Portal:Current events/2012 August 24

August 24, 2012 (Friday)

Armed conflict and attacks

Syrian civil war:
- Three people, including a 28-year-old anti-Assad sheikh, are killed in combat between pro-Assad and anti-Assad groups in the Lebanese city of Tripoli. (AFP via Yahoo! News)
- Syriaonline.sy reminds of the fate of captured Syrian TV journalist Mohammed al-Saeed. (Syria Online)
War on terror:
- Afghanistan: Insurgents kill four men including three soldiers in the Afghan Army in Paktia Province. (AP via ABC News)
- Pakistan: A drone attack conducted by the United States kills 18 alleged Taliban militants in North Waziristan. (USA Today)

Disasters

Typhoon Tembin makes landfall on Taiwan. (AP via Yahoo! News)
Tropical Storm Isaac hits the island of Hispaniola containing Haiti and the Dominican Republic. A hurricane watch threat level is set for Haiti. (BBC) (NHC)
Heavy monsoon rain and floods kill 26 people in Pakistan. (Daily Times)
The newly-built Yangmingtan Bridge in Harbin City in China collapses, killing three and injuring five people. (BBC)

International relations

Law and crime

Two U.S. government employees are ambushed and wounded by gunshots near Huitzilac, Morelos, by Mexican Federal Police officers. Details are still unclear. (BBC News)
A court in Oslo, Norway, deems Anders Behring Breivik sane and sentences him to 21 years' imprisonment for intentionally killing 77 people in two terror attacks in July 2011. (BBC)
A South Korean court rules that Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics infringed each other's patents on mobile computing technology. (The Wall Street Journal)
A jury in the U.S. state of California rules that Samsung Electronics owes Apple Inc. over US$1 billion for patent infringement. (Gizmodo)
The High Court of Australia quashes the conviction of former Bundaberg, Queensland surgeon Jayant Patel on manslaughter charges due to a miscarriage of justice with a fresh trial to be held. (The Australian)
A gunman shoots and kills a former coworker near the Empire State Building in New York City. Following the initial shooting, police kill the gunman, and nine other people are wounded. (CNN)
The U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, in the case Sony BMG v. Tenenbaum, awards Sony BMG US$675,000 in statutory damages against Joel Tenenbaum, who shared 30 MP3 files through the defunct Kazaa network. (Decrypted Tech)
A court in Romania, at the request of the Romanian Intelligence Service, expels 8 Palestinians suspected of being involved with Hamas and Hezbollah. (Antena 3)

Politics and elections

Mir-Hossein Mousavi, leader of the Iranian opposition and former Prime Minister, returns home from a hospital after a heart attack. (Tabnak)

Sports

The United States Anti-Doping Agency says it will ban former professional road racing cyclist Lance Armstrong for life and recommend he be stripped of his record seven Tour de France titles. (The Washington Post)