Top News Stories –

European leaders open world’s longest rail tunnel in Switzerland –
The world’s longest rail tunnel, running for 35 miles (57km) under the Swiss Alps, has officially opened. The Swiss president, Johann Schneider-Ammann, said the tunnel, which it is hoped will ease transit through the heart of the continent, would “join the people and the economies” of Europe at a time of rising nationalism and border closures. He spoke before European leaders made a ceremonial first journey through the Gotthard base tunnel. Passengers included the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, the French president, François Hollande, and the Italian prime minister, Matteo Renzi. While the tunnel was entirely funded by Switzerland, a non-EU member, the bloc’s transport commissioner, Violeta Bulc, hailed it as “a godsend” for the continent. It runs from Erstfeld in the central Swiss canton of Uri, to Bodio in the southern Ticino canton. [The Guardian]

Video of the Day –

Gotthard base tunnel

List of the Day –

World’s longest tunnels (in use) [Wikipedia]

Name	Location	Length	Type	Year	Comment
Delaware Aqueduct	New York state, United States	137,000 m (85.1 mi)	Water supply	1945	4.1 m wide. New York City‘s main water supply tunnel, drilled through solid rock.
Päijänne Water Tunnel	Southern Finland, Finland	120,000 m (74.6 mi)	Water supply	1982	16 m2 cross section
Dahuofang Water Tunnel	Liaoning Province, China	85,320 m (53.0 mi)	Water supply	2009	8 m in diameter (50m2 cross section)
Orange–Fish River Tunnel	South Africa	82,800 m (51.4 mi)	Water supply	1972	Longest continuous enclosed aqueduct in the southern hemisphere (22.5 m2cross section)
Bolmen Water Tunnel	Kronoberg/Scania, Sweden	82,000 m (51.0 mi)	Water supply	1987	8 m2
Tunel Emisor Oriente	Mexico City, Mexico	62,500 m (38.8 mi)	Waterwaste	2006-2012	Water management in Greater Mexico City. Longest waterwaste tunnel.
Guangzhou Metro Line 3	Guangzhou, China	60,400 m (37.5 mi)Excl. branch	Metro	2005-2010	Guangzhou Metro. Longest metro/rapid transit tunnel; longest railway tunnel
Beijing Subway Line 10	Beijing, China	57,100 m (35.5 mi)	Metro	2008-2012	Beijing Subway
Gotthard Base Tunnel	Lepontine Alps, Switzerland	57,091 m (35.5 mi) or 57,017 m (35.4 mi)	Railway Twin Tube	2016	The longest railway tunnel excluding urban metro lines with intermediate stations. Two tubes (East 57,091 m (35.5 mi), West 57,017 m (35.4 mi)), 8.8–9.5 m (29–31 ft) diameter, (71m2 cross section)
Seikan Tunnel	Tsugaru Strait, Japan	53,850 m (33.5 mi)	Railway Single Tube	1988	74 m2

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Syrian Civil War
  • United States-backed Syrian Democratic Forces begin an offensive to regain control of the city of Manbij in the Aleppo Governorate from ISIL. (Reuters via Trust)
• Northern Mali conflict
  • Four UN peacekeepers are killed in a suspected Al-Qaeda attack in northern Mali. (News Week) (CBC)
• War in Somalia (2009–present)
  • At least 16 people are killed and 55 injured in an attack on a hotel in Mogadishu, Somalia. Al-Shabaab claims responsibility. (Reuters) (CNN) (VOA News), (Reuters)
  • The Pentagon announces the death of Abdullahi Haji Da’ud, a top Al-Shabaab commander, in an airstrike. (Washington Times) (FOX News)
• Suspected Neo-Nazis attack people at a vegan cafe with slabs of meat in Tbilisi, Georgia. (Newsweek) (Miami Herald)

Business and economy

• A committee of the United States House of Representatives is looking into the way the Federal Reserve Bank of New York investigated the theft of assets it was holding for the central bank of Bangladesh.(Reuters)
• The Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund raises $3.5 billion for Uber. It is the largest single investment the company has ever received. (The New York Times)

Disasters and accidents

• A gas explosion at a subway construction site near the South Korean capital Seoul kills four workers and injures ten more. (Yonhap)
• EgyptAir Flight 804
  • A French naval vessel detects a possible signal from the missing black box of EgyptAir Flight 804. (CNN) (The New York Times)
• 2016 Fort McMurray wildfire
  • Residents return to Fort McMurray for the first time since May 1. A couple thousand firefighters, from as far away as South Africa, continue to battle the 5,800 square kilometer (3,603 square mile)Canadian blaze that has crossed the Alberta border into Saskatchewan. (Bloomberg)
• Greg Abbott, the Governor of the US state of Texas, declares a disaster in 31 counties due to floods which have claimed several lives in recent days. (KVUE)
• The U.S. Geological Survey reports a 6.5 magnitude earthquake 155 km (95 miles) from the West Sumatra port city of Padang in Indonesia at a depth of about 50 km (30 miles). There are no immediate reports of damage or injury. (Bloomberg) (Reuters)

International relations

• Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan warns Germany against recognizing the Armenian Genocide. (Reuters)
• According to the Secretary General of NATO Jens Stoltenberg, defense spending by European member states will grow for the first time in a decade. Stoltenberg went on to say that “we are faced with uncertainty. We are faced with more threats, more security challenges, than in a generation”. (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)
• Humanitarian aid during the Syrian Civil War
  • A convoy carrying much-needed nutritional and medical aid reaches the besieged town Darayya, the first time since 2012. The only food delivered was baby milk. A 48-hour ceasefire for the town came into force today. (Reuters) (NPR) (BBC)
  • The United Nations Security Council is exploring humanitarian air drops to besieged areas of Syria. (AP via The New York Times)
  • Riad Hijab, coordinator of the opposition High Negotiations Committee, in a letter to United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon proposes a nationwide truce for the month of Ramadan which begins 6 June 2016. (Australian Associated Press via News.com.au)
• The United Nations Security Council condemns North Korea’s failed ballistic missile test yesterday, as well as two other unsuccessful ones in April. (Reuters)

Law and crime

• 2016 UCLA shooting
  • Two people are killed in a murder-suicide shooting at the University of California Los Angeles. Police report the campus is now safe. (USA Today) (LA Times) (The New York Times)
• A man in Plano, Texas, stabs his girlfriend and posts her dead body to Facebook; the social media website does not remove the photograph for 36 hours. (The New York Times)
• Thailand authorities discover the remains of 40 dead tiger cubs in a freezer at the Tiger Temple in the Sai Yok District of Kanchanaburi Province. The Theravada Buddhist temple is being investigated for wildlife trafficking. The Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation is in the process of removing 137 tigers from the monks’ custody. (New York Daily News) (Bangkok Post)
• German police are investigating 26 sexual assault reports from this weekend’s Schlossgrabenfest music festival near Darmstadt. In one case, three women reported being groped by groups of men Saturday. Police have detained three Pakistani immigrants, and expect more reports following this announcement. (CNN) (UPI) (The Independent)
• Richard Huckle, dubbed “Britain’s worst ever paedophile” after being convicted of 71 cases of rape and other sexual offences against up to 200 children, is being sentenced at The Old Bailey in London in a hearing expected to last 3 days. Huckle is facing up to 22 life sentences once the hearing concludes.(Sky News)

Science and technology

• The world’s longest and deepest rail tunnel, the 57 km (35 miles) Gotthard Base Tunnel, opens in Switzerland. (CNN) (The New York Times)

Sport

• The International Olympic Committee (IOC) executive board backs host Tokyo’s proposal to include baseball–softball, surfing, karate, sport climbing, and skateboarding in the 2020 Summer Olympics. The full IOC will vote on this in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in August. (AP)

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