Portal:Current events/2011 August 20
< Portal:Current events
August 20, 2011 (Saturday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- At least six Pakistani police officers are killed and 50 injured in an attack in Karachi. (Xinhua)
- 2011 Libyan civil war
- Libyan rebels claim to have captured the strategic oil port of Brega. (AP via MSNBC)
- Heavy fighting is reported in the capital Tripoli as the rebel advance continues. (The Telegraph)
- Arab-Israeli conflict:
- One Israeli is killed, seven are wounded in Beersheba and three Palestinian illegal aliens are wounded near the city of Ashdod by incoming mortars and rockets launched from the Gaza Strip. (Ynetnews) (Ynetnews) (AFP via Google News)
- The Israeli Air Force attacks targets in the Gaza Strip for a third successive day as over 90 rockets have been launched into Israel since Thursday. (AFP via Google News)
Disasters
- A pair of earthquakes, magnitude 7.1 and 7.0, occur in Vanuatu. (USGS)
- 2011 Atlantic hurricane season:
- Tropical Storm Harvey is expected to cross the coast of Belize with a tropical storm watch in place for Guatemala and parts of Honduras. (CNN) (Alertnet)
- Tropical Storm Irene forms with a tropical storm warning in place for Puerto Rica, the US Virgin Islands, the British Virgin Islands, Antigua and Barbuda amongst others. (Hurricane Terrapin)
- At least 25 people die in a bus crash in Afghanistan's Kandahar Province. (BBC)
- A pilot dies as an RAF Red Arrows aeroplane crashes at the Bournemouth Air Festival following a display. (BBC)
- First Air Flight 6560, a Boeing 737, crashes in the northern Canadian territory of Nunavut near the hamlet of Resolute Bay with 15 people on board, killing 12. (Globe and Mail)
Politics
- At least 10,000 people gather in the Indian capital New Delhi to support a hunger strike by social activist Anna Hazare in support of tougher anti-corruption legislation. (Reuters)
Sport
- In football, the start of the Spanish La Liga 2011–12 season is delayed by a players' strike. (AFP via France 24)
Other
- Striking Verizon Communications workers will return to work from a strike on the night of Monday, August 22, 2011, even without a formal contract. (Journal Star of Peoria)