Portal:Current events/2010 September 17


 * Armed conflicts and incidents
 * A soldier with the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) was killed in South Afghanistan. (Xinhua)
 * Security is increased in Manokwari, West Papua, after protests against the killing of two people by Indonesian police. (BBC) (Jakarta Globe)
 * Israeli troops kill Hamas militant Iyad Abu Shilbaya in an arrest raid in the West Bank. (AP via Google News)
 * An Iraqi Army soldier is killed and eleven people are wounded following two bombs going off in Baghdad. (Xinhua)
 * Gunmen kidnapped nine police officers investigating a death in the southern Mexican state of Guerrero, and the bodies of two of the lawmen were found later. (AP via npr) (Sina)


 * Arts and culture
 * India's ban on a Satyajit Ray documentary is lifted. (BBC)
 * Hanif Kureishi is awarded the PEN/Pinter prize. (BBC) (The Guardian)
 * Producers on the South African version of the Big Brother TV series evict a male housemate who punched a female housemate, bowing to pressure from women's rights activists after initially accepting the physical confrontation. (BBC)
 * American soap opera As the World Turns airs its final episode on CBS after a 54-year run on television. (AP via MSNBC)
 * US entertainer Paris Hilton agrees to a plea bargain with prosecutors in Las Vegas, Nevada, to avoid a jail sentence. (AP via ABC News America)


 * Business and economy
 * United Airlines shareholders meeting in Elk Grove, Illinois in Cook County, approve a deal to merge with Continental Airlines to create the world's biggest airline. (UPI)


 * Disasters
 * The United Nations launches an appeal for more than $2 billion in the wake of the 2010 Pakistan floods: this represents the organisation's biggest response to a natural disaster. (BBC)
 * At least 27 people are killed in an accidental explosion in Batticaloa, eastern Sri Lanka. (BBC) (Times of India) (AFP via Google News)(Xinhua)
 * The death toll from a tourist bus accident in Altay, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, has risen to 11. (Global Times)
 * A drill reaches 33 Chilean miners trapped underground in the 2010 Copiapó mining accident since 5 August; their rescue is still expected to take several weeks. (BBC)
 * A large storm hits New Zealand with severe weather warnings in place for both the North and South Island for several days. (MSN NZ) (AAP via Bigpond News)
 * 2010 Atlantic hurricane season:
 * Hurricane Karl reaches Category 3 strength prior to making landfall in Mexico just north of Veracruz. Two people are killed in a mudslide. (Reuters), (AFP via Google News), (Reuters)
 * Bermuda prepares for a potential impact from Hurricane Igor. (AFP via Google News)
 * BP starts pumping cement into the Deepwater Horizon oil well in the Gulf of Mexico at the culmination of cleanup efforts for the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. (AFP via Yahoo News)


 * International relations
 * Japan says China has shipped drilling equipment to a disputed gas field amid a diplomatic row over the seizure of a Chinese fishing boat captain near the disputed Senkaku Islands. (AFP) (BBC)
 * The United States charges 2 married former nuclear contractors with trying to give away the country's nuclear secrets to Venezuela. (BBC)
 * Poland arrests exiled Chechen rebel leader Akhmed Zakayev. (euronews) (CNN)
 * The Indonesian Air Force announces plans to buy six more Sukhoi fighter aircraft. (RIA Novosti)


 * Law and crime
 * Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell decides not to halt the execution of female murderer Teresa Lewis, who will be executed on September 23,2010.(WHSV)
 * The Metropolitan Police arrest 6 people in London in connection to an alleged potential threat to the visit of Pope Benedict XVI to the United Kingdom. (BBC) (RTÉ) (The Guardian)
 * The Somali Police Force raid an address in Mogadishu and confiscate weapons. (CNN)
 * A former scientist at the Los Alamos National Laboratory and his wife are indicted on charges of trying to provide information about the United States nuclear program to Venezuela. (CNN)


 * Politics and elections
 * Iranian security forces reportedly surround Mir-Hossein Mousavi's office in Tehran. (BBC)
 * Opposition parties in Russia announce plans to field a joint candidate ahead of presidential elections in 2012. (The Independent) (MSN India) (Financial Times)
 * Afghan police set up extra security checkpoints across Afghanistan to prepare for Taliban attacks on voting in the parliamentary election on Saturday. (AP via Google News)
 * The Prime Minister of Japan Naoto Kan announces a Ministerial reshuffle with Seiji Maehara announced as the new Minister for Foreign Affairs. (BBC) (Japan Today)
 * Thailand's red shirt movement holds rallies in the lead up to the fourth anniversary of the removal of former Prime Minister of Thailand Thaksin Shinawatra on Sunday. (Al Jazeera)