Portal:Current events/2010 October 27

October 27, 2010 (Wednesday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

Several people are injured in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir during protests marking the anniversary of the arrival of Indian forces in the region in 1947. (AFP) (Hindustan Times)
Clashes between pro-government forces and al-Shabaab militants in southern Somalia kill 17 people. (Press TV)
A United States drone attack kills three in Pakistan. (AFP)
At least three people are killed in an explosion in Baghdad, Iraq. (CNN)
Security forces raid Taliban hideouts in northern Baghlan Province of Afghanistan eliminating five insurgents. (China Daily)
A NATO soldier is killed in a roadside bomb attack in Afghanistan, taking the 2010 death toll for allied troops in Afghanistan to 603. (AFP)
Israel:
- An Islamic Jihad terrorist is killed when three men who approached an Israeli security fence from the Gaza Strip are fired upon by Israel Defense Forces tanks. (Arutz Sheva)
- Israeli Police send seven hundred officers to the Arab town of Umm al-Fahm ahead of a march by right wing activists on the twentieth anniversary of the murder of Rabbi Meir Kahane and use tear gas to stop violent clashes between the activists and Arabs. (CNN)

Arts and culture

Warner Bros. and New Line confirm that the The Hobbit films will be shot in New Zealand. (BBC)

Business and economy

American bank Wells Fargo admits it made mistakes in 55,000 real estate foreclosure cases. (AP via Today Online)

Disasters and accidents

One sailor drowns and 12 are missing after a freighter carrying Chinese crew capsized off Taiwan. (Focus Taiwan News Channel) (Straits Times)
Floods in 18 Thai provinces kill 59 people. (Bangkok Post) (UPI)
Fatalities caused by the eruption of Mount Merapi in Indonesia's Yogyakarta province rises, with 28 people known to have been killed by hot ash. (Xinhua)
Indonesian tsunami
- The death toll from the tsunami following the October 2010 Sumatra earthquake reaches at least 282 with hundreds of people still missing. (AFP via Yahoo! News), (Fox News) (BBC)
- Concerns are raised about the effectiveness of the Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning System. (BBC)
Factory fishing ship Athena catches fire off the Isles of Scilly, with 111 crew onboard. (BBC), (CNN)

International relations

A surprise trip by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to China has been confirmed. (People Daily)
North Korea demands 500,000 tonnes of rice and 300,000 of fertilizer from South Korea in return for family reunions. (Times of India) (CNN)
India and Malaysia announce that a free trade accord between them would come into effect in July 2011. (Straits Times) (AFP)
Transparency International releases its Corruption Perceptions Index showing Denmark, New Zealand and Singapore as the least corrupt nations and Somalia as the most corrupt. (CNN)

Law and crime

Judge Kimba Wood of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York shuts down filesharing service LimeWire. (AFP via Melbourne Age)
Farooque Ahmed of Ashburn, Virginia, is arrested for allegedly plotting an attack on the Washington Metrorail system. (Reuters)
15 people are killed in a Mexican Drug War-related shootout at a car wash in Tepic, Nayarit, the country's third such mass shooting in under a week. (New York Times) (CNN)

Politics

Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev says it was “impossible” for coalition forces to secure victory in Afghanistan in a BBC interview. (Tehran Times)
Three labour activists are sentenced to up to nine years in prison in Vietnam for distributing anti-government leaflets and going on strike. (Straits Times)
Kenyan foreign minister Moses Wetangula steps aside following a corruption scandal. (BBC) (AllAfrica.com) (Daily Nation)
Néstor Kirchner, Secretary General of UNASUR, former President of Argentina and husband of President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner dies at his home in El Calafate, Santa Cruz Province, with three days of mourning declared. (ABC News Australia)
The National Assembly of France takes a final vote on pension reform, with President Nicolas Sarkozy hoping that it will end the recent strikes and demonstrations. (BBC)

Science

Scientists announce the discovery of the Myanmar snub-nosed monkey. (National Geographic)
Astronomers discover the most massive neutron star yet known. (Nature)