Portal:Current events/2008 June 3
June 3, 2008 (Tuesday)
- Antonio Pettigrew hands back the gold medal he won as part of the United States Olympic 400 metre relay team at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney following an admission that he used EPO and human growth hormone between 1997 and 2003. Michael Johnson, another member of the team, returns his gold medal on the grounds that it was "tainted". (AP via Forbes) (AP via CNN)
- China National Petroleum Corporation signs an agreement to produce oil in Niger. (BBC News)
- General Motors announces it will close 4 pickup truck and sport utility vehicle factories in Janesville, Wisconsin, Oshawa, Ontario, Moraine, Ohio, and Toluca, Mexico, eliminating 10,000 jobs; it also announces plans for a small car that will achieve 45 miles per gallon in response to rising fuel prices. (AP via Google News)
- NASA reveals that Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center sustained unusual amounts of damage during the launch of STS-124. They are unsure what caused the damage, but are certain it will not cause any delay for the next launch, STS-125, in October. (CBS News via Spaceflight Now)
- United States Democratic Party primaries, 2008:
- Illinois Senator Barack Obama wins the Democratic Party presumptive nomination, becoming the first African American to be nominated by a major party. (AP via Time) (BBC News)
- Senator Obama wins the Montana Democratic primary, 2008.
- New York Senator Hillary Clinton wins the South Dakota Democratic primary, 2008. (BBC News)
- The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization opens the High-Level Conference on World Food Security in Rome, focusing on the world food price crisis, climate change and agriculture and food vs fuel issues.
- Three people are dead and many more injured as a result of flooding in the Zollernalbkreis region in the German state of Baden-Wuerttemberg. (CNN)