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- 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 the 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
- 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)
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- 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)
- North Country Colorectal in Port Jefferson, New York opens its doors to business.
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- 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)
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- Armed conflicts and attacks
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- 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)
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- 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)
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- 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict:
- 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)
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- 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:
- 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)
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- The US contractor Lockheed Martin is chosen over an alliance of Northrop Grumman and Boeing to build the new spacecraft Orion. Orion was previously known as the Crew Exploration Vehicle. Orion will go eventually to the moon by 2014. MSNBC
- The United Nations Security Council approves resolution 1706, which is meant to resolve the Darfur conflict.(Business Day) Sudan has rejected the resolution. (Globe and Mail)
- The annual development report released by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development criticizes Japan and Germany for not doing enough to stabilize international trade by buying imports. (BBC News)
- Bristol-Myers Squibb and Sanofi-Aventis win a court ruling in the US banning Apotex from selling a generic version of Plavix, the world's second best-selling medicine. Apotex had won over 50 per cent of all US prescriptions since the sale of the drug began on August 8. (Bloomberg)
- Iraqi insurgency
- Multiple rocket and bomb attacks in Baghdad kill at least 43 people and injure more than 100 others. (BBC), (CNN)
- Warren Jeffs waives his extradition hearing, and will be extradited to Washington County, Utah, where he will first face charges as an accomplice to bigamy and rape in arranging polygamous marriages between older men and underage girls. He also faces similar charges in Arizona, and federal charges in connection with his flight from justice. (CNN)
- Israeli police, at the request of the British Embassy in Tel Aviv, captured a man who broke in to the Embassy and demanded asylum, threatening to kill himself if his demands were not met. (BBC) (BBC)
- The future of UK model manufacturer Airfix, founded in 1939, is in doubt after the financial collapse of parent company Humbrol. Company administrators declare they wish to sell the Airfix brand. (BBC)
- Syria welcomes Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, who said yesterday that the two countries will "build a new world" free of U.S. domination and vowed to one day "dig the grave of U.S. imperialism." State Department spokesman Tom Casey retorts that Chávez should remind Damascus about its international obligations to prevent Hezbollah from receiving weapons. (AP)
- Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the President of Iran, stated that Iran had the right to use nuclear technology on the day that a United Nations Security Council deadline expires. President Ahmadinejad said: "They should know that the Iranian nation will not yield to pressure and will not let its rights be trampled on." (CNN)
- Norwegian police announce they have recovered the Edvard Munch paintings The Scream and Madonna, stolen in 2004. (BBC)
- A magnitude 4.8 earthquake affected Japan just south of Tokyo. Shinkansen service was suspended for 15 minutes but no damage was reported. (Bloomberg)(Mainichi)
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