Portal:Current events/2007 August 18

August 18, 2007 (Saturday)

Rescuers say that a fourth hole in the Crandall Canyon mine near Huntington, Utah shows no sign of six trapped miners. (AP via Houston Chronicle)
The death toll of a bridge collapse in Fenghuang, China rises to 64. (AP via IHT)
A fire in the former Deutsche Bank Building near New York's Ground Zero kills two firefighters. (AP via Yahoo! News)
Typhoon Sepat makes landfall in the Chinese province of Fujian after nearly a million people have been evacuated. (Xinhua)
Two more suspects are arrested in relation to a triple murder in a Newark, New Jersey elementary schoolyard. (CNN)
North Korea launches a flood relief program to help the hundreds of thousands of people left homeless. (AFP via ABC News Australia)
Somalia:
- An armed clash between two Somali clans in the village of Goobo results in at least 16 people being killed and 30 injured. (Reuters via ABC News Australia)
- The Deputy Governor of Mogadishu Abdullahi Hassan Geney survives an assassination attempt after his car hits a landmine. (Reuters via ABC News Australia)
One person is dead, four people are missing, after a fire at the Penhallow Hotel in Newquay, Cornwall. (BBC)
Survivors of the 2007 Peru earthquake flee the worst hit areas as looting intensifies. The President of Peru Alan García sends another 1,000 troops to the area. (Reuters)^{[permanent dead link‍]} (AP via IHT)
Voters in the Maldives go to the polls in a constitutional referendum to decide between a presidential or parliamentary system of government. (NDTV)
Voters in Kazakhstan go to the polls for the Kazakhstani legislative election, 2007. (BBC via ABC News Australia)
Scientists announce that Pavlof Volcano in Alaska is set to have a huge eruption that could disrupt air traffic. (AP)
Afghanistan:
- A suicide bomber kills at least 15 people in the southern Kandahar province. (Voice of America)
- A female German aid worker is taken captive at gunpoint in Kabul. (BBC)
Hurricane Dean (2007):
- Hurricane Dean has already claimed three lives in the Lesser Antilles and is due to pass south of Haiti and the Dominican Republic en route to Jamaica where emergency shelters have been opened. (BBC)
- Hurricane Dean is expected to intensify to a Category 5 hurricane. (RTT News)
- Cuba's National Civil Defense declares a state of alert for the following provinces: Guantánamo, Santiago de Cuba, Granma, Holguín, Las Tunas and Camagüey. (La Prensa)
- NASA shortens a spacewalk during the current Space Shuttle Endeavour mission so that the crew can prepare for a Tuesday landing to avoid Hurricane Dean. (BBC)
- U.S. President George W. Bush preapproves an emergency declaration for Texas if Hurricane Dean hits the state. (Reuters)
- Mexican authorities evacuate tourists from the resort city of Cancún on the Yucatán Peninsula which Hurricane Dean is expected to hit late Monday or early Tuesday. (AP via IHT)
An Atlas Jet plane en route from Nicosia in Cyprus to Istanbul in Turkey is hijacked. Some passengers were freed while the plane refueled in Antalya in southern Turkey. All 142 people escape unhurt while the hijackers surrender. (Xinhua) (Reuters via Sydney Morning Herald) (AP via Houston Chronicle)
Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf says he will contend in the upcoming presidential election "because the country needs him."
Rescuers race to reach over 180 coal miners trapped in two flooded mines in Shandong province in China. (AFP via ABC News Australia)
At least one person is dead and thousands evacuated as Typhoon Sepat hits Taiwan. (Times of India)