Portal:Current events/2016 June 1

Current events of June 1, 2016 (2016-06-01) (Wednesday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Syrian Civil War
  • United States-backed Syrian Democratic Forces begin an offensive to regain control of the city of Manbij in the Aleppo Governorate from ISIL. (Reuters via Trust)
• Northern Mali conflict
  • Four UN peacekeepers are killed in a suspected Al-Qaeda attack in northern Mali. (News Week) (CBC)
• War in Somalia (2009–present)
  • At least 16 people are killed and 55 injured in an attack on a hotel in Mogadishu, Somalia. Al-Shabaab claims responsibility. (Reuters) (CNN) (VOA News), (Reuters)
  • The Pentagon announces the death of Abdullahi Haji Da’ud, a top Al-Shabaab commander, in an airstrike. (Washington Times) (FOX News)
• Suspected Neo-Nazis attack people at a vegan cafe with slabs of meat in Tbilisi, Georgia. (Newsweek) (Miami Herald)

Business and economy

• A committee of the United States House of Representatives is looking into the way the Federal Reserve Bank of New York investigated the theft of assets it was holding for the central bank of Bangladesh. (Reuters)
• The Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund raises $3.5 billion for Uber. It is the largest single investment the company has ever received. (The New York Times)

Disasters and accidents

• A gas explosion at a subway construction site near the South Korean capital Seoul kills four workers and injures ten more. (Yonhap)
• EgyptAir Flight 804
  • A French naval vessel detects a possible signal from the missing black box of EgyptAir Flight 804. (CNN) (The New York Times)
• 2016 Fort McMurray wildfire
  • Residents return to Fort McMurray for the first time since May 1. A couple thousand firefighters, from as far away as South Africa, continue to battle the 5,800 square kilometer (3,603 square mile) Canadian blaze that has crossed the Alberta border into Saskatchewan. (Bloomberg)
• Greg Abbott, the Governor of the US state of Texas, declares a disaster in 31 counties due to floods which have claimed several lives in recent days. (KVUE)
• The U.S. Geological Survey reports a 6.5 magnitude earthquake 155 km (95 miles) from the West Sumatra port city of Padang in Indonesia at a depth of about 50 km (30 miles). There are no immediate reports of damage or injury. (Bloomberg) (Reuters)

International relations

• Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan warns Germany against recognizing the Armenian Genocide. (Reuters)
• According to the Secretary General of NATO Jens Stoltenberg, defense spending by European member states will grow for the first time in a decade. Stoltenberg went on to say that "we are faced with uncertainty. We are faced with more threats, more security challenges, than in a generation". (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)
• Humanitarian aid during the Syrian Civil War
  • A convoy carrying much-needed nutritional and medical aid reaches the besieged town Darayya, the first time since 2012. The only food delivered was baby milk. A 48-hour ceasefire for the town came into force today. (Reuters) (NPR) (BBC)
  • The United Nations Security Council is exploring humanitarian air drops to besieged areas of Syria. (AP via The New York Times)
  • Riad Hijab, coordinator of the opposition High Negotiations Committee, in a letter to United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon proposes a nationwide truce for the month of Ramadan which begins 6 June 2016. (Australian Associated Press via News.com.au)
• The United Nations Security Council condemns North Korea's failed ballistic missile test yesterday, as well as two other unsuccessful ones in April. (Reuters)

Law and crime

• 2016 UCLA shooting
  • Two people are killed in a murder-suicide shooting at the University of California Los Angeles. Police report the campus is now safe. (USA Today) (LA Times) (The New York Times)
• A man in Plano, Texas, stabs his girlfriend and posts her dead body to Facebook; the social media website does not remove the photograph for 36 hours. (The New York Times)
• Thailand authorities discover the remains of 40 dead tiger cubs in a freezer at the Tiger Temple in the Sai Yok District of Kanchanaburi Province. The Theravada Buddhist temple is being investigated for wildlife trafficking. The Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation is in the process of removing 137 tigers from the monks' custody. (New York Daily News) (Bangkok Post)
• German police are investigating 26 sexual assault reports from this weekend's Schloßgrabenfest music festival near Darmstadt. In one case, three women reported being groped by groups of men Saturday. Police have detained three Pakistani immigrants, and expect more reports following this announcement. (CNN) (UPI) (The Independent)

Science and technology

• The world's longest and deepest rail tunnel, the 57 km (35 miles) Gotthard Base Tunnel, opens in Switzerland. (CNN) (The New York Times)

Sport

• The International Olympic Committee (IOC) executive board backs host Tokyo's proposal to include baseball-softball, surfing, karate, sport climbing, and skateboarding in the 2020 Summer Olympics. The full IOC will vote on this in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in August. (AP)