August 2006 Information & August 2006 Links at HealthHaven.com

El Paso, Texas is hit by heavy, intense rain, causing much flooding and making the Rio Grande overflow its banks, reaching levels not seen in over 50 years. Roads are destroyed, dirt and rocks litter the streets. The West and Northeast sides are most heavily hit. Ciudad Juárez, across the United States-Mexico border is also devastated. (El Paso Times)
Tropical Storm Chris forms east of the Lesser Antilles, prompting the issuance of tropical storm warnings for ten islands as well as tropical storm watches for Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. (National Hurricane Center)
There is major outcry in Iran following death of democracy activist Akbar Mohammadi in Evin Prison. Mohammadi was condemned to death for his role in the 1999 student protests at Tehran University. He had been on a hunger strike for more than a week, protesting the refusal by the Islamic Regime to allow him to seek proper medical treatment for life threatening injuries suffered as a result of torture. Reportedly he was beaten severely by prison guards the night of his death.(Persian Journal), (AKI), (Guardian)
2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict
- The Battle of Ayta al-Sha`b rages, with multiple Israeli casualties. (Yedioth Ahronoth)
- The International Committee of the Red Cross have so far extracted 28 bodies from the rubble, 19 of whom are children, in the wake of Sunday's airstrike on Qana. Earlier reports by the Lebanese police reported double the current confirmed deathtoll, claiming at least 56 fatalities, including 37 children. (ICRC)
- Israel's Security Council approves expansion of ground offensive in Lebanon and rejects a cease-fire until an international peacekeeping force is in place. (CBS)
- Tony Blair said in a speech on 1 August 2006 in Los Angeles, California that Hezbollah was armed by Iran.^[1]
A political scandal involving the Parliamentary Secretary for the Japanese Trade Ministry, Satsuki Katayama, and Yamaha Motor Company, accused of illegally exporting a helicopter into China by the trade ministry, deepens. (Asahi Shimbun)

[edit] References

^ "Blair says Syria, Iran risk confrontation"

August 2, 2006 (Wednesday)

Mel Gibson is charged with misdemeanor drunken driving and related offences. (CNN)
2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict:
- Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has said that there will be no ceasefire in Lebanon until an international force is deployed in the south of the country.(BBC NEWS)
- The supreme leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has urged the Muslim world to stand up to Israel and the US, criticising them for their role in the conflict in Lebanon.(BBC NEWS)
- An Israeli civilian is killed and 16 wounded as more than 210 rockets are fired at northern Israel, the biggest daily number since the beginning of the conflict on 12 July. (Ynet), (Haaretz), (BBC NEWS)
- A Syrian-made missile fired from Lebanon lands near the West Bank city of Jenin, causing minor damage. (Haaretz), (Ynet), (AHN)
- A massive Israeli operation is completed near Baalbek. (Haaretz)
- Israel plans to resume air strikes after a 48-hour partial suspension. (ABC News Australia)

August 3, 2006 (Thursday)

North Korea refuses aid after being devastated by flooding. As many as 1.5 million people have been displaced, and over one hundred are dead. CNN news
Iraq War:
- In the centre and south of the country, Shiites waved Iraqi flags and chanted "Death to America! Death to Israel!" as they boarded convoys of buses bound for Baghdad's Sadr City. These and other Shiite protesters were summoned to the capital by cleric Moqtada al-Sadr to protest against Israel's attacks on Lebanon. The protest is timed to begin after Friday prayers. Perth News (australia) International Herald Tribune
- Four US soldiers charged with murdering three detainees in Iraq smiled before shooting them, a military court has heard from a fellow soldier.(BBC NEWS)
- The top US commander in the Middle East, Gen John Abizaid, has said Iraq could move toward civil war if the sectarian violence is not stopped.(BBC NEWS)
- Civil war is a more likely outcome in Iraq than democracy, Britain's outgoing ambassador in Baghdad has warned Tony Blair in a confidential memo.(BBC NEWS)
The Union of French Jewish Employers and Professionals (UPJF), Conseil Représentatif des Institutions juives de France (CRIF), and the Vigilance Bureau against anti-Semitism (BVCA), have denounced a declaration made by French foreign minister Philippe Douste-Blazy who said while visiting Beirut on Monday that Tehran was “a stabilising element in the Middle East.”(EJP)
Tropical Storm Chris weakens and is now expected not to become a hurricane. (Reuters)
Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko nominates his political rival Viktor Yanukovich to become prime minister.(Reuters)
Clashes between Sri Lanka's army and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam escalates into the worst violence since they agreed a cease-fire in 2002. (Bloomberg)
2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict:
- Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said the "main solution" to end the conflict in Lebanon was the "elimination of the Zionist regime." (Al Jazeera), (Ynet)
- 8 Israeli civilians are killed and 39 wounded as some 160 rockets hit Israeli towns. All 28 civilian Israeli fatalities in the ongoing conflict were killed by Hezbollah rocket attacks, which have caused no military fatalities. (Ynet), (Haaretz)
- Israel resumes bombing Beirut. (CNN)
- The IDF investigation into the attack on Qana that killed a number of civilians has been completed. It states that the IDF was not aware that there were civilians in the building and assumed that they had been evacuated. The IDF also blamed Hezbollah for using civilians as human shields, and pointed out that over 150 rockets had been fired from the Qana area since the current conflict began. (Haaretz)(YNet)
- Human Rights Watch publishes a report criticizing Hezbollah for hiding behind civilians as well as the Israeli forces for deliberately targeting civilians. (Haaretz)
An alleged member of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan killed himself and a police officer with a hand grenade in Tajikistan's northern Sughd Region RFERL.org.

August 4, 2006 (Friday)

The Domesday Book, the 920-year-old census record of England under William the Conqueror, goes online. Domesday Book, (Reuters)
Viktor Yanukovych became Prime minister of Ukraine.
Lord's Resistance Army second-in-command Vincent Otti declares an immediate, unilateral ceasefire in the rebel group's 20-year insurgency against the government of Uganda.(BBC)
2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict:
- Three Hezbollah rockets hit near the Israeli town of Hadera, 50 miles south of the Lebanese border and the deepest penetration within Israel to date. (AP via CNews)
- A senior Iranian official admits for the first time that Tehran did indeed supply long-range Zelzal-2 missiles to Hezbollah, capable of carrying a 600-kg warhead an estimated 210 km. (Haaretz)
- 3 Israeli civilians are killed and at least 50 wounded as some 140 rockets hit Israeli towns, raising to 10 the number of Israeli Arab citizens killed in the ongoing conflict. (Ynet), (Haaretz),(MFA)
- 2006 Qaa airstrike: An Israeli air strike near Lebanon's north-eastern border with Syria has killed at least 23 people and injured 30, Lebanese officials have said.(BBC NEWS)
- Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, who heads the Iranian Council of Guardians, said, "[S]upport for Hizbollah [is] a duty". (IRNA)
Somalia's transitional government is on the verge of collapse after 38 ministers and assistant ministers quit in the past nine days in protest against the governments failure to make a deal with the Supreme Islamic Courts Council. (csmonitor)
Arizona police in the United States announce the arrests of two men who are accused of 35 attacks and murders. (azfamily)

August 5, 2006 (Saturday)

The Republic of China (Taiwan) severs diplomatic relations with Chad reducing the number of countries maintaining official relations with it to 24. The ROC foreign ministry cited Chad's intention to establish relations with the People's Republic of China as the reason. (AP)
Iran bans Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi's Defenders of Human Rights Center on the grounds that the human rights organization did not have a permit from the Interior Ministry. According to Iranian law, to form a nongovernmental organization, one does not need a permit. (AFP)
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi calls for the "formation of an international investigation committee to probe the ongoing atrocities of the Zionist regime in Lebanon, and to prosecute and punish the ones responsible for these catastrophes." (AFP)
2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict:
- The US and France have agreed on the wording of a UN resolution to end the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah.(BBC NEWS)
- Israeli commandos stage a nighttime raid on Tyre.(BBC NEWS)
Tropical Depression Chris starts to dissipate near Cuba. (National Hurricane Center)
Cyclist Floyd Landis, winner of the 2006 Tour de France, returns a positive B sample for excess testosterone. (BBC)
Southeastern Anatolia Project: Construction of the Ilısu Dam, which upon completion would cause the flooding of the ancient city of Hasankeyf in Turkey, starts. (BBC)

August 6, 2006 (Sunday)

The Dechatu River in Ethiopia floods, killing over 200 people.(BBC) (Reuters)
Fifteen local employees of the French charity organisation Action Against Hunger are found dead in a town in northeastern Sri Lanka at the center of heavy fighting between Tamil rebels and government forces. Both sides have denied involvement in the killings. (BBC)
The Déby administration of Chad establishes official relations with the People's Republic of China. Chad had recognized the Republic of China (Taiwan) from 1997-2006. Chadian diplomats cited the prospects of greater financial investments and the PRC status in the United Nations Security Council as the principal factors motivating the diplomatic shift. (Bloomberg)
2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict:
- Lebanon rejects a draft U.N. resolution calling for an end to the conflict between Israel and Hizbollah, insisting it must include an explicit demand for a full Israeli pullout from south Lebanon.(The Hindu)
- In an interview with the German magazine Welt am Sonntag, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert asks European nations, "Where do they get the right to preach to Israel? European countries attacked Kosovo and killed ten thousand civilians. Ten thousand! And none of these countries had to suffer before that from a single rocket. I'm not saying it was wrong to intervene in Kosovo. But please: Don't preach to us about the treatment of civilians." (al Jazeera)
- Israeli troops attack the Lebanese town of Qana claiming to destroy the launchers that launched the missiles at Haifa. (USA Today)
- At least six rockets hit Haifa, Israel; one more rocket hits right outside of Haifa, and others hit the Ma'alot, Carmiel area, and Kiryat Shmona. The death toll is at least three in Haifa and 12 for Northern Israel as a whole. (Ynet News), (AP)
- Reuters has pulled a photograph of Beirut, Lebanon, admitting that it was altered by the photographer, Adnan Hajj, saying "photo editing software was improperly used on this image. A corrected version will immediately follow this advisory. We are sorry for any inconvenience." (Ynet News)(Reuters)
- Hezbollah rockets kill at least ten people in Israel. (Associated Press)
- Israel arrests the Speaker of the Palestinian Parliament, Abdel Aziz Duwaik. Duwaik is a member of Hamas. (ABC News)
Tomo Križnar, the Slovenian diplomatic envoy and human-rights activist to Sudan, is formally charged with espionage and illegally entering Darfur. Križnar, who admits entering Darfur without the required visa, was arrested in July. (BBC)
Tajikistan President Emomali Rahmonov began a state visit to India. (IRNA)
About 800 South Korean Christians left Afghanistan after their planned "peace festival" was called off due to concerns that their presence could spark violence. (Yahoo News)

August 7, 2006 (Monday)

Israeli-Palestinian conflict
- Israeli troops have detained another Hamas member of Palestinian Parliament during an overnight raid in the West Bank. (BBC NEWS)
Iraq War:
- A US military hearing has examined the testimony by one of the accused in an incident where a 14-year-old girl and three family members in Mahmudiya were allegedly killed by four US soldiers after the girl's rape in March. (BBC)
2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict:
- Reuters has withdrawn 920 photographs by a Lebanese photographer after a review of his work showed that he had changed two images from the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict. (Reuters), (YNet)
- Lebanon's government meets today, to decide to send the Lebanese army to the southern end of the country, according to political sources. It decides unanimously to send 15,000 troops to the south of the country as Israeli troops pull out. (Reuters)
- IDF planes have shot down a UAV suspected to be Hezbollah controlled as it flew over Israeli territory. (Reuters)
- An Israeli air strike has killed 1 person in the southern Lebanese border village of Houla. Lebanon's prime minister has retracted his earlier statement that more than 40 were killed. (BBC)
Oil price futures hit a record high for one blend of crude oil (Brent crude) after BP found corrosion damage to the Alaskan pipeline and cut production in Prudhoe Bay 50%. (Associated Press)(BBC)
Tens of thousands are evacuated from around the Mayon Volcano in the Bicol Region of the Philippines as local volcanologists anticipate an imminent eruption. (FoxNews.com)
AOL publicly releases 20 million unfiltered search keywords for 500,000 users, containing personally identifiable information about users' search habits. (TechCrunch)

August 8, 2006 (Tuesday)

CBS News's Mike Wallace holds an interview with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the president of Iran. In the interview, Ahmadinejad said that the letter he sent to George W. Bush was meant to "open a window towards the light" for Bush to "see that one can look on the world through a different perspective." He responded to his nation's nuclear program and possible weapons program saying that Iran was "studying" the offer presented by the United States and the European Union. He also claimed that Bush "believes that his power emanates from his nuclear warhead arsenals." (CBS News)
Amid news of slower-than expected growth and a quarterly rise in the unemployment rate in the United States, Federal Reserve System Chairman Ben Bernanke announced that there will be no increase to the Fed fund rate, ending a two-year period of rising interest rates. (Bloomberg)
As Chadian President Idriss Déby is sworn-in to his third term in office, he hugs Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who only a few days ago was overseeing a campaign to overthrow the second Déby administration. (BBC)
2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict:
- Lebanon's coastline could take up to 10 years to recover from a massive oil spill, the nation's environment minister has said. (BBC NEWS)
- The Arab League makes a formal bid at the UN to secure changes to a draft Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire resolution.(BBC NEWS)
- Israel recalls its ambassador from Venezuela following comments made by President Hugo Chávez. Venezuela's ambassador to Israel was called back on August 3. (YNET NEWS), (Haaretz), (VenezuelAnalysis),(ADL)
- Ehud Olmert, the Prime Minister of Israel, describes Lebanon's decision to deploy 15,000 troops in southern Lebanon as an "interesting step" which Israel would review. (Reuters)
A strong earthquake of 6.7 magnitude hits near the island of Espiritu Santo in Vanuatu at 9:18 a.m. local time.(ABC News)(USGS)

August 9, 2006 (Wednesday)

The Venezuelan opposition selects Manuel Rosales, governor of Zulia State, as its unity candidate for the December presidential election. (Bloomberg)
In Mexico, the partial recount of votes in the disputed 2006 presidential election held on July 2 begins amid escalating protests against alleged electoral irregularities in the close election. (CBC), (VOA)
Chad and Sudan resume diplomatic relations as part of the Dakar accord. The heads of state of Chad, Sudan, and Libya embrace in front of a cheering crowd in N'Djamena. (BBC News)
The Indian state of Kerala bans the sale and manufacture of soft drinks belonging to PepsiCo and The Coca-Cola Company due to the high levels of pesticide residue in the water used in these products. (AP)
After killing two in the Philippines, Severe Tropical Storm Bopha makes landfall in Taiwan. Typhoon Saomai and Tropical Storm Maria also threaten to make landfall, on the Chinese mainland and Japan respectively. (The China Post) (Malaysia Star)
2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict:
- Israeli Arab officials reject Hassan Nasrallah's call to leave Haifa metropolis, arguing against the attacks on civilian populations. (YNET NEWS)
- Spokeswoman for Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert calls BBC "the only international English-speaking news outlet that is downright hostile to Israel on every level." The BBC's response to that noted that "our duty is to provide independent reporting and analysis of all perspectives of a story, so our audiences can make sense of what's going on in the world." (Jerusalem Post)
- Dr. Jakob Kellenberger, president of the International Red Cross, comes under rocket attack on a visit to the Israeli city of Nahariya. (Ynet)
- Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah says that the United States imposes Israeli demands through the United Nations draft resolution. He also backs a Lebanese army deployment to South Lebanon. He also vowed for South Lebanon to become a "graveyard" for invading Israeli troops. (Reuters)(Reuters)
- Syrian-made missiles land in near Haifa and in the West Bank. (Ynet)
- Palestinian and Lebanese officials claim Israeli gunboats shelled Lebanon's largest Palestinian refugee camp near Sidon. (CBS)

August 10, 2006 (Thursday)

2006 transatlantic aircraft plot:
- A terrorist plot to blow up planes in mid-flight from the UK to the US has been disrupted, Scotland Yard has said. (BBC) (CNN) (News.com.au)
- Pakistan's intelligence service claims that its cooperation with British intelligence helped to uncover the plot. CNN reports that sources have informed it that it was recent arrests in Pakistan that convinced Britain to act quickly. (Reuters) (CNN)
- Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney has activated the National Guard to help with security at Logan International Airport. (Associated Press via the Boston Globe)
- Heathrow Airport closed to most European flights as a result on bans on flights of three hours or less. Congestion builds due to ban most types of hand luggage. (New York Times)
- Intelligence officials claim that the suspects were intending to hold a dry run within the next 2 days with the actual attack to be held within 10 days. (KSLA News)
- United States President George W. Bush said the plot was "a stark reminder that this nation is at war with Islamic fascists who will use any means to destroy those of us who love freedom, to hurt our nation" drawing condemnation from the Council on American-Islamic Relations and the Muslim Public Affairs Council who discourage the use of term 'Islamo-fascism.' (Red Orbit)
Hugo Chávez states that Fidel Castro is in a "great battle for life" but expresses optimism about his recovery. (USA Today)
In Marietta, Ohio, United States two men were arrested on money laundering in support of terrorism. They were found with lists of travelers on airplanes and information on airport security checkpoints. (Associated Press)
More than 1.5 million Chinese evacuate while Super Typhoon Saomai, the strongest to land in China in 50 years, makes landfall in Wenzhou, Zhejiang. (Reuters), (BBC), (Forbes) (Houston Chronicle)

August 11, 2006 (Friday)

2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict:
- The UN Security Council adopts a resolution, 15-0, calling for a ceasefire in the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict. (Reuters)
- Ehud Olmert accepts the emerging Middle East peace deal after earlier threatening an expansion of the ground war in Lebanon. The agreement calls for the deployment of 30,000 Lebanese and U.N. troops along the Israel-Lebanon border. (Boston Herald)
2006 transatlantic aircraft plot:
- 40 people have been arrested throughout Italy, in Muslim communities "as part of an extraordinary operation that followed the British anti-terrorist operation." (Fox News)
- The date the plot was to be carried out has been revealed to be August 16. (Daily Mail)
Typhoon Saomai kills 111 people and leaves 4 missing in eastern China, according to the Chinese government. (BBC)

August 12, 2006 (Saturday)

2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict:
- The United Nations Human Rights Council has voted to send a team to Lebanon to investigate alleged abuses by Israel. (BBC)
- Lebanese officials claim that Israeli missiles killed 15 civilians in the village of Rachaf 10 kilometres from the border with Israel. (AP) (BBC)

August 13, 2006 (Sunday)

Iraq sectarian violence:
- Three successive explosions in south Baghdad kill at least 62 people and injure more than 140. (Associated Press), (CBS News)
2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict:
- Israeli government endorses the UN Security Council resolution calling for an end to fighting in southern Lebanon. (BBC)
- A Lebanese government meeting on the disarming of Hezbollah south of the Litani River is cancelled following an announcement by the Shi'ite organization that it was not willing to discuss the subject. (Haaretz)
- Kofi Annan announces that a ceasefire will commence on August 14 at 8 a.m. Israeli-Lebanese time (0500 UTC). (Boston Globe)
- Iran says disarming Lebanese Hezbollah would be "illogical". (Reuters)
Yasukuni Shrine controversy:
- Jiji Press reports that Japan Ground Self-Defense Force uniform officers examined enshrining troops in Yasukuni Shrine in the event of their death during their non-combat mission in Iraq. Critics accuse the examination of being against Japanese constitutional separation of state and religion. (Mainichi Daily News)
- Japanese foreign minister Taro Aso suggests the Diet pass a law making the Yasukuni Shrine secular. (Asahi Shimbun)
XVI International AIDS Conference, 2006 is convened in Toronto, Canada. (CBC), (BBC), (Wikinews)

August 14, 2006 (Monday)

An Israeli air strike hits a house in a refugee camp in the Gaza Strip. Israel claims that it is a command centre for the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. (Associated Press)
Fox News journalists Steve Centanni and Olaf Wiig are kidnapped in Gaza. (Associated Press)(Reuters)
2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict:
- Israel will pursue Hezbollah leaders in Lebanon despite the ceasefire ending the month-long conflict, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has told parliament.(BBC NEWS)
- Thousands of displaced Lebanese and Israelis have begun returning home hours after a UN ceasefire to end fighting between Israel and Hezbollah came into force.(BBC NEWS)
- The ceasefire takes effect at 8am Lebanese time. (CNN)

August 15, 2006 (Tuesday)

Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi visits the Yasukuni Shrine, drawing many protests from around the region. (San Francisco Chronicle).
Former U.S. President Gerald Ford is admitted to the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota. (Reuters)
The United Kingdom government is to seek Parliamentary approval to grant posthumous pardons for over 300 soldiers executed for cowardice during the First World War. The soldiers' families have long claimed that they were suffering from shell shock (Post traumatic stress disorder). (BBC)
New Jersey Transit says that service has been suspended between New York's Penn Station and Secaucus due to a suspicious item found on the tracks east of the Secaucus junction. (WABC New York)
2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict:
- Israel claims that Hezbollah fired 10 Katyusha rockets into Southern Lebanon with none reaching Israel. (Associated Press)
The New Zealand Maori Queen, Te Arikinui Dame Te Atairangikaahu dies aged 75 at her official residence of Turangawaewae Marae Ngaruawahia, ending her 40 year reign, the longest of any Maori monarch within the Kingitanga movement and causing hundreds of thousands to flock to the Central North Island to attend her funeral.(NZ Herald)

August 16, 2006 (Wednesday)

John Mark Karr is arrested in Bangkok for the 1996 murder of U.S. child beauty queen JonBenét Ramsey. (Denver Post) (USA Today) (MSNBC)
Terminal 18 of the Port of Seattle is evacuated after bomb-sniffing dogs indicate that at least one container recently taken off a ship may contain explosives. (AP) However, none of the containers are found to hold explosives. (Seattle Herald)
Javier Arellano Félix, leader of the Arrellano Félix drug cartel and brother of former FBI Ten Most Wanted listee Ramón Arellano Félix, is arrested by the United States Coast Guard in a boat in the Gulf of California off La Paz, Baja California Sur, Mexico. (FoxNews.com)
A Russian border patrol boat fires on a Japanese crab fishing boat near Kaigara Island, part of the Kuril Islands. One fisherman is killed and three others detained by the Russian authorities. (AP)
The International Astronomical Union proposes a new definition for a planet to be voted on August 24 which would include Charon, Eris, and Ceres as planets. (ABC) (BBC)
United Airlines Flight 923 makes an emergency landing in Boston. The original course was London to Washington D.C. Fighter jets escorted the plane to the airport. (AP via Fox News)
2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict:
- The Israeli ambassador to Canada, Alan Baker, criticises Bloc Québécois leader Gilles Duceppe for participating in an Aug. 6 Montreal march in which a few Hezbollah supporters also took part. The march was, however, a protest against war and not a show of support for Hezbollah. (CTV)
- The Government of Israel says the withdrawal from South Lebanon will stop if Lebanese troops are not deployed there within days. (Reuters)
- Ali Khamenei, Iran's Supreme Leader and the supreme religious authority to Hezbollah followers, praises Hezbollah resistance. (AP via Yahoo!)
The South Korean based Good Friends aid agency estimates that in North Korea 54,700 people have died due to massive flooding in July. The DPRK Government claims only "hundreds" have died. (ABC) (IHT)
The death toll from the flooding of the Omo River in southern Ethiopia nears 500. (BBC)

August 17, 2006 (Thursday)

North Korea: According to ABC News, a "senior State Department official" says that "It is the view of the intelligence community that a (nuclear) test is a real possibility," and says that they have seen "suspicious vehicle movement" at a suspected nuclear test site. However, according to Reuters, a United States official said that "We have no new evidence to support that." Also according to the Associated Press, the White House said that any nuclear weapons test would be an "extremely provocative" act that would be denounced around the globe." (ABC News America)(Reuters)(Associated Press via Fox News)
United States district court judge Williams Alsup orders Greg Anderson, the personal trainer of Barry Bonds to testify before a Grand Jury about use of steroids by athletes. (Bloomberg)
US District judge Anna Diggs Taylor orders the NSA warrantless surveillance program be shut down as unconstitutional. (MSNBC)
Thai police claim that John Mark Karr has confessed to the murder of JonBenét Ramsey. Karr tells reporters after the press conference that he was with the child when she died but didn't mean to kill her. (CBS)
Lebanese troops deploy south of the Litani River in Lebanon as part of the ceasefire agreement (Reuters)
Tungurahua, an active stratovolcano in Ecuador, erupts, spewing out pyroclastic flows, shooting volcanic ash six kilometres into the air and forcing the evacuation of thousands of people. At least one person is killed and another 60 people missing. (UN), (BBC), (Reuters), (CNN)

August 18, 2006 (Friday)

Ford Motor Company will idle 10 plants in North America temporarily as it slashes production by 21%. (CNN Money)
Australia: The first person convicted under new anti-terrorism laws has been acquitted on appeal. Jack Thomas was convicted in March on two counts of receiving funds from a terrorist network and for carrying a falsified passport. According to ABC News his 5-year sentence was today quashed by the Victorian Court of Appeal, which ruled information obtained during an interview with Australian Federal Police Officers in Pakistan, conducted without legal representation and under threat of torture, was inadmissible.
North Korea:
- South Korea said Friday it has no clear evidence that North Korea is preparing for a nuclear test. (CTV NEWS)
- President Bush pressed participants in six-party talks to persuade North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons program. (Reuters)
2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict:
- Hezbollah hands out cash to war victims in Lebanon. (Reuters) (Aljazeera)
- Southern Lebanese buried on Friday at least 250 people killed in the conflict between Israel and the Shia Muslim militia Hezbollah. Hezbollah hailed these individuals as martyrs and showered their flag-draped coffins with flowers. (Al-Jazeera)
- Israel has set up a commission to investigate how the military campaign in Lebanon was conducted. (BBC NEWS)
- Israel says it would be difficult to accept nations which do not recognise its right to exist as part of a UN force in Lebanon. (BBC)

August 19, 2006 (Saturday)

2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict:
- Lebanese PM Fouad Siniora has accused Israel of a "naked violation" of the five-day-old ceasefire, after a raid by Israeli commandos deep inside Lebanon. (BBC) (CTV) (Reuters) (Aljazeera)
- Reuters reports that Israeli aircraft have fired at targets in Eastern Lebanon reported to be a Hezbollah stronghold. An Israeli army spokesman said the army was checking the report. (Reuters)
- Israel confirms that a commando unit was operating in Lebanon early this morning. One soldier is reported killed and two wounded, one of them seriously. (ABC America)

Israeli forces detain Palestinian Deputy Prime Minister Nasser al-Shaer in a raid on his home in the West Bank town of Ramallah. (BBC)
A Turkish-Iranian natural gas pipeline explodes in Turkey's northeastern Ağrı Province. Turkish authorities suspect separatist Kurds were behind the incident. (Internet Archive) (AP Story, no longer on original CNN site)
The Chinese death toll from Typhoon Saomai rises to 436 with 100 new deaths reported in the east of the country. (ABC America)

Zrinka se izlegla 19.8.1992.

August 20, 2006 (Sunday)

With nearly all votes counted, the presidential election in the Democratic Republic of Congo heads toward a run-off election after neither candidate wins a fifty percent majority. Full provisional results show Joseph Kabila with 44.81 percent of the vote, to Jean-Pierre Bemba's 20.03 percent. There have been reports of automatic gunfire, and MLC representatives accused Kabila's Republican Guard of killing one of its men and injuring three policemen. (Reuters) (SBS)
Taliban insurgency: More than 90 die in heavy fighting this weekend in Afghanistan. (AFP)
2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict:
- UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has expressed deep concern over Saturday's Israeli commando raid deep inside Lebanon, calling it a truce violation. (BBC) (Al Jazeera)
- The Lebanese government vowed on Sunday to crush any attempt on the Lebanese side to breach the ceasefire.(Reuters)
The first named storm to form in the Central North Pacific basin since the 2002 Pacific hurricane season, Tropical Storm Ioke, forms and threatens Johnston Island and the Johnston Atoll National Wildlife Refuge. (United States Central Pacific Hurricane Center)
Iran test fires the Saegheh missile, a short-range surface-to-surface missile with a range of between 80 and 250 kilometres in the desert near Kashan. It comes a day after the army commenced exercises. (AP via MSNBC) (AP via Yahoo! News)
Controversy arises at cricket's Fourth test between Pakistan and England at The Oval, London when umpires rule that ball-tampering has occurred and award the game to England. (BBC)

August 21, 2006 (Monday)

Democratic Republic of the Congo general election: As a meeting between Bemba and foreign ambassadors representing the International Committee Accompanying the Transition to Democracy (CIAT) is taking place in Kinshasa, clashes break between Kabila and Bemba forces; Bemba's residence, hosting the meeting, comes under attack, reportedly by heavy machine guns and artillery. Several hours later, the UN spokesperson in the DRC, Jean-Tobias Okala, announced the foreign diplomats, including MONUC chief William Swing, were successfully evacuated to UN headquarters. (Mail & Guardian) (CBC)
2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict:
- Italy offers to lead the United Nations peacekeeping forces in Lebanon instead of France. Italy has offered to provide 2,000 forces, more than any other nation, and France is only offering to provide 200 civil engineers. (UPI)
The government of Kyrgyzstan warns that the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, a terrorist group affiliated with al Qaeda, and other militant Islamic groups, are preparing to attack southern cities like Osh. (RFE/RL)
Eleven suspects are charged over the 2006 transatlantic aircraft plot in the United Kingdom as police find bomb-making equipment and martyrdom videos during their inquiries. (Independent)
The Channel Tunnel, which connects the UK to France, closes after smoke is seen coming from a freight train in the tunnel. (BBC)
U.S. university Virginia Tech closed campus and canceled classes today, the first day of classes, during the search for a man who was suspected of murdering a hospital security guard and a police officer. The suspect, William Morva, is in custody. (WTOP)
A bomb goes off in a Moscow market, killing 10 and wounding about 40. Authorities are not ruling out terrorism. It appears to have been intentional. (Reuters) (BBC)
In New Zealand, Tuheitia Paki, the eldest son of Dame Te Atairangikaahu, is selected as the new Māori King. (NZ Herald)
Carla Del Ponte, the chief Yugoslav war crimes prosecutor, criticises Serbia for its failure to arrest former Bosnian Serb army chief, General Ratko Mladić as the war crime trials of seven Bosnian Serb military and paramilitary commanders continues. (ABC America)
At least 51 people are killed and another 138 injured in a train crash north of Cairo when two trains travelling on the same line collide. (Mail & Guardian South Africa)

August 22, 2006 (Tuesday)

Russian mathematician Grigori Perelman refuses the Fields Medal. (ABC News)
U.S. sprinter Justin Gatlin agrees to an eight-year ban from track and field for a positive drug test. He forfeits the world record he equalled in May. (USA Today)
Japanese Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe announces that if elected president of the Liberal Democratic Party, and thus Prime Minister, he will propose an amendment to the pacifist Constitution of Japan allowing Japanese troops to be sent overseas. Abe currently leads in polls over candidates Taro Aso and Sadakazu Tanigaki by about 30%. (Mainichi Daily News)
Nominations have been called for the first Nunatsiavut Assembly General Election. The election will be held on October 3, 2006. VOCM
Pulkovo Airlines Flight 612, a Tupolev Tu-154 plane carrying 160 passengers and 10 crew from Anapa in southern Russia to Saint Petersburg, crashes in eastern Ukraine. (BBC)
The Iranian Navy attacks and seizes control of a Romanian oil rig in the Persian Gulf. Iran took control of the radio room at 7 AM local time. "The Iranians fired at the rig's crane with machine guns," Tăbănescu said. "They are in control now and we can't contact the rig." There were 26 workers onboard. (Bloomberg)
The U.S. National Center for Education Statistics releases a report today showing that charter schools had lower mean scores in reading and especially math compared to public schools. (CNN)
NASA confirms that its new manned space exploration vehicle, expected to succeed the STS (or Space Shuttle) by 2014, will be named Orion (NASA)

August 23, 2006 (Wednesday)

2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict:
- Amnesty International accuses Israel of war crimes, saying it broke international law by deliberately destroying Lebanon's civilian infrastructure during its recent war with Hezbollah guerrillas. (Guardian),(BBC NEWS), (Al Jazeera)
The United States says that Iran's proposal to the United Nations about its nuclear program "falls short of the conditions set by the Security Council." (CNN)
Northwest Airlines Flight 42 from Amsterdam to Mumbai (Bombay) was escorted by two Dutch Air Force F-16s back to Amsterdam after a request from the pilot. Twelve people have been detained. (CNN)
An ancient Persian water pipe system is discovered in Ramat Rachel, Israel. (Reuters)
The Holy Jihad Brigades releases a video showing kidnapped journalists Steve Centanni and Olaf Wiig in good health. No armed men were present. The HJB demands that the United States release "Muslim prisoners" within 72 hours. (AP) (AP) (BBC)
Austrian kidnap victim Natascha Kampusch, 18, is found alive and well after being held captive for eight years in the garage of a house near Vienna. (BBC)
The bodies of three men are recovered from the English Channel days after their yacht Ouzo disappears. Police and officers from the Marine Accident Investigation Branch investigate the possibility the Ouzo was sunk by a near-miss with a P&O ferry, the Pride of Bilbao. (BBC)

August 24, 2006 (Thursday)

2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict:
- The Israeli reserve soldiers' protest, which calls for the resignation of Ehud Olmert and the establishment of a national commission of inquiry over failures in the conflict, grows in momentum to reach several hundred. (Ynet)
- Unexploded Israeli cluster bombs, some dating back to the 1970s, are exacting an increasing toll on Lebanese civilians returning home, the UN and human rights groups report. (Al Jazeera), (Human Rights Watch)
- French President Jacques Chirac says 1,600 more French troops will serve in the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon. (BBC)
- Syria threatens to shut its border with Lebanon. (Al Jazeera)
- Syria decides to cut electric power supplies to Lebanon after Israel bombed power stations during the war. (AFP via Al Nahar)
Israeli forces have killed three Palestinian Islamic Jihad militants and detained five militants, including a senior member of the governing Hamas movement in two separate incidents in southern Gaza. (Al Jazeera), (BBC)
A senior Israeli source says that Israel "may have to go it alone," saying that the Iranian response to a package of incentives to halt its uranium enrichment was just to "gain time," and said that Iran had "flipped the world the bird." (Jerusalem Post)
German Chancellor Angela Merkel states that Iran's response to the incentives by world powers aiming to persuade it to give up nuclear power is unsatisfactory. (Reuters)
The largest computer games expo in the transatlantic region, the Games Convention in Leipzig, Germany, opens for the public. (Handelsblatt)
Definition of planet: The International Astronomical Union, meeting in Prague, Czech Republic, votes to strip Pluto of its status as a planet. (BBC)
Apple Computer announces a recall of 1.8 million batteries for its PowerBook G4 and iBook G4 models. (CNN)
The Kyodo News Agency reports that there is activity at a North Korean nuclear testing site. (Kyodo News Agency via Fox News: Video)
Population of the United Kingdom reaches over 60 million for the first time in history. (BBC)

August 25, 2006 (Friday)

The United Nations Security Council approves a new peacekeeping mission in East Timor, United Nations Integrated Mission in Timor-Leste (UNMIT), which will have 1,608 police and up to 35 military liaison officers. (Xinhua News Agency)
2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict:
- French President Jacques Chirac says sending 15,000 peacekeeping troops to southern Lebanon is "excessive". (BBC)
An Aer Lingus flight from New York is evacuated at Shannon Airport following information about explosives on board the flight. (RTÉ)
Zhao Yan, a Chinese researcher for the New York Times, is sentenced to three years for fraud in Beijing. However, he is found not guilty of leaking state secrets. (Channel News Asia)
The Trinity Cathedral of St. Petersburg catches fire. The main dome collapses. (BBC)
Danny Ferrer, owner of BuysUSA.com, is convicted of conspiracy and copyright infringement, sentenced to 6 years in prison, and ordered to pay more than US$4.1 million in damages to companies such as Adobe Systems, Autodesk, and Macromedia. (FOX News)

August 26, 2006 (Saturday)

2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict:
- EU officials caution that the peacekeeping force in Lebanon will not disarm Hezbollah. Disarming Hezbollah is the responsibility of the Lebanese government and army. (NY Times)
The Andover Inn Hotel in Liverpool was hit by a mystery fire in the early hours which led to 100 guests being evacuated. (Sunday Mirror)
Chad orders United States' ChevronTexaco and Malaysia's Petronas out of the country for failing to meet tax obligations. Chadian president, Idriss Déby, stated that Chad, whose new national oil company was to partner with an Exxon Mobil-ChevronTexaco-Petronas consortium, will continue to work with US' Exxon Mobil while attempting to "find a solution with the two other partners." (BBC)
Eyewitnesses claim that Israel bombed a Reuters armored car in Gaza City. Hospital staff say that two cameramen and three bystanders were injured. (Associated Press)
Pakistani security forces kill rebel chieftain Nawab Akbar Bugti in heavy fighting near the town of Dera Bugti in Baluchistan province. At least 25 commandos and 30 insurgents were killed in the fighting. (News Limited)
NASA delays the launch of the Space Shuttle Atlantis (STS-115) for 24 hours. Lightning struck the space shuttle launch pad on Friday but no damage was caused. (Reuters)
Ugandan government and rebel group Lord's Resistance Army sign a truce, in efforts to end the 20-year conflict. (BBC News)

August 27, 2006 (Sunday)

2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict:
- Israel denies that a German-mediated prisoner exchange with Hezbollah is to take place within two or three weeks, as reported earlier in Egyptian state-run daily Al-Ahram. (Haaretz), (AFP via Al Nahar)
- Four children have been hurt after playing with an unexploded Israeli cluster bomb in southern Lebanon. (Al Jazeera)
- Reports surface that UNIFIL troops in Lebanon continuously broadcasted online sensitive information such as the strength and precise movements of the Israeli army.(Weekly Standard)
The Games Convention, the largest video game expo on both sides of the Atlantic closes with a record attendance of 183,000 visitors in 4 days of exhibiting. The projected attendance was set at 150,000. There are expansion plans of the expo for 2007 and beyond. MDR (German)
Comair Flight 5191 crashes in Lexington, Kentucky. Only one person, out of three crew and 47 passengers, survived. (CNN.com)
Iran test-fires a Sagheb missile during exercises in the Persian Gulf. (TVNZ)
Hurricane Ernesto becomes the first hurricane of the 2006 Atlantic hurricane season. Jeb Bush later declares a state of emergency due to its possible impact on Florida later in the week. (ABC News), (Associated Press)
At least seven people die in blasts in the Iraqi capital Baghdad, as a security clampdown continues.(BBC NEWS)
Pakistan increases security in Balochistan as rioting follows the killing of rebel leader Nawab Akbar Bugti.(BBC NEWS)
Two Fox News Channel journalists are released after being held hostage for two weeks in the Gaza Strip. Steve Centanni and Olaf Wiig were earlier claimed to have been forced by their captors to convert to Islam. (CBS News), (Al Jazeera)

August 28, 2006 (Monday)

2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict:
- United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan tells the Lebanese government that he wants the two Israeli soldiers captured by Hezbollah to be handed to the Red Cross. (Haaretz)
A DNA test of John Mark Karr does not match the DNA found on the body of JonBenét Ramsey, and prosecutors in the U.S. state of Colorado say they will not charge Karr with murder. (CNN)
Mexico's Federal Electoral Tribunal rules unanimously that results in contested polling stations only marginally affected the lead of Felipe Calderón of the ruling National Action Party over Andrés Manuel López Obrador in July's disputed presidential election. (The Australian)
The State Comptroller of Israel Micha Lindenstrauss releases a report stating that Ehud Olmert made political appointments of Likud Party members while serving as Industry & Trade Minister. (Israel National News)
Three bombs explode in the Turkish coastal town of Marmaris following an explosion in Istanbul shortly after midnight local time (2100 UTC Sunday). At least 22 people have been injured in the explosions. A further explosion occurred hours later in nearby Antalya, killing at least three people. (News Limited) (BBC)
Dozens are killed in an explosion at a disused pipeline near Diwaniya, Iraq, apparently while scavenging for petrol.(Reuters)

August 29, 2006 (Tuesday)

Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad challenges George W. Bush to a live television debate. U.S. government officials decline and criticize the suggestion.(Al Jazeera)
2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict:
- Israel must lift its blockade of Lebanon soon, UN chief Kofi Annan tells Israel's defence minister.(BBC)
- Kofi Annan says that the United Nations hopes to double the strength of the peacekeeping force by Friday. (ABC News America)
Tropical Storm John becomes Hurricane John, the sixth hurricane of the 2006 Pacific hurricane season and threatens Mexico's Pacific Ocean coast, including the port city of Acapulco. (The Australian)
New Orleans and the United States mark the one year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. (Fox News)
In London, three more men are charged with conspiracy to murder and preparing acts of terrorism over the alleged 2006 transatlantic aircraft plot, bringing the total number of suspects facing these charges to eleven. (BBC) (International Herald Tribune)
A magnitude-5.4 earthquake strikes off the Maluku Islands in Indonesia. Officials currently state that a tsunami is not possible, as their initial magnitude estimates have been downgraded. [1] This follows four magnitude-5 foreshocks the previous day. [2]
Warren Jeffs, the fugitive leader of a polygamist Mormon sect and one of the FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives, has been arrested in southern Nevada. (AP)
Vivendi Universal, the world's biggest music group, has signed a deal to make its music catalogue available on a free legal downloads service.(BBC)
Public school teachers in Detroit begin a strike after failing to reach an agreement with school district officials. (Detroit Free Press)
Residents in south Florida prepare for Tropical Storm Ernesto with concerns that the storm could again strengthen and become a hurricane after it leaves Cuba. (Boston Globe)
Conflict between Shiite militia and the Iraqi military in southern city of Diwaniyah leaves at least 19 dead. (BBC)
British rail company South West Trains begin a series of one-day strikes over claims that unqualified company managers were allowed to drive trains.(BBC)

August 30, 2006 (Wednesday)

Hurricane John lashes the Pacific coast of Mexico with the potential to cause flash floods and landslides. (Reuters)
2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict:
- The UN's humanitarian chief accuses Israel of "completely immoral" use of cluster bombs in Lebanon.(BBC NEWS)
- A Hezbollah cabinet minister rejects a call by Kofi Annan for the unconditional release of the two Israeli soldiers, in accordance with United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701.(Haaretz)
- Israel rejects a call by Kofi Annan to lift the blockade of Lebanon before United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701 is implemented.(Reuters)
Multiple bomb attacks across Baghdad, Iraq kill at least 40 people while 12 more die after bomb explodes near an army recruiting office in Hilla. (BBC)
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter successfully completed aerobraking, and is preparing to enter a Sun synchronized science orbit at Mars. Space.com
Israeli troops kill at least eight Palestinians in fighting in Gaza City, as part of a two-month offensive in the territory.(Al Jazeera)
Mexican presidential candidate Andrés Manuel López Obrador vows to form a parallel government following the Federal Electoral Tribunal's ruling that Felipe Calderón won the presidential election. (AP)
Former United States Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage originally revealed the identity of Valerie Plame to columnist Robert Novak in 2003. (CNN)
The UK Government announces plans to make the possession of violent pornographic images illegal and punishable by up to three years in prison. (The Guardian)
Wake Island is evacuated, in preparation for its predicted inundation by Typhoon Ioke, now classified as a super typhoon, which is expected to destroy almost all structures on the island. (CNN)
A United States federal judge overturns a jury's recent $50 million award against Merck on behalf of a Vioxx user, on the ground that the award was excessive. (Reuters)
East Timor rebel leader Alfredo Reinhado and 56 other prisoners escape from a jail in the capital Dili, throwing the troubled nation back into turmoil. (News Ltd)
The European Patent Office completely revokes Sara Lee’s European patent on the Senseo coffee pads. (Bloomberg)

August 31, 2006 (Thursday)