Timeline 2005 January - March
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2005 Jan 1,
Europe’s 7,000 listed companies adopted int’l. financial reporting
standards (IFRS), replacing the mishmash of 25 local accounting regimes
with one set of rules. Over 90 countries began switching to a new
int’l. accounting standards.
(WSJ, 12/9/04, p.C1)(Econ, 6/18/05, p.73)
2005 Jan 1, A new California law
took effect giving gay couples who register as domestic partners nearly
the same responsibilities and benefits as married spouses.
(AP, 1/1/05)
2005 Jan 1, Shirley Chisholm (80),
advocate for minority rights, died. She became the first black woman
elected to Congress and later the first black person to seek a major
party's nomination for the US presidency.
(AP, 1/3/05)
2005 Jan 1, Robert Matsui (63),
13-term California Democratic congressman, died. On April 13 US
Representatives voted to name the federal courthouse in Sacramento in
his honor.
(SFC, 1/3/05, p.A1)(SFC, 4/14/05, p.B3)
2005 Jan 1, Australia’s free
trade agreement with the US became effective.
(Econ, 5/7/05, Survey p.10)
2005 Jan 1, The 1974 Multi-Fiber
Arrangement (MFA), which had restricted Chinese textile exports, ended.
This forced Cambodia to face fierce competition from rival exporters.
This led to the loss of some 30,000 jobs in Mauritius.
(www.ers.usda.gov/AmberWaves/February06/Features/feature2.htm)(Econ,
2/19/05, p.42)(Econ, 10/18/08, p.58)
2005 Jan 1, A deal to eliminate
import tariffs between Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda came into force,
marking the first major step toward integrating the East African
nations into a single economic and investment block.
(AP, 1/1/05)
2005 Jan 1, Indonesia was forecast
for 4.8% annual GDP growth with a population at 227.1 million and GDP
per head at $1,230.
(Econ, 1/8/05, p.91)
2005 Jan 1, In Indonesia
desperate, homeless villagers on the tsunami-ravaged island of Sumatra
mobbed American helicopters carrying aid as the U.S. military launched
its largest operation in the region since the Vietnam War.
(AP, 1/1/06)
2005 Jan 1, Al-Qaida's arm in Iraq
released a video showing its militants lining up five captured Iraqi
security officers and executing them in the street.
(AP, 1/1/05)
2005 Jan 1, Ireland's 2nd city of
Cork became the European capital of culture for 2005, offering up a
program of theatre, music, art, literature as well as sporting and
other events.
(AFP, 1/1/05)
2005 Jan 1, Jamaica's embattled
police commissioner Francis Forbes resigned following record number of
homicides in 2004. The island nation of 2.6 million people, reported a
record 1,145 homicides for 2004, compared with 975 the year before.
(AP, 1/2/05)
2005 Jan 1, Japan pledged up to
$500 million in grant aid for tsunami disaster relief.
(AP, 1/1/05)
2005 Jan 1, Japan’s currency
opened at 102.41 yen to the dollar. Rising oil prices pushed it down in
April to 108.91 to the dollar.
(WSJ, 4/7/05, p.C16)
2005 Jan 1, In Norway a new law
went into effect to allow foreign hunters to hunt seals. The
legislation raised the seal kill quota to 2,000.
(SFC, 11/27/04, p.A10)
2005 Jan 1, In southern Peru
Antauro Humala, retired army major, led a nationalist group that seized
a police station ambushed a police vehicle responding to the scene,
killing four officers and wounding several more.
(AP, 1/2/05)(Econ, 1/8/05, p.38)
2005 Jan 1, Romania enacted a law
forbidding int’l. adoptions except to biological grandparents in an
effort to help it win EU membership.
(WSJ, 1/3/05, p.A1)
2005 Jan 1, In Saudi Arabia 2 men,
a Pakistani and an Iraqi, were beheaded for smuggling in drugs.
(AP, 1/1/05)
2005 Jan 1, A new Swiss law took
effect that legalized the production of absinthe.
(SFC, 11/4/04, p.A2)
2005 Jan 1, Taiwan was forecast
for 4.8% annual GDP growth with a population at 22.9 million and GDP
per head at $14,560.
(Econ, 1/8/05, p.92)
2005 Jan 1, Taiwan’s Statement of
Financial Standards No. 35 took effect.
(WSJ, 4/6/05, p.C18)
2005 Jan 1, The New (yeni) Turkish
Lira (YTL), will begin circulating, wiping out six zeroes from the
current money. The old lira will keep circulating until Dec 31.
(AP, 9/23/04)(Econ, 8/28/04, p.67)(SSFC, 12/5/04,
p.F2)
2005 Jan 1, Uganda President
Yoweri Museveni said the army will resume all-out war on rebels in
northern Uganda, charging that the insurgents rejected a cease-fire
deal that had been expected to open the way for political talks on
ending the 18-year civil war.
(AP, 1/1/05)
2005 Jan 2, US professional
football teams (NFL) joined Venus Williams, Maria Sharapova and other
sports figures around the world in assisting the relief mission for the
tsunami-earthquake catastrophe in southern Asia.
(AP, 1/2/06)
2005 Jan 2, The death toll from
the Dec 26 Tsunami was expected to hit 150,000.
(AP, 1/2/05)
2005 Jan 2, In El Dorada, Ark.,
firefighters evacuated hundreds of residents as they fought a blaze in
a hazardous waste warehouse.
(WSJ, 1/3/05, p.A1)
2005 Jan 2, H. David Dalquist
(86), creator of the aluminum Bundt pan (1950), the top-selling cake
pan in the world, died at his home in Edina, Minn. He founded St. Louis
Park-based Nordic Ware, which has sold more than 50 million Bundt pans.
(AP, 1/5/05)
2005 Jan 2, In western Afghanistan
a US soldier and a former Afghan militia leader were killed when
American troops clashed with gunmen while searching the leader's
compound.
(AP, 1/2/05)
2005 Jan 2, Canada confirmed that
a 2nd case of mad cow disease has been discovered, just days after the
United States said it planned to reopen its border to Canadian beef.
(AP, 1/3/05)
2005 Jan 2, In Croatia Pres. Stipe
Mesic won about 49 percent of the votes, compared with 20 percent for
his closest rival, conservative government minister Jadranka Kosor, the
popular incumbent narrowly failed to win the absolute majority required
for a first-round victory. Voters will return to the polls later this
month for a presidential runoff.
(AP, 1/3/05)
2005 Jan 2, A suicide attacker
detonated a car bomb north of Baghdad, killing at least 22 Iraqi
soldiers. 10 Iraqis were killed in attacks elsewhere.
(AP, 1/2/05)(WSJ, 1/3/05, p.A1)
2005 Jan 2, Some 1,500 people
inhabited the artificial Maldive island of Hulhumale. Some $60 million
had already been spent on its creation and completion was expected in
2040.
(SSFC, 1/2/05, p.A10)
2005 Jan 2, Thailand's confirmed
death toll from the Dec 26 tidal wave disaster approached 5,000,
including more than 2,400 foreign holidaymakers.
(AP, 1/2/05)
2005 Jan 3, President Bush tapped
his father, former President Bush, and former President Clinton to help
raise tsunami relief funds.
(AP, 1/3/06)
2005 Jan 3, The third-ranked
Auburn Tigers limped to a 16-13 victory over No. 9 Virginia Tech in the
Sugar Bowl.
(AP, 1/3/06)
2005 Jan 3, Heavy snow shut down a
major highway north of Los Angeles and slowed post-holiday travel in
the Sierra Nevada as Californians grappled with a 2nd week of stormy
weather.
(AP, 1/3/05)
2005 Jan 3, Will Eisner (b.1917),
comic book pioneer, died in Fla. In 1978 he wrote and drew his graphic
novel “A Contract With God.” It was the 1st of a trilogy that included
“A Life Force” (1983) and “Dropsie Avenue” (1995).
(SFC, 1/4/05, p.A2)(Econ, 1/15/05, p.81)(SSFC,
12/25/05, p.M3)
2005 Jan 3, In eastern Afghanistan
a US soldier was killed and three others wounded in a clash with
militants.
(AP, 1/3/05)
2005 Jan 3, The Algerian Interior
Ministry said security forces had arrested the leader of the Armed
Islamic Group, the radical insurgency movement responsible for brutal
village massacres several years ago, and killed his replacement. The
arrest of Nourredine Boudiafi and the killing of Chaabane Younes were
near-fatal blows to the seriously weakened GIA, as the movement is
known. Islamic extremists killed 18 people in an ambush of an army
convoy south of the capital Algiers.
(AP, 1/4/05)(AFP, 1/5/05)
2005 Jan 3, Thousands of
Argentines angered over safety lapses at a nightclub where a fire
killed 183 people, many of them teenagers, marched through capital
streets holding pictures of the victims and demanding the resignations
of key city officials.
(AP, 1/4/05)
2005 Jan 3, Honduras Pres. Ricardo
Maduro said that police have arrested the alleged mastermind of an
attack on a public bus that left 28 passengers dead two weeks ago. The
suspect was identified as Juan Carlos Miralda, 24, one of the leaders
of the violent Mara Salvatrucha criminal gang.
(AP, 1/4/05)
2005 Jan 3, India’s death toll
from the Dec 26 tsunami was expected to top 15,000.
(AP, 1/3/05)
2005 Jan 3, J.N. Dixit (68),
India’s national security advisor, died in New Delhi.
(SFC, 1/6/05, p.B7)
2005 Jan 3, In Iraq 3 suicide car
bombs, including one that exploded near the Iraqi prime minister's
party headquarters in Baghdad, along with a roadside explosion, rifle
fire and an explosive rigged to a dead body killed at least 20 people.
(AP, 1/3/05)(SFC, 1/4/05, p.A3)
2005 Jan 3, Jewish settlers
clashed with Israeli troops who came to tear down two structures at an
unauthorized West Bank outpost, and a soldier was arrested for
encouraging comrades to refuse to evacuate the settlement.
(AP, 1/3/05)
2005 Jan 3, Russian President
Vladimir Putin stripped many of the duties of his top economic adviser,
an outspoken critic who has accused the Kremlin of trying to muzzle
voices of dissent and civil society in Russia.
(AP, 1/3/05)
2005 Jan 3, Ukraine gave in and
agreed to pay Turkmenistan a third more for natural gas following a
shut-off.
(WSJ, 1/4/05, p.A1)
2005 Jan 4, The 109th US Congress
convened and took up tsunami aid. The Republican edge was 55 to 45.
(WSJ, 1/5/05, p.A1)
2005 Jan 4, In the Orange Bowl #1
Southern California overwhelmed #2 Oklahoma 55-19.
(AP, 1/4/06)
2005 Jan 4, Wade Boggs was elected
to the Baseball Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility, and Ryne
Sandberg made it with just six votes to spare on his third try.
(AP, 1/4/06)
2005 Jan 4, Kelbessa Negewo (54),
an Ethiopian immigrant suspected of torturing and murdering more than a
dozen political opponents of the Ethiopian government in the 1970s, was
arrested at his home near Atlanta. Negewo has lived in the US since
fleeing Ethiopia in 1987.
(Reuters, 1/4/05)
2005 Jan 4, Robert Heilbroner
(b.1919), author of the 1953 economics classic “Worldly Philosophers,”
died.
(WSJ, 1/11/05, p.A1)
2005 Jan 4, Cuban Foreign Minister
Felipe Perez Roque said the island nation was renewing contacts with
France, Britain, Germany, Italy, Austria, Greece, Portugal and Sweden
after an EU panel recommended that member states stop inviting
dissidents to their National Day celebrations at their embassies in
Havana.
(AP, 1/4/05)
2005 Jan 4, Diplomats said the
U.N. atomic watchdog agency has found evidence of secret nuclear
experiments in Egypt that could be used in weapons programs.
(AP, 1/4/05)
2005 Jan 4, Doctors at Haiti's
largest public hospital extended a weeklong strike to protest overdue
paychecks.
(AP, 1/4/05)
2005 Jan 4, Insurgents
assassinated the highest-ranking Iraqi official in eight months,
gunning down the governor of Baghdad province and six of his
bodyguards. A suicide truck bomber killed 10 people at an Interior
Ministry commando headquarters. 5 US soldiers were killed in assaults
elsewhere.
(AP, 1/4/05)(WSJ, 1/5/05, p.A1)
2005 Jan 4, Two Israeli tank
shells slammed into a field in response to Palestinian mortar fire,
killing seven Palestinians youths working in a strawberry field.
(AP, 1/4/05)(SFC, 1/4/05, p.A3)
2005 Jan 4, In Peru the leader of
an armed nationalist group that seized a remote police station, took 10
officers hostage and allegedly killed four others was detained while
most of his 125 followers were rounded up.
(AP, 1/4/05)
2005 Jan 4, Polish PM Marek Belka
arrived in Tripoli for a two-day visit that will include talks on
cooperation in the oil sector and a meeting with Libyan leader Moamer
Kadhafi.
(AFP, 1/5/05)
2005 Jan 4, Portugal’s national
meteorology office said many regions, including the southernmost
province of Algarve, the country's main tourism center, are facing
their worst drought in over a decade.
(AP, 1/5/05)
2005 Jan 4, Venezuela's
left-leaning government promised to grant poor farmers at least 100,000
plots of land carved from either state property or large private
holdings, a step toward implementing a controversial agrarian reform
law.
(AP, 1/4/05)
2005 Jan 5, President Bush opened
a new drive for caps on medical malpractice awards, contending the
limits would lower health care costs.
(AP, 1/5/06)
2005 Jan 5, Cpl. Wassef Ali
Hassoun, a Marine charged with desertion in Iraq after mysteriously
disappearing from his post was again declared a deserter, this time for
failing to report to his U.S. base.
(AP, 1/5/06)
2005 Jan 5, It was reported that
PolyMedix, a research firm in Philadelphia, was targeting bacteria with
synthetic molecules that prevented the development of resistance.
(WSJ, 1/5/05, p.B2A)
2005 Jan 5, Julius Axelrod, NIH
neuroscientist, died in Rockville, Md. He shared a 1970 Nobel Prize
with 2 others for work on neuro-transmitters.
(SFC, 1/6/05, p.B7)
2005 Jan 5, Australian PM John
Howard pledged $765 million over five years to Indonesian tsunami
reconstruction and development due to the Dec 26 disaster.
(AP, 1/6/05)(Econ, 1/15/05, p.38)
2005 Jan 5, The head of the IAEA
said Iran has agreed to give U.N. inspectors access to a huge military
site that the United States alleges is linked to a secret nuclear
weapons program.
(AP, 1/5/05)
2005 Jan 5, Iraq's intelligence
chief said as many as 30,000 well-trained terrorists are actively
operating throughout Iraq at the behest of former regime leaders based
in Syria.
(AP, 1/6/05)
2005 Jan 5, A car bomb exploded
outside a police academy south of Baghdad during a graduation ceremony,
killing at least 20 people. Hours earlier, another car bomb killed two
Iraqis in Baghdad. A 2nd car bomber killed five Iraqi policemen in
Baqouba.
(AP, 1/5/05)(AP, 1/6/05)
2005 Jan 5, The bodies of 18 young
Iraqi Shiites taken off a bus and executed in December 2005 were found
in a field near Mosul.
(AP, 1/5/06)
2005 Jan 5, A group calling itself
"The Free People of the Galilee" claimed that it abducted Dana Bennet,
an Israeli-American woman, in Aug 2003, and demanded that Israel
release 1,000 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for information about
her fate.
(AP, 1/5/05)
2005 Jan 5, Two homemade
Palestinian rockets fell into an army base in southern Israel, wounding
12 people, one of them seriously.
(AP, 1/5/05)
2005 Jan 5, In western Nepal
soldiers backed by helicopters raided a communist rebel hideout,
killing at least 30 guerrillas and foiling a planned attack on an army
base.
(AP, 1/5/05)
2005 Jan 5, The UN said that camps
for up to 500,000 tsunami refugees will be built on devastated Sumatra
island, while world leaders headed to Indonesia to discuss how to
distribute billions of dollars in aid.
(AP, 1/5/05)
2005 Jan 6, The US Congress
certified President Bush's re-election.
(AP, 1/6/06)
2005 Jan 6, US Attorney
General-nominee Alberto Gonzales, under scorching criticism at his
confirmation hearing, condemned torture as an interrogation tactic and
promised to prosecute abusers of terror suspects.
(AP, 1/6/06)
2005 Jan 6, Andrea Yates' murder
conviction for drowning her children in the bathtub on June 20, 2001,
was overturned by a Texas appeals court. On July 26, 2006, after three
days of deliberations, Yates was found not guilty by reason of
insanity, as defined by the state of Texas.
(AP,
1/6/06)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrea_Yates)
2005 Jan 6, Edgar Ray Killen
(b.1925) was arrested in Philadelphia, Miss., as a suspect in the 1964
abduction and killing of 3 voter-registration volunteers. He was found
guilty on June 21, 2005, the 41st anniversary of the murders, along
with Cecil Price (deputy sheriff of Neshoba at the time), of three
counts of manslaughter and gathering the group of men who hunted down
and killed two Jewish New Yorkers: Andrew Goodman (20) and Michael
Schwerner (24), and one black Mississippian, James Chaney (21).
(SFC, 1/7/05,
p.A1)(www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/06/21/mississippi.killings/)
2005 Jan 6, The Chicago-based
Pritzker family settled a family suit giving both Matthew (22) and
Liesel Pritzker (20) control of $450 million. The family fortune was
estimated at over $15 bil.
(WSJ, 1/7/05, p.B1)
2005 Jan 6, In South Carolina a
freight train carrying chlorine gas struck a parked train, killing
eight people and injuring more than 240 others, nearly all of them
sickened by a toxic cloud that at nightfall persisted over the small
textile town of Graniteville.
(AP, 1/7/05)
2005 Jan 6, In Bangladesh a fire
at the Sun Knit garment factory in Siddhirganj killed 22 people. Most
of the exits were found locked.
(SFC, 1/8/05, p.A3)
2005 Jan 6, A baby boy delivered
in Beijing became China's 1.3 billionth citizen.
(AP, 1/6/05)
2005 Jan 6, Chinese authorities
bulldozed Silk Alley, a 20-year-old landmark in Beijing. Traders felt
the motive was to eliminate competition for a new indoor complex soon
to open next to the alley, to be named Xiushui, which was the name of
the old market.
(Econ, 1/15/05, p.39)
2005 Jan 6, A tsunami aid
conference convened in Jakarta, Indonesia, and the UN asserted control
over the massive relief campaign.
(WSJ, 1/7/05, p.A1)
2005 Jan 6, In Iraq 7 US soldiers
were killed in Baghdad when their Bradley hit a car buried bomb. 2
Marines were killed in western Iraq.
(WSJ, 1/7/05, p.A1)
2005 Jan 6, President Vicente Fox
announced that all Mexican children with cancer will receive free
treatment as long as they need it.
(AP, 1/6/05)
2005 Jan 6, In Ciudad Juarez,
Mexico, 10 alleged gang members were convicted in the killings of 12
women, some of the hundreds who have been found slain there in recent
years. The Los Toltecas members were arrested in 1999, after the
reputed leader of their group, Jesus Manuel Guardado, alias "El
Tolteca," was identified by a 14-year-old girl as the man who sexually
assaulted and tried to kill her.
(AP, 1/7/05)
2005 Jan 6, In South Africa former
Pres. Nelson Mandela announced that his son, Makgatho Mandela, had died
of illness related to AIDS.
(SFC, 1/7/05, p.A10)
2005 Jan 7, A military jury at
Fort Hood, Texas, acquitted Army Sgt. Tracy Perkins of involuntary
manslaughter in the alleged drowning of an Iraqi civilian, but
convicted him of assault in the January 2004 incident.
(AP, 1/7/06)
2005 Jan 7, The nuclear submarine
USS San Francisco ran aground 350 miles off the Pacific Ocean territory
of Guam, injuring about 20 crew members. One died the next day.
(AP, 1/8/05)(AP, 1/9/05)
2005 Jan 7, Conservative columnist
Armstrong Williams was dropped by a major syndication service because
he'd accepted a payment from the Bush administration to promote the No
Child Left Behind law.
(AP, 1/7/06)
2005 Jan 7, Brad Pitt and Jennifer
Aniston announced they were separating after four years of marriage.
(AP, 1/7/06)
2005 Jan 7, Rosemary Kennedy (86),
the mentally retarded oldest sister of President Kennedy and the
inspiration for the Special Olympics, died at a Fort Atkinson, Wis.,
hospital.
(AP, 1/7/06)
2005 Jan 7, Congo’s electoral
commission hinted that elections scheduled for June would be postponed.
(Econ, 1/22/05, p.44)
2005 Jan 7, Authorities raised
Indonesia's death toll by 7,000, bringing the overall total killed by
the disaster to more than 147,000.
(AP, 1/7/05)
2005 Jan 7, In northern Italy a
passenger train and a freight train collided in thick fog on the
Bologna-Verona line, killing 17 people and injuring dozens.
(AP, 1/7/05)(WSJ, 1/10/05, p.A1)
2005 Jan 7, In Indian-controlled
Kashmir police said militants stormed a government building, setting it
on fire with 70 employees still trapped inside. Three people were
killed in the fighting.
(AP, 1/7/05)
2005 Jan 7, Palestinian militants
attacked a group of Israeli civilians outside the West Bank city of
Nablus, wounding four people, including one who was in critical
condition.
(AP, 1/7/05)
2005 Jan 8, The official death
toll from the Dec 26 tsunami rose above 150,000.
(AP, 1/8/05)
2005 Jan 8, An Army platoon
sergeant who ordered his soldiers to throw Iraqis into the Tigris River
was sentenced to six months in military prison; the jury in Fort Hood,
Texas, also reduced the rank of Army Sgt. 1st Class Tracy Perkins by
one grade.
(AP, 1/8/06)
2005 Jan 8, Richard P. Rodriguez
(29) stabbed to death Angela M. Smith (51) in Tucson, Az. Rodriguez was
found dead of a gunshot wound the next day in Blythe, Ca., near the
Arizona border. He had grown up in the evangelical sex cult “Children
of God” also known as the Family. Smith, a member of the cult, was
involved in his upbringing. The cult was later linked to the San Diego
based Family Care Foundation. In 2007 Don Lattin authored “Jesus
Freaks: A True Story of Murder and Madness on the Evangelical Edge.”
(SFC, 1/11/05, p.B8)(SSFC, 2/6/05, p.A1)(SSFC,
10/20/07, p.M1)
2005 Jan 8, Hurricane-force winds
swept across northern Europe, leaving at least 13 dead including 3 in
Carlisle, England, 4 in Denmark and 6 in Sweden.
(AP, 1/9/05)
2005 Jan 8, Indian security forces
killed the last rebel holed up inside a government office in Kashmir,
ending a two-day battle during which guerrillas took over the building
and set it on fire with dozens of employees inside.
(AP, 1/8/05)
2005 Jan 8, In Iraq officials said
Militants had abducted three senior Iraqi officials, beheaded a man who
worked for the U.S. military and killed at least four others.
(AP, 1/8/05)
2005 Jan 8, The US military
acknowledged 5 people were killed when it bombed the wrong house during
a search operation in northern Iraq. The owner of the house, Ali
Yousef, said 14 people were killed when the 500-pound GPS-guided bomb
hit at about 2 a.m. in the town of Aitha, 30 miles south of Mosul. An
Associated Press photographer at the scene said seven children and
seven adults died.
(AP, 1/9/05)
2005 Jan 8, Nigerian President
Olusegun Obasanjo flew to Sudan's troubled Darfur region to assess the
crisis there following talks with his Sudanese counterpart Omar
al-Beshir.
(AP, 1/8/05)
2005 Jan 8, In northern Pakistan
at least 11 people were killed, including six family members who were
burned alive, during sectarian unrest after riots broke out following
the shooting of a popular Shiite leader.
(AP, 1/8/05)
2005 Jan 8, In Pakistan’s SW
Baluchistan province assailants fired rockets at wells and a gas
pipeline, killing a woman and wounding 14 other people. The attacks
followed the rape of Dr. Shazia Khalid (31) a week earlier by a
government soldier.
(AP, 1/9/05)(SFC, 3/22/05, p.A1)
2005 Jan 8, Former Democratic
presidential candidate John Kerry met with Syria's president and said
he was hopeful that strained U.S.-Syrian relations could be improved.
(AP, 1/8/05)
2005 Jan 8, Russian troops killed
5 alleged militants hiding in a house in the city of Nazran,
Ingushetia, in a firefight.
(AP, 1/8/05)(SSFC, 1/9/05, p.A3)
2005 Jan 8, Venezuela government
officials escorted by troops and police descended on a privately owned
cattle ranch to determine whether some lands may be turned over to poor
farmers as part of an agrarian reform. The owner of the 32,000 acre El
Charcote Ranch, Agropecuaria Flora C.A., is a subsidiary of the
British-owned Vestey Group Ltd. and a major beef producer. The company
insists that it can prove ownership back to 1830. A 1998 census found
that 60 percent of Venezuelan farmland was owned by less than 1 percent
of the population.
(AP, 1/8/05)
2005 Jan 9, More heavy rain spread
across parts of California and snow piled deeper in the mountains as
the state sat under a storm system that left at least 7 dead.
(AP, 1/9/05)(SFC, 1/10/05, p.B1)
2005 Jan 9, American troops opened
fire after their convoy was struck by a roadside bomb at a checkpoint
south of Baghdad, killing at least 8 people.
(AP, 1/9/05)(SFC, 1/10/05, p.A1)
2005 Jan 9, In Iraq 7 Ukrainian
soldiers and one Kazakh serving with the U.S.-led coalition were killed
in an explosion while loading bombs that could be used by warplanes.
(AP, 1/9/05)
2005 Jan 9, Stanley Fischer,
Zambian-born vice-chairman of Citigroup, accepted the nomination to be
the next governor of the Bank of Israel.
(Econ, 1/15/05, p.69)
2005 Jan 9, A French officer
serving with U.N. peacekeepers in Lebanon was killed by Israeli
shelling, shortly after a Hezbollah bomb attack killed an Israeli
soldier and wounded three others near the southern border.
(AP, 1/9/05)
2005 Jan 9, At least five Maoist
rebels fighting to overthrow Nepal's constitutional monarchy were
killed, three days before a deadline for the guerrillas to begin peace
talks.
(AP, 1/10/05)
2005 Jan 9, Palestinians held
their 1st presidential election in nine years, choosing a successor to
longtime leader Yasser Arafat. Mahmoud Abbas was elected Palestinian
Authority president by a landslide, giving the pragmatist a mandate to
resume peace talks with Israel.
(AP, 1/9/05)(AP, 1/10/05)
2005 Jan 9, Saudi police killed
four terrorists believed linked to al-Qaida after the militants fled
their desert tent while throwing hand grenades at surrounding forces.
(AP, 1/9/05)
2005 Jan 9, Sudan's VP Ali Osman
Mohammed Taha and John Garang, the country's main rebel leader, signed
a comprehensive peace agreement to end Africa's longest-running
conflict. The treaty said: The 10 states in southern Sudan will be
secular, while the north will practice Islamic law; Former rebels will
hold 30 percent of national posts, the south will be autonomous; Oil
revenues from the south will be split 50-50 between the north and
south: The south will vote on independence in 2011; U.N. observers will
monitor a cease-fire and demobilization of troops.
(AP, 1/9/05)(AP, 1/10/05)
2005 Jan 9, In Basel, Switzerland,
central bankers, joined by commercial counterparts and financial
regulators from around the globe, opened a 2-day meeting to discuss
ways to ensure smooth economic growth amid worries over widening U.S.
deficits.
(AP, 1/10/05)
2005 Jan 9, In Thailand a 6-story
building caught fire and collapsed in Bangkok, trapping five
firefighters inside the wreckage.
(AP, 1/9/05)
2005 Jan 9, The Zimbabwe Standard
reported that a maize-meal shortage has become acute.
(http://allafrica.com/stories/200501100537.html)(Econ, 1/15/05, p.44)
2005 Jan 10, CBS issued a damning
independent review of mistakes related to a "60 Minutes Wednesday"
report, aired by Dan Rather, on President Bush's National Guard service
and fired three news executives and a producer for their "myopic zeal"
in rushing it to air.
(SFC, 1/11/05, p.A1)(AP, 1/10/06)
2005 Jan 10, Gov. Schwarzenneger
proposed an $85.7 billion California state budget with cuts in programs
to the poor, elderly and disabled to help close a $9.1 billion deficit.
(SFC, 1/11/05, p.A1)
2005 Jan 10, Randall W. Harding
pleaded guilty to money laundering and wire fraud charges as part of a
scam that authorities say bilked investors from Palm Springs to Orange
County, including church members at Crossroads Christian Church in
Riverside, Ca.
(SFC, 8/14/06,
p.A2)(http://tinyurl.com/qhm4u)(http://home.att.net/~fcwriter/news29.htm)
2005 Jan 10, A mudslide at La
Conchita in Ventura County, Ca., crushed over 15 homes and killed 10
people.
(SFC, 1/12/05, p.A1)(SFC, 1/13/05, p.A3)
2005 Jan 10, GlaxoSmithKline PLC
said that Bayer Healthcare AG has paid more than 200 million euros
($260 million) for sole marketing rights outside the United States for
the erectile dysfunction drug Levitra.
(AP, 1/10/05)
2005 Jan 10, The African Union's
(AU) Peace and Security Council wrapped up its inaugural meeting
unexpectedly quickly here with a series of resolutions on the
continent's main flashpoints, including Ivory Coast, Democratic
Republic of Congo and Sudan's Darfur region.
(AFP, 1/11/05)
2005 Jan 10, Canada and Nigeria
agreed to terms under which the Canadian International Development
Agency is to provide 24.9 million Canadian dollars (20.4 million US)
for health projects in the west African country.
(AP, 1/11/05)
2005 Jan 10, Congo security forces
fired bullets and tear gas at demonstrators burning tires in Congo's
capital, killing at 4 people among thousands protesting a government
decision to delay upcoming national elections.
(AP, 1/10/05)(Econ, 1/22/05, p.44)
2005 Jan 10, Cuba said it was
resuming formal ties with all of Europe, ending a deep freeze in
relations following a 2003 crackdown on dissidents and the firing-squad
executions of three men who tried to hijack a ferry.
(AP, 1/10/05)
2005 Jan 10, India’s Supreme Court
granted bail to Jayendra Saraswathi, one of Hinduism's most venerated
clerics, after he spent nearly two months in jail in connection with
the murder of a temple official. Former monastery official Sankaraman,
said to be a bitter critic of the top cleric, was hacked to death in an
ancient temple in Kanchi in September.
(Reuters, 1/10/05)
2005 Jan 10, A bus driver
apparently lost control of his vehicle and it plunged into a canal
killing 57 people in southern India.
(AP, 1/10/05)
2005 Jan 10, In Iraq gunmen
assassinated Baghdad's deputy police chief and his son. A huge roadside
bomb in southwestern Baghdad destroyed a U.S. armored vehicle and
killed two American soldiers.
(AP, 1/10/05)
2005 Jan 10, New Italian
legislation went into effect to stop smoking in restaurants and bars.
Officials extended the initial Jan 1 date for the benefit of New Year
revelers.
(SFC, 12/21/04, p.A7)(WSJ, 1/10/05, p.A10)
2005 Jan 10, In Kuwait a shootout
killed two policeman and a suspect they were chasing in a suburb of the
capital.
(AP, 1/10/05)
2005 Jan 10, Ukraine's Election
Commission declared Viktor Yushchenko the winner of the presidential
vote.
(AP, 1/10/06)
2005 Jan 10, Venezuela's President
Chavez declared that farmland nationwide would be inspected and some of
it given to the poor, expanding agrarian reforms with a pledge to fight
"the large estates."
(AP, 1/11/05)
2005 Jan 11, Pres. Bush named
Michael Chertoff, longtime prosecutor, to take over as head of Homeland
Security.
(WSJ, 1/12/05, p.A1)
2005 Jan 11, LeapFrog Enterprises
displayed a $99 digital pen that talks, corrects spelling and answers
math problems. Sales were to begin in the Fall.
(WSJ, 1/12/05, p.B1)
2005 Jan 11, Spencer Dryden (66),
former drummer for the Jefferson Airplane (1967-1970), died in
Petaluma, Ca. Dryden also played with the Grateful Dead (1971-1978),
whose albums included “The Adventures of Panama Red” (1973).
(SFC, 1/13/05, p.B6)
2005 Jan 11, James Griffin (61),
founding member of 1970s pop group Bread, died in Franklin, Tenn.
(AP, 1/11/06)
2005 Jan 11, At least eight people
were killed in a wildfire that raced through southern Australia’s Eyre
Peninsula, forcing terrified residents to leap into the sea to avoid
the flames.
(AP, 1/11/05)
2005 Jan 11, A strike by workers
and a demonstration that drew hundreds of thousands of people paralyzed
Santa Cruz as Bolivia's largest city joined an anti-government protest
that has elicited a pledge from the president to resign if things turn
violent. The protests forced the government to cancel water concessions
to a foreign firm.
(AP, 1/12/05)(WSJ, 1/12/05, p.A1)
2005 Jan 11, Gunmen on a motorbike
in northern Colombia killed Julio Hernando Palacios, a radio journalist
known for his tough talk against corruption.
(AP, 1/11/05)
2005 Jan 11, Costa Rica Pres. Abel
Pacheco signed a decree of national emergency after 3 days of heavy
rains forced nearly 13,000 people from their homes and killed at least
one person. Panama reported 2 dead.
(AP, 1/11/05)
2005 Jan 11, The EU and the US
agreed to settle their dispute over subsidies to Airbus SA and Boeing
Co. through bilateral talks rather than asking the WTO to resolve it.
(AP, 1/11/05)
2005 Jan 11, Indonesia's military
chief extended a new cease-fire offer to rebels in the tsunami-stricken
Aceh province, and residents in Sri Lanka were told not to rebuild near
the coast.
(AP, 1/11/05)
2005 Jan 11, PM Allawi
acknowledged that parts of Iraq will not be safe enough for people to
vote on Jan 30. A roadside bomb that missed a passing U.S. military
convoy killed 7 Iraqis and wounded one south of Baghdad. A suicide car
bomb at police headquarters in Tikrit killed 6. Insurgent attacks
across Iraq left 19 people dead.
(AP, 1/11/05)(SFC, 1/12/05, p.A1)(SFC, 1/12/05,
p.A10)
2005 Jan 11, Mudslides in Tijuana,
Mexico, killed 3 children and damaged 140 homes.
(SFC, 1/13/05, p.A3)
2005 Jan 11, Palestinian militants
in the Gaza Strip launched a barrage of homemade rockets and mortar
rounds at Jewish towns and settlements, hours after newly elected
Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas extended his hand in peace to Israel.
(AP, 1/11/05)
2005 Jan 11, Russia's Federal
Statistics Service said inflation was 11.7 per cent in 2004, slower
than the 12 per cent rate for 2003 but still above government's target.
(AP, 1/11/05)
2005 Jan 11, The Ukrainian
parliament called for an immediate withdrawal of the nation's
peacekeepers from Iraq. The vote was non-binding but reflected growing
national dismay over the mission.
(AP, 1/11/05)
2005 Jan 11, Fighting raged on in
Sudan's western Darfur region where despite a peace accord ending a
separate conflict in southern Sudan.
(AP, 1/12/05)
2005 Jan 12, The US Supreme Court
ruled that federal sentencing guidelines enacted 2 decades ago are
unconstitutional. The decision was not retroactive.
(WSJ, 1/13/05, p.A1)
2005 Jan 12, New US government
Dietary Guidelines suggested 30 minutes of daily physical activity to
reduce risk of chronic disease; 60 minutes to maintain a healthy
weight; and 90 minutes to lose weight.
(SFC, 1/13/05, p.A4)
2005 Jan 12, Democrat Christine
Gregoire, winner of the extremely close Washington governor’s race, was
inaugurated.
(AP, 1/12/06)
2005 Jan 12, It was reported that
researchers had synthesized a DNA molecule of 14,500 chemical units
with 21 genes used by a harmless laboratory bacterium.
(SFC, 1/12/05, p.A2)
2005 Jan 12, NASA launched its
Deep Impact spacecraft from Cape Canaveral, Fla. It was scheduled to
launch an 820-poind impactor vehicle at Comet Tempel-1 on July 4.
(WSJ, 1/13/05, p.D8)
2005 Jan 12, In southern
Afghanistan gunmen kidnapped six government soldiers in a former
Taliban stronghold and dumped their bullet-ridden bodies in a canal.
(AP, 1/13/05)
2005 Jan 12, Firefighters brought
Australia's deadliest bushfires in 20 years under control after 9
people died in the blazes in the Eyre Peninsula.
(AP, 1/12/05)
2005 Jan 12, Britain’s Prince
Harry apologized after a newspaper published a photograph of the young
royal wearing a Nazi uniform to a costume party.
(AP, 1/12/06)
2005 Jan 12, The European
Parliament gave its overwhelming endorsement to the European Union's
first-ever constitution and urged EU governments to quickly follow suit.
(CP, 1/12/05)
2005 Jan 12, Maud Fontenoy, a
French woman (26), set out in a row boat on a 4,900-mile solo voyage to
Polynesia, hoping to trace Thor Heyerdahl's epic 1947 Pacific crossing
aboard the balsa raft Kon-Tiki.
(AP, 1/14/05)
2005 Jan 12, German police
arrested 14 people during raids of apartments and mosques in five
states in a crackdown on an Islamic extremist organization suspected of
aiding terrorists.
(AP, 1/12/05)
2005 Jan 12, Indonesia demanded
that all foreign troops providing disaster relief leave the country by
Mar 31.
(SFC, 1/13/05, p.A1)
2005 Jan 12, Insurgents launched a
string of attacks in the northern city of Mosul killing two Iraqi
National Guardsmen and wounding two others in a car bombing. Sheik
Mahmoud Finjan was shot to death as he headed home after evening
prayers in a mosque at the town of Salman Pak southeast of Baghdad.
Attackers also killed Finjan's son and four bodyguards. Sunni Muslim
militants claimed responsibility.
(AP, 1/12/05)(AP, 1/14/05)
2005 Jan 12, Islamic militants
detonated a bomb near a Jewish settlement in the southern Gaza Strip,
killing an Israeli civilian and wounding three soldiers.
(AP, 1/12/05)
2005 Jan 12, Nigeria made public
plans to build a second $6-billion liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant in
the southwestern state of Ondo.
(AFP, 1/13/05)
2005 Jan 12, A US-sponsored study
estimated that one million Russians were infected with the AIDS virus.
(WSJ, 1/13/05, p.A1)
2005 Jan 13, US baseball owners
and players agreed to a more stringent drug policy. It would suspend
first-time offenders for 10 days and randomly tested players year-round.
(SFC, 1/13/05, p.A1)(AP, 1/13/06)
2005 Jan 13, The FBI said it may
have to scrap a costly computer system overhaul.
(WSJ, 1/14/05, p.A1)
2005 Jan 13, The European-built
space probe Huygens entered the atmosphere of Saturn's largest moon,
Titan.
(Reuters, 1/14/05)
2005 Jan 13, A Black Hawk
helicopter crashed during a counternarcotics mission in the jungles of
southwest Colombia, killing all 20 soldiers aboard.
(AP, 1/13/05)
2005 Jan 13, Sir Mark Thatcher
pleaded guilty to unwittingly helping to finance a foiled coup plot in
oil-rich Equatorial Guinea, accepting a $506,000 fine and suspended
jail sentence.
(AP, 1/13/05)
2005 Jan 13, In Iran a
malfunctioning heater in an Iranian school ignited a barrel of
kerosene, touching off a blaze that killing 13 children.
(AP, 1/13/05)
2005 Jan 13, In Iraq gunmen opened
fire on a minibus picking up a Turkish businessman from the Bakhan
Hotel in central Baghdad, killing six Iraqis and kidnapping the Turk,
who reportedly ran a construction company that worked with U.S.-led
occupation authorities.
(AP, 1/13/05)
2005 Jan 13, In Iraq's western
Anbar province 2 U.S. Marines were killed in action, and a soldier died
near the restive northern city of Mosul. Gunmen killed three officials
of a leading Kurdish political party in an ambush in the volatile
northern city of Mosul.
(AP, 1/14/05)
2005 Jan 13, In Iraq 28 prisoners
held by Iraqi authorities for common crimes escaped as they were being
transported by bus from the Abu Ghraib prison to another facility. 10
were quickly recaptured.
(AP, 1/14/05)
2005 Jan 13, Israel's foreign
minister said the planned sale of advanced Russian missiles to Syria
will disrupt regional stability and Moscow should call off the deal.
(AP, 1/13/05)
2005 Jan 13, Nepal's PM Sher
Bahadur Deuba said he would call elections and intensify a crackdown
against Maoist rebels after they turned down his offer of peace talks.
(AP, 1/13/05)
2005 Jan 13, Palestinian militants
killed six Israeli workers at a Gaza crossing. 3 Palestinian attackers
were also killed.
(AP, 1/14/05)(SFC, 1/14/05, p.A3)
2005 Jan 13, In Poland an
anti-terrorism law that allows authorities to shoot down hijacked
planes as a last resort took effect, part of efforts to protect the
country from attacks similar to those of Sept. 11.
(AP, 1/13/05)
2005 Jan 13, A Russian passenger
plane with 10 people on board went missing on a flight over Siberia.
(AP, 1/13/05)
2005 Jan 13, Saudi judicial
officials said a religious court has sentenced 15 Saudis, including a
woman, to as many as 250 lashes each and up to six months in prison for
participating in a protest against the monarchy.
(AP, 1/14/05)
2005 Jan 13, In Spain an explosion
killed seven workers at a warehouse in the northern city of Burgos. A
gas leak was suspected.
(AP, 1/13/05)
2005 Jan 14, The US Justice
Department's Office of the Inspector General released an unclassified
summary of its investigation into the March, 2002, termination of Sibel
Edmonds. She had discovered and reported several problems inside the
FBI, including shoddy translation work, a large backlog of untranslated
documents and employees with questionable alliances. The report
concluded that Edmonds was fired for reporting serious security
breaches and misconduct in the agency's translation program, and that
many of her allegations were supported.
(www.fbi.gov/pressrel/pressrel05/011405.htm)
2005 Jan 14, Army Specialist
Charles Graner Jr., the reputed ringleader of a band of rogue guards at
the Abu Ghraib prison, was convicted at Fort Hood, Texas, of abusing
Iraqi detainees. He was later sentenced to 10 years in prison.
(AP, 1/14/06)
2005 Jan 14, Oracle Corp.
announced that it would fire some 5,000 employees of PeopleSoft
following the recent $10.3 billion merger.
(SFC, 1/15/05, p.A1)
2005 Jan 14, In Park City, Utah, 5
people were feared buried by a massive avalanche.
(AP, 1/15/05)
2005 Jan 14, Charlotte MacLeod
(82), mystery writer, died in Lewiston, Maine.
(AP, 1/14/06)
2005 Jan 14, The European space
probe Huygens landed on Saturn's moon Titan, sending back images of
what scientists were calling the strangest landscape in the solar
system. Pictures showed a pale orange surface covered by a thin haze of
methane and what appears to be a methane sea complete with islands and
a mist-shrouded coastline.
(AP,
1/14/06)(http://huygens.esa.int/science-e/www/object/index.cfm?fobjectid=36280)
2005 Jan 14, Brian Blackburn (62),
a retired British policeman who killed his terminally-ill wife in a
suicide pact, walked free with a suspended jail sentence after the
court called him a "loving husband."
(AP, 1/14/05)
2005 Jan 14, A mentally disturbed
soldier killed five of his fellow troopers during a shooting spree at
an army base in southwest Colombia.
(AP, 1/14/05)
2005 Jan 14, A strike brought the
capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo to a standstill as public
transport shut down and businesses remained closed in protest at the
possible postponement of elections.
(AFP, 1/14/05)
2005 Jan 14, Prague Mayor Pavel
Bem got a close-up look at how the city's notorious taxi drivers
operate this week when he went undercover for a ride and was
overcharged by some 500 percent.
(Reuters, 1/14/05)
2005 Jan 14, Assailants robbed and
severely beat two reporters for Haiti's largest newspaper while the
journalists were covering a cleanup effort by U.N. peacekeepers in a
slum.
(AP, 1/15/05)
2005 Jan 14, An Iraqi bus collided
with a U.S. tank that was on patrol, killing six of the bus passengers
and injuring eight.
(AP, 1/14/05)
2005 Jan 14, Attackers fired on a
bus carrying Iraqi national guard members west of Baghdad, kidnapping
15 guardsmen and leaving the bus in flames.
(AP, 1/14/05)
2005 Jan 14, Israel sealed off the
Gaza Strip but signaled it will hold off on harsh retaliation for an
attack by Palestinian militants.
(AP, 1/14/05)
2005 Jan 14, In Kosovo a Nigerian
UN peacekeeper was killed when his car exploded as he drove to work.
(WSJ, 1/14/05, p.A1)
2005 Jan 14, Over 750 Mexican
federal police and soldiers seized control over the nation's
top-security prison amid reports of a planned escape, possible murder
plots and a jailhouse alliance between two reputed drug trafficking
kingpins.
(AP, 1/14/05)(SFC, 1/15/05, p.A3)
2005 Jan 14, Nicaragua’s feuding
leaders vowed to try to solve a political crisis, a day after Congress
passed a law restricting the powers of President Enrique Bolanos.
(AP, 1/15/05)
2005 Jan 14, A Rwanda official
estimated 1 million Rwandans, an eighth of the population, are expected
to be tried in traditional "gacaca" village courts for alleged
participation in the 1994 genocide.
(AP, 1/16/05)
2005 Jan 14, President Hugo Chavez
said that diplomatic and commercial relations with Colombia would be
put on hold until it apologizes for paying bounty hunters to abduct a
rebel leader from inside Venezuela.
(AP, 1/14/05)
2005 Jan 15, A military court at
Fort Hood, Texas, sentenced Army Specialist Charles Graner Jr. to 10
years behind bars for physically and sexually mistreating Iraqi
prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison.
(AP, 1/15/06)
2005 Jan 15, Michelle Kwan won her
ninth title at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships; earlier, Johnny
Weir won his second straight men's title.
(AP, 1/15/06)
2005 Jan 15, Andre Combs (16)
stabbed his aunt, Kimberly Renee Johnson (37), to death at her home in
East Palo Alto, Ca. Her body, hidden under a mattress in the backyard,
was not found until Feb 3. In 2006 Combs pleaded self-defense but was
convicted of second-degree murder. He was sentenced 15 years to life in
prison.
(SFC, 6/24/06, p.B7)(SFC, 6/27/06, p.B3)(SFC,
11/29/06, p.B5)
2005 Jan 15, Dan Lee (35), Pixar
animator, died in Berkeley, Ca. His work included the design of Nemo in
Pixar’s animated film “Finding Nemo.”
(SFC, 2/1/05, p.B7)
2005 Jan 15, Opera singer Victoria
de los Angeles (81) died in Barcelona, Spain.
(AP, 1/15/06)
2005 Jan 15, Ruth Warrick (88),
stage and screen actress and the inveterate busybody on "All My
Children," died in NY. She played Phoebe Tyler Wallingford in the TV
soap opera that debuted in 1970.
(AP, 1/18/05)
2005 Jan 15, Visiting Chancellor
of the Exchequer Gordon Brown revealed that Britain has decided to
cancel Mozambique's total debt to it of 150 million dollars (114
million euros) to help the southern African country combat poverty. He
said: "We've also agreed to pay 10 percent of Mozambique's multilateral
debt."
(AP, 1/15/05)
2005 Jan 15, China and Taiwan
agreed to allow the first direct flights since 1949.
(AP, 1/15/05)
2005 Jan 15, Sami Mohammed Ali
Said al-Jaaf, also known as Abu Omar al-Kurdi, was arrested during a
raid in Baghdad. On Jan 24 authorities announced the arrest of Al-Jaaf,
an al-Qaida figure allegedly behind the vast majority of the car
bombings in Baghdad.
(AP, 1/24/05)
2005 Jan 15, In Kashmir separatist
guerrillas stormed a government building in Srinagar, triggering a
gunbattle with security forces days ahead of Republic Day celebrations.
(AP, 1/15/05)
2005 Jan 15, Mahmoud Abbas was
sworn in as Palestinian Authority president. 46 members of the
Palestinian election commission, including top managers, resigned
saying they were pressured by Mahmoud Abbas' campaign and intelligence
officials to abruptly change voting procedures during the Jan. 9
presidential poll.
(AP, 1/15/05)
2005 Jan 15, Massive
demonstrations across Russia posed a major challenge to President
Vladimir Putin, and Moscow authorities bowed to the demands of
protesting retirees by restoring some of their state benefits, such as
free public transportation and subsidized medicine.
(AP, 1/15/05)
2005 Jan 15, Savo Todovic (52), a
Bosnian Serb wanted by the U.N. war crimes tribunal for crimes he
allegedly committed during the 1992-95 war, surrendered to Bosnian Serb
police.
(AP, 1/15/05)
2005 Jan 15, Police and militants
fought a gun battle in a small Kuwaiti town near a US military
logistics center, leaving one Saudi gunman dead and two policemen
wounded.
(AP, 1/15/05)
2005 Jan 15, Gunmen shot and
killed three police officers as authorities stormed a house in
Kaspiisk, a port on the Caspian Sea in the Russian province of
Dagestan. Riot police and other security forces besieged a house in the
provincial capital, Makhachkala, where gunmen were hiding and one
officer was killed.
(AP, 1/16/05)
2005 Jan 16, At the 62nd annual
Golden Globe Awards winners included “The Aviator” for best drama
picture with Leonardo DiCaprio as best actor. Hillary Swank won the
best actress award for her role in “Million Dollar Baby.”
(SFC, 1/17/05, p.D2)
2005 Jan 16, Acclaimed prison
journalist Wilbert Rideau spent his first full day of freedom after
being released from prison, where he'd spent nearly 44 years for the
1961 killing of Louisiana bank teller Julia Ferguson.
(AP, 1/16/06)
2005 Jan 16, Marjorie Williams
(b.1958), American journalist and political writer, died of liver
cancer. In 2008 her husband Timothy Noah published “Reputation:
Portraits in Power,” an anthology of her work.
(WSJ, 10/3/08,
p.W5)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marjorie_Williams)
2005 Jan 16, The US military freed
81 Afghan prisoners, and the Afghan government was negotiating the
release of hundreds more from American custody.
(AP, 1/16/05)(WSJ, 1/17/05, p.A1)
2005 Jan 16, Algeria's government
signed an agreement to end years of conflict with the restive Berber
minority, pledging to accept long-standing demands including greater
recognition of the Berber language.
(AP, 1/16/05)
2005 Jan 16, Australian born and
bred Charlie Bell (44), the first non-American to head the McDonald's
chain of 30,000 burger restaurants in 119 countries, died in Sydney
from cancer.
(AP, 1/17/05)
2005 Jan 16, Croatians returned to
the polls for presidential runoff. Pres. Stipe Mesic won a 2nd term in
the runoff election with 66% of the vote.
(AP, 1/17/05)
2005 Jan 16, Indonesia increased
its tsunami death toll by 5,000, raising the overall number of people
who died in the Dec. 26 disaster to more than 162,000.
(AP, 1/16/05)
2005 Jan 16, In Iraq a total of 17
people were killed in the Baghdad area, including three Iraqi policemen
and three Iraqi National Guard soldiers killed in separate attacks. As
mourners gathered for the policemen's funeral, a suicide bomber killed
another seven people.
(AP, 1/17/05)
2005 Jan 16, A 25-hour stand-off
between Islamic guerrillas and Indian forces in Srinagar, Kashmir,
ended after two militants holed up inside an indoor stadium were killed
by troops.
(AP, 1/16/05)
2005 Jan 16, The first Kuwaiti
released from Guantanamo Bay was taken into government custody after he
arrived home.
(AP, 1/16/05)
2005 Jan 16, A top PLO
decision-making body called on Palestinian militants to halt attacks
against Israel, charging that the violence gives Israel an excuse to
carry out military operations.
(AP, 1/16/05)
2005 Jan 16, Qatar Gas Transport
planned the country’s largest share flotation. They recently unveiled a
large LNG project with Exxon.
(Econ, 1/8/05, p.54)
2005 Jan 16, A 66-year-old
Romanian woman became the world's oldest woman recorded to give birth
when she delivered a daughter by cesarean section.
(AP, 1/17/05)
2005 Jan 16, In Russia protests by
retirees against the loss of welfare benefits swept President Vladimir
Putin's home city for the second straight day.
(AP, 1/16/05)
2005 Jan 16, The armed Basque
separatist group ETA threw its weight behind an initiative by its
political wing to open dialogue with the Spanish government on solving
the Basque problem.
(AP, 1/16/05)
2005 Jan 16, The Sudanese
government and an alliance of opposition groups reached a tentative
agreement on Sudan's political future that builds on a peace accord
already signed with southern rebels.
(Reuters, 1/16/05)
2005 Jan 17, SF and other US
cities held parades honoring Martin Luther King.
(SFC, 1/18/05, p.A1)
2005 Jan 17, Virginia Mayo
(b.1920), film actress, died in LA. Her over 40 films included “White
Heat” (1933) and “Best years of Our Lives” (1946).
(SFC, 1/18/05, p.B4)
2005 Jan 17, British Treasury
chief Gordon Brown called on wealthy nations and international
institutions to write off Africa's debt, saying debts incurred by past
generations are keeping the continent poor.
(AP, 1/17/05)
2005 Jan 17, Chinese news reports
said authorities have arrested dozens of government officials and
others accused in a scheme to steal 7.4 billion yuan ($900 million)
from a state bank through fraudulent loans.
(AP, 1/17/05)
2005 Jan 17, Zhao Ziyang (85),
former Chinese leader (1980-1987), died after 15 years under house
arrest. He was ousted as China's Communist Party leader after
sympathizing with the 1989 Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests. In
2009 a secret recording of his insights regarding the 1989 protests
were translated edited and published by Bao Pu: “Prisoner of the State:
The Secret Journal of Premier Zhao Ziyang.”
(AP, 1/17/05)(SFC, 1/17/05, p.B4)(Econ, 1/22/05,
p.82)(Econ, 5/23/09, p.88)
2005 Jan 17, Iranian President
Mohammed Khatami arrived in Zimbabwe to a red carpet welcome from his
counterpart Robert Mugabe with whom he is due to hold talks over two
days.
(AP, 1/18/05)
2005 Jan 17, Iraqi expatriates in
14 countries began registering to vote in Iraq's Jan. 30 elections.
(AP, 1/17/06)
2005 Jan 17, Gunmen killed 8 Iraqi
National Guardsmen at a checkpoint northeast of Baghdad, and 8 people
died in a suicide car bombing at a police station outside the capital.
Two Iraqi government auditors were shot to death after armed gunmen
stopped their car in an area southeast of Baghdad. In Ramadi, officials
found four bodies, three civilians and one Iraqi soldier. They bore
handwritten signs declaring them collaborators.
(AP, 1/17/05)
2005 Jan 17, Israeli warplanes
attacked suspected Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon after the
guerrillas said they blew up an Israeli bulldozer in a disputed area
near the border, reportedly causing casualties.
(AP, 1/17/05)
2005 Jan 17, Palestinian leader
Mahmoud Abbas ordered his security forces to try to prevent attacks
against Israel and to investigate a shooting at a Gaza Strip crossing
that killed six Israeli civilians last week.
(AP, 1/17/05)
2005 Jan 17, Russian police
stopped angry retirees from blocking traffic, the third day of protests
in President Vladimir Putin's hometown against welfare benefit cutoffs.
(AP, 1/17/05)
2005 Jan 17, In Thailand a
collision on Bangkok’s new subway injured 200 and suspended service for
a week. A crew error was blamed.
(WSJ, 1/18/05, p.A1)
2005 Jan 17, Singapore said its
exports expanded by 17 percent to a record high in 2004, reflecting
strong demand from China for oil and commodities and solid sales of
electronics and pharmaceuticals to the United States and European Union.
(AP, 1/17/05)
2005 Jan 18, Secretary of State
nominee Condoleezza Rice, at her Senate confirmation hearing, insisted
the United States was fully prepared for the Iraq war and its aftermath
and refused to give a timetable for U.S. troops to come home.
(AP, 1/18/06)
2005 Jan 18, Oscar Sanchez, owner
of a family restaurant in Dallas, was kidnapped in what police believed
was a stage car wreck. His body was found a week later. Jose Felix, a
former teacher, and Edgar "Richie" Acevedo, a waiter at the
restaurant, were responsible for the kidnapping and slaying. Within
weeks Felix was captured in Chicago. In October Mexican federal
authorities captured Edgar "Richie" Acevedo in Cabo San Lucas.
(AP, 10/15/05)
2005 Jan 18, More than 900
right-wing paramilitary fighters surrendered their weapons, but a
leading international rights group criticized the demobilization
process and said the Colombian government is letting war criminals off
the hook.
(AP, 1/19/05)
2005 Jan 18, Cuba's National
Gazette published a new resolution by the Commerce Ministry that
beginning on Feb. 7, smoking will be prohibited in theaters, stores,
buses, taxis and other enclosed public areas.
(AP, 1/18/05)
2005 Jan 18, In France Airbus
unveiled the 840-passenger A380, the world's biggest passenger jet, in
a glitzy ceremony in which the leaders of France, Britain, Germany and
Spain hailed Europe's victory over the US as the new king of the
commercial skies.
(AP, 1/18/05)
2005 Jan 18, In Iraq a suicide
bombing killed three people outside the offices of a leading Shiite
political party. Insurgents released a video showing 8 Chinese workers
held hostage by gunmen who claim the men are employed by a construction
company working with U.S. troops, in the latest abduction of foreigners
in Iraq. 2 US soldiers died elsewhere.
(AP, 1/18/05)(WSJ, 1/19/05, p.A1)
2005 Jan 18, U.S. soldiers opened
fire on a car as it approached their checkpoint in northern Iraq,
killing 2 civilians in the vehicle's front seats. 6 children riding in
the backseat were unhurt.
(AP, 1/19/05)
2005 Jan 18, A tsunami conference
began in Japan with calls to expand warning systems.
(WSJ, 1/19/05, p.A1)
2005 Jan 18, Palestinian leader
Mahmoud Abbas summoned militant leaders to cease-fire talks in the Gaza
Strip and said he is hopeful he can persuade them to halt attacks on
Israel.
(AP, 1/18/05)
2005 Jan 19, Previewing his second
inauguration, President Bush pledged to seek unity in a nation divided
by political differences, saying, "I am eager and ready for the work
ahead."
(AP, 1/19/06)
2005 Jan 19, Condoleezza Rice won
strong but not unanimous endorsement as secretary of state from a
Senate panel.
(AP, 1/19/06)
2005 Jan 19, It was reported that
the FBI had shelved its surveillance technology, once know as Carnivore
and later renamed DCS-1000, and switched to unspecified commercial
software to eavesdrop on computer traffic.
(SFC, 1/19/05, p.A3)
2005 Jan 19, Norma McCorvey, the
“Roe” of Roe vs. Wade, asked the Supreme Court to overturn the abortion
ruling. Lower courts already blocked her twice.
(WSJ, 1/20/05, p.A1)
2005 Jan 19, The US Bureau of
Labor Statistics reported that the consumer price index rose 3.3% in
2004, the largest gain since 2000.
(WSJ, 1/20/05, p.A2)
2005 Jan 19, The American Cancer
Society reported that cancer had passed heart disease as the top killer
of Americans age 85 and younger.
(AP, 1/19/06)
2005 Jan 19, Donald Beardslee (61)
became the 11th prisoner to be executed in California since the death
penalty was reinstated in 1997.
(AP, 12/13/05)
2005 Jan 19, Walter Wriston (85),
longtime head of Citicorp and an advisor to Pres. Reagan, died in NY.
(WSJ, 1/21/05, p.A1)(Econ, 1/29/05, p.83)
2005 Jan 19, Brazil raised its
reference lending rate for a 5th consecutive month by a half point to
18.25% in an effort to curb inflation.
(WSJ, 1/20/05, p.A12)
2005 Jan 19, PM Tony Blair said
the military would not tolerate any abuse of Iraqi prisoners as new
graphic photos depicting alleged mistreatment of detainees blared
across the front pages of British newspapers.
(AP, 1/19/05)
2005 Jan 19, In Canada 2 houses in
Vancouver, BC, were completely destroyed and at least three people were
missing after a mudslide caused by heavy rains swept down a hillside.
(CP, 1/19/05)
2005 Jan 19, The Chinese
government ordered a halt to construction at 30 big construction
projects, including two at the massive Three Gorges Dam, due to alleged
violations of environmental protection regulations and other concerns.
(AP, 1/19/05)
2005 Jan 19, Strikes over job cuts
and pay disrupted French rail service and hospitals.
(AP, 1/19/05)
2005 Jan 19, The US State
Department issued a warning asking Americans to defer travel to Guyana
because of flooding that has killed at least two people there over the
past week.
(AP, 1/19/05)
2005 Jan 19, Indonesia's Health
Ministry raised the country's death toll from the Dec. 26 tsunami to
166,320, pushing the total number of people killed in the disaster
around the region above 225,000.
(Reuters, 1/19/05)(SFC, 1/20/05, p.A4)
2005 Jan 19, A wave of car
bombings shook the Iraqi capital, killing 26 people. Other attacks were
reported north and south of the capital. The al-Qaida in Iraq terror
group claimed that it carried out a truck bombing at the Australian
Embassy in Baghdad that killed two people. A militant group posted a
video on the Web showing gunmen killing execution-style two Iraqis said
to have set up an Internet system in northern Iraq. American soldiers
on patrol in Mosul killed three insurgents who fired on them from a
car. A British security worker and an Iraqi colleague were killed in an
ambush near the Beiji power station complex. Joao Jose Vasconcellos
(50), a Brazilian engineer, was kidnapped in Baghdad. His remains were
returned to Brazil in 2007.
(AP, 1/19/05)(SFC, 1/20/05, p.A10)(AP, 1/20/05)(AP,
6/14/07)
2005 Jan 19, In Nigeria a fuel
tanker crashed into two buses and burst into flames on a road in Lagos,
killing at least 30 people.
(AP, 1/20/05)
2005 Jan 19, The Polish government
signed a deal with US defense contractor Lockheed Martin Corp. paving
the way for the transfer of technology and investment to a Polish
weapons producer.
(AP, 1/19/05)
2005 Jan 19, Russia’s finance
minister, Alexei Kudrin, said the government plans to compensate
pensioners for lost benefits using windfall from oil receipts.
(WSJ, 1/20/05, p.A12)
2005 Jan 20, The inauguration
ceremony for Pres. Bush was held in Washington DC. Chief Justice
William H. Rehnquist, ill with thyroid cancer, delivered the oath of
office. Anti-Bush demonstrators jeered the president's motorcade during
the inaugural parade. The event was expected to cost $40 million the
administration asked DC to use 11.9 million of its federal homeland
security funds to help pay costs. Pres. Bush pledged to spread
democracy and support democratic movements worldwide. Thousands of
people in dozens of cities across the US walked out of work and school,
held mock coronations, intoned the names of the Iraq war dead and held
candlelight vigils to show their disapproval of President Bush.
(SFC, 1/20/05, p.A12)(AP, 1/21/05)(SFC, 1/21/05,
p.A1)(AP, 1/20/06)
2005 Jan 20, It was reported that
the global car industry had an annual excess capacity of some 24
million vehicles.
(WSJ, 1/20/05, p.A1)
2005 Jan 20, Delta Airlines
reported a record $5.2 billion loss for 2004.
(SFC, 1/21/05, p.C1)
2005 Jan 20, Alzheimer’s
scientists said they had reversed brain-cell damage in mice by clearing
plaque with antibodies.
(WSJ, 1/21/05, p.A1)
2005 Jan 20, Brazil’s central bank
said Brazil posted a current-account surplus of $11.7 billion for 2004,
its 2nd straight annual surplus.
(WSJ, 1/21/05, p.A7)
2005 Jan 20, Chile, the world's
biggest copper producer, and India, the world's biggest grains
producer, agreed to launch talks to reduce import tariffs on some goods
to boost bilateral trade.
(AP, 1/20/05)
2005 Jan 20, Estonia's Jewish
community broke ground on a new synagogue to replace the house of
worship destroyed by bombing in World War II.
(AP, 1/20/05)
2005 Jan 20, North of Baghdad 3
Iraqi army soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb in the city of
Samarra. US troops launched Mosul raids. 5 suspected insurgents were
killed.
(AP, 1/20/05)(WSJ, 1/21/05, p.A1)
2005 Jan 20, Israeli officials
accepted a Palestinian plan to deploy hundreds of police officers along
the Gaza-Israel frontier Jan 21, in the first act of security
cooperation with Israel under Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas.
(AP, 1/20/05)
2005 Jan 20, In Mexico 6 prison
workers were shot to death and left outside their lockup in Matamoros,
following a federal crackdown against drug gangs at lockups across the
nation.
(AP, 1/20/05)
2005 Jan 20, It was reported that
a Zimbabwe government crackdown on dissent is deepening a climate of
fear ahead of parliamentary elections due in March. President Robert
Mugabe appointed a new electoral commission to run parliamentary polls
due in March under a law which the opposition says does not guarantee a
free and fair vote.
(AP, 1/20/05)(Reuters, 1/20/05)
2005 Jan 21, The US Bureau of Land
Management (BLM) posted a decision to open thousands of acres on
Alaska’s North Slope for exploratory oil drilling.
(SFC, 1/22/05, p.A5)
2005 Jan 21, Michael Powell, US
chief of the FCC, said he will step down in 2 months.
(SFC, 1/22/05, p.A1)
2005 Jan 21, The body of Megan
Leann Holden (19) was found near Stanton, Texas. Her abduction from a
Wal-Mart parking lot 2 days earlier was captured on surveillance
videotape. Johnny Lee Williams (24), the suspect in her murder, was
arrested at an Arizona hospital after he shot during a robbery attempt.
(SFC, 1/22/05, p.A3)
2005 Jan 21, In Belize a 2-day
strike ended to protest a lawmakers vote to approve tax hikes opposed
by a majority of the country's 250,000 people. Some 500 protesters
clashed with police in front of Belize's House of Representatives.
(AP, 1/22/05)
2005 Jan 21, Bulgarian President
Georgy Parvanov told parliament that he would like to see Bulgaria's
450-strong troop contingent out of Iraq before the end of the year.
(AFP, 1/21/05)
2005 Jan 21, A German policeman
was stabbed in the neck with a pair of scissors and another taken
hostage when a man they were trying to arrest turned violent.
(AP, 1/21/05)
2005 Jan 21, A car bomb exploded
outside a Shiite mosque in Baghdad where worshippers were celebrating a
major Muslim holiday, killing at least 14 people and wounding 40. A
suicide bomber left 7 people dead at a Shiite wedding party near
Youssufiya.
(AP, 1/21/05)(SFC, 1/22/05, p.A10)
2005 Jan 21, Hundreds of armed
Palestinian police deployed across the northern Gaza Strip on Friday to
prevent rocket fire on Israeli communities.
(AP, 1/21/05)
2005 Jan 22, Donald Trump (58)
married Slovenian model Melania Knauss (34) with all the glamour, glitz
and gold that money and star power can buy.
(AP, 1/23/05)
2005 Jan 22, On the 32nd
anniversary of Roe vs. Wade rival sides of the abortion issue staged
dueling marches on Market St. in SF. Some 6,000 antiabortion activists
were jeered by some 3,000 advocates for abortion rights.
(SSFC, 1/23/05, p.A1)
2005 Jan 22, Rose Mary Woods (87),
President Nixon's former secretary, died in Ohio.
(AP, 1/22/06)
2005 Jan 22, In India actress
Parveen Babi, who played the siren in dozens of Bollywood films, was
found dead at her suburban Bombay apartment. Babi, famed for her
unconventional western looks, starred in more than 50 Hindi films
mostly in the 1970s and early 1980s.
(AP, 1/22/05)
2005 Jan 22, Iran's state-run
television reported that the hard-line constitutional watchdog has
decided that women can run for president in June elections.
(AP, 1/22/05)
2005 Jan 22, Insurgents said they
had executed 15 kidnapped Iraqi National Guardsmen for cooperating with
U.S. forces. Insurgents decided to release 8 Chinese construction
workers taken hostage in Iraq after China pledged to discourage its
citizens from traveling to Iraq.
(AP, 1/22/05)
2005 Jan 22, In Italy a war within
the Camorra, the regional mafia of Naples, was reported to have claimed
35 lives over the last 4 months.
(Econ, 1/22/05, p.46)
2005 Jan 22, In Japan the world's
nations ended their tsunami conference and agreed to work together to
better guard their people against natural disasters.
(AP, 1/22/05)
2005 Jan 22, Maldivians cast votes
to elect a parliament, three weeks after the election was postponed
because of the Indian Ocean tsunami. Police arrested 20 opposition
backers.
(AP, 1/22/05)(WSJ, 1/24/05, p.A1)
2005 Jan 22, Consuelo Velazquez
(84), whose song "Besame Mucho" became a standard in many languages and
styles of music, died in Mexico City.
(AP, 1/25/05)
2005 Jan 22, Nepali troops killed
at least nine Maoist guerrillas including four women in weekend
gunbattles in the west of the revolt-torn Himalayan kingdom.
(Reuters, 1/23/05)
2005 Jan 22, Thousands of poor
Russians demonstrated across Russia as part of a campaign of protest
against abolition of some benefits that has dented Pres. Putin's
popularity.
(Reuters, 1/22/05)
2005 Jan 22, Somalia's government
vowed to bring to justice militiamen who exhumed hundreds of skeletons
from an Italian colonial-era cemetery and dumped them near Mogadishu's
airport.
(Reuters, 1/22/05)
2005 Jan 22, South Sudan leader
John Garang arrived in his southern bastion for the first time since a
peace accord ended Africa's longest-running civil war.
(Reuters, 1/22/05)
2005 Jan 22, Turkey’s large debt
was reported to amount to about 74% of its GDP.
(Econ, 1/22/05, p.47)
2005 Jan 23, The Philadelphia
Eagles defeated the Atlanta Falcons 27-10 to win the NFC championship
game; the New England Patriots won the AFC championship by beating the
Pittsburgh Steelers, 41-27.
(AP, 1/23/06)
2005 Jan 23, Travel was slowed to
a crawl at best across wide areas of the Northeast US and Canada as a
huge snowstorm whipped up blizzard conditions with wind gusting to 60
mph, making highways treacherous, canceling hundreds of airline flights
and slowing trains.
(AP, 1/23/05)(WSJ, 1/24/05, p.A1)
2005 Jan 23, Johnny Carson
(b.1925), the 30-year host of the "Tonight Show," died. Carson's death
was the result of complications from emphysema.
(AP, 1/24/05)
2005 Jan 23, Sir William Deakin
(91), a historian who founded St. Antony's College at Oxford
University, helped Winston Churchill write about World War II, and led
the first British mission to Marshal Tito's partisans in Yugoslavia,
died in Var, France.
(AP, 1/25/05)
2005 Jan 23, Police said suspected
leftist rebels ambushed a candidate for the legislature in India's
eastern state of Bihar, killing him and three supporters. Maoist rebels
in Bihar have called for a boycott of next month's vote.
(AP, 1/23/05)
2005 Jan 23, Indonesia raised its
death toll from the Dec 26 disaster by as many as 7,000 people. It
confirmed 96,000 dead and 132,000 presumed dead.
(AP, 1/23/05)(WSJ, 1/26/05, p.A1)
2005 Jan 23, Iran's hard-line
leadership ruled out allowing women to run for president in June
elections, denying reports in the state-run media that it had decided
to allow female candidates for the first time.
(AP, 1/23/05)
2005 Jan 23, In Iraq fire swept
through the general hospital in Nasiriyah, killing 14 people and
injuring 75.
(AP, 1/23/05)
2005 Jan 23, Israeli leaders said
it willing to suspend military operations against Palestinian militants
if they call off attacks.
(AP, 1/23/05)
2005 Jan 23, Lebanon's finance
minister played down the transfer by Iraq's Defense Ministry of $500
million in cash to a financial institution in Beirut, saying he would
expect such a transfer to be legal if it was made by the Iraqi
government. Iraqi officials in early January sent some $300 million on
a charter jet to Lebanon to purchase weapons from int’l. arms dealers.
(SFC, 1/22/05, p.A10)(AP, 1/23/05)
2005 Jan 23, Viktor Yushchenko was
sworn in as president of Ukraine.
(AP, 1/23/06)
2005 Jan 24, Jeffrey Royer, former
FBI agent, and Anthony Elgindy, Internet penny stock advisor, were
convicted for mining government computers for confidential information
to manipulate stocks.
(SFC, 1/25/05,
p.E3)(http://asensioexposed.com/elgindytrial.htm)
2005 Jan 24, China's vice
president expressed a strong desire to increase economic and diplomatic
cooperation with Mexico while meeting with Mexican lawmakers.
(AP, 1/24/05)
2005 Jan 24, China and India
opened a first round of "strategic dialogue", as their regional and
international influence surges despite a nagging border dispute.
(AFP, 1/24/05)
2005 Jan 24, In India P. Ravindra,
former state minister and TDP leader, was gunned down outside the party
office in Anantpur town. Mobs torched nearly 100 state-run buses and
hurled stones at government buildings in Andhra Pradesh after an
opposition politician was shot dead.
(AP, 1/24/05)
2005 Jan 24, A suicide driver
detonated a car bomb outside the prime minister's party headquarters,
injuring at least 10 people in a blast claimed by the al-Qaida
affiliate in Iraq.
(AP, 1/24/05)
2005 Jan 24, Authorities in Iraq
said Sami Mohammed Ali Said al-Jaaf, an al-Qaida lieutenant in custody,
had confessed to masterminding most of the car bombings in Baghdad.
(AP, 1/24/06)
2005 Jan 24, Militant groups have
agreed to suspend attacks as they near a formal truce deal with
Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas and await Israel's response.
(AP, 1/24/05)
2005 Jan 24, In Thailand a tourist
boat returning from Pa Ngan island capsized and at least 7 people were
dead. Another 20 were missing.
(WSJ, 1/25/05, p.A1)
2005 Jan 24, Ukraine President
Viktor Yushchenko, visiting Moscow on a trip to mend relations after a
bitter election campaign, appointed top ally Yulia Tymoshenko as prime
minister.
(AP, 1/24/05)
2005 Jan 24, The United Nations
broke with years of protocol and commemorated the 60-year anniversary
of the liberation of the Nazi death camps, directly linking its own
founding with the end of the Holocaust in some of the strongest
language ever.
(AP, 1/24/06)
2005 Jan 25, The US Congressional
Budget Office predicted the government will accumulate another $855
billion in deficits over the next decade. Administration officials
detailed President Bush's request for $80 billion to pay for military
operations in Iraq and Afghanistan this year.
(AP, 1/25/05)
2005 Jan 25, SF and dozens of
other US cities undertook a tally of their homeless competing for
nearly $1.5 billion in federal funds to care for the homeless.
(WSJ, 2/1/05, p.A1)
2005 Jan 25, Legislators in San
Francisco, Ca., voted 8-3 to ban smoking in public parks, becoming the
first major American city to embrace such an expansive ban on tobacco
use.
(Reuters, 1/26/05)(SFC, 1/26/05, p.A1)
2005 Jan 25, The Bill and Melinda
Gates Foundation pledged $750 million over 10 years to support the
Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization.
(WSJ, 1/25/05, p.D6)
2005 Jan 25, Georgina Mace told a
meeting of zoologists in London that 0.5% of the area of natural
habitats on land is lost each year, largely due to conversion to
farmland.
(Econ, 2/5/05, p.74)
2005 Jan 25, Philip Johnson
(b.1906), architect, died in Conn. His buildings included 101
California St. in SF and the AT&T building in NYC.
(SFC, 1/27/05, p.A2)
2005 Jan 25, Ethiopia’s government
said it has began giving free doses of life-prolonging drugs to about
14,000 HIV-infected Ethiopians in a US-funded program.
(AP, 1/25/05)
2005 Jan 25, Paris' new memorial
to the Holocaust was inaugurated, with President Chirac bowing before
the wall inscribed with the names of 76,000 Jews sent to Nazi death
camps from France.
(AP, 1/25/05)
2005 Jan 25, In western India
thousands of Hindus panicked during a religious procession, when fire
broke out in roadside stalls. The resulting stampede killed at least
258 people near the village of Wai.
(AP, 1/25/05)(AP, 1/26/05)
2005 Jan 25, In Iraq gunmen
assassinated a senior judge. Roy Hallums, an American hostage kidnapped
in November, pleaded for his life with a rifle pointed at his head in a
newly released video. Hallums was rescued by coalition troops on Sept.
7, 2005. 11 Iraqi police died in clashes. 6 US soldiers died, including
5 in a vehicle crash north of Baghdad.
(WSJ, 1/26/05, p.A1)(AP, 1/25/06)
2005 Jan 25, Irish Prime Minister
Bertie Ahern prepared to meet with Sinn Fein leaders, in his first
talks with the IRA-linked party since the Dec 20 bank theft.
(AP, 1/25/05)
2005 Jan 25, The top Hamas leader
said his militant group is prepared to suspend attacks if Israel stops
targeting militants and agrees to release thousands of Palestinian
prisoners.
(AP, 1/25/05)
2005 Jan 26, Condoleezza Rice was
sworn in as secretary of state, following her confirmation by the
Senate.
(AP, 1/26/06)
2005 Jan 26, In Glendale, Ca., a
Metrolink commuter train struck a vehicle, derailed and sideswiped
another train, killing 11 people and injuring about 180 others. Juan
Manuel Alvarez (25) left his SUV on a railroad track after changing his
mind about committing suicide. Alvarez was convicted in 2008 on 11
counts of murder and was sentenced to 11 consecutive life terms in
prison. In 2009 Metrolink agreed to pay some $30 million to settle most
of the lawsuits related to the derailment.
(AP, 1/27/05)(SFC, 1/27/05, p.A1)(SFC, 8/21/08,
p.A3)(SFC, 10/14/09, p.A6)
2005 Jan 26, In Ohio an employee
at the Toledo North Assembly Jeep plant shot 3 co-workers, killing one,
before taking his own life.
(SFC, 1/27/05, p.A3)
2005 Jan 26, Afghan President
Hamid Karzai started a two-day visit to Iran mainly focused on boosting
economic relations and inaugurating a new cross-border highway.
(AFP, 1/26/05)
2005 Jan 26, China’s central bank
said a nationwide personal credit database will be available across the
country by the end of the year. The database was launched in January,
2006, and included records of 340 million individuals.
(WSJ, 1/27/05, p.A10)(WSJ, 1/17/06, p.A15)
2005 Jan 26, A US military
transport helicopter crashed in bad weather in Iraq's western desert,
killing 31 people, all believed to be Marines. Insurgents killed five
other American troops.
(AP, 1/26/05)
2005 Jan 26, A suicide car bomber
attacked an office of a major Kurdish party, killing or injuring at
least 20 people.
(AP, 1/26/05)
2005 Jan 26, Israel and the
Palestinian Authority resumed diplomatic contacts after a two-week
freeze, and Israel agreed to suspend targeted killings of Palestinian
militants.
(AP, 1/26/05)
2005 Jan 26, At his first public
hearing prosecutors said Mohammed Bouyeri (26), the alleged killer of
Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh, ignored his victim's pleas for mercy and
calmly shot him at close range before slitting his throat.
(AP, 1/26/05)
2005 Jan 26, A South Korean
semiconductor maker said it had pioneered an innovation that will allow
energy efficient light-emitting diodes to light homes (LED for AC).
(AP, 1/26/05)
2005 Jan 26, The Sudanese air
force bombed villagers in South Darfur, observers from the African
Union reported, and an international aid organization said casualties
were inflicted. The UN said renewed fighting in Sudan's Darfur region
may have killed up to 105 civilians and displaced more than 9,000 last
week.
(AP, 1/26/05)
2005 Jan 26, The World Economic
Forum, the global business meeting that attracts world leaders and
Hollywood stars, opened in Davos, Switzerland. A Chinese economist said
that China has lost faith in the stability of the US dollar and would
seek to broaden the exchange rate for the yuan to a more flexible
basket of currencies.
(AP, 1/26/05)(SFC, 1/27/05, p.C1)
2005 Jan 26, The 5th annual World
Social Forum opened in Porto Alegre, Brazil. Activists from some 4,000
non-governmental organizations and 112 countries gathered under the
theme “Another World Is Possible.”
(SFC, 1/29/05, p.A6)
2005 Jan 27, Condoleezza Rice, in
her first day as Secretary of State, reached out to European allies and
partners in the war on terrorism and echoed President Bush's inaugural
charge to promote liberty across the globe.
(AP, 1/27/06)
2005 Jan 27, P&G announced a
$55 billion deal to buy Gillette Corp.
(SFC, 1/28/05, p.C1)
2005 Jan 27, An Afghan soldier
opened fire inside a US base and killed 5 of his comrades.
(SFC, 1/28/05, p.A3)
2005 Jan 27, In northeastern
Bangladesh a bomb exploded at an opposition rally, killing two people
and wounding at least 30.
(Reuters, 1/27/05)
2005 Jan 27, Egypt admitted to
failing to signal a "number of research experiments" to the IAEA, after
diplomats said the agency was investigating an Egyptian lab that could
be used to make plutonium, a nuclear weapons material.
(AFP, 2/14/05)
2005 Jan 27, In Poland frail
survivors and humbled world leaders remembered the victims of the
Holocaust as they marked the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the
Nazi death camp Auschwitz.
(AP, 1/27/06)
2005 Jan 27, India has decided to
open the main airport in disputed Kashmir to international flights to
draw more tourists to the scenic Himalayan region.
(Reuters, 1/27/05)
2005 Jan 27, Indonesian Pres.
Yudhoyono rebels in Aceh amnesty and greater autonomy in exchange for a
cease-fire on the eve of new peace talks I Helsinki. Japanese troops
arrived in Aceh to take over aid tasks from US forces.
(SFC, 1/28/05, p.A10)(WSJ, 1/28/05, p.A1)
2005 Jan 27, Eleven Iraqis and one
US Marine were killed as insurgents clashed with US troops and blew up
a school slated to serve as a polling center. Authorities found the
bodies of four Iraqi National Guardsmen who had been shot dead in
Ramadi, capital of the troubled Anbar province.
(AP, 1/27/05)(AP, 1/28/05)
2005 Jan 27, It was reported that
Japan’s trade with China in 2004 exceeded its trade with the US for the
1st time. This included figures for Hong Kong.
(WSJ, 1/27/05, p.A10)
2005 Jan 27, Jordan’s King
Abdullah II said he would introduce some limited democratic reforms in
his kingdom.
(AP, 1/27/05)
2005 Jan 27, Pakistani police
arrested 23 Afghans in raids in the border city of Quetta on suspicion
of links with Taliban and Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network.
(AP, 1/28/05)
2005 Jan 27, The Palestinian
leadership banned civilians from carrying weapons, its latest step
aimed at reigning in militant violence.
(AP, 1/27/05)
2005 Jan 27, In southern Russia
hundreds of police and soldiers stormed an apartment building in
Nalchik, the regional capital of the province of Kabardino-Balkariya,
killing seven suspected Islamic extremists linked to Chechen rebels
after a two-day standoff.
(AP, 1/27/05)(Econ, 2/12/05, p.21)
2005 Jan 27, Taiwan formally
severed ties with Grenada after accusing the tiny Caribbean island of
trying to exploit the rivalry between China and Taiwan to get more
financial aid.
(AP, 1/27/05)
2005 Jan 28, Senate Democrats
criticized President Bush's plan to add personal accounts to Social
Security and accused his administration of improperly using the Social
Security Administration to promote the idea.
(AP, 1/28/06)
2005 Jan 28, Procter & Gamble,
under CEO Alan G. Lafley (b.1947), announced the largest acquisition in
its history, agreeing to buy Gillette in a $57 billion deal. Gillette
CEO James Kilts stood to reap over $153 million.
(WSJ, 1/31/05, p.A1)(WSJ, 6/1/05, p.A16)
2005 Jan 28, According to an
insider's written account, female interrogators tried to break Muslim
detainees at the US prison camp in Guantanamo Bay by using techniques
such as sexual touching, wearing a miniskirt and thong underwear.
(AP, 1/28/05)
2005 Jan 28, Bolivia’s Pres. Mesa
agreed to allow Santa Cruz residents to elect their own local leaders
and hold a national referendum that could extend greater autonomy to
other provinces.
(AP, 1/28/05)
2005 Jan 28, In Chile Retired Gen.
Manuel Contreras, the chief of the feared security service of former
dictator Gen. Augusto Pinochet, was forcefully arrested at his home and
sent to prison with four of his top aides after being convicted in an
emblematic human rights case.
(AP, 1/28/05)
2005 Jan 28, Colombia and
Venezuela announced a settlement in a bitter dispute over the capture
of a Colombian rebel on Venezuelan soil.
(AP, 1/29/05)
2005 Jan 28, India took a major
step to reform its financial sector and boost the country's stock
markets by allowing non-government pension funds to invest up to 5
percent of their portfolios in equities.
(AP, 1/28/05)
2005 Jan 28, Iraq battened down
for the 1st free balloting in half a century, imposing a 7 p.m.-6 a.m.
curfew and closing Baghdad Int’l Airport. 5 US soldiers were killed in
the capital and insurgents blasted polling stations across the country.
Iraqis overseas began three days of voting in 14 nations.
(AP, 1/28/05)
2005 Jan 28, Authorities in Iraq
said they have arrested three close associates of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
In southern Iraq a roadside bomb hit an Iraqi police vehicle, killing
one officer. 2 American soldiers were killed in two separate incidents
in Baghdad.
(AP, 1/28/05)
2005 Jan 28, Israel's army chief
ordered troops to halt operations in the Gaza Strip and to scale back
raids in the West Bank, as hundreds of Palestinian police deployed in
the volatile central and southern parts of the territory.
(AP, 1/28/05)
2005 Jan 28, In Nicaragua Eugenio
Hernandez, who served as mayor of El Ayote from 1990 to 2000, was
sentenced to 25 years in prison in the Nov 9 slaying of Maria Jose
Bravo (26), a reporter who was investigating an electoral dispute.
(AP, 1/29/05)
2005 Jan 28, Election officials
said the Hamas won an overwhelming victory in local elections in Gaza
towns in a setback for the Fatah Party of Palestinian leader Mahmoud
Abbas.
(AP, 1/28/05)
2005 Jan 29, Clint Eastwood won
the Directors Guild prize for his boxing saga “Million Dollar Baby.”
(SSFC, 1/30/05, p.A2)
2005 Jan 29, Ashley McElhiney, the
first female coach of a men's pro basketball team, was fired after an
on-court dispute with Sally Anthony, co-owner of the Nashville Rhythm
of the ABA.
(AP, 1/29/06)
2005 Jan 29, Nine Afghan soldiers
died and another was seriously injured when a mine exploded near their
vehicle as they traveled close to the Pakistani border.
(AP, 1/29/05)
2005 Jan 29, Chinese jetliners
touched down in Taiwan, completing the first nonstop flights between
the rivals since a bloody civil war split the two sides 56 years ago.
(AP, 1/29/05)
2005 Jan 29, In Colombia
government troops discovered one of the biggest FARC rebel munitions
factories in the jungles of southern Guaviare state.
(AP, 2/2/05)
2005 Jan 29, A UN spokesman said
militiamen armed with guns and machetes killed 16 people and kidnapped
at least 34 girls in attacks this week on a remote area of eastern
Congo.
(AP, 1/29/05)
2005 Jan 29, In insurgency-hit
Indian Kashmir voters turned out in big numbers to cast ballots in the
first leg of municipal polls to be held in over a quarter of a century.
(AFP, 1/29/05)
2005 Jan 29, In northern Kenya
fighting over the last 2 weeks between the Garre and Murule clans
forced 30,000 people to flee and left 30 people dead. Recent fighting
between Masai and Kikuyu left 10-30 people dead.
(Econ, 1/29/05, p.46)
2005 Jan 29, A suicide bomber
attacked a police station in a Kurdish town, killing 8 people, and
insurgents blasted polling places in several cities on the eve of
landmark elections.
(AP, 1/29/05)
2005 Jan 29, Libya granted its
first oil exploration licenses in over four decades, awarding 15
permits to foreign companies, with US companies taking the lion's
share. PM Shukri Ghanem said Libya has opted for a policy of open
communication with total transparence."
(AP, 1/29/05)
2005 Jan 29, In Russia the
fragmented opposition gathered pace as thousands of communists,
liberals and radical youth activists joined forces to protest against
the loss of Soviet-era benefits.
(Reuters, 1/29/05)
2005 Jan 29, In Sudan police
clashed with rioting tribesmen in the Red Sea coastal city of Port
Sudan, leaving at least 17 people dead and 16 injured. A tribal
representative claimed 23 people were dead and 100 others were wounded.
(AP, 1/29/05)(Econ, 10/1/05, p.43)
2005 Jan 30, In Georgia more than
300,000 customers had no electricity as crews worked to repair power
lines snapped by an ice storm.
(AP, 1/30/05)
2005 Jan 30, SBC Communications
agreed to acquire AT&T in a $16 billion transaction.
(WSJ, 1/31/05, p.A1)
2005 Jan 30, Researchers at the
University of Wisconsin in Madison reported that they've whipped up a
new recipe that could someday treat spinal cord injuries or provide a
cure for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, better known as Lou Gehrig's
disease.
(AP, 1/31/05)
2005 Jan 30, In much of Bangladesh
traffic ground to a halt and shops closed as a nationwide strike,
protesting a deadly grenade attack on the main opposition party,
entered a 2nd day.
(AFP, 1/30/05)
2005 Jan 30, In Colombia a
126-member unit of the United Self-Defense Forces (AUC) disbanded in
Ciudad Bolivar, 155 miles northeast of Bogota, bringing to at least
4,700 the number of fighters who have demobilized in the past two years.
(AP, 1/30/05)
2005 Jan 30, Iraqis voted to elect
275 members of a transitional national assembly, which will write a
constitution; 111 members of the Kurdish legislature; and local
councils in Iraq’s 18 provinces. Insurgents struck polling stations
with a string of suicide bombings and mortar volleys, killing at least
44 people, including 9 attackers. 5 people were killed and 17 injured
when a suicide attacker blew himself up aboard a minibus bound for a
polling station in central Iraq. 260 attacks left 34 people dead.
Security problems in Mosul kept some 15,000 from polls.
(AP, 1/30/05)(SFC, 2/1/05, p.A1)(WSJ, 2/8/05, p.A1)
2005 Jan 30, A British C-130
military transport plane crashed north of Baghdad in Iraq killing 10
troops. An Iraqi insurgent group claimed responsibility for shooting
down the plane in an Internet statement.
(AP, 1/31/05)
2005 Jan 30, More than 100,000
demonstrators gathered in Jerusalem to protest PM Ariel Sharon's plan
to evacuate all 21 Jewish settlements from Gaza and four from the West
Bank, demanding it be put to a national referendum.
(AP, 1/30/05)
2005 Jan 30, Israeli troops killed
a 65-year-old man who entered an unauthorized area near an army post.
(AP, 1/31/05)
2005 Jan 30, Kuwaiti security
forces stormed a building in a residential part of the capital and
exchanged gunfire with suspected terrorists, killing one suspect in a
battle that also left a security officer and a bystander dead.
(AP, 1/30/05)
2005 Jan 30, In Northern Ireland’s
Catholic enclave of Short Strand Robert McCartney (33), a Catholic
forklift driver, was stabbed to death outside a pub crowded with
Provisional IRA men. On June 3 Terence Davison (49), a reputed IRA
veteran, was charged in the murder. In 2008 Davison was acquitted.
(Econ, 2/26/05, p.55)(SFC, 6/4/05, p.A3)(SSFC,
6/5/05, p.A3)(AP, 1/30/08)(AFP, 6/27/08)
2005 Jan 30, OPEC warned that oil
prices, already hovering near $50 a barrel, would remain high through
the spring, even as the cartel decided to keep its production ceiling
at 27 million barrels a day.
(AP, 1/30/05)
2005 Jan 30, In Karachi, Pakistan,
gunmen riding three motorcycles opened fire outside a Sunni Muslim
mosque, killing a Sunni cleric who once belonged to an outlawed group
suspected of committing sectarian violence and his bodyguard.
(AP, 1/30/05)
2005 Jan 30, UN Secretary General
Kofi Annan, at a summit of the 53-member African Union in Abuja,
Nigeria, urged pan-African cooperation to resolve conflicts.
(AFP, 1/30/05)
2005 Jan 30, The World Economic
Forum ended 5 days of talks in Davos, Switz. Chinese Vice Premier Huang
Ju said Chinese per capita income will triple during the next 15 years
and there was no reason for the world to fear his country's emergence
as a global giant. During the forum Nicholas Negroponte, founder of the
MIT Media Lab, proposed providing personal laptops for under $100 to
school children in the poorest parts of the world.
(AP, 1/30/05)(Econ, 10/1/05, p.62)
2005 Jan 31, US energy officials
said Enron Corp. made over $1.6 billion during the energy crises in 11
Western states from Jan 16, 1997 to June 25, 2003.
(SFC, 2/1/05, p.E1)
2005 Jan 31, The US government
released a list of 17 new carcinogens that included X-rays, some
viruses and chemicals used in frying and grilling meat.
(SFC, 2/1/05, p.A1)
2005 Jan 31, Marsh & McClennan
Cos. reached an $850 million settlement of civil fraud charges with NY
state’s attorney Eliot Spitzer and the state insurance department.
(WSJ, 1/31/05, p.C1)
2005 Jan 31, The Bond Market
Association (BMA) began displaying prices of municipal bond trades
within 15 minutes of completion. Real time for virtually all corporate
bond prices was expected by Feb 7.
(Econ, 2/5/05, p.70)
2005 Jan 31, Jury selection began
in Santa Maria, Calif., for Michael Jackson's child molestation trial.
Jackson was later acquitted.
(AP, 1/31/06)
2005 Jan 31, SBC Communications
Inc. announced it was acquiring AT&T Corp. for $16 billion.
(AP, 1/31/06)
2005 Jan 31, In Brazil leftist
activists opposed to the spread of American influence ended the fifth
World Social Forum with a protest against unfettered capitalism and the
war in Iraq.
(AP, 1/31/05)
2005 Jan 31, EU foreign ministers
agreed to restore normal diplomatic relations with the Cuban government
while pledging to increase contacts with critics of Pres. Fidel Castro.
(AP, 1/31/05)
2005 Jan 31, in Egypt Ayman
al-Nur, the head of an opposition party, denounced his arrest on
forgery charges, telling a court it was a strike against political
reform, while human rights groups said the moves against him could be a
message to other opposition groups.
(AP, 2/1/05)
2005 Jan 31, France Telecom,
Europe's second-largest telecommunications operator, announced plans to
cut 8,000 jobs in 2005, mostly in France.
(AP, 1/31/05)
2005 Jan 31, Kamal Nath, India’s
Commerce and Industry Minister, said the Indian parliament will shortly
ratify new legislation protecting drug patents, paving the way for the
country to become a major pharmaceutical research centre.
(AP, 1/31/05)
2005 Jan 31, A UN official said
nearly 800,000 people will need food aid in Indonesia's Aceh province
in the aftermath of the devastating Dec. 26 tsunami as the country's
death toll from the disaster jumped by 5,000 for the 2nd day in a row.
The overall death toll stood between 156,000 and 178,000 across 11
nations, with an estimated 26,500 to 142,000 missing, most of whom are
presumed dead.
(AP, 1/31/05)
2005 Jan 31, Prime Minister Ayad
Allawi, Iraq's interim leader, called on his countrymen to set aside
their differences, while local precincts finished a first-phase count
of millions of ballots from the weekend election.
(AP, 1/31/05)
2005 Jan 31, US guards in southern
Iraq opened fire on prisoners during a riot at the detention facility
for security detainees at Umm Qasr, killing 4 of them. 6 other
prisoners were injured.
(AP, 1/31/05)
2005 Jan 31, Jewish settlers and
their supporters protested outside parliament for a 2nd day against
Israel's planned withdrawal from Palestinian territories. Palestinian
officials said a 10-year-old Palestinian girl was shot and killed by
Israeli tank fire at a UN school in the Rafah refugee camp.
(AP, 1/31/05)
2005 Jan 31, Kuwaiti police
stormed several suspected terror hideouts, arresting a reputed terror
leader and sparking a gunbattle that killed five people, including four
of his followers.
(AP, 1/31/05)
2005 Jan 31, In Nigeria African
leaders pledged to send more peacekeeping troops to conflict zones,
especially the western Sudan region of Darfur, and to boost their role
in world affairs.
(AP, 2/1/05)
2005 Jan 31, A UN-appointed
commission accused the Sudanese government of gross, systematic human
rights violations in Darfur, but stopped short of labeling the violence
in the region as genocide.
(AP, 1/31/05)
2005 Jan, US government
prosecutors charged Monsanto Corp. for payoffs to officials in
Indonesia during efforts (1998-2003) to sell genetically modified seed
there. Monsanto agreed to pay $1.5 million to settle the charges.
(WSJ, 4/5/05, p.A1)
2005 Jan, Suzan Shown Harjo, a
Cheyenne and Muscogee Indian, exhausted with yet another one of her
relatives dying of diabetes, zoned in on fry bread as a culprit and
whipped out a column for Indian Country Today declaring it junk food
that leads to fat Indians.
(AP, 8/20/05)
2005 Jan, A 220-page UN report on
atrocities in Afghanistan was scheduled for release but kept under
wraps for the next 18 months. Publication was expected in mid-2006.
(SFC, 6/17/06, p.A1)
2005 Jan, The European Emissions
Trading Scheme (ETS), a market for carbon emission permits, was created
to help EU countries meet their commitment to cut emissions under the
Kyoto Protocol. It covered 5 industries, and 13,000 factories and
plants, rated as particularly dirty. A 2nd phase of ETS would run from
2008-2012.
(Econ, 5/6/06, p.75)(Econ, 6/10/06, p.69)(Econ,
12/2/06, p.56)
2005 Jan, Iraqi officials sent
$300 million in dollar bills on a charter jet to Lebanon to purchase
weapons from int’l. arms dealers.
(SFC, 1/22/05, p.A10)
2005 Jan, Morocco’s parliament
approved a free trade agreement with the US.
(SFCM, 3/27/05, p.14)
2005 Jan, The Moscow Bureau for
Human Rights reported that some 50,000 neo-Nazis live in Russia.
Neo-Nazis were responsible for at least 44 people killed across Russia
in 2004.
(SSFC, 8/14/05, p.A3)
2005 Jan, A mobile-TV service was
launched in South Korea. By September 2008 mobile-TV services had
garnered some 7.5 million customers.
(Econ, 9/10/05, p.59)(Econ, 9/8/07, p.69)
2005 Jan-2005 Dec, The UN named
2005 as the year of Microcredit.
(Econ, 12/17/05, p.74)
2005 Feb 1, Russell Christoff,
kindergarten teacher in Antioch, Ca., found out that he was awarded
$15.6 million for a Taster’s Choice modeling photo taken in 1986.
(SFC, 2/1/05, p.A2)
2005 Feb 1, HP researchers
introduced groundbreaking nanotechnology that could replace traditional
transistors on computer chips.
(SFC, 2/1/05, p.A1)
2005 Feb 1, Sun Microsystems began
selling information technology on a pay-per-use basis offering
customers access to computing power for $1 per hour.
(SFC, 2/1/05, p.A1)
2005 Feb 1, Character actor John
Vernon (72), who'd played nasty Dean Wormer in "National Lampoon's
Animal House," died in Los Angeles.
(AP, 2/1/06)
2005 Feb 1, The Canadian
government introduced its contentious same-sex marriage bill in
Parliament, seeking to legalize gay marriage nationwide over the
objections of the Roman Catholic Church and other conservative clergy.
(AP, 2/2/05)
2005 Feb 1, China lent Russia $6
billion to help finance the nationalization of OAO Yukos. The loan was
in effect a forward payment for some 48 million metric tons of crude
oil.
(WSJ, 2/2/05, p.A2)
2005 Feb 1, In southwest Colombia
leftist rebels attacked a Colombian Marine post with homemade rockets,
killing at least 14 soldiers and wounding about 25.
(AP, 2/1/05)
2005 Feb 1, Egyptian security
forces clashed with Islamic militants in the mountains of Sinai,
killing a suspect in last year's deadly bombings of beach resorts on
the peninsula.
(AP, 2/1/05)
2005 Feb 1, In Gori, Georgia, a
car bomb exploded outside a police station, killing three policemen and
injuring 13 other people.
(AP, 2/1/05)
2005 Feb 1, Indonesia announced
that it found the bodies of 1,000 additional victims from the Dec 26
tsunami disaster.
(AP, 2/1/05)
2005 Feb 1, A group led by
Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi claimed to have captured the
four Iraqi National Guard soldiers after Sunday's elections.
(AP, 2/1/05)
2005 Feb 1, Malawi Health Minister
Heatherwick Ntaba said AIDS kills about 10 people every hour in Malawi
and the government is increasingly unable to cope with the crisis.
(Reuters, 2/2/05)
2005 Feb 1, Nepal's King Gyanendra
dismissed government of PM Sher Bahadur Deuba and imposed a state of
emergency, cutting off his Himalayan nation from the rest of the world
as telephone and Internet lines were severed, flights diverted and
civil liberties severely curtailed.
(AP, 2/1/05)(AFP, 2/13/06)
2005 Feb 1, Russia’s finance
minister said windfall oil export revenues will be used to repay nearly
$3.3 billion in International Monetary Fund loans early, saving the
country some $200 million in interest payments.
(AP, 2/1/05)
2005 Feb 1, Pope John Paul II was
hospitalized for breathing problems and the flu.
(AP, 2/1/06)
2005 Feb 1, Venezuela’s Pres.
Chavez said he intends to sell his country’s interests in 8 US oil
refineries.
(WSJ, 2/2/05, p.A2)
2005 Feb 2, President Bush
showcased his Social Security plan and claimed advances on jobs and
against terrorism in his State of the Union address. Bush called for
changes in Social Security that would combine reduced government
benefits for younger workers with "a chance to build a nest egg"
through personal accounts.
(AP, 2/3/05)(AP, 2/2/06)
2005 Feb 2, The US Federal Open
Market Committee, for the 6th straight meeting, increased its target
for overnight interest rates by a quarter percentage point to 2.50% and
signaled that rates will rise further in coming months.
(AP, 2/2/05)
2005 Feb 2, The US said that North
Korea's nuclear initiative is a threat to world peace and urged the
secretive regime in Pyongyang to resume talks aimed at ending the
program.
(AP, 2/2/05)
2005 Feb 2, Matthew Carrington
(21), a student at Cal State Chico, died of heart failure after
drinking excessive amounts of water while doing calisthenics during a
hazing ritual for the Chi Tau fraternity.
(SFC, 1/18/07, p.A5)
2005 Feb 2, China and Russia
agreed to set up a new body to consult more closely on security issues.
(AP, 2/2/05)
2005 Feb 2, Marxist rebels in
southern Colombia ambushed an army convoy with explosives and gunfire,
killing 8 soldiers and wounding 4 others.
(AP, 2/3/05)
2005 Feb 2, The EU told Italy,
France and Germany, to do more to bring their budgets in balance as
required by the rules of Europe's single currency.
(AP, 2/2/05)
2005 Feb 2, French Pres. Jacques
Chirac planned to visit Senegal for the first time in a decade, hoping
to boost ties with a former West African colony at a time when the US
is raising its military profile in the region.
(AP, 2/1/05)
2005 Feb 2, Max Schmeling
(b.1905), the heavyweight champion whose two fights with Joe Louis set
off a propaganda war between the Nazi regime and the US on the eve of
World War II, died at age 99 at his home in Hollenstedt, Germany.
(AP, 2/4/05)
2005 Feb 2, India’s Finance
Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram said India has raised the interest
rate for its largest pension fund, the Employees Provident Fund (EPF),
to 9.5%. India raised the foreign investment cap in telecoms companies
to 74% from 49%.
(Reuters, 2/2/05)
2005 Feb 2, Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim,
the Shiite Muslim who heads the ticket expected to have won the largest
number of parliamentary seats in Iraq's election, indicated that his
group wants the post of prime minister in the new government. Leading
Sunni Muslim clerics said the country's landmark elections lacked
legitimacy because large numbers of Sunnis did not participate in the
balloting, which the clerics had asked them to boycott.
(AP, 2/2/05)
2005 Feb 2, In Iraq 2 civilians
were killed and six injured when insurgents fired mortar shells at a
U.S. base in Tal Afar, 30 miles west of Mosul.
(AP, 2/3/05)
2005 Feb 2, Kurdish leader Massoud
Barzani outlined a set of demands for Shiite political parties and said
Kurds would back only Shiites willing to maintain the current Kurd
autonomy.
(WSJ, 2/3/05, p.A15)
2005 Feb 2, Armando Guebuza was
sworn in as president of Mozambique.
(Econ, 2/5/05,
p.48)(www.voanews.com/english/2005-02-02-voa28.cfm)
2005 Feb 2, Nepal’s King Gyanendra
announced a 10-member Cabinet dominated by his own supporters, one day
after he dismissed the government.
(AP, 2/2/05)
2005 Feb 2, Russia's government
said the country's economy grew by 7.1 percent last year, an increase
in its preliminary estimates.
(AP, 2/2/05)
2005 Feb 3, Alberto Gonzales won
US Senate confirmation as attorney general.
(AP, 2/3/06)
2005 Feb 3, According to audio
transcripts and documents unveiled by a public utility north of
Seattle, fallen energy giant Enron Corp. was running scams to drive up
the cost of power years before the 2000-01 West Coast energy crisis.
(AP, 2/3/05)
2005 Feb 3, Boeing Co. said it has
a preliminary agreement with Libya's Buraq Air to buy as many as six
airplanes in a deal that could be worth nearly $370 million.
(AP, 2/3/05)
2005 Feb 3, Ernst Mayr (b.1904),
German born evolutionary biologist, died in Bedford, Mass. The central
focus of his work was “geographic speciation.” His books included
“Systematics and the Origen of the Species” (1942).
(SFC, 2/4/05, p.B7)(Econ, 2/12/05, p.85)
2005 Feb 3, An Afghan passenger
jet carrying 104 people disappeared from radar screens during a
snowstorm near the mountain-ringed capital. NATO helicopters found the
wreckage of 2 days later. There were no survivors.
(AP, 2/4/05)(AP, 2/5/05)
2005 Feb 3, Bolivia’s Pres. Carlos
Mesa shuffled his cabinet in the wake of street protests calling for
regional autonomy and objecting to a planned increase in the price of
fuel oil.
(AP, 2/3/05)
2005 Feb 3, The US embassy in
Phnom Penh condemned the Cambodian parliament's vote to strip
opposition leader Sam Rainsy and two of his deputies of immunity.
(AP, 2/3/05)
2005 Feb 3, Chechnya's
Russian-backed government dismissed a rebel February cease-fire
declaration, saying it was a publicity stunt that could not be trusted.
(AP, 2/3/05)(WSJ, 2/3/05, p.A1)
2005 Feb 3, PM Zurab Zhvania, who
helped lead Georgia's revolution that toppled the corruption-tainted
regime of Eduard Shevardnadze, died in a friend's apartment from what
officials claimed was an accidental gas leak from a heater.
(AP, 2/3/05)
2005 Feb 3, In central India at
least 25 people were killed when a passenger train collided with a
tractor pulling a trailer full of people.
(AP, 2/3/05)
2005 Feb 3, Iran and Syria
rejected President Bush's charges that they sponsored terrorism. An
Iranian official called the claims groundless. The Syrian information
minister said the democracy America seeks for the Middle East could not
come through force.
(AP, 2/3/05)
2005 Feb 3, Insurgents struck back
with a vengeance following a post-election lull, waylaying a minibus
carrying new Iraqi army recruits, firing on Iraqis heading for work at
a U.S. base and gunning down an Iraqi soldier in the capital. At least
18 people, including 2 Marines, died in insurgent-related incidents.
(AP, 2/3/05)
2005 Feb 3, Israeli Cabinet
ministers approved the release of 900 Palestinian prisoners and a
military pullout from the West Bank town of Jericho within days.
(AP, 2/3/05)
2005 Feb 3, Hamas leader Khaled
Mashaal said that fugitives in his Palestinian group would not sign
pledges to halt attacks because that would negate the legitimacy of
their right to fight the Israeli occupation.
(AP, 2/3/05)
2005 Feb 3, The Kremlin said
President Vladimir Putin has signed a resolution that would have
Russian troops join a proposed U.N. peacekeeping operation in Sudan.
(AP, 2/3/05)
2005 Feb 3, In Sudan the pilot of
a cargo plane that was losing altitude steered away from a built-up
area and crashed in open space outside Khartoum, killing 7 crew members.
(AP, 2/3/05)
2005 Feb 3, An interim UN report
zeroed in on the chief of the oil-for-food program, Benon Sevan, saying
Saddam Hussein's regime awarded oil allocations in his name to a
trading company between 1998 and 2001.
(AP, 2/4/05)
2005 Feb 4, Kevin Shelley resigned
as California’s secretary of state amidst allegations of questionable
fund raising and misuse of federal voting funds.
(SFC, 2/4/05, p.A1)
2005 Feb 4, John and Linda Dollar,
a Florida couple accused of torturing and starving five adopted
children, were captured in southeastern Utah.
(AP, 2/5/05)
2005 Feb 4, Boeing said Ethiopian
Airlines plans to acquire up to 10 of Boeing Co.'s new 787s at an
overall cost of about $1.3 billion.
(AP, 2/4/05)
2005 Feb 4, It was reported that
California’s mysterious explosion of autism cases increased by 13% in
2004. State services for autism had increased from some 5,000 in 1993
to 26,000 in 2004. The US federal Dept. of Education reported that
autism in schoolchildren increased 1,700% nationally from 1992 to 2002.
(SFC, 2/4/05, p.A1)
2005 Feb 4, Ossie Davis (87), an
actor distinguished for roles dealing with racial injustice on stage,
screen and in real life, was found dead in his hotel room in Miami. He
was best known as the husband and partner of actress Ruby Dee.
(AP, 2/4/05)
2005 Feb 4, Brazil’s annual
pre-Lenten Carnival got under way. It's long been an open secret that
Rio's annual samba parade is largely funded by the kingpins of an
illegal numbers game known here as the "jogo do bicho," Portuguese for
animal game.
(AP, 2/5/05)
2005 Feb 4, Guatemala's highest
court said it cannot try soldiers charged with participating in a
wartime massacre of more than 300 civilians until a separate court
determines if the country's postwar reconciliation law bars such
prosecution.
(AP, 2/4/05)
2005 Feb 4, Diplomats said Iran
has agreed to give the UN nuclear watchdog agency a fresh look at a
military complex linked by the US to possible atomic arms research.
(AP, 2/4/05)
2005 Feb 4, Gunmen seized Giuliana
Sgrena, an Italian journalist in central Baghdad, in a hail of gunfire
after she had been interviewing people who fled the US assault last
year on the Sunni insurgent stronghold of Fallujah. Sgrena was freed a
month later; however, an Italian agent who'd secured her release was
killed by U.S. gunfire at a checkpoint.
(AP, 2/4/05)(AP, 2/4/06)
2005 Feb 4, Japan confirmed its
1st human death from mad-cow disease. It was suspected that the man
died as a result of beef he consumed in England around 1989.
(WSJ, 2/7/05, p.A16)
2005 Feb 4, In Nepal dozens of
paramilitary police raided an underground political meeting and rounded
up a group of party officials, days after the king seized power and
banned public gatherings.
(AP, 2/4/05)
2005 Feb 4, The Nigerian army
quelled a demonstration at one of Nigeria's main oil export terminals,
while activists accused the soldiers of killing four protesters.
(AP, 2/4/05)
2005 Feb 4, Russia lashed out at
Britain after an independent TV channel there aired an interview with
Chechen rebel warlord Shamil Basayev, saying the broadcast amounted to
terrorist propaganda and calling for an investigation.
(AP, 2/4/05)
2005 Feb 4, A Swiss-based group
said Arab tribes in northern Sudan have freed 880 slaves during the
past two weeks and allowed them to returned to southern Sudan.
(AP, 2/4/05)
2005 Feb 4, The Ukraine Parliament
unanimously approved fiery opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko as PM,
along with her government's new program to raise living standards,
tackle corruption and set Ukraine on a westward course.
(AP, 2/4/05)
2005 Feb 4, A Ukraine intelligence
official said secret indictments and arrests have taken place against
at least 6 arms dealers accused of selling nuclear capable missiles to
China and Iran.
(SFC, 2/4/05, p.A5)
2005 Feb 4, The UN vowed to
discipline two officials implicated in a report that detailed conflicts
of interest and flawed management in the U.N. oil-for-food program.
Secretary-General Kofi Annan will discipline Benon Sevan and another UN
official, Joseph Stephanides, who may have "tainted" bidding for an
oil-for-food contract,
(AP, 2/4/05)
2005 Feb 5, In LA the Actors Guild
awarded Jamie Foxx the best actor award for his role as Ray Charles in
“Ray.” Hilary Swank won the best actress award for her role as a boxer
in “Million Dollar Baby.” Cate Blanchett and Morgan Freeman won
supporting awards.
(SSFC, 2/6/05, p.A2)
2005 Feb 5, Steve Young and Dan
Marino were elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
(AP, 2/5/06)
2005 Feb 5, In London Chancellor
of the Exchequer Gordon Brown said that finance ministers from the
Group of Seven (G7) rich nations had for the first time expressed firm
willingness to provide as much as 100 percent debt relief for the
world's poorest countries. The Heavily Indebted Poor Countries
Initiative (HIPC) is a joint initiative of the World Bank and the
International Monetary Fund that offers debt relief to the world's most
impoverished nations which agree to undertake economic reform.
(AP, 2/5/05)
2005 Feb 5, In the Republic of
Congo leaders of seven Central African countries signed a landmark
treaty to work together to help save the world's second-largest rain
forest.
(AP, 2/6/05)
2005 Feb 5, Central bank governor
Zhou Xiaochuan said China is committed to revamping its foreign
exchange regime and further relaxing its capital account controls.
(Reuters, 2/5/05)
2005 Feb 5, Egyptian police killed
two suspected militants wanted in last year's Sinai bombings following
clashes in Egypt's Sinai peninsula desert.
(AP, 2/5/05)
2005 Feb 5, Sunni rebels killed
three U.S. troops and at least 33 Iraqis in a string of attacks.
(AP, 2/5/05)
2005 Feb 5, In central Japan
police found 9 bodies were found in two cars in what appeared to be the
country's latest group suicides.
(AP, 2/5/05)
2005 Feb 5, Kuwaiti police and
troops in armored personnel carriers used explosives to blast their way
into a concrete block home in Sulaibiyah capturing 5 suspected
terrorists.
(AP, 2/5/05)
2005 Feb 5, In Mexico assailants
staged 3 nearly simultaneous guerrilla-style attacks in Acapulco,
killing 3 police officers and a teenage boy a day before a tense
gubernatorial election.
(AP, 2/6/05)
2005 Feb 5, The crown prince of
Saudi Arabia called for the creation of an international anti-terrorism
center to trade information in an effort to prevent attacks.
(AP, 2/5/05)
2005 Feb 5, Togo’s Pres.
Gnassingbe Eyadema (69) died of a heart attack. The military quickly
announced that his son would replaced him as head of state. The
constitution called for the speaker of parliament to succeed the
president in the event of his death.
(SSFC, 2/6/05, p.A16)
2005 Feb 5, A Yemeni court
overruled earlier rulings and imposed harsher sentences, including a
death sentence, on three militants convicted of attacking a French oil
tanker and a helicopter carrying U.S. employees of an oil company.
(AP, 2/5/05)
2005 Feb 6, The New England
Patriots became a full-fledged dynasty with their third Super Bowl
victory in four years, beating the Philadelphia Eagles 24-21.
(AP, 2/7/05)
2005 Feb 6, In Bangladesh a police
officer was killed and five were injured in a clash with demonstrators
during a continuing nationwide general strike in protest at a deadly
grenade attack on an opposition party rally.
(AP, 2/6/05)
2005 Feb 6, Four Egyptians working
for a mobile phone company were abducted by gunmen in Baghdad, and
Islamic militants threatened to kill an Italian journalist Feb 7 unless
Italy agrees to withdraw its troops.
(AP, 2/6/05)
2005 Feb 6, In Kashmir an
overcrowded bus skidded off a mountain road and crashed into a ravine,
killing at least 28 passengers and injuring 33.
(AP, 2/6/05)
2005 Feb 6, Lazar Berman (74),
acclaimed Russian pianist, died in Florence, Italy.
(AP, 2/6/06)
2005 Feb 6, Mexico's main leftist
party, the Democratic Revolution Party, ended 76 years of rule by the
Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, in the Pacific coast state
of Guerrero. Democratic Revolution held on to the governorship of Baja
California Sur, while the PRI held on to Quintana Roo, the site of
Cancun.
(AP, 2/7/05)
2005 Feb 6, The bodies of 18
victims of carbon monoxide poisoning from a faulty gas heater were
found at a cottage near the village of Todolella in Spain’s Castellon
province.
(WSJ, 2/7/05, p.A1)
2005 Feb 6, The African Union
accused military commanders in Togo of taking advantage of the death of
the country's longtime leader to stage a coup and raised the
possibility that its 53 members will not recognize the West African
nation's new government.
(AP, 2/6/05)
2005 Feb 6, Thailand voters handed
PM Thaksin Shinawatra a 2nd term with an expanded mandate. In his 1st
term he broadly managed to keep 3 promises centering on cheap health
care, debt forgiveness for farmers and micro-credits for villages.
Under his tenure public debt fell from 54% of GDP to 39%.
(AP, 2/6/05)(Econ, 2/5/05, p.11,23)
2005 Feb 7, Pres. Bush proposed a
$2.57 trillion budget that would slash domestic programs including
entitlements such as Medicaid, farm subsidies and veterans benefits.
The budget would worsen federal deficits by $42 billion over the next
five years.
(SFC, 2/8/05, p.A1)(AP, 2/7/06)
2005 Feb 7, Defrocked priest Paul
Shanley, the most notorious figure in the sex scandal that rocked the
Boston Archdiocese, was convicted of repeatedly raping and fondling a
boy at his church during the 1980s. Shanley was sentenced to 12 to 15
years in prison.
(AP, 2/7/06)
2005 Feb 7, IBM, Toshiba and Sony
disclosed the architectural design of a new, jointly developed,
multi-core processor called the Cell.
(Econ, 2/12/05,
p.77)(www.linuxdevices.com/news/NS2972427392.html)
2005 Feb 7, Australia's central
bank warned that interest rates, stable at 5.25 percent since December
2003, may be raised within months amid signs of renewed inflationary
pressures.
(AP, 2/7/05)
2005 Feb 7, Cuba began an
island-wide ban on smoking in public places such as stores, theaters,
and office buildings.
(AP, 2/7/05)
2005 Feb 7, In England and Wales
new laws came into effect that allow pubs, clubs and other drinking
venues to apply to stay open 24 hours a day.
(AP, 2/7/05)
2005 Feb 7, Ellen MacArthur (28)
of Britain completed her solo sail around the world in just over 71
days and 14 hours, shaving 32 hours off the previous record.
(AP, 2/8/05)
2005 Feb 7, The EU head office
called for closer coordination among all member governments to hunt
down and prosecute those illegally spreading unsolicited e-mails, or
spam, across the 25-nation bloc.
(AP, 2/7/05)
2005 Feb 7, Insurgents struck at
Iraqi police forces with a suicide bomb, a car bomb and mortars in the
cities of Mosul and Baqouba, killing 31 people.
(AP, 2/7/05)(SFC, 2/8/05, p.A6)
2005 Feb 7, US troops manning a
checkpoint found 4 Egyptian technicians who had been kidnapped the
previous day in Baghdad, freeing them and arresting some of the
abductors.
(AP, 2/7/05)
2005 Feb 7, John Githongo, Kenya
president's adviser on corruption, stepped down. The US in response
quickly suspended $2.5 million in funding for anti-corruption work.
(AP, 2/11/05)
2005 Feb 7, Pakistan, as part of a
peace deal in south Waziristan, paid 4 tribal militants a total of
$842,000 so they could pay back money received from al Qaeda to fight
Pakistani troops.
(WSJ, 2/10/05, p.A10)
2005 Feb 7, In the Philippines
hundreds of armed followers of a jailed former Muslim rebel leader
attacked government troops and occupied at least one army detachment on
violent southern Jolo island, sparking clashes that killed at least 12
soldiers.
(AP, 2/7/05)
2005 Feb 7, A Saudi woman was
beheaded after she was convicted of murdering her mother-in-law. Noura
bint Khalaf al-Harbi was found guilty of setting her mother-in-law,
Noura bint Salem al-Harbi, on fire as she slept following a dispute.
(AP, 2/7/05)
2005 Feb 7, Spain launched an
immigrant amnesty program. As many as 800,00 new residency permits were
expected.
(WSJ, 2/7/05, p.A16)
2005 Feb 7, In Sri Lanka E.
Koushalyan, the LTTE's political wing leader for the eastern province,
was killed in an ambush along with four other senior rebels and former
Tamil legislator Chandra Nehru. Military officials said they suspected
the attack was carried out by a breakaway faction of the Tamil Tigers
led by the former number two in the leadership, known as Karuna.
(AP, 2/8/05)(Econ, 2/26/05, p.40)
2005 Feb 7, Faure Gnassingbe was
sworn in as president of Togo, two days after the death of his father.
(AP, 2/7/05)
2005 Feb 7, UN Secretary-General
Kofi Annan suspended the head of the UN oil-for-food program in Iraq
and a senior official who dealt with contracts, following an
independent investigation that accused them of misconduct.
(AP, 2/7/05)
2005 Feb 7, The freighter M/V
Joekulfell sank in the North Atlantic off the Faeroe Islands, killing
four crewmembers and leaving two others missing. Five were rescued by
helicopter. The Samskip company owned the Isle of Man-flagged vessel.
The vessel departed from the Latvian port of Liepaja and was headed to
Iceland.
(AP, 2/8/05)(http://tinyurl.com/cdza7)
2005 Feb 8, An earlier-than-usual
Mardi Gras festival opened in New Orleans with sparse crowds.
(AP, 2/8/06)
2005 Feb 8, It was reported that a
1991 memo from Merck showed that senior executives were concerned that
the vaccines of an expanded immunization program contained an elevated
dose of mercury by as much as 87 times the maximum guidelines for daily
consumption of mercury from fish. Thimersol, an anti-bacterial compound
in the vaccine, was nearly 50% ethyl mercury, a neurotoxin. The vaccine
program was later tied to elevated cases of autism.
(SFC, 2/8/05, p.A5)
2005 Feb 8, Ian Wilmut, the
scientist who created Dolly the sheep, the world's first cloned mammal,
was given a license to clone human embryos for medical research.
Therapeutic cloning research has been legal in Great Britain since 2001.
(AP, 2/8/05)
2005 Feb 8, George Herman (85),
longtime CBS newsman, died in Washington.
(AP, 2/8/06)
2005 Feb 8, Keith Knudsen (56),
Doobie Brothers drummer who was part of the band during a string of
hits that included "Taking it to the Streets" and "Black Water," died
of pneumonia.
(AP, 2/9/05)
2005 Feb 8, Jimmy Smith (b.1928),
reigning “Emperor of the Hammond Organ,” died in Scottsdale, Az. Smith
established the Hammond B-3 organ as a legitimate jazz instrument.
(SFC, 2/10/04, p.B7)
2005 Feb 8, In northwest Colombia
Marxist rebels killed at least 17 soldiers during clashes, the
military's heaviest battle toll in two years. At least 11 guerrillas
also died in the fighting.
(AP, 2/9/05)(Econ, 2/26/05, p.36)
2005 Feb 8, UNICEF said that it
was providing urgently needed aid for 50,000 people caught up in an
upsurge in fighting in Congo.
(AP, 2/8/05)
2005 Feb 8, Danes voted in
parliamentary elections dominated by competing strategies for
strengthening the country's cradle-to-grave welfare state and
tightening immigration. Danes re-elected center-right PM Rasmussen for
a 2nd term.
(AP, 2/8/05)(WSJ, 2/9/05, p.A1)
2005 Feb 8, In Sharm El-Sheik,
Egypt, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian leader
Mahmoud Abbas declared that their people would stop all military and
violent attacks against each other, pledging to get peace talks back on
track. The Palestinian militant group Hamas said it would not be bound
by the cease-fire declarations.
(AP, 2/8/05)
2005 Feb 8, Cairo’s 2-week book
fair ended. During the two-week fair, police confiscated leftist books
and arrested three people protesting any renewal of Hosni Mubarak's
presidency.
(AP, 2/9/05)
2005 Feb 8, Herve Gaymard,
France's finance minister, announced new measures designed to boost
confidence, stimulate growth and tackle the "scandalously high" 9.9%
jobless rate.
(AP, 2/8/05)
2005 Feb 8, A suicide bomber blew
himself up in a crowd of Iraqis outside an army recruitment center,
killing 21 other people and injuring 27 more.
(AP, 2/8/05)
2005 Feb 8, A Web posting in the
name of a militant group in Iraq claimed to have executed Italian
female journalist Giuliana Sgrena.
(AP, 2/8/05)
2005 Feb 8, In Kuwait Amer Khlaif
al-Enezi, the alleged ringleader of a terror group accused of plotting
to attack Americans and Kuwaiti security forces, died of heart failure
while in prison.
(AP, 2/9/05)
2005 Feb 8, Officials said Italian
real estate services company Norman 95 has won a 300-million-euro
(384-million-dollar) contract to develop a luxury holiday resort on the
Libyan coast.
(AFP, 2/8/05)
2005 Feb 8, A confrontation
between rival gangs in an overcrowded Peruvian prison left five inmates
dead and at least 18 others wounded.
(AP, 2/8/05)
2005 Feb 8, In Lome, Togo, a
strike called by opposition parties shut down the capital’s main market
and other businesses.
(AP, 2/8/05)
2005 Feb 9, Ceremonies were
scheduled for a first-day-of-issue stamp commemorating Pres. Ronald
Reagan (1911-2004).
(SFC, 10/7/04, p.B3)
2005 Feb 9, Carly Fiorina's nearly
six-year reign at Hewlett-Packard Co. ended as the company's board
forced her out as chief executive. Patricia Dunn took over as chairman.
In 2006 Fiorina authored “Tough Choices,” a memoir of her tenure at H-P.
(AP, 2/9/05)(Econ, 2/12/05, p.59)(WSJ, 10/6/06, p.B2)
2005 Feb 9, Wal-Mart said it
planned to close its store in Jonquiere, Quebec, where workers were
seeking to become the 1st ever to win a union contract with Wal-Mart.
Wal-Mart began operations in Canada in 1994 and currently operated 254
stores there. Doors were shut May 6.
(WSJ, 2/10/05, p.A2)(SFC, 4/15/05, p.A12)
2005 Feb 9, Ethnic Chinese
communities across Asia celebrated the start of the lunar year 4703,
the Year of the Rooster, with visits to crowded temples and family
banquets.
(AP, 2/9/05)(SFC, 2/9/05, p.A1)
2005 Feb 9, The French National
Assembly approved a reform of the controversial 35-hour working week.
The Socialist measure had been introduced to cut unemployment but is
now blamed by the right for doing exactly the reverse.
(AFP, 2/9/05)
2005 Feb 9, Gunmen killed an Iraqi
journalist working for a U.S.-funded television station and his son as
they left their home in the southern city of Basra. Gunmen also killed
3 members of a Kurdish political party and a Housing Ministry official.
The US military announced the deaths of 4 US soldiers.
(AP, 2/9/05)(SFC, 2/10/05, p.A9)
2005 Feb 9, In Kashmir suspected
Muslim rebels shot dead a popular municipal councilor outside a mosque.
Separately Indian troops killed 4 militants in a gunbattle inside a
mountain cave.
(AP, 2/9/05)
2005 Feb 9, Palestinian leader
Mahmoud Abbas said Israel will lift travel restrictions on Palestinians
in parts of the West Bank and abandon several major checkpoints as part
of its withdrawal from five towns in the coming weeks.
(AP, 2/9/05)
2005 Feb 9, An explosion ripped
through a mine in a coal-rich region of Siberia, killing at least 18
workers and leaving eight missing.
(AP, 2/9/05)
2005 Feb 9, In Somalia BBC
journalist Kate Peyton was shot to death outside a Mogadishu hotel
where she had interviewed some members of the interim parliament.
(SFC, 2/19/05, p.A14)
2005 Feb 9, In Spain a car bomb
exploded in a business park on the outskirts of Madrid just after the
morning rush hour, injuring 43 people. Government officials blamed the
Basque separatist group ETA.
(AP, 2/9/05)
2005 Feb 9, Sudanese Aviation
Minister Ali Tamim Fartak said European aviation consortium Airbus
Industrie has cancelled the 45-million dollar debt owed to it by Sudan
Airways.
(AFP, 2/9/05)
2005 Feb 9, Faure Gnassingbe,
Togo's new president, addressed the nation for the first time since
succeeding his father. He offered talks with the exiled opposition and
promised general elections as soon as possible.
(AP, 2/9/05)
2005 Feb 9, Helicopters rescued
stranded Venezuelans after flood waters struck the mountainous central
coast, triggering landslides, destroying homes and washing out roads.
Officials said at least 13 people were killed and thousands of others
were forced from their homes.
(AP, 2/9/05)
2005 Feb 10, New York civil rights
lawyer Lynne Stewart was convicted of smuggling messages of violence
from one of her jailed clients, radical Egyptian sheik Omar
Abdel-Rahman, to his terrorist disciples on the outside. In 2006
Stewart was sentenced to 28 months in prison.
(AP, 2/10/06)(SFC, 10/17/06, p.A5)
2005 Feb 10, Arthur Miller
(b.1915), the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, died. His most famous
fictional creation, Willy Loman in "Death of a Salesman" (1949), came
to symbolize the American Dream gone awry.
(AP, 2/11/05)(SFC, 2/12/05, p.A12)(Econ, 2/19/05,
p.84)
2005 Feb 10, In central Argentina
a riot broke out at the San Martin Prison housing 2,000 prisoners,
leaving at least three inmates dead and two dozen guards hostage.
(AP, 2/11/05)
2005 Feb 10, Britain's Prince
Charles announced he would marry his divorced lover, Camilla Parker
Bowles, in April.
(AP, 2/10/06)
2005 Feb 10, Vancouver, Canada,
began a trial program giving addicts free heroin on condition that they
accept treatment.
(Econ, 2/12/05, p.36)
2005 Feb 10, Chile raised its key
interest rate to 2.75% from 2.5%.
(WSJ, 2/11/05, p.A9)
2005 Feb 10, In Haiti police
hunting a rebel leader stormed a compound used by the disbanded army,
exchanging gunfire with defenders. A grade school girl was killed in
the crossfire.
(AP, 2/11/05)
2005 Feb 10, A car bomb detonated
by remote control exploded in a crowded central Baghdad square moments
after an American military convoy passed, killing at least two Iraqis
and wounding two others. Insurgents attacked Iraqi police in Salman Pak
and killed at least 6.
(AP, 2/10/05)(SFC, 2/11/05, p.A20)
2005 Feb 10, North Korea announced
for the first time that it has nuclear arms and rejected moves to
restart disarmament talks anytime soon, saying it needs the weapons as
protection against an increasingly hostile United States.
(AP, 2/10/05)
2005 Feb 10, Police in Nepal's
capital arrested 12 rights activists and quashed a rally to protest the
king's emergency rule, while rebels in the southwest killed five
policemen and freed comrades from a jail during a raid on a town.
(AP, 2/10/05)
2005 Feb 10, Heavy rains caused
the Shakidor Dam to burst in southwestern Pakistan, releasing a torrent
of water that killed at least 135 people. The country's total number of
dead from weeklong rains and avalanches soon grew to 278.
(AP, 2/11/05)(AP, 2/12/05)
2005 Feb 10, Palestinian militants
fired dozens of mortar shells and homemade rockets at Jewish
settlements in the Gaza Strip, prompting Palestinian leader Mahmoud
Abbas to order his security forces to move quickly to preserve a new
cease-fire with Israel. Abbas fired his top security commanders
following the attacks.
(AP, 2/10/05)(WSJ, 2/11/05, p.A1)
2005 Feb 10, In Peru President
Alejandro Toledo said the government is considering subsidizing some of
this Andean nation's poorest people with direct monthly cash payments.
(AP, 2/10/05)
2005 Feb 10, Male voters converged
at polling stations in the Riyadh region to participate in city
elections, marking the first time Saudis are taking part in a vote that
largely conforms to international standards. Women were banned from
casting ballots.
(AP, 2/10/05)
2005 Feb 10, Saudi Arabia
confirmed a 2nd case of polio from 2004 and feared pilgrims to Mecca
might spread the disease.
(SFC, 2/11/05, p.A13)
2005 Feb 10, Togo turned away a
plane carrying Nigerian peacemakers, drawing threats of sanctions and
accusations from Nigeria that it was blocking efforts to resolve a
crisis widely condemned as a military coup.
(Reuters, 2/11/05)
2005 Feb 11, Defense Secretary
Donald H. Rumsfeld made an unannounced visit to Iraq, where he observed
Iraqi security forces and declared "there's no question progress has
been made" in preparing the nation for building a new government.
(AP, 2/11/06)
2005 Feb 11, The US State
Department said Libyan diplomats can travel freely in the US.
(AP, 2/11/05)
2005 Feb 11, Health officials in
NYC issued a nationwide alert over a new AIDS HIV strain that is immune
to just about all antiretroviral drugs.
(SFC, 2/12/05, p.A1)
2005 Feb 11, CNN chief news
executive Eason Jordan quit amid a furor over remarks he'd made about
journalists being targeted by the U.S. military in Iraq.
(AP, 2/11/06)
2005 Feb 11, Samuel W. Alderson
(90), inventor of crash test dummies, died in Marina Del Rey, Calif.
(AP, 2/11/06)
2005 Feb 11, In Afghanistan US
troops killed two unarmed men after they entered an exclusion zone
around near Shindand Air Base in Herat province. An investigation
followed.
(AP, 2/19/05)
2005 Feb 11, A political
consulting firm posted the names of 19 agents and informants of
Hungary's communist secret police on a Web site, and it threatened to
list more.
(AP, 2/11/05)
2005 Feb 11, A car bomb exploded
outside a Shiite mosque northeast of Baghdad, killing at least 12
people and injuring dozens. Masked men sprayed gunfire into a crowd at
a bakery in a mostly Shiite neighborhood in the capital, killing 11
people. A US Marine and an Army soldier were killed in separate traffic
accidents.
(AP, 2/11/05)(AP, 2/12/05)
2005 Feb 11, Kashmir police said
10 people died, including a pro-India party worker slain by Muslim
rebels, a day ahead of the next round of violence-hit municipal polls.
(AP, 2/11/05)
2005 Feb 11, North Korea demanded
bilateral talks with the US to defuse the tension created by its
announcement that it is a nuclear power. The White House said it was
not interested in one-on-one talks.
(AP, 2/11/05)
2005 Feb 11, A day after firing
his top security commanders, Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas headed to
the Gaza Strip to demand that militant leaders stop attacking Israelis,
a strong sign of his determination to enforce a fragile truce with
Israel.
(AP, 2/11/05)
2005 Feb 11, In South Africa Thabo
Mbeki gave his state of the nation speech. He called for faster
economic growth and a quicker transfer of wealth from white to black
pockets.
(Econ, 2/19/05, p.45)(www.info.gov.za/speeches/son/)
2005 Feb 11, Venezuela's vice
president said US objections will not prevent Venezuela from going
ahead with its plans to purchase 100,000 Kalashnikov assault rifles and
dozens of Mi35 helicopters from Russia.
(AP, 2/11/05)(Econ, 2/26/05, p.35)
2005 Feb 11, Zimbabwe announced
that 1.5 million people needed food aid immediately.
(SFC, 2/12/05, p.A3)
2005 Feb 12, Christo and
Jeanne-Claude opened their NYC Central Park Gates project. The $20
million,16-day exhibit featured 7,532 fabric draped steel gates
spanning 23 miles.
(SSFC, 2/13/05, p.A1)
2005 Feb 12, Howard Dean (b.1948),
former Vermont governor and presidential candidate, was elected
chairman of the Democratic Party.
(SSFC, 2/13/05, p.A3)
2005 Feb 12, In northern Brazil
Dorothy Stang (73), an American nun, was shot to death. She had spent
decades fighting efforts by loggers and large landowners to expropriate
lands and clear large areas of the Amazon rainforest. In 2006 Amair
Feijoli da Cunha (38) pleaded guilty and said he offered money to two
gunmen to shoot nun, at the behest of ranchers Vitalmiro Moura and
Regivaldo Galvao. In 2008 A jury voted 5-2 to acquit Vitalmiro Moura,
one of two ranchers who allegedly ordered the killing Stang. The
acquittal was overturned on a technicality in April, 2009. Moura was
again jailed in 2010.
(AP, 2/12/05)(WSJ, 2/14/05, p.A1)(AP, 4/27/06)(AP,
5/6/08)(AP, 2/6/10)
2005 Feb 12, In Iraq a car bomb
exploded in front of a hospital in a mostly Shiite town south of
Baghdad, killing 17 people and wounding 21 others. A prominent Iraqi
judge was assassinated by two gunmen on a motorcycle in the southern
port city of Basra. In Mosul the bodies of 6 Iraqi and 6 Kurdish guards
were dumped. US troops in Mosul killed 9 insurgents.
(AP, 2/12/05)(SSFC, 2/13/05, p.A12)
2005 Feb 12, Philippine couples
started gathering along a Manila bayside boulevard for a
pre-Valentine's Day kissing festival. Organizers hoped a million
couples will lock lips nationwide.
(AP, 2/12/05)
2005 Feb 12, Tens of thousands of
Russians protested across the country against a law replacing medical
and transportation benefits for pensioners with cash payments, with
many calling for the ouster of Vladimir Putin's government.
(AP, 2/12/05)
2005 Feb 12, Saudi newspapers said
dozens of losing candidates in Saudi Arabia's first regular election
will contest results from the opening round of municipal balloting,
arguing that conservative religious candidates won unfairly by claiming
support from clerics.
(AP, 2/12/05)
2005 Feb 12, Syrian authorities
released 55 members of the banned Muslim Brotherhood who had spent up
to 20 years in jail.
(AP, 2/12/05)
2005 Feb 12, In Togo thousands of
demonstrators clashed with riot police in the capital for a 2nd day,
protesting against the recent army-appointed president. 3 people were
reportedly killed and dozens wounded when police fired at demonstrators.
(AP, 2/12/05)
2005 Feb 13, Ray Charles' final
album, "Genius Loves Company," won a leading eight Grammy awards,
including album of the year, record of the year for "Here We Go Again"
with Norah Jones, and pop vocal album.
(AP, 2/14/05)
2005 Feb 13, The AFC won the Pro
Bowl, defeating the NFC 38-27.
(AP, 2/13/06)
2005 Feb 13, Iran rejected a
European demand to stop building a heavy water nuclear reactor in
return for a light-water reactor.
(AP, 2/13/05)
2005 Feb 13, Results from Iraq's
elections were released and showed that majority Shiite Muslims won 48%
of the votes, giving the long-oppressed group significant power but not
enough to form a government on its own.
(AP, 2/13/05)(SFC, 2/15/05, p.A1)
2005 Feb 13, Insurgents attacked a
US convoy and a government building near the northern Iraqi city of
Mosul, leaving at least four people dead. Two Iraqi National Guard
troops were also killed while trying to defuse a roadside bomb. Gunmen
ambushed a car carrying an Iraqi general in a Shiite neighborhood of
Baghdad, killing him and two companions.
(AP, 2/13/05)
2005 Feb 13, Israel's Cabinet
approved a list of names of 500 Palestinian prisoners to be released in
coming days, and several hundred Palestinian workers returned to jobs
in Israel in line with agreements reached at a Mideast summit last week.
(AP, 2/13/05)
2005 Feb 13, In Indian Kashmir at
least 35 people were wounded when suspected separatist guerrillas threw
a grenade on a crowded road.
(AP, 2/13/05)
2005 Feb 13, Pakistani officials
said severe flooding and avalanches have killed around 350 people after
a week of torrential rain and heavy snow, while 2,000 others were
missing and tens of thousands left homeless.
(AP, 2/13/05)
2005 Feb 13, Firefighters shot
jets of water on the 32-story Windsor building, one of Madrid’s tallest
office buildings, for a 2nd day, fighting to control a fiery orange
blaze that began the night before and threatened to collapse the
32-story skyscraper.
(AP, 2/13/05)
2005 Feb 13, Floods and landslides
in Colombia and Venezuela over the past few days cut a trail of
destruction through small Andean towns and killed at least 64 people.
(AP, 2/13/05)(WSJ, 2/14/05, p.A1)
2005 Feb 14, President Bush said
he would nominate Lester M. Crawford as head of the Food and Drug
Administration. Crawford had been acting commissioner for nearly a year.
(AP, 2/14/06)
2005 Feb 14, President Bush asked
Congress for an estimated $82 billion in additional funds to cover the
costs of continuing military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
(WSJ, 2/15/05, p.A1)
2005 Feb 14, Verizon
Communications decided to buy MCI Inc. in a $6.75 billion deal. The
offer was increased in May to $26 per share, or $8.44 billion.
(WSJ, 2/15/05, p.C1)(WSJ, 5/3/05, p.A1)
2005 Feb 14, Newfoundland Premier
Danny Williams and Canada’s PM Paul Martin presided over the signing of
a multibillion-dollar deal that sets out new revenue-sharing rules for
the province's offshore energy industry.
(AP, 2/14/05)
2005 Feb 14, A gas explosion in
China's northeast Sunjiawan mine killed 214 people in the deadliest
mining disaster reported since communist rule began in 1949.
(AP, 2/15/05)(AP, 2/14/06)
2005 Feb 14, The UN atomic
monitoring agency said Egypt's nuclear experiments were small, basic
and do not appear part of an attempt to make weapons, praising Cairo's
cooperation with an investigation of the country's now mothballed
clandestine activities.
(AP, 2/14/05)
2005 Feb 14, In Iran a mosque fire
killed 59 people and injured another 350. it was blamed on a kerosene
heater that was placed too close to a thick curtain that separated male
and female worshippers.
(AP, 2/15/05)
2005 Feb 14, A roadside bomb
killed three Iraqi National Guard troops. Insurgents blew up an oil
pipeline near Kirkuk and killed two senior police officers in Baghdad.
(AP, 2/14/05)
2005 Feb 14, In western Japan a
man carrying a knife burst into a public elementary school and stabbed
at least 3 adults. Kyodo News reported that one of the victims died.
(AP, 2/14/05)
2005 Feb 14, In Beirut, Lebanon,
Rafik Hariri (60) was killed in a massive bomb explosion that tore
through his motorcade. The billionaire helped rebuild his country after
decades of war but resigned as PM last fall after a sharp dispute with
Syria. 22 other people were killed and 100 wounded in a blast that
devastated the front of the famous St. George Hotel. An Islamist group
calling itself the Victory and Jihad Organization in the Levant claimed
responsibility.
(AP, 2/14/05)(WSJ, 2/15/05, p.A3)(Econ, 10/29/05,
p.45)
2005 Feb 14, Brazil and Venezuela
signed 25 accords dealing with energy and economic cooperation,
including the joint development of the Mariscal Sucre offshore natural
gas project.
(WSJ, 2/15/05, p.A16)
2005 Feb 14, Three bombs jolted
Manila and two other Philippine cities, killing at least 12 people and
wounding more than 100 others. The Muslim extremist group Abu Sayyaf
claimed responsibility for the blasts.
(AP, 2/14/05)(Econ, 2/19/05, p.41)
2005 Feb 14, Togo police in riot
gear faced off with crowds who blocked roads and intimidated residents
during a general strike to protest the army's installation of Faure
Gnassingbe to succeed his late father as president.
(AP, 2/14/05)
2005 Feb 15, Defrocked priest Paul
Shanley was sentenced in Boston to 12 to 15 years in prison on child
rape charges.
(AP, 2/15/06)
2005 Feb 15, Christopher Pittman,
a teen who claimed the antidepressant Zoloft had driven him to kill his
grandparents at age 12, was found guilty in Charleston, S.C., of murder
and sentenced to 30 years in prison.
(AP, 2/15/06)
2005 Feb 15, The Gates Foundation
granted $32 million for 35 new small schools in NYC. Mayor Bloomberg
had recently announced the closure of a number of large, troubled
schools to be replaced by 200 new small schools with pupils capped at
500-600.
(Econ, 3/5/05, p.33)
2005 Feb 15, Brazil’s Chamber of
Deputies chose Severino Cavalcanti, a leader of Congress’s “low
clergy,” as president. The position determines the agenda of Congress
and his selection was seen as a setback to Pres. da Silva
(Econ, 2/19/05, p.36)
2005 Feb 15, The Falcon 7X, a
business jet designed and built by the French aviation company
Dassault, was displayed for the first time. It was the first plane to
be digitally modeled in 3-dimensions and required no prototype.
(Econ, 6/18/05, p.78)(http://tinyurl.com/lxlgt2)
2005 Feb 15, In southern Lebanon
an angry mob attacked Syrian workers and another group threw stones and
set fires outside a Syrian government office in Beirut, blaming
Damascus for the bomb that killed former PM Rafik Hariri.
(AP, 2/15/05)
2005 Feb 15, The Guam-based
Citizens Security Bank (CSB) ended credit card and other services to
the Bank of Marshall Islands. Residents of the Marshall Islands will be
unable to use their credit cards after the central Pacific nation's
leading bank was cut off from a US partner by the anti-terrorist
Patriot Act.
(AFP, 2/10/05)
2005 Feb 15, In Mexico the bodies
of 12 men killed by hitmen believed linked to drug gangs were found in
the northern state of Sinaloa, in what appears to be one of the
deadliest one-day tolls in violent drug battles in recent years.
(AP, 2/15/05)
2005 Feb 15, In eastern Nepal an
overnight clash between government troops and communist rebels left at
least 12 rebels and 3 soldiers dead.
(AP, 2/15/05)
2005 Feb 15, It was reported that
major energy firms had committed $20 billion to build a new
gas-to-liquids (GTL) plant in Qatar to develop the huge natural gas
reserves there.
(WSJ, 2/15/05, p.A1)
2005 Feb 15, In Pakistan gunmen
opened fire on mourners returning from a funeral near a Muslim shrine
on the outskirts of Islamabad, killing at least 2 people and injuring
several others.
(AP, 2/15/05)
2005 Feb 15, The Thailand Cabinet
approved establishing a new infantry division of 12,000 troops to be
based permanently in southern Thailand, where violence blamed on Muslim
insurgents has claimed more than 650 lives in the past year.
(AP, 2/15/05)
2005 Feb 16, US Federal Reserve
Chairman Alan Greenspan urged a go-slow approach on personal Social
Security accounts, saying that while he embraces the idea central to
President Bush's proposed overhaul, he is concerned about stability in
financial markets.
(AP, 2/16/05)
2005 Feb 16, The NHL canceled what
was left of its decimated schedule after a round of last-gasp
negotiations failed to resolve differences over a salary cap, the
flash-point issue that led to a lockout.
(AP, 2/16/06)
2005 Feb 16, A corporate jet
crashed in Pueblo, Colo., and 8 people were killed.
(WSJ, 2/17/05, p.A1)
2005 Feb 16, The Kyoto global
warming pact went into force, 7 years after it was negotiated, imposing
limits on emissions of carbon dioxide and other gases scientists blame
for increasing world temperatures, melting glaciers and rising oceans.
Canada’s pledge to cut emissions 6% below its 1990 level by 2012 faced
the problem of an average annual increase of 1.5%.
(AP, 2/16/05)(WSJ, 2/15/05, p.A16)
2005 Feb 16, Rescuers searching
for miners trapped by a coal mine explosion in northeast China found
six more bodies, bringing the death toll in the country's worst mining
disaster in decades to 209.
(AP, 2/16/05)
2005 Feb 16, In Ecuador tens of
thousands of protesters gathered near Quito's presidential palace to
demand President Lucio Gutierrez's resignation, accusing him of
authoritarian rule and with packing the supreme court with his own
judges.
(AP, 2/17/05)
2005 Feb 16, India and Pakistan
agreed to start a bus service across a ceasefire line dividing the
disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir.
(Reuters, 2/16/05)
2005 Feb 16, Israel's parliament
gave the final approval to PM Ariel Sharon's plan to withdraw from the
Gaza Strip and four West Bank settlements.
(AP, 2/16/06)
2005 Feb 16, CEO Sergio Marchionne
announced Fiat SpA will buy the Maserati sportscar brand from Ferrari,
a company in which it already had a majority stake, just three days
after winning independence from General Motors Corp.
(AP, 2/16/05)(Econ, 4/26/08, p.88)
2005 Feb 16, Japan released GDP
numbers indicating that its economy has technically been in a recession
since Spring of 2004.
(Econ, 2/19/05, p.40)
2005 Feb 16, In Paraguay the body
of Cecilia Cubas, the kidnapped daughter of former President Raul
Cubas, was dug up from behind a house months after she was abducted by
heavily armed gunmen.
(AP, 2/17/05)(Econ, 3/12/05, p.40)
2005 Feb 16, In southern Russia a
car bomb killed 3 people outside a government building in Dagestan.
(WSJ, 2/17/05, p.A1)
2005 Feb 16, In Sudan 6 tribal
leaders in a southern Darfur area agreed to cease attacks against each
other and drop all claims for blood money for past assaults on
tribesmen.
(AP, 2/17/05)
2005 Feb 16, Syria and Iran
announced a united front amid perceived US threats.
(WSJ, 2/17/05, p.A1)
2005 Feb 16, Former Turkish PM
Mesut Yilmaz rejected charges of corruption as he went on trial over a
banking scandal with alleged mafia involvement, becoming the first head
of government to be tried by the Supreme Court.
(AFP, 2/16/05)
2005 Feb 16, Vietnam banned all
poultry raising in the southern business capital of Ho Chi Minh City
this year to limit the risk of bird flu transmitting to humans.
(AP, 2/16/05)
2005 Feb 17, President Bush named
John Negroponte, the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, as the government's first
national intelligence director (DNI). Central American politicians and
human rights activists issued stinging criticism of Negroponte, citing
the career diplomat's active backing for the Contra rebels and support
for a government involved in human rights abuses.
(AP, 2/17/05)(Econ, 3/19/05, p.29)
2005 Feb 17, Two US Border Patrol
agents in Texas stopped a van carrying 743 pounds of marijuana and shot
Osvaldo Aldrete-Davila, an admitted Mexican drug smuggler, as he fled
back across the Rio Grande. In 2006 agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose
Compean were sentenced to 11 and 12 years in prison for offenses that
included violating the smuggler’s civil rights and failure to report
the shooting to superiors. In 2007 Latino gang members beat Ignacio
Ramos at the Yazoo City Federal Correctional Complex in Mississippi.
Both agents were freed in 2009 following a commute of their sentences
by outgoing Pres. George Bush.
(SFC, 10/20/06, p.A6)(SSFC, 2/18/07, p.A11)(SFC,
2/18/09, p.A6)
2005 Feb 17, ChoicePoint Inc., a
national provider of identification and credential verification
services, said it will send an additional 110,000 statements to people
informing them of possible identity theft after a group of
well-organized criminals was able to obtain personal information on
almost 140,000 consumers through the company. In 2006 ChoicePoint
agreed to pay $15 million to settle FTC charges that consumer privacy
rights were violated in the DB theft.
(http://money.cnn.com/2005/02/17/technology/personaltech/choicepoint/)(SFC,
1/27/06,
p.D3)
2005 Feb 17, An archaeology report
by the Museum of New Mexico's Office of Archaeological Studies
confirmed that a 600-year-old pueblo is buried under Santa Fe's City
Hall, its convention center, the parking lot they share and nearby
federal buildings.
(AP, 2/17/05)
2005 Feb 17, Researchers
demonstrated a robot that used a “passive-dynamic design” to learn
walking step by step like a toddler.
(SFC, 2/18/05, p.A2)
2005 Feb 17, Gene scientists
published the 1st map of a common DNA variations.
(WSJ, 2/18/05, p.A1)
2005 Feb 17, Dan O'Herlihy (85),
Irish-born actor, died in Malibu, Calif.
(www.imdb.com/name/nm0641397/)
2005 Feb 17, In Afghanistan a cold
snap over the past month has claimed at least 267 lives and thousands
more people were thought to be stranded in remote areas. Winter
blizzards left over 1,000 children dead.
(AFP, 2/17/05)(SFC, 3/3/05, p.A1)
2005 Feb 17, In Brazil Pres. Da
Silva signed decrees creating 2 new Amazon environmental protection
areas in a region of Para state coveted by soy farmers and ranchers
less than a week after an American nun was gunned down trying to
protect the jungle from deforestation.
(AP, 2/18/05)(SFC, 2/18/05, p.A14)
2005 Feb 17, EU finance ministers
warned Greece to get its finances in order by the end of 2006 and bring
its annual budget deficit in line with EU spending rules or face hefty
fines.
(AP, 2/17/05)
2005 Feb 17, Georgia’s parliament
approved Zurab Nogaideli as premier.
(WSJ, 2/18/05, p.A1)
2005 Feb 17, Iraq's electoral
commission certified the results of the Jan. 30 elections and allocated
140 of 275 National Assembly seats to the United Iraqi Alliance, giving
the Shiite-dominated party a majority in the new parliament.
(AP, 2/17/05)
2005 Feb 17, Hundreds of Jewish
settlers took first steps to eventually leave their homes in the Gaza
Strip, a day after Israel's parliament approved $871 million in
compensation for them.
(AP, 2/17/05)
2005 Feb 17, In Rwanda cabinet
ministers from 11 African nations gathered to flesh out details of a
deal intended to end a cycle of wars, rebellions, dictatorships and
poverty in central Africa's Great Lakes region.
(AP, 2/17/05)
2005 Feb 17, Spanish police
arrested two suspected members of the armed Basque separatist group ETA
in Valencia, seizing explosives that they planned to use for imminent
attacks.
(AP, 2/17/05)
2005 Feb 17, In southern Thailand
a bomb exploded near a tourist hotel in the border town of Sungai
Kolok, killing 5 people and wounding over 40.
(AP, 2/17/05)(SFC, 2/18/05, p.A3)
2005 Feb 18, President Bush
declared American Samoa a major disaster area following Hurricane Olaf,
which wiped out nearly all homes in at least one village in the Manua
Islands.
(Reuters, 2/18/05)
2005 Feb 18, The US envoy
Christopher Hill said the US and China agreed that North Korea must end
its nuclear ambitions and resolve the standoff through six-nation talks.
(AP, 2/18/05)
2005 Feb 18, An advisory panel
said Merck & Co. Inc.'s withdrawn arthritis drug Vioxx is safe
enough to rejoin Pfizer's rival pain relievers Celebrex and Bextra on
the U.S. market, after concluding that all three medicines posed some
level of heart risk.
(Reuters, 2/19/05)
2005 Feb 18, Uli Derickson, the
flight attendant who helped save passengers during the 1985 TWA
hijacking, died in Tucson, Ariz., at age 60.
(AP, 2/18/06)
2005 Feb 18, Britain faced the
threat of mass strikes in the public sector ahead of an upcoming
election as teachers, nurses and civil servants protested against a
plan to raise their retirement age and cut pensions.
(AFP, 2/18/05)
2005 Feb 18, A British ban on
hunting with dogs became effective.
(AP, 2/19/05)
2005 Feb 18, Colombia’s army chief
said troops had killed between 70 and 80 Marxist guerrillas over the
past 3 weeks in a region where the rebels operate cocaine production
factories.
(AP, 2/19/05)
2005 Feb 18, The World Health
Organization (WHO) said an outbreak of plague in northeastern
Democratic Republic of Congo has killed 61 diamond miners and infected
hundreds more.
(AP, 2/18/05)
2005 Feb 18, Indonesia welcomed
efforts by the US to restore full military training ties with Jakarta,
saying the time was ripe to resume links that were downgraded 13 years
ago.
(AFP, 2/18/05)
2005 Feb 18, Explosions ripped
through Baghdad, killing about 3 dozen people and injuring dozens on
the eve of Ashura, Shiite Islam's most important holiday.
(AP, 2/18/05)(SFC, 2/19/05, p.A1)
2005 Feb 18, Israel let 16 of
about 55 Palestinians expelled from the West Bank return home, and it
has concluded that demolishing the homes of Palestinian suicide bombers
and gunmen does not deter attackers and should be stopped.
(AP, 2/18/05)
2005 Feb 18, The Lebanese
opposition stepped up its campaign against the pro-Syrian government,
calling for a peaceful uprising to force the resignation of Prime
Minister Omar Karami and the withdrawal of Syrian troops.
(AP, 2/19/05)
2005 Feb 18, Libya refused to
extend the deadline of the Lockerbie compensation deal in a possible
bid to pressure Washington to drop it from the U.S. list of state
sponsors of terrorism.
(AP, 2/19/05)
2005 Feb 18, The royal government
plunged Nepal into a communications blackout, the country's annual
celebration of democracy, cutting phone service to thwart opposition
activists trying to organize nationwide protests.
(AP, 2/18/05)
2005 Feb 18, Pakistan deployed
specially trained anti-Al-Qaeda commandos to guard against sectarian
violence as two Sunni militants planning to attack parades by rival
Shiites blew themselves up.
(AFP, 2/18/05)
2005 Feb 18, Russian Pres.
Vladimir Putin said that Moscow will continue its nuclear cooperation
with Iran and that he is convinced Tehran does not intend to develop
atomic weapons.
(AP, 2/18/05)
2005 Feb 18, The government of
South Africa said the number of deaths increased by 57 percent in the
five years ending in 2003, with AIDS and related illnesses among the
leading causes in adults. The rate is far lower than that reported by
world health groups.
(AP, 2/19/05)
2005 Feb 19, The $3.2 billion USS
Jimmy Carter entered the Navy's fleet as the most heavily armed
submarine ever built, and as the last of the Seawolf class of attack
subs that the Pentagon ordered during the Cold War's final years.
(AP, 2/19/05)
2005 Feb 19, In Arkansas a train
slammed into an ambulance that apparently tried to get out of its path,
but stopped at a rail crossing, killing all three paramedics on board.
The patient in the vehicle survived.
(AP, 2/20/05)
2005 Feb 19, In Bangladesh a
double-decker passenger ferry capsized and sank during a tropical
storm, leaving at least 151 people dead. The MV Maharaj was carrying
about 200 people when it capsized on the Buriganga River just outside
Dhaka.
(AP, 2/21/05)(AP, 2/22/05)
2005 Feb 19, China's state news
said North Korea no longer wants to negotiate with the US and 4 other
nations in an effort to ease the standoff over Pyongyang's nuclear
program.
(AP, 2/19/05)
2005 Feb 19, About half a million
hunters and supporters rallied across England and Wales in a massive
display of force against a new fox hunting ban.
(AP, 2/19/05)
2005 Feb 19, In Haiti heavily
armed gunmen attacked the national penitentiary, killing one guard in a
shootout that allowed some 500 prisoners to escape.
(AP, 2/21/05)
2005 Feb 19, Eight suicide
bombings in Baghdad and other parts of Iraq killed over 50 people,
including a US soldier, and injured 150 as Shiite Muslim worshippers
around the country celebrated Ashura, their holiest day of the year.
(AP, 2/19/05)(SSFC, 2/20/05, p.A1)
2005 Feb 19, Libyan leader Moamer
Kadhafi and Egyptian Pres. Hosni Mubarak backed an African solution to
the crisis in Sudan's Darfur region during 2 rounds of talks in Cairo.
(AFP, 2/19/05)
2005 Feb 19, Nigerian soldiers,
sailors and police descended on Odioma to hunt down a local militia
leader and black magic guru who was accused of murdering 12 people from
Obiaku. 28 people killed and Odioma was burned down by government
troops.
(AP, 3/21/05)
2005 Feb 19, Former Presidents
George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton visited a Thai fishing village that
had been devastated by the December 2005 tsunami.
(AP, 2/19/06)
2005 Feb 19, In Trinidad security
chiefs from 34 countries in the Americas outlined broad strategies for
fighting money laundering, passport fraud and drug smuggling, warning
that Islamic terrorists could exploit lawlessness in the region to
raise money and slip through borders.
(AP, 2/19/05)
2005 Feb 20, In Florida Jeff
Gordon won his third Daytona 500. Gordon was born in Vallejo,
California, and raised in Pittsboro, Indiana.
(AP,
2/20/06)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Gordon)
2005 Feb 20, Allen Iverson was
selected MVP of the NBA All-Star game, helping the Eastern Conference
to a 125-115 victory.
(AP, 2/20/06)
2005 Feb 20, President Bush landed
in Belgium to begin a five-day European trip aimed at fostering a
friendly atmosphere early in his second term.
(AP, 2/20/05)
2005 Feb 20, An estimate of the
total US debt, public and private, amounted to $37 trillion.
(SSFC, 2/20/05, p.C3)
2005 Feb 20, Sandra Dee (62), film
actress born as Alexandra Zuck, died. She was arguably the biggest
female teen idol of her time. Her films included "Gidget" and "Tammy
and the Doctor." Her 1960 marriage to singer Bobby Darin ended in
divorce in 1967.
(AP, 2/21/05)
2005 Feb 20, Maria Catherine King
(49), a disabled homeless woman and university graduate, died 12 days
after being beaten by 2 young men in Berkeley, Ca. In 2006 Jarell
Maurice Johnson (19) and Derrell Lamont Morgan (19) were convicted of
2nd degree murder and were sentenced 15 years to life in prison.
(SSFC, 5/15/05, p.A1)(SFC, 11/18/06, p.B3)
2005 Feb 20, John Raitt (88),
singer Bonnie Raitt's father, died. He was famous in his own right as
the robust baritone who livened musicals such as "Carousel" and "The
Pajama Game." He also starred in the 1957 Pajama Game film with Doris
Day.
(AP, 2/21/05)
2005 Feb 20, Hunter S. Thompson
(b.1937), gonzo journalist, committed suicide in Aspen, Colo. Thompson
inserted himself into his accounts of America's underbelly and
popularized a first-person form of journalism in books such as “The Rum
Diary” (1998) and "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" (1972). His ashes
were blown into the Colorado sky on Aug 20.
(AP, 2/21/05)(SFC, 2/21/05, p.A8)(Econ, 2/26/05,
p.86)(SSFC, 8/21/05, p.A6)
2005 Feb 20, Nearly 150,000
Turkish Cypriots and illegal mainland settlers voted in a parliamentary
election for a government only recognized by Turkey but which is seen
as a barometer of prospects for reunification of the war-divided
island. The pro-reunification governing party of Mehmet Ali Talat won.
(AP, 2/21/05)
2005 Feb 20, Former Presidents
George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton visited Indonesia's tsunami-ravaged
Aceh province, flying over a vast wasteland of destruction.
(AP, 2/20/05)
2005 Feb 20, Iraqi and US security
forces surrounded the city of Ramadi in an effort to confront a
simmering insurgency there.
(SFC, 2/21/05, p.A8)
2005 Feb 20, Iraqi forces captured
Talib Mikhlif Arsan Walman al-Dulaymi (aka Abu Qutaybah), a key aide to
Jordanian-born terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who leads an insurgency
affiliated with Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network.
(AP, 2/25/05)
2005 Feb 20, The Irish government
identified 3 top Sinn Fein figures, including Gerry Adams, as members
of the IRA command.
(SFC, 2/21/05, p.A3)
2005 Feb 20, Israel's Cabinet gave
final approval to the government's planned withdrawal from the Gaza
Strip and four West Bank settlements.
(AP, 2/20/05)
2005 Feb 20, In Peru Maoist
Shining Path insurgents ambushed and killed three policemen in Huallaga
Valley, a remote jungle area known for guerrilla activity.
(AP, 2/22/05)
2005 Feb 20, Portugal voted in an
early general election. Socialists led by Jose Socrates swept PM Pedro
Santana Lopes' centre-right Social Democrats from office on the back of
rising unemployment.
(AFP, 2/20/05)(Econ, 2/26/05, p.49)
2005 Feb 20, Spanish voters
endorsed the EU constitution in a nonbinding referendum.
(SFC, 2/21/05, p.A3)
2005 Feb 20, In southern Russian
security forces stormed an apartment building in Nalchik,
Kabardino-Balkariya, where a small group of suspected Islamic militants
had barricaded themselves, killing all the rebels.
(AP, 2/20/05)
2005 Feb 20, In Sudan Sheik
Abdul-Rahim al-Buraei (82), a top Sufi Islamic cleric who wrote
mystical poems and helped peace efforts, died.
(AP, 2/21/05)
2005 Feb 21, In Brussels President
Bush appealed to Europe to move beyond animosities over Iraq and join
forces in encouraging democratic reforms across the Middle East. He
also prodded Russia to reverse a crackdown on political dissent,
demanded that Iran end its nuclear ambitions and told Syria to get out
of Lebanon.
(AP, 2/21/05)(SFC, 2/22/05, p.A1)
2005 Feb 21, The Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention launched a campaign to make doctors and
parents aware of the need of early diagnosis for autism. Children can
be diagnosed as early as 18 months old.
(AP, 2/22/05)
2005 Feb 21, The new Atomic
Testing Museum opened in Las Vegas.
(www.ntshf.org/)
2005 Feb 21, Heavy storms in
California left 3 people dead.
(WSJ, 2/22/05, p.A1)
2005 Feb 21, S. Ernest Vandiver
Jr., former Georgia governor (1959-1963), died.
(SFC, 2/24/05, p.B7)
2005 Feb 21, The British
government said same-sex partners will be able to enter into civil
unions from December, joining gays in parts of Europe and the United
States in obtaining many of the rights enjoyed by married people.
(AP, 2/21/05)
2005 Feb 21, A Chinese newspaper
reported that the China Construction Bank is investigating the
disappearance of $8 million, in the latest big embezzlement case to hit
the country's scandal-ridden state banks.
(AP, 2/21/05)
2005 Feb 21, In Colombia deadly
weekend attacks left 9 people dead as rebels blacked out towns, shut
down a highway, blew up a hotel and shattered notions that the nation's
main insurgent group was on its knees.
(AP, 2/21/05)
2005 Feb 21, In Colombia 8
civilians including 3 young children and a teenage girl were massacred
near Apartado. A former mayor and a priest later blamed government
troops for the massacre. UN officials later called for an investigation.
(AP, 3/3/05)
2005 Feb 21, Ecuador opened the
door to a U.N. probe into President Lucio Gutierrez's dismissal of the
country's Supreme Court after the UN made a rare public appeal for an
investigation.
(Reuters, 2/21/05)
2005 Feb 21, Over 500 people
rallied in Cairo to protest against a new term in office for Egyptian
President Hosni Mubarak and against moves to enable his son Gamal to
succeed him.
(AFP, 2/21/05)
2005 Feb 21, In Indonesia a
30-foot-tall heap of garbage collapsed onto a neighborhood near the
West Java town of Bandung, killing at least 19 people and crushing
dozens of houses.
(AP, 2/21/05)
2005 Feb 21, In Iraq a roadside
bomb in southwestern Baghdad killed 3 US soldiers.
(SFC, 2/22/05, p.A3)
2005 Feb 21, Israel freed 500
Palestinian prisoners in a goodwill gesture.
(AP, 2/21/05)
2005 Feb 21, Kyodo News said that
Japan's Princess Aiko, the 3-year-old daughter of Crown Prince Naruhito
and his wife, will be next in line for the Chrysanthemum Throne after
her father.
(AP, 2/21/05)
2005 Feb 21, An official said
avalanches and slides triggered by heavy weekend snowfall in India's
portion of Kashmir had killed at least 249 people.
(AP, 2/21/05)(AFP, 2/26/05)
2005 Feb 21, Former Presidents
Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush wrapped up their tour of
tsunami-ravaged nations with a visit to the Maldives.
(AP, 2/21/06)
2005 Feb 21, North Korea’s Kim
told a visiting Chinese envoy that he is willing to return to 6-country
talks if the US demonstrates its sincerity.
(WSJ, 2/22/05, p.A1)
2005 Feb 21, PM Lee Hsien Loong
said Singapore will lower personal income tax, reduce spending and aim
for a modest surplus in its US$18.13 billion 2005 budget.
(WSJ, 2/22/05, p.A12)
2005 Feb 21, In Sierra Leone an
Australian investigator for a U.N.-backed war-crimes tribunal was
convicted of sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl who sought a job as
a nanny in his household.
(AP, 2/21/05)
2005 Feb 21, The Arab League chief
said that Syria will "soon" take steps to withdraw its army from
Lebanese areas in accordance with a 1989 agreement. Tens of thousands
of opposition supporters shouted insults at Syria and demanded the
resignation of their pro-Syrian government in a Beirut demonstration.
(AP, 2/21/05)
2005 Feb 21, Togo Lawmakers
amended the constitution to allow for elections within 60 days, but
left the West African nation's military-appointed ruler in power in the
interim despite intensifying pressure at home and abroad.
(AP, 2/21/05)
2005 Feb 22, A Virginia man was
charged with plotting with al-Qaida to kill President Bush. Ahmed Omar
Abu Ali was convicted on all counts in November 2005.
(AP, 2/22/06)
2005 Feb 22, The DJIA fell 174
points to 10,611 as oil prices soared to $51.15 per barrel. The Euro
closed up at $1.326.
(SFC, 2/23/05, p.C1)
2005 Feb 22, Supermarket giant
Winn-Dixie Stores Inc., which has struggled to compete with Wal-Mart
Supercenters and other grocery chains, said it has filed for bankruptcy
reorganization.
(AP, 2/22/05)
2005 Feb 22, Researchers at Texas
Tech Univ. reported that the rocket fuel perchlorate has been found in
women’s breast milk at 5 times the average level found in dairy milk.
(SFC, 2/23/05, p.A6)
2005 Feb 22, PM John Howard said
Australia will send an extra 450 troops to Iraq to help protect a
Japanese humanitarian mission and bolster the country's transition to
democracy.
(AP, 2/22/05)
2005 Feb 22, In Belgium a Nato
summit announced a 12-year program to destroy Soviet-era weapons in
Ukraine. Ukraine’s Pres. Viktor Yushchenko attended.
(WSJ, 2/22/05, p.A1)
2005 Feb 22, Britain said it will
impose new penalties on Sinn Fein, the Irish Republican Army-linked
party, as punishment for the IRA's alleged robbery of a Belfast bank.
(AP, 2/22/05)
2005 Feb 22, Buckingham Palace
said Queen Elizabeth III would not attend the civil marriage ceremony
of her son Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles, but that her
absence should not be interpreted as a snub.
(AP, 2/22/06)
2005 Feb 22, In Colombia
government soldiers killed eight rebels over the past 2 days and
discovered a large cache of weapons in dense southern jungles.
(AP, 2/22/05)
2005 Feb 22, A US human rights
advocacy group said the Egyptian government had shown a "shameless"
lack of accountability by failing to name the 2,400 people it had
detained for the Oct 7 Sinai terror attacks. Relatives were not told
where they are held.
(AP, 2/22/05)(WSJ, 2/23/05, p.A1)
2005 Feb 22, The EU intends to end
its ban on arms sales to China, French Pres. Jacques Chirac said after
talks with Pres. Bush, who highlighted Washington's security concerns.
(AP, 2/22/05)
2005 Feb 22, In Indonesia Aceh
separatists announced they are ready to accept increased autonomy
rather than independence.
(WSJ, 2/23/05, p.A1)
2005 Feb 22, In central Iran’s
Kerman province a 6.4 earthquake flattened villages and collapsed
mud-brick homes, killing over 500 people and injuring nearly 1,000.
(AP, 2/23/05)(SFC, 2/24/05, p.A11)
2005 Feb 22, Interim Iraqi Vice
President Ibrahim al-Jaafari was chosen as his Shiite ticket's
candidate for prime minister after Ahmad Chalabi dropped his bid.
(AP, 2/22/05)
2005 Feb 22, Montenegro's
President Filip Vujanovic and PM Milo Djukanovic proposed the peaceful
disintegration of Serbia-Montenegro, suggesting that the two former
Yugoslav republics recognize each other as sovereign states.
(AP, 2/23/05)
2005 Feb 22, It was reported that
Norway finished 2004 with the world’s best performing equities market,
based on nominal return on equity investment in dollar terms.
(WSJ, 2/22/05, p.C20)
2005 Feb 22, Palestinian Prime
Minister Ahmed Qureia promised a drastic overhaul of his Cabinet,
signaling the start of long-sought reform.
(AP, 2/22/05)
2005 Feb 22, Zdzislaw Beksinski, a
surrealist painter who was one of Poland's leading contemporary
artists, was found stabbed to death at his Warsaw home.
(AP, 2/22/05)
2005 Feb 23, Pres. Bush and German
Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder pledged to help developing nations cut
back on their output of greenhouse gases. They also agreed to turn down
the volume on their disagreements about Iraq and Iran.
(SFC, 2/26/05, p.A1)(AP, 2/23/06)
2005 Feb 23, A real estate report
said uptown Manhattan, condo and co-op apartments sold for a median
price of $305,490 in 2004, up a whopping 349.3 percent from $68,000 in
1995.
(Reuters, 2/23/05)
2005 Feb 23, In Homosassa,
Florida, Jessica Marie Lunsford (9), was last seen when her grandmother
tucked her into bed. The next morning, her father discovered she was
gone. [see Mar 19]
(AP, 2/27/05)
2005 Feb 23, In Afghanistan 2
Afghan relief workers were found shot to death on a remote southern
desert road.
(SFC, 2/24/05, p.A10)
2005 Feb 23, A military jury
convicted two British servicemen on charges of involvement in abusing
Iraqi civilians.
(AP, 2/23/05)
2005 Feb 23, Colombia's Supreme
Court authorized the extradition to the US of Miguel Rodriguez
Orejuela, who along with his brother Gilberto helped found the Cali
drug cartel. In central Colombia a leftist rebel deserter killed 7 of
his comrades before fleeing his clandestine camp.
(AP, 2/23/05)
2005 Feb 23, Egyptian President
Hosni Mubarak said that he expects further Syrian troop redeployments
in Lebanon, and he dispatched his intelligence chief to Damascus to
meet with President Bashar Assad to discuss increasing American and
European pressure on Syria.
(AP, 2/23/05)
2005 Feb 23, French film star
Simone Simon (b.1910) died in Paris.
(AP, 2/23/06)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon)
2005 Feb 23, India and Pakistan
agreed to cut red tape and ease barriers that hamper bilateral trade.
(AP, 2/23/05)
2005 Feb 23, In India 4 people
were killed in police firing and a blast in Jharkhand and Bihar in the
final round of assembly elections.
(AP, 2/23/05)
2005 Feb 23, In Iraq a car bomb
exploded in Mosul, killing 2 people and wounding 14 others.
(AP, 2/23/05)
2005 Feb 23, Mexico’s high court
blocked prosecution of ex-President Echeverria for “dirty war” crimes
in the 1970s ruling that the statute of limitations has run out.
(WSJ, 2/24/05, p.A1)
2005 Feb 23, In northern Nigeria
hunters burning land to flush out game set fire to a munitions dump,
triggering a string of explosions which damaged military buildings and
spread panic in the city of Kaduna.
(AP, 2/24/05)
2005 Feb 23, Paraguay President
Nicanor Duarte sacked his interior minister and 31 police officers,
shaking up his security forces a week after the kidnapped daughter of a
former Paraguayan leader was found dead.
(AP, 2/23/05)
2005 Feb 23, Serbia's prime
minister and other top officials flatly rejected Montenegro's proposal
for a final split of their joint state.
(AP, 2/23/05)
2005 Feb 23, In Sudan an explosion
at an ammunition dump in the southern town of Juba killed 24 people.
(Reuters, 2/23/05)
2005 Feb 23, Turkey's parliament
approved legislation allowing thousands of students thrown out of
universities to return, including women who violated the staunchly
secular country's ban on Islamic-style head scarves.
(AP, 2/23/05)
2005 Feb 24, In Ohio Rosemarie
Essa was killed in a car crash after losing consciousness from a
cyanide pill. Her husband Dr. Yazeed Essa vanished in 2006 and was
arrested months later in Cyprus. In 2009 he returned to Cleveland to
face murder charges.
(SSFC, 1/11/09,
p.A4)(www.amw.com/fugitives/case.cfm?id=37583)
2005 Feb 24, In southeastern
Afghanistan Taliban insurgents launched 3 separate attacks, killing 9
Afghan troops and wounding an American soldier while sustaining heavy
casualties themselves.
(AP, 2/25/05)
2005 Feb 24, Australian PM John
Howard dismissed as "alarmist" a warning by his government's chief
economic adviser that the US was heading for a financial crash that
could ravage the global economy.
(AP, 2/25/05)
2005 Feb 24, Anglican leaders
forced a suspension of the US Episcopal Church and Canadian adherents
due to same sex marriages and ordaining gay clergy.
(WSJ, 2/25/05, p.A1)
2005 Feb 24, PM Paul Martin said
that Canada would not join the contentious US ballistic missile defense
(BMD) program.
(AP, 2/24/05)(Econ, 3/5/05, p.38)
2005 Feb 24, India’s cabinet
lifted restraints on foreign ownership of some real estate projects. A
minimum of 25 acres was established with requirements for development
of infrastructure prior to resale.
(WSJ, 2/25/05, p.A16)
2005 Feb 24, A suicide bomber
wearing a police uniform blew up his car at police headquarters in
Tikrit, killing at least 15 people in Saddam Hussein's hometown in the
bloodiest of several attacks that claimed 30 lives. Two American
soldiers were among the dead.
(AP, 2/24/05)
2005 Feb 24, In Indian-controlled
Kashmir 2 armed militants stormed a government office complex,
prompting a four-hour gunbattle that left seven people dead, including
the attackers.
(AP, 2/24/05)
2005 Feb 24, Lebanon's defense
minister said Syria will withdraw troops from mountain and coastal
areas in Lebanon in line with a 1989 agreement.
(AP, 2/24/05)
2005 Feb 24, In western Mexico an
executive jet crashed, killing the governor of Colima state and all
five other people aboard.
(AP, 2/24/05)
2005 Feb 24, The Palestinian
parliament approved a 24-member Cabinet dominated by professional
appointees, including nearly half with doctoral degrees, in a major
move toward long-promised government reform.
(AP, 2/24/05)
2005 Feb 24, The Serbian
government said retired Bosnian Serb General Milan Gvero surrendered to
the UN war crimes tribunal at The Hague.
(AP, 2/21/05)(SFC, 2/25/05, p.A3)
2005 Feb 24, In Slovakia Pres.
Bush and Russian Pres. Vladimir Putin sought common ground on keeping
conventional and nuclear weapons out of the hands of terrorists. The US
and Russia agreed to enhance nuclear security cooperation and to try to
complete negotiations on Russia's entry into the World Trade
Organization (WTO) this year.
(AP, 2/24/05)
2005 Feb 24, Pope John Paul II
underwent an operation to insert a tube in his throat to relieve his
breathing problems, hours after he was rushed back to the hospital for
the second time in a month with flu-like symptoms.
(AP, 2/24/06)
2005 Feb 25, Kansas police
arrested Dennis Rader, a 59-year-old city worker at his suburban home
in Park City. They believe he is the notorious BTK (bind, torture,
kill) serial killer who terrorized Wichita throughout the 1970s. He
resurfaced about a year ago after 25 years of silence. He later pleaded
guilty and was sentenced to 10 life prison terms.
(SSFC, 2/27/05, p.A3)(AP, 2/25/06)
2005 Feb 25, Hall of Fame
basketball coach John Chaney was suspended for the rest of the regular
season by Philadelphia’s Temple Univ. for ordering rough play by one of
his players during a game against Saint Joseph's.
(AP, 2/25/06)
2005 Feb 25, Bank of America
reported the loss of computer tapes containing personal information on
1.2 million federal employees including some US Senate members.
(SFC, 2/26/05, p.A1)
2005 Feb 25, The Walt Disney Co.
agreed to sell the Anaheim Mighty Ducks hockey team to billionaire
Henry Samueli and his wife, Susan, for $75 million.
(AP, 2/25/06)
2005 Feb 25, Peter Benenson (83),
founder of Amnesty International (1961), died in Oxford, England.
Amnesty Int’l. won a Nobel Prize in 1977.
(SFC, 2/28/05, p.B3)(Econ, 3/5/05, p.85)
2005 Feb 25, Argentina’s debt swap
offer, to cover a total debt of $102.6 billion, closed. Argentina
planned to issue $35.2 billion in new bonds to those who accepted the
swap. Owners of 76% of the 2001 defaulted bonds accepted the swap
losing 65% of their investment. In 2008 a proposal was in the works to
settle with the remaining holdouts.
(WSJ, 3/28/05, p.A14)(Econ, 9/27/08, p.49)
2005 Feb 25, Brazil’s government
awarded a disputed patch of Amazon rainforest to a sustainable
development project championed by the slain American nun Dorothy Stang.
(AP, 2/26/05)
2005 Feb 25, President Alvaro
Uribe on authorized the extradition to the US of a female commander
with Colombia's largest rebel group who was allegedly a chief of
finances for the armed organization.
(AP, 2/25/05)
2005 Feb 25, In Congo militiamen
in the volatile Ituri district ambushed UN troops. 9 Bangladeshi
peacekeepers were killed in what was the 4th deadliest attack on UN
troops in Africa.
(AP, 2/25/05)
2005 Feb 25, Atef Sedki (75),
former PM of Egypt (1986-1996), died. He helped steer Egypt toward a
market-oriented economy.
(AP, 2/25/05)
2005 Feb 25, French Finance
Minister Herve Gaymard quit over his handling of a scandal about his
state-paid luxury flat that rocked a conservative government as it
forces unpopular cost-cutting measures on a restive nation.
(AP, 2/25/05)
2005 Feb 25, Sima Bakhar, Mrs.
Israel, won the Mrs. World 2005 pageant at Amby Valley, 140 kilometers
( 87 miles) north of Bombay, India. Forty-one contestants from across
the globe participated in the pageant, held first time in India.
(AP, 2/25/05)
2005 Feb 25, In Iraq a roadside
bomb blast killed three US soldiers and wounded eight others north of
Baghdad. Saboteurs blew up an oil pipeline in northern Iraq. In Mosul
the body of Raiedah Mohammed Wageh Wazan, a female Iraqi television
presenter kidnapped last week, was found dead from 4 gunshots to the
head.
(AP, 2/25/05)(AP, 2/26/05)
2005 Feb 25, A Palestinian suicide
bomber blew himself up in a crowd of young Israelis waiting outside the
Stage nightclub near Tel Aviv's beachfront promenade just before
midnight, killing at least four other people, wounding dozens.
(AP, 2/25/05)(SFC, 2/26/05, p.A1)
2005 Feb 25, In Togo Faure
Gnassingbe, whose predecessor — his father — had been Africa's
longest-serving leader, stepped down as a result of almost
unprecedented African resolve against an old-style coup d'etat.
(AP, 2/26/05)
2005 Feb 25, The Zimbabwe
government accused the independent Weekly Times of violating its
operating license and ordered it to shut down.
(SSFC, 2/27/05, p.A3)
2005 Feb 26, Addressing the
nation's governors, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates delivered a
scathing critique of U.S. high schools, calling them obsolete and
saying that elected officials should be ashamed of a system that leaves
millions of students unprepared for college and for technical jobs.
(LAT, 2/28/05)
2005 Feb 26, Walter Anderson (51),
telecommunications entrepreneur, was arrested and charged with evading
$200 million in federal and local taxes.
(SFC, 3/1/05, p.A3)
2005 Feb 26, The prosecution and
defense both rested their cases in the Robert Blake murder trial in Los
Angeles.
(AP, 2/26/06)
2005 Feb 26, Henry A. Grunwald
(82), former Time magazine editor and US ambassador to Austria,
died in New York.
(AP, 2/26/06)
2005 Feb 26, Jef Raskin (61),
computer pioneer, died in Pacifica, Ca. he led the shift to a graphical
interface with Apple’s Macintosh.
(WSJ, 3/1/05, p.A1)
2005 Feb 26, In Brazil Cleone
Santos and Magnaldo Santos, known as Negao, were taken into custody,
for aiding 2 gunmen who shot 73-year-old Dorothy Stang on Feb. 12.
(AP, 2/28/05)
2005 Feb 26, Fespaco, the biennial
pan-African festival of cinema and television, opened in Ouagadougou,
Burkina Faso.
(Econ, 2/19/05, p.82)
2005 Feb 26, China state
television said China will gradually open its capital account in 2005,
another step in its plan to make the yuan currency fully convertible.
(AP, 2/26/05)
2005 Feb 26, Egyptian President
Hosni Mubarak ordered a revision of the country's election laws and
said multiple candidates could run in the nation's presidential
elections.
(AP, 2/26/05)
2005 Feb 26, In Haiti a Brazilian
peacekeeper was wounded and the charred body of a man apparently burned
alive with a tire around his neck lay in the deserted street of a slum
where shots rang out and people peered fearfully from barred windows.
(AP, 2/26/05)
2005 Feb 26, Iraqi security forces
captured a son of one of Saddam Hussein's half brothers, who allegedly
financed the insurgency, in a raid on suspected militants near Tikrit.
Ayman Sabawi is the son of Sabawi Ibrahim al-Hassan, a half brother of
Saddam's, who served as a presidential adviser before the US-led
invasion.
(AP, 5/4/05)
2005 Feb 26, In Baghdad a suicide
bomber detonated his vehicle alongside an M1 Abrams tank and killed
himself and two Iraqis. A US soldier died during a sweep for insurgents
west of Baghdad. A car bomb in the Mussayyib district south of Baghdad
killed an Iraqi soldier.
(AP, 2/26/05)(SSFC, 2/27/05, p.A10)
2005 Feb 26, Japan put a weather
satellite into space for the first time since a humiliating failure 15
months ago in hopes of entering the launch market.
(SSFC, 2/27/05, p.A3)
2005 Feb 26, Malaysia's PM Badawi
told Proton to set its sights abroad as he launched the national
carmaker's 1.8 billion ringgit (474 million dollar) new manufacturing
plant.
(AP, 2/26/05)
2005 Feb 26, Nepal's rebel chief
said he was lifting a crippling countrywide blockade of roads by his
fighters to ease the discomfort of common people.
(AP, 2/26/05)
2005 Feb 26, Palestinian and
Israeli security forces arrested 7 suspected militants in connection
with a suicide bombing that killed four Israelis at a Tel Aviv
nightclub. The bomber was identified as Abdullah Badran (21), a student
from the West Bank village of Deir al-Ghusun.
(AP, 2/26/05)(SSFC, 2/27/05, p.A7)
2005 Feb 26, In Taiwan a fire
raged through the top floors of a highrise building in the central city
of Taichung, killing at least two people.
(AP, 2/26/05)
2005 Feb 26, Thailand police
reported 4 more people killed in surging violence in the Muslim south.
PM Shinawatra defended his hard-line policies and accused his critics
of sympathizing with separatists.
(AP, 2/26/05)
2005 Feb 26, Togo’s Congress named
deputy speaker Bonfoh Abbass as interim president until nationwide
elections can be held in the coming months.
(AP, 2/27/05)
2005 Feb 26, The Ukraine cabinet
stripped former president Leonid Kuchma of a plush and widely
criticized retirement package that featured a monthly pension, two
cars, a government home and much more.
(AP, 2/26/05)
2005 Feb 27, In the 77th Academy
Awards “Million Dollar Baby” won 4 Oscars including best picture, best
actress (Hilary Swank), best supporting actor (Morgan Freeman) and best
director (Clint Eastwood); Jamie Foxx won for best actor (Ray); Cate
Blanchett won best supporting actress (Aviator).
(SFC, 2/28/05, p.C4)
2005 Feb 27, Iran and Russia
signed a deal that would deliver nuclear fuel to the Middle East
country for the startup of its first reactor.
(AP, 2/27/05)
2005 Feb 27, Iraqi security forces
reported the capture of Saddam Hussein's half-brother and former
adviser. Sabawi Ibrahim al-Hassan, the 6 of diamonds, was No. 36 on the
list of 55 most-wanted Iraqis. Syria captured al-Hassan and 29 other
fugitives and handed them over to Iraqi security. 2 American soldiers
were killed in an ambush in the capital.
(AP, 2/27/05)(SFC, 2/28/05, p.A1)
2005 Feb 27, Kyrgyzstan faced a
key test of its commitment to democracy in parliamentary elections amid
tension over the exclusion of a number of opposition figures and
prominent lawmakers. Some opposition figures and prominent politicians
disqualified from the ballot in a country once seen as an island of
democracy in former Soviet Central Asia.
(AP, 2/27/05)(AP, 2/28/05)
2005 Feb 27, Bayaman Erkinbayev, a
wealthy playboy and head of the Palvan Corporation, led 2,000 fighters
trained in Alysh, Kyrgyzstan's answer to Kung Fu, to protests launched
after the first round of a parliamentary election.
(AP, 3/28/05)
2005 Feb 27, At least 15 people
died in a fresh burst of violence in southern Nepal, after communist
rebels lifted a two-week highway blockade.
(Reuters, 2/27/05)
2005 Feb 27, Qatar signed an
agreement with Royal Dutch/Shell to develop a liquefied natural gas
plant. Qatar Petroleum and Exxon Mobil launched their 12.8 billion
Qatar Gas II joint venture to export LNS to the United Kingdom.
(WSJ, 2/28/05, p.B2)
2005 Feb 27, In southeastern
Pakistan at least 10 children died when a bus carrying them on a school
field trip drove off a highway.
(AP, 2/27/05)
2005 Feb 27, Tajikistan voters
cast their ballots in parliamentary elections. President Emomali
Rakhmonov's National Democratic party won the election overwhelmingly
with nearly 75 percent of the vote. The opposition earned only two of
63 seats in Parliament. The EU said "significant breaches" were
reported during the vote, including proxy voting, obstruction of
election observers and irregularities in vote counting.
(AP, 3/5/05)
2005 Feb 27, The tiny Pacific
island nation of Tokelau called for food and medical supplies, and
there were "grave concerns" for residents on Swain's Island in American
Samoa after Cyclone Percy pounded the area.
(AP, 2/27/05)
2005 Feb 27, Togo demonstrators
protested against the new president, lighting flaming barricades in the
capital's streets and throwing rocks at riot police who fired tear gas
to keep crowds from moving toward government buildings. They claimed
the position should have gone to the parliament speaker, a ruling-party
loyalist, who was fired after he refused to return to the country in
the early days of the crisis.
(AP, 2/27/05)
2005 Feb 27, Pope John Paul II
made a surprise first public appearance after surgery, appearing at his
Rome hospital window.
(AP, 2/27/06)
2005 Feb 28, The US Mint began
distributing new buffalo nickels to banks. The reverse side showed a
bolder profile of Thomas Jefferson.
(SFC, 2/26/05, p.A3)
2005 Feb 28, Michael Jackson faced
opening statements in Santa Maria, Ca., in his trial on child
molestation charges.
(SFC, 3/1/05, p.A1)
2005 Feb 28, US District Judge
Joan Humphrey Lefkow discovered the bodies of her husband and mother
inside her Chicago home. An unemployed electrician confessed to the
murders in a suicide note. In 2002 she had ordered the white
supremacist group World Church of the Creator under Matthew Hale to
remove the World Church name from its website. A cigarette butt found
in Judge Joan Humphrey Lefkow's house was matched to the electrician,
Bart Ross, who killed himself Mar 9 during a traffic stop in Wisconsin,
and left a suicide note claiming responsibility for the killings.
Lefkow last fall dismissed a rambling lawsuit in which Ross claimed
that cancer treatments had disfigured his face.
(SFC, 3/2/05, p.A13)(AP, 3/11/05)(SFC, 3/11/05,
p.A1)(AP, 2/28/06)
2005 Feb 28, Federated Dept.
Stores announced the acquisition of may Dept. Stores for $11 billion in
cash and stock.
(SFC, 3/1/05, p.A1)
2005 Feb 28, African Union (AU)
chairman, Nigeria's President Olusegun Obasanjo, met Sudan's first vice
president Ali Taha over the bloody crisis in Darfur region.
(AFP, 2/28/05)
2005 Feb 28, In Britain the
Duchess of Northumberland opened her new Poison Garden, dedicated to
the world’s most venomous and hallucinogenic plants. It was a part of
Alnwick Garden opened in 2002.
(SFC, 10/29/05,
p.F7)(www.alnwickgarden.com/media/in_the_press.asp)
2005 Feb 28, Burundians voted on a
new constitution that enshrines Hutu control by allotting them 60% of
parliamentary seats with 40% for Tutsis.
(WSJ, 3/1/05, p.A1)
2005 Feb 28, Thierry Breton
arrived for work as France's 4th finance minister in less than a year,
ready to pick up the unfinished business of restoring the French
economy to good health.
(AP, 2/28/05)
2005 Feb 28, In Grenada Alister
Hughes (86), respected journalists known for his coverage of Grenada's
political woes and the US invasion in 1983, died of a stroke.
(AP, 3/2/05)
2005 Feb 28, India's
communist-backed coalition government unveiled a budget aimed at
boosting growth to help the rural poor but warned this would be at the
expense of tackling a bloated deficit.
(AP, 2/28/05)
2005 Feb 28, Indonesia welcomed a
move by the US to resume a small but high-profile US military training
program that was frozen in the 1990s because of human rights abuses in
East Timor. Human rights groups condemned the decision.
(Reuters, 2/28/05)
2005 Feb 28, In Iraq a suicide car
bomber blasted a crowd of police and national guard recruits as they
gathered for physicals outside a medical clinic in Hillah, south of
Baghdad, killing 125 people and wounding 132.
(AP, 3/1/05)(AP, 2/28/06)
2005 Feb 28, Israeli troops
discovered a vehicle packed with half a ton of explosives in the West
Bank, the largest bomb found in four years of fighting.
(AP, 3/1/05)
2005 Feb 28, Defying a ban on
protests, about 10,000 people demonstrated against Syrian interference
in Lebanon, as opposition lawmakers sought to bring down the
pro-Damascus government. The pro-Damascus PM Omar Karami and his
Cabinet resigned.
(AP, 2/28/05)(SFC, 3/1/05, p.A1)
2005 Feb 28, Mexican prosecutors
charged 27 state, federal and local police in Cancun with running a
drug ring or aiding in the murder of their fellow officers, busting one
of Mexico's largest police-protection rackets and solving the mystery
behind the killing of three federal agents in November.
(AP, 3/1/05)
2005 Feb 28, In Nepal at least 50
Maoist rebels and 4 soldiers were killed in a gunbattle in the western
Bardiya district.
(AP, 3/1/05)
2005 Feb 28, In Tajikistan
opposition parties alleged systematic vote-rigging and other breaches
during weekend parliamentary elections in the former Soviet republic.
(AP, 2/28/05)
2005 Feb, FBI agents arrested
thieves, who were unloading a semitrailer of DVDs originating from a
warehouse in Memphis, Tenn., for delivery in Chicago. 2 of the men
arrested were deputy jailers with the Cook County Sheriff’s Police
Dept. It was reported that hundreds of semitrailers are stolen or
filched from every day in the US.
(WSJ, 9/29/05, p.B1)
2005 Feb, Bulgaria’s parliament
passed a law authorizing the confiscation of illegally obtained assets.
Widespread money laundering had manifested itself in a construction
boom in tourist areas and other sudden explosions of wealth. The
audacity of the crime bosses, who intimidate normal Bulgarians with
their gun-toting entourages, has angered many and may play a role in
whether Saxe-Coburg will hold on to power in summer elections.
(AP, 4/3/05)
2005 Feb, China issued a
government document that allowed private investment in any business not
banned by law.
(Econ, 3/19/05, p.72)
2005 Feb, China said that 10
regions had begun a pilot project in green GDP assessment, in an effort
to assess environmental costs in development.
(Econ, 10/22/05, p.43)
2005 Feb, A group called the
Environmental Investigation Agency alleged that $600 million worth of
timber was being smuggled from Indonesia to China every month. Pres.
Yudhojono pledged a crackdown in March with Operation Sustainable
Forest. The EIA described a timber-smuggling chain bringing 300,000
cubic meters of merbau, a valuable hardwood, from Indonesia’s Papua
province to China. EIA claimed Indonesia was losing an area of forest
the size of Switzerland every year.
(Econ, 3/26/05, p.42)(Econ, 5/7/05, p.39)
2005 Feb, France passed a law to
put an upbeat spin on a painful era, making it mandatory to enshrine in
textbooks the country's "positive role" in its far-flung colonies.
Education Minister Gilles de Robien said in October that textbooks
would not be changed. But the law's detractors want it stricken from
the books, something the minister says only parliament can do.
(AP, 10/21/05)
2005 Feb, Sabino Mobile, an
Italian tourist visiting Colombia with his family, was kidnapped and
murdered by paramilitary gunmen. Police later arrested 9 people,
including right-wing paramilitary leader Ruben Oliverio Vera Roldan.
(AP, 3/2/05)
2005 Feb, The Dominican Republic
secured a $665 million loan from the IMF.
(Econ, 5/28/05, p.42)
2005 Feb, In Ethiopia hominid
bones indicting bipedalism were discovered at a new site called Mille,
in the northeastern Afar region. They were estimated to be 3.8-4
million years old.
(AP, 3/6/05)
2005 Feb, An Iraqi TV program
began airing confessions of alleged insurgents. The program later came
under criticism from Iraqi lawyers, former detainees and families of
suspects who accused security officials of abusing suspects to extract
the confessions.
(AP, 7/6/05)
2005 Feb, Emmerson Bockarie
released an album called “Bor Bor Belleh” (Fat Belly Boys), a reference
to corrupt officials hampering Sierra Leone development.
(Econ, 6/25/05, p.46)
2005 Feb, Vietnam signed an
agreement with the World Society for the Protection of Animals to phase
out its bear bile farms, where an estimated 3,000 bears were held for
their bile. In China an estimated 7,000 caged bears were milked for
their bile.
(SFC, 4/23/05, p.A8)
2005 Feb, Zimbabwe Pres. Mugabe
fell out with Jonathan Moyo and fired him as information minister.
(AP, 8/22/05)
2005 Mar 1, The US Supreme Court
ruled 5-4 that executing murderers under age 18 is unconstitutional.
(SFC, 3/2/05, p.A1)
2005 Mar 1, Dennis Rader, the
churchgoing family man accused of leading a double life as the BTK
serial killer, was charged in Wichita, Kan., with 10 counts of
first-degree murder. Rader later pleaded guilty and received multiple
life sentences.
(AP, 3/1/06)
2005 Mar 1, In Congo UN
peacekeeping troops, backed by an attack helicopter, responded after
being fired on and killed up to 60 militants accused of terrorizing
villagers and killing nine Bangladeshi peacekeepers. Congo arrested an
eastern militia leader and 2 generals related to the peacekeeper
killings. Women fighters were among the 50 people killed by UN troops
under Dutch Gen. Patrick Cammaert. On April 12 the human rights group
Justice Plus listed names of several alleged civilian victims from the
raid in eastern Congo and said they "paid with their life, while the
mandate of the United Nations was to protect them."
(AP, 3/2/05)(WSJ, 3/2/05, p.A1)(Reuters,
3/5/05)(Econ, 3/12/05, p.49)(AP, 4/13/05)
2005 Mar 1, French journalist
Florence Aubenas, looking pale and distraught, appealed for help on a
video in her first since she went missing in Iraq on Jan. 5.
(AP, 3/1/05)
2005 Mar 1, In Guatemala City some
8,000 protesters, most of them teachers, demonstrated in the capital
against a pending free-trade agreement between Central America and the
US.
(AP, 3/2/05)
2005 Mar 1, Indonesia reduced
subsidies on various fuels.
(Econ, 3/5/05, p.43)
2005 Mar 1, In northern Baghdad's
Azamyiah district gunmen killed judge Barwez Mohammed Mahmoud (59) and
his lawyer son, members of Iraq’s war crimes tribunal.
(AP, 3/2/05)(SFC, 3/2/05, p.A12)
2005 Mar 1, Lebanon's president
took on the task of forming a new government, while opposition leaders
shook off the jubilation of using people power to force out a
pro-Syrian Cabinet.
(AP, 3/1/05)
2005 Mar 1, Palestinian leader
Mahmoud Abbas pledged to reform Palestinian security. Militants in the
West Bank town of Jenin issued a belligerent challenge to the new
Palestinian leadership's efforts to rein in militant groups, shooting
in the air and demanding that the visiting security chief, Interior
Minister Nasser Yousef, leave the area immediately.
(AP, 3/1/05)
2005 Mar 1, In Geneva, Switz.,
Edouard Stern, French financier and former Lazard banker, was found
dead in his home. Swiss police later arrested Cecile Brossard (36), his
French lover, who confessed to the sex-related killing of banker
Edouard Stern. During her trial in 2009 she said that she lost control
after Stern called her a whore. On June 18, 2009, Brossard was
sentenced to eight and a half years in prison.
(WSJ, 3/3/05, p.A1)(AP, 3/16/05)(WSJ, 4/14/05,
p.A1)(SFC, 6/15/09, p.A2)(AP, 6/18/09)
2005 Mar 1, Ukraine’s top security
body decided to Ukrainian troops from Iraq.
(SFC, 3/2/05, p.A12)
2005 Mar 1, Dr. Tabare Vazquez
(65) took office as Uruguay's first socialist president, joining the
ranks of left-leaning leaders in Latin America, now six in all,
governing a majority of the region's people with a cautious approach to
U.S.-backed free-market policies. In one of his first official acts, he
restored full diplomatic ties with communist Cuba, more than two years
after a diplomatic row divided the countries.
(AP, 3/1/05)
2005 Mar 2, President Bush
demanded in blunt terms that Syria get out of Lebanon.
(AP, 3/2/05)
2005 Mar 2, The number of U.S.
military deaths in Iraq reached 1,500.
(AP, 3/2/06)
2005 Mar 2, Alan Greenspan warned
that US federal budget deficits are unsustainable and urged Congress to
cut spending.
(SFC, 3/3/05, p.A1)
2005 Mar 2, The US Treasury
proposed rules for a new Roth 401(k).
(SFC, 3/3/05, p.C1)
2005 Mar 2, The woman who accused
NBA star Kobe Bryant of rape settled her lawsuit against him, ending
the case.
(AP, 3/2/06)
2005 Mar 2, It was reported that
the Palm Beach, Fla., hedge fund KL Financial, with assets of $200
million, had run out of funds.
(WSJ, 3/2/05, p.C1)
2005 Mar 2, In Florida dozens of
dolphins beached on the Florida Keys. Sonar from a US submarine was
later suspected.
(SSFC, 3/6/05, p.A3)
2005 Mar 2, In Tennessee a school
bus driver was shot and killed by a 14-year old student, who was
recently disciplined by the driver for using snuff.
(WSJ, 3/3/05, p.A1)
2005 Mar 2, In Afghanistan Pres.
Karzai appointed Habiba Sarobi as governor of Bamiyan province, making
her Afghanistan’s 1st female governor.
(SFC, 3/3/05, p.A10)
2005 Mar 2, In eastern Afghanistan
a gunbattle between U.S.-led coalition forces and militants left three
militants and two civilians dead.
(AP, 3/5/05)
2005 Mar 2, Australia’s central
bank raised interest rates to 5.5% from 5.25%. The 2004 annual growth
rate was reported to be 1.5%.
(WSJ, 3/3/05, p.A11)
2005 Mar 2, In Azerbaijan Elmar
Huseinov, founder and editor of the opposition magazine Monitor, was
shot to death in the entryway of his Baku apartment building.
(AP, 3/3/05)
2005 Mar 2, Brazil's lower house
of Congress overwhelmingly approved a law creating a framework to
legalize biotech seed sales for genetically modified crops.
(AP, 3/3/05)
2005 Mar 2, In northern China a
cache of explosives at the home of a coal mine manager blew up in
Kecheng, killing him and at least 10 others including 2 children at a
nearby school.
(AP, 3/3/05)(SFC, 3/3/05, p.A6)
2005 Mar 2, Queen Elizabeth II
dubbed Bill Gates (49) an honorary noble.
(SFC, 3/3/05, p.A2)
2005 Mar 2, France's newly
appointed Finance Minister Thierry Breton pledged to keep a tight lid
on public spending in an effort to rein in the budget deficit.
(AP, 3/2/05)
2005 Mar 2, Two car bombs killed
at least 14 Iraqi soldiers in separate attacks, and the al-Qaida group
in Iraq claimed responsibility for one.
(SFC, 3/3/05, p.A6)(WSJ, 3/3/05, p.A1)
2005 Mar 2, Pakistani police
arrested a man wanted in the murder of Wall Street Journal reporter
Daniel Pearl and already sentenced to death in absentia for a hotel
bombing that killed 11 French engineers.
(AP, 3/2/05)
2005 Mar 2, Former Serbian army
chief Gen. Momcilo Perisic, a one-time ally of ex-president Slobodan
Milosevic, said that he has been indicted by the UN war crimes court
and will surrender next week.
(AP, 3/3/05)
2005 Mar 2, In a new book entitled
"Mari, the Metropolis of the Euphrates," Jean-Claude Margueron said the
third millennium BC city, in modern day Syria, was "one of the first
modern cities of humanity.
(AP, 3/2/05)
2005 Mar 2, It was reported that
the bodies of at least 34 men found in Venezuela's central Guarico
state in the past three years had burns, bruises and cuts suggesting
they were tortured before being executed.
(AP, 3/2/05)
2005 Mar 3, President Bush visited
CIA headquarters, where he promised agency employees they would retain
an “incredibly vital” role in safeguarding the nation’s security
despite the creation of a new post of national director of intelligence.
(AP, 3/3/06)
2005 Mar 3, Millionaire adventurer
Steve Fossett became the first person to fly around the world alone
without stopping or refueling, touching down in central Kansas after a
67-hour, 23-thousand-mile journey.
(AP, 3/3/06)
2005 Mar 3, Traders pushed the
wholesale price of gasoline to a record high.
(SFC, 3/4/05, p.C1)
2005 Mar 3, AOL launched a new
beta version of its web browser Netscape 8.0.
(WSJ, 3/3/05, p.B1)
2005 Mar 3, A UN report on AIDS in
Africa said 80 million may be dead by 2025 with over 10% of the
population infected.
(WSJ, 3/4/05, p.A1)
2005 Mar 3, An Arab League meeting
opened in Cairo. An Arab diplomat said Syria has told Arab countries it
needs to keep 3,000 troops and early-warning stations inside Lebanon to
maintain its security despite international pressure for a full
withdrawal. Saudi Arabia told Syria to withdraw its troops.
(AP, 3/3/05)(SFC, 3/4/05, p.A3)
2005 Mar 3, In western Canada 4
Mounties were killed while they were investigating an illegal marijuana
farm. Suspect James Roszko (46) killed himself after shooting the
officers.
(AP, 3/4/05)
2005 Mar 3, The seven Central
American nations (Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras,
Nicaragua and Panama) agreed to create a rapid-response force to combat
drug trafficking, terrorism and other regional threats.
(AP, 3/3/05)
2005 Mar 3, In France a trial got
under way in which 66 people were accused of participating in a
pedophilia ring.
(AP, 3/3/05)
2005 Mar 3, In Indonesia the
alleged leader of a militant Islamic group was sentenced to 2 1/2 years
in prison for conspiracy in the 2002 Bali nightclub bombings that
killed 202 people but was cleared of more serious charges.
(AP, 3/3/05)
2005 Mar 3, In Iraq car bombs
killed six policemen and wounded 15 in new attacks on security services
as political factions wrangled over putting together a government.
(AP, 3/3/05)
2005 Mar 3, Libyan leader Moamer
Kadhafi issued a call for economic liberalization in the North African
state.
(AP, 3/3/05)
2005 Mar 3, In Nigeria thousands
of rioters wielding sticks and broken bottles burned down a police
station in Makurdi, protesting the police killing of a bus driver who
apparently refused to pay a bribe equivalent to 14 cents.
(AP, 3/3/05)
2005 Mar 3, Pakistani tribal
militants, demanding greater political and economic rights, blew up a
railway line to Iran in the third attack on the track in recent weeks.
(AP, 3/3/05)
2005 Mar 3, Men in eastern and
southern Saudi Arabia turned out in the thousands to vote in municipal
elections. They expect to provide their first say in decision-making in
this absolute monarchy.
(AP, 3/3/05)
2005 Mar 4, Pres. Bush nominated
career scientist Stephen L. Johnson (53) to head the Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA).
(SFC, 3/5/05, p.A1)(AP, 3/4/06)
2005 Mar 4, The DJIA rose 107 to
10,940, its highest level since June, 2001.
(SFC, 3/5/05, p.A10)
2005 Mar 4, Martha Stewart
returned from prison to the multi-million-dollar estate where she will
remain under the watch of federal authorities while trying to revive
her homemaking empire.
(AP, 3/4/05)
2005 Mar 4, India approved
cultivation of genetically modified cotton in its fertile northern
region, rejecting demands from anti-biotechnology activists.
(AP, 3/4/05)
2005 Mar 4, American troops fired
on a car taking Giuliana Sgrena to Baghdad's airport and wounded her.
Nicola Calipari, the Italian intelligence officer who negotiated her
freedom, was hit by the gunfire and died in her arms. Sgrena returned
to Italy the next day. In 2007 an Italian court threw out the case
against the US soldier charged in the shooting of Calipari.
(AP, 3/5/05)(AP, 10/25/07)
2005 Mar 4, In Iraq Pvt. Gardi
Gardev, a Bulgarian soldier, was killed by friendly fire." President
Georgi Parvanov summoned U.S. Ambassador James Pardew on Mar 7 and
complained about the lack of coordination between coalition troops in
Iraq.
(AP, 3/7/05)
2005 Mar 4, Nepal government
forces killed at least 30 Maoist rebels in the western district of
Arghakhanchi.
(AP, 3/7/05)
2005 Mar 4, In southwestern
Pakistan police said Ramzan Mengal, an Islamic militant accused of
killing as many as 130 Shiite Muslims over recent years, was arrested
in Quetta.
(AP, 3/5/05)
2005 Mar 4, Palestinian gunmen
opened fire at a police station, sparking a gunfight that left three
people wounded.
(AP, 3/4/05)
2005 Mar 4, Tribes from western
Sudan and the neighboring Central African Republic signed a peace
charter in a bid to end cross-border clashes.
(AFP, 3/4/05)
2005 Mar 4, Swiss police said they
have detained five purported Islamic extremists suspected of running
Web sites that showed the execution of hostages and provided details of
how to make bombs and carry out attacks.
(AP, 3/4/05)
2005 Mar 4, Ukraine's former
interior minister was found dead of an apparent suicide, just before he
was to meet with prosecutors for questioning about the 2000 slaying of
an investigative journalist.
(AP, 3/4/05)
2005 Mar 4, President Hugo Chavez
said Venezuela wants to supply crude oil to India, Asia's third-biggest
consumer, under a long-term agreement.
(AP, 3/4/05)
2005 Mar 5, It was reported that
an experimental technique called deep-brain stimulation was effective
in turning off depression. In 2005 the US FDA approved an implant for
vagus nerve stimulation as therapy for depression that fails to respond
to other conventional treatments.
(Econ, 3/5/05, p.78)(Econ, 6/3/06, p.79)
2005 Mar 5, China's foreign
exchange chief said a sharp appreciation of China's yuan is unlikely
and the currency will be kept in a small range as the country gradually
implements a more flexible exchange rate.
(AP, 3/5/05)
2005 Mar 5, India’s Finance
Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram said the government would try to
ensure economic growth of over 7 percent and urged the Reserve Bank of
India (RBI) to maintain benign interest rates, now at three-decade
lows, to promote investment.
(AP, 3/5/05)
2005 Mar 5, India clinched a deal
to operate a Venezuelan oilfield and import the output as Asia's third
largest consumer and the world's No.5 oil exporter vowed to strengthen
ties.
(AP, 3/5/05)
2005 Mar 5, The governor of the
lawless Indian eastern state of Bihar recommended federal rule in the
province as no political grouping could muster the required numbers to
form a government in polls last month. This ended control by the Yadav
family.
(AP, 3/6/05)(Econ, 3/12/05, p.45)
2005 Mar 5, Iran said it will
never agree to a permanent halt on enriching uranium and warned that a
more unstable Middle East would result from a U.S.-backed effort to
haul Tehran before the UN Security Council for possible sanctions.
(AP, 3/5/05)
2005 Mar 5, Pakistani troops
raided a hideout of suspected al-Qaida militants in a remote tribal
area near Afghanistan. A shootout left 2 foreigners dead. 11 people
were arrested.
(AP, 3/5/05)
2005 Mar 5, Syria’s Pres. Assad
outlined a two-step pullback: 1st to Lebanon's Bekaa Valley, nearer to
the Syrian border; 2nd, a redeployment from there all the way to the
Syrian frontier. He failed to address broad international demands that
he completely withdraw Syria's 15,000 troops after nearly 30 years in
Lebanon.
(AP, 3/5/05)
2005 Mar 6, Hans Bethe (b.1906),
German-born peace worker and Nobel Prize winning physicist (1967), died
in Ithaca, NY.
(SFC, 3/8/05, p.B5)(Econ, 3/19/05, p.90)
2005 Mar 6, Actress Teresa Wright
died in New Haven, Conn., at age 86.
(AP, 3/6/06)
2005 Mar 6, In Bolivia President
Carlos Mesa said he would submit his resignation to Congress after 17
months in office, warning that growing protests against Bolivia's oil
and gas laws could soon block the country's highways and isolate its
main cities.
(AP, 3/7/05)
2005 Mar 6, China convened its
National People’s Congress.
(WSJ, 3/7/05, p.A1)
2005 Mar 6, Shanghai became the
1st Chinese city to levy a capital gains tax on the sale of private
property held for less than a year.
(Econ, 3/26/05, p.73)
2005 Mar 6, Israeli investigators
said police had arrested 22 employees of a Tel Aviv bank branch on
suspicion they helped launder hundreds of millions of dollars in one of
the largest such rings in the country's history.
(AP, 3/6/05)
2005 Mar 6, Giuliana Sgrena, the
Italian journalist wounded by American troops in Iraq after her release
by insurgents, rejected the U.S. military's account of the shooting and
declined to rule out the possibility she was deliberately targeted. The
White House called the shooting a "horrific accident" and restated its
promise to investigate fully.
(AP, 3/6/05)
2005 Mar 6, Moldova held national
elections. Nine special stations were opened near the border with
Trans-Dniester so the separatist region's 700,000 residents can vote.
Trans-Dniester authorities have refused to allow any polling stations
on their territory. The governing pro-Western Communists won a
parliamentary majority, but fell short of taking enough seats to
re-elect President Vladimir Voronin.
(AP, 3/6/05)(AP, 3/7/05)
2005 Mar 6, In Norway 3 works by
Edvard Munch were stolen from a hotel, the second theft of the renowned
Norwegian's art in less than seven months.
(AP, 3/7/05)
2005 Mar 6, Pakistani President
Pervez Musharraf, ending years of chilly relations with Uzbekistan,
promised to catch and extradite any Uzbek-born terrorist hiding in his
country.
(AP, 3/6/05)
2005 Mar 6, Palestinian militants
shot and wounded two Israeli border policemen in an attack on a
military post near a West Bank shrine.
(AP, 3/7/05)
2005 Mar 6, More than 15,000
protesters marched in Taiwan, denouncing China's planned anti-secession
law and pledging to fight what they claim is Beijing's attempt to force
this self-ruled, democratic island to unify with the mainland.
(AP, 3/6/05)
2005 Mar 6, In Turkey riot police
kicked and beat women and young people who had gathered for an
unauthorized demonstration in Istanbul marking International Women's
Day.
(AP, 3/7/05)
2005 Mar 7, President Bush named
John R. Bolton (56), undersecretary of state for arms control and
international security, as US ambassador to the UN.
(AP, 3/8/05)(SFC, 3/8/05, p.A10)
2005 Mar 7, Sony Corp. picked Sir
Howard Stringer (63), Welsh-born head of its US operations, to replace
chairman and CEO Nobuyuki Idei.
(WSJ, 3/7/05, p.A1)
2005 Mar 7, United Defense
Industries, maker of the Bradley Fighting Vehicle, agreed to merge with
British defense firm BAE Systems in a $4 billion deal.
(SFC, 3/8/05, p.D1)
2005 Mar 7, China said it will
keep controversial exchange-rate controls and hold down industrial
investment this year as it tries to rein in surging growth and restrain
inflation.
(AP, 3/7/05)
2005 Mar 7, An international human
rights group said militiamen and renegade soldiers have raped and
beaten tens of thousands of women and young girls in eastern Congo, and
nearly all the crimes have gone unpunished by the country's broken
judicial system.
(AP, 3/7/05)
2005 Mar 7, In the Dominican
Republic rival gangs fighting for control of a provincial prison set
pillows and sheets ablaze, starting a fire that killed 136 inmates
after rescuers were thwarted by a jammed entrance.
(AP, 3/11/05)
2005 Mar 7, It was reported that
Indonesia’s army had killed 30 Aceh separatists over the past week.
(WSJ, 3/7/05, p.A1)
2005 Mar 7, In Iraq guerrillas
launched a series of attacks that left 33 people dead and dozens
wounded.
(AP, 3/7/05)(SFC, 3/8/05, p.A10)
2005 Mar 7, The presidents of
Lebanon and Syria announced that Syrian forces will pull back to
Lebanon's eastern Bekaa Valley by March 31, but a complete troop
withdrawal will be deferred until after later negotiations.
(AP, 3/7/05)
2005 Mar 7, Authorities said
Nigerian police have rescued more than 100 children from child
traffickers over the last 3 days, including 56 discovered at a
checkpoint in a frozen food truck.
(Reuters, 3/7/05)
2005 Mar 7, Officials in South
Africa's capital voted to rename the city Tshwane, retaining the name
Pretoria for the city center only.
(AP, 3/7/05)
2005 Mar 7, A Turkish alcohol
company ordered the recall of millions of bottles of Turkish liquor as
the death toll from a bootleg version of the drink rose to at least 17.
(AP, 3/7/05)
2005 Mar 8, President Bush said
authoritarian rule in the Middle East had begun to ease, and he
insisted anew that Syria had to end its nearly three-decade occupation
of Lebanon.
(AP, 3/8/06)
2005 Mar 8, Afghan gunmen killed a
British advisor in Kabul.
(WSJ, 3/9/05, p.A1)
2005 Mar 8, Bolivian lawmakers
unanimously rejected a resignation offer by President Carlos Mesa,
granting crucial support to his government.
(AP, 3/9/05)(Econ, 3/12/05, p.39)
2005 Mar 8, Brazilian prosecutors
formally charged four men in the death of a 73-year-old American nun
who worked to defend poor rainforest communities. Rayfran Neves Salles
was charged with firing the six shots that killed Dorothy Stang.
Clodoaldo Batista was charged as an accomplice. Two other men, Amair
Feijoli and Vitalmiro Moura, were charged with homicide.
(AP, 3/8/05)
2005 Mar 8, China unveiled a law
authorizing an attack if Taiwan moves toward formal independence,
increasing pressure on the self-ruled island while warning other
countries not to interfere.
(AP, 3/8/05)
2005 Mar 8, In Guatemala City
hundreds of protesters blocked lawmakers from voting on a free-trade
agreement between Central America and the US and authorities said they
were prepared to send troops if the demonstrations continued.
(AP, 3/8/05)
2005 Mar 8, In Iraq clashes
erupted between US troops and insurgents in the city of Ramadi, leaving
at least two people dead.
(AP, 3/8/05)
2005 Mar 8, Kosovo's PM Ramush
Haradinaj resigned after being indicted by the U.N. war crimes tribunal
for his alleged part in atrocities during the fight against Serb forces.
(AP, 3/8/05)
2005 Mar 8, In Lebanon nearly
500,000 pro-Syrian protesters waved flags and chanted anti-American
slogans in a central Beirut square, answering a nationwide call by the
militant Shiite Muslim Hezbollah group.
(AP, 3/8/05)
2005 Mar 8, Nepali police arrested
nearly two dozen activists, including former ministers, as they rallied
in the Himalayan kingdom's capital on in one of the biggest protests
since King Gyanendra seized power last month.
(AP, 3/8/05)
2005 Mar 8, The parliament of
Nigeria, Africa's most-indebted nation, passed a nonbinding resolution
demanding Nigeria stop repaying its $35 billion foreign debt.
(AP, 3/9/05)
2005 Mar 8, A spokesman for
Russian forces said Chechen rebel leader Aslan Maskhadov has been
killed. Russia had offered a $10 million reward.
(AP, 3/8/05)(WSJ, 3/16/05, p.A1)(Econ, 3/12/05, p.84)
2005 Mar 8, In Madrid, Spain, a
summit on terrorism opened.
(AP, 3/8/05)
2005 Mar 9, Dan Rather (73) made
his final news broadcast with CBS Evening News.
(SFC, 3/10/05, p.A2)
2005 Mar 9, The acting boss of the
NYC Gambino family and at least 30 other mob figures were arrested
following an undercover FBI operation.
(SFC, 3/10/05, p.A3)
2005 Mar 9, In Las Vegas 2 retired
NYC police detectives, Louis Eppolito (56) and Stephen Caracappa (63),
were arrested on federal charges of taking part in 8 murders on behalf
of the Mafia. In 2009 both men were sentenced to life in prison.
(SFC, 3/11/05, p.A3)(SFC, 3/7/09, p.A5)
2005 Mar 9, Michael Jackson's
young accuser took the witness stand, saying he once considered the pop
star being tried for allegedly molesting him "the coolest guy in the
world." Jackson was later acquitted.
(AP, 3/9/06)
2005 Mar 9, Information broker
LexisNexis reported that thieves hacked into records and stole personal
data on some 310,000 US individuals.
(SFC, 4/13/05, p.A4)
2005 Mar 9, Chris LeDoux (56),
rodeo star and country singer, died in Wyoming from complications of
liver cancer.
(SFC, 3/10/05, p.B7)
2005 Mar 9, Senior officials said
China will use taxes from its fast-growing eastern cities to help pay
for rural social programs as it tries to close a widening divide
between rich and poor.
(AP, 3/9/05)
2005 Mar 9, Colombia extradited to
the United States a top member of the South American country's main
rebel group, a woman known by the nom de guerre of Sonia and accused of
running the insurgents' drug trafficking business.
(AP, 3/9/05)
2005 Mar 9, In Costa Rica police
stormed a bank in a hail of gunfire following a thwarted robbery that
turned into a 30-hour hostage standoff in the tourist town of Santa
Elena de Monteverde. Officials said nine people were killed, including
five bank customers.
(AP, 3/10/05)
2005 Mar 9, Egypt’s parliament
agreed to amend the Constitution to allow for 1st time multi-candidate
balloting.
(SFC, 3/10/05, p.A3)
2005 Mar 9, Indonesia and East
Timor agreed to set up a commission to deal with atrocities surrounding
East Timor's 1999 vote for independence, despite criticism led by the
UN.
(AP, 3/9/05)
2005 Mar 9, Iraqi officials said
that 41 bodies, some bullet-riddled, others beheaded, have been found
at two separate sites. They believe some of the corpses are Iraqi
soldiers kidnapped and killed by insurgents. 4 people were killed in
Baghdad when a suicide bomber drove an explosives-packed truck into a
hotel used by US contractors.
(AP, 3/9/05)(WSJ, 3/10/05, p.A1)
2005 Mar 9, President Bush's envoy
to Northern Ireland called for the IRA to disband after the outlawed
group made an unprecedented public offer to kill four men, including
two of its own expelled members, linked to a Belfast slaying. The
family of slain Northern Ireland man Robert McCartney have said they
had rejected the IRA's offer of vigilante justice because only in court
will "the truth come out."
(AP, 3/9/05)(AFP, 3/9/05)
2005 Mar 9, An Israeli inquiry
into the establishment of unauthorized West Bank settlement outposts
found widespread complicity of successive Israeli governments and
recommended that prosecutors consider investigations some of those
involved.
(AP, 3/9/05)
2005 Mar 9, In southern Mexico a
federal government helicopter searching for gunmen protecting drug
plantations crashed into a mountain, killing all nine soldiers and two
pilots onboard.
(AP, 3/10/05)
2005 Mar 9, In the southern
Philippines at least 27 children died from food poisoning after eating
a deep-fried caramelized cassava snack at school. Evidence later
revealed that a pesticide in the snack was the cause of death.
(AP, 3/9/05)(WSJ, 3/15/05, p.A1)
2005 Mar 9, In South Africa
investigators began digging up the first of hundreds of unmarked graves
in a bid to close a chapter in South Africa's horrific history.
(AP, 3/9/05)
2005 Mar 9, An earthquake shook
parts of northern South Africa, trapping 16 miners underground.
(AP, 3/9/05)
2005 Mar 9, Spanish serial killer
Alfredo Galan, nicknamed the "playing card assassin" because he left a
card at the scene of each murder, received jail sentences totaling 142
years.
(AP, 3/9/05)
2005 Mar 9, Jan Egeland, UN
humanitarian chief, said far more people have died in Sudan's ravaged
Darfur region than the 70,000 reported since last year, and many of
those deaths were from preventable causes like pneumonia and diarrhea.
Egeland said some 180,000 people died in Darfur over the past 18 months
from hunger and disease.
(AP, 3/9/05)(Econ, 4/2/05, p.41)
2005 Mar 9, Syrian soldiers
flashed victory signs and waved automatic rifles as they drove east
through Lebanon's mountains in the first phase of a pullback.
Government lawmakers advised the president to bring back his
pro-Damascus prime minister who was forced by opposition protests to
resign.
(AP, 3/9/05)
2005 Mar 10, The EPA approved new
limits on power plant emissions in the Eastern US.
(WSJ, 3/11/05, p.A1)
2005 Mar 10, It was reported that
a Texas ranch has implemented a computer-assisted remote hunting
website allowing paying hunters to bag big game from their home
computers.
(SFC, 3/10/05, p.A1)
2005 Mar 10, Tens of thousands of
French workers marched on Paris and strikes crippled public transport,
embarrassing the government as Olympic officials visited to assess the
city's bid to host the 2012 Games.
(AP, 3/10/05)
2005 Mar 10, Georgia lawmakers
voted unanimously for Russia to withdraw troops from soviet-era bases
by Jan 1.
(WSJ, 3/11/05, p.A1)
2005 Mar 10, Hong Kong's leader
said he tendered his resignation because of failing health and
repeatedly denied speculation China pushed him out in a bid to tighten
its grip on the former British colony.
(AP, 3/10/05)
2005 Mar 10, Iran’s Pres. Khatami
began a 3-day visit to Venezuela and planned to strengthen political
and economic ties with Pres. Chavez.
(WSJ, 3/10/05, p.A15)
2005 Mar 10, Iraq's main Shiite
party and a Kurdish bloc reached a deal that sets the stage for a new
government to be formed when the National Assembly convenes next week.
(AP, 3/10/05)
2005 Mar 10, In Baghdad, Iraq,
gunmen killed 2 district police chiefs and 2 others Iraqis. A suicide
attacker in Mosul set off a bomb that tore through a funeral tent
jammed with Shiite mourners. The attack killed 47 and wounded more than
100.
(AP, 3/10/05)
2005 Mar 10, Israeli troops killed
an Islamic Jihad Palestinian militant in a raid on a village near the
West Bank town of Jenin.
(AP, 3/10/05)
2005 Mar 10, Kyrgyzstan opposition
parties united around former PM Kurmanbek, who will coordinate national
protests sparked by the 1st round of elections.
(WSJ, 3/11/05, p.A9)
2005 Mar 10, Lebanon's president,
emboldened by a massive pro-Syria demonstration, reinstated Omar Karami
as PM, 10 days after the Damascus-backed leader stepped down.
(AP, 3/10/05)
2005 Mar 10, Pakistan's
information minister acknowledged that Abdul Qadeer Khan, a rogue
scientist at the heart of an international nuclear black market
investigation, gave centrifuges to Iran, but insisted the government
had nothing to do with the transfer.
(AP, 3/10/05)
2005 Mar 10, At least 15 Russian
servicemen were killed and 12 others were injured when a federal
helicopter crashed in Chechnya.
(AP, 3/11/05)
2005 Mar 10, In Kigali, Rwanda, a
nine-judge community court handed down its first conviction of a
Rwandan accused of killings in the 1994 genocide, as authorities set in
motion a system of trials designed to speed the task of deciding the
guilt or innocence of the 63,000 people accused of taking part in the
government-orchestrated slaughter.
(AP, 3/11/05)
2005 Mar 10, The UN panel
overseeing compensation for victims of Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait
approved new awards worth $265 million, mostly to families of people
who died in Iraqi detention.
(AP, 3/11/05)
2005 Mar 11, Pres. Bush
picked Johns Hopkins physicist Michael Griffin to lead NASA.
(SFC, 3/12/05, p.A8)
2005 Mar 11, The US Commerce Dept.
reported the US trade deficit for January hit $58.3 billion. It was
just below the all-time high set in Nov, 2004.
(SFC, 3/12/05, p.C1)
2005 Mar 11, Maurice Greenberg,
president and CEO of AIG Int’l. Group, transferred 1.4 million shares
of AIG stock, valued at $2.68 billion, to his wife. He resigned March
14 amid probes of the company’s accounting.
(SFC, 4/14/05, p.A1)
2005 Mar 11, Crude oil futures
prices climbed over $54 a barrel after the Int’l. Energy Agency
estimated global petroleum demand would grow faster than previously
expected in 2005.
(AP, 3/13/05)
2005 Mar 11, In Georgia Brian
Nichols (33), on trial for rape, shot and killed Superior Court Judge
Rowland Barnes, court reporter Julie Ann Brandau and Deputy Hoyt
Teasley at the Fulton County Courthouse. He then killed deferral agent
David Wilhelm in Atlanta’s posh Buckhead neighborhood. Nichols was
captured the next day. In 2008 Nichols pleaded not guilty by reason of
insanity. On Nov 7, 2008, Nichols was convicted of murder. On Dec 13 he
was sentenced to life in prison without parole.
(AP, 3/12/05)(SFC, 3/12/05, p.A1)(SFC, 9/23/08,
p.A4)(SFC, 11/7/08, p.A5)(SSFC, 12/14/08, p.A6)
2005 Mar 11, Canada’s Jetsgo
announced in the dead of night that it was going out of business and
grounding all flights immediately as thousands of passengers prepared
to jet away for March break, one of the busiest travel periods of the
year.
(AP, 3/11/05)
2005 Mar 11, Miguel Rodriguez
Orejuela, co-founder of the Cali drug cartel, was sent in handcuffs on
a plane to the US to face trial for drug trafficking and related
charges. The cartel at its peak ruled the world's cocaine industry.
(AP, 3/11/05)
2005 Mar 11, Germany’s parliament
tightened laws against neo-Nazi demonstrations.
(SFC, 3/12/05, p.A3)
2005 Mar 11, In India separatist
rebels threw three grenades in the troubled state of Assam, killing
three people.
(Reuters, 3/11/05)
2005 Mar 11, Moldova arrested
Valeriu Pasat, former defense minister, on suspicion of pocketing $10
million during the 1997 sale of 21 MiG-29 fighter jets to the US.
(WSJ, 3/14/05, p.A1)
2005 Mar 11, Nepal freed sacked PM
Sher Bahadur Deuba from house arrest, amid mounting international
pressure on the country's king to relinquish power and restore
democracy.
(Reuters, 3/11/05)
2005 Mar 11, Pakistan's highest
Islamic court threw out the acquittal of five men convicted of raping
Mukhtar Mai in 2002 on orders from a village council, saying a lower
appeals court had no jurisdiction to rule on the case.
(AP, 3/11/05)
2005 Mar 11, Garry Kasparov,
Russian chess master ranked No. 1 since 1984, announced his retirement.
His future plans included writing and political action, which included
a lead role in Committee 2008: Free Choice, a group formed by liberal
opposition leaders.
(SFC, 3/12/05, p.A10)
2005 Mar 11, South Africa’s Pres.
Mbeki nominated Pius Langa to become chief justice when incumbent
Arthur Chaskalson retires in May. Langa would be the 1st black to hold
the office.
(Econ, 3/19/05, p.54)
2005 Mar 11, The last Syrian
troops left northern Lebanon but left behind intelligence officers in
nine offices. The UN Mideast envoy said Syria needs to produce a
timetable for a full withdrawal from the rest of Lebanon. Since 1976
some 15,000 Syrian troops were killed in the Lebanese civil war.
Lebanese protests following the Feb 14 assassination of Rafik Hariri,
later dubbed the “cedar revolution,” forced Pres. Assad to withdraw his
army after a 30-year stay.
(AP, 3/11/05)(Econ, 4/2/05, p.41)(Econ, 7/25/09, SR
p.11)
2005 Mar 11, Turkey’s state
institution over religious life issued a sermon to be preached at some
75,000 officially registered mosques on the dangers posed to national
unity by Christian missionaries.
(Econ, 6/25/05, p.49)
2005 Mar 12, Brian Nichols,
suspected in the slayings of a judge and three other people,
surrendered to authorities in suburban Atlanta after allegedly holding
Ashley Smith hostage in her own apartment.
(AP, 3/12/06)
2005 Mar 12, It was reported that
Bernardo Huberman, researcher at Hewlett-Packard, had described
software called Tycoon for directing computons on computing grids. He
used the term “computon” to describe a packet of electromagnetic energy.
(Econ, 3/12/05, TQ p.6)
2005 Mar 12, In Brookfield,
Wisconsin, Terry Ratzmann (44) opened fire with a handgun during an
evangelical church service at a suburban Milwaukee hotel, killing 7
people before taking his own life.
(AP, 3/13/05)(SFC, 3/14/05, p.A1)
2005 Mar 12, Algeria's minister
for energy and mines said OPEC has reached its production limit, and
trying to stretch output by one million barrels per day isn't likely to
lower oil prices.
(AP, 3/12/05)
2005 Mar 12, Britain's governing
Labour Party claimed victory for pushing through its contentious
anti-terrorism law after an acrimonious two-day debate in Parliament.
(AP, 3/12/05)
2005 Mar 12, Ayman Nour, Egyptian
opposition leader and presidential hopeful, walked out of Cairo's
central security headquarters and was whisked to the shoulders of his
supporters after posting bail.
(AP, 3/12/05)
2005 Mar 12, Customers of the
German Edeka supermarket chain will soon be able to pay for their
shopping by placing their finger on a scanner at the check-out, saving
up to 40 seconds spent scrabbling for coins or cards.
(Reuters, 3/12/05)
2005 Mar 12, In Greece Karolos
Papoulias (75), a former foreign minister, was sworn as the nation’s
6th president.
(AP, 3/12/05)
2005 Mar 12, Donald Tsang, career
bureaucrat, took office as interim leader of Hong Kong.
(SSFC, 3/13/05, p.A16)
2005 Mar 12, In India 16 people
were drowned and nine were feared dead in Gujarat when a bus fell into
a canal after the driver lost control.
(AP, 3/13/05)
2005 Mar 12, In Iraq gunmen shot
to death three policemen and wounded a 4th at a funeral procession in
the northern city of Mosul. 2 US security contractors were killed by a
roadside bomb south of Baghdad.
(AP, 3/12/05)(WSJ, 3/14/05, p.A1)
2005 Mar 12, It was reported that
Lebanese have been switching their savings from Lebanese pounds to the
safety of the dollar for fear the local currency will collapse, as it
did during the war. The Central Bank has unloaded hundreds of millions
of dollars to shore up the pound.
(AP, 3/12/05)
2005 Mar 12, The Hamas militant
group announced it will participate in Palestinian parliamentary
elections.
(AP, 3/12/05)
2005 Mar 12, In Portugal Jose
Socrates was sworn in as PM vowing to keep friendly ties with the US
despite naming a foreign minister who has compared Pres. Bush to Adolf
Hitler.
(AP, 3/12/05)
2005 Mar 12, Spanish police said
they had cracked a money-laundering operation worth up to 250 million
euros ($335.8 million) which might have links to YUKOS, but had not
specified what those links might be.
(AP, 3/13/05)
2005 Mar 12, In Lenzerheide,
Switzerland, Bode Miller became the first American in 22 years to win
skiing's overall World Cup title.
(AP, 3/12/06)
2005 Mar 12, Turkish authorities
closed the Bosporus Strait to maritime traffic after a roll-on-roll-off
(ro-ro) vessel carrying 7 tanker trucks loaded with 138 tons of
liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) sank in the narrow waterway, which
separates the European and Asian sides of Istanbul.
(AP, 3/13/05)
2005 Mar 12, Ukraine withdrew 150
servicemen from Iraq, starting a gradual pullout that officials have
said will be completed by October.
(AP, 3/12/05)
2005 Mar 12, In central Vietnam an
express passenger train derailed, killing at least 11 people and
injuring some 200.
(Reuters, 3/12/05)
2005 Mar 13, The Disney Corp.
board of directors named Robert Iger to succeed Michael Eisner in
October.
(WSJ, 3/14/05, p.A1)
2005 Mar 13, In southern Brazil a
tourist-filled bus crashed into a logging truck, killing seven people
and injuring at least 20.
(AP, 3/13/05)
2005 Mar 13, Paul Schaefer (83),
former head of a secretive German colony in southern Chile, was flown
to Santiago after his arrest in Argentina. Schaefer founded Colonia
Dignidad, or Dignity Colony, a commune-like enclave in 1961, and is
accused in the disappearance of a dissident under dictator Gen. Augusto
Pinochet.
(AP, 3/13/05)
2005 Mar 13, In India at least 19
people were killed and 15 injured when a bus skidded off a mountain
road into a deep gorge in Uttaranchal.
(AP, 3/13/05)
2005 Mar 13, Israel's Cabinet
adopted a report on the state's complicity in setting up 105 illegal
West Bank settlement outposts and decided to dismantle 24 of them.
(AP, 3/13/05)
2005 Mar 13, Kyrgyzstan held
parliamentary runoff elections amid rising tension over signs the
longtime leader plans to extend his rule beyond constitutional limits.
President Askar Akayev (60) won an overwhelmingly loyal Parliament in
runoff elections. The opposition won 6 of 75 seats and said the vote
was riddled with abuses.
(AP, 3/14/05)(SFC, 3/15/05, p.A3)
2005 Mar 13, Vigilantes in Oaxaca,
Mexico, killed a state police officer setting him on fire in revenge
for the shooting of a taxi driver in a barroom brawl.
(AP, 3/13/05)
2005 Mar 13, Saudi police killed
an alleged Islamic militant and arrested three others in a shootout at
a suspected terror cell hideout in the Red Sea city of Jiddah.
(AP, 3/13/05)
2005 Mar 13, In Musina, South
Africa, thousands of protesters held an 18-hour vigil on the border
with Zimbabwe to demonstrate against mounting repression in the
neighboring country two weeks before a key parliamentary election there.
(AP, 3/13/05)
2005 Mar 13, Pope John Paul II was
released from the hospital and returned to his Vatican apartment
overlooking St. Peter's Square.
(AP, 3/13/06)
2005 Mar 13, Venezuela announced
that it would seize parts of 4 large estates, some 270,000 acres of
farmland, after finding irregularities in their ownership status.
(WSJ, 3/15/05, p.A18)
2005 Mar 14, The US government in
Operation Community Shield announced the arrests in 7 cities of 103
members of MS-13, Mara Salvatrucha, a street gang rooted in Central
America.
(SFC, 3/15/05, p.A5)
2005 Mar 14, San Francisco
Superior Court Judge Richard Kramer declared California’s ban on
same-sex marriage unconstitutional.
(SFC, 3/15/05, p.A1)
2005 Mar 14, U2, The Pretenders,
The O'Jays, Percy Sledge and blues legend Buddy Guy were inducted into
the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
(AP, 3/14/06)
2005 Mar 14, Jim Cramer began
hosting Mad Money, an American business television program, on the CNBC
cable/satellite TV channel.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mad_Money)
2005 Mar 14, Health Day News
reported that an experimental drug that stops cancer cell division and
triggers tumor death has been developed by researchers at Temple
University. The drug, called ON01910, interferes with the activity of a
gene called Plk1.
(HDN, 3/15/05)
2005 Mar 14, Experts said poachers
are killing between 6,000 and 12,000 elephants a year to supply illegal
ivory markets in Sudan to meet growing Chinese demand. Most of the
elephants are killed in southern Sudan, Congo and the Central African
Republic, with some ivory also coming from Kenya and Chad.
(AP, 3/14/05)
2005 Mar 14, Voters in Central
African Republic cast ballots for president in the first poll since
rebels seized the capital two years ago. Gen. Francois Bozize, the
former army officer-turned-insurgent who now presides over the country,
was considered the front-runner in a field of 11.
(AP, 3/14/05)
2005 Mar 14, China's parliament
enacted a law authorizing force to stop rival Taiwan from pursuing
formal independence.
(AP, 3/14/05)
2005 Mar 14, Protesters across
Guatemala denounced a regional free trade deal with the US closed
schools, blocked highways and clashed with police in confrontations
that left 19 people injured and two arrested.
(AP, 3/14/05)
2005 Mar 14, UN Secretary-General
Kofi Annan said the United Nations is establishing a register of
property damage caused by Israel's West Bank separation barrier.
Hundreds of Palestinians protested the barrier outside the walled
Palestinian government compound where he spoke.
(AP, 3/14/05)
2005 Mar 14, Akira Yoshizawa (94),
an origami master whose expressive paper gorillas made an art out of
Japan's craft tradition, died of heart failure and pneumonia.
(AP, 4/3/05)
2005 Mar 14, Hundreds of thousands
of opposition demonstrators chanted "Freedom, sovereignty,
independence" and unfurled a huge Lebanese flag in Beirut, the biggest
protest yet in the opposition's duel of street rallies with supporters
of the Damascus-backed government. The “March 14 Forces,” advocates of
Syrian withdrawal, grew from this demonstration.
(AP, 3/14/05)(Econ, 7/29/06, p.43)
2005 Mar 14, The Hague tribunal
indicted former Macedonian Interior Minister Ljube Boskovski for war
crimes.
(AP, 3/14/05)
2005 Mar 14, Sam Nujoma, president
of Namibia, retired.
(http://asi.ndi.org/delegates/delegates.asp)
2005 Mar 14, A group of
Muslim-extremist inmates accused of carrying out some of the
Philippines' worst terrorist attacks agreed to surrender after a
botched jailbreak left at least 5 people dead. The deal later broke
down when the inmates demanded dinner first.
(AP, 3/14/05)
2005 Mar 14, The U.N. tribunal for
Rwanda sentenced Vincent Rutaganira, a former local leader, to six
years in prison after he pleaded guilty to a charge of extermination by
omission under a plea bargain with prosecutors.
(Reuters, 3/14/05)
2005 Mar 14, Zimbabwe's Supreme
Court quashed a ban on the independent Daily News newspaper, known for
its anti-government line, but upheld a controversial media law that has
forced three other newspapers to close down.
(AP, 3/14/05)
2005 Mar 15, A US Senate
investigators released a new report that said 9 US banks, including
Citigroup, Bank of America, and Riggs Bank, enabled Augusto Pinochet,
former Chilean dictator, and family members to build a secret network
of accounts to conceal his wealth. DC-based Riggs Bank merged with PNC
Financial following the inquiry, which also revealed that Pinochet and
Obiang Nguema, president of Equatorial Guinea, had stashed millions in
private accounts there.
(WSJ, 3/16/05,
p.A2)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riggs_Bank)(Econ, 3/14/09, p.63)
2005 Mar 15, The US charged 18
people with a scheme to smuggle shoulder-fired missiles and other
military gear from former Soviet states. One person was still at large.
(WSJ, 3/16/05, p.A1)
2005 Mar 15, A NY federal jury
found Bernard Ebbers (63), former head of WorldCom, guilty on all 9
counts against him, including securities fraud, conspiracy and lying to
regulators. He was later sentenced to 25 years in prison.
(SFC, 3/16/05, p.C1)(AP, 3/15/06)
2005 Mar 15, Birk McCandless (57),
Silicon Valley restaurant owner and developer, was stabbed to death.
Nan Yang (27) was arrested as a suspect. On Sep 20 a jury convicted
Yang of second-degree murder. In 2006 Yang was sentenced to 26 years to
life in prison.
(SFC, 3/17/05, p.B4)(SFC, 9/21/06, p.B3)(SFC,
11/11/06, p.B3)
2005 Mar 15, British and Spanish
scientists reported that they have discovered how green tea helps to
prevent certain types of cancer. They showed that a compound called
EGCG in green tea prevents cancer cells from growing by binding to a
specific enzyme.
(AP, 3/15/05)
2005 Mar 15, It was noted that
Israeli researchers had found that pomegranate juice, 8 ounces a day,
helps lower cholesterol.
(WSJ, 3/15/05, p.D4)(WSJ, 4/5/05, p.D4)
2005 Mar 15, Bolivia's embattled
President Carlos Mesa asked the country's legislature to authorize an
early presidential election this summer, saying he can no longer govern
among growing protests and road blockades.
(AP, 3/16/05)
2005 Mar 15, Hong Kong press
reported that Zhang Enzhou was removed as president of China
Construction Bank (CCB), China’s 3rd largest bank, allegedly for taking
bribes.
(Econ, 3/19/05, p.79)
2005 Mar 15, A French court gave
the maximum 10-year prison sentence to Djamel Beghal (39), the
ringleader of an alleged plot to send a suicide bomber into the US
Embassy in Paris. The court also sentenced 5 other defendants in the
case to 1-9 year prison terms. Beghal testified that his confession of
a plan to send a suicide bomber into the U.S. Embassy was obtained
under torture after his July 2001 arrest in Dubai, United Arab
Emirates. He was extradited to France two months later and retracted
that confession.
(AP, 3/15/05)
2005 Mar 15, Three car bombs
exploded in Baghdad, killing at least 5 people.
(AP, 3/15/05)
2005 Mar 15, Pres. Berlusconi
announced that Italy would begin pulling its 3,300 troops out of Iraq
in September. The next day he said the withdrawal date was merely a
hope.
(AP, 3/16/05)(Econ, 3/19/05, p.56)
2005 Mar 15, Pakistan issued
release orders for 589 Indian prisoners as a gesture of goodwill
towards New Delhi.
(Reuters, 3/15/05)
2005 Mar 15, In the Philippines
some of the country's most hardened terror suspects were killed in a
failed prison uprising that left 28 people dead. The inmates at Camp
Bagong Diwa in suburban Manila had agreed to surrender after their
failed jailbreak a day earlier, but the deal broke down when they
demanded food first.
(AP, 3/15/05)
2005 Mar 16, Pres. Bush said he
plans to nominate Paul Wolfowitz, deputy defense secretary, to become
the next president of the World Bank.
(SFC, 3/17/05, p.A3)(Econ, 3/19/05, p.15)
2005 Mar 16, It was reported that
the US deficit had widened to 6.3% of GDP in the 4th quarter and that
America would have to borrow a net $750 billion to sustain it.
(Econ, 3/19/05, p.78)
2005 Mar 16, The US Senate voted
51-49 to drill for oil in Alaska.
(WSJ, 3/17/05, p.A1)
2005 Mar 16, A jury in Los Angeles
acquitted actor Robert Blake of murder in the shooting death of his
wife, Bonny Lee Bakley, four years earlier. A civil court jury later
ordered Blake to pay $30 million to Bakley's four children; Blake has
since filed for bankruptcy.
(AP, 3/16/06)
2005 Mar 16, In California a judge
sentenced a Scott Peterson (32) to death for the 2002 murder of his
wife and unborn son.
(AP, 3/17/05)(SFC, 3/17/05, p.A1)
2005 Mar 16, Norway's Robert
Sorlie won his second Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race in one of the
closest races in years.
(AP, 3/16/06)
2005 Mar 16, It was reported that
a Texas study found a correlation between the amount of mercury
pollution and the number of autism cases.
(WSJ, 3/17/05, p.A1)
2005 Mar 16, Tropical Cyclone
Ingrid flattened Faraway Resort, a tourist resort built to showcase the
beauty of northern Australia.
(AP, 3/16/05)
2005 Mar 16, China's central bank
tightened mortgage lending rules to raise the cost of borrowing for
home loans in an effort to cool the sizzling property market.
(AP, 3/17/05)(WSJ, 3/31/05, p.A9)
2005 Mar 16, UN peacekeepers
charged that militiamen in northeast Congo grilled bodies on a spit and
boiled two girls alive as their mother watched, adding cannibalism to a
list of atrocities allegedly carried out by Lendu warriors.
(AP, 3/17/05)(Econ, 3/12/05, p.49)
2005 Mar 16, Iraq's first freely
elected parliament in half a century began its opening session after a
series of explosions targeted the gathering.
(AP, 3/16/05)
2005 Mar 16, Israeli troops handed
Jericho to Palestinian security control, dismantling a checkpoint and
easing travel restrictions in what was seen as a message to ordinary
Palestinians that an informal truce is starting to pay off.
(AP, 3/16/05)
2005 Mar 16, Puerto Rico Gov.
Anibal Acevedo Vila unveiled proposals to eliminate more than 23,000
government jobs and close several public agencies, vowing to pull
Puerto Rico out of a cycle of budget deficits and debt.
(AP, 3/16/05)
2005 Mar 16, A Russian turboprop
airliner carrying at least 52 people crashed and caught fire while
trying to land near an oil port along the Arctic coast. At least 29
people, mostly Yukoil workers, were killed.
(AP, 3/16/05)(WSJ, 3/17/05, p.A1)
2005 Mar 17, US Congressional
hearings began on steroid use among baseball players. Baseball players
told Congress that steroids were a problem in the sport; stars Rafael
Palmeiro and Sammy Sosa testified they hadn't used them while Mark
McGwire refused to say whether he had.
(SFC, 3/18/05, p.A1)(AP, 3/17/06)
2005 Mar 17, Rapper Lil' Kim was
convicted of lying to a grand jury about a shootout outside a New York
radio station. Lil' Kim started serving her 366-day sentence just
before her fourth album was released in September 2005.
(AP, 3/17/06)
2005 Mar 17, Toys R Us agreed to
become a privately owned company in a $6.6 billion buyout deal that
included 2 equity firms and a real estate developer.
(SFC, 3/18/05, p.C1)
2005 Mar 17, George F. Kennan
(b.1904), former US diplomat and historian, died. In 1947 Kennan wrote
an article that would guide US postwar policy (containment) for
decades. He proposed in the piece signed "X" that the US stop the
global spread of Communism through ideology and politics, not war. His
books included "Russia Leaves the War" (1956). In 2007 John Lukacs
authored “George Kennan: A Study of Character.” In 2009 Nicholas
Thompson authored “The Hawk and the Dove: Paul Nitze, George Kennan,
and the History of the Cold War.”
(AP, 3/18/05)(SFC, 3/18/05, p.A2)(Econ, 3/26/05,
p.85)(SSFC, 4/8/07, p.M3)(Econ, 10/17/09, p.98)
2005 Mar 17, In Afghanistan a bomb
exploded near a taxi carrying women and children in the southern city
of Kandahar, killing at least five people and wounding.
(AP, 3/17/05)
2005 Mar 17, President Fidel
Castro announced a 7 percent revaluation of Cuba's national currency,
giving Cubans slightly more buying power as the communist-run island
moves to reassert greater control over its economy.
(AP, 3/17/05)
2005 Mar 17, Italian airline
Alitalia SpA said that the latest strike by flight attendants could
plunge the struggling carrier into bankruptcy.
(AP, 3/17/05)
2005 Mar 17, In Pakistan’s
Baluchistan province 17 minority Hindus were killed when their temple
was hit by rockets during fighting between renegade tribesmen and
security forces in Dera Bugti. Officials later said up to 45 people,
including eight soldiers, were killed in the clashes between the
Frontier Corps troops and Bugti tribesmen. Of the 67 people killed
about half died when the ghetto was shelled by government forces.
(AP, 3/21/05)(Econ, 5/7/05, p.37)
2005 Mar 17, Palestinian militants
declared a halt to attacks on Israel for the rest of this year, their
longest cease-fire promise ever and a victory for Palestinian leader
Mahmoud Abbas.
(AP, 3/17/05)
2005 Mar 17, Anatoly Chubais, head
of Russia’s state-controlled Unified Energy Systems power grid, was
ambushed on his way to work near his country home outside Moscow by
assailants who detonated a bomb and raked his armored car with
automatic weapons fire. No one was hurt. In September prosecutors
indicted 3 former servicemen in connection with the attempted
assassination. Formal charges were filed against retired military
intelligence colonel, Vladimir Kvachkov, and former paratroopers Robert
Yashin and Alexander Naidyonov.
(AP, 9/27/05)
2005 Mar 17, Stephane Lambiel of
Switzerland won the men's title at the World Figure Skating
Championships in Moscow.
(AP, 3/17/06)
2005 Mar 17, Zimbabwe's highest
court barred 3.4 million citizens living abroad, over 20 percent of the
country's population, from voting in this month's parliamentary
elections.
(AP, 3/18/05)
2005 Mar 18, The US State
Department said it had denied a diplomatic visa to the Hindu
nationalist chief minister of Gujarat state, Narendra Modi, and revoked
his existing tourist/business visa under the U.S. Immigration and
Nationality Act due to his role in religious riots in 2002.
(AP, 3/19/05)
2005 Mar 18, Standard & Poor’s
said the public debt in America, Germany and France was about 65% of
GDP.
(Econ, 3/26/05, p.75)
2005 Mar 18, Former Connecticut
3-term Gov. John G. Rowland was sentenced to a year in prison after
pleading guilty to a single federal corruption charge.
(SFC, 3/19/05, p.A4)
2005 Mar 18, Doctors in Florida
removed the feeding tube of Terri Schiavo (41) despite efforts by
congressional Republicans to halt the process. The brain-damaged woman
died on March 31, 2005, at age 41.
(SFC, 3/19/05, p.A1)(AP, 3/18/06)
2005 Mar 18, The S&P 500 index
was revised after the market close to change the weightings of many of
its shares. The SmallCap 600 and MidCap 400 made the same changes.
(SFC, 3/18/05, p.C3)
2005 Mar 18, Wal-Mart agreed to
pay a record $11 million to settle a civil immigration case for using
illegal immigrants to clean floors at stores in 21 states.
(SFC, 3/19/05, p.C1)
2005 Mar 18, Sol Linowitz (91), US
diplomat, died. In 1977 he negotiated the 1999 transfer of the Panama
Canal to Panama.
(WSJ, 3/21/05, p.A1)
2005 Mar 18, A Cambodian-Japanese
joint venture, JC Royal, was awarded a 30-year management lease to
oversee and upgrade the Choeung Ek memorial, site of the killing fields
(1975-1979). Profits were marked for the unregistered Sun Fund charity.
(Econ, 5/14/05, p.45)(http://tinyurl.com/dlpm7)
2005 Mar 18, World donors approved
$1 billion in aid projects for Haiti, promising to repair its roads and
rebuild its battered power grid, in an effort to help the Western
Hemisphere's poorest nation as it prepares for fall elections.
(AP, 3/19/05)
2005 Mar 18, Israel welcomed a
temporary truce declared by Palestinian militants and promised to hold
its fire in return, but demanded that the Palestinian Authority
eventually dismantle the armed groups.
(AP, 3/18/05)
2005 Mar 18, King Abdullah II of
Jordan proposed a new peace strategy that drops traditional Arab
demands that Israel give up all land seized in the 1967 war and offers
the Jewish state normalized relations with Arab countries.
(AP, 3/19/05)
2005 Mar 18, In Kiev prosecutors
said Ukrainian weapons dealers smuggled 18 nuclear-capable cruise
missiles to Iran and China in 2001 during former President Leonid
Kuchma's administration.
(AP, 3/18/05)
2005 Mar 18, In Pakistan’s
Baluchistan province bombs exploded in two trains killing two people
and wounding nine.
(AP, 3/18/05)
2005 Mar 18, Former Solomon
Islands warlord Harold Keke and two other men were sentenced to life in
prison for the 2002 murder of a Catholic priest.
(AFP, 3/18/05)
2005 Mar 19, In Florida the body
of missing Jessica Lunsford (9) was found, a day after officials said
John Evander Couey (46), a registered sex offender, confessed to
kidnapping and killing the girl. [see Feb 23] On June 30, 2006, a judge
ruled that John Couey's taped confession is inadmissible in court and
will not be heard by members of the jury. The decision was based on the
fact that, at the time the confession was recorded, police had not
granted Couey's repeated requests for access to a lawyer. It was ruled
that all evidence collected after Couey's confession, including the
recovery of Lunsford's body, will be allowed in court, as will
incriminating statements made by Couey to investigators and a jail
guard. The Jessica Lunsford Act was named after her. It requires
tighter restrictions on sex offenders (such as wearing electronic
tracking devices) and increases prison sentences for some convicted sex
offenders. Jessica's Law refers to similar reform acts initiated by the
states. In 2007 a jury decided that Couey should get the death penalty.
On Aug 24 a judge sentenced Couey to death.
(AP,
3/19/05)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jessica_Lunsford)(SFC, 8/25/07,
p.A3)
2005 Mar 19, The 42-room Redstone
Castle in the mountains near Aspen was auctioned for $4 million, two
years after the IRS seized the century-old mansion in a fraud
investigation. It was completed in 1902 by coal baron John Cleveland
Osgood, who died in the castle he named Cleveholm Manor.
(AP, 3/19/05)
2005 Mar 19, In Colorado an
explosion at the Electric Mountain Lodge, 230 miles SW of Denver, left
3 children dead. Propane gas was suspected.
(SFC, 3/21/05, p.A3)
2005 Mar 19, It was reported that
Agence France-Presse has sued Google Inc. for copyright infringement,
alleging that the Internet search engine included AFP headlines, news
summaries and photographs published without permission.
(AFP, 3/19/05)
2005 Mar 19, John Z. DeLorean
(80), developer of the gull-winged sports car, died in Michigan. He
quit GM in 1973 to launch the DeLorean Motor Car Co. in Northern
Ireland. Eight years later, the DeLorean DMC-12 hit the streets. 8,900
cars were built.
(AP, 3/21/05)(SFC, 3/21/05, p.A2)
2005 Mar 19, A blast at the Xishui
Colliery in Shuozhou, in a major coal-mining area in Shanxi province,
left at least 60 miners dead.
(AP, 3/20/05)
2005 Mar 19, Congo soldiers
arrested Thomas Lubanga, a warlord accused of years of atrocities in
eastern Congo, where UN officials say rival militias have created the
world's worst ongoing humanitarian crisis.
(AP, 3/22/05)
2005 Mar 19, Tens of thousands of
anti-war protesters demonstrated across Europe to mark the second
anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, with 45,000 marching from
London's Hyde Park past the American Embassy.
(AP, 3/19/05)
2005 Mar 19, Hindu nationalists
set fire to a PepsiCo warehouse in western India to protest the US
denial of a visa for a top state official due to his role in religious
riots in 2002.
(AP, 3/19/05)
2005 Mar 19, In Iraq attackers
gunned down a police officer in Kirkuk, then bombed a funeral
procession carrying his corpse, killing three other policemen and
wounding two.
(AP, 3/19/05)
2005 Mar 19, In Iraq a previously
unknown militant group posted a video on the Internet on purporting to
show 2 Egyptian engineers kidnapped for allegedly supporting US forces.
(AP, 3/19/05)
2005 Mar 19, Jordan, under
pressure from other Arab countries, accepted amendments to its
contentious proposal that was designed to revise Arab demands on Israel
in return for normal relations.
(AP, 3/19/05)
2005 Mar 19, In Pakistan’s
Baluchistan province a bomb exploded as minority Shiite Muslims
congregated at a shrine in a remote town, killing at least 39 people
and wounding 16.
(AFP, 3/19/05)
2005 Mar 19, In Qatar a suicide
car bomb attack on a Doha theater killed one Briton. The next day Qatar
blamed an Egyptian for the attack.
(AP, 3/20/05)
2005 Mar 19, Irina Slutskaya won
the gold medal for the second time at the World Figure Skating
Championships, held in Moscow; Sasha Cohen of the United States won the
silver medal for the second straight year.
(AP, 3/19/06)
2005 Mar 20, Severe flooding
caused by snowmelt and torrential rains across Afghanistan left nearly
20 dead and thousands homeless.
(AFP, 3/20/05)
2005 Mar 20, In Bangladesh about
15,000 people were left homeless after twin tornadoes simultaneously
tore through northern Gaibandha and Rangpur districts, killing 55
people and wounding 1,000 others.
(SFC, 3/26/05, p.D10)
2005 Mar 20, UN forces raided a
police station occupied by armed former soldiers in Petit-Goave, 45
miles west of Port-au-Prince, setting of a gunbattle that killed two
former soldiers and one Sri Lankan peacekeeper.
(AP, 3/21/05)
2005 Mar 20, Insurgents targeted
Iraqi security forces and government buildings with gunfire, suicide
bomb attacks and mortar rounds, leaving at least five people dead. A
bomb blast near Kirkuk killed a U.S. soldier and wounded three. US
troops killed 26 militants following an attack on a convoy SE of
Baghdad.
(AP, 3/20/05)(AP, 3/21/05)
2005 Mar 20, A magnitude 7.0
earthquake struck off the coast of southern Japan, killing one person
and injuring at least 381 others.
(AP, 3/20/05)
2005 Mar 20, In Jordan an appeals
court has overturned the conviction of a Jordanian found guilty of
financing Abu-Musab al-Zarqawi's insurgent group in Iraq. The Court of
Cassation said the Oct. 31 conviction of Bilal Mansur al-Hiyari by the
military State Security Court "fell short of adequate justifications
and causes."
(AP, 6/7/05)
2005 Mar 20, In Kyrgyzstan
protesters stormed a police station in Jalal-Abad forcing officers to
flee, a day after baton-wielding police evicted demonstrators from two
government buildings they had occupied to protest alleged election
fraud. 4 policemen were reported killed.
(AP, 3/20/05)(WSJ, 3/21/05, p.A1)
2005 Mar 20, A visibly frustrated
Pope John Paul made a brief but silent appearance at his Vatican
apartment window after missing his first Palm Sunday Mass in 26 years
as pontiff.
(AP, 3/20/06)
2005 Mar 21, Pres. Bush in the
early hours signed an emergency bill called the “Palm Sunday
Compromise” to permit the reinsertion of a feeding tube to keep Terri
Schiavo alive in Florida.
(SFC, 3/21/05, p.A1)
2005 Mar 21, The US State
Department said the US is suspending about $2 million in military
assistance to Nicaragua because President Enrique Bolanos has not
followed through on a promise to destroy surface-to-air-missiles.
(AP, 3/21/05)
2005 Mar 21, Barry Diller's
electronic commerce company IAC/InterActiveCorp announced that it is
buying online search engine Ask Jeeves Inc. for $1.9 billion and taking
aim at the Internet's advertising market leaders.
(Econ, 3/26/05, p.66)
2005 Mar 21, Justin Mendoza of
Daly City was shot and killed outside the Café Cocomo nightclub
in SF. In 2008 Gerry Phongboupha (25) was convicted of 1st degree
murder and other charges in connection to Mendoza’s murder.
(SFC, 4/16/08, p.B5)
2005 Mar 21, In northern Minnesota
Jeff Weise (17) gunned down five students, a teacher and a guard at Red
Lake High School. The teen's grandfather and his grandfather's wife
also were found dead, and the boy killed himself.
(AP, 3/22/05)(SFC, 3/22/05, p.A1)
2005 Mar 21, Bobby Short (80),
Cabaret singer who embodied the NYC style and sophistication, died. He
was a fixture at his piano in the Carlyle Hotel for more than 35 years.
(AP, 3/21/05)
2005 Mar 21, The BBC announced
plans to cut almost 4,000 jobs to save hundreds of millions of pounds,
as the world's biggest public broadcaster undergoes a major shake-up.
(AP, 3/21/05)
2005 Mar 21, In Estonia PM Juhan
parts (38) resigned after lawmakers said they had no confidence in his
justice minister, Ken-Marti Vaher, due to an anti-corruption plan.
Pres. Arnold Ruutel had 2 weeks to nominate a new prime minister.
(SFC, 3/22/05, p.A3)
2005 Mar 21, Iceland's Parliament
awarded citizenship to chess champion Bobby Fischer.
(AP, 3/23/05)
2005 Mar 21, India’s PM Manmohan
Singh vowed to do whatever is necessary to sustain economic growth of
between 7 and 8 percent to help the 260 million Indians living in
poverty.
(AP, 3/21/05)
2005 Mar 21, India’s foreign
ministry in New Delhi said very young and elderly Pakistanis visiting
India will receive visas on arrival from April 1.
(Reuters, 3/21/05)
2005 Mar 21, A top security
official said Indonesia plans to formally outlaw the al-Qaida-linked
terror group Jemaah Islamiyah, a move that will make it easier for
authorities to arrest and prosecute militants in the world's most
populous Muslim nation.
(AP, 3/21/05)
2005 Mar 21, Insurgent attacks
across Iraq left seven civilians and three Iraqi soldiers dead.
(AP, 3/21/05)
2005 Mar 21, Iraqi officials at
the morgue in the southeastern city of Kut said the facility received
the bodies of six slain Iraqi army soldiers, five collected together,
one separately.
(AP, 3/22/05)
2005 Mar 21, Israeli and
Palestinian negotiators reached agreement on handing over control of
the West Bank town of Tulkarem to Palestinian security forces.
(AP, 3/21/05)
2005 Mar 21, South Korea news
reported that North Korea said it has increased its nuclear arsenal to
help prevent a US attack.
(AP, 3/21/05)
2005 Mar 21, It was reported that
measles in Nigeria had killed 529 people this year.
(WSJ, 3/21/05, p.A1)
2005 Mar 21, UN Secretary-General
Kofi Annan proposed a new Human Rights Council, a smaller body that
would meet year-round.
(http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2005/sgsm9772.doc.htm)
2005 Mar 22, World Water Day. The
UN General Assembly adopted resolution A/RES/47/193 of 22 December 1992
by which 22 March of each year was declared World Day for Water, to be
observed starting in 1993.
(www.unesco.org/water/water_celebrations/index.shtml)
2005 Mar 22, The US Federal
Reserve raised its fed funds rate a quarter point to 2.75%.
(SFC, 3/23/05, p.C1)
2005 Mar 22, A federal judge in
Florida refused to order the reinsertion of Terri Schiavo's feeding
tube, denying an emergency request from the brain-damaged woman's
parents.
(AP, 3/22/05)
2005 Mar 22, Iowa enacted a law
requiring an ID check and signature before the sale of cold remedies
containing an ingredient for methamphetamine.
(WSJ, 3/23/05, p.A1)
2005 Mar 22, Anna Ayala of Las
Vegas claimed that she bit into a piece of human finger while eating
chili at a Wendy’s restaurant in San Jose, Ca. Ayala was arrested on
Apr 21 on suspicion of attempted grand theft. Police later reported the
finger came from an acquaintance of Ayala’s husband, who lost it in an
industrial accident. Ayala and her husband Jaime Placencia pleaded
guilty to all charges on Sep 9. In 2006 both were sentenced to 9 years
in prison and ordered top pay $21.2 million in restitution to Wendy’s
Int’l.
(SFC, 3/25/05, p.A1)(SFC, 5/14/05, p.A1)(SFC,
9/10/05, p.A1)(SFC, 1/19/06, p.B1)
2005 Mar 22, IBM unveiled new
anti-span technology called FairUCE. It used a giant database to
identify computers sending spam and returned e-mails from those listed
back to the sending machine.
(WSJ, 3/22/05, p.B1)
2005 Mar 22, Officials from the
ministry of health and the World Health Organization (WHO) said a
deadly haemorrhagic fever that has claimed the lives of 96 people,
mainly children, in Angola's northern Uige province has been identified
as the rare Marburg virus.
(www.meritcare.com/news/world/viewarticle.asp?id=18843)
2005 Mar 22, Astronomers reported
a faint heat glow from giant planets circling distant stars.
(SFC, 3/23/05, p.A1)
2005 Mar 22, In Afghanistan US
warplanes killed five suspected Taliban or al-Qaida militants near the
Pakistani border after guerrillas launched an overnight rocket and gun
attack on American and Afghan military positions.
(AP, 3/23/05)
2005 Mar 22, In Afghanistan US-led
forces trying to capture a suspected Taliban militant got into a
firefight that left seven people dead, including two children and a
woman.
(AP, 3/24/05)
2005 Mar 22, French lawmakers
voted to dismantle the 35-hour workweek.
(SFC, 3/23/05, p.A10)
2005 Mar 22, Gunmen in
Port-au-Prince opened fire on the house of Haiti's justice minister,
killing a police officer in a brazen attack that underscored the
country's shaky security climate.
(AP, 3/23/05)
2005 Mar 22, India said it has
reached a basic agreement with Japan on the joint development of
natural gas off the Andaman Islands in the Bay of Bengal.
(AFP, 3/26/05)
2005 Mar 22, Militants targeted a
US patrol with a roadside bomb that killed four nearby civilians in the
northern city of Mosul. In Baghdad private citizens struck an insurgent
patrol carrying grenades and killed 3 in a gun battle.
(AP, 3/22/05)(SFC, 3/23/05, p.A3)
2005 Mar 22, Iraqi and US forces
killed 80 militants in a battle west of Tikrit.
(AP, 3/23/05)
2005 Mar 22, Israel completed its
handover of the West Bank town of Tulkarem to Palestinian security
control.
(AP, 3/22/05)
2005 Mar 22, Kenzo Tange (91),
Japanese architect, died. His work included the stadiums for the 1964
Tokyo Olympics.
(SFC, 3/23/05, p.B7)
2005 Mar 22, A Jordanian military
court convicted three Iraqis of smuggling rockets and hand grenades
into the kingdom in connection with a plot to attack U.S. and Israeli
targets.
(AP, 3/22/05)
2005 Mar 22, Kyrgyzstan President
Askar Akayev's spokesman said protests sweeping are part of a "coup"
designed by criminals. The government signaled it has no intention of
accepting election fraud charges that have fueled the massive rallies.
(AP, 3/22/05)
2005 Mar 22, Nigeria’s Pres.
Olusegun Obasanjo fired his education minister, Fabian Osuji, accusing
him of bribing lawmakers including the Senate leader Adolphus Wabara
and a string of other named senators of taking bribes totaling $398,550.
(AP, 3/22/05)
2005 Mar 22, North Korea's Premier
Pak Pong Ju began a visit to China at a time of American calls for
Beijing to use its influence to prod the North back into nuclear talks.
(AP, 3/22/05)
2005 Mar 22, Pakistan released 564
Indians, mostly fisherman, from its prisons in a goodwill gesture
toward neighboring India.
(AP, 3/22/05)
2005 Mar 23, Pres. Bush, Pres.
Fox, and PM Paul Martin at a one-day summit in Texas signed a deal that
provides for sweeping co-operation between Canada, Mexico and the US on
security, economic and health issues. There was no sign of progress on
touchy trade disputes. They agreed to boost border security and forge
common approaches on everything from cargo inspection to maritime and
aviation safety.
(AP, 3/24/05)
2005 Mar 23, A federal appeals
court refused to reinsert Terri Schiavo's feeding tube and the Florida
Legislature decided not to intervene in the epic struggle over the
brain-damaged woman; Schiavo's parents then filed a request with the
Supreme Court.
(AP, 3/23/06)
2005 Mar 23, Truck driver Tyrone
Williams was convicted in a federal court in Houston for his role in
the 2003 deaths of 19 illegal immigrants he was smuggling across Texas.
(AP, 3/23/06)
2005 Mar 23, In Texas City, Texas,
an explosion at BP's 1,200-acre plant near Houston killed 15 and
injured more than 100 others. BP later acknowledged faulty equipment at
the plant.
(AP, 3/24/05)(SFC, 3/25/05, p.A4)(WSJ, 7/27/05, p.A1)
2005 Mar 23, Chinese President Hu
Jintao stepped up pressure on North Korea to return to nuclear talks,
telling its visiting premier that dialogue is the only way to settle
the dispute.
(AP, 3/23/05)
2005 Mar 23, Chinese state media
reported that already severe water shortages are worsening due to heavy
pollution of lakes and aquifers and urban development projects with a
big thirst for water, such as lawns and fountains.
(AP, 3/23/05)
2005 Mar 23, In southern Colombia
Communist rebels ambushed a military convoy, killing 10 soldiers in a
hail of gunfire and explosions.
(AP, 3/23/05)
2005 Mar 23, It was reported that
Dubai Holding, controlled by the ruler of Dubai, had reached a deal to
buy 21,000 rental apartments in the US Sunbelt for $1 billion.
(WSJ, 3/23/05, p.B6)
2005 Mar 23, Police fired tear gas
into Ecuador's Congress before dawn to disperse opposition lawmakers
who refused to leave after a legislative session that cut short a
debate on candidates for attorney general.
(AP, 3/23/05)
2005 Mar 23, France presented a
U.N. resolution allowing for the prosecution of Sudanese war crimes
suspects at the International Criminal Court, forcing the US to choose
between accepting a body it opposes or casting a politically damaging
veto.
(AP, 3/23/05)
2005 Mar 23, Iran agreed to extend
nuclear talks with EU nations and maintain a suspension of uranium
enrichment but insisted it won’t scrap the program.
(WSJ, 3/24/05, p.A1)
2005 Mar 23, Iraqi commandos
backed by US forces raided a suspected guerrilla training camp and
reportedly killed 85 fighters. Insurgents said only 11 were killed. 7
Iraqi commandos were killed.
(AP, 3/23/05)(SFC, 3/25/05, p.A3)
2005 Mar 23, In Lebanon a bomb
killed three people in a Christian commercial center, the second attack
in an anti-Syrian stronghold in five days.
(AP, 3/23/05)
2005 Mar 23, In Manila a terror
suspect said the southern Philippines has become a major training
ground for regional terror group Jemaah Islamiyah, graduating 23 bomb
experts just days ago.
(AP, 3/23/05)
2005 Mar 23, In South Africa some
21,000 Harmony Gold Mining Co. Ltd. mineworkers went on strike after
mediation efforts with the union over pay and working conditions failed.
(AP, 3/24/05)
2005 Mar 24, Defense Secretary
Donald H. Rumsfeld announced the US will release $3.2 million in
aid to Guatemala for its progress in overhauling a military once blamed
for human rights abuses.
(AP, 3/24/05)
2005 Mar 24, The U.S. Supreme
Court denied an appeal from the parents of Terri Schiavo to have a
feeding tube reinserted into the severely brain-damaged woman.
(AP, 3/24/06)
2005 Mar 24, US 30-year mortgages
climbed just above 6% reflecting concerns in the financial markets
about the threat of inflation.
(SFC, 3/25/05, p.C1)
2005 Mar 24, The IRS said it has
collected $3.2 billion for 1,165 participants in a tax shelter called
“Son of BOSS.”
(WSJ, 3/25/05, p.A1)
2005 Mar 24, The US FDA approved
Boniva, a monthly pill to help women fight osteoporosis.
(SFC, 3/26/05, p.A4)
2005 Mar 24, A California jury
ordered Toshiba Corp. to pay an additional $84 million in punitive
damages to Lexar Media, Inc. one day after a 381 million award for
breach of fiduciary duty. The total damages of $465 million was the
largest IP verdict in California history.
(SSFC, 4/3/05, p.B1)
2005 Mar 24, Canada denied a US
deserter’s bid for asylum.
(WSJ, 3/25/05, p.A1)
2005 Mar 24, Chile’s Supreme Court
refused to strip Gen. Augusto Pinochet of his immunity from prosecution.
(SFC, 3/25/05, p.A3)
2005 Mar 24, In a move to further
strengthen Cuba's national currency, Cuban President Fidel Castro
announced that one of two types of money accepted on the island will no
longer be automatically traded 1-1 to the US dollar. Beginning April 9,
the exchange rate for the Cuban convertible peso will no longer be on
par with the American dollar and instead will be tied to several
foreign currencies, initially marking an 8 percent revaluation. The
move will also help raise the value of the regular peso.
(AP, 3/24/05)
2005 Mar 24, A Human Rights Watch
investigator said Ethiopian troops have committed widespread killings,
rapes and torture of the tribal Anuak population in the southwestern
corner of the country since late 2003.
(AP, 3/24/05)
2005 Mar 24, A French appeals
court upheld the conviction of George Soros (74) for insider trading.
Soros, whose Quantum Fund is worth about $8.3 billion, emigrated to the
US in 1956 and set up Soros Fund Management in 1973. He later made a
fortune on foreign exchange markets and was criticized in some quarters
for speculating on, and arguably encouraging, the collapse of Asian
currencies in the late 1990s.
(AP, 3/24/05)
2005 Mar 24, Iraqi police mistook
a group of Iraqi soldiers for insurgents and opened fire, sparking a
10-minute gunbattle that killed five in the northern town of Rabia.
(AP, 3/24/05)
2005 Mar 24, A suicide bomber
detonated an explosives-laden vehicle near the central city of Ramadi,
killing 11 Iraqi police commandos and injuring 14 other people
including 2 US soldiers. In an eastern Baghdad neighborhood, attackers
killed 5 female translators working for the US military. Police found 2
decapitated bodies clad in Iraqi army uniforms west of Baghdad.
(AP, 3/25/05)
2005 Mar 24, Chess legend Bobby
Fischer walked free from a Japanese detention center and immediately
headed to the airport to fly to his new home in Iceland.
(AP, 3/24/05)
2005 Mar 24, Istat reported that
Italy’s economy contracted 0.4% in the previous quarter due in part to
a fall in exports.
(WSJ, 3/25/05, p.A7)
2005 Mar 24, Suspected Muslim
insurgents shot dead the brother of Kashmir's junior home minister
while he was walking to a market.
(Reuters, 3/24/05)
2005 Mar 24, In Kyrgyzstan
protesters stormed the presidential compound, seizing control of the
seat of state power after clashing with riot police during a large
opposition rally. President Askar Akayev reportedly flew to Russia. The
ITAR-Tass news agency said President Askar Akayev has resigned. This
came to be called Kyrgyzstan’s “Tulip revolution.”
(AP, 3/24/05)(SFC, 3/25/05, p.A1)(Econ, 8/1/09, p.38)
2005 Mar 24, In the southern
Philippines, Marlene Garcia Esperat (45), a columnist for a weekly
newspaper, was shot dead in her home in front of her children. Her
husband told a radio station that his wife had "many enemies because of
her exposes," mostly on corruption and other issues of governance.
(AP, 3/26/05)
2005 Mar 25, Washington announced
it would sell F-16 fighters to Pakistan.
(Reuters, 3/26/05)
2005 Mar 25, Losing still more
legal appeals, Terri Schiavo's father, Bob Schindler, said his severely
brain-damaged daughter was "down to her last hours" as she entered her
second week without the feeding tube that had sustained her life for 15
years.
(AP, 3/25/06)
2005 Mar 25, Paul Henning (93),
producer of the TV series “The Beverly Hillbillies” (1962-1971) died in
Burbank, Ca. Henning also wrote the show’s theme song.
(SFC, 3/26/05, p.B5)
2005 Mar 25, Some 1000 Belarusian
demonstrators tried to rally outside the office of authoritarian
President Alexander Lukashenko to demand his ouster, but they were
beaten back by riot police swinging truncheons.
(AP, 3/25/05)
2005 Mar 25, Cambodia and Vietnam
each confirmed an additional death from bird flu, raising Southeast
Asia's death toll to 48.
(AP, 3/25/05)
2005 Mar 25, In Cairo, Egypt, the
new $30 million, 74-acre Al-Azhar, was to be inaugurated under the
auspices of Aga Khan.
(SFC, 3/12/05, p.F1)
2005 Mar 25, In Ghana sparks from
a welder's torch ignited a raging fire on MV Polaris, a Greek tanker
moored in Tema, killing three people and leaving 12 others feared dead.
(AP, 3/25/05)
2005 Mar 25, India announced that
it has agreed with the United States to a series of steps to boost
defense and energy ties.
(Reuters, 3/26/05)
2005 Mar 25, In Iraq Maj. Gen.
Salman Muhammad, head of an Iraqi national guard division in Basra, was
assassinated on route to a funeral. One of 2 sons was also killed.
(SFC, 3/26/05, p.A11)
2005 Mar 25, Japan’s world fair,
Aichi Expo 2005, opened.
(SSFC, 3/27/05,
p.F2)(www-2.expo2005.or.jp/en/index.html)
2005 Mar 25, In Kyrgyzstan
Kurmanbek Bakiyev (55) was appointed acting president by parliament.
The opposition scrambled to restore order in Bishkek, a capital
described as "gone mad" with looting and vandalism, after driving
President Askar Akayev from power.
(AP, 3/25/05)(SFC, 3/26/05, p.A3)
2005 Mar 25, The UN Security
Council voted to send 10,700 peacekeepers to Sudan to monitor a peace
deal ending a 21-year-civil war.
(AP, 3/25/05)
2005 Mar 25, An ailing, silent
Pope John Paul appeared to the faithful via video for Good Friday
services at the Vatican.
(AP, 3/25/06)
2005 Mar 26, In Afghanistan 4 US
soldiers died when their vehicle struck a land mine.
(AP, 3/26/05)
2005 Mar 26, James Callaghan,
former British prime minister (1976-1979), died on the eve of his 93rd
birthday.
(SSFC, 3/27/05, p.A21)(Econ, 4/2/05, p.80)
2005 Mar 26, A twin-engine
commercial Czech-built Let-410 airplane, crashed while taking off from
the tiny Colombian island of Old Providence, killing 8 people,
including a 3-year-old boy, and injuring six other passengers.
(AP, 3/26/05)
2005 Mar 26, In Iraq a car bomb
struck a US military patrol in Baghdad, killing two U.S. soldiers and
injuring two others.
(AP, 3/26/05)
2005 Mar 26, A fire swept through
a sprawling Moscow art market popular with tourists for its unusual
antiques from around the former Soviet Union and sometimes bargain
prices, and news reports said two people were killed.
(AP, 3/26/05)
2005 Mar 26, In Taiwan about a
million people marched through the capital to protest a new Chinese law
that authorizes an attack on the island if it moves toward formal
independence.
(AP, 3/26/05)
2005 Mar 26, German Cardinal
Joseph Ratzinger stood in for Pope John Paul II during the Easter Vigil
Mass at the Vatican. Ratzinger later succeed John Paul, becoming Pope
Benedict XVI.
(AP, 3/26/06)
2005 Mar 27, In a live Internet
interview with the Rev. Jesse Jackson, Michael Jackson declared himself
"completely innocent" of child molestation charges, and said he was the
victim of a conspiracy.
(AP, 3/27/06)
2005 Mar 27, In Brazil Vitalmiro
Moura, the rancher accused of ordering the killing of American nun
Dorothy Stang in the Amazon rainforest six weeks ago, surrendered to
police and declared his innocence.
(AP, 3/27/05)
2005 Mar 27, A Cairo court
sentenced an Egyptian to 35 years in prison after finding him guilty of
spying for the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and planning to assassinate
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. The court gave Mahmoud Eid Mohamed
Dabbous 10 years in prison for spying for a foreign state and another
25 years for plotting to kill Mubarak.
(Reuters, 3/27/05)
2005 Mar 27, Egyptian police
detained about 200 members and supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood,
before and during an attempt to protest outside parliament in favor of
reform.
(AP, 3/28/05)
2005 Mar 27, Ahmed Zaki (55), one
of Egypt's most acclaimed actors, died. He portrayed former Egyptian
presidents Gamal Abdel Nasser and Anwar Sadat.
(AP, 3/27/05)
2005 Mar 27, Iraqi security
officials opened fire on a crowd of protesters outside a government
building, killing one. Al-Qaida's arm in Iraq posted a video
purportedly showing an Iraqi Interior Ministry official being killed.
(AP, 3/27/05)
2005 Mar 27, Kashmir police said
suspected militants shot dead a grandmother, mother and her infant
daughter after the child's father, a former Kashmiri separatist rebel,
surrendered to Indian security forces.
(AP, 3/27/05)
2005 Mar 27, In Kyrgyzstan 2 rival
parliaments competed for power, raising political uncertainty in the
former Soviet nation. Both groups, the parliament newly elected in a
disputed vote that sparked massive discontent, and the one that lost
the election, met in separate chambers over the weekend, each claiming
to represent the people.
(AP, 3/27/05)
2005 Mar 27, Macedonians cast
ballots in municipal elections, but the voting was marred by
irregularities that could potentially harm the country's ambitions to
join NATO and the EU.
(AP, 3/27/05)
2005 Mar 27, Morocco’s per capita
income was reported to be about $1,200 per year. One of 5 urban
Moroccans was unemployed.
(SFCM, 3/27/05, p.11)
2005 Mar 27, The head of Myanmar's
ruling junta said the country was moving toward democracy but gave no
indication of when the military would relinquish its 43-year grip on
power.
(AP, 3/27/05)
2005 Mar 27, Communist North Korea
for the first time confirmed an outbreak of deadly bird flu at its
poultry farms and said hundreds of thousands of chickens had been
culled to contain it.
(AP, 3/27/05)
2005 Mar 27, Pope John Paul II
delivered an Easter Sunday blessing to tens of thousands of people in
St. Peter's Square, but the ailing pontiff was unable to speak and
managed only to greet the saddened crowd with a sign of the cross.
(AP, 3/27/06)
2005 Mar 28, The Colorado Supreme
Court threw out the death penalty in a rape-and-murder case because
five of the jurors had consulted the Bible and quoted Scripture during
deliberations.
(AP, 3/28/06)
2005 Mar 28, Hank Greenberg,
former longtime CEO of American Int’l. Group (AIG), announced his
retirement. He was ousted as CEO 2 weeks earlier.
(WSJ, 3/29/05, p.C1)
2005 Mar 28, It was reported that
a consortium of 7 private equity firms purchased SunGard Data systems
for $11.3 billion in the biggest buyout since 1989.
(Econ, 4/2/05, p.66)
2005 Mar 28, Hu Xiaoliam was
appointed the 1st female head of China’s State Administration of
Foreign Exchange (SAFE). The regulator will oversee new trading and
price quotes in 8 currency pairs through the interbank China foreign
Exchange Trade System (CFETS).
(Econ, 4/2/05, p.68)
2005 Mar 28, In Haiti gunmen with
assault rifles ambushed a group of police in Port-au-Prince, spraying
their car with bullets in a bold daylight attack that killed 2 officers
and a driver.
(AP, 3/28/05)
2005 Mar 28, An 8.7 earthquake
occurred in northern Sumatra, Indonesia, in what technically was
considered an aftershock to the Dec 26 quake. At least 330 people were
killed in collapsed buildings on Nias Island. No major tsunami
followed. The UN raised its toll to 624. The government estimated
400-500 were killed.
(SFC, 3/29/05, p.A1)(AP, 3/31/05)(Econ, 4/2/05, p.37)
2005 Mar 28, In Iraq 3 Romanian
journalists and their translator were abducted near their Baghdad
hotel. The journalists were freed by US forces on May 22.
(AP, 3/29/05)(SSFC, 10/15/06, p.A20)
2005 Mar 28, Ireland enacted a law
outlawing English on road signs and official maps on much of the
nation’s western coast, where many people speak Gaelic.
(SFC, 3/29/05, p.A2)
2005 Mar 28, Israeli troops raided
the West Bank town of Jenin, carrying out house-to-house searches and
arresting eight Palestinians.
(AP, 3/28/05)
2005 Mar 28, It was reported that
Japanese consumer prices had fallen in February at their fastest pace
in nearly 2 years. Japan’s deflation was now almost 6 years old. The
Ministry of Finance said government debt hit a new record high of
$7.062 trillion as of the end of Dec.
(WSJ, 3/28/05, p.A14)
2005 Mar 28, Interim leader
Kurmanbek Bakiyev recognized Kyrgyzstan's new parliament as legitimate
even though it was chosen in disputed elections, a move designed to end
a struggle between the rival legislatures.
(AP, 3/28/05)
2005 Mar 28, Tafa Balogun,
Nigeria’s Inspector General of Police, was arrested. He was later
charged with numerous counts including embezzling $93 million from
police funds.
(Econ, 8/20/05, p.37)(www.efccnigeria.org/)
2005 Mar 28, In Peshawar,
Pakistan, thousands of opposition activists chanted "Death to
dictatorship!" in the latest demonstration against Pres. Gen. Pervez
Musharraf's grip on power.
(AP, 3/28/05)
2005 Mar 28, Pres. Vladimir Putin
ordered the Russian government to draft legal reforms that would close
the book on shady privatization deals of the 1990s and streamline tax
collection.
(AP, 3/28/05)
2005 Mar 28, Sudanese authorities
said they had detained 14 people on suspicion of crimes, including rape
and murder, committed in the war-ravaged western region of Darfur.
(AFP, 3/28/05)
2005 Mar 29, New York’s top court
ruled that an out-of-state programmer must pay state taxes on his full
salary despite working mostly via computer.
(WSJ, 3/30/05, p.A1)
2005 Mar 29, It was reported that
the Carlyle Group (b.1987) had become the 1st $10 billion entity in the
private equity industry. Its executives included a number of former,
highly placed, political figures.
(WSJ, 3/29/05, p.C1)
2005 Mar 29, As Terri Schiavo
entered her 12th full day without food or water, the Rev. Jesse Jackson
prayed with her parents and joined conservatives in calling for Florida
lawmakers to order her feeding tube reinserted.
(AP, 3/29/06)
2005 Mar 29, Mark Hurd, CEO of
NCR, was named as new CEO of Hewlett-Packard.
(AP, 3/29/05)(WSJ, 4/4/05, p.B1)
2005 Mar 29, Johnnie L. Cochran
Jr. (b.1937), lawyer, died in LA at age 67. He became a legal superstar
after helping clear O.J. Simpson during the 1995 sensational murder
trial in which he uttered the famous quote ''If it doesn't fit, you
must acquit.''
(AP, 3/29/05)
2005 Mar 29, It was reported that
China’s influence in Africa was expanding rapidly. Chinese projects
included the rebuilding of Nigeria’s railroad network; the paving of
roads in Rwanda; ownership of copper mines in Zambia; timer operations
in Equatorial Guinea; supermarket operations in Lesotho.
(WSJ, 3/29/05, p.A1)
2005 Mar 29, In eastern China a
truck loaded with chlorine overturned on a highway after a tire burst,
spewing fumes that killed 27 people and left another 285 hospitalized.
(AP, 3/30/05)
2005 Mar 29, Colombian President
Alvaro Uribe sought international help to end 40 years of civil war in
his country, telling the leaders of Venezuela, Brazil and Spain that
the violence is too fierce to confront without their aid.
(AP, 3/29/05)
2005 Mar 29, A video surfaced on
the Internet showing three drivers who said they worked for a Jordanian
trucking company being shot by gunmen claiming to belong to a militant
Islamic group in Iraq.
(AP, 3/30/05)
2005 Mar 29, The UN Security
Council ordered the Sudanese government to inform the UN before sending
any more weapons to Darfur.
(Econ, 4/2/05, p.42)
2005 Mar 29, Syria promised the UN
that it will withdraw all troops from Lebanon before parliamentary
elections but didn't mention a pullout of its intelligence operatives
as demanded by the Security Council.
(AP, 3/29/05)
2005 Mar 29, In Venezuela a
crowded bus overturned on a highway and plunged 50 feet down a hill,
killing 25 people.
(AP, 3/29/05)
2005 Mar 29, In Yemen clashes
between the military and followers of a slain cleric stretched into a
second day of fighting, leaving eight Yemeni soldiers dead.
(AP, 3/29/05)
2005 Mar 30, The US Bureau of
Economic Analysis final estimate of inflation adjusted GDP indicated
3.8% growth for the 4th quarter of 2004.
(www.bea.gov/bea/dn1.htm)
2005 Mar 30, The US Supreme Court
ruled that federal law allows people 40 and over to file age bias
claims over salary and hiring even if employers never intended any harm.
(AP, 3/30/06)
2005 Mar 30, Fred Korematsu (86),
who'd challenged the World War II internment policy that sent
Japanese-Americans to detention camps, died in Larkspur, Ca.
(AP, 3/30/06)
2005 Mar 30, Robert Creeley
(b.1926), US poet, died in Odessa, Texas.
(SFC, 4/1/05, p.B7)
2005 Mar 30, Under heavy
protection, First Lady Laura Bush visited the capital of Afghanistan,
where she talked with Afghan women freed from Taliban repression and
urged greater rights.
(AP, 3/30/06)
2005 Mar 30, Inmates of Barbados'
lone prison set fires and battled guards and each other for a second
day, leaving one prisoner dead and eight injured.
(AP, 3/30/05)
2005 Mar 30, In Toronto, Canada, a
massive blaze ravaged a plastics factory in the city's west-end,
closing a section of a major highway and keeping firefighters on the
scene for hours as they struggled to contain the six-alarm blaze.
(AP, 3/31/05)
2005 Mar 30, In India shops kept
their shutters down as striking traders said they would step up their
protest against a new value-added tax (VAT) due to take effect on April
1.
(AP, 3/30/05)
2005 Mar 30, In Iraq two US
soldiers died in separate clashes. A car bomb exploded in western
Baghdad, killing one person and injuring at least six others. Gunmen
also opened fire on a truck carrying faithful near Hillah, 60 miles
south of Baghdad. One person was killed.
(AP, 3/30/05)(AP, 3/31/05)
2005 Mar 30, Dutch bank ABN Amro
announced a 6.3 billion euros ($8.1 billion) bid for the 87 percent of
Italian bank Antonveneta it does not already own, the second foreign
offer for an Italian bank in as many days.
(AP, 3/30/05)
2005 Mar 30, Nepalese Finance
Minister Madhukar Shumsher Rana and Pakistan's Minister of State for
Economic Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar concluded two days of talks by
signing an agreement to boost trade and investment. Pakistan offered
Nepal five million dollars in trade credits and talks on a free trade
agreement after the first meeting of senior economic officials of the
two countries in a decade.
(AFP, 3/30/05)
2005 Mar 31, A US presidential
commission reported that US intelligence agencies were dead wrong in
their prewar assessment of Iraq’s nuclear, biological and chemical
weapons.
(SFC, 4/1/05, p.A1)
2005 Mar 31, A US Commerce Dept.
study on Internet traffic, ordered in 1998, was published under the
title “Signposts in Cyberspace.”
(SFC, 4/1/05, p.C3)
2005 Mar 31, The World Bank
confirmed Paul Wolfowitz as its new president.
(WSJ, 4/1/05, p.A1)
2005 Mar 31, South Carolina
defeated Saint Joseph's, 60-57, in the NIT championship game.
(AP, 3/31/06)
2005 Mar 31, Terri Schiavo (41),
the severely brain-damaged woman who spent 15 years connected to a
feeding tube in an epic legal and medical battle that went all the way
to the White House and Congress, died in Florida, 13 days after the
tube was removed.
(AP, 3/31/05)(SFC, 4/1/05, p.A1)
2005 Mar 31, Frank Perdue,
businessman, died in Salisbury, Maryland. He transformed his father’s
backyard egg business into one of the nation's largest poultry
processors using the folksy slogan, "It takes a tough man to make a
tender chicken."
(AP, 4/1/05)(SFC, 4/2/05, p.B5)
2005 Mar 31, A US C-130 airplane
crashed near the remote village of Rovie and all 9 Americans onboard
were killed in mountainous southern Albania during a joint exercise.
(AP, 4/1/05)
2005 Mar 31, It was reported that
Shirin Gul (39), an Afghan housewife, stood accused with her lover and
son (18) of murdering 27 men over the last 4 years in order to sell
their cars across the border in Pakistan.
(SFC, 3/31/05, p.A3)
2005 Mar 31, In Brazil a massacre
in Nova Iguacu, outside of Rio, left 29 people dead. The next day state
officials said they might have been carried out by police incensed by
investigations of brutality and corruption by "bad" cops. In 2006 a
court convicted Carlos Jorge Carvalho (32) a state police officer, of
taking part in the Baixada massacre. In 2009 ex-officer Julio Cesar de
Paula was sentenced to 480 years in prison and ex-officer Marcos
Siqueira Costa to 543 years for homicide and belonging to a criminal
organization. The length of the sentences was largely symbolic because
under Brazilian law no one can serve more than 30 years in prison.
(AP, 4/1/05)(SFC, 6/24/05, p.A16)(AP, 8/23/06)(AP,
9/16/09)
2005 Mar 31, Alberta repaid the
last of its debt and became Canada’s only borrowing-free province.
(www.gov.ab.ca/home/index.cfm?Page=852)(www.td.com/economics/budgets/ab05.jsp)
2005 Mar 31, The president of
Ecuador's Supreme Court annulled corruption charges against former
President Abdala Bucaram, paving the way for his possible return from
political asylum in Panama.
(AP, 4/1/05)
2005 Mar 31, The EU head office
said it will seek to impose additional sanctions of up to 15 percent on
US products to punish Washington for failing to repeal an antidumping
law ruled illegal by the World Trade Organization.
(AP, 3/31/05)
2005 Mar 31, Guyana police found
American missionaries Richard Hicks (42) and his wife Charlene Hicks
(58) slain at a farm they rented in southwestern Guyana near the border
with Brazil. In 2008 Guyana police issued arrest warrants for two
Brazilians accused of the killings. Peter Marare and Aleiman Cassiano
Eligenio, who were ranch hands on the couple's farm, faced one count of
murder each.
(AP, 4/1/05)(AP, 8/6/08)
2005 Mar 31, India's PM said India
and Mauritius are moving toward a free trade agreement to boost the
island's threatened trade portfolio and help India tap into African
markets.
(AP, 3/31/05)
2005 Mar 31, A suicide bomber blew
up his car south of Kirkuk, killing two Iraqi army soldiers and three
bystanders. A second car bomber attacked a joint U.S.-Iraqi patrol in
the center of Samarra, killing three people and injuring more than a
dozen others. Bombings and ambushes across Iraq left at least a dozen
Iraqis and one US soldier dead.
(AP, 3/31/05)(SFC, 4/1/05, p.A3)
2005 Mar 31, Rho on the outskirts
of Milan, Italy, inaugurated a trade fair over the site of a polluted
refinery closed in 1992. The site featured a new structure by
Massimilian Fuksas.
(Econ, 4/2/05, p.61)
2005 Mar 31, The World Bank
approved financing support for the controversial $1.2 billion Nam Theun
2 dam in Laos.
(WSJ, 4/1/05, p.A8)
2005 Mar 31, Two Lithuanian
illusionists have begun an attempt to break the record for staying
inside a giant ice cube, set by US magician David Blaine in 2000 when
he spent nearly 62 hours inside a block of ice.
(AFP, 4/1/05)
2005 Mar 31, In Palestine Mahmoud
Abbas ordered a crackdown on Ramallah militants after a group of gunmen
fired at his compound in a sign of escalating tensions.
(AP, 3/31/05)
2005 Mar 31, A Rwandan Hutu
militia group, the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda,
denounced the Hutu-orchestrated 1994 genocide in the African country
and announced it was stopping its fighting in the region.
(AP, 3/31/05)
2005 Mar 31, Zimbabweans waited in
long lines to vote in parliamentary elections that President Robert
Mugabe hopes will prove the legitimacy of a regime.
(AP, 3/31/05)
2005 Mar 31, After weeks of often
bitter negotiations, the UN Security Council approved a resolution to
refer Sudanese war crimes suspects to the International Criminal Court,
agreeing to major concessions demanded by United States.
(AP, 4/1/05)
2005 Mar, The US Senate passed the
Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act. It imposed a
means test that would force people who earn more than their state’s
median income into Chapter 13, requiring debtors to submit a repayment
plan.
(Econ, 3/12/05, p.36)
2005 Mar, American potato farmers
formed the United Potato Growers of America, a group of regional
farming cooperatives intent on keeping demand for potatoes high by
controlling supply. The 1922 Capper-Volstead Act exempted farmers from
federal antitrust laws permitting them to share prices and orchestrate
supply.
(WSJ, 9/26/06, p.B1)
2005 Mar, Scientists reported that
they have finished sequencing the X chromosome. Scientists also
reported the replication of a new artificial base pair,
3-fluoro-benzene (3FB).
(Econ, 3/19/05, p.84)
2005 Mar, Sheik Khalifa, ruler of
Abu Dhabi, issued a decree granting citizens the right to buy and sell
land.
(WSJ, 10/21/05, p.A10)
2005 Mar, Indonesia’s Pres.
Yudhoyono enforced a 29% fuel price increase after promising to invest
in health and education with the cash saved.
(Econ, 10/1/05, p.40)
2005 Mar, Jamaica brought in Mark
Shields, a top policeman from London’s Scotland Yard, to help
re-organize police services and stem rising murder rates.
(Econ, 8/13/05, p.32)
2005 Mar, Kuwait based MTC agreed
to pay nearly $3.4 billion for Amsterdam-based Celtel Int’l., founded
by Mo Ibrahim, who stood to make $700 million by selling his one-fifth
stake. Celtel had 5 million customers spread across 13 African
countries.
(Econ, 4/2/05, p.58)
2005 Mar, Morocco’s free-trade
agreement with the US was scheduled to go into effect.
(SFC, 2/23/05, p.C1)
2005 Mar, Sheik Saud al-Thani
(38), a member of the royal family of Qatar, was arrested on
allegations of misappropriating state funds and buying art for himself
with money designated for Qatari museums. He was later released.
Auction sales in Islamic art soon plunged.
(WSJ, 7/29/05, p.W1)
2005 Mar, Kofi Annan proposed a UN
reform plan that included increasing the security council membership
from 15 to 24. A change in the charter required the approval of at
least two-thirds of the UN’s 191 members.
(Econ, 3/26/05, p.31)
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