Europe
Rubber bullets fired in Spanish anti-austerity protest
A day of nationwide protests against spending cuts in Spain has ended in violence, with police firing rubber bullets at protesters in Madrid. Seven people were arrested and at least six injured as protesters set alight rubbish bins and riot police charged them in the city centre, near the parliament building. The protests had begun as largely peaceful, with tens of thousands of people, chiefly but not exclusively public sector workers, participating in major cities across the country. They were sparked by Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s announcement last week of a new €65bn ($80bn) package of public sector wage cuts and tax rises, imposed as part of a eurozone rescue deal for Spain’s debt-ridden banks.
North America
Microsoft posts first ever quarterly loss
Computer giant Microsoft has posted the first quarterly loss in its history. The news comes after it wrote down the value of its online advertising acquisition Aquantive by $6.2bn, almost as much as it paid for the company in the first place. Aquantive failed to make the profits expected in the face of stiff competition with Google, the company that continues to dominate online advertising. That led to a $492m loss in Q2 this year, compared with a $5.9bn profit for the same period last year. Microsoft has not made a loss since it first listed on the stock market in 1986, and continues to do well in other areas despite the decline of its Windows operating system.
Denver Gunman kills 14 at Batman film showing
Police in Denver have confirmed at least 14 people have been killed in a shooting at the local premiere of the Dark Knight Rises, with roughly 50 more injured. According to witnesses, a gunman wearing a gas mask opened fire during the midnight showing of the film. A 24-year-old man was arrested in a nearby car park, in possession of a rifle and a handgun. He told police that he had explosives at his home, as a result of which information the police have evacuated an apartment block in the north of the town of Aurora. Aurora, where the attack took place, is a suburb of Denver,Colorado.
Tennessee mosque approved after legal fight
A US judge has overturned a lower court order in ruling that a Muslim congregation may occupy their newly-built mosque. The Rutherford County mosque has been at the centre of a two-year legal battle that began in 2010, when residents filed a lawsuit against the place of worship, claiming Islam was not a legitimate religion and Muslims wanted to replace the US Constitution with Islamic law. That suit was dismissed, but in May this year the residents won a ruling on a technicality to overturn approval of the building’s occupancy permit. The mosque has drawn acts of vandalism and bomb threats.
Latin America
Eighteen arrests over murder of Brazilian tribal leader
Brazilian police have made 18 arrests in connection with the murder of an indigenous tribal leader last November. Nisio Gomes was shot in front of members of his tribe by masked gunmen in Mato Grosso do Sul, a central-southern state of Brazil. The attackers then removed his body, which is still missing. Mr Gomes was the leader of a Guarani group that had returned to its land after being forced out by ranchers. Police only confirmed his murder last week, after discovering that a witness who claimed to have seen him alive had been paid to give false evidence.
Africa and Middle East
Abundant water source discovered in Namibia
A vast aquifer discovered in Namibia, the driest country in sub-Saharan Africa, could have major benefits for the country’s future. The aquifer could supply water to the north of the country for 400 years at current rates of consumption, estimates suggest. Scientists say the water may be up to 10,000 years old, but that it is cleaner to drink than many modern sources. However, the new, freshwater discovery sits beneath a smaller, salty aquifer, prompting fears that unauthorised, reckless drilling could accidentally create a “hydraulic shortcut” between the two and contaminate them both.
Syria: security chief succumbs to wounds, West “appalled” by Russia/China UN veto
Syria’s national security chief Hisham Ikhtiar has become the fourth senior member of the country’s regime to die following Wednesday’s suicide bombing in Damascus, after succumbing to wounds he sustained in the blast.
Meanwhile,Russia and China have vetoed a UN Security Council resolution proposing further sanctions on the Syrian regime, prompting the UK, USA and France to say that the UN had failed the people of Syria.
Fighting in Damascus continues as the Syrian regime is reported to have deployed tanks, artillery and helicopters following a major rebel attack that coincided with the bombing of the National Security Bureau on Wednesday. The rebels are said to have captured a number of border posts, but their advance through the capital has been checked.
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