Portal:Current events/2012 August 30

August 30, 2012 (Thursday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

Syrian civil war:
- Egyptian president Mohammed Morsi describes the conflict as an uprising against an "oppressive regime" and likens it to the Palestinians, sparking a walkout from the Syrian delegation at a meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement in Iran. (BBC)
- The United Nations Security Council is to convene an emergency meeting about the crisis, with Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan present. (Al Jazeera)
- Syrian activists report that rebels shot down a Syrian army warplane over the Idlib province. (The Washington Post)
The Venezuelan government is to investigate an alleged massacre of indigenous people in the Amazon rainforest whom were attacked from a helicopter. (Merco Press)

Business and economy

Pemex, Mexico's state-owned oil company, finds a large crude oil deposit in the northern state of Tamaulipas. The deposits could contain 250 million to 400 million barrels of oil – nearly one-third of the company's annual production. (GlobalPost)
Barclays bank appoints Antony Jenkins as its new chief executive. (BBC)
The socialist mayor of Liège, Belgium, defends as a political choice his refusal to let the Salvation Army distribute soup on a city main square. He favours the more dignifying model of Restaurants du Cœur. (RTBF)

Disasters

At least 26 miners are killed and 21 still missing after Wednesday's blast in the Xiaojiawan coal mine, located at Panzhihua in Sichuan Province, China. (Reuters) (Bloomberg Businessweek)
At least 229 people die in a cholera outbreak in Sierra Leone, the worst outbreak in the country for 15 years. (The Telegraph)

International relations

Iran and Egypt describe each other as "strategic allies" at the 16th Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement in Iran. (PressTV)
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urges Iran to comply with U.N. Security Council resolutions concerning the nuclear program of Iran, and implicitly criticises it for its Israel policy at a meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement. (China Post)
The International Atomic Energy Agency releases a report on the Nuclear program of Iran, stating that Iran has doubled its number of centrifuges at the Fordow facility and highlighting concern over the nuclear program. (Yedioth Ahronot)
An ex-Navy Seal's book that seems to contradict the official version of the death of Osama bin Laden is not written with politics in mind, says the author. (NBC News)

Law and crime

Russian investigators find the bodies of two murdered women in an apartment in Kazan and the shout "Free! Pussy Riot" written on the wall. The perpetrator is as of yet unknown. Observers warn against radicalism and false flags. (The Guardian)
Three journalists jailed in Eritrea for over a decade have died in prison, according to prison guards who fled the country. (IOL)

Politics

Burma releases the names of over 2,000 people who were previously blacklisted by the former military government; they are to be removed from the list in the latest in a series of reforms. (BBC)
2012 Maldives Crisis: A Commonwealth-backed inquiry dismisses claims that a military coup forced former Maldivian president Mohamed Nasheed from power. (Al Jazeera)
The Cabinet of Germany accepts a project on Leistungsschutzrecht; they feel it at its third attempt as now ready to send to the Bundestag for voting into law. (Der Spiegel)
Supreme Leader of Iran Ali Khamenei calls nuclear weapons and their use "an unforgivable sin" and defends Iran's right to use nuclear energy for medical and peaceful purposes. (CNN)
Mitt Romney accepts the nomination of the Republican Party to be its candidate in the 2012 US presidential election. (Boston Globe)
Mexico's electoral tribunal unanimously rejects a challenge to the 2012 presidential election victory won by Enrique Peña Nieto. (Reuters)

Science and technology

Sky News shows a study where it is claimed that the polygraph helps reduce crime. The device is being presented as "about 85% accurate" and sufficient legal evidence in combination with "other information". (Sky News)
The Belgian Army assigns 16 sapping instructors to a train-the-trainer program in Katanga, DR Congo, from Saturday until year's end. (Het Laatste Nieuws)