Portal:Current events/2008 August 26

August 26, 2008 (Tuesday)

A Sudanese plane is hijacked shortly after taking off from Nyala in the Darfur region and flown to Kufra in Libya. (CNN)
Tamil Tigers carry out an air raid on a major naval base at Trincomalee on the east coast of Sri Lanka, injuring four sailors. (BBC News)
Flight delays hit more than two dozen United States airports because of a communication network problem in a Federal Aviation Administration facility in Atlanta, Georgia. (MarketWatch) (Chicago Tribune)
At least 28 people are killed after a suicide bombing in the province of Diyala, Iraq. (Reuters via The Ottawa Citizen)
Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim wins a landslide victory in the by-election in Permatang Pauh. (AP via Yahoo! News)
2008 South Ossetia war:
- Russia recognises the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.(The New York Times) (Earth Times)
  - U.S. President George W. Bush says Russia's president should not recognize two breakaway regions of Georgia as independent countries, despite pleas from Russian lawmakers (Rustavi 2) White House spokesman Tony Fratto says shortly after Russia's recognition that Russia is making a number of "irrational" decisions that puts its place in the world at risk.(AP via Google News)
  - Swedish foreign minister Carl Bildt condemns Russia's "deliberate violation of international law", saying that "the Russian government leadership now has chosen this route means they have chosen a policy of confrontation, not only with the rest of Europe, but also with the international community in general".(Warsaw Business Journal) (The Local)
Hurricane Gustav
- Tropical Storm Gustav becomes Hurricane Gustav as it approaches Haiti. (Reuters)
- A Haitian man dies in a landslide caused by Hurricane Gustav. (AP via Google News)^{[permanent dead link]}
The Koshi River breaks embankment to pick up the course abandoned over 200 years ago causing floods in the Indian state of Bihar and killing 42 people. (CNN-IBN)