August 2006

August 2006 was a month with thirty-one days. On August 10, an alleged plot to detonate ten airliners over the Atlantic Ocean was revealed to the general public as London Metropolitan Police arrested alleged conspirators. The month-long conflict between Israel and Hezbollah came to a halt after a ceasefire endorsed by the United Nations Security Council went into effect on August 14. The Fields Medal was awarded for the first time since 2002 and the International Astronomical Union redefined the term planet, resulting in Pluto losing its planetary status.

The following events also occurred during the month:

August 1, 2006 (Tuesday)

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El Paso, Texas is hit by heavy, intense rain, causing much flooding and making the Rio Grande overflow its banks, reaching levels not seen in over 50 years. Roads are destroyed, dirt and rocks litter the streets. The West and Northeast sides are most heavily hit. Ciudad Juárez, across the United States-Mexico border is also devastated. (El Paso Times)
Tropical Storm Chris forms east of the Lesser Antilles, prompting the issuance of tropical storm warnings for ten islands as well as tropical storm watches for Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. (National Hurricane Center)
There is major outcry in Iran following death of democracy activist Akbar Mohammadi in Evin Prison. Mohammadi was condemned to death for his role in the 1999 student protests at Tehran University. He had been on a hunger strike for more than a week, protesting the refusal by the Islamic Regime to allow him to seek proper medical treatment for life threatening injuries suffered as a result of torture. Reportedly he was beaten severely by prison guards the night of his death.(Persian Journal), (AKI), (Guardian)
2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict
- The Battle of Ayta al-Sha`b rages, with multiple Israeli casualties. (Yedioth Ahronoth)
- The International Committee of the Red Cross have so far extracted 28 bodies from the rubble, 19 of whom are children, in the wake of Sunday's airstrike on Qana. Earlier reports by the Lebanese police reported double the current confirmed deathtoll, claiming at least 56 fatalities, including 37 children. (ICRC)
- Israel's Security Council approves expansion of ground offensive in Lebanon and rejects a cease-fire until an international peacekeeping force is in place. (CBS)
- Tony Blair said in a speech on 1 August 2006 in Los Angeles, California that Hezbollah was armed by Iran.^[1]
A political scandal involving the Parliamentary Secretary for the Japanese Trade Ministry, Satsuki Katayama, and Yamaha Motor Company, accused of illegally exporting a helicopter into China by the trade ministry, deepens. (Asahi Shimbun)

References

^ "Blair says Syria, Iran risk confrontation"

August 2, 2006 (Wednesday)

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Mel Gibson is charged with misdemeanor drunken driving and related offences. (CNN)
2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict:
- Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has said that there will be no ceasefire in Lebanon until an international force is deployed in the south of the country.(BBC NEWS)
- The supreme leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has urged the Muslim world to stand up to Israel and the US, criticising them for their role in the conflict in Lebanon.(BBC NEWS)
- An Israeli civilian is killed and 16 wounded as more than 210 rockets are fired at northern Israel, the biggest daily number since the beginning of the conflict on 12 July. (Ynet), (Haaretz), (BBC NEWS)
- A Syrian-made missile fired from Lebanon lands near the West Bank city of Jenin, causing minor damage. (Haaretz), (Ynet), (AHN)
- A massive Israeli operation is completed near Baalbek. (Haaretz)
- Israel plans to resume air strikes after a 48-hour partial suspension. (ABC News Australia)

August 3, 2006 (Thursday)

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North Korea refuses aid after being devastated by flooding. As many as 1.5 million people have been displaced, and over one hundred are dead. CNN news
Iraq War:
- In the centre and south of the country, Shiites waved Iraqi flags and chanted "Death to America! Death to Israel!" as they boarded convoys of buses bound for Baghdad's Sadr City. These and other Shiite protesters were summoned to the capital by cleric Moqtada al-Sadr to protest against Israel's attacks on Lebanon. The protest is timed to begin after Friday prayers. Perth News (australia) International Herald Tribune
- Four US soldiers charged with murdering three detainees in Iraq smiled before shooting them, a military court has heard from a fellow soldier.(BBC NEWS)
- The top US commander in the Middle East, Gen John Abizaid, has said Iraq could move toward civil war if the sectarian violence is not stopped.(BBC NEWS)
- Civil war is a more likely outcome in Iraq than democracy, Britain's outgoing ambassador in Baghdad has warned Tony Blair in a confidential memo.(BBC NEWS)
The Union of French Jewish Employers and Professionals (UPJF), Conseil Représentatif des Institutions juives de France (CRIF), and the Vigilance Bureau against anti-Semitism (BVCA), have denounced a declaration made by French foreign minister Philippe Douste-Blazy who said while visiting Beirut on Monday that Tehran was “a stabilising element in the Middle East.”(EJP)
Tropical Storm Chris weakens and is now expected not to become a hurricane. (Reuters)
Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko nominates his political rival Viktor Yanukovich to become prime minister.(Reuters)
Clashes between Sri Lanka's army and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam escalates into the worst violence since they agreed a cease-fire in 2002. (Bloomberg)
2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict:
- Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said the "main solution" to end the conflict in Lebanon was the "elimination of the Zionist regime." (Al Jazeera), (Ynet)
- 8 Israeli civilians are killed and 39 wounded as some 160 rockets hit Israeli towns. All 28 civilian Israeli fatalities in the ongoing conflict were killed by Hezbollah rocket attacks, which have caused no military fatalities. (Ynet), (Haaretz)
- Israel resumes bombing Beirut. (CNN)
- The IDF investigation into the attack on Qana that killed a number of civilians has been completed. It states that the IDF was not aware that there were civilians in the building and assumed that they had been evacuated. The IDF also blamed Hezbollah for using civilians as human shields, and pointed out that over 150 rockets had been fired from the Qana area since the current conflict began. (Haaretz)(YNet)
- Human Rights Watch publishes a report criticizing Hezbollah for hiding behind civilians as well as the Israeli forces for deliberately targeting civilians. (Haaretz)
An alleged member of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan killed himself and a police officer with a hand grenade in Tajikistan's northern Sughd Region RFERL.org.

August 4, 2006 (Friday)

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The Domesday Book, the 920-year-old census record of England under William the Conqueror, goes online. Domesday Book, (Reuters)
Viktor Yanukovych became Prime minister of Ukraine.
Lord's Resistance Army second-in-command Vincent Otti declares an immediate, unilateral ceasefire in the rebel group's 20-year insurgency against the government of Uganda.(BBC)
2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict:
- Three Hezbollah rockets hit near the Israeli town of Hadera, 50 miles south of the Lebanese border and the deepest penetration within Israel to date. (AP via CNews)
- A senior Iranian official admits for the first time that Tehran did indeed supply long-range Zelzal-2 missiles to Hezbollah, capable of carrying a 600-kg warhead an estimated 210 km. (Haaretz)
- 3 Israeli civilians are killed and at least 50 wounded as some 140 rockets hit Israeli towns, raising to 10 the number of Israeli Arab citizens killed in the ongoing conflict. (Ynet), (Haaretz),(MFA)
- 2006 Qaa airstrike: An Israeli air strike near Lebanon's north-eastern border with Syria has killed at least 23 people and injured 30, Lebanese officials have said.(BBC NEWS)
- Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, who heads the Iranian Council of Guardians, said, "[S]upport for Hizbollah [is] a duty". (IRNA)
Somalia's transitional government is on the verge of collapse after 38 ministers and assistant ministers quit in the past nine days in protest against the governments failure to make a deal with the Supreme Islamic Courts Council. (csmonitor)
Arizona police in the United States announce the arrests of two men who are accused of 35 attacks and murders. (azfamily)

August 5, 2006 (Saturday)

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The Republic of China (Taiwan) severs diplomatic relations with Chad reducing the number of countries maintaining official relations with it to 24. The ROC foreign ministry cited Chad's intention to establish relations with the People's Republic of China as the reason. (AP)
Iran bans Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi's Defenders of Human Rights Center on the grounds that the human rights organization did not have a permit from the Interior Ministry. According to Iranian law, to form a nongovernmental organization, one does not need a permit. (AFP)
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi calls for the "formation of an international investigation committee to probe the ongoing atrocities of the Zionist regime in Lebanon, and to prosecute and punish the ones responsible for these catastrophes." (AFP)
2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict:
- The US and France have agreed on the wording of a UN resolution to end the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah.(BBC NEWS)
- Israeli commandos stage a nighttime raid on Tyre.(BBC NEWS)
Tropical Depression Chris starts to dissipate near Cuba. (National Hurricane Center)
Cyclist Floyd Landis, winner of the 2006 Tour de France, returns a positive B sample for excess testosterone. (BBC)
Southeastern Anatolia Project: Construction of the Ilısu Dam, which upon completion would cause the flooding of the ancient city of Hasankeyf in Turkey, starts. (BBC)

August 6, 2006 (Sunday)

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The Dechatu River in Ethiopia floods, killing over 200 people.(BBC) (Reuters)
Fifteen local employees of the French charity organisation Action Against Hunger are found dead in a town in northeastern Sri Lanka at the center of heavy fighting between Tamil rebels and government forces. Both sides have denied involvement in the killings. (BBC)
The Déby administration of Chad establishes official relations with the People's Republic of China. Chad had recognized the Republic of China (Taiwan) from 1997-2006. Chadian diplomats cited the prospects of greater financial investments and the PRC status in the United Nations Security Council as the principal factors motivating the diplomatic shift. (Bloomberg)
2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict:
- Lebanon rejects a draft U.N. resolution calling for an end to the conflict between Israel and Hizbollah, insisting it must include an explicit demand for a full Israeli pullout from south Lebanon.(The Hindu)
- In an interview with the German magazine Welt am Sonntag, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert asks European nations, "Where do they get the right to preach to Israel? European countries attacked Kosovo and killed ten thousand civilians. Ten thousand! And none of these countries had to suffer before that from a single rocket. I'm not saying it was wrong to intervene in Kosovo. But please: Don't preach to us about the treatment of civilians." (al Jazeera)
- Israeli troops attack the Lebanese town of Qana claiming to destroy the launchers that launched the missiles at Haifa. (USA Today)
- At least six rockets hit Haifa, Israel; one more rocket hits right outside of Haifa, and others hit the Ma'alot, Carmiel area, and Kiryat Shmona. The death toll is at least three in Haifa and 12 for Northern Israel as a whole. (Ynet News), (AP)
- Reuters has pulled a photograph of Beirut, Lebanon, admitting that it was altered by the photographer, Adnan Hajj, saying "photo editing software was improperly used on this image. A corrected version will immediately follow this advisory. We are sorry for any inconvenience." (Ynet News)(Reuters)
- Hezbollah rockets kill at least ten people in Israel. (Associated Press)
- Israel arrests the Speaker of the Palestinian Parliament, Abdel Aziz Duwaik. Duwaik is a member of Hamas. (ABC News)
Tomo Križnar, the Slovenian diplomatic envoy and human-rights activist to Sudan, is formally charged with espionage and illegally entering Darfur. Križnar, who admits entering Darfur without the required visa, was arrested in July. (BBC)
Tajikistan President Emomali Rahmonov began a state visit to India. (IRNA)
About 800 South Korean Christians left Afghanistan after their planned "peace festival" was called off due to concerns that their presence could spark violence. (Yahoo News)

August 7, 2006 (Monday)

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Israeli-Palestinian conflict
- Israeli troops have detained another Hamas member of Palestinian parliament during an overnight raid in the West Bank. (BBC NEWS)
Iraq War:
- A US military hearing has examined the testimony by one of the accused in an incident where a 14-year-old girl and three family members in Mahmudiya were allegedly killed by four US soldiers after the girl's rape in March. (BBC)
2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict:
- Reuters has withdrawn 920 photographs by a Lebanese photographer after a review of his work showed that he had changed two images from the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict. (Reuters), (YNet)
- Lebanon's government meets today, to decide to send the Lebanese army to the southern end of the country, according to political sources. It decides unanimously to send 15,000 troops to the south of the country as Israeli troops pull out. (Reuters)
- IDF planes have shot down a UAV suspected to be Hezbollah controlled as it flew over Israeli territory. (Reuters)
- An Israeli air strike has killed 1 person in the southern Lebanese border village of Houla. Lebanon's prime minister has retracted his earlier statement that more than 40 were killed. (BBC)
Oil price futures hit a record high for one blend of crude oil (Brent crude) after BP found corrosion damage to the Alaskan pipeline and cut production in Prudhoe Bay 50%. (Associated Press)(BBC)
Tens of thousands are evacuated from around the Mayon Volcano in the Bicol Region of the Philippines as local volcanologists anticipate an imminent eruption. (FoxNews.com)
AOL publicly releases 20 million unfiltered search keywords for 500,000 users, containing personally identifiable information about users' search habits. (TechCrunch)

August 8, 2006 (Tuesday)

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CBS News's Mike Wallace holds an interview with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the president of Iran. In the interview, Ahmadinejad said that the letter he sent to George W. Bush was meant to "open a window towards the light" for Bush to "see that one can look on the world through a different perspective." He responded to his nation's nuclear program and possible weapons program saying that Iran was "studying" the offer presented by the United States and the European Union. He also claimed that Bush "believes that his power emanates from his nuclear warhead arsenals." (CBS News)
Amid news of slower-than expected growth and a quarterly rise in the unemployment rate in the United States, Federal Reserve System Chairman Ben Bernanke announced that there will be no increase to the Fed fund rate, ending a two-year period of rising interest rates. (Bloomberg)
As Chadian President Idriss Déby is sworn-in to his third term in office, he hugs Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who only a few days ago was overseeing a campaign to overthrow the second Déby administration. (BBC)
2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict:
- Lebanon's coastline could take up to 10 years to recover from a massive oil spill, the nation's environment minister has said. (BBC NEWS)
- The Arab League makes a formal bid at the UN to secure changes to a draft Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire resolution.(BBC NEWS)
- Israel recalls its ambassador from Venezuela following comments made by President Hugo Chávez. Venezuela's ambassador to Israel was called back on August 3. (YNET NEWS), (Haaretz), (VenezuelAnalysis),(ADL)
- Ehud Olmert, the Prime Minister of Israel, describes Lebanon's decision to deploy 15,000 troops in southern Lebanon as an "interesting step" which Israel would review. (Reuters)
A strong earthquake of 6.7 magnitude hits near the island of Espiritu Santo in Vanuatu at 9:18 a.m. local time.(ABC News)(USGS)

August 9, 2006 (Wednesday)

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The Venezuelan opposition selects Manuel Rosales, governor of Zulia State, as its unity candidate for the December presidential election. (Bloomberg)
In Mexico, the partial recount of votes in the disputed 2006 presidential election held on July 2 begins amid escalating protests against alleged electoral irregularities in the close election. (CBC), (VOA)
Chad and Sudan resume diplomatic relations as part of the Dakar accord. The heads of state of Chad, Sudan, and Libya embrace in front of a cheering crowd in N'Djamena. (BBC News)
The Indian state of Kerala bans the sale and manufacture of soft drinks belonging to PepsiCo and The Coca-Cola Company due to the high levels of pesticide residue in the water used in these products. (AP)
After killing two in the Philippines, Severe Tropical Storm Bopha makes landfall in Taiwan. Typhoon Saomai and Tropical Storm Maria also threaten to make landfall, on the Chinese mainland and Japan respectively. (The China Post) (Malaysia Star)
2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict:
- Israeli Arab officials reject Hassan Nasrallah's call to leave Haifa metropolis, arguing against the attacks on civilian populations. (YNET NEWS)
- Spokeswoman for Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert calls BBC "the only international English-speaking news outlet that is downright hostile to Israel on every level." The BBC's response to that noted that "our duty is to provide independent reporting and analysis of all perspectives of a story, so our audiences can make sense of what's going on in the world." (Jerusalem Post)
- Dr. Jakob Kellenberger, president of the International Red Cross, comes under rocket attack on a visit to the Israeli city of Nahariya. (Ynet)
- Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah says that the United States imposes Israeli demands through the United Nations draft resolution. He also backs a Lebanese army deployment to South Lebanon. He also vowed for South Lebanon to become a "graveyard" for invading Israeli troops. (Reuters)(Reuters)
- Syrian-made missiles land in near Haifa and in the West Bank. (Ynet)
- Palestinian and Lebanese officials claim Israeli gunboats shelled Lebanon's largest Palestinian refugee camp near Sidon. (CBS)

August 10, 2006 (Thursday)

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2006 transatlantic aircraft plot:
- A terrorist plot to blow up planes in mid-flight from the UK to the US has been disrupted, Scotland Yard has said. (BBC) (CNN) (News.com.au)
- Pakistan's intelligence service claims that its cooperation with British intelligence helped to uncover the plot. CNN reports that sources have informed it that it was recent arrests in Pakistan that convinced Britain to act quickly. (Reuters) (CNN)
- Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney has activated the National Guard to help with security at Logan International Airport. (Associated Press via the Boston Globe)
- Heathrow Airport closed to most European flights as a result on bans on flights of three hours or less. Congestion builds due to ban most types of hand luggage. (New York Times)
- Intelligence officials claim that the suspects were intending to hold a dry run within the next 2 days with the actual attack to be held within 10 days. (KSLA News)
- United States President George W. Bush said the plot was "a stark reminder that this nation is at war with Islamic fascists who will use any means to destroy those of us who love freedom, to hurt our nation" drawing condemnation from the Council on American-Islamic Relations and the Muslim Public Affairs Council who discourage the use of term 'Islamo-fascism.' (Red Orbit)
Hugo Chávez states that Fidel Castro is in a "great battle for life" but expresses optimism about his recovery. (USA Today)
In Marietta, Ohio, United States two men were arrested on money laundering in support of terrorism. They were found with lists of travelers on airplanes and information on airport security checkpoints. (Associated Press)
More than 1.5 million Chinese evacuate while Super Typhoon Saomai, the strongest to land in China in 50 years, makes landfall in Wenzhou, Zhejiang. (Reuters), (BBC), (Forbes) (Houston Chronicle)

August 11, 2006 (Friday)

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2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict:
- The UN Security Council adopts a resolution, 15-0, calling for a ceasefire in the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict. (Reuters)
- Ehud Olmert accepts the emerging Middle East peace deal after earlier threatening an expansion of the ground war in Lebanon. The agreement calls for the deployment of 30,000 Lebanese and U.N. troops along the Israel-Lebanon border. (Boston Herald)
2006 transatlantic aircraft plot:
- 40 people have been arrested throughout Italy, in Muslim communities "as part of an extraordinary operation that followed the British anti-terrorist operation." (Fox News)
- The date the plot was to be carried out has been revealed to be August 16. (Daily Mail)
Typhoon Saomai kills 111 people and leaves 4 missing in eastern China, according to the Chinese government. (BBC)

August 12, 2006 (Saturday)

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2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict:
- The United Nations Human Rights Council has voted to send a team to Lebanon to investigate alleged abuses by Israel. (BBC)
- Lebanese officials claim that Israeli missiles killed 15 civilians in the village of Rachaf 10 kilometres from the border with Israel. (AP) (BBC)

August 13, 2006 (Sunday)

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Iraq sectarian violence:
- Three successive explosions in south Baghdad kill at least 62 people and injure more than 140. (Associated Press), (CBS News)
2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict:
- Israeli government endorses the UN Security Council resolution calling for an end to fighting in southern Lebanon. (BBC)
- A Lebanese government meeting on the disarming of Hezbollah south of the Litani River is cancelled following an announcement by the Shi'ite organization that it was not willing to discuss the subject. (Haaretz)
- Kofi Annan announces that a ceasefire will commence on August 14 at 8 a.m. Israeli-Lebanese time (0500 UTC). (Boston Globe)
- Iran says disarming Lebanese Hezbollah would be "illogical". (Reuters)
Yasukuni Shrine controversy:
- Jiji Press reports that Japan Ground Self-Defense Force uniform officers examined enshrining troops in Yasukuni Shrine in the event of their death during their non-combat mission in Iraq. Critics accuse the examination of being against Japanese constitutional separation of state and religion. (Mainichi Daily News)
- Japanese foreign minister Taro Aso suggests the Diet pass a law making the Yasukuni Shrine secular. (Asahi Shimbun)
XVI International AIDS Conference, 2006 is convened in Toronto, Canada. (CBC), (BBC), (Wikinews)

August 14, 2006 (Monday)

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An Israeli air strike hits a house in a refugee camp in the Gaza Strip. Israel claims that it is a command centre for the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. (Associated Press)
Fox News journalists Steve Centanni and Olaf Wiig are kidnapped in Gaza. (Associated Press)(Reuters)
2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict:
- Israel will pursue Hezbollah leaders in Lebanon despite the ceasefire ending the month-long conflict, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has told parliament.(BBC NEWS)
- Thousands of displaced Lebanese and Israelis have begun returning home hours after a UN ceasefire to end fighting between Israel and Hezbollah came into force.(BBC NEWS)
- The ceasefire takes effect at 8am Lebanese time. (CNN)

August 15, 2006 (Tuesday)

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Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi visits the Yasukuni Shrine, drawing many protests from around the region. (San Francisco Chronicle).
Former U.S. President Gerald Ford is admitted to the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota. (Reuters)
The United Kingdom government is to seek Parliamentary approval to grant posthumous pardons for over 300 soldiers executed for cowardice during the First World War. The soldiers' families have long claimed that they were suffering from shell shock (Post traumatic stress disorder). (BBC)
New Jersey Transit says that service has been suspended between New York's Penn Station and Secaucus due to a suspicious item found on the tracks east of the Secaucus junction. (WABC New York)
2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict:
- Israel claims that Hezbollah fired 10 Katyusha rockets into Southern Lebanon with none reaching Israel. (Associated Press)
The New Zealand Maori Queen, Te Arikinui Dame Te Atairangikaahu dies aged 75 at her official residence of Turangawaewae Marae Ngaruawahia, ending her 40 year reign, the longest of any Maori monarch within the Kingitanga movement and causing hundreds of thousands to flock to the Central North Island to attend her funeral.(NZ Herald)

August 16, 2006 (Wednesday)

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John Mark Karr is arrested in Bangkok for the 1996 murder of U.S. child beauty queen JonBenét Ramsey. (Denver Post) (USA Today) (MSNBC)
Terminal 18 of the Port of Seattle is evacuated after bomb-sniffing dogs indicate that at least one container recently taken off a ship may contain explosives. (AP) However, none of the containers are found to hold explosives. (Seattle Herald)
Javier Arellano Félix, leader of the Arrellano Félix drug cartel and brother of former FBI Ten Most Wanted listee Ramón Arellano Félix, is arrested by the United States Coast Guard in a boat in the Gulf of California off La Paz, Baja California Sur, Mexico. (FoxNews.com)
A Russian border patrol boat fires on a Japanese crab fishing boat near Kaigara Island, part of the Kuril Islands. One fisherman is killed and three others detained by the Russian authorities. (AP)
The International Astronomical Union proposes a new definition for a planet to be voted on August 24 which would include Charon, Eris, and Ceres as planets. (ABC) (BBC)
United Airlines Flight 923 makes an emergency landing in Boston. The original course was London to Washington D.C. Fighter jets escorted the plane to the airport. (AP via Fox News)
2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict:
- The Israeli ambassador to Canada, Alan Baker, criticises Bloc Québécois leader Gilles Duceppe for participating in an Aug. 6 Montreal march in which a few Hezbollah supporters also took part. The march was, however, a protest against war and not a show of support for Hezbollah. (CTV)
- The Government of Israel says the withdrawal from South Lebanon will stop if Lebanese troops are not deployed there within days. (Reuters)
- Ali Khamenei, Iran's Supreme Leader and the supreme religious authority to Hezbollah followers, praises Hezbollah resistance. (AP via Yahoo!)
The South Korean based Good Friends aid agency estimates that in North Korea 54,700 people have died due to massive flooding in July. The DPRK Government claims only "hundreds" have died. (ABC) (IHT)
The death toll from the flooding of the Omo River in southern Ethiopia nears 500. (BBC)

August 17, 2006 (Thursday)

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North Korea: According to ABC News, a "senior State Department official" says that "It is the view of the intelligence community that a (nuclear) test is a real possibility," and says that they have seen "suspicious vehicle movement" at a suspected nuclear test site. However, according to Reuters, a United States official said that "We have no new evidence to support that." Also according to the Associated Press, the White House said that any nuclear weapons test would be an "extremely provocative" act that would be denounced around the globe." (ABC News America)(Reuters)(Associated Press via Fox News)
United States distri