Portal:Current events/2006 August 24

August 24, 2006 (Thursday)

2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict:
- The Israeli reserve soldiers' protest, which calls for the resignation of Ehud Olmert and the establishment of a national commission of inquiry over failures in the conflict, grows in momentum to reach several hundred. (Ynet)
- Unexploded Israeli cluster bombs, some dating back to the 1970s, are exacting an increasing toll on Lebanese civilians returning home, the UN and human rights groups report. (Al Jazeera), (Human Rights Watch)
- French President Jacques Chirac says 1,600 more French troops will serve in the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon. (BBC)
- Syria threatens to shut its border with Lebanon. (Al Jazeera)^{[permanent dead link‍]}
- Syria decides to cut electric power supplies to Lebanon after Israel bombed power stations during the war. (AFP via Al Nahar)
Israeli forces have killed three Palestinian Islamic Jihad militants and detained five militants, including a senior member of the governing Hamas movement in two separate incidents in southern Gaza. (Al Jazeera)^{[permanent dead link‍]}, (BBC)
A senior Israeli source says that Israel "may have to go it alone," saying that the Iranian response to a package of incentives to halt its uranium enrichment was just to "gain time," and said that Iran had "flipped the world the bird." (Jerusalem Post)
German Chancellor Angela Merkel states that Iran's response to the incentives by world powers aiming to persuade it to give up nuclear power is unsatisfactory. (Reuters)^{[permanent dead link‍]}
The largest computer games expo in the transatlantic region, the Games Convention in Leipzig, Germany, opens for the public. (Handelsblatt)
Definition of planet: The International Astronomical Union, meeting in Prague, Czech Republic, votes to strip Pluto of its status as a planet. (BBC)
Apple Computer announces a recall of 1.8 million batteries for its PowerBook G4 and iBook G4 models. (CNN)
The Kyodo News Agency reports that there is activity at a North Korean nuclear testing site. (Kyodo News Agency via Fox News: Video)
Population of the United Kingdom reaches over 60 million for the first time in history. (BBC)