Portal:Current events/2005 May 27

May 27, 2005 (Friday)

The King Fahd of Saudi Arabia, has been taken to hospital, overtly for tests; however, the BBC quotes an unofficial source who claims the King has water in his lungs. (BBC)
Qur'an desecration by US military: Protests have occurred in Egypt, Pakistan, Jordan, Lebanon and Malaysia after the US military admitted that the Qur'an had been "mishandled" by soldiers. (BBC)
The Bundesrat of Germany ratifies the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe. (BBC)
Movie Premiere of Madagascar from the Creators of Shrek and Shark Tale
Australian Schapelle Corby has been found guilty by a Bali court of importing a narcotic into Indonesia. She has appealed the AU$13,875 fine and the 20-year jail sentence. (ABC News) (Jakarta Post)
The Federal Court of Australia rejects an attempt from Humane Society International to sue a Japanese whaler because such an action might generate conflict with Japan. The organisation claims the whaling company is hunting unlawfully in Australian waters near Antarctica. The Humane Society is now considering appeal. (ABC News)
The 148 members of the World Trade Organization officially appoint the former European Union Trade Commissioner, Pascal Lamy, as its 5th Director-General. (VOA News), (WTO official website)
The majority of members of Basque parliament, Spain, condemn the ETA bomb attack in Madrid, though the communists abstain. A bomb explodes later in a Basque train station. (EITB) (Reuters AlertNet)
The planned 48 hour strike at the BBC in Britain is called off, unions announce, following talks. (BBC) (ThisIsLondon)^{[permanent dead link]}
14 people die as a bomb explodes near a shrine in Islamabad, Pakistan. (Al-Jazeera) (BBC) (Bloomberg)
Ethiopian general elections: European Union observers report that the National Elections Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) may be losing control of the vote counting for the recent May 15 election, potentially marring the most open election in Ethiopian history. Meanwhile the NEBE has postponed announcement of the election's provisional results until June 8, due to the volume of complaints of election irregularities. (CBC)
Popular singer Morrissey's official Website released the following statement: "Morrissey will regrettably not be appearing at the Isle Of Wight Festival on the 11th of June as scheduled. The pressure of preparing the new album and losing his drummer earlier this month has made it impossible to do the gig without massively compromising both the gig and the album. Apologies to all the fans, the organisers and the people of the Isle Of Wight."[1]^{[permanent dead link]}
In the AFL, Richmond forward Nathan G. Brown broke his leg in a horrific incident involving Melbourne defender Matthew Whelan. It was one of the most shocking injuries suffered by an AFL player ever.