Portal:Current events/2010 September 30

September 30, 2010 (Thursday)

Armed conflicts and incidents

Three paramilitary soldiers of the Pakistani Armed Forces are killed and three wounded when NATO helicopters strike a border checkpoint in the Kurram Agency tribal area. Pakistan responds by closing an important supply route that runs through its territory. Interior Minister Rehman Malik announces a high-level meeting to discuss NATO violations of Pakistani sovereignty. (Bernama via Malaysian Digest)
An explosion rocks Taliban birthplace Kandahar in southern Afghanistan on Thursday, wounding eight people. (Xinhua)
Two policemen and a civilian are killed and four others wounded in a failed bank robbery in southern Baghdad. (Xinhua)
2010 Ecuador crisis
- A state of emergency is declared in Ecuador after troops storm the international airport and police storm the Congress, in which the government declared was an attempted coup d'état. (The Telegraph)
- President Rafael Correa is injured and Peru and Colombia close their border with the country. (AFP) (BBC) (The Telegraph)(Euronews)
- The Ecuadorian Army rescues President Correa from hospital where he was being held by rebel troops. (CNN)
A convoy of at least 27 fuel tankers headed for NATO forces in Afghanistan is attacked in Pakistan's Sindh province. (AP via Silicon Valley Mercury News)^{[permanent dead link]}

Arts and culture

US actor Tony Curtis, who appeared in more than 100 films including Some Like It Hot and The Defiant Ones, dies in Henderson, Nevada. (People)

Business and economy

The International Monetary Fund calls for tighter regulation of credit rating agencies. (BBC)

Disasters

Two earthquakes occur off the coast of West Papua in Indonesia of 6.2 and 7.2 in magnitude. (AFP via Google)
Three Japanese mountain climbers and a guide go missing in Nepal after attempting to climb the Himalayan mountain Dhaulagiri. (AFP via Google News)
Heavy rain from former Tropical Storm Nicole causes flooding the US states of North Carolina and Virginia and delays in airline flights on the east coast. (CNN)

International relations

The United States imposes sanctions on a Swiss-based Iranian oil company, the Naftiran Inter-trade Company. (VOA)
The first inter-Korean military talks between North and South Korea in two years end without progress. (Yonhap) (Hürriyet) (Xinhua)
China and the United States officially resume military ties after a 10-month break following US arms sales to Taiwan, with the two countries emphasizing the importance of a close military dialogue. The two countries will also confer on maritime issues next month.(Business Week) (BBC)
Three Japanese employees of Fujita Corporation detained by China for allegedly intruding in a restricted area in Hebei Province are released while a fourth remains in custody. (Reuters)
Argentina grants asylum to the Chilean former leftist guerrilla Galvarino Apablaza, who has been charged in Chile with assassinating a senator, despite the Chilean government's request to extradite him. (AP) (Buenos Aires Herald)

Law and crime

58 people, including 34 former government officials, are given sentences in China over a deadly landslide at an illegal iron ore mine that killed 277 people in 2008. (China Radio International) (Sify India)
Somali pirates seize a Panamanian-flagged ship with 15 Indian crewmen on board, off the coast of Tanzania. (The Citizen) (Emirates 24/7)
Hundreds of soldiers are deployed to Aba in southern Nigeria after the kidnapping of 15 school children by an armed gang. (Reuters) (AFP) (NEXT Nigeria)
Allahabad High Court in India gives its verdict on the Ayodhya title suits, amid fears that the ruling could spark unrest. They decide to split the site into three portions between Hindus and Muslims. (CNN) (BBC) (The Times of India)
The Argentine Senate passes a controversial law protecting glaciers in the Andes Mountains and prohibiting drilling for oil and other resources, hindering Barrick Gold from drilling for gold in the Pascua Lama mine. (Reuters Africa)

Politics

Filipino social activist Carlos Celdran is arrested after staging a protest action which disrupted a mass in Manila Cathedral attended by Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim and Papal Nuncio Edward Joseph Adams, in order to demonstrate against the Catholic Church’s opposition to the Reproductive Health Bill (Philippines). Philippine Daily Inquirer GMA News Philippine Star^{[permanent dead link]}
North Korea releases the first official image of Kim Jong-il's son, Kim Jong-un. (BBC) (Yonhap) (AFP)
The new right wing coalition in the Netherlands have agreed to ban full Islamic veils, such as the Burqa and Niqab (BBC)

Science and technology

China's state-run Xinhua News Agency reports that the computer worm Stuxnet has affected 6 million computers and almost 1,000 enterprises in the country. (Wall Street Journal) (Economic Times)

Sport

The International Cycling Union provisionally suspends Spanish cyclist Alberto Contador, the current Tour de France champion, after he was found to have tested positive for a small amount of clenbuterol, a banned substance, on July 21. He blames food contamination for the positive sample.(Sydney Morning Herald) (AAP via The Australian) (New York Times), (Reuters)