Portal:Current events/2007 August 23

August 23, 2007 (Thursday)

Chororapithecus abyssinicus, a 10-million-year-old fossil found in Ethiopia, may prove that the last common ancestor of gorillas and humans existed 2 million years earlier than previously thought.(Nature)
The Governor General of Jamaica Kenneth Octavius Hall announces that the Jamaican general election, 2007 is postponed to September 3 due to the impact of Hurricane Dean. (Reuters)
The Nigerian government extends a curfew in Port Harcourt after hundreds die in gang violence this month. (Reuters Alertnet)
A storm in Chicago injures 40 people and disrupts the transport network. (AP via WSB)
Top British tennis player Tim Henman has confirmed he will retire from the sport after this year's Davis Cup in Croatia. (Sky News)
The Supreme Court of Pakistan issues a ruling allowing former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his brother Shahbaz Sharif to return to Pakistan.
Officials in Ohio declare a state of emergency in nine counties as a result of flooding. (Reuters)
Two people are killed in Ermera, East Timor in another outbreak of political violence. (ABC News)
The South African Communist Party launches an investigation into what happened to a political donation of 500,000 rand allegedly made in 2002. (BBC)
The European Union lifts a ban on the export of British livestock, meat and dairy products imposed after a recent foot and mouth disease outbreak in Surrey. (The Telegraph)^{[permanent dead link]}
MySpace and MTV join forces to let candidates in the 2008 United States presidential election hold online webcasts with young people. (AFP via the Melbourne Age)
At least 25 people are killed, 22 arrested and five abducted as suspected Al Qaeda in Iraq militants attack a Sunni mosque in Baquba, Iraq. (BBC)
Japanese political activist Yoshihiro Tanjo is charged with intimidation for cutting off his little finger and sending it to the Prime Minister of Japan Shinzo Abe over Shinzo's refusal to visit the Yasukuni shrine to commemorate Japan's World War II dead. (BBC) (Reuters)
Hurricane Dean is downgraded to a tropical depression over Mexico after killing 20 people in the Caribbean. (AP via Fox News)
Two youths aged 18 and 14 are arrested in Liverpool, England on suspicion of shooting dead an 11-year-old boy in Croxteth. (The Times and PA)
More than 1200 Ford workers in Victoria, Australia are stood down due to an industrial dispute over unpaid entitlements owed to workers in a Ford supplier. (AAP via News Limited)
Vendors selling puffer fish meat as salmon has led to 15 deaths and 115 people being sickened in Thailand over the past three years. (AP via IHT)
U.S. Customs and U.S. Navy officials seized a submarine-like vessel filled with $352 million worth of cocaine off the Guatemalan coast. (prices given by CIA) (AP via Forbes)