Portal:Current events/2009 August 22
August 22, 2009 (Saturday)
- Cardinal Seán Brady, Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland, criticises Ireland's Civil Partnership Bill, which gives statutory partnership rights to same-sex couples. (RTÉ) (Sunday Independent)
- Argentina's Foreign Affairs Ministry “harshly condemns” the nomination of Ahmad Vahidi to serve as Iran's Defence Minister as he is a suspected international terrorist sought by Interpol in connection with the 1994 attack on AMIA Jewish community centre in Buenos Aires. (MercoPress)
- Islamic insurgents attack a government checkpoint in Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, sparking a gunbattle that kills at least five people on the first day of Ramadan. (IOL)
- The militant group Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta hands over hundreds of weapons to the Nigerian government as part of a weapons amnesty. (BBC) (NEXT) (IOL)
- Officials from North and South Korea meet for talks for the first time in two years. (BBC) (Yonhap)
- Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva arrives in Bolivia with a "strong tone-down message". (MercoPress)
- Niger's police use tear gas to injure and arrest several people during clashes with opponents of a new constitution that would enable President Mamadou Tandja to seek unlimited mandates. (IOL)
- Thousands of Venezuelans join rival marches in Caracas over a controversial education law that critics say strengthens President Hugo Chávez's grip over schools and universities. (Reuters) (BBC)
- Two turkey farms in Valparaíso, Chile, are quarantined over fears the birds have caught swine influenza from humans. (MercoPress)
- Taliban official Hakeemullah Mehsud is selected as the new head of the Pakistani Taliban, a local Taliban commander in Pakistan's federally administered tribal areas confirms. (CNN)