Portal:Current events/2007 August 1

August 1, 2007 (Wednesday)

New Zealand launches its first commercially available biofuel, which consists of 90 percent petrol and 10 percent bioethanol made from cows' milk. (AFP via The China Post)
The President of the United States George W. Bush orders senior adviser Karl Rove not to testify before a United States Senate committee on the Dismissal of U.S. attorneys controversy. (BBC)
The Bombay Stock Exchange Sensex lost 615 points in a single day becoming the third biggest such crash in its history.
The bridge carrying Interstate 35W in Minneapolis, Minnesota, collapses into the Mississippi River late in the afternoon rush hour, killing thirteen and injuring hundreds. (Star-Tribune) (CNN)
The remains of the RMS Titanic's Unknown Child, initially identified as Eino Viljami Panula, are re-identified by a Canadian research team and found to be those of another young passenger, Sidney Leslie Goodwin. (AP via FOX)
The Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) sign an agreement to bolster economic and security relationships. It also called for negotiations on a Free Trade Agreement between ASEAN, Australia and New Zealand by the end of 2008. (AP via Forbes)
A French court orders the release of two suspects in the 1994 Rwandan genocide. (AP via IHT)
At least 28 people die in Uttar Pradesh, India as an overcrowded boat carrying flood evacuees and aid workers capsizes on the Rohni River. Monsoon floods have killed more than 150 people in India during July while at least 82 people have died in Nepal over the past two weeks and 38 in Bangladesh. (BBC)
2007 Russian North Pole expedition: A Russian expedition with the aim of claiming petroleum beneath the Arctic reaches the North Pole. (AP via CNN)
The Accordance Front, Iraq's largest Sunni party, withdraws from the government while at least 70 people die in three bomb attacks. (AP via Boston Herald)
US crude oil prices reach a new high of $78.77 a barrel due to declining stocks and decreased output. (Reuters)
Russia’s gas exports monopoly Gazprom will almost halve supplies to Belarus from August 3 after failing to reach a deal with Minsk over a $456 million energy debt. (Financial Times)
18 militants killed near Banda checkpoint of North Waziristan, Pakistan by Pakistan troops.
The United Kingdom Office of Fair Trading levies a fine of £121.5 million on British Airways for price collusion over long distance passenger fuel surcharges. British Airways and Korean Air later plead guilty to conspiracies to fix the price of passenger and cargo fees in the United States with fines of $300 million each being levied. (Wall Street Journal) (Washington Post) Archived 2012-11-02 at the Wayback Machine
Sudan pledges support for UNAMID, a joint United Nations and African Union peacekeeping force in Darfur. (BBC)
Sixty-nine Chinese coal miners are rescued from the Zhijian Mine in Henan province. (AFP via ABC News Australia)
The US House of Representatives passes a resolution to lift travel restrictions on Taiwan's president and other high-level officials visiting the United States. (AP via China Post)
The Prime Minister of Spain José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero visits the Canary Islands to inspect the damage caused by five days of fires on the islands of Gran Canaria and Tenerife. (BBC)
Norihiko Akagi resigns as Japan's agriculture minister after scandals involving him adversely affected the Liberal Democratic Party's performance in the Japanese House of Councillors election, 2007. (ABC News Australia)
Sumo wrestler Asashoryu becomes the first Yokozuna in history to be suspended from competition. (Mainichi)