September

September 2008

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2008

September 2008 is the ninth month of the current leap year. It began on a Monday and ended after 30 days on a Tuesday.

Portal:Current events

September 1, 2008 (Monday)

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U.S. Republican Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin's 17 year old daughter Bristol is revealed to be five months pregnant. (BBC) (Telegraph.co.uk) (AP) (Al Jazeera) (Wall Street Journal)
The U.S. military hands control of Al Anbar Governorate over to the Iraqi government. (BBC)
An ACLU lawsuit challenges gag orders in National Security Letters. (AP via Google News) (BBC)
2008 Atlantic hurricane season:
- Tropical Storm Hanna becomes Hurricane Hanna (2008) with hurricane warnings issued for the Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos. (MSNBC)
- Tropical Storm Ike (2008) forms east of the Leeward Islands. (Miami Herald)
- Hurricane Gustav weakens to a tropical storm in central Louisiana after being responsible for 7 deaths in the United States and more than 90 in the Caribbean. (UPI)
2008 South Ossetia war:
- The European Union suspends talks on a new partnership agreement with Moscow until Russian troops have withdrawn from Georgia. (BBC)
- Russia accuses the West of sending weapons to Georgia along with aid, while the European Union considers possible sanctions against Russia. (CNN)
Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda abruptly resigns less than a year after taking office, triggering a leadership election. (BBC)
A Government of Orissa report states 558 houses and 17 places of worship were burnt in the 2008 Orissa violence. (Times of India)
Robert French is sworn in as the 12th Chief Justice of Australia. (ABC (Australia))

September 2, 2008 (Tuesday)

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New study shows that children of older fathers are at higher risk of psychological conditions such as bipolar disorder, autism and schizophrenia. (Reuters)
A gunman goes on a shooting spree that leaves 6 people, including a police deputy, dead, and four injured, in Alger, Washington, United States.(CBS News)
The United States Environmental Protection Agency vetoes plans by the Army Corps of Engineers to build the world's largest water pump on the Mississippi River Delta raising concerns about the impact on wetlands. (AP via Minneapolis StarTribune)
2008 Atlantic hurricane season:
- Hurricane Gustav weakens to a tropical depression. (Sydney Morning Herald)
Republican Party adopts a platform at its national convention that is critical of George W. Bush and John McCain for their support of government bailouts of companies. (Bloomberg)
2008 Thai political crisis:
- Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej declares a state of emergency in Bangkok after clashes between groups of pro- and anti-government protesters resulted in one death and 43 injuries. (BBC News)
- Anupong Paochinda, the Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Thai Army, states that the Army "will not use force" in enforcing the state of emergency. (AP via Google News)
A memorial service is held for the 229 victims of Swissair Flight 111, with some present complaining about a perceived lack of action by the authorities to prevent future disasters. (Canadian Press) (Wikinews)

September 3, 2008 (Wednesday)

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The Republican Party officially endorses Arizona Senator John McCain as its candidate in the 2008 United States presidential election. (The New York Times)
2008 Atlantic hurricane season:
- Hurricane Ike becomes the fifth hurricane of the 2008 Atlantic hurricane season, later strengthening to Category 3. (USA Today) (AP via Google News)
- Flooding from Tropical Storm Hanna causes 26 deaths in Haiti. (AP via Google News)
United States Army troops cross the Pakistan border and launch a raid in the Angoor Ada region of Waziristan. Twenty civilians die. (ABC News)
- Earlier 'up to 90' people were killed during US air raid in Herat province, Afganistan, many of them women and children, the Afgan government and the UN said. HRW says civilians deaths from international air strikes nearly tripled between 2006 and 2007. (BBC News)
GMAC's Residential Capital mortgage provider announces plans to dramatically reduce the size of its business resulting in the loss of 5,000 jobs. (Minneapolis-St Paul Star-Tribune)
Japan's Kyodo news agency reports that North Korea has started rebuilding the Yongbyon Nuclear Scientific Research Center in retaliation for the United States failing to remove it from a list of states that sponsor terrorism. (CNN)
The United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit finds "that a reliance on information in Wikipedia is insufficient grounds for a ruling" in an immigration case. (Ars Technica)
Prime Minister of Pakistan Yousaf Raza Gilani survives an assassination attempt. (BBC News)
The Independent Monitoring Commission reports that the Provisional IRA has effectively been disbanded as a terrorist organization, but the Provisional IRA Army Council still exists. (The Guardian)

September 4, 2008 (Thursday)

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Senator John McCain officially accepts the nomination of the Republican Party in the United States presidential election, 2008. (The New York Times)
Former United States political lobbyist Jack Abramoff is sentenced to four years in prison for his role in the Jack Abramoff scandals. (CBS)
The death toll from flooding in Haiti caused by Tropical Storm Hanna rises to 61. (CNN)
The Government of Thailand agrees to hold a referendum to resolve the 2008 Thai political crisis. (AP via Google News)
Tata Motors suspends work at its Tata Nano plant at Singur, West Bengal, due to continued agitations from the Trinamul Congress. (The Hindu)
Physicists at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory report the discovery of the Ω−b, a "doubly-strange" baryon containing two strange quarks and a bottom quark. (Science Daily)

September 5, 2008 (Friday)

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Five hundred people have died in the Haitian town of Gonaïves as a result of flooding caused by Tropical Storm Hanna. (Reuters via News Limited)
According to several news reports, the US government plans to take control of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in a takeover plan. (MSNBC)
Estimates of sea-level rise due to global warming are scaled back. (Reuters)
Condoleezza Rice becomes the first United States Secretary of State to visit Libya since 1953. (AP via the New York Daily News)
Pakistan reinstates Supreme Court judges ousted by former President Pervez Musharraf. (CNN)
The unemployment rate in the United States rises to its highest level since December 2003 after the US economy loses 84,000 jobs in August 2008. (BBC News)
La Princesse, a giant mechanical spider, starts to roam the streets of Liverpool, England, as part of the 2008 European City of Culture celebrations. (BBC News)
The European Union's Rosetta spacecraft performs a flyby of the asteroid 2867 Steins. (AFP)
Australia:
- Quentin Bryce is sworn in as the first female Governor-General of Australia. (AAP via The Melbourne Age)
- Morris Iemma resigns as Premier of New South Wales following a loss of support in the Australian Labor Party caucus, and is replaced by Nathan Rees. (Sydney Morning Herald)

September 6, 2008 (Saturday)

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2008 Pacific hurricane season: Tropical Storm Lowell forms off the coast of Mexico. (AP via Houston Chronicle)
Komlan Mally resigns as prime minister of Togo, after less than a year in office. (Xinhua)
Darren Aronofsky's The Wrestler wins the Golden Lion for best film at the Venice Film Festival. (AP via Google News)
Nuclear Suppliers Group clears Indo-US nuclear deal. (CNN-IBN)
2008 Cairo landslide: At least 18 people are killed and 22 injured when dozens of homes in northern Cairo collapse after being hit by a massive rockslide. (AFP via Google News)
The 2008 Summer Paralympic Games begin in Beijing. (BBC News)
2008 Atlantic hurricane season
- Tropical Storm Hanna makes landfall in the United States on the border between North Carolina and South Carolina. (AFP via the Melbourne Age)
- Hurricane Ike reaches Category 4 strength as it prepares to hit Turks and Caicos. (AP via Google News)
Pakistan
- The Electoral College of Pakistan elects Asif Ali Zardari of the Pakistan People's Party as the next President of Pakistan. (The New York Times)
- A car bomb in Peshawar in northwest Pakistan kills at least thirty people. (BBC News)

September 7, 2008 (Sunday)

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Serena Williams defeats Jelena Janković to win the U.S. Open for the third time, regaining the World Number 1 ranking for the first time in five years. (The New York Times)
Hurricane Ike damages 80 percent of homes in the Turks and Caicos Islands. (The Australian)
Two suicide bombers strike in the police headquarters in Kandahar, Afghanistan killing six officers and wounding several more. (AP via International Herald Tribune)
Subprime mortgage crisis: The United States federal government places mortgage financing companies Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae into conservatorship. The Federal Housing Finance Agency will manage the companies on a temporary basis. (Reuters)
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has announced an early election scheduled for October 14. (BBC News)
Kurt Beck, the chairman of the Social Democratic Party of Germany steps down. According to media reports, Frank Walter Steinmeier will become the candidate for Chancellor of Germany in the 2009 elections. (ARD German)
Floods in Brahmaputra river have displaced estimated 2.1 million people and caused 24 deaths in north-eastern state of Assam, India. (Times of India)
Voters in Hong Kong go to the polls for the Hong Kong legislative election, 2008. The Democratic Alliance remains the largest party in the legislature. (Xinhua) (Bloomberg)
Xinhua reports that 20 people are trapped in a coal mine in the Henan province of China following flooding. (AP via Charlotte Observer)

September 8, 2008 (Monday)

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The Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola wins the 2008 legislative election. (Reuters via The New York Times)
Roger Federer defeats Andy Murray to win the U.S. Tennis Open for a record-breaking fifth consecutive time. (Fox Sports)
Washington Mutual, the largest savings and loan in the United States, ousts Chief Executive Kerry Killinger as a result of losses incurred as a result of the subprime mortgage crisis. (The New York Times)
A landslide triggered by heavy rain strikes a warehouse in Linfen in Shanxi province, China, killing at least 26 people and injuring others. (Canadian Press)
Hurricane Ike makes landfall near Banes, Cuba, and weakens. (AP via Biloxi Sun Herald)
The US military is to 'review an inquiry' into an air raid on a village in Herat province, Afghanistan, after a new video evidence emerged indicating 'scores of civilian deaths'. The US air raid in Afghanistan left up to 90 people dead, 'many of them women and children', the Afghan government and the UN said. However, US officials claimed earlier that 'no more than seven civilians died'. The bodies of 'at least 10 children and many more adults' appear in two videos made with cell phones in the Afghan village Azizabad after the raid. (BBC News) (AP)
2008 South Ossetia war:
- President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev and President of France Nicolas Sarkozy announced after talks in Moscow that an agreement to pull Russian forces from Georgia within a month has been reached. The agreement has become possible as EU will send 200 civilian monitors to the area and guarantee that Georgia signs a pledge to not use military force in Abkhazia and South Ossetia again. (Reuters) (The Globe and Mail)
- 'Senior US soldiers and two military contractors' were training 80 Georgian special forces serviceman only 'month prior' these commandos entered South Ossetia on the night of August 8. MPRI, one of the contractors, is known also for training the Croatian military in 1995 'prior to their invasion of the ethnically-Serbian Krajina region, which led to the displacement of 200,000 refugees'. However, 'there is no evidence' that the contractors or US military knew these commandos 'were likely be used in the assault on South Ossetia'. (Financial Times)
Three British Muslim men are found guilty of conspiracy to murder relating to the 2006 transatlantic aircraft plot. (The Times)

September 9, 2008 (Tuesday)

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UNITA accepts defeat in the Angolan legislative election, 2008, the first parliamentary elections in Angola in 16 years, in which the ruling Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola wins more than 80% of the votes. (BBC)
Al Franken wins a primary election for the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party to challenge incumbent Senator Norm Coleman in the Minnesota Senate election. (AP via Google News)
The military of Sri Lanka declares 12 of its soldiers and one policeman killed in a suicide attack by the Tamil Tigers in Mullaittivu. (BBC News)
Prime Minister of Malaysia Abdullah Ahmad Badawi states that the governing United Malays National Organization (UMNO) will punish Ahmad Ismail, a party official, for a series of statements he made about Malaysia's ethnic Chinese population. (Wall Street Journal)
The United Nations decides to withdraw aid workers from Tamil Tiger-held areas of Sri Lanka. (BBC News)
Hurricane Ike makes its second landfall on Cuba, near San Cristóbal, north of the Isle of Youth, on its way into the Gulf of Mexico. (CNN)
A Thai court rules that Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej must be removed from office for receiving payment for appearing on a television cooking show. (AP via Google News)
US President George W. Bush pledges 4,500 troops to Afghanistan over the next few months and orders 8,000 troops currently stationed in Iraq to be home by February. (CBC News)
Apple Inc. unveils the revamped iPod line-up including the redesigned, fourth-generation iPod Nano. (Reuters)
Georgian opposition members demand President of Georgia Mikhail Saakashvili's resignation. Saakashvili believes he will "survive the crisis politically". (Washington Post)(Newstin)

September 10, 2008 (Wednesday)

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United States presidential election, 2008: Former Republican candidate Ron Paul endorses third-party candidates Chuck Baldwin, Bob Barr, Cynthia McKinney and Ralph Nader, calling the two-party system a "charade."(Los Angeles Times)
President of Bolivia Evo Morales expels the United States ambassador, Philip Goldberg, for allegedly encouraging anti-government protests. (CBS)
OPEC announces it will cut oil production by 500,000 barrels a day; prices rise accordingly. (AP via Google News)
U.S.-based financial services company Lehman Brothers announces a third-quarter loss of $4.9 billion and plans to sell assets. (CNN Money)
The European Commission predicts the U.K., Germany, and Spain 'to fall into recession'; the outlook for rest of the Eurozone is gloomy. (BBC News)
The Yonhap News Agency in South Korea reports North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has a serious health problem. (AFP via Google News)
- Western intelligence officials say Kim Jong-il might have suffered a stroke.(BBC News) (NPR), which North Korea denies. (Reuters)
CERN successfully circulates a beam through the entire Large Hadron Collider for the first time. (Wired) (Wired)
2008 South Ossetia war:
- Some members of the United States House Committee on Foreign Affairs have expressed disagreement with Georgia's actions in the war: 'The recent fighting [...] was started by Georgia. The Georgians broke the truce, not the Russians' said Dana Rohrabacher, Senior Republican. (RT via YouTube) (RT)

September 11, 2008 (Thursday)

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Ayman al-Zawahiri, number two leader of al Qaeda, questions Abu Ayyub al-Masri's ability to lead al Qaeda in Iraq, and accuses that organization's umbrella group, the Islamic State of Iraq, of lying to the media about its activities. (CNN)
Prices for oil fall (CNN Money), and wholesale prices for gasoline rise sharply. (CNN Money)
2008 unrest in Bolivia:
- Fresh violence in Bolivia stokes civil war fears. (Times of India)
- The President of Venezuela Hugo Chávez gives the United States ambassador 72 hours to leave Venezuela in part to show solidarity with the President Evo Morales who recently expelled the U.S. ambassador to Bolivia, accusing the U.S. of supporting protests against Morales. (AP via Google News)
Morgan Tsvangirai, the leader of the Movement for Democratic Change, claims that a power sharing agreement has been reached with the President of Zimbabwe Robert Mugabe. (BBC News)
Officials order the evacuation of Galveston Island in the U.S. state of Texas before Hurricane Ike makes landfall later in the week. (USA Today)
President George W. Bush is reported to have authorized United States special forces to conduct operations against insurgents inside Pakistan without seeking approval from the Government of Pakistan. (CNN)
A new survey of residents of 17 countries by WorldPublicOpinion.org indicates that an average of 46 percent believe that Al-Qaeda was behind the 9/11 attacks of 2001. (Al Jazeera) (Voice of America News) (UPI) (Reuters)
Two Russian Air Force Tu-160 bombers arrive in Venezuela to carry out training flights over a course of several days. (BBC News)
A 6.6 magnitude earthquake hits near Ternate, Indonesia, followed by a 7.2 magnitude quake near Hokkaido, Japan. (BBC News)
Forty people go missing in the northern Indian state of Bihar after a boat capsizes in the Harohar River. (AP via Google News)
A fire occurs in the Channel Tunnel and the tunnel is closed until further notice. (BBC News)
The Pentagon Memorial in Washington, DC, dedicated to the 184 people who died in the attack on the building on September 11, 2001, is opened to the public. (ABC News)

September 12, 2008 (Friday)

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Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 2501: Fifty years after the airliner vanished over Lake Michigan, it is claimed that human remains washed ashore and were buried without the relatives' knowledge in an unmarked mass grave.(Detroit Free Press)
2008 unrest in Bolivia
- Bolivia declares martial law in the department of Pando following days of clashes between supporters of the national and local governments. (AFP) (BBC Mundo)
- Honduran President Manuel Zelaya tells the incoming U.S. ambassador not to present his credentials in a show of solidarity with Bolivia and Venezuela. (Reuters)
The collapse of the United Kingdom's third largest tour operator XL Leisure Group, leaves over 85,000 British holidaymakers stranded abroad. (BBC)
Twenty Four people die in Chatsworth in Los Angeles, California following a collision between a Metrolink passenger train and a Union Pacific freight train. At least 135 people were also injured in the accident. (Los Angeles Times) (San Francisco Chronicle)

A car bomb in the mainly Shiite town of Dujail in Iraq kills at least 32 people and injures another 43. (AP via CBS News)
The Thai People's Power Party agrees not to renominate ousted Prime Minister of Thailand Samak Sundaravej for the position following objections from the other members of the coalition. (AP via ABC News America)
The Pakistan Army claims that at least 30 militants and 2 soldiers have been killed in fighting in the Bajaur region of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas. (AP via Google News)
The Malaysian government arrests the editor and prominent blogger activist Raja Petra Kamarudin of the Malaysia Today website, a journalist from Sin Chew Jit Poh and opposition politician Teresa Kok under the Internal Security Act. (BBC) (Malaysiakini) (TheStar Online)
The United States-led coalition claims to kill at least 10 militants in fighting in Afghanistan. (AP via Google News)
The Prime Minister of New Zealand Helen Clark calls an election for November 8. (Melbourne Herald Sun)
North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il is said by Chinese authorities to be suffering irregular convulsions following a stroke which kept him from attending the country's 60th anniversary celebration. Chinese authorities believe his long-term ability to govern will be impeded. (AFP via Google News)
The Constitutional Court of Spain rules that the Government of the Basque Country could not call a planned referendum on working towards self-determination as only the Government of Spain could call such a vote; the Basque Government said it would appeal to the European Court of Human Rights. (IHT)

September 13, 2008 (Saturday)

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The death toll from the 2008 Chatsworth train collision in Los Angeles rises to 24 with more fatalities expected. (Reuters)
Five explosions rock various places in Delhi, killing at least 30 people. (India Times)
Hurricane Ike:
- Hurricane Ike makes landfall in the United States at Galveston, Texas, as a Category 2 hurricane. (Bloomberg)
- Hurricane Ike weakens to a tropical storm over eastern Texas. (National Hurricane Center via Nola.com)
- President George W. Bush declares that Texas is a disaster zone. (BBC News)
- As many as one million Haitians become homeless due to hurricanes. (BBC)
Abullah Wardak, the Governor of the Lowgar Province of Afghanistan, is assassinated in a car bomb. (AFP via Google News)
A mudslide caused by an illegal mine in Shanxi province in China kills 254 people. (Xinhua News Agency)
A bus crashes into a 100 m gorge in Sichuan, China, killing 51. (Zee News)
The All Blacks defeat Australia (28–24) to win the 2008 Tri Nations Series at the Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane, Australia. (The Age)
2008 South Ossetia war:
- Russians troops leave west, but remain in Georgia. (AP via Google News)
- UNHCR: around 192,000 people were forced to flee their homes in South Ossetia and Georgia during the four-day war of Georgia with South Ossetia and Russia. Around 35 thousand of them left South Ossetia shortly before August, 8th for North Ossetia, Russia, others were forced to relocate during the conflict. (Press Trust of India)
- A US Defense Department team to arrive in Georgia. (Rustavi 2)
- Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Saturday that Abkhazia and South Ossetia cannot legally join the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) due to their status, local press reported. (Xinhua)
- Western countries are pledging substantial aid to Georgia – as much as 3.5-4 billion dollars in grants and loans. (RP)
- Georgia's President Mikheil Saakashvili has arrived in the village of Koda and to supervise rehabilitation works of ten blocks, owned by the Georgian Defense ministry, in which the IDPs from South Ossetia will be temporarily settled there. (Rustavi 2)

September 14, 2008 (Sunday)

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2008 South Ossetia war:
- The Georgian foreign ministry has released an official statement stating that 'In the villages of the Tskhinvali region/South Ossetia, Georgia, the separatist regime continues carrying out persecution of local Georgian population based on their ethnic origin', adding that 'Once again it becomes evident that for the Russian government the ethnic cleansing remains as one of the main methods for achieving its political goals'. (Rustavi 2)
  - Dick Cheney on his visit to Tbilisi, Georgia (country) earlier condemned Russian "invasion" and said that United States was "fully committed" to Georgia's efforts to join NATO. (Sky News)
- Russian forces have pulled out of the Black Sea port of Poti and are preparing to withdraw from positions in western Georgia. Russian forces are to withdraw completely from Georgia proper to an October 10 deadline. EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said he was confident this deadline would be met. (Reuters) (The International Herald Tribune) (Sky News)
- Irakli Okruashvili, ex-defense minister of Georgia granted political asylum in France, claims President of Georgia Mikhail Saakashvili 'must be held accountable [for the war] and resign... If he doesn't it will lead to criminal charges against him'. Irakli Okruashvili claims he has been working with Saakashvili on plans to regain control on Abkhazia and South Ossetia since 2005 but was sure that Georgia could not succeed by military means. (Spiegel) (Civil.Ge)
Subprime mortgage crisis
- The American International Group seeks an emergency $40 billion loan from the United States Federal Reserve. (The New York Times)
- Bank of America negotiates to buy Merrill Lynch for $38.25 billion in stock. (The New York Times) (The Wall Street Journal)
- The United States Federal Reserve announces several initiatives to expand emergency lending to combat the crisis. (AP via Minneapolis St-Paul Tribune)
- Lehman Brothers files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy after British bank Barclays and Bank of America pull out of emergency talks on a buyout. (AFP via Google News) (The New York Times)
Hurricane Ike
- Authorities in Texas have rescued nearly 2,000 victims of Hurricane Ike who refused to evacuate. (AP via Google News)
- The American death toll from Hurricane Ike rises to 8. (The New York Times)
Nigerian Oil Crisis: Nigeria's main rebel group declared an "oil war" in the west African nation in response to what it said were "unprovoked" attacks by Nigerian government forces a day earlier. (CNN)
Shootout between police and unknown assailants leaves 20 police officers dead in Ashkhaba