Portal:Current events/2006 August 3

August 3, 2006 (Thursday)

North Korea refuses aid after being devastated by flooding. As many as 1.5 million people have been displaced, and over one hundred are dead. CNN news
Iraq War:
- In the centre and south of the country, Shiites waved Iraqi flags and chanted "Death to America! Death to Israel!" as they boarded convoys of buses bound for Baghdad's Sadr City. These and other Shiite protesters were summoned to the capital by cleric Moqtada al-Sadr to protest against Israel's attacks on Lebanon. The protest is timed to begin after Friday prayers. Perth News (australia) International Herald Tribune
- Four US soldiers charged with murdering three detainees in Iraq smiled before shooting them, a military court has heard from a fellow soldier.(BBC NEWS)
- The top US commander in the Middle East, Gen John Abizaid, has said Iraq could move toward civil war if the sectarian violence is not stopped.(BBC NEWS)
- Civil war is a more likely outcome in Iraq than democracy, Britain's outgoing ambassador in Baghdad has warned Tony Blair in a confidential memo.(BBC NEWS)
The Union of French Jewish Employers and Professionals (UPJF), Conseil Représentatif des Institutions juives de France (CRIF), and the Vigilance Bureau against anti-Semitism (BVCA), have denounced a declaration made by French foreign minister Philippe Douste-Blazy who said while visiting Beirut on Monday that Tehran was “a stabilising element in the Middle East.”(EJP)
Tropical Storm Chris weakens and is now expected not to become a hurricane. (Reuters)
Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko nominates his political rival Viktor Yanukovich to become prime minister.(Reuters)^{[permanent dead link‍]}
Clashes between Sri Lanka's army and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam escalates into the worst violence since they agreed a cease-fire in 2002. (Bloomberg)
2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict:
- Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said the "main solution" to end the conflict in Lebanon was the "elimination of the Zionist regime." (Al Jazeera), (Ynet)
- 8 Israeli civilians are killed and 39 wounded as some 160 rockets hit Israeli towns. All 28 civilian Israeli fatalities in the ongoing conflict were killed by Hezbollah rocket attacks, which have caused no military fatalities. (Ynet), (Haaretz)
- Israel resumes bombing Beirut. (CNN)
- The IDF investigation into the attack on Qana that killed a number of civilians has been completed. It states that the IDF was not aware that there were civilians in the building and assumed that they had been evacuated. The IDF also blamed Hezbollah for using civilians as human shields, and pointed out that over 150 rockets had been fired from the Qana area since the current conflict began. (Haaretz)(YNet)
- Human Rights Watch publishes a report criticizing Hezbollah for hiding behind civilians as well as the Israeli forces for deliberately targeting civilians. (Haaretz)^{[permanent dead link‍]}
An alleged member of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan killed himself and a police officer with a hand grenade in Tajikistan's northern Sughd Region RFERL.org.