news June 2001

Ten members of the nepalese royal family were killed during a massacre at the narayanhity Royal Palace on 1 June, including King Birendra of nepal and Queen Aishwarya. The killings were perpetrated by Crown Prince Dipendra, reportedly due to animosity over a marriage dispute, before he shot himself in the head. Dipendra was subsequently declared king while still in a coma, but died three days later. The throne then passed to the newly crowned King Gyanendra.

The UK held a general election on 7 June, postponed from its original date in May due to the foot and mouth disease outbreak earlier in the year. Tony Blair’s Labour party won another comfortable victory, winning 40.7% of the popular vote and 413 of 659 seats in the House of Commons. The Conservatives under William Hague were still suffering from divisions over Europe, and made a net gain of just one seat for a total of 166.

American terrorist Timothy Mcveigh was executed by lethal injection on June 11. With the assistance of Terry Nichols, Mcveigh had carried out the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995, killing 168 people and injuring over 680 others. Mcveigh remained remorseless up to his execution, stating,“if there is a hell, then I’ll be in good company with a lot of fighter pilots who also had to bomb innocents to win the war.”