Portal:Current events/2012 May 21
< Portal:Current events
May 21, 2012 (Monday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- A suicide bomber attacks soldiers rehearsing for the annual Unity Day parade in the Yemeni capital Sana'a, killing at least 120 people and injuring more than 350 others. Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula claims responsibility. (BBC) (Al Jazeera) (Trust) (Yemen Post)
- FARC rebels kill 12 Colombian soldiers and wound four more in an ambush near the Colombian border with Venezuela. (AFP via Google) (AP)
- Two people are killed in ongoing clashes in the Lebanese capital Beirut between supporters and opponents of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. (Ya Libnan)
Business and economy
- Australian airline Qantas announces cuts to 500 maintenance jobs. (News Limited)
Disasters
- At least 13 people – most of them students – are killed and 22 others are injured after a bus plunges 80 metres (260 ft) off a cliff in Albania. (BBC)
- Four climbers from Canada, China, Germany and South Korea die whilst returning from the summit of Mount Everest; a Nepalese guide is missing. (The Himalayan Times)
International relations
- International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) director general Yukiya Amano begins talks in Tehran aimed at convincing the Iranian government to co-operate with the agency. (Al Jazeera)
- US President Barack Obama speaks at a NATO summit concerning the future of war-ravaged Afghanistan. (BBC)
- Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, the only person convicted in the case concerning the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, is buried in a private ceremony in a western suburb of Tripoli, having died of cancer aged 60. (BBC) (Al Jazeera)
Law and crime
- Dharun Ravi, the U.S. student who secretly filmed the sexual activities of his gay room-mate Tyler Clementi, who later committed suicide when the film was exposed, is sentenced to 30 days in prison by a New Jersey judge. Ravi avoids the maximum sentence of 10 years' imprisonment. (BBC) (Al Jazeera)
- Sri Lanka's former army chief Sarath Fonseka is freed from prison with a pardon from President Mahinda Rajapaksa. (Times of India)
- The criminal trial of Rajat Gupta on charges of insider trading begins in a federal courtroom in New York. (Reuters)
Politics and elections
- The Acting President of Mali, Dioncounda Traoré, is taken to hospital after an angry encounter with demonstrators who object to a deal for the 70-year-old to remain in office for a year. (BBC)
- Greek leftist politician Alexis Tsipras, head of the Coalition of the Radical Left, begins a tour of European capitals. (Reuters)
Science
- A rare annular solar eclipse occurs, visible from East Asia, the North Pacific, and the Western United States. (AAP via SBS News) (Al Jazeera) (BBC)