Portal:Current events/2010 August 13

August 13, 2010 (Friday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

Police shoot dead at least four civilians, including two teenagers, demonstrating against the government in Indian-administered Kashmir; protesters say they were unarmed. (BBC) (IOL)^{[permanent dead link‍]}
An Australian Special Air Service Regiment soldier Jason Brown, is killed in fighting the Taliban in northern Kandahar Province, Afghanistan. (AAP via Sydney Morning Herald)

Business and economics

The eurozone economy grows by 1% in the second quarter of 2010, with the German economy growing by 2.2%, its fastest quarterly growth in more than 20 years. (BBC) (Aljazeera) (MarketWatch) (AP)
TAM Airlines of Brazil and LAN Airlines of Chile announce plans for a merger that would make the biggest carrier in the region. (BBC)
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority announces it is to tighten some rules on mortgage lending, signalling that it is concerned about the dangers of a real estate bubble in Hong Kong. (Market Watch)

Disasters

Mosta - Malta Fireworks Factory (13t'Awissu) explodes leaving one man dead.[1]
President of Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari officially cancels Independence Day as a direct consequence of the ongoing floods that have devastated the country. (BBC)(Associated Press of Pakistan) (Aljazeera)
Fresh landslides and heavy rain in northwestern China leave at least 29 people dead and a further 10,500 trapped. (Reuters) (China Daily) (BBC)
A forest fire grows in size near Russia's main nuclear research centre in Sarov. (China Radio International) (Times Live South Africa) (AFP)
2 firefighters are killed fighting wildfires in Fornelos de Montes, Pontevedra, in Galicia, Spain. (BBC)
A building collapse in Abuja, Nigeria sees further rescue efforts; at least 14 people are known to have died. (BBC)
A strong earthquake strikes near Guam. (BBC)

International relations

Germany allows suspected Israeli spy Uri Brodsky, connected of the murder of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in Dubai, to go free after his recent extradition from Poland. (Aljazeera) (BBC) (Haaretz)
France condemns the actions of a senior soldier after a YouTube video of him threatening a Togolese journalist in Lomé is released. (BBC) (France 24)
MV Sun Sea, a cargo ship carrying around 490 Tamil migrants, refugees and suspected human smugglers and Tamil Tigers as well as reports of tuberculosis outbreaks is scheduled to arrive in Esquimalt, British Columbia. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police and Canadian Navy are escorting and boarding the ship, and the ship's captain is suspected by the Sri Lankan Government of being a gun runner. (Aljazeera) (CTV) (Toronto Star), (CBC)
President of the United States Barack Obama signs a bill increasing security along his country's border with Mexico. (BBC) (Reuters India) (The Asian Age)
Sierra Leone's human rights commission asks South Africa to return "blood diamonds" allegedly given to Naomi Campbell. (Montreal Gazette) (BBC)
Lebanon cancels an Iranian made television series about Jesus after complaints from Christian leaders and the public. (Ya Libnan) (AFP)
Rosatom, Russia's nuclear energy corporation announces that it will start loading fuel for the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant Iran's first nuclear power plant from August 21. (The Hindu) (Aljazeera)

Law and crime

Four bodies are discovered in an abandoned South African gold mine owned by relatives of Nelson Mandela and Jacob Zuma following a shooting. (AFP) (BBC) (IOL)
Elias Abuelazam, an Arab Israeli arrested in the United States in connection with almost 20 stabbings across three U.S. states, agrees to face charges relating to one of the attacks. (BBC) (The Guardian)
A Malaysian court sentences two men to five years imprisonment after firebombing a church in a row over the use of the word "Allah" by non-Muslims. (Bernama) (AP) (Kenya Broadcasting Coroporation)
Sri Lanka convicts ex-army chief Sarath Fonseka on charges of engaging in politics while on active service. (Sunday Leader) (Aljazeera) (AFP)
Trial of Omar Khadr:
- The lawyer of Omar Khadr, the former child soldier who is the youngest Guantánamo Bay inmate, faints in court and is rushed to hospital. The trial subsequently gets suspended.(Aljazeera) (BBC) (Aljazeera) (France24)
- A serving officer in the United States Army is removed from the jury after informing the court of his belief that the American-run prison camps in Guantánamo Bay ought to be shut down. (The Independent)
Erastus Akingbola, former head of the Intercontinental Bank of Nigeria, is charged with 22 counts of involvement in the bank's near collapse at a court in Lagos; he denies all counts. (BBC)

Politics and elections

Science

Peru's health ministry is deployed into the Amazon to battle the vampire bats blamed for the deaths of four children from rabies. (BBC)
India's health ministry completely rejects as "unscientific" and a "conspiracy" claims by researchers that medical tourists are spreading a new "superbug" that is alleged to have originated in the country. India states that its hospitals are safe. (Aljazeera)
Scientists find evidence that 250 rare Caquetá Titi monkeys survive in Colombia. (CBS) (ScienceNews)