Every Wednesday you will find links and top-line summaries to current events around the globe.

Fire Hazard Forces Broad G.M. Recall [New York Times]

- General Motors on Tuesday said that it was recalling 1.5 million cars and trucks from the 2006 to 2009 model years because their heated washer-fluid system could short circuit and cause a fire. G.M. said that it was telling dealers to permanently disable the heated washer-fluid system, and that each affected owner would receive $100 to compensate for the loss of the feature
- About two-thirds of the vehicles were recalled two years ago for the same problem, but G.M. says it has received reports of overheating in modules that had new wiring installed under that recall. G.M. later stopped offering the heated washer-fluid system because the supplier that made it, Microheat, filed for bankruptcy and was liquidated as a result of the 2008 recall
- The recall covers 15 models: the 2006 to 2009 Buick Lucerne, Cadillac DTS and Hummer H2; the 2007 to 2009 Cadillac Escalade, Chevrolet Avalanche, Chevrolet Silverado, Chevrolet Suburban, Chevrolet Tahoe, GMC Acadia, GMC Sierra, GMC Yukon and Saturn Outlook; the 2008 to 2009 Buick Enclave and Cadillac CTS; and the 2009 Chevrolet Traverse

Two tonnes of cocaine seized in The Gambia [BBC]

- At least two tonnes of cocaine with a street value estimated at $1bn has been seized in The Gambia, bound for Europe. In addition to the huge haul of drugs, the Gambian authorities have arrested a dozen suspected traffickers, and seized large quantities of cash and arms
- Gambian investigators made the first arrests then called in British agents to gather forensic evidence. West Africa has become a major transit hub for trafficking Latin American drugs to markets in Europe. Drugs cartels are taking advantage of the region’s poverty and weak security and judicial systems
- Agents from the UK’s Serious Organised Crime Agency – the rough equivalent of the US FBI – helped discover the haul of highly concentrated cocaine behind a false wall in a warehouse basement an hour’s drive from the Gambian capital, Banjul. Numerous revealing computer records were also found

12 Killed in Rampage in Rural Britain [New York Times]

- Britain experienced its worst shooting rampage in years on Wednesday when a 52-year-old taxi driver killed at least 12 people and wounded about 25 others before shooting himself in a remote area of the Lake District, one of the country’s most celebrated beauty spots
- The police identified the killer as Derrick Bird, a longtime resident of the area, and said they had found his body in woodland on the western edges of the Lake District National Park, about 200 miles northwest of London in the county of Cumbria. They said they had also found two guns, one of them a shotgun
- The police said Mr. Bird’s three-hour killing rampage started in midmorning in the coastal town of Whitehaven and continued as he drove a zigzag route for 25 miles. The shootings shocked Britain, where highly restrictive gun laws were adopted after mass killings in 1987, when 16 people were shot dead in the southern town of Hungerford, and in the Scottish town of Dunblane in 1996, when 16 children and a teacher were killed

Emirates in record $11 billion order for A380s [Reuters]

- Dubai’s Emirates (EMIRA.UL), the Arab world’s largest airline, has placed an $11 billion order for 32 A380 superjumbo jets from EADS’s (EAD.PA) Airbus unit in a surprise opening to the Berlin Air Show. Airbus called the unexpected vote of confidence the largest commercial aircraft order by dollar value ever
- It brings the airline’s total A380 order to 90 planes. Emirates Chief Executive Sheikh Ahmed Bin Saeed Al Maktoum said he expected all 90 planes to have been delivered by 2017. “It is already to many of us a miracle that Emirates now already has more seats on intercontinental routes than Air France and BA together with a relatively small home market,” Lufthansa (LHAG.DE) CEO Wolfgang Mayrhuber said
- Emirates became Dubai’s flagship company and one of the biggest contributors to the local economy after the property crisis devastated real estate firms. The government-owned group expects to earn $1.16 billion in 2010. The carrier, which started in 1985 with two planes, has grown to rival the likes of Qantas (QAN.AX) and Singapore Airlines (SIAL.SI) for traffic between Europe and east Asia

Darfur death toll rises to two-year high in Sudan [BBC]

- About 600 people died in fighting in the Sudan region of Darfur in May, the highest monthly toll since peacekeepers were deployed in 2008, officials say. The joint UN-African Union peacekeeping force said most had died in fighting between Sudan’s army and rebels of the Justice and Equality Movement (Jem)
- The number of deaths has risen sharply since Jem walked out of peace talks last month. The rebels had signed a preliminary peace deal and ceasefire in February. This meant Sudan’s first multiparty elections for 24 years held in April, were relatively quiet in Darfur. But Jem then left the negotiations in Qatar, claiming the government had launched new raids
- According to the UN, an estimated 300,000 people have been killed in Darfur and more than 2.6 million displaced since ethnic rebels took up arms in 2003

Rogue trader Kerviel says ex-bosses encouraged him [Reuters]

- Jerome Kerviel said his bosses at Societe Generale encouraged him to take risky market positions as judges on the first day of his trial examined his role in a $6.6 billion trading loss that threatened to bring down the French bank
- He has admitted to building unauthorized trading positions that rocked world markets. Kerviel could face five years in jail and a 375,000-euro fine if found guilty of charges of breach of trust, computer abuse and forgery
- Kerviel is one of the most famous symbols of the financial crisis and his trial is seen as important for matters of future regulation and crisis prevention. The trial also tests the ability of Societe Generale to cast the blame on Kerviel or whether his actions will be seen as “a cultural flaw in our capitalistic system Bradley Simon, senior partner of law firm Simon & Partners LLP, which specializes in white-collar defense, said

French police net “legendary” Marseille gangsters [Reuters]

- A police dragnet over the weekend on France’s glamourous Mediterranean coast has netted some of the country’s most notorious gangsters, police in the southern port city of Marseille said Monday. In an echo of 1970s film “The French Connection,” the operation involved 150 officers who took 21 people into custody in and around Marseille for money laundering and slot machine trafficking
- Police said some of the high-profile gangsters were arrested as they set out on a 27-meter luxury yacht with their families in the Golfe-Juan marina. Among the arrested was Bernard Barresi, who has been on the run for 18 years after being sentenced in absentia in 1994 to 20 years in prison for attacking an armored van. Nightclub owners and brothers Michel and Gerald Campanella were also arrested
- Police said they had also seized four yachts, 200,000 euros ($238,800) in cash, false papers, weapons, vehicles and a stash of luxury watches. One person was found in possession of some 70 cellphones and around forty slot machines were seized from bars

Women are the big winners of a dozen US primaries [BBC]

- Female candidates have been the big winners in a dozen US primaries, where voters have been picking Democratic and Republican candidates for November’s mid-term elections. In California, two former company bosses, Meg Whitman, of eBay, and Carly Fiorina, of Hewlett-Packard, won the Republican nominations for state governor and US senator respectively
- The November mid-term elections will be viewed by many as a referendum on Mr Obama’s presidency. Analysts say the possibility of the Democratic Party losing control of one or both houses of Congress cannot be ruled out.
- The Democrats currently control 59 seats in the Senate (including two seats held by independents) and have a majority of some 40 seats in the House of Representatives. In November, all 435 House seats are up for election as well as about a third of the Senate’s 100 seats

- Obama to offer Gaza aid to Abbas in flotilla aftermath [Reuters]
- Brazil sees economy surge by 9% [BBC]
- Popular New Drinking Game Raises Question, Who’s ‘Icing’ Whom? [New York Times]
- Mexico mass grave in abandoned mine has 55 bodies [Reuters]
- Hopes rise for low allergy peanut [BBC]
- Untangling a Ponzi Scheme With a Hollywood Twist [New York Times]
- Competition Comes to a Head for World Cup Sponsors [New York Times]
- Apple unveils iPhone 4 to fend off Google [Reuters]
- An End for Helen Thomas and the Helen Thomas Rules [New York Times]
- Chrysler recalls nearly 600,000 vehicles [Reuters]
- Army Leak Suspect Is Turned In, by Ex-Hacker [New York Times]

Photograph by AP Photo/Charlie Riedel


A bird is mired in oil on the beach at East Grand Terre Island along the Louisiana coast on Thursday, June 3, 2010. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)


via The Big Picture: Caught in the Oil

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