Portal:Current events/2014 August 6

August 6, 2014 (Wednesday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

Syrian Civil War
- Saudi Arabia grants Lebanon US$1 billion to help the country in its conflict with self-declared jihadist fighters on the border with Syria. (Al Jazeera)
Iraqi insurgency (2011–present)
- Fighters from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria clash with Iraq's Kurdish minority in the north of the country. (Reuters)
- Iraq government television reports that an Iraqi Air Force strike has killed 60 militants. (AP via Yahoo! News)
- At least 51 people are killed in a series of car bombings in Baghdad. (AP via Modesto Bee)^{[permanent dead link‍]}

Business and economy

Russia bans all United States agricultural products, European Union fruit and vegetable imports in response to Western sanctions imposed on Russia over the Ukrainian crisis. (RT) (BBC News)

American electronics company Apple Inc. and Korean company Samsung Electronics agree to end their patent litigation outside the United States. (IDG via Network World)

Disasters and accidents

2014 Ludian earthquake
- The death toll from the earthquake in China's Yunnan province rises to 589 with nine people still missing. (CNN)
2014 Pacific hurricane season
- The US island state of Hawaii prepares for the potential impact of Hurricane Iselle on Thursday and Tropical Storm Julio on Sunday. (AP)

Health

2014 West Africa Ebola outbreak
- The World Health Organisation reports that 932 have died from the latest outbreak of the Ebola virus with a man reportedly dying of the disease in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia after a business trip to Sierra Leone. (CNN)

Law and crime

Officials in Karamay in Xinjiang, western China, places a temporary ban on Islamic headscarves, clothing and those with beards from using public transport, following violence in the region. (BBC News)
Two medical students Neil Dalton, 23 and Aidan Brunger completing their exchange from Newcastle University to a hospital in Malaysian Borneo were murdered after four men followed them after an argument over singing in a bar and stabbed them from behind. (The Telegraph)

Science and technology