Portal:Current events/2007 July 18

July 18, 2007 (Wednesday)

An initial probe into the crash of TAM Linhas Aéreas Flight 3054 suggests that the pilot tried to abort the landing. (CNN)
A steam pipe explodes in Midtown New York City outside Grand Central Terminal; killing 1 person, injuring 44 and causing evacuations and delays throughout the area. (CNN)
A study in Nature confirms that the island of Britain was severed from continental Europe by a giant flood that cut away the Weald-Artois Anticline about 200,000 years ago. (Nature)
Florida Governor Charlie Crist ends the state's temporary voluntary moratorium on the death penalty by signing the death warrant of Mark Dean Schwab, convicted in 1992 of kidnapping, raping and murdering an 11-year-old boy in Cocoa, Florida. He is scheduled to die on November 15, 2007. (Orlando Sentinel)^{[permanent dead link‍]} (WKMG)
Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick and three others are indicted by a federal grand jury in connection with the Bad Newz Kennels dog fighting investigation. (ESPN)
Suspected militants attack a Pakistan army convoy detonating a bomb and opening fire leading to the loss of at least 16 lives and 14 more injuries. (AP via Fox News)
The International Atomic Energy Agency confirms that North Korea has shut down all five of its nuclear reactors as six-party talks resume in Beijing. (Reuters)
Iraq War: The US Senate, with a 52-47 vote, fails by 8 votes to pass a bill that would have required withdrawal of all US troops (except for a small force) from Iraq by April 30, 2008.(TIME Magazine)
As China struggles to deal with flooding in the provinces of Sichuan, Guizhou, Anhui, Hubei, and Jiangsu, the city of Chongqing is hit with the largest rainstorm in the city's meteorological records, killing 32. 12 people are reported missing. The city's transportation network has been shut down completely. (Xinhua via China Daily)