Portal:Current events/September 2008

• U.S. Republican Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin's 17-year-old daughter Bristol is revealed to be five months pregnant. (BBC) (Telegraph.co.uk) (AP) (Al Jazeera) (Wall Street Journal)
• The U.S. military hands control of Al Anbar Governorate over to the Iraqi government. (BBC)
• An ACLU lawsuit challenges gag orders in National Security Letters. (AP via Google News) (BBC)
• 2008 Atlantic hurricane season:
  • Tropical Storm Hanna becomes Hurricane Hanna (2008) with hurricane warnings issued for the Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos. (MSNBC)
  • Tropical Storm Ike (2008) forms east of the Leeward Islands. (Miami Herald)
  • Hurricane Gustav weakens to a tropical storm in central Louisiana after being responsible for 7 deaths in the United States and more than 90 in the Caribbean. (UPI)
• 2008 South Ossetia war:
  • The European Union suspends talks on a new partnership agreement with Moscow until Russian troops have withdrawn from Georgia. (BBC)
  • Russia accuses the West of sending weapons to Georgia along with aid, while the European Union considers possible sanctions against Russia. (CNN)
• Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda abruptly resigns less than a year after taking office, triggering a leadership election. (BBC)
• A Government of Orissa report states 558 houses and 17 places of worship were burnt in the 2008 Orissa violence. (Times of India)
• Robert French is sworn in as the 12th Chief Justice of Australia. (ABC (Australia))
• Manchester City Football Club is bought out by the Abu Dhabi United Group for Investment and Development Limited, the consortium led by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan. This effectively made City the richest Football Club in the world. It also made Transfer Deadline Day one of the most memorable, with City's new found wealth allowing them to bid for such players as Dimitar Berbatov, Fernando Torres, Mario Gomez and David Villa. They eventually signed Robinho for a British Record Fee of £32.5million. The takeover and the Robinho deal as a whole sent shockwaves throughout the Sporting world. (Independent)

• New study shows that children of older fathers are at higher risk of psychological conditions such as bipolar disorder, autism and schizophrenia. (Reuters)
• A gunman goes on a shooting spree that leaves 6 people, including a police deputy, dead, and four injured, in Alger, Washington, United States.(CBS News)
• The United States Environmental Protection Agency vetoes plans by the Army Corps of Engineers to build the world's largest water pump on the Mississippi River Delta raising concerns about the impact on wetlands. (AP via Minneapolis StarTribune)
• 2008 Atlantic hurricane season:
  • Hurricane Gustav weakens to a tropical depression. (Sydney Morning Herald)
• Republican Party adopts a platform at its national convention that is critical of George W. Bush and John McCain for their support of government bailouts of companies. (Bloomberg)
• 2008 Thai political crisis:
  • Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej declares a state of emergency in Bangkok after clashes between groups of pro- and anti-government protesters resulted in one death and 43 injuries. (BBC News)
  • Anupong Paochinda, the Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Thai Army, states that the Army "will not use force" in enforcing the state of emergency. (AP via Google News)
• A memorial service is held for the 229 victims of Swissair Flight 111, with some present complaining about a perceived lack of action by the authorities to prevent future disasters. (Canadian Press) (Wikinews)

• The Republican Party officially endorses Arizona Senator John McCain as its candidate in the 2008 United States presidential election. (The New York Times)
• 2008 Atlantic hurricane season:
  • Hurricane Ike becomes the fifth hurricane of the 2008 Atlantic hurricane season, later strengthening to Category 3. (USA Today) (AP via Google News)
  • Flooding from Tropical Storm Hanna causes 26 deaths in Haiti. (AP via Google News)
• United States Army troops cross the Pakistan border and launch a raid in the Angoor Ada region of Waziristan. Twenty civilians die. (ABC News)
  • 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)
• Japan's Kyodo news agency reports that North Korea has started rebuilding the Yongbyon Nuclear Scientific Research Center in retaliation for the United States failing to remove it from a list of states that sponsor terrorism. (CNN)
• The United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit finds "that a reliance on information in Wikipedia is insufficient grounds for a ruling" in an immigration case. (Ars Technica)
• Prime Minister of Pakistan Yousaf Raza Gilani survives an assassination attempt. (BBC News)
• The Independent Monitoring Commission reports that the Provisional IRA has effectively been disbanded as a terrorist organization, but the Provisional IRA Army Council still exists. (The Guardian)

• Senator John McCain officially accepts the nomination of the Republican Party in the 2008 United States presidential election. (The New York Times)
• Former United States political lobbyist Jack Abramoff is sentenced to four years in prison for his role in the Jack Abramoff scandals. (CBS)
• The death toll from flooding in Haiti caused by Tropical Storm Hanna rises to 61. (CNN)
• The Government of Thailand agrees to hold a referendum to resolve the 2008 Thai political crisis. (AP via Google News)
• Tata Motors suspends work at its Tata Nano plant at Singur, West Bengal, due to continued agitations from the Trinamul Congress. (The Hindu)
• Physicists at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory report the discovery of the Ω⁻
  _b, a "doubly-strange" baryon containing two strange quarks and a bottom quark. (Science Daily)

• Five hundred people have died in the Haitian town of Gonaïves as a result of flooding caused by Tropical Storm Hanna. (Reuters via News Limited)
• According to several news reports, the US government plans to take control of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in a takeover plan. (MSNBC)
• Estimates of sea-level rise due to global warming are scaled back. (Reuters)
• Condoleezza Rice becomes the first United States Secretary of State to visit Libya since 1953. (AP via the New York Daily News)
• Pakistan reinstates Supreme Court judges ousted by former President Pervez Musharraf. (CNN)
• The unemployment rate in the United States rises to its highest level since December 2003 after the US economy loses 84,000 jobs in August 2008. (BBC News)
• La Princesse, a giant mechanical spider, starts to roam the streets of Liverpool, England, as part of the 2008 European City of Culture celebrations. (BBC News)
• The European Union's Rosetta spacecraft performs a flyby of the asteroid 2867 Šteins. (AFP)
• Australia:
  • Quentin Bryce is sworn in as the first female Governor-General of Australia. (AAP via The Melbourne Age)
  • Morris Iemma resigns as Premier of New South Wales following a loss of support in the Australian Labor Party caucus, and is replaced by Nathan Rees. (Sydney Morning Herald)

• 2008 Pacific hurricane season: Tropical Storm Lowell forms off the coast of Mexico. (AP via Houston Chronicle)
• Komlan Mally resigns as prime minister of Togo, after less than a year in office. (Xinhua)
• Darren Aronofsky's The Wrestler wins the Golden Lion for best film at the Venice Film Festival. (AP via Google News)
• Nuclear Suppliers Group clears Indo-US nuclear deal. (CNN-IBN)
• 2008 Cairo landslide: At least 18 people are killed and 22 injured when dozens of homes in northern Cairo collapse after being hit by a massive rockslide. (AFP via Google News)
• The 2008 Summer Paralympic Games begin in Beijing. (BBC News)
• 2008 Atlantic hurricane season
  • Tropical Storm Hanna makes landfall in the United States on the border between North Carolina and South Carolina. (AFP via the Melbourne Age)
  • Hurricane Ike reaches Category 4 strength as it prepares to hit Turks and Caicos. (AP via Google News)
• Pakistan
  • The Electoral College of Pakistan elects Asif Ali Zardari of the Pakistan Peoples Party as the next President of Pakistan. (The New York Times)
  • A car bomb in Peshawar in northwest Pakistan kills at least thirty people. (BBC News)

• RENT closed on Broadway, leaving it the 7th longest running Broadway show, with its 12-year run, which began in 1996.
• Serena Williams defeats Jelena Janković to win the U.S. Open for the third time, regaining the World Number 1 ranking for the first time in five years. (The New York Times)
• Hurricane Ike damages 80 percent of homes in the Turks and Caicos Islands. (The Australian)
• Two suicide bombers strike in the police headquarters in Kandahar, Afghanistan killing six officers and wounding several more. (AP via International Herald Tribune)
• Subprime mortgage crisis: The United States federal government places mortgage financing companies Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae into conservatorship. The Federal Housing Finance Agency will manage the companies on a temporary basis. (Reuters)
• Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has announced an early election scheduled for October 14. (BBC News)
• Kurt Beck, the chairman of the Social Democratic Party of Germany steps down. According to media reports, Frank Walter Steinmeier will become the candidate for Chancellor of Germany in the 2009 elections. (ARD German)
• Floods in Brahmaputra River have displaced estimated 2.1 million people and caused 24 deaths in north-eastern state of Assam, India. (Times of India)
• Voters in Hong Kong go to the polls for the Hong Kong legislative election, 2008. The Democratic Alliance remains the largest party in the legislature. (Xinhua) (Bloomberg)
• Xinhua reports that 20 people are trapped in a coal mine in the Henan province of China following flooding. (AP via Charlotte Observer)

• The Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola wins the 2008 legislative election. (Reuters via The New York Times)
• Roger Federer defeats Andy Murray to win the U.S. Tennis Open for a record-breaking fifth consecutive time. (Fox Sports)
• Washington Mutual, the largest savings and loan in the United States, ousts Chief Executive Kerry Killinger as a result of losses incurred as a result of the subprime mortgage crisis. (The New York Times)
• A landslide triggered by heavy rain strikes a warehouse in Linfen in Shanxi province, China, killing at least 26 people and injuring others. (Canadian Press)
• Hurricane Ike makes landfall near Banes, Cuba, and weakens. (AP via Biloxi Sun Herald)
• 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)
• 2008 South Ossetia war:
  • President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev and President of France Nicolas Sarkozy announced after talks in Moscow that an agreement to pull Russian forces from Georgia within a month has been reached. The agreement has become possible as EU will send 200 civilian monitors to the area and guarantee that Georgia signs a pledge to not use military force in Abkhazia and South Ossetia again. (Reuters) (The Globe and Mail)
  • 'Senior US soldiers and two military contractors' were training 80 Georgian special 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)
• Three British Muslim men are found guilty of conspiracy to murder relating to the 2006 transatlantic aircraft plot. (The Times)

• UNITA accepts defeat in the Angolan legislative election, 2008, the first parliamentary elections in Angola in 16 years, in which the ruling Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola wins more than 80% of the votes. (BBC)
• Al Franken wins a primary election for the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party to challenge incumbent Senator Norm Coleman in the Minnesota Senate election. (AP via Google News)
• The military of Sri Lanka declares 12 of its soldiers and one policeman killed in a suicide attack by the Tamil Tigers in Mullaittivu. (BBC News)
• Prime Minister of Malaysia Abdullah Ahmad Badawi states that the governing United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) will punish Ahmad Ismail, a party official, for a series of statements he made about Malaysia's ethnic Chinese population. (Wall Street Journal)
• The United Nations decides to withdraw aid workers from Tamil Tiger-held areas of Sri Lanka. (BBC News)
• Hurricane Ike makes its second landfall on Cuba, near San Cristóbal, north of the Isle of Youth, on its way into the Gulf of Mexico. (CNN)
• A Thai court rules that Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej must be removed from office for receiving payment for appearing on a television cooking show. (AP via Google News)
• 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)
• Apple Inc. unveils the revamped iPod line-up including the redesigned, fourth-generation iPod Nano. (Reuters)
• Georgian opposition members demand President of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili's resignation. Saakashvili believes he will "survive the crisis politically". (Washington Post)(Newstin)

• 2008 United States presidential election: Former Republican candidate Ron Paul endorses third-party candidates Chuck Baldwin, Bob Barr, Cynthia McKinney and Ralph Nader, calling the two-party system a "charade."(Los Angeles Times)
• President of Bolivia Evo Morales expels the United States ambassador, Philip Goldberg, for allegedly encouraging anti-government protests. (CBS)
• OPEC announces it will cut oil production by 500,000 barrels a day; prices rise accordingly. (AP via Google News)
• U.S.-based financial services company Lehman Brothers announces a third-quarter loss of $4.9 billion and plans to sell assets. (CNN Money)
• The European Commission predicts the U.K., Germany, and Spain 'to fall into recession'; the outlook for rest of the Eurozone is gloomy. (BBC News)
• The Yonhap News Agency in South Korea reports North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has a serious health problem. (AFP via Google News)
  • Western intelligence officials say Kim Jong-il might have suffered a stroke (BBC News) (NPR), which North Korea denies. (Reuters)
• CERN successfully circulates a beam through the entire Large Hadron Collider for the first time. (Wired) (Wired)
• 2008 South Ossetia war:
  • Some members of the United States House Committee on Foreign Affairs have expressed disagreement with Georgia's actions in the war: 'The recent fighting [...] was started by Georgia. The Georgians broke the truce, not the Russians' said Dana Rohrabacher, Senior Republican. (RT via YouTube) (RT)

• Ayman al-Zawahiri, number two leader of al Qaeda, questions Abu Ayyub al-Masri's ability to lead al Qaeda in Iraq, and accuses that organization's umbrella group, the Islamic State of Iraq, of lying to the media about its activities.

(CNN)

• Prices for oil fall (CNN Money), and wholesale prices for gasoline rise sharply. (CNN Money)
• 2008 unrest in Bolivia:
  • Fresh violence in Bolivia stokes civil war fears. (Times of India)
  • The President of Venezuela Hugo Chávez gives the United States ambassador 72 hours to leave Venezuela in part to show solidarity with the President Evo Morales who recently expelled the U.S. ambassador to Bolivia, accusing the U.S. of supporting protests against Morales. (AP via Google News)
• Morgan Tsvangirai, the leader of the Movement for Democratic Change, claims that a power sharing agreement has been reached with the President of Zimbabwe Robert Mugabe. (BBC News)
• Officials order the evacuation of Galveston Island in the U.S. state of Texas before Hurricane Ike makes landfall later in the week. (USA Today)
• President George W. Bush is reported to have authorized United States special forces to conduct operations against insurgents inside Pakistan without seeking approval from the Government of Pakistan. (CNN)
• A new survey of residents of 17 countries by WorldPublicOpinion.org indicates that an average of 46 percent believe that Al-Qaeda was behind the 9/11 attacks of 2001. (Al Jazeera) (Voice of America News) (UPI) (Reuters)
• Two Russian Air Force Tu-160 bombers arrive in Venezuela to carry out training flights over a course of several days. (BBC News)
• A 6.6 magnitude earthquake hits near Ternate, Indonesia, followed by a 7.2 magnitude quake near Hokkaido, Japan. (BBC News)
• Forty people go missing in the northern Indian state of Bihar after a boat capsizes in the Harohar River. (AP via Google News)
• A fire occurs in the Channel Tunnel and the tunnel is closed until further notice. (BBC News)
• The Pentagon Memorial in Washington, DC, dedicated to the 184 people who died in the attack on the building on September 11, 2001, is opened to the public. (ABC News)

• Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 2501: Fifty years after the airliner vanished over Lake Michigan, it is claimed that human remains washed ashore and were buried without the relatives' knowledge in an unmarked mass grave.(Detroit Free Press)
• 2008 unrest in Bolivia
  • Bolivia declares martial law in the department of Pando following days of clashes between supporters of the national and local governments. (AFP) (BBC Mundo)
  • Honduran President Manuel Zelaya tells the incoming U.S. ambassador not to present his credentials in a show of solidarity with Bolivia and Venezuela. (Reuters)
• The collapse of the United Kingdom's third largest tour operator XL Leisure Group, leaves over 85,000 British holidaymakers stranded abroad. (BBC)
• Twenty Four people die in Chatsworth in Los Angeles, California following a collision between a Metrolink passenger train and a Union Pacific freight train. At least 135 people were also injured in the accident. (Los Angeles Times) (San Francisco Chronicle)
• A car bomb in the mainly Shiite town of Dujail in Iraq kills at least 32 people and injures another 43. (AP via CBS News)
• The Thai People's Power Party agrees not to renominate ousted Prime Minister of Thailand Samak Sundaravej for the position following objections from the other members of the coalition. (AP via ABC News America)
• The Pakistan Army claims that at least 30 militants and 2 soldiers have been killed in fighting in the Bajaur region of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas. (AP via Google News)
• The Malaysian government arrests the editor and prominent blogger activist Raja Petra Kamarudin of the Malaysia Today website, a journalist from Sin Chew Jit Poh and opposition politician Teresa Kok under the Internal Security Act. (BBC) (Malaysiakini) (TheStar Online)
• The United States-led coalition claims to kill at least 10 militants in fighting in Afghanistan. (AP via Google News)
• The Prime Minister of New Zealand Helen Clark calls an election for November 8. (Melbourne Herald Sun)
• 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)
• The Constitutional Court of Spain rules that the Government of the Basque Country could not call a planned referendum on working towards self-determination as only the Government of Spain could call such a vote; the Basque Government said it would appeal to the European Court of Human Rights. (IHT)

• The death toll from the 2008 Chatsworth train collision in Los Angeles rises to 24 with more fatalities expected. (Reuters)
• Five explosions rock various places in Delhi, killing at least 30 people. (India Times)
• Hurricane Ike:
  • Hurricane Ike makes landfall in the United States at Galveston, Texas, as a Category 2 hurricane. (Bloomberg)
  • Hurricane Ike weakens to a tropical storm over eastern Texas. (National Hurricane Center via Nola.com)
  • President George W. Bush declares that Texas is a disaster zone. (BBC News)
  • As many as one million Haitians become homeless due to hurricanes. (BBC)
• Abullah Wardak, the Governor of the Lowgar Province of Afghanistan, is assassinated in a car bomb. (AFP via Google News)
• A mudslide caused by an illegal mine in Shanxi province in China kills 254 people. (Xinhua News Agency)
• A bus crashes into a 100 m gorge in Sichuan, China, killing 51. (Zee News)
• The All Blacks defeat Australia (28–24) to win the 2008 Tri Nations Series at the Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane, Australia. (The Age)
• 2008 South Ossetia war:
  • Russians troops leave west, but remain in Georgia. (AP via Google News)
  • UNHCR: around 192,000 people were forced to flee their homes in South Ossetia and Georgia during the four-day war of Georgia with South Ossetia and Russia. Around 35 thousand of them left South Ossetia shortly before August, 8th for North Ossetia, Russia, others were forced to relocate during the conflict. (Press Trust of India)
  • A US Defense Department team to arrive in Georgia. (Rustavi 2)
  • Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Saturday that Abkhazia and South Ossetia cannot legally join the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) due to their status, local press reported. (Xinhua)
  • 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)

• 2008 South Ossetia war:
  • 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)
    • Dick Cheney on his visit to Tbilisi, Georgia (country) earlier condemned Russian "invasion" and said that United States was "fully committed" to Georgia's efforts to join NATO. (Sky News)
  • Russian forces have pulled out of the Black Sea port of Poti and are preparing to withdraw from positions in western Georgia. Russian forces are to withdraw completely from Georgia proper to an October 10 deadline. EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said he was confident this deadline would be met. (Reuters) (The International Herald Tribune) (Sky News)
  • Irakli Okruashvili, ex-defense minister of Georgia granted political asylum in France, claims President of Georgia Mikhail 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)
• Subprime mortgage crisis
  • The American International Group seeks an emergency $40 billion loan from the United States Federal Reserve. (The New York Times)
  • Bank of America negotiates to buy Merrill Lynch for $38.25 billion in stock. (The New York Times) (The Wall Street Journal)
  • The United States Federal Reserve announces several initiatives to expand emergency lending to combat the crisis. (AP via Minneapolis St-Paul Tribune)
  • Lehman Brothers files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy after British bank Barclays and Bank of America pull out of emergency talks on a buyout. (AFP via Google News) (The New York Times)
• Hurricane Ike
  • Authorities in Texas have rescued nearly 2,000 victims of Hurricane Ike who refused to evacuate. (AP via Google News)
  • The American death toll from Hurricane Ike rises to 8. (The New York Times)
• 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)
• Shootout between police and unknown assailants leaves 20 police officers dead in Ashkhabad, Turkmenistan. (The Sydney Morning Herald)
• Sebastian Vettel of Toro Rosso wins the 2008 Italian Grand Prix at Monza, becoming the youngest driver in history to win a Formula One grand prix. (BBC News)
• Two people are killed and 10 injured when a tourist riverboat collides with a pillar of the Pont de l'Archevêché and sinks, on the River Seine in Paris. (The Telegraph)
• 2008 Thai political crisis: The Acting Prime Minister of Thailand Somchai Wongsawat lifts a state of emergency in place since September 2. (The New York Times)
• The National Party of Western Australia indicates that it will support the Liberal Party of Australia in forming a minority government in Western Australia. Liberal leader, Colin Barnett, becomes the Premier-elect and incumbent Premier Alan Carpenter of the Australian Labor Party concedes defeat. (The Australian)
• Boeing 737 Aeroflot Flight 821 crashes near the city of Perm in Russia, killing all 88 on board. The cause of the crash is attributed to engine failure. (BBC News) (AP via Chicago Tribune)
• 2008 unrest in Bolivia
  • 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)
  • 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)
• Accusations of witchcraft cause football riots in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, resulting in 13 dead and 36 injured. (The Daily Telegraph)

• The government of Samoa recognizes the independence of Kosovo. (New Kosova Report)
• Morelia Bomb Attacks: Eight people are killed and 100 injured in a presumed terrorist attack at El Grito Independence Day celebrations in the main square of Morelia, Michoacán. (BBC News) (El Universal)
• Hewlett-Packard announces plans to cut 24,600 jobs. (Reuters)
• Shots are fired into the air in a confrontation between US and Pakistani forces; US forces retreat; Pakistan denies involvement of their forces. (BBC News)
• Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, the Secretary General of NATO, visits Georgia in a show of support. (AP via USA Today)
• Richard Wright, a founding member of the English rock group Pink Floyd, dies at the age of 65 after a long battle with cancer. (CNN)
• At least 11 spectators die in a stampede at a club football match in Butembo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, following a riot incited when a goalkeeper used an animist spell in an attempt to rally his team. (Radio Okapi via ESPN)
• 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)
• A power-sharing agreement between Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai is officially signed, making Tsvangirai Prime Minister of Zimbabwe and chair of cabinet meetings. Mugabe maintains his position as president and remains in control of the country's army. (The Telegraph)
• Nigerian Oil Crisis: Nigeria's main rebel group claim to have destroyed an oil installation owned by Shell in the Rivers State region in the south of the country. (BBC News)
• A stampede in the Indonesian town of Pasuruan leaves 21 people dead, most of whom are thought to be women. (BBC News)
• At least one person has died and 26 are missing after a Ro-ro ferry sinks near the Turkish city of Bandirma. (Sky News)
• Subprime mortgage crisis
  • Lehman Brothers files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy resulting from the subprime mortgage crisis. (The New York Times)
  • The Dow Jones Industrial Average falls by over 500 points as the New York Stock Exchange responds to events over the weekend. (The New York Times)
• 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)
• Hurricane Ike (2008)
  • The remnants of Ike are blamed for 13 more deaths in the Midwestern United States. (Boston Herald)
  • More than one million households in the Midwestern United States are left without electricity due to high winds. (Columbus Dispatch)
  • President George W. Bush warns that motorists will face a "pinch" from rising costs caused by Hurricane Ike. (AP via Fox News)
• 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]

• Unrest in Bolivia:
  • Governor of Pando Leopoldo Fernández is taken into custody by the armed forces, on charges of hiring hitmen to attack pro-government protesters. (BBC News)
  • The United States organises at least two evacuation flights from Bolivia as the political situation worsens. (AP via Google News)
• 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)
• 2008 Russian financial crisis:
  • 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)
• Subprime mortgage crisis: The United States Federal Reserve agrees to lend the American International Group $85 billion in return for a 79.9% stake. (The New York Times)
• 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)
• The United States government opens up a partnership with the Swedish municipality of Södertälje, a city of 80,000 that has received nearly 6,000 Iraqi refugees since the beginning of the Iraq war. (The Local)
• Hamas-Fatah conflict: Fierce fighting between Hamas security forces and the pro-Fatah Doghmush organised crime family leaves 5 dead in Gaza City. (BBC News)
• 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)
  • Viktor Yushchenko earlier accused pro-Western Yulia Tymoshenko of committing a high treason for not supporting Georgia during the 2008 South Ossetia war. (AFP via Rawstory) (The Telegraph)
• The employees (not the members) of Oregon's largest teachers' union go on strike against the union itself. (OPB News)
• Malcolm Turnbull is elected as the new leader of the Federal Liberal Party of Australia and Leader of the Opposition following a leadership spill. (News Limited)
• The Republic of China adopts Hanyu Pinyin as its official Chinese romanization, switching from the previously-official Tongyong Pinyin.(Taipei Times), (China Post)

• The emerging 2008 baby milk scandal shows evidence of coverup by officials during the Olympics. (MSNBC)
• The Dow Jones Industrial Average falls by 440 points as the bailout of the American International Group by the Federal Reserve fails to reassure jittery investors. (The New York Times)
• Foreign Minister of Israel Tzipi Livni is selected as the new leader of the Kadima party, putting her in position to possibly become the first female Prime Minister of Israel since Golda Meir. (Reuters)
• Rwanda becomes the first nation where women outnumber men in parliament. (BBC News)
• 2008 Russian financial crisis:
  • 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)
  • Russia's government lends the country's three biggest banks, Sberbank, VTB Bank and Gazprombank, as much as 1.13 trillion rubles ($44 billion) for at least three months to boost liquidity. (Bloomberg)
• Islamic Jihad claim responsibility for an attack on the U.S. embassy in Yemen that results in 16 confirmed deaths. (The New York Times)
• The BBC reports that British bank HBOS is in advanced talks with Lloyds TSB as HBOS share prices plummet as a result of exposure to the subprime mortgage crisis. (AP via International Herald Tribune)
• India deploys Sukhoi Su-30MKI fighter jets capable of carrying nuclear warheads in Jammu and Kashmir amidst continuing ceasefire violations with Pakistan along the Line of Control. (Times of India)
• 2008 Thai political crisis: Somchai Wongsawat has been elected as the next Prime Minister of Thailand by the National Assembly of Thailand with King Bhumibol Adulyadej having to endorse the selection. (AFP via The Canberra Times)
• BAA Limited decides to sell Gatwick Airport following a recent ruling by the United Kingdom Competition Commission. (BBC News)
• The International Astronomical Union classifies Haumea as the fifth dwarf planet in the Solar System and names it after the Hawaiian goddess of childbirth and fertility. (IAU press release)
• Papua New Guinea launches the National Television Service, a free-to-air state-run channel which competes with EM TV. (ABC News Australia)

• 2008 South Ossetia war:
  • US President George W. Bush will urge Russia to honor its commitment to fully withdraw troops from Georgia during his speech at the United Nations General Assembly next week, a top White House official said Friday. (AFP via Google News)
  • Russia says EU observers and extra Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) monitors should monitor situation on the border land of Georgia and South Ossetia and Abkhazia. On September 1 Tbilisi has withdrew from Dagomys peace agreement, which was providing legal basis for OSCE monitors in the two states. (EurAsia)
• Rozi Khan, the Governor of the Chora District in Afghanistan, is killed in a firefight involving Australian Army soldiers. (ABC News Australia)
• Sri Lankan Civil War: The Sri Lanka Navy sinks 10 Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) boats and kills 25 LTTE rebels in heavy fighting off the port of Nachikkudah in Sri Lanka, according to the navy. (Reuters via The International Herald Tribune)
• 2008 Russian financial crisis:
  • 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)
• Subprime mortgage crisis:
  • 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)
  • The Swedish National Debt Office announces it is putting a temporary hold on its market commitment in treasury bills due to the spike in demand for treasury bonds, which are seen as a safe investment during rocky periods in the financial markets. (Riksgäldskontoret)
  • Following the recent rapid fall of the share value of HBOS, The Financial Services Authority restricts short selling in an attempt to bring about market stability in the United Kingdom. This action follows a similar move by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in the United States on Wednesday. (BBC News)
  • Republican presidential candidate John McCain calls for Christopher Cox, Chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, to be dismissed. (The Wall Street Journal)
  • Kraft Foods replaces American International Group in the Dow Jones Industrial Average. (Reuters via Forbes)
  • The Securities and Exchange Commission declares an emergency ban on shorting financial-sector stocks. (MSNBC)
• A United States Army CH-47 Chinook helicopter crashes in southern Iraq killing seven United States soldiers. (AP via The New York Times)
• Pirates hijack a Greek bulk carrier with 25 crew aboard off the coast of Somalia. (AP via Google News) (Wikinews)
• Bruessel/EU:In European media, journalists report that some US politicians and military personnel supported with financial help the Anti-Europe Movement in Ireland against the Treaty of Lisbon. Ftd:USA sollen EU-Vertrag sabotiert haben

• Four people die in a plane crash in Columbia, South Carolina with Travis Barker, formerly of Blink 182, and DJ AM being critically injured. (AP via CNN)
• Financial crisis of 2007–2010
  • The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and United Kingdom Financial Services Authority take emergency action to temporarily ban short-selling of financial companies stock. (AP via Google News)
  • The United States Department of the Treasury guarantees money market mutual funds up to an amount of $50 billion to guarantee their viability. (The New York Times)
  • The New York Stock Exchange responds positively to these initiatives with the Dow Jones Industrial Average rising by 390 points. (The New York Times)
• Nigerian Oil Crisis
  • The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta announces that it has blown up a pipeline operated by Royal Dutch Shell. (BBC News)
  • Nigerian oil production has been reduced by 280,000 barrels per day since renewed attacks on oil facilities began. (Bloomberg)
• Professor Stephen Hawking unveils the Corpus Clock, a 'terrifying' new way to read the time, at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, England. (BBC News)
• Travis Barker, drummer of Pop Punk band Blink-182 suffers life threatening injuries in a plane crash. (Today.com)

• A fire in a nightclub in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen results in 43 dead and another 51 injured. (AFP via ABC News Australia)
• The Ugandan Lord's Resistance Army has launched a surprise offensive in Southern Sudan hitting an army base and villages in the nearby Democratic Republic of the Congo. (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 Bush administration asks the United States Congress for $700 billion to buy mortgage-related assets to try to resolve the subprime mortgage crisis. (AP via USA Today)
• War in North-West Pakistan:
  • A suicide bomber attacks a Pakistan Army convoy, killing eight soldiers. (France 24)
  • The 2008 Marriott Hotel bombing occurs. (AP via Google News)
• South African President Thabo Mbeki agrees to resign after the ruling African National Congress requested him to step down.(Reuters Africa via Google News)
• Pakistan detains 13 Indian fishermen after they drifted in Pakistani waters. (Press Trust of India)

• Mad Men wins the Emmy Award for Best Drama and 30 Rock wins for Best Comedy at the 60th Primetime Emmy Awards. (Reuters)
• Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, the two last remaining independent investment banks on Wall Street, become bank holding companies as a result of the subprime mortgage crisis. (The New York Times)
• The number of babies in China hospitalized due to adulterated milk products and infant formula reaches 12,892. (CNN)
• The Social Democrats, led by Borut Pahor, presumably win the Slovenian parliamentary election. (AFP via Melbourne Herald Sun)
• The United States wins the Ryder Cup for the first time since 1999. (The Times)
• Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert officially submits his resignation to President Shimon Peres. Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni begins talks on forming a new government. (AP via Google News)
• Tyrone beat Kerry 1-15 to 0-14 to win the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship 2008. (RTÉ)
• The New York Yankees beat The Baltimore Orioles, 7-3, at their last home game at Yankee Stadium. This is the last time the New York Yankees play at Yankee Stadium before moving to the New Yankee Stadium across the street. (Yankees.com)

• Herman Simm, a former head of security at the Estonian Defense Ministry, and his wife Heete Simm, who works as a lawyer at Estonia's National Police Board, are arrested on suspicion of spying for Russia. (The International Herald Tribune)
• Four people die in Puerto Rico as a result of heavy rains. (AP via Fox News)
• South Africa's ruling African National Congress party names deputy president Kgalema Motlanthe as the successor to President Thabo Mbeki. (Bloomberg News)
• More than 18,000 archived radio programs are indefinitely lost after the main computer server at Sweden's National Radio crashed last month. (Resume)
• Liberal Democratic Party (Japan) leadership election, 2008: Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party chooses former Foreign Minister of Japan Taro Aso as the next Prime Minister of Japan replacing Yasuo Fukuda. (AFP)
• Edward Natapei is elected the new Prime Minister of Vanuatu following the 2008 general elections replacing Ham Lini. (The International Herald Tribune)
• 15 people, including 11 foreign nationals, are kidnapped near Aswan in southern Egypt. (BBC News)
• Radiocarbon dating estimates that Stonehenge was constructed around 2300 BC. (BBC News)
• The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 is debated on by the 110th United States Congress. (The New York Times)
  • The Dow Jones Industrial Average falls by 370 points due to uncertainty over the plan. (The New York Times)
• A car is driven into a group of people in Jerusalem in what Israeli authorities are describing as a "terror attack". (BBC News)

• Pakistani soldiers and tribesmen reportedly shoot down a suspected U.S. military drone near the village of Jalal Khel in South Waziristan. The report comes a day after intelligence officers said two United States helicopters crossed a mile into Pakistan over North Waziristan, but flew off after Pakistani troops and tribesmen opened fire. (AP via Google News)
• Government officials say that the Federal Bureau of Investigation is looking into possible fraud for mortgage financing companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Lehman Brothers, and insurer American International Group. (AP via CNNMoney)
• The Large Hadron Collider near Geneva is shut down until the northern spring while engineers probe magnet failures. (BBC News)
• Ben Bernanke, the Chairman of the Federal Reserve, warns the United States Congress that failure to pass the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 quickly would make a recession more likely. (AP via Miami Herald)
• Japanese investment bank Nomura Holdings acquires the European, Asian and Middle Eastern equities and investment banking operations of Lehman Brothers. (MarketWatch)
• Sweden's National Television issues a public apology for a "misleading" report on comments made by foreign minister Carl Bildt about Sweden's intelligence services. (The Local)
• Colin Barnett is sworn in as the 29th Premier of Western Australia. (The West Australian)
• Eleven die in a school shooting in Kauhajoki, Finland. (BBC News)

• At least 17 civilians are killed in battles between Islamist militants and African Union peacekeepers in the Somali capital Mogadishu. (CNN)
• Subprime mortgage crisis
  • President of the United States George W. Bush addresses the nation on prime time television to discuss the crisis and the Paulson plan. He warns that the United States faces a "long and painful recession" if the package is not passed. (AP via San Francisco Chronicle) (Canadian Press via Google News)
  • Senator John McCain, the Republican Party nominee in the presidential election, postpones campaigning and seeks deferral of a presidential debate so that he can return to Washington D.C. to discuss the subprime mortgage crisis and the Paulson Plan. (The New York Times)
  • President Bush invites Senator McCain, Senator Barack Obama the Democratic Party and leaders of the United States Congress to a meeting at the White House tomorrow to discuss the crisis. (AP via the New York Sun)
• Preliminary findings made for the American Geophysical Union that support the Clathrate gun hypothesis, indicate the possible release of millions of tons of methane, a greenhouse gas, from Arctic seabeds. (The Independent)
• The Diet elects Taro Aso of the Liberal Democratic Party as the new Prime Minister of Japan. (AP via CNN) (AFP)
• Tomislav Nikolić announces that his party (a splinter from the Serbian Radical Party) will be called Serbian Progressive Party and that it will be founded on 21 October 2008. (B92)
• Typhoon Hagupit hits Vietnam, the Philippines and southern China, killing at least eight. (BBC News)

• Pakistani and United States forces exchange fire on the Afghan-Pakistan border. (The New York Times)
• Senior members of the United States Congress agree on a legislative deal to bail out the U.S. financial system from lingering effects of the subprime mortgage crisis. (AFP via News Limited)
• The Texas Supreme Court denies a petition by the Bob Barr US Presidential campaign seeking removal of Senators Barack Obama and John McCain from that state's ballot due to both candidates missing the filing deadline. (TX Supreme Court) (Nolan Report) (Dallas Morning News)
• An effigy of Barack Obama is found hanging from a tree at George Fox University in Newberg, Oregon. (AP via Google News)
• A young Canadian man is found guilty in the 2006 Toronto terrorism case of participating in a plot to storm the Parliament of Canada and behead the Prime Minister of Canada, Stephen Harper. (AP via CNN)
• United States economy
  • Jobless claims in the United States rise to a seven-year high while orders for durable goods fall to their lowest level in 18 months, underscoring the weakness of the United States economy. (Fox Business)
  • Home sales in the United States during August 2008 fall to a 17-year low. (Bloomberg)
• Following the purchase of British Energy by Electricité de France, plans for a new Hinkley Point C nuclear power station have been announced. (Nuclear News)
• The death toll from Typhoon Hagupit rises to 18 with 10 people dead in the People's Republic of China as well as 8 people killed earlier in the Philippines. (CNN)
• Kgalema Motlanthe is sworn in as the third post-apartheid President of South Africa. (AFP)
• Dark flow, a new and unexplained cosmic phenomenon, is observed by astronomers for the first time. (The Daily Telegraph)
• Shenzhou 7, the third manned Chinese spaceflight, is successfully launched with three crew members, with a planned first Chinese spacewalk. (Xinhua)(The New York Times)

• Senators John McCain and Barack Obama take part in the first of the United States presidential election debates. (ABC News Australia)
• 2008 Chinese Milk Scandal: Japan and Hong Kong detect melamine in Chinese food products including breakfast cereals and crackers. (AP via Houston Chronicle)
• German commandos storm a KLM airliner at Cologne-Bonn Airport and arrest two men suspected of planning to carry out a terrorist attack. (AFP via News Limited)
• Subprime mortgage crisis:
  • In the biggest bank failure in American history, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation seizes Washington Mutual and sells most of the bank to JPMorgan Chase. (The New York Times) (FDIC)
• A Ukrainian vessel carrying 30 T-72 tanks is captured by pirates 200 miles off Somalian coast. Russia sends its military ship to combat piracy in Somalia. (The New York Times)

• A bomb blast in Delhi, India kills 2 and injures 23. (TOI)
• 2008 Atlantic hurricane season: Tropical Storm Kyle strengthens into Hurricane Kyle with predictions that it will make landfall in the New England region of the United States or Canada's Maritime Provinces on Sunday. (Reuters)
• The United States Senate passes a large spending bill including $25 billion in taxpayer subsidised loans for automakers and the end of offshore drilling bans. (AP via Google News)
• The People's Council of Turkmenistan, implementing changes approved in the Constitution, passes a vote to abolish itself and allow opposition parties. (BBC News)
• During mission Shenzhou 7, Zhai Zhigang successfully performs the first spacewalk by a Chinese astronaut, as China becomes the third country to carry out extra-vehicular activity independently. (CNN)
• In Australian football, the Hawthorn Football Club defeats the Geelong Football Club in the 2008 AFL Grand Final by 115 points to 89. (ABC News Australia)
• 2008 Damascus car bomb: A suspected car bomb targeting a military installation in Damascus, Syria kills at least 17 and injures 14 others. (BBC News)
• A 12.9 million digit Mersenne prime is discovered. (AP via Los Angeles Times)
• Government officials announce plans to nationalise British bank Bradford & Bingley in the aftermath of the subprime mortgage crisis. (BBC News)
• United Nations Security Council passed Resolution 1835 on Iran, calling for compliance with previous resolutions, with no further sanctions. (BBC News)

• SpaceX Falcon 1 makes orbit, becoming the first privately developed liquid-fueled space launch vehicle to do so. (AP via Google News)
• Subprime mortgage crisis:
  • US Congressional leaders and the George W. Bush administration reach an outline Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 of a bailout of financial institutions as a result of the subprime mortgage crisis. (Reuters)
  • British bank Bradford & Bingley is to be purchased by the Treasury and Financial Services Authority. (BBC News)
  • Belgian bank Fortis NV is partly nationalised as part of an 11.4 billion euro rescue package funded by the Governments of Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg. (AP via Google News)
• Piracy in Somalia:
  • 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)
• Chinese astronauts 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)
• Four days after the formation of new Japan cabinet, Transport Minister Nariaki Nakayama resigns after series of controversial speeches. (BBC News)
• Haile Gebrselassie of Ethiopia sets a new world record in the marathon of two hours three minutes 58 seconds at the Berlin Marathon. (Reuters)
• Elections
  • In the Bavaria state election, 2008, the rightist CSU loses its absolute majority after 40 years. (Deutsche Welle)
  • Voters in Belarus go to the polls for the Belarusian parliamentary elections. According to election officials, allies of President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko will win all 110 seats renewing concerns about the process.(Reuters via The Globe and Mail) (Voice of America)
  • Voters in Austria go to the polls for the Austrian legislative election. (AFP)
• Fernando Alonso wins the Singapore Grand Prix in Formula One's first night race. (BBC News)

• Three bombs go off in western India, killing 8 people and injuring 30. (TOI)
• United States Attorney General Michael Mukasey announces the appointment of a special prosecutor to investigate the firings of nine U.S. attorneys in 2006. (BBC News)
• Subprime mortgage crisis:
  • The United States House of Representatives rejects a proposed bailout of the U.S. financial system.(Associated Press) (New York Times) (MarketWatch)
  • Head of the Swedish National Debt Office Bo 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)
  • The Government of Iceland takes control of the country's number three bank, the struggling Glitnir Bank (Reuters) (International Herald Tribune)
  • The British Government confirm that the mortgage and loans components of Bradford & Bingley will be nationalised, whilst the company's savings operations will be sold to the Spanish banking group, Grupo Santander. (BBC News) The financial crisis around Europe deepened with the nationalization of Fortis and a cash infusion from the Benelux states amounting to €11.2 billion.
  • Intervention is needed to support the US's Wachovia, Britain's Bradford & Bingley, Iceland's Glitnir, Germany's Hypo Real Estate and the Belgian-Dutch group Fortis, following on from the Subprime mortgage crisis. (Sources as already listed)
  • The Dow Jones Industrial Average has the biggest intra-day decline in its history as it drops by 777 points. (NY1)
• A car bomb explodes near a bus carrying Lebanese Army troops to work in Tripoli, Lebanon, which kills at least five people and injures 25. (AP via Fox News)
• Floods caused by Typhoon Hagupit cause at least 41 deaths in northern Vietnam. (News Limited)
• 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)
• Brazil's government is named as the worst illegal logger of the Amazon rainforest. (BBC News)

• 2008 Chinese milk scandal
  • Dutch food giant Unilever began recalling Lipton-brand milk tea powder in Hong Kong and Macau after they were found to contain traces of melamine. (CBS News)
  • Chinese police report having arrested 22 people on Monday over melamine tainted milk products. (BBC News)
• Shares of major Irish banks rise sharply following the announcement of a State guarantee of all deposits in Allied Irish Banks, Bank of Ireland, Anglo Irish Bank, Irish Life & Permanent, Irish Nationwide Building Society and EBS, worth an estimated €400 billion. The guarantee includes Bank of Ireland branches in Northern Ireland while the coverage of AIB's subsidiary, First Trust is still under discussion. Deposits in foreign-owned banks remain guaranteed to €100,000. (RTÉ News) (BBC News)
• 147 people are dead after a human stampede at the Chamunda Hindu temple near Jodhpur in India. (Reuters), (CNN), (AFP via The Canberra Times)
• At least 35 people die when a bus collides with a milk tanker and catches fire in central Pakistan, police say. (News 24)
• 30 suspected mobsters arrested around Naples in "war against the Camorra". (BBC News)
• Piracy in Somalia:
  • Pirates deny reports of three of their own killed in a shoot-out aboard the Ukrainian ship (MV Faina) off the African coast. (CBC News) (BBC News)
• The Dow Jones Industrial Average goes up almost 500 points, following its largest one day point drop in history yesterday.(Yahoo Finance)