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An earthquake (epicenter shown in map) measuring 7.9 M_w strikes Sichuan, China with several thousand people reported dead.
Sudan cuts diplomatic relations with Chad, blaming it for helping rebels from Darfur to launch an attack on Sudan's capital, Khartoum.
An international relief operation begins after Cyclone Nargis strikes Burma, with at least 100,000 people reported killed or missing. The Burmese military regime conducts a constitutional referendum days after the cyclone's strike.
A tornado outbreak in Oklahoma and Missouri, United States kills at least 23 people.
Skirmishes between supporters of Lebanon's government and the opposition erupt in Beirut.

Wikinews – Recent deaths – More current events...

May 12, 2008 (Monday)

2008 Sichuan earthquake: A magnitude 7.8 earthquake hits China's Sichuan province, killing at least 8,500 people. (BBC News) (BBC News)
Cyclone Nargis:
- The first United States relief airlift for victims of the cyclone takes off from U-Tapao International Airport in Thailand, as the official death toll reaches 32,000. (AP via Google News)
- United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says he is "immensely frustrated" at the State Peace and Development Council's slow response to the cyclone. (BBC News)
Pakistan:
- Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's party Pakistan Muslim League (N) announces it has decided to leave the governing coalition because of differences over how to restore around 60 judges sacked by President Pervez Musharraf on November 3, 2007. (BBC News) (BBC News)
- The Commonwealth of Nations decides to re-admit Pakistan, six months after its suspension. (BBC News)
Shootings are reported in Khartoum, Sudan, one day after a rebel attack on the city. Islamist leader Hassan al-Turabi is released from custody after being interrogated by police. (BBC News) (BBC News)
Hezbollah clash with forces loyal to Druze leader Walid Jumblatt in the Shouf mountains of Lebanon. (BBC News)
Israeli police raid the Jerusalem city hall to seize documents related to alleged bribes received by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert from businessman Moshe Talansky. (BBC News)
Nepalese Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala sets May 28, 2008 as the date in which the constituent assembly will meet to abolish the monarchy. (BBC News)
The President of Bolivia Evo Morales approves recall elections for himself and the governors of the nine departments on August 10, 2008. (AP via Seattle Post-Intelligencer)
Russia's new Prime Minister Vladimir Putin announces his cabinet. (BBC News)
United States federal authorities start sending aid to Missouri, Oklahoma and Georgia as the total death toll from the May 2008 tornado outbreak sequence reaches 22. (BBC News)
British Airways Flight 38: An updated report reveals cold weather may have caused the dual engine failure that resulted in first Boeing 777 writeoff. (Telegraph)(AAIB)
United States cable television company Cablevision buys New York City-based newspaper Newsday for US$650m. (BBC News)

May 11, 2008 (Sunday)

2008 attack on Omdurman and Khartoum:
- Sudan's government halts an attack on the country's capital Khartoum by hundreds of rebels from Darfur. (Al-jazeera)
- Sudan breaks diplomatic ties with Chad, claiming it backed the rebel attack. (BBC News)
- Sudan's ambassador to the United Nations Abdalmahmood Abdalhaleem says there is proof that Chad supported the rebels. Opposition leader Hassan al-Turabi is arrested. (BBC News)
Cyclone Nargis:
- The International Federation of the Red Cross says that the cargo ship carrying the first load of food aid from the Red Cross for survivors of Cyclone Nargis has sunk in the Irrawaddy River. (Reuters) (AP via Yahoo! News)
- The official death toll for Cyclone Nargis rises to 28,458. (Vatican Radio)
China announces the establishment of China Commercial Aircraft in Shanghai to challenge Airbus and Boeing for the domestic market. The first jet to be marketed is the ARJ21, developed by AVIC I, with a $2.7 billion start-up capital. (AP via CNN)
Pakistan's two main coalition leaders, Asif Ali Zardari and Nawaz Sharif meet with U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher in London to discuss the removal of judges by President Pervez Musharraf, but fail to reach an agreement. (AP via CNN)
Run-offs in the Zimbabwean presidential election, according to George Chiweshe, the elections commissioner, must be delayed past the time alloted by law, up to a year, until funding can be found. (AP via CNN)
Serbian voters go to the polls in the Serbian parliamentary election, 2008. A pro-Europe coalition associated with the President of Serbia Boris Tadić wins the most votes. (BBC News) (Sydney Morning Herald)
A medical helicopter crashes returning to Madison, Wisconsin resulting in the death of three people including the pilot, a doctor and nurse. (Canadian Press via Google News)
A Chilean computer hacker obtains confidential information about six million people from government servers and leaks it to the Internet. (BBC News)

May 10, 2008 (Saturday)

May 2008 tornado outbreak sequence:
- A tornado kills at least nine in Picher, Oklahoma. (KTUL.com) (AP via Yahoo! News)
- A swarm of tornadoes in southwest Missouri kills at least 12 people with much of the damage in Newton County, Missouri. (Reuters) (AP via Google News) (NOAA)
United States presidential election, 2008: Illinois Senator Barack Obama takes the lead in support from superdelegates to the Democratic National Convention (The New York Times)
News Corporation withdraws its bid to purchase the New York City newspaper Newsday. (The New York Times)
2008 attack on Omdurman and Khartoum: Hundreds of Darfur rebels from the Justice and Equality Movement reach the outskirts of Khartoum and engage in clashes with the Sudanese military. (AP via Google News)
Russia's air force chief Col.-Gen. Alexander Zelin accuses NATO fighters of launching "air attacks" during escort of Russian bombers. (AP via CNN.com)
Muqtada al-Sadr and the Iraqi Government announced a ceasefire in Baghdad's Sadr district. (CNN)
2008 unrest in Lebanon:
- The Prime Minister of Lebanon Fuad Saniora accuses Hezbollah of staging "an armed coup" against Lebanon. (AP via The International Herald Tribune)
- The Lebanese Army overturns two key government decisions in order to reduce tension between Hezvollah and the Government of Lebanon. (YA Libnan)
Ninawa campaign: The Iraqi Army launched a major operation in the northern city of Mosul against al-Qaeda and its allies. (BBC News)
Morgan Tsvangarai, the Leader of the Movement for Democratic Change in Zimbabwe, announces that he will contest a runoff election in the Zimbabwean presidential election, 2008. (BBC News)
Voters in Burma go to the polls for the Burmese constitutional referendum, 2008 despite the widespread devastation caused by Cyclone Nargis with widespread concerns about the legitimacy of the process. (BBC News)
Negotiators from Pakistan's two major coalition parties meet in London, but fail to reach an agreement. (AP via CNN)

May 9, 2008 (Friday)

Pakistan's two main coalition leaders, Asif Ali Zardari and Nawaz Sharif meet in London to discuss the removal of judges by Musharraf (AP via CNN)
Commander Esteban Robles Espinosa of Mexico City's investigative police force was shot dead as he left his home. (CNN)
Cyclone Nargis:
- A spokesman for the World Food Programme says that Myanmar's refusal to give visas to relief experts is "unprecedented" in the history of humanitarian assistance. (AP via Google News)
- The World Food Programme suspends shipments to Myanmar after the State Peace and Development Council seizes supplies shipped to the country. (AP via The Houston Chronicle)
- The World Food Programme says that it will resume food shipments on Saturday while warning of further rain in Myanmar next week. The United States has been granted permission to send one C-130 Hercules carrying relief aid on Monday. (AP via Google News) (AP via Google News)
2008 unrest in Lebanon:
- Hezbollah gains control of large sections of Beirut as a pro-government television station is forced off the air. (AFP via News Limited)
- The United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice accuses Hezbollah backed by Syria and Iran of killing "innocent civilians". (AP via USA Today)
The price of crude oil reaches a new record high of US$125.98 a barrel. (BBC News)
The United States Military denies the capture of al-Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Ayyub al-Masri. (BBC News)
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert denies taking bribes from businessman Moshe Talansky. (BBC News)
A Zimbabwean policeman tells the BBC the presidential runoff election will be rigged by war veteran militias. (BBC News)

May 8, 2008 (Thursday)

The Congress of Bolivia agrees to hold a recall election by 7 August on whether the President of Bolivia Evo Morales should remain in power. (CNN)
Commissioner Édgar Eusebio Millán Gómez of Mexico's Federal Preventive Police is shot dead in central Mexico City. (CNN)
The United States House of Representatives approves legislation developed by Barney Frank to let the United States government insure up to $300 billion in mortgages to help homeowners avert foreclosure. (Bloomberg)
The Iraqi Minister of Defence claims that the leader of Al-Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Ayyub al-Masri, has been captured. (BBC News)
North Korea hands over thousands of pages about its nuclear program to a visiting diplomat from the United States that will help verify its plutonium holdings. (AFP via Yahoo! News)
Russia expels two United States military attachés following earlier expulsion of two Russian diplomats from the United States. (Bloomberg)
Latvia and Lithuania become the latest EU member states to ratify the Treaty of Lisbon. (RTÉ)
2008 unrest in Lebanon: Gunbattles erupt in Beirut as the government of Lebanon cracks down on Hezbollah. Two people are killed and eight injured in the fighting. (AFP) (AP via Google News)
The 2008 Summer Olympics torch relay reaches the peak of Mount Everest. (AP via Google News)
Cyclone Nargis:
- An international relief operation begins after cyclone Nargis strikes Burma, with at least 63,500 people reported killed or missing. (Reuters via NineMSN)
- Three planes carrying vital food aid for the World Food Programme to Burma are delayed in Bangkok, Dhaka and Dubai due to a failure by Burma's State Peace and Development Council to grant approval. After approval is granted, planes start arriving in Yangon. (Reuters via NineMSN) (AP via Google News)
Silvio Berlusconi is sworn in as Prime Minister of Italy for the fourth time. (EuroNews)
The PRO-IP Act passes through the United States House of Representatives. (Ars technica)

May 7, 2008 (Wednesday)

The genome of the platypus is sequenced. (BBC News)
Silvio Berlusconi, the Prime Minister of Italy, appoints his new Cabinet. (AP via The International Herald Tribune)
Hillary Clinton vows to remain as a candidate in the United States presidential election, 2008 despite financial problems which required her to lend her campaign $6.4 million dollars and dwindling chances of winning the Democratic Party nomination. (BBC News)
Brian Cowen, TD is elected as Irish Taoiseach by 88 votes to 76. (RTÉ)
Dmitry Medvedev assumes the role of the President of Russia. (BBC News)

May 6, 2008 (Tuesday)

Chilean authorities order the total evacuation of the towns of Chaitén and Futaleufú as the eruption of the Chaitén volcano continues to worsen. (Reuters via Canada.com)
The Irish Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, officially resigns after ten years, ten months and ten days as head of government. (RTÉ)
2007–2008 world food price crisis: Mogadishu residents protest for a second day over high food prices as traders reject old Somali shilling notes due to high inflation. (Reuters)
Cyclone Nargis
- Myanmar state government reports that the death toll from the cyclone has reached 22,000, with 41,000 people missing. (BBC News)
- The State Peace and Development Council announces that the Burmese constitutional referendum, 2008 will proceed on the weekend except in 47 townships worst affected by the cyclone. (Thomson Financial News via Forbes)
- The President of the United States George W. Bush pleads for the Myanmar government to accept help from the United States and the rest of the international community. USAID donates an additional $3 million to cyclone victims. (CNN)
Chinese President Hu Jintao begins a landmark five-day state visit to Japan. (BBC News)
United States voters go to the polls in the North Carolina and Indiana Democratic Party primaries. Illinois Senator Barack Obama wins North Carolina by 14 per cent while New York Senator Hillary Clinton narrowly wins in Indiana. (BBC News) (The New York Times)
Prominent Malaysian blogger and political activist, Raja Petra Kamaruddin, is charged with sedition. (Malaysia Today)

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Time: 21:49 UTC \| Date: May 12, 2008

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Ongoing events
Central Asia energy crisis Diplomatic response to Kosovar independence Economic crisis in U.S. and Europe Kenyan crisis Olympic torch relay Subprime mortgage crisis Unrest in Tibet U.S. Democratic presidential primaries U.S. Republican presidential primaries World food price crisis

Recent deaths
May 12: Irena Sendler 11: Dottie Rambo 10: Leyla Gencer 9: Jack Gibson 8: Eddy Arnold 5: Hugh Bradner 5: Irv Robbins 4: Colin Murdoch 3: Ted Key 2: Mildred Loving 1: Philipp von Boeselager 1: Deborah Jeane Palfrey 1: Anthony Mamo 1: Aden Hashi Farah "Eyrow" April 30: John Cargher 29: Albert Hofmann 25: John H. McConnell 25: Humphrey Lyttelton 24: Kenneth Keith Kallenbach 22: Paul Davis 21: Al Wilson 19: Germaine Tillion 17: Danny Federici 17: Aimé Césaire 17: Gwyneth Dunwoody

Ongoing conflicts
Acholiland insurgency Arab-Israeli conflict Colombian armed conflict Iraq War Communist and Islamic insurgency in the Philippines Waziristan War Fatah-Hamas conflict War in Somalia Turkey-PKK conflict Second Chechen War Ogaden conflict South Thailand insurgency Sri Lankan Civil War War in Afghanistan War in Darfur

Elections
Recent 20: Paraguay, General 23: Guernsey, General 23: Tonga, General (to April 24) 25: Iran, Legislative (2^nd round) 26: Nauru, Parliament 4: Equatorial Guinea, Parliament 10: Burma, constitutional referendum 11: Serbia, Parliament Upcoming 13: Lebanon, President 16: Dominican Republic, President 17: Kuwait, Parliament 21: Georgia, Legislative

Trials
Upcoming Canada: Larry O'Brien US: James Charles Kopp US: Ehren Watada US: Tom DeLay US: William J. Jefferson US: Kwame Kilpatrick US: Aníbal Salvador Acevedo Vilá Ongoing Cambodia: Khmer Rouge Tribunal Iraq: Supreme Iraqi Criminal Tribunal Netherlands: ICC Thomas Lubanga Netherlands: ICTY Peru: Alberto Fujimori Sierra Leone: SCfSL Charles Taylor US: Jena Six US: Brian Nichols US: José Padilla US: Phil Spector

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