Portal:Current events/2014 June 3

• 2014 pro-Russian unrest in Ukraine:
  • Heavy fighting between the Ukrainian military and pro-Russian militants takes place in and around the rebel-held eastern city of Sloviansk. (BBC News)
• Islamist insurgency in Nigeria:
  • Boko Haram militants kill dozens of people in fresh attacks on villages in Borno state. (BBC News)

• India's Rural Development Minister, Gopinath Munde, dies in a road accident while on his way to Delhi Airport. (IANS via Biharprabha)

• Saudi Arabia announces 113 previously unreported cases of MERS, revises the death toll to 282, and fires its minister of health. (Reuters)

• Amid the crisis in Ukraine, President of the United States Barack Obama announces the European Reassurance Initiative—a $1bn plan to fund the increase of the United States military presence in Europe and step up defense capabilities of Ukraine, Moldova, and Georgia. (BBC News) (Euronews)

• London police arrest the leader of Pakistan's MQM party, Altaf Hussain, on suspicion of money-laundering. (BBC News)
• Nigerian police in Abuja ban all protests planned in support of the 276 girls kidnapped from northern Nigeria by Boko Haram. (CNN)

• Syrian presidential election, 2014:
  • Voters in Syria go to the polls for a presidential election with incumbent President Bashar al-Assad all but certain to win amidst an opposition boycott. On Wednesday, the Syrian government claimed that he had won with 88.7% of the vote. (AFP via GlobalPost) (Reuters)
• 2014 Abkhazian political crisis:
  • Former president Aleksandr Ankvab announces his intentions to run in the upcoming elections. (ITAR-TASS)