Portal:Current events/2007 February 12

February 12, 2007 (Monday)

A gunman kills five people in the Trolley Square shopping center in Salt Lake City, Utah, before being shot by police. (Salt Lake Tribune), (KSL-NBC), (KUTV-CBS), (CNN), (BBC)
India's Hindalco Industries buys Atlanta-based Novelis for US$6 billion. (BusinessWeek) (Forbes) (NYTimes)
Approximately 60,000 people in Mozambique are evacuated in the Zambezi River valley due to floods caused by three weeks of heavy rain. (BBC)
A suspicious brown substance is found in envelope at the Virginia Supreme Court building in Richmond, Virginia, United States, on the same day that Senator John McCain (R-AZ) speaks at the Jefferson Hotel. (Richmond Times-Dispatch) (CBS News) (Forbes.com) (Fox News) (Guardian Unlimited) (International Herald Tribune)
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad states in an interview that Iran does not fear the U.S. and that any foreign attack would be "severely punished". (BBC)
United States Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, Christopher R. Hill, announces that tentative agreement has been reached over North Korean nuclear disarmament pending review by the signatories. (CNN)
Iraq's High Tribunal sentences former Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan to death for his role in the 1982 killing of 148 men and boys in Dujail following an unsuccessful assassination attempt against Saddam Hussein. (CNN)
Italian police arrest in raids 15 people who the police claimed were associated with the Red Brigades terrorist group. (BBC)
Iraq War: At least 76 people are killed in four bomb attacks in Baghdad. (BBC)
An earthquake of a magnitude of 6.1 on the Richter scale strikes about 160 km east of Cabo de São Vicente, Portugal, at 11:36 am (CET). (Bloomberg)
A German court orders the release of Brigitte Mohnhaupt, a former member of the Red Army Faction, also known as the "Baader-Meinhof Gang"; she has served 24 years in prison for her involvement in kidnappings and murders in the 1970s. (CNN)
2007 Guinean general strike: Unions in Guinea resume a general strike to protest the President of Guinea Lansana Conté appointing Eugène Camara as Prime Minister of Guinea. At least 17 people have died in protests over the weekend. The protest started on the morning of the 12th with a march from the centre of Conakry to the palace. Widespread problems with armed bandits taking advantage of the insecurity have also been reported. Lansana Conté has now declared a state of emergency. (Reuters) (SOS) (AP via Houston Chronicle)
China's trade surplus increases by 67%, increasing pressure on the government to float the yuan. (BBC)
The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society claims that one of its ships has collided with a Japanese whaling vessel in the Ross Sea, leading to the Japanese vessel lodging a distress call. (Sydney Morning Herald)
Islamist insurgency in Somalia: Five mortar bombs explode in Mogadishu, killing at least three people. (Reuters)
Four state-owned enterprises of the Republic of China (Taiwan)—Chunghwa Post, the Chinese Petroleum Corporation, the China Shipbuilding Corporation, and the Central Bank of China—change their names to remove "China" from their titles at the request of President Chen Shui-bian. The decision is condemned by the Pan-Blue Coalition, the United States and People's Republic of China as a move towards Taiwan independence. (CNN) (Reuters)
Israel has carried out a successful test of its Arrow missile, the defence ministry says. (BBC)
Australian Prime Minister John Howard criticizes U.S. Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) for his stance on Iraq, saying that al-Qaeda in Iraq should be praying for Obama to win the election. The opposition Australian Labor Party says that Howard's statement imperiled the relationship Australia might have with the United States under a Democratic administration. (Sydney Morning Herald) (BBC) (Al Jazeera)