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Researchers announce new fossils of Homo rudolfensis, helping to confirm it as a species distinct from Homo habilis.
Libya's National Transitional Council transfers power to the recently elected General National Congress.
American composer Marvin Hamlisch (pictured) dies at the age of 68.
Three gunmen kill nineteen people in a church near Okene, Nigeria.
Flooding from Typhoon Haikui forces the evacuation of at least 250,000 people in Metro Manila.

Olympics summary – Wikinews – Recent deaths
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August 11, 2012 (Saturday)

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Armed conflicts and attacks

Syrian civil war
- US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is in Istanbul for talks on the Syrian civil war with Turkish leaders. (AAP via The Telegraph

Politics and elections

United States presidential election, 2012
- Presumptive Republican Party candidate for President Mitt Romney is set to announce his vice presidential candidate. (BBC)
- Unconfirmed reports say that Romney is due to select Congressman Paul Ryan of Wisconsin as his running mate. (AP via Fox News)

August 11, 2012 Wikinews articles

August 10, 2012 (Friday)

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Armed conflict and attacks

Mexican Drug War
- Four suspected drug traffickers of the Sinaloa Cartel, including the cousin of Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán, Mexico's most-wanted drug lord, are captured in Spain. (BBC News)
- The Mexican authorities discovered 10 mutilated corpses inside a van in Zacatecas. (Milenio)
A Libyan army general Mohammed Hadia al Feitouri is shot dead in Benghazi. (BBC)

Disasters

The death toll from recent floods in the Philippines capital Manila and surrounding regions rises to 60. (AAP via SBS)
The United States says they are planning to help clean up herbicide Agent Orange from areas of Vietnam, the first time since the Vietnam War ended in 1975. (CNN)

International relations

The South Korean Yonhap news agency reports that the President of South Korea Lee Myung-bak is considering visiting the disputed Liancourt Rocks which is also claimed by Japan. (Yonhap)

Politics and elections

Tens of thousands of people attend the state funeral for President John Atta Mills in Accra. (BBC)

Law and crime

A dead body is discovered in the grandmothers house of the missing girl in the case of the Disappearance of Tia Sharp in England. (Sky News)

Sports

Juventus coach Antonio Conte is banned for 10 months due to his alleged role in match-fixing. (BBC)

2012 Summer Olympics:
- Colombia's Mariana Pajón wins gold at the Women's BMX final, making it the second gold medal in the history of this south american country (El Tiempo).

August 10, 2012 Wikinews articles

Ghana buries late President Mills

August 9, 2012 (Thursday)

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Armed conflict and attacks

Syrian civil war:
- The Syrian Army claims success in its major ground offensive against the opposition-held neighborhoods of Aleppo. (Reuters)
- Tehran, Iran, hosts a foreign ministers' conference on Syria, but the attendees remain unknown. Russia is to be represented by its ambassador to Iran. (Reuters) (The Voice of Russia)
- A White House government official says the United States may consider a no-fly zone over the rebel-held territory in Syria. (Reuters)
- Retired Major-General Vladimir Kuzheyev, a Russian military adviser to the Syrian government, rejects the rebel claims of his death in clashes outside Damascus. (The Moscow Times)
Mexican Drug War:
- Fourteen bodies are abandoned inside a van on a major avenue in the Mexican state of San Luis Potosí. It is the fifth time this year drug traffickers leave 14 bodies as a message to their rivals, signaling that the number may be some sort of code. (Chicago Tribune)
North Caucasus insurgency:
- At least 5 police officers and 3 militants are killed in clash in the Botlikhsky District in Russia's North Caucasus Republic of Dagestan. (RIA)
A gunman in Afghan military uniform kills three U.S. soldiers in the southwestern Afghan province of Helmand. (BBC)

Business and economy

Barclays appoints Sir David Walker as its new chairman following the Libor scandal. (BBC)

Disasters

The death toll from floods in the Philippines over the past ten days rises to 70. (CNN)
Hurricane Ernesto makes landfall in the Mexican state of Veracruz causing at least three deaths. (Reuters via Yahoo! News)

Law and crime

The trial of Gu Kailai, wife of former Communist powerbroker Bo Xilai, for the alleged murder of British businessman Neil Haywood begins in the Chinese city of Hefei. (ABC News Australia)
The female Mexican drug lord Sandra Ávila Beltrán is extradited to the United States from Mexico. (The New York Times)
Two journalists are arrested for posing for photographs holding teddy bears in a pro-democracy stunt in Belarus. (Reuters)

Sport

2012 Summer Olympics:
- Ireland's Katie Taylor wins gold by defeating Russia's Sofya Ochigava in the women's boxing event at ExCeL London. (BBC) (RTÉ)
- Great Britain's Nicola Adams becomes the first female boxer to win an Olympic gold medal after defeating China's Ren Cancan in the flyweight final. (BBC Sport)
- Kenya's David Rudisha becomes the first athlete to set a new world track record at London 2012 as he claims the 800m gold at the Olympic Stadium. (BBC Sport)
- Jamaica's Usain Bolt becomes the first person to win the 100m and 200m events in back-to-back Summer Olympics. (Los Angeles Times)

August 9, 2012 Wikinews articles

August 8, 2012 (Wednesday)

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Armed conflict and attacks

Armed men open fire at a checkpoint in the Egyptian city of Arish on the Sinai Peninsula. (Reuters)
- The Egyptian Air Force responds with air strikes leaving 20 people dead. (Al Jazeera)
Syrian civil war:
- Heavy fighting continues in the Salaheddine district in Aleppo. (Washington Post)
- A Jordanian government spokesman says Syria's ex-prime minister, Riad Hijab, arrives in Jordan, contradicting earlier reports that he had fled Syria on August 6. (Washington Post)

Business and economy

China announces plan to close one-third of the nation's 23 rare earth mines and about half of 99 smelting companies. (CNN)

Disasters

2012 Pacific typhoon season:
- Typhoon Haikui makes landfall over Xiangshan County in the Chinese province of Zhejiang. (CNN)
- The death toll in the Philippines capital Manila from flooding rises to 16 with rain continuing to fall. (BBC)
- Philippine news agencies report that several cities, provinces and towns in Luzon are now under state of calamity. (The Philippine STAR) (INQUIRER.net) (ABS-CBNnews.com)
Hurricane Ernesto hits the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico. (CNN)
A welding fire breaks out but is soon extinguished, with no injuries, on the 88th floor of One World Trade Center in New York City.(NBC)
A preliminary magnitude 4.5 earthquake strikes Orange County, California, near Whittier and Anaheim, five miles from Placentia, California near Chino Hills, California, and Orange, California, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS), as reported by NBC News Los Angeles, hours after a 4.4-magnitude temblor affected Yorba Linda, California, along with two other quakes with magnitudes 2.7 and 1.2. Minimal damage was reported.(NBC)

Arts and culture

Anthropologists find the skeleton of a young woman inside a burial in Templo Mayor, surrounded by piles of 1,789 human bones. This finding is "unprecedented for the Aztec culture." (The Huffington Post)

Law and crime

Marvin Lee Wilson is executed by the state of Texas despite the low IQ results that could have invalidated his punishment. (CBS News)
The Supreme Court of Pakistan orders the Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf to appear before it to explain his alleged failure to comply with orders reopening corruption charges against President Asif Ali Zardari. (Reuters)
A police dog team searches a grandmother's house after the disappearance of Tia Sharp. (Sky News)
A man is sentenced to 25 years imprisonment for the kidnapping and Murder of Anni Dewani in South Africa.(Sky News)
Jared Lee Loughner, the shooter in the 2011 Tucson shooting, pleads guilty to all charges and is sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. (CBS News)

Politics

30 leading German managers write a letter to the leaders of the parliamentary groups where they ask for the ratification of the United Nations Convention against Corruption. (The Local)
Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda annouces that the ruling Democratic Party of Japan has reached an agreement with the opposition Liberal Democratic and New Komeito parties to pass a bill that will raise Japan's consumption tax rate. This will "shortly" be followed by dissolution of the Diet and a snap election, although no timetable has been set. (NHK World) (Bloomberg)
President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych signs a controversial law about official status of 18 languages (including Russian, Hungarian, Crimean Tatar language, etc.) as regional and minority languages, allowing officials in Russian-speaking regions of the country to use Russian at public events and in documents. (The Washington Post)

Sport

German footballer Robert Huth is hospitalised with suspected meningitis. (ESPN)

August 8, 2012 Wikinews articles

Olympics gymnastics finals conclude with wins for Netherlands, United States, China

August 7, 2012 (Tuesday)

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Armed conflicts and attacks

Mexican Drug War: The United States freezes the assets of three Belize-based associates of Mexico's top drug lord, Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán. (The Huffington Post)
Syrian civil war: Saeed Jalili, a senior Iranian official, reaffirms the Iranian government's support for the Syrian government throughout the crisis. (Al Jazeera)
A bomb hits a minibus in the Paghman District in Afghanistan's Kabul Province, killing at least nine people. (BBC)
At least 21 people are killed in a gun attack on a church and later an Army patrol near the city of Okene in Kogi state, central Nigeria. (BBC) (Christian Science Monitor)
Tuareg rebellion (2012): Burkina Faso's foreign minister Djibrill Bassole visits fighters linked to Al-Qaeda in northern Mali in an attempt to solve an ongoing crisis. (Al Jazeera)

Disasters

Flooding in the Philippines capital Manila forces at least 20,000 people to flee their homes with the death toll after eight days of heavy rain throughout the country reaching 53. (AFP via Google)
The People's Republic of China evacuates 200,000 people from Shanghai ahead of Typhoon Haikui which is expected to make landfall in Zhejiang early tonight or tomorrow morning. (AFP via Yahoo! News)

Law and crime

Police in Malaysia detain eight people after a toddler reportedly dies during a 20 hour exorcism ritual. (Bangkok Post)
Investigators probing the disappearance of Tia Sharp find CCTV film of the missing girl. (BBC)

Politics

A Tibetan man sets himself on fire in Sichuan, in the latest in a series of protests against Chinese rule. (Radio Television Hong Kong)

Sports

2012 Summer Olympics:
- In the semi-finals of association football, Mexico defeats Japan 3–1 and advances to the final, facing Brazil. (Yahoo! Sports)
- Seven athletes from Cameroon go missing. (CNN)
- In athletics, Sally Pearson of Australia wins the 100 metres hurdles setting a new Olympic record of 12.35 seconds. (Herald Sun)

August 7, 2012 Wikinews articles

Wildfires spread across parts of Oklahoma

August 6, 2012 (Monday)

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Armed conflicts and attacks

Clashes take place between protesters and Islamists in Gao, Mali, over a planned amputation of a robber and beating of a journalist covering the demonstration. (Reuters)
2012 Rakhine State riots: Renewed fighting between Buddhist Rakhine and Muslim Rohingya in western Burma kills three people. (Dawn)
Mexican Drug War: Alleged members of Los Zetas, a drug cartel originally set up by former soldiers of the Mexican Army, attack several media outlets in Monterrey for publishing on a rumored split between the two principal Zetas bosses. (InSight Crime)
Arab Spring:
- Syrian civil war
  - A bomb explodes at the headquarters of Syrian state television in Damascus. (AP via Google News)
  - Syrian Prime Minister Riad Hijab and his family defect to Jordan to join the opposition. State-run media claims he was fired, but the Free Syrian Army states this was only after he arrived in Jordan. (BBC)
  - Syrian rebels state that three Iranians abducted on 4 August 2012 are killed during an air attack in Damascus province by government forces, and threaten to kill the others in their custody unless the army stops its attack. (Reuters)
- Tunisian revolution:
  - Anti-government protesters and police clash in the capital Tunis over alleged corruption and nepotism within the government. (Al Jazeera)
- Bahraini uprising:
  - The chief prosecutor charges 15 police officers with torturing doctors who were arrested during protests. (Now Lebanon)
North Caucasus insurgency:
- Two police officers are killed and one injured in an ambush in the Tsuntinsky District, Dagestan. (RIA)
- Four people are confirmed dead and 3 wounded in an apparent suicide bombing at a police checkpoint in Grozny, the capital of Chechnya.(RIA)
An attack on an army base in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, kills six people. (France 24)

Arts and culture

Australian art critic, historian and documentary maker Robert Hughes dies in New York City. (AAP via Business Day)

Disasters

New Zealand's Mount Tongariro erupts for the first time in a century, spreading volcanic ash across the central North Island and affecting airports. (New Zealand Herald) (Stuff.co.nz)
A fire at the Chevron Richmond Refinery in Richmond, California spreads thick black smoke over Contra Costa County, prompting warnings from officials to shelter in place. (Mercury News)

International relations

Sri Lanka arrests 37 Chinese fisherman for illegally fishing in Sri Lankan waters. (Hong Kong Standard)

Law and crime

Police in Oak Creek, Wisconsin investigate a shooting incident at a Sikh temple which left seven people dead, including the gunman. (BBC)

Politics and elections

Britain's Deputy Prime Minister and leader of the Liberal Democrats, Nick Clegg announces that plans to reform the House of Lords will be abandoned after his party's coalition partners, the Conservatives, failed to support the proposals. The Lib Dems will also not support Conservative plans to reduce the number of MPs in the House of Commons. (BBC)
British Conservative MP Louise Mensch announces she will leave the House of Commons, triggering a by-election in her constituency. (BBC)

Science

NASA's Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover lands safely on the surface of Mars. (Reuters)

Sport

2012 Summer Olympics:
- Nicholas Delpopolo, an American Judo fighter, is expelled from competition after testing positive for marijuana. (The Huffington Post)

August 6, 2012 Wikinews articles

August 5, 2012 (Sunday)

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Armed conflicts and attacks

Syrian civil war:
- General Muhammed Ahmed Faris, a military aviator who became the first Syrian in space, defects to Turkey. (AFP via Arab News)
Mexican Drug War:
- Armed men kidnap the mayor of Tecpán de Galeana, Guerrero. (El Universal)
- Cartel members armed with AK-47 assault rifles gun down and kill five teenage boys in Escobedo, Nuevo León. (Fox News)
A gunman opens fire at a Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, killing six people; the perpetrator later dies of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. (CNN) (BBC)
Clashes between Turkish government troops and Kurdish rebels at a Turkish border post in the southeastern province of Hakkâri kill at least 19 people, including 11 fighters from the Kurdistan Workers' Party. (CNN) (BBC)
A suicide bombing in the northeastern Nigerian city of Damaturu kills at least five soldiers. (BBC)
Two gunmen kill a Sudanese employee of the UN World Food Programme (WFP) in the southern border state of South Kordofan, Sudan. (Reuters)
Miners in Zambia kill a Chinese mine manager during a riot over pay. (BBC)

Business and economy

American automaker General Motors strikes a $559 million marketing deal with English football club Manchester United. (Reuters)

Disasters and accidents

An outbreak of cholera hits a refugee camp in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo where thousands have fled fighting between M23 rebels and government troops. (Al Jazeera)
Flash floods in India's Uttarakhand state kill 12 people with up to 40 missing. (Jagran Post)

Sport

2012 Summer Olympics:
- In tennis, Andy Murray defeats Roger Federer to win the men's singles final, securing Britain's 16th gold medal in the process. (BBC Sport)
- In athletics, sprinter Usain Bolt of Jamaica wins the 100 metres final. (The Sydney Morning Herald)
Mixed martial arts: The light-heavyweight fighter Lyoto Machida defeats Ryan Bader on UFC on Fox: Shogun vs. Vera, earning a rematch with the current champion in the division, Jon Jones. (ESPN)

August 5, 2012 Wikinews articles

On the campaign trail, July 2012

More August 2012 events...

Ongoing events
Political Arab Spring Libyan factional fighting Syrian Civil War Bahraini uprising Saudi Arabian protests Mexican Anti-Imposition Protests Economic Barclays LIBOR manipulation Global financial crisis European sovereign-debt crisis Greek economic crisis Environmental 2012 North American drought Musical The Stone Roses Reunion Tour Sports 2012 Summer Olympics

Recent deaths
August 9: Carl Davis 8: Sancho Gracia 8: Jairo Varela 7: Anna Piaggi 7: Judith Crist 6: Marvin Hamlisch 6: Robert Hughes 5: Chavela Vargas 4: Con Houlihan 4: Metin Erksan 3: Paul McCracken 2: Marguerite Piazza 2: John Keegan 1: Keiko Tsushima 1: Abel Salinas July 31: Gore Vidal 30: Maeve Binchy 30: Chris Marker 27: Tony Martin 27: R. G. Armstrong 27: Geoffrey Hughes 27: Jack Taylor 27: Darryl Cotton 26: Pat Porter 26: Mary Tamm 25: Franz West 24: Chad Everett 24: Sherman Hemsley 24: John Atta Mills edit sidebar

Ongoing conflicts
Global War on Terror Terrorist incidents Operation Active Endeavour Operation Enduring Freedom War on Drugs Africa Maghreb insurgency OEF - Trans Sahara Casamance conflict Niger Delta conflict Nigerian Sharia conflict Sudan internal conflict South Sudan internal conflict South Sudan–Sudan border conflict 2012 East DR Congo conflict Lord's Resistance Army insurgency Somalia: Civil war War 2009- Piracy OEF - Horn of Africa Tuareg rebellion Americas Colombian armed conflict (1964–present) Mexican Drug War War on Drugs Asia Afghanistan War Military operations Taliban insurgency Pakistan: Terrorism North-West War Drone attacks Sectarian violence India: Terrorism Jammu and Kashmir insurgency Naxalite-Maoist insurgency Northeast India insurgency Nagaland ethnic conflict Kashmir conflict Siachen conflict Korean maritime border incidents Southeast Asia: Laos insurgency South Thailand insurgency Cambodian–Thai border dispute Territorial disputes in the South China Sea Islamic insurgency in the Philippines Operation Enduring Freedom – Philippines Papua conflict Europe North Caucasus insurgency Dissident Irish Republican campaign Middle East Iraqi insurgency Arab–Israeli conflict Israeli–Palestinian conflict Israeli–Lebanese conflict Palestinian political violence and rocket attacks Yemen: Terrorism al-Qaeda crackdown South Yemen insurgency Shia insurgency Kurdistan: Turkey–PKK conflict Syrian Civil War edit sidebar

Elections
Recent: July 1: Liechtenstein, Constitutional referendum 1: Mexico, General 1: Senegal, Parliament 7: East Timor, Parliament 7: Libya, General National Congress 15: Republic of the Congo, Parliament (1st round) 18: Cayman Islands, Electoral system referendum 19: India, President (indirect) 19: Nagorno-Karabakh, President 20: Samoa, O le Ao o le Malo (indirect) 29: Republic of the Congo, Parliament (2nd round) 29: Romania, Presidential impeachment referendum Upcoming: August 31: Angola, Parliament edit sidebar

Trials
Recently concluded Canada: Michael Rafferty Egypt: Hosni Mubarak, Alaa Mubarak, Gamal Mubarak Germany: Breno Borges Indonesia: Abu Bakar Bashir Sierra Leone: Charles Taylor (SCFSL) South Africa: Chris Mahlangu Tunisia: Zine El Abidine Ben Ali Ukraine: Yulia Tymoshenko United Kingdom: Levi Bellfield, Robert Black, Vincent Tabak, Ali Dizaei, Antoni Imiela, Brian Regan, Donna Air, Ched Evans, Clayton McDonald, Titus Bramble, Dan Penteado, John Terry, Iftikhar and Farzana Ahmed United States: Noshir Gowadia, Buju Banton, Barry Bonds, Raj Rajaratnam, Casey Anthony, Conrad Murray, George Huguely, Allen Stanford, William Balfour, Roger Clemens, Jerry Sandusky Ongoing Cambodia: Khmer Rouge Tribunal Canada: Luka Magnotta China: Organized crime in Chongqing France: Church of Scientology Iraq: Supreme Criminal Tribunal Malaysia: Anwar Ibrahim Netherlands: Thomas Lubanga (ICC), Radovan Karadžić (ICTY), Ratko Mladic (ICTY) Norway: Anders Behring Breivik Palau: Tommy Remengesau Philippines: Andal Ampatuan, Jr. Russia: Leonid Khabarov, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, Platon Lebedev, Pussy Riot Singapore: Tak Boleh Tahan Sudan: Lubna al-Hussein Thailand: Thaksin Shinawatra Turkey: Ergenekon network, Kenan Evren United States: Ahmed Ghailani, David Headley, Jared Lee Loughner, Charles P. White, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, Viktor Bout, John Edwards, Lauryn Hill Upcoming Libya: Saif al-Islam Gaddafi Ivory Coast: Laurent Gbagbo United Kingdom: Justin Lee Collins, Chris Huhne, Vicky Pryce United States: Nidal Malik Hasan, Javaris Crittenton, Bradley Manning, Robert Bales, George Zimmerman, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Peter Madoff, Christian Gerhartsreiter, Crystal Mangum edit sidebar

Events by month

2012: January; February; March; April; May; June; July; August; September; October; November; December

2011: January; February; March; April; May; June; July; August; September; October; November; December

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