Portal:Current events/2011 June 23

June 23, 2011 (Thursday)

Armed conflict and attacks

2011 Syrian uprising: Syrian forces mass along the Turkish border near where thousands of refugees are camped. (Reuters) (BBC)
2010–2011 Senegal protests: Thousands of people gather outside parliament in Dakar to protest changes to the constitution and are dispersed with tear gas and rubber bullets by riot police. (BBC)
France announces plans to withdraw troops from Afghanistan in a similar timeframe to that announced for United States forces by President Barack Obama yesterday. (AAP via The Courier-Mail)
After Hamas rejects a call from the International Red Cross for access to Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, held incommunicado since he was captured nearly five years ago, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel will reduce Palestinian prisoners' privileges in response. (Los Angeles Times) (The Jerusalem Post)

Arts and culture

Dozens of gay and lesbian couples tie knots under the new same-sex union laws in Brazil in a world record attempt for mass gay weddings. (BBC)
J. K. Rowling's new project Pottermore is to be officially launched, with details of its identity to be revealed for the first time in an announcement by the writer at the Victoria and Albert Museum in South Kensington. (The Guardian) (BBC)
US actor Peter Falk, best known for his role as Columbo, dies at the age of 83. (USA Today)

Business and economy

Fuel prices including petroleum (oil) prices drop sharply as 28 industrialized nations (International Energy Agency members), including the United States, agree to release 60 million barrels of crude oil from their strategic oil reserves. (Los Angeles Times) (Bloomberg) (USA Today) (CNN Money)
Australia's National Broadband Network and telecommunications company Telstra reach an A$11 billion dollar deal to allow the network to use Telstra's existing network and infrastructure. (ABC News Australia)
Greek labour unions declare a 48-hour general strike next week to protest new austerity measures set to be voted on by the Greek parliament. (CNN)
The U.S. Supreme Court rules on freedom of speech grounds against a state's effort to block pharmaceutical companies from selling information about the prescription records of particular doctors. (AP)

Disasters

An earthquake of 6.7 magnitude occurs off the coast of Japan's Iwate prefecture. (Reuters)
The fourth tropical storm of the 2011 Pacific typhoon season, Tropical Storm Haima (Egay), makes landfall in southern Guangdong Province in the People's Republic of China. (Xinhua)
2011 Missouri River floods:
- U.S. nuclear regulators say two nuclear power plants at the Fort Calhoun plant, about 20 miles north of Omaha, Nebraska, have protected critical equipment from the rising waters of the Missouri River even though flooding has already reached the grounds of one of them. (CNN)
- 12,000 residents are evacuated from Minot, North Dakota, as officials warn that river crest will come sooner and be higher than expected. (CNN)
A 7.3 magnitude earthquake offshore from the US northern state of Alaska leads to a tsunami warning being issued but it is later cancelled. (NOAA)
2011 China floods: An 'unprecedented' flash flood hits Beijing, leaving streets and many areas including Tiananmen Square and the Beijing Subway system underwater. (Xinhua)

International relations

The Japanese national broadcasting company NHK captures images of the Chinese Navy navigating the high seas between the islands of Japan's Okinawa prefecture. (NHK)
The President of Indonesia Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono condemns the beheading of an Indonesian maid in Saudi Arabia and condemns the Saudi Government of breaking the "norms and manners" of international relations. (Straits Times)^{[permanent dead link‍]}
Computer firm Apple removes an application from its App Store that called for a "Third Intifada" against Israel. (BBC)

Law and crime

Four policemen are sentenced to death and another is sentenced to life imprisonment for last year's assassination of activist Floribert Chebeya in Democratic Republic of the Congo. (BBC)
A Dutch court acquits politician Geert Wilders of hate speech charges for statements against Islam in the Geert Wilders trial. (AP via Huffington Post) (CNN)
The United Nations says more cocaine is consumed in Scotland than any other country in the world, not the first time this has happened. The country also consumes more heroin than anywhere else in the United Kingdom. (BBC)
Hacker group LulzSec releases material belonging to the Department of Public Safety in the US state of Arizona in response to immigration law SB 1070. (Tech Crunch), (Wall Street Journal)
Accused fraudster and US TV pitchman Don Lapre is arrested in Tempe, Arizona. (Fox Phoenix)
Levi Bellfield – three years into a life sentence for the murder of two young women and the attempted murder of a third – is found guilty of the 2002 murder of Milly Dowler in Surrey, United Kingdom. (BBC)

Politics

The President of the United States Barack Obama states that gay and lesbian couples "deserve the same legal rights as every other couple in this country" at a function for LGBT people in New York City. (NY1)
The New Jersey General Assembly passes a bill overhauling the health and pension benefits of public employees. (New Jersey)

Science

A study finds that the 2011 E. coli O104:H4 outbreak was a mix of two dangerous E. coli strains. (AP via USA Today)

Sport