Portal:Current events/2006 November 13

November 13, 2006 (Monday)

Voters in South Ossetia vote 98-99% in favor of independence from Georgia in a referendum. 78% of the vote has been counted. Neither Russia nor the West recognize the poll's legitimacy. (CNN)
Rwandan President Paul Kagame denies previous reports that quoted him as saying Rwanda would invade the Democratic Republic of Congo to deal with Hutu rebel groups responsible for the Rwandan genocide. (AlertNet)
South Korea says it won't participate in the Proliferation Security Initiative that aims to intercept North Korean ships suspected of carrying supplies for North Korea's nuclear and missile programs. (AP via ABC News)
A colliery explosion in Shanxi province in northern China kills at least 24 miners. (The Australian)^{[permanent dead link]}
A train crash near Cape Town, South Africa, kills at least 27 people. (BBC News)
Joseph Kony, head of the Lord's Resistance Army terrorist organization in Uganda, meets with Jan Egeland, the United Nations' highest humanitarian official. (The Times)
Lebanese Environment Minister Yaacoub Sarraf, a Christian allied with Hezbollah, joins the rank of five other cabinet members who resigned on November 11, 2006. The cabinet later unanmously approved a UN-proposed international tribunal to try suspects over the assassination of Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in February 2005. (Canadian Press)
In a major development for the Free Software movement, Sun Microsystems releases the Java programming language under the GNU General Public Licence. (BBC) (ZDNET)