June 21, 2012 (Thursday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- Arab Spring:
- Syrian uprising: The pilot of a Syrian MiG 21 fighter plane defects to Jordan after landing in a military air base in northern Jordan. (BBC) (Al Jazeera)
- In Egypt, Hosni Mubarak, ousted from power in last year's revolution, is reported to be "clinging to life" as his deterioration adds further to Egyptian uncertainty. (The Independent) (IBN Live)
- Human Rights Watch expresses concern over the Egyptian military's level of commitment to handing over power to civilian rule. (Al Jazeera)
- War on Drugs:
- Mexican Drug War: Mexican marines detain Jesús Alfredo Guzmán Salazar, the son of Joaquín Guzmán Loera (alias El Chapo), Mexico's most-wanted drug lord in the western state of Jalisco. (The Washington Post)
- The Uruguayan government announces plans to start selling marijuana in limited amounts to registered users. (RT)
- In Afghanistan, Taliban soldiers invade a hotel in Kabul, kill guests, and hold some hostages. (Al Jazeera) (Reuters)
Arts and culture
- U.S. artist LeRoy Neiman, one of the world's most commercially successful contemporary artists and an official painter of five Olympiads famed for his instant renditions of sporting action, dies in New York. (BBC)
- A Lucian Freud self-portrait painted on an egg shell is sold at auction to a private collector for £27,000. (BBC)
Business and economics
- Vassilis Rapanos, chairman of Greece's largest private bank, is named finance minister. (RTE)
- Air France announces its decision to cut just under 10% of the total workforce (more than 5,000 jobs) by the end of next year in an attempt to restore profitability. (BBC)
- Moody's downgrades the credit rating of 15 major world banks: UK (The Royal Bank of Scotland, Barclays and HSBC), US (Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan), Rest of world (Credit Suisse, UBS, BNP Paribas, Crédit Agricole, Société Générale, Deutsche Bank, Royal Bank of Canada and Morgan Stanley). (CNBC) (BBC)
- Avianca, Copa Airlines and TACA Airlines join Star Alliance, becoming the 26th, 27th and 28th member airlines. This will prompt TAM Airlines to transfer to Oneworld in the foreseeable future (Fox Business)
- The US Dow Jones Industrial Average falls by 251 points on the back of weak economic data and poor news from the Eurozone. (CNBC)
Disasters
- An Indonesian Air Force Fokker 27 crashes in a residential complex in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta, killing at least six people. (BBC)
- A boat carrying up to 200 asylum seekers capsizes north of Christmas Island, between Indonesia and Australia with 110 survivors rescued. (BBC) (AAP via Brisbane Times)
International relations
- President of Ecuador Rafael Correa decides on the issue of granting asylum to WikiLeaks editor-in-chief Julian Assange as Assange remains in the Ecuadorian embassy of London, risking arrest by the British authorities. (Al Jazeera)
Law and crime
- Oakland-based group Courage to Resist asks participants in the 42nd annual Pride parade this Sunday to march in celebration of the imprisoned U.S. serviceman Bradley Manning, imprisoned by the U.S. government for alleged leaking of classified information into the public domain. (San Francisco Examiner)
- A court in Jakarta sentences Umar Patek to 20 years' imprisonment for Patek's involvement in the October 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people. (Al Jazeera) (BBC)
- The father of previous President of Chile Michelle Bachelet was probably tortured to death after the 1973 coup led by Augusto Pinochet, a judge says. (BBC)
- Penn State child sex abuse scandal:
- The adopted son of former football coach Jerry Sandusky says that Sandusky molested him. (CNN)
- The jury begins deliberations in the trial. (CNN)
Politics and elections
- John Bryson resigns as United States Secretary of Commerce following a seizure that led to two car accidents. (Politico)
- President of Paraguay Fernando Lugo faces impeachment. (BBC)
Sport
- UEFA Euro 2012:
- Cristiano Ronaldo scores the match-winning goal as Portugal defeat the Czech Republic and continue into the semi-finals. (BBC)
- Reports are made of a France dressing room bust-up involving at least two separate incidents after the team's defeat to Sweden, including a "shouting match" between Alou Diarra and Samir Nasri, followed by an ugly exchange between Laurent Blanc and Hatem Ben Arfa. (New York Daily News)
- In American basketball, the Miami Heat wins the 2012 NBA Finals defeating the Oklahoma City Thunder four games to one. LeBron James wins the NBA Finals MVP award. (ESPN) (Wall Street Journal)