Portal:Current events/2010 October 4

Current events of October 4, 2010 (2010-10-04) (Monday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• 89 people were killed in violence in Baghdad and northern Iraq, including a journalist for a US-funded Al Hurra satellite television station. (Khaleej Times via AFP) (Africasia) (IFEX)
• Five Tajik policemen killed in clash. (Xinhua)
• Four wrwerwettrte, including two Central Reserve Police Force men, were killed and two others injured in a landmine blast, on Monday evening in the remote parts of South Gadchiroli. The attack was carried out by Maoists. (DNA) (ZEE)
• Three people were killed and five were injured after a boiler exploded in a tannery in Hatay in the Dericiler area of Güzelburç town. The injured were taken to Mustafa Kemal University’s faculty of medicine hospital. (Today's Zaman)
• Jewish settlers in the West Bank set fire to the Muslim Al-Anbiaa Mosque in Beit Fajjar area near the Palestinian city of Bethlehem. Its rug ground and some parts of the Qur'an are burnt and anti-Islamic and anti-Palestinian slogans are written. (Xinhua) (BBC)
• 12 people die and 7 others receive wounds during a torch attack in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, on a convoy of more than a dozen oil tankers intended for NATO forces in Afghanistan. This follows a dispute over a NATO helicopter strike that killed 3 soldiers in Pakistan territory. (AFP via The Age) (The New York Times), (BBC)
• An angry stand-off results from a row over the ongoing presence of dozens of United States military bases on the Japanese island of Okinawa, all of which remain through intense U.S. pressure despite protests from tens of thousands of residents. (BBC)
• Tens of thousands of people protest about tree-felling in Stuttgart and are confronted by police wielding water cannon and pepper spray. (BBC)

Arts and culture

• TVNZ Breakfast race row: Video
  • TVNZ Breakfast broadcaster Paul Henry questions Prime Minister John Key about whether New Zealand's ethnic minority Governor-General Anand Satyanand, representative of Elizabeth II the Queen, is a proper New Zealander. Henry has previously described singer Susan Boyle as "retarded" and homosexuality as "unnatural", though the state-owned broadcaster defends him, furthering the controversy. (AFP via The Age)
  • Breakfast tech commentator Ben Gracewood quits after describing Henry's comments as "the final straw" and saying "I can't work with him". (The New Zealand Herald)
• The world's oldest known high altitude human settlement, estimated to be 49,000 years old, is uncovered near Kokoda, Papua New Guinea. (Radio Australia)
• Jonathan Evans, head of Britain's MI5, gives a rare interview, disclosing details of his love for classics and calling for wider availability of Latin and Greek in schools as, he claims, they are useful for spies. (The Daily Telegraph)
• 1950s and 1960s comic actor Sir Norman Wisdom is confirmed to have died on the Isle of Man. (BBC)
• The industrial dispute surrounding The Hobbit film project is mediated by New Zealand's Economic Development Minister Gerry Brownlee and Arts and Culture Minister Chris Finlayson. (The New Zealand Herald) (BBC)
• Hundreds of people attend the public funeral of actor Tony Curtis who died last week. (BBC)

Disasters and accidents

• Two persons were killed when a mini-lorry was hit by the Netravati Express, they were travelling at an unmanned level crossing at Panachuvadu near Punnapra, India. (Hindu)
• 13 people were killed and dozens were missing on Monday after flash floods smashed through a district in eastern Indonesia's Papua province. (Deccan Chronicle via AP)

Economics

• 2001 Nobel laureate economist Joseph Stiglitz warns of a "wave of austerity" set to sweep across Europe, triggering a new recession and the demise of the euro, and predicts Spain will enter a "death spiral" - similar to that of Argentina a decade ago - when it is attacked by speculators. (AFP via The Age)

International relations

• The 2010 Asia–Europe Meeting commences in Brussels, Belgium with Russia, Australia and New Zealand joining the discussions. (Xinhua)
• China's State Councilor Dai Bingguo delivers a speech at the opening session of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change meeting in Tianjin before the U.N. climate summit in Mexico at year's end. (China Daily via Xinhua)
• Federal Minister of the Interior Thomas de Maizière tells a news conference in Berlin that there is no concrete evidence of an imminent attack and "no reason to be alarmist at this time"; the Japanese government alerts its citizens to watch out for any attacks in Europe. The United States and UK have both done so in recent times. (BBC)

Law and crime

• Dutch MP Geert Wilders is put on trial in Amsterdam on charges of inciting hatred against Muslims in his 17-minute film Fitna. Anti-Wilders protests occur outside court. (BBC) (AFP via iAfrica)
• Former Prime Minister of Fiji Mahendra Chaudhry is released on bail. (Indian Express) (BBC)
• A court in Thailand rejects a request to drop charges against Viktor Bout, whom the United States suspects of attempting to sell weapons to its opponents. He was arrested by undercover United States agents in 2008 at a Bangkok hotel. (BBC) (Xinhua)
• A vigil is held by Rutgers University in the United States for Tyler Clementi, who committed suicide after a roommate and another student secretly streamed online a private sexual encounter he had with a man. (AP via The Age)

Politics

• Brazilian elections:
  • The Brazilian presidential election heads for a second round, with Dilma Rousseff polling most votes. (BBC)
  • Brazilian clown Tiririca wins a seat in Congress with more votes than any other candidate in yesterday's elections. (BBC)
  • Former FIFA World Player of the Year Romário is elected as a deputy by Rio de Janeiro. (The Daily Telegraph)
• A Japanese judicial panel calls for charges against top Democratic Party (DPJ) figure Ichirō Ozawa. (BBC) (Bangkok Post)
• Lima receives its first female mayor in Susana Villarán. (BBC)

Science

• Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine:
  • Robert Geoffrey Edwards of the United Kingdom wins the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his role in developing in vitro fertilization. (Nobel Prize) (AFP via The Age) (BBC)
  • A Vatican official condemns the move as "completely out of order". (BBC) (AFP via The Sydney Morning Herald)
• The first Census of Marine Life (CoML), a 10-year major international project described as the most comprehensive study of its kind, is completed, sparking celebration among scientists. (BBC), (AFP via Google News)

Sport

• 2010 U.S. Open champion Graeme McDowell of Northern Ireland defeats Hunter Mahan of the United States in the final match to win the 2010 Ryder Cup for Europe by 14½-13½. (BBC Sport) (RTÉ Sport) (The Irish Times) (Sky News)
• FIFA suspends the Nigeria Football Federation due to government interference, thereby barring the country's men's, women's, and age-grade national teams from all competitions. (BBC Sport)
• The corpse of David Le Cluse, the chairman of Croydon Athletic football club, is located with a bullet wound to the head. The team's owner was recently arrested in connection with the recent Pakistan cricket match-fixing controversy. (BBC News) (Sky News)