Portal:Current events/2010 August 8

August 8, 2010 (Sunday)

Armed conflicts and incidents

North Korea detains a South Korean fishing boat with four South Koreans and three Chinese on board. (BBC) (Straits Times) (Aljazeera)
At least 8 people are killed and 32 others injured during a car bomb outside a restaurant in Ramadi, Iraq. (Aljazeera)
The death toll of Saturday's explosion in Basra, Iraq, rises to 43, with the number of injured people being over 100. Police say the explosion was as a result of a power generator short-circuiting but other sources claim it was due to a car bomb. (Aljazeeera) (Euronews) (BBC)
Adaisseh incident:
- United States Representative Ron Klein calls for an investigation into American military aid to Lebanon to determine whether the Lebanese soldiers involved used American-supplied military equipment or received American-funded training. (The Jerusalem Post)
Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu orders his attorney-general to find out who leaked embarrassing details about a feud among some of his generals, one of whom is trying to smear his rivals. (Reuters India)
The Anatolian Agency reports that two Turkish Army soldiers were killed in a roadside bomb explosion in Mardin Province near the Turkish border with Syria. (Canadian Press via Google News)
A bridegroom accidentally shoots dead three relations and injures eight others while celebrating with an AK-47 at his wedding in Akcagoze, Gaziantep in Turkey; the man has been detained. (BBC) (News24)

Business and economy

Mark Papermaster, who engineered the Apple Inc. iPhone, leaves the company due to the antenna issues associated with the iPhone 4. (Aljazeera)
Ads website Craigslist faces allegations of "pay to rape" underage prostitution after a letter is published in The Washington Post. (The Guardian)
It is revealed that Sarah, Duchess of York faces possible bankruptcy, which would make her the first Royal to suffer this. (The Guardian)

Disasters

127 people are killed and 2,000 missing in landslides in Gansu Province, China, due to ongoing flooding. (China Daily) (The Times of India) (Aljazeera) (BBC)
The death toll rises to 132 and injury toll is at least 400 as severe flash floods devastate Kashmir. (Press TV)
2010 Pakistan floods:
- Torrential rains worsen the ongoing flood crisis across Pakistan, which has so far affected 14 million people, as rescue helicopters are forced to stay on the ground in the northwest of the country. (Aljazeera) (BBC)
- Landslips wreak further destruction in Pakistan: 28 corpses retrieved so far in 2 villages. (BBC)
- Food prices soar in Pakistan as the floods destroy one million acres of crops so far. (The Express Tribune)
Flash floods in the Baltic and Central Europe:
- Flash floods sweep across central Europe and the Baltic states, killing at least 15 people - 5 Czechs, 4 Lithuanians, 3 Germans, 3 Poles -, whilst 3 Czechs are also missing. (BBC) (Deutsche Welle) (IOL) (Reuters Africa) (The Age)
- Poland's Vistula River breaks is banks, leading to the evacuation of thousands of people. Hungary is also in a critical situation. Slovakia experiences its worst floods in a century. (Deutsche Welle)
There is a further cave-in at the mine near Copiapó, Chile where people have been working since Thursday to rescue 34 miners trapped underground; work is currently suspended in an incident that is rare in that part of the world. (BBC)
Several countries evacuate staff from their embassies in Moscow due to the 2010 Russian wildfires including Germany, Austria, Poland and Canada, (RIA Novosti) as Russia experiences its hottest year on record. (Voice of America)

International relations

President of Sudan Omar al-Bashir says the "mandate" of the United Nations, African Union and international aid organisations in Darfur is to "support government authorities" and that expulsion is the other option. (Aljazeera)
There is "significant concern" after an investigation into the UK Border Agency (UKBA) reveals abuse and racial manhandlement of asylum seekers by staff. (The Guardian)
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev arrives in Abkhazia on his first visit there since the territory declared independence from Georgia two years ago. (RIA Novosti) (Xinhua) (AFP) (BBC)
Prime Minister of Iraq Nouri al-Maliki visits Irbil to talk with President of Kurdistan Massoud Barzani. (Aljazeera)
New President of Colombia Juan Manuel Santos and President of Venezuela Hugo Chávez agree to meet for talks on Tuesday, following a recent diplomatic disagreement. (BBC) (Reuters)
Cardinal Keith O'Brien who leads the Catholic Church in Scotland, defends the Scottish government's decision to release Abdelbaset al-Megrahi for humanitarian reasons and attacks the United States's "culture of vengeance" for trying to coerce Scottish ministers into "crawling like lapdogs". (BBC) (The Guardian) (The Daily Telegraph) (Daily Mail) (Reuters)
President of Afghanistan Hamid Karzai's senior adviser says the government has commenced talks with some Taliban leaders. (Aljazeera)

Laws and crimes

Mordechai Vanunu, who spoke about Israel's nuclear ambitions to The Sunday Times in 1986 and was referred to as a "prisoner of conscience" by Amnesty International after Israel imprisoned him for that action, is released from prison again after serving three months for meeting foreigners, including his Norwegian girlfriend, in 2007. He requests that he be allowed to leave Israel. (Haaretz) (The Guardian)
President of Mexico Felipe Calderón calls for a debate on the legalization of drugs. (The Observer)
18-year-old Ebrahim Hamidi is sentenced to death for sodomy in Iran, without legal representation after human rights lawyer Mohammad Mostafaei flees in the wake of the Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani case. (The Observer)
Mohammad Mostafaei seeks asylum in Norway after his escape from Iran to Turkey by car, horse and foot. (BBC)
Saudi Arabia delays shutting off Research in Motion's BlackBerry instant messaging system allowing for test of a system allowing the Government of Saudi Arabia to monitor user data. (Bloomberg)
Elena Kagan is sworn in as the fourth woman to sit on the Supreme Court of the United States. (The New York Times)

Politics and elections

More than 1,000 journalists march through Mexico City in protest at the repeated killings and disappearances of their colleagues throughout Mexico. (Aljazeera)
The President of South Korea Lee Myung-Bak replaces the Prime Minister of South Korea Chung Un-chan with Kim Tae-ho as part of a Cabinet reshuffle with seven other ministers also being replaced. (AFP via Google News)
Protesters in Potosí, Bolivia, strengthen an anti-government protest by starting a hunger strike and cutting rail links to Chile. (AFP via Google) (Latin American Herald Tribune) (ABC News)
Rwanda prepares for a presidential election, its second since the 1994 Rwandan Genocide. (Aljazeera)

Sport

Officials say the World Sauna Championships will not run again after the death yesterday of Russian competitor Vladimir Ladyzhenskiy in Heinola, Finland. (The Guardian)
Australia defeats England 4-0 to win the Hockey Champions Trophy in field hockey held in Mönchengladbach Germany. (AP via USA Today)