Portal:Current events/2010 August 14

August 14, 2010 (Saturday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

6 Eritrean migrants attempting to enter Israel are shot dead by smugglers and Egyptian border guards, while several others are injured. (BBC) (Reuters Africa) (Al-Masry Al-Youm)
2 more people are killed during protests in Kashmir. (Press TV)
16 people are killed by gunmen in the Balochistan province of Pakistan in the towns of Aab-e-Ghum and Quetta. (BBC) (Voice of America)
9 people are killed during clashes in Puntland. (Press TV)
Lebanon fatally shoots and kills Abd-al-Rahman Awad, the suspected leader of Fatah al-Islam. (BBC) (AFP via The Sydney Morning Herald)
6 policemen are killed during 2 attacks in Baghdad, with 2 of the corpses burning in public. (Aljazeera) (AFP via Google News)
4 people are fatally shot outside a Buffalo restaurant in the U.S. state of New York, with 3 others sustaining injuries. (AP via Google News) (Press TV)
3 children are wounded after a wheelie bin explodes in Lurgan, County Armagh. (BBC) (RTÉ) (The Guardian)
Two UNAMID peacekeepers are abducted by armed men in Nyala in the Darfur region of Sudan. (Reuters via Yahoo! News)

Arts and culture

Hungarian actress Zsa Zsa Gabor is rehospitalised for an operation days after her release. (BBC)

Business and economics

A rally takes place outside Google's offices in the U.S. state of California against a proposal to change online data treatment. (BBC)
Gabon signs over US$4 billion of contracts with Indian and Singaporean companies for infrastructure projects, on the eve of the country's 50th anniversary since independence. (AFP) (Xinhua) (Press TV)

Disasters

The United Nations states Niger faces its worst hunger crisis in history, worse than 2005 when thousands of people were left to starve to death. (BBC) (AP via San Jose Mercury News)
China announces a national day of mourning for the victims of mudslides in the northwest of the country, as the death toll rises to 1,239 people. (China Daily) (BBC) (Aljazeera)
2010 Pakistan floods
- Robert Zoellick, the President of the World Bank estimates that the 2010 Pakistan floods have caused $1 billion in damages to crops. (Los Angeles Times)
- The Prime Minister of Pakistan Yusuf Raza Gilani estimates that 20 million people have been affected by the floods. (BBC) (Aljazeera)
- The United Nations estimates that the relief efforts are yet to reach six million people. (Reuters)
- The UN confirms the first case of cholera in Mingora in the Swat District with many more cases suspected. (Voice of America)
Russia announces that it is slowly bringing the 2010 Russian wildfires under control. (RIA Novosti)
9 people are wounded after a bridge collapses from the Gungahlin Drive Extension onto the Barton Highway in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. (The Sydney Morning Herald)
Eight people are killed and 12 injured as a vehicle runs into a crowd during the California 200 Off-road racing event near Lucerne Valley, California. (AP via Seattle PI)

International relations

Release of Uri Brodsky:
- Officials in the United Arab Emirates express concern after Germany releases suspected Israeli spy Uri Brodsky, who has been linked with the murder of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in Dubai. (Aljazeera)
- Brodsky is reported to have arrived back in Israel. (Haaretz)
A United Nations delegation arrives in Gaza for three days of following up the United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict. (Xinhua) (AFP via Google News)
Fiji announces that it seeks observer status in ASEAN after its suspension from the Pacific Islands Forum was extended. Timor-Leste seeks to become a member of the Melanesian Spearhead Group. (Solomon Star)
European politicians, including Jean-Marie Le Pen and Adam Walker, visit Yasukuni Shrine in Chiyoda, Tokyo; visits to this shrine have traditionally been a sensitive point in international politics between Japan, Korea, and China. (BBC) (The Independent)
Spain extradites Rifat Hadziahmetovic, an alleged member of the Pink Panthers, to Japan in relation to a 2007 jewel robbery in Tokyo. (BBC)
United States prosecutors are investigating whether the Louis Berger Group overcharged the U.S. Agency for International Development for foreign aid projects. (AP via New Orleans)

Law and crime

A court in Somalia imprisons for six years and fines $500 radio journalist Abdifatah Jama Mire for the broadcast of an interview with a militia leader in Puntland. (RTÉ) (Aljazeera)
A court in Venice frees Nizamettin Toğuç, a senior member of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) wanted by Turkey. (Press TV)
Several political parties in Azerbaijan release a statement criticising the ruling of Baku Yasamal Court against 15 Shia Muslims, arrested in February while practising their religion in Baku. (Press TV)

Politics

The Sudan People's Liberation Army/Movement warns that the independence referendum in Southern Sudan could be delayed unless the country's electoral commission resolves an internal dispute. (Aljazeera)
Guido de Marco, former President of Malta, lies in state after his death on Thursday. A state funeral is to be held on Monday. (The Times of Malta)
President of the United States Barack Obama:
- President of the United States Barack Obama states that America's "commitment to religious freedom must be unshakable" as he declares his support for plans to build a mosque in New York City. (BBC)
- Obama goes for a swim while holidaying at Panama City in the U.S. state of Florida, allegedly to show that the Gulf of Mexico is safe for swimming following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. (CNN)
A Sri Lankan government commission set up to look into the last years of the Sri Lankan Civil War holds a meeting in Vavuniya on the north of the island. (BBC)

Science

Data from a study at Purdue University suggest that the 2010 Haiti earthquake was caused by a previously unknown fault line, as opposed to the Enriquillo Fault Line as was initially presumed. (AP)

Sport