Portal:Current events/2016 May 27
< Portal:Current events
May 27, 2016 (Friday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
Disasters and accidents
- Record rainfall and severe flooding in southeast Texas has killed at least two people with three others missing. On Thursday, a record 16.6 inches (42 cm) of rain fell in Brenham, west of Houston. (Reuters)
Health and medicine
- Zika virus epidemic
- More than 150 prominent scientists worldwide send a letter to World Health Organization Director-General Margaret Chan calling for the postponement or relocation of the Rio de Janeiro 2016 Summer Olympics because of the widening Zika virus outbreak in Brazil, despite U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Tom Frieden's statement yesterday that "there is no public health reason to cancel or delay the Olympics." (CNN) (Rio Olympics Later) (Reuters)
- A preliminary study by the National Toxicology Program finds that cellphone radiation has the potential to increase the risk of tumor growth in male rats. (The New York Times) (biorXiv)
International relations
- 42nd G7 summit
- The 42nd G7 summit held at Ise-Shima in Japan's Mie Prefecture concludes with a declaration that the United Kingdom leaving the European Union would pose a "serious threat to world growth". (BBC)
- Following the summit, Barack Obama becomes the first sitting President of the United States to visit Hiroshima, the site of the first use of an atomic bomb by the U.S. during World War II. Obama calls for nations to reconsider the development of nuclear weapons and eventually eliminate them. (CNN) (The Washington Post) (The New York Times)
- North Korea–South Korea relations
- South Korea fires warning shots after a North Korean patrol boat and a fishing boat cross the disputed west coast Northern Limit Line. The two vessels retreated. (Reuters)
Law and crime
- Human rights in Argentina
- Reynaldo Bignone, the last military President of Argentina, is sentenced to twenty years imprisonment for his role in the forced disappearance of more than 100 people in Operation Condor. (AP)
- In the U.S., the Iowa Supreme Court rules juveniles, even those convicted of first-degree murder, can not be sentenced to life without parole, becoming the 19th state to ban such sentences. As of January, about 2,300 American juveniles were serving life-without-parole sentences. (The Des Moines Register) (The New York Times) (The Christian Science Monitor)
- Over 30 college students in Iran were arrested and punished with 99 lashes each for attending a co-ed graduation party. (The New York Times)
- The legal team of Joaquín Guzmán (El Chapo), the leader of the Sinaloa Cartel, has challenged the foreign ministry of Mexico's decision to extradite him to the United States. (The New York Times)
Politics and elections
- Philippine presidential election, 2016
- Rodrigo Duterte is officially elected as President and Leni Robredo as Vice President. (Al Jazeera)
- United Kingdom European Union membership referendum, 2016
- As of this day, local and central government are prohibited from making announcements in a way that could affect the outcome of the referendum. (Guardian)
- Republican candidate for U.S. President Donald Trump urges U.S. senator Marco Rubio to run for re-election after Rubio stated he would speak on Trump's behalf at the Republican Convention, if asked. (Business Insider)
Sports
- 2016 NBA Playoffs
- In basketball, the Cleveland Cavaliers defeat the Toronto Raptors 113–87 in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals to win the series 4–2 and advance to the NBA Finals for the second straight season. The Cavaliers await the winner of the Western Conference Finals between the Golden State Warriors and Oklahoma City Thunder. Barring misfortune, the Cavs' LeBron James will become the eighth player to appear in six consecutive Finals and the first to do so without playing for the Boston Celtics. (ESPN)