Portal:Current events/2012 September 9

September 9, 2012 (Sunday)

Armed attacks and conflicts

Syrian civil war:
- A main water supply pipe serving central Aleppo is allegedly struck by a government air strike. Hundreds of thousands of inhabitants are left without drinking water. The Aleppo governor says "sabotage" damaged "two pumps serving three districts" and repair work is ongoing. Food, cooking gas and electricity are reported to be in short supply. (The New York Times) (AP via CBC) (Xinhua)
- Two car bombs explode near a hospital in Aleppo that was recently turned into an army barracks. At least 17 people are reported killed and more than 40 others injured. (Reuters)
- Russia calls for a government of Syrian unity. (AFP via Yahoo! NZ News)
A wave of attacks kill more than 100 people and injure 350 others across Iraq on the day the death sentence against Tariq al-Hashimi is made public. (AP via CBS News)
Local authorities report that suspected Taliban abduct and then kill six civilians in the Maidan Wardak province of Afghanistan. (Long War Journal)

International relations

Nestor Louis Michel calls Rwandan President Paul Kagame a "great leader" ("groot leider"). Kagame has been accused of war crimes during Rwanda's invasion of the DR Congo in 1996, and of having led a subsequent proxy war against the DR Congo by arming the CNDP until January 20, 2009. Congo currently accuses Rwandan defence officials of supporting a new destabilisation of East Congo. Louis Michel urges the international community for "more time" to "objectivate the facts first" before taking any action. (De Zondag, p. 12-13, in Dutch)
Closing their annual summit, APEC leaders report progress in Vladivostok over environmental and trade barrier issues; some territorial issues remain unsolved. (Wall Street Journal)

Law and crime

The Central Criminal Court of Iraq sentences in absentia Vice president of Iraq Tariq al-Hashimi and his aide Ahmed Qahtan to death by hanging for, among other charges, the assassination of a lawyer and that of an Army general. (CNN)
The son of convicted Romanian former Minister of Agriculture ro:Ioan Avram Mureșan, Dan Mureșan, is found dead in a Kenyan hotel room. The 32-year-old political manager worked in Kenya for a British company. (Bucharest Herald) (HotNews.ro)
Diplomatic tensions arise over Wednesday's "hit squad" Annecy murders. French investigators may or may not question Saad al-Hilli's colleagues at Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd, or SSTL, near Guildford. A British security source suggests as motive "state-sponsored assassination, rather than a family dispute". (The Independent) (Het Laatste Nieuws) (The Week)
Serbia says it protects a witness of organ harvesting on Serbian prisoners of the Kosovo War. (AP via Washington Post)

Politics and elections

Elections for the 70-member Legislative Council are held in Hong Kong. Forty seats are elected by direct popular vote, the remainder are attributed by the "functional constituencies": business and special interest groups. China has promised a fully popular vote by the year 2020; the roadmap is still being laid out. (BBC) (Xinhua) (Pakistan Today) (Washington Post)
Tens of thousands of Japanese people demonstrate for the closure of Futenma airbase (MCAS) in crowded Ginowan, Okinawa. They also protest the deployment of twelve MV-22 Osprey aircraft. They consider the plane as the "most dangerous" in the world. (Star Advertiser) (AFP via Google News)

Sports

Armenia, led by world number two Levon Aronian, wins a cliffhanger 40th FIDE Chess Olympiad held in Istanbul, Turkey. (Tournament's official website)
Cyclist Alberto Contador confirms his victory in this year's Vuelta a España. (AP via Yahoo! Sports) (VeloNews)
American tennis player Serena Williams wins her fourth Women's Singles at the US Open. (BBC Sport)
Belgian Eddy Merckx becomes three-cushion billiards UMB world champion for the second time in his career, succeeding Netherlands' Dick Jaspers. (Algemeen Dagblad)
Antonio Cairoli and Jeffrey Herlings win, respectively, the MX1 and MX2 FIM motocross world championship titles. Cairoli is third in all-time rankings. (CycleNews)
The fourteenth Summer Paralympics end with a display of fireworks. The next rendez-vous is in September 2016, in Rio de Janeiro. (The Guardian)
in hurling, Galway and Kilkenny draw in the 2012 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship Final. It is the first draw in the hurling final since 1959, and will lead to a replay on September 30. (RTÉ)

Science and technology

The Indian space agency puts into orbit its heaviest foreign satellite yet, in a streak of 21 consecutive successful PLSV launches. (Hindustan Times)