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Events on August 3 in history

2010Aug, 3

Widespread rioting erupts in Karachi, Pakistan, after the assassination of a local politician, leaving at least 85 dead and at least 17 billion Pakistani rupees (US$200 million) in damage.

The 2010 Karachi riots started on August 3, 2010, after the assassination of Parliament member Raza Haider, a member of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement political party, on the night of August 2, 2010, in Karachi, Pakistan. The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) represents the Urdu-speaking Muhajir and is a political rival of the Pashtuns who have migrated to the city from northwest Pakistan. Haider, a Shia Muslim, was killed as he attended a funeral at a mosque.The riots began when the Pashtuns attacked Karachi to occupy and tag it as a "Pashtun plot", to which Urdu speakings responded back.

By August 6 at least 10 Pashtuns were killed and more than 100 people injured in widespread violence that engulfed the city. Economic losses over two days of riots were estimated to be about 17 billion Pakistani rupees (approximately 200 million USD).

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Events on 2010

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    Burj Khalifa

    The Burj Khalifa, the current tallest building in the world, officially opens in Dubai
  • 11Mar

    2010 Pichilemu earthquake

    Economist and businessman Sebastián Piñera is sworn in as President of Chile, while three earthquakes, the strongest measuring magnitude 6.9 and all centered next to Pichilemu, capital of Cardenal Caro province, hit central Chile during the ceremony.
  • 3Apr

    IPad (1st generation)

    Apple Inc. released the first generation iPad, a tablet computer.
  • 20Apr

    Deepwater Horizon explosion

    The Deepwater Horizon drilling rig explodes in the Gulf of Mexico, killing eleven workers and beginning an oil spill that would last six months.
  • 31May

    Gaza flotilla raid

    Israeli Shayetet 13 commandos boarded the Gaza Freedom Flotilla while still in international waters trying to break the ongoing blockade of the Gaza Strip; nine Turkish civilians on the flotilla were killed in the ensuing violent affray.