Portal:Current events/2010 August 27

August 27, 2010 (Friday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

Battle of Mogadishu
- The al-Shabaab rebel group in Somalia says it has called 11 truckloads of reinforcements to take over the capital Mogadishu after a week-long battle. (Al Jazeera)
- At least 43 people are killed in the violence. (Press TV)
Police in India kill Umakanta Mahato, a top Maoist guerilla wanted in connection with the Gyaneshwari Express train derailment in May. (BBC) (Times of India)
Two bombs explode in the Mexican city of Ciudad Victoria, the capital of Tamaulipas, outside the municipal police station and the Televisa television station. (BNO via New Kerala)
Almost 45 people are injured in clashes between stone-throwing protesters and Indian security forces in India's Kashmir Valley. (UPI)

Business and economy

Ben Bernanke, the Chair of the Federal Reserve, says the United States Federal Reserve is prepared to act against the prospects of deflation but expects economic growth to continue during the latter half of 2010 "albeit at a relatively modest pace." (New York Times)
The United States Department of Justice closes an antitrust probe into a proposed merger of United Airlines and Continental Airlines clearing the way for shareholders to vote on the proposal. (MoneyCNN)
Ford announces that they has recalled more than 570,000 Windstar minivans in the United States and Canada over rear axle issues. (Denver Post) Archived August 29, 2010, at the Wayback Machine

Disasters

As many as 30 children die of lead poisoning in northern Nigeria. (BBC) (AllAfrica.com)
12 people are killed in landslides after heavy rains in northern Turkey. (Hürriyet Daily News) (BBC)
The Indus River breaches its banks near the southern Pakistan city of Thatta forcing the evacuations of hundreds of thousands of people. (ABC Online and AFP)
A magnitude 5.7 earthquake strikes northern Iran, killing two people. (WireUpdate) (Xinhua) (Radio New Zealand)
Floods and landslides have killed at least 34 people in Nicaragua and affected 84,000 since the start of the rainy season on May 15. (AFP via Google News)

International relations

India cancels defence exchanges with China after the latter refused to grant a visa to a general from Kashmir. (BBC) (Hindustan Times) (Al Jazeera)
Sri Lanka urges Saudi Arabia to investigate the case of a Sri Lankan maid who had nails and needles pushed into her by her employers as a "punishment". Doctors later remove 24 nails and needles from her body. (Arab News) (Lanka Business Online) (BBC)
Muslims protest outside the United States embassy in Jakarta about plans by the Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, Florida to burn Korans on the 9th anniversary of the September 11 attacks. (Fox News)
France rejects criticism from the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination over its Romani removal strategy. (Xinhua)

Law and crime

Politics

Leaders of the Burmese junta, including Senior General Than Shwe, resign from their posts ahead of general elections in November. (BBC) (Sify India) (Bangkok Post)^{[permanent dead link]}
Legal advice clears Governor-General of Australia Mrs. Quentin Bryce to make a decision on who will be the next Prime Minister of Australia despite family ties to Australian Labor Party powerbroker Bill Shorten. (The Australian)

Science

A team of scientists, led by Neil Hall from the University of Liverpool, releases draft sequences of the wheat genome. (BBC)
Arrowheads found in the Sibudu Cave in northern KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa show that humans were using bow and arrows 64000 years ago. (BBC)

Weather

Hurricane Danielle strengthens to Category 4, becoming the first major hurricane of the 2010 Atlantic hurricane season. (MSNBC) (CNN) (CBC)