April 16th Major News Events

2009 Obama Unveils National Rail Plan

2009: President Obama has unveiled his plans for a network of high-speed passenger rail lines. His reasons for supporting this are to reduce traffic congestion, cut dependence on foreign oil and to improve the environment. The plan has identified ten potential high-speed intercity corridors for federal funding, including ones in California, the Pacific Northwest, the Midwest, the Southeast, the Gulf Coast, Pennsylvania, Florida, New York and New England. Chicago will be the hub of the Midwest Regional Rail System, which would stretch to Madison, Wisconsin, in the Northwest, to St. Louis, Missouri, in the South and Detroit, Michigan in the East. Obama had pledged to support a national network of faster passenger trains in his Presidential campaign. The administration has given $1.3 billion in federal funding to Amtrak.

2009 US Governmental Agents Not Prosecuted for Torture

2009: Barack Obama has released four top secret memos that permitted the C.I.A. to torture the al-Qaeda suspects they were holding at the Guantánamo Bay and other secret detention centers. In an accompanying statement Obama has ruled out prosecutions against those that participated in these actions. The memos can provide a look at the techniques that were used by the C.I.A. and the legal basis by which the previous administration approved it.

2010 SEC Charges Goldman Sachs with Fraud

2010: Goldman Sachs has been accused of defrauding investors by America's financial regulator. The Securities and Exchange Commission (S.E.C.) has alleged that Goldmans have failed to disclose conflicts of interest, and charged the investment bank and one of its vice-presidents for defrauding investors by misstating and omitting key facts about a financial product tied to subprime mortgages. The S.E.C. says that Goldmans had structured and marketed the synthetic collateralized debt obligation (C.D.O.) that hinged on the performance of subprime residential mortgage-backed securities. The failure to disclose to investors vital information about the C.D.O. and the fact that a hedge fund had taken a short position against the C.D.O.

2011 Cuba Marks Bay of Pigs Anniversary

2011: Cuba celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of the Bay of Pigs invasion with a military parade and gathering of citizens. The anniversary marked Castro and the communists' triumph over US-backed exile groups who had invaded in an attempt to oust Fidel Castro. The celebration came at the same time as the Cuban congress was meeting to discuss major reforms.

2012 Anders Breivik Pleads Not Guilty at Murder Trial

2012: Alleged mass murderer and man responsible for a bombing and shooting spree that killed 77 people in Norway officially pleaded not guilty at the start of his trail in the country. Breivik told the court that he "acknowledged" the acts he committed but did not take criminal responsibility for them. If the court decides that he was sane he could be sentenced to twenty-one years in prison, a term which could be extended indefinitely.

2013 Large Earthquake Hits Iran

2013: Iran experienced a 7.8 magnitude earthquake near the city of Khash, the most powerful earthquake to hit the country in over fifty years. The quake was also felt in Pakistan where thirty deaths were reported.

2014 Abortion Law in North Dakota Overturned

2014: A US Federal judge overturned a law in North Dakota that would ban early abortions in the state as soon as a heartbeat could be detected. The law was thought to be one of the most restrictive anti-abortion laws in the country and the judge said that it was unconstitutional.