Timeline – 2010 (SIADD)

January

 * January 1:
 * [[Image:Flag of Denmark.png|25px|border|Denmark]] Århus, Denmark – A 28-year-old Somali Muslim intruder armed with an axe and knife entered the home of Kurt Westergaard, the Danish cartoonist who created the controversial cartoon of the Muslim prophet Muhammad wearing a bomb in his turban, and was subsequently shot and wounded by police.


 * Westergaard was unharmed, because of the security precautions in his house. The suspect was arrested, taken into custody and charged with attempted murder of Westergaard and a police officer. According to PET intelligence, the suspect is closely linked to the Somali Islamist insurgency group al-Shabaab, commonly considered a terrorist organization, as well as al-Qaeda leaders in East Africa, and has been part of a "terror-related network" with Danish ties.


 * January 2:
 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]] Washington, D.C., USA – McCain would for the next days meet with his National Security Council, along with Director of the CIA Bobby Ray Inman and Director of FBI Robert Mueller, to discuss the attempted terrorist attack against Northwest Airlines Flight 253.


 * January 3:
 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]][[Image:Flag of the United Kingdom.PNG|25px|border|United Kingdom]][[Image:Flag of Yemen.png|25px|border|Yemen]] Washington, D.C., USA and London, United Kingdom – The McCain Administration and the British government would announce their increased funding to a counterterrorism police unit in Yemen to tackle the rising terrorist threat from the country. while the United Kingdom would give more than £100 million ($161 million) to Yemen in 2011, while the U.S. government would increase its funding to counterterrorism measures in Yemen from $ 4,4 million (2006) to $65,6 million.


 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]] Washington, D.C., USA – President McCain endorsed the Republican candidate, State Senator Scott Brown, in the special election in Massachussets, saying that Brown's long record of public service fighting wasteful spending and higher taxes and as an officer on the Army National Guard, he understands the importance of a strong military and the necessity of protecting our interests around the world.


 * Trailing Democratic candiate Martha Coakley with between 25 and 30% and with analyst expressing little chance for a Republican victory on January 19, McCain was Brown's first major endorsement and his first visitor, and political analysts said that McCain's endorsement was a big gamble - as Brown was considered a long-shot candidate running for the seat left vacant by the death of Edward M. Kennedy, McCain's endorsement might eventually prove to be a guarantee for Brown's victory or a big blunder. Brown has since called McCain his political role model.


 * January 4:
 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]] Washington, D.C., USA – The McCain administration is locked in internal debate over a top-secret policy blueprint for shrinking the U.S. nuclear arsenal and reducing the role of such weapons in America's military strategy and foreign policy. Officials in the Pentagon and elsewhere have pushed back against McCain administration proposals to cut the number of weapons and narrow their mission, according to U.S. officials and outsiders who have been briefed on the process. In turn, White House officials, unhappy with early Pentagon-led drafts of the blueprint known as the Nuclear Posture Review, steppes up their involvement in the deliberations and ordered that the document reflect McCain's preference for sweeping change.


 * January 7:
 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]] Washington, D.C., USA – Sam Nunn, the National Security advisor said that Americans would feel "a certain shock" when a report detailing the intelligence failures that could have prevented the Christmas Day attack were released later that day. He said that President McCain would be "legitimately and correctly alarmed that things that were available, bits of information that were available, patterns of behavior that were available, were not acted on."


 * January 8:
 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]] Washington, D.C., USA – At a press conference at the White House along with Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge and Deputy National Security Advisor John O. Brennan, President McCain would criticize the U.S. intelligence agencies for "failing to interpret, compile, use and share information they had available. The failure was a serious error that could have had catastrophic consequences." He would announce improved security measures at U.S. airports and aviation security, including the order to U.S. security agencies to work better together to prevent terrorism, invest significant amounts to improve security at U.S. airports (including the introduction of 3D full-body scanning x-ray technology) as well strengthen cooperation with other countries around the world. Under new rules prompted by the incident, airline passengers travelling to the U.S. from 14 nations will aslo undergo extra screening: Afghanistan, Algeria, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen.


 * January 10:
 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]] Washington, D.C., USA – Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada) is facing harsh criticism due to a quote in the book "Game Change" by Mark Halperin og John Heileman, where he is quoted as saying privately in 2008 that Obama could be successful as a black candidate in part because of his "light-skinned" appearance and speaking patterns "with no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one."


 * While Chairman of the Republican Party Michael Steele and Senator John Cornyn (R-Texas) called on Reid to give up his post, Reid's appology was accepted by Obama, saying that "Harry Reid called me today and apologized for an unfortunate comment reported today. I accepted Harry's apology without question because I've known him for years, I've seen the passionate leadership he's shown on issues of social justice and I know what's in his heart." President McCain would ask for restraint, saying that "while his remarks are embarrassing and racially insensitive, Obama has accepted his apology, and I am not intending to blow this particular case out of proporsions". He also urged the American people to join him in starting an open, honest and respectful debate on race.


 * January 11:
 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]][[Image:Flag of Yemen.png|25px|border|Yemen]] Sana'a, Yemen – A U.S. delegation consisting of Secretary of State Joe Lieberman and Defense Minister Robert Gates would travel to Yemen, where they met with President Ali Abdullah Saleh, Prime Minister Ali Mohammed Mujur, Foreign Minister Abu Bakr al-Kerbi and Defense Minister Brig. Gen. Muhammad Nasir Ahmad Ali to discuss increased military cooperation between Yemen and the United States in combatting al-Qa'ida on the Arabian Peninsula in Yemen, in response to the attempted terrorist attack against Northwest Airlines Flight 253.


 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]] Washington, D.C., USA – Some Democrats in Congress would demand that the United States would hold back their guarantees of loan to Israel following the announcement by the Israeli government that they would begin construction of a 703 meter long barrier along the Israeli-Egyptian border at the cost of 1.5 billion Shekel.


 * January 12:
 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]] Washington, D.C., USA – A CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey show that 72% of people questioned in the poll said they have a moderate or great deal of confidence in the McCain administration to protect the public from future terrorist attacks, while 23 percent disapproved. While the survey showed that positive view of McCain on this matter was largest among Republicans (82%), the survey showed that 61% of independents and 51% of Democrats approve of how the president responded to the incident on Christmas Day. The survey also showed that the vast majority of Americans supported McCain's plan to introduce full-body scanners in airports across the country.


 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]][[Image:Flag of Europe.png|25px|border|European Union]][[Image:Flag of Norway.png|25px|border|Norway]] Brussels, Belgium – At the headquarters of the Council of the European Union in Brussels, Belgium, the U.S. Special Envoy for the Middle East Richard Jones met with High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton, Envoy of the Quartet on the Middle East Tony Blair and foreign ministers David Miliband (United Kingdom), Bernard Kouchner (France), Guido Westerwelle (Germany), Franco Frattini (Italy), Miguel Ángel Moratinos (Spain) and Morten Høglund (Norway) to re-start the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians, with the goal of a two-state solution.


 * [[Image:Flag of Haiti.png|25px|border|Haiti]] Port-au-Prince, Haiti – At 4:53:09 p.m. local time, an earthquake with magnitude 7.0 Mw centered approximately 10 miles (16 km) from Port-au-Prince, Haiti damaged most of Port-au-Prince's major landmarks, including the National Presidential Palace of Haiti, the National Assembly building, the Port-au-Prince Cathedral and at least one hospital. Tens of thousands were reported missing.


 * January 13:
 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]][[Image:Flag of Haiti.png|25px|border|Haiti]] Washington, D.C., USA – In response to the earthquake in Haiti, McCain said: "My thoughts and prayers go out to those who have been affected by this earthquake. We are closely monitoring the situation and we stand ready to assist the people of Haiti." Immediately after the earthquake, Secretary of State Lieberman said the United States would provide civilian and military disaster relief and humanitarian assistance to Haiti in form of 72 search-and-rescue personnel, six rescue dogs and up to 48 tons of equipment.


 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]] Washington, D.C., USA – In Washington D.C., McCain' temper would come under scrutiny as a quote in the book "Game Change" by Mark Halperin og John Heileman said that during the 2008 presidential campaign McCain had yelled "FUCK YOU! FUCK, FUCK, FUCK, FUCK" at his wife Cindy. Press Secretary Brooke Buchanan would respond to this by saying that the relationship between the McCains was at its best, but that they at times quarrel like any other couple. Other politicians, including Sarah Palin, Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee, Rudy Guliani, Joe Biden and Barack Obama were also criticized in the book.


 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]][[Image:Flag of Yemen.png|25px|border|Yemen]] Washington, D.C., USA – The chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Senator Carl Levin (D-MI) said lawmakers should consider whether U.S.-led air strikes, drone attacks and, if necessary special forces on the ground in Yemen to defeat an emboldened al-Qaida force there. This was bluntly refused by the Yemeni government.


 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]][[Image:Flag of Haiti.png|25px|border|Haiti]] Washington, D.C., USA – Televangelist Pat Robertson claimed that Haiti's founders had sworn a "pact to the Devil" in order to liberate themselves from the French slave owners and indirectly attributed the earthquake to the consequences of the Haitian people being "cursed" for doing so.


 * January 14:
 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]][[Image:Flag of Haiti.png|25px|border|Haiti]] Washington, D.C., USA –At a joint press conference with Vice President Pawlenty, Secretary of State Lieberman and Secretary of Defense Gates in attendance, McCain would announce a massive humanitarian and military response to the earthquake in Haiti.


 * The United States would commit $100,000,000 to help Haiti recover from the earthquake, dispatch the Coast Guard cutters Forward and Mohawk to coordinate military aircraft over Haiti with satellite communications, two Coast Guard C-130s to fly up and down the coast looking for people needing help, while two Coast Guard helicopters arrived to provide rescue or other assistance. The Navy would dispatch the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson and its helicopters would provide critical air transport for relief workers, while the hospital ship USNS Comfort and other ships including destroyers would move toward Haiti to provide relief. The Marines would dispatch a a Navy amphibious assault ship carrying a force of about 2,200 Marines from Camp Lejeune to help provide security, support the embassy or support humanitarian work. The army would dispatch a more than 3,500-strong Army brigade of the 82nd Airborne Division based at Fort Bragg.


 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]][[Image:Flag of Haiti.png|25px|border|Haiti]] Washington, D.C., USA – In her daily press briefing, White House Press Secretary Brooke Buchanan commented Robertson's comment: "It never ceases to amaze that in times of amazing human suffering somebody says something that could be so utterly stupid."


 * It was reported that McCain himself had referred to Robertson's commentary as "ignorant bullshit" and said that Robertson was an "agent of intolerance corrupting influences on religion and politics."


 * [[Image:Flag of Yemen.png|25px|border|Yemen]] Sana'a, Yemen – Meanwhile, in Yemen, as the country's council of Muslim clerics called for jihad if foreign troops were to establish themselves in the country, Defense Minister Brig. Gen. Muhammad Nasir Ahmad Ali declared an open war on al-Qaida, saying that "The war security forces launched against al-Qaeda elements is open whenever or wherever we find these elements. Yemen is determined to clear its territory of al-Qaeda members."


 * January 15-16:
 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]][[Image:Flag of Massachusetts.png|25px|border|Massachusetts]] Boston and Wrentham, Massachussetts, USA – McCain would along with Former Secretary of State Gen. Colin Powell be engaged in community service to honor slain civil rights hero Martin Luther King Jr., while also visiting the American Red Cross headquarters.


 * President McCain travelled to Boston and Wrentham, Massachusetts, to campaign for Scott Brown in the Senate special election. At the campaign meetings McCain would praise Brown for his fiscal conservatism, his maverick stances and appeal to both Republicans and independents and his military service. "Scott Brown has a long record of public service fighting wasteful spending and higher taxes," McCain said. "As an officer on the Army National Guard, he understands the importance of a strong military and the necessity of protecting our interests around the world."


 * January 17:
 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]][[Image:Flag of Haiti.png|25px|border|Haiti]] Washington, D.C., USA – McCain met with former U.S. Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush at the White House, where he announced the establishment of the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund to raise contributions for relief and recovery efforts following the 2010 Haiti earthquake.


 * January 18:
 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]] Washington, D.C., USA – McCain would along with Former Secretary of State Gen. Colin Powell be engaged in community service to honor slain civil rights hero Martin Luther King Jr., while also visiting the American Red Cross headquarters.


 * [[Image:Flag of Afghanistan.png|25px|border|Afghanistan]][[Image:Flag of Taliban.png|25px|border|Taliban]] Kabul, Afghanistan – At 0950, seven Taliban militans launch a coordinated suicide attack in central Kabul, Afghanistan. Taliban gunmen attacked the presidential palace, the central bank and several government buildings. The shopping complex Gulbahar, and a cinema in the city was targetted by the attackers. Twelve people died in the attack, including the Taliban fighters, with dozens reported wounded. According to a statement on a Taliban website, the nearby Serena Hotel and government buildings were the intended target for the attack.


 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]][[Image:Flag of Afghanistan.png|25px|border|Afghanistan]] Washington, D.C., USA – McCain would immediately condemn the attack, saying that "It is an indiscriminate attack on public areas of Kabul which shows the Taliban deliberately disregard the lives of ordinary Afghans. The United States and the rest of the international community stand united with the government of Afghanistan and express our condolences for the lives lost in the attack. This incident strengthens our resolve to build a safer, more secure Afghanistan."


 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]] Washington, D.C., USA – An ABC News investigation revealed that coded references to New Testament Bible passages about Jesus Christ are inscribed on high-powered rifle sights provided to the U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan and in the training of Iraqi and Afghan soldiers. The maker of the sights, Trijicon, has a $660 million multi-year contract to provide up to 800,000 sights to the Marine Corps, and additional contracts to provide sights to the U.S. Army. U.S. military rules specifically prohibit the proselytizing of any religion in Iraq or Afghanistan and were drawn up in order to prevent criticism that the U.S. was embarked on a religious "Crusade" in its war against al Qaeda and Iraqi insurgents.


 * January 19:
 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]][[Image:Flag of Massachusetts.png|25px|border|Massachusetts]] Boston, Massachussetts, USA – In the 2010 United States Senate special election in Massachusetts in order to fill the vacant Massachusetts Class I Senate seat created by the death of Democratic Senator Ted Kennedy on August 25, 2009, Republican Party candidate Scott Brown suprisingly wins with a large margin (51.9%) over Democratic Party candidate Martha Coakly (47.1%).


 * McCain would be among the first to congratulate him with his victory, stating that: "."


 * January 25:
 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]] Washington, D.C., USA – President McCain delivered his first State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress. Among the topics that McCain covered in his speech were proposals for job creation, federal deficit reduction, change of structure of government in Washington, D.C., campaign finance regulation and foreign policy. He also criticized the heated political tone between Democrats and Republicans.


 * On the economy, he defended the necessity of the unpopular bailout included in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. On the budget, he announced the Comprehensive Deficit Reduction Plan, which included a reduction of annual deficit by at least $ 200 billion, as well as a balanced federal budget with surplus by 2016. He also declared that starting in 2011, freeze government spending for 3 years on discretionary programs (excluding national security, Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. He also announced a plan to reduce pork-barrel spending.


 * On health care, he said he hoped that the Comprehensive Bipartisan Heath Care Reform would pass Congress before summer with bipartisan support. On labour, he announced that he would introduce tax breaks for companies that create jobs in the U.S. On Energy, he announced the Comprehensive National Energy Program, which would include building more nuclear power plants, explore off-shore areas for oil and gas, reduce dependence on foreign oil, as well as invest in the advance biofuels, wind, solar and clean coal technologies.


 * On foreign policy, he stood by his stance on the War in Afghanistan. He stood by his 45,000 troop surge, and said that the U.S. and their NATO and Afghan allies would turn the tide in the war by a series of counter-insurgency operations and inplement government and humanitarian services in areas previously controlled by the Taliban. He also guaranteed the United States would not withdraw until the Afghan security forces were capable of handling the responsibility themselves, and any date of withdrawal would depend on the situation on the ground. He also stood by the plan of withdrawal of U.S. combat forces from Iraq by 2013. He also announced that the United States would actively engage al-Qaida operatives in Yemen.


 * On governmental issues, he announced that he would work on implementina a President's question time, and criticized the heated political tone between Democrats and Republican. He also criticized the U.S. Supreme Court's decision on removing elements of the campaign finance regulation, and announced he would work with Congress on re-implement them as soon as possible. On immigration reform, he announced that he would wait for the Bipartisan commission on immigration reform headed by Homeland Security Secretary Ridge on presenting their results. He expressed his support for finishing the fence along the U.S.-Mexican border, but also guest workers programs.


 * [[Image:Flag of Iraq.png|25px|border|Iraq]] Baghdad, Iraq – Ali Hassan Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti was executed by hanging after being sentenced to death for a forth time on January 17. Ali Hassan Abd al-Majid was the first cousin of former President of Iraq Saddam Hussein and the former Ba'athist Iraqi Defense Minister, Interior Minister, military commander and chief of the Iraqi Intelligence Service. He was better known as "Chemical Ali" by Iraqi Kurds for his use of chemical weapons in attacks against the Kurds in the north in the 1980s.


 * January 26:
 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]][[Image:Flag of Afghanistan.png|25px|border|Afghanistan]] Kabul and Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan – McCain would travel to Afghanistan and Iraq on two unannounced visits.


 * In Afghanistan, McCain met Afghan President Hamid Karzai, where McCain repeated his quarantee that the United States and ISAF would not withdraw from Afghanistan as long as he was President, and that any date of withdrawal would depend on the situation on the ground and when the Afghan security forces were capable of handling the responsibility themselves. Karzai would express his outmost appreciation of this guarantee, stating that "the United States and ISAF were true allies of the Afghan people."


 * McCain would then speak with the Head of ISAF and U.S. Forces Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, where they discussed the military situation in Afghanistan and the upcoming operations in Helmand and Kandahar. Finally, he would speak to U.S. soldiers at Bagram Air Base, where he praised their commitment and duty, as well as honoring those who had fell in duty.


 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]][[Image:Flag of Iraq.png|25px|border|Iraq]] Baghdad, Iraq – U.S. President McCain would then continue to Iraq, where he met Iraqi President Jalal Talabani and Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to discuss the upcoming parliamentary election due March 7, 2010. He also visited U.S. soldiers fighting in the Iraq War.


 * January 27:
 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]][[Image:Flag of Georgia.png|25px|border|Georgia]] Batumi, Georgia – McCain travelled to Batumi, Georgia. While there, he was awarded the Order of the National Hero of Georgia for his strong support for Georgia during the 2008 Georgia-Russia War by Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili. During the war, he had stated that now "we are all Georgians" and vehemently criticising the actions of Russia. Saakashvili said McCain called him during the war and told him "not to surrender and not to say no to freedom" when "some well-known world figures were telling us to stop resistance." He continued that "The fact that a part of Georgia is free today is the achievement of our friends. It was the idea of freedom that stopped [Russian] tanks in Georgia".


 * McCain said the award was "an expression of partnership and solidarity between our two nations, confronted by common challenges, bound by common interests, and united by common democratic values. Of all the honours I've received in my life the National Hero Award is among the most meaningful and it is one that I would cherish forever." At the beginning of the ceremony, McCain was also handed what Saakashvili said was a golden pistol that once belonged to an American pilot captured by Soviet troops in Vietnam. He said it had been sold during the August war to a Georgian businessman by a Russian general.


 * January 28:
 * [[Image:Flag of the United Kingdom.PNG|25px|border|United Kingdom]][[Image:Flag of Afghanistan.png|25px|border|Afghanistan]][[Image:Flag of the United Nations.png|25px|border|United Nations]][[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]] London, United Kingdom – International Conference on Afghanistan was held at Lancaster House in London, where members of the international community discussed the further progress on the Petersberg agreement from 2001 on the democratization of Afghanistan after the ousting of the Taliban regime. The one-day conference, hosted by the United Kingdom, the United Nations, and the Afghan government, meant to chart a new course for the future of Afghanistan and brought together foreign ministers and senior representatives from more than 70 countries and international organizations.


 * The conference was also attended by the Afghan president Hamid Karzai, the Afghan Minister of Foreign Affairs Zalmay Rasoul, U.S. President John McCain and Secretary of State Joe Lieberman, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, UN envoy Kai Eide and the British Secretary of State David Miliband, as well as the former Afghan minister of finance Ashraf Ghani and the British prime minister Gordon Brown. Afghanistan agreed to timetables to take control of certain military and police functions, and launched a program to lure Taliban insurgents back to mainstream life with financial incentives.


 * January 29:
 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]]Flag of the Republic of China.png Washington, D.C., USA – The Pentagon announced a proposed weapons sale to the Republic of China (commonly known as Taiwan) worth $6.4 billion. The sale consisted of 60 Blackhawk helicopters, 114 missiles, 2 naval minesweepers and tracking devices.


 * January 30:
 * Flag of the Peoples Republic of China.png[[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]] Beijing, People's Republic of China – China announced a series of moves against the U.S. in retaliation for a proposed weapons sale to Taiwan worth $6.4 billion. Beijing would suspend military exchanges with the U.S., review co-operation on major issues like the Iranian and North Korean nuclear programs and impose sanctions on companies selling arms, including Sikorsky Aircraft, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon and McDonnel Douglas.

February

 * February 1:
 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]] Washington, D.C., USA – McCain, with Secretary of the Treasury Warren Buffett in attendance, announced his proposal for the fiscal year 2011 federal budget. He indicated that jobs, health care, clean energy, education, and infrastructure will be priorities. The total requested spending was $3.363 trillion and the federal deficit is forecast to be $656 billion in 2010 and $581 trillion in 2011. Total debt is budgeted to increase from $12.9 trillion in FY2009, to $13.563 trillion in FY2010, and $14.14 trillion in FY2011. While acknowledging that his planned "Crusade against Pork Barrel Spending" was not going as fast as he liked, he said that the economy is still vulnerable, and that they had managed to reduce the yearly federal deficit from $838 billion in 2010 to $656 billion in 2011; a reduction of $182 billion.


 * Republicans and fiscally conservative Democrats would praise his proposed budget, while the majority of Democrats and some Republicans would criticize him; Democrats over the reduced federal spending and both Democrats and Republicans over the lack of earmarks.


 * February 2:
 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]]Flag of the Peoples Republic of China.png Washington, D.C., USA – White House Press Secretary Brooke Buchanan announces that President McCain will meet with the Dalai Lama during his visit to Washington, D.C. in mid-February. The announcement was met with a warning by Zhu Weiqun, the vice director of the United Front Work Department of the Communist Party of China (CPC), who said that: "If the American leader chooses to meet the Dalai Lama, it will threaten the trust and cooperation between China and the United States".


 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]] Washington, D.C., USA – Speaking in front of the Senate Armed Services Committee, the United States' top two defense officials called for an end to the 16-year-old “don’t ask, don’t tell” law, a major step toward allowing openly gay men and women to serve in the United States military for the first time. “No matter how I look at the issue, I cannot escape being troubled by the fact that we have in place a policy which forces young men and women to lie about who they are in order to defend their fellow citizens,” Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the Senate Armed Services Committee. As a murmur swept through a hearing room packed with gay rights leaders, Admiral Mullen said it was his personal belief that “allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly would be the right thing to do.”


 * In contrast to Admiral Mullen, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates was more cautious, even as he acknowledged that the question was not whether the law would be repealed but how the Pentagon might best prepare for the change. Early in his testimony, Mr. Gates made clear that he was acting at the behest of President McCain, who ought to consider seriously changing it if the Pentagon review recommended it. Gates then threw the final decision back to the legislative branch. “We have received our orders from the commander in chief, and we are moving out accordingly,” Mr. Gates told the committee. “However, we can also take this process only so far, as the ultimate decision rests with you, the Congress.”


 * Some Republicans would criticize McCain for his willingness to change the policy if Pentagon leaders called for repeal.


 * February 3:
 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]] Washington, D.C., USA – President McCain hosts a meeting of Governors in the State Dining Room. Afterwards, he holds a Cabinet-level exercise in crisis-management in preparation for the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.


 * Flag of Norway.png Oslo, Norway – The Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet published on its front page a caricature of the Muslim prophet Muhammad portrayed as a pig. The caricature was originally posted at the Facebook page of the Norwegian Police Security Service (Norwegian: Politiets sikkerhetstjeneste, PST). This would spark intense demonstration against the newspaper over the following weeks.


 * February 6:
 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]] Washington, D.C., USA – President McCain speaks at a gathering of the Republican National Committee's Winter Meeting at the Capitol Hilton in Washington, D.C. The president's motorcade encounters trouble due to the blizzard that affected the region when a snow-laden tree branch fell on a vehicle carrying journalists as it returned to the White House; no one was injured.


 * February 8:
 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]] Washington, D.C., USA – As the budget reaches the Congress, McCain stated in a White House Press Conference that he would veto any federal budget which includes pork barrel spending, thus antagonizing some Democrats further.


 * February 10:
 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]] Washington, D.C., USA – President McCain meets with his National Security Team in preparation for the planned ISAF offensive in Helmand province in Afghanistan, Operation Moshtarak.


 * Charles Nesbitt Wilson (born June 1, 1933), a United States naval officer and former 12-term Democratic United States Representative from the 2nd congressional district in Texas, died at Lufkin Memorial Hospital in Lufkin, Texas after suffering from cardiopulmonary arrest. He was best known for leading Congress into supporting Operation Cyclone, the largest-ever Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) covert operation, which under the Reagan administration supplied military equipment, including anti-aircraft weapons such as Stinger anti-aircraft missiles, and paramilitary officers from their Special Activities Division to the Afghan Mujahideen during the Soviet war in Afghanistan.


 * February 11:
 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]] Washington, D.C., USA – President McCain would express his condolences to his family, saying that: "Yesterday, America lost one of our finest patriots. A patriot who dedicated his life to fight Communist tyranny. Who dedicated his career to help the Afghan people. He will never be forgotten by the people of the United States nor the Afghan people."


 * Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said that "America has lost an extraordinary patriot whose life showed that one brave and determined person can alter the course of history", while Atta Mohammed Nur, a major commander in the war against the Soviets, expressed his condolences by saying that "When we got the Stingers, it changed the situation on the front line totally. Mr. Wilson is in the heart of the Afghan people. Never will the Afghan nation forget him."


 * February 12:
 * Flag of Norway.png Oslo, Norway – After the Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet refused to apologise for printing a caricature of the prophet Muhammad, and Muslim taxi drivers initiated a strike on February 6, around 3000 Muslim demonstrators took to the streets in downtown Oslo Friday afternoon to protest against newspaper Dagbladet's publishing of a caricature of the prophet Mohammad. The demonstrators marched peacefully past the Parliament buildings and down to the Central Station.


 * February 13:
 * [[Image:Flag of Afghanistan.png|25px|border|Afghanistan]][[Image:Logo of ISAF.png|23px|ISAF]][[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]][[Image:Flag of the United Kingdom.PNG|25px|border|United Kingdom]][[Image:Flag of Denmark.png|25px|border|Denmark]][[Image:Flag of Estonia.png|25px|border|Estonia]] Helmand Province, Afghanistan – Operation Moshtarak (Dari for Together) was initiated.


 * A total of 15,000 ISAF forces launches in the early hours an offensive towards the town of Marjah, which lays in the area that is described as the "poppy-growing belt" of Helmand Province in southern Afghanistan. The main target of the offensive was Marjah, which had been controlled for years by Taliban militants as well as drug traffickers.


 * Around 2,500 Afghan troops participated, along with 4,000 British, 9,000 American as well as Danish and Estonian forces. U.S. forces consisted of 1st Battalion, 3rd Marines, 1st Battalion, 6th Marines, 3rd Battalion, 6th Marines, 4th Battalion, 23rd Stryker Infantry, 2nd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion as well as support units. As such, the offensive has been described as the largest since the fall of the Taliban, whose government was ousted from Kabul and Kandahar in October-December 2001, but proceeded to resist in the following years in an ongoing guerrilla war known as the Taliban insurgency. This became especially clear during the violent campaign in the midst of the Afghan presidential elections in 2009.


 * February 14 - 25:
 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]] Washington, D.C., USA – McCain would head daily meetings with his National Security Council regarding the development of Operation Moshtarak in Helmand province in Afghanistan.


 * February 17:
 * Flag of Norway.png Oslo, Norway – The Mohyeldeen Mohammad, a 24-year old Muslim from Norway styding Sharia law in Saudi Arabia, would shock Norway as he said Norway was at war with Islam, expressed his support of executing homosexuals by stoning and saying that Muslims who supported democracy were infidels.


 * February 18:
 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]][[Image:Flag of Tibet.png|25px|border|Tibet]] Washington, D.C., USA – McCain met with the Dalai Lama at the White House. At the meeting McCain would stress his "strong support for the preservation of Tibet's unique religious, cultural and linguistic identity, and the protection of human rights for Tibetans," and praised the Dalai Lama's "commitment to nonviolence and his pursuit of dialogue with the Chinese government". Controversially, he would also state that he does not "recognize the Chinese supremacy over Tibet" and "fully supports" Tibetan independence.


 * February 19:
 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]] Washington, D.C., USA – President McCain and Secretary of Veteran's Affairs Chuck Hagel attended a gathering of veterans of the Battle of Iwo Jima and their families gathered at the National Museum of the Marine Corps to commemorate the 65th anniversary of the iconic World War II battle.


 * Flag of the Peoples Republic of China.png[[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]][[Image:Flag of Tibet.png|25px|border|Tibet]] Beijing, People's Republic of China – China would condemn McCain's support for Tibetan independence and expressed strong dissatisfaction and resolute opposition to the meeting. A spokesman for China's Foreign Ministry said that "China demands the U.S. seriously consider China's stance, immediately adopt measures to wipe out the adverse impact, [and] stop conniving and supporting anti-China separatist forces."


 * February 20:
 * Flag of Norway.png Oslo, Norway – The Norwegian Prime Minister Siv Jensen would announce at a press conference that she would under no circumstances apologise for Dagbladets publishing of the caricature of the prophet Muhammad, and said that the "islamisation" of Norway was well under way with a small number of extremist trying to damage the Norwegian freedom of speech. While meeting praise in Denmark, Sweden, France and Italy, Muslim countries would openly condemn Norway for her statement, burning Norwegian flags and protesting against the caricatures. Danish media would state that the "second Muhammad caricature controversy" was under way.


 * February 22:
 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]] Washington, D.C., USA – President McCain and Secretary of Energy Byron Dorgan would announce the United States Nuclear Power Renewal Plan. Using France as a role model, the plan would include the construction of 45 new nuclear reactors to be built in the United States by 2030, research in new-generation nuclear reactors as well as research in expanded use in Thorium (Th 90), which has potential advantages over a uranium fuel cycle, including greater abundance on Earth, superior physical and nuclear properties of fuel, enhanced proliferation resistance, and reduced nuclear waste production. As part of the plan, McCain announced $4.3 billion in federal loan guarantees to help Southern Company build two new nuclear reactors in Burke County, Georgia.


 * February 25:
 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]][[Image:Flag of the United Nations.png|25px|border|United Nations]][[Image:Flag of the Islamic Republic of Iran.png|25px|border|Iran]] New York City, New York, USA – Secretary of State Lieberman announced that UN sanctions on Iran would be ready by 30-60 days, gaining support from countries that earlier were sceptical of sanctioning Iran, including Russia (due to the McCain administration's negotiations on the missile defence shield in Eastern Europe), Brazil and others.


 * [[Image:Flag of Afghanistan.png|25px|border|Afghanistan]][[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]][[Image:Logo of ISAF.png|23px|ISAF]] Marjah, Afghanistan – In Marjah, the Afghan flag was raised over as the first phase of the U.S.-led offensive to capture a key Taliban stronghold on Thursday came to an end, with the U.S. Marines commander declaring it a "historic day". Mohammad Gulab Mangal, governor of Helmand province, raised the green, red and black national flag in Marjah, watched by Brigadier General Larry Nicholson, the commander of the U.S. Marines in southern Afghanistan. "It's a very historical day, a new beginning," Nicholson told AFP at the ceremony, attended by a crowd of several hundred residents, watched over by U.S. Marine snipers stationed on the roofs of surrounding buildings.


 * February 26:
 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]] Washington, D.C., USA – McCain headed a bipartisan health care summit at Blair House. The main themes are cost control, deficit reduction, insurance reform and expanding coverage. As the Republicans and Democrats fight eachother over the aspects of health care reform, with McCain especially focusing on opposition to special deals inserted in the Democratic counterproposition to the Senate health care bill, and advocating cross-state line health insurance and medical malpratice reform.


 * February 27:
 * Flag of Chile.png Santiago, Chile – A 8.8 earthquake strikes Chile, killing at least 200 people, and destroying buildings, bridges and roads in many areas. President John McCain called Bachelet and said the United States stood ready to help Chile. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre issued an alert for countries in Latin America as well as Japan, Russia, the Philippines, Indonesia and French Polynesia.


 * February 28:
 * [[Image:Olympic Rings.png|28px|Olympic Games]][[Image:CanadasFlag.png|25px|border|Canada]][[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]] Vancouver, Canada – Canada defeated the United States in overtime, 3-2, on on Sidney Crosby's overtime goal in the Gold Medal Game in themen's ice hockey at the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver. McCain lost a friendly wager with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper over who would win the finals. White House spokesman Brooke Buchanan said President McCain had wagered a case of Yuengling, a Pennsylvania regional brew, while Harper wagered 24 bottles of Molson. The beer battle pitted Canada's oldest brewery against the oldest beer maker in the United States. According to Buchanan McCain would as a joke also add a few bottles of Anheuser-Busch beers from his wife Cindy's wholesale and distribution company Hensley & Co.

March

 * March 1:
 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]] Bethesda, Maryland, USA – McCain travelled to Bethesda, Maryland, for a routine medical examination at the National Naval Medical Center, where he later visited soldiers who were wounded in the Iraq War and the War in Afghanistan.


 * March 2:
 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]]Flag of Afghanistan.png Kabul, Afghanistan – McCain would travel to Kabul, Afghanistan, where he met with Afghan president Hamid Karzai. They would discuss the progress of Operation Moshtarak, the campaign against corruption in Afghanistan as well as address the issue of civilian casualties.


 * March 3:
 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]]Flag of Afghanistan.png Helmand Province, Afghanistan – McCain would travel to the Helmand province, where he visited the city of Lashkar Gah, the British-Danish Camp Bastion, U.S., Afghan and British troops participating in Operation Moshtarak as well as a flag raising ceremony in the newly secured Marjah. While in Marjah, he would also meet with the town elders for a Shura, where he promised that "We have made regretable mistakes in the past. But we have learned from them. We will not abandon you. Not as long as I am President."


 * March 5:
 * Flag of Slovakia.png Bratislava, Slovakia – The Patriotism Act was passed by the Slovak parliament (Národná rada Slovenskej republiky) at its early March session. According to the law, drafted by Ján Slota, the head of the Slovak National Party (SNS) and his right hand Rafael Rafaj, the beginning of each week at all Slovak schools and offices of the state administration as well as sporting events organised by national sports associations and all sessions of local, regional and national parliaments will start with the playing of the Slovak national anthem. In addition, other Slovak national symbols: the coat of arms, the flag, the words of the national anthem and the preamble to the Constitution must be displayed in all classrooms of public schools as an effort towards patriotic education, one of the goals of the new legislation, according to its backers. All state officials will also be obliged to swear an oath of fidelity to their homeland. “Not only children, but also adults should be better patriots, and the state should create space for them to understand patriotism and I believe we managed to do this by passing this law,” Rafaj said.


 * The law proposed by SNS was supported by MPs from its coalition partners, Smer (Social Democrats) and the Movement for a Democratic Slovakia (HZDS). Smer, however, had objected to a part of the original proposal which would have required not only state administration bureaucrats but also mayors and every Slovak citizen to swear their fidelity when they are first issued their national IDs at age 15. These proposals were omitted from the final draft. The law does not establish any sanctions for violations. However, the Sme daily wrote that the bodies that are responsible for schools – municipal or regional authorities – could interpret a violation of the Patriotism Act as a violation of one’s employment duties.


 * Critics of the new legislation mainly voiced their concern that what they called ‘forced patriotism’ might be counterproductive, especially for children at schools. Representatives of the Hungarian Coalition Party (SMK) said they were concerned that the state could misuse the new law to bully minorities. József Berényi from SMK said there are many ways in which it could be used as a tool for bullying, “whether they play the whole anthem, whether the disc is allright, whether the volume is high enough or not”, as quoted by Sme.


 * When the law comes into effect it will cause additional costs for the schools which must purchase the state symbols for each classroom from their own resources. Education Minister Ján Mikolaj said, as reported by the SITA newswire, that the additional expenses will not be very high and that schools will not get any additional money to buy them. According to calculations made by Sme, the overall cost for about 32,000 classrooms across Slovakia could be between €650,000 and €1.2 million.


 * If President Ivan Gašparovič approved of the law, the Patriotism Act would come into effect on April 1.


 * March 6:
 * [[Image:Flag of the Islamic Republic of Iran.png|25px|border|Iran]] Tehran, Iran – Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad would state on state TV that "September 11 was a big lie and a pretext for the war on terror and a prelude to invading Afghanistan." He called the attacks a "complicated intelligence scenario and act."


 * [[Image:Flag of Palestine.png|25px|border|Palestine]] Ramallah, Palestinian National Authority – The Palestinians agreed to restart peace negotiations with Israel, with the United States as mediator.


 * March 7:
 * Flag of Iraq.png Baghdad, Iraq – In Iraq, the parliamentary election was held as scheduled. The election decided the 325 members of the Council of Representatives of Iraq who will elect the Prime Minister of Iraq and the President of Iraq. The election was planned for the same day as a referendum on the Status of Forces Agreement. Despite that al-Qaida bomb attacks claimed the lives of 24 Iraqis, the turn-out was quite high, at 62.4%.


 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]]Flag of Iraq.png Washington, D.C., USA – :In a press conference at the White House, President McCain praised Iraqis’ resolve, saying that "I congratulate the people of Iraq for casting their ballots in this important parliamentary election. I have great respect for the millions of Iraqis who refused to be deterred by acts of violence, and who exercised their right to vote today. Their participation demonstrates that the Iraqi people have chosen to shape their future through democratic political processes."


 * Flag of Afghanistan.png Marjah, Afghanistan – President Hamid Karzai visited the former Taliban stronghold of Marjah, which was re-taken by U.S. and Afghan forces during Operation Moshtarak. Karzai asked wary residents to back his government in return for security and reconstruction projects. "The promises that we have made for security and reconstruction, we will fulfil them. Are you with me or against me?" Karzai asked the turbaned and bearded elders packed in the town's mosque. The elders shouted: "We are with you, we are supporting you", but during the meeting some of them expressed concern about former corrupt local officials.


 * March 8:
 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]][[Image:Flag of Israel.png|25px|border|Israel]] Tel Aviv, Israel – As Vice President Pawlenty was arriving for a three-day visit to the Middle East, the Israeli government announces the plans for construction of 112 new housing units in a disputed area of East Jerusalem claimed by both Israelis and Palestinians.


 * March 9:
 * [[Image:Logo of ISAF.png|25px|ISAF]][[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]]Flag of Afghanistan.png Kabul, Afghanistan – The commander of ISAF and U.S. Forces in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal, vowed that coalition forces "are absolutely going to secure Kandahar," as security efforts expand in the country's south. "We already are doing a lot of security operations in Kandahar, but it's our intent - under President [Hamid] Karzai - to make an even greater effort there," Gen. Stanley McChrystal told a joint news conference Monday with Mark Sedwill, the NATO senior civilian representative to the country, and U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates. McChrystal indicated a military operation could begin in the volatile Kandahar province as early as this summer, but both Sedwill and McChrystal cautioned that much political groundwork lay ahead for NATO-led coalition troops before an offensive can begin. Just as in the recent Marjah operation, the goal, they said, is to gain the support of the Afghan people.


 * [[Image:Flag of Israel.png|25px|border|Israel]] Tel Aviv, Israel – Israel announces the the plans for construction of 1,600 new housing units in a disputed area of East Jerusalem.


 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]][[Image:Flag of Europe.png|25px|border|European Union]][[Image:Flag of the United Nations.png|25px|border|UN]][[Image:Flag of Israel.png|25px|border|Israel]] Tel Aviv, Israel – While being softer than the European Union and the UN in their criticism of Israel, Vice President Pawlenty said that it was "unfortunate to announce this at a time when the United States is planning to restart the peace negotiations between the Israelis and the Palestnians."


 * March 10:
 * [[Image:Flag of Turkey.png|25px|border|Turkey]][[Image:Flag of the Islamic Republic of Iran.png|25px|border|Iran]] Teheran, Iran – Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan visited Iran, where he expressed his support for the Iranian nuclear program, and criticized the West's plans for increased sanctions on Iran. "I don't believe that any further sanctions will yield results," Erdogan told journalists in Riyadh on Tuesday, adding that earlier rounds of sanctions "have never yielded results." He insisted that Iran's nuclear rights should be respected, saying that "We believe there should be cooperation, not polarization, in the region. We support dialogue and diplomacy for solving the problem about Iran's nuclear program. During the solution process, Iran should be given the right to have civilian nuclear energy meant for peaceful purposes. On the other hand, we want the Middle East to be turned into a nuclear weapons-free zone."


 * [[Image:Flag of Israel.png|25px|border|Israel]] Tel Aviv, Israel – Israeli officials appologized to Vice President Pawlenty and to the U.S. for the timing of the last announcement. Meanwhile Pawlenty visited Ramallah to meet the Palestinian leadership under Mahmood Abbas.


 * March 13:
 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]]Flag of the Russian Federation.png Washington, D.C., USA and Moscow, Russia – President McCain had what the White House described as an “encouraging” phone conversation with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev as the two countries sought to work out the remaining issues on a treaty to significantly reduce nuclear arsenals. National Security Advisor Sam Nunn said the two presidents reviewed progress toward an arms control accord that would succeed the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, which expired in December. “The results of their talks are encouraging, and both leaders are committed to concluding an agreement soon,” Nunn said. The Kremlin, was even more positive, saying “it is now possible to talk about specific dates for the submission of the draft START treaty for signing by the heads of state.”


 * Flag of Afghanistan.pngFlag of Taliban.png Kandahar, Afghanistan – In Kandahar, 5 suicide attacks carried out by the Taliban killed 35 people and wounded 57 others.The first explosion, a suicide car bombing, took place near the province's main prison. At the same time, a second suicide car bomb went off in front of the police headquarters. The third attack was carried out by a suicide bomber on a motorcycle near Provincial council chief Ahmad Wali Karzai's home, while another targeted suicide attack by a bomber on a bicycle targeted a bus station. According to Ahmad Karzai, the attacks were intended as diversions from the main strike on the prison. Saturday's fatalities included 13 police officers and 22 civilians, including six women and three children. Among the wounded were 40 civilians and 17 police officers.


 * Flag of Georgia.png Tbilisi, Georgia – In Georgia, panic gripped the people when a pro-government television station broadcast a fake report that Russian tanks had entered the capital and President Mikheil Saakashvili had been killed. Imedi TV introduced the report as an “imitation of possible events”, but the warning was lost on many viewers as mobile phone networks crashed and residents of Tbilisi rushed into the streets.The report thrust the ex-Soviet neighbours back to August 2008, when Russia crushed an assault by U.S. ally Georgia on the rebel region of South Ossetia in a five-day war and sent tanks to within 45 km (28 miles) of Tbilisi. When people was told it was a false alarm, dozens of angry Georgians converged on Imedi, where opposition politician Nino Burjanadze told reporters the stunt was “disgusting”.


 * March 14:
 * Flag of Taliban.pngFlag of Afghanistan.png Afghanistan – Taliban spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi said that "The Mujahedeen's successful operation in the heart of Kandahar city was a message to Stanley McChrystal and a reaction to the U.S. coming operation in Kandahar province. The Mujahedeen of the Islamic Emirate are fully prepared and ready to fight the Americans, NATO and their allies, no matter whichever part of Afghanistan they may be [in]."


 * March 15:
 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]] Washington, D.C., USA – After being criticized by some Democrats on Capitol Hill for avoiding the health care issue by travelling to Afghanistan, McCain would on Monday call for daily meetings between Senate and House Democrats and Republicans to reach a final agreement on the health care reform. The first meeting would take place on Wednesday.


 * March 16:
 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]][[Image:Flag of Israel.png|25px|border|Israel]][[Image:Flag of Palestine.png|25px|border|Palestine]] Tel Aviv, Israel and Ramallah, Palestine – The special envoy to the Middle East, Richard Jones, visits both Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu and the President of the Palestinian National Authority Mahmoud Abbas to restart peace negotiations between the Israelis and the Palestinians. He criticizes the Israeli decision to construct settlements in East Jerusalem, saying that "Netanyahu, as a man willing to reach a peace agreement with the Palestinians, should reconsider their plans. The decision only contributes to deteriorate the already fragile peace that now exist between the Israelis and the Palestinians."


 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]]Flag of the Russian Federation.png Washington, D.C., USA and Moscow, Russia – In a new phone call, President McCain would in a phone conversation with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev hear the Russian president raise several fresh hurdles, including the McCain administration's proposal for a joint Russian-U.S. missile defence shield in the Czech Republic, Poland and Azerbaijan.


 * March 17:
 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]]Flag of the Russian Federation.png Moscow, Russia – Secretary of State Joe Lieberman travelled to Russia, where he met with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and foreign minister Sergey V. Lavrov for high-level meetings in Moscow to conclude the final parts of the delayed nuclear arms control pact to replace START I. Despite the Russian president's hurdle during his phone conversation with U.S. President McCain the previous day, both Lieberman and Lavrov would state that the talks were back on track, though administration officials conceded there were still differences over a handful of issues like transparency and the missile defense system. However, Lavrov expressed confidence last week that a deal could be reached by the end of the month.


 * [[Image:Flag of Palestine.png|25px|border|Palestine]][[Image:Flag of Israel.png|25px|border|Israel]] Sderot, Israel – Meanwhile, in the Middle East, a Palestinian Kassam rocket hits close to the Israeli town of Sderot. Two were treated for shock.


 * March 18:
 * [[Image:Flag of Palestine.png|25px|border|Palestine]][[Image:Flag of Israel.png|25px|border|Israel]] Netiv Ha'asara, Israel – Israel is again targeted by Palestinian rockets, as the kibbutz Netiv Ha'asara is targeted by Kassam rockets. A guest worker from Thailand was killed. The unknown terrorist group Ansar al-Sunna claimed responsibility for the attack. That night, IAF aircraft struck six targets in Gaza in response to a Kassam attack that killed a foreign worker in Netiv Ha'asara Thursday. The army said it struck three smuggling tunnels on the Egyptian border, a weapons production facility and two tunnels intended for infiltration into Israel to carry out attacks. Two Palestinians were reportedly wounded in the strikes.


 * March 19:
 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]]Flag of the United Kingdom.PNGFlag of the Russian Federation.png[[Image:Flag of Europe.png|25px|border|European Union]][[Image:Flag of the United Nations.png|25px|border|UN]][[Image:Flag of Israel.png|25px|border|Israel]] Tel Aviv, Israel – The Middle East Quartet urged the Israeli government to cease all settlement activity and illegal outposts on the West Bank. Later that evening, fourteen Palestinians were reportedly wounded when the IAF struck several targets in the Dahaniya airport in the southern Gaza Strip in response to rocket attacks.


 * March 20:
 * [[Image:Flag of Palestine.png|25px|border|Palestine]][[Image:Flag of Israel.png|25px|border|Israel]] Sha'ar Hanegev, Israel – A Kassam rocket launched by Palestinians in the Gaza Strip hit an open area in the Sha'ar Hanegev region on Saturday evening. The rocket was the fourth projectile to hit Israel's South on Saturday. No one was hurt and no damage was reported in any of the attacks. Meanwhile, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called for Palestinian militants to stop firing rockets from Gaza into Israel and also urged that Hamas release kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Shalit on humanitarian grounds. After spending the day talking to Palestinian Authority leaders in the West Bank, Ban came to have dinner with President Shimon Peres in Jerusalem. In welcoming Ban, Peres called on PA President Mahmoud Abbas to start negotiations straight away. "Let us not waste time," he said. "Things have to move."


 * Flag of the Russian Federation.png Moscow, St. Petersburg, Vladivostok and Kaliningrad, Russia – In Russia, thousands of people rallied across Russia Saturday to denounce the government's economic policy and demand more freedom in a new challenge to the Kremlin reflecting increasing disillusionment and a growing potential for protests. Many participants in the rallies, dubbed the Day of Wrath by the opposition, demanded the resignation of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. In St. Petersburg, 1,000 people demonstrated holding placards Putin's team must resign!. In Vladivostok, an opposition rally drew about 1,500 people, and similar protests were to be held in many other cities throughout Russia on Saturday. Between 3,000 and 5,000 demonstrators gathered in the Baltic city of Kaliningrad despite a decision by the opposition leaders to cancel the protest. They chanted Government should resign! and called for the ouster of the provincial governor. Police didn't intervene in the St. Petersburg protest, but they barred protesters chanting anti-Putin slogans from holding a rally on a downtown Moscow. City police spokesman Viktor Biryukov said 70 people had been detained for taking part in the protest, which was not authorized by authorities.


 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]] Washington, D.C., USA – President McCain would once again criticize Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin for his "authoritarian style of government" and called the protests a "test in how much criticism the Russian authorities can tolerate."


 * Flag of Iraq.png Baghdad, Iraq – In Iraq, Iraq's Kurdish President Jalal Talabani and Shiite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki on Sunday called on the country's electoral commission to recount the vote of the country's March 7 elections after latest partial preliminary results showed the rival secular politician Ayad Allawi was leading the race.


 * The results of the parliamentary election were as follows:
 * Ayad Allawi's Iraqi National Movement (al-Iraqiya) got 2,631,388 votes, totalling 25.87% of votes and 91 seats.
 * Al-Maliki's State of Law Coalition got 2,620,042 vote, totalling 25.76% and 89 seats.
 * The National Iraqi Alliance got 1,976,412 votes, totalling 19.43% and 70 seats.
 * The Kurdistan List got 1,553,667 votes, totalling 15.27% and 43 seats.
 * The Movement for Change (Gorran) got 443,871 votes, totalling 4.36% and 8 seats.
 * The Unity Alliance of Iraq got 295,226 votes, totalling 2.90% and 4 seats.
 * Iraqi Accord Front (al-Tawafuq) got 276,733 votes, totalling 2.72% and 6 seats.
 * The Kurdistan Islamic Union got 230,742 votes, totalling 2.27% and 4 seats.
 * Finally, the Islamic Group of Kurdistan got 143,790 votes, totalling 1.41% of the votes and 2 seats.


 * March 21:
 * Flag of the Czech Republic.png Prague, Czech Republic – The Czech Republic would offer Prague as a location for the United States and Russia to sign a revamped nuclear arms reduction treaty, once it has been agreed to.


 * Flag of Ukraine.png Kiev, Ukraine – Ukrainian President Viktor F. Yanukovich would offer Kiev as a location for the United States and Russia to sign the revamped nuclear arms reduction treaty. Though the peace agreement is unrelated to Ukraine, having the treaty formally signed in Kiev, the capital, would be rich in symbolism for a country whose recent internal politics became a tug of war between Russia and the West for economic and political influence. Mr. Yanukovich, though he is generally viewed as leaning heavily toward Russia, has promoted the idea of Ukraine as bridge between East and West, rather than a country that falls readily within either sphere of influence. Russian officials welcomed the offer, but according to Ukraine's new foreign minister, Kostyantyn Gryshenko, the United States would prefer Prague, where President McCain gave a speech on disarmament last year.


 * March 25:
 * Flag of the Czech Republic.png Prague, Czech Republic – The government of the Czech Republic agreed to host an early April signing ceremony for the new treaty, which would sharply reduce the number of nuclear weapons and nuclear launchers deployed by the world's two nuclear superpowers, the U.S.A. and Russia. The agreement on a signing ceremony indicates a final deal on the successor to the now-lapsed Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, or START I. "The petition came the last night, and we agreed. There is no date chosen yet, though. They only asked if it was possible (for Prague to host the meeting)," Jiří Beneš from the Press office of the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. A senior U.S. official said that: "We are still working to finalize a new START treaty but we have talked to our Czech allies and the Russians about a signing in Prague when the treaty is finished. Prague is where the president delivered a speech outlining his arms control and nonproliferation vision last spring and where we always wanted to do a signing."


 * March 26:
 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]]Flag of the Russian Federation.png Washington, D.C., USA and Moscow, Russia – After months of deadlock and delay, President John McCain and President Dmitri Medvedev of Russia would in a phone conversation complete the agreement, committing the world's biggest nuclear powers to deep weapons cuts. "I'm pleased to announce that after a year of intense negotiations, the United States and the Russian Federation have agreed to the most comprehensive arms-control agreement in nearly two decades," McCain told reporters.


 * In Moscow, Medvedev hailed the agreement -- which also must be approved by Russian lawmakers -- as reflecting a "balance of the interests of both countries." Russia made clear, however, that it reserved the right to suspend any strategic arms cuts if it felt threatened by future U.S. deployment of a proposed Europe-based missile defence system that Moscow bitterly opposes.


 * The agreement replaces the START I treaty that expired in December. Each side would have seven years after the treaty takes effect to reduce stockpiles of their most dangerous weapons - those already deployed - to 1,550 from the 2,200 now allowed and also cut their numbers of launchers in half.


 * McCain and Medvedev will sign the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) in Prague, capital of the Czech Republic, a former Soviet satellite now in NATO. The April 8 meeting will be close to the anniversary of McCain's speech in Prague offering his vision for eventually ridding the world of nuclear weapons, and should help build momentum for a nuclear security summit he will host in Washington on April 12-13.


 * The treaty does not impose limits on U.S. development of a missile defence system in Europe, which had been a major sticking point in negotiations. Washington insists such an anti-missile shield would be aimed at Iran, not at Russia.


 * Flag of South Korea.pngFlag of North Korea.png Near Baengnyeong Island, Yellow Sea – The ROKS Cheonan, a South Korean Navy corvette of the Pohang Class carrying 104 personnel, sank in waters off the country's west coast near Baengnyeong Island in the Yellow Sea. As of May 2010 there is no official cause of the sinking.


 * The explosion occurred in or near the stern of the ship, which caused the ship to break into two five minutes after, sinking at 21:30 local time (12:30 UTC) about 1 nautical mile (1.9 km) off the south-west coast of Baengnyeong Island. After the explosion the captain of the Cheonan contacted the fleet headquarters to say: "We are being attacked by the enemy." The ship had a crew of 104 men at the time of sinking, and a total of 58 crew were rescued. Another 46 crew were unaccounted for.


 * Initial reports suggested that the ship was hit by a North Korean torpedo, and that a South Korean vessel had returned fire. Early reports also suggested that South Korean Navy units shot at an unidentified ship heading towards North Korea.


 * South Korean President Lee Myung-bak convened an emergency meeting of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Orders were given to the military to concentrate on rescuing the survivors. In Seoul, police were put on alert. A spokesman for the South Korean military stated that there was no evidence that North Korea had been involved in the incident. A large group of relatives of the missing sailors protested outside the navy base at Pyeongtaek over the lack of information they had been provided. On 28 March relatives were taken to the site of the sunken vessel. Some relatives stated that survivors had claimed that the Cheonan had been in a poor state of repair.


 * March 29:
 * Flag of the Russian Federation.png Moscow, Russia – In the Russian capital Moscow, 39 people were killed and over 100 injured when two suicide bombings carried out by two women detonated during the morning rush hour at two stations of the Moscow Metro (Lubyanka and Park Kultury), with roughly 40 minutes of interval between them. Preliminary investigation indicated that the bombing was perpetrated by the Chechen separatists. Russian officials called the incident "the deadliest and most sophisticated terrorist attack in the Russian capital in six years", a reference to the Avtozavodskaya and Rizhskaya bombings in 2004. Two Chechen women were believed to have detonated the explosions in consecutive suicide attacks. Russian authorities released photographs of both women showing their facial features to be intact and possibly identifiable. Russia's FSB security service said these "black widows", whose bodies were recovered, could be wives of deceased rebel husbands from North Caucasus.


 * Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said: "We will continue the operation against terrorists without hesitation and to the end. It is difficult to prevent such terrorist attacks and to provide security on transport. It is necessary to tighten what we do, to look at the problem on a national scale, not only relating to a certain populated area but on a national scale. Obviously, what we have done before is not enough." After an emergency meeting he ordered senior officials to fight terrorism "without hesitation, to the end", stating that "The policy to suppress terrorism in our country and the fight with terrorism will be continued." He said Russia would act without compromise to root out terrorists and ordered security to be boosted across the country. "We will carry out uncompromising operations against terrorists to the end." While he opined that human rights must be respected during police operations. He also ordered new laws to combat militant attacks urging for steps to make law-enforcement agencies work more efficiently, to increase the safety of transport systems and public places and to improve the implementation of Russia's anti-terrorism statutes.


 * Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said: "It is well known that today a terrible crime against civilians in its effects and disgusting in its character was carried out ... I am sure that police will do their best to find and punish the criminals. The terrorists will be destroyed."


 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]]Flag of the Russian Federation.png Washington, D.C., USA – U.S. President McCain condemned bombings, offering his condolences to the Russian people. In a statement issued by the White House, McCain said: "We have had our share of differences over the years. But today, we are all Russians. The American people stand united with the people of Russia in opposition to violent extremism and heinous terrorist attacks that demonstrate such disregard for human life, and we condemn these outrageous acts. I send my deepest condolences to the people of Russia after the terrible loss of life and injuries resulting from the bombings on the Moscow metro. My thoughts and prayers go out to those who lost loved ones, and I wish all who sustained injuries a successful recovery. It is times like these where Russia and the West need to cooperate more closely to fight international terrorism."


 * The attack also sparked widespread condemnation and expressions of condolence from foreign heads of state and government and various organisations. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said he was "appalled by the attacks and says such acts could never be justified". French President Nicolas Sarkozy condemned the attacks "in strongest terms", calling them dishonorable and recreant while offering total solidarity with Russians "to confront this cowardly and horrible act." German Chancellor Angela Merkel expressed her "shock and horror" and offered her condolences, while Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman, Qin Gang, said "We strongly condemn the terrorist attack in Moscow subway, and express deep condolences over the deaths." NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen also condemned the attacks, saying there can be no justification for terrorist attacks against innocent civilians, and expressed his condolences to the victims’ families and wished quick recovery to the wounded. He said NATO stays committed to cooperation with Russia in fighting international terrorism.


 * Flag of Slovakia.png Bratislava, Slovakia – Slovak President Ivan Gašparovič returned the Patriotism Act drawn up by the Slovak National Party (SNS) to parliament. “I won't sign it for pragmatic reasons,” Gašparovič said. He said he did not have problems with the content of the Act, he rather objected to the date when it was meant to come into effect – April 1. According to Gašparovič, schools do not have sufficient time to prepare for the bill. He also did not consider April Fool’s Day to be ‘dignified’ enough for a law such as the Patriotism Act to become effective. “This date provokes a smile and it’s not appropriate to set the effectiveness of such law with such a date,” he said as quoted by the Sme daily.


 * Earlier, Prime Minister Robert Fico had asked the president to return the Patriotism Act, which attracted a great deal of criticism, to parliament so that it could be modified to come into effect as of September. Fico also said he supports the bill. Gašparovič said that the bill can be amended in the next parliamentary term and put under the State Symbols Act, TASR reported.


 * March 30:
 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]] Washington, D.C., USA – After months of arguing and 15 intense days of negotiations, a group of 5 Democratic senators lead by Tom Harkin (D-IA) and 5 Republican senators lead by Mike Enzi (R-WY) presented their plan for health care reform - the Comprehensive Bipartisan Heath Care Reform bill. Supported by former senators Tom Daschle, Bob Dole and Howard Baker, the plan was described as an expanded version of the Daschle-Dole-Baker plan.


 * The new plan focused on open-market competition rather than government funding or control, and included: requirement of all Americans and legal residents to have health insurance; Create state-based health insurance exchanges through which individuals and employers can purchase health coverage, with premium credits available to individuals/families with incomes up to 400% of the federal poverty level; Require employers to provide coverage to employees or pay a fee based on annual payroll, with exceptions for certain small employers; Provide certain small employers a credit to offset the costs of providing coverage; Impose new regulations on plans participating in the exchanges and in the individual and small group insurance markets; Expand Medicaid to 100% of the poverty level; A mandate that individuals purchase insurance but also a requirement that employers offer coverage or pay a certain percentage of their payroll (maximum 3%); Subsidize premiums for families earning up to 400% of the federal poverty level -- $88,000 for a family of four; Tax credits for individuals and for families who do not subscribe to or do not have access to health care through their employer; A "Guaranteed Access Plan" to help people who are denied coverage by insurance companies due to pre-existing conditions to go over state borders to find health care insurance; Medical malpractice reform, which would reduce malpractice premiums paid by doctors and hospitals and reduce the amount of unnecessary, defensive medicine performed to avoid potential lawsuits.


 * McCain would later that day express his support for the bill, stating that "while I don't agree with everything in the bill, it is important that we reach a bipartisan agreemment as soon as possible. The bill includes many good Conservative elements while having many good elements to attract Democratic support. I urge my fellow Republicans and Democrats to vote in favor of this bill."


 * March 31:
 * Flag of the Russian Federation.png Kizlyar, Russia – In Kizlyar, in Russia's North Caucasus republic of Dagestan, a car bomb was detonated at about 08:30 local time outside the offices of the local interior ministry and the FSB security agency in the town. Another bomber wearing a police uniform then blew himself up 20 minutes later as a crowd gathered. 12 people were killed and another 18 injured.


 * Chechen rebel leader Doku Umarov claimed responsibility for personally ordering the attacks, in a video released on the internet. He said the attacks in Russia would continue.


 * Flag of the United States of America.png Washington, D.C., USA – President McCain announced a “Comprehensive Plan for Energy Security”, proposing to open vast expanses of water along the Atlantic coastline, the eastern Gulf of Mexico and the north coast of Alaska to oil and natural gas drilling, much of it for the first time.


 * McCain stated that "moving towards clean energy is essential for our national security. It’s also about our economy. And it’s about the future of our planet."


 * The Atlantic coastline from Florida to New Jersey, the eastern Gulf of Mexico and the north coast of Alaska to oil and natural gas drilling. The eastern Gulf area is believed to contain as much as 3.5 billion barrels of oil and 17 trillion cubic feet of gas, the richest single tract that would be open to drilling under the McCain plan. The Atlantic coastline is believed to contain as much as 1.15 billion barrels of oil.


 * The plan would balance the need to produce more domestic energy while protecting natural resources. McCain is also expected to announce two other initiatives to reduce oil imports, an agreement between the Pentagon and the Agriculture Department to use more biofuels in military vehicles and the purchase of thousands of hybrid vehicles for the federal motor pool. McCain's plan also includes raising fuel efficiency standards. He also announced a decision to double the number of hybrid vehicles in the federal government's fleet.


 * Under the plan, the coastline from New Jersey northward would remain closed to all oil and gas activity. So would the Pacific Coast, from Mexico to the Canadian border. The environmentally sensitive Bristol Bay in southwestern Alaska would be protected and no drilling would be allowed under the plan, officials said. But large tracts in the Chukchi Sea and Beaufort Sea in the Arctic Ocean north of Alaska — nearly 130 million acres — would be eligible for exploration and drilling after extensive studies.

April

 * April 1:
 * Flag of the Peoples Republic of China.png Beijing, People's Republic of China – Chinese President Hu Jintao will attend the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington on April 12-13, signaling a fresh start between the superpowers amid a chill in relations over Beijing's unhappiness with U.S. arms sales to Taiwan and a meeting with the Dalai Lama. China has also indicated a new willingness to discuss sanctioning Iran over its nuclear program, a U.S. official said, marking progress on another major dispute bedeviling ties.


 * Flag of Afghanistan.png Kabul, Afghanistan – Afghan president Hamid Karzai would in a speech reject allegations that his allies were involved in widespread fraud in the election last year that awarded him a second term as president, and pointed the finger instead at the West, naming particular United Nations and European Union officials. He also warned that warned that American and NATO troops risked being seen as invaders. The criticism would come in response to massive criticism from U.S. officials, Democratic members of Congress as well as UN and EU officials.


 * April 2:
 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]]Flag of the Peoples Republic of China.png Washington, D.C., USA and Beijing, PRC – McCain had a two-hour long phone conversation with Chinese President Hu Jintao regarding imposing sanctions on Iran. McCain underlined the importance of international cooperation to make sure that Iran lives up to its international requirements. He also urged China to vote in favour of sanctions, since Russia also were considering sanctions to prevent the continued development of the Iranian nuclear program.


 * April 3:
 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]] Washington, D.C., USA – McCain would ask the U.S. officials, the EU and the UN to tone down their criticism of Karzai, stating that although he might not be the ideal leader, he is nonetheless the leader, and although unpopular he got more support among the people and parliament than any other politician in the country. He also noted that there are no better alternatives than Karzai, and that replacing him would upset the balance with the Pashtuns. He also stated that we have no rights in interfering in the politics of Afghanistan unless Karzai and the Afghan authorities wants to themselves. McCain would receivie criticism from some Democrats for his continued support for Karzai.


 * Flag of Afghanistan.png Kabul, Afghanistan – Afghan President Hamid Karzai would himself state that he was pleased with McCain's support, pointing out that there was nothing wrong with the relationship between him and McCain.


 * April 5:
 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]] Washington, D.C., USA – In the U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Senator Mike Enzi (R-WY) announced that the U.S. Senate would hopefully vote for the Comprehensive Bipartisan Heath Care Reform bill in the end of April 2010.


 * April 6:
 * [[Image:Flag of Kyrgyzstan.png|25px|border|Kyrgyzstan]] Talas and Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan – In Kyrgyzstan, approximately 1,000 protesters stormed the government headquarters in the western town of Talas and briefly took government workers hostage. Security forces retook the building in the early evening, only to be quickly forced out again by protesters. Two prominent opposition leaders, Omurbek Tekebayev and Almazbek Atambayev, were arrested by Kyrgyz authorities. The riot was a result of increasing opposition to the authoritarian and corrupt leadership of President Bakiyev, and his government's increase of energy tariffs for heating (400 percent), electricity (170 percent) and fuel; long-term frustration has been building in Kyrgyzstan over the perceived corruption, cronyism and authoritarianism in the Kurmanbek Bakiyev administration; as well as the country's poor economic situation and a recent rise in utility rates. Demonstrations began on April 3.


 * April 7:
 * [[Image:Flag of Kyrgyzstan.png|25px|border|Kyrgyzstan]] Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan – In Kyrgyzstan, a small group of protesters were arrested outside the headquarters of the Social Democratic Party in Bishkek. Hundreds of protesters then gathered. Police attempted to stop them using tear gas and stun grenades, but the protesters overwhelmed the police, and took control of two armored vehicles and numerous automatic weapons. The protest group, now numbering between three to five thousand, then moved towards the center of town and into Ala-Too Square, where gunshots and stun grenades could be heard, and protesters were seen fleeing. Protesters in Bishkek filled Ala-Too Square and surrounded the White House, the office of Kyrgyzstan's president. Police began using tear gas, rubber bullets, and stun grenades to disperse protesters. In an attempt to gain entrance to the presidential office, demonstrators drove two trucks into the gates of the White House, at which point it was reported that police started firing on protesters with live ammunition. Witnesses reported that both protesters and riot police were wounded during the clashes, and at least forty-one protesters were killed. A state of emergency was declared, as well as a curfew from 10 pm to 6 am.


 * Later that day opposition leaders and demonstrators stormed the parliament building, led by the opposition leader Omurbek Tekebayev who had been arrested the day before but was subsequently released. The headquarters for KTR, Kyrgyzstan's main television broadcaster, was also taken over by protesters. After being off the air for part of the day, KTR resumed transmission Wednesday evening featuring members of the opposition as well as human rights representatives. By late Wednesday opposition leaders had announced the formation of a new government, and soon after reports came in that President Bakiyev has left Bishkek and flown to Osh in southern Kyrgyzstan. There were no reported demonstrations in Osh. In addition to Bishkek and Talas, rallies and protests were reported in other parts of the country including Naryn, Tokmok, and the Issyk-Kul region. There were also reports that the government of the Issyk-Kul region had been taken over by members of opposition parties. There was an information blackout throughout much of the country, as TV stations went off the air and both phones and internet became unreliable. Kyrgyz Interior Minister Moldomusa Kongantiyev were also killed. A reporter from Russia's Fergana Information Agency said he had witnessed protesters brutally beating the minister. Opposition leaders announced that they had formed a new provisional government headed by Roza Otunbayeva.


 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]][[Image:Flag of Kyrgyzstan.png|25px|border|Kyrgyzstan]] Washington, D.C., USA – U.S. Secretary of State Joe Lieberman said that the USA is monitoring the situation very closely. Officials at the U.S. embassy in Bishkek said it is "deeply concerned" about the events in Talas and Bishkek and urged both sides to "show respect for the rule of law" and to "engage in talks to resolve differences in a peaceful, orderly and legal manner."


 * President McCain would in a statement urge all parties to "show respect for the rule of law" and prevent further human deaths by negotiating in a peaceful manner. McCain also strongly criticized Bakiyev for his authoritarian and corrupt leadership and his brutal response to the demonstrations, stating that "When President Bakiyev came to power after the tulip revolution in 2005, he harshly criticized the toppled president Akayev for nepotism and giving his relatives top economic posts. Now he has done the same as his predecessor, and crushes any opposing voices criticizing him for it. Everybody should have the right to protest peacefully against those they put in power without risking their lives."


 * [[Image:Flag of Kyrgyzstan.png|25px|border|Kyrgyzstan]][[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]] Transit Center at Manas, Kyrgyzstan – Just outside Bishkek is the Transit Center at Manas, a large logistics base crucial to U.S. efforts in the ongoing war in Afghanistan. Following the outbreaks of violence in Bishkek, the center was temporarily closed for 12 hours, confining troops to the base. About 1100 troops are stationed there, including contingents from Spain and France.


 * April 8:
 * Flag of the Czech Republic.png[[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]]Flag of the Russian Federation.png Prague, Czech Republic – U.S. President John McCain and Russian President Dmitri Medvedev would sign the New START treaty (for STrategic Arms Reduction Treaty) in Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic. The bilateral nuclear arms reduction treaty between the United States and Russia will limit the number of operationally deployed nuclear warheads to 1,550, which is down nearly two-thirds from the original START treaty and is 30% lower than the deployed strategic warhead limit of the 2002 Moscow Treaty and it will limit to 800 the number of deployed and non-deployed inter-continental ballistic missile (ICBM) launchers, submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) launchers, and heavy bombers equipped for nuclear armaments. Also it will limit the number of ICBMs, SLBMs, and deployed heavy bombers equipped for nuclear armaments to 700. These obligations must be met within seven years from the date the new treaty enters into force. The treaty will last ten years, with an option to renew it for up to five years upon agreement of both parties. The treaty first has to be ratified by the United States Senate and the Federation Council of the Russian Federation. Once that is done, the treaty will enter into force on the date of the exchange of instruments of ratification.


 * In attendance were the Czech President Václav Klaus, Czech Prime Minister Jan Fischer, U.S. Secretary of State Joe Lieberman, Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov, U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, Russian defence minister Anatoliy Serdyukov, the Russian and U.S. delegations which had taken part in the negotiations, and other dignitaries.


 * In the press conference after the signing, both President McCain and Medvedev would address the situation in Kyrgyzstan, Iran, North Korea and Afghanistan.


 * [[Image:Flag of Kyrgyzstan.png|25px|border|Kyrgyzstan]] Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan – Meanwhile, in Kyrgyzstan, President Bakiyev, who was confirmed by the Kyrgyzstan Ministry of Defense to be in his residence in Osh, has acknowledged that he currently has no power to influence events in the country, though he refuses to resign his post. Even with the opposition reporting itself in control of the police and the army, residents in Bishkek began forming volunteer militias to stave off marauders. Wearing white armbands, around a dozen men were signing up for the units outside the National Security Service (SNB) headquarters in central Bishkek. The interim government announced it would hold onto power for six months, when presidential elections would be held.


 * [[Image:Flag of the Russian Federation.png|25px|border|Russia]][[Image:Flag of Kyrgyzstan.png|25px|border|Kyrgyzstan]] Moscow, Russia – Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin became the first foreign leader to recognise Roza Otunbayeva as the new Kyrgyz leader, and rang her soon after she announced she was in charge.


 * April 9:
 * Flag of the Czech Republic.png[[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]] Prague, Czech Republic – President McCain would meet with Czech President Václav Klaus and Prime Minister Jan Fischer at Pražský hrad (Prague Castle). On the agenda were the NATO mission in Afghanistan, economic and energy issues. McCain praised the active Czech participation in the Afghan mission in terms of the 535 soldiers as well as the provincial reconstruction team. McCain asked the Czech Republic to increase their presence in Afghanistan, and hoped that the proposed 55 soldiers (15 military police to train Afghan police and up to 40 soldiers with two artillery radar system Arthurs to protect a Polish base in the Ghazni province) would be accepted by the Czech parliament. McCain and Klaus also spoke about nuclear energy, as Westinghouse is interested in the completion of the Czech nuclear plant Temelin. He would leave for Washington,D.C. at 10:36 A.M.


 * Meanwhile, Secretary of State Lieberman would meet with his Czech counterpart Jan Kohout, where they discussed the U.S. proposal for a missile defence system. Kohout said that the missile defence system should be a NATO project that would include all NATO members as well as Russia. Lieberman would state that this was according to the McCain administration's plans. They also discussed the proposed deployment of 55 additional Czech soldiers in Afghanistan.


 * In a letter dated April 9, the Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, John Paul Stevens, advised President McCain that he would retire from the bench effective the day after the Court rises from its 2009–2010 term in late June.


 * McCain would in a statement say: "Stevens has served the Supreme Court and protected the laws and the Constitution with dignity, intellect and without partisan political concerns for 35 years. Although we at times had different views on certain issues, he is a remarkably dedicated public servant and a profoundly decent human being who cannot be replaced. I hope that he will be replaced by somebody who shares Steven's intellect, personality, nonpartisan and dedication for public service."


 * Press Secretary Brooke Buchanan would state that The White House will present the President various candidates with a spectrum of ideological reputations, government backgrounds and life experiences. Among the top candidates are Carter G. Phillips and Elena Kagan.


 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]][[Image:Flag of Kyrgyzstan.png|25px|border|Kyrgyzstan]] Washington, D.C., USA – U.S. Secretary of State Joe Lieberman would announce that the United States recognise Roza Otunbayeva as the new Kyrgyz leader, and called her to inform that the U.S. would do anything possible to make the transission to democracy as smooth and easy as possible, as well as asking about the future of the U.S. Transit Center at Manas.


 * [[Image:Flag of Kyrgyzstan.png|25px|border|Kyrgyzstan]][[Image:Flag of the Russian Federation.png|25px|border|Russia]] Moscow, Russia – Kyrgyztan's Provisional Government announced that that Russia had pledged to provide financial aid to the new leadership. Almazbek Atambayev, the provisional government's deputy leader, flew to Moscow on April 9th for consultation with unspecified Russian government officials, where they were pledged $150 million in aid. "We reached agreement on a solid grant," said Atambayev. "Kyrgyzstan, for Russia, is a brother country."


 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]] Washington, D.C., USA – Associate Justice John Paul Stevens announced that he would retire at the conclusion of the Supreme Court's term in June 2010. This announcement had been widely anticipated since September 2009 when Stevens confirmed that he had hired only a single law clerk for the Supreme Court term beginning in October 2010. (Full-time associate justices are allowed up to four law clerks while retired justices have only one.)


 * April 10:
 * Flag of Poland.pngFlag of the Russian Federation.png Outside of Smolensk, Russia - A Tupolev Tu-154M carrying the President of Poland Lech Kaczyński members of the Polish government and the country's legislative branch, commanders of the Polish Armed Forces as well as other Polish dignitaries, crashed next to Smolensk-North Airport, just outside of Smolensk near Pechyorsk, Smolensk Oblast, Russia, killing all aboard. Among the deads were also First Lady Maria Kaczyńska; former Polish president-in-exile Ryszard Kaczorowski; the deputy speaker of the Sejm, Jerzy Szmajdziński; the head of the president’s chancellery, Władysław Stasiak; the head of the National Security Bureau, Aleksander Szczygło; the deputy minister of foreign affairs, Andrzej Kremer; the chief of the general staff of the Polish army, General Franciszek Gągor; the president of Poland’s national bank, Sławomir Skrzypek; the commissioner for civil rights protection, Janusz Kochanowski; the heads of all of Poland’s armed forces; and dozens of members of the Sejm and Senat. They were on their way to mark the 70th anniversary of the Katyn massacre.


 * Flag of Poland.png Warsaw, Poland – As the news of the death of President Kaczyński reaches Poland, people immediately express their sorrow. At the Piłsudski Square and at the Presidential Palace in Warsaw, people assemble to place candles and flowers in honor of the killed president and the 95 others. At the same time, world leaders, agencies and officials mourned the death of Polish president Lech Kaczyński who was killed in a plane crash early Saturday.


 * In accordance with the Polish Constitution, on the President's death his duties were taken on by the Marshal of the Sejm (chairman of the lower house of the parliament) — currently Bronisław Komorowski, who thus became Acting President of Poland. Within a fortnight, he must announce the date of the popular presidential election to be held within a further 60 days on a weekend, i.e. at latest on 20 June. Kaczyński was up for re-election in late September or early October, before the end of his first five-year term.


 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]]Flag of Poland.png Washington, D.C., USA – U.S. President John McCain would call Prime Minister of Poland Donald Tusk to express his condolences following the death of Polish president Lech Kaczyński. Later, McCain would hold a press conference, in which he said:


 * "This is a day of shock and sorrow. Today, I called Polish Prime Minister Tusk to express Cidny's and my deepest condolences to the people of Poland on the tragic deaths this morning of President Lech Kaczyński, First Lady Maria Kaczyński, and all who were traveling with them to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Katyn massacre. I am personally shocked and saddened at the news of the death of my friend President Kaczyński. Our thoughts and prayers are with the Kaczynski family, the loved ones of those killed in this tragic plane crash, and the Polish nation. Today's loss is devastating to Poland, to the United States, and to the world. President Kaczynski was a distinguished statesman who played a key role in the Solidarity movement, and he was widely admired in the United States as a leader dedicated to fighting Communism and totalitarianism, as well as advancing freedom and human dignity. With him were many of Poland’s most distinguished civilian and military leaders who have helped to shape Poland’s inspiring democratic transformation from a totalitarian communist dictatorship. We join all the people of Poland in mourning their passing. Today, we are all Poles. Today, there are heavy hearts across America. The United States cherishes its deep and abiding bonds with the people of Poland. Those bonds are represented in the strength of our alliance, the friendships among our people, and the extraordinary contributions of Polish-Americans who have helped to shape our nation. It is a testament to the strength of the Polish people that those who were lost were travelling to commemorate a devastating massacre of the Second World War as the leaders of a strong, vibrant, and free Poland. That strength will ensure that Poland emerges from the depths of this unthinkable tragedy, and that the legacy of the leaders who died today will be a light that continues to guide Poland – and the world – in the direction of human progress.


 * April 11:
 * Flag of Poland.png Warsaw, Poland – At noon, sirens roared as Poles marked two minutes of silence for the death of President Kaczyński and 95 others the day before. At 3:05 P.M., the military aircraft carrying the coffin of the late President reached Warsaw, where it was met by acting President Bronisław Komorowski, Prime Minister Donald Tusk, Lech Kaczyńskii's daughter Marta and his twin brother Jaroslaw. After a short military ceremony, the coffin was moved to the Presidential Palace in a parade, where thousands of Poles had met up along the road and outside the Presidential Palace to show their respect and sorrow for the late President.


 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]] Washington, D.C., USA – McCain would hold talks at Blair House with heads of state from India, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, and South Africa on the eve of the Nuclear Security Summit that he is hosting in Washington, D.C.


 * April 12:
 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]] Washington, D.C., USA – McCain would as the host open the Nuclear Security Summit (2010) in Washington, D.C., at which . McCain held bilateral meetings with King Abdullah II of Jordan, Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak of Malaysia, President Viktor Yanukovych of Ukraine, President Serzh Sargsyan of Armenia, and President Hu Jintao of China beginning at 10:45 AM (EDT). At 5:00 PM he welcome the heads of delegation to the Summit.


 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]]Flag of Poland.png Washington, D.C., USA – The White House confirmed in a press release that President McCain would travel to Kraków, Poland to attend the funeral of President Kaczyński on Sunday.


 * [[Image:Flag of Kyrgyzstan.png|25px|border|Kyrgyzstan]] Teyyit, Kyrgyzstan – In his home village of Teyyit, ousted president Kurmanbek Bakiyev spoke at the rally of at least 2,000 supporters after calling on supporters to join rallies in the southern regions of Osh, Jalalabad and Batken, his power base in a country with a north-south political divide, saying that any attempt to kill him would result in bloodshed. "Let them try to seize me. Let them try to kill me," Bakiyev said. "I believe this will lead to such a great deal of bloodshed which no one will be able to justify." He also said he had asked the United Nations to send peacekeepers to Kyrgyzstan, and that he wants the U.N. to establish an independent commission into the events of April 7.


 * [[Image:Flag of Kyrgyzstan.png|25px|border|Kyrgyzstan]] Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan – Meanwhile, Kyrgyzstan's Provisional Government under Roza Otunbayeva ratcheted up the pressure on ousted President Bakiyev, threatening a special operation but also hinting at an offer that may allow him to leave the country. "We are preparing a special operation (against Bakiyev)," Almaz Atambayev, the first deputy leader of the interim government, told reporters in Bishkek. We hope we can carry it out without the deaths of civilians." Later, Otunbayeva said Bakiyev must leave the country, a move that would help cool the turmoil and pave the way for the formal recognition of her government by global powers.


 * April 13:
 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]] Washington, D.C., USA – McCain opened the second day of the Nuclear Security Summit with remarks at Plenary Session I at 9:30 AM. After a working lunch he would open Plenary Session II at 2:00 PM. The Summit would result in a binding communiqué, which reaffirm the fundamental responsibility of States, consistent with their respective international obligations, and called on States to work cooperatively as an international community to advance nuclear security among others.


 * The topic of a nuclear fuel bank was briefly discussed by some members attending the conference. President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev sought the United States' backing to house a nuclear fuel bank while he was in Washington for the event and Prime Minister of Pakistan Yousaf Raza Gillani issued a statement saying Pakistan would like to act as a provider and "participate in any non-discriminatory nuclear fuel cycle assurance mechanism". The UAE also reconfirmed its $10 million pledge to the IAEA Nuclear Fuel Bank and its policy of foregoing domestic enrichment and spent fuel reprocessing. On the first day of the Summit, Ukraine announced that it would give up its 90-kilogram stock of highly enriched uranium and convert its research reactors from highly enriched to low-enriched uranium. It intends to accomplish these goals by 2012.


 * The most widely anticipated meeting during the Summit was the bilateral meeting between McCain and President Hu Jintao of China held on April 12. During the ninety-minute meeting the two leaders discussed global economic rebalancing and Iran's nuclear program. China agreed to work with the United States at the United Nations on a resolution imposing further economic sanctions on Iran. The Chinese Foreign Ministry issued a statement saying sanctions and pressure cannot fundamentally resolve the Iran nuclear issue while reiterating China's adherence to a dual-track strategy. "We support the international nuclear non-proliferation system, maintain the peace and stability in the Middle East, oppose Iran having nuclear weapons and support a dual-track strategy," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Jiang Yu said.


 * [[Image:Flag of Kyrgyzstan.png|25px|border|Kyrgyzstan]] Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan – Deposed president of Kyrgyzstan Bakiyev said that he would formally step down as President if there were guarantees of safety for him and his family, speaking after the interim government that took power after bloody riots last week stripped him of immunity and threatened to send special forces to arrest him. He said: "In what case would I resign? First of all, they should guarantee that in Kyrgyzstan there are no more people walking around with weapons, and no seizures or redistribution of property. Also, I need to know that my own security and the security of members of my family and those close to me will be assured."


 * The leader of the Provisional Government, Roza Otunbayeva, said that if President Kurmanbek Bakiyev resigned, the government would “guarantee his security, only his personal security.” She confirmed on Tuesday that the guarantee did not extend to his family and relatives, some of whom have been accused of corruption. “We will provide security guarantees that he’s entitled to under the Constitution.” However, the interim government made it clear that it could only guarantee his security should he resign and leave the country.


 * [[Image:Flag of Kyrgyzstan.png|25px|border|Kyrgyzstan]][[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]] Transit Center at Manas, Kyrgyzstan – Leader of the Provisional Government, Roza Otunbayeva said that the lease on a United States air base in this strategic Central Asian country would be “automatically” extended for a year beyond its expiration in July.


 * April 14:
 * [[Image:Flag of Iceland.png|25px|border|Iceland]] Eyjafjallajökull, Iceland – Eyjafjallajökull resumed erupting after a brief pause, this time in the centre of the glacier, causing meltwater floods to rush down the nearby rivers in two flows on either side of the volcano, and requiring 800 people to be evacuated. The road along the Markarfljót river had been washed away in several places. Unlike the earlier eruption, the second eruption occurred beneath glacial ice. Cold water from melted ice chills the lava quickly and fragments it into glass, creating small glass particles that get carried into the eruption plume. This, together with the magnitude of the eruption, estimated to be ten to twenty times larger than the 20 March one on Fimmvörðuháls, created a glass-rich plume in the upper atmosphere, which is very hazardous to aircraft. The eruption occurred beneath glacial ice and the cold water from melting ice chilled the lava quickly causing it to fragment into glass, creating small glass particles that get carried into the eruption plume. This, together with the magnitude of the eruption, created a glass-rich plume in the upper atmosphere, which is very hazardous to aircraft. Volcanic ash is also a major hazard to aircraft. The presence and location of the plume depend upon the state of the eruption and the winds.


 * As a result, air travel in Norway was suspended on April 14. In addition to the effects on air travel, the total closure of Norwegian airspace included the 21 search and rescue and medical aircraft and helicopters in the country. This was soon followed by the suspension of air travel in the United Kingdom. This was followed by significant flight delays and closure of airspace in Belgium, Denmark, France, Ireland, Latvia, the Netherlands and Sweden (April 15), Austria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Luxembourg, Moldova and Poland (April 16), Romania, Slovenia and Switzerland (April 17).


 * [[Image:Flag of Kyrgyzstan.png|25px|border|Kyrgyzstan]] Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan – Leader of the Provisional Government Roza Otunbayeva announced that President Bakiyev, his defense minister, as well as relatives in government and political allies would face trial over the deaths of protesters. A Kyrgyz court issued an arrest warrant for Bakiyev's brother, eldest son and former Prime Minister Daniar Usenov.


 * April 15:
 * [[Image:Flag of Kyrgyzstan.png|25px|border|Kyrgyzstan]] Osh, Kyrgyzstan – Bodyguards of Kyrgyzstan's president fired shots into the air to help Kurmanbek Bakiyev escape about 1,000 opponents who disrupted a rally he was addressing on Thursday. Several of the 20 bodyguards guarding Bakiyev fire bursts from AK-47s and usher the president into a waiting jeep. His motorcade then sped away from Osh. Thursday's gunfire, in two bursts a few minutes apart, started when opponents of Bakiyev moved toward his rally from a separate gathering in support of the interim government, a Reuters reporter at the scene said.


 * [[Image:Flag of Kyrgyzstan.png|25px|border|Kyrgyzstan]] Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan – Deposed President Bakiyev resigned and left the country for neighboring Kazakhstan on Thursday under an agreement brokered by Russia, regional leaders and the McCain administration. Under the brokered deal, Mr. Bakiyev was compelled to leave without his younger brother, Zhanybek, the former head of the presidential security service, who is accused of ordering troops to open fire on demonstrators during the protests. Eighty-four people died and hundreds were wounded. Within hours, security forces swooped in to arrest one of his brothers and a political ally. Bakiyev submitted a hand-written resignation in a hand-written letter saying "I tender my resignation in these tragic days as I understand the full scale of my responsibility for the future of the Kyrgyz people."


 * It was said that he would continue negotiations on a settlement to the crisis from exile. The interim government responded to this by calling his departure a "deportation," saying he had allegedly submitted a request to resign amid reports indicating that Baktybek Kaliyev, a former defence minister, had been arrested. The interim government also said it would seek Bakiyev's transfer to a Kyrgyz or international court for trial at a later date.


 * [[Image:Flag of Lebanon.png|25px|border|Lebanon]][[Image:Flag of Hizbullah.png|25px|border|Hizbullah]] Beirut, Lebanon – Hizbullah sources confirmed that the group had received a shipment of Scud missiles from Syria. According to Hizbullah, the missiles were old and unusable, and accused Israel of blowing the incident out of proportion to provoke a media ruckus. “Our organization has many surface-to-surface missiles spread across all of Lebanon, in case Israel attacks the country again," the Hizbullah sources said. Despite this confirmation of what Jerusalem has been saying for days, the Syrian Foreign Ministry denied the reports, saying Israel was trying to stoke tensions in the region and could be setting the stage for an Israeli “aggression” to avoid Middle East peace requirements.


 * [[Image:Flag of Israel.png|25px|border|Israel]][[Image:Flag of Syria.png|25px|border|Syria]] Tel Aviv, Israel – Israel sent warnings to Syria through Turkey and Qatar that it would “bomb Lebanese and Syrian targets in case the missiles crossed the border and reached Hizbullah.” The IDF came very close recently to attacking a convoy carrying weapons from Syria to Lebanon, but at the last moment decided against it.


 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]][[Image:Flag of Syria.png|25px|border|Syria]] Washington, D.C., USA – In an effort to prevent renewed conflict, the US State Department summoned the Syrian ambassador in Washington, Imad Mustafa, and warned him that war could break out if the weapons shipments were not stopped.


 * April 16:
 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]]Flag of Poland.png Washington, D.C., USA – President McCain declared Friday a day of national mourning in the United States to commemorate late Polish President Lech Kaczyński, his wife, top brass of the armed forces and a group of Polish leading politicians killed in a Saturday plane crash in western Russia. A church service to remember victims of the plane crash was held in the St. Patrick's Church attended by McCain himself; afterwards he visited the Polish embassy, where he laid flowers and signed a book of condolences.


 * [[Image:Flag of Norway.png|25px|border|Norway]] Oslo, Norway – In Norway, a fresh report by the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD) presented for Minister of Oil and Energy, Ketil Solvik-Olsen (FrP) estimates that there are untapped oil and gas resources offshore Northern Norway worth between NOK 500 billion (nearly $90 billion) and 1,400 billion ($234 billion).


 * The NDP report estimates that the recoverable resources on the continental shelf and the declivity off the coast of Lofoten and Vesterålen in Nordland and Troms counties amount to 202 million Sm3 of oil equivalents, or about 1300 million barrels. This is slightly less than NPD's earlier estimates of 1500 million barrels.


 * Two thirds of the petroleum resources is assumed to be oil, while the remaning is expected to be natural gas. Most of it is located in the area called Nordland VI, while the amounts expected to be in Nordland VII and Troms II is expected to be of the same size as Nordland VI combined.


 * The oil industry, led by Statoil, have for their part maintained an estimate of 2000 to 3000 million barrels, and Statoil director Hege Marie Norheim says there is no reason for Statoil to reduce its estimate. "However, even if the NPD estimate should turn out to be right, it is still very interesting to start developing the resources in this area", Norheim says. In its report, the NPD states that there is uncertainty associated with the estimate for the undiscovered resources. However, this uncertainty can be reduced over time, e.g. through staged exploration including the drilling of exploration wells, the report concludes.


 * The report will now be used by the Norwegian coalition government consisting of the Progress Party (FrP) and the Conservatives (Høyre). Having a minority of seats to support them on the issue, they will likely as the Labour Party (Ap) for voting in favour for an assessment of the consequences of oil and gas production in these vulnerable waters (konsekvensutredning). While the Progress Party and the Conservatives are in favour of oil and gas production in Lofoten and Vesterålen, the Labour Party is split between opponents and supporters, and it is likely that the Agrarians (Senterpartiet), Socialist Left (SV), Christian Democrats (KrF) and the Liberal Party (Venstre) will work hard to get the Labour Party’s support on opposing exploration.


 * April 17:
 * Flag of Poland.png Warsaw, Poland – Poland paid an emotional tribute on Saturday to President Lech Kaczyński, his wife Maria and 94 other mostly senior political and military officials killed in a plane crash one week ago in Russia. Up to 100,000 mourners, many clutching red-and-white national flags threaded with black ribbons, packed into the vast Piłsudski Square in central Warsaw to commemorate the victims of the country's most devastating accident since World War Two. "They all had their dreams and hopes for the future of their homeland. This is a serious test for us to understand those hopes well and take them into the future," Prime Minister Donald Tusk told the crowd. "This is the most we can do for them. We are here to remember them. Poland is here to remember them. We will not forget," Behind him on the podium a tall, white cross rose up between two large black panels bearing the portraits of all the dead, whose names an actor read out one by one. Kaczynski's twin brother Jarosław, sat at the front of the mourners with other family members, including the president's daughter Marta, 29. Kaczynski had two grandchildren. Saturday's commemoration, which included a three-gun salute and a Roman Catholic requiem mass, came one day before the planned burial of Kaczyński and his wife in the crypt of Wawel cathedral in the ancient capital of Kraków in southern Poland.


 * The late Polish President Lech Kaczynski’s family wants his funeral to proceed as planned even if a cloud of volcanic ash disrupting air travel across Europe keeps world leaders such as U.S. President Barack Obama away. Family members want the ceremony at Krakow’s Wawel castle to begin as scheduled on April 18 “under any circumstances,” Jacek Sasin, a minister in the presidential administration, said in a press conference carried live on TVN24 television.


 * Numerous world leaders were forced to cancel plans to travel to Poland for the funeral of President Kaczyński on Sunday, as volcanic ash from the Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajökull continued to ground flights to and from Europe. French President Nicolas Sarkozy had to cancel, and contrary to earlier reports that Sarkozy was already in Poland, his Web site said Saturday that "given the extreme weather that paralyzed the air traffic over most of Europe, (the) President of the Republic will not go to Krakow (Poland) to attend the funeral of President Kaczyński and his wife, as originally planned." German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who was stranded in Spain, said her cancellation came "with the greatest expression of regret," and that the Polish government had been notified. Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski "expressed full understanding,". Among the others to cancel their plans to attend were Charles, the Prince of Wales and Foreign Secretary David Miliband of the United Kingdom; Turkish President Abdullah Gül, Swedish King Carl XVI Gustaf and Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, Norwegian King Harald V and Foreign Minister Morten Høglund, Danish Queen Margrethe II and Foreign Minister Lene Espersen; Icelandic President ; Finnish President Tarja Halonen; Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper; South Korean Prime Minister Chung Un-chan; Spanish King Juan Carlos I and Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero.


 * Other leaders changed their plans to either drive by car or take the train to attend the funeral. President Toomas Hendrik Ilves and Prime Minister Andrus Ansip, ditched plane tickets and opted to drive to Poland instead. Latvian President Valdis Zatlers, a close friend of Kaczyński, also planned to make the 13-hour journey from his country to Poland by car. Czech President Václav Klaus, also a close friend of Kaczyński, also chose to drive to Poland, while Slovak President Ivan Gašparovič and Prime Minister Robert Fico chose to take the train. Romanian President Traian Băsescu; Hungarian President László Sólyom and Prime Minister Gordon Bajnai and Slovenian President Danilo Türk would also attend the funeral. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych and Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili would all arrive in Kraków by air, flying from Moscow, Kiev and Tbilisi, respectiely. German President Horst Köhler and Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle, who had put a lot of effort in attending the funeral, were flown to Kraków by a military helicopter.


 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]]Flag of Hungary.png Debrecen, Hungary – In a suprise move, McCain arrived at the Debrecen International Airport at 22:43 on February 17. Since the airspace in most of Europe had been shut down earlier that tday, the White House had asked Hungarian Prime Minister for special permission to land in Debrecen, in order to reach the state funeral of President Kaczyński at Wawel Cathedral, Kraków the following day. Air Force One had flown from Washington, D.C. to Rome (where he also had asked Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi for special permission to land) and then to Debrecen at a lower altitude in order to fly lower than the ash clouds. As soon as he landed, he entered the 2005 Cadillac DTS Presidential State Car (Cadillac One) and drove off in his motorcade at 23:02, with security carried out by the White House Military Office, the Hungarian and, following crossing its respective borders, the Slovak and Polish Army.


 * Flag of Afghanistan.png Kabul, Afghanistan – Afghan President Hamid Karzai named new officials on Saturday to oversee elections, drawing praise from the United Nations and effectively ending a standoff with the West over rules for an forthcoming parliamentary vote. Karzai's quarrel with Western donors over the plans for the September vote had led to a diplomatic shouting match with Washington this month that brought relations between the war-time allies to a new low.


 * Karzai put former judge and legal scholar Fazel Ahmad Manawi in charge of the election commission, and also named an Iraqi (Mustafa Safwat Sediqi) and a South African (Johann Kriegler) to a separate election fraud panel, satisfying international pressure to include foreigners. Donors had threatened to withhold funds to pay for the polls if reforms were not implemented to reduce the chance of a repeat of massive fraud in a presidential vote last year, while Karzai had tried to reduce foreign influence on the process.


 * "We hope that by appointing the head of the Independent Election Commission and members of the Electoral Complaints Commission, the international community will take a step forward in terms of holding the election and start giving their financial and technical support as soon as possible," Karzai's spokesman Waheed Omer told a news conference. The head of the U.N. mission in Afghanistan, Staffan de Mistura, said the announcements were part of a compromise reached to avert a stand-off between Karzai, donors and parliament, which were all pushing for competing rules. "I want to congratulate President Karzai for his wise decision to agree to guidelines aimed at ensuring more credible and transparent elections," de Mistura said, adding he could now recommend Western countries release funds to pay for the vote.


 * Karzai's standing in the West was severely damaged by last year's presidential election, when the foreign-led fraud panel threw out nearly a third of his votes due to ballot stuffing. The United Nations appointed three of the five members of the fraud panel last year. In a February decree, Karzai claimed the authority to appoint all the members, angering donors and members of parliament. He later negotiated a compromise with de Mistura under which two foreigners would be included. Tension in those negotiations prompted Karzai to deliver a speech on April 1 in which he accused the West of perpetrating the fraud in last year's vote. The White House responded by urging the UN and EU to tone down their criticism of Karzai, stating that while not being the ideal leader, he is the only real alternative who do not weakens the Pashtun balance.


 * April 18:
 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]]Flag of Poland.png Kraków, Poland – McCain's motorcade would arrive in Kraków at 07:24 A.M., after driving for 7 hours from the Debrecen International Airport in Hungary. He would speak shortly with Bronisław Komorowski, speaker of the lower house of Parliament and the acting president of Poland, as well as with the Kaczyński family.


 * Flag of Poland.png Kraków, Poland – The state funeral of Polish President Lech Kaczyński and his wife Maria took place in Kraków, with over 150,000 people gathered in the city to pay their respects. Approximately 50,000 weregathered outside the Wavel cathedral, while another 50,000 to 100,000 were gathered at the Main Market Square (Rynek Główny w Krakowie).


 * The funeral mass in St Mary's Basilica (Kościół Mariacki) began at 2 P.M. with a performance of Mozart’s requiem. “The tragedy which took place eight days ago gave rise to much good among the people and nations,” said Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, archbishop of Kraków, in his introductory remarks before family, friends and Polish and foreign dignitaries. He also thanked those who were prevented from attending the ceremony, saying that "Those we knew wanted to come, but were prevented, are with us in spirit." He would then go on to thank those who were prevented from attending the ceremony, saying that "Those we knew wanted to come, but were prevented, are with us in spirit." He would also express his special appreciation for Russian President Medvedev: “70 years ago the Katyn massacre led two people from each other. Because the truth behind the killing of innocent people were hidden, this resulted in the painful wounds did not heal. The Katyn massacre doesn't split the Poles and Russians anymore. The sympathy and aid we witnessed on the part of our Russian brothers gives hope for the coming together of our two Slavic nations. I direct these words to the president of Russia.”


 * Before the funeral Medvedev would light two lights for Kaczyński and his wife Maria, before taking a bow before a photo of the two. U.S. President McCain, after getting permission from relatives to speak, said that “President Kaczyński was a patriot and close friend and ally of the United States, as were those who died alongside him, and the American people will never forget the lives they led. Kaczyński used his lifetime to fight for his ideals: democracy, liberty and justice. He fought the totalitarian dictatorship. He fought corruption. He fought for the poor. He defended Poland. We will never forget him, and I am honored to be here today to give my last respect for him.” Afterwards he would also light two lights for Kaczyński and his wife Maria.


 * Bronisław Komorowski, speaker of the lower house of Parliament and the acting president since Mr. Kaczyński’s death, thanked the visiting delegations for coming, and called for “Polish unity and unity with the Russian nation, in the name of overcoming the Katyn tragedy.” Komorowski ended his comments simply, saying, “Farewell, Mr. President.” Janusz Sniadek, the chairman of the Solidarity trade union, said: “Memory and truth are stronger than the greatest tragedies. The solidarity of Poles in these days of mourning is a tribute to you, your wife and all the victims.” The couple’s daughter, Marta, and her uncle, Jaroslaw Kaczyński, Poland’s former prime minister and twin brother of the president, prayed beside the coffins during the mass.


 * After the funeral mass, two Humvee gun carriages bore the coffins of Kaczyński and his wife Maria, draped in the red-and-white national flag, as soldiers in berets slowly marched beside, through winding streets to their final resting place in Wawel cathedral for a 21-gun salute and the burial. Thousands were lining the streets, throwing flowers, chanting "Lech Kaczynski, Dziekujemywe" ("Thank You") and waved Polish flags and banners of the 1980s anti-communist Solidarity movement which the combative nationalist and devout Roman Catholic once helped to build. Church steeples were adorned with flags capped with black ribbons. The crowd alternated between solemn hymns and defiant clapping every time the tragedy at Katyn was invoked.


 * Lech Kaczyński and Maria Kaczyńska were buried together in a sarcophagus, placed in the antechamber to Józef Piłsudski's crypt in the Wawel Cathedral, Kraków; Kaczyński's twin brother Jarosław Kaczyński revealed this decision on April 13. This decision was considered controversial by some who felt his achievements were not in the same league as others buried at Wawel causing objections.


 * [[Image:Flag of the Islamic Republic of Iran.png|25px|border|Iran]] Tehran, Iran – Speaking at a military parade that marked Iran's armed forces' day, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said the "unrivalled" power of Iranian military secured stability in the Middle East. Tension with the West has risen in recent months because Iran refuses to scrap sensitive nuclear activities as demanded by the United Nations Security Council. Tehran rejects Western accusations its nuclear work is aimed at making bombs.


 * "Iran's armed forces are so strong today that the enemies will not even think about violating our territorial integrity," Ahmadinejad said in a low-key speech at the parade.Troops marched in front of the podium where Ahmadinejad stood with army officers. Some had uniforms in green, white or red -- the colors of Iran's flag. Others wore combat gear. Iran's Shahab-3 missile, which Iranian officials say has a range of about 2,000 km that potentially puts Israel and U.S. bases in the Gulf within reach, was displayed. Helicopters flew overhead and parachutists landed on the parade area near the tomb of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic state.


 * To cries of "God is Great" Iran showed off its military might, warning potential aggressors that the Islamic state would vigorously repel any attack, state television reported. Missiles, armored personnel carriers, unmanned surveillance aircraft and small submarines with men wearing aqua-lungs standing next to them were also part of the parade. Some carriers bore banners proclaiming "We will trample America under our feet."


 * Ahmadinejad also criticized Israel, saying that "The Zionist Regime is on the verge of collapse", and referred to Israel as the "Jewish Murder State" which was responsible for all conflicts in the Middle East. Ahmadinejad urged regional countries to unite to end presence of U.S.-led forces in the Middle East. "The only way to secure stability and peace in the region is the cooperation and solidarity of the region's governments and nations," Ahmadinejad said. Iran is worried about being surrounded by the armed forces of its archenemy in the region. "In order to establish regional security, there is absolutely no need for the presence of foreign troops."


 * [[Image:Flag of Iraq.png|25px|border|Iraq]] Tikrit, Iraq – In a raid at a safehouse about six miles (10 kilometers) southwest of Tikrit, Iraqi security forces, supported by U.S. forces, killed al-Qaida in Iraq's two top figures, Abu Omar al-Baghdadi and Abu Ayyub al-Masri. The operation was launched after intelligence gathered during joint operations over the last week.


 * Ground forces surrounded the house and that rockets were fired from the air. The U.S. military said an American UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter crashed during the assault, killing one U.S. soldier and wounding three others; the crash was not believed to have been caused by enemy fire. The two al-Qaida leaders were inside the house. Al-Masri's assistant and al-Baghdadi's son, both suspected of being involved in terrorist attacks, also died in the raid and 16 other suspects were arrested, the military said.


 * Al-Masri, the shadowy national leader of al-Qaida in Iraq, joined al-Qaida camps in Afghanistan in the late 1990s and trained as a car bombing expert before traveling to Iraq after the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, U.S. officials said. Al-Masri was able to step in quickly to take after al-Zarqawi, the flamboyant Jordanian-born founder of al-Qaida in Iraq, was killed in June 2006. The group launched a bombing campaign shortly afterward to show that al-Qaida was far from eliminated. Al-Masri's real name was Abdul-Monim al-Badawi, according to an al-Qaida statement last year describing the makeup of a new "War Cabinet."


 * Al-Baghdadi was the self-described leader of the al-Qaida-linked Islamic State of Iraq. U.S. military officials on Monday said his real name was Hamid Dawud Muhammad Khalil al-Zawi. Al-Baghdadi was so elusive that at times U.S. officials also have questioned whether he was a real person or merely a composite of a terrorist to give an Iraqi face to an organization led primarily by foreigners. The U.S. military once even asserted that audio recordings in the name of a fictitious al-Baghdadi were in fact read by someone else.


 * [[Image:Flag of Kyrgyzstan.png|25px|border|Kyrgyzstan]] Jalalabat, Kyrgyzstan – Supporters of Kyrgyzstan's deposed president Kurmanbek Bakiyev broke into a regional government office in the southern city of Jalalabad on Saturday, eventually occupying it. 500 people had demonstrated outside the building earier in the day, and while most eventually dispersed, a few dozen protesters, mainly women, were left to occupy the building.


 * April 19:
 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]] Washington, D.C., USA – The U.S. Senate confirms that the Senate would vote for the Comprehensive Bipartisan Heath Care Reform bill in on April 23, 2010, with a vote in the House of Representatives in mid-May if it should pass in the Senate.


 * [[Image:Flag of Norway.png|25px|border|Norway]] Oslo, Norway – At a press conference, Norwegian Minister of Oil and Energy Ketil Solvik-Olsen (FrP) would announce that the coalition government consisting of the Progress Party (FrP) and the Conservatives (Høyre) would ask the Labour Party to support them for a vote on an assessment (konsekvensutredning) of the consequences of oil and gas production in the vulnerable waters outside of Lofoten, Vesterålen and Troms. Solvik-Olsen would say that “It is about time that the Labour Party come to their sences and make a decision on oil and gas exploration in Lofoten and Vesterålen. There is a good solution in this case and that is that Jens Stoltenberg thanks SV for the cooperation and goes to the Conservatives and the Progress Party to achieve reasonable progress on this issue. You are very rich and full as a nation if one says no thanks to NOK 500 billion.”


 * [[Image:Flag of Iraq.png|25px|border|Iraq]] Baghdad, Iraq – The U.S. and Iraq claimed a major victory against al-Qaida on Monday, saying their forces killed the terror group's two top figures, Abu Omar al-Baghdadi and Abu Ayyub al-Masri, in an air and ground assault on their safehouse near Saddam Hussein's hometown. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki announced the killings of Abu Omar al-Baghdadi and Abu Ayyub al-Masri at a news conference and showed photographs of their bloody corpses. U.S. military officials later confirmed the deaths, which Vice President Tim Pawlenty called a "potentially devastating blow" to al-Qaida in Iraq.


 * The organization has proven resilient in the past, showing a remarkable ability to change tactics and adapt — most notably after its brutal founder, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, was killed nearly four years ago in a U.S. airstrike. Still, some analysts contend, the group was far stronger then and would likely have a harder time now replenishing its leadership and sticking to a timetable of attacks.


 * "The death of these terrorists is potentially the most significant blow to al-Qaida in Iraq since the beginning of the insurgency," Gen. Raymond Odierno, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, said in a statement.


 * Al-Qaida in Iraq has remained a dangerous force as the U.S. prepares to withdraw most of its troops. The terror group has launched repeated attacks on civilian targets in Baghdad in an attempt to sow chaos and exploit political deadlock in the wake of the inconclusive March 7 parliamentary elections.


 * Monday's announcement comes at a critical time for al-Maliki, who has staked his reputation on being the man who can restore stability to Iraq after years of bloodshed. The prime minister is locked in a tight contest with secular challenger Ayad Allawi to see who will form the next government. Al-Maliki's coalition trails Allawi's bloc by two seats in the 325-seat parliament, and neither has yet been able to secure enough support from other parties to muster a majority.


 * Pawlenty said the deaths of the al-Qaida leaders underscored their overall improvement: "The Iraqis led this operation, and it was based on intelligence the Iraqi security forces themselves developed," said Pawlenty, who came before reporters in the White House briefing room to draw added attention to the results.


 * [[Image:Flag of Iraq.png|25px|border|Iraq]] Baghdad, Iraq – An Iraqi court on Monday ordered a partial recount of votes in last month’s national election. The ruling was called a victory for Iraq’s beleaguered prime minister, Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, who is struggling to make the case for remaining in office for a second term, even though the electoral bloc he led came in second place.


 * [[Image:Flag of Kyrgyzstan.png|25px|border|Kyrgyzstan]] Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan – Omurbek Tekebayev, interim Prime Minister of Kyrgyzstan, said the government had prepared a one-year road map of liberal changes to the constitution and free parliamentary and presidential elections around late September or early October. "The provisional government has worked out a democratic development plan tentatively dubbed 'The return to democracy'," he told a group of non-government activists and reporters.


 * Tekebayev, in charge of constitutional reform, said Kyrgyzstan will invite U.N. officials to join the Central Election Commission in order to maximise transparency. As for constitutional reform, Tekebayev said he would cut presidential powers substantially to create a parliamentary republic with strong checks and balances, adding that details were still being debated in the interim government. He said that constitutional changes would be put to a referendum later this year. He added that the interim government would work closely with human rights and non-government organisations during the reform period.


 * [[Image:Flag of Kyrgyzstan.png|25px|border|Kyrgyzstan]] Mayevka, Kyrgyzstan – The interim government sent troops and armoured vehicles to stem the violence in Mayevka village outside of Bishkek. Around 1,000 people armed with sticks faced off with police in Mayevka, and police said it had cordoned off an area where hundreds of angry people were waving heavy wooden sticks and chanting. Disputes over land on Bishkek's outskirts is claimed to be the reason for the protest. Five people died and 16 were injured when looters attacked homes belonging to mainly ethnic Russians and Meskhetian Turks. Police said the protesters also had torched three police vehicles.


 * [[Image:Flag of Kyrgyzstan.png|25px|border|Kyrgyzstan]] Jalalabat, Kyrgyzstan – About 1,500 Bakiyev supports gathered in the centrer of Jalalabat, where they waved with posters and banners while chanting in support for the ousted president. "We will restore Bakiyev's rule," the pro-Bakiyev governor, Faizulla Rakhmanov, said. "Bakiyev... will come back."


 * April 20:
 * [[Image:Flag of Kyrgyzstan.png|25px|border|Kyrgyzstan]] Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan – On Tuesday, some 300 riot police and troops confronted a crowd of several hundred people on the outskirts of Bishkek in the town of Mayevka where five people died on Monday when looters attacked homes belonging to mainly ethnic Russians and Meskhetian Turks. The Interior Ministry said its forces had arrested a number of rioters in a swoop operation in the suburbs after nightfall. The night appeared to pass without major unrest.


 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]] Gulf of Mexico, USA – The Deepwater Horizon, a semi-submersible offshore drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico, exploded and caught fire. The rig was in the final phases of drilling a well in which casing is cemented in place, reinforcing the well. This is a delicate process as there is the possibility of a blowout, the uncontrolled release of formation fluids from the well (oil split).


 * The fire reportedly started at 10 p.m. CST. Adrian Rose, a vice president of Transocean, Ltd., said workers had been performing their standard routines with "no indication of any problems" just prior to the explosion. According to officials, 126 individuals were on board at the time of the explosion, many of whom were able to escape and were brought onshore on a workboat. Survivors described the incident as a sudden explosion which gave them less than five minutes to escape as the alarm went off. 115 of the 126 member crew were recovered, 94 of the survivors were taken to shore with no major injuries and four others were transported to another vessel and eleven remain missing. 17 were evacuated from the rig by helicopter and taken for medical treatment


 * The United States Coast Guard launched a massive rescue operation. Four helicopters, four coast guard ships and one plane were used for rescue operations. Two Coast Guard cutters continued searching overnight. By the morning of April 22 the Coast Guard surveyed nearly 1,940 mi (3,120 km) in 17 separate air and sea search missions.


 * April 22:
 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]] Gulf of Mexico, USA – The Deepwater Horizon offshore oil drilling rig sank after having been on fire for more than a day. Officials stated 11 missing workers could have been near the blast and not been able to escape due to the sudden explosion.


 * April 23:
 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]] Washington, D.C., USA – The Comprehensive Bipartisan Heath Care Reform passed the Senate by a vote of 68–32 with 38 Republicans and 30 Democrats and Independents voting in favor of the bill. This was marked as a major victory for McCain and his health care reform plan, who praised the bipartisan support for the bill: "It took us a long time to come up with a solution that satisfied both parties. Today is a major victory for bipartisanship and for the American people."


 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]][[Image:Flag of Syria.png|25px|border|Syria]] Washington, D.C., USA – Secretary of State Joe Lieberman would express his worries of the rumours that Syria had supplied Hezbollah with Scud missiles: "Syria is providing the Islamist terrorist organization Hezbollah in Lebanon with several different types of missiles capable of targeting civilian targets in Israel. We are concerned about the increasingly broader cooperation between Syria and Hezbollah. When it comes to what we know about the Scud missiles brought across the border, this is something we must pay close attention to. If so, we must consider all measures that can get the Syrians to change course."


 * April 24:
 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]] Gulf of Mexico, USA – It was revealed that the wellhead of the Deepwater Horizon offshore oil rig was damaged and was leaking oil into the Gulf. Coast Guard Rear Admiral Mary Landry described it as "a very serious spill, absolutely." BP, which was leading the cleanup, employed remotely operated vehicles (ROVs), 700 workers, four airplanes and 32 vessels to contain the oil. Up to 1,000 barrels of oil a day (1.84 litres/second) were originally estimated to be leaking from the wellhead according to BP, but they have since adjusted it to 5,000 (9.2 litres/second). Other sources using satellite imagery have put that number as high as 5,000 to 10,000 barrels a day (9.2 to 18.4 litres/second).


 * However, despite discovering that the undersea wellhead was leaking, the oil cleanup was being hampered by high waves on April 24 and 25.


 * [[Image:Flag of Palestine.png|25px|border|Palestine]] Ramallah, Palestinian Natioanl Authority – Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas urged the McCain administration on Saturday to impose a solution to the Middle East conflict that would give his people an independent state. Abbas made the remarks to members of his Fatah party in the West Bank city of Ramallah a day after talks there with McCain's Middle East envoy. Richard Jones is in the region to try to revive peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians. "We've asked them [the McCain administration] more than once: 'Impose a solution,'" Abbas said. "Mr. President [John McCain] and members of the American administration, since you believe in this [an independent Palestinian state], it is your duty to take steps toward a solution and to impose this solution."


 * [[Image:Flag of Israel.png|25px|border|Israel]][[Image:Flag of Palestine.png|25px|border|Palestine]] Tel Aviv, Israel – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed to release more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails, to remove several roadblocks in the West Bank, and to ease the blockade on the Gaza Strip, as a series of gestures towards Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. During his meeting with United States special Middle East envoy, Netanyahu also agreed to enable the Palestinian Authority to act in Area C, which contains most Israeli settlements, in the West Bank. However, Netanyahu refused the U.S. demand to freeze construction in East Jerusalem as well as the request to return all territories classified as Area C in the West Bank to PA control, Al-Hayat reported.


 * April 25:
 * Flag of Hungary.png Budapest, Hungary – In the Hungarian parliamentary election, Hungary would to a new political landscape after the center-right conservative opposition party Fidesz took decisive election victory, ending eight years of Socialist rule marked by scandals, corruption, unemployment and massive economic problems which escalated even further when Hungary was hit hard by the global recession in 2008.


 * Fidesz won two-thirds of the votes (68.13%) in Sunday's second round of parliamentary elections, gaining 263 of the 386 seats - enough to allow it to govern without forming alliances. Fidesz leader Viktor Orbán characterized the vote - which also saw gains by the far-right Jobbik - as a "revolution" in the Eastern European country that was under Soviet control from 1945 to 1991. "Today there was revolution in the polling booths," Fidesz leader Viktor Orbán told a crowd of supporters, according to Hungary's MTI news agency. "Hungarians have overthrown the system and created a new one. The old system of leaders misusing their power was replaced by one of national unity."


 * While the Socialist party (Magyar Szocialista Párt, MSZP) took second place with 15.28% of the votes and 59 seats, it was closely followed by the far-right Jobbik party, making its parliamentary debut with 12.18% of the votes and 47 seats.


 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]]Flag of Hungary.png Washington, D.C., USA – U.S. President John McCain sent a message of congratulations to Orbán saying "On behalf of the citizens of the United States, I congratulate you with all my heart for your landslide victory in the parliamentary elections. I am convinced that your coming to office as Prime Minister of Hungary would mark the beginning of a new chapter, not only in the lives of many of your citizens, but also for the entire eastern and central Europe. Your victory is proof of the superiority of western, democratic and conservative values and fiscal responsibility over the degrading, corrupt and authoritarian values of Socialism."


 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]] Gulf of Mexico, USA – By April 25, the oil spill covered 1,500 square km, and was only 50 km from the Chandeleur Islands, ecologically sensitive barrier islands, damaged in 2005 by Hurricane Katrina. Mike Miller of fire-fighting company Safety Boss that specializes in oil wells, expects the oil spill to be the biggest in history. Meanwhile, BP planned to use ROVs to close the blow out preventer (BOP) valves on the well head 5,000 feet below the surface of the water.[27] The valve closing procedure was estimated to take 24 to 36 hours as of April 25.


 * [[Image:Flag of the Islamic Republic of Iran.png|25px|border|Iran]] Teheran, Iran– Iran said Sunday it fired five new types of locally-made coast-to-sea and sea-to-sea missiles in the last stage of its "Great Prophet 5" military maneuvers in the Persian Gulf. The missiles were fired simultaneously and struck a single target at the same time - a feat the Revolutionary Guard Corps described to the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting as "very important."


 * April 26:
 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]] Washington, D.C., USA – President McCain declared the coastline of Louisiana and Mississippi an emergency and sent more than 1,000 National Guard personnel to assist in the cleanup operation.


 * April 27:
 * [[Image:Flag of Norway.png|25px|border|Norway]][[Image:Flag of the Russian Federation.png|25px|border|Russia]] Oslo, Norway – The leaders of Russia and Norway resolved a 40-year-old dispute over the so-called "Grey Zone" (Gråsonen) of about 175,000 square kilometres, dividing the Barents Sea and part of the Arctic Ocean into clear economic zones extending to the edge of Europe’s northern continental shelf. The agreement could herald oil and natural gas exploration in a huge and potentially lucrative region.


 * Russian President Dmitri Medvedev said at a news conference that “I believe this will open the way for many joint projects, especially in the area of energy.” The Norwegian prime minister, Siv Jensen, said it showed good will in the face of rising international anxiety over who controls the Arctic seabed, which by some estimates contains a quarter of the world’s undiscovered fossil fuels. “This is a confirmation that Norway and Russia, two large polar nations, do not have a policy about racing, but a policy about cooperation,” she said.


 * The Norwegian and Russian frontiers cap Europe’s northernmost bulge. The new delimitation extends the two countries’ 122-mile land border northward beyond all the islands of the Barents Sea and into the Arctic Ocean, although the two leaders did not provide an exact northward distance. Conventional practice elsewhere in the world has been to position maritime boundaries at the midpoint between opposing land masses, and for 40 years that has been Norway’s goal with respect to its Svalbard archipelago to the west and the Russian island groups of Novaya Zemlya and Franz Josef Land to the east (the so-called "Midtlinjen"). Russia argued instead for a “meridian line” boundary running more or less straight north from the mainland, which would have provided it with an additional 67,000 square miles of economic territory — about equal to the entire Norwegian sector of the North Sea, whose oil resources have made Norway a rich country.


 * Jensen said the line approved on Tuesday was an compromise between the Russian and the Norwegian proposals, which splits that disputed area nearly in half, giving Russia 40,000 square miles of additional economic territory, which means the line will still run closer to the Norwegian islands than the Russian ones. A number of oil or gas fields identified by Russian seismic surveys in the 1980s are thought to straddle the line.


 * Geologists say the eastern Barents, under Russian economic stewardship, probably contains far more oil and gas than the Norwegian sector, though the Norwegians have beaten their neighbors to the punch by starting production in a western Barents field called Snow White. Based on expertise gained there, a Norwegian company, Statoil, has signed up to help Russia’s state gas giant, Gazprom, develop a large offshore field called Shtokman far out at sea on the Russian side of the Barents. That technologically demanding project has been delayed, however, by low gas prices.


 * The agreement is subject to ratification by by the legislature of each country, the Norwegian Storting and the Russian Duma.


 * April 28:
 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]] Gulf of Mexico, USA – It was announced that the U.S. Military was joining the cleanup operation and Doug Suttles, chief executive officer of BP welcomed the assistance of the U.S. military. Also it was announced that the U.S. Coast Guard and would commence controlled burning of the oil. They made a controlled burn later that day 30 miles east from the Mississippi river delta in an effort to protect environmentally sensitive wetlands.


 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]] Boston, Massachussets, USA – Interior Secretary Newt Gingrich today approved the controversial, long-delayed Cape Wind project, which would construct wind turbines 60 km east of the Horseshoe Shoal on Nantucket Sound, with minor conditions to protect the historic quality of the Sound.


 * “This is the final decision of the United States of America,” Gingrich said. “We have confidence in it and construction will start within a year.” Gingrich said project developers will be required to undergo more marine and archaeological reviews and take steps to reduce the turbines’ visibility from the shore. He also said the project would be reduced in size from 170 to 130 wind turbines. Gingrich said the conditions are “stringent,” but the project’s nine-year review has been thorough. “We are leading a clean-energy revolution that is shaping our future,” said Gingrich, adding that he “heard from tens of thousands who are passionate about this issue, but at the same time our relationship with the natural world is alive and evolving.”


 * Gingrich said Cape Wind, the nation’s first offshore wind farm, is “opening a new chapter” as the country moves itself off the dependence on foreign oil. He said there’s “huge potential for offshore wind in the Atlantic” and Cape Wind will be the first of many offshore wind farms. Gingrich said the 468-megawatt project would create 1,000 construction jobs, presumably part-time jobs to construct the wind farm. Gingrich also announced that the wind farm would be moved 100 km eastwards, in order to protect the environment, as well as other industries vital to the Cape’s economy, such as tourism and fishing, as well as increase aviation safety and protect the rights of the Native American tribes in the area.


 * Gov. Deval Patrick (D), a strong clean-energy proponent who favors the project, and a large contingent of state officials were at Salazar’s side for the announcement at the State House. “Thank you for this day,” said Patrick. “America needs offshore wind power. It’s been a long time coming. We’re making wind power a reality on our Nantucket Sound. We are on our way and if we get wind energy right, the whole world will be our customer.”


 * Patrick and the governors of five other East Coast states recently sent Gingrich a letter in favor of the project. Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA) also expressed his approval, saying the new plan to move the wind farm further east were a positive move. “Although I am not the biggest supporter of the Cape Wind project, I am positive of the administration's new plan to move the wind farm further east. This would contribute to protect the sound's national treasures, as well as protect industries that are vital to the Cape’s economy, such as tourism and fishing."


 * April 29:
 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]] Gulf of Mexico, USA – 69 vessels including skimmers, tugs, barges and recovery vessels are active in clean up activities. In an attempt to minimize impact to sensitive areas in the Mississippi River Delta area, over 100,000 feet of booms have been deployed along the coast.


 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]][[Image:Flag of Louisiana.png|25px|border|Louisiana]] Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA – Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal (R) declared a state of emergency and requested the participation of the National Guard in response efforts ahead of the oil slick's arrival, warning that it covered as much as 600 square miles of water.


 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]] Washington, D.C., USA – President McCain would in a press conference at the White House pledged a robust response and said the military may be called on to assist. McCain told reporters he has been getting regular briefings from top officials in his administration.


 * McCain also promised a review of the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico after an explosion at an oil rig. McCain announced he ordered Interior Secretary Newt Gingrich to review what happened and report back within 30 days with "additional precautions and technologies" to prevent future accidents like this from happening again.


 * During the remarks in the White House Rose Garden, McCain sought to counteract perceptions that his administration had been slow to react to the disaster, saying that his team has been "working closely" with state and local officials since the day of the explosion last week. He said that the federal government was "fully prepared to meet our responsibilities to any and all affected communities." Several Cabinet secretaries have already been dispatched to the scene, as well as 1,900 federal personnel and other resources. McCain also stressed that BP would be responsible for all costs related to the cleanup and said the administration is inspecting all deepwater rigs in the Gulf.


 * McCain also ordered a freeze on new offshore drilling leases until a review of the oil rig accident that caused the spill could be concluded, and new safeguards put in place. He also emphasized overall domestic oil production that pointedly did not close the door to future drilling. "I continue to believe that domestic oil production is an important part of our overall strategy for energy security, but I've always said it must be done responsibly, for the safety of our workers and our environment. We will ask both domestic and international partners to assist us with improving the safeguards and safety on our oil rig installations" he said. "The local economies and livelihoods of the people of the Gulf Coast as well as the ecology of the region are at stake."


 * He also said: "While BP is ultimately responsible for funding the cost of response and cleanup operations, my administration will continue to use every single available resource at our disposal - including, potentially, the Department of Defense - to address the incident." McCain also announced that he would visit Louisiana and the areas affected by the oil spill later in the day, and thus announced that the White House Correspondents Dinner would be rescheduled, saying that he hope that the correspondents will show their understanding for this decision."


 * McCain also announced he was sending Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge, Secretary of the Interior Newt Gingrich and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Sherwood Boehlert to Louisiana on Friday to inspect the effort to contain the oil slick. He ordered the Interior Secretary Gingrich to report within 30 days on what new safeguards were needed to prevent future oil spills.


 * Secretary Ridge called it “a spill of national significance which could threaten coastline of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida”, as he announced the creation of a second command post in Mobile, Alabama, in addition to the one in Louisiana. Interior Secretary Gingrich ordered an immediate review of the 30 offshore drilling rigs and 47 production platforms operating in the deepwater Gulf, and is sending teams to conduct on-site inspections.


 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]][[Image:Flag of Louisiana.png|25px|border|Louisiana]] Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA – McCain would in the afternoon fly to Louisiana, where he accompanied by Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) and EPA Administrator Sherwood Boehlert assessed the threat to large stretches of the Gulf of Mexico from millions of gallons of crude oil that has spilled from the remains of Deepwater Horizon.


 * April 30:
 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]] Washington, D.C., USA – The U.S. economy grew at a solid 3.7 percent pace during the first quarter of 2010 as consumers boosted their spending by the most in three years.


 * The Department of Commerce's initial estimate of the economy's performance in the January-to-March quarter, released Friday, provided more evidence that the economy is strengthening. It marked the third straight quarterly gain as the United States heals from the longest and deepest recession since the 1930s. Still, growth was weaker than in the fourth quarter of last year, when the economy grew at 5.6 percent.


 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]] Gulf of Mexico, USA – The U.S. Coast Guard received reports that oil is washing up on the Gulf Coast and is investigating them. Because of the risk that the oil spill can affect the shrimping industry, an emergency shrimping season was opened on Thursday so that a catch can be brought in before the oil advanced too far.


 * Approximately 2,000 people and 79 vessels were involved in the response. BP claims that more than 853,000 US gallons (3,230,000 l) of oil-water mix have been recovered.


 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]][[Image:Flag of Louisiana.png|25px|border|Louisiana]] Venice, Louisiana, USA – McCain met with local, state and federal officials, including the commandant of the Coast Guard, Adm. Thad Allen; EPA administrator Sherwood Boehlert and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, who were involved in the cleanup in southeastern Louisiana, the closest stretch of coastline threatened by the massive spill. Afterward, he held a press conference, where he said: "I'm not going to rest, and none of the gentlemen and women who are here are going to rest or be satisfied, until the leak is stopped at the source, the oil on the Gulf is contained and cleaned up and the people of this region are able to go back to their lives and their livelihoods. We will spare no resource to clean up whatever damage is caused. BP is responsible for this catastrophy, and they are ultimatively responsible for all the damage the leaking oil inflicts on the Louisiana environment. Let me make it absolutely clear: BP is responsible for this leak. BP must pay the bill, he said, with pressure on every word."


 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]][[Image:Flag of Norway.png|25px|border|Norway]] Washington, D.C., USA – Secretary of Energy Byron Dorgan asked Norway, a fellow offshore oil and natural gas producing country, to assist with containing the oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico by sending miles of newly manufactured oil containment boom equipment packed and ready for use located in Fiskebøl in Vesterålen. Norwegian Minister of Energy and Petroleum Ketil Solvik-Olsen (FrP) announced that he would ask Norlense to dispatch them immediately, saying that It is in everybody's interest that we prevent the oil spill to reach the vulnerable ecosystems in the Gulf of Mexico, and we will gladly assist the United States with our expertise in this matter."


 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]][[Image:Flag of Israel.png|25px|border|Israel]][[Image:Flag of Palestine.png|25px|border|Palestine]] Washington, D.C., USA – U.S. Secretary of State Joe Lieberman said Friday that the Mideast peace process will get back on track in May, with indirect Israeli-Palestinian talks. But she urged the resumption of direct negotiations on a peace deal. Lieberman said that the McCain administration's special Middle East envoy Richard Jones, who will mediate the talks, will travel to the region next week. His visit will follow a weekend meeting of Arab League diplomats. Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat hinted that the beginning of the talks was not yet a done deal. "We are making every possible effort to begin these talks. Every effort is being made to do this. But the official decision will be made by the Arab foreign ministers and the PLO executive committee," he said. Indirect talks involve U.S. officials meeting with one side at a time, and there are not any negotiations planned where Israelis and Palestinians are at the same table. "Ultimately, we want to see the parties in direct negotiations and working out all the difficult issues that they must," Lieberman told reporters after meeting with Kuwait's foreign minister, Mohammad Sabah al-Salem al Sabah.

May

 * May 1:
 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]] New York City, New York, USA – A car bomb was discovered by a New York City Police Department officer in Times Square, New York City. Two nearby street vendors, Lance Orton (56) and Duane Jackson (58), had alerted the officer to the threat when he spotted smoke coming from a vehicle. The bomb had been ignited, but did not explode, and it was successfully disarmed before causing any casualties. The bomb consisted of:
 * Two red full 5-gallon cans of gasoline, sandwiching
 * 40+ consumer-grade M-88 firecrackers inside a 20-ounce metal container (wrapped in duct tape, with its end removed),
 * Gunpowder,
 * Three full 20-gallon propane tanks, and
 * A green metal gun locker that contained:
 * a) a metal pressure cooker pot containing a thicket of wires, that also connected to the alarm clocks;
 * b) approximately 250 pounds (113 kg) of urea-based fertilizer in 8 plastic bags; and
 * c) 120 M-88s.


 * The improvised explosive device's ignition source malfunctioned, however, and failed to set it off as intended. Had it detonated, NYC Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said the bomb would have cut the car in half, and: "would have caused casualties, a significant fireball." Police said the bomb would likely also have sprayed shrapnel, and killed or wounded many people.


 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]] Washington, D.C., USA – President McCain called the bomb attempt a "sobering reminder of the times in which we live" and said that Americans "will never surrender to fundamentalism, and we will not cower in fear" as a result of it. He telephoned Duane Jackson and Lance Jackson, to thank them for alerting police.


 * May 2:
 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]] Gulf of Mexico, USA – Ian MacDonald, an oceanography specialist at Florida State University, estimated that oil might be leaking at a rate of 25,000 barrels a day and that the oil slick as of May 2, 2010, might already contain more than 9,000,000 US gallons (34,000,000 L). He later estimated the spill to be about 45,000,000 litres (12,000,000 US gal).


 * A piece in the Wall Street Journal suggests that the oil may be leaking at 1 million gallons per day, reaching nearly 100 million gallons in 90 days, when the spill is expected to be capped. In comparison, the Exxon Valdez disaster spilled close to 10.8 million gallons of oil, and the Deepwater Horizon spill may surpass that in only a few days.


 * May 3:
 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]] JFK International Airport, New York, USA – On May 3, federal authorities identified a person of interest in the attack. At 11:45 p.m. EDT, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers arrested Faisal Shahzad, a 30-year-old man living in Connecticut who had recently returned to Pakistan, at John F. Kennedy International Airport. He was on board Emirates Flight 202 to Dubai, which had pulled away from the gate and was taxiing towards the runway, before it was instructed to return. His destination was Islamabad, Pakistan, and he had paid for his estimated $800 ticket in cash.


 * After he was arrested, Shahzad directed authorities to his car which he had driven to and parked at the airport, a white Isuzu Trooper. His Kel-Tec 9 mm Sub Rifle 2000 was inside it, along with five full magazines of ammunition, according to law enforcement officials. The FBI and NYPD searched Shahzad's Bridgeport, Connecticut, $1,150-a-month two-bedroom apartment (which he had rented since February 15, without ever missing a payment) at Sheridan Street and Boston Avenue on May 4, removing filled plastic bags. Materials related to the bomb were found in his apartment, including boxes that had contained the alarm clocks. Keys that had been found in the Pathfinder opened the door to the home, and in his garage fertilizer and fireworks were found that were similar to those that had been discovered in the car bomb.


 * Shahzad told interrogators that he was "inspired by" radical Anwar al-Awlaki to take up the cause of al-Qaeda. Shahzad was was moved to action, at least in part, by al-Awlaki's writings calling for holy war against Western targets, and was a "fan and follower" of al-Awlaki, according to sources. A U.S. official said that al-Awlaki was a crucial influence on Shahzad, saying: "He listened to him, and he did it." Shahzad made contact over the internet with al-Awlaki, the Pakistani Taliban’s Baitullah Mehsud (who was killed in a drone strike in 2009), and a web of jihadists, ABC News reported.


 * May 4:
 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]] Washington, D.C., USA – In a press conference early Tuesday morning, U.S. Attorney General Debra W. Yang said Faisal Shahzad was arrested at JFK International Airport trying to fly to Dubai. "It is clear that this was a terrorist plot aimed at murdering Americans in one of the busiest places in our country," Yang said.


 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]][[Image:Flag of Louisiana.png|25px|border|Louisiana]] Venice, Louisiana, USA – U.S. President John McCain would fly to Louisiana for the second time, where he met with local, state and federal officials, including the commandant of the Coast Guard, Adm. Thad Allen; EPA administrator Sherwood Boehlert and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, who were involved in the cleanup in southeastern Louisiana. They assessed the environmental damages of the coastal stretches of the Gulf of Mexico from millions of gallons of crude oil that has spilled from the remains of Deepwater Horizon.


 * May 5:
 * [[Image:Flag of the Russian Federation.png|25px|border|Russia]][[Image:Flag of the United Kingdom.PNG|25px|border|United Kingdom]][[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]] Moscow, Russia – Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin snubbed both U.S. President John McCain and Charles, Prince of Wales, by refusing to allow them to attend a parade in Red Square marking the 65th anniversary of the end of the Second World War. Putin made it clear that he did not want the Prince of Wales there – apparently in a sign of his continuing annoyance with the UK over its failure to extradite Boris Berezovsky, the Kremlin critic and former oligarch, to Russia. McCain, a close friend of Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, was the reason Putin gave for refusing McCain to attend. During the 2008 Russian-Georgia war Putin famously threatened Saakashvili, pledging to "hang him by the balls".


 * The White House is privately furious at the snub. McCain told Russian president, Dmitry Medvedev, he was unable to attend but had confidently offered Biden as his replacement. Moscow's diplomatic corps has been abuzz all week with news of Putin's unexpected veto.


 * The White House is privately furious at the snub. Barack Obama told Russia's president, Dmitry Medvedev, that he was personally hurt by Putin, who had refused him to attend the anniversary "of the common victory of the United States, the Soviet Union and the rest of the Allies over Nazi Germany." Moscow's diplomatic corps has reportedly been abuzz all week with news of Putin's unexpected veto.


 * May 6:
 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]][[Image:Flag of the United Kingdom.PNG|25px|border|United Kingdom]] Washington, D.C., USA – President McCain would in a phone conversation congratulate the leader of the British Conservative Party, David Cameron, to congratulate him with his victory in the British general election. Although the results still weren't counted, he praised the Conservatives and Cameron for a great campaign, looked forward to work closely with him as Prime Minister.


 * May 7:
 * [[Image:Flag of the United Kingdom.PNG|25px|border|United Kingdom]] London, United Kingdom – In the United Kingdom general election of 2010, the Conservative Party won 36.1% of the votes and the largest number of seats (306) but fell short of the required 326 seats to have an overall majority. It was the first time since 1974, and the second since the Second World War, that a British general election returned a hung parliament. The incumbent Prime Minister Gordon Brown and the Labour Party only got 29.0% of the votes and 258 seats, while Nick Clegg and the Liberal Democrats got 23.0% of the votes and only won 57 seats.


 * When it became clear that no party would achieve an overall majority the three main party leaders made public statements offering to discuss the options for forming the next government with the other parties. Liberal leader Clegg stated that he would initially discuss the way forward with the Conservative party on the basis that they had won the most seats and had obtained the highest overall public support. Conservative leader David Cameron signalled he is ready to give ground to the Liberal Democrats in key policy areas in an effort to speed up talks aimed at forming a coalition government. Senior Tories said there was "leeway" in the party's proposals on tax, schools and green issues as well as reforming Britain's political system. Gordon Brown said that he was willing to discuss proposals with any party.


 * A disappointed Nick Clegg sais that "It is now for the Conservative party to prove that it's capable of seeking to govern in the national interest" whether as a minority government or with the cooperation of other parties. He emphasised that he will continue to fight for electoral reform.


 * Later, Conservative leader David Cameron has reached out to the Liberal Democrats saying he wants to make a "big, open and comprehensive offer" with them to help build a "strong and stable government". He said he would be open to looking at electoral reform and set up an all-party committee. He restated many Tory policies and said that there were areas where the two parties could find agreement, such as education and cutting taxes. He also highlighted areas of disagreement such as Afghganistan and Trident, immigration and the EU. He concluded saying: "I hope we can reach an agreement quickly." He said the urgent priority facing a new government was reducing the deficit.


 * Clegg appeared to have made some progress in bringing his party with him over joining a Tory-led coalition. He had earlier set out what he called his party's "four big priorities". He said these were "firstly, fair tax reform; secondly, a new approach in education to provide the fair start that all children deserve in school; thirdly, a new approach to the economy so we can build a new economy from the rubble of the old; and fourthly, fundamental reform of our political system". Within hours, sources close to Mr Cameron told The Sunday Telegraph that the Tories believed there was "leeway" on precisely these issues. Lib Dem sources would describe Cameron's offer as a "significant step". He would meet with his new parliamentary party the following afternoon.


 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]] Gulf of Mexico, USA – BP engineers have attempted a number of techniques to control or stop the oil spill. The first and fastest was to place a subsea oil recovery system over the well head. This involved placing a 125-tonne (280,000 lb) container dome over the largest of the well leaks and piping it to a storage vessel on the surface. This option was untested at such depths. BP deployed the system on May 7–8 but it failed when gas leaking from the pipe combined with cold water to form methane hydrate crystals that blocked up the steel canopy at the top of the dome. The excess buoyancy of the crystals clogged the opening at the top of the dome where the riser was to be connected.


 * May 8:
 * [[Image:Flag of the United Kingdom.PNG|25px|border|United Kingdom]] London, United Kingdom – The leaders of the three main political parties, David Cameron (Conservatives), Gordon Brown (Labour) and Nick Clegg (Liberal Democrats) took time out from negotiations over the formation of a new Government to join the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall to mark the 65th anniversary of VE Day.


 * Later that day, the negotiations would ocntinue. Cameron and Clegg met alone for 70 minutes at Admiralty House in Whitehall on Saturday evening. A Conservative spokesman said the meeting was "constructive and amicable." Senior Tories said there was "leeway" in the party's proposals on tax, schools and green issues as well as reforming Britain's political system. However, party sources said they would not budge on a range of "red-line" issues when formal talks restart between Tory and Lib Dem negotiators at the Cabinet Office this morning.


 * Brown, who continued to base himself in Downing Street, faced claims he had "ranted" at Nick Clegg in a phone conversation aimed at discussing a possible coalition between Labour and the Lib Dems. No 10 officials said the conversation between the two men had been "amicable and constructive".


 * The Tories denied they had offered three specific Cabinet seats to the Lib Dems – home secretary, transport secretary and Treasury chief secretary – but did not rule out Lib Dems having roles in a future coalition cabinet.


 * An ICM poll for The Sunday Telegraph found that 48 per cent of voters favoured moving to proportional representation (PR) for general elections, with 39 per cent backing the current first-past-the-post system.


 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]] Arlington, Virginia, USA – President John McCain would attend a ceremony at the Arlington National Cemetery to mark the 65th anniversary of VE Day. He would place the presidential wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns, a monument dedicated to American servicemen/women who have died without their remains being identified.


 * Also attending the ceremony were Secretary of Veterans' Affairs Chuck Hagel; Secretary of Defense Robert Gates; Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Michael G. Mullen; Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. James Cartwright; Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army, George W. Casey, Jr.; Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Gary Roughead; Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force, Gen. Norton A. Schwartz; Commandant of the Marine Corps, Gen. James T. Conway; and veterans who had participated in the Second World War in Europe.


 * May 9:
 * [[Image:Flag of Europe.png|25px|border|European Union]] Brussels, Belgium – Europe's Finance Ministers approved, in an emergency meeting, a rescue package that could provide almost a trillion dollars for crisis aid aimed at ensuring financial stability across Europe. The package announced has three components:


 * The first part expands a €60 billion (US$70 billion) Eurogroup's stabilisation fund (European Financial Stabilization mechanism). Countries will be able to draw on that fund but activation will be subject to strict conditionalities. It is intended to help any member of the eurozone that is struggling to finance its debts because of high interest rates demanded by the financial markets. All EU countries contribute to this fund on a pro-rata basis, whether they are eurozone countries or not.
 * The second part worth €440 billion (US$570 billion) consists of government-backed loans to improve market confidence. The loans will be issued by a Special purpose vehicle (SPV) managed by the Commission and backed by the explicit guarantee of the EMU member states and the implicit guarantee of the European Central Bank. All eurozone economies will participate in funding this mechanism, while other EU members can choose whether to participate. Sweden and Poland have agreed to participate, while the UK's refusal prompted strong criticism from the French government, along with a threat that eurozone countries would not support the pound in the case of speculative attacks. Denmark will not contribute despite its participation in the European Exchange Rate Mechanism.
 * Finally the third part consists of €250 billion (US$284 billion), half the size of the EU participation, with additional contribution from the International Monetary Fund.


 * The agreement also allowed the European Central Bank to start buying government debt which is expected to reduce bond yields. (Greek bond yields fell from over 10% to just over 5%; Asian bonds also fell with the EU bailout.)


 * The ECB has also announced a series of liquidity expansion measures:


 * First, it began open market operations buying both private sector and government bonds.
 * Second, it announced two 3-month and one 6-month full allotment of Long Term Refinancing Operations (LTRO's).
 * Thirdly, it reactivated the dollar swap lines with Federal Reserve support.


 * Additionally, the member banks of the European System of Central Banks started buying government debt.


 * May 10:
 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]][[Image:Flag of Norway.png|25px|border|Norway]] Stavanger, Norway – U.S. Secretary of Energy Byron Dorgan will meet with his Norwegian colleague, Minister of Petroleum and Energy Ketil Solvik-Olsen (FrP) to discuss offshore oil rig security and oil and natural gas production, including visiting Norwegian oil rigs in the Norwegian Sea.


 * The visit would also include the signing of a trade agreement where the Norwegian state-controlled oil company Statoil, the biggest offshore oil and gas company in the world, would assist in the construction of secure offshore oil rigs along the Atlantic coastline and improving existing oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico and along the Pacific coast and Alaska.


 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]] Washington, D.C., USA – Despite his quick reactions to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, he would be criticized by many Democrats for what they claimed to be a "slow and ineffective response", comparing him with Bush's reaction to Hurricane Katrina in 2005. They would also harshly criticize McCain's pledge to continue the exploration and future plans for production of oil and natural gas along the Atlantic and Alaskan coastlines.


 * A CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey showed that McCain's approval ratings had dropped to 52% with 46% disapproval, while a Rasmussen poll showed his approval ratings at 51% with 43% disapproval. A CBS News poll would for the first time show McCain's approval rating below 50%, standing at 49% with 48% dissaproval.


 * May 11:
 * [[Image:Flag of the United Kingdom.PNG|25px|border|United Kingdom]] London, United Kingdom – After days of negotiations between the Liberal Democrats and Conservatives, and a day after the Liberal Democrats infuriated the Tories by opening negotiations with the Labour Party, both the Labour Party and the Liberal Democrats announced that the negotiations between the two parties had failed, following massive pressure from leading members of the Labour Party and to some degree the Liberal Democrats against a Lib-Lab coalition government. The Liberal Democrats would continue negotiations with the Conservatives.


 * At 19:19 GMT, Prime Minister Gordon Brown resigned with immediate effect to clear the way for a Conservative-led coalition government.


 * With his wife Sarah by his side on the steps of No 10, he says: "My constitutional duty is to ensure that a government can be formed after last week's general election. I have informed the Queen's private secretary that it is my intention to tender my resignation to the Queen. If the Queen accepts, I shall advise her to invite the Leader of the Opposition to seek to form a government. I wish the next prime minister well as he makes the important choices for the future. Only those who have held the office of prime minister can understand the full weight of its responsibilities and its great capacity for good. I have been privileged to learn much about the very best in human nature and a fair amount too about its frailties - including my own."


 * During the evening, Brown visited Buckingham Palace to tender his resignation as Prime Minister to Queen Elizabeth II and to recommend that she invite the Leader of the Opposition, David Cameron, to form a government. He resigned as leader of the Labour Party with immediate effect.


 * At 20:35 GMT 20.35 Queen Elizabeth II invited David Cameron to form a Government, thus making Cameron the new Prime Minister. After the meeting he leaves for No. 10 Downing Street as the Buckingham Palace guards salute him as he drives away. The Palace released the following statement: "The Queen received the Right Honourable David Cameron this evening and requested him to form a new administration. The Right Honourable David Cameron recognised Her Majesty's offer and Kissed Hands upon his appointment as Prime Minister and First Lord of the Treasury."


 * Earlier in the evening, an agreement had been reached between the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats, which was later approved by the MPs of both parties. The leader of the Liberal Democrats, Nick Clegg, is announced as the Deputy PM, sitting as one of five Liberal Democrat ministers in the new Cabinet.


 * After having arrived at No. 10 Downing Street with his wife Samantha, David Cameron announced "a proper and full coalition" between the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats. "Nick Clegg and I are both political leaders who want to put aside party differences and work together for the common good and in the national interest." Standing by his wife, Samantha, on the steps to Number 10, he reserved a few words of praise for Gordon Brown. "I would like to pay tribute to the outgoing Prime Minister for his long dedication to public service." 


 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]][[Image:Flag of the United Kingdom.PNG|25px|border|United Kingdom]] Washington, D.C., USA – At 21:13 GMT, U.S. President John McCain would become the first international leader to congratulate David Cameron with becoming Prime Minister. McCain placed the call from his desk in the Oval Office, before a small pool of news photographers, in what amounted to one of Cameron's first official duties after taking over from Gordon Brown as prime minister.


 * Today, I was pleased to call my friend David Cameron to extend my personal congratulations for becoming the new British Prime Minister. As I told the Prime Minister, the United States has no closer friend and ally than the United Kingdom, and I reiterated my deep and personal commitment to the special relationship between our two countries - a bond that has endured for generations and across party lines, and that is essential to the security and prosperity of our two countries, and the world. I hope that our two countries, and us two personally, can work closely on issues like the economy, fiscal responsibility, the War in Afghanistan, the Middle East as well as energy and environmental policies.

I look forward to meeting with the Prime Minister at the G8/G20 meetings in June, and Cindy and I invited Prime Minister Cameron and his wife Samantha to visit Washington this summer.

I also send my best wishes to Gordon Brown, and thank him for his friendship and his distinguished service as Prime Minister.

He provided strong leadership during challenging times, and I have been grateful for his partnership.

This historic election has been closely followed by the American people, and I have no doubt that the ties between our two countries will continue to thrive in the years to come.


 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]] Gulf of Mexico, USA – Following the failure, a smaller containment dome, dubbed a "top hat", was lowered to the seabed. The dome was lowered on May 11 but is currently being kept away from the leaking oil well. The dome is meant to funnel some of the escaping oil to a waiting tanker on the surface. Like the past containment dome, they have been used to tackle well and pipeline leaks in the past but not at such a depth. At 4 feet (1.2 m) in diameter and 5 feet (1.5 m) in height, it is much smaller than the first 40 feet (12 m) 125-tonne (280,000 lb) dome. The "top hat" dome will be deployed in the event that BP fails to control the spill by inserting a 6-inch (150 mm) diameter tube inside the leaking pipe.


 * May 12:
 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]][[Image:Flag of Afghanistan.png|25px|border|Afghanistan]] Washington, D.C., USA – At a joint news conference which usually is an honor reserved for top U.S. allies, President John McCain presented a unified front with Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Wednesday in a bid to show their differences were behind them and the United States was on track to start withdrawing troops next year. The McCain administration gave the Afghan leader the red-carpet treatment in the culmination of a four-day visit at a pivotal time in the nine-year-old war. The White House talks were meant not only to reassure the Afghan leader of a long-term U.S. commitment to his government, but to convince a skeptical American public and Congress that the war is worth fighting and funding.


 * Standing side by side with Karzai, McCain played down strains in relations in recent months marked by Washington's open criticism of Karzai for tolerating corruption and the Afghan leader's angry rebukes against his Western allies. "I am confident we are going to be able to achieve our mission. There are going to be setbacks, there are going to be times when the Afghan government and the U.S. government disagree tactically, but I think our overarching approach is unified," McCain told reporters.


 * Injecting a cautionary note, McCain warned of "hard fighting" in coming months as U.S.-led forces prepare to mount an offensive in the Taliban stronghold of Kandahar. The push awaits completion of a 45,000-troop buildup McCain has ordered. "We have begun to reverse the momentum of the insurgency," McCain said, calling the allied advance slow but steady. "However, the Taliban is still on the offensive, and we will face hard resistance in the coming months. This is to be expected, and, sadly, so is further Coalition casualties. But it is always darkest before the dawn."


 * Seeking to ease Karzai's worries about the troop drawdown deadline, McCain made clear that support would continue long after U.S. forces start pulling out, and that the U.S. and other ISAF forces would remain until their job has been done. Many Afghans are bound to have doubts, recalling how the United States turned its back on them following the Soviet pullout from Afghanistan in 1989. "We have abandoned you in the past, and it was the Afghan people who suffered because of it" McCain said. "But this time, we will not abandon you. We will never give in to the Taliban. We will stay until they are defeated."


 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]][[Image:Flag of Afghanistan.png|25px|border|Afghanistan]] Washington, D.C., USA – U.S. Secretary of State Joe Lieberman, in remarks made at a meeting with officials from Afghanistan, said that the U.S. would continue to support Afghanistan for many years to come.


 * Lieberman made her statements at the beginning of a meeting between U.S. and Afghan officials in Washington, D.C. to forge a plan on how to handle the conflict with the Taliban in the future. The talks are intended to mend some of the disagreements between the U.S. Congress and the Afghan government, which have been in conflict with each other in the past; the several members of the U.S. Congress has claimed the Afghan government is corrupt and Afghan president Hamid Karzai has accused the U.S. of giving his government insufficient support. President McCain, on the other hand, has asked the Congress to tone down their criticism.


 * In his speech, Lieberman played down concerns that a sudden U.S. exit from Afghanistan could lead to the Afghan government forging agreements with the Taliban in response, an action that has been threatened by Karzai. Lieberman said that "As we look towards a responsible orderly transition in the international combat mission in Afghanistan, we will not abandon the Afghan people. Our military commitment will continue until the job is done and the Afghans are capable of handling their security themselves, and the civilian commitment will remain long into the future."


 * Karzai, in his statements, acknowledged differences between the two governments, saying that "As two mature nations and two mature governments — by now the Afghan government is mature, too — we will be having disagreements from time to time." Even as they acknowledged differences in views, both Clinton and Karzai stressed the accomplishments both countries have achieved.


 * Lieberman said that "The ability to disagree on issues of importance to our respective countries and peoples is not an obstacle to achieving our shared objectives. Rather, it reflects a level of trust that is essential to any meaningful dialogue and enduring strategic partnership."


 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]] Washington, D.C., USA – President McCain nominated Merrick B. Garland to the Supreme Court to fill the vacancy from the impending retirement of Justice John Paul Stevens at the end of the Supreme Court's 2009 / 2010 term. A moderate, he has been a federal judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit since 1997.


 * [[Image:Flag of Libya.png|25px|border|Libya]] Tripoli, Libya – Afriqiyah Airways Flight 771 crashed at about 06:10 local time (04:10 UTC) on approach to Tripoli International Airport. The flight originated at OR Tambo International Airport, serving Johannesburg, South Africa, and crashed about 900 metres (980 yd) short of runway 09, and came to rest within the perimeter of the airfield. It was reported that there was no post-crash fire. 103 people aboard the plane, including 57 from the Netherlands, were killed. The sole survivor was a Dutch child.


 * Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands expressed her shock at hearing the news. The President of South Africa, Jacob Zuma, also offered his condolences.


 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]][[Image:Flag of Libya.png|25px|border|Libya]][[Image:Flag of the Netherlands.png|25px|border|The Netherlands]] Washington, D.C., USA – McCain would offer his condolences to both Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands and to Libyan leader Muammar al-Gaddafi, as well as the other deceased.


 * May 14:
 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]][[Image:Flag of the United Kingdom.PNG|25px|border|United Kingdom]] Washington, D.C., USA – On his first overseas trip since the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats formed a coalition government under Prime Minister David Cameron, the new British Foreign Secretary William Hague met his U.S. counterpart Secretary of State Joe Lieberman in Washington, with the War in Afghanistan high on the agenda. Their talks also included Iran's nuclear programme and the Middle East peace process.


 * Hague has said that British troops will be in the country until "their job is done", but he stressed the United Kingdom wants to see the Afghan government "implementing" commitments it has made on training its own troops and tackling corruption.


 * At a joint news conference alongside Hague, Lieberman said they had discussed the "shared mission" in Afghanistan and Hague had reaffirmed the British government's commitment to "achieving long-term stability there". "The U.S. is deeply appreciative of the British contribution in Afghanistan," he said, and continued that the NATO-led ISAF forces were proving "effective" in Afghanistan.


 * On Iran, Lieberman said Tehran had repeatedly showed its lack of interest in negotiations and was unlikely to respond until there was action from the UN security council. Mr Hague said the U.S. was "without doubt the most important ally" of the UK and described the two countries' relationship as "an unbreakable alliance".


 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]] Washington, D.C., USA – In the U.S. House of Representatives, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D), Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D) and Minority Leader John Boehner (R) announced that the U.S. House of Representatives would hopefully vote for the Comprehensive Bipartisan Heath Care Reform bill by the end of the next week.


 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]] Gulf of Mexico, USA – Engineers began the process of positioning a tube at the largest oil leak site. The six-inch wide tube, which will fit inside the leaking one and is surrounded by a rubber flap, will be connected to a ship above to siphon off the oil. After three days, BP reported the tube was working. Since then, collection rates have varied daily between 1,000 and 5,000 barrels (42,000 and 210,000 US gallons; 160,000 and 790,000 litres), the average being 2,000 barrels (84,000 US gallons; 320,000 litres) a day, as of May 21.


 * May 17:
 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]] Gulf of Mexico, USA – BP will try to shut down the well completely using a technique called "top kill", BP Chief Operating Officer Doug Suttles said at a news conference on 17 May. The process involves pumping heavy drilling fluids through two 3-inch (76 mm) lines into the blowout preventer that sits on top of the wellhead. This would first restrict the flow of oil from the well, which then could be sealed permanently with cement.


 * Meanwhile, the additional oil booms supplied by Norway proved to be effective, having prevented the oil spill from reaching the marshlands in Louisiana.


 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]][[Image:Flag of Louisiana.png|25px|border|Louisiana]] Venice, Louisiana, USA – U.S. President John McCain would fly to Louisiana for the third time, where he met with local, state and federal officials, including the commandant of the Coast Guard, Adm. Thad Allen; EPA administrator Sherwood Boehlert and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, who were involved in the cleanup in southeastern Louisiana. They assessed the environmental damages of the coastal stretches of the Gulf of Mexico from millions of gallons of crude oil that has spilled from the remains of Deepwater Horizon.


 * May 18:
 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]] Washington, D.C., USA – After various reports indicating that a majority of Democrats and Republicans in the House of Representatives would vote in favour of the The Comprehensive Bipartisan Heath Care Reform bill, President McCain would in a press conference announce that he could now focus on other areas of reforms.


 * "After months of fierce and time-consuming negotiations, the approval of The Comprehensive Bipartisan Heath Care Reform bill is around the corner. With this secured, my administration can now begin work on the other areas which sorely needs reform - like Wall Street, Immigration and government transparency", McCain said.


 * [[Image:Flag of Afghanistan.png|25px|border|Afghanistan]][[Image:Flag of Taliban.png|25px|border|Taliban]][[Image:Logo of ISAF.png|25px|ISAF]] Kabul, Afghanistan – Eighteen people including five U.S. soldiers and a Canadian soldier were killed and fifty-two were injured when a NATO convoy was targeted by a Taliban suicide attacker. It was the deadliest attack against NATO forces in Afghanistan since September 2009 when six Italian soldiers were killed by a suicide bomber. Two full colonels and two lieutenant colonels were killed in this attack making it the deadliest attack against ranking officers in Afghanistan. With this attack the total number of Americans killed in Afghanistan crossed one thousand.


 * The bomber, driving a Toyota minivan packed with more than 1600 pounds of explosives, drove into a convoy of American military vehicles moving down the Dar-ul-Aman road at about 8 a.m. local time and exploded. The blast created a deep crater in the road near the ruined Darul Aman Palace. The bombing happened during the rush hour close to the National Assembly of Afghanistan. The blast destroyed 5 US military vehicles and 13 civilian vehicles. Most of the dead were Afghan civilians including women and children in a public bus which was driving by when the explosion happened.


 * Five U.S. soldiers were among the dead. The dead Canadian soldier was identified as Colonel Geoff Parker originally from Oakville, Ontario. He is the highest ranked Canadian soldier killed in Afghanistan. An American colonel, 2 American lieutenant colonels and their 2 American drivers were also killed. The American officers were identified as colonel John M. McHugh, 46, from New Jersey and lieutenant colonels, Paul R. Bartz, 43, of Waterloo, Wisconsin, and Thomas P. Belkofer, 44, of Perrysburg, Ohio.


 * The Taliban took responsibility for the attack. They stated that they had sent a man named Nizamuddin to carry out the attack. Several analysts believe that the attack reflected Taliban opposition to the upcoming peace jirga proposed by President Hamid Karzai. According to Afghanistan's spy agency the attack was allegedly carried out by the Pakistani spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence. Saeed Ansari, a spokesman for National Directorate of Security, Afghanistan’s spy agency stated that "All the explosions and terrorist attacks by these people were plotted from the other side of the border and most of the explosives and materials used for the attacks were brought from the other side to Afghanistan." According to US military intelligence officials Haqqani network based in Pakistan was also involved in the attack.


 * [[Image:Flag of Afghanistan.png|25px|border|Afghanistan]][[Image:Flag of Taliban.png|25px|border|Taliban]] Kabul, Afghanistan – Afghan President Hamid Karzai condemned the attack, saying women and children were among the victims.


 * [[Image:Flag of NATO.png|25px|border|NATO]][[Image:Flag of Taliban.png|25px|border|Taliban]] Brussels, Belgium – NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen condemned the attack in a statement, saying:


 * I strongly condemn the suicide attack today in Kabul, which has led to the death of Afghan civilians and ISAF soldiers, and injuries to many more Afghans.


 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]][[Image:Flag of Taliban.png|25px|border|Taliban]] Washington, D.C., USA – U.S. President John McCain said that he was "deeply saddened" to hear of the death of of the U.S. officers, whom he hailed as "professional, dedicated soldiers."


 * I was saddened by the news of the five U.S. service members killed earlier this morning in a despicable terrorist act carried out by the Taliban, and I express my sincere condolences go out to the families of colonel McHugh, lieutenant colonels Bartz and Belkofer, as well as the families of the two other killed U.S. service members. On behalf of the American people, I also want to extend my sympathies to the families and friends of the Canadian service member and the 12 Afghan civilians who died in the terrorist attack.


 * [[Image:CanadasFlag.png|25px|border|Canada]][[Image:Flag of Taliban.png|25px|border|Taliban]] Ottawa, Canada – Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper in a statement said he was "deeply saddened" to hear of the death of Parker, whom he hailed as a "professional, dedicated soldier."


 * My sincere condolences go out to Col. Parker's family and friends, who should be extremely proud of his honourable service to his country," Harper said Tuesday in a statement. "On behalf of Canada, I also extend my sympathies to the families and friends of the five American service members and numerous Afghans who perished in the same attack..


 * May 20:
 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]] Washington, D.C., USA – The Comprehensive Bipartisan Heath Care Reform bill passed the House of Representatives by a vote of 335–96 with 163 out of 176 of Republicans and 172 out of 255 Democrats voting in favor of the bill. This was marked as a major victory for McCain and his health care reform plan, who would once again praise the bipartisan support for the bill.


 * [[Image:Flag of South Korea.png|25px|border|South Korea]][[Image:Flag of North Korea.png|25px|border|North Korea]] Seoul, South Korea – The investigation team (South Korea, U.S., U.K., Sweden, Australia) released their report in which they concluded that the sinking of the warship was in fact the result of a North Korean torpedo attack, commenting that "The evidence points overwhelmingly to the conclusion that the torpedo was fired by a North Korean submarine." The inquiry also found that a group of small submarines, escorted by a support ship, departed from a North Korean naval base a few days before the sinking. The specific weapon used was a North Korean manufactured CHT-02D torpedo, of which substantial parts were recovered.


 * Korean investigators believe that one or two North Korean submarines, a Yono class submarine and the other a Sang-O class submarine, departed a naval base at Cape Bipagot accompanied by a support ship on March 23. One of the subs, according to the report, detoured around to the west side of Baengnyeong Island, arriving on March 25. There, it waited about 30 meters under the ocean's surface in waters 40 to 50 meters deep for the Cheonan to pass by. Investigators believe that the sub fired the torpedo from about 3 km away at 9:22 p.m. on March 26. The attack appears to have been timed for a period when tidal forces in the area were slow. The North Korean vessels returned to port on March 28.


 * The torpedo parts recovered at the site of the explosion by a dredging ship on May 15, which include the 5x5 bladed contra-rotating propellers, propulsion motor and a steering section, perfectly match the schematics of the CHT-02D torpedo included in introductory brochures provided to foreign countries by North Korea for export purposes. The markings in Hangul, which reads "1번" (or No. 1 in English), found inside the end of the propulsion section, is consistent with the marking of a previously obtained North Korean torpedo. Russian and Chinese torpedoes are marked in their respective languages. The CHT-02D torpedo manufactured by North Korea utilizes acoustic/wake homing and passive acoustic tracking methods.


 * South Korean President Lee Myung-bak accused North Korea of engaging in military provocation and violating the armistice agreement between the nations, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported., and vowed to take "resolute countermeasures" against North Korea for its alleged attack, according to his office.


 * "It was a military provocation and violation of the U.N. Charter and the truce agreement," Lee, whose two years in office have seen relations with the North turn increasingly frosty, said in a statement. "Since this case is very serious and has a grave importance, we cannot afford to have a slightest mistake and will be very prudent in all response measures we take,"'' his office quoted him as telling a rare emergency National Security Council meeting.


 * Lee is expected to announce his response early next week.


 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]][[Image:Flag of South Korea.png|25px|border|South Korea]][[Image:Flag of North Korea.png|25px|border|North Korea]] Washington, D.C., USA – U.S. Secretary of State Joe Lieberman warned that North Korea must faces consequences over the alleged sinking of the Cheonan which has stoked tensions in the divided peninsular.


 * "I think it's important to send a clear message to North Korea that their provocative actions are completely unacceptable and must have consequences," Lieberman said Friday as she began a week-long Asian tour in Tokyo, Japan. "We cannot allow the shameful attack on South Korea to go unanswered by the international community." 


 * U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen said the status of the 28,500 U.S. troops in South Korea has not changed because of the findings. "They are on their normal state of readiness. They are engaged very routinely out there," Mullen said. The United States is bound by treaty to assist South Korea if it goes to war.


 * [[Image:Flag of Japan.png|25px|border|Japan]][[Image:Flag of South Korea.png|25px|border|South Korea]][[Image:Flag of North Korea.png|25px|border|North Korea]] Tokyo – Japan said it stands behind South Korea. "We had received extensive explanation from the ROK [Republic of Korea] side prior to today's announcement," Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama said in a statement. "On this basis, Japan strongly supports the ROK. North Korea's action cannot be condoned by any means, and Japan together with the international community strongly condemns North Korea. In handling this matter, Japan will continue its close coordination and cooperation for regional peace and stability with the countries concerned, including the ROK and the United States."


 * [[Image:Flag of North Korea.png|25px|border|North Korea]][[Image:Flag of South Korea.png|25px|border|South Korea]] Pyongyang, North Korea – North Korea said Friday that it would "regard the present situation as the phase of a war" after South Korean President Lee Myung-bak accused it of engaging in military provocation and violating the armistice agreement between the nations, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported.


 * Should South Korea take steps to retaliate, North Korea will "strongly react to them with such merciless punishment as the total freeze of the inter-Korean relations, the complete abrogation of the north-south agreement on nonaggression and a total halt to the inter-Korean cooperation undertakings," North Korea's Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea said in a statement, Yonhap reported.


 * North Korea denied Thursday that it sunk the warship, which went down on March 26, killing 46 sailors. "We had already warned the South Korean group of traitors not to make reckless remarks concerning the sinking of warship Cheonan of the puppet navy," North Korea's national defense commission said in a statement Thursday responding to the investigators' report, according to the Korean Central News Agency. "Nevertheless, the group of traitors had far-fetchedly tried to link the case with us without offering any material evidence," the statement said.


 * May 23:
 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]][[Image:Flag of Yemen.png|25px|border|Yemen]][[Image:Flag of al-Qaeda.png|25px|border|Yemen]] Sana'a, Yemen – Three coordinated attacks in the capital Sana‘a killed 37 people and wounding 107. A series of three suicide car bombs detonated ouside of the Yemeni Army Headquarters, the main market and the U.S. Embassy in quick succession around 1:30 P.M. local time. Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) claimed responsibility, stating that the main attack against the U.S. embassy was carried out by Uthman Noman al-Salwi.


 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]][[Image:Flag of Yemen.png|25px|border|Yemen]] Washington, D.C., USA – President McCain condemned the terrorist attacks targeting the U.S. embassy and the market, saying that the "murder of 37 innocent people, including 5 U.S. citizens, were shameful and despicable."'' He vowed that the United States, in cooperation with the Yemeni government, would respond to the attacks.


 * [[Image:Flag of the Czech Republic.png|25px|border|Czech Republic]][[Image:Flag of the Russian Federation.png|25px|border|Russia]] Cologne, Germany – At the 2010 IIHF World Championship, Czech Republic were crowned ice hockey's world champions for the sixth time, snapping holders Russia's 27-match winning streak with a 2-1 win in the final.


 * The Czechs, twice on the brink of elimination after defeats to Norway and Switzerland in the round-robin stages, frantically held on for victory, leaving their opponents dejected on the ice as they danced and cheered for their first world title since 2005. Overwhelming favourites Russia, who had assembled all of their Olympics and NHL stars including Alexander Ovechkin, Evgeni Malkin, Pavel Datsyuk, Alexander Semin, Ilya Kovalchuk, Maxim Afinogenov, Alexander Frolov and Sergei Fedorov, opposed a Czech team where most of their NHL and Olympics stars had declined to participate of various reasons, leaving only two veterans, 38-year-old superstar Jaromír Jágr, who has won the National Hockey League's (NHL) Stanley Cup as well as Olympic and world championship gold medals, and goaltender Tomáš Vokoun, with 13 unheralded teammates who play mostly in the domestic league or the Russian-based KHL.


 * In front of 19,000 fans in the Cologne Arena, the Czechs took only 20 seconds to grab the lead when 38-year-old Jaromír Jágr beautifully set up Jakub Klepiš. Relentless play, great goaltending and a little bit of good fortune made the difference against the talented Russians. The eventual winner was scored off the skate of captain Tomáš Rolinek late in the second period just after Alex Ovechkin and Sergei Fedorov accidentally collided. Pavel Datsyuk ended Vokoun's shutout by scoring with 35.3 seconds left in regulation for Russia, but the Czechs managed to stave off the final Russian assault and the Czechs held on to win the game 2–1.


 * May 24:
 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]] Washington, D.C., USA – President McCain would in a ceremony at the White House sign the Comprehensive Bipartisan Heath Care Reform Act into law. In attendance were 5 Democratic senators lead by Tom Harkin (D-IA), 5 Republican senators lead by Mike Enzi (R-WY) as well as former senators Tom Daschle, Bob Dole and Howard Baker.


 * [[Image:Flag of South Korea.png|25px|border|South Korea]][[Image:Flag of North Korea.png|25px|border|North Korea]] Seoul, South Korea – South Korea announced it would stop nearly all its trade with North Korea as a result of the official report blaming North Korea for the sinking. South Korea also announced it would prohibit North Korean vessels from using its shipping channels. Analysts commented that the trade embargoes were "the most serious action" South Korea could take short of military action. The embargo is expected to cost the North Korean economy roughly $200 million a year. The decision to cease trade was followed up with the United States and South Korea announcing they would conduct joint naval exercises in response to the sinking.


 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]][[Image:Flag of South Korea.png|25px|border|South Korea]][[Image:Flag of North Korea.png|25px|border|North Korea]] Washington, D.C., USA – The White House said that President McCain had directed the U.S. military to coordinate with South Korea to "ensure readiness" and deter future aggression from North Korea.


 * The United States gave strong backing to plans by South Korean President Lee Myung-bak to punish North Korea for sinking one of its naval ships, White House spokeswoman Brooke Buchanan said in a statement.


 * "We endorse President Lee's demand that North Korea immediately apologize and punish those responsible for the attack, and, most importantly, stop its belligerent and threatening behavior. U.S. support for South Korea's defense is unequivocal, and the president has directed his military commanders to coordinate closely with their Republic of Korea counterparts to ensure readiness and to deter future aggression," she said.


 * McCain and Lee have agreed to meet at the G20 summit in Canada next month, she said. "We will build on an already strong foundation of excellent cooperation between our militaries and explore further enhancements to our joint posture on the Peninsula as part of our ongoing dialogue," she said.


 * Buchanan said the United States supported Lee's plans to bring the issue to the United Nations Security Council and would work with allies to "reduce the threat that North Korea poses to regional stability." McCain had also directed U.S. agencies to evaluate existing policies toward North Korea. "This review is aimed at ensuring that we have adequate measures in place and to identify areas where adjustments would be appropriate," she said.


 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]][[Image:Flag of South Korea.png|25px|border|South Korea]][[Image:Flag of North Korea.png|25px|border|North Korea]] Seoul, South Korea – U.S. Secretary of State Joe Lieberman and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates would meet with South Korean Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan and Defense Minister Kim Tae-young, in which they would again propose a joint missile defense shield between the United States, South Korea and Japan.


 * May 25:
 * [[Image:Flag of North Korea.png|25px|border|North Korea]][[Image:Flag of South Korea.png|25px|border|South Korea]] Pyongyang, North Korea – North Korea released a list of measures that it will take in response to South Korea's sanctions. This would include the cutting of all ties and communications, except for the Kaesong industrial complex. They would revert back to a wartime footing in regard to South Korea and disallow any South Korean ships or aircraft to enter the territory of North Korea.


 * A spokesman for North Korea's Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea accused South Korean President Lee Myung-bak of falsely blaming Pyongyang for the sinking in March of the South Korean warship Cheonan, according to the state-run Korean Central News Agency.A North Korean military official accused the South of intruding into North Korean waters in the Yellow Sea from May 14 to May 24, saying that "This is a deliberate provocation aimed to spark off another military conflict in the West Sea of Korea and thus push to a war phase the present north-south relations."


 * [[Image:Flag of South Korea.png|25px|border|South Korea]][[Image:Flag of North Korea.png|25px|border|North Korea]] Demilitarized Zone, South Korea – South Korea restarted its psychological warfare against North Korea by blaring propaganda broadcasts into North Korea. North Korea responded by putting its troops on high alert, and severed most remaining ties and communications with South Korea in response to what it called a "smear campaign" by Seoul. South Korean military propaganda FM broadcasts were resumed at 6pm (local time) starting with the song "HuH" by Kpop band 4minute.


 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]][[Image:Flag of Louisiana.png|25px|border|Louisiana]] Venice, Louisiana, USA – U.S. President John McCain would fly to Louisiana for the fourth time, where he met with local, state and federal officials, including the commandant of the Coast Guard, Adm. Thad Allen; EPA administrator Sherwood Boehlert and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, who were involved in the cleanup in southeastern Louisiana. They assessed the environmental damages of the coastal stretches of the Gulf of Mexico from millions of gallons of crude oil that has spilled from the remains of Deepwater Horizon.


 * May 26:
 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]] Washington, D.C., USA – President John McCain would at a press conference announce his plans for reforming Wall Street, named the Commercial Banking Stability and Security Plan.


 * “I want to ensure that we never stick the American taxpayer with another $700 billion – or even larger – tab to bail out the financial industry,” said McCain. “If big Wall Street institutions want to take part in risky transactions, they should be able to do so. But we should not allow them to do so with federally insured deposits. It is time to put a stop to the taxpayer financed excesses of Wall Street. It’s no coincidence that our financial sector got completely out of line once the Glass-Steagall prohibitions were overturned in 1999. By consolidating commercial banking, investment banking and insurance into single financial companies, institutions grew so large and became so interconnected that they were ‘too big to fail'. No single financial institution should be so big that its failure would bring ruin to our economy and destroy millions of American jobs. This country would be better served if we limit the activities of these financial institutions."


 * The proposed plan would restore safeguards modeled after the 1933 Glass-Steagall Act that protected bank deposits from being used in Wall Street’s risky speculation. It would prohibit commercial banks from affiliating in any manner with investment banks and vice versa. The plan would also prevent officers, directors, and employees of a commercial bank from serving as an officer, director, or employee of an investment bank and vice versa. Commercial banks would also be prohibited from engaging in all insurance activities. Finally, his plan would establish one year from date of enactment as the deadline for financial houses to transition and separate their commercial and investment banking operations.


 * Although the plan was met with some scepticism from some Republicans, several Democrats voiced their support for the plan, including Maria Cantwell (D-WA), who was the main sponsor of the Banking Integrity Act in 2009, as well as Senators Ted Kaufman (D-DE), Tom Harkin (D-IA), Russell Feingold (D-WI) and Scott Brown (R-MA).


 * [[Image:Flag of North Korea.png|25px|border|North Korea]][[Image:Flag of South Korea.png|25px|border|South Korea]] Pyongyang, North Korea – North Korean military official accused the South of intruding into North Korean waters in the Yellow Sea from May 14 to May 24, the Yonhap news agency reported Tuesday. "This is a deliberate provocation aimed to spark off another military conflict in the West Sea of Korea and thus push to a war phase the present north-south relations," the official said in a statement, according to Yonhap.


 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]][[Image:Flag of South Korea.png|25px|border|South Korea]][[Image:Flag of North Korea.png|25px|border|North Korea]] Seoul, South Korea – U.S. Secretary of State Joe Lieberman pledged Washington's support for South Korea and called on North Korea to end belligerent actions after meetings with President Lee Myung-bak and Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan on Wednesday.


 * We will stand with you in this difficult hour and we will stand with you always. We call on North Korea to halt its provocations and its policy of threats and belligerence toward its neighbors and take steps now to fulfill its denuclearization commitments and comply with international law.

The U.S. and South Korean militaries have announced plans for joint exercises and we will explore further enhancements to our posture on the peninsula to ensure readiness and to deter future attacks," Lieberman said. "The United States is also reviewing additional options ... to hold North Korea and its leaders accountable.


 * May 27:
 * [[Image:Flag of South Korea.png|25px|border|South Korea]][[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]][[Image:Flag of North Korea.png|25px|border|North Korea]] Yellow Sea, South Korea – A fleet of 10 South Korean warships, including a 3,500-ton destroyer, conducted an exercise far south of the disputed waters. Shells pounded the sea and columns of water erupted as antisubmarine depth charges exploded during the one-day joint anti-submarine and maritime interdiction training exercise between South Korea and the United States.


 * [[Image:Flag of North Korea.png|25px|border|North Korea]][[Image:Flag of South Korea.png|25px|border|South Korea]] Pyongyang, North Korea – North Korea announced that it would scrap an agreement aimed at preventing accidental naval clashes with South Korea. It also announced that any South Korean vessel found crossing the disputed maritime border would be immediately attacked.


 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]][[Image:Flag of South Korea.png|25px|border|South Korea]][[Image:Flag of Japan.png|25px|border|Japan]] Washington, D.C., USA – U.S. President John McCain would call South Korean President Lee Myung-bak and Japanese Prime Minister, saying that he would consider deploying two additional heavy Brigade Combat Teams (the 1st Brigade Combat Team and 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division) to South Korea in order to reinforce the Eighth U.S. Army of the United States Forces Korea. He would also again propose a joint missile defense shield between the United States, South Korea and Japan.


 * May 28-29:
 * [[Image:Flag of the Czech Republic.png|25px|border|Czech Republic]] Prague, the Czech Republic – In the Czech legislative election of 2010, the Social Democratic Party (ČSSD) saw a loss of support, although they still received the highest number of votes. The conservative Civic Democratic Party (ODS) and TOP 09 followed in second and third, while the Communist Party finished fourth.


 * The centre-left Social Democrats won the most votes, with 22.1%. The conservative Civic Democratic Party and TOP 09 followed with 20.2% and 16.7% respectively. The Communist Party came fourth with 11.3%, slightly ahead of the centre-right Public Affairs which received 10.9%. It was the first time that the Communists had failed to finish third in a Czech election. For TOP 09 and Public Affairs, it was the first election in which they had won seats in Parliament. The Christian Democrats (4.4%), the Party of Civic Rights (4.3%) and the Green Party (2.4%), along with Sovereignty (3.7%), failed to gain the 5% necessary to enter parliament.


 * After the election results became known on May 29, Jiří Paroubek resigned as the Social Democrat leader citing disappointment with the outcome, saying of the result "It seems that people have chosen the direction the republic should go in and it is a different direction than the one the Social Democrats were offering". The Social Democrats had led comfortably in polling before the election, and its 22% share of the vote was a significant drop from the party's 32% in the 2006 election. Paroubek conceded that a conservative coalition government was possible. The Civic Democrats, TOP 09 and Public Affairs had each committed to government spending cuts, raising the prospect of the formation of a fiscally conservative Cabinet. The leaders of the three parties held coalition talks shortly after the results were released. Petr Nečas, the head of the Civic Democrats, claimed the three parties had a "common will" to join in government, stating that their financial plans would work together to help the country avoid going into a similar crisis to the one Greece suffered at the same time.


 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]][[Image:Flag of the Czech Republic.png|25px|border|Czech Republic]] Washington, D.C., USA – President McCain would in a phone conversation with ODS leader and potential Prime Minister candidate Petr Nečas congratulate him with the victory of the centre-right in the Czech legislative election. McCain would praise Nečas' will to form a government based on fiscal responsibility, along with the United States and the United Kingdom.


 * They would discuss issues like the economy, fiscal responsibility, the War in Afghanistan, the missile defence shield, relationship with Russia as well as energy issues, including the bid of the U.S. company Westinghouse Electric Company for providing two pressurized water reactors (PWRs) for the Czech nuclear power plant in Temelín.


 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]] Gulf of Mexico, USA – After three consecutive failed attempts at the top kill, on May 29 BP moved on to their next contingency option, the Lower Marine Riser Package (LMRP) Cap Containment System. The operational plan first involves cutting and then removing the damaged riser from the top of the failed Blow-Out Preventer (BOP) to leave a cleanly-cut pipe at the top of the BOP’s LMRP. The cap is designed to be connected to a riser from the Discoverer Enterprise drillship and placed over the LMRP with the intention of capturing most of the oil and gas flowing from the well. During the cutting of the pipe, the diamond blade saw became stuck but was later freed. BP had to use shears instead and the cut is "ragged", meaning the cap will be harder to fit.


 * May 31:
 * [[Image:Flag of Israel.png|25px|border|Israel]][[Image:Flag of Turkey.png|25px|border|Turkey]] The Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Israel and Gaza – Israeli naval forces seized an convoy of six ships carrying 663 humanitarians, journalists, and pro-Palestinian activists from 37 nations, known as the Gaza Freedom Flotilla, in international waters of the Mediterranean Sea. The activists were trying to get past the maritime blockade of Gaza and deliver humanitarian aid and building supplies. The flotilla had refused Israeli requests to change course to the port of Ashdod, where the Israeli government had said it would inspect the aid and deliver (or let humanitarian organizations deliver) Israeli-approved items to Gaza. Nine passengers aboard the MV Mavi Marmara, the main ship of the convoy, were shot and killed in skirmishes that accompanied the interception of the vessel. Up to 60 passengers and ten members of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) were injured in the clash.


 * Israeli commandos, attempting to seize the Mavi Marmara, clashed with passengers as they rappelled onto the deck from helicopters. The IDF said they were prepared for passive and light resistance. They were confronted by a number of activists wielding sticks, metal bars and knives. The Israeli soldiers opened fire at some point, but the sequence of events is not yet clear. Activists said that the Israelis opened fire before boarding, while accounts from Israel have said that the firing occurred after the start of the on-deck skirmish.


 * The attack prompted widespread international reactions from national authorities, supranational bodies and NGOs, as well as civilian demonstrations around the world. The United Nations Security Council and the UN Human Rights Council condemned "those acts resulting in civilain deaths", demanded an impartial investigation of the raid, and called for the immediate release of civilians held by Israel.


 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]][[Image:Flag of Israel.png|25px|border|Israel]][[Image:Flag of Turkey.png|25px|border|Turkey]] Washington, D.C., USA – U.S. President John McCain would in a statement express his "deep the loss of life and injuries sustained, and is currently working to understand the circumstances surrounding this tragedy." However, he also defended Israel's decision to intercept the pro-Palestinian flotilla bringing humanitarian aid to the coastal territory, stating that Israel has the right to defend themselves. McCain said that "Israel has a right to know whether or not arms are being smuggled in", continuing that the Turkish Islamic aid group behind the Gaza Freedom Flotilla, the Foundation for Human Rights and Freedom and Humanitarian Relief (IHH), has close ties to Hamas and is "sympathetic to al-Qaeda." He also urged for an immediate, complete and impartial inquiry into the events and the circumstances surrounding it.


 * [[Image:Flag of Turkey.png|25px|border|Turkey]][[Image:Flag of Israel.png|25px|border|Israel]] Santiago, Chile – Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan accused Israel of state terrorism after Israeli marines stormed the Turkish aid ship bound for Gaza. "This action, totally contrary to the principles of international law, is inhumane state terrorism. Nobody should think we will keep quiet in the face of this," Erdoğan told reporters from Chile, where he was cutting short an official visit to Latin America to deal with the crisis.


 * [[Image:Flag of the United Nations.png|25px|border|United Nations]][[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]][[Image:Flag of Israel.png|25px|border|Israel]][[Image:Flag of Turkey.png|25px|border|Turkey]] New York City, New York, USA – Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu asked U.S. President John McCain to veto any veto any UN Security Council condemnation of Israel, but McCain refused, stating that it was in U.S. interest to not deteriorate relations with fellow NATO country Turkey any further. However, he guaranteed that the U.S. would soften the declaration's wording, and would work for including Israel in any investigation of the incident.

June

 * June 1:
 * [[Image:Flag of the United Nations.png|25px|border|United Nations]][[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]][[Image:Flag of Israel.png|25px|border|Israel]][[Image:Flag of Turkey.png|25px|border|Turkey]] New York City, New York, USA – At the UN Security Council, the U.S. blocked demands for an international inquiry into the raid (and the criticism of Israel for violating international law, as proposed by Turkey, the Palestinians, and Arab nations. A compromise statement instead calls for an impartial investigation which Washington indicated could be carried out by Israel.


 * Turkey pressed for the security council to launch an investigation similar to Richard Goldstone's inquiry into last year's fighting in Gaza which prompted protests from Israel when it concluded that Israel and Hamas were probably guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity.


 * Ankara wanted the investigation into the raid on the Mavi Marmara to result in the prosecution of officials responsible for the assault and the payment of compensation to the victims.


 * But in hours of diplomatic wrangling, the US blocked the move and instead forced a statement that called for "a prompt, impartial, credible and transparent investigation conforming to international standards". The US representative at the security council discussions, Alejandro Wolff, indicated that Washington would be satisfied with Israel investigating itself when he called for it to undertake a credible investigation.


 * The Americans also blocked criticism of Israel for violating international law by assaulting a ship in international waters in the security council statement proposed by Turkey, the Palestinians and Arab nations. The U.S. instead forced a broader statement that condemned "those acts which resulted in the loss" of life.


 * [[Image:Flag of Egypt.png|25px|border|Egypt]][[Image:Flag of Palestine.png|25px|border|Palestine]] Rafa, Egypt – Egypt opened its Rafah Border Crossing with the Gaza Strip to allow humanitarian and medical aid to enter following international criticism of the raid and a call for the border to be opened by Hamas's leader Khaled Meshaal. It is not clear how long it will remain open. According to an Egyptian security source, construction materials such as concrete and steel are still required to be transported via Israel's border crossings.


 * [[Image:Flag of Israel.png|25px|border|Israel]] Tel Aviv, Israel – Israel announced that they would release more than 600 pro-Palestinian activists detained after commandos stormed an aid flotilla bound for Gaza – an assault which left nine dead and led to increasing calls for an independent, impartial inquiry. The decision to free the activists came as first accounts from those on the ships began to emerge, with some claiming the Israeli forces who stormed the largest ship in the flotilla – the Mavi Marmara – shot to kill and used electric stun guns.


 * [[Image:Flag of Turkey.png|25px|border|Turkey]][[Image:Flag of Israel.png|25px|border|Israel]] Ankara, Turkey – In a speech in the Turkish Parliament, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said Israel should be "punished" for its "bloody massacre" on the flotilla, and warned that no one should test Turkey's patience.


 * "It is no longer possible to cover up or ignore Israel's lawlessness. The international community must from now on say 'enough is enough'," Erdoğan said. ''"Dry statements of condemnation are not enough ... There should be results." He said the Israeli action was an attack "on international law, the conscience of humanity and world peace".


 * Monday's raid has dramatically escalated tensions between Turkey and Israel, with Ankara's ruling AK Party saying ties will never be the same. The country has recalled its ambassador to Israel and cancelled three joint military exercises with Israel and sent three planes to Israel to bring back around 20 of its nationals wounded during the violence.


 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]][[Image:Flag of Turkey.png|25px|border|Turkey]] Washington, D.C, USA and Ankara, Turkey – U.S. President John McCain would speak with Turkish Prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.


 * McCain expressed "deep condolences" over the deaths on board a Turkish flagged ship that was assaulted by Israeli commandos, and said Washington was working with Israel on the release of impounded vessels and passengers.


 * "He also affirmed the United States position in support of a credible, impartial, and transparent investigation of the facts surrounding this tragedy, as well as affirming the importance of finding better ways to provide humanitarian assistance to the people of Gaza without undermining Israel's security," the White House said in a statement.


 * McCain also underscored the importance of a "comprehensive peace agreement which establishes an independent, contiguous, and viable Palestinian state," the White House said.


 * However, McCain also supported Israel's right right to know whether or not arms are being smuggled in by the IHH to reinforce Hamas' arms stockpiles, and that they could have let the United Nations bring humanitarian supplies to the Gaza Strip.


 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]] Washington, D.C, USA – The U.S. has opened a criminal investigation into the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, Attorney General Debra W. Yang said. "We will prosecute to the fullest extent of the law anyone who has violated the law," Yang said, who was in Louisiana on Tuesday meeting with state attorneys general from the region and touring the areas affected by the huge spill from a well owned by British oil giant BP PLC.


 * Meanwhile, President John McCain said Tuesday he wanted a new oil-spill commission to thoroughly investigate the matter. "In doing this work, they have my full support to follow the facts wherever they may lead," McCain said in the White House Rose Garden after emerging from a meeting with the co-chairmen of the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill.


 * He said if laws were broken, justice would be done. He also said the federal government was monitoring the situation minute-by-minute. McCain said the commission would report back to him in six months on the causes of the spill, the government's response and what changes were needed to oil regulations to prevent a repeat of the disaster. "Only then can we be assured deep-water drilling can be done safely," he said after noting that he had halted exploratory deep-water drilling along the Gulf coast for six months, while the commission conducts its investigation.


 * June 3:
 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]][[Image:Flag of Israel.png|25px|border|Israel]] Washington, D.C., USA – U.S. Secretary of State Joe Lieberman reiterated the U.S. government position that "Israel has a right to know whether or not arms are being smuggled in by the IHH to reinforce Hamas' arms stockpiles. However we expect the Israeli government to conduct a prompt, impartial, credible and transparent investigation that conforms to international standards and gets to all the facts surrounding this tragic event."


 * [[Image:Flag of Israel.png|25px|border|Israel]] Tel Aviv, Israel – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that he was considering allowing international involvement in supervising the naval blockade. He said he is willing to have the blockade focus mainly on preventing arms smuggling to Hamas and to allow international involvement in supervising Gaza-bound cargoes, he insists on carefully scrutinizing any proposals to ensure their feasibility, rather than making a hasty decision in response to pressure stemming from Monday's botched raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla.


 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]] Washington, D.C., USA – The United States Senate would discuss President McCain's proposed Commercial Banking Stability and Security Plan. While several Democrats, including Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Ted Kaufman (D-DE), Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Russell Feingold (D-WI) voiced their support for it, several Republicans members of the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs expressed their opposition to it, including Jim DeMint (R-SC). However, the committee's ranking Republican member, Richard Shelby (R-AL), expressed his support for it, stating that "it would reestablish some of the safeguards that protected bank deposits from being used in Wall Street’s risky speculation," and Scott Brown (R-MA) also voiced his support for it. Republicans appear increasingly reluctant to run the political risk of blocking passage and being painted as aligned with Wall Street in an election year.


 * [[Image:Flag of Palestine.png|25px|border|Palestine]] International waters of the Mediterranean Sea – Activists said they had another Gaza-bound aid ship, the MV Rachel Corrie, that was expected to arrive in the region early the next week. The ship was Irish-owned, and had the former Assistant UN Secretary-General Denis Halliday and Nobel Peace Prize winner Mairead Maguire on board. Halliday said that the ship would stop only when Israelis forced the ship to do so. The ship was carrying humanitarian supplies, including 550 tons of cement intended to rebuild schools, homes and other building destroyed in Gaza, as well as 20 tons of paper, 100 tons of high-end medical equipment, fabric and thread.


 * June 4:
 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]] Gulf of Mexico, USA – A BP executive overseeing containment efforts told CNN that BP's containment cap over its stricken Gulf of Mexico well is collecting about 1,000 barrels per day, and that as that collection rate increased, it could corral "90-plus percent" of the oil.


 * One thousand barrels is a small fraction of the 19,000 barrels a day the U.S. government has estimated could be gushing from the well, but the amount should decrease as BP closes vents to trap more oil, Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen told reporters on a conference call. As the amount of oil channeled to the surface increases, those vents would close to maximize the oil corralled, he said.


 * The containment cap is BP's latest attempt to trap oil, after its' "top kill" plan to plug the well failed last Saturday. BP's strategy is now to trap most of the oil at the well and funnel it to a tanker on the surface until the company finishes drilling two relief wells to plug the leak. Those wells are expected to be finished by mid-August.


 * Doug Suttles, BP's chief operating officer of exploration and production, told CNN earlier on Friday the containment cap "should work." "I'd like to see us capture 90-plus percent of this flow," Suttles said. "I think that's possible with this design." Both Allen and Suttles said BP would keep working to seal the cap on jagged remnants of a pipe on equipment at the wellhead. "Of course what we have to do is work through the next 24 or 48 hours to optimize that. But that would be the goal. ... We want to stop this oil from spilling to the sea," Suttles said.


 * Kent Wells, BP's senior vice president of exploration and production, later gave reporters a technical update of the operation, and declined to confirm or endorse Suttles' estimate the system could capture 90 percent of the leaking oil. "It will take us a few days ... to get up to peak efficiency," Wells said, adding, "We don't want to get ahead of ourselves. I wouldn't want to oversell or undersell what we can do."


 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]][[Image:Flag of Louisiana.png|25px|border|Louisiana]] Venice, Louisiana, USA – U.S. President John McCain would fly to Louisiana for the fifth time, where he met with local, state and federal officials, including the commandant of the Coast Guard, Adm. Thad Allen; EPA administrator Sherwood Boehlert and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, who were involved in the cleanup in southeastern Louisiana. They assessed the environmental damages of the coastal stretches of the Gulf of Mexico from millions of gallons of crude oil that has spilled from the remains of Deepwater Horizon.


 * [[Image:Flag of Turkey.png|25px|border|Turkey]][[Image:Flag of Israel.png|25px|border|Israel]] Ankara, Turkey – Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç said that Turkey is considering reducing relations with Israel to a minimum.


 * "The economic and military relations will be severely reduced, but the bilateral relations between the two countries will not come down to a freezing point. As a government we can not completely ignore a state whose existence we recognize," he said.


 * [[Image:Flag of Turkey.png|25px|border|Turkey]][[Image:Flag of Israel.png|25px|border|Israel]] Konya, Turkey – Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said in a speech to thousands of people in the Turkish city of Konya during a rally that he “does not see Hamas as a terror organization”, marking another low in the Turkish-Israeli relations. The Prime Minister also criticized the newspaper and news website columnists which compared the PKK (Kurdistan Workers’ Party), which is listed as a terror organization in many countries around the world, with Hamas.


 * June 5:
 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]][[Image:Flag of Louisiana.png|25px|border|Louisiana]] Washington, D.C., USA – U.S. President John McCain nominated retired Air Force Lieutenant General James R. Clapper, Jr. to replace Dennis C. Blair as United States Director of National Intelligence. Despite the report that Clapper was suggested to President McCain by Defense Secretary Robert Gates, both Chairwoman Diane Feinstein and Vice-Chairman Kit Bond of the United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence have offered reservations regarding his appointment.


 * [[Image:Flag of Israel.png|25px|border|Israel]] International waters of the Mediterranean Sea – After trailing it for several hours, Israeli commandos boarded the ship from speed boats at around noon on 5 June, 2010, in international waters about 30 kilometers from Gaza. There was no resistance. The commandos forced the ship to sail to the Israeli port of Ashdod. Greta Berlin, a spokeswoman for the Free Gaza group, said the takeover was "another outrage to add to the nine murdered" and denied an Israeli statement that troops had been invited aboard. Northern Ireland's deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness criticized what he called "Israeli aggression" in the take over. Dockworker unions in Sweden, which persuaded members not to service Israeli ships from June 15 – June 22, and South Africa have refused to handle Israeli ships, while the UK's Unite union passed a motion to boycott Israeli companies.


 * June 6:
 * [[Image:Flag of Israel.png|25px|border|Israel]] Tel Aviv, Israel – Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu rejected the proposal for a joint international probe, saying it had the right to launch an internal investigation.


 * "We are rejecting an international commission. We are discussing with the McCain administration a way in which our inquiry will take place," Michael Oren, Israel's ambassador to Washington, said on the U.S. TV program "Fox News Sunday".


 * United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon had suggested establishing a panel that would be headed by former New Zealand prime minister Geoffrey Palmer and include representatives from Turkey, Israel and the United States, an Israeli official said earlier in Jerusalem. Netanyahu discussed the proposal for a multinational panel with Ban in a telephone call on Saturday but told cabinet ministers from his right-wing Likud party on Sunday that Israel was exploring other options, political sources said.


 * Netanyahu spoke by telephone Sunday evening with a number of close allies, including U.S. President John McCain, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Georgian Prime Minister Nika Gilauri and United Nations envoy Tony Blair. The Israeli leader emphasized during these conversations, as he has since the proposal was first made, that Israel had acted in self-defense just like any other country would if faced with the threat of thousands of missiles and rockets.


 * Sarkozy urged Netanyahu during their phone conversation to accepted the United Nations proposal, and even offered France's help in such a probe. Sarkozy also stressed the urgent need for a solution to end Israel's blockade of Hamas-ruled Gaza in a way that would also guarantee Israel's security, according to a statement from the French president's office.


 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]] New York City, New York, USA – The New York Times would in an article detail signals from unnamed White House sources that former Secretary of State Colin Powell and outgoing California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger would be named as part of the McCain Cabinet within a few years. The White House would not comment the article, while both Powell and Schwarzenegger expressed their interest in joining the McCain Administration if asked.


 * [[Image:Flag of the Islamic Republic of Iran.png|25px|border|Iran]][[Image:Flag of Israel.png|25px|border|Israel]] Tehran, Iran – Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards are ready to provide a military escort to cargo ships trying to break Israel's blockade of Gaza, a representative of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Sunday.


 * "Iran's Revolutionary Guards naval forces are fully prepared to escort the peace and freedom convoys to Gaza with all their powers and capabilities," Ali Shirazi, Khamenei's representative inside the Revolutionary Guards, was quoted as saying by the semi-official Mehr news agency.


 * June 7:
 * [[Image:Flag of the United States of America.png|25px|border|United States of America]][[Image:Flag of Louisiana.png|25px|border|Louisiana]] Washington, D.C., USA – U.S. President John McCain would at a joint press conference with Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge in Phoenix, Arizona announce the so-called "Border Security Plan."


 * The plan included:


 * Immediately deploy 12,000 National Guard Troops along the U.S.-Mexican border, along with appropriate surveillance platforms, which shall remain in place until the Governors of California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas certifies, after consulting with state, local and tribal law enforcement, that the Federal Government has achieved operational control of the border. Permanently add 15,000 Custom and Border Protection Agents to the U.S.-Mexican border by 2015.
 * Fully fund and support Operation Streamline to, at a minimum, ensure that repeat illegal border crossers go to jail for 15 to 60 days. Where Operation Streamline has been implemented, the number of illegal crossings has decreased significantly. Complete a required report detailing the justice and enforcement resources needed to fully fund this program. Fully reimburse localities for any related detention costs.
 * Provide funds for Operation Stonegarden, a program that provides grants and reimbursement border law enforcement in Califonia, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas for additional personnel, overtime, travel and other related costs related to illegal immigration and drug smuggling along the border.
 * Offer Hardship Duty Pay to Border Patrol Agents assigned to rural, high-trafficked areas.
 * Complete the 700 miles of fencing along the border with Mexico and construct double- and triple- layer fencing at appropriate locations along the U.S.-Mexico border.
 * Substantially increase the mobile surveillance systems and Predator B Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) in place today along the U.S.-Mexico border and ensure the border patrol has the resources necessary to operate the UAVs 24 hours a day seven days a week. Send additional fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters to the U.S.-Mexico Border.
 * Increase funding for vital radio communications and interoperability between CBP and state, local, and tribal law enforcement to assist in apprehensions along the border.
 * Provide funding for additional Border Patrol stations and additional Border Patrol sectors. Create additional permanent Border Patrol Forward Operating Bases, and provide funding to upgrade the existing bases to include modular buildings, electricity and potable water. Complete construction of the planned permanent checkpoints. Deploy additional temporary roving checkpoints and increase horse patrols.
 * Require the Federal government to fully reimburse state and local governments for the costs of incarcerating criminal aliens. Start by at least funding the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program (SCAAP) at its authorized level of $950 million.
 * Place full-time Federal Magistrates and provide full funding for and authorization of the Southwest Border Prosecution Initiative to reimburse state, county, tribal, and municipal governments for costs associated with the prosecution and pre-trial detention of federally-initiated criminal cases declined by local offices of the United States Attorneys.