Portal:Current events/2010 August 17

August 17, 2010 (Tuesday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

At least one person is killed and 20 are injured in two separate explosions in Pyatigorsk and North Ossetia in Russia's North Caucasus. (Al Jazeera) (AFP) (Voice of Russia)
The United States confirms the existence of videotapes - found under a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) desk - of the alleged 2002 interrogation of a suspect the country had detained at a secret prison. (BBC) (The Washington Times)
Hezbollah states it has passed on evidence said to implicate Israel in the 2005 assassination of then Prime Minister of Lebanon Rafic Hariri. (BBC)
A Ugandan lawmaker accuses the army of committing atrocities against civilians in the Karamoja region as part of a disarmament exercise. (BBC) (Daily Monitor) (Reuters)
Iraq
- At least 61 people are killed and over one hundred are injured in a suicide bombing at an Iraqi Army recruiting centre in Baghdad, Iraq. (France 24) (Voice of America) (AP via New York Times)
- At least 8 people are killed and 44 are wounded after a bomb attached to a fuel truck explodes in a Shiite section of Baghdad. (AP cia Central Florida News)^{[permanent dead link‍]}
A Palestinian man from Ramallah threatens to blow up the Turkish embassy in Tel Aviv, Israel if not offered asylum, but is shot by security staff. (Haaretz) (The Jerusalem Post) (Aljazeera) (BBC) (Xinhua)

Arts, culture and entertainment

Archaeologists in Afghanistan discover the remains of a Buddhist site south of the capital Kabul. (Reuters Africa)
Fiji officially designates the word "Fijian" as the term for the nationality of all the people of the islands including Indo-Fijians. The word was previously used only for indigenous inhabitants. (People's Daily) (Fijivillage)

Disasters

An Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force F4 aircraft crashes in the southern province of Bushehr; both pilots survive. (AFP via Google News) (Press TV)
Tornado has swept threw south western part of Lithuania, near city of Rusnė (Delfi).
A train derails in Sudbury, Suffolk, UK after hitting a sewage truck on a level crossing, injuring 18 people. Main article: 2010 Sudbury train accident.

International relations

The Chilean military removes 1,000 protesters who had occupied government buildings, museums and a hotel on Easter Island. (Radio New Zealand International)
3 more Cuban dissidents released on humanitarian grounds arrive with their families in Madrid, Spain. (BBC)
Romania expresses dismay at Russia after it arrests and expels one of its diplomats; it is now to do the same in return. (BBC) (Xinhua)
Lebanon grants Palestinian refugees the right to work legally. (BBC) (Arab News)
A U.S. report claims that the Chinese military has been secretly expanding; the U.S. asks for dialogue with China to avert a "miscalculated" response. (BBC) (Al Jazeera)
Two kidnapped Jordanian peacekeepers from the joint African Union - United Nations force in Darfur, Sudan, are released. (Al Jazeera) (BBC) (Xinhua)

Law and crime

Police in Tanzania arrest a Kenyan national who was attempting to sell an albino man. (BBC) (The Citizen) (AllAfrica.com)
Same-sex marriage in the U.S. state of California, due to resume on Wednesday, is blocked by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals until it is decided whether a ban is constitutional. (San Francisco Chronicle) (BBC)
A federal jury convicts former Governor of Illinois Rod Blagojevich on one count of lying to the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation. The jury is deadlocked on the other 23 charges. (Chicago Tribune), (Chicago Tribune)

Politics and elections

Protesters in Potosí and the Bolivian government resolve a three-week disagreement. (BBC)
Former Israeli soldier Eden Aberjil is criticized for her Facebook images of herself smiling with blindfolded and bound Palestinian prisoners. (BBC)

Sport

The French Football Federation bans Nicolas Anelka for 18 France games, Patrice Evra for 5, Franck Ribéry for 3, and Jérémy Toulalan for 1, while Éric Abidal escapes punishment, for their roles as the key players behind the 2010 FIFA World Cup player strike. (BBC Sport)(The Guardian)
Zimbabwe Football Association (Zifa) chief executive Henrietta Rushwaya is charged in relation to allegations of match-fixing. (BBC Sport)
Chess champion Bobby Fischer is, as a result of a DNA test, deemed not to have fathered a 9-year-old girl in the Philippines. (BBC News)