Portal:Current events/2007 August 14

August 14, 2007 (Tuesday)

A bridge under construction completely collapses in Fenghuang County, Hunan Province, China, killing at least 47 people. 21 workers are injured, 13 are still missing.(ChinaDaily)(Xinhua)(Yahoo)
A fire breaks out at the Shanghai World Financial Center in China. (BBC)
The Italian coast guard finds the dead bodies of 14 illegal immigrants near the shores of the Lampedusa island. (BBC)
A Russian far right group calling itself "National Socialism/White Power" publishes a video on the Internet showing the execution of two men, one from Tajikistan and the other one from Dagestan. Russian authorities investigate the video. (BBC)
A Polish soldier is killed by Taliban near Gardez, Afghanistan. It is the first Polish casualty in the War in Afghanistan. (BBC)
The Central Bank of Nigeria announces the naira will be made convertible by 2009. It will also be redenominated from August 2008. (BBC)
A tropical storm warning is issued for parts of Texas and Mexico following the formation of a tropical depression in the Gulf of Mexico. (AP via the Guardian)
A Bangladeshi court sentences 15 members of the Opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party to seven years in jail for extortion and three years for manipulating elections. (Jurist)
Scott Kelly, the commander of the Space Shuttle Endeavour, on its current mission expresses confidence that it can return to earth safely without repairs to its heat shield. (AFP via News Limited)
Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, current First Lady of Argentina and candidate to become President of Argentina, announces Julio Cobos, the Governor of Mendoza Province as her running mate. (AP via the International Herald Tribune)
Benjamin Netanyahu wins the Likud primary election and continues as the party's parliamentary leader. (Xinhua)
Hurricane Flossie weakens as it moves near the coast of the island of Hawaii. (Reuters)
British authorities investigate two new suspected cases of foot and mouth disease, one in Kent and one in Surrey outside the exclusion zone. (The Globe and Mail)
Two Belgians kidnapped in Iran have been released. (Reuters via ABC News Australia)
A woman dies and two people are seriously ill from E. coli in the Paisley area of Scotland. The Morrisons supermarket chain withdraws cold sliced meats from two of its stores in Paisley. (Reuters via News Limited)
Iraq War:
- 2007 Kahtaniya bombings: At least 250 people die in bombings in areas near the town of Kahtaniya in northern Iraq as suicide bombers drive fuel tankers into residential compounds of the Yazidi sect. (Reuters)
- Gunmen kidnap Abdel Jabar al-Wagaa, the deputy Oil Minister of Iraq. (Reuters via ABC News Australia)
- Five American servicemen die in a CH-47 Chinook helicopter crash near the Al Taqaddum air base in Iraq. (The Telegraph)
- A suicide bomber attacks the Thiraa Dijla bridge in Taji, Iraq, killing at least 10 people. Meanwhile, a U.S. raid kills four people in Baghdad. (BBC)
Bingu wa Mutharika, the President of Malawi, threatens to "close down" the National Assembly of Malawi unless it starts discussing the budget. (BBC)
Nokia offers to replace 46 million Matsushita batteries that may be subject to overheating. (BBC) (Nokia)
In Nigeria, gunmen kidnap the mother of a member of the Bayelsa State parliament. The 11-year-old son of another MP is freed. (BBC)
12 members of the Indian nationalist party Shiv Sena attack the Mumbai offices of Outlook magazine. (BBC)
Mattel recalls over 18 million toys made in China that may potentially be harmful to children. (BBC) (Herald Sun)
A pistol is recovered from the hand bag of a flight attendant of Pakistan International Airlines.
Former Islamist guerrilla leader Mustapha Kartali is wounded by a car bomb in Larba, Algeria. (BBC)
Four Palestinians are killed by Israel Defense Forces in the Gaza Strip. Palestinians claim two of them were civilians. (BBC)
Pakistan celebrates the 60th anniversary of its independence from the United Kingdom. (BBC)
Abdullah Gül, currently the Foreign Minister of Turkey, confirms that he will stand again for election as the President of Turkey. (Reuters)
The Supreme Court of Thailand approves the issuing of arrest warrants for the former Prime Minister of Thailand Thaksin Shinawatra and his wife on corruption charges. (Reuters via ABC News Australia)
The President of Iran Mahmoud Ahmadinejad visits Afghanistan on the first leg of a Central Asian tour before visiting the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation meeting in Bishkek. (BBC)
Russian prosecutors launch a terrorism investigation after an improvised bomb derailed an overnight express train near the village of Malaya Vishera in the Novgorod region. (CNN)
Alan Ferguson, Liberal Party Senator for South Australia, is elected as the President of the Australian Senate. (ABC)
A Taiwanese court clears Ma Ying-jeou, the Kuomintang Party candidate for President of the Republic of China, of charges of corruption dating from when he was the mayor of Taipei. (BBC)
Hundreds of people die in North Korea after days of torrential rain. (News Limited)
The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation of Central Asian countries comprising the People's Republic of China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan meets in the Kyrgyz capital of Bishkek to discuss security issues. (Reuters)
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper shuffles his cabinet. Among the changes, embattled defence minister Gordon O'Connor and heritage minister Bev Oda are moved to National Revenue and International Cooperation and replaced by Peter Mackay and Josée Verner, respectively. (Globe and Mail)