Portal:Current events/2007 February 27
February 27, 2007 (Tuesday)
- In Senegal, unofficial results from government sources indicate that incumbent President Abdoulaye Wade has won the 2007 presidential election with more than 50% of the votes. (CNN)
- Richard M. Daley, the Mayor of Chicago, is elected for his sixth term. If he serves the length of this term, he will become the longest serving mayor of Chicago, surpassing his father Richard J. Daley. (NBC Chicago)
- The Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego, California announces plans to file for bankruptcy to put off 140 civil lawsuits related to alleged sexual abuse by priests. (AP via Daily Comet)
- Canada's House of Commons votes not to extend provisions of its anti-terrorism legislation that allows for preventative arrests and forced testimony. (FOX)
- After rumours that authorities were going to raise interest rates in an attempt to curb inflation, the SSE Composite Index of the Shanghai Stock Exchange tumbles 9% from unexpected selloffs, the largest drop in 10 years, triggering major drops in worldwide stock markets. (Forbes) (BBC) (Xinhua)
- After the Chinese market drop, the Dow Jones Industrial Average in the United States drops 416 points amid fears for growth prospects, the biggest one-day slide since the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Sell orders are made so fast that a second analysis computer has to be used, causing an instantaneous 200-point drop at one point. (Reuters)
- Advisers to the Food and Drug Administration recommend that the agency approve a Sanofi-Aventis SA bird flu vaccine. (Bloomberg)
- Israel Defence Forces withdraw from the West Bank town of Nablus, three days after a raid to arrest suspected militants. (ABC)
- 2007 Bagram Air Base bombing: A suicide attack at Bagram Air Base while Vice President of the United States Dick Cheney is visiting kills 23, but the Vice President is not injured. The Taliban claims responsibility, and declares that Cheney was their intended target. (Bloomberg) (CNN)
- North Korea and South Korea meet at a ministerial level for the first time since the conclusion of six-party talks about the North Korean nuclear weapons program. (BBC)
- The ambassadors from the United States and Italy to Sri Lanka are injured by mortar fire while visiting eastern Sri Lanka. (CNN)
- Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea Michael Somare removes Minister for Defence Martin Aini from office over the Julian Moti affair. (News Limited)
- Drought in southwestern China is threatening the drinking water supply of 1.5 million people. (Reuters via CNN)
- A hail storm damages the Space Shuttle Atlantis, delaying the STS-117 launch originally scheduled for March 15. (FOX)
- Guinean general strike, 2007: Unions declare the strike over and urge workers to return to their jobs, following President Lansana Conté's appointment of a Prime Minister acceptable to them. (BBC)
- The Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court names the former Sudanese minister Ahmed Muhammad Harun and Janjaweed militia leader Ali Kushayb as chief suspects in its investigation into alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur. The Government of Sudan has announced that it will not hand over the named men to the ICC. (BBC) (VOA) (CNN)