Portal:Current events/August 2010

Armed conflicts and attacks

War in Afghanistan (2001–present)
- Netherlands pulls out of Afghanistan. (rfi)
- Two NATO soldiers are killed in fighting in the south of Afghanistan. (AFP via Focus net)
Wooden box mines, suspected to come from North Korea, wash ashore on a South Korean beach killing one man and injuring another. (Reuters) (Yonhap)
Israel Defense Forces jets attack targets in the Gaza Strip following a Qassam rocket fired at the Negev in Israel on Saturday night. (Ynet News)
Almost 90,000 people flee renewed fighting in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo in the past month reflecting a declining security situation as the military fights Allied Democratic Forces-National Army for the Liberation of Uganda Ugandan Islamist rebels. (Reuters Africa)
Six people die in the Indian province of Jammu and Kashmir after a third day of clashes between security forces and Muslim separatists. (Voice of America)

Arts and culture

World Heritage List
- Hawaii's Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument, the habitat of the endangered Hawaiian Monk seal and rare birds, and Sri Lanka's central highlands are added. (Reuters)
- Tanzania's Ngorongoro Conservation Area, including the Serengeti National Park and Olduvai Gorge, are added. (The Earth Times)
- Eleven of Australia's most important convict sites including Hyde Park Barracks and The Domain in Sydney, Fremantle Prison in Western Australia and Port Arthur, Tasmania are added. (AAP via Sydney Morning Herald)

Business and economy

Philippine Airlines tells 25 airline pilots to return to work after quitting without notice forcing the airline to cancel flights. (Bloomberg via Business Week)
Manufacturing output in China grows at its slowest rate in 17 months in July, with the Purchasing Managers Index falling 0.9% to 51.2%. (BBC) (Xinhua)
The United Arab Emirates will suspend some BlackBerry mobile services from October amid concerns that data from some equipment is being exported offshore and managed by foreign organisations. Saudi Arabia plans to suspend some services later this month. (BBC) (Aljazeera)

Disasters

Thousands of troops are mobilised in Russia to tackle forest fires spreading in 17 regions, the worst in decades, as the death toll rises to 30. (Voice of Russia) (AFP)
Floods in northeastern China kill more than 100 people and sweep 3,000 chemical-filled barrels into the Songhua River. (Aljazeera) (Xinhua) (AFP) (Times of India)
Pakistan floods
- The death toll from floods in northwestern Pakistan exceeds 1,000. (BBC) (Aljazeera) (The Nation)
- The United States pledges $10 million in foreign aid to Pakistan to help the nation respond. (AFP via Sydney Morning Herald)

International relations

The Convention on Cluster Munitions banning the use, production and transfer of cluster bombs in some countries, comes into effect. (AFP) (BBC) (Aljazeera)
Colombia denies claims by Venezuela that it is planning a military attack, a day after Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez said he was sending troops to their mutual border. (CNN) (Xinhua)
The President of Israel Shimon Peres and the President of Egypt Hosni Mubarak agree that Israel and the Palestinian Authority should hold direct talks. (Jerusalem Post)

Law and crime

United Kingdom - Sarah's Law, a scheme which allows parents to check if someone with access to their children is a sex offender, will be extended to cover the whole of England and Wales by Spring 2011 after proving successful in four pilot areas. (BBC)

Science

Scientists announce the discovery of the world's first active undersea river, in the Black Sea. (The Daily Telegraph)

August 2, 2010 (Monday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

A Jordanian civilian is killed and three others are wounded as a Grad rocket launched from the Sinai hits the city of Aqaba. Four other rockets land in open areas in the Gulf of Aqaba. Jordan, Israel, Egypt and the United States condemn the attack. (YnetNews) (Haaretz)
The United Nations establishes a panel with an Israeli and Turk amongst its members to investigate the Gaza flotilla raid in May. (AFP via Google News)

Arts and culture

An antiques dealer is imprisoned for handling a copy of the First Folio by poet and playwright William Shakespeare, though cleared of actually stealing it, in the UK. (BBC)

Business and economy

Cuban President Raúl Castro pledges to ease state control of the economy. (BBC) (People's Daily) (Angola Press)

Disasters

Hundreds of new wildfires erupt in Russia as fire has damaged or destroyed 27 towns and villages. (AP via Boston Globe)
A fire at a retirement home in Nigel, Gauteng, South Africa, kills 18 people. (BBC) (Times Live South Africa)
Eleven people are killed and four survive after a passenger plane crashes in Russia's Krasnoyarsk territory. (RIA Novosti) (Times of India)
The Government of the United States claims that nearly 5 million barrels of oil have spilt from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, making it the largest accidental maritime oil spill ever. (New York Times)
At least 33 people drown after a boat capsizes on Lake Albert in Uganda. (UPI) (AFP)

International relations

The European Union announces it will end its mission to reform security forces in Guinea-Bissau due to the deteriorating situation in the country. (BBC) (News24)
The Government of Pakistan summons the British High Commissioner to Islamabad for a "dressing down" by Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi over remarks made by the British Prime Minister David Cameron on Pakistan "looking both ways" on terrorism. (AFP via Google News) (The Guardian) (BBC)

Law and crime

The trial of Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim on sodomy charges is deferred until August 9. (CNN)
A drunk man on a tractor kills 11 people and injures many others in a rampage in northern China. (Reuters Africa) (BBC) (The Hindu)

Politics

Politicians in Nepal fail to elect a new Prime Minister for the third time after no candidate secured a majority. (Kantipur) (BBC) (Indian Express)
Several people are killed during protests in Indian-administered Kashmir after the worst anti-government violence in two years. (The Hindu) (BBC)
A Greek truck drivers strike ends with the situation expected to get back to normal quickly. (AP via The Australian)
The United States House of Representatives ethics committee charges California Democrat Maxine Waters with breaking ethics rules. (USA Today)

Science

The Census of Marine Life is released after 10 years of study of the worlds oceans showing that there are 230,000 species of animal living there. (Fox News), (The Guardian)

Sports

Lithuania wins the European U-18 basketball championship. (Ballineurope)
Former World No. 1 professional tennis player Ivan Lendl announces a return after a 16-year break. (BBC Sport)
Car driver Michael Schumacher apologises to Rubens Barrichello for what Barichello describes as "the most dangerous manoeuvre against me I have ever known", which occurred during the 2010 Hungarian Grand Prix. (The Guardian)

August 3, 2010 (Tuesday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

Adaisseh incident
- Three Lebanese soldiers, one Israeli soldier, and a journalist are killed, and others are wounded, in clashes along the Israel-Lebanon border. (Aljazeera) (BBC) (The Guardian) (AFP via Google News)
- The United Nations Security Council goes into closed-door consultations. (The Sydney Morning Herald)
- Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu claims that IDF soldiers did not cross the border. (The Jerusalem Post)
- UNIFIL confirms that the IDF did not cross the border. (The Jerusalem Post)
- Lebanese officials maintain it was the fault of Israel and expresses dissatisfaction at Israel's "aggression" against their country. (Gulf Daily News)
Assassination of Raza Haider
- Around 46 people are killed and more than 100 others are wounded in Karachi during violent scenes that follow the assassination. (Aljazeera) (Daily Mail) (AP via The Guardian)
- Police fill the streets of Karachi and Hyderabad is also deserted. (Reuters)
Twin explosions kill at least 3 people and injure at least 50 others in a crowded shopping area in Kut, Wasit; women and children are seen bleeding in the streets. (BBC)
Authorities shoot dead at least 2 people for protesting on a highway near Srinagar in Kashmir. (Aljazeera)
Hundreds of people supporting Lech Kaczyński are sprayed with lachrymator by police outside Warsaw's Presidential Palace. (BBC) (Reuters) (The Washington Post)
Jordan says it has evidence that a fatal Grad-type rocket strike on Aqaba originated in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula. (The Sydney Morning Herald)
At least 5 police officers are shot dead at a checkpoint in Baghdad, Iraq. (Aljazeera)
A battle erupts as the Taliban attacks the Kandahar Air Field, the main NATO base in southern Afghanistan. The battle lasts an hour, after which the Taliban flee. (Aljazeera)
A worker kills 9 people, including himself, in a workplace incident at Hartford Distributors Inc in Connecticut, United States. (France24) (Xinhua) (BBC)
A car bomb explodes in Derry, Northern Ireland, injuring no one. (The Guardian) (RTÉ) (The Irish Times)

Arts, culture and society

The daughter of former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, Bristol Palin and Levi Johnston once again call off their engagement after it's revealed that Johnston fathered a child with another woman. (ABC)
A letter is unveiled demonstrating how Robert Burns was "reduced and shattered" in his final days; it will soon be exhibited in Edinburgh, Scotland. (BBC)
Tokyo's "oldest woman" cannot be located, casting doubts upon her claim to the title. (BBC) (The Guardian)

Disasters and accidents

2010 Khyber Pakhtunkhwa floods
- More than three million people are dislocated and 1,500 are now dead as Pakistan's worst floods flow to the south. (Aljazeera)
- Rescue attempts are underway. (BBC)
- The Warsak Dam near Peshawar, Pakistan's third-largest dam, is threatened by rising water levels. (The Guardian)
- The United States Army sends four CH-47 Chinook helicopters and two UH-60 Blackhawks helicopters to help with the relief effort. (AFP via Google)
Russian wildfires worsen. (BBC) (IOL)
The family of Terry Jupp claim that the Ministry of Defence did not use "stringent procedures" during the secretive explosive experiment on an island in the Thames Estuary that led to his death. (The Guardian) (The Daily Telegraph) (BBC) (The Washington Post)

Business and economy

Nearly £2 billion of savings are revealed to have been removed from the UK's nationalised Northern Rock bank. (The Guardian)
Ecuador says it will not drill for oil in the Yasuni National Park for at least a decade after being provided with $3.6 billion (£2.26 billion) - half the money it would receive from selling the oil - in a deal signed with the United Nations. (BBC)
Mexicana de Aviación, Mexico's biggest airline, files for bankruptcy. (BBC) (Los Angeles Times)

International relations

Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah suggests Israel carried out the 2005 assassination of ex-Lebanese PM Rafic Hariri, and promises he will show proof at a press conference next week. (BBC)
Turkey's Foreign Ministry summons Israel's ambassador after the Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak accuses the new head of Turkish intelligence of being a "friend of Iran". (Reuters)
The 41st annual Pacific Islands Forum Leaders Summit opens in Port Vila, Vanuatu. (Radio New Zealand International)
President of Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari arrives in the United Kingdom upon a five-day visit as the two countries disagree over David Cameron's remarks on "the export of terror". (Aljazeera)
Zimbabwe requests apologies from American, German and European Union envoys who walked out of the burial ceremony for President Robert Mugabe's sister; they refuse to apologise. (IOL)^{[permanent dead link]} (BBC) (News24)
Iran rejects Brazil's offer to grant political asylum to Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, who has been sentenced to death in Iran for adultery. (AP via The Guardian)

Law and crime

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) both sue the United States (US) after it bans lawyers from a case taken by the father of Muslim cleric Anwar al-Awlaki against the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), which has labelled him a "specially designated global terrorist". (BBC) (Reuters)
Seven people go on trial in Kuwait accused of spying for Iran against Kuwait and the United States; they deny all charges and say they were tortured into confessing. (BBC)
Canada's Transportation Minister John Baird orders an inquiry after a video surfaces showing two figures boarding a flight without showing their faces. (BBC) (Canada.com) (Daily Star) (Ottawa Citizen) (South China Morning Post)
Jackie Selebi, former chief of Interpol and South Africa's top police officer, is sentenced to 15 years in prison on corruption charges. (AP via GaeaTimes) (Aljazeera) (The Guardian) (France24)^{[permanent dead link]} (Reuters India)
Former Rwandan administrator Dominique Ntawukulilyayo is given a 25-year sentence of imprisonment by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda after being convicted of the transportation of soldiers during the Rwandan Genocide. (BBC)
The United States' Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) posts a letter to the offices of online encyclopedia project Wikipedia, threatening fines and imprisonments over what it claims is the "particularly problematic" use of the agency's seal. (BBC) (CNN) (Vanity Fair) (Wikipedia entry)
Saudi Arabia announces it is to commence a ban on the "messenger function" on BlackBerry handsets from Friday due to security concerns over the Research In Motion (RIM) technological device. (BBC) (Arab News) (Reuters)

Politics and elections

A prostitute informs Prime Minister of Italy Silvio Berlusconi's corruption inquiry that she received presents after he shared a bed with her and two others. (The Guardian)
Kenya deploys an additional 18,000 police officers as the country heads to the polls to decide the fate of a potential new constitution. (Aljazeera)
A top civil service union in Sri Lanka condemns the tying to a tree of an official by a government minister in Colombo, a disagreement related to dengue fever. (BBC) (People's Daily)
The Elders criticise the Sri Lankan government. (BBC)
Denmark has a political taxes scandal involving a "big and sloppy error" by Social Democrats leader Helle Thorning-Schmidt. (BBC)
Irish senator Ivor Callely is suspended from Fianna Fáil over new expense allegations. (RTÉ) (The Irish Times) (Irish Independent) (Irish Examiner)

Science and technology

The first major Earth-directed solar eruption in a decade will generate aurorae visible in non-polar areas from early August 4th to August 5th. (Foxnews.com) (CNN)

Sports

Angola jails 4 human rights activists - a university professor, priest, lawyer and former police officer - for alleged links to the perpetrators of the Togo national football team attack; Amnesty International and other organisations describe it as a crackdown on criticism. (BBC News) (Aljazeera)
Spain and the Netherlands are both fined by FIFA for their antics during the 2010 FIFA World Cup Final. (BBC Sport) (Sky Sports) (The Monitor - Uganda)
Paraguayan footballer Salvador Cabañas, shot by a gun in the head, says his memories are vague. (BBC News) (Times LIVE)
Alberto Contador joins Team Saxo Bank, managed by Bjarne Riis. (BBC Sport)
Steward Derek Warwick gives Michael Schumacher, who performed a dangerous maneuver against a fellow driver, a 10-place penalty in a future Grand Prix race. (Press Association via The Guardian)

August 4, 2010 (Wednesday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

About 70 Indian police personnel are reported missing in Chhattisgarh forests amid a major engagement with Maoist guerrillas; they are later found. No casualties have been reported. (The Times of India) (BBC) (Aljazeera)
Lebanon arrests a man it suspects has spied for Israel. (Aljazeera)
Israeli shellfire kills a Palestinian militant and wounds 1 other in Khan Yunis in the Gaza Strip as the search gets underway for further casualties. (Reuters)
Corpses belonging to 59 migrants are located in a desert in the U.S. state of Arizona. (BBC)
Police in Karachi arrest suspects in its investigation into a recent assassination, as the death toll in riots reaches 63. (BBC)
At least 6 people are killed and around 50 others are injured in twin car bombings in Kut. (BBC)
A suicide attack kills 4 people, a paramilitary commander Sifwat Ghuyur and three bodyguards, in Peshawar. (Aljazeera) (Reuters via ABC Online) (BBC)
Adaisseh incident:
- The United Nations Peacekeeping Forces assert that Israeli soldiers were attacked in Israeli territory while performing routine maintenance, leading to yesterday's deadly clash. (Boston Herald)^{[permanent dead link]}
- The United Nations Security Council agrees that Israel and Lebanon must show "utmost restraint" following the clash. (BBC)
- Hezbollah's second in command Naim Qassem warns that the organisation will "retaliate" against Israel if there are further incidents. (AFP via Google News)
- The Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu warns both Hamas and Lebanon about further attacks on Israelis. (Jerusalem Post)
- A Lebanese government official confirms that Israel was not in violation of international law. (ANSAmed)
- Israeli troops uproot the very trees that caused the dispute. (Brisbane Times)
Officials say more than 28,000 people have died in Mexican drug violence since December 2006, thousands more than previously thought. (BBC)
India expresses deep regret that its police had to kill at least 28 people this week in Kashmir, with its Home Affairs Minister requesting that protesters stop. (BBC)
New Zealand experiences its first combat fatality in Afghanistan; he was also the country's first military death in fighting anywhere for a decade. (BBC) (The New Zealand Herald) (The Washington Post)
A man found dead in forest near Trongsa is thought to have been killed by a tiger, possibly Bhutan's first such death in 15 years. (BBC)
A controlled explosion is carried out on a device discovered beneath the car of a serving soldier, believed to be an army major, in Bangor, County Down in Northern Ireland. (The Guardian)

Arts, culture and entertainment

A vault containing non-words - those rejected by the Oxford English Dictionary - is uncovered. (The Daily Telegraph)
Sharers of the Radiohead album In Rainbows, once offered by the band for nothing, are sent cease-and-desist letters by the RIAA and IFPI. (The Guardian)
Musician Wyclef Jean confirms he is to announce plans to stand for the presidency in Haiti. (BBC)

Disasters

2010 Pakistan floods:
- Nearly 1 million people are estimated to have been left homeless during the ongoing severe floods in Pakistan. (The Guardian)
- Thousands of people flee their homes in Punjab due to flood fears. (Aljazeera)
- Rain falls, causing more damage. (BBC)
- The United Nations World Food Programme warns that parts of northwest Pakistan are facing urgent food shortages. (Sky News)
- The Disasters Emergency Committee launches its appeal for donations. (BBC)
Summer 2010 Russian wildfires:
- President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev interrupts his summer holiday to return and fire several top military officials after wildfires destroy a naval base outside Moscow. (BBC) (Aljazeera)
- At a meeting of the national Security Council Medvedev states: "By no means you may allow anarchy [...] You must not let the situation go out of local authorities' control". (Xinhua)
The confirmed death toll from flooding in China rises above 1,000. (Associated Press)
Eurotunnel has "apologised profusely" after train passengers brought to Calais, France, through the Channel Tunnel are locked into their carriages upon arrival and immediately returned to Kent, England. (The Guardian)
Three barns collapse at the largest egg farm in the U.S. state of Ohio in Croton, with at least one worker dead. (AP via Houston Chronicle)
Admiral Thad Allen, the man in charge of the US Government's efforts to clear up the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, has given clearance for BP to pour cement into its Gulf of Mexico oil well. (Reuters)

International relations

The Pacific Islands Forum discusses Fiji in Vanuatu. (BBC) (The Sydney Morning Herald)

Law and crime

Theresa Riggi stabs her three children to death and attempts suicide.
Vaughn R. Walker, the Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, rules in Perry v. Schwarzenegger that California Proposition 8 banning same-sex marriage in California is unconstitutional. (Los Angeles Times) (Reuters via New York Times) (CNN) (BBC)
A journalist with The Sunday Times is arrested in South Africa.^{[clarification needed]} (News24) (The Sowetan) (Times LIVE) (iAfrica)
A man with a knife embarks on a fatal slashing rampage in a kindergarten in Zibo, Shandong. (The Sydney Morning Herald) (BBC)
The prison sentence of Sabbar Kashur, a married Arab man convicted by Israel of "rape by deception" after telling the accuser that he's Jewish and single, is delayed as he attempts an appeal. (The Guardian) (Haaretz)
Canadian Abdullah Khadr, charged with terrorism by the United States and jailed in Canada since 2005, is released from prison after a Canadian judge declines an extradition attempt by the United States. (Aljazeera)
Mohamed Mostafaei, an Iranian lawyer who defended convicted adulterer Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, is reported to be in Turkey, seeking asylum. (BBC) (France24)^{[permanent dead link]}
A decision by Malacca to allow under-age marriage is criticised by groups of women. (BBC) (Reuters) (The Sydney Morning Herald)

Politics and elections

President of Iran Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's trip to Hamedan:
- Ahmadinejad announces in Hamedan that Iran is ready to start talks this month about a possible nuclear fuel swap. (Xinhua)
- Ahmadinejad denies rumors that he survived an assassination attempt while in Hamedan, and claims that a customary firecracker was set off to greet him. (Xinhua) (The Guardian) (BBC) (AFP via News Limited) (Press TV)
Fidel Castro is expected to address the Cuban national assembly on Saturday for the first time in four years; his speech is anticipated to talk of a possible nuclear war involving the United States, Israel and Iran. (The Daily Telegraph) (BBC) (The Star)
Kenyans head to the polls to decide the fate of a potential new constitution. (Aljazeera) (BBC) (Reuters) (CNN)
Prime Minister of Italy Silvio Berlusconi survives a no-confidence vote. (BBC) (The Guardian) (Aljazeera) (France24) (The Irish Times)
Dokka Umarov denies he has quit as head of Chechnya's armed separatist group. (Aljazeera)
Cabinet formation in the Netherlands: Ivo Opstelten, the chairman of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy, is appointed the new informateur, tasked with finalizing the formation of a right-wing minority coalition cabinet. (NOS)
U.S. Rep. Don Young R-Alaska claims that he has been cleared in a United States Department of Justice corruption probe. (AP via Google News)

Sport

10,000 people arrive in Cologne for the opening ceremony of the 2010 Gay Games. (The Guardian)
Surrey defeat Glamorgan by 39 runs on the Duckworth–Lewis method to achieve a world record for the highest score in 40-over cricket in the CB 40 at The Oval. (BBC Sport) (The Daily Telegraph) (Sky Sports)
Alex Rodriguez of the New York Yankees becomes the seventh player in the history of Major League Baseball to hit 600 home runs. (The New York Times)

August 5, 2010 (Thursday)

Armed conflicts and incidents

South Korea begins a huge anti-submarine exercise in the Yellow Sea, near the disputed maritime border, in what it sees as a show of strength against North Korea and "to be fully prepared for combat"; North Korea disapproves of the exercise. (BBC) (The Jakarta Post) (Reuters) (The Sydney Morning Herald) (The Times of India)
At least 25 or 32 Afghans, including civilians, are killed by NATO airstrikes in Nangarhar Province, many bombed by NATO planes while attending the funeral of a flood victim; relatives are displeased. (BBC) (France24)^{[permanent dead link]} (The New York Times)
At least 17 more people are killed during a third day of violence in Karachi, with police given orders to shoot on sight as buildings burn. Current death toll: At least 80. (BBC)
Kyrgyzstan:
- Troops in Bishkek fire shots as protesters travel to support Urmat Baryktabasov, an opposition politician who arrived back in Kyrgyzstan from overseas. (BBC) (UPI)
- Tear gas is fired and 27 people, including Baryktabasov, are arrested. (France24) (China Daily)
At least six Afghan policemen are killed during a suicide attack in Kunduz, by the Tajikistan border. (BBC) (The Asian Age) (IOL)^{[permanent dead link]}
Somali pirates seized a Syrian freighter flagged in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines carrying sugar with 24 crew (22 Syrian and 2 Egyptian) in the Gulf of Aden. (AFP)
Israel releases the MV Mavi Marmara, the aid ship which it impounded after killing nine activists during May's Gaza flotilla raid. (BBC) (Arab News) (Indian Express) (The Sydney Morning Herald)

Arts and culture

A Salvador Dalí exhibition in Atlanta, United States, is to feature items from Canada, Japan and Scotland. (BBC) (The Christian Science Monitor)
A piano which Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is thought to have played is discovered in Baden-Baden, Baden-Württemberg. (The Age)
A world-class example of a 17th-century ship's pass - dating from 1687 and signed by King James II and Samuel Pepys - is presented to the National Library of Ireland. (RTÉ)
Russian pianist, conductor and composer Mikhail Pletnev cancels some appearances while he deals with accusations that he raped a 14-year-old boy in Thailand. (BBC)

Business and economics

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) sacks Ndi Okereke-Onyuike, the director-general of the Nigerian Stock Exchange and suspends its chairman, Aliko Dangote. (BBC)
Taiwan and Singapore agree to hold talks on a free trade deal. (Focus Taiwan News Channel) (Financial Times) (Xinhua) (BBC)
Pham Thanh Binh, the former boss of Vinashin, one of Vietnam's largest state-owned companies, is arrested on suspicion of nearly bankrupting the company. (BBC)

Disasters

The United Nations states more than four million people are now affected by the most severe flooding in Pakistan's history, while the death toll rises to at least 1,600. (Aljazeera) (BBC)
A Russian military garrison near Naro-Fominsk outside Moscow moves its artillery rockets to a safer location as the wildfires get nearer. (AP via Google News)
At least 20 people die after a bus falls into the Jhelum River in Pakistan controlled Kashmir. (Peoples Daily)
18 children die after their boat capsizes on the Tanzanian side of Lake Victoria. (News Limited)
BP is authorized to pump cement into the Deepwater Horizon oil spill site after a successful "static kill" procedure with drilling mud. (CNN)

International relations

The Pacific Islands Forum meets in Vanuatu and discusses the situation in Fiji. (AFP via Google News)
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem sends a letter to Secretary-General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon in which he writes charges against three Israelis charged with spying for Syria are "baseless" and "fabricated". (Haaretz)
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom David Cameron commits another gaffe - with an erroneous statement that Iran possesses a nuclear weapon - just after apologising to an angered pensioner for his previous gaffe about the Battle of Britain. (BBC) (news.com.au) (The Guardian) (Sky News)

Law and crime

Model Naomi Campbell gives evidence that she received several "dirty looking stones" after meeting the former President of Liberia Charles Taylor in his trial at the United Nations Special Court for Sierra Leone. (The Guardian) (Aljazeera) (BBC)
A Polish appellate court upholds the decision of a lower court to extradite an alleged Mossad agent to Germany to face trial for forging a passport used in the slaying of Hamas commander Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in Dubai. (AP via Google News) (BBC) (Press TV) (Haaretz)
Israel charges three Arab men with spying for Syria; they deny the charges and one is alleged to be a human rights activist.^{[clarification needed]} (BBC)
A woman who is alleged to have been raped by two police officers appears on Egyptian television where she is interviewed about the experience. (BBC)
Supporters of California Proposition 8 banning same-sex marriage lodge an appeal against the decision of United States district court Vaughn R. Walker overturning it. (CNN)
The Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation upholds as constitutional a law allowing same-sex marriages in Mexico City. (BBC) (France24)
British police issue an apology after one of them shot a 14-year-old female bystander with a Taser, sending an electric shock through her body. (BBC)
Reported Japanese child abuse reaches its highest level since records were first taken a decade ago. (BBC) (The Age)
Brazilian police discover a Rio de Janeiro prison is being run by some of the inmates; a guard is arrested. (BBC)
The U.S. Government charges 14 people as participants in "a deadly pipeline" sending money and fighters from the United States to the Somalian insurgency group Al-Shabaab. (AP via Google News) (BBC)

Politics

Kenyan constitutional referendum, 2010:
- Preliminary results of the referendum on the new Constitution of Kenya show it has passed with 67 per cent of the vote following a peaceful election. (Aljazeera)
- Those campaigning against the new Constitution concede defeat. (BBC)
Rwanda:
- The Rwandan government denies in a statement that it has been responsible for the deaths of any political opponents. (BBC)
- Rwandan Foreign Minister Louise Mushikiwabo says the country is "committed to free expression" but that it does not favour "hate media". (IOL)
Former Prime Minister of Australia Kevin Rudd joins Julia Gillard's election campaign while recovering from gallbladder surgery by attacking the opposition leader Tony Abbott. (BBC)
The Ivorian presidential election, 2010 is set for 31 October. (BBC)
Musician Wyclef Jean formally registers to stand for the presidency of Haiti. (BBC) (Aljazeera)
The United States Senate confirms the nomination of Elena Kagan as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. (CNN)

Science

Newly released files, which can be freely downloaded for the next month, show that the British government felt threatened by UFOs in the 1950s and that Winston Churchill and Dwight D. Eisenhower ordered the cover-up of one unexplained encounter. (BBC) (France24)^{[permanent dead link]} (News24) (Reuters) (The Times of India)

Sports

Anil Khanna, treasurer of the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi, resigns the position due to corrupt allegations. (BBC Sport)
Uruguay striker and 2010 FIFA World Cup player of the tournament Diego Forlán is a popular attraction among the inhabitants of Kolkata as he participates in a talent search. (BBC News)
In United States baseball, a group led by Nolan Ryan buys the Texas Rangers at a bankruptcy auction. (MSNBC)

August 6, 2010 (Friday)

Armed conflicts and incidents

NATO admits it killed "between four and a dozen or more civilians" in Nangarhar Province as a result of air strikes on August 5. (The Sydney Morning Herald) (The New York Times)
Germany offers compensation of €3,800 to each family of 91 of the 142 people it killed and 11 it injured in an air strike near Kunduz, an incident which provoked outrage and led to political and military resignations. The Bundeswehr does not admit guilt and families say they may sue. (BBC) (Der Spiegel)
Pakistan's Major-General Tariq Khan urges NATO to do more to control the border with Afghanistan, amid increasing UK and U.S. pressure for Pakistan to deal with it. (BBC)
Israeli authorities shut down all crossings into Gaza for the day. (Bernama)
An international aid ship, the Saint Mariam, bearing only female passengers from all backgrounds, including singer May Hariri and several Americans, is to leave Tripoli bound for Gaza after overcoming an Israeli diplomatic mission designed to prevent it from setting sail. (The Guardian)
The United Arab Emirates says the incident in which the Japanese tanker, the MV M. Star, was damaged in the Strait of Hormuz near Oman last week involved an explosives-laden dinghy. (Aljazeera) (BBC) (Emirates News Agency) (AFP)
An explosion at Zamboanga International Airport in the southern Philippines kills two people and injures 24. (BBC) (Philippine Inquirer)
French police dismantle Romani camps in Saint-Étienne by order of the president. (BBC) (Expatica France) (The Irish Times)

Arts and culture

Reykjavík's mayor, Jón Gnarr of the Best Party, dresses in drag for the opening of the city's gay pride festival. (BBC) (The Daily Telegraph)
Chinese culture minister Cai Wu expresses dismay at the quality of cultural productions in his country. (China Daily) (France24)^{[permanent dead link]} (BBC) (The Daily Telegraph) (Reuters)

Business and economy

Vladimir Putin, the Prime Minister of Russia, bans export of flour and wheat from August 15 to December 31 due to the worst drought in Russian history. (Reuters)
A 22-year-old Chinese woman falls from a building, becoming the thirteenth Foxconn employee to die in a spate of deaths at the company. (BBC)
The Tata Group establishes a five-man panel in the search for Ratan Naval Tata's successor as its head of business. (BBC) (NDTV) (The Asian Age)
Mark Hurd resigns as chief executive officer of computer company Hewlett-Packard following investigation of a sexual harassment claim. (AP via ABC America) (BBC)

Disasters

At least 12 million people are now affected by the worst floods in the history of Pakistan with 1,600 people being killed and 650,000 homes being destroyed. (Aljazeera) (BBC) (Sky News) (The Irish Times)
Flash floods in the Ladakh region of India's Jammu and Kashmir state kill at least 113 people and leave lots of others missing. (Aljazeera) (The Times of India)
Rescue efforts continue to save 34 people trapped in a mine after a rock collapse near Copiapó. (BBC) (Reuters via Mineweb) (Mining Weekly)
China suspends traffic on the Yalu River and evacuates more than 40,000 people from Dandong over fears of flooding amid unprecedented levels of rainfall. (BBC) (BusinessWeek)
Smoke from Russian wildfires covers famous landmarks and delays more than 140 flights at Moscow airports while official figures indicate that 14,340 people died in Moscow during July 2010; 4,824 more than the same month last year. (Sky News) (Bloomberg) (The Guardian)
Mount Karangetang, a volcano on the Indonesian island of Siau, erupts. (AP via Seattle PI)

International relations

Hiroshima marks the 65th anniversary of the world's first atomic bomb attack; United States representatives attend in an official capacity for the first time. (BBC) (The Age) (The New Zealand Herald)^{[permanent dead link]} (China Post)
Venezuela's Hugo Chávez promises that his foreign minister will attend the inauguration of Juan Manuel Santos as Colombian president, two weeks after direct relations between the two countries were broken off, thanks to mediation efforts by President of Brazil Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. (BBC)
South Africa recalls its ambassador to Rwanda. (BBC) (iAfrica) (Reuters Africa) (The Mercury)
It is impossible that Abdelbaset al-Megrahi could have pretended to have terminal prostate cancer, according to an oncologist who examined him. (BBC)
Britain's High Commission in Colombo lifts travel advice restrictions on Sri Lanka for the first time in approximately 30 years. (BBC) (Daily Mail)
Asif Ali Zardari and David Cameron meeting:
- After meeting Pakistani President Zardari at Chequers UK Prime Minister Cameron speaks of an "unbreakable" friendship between Britain and Pakistan in his attempts to recover from remarks he made about Pakistan's alleged promotion of terrorism. (BBC)
- Zardari reiterates his desire to combat terrorism and says he has secured a deal with Britain to lobby the European Union for funds for a "Marshall Plan" to rebuild Pakistan and Afghanistan. (The Guardian) (BBC)

Law and crime

Saudi Arabia BlackBerry ban:
- Saudi Arabia's ban of online functions on BlackBerry mobile phones is implemented. (BBC)
- BlackBerry devices can be used again now across the country following a four-hour outage earlier today. (BBC)
Thousands of people attend the public flagellation of 5 people in Aceh amid requests that the practice be banned. (BBC)
A 25-year-old Bosnian immigrant is arraigned in a Brooklyn United States District Court for involvement in an alleged terrorist plot to blow up New York City's subway system. (CNN)
Jeremy Ractliffe, former head of the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund, admits he kept possible blood diamonds to protect the reputations of Mandela, Naomi Campbell and the fund but that he gave them to South African police and is willing to testify at Charles Taylor's trial. (The Guardian)
At least 14 people are killed during a prison riot in Matamoros in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas. (BBC)
Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, sentenced to death in Iran, speaks out, saying Iran is "desperately trying to distract attention and confuse the media so that they can kill me in secret". (The Guardian)
Police near Colombo arrest a suspected fraudster for whom they had previously appealed to Interpol; it is unknown if he denies the charges brought against him. (BBC)
A woman is arrested following the discovery of baby corpses stored inside four suitcases in her attic in Nij Beets, Friesland. (BBC) (news.com.au) (Reuters) (Sky News)
The Governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger files a motion calling for same-sex marriages to resume in the U.S. state immediately. (AFP via The Age)

Politics

The Pentagon makes a demand to Wikileaks that it remove its collection of classified military documents from the internet. (Aljazeera) (BBC) (Reuters)
Brazil's four main presidential election candidates participate in their first televised debate. (BBC)
Musician Wyclef Jean files his papers in his bid to become President of Haiti. (BBC)
Pál Schmitt takes office as President of Hungary, succeeding outgoing president László Sólyom. (Politics.hu)
Bronisław Komorowski is officially sworn in as President of Poland, following the death of President Lech Kaczyński in a plane crash in April. (Aljazeera) (BBC)
Nepalese politicians unsuccessfully attempt to elect a new prime minister for the fourth time; they will try again on 18 August. (BBC)
Swaziland's justice minister and senator Ndumiso Mamba resigns from both positions over allegations of an affair with a wife of King Mswati III; the wife has denied the allegations. (BBC) (Times LIVE) (IOL)^{[permanent dead link]} (The Guardian)

Science

According to scientists, one million little brown bats (Myotis lucifugus) have contracted white nose syndrome (WNS) and died in North America. (BBC)
U.S. scientists plan to rotate the Confederate submarine, the H. L. Hunley, buried in the outer harbour of Charleston, South Carolina so that they can examine it more closely. (AP via Google News)
American scientists announce an ice sheet has broken from Greenland's Petermann Glacier. (BBC) (The Guardian)

Sport

Usain Bolt is professionally defeated for only the second time in the 100 metres by Tyson Gay in Stockholm. (BBC Sport) (The Guardian) (The Daily Telegraph) (The Independent)

August 7, 2010 (Saturday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah announces Monday as the day he will present evidence reputed to implicate Israel in the 2005 car bomb assassination of then Prime Minister of Lebanon Rafiq Hariri. (The Sydney Morning Herald)
Israel announces that Benjamin Netanyahu, Ehud Barak and Avigdor Lieberman have chosen Yosef Ciechanover, who formerly held posts in the Foreign Ministry, Defence Ministry and defence mission to the United States, to represent it on the United Nations panel to investigate May's Gaza flotilla raid. (The Jerusalem Post) (Haaretz)
The MV Mavi Marmara arrives in Turkey; the remaining three non-Turkish flotilla vessels plus the MV Rachel Corrie cargo ship, which followed days later, remain in Israeli custody. (Aljazeera) (BBC)
10 people, including 2 Afghan civilians and 8 International Assistance Mission aid workers, are killed in Nuristan Province. (BBC) (Deutsche Welle) (Voice of America)
14 people die and 35 others are injured in Basra due to an explosion, possibly caused by a power generator. (BBC) (France24)
5 Iraqi policemen are killed in an overnight shootout in western Baghdad, while 1 policeman is killed at a checkpoint outside Fallujah. (AP via The Guardian)

Arts and entertainment

Hungarian actress Zsa Zsa Gabor, hospitalised after falling in the United States last month, is not released from hospital as had been initially expected due to a negative reaction to her morphine. (BBC)

Business and economy

The Gulf of Mexico seafood industry starts to reopen after the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. (AP via News Times)

Disasters

Pakistan issues a red alert as the worst floods in its history move south towards Sindh, with hundreds of thousands of people being evacuated, at least 10,000 cows killed and Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani appealing on television for help from the international community. (BBC) (Aljazeera)
Pollution hits record levels in Moscow as large wildfires continue to devastate Russia. (Aljazeera)
At least 16 miners are killed during a fire at a gold mine in Zhaoyuan, Shandong, in China. 23 others are still trapped inside. (Aljazeera) (Xinhua)
Efforts intensify to rescue at least 34 people trapped in a mine near Copiapó, Chile, in the Atacama Desert. (Aljazeera) (Bangkok Post)^{[permanent dead link]} (People's Daily) (news.com.au)
3 people are killed as a result of storms and flooding in Saxony. (Deutsche Welle)
At least 127 people have died and 1,300 missing following landslides caused by heavy rains in China's northwestern Gansu province. (AFP via Google News), (Bloomberg via Business Week)
An oil spill stretching at least two miles long occurs in the Arabian Sea offshore Mumbai, India, after a vessel from Panama collides with another vessel from St. Kitts. The Panamanian ship was carrying 2,662 tons of oil, 283 tons of diesel and 88,040 liters of lube oil when it became grounded and started to leak. (CNN) (Sify)

International relations

A poll of six countries, taken by the Brookings Institution, an American think tank, indicates that the popularity of the President of the United States Barack Obama has dropped significantly in the Arab World since "A New Beginning". (The Irish Times) (Asia Times Online) (Press TV)
President of Iran Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and President of Guinea-Bissau Malam Bacai Sanhá meet in Tehran. (Press TV)
President of Colombia Juan Manuel Santos, in his inauguration speech, vows to improve relations with Ecuador and Venezuela. (Xinhua)

Law and crime

A Turkish court annuls an arrest warrant issued against 102 military officers over an alleged coup plot in 2003. (Aljazeera)
An appeals court in Iran upholds a five year jail sentence against the owner of Mehdi Karroubi's opposition website. (IOL)
A man accused by witnesses of domestic violence informs a New Zealand court that he and his wife were performing the Turkish kolbasti traditional dance at the time of the alleged incident in Hawera. (BBC) (Canadian Press) (The New Zealand Herald) (The Daily Telegraph) (The Age)
Saudi Arabia BlackBerry ban:
- Saudi Arabia decides it will not ban BlackBerry instant messaging after agreeing a deal to iron out security fears. (The Daily Telegraph)
- According to Saudi officials, a deal is close to prevent the ban of the devices. (BBC)

Politics and elections

President of Paraguay Fernando Lugo is diagnosed with lymphoma. (Aljazeera) (BBC) (Buenos Aires Herald)
Juan Manuel Santos is sworn in office as 59th President of Colombia, succeeding Álvaro Uribe, at a ceremony attended by more than 100 international delegations. (BBC) (Aljazeera) (France24) (The Irish Times) (CNN)
Fidel Castro delivers a short speech to the Cuban Parliament to warn about the risk of a nuclear war between the United States and Iran, accusing Barack Obama of provoking conflict with Iran and North Korea and urging him to prevent such a conflict. (Aljazeera) (BBC)

Science

United States astronauts Douglas H. Wheelock and Tracy Caldwell Dyson fail on the International Space Station (ISS)'s longest spacewalk and sixth longest spacewalk to repair a cooling system, which means two more spacewalks are now required. (BBC) (TIME)^{[permanent dead link]}

Sport

New Zealand's All Blacks defeat the Australian Wallabies 20-10 to win the Bledisloe Cup and Tri Nations. (Radio New Zealand)
The 2010 World Sauna Championships ends upon the death of Russian finalist Vladimir Ladyzhensky in Heinola, Finland. (BBC News) (The Age)

August 8, 2010 (Sunday)

Armed conflicts and incidents

North Korea detains a South Korean fishing boat with four South Koreans and three Chinese on board. (BBC) (Straits Times) (Aljazeera)
At least 8 people are killed and 32 others injured during a car bomb outside a restaurant in Ramadi, Iraq. (Aljazeera)
The death toll of Saturday's explosion in Basra, Iraq, rises to 43, with the number of injured people being over 100. Police say the explosion was as a result of a power generator short-circuiting but other sources claim it was due to a car bomb. (Aljazeeera) (Euronews) (BBC)
Adaisseh incident:
- United States Representative Ron Klein calls for an investigation into American military aid to Lebanon to determine whether the Lebanese soldiers involved used American-supplied military equipment or received American-funded training. (The Jerusalem Post)
Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu orders his attorney-general to find out who leaked embarrassing details about a feud among some of his generals, one of whom is trying to smear his rivals. (Reuters India)
The Anatolian Agency reports that two Turkish Army soldiers were killed in a roadside bomb explosion in Mardin Province near the Turkish border with Syria. (Canadian Press via Google News)
A bridegroom accidentally shoots dead three relations and injures eight others while celebrating with an AK-47 at his wedding in Akcagoze, Gaziantep in Turkey; the man has been detained. (BBC) (News24)

Business and economy

Mark Papermaster, who engineered the Apple Inc. iPhone, leaves the company due to the antenna issues associated with the iPhone 4. (Aljazeera)
Ads website Craigslist faces allegations of "pay to rape" underage prostitution after a letter is published in The Washington Post. (The Guardian)
It is revealed that Sarah, Duchess of York faces possible bankruptcy, which would make her the first Royal to suffer this. (The Guardian)

Disasters

127 people are killed and 2,000 missing in landslides in Gansu Province, China, due to ongoing flooding. (China Daily) (The Times of India) (Aljazeera) (BBC)
The death toll rises to 132 and injury toll is at least 400 as severe flash floods devastate Kashmir. (Press TV)
2010 Pakistan floods:
- Torrential rains worsen the ongoing flood crisis across Pakistan, which has so far affected 14 million people, as rescue helicopters are forced to stay on the ground in the northwest of the country. (Aljazeera) (BBC)
- Landslips wreak further destruction in Pakistan: 28 corpses retrieved so far in 2 villages. (BBC)
- Food prices soar in Pakistan as the floods destroy one million acres of crops so far. (The Express Tribune)
Flash floods in the Baltic and Central Europe:
- Flash floods sweep across central Europe and the Baltic states, killing at least 15 people - 5 Czechs, 4 Lithuanians, 3 Germans, 3 Poles -, whilst 3 Czechs are also missing. (BBC) (Deutsche Welle) (IOL) (Reuters Africa) (The Age)
- Poland's Vistula River breaks is banks, leading to the evacuation of thousands of people. Hungary is also in a critical situation. Slovakia experiences its worst floods in a century. (Deutsche Welle)
There is a further cave-in at the mine near Copiapó, Chile where people have been working since Thursday to rescue 34 miners trapped underground; work is currently suspended in an incident that is rare in that part of the world. (BBC)
Several countries evacuate staff from their embassies in Moscow due to the 2010 Russian wildfires including Germany, Austria, Poland and Canada, (RIA Novosti) as Russia experiences its hottest year on record. (Voice of America)

International relations

President of Sudan Omar al-Bashir says the "mandate" of the United Nations, African Union and international aid organisations in Darfur is to "support government authorities" and that expulsion is the other option. (Aljazeera)
There is "significant concern" after an investigation into the UK Border Agency (UKBA) reveals abuse and racial manhandlement of asylum seekers by staff. (The Guardian)
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev arrives in Abkhazia on his first visit there since the territory declared independence from Georgia two years ago. (RIA Novosti) (Xinhua) (AFP) (BBC)
Prime Minister of Iraq Nouri al-Maliki visits Irbil to talk with President of Kurdistan Massoud Barzani. (Aljazeera)
New President of Colombia Juan Manuel Santos and President of Venezuela Hugo Chávez agree to meet for talks on Tuesday, following a recent diplomatic disagreement. (BBC) (Reuters)
Cardinal Keith O'Brien who leads the Catholic Church in Scotland, defends the Scottish government's decision to release Abdelbaset al-Megrahi for humanitarian reasons and attacks the United States's "culture of vengeance" for trying to coerce Scottish ministers into "crawling like lapdogs". (BBC) (The Guardian) (The Daily Telegraph) (Daily Mail) (Reuters)
President of Afghanistan Hamid Karzai's senior adviser says the government has commenced talks with some Taliban leaders. (Aljazeera)

Laws and crimes

Mordechai Vanunu, who spoke about Israel's nuclear ambitions to The Sunday Times in 1986 and was referred to as a "prisoner of conscience" by Amnesty International after Israel imprisoned him for that action, is released from prison again after serving three months for meeting foreigners, including his Norwegian girlfriend, in 2007. He requests that he be allowed to leave Israel. (Haaretz) (The Guardian)
President of Mexico Felipe Calderón calls for a debate on the legalization of drugs. (The Observer)
18-year-old Ebrahim Hamidi is sentenced to death for sodomy in Iran, without legal representation after human rights lawyer Mohammad Mostafaei flees in the wake of the Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani case. (The Observer)
Mohammad Mostafaei seeks asylum in Norway after his escape from Iran to Turkey by car, horse and foot. (BBC)
Saudi Arabia delays shutting off Research in Motion's BlackBerry instant messaging system allowing for test of a system allowing the Government of Saudi Arabia to monitor user data. (Bloomberg)
Elena Kagan is sworn in as the fourth woman to sit on the Supreme Court of the United States. (The New York Times)

Politics and elections

More than 1,000 journalists march through Mexico City in protest at the repeated killings and disappearances of their colleagues throughout Mexico. (Aljazeera)
The President of South Korea Lee Myung-Bak replaces the Prime Minister of South Korea Chung Un-chan with Kim Tae-ho as part of a Cabinet reshuffle with seven other ministers also being replaced. (AFP via Google News)
Protesters in Potosí, Bolivia, strengthen an anti-government protest by starting a hunger strike and cutting rail links to Chile. (AFP via Google) (Latin American Herald Tribune) (ABC News)
Rwanda prepares for a presidential election, its second since the 1994 Rwandan Genocide. (Aljazeera)

Sport

Officials say the World Sauna Championships will not run again after the death yesterday of Russian competitor Vladimir Ladyzhenskiy in Heinola, Finland. (The Guardian)
Australia defeats England 4-0 to win the Hockey Champions Trophy in field hockey held in Mönchengladbach Germany. (AP via USA Today)

August 9, 2010 (Monday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu testifies before Israel's Turkel Commission investigating the country's role in May's Gaza flotilla raid, chaired by Israeli judge Jacob Turkel. The testimony is scheduled to last five hours, with some of it closed to the media and public. (The Jerusalem Post) (The Sydney Morning Herald) (The Daily Telegraph) (Aljazeera) (BBC)
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah gives a press conference in which he states he has evidence that implicates Israel in the 2005 assassination of then Prime Minister of Lebanon Rafic Hariri, who was killed along with 22 others. (Aljazeera) (BBC) (Haaretz) (Reuters)
Commemoration of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki:
- Japan marks the 65th anniversary of the 1945 atomic bombing of Nagasaki. The United States, which perpetrated the attack, upsets survivors by not sending an ambassador due to "scheduling reasons" this time, though France and the UK send representatives for the first time. (China Daily) (Yomiuri Shimbun) (BBC)
- Mayor of Nagasaki Tomihisa Taue calls for the international elimination of nuclear weapons before representatives of a record 32 countries. (Japan Times)
The Turkish government promotes two new generals. (BBC)
Iraqi traffic police are allegedly given AK-47 assault rifles for their use in Baghdad. (BBC) (IOL)^{[permanent dead link]} (Reuters via Arab News)
South Korea claims that North Korea has fired more than 100 rounds of artillery into the Sea of Japan near the border highlighting the increase of tensions on the Korean Peninsula. (Los Angeles Times) (China Daily)
The International Assistance Mission suspends medical expeditions in Afghanistan following loss of personnel in the 2010 Badakhshan massacre. (The New York Times)

Arts and culture

Actress Patricia Neal, the wife of author Roald Dahl, dies. (BBC)

Business and economy

Honda recalls more than 384,000 vehicles due to ignition difficulties. (BBC) (Japan Today) (The Age) (The Times of India) (Los Angeles Times)
Mexicana de Aviación cancels flights to and from Europe and the Americas as it goes bankrupt. (BBC) (Mexicana de Aviación)
Luxembourg's Skype files for an initial public offering in the United States. (BBC) (The Guardian) (Sky News)

Disasters

The United Nations describes the ongoing 2010 Pakistan floods as the worst natural disaster in years - worse than the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami, the 2005 Kashmir earthquake and the 2010 Haiti earthquake - as the number of people affected reaches an estimated 15 million and the waters and landslides continue to swamp the country. (Aljazeera)
The death toll in China following the recent mudslide rises to 337. 1,148 people are now missing. (BBC) (AFP via France24) (AP via The Times of India) (Reuters India)
33 miners are still trapped without any contact underground after days of rescue efforts at a collapsed mine near Copiapó in the Atacama Desert. (BBC) (Reuters India) (Aljazeera)
Mumbai oil spill:
- An oil spill becomes more serious three days after two ships, MSC Chitra and MV Khalijia-111 collided off Mumbai, India. (The Times of India) (Aljazeera)
- Prime Minister of India Manmohan Singh orders an investigation. (BBC)
At least 10 people die and dozens disappear after a passenger boat sinks off the coast of Indonesia. (BBC) (France24) (The News International) (The Age)

International relations

President of Venezuela Hugo Chávez announces that he has agreed to meet President of Colombia Juan Manuel Santos tomorrow for talks to end strained relations between the two countries. (Aljazeera)
The World Trade Organization orders Australia to change restrictions on New Zealand apple imports imposed due to the fear of fire blight. (AFP via ABC Online)

Law and crime

Journalists in South Africa launch a campaign to oppose possible legislation which may limit freedom of the press. (BBC)
Israeli police examine office computers and issue a warrant to Channel 2 calling on it to surrender a military document they want. (The Jerusalem Post)
A man from Israel is released after being detained as a suspected spy in Libya in return for the safe delivery to Gaza of 20 prefabricated houses, whose ship was forced to divert to Egypt in July. (BBC) (The Sydney Morning Herald)
An anonymous transsexual is involved in a landmark case in Hong Kong to win the right to marry her boyfriend. (BBC)
Recently resigned Zambian Defence Minister George Mpombo, a critic of President Rupiah Banda, is imprisoned for 60 days due to a bounced cheque. (BBC)
More than 200 Mexican police suspend and hold their own commander at gunpoint in a Ciudad Juárez hotel over allegations of drugs-related corruption. (BBC)
Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir is arrested - along with his wife, the driver of the car he was in and another woman - by Indonesian police in Ciamis, West Java. (BBC) (The Sydney Morning Herald) (Reuters Africa) (Herald Sun)
American politician Maxine Waters is formally charged with three counts of breaking ethics rules. (BBC)
Former President of Mexico Vicente Fox calls for the legalisation of drugs in Mexico. (BBC)
Actress Mia Farrow gives evidence in the trial of former President of Liberia Charles Taylor before the United Nations Special Court for Sierra Leone. (The Daily Telegraph) (BBC) (The Independent)
Bangladesh bans beatings. (BBC)
Sudan outlaws BBC Arabic in Khartoum and three other cities. (BBC) (Reuters) (News24)

Politics and elections

Voters in Rwanda go to the polls for the presidential election. (Aljazeera) (BBC) (Voice of America)
Vice-President of Colombia Angelino Garzón gets sick two days into his term. (BBC) (AFP via France24)^{[permanent dead link]} (Reuters)
Prime Minister of the Solomon Islands Derek Sikua retains his seat in his North East Guadalcanal constituency as vote tallying continues in the general election. (Solomon Times)
Guinea's presidential run-off is scheduled for 19 September. (BBC)

August 10, 2010 (Tuesday)

Armed conflicts and incidents

A United States military judge at Guantánamo Bay rules that confessions allegedly forced via torture from Omar Khadr, a Canadian citizen they accuse of terrorism after his 2002 capture at the age of 15, count as evidence in his trial. (Aljazeera) (BBC) (The Independent)
Defense Minister of Israel Ehud Barak testifies before Israel's Turkel Commission investigating the country's role in May's Gaza flotilla raid, chaired by Israeli judge Jacob Turkel. His prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday testified that he had left Barak to "co-ordinate" the raid and response "in all of its aspects" while he visited North America. (The Jerusalem Post)
The United States and Vietnam celebrate the 15th anniversary of diplomatic relations by conducting what the United States describes as a "series of naval engagement activities" in the South China Sea, risking a disagreement with China. (BBC) (China Daily)
War in Afghanistan
- The United Nations releases a report highlighting the deaths of civilians in Afghanistan. (BBC)
- Two people are killed in a suicide attack on a guesthouse used by foreign security company in Kabul. (Voice of America)
Israel's Foreign Ministry alleges Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah's press conference yesterday, in which he stated he has evidence that implicates Israel in the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister of Lebanon Rafic Hariri and 22 others, was full of "ridiculous lies". (The Jerusalem Post)

Business and economy

A much-publicised project backed by Spain's government sells just 16 of the 2,000 electric cars it had intended so far in 2010. (BBC) (The Guardian) (The Hindu) (BusinessWeek)

Disasters

The Niger River bursts its banks forcing 5,000 people to lose their homes and crops. (BBC)
A 7.6 magnitude earthquake and small tsunami hits the Pacific Ocean nation of Vanuatu. (AFP via Yahoo News Australia), (INO)
Rescuers in China's Gansu province continue to search for 1,100 missing people in a recent landslide, as the death toll rises to 702. (BBC) (China Daily)
A de Havilland Canada DHC-3 Otter seaplane crashes near Aleknagik, Alaska, killing five people, including former U.S. Senator Ted Stevens. Former NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe and O'Keefe's son were aboard the plane, but survived. (MarketWatch) (Reuters) (CNN)

International relations

The United States defends its decision to appoint as Venezuelan ambassador Larry Palmer, who has expressed negative views of the country in the past, including insinuating that it has ties with Colombian rebels. (Aljazeera)
The Prime Minister of Japan Naoto Kan apologises to South Korea for colonising the Korean peninsula for three decades in the early 1900s and promises to return cultural relics in the near future. (CNN) (BBC) (AP)
Iran digs mass graves in Khuzestan province, using psychological warfare in preparation for an invasion by the United States armed forces after the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1929, and warns that Iran will attack American bases in the Middle East if American forces attack. (Voice of America)

Law and crime

The United States convicts Noshir Gowadia, a former engineer who allegedly sold secrets to China, and who now faces life imprisonment. (BBC)
The United Nations warns that the trial of Guantánamo Bay inmate Omar Khadr violates an International Criminal Court statute banning the trial for war crimes of those under the age of 18, saying this has not happened since World War II. (The Hindu)
The Israel Defense Forces arrest three wanted Palestinians during an operation in Tulkarm and Nablus in the West Bank. (The Jerusalem Post)
The Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation rules same-sex marriages in Mexico City have to be recognised across Mexico. (BBC)
Saudi Arabia permits the use of BlackBerry devices for now, having previously considering banning them as they were unable to intercept and decrypt communications on that platform. (BBC)
Guatemala issues arrest warrants for 18 former senior officials and policemen who killed 7 prisoners in 2006. (BBC)
Morocco is to close 1,250 mosques deemed to be unsafe following the collapse of a minaret at the Bab Berdieyinne Mosque in February. (BBC) (AFP)
A policy proposal by Google and Verizon regarding the way internet service is regulated comes under criticism from groups promoting net neutrality. (New York Times)

Politics

The President of the United States Barack Obama signs a $26 billion bill to help struggling states to meet budgets. (Reuters)

Science

The World Health Organization announces that the H1N1 flu pandemic which killed 18,000 people worldwide is over. (CBC) (WHO)
Archaeologists claim they have located Britain's oldest house near Scarborough, North Yorkshire, England, UK. (BBC)

Sport

Usain Bolt sustains a back injury that rules him out of all competition for the remainder of the year. (Jamaica Observer) (BBC Sport) (Herald Sun) (The Mercury)

August 11, 2010 (Wednesday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

A grenade attack occurs during rush hour in Kigali, Rwanda, two days after the country's presidential election. (BBC)
A government-appointed commission in Sri Lanka investigating the country's civil war opens. (AP) (BBC) (Aljazeera)
Corpses of more than 50 people are unearthed in Perućac lake on the border between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia by investigators looking for people who were killed during the 1992-95 Bosnian War. (BBC)
8 Iraqi soldiers are killed and 4 others are wounded by an explosion at a house in Diyala. (Aljazeera) (BBC)

Arts and culture

Millions of Muslims begin the holy month of Ramadan in which they are required to fast between sunrise and sunset. (The Guardian)
Pope Benedict XVI refuses the resignations of Irish bishops Eamonn Walsh and Raymond Field, who resigned at Christmas over criticism in the Murphy Report into child sexual abuse. (BBC) (The Irish Times) (RTÉ) (The Guardian) (The Washington Post)
The Buggles, known for "Video Killed the Radio Star", the first song played on MTV, announce they are to reunite for a one-off first ever live performance. (BBC) (NME) (The Guardian)
An American museum launches an appeal designed to restore 5 dresses that actress Vivien Leigh wore in the film Gone with the Wind (1939) ahead of 2014's 75th anniversary. (BBC)
The internet parody video "Newport State of Mind", which had received hundreds of thousands of hits, is taken off YouTube due to a "copyright claim" by EMI Publishing. (BBC)

Business and economy

A preliminary investigation blames driver error for many Toyota accidents. (BBC) (The Guardian)
International stock markets slump in value in Asia, Europe and North America due to speculation brought about by comments from the Federal Reserve System of the United States. (BBC) (CBC News)
The Bank of England's governor Mervyn King admits the economy will not grow very much and inflation will stay higher for longer in the UK, describing as a "choppy recovery" being ahead over the next two years. (BBC)

Disasters

Fires are reported in Russia's nuclear-contaminated forests from the Chernobyl disaster in 1986, amid concerns about the spread of radiation. (Xinhua) (The Guardian) (Hindustan Times)
Heavy rains threaten rescue efforts after a deadly mudslide in Gansu, China, as the death toll reaches 1,117. (Xinhua) (BBC) (Aljazeera)
2010 Pakistan floods:
- Food prices quadruple in Pakistan as conditions worsen and at least 1.4 million acres of crops are wiped out in Punjab by Pakistan's worst floods. (Aljazeera) (BBC)
- The United Nations warns that there could be a second wave of deaths due to the devastation caused by the floods. (Mail & Guardian)
- Gordon Brown requests that the British public supply more money to be used to help those affected by the floods. (The Guardian)
- John Holmes, the United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator appeals for $460 million in funding to assist victims of the 2010 Pakistan floods. (Xinhua) (Voice of America)
National Transportation Safety Board investigators arrive at the scene of the 2010 Alaska plane crash near Aleknagik, Alaska. (CNN)

International relations

The Seychelles becomes the 112^th country to ratify the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. (UN)
Colombia-Venezuela relations:
- Venezuela and Colombia re-establish diplomatic relations after a meeting between recently inaugurated President of Colombia Juan Manuel Santos and Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez in Santa Marta, Colombia, mediated by UNASUR Secretary General Néstor Kirchner. (The New York Times) (Aljazeera) (Buenos Aires Herald)
- Colombian Foreign Minister María Ángela Holguín and Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolás Maduro are to meet in Caracas on 20 August. (Xinhua)
Investigation of the Gaza flotilla raid:
- Lieutenant-General of Israel Gabi Ashkenazi testifies before Israel's Turkel Commission investigating the country's role in May's Gaza flotilla raid, chaired by Israeli judge Jacob Turkel. He says force used was "proportionate and correct" and that soldiers "shot those who they needed to shoot". (The Guardian) (Aljazeera)
- Ashkenazi admits Israel did not have the intelligence to deal with the flotilla and threatens future flotillas with IDF snipers. (Xinhua) (Haaretz)
- The United Nations launches its own inquiry into May's Gaza flotilla raid, an inquiry "not designed to determine individual criminal responsibility". (Aljazeera)
The Palestine Liberation Organization's (PLO) executive committee announces that America's George J. Mitchell informed President of Palestine Mahmoud Abbas that the United States had given preliminary approval to the idea of the Quartet on the Middle East having peace talks with Israel. (Xinhua)
President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva signs a decree promising Brazil's co-operation with United Nations sanctions against Iran. (Aljazeera) (Xinhua)
Former Iranian presidential candidate Mehdi Karroubi suggests that American and British sanctions on Iran increase the power of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's government. (The Guardian)
Fidel Castro agrees with former U.S. intelligence agents who say Israel is planning for a sudden attack on Iran, but states that Israel won't start the war as it would be outnumbered. (Xinhua)
Russia announces that it has deployed S-300 anti-aircraft missiles in Abkhazia; the Georgian government expresses concern. (BBC) (Xinhua)
The United States threatens to sell an anti-ballistic missile to Kuwait to counter alleged "current and future threats". (BBC) (The Sydney Morning Herald) (France24)^{[permanent dead link]} (Reuters India)
Lebanese Defence Minister Elias Murr rejects military offers from the United States after $100 million due to Lebanon is blocked by the United States House of Representatives. (BBC)

Science

Australopithecus afarensis evidently used stone tools for consumption of animal tissues as early as 3.39 million years ago, a study published in Nature finds. (Nature) (BBC)

Law and crime

The jury is selected for Canadian Omar Khadr's war crimes trial at Guantanamo Bay. (The Globe and Mail)
Ibrahim al Qosi, a former cook and driver of Osama Bin Laden, is imprisoned for 14 years by a Guantánamo Bay military tribunal. (BBC)
Former Kyrgyz prime minister Igor Chudinov is arrested and charged with abuse of power during his 2007-2009 reign. (Xinhua)
The Women's Commission of West Bengal says there will be an inquiry into the case of a tribal woman who is reported to have been paraded naked around several villages and filmed in this act via a mobile phone. (BBC)
Michael Mara, a man dubbed the "Granddad Bandit" suspected of bank robbery in 13 US states is arrested in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. (AP via Google News)

Politics and elections

Peruvian indigenous Amazon groups announce a plan to launch their own political party before next year's election; protecting the rainforest and indigenous rights are to be among its aims. (BBC)
Rwanda's incumbent President Paul Kagame wins the country's presidential election with 95% of the vote. (BBC) (AFP)
A judge orders President of Paraguay Fernando Lugo to undergo DNA profiling relating to the matter of a two-year-old male child. (BBC)
American Republican politician Bill McCollum proposes stricter immigration legislation for the U.S. state of Florida, similar to that in the U.S. state of Arizona. (BBC) (The Guardian)

Sport

President of FIFA Sepp Blatter says that FIFA is investigating reports that members of the North Korea national football team have been publicly humiliated and the coach Kim Jong-hun sentenced to hard labour following a poor performance in the 2010 FIFA World Cup. (Bloomberg) (BBC)
Wendy Chapman, the doctor at the centre of the Bloodgate rugby union scandal, is summoned to a disciplinary hearing on 23 August. (RTÉ Sport) (Sky Sports) (BBC Sport)

August 12, 2010 (Thursday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

War in Afghanistan:
- The International Assistance Mission says it now believes that the Taliban was responsible for the 2010 Badakhshan massacre of its medical team in Afghanistan. (AP via Google News)
- NATO forces kill three civilians in a raid on a house in Wardak Province, prompting hundreds of angry people to block a main road to express their frustration with the United States. (Aljazeera)
- NATO says that it is investigating whether its troops killed or wounded up to seven Afghans in operations in southern Helmand Province. (Voice of America)
- Julian Assange, the director of Wikileaks, says that Wikileaks is planning to release the rest of Afghan War Diary, documents on the War in Afghanistan. (AP via Google News)
Human Rights Watch accuses the northern Ugandan Lord's Resistance Army of abducting and forcing the recruitment of at least 697 people during the last year and a half across central Africa. (BBC) (Aljazeera)
At least 50 people are injured in Dhaka as police use batons and tear gas to beat back civilians protesting against frequent power outage. (Aljazeera)
The United Nations condemns France's crackdown on 40 gypsy camps. (BBC)
At least two people are killed, including one case of self-immolation from a balcony, while more than 80 sustain wounds after troops interrupt a protest against poor conditions with batons and flashbangs at a prison in Astana, Kazakhstan. (BBC)
A car bomb explodes in the Colombian capital Bogotá outside Caracol Radio, one of the main radio networks in the country, injuring several people. (Colombia Reports) (Aljazeera) (AP) (The Guardian)
Three people are arrested following a grenade attack in the Rwandan capital Kigali which injured several people. (BBC)
Russia marks with ceremonies the 10th anniversary of the K-141 Kursk explosion in the Barents Sea. (BBC)

Arts, culture and entertainment

A national search uncovers 200 missing Japanese centenarians so far. (BBC) (AFP via France24)^{[permanent dead link]} (IOL) (Japan Today)
Hungarian actress Zsa Zsa Gabor is discharged from a United States hospital after spending four weeks there. (BBC)
Aljazeera, Canal 13, Channel 4, Globo, Radio-Canada, RT, Sky News and TVB are among the global broadcasters nominated for this year's International Emmy Awards. (CBC News)
Singer George Michael is charged with possessing cannabis and being unfit for driving. (BBC)
Actor Leonardo DiCaprio's alleged attacker denies in court assaulting him with a broken bottle in 2005 in the United States. (BBC)

Business and economy

Edward Whitacre, Jr. announces that he will resign as chief executive officer of General Motors effective from September and that he will be replaced by Daniel Akerson. (The Australian)
Greece's economy shrinks further. (BBC)

Disasters

2010 Pakistan floods:
- The United Nations launches a major appeal for assistance dealing with the ongoing floods that have devastated Pakistan. (BBC)
- President of Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari makes his first visit to the affected areas. (BBC) (Aljazeera) (The Guardian) (AFP via France24)^{[permanent dead link]} (Channel 4) (AP via Google News)
Portuguese firefighters battle dozens of forest fires, with 2 dead so far. (BBC)
Doctors in Moscow are encouraged to use "less frightening" causes of death as the mortality rate from heatstroke soars with fires burning across Russia. (BBC)
Rescue efforts are disrupted by severe rain after last week's deadly landslide in Zhugqu County, Gansu. (BBC) (AFP via France24) (The Sydney Morning Herald)
A power crisis in Bangladesh prompts the government to order the partial shut-down of natural gas stations in and near Dhaka. (BBC)
Fires destroy homes, amid ongoing drought in Central Brazil in Chapada dos Veadeiros National Park. (Latin American Herald Tribune) (The Weather Network)
At least 58 people are killed after a lorry plunges into South Kivu's Lake Tanganyika. (Daily Times) (AFP via Google News) (BBC) (Press TV) (Reuters)

International relations

Turkey sets up a commission of Turkish officials and bureaucrats to investigate May's Gaza flotilla raid. (AFP via Google News)
Poland extradites Israeli citizen and suspected spy Uri Brodsky to Germany to face charges of being involved in the murder of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in Dubai. (BBC) (Daily Express)
A ship carrying Tamil asylum seekers who are travelling from Sri Lanka nears Canada. (Aljazeera)
Mohammad-Reza Rahimi, the Vice-President of Iran describes inhabitants of the United Kingdom as "not human" and "a bunch of idiots run by a mafia". He also describes Australians as "a bunch of cattlemen" and says that Koreans "need to be slapped". (UK Press Association via Google News)

Law and crime

Four British police officers are charged with beating, dragging, punching, stamping and mocking "terror suspect" Babar Ahmad after arresting him in Tooting, South London in 2003; the suspect, a 36-year-old IT worker, was later deemed innocent. (BBC) (Wandsworth Guardian) (The Independent) (The Guardian) (ABC News) (CNN)
China announces an investigation into a brand of powdered milk that caused infant girls to grow breasts. (BBC) (Sify)
Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, sentenced to death in Iran, "confesses" to adultery and murder in a televised broadcast. (The Guardian) (Reuters Africa)
Federal Judge Vaughn R. Walker, after deciding for the plaintiffs in Perry v. Schwarzenegger, mandates that same-sex marriage in the U.S. state of California should resume on August 18. (The New York Times) (BBC) (The Guardian)
Iran commutes several death sentences from stoning to hanging. (The Guardian)
Australia convicts a man it accuses of the 2001 smuggling more than 500 asylum seekers aboard a boat from Indonesia. (BBC)
Charles Taylor's defence lawyer Courtenay Griffiths is told not to speak, on a temporary basis, at Taylor's trial due to loss of temper; Griffiths apologises and is permitted to continue. (BBC)
India issues the producer of the controversial BlackBerry devices a 31 August deadline to give the Indian government access to its services or be shut down over concerns the devices could be used to commit a repeat of the 2008 Mumbai attacks. (BBC) (Aljazeera)
Israeli citizen Elias Abuelazam, a suspected serial killer from Flint, Michigan, is arrested while attempting to leave the United States. (Haaretz) (BBC) (Japan Today)

Politics and elections

Former President of the United Nations General Assembly and President of Malta Guido de Marco, who led his country into the European Union, dies suddenly after having apparently recovered from surgery, shocking the nation of Malta. (Malta Today) (TVNZ) (AP via Google News) (The Voice of Russia) (The Times of Malta)
Burma begins preparations for its controversial general elections to be held sometime later this year, by designating electoral constituencies. (Radio Television Hong Kong) (Bangkok Post)^{[permanent dead link]}
Anti-government protests in Potosí, Bolivia enter their third week, affecting mining production, blocking road and air transport, stranding tourists and reducing food supplies. (BBC)
President of Nigeria Goodluck Jonathan is permitted by the People's Democratic Party (PDP) to run in the forthcoming election; his candidacy would have breached informal election rules. (Aljazeera)
President of Mexico Felipe Calderón conducts public anti-crime conferences. (Aljazeera)

Science

The Perseid meteor shower reaches its peak with a display of up to 80 meteors an hour. (BBC)
Scientists announce the discovery of a chemical compound which destroys the reproduction capabilities of bacteria that are antibiotic-resistant. (FierceBiotech)
Three participants in the Einstein@Home program from the United States and Germany help to discover pulsar PSR J2007+2722. (BBC)

August 13, 2010 (Friday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

Police shoot dead at least four civilians, including two teenagers, demonstrating against the government in Indian-administered Kashmir; protesters say they were unarmed. (BBC) (IOL)^{[permanent dead link]}
An Australian Special Air Service Regiment soldier Jason Brown, is killed in fighting the Taliban in northern Kandahar Province, Afghanistan. (AAP via Sydney Morning Herald)

Business and economics

The eurozone economy grows by 1% in the second quarter of 2010, with the German economy growing by 2.2%, its fastest quarterly growth in more than 20 years. (BBC) (Aljazeera) (MarketWatch) (AP)
TAM Airlines of Brazil and LAN Airlines of Chile announce plans for a merger that would make the biggest carrier in the region. (BBC)
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority announces it is to tighten some rules on mortgage lending, signalling that it is concerned about the dangers of a real estate bubble in Hong Kong. (Market Watch)

Disasters

Mosta - Malta Fireworks Factory (13t'Awissu) explodes leaving one man dead.[1]
President of Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari officially cancels Independence Day as a direct consequence of the ongoing floods that have devastated the country. (BBC)(Associated Press of Pakistan) (Aljazeera)
Fresh landslides and heavy rain in northwestern China leave at least 29 people dead and a further 10,500 trapped. (Reuters) (China Daily) (BBC)
A forest fire grows in size near Russia's main nuclear research centre in Sarov. (China Radio International) (Times Live South Africa) (AFP)
2 firefighters are killed fighting wildfires in Fornelos de Montes, Pontevedra, in Galicia, Spain. (BBC)
A building collapse in Abuja, Nigeria sees further rescue efforts; at least 14 people are known to have died. (BBC)
A strong earthquake strikes near Guam. (BBC)

International relations

Germany allows suspected Israeli spy Uri Brodsky, connected of the murder of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in Dubai, to go free after his recent extradition from Poland. (Aljazeera) (BBC) (Haaretz)
France condemns the actions of a senior soldier after a YouTube video of him threatening a Togolese journalist in Lomé is released. (BBC) (France 24)
MV Sun Sea, a cargo ship carrying around 490 Tamil migrants, refugees and suspected human smugglers and Tamil Tigers as well as reports of tuberculosis outbreaks is scheduled to arrive in Esquimalt, British Columbia. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police and Canadian Navy are escorting and boarding the ship, and the ship's captain is suspected by the Sri Lankan Government of being a gun runner. (Aljazeera) (CTV) (Toronto Star), (CBC)
President of the United States Barack Obama signs a bill increasing security along his country's border with Mexico. (BBC) (Reuters India) (The Asian Age)
Sierra Leone's human rights commission asks South Africa to return "blood diamonds" allegedly given to Naomi Campbell. (Montreal Gazette) (BBC)
Lebanon cancels an Iranian made television series about Jesus after complaints from Christian leaders and the public. (Ya Libnan) (AFP)
Rosatom, Russia's nuclear energy corporation announces that it will start loading fuel for the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant Iran's first nuclear power plant from August 21. (The Hindu) (Aljazeera)

Law and crime

Four bodies are discovered in an abandoned South African gold mine owned by relatives of Nelson Mandela and Jacob Zuma following a shooting. (AFP) (BBC) (IOL)
Elias Abuelazam, an Arab Israeli arrested in the United States in connection with almost 20 stabbings across three U.S. states, agrees to face charges relating to one of the attacks. (BBC) (The Guardian)
A Malaysian court sentences two men to five years imprisonment after firebombing a church in a row over the use of the word "Allah" by non-Muslims. (Bernama) (AP) (Kenya Broadcasting Coroporation)
Sri Lanka convicts ex-army chief Sarath Fonseka on charges of engaging in politics while on active service. (Sunday Leader) (Aljazeera) (AFP)
Trial of Omar Khadr:
- The lawyer of Omar Khadr, the former child soldier who is the youngest Guantánamo Bay inmate, faints in court and is rushed to hospital. The trial subsequently gets suspended.(Aljazeera) (BBC) (Aljazeera) (France24)
- A serving officer in the United States Army is removed from the jury after informing the court of his belief that the American-run prison camps in Guantánamo Bay ought to be shut down. (The Independent)
Erastus Akingbola, former head of the Intercontinental Bank of Nigeria, is charged with 22 counts of involvement in the bank's near collapse at a court in Lagos; he denies all counts. (BBC)

Politics and elections

Cook Islands Prime Minister Jim Marurai sets the date for the upcoming 2010 general election for November 17th. (RNZI)
Burma announces plans to hold its first election in 20 years on November 7. (AAP via Sydney Morning Herald) (BBC) (Aljazeera)

Science

Peru's health ministry is deployed into the Amazon to battle the vampire bats blamed for the deaths of four children from rabies. (BBC)
India's health ministry completely rejects as "unscientific" and a "conspiracy" claims by researchers that medical tourists are spreading a new "superbug" that is alleged to have originated in the country. India states that its hospitals are safe. (Aljazeera)
Scientists find evidence that 250 rare Caquetá Titi monkeys survive in Colombia. (CBS) (ScienceNews)

August 14, 2010 (Saturday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

6 Eritrean migrants attempting to enter Israel are shot dead by smugglers and Egyptian border guards, while several others are injured. (BBC) (Reuters Africa) (Al-Masry Al-Youm)
2 more people are killed during protests in Kashmir. (Press TV)
16 people are killed by gunmen in the Balochistan province of Pakistan in the towns of Aab-e-Ghum and Quetta. (BBC) (Voice of America)
9 people are killed during clashes in Puntland. (Press TV)
Lebanon fatally shoots and kills Abd-al-Rahman Awad, the suspected leader of Fatah al-Islam. (BBC) (AFP via The Sydney Morning Herald)
6 policemen are killed during 2 attacks in Baghdad, with 2 of the corpses burning in public. (Aljazeera) (AFP via Google News)
4 people are fatally shot outside a Buffalo restaurant in the U.S. state of New York, with 3 others sustaining injuries. (AP via Google News) (Press TV)
3 children are wounded after a wheelie bin explodes in Lurgan, County Armagh. (BBC) (RTÉ) (The Guardian)
Two UNAMID peacekeepers are abducted by armed men in Nyala in the Darfur region of Sudan. (Reuters via Yahoo! News)

Arts and culture

Hungarian actress Zsa Zsa Gabor is rehospitalised for an operation days after her release. (BBC)

Business and economics

A rally takes place outside Google's offices in the U.S. state of California against a proposal to change online data treatment. (BBC)
Gabon signs over US$4 billion of contracts with Indian and Singaporean companies for infrastructure projects, on the eve of the country's 50th anniversary since independence. (AFP) (Xinhua) (Press TV)

Disasters

The United Nations states Niger faces its worst hunger crisis in history, worse than 2005 when thousands of people were left to starve to death. (BBC) (AP via San Jose Mercury News)^{[permanent dead link]}
China announces a national day of mourning for the victims of mudslides in the northwest of the country, as the death toll rises to 1,239 people. (China Daily) (BBC) (Aljazeera)
2010 Pakistan floods
- Robert Zoellick, the President of the World Bank estimates that the 2010 Pakistan floods have caused $1 billion in damages to crops. (Los Angeles Times)
- The Prime Minister of Pakistan Yusuf Raza Gilani estimates that 20 million people have been affected by the floods. (BBC) (Aljazeera)
- The United Nations estimates that the relief efforts are yet to reach six million people. (Reuters)
- The UN confirms the first case of cholera in Mingora in the Swat District with many more cases suspected. (Voice of America)
Russia announces that it is slowly bringing the 2010 Russian wildfires under control. (RIA Novosti)
9 people are wounded after a bridge collapses from the Gungahlin Drive Extension onto the Barton Highway in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. (The Sydney Morning Herald)
Eight people are killed and 12 injured as a vehicle runs into a crowd during the California 200 Off-road racing event near Lucerne Valley, California. (AP via Seattle PI)

International relations

Release of Uri Brodsky:
- Officials in the United Arab Emirates express concern after Germany releases suspected Israeli spy Uri Brodsky, who has been linked with the murder of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in Dubai. (Aljazeera)
- Brodsky is reported to have arrived back in Israel. (Haaretz)
A United Nations delegation arrives in Gaza for three days of following up the United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict. (Xinhua) (AFP via Google News)
Fiji announces that it seeks observer status in ASEAN after its suspension from the Pacific Islands Forum was extended. Timor-Leste seeks to become a member of the Melanesian Spearhead Group. (Solomon Star)
European politicians, including Jean-Marie Le Pen and Adam Walker, visit Yasukuni Shrine in Chiyoda, Tokyo; visits to this shrine have traditionally been a sensitive point in international politics between Japan, Korea, and China. (BBC) (The Independent)
Spain extradites Rifat Hadziahmetovic, an alleged member of the Pink Panthers, to Japan in relation to a 2007 jewel robbery in Tokyo. (BBC)
United States prosecutors are investigating whether the Louis Berger Group overcharged the U.S. Agency for International Development for foreign aid projects. (AP via New Orleans)^{[permanent dead link]}

Law and crime

A court in Somalia imprisons for six years and fines $500 radio journalist Abdifatah Jama Mire for the broadcast of an interview with a militia leader in Puntland. (RTÉ) (Aljazeera)
A court in Venice frees Nizamettin Toğuç, a senior member of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) wanted by Turkey. (Press TV)
Several political parties in Azerbaijan release a statement criticising the ruling of Baku Yasamal Court against 15 Shia Muslims, arrested in February while practising their religion in Baku. (Press TV)

Politics

The Sudan People's Liberation Army/Movement warns that the independence referendum in Southern Sudan could be delayed unless the country's electoral commission resolves an internal dispute. (Aljazeera)
Guido de Marco, former President of Malta, lies in state after his death on Thursday. A state funeral is to be held on Monday. (The Times of Malta)
President of the United States Barack Obama:
- President of the United States Barack Obama states that America's "commitment to religious freedom must be unshakable" as he declares his support for plans to build a mosque in New York City. (BBC)
- Obama goes for a swim while holidaying at Panama City in the U.S. state of Florida, allegedly to show that the Gulf of Mexico is safe for swimming following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. (CNN)
A Sri Lankan government commission set up to look into the last years of the Sri Lankan Civil War holds a meeting in Vavuniya on the north of the island. (BBC)

Science

Data from a study at Purdue University suggest that the 2010 Haiti earthquake was caused by a previously unknown fault line, as opposed to the Enriquillo Fault Line as was initially presumed. (AP)

Sport

The 2010 Summer Youth Olympics, the first of the Youth Olympic Games, begins in Singapore with 3,531 participating athletes aged 14–18 from 204 National Olympic Committees. (BBC News) (The Straits Times)
The 2010 Women's Baseball World Cup is suspended after Hong Kong player Cheuk Woon Yee is shot through her lower left calf during the game against the Netherlands; Hong Kong are forced to withdraw from the competition. (BBC News) (CBC Sports) (Reuters) (The Sydney Morning Herald)
Tennis player Andy Roddick has mononucleosis. (AFP via The Sydney Morning Herald)
The 2010 World Blind Football Championship begins in Hereford, United Kingdom with ten teams competing for the title. (BBC News)

August 15, 2010 (Sunday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

Inspections of Israel's nuclear programme are urged by some concerned countries in a letter sent to Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States. (Aljazeera)
iCasualties.org estimates that International Security Assistance Force casualties in the War in Afghanistan have now exceeded 2,000. (Al Jazeera)
A teenager is shot dead and another is wounded by a further shot during a gay pride parade attended by around 70,000 people in Juiz de Fora, Minas Gerais, Brazil. (AP via MSNBC)
Jamaican authorities impose a new curfew on Kingston. (Aljazeera)
A policeman hurls a shoe towards the Chief Minister for Jammu and Kashmir, Omar Abdullah, during the Indian Independence Day function in Srinagar amid protests against Indian rule; 15 policemen are later suspended. (Indian Express) (AFP) (Xinhua) (Aljazeera)
A United States missile attack on a militant compound in the village of Essori near Miranshah in the North Waziristan area of Pakistan kills 13 people. (AFP via Google News)
Ayman al-Zawahiri, speaking via an audio message, criticises the Turkish government for what he says is co-operation with Israel, as well as "killing Muslims in Afghanistan". (Aljazeera)
No people are killed in two blasts targeting Televisa in Monterrey and Matamoros. (BBC)
Thousands are evacuated from the French pilgrimage site of Lourdes due to a bomb threat; it later reopens. (France 24) (BBC)
General David Petraeus expresses doubt during an interview on American television that the United States will be able to definitely begin withdrawing from Afghanistan in 2011. (BBC) (Aljazeera)
In Baghdad, Iraq multiple suicide bombings go off during mid-day rush hour, killing 4 and injuring about 16, another strike at 7:15am hits a mini-bus heading from Sadr City into downtown Baghdad, killing 3 including a police officer, and 9 others are wounded. Also, three other bombs go off simultaneously in a business district killing 1 and injuring 7. (AFP via Google News)

Arts and culture

Children's TV presenter Holly Walsh breaks bones and dislocates a shoulder whilst leaping from a pier during a festival in Worthing, West Sussex, England, UK; the festival is briefly halted. (BBC) (Press Association via Google News) (Daily Mail)
Hungarian American actress Zsa Zsa Gabor is reported to be in an "extremely serious condition" after further surgery yesterday and has requested the Last Rites. (The Daily Telegraph) (Reuters) (AFP via news.com.au) (CNN)

Business and economics

Lebanon opens a bank account to help fund the country's army after the United States suspended the country's assistance due to the 2010 Israel–Lebanon border clash. (Aljazeera)

Disasters

China has a day of mourning to commemorate the victims of last weekend's Zhouqu landslide. (Reuters) (China Daily) (Aljazeera)
The Secretary-General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon visits Pakistan to inspect the relief effort for the 2010 Pakistan floods. (CNN) (BBC) (Aljazeera)
2010 Russian wildfires:
- Smog from the 2010 Russian wildfires returns to Moscow. (RIA Novosti) (AFP via Google News)
- A ban on grain exports begins in an effort to reduce increases in the price of bread. (BBC) (Aljazeera)

International relations

Romani evictions and deportations from illegal campsites by French authorities:
- A major road bridge is barricaded near Bordeaux during a holiday weekend by Romani objecting to forced evictions by French authorities. (BBC)
- Politicians, some from within President Nicolas Sarkozy's own party, object to the treatment of the Romani as "reminiscent of roundups during the war". (Deutsche Welle)
Australia and Malaysia remember the 1945 Sandakan Death Marches on their 65th anniversary. (The Sydney Morning Herald)
Sri Lanka unveils a new seaport in southern Hambantota which received a large amount of financial assistance from China. (BBC) (Reuters India)

Law and crime

Charges against 5 men from Iraq, who had been accused of murdering 6 British police officers in 2003, are dropped. (BBC)
4 Shia Muslim activists are arrested in Bahrain. (BBC)
Accused Craiglist killer Philip Markoff is found dead in prison in the U.S. state of Massachusetts after apparently committing suicide. (BBC)
Daniel Skahan, a 29-year-old from Ottawa, is charged 5,000 $ for mischief and possession of incendiary materials, for his role in setting a fire just outside of Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper's home. (The Star)

Politics and elections

The Independent Democrats and Democratic Alliance opposition parties in South Africa agree to merge against the ruling African National Congress. (Times Live South Africa) (BBC) (Bloomberg)
Prime Minister of Australia Julia Gillard defends her controversial plan to establish a citizens assembly of 150 randomly-selected Australians who would consider climate change. (The Sydney Morning Herald)
The entire cabinet of Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan avoids visiting Yasukuni Shrine on the anniversary of Japan's surrender in World War II. (AP via Google News) (BBC)

Sport

The 2010 Women's Baseball World Cup is moved after Hong Kong player Cheuk Woon Yee was shot through her lower left calf during the game against the Netherlands. (BBC News)
Prime Minister of India Manmohan Singh sets up a ministerial committee as he intervenes to rescue the 2010 Commonwealth Games due to be held in Delhi in October. (The Sydney Morning Herald)
Golfer Martin Kaymer of Germany wins the United States PGA Championship at the Whistling Straits course in Wisconsin beating US golfer Bubba Watson in a three hole playoff. (AAP via the Melbourne Age)
Yuka Sato of Japan wins the first gold medal of the 2010 Summer Youth Olympic Games in the girls' triathlon event. (USA Today via Associated Press)
7-time world champion Valentino Rossi confirms he is to depart the Fiat Yamaha team for the Ducati team for 2 years from 2011. (BBC Sport)

August 16, 2010 (Monday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

The Philippine security forces announce they will extend the controversial counter-insurgency tactic Oplan Bantay Laya up until December 31, 2010. The political party Bagong Alyansang Makabayan condemned the extension. (The Philippine Daily Inquirer) (The Philippine Star)^{[permanent dead link]} (GMA News)
3 more people are killed during protests in Kashmir. (BBC)
At least 2 people are injured after a grenade explosion outside a Televisa television station in Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico. (Al Jazeera) (CNN)
The mayor of the Mexican town of Santiago, Nuevo León, Edelmiro Cavazos, is abducted. (BBC) (China Daily)
War in Afghanistan (2001–present):
- The President of Afghanistan Hamid Karzai gives private security firms operating in that country four months to disband. (AFP via Sydney Morning Herald) (Aljazeera)
- General Stanley A. McChrystal, recently sacked from his post in Afghanistan by the United States for speaking to Rolling Stone, is given a lecturing post at a major university in the United States. (BBC) (The New York Times)
- A United States air strike kills an al-Qaeda leader who was thought to have been planning suicide bombings. (Reuters)
- The United States Secretary of Defense Robert Gates says the July 2011 timetable to start withdrawing United States armed forces from Afghanistan is set in stone. (Voice of America)

Arts, culture and entertainment

Nadja Benaissa, a HIV-positive former singer in the German girl band No Angels, goes on trial for allegedly not advising sexual partners of her condition. (CNN) (Aljazeera) (BBC) (The Guardian) (The Independent) (AFP via Philippine Daily Inquirer)
U.S. actor Michael Douglas begins chemotherapy after doctors discover a tumor in his throat. (MTV)

Disasters

Politicians and intellectuals including Étienne Balibar, Noam Chomsky, Daniel Cohn-Bendit and Eva Joly appeal to Nicolas Sarkozy that France repay €17 billion it took from Haiti in 1825 after the Haitian Revolution (1791–1804); they say the money is "morally, economically, and legally unassailable" in the aftermath of the January 2010 earthquake. (Aljazeera) (BBC) (France24) (The Sydney Morning Herald) (The Guardian)
AIRES Flight 8250 crashes upon landing on San Andrés Island, Colombia; one death is reported. (Aljazeera) (BBC News) (CNN)
2010 Pakistan floods:
- The devastating floods continue as a concern of the United Nations, with officials citing a lack of aid funding for six million people in urgent need of clean water. (New York Times)
- The United Nations states there is high risk for as many as 3.5 million children who may be struck down by diseases in the water. (BBC) (Aljazeera)
Russia is battered by a severe storm following its recent heatwave, its hottest summer in recorded history. (BBC)
An explosion at a maternity hospital in Romania's capital Bucharest, kills at least 4 babies, while 2 pregnant women and 8 newborn infants sustain burns and other injuries in serious condition. (Reuters) (Press Association via Irish Independent) (Voice of Russia) (Sky News) (CNN)
As many as 40 people are killed due to a fiery collision between a lorry load of sugar and a police checkpoint in Nigeria. (BBC) (IOL)^{[permanent dead link]} (News24)

International relations

Tens of thousands of Republic of Korea Armed Forces and United States armed forces ignore warnings from North Korea, and start a new round of the Ulchi-Freedom Guardian drills in South Korea. (AP via Google News) (Aljazeera)
Easter Island
- Community leaders in Easter Island threaten to secede from Chile, prompting the resignation of Governor Pedro Edmunds Paoa. (RNZI) (The Guardian)
- Pro-independence activists reportedly seize control of government buildings, a museum and a hotel located on land claimed by ethnic Polynesians. (Times Herald-Record)
- 45 Chilean special forces have been sent to Easter Island to monitor events. (RNZI)
Senior Romanian diplomat Gabriel Grecu is arrested in Russia, accused of spying and given 48 hours to leave the country. (BBC) (IOL)^{[permanent dead link]} (Xinhua)
Gabon signs agreements with several Asian companies designed to make it rely less on its oil. (BBC) (Financial Times) (Reuters Africa)

Law and crime

2010 Thai political protests:
- Protest leaders plead innocence in court, denying charges of terrorism in Bangkok. (BBC) (The Sydney Morning Herald)
- Thailand lifts its state of emergency in 3 provinces but retains it in 7 others, including Bangkok. (Reuters) (The Irish Times) (ABC News)
American Lori Berenson, convicted of collaborating with a left-wing group in Peru, apologises after her release from a 20-year prison sentence; she denies any form of violence or murder. (Peruvian Times) (BBC) (Democracy Now) (Japan Today) (MercoPress)
Mexico's Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation upholds a Mexico City law allowing gay adoption. (AP via New York Times)
Israeli courts deem that its government was "responsible" for the death of a female Palestinian child, who was hit by a rubber bullet in 2007. (BBC) (Aljazeera)

Politics and elections

Malta buries former president Guido de Marco in a state funeral. (The Times) (The Malta Independent)
Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair is to give the £4.6 million advance and all royalties from his forthcoming memoirs, A Journey, to a sports centre for badly injured soldiers; pacifists and the families of soldiers killed under his leadership call it "blood money". (BBC) (Sky News) (The Guardian)
Talks on forming a coalition government are suspended in Iraq. (Aljazeera) (BBC) (France24) (Mail & Guardian)
A book written by Chinese dissident Yu Jie critical of Premier Wen Jiabao goes on sale in Hong Kong, with threats of imprisonment from the mainland. (Radio Television Hong Kong) (Sify India) (BBC)
Iran nuclear program
- Ali Akbar Salehi, head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, says that Iran will build a third uranium enrichment plant next year. (Jerusalem Post)
- The President of Iran Mahmoud Ahmadinejad signs a new law binding the Government of Iran to pursue a target of refining uranium to 20 percent. (AFP via Google News)

Science

Australia's (and the Southern Hemisphere's) first total artificial heart transplant occurs at St Vincent's Hospital in Sydney, Australia. (AAP via Herald-Sun) (Radio New Zealand) (International Business Times)
A new species of Titi monkey, the Caquetá Titi, is discovered in the Colombian department of Caquetá. (USA Today)
Scientists at the University of Toronto claim that mountain climbers George Mallory and Andrew Irvine could not have reached the top of Mount Everest in 1924 as they were caught in a perfect storm. (Daily Telegraph)

August 17, 2010 (Tuesday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

At least one person is killed and 20 are injured in two separate explosions in Pyatigorsk and North Ossetia in Russia's North Caucasus. (Al Jazeera) (AFP) (Voice of Russia)
The United States confirms the existence of videotapes - found under a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) desk - of the alleged 2002 interrogation of a suspect the country had detained at a secret prison. (BBC) (The Washington Times)
Hezbollah states it has passed on evidence said to implicate Israel in the 2005 assassination of then Prime Minister of Lebanon Rafic Hariri. (BBC)
A Ugandan lawmaker accuses the army of committing atrocities against civilians in the Karamoja region as part of a disarmament exercise. (BBC) (Daily Monitor) (Reuters)
Iraq
- At least 61 people are killed and over one hundred are injured in a suicide bombing at an Iraqi Army recruiting centre in Baghdad, Iraq. (France 24) (Voice of America) (AP via New York Times)
- At least 8 people are killed and 44 are wounded after a bomb attached to a fuel truck explodes in a Shiite section of Baghdad. (AP cia Central Florida News)^{[permanent dead link]}
A Palestinian man from Ramallah threatens to blow up the Turkish embassy in Tel Aviv, Israel if not offered asylum, but is shot by security staff. (Haaretz) (The Jerusalem Post) (Aljazeera) (BBC) (Xinhua)

Arts, culture and entertainment

Archaeologists in Afghanistan discover the remains of a Buddhist site south of the capital Kabul. (Reuters Africa)
Fiji officially designates the word "Fijian" as the term for the nationality of all the people of the islands including Indo-Fijians. The word was previously used only for indigenous inhabitants. (People's Daily) (Fijivillage)

Disasters

An Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force F4 aircraft crashes in the southern province of Bushehr; both pilots survive. (AFP via Google News) (Press TV)
Tornado has swept threw south western part of Lithuania, near city of Rusnė (Delfi).
A train derails in Sudbury, Suffolk, UK after hitting a sewage truck on a level crossing, injuring 18 people. Main article: 2010 Sudbury train accident.

International relations

The Chilean military removes 1,000 protesters who had occupied government buildings, museums and a hotel on Easter Island. (Radio New Zealand International)
3 more Cuban dissidents released on humanitarian grounds arrive with their families in Madrid, Spain. (BBC)
Romania expresses dismay at Russia after it arrests and expels one of its diplomats; it is now to do the same in return. (BBC) (Xinhua)
Lebanon grants Palestinian refugees the right to work legally. (BBC) (Arab News)
A U.S. report claims that the Chinese military has been secretly expanding; the U.S. asks for dialogue with China to avert a "miscalculated" response. (BBC) (Al Jazeera)
Two kidnapped Jordanian peacekeepers from the joint African Union - United Nations force in Darfur, Sudan, are released. (Al Jazeera) (BBC) (Xinhua)

Law and crime

Police in Tanzania arrest a Kenyan national who was attempting to sell an albino man. (BBC) (The Citizen) (AllAfrica.com)
Same-sex marriage in the U.S. state of California, due to resume on Wednesday, is blocked by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals until it is decided whether a ban is constitutional. (San Francisco Chronicle) (BBC)
A federal jury convicts former Governor of Illinois Rod Blagojevich on one count of lying to the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation. The jury is deadlocked on the other 23 charges. (Chicago Tribune), (Chicago Tribune)

Politics and elections

Protesters in Potosí and the Bolivian government resolve a three-week disagreement. (BBC)
Former Israeli soldier Eden Aberjil is criticized for her Facebook images of herself smiling with blindfolded and bound Palestinian prisoners. (BBC)

Sport

The French Football Federation bans Nicolas Anelka for 18 France games, Patrice Evra for 5, Franck Ribéry for 3, and Jérémy Toulalan for 1, while Éric Abidal escapes punishment, for their roles as the key players behind the 2010 FIFA World Cup player strike. (BBC Sport)(The Guardian)
Zimbabwe Football Association (Zifa) chief executive Henrietta Rushwaya is charged in relation to allegations of match-fixing. (BBC Sport)
Chess champion Bobby Fischer is, as a result of a DNA test, deemed not to have fathered a 9-year-old girl in the Philippines. (BBC News)

August 18, 2010 (Wednesday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

The corpse of mayor Edelmiro Cavazos of the Mexican town of Santiago, Nuevo León, is found handcuffed and blindfolded after his abduction on Sunday night. (BBC) (Aljazeera) (Los Angeles Times) (AP via Miamai Herald)^{[permanent dead link]} (Reuters)
18 countries, including the United States, deploy naval troops in joint exercises which they say are an attempt to defend the Panama Canal against terrorism. (UPI) (Dominican Today) (MercoPress) (United States Department of Defense)
Julian Assange of Wikileaks says the United States has approached the website to try to negotiate the release of a further 15,000 Afghanistan war documents which the military desires to keep secret; the United States denies this. (Aljazeera)
The United States ends combat operations in Iraq as its last combat brigade departs for Kuwait. (Al Jazeera) (MSNBC)
3 Indian peacekeepers serving in a United Nations peacekeeping operation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo are killed by rebels in an apparent ambush. (BBC) (Hindustan Times)
The United States deploys troops along its border with Mexico by the order of President Barack Obama. (BBC)

Arts and culture

The American Ballet Theatre is given permission by its country's President, Barack Obama, to perform in Cuba; it would be the first time in 50 years. American tourists are still banned by their government from travelling to Cuba. (BBC) (AFP via France24)^{[permanent dead link]}
Soul singer Erykah Badu is fined and punished by the city of Dallas, Texas, United States, after being convicted of disorderly conduct for removing her clothes and re-enacting a controversial scene from the country's history while filming a music video. (BBC) (China Daily) (Sky News) (TIME)

Business and economics

Rupert Murdoch provides $1 million to the U.S. Republican Party ahead of an important election in November, more than doubling the party's funds with one of the largest handouts by a media organisation; critics declare Fox News is not impartial. (BBC) (Channel 4) (The Irish Times)
More than 1 million state workers in South Africa go on strike to demand an increase in pay. (Reuters) (Al Jazeera) (Times Live)
Iceland lowers its interest rate to 7%. (BBC)
Foxconn holds employee rallies in a bid to stem the recent huge increase in suicides by its employees. (BBC) (iAfrica) (AFP via The Sydney Morning Herald)
United States car maker General Motors files for an Initial Public Offering. (The New York Times)
Japanese carmaker Mazda recalls 215,000 vehicles in the United States and 11,000 vehicles in China due to power steering flaws. (CBS Marketwatch)

Disasters

2010 Pakistan floods:
- Saudi Arabia overtakes the United States as the main donor to the stricken country. (The Guardian)
- The United Nations says that flood relief aid to Pakistan is "arriving too slowly". (Aljazeera) (The New York Times)
- The European Union pledges an additional $39 million and the Islamic Development Bank pledges $11.2 million. (BBC) (Aljazeera)
Scientists dispute the claim by the United States that all the oil has gone from the Gulf of Mexico. (The Guardian)
A North Korean fighter plane crashes in China near the border, killing the pilot and possibly a second pilot bailing out. Pictures posted by local residents show a Soviet plane design which were used in the Korean War. It is suggested to have been a defection attempt. (BBC) (Yonhap)
At least 67 people are missing in new landslides in Yunnan, southwest China, with at least two deaths confirmed. (China Daily) (Reuters) (BBC), (AP via Google News)
A school building collapses due to heavy rain in the village of Sumgarh in the Indian state of Uttarakhand, killing at least 17 schoolchildren. (Times of India) (AP via Google News)
Scientists blame a peculiar double earthquake for the deadly tsunami responsible for the deaths of 192 people in the South Pacific last September, and described as "unlike anything seismologists have seen before". (BBC)
A bus plunges into a 100 metre ravine in the Philippines Benguet province resulting in 39 deaths. (CNN)
3 people are killed and 3 others are missing after a South Korean fishing boat sinks 400 miles from Dunedin on the South Island of New Zealand. (CNN)

International relations

Moroccan activists blockading a Spanish enclave in protest at alleged abuses by border police agree to suspend the action during Ramadan. (Aljazeera)
Mauritania extradites a man to Mali convicted for kidnapping three Spanish aid workers believed to be held by the Al-Qaeda Organization in the Islamic Maghreb. (Reuters) (Voice of America)
Russia, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Pakistan agree to step up the fight against terrorism and narcotics in a summit in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi. (The Hindu)
The United States offers its support for a proposed international commission intent on examining alleged war crimes by the military junta of Burma. (BBC) (Bangkok Post)^{[permanent dead link]}

Law and crime

A court in Israel court jails a man who broke into the Turkish embassy in Tel Aviv and asked for asylum; his lawyer says the man was once an Israeli informer whose life is now under threat. (BBC) (News24) (Citizen.co.za)
A court in Colombia declares as unconstitutional a controversial deal allowing the United States to freely use its military bases and says it will have to be redrafted; other Latin American countries have expressed concern that the United States is exerting excessive influence on the region. (BBC) (The Age) (The Sydney Morning Herald)
A Peruvian court revokes the parole of Lori Berenson, a United States citizen convicted in the 1990s of collaborating with the Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement. (The New York Times) (BBC) (AP via The Age)
Venezuela's government begins a trial ban of the publication of "violent, bloody or grotesque" photographs in newspapers, as a result of controversy over pictures of bloodied corpses riddled with bullets appear on the front page of newspapers. (BBC)
Nathan Mutei, a Kenyan man, is jailed for 17 years in Tanzania after being convicted of attempting to sell an albino man; the prized albino is escorted back to Kenya under armed guard. (BBC)
The Philippines is shocked by mobile phone footage apparently demonstrating police torture of a naked man charged with theft; many suspensions occur. (BBC)
Jeremy Ractliffe resigns from the board of the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund after revealing he kept diamonds given to him by Naomi Campbell. (BBC)

Politics and elections

Two Israeli groups launch a course in "Zionist editing" of the online encyclopedia project Wikipedia. (The Guardian)
Candidates commence daily broadcasts in Brazil ahead of general and presidential elections on 3 October. (BBC)
David Paterson, Governor of the U.S. state of New York, is to discuss relocating the controversial Park51 Islamic community centre and mosque near World Trade Center site in New York City. (Al Arabiya) (New York Post) (The Guardian)
Elections in Haiti:
- Haiti's final decision on its presidential election candidates is delayed until Friday due to eligibility issues; it had initially been expected yesterday. (BBC) (News24) (Aljazeera)
- Potential candidate Wyclef Jean goes into hiding after receiving mysterious death threats from an anonymous source. (The Guardian) (Sky News)

August 19, 2010 (Thursday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

South Africa deploys its army to deal with public sector workers striking in a bid to earn an increased wage; police shoot rubber bullets and water cannon into crowds outside a hospital in Soweto. At least five people have been killed so far during the strikes. (BBC) (The Citizen) (iAfrica) (Mail & Guardian) (Times Live) (Reuters Africa)
Human rights groups express dismay at Kenya for the secret sending to Uganda of four suspects after the 2010 FIFA World Cup attacks in Kampala. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents are also said to have engaged in illegal interrogation of three of them. (BBC) (News24) (The Star)
Seven people are killed and fourteen injured in a bomb attack in China's Xinjiang province. Although the region has recently been embroiled in violence including Muslim separatists and majority Han Chinese, the attack is being investigated as a criminal case. (AP) (Al Jazeera)
The last United States brigade combat team leaves Iraq: there are still 56,000 members of the United States armed forces in the country. (CNN)

Arts, culture and entertainment

Winston Churchill's butterfly house is rebuilt. (The Independent)
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's house Undershaw, in which he wrote numerous Sherlock Holmes stories, is slated to be converted into apartments. (Los Angeles Times)
The Scots Makar (national poet) Edwin Morgan, a leading twentieth century poet, dies. (BBC) (The Guardian) (The Daily Telegraph) (AFP via Google News)
Female train carriages are launched in Jakarta as part of a crackdown on public sexual harassment. (BBC) (Bangkok Post)^{[permanent dead link]}
The Oxford Dictionary of English adds new words and phrases to the language including vuvuzela, carbon capture and storage, toxic debt and quantitative easing. (ABC News Online)
Two groups in Israel begin pro-Zionist courses in editing Wikipedia. (The Guardian)
Sail Amsterdam begins in Amsterdam with the Sail-In Parade.

Business and economics

Foxconn states its intention to hire more workers following a rash of suicides among its workforce. (BBC)
An American egg company recalls 380 million products as outbreaks of salmonella poisoning spread across the United States. (BBC)
BP is accused by Transocean of trying to keep secret data required to investigate the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. (BBC) (AFP via France24)^{[permanent dead link]}

Disasters

The United Nations estimates that four million people have become homeless as a result of the 2010 Pakistan floods; Secretary-General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon, speaking in New York, states that the floods are a "slow-motion tsunami" as he calls for more funds to assist those affected. (Reuters) (BBC)
Forty people are injured after a bull leaps into a crowd in Tafalla, Spain; the bull is killed. (BBC) (The Guardian) (Aljazeera) (The Independent)
Two passenger train carriages are swept into a river by floods in Sichuan, China. (Xinhua) (BBC) (Reuters)

International relations

The United Nations issues a report stating that Israel restricts with live ammunition access to land used for farming and fishing by Palestinians, causing a loss of livelihood for tens of thousands of Palestinians. (BBC) (United Nations Report)
France's government begins to deport thousands of Romani people, who are mainly from Romania and Bulgaria; Romania fears this will lead to xenophobic tensions. (BBC) (TIME) (CNN) (Xinhua)
North Korea confirms the seizure of a South Korean fishing boat two weeks ago, with four South Korean and three Chinese sailors on board. (Yonhap) (AFP) (Korea Times)
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev begins a state visit in Armenia by meeting with Armenian president Serzh Sargsyan and paying tribute to the victims of the Armenian genocide at the Tsitsernakaberd memorial. Russian military presence in the South Caucasian republic is to be extended until 2044.(Reuters)(Aysor)

Law and crime

Four Israel Defense Forces naval commandos are arrested by Israeli Military Police for suspected theft of laptops and cell phones from activists during May's Gaza flotilla raid. (Haaretz)
Former chief of the Sri Lankan armed forces Sarath Fonseka admits he expects to be jailed after being charged with corruption and believes the verdict has been decided in advance; Fonseka has been elected to the Sri Lankan parliament since the charges were pressed. (BBC)
Mexico City legalises the fining of shops which give away free plastic bags in an environmental initiative. (BBC)
A record fine of almost three million is upheld by the Superior Labor Court of Brazil (Tribunal Superior do Trabalho, TST). (BBC) (The New Zealand Herald) (People's Daily)
Approximately 1,000 prisoners are released in Bangladesh as the country tries to reduce overcrowding in its prisons. (BBC)
A court in Perth, Australia, rules that a female Muslim woman must fully remove her niqāb while giving evidence. (BBC)
Australian Federal Police (AFP) and Victorian Police raid premises across Victoria in relation to alleged financing of a terrorist organisation believed to be the Kurdish Workers Party. One of the premises raided was of the Kurdish Association of Victoria; the AFP also raids properties in Sydney and Perth. (ABC Online) (Herald Sun)

Politics and elections

Brazil hosts its first presidential debate online, ahead of elections in October. (BBC)
The Burmese authorities announce thirteen new campaigning rules for the general election in November. (Al Jazeera) (Sify)

Science

The Fields Medal is awarded to Elon Lindenstrauss, Ngô Bảo Châu, Stanislav Smirnov and Cédric Villani at the 2010 International Congress of Mathematicians in Hyderabad, India. (Science Now)

Sport

Former Australian swimmer Dawn Fraser is criticised for controversial remarks during which she called for the boycott of the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi. (BBC News)
A U.S. federal grand jury in Washington indicts former Major League Baseball superstar pitcher Roger Clemens on charges of making false statements to Congress about his alleged use of performance-enhancing drugs. (The New York Times) (USA Today)

August 20, 2010 (Friday)

Arts and culture

Norwegian stand-up comedian Hans Morten Hansen completes a 38 hours and 14 minute long stand-up marathon, setting a new world record for longest stand-up performance. (VG)
A spectator commits suicide during a concert by The Swell Season in the U.S. state of California. (Herald Sun) (The Irish Times) (Billboard) (Hot Press) (NME)
Charles Haddon, singer of the British synthpop band Ou Est Le Swimming Pool, commits suicide after a show at the Pukkelpop festival in Belgium. (NME)
Novelist A. S. Byatt and critic John Carey win the James Tait Black Memorial Prizes, Britain's oldest literary awards. (BBC)
A. S. Byatt criticises the Orange Prize as "sexist" and says women who write intellectual books are viewed as "unnatural". (The Guardian)
J. D. Salinger's toilet is put on sale on eBay for $1 million. (BBC) (AP via The Washington Post)
Mr Benn is reprinted for the first time in 30 years. (The Guardian)

Business and economics

Carworkers in South Africa end their eight-day strike with a 10% pay deal. (BBC)

Disasters

Bolivia declares a state of emergency after approximately 25,000 forest fires spread across the country. (BBC)
58 pilot whales die after becoming stranded on New Zealand's Karikari Peninsula. (BBC) (The Sydney Morning Herald) (The New Zealand Herald)
Hundreds of flights over Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg and the Netherlands are delayed by an air traffic control problem. (BBC)
For failure to deal with the recent wildfires the head of Russia's forestry agency is fired by Vladimir Putin and replaced with his deputy. (BBC)
2010 Pakistan floods:
- After initial hesitation, Pakistan ultimately accepts $5 million in aid from India; it subsequently calls it a "very welcome initiative". (The Times of India)(The Guardian) (The Sydney Morning Herald) (BBC)
- The United Nations calls for more helicopters. (BBC)
Gas leak in a hardware store in Santa Cruz, Chile produces a massive evacuation in the surrounding area. (Wikinews)

International relations

France continues deporting Romani as the Vatican condemns this act. (Aljazeera) (The Daily Telegraph) (News24)
Israel and Palestinians agree to resume peace talks on September 2. (The Guardian) (Aljazeera) (Xinhua) (The New York Times)
Canada Post advises customers that it cannot accept mail to Gaza until further notice. Israel Post continues to inform postal services around the world that mail service to Gaza is unavailable. (Reuters)
President of Iran Mahmoud Ahmadinejad rejects calls from the United Nations Security Council to stop all uranium enrichment but promises to stop high level enrichment if the country is assured of uranium for a research reactor. (The Guardian)
Hillary Clinton, the United States Secretary of State, states that the United States "categorically disagrees" with the decision of the Scottish Government to release on compassionate grounds Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, the man convicted of bombing Pan Am Flight 103. (The Guardian)

Law and crime

6 police officers in Mexico are arrested and accused of participating in the kidnap and murder of Mayor Edelmiro Cavazos. (BBC) (AP via Arab News) (Japan Today)
South African health minister Aaron Motsoaledi accuses of murder public sector workers who disrupt important treatment of patients while striking for better pay. (BBC) (News24)
Remains of a 104-year-old woman's body are discovered in her son's backpack during a nationwide search in Japan for missing centenarians. It is thought they may have been there for a decade. (AFP) (BBC)
A Thai appeals court rules to extradite alleged Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout to the United States; Russia expresses its disagreement with the ruling. (The Independent) (AP via CBS)^{[permanent dead link]} (Thai News Agency) (BBC)
An Irish-born Australian man who admitted after initially pleading innocence to breaching the state of emergency during the anti-government protests in Thailand is deported to Australia; he says he was beaten, was treated harshly and was not shown an arrest warrant. (The Sydney Morning Herald)
Shining Path leaders Abimael Guzmán and Elena Iparraguirre marry at a maximum-security prison near Lima; they fought for their right to marry by going on hunger strike earlier this year. (BBC) (Reuters via The Independent)
A judge rules that former President of Guatemala Alfonso Portillo must stand trial. (BBC)
A quadriplegic man leaves hospital in Hong Kong for his own home after 19 years, having written to the country's leader 6 years ago to ask that he be allowed to die. (BBC)
The last remaining free inmate to have escaped from a prison in the U.S. state of Arizona is captured alongside his accomplice. (The New York Times)
A man sues game-maker NCsoft, stating he would not have begun to play one of their games, Lineage II, if he had known it was addictive and claims it has left him unable to function. (GameSpy)

Politics and elections

Solomon Islands general election, 2010:
- The two major political coalitions name their candidates for Prime Minister of the Solomon Islands following the general election: Steve Abana, the leader of the Democratic Party, and Danny Philip, the former Foreign Minister. (RNZI)
- Incumbent Derek Sikua will not be renominated as Prime Minister. (Solomon Star)
Musician Wyclef Jean is reportedly omitted from the list of candidates for the Haitian presidential election. (The Guardian)
Thousands of people rally in support of the mayor of Osh after rumours of his firing by Kyrgyzstan's interim government circulate. (Aljazeera)
India is to more than triple salaries of MPs. (BBC)
The Pentagon vows to prevent "internal threats" in the United States. (BBC)
More than half of politicians in Benin call for impeachment proceedings against President Boni Yayi over his involvement in a Ponzi scheme. (BBC) (Reuters Africa)
India approves a draft law intended to open its civilian nuclear power industry to private investment. (BBC)
Britain warns Libya not to celebrate the one year anniversary of the release of Pan Am Flight 103 bomber Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, released on compassionate grounds suffering terminal cancer and expected to live just three months. (Aljazeera) (Reuters) (TIME) (Wall Street Journal)
Australians vote tomorrow in what is being called the closest election in 50 years, with some polls predicting a 50-50 draw. (The Guardian)

Science

The world's first solar-diesel power station opens in Marble Bar, Western Australia. (Herald Sun)
Scientists publish a report in the Journal of Evolutionary Biology about a method of predicting radioactive contamination damage on species near Chernobyl, from historical mutation rates particularly in mitochondrial DNA. (BBC) (J. Evol. Biol.)
A possible new approach for treating mood disorders, such as depression, suggested in study of ketamine activity with the nervous system, more specifically mTOR-dependent synapse formation. (The Daily Telegraph) (Science)
A study links the risk of Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder to pesticide exposure before birth. (MSNBC) (Env. Health Persp.)

August 21, 2010 (Saturday)

Armed conflicts and incidents

Israel's ambassador to the United Nations Gabriela Shalev writes a letter to Ban Ki-moon stating that Israel would use force against a Bolivian-flagged all-female aid ship intending to land near Gaza. (The Age)
An injunction prevents public sector workers from continuing their national strike for better pay in South Africa; the army had previously been deployed and the country's health minister accused strikers of murder. (BBC)
Russian Federal Security Service assassinate Magomedali Vagabov, a top militant suspected to be responsible for the 2010 Moscow Metro bombings in Dagestan. (Sky News)
At least 10 anti-government protesters are killed by early morning bombs in Mogadishu; the dead include people from Afghanistan, Algeria, India and Pakistan. (BBC)
About 35 people are taken hostage by drug dealers at a tourist hotel in São Conrado, Rio de Janeiro; 1 woman, involved with them, is killed. (BBC)

Arts and culture

A Vincent van Gogh painting - known as both Poppy Flowers and Vase with Flowers - is stolen from the Mohammed Mahmoud Khalil art museum in Cairo, but is later said to have been recovered at Cairo Airport. (Aljazeera) (BBC)

Disasters

More than 50,000 people are evacuated after the Yalu River floods in China; flooding is also reported in North Korea with the city of Sinuiju particularly affected. (BBC) (AFP) (Xinhua)
The charity Save the Children says the food crisis in Niger is being made worse by hoarders selling grain at higher prices than most people can afford. (BBC) (RTHK)
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon welcomes more than $200 million in funds pledged towards the humanitarian effort following the 2010 Pakistan floods. (Aljazeera)
Relatives accuse authorities of not doing enough to save 33 miners who have spent the past 15 days trapped in a collapsed mine near Copiapó in the Atacama Desert. (BBC)
11 beached pilot whales are refloated using a crane and body sling on New Zealand's Karikari Peninsula. (The Independent) (The Sydney Morning Herald)
The United States is hit by a salmonella scare, with hundreds of people now thought to be ill across the country due to bad eggs; poisoning is expected to increase in the coming weeks. (The Age)

International relations

Italy backs France's crackdown and expulsion of Romani from the country. (Aljazeera) (AP)
Palestinians warn that building on occupied land by Israel would threaten negotiations. (Aljazeera)
Russian engineers start loading fuel into Iran's first nuclear reactor at Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant. (Reuters)

Law

Amnesty International urges Saudi Arabia not to sever the spine of a man as punishment; the man has been convicted of paralysing another man. (BBC) (The Age)
Swedish prosecutors issue and then revoke an arrest warrant against Wikileaks spokesperson Julian Assange. Assange calls the incident "deeply disturbing" as Wikileaks prepares to release 15,000 documents which the U.S. military would like to keep secret. (Aljazeera) (AP via The Independent) (Channel 4) (CNN)

Politics and elections

Australian federal election, 2010
- Australians go to the polls with results indicating a hung parliament. (The Sydney Morning Herald) (Aljazeera), (AAP via News Limited)
- Ken Wyatt of the Liberal Party of Australia becomes the first indigenous Australian to be elected to the House of Representatives of Australia representing the Division of Hasluck. (The Sunday Times WA)
Musician Wyclef Jean is formally declared unsuitable as a presidential candidate in Haiti's election. (Aljazeera) (BBC) (CNN) (Press Association via Google News)

Sport

Dutch sailor Laura Dekker starts her bid to become the youngest person to circumnavigate the world solo in Portimão, Portugal. (AP via KGW)

August 22, 2010 (Sunday)

Armed conflicts and incidents

A Venezuelan soldier opens fire at an army base in the capital Caracas, killing two officers and injuring six others. (BBC) (AP)
The Philippines and the United States hold a joint exercise of their forces. (Xinhua)
Brazilian police rescue 35 hostages from InterContinental in São Conrado, Rio de Janeiro. (Al Jazeera)
The Government of Somalia claims that 10 members of the al-Shabab militant group have been killed when bombs they were preparing went off prematurely in Mogadishu. (Al Jazeera)
Rwandan Lieutenant-Colonel Rugigana Ngabo, brother of exiled General Faustin Nyamwasa, is reported missing, having been arrested on Friday. (BBC)

Arts and culture

The Vincent van Gogh painting Poppy Flowers, missing but reportedly found yesterday, is now reported missing again after yesterday's find is proven false. (BBC) (Aljazeera)
Hundreds of people rally in relation to an Islamic cultural centre proposed for New York City, United States; opponents to the building blare Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the U.S.A." over loudspeakers. (Aljazeera)

Disasters

5,000 people are evacuated in North Korea after the Yalu River on the border with China floods; 94,000 in China are also evacuated. (AFP) (Xinhua) (BBC)
2010 Pakistan floods:
- Around 150,000 people flee their homes in Sindh as the devastating floods worsen in Pakistan. (Al Jazeera) (The Independent on Sunday) (BBC)
- International pledges currently total $800 million, say government figures. (Aljazeera)
All 33 Chilean miners trapped deep underground are located alive after 17 days, though they have not yet been removed from the mine and remain trapped. (AP via Google News) (BBC) (Reuters via France24) (Aljazeera)

International relations

A Bolivian-flagged all-female international aid ship bound for Gaza is delayed as Cyprus bans it from passing, with Israel's Ehud Barak calling on France and the United States to prevent it from sailing because, he says, it is "a needless provocation". (Haaretz) (euronews) (Press TV) (Buenos Aires News)
Iran unveils a long range unmanned bomber, the Karrar drone their latest addition in a number of recently disclosed military hardware. (The Guardian), (Los Angeles Times)
Palestinian official Wassel Abu Yousef objects to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's talk of "preconditions" that the Palestinians should recognize Israel as the state of Jews and says such comments are a threat to direct talks next month. (Xinhua)

Law and crime

South African trade unions state that a court injunction successfully sought by the government is intended to "intimidate" workers who are striking in the hope of receiving better pay. (BBC) (News24)
Supporters of Julian Assange of Wikileaks credit American intelligence agencies with recent smears against his character and express surprise that it has not happened sooner. (The Guardian) (Aljazeera)
After a federal investigation by the United States, 47 foreign-born gang members are arrested in New England, including members of the "True Somali Bloods", "True Sudanese Bloods" and the "Asian Boyz". Over half are arrested in the U.S. state of Maine. (Portland Press Herald)
4 mutilated and decapitated corpses are located by police hanging by their ankles from a bridge outside Cuernavaca, Morelos. (BBC)

Politics and elections

Protesters against the Park51 project for an Islamic community center two blocks away from Ground Zero of the World Trade Center site gather in New York City. (CNN)(ABC)
With results of the federal election in Australia indicating a hung parliament, Prime Minister Julia Gillard holds initial talks with independent candidates in an attempt to form a government. (BBC) (Aljazeera)

Science

United States authorities give the green light to human trials of an Ebola drug said to have worked during tests on monkeys. (BBC)

Sport

Kenyan runner David Lekuta Rudisha breaks a 13-year-old world record in the 800 metres at the ISTAF IAAF World Challenge meeting in Berlin, overshadowing Caster Semenya's return to the venue of her triumph. (Press Association via The Guardian) (BBC Sport) (AFP via Qatar Tribune) (The Daily Telegraph)
Brazil wins the 2010 World Blind Football Championship after beating Spain 2-0 in the final. (Hereford Times) (BBC Sport)
The All Blacks win the 2010 Tri Nations Series 29-22 in a final minute try against the Springboks. (BBC)

August 23, 2010 (Monday)

Armed conflicts and incidents

The Palestinian Authority has warned that it will pull out of peace talks if Israel renews the construction of settlements in the occupied West Bank. (BBC)
Two members of NATO's International Security Assistance Force are killed by improvised explosive devices in Afghanistan. (AFP via Google News)
At least 17 people, including a member of the National Assembly of Pakistan, Maulana Noor Mohammed Wazir, are killed in the bombing of a mosque in Pakistan's South Waziristan region. (Economic Times of India)^{[permanent dead link]}

Arts and culture

The Anne Frank tree in Amsterdam is knocked down by a gust of heavy wind, breaking off about a meter above ground. (NOS)
Jimena Navarrete, representing Mexico, wins Miss Universe 2010. (AP via News OK)

Business and economics

Australia's stock market and currency lose value because of the country's hung parliament. (BBC)

Disasters

Flooding in China and North Korea:
- More than 250,000 people are evacuated due to floods across China and North Korea. (Al Jazeera) (UK Press Association via Google News)
- 4 people die in floods in Dandong, China after flood waters cause the Yalu River to burst its banks. (AP via The Independent)
It is expected to take 120 days (4 months) to free the 33 miners trapped underground near Copiapó in the Atacama Desert after it is confirmed that they are all currently alive. (The Guardian)
The United Nations describes the humanitarian situation caused by the 2010 Pakistan floods as critical. (BBC)

International relations

Cambodia and Thailand resume diplomatic relations after former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra resigns his post as economic advisor to the Cambodian government. (Thai News Agency) (BBC)

Law and crime

2 tonnes of elephant ivory and five rhino horns disguised as avocados destined for Malaysia are seized in Nairobi, Kenya. (Kenya Broadcasting Corporation)^{[permanent dead link]} (Reuters)
China considers removing the death penalty for several economic crimes. (BBC) (Xinhua) (AFP)
25 prisoners, including Islamic militants, escape from a prison in Dushanbe, Tajikistan. (BBC) (Bangkok Post)^{[permanent dead link]} (ITAR-TASS)^{[permanent dead link]}
A dismissed police inspector hijacks a coach belonging to Hong Thai Travel and its 25 Hong Kong tourists in Manila, the capital of the Philippines in order to demand his reinstatement. He is later shot dead by the police. At least 7 hostages are killed and 2 others severely injured.(Al Jazeera) (CNN) (Philippine Inquirer)
Judge Royce C. Lamberth of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia rules against a decision by President Barack Obama allowing the expansion of embryonic stem cell research claiming it breaks US law. (Bloomberg)

Sport

Golfer Tiger Woods and his ex-wife Elin Nordegren finalise their divorce. (CBS Sports)

August 24, 2010 (Tuesday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

Yemeni al-Qaeda crackdown:
- 80,000 people flee the southern Yemeni city of Lawdar after clashes between Al-Qaeda linked forces and government troops killed several people. (Al Jazeera)
Two Catalonian aid workers kidnapped in Mauritania by Al-Qaeda Organization in the Islamic Maghreb return home. (Al Jazeera) (Reuters)
Battle of Mogadishu (2010):
- Al-Shabaab militants storm the Hotel Muna, close to the Presidential palace Villa Somalia in Mogadishu, killing at least 33 people including several MPs. (euronews) (BBC) (AFP), (New York Times)
Foreign human rights groups accuse Rwandan and Congolese rebels of gang-raping nearly 200 women and some baby boys over four days within miles of a U.N. peacekeepers' base in the village of Bunangiri, North Kivu province, Democratic Republic of the Congo. (Al Jazeera) (CNN) (AP) (Reuters)
A lance-corporal in the Australian Army is killed in fighting with the Taliban in Afghanistan's Oruzgan province. (News Limited)

Arts and culture

American actor Lindsay Lohan is released from a rehabilitation centre 22 days into a three month program. (ABC News)

Business and economics

India rejects plans by mining group Vedanta to extract bauxite in Orissa due to environmental concerns. (Times of India) (BBC)
Cairn Energy discovers gas off the coast of Greenland, amid protests from Greenpeace demanding it halt its oil operations. (BBC) (AFP)
Stocks on the Philippine Stock Exchange fall the day after the Manila hostage crisis. (Businessweek)

Disasters

Henan Airlines Flight 8387, carrying 91 people on board, overshoots the runway and bursts into flames in Yichun City in Heilongjiang, northeastern China; at least 43 people are reported dead. (AP) (Xinhua) (BBC)
Oxfam warns of a "double disaster" following flooding compounding a recent drought and food crisis in Niger. (AFP) (BBC)
Agni Air Flight 101, a small plane carrying fourteen people, crashes in Nepal's Makwanpur District with no survivors expected. (Kantipur) (CNN)
Rescue efforts start to free the men trapped following the 2010 Copiapó mining accident. (ABC News America)

Law and crime

The United States Department of Justice states that it will appeal a decision by United States federal judge Royce C. Lamberth to block an executive order by President Barack Obama to expand embryonic stem cell research. (BBC)

Politics and elections

Samantha Cameron, wife of the British Prime Minister David Cameron, gives birth to the couple's fourth child, a girl. (Telegraph) (BBC)
John McCain wins the Republican Party primary election to become the nominee in the US Senate election in Arizona. (Fox News)

August 25, 2010 (Wednesday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

Battle of Mogadishu (2010):
- Clashes continue in Mogadishu after a rebel advance on the presidential palace is repelled. (Reuters)
A military spokesperson claims that a suicide bomber was shot and killed when he tried to drive a truckload of explosives into a Mauritanian army barracks in Néma near the border with Mali. (AP via Washington Post)
A string of attacks in Iraq targeting Iraqi security forces leaves at least 56 people dead. (AP via Washington Post), (New York Times)

Arts and culture

Actor Paul Hogan is banned from leaving Australia until he settles a multi-million dollar tax bill. (The Australian)
Archaeologists working at the Umm El-Kharga Oasis, 200km south of Cairo, discover a 3,500-year-old ancient Egyptian settlement. (ABC News America)

Disasters

The flight data recorder from Henan Airlines Flight 8387 is found. (BBC)
A school bus collides with a train in Cape Town, South Africa, killing at least nine pupils and injuring five others. (AP via The Globe and Mail)
At least 20 people are killed in Democratic Republic of the Congo after a Filair plane crashes near Bandundu. (BBC),(Yahoo)
Hurricane Danielle strengthens to Category 2 on the Saffir–Simpson Hurricane Scale and heads towards Bermuda. (AP via Google News)

International Relations

The former President of the United States Jimmy Carter arrives in North Korea to negotiate for the release of United States citizen Aijalon Gomes. (CNN)
Wikileaks publishes a CIA analysis claiming that the United States could be perceived as an "exporter of terrorism". (Washington Post)

Law and Crime

Mexican Naval Infantry find 72 corpses at a remote ranch in San Fernando, Tamaulipas, near the border with the US state of Texas. The victims were economic migrants from Central America and South America believed to be murdered by a drug cartel. (Reuters), (Daily Mail)
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police arrests two suspects in Ottawa for alleged terrorism offences. (CTV)

Politics and elections

Danny Philip, an MP from Rendova Tetepare, is elected the new Prime Minister of the Solomon Islands following the 2010 general election. Philip narrowly defeated Steve Abana with 26-23 vote total. (Solomon Times)
Craig Langdon resigns as an Australian Labor Party MP of the Victorian Legislative Assembly representing Ivanhoe. (AAP via Sydney Morning Herald)

Science

A solar system is discovered for the star HD 10180 including a possible planet 1.4 times the size of the Earth. (Christian Science Monitor) (New York Times)

August 26, 2010 (Thursday)

Arts and culture

German HIV-positive pop singer Nadja Benaissa is found guilty of grievous bodily harm after transmitting HIV to a man who had unprotected sex with her without her telling him of her condition. (New York Times)

Business and economy

Mass protests by civil servants in South Africa continue, demanding improved pay and benefits. (Al Jazeera)

Disasters

Two Greek F-16 planes collide mid-air south of Crete; 2 out of 3 pilots are rescued. (Athens News Agency) (The Sydney Morning Herald)
2010 Pakistan floods
- Pakistan orders nearly half a million people in towns including Sujawal, Mirpur Bathoro and Daro threatened by floods to evacuate. (AFP via Google News)
- The Pakistan Taliban threatens to kidnap foreign aid workers. (The Telegraph)
South Korea offers emergency aid to North Korea for floods. (AFP via Google News)
The United States Food and Drug Administration finds that feed given to hens at Wright County Egg and Hillandale Farm led to a salmonella outbreak in eggs. (CNN)

International relations

Former International Atomic Energy Agency director Olli Heinonen claims that Iran has stockpiled enough low-enriched uranium for one to two nuclear bombs. (Haaretz)
Israel asks Germany to arrest Klaas Carel Faber, a Nazi war criminal who killed 20 Jews at Westerbork concentration camp. (Haaretz)
The New York Times claims that Mohammed Zia Salehi, an official of Afghanistan's Karzai administration accused of graft is on the United States Central Intelligence Agency payroll. (The New York Times)
Ahmad Vahidi, Iran's Minister of Defense, offers military assistance to Lebanon following a request from Hezbollah. (AFP via Lebanon Daily Star)
South Korea's presidential office claims that North Korean leader Kim Jong-il is visiting China for the second time this year. (Yonhap) (Wall Street Journal) (Al Jazeera)

Law and crime

Russian police arrest activists from Amnesty International and remove volunteers from Greenpeace Russia and the ONE Campaign at a U2 concert in Moscow. (BBC) (RIA Novosti) (Business Week)
An independent counsel finds that the Governor of New York David Paterson gave misleading evidence about intending to pay for free tickets that he obtained to last year's baseball world series and refers the issue to the Albany District Attorney for possible prosecution for perjury. (New York Times)
Mexico asks its Latin American neighbours to help identify the 72 people found murdered in Tamaulipas. (AFP via The Age)

Politics

Solomon Islands MP Steve Laore dies, reducing newly elected Prime Minister Danny Philip's parliamentary majority to just one. (Agence France Presse)
Democratic Party of Japan powerbroker Ichirō Ozawa announces a leadership challenge to the Prime Minister of Japan Naoto Kan with a ballot to be held on September 14. (Reuters)

Science

Heavy rains wash red argillite sediment from old sedimentary rock into a river at Waterton Lakes National Park in Alberta, causing Cameron Falls to turn red. (Daily Mail)

August 27, 2010 (Friday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

Battle of Mogadishu
- The al-Shabaab rebel group in Somalia says it has called 11 truckloads of reinforcements to take over the capital Mogadishu after a week-long battle. (Al Jazeera)
- At least 43 people are killed in the violence. (Press TV)
Police in India kill Umakanta Mahato, a top Maoist guerilla wanted in connection with the Gyaneshwari Express train derailment in May. (BBC) (Times of India)
Two bombs explode in the Mexican city of Ciudad Victoria, the capital of Tamaulipas, outside the municipal police station and the Televisa television station. (BNO via New Kerala)
Almost 45 people are injured in clashes between stone-throwing protesters and Indian security forces in India's Kashmir Valley. (UPI)

Business and economy

Ben Bernanke, the Chair of the Federal Reserve, says the United States Federal Reserve is prepared to act against the prospects of deflation but expects economic growth to continue during the latter half of 2010 "albeit at a relatively modest pace." (New York Times)
The United States Department of Justice closes an antitrust probe into a proposed merger of United Airlines and Continental Airlines clearing the way for shareholders to vote on the proposal. (MoneyCNN)

Disasters

As many as 30 children die of lead poisoning in northern Nigeria. (BBC) (AllAfrica.com)
12 people are killed in landslides after heavy rains in northern Turkey. (Hürriyet Daily News) (BBC)
The Indus River breaches its banks near the southern Pakistan city of Thatta forcing the evacuations of hundreds of thousands of people. (ABC Online and AFP)
A magnitude 5.7 earthquake strikes northern Iran, killing two people. (WireUpdate) (Xinhua) (Radio New Zealand)
Floods and landslides have killed at least 34 people in Nicaragua and affected 84,000 since the start of the rainy season on May 15. (AFP via Google News)

International relations

India cancels defence exchanges with China after the latter refused to grant a visa to a general from Kashmir. (BBC) (Hindustan Times) (Al Jazeera)
Sri Lanka urges Saudi Arabia to investigate the case of a Sri Lankan maid who had nails and needles pushed into her by her employers as a "punishment". Doctors later remove 24 nails and needles from her body. (Arab News) (Lanka Business Online) (BBC)
Muslims protest outside the United States embassy in Jakarta about plans by the Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, Florida to burn Korans on the 9th anniversary of the September 11 attacks. (Fox News)
France rejects criticism from the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination over its Romani removal strategy. (Xinhua)

Law and crime

A draft United Nations report says crimes by the Rwandan army and allied rebels in Democratic Republic of the Congo during the Second Congo War could be classified as genocide. (BBC) (IOL) (Reuters Africa)
Former President of the United States Jimmy Carter secures the release of US citizen Aijalon Gomes from North Korea. (BBC) (Yonhap) (Xinhua)
The President of Kenya Mwai Kibaki enacts the new constitution. (CNN) (Kenya Broadcasting Corporation)
The chief investigator of the mass killing of 72 people in Mexico's Tamaulipas state has been missing since Wednesday. (BBC)
Paul Allen's company, Interval Licensing LLC, files a patent infringement lawsuit against Google, Apple Computer, AOL, eBay, Facebook, Netflix, Office Depot, OfficeMax, Staples Inc., Yahoo and YouTube. (NYT)

Politics

Leaders of the Burmese junta, including Senior General Than Shwe, resign from their posts ahead of general elections in November. (BBC) (Sify India) (Bangkok Post)^{[permanent dead link]}
Legal advice clears Governor-General of Australia Mrs. Quentin Bryce to make a decision on who will be the next Prime Minister of Australia despite family ties to Australian Labor Party powerbroker Bill Shorten. (The Australian)

Science

A team of scientists, led by Neil Hall from the University of Liverpool, releases draft sequences of the wheat genome. (BBC)
Arrowheads found in the Sibudu Cave in northern KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa show that humans were using bow and arrows 64000 years ago. (BBC)

Weather

Hurricane Danielle strengthens to Category 4, becoming the first major hurricane of the 2010 Atlantic hurricane season. (MSNBC) (CNN) (CBC)

August 28, 2010 (Saturday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

Pakistan
- Suspected United States missiles strike two cars carrying militants in Pakistan's Kurram Valley resulting in at least four deaths. (AP via Fox News)
- A heavy exchange of gunfire erupts outside a Pakistan security forces office in Peshawar near the United States consulate. Two hostages were taken but eventually freed. (AP via MSNBC), (DNA India), (Al-Jazeera)
Suspected Taliban insurgents attack two coalition allied military bases in eastern Afghanistan; both attacks are repelled by coalition forces, killing 24 militants while taking no casualties. (BBC)

Business and economy

Cuba eases property laws, allowing foreign investors to lease government land for up to 99 years. (AP) (Al Jazeera)

International relations

China and India state that the military ties between the two countries will not be affected despite the recent visa dispute.[2][3]
The International Criminal Court reports Kenya to the United Nations Security Council over a visit by Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir to the country. (BBC) (The Standard)
Rwanda threatens to limit cooperation with the United Nations after a report accused the country of war crimes in neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo. (AFP)
Iran answers Lebanon's call to help fund the Lebanese Army after the United States threatened to cut off funds following the 2010 Adaisseh incident.[4]^{[permanent dead link]}
Mount Sinabung in Sumatra, Indonesia, erupts. Thousands of people evacuated.(The Jakarta Post) (Wikinews)

Law and crime

Iran says no final decision has been made on the stoning of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, who was convicted of adultery. (AFP) (Iranian Students' News Agency)

Politics

Former President of Madagascar Marc Ravalomanana is sentenced in absentia to life in prison with hard labour for ordering the killing of opposition supporters. (BBC) (Reuters Africa)
A large gathering of people attend Glenn Beck's "Restoring Honor" rally at the National Mall in Washington, D.C. (USA Today)

Sport

Four members of the Pakistan national cricket team are allegedly involved in a betting scandal including captain Salman Butt fast bowlers Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir and wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal during their current tour of England. (Daily Mail)

August 29, 2010 (Sunday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

Eighty thousand people rally in Hong Kong after last week's fatal tourist coach hijacking hostage crisis in the Philippines. (Aljazeera) (BBC) (Bangkok Post)^{[permanent dead link]} (The Independent)
At least 19 people are killed in a fire fight between President of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov's personal guards and protesters in Tsentoroi. (Aljazeera)
A Palestinian man is killed by the collapse of a smuggling tunnel under the border between Egypt and the Gaza Strip. (AFP via Google News)
Afghanistan
- 7 American soldiers are killed in fighting in Afghanistan over the weekend. (AP via MSNBC)
- Gunmen kill 5 campaign workers for a female candidate in the Afghan parliamentary election, 2010. (Reuters)
The Catholic Church admits that during a meeting in April Godfried Danneels, the retired Catholic leader in Belgium, advised a person who had experienced abuse to remain silent until his abuser Roger Vangheluwe, the Bishop of Bruges, retired. (BBC)

Arts and Culture

62nd Primetime Emmy Awards
- Mad Men wins the Emmy for Outstanding Drama Series. (Los Angeles Times)
- Modern Family wins the Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series. (Los Angeles Times)
The final episode of Last of the Summer Wine airs on BBC One after 37 years. (The Guardian) (The Daily Telegraph) (Daily Mail)
A small semi-train is driven through the streets of Gaza after six months of construction, to the delight of children living in harsh conditions. (Xinhua)

Disasters

Floods worsen in Pakistan as more towns are threatened. (Press TV)
1 person dies as the Sumatran volcano Sinabung prompts a red alert by erupting for the first time in over 400 years, leading to Indonesia evacuating thousands of people. (ABC News Online) (AFP via Google News) (DPA via Monsters and Critics)
At least 38 people, including the driver, are killed in Ecuador when a bus falls down a cliff outside the capital Quito, reportedly after the driver fell asleep. (Reuters Africa) (Sky News Australia)

International relations

The Palestinian Authority launches a United States-funded advertising campaign supporting peace talks with Israel. (Jerusalem Post)

Law and crime

Indonesian detainees riot and light a fire at the Northern Immigration Detention Centre in Darwin, Australia. (ABC News Online), (AFP via Yahoo! News)
Unidentified gunmen assassinate Marco Antonio Leal Garcia, the mayor of the small town of Hidalgo in Tamaulipas, Mexico. (AFP via Sydney Morning Herald)

Politics

Afghanistan's former deputy attorney-general Fazel Ahmed Faqiryar is sacked over his refusal to obstruct corruption investigations into senior government officials; Faqiryar is critical of President Hamid Karzai. (Aljazeera)
Racism in Australia is shown to be subsiding as the country elects its first indigenous parliamentarian, Ken Wyatt. (BBC) (The Independent) (The Age)
President of the United States Barack Obama pledges to restore the Gulf Coast on the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina in a speech in New Orleans. (Reuters via Toronto Sun) (Aljazeera)

Sport

A man is arrested in connection to an alleged sports betting scam centered on the current Test match at Lord's Cricket Ground in London between England and Pakistan. (BBC)
David Lekuta Rudisha lowers the 800 metres world record to 1:41.01 seconds. (IAAF)

August 30, 2010 (Monday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

Four Israeli settlers, including a pregnant woman, are shot dead in a shooting outside Kiryat Arba, when a gunman opens fire on their car. Hamas claims responsibility for the murder. (Haaretz)
A gunman opens fire in Devínska Nová Ves, a borough of the Slovak capital Bratislava, killing 8 people and injuring 14 others. (BBC) (Deutsche Welle) (The Guardian) (AP via The Hindu) (Xinhua) (Aljazeera)
Marco Antonio Leal García, the Mayor of Hidalgo, Tamaulipas, in northeastern Mexico, is shot dead while operating his car; his 4-year-old daughter is wounded. (BBC)
The presidential palace in Somalia is shelled. (Aljazeera)
6 civilians are killed and 19 others are injured in a shelling incident in Mogadishu. (The Guardian)
4 African Union peacekeepers from Uganda are killed during a mortar strike in Mogadishu, Somalia. (BBC) (AFP via France24)
4 people are killed and 3 others are injured due to a rocket launcher explosion in Pursat Province, northwestern Cambodia. (Xinhua)
Two Russian pilots are abducted in Sudan's western Darfur region. (RIA Novosti) (BBC)
Gunmen kidnap a politician in southern Nigeria, days after a supporter of President Goodluck Jonathan was also kidnapped. (News24) (Xinhua)

Arts and culture

It is announced that Isabella Rossellini is to chair the judging panel at the Berlin International Film Festival in 2011. (BBC) (Reuters) (UPI) (AFP via The Independent)
Concern is expressed for more than 500 indigenous women who have gone missing in Canada on the International Day of the Disappeared. (Aljazeera)
Alain "Spiderman" Robert climbs another building barehanded, this time in Sydney; he is later arrested. (The Sydney Morning Herald) (BBC) (Xinhua) (Sky News) (France24)

Disasters

2010 Pakistan floods
- The historic city of Thatta is preserved by troops and volunteers fighting severe floodwaters in Pakistan; it had been thought of as being at great risk. (AP via Google News) (The Independent) (Daily Times)
- More than 175,000 people flee, as the city virtually empties. (Aljazeera)
Chile mining accident
- The 33 miners involved in the accident make telephone contact with their families for the first time in 3 weeks. (BBC)
- Rescuers are to begin drilling to rescue the trapped miners. (Santiago Times)^{[permanent dead link]} (Al Jazeera)
2010 Atlantic hurricane season
- Category 4 Hurricane Earl takes aim at the northern Leeward Islands and Puerto Rico with winds of up to 135 miles per hour (215 km/h) prompting hurricane warnings. (msnbc.com) (CNN) (BBC)
- Tropical Storm Fiona forms in the central Atlantic Ocean with the potential to become the fourth hurricane of the season. (Huffington Post)
Indonesia's Mount Sinabung continues to erupt with 21,000 people now evacuated from nearby areas of north Sumatra and two people dead. (AP via Fox News) (CNN)
9 people die and 480 are rescued following a fire at a retirement home in the Tver region of Russia. (CNN) (Al Jazeera)
It is announced that a preserved corpse belonging to William Holland, an American mountaineer lost in the Canadian Rockies in 1989, has been located in Jasper National Park. (BBC) (AP via Google News)
42 killed, 11 injured in bus crash 55 miles south of Quito, Ecuador.(CNN)

International relations

Ovadia Yosef, a senior rabbi from Shas, a party within Israel's coalition government, calls for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to "vanish from our world". The United States condemns the remarks as "deeply offensive". (BBC) (Haaretz) (The Times of India)
The United States begins patrolling with troops its border with Mexico. (BBC)
United States Vice President Joe Biden pays a surprise visit to Iraq. (Aljazeera) (Aswat al-Iraq)
China and North Korea acknowledge the leader of North Korea Kim Jong Il visited China recently where he met with the President of China Hu Jintao. (UK Press Association via Google News) (Xinhua) (The Chosun Ilbo) (Daily Times)
The President of the United States Barack Obama freezes the assets of three North Korean organisations and one individual in response to the sinking of a South Korean warship in March. North Korea has denied it is responsible. (The Guardian) (Xinhua) (Aljazeera)

Law and crime

More than 100 Russian far-right skinheads attack a music festival in central Russia, injuring at least 10 people and leaving one 14-year-old girl dead. (BBC) (RIA Novosti)
3,200 police officers have been fired so far this year by Mexico's federal police force due to extracurricular activities. (BBC) (AP via France24) (Aljazeera)
The Indian government decides not to ban the controversial BlackBerry devices for at least two months after the North American manufacturer allows "lawful access" to encrypted data it had been feared would be a security threat. (Aljazeera) (BBC)
Indonesian detainees continue to riot at the Northern Immigration Detention Facility. (AAP via Sydney Morning Herald)
South African rugby union player Bees Roux of the Bulls is charged with murdering a police officer in Pretoria. (AP via Sydney Morning Herald)
Mexico captures alleged Mexican-American drug trafficker Edgar Valdez Villarreal in the state of Morelos near Mexico City. (ABC News Online)

Politics and elections

Italian health minister Ferruccio Fazio apologises while visiting a woman subjected to violent confrontation between two doctors as her baby was on the verge of being born at a hospital in Messina, Sicily. (BBC) (The Daily Telegraph) (AP via CBC News) (The Washington Post)
Talks begin between the government and workers striking for better conditions in South Africa in the third week of a conflict which has seen troops deployed. (BBC) (TIMES Live) (Reuters)

Science

The InterAcademy Panel on International Issues issues a report finding that The IPCC assessment process has been successful overall but making seven formal recommendations for improving the IPCC's assessment process, and that "“Straying into advocacy can only hurt I.P.C.C.’s credibility.” (Aljazeera) (The Irish Times) (The New York Times) (The New Zealand Herald)InterAcademy Council news release 30.August.2010

Sport

The International Cricket Council states that Pakistan's tour of England is to continue despite yesterday's spot-fixing allegations exposed by a British newspaper. (BBC Sport) (AFP via France24)^{[permanent dead link]} (The Guardian) (Aljazeera)

August 31, 2010 (Tuesday)