United Kingdom Secretary of State for Work and Pensions James Purnell announces his resignation and requests that Prime Minister Gordon Brown also resign. (Guardian) Two laptop computers that contain personal information on Northern Ireland 's 30,000 civil servants are stolen from the Department of Finance and Personnel in Belfast . (RTÉ)
England conducts local elections in 27 county councils and five unitary authorities . (Telegraph ) The President of the United States , Barack Obama , addresses the Muslim world in Cairo , Egypt . (BBC) (Washington Post )
The European Union 's parliamentary election commences in the Netherlands and United Kingdom . (Europarl) (RTÉ)
Irish Minister for Education and Science Batt O'Keeffe apologises for the postponement of a Leaving Certificate Examination . (RTÉ) (Irish Independent ) Australian Minister for Defense Joel Fitzgibbon resigns. (BBC) Linguistic analysis confirms that American astronaut Neil Armstrong did not say the article "a" in the phrase "one small step for a man" when he walked on the Moon on July 20, 1969. (BBC) 150,000 people assemble in Hong Kong , China , to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the massacre in Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989. (BBC)
Two hundred thousand people attend the funeral of Dera Sach Khand leader Sant Ramanand Dass in Jalandhar , Punjab , India . (BBC) (Times of India )
Two thousand new private color photographs of Adolf Hitler are published. (Telegraph ) (Daily News )
The European Union 's parliamentary election continues in the Czech Republic and Ireland . (Europarl)
Ireland conducts local elections and two by-elections in Dublin Central and Dublin South . (RTÉ) (The Irish Times ) American economist Paul Krugman says that the Irish economy may not recover from the 2008–09 financial crisis until 2014. (RTÉ) The Prime Minister of Italy Silvio Berlusconi threatens to sue the Spanish newspaper El País indecent photographs of people at his villa in Sardinia . (BBC)
Ireland 's rate of unemployment reaches 11.8%. (RTÉ) Pope Benedict XVI is briefed on Ireland 's Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse 's public report. (RTÉ) (The Irish Times ) A bus fire kills at least 24 people in Chengdu , Sichuan , China . (Reuters via News Limited)
Brazil 's Air Force confirms that no debris has been recovered from Air France Flight 447 . (Sky News) Presidential-election candidate Baciro Dabó and former Defense Minister Helder Proenca are accused of plotting a coup d'état and killed by Guinea-Bissau 's government . (BBC) (AFP) A bomb kills nine people in a café in Baghdad , Iraq . (BBC)
Philippe Gomès is elected President of New Caledonia . (RNZI) A landslide buries approximately 59 people and kills at least two others in Chongqing , China . (BBC)
A suicide attack kills at least 38 people at a mosque in Upper Dir District , Pakistan . (BBC)
Former United States State Department employee Kendall Myers and his wife, Gwendolyn, are arrested and charged with spying for Cuba 's government . (CNN)
David Bain , after an extensive three-month retrial , is found not guilty of murdering five family members in Dunedin , New Zealand on 20 June 1994. (TVNZ) United Kingdom Prime Minister Gordon Brown shuffles the Cabinet : (RTÉ)
The European Union 's parliamentary election continues in Cyprus , Italy , Latvia , Malta , Slovakia , the Czech Republic , and France 's overseas departments and territories . (Europarl)
The ruling party Fianna Fáil endures significant losses in Ireland 's local elections and parliamentary by-elections in Dublin Central and Dublin South . (AFP) (BBC) (The Times)
The Conservative Party gains seven county councils , the Liberal Democrats lose one, and the Labour Party loses four during the United Kingdom 's local elections . (BBC)
Twenty-six people are killed during and 100 others remain missing after a landslide near Chongqing , China . (BBC)
Seventy-six people die at Harmony Gold 's mine in Free State , South Africa . (BBC)
A fire at a day-care center kills at least 40 people in Hermosillo , Mexico . (BBC) (Fox) (RTÉ)
Fifty-two people die during combat between Peru 's Army and indigenous peoples in the Amazon Rainforest . (Reuters)
At least 36 people die during combat between the Transitional Federal Government and Islamist militants in Webho, Somalia . (BBC)
Two male bodies and several luggage items are recovered from Air France Flight 447 in the Atlantic Ocean . (BBC)
The Philippines ' Army kill 30 Moro Islamic Liberation Front members and capture a "bomb factory" on Mindanao . (BBC)
Former West Berlin police officer Karl-Heinz Kurras is revealed to have spied for East Germany 's Stasi . (BBC)
Harvard University discovers a molecular mechanism that regulates coagulation . (BBC) The American Cemetery and Memorial honors World War II veterans who landed at Normandy , France , in 1944 . (CNN)
The International Labour Organization requests that Burma 's government amend a clause in its Constitution that may justify forced labor . (AFP)
Palm, Inc. launches its new Palm Pre smartphone . (Reuters)
The European Union 's parliamentary election concludes in Austria , Belgium , Bulgaria , Denmark , Estonia , Finland , France , Germany , Greece , Hungary , Italy , Lithuania , Luxembourg , Poland , Portugal , Romania , Slovenia , Spain , and Sweden . (BBC) (RTÉ)
Air France Flight 447 :
Bolivia 's government seeks two Irish passport-holders who are allegedly connected to the attempted assassination of President Evo Morales in April . (Times ) A seven-day gay pride festival is held for the first time in Shanghai , China . (BBC)
The United States Supreme Court is requested to block Italian automaker Fiat 's purchase of Chrysler . (BBC)
Former Cuban President Fidel Castro dismisses allegations that ex-U.S. State Department employee Kendall Myers spied for his country. (ABC) (BBC) (Times of India )
Former United Kingdom Cabinet Ministers Hazel Blears , James Purnell , John Hutton , and Caroline Flint coordinated their resignations to compel Prime Minister Gordon Brown to also resign. (Independent )
Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso is granted honorary citizenship in Paris , France . (AFP) Radio Shabelle director Moqtar Mohamed Hirabe is killed in Mogadishu , Somalia . (BBC)
Billy Elliot the Musical Best Musical and God of Carnage Best Play at the 63rd Tony Awards . (AP via Google News)
At least 18 factory workers are killed when their bus collides with a truck in the Nile Delta , Egypt . (Irish Examiner )
Lloyds Banking Group repay £ 2.56 billion to Her Majesty's Government to compensate for partial nationalisation on 19 January 2009 . (Times ) The Supreme Court of the United States stays the sale of Chrysler to Fiat in Indiana State Police Pension Trust v. Chrysler (Bloomberg)
Four men, including Real Irish Republican Army members Michael McKevitt and Colm Murphy , are declared responsible for the bombing of Omagh , County Tyrone , Northern Ireland , in 1998 . (Reuters) (RTÉ)
The Minister of State for Farming and the Environment , Jane Kennedy , announces her resignation from the Government of the United Kingdom . (BBC)
Pope Benedict XVI is reportedly "visibly upset" after hearing the findings of Ireland 's Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse . (RTÉ) Gabonese President Omar Bongo dies of a heart attack at age 73. (BBC) Two American journalists are found guilty of illegally entering North Korea and sentenced to 12 years of penal labour . (Sky News)
North Korea restricts access to the Sea of Japan , near Wonsan , from June 10–30, possibly indicating future missile testing . (AFP via News Limited) Mayor Ray Nagin of New Orleans , Louisiana , is quarantined in Shanghai , China , after a passenger on his flight from the United States was diagnosed with A(H1N1) influenza . (BBC) European Union 's parliamentary elections :
In a referendum held alongside European Parliament elections, voters in Denmark agreed to change their Acts of Succession to eliminate male preference in their line of succession . (AAP via TV New Zealand)
In a legislative election held alongside European Parliament elections, the Christian Social People's Party increase their plurality in Luxembourg 's Chamber of Deputies . (AFP via NASDAQ)
The third acid attack since December 2008 occurs in Mong Kok , Hong Kong . (The Standard )
Apple Inc. debuts the third generation of its iPhone line, iPhone 3GS at Worldwide Developers Conference 2009. (Apple website)
Romania 's newly elected right-wing Greater Romania Party MEP George "Gigi" Becali is ordered by court not to leave the country. (BBC) Three workers are missing after an explosion at a ConAgra Foods plant in Garner , North Carolina , United States . (CNN)
2009 swine flu outbreak : World Health Organisation Director-General Margaret Chan believes "on the surface of it" that a pandemic has been reached. She also said that "once I get indisputable evidence, I will make the announcement," and will meet with governments on Wednesday regarding reports about the outbreak. (Associated Press via Breitbart.com) Indians in Australia allege more attacks against them in Sydney . (BBC) Dáil Éireann debates a motion of no confidence against the Government of Ireland as George Lee and Maureen O'Sullivan make their debuts in the 30th Dáil . (RTÉ) Two Democrats cross party lines and join Republicans to swing control of the Senate of the U.S. state of New York to the Republican Party. (WCBS New York)
Royal Dutch Shell is to pay out $15.5m (£9.7m) in a legal settlement over its alleged complicity in the 1995 execution of several Nigerian environmental activists, including author Ken Saro-Wiwa , in Nigeria in 1995 . (RTÉ) (Sky News) Nick Griffin , the leader of the British National Party , is pelted with eggs by protestors and forced to abandon a press conference. (BBC) Lloyds Banking Group announce the closure of all Cheltenham & Gloucester branches in the UK and the loss of about 1,660 jobs. (BBC) The trial of William Jefferson , a former member of the U.S. House of Representatives , on charges of bribery and racketeering gets underway. (Washington Post)
The chairman of Anglo Irish Bank discloses to the Oireachtas Committee on Finance and Public Service that some senior staff at the bank have impaired loans to the bank. (RTÉ)
A study suggests that the HIV prevalence rate in South Africa has leveled off at 10.9% and it could be falling in the under-19 age group. (BBC)
An explosion kills 11 people and injures at least 46 at a hotel in Peshawar , Pakistan . (BBC) (RTÉ)
A notebook of Pablo Picasso sketches worth several million euro is discovered stolen from the Musée Picasso in Paris . (The Irish Times )
The leadership of the 30th Dáil Éireann in Ireland , representing Fianna Fáil and the Irish Green Party , win a motion of confidence . (RTÉ)
The European Transport Safety Council criticises Ireland 's lack of speed cameras. (RTÉ)
At least two people are shot at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington D.C. , with an elderly white supremacist as the main suspect. (CNN)
Thousands of people demonstrate in solidarity with victims of child abuse in Dublin as hundreds of victims are invited to meet Irish President Mary McAleese . (RTÉ) (Irish Independent )
Setanta Sports announce it has stopped taking on new subscriptions in order to "secure the future of the business". (BBC) (RTÉ) Air France Flight 447
A car bomb exploded in a crowded market in the town of Bathaa in the southern Iraqi province of Dhiqar , killing up to 35 persons and injuring dozens of others. (Huffington Post )
Massive demonstrations are held in various places in the Philippines against the passage of the Constituent Assembly to amend the Constitution . (Philippine Daily Inquirer )
A two-day strike by the United Kingdom National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers disrupts train services in London . (the Times )
Russia begins destroying 6,000 tons of nerve gas in Shchuchye, Kurgan Oblast . (Sky News) The United Nations Security Council , along with Japan and South Korea , agrees a draft resolution following North Korea 's recent nuclear and missile tests. (BBC)
Palau agrees to accept up to 17 Chinese Uighurs from Guantanamo Bay detention camp . (Bloomberg) The Thai army is sent to reinforce positions along Thailand's border with Burma after an influx of Karen refugees following a Burmese army offensive in Karen state . (BBC)
Rose Francine Rogombé is sworn in as acting head of state in Gabon , following the death of Omar Bongo Ondimba . (AFP) Nine miners die and four are still missing after an accident at a coal mine in Donetsk , Ukraine . (BBC)
Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi arrives in Rome on his first visit to Italy , Libya's former colonial ruler and now its biggest trading partner, wearing a photograph of Omar Mukhtar . (BBC) Google Inc. announced that it has received notice from the United States Department of Justice that antitrust investigators are studying its settlement with publishers designed to put millions of books online consistent with the property rights of authors. (Reuters)
Some 2,000 wild Canadian geese are to be killed around New York's main airports to reduce the numbers of the birds that brought down US Airways Flight 1549 in January. (The New York Times )
10,000 Gabonese watch the body of President Omar Bongo arrive back home from Spain . (BBC) (The Sydney Morning Herald )
A Bosnian television station shows what it says is recent video footage of genocide suspect and Bosnian war commander General Ratko Mladić in Serbia . (The Guardian )
Swedish sports car maker Koenigsegg is to buy Saab Automobile from General Motors with support from Norwegian investors.(Forbes) Dáil Éireann debates the findings of the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse , delayed by the motion of no confidence in the Irish Government opened by Fine Gael . (RTÉ) Ireland 's Garda Commissioner sends two Garda forensic specialists to Brazil to assist in the identification of bodies from Air France Flight 447 . (RTÉ) The World Health Organization declares the current outbreak of H1N1 to be a “pandemic”, the first since the 1968 Hong Kong flu . (BBC) (RTÉ)
Italian students protest Libyan leader Muammar al-Gaddafi 's visit to the country. (BBC) RTÉ , Ireland 's public service broadcaster, denies it is facing bankruptcy. (RTÉ) Four Chinese Uighurs from the Guantanamo Bay detention camp are resettled in Bermuda . (The Times )
Campaigning in Iran 's presidential election ends after three weeks of mass rallies and political rhetoric. (BBC)
The President of France , Nicolas Sarkozy , says he will travel to Ireland to assist the passing of the forthcoming Treaty of Lisbon referendum at a joint news conference with the Chancellor of Germany , Angela Merkel , in Paris . (RTÉ)
Kumari Selja , India 's tourism minister, calls off a visit to Australia following attacks on Indian students in the country. (BBC) The U.S. Supreme Court denies a bail request by Conrad Black , a member of the British House of Lords who remains in a federal prison in Florida .
Egyptian Culture Minister Farouk Hosni announces that the ministry will publish Arabic translations of novels by Israeli writers Amos Oz and David Grossman . (BBC) Xu Zongheng , the mayor of Shenzhen , southern China , is dismissed for "disciplinary offences" after being questioned on corruption allegations. (BBC) For the first time ever, Brazil offers US$ 10 billion in financing to the International Monetary Fund to help improve the availability of credit in developing countries. (BBC)
Ferrero SpA is cleared of allegations of fraud relating to the supply of hazelnuts . (BBC) (The Times )
North Korea considers launching a missile towards Hawaii . (BBC) An Atlas V rocket launches the LRO and LCROSS spacecraft to explore the Moon .(BBC)
Continental Flight 61, a Boeing 777 containing 247 passengers flying from Brussels , Belgium , to Newark, New Jersey , United States , lands safely at Newark Liberty International Airport , after the 61-year-old pilot died mid-flight. (WCBS) 2009 Iranian election protests :
Seven Gambian journalists are charged with seditious publication for reprinting a press union statement criticising President Yahya Jammeh . (IOL)
Canada 's annual seal hunt ends with lower than expected totals. (BBC) Another attack occurs on Romanians in Belfast , on this occasion against a family in the east of the city. (BBC)
Chancellor Alistair Darling states there is "growing evidence" that government measures have stabilised the British banking system and economy. (Sky News) The expense claims of British Members of Parliament are published online. (The Times ) (BBC)
The High Court rules that Suzanne Breen , an editor of the Sunday Tribune Real IRA to police as it would endanger her life. (BBC) (RTÉ)
A suicide bomber detonated an explosives-laden vehicle at the Medina Hotel in Beledweyne , Somalia , killing 10 people. Among the dead is Omar Hashi Aden , Somalia's Security Minister. (BBC)
Several Al-Qaeda militants are killed by a Malian army offensive near the Algerian border. (Taipei Times )
Islamic militants allied to Al-Qaeda launch an attack on a convoy escorting Chinese workers in Mansoura, Algeria , killing 24 policemen. (Irish Times ) (BBC) Loyalist paramilitary organisations in Northern Ireland begin to decommission their weapons. (BBC) (RTÉ) Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora of rock band Bon Jovi are inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame at a ceremony in New York . (BBC) (CBC) South Africa receives its first case of swine flu via the United States . (BBC)
Iran
As part of an ongoing row between FOTA and the FIA , eight teams declare that they will leave Formula One and set up a new championship for the 2010 season. (BBC)
Attacks on Romanians in Belfast
Swine flu is confirmed in Ethiopia and Slovenia . (The Irish Times ) Scotland Yard investigates the expenses of five Labour MPs in Britain . (Irish Independent ) Gambian opposition leader and journalist for the Foroyaa Halifa Sallah , is arrested.(IOL) The U.S. begins deploying missile interceptors and radar to defend Hawaii from a North Korean long-range rocket . (The New York Times ) (AFP)
Ireland 's Taoiseach Brian Cowen secures binding concessions in EU talks on the Lisbon Treaty . (BBC) Allen Stanford , the chairman of Stanford Financial Group , is arrested after allegations of fraud. (BBC) Protests take place at Burma 's embassies worldwide on occasion of Aung San Suu Kyi 's 64th birthday. (Al Jazeera) (BBC)
Air France is to offer compensation to the families of victims of the Flight 447 disaster. (Reuters) (Sky News) A bomb explodes near Bilbao in the Basque region of Spain , killing one policeman. (AP) (RTÉ)
Pakistan Defence Minister Ahmad Mukhtar says the military offensive in the Swat valley is nearing its end. (Sindh Today ) [permanent dead link The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta claims to have blown up another oil pipeline in the Niger Delta region of southern Nigeria . (Xinhua)
Henry Allingham , 113, one of the UK 's last two World War I veterans, becomes the world's oldest man following the death of Tomoji Tanabe . (BBC) The head of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission , Mary Schapiro , said in an interview that it should not be necessary for the SEC and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to align all their rules and regulation, although she does expect some harmonization. (Reuters)
U.S. District Court Judge Samuel B. Kent is impeached by the U.S. House of Representatives on charges of obstruction of justice. (CNN)
The U.S. Treasury Department confirmed that 10 big banks have met the necessary requirements to repay funds that they have received—a total of $58 billion—in the Troubled Asset Relief Program of October 2008 . (WSJ)
The Preparatory Commission for the International Renewable Energy Agency designates the headquarters of the organization to Masdar City , Abu Dhabi . (Deutsche Welle)
Scientific tests show bones housed in the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls in Rome are those of the apostle Saint Paul himself, according to Pope Benedict XVI . (CNN)
Bernard Madoff is sentenced to 150 years in prison for investment fraud . (The New York Times ) The United States Air Force test fires an unarmed Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile from the coast of California to a point in the Pacific Ocean about 4,200 miles (6,750 km) away. (AP via KFMB)
Two passenger trains collide in Chenzhou , Hunan in central China, leaving at least three people dead and 60 injured. (Xinhua)
Five out of nine local staff from the British embassy in Tehran , Iran , who were recently arrested, are released. (BBC)
The Iranian Guardian Council certifies the controversial presidential election . (The New York Times )
The United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will travel to Burma on Friday to press the country on democratic reform. (BBC)
The opposition gained a large victory in Argentine legislative elections , leading party leader Néstor Kirchner to step down. (BBC)
The U.S. resumes secret surveillance flights to aid Pakistani commanders. (The New York Times )
The Gas Exporting Countries Forum elects Abdullah Bin Hamad Al-Attiyah , oil and energy minister of Qatar, as the president of the organization. (Bloomberg)
The President of Cameroon Paul Biya sacks Prime Minister Ephraim Inoni and appoints Philemon Yang to the role. (AP via Google News)
Dresden loses its status as a UNESCO World Heritage Site . (Bloomberg) Germany 's Constitutional Court approves the Treaty of Lisbon , but suspends ratification of it. (The Wall Street Journal ) Official figures from the Central Statistics Office show a dramatic contraction in the Irish economy in the first three months of 2009. (RTÉ)
At least 15 people are killed and 40 are injured by the derailment of an Italian freight train and subsequent explosion of two wagons carrying liquified petroleum gas in Viareggio . (BBC)
Yemenia Flight 626 , an Airbus A310 , crashes en route to Moroni , Comoros , from Sana'a , Yemen . (CNN) U.S. forces pull out of Baghdad and leave major cities across Iraq . (The New York Times ) The Pirate Bay , one of the world's largest BitTorrent trackers, confirms today that it would be acquired by Global Gaming Factory X (GGF) for 7.8 million USD. (The Pirate Bay blog ) The Taliban scraps the truce offered in February by the Pakistani government , killing approximately 30 Pakistani soldiers shortly after making the announcement. (The New York Times )
The Israeli navy intercepts a boat carrying humanitarian supplies headed for Gaza , which remains under a blockade . (The Jerusalem Post ) (Al Jazeera)
United States Senate election in Minnesota, 2008
