Portal:Current events/2007 August 3

August 3, 2007 (Friday)

The former deputy director of Augusto Pinochet's secret police, Raul Iturriaga, is captured by the police after having entered in rebellion in June 2007 against the Chilean state and justice Los Angeles Times.
The Governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger declares a state of emergency in Santa Barbara County, California with hundreds of people ordered to evacuate due to wildfire. (AP via Fox News)
US President George W. Bush signs a bill to implement recommendations of the 9-11 Commission. (AP via San Diego Union Tribune)
The United States Congress allocates $250 million to rebuild the I-35W Mississippi River bridge in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (BBC)
The United States Senate votes to extend the powers of intelligence agents to eavesdrop on suspected terrorists in a victory for President of the United States George W. Bush. (AFP via ABC News Australia)
Raids at the Your Black Muslim Bakery in Oakland, California allegedly produces evidence that links the bakery to the murder of Chauncey Bailey, editor of The Oakland Post, and two other people. (CNN)
The Canadian government agrees to make available a judicial report on the treatment of Maher Arar falsely accused of terrorism. (ABC News Australia)
Mexican archaeologists announce the discovery of what is believed to be the tomb of Aztec emperor Ahuitzotl. (IHT)
Russia says that it will launch a criminal case against Andrei Lugovoi if the United Kingdom provides it with convincing evidence of Lugovoi's involvement in the murder of Alexander Litvinenko. (Reuters via ABC News Australia)
50 people are feared drowned and 100 are missing after a boat capsized in Sierra Leone (Reuters via CNN)
The President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe signs the Interception of Communication Act into law, allowing the Zimbabwean government to listen to private telephone conversations, open mail and intercept faxes and e-mail. (AFP via Africaasia)
Two Cuban boxers, Guillermo Rigondeaux Olympic bantamweight champion and amateur welterweight world champion Erislandi Lara, who deserted their team at the 2007 Pan American Games are found in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and will be sent back to Cuba. (CNN)
An outbreak of foot and mouth disease at a cattle farm in Surrey, UK is confirmed by Defra. The unlicenced movement of all livestock throughout the UK is prohibited. (BBC)
George W. Bush invites representatives of the UN and major industrialized and developing countries to a conference to discuss a post-Kyoto agreement on greenhouse gas emissions. (Reuters)
2007 South Asian floods: Monsoon floods make millions homeless in India, Nepal and Bangladesh with a death toll of 145 in India and 65 in Bangladesh. (BBC/AFP via ABC News Australia)
Turkey's two largest cities, Ankara and Istanbul, struggle with water shortages with Ankara rationing water to two days on, two days off as a result of having 5% left in their reservoirs. (AP via the Guardian)
The Supreme Court of Pakistan frees Javed Hashmi, the leader of the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy and Pakistan Muslim League faction leader, who was jailed in 2003 for writing a letter critical of the President of Pakistan Pervez Musharraf. (BBC)
Rebel groups in Darfur hold meetings in Tanzania jointly mediated by the United Nations and the African Union to resolve disputes. (BBC)
Patriarch Teoctist of the Romanian Orthodox Church is buried in a ceremony in Bucharest led by Bartholomew I, the leader of the Eastern Orthodox churches. (AP via IHT)