Earlier 'up to 90' people were killed during US air raid in Herat province, Afghanistan, many of them women and children, the Afghan government and the UN said. HRW says civilians deaths from international air strikes nearly tripled between 2006 and 2007. (BBC News)
GMAC's Residential Capital mortgage provider announces plans to dramatically reduce the size of its business resulting in the loss of 5,000 jobs. (Minneapolis-St Paul Star-Tribune)
The US military is to 'review an inquiry' into an air raid on a village in Herat province, Afghanistan, after a new video evidence emerged indicating 'scores of civilian deaths'. The US air raid in Afghanistan left up to 90 people dead, 'many of them women and children', the Afghan government and the UN said. However, US officials claimed earlier that 'no more than seven civilians died'. The bodies of 'at least 10 children and many more adults' appear in two videos made with cell phones in the Afghan village Azizabad after the raid. (BBC News)(AP)
'Senior US soldiers and two military contractors' were training 80 Georgianspecial forces serviceman only 'month prior' these commandos entered South Ossetia on the night of August 8. Military Professional Resources Inc. (MPRI), one of the contractors, is known also for training the Croatian military in 1995 'prior to their invasion of the ethnically-Serbian Krajina region, which led to the displacement of 200,000 refugees'. However, 'there is no evidence' that the contractors or US military knew these commandos 'were likely be used in the assault on South Ossetia'. (Financial Times)
US President George W. Bush pledges 4,500 troops to Afghanistan over the next few months and orders 8,000 troops currently stationed in Iraq to be home by February. (CBC News)
Bolivia declares martial law in the department of Pando following days of clashes between supporters of the national and local governments. (AFP)(BBC Mundo)
North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il is said by Chinese authorities to be suffering irregular convulsions following a stroke which kept him from attending the country's 60th anniversary celebration. Chinese authorities believe his long-term ability to govern will be impeded. (AFP via Google News)
Western countries are pledging substantial aid to Georgia – as much as 3.5-4 billion dollars in grants and loans. (RP)
Georgia's President Mikheil Saakashvili has arrived in the village of Koda and to supervise rehabilitation works of ten blocks, owned by the Georgian Defense ministry, in which the IDPs from South Ossetia will be temporarily settled there. (Rustavi 2)
The Georgian foreign ministry has released an official statement stating that 'In the villages of the Tskhinvali region/South Ossetia, Georgia, the separatist regime continues carrying out persecution of local Georgian population based on their ethnic origin', adding that 'Once again it becomes evident that for the Russian government the ethnic cleansing remains as one of the main methods for achieving its political goals'. (Rustavi 2)
Irakli Okruashvili, ex-defense minister of Georgia granted political asylum in France, claims President of GeorgiaMikhail Saakashvili 'must be held accountable [for the war] and resign... If he doesn't it will lead to criminal charges against him'. Irakli Okruashvili claims he has been working with Saakashvili on plans to regain control on Abkhazia and South Ossetia since 2005 but was sure that Georgia could not succeed by military means. (Spiegel)(Civil.Ge)
Nigerian Oil Crisis: Nigeria's main rebel group declared an "oil war" in the west African nation in response to what it said were "unprovoked" attacks by Nigerian government forces a day earlier. (CNN)
Brazil suffers severe natural gas shortages following the cut off of natural gas supplies from Bolivia, which provides half of Brazil's natural gas. (Financial Times)[permanent dead link]
Government officials announce they plan to arrest Pando Governor Leopoldo Fernández and that troops from Cobija airport will be sent to retake the city. (Reuters)
Twelve tourists are killed and 37 injured when a coach collides with a delivery truck outside of Ras Sidr in Egypt. Reports suggest 7 of the 12 dead are foreign nationals. (Sky News)
Six men have been found guilty of terrorism-related offences in Melbourne, Australia. Abdul Nacer Benbrika was found guilty of intentionally directing the activities of a terrorist organization while five other men were found guilty of being members of the same organisation. Four other men were acquitted and the jury is still considering its verdict on two men. (ABC News Australia)
NASA scientists report that the ozone hole over the Antarctic has reached its largest expanse, 27 million square kilometers, vs 26 million square kilometers in 2006. (NASA) European Scientists at ESA concur. [1]
Fighting in Somalia has killed 838 people since June, according to local rights activists, bringing the total to have died in an insurgency that began early last year to 9,474. (Reuters)
Russia's most liquid stock exchange MICEX and the dollar-denominated RTS suspend trade for one hour after the worst one-day fall in ten years as Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin reassured markets there was no "systemic" crisis. (Reuters)
Six men have been found guilty of terrorism-related offences in Melbourne, Australia. Abdul Nacer Benbrika was found guilty of intentionally directing the activities of a terrorist organization while five other men were found guilty of being members of the same organization. Four other men were acquitted and the jury is still considering its verdict on two men. (ABC News Australia)
Ukraine's ruling coalition is formally dissolved after parties supporting Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, in alliance with the Party of Regions, pushed legislation limiting the powers of President Viktor Yushchenko resulting in his party's withdrawal from the coalition. Tymoshenko's party is expected to form an alliance with the Party of Regions or new elections will be held. (AFP via Google News)
Trading is suspended for the second day in succession on Russia's two main stock exchanges (the MICEX and the dollar-denominated RTS) after shares fall dramatically, forcing the central bank in Moscow to intervene. (The Times)(Bloomberg)
Trading is suspended for the third day in succession on Russia's two main stock exchanges, the MICEX and the dollar-denominated RTS, amidst fear of financial collapse. News agencies are quoting Russia's Finance Minister, Alexei Kudrin, as saying trading on Russian exchanges won't resume until September 19. (MarketWatch)
Officials at MICEX stock exchange describe conditions in the Russian markets as "extraordinary". (The Times)
Russia is facing its worst stock market decline in a decade mainly because of a confidence crisis rather than liquidity problems, Deputy Finance Minister Pyotr Kazakevich says. (Hurriyet)
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev orders ministers to inject another 500 billion rubles (£10.8 billion, US$20 billion) of funds from the state budget into the markets and pledges in remarks broadcast on national television that the financial system would receive "all necessary support". (The Times)
British bank Lloyds TSB completes a £12.2bn takeover of rival HBOS, the UK's largest mortgage lender. The Competition Commission has allowed the deal as it has government backing, despite the fact that it will leave Lloyd's HBOS in control of a third of the UK mortgage market. (BBC News)
Residents of Galveston Island, Texas are advised that they can return home next Wednesday but there will be little or no services after Hurricane Ike destroyed much of the town. (CNN)
The captain of a Ukrainian vessel (MV Faina) loaded with tanks and weapons that was seized off the African coast says one crew member has died. (CNN)
Somali pirates were surrounded by several foreign warships off the central coast of Somalia. (France 24)
Chineseastronauts return safely as the Shenzhou 7 re-entry capsule lands. This marks the third country to successfully return three astronauts from space, and the third country to successfully return a spacewalker from space. And the mission marks the third country to successfully develop and deploy a spacesuit. (Xinhua)
Head of the Swedish National Debt OfficeBo Lundgren says that the $700 billion U.S. financial industry bailout is based on too-optimistic valuations, and may not be enough to restore confidence in the financial system. (Dagens industri)
The German government and private banks inject 35 billion Euros into the struggling Hypo Real Estate, a bank that is heavily involved in the real estate business. The bank had been struggling because its Irish subsidy Depfa Bank had suffered massive losses during the subprime mortgage crisis. The HRE is the first company from the DAX that had to be rescued by the government in recent memory. (Handelsblatt.com)
Brazil's stock market had its worst one-day plunge in almost a decade, the São Paulo Stock Exchange sank 9.36% to 46,028.06 points, its steepest drop since 1999. (Reuters)
Russian RTS falls 7,1%, MICEX 5,5%, as investors sell off assets on emerging markets on concerns that the U.S. government's bailout plan will not be enough to stem the financial crisis caused by the U.S. housing bubble. (MarketWatch)
Citigroup acquires the banking operations of Wachovia, the troubled Charlotte, N.C.-based bank. Under the agreement, Citigroup will absorb up to $42 billion of losses on a $312 billion pool of loans, while the U.S. Government will take losses beyond that. (MarketWatch)
Sweden’s official debt collection agency is suffering from severe economic problems after having over-spent and over-borrowed and may be forced to cut staff to stop the bleeding. (The Local)
