Global Issues Events

1984 Feb First TED Conference Held
TED was founded by Richard Saul Wurman and Harry Marks in 1984, and has been held annually since 1990. Wurman left after the 2002 conference; the event is now hosted by Chris Anderson and...
1990 Aug 2
11:00AM
 UN Security Council Passes Resolution 660, Condemning the Iraqi Invasion of Kuwait
United Nations Security Council Resolution 660 was adopted by the UN Security Council on 2 August 1990. The resolution condemned the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait and demanded a withdrawal of ...
1990 Aug 7 US Initiates Operation Desert Shield
Acting on the policy of the Carter Doctrine, and out of fear the Iraqi army could launch an invasion of Saudi Arabia, U.S. President George H. W. Bush quickly announced that the U.S. woul...
1990 Aug 23 Saddam Hussein Appears on Iraqi State Television with Western Hostages
On 23 August 1990 President Hussein appeared on state television with Western hostages to whom he had refused exit visas. They were seen as human shields, though Saddam Hussein denied the...
1990 Oct 10 Nayirah Tearfully Describes Iraqi Atrocities in Occupied Kuwait
Although there were human rights abuses committed in Kuwait by the invading Iraqi military, the ones best known in the US were an invention of the public relations firm hired by the gover...
1990 Nov 29 UN Security Council Resolutions Authorize the Use of Force to Expel Iraq from Kuwait
A long series of UN Security Council resolutions and Arab League resolutions were passed regarding the invasion. One of the most important was Resolution 678, passed on 29 November 1990 g...
2003 Mar 6 President Bush Announces that Time is Running Out for UN Inspections in Iraq
Two weeks before he would launch the invasion of Iraq, President Bush announces at a press conference that time is running out on the UN inspections process and on Saddam Hussein
2003 Jun 3 Iraqi Insurgency Begins to Swell
After President Bush's speech on May 1, 2003 (the "Mission Accomplished" speech), coalition forces noticed a gradually increasing flurry of attacks on its troops in various regions, espec...
2009 Jun 23 North Korea Informs Neighboring Nations of Planned Naval Combat Drill
(CNN) -- North Korea is warning the world to stay out of part of its eastern waters for 16 days, starting Thursday, saying it will hold a military drill, Japanese officials said. Nort...
2009 Jun 24 North Korea Threatens to "Wipe Out" US
North Korea threatened on Wednesday to "wipe out" the United States in the event of a new war on the Korean Peninsula, as international observers watched for signs the regime would perfor...
2009 Jun 25 Mir Hossein Mousavi Reasserts That The 2009 Iranian Presidential Election was "Rigged"
Iran protest leader Mir Hossein Mousavi says he holds those behind alleged "rigged" elections responsible for bloodshed during recent protests. In a defiant statement on his website, h...
2009 Jun 30 US Troops Withdraw from Iraqi Cities
BAGHDAD (AP) — Hours before the deadline for U.S. combat troops to withdraw from Iraqi cities, the top American military commander in the Middle East expressed confidence Monday that Iraq...
2009 Jul 1 European Union Officials Consider Removing All 27 Ambassadors from Iran
PARIS — Iran courted new levels of post-election isolation from the European Union on Wednesday as European diplomats pondered whether to withdraw the ambassadors of all 27 members nation...
2009 Jul 17 Hashemi Rafsanjani Decries the Unlawful Imprisonment of Iranian Protesters, Calls for Their Release
TEHRAN, Iran (CNN) -- One of Iran's most powerful clerics, Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, has called on the Iranian government to release those people arrested following last month's dispu...
2009 Jul 23 Ayatollah Ali Khamenei Speaks Out Against Vice President Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei for Voicing Moderate Stance Toward Israel
A top aide to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who had voiced a moderate stance toward Israel came under heavy pressure to resign Sunday as government-controlled news outlets issued ...
2009 Sep 24
to 2009 Sep 25
 G-20 Pittsburgh Summit
The Pittsburgh G20 Summit appears to have made some progress towards reshaping global power structures to make them more representative, said anti poverty campaign group ONE. But media re...