Portal:Current events/2010 September 23

September 23, 2010 (Thursday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

War in Somalia:
- Somali journalists walk out of the GBC radio station seized by Islamist rebels after refusing to take orders. (BBC) (AP)
- At least 21 people are killed and 70 injured in street battles in the capital Mogadishu. (Al Jazeera)
Víctor Julio Suárez Rojas, the leader of the FARC guerrilla whose nom de guerre was "Mono Jojoy", is killed in a military operation by Colombian Armed Forces. (BBC News)

Business and economy

2010 strikes in France: French trade unions launch a new round of strikes over plans by the President Nicolas Sarkozy to lift the pension age to 62, with transport services and schools to be badly affected. (Al Jazeera) (AP via Google) (France 24)

Disasters and accidents

At least six people die in a mine collapse in Kayanza Province, northern Burundi. (RTT News) (BBC)
The death toll in China from Typhoon Fanapi reaches 54 with dozens more people missing. (AP via SignOn SanDiego) (China Daily)
2010 Atlantic hurricane season: Tropical Storm Matthew forms in the western Caribbean Sea with predictions that it could hit Central America on Friday or Saturday. (Reuters)
Approximately 16,000 people have died in the United States between 2001 and 2007 due to people using cell phones while driving, according to a new report. (Reuters)
Speeding train kills 7 elephants in Eastern India. (CBS)

International relations

French authorities seek to make contact with Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb over the kidnapping of five French nationals and two others in Niger, now believed to have been taken to northern Mali. (BBC) (Voice of America)
Iran withdraws its bid for a seat on the International Atomic Energy Agency board due to lack of support for its candidacy. (AFP)
The United States and other western nations including Britain, Sweden, Australia, Belgium, Uruguay and Spain walk out of the United Nations General Assembly following claims by the President of Iran Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that the "majority of the American people as well as most nations and politicians around the world" say that the 9/11 attacks were the work of the Government of the United States trying to protect Israel. (Voice of America), (CNN)
The President of the United States Barack Obama meets with the Premier of China Wen Jiabao, with the value of the renminbi the top issue for discussion. (Reuters)

Law and crimes

Chinese authorities investigate four Japanese employees of Fujita Corp., suspected of entering a military zone and illegally videotaping military targets in northern Hebei Province. (AP) (BBC)
The U.S. state of Virginia executes its first woman since 1912; Teresa Lewis will also be the first woman in the U.S. to be executed since 2005. (Sky News)
Pakistani scientist Aafia Siddiqui is sentenced to 86 years in jail in a New York federal court for trying to kill United States soldiers in Afghanistan. (Al Jazeera)

Politics

North Korea reshuffles senior officials days ahead of a meeting of the Korean Workers' Party expected to lead to a transition of power from Kim Jong-il to his son Kim Jong-un. (AFP) (Korea Herald)
The election commission in Guinea proposes 10 October as a revised date for the presidential run-off election. (Reuters) (CNN)
Cambodian opposition leader Sam Rainsy is sentenced in absentia to 10 years' imprisonment for altering maps to show that Vietnam was encroaching on Cambodian territory. (The Phnom Penh Post) (BBC)
The final count for the Swedish general election shows that The Alliance finished two seats short of an absolute majority. (The Telegraph)

Sport

2010 Commonwealth Games:
- Countries including New Zealand, Canada and Scotland delay their departure for the host city of Delhi, India, due to concerns about unsafe and unhygienic accommodation in the athletes' village. (AFP via Yahoo! News Australia)
- The Prime Minister of India Manmohan Singh convenes an emergency meeting of Ministers to discuss problems with the facilities. (Livemint)