Portal:Current events/2012 September 4
September 4, 2012 (Tuesday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- Mexican Drug War:
- The Mexican authorities arrest Mario Cárdenas Guillén, the second-in-command in the Gulf Cartel, leaving Jorge Eduardo Costilla Sánchez as the last standing man in the criminal organization. (El Universal)
- Colombian conflict (1964–present):
- The Kenyan navy shells the Somali port town of Kismayo, the last stronghold of Al-Shabaab militants, in preparation for an African Union-led attack by ground forces. (Al Jazeera)
- War in Afghanistan:
- A suicide bombing at a funeral in the eastern Afghan province of Nangarhar kills at least 25 people. (BBC)
- The Afghan Ministry of the Interior states that it has killed 27 Taliban insurgents during the previous 24 hours. (Xinhua)
- Syrian civil war:
- The United Nations Refugee Agency says 100,000 Syrians fled to another country during the month of August, the highest monthly number yet in the 18-month conflict. (Voice of America)
- Red Cross chief Peter Maurer meets with President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus to discuss sending humanitarian aid to civilians across the country. (AP via Yahoo! News)
Business and economy
- Airbus expects a worldwide total demand for 28,200 civil aircraft by the year 2031, more than doubling today's fleet in operation. (MSN Malaysia)[permanent dead link]
- Cabin crew for the German airline Lufthansa go on strike causing disruption to hundreds of flights. (Reuters)
- McDonald's plans to open two fully vegetarian fast food restaurants at the pilgrimage sites of Vaishno Devi and Amritsar, north India. (Financial Times) (Financial Times)
Disasters
- A passenger bus traveling between Marrakesh and Ouarzazate crashes in a ravine in southern Morocco, killing at least 42 people and injuring up to 25 others. (AFP via Hindustan Times)
International relations
- U.S. Secretary of State Clinton meets China's Foreign Minister Yang in Beijing. (Reuters)
- India and China plan bilateral military exercises in 2013, the first since 2008. (Voice of America)
Law and crime
- A South Korean court orders the government to compensate a fisherman with 2.5 billion won (€ 1.75 million); he was falsely accused of spying for North Korea. (Yonhap)
- Egypt's former culture minister Farouk Hosny is to face corruption charges. (AFP via Google News)
- Osvaldo Rivera is the suspect jailed in Camden County, New Jersey for the stabbing to death of a 6-year-old boy and the attempted murder of the boy's 12-year-old sister. Authorities say he was high on PCP-laced marijuana. (AP via Yahoo! News)
- Police in Cambodia say The Pirate Bay co-founder Gottfrid Svartholm, who was arrested on Sunday, "is to be deported", saying it's up to Sweden to decide where and not specifying when. There is no extradition agreement between the two countries. (BBC)
- The AntiSec hacker operation publishes 1 million edited Apple iOS unique device identifiers of the 12 million it claims to have "obtained" from a FBI laptop. (Silicon Republic) (Al Jazeera English) (The Guardian)
- A court in Bahrain upholds the sentences of Arab Spring opposition figures condemned for plotting to overthrow the Western-allied government. Eight of the twenty opponents are confirmed imprisoned for life. (AP via Google News)
- The United States Department of Justice files papers in court documenting BP's "gross negligence and willful misconduct" over the April 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. (Reuters)
Politics and elections
- Quebec general election, 2012:
- The Parti Québécois is elected to a minority government, defeating the Liberal Party of Quebec, with Pauline Marois becoming the first female premier of Quebec. (CBC), (CTV News)
- Incumbent premier Jean Charest loses his own seat. During Marois' victory speech, a gunman opens fire, killing one person and wounding another. (BBC)
- David Cameron reshuffles the United Kingdom government for the first time since 2010. (BBC)
- Reuters calls Xi Jinping China's "next leader". Hu Chunhua reportedly misses a promotion to the Politburo Standing Committee in an expected power transition at or around the 18th Congress of the Communist Party of China. (Reuters via Yahoo! News)
- President-elect Peña Nieto of Mexico names his "transition team", ahead of his cabinet and December 1st inauguration. (NewsDaily)
Science and technology
- Scientists develop a "magic carpet" with optical fibers to help prevent elderly people from falling by a warning when it detects unusual footsteps. (Daily Mail)
- Beijing and Shanghai place orders for the world's longest bus, the 101 foot (31 m), five-axle, four-steering-axle, three-tiered AutoTram. It carries 256 passengers and costs about $10 million a piece. Due to advanced electronics, it is said to be as maneuverable and precise as a conventional bus. (Daily Mail)
- The opening date of the new airport serving the Berlin area is delayed again, until late October 2013. (The Local)