Portal:Current events/2011 August 1
August 1, 2011 (Monday)
Armed conflict and attacks
- At least 11 people, including 5 suspects, are killed and 15 others are injured on Sunday's violence in China's Xinjiang region, raising the death toll to 20 over the weekend attacks in Kashgar. (CRI) (The Guardian)
- 2011 Syrian uprising:
- More than 142 people are killed across the country in a continuing crackdown on protests. (Al Jazeera)
- Russia calls for an end to the "use of force" against civilians. (Lebanon Now) (The Moscow Times)
- The Lebanese Armed Forces exchanged fire with the Israeli Defense Forces patrolling the border, with one Lebanese soldier being injured. (Jerusalem Post)
Business and economy
- The HSBC bank announces plans to cut 5,000 jobs now and 25,000 by 2013. (Reuters)
- Foxconn Technology, a computer assembler headquartered in Taiwan, plans to add one million robots to its plants over the next three years, according to a Reuters report. (Reuters)
- BBC journalists stage another 24-hour strike in protest at planned redundancies. (Mail Online) (The Guardian)
Disasters
- Anna Bligh, the Premier of Queensland, releases the results of an inquiry into the 2010–2011 Queensland floods which killed 35 people. (Courier Mail)
- The Italian news agency Agenzia Nazionale Stampa Associata reports that 25 refugees have been found dead in a boat off the coast of Lampedusa. (CNN)
- Tropical Storm Emily forms in the Atlantic Ocean with tropical storm warnings issued for Puerto Rico, Guadeloupe, Desirade, Les Saintes, Marie Galante and the Dominican Republic. (National Hurricane Centre) (NOLA.com)
International relations
- North Korea agrees to further talks with the United States as part of efforts to restore Six Party talks on its nuclear weapons program. (Yonhap)
- South Korea bans three Japanese lawmakers all from the Liberal Democratic Party due to an assertion of Japanese sovereignty over the Liancourt Rocks. (Mainichi Shimbun)[permanent dead link] (Yonhap)
Politics
- Kevin Rudd, the Minister for Foreign Affairs and former Prime Minister of Australia, goes into hospital to have the aortic valve in his heart replaced. (Courier Mail)
- 2011 U.S. debt ceiling crisis
- The United States House of Representatives passes legislation to raise the debt ceiling and avert the 2011 U.S. debt ceiling crisis. (Reuters and AFP via Sydney Morning Herald)
- More than twenty protesters are arrested after disrupting debate in the House. (Washington Post)
- Congresswoman Gabby Giffords makes her first appearance on Capitol Hill since the 2011 Tucson shootings to cast her vote amongst applause. (BBC) (Washington Post)
- The United States Senate fails to pass a bill ending the partial shutdown of the Federal Aviation Administration. (AP)