Portal:Current events/2010 October 4

Current events of October 4, 2010 (2010-10-04) (Monday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• 3 people killed in Pibor county of Jonglei state of Sudan. (Sudan Tribune)
• Afghanistan and Pakistan
  • Three soldiers with the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) were killed in separate attacks in Afghanistan's restive southern and eastern regions. (Xinhua)
  • 12 people die and 7 others receive wounds during a torch attack in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, on a convoy of more than a dozen oil tankers intended for NATO forces in Afghanistan. This follows a dispute over a NATO helicopter strike that killed 3 soldiers in Pakistan territory. (AFP via The Age) (The New York Times), (BBC)
  • At least 8 people are killed by a CIA drone attack in Pakistan, with three to five of those killed being citizens of Germany. (BBC)
• Jewish settlers in the West Bank set fire to the Muslim Al-Anbiaa Mosque in Beit Fajjar area near the Palestinian city of Bethlehem. Its rug ground and some parts of the Qur'an are burnt and anti-Islamic and anti-Palestinian slogans are written. (Xinhua) (Al Jazeera) (BBC)
• War in Iraq
  • 89 people are killed in violence in Baghdad and northern Iraq, including a journalist for a US-funded Al Hurra satellite television station. (Khaleej Times via AFP) (Africasia) (IFEX)
  • At least 1 person is killed in a roadside bombing in Baghdad targeting a deputy minister of the country's government. (Al Jazeera)
• 5 Tajik policemen are killed in a clash in East Tajikistan. (Xinhua)
• 4 people, including two Central Reserve Police Force men, are killed and 2 others are injured in an evening landmine blast in the remote parts of South Gadchiroli. The attack is carried out by Maoists. (DNA) (ZEE)

Arts and culture

• TVNZ Breakfast race row: Video
  • TVNZ Breakfast broadcaster Paul Henry questions Prime Minister John Key about whether New Zealand's ethnic minority Governor-General Anand Satyanand, representative of Queen Elizabeth II, is a proper New Zealander. Henry has previously described singer Susan Boyle as "retarded" and homosexuality as "unnatural", though the state-owned broadcaster defends him, furthering the controversy. (AFP via The Age)
  • Breakfast tech commentator Ben Gracewood quits after describing Henry's comments as "the final straw" and saying "I can't work with him". (The New Zealand Herald)
• The world's oldest known high altitude human settlement, estimated to be 49,000 years old, is uncovered near Kokoda, Papua New Guinea. (Radio Australia)
• Jonathan Evans, head of Britain's MI5, gives a rare interview, disclosing details of his love for classics and calling for wider availability of Latin and Greek in schools as, he claims, they are useful for spies. (The Daily Telegraph)
• British comic actor and songwriter Sir Norman Wisdom dies in an Isle of Man nursing home. (BBC)(The Guardian)
• The industrial dispute surrounding The Hobbit film project is mediated by New Zealand's Economic Development Minister Gerry Brownlee and Arts and Culture Minister Chris Finlayson. (The New Zealand Herald) (BBC)
• Hundreds of people attend the public funeral of actor Tony Curtis who died last week. (BBC)

Business and economy

• 2001 Nobel laureate economist Joseph Stiglitz warns of a "wave of austerity" set to sweep across Europe, triggering a new recession and the demise of the euro, and predicts Spain will enter a "death spiral" - similar to that of Argentina a decade ago - when it is attacked by speculators. (AFP via The Age)
• The Greek government announces additional harsher austerity measures in its 2011 draft budget. (BBC)
• Visa and Mastercard agreed to settle an antitrust lawsuit brought by the U.S. Department of Justice and the attorneys-general of seven states. They agreed to allow their participating merchants to steer customers toward lower-cost options. American Express will fight rather than agree to the terms, it said. (NPR)

Disasters and accidents

• Indonesian Coordinating Minister for Public Welfare Affairs Agung Laksono said here on Tuesday that the massive flood in Wasior, West Papua that continuously occurred from Sunday to Monday has claimed 56 lives. (Xinhua)
• 3 people were killed and 5 were injured after a boiler exploded in a tannery in Hatay in the Dericiler area of Güzelburç town. The injured were taken to Mustafa Kemal University’s faculty of medicine hospital. (Today's Zaman)
• Two persons were killed when a mini-lorry was hit by the Netravati Express, they were travelling at an unmanned level crossing at Panachuvadu near Punnapra, India. (Hindu)
• At least 26 are killed and many more left missing after flash floods in eastern Indonesia's Papua province. (Deccan Chronicle via AP) (Jakarta News)

International relations

• Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan met in Brussels, on the sidelines of the Asia-Europe Meeting. (CNN)
• The 2010 Asia–Europe Meeting commences in Brussels, Belgium with Russia, Australia and New Zealand joining the discussions. (Xinhua)
• 2010 United Nations Climate Change Conference
  • China's State Councilor Dai Bingguo delivers a speech at the opening session of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change meeting in Tianjin before the U.N. climate summit in Mexico at year's end. (China Daily via Xinhua) (Al Jazeera)
• An angry stand-off results from a row over the ongoing presence of dozens of United States military bases on the Japanese island of Okinawa, all of which remain through intense U.S. pressure despite protests from tens of thousands of residents. (BBC)
• Federal Minister of the Interior Thomas de Maizière tells a news conference in Berlin that there is no concrete evidence of an imminent attack and "no reason to be alarmist at this time"; the Japanese government alerts its citizens to watch out for any attacks in Europe. The United States and UK have both done so in recent times. (BBC)
• Israel decides to deport 1976 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Mairead Maguire, whom it has kept locked up in a detention facility since last Tuesday when she arrived to attend a conference with 5 other Nobel peace laureates. An Israeli court orders her to keep "her propaganda to herself". Israel claims it has banned her from entering its land but she says she is unaware of such a ban. (The Irish Times) (BBC) (Haaretz)

Law and crime

• Dutch MP Geert Wilders is put on trial in Amsterdam on charges of inciting hatred against Muslims in his 17-minute film Fitna. Anti-Wilders protests occur outside court. (BBC) (Al Jazeera) (AFP via iAfrica)
• Syria issues arrest warrants for more than 30 people accused of misleading an investigation into the 2005 assassination of Lebanon's former prime minister Rafic Hariri. (Al Jazeera)
• Former Prime Minister of Fiji Mahendra Chaudhry is released on bail. (Indian Express) (BBC)
• A court in Thailand rejects a request to drop charges against Viktor Bout, whom the United States suspects of attempting to sell weapons to its opponents. He was arrested by undercover United States agents in 2008 at a Bangkok hotel. (BBC) (Xinhua)
• A vigil is held by Rutgers University in the United States for Tyler Clementi, who committed suicide after a roommate and another student secretly streamed online a private sexual encounter he had with a man. (AP via The Age)
• A gunman in Gainesville, Florida shoots six people, killing his father before committing suicide. (Gainesville Sun)
• Tens of thousands of people protest about tree-felling in Stuttgart and are confronted by police wielding water cannon and pepper spray. (BBC)

Politics

• Brazilian elections:
  • The Brazilian presidential election heads for a second round, with Dilma Rousseff polling most votes. (BBC)
  • Brazilian clown Tiririca wins a seat in Congress with more votes than any other candidate in yesterday's elections. (BBC)
  • Former FIFA World Player of the Year Romário is elected as a deputy by Rio de Janeiro. (The Daily Telegraph)
• A Japanese judicial panel calls for charges against top Democratic Party (DPJ) figure Ichirō Ozawa. (BBC) (Bangkok Post)
• Lima receives its first female mayor in Susana Villarán. (BBC)
• The Cuban government considers another large-scale round of political prisoner releases after the release of 52 in July. (BBC)

Science

• Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine:
  • Robert Geoffrey Edwards of the United Kingdom wins the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his role in developing in vitro fertilization. (Nobel Prize) (Al Jazeera) (AFP via The Age) (BBC)
  • A Vatican official condemns the move as "completely out of order". (BBC) (AFP via The Sydney Morning Herald)
• The first Census of Marine Life (CoML), a 10-year major international project described as the most comprehensive study of its kind, is completed, sparking celebration among scientists. (BBC), (AFP via Google News)

Sport

• 2010 U.S. Open champion Graeme McDowell of Northern Ireland defeats Hunter Mahan of the United States in the final match to win the 2010 Ryder Cup for Europe by 14½-13½. (BBC Sport) (RTÉ Sport) (The Irish Times) (Sky News)
• Football:
  • FIFA suspends the Nigeria Football Federation due to government interference, thereby barring the country's men's, women's, and age-grade national teams from all competitions. (BBC Sport)
  • Al Jazeera calls on Jordan for a full investigation into why its signal was jammed during live coverage of the 2010 FIFA World Cup. (Al Jazeera)
  • The corpse of David Le Cluse, the chairman of Croydon Athletic football club, is located with a bullet wound to the head. The team's owner was recently arrested in connection with the recent Pakistan cricket match-fixing controversy. (BBC News) (Sky News)