Portal:Current events/2010 September 16

September 16, 2010 (2010-09-16) (Thursday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• 9 people are reported killed after the 2010 Hakkâri bus attack where a civilian passenger van hit a land mine on a road near Durankaya in the southeastern province of Hakkâri, in Turkey. (Hürriyet) (Al Jazeera)
• Somalia:
  • The United Nations Special Representative for Somalia, Augustine Mahinga, says the situation in the country remains "dire" and the AMISOM mission is "underfunded". (Al Jazeera) (AFP)
  • 15 people are killed after mortar rounds are fired into the Somali government complex by Islamist fighters, triggering a counterattack. (AP) (CNN) (Manilla Bulletin)
• The Taliban kidnaps 18 election officials and campaign workers for the Afghan parliamentary election in Badghis Province, Afghanistan. (AFP via Google)

Business and economy

• American banks set a new record for the home repossession rate, with 1.2 million homes this year. Another 3.2 million American homes remain in foreclosure proceedings currently.(Reuters)
• The World Trade Organization demands that the more than US$20bn in US government subsidies be withdrawn from Boeing. The EU is also appealing a decision that it was guilty of illegal subsidies. (BBC)
• US poverty rates hit 14.3% (43.6 million people), a 15 year high. (Reuters)
• Transocean, the company that leased the Deepwater Horizon oil rig, accuses BP of covering up data about the explosion and subsequent oil spill. (AFP via Yahoo! News)
• BP's first relief well intersects with its Gulf of Mexico Macondo well prior to pumping heavy mud and cement to seal permanently the oil reservoir adjacent to the well. (Yahoo News)

Disasters

• The state of emergency in Christchurch, New Zealand, following the 2010 Canterbury earthquake is lifted. (The Press)
• A storm in New York City kills one person and leaves 25,000 people without power. This includes a Tornado which touched down in Flushing and a Macroburst.(CNN)
• Hurricane Karl becomes a Category 2 hurricane as it heads across Mexico's offshore oil wells in the Gulf of Mexico. (Reuters)

Law and crime

• Iranian state television allegedly airs an interview with Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani claiming that she has not been tortured. (BBC) (CNN)
• The United Nations-backed Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia indict four Khmer Rouge leaders for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity for their role in the regime in the late 1970s, including Pol Pot's deputy Nuon Chea, former Foreign Minister Ieng Sary, Social Affairs minister Ieng Thirith and head of state Khieu Samphan. (AFP via Sydney Morning Herald) (AFP via Google News)
• Dr Imran Farooq, an exiled leader of Pakistan's Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) is murdered in the North London suburb of Edgware, England leading to schools and shops being closed in Farooq's home city of Karachi. (The Telegraph), (BBC)

Politics and elections

• Burma bars several areas of the country from taking part in the upcoming general election where the vote would "not be free and fair". (BBC) (Radio Television Hong Kong) (Mizzima)
• Mexico celebrates 200 years of independence from Spain. (Daily Telegraph)
• Voters in Tuvalu go to the polls for the general election. (Radio New Zealand)

Religion

• Pope Benedict XVI starts a papal visit to the United Kingdom at Edinburgh, Scotland, with groups expected to protest. (BBC)

Science

• Cocoa tree genome (DNA) raw sequence to be made public from Mars, Incorporated and combined Pennsylvania State University, French laboratories, and The Hershey Company research.(NYT)

Sport

• The Seattle Storm win the WNBA Finals for the second time defeating the Atlanta Dream in Game 3 87-84 with Lauren Jackson of the Storm winning the WNBA Finals MVP Award. (NWCN)

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September 2010

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