Portal:Current events/September 2012

Armed conflicts and attacks

Syrian civil war:
- The Syrian government states that it has repelled a major attack on an air base near Aleppo; 341 detainees are released across the country. Rebels claim the capture of an airforce building in Deir ez-Zor. (BBC) (SANA)
War in Afghanistan:
- Two suicide bombings near a NATO base kill at least 12 people and wound 50 others in the Sayed Abad district of Afghanistan's Wardak province. (USA Today)
- A drone strike conducted by the United States kills at least five suspected militants in North Waziristan, Pakistan. (AP via The Washington Post)
- Pakistani media say the Taliban have unveiled a videotape showing only the heads of 12 of the 15 Pakistan Army soldiers missing after this week's combat in Bajaur. An anonymous official confirms the missing's deaths. (Daily Bhaskar) (Pakistan Observer)
Mexican Drug War:
- Eduardo Arellano Félix, a former drug lord of the Tijuana Cartel, is extradited to the United States from Mexico. He is the last brother of the cartel in a 2003 indictment to be extradited. (Los Angeles Times)
2012 northern Mali conflict:
- Islamist rebels in northern Mali seize the central town of Douentza. (BBC)
An unidentified man throws a grenade to spectators of a festival in Paquibato district near Davao City, Philippines, wounding 41 people. (Inquirer)

Arts and culture

Former progressive Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini describes the Catholic Church as "200 years behind the times" in an interview published the day after his death. (CNN)
American songwriter Hal David, who was best known for his collaborations with composer Burt Bacharach, dies in Los Angeles, California, at the age of 91. (BBC)

Environment and health

Tent cabins in Yosemite National Park, U.S., are closed after officials notify 3,100 recent visitors of an outbreak of Hantavirus. (Los Angeles Times)
A nuclear reactor in Belgium shows up to 0.3 m-depth signs of erosion weakening the 1.2 m outer reinforced concrete mantle, three times deeper than previously reported. The owner and the nuclear regulator deny any risk since the reactor was already shut down due to another issue. (Le Soir)
Now middle-aged victims of Thalidomide (Softenon, Contergan)'s mutilating effects on embryos say the first ever apologies from the manufacturer Grünenthal GmbH are "insulting". (AFP via The Globe and Mail)

International relations

16th Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement in Tehran:
- The summit is closed with accepting a 600-page final document that mainly focuses on the Palestinian issue as well as on Iran's nuclear energy program, but makes no mention of the Syrian civil war. A Chinese state commentary qualifies the summit as an "important" diplomatic "accomplishment from Iran", having hosted "leaders and delegates of over 100 countries". (PressTV) (AP via Times Online) (Xinhua)
- The closing document reaffirms the determination of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) to transform the global management system based on the principles of justice, peace and amity. (PressTV) (SunStar)
- The seventeenth summit is to be held in Venezuela. (The Himalayan Times)

Politics and elections

The ruling People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola wins the Angolan general election with a preliminary 74.46% of the vote. (Al Jazeera)
U.S.environmentalists vow to legally fight the federal end of protecting the wolf in Wyoming, saying the species still needs protection to maintain its successful recovery. (AP via WindstreamBusiness.net)
Ten days after public remarks, U.S. presidential running mate Paul Ryan's personal record on the marathon run goes from less than 3 to over 4 hours. (The Huffington Post)

Science

Scientists find that middle-class children in Flanders are 15 times more often diagnosed with a learning disorder than poor children. (De Morgen)

September 2, 2012 (Sunday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

Syrian civil war:
- A car bomb attack by unknown people near a Palestinian refugee camp in the Damascene suburb of Sbeineh (Sabina) kills at least 15 people. AFP says rebels claim the capture of the village of Harem near Idlib on the Turkish border, after a 3-day siege; the government still keeps air supremacy. U.N. envoy Lakhdar Brahimi says it is both conflict parties' duty to try to reach peace. (Bloomberg via Business Week) (The Daily Star)
- Twin explosions rock the Abu Rummaneh neighbourhood of Damascus, near a security forces compound, wounding at least six. (Xinhua) (Al Jazeera)
War in Afghanistan:
- The Washington Post reports that U.S. special operations personnel temporarily halt the training of all Afghan army and police recruits while a full background check of 27,000 people is ongoing. 45 NATO troops have been killed this year in so-called green-on-blue attacks. (The Washington Post)
- A pro-government militia in Kanum village near Kunduz kills at least eight villagers, apparently thinking the villagers killed one of them. (AFP via Asia One)
Clashes between Turkish security forces and Kurdish rebels in the southeastern province of Şırnak kill ten Turkish troops and twenty fighters from the Kurdistan Workers' Party. (BBC)
The Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa reports the execution of a kidnapped Algerian diplomat in northern Mali. (Xinhua)
A car bomb explodes in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi, killing at least one person. (Al Jazeera)
Local security sources say a drone attack kills ten suspected Al-Qaeda militants and three companion women in central Yemen. Other sources say, relating to the same incident, that a government air raid misses its target and kills ten civilians, of which two female, in a car. (Nahrnet) (Reuters)

Arts and culture

State television in Egypt lifts a decades-long ban on veiled female news presenters. (Al Jazeera)
Unification Church founder and self-proclaimed messiah Sun Myung Moon dies at the age of 92. (CNN)

Disasters

A plane crashes in the Quad City Air Show in Davenport, Iowa, killing the pilot. (AP via Fox News)

International relations

South Sudan appoints Francis Deng as its first ambassador to the United Nations. (IOL)

Law and crime

Burma's new information minister Aung Kyi says that private newspapers will be allowed to publish daily from 2013. (Bangkok Post)
Police in Cambodia announce that Gottfrid Svartholm Warg, one of the founders of The Pirate Bay, was arrested on August 30 in Phnom Penh, enforcing a suspected Interpol warrant by his homeland Sweden. Warg has been sentenced in April 2012 by a court in Stockholm for copyright violations to 12 months in jail and his quarter share (about € 900,000) in a solidary fine of 30 million SKr. (BBC) (TorrentFreak) (The Local) (Khmer440.com)
After public anger, a prosecutor in South Africa provisionally withdraws charges against 270 miners accused of killing 34 striking colleagues shot by police. The strike enters its fourth week. (Reuters)

Politics and elections

State funeral of Ethiopia's long-serving Prime Minister Meles Zenawi is attended by thousands of people in Addis Ababa. (BBC)

Sports

Jenson Button "enjoys" winning the Formula One Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps. (USA Today)

September 3, 2012 (Monday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

Syrian Civil War:
- The head of the international Red Cross, Peter Maurer, arrives in Damascus for a three-day review with the Syrian government of the humanitarian situation. (Xinhua)
War in Afghanistan:
- New Zealand announces that it plans to withdraw its forces from Afghanistan's Bamiyan province by the end of April 2013. (TVNZ)
A car bomb explodes near the U.S. consulate in the Pakistani city of Peshawar, killing at least three people and wounding up to 19 others. (BBC)
Lonmin shares are slightly up on hopes of talks. Solidarity, a major trade union, does not share the optimism yet. A new shooting today at a gold mine in Johannesburg wounds at least four. South Africa conditionally releases 162 of the 270 miners who were detained for killing their fellow miners at Marikana last month. (AP via Yahoo! News)(Reuters) (AFP via Google News)

Arts and culture

American actor Michael Clarke Duncan dies in Los Angeles at the age of 54. (BNO News)
Jefferson Starship guitarist Mark Abrahamian, aged 46, dies of a heart attack after a concert. (Reuters via Yahoo! News) (AP via Billboard)

Business and economy

The Moody's agency changes its outlook on the European Union's Aaa credit rating from stable to negative. (Bloomberg via New York Times)

Disasters

The North Korean state news agency says Typhoon-15 (Bolaven) left 48 people dead and caused major damage. (KCNA)

Health and environment

Lebanon bans smoking in closed public places like restaurants and cafés. (The Daily Star)

International relations

South Korea and Japan temporarily halt some military cooperation programs in a long-running dispute over control of the Liancourt Rocks. South Korea's first fleet plans a "biannual" drill around the area from September 7 to 11. (The Mainichi) (Yonhap) (CNTV via Xinhua)
The Democratic Republic of the Congo wants United Nations sanctions on Rwandese top military officials named in a June U.N. report as supporting the M23 rebels in the current east Congo conflict. (Business Week) (Daily Monitor) (Defence Web)
Three hundred Hizb ut-Tahrir supporters protest in Jakarta ahead of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's visit to Indonesia. (Reuters)

Law and crime

Vorayuth Yoovidhya, the grandson of a creator of Red Bull, is arrested in Bangkok after an early morning hit-and-run that killed a police officer. (AP via Yahoo! News)
Former Colombian crime boss Griselda Blanco is killed by hitmen in Medellín. (Miami Herald)

Politics and elections

Swaziland virgins perform an annual reed dance, paying homage to the king, pleasing tourists and compatriots. (Reuters)

Science and technology

Cracks in 3 of the 21 wooden beams of a European Parliament hemicycle roof lead to the temporary closure, among others, of the plenary debate room; parliamentary operations are reportedly unaffected. (European Voice) (Public Service Europe)

September 4, 2012 (Tuesday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

Mexican Drug War:
- The Mexican authorities arrest Mario Cárdenas Guillén, the second-in-command in the Gulf Cartel, leaving Jorge Eduardo Costilla Sánchez as the last standing man in the criminal organization. (El Universal)
Colombian conflict (1964–present):
- The peace talks between FARC and the Colombian government will take place in October in Norway and then in Cuba. (AFP)
The Kenyan navy shells the Somali port town of Kismayo, the last stronghold of Al-Shabaab militants, in preparation for an African Union-led attack by ground forces. (Al Jazeera)
War in Afghanistan:
- A suicide bombing at a funeral in the eastern Afghan province of Nangarhar kills at least 25 people. (BBC)
- The Afghan Ministry of the Interior states that it has killed 27 Taliban insurgents during the previous 24 hours. (Xinhua)
Syrian civil war:
- The United Nations Refugee Agency says 100,000 Syrians fled to another country during the month of August, the highest monthly number yet in the 18-month conflict. (Voice of America)
- Red Cross chief Peter Maurer meets with President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus to discuss sending humanitarian aid to civilians across the country. (AP via Yahoo! News)

Business and economy

Airbus expects a worldwide total demand for 28,200 civil aircraft by the year 2031, more than doubling today's fleet in operation. (MSN Malaysia)
Cabin crew for the German airline Lufthansa go on strike causing disruption to hundreds of flights. (Reuters)
McDonald's plans to open two fully vegetarian fast food restaurants at the pilgrimage sites of Vaishno Devi and Amritsar, north India. (Financial Times) (Financial Times)

Disasters

A passenger bus traveling between Marrakesh and Ouarzazate crashes in a ravine in southern Morocco, killing at least 42 people and injuring up to 25 others. (AFP via Hindustan Times)

International relations

U.S. Secretary of State Clinton meets China's Foreign Minister Yang in Beijing. (Reuters)
India and China plan bilateral military exercises in 2013, the first since 2008. (Voice of America)

Law and crime

A South Korean court orders the government to compensate a fisherman with 2.5 billion won (€ 1.75 million); he was falsely accused of spying for North Korea. (Yonhap)
Egypt's former culture minister Farouk Hosny is to face corruption charges. (AFP via Google News)
Osvaldo Rivera is the suspect jailed in Camden County, New Jersey for the stabbing to death of a 6-year-old boy and the attempted murder of the boy's 12-year-old sister. Authorities say he was high on PCP-laced marijuana. (AP via Yahoo! News)
Police in Cambodia say The Pirate Bay co-founder Gottfrid Svartholm, who was arrested on Sunday, "is to be deported", saying it's up to Sweden to decide where and not specifying when. There is no extradition agreement between the two countries. (BBC)
The AntiSec hacker operation publishes 1 million edited Apple iOS unique device identifiers of the 12 million it claims to have "obtained" from a FBI laptop. (Silicon Republic) (Al Jazeera English) (The Guardian)
A court in Bahrain upholds the sentences of Arab Spring opposition figures condemned for plotting to overthrow the Western-allied government. Eight of the twenty opponents are confirmed imprisoned for life. (AP via Google News)
The United States Department of Justice files papers in court documenting BP's "gross negligence and willful misconduct" over the April 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. (Reuters)

Politics and elections

Quebec general election, 2012:
- The Parti Québécois is elected to a minority government, defeating the Liberal Party of Quebec, with Pauline Marois becoming the first female premier of Quebec. (CBC), (CTV News)
- Incumbent premier Jean Charest loses his own seat. During Marois' victory speech, a gunman opens fire, killing one person and wounding another. (BBC)
David Cameron reshuffles the United Kingdom government for the first time since 2010. (BBC)
Reuters calls Xi Jinping China's "next leader". Hu Chunhua reportedly misses a promotion to the Politburo Standing Committee in an expected power transition at or around the 18th Congress of the Communist Party of China. (Reuters via Yahoo! News)
President-elect Peña Nieto of Mexico names his "transition team", ahead of his cabinet and December 1st inauguration. (NewsDaily)

Science and technology

Scientists develop a "magic carpet" with optical fibers to help prevent elderly people from falling by a warning when it detects unusual footsteps. (Daily Mail)
Beijing and Shanghai place orders for the world's longest bus, the 101 foot (31 m), five-axle, four-steering-axle, three-tiered AutoTram. It carries 256 passengers and costs about $10 million a piece. Due to advanced electronics, it is said to be as maneuverable and precise as a conventional bus. (Daily Mail)
The opening date of the new airport serving the Berlin area is delayed again, until late October 2013. (The Local)

September 5, 2012 (Wednesday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

A drone strike conducted by the United States kills at least five suspected militants in the eastern Yemeni province of Hadhramaut. (Reuters)
A Palestinian Authority colonel is killed by gunfire from unknown assailants in Jenin, West Bank. (Reuters via Yahoo! News)

Business and economy

In a letter ordering terms for the next installment of the second bailout, the European Commission, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund (the troika) want Greece to raise the maximum amount of weekly work days to six. Prime Minister of the Netherlands Mark Rutte rules out a third bailout loan. Diederik Samsom of the Labour Party, excludes Greece from leaving the eurozone; he mentions tutelage. (The Guardian) (Xinhua) (De Telegraaf)
The UNCTAD releases a report detailing the further deterioration of the occupied Palestinian territories's economic environment. (AFP via MSN Philippines) (Reuters) (ReliefWeb)

Disasters

A 7.6-magnitude earthquake 87 miles west of the Costa Rican capital of San José triggers a tsunami alert for the coastlines of Costa Rica, Panama and Nicaragua. (CNN) (USGS)
A firecracker factory explodes near Sivakasi, Tamil Nadu, killing 54 and injuring 50. (Times of India)
An accidental explosion at a Turkish Army ammunition store in Afyon, western Turkey kills 25 soldiers and wounds another 4. (BBC)

International relations

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton does not meet Vice President Xi Jinping. (TIME)

Law and crime

Mauritania extradites former Libyan intelligence chief Abdullah Senussi, who was arrested in the capital Nouakchott in March after fleeing Libya during the civil war in 2011. The United States insist on a fair trial for the suspect, a "milestone in (Libya's) democratic transition". (BBC) (Xinhua)
A masked gunman kills one person and wounds another at a Quebec rally for the new premier Pauline Marois. (AP via Yahoo! News)
Wang Lijun, the former vice mayor and police chief of Chongqing, faces charges of abuse of power, bribe-taking, defection, and bending the law for personal gain. The Chengdu city prosecutor says Wang has tried to cover up Gu Kailai's murder of businessman Neil Heywood. (Xinhua)

Politics and elections

Benjamin Netanyahu interrupts an Israeli cabinet meeting on defense and security, citing inside leaks. (Yedioth Ahronoth) (Reuters via Yahoo! News)
2012 Democratic National Convention:
- The United States Democratic Party holds its national convention in Charlotte, North Carolina. (Los Angeles Times)
- The concepts of "God-given potential" and an "indivisible Jerusalem, capital of Israel" re-enter the platform in an eleventh-hour move at the behest of the President. (The Ticket via Yahoo! News) (Tick 2)
- Former President Bill Clinton nominates current President Barack Obama as the party's nominee in the presidential election. (Washington Post)

Science and technology

The Encyclopedia of DNA Elements is published. For the first time, a browsable, analysable overview of the four million regulatory regions, or functional elements of the human genome found up to now, is made available to the general public. At least 80% of the human genome is biologically active, rather than mainly junk DNA as once believed. (ENCODE) (Nature)

Sports

Thirty-year-old Andy Roddick formally begins his tennis retirement, losing in the fourth round of the US Open. (Entertainment Online)

September 6, 2012 (Thursday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

Syrian civil war:
- Vladimir Putin urges the Western and Arab world to review their position. He asks to end the violence first, then sit around the table and only then move on to "these practical steps about the internal organisation of the country itself". (Star Africa)
- The International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas, an arid-zone agriculture research institute in northern Syria, is forced to relocate, mainly to Jordan and Lebanon. (Trust.org)
Colombian armed conflict (1964–present):
- The FARC want an armistice at the start of the peace talks starting October 8th in Oslo, Norway. The government doesn't want a truce. (EPE, RFR via Reformatorisch Dagblad)
- The government of Colombia names its negotiating team. The FARC announce two of their team and mention the name of a man currently in a U.S. prison. (Cubasi) (Montreal Gazette)

Disasters

61 people, illegal immigrants traveling below deck, die after a fishing boat capsizes fifty meters off the Izmir Province coast of Turkey, near the Greek Aegean islands. (BBC)

Law and crime

A toddler is found alive, hours after a shooting leaves four dead and another child heavily injured in a wood in Chevaline, Haute-Savoie near Lake Annecy, France. A car with a British licence plate is involved. British tourists, the male Iraqi-passport-holding driver and two women in the car, and a local inhabitant on a cycle, who was on paternity leave, are among the deaths. (CNN)
Human Rights Watch says it has evidence of more cases of waterboarding involving United States operatives. (Reuters)

International relations

After Sri Lanka, Liang Guanglie leaves India for Laos. It has been the first visit to India of a Chinese Minister of Defence in eight years. (Xinhua)
Admiral James Winnefeld, Vice Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, is in Israel. The Pentagon recently has scaled down a joint military exercise, planned for October. The drill should help blend both countries' missile defense capabilities. (Ma'an News) (Ynet News) (TIME)
The United States removes the Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) from their terror list, citing "a credible commitment to pursuing peace and reconciliation". In June, a group around party vice-president Mohan Baidya announced a split in the party. (AFP via Google News) (State Department) (Xinhua) (Telegraph Nepal) (Times of India)

Politics and elections

United States President Barack Obama accepts his party's nomination as candidate for the 2012 presidential election at the Democratic National Convention. (ABC News) (CNN)

Religion and spirituality

A Christian lobbyist's kin defend him after he claims homosexuality reduces life expectancy more than smoking and should therefore be discouraged. He himself states he "was not comparing homosexuality with smoking at all." (Sydney Morning Herald) (SBS)

September 7, 2012 (Friday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

Syrian civil war:
- A bomb kills five policemen after Friday prayer outside Rukniyeh mosque in Rukn Eddeen, central Damascus. (AP via TIME) (AFP via NDTV) (VOA via YaLibnan)
- The United Kingdom and the Netherlands call for the European Union to include Hezbollah on its terror list over Hezbollah's stated support for President Assad. (Haaretz)
Iranian sources citing Ash-Shabaab say a U.S. drone attack killed eight people in Kismayo, south Somalia. (Press TV)
Humanitarian groups express concern over Chile's army head, involved in controversy over a directive instructing military recruiters not to admit homosexuals. (BBC)

Business and economy

News Limited makes a formal bid for James Packer's Consolidated Media valuing the company at 1.94 billion Australian dollars. (AAP via Sydney Morning Herald)
The Reserve Bank of India permits Indian investments to and from Pakistan. India's minister of external affairs SM Krishna arrives in Pakistan for a meeting on Saturday in Islamabad with his Pakistani counterpart Hina Rabbani Khar. (Hindustan Times) (Deccan Times)
Cipla does not infringe a valid Roche patent on erlotinib (trade name Tarceva) for the production of its generic cancer drug Erlocip, says the Delhi High Court. (Reuters) (LiveMint)

Disasters

A series of earthquakes hits south-west China, leaving at least 64 people dead and 715 injured. (BBC)

International relations

U.S. Secretary of State Clinton notifies Congress of her intent to include the Haqqani network on the government's terror list. An attaché at the Embassy of Pakistan in Washington dismisses the decision as an "internal matter" of the United States and reaffirms Pakistan's commitment to "combating extremism and terrorism." Haqqani senior commanders say the decision will not help in bringing peace to Afghanistan. (CNN) (Dawn)
Canada–Iran relations:
- Canada closes its embassy in Iran and orders all Iranian diplomatic staff out of Canada, citing Iran's support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Iran's "among the worst" human rights record, its lack of respect for the Vienna conventions, its nuclear program and the security of Canadian diplomatic personnel. It sees Iran as the world's "most significant threat to global peace and security." Minister of foreign affairs Baird says the Canadian government files Iran as a "state sponsor of terrorism" under the Canadian Justice for Victims of Terrorism Act. (CBC) (Communiqué)
Germany and France's foreign ministers say they are in favour of new sanctions to target Iranian finance, trade and oil in around ten days, if talks about Iran's nuclear program do not "make any substantial progress." (AP via Seattle Times)
South Korea offers food aid to North Korea after recent floods which have killed over 500 North Koreans. (Sky News Australia)
Pakistan orders foreign nationals working for the Save the Children NGO to leave the country within four weeks. The Pakistani government has accused the organization of being linked to the fake vaccination program used in the hunt for Osama bin Laden. The charity and the U.S. government deny any links. (AFP via The Nation) (The Guardian)
Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC):
- Economic leaders assemble on Russky Island, off the coast of Vladivostok, Russia, for the forum's 24th summit on September 8th and 9th. (The Globe and Mail) (Cri.cn) (Building program) (apec2012.ru)

Law and crime

Some details emerge, but no suspect nor a motive, about Wednesday's murder of four people in the foothills of the French Alps. (CBS News) (CNN)
A former Premier League football youth star is jailed for life with a minimum term of 10 years after being convicted of murdering his girlfriend, who sustained at least 60 stab wounds to the head and body. (BBC)

Politics

The Iranian ministry of interior sets 14 June 2013 as the date of the next presidential election, for a successor of current president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. For the first time, this election is to be held on the same date as the next municipal elections. (Reuters via Huffington Post)

Sports

Aries Merritt sets a new world record of 12.80 seconds on the outdoor 110 metres hurdles at the Memorial Van Damme IAAF Diamond League meeting in Brussels. (De Standaard)

September 8, 2012 (Saturday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

Bahraini uprising (2011–present):
- The Interior Ministry moves to sue the Al Wefaq main opposition party. On Friday, police have fired tear gas at anti-government protesters in the capital Manama. The protestors allegedly have defied a ban on demonstrations. (Al Jazeera) (Reuters) (The Jerusalem Post)
Afghanistan commemorates Ahmad Shah Massoud, assassinated today eleven years ago according to the Afghan calendar, with a ceremony in Kabul on the national holiday of Haftai Shahid (Martyr Week). (Sina) (Bokhdi) (The Frontier Post)
A suicide bombing by the Taliban near the headquarters of the International Security Assistance Force in the Afghan capital of Kabul kills at least six people. (BBC)
For the first time in nearly eighteen months, a sign of life appears of four French nationals kidnapped by Al-Qa'eda in Arlit, Niger. A videotape shows them healthy; they ask France to negotiate their release. (Reuters via Yahoo! News)

Arts and culture

Kim Ki-duk's violent tale Pietà wins the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival. Kim thanks the audience and the jury by singing a song. (AFP via Google News) (Korea Times)

Disasters

A tractor is hit by a train in central Romania, killing eight passengers in the tractor trailer. (Bucharest Herald)

International relations

A spokesman of Iran's Foreign Ministry calls Canada's Friday decision to sever all diplomatic ties "hasty" and "radical". A senior Islamic Consultative Assembly member describes the decision as "hostile". (CBC) (Communiqué) (The Jerusalem Post) (Xinhua)
It is announced that Pakistan and India are planning to mutually ease visa requirements. (Reuters)

Law and crime

R.E.M. has its publisher Warner-Tamerlane issue a cease and desist order against Fox News. The channel allegedly made "unlicensed and unauthorized" use of their song "Losing My Religion" in coverage of the Democratic National Convention. (Rolling Stone)

Politics

The Hong Kong government backs down on plans to introduce Chinese patriotism classes in its schools after weeks of protests. (Radio Television Hong Kong) (BBC)

Science and technology

India's Vice president Ansari says, despite "significant progress", India has the largest number of illiterates in the world, marking the point at a speech for International Literacy Day. (India Blooms)

Sports

At the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London, Oscar Pistorius storms to the 400 metres (T44) gold medal. (AFP via The Daily Telegraph)

September 9, 2012 (Sunday)

Armed attacks and conflicts

Syrian civil war:
- A main water supply pipe serving central Aleppo is allegedly struck by a government air strike. Hundreds of thousands of inhabitants are left without drinking water. The Aleppo governor says "sabotage" damaged "two pumps serving three districts" and repair work is ongoing. Food, cooking gas and electricity are reported to be in short supply. (The New York Times) (AP via CBC) (Xinhua)
- Two car bombs explode near a hospital in Aleppo that was recently turned into an army barracks. At least 17 people are reported killed and more than 40 others injured. (Reuters)
- Russia calls for a government of Syrian unity. (AFP via Yahoo! NZ News)
A wave of attacks kill more than 100 people and injure 350 others across Iraq on the day the death sentence against Tariq al-Hashimi is made public. (AP via CBS News)
Local authorities report that suspected Taliban abduct and then kill six civilians in the Maidan Wardak province of Afghanistan. (Long War Journal)

International relations

Nestor Louis Michel calls Rwandan President Paul Kagame a "great leader" ("groot leider"). Kagame has been accused of war crimes during Rwanda's invasion of the DR Congo in 1996, and of having led a subsequent proxy war against the DR Congo by arming the CNDP until January 20, 2009. Congo currently accuses Rwandan defence officials of supporting a new destabilisation of East Congo. Louis Michel urges the international community for "more time" to "objectivate the facts first" before taking any action. (De Zondag, p. 12-13, in Dutch)
Closing their annual summit, APEC leaders report progress in Vladivostok over environmental and trade barrier issues; some territorial issues remain unsolved. (Wall Street Journal)

Law and crime

The Central Criminal Court of Iraq sentences in absentia Vice president of Iraq Tariq al-Hashimi and his aide Ahmed Qahtan to death by hanging for, among other charges, the assassination of a lawyer and that of an Army general. (CNN)
The son of convicted Romanian former Minister of Agriculture ro:Ioan Avram Mureșan, Dan Mureșan, is found dead in a Kenyan hotel room. The 32-year-old political manager worked in Kenya for a British company. (Bucharest Herald) (HotNews.ro)
Diplomatic tensions arise over Wednesday's "hit squad" Annecy murders. French investigators may or may not question Saad al-Hilli's colleagues at Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd, or SSTL, near Guildford. A British security source suggests as motive "state-sponsored assassination, rather than a family dispute". (The Independent) (Het Laatste Nieuws) (The Week)
Serbia says it protects a witness of organ harvesting on Serbian prisoners of the Kosovo War. (AP via Washington Post)

Politics and elections

Elections for the 70-member Legislative Council are held in Hong Kong. Forty seats are elected by direct popular vote, the remainder are attributed by the "functional constituencies": business and special interest groups. China has promised a fully popular vote by the year 2020; the roadmap is still being laid out. (BBC) (Xinhua) (Pakistan Today) (Washington Post)
Tens of thousands of Japanese people demonstrate for the closure of Futenma airbase (MCAS) in crowded Ginowan, Okinawa. They also protest the deployment of twelve MV-22 Osprey aircraft. They consider the plane as the "most dangerous" in the world. (Star Advertiser) (AFP via Google News)

Sports

Armenia, led by world number two Levon Aronian, wins a cliffhanger 40th FIDE Chess Olympiad held in Istanbul, Turkey. (Tournament's official website)
Cyclist Alberto Contador confirms his victory in this year's Vuelta a España. (AP via Yahoo! Sports) (VeloNews)
American tennis player Serena Williams wins her fourth Women's Singles at the US Open. (BBC Sport)
Belgian Eddy Merckx becomes three-cushion billiards UMB world champion for the second time in his career, succeeding Netherlands' Dick Jaspers. (Algemeen Dagblad)
Antonio Cairoli and Jeffrey Herlings win, respectively, the MX1 and MX2 FIM motocross world championship titles. Cairoli is third in all-time rankings. (CycleNews)
The fourteenth Summer Paralympics end with a display of fireworks. The next rendez-vous is in September 2016, in Rio de Janeiro. (The Guardian)
in hurling, Galway and Kilkenny draw in the 2012 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship Final. It is the first draw in the hurling final since 1959, and will lead to a replay on September 30. (RTÉ)

Science and technology

The Indian space agency puts into orbit its heaviest foreign satellite yet, in a streak of 21 consecutive successful PLSV launches. (Hindustan Times)

September 10, 2012 (Monday)

Armed attacks and conflicts

Mexican Drug War:
- Mexican police officers discover 16 corpses with signs of torture inside a vehicle in the southern state of Guerrero. (Reuters)
Yemeni officials report that Said al Shihri, the second-in-command of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), is killed in southern Yemen. (BBC)
A suicide bombing in Kunduz, Afghanistan, kills at least 16 people; a local doctor says "21 or more". (AFP via The Financial Express) (BBC)

Arts and culture

An agreement is reached allowing the completion of the US National September 11 Memorial & Museum on the World Trade Center site in New York City. (Seattle PI)

Business and economy

Teachers in Chicago go on strike. Around 350,000 students are affected. (CBS News) (Reuters) (Chicago Tribune)
Around 10,000 South African miners demonstrate at the Lonmin mines in Marikana (Rooikoppies), Rustenburg, Bojanala Platinum district, North West province. Fifteen thousand miners strike at the Gold Fields KDC West Driefontein mine. (Reuters via Yahoo! News)

Disasters

Floods and landslides caused by heavy rain kill at least 29 people in northern and central Vietnam. (AP via Seattle PI)
Hurricane and tropical storm warnings are issued for parts of the Canadian province Newfoundland and Labrador as Tropical Storm Leslie approaches. (National Hurricane Centre)
Three people are killed and several others seriously injured after a coach taking people home from the Isle of Wight-based music festival, Bestival 2012 crashes in Surrey, England. (BBC)

Health and environment

A new United States national strategy to prevent suicides is to be released by the Surgeon General, the Secretary of Health and Human Services and the Army Secretary. It will include, among others, the use of social medium Facebook as a tactic. (Chicago Tribune)

International relations

Yukiya Amano, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), urges Iran to grant IAEA inspectors immediate access to its contentious suspected nuclear facility in Parchin. (RIA Novosti)
The Japanese government announces it will soon buy the disputed Senkaku Islands claimed by China (as Diaoyu Islands) and Taiwan (as Tiaoyutai Islands). Chinese leaders respond angrily. (Wall Street Journals) (Reuters)
The International Steering Group for Kosovo formally ends its supervision of the partially recognised Republic of Kosovo. (RIA Novosti)

Law and crime

Three boys aged eight and nine are killed when a bazooka grenade, left over from a war in Cambodia, explodes. (AP via ABC News) (Jane's)
Tariq al-Hashimi rejects the charges leading to his death sentence in Baghdad on Sunday. He, being a Sunni, claims to be a "target" of Shiite prime minister Nouri al-Maliki. He refuses to return to Iraq for an appeal as long as, according to him, the judicial system is "corrupt". He claims to put the verdict "on his chest as a medal". Al-Qaeda says "black days" are ahead. The reaction of Iraqi people on the street generally welcomes a fair rule of law but is wary of political influencing and sectarianism. (ABC News) (Euronews)
According to a parliamentary answer by the ministry of health, the value of a life lost during a clinical trial is 2.2 lakh rupees ($ 4,000) in India in 2011. This number is the average compensation paid for deaths during clinical trials. No rules governing compensations for clinical trial-related injury or death have been approved by the Parliament of India yet. (IRNA)

Politics and elections

Members of the new Somali Parliament elect Hassan Sheikh Mohamoud President. (BBC)
Hong Kong legislative election, 2012:
- Voice of America says official results for the 35 "geographical" seats in Hong Kong's legislative elections show 18 seats for the "pan-democracy" camp, 16 seats for the "pro-Beijing" camp and one seat for an independent candidate. The "super" seats show a 3 to 2 win for the pan-democrats. Voter turnout was 53 %, up from 45 % at the previous election in 2008. Reuters says support is "steady" for pro-Beijing chief executive Leung Chun-ying. The New York Times says that, despite winning more votes, the pro-democracy camp has fewer seats than expected. (Voice of America) (South China Morning Post) (Reuters via Chicago Tribune) (Reuters via Stuff.co) (New York Times) (results)
- The chairman of the Democratic Party in Hong Kong, Albert Ho, apologises and says he will resign due to the election result. (The Standard)'
Chairman Justice Markandey Katju of the Press Council of India, defends Aseem Trivedi: "he did nothing illegal". Since September 9th, the Indian cartoonist Aseem Trivedi is detained in Mumbai on charges of sedition related to the content of his work. (Christian Science Monitor) (First Post) (Indian Express)

Sport

In lawn tennis, Andy Murray of the United Kingdom wins the Men's Singles of the 2012 US Open defeating Novak Djokovic of Serbia to become the first British player to win a Grand Slam singles title since Virginia Wade, and the first British man to do so since Fred Perry. (The Roar) (The Independent)

September 11, 2012 (Tuesday)

Armed attacks and conflicts

A car bomb targeting Yemen's defence minister, Mohammed Nasser Ahmed, kills at least twelve people, including seven bodyguards of the minister and five civilians in Sana. (The New York Times)
In Somalia, more than fifty Al-Shabaab fighters are killed as African Union Kenyan peacekeepers, and the Somali National Army, continue their march towards the port city of Kismayo. (Xinhua)
War in Afghanistan (2001-present):
- Taliban bombard Bagram Air Base. They kill three people and destroy a helicopter, wounding three personnel on board. (USA Today)
- A suicide bombing in Herat province kills six people including the bomber. (USA Today) (Dawn) (Khaama)
A suicide bombing in front of a police station in the western Istanbul suburb of Sultangazi kills a policeman, the bomber, and injures several others. The leftist group Dev Sol claims responsibility. (BBC)
2012 Benghazi attack: Militiamen storm the US consulate in Benghazi. Reports indicate it has been burned down and looted. AFP reports a source saying rocket-propelled grenades were fired at the consulate. The U.S. Ambassador in Libya, J. Christopher Stevens, and three other people are killed. (BBC) (Reuters) (AFP via MSN Philippines) (Reuters) (AFP via Star Africa) (Wall Street Journal) (CNN)
Three people are found shot dead in a car near Corte, on the French island of Corsica. (The Telegraph)
Two people are shot dead at close range in the center of Milan. Hours later, another shooting in plain view shakes the financial capital of Italy. (Reuters)

Business and economy

Moody's warns the United States that it faces a downgrade in its credit rating before 2014 if the government fails to act on managing its debt. (Los Angeles Times) (AP via Boston.com) (Forbes)
Japan's Minister of State for Financial Services Tadahiro Matsushita is found dead in his home in Tokyo. His death has been ruled a suicide and may further complicate matters for the ruling party which has been battered by internal divisions and parliamentary gridlock. Finance minister Jun Azumi has been named to succeed Matsushita. (CNN via Financial Times) (Reuters via Kyodo News) (Wall Street Journal) (Daily Yomiuri)

Disasters

At least 29 people are killed and 11 injured after a bus runs off a mountain highway in western Nepal. (AP via NineMSN)

International relations

Senkaku Islands dispute:
- China dispatches two Chinese Marine Surveillance patrol boats to the islands in order to "safeguard its sovereignty" over the territory. (CNN) (Xinhua)
- Japan formally nationalizes three of the disputed Senkaku Islands. (The Japan Times), (Mainichi Shimbun)
- China's Ministry of Defence says the nationalization of the disputed Senkaku Islands by Japan is "illegal and invalid"; that it would closely monitor the "evolution of the situation" and "reserve the right to take reciprocal measures". (Xinhua)
- The Chief Cabinet Secretary of Japan, Osamu Fujimura, said transferring the islands' ownership from an individual to the state government should pose no problem to any other country or territory. (The Japan Times), (RTTNews)
- China summons Japanese ambassador Uichiro Niwa to lodge a protest over Japan's nationalization of the Senkaku Islands. Beijing warned it will take "necessary measures" to protect its claim on the islands. (Bloomberg) (The Hindu)
- Taiwan recalls its envoy to Japan in protest. (CNA via Focus Taiwan)
- Japan announces that Shinichi Nishimiya will succeed Uichiro Niwa. (Daily Yomiuri) (Asahi Shimbun)
- United States Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Kurt M. Campbell urges both Japan and China to not escalate tensions; reminds both nations that they are the "cockpit of the global economy", that the "stakes could not be bigger", and for leaders from both countries to "keep that squarely in mind". (Reuters)

Law and crime

Newly declassified documents confirm that the United States deliberately ignored Soviet involvement in the 1940 Katyn massacre, despite credible evidence to the contrary provided no later than 1943. While until 1945 this choice could be explained as World War II grand strategy, it is not known why the White House remained silent on the matter until now. (AP via New York Daily News)
A White House spokesperson says that a Presidential executive order is being considered to ensure the United States' cybersecurity if Congress remains deadlocked over a "CISPA" law. (Russia Today) (Federal News Radio)
Sources tell the Frankfurter Allgemeine newspaper that the German military spying agency MAD tried to recruit Uwe Mundlos in 1995. Mundlos refused to cooperate and subsequently participated in ten terrorist murders with the nazi group NSU. He died in 2011; police say he committed suicide. (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung)
Egypt presses formal charges against Gamel and Alaa Mubarak, sons of ousted president Hosni Mubarak, and Ahmed Shafiq, a recent presidential candidate, over alleged illegal acquisition of land. An arrest warrant has been issued against Shafiq, now a resident in the United Arab Emirates. (The Daily)

Politics and elections

The United States commemorates the victims of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. For the first time, no special security alert is raised on the anniversary of the attacks. (AP via CBS) (Los Angeles Times)
Barcelona's streets are paralyzed as protesters peacefully demand independence on the National Day of Catalonia. Police say the demonstrators numbered 1.5 million; organizers estimate the numbers at 2 million. No incidences of violence are reported. The protest is the largest in Catalonia's history. (El País) (BBC) (El Punt)
Protestors in Cairo condemn a film promoted by controversial American pastor Terry Jones as a "humiliation of Muhammad under the pretext of freedom of speech". They climb over the walls of the US Embassy and tear down an American flag, replacing it with a black flag inscribed with Islamic emblems. Egyptian police have surrounded the compound to block further incursions. (CNN) (BBC) (The Atlantic) (Ahram)

September 12, 2012 (Wednesday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

Syrian civil war
- Rebels kill 18 soldiers in Idlib Governorate in a car bomb and ground attack on a military installation. (AFP via Google News)
- Russia's foreign minister Lavrov expresses regret that the West accepts terrorist acts in Syria according to its political considerations. (SANA)
War in Afghanistan
- President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan calls for a re-think of the War on Terror. (The Australian)
A suicide bombing at a hotel in the Somali capital of Mogadishu where newly elected president Hassan Sheikh Mohamoud was holding a news conference kills at least four people. (BBC) (Reuters)

Arts and culture

The first panels of the Ghent Altarpiece, the "Lamb of God", are secretly moved from Saint Bavo Cathedral to the Ghent Museum of Fine Arts for a five-year restoration. It is probably the most frequently stolen artwork in history. One panel has been missing since 1934. (Het Nieuwsblad)

Business and economy

The Federal Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe rules that Germany's participation in the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) is, conditionally, within the German Constitution's limits, allowing President Gauck to approve the Bundestag's previous agreement with the mechanism. (BBC)
Teachers in Chicago continue their strike until a new labour agreement is met. (New York Times)
The miners' strike movement in South Africa extends to Anglo Platinum in Rustenburg. At least 45 people have died in the ongoing Lonmin Marikana miners' strike. (Al Jazeera)
BAE and EADS are having merger talks. (Forbes)

Disasters

Over 314 people die in factory fires in the Pakistani cities of Karachi and Lahore. (Reuters)

International relations

In his yearly State of the Union speech at the European Parliament, President of the European Commission José Manuel Barroso appeals for more European integration and a supervision mechanism for the 6,000 banks in Europe. (The New York Times)
2012 diplomatic missions attacks
- U.S. president Barack Obama strongly condemns the "outrageous attack" that killed the U.S. ambassador to Libya and three other U.S. citizens in Benghazi, Libya, saying that the United States rejects denigration of religious beliefs but also rejects the "senseless violence that killed the US diplomat". (CNN) (Boston.com)
- Libyan president Mohamed Magariaf condemns the "cowardice," apologizes to the U.S. and vows to bring the perpetrators to justice, while the United States sends 50 FAST marines to Libya. (Los Angeles Times)
- U.S. presidential candidate Mitt Romney says President Obama's first reaction to Tuesday's attacks on U.S. diplomatic missions was to "sympathize" with the assailants; Obama's campaign team expresses "shock" that Romney would choose such a tragic event to launch a political attack. (Business Insider)
- Sam Bacile, supposed writer and director of the privately produced film that motivated the attacks, has gone into hiding, while a second person, apparently separately, claims production of the artefact. (Wall Street Journal) (AP via Google News)
- Afghanistan blocks access to YouTube until the video is taken down. (Reuters)
- Syrian rebels express outrage that the privately produced video belittling the prophet Muhammad is generating more anger among Arabs than the rising death toll within Syria. (Los Angeles Times)
Senkaku Islands dispute:
- The Japanese Foreign Minister Kōichirō Gemba says Japan will "not reconsider" the ownership issue. (Mainichi Shimbun) (Daily Yomiuri)
- Luo Zhaohui, the head of the Chinese Foreign Ministry's Asian department, vowed China would "never accept Japan's illegal occupation or so-called 'actual control'" of the islands. (Chicago Tribune)

Law and crime

Police in Bosnia and Herzegovina arrest 25 people on suspicion of multiple murders, drug-trafficking and robbery in the biggest crackdown on organised crime since the Bosnian War. (IOL)
A Cambodian journalist is found murdered in the boot of his car, after reporting on illegal logging. (Bangkok Post)
Aseem Trivedi is granted bail and freed on 13 September 2012. (Times of India)
Previously unseen files relating to the 1989 Hillsborough disaster are released to the public. They show police failings, and attempts to shift the blame for the tragedy onto football fans. British Prime Minister David Cameron says he is "profoundly sorry" for what happened. (The Guardian) (BBC)

Politics and elections

Dutch general election of 2012, voters in the Netherlands elect new representation in the House of Representatives. The final prognosis shows 41 (+10) seats for incumbent Prime Minister Mark Rutte's People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) and 40 seats (+10) for PvdA, Diederik Samsom's Labour Party, out of a total 150 seats. Four other parties get between 12 and 15 seats: SP 15 (0), PVV 13 (-11), CDA 13 (-8), and D66 12 (+2) The remainder, 16 seats, are divided among five more parties. The final televised debate is cancelled. (The Washington Post) (NOS) (ANP via Google)

Science and technology

Apple Inc unveils iPhone 5 and iOS 6. (Wall Street Journal)
A new species of guenon monkey discovered in 2007 is now identified in Opala, DR Congo. Local inhabitants call it "lesula". The first specimen resembled the owl-faced monkey, but of unseen colour. More specimen have been located in a 6,500 square mile area. The species' genetic and anatomical distinctiveness (identification) has been determined in a study made the following three years. Its scientific name is Cercopithecus lomamiensis. The publication already recommends it to the Red List of endangered species and proposes conservation measures for its Lomami and central Congo Basin habitat. (BBC) (Eurekalert) (PLoS ONE)

September 13, 2012 (Thursday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

Lakhdar Brahimi, the U.N. and Arab League special envoy for the Syrian civil war, arrives in Damascus; fighting goes on in the east of the capital. (Oman Observer)

Arts and culture

A 1430's painting in a museum in Rotterdam, "The three Mary's at the tomb", is attributed to Jan van Eyck. (Volkskrant)

Business and economy

The Federal Reserve System starts a new campaign of increasing the money supply, the expected so-called QE3. But it says it buys mortgage-backed securities in an "open-ended" way, essentially "creating" 40 billion US$ each month. The Fed also considers other measures in a bid to stimulate the economy. (New York Times) (San Francisco Chronicle)

Disasters

A freight elevator crashes 100 meters and kills 19 construction workers in Wuhan, Hubei province, China. (Boston.com)
Guatemala's Volcano of Fire (Volcán de Fuego) erupts, leading to the evacuation of more than 33,000 people. (USA Today)

International Relations

2012 diplomatic missions attacks:
- Protestors breach the walls of the U.S. embassy compound in Sana'a, Yemen. Yemeni police fire warning shots in the air and four people are killed. The Egyptian ministry of health says 224 people are injured in demonstrations around the embassy in Cairo. In Kuwait, 500 people gather and chant near the embassy. (BBC) (AFP via Google News)
- The U.S. deploys destroyers and surveillance drones to Libya to hunt for those responsible for the attack in Benghazi. U.S. officials say they are investigating whether the protests over a film privately produced in the US denigrating the prophet Muhammad were used as a cover by the attackers, rather than being spurred by them. The Libyan Deputy Interior minister says there were two parts in the attack - the second attack was on the safe house of which the location was previously leaked. (CNN) (AP via Detroit News)
- The US consulate in the suburbs of Berlin, Germany, is briefly evacuated due to suspicions over the contents of an envelope. (Reuters)
- More details emerge about the privately produced anti-Islam film that sparks unrest in the world. Sam Bacile is also the name a Washington-based activist assumed to initiate forwarding the link last week. One reporter points to the suspected real name of "Abano(u)b Basseley". (Wall Street Journal)
- In short, Pastor Terry Jones and Copt Washington-based lawyer Morris Sadek are two of the promoters of the film. (AFP by Google)
- An other person, named Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, self-identified manager of the company that allegedly produced the film, is identified by a security official. (Wall Street Journal) AP via (Columbus Dispatch) (AP via Politico) (Youtube)
Newly-appointed Japanese ambassador to China, Shinichi Nishimiya, is found collapsed on a street in Tokyo and hospitalized. (CNN) (Kyodo News)

Law and crime

Mexican Drug War
- Jorge Eduardo Costilla Sánchez, the supreme leader of the drug trafficking organization known as the Gulf Cartel and one of the most-wanted drug lords in Mexico, is arrested in the state of Tamaulipas. (The Huffington Post)
Former Khmer Rouge leader Ieng Thirith is unfit to face a genocide trial in Cambodia due to dementia. (AP via Washington Post)
Pakistani factory fires: Pakistan files murder charges, for "utter negligence", against managers and government officials responsible for the safety of the burned Karachi factory. (AFP via Google News)

Politics and elections

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev calls for Russian punk band Pussy Riot to be freed, saying that their further imprisonment is "unproductive". (The Guardian)
In the general election in the Netherlands, Prime Minister Mark Rutte's People's Party for Freedom and Democracy gains 10 seats to win 41 of the 150 in the House of Representatives and Diederik Samsom's Labour Party, gains 8. (The Washington Post) (BBC) (AP)
Dr. Mustafa Abushagur is elected as prime minister of Libya. (Fairport-East Rochester Post)

Science

The old 'Earth's highest temp' has been discredited by the WMO. (Weather Underground)

September 14, 2012 (Friday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

2012 Anti-Islam film protests:
- Protesters angered by an anti-Islamic film denigrating the Prophet Muhammad attack the German and British embassies in the Sudanese capital of Khartoum. In Khartoum, Tunis and Cairo, at least seven people die. An Egyptian fruit seller dies by rubber bullets. (BBC) (BBC) (Egypt Independent)
- Protesters in Tripoli, Lebanon, set fire to a KFC and a Hardees restaurant, sparking clashes with local security forces. One protester is killed and 25 people wounded, including 18 police officers. (BBC) (AP via The Globe and Mail)
- Fifty U.S. Marines are deployed to the American embassy in Yemen as a "precautionary measure" after clashes in the Yemeni capital of Sana'a. (Fox News) (Reuters)
- In the Sinai, an international observer base near El Gorah is shot at. Two observers are injured. (Reuters)
- The bodies of Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens, Officer Sean Smith, and former SEALs Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty, killed in the attack on the American consulate in Benghazi, Libya, are returned to the United States, for their eventual funerals, at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland in a solemn military ceremony attended by President Barack Obama, Vice President Joseph Biden, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta. (CNN)
- At least two American Marines and 16 Taliban fighters are killed in a Taliban attack on Camp Bastion airbase in Afghanistan's Helmand province, says a spokesman at nearby Camp Leatherneck. (The Telegraph) (AP via Boston.com) (BBC)
The campus buildings of the University of Texas at Austin and North Dakota State University are evacuated due to bomb threats. (USA Today)

Arts and culture

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge begin legal action after the magazine Closer published topless pictures of the Duchess taken during a holiday to France last week, and which their spokesman describes as “a grotesque and totally unjustifiable” invasion of privacy. (BBC) (The Telegraph)

Business and economy

S&P Dow Jones Indices announces that UnitedHealth Group will replace Kraft Foods among the stock issuers that constitute the Dow Jones Industrial Average. (CNBC)

Disasters

At least 21 passengers on board an Indonesian ferry that sank last night on the Mahakam River in East Kalimantan are missing and presumed dead. (Jakarta Globe)

International relations

Six Chinese Marine Surveillance ships are reported near the disputed Senkaku Islands by the Japanese Coast Guard. China says "two surveillance ship fleets" are in the waters "around" the islands for "patrols and law enforcement". (AFP via France 24) (Xinhua) (RIA Novosti)
- In response, Japan mobilizes a task force in the government's crisis management office. (Kyodo)
The Pope visits Lebanon. (Fox News)
At the IAEA, the United States accuses Syria that its "own destabilizing actions are no justification for its refusal" regarding Syria's NPT obligations. (Reuters)

Science and technology

HTV-3 detaches from the ISS for a burial in the Pacific Ocean. ATV 3 thrusts the ISS' orbit two kilometers up. TMA-04M will land on 17 September. ATV-003, named Edoardo Amaldi, is planned to disconnect on September 25th and burn up itself and a load of trash in the atmosphere over the same ocean. (RIA Novosti) (RIA) (ESA)

September 15, 2012 (Saturday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

War in Afghanistan:
- An Afghan policeman kills two British soldiers in Girishk, Helmand. (Washington Post)
Mexican Drug War:
- Eduardo Castro Luque, the deputy-elect of Ciudad Obregon, Sonora, is assassinated by gunmen two days before joining office. (The Huffington Post)
2012 Sydney Islamic riots: Muslim protesters shouting anti-American slogans clash with police outside the US embassy in Sydney, Australia. (France 24) (ninemsn) (AdelaideNow)

Syrian civil war:
- One of Assad's relatives, who was a Syrian Air Force officer, defects from the Syrian government. (Ynet News)
- Special envoy Lakhdar Brahimi says the Syrian crisis is a "very, very serious and dangerous" threat of breaching world peace. (Ynet News)

Arts and culture

The Irish Daily Star becomes the second tabloid newspaper to publish topless photographs of Kate Middleton, prompting media boss Richard Desmond to close down the joint venture between Independent News and Media and his Northern and Shell group that published the paper. (RTÉ News)

Business and economy

Following the decision of Irish Daily Star editor Michael O'Kane to publish topless photographs of The Duchess of Cambridge, Northern & Shell chairman Richard Desmond immediately closes down his joint venture with the tabloid. (BBC) (RTÉ News) (The Journal)

Environment and health

Mass protest grows against Kudankulam nuclear power project in Tamil Nadu, India. (Wikinews)
In the wake of the Fukushima nuclear disaster, Japan declares that it will phase out dependence on nuclear energy by the 2030s. (Kyodo News via Mainichi Shimbun)

International relations

Senkaku Islands dispute:
- Anti-Japanese protests spread in China over the disputed Senkaku Islands. (Al Jazeera)
- Reports surface of Japanese nationals in China being physically assaulted by Chinese protesters. (Kyodo News via The Japan Times) (Associated Press)

Law and crime

Gambia's President Yahya Jammeh orders an immediate halt to executions on death row. (BBC)
The alleged filmmaker of the film at the heart of the controversy agrees to a "voluntary interview" with federal probation authorities. (Los Angeles Times) (Associated Press)

Politics and elections

Chinese Vice President and Paramount Leader-designate Xi Jinping is shown on television for the first time in weeks, debunking rumours of serious illness. (Xinhua) (AFP via Google News)
Tens of thousands protest against Putin in Moscow. (Businessweek)

Sports

In horseracing, Encke stops Camelot's Triple Crown mission in the St. Leger Stakes with a long-odds win. (BBC)
Irish Rugby Union player Nevin Spence is killed along with his father and brother after they fell into a slurry tank at the family farm in Hillsborough, County Down. (BBC)

September 16, 2012 (Sunday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

Syrian Civil War: Violence between government forces and rebels continues in several Syrian provinces. (Al Jazeera)
Mexican Drug War
- Jaime Serrano Cedillo, a deputy of the State of Mexico, is assassinated; he is the second politician of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) to be killed in just two days. Eduardo Castro Luque was killed by unknown assailants on Friday night. (The Washington Post)
- The dismembered remains of 17 men are found at a farm near the border between Jalisco and Michoacán states. (The Washington Post)
Militants attack an Egyptian security headquarters in the Sinai Peninsula, injuring several officers. Operation Sinai is extended "until its goals are achieved". (Al Jazeera)
2012 diplomatic missions attacks fallout
- President of Libya Mohamed el-Magariaf announces Libya has made at least 50 arrests in conjunction with the U.S. Consulate attack in Benghazi. (Jerusalem Post)
- The United States has ordered all non-essential staff to evacuate its embassies in Sudan and Tunisia and urges its citizens to avoid travelling to those countries. (Associated Press via The Guardian)
War in Afghanistan:
- Eight female civilians are killed in a NATO airstrike in the eastern Afghan province of Laghman; NATO said the airstrike was attempting to target insurgents. (BBC) (AFP)
- An Afghan policeman kills four US troops in southern Afghanistan. (Vancouver Sun)
A roadside bombing carried out by Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) militants in the southern Turkish province of Bingöl kills at least eight police officers. (BBC)
A roadside bomb detonates near Jandol, Lower Dir District, Pakistan, killing 14 and seriously wounding 7. (BBC)

Environment and health

Super Typhoon Sanba reaches the Ryukyu Islands on its way to Korea. (Huffington Post) (NPR) (Times Online)
- Four people are injured and 85,000 households lose power as Sanba moves across Okinawa and Kagoshima Prefectures. (Kyodo News via Mainichi Shimbun)

International relations

Senkaku Islands dispute:
- Anti-Japan protesters in China ransack Japanese businesses; set fire to a Panasonic plant in Qingdao. (Bloomberg) (Reuters) (Kyodo News via The Japan Times) (Los Angeles Times)
- Japanese prime minister Yoshihiko Noda condemns the anti-Japan protests in China. (Wall Street Journal)
Japan's ambassador designate to China, Shinichi Nishimiya, dies after suddenly collapsing outside his home in Tokyo on Thursday. (Kyodo News via The Japan Times) (Times of India) (Reuters)
US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta urges China and its neighbours not to engage in "provocative behaviour" over maritime border disputes. (Los Angeles Times)

Politics and elections

The Egyptian Army now names Operation Eagle as Operation Sinai. (The Daily News Egypt)
The Mayor of Chicago Rahm Emanuel seeks a court order to resolve a week-long teachers strike. (AP via Yahoo News)

Science and technology

Mei Xiang, the Washington, D.C. National Zoo's adult female giant panda, gives birth to a cub, her second there, via artificial insemination. (NBC News)

Sports

The National Hockey League locks out its players after the expiry of the collective bargaining agreement. (ESPN)

September 17, 2012 (Monday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

Syrian Civil War: Human rights investigators from the United Nations expand a secret list of people in Syria suspected of committing war crimes. Diplomat Paulo Sérgio Pinheiro urges the U.N. Security Council to bring the situation to the International Criminal Court. (Reuters)
2012 diplomatic missions attacks fallout:
- The United States ambassador to the United Nations says there was no plot in the U.S. Consulate attack in Benghazi. (AP via Newsday)
- A thousand Afghans hold a violent protest in Kabul about the short film Innocence of Muslims. (BBC)
- Protesters in Indonesia clash violently with police protecting the US embassy in Jakarta. (AP via Mainichi Shimbun)

Arts and culture

Ugandan police release theatre producer David Cecil on bail after charging him in connection with the staging of The River and the Mountain, a play which references homosexuality. His court date is 18 October, with a two year jail sentence possible. (The Guardian)
Writer Sir Salman Rushdie expresses doubt that his 1988 novel The Satanic Verses would be published today because of a climate of "fear and nervousness". (BBC) (The Guardian)

Business and economy

Hundreds of protesters take to the streets of Manhattan's financial district on the first anniversary of Occupy Wall Street. (Los Angeles Times) (The Irish Times) (The Guardian) (Huffington Post)
Rip Curl, the last major Australian surf wear producer with its "own" capital, considers an offer for sale to private buyers. (Wall Street Journal)
Senkaku Islands dispute:
- Japanese electronics company Panasonic suspends operations at its three factories in the People's Republic of China until Tuesday as a result of the Senkaku Islands dispute. (CNN)
- Chinese state media warned that violent protests "cannot be tolerated", while the city of Xian imposes a ban on "illegal" protests. (Bloomberg via The Japan Times) (AP via Mainichi Shimbun)
- China dispatches 1000 fishing boats to the Senkaku Islands to counter Japan's nationalization of the islands. Six Chinese surveillance ships may join them. (Kyodo News via Mainichi Shimbun)
The United States and the People's Republic of China exchange WTO trade complaints: the US complaining of China's support for automotive exports, and China complaining of new U.S. duties on several of their products. (Reuters) (Los Angeles Times)
ArcelorMittal announces the likely loss of two thousand cold process jobs in Liège, Belgium, after the failure of talks with unions. Unions say the steel maker wants to force an agreement before even starting talks. Wallonia wants to see the long-term plan. (Le Vif) (Reuters)

Disasters

Typhoon Sanba makes landfall in South Korea near the port of Yeosu causing the cancellation of flights and other transport services; one person is reported dead. (Sky News Australia) (Yonhap)
At least 13 people, including ten Indians, are killed in a bus accident in Jubail, Saudi Arabia. (IBN)

International relations

Swedish forensic scientists find no conclusive evidence of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange's DNA in a torn condom submitted by one of his alleged rape victims. The condom had been a key piece of evidence in Sweden's case against Assange. (RT) (IANS via Deccan Herald)
United States and Japanese government officials agree to put a second missile defence system in Japan. (AP via Google News)
Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi begins a 17-day tour of the United States in a bid to help ease economic sanctions on Myanmar. (AP)

Law and crime

French police announce that they are exploring the possibility that Sylvain Mollier, and not the al-Hilli family, may have been the intended target in the Annecy murders. (The Telegraph)
PC Simon Harwood, cleared over the death of Ian Tomlinson during the 2009 G-20 summit protests in London, is dismissed from the Metropolitan Police after a hearing finds him guilty of gross misconduct. (BBC)
The Louisiana State University (LSU) main campus at Baton Rouge, Louisiana, is evacuated after a bomb threat. It is not clear at this time whether it is related to the two previous similar incidents the previous Friday at the University of Texas at Austin (UT) in Austin, Texas, and North Dakota State University (NDSU) in Fargo, North Dakota. (NBC News)
Justice Antonin Scalia charges that Judge Richard Posner's characterization of the guns rights decision, DC v. Heller, is "bluntly, a lie." (Reuters TV)
Lawyers for the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge begin civil proceedings in a French court to halt further publication of topless images of the duchess. Buckingham Palace confirms that a criminal complaint is to be made, for breach of privacy. (BBC)

Media and people

Michael O'Kane, editor of the Irish Daily Star, is suspended following his decision to publish topless photographs of Kate Middleton as attempts to shut down the newspaper continue. (RTÉ News) (The Irish Times)

Politics and elections

Ireland's justice minister Alan Shatter is involved in an eviction row with a tenant of one of his Florida properties, part of his vast U.S. property portfolio. (Irish Independent)
Protests continue at a Chinese co-owned copper mine in the Sagaing Region of Burma over alleged land grabbing and environmental concerns. (Myanmar Times)
The UK Government announces a shake-up of secondary education qualifications, which will see GCSEs in core subjects in England replaced by a qualification called the English Baccalaureate. (BBC)

Science

A three-man crew lands safely after four months in the International Space Station. (Fox News)

September 18, 2012 (Tuesday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

Hezb-e-Islami, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar's faction, claims to be responsible for a suicide bomber who strikes near Kabul Airport in Afghanistan killing twelve people. (Reuters)
Mexican Drug War: 132 inmates escape from a prison in the city of Piedras Negras, Coahuila, directly across the U.S-Mexico border with Eagle Pass, Texas, by digging a tunnel underground. The authorities have yet to determine which drug gang was responsible for the jailbreak. (Los Angeles Times) (AP via Fox News)
At least ten soldiers are killed and more than 70 are injured in a rocket attack by Kurdish militants in Bingol, Turkey. (The Wall Street Journal)

Disasters

A fire at a gas facility in Mexico's state-owned oil company, Pemex, claims 26 lives in the border city of Reynosa, Tamaulipas. (AFP)

International relations

U.S. presidential candidate Mitt Romney claims Palestinians are committed to the destruction of Israel. (BBC)
Senkaku Islands dispute
- People in over 180 cities of China attend protests sparked by Japan's nationalization of the Senkaku Islands and the 81st anniversary of the Mukden Incident. (Kyodo News via The Japan Times) (Global Times)
- Japanese companies shut down or scale back production in China for the duration of the protests. (Los Angeles Times) (The Japan Times) (AFP via The Australian)
- Japanese Coast Guard ships await the arrival of 1000 Chinese fishing boats dispatched by China to the waters around the Senkaku Islands in order to assert its claim on the territory. (The Japan Times)
- Japan's former ambassador to China, Yuji Miyamato, has emerged as the leading candidate to replace the late Shinichi Nishimiya, who died last Sunday. (Kyodo News via The Japan Times)
- China says it reserves the right to further action against Japan over the Senkaku Islands, but adds that it hopes for a "peaceful and negotiated solution" to the issue. (Kyodo News via Mainichi Shimbun)
- Ten Chinese surveillance ships sailed into the contiguous zone off the Senkaku Islands, following a similar incursion by a fishery monitoring ship earlier in the day. (Yomiuri Shimbun)

Law and crime

Bahrain's public prosecution charges seven police officers with torturing Shia medics to obtain confessions during the ongoing Bahraini uprising. (Al Jazeera)
Two mass graves are discovered in the Tana Delta region of Kenya. (BBC)
Two police officers are killed in Greater Manchester. (The Guardian)

Politics and elections

Burma releases 500 prisoners, including at least 58 political prisoners and foreigners, in an amnesty. (BBC)
The Chicago Teachers Union and Chicago Public Schools reach a deal that would end an 8-day strike. (CNN)

Science

Following the world's first mother-to-daughter uterus transplants at the University of Gothenburg two women may now be able to give birth using the wombs in which they were carried. (BBC)

September 19, 2012 (Wednesday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

Syrian civil war:
- Syrian opposition forces facilitate infiltration from Turkey by seizing control of a border crossing in the province of Ar-Raqqah. (The Washington Post)
A car bomb targeting a van belonging to the Pakistan Air Force explodes in the Pakistani city of Peshawar, killing at least nine people and wounding up to 20 others. (BBC)

Business and economy

Teachers go back to work in Chicago after the union leadership votes to suspend its strike while the membership reviews a tentative pact with mayor Rahm Emanuel. (Los Angeles Times)
The Czech Republic temporarily imposes a ban on hard liquor after a spate of deaths related to bootleg hard alcohol poisoning. (Los Angeles Times)

Environment and health

The cabinet of Yoshihiko Noda reverses a pledge made by the Japanese government earlier in the week to end reliance on nuclear power by the 2030s. (Kyodo News and Jiji Press via The Japan Times)

International relations

Senkaku Islands dispute:
- A man turns himself in to police after throwing smoke bombs into the premises of the Chinese Consulate General in Fukuoka, Japan. (Jiji Press via Yomiuri Shimbun)
- Police in Hong Kong arrest a man accused of attacking a Japanese couple near the Tsim Sha Tsui promenade on Monday. (Kyodo News via The Japan Times)
- China's Xi Jinping denounces Japan's nationalization of the Senkaku Islands as a "farce" and that Tokyo should "rein in its behavior." (Reuters via Asahi Shimbun) (Jiji Press)
- Demonstrators in Taipei gather before Taiwan's Legislative Yuan building chanting anti-Japanese slogans and burning Japanese flags. (Jiji Press via The Japan Times)
- Protesters in Beijing surround a car transporting US ambassador to China Gary Locke and attack it as it tried to make its way into the gate of the Japanese embassy. (Los Angeles Times)
- Beijing informs its citizens via mass-text messages that it has imposed a ban on any further anti-Japan protests. (Yomiuri Shimbun)
- Over 700 Chinese fishing vessels are operating in the contiguous zone surrounding Japan-controlled waters around the Senkaku Islands. The Japan Coast Guard is monitoring the situation. (Kyodo News via The Japan Times)

Politics

The US Justice Department's inspector general finds that the agency's Operation Fast and Furious created a "significant danger to public safety". The investigation also finds that Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. had no prior knowledge of the operation. (Los Angeles Times)

September 20, 2012 (Thursday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

Syrian civil war:
- The Local Coordination Committees of Syria report that the Syrian army has bombed a gas station in the town of Ain Issa in northern Syria, killing at least 30 people and wounding dozens more. (The Washington Post) (USA Today)
- Syrian opposition forces say that over 180 people were killed Thursday, including casualties from aerial bombings of residential neighborhoods in Aleppo and villages near Damascus. (CNN)
A suicide bomber kills 14 people by detonating explosives at a cafe frequented by politicians and journalists in Mogadishu, Somalia. (The Independent) (The Montreal Gazette)

Arts and culture

Following an investigation in the wake of the News International phone hacking scandal, British media regulator Ofcom concludes that BSkyB is a "fit and proper" company to hold a broadcasting licence. (BBC)

Business and economy

Trade unions in India hold a strike over plans to open up supermarkets to international competition. (BBC)
AU Optronics was fined $500 million for a global LCD screen price-fixing conspiracy. (AP via Seattle Post-Intelligencer)

Environment and health

The US National Snow and Ice Data Center says the Arctic ice cap size on September 16 is at season's low, with a record low size ever since August 26. (NSIDC)(Washington Post)

Data from the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign shows the Antarctic ice sheet reached its seventh-largest extent on September 12, at 16.14 million km². (Forbes)

International relations

The US Deputy Secretary of State William Burns meets with government officials in Libya about last week's deadly attack at the US consulate in Benghazi. (VOA)
Russia's Foreign Ministry bans the United States Agency for International Development from operating in the country, saying that it had meddled in recent elections. (The Los Angeles Times)

Law and crime

Daniel "El Loco" Barrera, a Colombian crime boss accused of alliances with guerrilla groups and drug trafficking crimes, is captured in San Cristobal, Venezuela. (CNN)

Politics and elections

The government of Bahrain pledges to adopt most of the recommendations in a United Nations report on the country's human rights situation. (Al Jazeera)
Two candidates compete in the final elections to elect the Governor of Jakarta for the next five-year term. (New York Times) (The Jakarta Post)
Several high ranking Georgian government officials resign after protests caused by revelations of inmate torture and rape. (Euronews) (BBC)
President Karzai dismisses Mohammad Gulab Mangal and others in a reshuffle of the government in Afghanistan. (AFP via Google News)
Tim Pawlenty resigns as the co-chairman of Mitt Romney's electoral campaign. He is to head the Financial Services Roundtable in Washington, D.C.. (Newsday)

Science

A specialist in communication from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln says that the use of unmanned aerial vehicles in journalism will soon become widespread. (DPA via De Standaard)

September 21, 2012 (Friday)

International relations

Australia temporarily closes its High Commission in the Pakistani capital Islamabad. It says it fears violent protests aimed at Western countries as a result of recent controversies. (AAP via The Australian)

Politics and elections

Authorities in South Africa issue a warrant for the arrest of Julius Malema on charges of corruption. (BBC)
The Prime Minister of Japan, Yoshihiko Noda, wins a leadership ballot held by the Democratic Party of Japan. (BBC)
Witnesses see Ansar al-Sharia Islamists in Benghazi evacuate their headquarters after demonstrations by thousands of Libyan people. (Jerusalem Post)
Pastafarian "Elder Pastitsios" arrested for blasphemy in Greece.

Arts and culture

During a Green Day performance at Las Vegas' IHeartRadio music festival, Billie Joe Armstrong became agitated onstage and stopped the band's set midway through their performance. In an expletive-filled rant, Armstrong criticized the event's promoters for allegedly cutting short the band's performance before smashing his guitar and storming off stage.

Science

Harvard Theological Review does not yet publish a study that claims a papyrus bears testimony that Jesus of Nazareth used the word(s) "my wife". (AP via Google News)
A researcher at the University of Cambridge predicts that in about four years, the Arctic polar ice cap will melt completely during the summer months. (Planetsave)

September 22, 2012 (Saturday)

Armed attacks

2012 diplomatic missions attacks:
- Demanding the disbandment of armed groups, hundreds of demonstrators attack Ansar al-Sharia and Islamist militia compounds in Benghazi, Libya. Eleven people die in the clashes. Libyan authorities re-take control of deserted strongholds. (AP via ABC News) (AFP via Libération) (The Jerusalem Post)
- The Libyan government asks the population to discriminate among "legitimate and non-legitimate" militias; Raf Allah al-Sahati, Feb. 17 and Libya Shield are supposedly "legitimate" militias. (AP via ABC News)
Syrian civil war:
- An online video appears to claim that the Free Syrian Army moved its headquarters from Turkey to "liberated areas" inside Syria; Reuters says in Idlib or Aleppo. (BBC) (Reuters)
- The National Coordination Body, an internal civilian opposition umbrella group in Syria, is to hold a conference in Damascus on Sunday. According to Xinhua, the 28-party conference is cancelled due to internal divisions. (Reuters) (Xinhua)
- The Lebanese Armed Forces say the Free Syrian Army attacked a Lebanese army border post on Friday. (Daily Star)
- Activists say dozens of civilians are killed throughout Syria by the Syrian government's artillery shelling of cities. (Bloomberg via Businessweek)
Eight people die in clashes between Zaydi rebels and Salafis. The Zaidis oppose the nomination by Al-Islah of new provincial leaders in northern Yemen. (Belga via HLN) (Middle East Online)

Arts and culture

The Musée du Louvre in Paris opens a new wing dedicated to Islamic art. It holds 3,000 artifacts from the seventh to the 19th century. An Egyptian Mamluk portal, disassembled in France since 1889, is shown for the first time. (AFP via France 24)

Disasters and accidents

The drunken driver of a car, speeding at nearly 200 kilometre (124 miles) per hour, hits a bus stop on Minskaya Street in Moscow. Seven pedestrians who were waiting for the bus were killed. (Ria Novosti) (Xinhua)

Law and crime

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne confirms the sexual abuse of more than 600 children by its priests since the 1930s. Bishop Denis Hart deplores the "figures" as "horrific and shameful". Activists say the true number, in Victoria alone, is closer to 10,000. (BBC)

Politics and elections

Belgian MEP and former PM Guy Verhofstadt warns that the Flemish N-VA party and the far right are "the same". N-VA dismisses the criticism as "gratuitous". (VRT) (Le Soir) (Belga via RTL)
The minister of railways in Pakistan, Ghulam Ahmad Bilour, offers a bounty of USD 100,000 to the person who kills the maker of Innocence of Muslims. The government of Pakistan condemns his act. (Al Jazeera)

September 23, 2012 (Sunday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

A suicide bombing at a church in the northeastern Nigerian city of Bauchi kills at least two people and wounds up to 48 others. (BBC)
More than 200 Islamist insurgents surrender to African Union troops in Jowhar, Somalia. Al-Shabaab kills a member of the Somali Parliament and threatens to kill more. (Pana via Afrique en Ligne) (Reuters)

Deaths

Edwin P. Wilson, a former Central Intelligence Agency operative and arms trafficker, has died on September 10th. (AP via Yahoo News)
Former WBO heavyweight world champion Corrie Sanders, 46, dies after an armed robbery in South Africa. He upset Wladimir Klitschko with a second-round KO in 2003. (Eurosport)

Disasters and accidents

Nine alpinists die and six are missing on the slopes of Mount Manaslu, Mansiri Himal Himalayas. (BBC)

Law and crime

Iran blocks use of the Google search engine, as it prepares to switch its citizens to a domestic internet network. (Reuters)
Citing nuclear sanctions, the United States of America deny visas to 20 out of 160 Iranian officials, of which two are ministers, impeaching diplomats' attendance at next week's United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York. (RIA Novosti)
Libya dissolves all armed groups and militia not under the authority of the state. (Al Jazeera)
Police in Italy arrest a man at Turin Caselle Airport on charges of impersonating a pilot. (Al Jazeera)

Politics and elections

Parliamentary elections are held in Belarus. The opposition sees the vote as undemocratic and boycotts it. (UKPA via Google News)
A conference to "rescue Syria" is held in Damascus by the National Coordination Body and around 20 other parties. Twenty eight parties, which are also opposed to the militarization of the conflict, have not participated. The conference calls for a ceasefire and a peaceful political transition to succeed the Assad regime. The armed opposition considers the position as "too lenient on the dictator". (Xinhua) (AP via Washington Post)

Science

Researchers find that there are four genetically distinct types of breast cancer. (The New York Times)

Sports

In Gaelic football, Donegal defeat Mayo in the 2012 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final at Croke Park. (RTÉ Sport) (The Irish Times)
John Higgins wins the Shanghai Masters snooker tournament, beating Judd Trump by a close 10-9 score. (Eurosport via Yahoo! Sport)
Philippe Gilbert wins the UCI Road World Championships race in Valkenburg, Netherlands, with a decisive jump on the Cauberg. (Eurosport)
In sumo, Harumafuji Kōhei wins his second consecutive top division championship with a perfect 15–0 record to assure his promotion to 70th yokozuna. (Kyodo News)

September 24, 2012 (Monday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

Syrian civil war:
- At least 24 people are killed in violence across Syria. (DPA via The Hindu)
Kenyan AMISOM troops, advancing towards the al-Shabaab stronghold of Kismayo, "deliberately" shoot dead seven Somali civilians, according to a Somali Army spokesman. The Hizbul Islam faction announces that it leaves the al-Shabaab. (BBC)

Business and economy

Multiple reports suggest that North Korea is to introduce reforms allowing farmers to keep more of their produce, rather than handing it to the state. (BBC)
Jordan is to host the World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting on the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) in May 2013. (Jordan Times)

Disasters and accidents

A building collapse in the Indian city of Pune kills at least six people. (BBC)

International relations

Senkaku Islands dispute:
- Dozens of Taiwanese fishing boats set sail for the disputed Senkaku Islands which are also claimed by China and Japan. (Kyodo News via Mainichi Shimbun) (Bangkok Post)
- An estimated 1,000 people protest in Taipei over Japan's nationalization of the Senkaku Islands. (Kyodo News via Mainichi Shimbun)
- China cancels events commemorating the 40th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic relations with Japan. (Mainichi Shimbun) (Jiji Press via Yomiuri Shimbun) (Kyodo News, AFP, and Jiji Press via The Japan Times)
- Three Chinese surveillance ships enter Japanese territorial waters near the Senkaku Islands. (Yomiuri Shimbun) (Kyodo News via Mainichi Shimbun)
- Bookstores in China suspend sales of books by Japanese authors or about Japan. (Jiji Press via Mainichi Shimbun)
- Japan sends its vice foreign minister, Chikao Kawai, to China in order to improve the status of relations between the two countries. (Yomiuri Shimbun) (Kyodo News via The Japan Times)
Jewish Democrats ask Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu to stop bringing "daylight" into Israel–United States relations. (JTA)

Law and crime

Wang Lijun, the former police chief and vice-mayor of Chongqing, China, is sentenced to 15 years in prison for corruption-related charges and defection. (Global Times) (AP via Google News)
Manufacturer Foxconn closes a factory in Taiyuan in China's Shanxi province after a fight breaks out between thousands of workers. (The Sydney Morning Herald)
Three bloggers in Vietnam are sentenced to four, ten and twelve years' imprisonment for "anti-state propaganda". (Al Jazeera)
Former Israeli minister of industry, trade and labor Ehud Olmert, who is also a former prime minister, is given a fine and a suspended 1-year jail sentence for cronyism while in office. A bribery case related to a housing project in Jerusalem is still being investigated. (Reuters)
The US military announces that two US Marines are charged with urinating on Taliban corpses in Afghanistan and failing to stop other misconduct by subordinates. (BBC)

Politics and elections

South Korean presidential candidate Park Geun-hye, daughter of former president Park Chung-hee, apologises for abuses committed under her father's regime. (Al Jazeera)
More than 100 people protest around a desert prison in Saudi Arabia against the detention of their relatives. (Reuters)
Karim Masimov resigns as the Prime Minister of Kazakhstan after serving for five years. (AP via The Washington Post)
The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe says recent parliamentary elections in Belarus were neither free nor fair. VRT calls them "a farce". (Reuters) (VRT)
Jun Azumi, the Minister of Finance of Japan, says he is to step down and take on a senior function as the acting secretary-general of the Democratic Party of Japan. His announcement comes ahead of an expected cabinet reshuffle. (The Wall Street Journal)

September 25, 2012 (Tuesday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

Syrian civil war:
- A Save the Children report details the plight of children in Syria. (CBS)
An academic report from the United States finds that American drone attacks "terrorize" the civilian population of northern Pakistan, further stating that the benefits of drone attacks for the U.S. are "ambiguous at best". (BBC)
A bombing in the eastern Turkish city of Tunceli kills at least seven people. (BBC)
The People's Republic of China's People's Liberation Army Navy's first aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, commences service. (BBC)

Arts and culture

American singer Andy Williams dies at the age of 84 at his home in Branson, Missouri. (BBC)

Disasters

A 6.2-magnitude earthquake hits near the Baja California peninsula with no immediate reports of injuries or damage. (CNN)

Health

The World Health Organisation announces a global alert and is investigating the case of a novel coronavirus found in a Qatari man returning from Saudi Arabia. (Reuters)

International relations

Senkaku Islands dispute:
- Over 50 Taiwanese ships clash with ships from the Japan Coast Guard in waters off the Senkaku Islands. (The Japan Times) (Kyodo News via Mainichi Shimbun) (Yomiuri Shimbun)
- Chinese and Japanese diplomats meet in Beijing to lay out their respective countries' positions on the Senkaku Islands dispute. (Kyodo News via The Japan Times) (Jiji Press via Yomiuri Shimbun)
South Korea expresses concern over China's plan to monitor the disputed Socotra Rock area with unmanned drones. (Yonhap) (Kyodo News via Mainichi Shimbun)

Law and crime

Tsuyoshi Kikukawa, the former President of Japan's Olympus Corporation, pleads guilty to fraud for his role in the Olympus scandal. (AP via The Wall Street Journal)

Politics and elections

Activists from the Enough Project reveal through The Guardian newspaper that Omar al-Bashir's Sudan and Joseph Kabila's DR Congo together received 2.4 million pound sterling (around USD 4 million) in British military aid, in the last five years alone. (The Guardian)
Protestors and police clash in Madrid over Spanish anti-austerity measures. (BBC)
Anouchka van Miltenburg of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) is elected as President of the House of Representatives of the Netherlands, giving the VVD the Big Three in Dutch politics: Prime Minister, President of the Senate and President of the House of Representatives. (NOS)

Sport

The organizing committee for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, adopts the slogan Hot. Cool. Yours. (Russia Today)

September 26, 2012 (Wednesday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

Syrian civil war:
- Twin explosions near the headquarters of the Syrian Armed Forces in central Damascus kill at least four military guards. (Al Jazeera)
- Press TV correspondent Maya Nasser is killed by sniper fire while reporting from the scene of twin bomb blasts in Damascus. (The Guardian)
- Qatar calls for Arab intervention in Syria. (Al Jazeera)
- Local activists report a massacre of over 40 civilians by the Syrian army in the Damascus suburb of Thiabieh. (TIME)

Business and economy

Trade unions in Greece call a general strike in protest against continuing austerity measures. (BBC)

International relations

Russia and Japan schedule a sub-cabinet level meeting for October in Tokyo to discuss the Kuril Islands dispute. (Jiji Press via Yomiuri Shimbun)
Senkaku Islands dispute:
- Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda addresses the UNGA by stating that Japan is committed to a "peaceful solution" to its territorial disputes, but that it intends to "fulfill its responsibility" to protecting its sovereignty. (Yomiuri Shimbun) (NHK World) (AP)
- China responds to Noda's speech by calling it "self-deceiving" and as a "challenge" to the post-war international order. (Xinhua)
- Anti-Japan protests are staged outside the UN. (NHK World)
- ANA and JAL report that over 52,000 seats for flights between China and Japan have been canceled. (Kyodo News via Mainichi Shimbun)
- Japanese businesses are asked to withdraw their exhibits from the forthcoming Western China International Fair in Chengdu. (Kyodo News via Mainichi Shimbun)
- Japanese automakers suspend operations in China until after National Day and announce plans to cut output in the country. (Kyodo News)

Law and crime

Russian billionaire Alexander Lebedev is charged with hooliganism and battery over a televised punch-up, with a possible five-year jail sentence in what he says is revenge for criticising President Vladimir Putin. (Reuters)
Expelled ANC Youth League president Julius Malema is charged with money laundering at a court in South Africa. (IOL)
A court ruling allows Turkey to ban access to the film Innocence of Muslims. (Hurriyet Daily News)

Politics and elections

Ireland's Minister of State for Primary Care Róisín Shortall resigns due to a dispute with Minister for Health James Reilly. She also resigns from the Labour Party. (RTE) (The Irish Times)
Former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe is elected the leader of the opposition Liberal Democratic Party. (The Japan Times)

September 27, 2012 (Thursday)

Health

Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Health voices concerns that the novel coronavirus, similar to SARS and reported to have originated from the country, might affect the Hajj, the religious pilgrimage set to occur next month. The ministry suggests that travelers take the necessary precautions. (ABC News)

International relations

Senkaku Islands dispute:
- Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda meets with UN General Secretary Ban Ki-moon, explaining to him that the islands are "Japan's inherent territory" and that "there is no territorial dispute as such". (Yomiuri Shimbun)
- Tokyo residents demand that the city's municipal government return private donations it had amassed in order to purchase three of the disputed Senkaku Islands. The central government preempted Tokyo's move by acquiring the islands itself earlier this month. (Mainichi Shimbun)
- Japan's Foreign Minister Koichiro Gemba, states that his country intends to reach out to the international community to seek support for its sovereignty over the disputed islands. (Kyodo News via Mainichi Shimbun)
- Jia Qinglin meets with Japanese business leaders and lawmakers in Beijing in a bid to ease tensions between China and Japan. (Kyodo News via Mainichi Shimbun) (Xinhua)
- Former prime minister and newly-elected leader of the LDP Shinzo Abe declares that relations between China and Japan are "inseverable". (Xinhua) (NHK World)
- President of Taiwan Ma Ying-jeou praises the flotilla of fishermen that sailed to waters around Senkaku Islands earlier in the week in order to assert Taiwan's territorial claim. (NHK World)
- The UN publicly releases documents from China and Japan detailing their contesting claims. (NHK World)
- Department store chain Heiwado announce that the costs incurred from damage and looting to its stores in China may reach in excess of $6.5 million. (AFP via AsiaOne) (NHK World)
The United States announces that it will seek to lift its ban on imported goods from Myanmar. (Los Angeles Times)

Law and crime

A Los Angeles jury finds David Viens, the Lomita chef who told authorities that he cooked his dead wife’s body to dispose of it, guilty of second-degree murder. (Los Angeles Times)
Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, alleged producer of the film Innocence of Muslims and the trailer of which contributed to widespread attacks and protests, is arrested for violating the probation terms of his release after a conviction for bank fraud. (USA Today)
Iván Velázquez Caballero, a top leader in the Mexican criminal group known as Los Zetas, is arrested in San Luis Potosí. (US News)
The body of a missing Northwestern University student, a sophomore in the School of Engineering there, is found in Wilmette Harbor on Lake Michigan; police have thus far found no signs of foul play, but his family believes he had been kidnapped and had offered a $25,000 reward. (Northwestern University)
A mass shooting takes place at Accent Signage Systems, a sign company in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States; five people are killed, including the gunman who committed suicide, and four others are wounded. (Huffington Post)

Politics

The Parliament of Catalonia votes in favor of a resolution to hold a referendum on self-determination. (El País)

Science and technology

The Mars Curiosity rover, for the first time, discovers what, upon further study, could be determined to be direct evidence of a fast-moving streambed- a past water source- on the planet, moving from speculation to potential proof of past water, a landmark step because such an area would be a logical site for a future base and for the discovery of past life. (Washington Post)
Scientists in Japan confirm the 2004 discovery of a 113th element, paving the way for it to be named and included on the periodic table. (Mainichi Shimbun) (Nature##)

Sports

The NFL and the NFL Referees Association reach an agreement, ending the referee lockout that has been ongoing since June of this year. (CNN) (AP via Boston Globe)

September 28, 2012 (Friday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

Somali and African Union forces launch a coordinated assault on the Somali port city of Kismayo to take back the city from al-Shabaab militants. (BBC)
Twelve people die and dozens of inmates escape in a prison break in Tikrit, Iraq. (CBS)
The spokesperson for the United States Director of National Intelligence claims there was a pre-organised plot in the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, on September 11. (The Wall Street Journal)

Disasters

A Dornier Do 228 light aircraft operated by Sita Air crashes on the outskirts of the Nepalese capital of Kathmandu, killing all 16 passengers and three crew on board. (BBC) (AFP via Google News)

Health

The World Health Organization says the novel coronavirus that originated from Saudi Arabia is not highly contagious. (Reuters)

International relations

Nigeria suspends flights to Saudi Arabia after hundreds of Nigerian women attending the Hajj pilgrimage in Mecca were deported for not traveling with a male escort. (Al Jazeera) (BBC)

Politics and elections

China:
- The Politburo of the Communist Party of China sets November 8 as the date for its 18th National Congress. (Reuters)
- Former Chinese Politburo member Bo Xilai is expelled from the Communist Party of China. (BBC) (Xinhua)
Social Democratic Party of Germany president Sigmar Gabriel proposes Peer Steinbrück as the party's Chancellor candidate for the next German federal election to be held in 2013. (The Wall Street Journal)

September 29, 2012 (Saturday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

Somali Civil War: Al-Shabaab militants withdraw from the Somali port city of Kismayo after Somali and African Union forces launched a coordinated assault on Kismayo on Friday. (BBC)
Syrian Civil War: Fire rages through the Souq of the Ancient City of Aleppo, a World Heritage Site. (Al Jazeera) (New York Times)

Disasters and accidents

Three people drown in unseasonal flooding in Morocco. (IOL)
At least ten people die after heavy rains trigger flash floods in Malaga, Almeria and Murcia, southern Spain. (BBC)

Law and crime

One of the Guantanamo detainees, Omar Khadr, is transferred to Canada to serve the remainder of his sentence. (CNN)
Iran accuses the United States of "double standards" over the U.S.' delisting of the Mujahideen-e Khalq as a terrorist entity. (ABC News)

Sport

In Australian rules football, the Sydney Swans win the 2012 Australian Football League premiership by defeating Hawthorn by 10 points in the Grand Final. (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

September 30, 2012 (Sunday)