Portal:Current events/2008 July 16

July 16, 2008 (Wednesday)

A train crash near Marsa Matrouh in northern Egypt kills at least 42 people with 40 more injured. (Reuters)^{[permanent dead link]}
Former Yukos chief Mikhail Khodorkovsky applies for parole in a bid to challenge Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to follow through on promises to build an independent judiciary, his lawyers said. (The International Herald Tribune) (AP via Google News)^{[permanent dead link]}
The United States Senate agrees to triple funding for the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief to $48 billion. (AP via Google News)^{[permanent dead link]}
Ben Bernanke, the Chairman of the Federal Reserve, assures the United States House of Representatives Financial Services Committee that giant mortgage companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are in "no danger of failing." (AP via Google News)^{[permanent dead link]}
A large transport strike enters into its third day on the island of Malta, bringing the island to a halt with the blockage of several roads. Bus drivers even attempted to break into the Prime Minister's office. (Times of Malta) (Bloomberg)
The Sri Lankan military claims to have captured a major coastal town in the Northern district of Mannar from the Tamil Tigers. (BBC News)
Hezbollah transfers the bodies of captured Israeli soldiers, Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, in exchange for the Lebanese convicted murderer Samir Kuntar, four other Hezbollah militants captured by Israel during the 2006 Lebanon War (Khaled Zidan, Maher Kurani, Mohammed Sarur and Hussein Suleiman), and the bodies of 200 Lebanese and Palestinians.(BBC News) (AFP via Google News)
Hundreds of bishops from the worldwide Anglican Communion gather at Canterbury as the once-a-decade Lambeth Conference begins one month after the GAFCON. (BBC News)
Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim is arrested over allegations he sodomised a male aide. (AP via Yahoo! News)
Afghan authorities confirm that 52 civilians were killed by an American airstrike at a wedding on Sunday. (BBC News)