Portal:Current events/2012 September 11

September 11, 2012 (Tuesday)

Armed attacks and conflicts

A car bomb targeting Yemen's defence minister, Mohammed Nasser Ahmed, kills at least twelve people, including seven bodyguards of the minister and five civilians in Sana. (The New York Times)
In Somalia, more than fifty Al-Shabaab fighters are killed as African Union Kenyan peacekeepers, and the Somali National Army, continue their march towards the port city of Kismayo. (Xinhua)
War in Afghanistan (2001–2021):
- Taliban bombard Bagram Air Base. They kill three people and destroy a helicopter, wounding three personnel on board. (USA Today)
- A suicide bombing in Herat province kills six people including the bomber. (USA Today) (Dawn) (Khaama)
A suicide bombing in front of a police station in the western Istanbul suburb of Sultangazi kills a policeman, the bomber, and injures several others. The leftist group Dev Sol claims responsibility. (BBC)
2012 Benghazi attack: Militiamen storm the US consulate in Benghazi. Reports indicate it has been burned down and looted. AFP reports a source saying rocket-propelled grenades were fired at the consulate. The U.S. Ambassador in Libya, J. Christopher Stevens, and three other people are killed. (BBC) (Reuters) (AFP via MSN Philippines) (Reuters) (AFP via Star Africa)^{[permanent dead link‍]} (Wall Street Journal) (CNN)
Three people are found shot dead in a car near Corte, on the French island of Corsica. (The Telegraph)
Two people are shot dead at close range in the center of Milan. Hours later, another shooting in plain view shakes the financial capital of Italy. (Reuters)

Business and economy

Moody's warns the United States that it faces a downgrade in its credit rating before 2014 if the government fails to act on managing its debt. (Los Angeles Times) (AP via Boston.com) (Forbes)
Japan's Minister of State for Financial Services Tadahiro Matsushita is found dead in his home in Tokyo. His death has been ruled a suicide and may further complicate matters for the ruling party which has been battered by internal divisions and parliamentary gridlock. Finance minister Jun Azumi has been named to succeed Matsushita. (CNN via Financial Times) (Reuters via Kyodo News) (Wall Street Journal) (Daily Yomiuri)

Disasters

At least 29 people are killed and 11 injured after a bus runs off a mountain highway in western Nepal. (AP via NineMSN)

International relations

Senkaku Islands dispute:
- China dispatches two Chinese Marine Surveillance patrol boats to the islands in order to "safeguard its sovereignty" over the territory. (CNN) (Xinhua)
- Japan formally nationalizes three of the disputed Senkaku Islands. (The Japan Times), (Mainichi Shimbun)
- China's Ministry of Defence says the nationalization of the disputed Senkaku Islands by Japan is "illegal and invalid"; that it would closely monitor the "evolution of the situation" and "reserve the right to take reciprocal measures". (Xinhua)
- The Chief Cabinet Secretary of Japan, Osamu Fujimura, said transferring the islands' ownership from an individual to the state government should pose no problem to any other country or territory. (The Japan Times), (RTTNews)
- China summons Japanese ambassador Uichiro Niwa to lodge a protest over Japan's nationalization of the Senkaku Islands. Beijing warned it will take "necessary measures" to protect its claim on the islands. (Bloomberg) (The Hindu)
- Taiwan recalls its envoy to Japan in protest. (CNA via Focus Taiwan)
- Japan announces that Shinichi Nishimiya will succeed Uichiro Niwa. (Daily Yomiuri) (Asahi Shimbun)
- United States Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Kurt M. Campbell urges both Japan and China to not escalate tensions; reminds both nations that they are the "cockpit of the global economy", that the "stakes could not be bigger", and for leaders from both countries to "keep that squarely in mind". (Reuters)

Law and crime

Newly declassified documents confirm that the United States deliberately ignored Soviet involvement in the 1940 Katyn massacre, despite credible evidence to the contrary provided no later than 1943. While until 1945 this choice could be explained as World War II grand strategy, it is not known why the White House remained silent on the matter until now. (AP via New York Daily News)
A White House spokesperson says that a Presidential executive order is being considered to ensure the United States' cybersecurity if Congress remains deadlocked over a "CISPA" law. (Russia Today) (Federal News Radio)
Sources tell the Frankfurter Allgemeine newspaper that the German military spying agency MAD tried to recruit Uwe Mundlos in 1995. Mundlos refused to cooperate and subsequently participated in ten terrorist murders with the nazi group NSU. He died in 2011; police say he committed suicide. (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung)
Egypt presses formal charges against Gamel and Alaa Mubarak, sons of ousted president Hosni Mubarak, and Ahmed Shafiq, a recent presidential candidate, over alleged illegal acquisition of land. An arrest warrant has been issued against Shafiq, now a resident in the United Arab Emirates. (The Daily)

Politics and elections

The United States commemorates the victims of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. For the first time, no special security alert is raised on the anniversary of the attacks. (AP via CBS) (Los Angeles Times)
Barcelona's streets are paralyzed as protesters peacefully demand independence on the National Day of Catalonia. Police say the demonstrators numbered 1.5 million; organizers estimate the numbers at 2 million. No incidences of violence are reported. The protest is the largest in Catalonia's history. (El País) (BBC) (El Punt)
Protestors in Cairo condemn a film promoted by controversial American pastor Terry Jones as a "humiliation of Muhammad under the pretext of freedom of speech". They climb over the walls of the US Embassy and tear down an American flag, replacing it with a black flag inscribed with Islamic emblems. Egyptian police have surrounded the compound to block further incursions. (CNN) (BBC) (The Atlantic) (Ahram)