Current events of 8 December 2006 (2006-12-08) (Friday) edit history watch

Three people are killed and a fourth injured when a gunman starts shooting at a Chicago skyscraper. The gunman was then shot dead by a Chicago Police Department SWAT sniper. (Chicago SunTimes) Bushfires in the Australian state of Victoria threaten at least six townships in the Gippsland region with extreme weather conditions over the weekend expected to increase the danger. The Victorian Department of Education closes 24 schools due to threat of fire. (AP via Houston Chronicle) Ethiopian involvement in the Somali Civil War: The Somali and Ethiopian militaries engage the Islamic Court Union inside Somalia. (BBC) Officials organizing the 2006 ASEAN summit in the Philippines, originally due to begin on December 10, have announced that it has been postponed due to Severe Tropical Storm Utor. Officials also denied that the postponement was due to a terror threat. (BBC) Research linking the spread of the AIDS virus with malarial infections in Africa is published in Science. (BBC) 2006 Fijian coup d'état: Fiji is suspended from the Commonwealth of Nations following a meeting of Commonwealth foreign ministers in London. (BBC) Former Prime Minister of Fiji Laisenia Qarase warns that Fijians are planning a campaign of civil disobedience against the regime of Commodore Frank Bainimarama. (AFP via ABC Online) Alaska State Representative Tom Anderson (R) is taken into custody by the FBI in connection with the probe of alleged unethical association by Alaska Legislature with VECO Corporation. (KTUU) Nintendo Wii is released in Europe