Portal:Current events/2010 August 15

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)