Portal:Current events/2007 May 16
< Portal:Current events
May 16, 2007 (Wednesday)
- Tony Blair, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, meets with the President of the United States George W. Bush for the final time before his departure from politics. (CNN)
- Alex Salmond, the leader of the Scottish National Party, is elected as the first non-Labour First Minister of Scotland. (BBC)
- Nicolas Sarkozy succeeds Jacques Chirac as President of the French Republic after prevailing over Ségolène Royal in the 2007 French presidential election. (CNN)
- Fifteen people die in fighting between Hamas and Fatah forces on the Gaza Strip with Hamas killing five people at the house of a Fatah security chief Rashid Abu Shbak in Gaza City. (AP via CNN)
- Over 18 people have been wounded by approximately thirty Qassam rockets being fired from the Gaza Strip into Israel. Hamas has claimed responsibility and sources believe the rocket attacks are an attempt to lure Israel into the ongoing internal conflict between Hamas and Fatah. (JPost)
- A flare dropped from a New Jersey National Guard F-16 Fighting Falcon is believed to be the cause of a wildfire that has burned 20 square miles (52 km2) at the edge of Pinelands National Reserve, New Jersey, burning three homes and causing the evacuation of 2,500 other homes. (CNN)
- The United Kingdom's Ministry of Defence announces that HRH Prince Harry of the British Royal Family will not be deployed to Iraq as originally planned, due to the security risks to both himself and his regiment the Blues and Royals. (BBC)