August 28, 2009 (Friday)
- A suicide bomber lightly wounds Prince Muhammad bin Nayef, deputy interior minister of Saudi Arabia, in his Jeddah office. (Associated Press) (NY Times) (The Washington Post)
- Reading Rainbow, the third longest-running children's show on United States public-service television network PBS, ends its 26-year run. (NPR)
- The detailed chemical structure of a single molecule has been imaged for the first time. The physical shape of single carbon nanotubes has been outlined before, using similar techniques, but the new method even shows up chemical bonds. (BBC)
- The United Nations warns that poultry farms could become infected with the H1N1 virus, following the discovery of the virus in turkeys in Chile last week. (BBC)
- According to declassified documents released this week, a survival manual produced by Transport Canada was used by U.S. interrogators to set limits on dousing detainees with cold water as a form of water torture. (CBC)[permanent dead link] (CTV)[permanent dead link]
- Japan's unemployment rate reaches a record high of 5.7%. (BBC)
- Iceland's Althing votes in favour of repaying more than US$5 billion owed to the governments of the Netherlands and the United Kingdom as a result of the collapse of the Icesave bank. (BBC)
- The Los Angeles County coroner rules that American entertainer and musician Michael Jackson's death was a homicide caused by acute intoxication from the drug propofol. (Reuters)
- Prime Minister of Italy Silvio Berlusconi launches legal action against French weekly Nouvel Observateur, Spanish newspaper El País, and Italian newspaper La Repubblica, and has authorized his attorneys to prepare cases against British newspapers, charging the newspapers with libel. (Reuters)
- King Mohammed VI of Morocco is hospitalized for five days for treatment of a rotavirus and dehydration. (Monsters & Critics)
- Clashes between rebels and government troops in the Kokang region of northeastern Burma continue, with around 30,000 refugees fleeing across the border to China. (China Daily) (The Times) (Reuters)
- United Nations diplomats confirm the United Arab Emirates seized a North Korean ship carrying weapons to Iran, in violation of Security Council Resolution 1874. (Financial Times) (AFP)
- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad calls for opposition leaders to be punished over election protests which occurred earlier this year. (Al Jazeera) (Press TV)
- NASA launches the Space Shuttle Discovery (STS-128) for a resupply and crew rotation mission to the International Space Station. The mission will also deliver the Multi-Purpose Logistics Module Leonardo. This is Discovery's 37th flight and will celebrate the 25th anniversary of its first flight during the mission. (AFP) (Chosun Ilbo)
- Oasis (band) band breaks up