Portal:Current events/2014 August 5
August 5, 2014 (Tuesday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- War in Afghanistan
- A U.S. major general Harold J. Greene is killed, and a German brigadier general and several American troops are among the 15 wounded, in an attack by an Afghan soldier gunman - who was killed by Afghan soldiers - at Kabul's Marshal Fahim National Defense University. (MSN)[permanent dead link](CNN) (AP)
- 2014 Israel–Gaza conflict
- Israeli ground forces will leave the Gaza Strip ahead of an Egyptian mediated ceasefire starting at 0500 GMT today. (Reuters)
Business and economics
- The Russian consumer protection agency, Rospotrebnadzor, adds Kentucky Gentleman to a growing list of imports banned, saying that this Bourbon whiskey includes "additives that can cause functional and eventually organic changes in the central and peripheral nervous systems, the endocrine system, as well as cause cancer and problems with infertility in men and women." (Los Angeles Times)
- Rupert Murdoch's 21st Century Fox withdraws its $80 billion bid to take over Time Warner. (ABC News Australia)
Disasters
- Rescuers struggle to locate a sunken ferry in the Padma River in Bangladesh leaving at least two people dead and many more missing. (AP via Yahoo!)
- A 5.5 magnitude earthquake strikes near Johannesburg, in the town of Orkney, South Africa, killing one person and injuring 17. (ABC News)
Science and technology
- Renowned Japanese scientist Yoshiki Sasai commits suicide, after the discrediting of certain experimental results he supervised, regarding stem cells. (Reuters)
Sports
- In basketball, the NBA's San Antonio Spurs announce that they have hired Becky Hammon as an assistant coach, effective with her retirement as a player at the end of the current WNBA season. Hammon will become the first full-time female coach in any of the four major U.S. professional leagues. (ESPN)