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President Kurmanbek Bakiyev of Kyrgyzstan was ousted on April 7. He has many supporters in the southern region of the country, and after days of their violent protests in the city of Jalalabad in mid-May, the new government began enforcing nightly curfews.
Suspected militants dressed as police officers kidnapped 60 people in the Kurram region, northwest Pakistan, near the Afghan border, on May 15. The people, all believed to be Pakistanis, including some women and children, were traveling in a convoy to the city Parachinar when they were ambushed. At press time, the outcome was unknown.
Kidnappings for ransom are now common in the area, where the Taliban has a strong presence. There also has been violence between the majority Sunni Muslims and Shias.
• Afriqiyah Airways flight 711, flying from Johannesburg, crashed while landing in Tripoli, Libya, on May 12. Of the 104 people aboard the Airbus A330-200, a nine-year-old Dutch boy survived.
• Air India Express flight 812, flying from Dubai to Mangalore, India, crashed at Mangalore airport on May 22. The plane overshot the runway and went down a ravine. Of the 166 aboard the Boeing 737-800 aircraft, eight people survived.
At least 34 people died and thousands were evacuated in heavy rains and flooding that affected Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, Germany, Austria and Ukraine from mid-May to early June.
Sixty-five people were killed and at least 280,000 displaced in Sri Lanka and southeastern India when Laila, a category 1 tropical storm, caused monsoon rains and flooding after making landfall on May 20.
Flights in Sri Lanka were canceled and railway tracks were flooded across the country. Andhra Pradesh, India, suffered damage to infrastructure. The annual monsoon season runs June to September.
The Arenal Volcano, 50 miles northeast of San José, Costa Rica, began erupting in May, issuing eight lava flows plus ash and gases. Arenal National Park was evacuated as a precaution, with no injuries reported. The last major eruption was in July 1968, but there have been six small ones since then.
Tropical Storm Agatha hit land near the Guatemala-Mexico border on May 29. Guatemala was hardest hit, with heavy rainfall causing flooding and landslides, further complicated by ash from the eruption of Pacaya Volcano the day before. At least 179 people died, including 10 in El Salvador and 17 in Honduras, and more than 100,000 people were evacuated.
Maoist rebels have been blamed for the sabotage of railroad tracks that resulted in the derailment of a high-speed passenger train near Sardiha, West Bengal state, India, on May 28. Heading from Kolkata to Mumbai, the train derailed and collided with a freight train, killing 147 people and injuring 150.
In Kingston, Jamaica, gun battles between security forces and supporters of a drug lord, which began May 23, left at least 73 civilians and two policemen and one soldier dead, with dozens injured.
When the Jamaican government agreed to extradite Christopher “Dudas” Coke to the US and police tried to arrest him, Coke’s supporters barricaded the neighborhoods of Tivoli Gardens and Denham town and gunfights broke out. Five police stations were burned in two districts, and there were car-jackings and looting.
After a violent conclusion to the standoff in Bangkok between “red shirt” protestors and the Thai government on May 19, calm seems to have returned to the city. During the nine weeks of protests and violence, more than 80 people were killed.
The State of Emergency remains in place, but the curfew has been lifted. The BTS Skytrain has resumed normal service. The huge Central World shopping mall, damaged by arson, will take months to rebuild.
The US and British governments have lifted their travel warnings but recommend caution in numerous provinces.