Portal:Current events/2010 May 15

May 15, 2010 (Saturday)

Following the phenomenal success of James Cameron's Avatar, a ceremony marking the start of the shoot of China's first IMAX3D film. (Global Times)
Italy fines Ryanair €3 million for failing to help passengers after cancelling their flights during the Icelandic volcanic crisis as the cloud threatens to wreak more havoc. (Reuters) (BBC) (euronews) (Wikinews) (Radio New Zealand)
A by-election begins in Hong Kong. (BBC) (Bangkok Post)^{[permanent dead link]}
Government troops in Thailand continue operations to end anti-government protests by red shirt protestors in the capital Bangkok. (BBC) (Bangkok Post)^{[permanent dead link]}
Sudanese forces announce they have gained control of a rebel held area in Darfur after killing more than 150 members of the Justice and Equality Movement. (Al Jazeera) (AP) (BBC) (The Times of India) (France24)
Former Mexican presidential candidate Diego Fernández de Cevallos is abducted from one of his homes in Pedro Escobedo, Querétaro. (El Universal) (Reuters) (Al Jazeera)
Seven people are charged with public order offences after around 80 people from the éirígí group demonstrate and burn effigies in an anti-NAMA fashion outside Anglo Irish Bank HQ in Dublin. (The Irish Times) (Evening Herald) (RTÉ)
At least two people are killed and 43 injured after a 5.1 magnitude earthquake strikes Northern Algeria. (Alertnet)
Google admits it has been mistakenly collecting information people have sent over unencrypted wi-fi networks for the past three years and grounds its Street View cars from collecting wi-fi information. (BBC)
A fire at the Butantan Institute in São Paulo, Brazil, destroys its entire collection of preserved snakes—the world's largest—and nearly half a million arachnid specimens, including many novel and yet-unclassified species. (The Guardian)