Portal:Current events/2007 June 28

June 28, 2007 (Thursday)

It is announced that people will be asked to commit to a 7-point pledge on global warming during the July 7 Live Earth concerts. (Live Earth)
The June 2007 Texas floods cause evacuations in some areas. (MSNBC)
The death toll of the June 2007 United Kingdom floods rises to six, with Northern England and the English Midlands hardest hit. (The Telegraph)
Eleven Colombian lawmakers hostages out of twelve are killed by the leftist guerilla group FARC. Abducted in 2002, the FARC alleges that the hostages died in a crossfire when an unidentified military group attacked. The FARC blames the Colombian government, but the government says they knew nothing of the location or of any attempt of rescue. (CNN)
Russia successfully test fires a sea-based ballistic missile, the Bulava. (BBC)
A TAAG-Angola Airlines Boeing 737 crashes in northern Angola, resulting in the death of at least five passengers on the same day the European Union bans the airline from European airspace. (Reuters via News Limited)
Scientists take a first step towards making synthetic life by transferring genetic material from one species of bacteria to another, making it a copy of the first. (Reuters via News Limited)
Record high temperatures in Greece lead to nine deaths through heat stroke; outbreaks of wildfires, killing two people; and extensive power cuts. (AP via the Washington Post)
A bill to legalize millions of illegal immigrants living in the United States is defeated in the United States Senate. (AP via the Houston Chronicle)
Former Libyan intelligence agent Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, convicted of the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, wins a case for an appeal in the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission. (The Guardian)
An Italian man is arrested in Spain on suspicion of bribery in connection with the kidnapping of Madeleine McCann. (Sky)
Premiership of Gordon Brown, United Kingdom:
- In a major Cabinet reshuffle, every person's post is changed, bar one.
- Alistair Darling becomes Chancellor of the Exchequer, David Miliband becomes Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, and Jacqui Smith becomes the first female Secretary of State for the Home Department.
- Alan Johnson takes Health, Jack Straw takes Justice and First Secretary of State, Hilary Benn takes Environment, Des Browne remains as Defence Secretary but also becomes Secretary of State for Scotland, and Ruth Kelly takes Transport.
- Douglas Alexander takes Secretary of State for International Development; Peter Hain remains Secretary of State for Wales but also becomes Work and Pensions Secretary; Shaun Woodward becomes Northern Ireland Secretary; John Hutton takes Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Secretary; Hazel Blears takes Communities Secretary and Minister for Equality; James Purnell takes Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families; and Tessa Jowell becomes Minister for the Olympics and will only attend Cabinet when required.
- Baroness Ashton becomes Leader of the House of Lords; Harriet Harman—Labour's deputy leader—becomes Leader of the House of Commons and Minister for Women; whilst Ed Balls becomes Children, Schools and Families Secretary. John Denham becomes Innovation, University and Skills Secretary; and Baroness Scotland becomes the new Attorney General of England and Wales. The Cabinet is set to change. (Office of the Prime Minister)
Rivers in Gippsland, Victoria, Australia flood, leading to evacuations in Bairnsdale and Sale as a result of days of heavy rain. (ABC) (ABC)
A car bomb in the Bayaa district of Baghdad kills at least 20 people and injures another 35. (Reuters Alertnet)
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors arrive at the Yongbyon reactor in North Korea to discuss plans to shut it down. It follows North Korea test firing of short-range missiles yesterday. (AP via CNN)
The United States Supreme Court hands down a divided decision against two school districts in Seattle, Washington and Louisville, Kentucky, saying the districts' plans to admit students to schools based partially on their race violates constitutional guarantees of equal protection. (CNN)
The commercial space station prototype Genesis II from Bigelow Aerospace is launched at 15:02 UTC from Russia by a Dnepr. (NASASpaceflight.com)
UNESCO designates 22 new World Heritage Sites, including the Sydney Opera House; Canada's Rideau Canal; Japan's Iwami Ginzan Silver Mine; Turkmenistan's Parthian Fortresses of Nisa; India's Red Fort complexes; the Lope-Okanda Landscape of Gabon; the Richtersveld desert of South Africa; the rock carvings of Twyfelfontein in Namibia; the fortified tower houses of Guangdong Province in the People's Republic of China; Teide National Park in the Canary Islands, Spain; the ancient beech forests of Central Europe; Mehmed Paša Sokolović Bridge in Bosnia and Herzegovina; Bordeaux and the Port de la Lune in France; the Old Town of Corfu in Greece; and the Palace of Galerius in Gamzigrad-Romuliana in Serbia. (The Globe and Mail) (UNESCO press-release)
The bald eagle is removed from the endangered species list. (National Geographic)