Portal:Current events/2006 September 2

September 2, 2006 (Saturday)

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki meets with Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani in Najaf, Iraq. (Al Jazeera)
In Afghanistan, 14 British armed forces personnel are killed after their aircraft crashes in Kandahar. (BBC)
Offices of at least six Alaska legislators, including Republican Senate President Ben Stevens, son of the senior Republican U.S. Senator Ted Stevens, are raided by federal agents searching for possible ties between the lawmakers and VECO, an Anchorage based company whose executives are major contributors to political campaigns. (Yahoo!) (CNN) (New York Times) (Anchorage Daily News)
British police hold 14 men after anti-terrorism raids on locations in south and east London including one restaurant. (Boston Globe), (BBC)
2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict:
- Hezbollah sets up armed militias of more than 2,000 children of shahids aged 10-15, training them to sacrifice their lives, an Egyptian weekly reports. (Ynet)
- Italian troops arrive in Lebanon as part of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon. Indonesia announces plans to contribute 1,000 troops to the force. (CNN)
Israeli-Palestinian conflict:
- Donors promise $500m in aid for the Palestinian territories but the UN warns there must be a new peace process too. (BBC)
- A senior Palestinian official calls for an end to the Israeli siege of Gaza and a political solution to the humanitarian crisis. (Al Jazeera)^{[permanent dead link]}