Portal:Current events/2010 August 19

August 19, 2010 (Thursday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

South Africa deploys its army to deal with public sector workers striking in a bid to earn an increased wage; police shoot rubber bullets and water cannon into crowds outside a hospital in Soweto. At least five people have been killed so far during the strikes. (BBC) (The Citizen) (iAfrica) (Mail & Guardian) (Times Live) (Reuters Africa)
Human rights groups express dismay at Kenya for the secret sending to Uganda of four suspects after the 2010 FIFA World Cup attacks in Kampala. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents are also said to have engaged in illegal interrogation of three of them. (BBC) (News24) (The Star)
Seven people are killed and fourteen injured in a bomb attack in China's Xinjiang province. Although the region has recently been embroiled in violence including Muslim separatists and majority Han Chinese, the attack is being investigated as a criminal case. (AP) (Al Jazeera)
The last United States brigade combat team leaves Iraq: there are still 56,000 members of the United States armed forces in the country. (CNN)

Arts, culture and entertainment

Winston Churchill's butterfly house is rebuilt. (The Independent)
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's house Undershaw, in which he wrote numerous Sherlock Holmes stories, is slated to be converted into apartments. (Los Angeles Times)
The Scots Makar (national poet) Edwin Morgan, a leading twentieth century poet, dies. (BBC) (The Guardian) (The Daily Telegraph) (AFP via Google News)
Female train carriages are launched in Jakarta as part of a crackdown on public sexual harassment. (BBC) (Bangkok Post)
The Oxford Dictionary of English adds new words and phrases to the language including vuvuzela, carbon capture and storage, toxic debt and quantitative easing. (ABC News Online)
Two groups in Israel begin pro-Zionist courses in editing Wikipedia. (The Guardian)
Sail Amsterdam begins in Amsterdam with the Sail-In Parade.

Business and economics

Foxconn states its intention to hire more workers following a rash of suicides among its workforce. (BBC)
An American egg company recalls 380 million products as outbreaks of salmonella poisoning spread across the United States. (BBC)
BP is accused by Transocean of trying to keep secret data required to investigate the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. (BBC) (AFP via France24)

Disasters

The United Nations estimates that four million people have become homeless as a result of the 2010 Pakistan floods; Secretary-General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon, speaking in New York, states that the floods are a "slow-motion tsunami" as he calls for more funds to assist those affected. (Reuters) (BBC)
Forty people are injured after a bull leaps into a crowd in Tafalla, Spain; the bull is killed. (BBC) (The Guardian) (Aljazeera) (The Independent)
Two passenger train carriages are swept into a river by floods in Sichuan, China. (Xinhua) (BBC) (Reuters)

International relations

The United Nations issues a report stating that Israel restricts with live ammunition access to land used for farming and fishing by Palestinians, causing a loss of livelihood for tens of thousands of Palestinians. (BBC) (United Nations Report)
France's government begins to deport thousands of Romani people, who are mainly from Romania and Bulgaria; Romania fears this will lead to xenophobic tensions. (BBC) (TIME) (CNN) (Xinhua)
North Korea confirms the seizure of a South Korean fishing boat two weeks ago, with four South Korean and three Chinese sailors on board. (Yonhap) (AFP) (Korea Times)
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev begins a state visit in Armenia by meeting with Armenian president Serzh Sargsyan and paying tribute to the victims of the Armenian genocide at the Tsitsernakaberd memorial. Russian military presence in the South Caucasian republic is to be extended until 2044.(Reuters)(Aysor)

Law and crime

Four Israel Defense Forces naval commandos are arrested by Israeli Military Police for suspected theft of laptops and cell phones from activists during May's Gaza flotilla raid. (Haaretz)
Former chief of the Sri Lankan armed forces Sarath Fonseka admits he expects to be jailed after being charged with corruption and believes the verdict has been decided in advance; Fonseka has been elected to the Sri Lankan parliament since the charges were pressed. (BBC)
Mexico City legalises the fining of shops which give away free plastic bags in an environmental initiative. (BBC)
A record fine of almost three million is upheld by the Superior Labor Court of Brazil (Tribunal Superior do Trabalho, TST). (BBC) (The New Zealand Herald) (People's Daily)
Approximately 1,000 prisoners are released in Bangladesh as the country tries to reduce overcrowding in its prisons. (BBC)
A court in Perth, Australia, rules that a female Muslim woman must fully remove her niqāb while giving evidence. (BBC)
Australian Federal Police (AFP) and Victorian Police raid premises across Victoria in relation to alleged financing of a terrorist organisation believed to be the Kurdish Workers Party. One of the premises raided was of the Kurdish Association of Victoria; the AFP also raids properties in Sydney and Perth. (ABC Online) (Herald Sun)

Politics and elections

Brazil hosts its first presidential debate online, ahead of elections in October. (BBC)
The Burmese authorities announce thirteen new campaigning rules for the general election in November. (Al Jazeera) (Sify)

Science

Sport

Former Australian swimmer Dawn Fraser is criticised for controversial remarks during which she called for the boycott of the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi. (BBC News)
A U.S. federal grand jury in Washington indicts former Major League Baseball superstar pitcher Roger Clemens on charges of making false statements to Congress about his alleged use of performance-enhancing drugs. (The New York Times) (USA Today)