Portal:Current events/2007 August 31
August 31, 2007 (Friday)
- The British Royal Family, including Prince Charles, Prince Harry and Prince William, and Her Majesty the Queen Elizabeth, along with Prime Minister Gordon Brown and former Prime Minister Tony Blair, and hundreds more, gather for a memorial service for Diana, Princess of Wales, ten years after her death, at Guard's Chapel in London. (BBC)
- The President of French Polynesia Gaston Tong Sang loses a vote of no-confidence and is forced to resign. (AFP via News Limited)
- A fuel spill pollutes Puerto Rico's southwest coast from the town of Guanica to Guayanilla Bay. (AP via Fox News)
- Democratic Republic of the Congo
- The United Nations mission to the Democratic Republic of the Congo sends troops to the town of Katale in the Masisi district of North Kivu province due to heavy fighting between the army and supporters of rebel General Laurent Nkunda. (All Africa)
- The World Health Organization reports an outbreak of an unknown disease with a high mortality rate in the province of Kasai Occidental A form of hemorrhagic fever is suspected to be the cause of the outbreak. (World Health Organization)
- U.S. Democratic Party fundraiser Norman Hsu surrenders to the San Mateo County sheriff's office on a 15-year-old felony warrant. (San Francisco Chronicle)
- Twelve Chileans including a Catholic priest are charged for alleged involvement in death squads during the rule of General Augusto Pinochet. (BBC)
- The Mine Safety and Health Administration indefinitely suspends the search for six missing coal miners trapped in the Crandall Canyon mine in the U.S. state of Utah. (AP via Fox News)
- National Board of Revenue (NBR) of Bangladesh finds former premier Khaleda Zia having bank accounts in several names but with the same address.
- Canadian police arrest a man in Toronto found with three letter bombs in the boot of his car. (ABC News Australia)
- Hugo Chávez, the President of Venezuela, states that he will meet with FARC guerillas to mediate a dispute with the Government of Colombia about the release of captives. (Reuters Alertnet)
- Provisional data from the United Kingdom Meteorological Office shows that the 2007 British summer was the wettest on record with five areas of England on flood warning. (BBC)
- Mike Nifong, the prosecutor in the 2006 Duke University lacrosse case, is found in criminal contempt of court for lying to a judge in the case and is sentenced to a day in jail. (Associated Press via New York Times)
- An explosion in Ingushetia near the Chechen border kills four Russian police officers. (Reuters via ABC News Australia)
- The U.S. Kroger supermarket chain recalls its "Southern-Style" and "Mustard" potato salads due to concerns over E. coli bacteria. (AP via CNN Money)
- Thousands of people protest against the ruling Hamas party in the Gaza Strip. (Reuters via ABC News Australia)
- Talks aimed at negotiating peace in Iraq begin in Finland. (Wikinews)
- Waziristan War: The Pakistan government disputes claims by pro-Taliban militants that they have captured 300 Pakistan Army soldiers stating that a convoy of 100 soldiers has been trapped and they are working to relieve them. (BBC)
- Negotiators from 158 countries reach rough agreements on greenhouse gas targets at a United Nations climate change conference. (AP via Google News)
- Republican Senator John Warner announces that he will not seek re-election to the United States Senate. (Bloomberg)
- Two Egyptian students at the University of South Florida are indicted for carrying explosive materials across state lines with one indicted for terrorism charges. (AP via CNN)
- The Secretary-General of the United Nations orders an investigation into how hazardous material from Iraq came to be in the United Nations headquarters in New York. (Xinhua)
- White House Press Secretary Tony Snow resigns, effective September 14, 2007. Deputy Press Secretary Dana Perino will replace him after his resignation is effective. (AP)
- A tank truck crashes into four minibuses in Kisii, Kenya, resulting in at least 29 deaths and 30 injuries. (AP via IHT)
- The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Gordon Brown and the President of France Nicolas Sarkozy threaten the government of Sudan with sanctions over Darfur. (Reuters)
- While Greece brings the 2007 Greek forest fires under control, 8 people have died in 48 hours in forest fires in northern Algeria, six firefighters die in Croatia and the village of Les Useres in the Valencia region of Spain is evacuated. (AFP via ABC News Australia) (Euronews)
- Angry Victorian farmers trap the Premier of Victoria John Brumby and Rural and Regional Development Minister Jacinta Allan as well as advisers and media in a machinery yard outside Colbinabbin, east of Bendigo to raise concerns about the Government's water plans. (Herald Sun)
- War in Afghanistan
- At least two people are killed and ten others injured by a suicide bomb at the Kabul International Airport in Afghanistan. (BBC), (Voice of America)
- At least ten civilians are killed and several more injured in Kunar province as Taliban rockets aimed at a US military base hit a nearby village. (Voice of America)
- Nearly two dozen Afghan militants die in heavy fighting in Helmand province. (AFP via Google News)
- Malaysia celebrates 50 years of independence.