Portal:Current events/2010 October 15

October 15, 2010 (Friday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

United Nations envoy Margot Wallström says Congolese government troops may have committed rape and murder in the Democratic Republic of the Congo weeks after similar attacks by rebels. (BBC)
Gunmen abduct British and local Save the Children aid workers from a compound in western Somalia. (AP via Wall Street Journal)
A United States Army soldier from 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team is to face a court martial on murder and other charges related to the deaths of civilians in Afghanistan. (CNN)
MPs called for a "wide-ranging and independent inquiry" after G4S agents restrain and suffocate Jimmy Mubenga during his deportation from England. (The Guardian)

Arts and culture

A museum in Berlin opens an exhibition on Adolf Hitler and his relationship with the German people, the first museum in Germany to do so. (BBC)
US rapper T.I. is sentenced to eleven months in prison for violating the terms of his parole. (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution)^{[permanent dead link]}

Business and economy

Canton Fair opens, China's largest trade fair and a key barometer of its trade and economic development. (China Daily)
The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China opens its fifth plenary session in Beijing to discuss the country's next five-year economic and social development plan. (Al Jazeera) (China Daily)
United Kingdom consumer goods company Reckitt Benckiser agrees to pay a fine of £10.2 million for abusing its market position for Gaviscon in the United Kingdom. (BBC)
The Gotthard Base Tunnel in the Swiss Alps becomes the world's longest railway tunnel, as final breakthrough occurs on the east bore. (Washington Post)

Disasters

The Nicaraguan Health Ministry reported nine new deaths of leptospirosis in Leon department, to make a total of 17 deaths due to this disease. (People Daily)
Miners in Chile rescued from the 2010 Copiapó mining accident return home after receiving hospital treatment. (Reuters)
The Ajkai Timföldgyár alumina plant in Ajka, Veszprém County, in western Hungary is set to reopen following the accident earlier this month as the death toll reaches nine. (Deutsche Welle)
Four miners are trapped underground in southern Ecuador. (CNN)

International relations

United Nations Security Council:
- The Council votes to extend the mandate for the mission to Darfur as South Sudan prepares for a referendum on self-determination; China abstains. (UPI) (Winnipeg Free Press)
- Anti-UN protesters in Haiti blockade the United Nations military headquarters in Port-au-Prince a day after the Council extended the mandate of the Stabilisation Mission in Haiti. (Al Jazeera)
- An arms embargo, and financial and travel sanctions, are extended on Côte d'Ivoire for a further six months. (Afrol) (Reuters)
Israel unveils preliminary plans for 238 new homes for Jewish settlers in East Jerusalem with Palestinians protesting in response. (BBC), (Reuters)
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad wraps up a controversial visit to Lebanon (BBC) (The Australian)

Law and crime

18-year-old Andrew Conley is sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole in Ohio, United States.^[1]
A London court is told that Saud bin Abdulaziz bin Nasir al Saud, a Saudi prince accused of murdering his servant after sexually assaulting him at a London hotel, could face the death penalty in Saudi Arabia, where homosexuality is illegal, over his alleged gay sex life. (AFP) (BBC)
Iran says two Germans arrested for interviewing the son of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, who has been sentenced to be stoned to death for adultery, have "admitted to breaking the law". (BBC) (Reuters)
Former Countrywide Financial Chief Executive Officer Angelo Mozilo and two other senior executives agree to settle United States Securities and Exchange Commission claims that they misled investors and of insider trading. (Bloomberg via Business Week), (AP via New York Times)

Politics and elections

More than 100 Chinese scholars, journalists and lawyers publish an open letter demanding the release of Liu Xiaobo. (IOL) (The Daily Telegraph) (RTHK)
A senior official from the Sudanese National Congress Party says it is "not possible" to hold a referendum on whether the disputed region of Abyei remains a part of northern or Southern Sudan. (Al Jazeera)

Sport