Portal:Current events/2011 August 19
August 19, 2011 (Friday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- A Taliban attack on a British Council centre in Kabul, Afghanistan, results in the death of at least eight people. (BBC) (CNN) (Reuters) (AFP via The Straits Times)
- Rocket attacks in southern Israel kill eight people. (Ha'aretz)
Arts and culture
- The Pukkelpop music festival in Belgium is cancelled following the death of at least five people in a storm. (The Inquisitr)
Business and economy
- Hewlett-Packard shares drop 20% on news that the company plans to split off its personal computer division as a separate company.(Wall Street Journal)
- August 2011 stock markets fall
- The Tokyo Stock Exchange's Nikkei Stock Average falls by 1.9% in early trading as the trend of stock market falls continues. (Wall Street Journal)
- The All Ordinaries Index on the Australian Stock Exchange falls by 4.4% with Asian markets generally down. (AAP via The Australian)
- U.S. retailing giant J.C. Penney agrees with its largest shareholder, William Ackman, that Ackman will cap his shareholdings at 16.5 percent, while increasing his exposure through a "synthetic long position." (Dow Jones Newswire)
Disasters
- A 6.8 magnitude earthquake occurs off the coast of Japan with a tsunami warning issued and then retracted. (Reuters) (AP via Sydney Morning Herald)
- A Chinese scientist is reported missing on Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region's Muztagh Ata glacier after conducting research on the Tibetan Plateau. (Bernama) (The People's Daily)
- Three people die in the city of Pittsburgh in the US state of Pennsylvania as a result of flash flooding. (AP via Google)
Other
- The announcement of possible wreck relocation of Swedish 16th century warship Mars in the Baltic Sea. (AFP via Dawn.com)