Portal:Current events/2008 August 15

August 15, 2008 (Friday)

ETS Europe, part of the American-owned Educational Testing Service, is sacked by the British government for bad failures in manipulating Key Stage education tests. ETS agrees to repay some £35 million (USD70 million). (BBC News)
The Nepalese Constituent Assembly elects former Maoist rebel Prachanda as the first Prime Minister of Nepal as a republic. (BBC News via ABC Australia)
Leftist former Catholic bishop Fernando Lugo is sworn in as the President of Paraguay, ending 60 years of one-party rule. (AP via CNN)
Former President Hissène Habré is sentenced to death in absentia by a Chadian court for a military assault on the capital. (BBC News)
Russia threatens Poland with military consequences for allowing the United States of America to place defense missiles within its borders. (AP via Google News)
2008 South Ossetia war:
- Russia will provide 'at least' 10 billion Roubles (approx. €270 million, US$420 million) aid to South Ossetia to help rebuild Tskhinvali 'leveled' during the Georgian 'lasting artillery shelling' of 7th and 8th of August. (Rossiyskaya Gazeta) (Regnum) (Rian) (RBC)
- Russian soldiers continue to occupy Georgian towns. (The Independent)
  - Georgian police left the town of Gori and neighbouring villages right after the hostilities in South Ossetia ended and the peace was brokered, says AP. 'The Russian troops had stopped the looting, restored order', while the locals interviewed by journalists say Russians are 'behaving well'. (AP via Yahoo! News)
- Russia asks for the adequate covering of the conflict from the Western media. High Russian official names the way the anchor treats his guest in a breaking news on Fox a 'total shamelessness'. The journalist interrupts the story of an Ossetian-American girl and her aunt accusing Micheil Saakashvili of the war, and announces commercial break before the two refugees have chance to continue. (InterFax) (Fox via YouTube) (RT via YouTube)
- The U.S. Secretary of State has flown to Tbilisi for urgent talks to try to bring the Georgia's conflict with South Ossetia and Russia to an end. (Sky News) (Delfi) (The New York Times)
- Turkish journalists near the border with South Ossetia came under attack by people Sky News supposes are either Russian soldiers or Ossetian militia. (Sky News)
- The President of the United States George W. Bush assures Georgia that it has US support stating the people of Georgia have chosen freedom and "we will not cast them aside." (USA Today) The president of Estonia, Toomas Hendrik Ilves, said on Thursday that Russia's strike into Georgia should persuade NATO urgently to give Georgia and Ukraine membership of the alliance, Reuters reports. (Baltic Business News) (Reuters)
  - However, the outcome of the conflict is characterized by many Western media as a 'victory' of Russia, both in politics and warfare. (The Times) (The Economist) (The Times) (The Guardian) (Calgary Sun)
2008 Summer Olympics
- Michael Phelps of the United States wins his sixth gold medal of the Beijing Olympics in the men’s 200 metres individual medley setting a new world record. (The Times)
- United States swimmers Rebecca Soni and Ryan Lochte win gold medals and set swimming world records in the women's 200-metre breaststroke and men's 200m backstroke respectively. (DPA via the Bangkok Post)
Five people are arrested in Beijing after unfurling a "free Tibet" banner on the Central TV Tower, the highest building in Beijing. (BBC News)