May 25, 2011 (Wednesday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- A Pakistani Taliban suicide bomber attacks a police station in Peshawar, killing at least seven people. (AFP via Yahoo! News), (AFP via France 24) (CNN)
- Violent clashes occur between tribesmen and government officials in Sana'a, Yemen. (CNN)
- South African President Jacob Zuma will visit Libya for talks with Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, in renewed efforts by the African Union to broker a cease-fire in the 2011 Libyan civil war. (CNN)
- Police in the eastern European state of Georgia use teargas to disperse a protest in central Tbilisi. (Al-Jazeera)
Arts and culture
- Veteran talk show host Oprah Winfrey presents her final Oprah Winfrey Show, after 25 years on air. (BBC)
- U.S. author Jeffery Deaver unveils his James Bond novel, Carte Blanche. (BBC)
- Scotty McCreery becomes the tenth season winner of American Idol.
Business and economy
- An influential investor and stock trader, David Einhorn, demands the resignation of Steve Ballmer, the CEO of software giant Microsoft, speaking at the Ira W. Sohn Investment Research Conference. (Reuters)
Disasters
- Grímsvötn eruption:
- Germany shuts down part of its airspace as volcanic ash from the eruption of Iceland's Grímsvötn reaches northern Europe. (VOA)
- Flights are also cancelled in the United Kingdom and Scandinavia. (Sky News)
- Powerful storms and tornadoes continue across the Central United States, claiming at least 10 more lives across Arkansas, Kansas and Oklahoma. (CNN)
- Two of the reactors damaged in the March earthquake and tsunami at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan may be riddled with holes, according to the facility's owner, Tokyo Electric Power Co. (CNN)
- At least 12 people die after an air ambulance crashes in Faridabad, India. (Times of India)
International relations
- Barack Obama, the President of the United States, addresses the Parliament of the United Kingdom. (Los Angeles Times)
- Christine Lagarde, the French Minister for Finance, announces her candidacy to be head of the International Monetary Fund. (New York Times)(CNN)
- Palestinian officials dismiss Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu's speech to the US Congress, saying it will not lead to peace. (BBC) (The Jerusalem Post)
- North Korean leader Kim Jong-il arrives in Beijing for a meeting with the President of the People's Republic of China, Hu Jintao. (Yonhap)
Law and crime
- Jared Lee Loughner, accused of murder in the 2011 Tucson shootings, is found to be incompetent to face a trial because of mental health issues. (ABC Australia)
- Brian David Mitchell gets a lifetime sentence for kidnapping Elizabeth Smart in 2002 and holding her captive for nine months. [1]