August 2009 - Portal:Current Events

• At least two people are killed and at least fifteen are wounded in a shooting attack at a building frequented by gay youths in Tel-Aviv, Israel. (Haaretz)
• 4,000 people are evacuated from the Canary Islands due to severe forest fires. (RTÉ)
• Former President of the Philippines Corazon Aquino dies at the age of 76 of cardiopulmonary arrest after complications of colon cancer. A memorial service and funeral is scheduled for August 5. (Philippine Daily Inquirer)
• Russia signs a deal to open a second military base in Kyrgyzstan at a Collective Security Treaty Organisation summit. (AP)
• The trial of 30 protesters in Iran who demonstrated in protests after the disputed presidential election begins. (Press TV) (BBC) (Al Jazeera)
• Thousands demonstrate in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, against a current security law that allows for detention without trial. (Bernama) (Al Jazeera) (The Times of India)
• Police fire tear gas and arrest over 400 people at street protests over laws that can see people detained indefinitely without trial by the authorities in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. (RTÉ)(Malaysian Insider)
• Venezuela orders 34 private radio stations to be closed. (CNN) (Al Jazeera)
• Chinese hackers target the website of the Melbourne International Film Festival for a second time as Uyghur leader Rebiya Kadeer is to visit the country. (AFP) (The Australian) (Bloomberg)
• North Korea says a South Korean fishing boat it seized "illegally" entered its waters. (Yonhap) (BBC)
• Six Christians are killed in religious unrest in Punjab, Pakistan, after days of tension following an alleged desecration of a Qur’an. (BBC)
• Rare Buddhist treasures, buried in the 1930s during Mongolia's Communist purge, are unearthed in the Gobi Desert. (BBC)

• One person is killed and 75 injured after an outdoor stage collapses at the Big Valley Jamboree country music festival in Alberta, Canada. (CBC) (CNN)
• One person dies of pneumonic plague and eleven of his relatives are quarantined in Hainan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture. (People's Daily Online)
• Three workers from the Russian Emergency Ministry are killed in Ingushetia. (Kyiv Post) (RIA Novosti)
• Nine families who have been living in East Jerusalem since 1956 are evicted by force. (Previous reports of 'two families' are wrong.) (Al Jazeera) (AFP) (BBC)
• Merpati Nusantara Airlines Flight 9760, a Twin Otter plane with 16 on board, disappears over Papua, Indonesia. (Japan Today) (Bernama) (AFP)
• Two newly discovered works by Mozart—a prelude and concerto movement—are performed in Salzburg, Austria. (BBC) (Associated Press) (Reuters)
• A new strain of the virus that causes AIDS is discovered in a woman from Cameroon. (MSNBC)
• Chinese police detain a further 319 people over unrest in the Xinjiang region last month. (Xinhua) (Press TV) (Reuters India)
• Hundreds of firefighters on the Spanish island of La Palma in the Canary Islands are continuing to battle wildfires. (The Times) (The Telegraph)
• At least 33 people die and several are injured as a bus flips over thrice in Zimbabwe. (BBC)
• Around 2700 people are evacuated as 530 forest fires burn in British Columbia, Canada. (The Age) (AFP)
• A large oil spill occurs in Langesund, Norway, after a Chinese ship, the Full City, drifted aground. (Stockholm News) (The Local)
• Former Iranian President Mohammad Khatami criticizes the "show trial" of election protestors currently underway in the country. (Press TV) (The Independent)
• The death toll from sectarian clashes in northern Nigeria rises to 700. (This Day) (CNN)
• The BBC obtains a photograph showing Yusuf Mohamed, leader of the Boko Haram sect, was alive when captured by the Nigerian army. (BBC)
• The remains of Michael Scott Speicher, the first United States Gulf War casualty, are located in the Al Anbar Governorate desert. (The Irish Times)

• Bolivia becomes the first country in the history of South America to declare the right of indigenous people to govern themselves. (MercoPress)
• Georgia accuses Russia of trying to seize more of its territory as the anniversary of the 2008 war between the two countries approaches. (BBC).
• Several earthquakes, including one of 6.9 magnitude, hit northwestern Mexico. (USGS) (BBC)
• Continental Airlines Flight 128, from Rio de Janeiro to Houston, makes an emergency landing in Miami after severe turbulence, injuring dozens. (New York Daily News)
• Evidence that haggis was invented by the English is unearthed. (IOL) (News.com.au)
• Iran is reportedly ready to build a nuclear weapon, according to Western intelligence services. (The Times)
• Barclays posts a profit of £2.98bn for the first half of the year, up 8% on the same period of 2008. (Sky News)
• Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei formally approves the second-term presidency of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. (BBC) (Press TV) (Reuters) (Al Jazeera)
• Water supplies in Chifeng, Inner Mongolia, China, are cut off to over 580,000 people after contaminants caused the hospitalization of 4,125 people due to gastrointestinal illness. (Xinhua) (Associated Press)
• A town in Qinghai, China, is sealed off after a second person dies of pneumonic plague. (Xinhua) (The Times) (Al Jazeera)
• Somali pirates release a Malaysian tugboat with 11 Indonesian crew after being held for more than seven months. (Reuters) (People's Daily) (The Straits Times)
• The Washington Post newspaper in the United States reports that officials are considering a plan to move Guantánamo Bay detainees to a prison camp. (RTÉ)
• An Australian radio show is axed and presenter Kyle Sandilands sacked from a television show after a lie detector stunt sees a 14-year-old girl say she was raped so her mother could claim Pink tickets. (Bangkok Post) (BBC) (CTV) (The Guardian) (Herald Sun) (IOL)
• 185 people are killed in tribal clashes in South Sudan. (Associated Press) (AHN) (BBC)
• The death sentences of more than 4000 prisoners in Kenya are commuted to life imprisonment. (BBC) (Capital FM)

• A European Commission report finds that more than 50% of all Europeans regularly surf the Internet, up 33% in five years. (Deutsche Welle)
• Burundian police detain opposition leader and former journalist Alexis Sinduhije at Ruyigi in eastern Burundi, where he is accused of hosting an illegal meeting. (IOL)
• Pro-government activist, Lina Ron, surrenders to Venezuelan authorities one day after attacking opposition television station Globovisión. President Hugo Chávez condemns the attack, saying it helps his opponents brand him as a tyrant. (BBC) (The Guardian)
• Amos Kenan, Israeli columnist, painter, sculptor, playwright, novelist and leading intellectual of Canaanism died at the age of 82 in Israel, his funeral is scheduled for Thursday, August 6th, at a kibbutz cemetery in central Israel. (The Associated Press)
• Former United States President Bill Clinton arrives in Pyongyang, North Korea, and secures the freedom of two detained American journalists, Laura Ling and Euna Lee. (BBC) (Yonhap) (KCNA) (Al Jazeera) (The Times) (BBC)
• Georgia
  • The Russian and U.S. Presidents discuss in a phone conversation the Georgian situation and “the need to decrease tensions in the region,” America's White House claims. (Civil).
  • Russia establishes combat readiness of its troops in South Ossetia due to the situation. (Rustavi 2), (Civil).
  • Georgia urges the European Union and United States to help avert a new war with Russia, as tensions escalate ahead of the first anniversary of the 2008 South Ossetia war. (AFP via Google News)
  • South Ossetian separatists throw grenades into Georgian and Russian checkpoints. (Rustavi2)
• Police in Australia foil a major terror operation involving a suicide attack on a military base understood to be Holsworthy Barracks on Sydney's western outskirts. (Sky News) (The Age) (The Hindu)
• 5,300 people flee flames which thousands of firefighters fight in British Columbia. (BBC) (Canada.com) (CBS News) (National Post)
• Bangkok Airways Flight PG 266 crashes into a disused control tower at Samui Airport on the island of Ko Samui, Thailand, killing at least one person. (Bangkok Post) (BBC) (China Daily) (RTÉ)
• A referendum on whether to extend Mamadou Tandja's presidency for a third term is held in Niger. (BBC) (Associated Press)
• Gotland governor Marianne Samuelsson is forced to resign after she was taped arguing that a local businessman should be given favourable treatment. (The Local)
• UBS remains cautious about its prospects after client withdrawals spurred by protracted U.S. tax litigation drags the Swiss bank into another big quarterly loss. (Reuters)
• John Yettaw, detained in Burma for making an uninvited visit to Aung San Suu Kyi, is taken to hospital suffering seizures. (BBC) (AFP) (CNN)
• After a public demonstration in support, a High Court judge in Ireland orders the release of Thomas Cook staff, including one woman who went into labour, who were arrested after occupying the company's premises on Grafton Street, Dublin. (The Irish Times) (Reuters) (RTÉ) (The Times)
• About 100 Algerians and Chinese clash in Algiers. (Reuters India) (BBC)
• Nigerian President Umaru Yar'Adua orders an investigation into the recent sectarian violence in the north of the country. (NEXT) (Reuters)
• Opposition groups in Iran call for further protests ahead of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's inauguration. (Associated Press)
• The trial of a Sudanese woman accused of public indecency after wearing trousers is adjourned for a second time after police disperse protesters outside the court. (IOL) (Al Jazeera)
• Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki commutes the sentences of more than 4,000 death row inmates to life imprisonment. (IOL)
• Nigerian airport officials release an Ukranian aircraft and its crew arrested in June with an arms cargo bound for Equatorial Guinea. (IOL)

• The 40th Pacific Islands Forum leaders' meeting opens in Cairns, Australia. (RNZI)
• Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is officially sworn in as President of Iran for a second term. (Press TV) (BBC)
• The funeral of Corazon Aquino, the first female President of an Asian country and the Philippines, takes place in the Philippines. (CNN)
• Brazilian President Lula da Silva says his country is “now advising the International Monetary Fund, IMF”. (MercoPress)
• Bolivian President Evo Morales expresses concern in La Paz about the possibility that the “Pinochetistas” in Chile and the “fascist right” in Argentina could win the general elections in those countries and that it "would be very serious for Latin American democracy and for South America". (MercoPress)
• Iraq's government announces that all Bremer walls will be removed from Baghdad within forty days. (BBC)
• 11 men drown when a boat sinks on the Nile near Khartoum, Sudan. (IOL)
• Two United States journalists, Laura Ling and Euna Lee, who had been detained by North Korea, return home with former U.S. President Bill Clinton. (CNN)
• Former Madagascar leader Marc Ravalomanana is hopeful that a relaunch of peace talks between the country's rival factions will bring progress toward a return of political stability. (IOL)
• A dog featured in an American film called I Love You, Man, which was named after assassinated Egyptian President Anwar El Sadat, leads to a court case as bloggers complain that their country has been insulted. (BBC)
• Fourteen people are shot at a women's dance class in LA Fitness gymnasium in Collier Township, Pennsylvania, United States. Three women die, as does the gunman. (BBC News)
• Eight people are injured when an Airbus A320 plane catches fire on one of its engines at Paris-Orly Airport. The fire is quickly brought under control. (Reuters) (BBC News)
• Three more men are charged with plotting a suicide attack on a military base in Australia. (BBC News)
• Ireland's Health Service Executive threatens several pharmacies with High Court injunctions if they do not adhere with their contracts to dispense drugs. (The Irish Times) (RTÉ)
• Part-nationalised UK lender Lloyds Banking Group reports pre-tax losses of £4 billion for the first half of this year. (Sky News)
• Chansa Kabwela, the news editor of the The Post, goes on trial in Zambia after being accused of distributing obscene images. (BBC) (IOL)
• Police fire teargas at protesters rallying in support of Lubna al-Hussein, the Sudanese woman facing 40 lashes for wearing trousers in public. (IOL)
• A court in Moscow opens a new trial into the murder of Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya. (RIA Novosti) (BBC) (AFP)
• A Chinese teenager sent to an internet addiction rehabilitation camp is allegedly beaten to death by its counsellors. (BBC) (Global Times)
• The United States White House defends its decision to award its Presidential Medal of Freedom to former President of Ireland Mary Robinson. (Irish Examiner) (The Irish Times) (The Sydney Morning Herald)
• Austrian police probe the shooting of two adolescents who allegedly broke into a supermarket and died by police. (Deutsche Welle)
• An anthem sung by FC Schalke 04's fans draws Islamic protests because of its reference to the Prophet Muhammad. (BBC)
• Romanians who fled Belfast following racist attacks return to Northern Ireland. (BBC) (The Irish Times)
• Belgian Justice Minister Stefaan De Clerck is under fire after three men with criminal records escape from a courthouse in Brussls. The escape follows the helicopter breakout of three inmates, including one of Belgium's most dangerous criminals, and the ladder breakout of six more convicts all in the space of twelve days. (Deutsche Welle)
• Former Argentine President Fernando de la Rúa is indicted in a bribery case. (MercoPress)
• Former Lieutenant Governor of the Northern Mariana Islands Timothy P. Villagomez is sentenced to seven years in prison for political corruption. (Sapain Tribune)
• Thirty-three people are reported missing following the sinking of the Princess Ashika ferry in Tonga. (RNZI)

• 64th anniversary of Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombings
  • Japan calls for a nuclear-weapons-free world as it marks 64 years since Hiroshima was hit in the world's first atomic bomb attack. (RTÉ) (The Daily Telegraph)
  • Up to 50,000 people, including officials and visitors from countries around the world, attend a memorial service in the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park built directly below the point where the bomb exploded. (Al Jazeera) (Xinhua)
  • Speaking at the ceremony, Mayor of Hiroshima Tadatoshi Akiba supports a call by United States President Barack Obama for the abolition of nuclear weapons. (The Guardian) (The Jerusalem Post)
  • The Japanese Government agrees to set up a compensation fund for 300 survivors of the atomic bombings. (ABC)
  • A poll finds 61% of Americans believe their country was correct to drop the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. (Reuters India) (Brisbane Times)
• Supporters of Iran's opposition leader, Mir-Hossein Mousavi, battle riot police as they hoot horns and take to the streets of Tehran shouting "Death to the dictator". (BBC)
• An Indian court sentences to death three people for carrying out bombings that killed more than 50 people in Mumbai in 2003. (Al Jazeera) (BBC) (The New York Times)
• Malagasy crisis talks resume between interim leader Andry Rajoelina, ousted president Marc Ravalomanana and former presidents Didier Ratsiraka and Albert Zafy in Maputo, Mozambique. (IOL)
• New Zealand’s Prime Minister John Key says he believes Fiji’s self-appointed Prime Minister Commodore Frank Bainimarama has given up on the Pacific Islands Forum. (RNZI)
• Argentina, Brazil and Bolivia express concerns whilst Peru supports a planned accord by Colombian President Álvaro Uribe to allow United States troops to use several bases. Venezuela announces trade measures against Colombia. (BBC)
• Brazil returns 1.500 tonnes of syringes, condoms and dirty nappies which were sent from the United Kingdom. (MercoPress)
• Micro-blogging website Twitter is knocked offline by a distributed denial-of-service attack targetted at a Georgian blogger. (RTÉ) (CNN) (BBC)
• South African photographer Neil Hartmann, accused of documenting Namibia's annual seal cull, is detained without charge for nearly seven hours less than a month after the arrest of two journalists. (IOL)
• A company manager claims that an 77-day occupation of a car plant by hundreds of laid-off workers in South Korea has come to an end. (BBC)
• Japan's first jury trial for more than 60 years ends with a man in his 70s being sentenced to 15 years in prison for murder. (ABC News) (BBC) (The Guardian) (The Independent) (The New York Times)
• Iran bans all pilgrimages to Saudi Arabia during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan in an attempt to contain the spread of swine flu. (BBC)
• Hundreds of panic-stricken people queue at hospitals in Pune, India, to be tested for swine flu following the first death from the disease in that country. (BBC)
• The Iraqi cabinet agrees a draft law to restrict smoking in public places and ban tobacco advertising. (BBC)
• President Jacob Zuma names Sandile Ngcobo as Chief Justice of South Africa. (IOL) (Mail & Guardian)
• Sonia Sotomayor is confirmed by the United States Senate as Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court, replacing David Souter. (Reuters) (CNN)
• At least nine people are killed and several inhale fumes after a fire at a retirement home in Melle, Belgium. (BBC)
• The Presidents of Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda, Joseph Kabila and Paul Kagame, pledge to boost economic and security ties after a rare meeting. (BBC)
• Scientists say they have decoded the entire genetic structure of HIV-1—the main cause of AIDS in humans. (BBC)
• News Corp. announces its intent to start charging online customers for news content across all its websites, including The Times, The Sun, The Wall Street Journal, New York Post and Herald Sun. (BBC) (The New Zealand Herald) (Reuters)
• At least 34 people are feared dead after their bus plunges into the Indus River in Pakistan. (BBC)
• The Slender-billed Vulture, one of the world's most endangered birds and said to be rarer than the Tiger, is twice successfully bred in Haryana and West Bengal. (BBC)

• The leaders of three South African opposition parties urge President Jacob Zuma to withdraw his statement on the nomination of Sandile Ngcobo to replace outgoing Chief Justice Pius Langa, calling it "unconstitutional". (IOL)
• Senator Miguel Carrioza says the Congress of Paraguay is not interested in considering the protocol for Venezuela’s incorporation to Mercosur. (MercoPress)
• Mel Martinez, U.S. Senator from Florida, announces his resignation. (MSNBC)
• Selvarasa Pathmanathan, the new leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, is detained in Thailand. (BBC)
• According to both Pakistani officials and Taliban insurgents, Baitullah Mehsud, leader of the Pakistani Taliban, was killed in a drone strike. (New York Times)
• Shootouts leave at least 11 dead in the escalating violence since Mexico's continuing national crackdown on the illegal drug trade. (AP foreign-UK Guardian)
• Ronnie Biggs, one of the participants of the Great Train Robbery, is freed on medical grounds. (UK Guardian)
• Bomb attacks on a Shia mosque and pilgrims at Shreikhan village near Mosul kill at least 36 people as Iraq's largest Muslim community marks one of its biggest feasts, gathering in Karbala to mark the birth of Muhammad al-Mahdi. (BBC)

• One of Southeast Asia's most wanted terror suspects, Noordin Mohammed Top, is allegedly killed after a 16 hour siege at a house in Java, Indonesia. (Jakarta Post) (BBC) (Al Jazeera)
• The second hearing in the trial of Iranian election protesters resumes. (Al Jazeera) (Xinhua) (Press TV)
• Local government elections take place in northern Sri Lanka, the first elections since the end of the civil war. (Daily News) (Reuters) (Press TV)
• A small plane and a tour helicopter collide over the Hudson River in the United States. (CNN)
• A suicide bomber detonates a bomb outside the French embassy in Nouakchott, Mauritania, wounding two. The attack is the first suicide bombing in Mauritania's history.(France 24)(RFI)

• South African opposition parties call on President Jacob Zuma to withdraw Sandile Ngcobo as Chief Justice because he failed to consult the opposition and Judicial Service Committee. (The Times)
• Sri Lanka's governing coalition wins in Jaffna but suffers a surprise defeat in Vavuniya in the country's first post-war local elections. (BBC) (AFP)
• A million people are evacuated in southeastern China as Typhoon Morakot approaches. (The Daily Telegraph) (Xinhua) (AFP)
• A 6.9 magnitude earthquake hits Tokyo and eastern Japan. (Nikkei) (Press Association) (Reuters)
• Tonga raises the death toll from the MV Princess Ashika sinking to 93. (Bloomberg) (Matangi Tonga)
• Three bombs explode on the island of Majorca, Spain. (Bloomberg) (BBC) (RTÉ)
• At least 43 people are feared dead after a massive mudslide sweeps away three hamlets in northern India. (CNN) (RTÉ)
• A Kam Air plane bound for the Xinjiang Autonomous Region in northwestern China is diverted to Kandahar, Afghanistan after an earlier alleged bomb threat. (Associated Press) (Xinhua) (BBC)
• Former Taoiseach of Ireland Garret FitzGerald is among twenty Irish nationals who are quarantined at a French chateau due to swine flu. (Irish Examiner) (Expatica)
• A senior General from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard calls for opposition leaders Mohammad Khatami, Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi to stand trial. (Gulf Times) (Press TV)
• A same-sex marriage demonstration occurs outside the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform in Dublin. (The Irish Times) (RTÉ)
• The last of three men who escaped from a Belgian jail on board a hijacked helicopter are recaptured in Morocco. (BBC) (People's Daily online) (The New York Times)
• Seventeen people, including five children, are killed when a crowded bus crashes into a ditch after being side-swiped by an oncoming heavy truck in Mount Darwin, Zimbabwe. (IOL)

• In an open letter four South African opposition leaders accuse President Jacob Zuma of abuse of power after his naming of Sandile Ngcobo as Chief Justice. The office of President Jacob Zuma responds by saying there was "nothing unconstitutional" in Zuma's action. (The Times) (IOL)
• The UNASUR summit opens in Quito to discuss issues such as Venezuela's “ethics responsibility” clause, Colombian military bases and the Honduras crisis. (MercoPress)
• At the funeral of Vice-President Joseph Msika, President Robert Mugabe lashes out at "racist" western countries, saying "Zimbabwe need not be tied to any one corner of the world, least of all, to a corner of former imperialist and racist colonisers". (The Times) (IOL)
• During a tour of Africa, Hillary Rodham Clinton, the United States Secretary of State, attacks a Congolese university student for asking about the opinion of her husband Bill Jefferson Clinton. (IOL) (New York Daily News) (ABC News) (The Guardian)
• Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa is sworn in for a second term vowing to deepen his socialist “revolution”. (MercoPress)
• The interim government in Honduras agrees to accept a delegation from the Organization of American States to help solve the political crisis in the country. (AFP) (CNN)
• Pope Benedict XVI triggers a “scandalous poverty” debate in Argentina, with Buenos Aires province governor Daniel Scioli preparing to meet with all Catholic bishops of his area. (MercoPress)
• The head of Hyundai Asan, embarks on a mission to North Korea to attempt to secure the release of a company worker. (BBC)
• Libya and Chad sign seven agreements to boost trade, security and political co-operation. (IOL)
• Negotiators gather in Austria for informal talks aimed at unblocking a 34-year-old dispute between Morocco and the Western Sahara independence movement. (IOL)
• The head of MI6 John Scarlett denies complicity in the alleged torture of British detainee Binyam Mohamed, as the government rejects calls for an inquiry. (BBC) (The Times) (The Daily Telegraph)
• More than 350 new species—including 244 plants and 16 amphibians—are discovered in the Eastern Himalayas. (WWF) (The Daily Telegraph) (Xinhua)
• The Fatah Palestinian faction votes in leadership elections for the first time in 20 years. (AFP) (Al Jazeera)
• A series of bombings in Iraq kill 48 people and injure 231 in Baghdad and Mosul in continuing violence between Shiites and Sunnis in the area. (CNN)
• Ecuador’s Health Minister Caroline Chang says South America’s twelve nations have pledged to respect regional vaccine price ceilings to prevent businesses from exploiting fear of the A/H1N1 flu pandemic. (MercoPress)
• Two Namibians and a Chinese who are suspected in a corruption investigation involving a firm linked to the son of China's President Hu Jintao appear in a Windhoek court asking to be released on bail. (IOL)

• President of Costa Rica, Óscar Arias Sánchez is diagnosed with Influenza AH1N1 but his condition is stable, according to official reports. (ANSA) (AP) (MercoPress)
• A court ruling in Pretoria bars President Jacob Zuma from appointing a successor to axed prosecutions chief Vusi Pikoli. (IOL)
• UNASUR leaders express fresh concerns over Colombian plans to grant United States troops access to its military bases but cannot agree on a declaration to formally condemn the proposals. Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez warns that "the winds of war are beginning to blow" across the region. (MercoPress)
• Former Cuban President Fidel Castro calls Colombia "disloyal", saying the pending military deal with the United States could be used to attack other Latin American countries. (MercoPress) (Granma)
• A court in Burma finds Aung San Suu Kyi guilty of violating the terms of her detention, and sentences her to a further 18 months house arrest. (BBC) (The Straits Times) (The Bangkok Post) (Al Jazeera)
• Rescue operations continue in southern China and Taiwan in the aftermath of Typhoon Morakot. (The Times) (Taiwan News)
• Two strong earthquakes hit Asia; a 7.6 magnitude quake off the Indian Andaman Islands and a 6.5 magnitude quake in the Tokyo area of Japan, killing one and injuring dozens. (Press Association) (Associated Press) (BBC)
• A German court sentences former Nazi army commander Josef Scheungraber to life in prison for his role in the murder of 10 Italians in Tuscany in 1944. (RTÉ) (BBC) (IOL) (The Sydney Morning Herald)
• Thousands of people worship a baby born with four arms and four legs in Ramechhap, Nepal, revering him as the reincarnation of Ganesh. (The Guardian)
• Kuwait foils an al Qaeda-linked plan to bomb a United States army camp and other "important facilities" in the country. (The Irish Times) (Reuters) (BBC)
• Nine corpses are recovered from a Handlová coal mine following a fire and explosion in Slovakia. (Irish Independent) The government meets in emergency session and declares a day of mourning. (TSAR)
• Argentina's Cabinet Chief Aníbal Fernández comments on the suspension of the debt-ridden Primera División by saying that football transmission should be free because it is not only a national passion but an industry that generates many jobs and activity. (MercoPress)
• Two members of the Russian humanitarian organisation Let's Save the Generation are found dead in Grozny, Chechnya. (Al Jazeera) (RIA Novosti) (Press TV)
• Police in Pakistan register a criminal case with former President Pervez Musharraf over the latter's decision to detain judges in 2007. (AFP) (Indian Express) (The Nation)
• The NASA Spitzer Space Telescope finds evidence of a high-speed collision between two burgeoning planets orbiting a young star. (BBC)
• Russian President Dmitry Medvedev delays sending a new ambassador to Ukraine after criticising its "anti-Russian" stance. (AFP) (Xinhua) (ITAR-TASS)
• A pilot flying from England to Ireland is airlifted to safety after his two-man aircraft crashes into the Irish Sea near Tuskar Rock. (RTÉ) (The Irish Times)
• Swedish Princess Madeleine announces her engagement to lawyer and longterm boyfriend Jonas Bergström, becoming the second royal in Sweden to announce her engagment after Crown Princess Victoria. (Aftonbladet)
• A Russian woman is arrested after throwing a teacup at the Mona Lisa portrait in the Louvre, Paris. (Irish Independent) (CNN)
• A passenger plane carrying 13 people, including nine Australians, en route to Kokoda, site of a hiking trail and famous World War II battle, is reported missing over Papua New Guinea. (BBC) (RTÉ)
• Nepenthes attenboroughii, a new species of giant carnivorous plant, is discovered in the highlands of the central Philippines. (BBC)
• Two Kenyans, two French, a Bulgarian and a Belgian held captive since November 2008 are freed by their Somali kidnappers. (IOL)

• At a meeting in Caracas, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez and Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner sign agreements expanding trade between their two countries. (MercoPress)
• It is discovered that the Killer Whale creates and visits 'social clubs'. (BBC)
• Yemeni troops, backed by tanks and fighter aircraft, launch a major offensive on the stronghold of Shia fighters in northern Yemen. (Al Jazeera)
• Thirty people are killed in Warrap state in southern Sudan, in a resurgence of the nomadic conflicts. (IOL)
• Russia's navy is deployed to find the MV Arctic Sea, a missing ship reportedly hijacked three weeks ago in the Baltic Sea. (BBC News)
• About 700 people missing in southern Taiwan after Typhoon Morakot are located alive. (BBC) (RTÉ)
• Indonesian police say DNA tests show that a militant killed in a weekend raid was not Noordin Mohammed Top, one of the region's most wanted men. (BBC)
• The wreckage of an Airlines PNG De Havilland Twin Otter 300 plane carrying 11 passengers and 2 crew is found near Isurava, Papua New Guinea; there are no signs of survivors. (Al Jazeera) (RNZI)
• Gunmen shoot dead five Pakistani Muslim preachers outside a mosque in Galkayo, Somalia. (IOL) (BBC)
• Gregoire Ndahimana, a Rwandan fugitive accused of genocide and crimes against humanity, is arrested by a joint Rwandan-Congolese military operation. (IOL) (BBC)
• An estimated 20,000 people march through Noumea, New Caledonia, to denounce violent clashes by USTKE trade unionists against police. (RNZI)
• MV Princess Ashika
  • New Zealand Navy divers believe they have located the sunken MV Princess Ashika a week after the accident. (RNZI)
  • Tonga's Transportation Minister Paul Karalus resigns after the sinking of the MV Princess Ashika, which killed an estimated 93 people. (New Zealand Herald)
• German CDU politician Vera Lengsfeld attracts controversy for displaying a photo of Angela Merkel in a revealing gown without the authorisation of the Chancellor. (BBC)
• Lubna al-Hussein, the Sudanese woman facing forty lashes for wearing trousers in public, is prevented from leaving the country for a trip to Lebanon, where she was to take part in a televised talk-show about women's issues. (IOL) (BBC)
• Diego León Montoya Sánchez, Norte Valle Cartel leader, pleads guilty to drug, murder and racketeering charges. (www.BackgroundNow.com)
• The Roman Catholic Church is expresses "unease" and "mortification" over revelations surrounding the private life of Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. (BBC)
• Astronomers discover WASP-17b, the first planet that orbits in the opposite direction to the spin of its star. (BBC)

• On an official visit to Colombia, Mexican President Felipe Calderón offers his country’s mediation in the conflict between that country, Ecuador and Venezuela. (MercoPress)
• Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya praises Chile for its “great image” as he meets its President Michelle Bachelet in Santiago and says he expects the United States to take "more drastic actions" against the de facto government of Roberto Micheletti. (MercoPress)
• Eleven people, including four policemen, are killed in several separate insurgent attacks in Russia's Republic of Dagestan. (AFP)
• At least 23 government soldiers and more than 20 Muslim extremists are killed in a day-long clash in the southern Philippines. (France 24)
• Former Afghan President Burhanuddin Rabbani survives an ambush by the Taliban in the Ali Abad District of Kunduz province, Afghanistan. (Voice of America)
• Supporters of Guinea's self-declared President, Captain Moussa Dadis Camara, form a movement, Dadis Must Stay, to call for him to be allowed to continue in office. (BBC)
• The French and German economies rebound, helping push the Eurozone to the brink of economic recovery in the second quarter, delivering a further signal that the worst of the global crisis may be coming to an end in Europe. (FT)
• The European Union will extend its sanctions on Burma to cover members of the judiciary responsible for the verdict in the trial of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. (Reuters)
• A rare signed copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf sells at the Mullock’s auction at Ludlow Racecourse, Shropshire, for £21,000 (€24,400). (The Irish Times) (BBC) (Evening Herald) (The Guardian) (The New York Times) (Toronto Star)

• Pakistan begins its first international freight train service from Islamabad to Istanbul. (BBC)
• Hundreds of people protest in Caracas, Venezuela, after journalists protesting a new education law were beaten the previous day. (El Universal) (Associated Press)
• Malagasy peace talks break down when the armed forces reject one clause in the peace deal. (IOL)
• The MV Arctic Sea, missing since late July, is reportedly found 400 nmi (740 km) off the Cape Verde islands. (BBC) (The Times)
• A Canadian court orders the government to repatriate Omar Khadr, the sole remaining Western citizen held in Guantanamo Bay detention camp. (The Star) (Canadian Press)
• At least 13 people have died after a bus-train collision in Iaşi County, Romania. (Euronews) (Le Figaro) (Mediafax)
• Paraguay’s government withdraws a bill approving Venezuela's incorporation to Mercosur, fearing a defeat in Congress could hurt relations between the two countries. (MercoPress)
• In an unexpected move, Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir replaces Salah Gosh, his country's chief of security and intelligence since the mid-1990s, with General Mohamed Atta al-Mawla. (BBC)
• The remains of over 2,000 people discovered in Poland's largest mass grave from World War II are reburied in a military cemetery. (ABC News) (BBC) (Boston Globe)
• In Montevideo, President of Mexico Felipe Calderón and President of Uruguay Tabaré Vázquez sign a Strategic Association accord to strengthen political dialogue and bilateral trade relations. (MercoPress)
• After launching a major offensive attack on a suspected ASG training camp, the day-long clash in the Southern Philippines resulted in 23 government casualties and 31 casualties from the Abu Sayyaf Group. (Philippines Government Portal)
• Iranian reformists call for a probe of the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and his ability to rule. (Associated Press) (BBC)
• An archaeological excavation uncovers the foundations of the 17th-century Smock Alley Theatre and several artefacts from theatrical performances in Dublin. (RTÉ)
• Lynette Fromme, a former member of the Manson family, is released after serving 34 years in prison. (ABC News)
• Lawyers for the Lockerbie bomber, Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, say he is abandoning his second appeal against his conviction for the December 1988 attack as Scottish officials consider his request to be sent home to Libya. (MSNBC)
• The United Kingdom imposes direct rule on the Turks and Caicos Islands after an inquiry found evidence of government corruption. (BBC) (Turks and Caicos Sun)
• At least 13 people are killed and at least 85 are injured in a fierce gun battle in Gaza. (BBC)
• United States senator Jim Webb arrives in Burma for talks with General Than Shwe. (Associated Press) (Bangkok Post)
• A University of Glasgow study suggests Asians may view faces differently from others. (BBC)

• Hamas police claim to have killed Abdel-Latif Moussa, head of the Islamic group Jund Ansar Allah in a shootout. (The New York Times) (Petra)
• Hong Kong posts 3.3% growth over its previous quarter, far exceeding predictions, signaling an end to its recession. (The Straits Times)
• Colombia claims to have completed talks with the United States to allow US troops to use seven of Colombia's military bases. (BBC)
• Japan expresses remorse for its actions in World War II on the anniversary of its 1945 defeat, but former Prime Ministers Junichiro Koizumi and Shinzo Abe visit the Yasukuni Shrine, a controversial war shrine seen as a symbol of its past militarism. (The Straits Times) (Mainichi Daily News)
• Former President of Zambia, Frederick Chiluba, awaits the verdict in his trial into his criminal case for being accused of plundering the national economy during his decade-long rule. (The Sydney Morning Herald)
• MV Arctic Sea
  • A ransom demand is made for the missing ship. (Al Jazeera) (Bangkok Post) (The Times)
  • The tracking device onboard the Arctic Sea was briefly reactivated according to Russian media, showing the vessel to be off the coast of France. (RIA Novosti) (Associated Press)
• A suicide bomb attack occurs outside the NATO headquarters in Kabul, Afghanistan, killing at least seven and injuring 100. (The Times) (Xinhua) (RTHK)
• A prison riot in the Mexican state of Durango leaves at least 19 people dead and 20 injured. (BBC) (Reuters) (Press TV)
• Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi speaks at a news conference to say his country will crack down on organised crime over the next four years. (The Straits Times)
• Burma is to free detained American John Yettaw, who appeared uninvited at Aung San Suu Kyi's home, after a meeting with US Senator Jim Webb. (BBC) (The Straits Times) (The Telegraph)
• A blaze in a tent in Kuwait, where a wedding party is held, kills 43 women and children. The ex-wife of the groom confesses to starting the fire. (Al Jazeera)

• A 6.9 magnitude earthquake occurs near Siberut Island, Sumatra, Indonesia, at 14:38 local time, injuring at least seven people. (France24.com)
• Police clash with hundreds of protesters in Peru demonstrating over the failure of President Alan García's government to rebuild the city of Pisco two years since it was devastated by a powerful earthquake. (The Irish Times)
• Two Russian Sukhoi Su-27 fighter jets collide during a training flight southeast of Moscow, killing the commander of the Russian Knights demonstration team. (RIA Novosti) (Xinhua) (BBC)
• Tropical Storm Claudette becomes the first tropical cyclone to affect the U.S. mainland in 2009. (Weather.com)

• Japan officially exits the recession. (BBC) (RTÉ)
• A bomb explodes on a truck at a fuel station in Charsadda, North-West Frontier Province, Pakistan (20 km from Peshawar), killing seven people. (BBC News)
• A suicide bomber explodes a truck at a police station in Nazran in Russia's North Caucasus, killing at least 20 people and wounding about 60 others. (Yahoo! News) (NY Times)
• An accident at the Sayano–Shushenskaya hydroelectric power station in Russia kills seven and causes power shortages in Siberia. (Reuters) (RTÉ)
• The Canadian Forces begin exercises to protect Canada's sovereignty in the far north. (CTV)
• The MV Arctic Sea, a cargo ship missing after an apparent hijacking in July off the Swedish coast, is discovered by the Russian Navy off Cape Verde. (CNN)
• The actor Miguel Magno, of the series Toma Lá, Dá Cá dies at the age 58.

• Former South Korean President and 2000 Nobel Peace Prize recipient Kim Dae-jung dies of multiple organ dysfunction syndrome. (Reuters)
• Seven people are killed in a bombing targeting a NATO convoy in Kabul, days before the presidential elections in Afghanistan. (BBC)
• Jesse Jackson is crowned prince of the Agni people during a three-day visit to Côte d'Ivoire, succeeding Michael Jackson. (IOL)

• Seven car bombs are detonated in Baghdad, killing at least 95, and wounding nearly 600. (The Times)
• Sierra Leone's annual rains kill 15 people and displace hundreds of others. (IOL)
• The United States and Switzerland sign an agreement designed to end a tax evasion dispute surrounding UBS U.S. customers. (BBC)
• Spanish police capture two suspected members, Aitzol Etxaburu and Andoni Sarasola, of the Basque-region separatist group ETA. (CNN)
• John Marek becomes the 68th death row inmate in the state of Florida, United States to be executed by lethal injection since the death sentence was re-instated in 1979.(Miami Herald)

• Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, convicted of the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie in 1988, is released on compassionate grounds due to terminal cancer, and boards a flight to Libya. (BBC)
• A bicycle bomb explodes near a restaurant in Baghdad, killing two people. (Yahoo! news)
• 18 prospectors are killed overnight in a diamond mine in Kasai province in central Democratic Republic of the Congo. (IOL)
• A line of severe thunderstorms rolls through Ontario, Canada, spawns over 18 tornadoes in one day which has been declared to be the largest tornado outbreak in Canadian history, at least four F-2 tornadoes were confirmed, including one touching down in the town of Durham, Ontario, northwest of Toronto where at least one person was killed, and the other in a Toronto suburb of Vaughan, Ontario where over 600 homes were damaged or destroyed.(CTV)
• Switzerland's president, Hans-Rudolf Merz, apologizes to the Libyan government for last year's arrest of a son of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. (MSNBC)
• Elizabeth Ramos and Louis Williams, owners of defense contracting company Technical Logistics, admit to bribing an employee of the U.S. Navy's Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command in exchange for defense contracts. (UPI)
• For the first time video ads will appear in a magazine, using a screen similar to a cell phone that can store 40 minutes of video. (BBC)

• Argentina's association football championship kicks off after President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner puts it on the state payroll to avoid a financial crisis. (MercoPress)
• Brazil becomes Chile's third largest trading partner, displacing Japan, according to recently released government trade figures. (MercoPress)
• South African President Jacob Zuma makes a pilgrimage to a former anti-apartheid guerrilla camp in Angola where he lays a wreath and pays tribute to fallen comrades. (IOL)
• The presidents or heads of state of five nations, including Seretse Ian Khama of Botswana and Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, along with ministers and musical troupes gather at the cricket stadium in Oranjemund, Namibia, for a welcoming ceremony at the conclusion of explorer Kingsley Holgate's latest expedition, which took him through nine countries. (IOL)
• William Calley, the former US army officer found guilty of organizing mass killings in the Vietnamese community of My Lai during the Vietnam War makes a public apology.(NPR)
• A missile fired from a U.S. unmanned plane destroyed a suspected militant hide-out in northwest Pakistan on Friday, killing at least 12 people in a stronghold of a jihadi leader blamed for attacks in Afghanistan. (Associated Press)
• Four policemen are killed after 4 suicide bombs on bicycles detonate in Grozny, Chechnya. (RIA Novosti) (AFP) (Al Jazeera)
• A North Korean delegation arrives in South Korea to mourn the death of former South Korean President Kim Dae-jung. (Al Jazeera) (Yonhap) (China Daily)
• 20 people are killed and 40 injured after clashes between pro-government and Islamist forces in Mogadishu, Somalia. (Bloomberg)
• A rockfall on a beach in the Algarve, Portugal, kills 5 holidaymakers and injures several others. (BBC) (The Daily Telegraph) (euronews)
• Mexico decriminalises the use of small amounts of marijuana, cocaine, heroin and other drugs for "personal use". (The Times of India) (Al Jazeera)
• U.S. President Barack Obama condemns Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset al-Megrahi's homecoming in Libya. (CNN)
• A 34-year-old Tunisian woman from Gafsa, thought to have been pregnant with 12 babies and whose story had attracted international attention, is determined to have been the victim of a phantom pregnancy. (IOL)
• László Sólyom, President of Hungary was declared unwelcome by Slovakia and was not allowed to step on Slovak soil to attend an unveiling of a statue depicting King Saint Stephen, first King of Hungary. (BBC)

• Cardinal Seán Brady, Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland, criticises Ireland's Civil Partnership Bill, which gives statutory partnership rights to same-sex couples. (RTÉ) (Sunday Independent)
• Argentina's Foreign Affairs Ministry “harshly condemns” the nomination of Ahmad Vahidi to serve as Iran's Defence Minister as he is a suspected international terrorist sought by Interpol in connection with the 1994 attack on AMIA Jewish community centre in Buenos Aires. (MercoPress)
• Islamic insurgents attack a government checkpoint in Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, sparking a gunbattle that kills at least five people on the first day of Ramadan. (IOL)
• The militant group Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta hands over hundreds of weapons to the Nigerian government as part of a weapons amnesty. (BBC) (NEXT) (IOL)
• Officials from North and South Korea meet for talks for the first time in two years. (BBC) (Yonhap)
• Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva arrives in Bolivia with a "strong tone-down message". (MercoPress)
• Niger's police use tear gas to injure and arrest several people during clashes with opponents of a new constitution that would enable President Mamadou Tandja to seek unlimited mandates. (IOL)
• Thousands of Venezuelans join rival marches in Caracas over a controversial education law that critics say strengthens President Hugo Chávez's grip over schools and universities. (Reuters) (BBC)
• Two turkey farms in Valparaíso, Chile, are quarantined over fears the birds have caught swine influenza from humans. (MercoPress)
• Taliban official Hakeemullah Mehsud is selected as the new head of the Pakistani Taliban, a local Taliban commander in Pakistan's federally administered tribal areas confirms. (CNN)

• Tens of thousands of people in the Baltic states mark the twentieth anniversary of the 'Baltic Way' - when two million people formed a human chain to protest against Soviet Union rule. (Aljazeera), (Guardian), (Baltic Times).
• Tens of thousands of people protest against a new law which gives women equal rights in marriage in Bamako, Mali. (BBC) (Afrique en ligne)
• 26 men accused of plotting attacks on tourist resorts and ships in the Suez Canal on behalf of Lebanon's Hezbollah group go on trial in an Egyptian security court. (IOL) (BBC)
• Thousands of people are evacuated as forest fires reach the outskirts of the Greek capital, Athens. (Associated Press) (BBC) (Daily Mail) (RTÉ)
• North Korean envoys meet the South Korean President Lee Myung-bak for the first time since he took office. (Al Jazeera) (Yonhap)
• A new picture of Fidel Castro is published in the Juventud Rebelde state-run newspaper, apparently showing Cuba's ailing former leader in much better health. (BBC) (CNN) (IOL) (Reuters Africa)
• Afghan President Hamid Karzai's main rival Abdullah Abdullah alleges fraud in the presidential election. (Xinhua) (The Guardian) (The Times of India)
• Yemeni troops claim to have killed more than 100 Shia rebels in the past two weeks, including two leaders, but the rebels deny their leaders, Mohsen Saleh Gawd and Salah Jorman, are dead and no independent confirmation is made available. (BBC)
• A leak at an offshore oil rig that caused a large oil spill off the coast of Australia "could take weeks" to be plugged. (Associated Press) (The Australian)
• A severe drought in northern China leaves 5 million people short of water and damages 8.7 million hectares of farmland. (The Straits Times) (Press Trust of India) (China Daily)
• England reclaim The Ashes with a 2-1 series win over Australia. (BBC)
• Iraq broadcasts a video of former police chief Wissam Ali Kadhem Ibrahim, a Saddam Hussein loyalist, confessing to orchestrating a truck bombing at the finance ministry, the first of two bombings that killed 95 people and maimed hundreds more in Baghdad on 19 August. (The Sydney Morning Herald) (Straits Times)
• ZANU-PF party members walk out of a meeting of Zimbabwe cabinet members to review the work of a unity government it has formed with its opponents, over charges of electoral fraud. (Reuters Africa)
• Honduras's Supreme Court rejects a Costa Rica-brokered deal to restore ousted President Manuel Zelaya to power and orders his arrest if he returns. (BBC)
• Stefania Fernandez of Venezuela was crowned Miss Universe 2009 by her compatriot Dayana Mendoza, the first in the history. She was crowned at the Atlantis Paradise Island, Nassau, The Bahamas.

• According to court documents, the Los Angeles County coroner's preliminary assessment is that Michael Jackson's death was caused by an overdose of the anesthetic propofol.(Reuters)
• The district court in Stockholm orders BitTorrent tracker The Pirate Bay's largest ISP, Black Internet, to stop serving the website's traffic.(CNET News)
• Sweden's TeliaSonera AB announces cash offers worth around $687.7 million in total for shares it doesn't already own in Baltic operators Teo LT and Eesti Telekom. (The Wall Street Journal)
• Former Cuban leader Fidel Castro appears on television for the first time in more than a year. (BBC) (Al Jazeera)
• Thieves kill an endangered Sumatran Tiger in an Indonesian zoo and steal its body, leaving its intestines behind. (BBC) (Jakarta Globe)
• Ireland's Green Party and gay rights organisations defend plans to introduce civil partnerships for same-sex couples following criticism of the move by Cardinal Seán Brady, Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland. (The Irish Times)
• China is to try 200 people suspected of their involvement in the Ürümqi riots last month. (GBC) (Associated Press) (Press TV)
• Two mass graves containing the remains of communist soldiers dating from the Vietnam War are discovered in central Vietnam. (The Straits Times) (China Daily)
• A Malaysian Muslim woman, Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno, who was convicted of drinking alcohol, is granted a reprieve until after Ramadan. (Al Jazeera) (Bernama) (Xinhua) (IOL)
• Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill defends his decision to release the man convicted of the Lockerbie bombing, Abdelbaset al-Megrahi. (BBC) (The Guardian) (Al Jazeera) (Xinhua)
• Kenya's fifth national census takes place. (KBC) (BBC) (The Nation) (Associated Press)
• Captain Moussa Dadis Camara who seized power in a military coup in Guinea, refuses to rule out standing for President, after previously promising not to. (BBC) (AFP) (IOL)
• At least 200 children are killed and around 900 hospitalised by Japanese encephalitis in Uttar Pradesh, India. (BBC)
• Baitullah Mehsud is confirmed dead by leaders of Pakistan's Taliban. (Associated Press)

• At least 40 people are killed and 57 wounded in a car bomb explosion in Kandahar, southern Afghanistan. (Reuters) (BBC) (The New York Times) (Aljazeera)
• British Prime Minister Gordon Brown repeats that the British Government played no role in the release from prison of Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, it being a matter for the Scottish Government. (Daily Telegraph)
• The Malaysian opposition party PAS defeats the government party UMNO in the by-election at Permatang Pasir, Penang. (Bernama)
• A suicide bombing in Mesker-Yurt, Chechnya, kills three police officers. (Yahoo! news) (BBC News)
• Madagascar's political rivals meet for a second round of talks in Maputo, Mozambique. (Reuters Africa)
• South Korea launches its first space rocket, Naro-1, but fails to put the STSAT-2A satellite into the planned orbit. (BBC News) (The Korea Times) (Yonhap)
• U.S. President Barack Obama nominates Ben Bernanke for his second term as chairman of the Federal Reserve. (Bloomberg)
• A bomb in Afghanistan kills four American soldiers, making 2009 the deadliest year for foreign troops since the 2001 invasion. (BBC)
• A gas explosion at a coal mine in Shanxi, China, kills at least 14 people. (China Daily) (BBC)
• The United States budget deficit for 2009 will reach $1.6 trillion, the highest ever recorded. (BBC)
• 42 people are injured after a car bomb explodes at a crowded restaurant with government officials in Narathiwat, southern Thailand. (Bangkok Post) (The Age)
• Syria and Iraq recall their ambassadors over a dispute following the recent bombings in Baghdad last week. (The Daily Star Lebanon) (Al Jazeera) (Syrian News Station)
• Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez announces plans to break off diplomatic relations with Colombia over the neighboring country's plan to allow U.S. troops access to its military bases. (CNN)
• The Morris Fire begins near Morris Dam in the Angeles National Forest. This fire is thought to have been caused by arson and is the first in a series of wildfires to burn through Southern California in 2009.

• U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts, the last surviving Kennedy brother, dies at age 77, after battling brain cancer. (New York Times)
• Lithuania launches an inquiry into allegations that it hosted a secret CIA prison for al-Qaeda suspects. (BBC).
• The government of Moldova announces that it will stand down before the opening of parliament on 28 August. (BBC)
• French police uncover a large cache of weapons and explosives belonging to terrorist group ETA. (BBC)
• The Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei says he has no evidence that opposition protests were backed by foreign countries. (AFP) (Press TV) (BBC)
• Japan's exports fall by 36.5% as demand falls. (Bloomberg) (Reuters)
• North and South Korea resume talks on allowing families divided since the Korean War to begin meeting again, for the first time in two years. (Xinhua) (Yonhap)
• Zimbabwe denies reports that President Robert Mugabe suffered a health scare. (The Guardian) (Zim Online) (Daily Nation)

• English youth Michael Perham, aged 17 years, 5 months, becomes the youngest person to complete a solo circumnavigation of the world by sailboat, breaking the previous record by two months. (Reuters)
• South African President Jacob Zuma is to visit Zimbabwe for talks on the power-sharing government. (The Herald) (IOL) (AFP)
• Taiwan approves a visit by the Dalai Lama to comfort the victims of Typhoon Morakot. (Taiwan News) (Times South Africa) (Al Jazeera) (Xinhua)
• Mali's parliament is to review a law giving women greater rights after thousands of Muslims protested the proposed law. (BBC) (AFP)
• The United Nations Special Rapporteur on indigenous rights, James Anaya, says the Australian government intervention in Aboriginal areas is "discriminatory". (The Australian) (Xinhua) (BBC)
• Colombia files a complaint about Venezuela with the Organization of American States, saying the country has been interfering in its domestic affairs. (MercoPress) (BBC)
• Thousands of people flee fighting between government troops and ethnic rebels in northeastern Burma. (Bangkok Post) (AFP) (Australia Network News)
• The head of the joint United Nations–African Union force in Darfur, Martin Agwai, says the war in the region is over and is now only suffering low-level disputes. (BBC) (Reuters)
• Sri Lanka dismisses a video purporting to show violence by its Armed Forces against Tamils. (The Guardian) (CNN) (SLBC)
• South Korea proposes regular reunions of families separated by the Korean War to North Korea. (Yonhap) (Times of India) (Associated Press)
• Judges at the Supreme Court of India agree to make their financial assets public. (BBC) (Press Trust of India)
• The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress passes its first law on the People's Armed Police, giving it statutory authority to respond to riots, terrorist attacks or other emergencies. (China Daily) (IOL) (The New York Times)
• Russia deploys an S-400 anti-missile defence system close to its border with North Korea. (The Guardian) (Tehran Times)
• A suicide bomber hits a Pakistani security checkpoint at the main border crossing for convoys ferrying NATO supplies into Afghanistan, killing at least 18 border guards. (MSNBC)

• A suicide bomber lightly wounds Prince Muhammad bin Nayef, deputy interior minister of Saudi Arabia, in his Jeddah office. (Associated Press) (NY Times) (The Washington Post)
• Reading Rainbow, the third longest-running children's show on United States public-service television network PBS, ends its 26-year run. (NPR)
• The detailed chemical structure of a single molecule has been imaged for the first time. The physical shape of single carbon nanotubes has been outlined before, using similar techniques, but the new method even shows up chemical bonds. (BBC)
• The United Nations warns that poultry farms could become infected with the H1N1 virus, following the discovery of the virus in turkeys in Chile last week. (BBC)
• According to declassified documents released this week, a survival manual produced by Transport Canada was used by U.S. interrogators to set limits on dousing detainees with cold water as a form of water torture. (CBC) (CTV)
• Japan's unemployment rate reaches a record high of 5.7%. (BBC)
• Iceland's Althing votes in favour of repaying more than US$5 billion owed to the governments of the Netherlands and the United Kingdom as a result of the collapse of the Icesave bank. (BBC)
• The Los Angeles County coroner rules that American entertainer and musician Michael Jackson's death was a homicide caused by acute intoxication from the drug propofol. (Reuters)
• Prime Minister of Italy Silvio Berlusconi launches legal action against French weekly Nouvel Observateur, Spanish newspaper El País, and Italian newspaper La Repubblica, and has authorized his attorneys to prepare cases against British newspapers, charging the newspapers with libel. (Reuters)
• King Mohammed VI of Morocco is hospitalized for five days for treatment of a rotavirus and dehydration. (Monsters & Critics)
• Clashes between rebels and government troops in the Kokang region of northeastern Burma continue, with around 30,000 refugees fleeing across the border to China. (China Daily) (The Times) (Reuters)
• United Nations diplomats confirm the United Arab Emirates seized a North Korean ship carrying weapons to Iran, in violation of Security Council Resolution 1874. (Financial Times) (AFP)
• Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad calls for opposition leaders to be punished over election protests which occurred earlier this year. (Al Jazeera) (Press TV)
• NASA launches the Space Shuttle Discovery (STS-128) for a resupply and crew rotation mission to the International Space Station. The mission will also deliver the Multi-Purpose Logistics Module Leonardo. This is Discovery's 37th flight and will celebrate the 25th anniversary of its first flight during the mission. (AFP) (Chosun Ilbo)

• Chandrayaan-1 loses contact with ground control. (Indian Express)
• Noel Gallagher leaves the British rock band Oasis. (The Times) (Channel News Asia) (Reuters India) (The New York Times)
• Several people are reported killed after fresh clashes erupt in the Kokang region of Shan State, northeastern Burma, near the border with China. A bomb is also thrown across the border. (Global Times) (Al Jazeera) (Times of India) (AFP)
• North Korea frees four South Korean fishermen seized last month when the boat strayed across the Northern Limit Line sea boundary. (BBC) (JoongAng Daily)
• Two civilian members of the UNAMID peacekeeping force are kidnapped by armed men in Darfur, Sudan. (BBC)
• Seven people are found dead in the US state of Georgia and two are seriously wounded in one of the worst slayings in the state in 25 years.CBS News

• Japanese general election, 2009:
  • Japanese voters go to the polls. (Reuters) (Xinhua) (Kyodo)
  • The Democratic Party of Japan win 308 seats in the 480 seat House of Representatives, ending nearly 50 years of control by the Liberal Democratic Party. Opposition leader Yukio Hatoyama is expected to be confirmed as the next Prime Minister. (Kyodo) (New York Times)
• A presidential election takes place in Gabon. (BBC) (Al Jazeera)
• Brazil's former Environment minister Marina Silva joins the Green Party which wants to field her as a black female candidate for the 2010 Brazilian presidential race when President Lula's two terms comes to an end. (MercoPress)
• Israeli jets bomb a building in the Gaza Strip which the military says hides a tunnel that Palestinian militants could use to infiltrate Israel. (BBC) (Ynet News)
• A suspected suicide bomber kills 14 police cadets in an attack on a training centre in Mingora, Pakistan. (BBC)
• At least five people are killed and 275 injured in a train crash near Yaounde, Cameroon. (BBC) (Press TV)
• The remains of 92 victims of a military massacre in Putis, Peru, are laid to rest 25 years later.(Associated Press) (BBC)
• Ehud Olmert is indicted on three counts of corruption, becoming the first ex-Prime Minister of Israel to face criminal charges. (BBC)
• Al Qaeda claims responsibility for the attempted assassination on Saudi Prince Muhammad bin Nayef. (Al Jazeera) (BBC)
• The Iranian Parliament begins debating President Mahmoud Ahmadinejads choice of Cabinet. (Associated Press) (Fars News Agency) (Press TV)
• Burma says 26 government troops and 8 rebels were killed during violence in the Kokang region of Shan State. (Associated Press)
• The Dalai Lama begins a visit to Taiwan, amid criticism from China. (Al Jazeera) (Hindustan Times) (Straits Times)

• Figures from 2008 reveal Ireland has experienced its highest number of births since 1896. (RTÉ) (Irish Independent) (The Irish Times)
• Lesbians are granted equal birth rights in England and Wales. (BBC) (The Daily Telegraph) (The Guardian)
• Britain will face widespread power cuts and rationing of energy in 2019 for the first time since the 1970s, according to Her Majesty's Government. (The Daily Telegraph)
• Disney reaches a deal to acquire Marvel Entertainment for US$4 billion, with Marvel shareholders being issued $30 and about 0.745 Disney shares for each share of Marvel they own. (Marketwatch)
• Nigeria charges several banking executives with financial crimes discovered following the $2.6 billion bail-out of five banks. (BBC)
• American Airlines retires all of its Airbus A300 aircraft after flying for American Airlines for the past 21 years.
• Russian forces state that they have killed an Algerian Al Qaeda operative and another militant during a raid on a house in Khasavyurt, Dagestan. (BBC)
• Iraqi officials begin negotiations with Serbia over the return of 19 MiG-21 and MiG-23 fighter jets sent to Yugoslavia in the 1980's for repairs. (BBC)
• Jason Mraz's I'm Yours becomes the longest running single in the Billboard Hot 100's history at 71 weeks on the chart. (Associated Press)
• Armenia and Turkey agree to establish diplomatic relations. (New York Times)

Read more about this topic:  August 2009