Portal:Current events/2010 June 25

June 25, 2010 (Friday)

At least 24 people are killed and 50 people injured after an overcrowded bus crashes into a truck in the Patna district of Bihar state in India. (AFP via Sydney Morning Herald)
13 people have died of dengue fever in Honduras in 2010 as 10,200 others were hit by the disease, the Honduran Health Ministry said. (Xinhua)
Millions of protesters take to the streets in Rome, Naples, Milan and other Italian cities to protest their government's austerity measures which cut funds and affects public sector salaries and to test Silvio Berlusconi. (Aljazeera)
Christopher Coke:
- Christopher Coke, sent to United States territory by Jamaica, pleads not guilty to United States charges of drug smuggling at a federal court in New York and, in his first public comments since August, says he took the decision to be extradited "in the best interest of my family, the community of western Kingston and in particular the people of Tivoli Gardens and above all Jamaica". (Aljazeera)
- Evangelical preacher Merrick "Al" Miller is charged with "harbouring a fugitive" and "perverting the course of justice", though he says Coke was on the verge of turning himself into authorities. (Jamaica Gleaner)
The Constitutional Court of Romania rules that government budget plans are "unconstitutional"; this decision cannot be appealed. Dozens of people trying to request an audience with President Traian Băsescu at his palace are beaten back by riot police. (France24) (BBC) (Deutsche Welle) (Reuters)
Commemorations are held in South Korea to mark the 60th anniversary of the outbreak of the Korean War. (Yonhap) (BBC) (The Guardian)
Rwandan journalist Jean Leonard Rugambage, acting editor of Umuvugizi, is shot dead by two men in front of his house in Kigali. Rugambage's death shocks journalists in the country; the paper's exiled chief editor says the government is responsible. (BBC) (The Guardian) (The Independent) (Reuters Africa)
The Vatican expresses its "astonishment" and "indignation" at the "violation of the graves of the Cardinals Jozef-Ernest Van Roey and Leon-Joseph Suenens" by Belgian police making holes in the crypt at Mechelen Cathedral during a child sex abuse search. (Aljazeera) (BBC) (The Sydney Morning Herald)
Captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit:
- The fourth anniversary of the capture of Gilad Shalit, and held incommunicado by Hamas in Gaza, is marked in Israel, the United States and a number of European cities. (The Jerusalem Post) (VOA)
- Human Rights Watch criticizes Hamas for human rights violations by prohibiting the captive Israeli soldier from having contact with his family and the Red Cross, characterizing this as torture. (AP) (The Jerusalem Post)
- The U.S. House of Representatives unanimously calls for the release of Gilad Shalit on the anniversary of his capture. (JTA) (Ynet)
- French President Nicolas Sarkozy sends a letter to Shalit's father saying ""no circumstances can justify" his continued captivity, while also saying that the Gaza blockade won't help free him. (The Jerusalem Post)
Security forces in Yemen clash with suspected Al-Qaeda members in Aden during investigations into a bombing of a government compound last week. (Al Jazeera)
Iris Robinson is interviewed in London as part of a police investigation. (BBC) (The Daily Telegraph)
In response to the mortars fired into Israel that hit a government building, Israeli warplanes bomb smuggling tunnels between Egypt and the Gaza Strip, with one person being wounded in an air attack in Rafah. (CNN) (AFP via Google) (Press TV)
President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister of Britain David Cameron meet and agree to work to renew ties stained by the refusal of both men to hand over men the other man wants. (The Sydney Morning Herald)
Five people are killed and one is seriously wounded after an attack at a wedding party in Ghrab hamlet in Algeria's Tébessa Province. (Hindustan Times) (IOL) (Reuters Africa)
Three Indonesian celebrities - pop star Nazril "Ariel" Irham, TV presenter Luna Maya and soapstar Cut Tari - are allegedly involved in a celebrity sex tape; Nazril "Ariel" Irham is charged, prompting anger and calls for punishment from some conservative groups in the country. (BBC)
China jails Tibetan environmentalist Karma Samdrup on charges of stealing from tombs. (BBC) (Reuters Africa) (The Guardian)
Statues of 4 Chinese leaders, Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping, Jiang Zemin, Hu Jintao, are unveiled in Sichuan. (Global Times)
A statue of Joseph Stalin is discreetly removed overnight from the central square of his hometown of Gori in Georgia. (Xinhua) (BBC) (The Guardian)
The 36th G8 summit opens in Huntsville, Ontario and the 4th G20 summit is held in Toronto, Canada.
British–Irish Council:
- The British–Irish Council meets in Guernsey, with those attending including Taoiseach Brian Cowen, Northern Ireland Secretary Owen Paterson, Northern Ireland First Minister Peter Robinson and Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness, the First Ministers of Scotland and Wales, and the Chief Ministers of Guernsey, Jersey and the Isle of Man. (RTÉ) (BBC) (STV)
- The politicians agree to continue to work together on marine renewable energy improvements. (BBC)
- Edinburgh is agreed as the location of the group's new headquarters. (The Belfast Telegraph)
- Chief Minister of Guernsey Lyndon Trott defends the cost of hosting this summit. (BBC)
Germany's TanDEM-X satellite, whose aim it is to create the most precise 3D map of Earth's surface, obtains its first images. (BBC)