2011 Week 36

Content

2 September 2011 International relations 2010 Gaza flotilla raid: Turkey expels Israel's ambassador and cancels all military agreements with Israel, hours before a UN report investigating the raid is published. (BBC) (The New York Times) The UN report finds that the IDF acted 'legitimately' in trying to enforce Israel's blockade of the Gaza strip, except for the lack of a final warning to the activists and the use of "excessive" force. (Jerusalem Post)

28 August 2011 Armed conflicts and attacks At least 29 people are killed in an suicide bombing in Baghdad's largest Sunni mosque including Khalid al-Fahdawi, a member of the Council of Representatives of Iraq. (AP via Google News)

29 August 2011 Armed conflicts and attacks 2011 Libyan civil war: The National Transitional Council in Libya raises concerns about mass killing of political prisoners by the former government. (AM via ABC News Online), (AP via France 24) National Transitional Council fighters converge on Muammar Gaddafi's home town of Sirte. (Reuters) Several members of the Gaddafi family are reported as having fled to Algeria. (BBC)

30 August 2011 Armed conflicts and attacks Three suicide bombings leave 9 dead and 20 wounded in Grozny, the capital of the Republic of Chechnya, Russia. (CNN) The Libyan National Transitional Council gives an ultimatum to supporters of Muammar Gaddafi in Sirte to surrender by the end of Eid ul-Fitr on Saturday. (The Scotsman)

31 August 2011 Armed conflict and attacks Tripoli doctor Gassem Baruni tells the Associated Press that Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's daughter Hana Moammar Gadafi - thought to have been killed in 1986 US airstrikes - worked for him as a surgeon before she disappeared on August 25. (CBS News) Syrian Army troops reportedly raid neighbourhoods in the town of Hama looking for anti-government activists. (Jerusalem Post)

1 September 2011 Armed conflict and attacks At least four people, including a high-ranking security service officer, are killed in a series of bombings and shootings across Russia's North Caucasus. (Voice of America) 2011 Libyan civil war: Libya's National Transitional Council extends the deadline for tribal leaders in Muammar Gaddafi’s hometown of Sirte to surrender in order to avoid further fighting. (The Christian Science Monitor) Three Pakistani soldiers and one Indian solider are killed following an attack by Indian border forces on a Pakistani checkpost along the Line of Control. (Express Tribune)

2 September 2011 Armed conflict and attacks The South Korean military resumes building a naval base on the island of Jeju-do after police clear the site of protesters. (Yonhap)

28 August 2011 Politics Indian social activist Anna Hazare breaks a hunger strike after Parliament passes strong anti-corruption laws. (Times of India) Tony Tan Keng Yam becomes the President-elect of Singapore after winning the presidential election. (Press Trust of India via Hindustan Times) Nepal elects Baburam Bhattarai as its new Prime Minister. (CNN)

29 August 2011 Politics and elections The ruling Democratic Party of Japan selects a replacement for Naoto Kan as party leader and Prime Minister of Japan with current Minister of Finance Yoshihiko Noda winning the ballot. (Wall Street Journal) (Reuters) (The Australian) Baburam Bhattarai of the Unified Communist Party is elected as Prime Minister of Nepal by the Parliament. (Himalayan Times) Alexander Ankvab is elected President of partially recognized Abkhazia during elections held on August, 26. The elections are characterised by the Western media and independent observers as "democratic", but not recognized by Georgia.(The New York Times(Washington Post)(Taz) Toomas Hendrik Ilves is re-elected by an electoral body to another term as President of Estonia. (Reuters)

30 August 2011 Politics New Japanese Prime Minister: The Cabinet of former Prime Minister of Japan Naoto Kan resigns en masse following the election of Yoshihiko Noda as the presumptive Prime Minister. (Nikkei) The Diet of Japan approves Noda as the new Prime Minister. |(Hindustan Times) Kenneth E. Melson is replaced as the acting head of the United States Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives as a result of a controversial gun trafficking operation called Operation Fast and Furious. (Washington Post) Environmentalists, citing greenhouse gas emissions and risks of a oil spills, including climatologist James Hansen are arrested outside the White House in Washington D.C. in a protest to urge President Barack Obama to reject TransCanada Corp.'s $7 billion proposed Keystone Pipeline extension from the Athabasca Oil Sands in northern Alberta in Canada to the US Gulf Coast. (AP via Sydney Morning Herald)(Bloomberg) (The Nation) (The New York Times) (NPR)

2 September 2011 Politics The Prime Minister of Japan Yoshihiko Noda announces his new Cabinet with Jun Azumi as Minister of Finance and Koichiro Gemba as Minister for Foreign Affairs. (AFP via Google News)

28 August 2011 Law and crime The Government of the United Kingdom pledges to raise the issue of the murder of WPC Yvonne Fletcher, allegedly by a Libyan official outside the embassy in London in 1984, with the new government in Tripoli. (Press Association via Google)

30 August 2011 Law and crime While reportedly on his way to surrender to police in Atlanta, Georgia to face murder charges, former National Basketball Association player Javaris Crittenton is arrested by the FBI at John Wayne Airport in Orange County, California. (Associated Press via ESPN)

31 August 2011 Law and crime The High Court of Australia rules against plans by the government of Australia to send 800 asylum seekers to Malaysia. (The Courier-Mail)

30 August 2011 Business and economy Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. asks a bankruptcy court to let creditors vote on a reorganization plan that would pay its creditors, on average, $0.20 on the dollar. (Reuters)

31 August 2011 Business and economy ExxonMobil and OAO Rosneft reach a deal which may reach $500 billion in projects in the Arctic, Gulf of Mexico, and the Black Sea. (Wall Street Journal) (Bloomberg) (Washington Post) (Forbes) (Reuters) (New York Times) The United States Justice Department files an antitrust lawsuit to prevent AT&T from taking over T-Mobile USA. (Los Angeles Times)

1 September 2011 Business and economy The world's largest food group, Nestlé SA, opens a new production unit in Konolfingen, Switzerland, and its CEO affirms that the company is committed to its home country, despite problems created by the unusually strong Swiss franc against the euro. (Reuters) Former Dutch Minister of Economic Affairs and Minister of Education, Culture and Science, Maria van der Hoeven, takes office as Executive Director of the International Energy Agency. (Wall Street Journal)

2 September 2011 Business and economy A court in Dusseldorf orders Samsung to stop selling its new tablet computer, Galaxy Tab, acting on a lawsuit brought by Apple. (Reuters)

28 August 2011 Arts and culture The Notting Hill Carnival, the world's second largest street festival, gets underway peacefully in London with a heavy police presence due to recent riots. (The Guardian) The 2011 MTV Video Music Awards conclude in Los Angeles with Katy Perry winning Video of the Year for Firework. (Entertainment Weekly)

30 August 2011 Arts and culture Muslims celebrate Eid ul-Fitr marking the end of Ramadan, the month of fasting. In Indonesia, however, the government rules that the end of Ramadan should be delayed one day. (Wall Street Journal) (Hindustan Times)

31 August 2011 Arts and culture The 68th Venice International Film Festival gets underway in Venice, Italy. (The Guardian)

1 September 2011 Arts and culture The remains of Australian bushranger Ned Kelly are found in the former HM Prison Pentridge in Melbourne, Victoria. (The Courier-Mail) Protesters from the Palestine Solidarity Campaign disrupt a concert given by the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra for the BBC Proms at London's Royal Albert Hall. (BBC)

28 August 2011 Disasters Hurricane Irene: A confirmed tornado in Delaware destroys a home and damages others. (ABC News) At least five people died in Maryland as a result of Hurricane Irene. (International Business Times) The storm reaches New York City with 370,000 people having been evacuated from low lying areas. (AFP via Sydney Morning Herald) The state of Vermont is badly affected by the storm with the towns of Wilmington, Brattleboro and Dover all badly flooded and at least one death. (CNN) Typhoon Nanmadol kills eight people in the Philippines and is headed for Taiwan. (Taiwan News) Five people are killed and at least 27 injured when a tram derails in the Santa Teresa neighborhood of Rio de Janeiro. (BBC)

29 August 2011 Disasters Stock, bond and commodities markets open as usual in the United States despite the impact of Hurricane Irene on New York City. (Bloomberg) Typhoon Nanmadol hits Taiwan after killing 11 people in the Philippines. (AP via Google News) Floods hit northern India with transport services disrupted in Mumbai and 15 villages isolated in Maharashtra state. (NewsxLive)

30 August 2011 Disasters Hurricane Irene: The death toll from Hurricane Irene reaches 40 in the continental United States plus three people in the Dominican Republic and one in Puerto Rico. (NZ Stuff) (Associated Press) The New England state of Vermont suffers its worst flooding in 100 years. (Associated Press) The U.S. state of New Jersey suffers extensive flooding with Passaic County, Mercer County and Middlesex County worst affected. (International Business Times) Monsoonal rain causes heavy floods in the Indian state of Gujarat. (IBN Live) Nineteen coal miners are rescued from a flooded pit in China's Heilongjiang Province. (Xinhua) At least 25 people are killed and thousands displaced due to floods in Ibadan, southwest Nigeria over the weekend. [3] The Popocatepetl volcano south of Mexico City starts spewing ash into the sky. (AP via Washington Post) A TTC bus collides with a hydraulic crane mounted on a construction truck on Lawrence Avenue Toronto, killing one and injuring thirteen, in the first such incident since the Russell Hill subway accident in 1995. (Globe and Mail) (Vancouver Sun) (The Hamilton Spectator)

31 August 2011 Disasters Wildfires severely damage homes and infrastructure in the US states of Texas and Oklahoma. (AP via Detroit News) Hurricane Katia becomes the second hurricane of the 2011 Atlantic hurricane season. (National Hurricane Center)

1 September 2011 Disasters Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal declares a state of emergency after Tropical Storm Lee forms in the northern Gulf of Mexico. (CNN)

3 September 2011 Disasters 2011 Chilean Air Force CASA 212 crash: Four bodies are recovered from the ocean after an airplane of the Chilean Air Force crashed near Robinson Crusoe Island on Friday. (CBC) The Chilean Minister of National Defense Andrés Allamand Zavala confirms that all 21 passengers of the flight died in the crash, including TV presenter Felipe Camiroaga. (La Tercera)