Portal:Current events/2006 October 28

October 28, 2006 (Saturday)

General Henry Obering, the head of the Pentagon's Missile Defense Agency welcomes what he cast as epochal progress toward putting a high-energy laser aboard a modified Boeing 747 to attack ballistic missiles that could be fired by North Korea and Iran. (Reuters via ABC News Australia)
Cuban television shows images of convalescing leader Fidel Castro walking and reading the day's newspapers showing that he is recovering from his emergency surgery in July. (Reuters), (BBC)
The Russian political parties Rodina, the Russian Party of Life and the Russian Pensioners' Party merge to form a new leftist party, Fair Russia, effectively making Sergey Mironov the new leader of the opposition in the Russian legislature. (ITAR-TASS)^{[permanent dead link]}, (IHT)
Prime Minister of Iraq Nouri al-Maliki tells the U.S. ambassador that he is Washington's friend but "not America's man in Iraq." (CBS News)
At least 42 people are killed in a bus crash in Nepal. (BBC)
Violence breaks out during street protests in Bangladesh, causing the deaths of at least 9 people, as confusion continues over who will take over governing the country from former Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia. (Reuters)^{[permanent dead link]}
The genome of the honeybee Apis mellifera has been fully sequenced and analyzed. (Nature)
German newspaper Bild publishes photos allegedly showing Bundeswehr troops posing with human remains in Afghanistan while on peacekeeping duties there. (Reuters)^{[permanent dead link]}
NATO apologizes for the deaths of Afghan civilians in an air raid on Tuesday, October 24, in Kandahar province, blaming Taliban insurgents for using the villagers as cover. (BBC)
Voting begins on a new Serbian constitution that would make Kosovo officially a part of Serbia; voter turnout on day one was low. (BBC)
Joseph Kabila and Jean-Pierre Bemba face-off in the presidential run-off election in Democratic Republic of the Congo. (BBC)