Portal:Current events/2006 November 23
November 23, 2006 (Thursday)
- Sectarian war in Iraq: A series of car bombs and mortar attacks in the predominantly Shi'a Sadr City area of Baghdad kills at least 202 people and wounds another 257. The incidents comprise the deadliest coordinated attack since the Iraq War started. (BBC) (Reuters)
- Lech Kaczyński, the President of Poland, announces three days of national mourning for the twenty-three victims of the mining disaster at the Halemba mine in Ruda Śląska, Poland. (Stuff New Zealand)
- Somali Civil War: Ethiopia has made preparations for a conflict with the Islamic Courts Union, whom control much of southern Somalia, Prime Minister Meles Zenawi has told MPs. (BBC)
- Hamas claims responsibility for a suicide bombing attack in which a 57-year-old grandmother killed herself. She also admits to the use of women as human shields in order to save militant gunmen, (Breitbart)
- Alexander Litvinenko, the Russian ex-spy poisoned in London last weekend, dies. He had previously been put on a ventilator after suffering a heart failure, while objects discovered in his body when he was x-rayed are not a "major concern", doctors say. (The Times) (News Limited)
- Dick Cheney, Vice-President of the United States, is reported to have arrived in Iraq to spend Thanksgiving with US forces, though this is denied by his spokesperson. (BBC)
- Don Brash resigns as leader of the opposition New Zealand National Party, saying ongoing speculation about his leadership is damaging to the party. (NZ Herald)