Portal:Current events/2013 August 26

Current events of August 26, 2013 (2013-08-26) (Monday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Newly declassified CIA documents show that top officials in the Reagan administration agreed to give Iraq information on the location of Iranian and Kurdish troops during the Iran-Iraq War despite awareness of Saddam Hussein's intention to use chemical weapons. (Daily Mail) (New York)
• Syrian civil war:
  • The U.N team in charge of the investigation on the alleged recent chemical attacks in Syria comes under fire from snipers; none of the U.N. delegates are injured and the team reaches one of the alleged hit sites. The U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry describes the attack as "a shame and an offense to the world and humanity that deserves the proper punishment". (CNN)
  • Khalaf Muftah, a former Syrian assistant information minister, warns that if Syria was attacked, his country would retaliate against Israel. (Times Of Israel)
  • The Guardian newspaper raises the 1999 NATO Kosovo intervention as a precedent for humanitarian intervention into Syria, given the absence of a UN Mandate. (The Guardian)
• Clashes erupt in the West Bank after three Palestinian men are shot dead during an early morning raid by Israeli troops in the Palestinian refugee camp of Qalandia. (The Washington Post)

Politics and elections

• Nationwide protests are held across the Philippines over the Priority Development Assistance Fund scam. (Rappler)
• The Supreme Court of Iraq overturns term limits for senior governmental positions, allowing Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to seek a third term in 2014.(Middle East Online)

Education

• All 25,000 applicants to the University of Liberia fail their entrance exams. (BBC News)