While Landing during a severe lightning storm, Air France Flight 358 skidded off the Runway at Toronto Pearson International Airport at 4:03 pm local time and burst into flames. All 309 passengers and crew on board survive. [http://www.cjad.com/content/cp_article.asp?id=/global_feeds/CanadianPress/NationalNews/n080233A.htm (CJAD 800)] (CBC)(BBC)
Anti- Disengagement protesters rally in Sderot . The organizers said the crowd numbered 50,000, but police estimated the figure between 10,000 and 15,000. Some 18,000 troops and 12,000 police are involved in preventing protesters from getting to the Gush KatifIsraeli Settlement on the Gaza Strip . (INN) , (BBC) , (HaAretz)
The Chinese national oil company CNOOC has withdrawn a bid for Unocal quelling the fears that the deal would give a foreign government too much control over American Oil reserves. Chevron is now expected to acquire Unocal. (NY Times)
In Germany , police in Brandenburg announce that they have uncovered bones of nine newborn babies that had been buried in flower pots. The woman believed to be their mother, identified in newspapers as " Sabine H. ", has been arrested in the worst case of individual Infanticide in German history. (Reuters)(BBC)