing of a local woman in which an American contractor is a suspect.
(AP, 6/19/16)
2016 Jun 19, In southern Mexico 8 people were killed, including journalist Elidio Ramos Zarate (45), and more than 100 injured when unknown gunmen opened fire during clashes between police and teachers in Asuncion Nochixtlan, Oaxaca state.
(AFP, 6/20/16)(Econ, 7/9/16, p.27)(SSFC, 5/21/17, p.E7)
2016 Jun 19, Russia said it had reached an agreement with the United States to improve coordination between their military operations in Syria, where they are backing opposing sides of a civil war and launching air strikes.
(Reuters, 6/19/16)
2016 Jun 19, Syrian media reported that a government jet bomber crashed just after take-off from Hama airport after it encountered a technical problem.
(Reuters, 6/19/16)
2016 Jun 19, In Syria a suicide blast targeted the entrance to a park in Qamishli, which is shared between government and Kurdish forces, killing three people, an hour after a memorial was held there for victims of the 1915 Armenian genocide.
(AP, 6/19/16)
2016 Jun 19, In Turkey riot police in Istanbul fired rubber bullets and tear gas to prevent a "Trans Pride" event taking place during Ramadan.
(AFP, 6/20/16)
2016 Jun 20, The US Supreme Court effectively upheld Connecticut and New York state bans on military-style assault weapons, declining to hear a challenge to bans on guns like the one used to kill 49 people in Orlando earlier this month.
(AFP, 6/20/16)(SFC, 6/21/16, p.A6)
2016 Jun 20, In southern California two wildfires erupted near Duarte. On July 7 the bodies of hikers Jonathan Pardo (16) and cousin Carlos Perez (31) were found burned to death in the Angeles National Forest.
(SFC, 7/9/16, p.A11)
2016 Jun 20, Chicago reported 55 shot over the weekend, 13 fatally. The city counted 306 people killed this year by shooting, stabbing or other means.
(SFC, 6/21/16, p.A6)
2016 Jun 20, The Solar Impulse 2 aircraft took off from New York's JFK airport and soared over the western Atlantic, one of the most difficult legs of its record-breaking bid to fly across the globe using only solar energy.
(AFP, 6/20/16)
2016 Jun 20, In Afghanistan a Taliban suicide bomber killed 14 Nepalese security guards in an attack on their minibus in Kabul. A second Taliban bombing in Kabul killed a civilian and wounded five people. A bomb rigged to a motorbike killed 10 Afghan civilians during morning rush hour in a busy market in a province in the northeast.
(AP, 6/20/16)
2016 Jun 20, In Armenia Jirair Sefilian, a leader of the opposition group Founding Parliament, was arrested and charged with illegal acquisition and possession of weapons. Investigators said he and his supporters were planning to seize government buildings and the television transmission tower.
(AP, 7/17/16)
2016 Jun 20, Bahrain said it has revoked the citizenship of Sheikh Isa Qassim, the Sunni-ruled kingdom's top Shiite cleric, accusing him of sowing sectarian divisions. The move sparked fresh protests among the majority community.
(AFP, 6/20/16)
2016 Jun 20, Belgian police detained six people in connection with a foiled attack last August 21 on a high-speed train travelling from Amsterdam to Paris.
(AFP, 6/20/16)
2016 Jun 20, In Brazil Oi telecom operator made the largest bankruptcy in the country’s history. The company was $19 billion in debt.
(Econ, 6/25/16, p.59)
2016 Jun 20, China’s government said severe floods in the south have killed at least 22 people and left 20 missing June 18, with the rains expected to continue for the next three days. Three days of heavy rain last week had already killed 14 people.
(Reuters, 6/20/16)
2016 Jun 20, Croatian lawmakers voted to dissolve Parliament, paving the way for early elections after the government fell in a no-confidence vote last week.
(AP, 6/20/16)
2016 Jun 20, In Cyprus a large forest fire continued to rage out of control and so far has scorched 15 square km (5.8 sq. miles) of trees and countryside.
(AP, 6/20/16)
2016 Jun 20, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines agreed to designate a transit corridor for commercial vessels crossing a maritime zone hit by a spate of hijackings by Islamist militants in the southern Philippines.
(Reuters, 6/20/16)
2016 Jun 20, Iran's intelligence ministry said it had thwarted a major jihadist plot to carry out bomb attacks in the capital Tehran and other parts of the country.
(AFP, 6/20/16)
2016 Jun 20, In Iran the Ghanoon newspaper said in a statement on its website that Tehran's prosecutor ordered it to halt operations based on allegations of "libel and spreading lies to create public anxiety," following complaints from the Revolutionary Guard.
(AP, 6/20/16)
2016 Jun 20, An Iraqi military commander said his forces are battling Islamic State militants in the northern neighborhoods of Fallujah days after most of the city was declared liberated.
(AP, 6/20/16)
2016 Jun 20, Kenya Forest Service rangers and police began a 2-day eviction of more than 200 families of Ogiek hunter gatherers on the wooded slopes of Mt. Elgon. The indigenous people have suffered repeated expulsions since being moved by the British colonial government in the 1930s.
(http://tinyurl.com/zz37v4q)(Econ, 7/16/16, p.37)
2016 Jun 20, Nepalese police said they have arrested 53 people for allegedly working as doctors with fake credentials or false education certificates and that more suspects would be arrested this week as part of "Operation Quack." Another 17 had been arrested in February when authorities began the investigation.
(AP, 6/20/16)
2016 Jun 20, The Nigerian naira depreciated 30% as the government allowed the currency to float, with business welcoming the move as an overdue step towards reviving Africa's biggest economy. The central bank released the naira from its peg of 197-199 to the dollar.
(AFP, 6/20/16)(Econ, 7/9/16, p.62)(Econ, 3/4/17, p.35)
2016 Jun 20, Al Fatihin, an online newspaper published in the Indonesian language and linked to the Islamic State militant group, was launched in the southern Philippines. It was soon distributed in Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and southern Thailand.
(Reuters, 7/22/16)
2016 Jun 20, Russian investigators announced they had completed a first probe into the February 27, 2015, murder of Kremlin critic Boris Nemtsov, describing the killing as a hit ordered by a low-ranking Chechen official and other "unidentified" suspects. Five suspects currently in detention had been reportedly offered 15 million rubles (about $235,000) for the murder by Ruslan Mukhudinov and other individuals.
(AFP, 6/20/16)
2016 Jun 20, A Serbian court sentenced Miroslav Miskovic (70), one of the richest businessmen in the Balkans, for helping his son evade paying about $3.4 million in taxes linked to his road construction business.
(SFC, 6/21/16, p.A2)
2016 Jun 20, Somalia's al Shabaab militants killed 5 police officers in a border region in northeastern Kenya.
(Reuters, 6/20/16)
2016 Jun 20, The UN said the number of refugees and others fleeing their homes worldwide has hit a new record, spiking to 65.3 million people by the end of 2015.
(AP, 6/20/16)
2016 Jun 20, In Yemen an air strike by the Saudi-led military coalition reportedly killed and wounded 8 civilians in Lahj province.
(Reuters, 6/21/16)
2016 Jun 21, The US FAA announced new aviation rules designed for drones weighing less than 55 pounds. The new rules allow commercial operators to fly drones without special permission. A set of rules known as “part 107" were issued in August.
(SFC, 6/22/16, p.A8)(Econ 6/10/17, TQ p.4)
2016 Jun 21, Pacific Gas & Electric Co. announced it will close California’s last nuclear plant, Diablo Canyon near San Luis Obispo, in 2025.
(SFC, 6/22/16, p.A1)
2016 Jun 21, A federal judge in Wyoming set aside new regulations for hydraulic fracturing on public lands that were vehemently opposed by oil and gas producers.
(Reuters, 6/22/16)
2016 Jun 21, In Afghanistan the Taliban ambushed a series of buses and cars in southern Helmand province, forcing people out of the vehicles and abducting around 60 passengers. The insurgents later said they released all but 27 of those abducted.
(AP, 6/21/16)
2016 Jun 21, A rescue plane from a British base on the Antarctic peninsula landed at the South Pole to evacuate sick workers from the remote US Amundson-Scott science station. The two sick workers were transported to Chile.
(AP, 6/22/16)(SFC, 6/23/16, p.A3)
2016 Jun 21, Central African Republic police said 16 people have been killed in two days of clashes between Fulani herdsmen and the mainly Muslim Seleka militia.
(AFP, 6/21/16)
2016 Jun 21, In southern China Yulin city went ahead with an annual dog-meat eating festival despite heavy criticism and protests from animal rights activists.
(AP, 6/21/16)
2016 Jun 21, In Cyprus 2 firefighters were killed and a third was critically injured in the foothills of the Troodos mountain region while tackling one of the largest forest fires in Cyprus in years.
(Reuters, 6/21/16)
2016 Jun 21, An Egyptian court rejected a border agreement that would have transferred two Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia, and which had sparked street protests in Cairo. The government has 10 days in which to apply for an injunction against the ruling and 60 days to appeal it.
(AP, 6/21/16)
2016 Jun 21, The European Union's Brussels envoys agreed to extend until the end of January the energy, financial and defense sanctions on Russia over the conflict in Ukraine, but formal approval is still pending.
(Reuters, 6/21/16)
2016 Jun 21, India's PM Narendra Modi joined a crowd of 30,000 schoolchildren and other residents of the northern city of Chandigarh for a mass yoga session as millions of people twisted their bodies in complex positions in celebration of International Yoga Day.
(AP, 6/21/16)
2016 Jun 21, In Japan Tokyo Electric Power Co. President Naomi Hirose acknowledged that TEPCO’s delayed disclosure of the meltdowns at three reactors was tantamount to a cover-up and apologized for it.
(AP, 6/21/16)
2016 Jun 21, Israeli troops shot dead Mahmoud Rafat Badran (15), a Palestinian teenager, and wounded four others as they returned from a swimming pool after apparently mistaking them for stone-throwers, sparking outrage and drawing renewed attention to open fire rules.
(AFP, 6/21/16)
2016 Jun 21, A car bomb exploded on the Syrian-Jordanian border early today, killing seven Jordanian border guards. The blast went off close to a makeshift tent encampment where more than 70,000 Syrian refugees are stranded, awaiting entry to Jordan. Soon after Jordan's army chief of staff announced that the country's northern and northeastern borders with Syria were closed military zones.
(AP, 6/21/16)(Reuters, 6/21/16)(Econ, 7/23/16, p.37)
2016 Jun 21, In Libya fierce clashes between pro-government militiamen and Islamic State militants in the city of Sirte and an explosion at a depot near the capital, Tripoli, left more than 60 dead.
(AP, 6/22/16)
2016 Jun 21, In Malaysia Bill Kayong (43), an indigenous land rights defende, was murdered in the city of Miri, Sarawak state. On Juy 15 two men were charged with the murder and abetting in the murder of Kayong.
(www.malaysiakini.com/news/348669)(AP, 7/15/16)
2016 Jun 21, At The Hague the International Criminal Court handed down its toughest sentence yet, ordering former Congolese vice president Jean-Pierre Bemba to serve 18 years in jail for "sadistic, cruel" rapes and murders by his troops in Central African Republic.
(AFP, 6/21/16)
2016 Jun 21, Nigeria said it has agreed a one-month ceasefire with militants behind recent attacks on oil facilities in its southern Niger Delta, as efforts continue to end the unrest that has pushed crude output to 30-year lows.
(Reuters, 6/21/16)
2016 Jun 21, A Polish court convicted and handed a suspended prison term to Gen. Pawel Bielawny, a former deputy head of government security, over the 2010 plane crash that killed President Lech Kaczynski and 95 others.
(AP, 6/21/16)
2016 Jun 21, South African rioters blocked roads, looted shops and burned vehicles in several areas of the country's capital, Pretoria, in a show of anger over the selection of the ruling party's mayoral candidate ahead of local elections. Police shot dead two people suspected of looting shops in Pretoria.
(AP, 6/21/16)(Reuters, 6/22/16)
2016 Jun 21, In Serbia a bus carrying Slovak tourists swerved off the road, killing 5 people and injuring 23.
(AP, 6/21/16)
2016 Jun 21, Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said government forces have lost all the territory they gained in Raqqa province since launching their offensive on June 2. It also said 40 troops were killed over the past two days, raising to 93 the number of troops killed since the offensive began. It added that 126 IS militants have been killed in the area so far, including 21 since June 19.
(AP, 6/21/16)
2016 Jun 21, In Syria warplanes bombed the Islamic State group's de facto capital Raqa, killing at least 18 civilians, after the jihadists drove pro-government forces out of their bastion northern province.
(AFP, 6/22/16)(SFC, 6/23/16, p.A4)
2016 Jun 21, In Yemen a Saudi-led military coalition said it intercepted a missile fired toward Marib.
(Reuters, 6/21/16)
2016 Jun 22, Pres. Obama signed a major overhaul of toxic chemicals rules rewriting the 1976 Toxic Substances Control Act.
(SFC, 6/23/16, p.A6)
2016 Jun 22, The US government said fraud sweeps across the country have led to charges against 300 people including doctors, nurses, physical therapists and home health care providers accused of bilking Medicare and Medicaid.
(SFC, 6/23/16, p.C2)
2016 Jun 22, The Pentagon said a Yemeni man who had been held at the US military prison at Guantanamo for 14 years has been transferred to Montenegro. The transfer of Abdel Malik Ahmed Abdel Wahab al-Rahabi (36) left 79 detainees remaining at the base. He was brought to Guantanamo in January 2002, accused of being a bodyguard for the late al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan.
(AP, 6/23/16)
2016 Jun 22, In San Francisco bicyclist Heather Miller (41) was killed in a hit-and-run in Golden Gate Park. A male driver fled the scene in a white Honda, that that been stolen. On July 15 police announced the arrest of Nicky Garcia (19).
(SSFC, 7/17/16, p.C2)
2016 Jun 22, Twilio, a San Francisco company that makes mobile and Web applications, raised $150 million in an initial public offering of 10 million shares at $15 each. Trading under the symbol TWLO began the next day.
(SFC, 6/23/16, p.C2)
2016 Jun 22, In Louisiana a pedestrian shot and killed sheriff’s deputy David F. Michel Jr. after being stopped by the officer in a New Orleans suburb. One suspect was in custody.
(SFC, 6/23/16, p.A5)
2016 Jun 22, In Afghanistan a roadside bombing in the country's east killed a traffic policeman and a civilian in Jalalabad, Nangarhar province.
(AP, 6/22/16)
2016 Jun 22, US, European and Chinese regulators in Beijing said they will jointly enforce product safety in online commerce.
(AP, 6/22/16)
2016 Jun 22, Cameroon’s parliament voted to change the country’s penal code to criminalize adultery for men. The Senate and Pres. Paul Biya, who proposed the revision, were expected to endorse the change.
(SFC, 6/23/16, p.A3)
2016 Jun 22, In China a six-nation security forum opened in Beijing as a multilateral forum involving high-level policymakers, defense ministry officials, military officers, and researchers from China, Japan, North and South Korea, Russia, and the United States.
(AP, 6/22/16)
2016 Jun 22, The Chinese fishing village of Wukan staged a fourth straight day of protests against what residents say was the unlawful arrest of the village chief. The village of 15,000 once again united to march for the release of Lin Zuluan.
(Reuters, 6/22/16)
2016 Jun 22, The Colombian government and leftist FARC rebels announced that they have reached a deal on a bilateral cease-fire that would be the last major step toward ending one of the world's longest wars.
(AP, 6/22/16)
2016 Jun 22, A Danish court convicted Hamza Cakan (24) a pizzeria owner, of joining Islamic State militants in Syria, dismissing his claims that he had gone there to work as a cook. He faced a maximum seven years in prison.
(AP, 6/22/16)
2016 Jun 22, The European Union agreed to set up a new border and coast guard agency to better manage migrant arrivals after more than a million people came to the EU in search of jobs or sanctuary last year.
(AP, 6/22/16)
2016 Jun 22, Hong Kong flag carrier Cathay Pacific said it will ban carrying shark fin on all its flights, a victory for conservationists concerned for endangered species of the predator.
(AFP, 6/22/16)
2016 Jun 22, Indian officials said lightning has killed 74 people, mostly farm laborers working in fields, across eastern and northern India over the past 24 hours.
(AP, 6/22/16)
2016 Jun 22, In southern Iran a road accident in killed 19 people when a bus plunged into a ravine near Shiraz.
(AP, 6/22/16)
2016 Jun 22, Iraqi forces hunted jihadist fighters in their last Fallujah redoubts as tens of thousands of displaced civilians massed in overcrowded camps around the city.
(AFP, 6/22/16)
2016 Jun 22, Italy's highest court confirmed a lower-court decision making it easier for gays to adopt a partner's biological child but the decision did not give long-sought automatic recognition to the families of same-sex couples.
(AP, 6/22/16)
2016 Jun 22, Moldova's foreign ministry called on Russia to stop recruiting its citizens to the Russian Army. It said the alleged recruitments violate bilateral agreements.
(AP, 6/22/16)
2016 Jun 22, It was reported that the Dutch Ocean Cleanup Foundation has developed floating barriers to try to collect trash from the world's oceans, and will launch a 100 meter-long prototype in the North Sea this week to see how it fares during storms. Chief Executive Boyan Slat (21) first had the idea for the system as a teenager.
(Reuters, 6/22/16)
2016 Jun 22, In Nigeria gunmen kidnapped a group of construction workers in an ambush that killed their driver. All seven were on assignment for Australian mining contractor Macmahon Holdings.
(SFC, 6/23/16, p.A2)
2016 Jun 22, North Korea took a significant step in the development of a powerful ballistic missile intended to reach US bases in the Pacific, launching one of the weapons about 1,000 km (620 miles) high after five failed attempts in recent months.
(AP, 6/22/16)
2016 Jun 22, Norway said it might send troops into Syria, including special forces after parliament authorized it to do so.
(Reuters, 6/22/16)
2016 Jun 22, In Pakistan gunmen killed famous Sufi singer Amjad Sabri in the southern port city of Karachi. Islamic extremists reject Sufi traditions and have targeted Sufis in past attacks.
(AP, 6/22/16)(Econ, 7/2/16, p.82)
2016 Jun 22, Romania's parliament said lawmakers can't be prosecuted for hiring close relatives to work in their offices before it became illegal to do so. A law that came into effect in 2013, made it illegal for lawmakers to employ close relatives to work in their parliamentary offices.
(AP, 6/22/16)
2016 Jun 22, In South Africa rioting continued on the outskirts of Pretoria as looters targeted shops in neighborhoods belonging to immigrants.
(SFC, 6/23/16, p.A2)
2016 Jun 22, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad named electricity minister Imad Khamis (54) as the new prime minister and tasked him with forming a cabinet.
(AFP, 6/22/16)
2016 Jun 22, The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Paris Accord panel was awarded Spain's Princess of Asturias award for international cooperation.
(AP, 6/22/16)
2016 Jun 22, Zambia’s tax authorities shut down the Post, the country’s biggest independent media organization. A week later editor Fred M’Membe was arrested and beaten.
(Econ, 7/16/16, p.39)
2016 Jun 23, In southern California two fires in the Angeles National Forest and foothill communities were 15% contained after burning more than 8 square miles over the last four days.
(SFC, 6/23/16, p.A5)
2016 Jun 23, In central California the Erskine Fire broke out in the foothills of Kern County about 42 miles (68 km) northeast of Bakersfield. By July 26 it charred some 68 square miles, destroyed 200 homes and killed 2 people.
(Reuters, 6/25/16)(SFC, 6/27/16, p.A4)
2016 Jun 23, In southern California as much as 29,400 gallons of oil spilled from a pipeline operated by Crimson Pipeline LLC and flowed down a ravine.
(SFC, 6/23/16, p.A5)
2016 Jun 23, It was reported that Walt Disney Co has had more than 240 "nuisance" alligators captured and killed over the last 10 years at its Florida theme park property.
(Reuters, 6/23/16)
2016 Jun 23, In Maryland police officer Caesar Goodson was acquitted of 2nd degree murder and six lesser charges in the case of Freddie Gray, who died on April 19, 2015, from injuries suffered while shackled in a Baltimore police van.
(SFC, 6/23/16, p.A5)
2016 Jun 23, Ralph Stanley (b.1927), a patriarch of bluegrass music, died in Matoaca, Virginia. He and his brother had formed the Stanley Brothers and their Clinch Mountain Boys in 1946.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph_Stanley)(SFC, 6/23/16, p.A8)
2016 Jun 23, West Virginia Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin issued a state of emergency for 44 counties in his state. By the next day the deluge of rain destroyed or damaged more than 100 homes and killed at least 23 people.
(SFC, 6/25/16, p.A5)
2016 Jun 23, American writer Michael Herr (76) died. His work included the classic non-fiction novel “Dispatches," which documented the ravages of the Vietnam War.
(SSFC, 6/26/16, p.C10)
2016 Jun 23, The World Health Organization (WHO) said if will carry out emergency yellow fever vaccination campaigns along the border between Angola and Congo. Since last December there were 347 suspected deaths from yellow fever in Angola and 75 deaths in Congo.
(SFC, 6/23/16, p.A2)
2016 Jun 23, In Bahrain hundreds of people continued protesting outside the home of Shiite Sheikh Isa Qassim's home in Diraz, a mark of growing unrest sparked by the government's new crackdown on opposition groups.
(AP, 6/23/16)
2016 Jun 23, Britons voted to exit the European Union. Scotland voted decisively to stay in the EU by 62 to 38 percent in the referendum, putting it at odds with the United Kingdom as a whole, which voted 52-48 percent in favor of an exit from the EU, or Brexit. 17.4 million people voted to leave.
(Reuters, 6/23/16)(Reuters, 6/24/16)(Econ, 7/2/16, p.14)
2016 Jun 23, It was reported that schools across China have been ordered to remove running tracks made from toxic materials that have been blamed for sickening students, in the latest in a long line of product scandals blamed on corruption and weak oversight.
(AP, 6/23/16)
2016 Jun 23, In eastern China a violent storm and freak tornado killed 98 people and injured hundreds as it flattened power lines, overturned cars and ripped roofs off houses in Yancheng, Jiangsu province.
(Reuters, 6/24/16)(AP, 7/1/16)
2016 Jun 23, In Cuba FARC leader Timoleón Jiménez signed a cease-fire pact with Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos, seen as a final step before sealing a permanent peace and disarmament deal in coming months.
(CSM, 6/25/16)
2016 Jun 23, Cyprus finally brought a massive wildfire under control after a five-day battle that saw two firefighters killed and five foreign governments send aircraft to help. The blaze destroyed at least 15 square km (six square miles) of orchards and forest in the Solea valley in the northern foothills of the Troodos mountains.
(AFP, 6/23/16)
2016 Jun 23, In Cyprus 4 people were killed in a shootout outside a packed restaurant in the resort of Ayia Napa that had the hallmarks of a gangland vendetta.
(AFP, 6/24/16)
2016 Jun 23, Egyptian hijacker Seif Eddin Mustafa told a Cypriot court that he hijacked the domestic EgyptAir flight in March intending to seek asylum in Italy in order to "point the finger" at the Egyptian military regime. Mustafa claimed he saw Giulio Regeni being interrogated in a Cairo prison.
(AP, 6/23/16)
2016 Jun 23, Hundreds of Eritrean refugees and dissidents in Ethiopia demonstrated against alleged human rights abuses committed by their government back home, expressing support for a new UN commission report that accuses the government of crimes against humanity, including enslavement, rape and torture, over the past 25 years.
(AP, 6/23/16)
2016 Jun 23, In France tens of thousands of people marched in Paris to protest planned labor reforms, gathering for a demonstration that authorities had initially considered banning due to the violence that has accompanied similar recent events. Police arrested around 100 protesters.
(AP, 6/23/16)(AFP, 6/23/16)
2016 Jun 23, A French court ordered the extradition of US rapper Freddie Gibbs (34) to Austria, where he is accused of rape.
(AFP, 6/23/16)
2016 Jun 23, In Germany a masked man (19) was shot dead after taking 18 hostages in a movie theater in Viernheim and firing blank rounds into the air. He was found armed only with a harmless replica rifle, a pistol and dummy grenades.
(AP, 6/24/16)
2016 Jun 23, Gibraltar citizens voted 19,322 to 823 to remain in the EU, a margin of 96%.
(Econ, 7/2/16, p.50)(Econ, 7/16/16, p.43)
2016 Jun 23, Iraqi forces focused on removing roadside bombs and booby traps after having retaken more than 80 percent of Fallujah from the Islamic State group.
(AFP, 6/23/16)
2016 Jun 23, In Italy Virginia Raggi, Rome's first female mayor, took office pledging to raise more than a billion euros a year for flagging public services with a crackdown on waste, mismanagement and corruption.
(AFP, 6/23/16)
2016 Jun 23, In Kenya human rights lawyer Willy Kimani, his client Josphat Mwenda and taxi driver Joseph Muiruri were abducted while coming from court where Mwenda had been charged with possession of narcotics. Mwenda, a motorcycle taxi driver, had been shot by a plainclothes police officer on April 10, 2015, without provocation. Rights groups later said that in an attempt to cover up the shooting an officer charged Mwenda with drug possession.
(AP, 6/29/16)
2016 Jun 23, Northern Ireland citizens voted to remain in the EU by a margin of 56%. The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) under leader Arlene Foster supported Brexit.
(Econ, 7/2/16, p.50)(Econ, 3/11/17, p.57)
2016 Jun 23, A Romanian court sentenced Dumitru Dragomir, the former chairman of the Romanian Professional Football League, to seven years in prison for tax evasion, embezzlement, and money laundering.
(AP, 6/23/16)
2016 Jun 23, The Solar Impulse 2 landed in Spain after completing a 71-hour flight from New York in the first "magical" solo transatlantic crossing in a solar-powered airplane.
(AFP, 6/23/16)
2016 Jun 23, In Syria US-backed forces fought Islamic State militants inside Manbij for the first time since they laid siege to the militant stronghold near the Turkish border.
(Reuters, 6/23/16)
2016 Jun 23, The Yemeni government said that Shiite rebels must withdraw from all territory they have seized since 2014 and hand back control of state institutions ahead of any political settlement. Iran-allied Houthi fighters shot dead seven farmers while searching for the leader of a pro-government militia.
(AFP, 6/23/16)(Reuters, 6/23/16)
2016 Jun 24, Pres. Obama created the first national monument to gay rights designating the site of the 1969 Stonewall riots in Manhattan as Stonewall National Monument anchored by Christopher Park across from the Stonewall Inn tavern.
(SFC, 6/25/16, p.A5)
2016 Jun 24, P-Fund keyboardist Bernie Worrell, aka “Wizard of Woo," died at his home in Everson, Wa. His keyboard sounds helped shape the Parliament-Funkadelic musical empire of the 1970s and 1980s.
(SSFC, 6/26/16, p.C10)
2016 Jun 24, In Afghanistan fighting began late today in the Kot area of the Rodat district in eastern Nangarhar province after a contingent of IS fighters attacked police check posts.
(AFP, 6/26/16)
2016 Jun 24, Brazil’s acting Pres. Michel Temer renewed a bilateral automotive arrangement with Argentina for four years.
(Econ, 7/2/16, p.29)
2016 Jun 24, Britain’s PM David Cameron said he would resign to make way for a new leader by early October after voters opted to exit the 28-nation alliance in defiance of his predictions of economic disaster and isolation.
(AFP, 6/24/16)
2016 Jun 24, Cambodia deported 39 suspected criminals to mainland China, including 25 Taiwanese whom Beijing insists it has jurisdiction over despite protests from Taipei.
(AP, 6/24/16)
2016 Jun 24, EU chairman Donald Tusk said European Union leaders are determined to keep the unity of the EU after Britain voted to leave the 28-nation bloc, noting the EU had been prepared for such an outcome. Britain's vote to leave the EU fired up populist eurosceptic parties across the continent, giving fresh voice to their calls to leave the bloc or its euro currency. Global financial markets plunged as results from the referendum defied bookmakers' odds to show a 52-48 percent victory for the leave campaign.
(Reuters, 6/24/16)(AP, 6/24/16)
2016 Jun 24, Germany imposed limits on fracking, dealing a blow to efforts to develop shale gas. Under legislation passed by its lower house of parliament, fracking will be banned in clay formations, which typically lie between 1,000 and 2,500 meters deep.
(Reuters, 6/24/16)
2016 Jun 24, Iranian security forces clashed with Kurdish separatists who infiltrated a northwestern village to stage "terrorist and propagandist operations." Later reports said 5 armed rebels linked to counter-revolutionary groups were killed.
(AP, 6/25/16)(AFP, 6/26/16)
2016 Jun 24, Israeli soldiers shot and killed a Palestinian woman who rammed a vehicle into a parked car near an Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank, injuring two people sitting inside.
(AP, 6/24/16)
2016 Jun 24, In Libya a car bomb detonated outside a hospital in Benghazi late today killing 5 people and wounding fourteen.
(SSFC, 6/26/16, p.A5)
2016 Jun 24, Moldovan businessman and mayor Ilan Shor was arrested on suspicion of money laundering connected to the disappearance of $1 billion from three Moldovan banks in 2014.
(AP, 6/27/16)
2016 Jun 24, Geert Wilders, the leader of the Dutch anti-immigrant PVV party, said the Netherlands should hold its own referendum on whether to leave the European Union following Britain's vote in favor of exiting the bloc.
(Reuters, 6/24/16)
2016 Jun 24, The Russian parliament adopted a set of controversial counter-terrorism amendments which have sparked alarm among rights activists. The amendments included introducing prison sentences for failure to report a grave crime and doubling the number of crimes that Russians as young as 14 years old can be prosecuted.
(AP, 6/24/16)
2016 Jun 24, In Russia Nikita Belykh, the liberal minded governor of the Kirovsk region, was arrested. He was accused of receiving a $445,000 bribe and faced 15 years in jail. Belykh claims he was set up. The next day a Russian court ordered that Nikita Belykh be taken into custody for two months.
(Reuters, 6/25/16)(Econ, 7/2/16, p.46)
2016 Jun 24, In Saudi Arabia a police officer working on a traffic patrol was shot dead in the kingdom's predominantly Shiite east.
(AP, 6/24/16)
2016 Jun 24, Spain said it will seek to jointly govern Gibraltar with Britain following the British vote to leave the European Union.
(Reuters, 6/24/16)
2016 Jun 24, Sri Lankan lawmakers unanimously approved a law giving citizens the right to demand public information, a move many hope will restore transparency and good governance to a nation long plagued by corruption and misrule.
(AP, 6/24/16)
2016 Jun 24, Uganda's military chief said the country plans to withdraw its more than 6,000 troops from the African Union force in Somalia by December 2017. The Ugandans are the largest troop contingent in the AU force trying to protect the Somali government from the extremist group al-Shabab.
(AP, 6/24/16)
2016 Jun 24, Pope Francis set off for a three-day visit to Armenia, just over a year after he enraged Turkey by using the term genocide to describe the mass killings of Armenians under the Ottoman Empire.
(AFP, 6/24/16)
2016 Jun 25, President Barack Obama declared a major disaster in West Virginia.
(AFP, 6/26/16)
2016 Jun 25, In Afghanistan the US military carried out its first air strikes against Taliban targets under the newly approved rules, which mean US troops can now work more closely with local fighters in striking the Taliban.
(AFP, 6/26/16)
2016 Jun 25, In Armenia Pope Francis issued a rallying cry to protect memory at the genocide memorial in Yerevan, on day two of his trip there.
(AFP, 6/25/16)
2016 Jun 25, The Chinese government said it had stopped a communication mechanism with Taiwan because of the refusal of the self-ruled island's new government to recognize the "one China" principle, in the latest show of tension between the two.
(Reuters, 6/25/16)
2016 Jun 25, The six founding members of the European Union sent a clear message to Britain to leave the bloc as soon as possible after Britons voted to quit in the biggest blow to the project since World War Two.
(Reuters, 6/25/16)
2016 Jun 25, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said in a statement that VP Valdis Dombrovskis, a former PM of Latvia, will take over the EU's financial services portfolio, following the resignation of Britain's Jonathan Hill.
(Reuters, 6/25/16)
2016 Jun 25, In southern France 2 men were killed with a Kalashnikov assault rifle and a 14-year-old girl seriously wounded in a shooting early today in Marseille, which is known for its high crime levels.
(AFP, 6/25/16)
2016 Jun 25, Iceland voted in a presidential election expected to see newcomer Gudni Johannesson waltz to victory with voters angry at the establishment. History professor Gudni Johannesson won the election after riding a wave of anti-establishment sentiment. Johannesson has never held public office and has no party affiliation, as he celebrated his 48th birthday on June 26.
(AFP, 6/25/16)(AP, 6/26/16)
2016 Jun 25, In the Indian portion of Kashmir four suspected rebels killed at least 8 Indian paramilitary soldiers and wounded another 20 in an ambush of their convoy on a highway. Two of the attackers were killed and two escaped.
(AP, 6/25/16)(SSFC, 6/26/16, p.A5)
2016 Jun 25, In Iraq a US airstrike in Mosul killed the Islamic State's deputy war minister, Basim Muhammad Ahmad Sultan al-Bajari, and a military commander named Hatim Talib al-Hamduni.
(AP, 7/2/16)
2016 Jun 25, A Kurdish official and opposition activists said hundreds of Kurds fleeing villages controlled by the Islamic State group in northern Syria have come under fire that killed and wounded several of them, amid mass abductions by the extremist group. Over the past three weeks some 900 Kurdish civilians have been abducted in Aleppo province. At least 26 were reported killed for refusing to follow Islamic State orders.
(AP, 6/25/16)(SFC, 6/25/16, p.A2)
2016 Jun 25, In central Mali 14 people were killed in a clash over land between residents of two villages in Djenne, in the Mopti region.
(AP, 6/26/16)
2016 Jun 25, Myanmar soldiers rounded up dozens of men in the remote village of Mong Yaw, Shan state, an area riven by a long-running ethnic insurgency. They led five men away and a few days later the bodies of the five were found in a shallow grave. On July 20 the military promised to prosecute the perpetrators.
(Reuters, 7/20/16)
2016 Jun 25, In Papua New Guinea a student was killed and several buildings torched in violence at the Papua New Guinea University of Technology campus in Lae.
(AFP, 6/26/16)
2016 Jun 25, Slovakia's far right People's Party launched a petition for a referendum on the country's EU membership, the latest state to see a challenge following Britain's vote to leave the bloc.
(Reuters, 6/25/16)
2016 Jun 25, Somalia's al Shabaab Islamist group launched a suicide bomb attack on the Nasa-Hablod Hotel in the center of Mogadishu before militant fighters stormed the building. A junior minister was among 15 people killed in the attack. 4 attackers died in the assault.
(Reuters, 6/25/16)(AFP, 6/26/16)(SFC, 6/27/16, p.A2)
2016 Jun 25, In South Sudan at least 43 people were killed in two days of fighting between armed groups and government forces around the northwest South Sudanese town of Wau. A church official later said he had seen 50 bodies at a mortuary in Wau.
(Reuters, 6/28/16)(AP, 6/29/16)
2016 Jun 25, Syrian and Russian warplanes pounded rebel-held areas of divided city Aleppo as government forces closed in on the rebels' sole remaining supply line.
(AfP, 6/25/16)
2016 Jun 25, The Thai air force lost contact with a helicopter and three crewmen during heavy rains while on a mission to resupply a radar station in Chanthaburi province. Searchers on June 28 found wreckage of the helicopter and the bodies of the crewmen.
(AP, 6/26/16)(AP, 6/28/16)
2016 Jun 25, Yemen’s former Pres. Ali Abdullah Saleh said he would not recognize Pres. Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi's government and that he had presented an initiative to solve Yemen's crisis to both parties to the peace talks taking place in Kuwait.
(AP, 6/26/16)
2016 Jun 26, In Colorado an Amtrak train collided with a van outside Trinidad killing 5 people after the van failed to yield right of way to the train.
(SFC, 6/27/16, p.A4)
2016 Jun 26, Afghan officials said heavy fighting between government forces and Islamic State fighters has killed dozens of people in Nangarhar province, raising fears the militant group is staging a comeback months after Kabul said they had been defeated.
(AP, 6/26/16)
2016 Jun 26, A lawyer for Bahraini human rights activist Nabeel Rajab said Rajab will face trial in July for tweets condemning the Gulf Arab kingdom's prison system and its involvement in the war in Yemen. Rajab was arrested earlier this month on unspecified charges.
(Reuters, 6/26/16)
2016 Jun 26, Eight members of Britain's opposition Labour party said they had withdrawn support for the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn, plunging the party into crisis in the wake of Britain's vote to leave the European Union.
(Reuters, 6/26/16)
2016 Jun 26, China recovered an experimental probe launched aboard a new generation rocket, marking another milestone in its increasingly ambitious space program that envisions a mission to Mars by the end of the decade.
(AP, 6/26/16)
2016 Jun 26, In central China at least 35 people, including two children, died after a tour bus crashed and caught fire in Hunan province.
(AP, 6/26/16)
2016 Jun 26, A senior Iraqi commander said the city of Fallujah was "fully liberated" from Islamic State militants, after a more than monthlong military operation.
(AP, 6/26/16)
2016 Jun 26, Ernesto Fazzalari (46), Italy's second most sought-after fugitive, was captured as he slept in his bed in a hideout in the Calabrian mountains after 20 years on the run. Prosecutor Federico Cafiero De Raho described Fazzalari as "a merciless killer" and a protagonist of the 1991-1992 turf feud between 'ndrangheta clans that bloodied the Taurianova town area.
(AP, 6/26/16)(SFC, 6/27/16, p.A2)
2016 Jun 26, In Madagascar a grenade exploded in the Mahamasina stadium, killing two people and injuring more than 80 as the country marked its 1960 independence from France. Authorities describe it as a terrorist attack.
(AP, 6/27/16)
2016 Jun 26, Mexican authorities said they have arrested three members of a drug gang in connection with last week's slaying of three federal police officers in Chilapa, Guerrero state.
(AP, 6/27/16)
2016 Jun 26, In Morocco about 30 people forced their way into Spain's North African enclave of Melilla, one of few successful attempts to storm the border so far this year following increased patrols and security.
(Reuters, 6/26/16)
2016 Jun 26, Pakistani counter-terrorist police raided a building in Lahore and arrested three men affiliated with Islamic State who were planning to attack government buildings.
(Reuters, 6/27/16)
2016 Jun 26, Panama formally inaugurated the newly expanded locks of the Panama Canal. The $5.25 billion project was initially scheduled for completion in October 2014, but was delayed by slow approvals for concrete to use in the locks, labor strikes and leaks detected late last year.
(AP, 6/26/16)
2016 Jun 26, Spaniards headed to the polls for an unprecedented repeat election that aimed to break six months of political deadlock after a December ballot left the country without an elected government. Caretaker PM Mariano Rajoy’s center-right People's Party (PP) was the only one to make gains in another hung parliament as voters flocked back to mainstream parties and abandoned newcomers that did well in December. The PP won 33% of the vote and wound up with 137 seats, up from 123 in December. But 176 are required for a majority to govern alone.
(AP, 6/26/16) (Reuters, 6/27/16)(Econ, 7/2/16, p.5)
2016 Jun 26, The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 82 people including 58 civilians were killed in Russian and regime air strikes on an Islamic State group-held region of Al-Quriyah, southeast of Deir Ezzor city.
(AFP, 6/26/16)
2016 Jun 26, Talks between Turkey and Israel to normalize relations advanced in talks as officials said a deal had been reached to end a rift dating back to 2010.
(Reuters, 6/27/16)
2016 Jun 26, Yemeni security and health officials said two days of fierce fighting between Shiite rebels and forces loyal to the internationally recognized government has killed at least 55 people from both sides.
(AP, 6/26/16)
2016 Jun 27, First Lady Michelle Obama landed in Liberia with her daughters and mother for an overseas trip promoting education for girls. The trip includes stops in Morocco and Spain.
(SFC, 6/28/16, p.A2)
2016 Jun 27, The US Supreme Court voted 5-3 to strike down Texas’s widely replicated rules that sharply reduced abortion clinics in the state.
(SFC, 6/28/16, p.A7)
2016 Jun 27, The US Supreme Court voted unanimously to overturn the bribery conviction of former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonald, sending the case back to lower courts to decide whether prosecutors have enough evidence to try McDonald again. The court voted to narrow the scope of a law that bars public officials from taking gifts in exchange for official action.
(SFC, 6/28/16, p.A4)
2016 Jun 27, California’s Gov. Jerry Brown singed a $122 billion budget plan that added $3.3 billion into the state’s rainy-day fund, bringing the reseve to $6.7 billion.
(SFC, 6/28/16, p.D1)
2016 Jun 27, In Oakland, Ca., the City Council voted unanimously to block the handling of and storage of coal effectively halting developer Phil Tagamio’s plans to export coal from a terminal near the east end of the Bay Bridge.
(SFC, 6/28/16, p.A1)
2016 Jun 27, In California ex-Los Angeles County Undersheriff Paul Tanaka was sentenced to five years in prison as part of a federal corruption investigation.
(SFC, 6/28/16, p.A4)
2016 Jun 27, Silicon Valley’s Y Combinator, a startup accelerator and investment firm, announced plans to eventually produce a prototype city with reduced housing costs and simplified law codes.
(SFC, 6/28/16, p.D1)
2016 Jun 27, Former Afghan warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar announced that a much-touted peace deal between his militant group and the Kabul government was effectively “dead." Hekmatyar called Afghanistan's government illegal and said he would not recognize it.
(AP, 6/27/16)
2016 Jun 27, Afghan officials said the Taliban have killed at least five people from a group of eight abducted earlier this month from a bus in northern Kunduz province.
(AP, 6/27/16)
2016 Jun 27, A wave of British lawmakers from the opposition Labour Party resigned in protest from leader Jeremy Corbyn's team, including his most senior business policy chief who said Corbyn was partly to blame for last week's vote to leave the EU.
(Reuters, 6/27/16)
2016 Jun 27, Bahrain's state news agency said a court has stripped five people linked to radical Shiite groups of their citizenship and ordered them jailed after convicting them on terrorism charges.
(AP, 6/27/16)
2016 Jun 27, Hundreds of Egyptian students protested in front of the Education Ministry in Cairo over the cancellation of some high school exams after the answers were leaked.
(AP, 6/27/16)
2016 Jun 27, Egypt banned prominent female activist Mozn Hassan from travelling to a human rights meeting in Beirut, the latest step in a crackdown on free speech and dissent.
(AP, 6/27/16)
2016 Jun 27, The Paris-based International Energy Agency (IEA) warned that each year about 6.5 million deaths worldwide are linked to air pollution, a number that could grow in coming decades unless the energy sector steps up its efforts to slash emissions.
(AP, 6/27/16)
2016 Jun 27, Georgia abolished conscription, becoming one of the first former Soviet republics no longer to require men to serve in the military.
(AP, 6/27/16)
2016 Jun 27, Hong Kong called for an end to local ivory trading within five years, a move activists hailed as significant given the financial hub's reputation as a wildlife trafficking blackspot, while calling for this ban to be speeded up.
(Reuters, 6/27/16)
2016 Jun 27, In Iraq a suicide bomber detonated explosives at a Sunni mosque in Abu Ghraib, killing at least 9 people and wounding at least 28.
(AFP, 6/28/16)
2016 Jun 27, Italian police, in a crackdown on the Lo Russo crime clan, arrested 24 suspects in an alleged extortion scheme targeting bread sales in grocery stores, supermarkets and street vendors.
(AP, 6/27/16)
2016 Jun 27, In northeastern Lebanon 8 suicide bombers detonated their explosives' vests in the predominantly Christian village of Qaa near the border with Syria, killing 5 people and wounding at least 15. Most of the bombers reportedly came over the border from Syria.
(AP, 6/27/16)(Reuters, 6/28/16)
2016 Jun 27, A Moldovan court sentenced former PM Vlad Filat (2009-2013) to nine years in prison on charges of taking bribes and influence trafficking. The sentence was connected to alleged bribes he gave businessman and mayor Ilan Shor. Filat was arrested last October in a separate case which has not gone to trial.
(AP, 6/27/16)
2016 Jun 27, NATO appointed the highest-ranking woman in its history, naming US Under Secretary of State Rose Gottemoeller as its next deputy secretary-general. She will take up her new position October 1.
(AP, 6/27/16)
2016 Jun 27, Palestinians and Israeli police clashed at Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque compound for a second day straight, with Islamic officials accusing Israeli authorities of breaking a tacit agreement on access during Ramadan.
(AFP, 6/27/16)
2016 Jun 27, Philippine president-elect Rodrigo Duterte said he would aggressively promote artificial birth control in the country even at the risk of getting in a fight with the dominant Catholic church, which staunchly opposes the use of contraceptives.
(AP, 6/27/16)
2016 Jun 27, Russia said Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has written to Russian leader Vladimir Putin to apologize over the shooting down of a Russian air force jet by Turkey's military last November.
(Reuters, 6/27/16)
2016 Jun 27, South Africa’s National Treasury said President Jacob Zuma should pay back $500,000 of public funds used to upgrade his private residence with facilities including a chicken coop and swimming pool.
(AFP, 6/27/16)
2016 Jun 27, Spanish caretaker PM Mariano Rajoy said he would reach out to rivals in a bid to quickly form a government after his conservative party strengthened its lead in elections, though still far short of a majority.
(Reuters, 6/27/16)
(AP, 6/27/16)
2016 Jun 27, Negotiators said Yemen's warring parties plan to suspend talks on ending more than a year of conflict after failing to reach a breakthrough. The two sides were drafting a joint statement to announce that they will return to talks mid-July, following the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Iftar.
(AP, 6/27/16)
2016 Jun 27, Zambian President Edgar Lungu defended the tax collection agency's decision to shut down a newspaper critical of the government, saying the revenue service did so to recoup unpaid taxes. The Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA) shut down the Post newspaper last week, demanding $6 million in unpaid taxes. Managing editor Joan Chirwa accused the ZRA of trying to silence it head of general elections in August, and claimed that the outstanding bill was in dispute.
(Reuters, 6/27/16)
2016 Jun 28, Massachusetts-based World Against Toys Causing Harm presented its annual report and cited toy guns, kiddie pools, hover boards and backyard trampolines in its annual list of hazardous summer toys.
(SFC, 6/29/16, p.A4)
2016 Jun 28, Guitarist Scotty Moore (84) died at his home in Nashville. He virtually created the rockabilly style and helped launch the career of Elvis Presley.
(SFC, 7/1/16, p.D3)
2016 Jun 28, In the Texas Panhandle three Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway workers were missing after two freight trains collided.
(SFC, 6/29/16, p.A4)
2016 Jun 28, Bosnian authorities said they have arrested Darko Jeremic, a key suspect in a banking scam in which nearly 140 million euros ($155.4 million) were embezzled through a now-defunct private bank. Ten other suspects have already been arrested for the Bobar Bank scam.
(AP, 6/28/16)
2016 Jun 28, British Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn lost a vote of no confidence among Labour MPs by a vote of 172-40.
(Econ, 7/2/16, p.49)
2016 Jun 28, British researchers reported a huge helium gas field in Tanzania amid a global shortage for the gas.
(SFC, 6/29/16, p.A2)
2016 Jun 28, China’s first locally produce regional jet made its debut flight carrying 70 passengers. The ARJ21 initiative was launched in 2002 and was scheduled to deliver its first plane in 2007, but that was pushed back due to technical problems.
(AP, 6/28/16)
2016 Jun 28, The Czech Constitutional court overturned a law that banned individual gays and lesbians living in registered partnership from adopting children.
(SFC, 6/29/16, p.A2)
2016 Jun 28, Denmark police arrested two men and three women at Copenhagen's airport for using forged passports. They carried dollars and euros worth a total of about 129,600 kroner ($19,300). Under new legislation police seized 79,600 kroner ($11,860). Each person was allowed to keep 10,000 kroner ($1,490).
(AP, 6/30/16)
2016 Jun 28, Lilian Daoud, a prominent dual British-Lebanese journalist who hosted a talk show critical of the government of Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, arrived in Beirut after authorities in Cairo briefly detained her and then deported her.
(AP, 6/28/16)
2016 Jun 28, European Union leaders began plotting a future without Britain, urging the island nation and economic powerhouse to disentangle itself as fast as possible from the other 27 nations in the bloc to avoid extending the turmoil that has been roiling European and global markets.
(AP, 6/28/16)
2016 Jun 28, It was reported that German automaker Volkswagen AG has agreed to pay more than $15.3 billion in a settlement with US regulators over pollution caused by its diesel vehicles.
(Reuters, 6/28/16)
2016 Jun 28, In India Isak Chishi Swu (87), a militant leader of the Naga tribal insurgency, died in New Delhi without being able to see his people reach a long-negotiated peace accord with the Indian government.
(AP, 6/28/16)
2016 Jun 28, Israeli police banned non-Muslims from a contentious Jerusalem holy site until the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan following two days of clashes with Palestinian rioters at the site.
(AP, 6/28/16)
2016 Jun 28, Lebanese troops detained 103 Syrians for illegal entry into the country in a security sweep, a day after a series of deadly bombings struck a village near the Syrian border.
(AP, 6/28/16)
2016 Jun 28, In Malaysia a grenade blast at a bar outside Kuala Lumpur injured eight people. Police later said this the first attack in the country by the Islamic State militant group, and that 15 people have been detained. On Aug 13 police said they have arrested nine militants, including two suspected of carrying out the grenade attack.
(AP, 7/4/16)(Reuters, 8/13/16)
2016 Jun 28, Mexican officials said supplies of gasoline, food and other goods were running out in the southern states of Chiapas and Oaxaca because protesting teachers have blockaded key highways.
(SFC, 6/30/16, p.A2)
2016 Jun 28, Amnesty International released a damning report saying Mexico's police and armed forces routinely torture and mistreat women, sometimes using sexual violence during arrest and interrogation.
(AFP, 6/28/16)
2016 Jun 28, A Myanmar court laid additional charges against Nyi Nyi Lwin (aka Gambira), a former monk and leader of the 2007 "Saffron Revolution" anti-junta uprising, accusing him of trespass and "mischief" committed four years ago. Lwin was arrested in January for illegally entering Myanmar from neighboring Thailand.
(Reuters, 6/28/16)
2016 Jun 28, A Dutch court ruled that Aydin Coban (38) can be extradited to Canada to face charges of using a computer to harass and blackmail teenager Amanda Todd. She committed suicide in October 2012, a month after releasing a widely-viewed YouTube video in which she detailed her suffering.
(Reuters, 6/28/16)
2016 Jun 28, In Pakistan militants ambushed a police patrol in Quetta, killing 4 officers.
(AP, 6/29/16)
2016 Jun 28, A Singapore court sentenced the founder of a website that published anti-foreign content to eight months in jail after he pleaded guilty to sedition. The court said Yang Kaiheng (27) had set up "The Real Singapore" website together with his Australian wife, Ai Takagi, and helped distribute accounts from visitors, some of which contained inaccuracies.
(AP, 6/28/16)
2016 Jun 28, Spanish investigators arrested 14 people in raids over suspected fraud relating to construction work linked to a high-speed rail connection between Madrid and Barcelona. The 621-km high speed train line cost around 9 billion euros.
(Reuters, 6/28/16)
2016 Jun 28, Sweden-based Ikea said it would recall its hugely popular Malm model of chest of drawers in North America after six children were crushed to death when the chests tipped over.
(AFP, 6/28/16)
2016 Jun 28, In Syria the US-led coalition carried out eight air strikes near Albu Kamal and five near Al-Qaim, on the Iraqi side. The New Syrian Army (NSA) advanced overnight on IS territory near the Albu Kamal border crossing and adjacent town, but IS recaptured it by the following afternoon.
(AFP, 6/29/16)
2016 Jun 28, Turkey and Israel signed a deal to restore ties after a six-year rift. Terms of the deal included the transfer of $20 million by Israel to a humanitarian fund that will compensate families of Turkish nationals killed and wounded during a 2010 raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla.
(Reuters, 6/28/16)(SSFC, 7/3/16, p.A6)
2016 Jun 28, A Turkish official said military rules of engagement have been adjusted to allow NATO allies to carry out more patrol flights along its border with northern Syria. NATO was told about the move around three weeks ago.
(Reuters, 6/28/16)
2016 Jun 28, In Turkey three suspect Islamic State suicide bombers killed 41 people with gunfire and explosives at the Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport. Turkish Airlines resumed services in and out of Europe's third-busiest airport within 12 hours. The death toll soon rose to 44 as some of the wounded died. The suicide bombers were later identified as Russian, Uzbek and Kyrgyz nationals.
(Reuters, 6/29/16)(AP, 6/30/16)(Reuters, 6/30/16)
2016 Jun 28, In Turkey a police officer was killed and seven people were wounded in the southeastern province of Diyarbakir when a bomb exploded as an armored police vehicle was passing.
(Reuters, 6/28/16)
2016 Jun 28, In southern Yemen an airstrike early by a Saudi-led coalition targeting Shiite rebels in Taiz province killed 25 people, including 15 fighters and 10 civilians.
(AP, 6/28/16)
2016 Jun 28, In Zambia Post editor Fred M’Membe claimed to have a court order declaring seizures of the newspaper to be illegal. He was arrested for trespass and using false documents.
(Econ, 7/16/16, p.39)
2016 Jun 28, Zimbabwe's wildlife authority said it has suspended its director general and is investigating the disappearance of 228 kg (500 pounds) of the agency's stored rhino horn. Edson Chidziya was put leave with full pay to facilitate the investigation.
(Reuters, 6/28/16)
2016 Jun 29, The US Senate passed a financial rescue package for Puerto Rico, two days before a $2 billion debt payment on the island’s $70 billion debt. Pres. Obama signed the measure on June 30.
(SFC, 6/30/16, p.A5)(SFC, 7/1/16, p.A6)
2016 Jun 29, The US said it has extended a $2.7-billion credit facility to Iraq for the purchase of military equipment amid the ongoing fight against the Islamic State group.
(AP, 6/29/16)
2016 Jun 29, Firefighters in central California contained 60% of the Erskine wildfire ranked as the biggest and deadliest of several blazes raging across the state in an early summer heat wave.
(Reuters, 6/29/16)
2016 Jun 29, In Vallejo, Ca., Elvira Babb (57) was kidnapped and held for ransom. On July 8 police arrested four suspects, but Babb remained missing.
(SSFC, 7/10/16, p.A16)
2016 Jun 29, The Univ. of Connecticut revoked an honorary degree awarded Bill Cosby saying he engaged in conduct incongruent with the university’s values.
(SFC, 6/30/16, p.A5)
2016 Jun 29, In Montana a grizzly bear attacked and killed mountain biker Brad Treat (38) at Glacier national Park.
(SFC, 6/30/16, p.A5)
2016 Jun 29, In Cameroon a young male suicide bomber belonging to Nigerian jihadist group Boko Haram killed at least 11 people when he blew himself up close to a mosque near the Nigerian border.
(Reuters, 6/30/16)
2016 Jun 29, In Canada Pres. Obama met with PM Trudeau and Mexico’s Pres. Enrique Pena Nieto for their annual North American Leaders’ Summit. All agreed to focus on closer economic ties.
(SFC, 6/30/16, p.A3)
2016 Jun 29, Xinhua News Agency reported that China has replaced its internet regulator Lu Wei, the hard-liner responsible for leading the government's efforts to tighten control over domestic cyberspace and export the ruling Communist Party's philosophy of web control. His successor will be his deputy, former propaganda official Xu Lin.
(AP, 6/29/16)
2016 Jun 29, Dubai's transport authority announced it had awarded a French-led consortium a $2.88 billion contract to extend its metro network to the site of the Expo 2020 world trade fair.
(AFP, 6/29/16)
2016 Jun 29, The European Union's executive Commission gave the go-ahead for the popular weed killer glyphosate to be used for up to 18 months longer amid concerns about its possible links to cancer.
(AP, 6/29/16)
2016 Jun 29, Indonesia's Pres. Joko Widodo ordered an expansion of offshore oil exploration and commercial fishing in the waters near the Natuna Islands, the latest in a new campaign to assert sovereignty over the area in the South China Sea.
(Reuters, 6/29/16)
2016 Jun 29, In Iraq more than 20 helicopters took part in a mission that destroyed more than 138 vehicles described as a convoy of Islamic State fighters fleeing the western city of Fallujah. The US-led coalition also conducted airstrikes on two large concentrations of Daesh vehicles and fighters.
(AP, 6/30/16)
2016 Jun 29, The Italian navy said it has recovered the migrant ship that sank off Sicily April 18, 2015, with an estimated 700-800 people aboard in one of the worst known tragedies of the Mediterranean migrant crisis.
(AP, 6/29/16)
2016 Jun 29, Japan-based Toyota announced it is recalling 1.43 million vehicles for defective air bags and another 2.87 million vehicles for faulty fuel emissions controls.
(AP, 6/29/16)
2016 Jun 29, In Luxembourg two whistleblowers in the "LuxLeaks" tax scandal were given suspended jail sentences for leaking thousands of documents that exposed Luxembourg's huge tax breaks for major international companies. Former PricewaterhouseCoopers employees Antoine Deltour and Raphael Halet received 12-month and nine-month sentences respectively while journalist Edouard Perrin was acquitted of all charges. In March 2017 the sentence for Antoine Deltour (31) was reduced to six months suspended with a 1,500-euro fine. Raphael Halet (40) received a 1,000-euro fine instead of a nine-month prison sentence.
(AFP, 6/29/16)(AFP, 3/15/17)
2016 Jun 29, In Malaysia influential opposition politician Lim Guan Eng, chief minister of northern Penang state, was arrested on allegations of corruption. He has strongly criticized financial scandals involving PM Najib Razak.
(AP, 6/29/16)
2016 Jun 29, Mongolians voted in parliamentary elections against the background of a sharp downturn in the mining sector, vital to the landlocked nation's economy. The opposition Mongolian People's Party (MPP) won a decisive victory with 65 of 76 seats.
(AP, 6/29/16)(AP, 6/30/16)
2016 Jun 29, North Korea convened a meeting of its national parliament that is expected to follow up on the first congress of its ruling Workers' Party in 36 years, which was held last month.
(AP, 6/29/16)
2016 Jun 29, In Pakistan gunmen ambushed an army vehicle in Quetta, killing 4 soldiers.
(AP, 6/29/16)
2016 Jun 29, A rights lawyer at the European Court of Human Rights said Romania was paid millions of dollars by the CIA to host secret prisons from 2003-2005.
(SFC, 6/30/16, p.A2)
2016 Jun 29, Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon made a dash to Brussels to tell the EU that Scots were intent on staying in the bloc, hours after David Cameron told a summit that Britain was pulling out.
(Reuters, 6/29/16)
2016 Jun 29, In Syria a joint convoy of UN, the Red Cross and Syrian Red Crescent trucks carrying medical and food aid entered two blockaded towns near Damascus.
(AP, 6/29/16)
2016 Jun 29, In Syria a car bomb killed at least 10 people in Tal Abyad town, held by US-backed Kurdish-led forces, near the Turkish border.
(AFP, 6/29/16)
2016 Jun 29, In southeast Turkey a roadside bomb planted by Kurdish PKK militants ripped apart a military armored vehicle, killing 2 soldiers and wounding three others.
(Reuters, 6/29/16)
2016 Jun 29, In eastern Ukraine Wassyl Slipak, a former baritone opera singer, was killed by sniper fire. He had performed in French opera productions for nearly two decades before joining a volunteer battalion fighting Russian-backed rebels.
(SFC, 6/30/16, p.A2)
2016 Jun 30, The United States placed Myanmar on its list of worst human trafficking offenders for failing to do more to curb widespread abuses, and upgraded Thailand from the lowest grade for what was deemed to be an improved record.
(Reuters, 6/30/16)
2016 Jun 30, The US Pentagon said transgender people will be allowed to serve openly in the military.
(SFC, 7/1/16, p.A9)
2016 Jun 30, A US federal judge blocked a Florida law that places restrictions on abortion clinics hours before it was scheduled to take effect.
(SFC, 7/1/16, p.A6)
2016 Jun 30, A US federal judge blocked an Indiana law prohibiting abortions sought because of a fetus’ genetic abnormalities because the state does not have authority to limit a woman’s reasons for ending a pregnancy.
(SFC, 7/1/16, p.A6)
2016 Jun 30, The Iowa Supreme Court ruled 4-3 that felons may be stripped of their voting rights for life unless those rights are restored by the governor.
(SFC, 7/1/16, p.A6)
2016 Jun 30, In Afghanistan Taliban militants launched a twin suicide attack targeting a convoy of buses carrying police cadets outside Kabul and killing 37 people, mostly policemen, and wounding 40.
(AP, 6/30/16)
2016 Jun 30, In Bahrain a woman was killed in an explosion near her car south of Manama. Police the next day described it as a "terrorist bombing" in the village of Eker. Opposition activists on social media said that witnesses reported seeing security forces fire on the woman's car after it accidentally neared a royal convoy. Two suspects were soon arrested. Suspect Hassan Jassem Hassan al-Hayki (35) died in prison on July 30.
(AP, 7/1/16)(Reuters, 7/31/16)
2016 Jun 30, Bosnia published the results of its 2013 census. It showed the population had shrunk by nearly a quarter to 3.5 million over the past 25 years, a period marked by the devastating 1992-95 war that took 100,000 lives and turned almost half of the population into refugees either within the country or abroad.
(AP, 6/30/16)
2016 Jun 30, Brazil's federal police raided the offices of at least 12 builders to seek evidence of a cartel handling railway projects.
(Reuters, 6/30/16)
2016 Jun 30, British American Tobacco (BAT), the world's second biggest cigarette company, vowed to investigate some of its supply farms in Bangladesh after a Swedish campaign group uncovered the use of child workers to grow and process tobacco.
(Reuters, 6/30/16)
2016 Jun 30, English Poet Geoffrey Hill (84) died.
(Econ, 7/30/16, p.74)
2016 Jun 30, Colombian, Italian and US police seized 11 tons of cocaine and arrested 33 people today and over the last few days from a mafia-linked ring which refined the drug in the jungles of Colombia and smuggled it out in containers of tropical fruits.
(Reuters, 6/30/16)
2016 Jun 30, In Egypt Islamist militants in the Sinai Peninsula gunned down Father Rafael Moussa, a Christian priest, as he was fixing his car. In a separate attack in Arish, one policeman was killed and three wounded when an improvised bomb exploded as their convoy drove near a police station. An armored vehicle escorting an ambulance to el-Arish was ambushed by militants leaving one soldier dead.
(Reuters, 6/30/16)(AP, 6/30/16)
2016 Jun 30, Italian authorities significantly lowered the estimated number of migrants who died in the April 18, 2015, shipwreck that spurred Europe to beef up Mediterranean rescue efforts, suggesting the final death toll could be around 500 rather than 800.
(AP, 6/30/16)
2016 Jun 30, Italy’s coast guard said 10 women died in a sinking boat packed with migrants off the coast of Libya today and hundreds of other people were rescued in two separate operations.
(Reuters, 6/30/16)
2016 Jun 30, In Italy Wisconsin student Beau Solomon (19) disappeared in Rome a day after arriving there. On July 4 police discovered his body in the Tiber river in Rome. A suspect identified as Massimo Galioto (40), who lived in an encampment under a bridge near where Solomon was last seen, was soon arrested and accused of pushing Solomon in the river after a fight.
(AP, 7/4/16)(AP, 7/5/16)(AP, 5/8/18)
2016 Jun 30, In Kashmir Indian forces killed two suspected rebels in a clash, and dispersed hundreds of protesters who took to the streets to show their solidarity with the rebels in the southern Pulwama area.
(AP, 6/30/16)
2016 Jun 30, Libya's UN-backed unity government sacked four of its ministers just three months after it set up office in the capital Tripoli. The dismissed ministers were absent from their work and refused to take up their duties in the Government of National Unity for over 30 days.
(AFP, 7/1/16)
2016 Jun 30, Mexico introduced a 500-peso note featuring the image of a jaguar.
(Econ, 7/9/16, p.27)
2016 Jun 30, Nigerian officials said authorities in Lagos have shut down dozens of churches, mosques and hotels in a bid cut noise pollution.
(AFP, 7/1/16)
2016 Jun 30, Palestinian Mohammed Nasser Tarayra (19) fatally stabbed American-Israeli Hallel Yaffa Ariel (13) in her bedroom in the occupied West Bank settlement of Kiryat Arba. Israeli guards shot the attacker dead. On August 15 the Israeli army destroyed Tarayra’s home.
(Reuters, 6/30/16)(AFP, 8/15/16)
2016 Jun 30, In the Philippines Rodrigo Duterte (71) was sworn in as president. Leni Robredo (52) was sworn into office as vice-president.
(AP, 6/30/16)
2016 Jun 30, Doctors Without Borders said tens of thousands of Syrians are stranded on the Jordanian border and face starvation and dehydration.
(SFC, 7/1/16, p.A2)
2016 Jun 30, Turkey's parliament approved sweeping plans late to restructure the high courts, in a victory for President Tayyip Erdogan that critics say will allow him to remove troublesome judges and tighten his grip over the judiciary.
(Reuters, 7/1/16)
2016 Jun 30, Vietnam's government announced that Formosa Ha Tinh Steel Corp., a Taiwanese-owned steel plant, was responsible for massive fish deaths along the central Vietnamese coast and said it has pledged to pay $500 million in compensation.
(AP, 6/30/16)
2016 Jun 30, UN special envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed said Yemen’s waring sides have freed more than 700 prisoners in an apparent goodwill gesture amid peace talks.
(SFC, 7/1/16, p.A2)
2016 Jun, US health officials warned clinicians to be on the lookout for Candida auris, a deadly and highly drug-resistant emerging pathogen. By March 2017 nearly three dozen people in the US were diagnosed with the fungal infection first found in a patient in Japan in 2009.
(SFC, 3/11/17, p.A10)
2016 Jun, In Utah an elderly man infected with the Zika virus died late this month. He was the first Zika-infected person to die in the continental US. A relative who cared for the man was soon diagnosed with the virus.
(SFC, 7/19/16, p.A4)
2016 Jun, In Brazil a chilly snap in the first days of the southern hemisphere winter claimed the lives of at least six people this month in Sao Paulo, home to an estimated 16,000 homeless population.
(AFP, 6/29/16)
2016 Jun, The China-based Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) held its initial annual meeting in Beijing and approved its first $509 million worth of projects.
(Econ, 7/2/16, p.66)
2016 Jun, The OPPO R9, price at around $400, overtook the iPhone as China’s best-selling handset. China’s BBK Electronics started the OPPO firm in 2009.
(Econ, 2/4/17, p.58)
2016 Jun, In the Czech Rep. there were an estimated 10,000 hard-core injecting drug addicts in Prague. Drug contact centers were unable to keep up.
(Econ, 6/18/16, p.56)
2016 Jun, In western Denmark seven Viking-era (800-1050) bracelets, weighing a total of almost one kg (2.2 pounds), were discovered near Vejen by people using metal detectors. A gold chain was found in the same field in 1911.
(AP, 6/16/16)
2016 Jun, Gambia’s Pres. Yahya Jammeh announced that child marriage is now banned with immediate effect, punishable by 20 years in prison for both the husband and parents of the girl being married. Gambia became the 13th nation in Africa to join the African Union's (AU) campaign to end child marriage.
(Reuters, 7/8/16)
2016 Jun, Indonesian authorities broke up a drug-counterfeiting ring that had been operating for more than a decade. At least 28 health care facilities throughout the country, including Jakarta and the tourist resort island of Bali, were suspected of buying fake booster vaccines for hepatitis B, diphtheria, tetanus and whooping cough.
(Reuters, 7/18/16)
2016 Jun, Morocco ranked 88th in the world in Transparency International’s corruption perceptions index.
(Econ, 6/11/16, p.49)
2016 Jun, Interpol and Nigeria's anti-fraud agency arrested a Nigerian, identified as Mike (40), accused of scamming $60 million from companies around the world through fraudulent emails after months of investigation. He was arrested along with a 38-year-old accomplice in Port Harcourt.
(AP, 8/1/16)
2016 Jun, Russia decriminalized battery. The Duma exempted domestic abuse and made it subject to the same two-year maximum sentence as racially motivated offences.
(Econ, 1/28/17, p.46)
2016 Jun, Saudi Arabia lifted a two-year ban against Guinean pilgrims for the haj in September and allotted the country 7,200 places.
(Econ, 9/3/16, p.43)
2016 Jun, Spanish authorities arrested half a dozen Russian citizens with alleged ties to high-ranking Russian officials and Colombian drug cartels.
(Econ, 7/2/16, p.46)
2016 Jun, In Sri Lanka an explosion at the Salawa army camp, 35 km (22 miles) east of Colombo, killed one soldier. Eight others, including seven civilians, were injured. The explosions sent shrapnel and munitions flying into the surrounding area, damaging 2,031 houses.
(AP, 11/17/16)
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