A major pipe rupture in Weston, Massachusetts leaves up to 2 million people in the Greater Boston area without drinkable tap water for 59 hours. (Boston Globe)
The death toll from the Mogadishu bombings on May 1 rising to at least 45; authorities say al Qaeda is likely to blame for the attack. (CNN)(VOA)
A group of Asian finance ministers announce a new US$700 million bond fund to promote the issuance of local bonds because of the guarantee the new funds would provide potential investors. (The Wall Street Journal)
Japanese supercentenarian and oldest living person in the world Kama Chinen dies 8 days short of 115 and leaves French supercentenarian Eugénie Blanchard as the oldest living person.
Journalists protesting against the prison death of Cameroon newspaper editor Bibi Ngota clash with police in Yaoundé as hundreds are prevented from staging a sit-in at the office of the prime minister. (BBC)
A new European Jewish group, JCall, supported by thousands of European Jews is founded to lobby for a resolution to the Middle East conflict.(Jerusalem Post)(Al Jazeera)
An Egyptian-led proposal for a nuclear armsfree Middle East receives support from the United States, Russia, Britain, France, and China. Israel is the only Middle Eastern nation believed to possess nuclear weapons. (Reuters)
The European Parliament calls on Canada to ensure visa-free travel for all EU citizens in a wide-ranging resolution, while expressing hope that the EU-Canada summit will speed up negotiations on a comprehensive trade agreement. (Europarl)(Isria)(MSNBC)
Two men are killed and another one is wounded when unidentified gunmen open fire at a Lexus in the capital of Russia’s Caucasian republic of Dagestan, Makhachkala. (ITAR)
Ireland's Supreme Court rules, after a ten-year campaign, that there is no constitutional obligation for political and legal acts to be written in both the English and Irish languages(RTÉ)
Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg describes the election as a "disappointing night" for his party, in his speech at the count for his Sheffield Hallam constituency.
Two former Labour Home Secretaries, Charles Clarke (2004–2006) and Jacqui Smith (2007–2009, first woman in the post), lose their seats. (BBC)(BBC)
An appeals court in Lithuania overturns a ruling which had earlier, due to fears over homophobic violence, prevented the country's first gay pride parade going ahead in Vilnius tomorrow. (BBC)
Flights take to the skies again in Ireland following recent Icelandic volcanic disruption. (Al Jazeera)(RTÉ)
The Supreme Court of the Philippines rejects several petitions calling for a presidential election to be postponed and asking for manual counting of votes to be maintained. (Arab News)
Starlin Castro makes his MLB-debut, hitting a home run in his first career at-bat, and later adding a three-run triple to set the MLB record for RBI's in an MLB Debut.
Iraqi insurgents kill 102 and injure over 200 people, mostly Iraqi civilians, in a series of suicide bombings from Mosul to Basra in Iraq, the highest number in one day this year, and jeopardizing a planned US withdrawal. (The Times)
BP sprays more chemicals into the main massive undersea oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico using a deep-sea robot in an attempt to thin the oil which is rushing up from the seabed at the rate of about 210,000 gallons (795,000 liters) per day. (USA Today)
United States Congress begins hearings on the massive oil spill threatening sensitive marshes and marine life along the Gulf Coast as the three companies involved in the drilling activities that unleashed the environmental crisis blame each other. (Chicago Tribune)
A bomb planted inside a grocery store in a mainly Shi'ite area of Baghdad kills three people and wounds 23. (TVNZ)
Irish authorities launch an investigation into last night's "violent incident" which saw protesters attempt to storm Dáil Éireann in a campaign against bank bail-outs. (The Irish Times)(TV3)
Gunfire and explosions occur in the capital Bangkok after the red shirt protesters ignore a government deadline to end their street protests. (Al Jazeera)
5 people are killed and a further 19 injured in two bombings in Baghdad. (Xinhua)
Three alleged organisers of Moscow suicide bombings in March 2010 are killed after apparently resisting arrest. (BBC)(Al Jazeera)
A report from Human Rights Watch claims that the Israeli army unlawfully destroyed civilian property in the Gaza War of 2008 and 2009, while the Israeli army asserts they only targeted property used for combat or terrorist activities. (BBC)(Ha'aretz)
At least one person is killed and 42 injured as live ammunition is fired during clashes between interim government supporters and backers of ousted president Kurmanbek Bakiyev in southern Kyrgyzstan. (Xinhua)
Iran announces that it hanged 5 prisoners convicted of the so-called crime of "enmity against God", at least 4 of whom were members of Iran's Kurdish minority. (VOA)
Google admits it has been mistakenly collecting information people have sent over unencrypted wi-fi networks for the past three years and grounds its Street View cars from collecting wi-fi information. (BBC)
A fire at the Butantan Institute in São Paulo, Brazil, destroys its entire collection of preserved snakes—the world's largest—and nearly half a million arachnid specimens, including many novel and yet-unclassified species. (The Guardian)
20 people were killed and more than 60 others were wounded in shelling in the Somali capital, Mogadishu. (CNN)
A recount of votes in the March 7 Iraqi election found no change in seat allocation for any of the blocs in the most populous province, Baghdad, in a setback for Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, who claimed there was election fraud and won a court appeal for the recount after his coalition came in second by two seats. (CNN)
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan flies to Tehran to join talks also attended by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva aimed at convincing Iran of the advantages of sending its nuclear material abroad for processing to ease fears from the West that Iran wants to build a bomb. (BBC)
The refusal of Israel to permit entry of internationally renowned American linguist and political activist Noam Chomsky to the West Bank on May 16, sparks intense debate in the country. (New York Times)
A Taliban suicide car bomber kills at least 12 Afghan civilians and wounds dozens more in an attack on a NATO convoy in the capital, Kabul. (TVNZ)
A suicide car-bomber attacks a police van in the north western Pakistani town of Dera Ismail Khan, killing 12 people. (TVNZ)
Suspected Maoists kill 35 people in a land mine attack against a bus in central India on a road roughly 280 miles (450 km) south of the state capital of Raipur. (CNN)
Buildings across Bangkok have been set ablaze by anti-government protesters after the military stormed a protest camp in the centre of the city. (Al Jazeera)
At least one police officer is killed and five other people are injured in a battle with a dissident army unit in Antananarivo. (Al Jazeera)
Numerous countries condemn North Korea for the sinking of the South Korean vessel Cheonan; North Korea denies involvement, and threatens war if sanctions are imposed. (BBC)
The COO of BP says a gusher of oil pouring from its damaged Gulf of Mexico well could be shut off as early as next week, but noted the plugging operation is "quite complex" and has never been tried in water that deep. (CNN)
French prosecutors seek a suspended prison sentence in the manslaughter trial of the former head of the Concorde programme over Air France Flight 4590 which crashed near Paris in 2000, killing 113 people. (BBC)
At least 19 passengers were killed and more than 70 were injured, when a landslide in rain-drenched Yujiang, East China's Jiangxi Province. (Global Times)
The opposition reveals evidence of corruption by the government as the elections are happening, including rigging, blocking, arrests, intimidation and privacy concerns. (Taiwan News)(Al Jazeera)
JapanesePrime MinisterYukio Hatoyama makes an apology for breaking an election promise to get rid of a U.S. military base located in Okinawa which he and the United States believe is "needed to guarantee regional security". Demonstrators affected by this failure order him to "go home". (BBC)
The Catholic Church requests the public to donate at least £1 million to church collections today to fund three big open air masses at which Pope Benedict XVI will present while in the UK. The rest of the money is paid for by the British government. (BBC)
Nine ships under the banner Freedom Flotilla, from the UK, Ireland, Algeria, Kuwait, Greece and Turkey, with of 800 people from 50 nationalities, begin a trip to Gaza, the biggest attempt by international aid groups to break Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip. Israel informs them they will be stopped for "breaching Israeli law". (Al Jazeera)
The UK tourist resort of Blackpool is expected to benefit "tens of millions" of pounds, described by the tourism chief as "unthinkable", following the local football club's elevation to the Premier League as an open-top bus tour is announced. (BBC)
The widow of an army bomb disposal expert killed there in October admits her husband was under relentless pressure and his elite unit "badly overstretched". (Reuters)
South Korea cuts off trade with North Korea and announces that North Korean ships will no longer be allowed to use South Korean waters. The government demands an apology over the sinking. (BBC)
A panel of judges rules that Kenya's Islamic courts favour Islam and that this is unconstitutional as Kenya is a secular country. (BBC)
Niger proposes reforms that would see only those with a university degree be allowed to run in presidential elections and parliamentary candidates be under the age of seventy and have some form of secondary education. Opposition groups say this discriminates against the 80 per cent of the population that is illiterate. (BBC)
Increased tensions over the sinking of the South Korean warship ROKS Cheonan (PCC-772): South Korea begins broadcasting propaganda over its border with North Korea. North Korea severs all ties and communications with the South and expels Southern workers from a jointly-run factory above the border. (Yonhap)(BBC)
A court in Thailand issues an arrest warrant for former Prime MinisterThaksin Shinawatra on charges of terrorism, following a report by the Thai Department of Special Investigations, which concluded that he had financed Red Shirt protesters and had helped them smuggle in weapons and fighters from Cambodia, during the 2010 political crisis. (Al Jazeera)
A white teacher in Dahlonega, Georgia is suspended after permitting non-black students to bring bed sheets and cone-shaped party hats to school to dress in the traditional costume of right-wing white supremacist nationalist organisation Ku Klux Klan for a film project. She refuses to apologise after the issue is raised by African-American students when one of them was asked to take part in a re-enactment of a lynching. (BBC)(Pretoria News)(The Daily Telegraph)
Swedish model Charlotte Lindström is released from Long Bay Prison in Sydney after serving a three year sentence for plotting to kill two people; she served the time in total isolation because of death threats towards her. (Herald Sun)
Ivor Powell, the world's oldest football coach and "one of the great footballers of his generation" retires at the age of 93. (BBC)
More than 80 students are sickened in a girls' school in Kunduz, Afghanistan, in a poison gas attack suspected to have been carried out by Taliban assailants whose version of Islam is opposed to girls being educated.(USA Today)
Jamaican police arrest more than 500 people after an unsuccessful attempt to arrest a suspected drug kingpin in Kingston, the capital, results in violence that leaves at least 44 people dead. (CNN)(BBC)
Two of Ethiopia's main opposition leaders call for a rerun of Sunday's elections won by Western-backed Meles Zenawi. They say the elections were not free and fair and that two politicians were killed by security forces. (Al Jazeera)(BBC)(The Hindu)(Reuters)
A Lusaka court convicts former Zambian Finance Minister Katele Kalumba of corruption and sentences him to five years with hard labour. Six other people, including former officials in the finance ministry, are also found guilty of corruption. (BBC)(IOL)
Two people are injured and several vehicles are destroyed during a blast in Kandahar. (Al Jazeera)
Elton John makes his Moroccan debut at the Mawazine festival in Rabat, ignoring calls for him to be banned by Islamists who feared he would offend public morals. (BBC)
Organizers of the aid flotilla refuse an offer of support by the family of kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit if they would urge Hamas to allow the soldier to receive letters and food packages from his family and international organizations to visit him. (Ynetnews)(The Jerusalem Post)(Haaretz)
Israel invites the convoy to unload its cargo at the port of Ashdod, where the cargo will be checked for weapons and then the humanitarian goods will be distributed by land to Gaza. (Haaretz)(The Jerusalem Post)
The Israeli Army shows journalists a detention centre in Ashdod where those on board will locked up, saying Israelis would be arrested, Palestinians would be questioned by the Israeli secret service, and foreign nationals would be sent home. (Al Jazeera)
Cyprus bans flotilla vessels from gathering in its territorial waters, a move described by Israel as "an ethical deed and a voice of reason". (Ynetnews)
At least three people die, at least four others are missing, a 15-day state of calamity is declared and the international airport is shut down due to the eruption of the Pacaya volcano in Guatemala. (CNN)
The Israeli Navy also sets off to confront the international flotilla carrying 10,000 tons of humanitarian aid as hundreds of people on board attempt to break the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip. (The Guardian)
Israel's foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman denies the existence of a humanitarian crisis and says the flotilla is "an attempt at violent propaganda against Israel" and promises that "Israel will not allow a violation of its sovereignty at sea, in the air, or on land". (Ynetnews)
Cypriot authorities prevent any activists from leaving the island to join the flotilla, while Turkey urges Israel to treat the convoy as humanitarian aid. (Reuters)
PeruvianAIDESEP indigenous leader Alberto Pizango, detained on Wednesday as he returned from almost a year in exile in Nicaragua and charged with objecting to oil digging in the rainforest, is released on bail. (BBC)
Foxconn increases the wages of the workers in its Shenzhen factory, where several employees have committed suicide, increases wages, by 20 per cent in an effort to boost morale. (BBC)
BP's effort fails to plug the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, which is the worst in U.S. history, and is fouling marshland and beaches, as estimates of how much oil is leaking grow more dire. (AP)(USA Today)
Tens of thousands of Portuguese rally in central Lisbon against the government's austerity measures in one of the biggest protests in recent years. (Al Jazeera)
Gaza prepares a welcoming party to receive the flotilla of ships demonstrating against Israel's naval blockade, while the ships are delayed near Cyprus due to unsuccessful attempts to collect dozens of high-profile supporters from the island. (The Australian)(The Age)(Al Jazeera)(BBC)
Six people are killed and twelve others are injured after a gas canister blasts in an underground tunnel in Rafah. (Xinhua)(AFP)
Two gay pride demonstrations are held in Moscow despite an official ban. It is the first time the event was not broken up by police since the initial attempt in 2006. (AP)(Russia Today)(Reuters)
More than 50,000 Greeks with diabetes are left without insulin after Novo Nordisk, the world's leading supplier of the drug, withdraws from Greece in a "brutal capitalist blackmail" after being asked to reduce the cost of its medicine by the Greek government. (BBC)(euronews)
At least 14 people are wounded after dozens of handball fans belonging to rival teams PAOK Thessaloniki and AEK Athens attack each other with petrol bombs, knives, bricks and furniture, leading to a street battle in Lamia. Police deploy tear gas to bring the city under their control. (BBC)
Nepal's political leaders agree to extend the parliamentary term for another year following talks to avert a political crisis. (Al Jazeera)(The Rising Nepal)
The death toll in yesterday's bus crash in Cameroon is said to have risen to at least 30 people and is expected to rise again. The bus broke into two pieces after rolling down a hill several times. (Al Jazeera)(news.com.au)(AFP)
A second Danish pharmaceutical company, Leo Pharma, suspends sales of medical products in Greece over the government's decision to reduce the cost of medicine there. The government condemns these acts as "unfair". (BBC)
BP turns to a new strategy to stop the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, but it will take at least four to seven days before the containment device that could capture the leaking oil can be put into place. (The Australian)(VOA)(CNN)
Right-wing members of Knesset call for arrest and removal from Knesset of Balad MKHaneen Zoabi, who said she was proud to do her part to end what she called a siege on Gaza.(Jerusalem Post)
The Social Democrats gain the most votes, but 10 percentage points less than 2006, losing 18 seats. (CNN)(AP)
Centre-right parties win 118 seats, with two of them—TOP 09 and Public Affairs—standing in the election for the first time. A centre-right coalition, with Petr Nečas as new Prime Minister, is believed to be "almost certain". (BusinessWeek)
Social Democrats leader Jiří Paroubek resigns as party leader following the result. (Reuters)
The Communist Party, which was polling higher than 2006 before the election, fail to make any gains, remaining at 26 seats.
Three Israeli navy missile boats leave the Haifa naval base in northern Israel in a planned attempt to intercept the Gaza-bound international flotilla. (The New York Times)
Nearly all Israeli unions announce a boycott of organized workers' trips to Turkey due to the country's support for the flotilla, with one saying that "Turkey had been wiped off the workers unions' travel maps". (The Jerusalem Post)
According to Israel's Defense minister, Ehud Barak, IDF chief of staff and Navy commander, the organisers are to blame for deaths from the Israeli attacks upon the flotilla, with Barak saying that the soldiers tried to board the ship peacefully but were forced to open fire to protect themselves. (Jerusalem Post)(Ynet)
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