Portal:Current events/2009 August 22

Current events of August 22, 2009 (2009-08-22) (Saturday)

Cardinal Seán Brady, Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland, criticises Ireland's Civil Partnership Bill, which gives statutory partnership rights to same-sex couples. (RTÉ) (Sunday Independent) Argentina's Foreign Affairs Ministry “harshly condemns” the nomination of Ahmad Vahidi to serve as Iran's Defence Minister as he is a suspected international terrorist sought by Interpol in connection with the 1994 attack on AMIA Jewish community centre in Buenos Aires. (MercoPress) Islamic insurgents attack a government checkpoint in Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, sparking a gunbattle that kills at least five people on the first day of Ramadan. (IOL) The militant group Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta hands over hundreds of weapons to the Nigerian government as part of a weapons amnesty. (BBC) (NEXT) (IOL) Officials from North and South Korea meet for talks for the first time in two years. (BBC) (Yonhap) Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva arrives in Bolivia with a "strong tone-down message". (MercoPress) Niger's police use tear gas to injure and arrest several people during clashes with opponents of a new constitution that would enable President Mamadou Tandja to seek unlimited mandates. (IOL) Thousands of Venezuelans join rival marches in Caracas over a controversial education law that critics say strengthens President Hugo Chávez's grip over schools and universities. (Reuters) (BBC) Two turkey farms in Valparaíso, Chile, are quarantined over fears the birds have caught swine influenza from humans. (MercoPress) Taliban official Hakeemullah Mehsud is selected as the new head of the Pakistani Taliban, a local Taliban commander in Pakistan's federally administered tribal areas confirms. (CNN)