Portal:Current events/2007 February 13

February 13, 2007 (Tuesday)

The TGV beats the record of the world's fastest conventional train with a speed of 553 km/h (344 mph) reached during a test run on the LGV Est. (Le Vif / L'Express)^{[permanent dead link]}
Iraq War:
- A suicide truck bomb kills at least 15 people in Baghdad. (AP via San Jose Mercury News)^{[permanent dead link]}
- Operation Imposing Law: Abboud Gambar announces that Iraq is closing its borders with Syria and Iran for 72 hours. (CNN)
- Ayman al-Zawahri, deputy to Al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden releases an audio tape calling U.S. President Bush a former alcoholic and a lying gambler who wagered on Iraq and lost. (CBS)
- Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, Secretary-General of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference, says he opposes a withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq because it would lead to civil war. (RFE/RL)
Dutch oil-trading company Trafigura agrees to pay the Côte d'Ivoire government $198 million to clean up a 2006 toxic waste spill which led to the deaths of 10 people. (BBC)
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says his administration is open to negotiations regarding its nuclear program. (BBC)
2008 United States presidential election: Former Governor of Massachusetts Mitt Romney (R) formally announces his candidacy for president. (CNN)
A tornado strikes New Orleans, Louisiana leaving one dead and three people injured. (CNN)
A small business jet heading to Berlin, Germany crashes during take-off at Vnukovo airport in Moscow, Russia. (Interfax), (BBC)^{[permanent dead link]}
Ma Ying-jeou, the party chairman of the Kuomintang, resigns after being indicted by the Taiwan High Prosecutors Office on charges of embezzlement during his tenure as the mayor of Taipei. (Taipei Times News)
Fatmir Rexhepi [sq], the Interior Minister of Kosovo, resigns after two people died in recent protests. (AKI)^{[permanent dead link]}
Japan holds an international conference to push for the resumption of commercial whaling. Anti-whaling nations in the International Whaling Commission such as the United States, United Kingdom and Australia have boycotted the conference. (AP via AHT)
At least three people have been killed in bomb blasts that hit two buses in the village of Bikfaya near Beirut, Lebanon. (BBC) (ITV)
The World Bank has approved construction of the Baglihar Dam on the Chenab River in Indian-administered Kashmir. (BBC)