June 2, 2011 (Thursday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- Almost 100 civilians are killed in the disputed Abyei region between North and South Sudan since northern troops seized the area on 21 May. (Reuters)
- Syrian civil war: At least 13 people are killed in a continuing crackdown by security forces in Syria; opposition leaders meeting in Turkey call for President Bashar al-Assad to step down. (Al Jazeera)
- Twenty-five Pakistan Army soldiers die after an attack by Afghan militants on a border post in the Dir District. (Reuters)
- 2011 Yemeni uprising
- A freelance reporter claims that snipers are shooting at protesters in the Yemeni capital Sana'a. (Al Jazeera)
- Reports also claim that flights have been cancelled at Sana'a International Airport due to heavy fighting. (Al Jazeera)
- The FBI investigate claims that hackers in China attacked the Google email accounts of officials in the United States and Asian countries, as well as Chinese pro-democracy activists. (BBC) (Global Times) (Calcutta Telegraph)
Arts and culture
- Julian Assange of Wikileaks wins the 2011 Martha Gellhorn Prize for Journalism. (journalism)
- The finals of the Scripps National Spelling Bee are held in the US town of Oxon Hill, Maryland with Sukanya Roy of South Abington, Pennsylvania. (NPR), (AP via San Jose Mercury News)[permanent dead link]
Business and economy
- Following the PlayStation Network outage, the Sony website SonyPictures.com has been hacked, with unencrypted passwords and personal information of Sony customers within the website's database being discovered by the hackers. (BBC)
- Canada Post workers prepare to start a mail strike as last minute talks fail. (CBC)
- The 2011 Large Cities Climate Leadership Group "C40" summit concludes in São Paulo. (New York Times)
Disasters
- Four people die after an explosion and fire at a Chevron oil refinery in Pembroke Dock, Wales. (Sky News), (Press Association via The Guardian)
- 42 people are injured and 13,000 people evacuated from settlements in Russia's Udmurt Republic following an ammo depot fire. (RIA Novosti)
- Approximately 250 people fleeing from the Libyan Civil War to Europe may have died as their ship sinks off the coast of Tunisia. (Al Jazeera)
International relations
- South Korea and the United States launch an investigation into allegations by former United States Army soldiers that chemicals including Agent Orange were dumped at Camp Carroll near the city of Daegu. (Yonhap News)
- WikiLeaks releases secret documents on Egypt's nuclear power plant. (Al-Masry Al-Youm)
Law and crime
- Five people are killed and one person injured in a multiple shooting at Yuma County, Arizona. (Yuma Sun)
- Philip and Nancy Garrido are given life sentences in the US state of California for the Kidnapping of Jaycee Lee Dugard. (AP via Daily Breeze)[permanent dead link]
Politics and elections
- Presidential elections in Latvia. Andris Bērziņš won the election. [1]
- Japanese politics
- Prime Minister of Japan Naoto Kan survives a no-confidence motion in the Diet (Bloomberg via Business Week), (AP via Seattle PI)
- Kan states that he will step down when the country has achieved some recovery from the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. (Reuters), (Kyodo News)
- Mitt Romney announces plans to seek the Republican Party nomination as President of the United States. (Time), (Washington Post)
Science
- The World Health Organization states that the strain of E. coli responsible for the 2011 E. coli O104:H4 outbreak had never "been isolated from patients before." (Reuters)
Sport
- The Dallas Mavericks beat the Miami Heat 95-93 in the second game of the 2011 NBA Finals to tie the series. (NBC Dallas)