Portal:Current events/2010 August 20

August 20, 2010 (Friday)

Arts and culture

Norwegian stand-up comedian Hans Morten Hansen completes a 38 hours and 14 minute long stand-up marathon, setting a new world record for longest stand-up performance. (VG)
A spectator commits suicide during a concert by The Swell Season in the U.S. state of California. (Herald Sun) (The Irish Times) (Billboard) (Hot Press) (NME)
Charles Haddon, singer of the British synthpop band Ou Est Le Swimming Pool, commits suicide after a show at the Pukkelpop festival in Belgium. (NME)
Novelist A. S. Byatt and critic John Carey win the James Tait Black Memorial Prizes, Britain's oldest literary awards. (BBC)
A. S. Byatt criticises the Orange Prize as "sexist" and says women who write intellectual books are viewed as "unnatural". (The Guardian)
J. D. Salinger's toilet is put on sale on eBay for $1 million. (BBC) (AP via The Washington Post)
Mr Benn is reprinted for the first time in 30 years. (The Guardian)

Business and economics

Carworkers in South Africa end their eight-day strike with a 10% pay deal. (BBC)

Disasters

Bolivia declares a state of emergency after approximately 25,000 forest fires spread across the country. (BBC)
58 pilot whales die after becoming stranded on New Zealand's Karikari Peninsula. (BBC) (The Sydney Morning Herald) (The New Zealand Herald)
Hundreds of flights over Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg and the Netherlands are delayed by an air traffic control problem. (BBC)
For failure to deal with the recent wildfires the head of Russia's forestry agency is fired by Vladimir Putin and replaced with his deputy. (BBC)
2010 Pakistan floods:
- After initial hesitation, Pakistan ultimately accepts $5 million in aid from India; it subsequently calls it a "very welcome initiative". (The Times of India)(The Guardian) (The Sydney Morning Herald) (BBC)
- The United Nations calls for more helicopters. (BBC)
Gas leak in a hardware store in Santa Cruz, Chile produces a massive evacuation in the surrounding area. (Wikinews)

International relations

France continues deporting Romani as the Vatican condemns this act. (Aljazeera) (The Daily Telegraph) (News24)
Israel and Palestinians agree to resume peace talks on September 2. (The Guardian) (Aljazeera) (Xinhua) (The New York Times)
Canada Post advises customers that it cannot accept mail to Gaza until further notice. Israel Post continues to inform postal services around the world that mail service to Gaza is unavailable. (Reuters)
President of Iran Mahmoud Ahmadinejad rejects calls from the United Nations Security Council to stop all uranium enrichment but promises to stop high level enrichment if the country is assured of uranium for a research reactor. (The Guardian)
Hillary Clinton, the United States Secretary of State, states that the United States "categorically disagrees" with the decision of the Scottish Government to release on compassionate grounds Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, the man convicted of bombing Pan Am Flight 103. (The Guardian)

Law and crime

6 police officers in Mexico are arrested and accused of participating in the kidnap and murder of Mayor Edelmiro Cavazos. (BBC) (AP via Arab News) (Japan Today)
South African health minister Aaron Motsoaledi accuses of murder public sector workers who disrupt important treatment of patients while striking for better pay. (BBC) (News24)
Remains of a 104-year-old woman's body are discovered in her son's backpack during a nationwide search in Japan for missing centenarians. It is thought they may have been there for a decade. (AFP) (BBC)
A Thai appeals court rules to extradite alleged Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout to the United States; Russia expresses its disagreement with the ruling. (The Independent) (AP via CBS) (Thai News Agency) (BBC)
An Irish-born Australian man who admitted after initially pleading innocence to breaching the state of emergency during the anti-government protests in Thailand is deported to Australia; he says he was beaten, was treated harshly and was not shown an arrest warrant. (The Sydney Morning Herald)
Shining Path leaders Abimael Guzmán and Elena Iparraguirre marry at a maximum-security prison near Lima; they fought for their right to marry by going on hunger strike earlier this year. (BBC) (Reuters via The Independent)
A judge rules that former President of Guatemala Alfonso Portillo must stand trial. (BBC)
A quadriplegic man leaves hospital in Hong Kong for his own home after 19 years, having written to the country's leader 6 years ago to ask that he be allowed to die. (BBC)
The last remaining free inmate to have escaped from a prison in the U.S. state of Arizona is captured alongside his accomplice. (The New York Times)
A man sues game-maker NCsoft, stating he would not have begun to play one of their games, Lineage II, if he had known it was addictive and claims it has left him unable to function. (GameSpy)

Politics and elections

Solomon Islands general election, 2010:
- The two major political coalitions name their candidates for Prime Minister of the Solomon Islands following the general election: Steve Abana, the leader of the Democratic Party, and Danny Philip, the former Foreign Minister. (RNZI)
- Incumbent Derek Sikua will not be renominated as Prime Minister. (Solomon Star)
Musician Wyclef Jean is reportedly omitted from the list of candidates for the Haitian presidential election. (The Guardian)
Thousands of people rally in support of the mayor of Osh after rumours of his firing by Kyrgyzstan's interim government circulate. (Aljazeera)
India is to more than triple salaries of MPs. (BBC)
The Pentagon vows to prevent "internal threats" in the United States. (BBC)
More than half of politicians in Benin call for impeachment proceedings against President Boni Yayi over his involvement in a Ponzi scheme. (BBC) (Reuters Africa)
India approves a draft law intended to open its civilian nuclear power industry to private investment. (BBC)
Britain warns Libya not to celebrate the one year anniversary of the release of Pan Am Flight 103 bomber Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, released on compassionate grounds suffering terminal cancer and expected to live just three months. (Aljazeera) (Reuters) (TIME) (Wall Street Journal)
Australians vote tomorrow in what is being called the closest election in 50 years, with some polls predicting a 50-50 draw. (The Guardian)

Science

The world's first solar-diesel power station opens in Marble Bar, Western Australia. (Herald Sun)
Scientists publish a report in the Journal of Evolutionary Biology about a method of predicting radioactive contamination damage on species near Chernobyl, from historical mutation rates particularly in mitochondrial DNA. (BBC) (J. Evol. Biol.)
A possible new approach for treating mood disorders, such as depression, suggested in study of ketamine activity with the nervous system, more specifically mTOR-dependent synapse formation. (The Daily Telegraph) (Science)
A study links the risk of Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder to pesticide exposure before birth. (MSNBC) (Env. Health Persp.)