Wednesday 9 May 2012

Holidays:

• Russia and some other parts of the former Soviet Union ? Victory Day as the end of the "Great Patriotic War".
• Our Lady of Flanders
• Saint Tudi
• Saint Pachomius (died 346)
• Saint Gerontius (died 501)

• Roman Empire ? Feast of the Lemures (See Larvae).
• Jersey, Guernsey ? Liberation Day (commemorating the end of the German Occupation of the Channel Islands during World War II).
• Saint Carolina
• European Union ? Europe day, commemorating the "Schuman declaration".

Famous Birthdays:

Facts:

• Mexican Drug War:
• 15 mutilated bodies are found inside two abandoned SUVs in the state of Jalisco, a region that is under dispute between Los Zetas and the Sinaloa Cartel. The Mexican authorities believe the massacre is a response by Los Zetas for the 2012 Nuevo Laredo massacres reportedly carried out by Joaquín Guzmán Loera (a.k.a. ''El Chapo''), Mexico's most-wanted drug lord. (''Houston Chronicle'')
• A bomb explodes in Daraa, Syria, near a convoy carrying several United Nations observers in the country. (BBC)
• Missile strikes kill eight militants near the Al-Qaeda stronghold of Jaar in southern Yemen. (Reuters)
• Mark Rothko's ''Orange, red, yellow'' sells at auction for $86.9 million at Christie's. (BBC)

• Andy Warhol's ''Double Elvis'' sells at an auction for $37 million at Sotheby's in New York City. (CNN)
• Portugal scraps four public holidays as an austerity measure. (BBC)
• ''How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying'' is to close after 15 months due to slumped ticket sales. (BBC)
• The Jockey Club, British horse racing's largest commercial group, is to increase prize money after a rise in turnover and profits. (BBC)
• 17 people are killed in a blaze at a clothing store in Butuan City, Philippines. (''Manila Bulletin'')
• A Russian Sukhoi Superjet 100 passenger jet disappears after taking off from Halim Perdanakusuma Airport in Jakarta, Indonesia, with 44 people on board. (CNN)
• India halts a plan to re-introduce cheetahs to the country by shipments from Africa. (''Straits Times'')
• Two Palestinian prisoners held in Israel enter the 71st day of their hunger strikes. United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon expressed his concern about the condition of the hunger strikers. (UN News Centre)
• Adam Mayes, wanted by authorities on suspicion of four charges of kidnapping and two charges of first-degree murder, is spotted on store cameras in a Guntown, Mississippi store and is added to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation's Most Wanted List. (MSNBC)
• A Honduras radio journalist is kidnapped days after another journalist is killed. (Yahoo News)
• Jailed Ukrainian opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko is moved to a hospital after a political compromise, and ends her hunger strike. (Reuters)
• United States President Barack Obama officially states that he supports the right for same-sex partners to marry. (CNN)
• Atlético Madrid defeat Athletic Bilbao in the 2012 UEFA Europa League Final in Bucharest to win the competition for the second time in three years. (BBC)
• Lionel Messi is embroiled in a racism scandal. (GOAL)