May 18, 2011 (Wednesday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- Three Tunisian security officers are killed in a clash with gunmen in the north of the country. (IOL)
- 2011 Libyan civil war:
- Forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi shell towns and villages in the western mountains in an attempt to capture higher ground. (Al Jazeera)
- Sources from the Tunisian defence ministry claim that Gaddafi's wife and daughter have fled there. (Reuters)
- Militants attack a checkpoint near the city of Peshawar in northwest Pakistan, resulting in the deaths of two police officers and 15 insurgents. (AP via Houston Chronicle)
- Iran frees detained Al-Jazeera journalist Dorothy Parvaz, who had not been seen since being detained in Syria on April 29. (Seattle Times)
- At least twelve people are killed and 80 injured during a protest in the Afghan city of Taloqan against the killing of four civilians in a NATO raid. (BBC)
- The United States announces plans to impose sanctions on the President of Syria, Bashar al-Assad, and six members of his government, for alleged human rights breaches during the 2011 Syrian uprising. (AP via The Washington Post) (Reuters via al-Jazeera)
- The United Nations claims that Sudan has bombed a village in Darfur. (BBC)
Arts and culture
- American novelist Philip Roth wins the Man Booker International Prize, recognizing his body of work. (AP via ABC News America)
Business and economy
- Moody's Investors Service cuts the credit ratings of Australia's four major banks, the Commonwealth Bank, Westpac, National Australia Bank and ANZ, to Aa1, due to their reliance on wholesale funding. (Sydney Morning Herald)
Disasters and accidents
- Fifteen people are killed after two buses collide in Mwanza Province, northern Tanzania. (IOL)
- The United States Coast Guard reopens a section of the Mississippi River to shipping that was closed on Tuesday as a result of the 2011 Mississippi River floods. (BBC)
- A tornado hits the US city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania for the first time since 1999. (NBC Philadelphia)
- Sol Líneas Aéreas Flight 5428 aircraft crashes in the southern Patagonia region of Argentina with all 22 people on board dying - icing of the propellor driven Saab 340 is cited as a possible cause. (RIA Novosti), (AP via MSNBC)
International relations
- The Palestinian Authority calls on Israel to reinstate the rights of up to 140,000 people who lived in the occupied West Bank and lost their residency after travelling abroad. (BBC)
- Dmitry Medvedev, the President of Russia, warns of a potential new Cold War if the United States does not listen to Russia's concerns about its proposed missile defense system. (AFP via Google News)
- UK royal state visit to Ireland: Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom visits Croke Park in Dublin, where British troops killed 20 people in the Bloody Sunday massacre of 1920. (Sky News)
- Ali Akbar Salehi, the Foreign Affairs Minister of Iran, claims that the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant is operational. (Jerusalem Post)
Law and crime
- Andrew Fastow, the former Chief Financial Officer of Enron Corp., now in the custody of the Federal Bureau of Prisons with a release date of December 17, 2011, moves to a half-way house in Houston, Texas. (Reuters)
- The jury is seated for the trial of Chicago businessman Tahawwur Hussain Rana for his alleged role in the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks. (AP via Silicon Valley Mercury News)[permanent dead link]
- The President of Guatemala, Alvaro Colom, claims that Hugo Alvaro Gomez Vasquez, who has been arrested in relation to the killing of 27 cattle ranch workers, is a leader of the Los Zetas drug cartel in the country. (AP via MSNBC)
- An Afghan detainee commits suicide at the US run Guantanamo Bay detention camp. (AP via MSNBC)
Politics and elections
- Voters in South Africa go to the polls for municipal elections. (BBC)
- Voters in the US city of San Francisco, California, will vote on a proposition to ban male circumcision in November. (AP via the Washington Post)
Science
- The Space Shuttle Endeavour docks at the International Space Station for the final time. (Space via Yahoo)