Portal:Current events/2007 August 4

August 4, 2007 (Saturday)

A natural gas pipeline between Turkey and Greece is completed allowing gas to be sent from the Middle East to Europe. (Today's Zaman)
An outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in Surrey, England prompts the banning of exports of British livestock and other animal products. (Globe&Mail)
Jesse Spielman – a United States Army soldier was given sentences of 110 years in prison in plea deals that spared him the death penalty for his role in the gang-rape and murder of an Iraqi girl and the mass murder of her family. (CNN)
The United States House of Representatives passes the budget for the United States Department of Defense. (Fox News)
The United States House of Representatives passes an energy bill which aims to expand the use of renewable energy and reduce tax concessions to oil companies. (BBC)
A vehicle with Florida license plates driven by men of Middle Eastern origin is stopped by police in Goose Creek, South Carolina, and found to be carrying explosive devices. (ABC)
The United States House of Representatives approves legislation expanding the United States Government's ability to conduct surveillance without a court order on foreign terrorism suspects. (Reuters)
Brazilian Defense Minister Nelson Jobim fires the head of the Brazilian airports authority, José Carlos Pereira for recent problems including the crash of TAM Linhas Aéreas Flight 3054 and hires Sergio Gaudenzi, the President of the Brazilian Space Agency. (New York Times)
San Francisco Giants outfielder Barry Bonds ties Hank Aaron for most career home runs with 755, while Alex Rodriguez becomes the youngest player to hit 500 home runs in Major League Baseball. (TSN), (Sports Illustrated)^{[permanent dead link]}
Oakland police claim that a 19-year-old man has confessed to the murder of Chauncey Bailey, the editor of The Oakland Post. (CNN)
United States forces claim that they have killed Haitham al-Badri, the leader of al-Qaeda in Salahuddin province in Iraq and believed to be the man responsible for the bombing of the Al-Askari Mosque in Samarra in June. (Reuters)
NASA launches the Phoenix Mars Lander which is due to land in Planum Boreum on the Martian northern ice cap next year. (AP via Washington Post)
The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Gordon Brown holds an emergency COBRA cabinet meeting to discuss an outbreak of foot and mouth disease on a farm in Surrey, England. The foot and mouth strain has been identified as a rare strain used at the nearby Institute for Animal Health at Pirbright. (Reuters) (BBC)
2007 South Asian floods: The Ganges River system will come under further strain from monsoon floods as 20 million are homeless in Nepal, India and Bangladesh. Almost 200 people have died. (ABC News Australia) (BBC)
Ten pro-Taliban militants and four Pakistan Army soldiers are killed in a clash in North Waziristan near the Afghanistan border. In another incident, a suicide car bomber kills six in Parachinar, North West Frontier Province in Pakistan. (BBC)