Portal:Current events/2010 October 2

October 2, 2010 (Saturday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

A British soldier has been killed in an explosion while on patrol in Nahr-e Saraj District of Helmand Province in Afghanistan. (York Press via AP) (Google via AP)
3 drone strikes kill 18 people in the Data Khel area of North Waziristan in Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Area as the government continues to block a NATO supply route into Afghanistan, bringing the numbers of militant and civilian deaths to at least 150. (CNN) (BBC)
Iran arrests several people suspected of spying for foreign intelligence services on its nuclear facilities. (Al Jazeera) (The Observer)

Business and economy

2010 strikes in France: Millions of people demonstrate on the streets of France for a third day in more than 200 protests against President Nicolas Sarkozy's plans to raise the retirement age from 60 to 62. (Xinhua) (BBC) (Reuters)

Disasters

A four-story residential building under construction collapsed Saturday morning in Chang'an District of Xi'an City, northwest China's Shaanxi Province, killing eight workers and injuring three. (China Daily)
In Indonesia, two trains are involved in a rear-end collision at Petarukan, killing 43 and injuring 50. Another train crash at Solo kills one person. (BBC) (Jakarta Post)

Arts, culture and entertainment

Rick Sanchez, a Cuban-born news anchorman with the American channel CNN, is fired by the network after calling comedian Jon Stewart a "bigot", saying Jews are not an oppressed minority in the United States, and implying the people who run CNN and other news media are Jewish. (BBC) (The Times of India) (AP via The New Zealand Herald)^{[permanent dead link‍]}
The MAXXI – National Museum of the 21st Century Arts in Rome wins the Stirling Prize, a British architectural award given by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA). (BBC) (The Observer) (The Daily Telegraph)
The 60th Miss World 2010 pageant begins as the last delegates from 120 nations worldwide arrive in China. (Globalbeauties)
A film produced for the 10:10 campaign in which a teacher explodes two of her students is withdrawn due to complaints and an apology is issued. (BBC) (The Guardian)
American female television station Oxygen gives the go-ahead to a new reality show set to star American celebrity and heiress Paris Hilton; the show is to follow Hilton in the course of her daily life. (Reuters)

International relations

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas tells that peace negotiations will not continue until Israel makes a new settlement freeze on the West Bank, ending the current Israel-Palestine peace negotiations after just one month, though maintaining contacts with the United States. (Xinhua) (Aljazeera)
Sweden raises its threat level in response to reports that the country could be targeted by terrorists. (Stockholm News) (CNN)

Law and crime

Spanish police arrest 41 people suspected of financing FARC rebels in Colombia. (Al Jazeera) (euronews)
Druidry is recognised as religion for first time in the United Kingdom. (AP via Google News)
Phillip and Nancy Garrido, the kidnappers of 11-year-old American child Jaycee Lee Dugard, are each indicted on 18 counts, ranging from rape to false imprisonment. (Fox News)

Politics and elections

President of Ecuador Rafael Correa declares "a great victory for the government" after defeating the 2010 Ecuador crisis in a nationally broadcast address from the presidential palace. (Al Jazeera)
Voters in Latvia go to the polls in a parliamentary election. (Latvians Online) (Reuters)
A report into the second Irish referendum on the Treaty of Lisbon is published, indicating reasons why people voted for and against the European Union treaty, which the Government eventually ratified successfully after much effort. (RTÉ) (The Irish Times) (Socialist Worker)
Death of Kwa Geok Choo:
- Kwa Geok Choo, wife of first Prime Minister of Singapore Lee Kuan Yew and mother of current prime minister Lee Hsien Loong, dies at home. (Channel News Asia) (TODAY) (The Straits Times)
- Lee Hsien Loong interrupts his visit to the Asia–Europe Meeting (ASEM) in Brussels to fly home. (Channel News Asia)
- The nation mourns and tributes are given by netizens. (The Straits Times)
- There are international tributes, including official condolences sent from Belgium, Malaysia and Taiwan. (Channel News Asia) (The Straits Times) (Focus Taiwan)
Thousands of people rally in Washington, D.C., calling for improved civil rights in the country. (CNN) (Al Jazeera)
Around 1,500 people demonstrate peacefully in Bremen city centre against a weekend of celebrations as the 20th anniversary of German reunification approaches, discrediting police fears of large-scale riots. (Deutsche Welle) (BBC)