Timeline 2005 October - December
Return to home
2005 Oct 1, The
SF Opera premiered “Doctor Atomic” by composer John Adams. The libretto
was by Peter Sellars.
(SSFC, 10/2/05, p.A17)
2005 Oct 1-2005 Oct 2, In SF
financier Warren Hellman sponsored the 5th annual Hardly Strictly
Bluegrass Festival in Golden Gate Park.
(SFC, 10/3/05, p.C1)
2005 Oct 1, In Connecticut
legislation permitting same-sex civil unions took effect.
(SSFC, 10/2/05, p.A5)
2005 Oct 1, In Norman, Oklahoma,
Joel Henry Hinrichs (21), a Univ. of Oklahoma student, committed
suicide using an explosive attached to his body near the Oklahoma
Memorial Stadium, where 84,000 people watched a football game.
(SFC, 10/3/05, p.A3)(WSJ, 10/13/05, p.B1)
2005 Oct 1, Paul Pena (b.1950), a
blind bluesman, died in SF. The 1999 film "Genghis Blues" won the
audience award at Sundance for best documentary. It was directed by
Roko and Adrian Belic and was about Paul Pena (1950-1955), a blind
bluesman, who journeyed to Tuva to compete in a throat-singing
competition.
(SFC, 10/4/05, p.B5)
2005 Oct 1, A banned Algerian
Islamic group with ties to al-Qaida rejected an amnesty for Islamic
militants, saying in a statement on its Web site that it had no need
for a government peace plan.
(AP, 10/1/05)
2005 Oct 1, It was reported that
Louis Michaud, a Canadian engineer, had developed an “atmospheric
vortex engine” to harness energy from an artificial tornado.
(Econ, 10/1/05, p.76)
2005 Oct 1, Tens of thousands of
Chinese marked the 56th anniversary of Communist rule in Beijing's
Tiananmen Square with the country enjoying the benefits of two decades
of rapid economic growth but still facing deep-seated social problems.
(AP, 10/1/05)
2005 Oct 1, China and Japan ended
2 days of talks with no resolution on their territorial dispute in the
East China Sea, which focused on oil and gas deposits straddling the
border.
(Econ, 10/8/05, p.52)
2005 Oct 1, Riot police forcibly
expelled striking union workers who had blockaded ports in Corsica and
southeastern France for days to protest against the planned
privatization of a state-run ferry operator.
(AP, 10/1/05)
2005 Oct 1, In the Dominican Rep.
1,719 homicides were reported in the first eight months of the year,
compared to 1,513 during the same period in 2004. At least 25 children
have been killed or injured by stray bullets in the same period. Police
estimate guns are used in 75 percent of homicides.
(AP, 10/1/05)
2005 Oct 1, A volcano in western
El Salvador erupted, sending a column of ash 50,000 feet into the air
and killing two farmers buried by chunks of earth and boiling water
that tumbled down the slopes.
(AP, 10/2/05)
2005 Oct 1, In Indonesia bombs
exploded almost simultaneously in two tourist areas of the resort
island of Bali, killing 20 people and wounding nearly 200 others.
Indonesia said suicide bombers carried out the blasts that bore the
hallmark of Islamic militants linked to al-Qaeda. In 2006 Abdul Aziz
(30) was sentenced to eight years in prison for harboring the alleged
mastermind of the bombings. Aziz had also helped set up a Web site
calling on Muslims to wage war against "infidels." Mohammad Cholili
(28) was sentenced to 18 years in prison for helping to build the
bombs. Dwi Widiarto (34) was sentenced to 8 years for helping make the
bombers’ videotaped confessions. Anif Solchanudin was sentenced to 15
years in prison.
(AP, 10/2/05)(AP, 9/5/06)(AP, 9/7/06)(AP, 9/14/06)
2005 Oct 1, The US military
released about 500 Iraqi detainees from the notorious Abu Ghraib
prison, completing its plan to free a total of more than 1,000 this
week in honor of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
(AP, 10/1/05)
2005 Oct 1, In Iraq US Marines
began a 3-day offensive dubbed Iron Fist that included a sweep of the
insurgency stronghold of Karabila.
(SSFC, 11/13/05,
p.A1)(www.atsnn.com/story/174319.html)
2005 Oct 1, Japan privatized four
debt-ridden public corporations that run the nation's highways, in the
latest of PM Junichiro Koizumi's initiatives to reduce the size of
government.
(AP, 10/1/05)
2005 Oct 1, The outer bands of
Hurricane Otis lashed the coast of western Mexico as the storm crawled
toward the Baja California peninsula, forcing hundreds of families to
evacuate their homes and flooding roads in Cabo San Lucas.
(AP, 10/2/05)
2005 Oct 1, A new Russian "public
chamber" met for the first time aiming to improve ties between
officials and society. A day earlier the Kremlin announced the first 42
members of the chamber, an assortment of religious leaders, Olympic
champions, businessmen, trade unionists and others. The members
discussed who else should be included, since they now have to choose a
further 42 people to join their group. They were also reported to have
started to plan their course of action.
(AP, 10/1/05)
2005 Oct 1, A Russian rocket
roared into space in a burst of flame from Baikonur, Kazakhstan,
launching the world's third space tourist, US millionaire scientist
Gregory Olsen, and a U.S.-Russian crew on a two-day trip to the
international space station.
(AP, 10/1/05)
2005 Oct 1, In Yekaterinburg,
Russia, 5 teenagers, ranging in age from 12 to 17, were drunk when they
encountered a 21-year-old Jewish man and attacked him. After the man
fell to the ground, the group took a metal cross from a grave headstone
and stabbed him. A Russian court in 2007 sentenced the 5 teenagers to
prison terms of 5-10 years.
(AP, 2/9/07)
2005 Oct 1, In
South Korea Seoul's Mayor Lee Myung-bak led a ceremony for the
re-opening of the Chonggyechon stream buried beneath an elevated
highway for almost 50 years. Work to restore about 6 km of the stream
began in July, 2003, at a cost of around $350 million. The stream flows
through a narrow park that celebrates the history of Seoul.
(Reuters, 10/1/05)
2005 Oct 2, In New York the
40-foot boat the Ethan Allen capsized on Lake George over so quickly
that none of the 47 passengers from Michigan could put on a life
jacket. 20 people were killed.
(AP, 10/3/05)
2005 Oct 2, Nipsey Russell (80),
actor and comedian, died in NY. As the "poet laureate of television,"
he delivered his signature four-line verse during frequent guest
appearances on TV game shows and talk shows. Russell launched his TV
career in 1961 as Officer Anderson in the series "Car 54, Where are
You?" He also appeared in the 1994 film version.
(AP, 10/4/05)
2005 Oct 2, Playwright August
Wilson (60), whose epic 10-play cycle chronicling the black experience
in 20th-century America included such landmark dramas as "Fences" and
"Ma Rainey's Black Bottom," died of liver cancer.
(AP, 10/3/05)(Econ, 10/8/05, p.94)
2005 Oct 2, Afghan government
forces killed 31 suspected Taliban militants near the eastern border
with Pakistan. In a separate clash militants attacked a truck carrying
supplies for U.S.-led coalition forces in Surobi district of eastern
Paktia province, killing the truck driver. In fighting that followed,
three more militants were killed and two arrested. Two Afghan army
officers were wounded.
(AP, 10/3/05)
2005 Oct 2, Afghan election
officials said ballot boxes from about 4% of the country’s 26,000
polling stations were set aside for investigation on suspicion of fraud.
(SFC, 10/3/05, p.A8)
2005 Oct 2, The fragmented
political opposition in Belarus chose Alexander Milinkevich (58), a
former US-educated physicist, to challenge President Alexander
Lukashenko in next year's presidential election.
(AP, 10/2/05)
2005 Oct 2, In western Colombia
leftist FARC rebels attacked a police station in an isolated jungle
town, killing at least five police officers.
(AP, 10/3/05)
2005 Oct 2, The US ambassador
urged Colombia to spray weed killer inside the country's spectacular
nature parks to destroy cocaine-producing crops, insisting the
chemicals will not cause widespread damage to the reserves' ecosystems.
(AP, 10/2/05)
2005 Oct 2, A Dubai-based
newspaper said it stands by a story in which it quoted Iran's president
as saying he might curtail oil sales if his nation is referred to the
UN Security Council for possible sanctions over its nuclear program.
(AP, 10/2/05)
2005 Oct 2, Voters in the German
city of Dresden cast the last ballots in the inconclusive national
election in what could offer a breakthrough in a bitter power struggle
over who will be the next chancellor. The election there was postponed
for two weeks due to the death of a neo-Nazi candidate. Conservative
challenger Angela Merkel's party gained a seat in Dresden, the last
remaining district in parliamentary balloting.
(AP, 10/2/05)
2005 Oct 2, Hundreds of U.S.
troops combed through a village near the Syrian border, breaking into
houses and fighting sporadic gun battles with gunmen on the second day
of a new offensive against al-Qaida insurgents. At least eight
militants were killed.
(AP, 10/2/05)
2005 Oct 2, Al-Qaida in Iraq
claimed to have captured two US Marines participating in an offensive
in western Iraq, threatening in a Web statement to kill them within 24
hours. The US military said the claim appeared to be fake.
(AP, 10/2/05)
2005 Oct 2, Israel suspended its
offensive into the Gaza Strip following a lull in rocket fire by
Palestinian militants, but it is ready to restart the operation if
attacks resume.
(AP, 10/2/05)
2005 Oct 2, Libya awarded 44 oil
exploration permits to predominantly Asian and European companies after
a first batch was awarded earlier this year mainly to American firms.
(AFP, 10/3/05)
2005 Oct 2, Portuguese Prime
Minister Jose Socrates met Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi in Tripoli, as
Libya continues its bid to warm relations with the West.
(AP, 10/2/05)
2005 Oct 2, Felipe Calderon,
Mexico's former energy secretary, appeared headed toward another
victory in the 2nd round of the ruling National Action Party's 3-part
presidential primary.
(AP, 10/2/05)
2005 Oct 2, Moroccan police began
rounding up African refugees. Doctors Without Borders soon reported
that Morocco had dropped about 1,000 people in the desert and left them
there to walk for nearly a week. As a result, the government
established the two holding centers at Touizgue and Berden for those
people to find refuge.
(AP, 10/18/05)
2005 Oct 2, Assailants fired
rockets at a Pakistani army base, killing a soldier and three
government employees in a spate of violence in the lawless tribal area
along the Afghan border.
(AP, 10/3/05)
2005 Oct 2, Hamas gunmen clashed
with Palestinian security forces in the Gaza Strip. A police commander
and a civilian were killed and at least 50 others were wounded.
(SFC, 10/3/05, p.A8)
2005 Oct 2, Project leader Exxon
Mobil corporation said Russia's massive Sakhalin-1 oil and gas field
started pumping oil off the country's Pacific coast at the weekend.
(AP, 10/2/05)
2005 Oct 2-2005 Oct 3, In Colombia
suspected leftist rebels (FARC) killed at least 13 coca harvesters near
Vistahermosa as part of a struggle with far-right paramilitary gangs
for control of the lucrative cocaine trade.
(AP, 10/5/05)
2005 Oct 3, President Bush
nominated White House counsel Harriet Miers (b.1945) to the Supreme
Court, turning to a lawyer who has never been a judge to replace Sandra
Day O'Connor and help reshape the nation's judiciary. She withdrew
three weeks later after criticism over her lack of judicial experience
and Republican concerns about her conservatism.
(AP, 10/3/05)(SFC, 10/4/05, p.A1)(AP, 10/3/06)
2005 Oct 3, Representative Tom
DeLay, a powerful ally of President George W. Bush, was indicted on a
new charge of money laundering as his lawyers moved to dismiss a
previous conspiracy indictment filed last week.
(AP, 10/4/05)
2005 Oct 3, The US search for
bodies due to Hurricane Katrina ended with a toll of 964.
(WSJ, 10/4/05, p.A1)
2005 Oct 3, Stellar Management of
NY and Rockpoint Group announced their purchase of the Villas
Parkmerced complex in SF. The 115-acre, 3,221-unit complex sold for an
estimated $700 million. Carmel Properties and JP Morgan had purchased
the property in 1999 for $324 million.
(SFC, 10/4/05, p.C1)
2005 Oct 3, A Russian space
capsule with American tourist Gregory Olsen aboard docked with the
international space station.
(AP, 10/4/06)
2005 Oct 3, The UN ambassadors of
Britain, France and the US sent a letter emphasizing their continued
opposition to a proposal to create a nuclear-weapons free zone in
Central Asia. The letter, sent to the UN ambassadors of the five
Central Asian nations, says that a draft treaty to create the zone
still does not address their biggest concerns and that further
discussions are needed. It calls for consultations "very soon." The
five nations agreed to the draft text for a Central Asian nuclear-free
zone in February. Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and
Turkmenistan had originally put forward a proposal for a nuclear-weapon
free zone in 1997, but divisions both internal and external over the
text have stalled progress. Moscow claims that a 1992 treaty that
Russia signed with Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan could allow
missiles to be deployed in the region.
(AP, 10/4/05)
2005 Oct 3, Australians Barry J.
Marshall and Robin Warren won the 2005 Nobel Prize in medicine for
showing that bacterial infection, not stress, was to blame for painful
ulcers in the stomach and intestine.
(AP, 10/3/05)
2005 Oct 3, In southeastern
Bangladesh several bombs went off in crowded court buildings in
Chittagong, Chandpur and Laxmipur towns. 2 people were killed and at
least 25 wounded.
(AP, 10/4/05)
2005 Oct 3, Bishop Luiz Flavio
Cappio (59), a Catholic bishop on a hunger strike to protest plans to
alter the course of a river to irrigate parts of Brazil's arid
northeast, said he was "ready to die" if the project goes forward.
Pres. Lula da Silva, who was born in one of the drought stricken
regions that would benefit from the altered course of the Sao Francisco
River, wrote the bishop a letter saying the $2 billion project will
help 18 million people in northeastern Brazil.
(AP, 10/3/05)
2005 Oct 3, Singer Emilinha Borba
(82), the queen of Brazil's golden age of radio, died of a heart
attack. In 1939, Borba recorded her first record, "Pirulito," or
"Lollipop," launching her career as a radio singer. Between 1939 and
1964, Borba recorded over 200 songs.
(AP, 10/4/05)
2005 Oct 3, The boards of
pharmaceutical distributor Alliance UniChem PLC and drugstore chain
Boots Group PLC said they had agreed to merge.
(AP, 10/3/05)
2005 Oct 3, In Colombia a bomb
packed inside a pickup truck and apparently meant to target government
forces killed 3 members of a family, including two children, when it
exploded as they passed by in Florida County, a FARC stronghold.
(AP, 10/4/05)
2005 Oct 3, EU nations reached a
tentative agreement on pursuing full membership talks with Turkey,
diplomats said. A spokesman for the Turkish prime minister denied
reports that Ankara had agreed to the deal.
(AP, 10/3/05)
2005 Oct 3, The EU imposed an arms
embargo on Uzbekistan, cut aid, and suspended a cooperation accord to
punish the increasingly isolated country for refusing to investigate
the violent suppression of an uprising in May.
(AP, 10/3/05)
2005 Oct 3, In El Salvador heavy
rains triggered landslides that killed at least 31 people, while rising
rivers forced the evacuation of dozens of people there and in
neighboring Guatemala.
(AP, 10/3/05)
2005 Oct 3, In France a widespread
transit strike expected to touch on nearly all modes of public
transportation began late at night in protest of the center-right
government's economic and labor policies.
(AP, 10/3/05)
2005 Oct 3, Munich's two-week
Oktoberfest drew to a close, and organizers said more people visited
this year but they drank less beer than in 2004.
(AP, 10/3/05)
2005 Oct 3, India and Pakistan
signed a deal requiring them to notify each other of plans for
ballistic missile tests.
(AP, 10/3/05)
2005 Oct 3, In central India at
least 16 people were killed and dozens injured when six cars of a
speeding passenger train derailed.
(AP, 10/3/05)
2005 Oct 3, In western Iraq 2 US
soldiers and a Marine were killed.
(AP, 10/4/05)
2005 Oct 3, More than 300 Africans
tore through a razor-wire fence separating Morocco from the Spanish
enclave of Melilla, clashing with police in the latest wave of
undocumented immigrants seeking a foothold in Europe.
(AP, 10/3/05)
2005 Oct 3, The Palestinian
parliament voted that Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas must form a new
government within two weeks.
(AP, 10/3/05)
2005 Oct 3, In northern and
central Portugal 11 wildfires burned out of control amid the country's
worst drought on record.
(AP, 10/4/05)
2005 Oct 3, In Russia Orthodox
priests chanted prayers and believers lighted candles as Patriarch
Alexy II led reburial rites for Gen. Anton Denikin, who fought against
the Red Army during Russia's civil war and is now cast as a patriot.
Denikin, who died in exile in the United States in 1947, was laid to
rest together with Russian philosopher Ivan Ilyin and the wives of the
two men in the historic Donskoy Monastery in central Moscow.
(AP, 10/3/05)
2005 Oct 3, In Sangju, South
Korea, concertgoers trying to enter a packed stadium sparked a
stampede, killing 11 and injuring 72 others.
(AP, 10/3/05)
2005 Oct 3, Sudan's government and
rebels from the war-ravaged Darfur region agreed to sit down for
face-to-face talks after a week of bickering that had put discussions
on hold.
(AP, 10/3/05)
2005 Oct 3, Switzerland decided to
extradite Russia's former nuclear minister to the US on charges of
stealing up to $9 million that was intended to improve security of
nuclear plants. Russia has been fighting the US extradition request for
Yevgeny Adamov out of fear that he could reveal nuclear secrets while
facing the charges in the United States.
(AP, 10/3/05)
2005 Oct 4, President Bush
defended his Supreme Court nominee, Harriet Miers, from suggestions by
some skeptical Republicans that she was not conservative enough, and
insisted Miers shared his strict-constructionist views. Miers ended up
withdrawing.
(AP, 10/4/06)
2005 Oct 4, Americans John L. Hall
and Roy J. Glauber and German Theodor W. Haensch won the 2005 Nobel
Prize in physics for work that could lead to better long-distance
communication and more precise navigation worldwide and in space.
(AP, 10/4/05)
2005 Oct 4, The US Mint unveiled
the design for a new Jefferson nickel called the Jefferson 1800,
designed by Jamie Franki. It will begin circulating in 2006.
(SFC, 10/5/05, p.A7)
2005 Oct 4, The DJIA fell 94.37 to
10,441.11.
(SFC, 10/5/05, p.C1)
2005 Oct 4, Insurance claims for
Hurricane Katrina were estimated at $34.4 billion in personal and
commercial property loss claims.
(SFC, 10/5/05, p.C1)
2005 Oct 4, Hurricane Stan slammed
into Mexico’s Gulf coast.
(AP, 10/4/06)
2005 Oct 4, Philadelphia selected
EarthLink to run its municipal wireless system.
(SFC, 10/5/05, p.C1)
2005 Oct 4, According to the IMF
major oil producers were now a bigger source of funds for financial
markets and US creditors than China, Japan and the rest of Asia.
(WSJ, 10/4/05, p.A1)
2005 Oct 4, Google and Sun
Microsystems announced an alliance to promote each other’s products.
(SFC, 10/5/05, p.A1)
2005 Oct 4, It was reported that
phthalate chemicals, used in a wide variety of products from toys to
cosmetics, had been found to block the action of fetal androgens in
rodents. Androgen hormones are critical in developing males.
(WSJ, 10/4/05, p.A1)
2005 Oct 4, In Afghanistan a bomb
exploded near a key crossing point on the Afghan-Pakistan border,
killing three people and wounding 20. Authorities blamed Taliban
insurgents.
(AP, 10/5/05)
2005 Oct 4, In London Russia’s
Pres. Putin met with EU leaders for talks on expanding cooperation in
the fight against crime, including terrorism, and strengthening trade
ties.
(AP, 10/4/05)
2005 Oct 4, A Bosnian Serb panel
said it identified more than 17,000 people with varying levels of blood
on their hands for abetting the 1995 Srebrenica massacre.
(WSJ, 10/5/05, p.A1)
2005 Oct 4-2005 Oct 5, In Canada
Toronto's chief medical officer said 4 more residents of a nursing home
for the elderly have died of an unknown respiratory illness, bringing
the number fatally infected by the disease to 10. Officials said
Legionnaires’ disease was the likely cause as the deaths rose to 16.
(AP, 10/5/05)(SFC, 10/7/05, p.A3)
2005 Oct 4, China’s state media
reported that raging floodwaters spawned by Typhoon Longwang along the
southeastern coast swept away 59 paramilitary police officers and
washed away two buildings at a military training school.
(AP, 10/4/05)
2005 Oct 4, In Colombia a judge
ordered the re-arrest of a man in a wheelchair who hijacked a Colombian
airliner, but said he could remain under house arrest due to his
failing health.
(AP, 10/4/05)
2005 Oct 4, Colombia granted
political asylum to former Ecuadorian President Lucio Gutierrez, who
has said he faces treason charges in his homeland.
(AP, 10/4/05)
2005 Oct 4, Croatia began delayed
EU membership talks, after UN chief war crimes prosecutor Carla del
Ponte endorsed Zagreb's cooperation with her court.
(AFP, 10/4/05)
2005 Oct 4, French President
Jacques Chirac said that Turkey would need to undergo a "major cultural
revolution" before entering the EU, and he reiterated that France would
hold a referendum on admitting Ankara to the bloc.
(AP, 10/4/05)
2005 Oct 4, It was reported that
French Attorney Jean-Marc Goldnadel had launched classaction.fr, a
French Web site that lets users sign up to lawsuits online for as
little as 12 euros ($14.50). President Jacques Chirac had
announced the introduction of class action suits earlier in the year.
(AP, 10/4/05)
2005 Oct 4, In India's northeast
11 people, including five villagers hacked to death by rival tribesmen,
were reported killed. Separatist insurgencies have raged in Manipur and
Assam states for the past two decades.
(AP, 10/4/05)
2005 Oct 4, Indonesia’s central
bank raised interest rates for the 3rd time in 5 weeks one point to 11%
in an effort to keep a lid on inflation.
(WSJ, 10/5/05, p.A18)
2005 Oct 4, The 1st day of Ramadan
began for Muslims.
(AP, 10/4/05)
2005 Oct 4, Iraqi lawmakers
approved the death penalty for anyone financing or "provoking"
terrorism.
(AP, 10/4/05)
2005 Oct 4, A suicide car bomb
exploded at a checkpoint at the main entrance of Baghdad's Green Zone,
killing two Iraqi policemen and wounding one.
(AP, 10/4/05)
2005 Oct 4, In western Iraq some
2,500 U.S. troops along with Iraqi forces launched their second major
offensive in a week, sweeping into three towns to take them back from
insurgents who had killed Marines there last month.
(AP, 10/4/05)
2005 Oct 4, Japan's Cabinet
endorsed a one-year extension of the country's naval mission to support
U.S.-led troops in Afghanistan, citing renewed concerns about terrorism
after the recent bombings in Indonesia.
(AP, 10/4/05)
2005 Oct 4, In Nigeria at least 3
civilians were killed in crossfire and a Lagos police headquarters was
burned down after a dispute between armed police and soldiers erupted
in street fighting. Witnesses said that brawling broke out after an
army officer tried to prevent a police patrol extorting an illegal 20
naira (seven cent) toll from a motorcycle taxi driver.
(AP, 10/5/05)
2005 Oct 4, Jim Gray (43), one of
Northern Ireland's most high-profile Protestant militants was shot to
death outside his home in east Belfast, more than six months after he
was ousted by his outlawed group.
(AP, 10/4/05)
2005 Oct 4, Pakistani security
forces arrested Abdul Latif Hakimi, the chief spokesman of
Afghanistan's ousted Taliban regime, describing his capture as a major
blow to the Islamic militia.
(AFP, 10/4/05)
2005 Oct 4, A Palestinian woman
brandishing a knife stabbed and wounded an Israeli soldier at a
checkpoint outside the West Bank city of Nablus before other soldiers
shot and killed her.
(AP, 10/4/05)
2005 Oct 4, In Peru Maritza
Garrido Lecca, a former ballet teacher who used her dance studio to
hide Shining Path founder Abimael Guzman, was sentenced to 20 years in
prison after a three-month civilian retrial. Nicholas Shakespeare used
the story as inspiration for his novel "The Dancer Upstairs" (1995),
which John Malkovich turned into a 2002 movie of the same name,
starring Javier Bardem.
(AP, 10/5/05)
2005 Oct 4, A Philippine
provincial government filed a lawsuit in Nevada accusing Canadian
mining giant Placer Dome Inc. of damaging the environment and health of
residents of an island about 100 miles south of Manila. Placer Dome was
blamed for a March 1996 environmental accident that sent millions of
tons of open-pit copper mine waste down a river to the Marinduque
capital, Boac.
(AP, 10/4/05)
2005 Oct 4, Spain said it will
build a third high-security fence between its Melilla enclave and
Morocco after undocumented immigrants repeatedly stormed two existing
barriers.
(AP, 10/4/05)
2005 Oct 4, UN peacekeepers
preparing to pull out of Sierra Leone said they have completed the
mission they began six years ago but warn the country still has a long
way to go before it recovers from one of Africa's most brutal wars.
(AP, 10/4/05)
2005 Oct 4, Sudan's government and
rebels from Darfur met for a 2nd day of talks in Nigeria. The visiting
Dutch PM urged all parties to reach a power-sharing deal by the end of
the year.
(AP, 10/4/05)
2005 Oct 4, A new Syrian TV series
began broadcasting around the Middle East. It tells the story of Arabs
living in residential compounds in Saudi Arabia and the militant
Islamists who want to blow them up so they can collect their rewards in
heaven, 72 beautiful virgins.
(AP, 10/10/05)
2005 Oct 4, The UAE Labor Ministry
announced that company executives will find their names on a sheet of
shame published by the government if they don't start paying wages to
their laborers.
(AP, 10/4/05)
2005 Oct 4, The UN Security
Council warned Ethiopia and Eritrea against reigniting their border war
and urged Eritrea to immediately reverse its ban on all helicopter
flights by UN peacekeepers.
(AP, 10/4/05)
2005 Oct 4, Venezuela said it has
reduced its holdings of US Treasury securities and moved some foreign
exchange reserves into European investments.
(SFC, 10/5/05, p.A18)
2005 Oct 4-2005 Oct 9, The World
Golf Championships took place at Harding Park Golf Course along Lake
Merced in SF, Ca.
(SFCM, 10/2/05, p.6)
2005 Oct 5, Defying the White
House, US senators voted 90-9 to approve an amendment that would
prohibit the use of "cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or
punishment" against anyone in U.S. government custody.
(AP, 10/5/06)
2005 Oct 5, Americans Robert H.
Grubbs and Richard R. Schrock and Yves Chauvin of France won the Nobel
Prize in chemistry for their work in metathesis, a technique for moving
groups of atoms from one molecule to another. Their discoveries let
industry create drugs and advanced plastics in a more efficient and
environmentally friendly way.
(AP, 10/5/05)(Econ, 10/8/05, p.87)
2005 Oct 5, In a move meant to
send a message to Uzbekistan, the US Senate voted to block the payment
of $23 million for past use of an air base that the Uzbek government
recently said will no longer host U.S. aircraft and troops.
(AP, 10/5/05)
2005 Oct 5, Lawrence Franklin
(58), a Pentagon employee, admitted in court he provided classified
defense information to an Israeli diplomat and two employees of
(AIPAC), a pro-Israel lobby group in 2003-2004. In 2006 Franklin was
sentenced to over 12 years in prison.
(AFP, 10/6/05)(SFC, 1/21/06, p.A4)
2005 Oct 5, The City Council of
Oakland, Ca., approved a 3 dog limit for city residents. Breeders,
kennels and rescue groups were exempted.
(SFC, 10/6/05, p.B5)
2005 Oct 5, The DJIA dropped
nearly 124 points to 10,317.36 over inflation concerns.
(SFC, 10/6/05, p.C1)
2005 Oct 5, A team of US
researchers announced the successful rebuilding of a replica of the
1918 Spanish flu virus. The genetic blueprint was published on the
Internet. Their success was based on an original sample recovered from
a frozen corpse in Alaska in 1997.
(SFC, 10/6/05, p.A1)
2005 Oct 5, NASA announced that
short burst type of Gamma Ray Bursters involved the collision of either
2 neutron stars or of a neutron star and a black hole. Gamma Ray
Bursters were 1st discovered in 1967 and later 2 types were identified.
The long burst type had previously been explained as radiation from the
collapse of a massive star.
(SFC, 10/6/05, p.A2)
2005 Oct 5, Hurricane Stan knocked
down trees, ripped roofs off homes and washed out bridges in
southeastern Mexico, but it was the storms it helped spawn that were
far more destructive, killing more than 65 people in Central America.
Officials in El Salvador said 49 people had been killed, mostly due to
two days of mudslides sparked by rains. 9 people died in Nicaragua,
including six migrants believed to be Ecuadorians killed in a boat
accident. Four deaths were reported in Honduras, three in Guatemala and
one in Costa Rica.
(AP, 10/5/05)
2005 Oct 5, Daniel Alfredsson
scored twice in the final six minutes of regulation and once during the
first shootout in NHL history, leading Ottawa to a 3-2 win over Toronto.
(AP, 10/5/06)
2005 Oct 5, Iran's foreign
minister met with Omani officials, part of a tour of Gulf countries to
win support for his government's standoff with the West over its
nuclear program.
(AP, 10/5/05)
2005 Oct 5, Iraq's parliament
voted to reverse last-minute changes to rules for next week's
referendum on a new constitution after the UN said they were unfair.
Sunni Arabs responded by dropping their threat to boycott the vote and
promised to reject the charter at the polls.
(AP, 10/5/05)
2005 Oct 5, A bomb exploded at the
entrance of a Shiite Muslim mosque south of Baghdad as hundreds of
worshippers gathered for prayers on the first day of Ramadan and for
the funeral of a man killed in an earlier bombing. At least 25 people
were killed and 87 wounded. In Kirkuk assassins killed Nubiel Sharaf
Aldeen, a retired police official.
(AP, 10/5/05)(SFC, 10/7/05, p.A14)
2005 Oct 5, A video showing two
Iraqi men being beheaded for allegedly spying for the United States was
posted on a militant Islamic Web site, and the Ansar al-Sunnah Army
claimed it had carried out the executions.
(AP, 10/5/05)
2005 Oct 5, Toyota Motor Corp.
said it has agreed to buy an 8.7 percent stake in rival Japanese
automaker Fuji Heavy Industries, the maker of Subaru cars, from General
Motors Corp. for about $315 million.
(AP, 10/5/05)
2005 Oct 5, Some 500 African
immigrants defied increased security and tried to surge across
razor-wire fences separating Morocco and the Spanish enclave of
Melilla, the 5th such rush in a week. The assault in a week prompted
Spain to announce plans to expel the illegal migrants.
(AP, 10/6/05)
2005 Oct 5, Drug agents found
3,904 pounds of cocaine in the steel oxygen tank, one of the largest
drug busts in Puerto Rico's history. The DEA has estimated that as much
as 20 percent of the cocaine that reaches the US moves through the
Caribbean. Traffickers love Puerto Rico because after their drugs
arrive on the island, they can be hidden amid regular cargo and shipped
onward, bypassing routine searches because Puerto Rico is part of the
United States.
(AP, 11/7/05)
2005 Oct 5, In southern Thailand
suspected Islamic insurgents shot and killed five soldiers as they ate
dinner at a military outpost.
(AP, 10/5/05)
2005 Oct 5, The official Herald
newspaper reported Zimbabwe needs to import more grain to feed at least
2.2 million needy people who cannot fend for themselves until the new
harvest next April.
(AP, 10/5/05)
2005 Oct 6, President Bush sought
to rally flagging public support for the war in Iraq, accusing
militants of seeking to establish a "radical Islamic empire" with Iraq
as the base.
(AP, 10/6/06)
2005 Oct 6, Gregg Miller won the
Ig Nobel Prize for medicine for his prosthetic testicles for neutered
dogs. Miller has sold more than 150,000 of his Neuticles, more than
doubling his $500,000 investment. The silicone implants come in
different sizes, shapes, weights and degrees of firmness. Other winners
included Nigerian Internet scammers and a team that calculated the
pressures created when penguins poop.
(AP, 10/7/05)
2005 Oct 6-2005 Oct 7, More than
65 countries and international organizations met at the US State
Department to plan for the possible outbreak of potentially deadly bird
flu.
(AP, 10/5/05)
2005 Oct 6, The US State
Department offered a reward of up to $10 million for information
leading to the arrest and conviction of a suspected mastermind in the
nightclub bombings in 2002 in Bali, Indonesia.
(AP, 10/6/05)
2005 Oct 6, Dean VandenBiesen,
vice president of operations for LifeGem, said his company uses
super-hot ovens to transform funeral ashes to graphite and then presses
the stone into blue and yellow diamonds that retail for anywhere from
2,700 to 20,000 dollars.
(AFP, 10/7/05)
2005 Oct 6, Merck & Co. Inc.
said a vaccine that targets a human wart virus completely prevented
early-stage cervical cancer and precancerous lesions in women caused by
the two most common forms of the virus.
(AP, 10/6/05)
2005 Oct 6, Dennis Murphy
(b.1932), screenwriter and author of “The Sergeant” (1958), died in SF.
He also wrote the script for the 1971 film version.
(SFC, 10/11/05, p.B9)
2005 Oct 6, Coalition forces who
were engaged in combat with militants opened fire on a vehicle carrying
Afghan police, killing four and wounding one.
(AP, 10/7/05)
2005 Oct 6, In Colombia right-wing
paramilitary groups suspended their demobilization process with the
government to protest President Alvaro Uribe's decision to jail a
paramilitary leader who is wanted in New York on drug trafficking
charges.
(AP, 10/6/05)
2005 Oct 6, In Colombia an intense
rainstorm triggered a landslide that buried part of Bello, a shantytown
on the outskirts of the northwestern city of Medellin, killing at least
26 people, many of them children.
(AP, 10/7/05)
2005 Oct 6-2005 Oct 8, In
Guatemala rescue workers searched for victims of a mudslide near Lake
Atitlan, a volcano-ringed lake popular with tourists. Panabaj and
Tzanchaz were entombed by a mudflow half a mile wide. The death toll in
the region from flooding sparked by Hurricane Stan soon climbed to 617
with 42 dead in Mexico, 72 dead in El Salvador and 11 dead in Nicaragua.
(SFC, 10/7/05, p.A3)(AP, 10/9/05)(Econ, 10/15/05,
p.43)
2005 Oct 6, Insurgents using
suicide and roadside bombs killed at least 13 people, including a U.S.
soldier, and wounded 19 in the latest of a series of attacks aimed at
wrecking Iraq's constitutional referendum next week.
(AP, 10/6/05)
2005 Oct 6, Bomb blasts killed six
Marines in western Iraq. US forces killed 29 militants in offensives
aimed at uprooting al-Qaida insurgents.
(AP, 10/7/05)
2005 Oct 6, Africa Union leaders
said Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo's could stay in power after his
term expires on October 30, giving him up to a year more in office in a
bid to resolve the crisis in his divided country.
(AFP, 10/6/05)
2005 Oct 6, In Japan the Yomiuri
Shimbun newspaper was awarded compensation from a small Internet firm
that used its news headlines without permission, in a first-of-a-kind
ruling in the country. The Intellectual Property High Court, a special
branch court of the Tokyo High Court, ordered Digital Alliance Corp. to
pay about 237,700 yen (2,000 dollars) to the Yomiuri.
(AFP, 10/6/05)
2005 Oct 6, In Lithuania
authorities released the pilot of a Russian military plane that crashed
in Lithuania, saying he was no longer suspected of violating the Baltic
country's airspace.
(AP, 10/6/05)
2005 Oct 6, Gunmen abducted three
local Hamas leaders in a series of kidnappings. Prof. Riad Abdel Karim
al-Raz (47), a Palestinian university professor known as a Hamas
leader, was released the next day. The al-Farouk bin al-Khatab
Brigades, claimed responsibility.
(AP, 10/7/05)
2005 Oct 6, Romania said it has
deported five students accused of having ties to al-Qaida and trying to
recruit members of the country's Muslim community.
(AP, 10/6/05)
2005 Oct 6, A UN official said the
International Criminal Court in The Hague has issued arrest warrants
for Joseph Kony and 5 henchmen of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), a
Ugandan cult notorious for raping, maiming and killing children.
(Reuters, 10/6/05)(Econ, 10/22/05, p.48)
2005 Oct 7, The former Tanforan
Park Shopping Center in San Bruno, Ca., was scheduled to re-open as
“The Shops of Tanforan” following a 2-year renovation.
(SFC, 10/6/05, p.B1)
2005 Oct 7, Mohamed ElBaradei and
the International Atomic Energy Agency won the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize
for their drive to curb the spread of atomic weapons by using diplomacy
to resolve standoffs with Iran and North Korea over their nuclear
programs.
(AP, 10/7/05)
2005 Oct 7, The Senate voted to
give President Bush $50 billion more for the wars in Iraq and
Afghanistan and US military efforts against terrorism, money that would
push total spending for the operations beyond $350 billion.
(AP, 10/7/05)
2005 Oct 7, Jimmy Massey, a former
U.S. Marine in Iraq, alleged that his battalion committed atrocities
against Iraqi civilians during the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, including
shooting unarmed protesters. He detailed the allegations in his book
"Kill! Kill! Kill!", written with the French journalist Natasha
Saulnier and published in France.
(AP, 10/7/05)
2005 Oct 7, John Rigas and his
son, founders of bankrupt Adelphia Communications, were indicted for
failure to pay some $300 million in taxes.
(SFC, 10/8/05, p.C1)
2005 Oct 7, California’s Gov.
Schwarzenegger signed legislation to allow local governments to
regulate certain breeds of dogs.
(SFC, 10/8/05, p.A11)
2005 Oct 7, Charles Rocket (56),
actor and comedian, died of apparent suicide near his home in
Connecticut. Rocket was a cast member of Saturday Night Live during the
1980-81 season.
(SFC, 10/18/05, p.B4)
2005 Oct 7, In Brazil former
security guard Deusimar Neves Queiroz, a suspect in one of the world's
biggest bank robberies, was arrested after his sister-in-law tipped off
police to his alleged involvement.
(AP, 10/8/05)
2005 Oct 7, Reckitt Benckiser PLC
announced it has agreed to buy the consumer healthcare division of
Boots Group PLC for 1.9 billion pounds ($3.4 billion).
(AP, 10/7/05)
2005 Oct 7, At least seven Iraqi
civilians were killed in shootings around the city, and at least two
bodies were found dumped in the capital.
(AP, 10/7/05)
2005 Oct 7, In Iraq insurgents
killed Haj Abdul Bajid Ahmed Al-Jibori, a member of the local district
council, in a drive-by shooting southwest of the northern city of
Kirkuk. West of Baghdad, a drive-by shooting killed police Capt. Haqi
Ismael, who worked with the Ministry of Interior.
(AP, 10/8/05)
2005 Oct 7, In Belfast, Northern
Ireland, police and secret service agents arrested Sean Garland (71)
and 6 accomplices of an IRA splinter group for conspiring with North
Korea to distribute counterfeit $100 bills.
(WSJ, 10/12/05, p.A1)
2005 Oct 7, In eastern Pakistan
assailants with assault rifles attacked a mosque belonging to a small
Muslim sect, killing at least eight people and wounding 19.
(AP, 10/7/05)
2005 Oct 7, Palestinian police
arrested 30 suspected car thieves and drug dealers in a high-profile
crackdown on crime in this West Bank town.
(AP, 10/7/05)
2005 Oct 7, Philippine authorities
said they had started an investigation to unmask opposition figures
suspected of involvement in the theft of classified US documents in a
widening spy scandal. Leandro Aragoncillo, an FBI analyst in New
Jersey, was suspected of passing intelligence to the Philippines.
(AP, 10/7/05)(SFC, 10/7/05, p.A11)
2005 Oct 7, Russia test-launched a
collapsible mini-spacecraft, which is designed to carry cargo and even
passengers from the international space station to Earth.
(AP, 10/7/05)
2005 Oct 7, Serbia's war crimes
prosecutors filed charges against five Serb paramilitaries who appeared
in a video showing the execution of six Srebrenica Muslims.
(AP, 10/7/05)
2005 Oct 7, The Sudanese
government agreed for the first time to allow Ugandan troops to pursue
members of the rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) in all parts of
southern Sudan.
(AP, 10/12/05)
2005 Oct 7-2005 Oct 8, More than
330 school children in western Ukraine were hospitalized with food
poisoning, including four who were in critical condition. A preliminary
investigation showed that the source of infection as a dysentery
bacteria in kefir, a popular drink made of fermented milk.
(AP, 10/8/05)
2005 Oct 8, In New Orleans Robert
Davis, a retired elementary teacher, was repeatedly punched in the head
by police in an incident caught on videotape. Davis was not drunk, put
up no resistance and was baffled by what happened. In Dec two police
officers were fired for the incident.
(AP, 10/11/05)(SFC, 10/11/05, p.A4)(SFC, 12/22/05,
p.A9)
2005 Oct 8, Amtrak resumed
passenger rail service to New Orleans as the train called the City of
New Orleans arrived with 29 passengers aboard.
(AP, 10/8/06)
2005 Oct 8, Auto-parts maker
Delphi Corp. filed for bankruptcy, hurt by high wage and benefit costs.
It was the biggest bankruptcy filing in US automotive history and
promises to have a broad impact across the industry. Unfunded
health-care liabilities were estimated at $70 billion. As of June 30
the company employed 177,000 people.
(AP, 10/8/05)(Econ, 10/15/05, p.14)(WSJ, 9/30/06,
p.A1)
2005 Oct 8, In Nevada 23 robotic
vehicles competed over a 150-mile course for a $2 million prize
sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Darpa. 4
robotic vehicles finished the race across the Mojave desert over a
rugged 132-mile course without a single human command. Stanford
University's Sebastian Thrun, a customized Volkswagen, crossed first in
6 hours and 59 minutes. Race officials planned to resume the race Oct 9
so the sole remaining vehicle, a mammoth six-wheel truck, could compete
in daylight.
(SFC, 10/8/05, p.C1)(AP, 10/9/05)(Econ, 10/15/05,
p.88)
2005 Oct 8, In eastern China 22
passengers were killed when a bus plunged into a river in Zhejiang
province as the National Day holiday week wound down.
(Reuters, 10/9/05)
2005 Oct 8, In France journalists
reporting on the conflict in Iraq, a humanitarian crisis in Sudan, the
plight of children in Uganda's insurrection and a deadly school hostage
siege in Russia were honored with the annual Bayeux Prize for War
Correspondents.
(AP, 10/8/05)
2005 Oct 8, In India's eastern
state of Jharkhand Maoist rebels set off a powerful bomb at a jungle
hideout, killing at least 15 policemen including a deputy commandant.
(AP, 10/8/05)
2005 Oct 8, In Iraq insurgents
killed two Iraqis and wounded 12 with roadside bombs and drive-by
shootings.
(AP, 10/8/05)
2005 Oct 8, A 7.6-magnitude
earthquake hit Kashmir near the Pakistan-India border reaching to
Afghanistan. It reduced villages to rubble, triggered landslides and
flattened an apartment building, killing thousands of people in India
and Pakistan. Pakistani officials said the death toll ranged between
nearly 20,000 and 30,000. The newly reopened "Peace Bridge" linking the
Indian and Pakistani portions of disputed Kashmir nearly collapsed
during the earthquake. The death toll from the quake reached 87,350.
The UN estimated that 3 million people were left homeless by the
earthquake.
(AP, 10/9/05)(SSFC, 10/9/05, p.A1)(AP,
11/8/05)(Econ, 5/6/06, p.44)
2005 Oct 8, Nigeria's financial
crimes agency said it had returned $4.5 million last month seized from
scammers to an 86-year-old Chinese woman.
(AP, 10/8/05)
2005 Oct 8, Romania reported new
cases of avian flu in the Danube delta on the Black Sea and started to
cull hundreds of birds to prevent the disease from spreading.
(AP, 10/8/05)
2005 Oct 8, Russia's military
conducted a successful ballistic missile test from a nuclear submarine
in the Barents Sea, hitting a target on the eastern peninsula of
Kamchatka.
(AP, 10/8/05)
2005 Oct 8, In Sudan's Darfur
region 2 African Union peacekeeping soldiers from Nigeria and 2
civilian contractors were killed in an ambush.
(Reuters, 10/8/05)
2005 Oct 8, Thousands of poor
farmers marched through Venezuela's capital demanding that the
government expand its initiative to expropriate what they called "idle"
land, a program that has raised the ire of cattle ranchers across the
country.
(AP, 10/9/05)
2005 Oct 8-2005 Nov 6, In Russia
33 people died in the Siberian region of Magadan after drinking
homemade alcohol containing industrial methanol.
(AP, 11/9/05)
2005 Oct 9, A driverless
Volkswagen won a $2 million race across the rugged Nevada desert,
beating four other robot-guided vehicles that completed a
Pentagon-sponsored contest aimed at making warfare safer for humans
[see Oct 8].
(AP, 10/9/06)
2005 Oct 9, In SF, Cal., Tiger
Woods won the American Express Championship at Harding Park on a 2nd
sudden death hole over John Daly.
(SFC, 10/10/05, p.A1)
2005 Oct 9, Louis Nye, TV comic
and 2nd banana, died in LA.
(WSJ, 10/11/05, p.A1)
2005 Oct 9, In southern
Afghanistan a suicide attacker rammed a car laden with explosives into
an armored vehicle carrying British government officials, wounding four
of them.
(AP, 10/9/05)
2005 Oct 9, Riot police in
Azerbaijan scattered hundreds of opposition supporters protesting in
Baku in defiance of a ban, beating some with truncheons and dragging
several away as tensions mounted ahead of parliamentary elections next
month.
(AP, 10/9/05)
2005 Oct 9, The bullet-riddled
body of Luis Fernando Ribeiro (26), the suspected mastermind of a $70
million heist from a branch of Brazil's Central Bank, was found on an
isolated road west of Rio de Janeiro. A document signed by four state
prosecutors was published Oct 21 in the Rio newspaper O Globo saying
there were signs police may have been involved in Ribeiro's kidnapping
and killing. Almost $63 million remained unaccounted for.
(AP, 10/21/05)
2005 Oct 9, A frantic search for
about 1,400 people believed to be buried alive by a mudslide in the
Maya village of Panabaj, Guatemala, was continuing as the death toll
from massive floods throughout Central America and Mexico rose to a
staggering 618.
(AFP, 10/9/05)(WSJ, 10/11/05, p.A1)
2005 Oct 9, A UN official said
more than 2.5 million people have been left homeless by the devastating
7.6-magnitude earthquake that shook India and Pakistan.
(AP, 10/9/05)
2005 Oct 9, A suicide car bomb
killed 2 people outside an apartment building used by the
Iranian-backed Badr Brigade, a Shiite militia linked to one of the main
parties in the Iraqi government.
(AP, 10/9/05)
2005 Oct 9, Three Israeli Arabs
pleaded guilty to planning to plant bombs on a commuter train track and
discussing bombing Tel Aviv's Azrieli Towers, the tallest buildings in
Israel.
(AP, 10/9/05)
2005 Oct 9, It was reported that
dengue fever was causing concerns in Malaysia and Martinique. Malaysia
reported 71 deaths so far this year from over 27,000 cases. Martinique
reported almost 1,000 cases a week since mid-September.
(SSFC, 10/9/05, p.D2)
2005 Oct 9, In Poland voters chose
between two former Solidarity movement activists in presidential
elections, underlining the decline of the former communists in a
country that was part of the Soviet bloc only 16 years ago.
(AP, 10/9/05)
2005 Oct 9, The slaughter of
thousands of domestic fowl in Romania and Turkey began as a precaution
against the spread of bird flu after both countries confirmed their
first cases of the disease over the weekend.
(AP, 10/10/05)
2005 Oct 9, Interfax news reported
that Russia will supply Afghanistan's fledgling army with helicopters
and equipment worth $30 million, more than 15 years after Moscow
withdrew after a nearly decade-long war.
(AP, 10/9/05)
2005 Oct 9, A Rwandan militia
killed 15 civilians with machetes and knives in a nighttime raid on two
villages in Congo's mountainous east.
(AP, 10/10/05)
2005 Oct 9, Rebels freed 36
members of an African Union team, including an American monitor, who
were kidnapped earlier in the day in Sudan's western Darfur region.
(AP, 10/9/05)(AP, 10/10/05)
2005 Oct 9, In Tajikistan a
grenade killed a woman (25) on a street in Dushanbe. It was placed in
her handbag by a former boyfriend.
(AP, 10/10/05)
2005 Oct 10, President Bush dined
in the French Quarter of New Orleans and stayed in a luxury hotel to
showcase progress in hurricane-battered city, which was reported to be
turning its attention to removing and scrapping some 200,000 cars,
abandoned and waterlogged from Hurricane Katrina.
(SFC, 10/10/05, p.A5)(AP, 10/10/06)
2005 Oct 10, Eight American
helicopters that will carry supplies and rescue teams to remote areas
hit by a weekend earthquake landed in Pakistan as the US pledged $50
million for relief in a gesture that officials hope will show sometimes
skeptical Pakistanis that Washington is a true ally. Pakistan said up
to 40,000 people were feared dead in the weekend earthquake, as
frustration over the slow rescue effort turned to anger and scattered
looting.
(AP, 10/10/05)(AFP, 10/10/05)
2005 Oct 10, In Half Moon Bay,
Ca., Joel Holland, a retired Washington state firefighter won the
annual Safeway World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off, presenting a
gigantic pumpkin that weighed 1,229 pounds. This matched his winner in
2004. The contest here began in 1974.
(AP, 10/10/05)(SFC, 10/10/06, p.B3)
2005 Oct 10, Robert J. Aumann of
Israel and Thomas C. Schelling of the Univ. of Maryland won the 2005
Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for their work in game theory
that explains political and economic conflicts, arms races and even
preventing warfare.
(AP, 10/10/05)
2005 Oct 10, Intel introduced its
Xeon, a dual-core processor. AMD unveiled its dual-core Opteron in
April.
(SFC, 10/11/05, p.E1)
2005 Oct 10, Refco Inc., a futures
trading company that went public August 11, ousted CEO Phillip Bennett
after discovering that a firm he controlled owed Refco $430 million.
Bennett repaid the cash the same day. Bennett was arrested the next day
and charged with securities fraud on Oct 12. Refco field for bankruptcy
on Oct 17.
(SFC, 10/11/05, p.E12)(SFC, 10/13/05, p.C1)(Econ,
10/15/05, p.79)(WSJ, 7/3/06, p.A1)
2005 Oct 10, In Afghanistan a
suicide bomber killed a former militia commander and two others in
Kandahar. Police later thwarted a second such attack in the same city
when a man blew himself up as he fled the officers.
(AP, 10/10/05)
2005 Oct 10, In southern
Afghanistan suspected Taliban rebels ambushed a police convoy traveling
on a mountain road in Helmand province, killing 19 officers in the
deadliest attack ever on the fledgling police force. 2 suicide bombers,
one of whom was identified as an Arab, killed three people and wounded
eight in Kandahar.
(AP, 10/11/05)
2005 Oct 10, In Afghanistan US
warplanes killed 10 suspected rebels in Uruzgan province.
(AP, 10/12/05)
2005 Oct 10, Election officials
said Armen Keshishian, the mayor of Nor-Achin a small Armenian town
jailed on murder charges, was re-elected to his post. Keshishian has
been charged in the Sept. 24 shooting death of Ashot Mkhitarian, the
head of a local electric utility. The pistol that allegedly killed the
utility chief had been presented to Keshishian by PM Andranik
Markarian. Keshishian will govern his town from behind bars pending
trial.
(AP, 10/10/05)
2005 Oct 10, Shinka Manova, a
high-ranking Bulgarian customs official, was slain in Sofia. He was
allegedly protecting the smuggling business of the mafia.
(AP, 10/26/05)
2005 Oct 10, Clashes broke between
Colombian police and Indians protesting a planned free trade accord
with the US, leaving one Indian dead and at least 15 wounded.
(AP, 10/10/05)
2005 Oct 10, Conservative leader
Angela Merkel said she had reached a "good and fair" deal that will
make her Germany's first female chancellor in a power-sharing agreement
that would end Gerhard Schroeder's seven years in office.
(AP, 10/10/05)
2005 Oct 10, The US formally
handed Rhein-Main Air Base over to the German government, ending a
60-year stay during which the sprawling field was a hub of activity for
American forces facing Soviet bloc troops and Mideast tensions.
(AP, 10/10/05)
2005 Oct 10, Guatemalan officials
said they would abandon communities buried by landslides and declare
them mass graveyards as reports of devastation trickled in from some of
the more than 100 communities cut off from the outside world after
killer mudslides.
(AP, 10/10/05)
2005 Oct 10, India and Pakistan
set aside their often-bitter rivalry when Islamabad accepted an offer
of aid for earthquake victims.
(AP, 10/10/05)
2005 Oct 10, Indonesia said it
will test its stock of bird flu vaccine after a corruption scandal
involving production of sub-standard doses.
(AFP, 10/10/05)
2005 Oct 10, An Iraqi official
said an arrest warrant has been issued for Hazem Shaalam, a former
Iraqi defense minister, accused of corruption and abuse of power while
working in the previous interim government, which was installed by the
United States last year.
(AP, 10/10/05)
2005 Oct 10, In Iraq insurgents
launched a new salvo of attacks five days ahead of a crucial
constitutional referendum, killing at least 12 Iraqis and a US soldier
with suicide car bombs, roadside explosives and drive-by shootings.
(AP, 10/10/05)
2005 Oct 10, Israeli forces caught
a 14-year-old boy whom militants tried to push into becoming a suicide
bomber.
(AP, 10/12/05)
2005 Oct 10, Japan's space agency
conducted a test flight of a supersonic jet prototype in the Australian
Outback.
(AP, 10/10/05)
2005 Oct 10, Morocco began
deporting would-be immigrants, with a flight carrying 140 Senegalese
taking off for Dakar after hundreds of Africans stormed razor-wire
border fences in recent weeks.
(AP, 10/10/05)
2005 Oct 10, The final count in
Poland's presidential election confirmed that the pro-market lawmaker
Donald Tusk won more votes than conservative Warsaw Mayor Lech
Kaczynski, but fell short of a majority needed for an outright victory
in a first round of balloting.
(AP, 10/10/05)
2005 Oct 10, The Anatolia news
agency said a suspect in a bombing plot against Israeli ships in Turkey
earlier gave $50,000 to people accused of carrying out a series of
bombings in Istanbul that killed 60 people in 2003, according to
testimony from Burhan Kus, a suspect submitted by prosecutors to a
court.
(AP, 10/10/05)
2005 Oct 10, Apolo Milton Obote
(b.1924), former head of Uganda, died in South Africa. He led Uganda
from 1966-1971, when he was overthrown in a coup by Idi Amin, and from
1980-1985 following disputed general elections.
(AFP, 10/11/05)
2005 Oct 11, The US Army Corps of
Engineers said it had finished pumping out the New Orleans metropolitan
area, which was flooded by Hurricane Katrina six weeks earlier and then
was swamped again by Hurricane Rita.
(AP, 10/11/06)
2005 Oct 11, Google unveiled
Google.org, an umbrella organization for its philanthropic plans,
committing nearly $1 billion to help solve problems including poverty
and environmental destruction.
(SFC, 10/12/05, p.C1)
2005 Oct 11, In Zabul province
US-led coalition and Afghan forces killed two Chechens and a Pakistani
who were fighting alongside Taliban rebels.
(AP, 10/11/05)
2005 Oct 11,
In Afghanistan suspected Taliban ambushed a convoy and killed six
police.
(AP, 10/12/05)
2005 Oct 11, Authorities in Brazil
declared part of the Amazon River a disaster area after a drought left
the levels of parts of the river too low for navigation.
(AP, 10/11/05)
2005 Oct 11, The British
government said it will pay unspecified compensation for injuries and
damage caused when its army stormed a police station in the southern
Iraqi city of Basra last month to release two soldiers.
(AP, 10/11/05)
2005 Oct 11, British police
arrested 19 people on human smuggling charges. Authorities said the
multi-national organization had illegally brought tens of thousands of
Turkish Kurds into Britain in recent years.
(SFC, 10/12/05, p.A3)
2005 Oct 11, Arthur Seldon (89),
British intellectual architect of Blairism and Thatcherism, died.
Antony Fisher, founder of the Institute of Economic Affairs, hired
Seldon as editorial director in 1958.
(Econ, 10/22/05, p.90)
2005 Oct 11, China's ruling party
said communist leaders have approved an economic plan aimed at easing
the growing and politically explosive gap between its rich and poor.
(AP, 10/11/05)
2005 Oct 11, Colombia's navy
seized $188 million worth of cocaine, believed to have belonged to
rebels, that was hidden in underground chambers next to a river deep in
southwestern jungles.
(AP, 10/11/05)
2005 Oct 11, In Egypt some 3,000
Islamists students staged a demonstration at Cairo Univ. to press for
increased freedom on campus and free and fair union elections next
month.
(AFP, 10/11/05)
2005 Oct 11, Haiti's highest court
ruled that Dumarsais Simeus, a Haitian-born U.S. businessman, may run
for president. Simeus said this marked a turning point in the roles
expatriate Haitians could play in their homeland.
(AP, 10/11/05)
2005 Oct 11, Diplomats said Iran
has signaled it is ready to compromise on granting access to sites
linked to possible work on nuclear weapons and other demands from the
UN atomic watchdog agency to try to avoid referral to the Security
Council.
(AP, 10/11/05)
2005 Oct 11, Insurgents determined
to wreck Iraq's constitutional referendum killed more than 40 people
and wounded dozens in a series of attacks, including a suicide car bomb
that ripped apart a crowded market in a town near the Syrian border.
(AP, 10/11/05)
2005 Oct 11, In Iraq an IED killed
2 US soldiers in Ramadi.
(WSJ, 10/12/05, p.A1)
2005 Oct 11, Irish author John
Banville beat higher profile favorites to become the surprise winner of
Britain's prestigious Booker Prize for fiction. His 14th novel "The
Sea" was described by the judges as "a masterly study of grief, memory
and love recollected".
(AP, 10/11/05)(Econ, 10/15/05, p.91)
2005 Oct 11, Israeli forces
disguised as vegetable vendors in Tsurif captured Ibrahim Ighnimat
(47), a senior Hamas operative, who had been on the run for eight years.
(AP, 10/12/05)
2005 Oct 11, Japan's powerful
lower house of parliament approved a plan to privatize the country's
vast postal system.
(AP, 10/11/05)
2005 Oct 11, Liberia held
presidential elections. 22 candidates included an international soccer
star, two former warlords and a Harvard-educated woman. Election
officials using battery-powered lanterns counted ballots through the
night from the country's first postwar polls. Ex-soccer star George
Weah led 21 rivals.
(AP, 10/11/05)(Reuters, 10/11/05)(WSJ, 10/12/05,
p.A1)
2005 Oct 11, It was reported that
a serial killer, dubbed the "Mataviejitas," or "Little Old Lady
Killer," was stalking Mexico City. The killer was said to wear women's
clothes and strangled and battered old ladies in their homes.
(AP, 10/11/05)
2005 Oct 11, In Pakistan survivors
scuffled over the badly needed food, the first large-scale aid to make
it overland to the devastated city of Muzaffarabad. Officials estimated
that the death toll would surpass 35,000.
(AP, 10/11/05)
2005 Oct 11-2005 Oct 12, Polish
customs officials seized at least 8 million cigarettes apparently
destined for the British market in a coordinated sweep in two cities.
The cigarettes, mostly low-quality Ukrainian-made, were to be
incinerated.
(AP, 10/12/05)
2005 Oct 11, US millionaire
scientist Gregory Olsen and a two-man, Russian-American crew returned
from the international space station to Earth in a swift, bone-jarring
descent in Kazakhstan.
(AP, 10/11/05)
2005 Oct 11, South Korea raised
interest rates .25% for the 1st time in 3 years to 3.5%.
(WSJ, 10/12/05, p.A14)
2005 Oct 11, A Turkish company
signed an agreement to build a $360 million power station in southern
Israel. An Israeli Cabinet minister praised such deals as examples of
strengthening ties between the Muslim and Jewish countries.
(AP, 10/11/05)
2005 Oct 12, Human Rights Watch
reported that 2,225 inmates in the US were serving life-without-parole
terms for crimes committed when they were under 18. California had 180
prisoners serving such sentences for murders committed when they were
17 or 18.
(SFC, 10/13/05, p.B3)
2005 Oct 12-2005 Oct 13, US
federal agents in Operation Long Whine arrested 28 people and seized
1,300 pounds of cocaine during an overnight raid in Atlanta.
(SFC, 10/14/05, p.A3)
2005 Oct 12, Bridgestone Firestone
North American Tire said it has agreed to pay $240 million to Ford
Motor Co. to settle claims related to the tiremaker's 2000 recall of
defective tires.
(AP, 10/12/05)
2005 Oct 12, A fire at the Wines
Central warehouse in Vallejo, Ca., destroyed tens of million of dollars
worth of vintage wine. An estimated 6 million bottles were in storage
there. On Oct 18 investigators said the fire was deliberately set. In
2007 Mark Anderson (58), a Sausalito businessman, was charged with
setting the fire. In 2009 Anderson pleaded guilty to arson and 18 other
counts.
(SFC, 10/13/05, p.A1)(SFC, 10/19/05, p.B1)(SFC,
3/20/07, p.A1)(SFC, 11/17/09, p.C2)
2005 Oct 12, In Afghanistan 5
medical workers were killed by gunmen near Kandahar. Pres. Karzai said
he believes insurgents are receiving support from the nation's booming
drug trade.
(AP, 10/12/05)
2005 Oct 12, The British
government unveiled sweeping anti-terrorism legislation designed to
crack down on Islamic extremism, raising concerns from Muslim leaders,
opposition parties and legal experts about the potential for infringing
on civil liberties.
(AP, 10/12/05)
2005 Oct 12, A rocket carrying two
Chinese astronauts blasted off from a base in China's desert northwest
Gansu province, returning the country's manned space program to orbit
two years after its history-making first flight.
(AP, 10/12/05)(Econ, 10/15/05, p.46)
2005 Oct 12, In eastern China a
man armed with homemade guns opened fire at a primary school, injuring
16 students before escaping.
(AP, 10/13/05)
2005 Oct 12, Tens of thousands of
trade union workers and Indians took to the streets of Colombia's main
cities to protest a proposed free trade pact with the US, accusing
President Alvaro Uribe of selling out the country.
(AP, 10/12/05)
2005 Oct 12, In Costa Rica the
InterAmerican Human Rights court, announced that it has ordered
Colombia to pay damages in the 1997 massacre of dozens of Mapiripan
villagers by right-wing paramilitary fighters.
(AP, 10/12/05)
2005 Oct 12, In Egypt a sit-in by
hundreds of Sudanese refugees outside the offices of the UNHCR in the
Cairo entered its 14th day, even as the agency insisted it could not
meet their asylum demands. Some 14,400 Sudanese refugees were
registered in Egypt.
(AP, 10/12/05)
2005 Oct 12, The European
Commission said companies that want to sell music online in the
European Union can now get a single license to operate in all 25 member
states.
(AP, 10/12/05)
2005 Oct 12, The EU agreed to
legally require telecommunications companies to keep records of phone
and e-mail traffic for up to one year as part of the bloc's
anti-terrorist campaign.
(AP, 10/12/05)
2005 Oct 12, The European
Commission presented a new development aid strategy focused primarily
on easing poverty in Africa and on holding EU member states to their
promises to double aid to the continent.
(AP, 10/12/05)
2005 Oct 12, Chancellor Gerhard
Schroeder said he will not participate in Germany's new coalition
government, ending seven years in power marked by a newly assertive
foreign policy and efforts to prune welfare benefits that were a drag
on Europe's biggest economy.
(AP, 10/12/05)
2005 Oct 12, In Port-au-Prince,
Haiti, kidnappers shot and killed businessman Archange Honore, on a
busy street after he resisted being taken, then sped off in his car
with his wife and 2 children.
(AP, 10/13/05)
2005 Oct 12, Iraq’s President
Jalal Talabani and other top politicians praised as "historic" the
last-minute compromises that negotiators reached on the draft
constitution and urged Iraqis to vote "yes" in this weekend's
referendum.
(AP, 10/12/05)
2005 Oct 12, A suicide bomber
killed 30 Iraqis at an army recruiting center. An explosion shut down
an oil pipeline near the northern city of Beiji.
(AP, 10/12/05)
2005 Oct 12, Officials said former
Finance Minister Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf and soccer star George Weah
emerged as early front-runners in Liberia's first post-war elections.
(AP, 10/12/05)
2005 Oct 12, A Dutch court blocked
the extradition of a Dutch terror suspect to the United States, saying
his legal rights in U.S. custody could not be guaranteed.
(AP, 10/12/05)
2005 Oct 12, A build up of
pollution from factories and old cars caused a wave of smog that
enveloped much of Lagos, Nigeria's largest city.
(AP, 10/13/05)
2005 Oct 12, Masked Palestinian
gunmen kidnapped a US and a British journalist in the Gaza Strip. Both
men were freed in the evening.
(AP, 10/12/05)
2005 Oct 12, An explosion hit a
distillery in Russia's Ingushetia region and there were casualties. A
police spokesman called the blast a terrorist act.
(AP, 10/12/05)
2005 Oct 12, In Somalia 6 armed
men hijacked the MV Miltzow, a ship carrying food aid, as it was
unloading at the port of Merka, marking the second such incident in
recent months.
(AP, 10/12/05)
2005 Oct 12, In South Korea the
president's office said South Korea has proposed talks to take back
wartime control of its military from the United States.
(AP, 10/12/05)
2005 Oct 12, Ghazi Kanaan, Syria's
interior minister, died. He was one of several top officials caught up
in the UN investigation into the slaying of Lebanon's former prime
minister. The country's official news agency said he committed suicide
in his office.
(AP, 10/12/05)(Econ, 10/15/05, p.50)
2005 Oct 12, Vietnam presented
donor nations an emergency six-month plan to battle bird flu, amid
fears of a new outbreak of the deadly disease and delays in a poultry
vaccination scheme.
(AFP, 10/12/05)
2005 Oct 12, Venezuelan President
Hugo Chavez ordered a U.S.-based Christian missionary group working
with indigenous tribes to leave the country, accusing the organization
of "imperialist infiltration" and links to the CIA. Chavez said
missionaries of the New Tribes Mission, based in Sanford, Fla., were no
longer welcome during a ceremony in a remote Indian village where he
presented property titles to several indigenous groups.
(AP, 10/12/05)
2005 Oct 13, US intelligence
officials announced the establishment of a National Clandestine Service
to run CIA operations and coordinate activities with the Pentagon and
FBI.
(SFC, 10/14/05, p.A7)
2005 Oct 13, South Korea’s Samsung
Electronics agreed to plead guilty to US charges of price fixing memory
chips from 1999-2002 and to pay a $300 million fine. In 2006 3 Samsung
executives were sentenced to serve up to 8 months in federal prison and
fined $250,000 each.
(SFC, 10/14/05, p.C1)(SFC, 3/23/06, p.C1)
2005 Oct 13, In Afghanistan Sargon
Heinrich (40) of Rio Vista, Ca., head of a building company, was hauled
from his boardinghouse in Kabul as Afghan agents arrested patrons
there. He refused to pay a bribe for release and was charged on Nov 23
for gun-running, forged ID and refusal to cooperate with authorities. 2
Britons and an Indian faced the same plight. All 4 were released Dec 8.
(SFC, 12/6/05, p.A8)(SFC, 12/10/05, p.A3)
2005 Oct 13, An international
group of artists, scientists, lawyers, politicians, economists,
academics and business experts issued the Adelphi Charter, which set
out new principles for copyrights and patents, and calls on governments
to apply a new public interest test. The charter stemmed from the 1754
mission of Britain’s Royal Society of Arts.
(Econ, 10/15/05,
p.67)(www.adelphicharter.org/default.asp)
2005 Oct 13, Argentina and Chile
suspended imports of Brazilian meat, joining 28 other countries with
similar bans after an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease.
(AP, 10/13/05)
2005 Oct 13, British playwright
Harold Pinter, who juxtaposed the brutal and the banal in such works as
"The Caretaker" and "The Birthday Party" and made an art form out of
spare language and unbearable silence, won the 2005 Nobel Prize in
literature.
(AP, 10/13/05)
2005 Oct 13, Scientists announced
the discovery in Argentina of a rooster-size fossil named Buitreraptor
gonzalezorum. It dates back 90 million years and closely resembles
fossils from the North. It was part of the class called dromaesaurs
believed to have originated 180 million years ago in Laurasia.
(www.livescience.com/animalworld/051012_new_dino.html)
2005 Oct 13, Chinese archeologists
reported their find of a 4,000 year-old container in northwestern China
of noodles made from millet.
(SFC, 10/13/05, p.A2)
2005 Oct 13, At the Ibero-American
Summit in Spain, foreign ministers from Latin America, Spain and
Portugal backed Cuba on in two of its battles against the US, calling
for an end to the US embargo and the expulsion from the U.S. of a Cuban
militant wanted for a 1976 plane bombing.
(AP, 10/13/05)
2005 Oct 13, Lucio Gutierrez,
ousted Ecuadorian President said he was renouncing his asylum in
Colombia and would return to his own country, where he faces arrest,
and attempt to regain power.
(AP, 10/13/05)
2005 Oct 13, The EU said the bird
flu virus found in Turkish poultry was the H5N1 strain that scientists
worry might mutate into a human virus and spark a pandemic. Turkey's
health minister said the outbreak had been contained.
(AP, 10/13/05)
2005 Oct 13, Germany's highest
administrative court has upheld claims to real estate in Berlin by
heirs of the Jewish Wertheim family who lost their department store
fortune under the Nazis. The department store site is worth some $20
million. The decision opened the way for claims on a total of 24 acres
of former Wertheim property in Berlin, which was estimated to be worth
some $200 million.
(AP, 10/26/05)
2005 Oct 13, Authorities said the
number of people missing in Guatemala after last week's flooding and
mudslides rose to 828, while the confirmed death toll held steady at
654.
(AP, 10/13/05)
2005 Oct 13, In Iraq a US soldier
died when by a roadside bomb hit his combat patrol.
(AP, 10/13/05)
2005 Oct 13, A female suicide
bomber blew herself up minutes before an army convoy was to pass on a
key highway in Indian Kashmir, the first such attack by a woman in the
region's Islamic separatist conflict.
(AP, 10/13/05)
2005 Oct 13, The UN adopted AU
proposals giving Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo a year more in office
with the caveat that he cede some powers to the prime minister.
(Econ, 10/22/05, p.50)
2005 Oct 13, Soccer star George
Weah took an early lead as results trickled in from Liberia's first
post-war elections, but he seemed likely to face a run-off with former
Finance Minister Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf.
(AP, 10/13/05)
2005 Oct 13, Philippine police
fired jets of water and used anti-riot shields to break up a march by
about 300 left-wing student activists demanding the ouster of President
Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.
(AP, 10/13/05)
2005 Oct 13, In Russia scores of
Islamic militants launched simultaneous attacks on police and
government buildings in Nalchik, capital of the republic of
Kabardino-Balkariya, sparking battles that killed 139 people, including
94 militants. Chechen rebels claimed responsibility for the attacks.
President Putin ordered a total blockade of Nalchik, a city of 235,000,
to prevent militants from slipping out, and he said armed resisters
would be shot.
(SFC, 10/14/05, p.A11)(Econ, 7/15/06, p.25)(AP,
10/13/06)
2005 Oct 13, Spanish authorities
said police have seized 3.5 tons of cocaine in a fishing boat bound for
Spain from Venezuela after tip-offs from U.S. authorities.
(AP, 10/13/05)
2005 Oct 14, The US Treasury
Department reported that the federal deficit hit $319 billion for the
budget year just ended, down from the previous year, but still the
third highest.
(AP, 10/14/06)
2005 Oct 14, Rain fell for an
eighth straight day around the waterlogged Northeast US, pushing people
from their homes in the middle of the night and leaving train tracks
littered with fallen trees.
(AP, 10/14/05)
2005 Oct 14, Dernae Wysinger (22)
and his 2-year-old son were shot to death in San Francisco’s Potrero
Hill district. Police soon issued an arrest warrant for suspect Joseph
Stevens (22). This marked the 64th and 65th homicides in SF this year.
In 2007 Stevens (23) was convicted for the murders, which were
apparently done in retaliation for another slaying.
(SSFC, 10/16/05, p.B1)(SFC, 3/21/07, p.B3)
2005 Oct 14, Blond,
blue-eyed British actor Daniel Craig was named the new James Bond.
(AP, 10/14/06)
2005 Oct 14, Insurgents staged a
series of attacks, killing a pro-government cleric, two police and
blowing up eight fuel tankers parked outside a US-led coalition base in
southern Afghanistan.
(AP, 10/14/05)
2005 Oct 14, Bulgaria adopted a
new penal procedure to remedy a judiciary system that has been
criticized for failing to jail well-known criminals.
(AP, 10/26/05)
2005 Oct 14, Lucio Gutierrez,
former Ecuador president who was ousted from office, returned to
Ecuador in a bid to regain power, but he was arrested moments after his
plane landed.
(AP, 10/15/05)
2005 Oct 14, Sunni insurgents
launched five attacks against the largest Sunni Arab political party on
the eve of Iraq's crucial referendum, bombing and burning offices and
the home of one of its leaders in retaliation after the group dropped
its opposition to the draft constitution.
(AP, 10/14/05)
2005 Oct 14, Italy's culture
industry pledged to shut down theaters, cinemas and cancel concerts
throughout the country for the day to protest planned cuts to the art
budget.
(AP, 10/14/05)
2005 Oct 14, Italy’s Alitalia
airline, 62.3% owned by the government, approved a revised corporate
plan for 2005-2008.
(Econ, 10/22/05, p.70)
2005 Oct 14, Dutch police detained
seven suspects in an anti-terrorism operation in three cities,
including the capital, aimed at thwarting a suspected plot to attack
politicians and a government building.
(AP, 10/14/05)
2005 Oct 14, A consortium led by
South Africa’s Sheltam Trade Close won the privatization bid for the
rail line linking Mombassa, Kenya, and Kampala, Uganda. Nicknamed since
1895 as the “lunatic express,” it was renamed the Rift Valley Railways.
(Econ, 10/22/05, p.68)
2005 Oct 14, In Nicaragua
Sandinista leader Daniel Ortega announced that he has broken a
political pact with opponents of President Enrique Bolanos, a move that
could end a political crisis that threatened the country's presidency.
(AP, 10/15/05)
2005 Oct 14, Palestinian leader
Mahmoud Abbas arrived in Jordan for talks with King Abdullah II.
(AP, 10/14/05)
2005 Oct 14, In Nalchik Russian
security forces in an armored personnel carrier smashed through the
wall of a store to rescue two hostages held by suspected Islamic
militants as authorities tried to clear out the last pockets of rebel
resistance after more than a day of fighting that killed 139 people
including 92 militants.
(AP, 10/14/05)(WSJ, 10/17/05, p.A1)(Econ, 7/15/06,
p.25)
2005 Oct 14, Somalia's PM Ali
Mohamed Gedi called on neighboring countries to send warships to patrol
his nation's waters after pirates seized a 3rd cargo vessel delivering
food aid.
(AP, 10/14/05)
2005 Oct 14, At the Ibero-American
Summit in Spain UN Sec.-General Kofi Annan called for greater progress
in trade talks on farming.
(AP, 10/14/05)
2005 Oct 14, A Turkish court
convicted two brothers for the "honor killing" of their sister and
sentenced one to life in prison and the other to more than 11 years
behind bars.
(AP, 10/14/05)
2005 Oct 14, President Viktor
Yushchenko dismissed Ukraine's top prosecutor less than a week after he
launched investigations against a presidential ally, deepening the
confusion in the former Soviet republic.
(AP, 10/14/05)
2005 Oct 14, A researcher said
bird flu virus found in a Vietnamese girl was resistant to the main
drug that's being stockpiled in case of a pandemic, a sign that it's
important to keep a second drug on hand as well.
(AP, 10/14/05)
2005 Oct 15, Thousands gathered in
DC at the National Mall for the Millions More Movement to commemorate
the 10th anniversary of the Million Man March organized by Nation of
Islam leader Louis Farrakhan.
(AP, 10/15/05)
2005 Oct 15, Marcia and Ken
Powers, a husband-and-wife team, reached the Pacific Ocean on after a
4,900-mile cross-country hike, becoming the first to backpack the
transcontinental American Discovery Trail in one continuous trek. They
had started Feb. 27 at Cape Henlopen in Delaware.
(AP, 10/16/05)
2005 Oct 15, In Toledo, Ohio, a
riot broke out when protesters confronted members of the National
Socialist Movement who had gathered at a city park. More than 100
people were arrested and one officer was seriously injured.
(AP, 10/16/05)
2005 Oct 15, In Texas the
Government Canyon State Natural Area officially opened. The over 8,600
acre area was set aside to protect the Edwards Aquifer, which provided
drinking water for San Antonio.
(LP, Spring 2006, p.55)
2005 Oct 15, Pamela Vitale (52),
the wife of prominent defense attorney and TV legal analyst Daniel
Horowitz, was found slain in the couple's home in Lafayette, Ca. On Oct
20 police arrested Scott Dyleski (16), a neighbor scheming to grow pot,
as a suspect in the murder. Dyleski was convicted of first-degree
murder on Aug 28, 2006, and faced life in prison.
(AP, 10/16/05)(SFC, 10/21/05, p.A1)(SFC, 8/29/06,
p.A1)
2005 Oct 15, Jason Collier (28),
Atlanta Hawks center, died, possibly of cardiac arrest.
(AP, 10/15/05)
2005 Oct 15-2005 Oct 16, The G20
group of rich and developing nations met in Xianghe, China. They
sounded the alarm over high oil prices but barely touched on the role a
stronger yuan could play in easing world economic imbalances.
(AP, 10/16/05)
2005 Oct 15, Egyptian authorities
ordered the release of a leading Muslim Brotherhood figure, Essam
el-Erian, and three other members of the banned Islamic group.
(AP, 10/15/05)
2005 Oct 15, The European
Commission said tests have confirmed a link between the bird flu found
in Romania and the virus that has devastated flocks in Asia and turned
up in Turkey.
(AP, 10/15/05)
2005 Oct 15, In Iran 2 bombs hit a
shopping center Saturday in Ahvaz, near the southwestern border with
Iraq, killing two people and wounding at least 50.
(AP, 10/15/05)
2005 Oct 15, Iraq's deeply divided
Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds voted under heavy guard Saturday to decide
the fate of a new constitution. A roadside bomb killed three Iraqi
soldiers in northeast Iraq, and seven people were wounded during
attacks by insurgents near five of Baghdad's 1,200 polling stations.
(AP, 10/15/05)
2005 Oct 15, In Iraq 5 American
soldiers were killed by a bomb blast on referendum day.
(AP, 10/16/05)
2005 Oct 15, Israeli painter
Efraim Reuytenberg (91), known for infusing Chinese influences and bold
colors into his work, died in Israel.
(AP, 10/20/05)
2005 Oct 15, A worsening food
crisis threatening millions of people prompted Malawi's Pres. Bingu wa
Mutharika to declare the African nation a "disaster area" and call for
more international aid.
(AP, 10/15/05)
2005 Oct 15, Moroccan authorities
flew 435 illegal immigrants home to Senegal and Mali, starting a second
wave of mass deportations of sub-Saharan Africans who have tried to
slip into Europe through the North African kingdom.
(AP, 10/16/05)
2005 Oct 15, Nigeria and Cameroon
discussed a new program for Nigeria to withdraw from the disputed
Bakassi peninsula, but failed to set a new deadline after two days of
talks in Abuja.
(AP, 10/16/05)
2005 Oct 15, The death toll in
Pakistan's devastating earthquake rose to nearly 40,000, while rain,
snow and frigid temperatures compounded the misery of millions of
homeless victims.
(AP, 10/15/05)
2005 Oct 15, In northeastern
Spanish at least 5 north African men were killed, four were injured and
one was believed still trapped under rubble after a three-storey 17th
century building collapsed in the town of Piera.
(AP, 10/15/05)
2005 Oct 15, Members of a
Venezuelan indigenous tribe criticized President Hugo Chavez's order to
expel a U.S. missionary group he accused of links to the CIA, saying
the decision goes against the interests of their impoverished
communities.
(AP, 10/16/05)
2005 Oct 16, The Chicago White Sox
beat the Los Angeles Angels 6-3 to win the American League Championship
Series in five games, their first pennant since 1959.
(AP, 10/16/06)
2005 Oct 16, In Wisconsin a bus
carrying Chippewa Falls High School students home from a band
competition collided with a semi truck, killing five passengers near
Osseo.
(AP, 10/16/05)
2005 Oct 16, In SF Andre Daniels
(31) was robbed and his wife was raped at 73 Brookdale Ave, in the
Sunnyside housing project in Visitacion Valley. Daniels identified
Laron Lewis (26) as one of the assailants and a tip led police to
Damien Ramond (23). On May 20, 2007, Daniels was shot and killed
outside his unit at the Alice Griffith project in the Bayview district.
His death doomed the sexual assault case against Lewis and Ramond.
(SSFC, 11/23/08, p.A14)
2005 Oct 16, Elmer "Len" Dresslar
Jr. (80), the booming voice of the Jolly Green Giant, died.
(AP, 10/16/06)
2005 Oct 16, Gordon Lee (b.1933),
child actor who played Porky in the “Our Gang” shorts (Little Rascals),
died in Minneapolis, Min. Porky was the little brother of Spanky
McFarland.
(SFC, 10/22/05, p.B5)
2005 Oct 16, Afghanistan's
election authority announced final results for two of the country's 34
provinces as hundreds of protestors blocked roads in two key cities
alleging fraud in the count. Officials said election authorities have
fired about 50 employees for suspected fraud in last month's
legislative polls. About 3% of votes, have been taken out of the
counting process because of suspicions that they were stuffed.
(AP, 10/16/05)(AFP, 10/16/05)
2005 Oct 16, In Argentina a fire
apparently set by rebellious inmates swept through a prison southeast
of Buenos Aires, killing at least 17 inmates.
(AP, 10/16/05)
2005 Oct 16, Britain’s Sunday
Telegraph said satellite broadcaster BSkyB will muscle in on the
lucrative Internet broadband market by announcing next week the
takeover of Easynet, the London-listed telecoms company.
(AP, 10/16/05)
2005 Oct 16, In China top US
economic officials, led by Treasury Secretary John Snow and Federal
Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, began talks with their Chinese
counterparts on rancorous economic issues, including Beijing's currency
controls and its huge and growing trade surplus. This is the 17th
meeting of the U.S.-China Joint Economic Commission since the forum was
founded in 1979 to thrash out economic issues.
(AP, 10/16/05)
2005 Oct 16, Iraq's constitution
seemed assured of passage despite strong opposition from Sunni Arabs,
who voted in surprisingly high numbers in an effort to stop it.
(AP, 10/16/05)
2005 Oct 16, Italy held primaries
to select the center-left's candidate to challenge conservative Premier
Silvio Berlusconi in next year's election. Former Italian premier
Romano Prodi made a sweeping victory in a nationwide primary.
(AP, 10/16/05)(AP, 10/17/05)
2005 Oct 16, In Italy center-left
politician Francesco Fortugno was shot as he voted in a nationwide
primary in the small Calabrian town of Locri. In March 2006 police
arrested 5 suspects in Reggio Calabria.
(AP, 10/22/05)(AP, 3/21/06)
2005 Oct 16, A Japanese newspaper
reported that the US and Japan have reached a basic agreement on
relocating two US military bases on the southern island of Okinawa,
where the US presence has frequently provoked protests.
(AP, 10/16/05)
2005 Oct 16, Palestinian gunmen
killed three Israelis and wounded five in drive-by attacks near Jewish
settlements.
(AP, 10/17/05)
2005 Oct 16, Alexander Slesarev, a
Russian businessman believed to be the true owner of Sodbiznesbank, was
shot to death outside Moscow along with his wife and young daughter.
(http://english.pravda.ru/topic/Kozlov-264/)(WSJ,
9/22/06, p.A6)
2005 Oct 16, Rebels and Sudanese
forces clashed in North Darfur with artillery fire killing a number of
civilians.
(AP, 10/17/05)
2005 Oct 16, Polish television
broadcast a recorded interview with Pope Benedict XVI, who said that he
planned to visit Poland, the homeland of his predecessor, John Paul II
(it's believed to be the first TV interview by a pope).
(AP, 10/16/06)
2005 Oct 16, In Syria a
pro-democracy group issued the Damascus Declaration for Democratic
National Change. The group came to be called the Damascus Declaration.
(AP, 10/29/08)(http://tinyurl.com/5jc9vh)
2005 Oct 16, In Tanzania 4 British
tourists and a Canadian pilot who were killed in a weekend plane crash
in the western part of the country.
(AFP, 10/18/05)
2005 Oct 16, In southern Thailand
about 20 suspected Muslim separatists stormed a monastery, hacked an
elderly Buddhist monk to death and fatally shot two temple boys.
(AP, 10/17/05)
2005 Oct 17, The American magazine
Conference unveiled the top 40 magazine covers of the last 40 years.
The top rating went to Rolling Stone for its 1/22/81 cover of John
Lennon and Yoko Ono lying in bed.
(www.magazine.org/Press_Room/13806.cfm)
2005 Oct 17, The FBI reported that
US murders fell to 16,137 in 2004, 391 fewer than in 2003 and that the
overall violent crime rate hit a 3-year low.
(WSJ, 10/18/05, p.A1)
2005 Oct 17, Serono Laboratories,
a Swiss drug-maker, pleaded guilty to US federal conspiracy charges and
agreed to pay $740 million for kickbacks to doctors for the AIDS drug
Serostim and for manipulating a test for AIDS patients.
(SFC, 10/18/05, p.E1)
2005 Oct 17, General Motors Corp.
and the United Auto Workers reached a tentative agreement that will
help the embattled automaker lower its health care costs even as GM
reported a whopping $1.6 billion loss for the third quarter.
(AP, 10/17/05)
2005 Oct 17, Commodities brokerage
Refco Inc. said it had filed for bankruptcy protection as it struck a
deal to sell its core futures brokerage business to a group of private
equity investors for $768 million. BAWAG, Austria’s 4th largest bank,
gave Refco a top-up loan of 350 million euros just hours before the
bankruptcy. In 2007 it was revealed that Wolfgang Flottl, a hedge fund
manager, had his investments sour in 1997 causing BAWAG to lose over $1
billion. The losses were hid from auditors for 7 years. Helmut Elsner,
former boss of BAWAG (1995-2003), faced charges along with 8 others for
the bank’s near collapse.
(Reuters, 10/17/06)(Econ, 5/6/06, p.72)(WSJ,
1/25/06, p.A1)(Econ, 7/21/07, p.73)
2005 Oct 17, Idaho state and
federal health officials are trying to get to the bottom of nine
reported cases of suspected sporadic CJD in Idaho this year.
(AP, 10/17/05)
2005 Oct 17, It was reported that
the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation pledged $15 million for the
Computer History Museum in Silicon Valley, the world's largest
institution dedicated to preserving Information Age artifacts.
(AP, 10/17/05)
2005 Oct 17, Two days of
U.S.-Chinese trade talks ended with no response by China to an
ambitious American proposal to reform its financial sector and open its
markets wider to foreign products, while also moving faster on currency
reforms.
(AP, 10/17/05)
2005 Oct 17,
Dr. Marvin Chodorow (b.1913), former professor of physics at
Stanford Univ., died. He expanded on the 1937 invention of the klystron
tube, an early form of the driver for microwave power, and increased
its power from a few hundred watts to millions of watts.
(www.stanford.edu/dept/news/pr/2005/pr-chodorow-102605.html)
2005 Oct 17, In southern
Afghanistan US-led coalition forces killed four police officers after
mistaking them for militants during an operation in the Maywand
district of Kandahar province. Elsewhere militants shot dead a police
intelligence officer as he was walking in Zabul province.
(AP, 10/18/05)
2005 Oct 17, An Azerbaijani
opposition leader was arrested in Ukraine and scores of his supporters
were detained by police. Tensions rose in Azerbaijan in the run-up to
next month's parliamentary election.
(AP, 10/17/05)
2005 Oct 17, Radovan Karadzic,
former Bosnian-Serb leader and war-crimes fugitive, released a 6th
collection of poems titled “Under the left Breast of the Century.”
(SFC, 10/19/05, p.A2)
2005 Oct 17, The British
government announced that smoking will be banned at all workplaces as
well as pubs and restaurants in Northern Ireland from April 2007.
(AP, 10/17/05)
2005 Oct 17, China’s Shenzhou 6
capsule carrying astronauts Fei Junlong and Nie Haisheng landed before
dawn by parachute in China's northern grasslands after a five-day
mission.
(AP, 10/17/05)
2005 Oct 17, Ba Jin (100), one of
China's most revered communist-era writers who attacked the evils of
the pre-revolutionary era in novels, short stories and essays, died of
cancer in Shanghai. He is best known for his 1931 novel "Family," the
story of a disintegrating feudal household. Ba Jin also translated the
Russian writers Ivan Turgenev and Pyotr Kropotkin.
(AP, 10/17/05)
2005 Oct 17, The EU urged Croatia
and Greece to expedite tests on dead birds as concerns rose over the
westward spread of avian flu.
(WSJ, 10/18/05, p.A1)
2005 Oct 17, The European Union
unblocked $87 million in development aid for Haiti, ending a freeze
imposed almost five years ago because of allegedly flawed elections in
the Western Hemisphere's poorest nation.
(AP, 10/17/05)
2005 Oct 17, Deutsche Bank AG and
private bank Sal. Oppenheim said they would acquire a combined 14%
stake in China's Hua Xia Bank in a deal worth 272 million euros ($326.4
million).
(AP, 10/17/05)
2005 Oct 17, Iraq's former Prime
Minister Ayad Allawi and other secular leaders announced a new
coalition they said unites moderate Sunnis, Shiites and other political
groups to run in December's parliamentary elections.
(AP, 10/17/05)
2005 Oct 17, In western Iraq 2 US
Marines were killed in fighting near the Jordanian border. Insurgents
shot and killed Ayed Abdul Ghani, an adviser to one of Iraq's top Sunni
Arab officials, as he drove to work in Baghdad.
(AP, 10/18/05)
2005 Oct 17, US warplanes and
helicopters bombed two western villages, killing an estimated 70
militants near a site where five American soldiers died in a weekend
roadside blast, the military. Residents said at least 39 of the dead
were civilians.
(AP, 10/17/05)
2005 Oct 17, Israel suspended
negotiations with the Palestinian Authority on issues such as prisoner
releases and slapped tough travel restrictions on the West Bank after
Palestinian gunmen killed three Israelis and wounded five a day earlier.
(AP, 10/17/05)
2005 Oct 17,
Japanese PM Junichiro Koizumi enraged China and South Korea by
visiting Tokyo's Yasukuni war shrine.
(AP, 10/17/06)
2005 Oct 17, Libyan Foreign
Minister Abdel Rahman Shalgam rejected a call by US President George W.
Bush for Tripoli to spare the lives of five Bulgarian nurses sentenced
to death for infecting hundreds of Libyan children with the AIDS virus.
(AP, 10/17/05)
2005 Oct 17, Dutch police arrested
45 members of the Hell's Angels motorcycle gang and seized an
assortment of weapons during nationwide raids on the group's
clubhouses. Prosecutors said those arrested face charges of murder,
extortion, intimidation and weapons and drug trafficking.
(AP, 10/17/05)
2005 Oct 17, Russian state
security agents arrested a senior tax official as he was handed a $1
million bribe in a plush Moscow hotel. The arrest was announced the
next day as corruption watchdog Transparency International published
its annual survey showing graft in Russia had worsened to put it on the
same level as Sierra Leone, Niger and Albania.
(AP, 10/18/05)(Econ, 10/22/05, p.53)
2005 Oct 17, Abdi Hassan Awale,
who once served as Somalia's interior minister, was arrested on
suspicion of war crimes while attending a conference in Sweden. He is
suspected of being a militia leader during the Oct 3, 1993, "Black Hawk
Down" battle that left 18 Americans dead.
(AP, 10/17/05)
2005 Oct 17, South Africa's
government vowed to press ahead with legislative attempts to take
greater control of the nation's diamonds and weaken the grip of
diamond-producer De Beers, dismissing arguments that this could disrupt
global markets and lead to job losses.
(AP, 10/17/05)
2005 Oct 18, US inflation at the
wholesale level last month soared by the largest amount in more than 15
years, reflecting the surge in energy prices that occurred following
the Gulf Coast hurricanes.
(AP, 10/18/05)
2005 Oct 18, The DJIA fell 62.84
points to 10285.26 following the sale of a 24.5 million block of Exxon
shares.
(WSJ, 10/19/05, p.C1)
2005 Oct 18, A US District Court
in SF sentenced Victor Conte (55), founder of Burlingame’s BALCO lab,
to 4 months in federal prison and 4 months of house arrest for
conspiracy to distribute undetectable steroids to top athletes.
(SFC, 10/19/05, p.A1)
2005 Oct 18, Scientists announced
that tracks of a previously unknown swimming dinosaur have been found
along the shores of an ancient sea in Wyoming.
(www.livescience.com/animalworld/051017_swimming_dino.html)
2005 Oct 18, Tropical Storm Wilma
strengthened into a hurricane as it continued on a path toward Mexico's
Yucatan Peninsula, then south Florida.
(AP, 10/18/06)
2005 Oct 18, Bill King (78), Bay
Area sportscaster, died in San Leandro, Ca.
(SFC, 10/19/05, p.A1)
2005 Oct 18, A former regional
governor who oversaw the destruction of two massive 1,500-year-old
Buddha statues during the Taliban's reign was elected to the Afghan
parliament last month, officials said as results from two provinces
were finalized.
(AP, 10/18/05)
2005 Oct 18, Transparency
International ranked Bangladesh and Chad as the most corrupt on an
annual list of corruption levels in 159 nations. At the other end of
the scale, Iceland was ranked least corrupt. Turkmenistan, Myanmar,
Haiti, Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea, the Ivory Coast and Angola joined
Chad and Bangladesh as the most corrupt countries.
(AP, 10/18/05)
2005 Oct 18, Brazil's government
pledged $14 million for relief efforts in the Amazon River basin, an
area ravaged by the worst drought in decades.
(AP, 10/18/05)
2005 Oct 18, An environmental
watchdog alleged that Chinese logging companies in Myanmar have
illegally exported huge amounts of timber in collusion with the
military government and ethnic guerrillas, destroying ecologically
unique forest areas.
(AP, 10/18/05)
2005 Oct 18, World Bank President
Paul Wolfowitz prodded China to give more power to the people for the
sake of sustaining strong economic growth.
(AP, 10/18/05)
2005 Oct 18, In northeastern India
machete-wielding attackers ambushed a bus and tribal militants set fire
to two villages of a rival group, killing 37 people.
(AP, 10/18/05)
2005 Oct 18, Suspected Islamic
militants killed the education minister of Indian-controlled Kashmir
during a brazen raid days after top insurgents ordered a suspension of
attacks in the aftermath of South Asia's devastating earthquake.
(AP, 10/18/05)
2005 Oct 18, A roadside bomb hit a
US Army patrol south of Baghdad, killing one soldier and wounding two
others. A US soldier died from a non-hostile gunshot wound at a forward
operating base near Mosul.
(AP, 10/19/05)(AP, 10/20/05)
2005 Oct 18, A British soldier was
killed by a roadside bomb in southern Iraq.
(AFP, 10/19/05)
2005 Oct 18, In Rome, Italy, a
teenager (15) who appeared on the roof of his family home with a pistol
following the shooting deaths of his parents was taken into custody
after an officer coaxed him down by telling him the couple was only
wounded.
(AP, 10/18/05)
2005 Oct 18, It was reported that
a leading pro-opposition news website in Kazakhstan has been closed by
court order and others have experienced technical problems in the
run-up to a presidential election in the Central Asian state.
(Reuters, 10/18/05)
2005 Oct 18, Gen’l. Musharraf
announced that Pakistan was ready to allow Kashmiris to cross the “line
of control,” dividing Indian and Pakistani controlled areas, to help
their families.
(Econ, 10/22/05, p.45)
2005 Oct 18, A shadowy Palestinian
militant group said it has abducted two alleged collaborators with
Israel and threatened to carry out additional kidnappings.
(AP, 10/18/05)
2005 Oct 18, In Nalchik, Russia, a
suspect in last week's attacks here by alleged Islamic extremists was
reported killed in a clash with police.
(AP, 10/18/05)
2005 Oct 18, Alexander Yakovlev
(81), a key architect of former President Mikhail Gorbachev's political
reforms of perestroika and glasnost that shook the last years of the
Soviet Union, died.
(AP, 10/18/05)
2005 Oct 18, Thailand's Cabinet
announced it was extending a state of emergency in three southern
provinces to cope with an escalating Muslim insurgency.
(AP, 10/18/05)
2005 Oct 18, In Tunisia 8
prominent opponents of the government went on a hunger strike ahead of
a world summit on information in Tunis. They called for freedom of the
press and of association and want Tunisia’s 600-odd political prisoners
to be freed.
(Econ, 11/12/05, p.50)
2005 Oct 18, A new UN study said
armed conflicts have declined by 40 percent since the end of the Cold
War primarily because the United Nations was finally able to launch
peacekeeping and conflict-prevention operations around the world.
(AP, 10/18/05)
2005 Oct 19, The Houston Astros
defeated the St. Louis Cardinals for the National League title. They
will face the Chicago White Sox in the World Series.
(WSJ, 10/20/05, p.A1)
2005 Oct 19, US envoy Bill
Richardson toured a North Korean nuclear facility and held a second day
of talks with government officials as part of his efforts to encourage
Pyongyang to dismantle its atomic weapons program.
(AP, 10/19/05)
2005 Oct 19, Environmentalists
sued the US Navy alleging that a widely used from of sonar for
detecting enemy submarines disturbs and sometimes kills whales and
dolphins.
(SFC, 10/20/05, p.A6)
2005 Oct 19, Cisco Systems Inc.
said it will spend $1.1 billion in India over the next three years in
the company's largest investment outside the United States.
(AP, 10/19/05)
2005 Oct 19, Dell, the world's
largest personal computer producer, announced it was setting up a major
customer call center in the Philippines.
(AFP, 10/19/05)
2005 Oct 19, Lashaun Harris (23)
threw her 3 children into San Francisco Bay near Fishermen's Wharf. The
body of a third sibling was recovered. Harris had been staying with her
children at a Salvation Army shelter in Oakland. She told authorities
that voices had told her to throw her children into the water.
(AP, 10/20/05)
2005 Oct 19, Police in Bosnia
arrested a cyber-jihadist who called himself Maximus. Mirsad
Bektasevic, a Swedish teenager of Bosnian extraction, was sentenced to
jail along with 3 others for plotting attacks to take place in Bosnia
or other European countries. On his computer police found contacts with
other jihadists in Europe including Younis Tsouli (Irhabi007), whom
British police arrested 2 days later.
(Econ, 7/14/07,
p.28)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irhabi_007)
2005 Oct 19, Canadian police
arrested a Rwandan man who is living in Toronto, charging him with
crimes against humanity during the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.
(Reuters, 10/19/05)
2005 Oct 19, Chile's Supreme Court
stripped former dictator Gen. Augusto Pinochet of immunity from
prosecution for corruption charges related to his multimillion dollar
bank accounts overseas.
(AP, 10/19/05)
2005 Oct 19, China’s government
said some 2,600 birds have been found dead of bird flu in northern
China's grasslands, amid reports of new outbreaks in Europe and Russia.
(AP, 10/19/05)
2005 Oct 19, In China Tan Kai was
taken into custody in the eastern city of Hangzhou. He was detained
after he opened a bank account as part of efforts to register an
environmental group, "Green Watch." He went on trial in May, 2006, on
alleged charges of stealing state secrets, which stemmed from repairs
he did on a computer belonging to a member of the provincial Communist
Party committee.
(AP, 5/15/06)
2005 Oct 19, Colombia's highest
court approved a law allowing presidents to run for second terms.
(AP, 10/19/05)
2005 Oct 19, The International
Organization for Migration (IMO) said "Ethiopian women and girls who
migrate to Lebanon, Egypt, Yemen and Saudi Arabia suffer from
maltreatment, physical, sexual and emotional abuses," in a report based
on interviews with 443 women returning from the region.
(AP, 10/20/05)
2005 Oct 19, Hurricane Wilma
swirled into the most intense Atlantic storm ever recorded, a Category
5 monster whose 175 mph winds and heavy rains were blamed for killing
at least 11 people in Haiti and one in Jamaica as it bore down on
Central America.
(AP, 10/19/05)
2005 Oct 19, A defiant Saddam
Hussein pleaded innocent to charges of murder and torture as his
long-awaited trial began with the one-time dictator arguing about the
legitimacy of the court and scuffling with guards.
(AP, 10/19/05)
2005 Oct 19, Iraq’s trial of
Saddam Hussein on war crimes charges was adjourned to Nov 28 shortly
after it began.
(AP, 10/19/05)
2005 Oct 19, Iraqi police arrested
Saddam Hussein's nephew in Baghdad, charging that he served as the top
financier of Iraq's rampant insurgency. 3 US soldiers were killed by a
roadside bomb.
(AP, 10/20/05)
2005 Oct 19, Sunni-led insurgents
killed 26 people in Iraq, including six Shiites who were lined up at a
factory and gunned down in front of their fellow workers.
(AP, 10/19/05)(SFC, 10/20/05, p.A15)
2005 Oct 19, Rory Carroll, 33, an
Irish citizen who is the London Guardian's Baghdad correspondent, was
kidnapped while on assignment. Carroll was released the next day.
(AP, 10/19/05)(AP, 10/20/05)
2005 Oct 19-2005 Oct 20, Police
arrested total of 58 people for drug trafficking in Italy, Spain,
France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Serbia-Montenegro. The arrests
were a response to the Oct 16 murder of Italian politician Francesco
Fortugno.
(AP, 10/21/05)
2005 Oct 19, Two strong
aftershocks from the Oct 8 deadly earthquake shook South Asia,
unleashing landslides and setting off another wave of panic among
survivors of the disaster. A new tally from officials in India and
Pakistan pushed the death toll to 79,000.
(AP, 10/19/05)
2005 Oct 19, Libya sent to prison
for 18 months a blogger who criticized the government on the Internet.
A Tripoli court convicted Abdel Raziq al-Mansuri of illegal possession
of a handgun and sentenced him to 18 months' imprisonment. A rights
group said that after detaining al-Mansuri, Libyan security officials
searched his home and "found an old pistol that belonged to his father."
(AP, 11/4/05)
2005 Oct 19, Polish President
Aleksander Kwasniewski nominated conservative Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz
as PM following the first meeting of the newly elected parliament.
(AP, 10/19/05)
2005 Oct 19, Russia's Agriculture
Ministry confirmed that the Asian H5N1 strain had been detected in the
village of Yandovka, suggesting the dreaded virus might be spreading
across a swath from Siberia to the shores of the Mediterranean.
(AP, 10/20/05)
2005 Oct 19, A court officials
said a Spanish judge has issued an international arrest warrant for
three U.S. soldiers whose tank fired on a Baghdad hotel during the Iraq
war, killing a Spanish journalist and one other. Jose Couso, who worked
for the Spanish television network Telecinco, died April 8, 2003, after
a U.S. army tank crew fired a shell on Hotel Palestine.
(AP, 10/19/05)
2005 Oct 19, The UN said fighting
and insecurity throughout Darfur is hindering food and relief aid to
tens of thousands of people and forcing more displaced Sudanese into
already crammed refugee camps.
(AP, 10/19/05)
2005 Oct 19, Zimbabwean Archbishop
Pius Ncube said he feared 200,000 of his countrymen could die by early
next year because of food shortages he blamed on his government, and
called for President Robert Mugabe's ouster.
(AP, 10/19/05)
2005 Oct 20, President Bush met
with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas in the Oval Office and said
prospects for Palestinians gaining a state seem to be better than ever
before.
(AP, 10/20/05)
2005 Oct 20, US Congress approved
legislation protecting firearms manufacturers and dealers from a broad
swath of civil liability lawsuits. Pres. Bush pledged to sign it.
(SFC, 10/21/05, p.A1)
2005 Oct 20, Sen. Ted Stevens,
R-Alaska, vowed to resign from the Senate if his fellow lawmakers
followed through on threats to cancel spending on a $230 million
"bridge to nowhere" in Alaska that was stuck into a pork-filled highway
bill earlier this year.
(KRN, 10/20/05)
2005 Oct 20, US Rep. Tom DeLay
turned himself in at the sheriff's office in Travis County, Texas,
where he was fingerprinted, photographed and released on $10,000 bail
on conspiracy and money-laundering charges.
(AP, 10/20/06)
2005 Oct 20, Federal regulators
approved what would be the first transplant of fetal stem cells into
human brains, a procedure that if successful could open the door to
treating a host of neural disorders. The FDA said that doctors at
Stanford University Medical Center can begin the testing on six
children afflicted with Batten disease.
(AP, 10/20/05)
2005 Oct 20, Shirley Horn (71),
jazz singer and pianist, died in Washington DC.
(SFC, 10/22/05, p.B5)
2005 Oct 20, In southern
Afghanistan a car bomb exploded near a mosque killing Nafus Khan, the
deputy police chief of Nimroz province, and one of his bodyguards.
(AP, 10/21/05)
2005 Oct 20, A French couple who
poisoned their five children and then tried to commit suicide in a
desperate bid to escape towering debt was sentenced to prison terms by
a court outside Paris.
(AP, 10/20/05)
2005 Oct 20, Iranian state-run
television said that the country's Supreme Cultural Revolutionary
Council, headed by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, issued the ban on
foreign films that promote what were termed "arrogant powers", a
propaganda term the Iranians use to refer to the United States.
(http://tinyurl.com/87t7u)(AP, 10/27/05)
2005 Oct 20, An Iraqi Airways
plane landed in Cairo, making the first regular flight between Iraq and
Egypt in 15 years.
(AP, 10/20/05)
2005 Oct 20, In northern Iraq
insurgents using explosives set fire to the main oil pipeline.
Militants riding in a car opened fire on civilians outside a food shop
in the southern Dora area of Baghdad, killing two. The militants then
stopped, rushed into the store and gunned down a third Iraqi. A rocket
hit a public school for students aged 12 to 15 in the western
al-Mansour neighborhood of the capital, killing one child and wounding
five. A nearby shopkeeper also was killed. A suicide car bomb exploded
in front of a provincial government building in the city of Baqouba, 35
miles northeast of Baghdad. Three people were killed and 14 wounded.
(AP, 10/20/05)
2005 Oct 20, Saadoun Sughaiyer
al-Janabi, a defense lawyer in Saddam Hussein's mass murder trial, was
found dead soon after being kidnapped. His body was dumped near a
Baghdad mosque with two gunshots to the head. 4 US service members were
killed in two attacks. An American soldier was killed in the
northwestern town of Hit by "indirect fire," a term that usually means
a mortar or rocket attack.
(AP, 10/21/05)
2005 Oct 20, Inmates at a prison
hospital in Kyrgyzstan killed a parliamentarian and two other people
after taking him and his entourage hostage.
(AP, 10/20/05)
2005 Oct 20, It was reported that
Lebanon's state-run telephone system has billed the government for more
than $11 million in unpaid telephone charges run up by Syrian troops
before they left the country earlier this year after a nearly
three-decade occupation. Information Minister Ghazi Aridi said Lebanon’
government would pay the bill.
(AP, 10/20/05)
2005 Oct 20, The roof of a
hospital in central Nepal collapsed, killing at least 10 people and
injuring nine others.
(AP, 10/20/05)
2005 Oct 20, The Paris Club
announced and agreement to cancel 60% (about $18 billion) of Nigeria's
foreign debt. This fueled optimism among anti-poverty campaigners, but
corruption and requirements imposed by the West overshadowed the
future. Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation, was rated the sixth
most corrupt nation in the world in a survey released earlier this week
by Berlin-based Transparency International.
(AP, 10/21/05)
2005 Oct 20, Sudan's government
and rebels ended a sixth round of talks on the crisis in the country's
western Darfur region, announcing no agreements but pledging to
reconvene in a month to push forward the slow-moving peace process.
(AP, 10/20/05)
2005 Oct 20, A UN report
implicated the brother-in-law of Syria's president in the Feb 14
assassination of former Lebanese PM Rafik Hariri, and Lebanese
intelligence officials helped organize it. The UN inquiry officially
linked Damascus to the slaying for the first time. Syria rejected the
report. The names of top Syrians were edited out in the final version
of the report.
(AP, 10/21/05)
2005 Oct 20, In Taiwan, the
Agricultural Council confirmed the island's first case of bird flu.
Birds taken from a Panama-registered freighter that was stopped by the
Taiwanese coast guard on Oct. 14 tested positive for the H5N1 virus.
(AP, 10/20/05)
2005 Oct 20, Thailand PM Thaksin
Shinawatra said new lab results confirmed the country's 13th death from
bird flu.
(AP, 10/20/05)
2005 Oct 20, UNESCO's member
nations voted overwhelmingly to approve a pact on protecting cultural
diversity after a bitter debate left the United States isolated in
opposition to what it sees as a threat to sales of American movies and
music.
(AP, 10/20/05)
2005 Oct 21, US and Colombian
authorities shut down a drug trafficking and money laundering operation
that exported about $1 million worth of cocaine every week to the
United States, Europe and Asia.
(AP, 10/22/05)
2005 Oct 21, Oscar Wyatt (81),
former chairman of Coastal Corp., was arrested at his home in Houston
for paying millions in kickbacks to the government of Saddam Hussein in
exchange for rights to buy discounted Iraqi oil under the UN’s
oil-for-food program. 2 Swiss associates were also indicted. In 2007
Wyatt was sentenced to over a year in jail after admitting that he
agreed to a surcharge of about $200,000 to be paid to bank account in
Jordan controlled by officials of Iraq’s State Oil Marketing
Organization in Dec 2001.
(SFC, 10/22/05, p.A3)(WSJ, 11/28/07, p.B10)
2005 Oct 21, The Kansas Supreme
Court unanimously struck down a state law that punished underage sex
more severely if it involved homosexual acts.
(AP, 10/22/06)
2005 Oct 21, A Taliban ambush
touched off fierce fighting in southern Afghan mountains that left
eight police and four rebels dead. A cultural reporter 922) with a
local radio station, was killed in a bomb blast in the eastern province
of Khost.
(AP, 10/22/05)(AFP, 10/22/05)
2005 Oct 21, Authorities in
Azerbaijan said a 2nd former government minister was arrested on
charges of involvement in a coup plot against President Ilham Aliev,
deepening political tensions ahead of next month's key parliamentary
elections.
(AP, 10/21/05)
2005 Oct 21, Britain and Croatia
confirmed cases of bird flu as countries around the world scrambled to
put in place measures to prevent the spread of the virus. British
officials said a parrot that had been imported from South America died
of bird flu in quarantine.
(AP, 10/22/05)
2005 Oct 21, In Alexandria, Egypt,
thousands of Muslims rioted outside a Coptic Christian church to
denounce a play deemed offensive to Islam, prompting police to beat
protesters and fire tear gas into the crowd. 3 people died and more
than 90 were injured. The play, "I Was Blind But Now I Can See," tells
the story of a young Christian who converts to Islam and becomes
disillusioned. The riot was sparked by the distribution of a DVD of a
play that was performed at the church two years ago.
(Reuters, 10/21/05)
2005 Oct 21, The European
Commission agreed to open talks with Bosnia on a cooperation agreement
that could lead to full EU membership for the Balkan nation.
(AP, 10/21/05)
2005 Oct 21, Hungary’s health
minister told a local news agency that the country has developed a
bird-flu vaccine from humans.
(WSJ, 10/22/05, p.A1)
2005 Oct 21, Indonesian police
said they had arrested four people allegedly involved in smuggling
hundreds of pounds of explosive materials from Malaysia into Indonesia.
(AP, 10/21/05)
2005 Oct 21, Iran's supreme
leader, long a critic of the United States, praised the U.S.-backed
constitutional referendum in Iraq as "blessed" and urged Iraqis to
participate December's parliamentary elections.
(AP, 10/21/05)
2005 Oct 21, Hurricane Wilma
slammed into the island of Cozumel, starting a long, grinding march
across Mexico's resort-studded coastline. Wilma flooded streets,
knocked out power and stranded thousands of tourists in sweltering
shelters. Hurricane Wilma tore into Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula, after
killing 13 people in Haiti and Jamaica.
(AP, 10/21/05)(AP, 10/22/06)
2005 Oct 21, Lawmakers of Serbia
and Montenegro elected Zoran Stankovic (51), a reported ally of
notorious war crimes fugitive Ratko Mladic, as the new defense minister.
(AP, 10/21/05)
2005 Oct 22, Chicago beat the
Houston Astros 5-3 in Game 1 of baseball’s best-of-seven World Series.
(Reuters, 10/23/05)
2005 Oct 22, Donald Rumsfeld, US
Defense Sec., wrapped up a 3-nation Asian tour with a stop in Mongolia.
Pres. Bush was scheduled to stop in Ulan Bator in November.
(WSJ, 10/24/05, p.A13)
2005 Oct 22, Scott McAlpin (24) of
El Sobrante murdered his SF girlfriend Anastasia Melnitchenko (22).
McAlpin was arrested the next day by US Park police at the Marin
Headlands north of San Francisco. The body of Melnitchenko, was found
in the trunk of his car. McAlpin had 8 previous felony convictions for
domestic violence. In 2008 McAlpin was convicted of first degree murder.
(SFC, 10/26/05, p.B1)(SFC, 12/5/08, p.B2)
2005 Oct 22, Armand Pierre
Fernandez (76), the French-born sculptor known as Arman who was a
leading figure of the New Realism movement, died in NYC.
(AP, 10/23/05)
2005 Oct 22, In Afghanistan Ali
Mohaqiq Nasab was convicted after his magazine Haqooq-i-Zan, or Women's
Rights, published a series of articles about Islam. One challenged a
belief that Muslims who convert to other religions should be stoned to
death, as sanctioned by some interpretations of Islamic Shariah law,
while another criticized the practice of punishing adultery with 100
lashes. On Oct 24 the UN criticized his two-year jail sentence.
(AP, 10/24/05)
2005 Oct 22, In Britain one man
was stabbed to death and several other people hurt in Birmingham when
riots erupted over allegations a black girl was raped, though police
said there is nothing to substantiate the claim. Members of the ethnic
Afro-Caribbean and Pakistani communities clashed violently with each
other after a week of tension over rumors that a 14-year-old Jamaican
girl was raped at a South Asian-run shop.
(AFP, 10/23/05)(AFP, 10/29/05)
2005 Oct 22, China’s legislature
agreed to cut income taxes on the country’s poorest workers. The cutoff
point to pay taxes was raised from 800 yuan to 1600 yuan ($198) per
month.
(WSJ, 10/24/05, p.A13)
2005 Oct 22, A bird flu outbreak
killed 545 chickens and ducks in central China and prompted authorities
to destroy 2,487 others.
(AP, 10/25/05)
2005 Oct 22, A record 22nd
tropical storm of the season formed about 125 miles off the Dominican
Republic; because the annual list of storm names had already been
exhausted, forecasters called the new system Tropical Storm Alpha.
(AP, 10/22/06)
2005 Oct 22, At least 20
Guatemalan inmates considered to be extremely dangerous escaped from a
high-security prison through a tunnel 50 miles south of Guatemala City.
(AP, 10/23/05)
2005 Oct 22, In Haiti Muhammed
Khalaf (32), a UN peacekeeper from the Jordanian army. was shot
while on patrol near the volatile Cite Soleil slum of Port-au-Prince.
He died 2 days later.
(AP, 10/24/05)
2005 Oct 22, US soldiers and
warplanes killed 20 insurgents and destroyed five "safe houses" during
an operation against militants who shelter foreign fighters for
al-Qaida in Iraq near the Syrian border.
(AP, 10/22/05)
2005 Oct 22, Hurricane Wilma
crawled over Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, keeping some 30,000 tourists
huddled in hotels and shelters amid shrieking winds and shattering
glass.
(AP, 10/22/05)
2005 Oct 22, In Nigeria a
passenger jet crashed shortly after takeoff from Lagos, killing all 117
on board.
(AP, 10/25/05)
2005 Oct 22, In Spain the Basque
country's ruling party called for new initiatives to end violence by
ETA guerrillas in Spain and break a political deadlock over the
region's status.
(AP, 10/22/05)
2005 Oct 22, Bishops from around
the world approved a set of 50 recommendations for Pope Benedict XVI on
running the Roman Catholic Church that reaffirm church teaching on such
issues as celibacy for priests.
(AP, 10/22/05)
2005 Oct 23, The Chicago White Sox
took a 2-0 lead in the World Series as they beat the Houston Astros 7-6.
(AP, 10/23/06)
2005 Oct 23, In SF the 2nd Annual
Nike Women’s Marathon over 15,000 runners raised $14 million to benefit
the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.
(SFC, 10/24/05, p.B3)
2005 Oct 23, An earthquake
destroyed homes and killed five people near Afghanistan's eastern
border with Pakistan.
(AP, 10/23/05)
2005 Oct 23, Argentina's ruling
party dominated midterm elections seen as a test of President Nestor
Kirchner's two-year-old government, with his Peronist party picking up
support in Congress and his wife winning a Senate seat. Christina
Fernandez de Kirchner won 46% to 20% over Hilda Gonzalez de Duhalde to
represent the province of Buenos Aires.
(AP, 10/24/05)(Econ, 10/29/05, p.37)
2005 Oct 23, Brazilians struck
down a proposal to ban the sale of guns in a national referendum,
rejecting a bid to stem one of the world's highest firearm murder
rates.. Gun violence took the lives of about 39,000 people in Brazil
each year, more than any country in the world.
(AP, 10/25/05)
2005 Oct 23, In southern China an
explosion at a coal mine killed 15 miners and injured 3.
(AP, 10/24/05)
2005 Oct 23, In Colombia suspected
rebels launched homemade bombs at a police station and nearby homes in
a southwest town near the border with Ecuador, killing 7 people.
(AP, 10/24/05)
2005 Oct 23, A suicide bombing in
a Baghdad square killed 4 people. Another suicide car bomber killed 2
civilians in Kirkuk. In Tikrit a bomb killed a police colonel and his 2
sons. 2 girls (7 and 9) in a nearby car were also killed in the
explosion. Drive-by shootings around Baquba killed 5 people. Gunmen
killed 3 Iraqis driving a water truck to an army base near Taji.
Insurgents killed the head of a Shiite anti-Saddam Hussein group and
his driver outside Amara.
(SFC, 10/24/05, p.A3)
2005 Oct 23, Militant Palestinians
fought members of a Lebanese leftist party in a gun battle that left
one man dead and three wounded outside a refugee camp.
(AP, 10/23/05)
2005 Oct 23, Mexico's ruling party
chose Felipe Calderon, the nation's former energy secretary, as its
candidate for presidential elections next July.
(AP, 10/23/05)
2005 Oct 23, Hurricane Wilma
drifted northward away from Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula where the storm
left 8 people dead. In 2006 insurers put the damage from Wilma at $3
billion, the largest insured losses in Mexican history.
(AP, 10/23/05)(Econ, 10/29/05, p.38)(AP, 10/19/06)
2005 Oct 23, Stella Obasanjo (59),
the wife of Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, died after undergoing
liposuction surgery in Spain. In 2009 A court in Malaga convicted
plastic surgeon Antonio Mena Molina of negligent homicide. He was given
a suspended sentence of a year in jail, barred from practicing medicine
for three years, and ordered to pay euro120,000 ($175,000) in damages
to the woman's son.
(AP, 10/23/05)(AP, 9/22/09)
2005 Oct 23, Poles voted for a new
president in an election that opinion polls showed to be a close-fought
battle between Donald Tusk and his vision of a liberal, free-market
Poland, and Lech Kaczynski who favors state intervention and Catholic
conservatism. Warsaw's conservative Mayor Lech Kaczynski won Poland's
presidential runoff vote 54%-46%.
(AP, 10/23/05)(Econ, 10/29/05, p.52)
2005 Oct 23, Taiwan said it is
ready to produce its own Tamiflu, the antiviral avian flu drug, and
will not let patent talks with Swiss drug maker Roche AG stand in the
way.
(http://tinyurl.com/9r8g5)
2005 Oct 23, Pope Benedict XVI
named five new saints at the close of a 3-week Synod of Bishops. They
included: Rev. Alberto Hurtado Cruchaga, a Chilean Jesuit who was known
for his work with the poor as well as the young; from Ukraine Josef
Bilczewski, archbishop of Lviv, who was greatly admired by Catholics,
Orthodox Christians and Jews alike during World War and the Rev.
Zygmunt Gorazdowski, who founded the Congregation for the Sisters of
St. Joseph to care for the sick and poor; and Italians Felice da
Nicosia, a lay Capuchin who lived in the 1700s, and the Rev. Gaetano
Cantanoso, who founded the Veronican Sisters of the Holy Face in 1934.
(AP, 10/23/05)
2005 Oct 24, Pres. Bush nominated
Ben Bernanke to replace Alan Greenspan as Federal Reserve Board
chairman. The DJIA move up almost 170 points.
(SFC, 10/25/05, p.D1)
2005 Oct 24, An ACLU analysis of
US Defense Dept. data said at least 21 prisoners under US custody in
Afghanistan and Iraq died during or after interrogations.
(SFC, 10/25/05, p.A3)
2005 Oct 24, Hurricane Wilma left
at least 6 dead in Florida and damages estimated to be as much as $6-10
billion, making it the 3rd costliest in US history (behind Andrew and
Katrina). Some 27,700 dwellings were destroyed or rendered temporarily
unlivable.
(WSJ, 10/24/05, p.A1)(WSJ, 11/15/05, p.B1)
2005 Oct 24, Rosa Parks (92), who
galvanized the civil rights movement in 1955 when she was jailed for
refusing to give up her bus seat in Montgomery, Ala., died at her
home in Detroit. Her arrest triggered a 381-day boycott of the bus
system organized by a then little-known Baptist minister, the Rev.
King, who later earned the Nobel Peace Prize for his work.
(AP, 10/25/05)(Econ, 10/29/05, p.90)
2005 Oct 24, Edward Roybal
(b.1916), former US Representative from Los Angeles (1962-1992), died
in Pasadena. He was the 1st Hispanic to serve in Congress since 1879.
(SFC, 10/27/05, p.B9)
2005 Oct 24, In Afghanistan rebels
fired rockets at a US-led coalition convoy 10 miles south of Kabul. The
rockets missed their target and instead hit 3 civilian cars, killing
six Afghans.
(AP, 10/25/05)
2005 Oct 24, Abigail Brinkman
(28), of Columbus, Ind., died and three companions spent three days
floating in the stormy Caribbean off Belize after their weekend diving
trip went awry.
(AP, 10/26/05)
2005 Oct 24, Zhang Lijun, vice
minister of China’s State Environmental Protection Administration
(SEPA) said China cannot withstand pollution levels expected to
quadruple over the next 15 years under current trends in energy and
automobile use.
(WSJ, 10/25/05, p.A18)
2005 Oct 24, Alpha, the Atlantic
season's record-breaking 22nd named storm, left at least 10 people dead
in Haiti and the Dominican Republic before moving north into the
Atlantic Ocean.
(AP, 10/24/05)
2005 Oct 24, An official said more
than a dozen climbers from France and Nepal were swept away in an
avalanche on a Himalayan mountain and believed killed. The mountaineers
were reported missing last week after heavy snowfall hit the Himalayas.
(AP, 10/24/05)
2005 Oct 24, Germany’s two main
political parties said the country faced a $42 billion budget
shortfall, signaling tough spending cuts or tax hikes under a planned
coalition even as its economy struggles.
(AP, 10/24/05)
2005 Oct 24, Jose Azcona Hoyo
(78), the former president of Honduras (1986-1990), died of a heart
attack. He oversaw the start of the dismantling of bases for
U.S.-backed Nicaraguan rebels in his country.
(AP, 10/25/05)
2005 Oct 24, Triple suicide
bombings at the Palestine and Sheraton hotels in Baghdad killed as many
as 17 people. The next day Al-Qaida in Iraq claimed responsibility. A
US soldier shot and killed one of three suicide bombers who attacked
the Palestine Hotel complex before he could reach his intended target
and that probably saved lives in the building.
(AP, 10/25/05)(AP, 10/29/05)
2005 Oct 24, Hundreds of
demonstrators rallied in front of the Kyrgyz parliament for a third day
to demand that the PM resign over the slaying of a lawmaker during a
prison uprising.
(AP, 10/24/05)
2005 Oct 24, Luis Velasquez (51),
A Roman Catholic parish priest was found shot to death in his car with
his hands cuffed in the rough border city of Tijuana, in what police
said appeared to be an organized-crime killing.
(AP, 10/24/05)
2005 Oct 24, NATO pledged to help
Ukraine push through military reforms seen as essential to prepare the
country for membership in the Western alliance, a prospect viewed with
concern in Russia.
(AP, 10/24/05)
2005 Oct 24, Sri Lanka's president
and her main political rival agreed for the first time to forge a
bipartisan approach to the island's peace process aimed at ending
decades of ethnic bloodshed.
(AP, 10/25/05)
2005 Oct 24, Ukraine auctioned a
93% stake in Kryvorizhstal, its largest steel mill, to Mittal Steel,
the world’s biggest steelmaker, for $4.8 billion.
(Econ, 10/29/05, p.50)
2005 Oct 24, Sanjar Umarov, an
Uzbek opposition leader, was arrested on embezzlement charges. Umarov,
chairman of the Sunshine Coalition, pushed for an easing of the
country's autocratic rule.
(AP, 10/24/05)
2005 Oct 24, Vietnam lifted its
30% cap on foreign ownership of listed companies to 49%.
(WSJ, 10/21/05, p.C16)
2005 Oct 25, In the World Series,
the Chicago White Sox and the Houston Astros began playing Game 3,
which turned into a 14-inning marathon that did not end until well
after midnight with Chicago winning 7-5.
(AP, 10/25/06)
2005 Oct 25, The US State Dept.
said all US passports will be implanted with computer chips starting in
Oct 2006.
(SFC, 10/26/05, p.C2)
2005 Oct 25, The US deported
Mohammed Abouhalima (41) to Egypt. He had just finished serving an
8-year prison term after being convicted of helping his brother,
Mahmoud, flee New York following the Feb. 26, 1993 attack that killed
six people and wounded more than 1,000.
(AP, 10/27/05)
2005 Oct 25, Antar Bey (23), son
and designated heir of Black Muslim leader Yusuf Bey (d.2003), was shot
and killed in Oakland, Ca., in what appeared to be either a car-jacking
attempt or an assassination. On Nov. 8 police arrested Alfonza Phillips
(20) and charged him with murder in the failed car-jacking. In 2007
Phillips was convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to life in
prison without the possibility of parole.
(SFC, 10/27/05, p.B1)(SFC, 11/10/05, p.B4)(SFC,
11/20/07, p.D1)(SFC, 12/15/07, p.B3)
2005 Oct 25, In Afghanistan
militants opened fire on a police vehicle near Kabul, killing two
senior police officers who were teachers at a police academy.
(AP, 10/25/05)
2005 Oct 25, American and British
warplanes pounded a southern Afghan mountain, killing suspected Taliban
rebels. A provincial governor said at least 6 rebels were killed and 4
wounded.
(AP, 10/26/05)
2005 Oct 25-2005 Oct 26, Over 130
whales died in a mass stranding on a remote beach in Australia’s
southern island state of Tasmania.
(AP, 10/25/05)
2005 Oct 25, Azerbaijan's
President Ilham Aliyev ordered steps to ensure a November 6
parliamentary vote is fair after Washington voiced concern over a
police crackdown in the oil-producing ex-Soviet state.
(AP, 10/25/05)
2005 Oct 25, Chhouk Rin, former
Khmer Rouge field commander, was caught in northwestern Cambodia. In
1994 he was convicted in absentia for the murder of 3 Western
backpackers.
(AP, 10/26/05)
2005 Oct 25, A Canadian court
approved a $4.2 billion takeover of PetroKazakhstan by China's largest
oil company, China National Petroleum Corp., clearing the final
potential obstacle to China's biggest foreign acquisition yet.
(AP, 10/26/05)
2005 Oct 25, Carlyle, a
private-equity firm, paid $375 million for an 85% stake in Xugong,
China’s leading maker of construction machinery and became the 1st
foreign buyout group to gain control of a big Chinese company.
(Econ, 11/5/05, p.71)
2005 Oct 25, In southwest China a
stampede on a stairwell at an elementary school in Tongjiang killed
seven children and injured 37.
(AP, 10/26/05)
2005 Oct 25, A UN official said a
bird flu outbreak sickened 2,100 geese in eastern China and killed
about a quarter of them, the country's second outbreak reported in a
week.
(AP, 10/25/05)
2005 Oct 25, President Alvaro
Uribe accepted the resignation of Colombia's secret police chief and
fired the agency's No. 2 amid reports of bitter infighting between the
two.
(AP, 10/25/05)
2005 Oct 25, A rain-swollen river
flooded Puerto Plata in the northern Dominican Republic, washing away
houses and killing six people, including two children.
(AP, 10/26/05)
2005 Oct 25, The EU's highest
court finally settled the fate of feta cheese, decreeing it a
traditional Greek product deserving protection throughout the 25-nation
bloc in a ruling that went against other European producers.
(AP, 10/25/05)
2005 Oct 25, Election officials
said Iraq's constitution was adopted by a majority in a fair vote
during the Oct. 15 referendum, as Sunni Arab opponents failed to muster
enough support to defeat it.
(AP, 10/25/05)
2005 Oct 25, In southern Iraq an
American soldier was killed in a vehicle accident near Camp Bucca. The
death raised to at least 2,001 the number of members of the US military
who have died since the beginning of the in March 2003, according to an
Associated Press count.
(AP, 10/26/05)
2005 Oct 25, Al Qaeda's wing in
Iraq said it had abducted two Moroccan embassy employees who had gone
missing on their way from Jordan to Baghdad, according to a statement
on a Web site.
(Reuters, 10/26/05)
2005 Oct 25, Police in riot gear
charged demonstrators in the streets near Italian PM Silvio
Berlusconi's office as students protested university reforms sponsored
by his conservative government.
(AP, 10/25/05)
2005 Oct 25, Pakistan’s Supreme
Court banned making, selling and flying kites due to deaths from
kite-flying rivalries during an annual kite flying festival. The ban
was extended in December until at least the next meeting of the court
on Jan. 26.
(SSFC, 12/11/05, p.A2)
2005 Oct 25, A panel of experts
highlighted the darker side of South Africa's booming wildlife industry
and recommended a total ban on "canned hunting" — the release of
captive-bred animals to be killed for sport with no chance of escaping
their human predators.
(AP, 10/25/05)
2005 Oct 25, The UN said Sudanese
refugees released 15 aid workers they had detained on Oct 23 in a
crowded camp in the violent western Darfur region. Five Sudanese
nongovernment organization employees were still being held.
(AP, 10/25/05)
2005 Oct 25, A Venezuela military
court sentenced 3 former Venezuelan military officers and 27 Colombians
to prison terms ranging from two to nine years for an alleged plot in
May 2004 to kill President Hugo Chavez.
(AP, 10/26/05)
2005 Oct 26, The Chicago White Sox
beat the Houston Astros 1-0 to win their first World Series title since
1917.
(AP, 10/27/06)
2005 Oct 26, The US accepted a
Japanese proposal for the relocation of a US air station on Okinawa,
resolving a dispute that had blocked progress on military realignment
talks and caused friction between the two allies.
(AP, 10/26/05)
2005 Oct 26, In Florida the death
toll from Hurricane Wilma rose to 10. Officials estimated agriculture
damage at $1 billion.
(WSJ, 10/27/05, p.A1)
2005 Oct 26, Emil Kyulev (49)
owner of Bulgaria's largest insurance and banking group, DZI-Rosexim,
was shot dead in the street in Sofia in the latest in a series of
killings to jolt the country, which has been told to crack down on
organized crime if it wants to join the EU.
(AP, 10/26/05)(Econ, 10/29/05, p.50)
2005 Oct 26, Former Vice President
Rong Yiren (89), a textile magnate who joined with China's communists
and helped launch Deng Xiaoping's economic reforms, earning the
nickname "Red Capitalist," died in Beijing.
(AP, 10/27/05)(Econ, 11/5/05, p.94)
2005 Oct 26-2005 Oct 27, Intense
fighting between rebels and paramilitary groups for control of the
cocaine trade in the jungles of western Colombia left at least 20
outlawed fighters dead.
(AP, 10/28/05)
2005 Oct 26, A group of woman who
have held a weekly march the last two years to protest the Cuban
government's jailing of their activist husbands were gratified to learn
they will share the EU's top human rights prize, something they hope
will draw attention to their cause.
(AP, 10/26/05)
2005 Oct 26, In Ecuador Jose
Cabrera, a 71-year-old provincial notary, died in a luxury hotel room
and left behind a teenage girlfriend, who later said he'd been on
cocaine and Viagra, and a crumbling $800 million pyramid scheme that
soon blossomed into a nationwide scandal.
(AP, 12/27/05)
2005 Oct 26, The EU said the
dangerous H5N1 strain of bird flu has been found in Croatia.
Authorities said a 2nd parrot that died in quarantine in Britain was
also infected with the virus.
(AP, 10/26/05)
2005 Oct 26, A court in
Duesseldorf convicted 4 Arab men of plotting to attack Jewish targets
in Germany and found 3 of them guilty of being members of a terrorist
organization.
(AP, 10/26/05)
2005 Oct 26, Iran’s Pres. Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad declared that Israel was a "disgraceful blot" and should be
"wiped off the map." He also said a new wave of Palestinian attacks
will destroy the Jewish state.
(AP, 10/26/05)(AP, 10/26/06)
2005 Oct 26, In Iraq 3 mostly
Sunni Arab political parties announced that they have formed a
coalition to run in Iraq's parliamentary election in December.
(AP, 10/26/05)
2005 Oct 26, In Iraq 3 American
soldiers died in separate attacks.
(AP, 10/27/05)
2005 Oct 26, Toyota Motor Corp.
said that its joint venture with China's biggest automaker plans to
build a 3rd plant in China with annual production capacity of 200,000
passenger cars.
(AP, 10/26/05)
2005 Oct 26, A Palestinian suicide
bomber struck a food stand in the Israeli town of Hadera, killing 5
people, wounding at least 30 and leaving a path of destruction at an
open air market.
(AP, 10/26/05)
2005 Oct 26, Philippine troops
captured 7 suspected Muslim militants, including the leader of a group
of Islamic converts linked to the kidnappings of foreigners and an
alleged plot to bomb.
(AP, 10/26/05)
2005 Oct 26, In the Philippines a
tunnel in a gold mine on Mindanao collapsed after a blast and about 50
people were feared dead.
(Reuters, 10/27/05)
2005 Oct 26, Russia’s Finance
Minister Alexei Kudrin warned that a strengthening ruble and high
inflation threatened to undermine the competitiveness of Russia's
economy as the nation seeks to join the World Trade Organization.
(AP, 10/26/05)
2005 Oct 26, Serbian police
detained nine people on suspicion of taking part in a 1999 massacre of
dozens of ethnic Albanians in southwestern Kosovo.
(AP, 10/26/05)
2005 Oct 26, A Swiss court found
Vitaly Kaloyev, a Russian architect, guilty of premeditated homicide
for the Feb 2004 killing of the air traffic controller on duty at the
time of the Jul 1, 2002, midair plane collision in which his wife and
child were lost.
(AP, 10/26/05)
2005 Oct 26, Suspected Muslim
insurgents raided 60 targets in southern Thailand, stealing 90 weapons
and causing at least seven deaths.
(AP, 10/27/05)
2005 Oct 26, The Mormon Church,
citing difficulties with the government of President Hugo Chavez in
renewing visas or obtaining new ones, said it is pulling its foreign
missionaries out of Venezuela and reassigning them to other countries.
(AP, 10/26/05)
2005 Oct 27, President Bush
abandoned his push to put loyalist Harriet Miers on the Supreme Court
and promised a quick replacement. Harriet Miers withdrew her nomination
to the Supreme Court after three weeks of brutal criticism from fellow
conservatives.
(AP, 10/27/05)
2005 Oct 27, Pres. Bush visited
Florida and took a look at the damage from Hurricane Wilma as the death
toll rose to 14. Some 2 million homes and businesses were still without
power.
(SFC, 10/28/05, p.A9)
2005 Oct 27, It was reported that
he Pentagon’s DARPA branch had given 15 institutions and companies $9.5
million in grants for research on artificial intelligence in the 1st
year of its Biologically-Inspired Cognitive Architecture’s program.
(SFC, 10/27/05, p.A7)
2005 Oct 27, Tom Noe, a coin
dealer already embroiled in an Ohio state government scandal, was
charged with funneling $45,400 to other people to contribute to
President Bush's re-election campaign in an attempt to skirt a $2,000
limit on individual contributions. In Sep, 2006, Noe was sentenced to 2
years and 3 months in prison and fined $136,200 for the illegal
contributions. He still faced trial for embezzlement. In Nov, 2006, Noe
was convicted of theft, corrupt activity, money laundering, forgery and
tampering with records and sentenced to 18 years in prison.
(AP, 10/28/05)(SFC, 9/13/06, p.A4)(AP, 11/20/06)
2005 Oct 27, US anti-trust lawyers
cleared the $16 billion merger of AT&T and SBC Communications as
well as the $8.5 billion purchase of MCI by Verizon. SBC said it will
adopt the AT&T name.
(SFC, 10/28/05, p.C1)
2005 Oct 27, Exxon Mobil Corp.,
the world's largest publicly traded oil company, said high oil and
natural-gas prices helped its third-quarter profit surge almost 75
percent to $9.92 billion, the largest quarterly profit for a U.S.
company ever.
(AP, 10/27/05)
2005 Oct 27, It was reported that
WorldCom reached a $651 million litigation settlement, nearly all of
which would be paid by the company’s former investment banks.
(WSJ, 10/27/05, p.A3)
2005 Oct 27, The 18-month
Independent Inquiry Committee under former US Federal Reserve chairman
Paul Volcker issued a final 623-page report on corruption in the UN
oil-for-food program. It claimed that between 1997 and 2003 the Iraqi
government sold $64 billion of oil to 248 companies and bought $34.5
billion worth of humanitarian goods. The report accused more than 2,200
companies from some 40 countries of colluding with Saddam's regime to
bilk the humanitarian program in Iraq of $1.8 billion.
(AP, 10/27/05)(Econ, 10/29/05, p.28)(AP, 1/26/08)
2005 Oct 27, Afghan officials
welcomed the extradition of 14 suspected Taliban members from
neighboring Pakistan, saying they hoped the move would mark a new era
of cooperation.
(AP, 10/27/05)
2005 Oct 27, A Brazilian
congressional panel voted overwhelmingly to submit former presidential
aide Jose Dirceu to impeachment proceedings over his alleged
involvement in a corruption scandal.
(AP, 10/28/05)
2005 Oct 27, In Denmark 4 young
Muslims were arrested for helping to supply weapons and explosives for
a planned terror attack in Europe. They helped two main suspects in
Bosnia get hold of weapons and explosives with the aim of committing a
terror act. In 2007 a Danish court convicted Abdul Basit Abu-Lifa (17)
and sentenced him to 7 years in jail. In 2008 Elias Ibn Hsain was
acquitted on charges that he took part.
(AP, 8/24/06)(AP, 2/16/07)
2005 Oct 27, A team of European
students launched SSETI Express, a low-Earth orbiting spacecraft. The
Student Space Exploration and Technology Initiative was established by
the European Space Agency to boost interest in space science.
(Econ, 10/29/05, p.84)
2005 Oct 27, In France 2
teenagers, aged 15 and 17, died by electrocution after they scaled the
wall of an electrical relay station and touched a transformer. The boys
allegedly thought they were being chased by police, but authorities
denied that was the case.
(AP, 10/31/05)
2005 Oct 27, In Honk Kong the IPO
of China Construction Bank raised $8 billion from foreign investors for
a 12% stake. Ahead of the float CCB sold a 9% stake to Bank of America
and a 5.1% stake to Temasek, a Singapore investment agency.
(Econ, 10/29/05, p.71)
2005 Oct 27, Iran launched its
Sina-1 satellite from the Plesetsk launch pad in northern Russia, a
major step in the country's long-term ambitions. Sina-1 gave Iran a
limited space reconnaissance capability over the entire Middle East,
including Israel.
(http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4381436.stm)(AP, 11/17/05)
2005 Oct 27, More than 2,000
companies paid about $1.8 billion in illicit kickbacks and surcharges
to Saddam Hussein's government through extensive manipulation of the UN
oil-for-food program in Iraq, according to key findings of a UN-backed
investigation obtained by The Associated Press.
(AP, 10/27/05)
2005 Oct 27, Some 200 Shiite
militiamen loyal to radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr clashed with Sunni
militants in fighting that killed over 20 people in Medayna, 45 miles
northeast of Baghdad.
(AP, 10/27/05)(AP, 11/7/05)
2005 Oct 27, Israeli troops
entered the West Bank town of Jenin and witnesses said they arrested a
local leader of Islamic Jihad, pushing forward with an offensive
against the Palestinian militant group following a suicide bombing that
killed five Israelis.
(AP, 10/27/05)
2005 Oct 27, Israeli forces fired
missiles in a Gaza refugee camp after nightfall, killing two people
including a leading Islamic Jihad militant.
(AP, 10/27/05)
2005 Oct 27, Latvian lawmakers
endorsed a new code of ethics designed to burnish the legislature's
reputation that would prohibit deputies swearing and smoking in public.
(AP, 10/27/05)
2005 Oct 27, The Mexican
government announced that former "bracero" guest workers, who labored
in the United States between the 1942 and 1964, will get a one-time
payment of about $3,500. The aging workers, who have protested for
years, described the payment as insulting and said it should be at
least $9,175.
(AP, 10/27/05)(SFC, 10/28/05, p.A22)
2005 Oct 27, In the Netherlands a
fire roared through a prison complex at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport,
killing 11 illegal immigrants awaiting deportation and injuring 15
other people.
(AP, 10/27/05)
2005 Oct 27, Nigerian security
forces said they have detained three of the country's most powerful
militant leaders, as part of an apparent crackdown on the separatist
forces threatening to tear the country apart.
(AP, 10/27/05)
2005 Oct 27, The WHO reported that
tetanus has killed 22 people and lack of food or shelter could threaten
thousands more survivors of Pakistan's massive earthquake.
(AP, 10/27/05)
2005 Oct 27, South Africa said the
G8, the world's richest nations, should allow duty- and quota-free
access to all products from poor countries without demanding anything
back as part of a deal on global trade.
(Reuters, 10/27/05)
2005 Oct 27, Vietnam issued its
1st overseas government bond. Demand pushed the size from $500 million
to $750 million with a yield of 7.125%.
(Econ, 11/5/05, p.82)
2005 Oct 28, US prosecutor Patrick
Fitzgerald released a 22-page indictment with five charges against I.
Lewis "Scooter" Libby Jr. regarding the Valerie Plame case. They
carried a total maximum penalty of 30 years in prison and $1.25 million
in fines. It portrayed Libby as a serial liar who recklessly mishandled
national security secrets. Libby immediately resigned as top aide to VP
Cheney.
(AP, 10/29/05)(SFC, 10/29/05, p.A1)(WSJ, 10/29/05,
p.A1)
2005 Oct 28, US Ambassador Thomas
Schieffer said the US plans to reduce the number of American troops in
Okinawa and the rest of Japan.
(AP, 10/28/05)
2005 Oct 28, The Alaska Supreme
Court ruled that it is unconstitutional to bar benefits to the same-sex
partners of public employees.
(SFC, 10/29/05, p.A3)
2005 Oct 28, Delta Air Lines, in
bankruptcy since Sep 14, said that it will discontinue its 2-year-old,
low-cost carrier Song and will absorb the unit into its regular
operations.
(SFC, 10/29/05, p.C2)
2005 Oct 28, Rice University
professor Richard Smalley (62), who shared a 1996 Nobel Prize in
chemistry for the discovery of "buckyballs," died in Houston of cancer.
(AP, 10/28/05)(Econ, 11/12/05, p.91)
2005 Oct 28, Hazelyn Francis (66),
the president of the Antigua and Barbuda senate, was raped during an
assault in her home.
(AP, 10/31/05)
2005 Oct 28, In Argentina
indigenous leaders from around the Americas met in Buenos Aires to
draft a declaration of rights to present to world leaders at next
week's Summit of the Americas.
(AP, 10/28/05)
2005 Oct 28, China's President Hu
Jintao flew to North Korea to meet with reclusive leader Kim Jong Il
ahead of new nuclear talks and was greeted by cheering crowds of
thousands on a rare visit by a leader of the North's last major ally.
(AP, 10/28/05)
2005 Oct 28, The UN Security
Council voted unanimously to extend the 16,700-member UN peacekeeping
mission in Congo for a year and add 300 troops.
(AP, 10/28/05)
2005 Oct 28, The EU offered to
reduce average agricultural tariffs by 46 percent, its steepest ever
farm tariff cuts, in a proposal aimed at breaking a deadlock in world
trade talks.
(AP, 10/28/05)
2005 Oct 28, Raymond Hains
(b.1926), French Nouveau Realiste artist, died in Paris. In 1960 he
joined with other artists to found the Nouveau Realistes, whose
emergence came to be seen as the beginning of French Pop Art.
(SFC, 11/15/05, p.B5)
2005 Oct 28, Guyanese lawmakers
voted to raise the age of female sexual consent from 13 years old to
16, despite months of lobbying from groups who said the age should have
been 18.
(AP, 10/29/05)
2005 Oct 28, Tens of thousands of
Iranians staged anti-Israel demonstrations across the country,
repeating calls by their ultraconservative President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad for the destruction of the Jewish state.
(AP, 10/28/05)
2005 Oct 28, An Italian court held
the first in a series of closed-door hearings to decide whether to
indict Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and 13 others for alleged fraud
at his family's broadcaster Mediaset.
(AP, 10/28/05)
2005 Oct 28, Police in Sicily said
they have arrested two suspected mobsters accused of plotting to murder
a judge with a car bomb.
(AP, 10/28/05)
2005 Oct 28, Japan's government
said basing a US nuclear-powered warship in Japanese waters for the
first time will boost stability in East Asia, hailing an agreement even
as it drew protests from the community that will host the aircraft
carrier.
(AP, 10/28/05)
2005 Oct 28, It was reported that
the poppy crop in Laos has been reduced 73% over the last 5 years and
that the number of opium addicts has shrunk from 63,000 in 1998 to
21,000. The UN drug office said yaaba, an amphetamine produced in
illegal factories in Burma, was becoming the drug of choice for young
people.
(SFC, 10/28/05, p.A11)
2005 Oct 28, Mexico became the
100th country to ratify the treaty founding the world's first permanent
war crimes tribunal, which the United States has opposed.
(AP, 10/28/05)
2005 Oct 28, A general strike shut
down schools, businesses and transportation in Kathmandu in a protest
of new laws restricting the media for criticizing Nepal's king.
(AP, 10/28/05)
2005 Oct 28, North and South Korea
opened their first joint office to promote trade across the heavily
militarized border, just as Pyongyang is feuding with a South Korean
company about business in the North.
(AP, 10/28/05)
2005 Oct 28, A Philippine court
sentenced to death an Indonesian and two Filipino Muslim militants for
their roles in the bombing of a Manila bus.
(AP, 10/28/05)
2005 Oct 28, Saudi Arabia was
given a green light to join the World Trade Organization, in time to
participate in December's crucial ministerial summit in Hong Kong.
(AP, 10/29/05)
2005 Oct 28, In South Africa
former President Nelson Mandela launched the first edition of a series
of comic books about his life aimed at encouraging young South Africans
to read.
(AP, 10/28/05)
2005 Oct 28, A top military
officer said Syria has increased military posts and patrols along its
border with Iraq and stopped thousands of infiltrators from entering
into the war-torn country.
(AP, 10/28/05)
2005 Oct 28, Egyptian Pres. Hosni
Mubarak held unexpected talks with his beleaguered Syrian counterpart
Bashar Assad to discuss Damascus' crisis with the West over the killing
of a former Lebanese leader.
(AP, 10/28/05)
2005 Oct 28, The US joined with
the UN, Russia and the EU in demanding Syria immediately close the
offices of Islamic Jihad in Damascus and prevent use of its territory
for terror actions.
(AP, 10/28/05)
2005 Oct 28, The UN food agency
warned that at least 1.7 million Zambians need food, and the situation
is deteriorating rapidly.
(AP, 10/27/05)
2005 Oct 29, The US and Japan
agreed to step up military cooperation and substantially reduce the
number of Marines on the strategically important southern island of
Okinawa. The US will move 7,000 US Marines from Japan's Okinawa
prefecture to Guam.
(AP, 10/29/05)(AFP, 10/29/05)
2005 Oct 29, Saint Liam won the
Breeders' Cup Classic at Belmont Park.
(AP, 10/29/06)
2005 Oct 29, In Aliso Viejo a
19-year-old in a black cape and a paintball mask went on a shooting
rampage in his upscale Southern California neighborhood, killing a man
and his daughter before committing suicide.
(AP, 10/30/05)
2005 Oct 29, In Afghanistan a US
paratrooper was killed after his patrol came under fire in a volatile
province near the eastern border with Pakistan and a British soldier
was shot to death in northern Afghanistan. Officials said at least 21
other people were killed in fighting last week.
(AP, 10/29/05)
2005 Oct 29, Colombian authorities
captured Jhon Cano, an alleged top leader of the powerful Norte del
Valle cocaine cartel, who is wanted by a New York court for drug
trafficking and money laundering.
(AP, 10/30/05)
2005 Oct 29, Hurricane Beta
battered the mountainous Caribbean island of Providencia, Colombia,
ripping roofs off wooden homes and forcing people to seek shelter in
brick shelters on high ground.
(AP, 10/29/05)
2005 Oct 29, Hundreds of French
youths fought with police and set cars ablaze in a Paris suburb in a
second night of rioting which media said was triggered when two
teenagers were electrocuted while fleeing police.
(AP, 10/29/05)
2005 Oct 29, In Guatemala City a
group of gang members opened fire on a prison truck, killing two guards
as they were leaving work at the end of their shift and wounding a
third.
(AP, 10/29/05)
2005 Oct 29, In India a series of
explosions shook New Delhi tearing through markets jammed with shoppers
ahead of an upcoming Hindu festival and killing 61 people and injured
more than 200. The Pakistan-based Islamic Inquilab Mahaz claimed
responsibility. In southern India a passenger train plunged into a
rain-swollen river in Veligonda in Andhra Pradesh state, killing at
least 111 people and trapping dozens more inside the derailed cars.
(AP, 10/31/05)(AP, 10/30/05)(WSJ, 11/28/08,
p.A6)
2005 Oct 29, In Indonesia
unidentified assailants attacked a group of high school girls in the
province of Central Sulawesi, beheading three and seriously wounding a
fourth. In 2006 three Muslim men were charged in the beheadings. In
2007 Abdul Muis bin Kamarudin and Rahman Kalahe were sentenced to 19
years in prison for their crimes.
(AP, 10/29/05)(AP, 11/3/06)(AP, 12/4/07)
2005 Oct 29, In Iraq insurgents
killed 3 US soldiers and wounded four, and American forces attacked two
towns near the Syrian border, killing at least 10 militants. Witnesses
said some of the victims were civilians.
(AP, 10/29/05)
2005 Oct 29, US troops backed by
helicopters and a jet attacked insurgents planning a nighttime ambush
near an American base north of Baghdad, killing six militants and
wounding and capturing five. A US jet dropped a bomb north of Ramadi,
70 miles west of Baghdad, killing three insurgents who were planting a
roadside bomb. The corpses of three handcuffed and blindfolded Iraqis
were found in Baghdad. A truck bombing in a Shiite farming village
north of Baghdad killed 30 people and left 42 wounded.
(AP, 10/30/05)(Reuters, 10/30/05)
2005 Oct 29, Israeli aircraft
fired missiles at open areas in northern Gaza and ground troops set up
a second artillery battery near the coastal strip, part of an
intensifying campaign against Palestinian rocket fire.
(AP, 10/29/05)
2005 Oct 29, Salvadoran President
Tony Saca urged Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa to support his
request to President Bush to allow undocumented Salvadorans to remain
in the US while the country recovers from Hurricane Stan.
(AP, 10/29/05)
2005 Oct 29, Syrian President
Bashar Assad issued an order for a special committee to investigate any
Syrian involvement in the assassination of former PM Hariri in
neighboring Lebanon.
(AP, 10/29/05)
2005 Oct 29, Vietnam demanded that
the US remove it from a State Department blacklist of religious rights
violators.
(AFP, 10/29/05)
2005 Oct 30, The body of Rosa
Parks arrived at the U.S. Capitol, where the civil rights pioneer
became the first woman to lie in honor in the Rotunda; President Bush
and congressional leaders paused to lay wreaths by her casket.
(AP, 10/30/06)
2005 Oct 30, Microsoft Corp.
founder Bill Gates pledged $258.3 million for research and development
to combat malaria, including new cash to test the world's first vaccine
against the mosquito-borne disease.
(Reuters, 10/31/05)(SFC, 10/31/05, p.A8)
2005 Oct 30, In SF the 10th
running of the Illegal Soapbox Society’s Halloween derby was held in
Bernal Heights.
(SFC, 11/1/05, p.E1)
2005 Oct 30, In Madison,
Wisconsin, police used pepper spray to break up rowdy Halloween
celebrations. Over 400 arrests were made mostly for alcohol-related
offenses.
(SFC, 10/31/05, p.A3)
2005 Oct 30, In SF some 20,000
people gathered in Golden Gate Park for a memorial concert, the Family
Dog’s last Tribal Stomp, to celebrate Chet Helms, who died June 25.
(SFC, 10/31/05, p.B1)
2005 Oct 30, Gordon A. Craig
(b.1913), Scottish-born former Stanford history professor, died in
California. His books included “Europe Since 1815” (1961).
(SFC, 11/9/05, p.B11)
2005 Oct 30, Al Lopez (97),
baseball Hall of Fame catcher and manager died in Tampa, Fla.
(AP, 10/30/06)
2005 Oct 30, The US military said
2 American soldiers have been charged with allegedly assaulting two
detainees at a US-led coalition base in southern Afghanistan.
(AP, 10/30/05)
2005 Oct 30, Congolese troops
rescued four electoral workers from their militia captors in a raid
that set off a battle that killed dozens of militiamen and one soldier.
Some 40 Mayi-Mayi militiamen were killed by the army. One soldier was
killed and three others injured.
(AP, 11/2/05)
2005 Oct 30, Police clashed with
angry youths in a Paris suburb for the fourth straight night, with
accusations over a police teargas grenade thrown into a mosque set to
exacerbate the situation further.
(AP, 10/31/05)
2005 Oct 30, Dresden's $215
million rebuilt Frauenkirche, or Church of Our Lady, was
re-consecrated, 60 years after it was destroyed by Allied bombs in
World War II. The Protestant church was originally built in 1743 and
collapsed after a wave of bombing in February 1945.
(AP, 10/30/05)(SSFC, 10/30/05, p.A16)
2005 Oct 30, It was reported that
the US military had begun tracking the deaths of Iraqi civilians.
Estimates of those killed and wounded averaged 26 per day from early
2004 and rose to 63 per day by the end of August, 2005. Attacks against
Americans and Iraqis were reported to be averaging 85 a day for much of
the past year.
(SSFC, 10/30/05, p.A21)
2005 Oct 30, Insurgents killed
seven Iraqi civilians in scattered attacks. An Iraqi cabinet adviser
was killed when gunmen attacked his car in northern Baghdad, and a
deputy trade minister was wounded in a separate attack. A US Army
soldier was killed by a roadside bomb in central Iraq.
(AP, 10/30/05)(Reuters, 10/30/05)(SFC, 11/1/05, p.A3)
2005 Oct 30, Israeli troops killed
3 Palestinian militants, including the suspected mastermind of a
suicide attack, in a West Bank raid just hours after the two sides had
reached a tentative new truce deal.
(AP, 10/31/05)
2005 Oct 30, Ivory Coast President
Laurent Gbagbo, whose mandate was due to go into extra time following
the west African state's failure to hold elections, pledged to do
everything he could to organize a vote before a one-year deadline set
by the United Nations.
(AP, 10/30/05)
2005 Oct 30, Hurricane Beta
pounded Nicaragua's east coast with heavy rains and powerful winds as
thousands sought protection in boarded-up homes or government shelters.
(AP, 10/30/05)
2005 Oct 30, Nigeria reported that
its inflation rate rose to 15.5% in the 12 months ending in August, up
14.2% from the month before according to the Federal Office of
Statistics (FOS).
(AP, 10/30/05)
2005 Oct 30, Pakistan and India
made an unprecedented agreement to open their heavily militarized
border in disputed Kashmir to aid the flow of relief goods and reunite
divided families in the aftermath of South Asia's colossal earthquake.
(AP, 10/30/05)
2005 Oct 30, Palestinian officials
said they have agreed with Israel to halt nearly a week of fighting
after militant groups pledged to halt rocket fire on southern Israeli
towns.
(AP, 10/30/05)
2005 Oct 30, Zanzibar police and
ruling party militia chased opposition supporters through the streets
as voters chose between the socialists who have ruled semiautonomous
state for more than 30 years and an opposition group promising
wholesale change. Voting in national and regional elections on mainland
Tanzania was postponed to Dec. 18 because of a vice presidential
candidate's death. Official results named incumbent Amani Karume of the
ruling Party of the Revolution (CCM) the winner with 53% of the vote.
(AP, 10/30/05)(Econ, 11/5/05, p.51)
2005 Oct 31, President Bush
nominated veteran judge Samuel Alito in a bid to reshape the Supreme
Court and mollify his conservative allies. Ready-to-rumble Democrats
warned that Alito may be an extremist who would curb abortion rights.
(AP, 10/31/05)
2005 Oct 31, The US Supreme Court
declined to hear an appeal by, Thomas Huckaby, a Tennessee man who was
charged by NY state for taxes on all of his income derived from his
employer in NY.
(WSJ, 11/1/05, p.D1)
2005 Oct 31, It was reported that
US Sec. of Defense Donald Rumsfeld held a stake in Gilead Sciences
valued at between $5 million and $25 million, according to federal
financial disclosures filed by Rumsfeld. Tamiflu is manufactured and
marketed by Swiss pharma giant Roche. Gilead receives a royalty from
Roche equaling about 10% of sales. Former Secretary of State George
Shultz, who is on Gilead's board, has sold more than $7 million worth
of Gilead since the beginning of 2005. Rumsfeld recused himself from
any decisions involving Gilead when he left Gilead and became Secretary
of Defense.
(http://money.cnn.com/2005/10/31/news/newsmakers/fortune_rumsfeld/)
2005 Oct 31, A transit strike in
Philadelphia brought the city’s buses, subways and trolleys to a halt.
(SFC, 11/1/05, p.A3)
2005 Oct 31, In SF some 30,000
people gathered in the Castro district for the annual Halloween party.
(SFC, 11/1/05, p.B2)
2005 Oct 31, BSkyB and Vodafone
announced that a quarter of a million subscribers to Vodafone's
third-generation (3G) telecommunications service were now able to watch
on their mobiles live news and sports provided by satellite broadcaster
BSkyB.
(AP, 10/31/05)
2005 Oct 31,
Chiron Corp., a biotech operation in Emeryville, Ca., merged with
the Swiss firm Novartis. Novartis paid $5.1 billion for Chiron.
(SFC, 11/1/05, p.D1)
2005 Oct 31, It was reported that
Pluto has three moons, not one, according to new images from the Hubble
Space Telescope suggest. Pluto, discovered as the ninth planet in 1930,
was thought to be alone until its moon Charon was spotted in 1978.
(AP, 11/1/05)
2005 Oct 31, In Brazil a man
accused of torturing and killing five people was killed in a Sao Paulo
shantytown gunfight with police who were trying to arrest him. Celso
Alencar dos Santos (33) and an accomplice allegedly killed five members
of the Yonekura family in September, when the family returned to Brazil
with thousands of dollars they had saved while living for six years in
Japan.
(AP, 11/1/05)
2005 Oct 31, China's Pres. Hu
Jintao arrived in Vietnam on a mission to expand booming trade ties
between the communist nations.
(AP, 10/31/05)
2005 Oct 31, Hundreds of
government troops backed by U.N. peacekeepers began flushing heavily
armed Rwandan rebels from eastern Congo, destroying insurgent camps and
sending smoke rising above the restive region.
(AP, 10/31/05)
2005 Oct 31, Farmers brought
California vegetables, North Carolina turkeys and Arkansas rice to
Cuba's annual trade fair, showing that Americans are still hungry for
the communist country's market despite U.S. rules that make trade
difficult.
(AP, 10/31/05)
2005 Oct 31, A UN-sanctioned panel
investigating human rights violations during Indonesia's bloody 24-year
occupation of East Timor presented its findings to the country's
president.
(AP, 10/31/05)
2005 Oct 31, French rower Emmanuel
Coindre ended a landmark 129-day solo voyage across the Pacific Ocean
between Japan and the United States, setting a new record, according to
his team.
(AFP, 11/1/05)
2005 Oct 31, The US military said
6 American soldiers were killed in two bombings, making October one of
the deadliest months for U.S. troops in Iraq this year. A car bomb
exploded in a commercial district of Basra, killing at least 20 with 40
injured.
(AP, 10/31/05)(AP, 11/1/05)(SFC, 11/1/05, p.A3)
2005 Oct 31, Japanese PM Junichiro
Koizumi named a new Cabinet, putting outspoken conservatives, and
potential successors, in top positions and retaining his economic team.
(AP, 10/31/05)
2005 Oct 31, Okinawa's governor
told Japan's central government that a plan to build a U.S. heliport on
the southern island as part of a realignment of the American military
presence there was unacceptable.
(AP, 10/31/05)
2005 Oct 31, A Myanmar court
sentenced a lawyer to seven years in prison for advising a group of
farmers to file grievances with the International Labor Organization.
(AP, 11/16/05)
2005 Oct 31, Polish President
Aleksander Kwasniewski has officially named a minority conservative
government headed by Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz.
(AP, 10/31/05)
2005 Oct 31, President Vladimir
Putin said he won't seek a third term in 2008, but vowed not to allow
"destabilization" in Russia following the vote, leaving the door open
for drastic action in the event of a crisis.
(AP, 10/31/05)
2005 Oct 31, A new survey reported
that more than half of Russians think everyone in power is dishonest,
from the president and parliament, to government and the courts.
Transparency International recently ranked Russia joint 126th on its
list of cleanest countries, on a par with Sierra Leone, Niger and
Albania.
(AP, 10/31/05)
2005 Oct 31, The Spanish
telecommunications company Telefonica announced an agreed $31.5 billion
takeover of mobile-phone operator O2, to be paid in cash.
(Econ, 11/5/05, p.65)
2005 Oct 31, UN envoy Jan Pronk
condemned the killing of 2 deminers contracted to the United Nations in
southern Sudan in an ambush by suspected Ugandan rebels.
(AP, 10/31/05)
2005 Oct 31, A UN resolution
sponsored by the US, France and Britain demanded that Syria assist
fully with a probe into the February killing of former Lebanese leader
Hariri. The P-5 ambassadors (the five permanent council nations) from
the US, Russia, China, Britain and France, conducted intense
negotiations to try to reach agreement on the resolution.
(WSJ, 11/1/05, p.A1)(AP, 11/3/05)
2005 Oct 31, Live news broadcasts
began on a new Latin American TV station backed by Venezuelan President
Hugo Chavez as an alternative to large corporate media outlets.
(AP, 10/31/05)
2005 Oct, New Jersey opened a
campaign for a new state slogan to the public, establishing a Web site
and telephone hot line to receive suggestions. The state once used "New
Jersey and You: Perfect Together," but has not had a new marketing
slogan in four years. "Get Away, Without Going Far Away" has been used
in the interim, but tourism officials said it does not resonate with
out-of-staters.
(AP, 11/14/05)
2005 Oct, The Gemological
Institute of America fired 4 employees at its NY laboratory over
allegations of bribery and a diamond grading scandal that stemmed from
a 2001 sale of 2 diamonds sold to the Saudi royal family for $15
million.
(WSJ, 12/20/05, p.A1)
2005 Oct, Albania signed a
European Commission energy treaty in Athens meant to promote
co-operation by setting up a regional energy market.
(Econ, 1/7/06, p.43)
2005 Oct, Australia’s government
announced a deal with the Labor government of the Northern Territories
to shake up communal management of aboriginal land by introducing
market-driven incentives.
(Econ, 11/19/05, p.46)
2005 Oct, In Belarus Veronika
Cherkasova (44), who had worked for independent media outlets for the
past 15 years, was killed in her home in Minsk. Sergei Ivanov, a top
prosecutor in charge of the investigation, decided in December to
suspend an inquiry "owing to the absence of individuals who can be
brought to justice."
(AP, 12/28/05)
2005 Oct, The government of Chad
said it intends to amend a law governing petrodollars so it can use a
larger chunk for any purpose it likes.
(SFC, 12/30/05, p.C2)
2005 Oct, Oando, a Nigerian energy
group, became the first company from another African country to be
listed on the Johannesburg stock exchange (JSE).
(Econ, 6/10/06, p.72)
2005 Oct, Greg Wyler, a American
tech entrepreneur, purchased Rwanda’s telecom monopoly, Rwandatel, with
a bid of $20 million. Wyler’s tenure as owner of Rwanda’s national
telephone company ended in 2007. He then founded O3b Networks, based on
the island of Jersey, to address the high cost of internet access in
developing countries.
(WSJ, 8/17/06, p.A7)(Econ, 10/18/08, p.77)
2005 Oct, Spain’s ENCE planned to
start a cellulose plant on the Uruguay River bordering Argentina.
(Econ, 10/8/05, p.47)
2005 Nov 1, President Bush
outlined a $7.1 billion strategy to prepare for the danger of a
pandemic influenza outbreak, saying he wanted to stockpile enough
vaccine to protect 20 million Americans against the current strain of
bird flu.
(AP, 11/1/05)
2005 Nov 1, Democrats forced the
Republican-controlled Senate into an unusual closed session,
questioning intelligence President Bush had used in the run-up to the
war in Iraq; Republicans derided the move as a political stunt.
(AP, 11/1/06)
2005 Nov 1, The US Federal Reserve
raised its benchmark interest rate another quarter point for the 12th
time to 4%.
(SFC, 11/2/05, p.D1)
2005 Nov 1, The US Postal Rate
Commission approved a 2-cent increase effective Jan 2006.
(SFC, 11/2/05, p.A2)
2005 Nov 1, Residents of Denver,
Colorado, voted to legalize the possession of small amounts of
marijuana for adults. Authorities said state possession laws will be
applied instead. State residents voted to suspend their Taxpayer’s Bill
of Rights and gave up more than $3 billion in tax refunds to help the
state deal with a recession.
(AP, 11/2/05)(SFC, 11/3/05, p.A5)
2005 Nov 1, Skitch Henderson (87),
the Grammy-winning conductor who lent his musical expertise to Frank
Sinatra and Bing Crosby before founding the New York Pops (1983) and
becoming the first "Tonight Show" bandleader (1954), died in New Haven,
Conn.
(AP, 11/2/05)
2005 Nov 1, Militants ambushed
police on a southern Afghan mountain and killed five officers.
(AP, 11/2/05)
2005 Nov 1, Albania's armed forces
chief said their antiquated air force of Soviet-designed MiG aircraft,
which killed 35 Albanian pilots but no enemies, is finally on its way
to the museum and the scrapheap.
(Reuters, 11/1/05)
2005 Nov 1, In Bosnia 2 children
in Doribaba died when they were playing with a hand grenade and pulled
the security pin.
(AP, 11/2/05)
2005 Nov 1, Britain's Competition
Commission (CC) gave approval to proposed takeovers of the London Stock
Exchange by the German Deutsche Boerse or the pan-European market
Euronext, but attached conditions.
(AFP, 11/1/05)
2005 Nov 1, The first Czech online
daily without a paper edition, Aktualne.cz, was launched overnight.
(AFP, 11/1/05)
2005 Nov 1, Two Islamic militants
jailed in the 1981 killing of President Anwar Sadat were released after
more than two decades behind bars. Nageh Ibrahim and Fouad el-Dawalibi
were founding members of al-Gamaa al-Islamiyya, once Egypt's largest
Islamic militant group.
(AP, 11/8/05)
2005 Nov 1, In Ethiopia riot
police clashed with dozens of opposition supporters in Addis Ababa,
fatally shooting at least five people and wounding some 20 others in
renewed protests of the disputed May elections.
(AP, 11/1/05)
2005 Nov 1, French police fired
tear gas and rioters hurled Molotov cocktails as violence hit a poor
Paris suburb for the fifth straight night in unrest that officials said
had also spread to neighboring towns.
(AFP, 11/1/05)
2005 Nov 1, In Iraq 500 prisoners
walked free from the US military's Abu Ghraib jail, released in a
goodwill gesture to mark the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
(AP, 11/1/05)
2005 Nov 1, Israel's Yad Vashem
Holocaust Memorial opened a Holocaust film library with help from
Hollywood director Steven Spielberg.
(AP, 11/1/05)
2005 Nov 1, An Israeli missile
strike on a car killed two Palestinians in the Jebaliya refugee camp,
Hassan Madhoun (37), a leader of the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades and
Fawzi Abu Kara (32) of Hamas.
(AP, 11/1/05)(SFC, 11/2/05, p.A12)
2005 Nov 1, Japanese artist Hiro
Yamagata announced plans to recreate Afghanistan's destroyed Bamiyan
Buddhas using as many as 240 laser beam images, a giant project that
could also bring electricity to local people.
(AFP, 11/1/05)
2005 Nov 1, Gunfire erupted and at
least four inmates were killed at two Kyrgyz prisons after riot police
entered to restore order following a bloody uprising.
(AP, 11/1/05)
2005 Nov 1, A trade union said a
strike at the Dutch operations of Royal Dutch Shell PLC over pensions
will be broadened to include the company's natural-gas production in
the north of the Netherlands.
(AP, 11/1/05)
2005 Nov 1, Officials from North
and South Korea agreed to meet next month to work out details on
competing as a unified team for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
(AP, 11/1/05)
2005 Nov 1, In the Philippines 6
US Marines took part in a rape at the former US naval base at Subic
Bay. The incident soon fueled anti-US demonstrations in Manila and
objections to US presence in the Philippines. Prosecutors later
contended the victim (22) was attacked in a van at Subic Bay by Lance
Cpl. Daniel Smith as Lance Cpl. Keith Silkwood, Lance Cpl. Dominic
Duplantis and Staff Sgt. Chad Carpentier cheered on the assault. In
Dec, 2006, Lance Cpl. Daniel Smith (21) from St. Louis, was convicted
of raping a Filipino woman and sentenced to 40 years in prison. He was
the first American soldier convicted of wrongdoing in the Philippines
since the country shut down US bases here the early 1990s. In 2009 his
accuser submitted a five-page affidavit to an appeals court saying she
now doubts her own version of events. In March it was revealed that
Smith had paid the victim $2000 in damages and that she had gone to
live in America with her American boyfriend. On April 23, 2009, the
Philippine Court of Appeals overturned the ruling against Smith,
indicating the sexual act was consensual.
(WSJ, 11/22/05, p.A13)(AP, 6/26/06)(AP, 12/4/06)(AP,
3/18/09)(Econ, 5/2/09, p.43)
2005 Nov 1, Police surrounded
opposition headquarters and clashed with protesters on the
semiautonomous archipelago of Zanzibar (Tanzania) as the ruling party
was declared the winner of presidential and parliamentary elections. 9
people died in related violence and the opposition made allegations of
rigging.
(AP, 11/1/05)(WSJ, 11/2/05, p.A1)
2005 Nov 1, The UN General
Assembly adopted a landmark resolution that will create the first
international day of commemoration for the six million Jews and other
victims of the Nazi Holocaust. The International Day of Commemoration
will be held every year on Jan. 27.
(AP, 11/1/05)
2005 Nov 1, UN Sec. Gen. Kofi
Annan said he would name Martti Ahtisaari, a former Finish president,
as special envoy to start talks on Kosovo’s future.
(AP, 11/15/05)(Econ, 1/21/06, p.51)
2005 Nov 2, The Bush
administration released details of its potential flu pandemic strategy,
saying a pandemic that hit the United States would force cities to
ration scarce drugs and vaccine and house the sick in hotels or schools
if hospitals were to overflow.
(AP, 11/2/06)
2005 Nov 2, The Washington Post
reported that the CIA has been hiding and interrogating al Qaeda
captives at a secret facility in Eastern Europe as part of a covert
global prison system that has included sites in 8 countries and was set
up after the September 11, 2001, attacks.
(AP, 11/2/05)
2005 Nov 2, In California
authorities arrested Jeanson James Ancheta (20) for conspiracy to cause
damage to a computer, accessing a computer to conduct fraud and money
laundering among other charges. He had used robot viruses to commandeer
machines to “disseminate spam, hawk fake goods, and send “phishing”
emails to steal bank and other personal information.” Ancheta faced a
maximum of 50 years in prison.
(WSJ, 11/7/05, p.B3)
2005 Nov 2, In Florida 2 men
pleaded guilty to organizing a Cuban smuggling trip that ended when
their speedboat capsized and a 6-year-old boy drowned on Oct 12.
(AP, 11/2/05)
2005 Nov 2, An e-mail statement
purportedly by Taliban commander Mullah Omar, urged the insurgents in
Afghanistan not to end their armed struggle.
(AP, 11/2/05)
2005 Nov 2, In Argentina thousands
opposed to Pres. Bush held a massive rally at a basketball arena just
days before he arrives at Mar del Plata for the Summit of the Americas.
(AP, 11/2/05)
2005 Nov 2, The Asia Pacific Trade
Agreement held its 1st Ministerial Council session in Thailand. This
replaced the Bangkok Agreement signed in 1975. Members included
Bangladesh, China, India, Republic of Korea, Lao People's Democratic
Republic and Sri Lanka. ESCAP, the UN Economic and Social Commission
for Asia and the Pacific, functioned as the secretariat for the
Agreement.
(www.unescap.org/tid/apta.asp)
2005 Nov 2, In Britain Cabinet
minister David Blunkett resigned. He acknowledged that his business
dealings had breached ministerial guidelines and that his position as
work and pensions secretary had become untenable.
(AP, 11/2/05)
2005 Nov 2, China’s government
made public the results of a 2-month investigation into conflicts of
interest in the coal industry and found that 4,578 government officials
illegally held stakes in coal mines, where corruption and other abuses
contributed to thousands of deaths each year.
(WSJ, 11/3/05, p.A10)
2005 Nov 2, Chinese scientists
said they had gathered evidence that shows a giant object in the center
of our galaxy is a super-massive black hole.
(Reuters, 11/3/05)
2005 Nov 2, Police in the troubled
Russian region of Dagestan killed Makhach Mamashev, a militant leader,
and detained eight fighters in an operation near the Chechen border.
(AP, 11/3/05)
2005 Nov 2, In Ethiopia clashes
between police and protesters erupted in gunfire and grenade
explosions, with police killing at least 33 people during a second day
of renewed protests of disputed elections.
(AP, 11/2/05)
2005 Nov 2, Deutsche Telekom AG,
Europe's biggest phone company, said that it plans to cut 32,000 jobs
from its payroll in Germany in the next three years, 25,000 at its main
operations and 7,000 from a staffing agency subsidiary.
(AP, 11/2/05)
2005 Nov 2, Haiti's interim
government filed a federal lawsuit against former Haitian President
Jean-Bertrand Aristide, accusing him of stealing millions from the
Haitian treasury and state-owned telephone company.
(AP, 11/3/05)
2005 Nov 2, Iran's government said
it was removing 40 ambassadors and senior diplomats, including
supporters of warmer ties with the West, from their posts in a shake-up
that comes as the Islamic republic takes a more confrontational
international stance. Thousands of Iranians burned flags and chanted
slogans against Israel and the US in the largest demonstration in years
outside the former US Embassy in Tehran. Nov 4 marked the 26th
anniversary of the 1979 embassy seizure.
(AP, 11/2/05)
2005 Nov 2, Iraq's defense
minister invited officers of Saddam Hussein's army up to the rank of
major to join the new Iraqi army, an overture to disaffected Sunni Arab
ex-soldiers, many of whom joined the insurgency after the Americans
abolished the armed forces in 2003. A US soldier was killed by a
roadside bomb during combat operations in Ramadi.
(AP, 11/2/05)(AP, 11/3/05)
2005 Nov 2, Four US troops were
killed, two in a helicopter crash, and two from a roadside bomb, as
American ground forces fought insurgents around the city of Ramadi. At
least 23 people were killed and 46 were wounded when a car bomb
exploded outside a Shiite Muslim mosque in the Iraqi town of Musayyib.
(AP, 11/2/05)(Reuters, 11/2/05)
2005 Nov 2, In Kashmir 5 people
including a suicide bomber were killed and more than a dozen wounded in
a car bomb blast in the Nowgam area on the outskirts of Srinagar. "The
car bomb is our first gift to Ghulam Nabi Azad," who was to be sworn is
as the Kashmir's new chief minister, said Abu Qudama, spokesman for
Jaish-e-Mohammed.
(AP, 11/2/05)
2005 Nov 2, Police in Northern
Ireland arrested a 30-year-old man in Belfast a day after two others
were taken into custody in the city of Kilcoo in relation to last
year's $47 million bank robbery.
(AP, 11/2/05)
2005 Nov 2, Pakistan army's
disaster relief chief said the official death toll in Pakistan from the
Oct. 8 earthquake jumped to more than 73,000, with about the same
number listed as severely injured.
(AP, 11/2/05)
2005 Nov 2, Syrian President
Bashar Assad gave amnesty to 190 political prisoners to mark the Muslim
feast of Eid al-Fitr.
(AP, 11/2/05)
2005 Nov 2, In southern Thailand
several bombs exploded in Narathiwat, killing one attacker and knocking
out electricity.
(AP, 11/2/05)
2005 Nov 3, Vice President Dick
Cheney's former chief of staff, I. Lewis Libby, pleaded not guilty to a
five-count felony indictment in the CIA leak case.
(AP, 11/3/06)
2005 Nov 3, The US released 5
Guantanamo detainees to Kuwait. About 500 captives remained at the
facility.
(WSJ, 11/4/05, p.A1)
2005 Nov 3, A state-court in
Atlantic City, New Jersey, found Merck not liable for injuries to an
Idaho man taking Vioxx who had a heart attack. Merck faced some 2,750
more suits in New Jersey, where the company is based.
(WSJ, 11/4/05, p.A1)
2005 Nov 3, Matthew Limon (23) was
released after spending five years in prison following the Oct. 21
Kansas Supreme Court ruling that determined it was unconstitutional to
punish underage sex between homosexuals more harshly than between
heterosexuals.
(AP, 11/4/05)
2005 Nov 3, In Texas convicted
killed Charles Victor Thompson (35) escaped from Harris County Jail. He
was captured Nov 6 in Shreveport, La., drunk and talking on a pay
phone. Thompson had been sentenced to death for the murder of his
ex-girlfriend and her lover in 1998.
(SSFC, 11/6/05, p.A8)(AP, 11/7/05)
2005 Nov 3, The Environmental
Investigation Agency, a London-based environmental watchdog said US
businesses are unwittingly importing illegal Honduran wood,
contributing to deforestation, corruption and social strife in the
Latin American country.
(AP, 11/3/05)
2005 Nov 3, Leaders from
across the Americas headed to Argentina in another attempt to end Latin
America's chronic poverty, with Washington promoting liberalized trade
and opponents fearful that it will allow corporations to dominate the
poor.
(AP, 11/3/05)
2005 Nov 3, R.C. Gorman (b.1931),
Navajo artist, died in Albuquerque, NM. He was dubbed “the Picasso of
American Indian Art” by the NY Times.
(SFC, 11/4/05, p.B6)
2005 Nov 3, Kevin Henry (39), of
Albion, Ca., was murdered by Nathan McWilliams (22) and Trevor Conley
(23) of Ukiah, Ca., near Lake Mendocino following use of crystal
methamphetamine. In 2007 Conley and McWilliams were sentenced 15 years
to life in prison.
(SFCM, 1/20/08, p.17)
2005 Nov 3, North Korea's
abduction of Japanese citizens decades ago took center stage at the
opening of talks in Beijing between the former bitter enemies.
(Reuters, 11/3/05)
2005 Nov 3, In Ethiopia police
shot and killed three people and wounded 12 others in a fourth day of
protests against disputed parliamentary elections.
(AP, 11/3/05)
2005 Nov 3, European Union
officials said they would investigate a report that the CIA set up
secret jails in Eastern Europe to interrogate top al-Qaida suspects.
The international Red Cross also said it asked the US to let a
representative visit detainees if such a facility exists. At least 10
nations denied that the prisons were in their territory. Human Rights
Watch in New York said it has evidence indicating the CIA transported
suspected terrorists captured in Afghanistan to Poland and Romania.
(AP, 11/3/05)
2005 Nov 3, Rioting youths shot at
police and firefighters after burning car dealerships and public buses
and hurling rocks at commuter trains. France's government faced growing
pressure to curb the violence, fueled by anger over poor conditions in
suburban Paris housing projects.
(AP, 11/3/05)
2005 Nov 3, In Haiti demonstrators
marched out of two slums and across the capital in support of former
Pres. Rene Preval's bid to regain the presidency in Dec elections.
(AP, 11/3/05)
2005 Nov 3, The al-Qaida in Iraq
militant group said that it has sentenced to death two Moroccan embassy
employees kidnapped last month in Iraq, the insurgents' latest attempt
to scare Arab nations from sending diplomats.
(AP, 11/3/05)
2005 Nov 3, Israeli soldiers shot
and critically wounded a 13-year-old Palestinian boy who threw stones
at troops patrolling Jenin. The boy died Nov 5. The parents of the
Palestinian boy donated his organs to three Israeli children waiting
for transplants.
(AP, 11/3/05)(AP, 11/5/05)(AP, 11/7/05)
2005 Nov 3, Pakistan reported that
its agents killed one suspected al-Qaida terrorist in a raid in Quetta
and arrested, Mustafa Setmarian Nasar, a Syrian and top al-Qaida
operative sought by the US under a $5 million reward. The slain suspect
was a Saudi named Shaikh Ali Mohammed al-Salim who had been living with
Mustafa Setmarian Nasar, also known as Abu Musab al-Suri, who allegedly
had a role in the March 11, 2004, Madrid mass-transit bombings. Al-Suri
was the author of a 1,600-page opus titled: The Global Islamic Call to
Resistance.”
(AP, 11/3/05)(AP, 5/2/06)(Econ, 7/14/07, p.30)
2005 Nov 3, In the Philippines the
Asian Development Bank warned that a flu pandemic could kill 3 million
people in Asia, trigger economic carnage in the region worth almost
$300 billion and push the world into a recession.
(AP, 11/3/05)
2005 Nov 3, Thailand's government
imposed martial law in two Muslim-dominated districts of its
insurgency-wracked south, a day after Islamic separatists staged a new
show of strength with bombings that blacked out a provincial capital.
(AP, 11/3/05)
2005 Nov 4, The St. Louis
Cardinals announced demolition plans for Busch Stadium, the ballpark
that has housed the team since 1966. A 10,000-pound wrecking ball will
be used to knock down the southern half of the ballpark over a 60-day
period.
(AP, 11/4/05)
2005 Nov 4, Sheree North (72),
stage, film and TV star, died in Los Angeles.
(SFC, 11/9/05, p.B11)
2005 Nov 4, Earl Krugel (62),
Jewish Defense League activist, died after being assaulted in a federal
prison in Phoenix. He had been imprisoned for his role in a bomb plot.
(AP, 11/4/06)
2005 Nov 4, Mullah Omar, the
fugitive leader of Afghanistan's Taliban insurgents, called on people
to unite and join his ousted guerrillas in a "jihad" or holy war
against US forces in the country.
(AP, 11/6/05)
2005 Nov 4, In Afghanistan poet
Nadia Anjuman (25) died in Herat. She was beaten to death, and her
husband and mother were arrested. On Nov 8 the UN condemned the killing
as symptom of continuing violence against Afghan women four years after
the fall of the Taliban.
(AP, 11/8/05)
2005 Nov 4, In Argentina crowd of
10,000 people chanting "Get out Bush!" swarmed the streets of Mar del
Plata, hours before the hemisphere's leaders sat down to debate free
trade, immigration and job creation at the fourth Summit of the
Americas. Pres. Bush worked to smooth the United States' troubled image
in Latin America, commending Argentina's efforts to improve its damaged
economy. More than 1,000 masked, anti-US demonstrators clashed with
police, shattered storefronts and torched businesses.
(AP, 11/4/05)(AP, 11/5/05)
2005 Nov 4, In Argentina Mexico’s
Pres. Vicente Fox said that a majority of nations in the Western
Hemisphere will consider moving forward with negotiations to create a
huge new free trade zone without the participation of dissenting
countries like Venezuela.
(AP, 11/4/05)
2005 Nov 4, In Azerbaijan
thousands of government supporters rallied in Baku on the last day of
campaigning for this weekend's parliamentary elections, while opponents
kept out of sight to avoid confrontations with police.
(AP, 11/4/05)
2005 Nov 4, In Oxford restaurant
waiter Chomir Ali (44) was jailed for life for ordering his sons to
kill Arash Ghorbani-Zarin (19), a Muslim university student of Iranian
descent. The conviction of a Bangladeshi-origin man along with his two
teenage sons for murdering the student who made his daughter pregnant
illustrates the growing prevalence in Britain of so-called "honor
crimes." Ghorbani-Zarin was stabbed 46 times.
(AFP, 11/5/05)
2005 Nov 4, China reported its
fourth bird flu outbreak in three weeks, saying that 8,940 chickens
died in a northeastern village despite a nationwide effort to contain
the virus. The discovery prompted authorities to destroy about 370,000
birds.
(AP, 11/4/05)
2005 Nov 4, Gunfire echoed
sporadically around Addis Ababa for a fourth day as reports emerged
that unrest had spread beyond the capital, a development likely to
deepen international concern for Ethiopia's stability.
(Reuters, 11/4/05)
2005 Nov 4, Small, mobile groups
of youths hit Paris' riot-shaken suburbs with waves of arson attacks,
torching hundreds of cars, as unrest entered its 2nd week and spread to
other towns.
(AP, 11/4/05)
2005 Nov 4, Sunni-led insurgents
killed 11 Iraqi security forces and wounded 14 in two separate attacks,
as Shiites began celebrating a major Muslim holiday.
(AP, 11/4/05)
2005 Nov 4, In Pakistan Pres.
Musharraf suspended the purchase of 77 US fighter planes saying the
funds were urgently needed for rebuilding parts of northern Pakistan
flattened by the Oct 8 earthquake.
(WSJ, 11/5/05, p.A1)
2005 Nov 4, A ferry overloaded
with people heading to a memorial for three drowned boaters capsized in
the Arabian Sea off southern Pakistan, killing about 60 people.
(AP, 11/4/05)
2005 Nov 4, Spain's Supreme Court
sentenced pro-Basque independence leader Arnaldo Otegi to a year in
prison for slandering King Juan Carlos by saying he was in charge of
torturers.
(AP, 11/4/05)
2005 Nov 4, Victor Hettigoda, a
wealthy Sri Lankan presidential candidate, said he will use his
personal fortune to buy a cow for every home if he is elected in the
Nov 17 elections.
(AP, 11/7/05)
2005 Nov 4, South Africa's former
deputy president was indicted on a corruption charge in a scandal
involving his financial adviser and two French arms companies. Jacob
Zuma, who had been seen as President Thabo Mbeki's successor, was fired
in June after being implicated in the scandal involving his financial
adviser and friend, Schabir Shaik.
(AP, 11/5/05)
2005 Nov 4, Vietnam confirmed bird
flu outbreaks in three communes north of Hanoi.
(AFP, 11/4/05)
2005 Nov 5, The New York Times
reported that a UN auditing board has recommended the United States pay
as much as 208 million dollars to Iraq for overbilling or shoddy work
performed by a subsidiary of the US oil services firm Halliburton.
(AFP, 11/5/05)
2005 Nov 5, US industry officials
said the US and China have reached a tentative agreement to limit
imports of Chinese clothing and textile products into the United States.
(AP, 11/5/05)
2005 Nov 5, Louisiana Gov.
Kathleen Blanco slashed state spending by $431 million, but still faced
a half a billion shortfall due to Hurricane Katrina.
(SSFC, 11/6/05, p.A7)
2005 Nov 5, Earl Krugel (62),
Jewish Defense League activist, was killed at the Federal Correctional
Inst. In Phoenix, Az. He had been imprisoned for his role in a 2001
plot to bomb a California mosque and the office of Lebanese American
congressman Darrell Issa.
(SSFC, 11/6/05, p.A8)
2005 Nov 5, Link Wray (b.1929),
North Carolina-born rock guitar master, died in Denmark. His hits
included the 1958 instrumental “Rumble” and 1959 “Rawhide.” Wray was
three-quarters Shawnee and was said to have inspired many other rock
musicians.
(SFC, 11/22/05, p.B4)
2005 Nov 5, Leaders from across
the Americas ended their tumultuous 2-day summit in Mar del Plata,
Argentina, without agreeing to restart talks on a US-favored free trade
zone stretching from Alaska to Chile. 5 of 34 participating countries
thwarted the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA). They included
Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay, and Venezuela.
(AP, 11/6/05)(SSFC, 11/6/05, p.A15)
2005 Nov 5, Three Bahraini men
returned home after being released from the US military detention
facility at Guantanamo Bay. Bahraini authorities vowed to keep pressing
Washington to free three remaining detainees.
(AP, 11/5/05)
2005 Nov 5, John Fowles (b.1926),
English novelist, died at his home in Lyme Regis, Dorset. His books
included "The Collector" (1963), “The Magus” (1965) and “The French
Lieutenant's Woman” (1969). Volume I of his journals (1949-1965) was
published in May. Volume II (1966-1990) was published in 2006.
(SFC, 11/8/05, p.B5)(Econ, 11/19/05, p.92)(SSFC,
10/29/06, p.M1)
2005 Nov 5, More than 50,000
people flocked to the opening day of a racy sex festival in southern
China in a sign the conservative nation is shedding its sexual taboos.
The three-day event began in the southern province of Guangzhou. It
featured lingerie shows and adult toy exhibitions as experts and local
authorities sought to convey information about the dangers of unsafe
sex.
(AFP, 11/7/05)
2005 Nov 5, In Colombia police
seized more than 2 tons of cocaine hidden on a beach on the Caribbean
coast and arrested five suspected traffickers who were apparently
preparing to load the drugs aboard a speedboat bound for Central
America or Mexico.
(AP, 11/6/05)
2005 Nov 5, In northern Ethiopia 2
people were reported killed after a fifth day of political unrest that
has shaken confidence in the vast African nation's stability.
(AP, 11/5/05)
2005 Nov 5, In France marauding
youths torched nearly 900 vehicles, stoned paramedics and burned a
nursery school in a ninth night of violence that spread from Paris
suburbs to towns around France. Authorities arrested more than 250
people overnight.
(AP, 11/5/05)
2005 Nov 5, American and Iraqi
forces launched a major offensive, Operation Steel Curtain, near the
porous Syrian border aimed at destroying al-Qaida in Iraq's ability to
smuggle foreign fighters, money and equipment through the region.
(AP, 11/5/05)(SSFC, 11/13/05, p.A1)
2005 Nov 5, Israeli archaeologists
said they have discovered what may be the oldest Christian church in
the Holy Land on the grounds of a prison near the biblical site of
Armageddon. The Israeli Antiquities Authority said the ruins are
believed to date back to the third or fourth centuries and include
references to Jesus and images of fish, an ancient Christian symbol.
(AP, 11/5/05)
2005 Nov 5, In northwestern
Pakistan suspected militants set off a blast while making bombs at
their compound, killing at least eight people, including a woman and
three children.
(AP, 11/5/05)
2005 Nov 5, Philippine security
forces captured a man they believed was Radulan Sahiron, Abu Sayyaf's
chief of staff, in Zamboanga Sibugay province, however it turned out to
be a case of mistaken identity. Sahiron was also wanted by the US for
attacks against Americans.
(AP, 11/5/05)(AP, 11/6/05)
2005 Nov 5, The cruise ship MV
Seaborn Spirit, carrying at least 600 tourists from Europe, narrowly
escaped seizure by gunmen off the pirate-infested Somali coast when it
sped off to the high seas amid a trail of gunfire. At least 23
hijackings and attempted seizures have been recorded off the Somalia
coastline since mid-March, according to the International Maritime
Bureau (IMB), which has warned ships to stay as far away from the coast
as possible and keep radio communication to the minimal.
(AFP, 11/5/05)
2005 Nov 5, In South Korea
China-controlled Ssangyong Motor sacked its president after the company
fell into the red in the first half of this year. So Jin-Kwan was
dismissed as company president and replaced by Choi Hyung-Tak, a
company executive.
(AP, 11/5/05)
2005 Nov 5, Collin Lee (67), a
British aid worker, was shot and killed when rebels from Uganda's
notorious Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) ambushed him while on his way to
a southern Sudanese town.
(AP, 11/7/05)
2005 Nov 6, In a clear jab at
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, President Bush, in Brazil, called on
Latin Americans to boldly defend strong democratic institutions.
(AP, 11/6/06)
2005 Nov 6, Paul Tergat of Kenya
won the NYC marathon by a third of a second in the closest finish ever.
Jelena Prokopcuka of Latvia took the women’s race.
(WSJ, 11/7/05, p.A1)
2005 Nov 6, In SF the annual
Veteran’s Day Parade was held on Market St.
(SFC, 11/7/05, p.B1)
2005 Nov 6, The Intelligent
Transport Systems World Congress opened in SF for a 5-day meeting and
demonstration of new products.
(SFC, 11/7/05, p.A1)
2005 Nov 6, A tornado ripped
across southwestern Indiana and northern Kentucky, killing at least 22
people, wrecking homes and knocking out power to thousands.
(AP, 11/6/05)(WSJ, 11/7/05, p.A1)
2005 Nov 6, The head of
Azerbaijan's ruling party declared victory in a parliamentary election,
with 63 seats. Azerbaijan's president pledged parliamentary elections
would be followed by further democratic reform, but his political
opponents alleged there were voting violations that could taint the
results.
(AP, 11/6/05)(Reuters, 11/6/05)(Econ, 11/12/05, p.55)
2005 Nov 6 Former Peruvian
President Alberto Fujimori was arrested, hours after he defied an
international arrest warrant and flew from Japan to Chile. Shortly
after Fujimori's presence in Chile was confirmed, the Peruvian
government asked Santiago to arrest him while a request for his
extradition was filed.
(AP, 11/7/05)
2005 Nov 6, China said it had
asked the World Health Organization to help it determine whether the
death of a 12-year-old girl last month was caused by bird flu.
(AP, 11/6/05)
2005 Nov 6, In northern China an
explosion at a coal mine killed 13 miners and left three missing at the
Taiping Colliery in Shanxi province's Qingxu County.
(AP, 11/6/05)
2005 Nov 6, In northern China a
cave-in at a gypsum mine killed 27 workers and trapped 20 others. The
mine collapse occurred in Xingtai, a city in Hebei province, and
affected two other nearby mines.
(AP, 11/7/05)
2005 Nov 6, The EU and US urged
Ethiopia to end its crackdown on independent journalists and release
opposition leaders detained during a week of bloody clashes between
demonstrators and police.
(AP, 11/7/05)
2005 Nov 6, French President
Jacques Chirac called a security meeting of his top ministers after
urban rioting spread, with arsonists striking from the Mediterranean to
the German border and into central Paris for the first time. On the
10th night of mayhem, some 1,300 vehicles were torched across France
overnight and 349 people were arrested.
(AP, 11/6/05)(AFP, 11/6/05)
2005 Nov 6, Adan Castillo,
Guatemala's top anti-narcotics investigator, said he plans to step down
in December, after just six months on the job. Castillo said his
country's anti-drug agents are no match for some 4,000 smugglers
operating in Guatemala.
(AP, 11/6/05)
2005 Nov 6, India’s Sikh PM Singh
and Hindu nationalist opposition leader joined to open Swaminarayan
Akshardham Temple in New Delhi, one of the biggest Hindu temples of
modern times, a $45 million pink sandstone shrine to religious
tolerance.
(AP, 11/6/05)
2005 Nov 6, Iran said it supported
a stable Iraq and called for expediting the construction of an oil
pipeline and railway between the two neighbors.
(AP, 11/6/05)
2005 Nov 6, Dozens of people fled
Husaybah, an Iraqi town on the Syrian border, during a lull in fighting
between 3,500 US and Iraqi troops and suspected al-Qaida insurgents
armed with Kalashnikov rifles and rocket-propelled grenades.
(AP, 11/6/05)
2005 Nov 6, Myanmar’s military
junta began moving key ministries to Pyinmana, a secret location in the
mountains and dense forest. The ruling junta had shifted headquarters
to a series of underground bunkers in Pyinmana, in central Myanmar.
(Econ, 7/23/05, p.24)(WSJ, 11/7/05, p.A18)
2005 Nov 6, Gunmen in Mogadishu
threw grenades and a land mine exploded near the convoy carrying
Somalia's PM Ali Mohamed Gedi, but the leader escaped unharmed. At
least two people were killed and 12 wounded in the attack.
(AP, 11/6/05)
2005 Nov 7, President Bush met
with Panamanian President Martin Torrijos in Panama City, Panama, where
they discussed a free trade agreement. President Bush, in Panama,
defended US interrogation practices and called the treatment of
terrorism suspects lawful, saying, "We do not torture."
(AP, 11/7/05)(AP, 11/7/06)
2005 Nov 7, The Pentagon announced
that 5 foreign terrorism suspects at the U.S. military prison in
Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, have been charged with war crimes and will face
military trials, bringing to nine the number charged at Guantanamo to
date.
(AP, 11/8/05)
2005 Nov 7, A jury in Miami,
Florida, found Luis Alavarez Renta, a powerful financier from the
Dominican Republic, liable on 3 counts of racketeering and one count of
fraudulent money transfer in a civil case stemming from his actions in
the 2003 collapse of Banco Intercontinental, or Baninter.
(WSJ, 11/9/05, p.A14)
2005 Nov 7, Oakland, Ca.,
pediatrician Zehra Attari went missing. On Dec 20 she was found in her
car as it was pulled out of the Oakland estuary at the end of Grand St.
(SFC, 12/22/05, p.B1)
2005 Nov 7, Fiat SpA and Ford
Motor Co. said they had signed an agreement to collaborate on small
cars, completing a deal to co-develop new models due in 2007 and 2008.
(AP, 11/7/05)
2005 Nov 7, Grokster Ltd., a
pioneering file-sharing service founded in 2001, shut down as part of a
legal settlement with the music industry.
(WSJ, 11/8/05, p.B1)
2005 Nov 7, TV networks struck
deals with cable and satellite providers allowing viewers to watch
popular shows anytime they want for 99 cents per episode.
(WSJ, 11/8/05, p.A1)
2005 Nov 7, The Int’l. Energy
Agency (IEA) projected growth in Middle East and North Africa Oil and
Natural Gas Sectors through 2030 with enough oil in the ground to meet
expected demand beyond 2030.
(Econ, 11/12/05, p.69)
2005 Nov 7, Azerbaijan's
opposition rejected the results of weekend parliamentary elections,
calling them rigged and vowing to overturn the outcome of voting that
foreign observers said fell short of international standards.
(AP, 11/7/05)
2005 Nov 7, At least 70 people
were missing after a ferry capsized in the Bay of Bengal while sailing
to Chittagong port in Bangladesh from a nearby island.
(AP, 11/7/05)
2005 Nov 7, Chinese authorities
ordered all live poultry markets in Beijing to close immediately and
went door-to-door seizing chickens and ducks from private homes, as the
government dramatically beefed up its fight against bird flu.
(AP, 11/7/05)
2005 Nov 7, The EU agreed to
monitor a Gaza-Egypt border crossing that serves as the main gate to
the world for Palestinians.
(AP, 11/7/05)
2005 Nov 7, EU foreign ministers
agreed to launch a three-year police training mission to help the
Palestinian Authority build up a new "sustainable and effective" police
force.
(AP, 11/7/05)
2005 Nov 7, Rioting by French
youths spread to 300 towns overnight, and a 61-year-old man hurt in the
violence died of his wounds, the first fatality in 11 days of unrest.
(AP, 11/7/05)
2005 Nov 7, India and Pakistan
opened their frontier in Kashmir for earthquake relief, but police had
to fire tear gas to disperse protesters who were banned from taking
part in the symbolic crossing.
(AP, 11/7/05)
2005 Nov 7, India's foreign
minister was stripped of his post over allegations that he benefited
illegally from the UN oil-for-food program in Iraq, becoming the first
political casualty of an independent report that revealed massive
corruption in the effort to help Iraqis suffering under sanctions.
(AP, 11/7/05)
2005 Nov 7, Nirbhay Singh Gujjar
(64), one of India's most dreaded and colorful bandits, was shot to
death by police in the forests of central India, ending a nearly
three-decade career in crime that included murders, kidnappings and
looting.
(AP, 11/8/05)
2005 Nov 7, Iraqi and US battled
insurgents house to house, the third day of an assault against
al-Qaida-led insurgents in a town near the Syrian border. US military
said one Marine and at least 36 insurgents had died in the assault.
(AP, 11/7/05)(WSJ, 11/8/05, p.A1)
2005 Nov 7, A suicide bomber blew
up his vehicle at a checkpoint south of Baghdad and killed four
American soldiers. The US command also announced five soldiers from the
elite 75th Ranger Regiment were charged with kicking and punching Iraqi
detainees.
(AP, 11/7/05)(SFC, 11/8/05, p.A3)
2005 Nov 7, Thousands of Moroccans
marched through central Casablanca to demand the release of 2 Moroccan
Embassy employees in Iraq who al-Qaida has threatened to kill.
(AP, 11/7/05)
2005 Nov 7, A section of a bridge
under construction in southern Spain collapsed on workers, killing at
least five of them.
(AP, 11/7/05)
2005 Nov 7, In Thailand at least
three people were killed, two others injured and dozens of suspected
Muslim insurgents arrested as militants attacked more than 20
government targets in the southern Yala province.
(AP, 11/8/05)
2005 Nov 7, Police in Trinidad
arrested Yasin Abu Bakr (64), an Islamic leader whose group
stormed Parliament 15 years ago and took the prime minister and his
Cabinet hostage.
(AP, 11/11/05)
2005 Nov 7, The United Nations
elected five judges -- from the United States, Morocco, Mexico, New
Zealand and Russia -- to the prestigious World Court, the highest
judicial authority of the world body.
(AP, 11/8/05)
2005 Nov 7, Uruguay launched a set
of tax overhauls aimed to make it harder for neighboring Argentines and
other foreigners to use the country as a tax haven. It was hoped to
have the structure for a modern tax system in place by 2007.
(WSJ, 11/9/05, p.A14)
2005 Nov 8, The US State
Department issued its 7th annual report to Congress on religious
freedom. It cited Burma, China, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Saudi
Arabia, Sudan and Vietnam as restricting religious freedom.
(AP, 11/8/05)
2005 Nov 8, The US Supreme Court
ruled that slaughterhouse workers should receive pay for time spent
donning protective gear and heading to the floor.
(WSJ, 11/9/05, p.A1)
2005 Nov 8, Democrats cleaned up
big in off-year elections from New Jersey to California. Democratic
Sen. Jon Corzine easily won the New Jersey governor's seat after an
expensive, mudslinging campaign, trouncing Republican Doug Forrester by
10 percentage points.
(AP, 11/9/05)
2005 Nov 8, California voters
rejected Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's efforts to reshape state
government during a special election that darkened his prospects for a
second term.
(AP, 11/9/05)(SFC, 11/9/05, p.A1)
2005 Nov 8, The Kansas Board of
Education voted 6-4 that students will be expected to study doubts
about Darwinian evolutionary theory.
(SFC, 11/9/05, p.A3)
2005 Nov 8, Maine voted to
preserve the state's new gay-rights law.
(AP, 11/9/05)
2005 Nov 8, In Hillsdale,
Michigan, unofficial results showed that Michael Sessions (18) got 732
votes, compared with 668 for Mayor Doug Ingles (51). Once his victory
is certified and he's sworn in - the ceremony is set for Nov. 21 - he
may be the youngest mayor in the USA.
(USAT, 11/10/05)
2005 Nov 8, GOP Mayor Michael
Bloomberg easily clinched a second term in heavily Democratic New York.
(AP, 11/9/05)
2005 Nov 8, In Ohio Cincinnati
voters elected a black mayor for the first time. State Sen. Mark
Mallory defeated Councilman David Pepper, both Democrats, in a
nonpartisan mayoral runoff.
(AP, 11/9/05)
2005 Nov 8, Pennsylvania voters
came down hard on school board members who backed a statement on
intelligent design being read in biology class, ousting eight
Republicans and replacing them with Democrats who want the concept
stripped from the science curriculum.
(AP, 11/9/05)
2005 Nov 8, SF voters rejected
Prop B, which would have allowed $208 million in general obligation
bonds for street and sidewalk improvements; Prop A passed for capital
improvements in the SF Community College District; Prop H won making it
illegal for city residents to possess handguns; Prop F won ending
rotating closure of firehouses. Phil Ting, incumbent Assessor-Recorder,
won his election bid. In 2008 an Appeals court agreed with 2006 ruling
that local governments have no authority under California law to
prevent people from owning pistols.
(SFC, 11/9/05, p.B3)(SFC, 1/10/08, p.B3)
2005 Nov 8, A federal judge
ordered a halt to 1983 court-ordered supervision over SF desegregation
policies. The ruling left school assignments in the hands of the SF
School Board.
(SFC, 11/9/05, p.B1)
2005 Nov 8, In Jacksboro,
Tennessee, Ken Bartley Jr. (15) shot to death assistant principal Ken
Bruce and wounded 2 other school officials with a handgun at Campbell
County Comprehensive High School. On April 10, 2007, Bartley pleaded
guilty to one count of second-degree murder and two counts of attempted
second-degree murder, and was sentenced to 45 years in prison.
(AP,
11/9/05)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Campbell_County_High_School_(Tennessee))
2005 Nov 8, Texas voters
overwhelmingly approved a constitutional ban on gay marriage.
(AP, 11/9/05)
2005 Nov 8, Democratic Lt. Gov.
Tim Kaine won a solid victory in GOP-leaning Virginia, beating
Republican Jerry Kilgore by more than 5 percentage points.
(AP, 11/9/05)
2005 Nov 8, Bill O’Reilly, vented
exasperation on his “The Radio Factor” at 2 measures in the process of
being approved by SF voters: a ban on handgun ownership and a ban on
military recruitment in public schools.
(SFC, 11/12/05, p.B1)
2005 Nov 8, Bartolo Colon won the
American League Cy Young Award.
(AP, 11/8/06)
2005 Nov 8, David Westheimer,
American novelist, died in California. His books included “Von Ryan’s
Express” (1964), which was made into a 1965 film, and “My Sweet
Charlie” (1965), which was produced on Broadway in 1966.
(SFC, 11/12/05, p.B5)
2005 Nov 8, The first five-star
hotel opened in Kabul, Afghanistan, part of a construction boom that is
changing the face of the capital nearly 4 years after the ouster of the
Taliban.
(AP, 11/8/05)
2005 Nov 8, Police in Australia
arrested 17 terror suspects, including a prominent radical Muslim
cleric, in a string of raids and said they had foiled a major terror
attack.
(AP, 11/7/05)
2005 Nov 8, Azerbaijan's election
commission annulled the results of the weekend parliamentary vote in
two districts and ordered a recount in another, while the ruling party
claimed victory.
(AP, 11/8/05)
2005 Nov 8, Chinese President Hu
Jintao arrived in Britain for a 3-day state visit that will include a
banquet dinner with Queen Elizabeth II and trade talks with PM Tony
Blair. Jintao faced protests from human rights campaigners upon his
arrival in London.
(AP, 11/8/05)
2005 Nov 8, The EU said Morocco
will join its Galileo satellite navigation program, becoming the first
African nation to participate in the project that aims to rival the US'
GPS system.
(AP, 11/8/05)
2005 Nov 8, President Jacques
Chirac declared a state of emergency, paving the way for curfews to be
imposed on riot-hit cities and towns in an extraordinary measure to
halt France's worst civil unrest in decades after 12 nights of violence.
(AP, 11/8/05)
2005 Nov 8, Haiti's police chief
said 14 police officers will face charges for their alleged involvement
in the Aug 20 slayings of at least 11 civilians at a soccer game.
(AP, 11/8/05)
2005 Nov 8, Iraqi Pres. Jalal
Talabani met with Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi, a strong supporter
of the US-led war in Iraq. Talabani is on a weeklong visit to Italy,
which includes talks with the country's top officials and a meeting at
the Vatican with Pope Benedict XVI.
(AP, 11/8/05)
2005 Nov 8, Three gunmen in a
speeding car killed a defense lawyer in the Saddam Hussein trial and
wounded another, raising doubts whether Iraqis can conduct such a
sensitive prosecution in the midst of insurgency and domestic turmoil.
(AP, 11/8/05)
2005 Nov 8, Israel's rescue
service welcomed a proposal by the international Red Cross to introduce
a new emblem that will pave the way for Israel's inclusion into the
lifesaving organization.
(AP, 11/8/05)
2005 Nov 8, A fleet of Japanese
whaling ships left for the seas of Antarctica amid protests Tuesday,
aiming to kill 850 minke whales, almost double last year's catch, and
expand the hunt to fin whales for the first time.
(AP, 11/8/05)
2005 Nov 8, Liberia held runoff
elections.
(AP, 11/8/05)
2005 Nov 8, One month after South
Asia's Oct. 8 earthquake, the estimated death toll shot up sharply to
87,350 following a new count of Pakistan's casualties.
(AP, 11/8/05)
2005 Nov 8, Callixte Kalimanzira
(52), a suspected leader of Rwanda's 1994 genocide, surrendered in
Tanzania to the international court trying the architects of the
slaughter.
(AP, 11/8/05)
2005 Nov 8, Tibet's spiritual
leader the Dalai Lama spoke in Washington DC and accused the Chinese
authorities of imposing "very, very repressive" policies in his
Himalayan territory.
(AP, 11/8/05)
2005 Nov 8, The UN Security
Council voted unanimously to extend the mandate of the nearly
180,000-strong multinational force in Iraq for a year, a move the
United States called a significant signal of international commitment
to Iraq's political transition.
(AP, 11/8/05)
2005 Nov 8, Vietnam, the country
hit hardest by bird flu, reported its 42nd death, which occurred Oct
29, raising the toll in Asia to at least 63. The Swiss maker of Tamiflu
said it had stopped selling the antiviral drug in China and was turning
over supplies to the government.
(AP, 11/8/05)
2005 Nov 8, President Robert
Mugabe told the US ambassador to Zimbabwe to "go to hell," after the
envoy blamed the country's economic and political crisis on
mismanagement and corrupt rule. Police detained several trade union
leaders and were out in force ahead of planned demonstrations to
protest worsening living conditions in Zimbabwe.
(AP, 11/8/05)
2005 Nov 9, Carolina's Erik Cole
became the first player in NHL history to be awarded two penalty shots
in one game. Cole scored on the first, helping the Hurricanes defeat
Buffalo 5-3.
(AP, 11/9/06)
2005 Nov 9, US oil executives
testified before Congress that their huge profits were justified, but
got a skeptical reaction from lawmakers.
(AP, 11/9/06)
2005 Nov 9, Rebels killed seven
police officers and abducted two after ambushing them on a road in
southern Afghanistan. The bodies of two villagers, abducted 2 days
earlier, were found beheaded.
(AP, 11/10/05)
2005 Nov 9, Argentine prosecutors
said a Hezbollah militant has been identified as the suicide bomber who
flattened a Jewish community center in 1994, killing 85 people in
Argentina's worst terrorist attack. Hussein Berro, a 21-year-old
Lebanese citizen who "belonged to Hezbollah," was driving the van
packed with explosives July 18, 1994. He was identified by friends and
relatives in Detroit, Mich., from a photograph.
(AP, 11/9/05)
2005 Nov 9, In Azerbaijan Pres.
Ilham Aliev fired two regional governors for interfering with the count
from last weekend's parliamentary elections.
(AP, 11/10/05)
2005 Nov 9, Thousands of people
rallied in Baku, Azerbaijan, to demand free elections, answering a call
by the opposition movement following weekend parliamentary balloting
that international observers said was flawed.
(AP, 11/9/05)
2005 Nov 9, In Belgium over half a
dozen fires were reported in several cities, including the capital of
Brussels, in the 4th day of vandal attacks, most of which remained
minor. No injuries were reported, and several people were taken into
custody for questioning by police.
(AP, 11/10/05)
2005 Nov 9, Britain’s House of
Commons defeated a crucial provision of the government’s latest
anti-terrorism bill, handing PM Tony Blair his 1st Commons defeat since
he came to power.
(SFC, 11/10/05, p.A12)
2005 Nov 9, In Canada Vancouver
Mayor Philip Owen added his name to the list of those who believe that
marijuana should be decriminalized.
(Econ, 11/12/05,
p.39)(www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread11310.shtml)
2005 Nov 9, Chinese President Hu
Jintao met Prime Minister Tony Blair as business leaders signed $1.3
billion in contracts and human rights protesters demonstrated outside
Blair's office.
(AP, 11/9/05)
2005 Nov 9, Europe's first mission
to Venus was successfully launched from the Baikonur cosmodrome in
Kazakhstan and emitted a first signal at the start of its 163-day
journey to the turbulent planet. The Venus Express aimed to arrive in
April 2006.
(AFP, 11/9/05)(Econ, 11/12/05, p.85)(Econ, 12/1/07,
p.96)
2005 Nov 9, Egyptians cast ballots
in their most robustly contested parliamentary election in more than 50
years, but no one expected the vote to unseat the long-dominant party
of President Hosni Mubarak.
(AP, 11/9/05)
2005 Nov 9, Ethiopia’s PM Meles
Zenawi said that opposition leaders and newspaper editors under
detention will face treason charges, which carry the death penalty in
Ethiopia, for their alleged roles in protests last week in which at
least 46 people were killed.
(AP, 11/9/05)
2005 Nov 9, France's storm of
rioting lost strength with a drop of nearly half in the number of car
burnings. But looters and vandals still defied a state of emergency
with attacks on stores, a newspaper warehouse and a subway station.
(AP, 11/9/05)
2005 Nov 9, K.R. Narayanan (85),
former president of India (1997-2002), died. He was the first
"untouchable" from India's pernicious caste system to occupy the office
in a validation of the nation's democratic roots.
(AP, 11/9/05)(Econ, 11/26/05, p.100)
2005 Nov 9, Azahari bin Husin, one
of southeast Asia's most-wanted terrorist suspects, was believed to
have been killed when an elite Indonesian anti-terrorism unit stormed a
suspected militant hideout on Java. He was accused of plotting a series
of deadly bombings in Bali.
(AP, 11/9/05)
2005 Nov 9, Muriel Degauque, a
Belgian national married to a Moroccan man, detonated explosives
strapped to her body in a failed attack against US troops.
(AP, 12/01/05)
2005 Nov 9, An employee of the
Sudanese embassy in Iraq was shot dead by armed men who opened fire on
his car in the west of Baghdad.
(AP, 11/9/05)
2005 Nov 9, Archeologists reported
that 2 lines of an alphabet have been found inscribed in a stone in
Israel, offering what some scholars say is the most solid evidence yet
that the ancient Israelites were literate as early as the 10th century
B.C. The stone was found in July, on the final day of a five-week dig
at Tel Zayit, about 30 miles south of Tel Aviv.
(AP, 11/10/05)
2005 Nov 9, Japanese electronics
makers Toshiba Corp. and NEC Electronics Corp. announced they will
jointly develop technology to produce next-generation semiconductors
that are smaller, faster, more efficient and less costly.
(AP, 11/9/05)
2005 Nov 9, Suicide bombers In
Jordan carried out nearly simultaneous attacks on three U.S.-based
hotels in the capital of Amman in what appeared to be an al-Qaida
assault. 2 Americans were among at least 59 people killed and 115
wounded.
(AP, 11/10/05)(WSJ, 11/11/05, p.A1)
2005 Nov 9, Mexico reported that
consumer prices fell to a record low in October and that inflation was
rapidly approaching the central bank’s target of 3%.
(WSJ, 11/9/05, p.A15)
2005 Nov 9, Negotiators trying to
persuade North Korea to give up its nuclear ambitions focused on the
contentious details of how the North will disarm and what it will get
in exchange, with the U.S. and North Korean delegations holding a
separate meeting.
(AP, 11/9/05)
2005 Nov 9, In Semdinli, Turkey, 2
government intelligence officers and a PKK informant were caught trying
to blow up a bookshop owned by a PKK sympathizer. The affair was said
to have been organized by the “deep state,” a shadowy coalition of
rogue officers and bureaucrats whose powers were being sapped by
EU-inspired laws.
(Econ, 4/15/06, p.54)(Econ, 1/27/07, p.52)
2005 Nov 10, The US Senate added
an amendment to a Defense Dept. budget bill allowing the Bush
administration discretionary power to treat accused terrorists
according to its wishes by withdrawing their right to appeal their
detention in the civilian justice system, a move that is worrying
judicial experts.
(AFP, 11/13/05)
2005 Nov 10, The US Postal Service
honored 4 Marine heroes with commemorative stamps. They included Lt.
Gen. Lewis “Chesty” Puller (1898-1971), Lt. Gen. John Lejeune
(1867-1942), Sgt. Maj. Dan Daly (1873-1937) and Gunnery Sgt. John
Basilone (1916-1945). The release coincided with the Marine Corps’
230th anniversary.
(www.medalofhonor.com/)(SSFC, 11/6/05, Par
p.10)(SFC, 11/11/05, p.B3)
2005 Nov 10, The US Commerce
Department reported that the deficit jumped to $66.1 billion in
September, 11.4 percent higher than the $59.3 billion imbalance
recorded in August.
(AP, 11/10/05)
2005 Nov 10, Chris Carpenter of
the St. Louis Cardinals won the National League Cy Young Award.
(AP, 11/10/06)
2005 Nov 10, Fernando Bujones
(b.1955), ballet virtuoso, died in Miami. In 1974 he won ballet’s gold
medal at Varna, Bulgaria.
(SFC, 11/12/05, p.B5)
2005 Nov 10, A Boeing Co. jet
arrived in London from Hong Kong, breaking the record for the longest
nonstop flight by a commercial jet. The journey of more than 13,422
miles broke the previous record, when a Boeing 747-400 flew 10,500
miles from London to Sydney in 1989.
(AP, 11/11/05)
2005 Nov 10, China reported that
its trade surplus surged to $12 billion in October, the highest monthly
total this year, as exports continued to outpace imports.
(AP, 11/10/05)
2005 Nov 10, Authorities in China
said they have quarantined 116 people in northeastern Liaoning province
after two new outbreaks of bird flu there.
(AP, 11/10/05)
2005 Nov 10, Egypt's ruling party
secured the most seats in the first stage of parliamentary balloting,
but the banned Muslim Brotherhood made its mark as well, sending 42
candidates to run-off elections.
(AP, 11/10/05)
2005 Nov 10, Violence in France
fell sharply overnight after the government toughened its stance by
imposing emergency measures and ordering deportations of foreigners
involved in riots that have raged for two weeks. The national police
said 8 French police officers had been suspended for their suspected
role in the beating of a young man in a Paris suburb.
(AP, 11/10/05)
2005 Nov 10, Senior officials said
the US and Europe are ready to compromise with Iran over its nuclear
program and have tentatively approved a plan that would allow it to
make the gas used in producing enriched uranium.
(AP, 11/10/05)
2005 Nov 10, Iraqi President Jalal
Talabani met with Pope Benedict XVI amid tight security that closed
down the main boulevard leading to the Vatican.
(AP, 11/10/05)
2005 Nov 10, In Iraq 2 suicide
bombers blew themselves up in a restaurant frequented by police,
killing 35 people and seriously injuring 25. A car bomb killed seven
army recruits in Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit.
(AP, 11/10/05)(AP, 11/11/05)
2005 Nov 10, In western Iraq 3
American troops were killed, including one along the Syrian border
during a major push to take control of the frontier from insurgents. US
forces raided an insurgent cell responsible for suicide bombings in
which seven men were killed, including one wearing a vest loaded with
explosives.
(AP, 11/11/05)
2005 Nov 10, A UN agency said
thousands of contaminated industrial and military sites left over from
wars in Iraq must urgently be cleaned up to stop them from further
harming people's health and the environment.
(AP, 11/10/05)
2005 Nov 10, After Jordanians took
to the streets to call for terror leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi to
"burn in hell," an al-Qaida manifesto said the Grand Hyatt, the
Radisson SAS and the Days Inn, were used by NATO as a rear base "from
which the convoys of the crusaders and the renegades head back and
forth to the land of Iraq where Muslims are killed and their blood is
shed."
(AP, 11/10/05)
2005 Nov 10, A senior official
said Kuwait has detected two cases of bird flu in birds but it was not
clear if the virus strain was the deadly version that has devastated
poultry in Asia.
(AP, 11/10/05)
2005 Nov 10, In Liberia Ellen
Johnson-Sirleaf, a former finance minister and Harvard graduate, edged
closer to becoming Africa's first elected female leader, while her
soccer star opponent alleged fraud in the presidential runoff. With 80%
of votes counted, Johnson-Sirleaf had 58% and her opponent, George
Weah, had 42%.
(AP, 11/10/05)
2005 Nov 10, Mexican prosecutors
announced they have filed kidnapping and organize crime charges against
seven police officers accused of protecting hit men working for the
feared Tijuana-based Arellano Felix drug cartel.
(AP, 11/11/05)
2005 Nov 10, Talks on North
Korea's nuclear programs turned sour as Pyongyang demanded that
Washington lift sanctions against firms suspected of weapons
proliferation and stop accusing the North of counterfeiting U.S. money.
(AP, 11/10/05)
2005 Nov 10, Russia captured the
world chess team championship with a last-minute, come-from-behind
victory over the surprised Chinese team.
(AP, 11/11/05)
2005 Nov 10, In South Africa the
southern hemisphere's largest single optical telescope with the power
to study the most distant galaxies was inaugurated. The giant eye in
the sky, that took five years to build, cost $20 million.
(AP, 11/10/05)
2005 Nov 11, President Bush
strongly rebuked congressional critics of his Iraq war policy, accusing
them of being "deeply irresponsible."
(AP, 11/11/06)
2005 Nov 11, A new poll said most
Americans say they aren't impressed by the ethics and honesty of the
Bush administration, already under scrutiny for its justifications for
an unpopular war in Iraq and its role in the leak of a covert CIA
officer's identity.
(AP, 11/11/05)
2005 Nov 11, Students in
Kalamazoo, Mich., learned that an anonymous group of benefactors will
offer scholarships for at least the next 13 years to nearly all
Kalamazoo high school graduates, good at any of Michigan’s public
universities or colleges.
(SFC, 11/12/05, p.A2)
2005 Nov 11, Scientists reported
the discovery of an appetite suppressing hormone, obestatin, that
counters the appetite boosting hormone ghrelin.
(SFC, 11/11/05, p.A7)
2005 Nov 11, A scientific
partnership in high-tech cloning between US and South Korean
researchers broke up over the ethics of obtaining human egg cells.
(WSJ, 11/14/05, p.B1)
2005 Nov 11, It was reported that
a rare 1,400-pound meteorite was recently discovered seven feet
underground in southern Kansas by Steve Arnold of Kingston, Ark., in an
area long known for producing prized space rocks.
(AP, 11/11/05)
2005 Nov 11, Peter Drucker
(b.1909), Austria-born management visionary, died in California. His 39
books included “The Effective Executive” (1966). In 2007 Elizabeth Haas
Edersheim authored “The Definitive Drucker.”
(SFC, 11/12/05, p.B5)(WSJ, 11/14/05, p.B1)(WSJ,
2/28/07, p.D9)
2005 Nov 11, In Afghanistan
militants pulled Namatullah Yusuf Zai, a deputy provincial governor,
from his car and shot him dead. Militants also killed a former district
chief while he prayed in a mosque in Helmand province.
(AP, 11/12/05)
2005 Nov 11, In Afghanistan
a Pakistani-owned plane carrying cargo for the US-led coalition crashed
into mountains near Kabul, killing at least eight people.
(AP, 11/11/05)
2005 Nov 11, In an elaborate,
nationally televised gala at a Beijing sports arena to mark the
1,000-day countdown until the Games, senior Chinese leaders introduced
their Olympic mascots: cartoon renditions of a panda, fish, Tibetan
antelope, swallow and the Olympic flame, each one the color of one of
the Olympic rings.
(AP, 11/11/05)
2005 Nov 11, In Beijing the US and
North Korea urged each other to make concessions as a round of
six-nation talks aimed at ending the North's nuclear programs concluded
with no sign of progress or a date to meet again.
(AP, 11/11/05)
2005 Nov 11, Colombia's highest
court approved a law that clears the way for popular President Alvaro
Uribe to run for a second term next year.
(AP, 11/11/05)
2005 Nov 11, In Colombia a man in
a wheelchair who hijacked a Colombian airliner using hand grenades was
sentenced to eight years of house arrest.
(AP, 11/11/05)
2005 Nov 11, Forces tightened
security in central Paris, stationing riot police and bomb squads along
the Champs-Elysees as more than two weeks of arson and vandalism
persisted near the French capital.
(AP, 11/11/05)
2005 Nov 11, Germany's biggest
political parties reached a deal to form a coalition government,
sealing an accord that makes Angela Merkel the nation's first female
chancellor.
(AP, 11/11/05)
2005 Nov 11, Automaker
DaimlerChrysler AG ended its ill-fated involvement with Japan's
Mitsubishi Motors Co., selling its 12.4 percent stake in the company to
Goldman Sachs for an undisclosed price.
(AP, 11/11/05)
2005 Nov 11, US Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice, on a surprise visit to Iraq, pressed for unity among
the country's religious factions. In Baghdad gunmen opened fire on the
compound of the Embassy of Oman, killing two people and wounding two
others. 3 Iraqi police officers were killed when their vehicle was
ambushed near Baqouba, 35 miles northeast of Baghdad.
(AP, 11/11/05)(AP, 11/11/06)
2005 Nov 11, Al-Qaida in Iraq
claimed that four Iraqis, including a husband and wife, carried out the
Nov 9 suicide bombings against three Amman hotels, and police arrested
120 Jordanians and Iraqis in the hunt for anyone who might have aided
them.
(AP, 11/11/05)
2005 Nov 11, An Internet report
said Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, the highest ranking leader still at-large
from Saddam Hussein's regime, died. The report was not validated.
(AP, 11/12/05)(AP, 11/13/05)
2005 Nov 11, An Italian prosecutor
said that the Milan prosecutor's office has asked for the extradition
of 22 purported CIA operatives in the kidnapping of an Egyptian cleric
in 2003.
(AP, 11/11/05)
2005 Nov 11, An Italian newspaper
reported that a long-awaited Vatican document, to be released Nov 29,
says practicing gays, those with "deeply rooted" homosexual tendencies
or those who support gay culture cannot be admitted to the priesthood.
(AP, 11/11/05)
2005 Nov 11, The Japanese
government announced that Yoshifumi Nishikawa, the former president of
Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp., will lead preparation of the
privatization of Japan's mammoth postal corporation. The privatization
begins October 2007.
(AP, 11/11/05)
2005 Nov 11, In Jordan Moustapha
Akkad, the Syrian-born producer of the "Halloween" horror films, died
from wounds sustained in the triple hotel bombings.
(AP, 11/11/05)
2005 Nov 11, Police fired on a
rally in Mombasa against Kenya's draft constitution, fatally wounding
four men. Police broke up the rally because President Mwai Kibaki, who
has supported the proposed constitution ahead of a referendum on Nov.
21, was visiting the port city at the time.
(AP, 11/12/05)
2005 Nov 11, In Kuwait an
agricultural official said the deadly strain of bird flu has been
detected in a flamingo, the first known outbreak of the virus in the
Gulf region.
(AP, 11/11/05)
2005 Nov 11, Mexican agents
arrested Ricardo Garcia Urquiza, a former medical student, who seized
control of the remnants of the Juarez cartel.
(AP, 11/21/05)
2005 Nov 11, In Morocco police
arrested 17 members of a terrorist network, including two former
prisoners at the U.S. base in Guantanamo, Cuba. At least some of the
suspects were linked to al-Qaida in Iraq.
(AP, 11/20/05)
2005 Nov 11, In Russia a senior
prosecutor said Rasul Kudayev, who was held at the US military prison
at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, has been detained on suspicion of
involvement in the Oct 13 attacks on police in southern Russia. He was
said to have been involved in preparing and carrying out attacks on
government and law enforcement offices in Nalchik.
(AP, 11/11/05)
2005 Nov 11, The World Trade
Organization (WTO) approved Saudi Arabia's bid to become the 149th
member of the global group, winding up a 12-year negotiating process
slowed by the country's participation in the Arab League boycott of
Israel.
(AP, 11/11/05)
2005 Nov 11, The Hague war crimes
tribunal turned up the heat on Serbia, telling it to deliver top
fugitive Ratko Mladic by the end of this year or face "excommunication."
(Reuters, 11/11/05)
2005 Nov 11, Zimbabwean war
veterans demanded that US ambassador Christopher Dell leave the
country, accusing him of trying to cause unrest and threatening to
demonstrate against him if he stays.
(AP, 11/11/05)
2005 Nov 12, Tornadoes hit central
Iowa and left one person dead.
(SSFC, 11/13/05, p.A13)
2005 Nov 12, The results of
Afghanistan's landmark legislative elections in September were
finalized after eight weeks of counting slowed by allegations of fraud,
and observers said supporters of President Hamid Karzai appeared to be
in the majority.
(AP, 11/12/05)
2005 Nov 12, Africa Union leaders
from Algeria, Ethiopia, Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa and Senegal met in
Abuja for a 2-day summit titled: "Africa and the challenges of the
global order: Desirability of union government," with the leaders
discussing the broad principles of integration.
(AFP, 11/12/05)
2005 Nov 12, In Bahrain a
US-backed Mideast democracy and development summit, the Forum for the
Future, ended in rancor despite adoption of two initiatives that are
part of President Bush's push to expand political freedom in a region
dominated by monarchies and effective single-party rule. The
organization was established in 2004 by the G8, several Western
European countries and 22 Middle Eastern and North African nations to
foster reform in the region.
(AP, 11/12/05)(SSFC, 11/13/05, p.A3)
2005 Nov 12, In Dhaka, Bangladesh,
a 2-day summit aimed to alleviate poverty and boost trade and
cooperation among Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal,
Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The South Asian Association for Regional
Cooperation (SAARC) leaders called for greater cooperation within the
region to deal with the aftermath of disasters like the Kashmir
earthquake and last year's devastating tsunami. SAARC agreed to accept
Afghanistan as its 8th member.
(AFP, 11/12/05)(Econ, 11/19/05, p.44)
2005 Nov 12, In Dhaka, Bangladesh,
Nepal’s King Gyanendra, who sacked his elected government earlier this
year, repeated a pledge to hold parliamentary elections in 2007 and
urged his country's Maoist rebels to put down their arms.
(AFP, 11/12/05)
2005 Nov 12, In Egypt hundreds of
Sudanese refugees staging a sit-in outside UN offices in Cairo began a
hunger strike to press their case for asylum.
(AFP, 11/12/05)
2005 Nov 12, Ethiopia said it has
released another 1,721 people detained in a massive round-up during
clashes between police and protesters earlier this month which left at
least 42 people dead.
(AP, 11/13/05)
2005 Nov 12, Some 3,000 police
fanned out around Paris to prevent any attempts to attack high-profile
targets such as the Eiffel Tower after a 16th straight night of unrest
and arson.
(AP, 11/12/05)
2005 Nov 12, UN Secretary-General
Kofi Annan met with Iraqi leaders to call for reconciliation ahead of
upcoming elections.
(AP, 11/12/05)
2005 Nov 12, At least four people
were killed and 24 wounded when a car bomb exploded near a busy
vegetable market in southeastern Baghdad.
(AP, 11/12/05)
2005 Nov 12, In Iraq 2 U.S.
Marines were killed in combat and an American soldier died in a vehicle
accident.
(AP, 11/13/05)
2005 Nov 12, Japan’s Hayabusa
probe successfully released its Minerva surface-exploring robot, but
Minerva appeared to start drifting away from the asteroid's surface.
The space agency said it is targeting actual landings on the
potato-shaped asteroid Itokawa on Nov. 19 and Nov. 25. The asteroid was
named after Hideo Itokawa, founder of Japan’s space program. Hayabusa
was the 1st spacecraft to use an ion engine as its main propulsion
device.
(AP, 11/13/05)(Econ, 11/26/05, p.94)
2005 Nov 12, Jordan's deputy
premier said 3 "non-Jordanian" suicide bombers belonging to al-Qaida in
Iraq carried out Amman's triple hotel attacks that killed at least 57
people.
(AP, 11/12/05)
2005 Nov 12, In Kazakhstan
Zamanbek Nurkadilov (61), an outspoken critic of President Nursultan
Nazarbayev was found shot to death in his home.
(AP, 11/13/05)
2005 Nov 12, North Korea stood by
its demand for aid in exchange for shutting down a plutonium-producing
nuclear reactor, saying it won't act until Washington offers
concessions.
(AP, 11/12/05)
2005 Nov 12, In Yemen masked
attackers stabbed and wounded outspoken journalist Nabil Sabaie (27) on
one of the capital's main streets. Newspapers in recent months have
stepped up reports on Yemen's rampant corruption, identifying ministers
and other officials allegedly involved in stealing state money. They
also have increasingly scrutinized Pres. Saleh, his family and the
country's powerful military.
(AP, 11/28/05)
2005 Nov 13, Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice, in Jerusalem, strongly rebuked Iran's leadership,
saying "no civilized nation" can call for the annihilation of another,
a reference to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's remark that
Israel should be "wiped off the map."
(AP, 11/13/06)
2005 Nov 13, Time magazine picked
South Korea’s Snuppy, the first cloned dog, as the most amazing
invention of 2005. In Dec Dr. Hwang Woo Suk’s stem cell work was
discredited and doubt was cast on the cloning of Snuppy.
(AP, 11/13/05)(WSJ, 12/24/05, p.A1)
2005 Nov 13, It was reported that
within days after Hurricane Katrina hit, Lily Duke managed to do what
other relief agencies couldn't: get food and water to her neighbors in
New Orleans. Since then she's expanded her network, distributing
medicine, packaged lunches and bags of ice to as many as 20,000 people
a day.
(AP, 11/13/05)
2005 Nov 13, Koch Industries, a
private conglomerate in Kansas, agreed to buy Georgia-Pacific for $13.2
billion, making it America’s biggest privately owned company.
(Econ, 11/19/05, p.67)
2005 Nov 13, In Lititz,
Pennsylvania, David G. Ludwig (18) killed 14-year-old Kara Beth
Borden's parents, Michael F. and Cathryn Lee Borden, after they and
their daughter argued about her curfew. David and Kara were arrested
Nov 14 in Indiana following a police chase and crash. On June 14, 2006,
Ludwig agreed to a plea deal and was sentenced to two terms of life
imprisonment without chance of parole.
(AP, 11/14/05)(SFC, 11/15/05,
p.A10)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_G._Ludwig)
2005 Nov 13, Vine Deloria Jr.
(72), American Indian historian and activist, died.
(AP, 11/13/06)
2005 Nov 13, Dorothy Law Nolte
(b.1924), author of a famous parenting poem, died in California. In
1998 she authored “Children Learn What They Live,” which expanded on
her 1954 poem, originally written for the Torrance Herald.
(SFC, 11/14/05, p.B3)
2005 Nov 13, Around 20,000
opposition supporters demonstrated on the outskirts of the Azeri
capital Baku to demand that the government resign if it refuses to
re-run parliamentary elections held a week ago.
(AP, 11/13/05)
2005 Nov 13, In Bangladesh Indian
PM Manmohan Singh told the closing session of the 13th South Asian
Association for Regional Cooperation summit that Afghanistan is to join
SAARC.
(AFP, 11/13/05)
2005 Nov 13, Belgium said it
registered its worst night in a week of attacks on vehicles apparently
inspired by French events, with 29 cars, trucks and buses torched
around the country.
(AP, 11/13/05)
2005 Nov 13, In Belize Julia
Armstrong Minard (20), daughter of the late Lawrence Minard, a former
managing editor of Forbes magazine and founding editor of Forbes Global
magazine, was found dead in the Mayan town of Indian Creek. Police on
Nov 17 charged Agripo Ical (19) with killing Minard.
(AP, 11/17/05)
2005 Nov 13, China's President Hu
Jintao has arrived in Spain for the final leg of a European trip
dominated by trade, but was again set to be dogged by protests over his
country's human rights record.
(AP, 11/13/05)
2005 Nov 13, In China's northeast
a series of explosions at a chemical plant in Jilin, Xinhua, killed
five people, left dozens hospitalized and forced more than 10,000
others to flee their homes fearing contamination and more blasts.
Benzene leaked into the Songhua River and forced officials to close the
water supply to Harbin. News of the leak was kept secret for days.
(AP, 11/14/05)(AP, 11/25/05)
2005 Nov 13, In France police took
212 people into custody overnight. Rioters pelted police with stones in
the historic heart of Lyon, and youths rammed a burning car into a
center for retirees in southern France in a 17th night of urban
violence. The French insurance industry estimated damages so far at
$235 million including $23 million for damage to cars.
(AP, 11/13/05)(SSFC, 11/13/05, p.A19)
2005 Nov 13, Indian police claimed
a breakthrough in the Oct. 29 triple bombings in New Delhi after
arresting an alleged Kashmiri conspirator, and said they have valuable
information that could lead to the capture of four others, including
the bombers.
(AP, 11/13/05)
2005 Nov 13, Some 1,100 Iraqi
lawyers issued a statement on withdrawing from Saddam Hussein's defense
team, citing insufficient protection following the slayings of two
peers representing co-defendants of the ousted Iraqi leader. Sunni Arab
leaders demanded that U.S. and Iraqi troops suspend military operations
in heavily Sunni areas, accusing the Shiite-led government of trying to
divide the nation ahead of next month's legislative elections.
(AP, 11/13/05)
2005 Nov 13, In Dublin, Ireland, 2
men wearing bulletproof vests were shot to death at point-blank range
in what police said was the latest bloodshed in a five-year turf war
between drug-dealing gangs. The attack raised to 18 the number of gun
killings within Ireland's criminal underworld this year.
(AP, 11/14/05)
2005 Nov 13, Jordanian security
forces arrested Sajida Ubarak Atrous al-Rishawi (35), an Iraqi woman,
whose husband is suspected of blowing up one of three Amman hotels.
Al-Rishawi confessed on television to trying to blow herself up with
her husband in one of the three Nov. 9 suicide attacks in Amman. This
followed a tip off by an al-Qaida claim that a husband-and-wife team
participated in the attacks that killed 57 other people. Her husband
was Ali Hussein Ali Shamari. The 2 other bombers were identified as
Rawad Jassem Mohammed Abed (23) and Safaa Mohammed Ali (23). The
bombers were from Fallujah.
(AP, 11/13/05)(SFC, 11/14/05, p.A3)
2005 Nov 13, In northeastern
Pakistan a bus with 50 people on board plunged into a river gorge in
the quake-stricken area.
(AP, 11/13/05)
2005 Nov 13, Prince Saud
al-Faisal, Saudi Arabia's foreign minister, said he is less worried
that US policies in Iraq will bring on a civil war there, and pledged
anew to contribute $1 billion for rebuilding that war-ravaged country's
shattered infrastructure.
(AP, 11/13/05)
2005 Nov 14, President Bush hurled
new arguments against Iraq war critics as he headed for Asia, accusing
some Democrats of "sending mixed signals to our troops and the enemy."
(AP, 11/14/06)
2005 Nov 14, Alex Rodriguez of the
New York Yankees won his second American League Most Valuable Player
award in three seasons.
(AP, 11/14/06)
2005 Nov 14, AOL and Warner Bros.
announced plans to create a broadband network called In2TV to
streamcast old TV shows beginning in early 2006. They planned 2 minutes
of advertising for each half hour.
(SFC, 11/15/05, p.C2)
2005 Nov 14, Host Marriott Corp.
said it had agreed to pay about $4.04 billion to acquire a portfolio of
38 luxury and upscale hotels from Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide
Inc.
(AP, 11/14/05)
2005 Nov 14, In Afghanistan 2
separate suicide attackers rammed cars laden with explosives into
vehicles belonging to NATO-led peacekeepers in Kabul, killing at least
one German soldier, 7 Afghans and wounding 11 other people.
(AP, 11/14/05)(WSJ, 11/16/05, p.A1)
2005 Nov 14, President Ilham Aliev
fired a third regional governor for alleged interference in
Azerbaijan's parliamentary elections, reacting sternly to Western
charges of voting irregularities.
(AP, 11/14/05)
2005 Nov 14, In Bangladesh 2
senior assistant judges of lower courts were killed and four others,
including the bomber himself, were injured in a bomb attack in the
southern district of Jhalakati. In 2006 a court sentenced Siddiq ul
Islam (aka Bangla Bhai) and Abdur Rahman to death by hanging for the
bombing.
(Econ, 6/3/06, p.40)
2005 Nov 14, Archbishop Geraldo do
Espirito Santo Avila (76), the head of the Brazilian Archdiocese for
the Military Services, died of cancer.
(AP, 11/15/05)
2005 Nov 14, The Economist
presented its annual awards to innovators in 7 categories. The winners
were: Bioscience: Herbert Boyer, co-founder of Genentech, and Stanley
Cohen, Stanford Prof. of Genetics; Computing and communications: Sergey
Brin and Larry Page , co-founders of Google; Energy and the
environment: Stanford Ovshinsky, president and chief scientist for
Energy conversion Devices; Social and economic innovation: Victoria
Hale, CEO of Institute for OneWorldHealth; Business process innovation:
Alpheus Bingham, chairman of InnoCentive, an online forum for solution
seekers; Consumer products: the iPod team at Apple Corp.; No
boundaries: Fujio Masuoka, professor at Tohoku Univ. for the invention
of flash memory.
(Econ, 12/10/05, TQ p.15)
2005 Nov 14, Retired Gen. Manuel
Contreras (79), the head of Chile's secret police under Gen. Augusto
Pinochet, was sentenced to three years in prison for the 1976 killing
of Julia Retamal, a teacher opposed to the dictator's regime. Contreras
was already serving a 12-year sentence for a political killing.
(AP, 11/15/05)
2005 Nov 14, China reported a new
case of bird flu in poultry in the country's east, its ninth outbreak
since Oct. 19.
(AP, 11/14/05)
2005 Nov 14, It was reported that
Liu Qibing, a trader handling Chinese strategic commodity reserves, had
shorted some 100k to 200k tons of copper. Copper prices moved up in
response.
(Econ, 11/19/05, p.81)
2005 Nov 14, Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger arrived in China on a six-day mission to promote
California products and encourage Chinese officials to crack down on
the piracy of copyrighted music, movies and software.
(AP, 11/14/05)
2005 Nov 14, Hundreds of Colombian
television actors and workers marched through the streets to protest a
proposed free trade deal with the US that they claim could hurt the
local TV industry.
(AP, 11/15/05)
2005 Nov 14, EU Council decision
Nr. 2005/815/EB officially gave Vilnius, Lithuania, and Linz, Austria,
status as a European Capital of Culture for the year 2009.
(www.culturelive.lt/en/european_capitals_of_culture)
2005 Nov 14, The French government
approved a bill to extend a state of emergency for 3 months, giving
itself more policing tools to stop the country's worst civil unrest
since the 1960s. Some 271 cars were burned overnight.
(AP, 11/14/05)(SFC, 11/14/05, p.A10)
2005 Nov 14, Angela Merkel's
Christian Democratic party overwhelmingly approved a coalition
agreement with the Social Democrats that will make her Germany's first
woman chancellor.
(AP, 11/14/05)
2005 Nov 14, It was reported that
India's top oil exploration firm, Oil & Natural Gas Corp., and the
world's largest steel maker, the Netherlands-based Mittal Group,
planned to build an oil refinery in Nigeria. They offered to invest
another $6 billion in building a power plant and railroads there.
(AP, 11/14/05)
2005 Nov 14, Iraqi and US troops,
trying to stem the flow of insurgent fighters from Syria, launched a
dawn assault on a border town killing some 50 militants. This continued
Operation Steel curtain begun on Nov 5. Police in Baghdad said a car
bomb detonated near one of their patrols outside a gate leading into
the fortified Green Zone, killing two South Africans.
(AP, 11/14/05)(SFC, 11/15/05, p.A3)
2005 Nov 14, Six people were
killed and 30 wounded when a roadside bomb exploded near two coaches in
the western Iraqi city of Ramadi.
(Reuters, 11/14/05)
2005 Nov 14, A UN report said the
Iraqi army and multinational forces violated international law during
military operations in western Iraq last month by arresting doctors and
occupying medical facilities.
(AP, 11/14/05)
2005 Nov 14, Israeli troops killed
Amjad Hanawi (34), a senior Hamas militant, during an early raid and
arrest attempt in Nablus.
(AP, 11/14/05)
2005 Nov 14, In Kashmir a
gunbattle erupted in the main business district of Srinagar after
Muslim militants attacked a police compound, killing two civilians and
two soldiers and injuring six civilians.
(AP, 11/14/05)
2005 Nov 14, Mexico said it will
sever diplomatic ties with Venezuela if Pres. Chavez doesn't apologize
for warning Mexican leader Vicente Fox: "Don't mess with me." Mexico
and Venezuela called their ambassadors home in a sharp dispute between
presidents Hugo Chavez and Vicente Fox over the latter's relations with
Washington.
(AP, 11/14/05)(AP, 11/15/05)
2005 Nov 14, In northern Nigeria
12 children were trampled to death as panicked pupils fled what they
thought was a fire in their school at Kaduna.
(AP, 11/15/05)
2005 Nov 14, Russia and Uzbekistan
signed a far-reaching treaty opening the way for a Russian military
deployment in the Central Asian nation that evicted U.S. forces and
bristled at Western criticism of the brutal suppression of a May
uprising.
(AP, 11/15/05)
2005 Nov 14, It was reported that
a consortium led by Saudi Arabia's Oger Telecom has signed a deal to
take a majority stake in state-owned telecommunications company Turk
Telekom, sealing Turkey's largest privatization worth 6.55 billion
dollars. Oger Telecom, part of the Oger group owned by the family of
slain former Lebanese PM Rafiq Hariri, had won the tender for the 55%
stake in July, in partnership with Italian operator Telecom Italia.
(AFP, 11/14/05)
2005 Nov 14, Spanish court
officials said the National Court has received a prosecutor's report on
allegations that the CIA used an airport on the Spanish island of
Mallorca for a program of covert transfers of terror suspects. The
114-page report was submitted in July.
(AP, 11/14/05)
2005 Nov 14, Sri Lanka awarded
long-term resident and British science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke
its highest civilian award for his contributions to science and
technology and his commitment to his adopted country.
(AP, 11/14/05)
2005 Nov 14, Mudslides killed two
fishermen and destroyed seven homes as heavy rains brought by a
tropical depression overflowed river banks and made roads impassable in
St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
(AP, 11/15/05)
2005 Nov 14, In Tanzania Calixte
Kalimanzira, a man who served as Rwanda's interior minister during the
slaughter of more than half a million people in 1994, pleaded not
guilty to three counts of genocide and crimes against humanity.
(AP, 11/14/05)
2005 Nov 14, In Uganda
opposition leader Kizza Besigye was arrested and charged with treason,
which carries the death penalty, concealment of treason and rape. His
supporters rioted and clashed with security forces for two days,
leaving at least one man dead.
(AP, 11/18/05)
2005 Nov 14, Uzbekistan's highest
court convicted 15 men of organizing a May uprising that ended when
troops fired into the crowd, killing more than 180 people. They were
sentenced to prison terms of up to 20 years.
(AP, 11/14/05)
2005 Nov 15, US President George
W. Bush has arrived in Japan to start a week-long trip to Asia, seeking
progress on the North Korean nuclear crisis and looking to press China
for political and economic reforms.
(AP, 11/15/05)
2005 Nov 15, Illinois Gov. Rod
Blagojevich signed into law his All Kids program, a plan to extend
comprehensive health care to every child in the state, making it the
1st state to try anything like it.
(Econ, 12/3/05, p.33)(http://tinyurl.com/9uu5p)
2005 Nov 15, The US Pension
Benefit Guaranty Corp. disclosed in an annual report that as of Sep. 30
it had $56.5 billion in assets to cover $79.2 billion in pension
liabilities.
(SFC, 11/16/05, p.C3)
2005 Nov 15, The FBI arrested
Candice R. Martinez, a 19-year-old woman, suspected of robbing four
Virginia banks while apparently talking on her cell phone.
(AP, 11/15/05)
2005 Nov 15, SF city supervisors
passed new laws requiring spaying and neutering of pit bulls, five
months after the fatal mauling of a 12-year-old boy by his family's pit
bulls. They also approved the city’s first-ever medical marijuana
regulations.
(AP, 11/16/05)(SFC, 11/16/05, p.B1)
2005 Nov 15,The US government
declared the Puget Sound orcas an endangered species.
(SFC, 11/16/05, p.A1)
2005 Nov 15, At the CMA Awards,
Lee Ann Womack won three trophies, including album of the year for
"There's More Where That Came From."
(AP, 11/15/06)
2005 Nov 15, Albert Pujols of the
St. Louis Cardinals won the National League MVP award.
(AP, 11/15/06)
2005 Nov 15, US Major League
baseball owners and players agreed to tougher policy aimed at curbing
the use of performance-enhancing drugs.
(SFC, 11/16/05, p.A1)
2005 Nov 15, The Mega Millions
lottery reached $315 million and was won by a group of 7 employees at
the Kaiser Permanente medical center at Garden Grove, Ca.
(SFC, 11/17/05, p.B6)
2005 Nov 15, Montana, after a
14-year hiatus, re-opened a hunting season on bison drifting across the
northern border of Yellowstone National Park.
(Econ, 11/26/05, p.40)
2005 Nov 15, Nearly 3 dozen
tornadoes hit Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri and Tennessee destroying
dozens of homes and killing 2 people.
(SFC, 11/17/05, p.A14)(WSJ, 11/17/05, p.A1)
2005 Nov 15, A bomb exploded near
US and Afghan troops as they patrolled in volatile eastern Afghanistan,
killing a U.S. soldier and wounding another.
(AP, 11/15/05)
2005 Nov 15, In Afghanistan air
strikes killed three al-Qaida suspects in Kunar province.
(AP, 11/17/05)
2005 Nov 15, Hundreds of thousands
of workers staged what unionists called the biggest protest in
Australia's history against PM John Howard's proposed labor reforms.
(AP, 11/15/05)
2005 Nov 15, Andre Boisclair (39)
defeated Pauline Marois, the former Quebec deputy premier, to lead
Parti Quebecois 54% to 31%.
(Econ, 11/19/05, p.42)
2005 Nov 15, Jose Bove, a militant
French farmer best known for ransacking a half-built McDonald's, was
sentenced to four months in prison for destroying a field of
genetically modified corn planted by an American seed company in
southern France.
(AP, 11/15/05)
2005 Nov 15, Guatemala police
found five packages of cocaine and thousands of dollars in cash in the
office of Adam Castillo, the country’s top anti-drug cop, shortly after
he was lured to America and arrested on charges of conspiring to ship
cocaine into the US. Deputies Jorge Aguilar Garcia and Rubilio Palacios
were arrested with Castillo.
(AP, 11/17/05)
2005 Nov 15, In Haiti UN
peacekeepers and gang members traded gunfire in the volatile Cite
Soleil slum of the Haitian capital, leaving at least four people dead.
(AP, 11/15/05)
2005 Nov 15, Iraq’s PM Ibrahim
al-Jaafari said more than 170 malnourished Iraqi detainees found at an
Interior Ministry detention center appear to have been tortured. The
Interior Ministry is controlled by Shiites. Sunni leaders have accused
Shiite-dominated security forces of detaining, torturing and killing
hundreds of Sunnis simply because of their religious affiliation.
(AP, 11/15/05)
2005 Nov 15, Iraqi and US forces
fighting insurgents near the Syrian border ran into fierce resistance,
with troops encountering dozens of explosive booby traps and killing at
least 30 insurgents.
(AP, 11/15/05)
2005 Nov 15, Japanese Princess
Sayako (36), the emperor's only daughter, quit the world's oldest
monarchy and married Yoshiki Kuroda, a 40-year-old urban planner.
(AP, 11/15/05)
2005 Nov 15, Prodded by US Sec. of
State Condoleezza Rice, Israel and the Palestinians agreed on details
for opening the borders of the Gaza Strip and allowing freer movement
for Palestinians elsewhere.
(AP, 11/15/05)
2005 Nov 15, Israeli PM Ariel
Sharon's eldest son pleaded guilty to illegal fund-raising charges
stemming from his father's 1999 election campaign.
(AP, 11/15/05)
2005 Nov 15-2005 Nov 16, Italian
authorities arrested three Algerians believed to have links to an
Algerian militant group that has allied itself with Osama bin Laden.
(AP, 11/17/05)
2005 Nov 15, Jordan introduced
strict security measures aimed at foreigners and said it was drafting
the country's first anti-terror specific legislation to prevent further
attacks like last week's the triple hotel bombings. 11 top officials
resigned including Jordan’s national security adviser.
(AP, 11/15/05)(SFC, 11/16/05, p.A19)
2005 Nov 15, A US Embassy official
said a 4th American has died from wounds sustained in last week's
triple hotel bombings in the Jordanian capital.
(AP, 11/16/05)
2005 Nov 15, In northwest Mexico a
tanker truck hauling toxic ammonium chloride slammed into a passenger
bus, killing 38 people as both vehicles plunged down an embankment.
(AP, 11/16/05)
2005 Nov 15, Data was published
indicating that Mosquitrix, an experimental vaccine against malaria
given to children in Mozambique in 2003, had cut clinical cases by 35%.
The vaccine was developed GlaxoSmithKline of Belgium.
(Econ, 11/19/05, p.85)
2005 Nov 15, In southern Pakistan
a powerful car bomb exploded outside a KFC restaurant, setting off a
massive fireball that overturned cars and shattered steel and glass. 3
people were killed and 22 injured.
(AP, 11/15/05)
2005 Nov 15, In Russia an
explosion ripped through a police dormitory in St. Petersburg, killing
a retired police officer.
(AP, 11/15/05)
2005 Nov 15, The Serbian
government unanimously adopted a resolution rejecting independence for
Kosovo in UN-mediated talks on the future of the breakaway province
expected to begin next month.
(AP, 11/15/05)
2005 Nov 15, In South Korea 2
farmers were killed during a protest in Seoul ahead of WTO meetings.
The farmers were angry over moves to further open the country's rice
market.
(AP, 12/27/05)
2005 Nov 16, US President George
W. Bush arrived in South Korea ahead of a summit of Asia Pacific
leaders after making a bold call for China to launch democratic reforms.
(AP, 11/16/05)
2005 Nov 16, Vice President Dick
Cheney joined the chorus of Republican criticism of Democrats who
contended the Bush administration had manipulated intelligence on Iraq,
an accusation Cheney called "one of the most dishonest and
reprehensible charges ever aired in this city."
(AP, 11/16/06)
2005 Nov 16, Hoping to reverse the
deterioration of pension plans, the US Senate voted to force companies
to make up underfunding and live up to promises made to employees.
(AP, 11/16/06)
2005 Nov 16, The US House passed a
bill authorizing up to $38 million in federal funds to preserve and
restore 10 WW II internment camps, including Tule Lake and Manzanar in
California, as well as 17 assembly centers. Nonprofits would need to
come up with 75% of the money for the projects.
(SFC, 11/17/05, p.A15)
2005 Nov 16, Former President
Clinton in Dubai, UAR, told Arab students that the US made a "big
mistake" when it invaded Iraq, stoking the partisan debate back home
over the war.
(AP, 11/16/05)
2005 Nov 16, Philip H. Bloom, an
American businessman living overseas, was charged for paying kickbacks
to U.S. occupation authorities to win reconstruction contracts in Iraq.
(AP, 11/17/05)(SFC, 11/18/05, p.A15)
2005 Nov 16, At the National Book
Awards ceremony in NYC William T. Vollmann (46) won the fiction award
for “Europe Central.” Joan Didion (70) won the nonfiction award for
“The Year of Magical Thinking.” W.S. Merwin won the poetry prize for
“Migration: New and Selected Poems.” Special awards went to Lawrence
Ferlinghetti (86) and Norman Mailer (82).
(SFC, 11/17/05, p.A2)
2005 Nov 16,
IntercontinentalExchange (ICE), founded in 2000, made its debut on the
NYSE. Shares offered at $26 reached $39.25 at close.
(Econ, 11/19/05, p.79)
2005 Nov 16, Nokia Corp. said it
is paying $430 million to acquire Intellisync Corp., a provider of
wireless e-mail service for cellular carriers, adding to the mobile
phone maker's growing arsenal of products to compete with BlackBerry.
(AP, 11/16/05)
2005 Nov 16, Kentucky reported
that drainage from land disturbed by mining and road construction has
caused acid levels to rise beyond acceptable levels in portions of at
least 35 streams across the state, killing fish and insects.
(AP, 11/16/05)
2005 Nov 16, Ralph Edwards
(b.1913), broadcasting pioneer and TV host of “This is Your Life”
(1952-1961), died in West Hollywood. Edwards first hit it big in radio
with “Truth or Consequences” in 1940.
(SFC, 11/17/05, p.B5)
2005 Nov 16, Henry Taube (b.1916),
Canadian-born Nobel Prize winner (1983) and former Stanford Univ.
chemist, died at his home on the Stanford campus.
(SFC, 11/19/05, p.B5)
2005 Nov 16, Afghan Defense
Minister Rahim Wardak said Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network has
increased its activities in Afghanistan, smuggling in explosives,
high-tech weapons and millions of dollars in cash for a resurgent
terror campaign.
(AP, 11/16/05)
2005 Nov 16, A suicide bomber
rammed a car laden with explosives into a convoy carrying Westerners in
the main southern city of Kandahar, killing three Afghan civilians and
wounding four others.
(AP, 11/16/05)
2005 Nov 16, Home Secretary
Charles Clarke ordered that British citizen Babar Ahmad be extradited
to the United States to face terrorism charges under controversial new
rules allowing countries to seek extradition without producing evidence
of a crime.
(AP, 11/16/05)
2005 Nov 16, Britain’s National
Statistics office said the number of people claiming jobless benefits
increased by a higher-than-expected 12,100 from September to a total of
890,100 people at the end of October.
(AP, 11/16/05)
2005 Nov 16, In Chechnya a group
of Russian soldiers, alleged to be drunk, began flagging down cars and
demanding money in the Grozny suburb of Staraya Sunzha. 3 civilians
were killed and 3 servicemen were detained.
(SSFC, 11/20/05, p.A22)
2005 Nov 16, Chinese President Hu
Jintao arrived in Seoul for talks with South Korea's president and an
annual meeting of Asia-Pacific leaders, the first time in a decade a
Chinese president has visited South Korea.
(AP, 11/15/05)
2005 Nov 16, China reported its
first three confirmed human cases of bird flu as the government raced
to vaccinate billions of chickens, ducks and other poultry in a massive
effort to stop the spread of the virus. 2 cases were confirmed in the
province of Hunan in central China and one in Anhui in the east.
(AP, 11/16/05)
2005 Nov 16, Two dozen Colombian
rebels laid down their arms in the 1st group demobilization ceremony of
leftist guerrillas since Pres. Alvaro Uribe took office 3 years ago.
(AP, 11/17/05)
2005 Nov 16, In Egypt the Muslim
Brotherhood won 20% of the overall vote in the first round of
parliamentary elections, according to initial official results released
after a day of intense runoff balloting. The group is banned but
members as individuals doubled their parliamentary seats to 34. The
ruling party won 112 seats.
(AP, 11/16/05)(WSJ, 11/17/05, p.A1)
2005 Nov 16, The Italian Senate
passed constitutional reform that imposed an eccentric form of
proportional representation. It was designed to give the prime minister
presidential powers.
(Econ, 2/9/08,
p.56)(www.wsws.org/articles/2005/dec2005/ital-d02.shtml)
2005 Nov 16, A private research
agency said corporate bankruptcies in Japan climbed 23 percent to 825
cases in October from the previous month, the first increase in two
months.
(AP, 11/16/05)
2005 Nov 16, In Kashmir a car bomb
exploded in the main business district of Srinagar, the summer capital
of India's Jammu-Kashmir state, killing at least two people and
injuring 40.
(AP, 11/16/05)
2005 Nov 16, Mexico’s Supreme
Court ruled that rape within marriage is a crime.
(SFC, 11/17/05, p.A12)
2005 Nov 16, A court set up by
Sudan to try war crimes in its violence-plagued Darfur region issued
its 1st sentences, condemning to death 2 soldiers in the torture
killing of a Sudanese citizen.
(AP, 11/16/05)
2005 Nov 16, In Thailand suspected
Muslim separatists stormed 2 houses in a southern village and opened
fire on the families with assault rifles, killing 9 people and injuring
9 others.
(AP, 11/16/05)
2005 Nov 16, A UN technology
summit opened in Tunisia after an 11th-hour agreement that leaves the
United States with ultimate oversight of the main computers that direct
the Internet's flow of information, commerce and dissent.
(AP, 11/16/05)
2005 Nov 16, More than 150
international rights groups petitioned African governments and the
continent's main political union to act on what they called a
humanitarian crisis in Zimbabwe.
(Reuters, 11/17/05)
2005 Nov 17, Pennsylvania
Democratic congressman John Murtha argued that it was time to bring US
troops home from Iraq.
(Econ, 11/26/05, p.35)
2005 Nov 17, Andy Stevens (37), a
California CHP officer, was shot and killed during a routine traffic
stop in Yolo County. Police the next day arrested suspects Brendt
Anthony Volarvich (20) in Rocklin and Gregory Fred Zielesch (47) of
Woodland. Volarvich was later convicted of murder and sentenced to
death. In 2009 a Sacramento district court upheld a murder conviction
against Zielesch and his sentence of 57 years to life in prison.
(SFC, 11/18/05, p.B2)(SFC, 11/19/05, p.B3)(SFC,
11/25/09, p.C2)
2005 Nov 17, A jury in Sarasota,
Fla., convicted mechanic Joseph Smith (37) of kidnapping, raping and
strangling 11-year-old Carlie Brucia, whose Feb 1, 2004, abduction had
been captured by a car-wash security camera. On December 1, 2005, a
jury, by a vote of 10 to 2, returned a recommendation for the death
penalty. On March 15, 2006, the day before what would have been
Carlie's fourteenth birthday, he was sentenced to two terms of life
imprisonment on the charges of sexual battery and kidnapping, and was
sentenced to death by lethal injection for murder.
(AP,
11/17/06)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlie_Brucia)
2005 Nov 17, Robert Stein of North
Carolina, arrested on Nov 14, was charged with accepting kickbacks and
bribes during his tenure as a controller and financial officer of the
US occupation authority in Iraq. He steered construction contracts to
Philip Bloom, who was charged with a range of crimes on Nov 16.
(SFC, 11/18/05, p.A15)
2005 Nov 17, In Chicago Conrad
Black (61), press magnate, was charged with helping to steal $51.8
million from Hollinger Int’l. Black was said to be in Canada.
(SFC, 11/18/05, p.C3)
2005 Nov 17, Australian
researchers confirmed they have scrapped 10 years of research into
genetically modified peas because the altered version caused lung
inflammation in mice.
(AFP, 11/18/05)
2005 Nov 17, Austria’s Interior
Ministry said British historian David Irving has been arrested on a
warrant accusing him of denying the Holocaust.
(AP, 11/17/05)
2005 Nov 17, President Bush in
South Korea took a hardline stance against North Korea, saying the US
won't help the communist nation build a civilian nuclear reactor to
produce electricity until it dismantles its nuclear weapons programs.
(AP, 11/17/05)
2005 Nov 17, In Brazil a
congressional investigation said it found no evidence of an alleged
bribes-for-votes scheme.
(AP, 11/17/05)
2005 Nov 17, Sergei Abramov, the
prime minister of Chechnya was in a serious condition after a car crash
on the way to a Moscow airport. His aide said it was too early to rule
out an assassination attempt.
(AP, 11/18/05)
2005 Nov 17, Chinese President Hu
Jintao assured a Pacific Rim forum in South Korea that there is nothing
to fear from his fast-developing country, which he said has great
potential to contribute to global peace.
(AP, 11/17/05)
2005 Nov 17, European
parliamentarians voted 407 to 155 on the draft REACH regulation for the
registration, evaluation and authorization of chemicals.
(Econ, 11/26/05, p.77)
2005 Nov 17, French police
declared the all-clear after three weeks of rioting which has left the
government stunned, bruised and casting around for explanations.
(AFP, 11/17/05)
2005 Nov 17, France released its
annual Beaujolais Nouveau from the 2005 harvest. The annual release is
made every 3rd Thursday in November.
(SFC, 11/22/05, p.F2)
2005 Nov 17, Israeli President
Moshe Katsav met with Pope Benedict XVI and other top Roman Catholic
officials to discuss a long-standing tax dispute that has irritated
relations between Israel and the Holy See.
(AP, 11/17/05)
2005 Nov 17, Israeli forces killed
two Palestinian militants during a West Bank arrest raid, riddling
their car with bullets when it tried to run a roadblock outside the
town of Jenin.
(AP, 11/17/05)
2005 Nov 17, Mexico's Supreme
Court voted 11-1 that the Pascual Cooperative, a bottler specializing
in Mexico's traditional fruit-flavored and fruit-based soft drinks, did
not rate protection as a public interest.
(AP, 11/18/05)
2005 Nov 17, In Pakistan a court
official said 3 men from an underground Pakistani tribal group have
confessed to involvement in a car bomb blast near a US fast food chain
outlet that killed 3 people. Police said the trio belong to a group
called the Baluchistan Liberation Army.
(AFP, 11/17/05)
2005 Nov 17, Greenpeace activists
in small inflatable boats stopped a ship carrying genetically
engineered soybean meal from unloading in a Polish port. Greenpeace
says genetically engineered soy is causing massive environmental
problems in Argentina, including deforestation, a dramatic increase in
the use of toxic herbicides and soil infertility.
(AP, 11/17/05)
2005 Nov 17, Paul Bisengimana,
former Rwandan mayor, pleaded guilty to charges of murder and
extermination related to the 1994 genocide of more than half a million
Rwandans. He was accused of participating in the killing of several
thousand people who had sought refuge in a church. He changed his
previous plea of not guilty after striking a deal with prosecutors
under which they dropped 10 other charges.
(AP, 11/17/05)
2005 Nov 17, Saudi judicial
officials said a Saudi high-school chemistry teacher, accused of
discussing religion with his students, was sentenced to 750 lashes and
40 months in prison for blasphemy following a trial on Nov 12.
(AP, 11/17/05)
2005 Nov 17-2005 Nov 20, Singapore
hosted the World Cyber Games (WCG). Some 700 participants competed in 8
games with prize money topping $2.5 million.
(Econ, 11/26/05,
p.54)(www.worldcybergames.com/main.asp)
2005 Nov 17, In Sri Lanka
well-armed rebels and sporadic explosions blocked thousands of Sri
Lankans from voting for a new president to help the country end decades
of civil war and recover from last year's devastating tsunami.
Ex-Premier Wickremesinghe, favoring Tamil rebel talks, faced Premier
Rajapakse, a skeptic on peace.
(AP, 11/17/05)(WSJ, 11/17/05, p.A1)
2005 Nov 17, It was reported that
Syria had detained 4 Australian-Iraqi women at the Damascus airport for
allegedly trying to take gun parts hidden in a child's toy onto a plane
bound for Australia.
(AFP, 11/17/05)
2005 Nov 17, In Venezuela
officials said the government will expand a land reform program next
year to take control of some 3.7 million acres of "idle" farm land and
turn it over to cooperatives of poor farmers.
(AP, 11/17/05)
2005 Nov 17, UN officials said
Zimbabwe has backtracked on its refusal to allow the UN to help build
emergency housing for people whose homes were demolished in a
government eviction campaign.
(AP, 11/17/05)
2005 Nov 18, The US
Republican-controlled House spurned a call for an immediate pullout of
troops from Iraq in a 403-3 vote hastily arranged by the GOP that
Democrats denounced as politically motivated.
(AP, 11/18/06)
2005 Nov 18, The US Senate voted
to extend $60 billion in tax cuts for individuals and businesses but
added a $5 billion tax on big oil companies, drawing a veto threat from
the White House. Congress voted itself a $3,100 pay raise. Pres. Bush
signed the raise into law 2 weeks later.
(Reuters, 11/19/05)(SFC, 12/6/05, p.A3)
2005 Nov 18, US officials said
that US and Canadian police have arrested 291 people in a major drug
bust that was given unprecedented cooperation by Vietnamese agents. The
2-year operation covered ecstasy, which was shipped into Canada in
powder form, turned into pills and then smuggled across the border
along with massive amounts of marijuana.
(AFP, 11/18/05)
2005 Nov 18, In Washington DC
Michael Scanlon (35) was charged with conspiring with former lobbyist
Jack Abramoff to bribe government officials and bilk millions of
dollars from Indian tribes. In March, 2002, Ohio Rep. Robert Ney agreed
to back legislative language to benefit the Tigua tribe of El Paso,
Texas, a client of Abramoff and Scanlon.
(SFC, 11/19/05, p.A3)
2005 Nov 18, A civil jury in
Florida ruled 10-2 that Robert Blake (72), former “Baretta” TV star,
intentionally caused the 2001 death of Bonny Lee Bakley, and ordered
him to pay her children $30 million.
(SFC, 11/19/05, p.A2)
2005 Nov 18, A federal jury in
Tennessee held that Nicolas Carranza (72), a former Salvadoran colonel,
was responsible for murder and torture during the 1980s civil war in El
Salvador and ordered him to pay $6 million in damages to his accusers.
(SFC, 11/19/05, p.A5)
2005 Nov 18, Scott Winfield Davis
(40), was arrested in Palo Alto, Ca., for the 1996 Atlanta shooting
death of David Coffin Jr., heir to a Connecticut family that founded
the Dexter Corp. Initial charges against Davis were dropped in 1998 due
to insufficient evidence. David Coffin Jr. On December 4, 2006, a jury
in Fulton County, Georgia, found Davis guilty on all counts of malice
murder and felony murder.
(SFC, 11/19/05,
p.B3)(www.atlantada.org/featuredarticle/ScottDavis.htm)
2005 Nov 18, In Pennsylvania an
oil painting by Jackson Pollock and a silkscreen by Andy Warhol were
stolen from the Everhart Museum by thieves who shattered a glass door
in the back of the building. The thieves had disappeared by the time
police arrived, four minutes after the alarm sounded at 2:30 a.m.
(AP, 11/19/05)
2005 Nov 18, Ford Motor Co., said
it plans to eliminate 4,000 salaried jobs, or 10% of its North American
white-collar work force, as part of a larger restructuring plan.
(Reuters, 11/18/05)
2005 Nov 18, Cisco Systems Inc.
agreed to acquire the cable TV technology company Scientific-Atlanta
Inc. for about $6.9 billion in a move that would create a one-stop
shop, and market leader, in distributing television to living rooms
over the Internet.
(AP, 11/18/05)
2005 Nov 18, Swiss Reinsurance
Co., the world's second-largest reinsurer, said it will acquire most of
General Electric Co.'s insurance unit for $6.8 billion in cash and
stock.
(AP, 11/18/05)
2005 Nov 18, Tropical Storm Gamma,
the 24th storm of the busiest hurricane season on record, formed off
the coast of Central America, and forecasters said it could threaten
Florida by the beginning of next week.
(AP, 11/18/05)
2005 Nov 18, The relationship of
star anise to bird flu was documented by Peter S. Goodman in an article
for the Washington Post.
(www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/17/AR2005111701855.html)
2005 Nov 18, Scientists reported
that a single gene in mice, which controlled the production of a
protein called stathmin, can turn cautious animals into daring ones.
(SFC, 11/18/05, p.A2)
2005 Nov 18, In Afghanistan a
Portuguese soldier was killed and three others were wounded when an
explosion struck their vehicles outside Kabul.
(AP, 11/18/05)
2005 Nov 18, In Bradford, England,
a gang of men shot and killed Sharon Beshenivsky (38), an unarmed
policewoman, and wounded another. Police arrested six people in
connection with the crime. In October 2006 Muzzaker Imtiaz Shah (25),
one of 5 men due to be tried, admitted the killing. In 2007 Mustaf Jama
(27) was arrested in Somalia and flown back to Britain to face charges
related to the murder. Five people were already convicted in connection
with Beshenivsky's death.
(AP, 11/19/05)(AFP, 10/11/06)(AFP, 11/2/07)
2005 Nov 18, In Canada officials
said a strain of H5 bird flu was found in a duck on a commercial farm
in British Columbia's Fraser Valley. Tests soon confirmed that the
strain was nonlethal.
(AP, 11/19/05)(WSJ, 11/21/05, p.A1)
2005 Nov 18, China and Chile
signed a free-trade agreement on behalf of their nations, the first
between China and a Latin American country.
(AP, 11/18/05)
2005 Nov 18, In Colombia Indians
who have seized control of 18 large farms vowed to stage protests
across the country after land reform talks with President Alvaro Uribe
ended without any agreements.
(AP, 11/18/05)
2005 Nov 18, Conservative leader
Angela Merkel took a last step toward becoming Germany's first female
chancellor when she and other party officials signed a hard-won
agreement to form a left-right coalition government.
(AP, 11/19/05)
2005 Nov 18, In Honduras Herlan
Colindres (16), a street gang member implicated in 17 killings
including a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent, escaped from a
juvenile prison for the fifth time in three years, just as he promised.
(AP, 11/20/05)
2005 Nov 18, In eastern Iraq
suicide bombers killed at least 75 worshippers at two mosques including
2 suicide bombers who detonated themselves inside a Shiite mosque in
Khanaqin, a town near the Iranian border, killing at least 35 people.
In Baghdad two car bombs targeted a hotel housing foreign journalists
and killed eight Iraqis.
(AP, 11/18/05)(AP, 11/19/05)(SFC, 11/19/05, p.A1)
2005 Nov 18, An Italian judge who
refuses to hear cases because there are crucifixes in the nation's
courtrooms was convicted of failing to carry out his official duties
and sentenced to seven months in jail.
(AP, 11/18/05)
2005 Nov 18, In Kuwait a bus
carrying US troops overturned, killing one American soldier and
injuring 19 others.
(AP, 11/18/05)
2005 Nov 18, A Dutch television
show claimed to have knocked down a chain of 4,155,476 dominoes in a
new world record, but organizers conceded the event was overshadowed by
the earlier shooting of an errant sparrow. The bird caused some 23,000
dominoes to fall on Nov 14. The record was later adjusted to 4,002,146
after a legal expert ruled that a person had illegally caused 153,340
dominoes to fall.
(AP, 11/18/05)(SFC, 11/23/05, p.A2)(www.dodemus.nl/)
2005 Nov 18, In Gaza 2 rival clans
and Palestinian police exchanged fire in a dispute over land in the
area of a former Israeli settlement, killing Naef Astal (17) and
wounding 5 people.
(AP, 11/19/05)
2005 Nov 18, Peru’s government
renewed a state of emergency in several isolated jungle and highland
provinces amid reports of leftist rebel activity.
(AP, 11/18/05)
2005 Nov 18, A Russian UN official
accused of money laundering was released on $500,000 bail posted by his
government. Vladimir Kuznetsov (48), who chaired the powerful UN budget
oversight committee, had been jailed since Sept. 1 on charges that he
conspired with a UN procurement officer to launder hundreds of
thousands of dollars from foreign companies seeking contracts with the
world body.
(AP, 11/18/05)
2005 Nov 18, An election official
said PM Mahinda Rajapakse, a hard-liner toward Tamil rebels, won Sri
Lanka's presidential election by a narrow margin. Suspected separatist
rebels in Akkaraipattu tossed grenades into a Mosque during morning
prayers, killing at least four Muslim worshippers. Rajapakse later
appointed his 3 brothers to run important ministries.
(AP, 11/18/05)(Econ, 6/9/07, p.26)
2005 Nov 18, South Korean riot
police used high pressure hoses to hold back protesters chanting
anti-Bush slogans from the site of the APEC summit at Busan.
(WSJ, 11/19/05, p.A1)
2005 Nov 18, South Korea announced
plans to pull a third of its troops out of Iraq, a day after President
Bush met with his South Korean counterpart and praised him as a staunch
ally in the Iraq conflict.
(AP, 11/18/05)
2005 Nov 18, Turkey’s energy
minister said oil from a U.S.-backed Caspian pipeline has crossed the
Turkish border from Georgia on its way to a Mediterranean port for
where it will be exported to the West.
(AP, 11/18/05)
2005 Nov 18, In Turkey a bomb
placed in a trash can exploded near a fairground in Istanbul, killing
one person and injuring 12.
(AP, 11/18/05)
2005 Nov 19, Bush and other
Pacific Rim leaders in South Korea urged Europe to show new flexibility
on farm subsidies, an issue that has stalled global trade negotiations.
The 21 APEC leaders promised to boost cooperation on fighting terrorism
and preparing for a possible flu pandemic. They endorsed a roadmap for
lifting trade barriers across APEC member countries and launched an
initiative to protect intellectual property.
(AP, 11/19/05)(SFC, 11/19/05, p.A8)
2005 Nov 19, President Bush
arrived in Beijing for talks with Chinese leaders following the APEC
meeting in South Korea. A US official said China will buy 70 Boeing 737
airliners as President Bush arrived on a visit expected to include
discussion of Beijing's surging trade surplus with the US.
(AP, 11/19/05)(AP, 11/19/06)
2005 Nov 19, Tropical Storm Gamma
deluged the coast of Central America.
(AP, 11/19/06)
2005 Nov 19, Thousands of people
gathered in a Baku square as Azerbaijan's opposition parties protested
against disputed parliamentary elections, the latest rally in a
campaign that has made little headway.
(AP, 11/19/05)
2005 Nov 19, Brazil's president
ordered the intelligence service to make dictatorship-era documents
public by the end of the year.
(AP, 11/20/05)
2005 Nov 19, In Cairo, Egypt,
Shiite and Kurdish delegates stormed out of an Iraqi reconciliation
conference, halting the effort to patch over ethnic and religious fault
lines threatening to drag the country into a full civil war.
(AP, 11/19/05)
2005 Nov 19, India and Pakistan
opened their disputed border in Kashmir for the first time in 58 years,
a temporary measure to allow divided families to check on each other
after the region's devastating earthquake.
(AP, 11/19/05)
2005 Nov 19, A car bomb exploded
among shoppers at an outdoor market in a mostly Shiite neighborhood in
southeast Baghdad, killing 13 people and wounding about 20 others. A
suicide bomber detonated his car in a crowd of Shiite mourners north of
Baghdad, killing at least 50 people. 5 US soldiers were killed and 5
others were wounded in a pair of roadside bombings in northern Iraq. An
ambush on a joint US-Iraqi patrol northwest of Baghdad left 15
civilians, 8 insurgents and a US Marine dead from a roadside bomb and
the firefight that followed. It was later reported that Marines killed
24 civilians including women and children in retaliation for the death
of a Marine in a roadside bombing in Haditha. In 2006 4 Marines were
charged with murder and 4 officers were charged with crimes related to
their alleged failure to investigate and report the slayings. The four
Marines charged with murder for the Haditha deaths were: Staff Sgt.
Frank D. Wuterich; Sgt. Sanick P. Dela Cruz; Lance Cpl. Justin L.
Sharratt; and Lance Cpl. Stephen B. Tatum. In 2007 murder charges were
dropped against Sgt. Dela Cruz after he agreed to provide testimony in
the case. All charges against Sharratt and Stone were dropped on Aug 9.
In 2008 charges of involuntary manslaughter against Tatum were dropped.
In 2008 Charges against Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani, who was accused of
failing to investigate the killings, were also dismissed.
(AP, 11/20/05)(Econ, 6/3/06, p.27)(SFC, 12/22/06,
p.A1)(AP, 1/6/07)(SFC, 4/18/07, p.A9)(SFC, 8/10/07, p.A7)(SFC, 3/29/08,
p.A3)(WSJ, 6/18/08, p.A2)
2005 Nov 19, Iraqi and US forces
raided a farmhouse in northern Iraq at dawn, searching for suspected
members of al-Qaida in Iraq. Eight insurgents and four Iraqi policemen
were killed. In Mosul 2 US soldiers were killed by small-arms fire.
(AP, 11/19/05)(SFC, 11/23/05, p.A3)
2005 Nov 19, Pope Benedict XVI and
Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi discussed relations between the
Catholic Church and Italy, amid accusations that the church interferes
in the country's domestic affairs.
(AP, 11/19/05)
2005 Nov 19, It was reported that
the Nipah virus, naturally found in bats, had moved to Malaysian pigs.
It killed about 40% of the 265 people it had infected.
(Econ, 11/19/05, p.85)
2005 Nov 19, Prince Albert II
formally ascended to Monaco's throne in ceremonies that mixed royal
pomp with an emotional remembrance for his late father, Rainier III.
(AP, 11/19/05)
2005 Nov 19, In Peru Fernando
Zevallos, the founder of an airline that was Peru's largest until he
landed on Washington's list of "drug kingpins," was arrested on cocaine
trafficking and homicide charges.
(AP, 11/19/05)
2005 Nov 19, Sudanese troops and
rebels clashed in the western Darfur region clashed and a rebel group
said 14 civilians and eight insurgents had been killed in the past 48
hours.
(Reuters, 11/20/05)
2005 Nov 19, Pope Benedict XVI
curbed the independence of Franciscan friars running the famed St.
Francis Basilica in Assisi, decreeing they must now get permission for
their activities from the local bishop.
(AP, 11/20/05)
2005 Nov 20, US President George
W. Bush pressed President Hu Jintao to rein in China's swelling trade
surplus and push forward currency reform after calling for greater
religious freedom. Hu Jintao has rebuffed Bush's calls to allow greater
religious and political freedom but promised to show more flexibility
on Sino-US economic disputes.
(AP, 11/20/05)
2005 Nov 20, In Tacoma, Wash.,
Dominick Sergio Maldonado (20) went on a shooting spree at a crowded
shopping mall. 7 people were injured, one critically, before he was
arrested. Maldonado has been charged with attempted murder and
kidnapping.
(AP, 11/20/06)
2005 Nov 20, Chris Whitley (45), a
chameleon singer-songwriter who oscillated between roots rock 'n' roll,
blues and alt-rock, died of lung cancer in Houston. He recorded 11
albums since his 1991 debut, "Living with the Law," including “Dirt
Floor" (1998) and this year's "Soft Dangerous Shores."
(AP, 11/23/05)
2005 Nov 20, In Brazil TV da Gente
(Our TV), the 1st channel to be directed at Brazil’s black population,
was launched.
(SSFC, 11/27/05, p.A21)
2005 Nov 20, British military said
a British soldier was killed and four wounded by a roadside bomb in
Iraq's southern city of Basra. A total of 98 British soldiers have been
killed in Iraq, including 65 in hostile action, since the US-led
invasion in March 2003.
(AFP, 11/20/05)
2005 Nov 20, China reported two
new outbreaks of bird flu in which almost 3,700 poultry died and more
than 7,000 were culled as provinces hit by the deadly virus tightened
preventive measures.
(Reuters, 11/20/05)
2005 Nov 20, A helicopter carrying
a Colombian congressman and five others crashed Sunday in a storm in
the mountains north of Bogota, killing all aboard. Conservative Party
congressman Roberto Camacho, Cundinamarca state deputy Efren Bejerano
and former Cundinamarca deputy governor Adolfo Leon were among those
killed.
(AP, 11/20/05)
2005 Nov 20, Widespread violence
marred the second round of Egypt's parliamentary vote, with police
saying a campaign worker was shot and killed in Alexandria and
witnesses reporting scores of injuries. Police arrested 400 Muslim
Brotherhood activists in a crackdown on the Islamist group.
(AP, 11/20/05)(Reuters, 11/20/05)
2005 Nov 20, Tropical Storm Gamma
weakened into a tropical depression after it deluged the Central
American coast, killing 14 people in Honduras and Belize. 2 US
newlyweds were among the dead in Belize.
(AP, 11/20/05)(WSJ, 11/22/05, p.A1)
2005 Nov 20, Iran’s Parliament
approved a bill requiring the government to block international
inspections of its atomic facilities if the UN nuclear monitoring
agency refers Iran to the Security Council for possible sanctions.
(AP, 11/20/05)
2005 Nov 20, In Iraq a car bomb
exploded by a convoy carrying the mayor of Madaen killing 5 civilians.
3 bodies, all blindfolded and shot in the head, were found in Sadr
City. A headless body was found south of Baghdad. A policeman was shot
dead in Baghdad. A roadside bomb in Baghdad killed a child and wounded
5 others. A US soldier was killed by small arms fire north of Baghdad.
A US marine died from wounds suffered the previous day in Karma.
(SFC, 11/21/05, p.A6)
2005 Nov 20, Israel's dovish Labor
Party voted Sunday to pull out of PM Ariel Sharon's coalition
government, virtually assuring early general elections in March.
(AP, 11/20/05)
2005 Nov 20, Project manager
Junichiro Kawaguchi said Hayabusa, a Japanese spacecraft, has failed to
land on the Itokawa asteroid in the 2nd setback for the landmark
mission aiming to bring samples from such a celestial body to Earth for
the first time. The space agency, after evaluating more data, said on
Nov 23 that Hayabusa did land for a half-hour, but failed to collect
any material.
(AFP, 11/20/05)(SFC, 11/23/05, p.A16)
2005 Nov 20, Russian President
Vladimir Putin started a three-day visit to Japan but it appears
unlikely there will be any progress in settling a 60-year territorial
dispute that has prevented the two nations from formally ending World
War II hostilities.
(AP, 11/20/05)
2005 Nov 20, In Turkey 12 people
were detained after Kurdish demonstrators hurled Molotov cocktails and
stones at the police during a protest in Istanbul.
(AFP, 11/20/05)
2005 Nov 20, The Vatican beatified
13 Mexicans who died during a Roman Catholic uprising in the late 1920s
that was crushed by the Mexican government.
(AP, 11/20/05)
2005 Nov 20, Zimbabwe President
Robert Mugabe said he will turn to nuclear power by processing recently
discovered uranium deposits to resolve its chronic electricity shortage.
(AP, 11/20/05)
2005 Nov 21, President Bush, the
first US chief executive to visit Mongolia, saluted Mongolia's
"fearless warriors" for helping his embattled effort to establish
democracy in the heart of the Middle East.
(AP, 11/21/05)
2005 Nov 21, The US federal
Centers for Disease Control said a man from Great Britain has been
diagnosed with the human form of mad cow disease, the 2nd documented US
case of the illness.
(AP, 11/22/05)
2005 Nov 21, Camden, NJ, was named
the most dangerous city in the USA for the 2nd year in a row by the
Morgan Quitno, a Kansa-based publishing and research company.
(SFC, 11/21/05, p.A2)
2005 Nov 21, In New Mexico, police
arrested Monsignor Dale Fushek (53), former vicar gen’l. of the Phoenix
Roman Catholic Diocese, on sex charges involving boys and young men. On
May 22, 2006, three of the 10 misdemeanor counts were dismissed at the
request of the prosecution. On December 5, 2006, the lawsuit filed on
January 27, 2005, was settled by the Diocese of Phoenix for $100,000.
The settlement does not imply any admission of guilt, according to the
Diocesan attorney Mike Haran. The case was dismissed with prejudice,
which means it cannot be refiled.
(SFC, 11/22/05,
p.A6)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dale_Fushek)
2005 Nov 21, General Motors Corp.
said it will eliminate 30,000 jobs and close nine North American
assembly, stamping and powertrain plants by 2008 as part of an effort
to get production in line with demand and position the world's biggest
automaker to start making money again after absorbing nearly $4 billion
in losses so far this year.
(AP, 11/21/05)
2005 Nov 21, Intel Corp. and
Micron Tech. announced plans to form a joint venture, IM Flash
Technologies LLC, to make flash memory for consumer tech gadgets.
(SFC, 11/22/05, p.C1)
2005 Nov 21, Hugh Sidey (78), Time
magazine political columnist, died in Paris.
(AP, 11/21/06)
2005 Nov 21, British authorities
said Diepreye Alamieyeseigha (1953), the governor of Nigeria’s oil-rich
state Bayelsa, has skipped bail and returned home. He had been arrested
and charged in Britain for laundering millions.
(AP, 11/21/05)
2005 Nov 21, China ordered already
strict anti-bird flu measures tightened following two new outbreaks in
poultry, while Romania said it would destroy 2,000 farm birds after
finding the virus in hens and North Korea tightened border controls.
(AP, 11/21/05)
2005 Nov 21, In Egypt ballot
results showed that the banned Muslim Brotherhood won about a quarter
of the parliamentary seats open in the second round of balloting
despite widespread violence that marred the voting.
(Reuters, 11/21/05)(AP, 11/22/05)
2005 Nov 21, In Egypt Iraqi
leaders backed a Sunni call for a timetable for the withdrawal of
U.S.-led forces and said Iraq's opposition had a "legitimate right" of
resistance. The announcement concluded a reconciliation conference
backed by the Arab League.
(AP, 11/22/05)(SFC, 11/22/05, p.A1)(WSJ, 11/22/05,
p.A1)
2005 Nov 21, Egyptian forces shot
dead Salem Khadr al-Shnub, a Bedouin leader in the Sinai peninsula. He
was wanted over his suspected involvement in a string of deadly
bombings in the area. Two of Shnub's relatives, Sallam Sweilam and
Sallam Sallam Sweilam, were also killed in the clashes.
(AP, 11/21/05)
2005 Nov 21, EU foreign ministers
authorized the start of negotiations on an agreement to prepare Bosnia
for EU membership a decade after the Balkan nation was ravaged by
Europe's worst fighting since World War II. Leaders of Bosnia's three
major ethnic groups signed an accord designed to unify the Balkans by
remaking the government's constitutional structure.
(AP, 11/21/05)(AP, 11/22/05)
2005 Nov 21, EU defense ministers
adopted a plan to open up their $35 billion arms industry to increased
cross-border competition within the 25-nation bloc, a landmark move
designed to cut costs for tight military budgets.
(AP, 11/21/05)
2005 Nov 21, France's PM Villepin
pledged to find more jobs for youths from poor suburbs, where unrest
continued to simmer and a high school guard suffered a fatal heart
attack trying to extinguish blazing cars.
(AP, 11/21/05)
2005 Nov 21, US forces mistakenly
fired on a civilian vehicle outside an American base in a city north of
Baghdad, killing 5 people, including 2 children. Gunmen in Tarmiya
killed 4 police officers. In Basra gunmen killed a Sunni cleric. A US
soldier was killed by a roadside bomb near Habaniya.
(AP, 11/21/05)(SFC, 11/22/05, p.A13)(SFC, 11/23/05,
p.A3)
2005 Nov 21, PM Ariel Sharon asked
Israel's president to dissolve parliament, pushing for a quick March
election just hours after deciding to leave his hard-line Likud Party
and to form a new centrist party.
(AP, 11/21/05)
2005 Nov 21, Kenya held a
referendum on the country’s 1st proper constitution since independence.
Voters divided into 2 factions over the referendum: bananas called for
a yes vote and oranges said no. Voters rejected the new constitution
(57-43%), supported by Pres. Kibaki, the most serious political setback
since he was elected nearly 3 years ago.
(AP, 11/22/05)(Econ, 11/26/05, p.58)
2005 Nov 21, Hezbollah guerrillas
in Lebanon fired mortars and rockets at Israeli troops in a disputed
border area, the first clash between the two sides in five months. 4
Hezbollah guerrillas were killed in raids meant to capture Israeli
troops along the Lebanon border.
(AP, 11/21/05)(WSJ, 11/22/05, p.A1)
2005 Nov 21, The leaders of Russia
and Japan said the settlement of a 60-year-old dispute that kept their
nations from formally ending their World War II hostilities requires
closer economic cooperation and patient trust-building as Tokyo backed
Moscow's bid to join the World Trade Organization.
(AP, 11/21/05)
2005 Nov 21, Moscow police
launched operation “Counterfeit,” a citywide sting operations aimed at
shutting down producers and sellers of counterfeit music, movies and
software, in the latest clampdown on rampant piracy that threatens
Russia's bid to join the WTO.
(AP, 11/24/05)
2005 Nov 21, Turkey's prime
minister rushed to the overwhelmingly Kurdish southeast and urged calm
after weeks of rioting, vowing that his government would investigate
charges that security forces, and not Kurdish guerrillas, were behind a
recent fatal bombing.
(AP, 11/21/05)
2005 Nov 21, A UN count of HIV
infections around the world topped 40.3 million.
(SFC, 11/22/05, p.A1)
2005 Nov 21, In Venezuela Pres.
Chavez pledged to help build a natural gas pipeline stretching from
Venezuela to Argentina during talks with Argentine leader Nestor
Kirchner.
(AP, 11/21/05)
2005 Nov 21, In Yemen a tribesman
threatened to kill two Swiss tourists he kidnapped if the government
uses force to free them. Hasan Ahmed al-Dhamen said that he would kill
his two hostages, a man and a woman, if security forces tried to raid
his hide-out.
(AP, 11/21/05)
2005 Nov 21, Zimbabwe's
state-owned national airline grounded its entire fleet after running
out of fuel as the southern African country's economy continues to
crumble.
(Reuters, 11/22/05)
2005 Nov 22, The US Commerce Dept.
said it will comply with a Nafta panel’s order to drastically cut US
duties on imports of Canadian softwood lumber. In December the Commerce
Dept. Said it will cut import duties in half to 10.81%. Canada
continued to press for duties to be dropped entirely.
(WSJ, 11/23/05, p.A14)(WSJ, 12/7/05, p.A16)
2005 Nov 22, The US said it has
lifted an arms embargo against Indonesia, ending a six-year ban on
military aid to the world's most populous Muslim nation imposed due to
human rights concerns.
(AP, 11/22/05)
2005 Nov 22, Massachusetts signed
an agreement with Venezuela to obtain discounted home heating oil.
Democrat Rep. William Delahunt helped broker the deal.
(WSJ, 11/23/05, p.A14)
2005 Nov 22, A federal jury in
Virginia found Ahmed Omar Abu Ali (24), a US citizen, guilty of
numerous charges to commit acts of terrorism. Abu Ali was arrested in
Medina in June 2003 as Saudi authorities were investigating a wave of
bombings. In 2008 a federal appeals court upheld the conviction, but
ordered a new sentencing hearing. In 2009 he was sentenced to life in
prison for plotting to kill Pres. George W. Bush.
(SFC, 11/23/05, p.A14)(SFC, 6/7/08, p.A3)(SFC,
7/27/09, p.A5)
2005 Nov 22, An indictment against
Jose Padilla, a U.S. citizen held without charges for more than three
years on suspicion of plotting a "dirty bomb" attack in the US, was
unsealed with three counts alleging he conspired to "murder, maim and
kidnap" people overseas.
(AP, 11/22/05)
2005 Nov 22, Ted Koppel hosted his
final edition of ABC News' "Nightline."
(AP, 11/22/06)
2005 Nov 22, Winners were
announced at the 33rd annual American Music Awards in LA. In the
Pop-Rock category winners included Male artist: Will Smith; Female
artist: Gwen Stefani; Band, duo or group: The Black Eyed Peas; Album:
"American Idiot," Green Day.
(AP, 11/23/05)
2005 Nov 22, Motor Trend magazine
named the Honda Civic as 2006 Car of the Year.
(AP, 11/22/05)
2005 Nov 22, Microsoft released
its Xbox 360 videogame console.
(WSJ, 11/22/05, p.A1)
2005 Nov 22, In southern
Afghanistan a roadside bomb tore through an American armored vehicle,
killing a U.S. soldier and an Afghan interpreter. Militants near Kabul
shot and killed an Afghan working as the head of security for a Turkish
construction company. Villagers found the body of Maniappan Raman
Kutty, a kidnapped Indian, who had almost been decapitated, in Nimroz
province's Dilaram district.
(AP, 11/23/05)
2005 Nov 22, At least 100,000
opposition demonstrators told Bangladesh's Islamist-allied government
to "quit now" as they rallied in the capital while police kept watch to
avert religious extremist violence.
(AP, 11/22/05)
2005 Nov 22, China’s northeastern
city of Harbin said its water system will be shut down for four days to
check for contamination from a Nov. 13 chemical plant explosion,
setting off panic buying of bottled water among its 3 million residents.
(AP, 11/22/05)(AP, 11/25/05)
2005 Nov 22, A woman farmer in
east China died from bird flu after contact with sick poultry, becoming
the third confirmed human case in the country and the 2nd confirmed
fatality.
(AFP, 11/23/05)
2005 Nov 22, French President
Jacques Chirac called for negotiations to end a nationwide rail strike
that caused commuter chaos and posed a new threat to his government,
just days after urban riots abated.
(Reuters, 11/22/05)
2005 Nov 22, French union leaders
decided to recommend an end to a strike that disrupted French train
service, saying they were satisfied with concessions offered by the
national rail operator SNCF.
(AP, 11/22/05)
2005 Nov 22, Angela Merkel was
elected as Germany's first female chancellor, taking power at the helm
of an unwieldy alliance of the right and left that now officially has
the job of turning around Europe's biggest economy.
(AP, 11/22/05)
2005 Nov 22, In Honduras officials
raised the death toll from a tropical storm that hit over the weekend
to 32 with 13 people missing.
(AP, 11/22/05)
2005 Nov 22, In India elections
results left the Rashtrija Janata Dal party (RJD) with just 54 of 243
seats in Bihar’s legislative assembly. Laloo Prasad Yadav and the
RJD had ruled Bihar, a state of 83 million people, since 1990. Bihar
elected Nitish Kumar as chief minister.
(Econ, 11/26/05, p.50)(Econ, 1/6/07, p.36)
2005 Nov 22, Iraqi and US troops
launched an operation in predominately Sunni western Iraq to prevent
insurgents from stopping the vote in that city.
(AP, 11/23/05)
2005 Nov 22, In Iraq insurgents in
Kirkuk exploded a car bomb amid a police convoy killing 21 people
including at least 9 police officers.
(SFC, 11/23/05, p.A3)(WSJ, 11/23/05, p.A1)
2005 Nov 22, Israeli warplanes
struck in Lebanon in what Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz
described as the largest-scale Israeli response to cross-border attacks
by Lebanese guerrillas since 2000.
(AP, 11/22/05)
2005 Nov 22, Japan's Liberal
Democratic Party marked its 50th anniversary by unveiling a proposed
revision to the country's pacifist constitution that would end the ban
on having a military and give the armed forces a more assertive
international role.
(AP, 11/22/05)
2005 Nov 22, Ministers from the
114 members of the Nonaligned Movement ended a 2-day conference in
Malaysia and agreed to launch an Internet-based news network to counter
what they called prejudiced reporting by Western media. Bernama,
Malaysia’s state news agency, will oversee the network.
(WSJ, 11/23/05, p.A14)
2005 Nov 22, Nepal's communist
rebels and seven main political parties said they have reached an
agreement to bolster opposition to King Gyanendra.
(AP, 11/22/05)
2005 Nov 22, Detectives arrested a
suspected Irish Republican Army dissident on suspicion of involvement
in a 1998 car-bombing that killed 29 people in Omagh.
(AP, 11/22/05)
2005 Nov 22, The United States and
its partners in an energy consortium terminated a project to build two
light-water atomic reactors for North Korea as an incentive to convince
Pyongyang to dismantle its nuclear weapons program.
(AP, 11/23/05)
2005 Nov 22, Nestle SA, the
world's biggest food company, said it has recalled hundreds of
thousands of gallons of baby milk from France, Portugal, Spain and
Italy after traces of ink from the packaging were found in the product.
(AP, 11/22/05)
2005 Nov 22, A gunman opened fire
with a Kalashnikov assault rifle at a primary school in Turkey's
troubled southeast, killing one male teacher and wounding four other
people.
(AP, 11/22/05)
2005 Nov 22, Pope Benedict XVI
created the diocese of Ba Ria, in the Vietnam province of the same
name, by dividing up the existing diocese of Xuan Loc. He named
Monsignor Thomas Nguen Van Tram bishop of Ba Ria. Vietnam had an
estimated 6 million Catholics.
(AP, 11/22/05)
2005 Nov 22, The UN’s food and
farming body renewed its plea for more effort to improve agriculture in
poor countries to ease hunger and malnutrition which kill nearly 6
million children a year.
(AP, 11/22/05)
2005 Nov 22, Vietnamese health
officials said a teenager has been confirmed with the H5N1 bird flu
virus.
(Reuters, 11/22/05)
2005 Nov 23, A federal jury in New
York convicted Uzair Paracha (25), a Pakistani man detained in 2003, of
providing material support to terrorists and other related charges. His
father was being held as an enemy combatant at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
(SFC, 11/23/05, p.A15)
2005 Nov 23, Dr. Thomas Dawber
(92) died in Florida. He led the revolutionary Framingham Heart Study
(1949-1966) that identified the major risk factors for heart disease.
(www.nytimes.com/2005/12/01/national/01dawber.html)
2005 Nov 23, A commuter train
slammed into several vehicles caught in a traffic jam on a busy road in
Elmwood Park, Ill., starting a chain reaction that injured at least 10
people.
(AP, 11/23/06)
2005 Nov 23, In SF 2 killings on
Turk Street raised the city’s homicide toll this year to 90, 2 more
than in all of 2004.
(SFC, 11/24/05, p.B1)
2005 Nov 23, In California several
men, who appeared to be Black Muslims, vandalized 2 West Oakland corner
markets. Police later arrested Yusuf Bey IV (19) and Donald Eugene
Cunningham (73) and sought 4 others. Suspects Kahlil Raheem (24) and
Yasir Hakeem Azzem (19) were arrested Dec 7. Suspects Dyamen Namer
Williams (19) and Demetrius Lamar Harvey (20) were arrested Jan 2.
Elijah Allen (33) was arrested Feb 21, 2006. In 2008 all the suspects
pleaded no contest.
(SFC, 11/30/05, p.A1)(SFC, 12/9/05, p.B3)(SFC,
1/4/06, p.B5)(SFC, 2/22/06, p.B10)(SFC, 7/31/08, p.B3)
2005 Nov 23, Constance Cummings
(95) American-born actress died in Oxfordshire, England.
(AP, 11/23/06)
2005 Nov 23, Suspected Taliban
militants shot to death three Afghan police, a day after a roadside
bombing killed a US service member in the same Uruzgan province.
(AP, 11/24/05)
2005 Nov 23, A UN report said
cultivation of opium poppies decreased in Afghanistan this year for the
first time since 2001, a success that saw one in every five farmers
abandon the drug-producing plant for legal crops.
(AP, 11/24/05)
2005 Nov 23, Australia's PM John
Howard visited Pakistan's devastated earthquake zone and announced a
further 37 million dollars in aid for victims of the disaster.
(AP, 11/23/05)
2005 Nov 23, In Britain and Wales
the early pub closing times, that had governed drinking in Britain
since their introduction during World War I, were set to end at
midnight. The laws had required most pubs to close at 11 p.m. Monday to
Saturday and 10:30 p.m. on Sundays. New rules allowed pubs, bars,
shops, restaurants and clubs to apply to open any hours they like,
although each license must be approved by local authorities.
(AP, 11/23/05)
2005 Nov 23, In Chile former
dictator Gen. Augusto Pinochet was indicted and put under house arrest
on charges of tax evasion and corruption related to his
multimillion-dollar overseas accounts.
(AP, 11/23/05)
2005 Nov 23, In Colombia soldiers
near Villa Hermosa captured Arcesio Lamus, leader of the Bolshevik
Front of the National Liberation Army, suspected of carrying out more
than a dozen kidnappings and other terrorist attacks over the past two
decades.
(AP, 11/24/05)
2005 Nov 23, Cuba announced a
major increase in government salaries saying that it wanted to reward
workers with high productivity and advanced university degrees.
(AP, 11/23/05)
2005 Nov 23, Egypt's parliamentary
polls claimed a 2nd victim when supporters of a newly-elected MP seized
backers of a losing candidate, tied them to the back of tractors and
dragged them through the streets.
(AFP, 11/23/05)
2005 Nov 23, France's Cabinet
approved a plan to put a tax on airline tickets starting next year to
finance efforts against poverty and disease in the developing world.
(AP, 11/23/05)
2005 Nov 23, Georgian President
Mikhail Saakashvili predicted his country will become a member of the
Western military alliance NATO by 2009.
(Reuters, 11/24/05)
2005 Nov 23, Gunmen wearing Iraqi
army uniforms broke into the home of Khadim Sarhid al-Hemaiyem, a
senior Sunni leader, and killed him, his three sons and son-in-law.
(AP, 11/23/05)
2005 Nov 23, Hezbollah guerrillas
clashed with Israeli soldiers on the southern Lebanese border.
(AP, 11/23/05)
2005 Nov 23, Officials declared
Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf the winner of Liberia's first postwar balloting,
making her Africa's first elected female president. She pledged in her
acceptance speech to end Liberia's history of corrupt, brutal and
male-dominated rule.
(AP, 11/23/05)
2005 Nov 23, A NATO official said
Uzbekistan has told NATO allies they can no longer use its territory or
airspace to support peacekeeping missions in neighboring Afghanistan.
(AP, 11/23/05)
2005 Nov 23, In Nigeria a Bayelsa
state government spokesman said an impeachment notice has been filed
against Governor Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, who skipped bail in London,
accusing him of money laundering, holding illegal foreign bank
accounts, corruptly enriching his family and misappropriating public
funds among other offenses.
(AP, 11/23/05)
2005 Nov 23, In Peru officials
said police will begin patrolling Peru's famed Inca Trail following the
recent armed robbery of 13 tourists.
(AP, 11/24/05)
2005 Nov 23, Poland's two leading
newspapers blacked out large sections of their front pages in an
eye-catching protest against media repression in neighboring Belarus.
(AP, 11/23/05)
2005 Nov 23, Spanish police
arrested 11 people suspected of financing and giving logistical support
to an Islamic extremist group linked to al-Qaida.
(AP, 11/23/05)
2005 Nov 23, Sudan and Uganda said
they have renewed a deal letting Ugandan troops pursue leaders of the
Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels deep into Sudanese territory.
(AP, 11/23/05)
2005 Nov 24, A giant balloon in
the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York snagged a street light
and caused part of it to fall, injuring a woman and a child.
(AP, 11/24/06)
2005 Nov 24, Actor Pat Morita
(73), whose portrayal of the wise and dry-witted Mr. Miyagi in "The
Karate Kid" (1984) earned him an Oscar nomination, died at his home in
Las Vegas.
(AP, 11/25/05)
2005 Nov 24, In Canada opposition
parties introduced a no-confidence motion that is expected to topple PM
Paul Martin's government and force a parliamentary election campaign
during the Christmas holidays.
(AP, 11/24/05)
2005 Nov 24, Former Chilean
dictator Gen. Augusto Pinochet was indicted on human rights charges and
placed under house arrest, hours after he made bail on unrelated
corruption charges filed only a day earlier.
(AP, 11/24/05)
2005 Nov 24, A man in south China
was sentenced to death for leading a gang that kidnapped 38 children
and sold them to other families for adoption.
(AP, 11/25/05)
2005 Nov 24, In China a slick of
river-borne toxins from a chemical plant explosion flowed into Harbin
as the government dug wells after shutting down its water system to
protect residents. A 50-mile-long patch of water carrying toxic benzene
began entering Harbin, a city of 3.8 million people in China's
northeast, before dawn. A chemical plant explosion Nov. 13 in the
nearby city of Jilin spewed toxic benzene into the Songhua River.
(AP, 11/24/05)
2005 Nov 24, In southwestern China
an explosion at the Yingte Chemical Company in Dianjiang killed one
worker. This prompted fears of a 2nd benzene leak and warnings to
residents not to drink river water.
(AP, 11/25/05)
2005 Nov 24, Colombian President
Alvaro Uribe met with Venezuela's Hugo Chavez to try to help bridge
differences in Latin America.
(AP, 11/24/05)
2005 Nov 24, In southwestern
Colombia the Galeras volcano became active at dawn and dumped heaps of
ash on the city of Pasto, 12 miles away.
(AP, 11/24/05)
2005 Nov 24, In Costa Rica
thousands of supporters of a free trade pact for Central America
marched through San Jose. The group of about 5,000 mainly workers and
business owners urged Congress to approve the pact known as CAFTA.
(AP, 11/24/05)
2005 Nov 24, Indonesia expelled
Sidney Jones, an American expert on Southeast Asian terrorist networks
for one year, saying her activities could cause public disorder.
(AP, 11/25/05)
2005 Nov 24, In central Iraq a
suicide car bomber targeting US troops handing out toys to children at
a hospital killed 34 people, including 4 police guards, 3 women and 2
children.
(AP, 11/24/05)(Reuters, 11/24/05)
2005 Nov 24, A suicide car bomber
attacked a crowded market in Hilla, south of Baghdad, on Thursday
killing at least 4 people and wounding 23 others.
(Reuters, 11/24/05)
2005 Nov 24, In Israel Ariel
Sharon's fledgling political party "Forward" officially registered
itself.
(AP, 11/24/05)
2005 Nov 24, The anti-terror
bureau of PM Ariel Sharon's office issued an unprecedented alert,
warning that Hezbollah has launched an effort to kidnap Israelis
anywhere in the world.
(AP, 11/26/05)
2005 Nov 24, Iyad Abu Rob, a top
Islamic Jihad militant, surrendered to Israeli soldiers in Jenin. In a
separate operation, 2 wanted men surrendered after Israeli troops
surrounded two houses in the village of Kfar Kalil near Nablus. Another
man was shot, but his condition was not known.
(AP, 11/24/05)
2005 Nov 24, Japan finalized an
agreement to forgive $6.1 billion of Iraqi debt, or about 80% of the
total owed by Baghdad.
(AP, 11/24/05)
2005 Nov 24, Jordan's King
Abdullah II named Marouf al-Bakhit as the new prime minister hours
after the resignation of Adnan Badran. The king urged the new PM to
launch an all-out war against Islamic militancy in the wake of the
triple hotel bombings earlier this month that killed 63 people.
(AP, 11/24/05)(SFC, 11/25/05, p.A3)
2005 Nov 24, In Northern Ireland
Abbas Boutrab (32), an Algerian man, was convicted of possessing
information on making a concealed bomb that could be used to blow up a
commercial airliner. Police initially arrested Boutrab in 2003 on
suspicion of being an illegal immigrant.
(AP, 11/24/05)
2005 Nov 24, Peruvian lawmakers
voted to trim a hefty year-end bonus, bowing to public outrage in one
of Latin America's poorest countries.
(AP, 11/24/05)
2005 Nov 24, In Peru 16 people
were killed when a passenger bus plunged into a river.
(AP, 11/24/05)
2005 Nov 24, Russia’s Pres. Putin
vowed to make sure a controversial bill tightening state control over
the nonprofit sector doesn’t harm civil society.
(WSJ, 11/25/05, p.A9)
2005 Nov 24, Serbia's president
Boris Tadic formally proposed dividing Kosovo between its
independence-seeking Albanian majority and a Serb minority as the chief
UN mediator met with government officials.
(AP, 11/25/05)
2005 Nov 24, The UN food agency
said the United States has thrown a lifeline to six southern African
countries, donating food aid valued at $45 million. The food will be
distributed across Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland, Zambia and
Zimbabwe.
(AP, 11/24/05)
2005 Nov 24, Uzbek authorities
arrested Rukhitdin Fahrutdinov (38), an alleged Islamic radical and
their most wanted fugitive, who had been hiding out in neighboring
Kazakhstan. Human Rights Watch said Fahrutdinov was detained in
Shymkent with at least 8 other Uzbek suspects and that all were
extradited secretly and forcibly.
(AP, 12/24/05)
2005 Nov 25, It was reported that
thieves in Baltimore had stolen some 130 aluminum light poles over the
last few weeks.
(SFC, 11/25/05, p.A8)
2005 Nov 25, Massachusetts’
attorney general said it is opening an investigation into several
supermarkets that opened on Thanksgiving in defiance of the state’s
Puritan-era blue laws.
(SFC, 11/26/05, p.C2)
2005 Nov 25, Nine inmates escaped
from the Yakima County Jail in Washington state; all were recaptured,
although one was at large for three weeks.
(AP, 11/25/06)
2005 Nov 25, Members of the
Convention on Migratory Species (CMS) gave the title of "endangered" to
11 new species.
(AP, 11/25/05)
2005 Nov 25, In Afghanistan a
Swedish soldier died from wounds suffered in a roadside bomb blast. He
was one of 4 wounded by the blast in Mazar-e-Sharif.
(AP, 11/26/05)
2005 Nov 25, The European Project
for Ice Coring in Antarctica reported that carbon dioxide in the
current atmosphere is greater than at any time during the last 650,000
years.
(SFC, 11/25/05, p.A1)
2005 Nov 25, In Belgium a one-day
strike interrupted production at the Volkswagen AG plant in the
outskirts of Brussels as trade unions protested planned government
changes to retirement policy.
(AP, 11/25/05)
2005 Nov 25, George Best (59), one
of the most dazzling players in soccer history who also reveled in a
hard-drinking, playboy lifestyle, died in London after decades of
alcohol abuse.
(AP, 11/25/05)
2005 Nov 25, Canada pledged $4.3
billion in a landmark deal with Indian and northern Inuit communities
to help lift them from the poverty and disease that has plagued their
neglected reserves for more than a century.
(AP, 11/26/05)
2005 Nov 25, Pushing China's
foreign exchange reform ahead by another step, the central bank carried
out its first currency swap deals with local banks in a move that could
help bring more flexibility to the market.
(AP, 11/25/05)
2005 Nov 25, China's Ministry of
Agriculture confirmed a bird flu outbreak in Zalantun city in northern
China's Inner Mongolia bringing to 23 the number of outbreaks of the
disease.
(Reuters, 11/25/05)
2005 Nov 25, Newspapers in Dubai
reported that police had raided a hotel chalet in Ghantout and arrested
26 men as they celebrated a wedding ceremony. 22 of the 26 arrested
were from the Emirates.
(SSFC, 11/27/05, p.A23)
2005 Nov 25, EU Enlargement
Commissioner Olli Rehn officially opened landmark negotiations on
closer ties between Bosnia and the 25-member European Union.
(AP, 11/25/05)
2005 Nov 25, In Guadeloupe youths
set up flaming tire barricades and threw rocks at police in clashes
sparked by a motorcycle crash at a police checkpoint.
(AP, 11/25/05)
2005 Nov 25, In India more than 60
people were feared drowned after two crowded buses were washed away in
floods in the southern state of Tamil Nadu.
(AP, 11/25/05)
2005 Nov 25, Indonesia said it
would begin producing the bird flu drug Tamiflu, while Vietnam and
China reported new outbreaks of the virus among poultry.
(AP, 11/25/05)
2005 Nov 25, Susanne Osthoff, a
German aid worker and archaeologist, was kidnapped in Iraq; she was
released more than three weeks later.
(AP, 11/25/06)
2005 Nov 25, Israel handed over
the remains of three Hezbollah guerrillas to Lebanon in a bid to defuse
tensions after fierce border clashes, but Hezbollah's leader said his
group will keep trying to kidnap Israeli soldiers.
(AP, 11/25/05)
2005 Nov 25, Across Italy public
transportation ground to a halt, public offices shut down and thousands
rallied as part of a general strike against the government's 2006
budget.
(AP, 11/25/05)
2005 Nov 25, In Lithuania the
prosecutor general's office said a Lithuanian man suspected of helping
Nazis round up Jews during World War II will stand trial in a Vilnius
court. Algimantas Dailide (84), who moved to the US in 1955 and lived
there until he was deported in 2003 for lying about his wartime past,
is accused of being a member of the Nazi-sponsored Lithuanian Security
Police, known as the Saugumas, which took part in the arrests of Jews
during the war.
(AP, 11/25/05)
2005 Nov 25, Palestinian leader
Mahmoud Abbas opened the Gaza-Egypt border in a festive ceremony, a
milestone for the Palestinians who for the first time took control of a
frontier crossing without Israeli veto powers and gained some freedom
of movement.
(AP, 11/25/05)
2005 Nov 25, Palestinian leader
Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party held primaries in six West Bank cities to
choose candidates for a January parliament election.
(AP, 11/25/05)
2005 Nov 25, Poland's defense
minister signed an order that will give researchers access to most of
the Warsaw Pact's top-secret archives, including decisions related to
the 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia.
(AP, 11/25/05)
2005 Nov 25, Hissene Habre, Chad's
former dictator, was freed after a Senegalese court said it had no
jurisdiction to rule on his extradition to Belgium to stand trial for
war crimes.
(AP, 11/25/05)
2005 Nov 25, Slovakia joined the
European Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM) as a first step towards adopting
the European Union's common euro currency.
(AFP, 11/26/05)
2005 Nov 25, Swiss authorities
said they will block major foreign acquisitions by the
telecommunications operator Swisscom because of financial risk to the
state, which holds most of the company's shares.
(AFP, 11/25/05)
2005 Nov 25, In Vietnam former
British glam rocker Gary Glitter was charged with committing "obscene
acts with children" and could face more serious charges that carry the
death penalty.
(AP, 11/25/05)
2005 Nov 26, The US military said
4 US soldiers face disciplinary action for burning the bodies of two
Taliban rebels, but they will not be charged with crimes because their
actions were motivated by hygienic concerns.
(AP, 11/26/05)
2005 Nov 26, The SF Bay Area crab
fleet ended their pricing standoff after pacific Seafood agreed to a
$1.75 price per pound.
(SSFC, 11/27/05, p.A1)
2005 Nov 26, Stan Berenstain (82),
who with wife Jan wrote and illustrated the Berenstain Bear books, died
in suburban Philadelphia.
(AP, 11/26/06)
2005 Nov 26, Afghanistan’s defense
ministry said troops foiled a bomb attack in Kabul with the arrest of
six suspected militants and their explosives-packed vehicle.
(AFP, 11/26/05)
2005 Nov 26, Suspected Taliban
militants burned down a district police headquarters and abducted four
officers.
(AP, 11/26/05)
2005 Nov 26, In Azerbaijan
truncheon-wielding police in riot gear beat opposition protesters who
gathered in Baku shouting "Freedom!" and demanding a revote of disputed
parliamentary elections.
(AP, 11/26/05)
2005 Nov 25, In Bangladesh
thousands of women rallied in Dhaka to demand that developed nations
open their doors to workers and products from poor nations.
(AP, 11/25/05)
2005 Nov 26, Bosnia's southern
town of Mostar unveiled the world's first statue of kung fu legend
Bruce Lee, paying homage to a childhood hero of all its divided ethnic
groups.
(Reuters, 11/28/05)
2005 Nov 26, A magnitude 5.7
earthquake shook part of central China, killing at least 15 people,
injuring more than 450 and destroying hundreds of buildings.
(AP, 11/26/05)
2005 Nov 26, Police detained at
least 140 members of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood as Egyptians voted in a
parliamentary runoff.
(AP, 11/26/05)
2005 Nov 26, Vijaypat Singhania
(67), an Indian textile millionaire, apparently broke the world record
for the highest flight in a hot air balloon. His son Gautam Singhania
said the 44-ton balloon climbed nearly 70,000 feet. The previous world
record was 64,997 feet, set by Sweden's Per Lindstrand in Plano, Texas,
in June 1988.
(AP, 11/26/05)
2005 Nov 26, In Iraq a suicide
bomber drove his pickup truck into a crowded gas station north of
Baghdad and killed 12 people. A 2nd car bomb targeting a convoy of
foreigners killed four others in the capital.
(AP, 11/26/05)
2005 Nov 26, A US Marine died when
his vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb near Camp Taqaddum, 45 miles
west of Baghdad. Iraqi police arrested 8 Sunni Arabs in the northern
city of Kirkuk for allegedly plotting to assassinate the investigating
judge who prepared the case against Saddam Hussein.
(AP, 11/27/05)
2005 Nov 26, In Iraq 4
humanitarian workers, including two Canadians, were kidnapped. Canadian
hostages James Loney (41), and Harmeet Singh Sooden (32); Tom Fox (54),
of Clear Brook, Va., and Norman Kember (74), of London, had been warned
repeatedly by Iraqi and Western security officials before being
abducted that they were taking a grave risk by moving around Baghdad
without bodyguards. Fox’s body was found Mar 9, 2006.
(CP, 11/27/05)(AP, 1/28/06)(AP, 3/11/06)
2005 Nov 26, Japan reported that
its space probe Hayabusa had landed on the surface of the Itokawa
asteroid and then collected rock samples that could give clues to the
origin of the solar system. Data on the sample collection was later
subject to question.
(Reuters, 11/26/05)(AP, 12/07/05)
2005 Nov 26, Preliminary results
showed jailed Palestinian uprising leader Marwan Barghouti and other
younger activists swept Fatah primaries, signaling a change of
generations that could make the corruption-tainted ruling party more
attractive to voters in Jan. 25 parliament elections.
(AP, 11/26/05)
2005 Nov 26, In Zimbabwe senate
elections drew a low turnout under partial boycotting by the opposition
over accusations the poll is designed to consolidate President Robert
Mugabe's rule.
(Reuters, 11/26/05)
2005 Nov 27, In Santa Maria, Ca.,
a Greyhound bus overturned, killing two people and injuring dozens of
others.
(AP, 11/27/05)
2005 Nov 27, Actress Jocelyn
Brando (86), older sister of Marlon Brando, died in Santa Monica, Calif.
(AP, 11/27/06)
2005 Nov 27, Joe Jones (79) died
in Los Angeles. He sang the 1961 hit "You Talk Too Much."
(AP, 11/27/06)
2005 Nov 27, Residents of Chechnya
began voting in the latest in a series of elections that are part of
efforts to bring stability and peace.
(AP, 11/27/05)
2005 Nov 27, Running water was
restored in Harbin, China, a city of 3.8 million people where a
chemical spill forced a 5-day shutdown. Officials warned it was not
immediately safe to drink.
(AP, 11/27/05)
2005 Nov 27, In northeast China
coal dust caught fire at the Dongfeng coal mine in the city of Qitai
while 221 miners were working underground. The final death toll reached
171. In 2007 the owner and four employees of the mine were sentenced to
prison terms ranging from 3 1/2 to six years.
(AP, 11/28/05)(AP, 12/06/05)(AP, 12/22/07)
2005 Nov 27, Colombian President
Alvaro Uribe formally announced that he will run for a second term in
next year's elections, saying he needed four more years to accomplish
his goals of restoring security to the country and spurring economic
growth.
(AP, 11/27/05)
2005 Nov 27, In Egypt the outlawed
Muslim Brotherhood captured 29 more seats in weekend parliamentary
runoff elections.
(AP, 11/27/05)
2005 Nov 27, Doctors in France
performed the world's first partial face transplant on a woman
disfigured by a dog bite; Isabelle Dinoire received the lips, nose and
chin of a brain-dead woman in a 15-hour operation.
(AP, 11/27/06)
2005 Nov 27, Gabon President Omar
Bongo, Africa's longest-serving ruler, was re-elected to another
seven-year term in office with a landslide 79% of the vote.
(AP, 11/29/05)
2005 Nov 27, Hondurans voted for
president with Porfiro Lobo, a hard-line death penalty proponent of the
ruling National Party, favored over Manuel Zelaya, the Liberal Party
candidate. Opposition candidate Mel Zelaya, who vowed to reinvigorate
the economy by eliminating government corruption, was elected as the
country's new president.
(WSJ, 11/26/05, p.A1)(AP, 11/28/05)
2005 Nov 27, Honduran police
recaptured Herlan Colindres (16), who is accused of killing Timothy
Markey, a US Drug Enforcement Administration agent on July 29 this
year. It was Colindres’ second escape in less than four months and the
fifth in three years.
(AP, 11/27/05)
2005 Nov 27, In southern Iran an
earthquake measuring at least magnitude-5.9 shook a sparsely populated
area, flattening seven villages and killing 10 people.
(AP, 11/27/05)
2005 Nov 27, Voters in
Liechtenstein soundly rejected an initiative that critics said would
have prevented abortion, birth control, assisted suicide and living
wills.
(AP, 11/27/05)
2005 Nov 27, A Home Ministry
source said Myanmar's military junta has extended opposition leader and
Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi's period of house arrest
for another 12 months.
(AP, 11/27/05)
2005 Nov 27, Philippine President
Gloria Arroyo declared the 23rd Southeast Asian Games open in a
glittering ceremony at the Aquino sports stadium in Central Manila. An
estimated 5,336 athletes will compete in 41 events which will run from
November 27 to December 5. The 11 participating countries included
Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines,
Singapore, Thailand, East Timor and Vietnam.
(AP, 11/27/05)
2005 Nov 27, Two women were
elected to a chamber of commerce in Jiddah, the first to win any such
post in Saudi Arabia, where women are largely barred from political
life.
(AP, 11/30/05)
2005 Nov 27, Senegal's foreign
minister said the African Union will decide the fate of Chad's former
dictator, wanted in Belgium for trial on human-rights abuses allegedly
committed during his regime.
(AP, 11/28/05)
2005 Nov 27, Pirates freed a
Ukrainian cargo ship seized nearly 40 days ago off the coast of
Somalia. The Panahia and its 22 crew members were seized Oct 18. It was
not immediately clear if the $700,000 ransom demanded by the pirates
had been paid.
(AP, 11/27/05)
2005 Nov 27, Swiss voters approved
a blanket five-year ban on the use of genetically modified organisms in
farming. Switzerland already prohibits most of such technology from
being used in agriculture.
(AP, 11/27/05)
2005 Nov 27, In Yemen a suspected
al-Qaida ally was executed by a firing squad after being convicted of
killing a prominent politician and plotting a deadly attack on three
American missionaries in 2002.
(AP, 11/27/05)
2005 Nov 27, Zimbabwe's ruling
party swept an overwhelming majority of seats in a newly created
Senate, according to partial results from an election marked by
record-low turnout and a deeply divided opposition.
(AP, 11/27/05)
2005 Nov 28, Randy "Duke"
Cunningham (63), a Republican US congressman, resigned after pleading
guilty in San Diego, Ca., to taking 2.4 million dollars in bribes in
return from a military contractor to influence the award of defense
deals. Cunningham’s exploits as a Navy fighter pilot inspired the 1986
film “Top Gun.” In 2007 Seth Hettena authored “Feasting on the Spoils:
The Life and Times of Randy “Duke” Cunningham, History’s Most Corrupt
Congressman,” and Marcus Stern, Jerry Kammer, Dean Calbreath, and
George E. Condon Jr. authored, a team from the San Diego Tribune, ”The
Wrong Stuff.”
(AFP, 11/28/05)(Econ, 12/3/05, p.32)
2005 Nov 28, A new phenomenon
called “Cyber Monday” took effect as millions of Americans returned to
work after the Thanksgiving and used office computers to shop for
Christmas presents.
(Econ, 12/3/05, p.57)
2005 Nov 28, Drugmaker Merck &
Co. said it will cut 7,000 jobs, 11% of its work force, and close or
sell five manufacturing plants in the first phase of a reorganization
meant to save up to $4 billion by the end of the decade.
(AP, 11/28/05)
2005 Nov 28, Marc Lawrence (95),
actor who often played the bad guy, died in Palm Springs. His films
included “Shepherd of the Hills” (1941) and “From Dusk Till Dawn”
(1996).
(SFC, 12/6/05, p.B5)
2005 Nov 28, In Canada opposition
parties seized upon a corruption scandal to bring down the minority
government of PM Paul Martin in a vote of no confidence. The
Conservative Party teamed up with the New Democratic and Bloc Quebecois
parties to bring down the government, claiming the ruling Liberal Party
had lost its moral authority.
(AP, 11/29/05)
2005 Nov 28, Thousands of
environmentalists and government officials from around the world
gathered in Montreal for a UN conference to brainstorm on how to slow
the effects of greenhouses gases and global warming. The US defended
its decision not to sign the Kyoto Protocol, saying during the opening
of a global summit on climate change that it is doing more than most
countries to protect the earth's atmosphere.
(AP, 11/28/05)
2005 Nov 28, A top pro-Kremlin
party led in early returns from Chechnya's first parliamentary election
since federal troops reinvaded more than six years ago, and President
Vladimir Putin hailed the vote as a key to restoring law and order.
(AP, 11/28/05)
2005 Nov 28, In eastern Democratic
Republic of Congo, at least 60 people were killed when they were swept
off the roof of a train into the river below as the train crossed a
bridge.
(AP, 11/29/05)
2005 Nov 28, Egyptian police
arrested nearly 200 Muslim Brotherhood activists in a crackdown the
opposition Islamist group said was designed to weaken its chances in
parliamentary elections this week.
(AP, 11/28/05)
2005 Nov 28, EU Justice and Home
Affairs Commissioner Franco Frattini warned that that any of the 25
bloc nations found to have operated secret CIA prisons could have their
EU voting rights suspended.
(AP, 11/28/05)
2005 Nov 28, The European Union
managed to get Israel and its Arab neighbors to endorse an
anti-terrorism code of conduct at the end of a fractious two-day summit.
(AP, 11/28/05)
2005 Nov 28, In Iraq the trial of
Saddam Hussein resumed with the former Iraqi president trying to take
command of the courtroom and angrily complaining about being shackled
and mistreated by foreign guards.
(AP, 11/28/05)
2005 Nov 28, Sheik Bashir Hadi
Fakhreddine, Sunni imam of Bilal al-Habashi mosque in Kirkuk, kidnapped
10 days ago in eastern Baghdad along with his friend Seif Abdullah,
were found dead in Baghdad.
(AP, 11/29/05)
2005 Nov 28, Mexico changed its
constitution to allow state and local police to pursue drug
traffickers, removing a major stumbling block in anti-drug efforts that
had long been the exclusive realm of federal officers.
(AP, 11/28/05)
2005 Nov 28, Nepal's Supreme Court
ordered an end to a discriminatory practice that required women under
age 35 to get written consent from her parents or husband to get a
passport. The law had been previously enforced as a measure to fight
the trafficking of women.
(AP, 11/29/05)
2005 Nov 28, In Nigeria hundreds
of troops armed with rocket launchers and machine guns manned check
points in the oil-producing Bayelsa state as protesters staged rival
rallies over the impeachment of the state governor.
(AP, 11/28/05)
2005 Nov 28, North Korea demanded
compensation from the United States over a scuttled project to build
two nuclear reactors in the communist nation under a 1994 agreement.
(AP, 11/28/05)
2005 Nov 28, The Palestinians'
ruling Fatah Party halted its primary election across the Gaza Strip
after angry gunmen shot in the air at several polling stations, stole
some ballot boxes and destroyed others.
(AP, 11/28/05)
2005 Nov 28, Spain agreed to sell
12 military planes and eight patrol boats to Venezuela in a $2 billion
deal that the United States has threatened to block.
(AP, 11/29/05)
2005 Nov 29, Broad areas of the
Dakotas remained shut down by the Plains' first blizzard of the season,
with highways closed by blowing, drifting snow and thousands of people
without electricity as temperatures hit the low teens. In Colorado
eastbound I-70 was closed.
(AP, 11/29/05)(WSJ, 11/29/05, p.A1)
2005 Nov 29, In Gainesville, Ga,
Lisa Lynette (37) was indicted on charges of child molestation,
statutory rape and enticing a child for indecent purposes. She was
arrested soon after her Nov 8 wedding to the boy whose child she
carried.
(SFC, 12/1/05, p.A3)
2005 Nov 29, Ohio carried out the
nation's 999th execution since 1977, putting to death a man who
strangled his mother-in-law while high on cocaine and later killed his
5-year-old stepdaughter to cover up the crime.
(AP, 11/29/05)
2005 Nov 29, In Virginia Gov. Mark
Warner granted clemency to convicted killer Robin Lovitt, who faced
death for the 1998 killing of Clayton Dicks, a pool hall manager in
Arlington.
(SFC, 11/30/05, p.A16)
2005 Nov 29, Actress Wendie Jo
Sperber (47), who starred opposite Tom Hanks on TV's "Bosom Buddies"
and who in his words became "a walking inspiration" after she
contracted cancer, died in Los Angeles.
(AP, 12/01/05)
2005 Nov 29, In Bangladesh suicide
bombers targeting courthouses in 2 cities killed at least eight people
and injured 66 in what appeared to be the latest attack by militant
Muslims intent on imposing harsh Islamic law.
(AP, 11/29/05)(SFC, 11/30/05, p.A14)
2005 Nov 29, France's lower house
of parliament overwhelmingly approved a tough new anti-terrorism bill
that, among other measures, would increase the use of video
surveillance and allow police more time to question terror suspects.
(AP, 11/29/05)
2005 Nov 29, Iraq's interior
ministry banned all non-Iraqi Arabs from entering the country until
further notice as part of security measures for the Dec. 15 general
elections. Al-Jazeera broadcast video of four Western peace activists
held hostage by a previously unknown group, the Swords of Righteousness
Brigade. 3 of the hostages were later released, but one of them,
American Tom Fox, was killed. Photos broadcast showed a blindfolded
German woman being led away by armed captors in the latest kidnapping
of a Westerner in Iraq. Six Iranian pilgrims, meanwhile, were abducted
by gunmen north of Baghdad. Two US soldiers were killed when their
patrol was hit by a roadside bomb north of Baghdad.
(AP, 12/02/05)(AP, 11/29/06)
2005 Nov 29, In Jordan more than
370 members of the clan of al-Qaida in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi
joined his family in publishing a full-page letter in Jordanian
newspapers disowning him.
(AP, 11/29/05)
2005 Nov 29, Mexico's Supreme
Court ruled that suspects facing life in prison can be extradited,
overturning a 4-year-old ban that had prevented many of the country's
most notorious criminals from being sent to the United States.
(AP, 11/29/05)
2005 Nov 29, In Northern Ireland 2
bank employees were arrested on suspicion of involvement in the Dec 20,
2004, robbery of their Belfast bank, raising questions about whether
the British-record theft could have been an inside job.
(AP, 11/29/05)
2005 Nov 29, A panel in North
Ossetia investigating last year's bloody school hostage siege in the
southern Russian town of Beslan blamed the authorities for botching the
rescue efforts and urged them to punish the culprits.
(AP, 11/29/05)
2005 Nov 29, In South Africa the
mother of Deon van der Walt (47), acclaimed opera singer, found her son
in his bedroom with two gunshot wounds to his chest. She also found her
husband with a gunshot wound to the temple and a gun by his side. The
family lived on a wine estate in the town of Paarl, just outside Cape
Town.
(AP, 11/30/05)
2005 Nov 29, A Sudanese Darfur
rebel faction said it attacked a town in West Darfur state, killing 37
soldiers and police, to push for its inclusion in peace talks due to
open in the Nigerian capital Abuja later in the day.
(AP, 11/29/05)
2005 Nov 29, The Vatican published
its long-awaited document on gays in the clergy, saying men with
"deep-seated" homosexual tendencies should not be ordained but those
with a "transitory problem" could be if they had overcome them for
three years.
(AP, 11/29/05)
2005 Nov 29, Thousands of people
lined the streets as the Roman Catholic Church ordained 57 new priests
in an unprecedented ceremony that added the single largest number of
priests in Vietnam at one time.
(AP, 11/29/05)
2005 Nov 30, President Bush gave
an unflinching defense of his Iraq war strategy in a speech at the U.S.
Naval Academy, refusing to set a timetable for US troop withdrawals and
asserting that once-shaky Iraqi troops were proving increasingly
capable.
(AP, 11/30/06)
2005 Nov 30, The Atlantic storm
season ended with a record 26 as tropical storm Epsilon formed without
posing a risk.
(WSJ, 11/30/05, p.A1)
2005 Nov 30, After almost a year
of research into data from the space probe Huygens, scientists reported
that Saturn's moon Titan resembles Earth in many ways but is unlikely
to support life.
(Reuters, 11/30/05)
2005 Nov 30, Actress Jean Parker
died in Woodland Hills, Calif., at age 90.
(AP, 11/30/06)
2005 Nov 30, Human Rights Watch in
Italy released a list of 26 “ghost detainees” held by the US
incommunicado at secret foreign prisons.
(SFC, 12/2/05, p.A19)
2005 Nov 30, Belgian police
arrested 14 people in raids on several homes as part of a probe into a
woman thought to be the first European female suicide bomber in Iraq.
(AFP, 11/30/05)
2005 Nov 30, Brazils’ government
said federal police are evicting settlers and loggers from an Amazon
area that experts believe is home to one of the world's most isolated
Indian tribes.
(AP, 11/30/05)
2005 Nov 30, In London Uganda-born
John Sentamu was enthroned as the first black archbishop in the Church
of England.
(AP, 11/30/05)
2005 Nov 30, Dalianhe, China, shut
down its water system as a toxic slick caused by the Nov 13 chemical
plant explosion at Jilin arrived on the Songhua River.
(AP, 11/30/05)
2005 Nov 30, SF mayor Gavin Newsom
signed a new memorandum of agreement with Shanghai Mayor Han Zheng, the
8th since the 2 cities forged a formal relationship in 1980.
(SFC, 12/1/05, p.B10)
2005 Nov 30, In Cuba Panama's
President Martin Torrijos greeted dozens of his compatriots as they
arrived in Havana for free eye operations, the latest sign of warming
relations between the two countries.
(AP, 12/01/05)
2005 Nov 30, Ecuador swore in a
new Supreme Court, seven months after former President Lucio Gutierrez
dismissed the entire bench, a move that led to his ouster.
(AP, 11/30/05)
2005 Nov 30, The Muslim
Brotherhood said Egyptian police rounded up hundreds of Muslim
Brotherhood organizers in the two days before the last stage of
parliamentary elections, bringing the total in two weeks to over 1,600.
(AP, 11/30/05)
2005 Nov 30, French doctors
performed the world’s 1st partial face transplant. They operated on a
woman (38) disfigured by a dog bite.
(SFC, 12/1/05, p.A1)
2005 Nov 30, Iraqi and US troops
launched a joint operation in an area west of Baghdad used to rig car
bombs. American soldiers rounded up 33 suspected insurgents in southern
parts of Baghdad. Gunmen shot to death 9 Shiite Muslim laborers near
Baquba.
(SFC, 12/1/05, p.A17)
2005 Nov 30, Shimon Peres quit
Israel's Labor Party, his political home of six decades, to campaign
for Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's new organization. Israel's
Supreme Court ruled that a suspected Israeli mob boss, described by US
prosecutors as one of the world's most wanted drug traffickers, can be
extradited to the US.
(AP, 11/30/05)(AP, 11/30/06)
2005 Nov 30, A Tokyo appeals court
ordered the Japanese government to pay more than $27 million in
compensation to residents affected by noise from a US air base, raising
the amount awarded by a lower court.
(AP, 11/30/05)
2005 Nov 30, In Japan police
arrested Juan Carlos Pizarro Yagi (30), a Peruvian man of Japanese
descent, for the murder of 7-year-old schoolgirl whose body was found
Nov 22 in a cardboard box in western Japan. A DNA match led to the
arrest.
(AP, 12/01/05)
2005 Nov 30, Mexican officials
said that they are investigating a homemade DVD purporting to show four
drug hitmen for the Gulf Cartel being beaten and interrogated, then one
of them being shot in the head.
(AP, 12/01/05)
2005 Nov 30, The Yugoslav war
crimes tribunal acquitted Fatmir Limaj, a senior officer of the Kosovo
Albanian rebels, of torturing and murdering ethnic Serbian and Albanian
civilians at a prison camp during the 1998-1999 war. A 2nd defendant,
Isak Musliu, was also acquitted, while the third, Haradin Bala, was
sentenced to 13 years in prison for executing nine prisoners in the
woods in July 1998.
(AP, 12/01/05)
2005 Nov, China decided to
implement int’l. accounting standards. Rules to this end went into
effect in January 2007.
(Econ, 1/13/07, p.63)
2005 Nov, Colombia announced a
5-fold increase in its aid budget for its “desplazados,” refugees
uprooted by internal strife, to over $400 million a year.
(Econ, 2/11/06, p.38)
2005 Nov, Congolese soldiers
engaged in a 6-day operation to clear militias from Virunga National
Park. 14 rebels were killed and 321 captured.
(WSJ, 11/19/05, p.A8)
2005 Nov, India’s government
partially freed the market for distressed debt. This allowed foreigners
to take direct stakes of up to 49% in companies managing distressed
assets.
(Econ, 12/10/05, p.84)
2005 Nov, In Italy opposition
politicians claimed that tax evasion adds up to as much as $234 billion
a year.
(Econ, 11/26/05, Italy p.12)
2005 Nov, John Githongo, Kenya’s
former adviser on corruption, sent a 36-page summary of his
investigations to Pres. Kibaki and to the Kenya Anti-Corruption
Commission. When neither responded he passed the dossier to a Kenyan
newspaper, the Daily Nation, which began exposing the contents on Jan
22, 2006.
(Econ, 1/28/06, p.45)
2005 Nov, In western Spain
officers of Seprona, the environmental unit of the paramilitary Civil
Guard, arrested hunters skinning a Bengal tiger. Agents also found
another tiger and lion in cages waiting their turn to be hunted. In the
1st half of the year officers confiscated 678 illegally imported live
animals.
(WSJ, 4/12/06, p.A1)
2005 Nov, Bill Browder, manager
of a large Russian investment fund, was turned back from Russia when he
landed in Moscow as a threat to national security. In 2008 Browder
complained that a gang of bent policemen had stolen his Russian
companies and used them to embezzle $230 million of state funds. His
lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky, died in 2009 while in jail.
(Econ, 3/25/06, p.70)(Econ, 11/28/09, p.57)
2005 Nov, Jacques Diouf of Senegal
was re-elected as the UN’s head of the Rome-based Food and Agriculture
Organization (FAO).
(Econ, 11/26/05, p.60)
2005 Nov-2005 Dec, In San
Francisco between 39,488 and 53,988 gallons of diesel fuel leaked over
4 weeks from an underground storage tank at the John Muir Motor Coach
yard at 1095 Indiana St. Muni workers had disabled an alarm system that
would have warned of the leak. In 2009 the US EPA sought a $250,000
settlement for the leak which allowed fuel to enter a storm drain
leading the SF Bay.
(SFC, 11/3/09, p.C1)
2005 Dec 1, The US government
signed an agreement in Kabul committing itself to grants over five
years for development in war-ravaged Afghanistan that could amount to
about five billion dollars.
(AFP, 12/01/05)
2005 Dec 1, A jury in Sarasota,
Fla., recommended the death sentence for Joseph Smith, the killer of
11-year-old Carlie Brucia.
(AP, 12/1/06)
2005 Dec 1, A dog and its owner
found the bodies of Sarah and Philip Gehring, two children who'd been
fatally shot by their father and buried in rural Ohio.
(AP, 12/1/06)
2005 Dec 1, Countries across the
globe marked the 18th World AIDS Day as the UN warned that drastic
action was needed to counter the global epidemic. The number of people
living with HIV in 2005 was 40.3 million, the highest figure ever.
(AFP, 12/01/05)
2005 Dec 1, Scientists reported
that current flow in the Atlantic had slowed 30% over the past 5
decades. Computer models had predicted that global warming could
disrupt the way Earth regulates heat.
(SFC, 12/1/05, p.A7)
2005 Dec 1, Howard Gotlieb (79),
archivist at Boston Univ., died.
(Econ, 12/10/05, p.98)
2005 Dec 1, Reserve Bank of
Australia (RBA) board member Robert Gerard announced his resignation, a
week after revelations about his disputes with the tax office.
(AFP, 12/01/05)
2005 Dec 1, Australia and East
Timor finalized a revenue-sharing pact covering the $5 billion Sunrise
natural-gas project.
(WSJ, 12/2/05, p.A8)
2005 Dec 1, Researchers in Gabon
reported that 3 species of fruit bats served as the animal reservoir of
the Ebola virus. The deadly disease 1st emerged in 1976.
(SFC, 12/1/05, p.A7)
2005 Dec 1, In Bangladesh a bomb
thrown by an Islamic militant disguised as a tea vendor exploded
outside a government building in Gazipur, killing one person and
wounding at least 29. The militant was hurt and captured after the
blast.
(AP, 12/01/05)
2005 Dec 1, In Bangladesh 9
wedding guests died of suspected alcohol poisoning from drinking toxic
home-brewed liquor the previous evening in a northeastern village.
(AP, 12/01/05)
2005 Dec 1, Brazil's Congress
voted to expel Rep. Jose Dirceu (59), the president's former
chief-of-staff, and bar him from holding public office for 8 years amid
a corruption scandal that has rocked the government.
(AP, 12/01/05)
2005 Dec 1, Brazilian authorities
said they have arrested three more men suspected of taking part in the
August $70 million cash heist, and that a fourth allegedly has been
kidnapped.
(AP, 12/01/05)
2005 Dec 1, In Egypt riot police
battled voters, killing one person and blocking entry to polling
stations in opposition strongholds in the third and final round of
legislative elections.
(AP, 12/01/05)
2005 Dec 1, In Salamina, Greece,
an 80-year-old woman was found strangled to death. Police the next day
arrested 3 children (7,8,14) for the robbery and strangling.
(AP, 12/01/05)
2005 Dec 1, Thousands marched in
anti-AIDS rallies in India's plagued northeast, while China rolled out
a campaign targeting millions of migrant workers to mark World AIDS Day.
(AP, 12/01/05)
2005 Dec 1, In Iraq 10 Marines on
foot patrol were killed and 11 wounded by a roadside bomb near Fallujah
in one of the deadliest attack on American troops in recent months.
(AP, 12/02/05)
2005 Dec 1, The Mexican Attorney
General's office said 11 federal agents were charged with kidnapping
for picking up four alleged drug hit men and possibly helping kill them.
(AP, 12/02/05)
2005 Dec 1, Hamza Rabia, one of
al-Qaida's top five leaders, a key associate of Ayman al-Zawahri, was
tracked down with US help and killed by Pakistani security forces in a
rocket attack near the Afghan border. Pakistani authorities said he was
killed with 5 other militants.
(AP, 12/03/05)(SSFC, 12/4/05, p.A3)
2005 Dec 1, Russian press said the
Far East city of Khabarovsk, in the path of a toxic spill from a
Chinese plant explosion, has enough drinking water reserves to last
more than 10 days.
(AP, 12/01/05)
2005 Dec 1, South Africa's highest
court ruled it is unconstitutional to prevent gay people from marrying,
paving the way for the country to become the first to legalize same-sex
unions on a continent where homosexuality remains largely taboo.
(AP, 12/01/05)
2005 Dec 1, About 60,000 South
Korean workers defied a government warning by going on strike to demand
better protection for part-time workers.
(AP, 12/01/05)
2005 Dec 1, in northern
Switzerland a pack of dogs mauled a boy walking to his kindergarten
class killing him instantly.
(AP, 12/01/05)
2005 Dec 1, The United Arab
Emirates announced it will hold a limited form of voting to pick
members of a consultative council, a small step toward widening
political participation in a country that has never held elections.
(AP, 12/01/05)
2005 Dec 1, A UN Security Council
committee called on all governments to freeze the assets and travel of
two individuals linked to international gunrunner Victor Bout over past
arms sales to Liberia. The council added Syrian-born accountant Richard
Ammar Chichakli of Texas and Ukrainian-born businessman Valeriy Naydo,
with an address in the United Arab Emirates, to its list of people
whose assets and travel are to be frozen around the world.
(AP, 12/01/05)
2005 Dec 1, Zimbabwe signed an
agreement with the UN food agency to feed at least 3 million people
after previously denying major shortages.
(AP, 12/01/05)
2005 Dec 2, In North Carolina
Kenneth Lee Boyd, a double murderer who said he didn't want to be known
as a number, became the 1,000th person executed in the United States
since capital punishment resumed 28 years ago.
(AP, 12/02/05)
2005 Dec 2, The G-7 finance
ministers and central bankers discussed interest rates, high energy
prices, inflation and trade imbalances for the final time under
Britain's leadership. The meeting was Alan Greenspan's last G-7
appearance as Federal Reserve chairman.
(AP, 12/02/05)
2005 Dec 2, In southern
Afghanistan a remote-controlled bomb ripped through a vehicle killing a
district government chief and two police officers and wounding three
others.
(AP, 12/03/05)
2005 Dec 2, Peter Menegazzo, one
of Australia's main cattle barons, was among four people killed in a
light plane crash in the Outback.
(AP, 12/03/05)
2005 Dec 2, Belarus' lower house
of parliament passed legislation that would make it a crime to
discredit the state, be a member of the political opposition or an
advocate for human rights.
(AP, 12/02/05)
2005 Dec 2, Manfred Nowak, the
first UN torture investigator to visit China said that abuse was still
widespread and authorities subjected detainees to electric shocks,
beatings and sleep deprivation. He also accused the government of
obstructing his work.
(AP, 12/02/05)
2005 Dec 2, China’s state news
said police in southern China have arrested 16 people allegedly
involved in kidnapping and selling baby girls as young as newborns to
foreigners.
(AP, 12/03/05)
2005 Dec 2, Jiamusi, a second city
in northeast China, shut down a water plant on a poisoned river,
fearing contamination from the approaching toxic chemicals. The slick
on the Amur River, which is fed by the Songhua River, originally 50
miles long, now stretched for 90 miles.
(AP, 12/03/05)
2005 Dec 2, In China 16 workers
were killed and 42 others trapped in two separate coal mine accidents.
(AFP, 12/03/05)
2005 Dec 2, In Colombia officials
said several hundred members of a right-wing paramilitary militia that
held sway for years over much of Colombia's coffee-growing region have
agreed to lay down their arms in exchange for a government amnesty.
(AP, 12/02/05)
2005 Dec 2, Election officials
said that Egypt's leading opposition group did not win any seats
outright in the final round of parliamentary voting, which was marred
by violence and police barring thousands from casting ballots.
(AP, 12/02/05)
2005 Dec 2, A Finnish man was
jailed for 11 years for sexually abusing dozens of boys during trips to
Thailand in what the court called the biggest pedophile case in
Finland's history. Jouko Jaatinen (43) was detained in April on
suspicion of molesting at least 445 Thai boys aged 13 or younger over
the last 15 years and creating massive amounts of pornography.
(AP, 12/02/05)
2005 Dec 2, In eastern Germany a
fire at a shelter for the homeless killed nine people.
(AP, 12/02/05)
2005 Dec 2, Honduras' ruling party
said it had enlisted 300 lawyers to check results of the country's
disputed presidential election for evidence of fraud. Officials still
hadn't declared Honduras' new president, five days after the country's
contentious election.
(AP, 12/02/05)(AP, 12/03/05)
2005 Dec 2, India’s hybrid species
of national affiliation called Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI)
became operational. It was made available to anyone who was an Indian
citizen post 1950, and to their children and grandchildren wherever
they were born. The Citizenship (Amendment) Ordinance 2005 was
promulgated by the President of India and came into force on 28 June
2005.
(http://tinyurl.com/yxrrhs)(WSJ, 12/15/06,
p.B1)(www.immihelp.com/nri/dual.html)
2005 Dec 2, In Iraq 3 US soldiers
from the 48th Brigade Combat Team were killed in a traffic accident
south of Baghdad.
(AP, 12/02/05)
2005 Dec 2, Former Iraqi PM
Muhammad Hamza al-Zubaydi (67), one of the top Saddam Hussein-era
leaders captured in Iraq, died at a U.S. military hospital in Baghdad.
(AP, 12/05/05)
2005 Dec 2, Israeli officials said
Palestinians have allowed up to 15 militants wanted by Israel to return
to the Gaza Strip, violating a U.S.-brokered agreement that was to have
let Israel monitor who enters the area from Egypt.
(AP, 12/02/05)
2005 Dec 2, African leaders and
French President Jacques Chirac converged on Mali for a two-day summit
expected to focus on Africa's conflict hotspots, immigration and the
problems of African youth.
(AFP, 12/02/05)
2005 Dec 2, The Mexico City
government said 5 federal agents arrested in connection with the
videotaped torture and killing of drug hitmen have been released from
prison for lack of evidence.
(AP, 12/03/05)
2005 Dec 2, In Nepal tens of
thousands of people marched in Kathmandu to demand restoration of
democracy.
(AP, 12/02/05)
2005 Dec 2, In the Netherlands a
broad coalition of political parties unveiled a pilot program to
regulate marijuana farming on the model of tobacco, which opponents say
would be tantamount to legalizing growing the drug.
(AP, 12/02/05)
2005 Dec 2, In Nigeria rebel
leaders from the western Sudanese region of Darfur rejected an African
Union draft agreement on power-sharing between their forces and the
government in Khartoum, pushing the sides' seventh session of peace
talks close to stalemate.
(AFP, 12/02/05)
2005 Dec 2, Russian media reported
that Russia plans to sell more than $1 billion worth of tactical
surface-to-air missiles and other defense hardware to Iran.
(AP, 12/02/05)
2005 Dec 2, It was reported that a
money-laundering scandal that started in Germany has spread to other
countries and implicated Leonid Reiman, Russia’s telecommunications
minister and close Putin ally. Prosecutors suspected that Mr. Reiman
had set up a network of shell companies and trusts to conceal over $1
billion in assets.
(WSJ, 12/2/05, p.A3)(WSJ, 1/19/06, p.A8)
2005 Dec 2, Singapore executed
25-year-old Australian Nguyen Tuong Van for drug trafficking, after he
had a "beautiful last visit" with his family. Australia's leader
protested the sentence, saying it would damage ties.
(AP, 12/02/05)
2005 Dec 2, In Kiev 9 presidents
from Baltic and Black Sea nations pledged to strengthen democracy in a
region traditionally considered Russia's neighborhood. They included
Estonia, Georgia, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Moldova, Slovenia,
Romania and the Ukraine.
(AP, 12/02/05)
2005 Dec 3, In Silicon Valley,
Ca., Adobe Systems merged with Macromedia.
(Econ, 12/10/05, p.70)
2005 Dec 3, Retired Navy vice
admiral Frederick L. "Dick" Ashworth, the weaponeer aboard the B-29
that dropped the atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan, died in Phoenix at age
93.
(AP, 12/3/06)
2005 Dec 3, Peter Haas Sr. (86),
former CEO and president of Levi Strauss, died in SF.
(SFC, 12/5/05, p.B4)
2005 Dec 3, In Bangladesh police
said they had arrested over 200 suspected Islamic militants in a
three-day sweep after suicide bombers killed at least nine people and
wounded scores in a spate of attacks this week.
(AFP, 12/03/05)
2005 Dec 3, In Brazil the Greek
billionaire Athina Roussel Onassis (20) married Alvaro Afonso de
Miranda (32) a Brazilian Olympic equestrian in a palm-tree lined estate
in Sao Paulo.
(AP, 12/04/05)
2005 Dec 3, Economic officials
from the world's richest countries resumed their pressure on China to
adopt a more flexible exchange rate as they concluded a meeting in
London.
(AP, 12/3/06)
2005 Dec 3, In Canada tens of
thousands of people demonstrated in Montreal, host of the UN Climate
Change Conference, to demand that governments worldwide take concrete
measures against global warming.
(AP, 12/04/05)
2005 Dec 3, It was reported that
the Central African Republic has ordered radio and television stations
to stop broadcasting songs which encourage men to dump their wives,
saying such music is a hindrance to the country's development.
(Reuters, 12/03/05)
2005 Dec 3, Chechnya’s top
election official said a Kremlin-backed political party has won the
largest number of seats in the new parliament.
(AP, 12/03/05)
2005 Dec 3, Iran's hard-line
constitutional watchdog approved a bill blocking international
inspections of atomic facilities if the nation is referred to the U.N.
Security Council for possible sanctions.
(AP, 12/03/05)
2005 Dec 3, In Iraq insurgents
ambushed an Iraqi patrol northeast of Baghdad, detonating a roadside
bomb and then firing on the patrol, killing 19 and wounding two.
(Reuters, 12/03/05)
2005 Dec 3, Troops exhumed the
remains of 25 bodies from a mass grave near a former Syrian military
base in eastern Lebanon. About 17,000 Lebanese who disappeared during
1975-90 civil war are still missing, including 61 Lebanese soldiers.
(AP, 12/03/05)
2005 Dec 3, Malaysia's state media
said Southeast Asian lawmakers want Myanmar expelled from the ASEAN
regional grouping unless it frees democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi and
other political prisoners within a year.
(Reuters, 12/03/05)
2005 Dec 3, Myanmar’s government
confirmed for the first time that it has extended pro-democracy leader
Aung San Suu Kyi's detention for six months.
(AP, 12/03/05)
2005 Dec 3, Taiwan's opposition
Nationalist Party won an overwhelming victory in island-wide municipal
elections, putting it in position to push its agenda of reunification
with China during the 2008 presidential campaign.
(AP, 12/03/05)
2005 Dec 3, Ukraine reported its
first outbreak of bird flu, discovered among some 1,500 dead chickens
and geese in the Black Sea region of Crimea.
(AP, 12/03/05)
2005 Dec 3, A rupture in an oil
pipeline caused a fire in western Venezuela, but firefighters quickly
brought the blaze under control. Evidence of sabotage was soon found.
[see Dec 5]
(AP, 12/04/05)(AP, 12/05/05)
2005 Dec 4, Members of the former
Sept. 11 commission said the US was at great risk for more terrorist
attacks because Congress and the White House had failed to enact
several strong security measures.
(AP, 12/4/06)
2005 Dec 4, In Washington, D.C.
Robert Redford, Tina Turner, Tony Bennett, Julie Harris and ballerina
Suzanne Farrell headlined the annual Kennedy Center Honors.
(AP, 12/4/06)
2005 Dec 4, Film producer Gregg
Hoffman (42), who developed an eight-minute film into the horror hit
"Saw" and its gory successor "Saw II," died unexpectedly after
complaining of pain.
(AP, 12/06/05)
2005 Dec 4, In Afghanistan a
suicide bomber detonated explosives on a street in the southern city of
Kandahar, killing himself and a civilian and wounding two passers-by.
(AP, 12/04/05)
2005 Dec 4, Chinese Premier Wen
Jiabao arrived in France for a four-day visit. The Chinese government
and the European aircraft manufacturing consortium Airbus signed a
cooperation agreement at a public ceremony in Toulouse that may pave
the way for the opening of an aircraft assembly plant in China.
(AFP, 12/04/05)
2005 Dec 4, Croatia won its first
Davis Cup title.
(AP, 12/4/06)
2005 Dec 4, Tens of thousands of
protesters marched through the streets of Hong Kong to pressure the
government to speed up political reforms that would allow voters to
pick the territory's leader and entire legislature.
(AP, 12/04/05)
2005 Dec 4, Unidentified gunmen
killed a parliamentary candidate and an Iraqi police commander in
separate attacks while a bomb that detonated as a police patrol passed
through central Baghdad killed three civilians.
(AP, 12/04/05)
2005 Dec 4, Israeli aircraft fired
missiles at an abandoned building and a rocket launching ground in the
northern Gaza Strip in the first aerial attack on Gaza in more than a
month.
(AP, 12/04/05)
2005 Dec 4, Oil-rich Kazakhstan
voted in a presidential election widely expected to give Nursultan
Nazarbayev another seven-year term.
(AP, 12/04/05)
2005 Dec 4, In Mali at a weekend
Franco-African summit President Jacques Chirac called upon the US to
remove the subsidies to their cotton producers. Chirac also urged rich
countries to double development aid, as African leaders warned tackling
poverty was crucial to stem a growing tide of illegal immigration.
(AP, 12/05/05)
2005 Dec 4, In Russia, the
snow-covered roof of an indoor swimming pool collapsed onto parents and
children in Chusovoi, a Ural Mountains town, killing 14 people,
including 10 children.
(AP, 12/05/05)
2005 Dec 4, In Sri Lanka a land
mine killed 6 Sri Lankan soldiers with 3 wounded in a northern area
that is home to most of the country's Tamil minority. A government
soldier near the northern city of Jaffna. The military blamed the Tamil
Tiger rebels for attacks.
(AP, 12/04/05)(AP, 12/05/05)
2005 Dec 4, Syrian security forces
clashed with militants planning to launch terror attacks in the
northern city of Aleppo. Five people were wounded, including two
militants.
(AP, 12/04/05)
2005 Dec 4, Thailand's King
Bhumibol Adulyadej publicly rebuked PM Thaksin for pursuing lawsuits
against media outlets that oppose his policies.
(www.bangkokpost.net/breaking_news/breakingnews.php?id=69917)
2005 Dec 5, Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice denied the United States engaged in torture or lesser
forms of cruel treatment against terror suspects.
(AP, 12/5/06)
2005 ABC News named Elizabeth
Vargas and Bob Woodruff co-anchors of "World News Tonight," replacing
the late Peter Jennings.
(AP, 12/5/06)
2005 Dec 5, Intel Chairman Craig
Barrett said the chip-maker will invest more than $1 billion in the
next five years to expand its operations in India and in local
technology companies.
(AP, 12/05/05)
2005 Dec 5, A new version of King
Kong, directed by Peter Jackson, premiered in NYC.
(Econ, 12/10/05, p.68)
2005 Dec 5, Edward L. Masry, the
personal-injury lawyer portrayed by Albert Finney in the Oscar-winning
movie "Erin Brockovich," died in Thousand Oaks, Calif., at age 73.
(AP, 12/5/06)
2005 Dec 5, Austria officially
finished paying out nearly $350 million in restitution to former slave
and forced laborers compelled to work during WW II under Nazi control.
(SFC, 12/6/05, p.A8)
2005 Dec 5, Gay couples in Britain
began registering for civil partnerships as a law took effect giving
them many of the same legal rights as married heterosexuals.
(AP, 12/05/05)
2005 Dec 5, China ordered 150
Airbus single-aisle A320 airliners, more than twice as many plane
orders as the company's U.S.-based rival Boeing Co. snagged from China
last month.
(AP, 12/05/05)
2005 Dec 5, In Congo a magnitude
6.8 earthquake struck the Lake Tanganyika region of East Africa
toppling dozens of homes in Kalemie and burying children in the rubble.
Several people were reported killed.
(AP, 12/05/05)(WSJ, 12/6/05, p.A1)
2005 Dec 5, France's highest
administrative body ruled that Sikhs can wear their turbans in drivers'
license photos, overturning an earlier denial of a license to a Sikh
who refused to take off his turban for the photo.
(AP, 12/06/05)
2005 Dec 5, UN peacekeepers at a
checkpoint in Port-au-Prince opened fire on a car full of Haitian
police officers wounding two.
(AP, 12/09/05)
2005 Dec 5, In India a freight
train derailed, killing six people and injuring 50 others in a remote
district of eastern Orissa state.
(AP, 12/05/05)
2005 Dec 5, In Iraq unidentified
gunmen abducted Bernard Planche, a French engineer, as he was on his
way to work in Baghdad. He was later freed. The trial of Saddam Hussein
resumed in Baghdad.
(AP, 12/05/05)(AP, 12/5/06)
2005 Dec 5, Opposition leaders in
Kazakhstan said that the overwhelming re-election of President
Nursultan Nazarbayev should be declared invalid, and foreign observers
said the balloting did not meet international standards.
(AP, 12/05/05)
2005 Dec 5, Myanmar's military
junta reopened a key national constitutional convention.
(AP, 12/05/05)
2005 Dec 5, Frits Philips (100),
Dutch businessman, grandson of the founder of Philips, died. He turned
a family business into Philips Electronics in 40 years of leadership.
(WSJ, 12/7/05, p.A1)(http://tinyurl.com/dfnu4)
2005 Dec 5, In southeastern
Nigeria Separatist protesters demanding authorities release their
leader shut down businesses and banks, and an activist said security
forces opened fire on the crowd, killing three people.
(AP, 12/05/05)
2005 Dec 5, A Palestinian suicide
bomber blew himself up among shoppers waiting to enter a mall in the
Israeli town of Netanya, killing at least 5 people and wounding more
than 30 others.
(AP, 12/05/05)
2005 Dec 5, Officials said courts
in Uzbekistan have convicted another 58 alleged participants of the May
uprising in Andijan and sentenced them to up to 20 years in prison.
(AP, 12/05/05)
2005 Dec 5, In Venezuela President
Hugo Chavez's governing party won full control of the 167-National
Assembly, claiming a sweeping victory in congressional elections
boycotted by major opposition parties.
(AP, 12/05/05)
2005 Dec 5, In Venezuela a Dec 3
explosion that damaged an oil pipeline supplying the country's largest
refinery was reported to have been caused by government foes attempting
to disrupt congressional elections. Interior Minister Jesse Chacon said
investigators found remnants of C-4 explosives at three spots on the
pipeline.
(AP, 12/05/05)
2005 Dec 6, US Sec. of State
Condoleeza Rice signed an agreement with Romania to open US military
bases there. One site was identified by Human Rights Watch as the site
for a clandestine prison.
(WSJ, 12/7/05, p.A16)
2005 Dec 6, Sami Al-Arian, a
former Florida professor accused of helping lead a terrorist group that
carried out suicide bombings against Israel, was acquitted on nearly
half the charges against him by a federal court jury in Tampa, Fla.;
the jury deadlocked on the other charges.
(AP, 12/6/06)
2005 Dec 6, Philadelphia won the
first NHL scoreless game that was decided by a shootout, beating
Calgary 1-0.
(AP, 12/6/06)
2005 Dec 6, The NYSE voted to
acquire Archipelago Holdings in a $9 billion transaction that would
transform the Big Board into a for-profit company with new, high-tech
trading capabilities.
(SFC, 12/7/05, p.C1)
2005 Dec 6, SF hired Nathaniel
Ford Sr. to run the Municipal Transportation Agency (MUNI) for a 5-year
contract with a base salary of $298,000. Ford was enticed away from the
Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority where his base was $205,000.
(SFC, 12/7/05, p.B4)
2005 Dec 6, In SF police officer
Andrew Cohen (39) was suspended for producing department videos that
mocked minorities. 24 other officers were soon suspended for their
involvement in the video productions. In 2006 18 officers filed a $20
million lawsuit against SF for defamation and discrimination.
(SFC, 12/8/05, p.A1,16)(SFC, 12/10/05, p.A11)(SFC,
8/11/06, p.B7)
2005 Dec 6, In Spokane, Wash.,
voters said Mayor James E. West (1951-2006) must leave office this
month in a special election sparked by allegations he used a city
computer to woo gay men over the Internet. Certification of the vote
was expected on Dec 16.
(AP, 12/07/05)(SSFC, 7/23/06, p.B6)
2005 Dec 6, Afghan government
forces killed nine Taliban insurgents and arrested six others in a raid
on a rebel camp in a volatile southern province.
(AP, 12/06/05)
2005 Dec 6, Microsoft Corp. said
it would set up 30 new innovation centers around the world, adding to
its existing 60, in partnership with local governments, academic
institutions and industry organizations.
(AP, 12/06/05)
2005 Dec 6, A German man filed a
lawsuit in Virginia claiming he was held captive and tortured by US
government agents after being mistakenly identified as an associate of
the Sept. 11 hijackers. Khaled El-Masri said he was arrested Dec 31,
2003 while attempting to enter Macedonia for a holiday trip and flown
to Afghanistan. During five months in captivity he was subjected to
"torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.
(AP, 12/06/05)
2005 Dec 6, Britain's Conservative
Party crowned David Cameron (39) as its new leader, hoping to end an
election losing streak as PM Tony Blair's power and popularity sag.
(AP, 12/06/05)
2005 Dec 6, Canada’s central bank
raised interest rates for the 3rd time in a row by a quarter point to
3.25%, its highest point in nearly 2½ years.
(WSJ, 12/7/05, p.A16)
2005 Dec 6-2005 Dec 7, In southern
China police allegedly killed as many as 10-20 protesters in a dispute
over land use in Dongzhou. Villagers were angry over land confiscations
and plans to construct a wind power plant. Armed police sealed off the
village following the violent clashes. State news later reported 3
villagers killed and 8 wounded.
(AP, 12/09/05)(SFC, 12/9/05, p.A15)(SSFC, 12/11/05,
p.A2)
2005 Dec 6, China reported that a
10-year old girl in the Guangxi region had tested positive for bird
flu, its 4th case of the deadly H5N1 strain.
(WSJ, 12/7/05, p.A1)
2005 Dec 6, Indonesia’s central
bank raised interest rates by one-half percentage point to 12.75%
signaling a continuation of its tight monetary policy.
(WSJ, 12/7/05, p.A16)
2005 Dec 6, The World Wildlife
Fund said a catlike creature photographed by camera traps on Borneo
Island is likely to be a new species of carnivore.
(AP, 12/07/05)
2005 Dec 6, A C-130 Iranian
military transport plane crashed into a 10-story apartment building as
it was trying to make an emergency landing, ripping open the top of the
structure and igniting a huge fire. At least 115 people were killed
including 21 on the ground in the Azadi suburb of Tehran.
(AP, 12/06/05)(SFC, 12/7/05, p.A3)
2005 Dec 6, In Iraq 2 suicide
bombers struck Baghdad's police academy, killing at least 43 people and
wounding at least 72 more. Al-Jazeera broadcast an insurgent video
claiming to have kidnapped a US security consultant.
(SFC, 12/7/05, p.A1)(AP, 12/6/06)
2005 Dec 6, Israel clamped an
open-ended closure on the West Bank and Gaza, banning virtually all
Palestinians from Israel, and arrested 15 Palestinian militants in a
first response to the suicide bombing that killed five Israelis outside
a shopping mall.
(AP, 12/06/05)
2005 Dec 6, Japan's Cabinet
approved measures to demolish buildings designed using falsified
earthquake safety data and to relocate residents amid a widening
construction scandal. Some 60 of over 200 hotels and condominium
complexes designed by Hidetsugu Aneha were ordered to be pulled down
due to faked earthquake-resistance data.
(AP, 12/06/05)(Econ, 12/10/05, p.46)
2005 Dec 6, Kyodo News said Japan
plans to extend its humanitarian military mission to Iraq into 2006 but
could pull its ground forces in the middle of the year if the British
and Australian troops guarding them leave.
(AP, 12/06/05)
2005 Dec 6, Morocco's national
airline completed an order for four Boeing Co. 787 jets and took out an
option for one more.
(AP, 12/06/05)
2005 Dec 6, Separatist radicals
faced off against heavily-armed Nigerian police in eastern cities as a
protest to demand an independent homeland for the 40-million-strong
Igbo people entered its second day.
(AFP, 12/06/05)
2005 Dec 6, In Saudi Arabia
representatives of Islamic countries met ahead of a two-day summit,
with delegates saying the world's largest Islamic organization must
reform to face new challenges.
(AP, 12/06/05)
2005 Dec 6, South Africa charged
ex-Deputy Pres. Jacob Zuma with rape.
(WSJ, 12/7/05, p.A1)(Econ, 12/10/05, p.56)
2005 Dec 6, In Sri Lanka a land
mine blast killed 6 soldiers in the northern city of Jaffna.
(AP, 12/06/05)
2005 Dec 6, The UN top election
official, Carina Perelli of Uruguay, vowed to fight her dismissal over
sexual harassment charges, which she rejected as false and complained
that she was being denied due process.
(AFP, 12/07/05)
2005 Dec 7, In Miami, Florida, US
Air Marshals shot and killed Rigoberto Alpizar on suspicion of having a
bomb. No bomb was found, and federal officials later concluded there
was no link to terrorism. Witnesses said his wife, Anne, frantically
tried to explain he was bipolar, a mental illness also known as
manic-depression, and was off his medication.
(AP, 12/08/05)
2005 Dec 7, New Jersey Sen. Jon
Corzine picked Rep. Menendez to serve out his Senate term. Wining the
governorship let him appoint his own successor.
(WSJ, 12/8/05, p.A1)
2005 Dec 7, US Congress voted to
add nearly 5,000 acres of Rancho Corral de Tiera, an area between Half
Moon Bay and Pacifica, to California’s Golden Gate National Recreation
Area. Congress still needed to appropriate $15 million to buy the land
from the Peninsula Open Space Trust.
(SFC, 12/8/05, p.B1)
2005 Dec 7, A new economic report
said a sustained decline will hit the U.S. housing market next year,
costing the nation as many as 800,000 jobs.
(AP, 12/07/05)
2005 Dec 7, In Clearlake, Ca.,
Shannon Edmonds (31) shot and killed 2 of 3 intruders at his home.
Renato Hughes Jr. (21), the 3rd intruder, was charged with 2 counts of
1st degree murder under a controversial legal theory. In 2008 Hughes
was acquitted of murder by a jury in Contra Costa County. He was found
guilty of 2 lesser charges, assault and burglary. The jury deadlocked
on a final charge of assault causing great bodily injury. On Sep 8
Hughes was sentenced to 8 years in prison with credit for 33 months in
custody.
(SFC, 2/7/06, p.B8)(SFC, 8/9/08, p.B1)(SFC, 8/12/08,
p.B3)(SFC, 9/9/08, p.B3)
2005 Dec 7, An Afghan court
cleared an American, but convicted two Britons and an Indian of
gun-smuggling charges and gave them two-year suspended sentences,
following a one-day trial that one of them called a "circus." Sargon
Heinrich of Rio Vista, Cal., Naveen Joshi of India and Peter Eaton and
Mike Shaw, both of Britain, had been jailed since their Oct. 13 arrests.
(AP, 12/07/05)
2005 Dec 7, Australia’s Treasurer
Peter Costello unveiled details of the nation’s Future Fund with seed
capital of $13.56 billion to cover public service pension liabilities.
(WSJ, 12/8/05, p.A14)
2005 Dec 7, In Chile Gen. Augusto
Pinochet was stripped of his legal immunity by an appeals court,
allowing his trial in the disappearance of 29 additional dissidents
during his 1973-90 dictatorship.
(AP, 12/07/05)
2005 Dec 7, In northern China an
explosion tore through the Liuguantun coal mine in Hebei province and
killed at least 91 workers. Police arrested seven people accused of
responsibility for a coal mine disaster.
(AFP, 12/11/05)
2005 Dec 7, Some 25 American
anti-war activists marched from the eastern Cuban city of Santiago
toward the US naval base at Guantanamo Bay to protest treatment of
terror suspects there.
(AP, 12/07/05)
2005 Dec 7, The UN rejected an
Eritrean order to expel Western members of the peacekeeping mission
that monitors its tense border with Ethiopia amid concerns that war
between the two countries could re-ignite.
(AP, 12/07/05)
2005 Dec 7, The EU and host Canada
piled pressure on the US to join an international pact to curb
greenhouse gas emissions and limit the predicted chaos from global
warming.
(Reuters, 12/08/05)
2005 Dec 7, European businesses
rushed to sign up for the new ".eu" Internet domain name, putting in
100,000 Web site applications by the end of its first day available.
(AP, 12/08/05)
2005 Dec 7, The European aircraft
manufacturer Airbus said that German Wings, a low-cost airline, had
placed a firm order for 18 Airbus 319 airliners.
(AFP, 12/07/05)
2005 Dec 7, In Egypt police fired
tear gas and rubber bullets at crowds trying to break through blockades
of polling stations in an opposition stronghold, the final day of
parliamentary elections, and a hospital official said two people were
killed.
(AP, 12/07/05)
2005 Dec 7, Honduras' ruling-party
candidate for president conceded defeat, even though official results
were still unavailable 10 days after the election because of
vote-counting delays.
(AP, 12/07/05)
2005 Dec 7, In Iraq gunmen killed
three police officers when they burst into a hospital in the northern
city of Kirkuk and freed a wounded man who had been arrested for
plotting to kill a judge in the Saddam Hussein trial.
(AP, 12/07/05)
2005 Dec 7, In Iraq gunmen
kidnapped the 8-year-old son of a bodyguard for a judge in the trial of
Saddam Hussein.
(AP, 12/07/05)
2005 Dec 7, An Israeli aircraft
fired a missile at a car carrying Palestinian militants, killing at
least one militant and wounding 10 others.
(AP, 12/07/05)
2005 Dec 7, Kazakhstan's Pres.
Nursultan Nazarbayev was officially declared the winner of last
weekend's election, while the opposition insisted the vote was
manipulated.
(AP, 12/07/05)
2005 Dec 7, The Hague war crimes
tribunal sentenced Miroslav Bralo (aka Cicko), a former Bosnian Croat
soldier, to 20 years in jail on eight counts of war crimes and human
rights abuses committed during the 1993 Muslim-Croat war in central
Bosnia.
(Reuters, 12/07/05)
2005 Dec 7, In Northern Ireland
Chris Ward (24), a Northern Bank supervisor who claimed he aided a gang
of robbers under the threat of death, was charged as a willing
participant in the record Dec 20, 2004, $50 million heist.
(AP, 12/07/05)
2005 Dec 7, Peru and the US
completed negotiations on a free-trade agreement.
(WSJ, 12/8/05, p.A14)
2005 Dec 7, In Russia an
explosion, apparently caused by a natural gas leak, killed one person
and injured at least five others at a Moscow apartment building.
(AP, 12/07/05)
2005 Dec 7, The governing African
National Congress accepted the withdrawal of Jacob Zuma, its popular
deputy president from leadership duties for the duration of his rape
trial.
(AP, 12/07/05)
2005 Dec 7, Spanish authorities
arrested former Gen. Ante Gotovina, the top Croatian war crimes
suspect, after four years on the run. He was captured in the Canary
Islands when special police agents surprised him as he dined in a
luxury beach hotel.
(AP, 12/08/05)
2005 Dec 7, A UN court in Tanzania
trying masterminds of Rwanda's genocide convicted Paul Bisengimana,
former mayor of Gikoro, for abetting the 1994 slaughter, but dropped
three counts including genocide.
(AP, 12/07/05)
2005 Dec 7, In Thailand a
5-year-old boy became the country’s 2nd bird flu fatality in two months.
(AP, 12/9/05)
2005 Dec 8, The US Supreme Court
ruled that the government can seize part of a person’s monthly Social
Security benefit to pay off old student loans.
(SFC, 12/8/05, p.A5)
2005 Dec 8, US federal prosecutors
announced six arrests of eco-sabotage suspects following a 9-year
investigation in 4 arson cases in Oregon dating to 1998 and 2001 and a
toppled power line in Bend, Oregon in 1999.
(SFC, 12/9/05, p.A6)
2005 Dec 8, The US government
reported that life expectancy in the US had risen to 77.6 years.
Obesity and hypertension plagued the 55-64 cohort.
(WSJ, 12/8/05, p.A1)
2005 Dec 8, Project Homeless
Connect, a one-day homeless aid fair that began in SF a year ago, went
national with attention given to some 6,000 homeless in 21 US cities.
(SFC, 12/9/05, p.B3)
2005 Dec 8, In Chicago a Southwest
Airlines jet trying to land amid heavy snow plowed off a runway at
Midway airport and into a street, killing a 6-year-old boy in a car.
(AP, 12/09/05)
2005 Dec 8, Firestone, a
multinational rubber manufacturing giant known for its automobile
tires, has come under fire from human rights and environmental groups
for its alleged use of child labor and slave-like working conditions at
a plantation in Liberia.
(http://us.oneworld.net/article/view/123600/1/)
2005 Dec 8, The New England
Journal of Medicine reported that the bacterial infection Clostridium
difficile (D. diff) appeared to be spreading rapidly around the
country. Patients taking new heartburn drugs like Prilosec, Prevacid,
Pepcid and Zantac appeared to be more vulnerable to the bug.
(SFC, 12/31/05, p.A14)
2005 Dec 8, Scientists said as
wetlands disappear and shorelines are degraded, the Great Lakes are
losing their ability to cope with environmental stress and ward off a
catastrophic breakdown.
(CP, 12/08/05)
2005 Dec 8, Scientists published
the complete DNA sequence for dogs based on a boxer named Tasha. The
gene count was estimated at 19,300, most of which resemble human genes.
A preliminary sequence was announced in 2003.
(SFC, 12/8/05, p.A4)(WSJ, 12/8/05, p.A1)
2005 Dec 8, The Int’l. Committee
of the Red Cross decided to recognize Israel’s new “Red Crystal”
medical emblem alongside the Red Cross and Red Crescent symbols.
(SFC, 12/8/05, p.A1)
2005 Dec 8, In Afghanistan the
election board certified Pres. Karzai’s 34 appointees for the upper
house of parliament. The 1st meeting of parliament was scheduled for
Dec. 19.
(SFC, 12/9/05, p.A17)
2005 Dec 8, NATO foreign ministers
approved plans to send up to 6,000 troops into southern Afghanistan, a
major expansion of the alliance's peacekeeping mission into some of the
most dangerous parts of the country.
(AP, 12/08/05)
2005 Dec 8, In the first visit to
Australia by a Turkish leader, PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan criticized
military solutions to the so-called "war on terror", saying the US-led
invasion of Iraq had transformed the country into a training ground for
extremists.
(AFP, 12/08/05)
2005 Dec 8, In Netrokona,
Bangladesh, a suicide bomber on a bicycle rode into a crowd and
detonated his explosives, killing 7 other people and wounding dozens.
Police detained 8 suspects the next day.
(AP, 12/09/05)
2005 Dec 8, In Barbados leaders of
Caribbean nations held a summit to discuss health care cooperation and
cultural exchanges, but a major focus was on Cuba and its thorny
relationship with the United States.
(AP, 12/08/05)
2005 Dec 8, Britain's highest
court ruled that evidence obtained in other countries through torture
may not be used in British courts.
(AP, 12/08/05)
2005 Dec 8, After half a century,
London's red Routemaster buses rattled into retirement. Thousands of
fans said farewell to the hop-on, hop-off buses, this last full day of
regular service for the icon.
(AP, 12/08/05)
2005 Dec 8, Paul Wolfowitz, head
of the World Bank, issued a statement to Chad expressing serious
concerns about proposed changes to the use of petrodollars.
(SFC, 12/30/05, p.C2)
2005 Dec 8, China announced a
fifth human case of bird flu, a 31-year-old female farmer who fell ill
after contact with dead birds but has since recovered.
(AP, 12/08/05)
2005 Dec 8, Preliminary results in
Egypt's elections gave the leading opposition group, the Muslim
Brotherhood, a record 19% of the seats in parliament after a four-week
election that counted 11 fatalities.
(AP, 12/08/05)(Reuters, 12/08/05)
2005 Dec 8, An Ethiopian court
sentenced to death Major Melaku Tefera, one of Marxist dictator
Mengistu Haile Mariam's top soldiers, for genocide and abetting the
murder of 971 people during the country's 1977-78 "Red Terror" campaign.
(AP, 12/09/05)
2005 Dec 8, In Iraq a suicide
bomber who jumped on a bus after security checks had been completed
detonated an explosives belt among passengers heading to a Shiite city,
killing 32 people and wounding 44.
(AP, 12/08/05)
2005 Dec 8, An Iraqi insurgent
group said in an Internet posting that it killed a U.S. security
consultant it had taken hostage.
(AP, 12/08/05)
2005 Dec 8, In Iraq a US soldier
attached to a Marine unit died while on guard duty at a base near the
town of Fallujah.
(AP, 12/10/05)
2005 Dec 8, An Israeli airstrike
in the northern Gaza Strip killed two Palestinian militants and a
Palestinian stabbing attack killed an Israeli in the West Bank in a new
spasm of violence.
(AP, 12/08/05)
2005 Dec 8, It was reported that a
new Italian law required businesses, that offered Internet access to
the public, to ask clients for ID and to log the owner’s name a
document type.
(SFC, 12/8/05, p.C5)
2005 Dec 8, In Japan a typing
error caused Mizuho Securities Co. to lose at least 27 billion yen, or
$225 million, on a stock trade. The next day the government rebuked the
Tokyo Stock Exchange and Mizuho Securities, one of the country's
biggest brokerage firms.
(AP, 12/09/05)
2005 Dec 8, In northwestern
Pakistan an explosion ripped through two munitions shops in a bazaar in
a tribal town, killing at least 12 people and injuring more than 30.
(AP, 12/08/05)
2005 Dec 8, In Saudi Arabia
leaders from more than 50 Muslim countries promised to fight extremist
ideology, saying they would reform textbooks, restrict religious edicts
and crack down on terror financing.
(AP, 12/08/05)
2005 Dec 8, Police in Singapore
said they have arrested 13 foreigners, including an American, in an
anti-drug operation, less than a week after an Australian was put to
death for a narcotics conviction.
(AP, 12/09/05)
2005 Dec 8, In South Korea
international activists kicked off a conference on human rights abuses
in North Korea by calling for the overthrow of Kim Jong Il's regime and
accusing Pyongyang of enslaving its people.
(AP, 12/08/05)
2005 Dec 8, In northern Syria 8
Muslim militants died in a battle with security forces at a farmhouse.
(AP, 12/08/05)
2005 Dec 8, Ukraine said it had
detected the highly pathogenic type of bird flu that is dangerous to
humans, the strain known as H5N1. The September outbreak was located in
several villages in the Crimean peninsula where about 2,500 birds died
within hours.
(AP, 12/08/05)
2005 Dec 8, An erupting volcano on
the remote South Pacific island of Vanuatu burst into spectacular life
shooting steam and toxic gases 9,845 feet into the sky.
(AP, 12/08/05)
2005 Dec 9, President Bush,
addressing a political fundraiser in Minnesota, said the United States
would wage an unrelenting battle in Iraq to protect Americans at home.
(AP, 12/9/06)
2005 Dec 9, A US congressional
report said the federal government's medical response to Hurricane
Katrina was bungled by a lack of supplies and poor communication.
(AP, 12/9/06)
2005 Dec 9, Former US Pres.
Clinton called Bush’s global warming stance “flat wrong” while speaking
at the climate conference in Montreal.
(WSJ, 12/10/05, p.A1)
2005 Dec 9, The US film “The Lion,
the Witch and the Wardrobe,” produced by Philip Anschutz, was released.
It was a adapted from a book by C.S. Lewis that was an allegory of
Christ’s crucifixion. Anschutz made his 1st fortune drilling for oil
and later built the Qwest telecom company.
(Econ, 11/26/05, p.82)
2005 Dec 9, Viacom closed a deal
to pay $1.6 billion to acquire DreamWorksSKG, a Hollywood studio
founded by Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen.
(SFC, 12/10/05, p.C1)
2005 Dec 9, Afghanistan welcomed
NATO's decision to expand its peacekeeping mission, saying it would
boost security, while the Taliban said more alliance troops would only
increase opportunities for guerrillas to attack them.
(AP, 12/09/05)
2005 Dec 9-2005 Dec 10, In
southern Afghanistan Taliban fighters attacked two police posts, with
eight policemen and six attackers killed in the ensuing battles.
(AFP, 12/10/05)
2005 Dec 9, Police in Bangladesh
hunting for Islamist suicide bombers seized explosives and detained 30
militants.
(Reuters, 12/10/05)
2005 Dec 9-2005 Dec 11, Fidel
Ramos, former president of the Philippines, and Michael Camdessus,
former managing IMF director, chaired the 1st annual meeting of the
Emerging Markets Forum at Templeton College, Oxford, England.
(Econ, 12/17/05, p.76)
2005 Dec 9, In Beijing, China, the
US ambassador for fighting international slavery said that many North
Korean refugees who flee to China every year end up as sex slaves and
China often sends them back for punishment.
(AP, 12/09/05)
2005 Dec 9, Haiti's interim
government said it has removed five of the 10 judges from the Supreme
Court, another move in a tense power struggle ahead of next month's
national elections.
(AP, 12/9/05)
2005 Dec 9, In Iraq the American
military arrested Amir Khalaf Fanus, also known in the Ramadi area as
"the Butcher." Fanus, a high-ranking member of al-Qaida in Iraq, was
wanted for criminal activities including murder and kidnapping. A US
soldier was killed and 11 others wounded in a suicide bombing in
western Baghdad.
(AP, 12/9/05)(SSFC, 12/11/05, p.A6)
2005 Dec 9, In Ireland more than
10,000 labor union members protested in Dublin and other cities over
shipping company Irish Ferries' plan to replace its workers with
Latvians making $4.25 an hour, half the local minimum wage. It was the
country's most bitter industrial showdown in decades.
(AP, 12/09/05)(WSJ, 12/10/05, p.A1)
2005 Dec 9, Israel rounded up 19
Islamic militants in the West Bank and pounded the Gaza Strip with
artillery fire, pressing forward with a crackdown in the wake of a
suicide bombing at a shopping mall this week.
(AP, 12/09/05)
2005 Dec 9, Kenya swore in a new
Cabinet whose difficult formation reflected increasing questions about
the president's political strength.
(AP, 12/09/05)
2005 Dec 9, In Nigeria Diepreye
Alamieyeseigha, the governor of the oil-rich state of Bayelsa who
skipped bail in Britain to escape trial there for money-laundering, was
arrested by 200 armed policemen, after lawmakers removed his immunity
from prosecution.
(AFP, 12/09/05)
2005 Dec 9, In Nigeria police
broke down the gate of a huge housing complex to oust thousands of
civil servants and their families in the third mass eviction by the
government this week in the commercial capital of Lagos. The move
followed a decision by the government to sell off several publicly
owned housing blocks for civil servants in a privatization scheme.
Authorities have not provided the estimated 8,000 residents with other
accommodation.
(AP, 12/09/05)
2005 Dec 9, Marc Garlasco, a Human
Rights Watch investigator, said Poland served as the CIA's main center
to detain terrorist suspects in Europe at clandestine prisons.
(AP, 12/09/05)
2005 Dec 9, President Vladimir
Putin signaled he would scrap some of the harshest provisions of a
much-criticized bill that would severely restrict the work of
foreign-funded non-governmental organizations in Russia.
(AP, 12/09/05)
2005 Dec 9, Russia's parliament
gave final approval to legislation allowing direct foreign ownership of
shares in Gazprom, the world's largest natural gas producer.
(AP, 12/09/05)
2005 Dec 9, Spanish police
arrested at least 7 people over the last 24 hours suspected of
financing and giving logistical support to an Islamic extremist group
with links to al-Qaida.
(AP, 12/09/05)
2005 Dec 10, Southern California
running back Reggie Bush won the Heisman Trophy.
(AP, 12/10/06)
2005 Dec 10, In NYC police officer
Daniel Enchautegui (28) was shot a killed when he interrupted a
burglary in progress while off duty. 2 suspects were arrested. Steven
Armento (48), a convicted burglar, and Lillo Brancato Jr. (29), an
actor who appeared in episodes of "The Sopranos" and in films including
"A Bronx Tale," were shot by the officer and were in stable condition
yesterday in the critical care unit of Jacobi Medical Center. Armento
was convicted of first degree murder in 2008 and sentenced to life in
prison. On Jan 9, 2009, Brancato was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
(SFC, 12/12/05, p.A3)(SFC, 1/10/09, p.E4)
2005 Dec 10, Anna Elizabeth Vuori
(90) was found murdered and sexually assaulted at her home in
Lafayette, Ca. DNA samples led police to arrest Richard Craig McNew
(32), a traveling salesman from Missouri with a criminal record dating
back to 1993. In late 2008 McNew pleaded guilty charges of rape, murder
and robbery.
(SFC, 1/11/06, p.B3)(SFC, 1/1/09, p.B3)
2005 Dec 10, Former US Sen. Eugene
McCarthy (b.1916), D-Minn., died at age 89 at his home in Georgetown,
DC.
(AP, 12/10/05)(Econ, 12/17/05, p.85)
2005 Dec 10, Richard Pryor
(b.1940), American black comedian and actor, died. His films included
"Stir Crazy," "Silver Streak," "Which Way Is Up?" and "Richard Pryor
Live on the Sunset Strip."
(AP, 12/11/05)
2005 Dec 10, In Brazil Rayfran das
Neves Sales and Clodoaldo Carlos Batista were convicted of killing
Dorothy Stang, an American nun. Stang had spent decades trying to save
the Amazon rain forest. Prosecutor Esdon Cardoso said the case would
only be resolved when three other men accused in the killing are
convicted, including two ranchers accused of ordering the killing. A
third man has been charged with acting as a go-between for the gunmen
and the ranchers. The three are expected to face trial some time next
year.
(AP, 12/10/05)
2005 Dec 10, In Canada more than
150 nations agreed to launch formal talks on mandatory post-2012
reductions in greenhouse gases, talks that will exclude an unwilling
US.
(AP, 12/10/05)(Econ, 12/17/05, p.77)
2005 Dec 10, China’s Ministry of
Railways signed an agreement to let an American subsidiary of
Shanghai-based TZG Partners operate a luxury train service that will
cross the Tibetan plateau. Custom carriages will need oxygen levels
adjusted for the high altitude.
(WSJ, 12/12/05, p.A17)
2005 Dec 10, In Dongzhou, China,
residents of the southern village near Hong Kong described a tense
standoff in the area with thousands of armed troops patrolling the
perimeter and blocking anyone from leaving. Frightened villagers said
they were either hunkering down at home or arguing with police, who are
refusing to return the dead to their families. Police had opened fire
on demonstrators there on Dec 6.
(AP, 12/10/05)
2005 Dec 10, China and Portugal
vowed to boost their economic cooperation in resource-rich former
Portuguese colonies in Africa as the premiers of the two nations
attended a business conference in Lisbon.
(AFP, 12/10/05)
2005 Dec 10, Egypt's justice
minister announced that just 26% of registered voters cast ballots in
the month-long parliamentary elections that ended this week. The low
turnout reflected both voter apathy and fear of violence. The ruling
party won 71% of the seats.
(AP, 12/10/05)
2005 Dec 10, The Petit Palais, a
long forgotten gem among Paris museums, reopened after an $84 million
renovation that has restored the full splendor of a structure
originally built for the 1900 World's Fair.
(AP, 12/08/05)
2005 Dec 10-2005 Dec 11, Hundreds
of French youths smashed shop windows, ignited trash cans and pelted
police with bottles through the night to protest against a ban on a
rave party they planned in the western city of Rennes.
(Reuters, 12/11/05)
2005 Dec 10, In, Georgetown,
Guyana, the body of Hubert Daniel Thompson (55), an American consultant
for the US government's overseas aid agency, was found in his hotel
room. Police said they suspect homicide.
(AP, 12/12/05)
2005 Dec 10, Miss Iceland, Unnur
Birna Vilhjalmsdottir (21), an anthropology and law student and
part-time policewoman, was crowned Miss World on the southern Chinese
resort island of Hainan.
(Reuters, 12/10/05)
2005 Dec 10, Iran's top nuclear
official said that his country will enrich uranium and produce nuclear
fuel despite the U.S.-led international campaign to persuade it to
abandon such ambitions.
(AP, 12/10/05)
2005 Dec 10, In Iraq 4 American
soldiers were killed in separate attacks in the Baghdad area, the day
kidnappers of four Christian peace activists set as a deadline for
killing the hostages unless US and Iraqi authorities released all
prisoners. North of Tikrit Egyptian engineer Mohammed Ibrahim al-Hilali
(46) found dead after being snatched by gunmen a day earlier. One Iraqi
soldier was killed and nine wounded in a bomb attack targeting an army
patrol in the Sunni Arab town of Balad. In Mosul 2 civilians were
killed and one wounded when a car bomb exploded as a US convoy rolled
past.
(AFP, 12/10/05)
2005 Dec 10, In Malaysia
Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer signed the Treaty of Amity
and Cooperation in Southeast Asia, which calls for signatories not to
interfere in each other's internal affairs. The treaty was born within
the 10-member ASEAN, which made signing the pact a condition for entry
into next week's inaugural East Asian summit.
(AP, 12/10/05)
2005 Dec 10, Mexican police raided
a house outside Mexico City, capturing two alleged kidnappers and
rescuing three people, including an 8-year-old girl, who had been held
for more than two months. Police detained Israel Vallarta, a Mexican,
and Marie Louise Cassez Florence, a Frenchwoman. The two belong to a
gang called "The Zodiac," tied to at least 10 kidnappings and one
murder. Florence Cassez was later sentenced to 60 years in prison for 3
kidnappings.
(AP, 12/10/05)(AP, 3/10/09)
2005 Dec 10, Nigeria’s Sosoliso
Airlines Flight 1145 carrying 110 passengers crashed while landing
during a storm in the southern city of Port Harcourt. Some 107 people
were killed including 71 children. The runway lights were off because
the airport had not bought a generator.
(AP, 12/10/05)(AFP, 12/12/05)(WSJ, 10/1/07, p.A1)
2005 Dec 10, In Norway Chief UN
nuclear inspector Mohamed ElBaradei accepted the 2005 Nobel Peace
Prize, sharing the award with his International Atomic Energy Agency
for efforts to control the spread of nuclear weapons. The other Nobel
Prizes were awarded in Sweden.
(AP, 12/10/05)
2005 Dec 10, Poland's PM
Marcinkiewicz said that he has ordered a probe of allegations that the
CIA ran secret prisons for terror suspects on Polish territory.
(AP, 12/10/05)
2005 Dec 10, In Russia a 24-hour,
English-language, state-funded television channel went live from its
Moscow studios, designed to broadcast news from a Russian perspective
around the globe.
(AP, 12/10/05)
2005 Dec 10, Zimbabwe's President
Robert Mugabe conceded that shortcomings in his land redistribution
program contributed to critical food shortages as his party wrapped up
its annual conference.
(AP, 12/11/05)
2005 Dec 10, Zimbabwe's ruling
party recommended a crackdown on Western-sponsored groups hostile to
President Robert Mugabe and asked security forces to make a list of
people whose passports should be seized.
(Reuters, 12/11/05)
2005 Dec 11, Paramount Pictures
announced it was buying independent film studio DreamWorks SKG Inc.
(AP, 12/11/06)
2005 Dec 11, In Afghanistan a
suicide bomber set off explosives near a US and Afghan military convoy
in the southern city of Kandahar, killing himself and wounding three
civilians.
(AP, 12/11/05)
2005 Dec 11, In Australia racial
tension erupted into violence on a Sydney beach when around 5,000
people, some yelling racist chants, attacked youths of a Middle Eastern
background. White youths were angered by reports that youths of
Lebanese descent had assaulted two lifeguards. Young men of Arab
descent retaliated in several Sydney suburbs, fighting with police and
smashing cars.
(AP, 12/11/05)(AP, 12/11/06)
2005 Dec 11, Bangladesh President
Iazuddin Ahmed approved an ordinance that allows law enforcers to tap
telephones, a measure set to aid the fight against Islamic militants.
(AFP, 12/12/05)
2005 Dec 11, In Britain a huge
inferno followed explosions at the Buncefield oil depot. 43 people were
injured. In 2009 a court said French oil giant Total must pay bills
valued at more than 750 million pounds for people whose homes and
businesses were damaged in the fire.
(http://tinyurl.com/chwzwb)(AFP, 3/20/09)
2005 Dec 11, In Chile Michelle
Bachelet easily defeated two feuding right-wing candidates with 46
percent of the vote, but fell shy of the 50 percent needed for victory.
(AP, 12/12/05)
2005 Dec 11, China’s government
said the commander of forces that shot and killed people protesting
land seizures in a southern village has been detained, as police in
riot gear patrolled the community and appealed for order.
(AP, 12/11/05)
2005 Dec 11, About 4,000
anti-globalization activists some carrying a giant spider and others
wheeling statues of emaciated people marched in the first mass protest
against the World Trade Organization's summit in Hong Kong.
(AP, 12/11/05)
2005 Dec 11, Iran's parliament
approved Kazem Vaziri Mahaneh, who has been acting minister for the
past three months, the 4th nominee for the key post of oil minister.
(AP, 12/11/05)
2005 Dec 11, Iran offered the
United States a share in building a new nuclear power plant in an
apparent effort to curb U.S. opposition to its atomic program.
(AP, 12/11/05)
2005 Dec 11, Japanese peace envoy
Yasushi Akashi invited Sri Lanka and Tamil Tiger rebels to meet in
Japan for talks to save their ceasefire, which is threatened with
collapse after 34 people were killed in fresh violence.
(AP, 12/11/05)
2005 Dec 11, In eastern Pakistan a
firecracker thrown by a celebrant at a wedding set fire to a bus filled
with guests, killing at least 40 people.
(AP, 12/11/05)
2005 Dec 11, In South Korea the
government ordered striking pilots at Korean Air back to work on the
4th day of a walkout.
(WSJ, 12/12/05, p.A17)
2005 Dec 12, Pres. Bush for the
1st time put a number on the death toll of Iraqi civilians saying some
$30,000 had died since the start of the war with US troops looses at
about 2,140.
(SFC, 12/13/05, p.A10)
2005 Dec 12, Donald Keyser, a US
State Department official, pleaded guilty to removing top secret
government documents while conducting a "personal relationship" with a
Taiwanese spy, Isabelle Cheng, from 1992-2004.
(Reuters, 12/12/05)
2005 Dec 12, US federal agents
raided 13 San Diego-area marijuana dispensaries.
(SFC, 12/14/05, p.B3)
2005 Dec 12, California Gov.
Arnold Schwarzenegger refused to block the imminent execution of
Stanley Tookie Williams, rejecting the notion that the founder of the
murderous Crips gang had atoned for his crimes and found redemption on
death row.
(AP, 12/12/06)
2005 Dec 12, ConocoPhilips, the
3rd biggest US oil company, said it will acquire Burlington Resources
in a deal worth $35.6 billion.
(SFC, 12/13/05, p.D2)
2005 Dec 12, PepsiCo overtook
Coca-Cola in market capitalization for the 1st time.
(Econ, 12/17/05, p.61)
2005 Dec 12, Young people riding
in vehicles smashed cars and store windows in suburban Sydney, a day
after thousands of drunken white youths attacked people they believed
were of Arab descent at a beach in the same area in one of Australia's
worst outbursts of racial violence. About 50 cars had swept into the
area, disgorging men of Middle Eastern appearance who began trashing
every car in sight with baseball bats.
(AFP, 12/12/05)
2005 Dec 12, The Organization for
Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) said China surpassed the
US as the world's top exporter of laptop computers, mobile phones and
other information and communications technology devices in 2004.
(AP, 12/12/05)
2005 Dec 12, About 2,000
right-wing paramilitary fighters (AUC), including a warlord considered
a major drug trafficker by the US, turned in weapons and helicopter
gunships in one of Colombia's largest disarmament ceremonies in years.
(AP, 12/12/05)
2005 Dec 12, French
counterterrorism agents, some heavily armed and wearing black hoods,
raided homes and Internet cafes in a sweep against a suspected Islamic
network, arresting more than 20 suspects.
(AP, 12/12/05)
2005 Dec 12, In Haiti protesters
angry over the treatment of Haitian migrants in neighboring Dominican
Republic clashed with police during a visit by the Dominican president,
and at least three people were wounded by gunshots.
(AP, 12/12/05)
2005 Dec 12, Trade ministers
gathered in Hong Kong to work on a deal to open markets and boost the
global economy, with the EU quickly under fire for its refusal to cut
farm subsidies further.
(AP, 12/12/05)
2005 Dec 12, In Iraq patients,
soldiers and prisoners began voting in parliamentary elections, a few
days ahead of the general population, while insurgent violence killed
at least 12 people and wounded more than two dozen.
(AP, 12/12/05)
2005 Dec 12, Japan gave the final
go-ahead to resume imports of some US beef after a two-year ban due to
fears of mad cow disease, averting a potential trade war between the
close political allies.
(AFP, 12/12/05)
2005 Dec 12, In Kashmir Indian
troops shot dead three Islamic militants, while suspected rebels shot
dead a shopkeeper in revolt-hit Kashmir.
(AFP, 12/12/05)
2005 Dec 12, In Lebanon Gibran
Tueni (48), general manager and chief columnist of the An-Nahar
newspaper, died when a car bomb struck his motorcade in Beirut's suburb
of Mkalles. The bombing killed two other people and wounded 30 more.
Tueni was killed a day after returning from France, where he had been
staying periodically for fear of assassination.
(AP, 12/13/05)
2005 Dec 12, Swedish
home-appliance maker AB Electrolux said it will close its plant in
Nuremberg, Germany, by the end of 2007, transferring production to
Poland and Italy and eliminating 1,750 jobs.
(AP, 12/12/05)
2005 Dec 12, The president of
Turkmenistan ordered construction of a university to be named after his
book "Rukhnama," which is held as a sacred text in this ex-Soviet
republic.
(AP, 12/13/05)
2005 Dec 13, American Red Cross
President Marsha Evans announced her resignation.
(AP, 12/13/06)
2005 Dec 13, A US Navy helicopter
with 3 crew members crashed somewhere off the coast of Colombia.
(AP, 12/13/05)
2005 Dec 13, It was reported that
scientists had injected human stem cells into the brains of 2-week-old
mouse embryos and that the cells had taken on the traits of their
neighbors.
(SFC, 12/13/05, p.A1)
2005 Dec 13, Stanley Tookie
Williams maintained his innocence right up until his death, even when
an admission of guilt may have spared him execution. California's
execution of Stanley Tookie Williams outraged many in Europe who regard
the practice as barbaric, and politicians in Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger's native Austria called for his name to be removed from
a sports stadium in his hometown.
(AP, 12/13/05)
2005 Dec 13, General Motors Corp.
said it plans to nearly triple the number of cars it produces in India
to meet growing demand.
(AP, 12/13/05)
2005 Dec 13, In Bangladesh
security forces arrested the suspected military commander and the
alleged accountant of a banned Islamic group blamed for a wave of
deadly bombings.
(AP, 12/14/05)
2005 Dec 13, Brazil’s finance
ministry said it would make a full repayment of its $15.5 billion IMF
debt over the next 2 years.
(Econ, 12/24/05, p.49)
2005 Dec 13, Virgin Galactic, the
British company created by entrepreneur Richard Branson to send
tourists into space, and New Mexico announced an agreement for the
state to build a $225 million spaceport.
(AP, 12/13/05)
2005 Dec 13, In Australia a jury
convicted Bradley John Murdoch (47), a mechanic, in the July 14, 2001,
Outback death of British backpacker Peter Falconio (28). He also was
convicted of assaulting and abducting Falconio's girlfriend, Joanne
Lees. Murdoch was given a mandatory life sentence by Northern Territory
Supreme Court Justice Brian Martin.
(AP, 12/13/05)
2005 Dec 13, Britain's Vodafone
Group PLC offered the highest bid, $4.55 billion, in an auction to buy
Telsim, Turkey's 2nd-largest cell-phone company, from the Turkish
government.
(AP, 12/13/05)
2005 Dec 13, DB Real Estate, a
subsidiary of Deutsche Bank, closed grundbesitz-invest, a €6.2 billion
property fund, for a revaluation. It was the 1st closure in the 40-year
history of the open-ended property funds.
(Econ, 1/21/06, p.73)
2005 Dec 13, A 6-day ministerial
meeting of the WTO opened in Hong Kong.
(Econ, 12/24/05, p.97)
2005 Dec 13, Senior Health
Ministry officials said Indonesia confirmed its ninth human death from
bird flu, taking the global death toll from the disease to 71, all in
Asia.
(Reuters, 12/13/05)
2005 Dec 13, Iraqis living abroad
began voting in the country's parliamentary elections. Gunmen killed a
Sunni Arab candidate for parliament and militants tried to blow up a
leading Shiite politician in separate attacks, the last day of
campaigning for Iraq's election.
(AP, 12/13/05)(AP, 12/13/06)
2005 Dec 13, The authorities in
Kazakhstan, angered by a British comedian's satirical portrayal of a
boorish, sexist and racist Kazakh television reporter, confirmed that
they have pulled the plug on his alter ego's Web site. Sacha Baron
Cohen plays Borat in his "Da Ali G Show" and last month he used the
character's Web site www.borat.kz to respond sarcastically to legal
threats from the Central Asian state's Foreign Ministry.
(AP, 12/13/05)
2005 Dec 13, Masked Palestinian
security forces have arrested dozens of Islamic Jihad activists in a
series of overnight raids across the West Bank in recent days. However,
the raids netted only low-level operatives, and some suspect the goal
is to appease the United States and Israel rather than crush the
militant group.
(AP, 12/13/05)
2005 Dec 13, A UN tribunal
convicted former Lt. Col. Aloys Simba, a retired Rwandan army officer,
of genocide and sentenced him to 25 years in prison for participating
in the slaughter of ethnic minority Tutsi.
(AP, 12/13/05)
2005 Dec 14, President Bush
defended his decision to wage the Iraq war, even as he acknowledged
that "much of the intelligence turned out to be wrong." The House voted
251-174 to renew the USA Patriot Act.
(AP, 12/14/06)
2005 Dec 14, The US Federal
Reserve raised its benchmark interest rate for the 13th time a quarter
point to 4.25%. it also indicated that it was close to ending the
18-month long increases.
(SFC, 12/14/05, p.C1)
2005 Dec 14, The US deported
Junior Vinicio Abadio Carrillo (32), the son of Guatemala's former tax
chief, to face charges of embezzling millions of public dollars.
(AP, 12/15/05)
2005 Dec 14, A US government
watchdog group warned that Congress must enact a national system for
recycling used electronic devices or the problem of e-waste will pose
serious environmental risks.
(SFC, 12/14/05, p.A3)
2005 Dec 14, DuPont Co. said it
has agreed to pay $10.25 million in fines and $6.25 million for
environmental projects to settle allegations by the Environmental
Protection Agency that the company hid information about the dangers of
a toxic chemical used to make the non-stick coating Teflon.
(AP, 12/14/05)
2005 Dec 14, The Walt Disney Co.
announced its first film production in China, adding to its efforts to
break into the booming Chinese entertainment market.
(AP, 12/14/05)
2005 Dec 14, It was reported that
Volkswagen AG was getting ready for the 2006 US launch of its $1
million Bugatti Veyron, a 2-seater with 1,001 horsepower.
(WSJ, 12/14/05, p.D1)
2005 Dec 14, In Boston 4 men were
shot and killed in the basement of a home on Bourneside Street that was
set up as a music studio. The killings pushed Boston homicides for the
year to 71, the highest in a decade.
(SFC, 12/15/05, p.A6)
2005 Dec 14, Eliot Freidson (82),
pioneer investigator of professions, died in SF. His 12 books included
the landmark “Profession of Medicine” (1970).
(SFC, 12/27/05, p.B4)
2005 Dec 14, In Mississippi John
B. Nixon, Sr. (b.1928) was executed for the 1985 murder of Virginia
Tucker. At 77 years old, he was the oldest person executed since 1976
and, according to the Espy File the oldest person executed since Joe
Lee in Virginia at the age of 83 on April 21, 1916.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_B._Nixon,_Sr.)
2005 Dec 14, In northern
Afghanistan a suicide bomber blew himself up near Mazar-e-Sharif, the
capital of Balkh province. In Faizabad a donkey carrying a land mine
exploded near a foreign aid agency's car.
(AP, 12/14/05)
2005 Dec 14, Belarusian lawmakers
passed legislation that would crack down on Internet dating and online
spouse searches in the latest in a series of stringent government
controls backed by authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko.
(AP, 12/14/05)
2005 Dec 14, In London 4 youths
were convicted of manslaughter for beating to death a man who had
survived the fatal nail-bombing of a British gay pub six years ago.
Barman David Morley (37) was beaten to death by a gang of youths in
central London in October 2004.
(AP, 12/15/05)
2005 Dec 14, Ancient tools found
in Britain show that humans lived in northern Europe 200,000 years
earlier than previously thought, at a time when the climate was warm
enough for lions, elephants and saber tooth tigers to also roam what is
now England.
(AP, 12/14/05)
2005 Dec 14, Rodney Whitaker
(b.1931), popular writer aka Trevanian, died in the West Country of
England. His thrillers included “The Eiger Sanction” (1972), which was
made into a film with Clint Eastwood in 1975. He used at least 5
pseudonyms for his books on various subjects. These included Nicholas
Seare, Benat LeCagot and Edoard Moran.
(SFC, 12/17/05, p.B4)
2005 Dec 14, In Canada at least
one shot fired through a door at police responding to a routine call in
Laval, Quebec, left Valerie Gignac, a 25-year-old woman officer, dead
and led to an eight-hour armed standoff that ended with the arrest of a
paroled convict.
(CP, 12/14/05)
2005 Dec 14, Colombian President
Alvaro Uribe accepted an EU plan to pull troops from rebel territories
to revive peace talks.
(WSJ, 12/15/05, p.A1)
2005 Dec 14, The UN Security
Council agreed to Eritrea's demand to withdraw Americans, Canadians and
Europeans from the peacekeeping mission that monitors the tense border
with Ethiopia.
(AP, 12/14/05)
2005 Dec 14, The French government
said Eiffag SA, Vinci SA and Spain’s Abertis Infraestructuras SA will
buy its stakes in 3 toll-road companies raising $17.7 billion to help
cut France’s national debt.
(WSJ, 12/15/05, p.A16)
2005 &