Portal:Current events/2002 August 15

August 15, 2002 (Thursday)

Vladimir Putin announces that Belarus will be fully integrated into Russia, with each of Belarus's six provinces to become a separate republic within the Russian Federation.
Recent celebrity deaths: Larry Rivers, American painter, dies at 78.
Israeli-Palestinian conflict: Marwan Barghouti, captured April 15, is indicted in a civilian Israeli court.
The United States Food and Drug Administration orders a recall of all soft tissues processed since October 3 by CryoLife, the largest supplier of implant tissue in the United States, after 27 cases of serious infection, including one death in November.
Extreme weather: The peak of a 100-year flood of the Vltava River surges through the Czech Republic into the Elbe in Germany. In Plzeň the city center is flooded, and breweries shut down. In České Budějovice, most of the old town is under more than a foot of water, and the Czech Budweiser breweries are shut down. More than 200,000 Czechs are forced to leave their homes. Damages are estimated at over $600 million. In Dresden, the Zwinger Palace courtyard and basement are flooded, damaging paintings. The Semper Opera basement is flooded, closing it for weeks. More than 3,000 hospital patients are evacuated. Europe-wide death toll is now 99.