Portal:Current events/2006 August 22

August 22, 2006 (Tuesday)

Russian mathematician Grigori Perelman refuses the Fields Medal. (ABC News)
U.S. sprinter Justin Gatlin agrees to an eight-year ban from track and field for a positive drug test. He forfeits the world record he equalled in May. (USA Today)
Japanese Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe announces that if elected president of the Liberal Democratic Party, and thus Prime Minister, he will propose an amendment to the pacifist Constitution of Japan allowing Japanese troops to be sent overseas. Abe currently leads in polls over candidates Taro Aso and Sadakazu Tanigaki by about 30%. (Mainichi Daily News^{[permanent dead link‍]})
Nominations have been called for the first Nunatsiavut Assembly General Election. The election will be held on October 3, 2006. VOCM^{[permanent dead link‍]}
Pulkovo Airlines Flight 612, a Tupolev Tu-154 plane carrying 160 passengers and 10 crew from Anapa in southern Russia to Saint Petersburg, crashes in eastern Ukraine. (BBC)
The Iranian Navy attacks and seizes control of a Romanian oil rig in the Persian Gulf. Iran took control of the radio room at 7 AM local time. "The Iranians fired at the rig's crane with machine guns," Tăbănescu said. "They are in control now and we can't contact the rig." There were 26 workers onboard. (Bloomberg)
The U.S. National Center for Education Statistics releases a report today showing that charter schools had lower mean scores in reading and especially math compared to public schools. (CNN)
NASA confirms that its new manned space exploration vehicle, expected to succeed the STS (or Space Shuttle) by 2014, will be named Orion (NASA)