Timeline 2006 October-December
Return to home
2006 Oct 1, Tiger
Woods won the American Express Championship in Chandler's Cross,
England. It was his eighth victory of the year, making him the first
player in PGA Tour history to win at least eight times in three seasons.
(AP, 10/1/07)
2006 Oct 1, In Afghanistan 5
people were killed in various Taliban attacks and bomb blasts.
(AP, 10/2/06)
2006 Oct 1, Austrians began voting
in national elections that could swing the republic back to the
political center after more than six years of influence by the extreme
right. Without absentee ballots, the Social Democrats won 35.7%, giving
it the largest proportion of parliamentary seats. The People's Party,
led by Chancellor Wolfgang Schussel, came in second with 34.2%,
followed by the Freedom Party, which campaigned on an anti-foreigner
platform, with 11.2%. The Greens came in fourth with 10.5%.
(AP, 10/1/06)(AP, 10/2/06)(Econ, 10/7/06, p.60)
2006 Oct 1, Bosnians voted in
historic general elections that will choose the first government to run
the country without international supervision since the end of the
1992-1995 war.
(AFP, 10/1/06)
2006 Oct 1, Brazil held elections.
Brazil voted for president, the lower house of Congress, a third of the
Senate and all state governors and legislatures. Voter outrage over
alleged corruption and dirty tricks left Pres. Silva facing a tough
runoff for a 2nd term after Geraldo Alckmin, his main rival, staged a
surprise comeback. Silva got 48.6% compared to 41.6% for Alckmin, the
former governor of Sao Paulo state. Silva had seemed assured of a
first-round victory until two weeks ago when Worker Party operatives
were caught allegedly trying to pay $770,000 in cash for information to
incriminate Alckmin's Social Democracy Party. The target of the alleged
smear campaign was Jose Serra, an Alckmin ally who won the race to
become Sao Paulo state's next governor, handily beating the Workers'
Party candidate. Electoral officials said former President Fernando
Collor de Mello, forced from office in a corruption scandal in 1992 and
barred from politics for eight years, has won a seat in Brazil's Senate.
(AP, 10/2/06)(AP, 10/3/06)(Econ, 9/30/06, p.31)(AP,
10/1/07)
2006 Oct 1, In Britain sweeping
age-discrimination laws went into effect.
(Econ, 9/30/06, p.66)
2006 Oct 1, China began its
week-long national day holiday, with rail stations and airports packed
and roads gridlocked around Tiananmen Square and at other major tourist
sites throughout the nation. In the southwestern city of Chongqing a
bus careened off a bridge and plunged nearly 100 feet into a river,
killing 30 people.
(AP, 10/1/06)
2006 Oct 1, India said it will
give Islamabad evidence that Pakistan's spy agency planned the Mumbai
train bombings in July which killed more than 200 people.
(AP, 10/1/06)
2006 Oct 1, In Iraq violence
killed at least 17 people in Baghdad and elsewhere including a woman
and a girl who died in a crossfire during a joint US-Iraqi raid on a
suspected militia member's home. Insurgents fired mortar rounds at
British targets at the Shat Al-Arab hotel in Basra. One landed on a
nearby home, killing a 7-year-old boy and his 3-year-old sister and
wounding a third child. Gunmen kidnapped 26 workers from a refrigerated
food factory in western Baghdad in what appeared to be a new sectarian
attack. The kidnapped workers included Shiites and Sunnis, and they
included 3 women. 7 bodies found in the predominantly Sunni
neighborhood of Dora were identified as victims of the food factory
kidnapping, but the whereabouts of the others were unknown. The
headless bodies of seven people, apparently the victims of sectarian
death squads, were found in Suwayrah, 25 miles south of Baghdad. A US
soldier died when his vehicle was struck by a roadside bomb west of
Baghdad.
(AP, 10/1/06)(AP, 10/2/06)(AP, 10/3/06)
2006 Oct 1, The Israeli army
abandoned positions in Lebanon, withdrawing the last of its troops from
its neighbor and fulfilling a key condition of the Aug. 14 cease-fire
that ended a monthlong war against Hezbollah.
(AP, 10/1/06)
2006 Oct 1, Pakistani police
arrested six Afghan Taliban fighters at a private hospital in
Pakistan's southwestern city of Quetta.
(AP, 10/1/06)
2006 Oct 1, Palestinian militiamen
from the ruling Hamas opened fire on government workers protesting
their unpaid salaries, touching off gunbattles with security forces
loyal to President Mahmoud Abbas. Seven people were killed in the
violence.
(AP, 10/1/06)
2006 Oct 1, A reformist party
pulled out of Serbia's ruling coalition because of the government's
failure to capture war crimes suspect Gen. Ratko Mladic, which led to
the suspension of talks on joining the European Union.
(AP, 10/1/06)
2006 Oct 1, In Thailand retired
army commander Gen. Surayud Chulanont (b.1943) was sworn as interim
prime minister following the announcement of a temporary constitution
that reserved considerable powers for the military coup makers.
(AP, 10/1/06)(WSJ, 10/2/06, p.A7)
2006 Oct 1, Typhoon Xangsane was
downgraded to a tropical storm as it moved inland from the central
Vietnam coast. At least 59 people were killed and thousands of homes
damaged. Damage was later estimated at $625 million.
(Reuters, 10/1/06)(AP, 10/3/06)
2006 Oct 1, Yemeni anti-terrorism
forces killed Fawaz Yahya al-Rabeie, a suspected al-Qaida member, who
was convicted of an attack on a French oil tanker and escaped from
prison earlier this year. The forces also killed another suspected
al-Qaida member, Mohammed al-Dailami, and arrested two other suspects.
(AP, 10/1/06)
2006 Oct 1, In Zambia rioting
erupted in Lusaka after President Levy Mwanawasa surged ahead in
presidential polls and his principal rival slipped into third place.
(AP, 10/1/06)
2006 Oct 2, Bob Woodward’s new
book “State of Denial: Bush at War. Part III,” was published.
(SFC, 9/30/06, p.A1)
2006 Oct 2, In Nickel Mines,
Pennsylvania, Charles Carl Roberts IV (32), a local truck driver, lined
at least 11 girls against a blackboard and shot them in the head at a
one-room Amish schoolhouse in Lancaster County. He shot himself as
police stormed the schoolhouse. Two young students were killed, along
with a female teacher's aide who was slightly older than the students.
Seven others, most shot at point-blank range, were taken to hospitals,
and two of them died early the next day.
(AP, 10/3/06)(SFC, 10/3/06, p.A1)(Econ, 10/7/06,
p.38)
2006 Oct 2, Americans Andrew Z.
Fire and Craig C. Mello won the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine
for discovering a powerful way to turn off the effect of specific
genes, opening a new avenue for disease treatment.
(AP, 10/2/06)
2006 Oct 2, Morgan Stanley said it
has acquired China's Nan Tung Bank, a deal that would give the Wall
Street giant a coveted onshore commercial banking license in China
ahead of U.S. investment bank rivals.
(AP, 10/2/06)
2006 Oct 2, Actress Tamara Dobson
(59) died in Baltimore, Md.
(AP, 10/2/07)
2006 Oct 2, In Afghanistan 9
people were killed in various Taliban attacks and bomb blasts. They
included four Afghan soldiers killed when their vehicle struck a bomb
in Paktia province and five civilians killed in a bomb blast in Musa
Qala in Helmand province in the south. Two gunbattles in eastern
Afghanistan killed four Afghan and two US troops. NATO prepared to
assume military command of all of the country from the US-led coalition.
(AP, 10/2/06)(AP, 10/3/06)
2006 Oct 2, Preliminary results
indicated that Bosnians elected new leaders, Milorad Dodik and Haris
Silajdzic, split along ethnic lines over whether to further unify the
country in a push toward European Union membership or allow Serbs to
maintain their political distinctness.
(AP, 10/2/06)(Econ, 6/30/07, p.60)
2006 Oct 2, Georgia released four
Russian officers whose arrest on spying charges prompted Moscow to
announce sweeping travel and communications sanctions in the worst
bilateral crisis in years.
(AP, 10/2/06)
2006 Oct 2, Indian PM Manmohan
Singh and South African President Thabo Mbeki signed a sweeping pact to
buttress ties between the regional powerhouses. The Pretoria agreement
was followed by the signing of a pact on cooperation in education and
another between Indian Railways which runs one of the world's biggest
networks and South African railway company Spoornet.
(AP, 10/2/06)
2006 Oct 2, Smoke and ash from
land-clearing fires in Indonesia blanketed a large swath of the
country's west, sending air quality levels plummeting there and in
neighboring Singapore and Malaysia.
(AP, 10/2/06)
2006 Oct 2, Iraq’s Parliament
extended the state of emergency as gunmen seized 14 employees from
computer stores in downtown Baghdad in the second mass kidnapping in as
many days. A police patrol was ambushed in southern Iraq by gunmen who
killed two officers and injured three. At least 50 corpses were
discovered scattered around Baghdad overnight. 4 US soldiers were
killed in Baghdad in separate small-arms fire attacks. Another four
were killed in a roadside bomb attack on their patrol northwest of
Baghdad.
(AP, 10/2/06)(AP, 10/3/06)
2006 Oct 2, Italian police said
they had smashed an Algerian Islamic fundamentalist cell that gave
logistical support to suspected militants in Algeria.
(Reuters, 10/2/06)
2006 Oct 2, Nicaragua lobbied for
support for an $18 billion canal linking the Pacific and Atlantic,
saying a second international waterway is needed to handle the world's
booming shipping business.
(AP, 10/3/06)
2006 Oct 2, Dozens of militants
abducted 25 Nigerian oil workers in an attack on their convoy in the
southern delta region. 5 soldiers were killed and 9 left missing when
militants sank two boats used to guard a Shell convoy.
(AP, 10/3/06)(WSJ, 10/3/06, p.A1)
2006 Oct 2, In the Gaza town of
Rafah gunbattles between Fatah and Hamas left 2 people dead and 14
wounded.
(SFC, 10/3/06, p.A3)
2006 Oct 2, Foreign Minster Ruben
Ramirez said that Paraguay and Washington would not renew a
defense-cooperation agreement for 2007 over the South American
country's refusal to grant US troops inside Paraguay immunity from
prosecution by the International Criminal Court.
(AP, 10/3/06)
2006 Oct 2, Vladimir Kramnik of
Russia and Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria played to a draw in Game 6 of
the world chess championship after Kramnik agreed to resume competition
after a dispute over bathroom breaks threatened to halt the tournament.
(AP, 10/3/06)
2006 Oct 2, Turkey’s PM Recep
Tayyip Erdogan began his latest push to keep EU membership hopes on
track with a visit to Washington, where he received a key endorsement
from the Bush administration. Turkey was the largest supplier of
non-combat equipment to American forces in Iraq.
(http://tinyurl.com/gvg4s)(Econ, 9/30/06, p.62)
2006 Oct 2, Thailand's respected
central bank chief said he has agreed to join the interim Cabinet, a
move that appeared likely to reassure the business community.
(AP, 10/2/06)
2006 Oct 2, An informal UN poll
showed that South Korea's foreign minister Ban Ki-Moon (67) has nearly
full support from the Security Council, including its five
veto-wielding members, and appears almost certain to succeed Kofi Annan
as secretary-general of the United Nations.
(AP, 10/3/06)
2006 Oct 2, Zambia's Electoral
Commission said that President Levy Mwanawasa was re-elected to a
second term, collecting 43% of the votes cast in last week's balloting.
(AP, 10/2/06)
2006 Oct 3, Americans John C.
Mather and George F. Smoot won the 2006 Nobel Prize in physics for work
that helped cement the big-bang theory of the universe and deepen
understanding of the origin of galaxies and stars.
(AP, 10/3/06)
2006 Oct 3, Federal agents raided
8 locations in SF and Oakland, Ca., and arrested 15 people including
Sparky Rose (36), head of the New Remedies Cooperative. Nearly 13,000
plants were seized along with $125,000 in cash.
(SFC, 10/4/06, p.B2)
2006 Oct 3, A federal grand jury
indicted Colma City, Ca., Councilman Philip Lum Jr. for allegedly
taking gifts from the owner of the Lucky Chances Casino and then voting
on matters that benefited the cardroom.
(SFC, 10/4/06, p.B1)
2006 Oct 3, Jeannik Mequet
Littlefield donated $35 million to the SF Opera. She had married Edmund
Littlefield in 1945 and he went on to head the Utah Construction Co., a
family firm that had built the Hoover Dam.
(SFC, 10/4/06, p.A1)
2006 Oct 3, The DJIA rose 56.99 to
11,727.34, to close at a new record high above one set on Jan 14, 2000.
NASDAQ rose 6.05 to 2,243.
(SFC, 10/4/06, p.C1)
2006 Oct 3, In California
Cambodian and US representatives signed a sister park accord between
Samlaut Park and Sequoia National Park.
(SFC, 10/4/06, p.A1)
2006 Oct 3, Earl Stefanson (41)
was arrested in Hayward, Ca, following a police chase through Oakland.
He was wanted for the slaying of Leslie Lamb (36) who died Aug 26
following a severe beating. Police had found a torture chamber in
Stefanson’s Oakland home with bloodstains from Lamb and 2 other
apparent victims. In 2008 Stefanson was convicted of 1st degree murder
and other charges. He was sentenced to 2 life terms in prison.
(SFC, 10/5/06, p.B3)(SFC, 4/8/08, p.B3)(SFC, 7/2/08,
p.B5)
2006 Oct 3, Austria's government
resigned, two days after the center-right coalition lost parliamentary
elections. It will remain in office until a new government is formed.
(AP, 10/3/06)
2006 Oct 3, In the Democratic
Republic of Congo one person was killed and two injured when a Belgian
drone from the EU force crashed in Kinshasa.
(AFP, 10/3/06)
2006 Oct 3, The Czech Republic
edged closer to early elections after PM Mirek Topolanek's rightist
minority government was toppled in a parliamentary confidence vote.
(Reuters, 10/3/06)
2006 Oct 3, A top Iranian nuclear
official proposed that France create a consortium to enrich uranium in
Iran, saying that could satisfy international demands for outside
oversight of Tehran's nuclear program.
(AP, 10/3/06)
2006 Oct 3, Iraqi lawmakers across
party lines endorsed the prime minister's new plan for stopping
sectarian killings, but Shiite and Sunni leaders still must work out
details of how to put aside sharp divisions and work together to halt
the bloodshed. A suicide bomber unleashed a blast in a Baghdad fish
market and two Shiite families were found slain north of the capital as
violence across Iraq claimed at least 53 lives. A raid killed four
terror suspects in the western Iraqi town of Haditha. The US command
captured 28 suspected terrorists in a raids in southeastern Baghdad. A
US soldier was killed in a shooting in Baghdad. A second died from
gunfire in Kirkuk.
(AP, 10/3/06)(AP, 10/4/06)(AP, 10/5/06)(AP, 10/7/06)
2006 Oct 3, OPEC President Nigeria
called on its fellow OPEC countries to make deeper output cuts as
prices tumbled to an 8-month low below $59 a barrel and the tide showed
no sign of turning.
(AP, 10/3/06)
2006 Oct 3, North Korea said it
will conduct a nuclear test in the face of what it claimed was "the
U.S. extreme threat of a nuclear war," ratcheting up tensions amid
international pressure to return to negotiations on its atomic program.
(AP, 10/3/06)
2006 Oct 3, Gunmen linked to
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement threatened to
assassinate leaders of the rival Hamas group, heightening tensions from
three days of fighting that has killed 10 Palestinians.
(AP, 10/3/06)
2006 Oct 3, In the Philippines
Bishop Alberto Ramento of Tarlac, former Obispo Maximo of the Iglesia
Filipina Independiente (IFI), was found stabbed to death at his
rectory. He was a noisy critic of government security forces.
(Econ, 10/14/06, p.46)
2006 Oct 3, Russia suspended all
transport and postal links with Georgia until further notice, sharply
escalating their dispute. The blockade caused economic problems for
Armenia, Georgia's landlocked southern neighbor, since Russia is its
main trading partner.
(AP, 10/3/06)(AP, 10/7/06)
2006 Oct 3, Sri Lanka's Tamil
Tiger rebels agreed to unconditional talks with the government but
warned they will pull out of a 2002 cease-fire if the government
persists with its military campaign.
(AP, 10/3/06)
2006 Oct 3, Thailand's deposed
premier Thaksin Shinawatra resigned from his once all-powerful party in
a letter faxed from London.
(AP, 10/3/06)
2006 Oct 3, A Turkish Airlines
plane carrying 113 people from Albania to Istanbul landed in Italy
where a Turkish man surrendered and released all the passengers
unharmed. The Turkish army deserter who hijacked the airliner sought
asylum because he feared persecution in his Muslim homeland after his
conversion to Christianity and wanted Pope Benedict XVI's protection.
(AP, 10/4/06)(AP, 10/3/07)
2006 Oct 3, In Venezuela 2 boys,
Renzo Festa (9) and Domenico Festa (12), were abducted along with their
mother, Nathaly Gotera de Festa, as she drove them to school. Gotera
(35) was married to Italian-Venezuelan businessman Domenico Festa and
was in the process of obtaining her Italian citizenship.
(AP, 10/7/06)
2006 Oct 4, A US federal court
awarded $143 million to 3 closed nuclear power plants because the
government failed to remove spent fuel rods. The 3 Yankee company
reactors were located in Connecticut, Maine, and Massachusetts.
(WSJ, 10/5/06, p.A6)
2006 Oct 4, Ousted Hewlett-Packard
Chairwoman Patricia Dunn, a company officer and three investigators
were charged with violating California privacy laws in a corporate
spying scandal. The charges were later dropped, with a judge calling
their conduct a "betrayal of trust and honor" that nonetheless did not
rise to the level of criminal activity.
(AP, 10/4/07)
2006 Oct 4, American Roger D.
Kornberg, whose father won a Nobel Prize a half-century ago, was
awarded the prize in chemistry for his studies of how cells take
information from genes to produce proteins.
(AP, 10/4/06)
2006 Oct 4, A Philadelphia jury
awarded a woman $1 million and her husband $500,000 in compensatory
damages after finding that Wyeth's hormone replacement drug Prempro was
a cause of her breast cancer. In the first federal Prempro trial, a
jury last month in Little Rock, Arkansas found Wyeth was not negligent
and had adequately warned patients and doctors of the cancer risk
associated with the drug. Wyeth faced some 5,000 lawsuits involving its
hormone replacement drugs.
(Reuters, 10/4/06)
2006 Oct 4, The DJIA rose 123.27
to 11,850.61, to close at record high for the 2nd day in a row. NASDAQ
rose 47.30 to 2,290.
(SFC, 10/5/06, p.C1)
2006 Oct 4, In Berkeley, Ca., the
new 2,002-acre Eastshore State Park was dedicated. The 8.5 mile strip
ran north along the East Bay from the Bay Bridge to Richmond.
(SFC, 10/5/06, p.B1)
2006 Oct 4, Scientists reported
that the Hubble Space Telescope had revealed 16 objects about the size
of Jupiter near the center of the Milky Way and that the discovery gave
strong evidence that planets are abundant in other parts of the galaxy.
(SFC, 10/5/06, p.A4)
2006 Oct 4, New York Times
correspondent R.W. Apple Jr. died in Washington at age 71.
(AP, 10/4/07)
2006 Oct 4, Afghanistan's
intelligence agency said security agents have arrested 17 people
allegedly trained in Pakistan who they believe planned to launch
suicide attacks in three Afghan provinces. In southern Afghanistan
suspected Taliban militants attacked a police checkpoint, and the
ensuing clash left six militants dead and three wounded.
(AP, 10/4/06)(AP, 10/5/06)
2006 Oct 4, In Sao Paulo, Brazil,
court officials said 14 workers at a juvenile detention center were
convicted and sentenced to up to 87 years in prison for beating inmates
with iron bars and wood to find out who organized an escape attempt in
2000.
(AP, 10/4/06)
2006 Oct 4, British PM Tony Blair
said the Irish Republican Army's violent campaign in Northern Ireland
is over, following a report into paramilitary activity that raised
hopes of reviving self-rule.
(AP, 10/4/06)
2006 Oct 4, In Britain a
Muslim-owned business, which reportedly housed a makeshift mosque, was
petrol-bombed following three nights of clashes between white and south
Asian youths on the London outskirts.
(AFP, 10/5/06)
2006 Oct 4, In Chile government
officials announced plans to build a 62-mile highway through Pumalin
Park, a nature reserve created by Douglas Tompkins of SF. The
government also signaled that it will push ahead with the proposed $4
billion hydroelectric complex to dam the Baker and Pasqua rivers south
of Pumalin.
(SSFC, 10/8/06, p.A1)
2006 Oct 4, Professor Eugene
Polzik and his team at the Niels Bohr Institute at Copenhagen
University in Denmark reported a breakthrough in teleportation by using
both light and matter.
(Reuters, 10/4/06)
2006 Oct 4, The world's biggest
book fair opened in Frankfurt, Germany, with Indian authors taking
center stage and a new scheme to protect writers' copyrights from
Internet piracy creating a buzz.
(AFP, 10/4/06)
2006 Oct 4, Iraqi authorities took
a brigade of up to 700 policemen out of service and put members under
investigation for "possible complicity" with death squads following a
mass kidnapping earlier this week. A series of bombs went off in rapid
succession in a shopping district in a mainly Christian neighborhood of
Baghdad, killing 16 people and wounding 87. The dead were among 26
people killed in attacks across Iraq. A suicide bomber attacked an
Iraqi police base in the town of Ramadi, but guards shot at the
explosives-packed vehicle and detonated it before it could hit the base.
(AP, 10/4/06)(AP, 10/5/06)
2006 Oct 4, In Malawi pop singer
Madonna traveled to a village 12 miles outside the capital Lilongwe,
where she is funding the construction of a center to feed and educate
about 1,000 orphans.
(Reuters, 10/5/06)
2006 Oct 4, In Nicaragua defense
ministers from across the Americas agreed to create an international
land-mine removal center and many called for joint military missions
for disaster relief and peacekeeping worldwide.
(AP, 10/4/06)
2006 Oct 4, In Nigeria militants
freed around 25 kidnapped oil workers but five abducted expatriates
were still missing in another part of the Niger Delta.
(AP, 10/4/06)
2006 Oct 4, Masked men killed a
local Hamas political activist as he set out for morning prayers before
dawn in the northern West Bank.
(AP, 10/4/06)
2006 Oct 4, Sri Lanka's air force
bombed separatist rebel positions in the embattled north, a day after
the insurgents agreed to peace talks with the government.
(AP, 10/4/06)
2006 Oct 4, Sources said fresh
inter-rebel fighting in Sudan has forced 10,000 Darfuris to seek refuge
near a camp of African Union forces monitoring a widely-ignored truce.
(AP, 10/4/06)
2006 Oct 5, In Miami, Florida,
inauguration ceremonies were held for the Carnival Center for the
Performing Arts.
(Econ, 10/14/06, p.32)
2006 Oct 5, The House ethics
committee opened an expansive investigation into the unfolding
congressional page sex scandal that resulted in the resignation of US
Rep. Mark Foley, R-Fla.
(AP, 10/5/07)
2006 Oct 5, Demonstrations took
place in 150 cities across the US, Canada and Switzerland led by the
“World Can’t Wait – Drive Out the Bush Regime” campaign.
(SFC, 10/6/06, p.B7)
2006 Oct 5, Howard Stapleton won
the 2006 Ig Nobel Peace Prize for his "electromechanical teenager
repellant," a device that produces a sound audible only to those 30 or
younger. The device was made famous last May when it was discovered
that teenagers had adopted the sound as a ring tone, so that teachers
couldn't hear them receiving calls in class.
(http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9596_22-6123388.html)
2006 Oct 5, The DJIA rose 16.24 to
11,866.69, to close at record high for the 3rd day in a row. NASDAQ
rose 15.39 to 2,306.
(SFC, 10/6/06, p.C1)
2006 Oct 5, In California a state
appeals court ruled 2-1 that gays and lesbians have no constitutional
right to marry in California.
(SFC, 10/6/06, p.A1)
2006 Oct 5, In Miami, Florida,
inauguration ceremonies were held for the Carnival Center for the
Performing Arts.
(Econ, 10/14/06, p.32)
2006 Oct 5, In Apex, North
Carolina, a fire began at the EQ Industrial Services hazardous waste
plant and a chlorine cloud rose high over the area. The next morning as
many as 17,000 people were urged to flee homes on the outskirts of
Raleigh.
(AP, 10/6/06)
2006 Oct 5, NATO took over eastern
Afghanistan from US-led forces, assuming control of 12,000 American
troops and extending its military role to the entire country.
(AP, 10/5/06)
2006 Oct 5, Friedrich Karl Flick
(79), Austrian billionaire industrialist, died. His father was
convicted at Nuremburg in 1947 of using slave labor in Nazi Germany. In
1981 Flick became embroiled in a major postwar political party
financing scandal when it surfaced that some of his managers had given
millions of German marks to German political parties. Flick sold his
company to Deutsche Bank in 1985.
(AP, 10/6/06)
2006 Oct 5, In Bolivia rival
miners' groups agreed to a truce after a day of clashes over access to
one of South America's richest tin mines left at least 9 people dead
and 40 injured.
(AP, 10/6/06)
2006 Oct 5, In Brazil
environmentalist Eduardo Veado (46) and his wife, Simone Furtini Abras
(41) died after being run over as they walked along a country road in
Minas Gerais state. Veado had received death threats for denouncing
illegal logging around the town of Ipanema.
(AP, 10/20/06)
2006 Oct 5, Survivors told police
that at least 20 migrants drowned when their boat split while sailing
from Africa to Spain's Canary Islands. 7 adults and 4 children were
picked up by a South African ship some 120 miles south of the Canary
Islands and brought to a port on Gran Canaria island overnight.
(AP, 10/5/06)
2006 Oct 5, China criticized newly
imposed EU antidumping tariffs on Chinese shoes as unlawful and
threatened possible retaliation.
(AP, 10/6/06)
2006 Oct 5, In Ethiopia Alemayehu
Fantu, a businessman, was arrested and charged with distributing
calendars with pictures of opposition leaders. The calendars called for
non-violent civil disobedience to bring down the government.
(Econ, 10/28/06, p.56)
2006 Oct 5, The European Central
Bank, sticking to its tough line on inflation, raised its key interest
rate by a quarter of a percentage point to 3.25% and hinted that
another rate increase is in the offing before next year.
(AP, 10/5/06)
2006 Oct 5, EU ministers endorsed
a plan to make permanent joint patrols that pick up migrants on the
high seas, moving to end internal divisions over dealing with a surge
of illegal immigration from Africa.
(AP, 10/5/06)
2006 Oct 5, Georgians voted in
municipal elections seen as a crucial test for President Mikhail
Saakashvili during a diplomatic crisis with Russia.
(AP, 10/5/06)
2006 Oct 5, In Tegucigalpa,
Honduras, a fire raged through a building housing abused women and
their families, killing three adults and six children.
(AP, 10/5/06)
2006 Oct 5, Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice visited Baghdad, where she warned Iraqi leaders they
had limited time to settle their differences. A car bomb exploded in
the mainly Shiite neighborhood of Hurriyah in Baghdad, killing two
people and wounding two more. Another bomb struck a group of laborers
waiting for work at a downtown square in the capital, killing two and
wounding 26. Bombings and shooting in and around Baqouba left seven
dead. Mohammed Ridha Mohammed, a Kurdish lawmaker, was kidnapped and
shot to death and Shiite militias were held responsible for killing.
Mohammed was a member of the Islamic Group, a conservative Sunni party
in the Kurdish Alliance. One person was killed and four wounded in a
double bombing outside a neighborhood power generator in Baghdad’s
Qahira district. Police found the bodies of five men in their 30s, the
apparent victims of sectarian death squads, their hands and feet bound
and signs of torture on their bodies. Police found 7 bodies floating in
the area of Suwayrah. Gunmen killed Naseer Shamil (37), a former Iraqi
national volleyball player and a Shiite, in his shop in Baghdad. One
American soldier with the 3rd Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division, died
near Beiji.
(AP, 10/6/06)(AP, 10/7/06)(AP, 10/5/07)
2006 Oct 5, In Oaxaca, Mexico, a
teacher was hacked to death. A colleague claimed the man was killed for
opposing a teachers' strike. Jaime Rene Calva Aragon was on his way to
a meeting when he was killed by two assailants wielding hefty ice picks.
(AP, 10/6/06)
2006 Oct 5, Researchers in Norway
announced the discovery of the remains of a short-necked plesiosaur, a
prehistoric marine reptile the size of a bus, that they believe is the
first complete skeleton ever found. The 150 million year old remains of
the 33-foot ocean going predator were found in August on the remote
Svalbard Islands of the Arctic.
(AP, 10/5/06)
2006 Oct 5, In northwestern
Pakistan a gunbattle between rival Sunni and Shiite Muslims left at
least 13 people dead and seven wounded in a remote tribal area.
(AP, 10/6/06)
2006 Oct 5, Russia froze
Georgians’ work permits and nearly doubled its gas bill.
(WSJ, 10/6/06, p.A1)
2006 Oct 5, In Sri Lanka relatives
and aid workers said the K-faction, a feared militia on Sri Lanka's
volatile eastern coast, has abducted hundreds of men and boys, some as
young as 12, to fight in the country's civil war, with the government's
consent. The Karuna faction split from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil
Eelam in 2004.
(AP, 10/5/06)
2006 Oct 5, The US called
emergency UN Security Council consultations after Sudan warned nations
considering troops for Darfur that their action was a "prelude to an
invasion."
(AP, 10/5/06)
2006 Oct 5, In Suriname a homeless
man was slain by an ax-wielding assailant in Paramaribo. It was the 4th
killing this year of homeless men while they slept on the streets of
Suriname's capital. Police wondered if a serial killer is on the loose.
(AP, 10/6/06)
2006 Oct 5, Thai coup leaders
agreed to talk with southern rebels reversing Thaksin’s confrontational
approach to the insurgency.
(WSJ, 10/6/06, p.A1)
2006 Oct 5, US-based Human Rights
Watch (HRW) said the EU's decision to abandon a trade pact with the
reclusive Central Asian state of Turkmenistan was a "landmark move
against tyranny."
(Reuters, 10/5/06)
2006 Oct 5, The Latvian and Thai
candidates dropped out of the race to become the next U.N. chief on
Thursday, leaving South Korea's foreign minister as the lone remaining
contender and near-certain successor to Kofi Annan.
(AP, 10/5/06)
2006 Oct 5, In Uzbekistan a court
sentenced Ulugbek Khaidarov, an independent rights activist and
journalist, to six years in jail for extortion amid a sweeping
government crackdown on dissidents in the tightly controlled ex-Soviet
state.
(AP, 10/6/06)
2006 Oct 6, Petty Officer 3rd
Class Melson J. Bacos, a Navy medic, pleaded guilty to kidnapping and
conspiracy, telling his court-martial at Camp Pendleton, Calif., that
he stood and watched as seven members of a Marine squadron murdered an
innocent Iraqi civilian.
(AP, 10/6/07)
2006 Oct 6, The US Centers for
Disease Control said 3 people from Washington County, Ga., had
experienced respiratory failure and remained hospitalized on
ventilators following a meal they shared on Sept. 7 that included
carrot juice made by Bolthouse Farms. A woman in Florida was
hospitalized mid-September and botulism toxin from bottled carrot juice
was suspected.
(AP, 10/7/06)
2006 Oct 6, US and European
negotiators reached an interim deal on sharing trans-Atlantic air
passenger data for anti-terrorism investigations.
(AP, 10/6/06)
2006 Oct 6, The US FDA approved
Zolinza, generic name Vorinostat, a drug that switches off genes
associated with cancer.
(Econ, 10/14/06, p.86)
2006 Oct 6, In Virginia opening
ceremonies were held for the new $13 million American Civil War Center
in Richmond’s former Civil War gun foundry.
(WSJ, 10/12/06, p.W13)
2006 Oct 6, The homicide rate in
Oakland, Ca., hit 119 for the year, a 10-year high.
(SFC, 10/7/06, p.B5)
2006 Oct 6, John Jordan O’Neil
(b.1911), aka “Buck” O’Neil, baseball’s charismatic Negro Leagues
ambassador, died at a Kansas City, Missouri-area hospital. He
barnstormed with Satchel Paige and inexplicably fell one vote shy of
being elected to the Hall of Fame in February 2006.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buck_O'Neil#_note-1)
2006 Oct 6, In eastern Afghanistan
2 suicide bombers blew themselves up, killing themselves and a
policeman and wounding 17 other people.
(AP, 10/6/06)
2006 Oct 6, Bolivia’s President
Evo Morales fired two top mining officials after a clash between rival
bands of miners over access to the country's richest tin deposit left
at least 16 dead and more at least 80 injured. The 2-day clash at the
Huanuni tin mine caused an estimated $2 million in damage and
production losses of $200,000 per day.
(AP, 10/7/06)(Econ, 10/14/06, p.40)
2006 Oct 6, Opposition leaders
alleged that Georgia's local and regional elections were riddled with
fraud, but international monitors said the balloting was conducted
"with general respect for fundamental freedoms."
(AP, 10/6/06)
2006 Oct 6, Hungarian PM Ferenc
Gyurcsany convincingly won a confidence motion in parliament but a
crowd of over 50,000 opposition supporters gathered in front of the
building to demand he quit.
(AP, 10/6/06)
2006 Oct 6, The
Panamanian-registered Giant Step ran ashore after catching fire in
rough seas off Kashima in eastern Japan, killing one crewman and
injuring two others. Of the remaining crew, 13 were rescued but nine
are missing.
(AP, 10/7/06)
2006 Oct 6, In Lebanon police
clashed with hundreds of rioters protesting attempts to demolish
illegal housing in a southern suburb of Beirut. One person was killed
and at least 16 were wounded.
(AP, 10/6/06)
2006 Oct 6, ECOWAS leaders met for
summit talks in Nigeria.
(AP, 10/9/06)
2006 Oct 6, In southwestern
Pakistan police acting on a tip raided several militant hide-outs in
Quetta and arrested 48 suspected Taliban who had arrived in small
groups from Afghanistan.
(AP, 10/7/06)
2006 Oct 6, Tens of thousands of
Palestinians rallied in a Gaza Strip soccer stadium in a massive show
of support for the ruling Hamas group and its beleaguered government.
PM Ismail Haniyeh told supporters Hamas will not recognize Israel or
give in to international pressure that has crippled the Palestinian
government.
(AP, 10/6/06)
2006 Oct 6, In Sri Lanka heavy sea
and land battles erupted with the military reporting the recovery of 22
bodies of Tamil rebels after a Norwegian envoy failed to secure a deal
to re-launch peace talks. 49 Tamil Tiger rebels were killed in a raid
by the K-faction of rebels in eastern Sri Lanka. 5 of the splinter
group died in the fighting.
(AFP, 10/6/06)(AP, 10/7/06)
2006 Oct 6, The UN refugee agency
said the number of Somalis fleeing fighting to seek refuge in Kenya has
risen dramatically and could stretch the capacity of aid organizations
to critical levels.
(AP, 10/6/06)
2006 Oct 6, A unanimous UN
Security Council urged North Korea to abandon all atomic weapons, as it
promised last year, and cancel plans to detonate a device. Japan hinted
the North could face sanctions or possible military action.
(AP, 10/6/06)
2006 Oct 6, The fledgling UN Human
Rights Council ended its second session after failing to approve any
decisions addressing the world's worst abuses. The 47-member council
adjourned following a 3-week session. The US is not a member but is an
observer. Human Rights Watch said the council, which held its first
session in June and July, was a disappointing successor to the widely
discredited UN Human Rights Commission.
(AP, 10/6/06)
2006 Oct 7, The NY Yankees were
eliminated from the first round of the AL playoffs, losing to Detroit
8-3 in Game 4. It was the second straight year New York lost in the
opening round.
(AP, 10/8/06)
2006 Oct 7, In Virginia the Bush
family christened the USS George H.W. Bush, the nuclear-powered
aircraft carrier named after the 82-year-old former president.
(AP, 10/7/06)
2006 Oct 7, Michelle Gardner-Quinn
(21), a Univ. of Vermont senior from Arlington, Va., was reported
missing. After chasing leads for nearly a week, police
investigating her disappearance got a break when a group of hikers
spotted a body in a rocky ravine. A suspect, Brian Rooney (36), was
arrested Oct 13 on unrelated charges of sex abuse in two other Vermont
counties. In 2008 Rooney was convicted of murder.
(AP, 10/14/06)(AP, 5/22/08)
2006 Oct 7, In Colorado the new
146,000-square-foot Denver Art Museum opened to the public. It was
designed by Daniel Libeskind.
(SFC, 10/7/06, p.A1)
2006 Oct 7, Fleet Week in SF
featured a waterfront parade of US and Canadian ships as well as an air
show. The 2-day Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival opened in Golden
Gate Park.
(SFC, 10/7/06, p.B1)
2006 Oct 7, In northern
Afghanistan 2 German journalists working for the country's national
broadcaster and traveling on their own were killed by gunmen, the first
foreign journalists murdered here since late 2001. In southern
Afghanistan a NATO soldier from Canada was killed in an attack by
militants who exploded a roadside bomb and fired on a military patrol.
In eastern Afghanistan the US-led coalition and Afghan forces killed
five suspected insurgents in a clash in Paktika province.
(AP, 10/7/06)(Reuters, 10/7/06)
2006 Oct 7, In France the press
advocacy group Reporters Without Borders and the northwest town of
Bayeux unveiled a memorial to some 2,000 journalists and other media
workers killed in the line of duty around the world since World War II.
(AP, 10/7/06)
2006 Oct 7, India's army killed
five militants as they tried to sneak into the Indian portion of
Kashmir from Pakistan. Two soldiers were also killed in the gunbattle.
The head of a man from Gund Brath village, abducted the previous day,
was found on a road in nearby Sopore town. The body was recovered in a
different part of the town. A note tied to the man's head that said he
was beheaded because he allegedly worked as an informer for Indian
security forces.
(AP, 10/8/06)
2006 Oct 7, In northern Iraq a
suicide bomber rammed a police checkpoint with an explosives-laden
vehicle in Tal Afar, killing 14 people, including some who died when
their homes collapsed in the blast. More than two dozen people died in
violence around the country. 7 bullet-riddled bodies were found in
Baghdad. In two raids in the province of Diyala, Iraqi forces killed
two al-Qaida suspects and captured 40. 2 US soldiers were killed in
Iraq.
(AP, 10/7/06)(AP, 10/8/06)
2006 Oct 7, Latvians turned out in
their droves to choose the 100 men and women who will make their laws
for the next four years in the first general election since the Baltic
state joined the EU. Latvia's PM Aigars Kalvitis pledged to continue
stimulating economic growth if his centre-right government was
re-elected.
(AFP, 10/7/06)(Reuters, 10/7/06)
2006 Oct 7, Microsoft Corp.
founder Bill Gates and his wife Melinda met President Olusegun Obasanjo
for talks on plans to manufacture cheap software in Nigeria, fight
HIV/AIDS and alleviate poverty.
(AP, 10/8/06)
2006 Oct 7, In Poland thousands
marched through the streets of Warsaw, calling for new elections and
the ouster of the government after weeks of political turmoil.
(AP, 10/7/06)
2006 Oct 7, Anna Politkovskaya, a
Russian journalist, was shot to death, her body discovered in an
elevator in her apartment building in Moscow. She was known for her
critical coverage of the war in Chechnya. Politkovskaya, shot to death
in an apparent contract killing, was about to publish a story about
torture and abductions in Chechnya. In 2007 Random House published her
diaries under the title: “A Russian Diary.” In 2008 Russian
investigators named Rustam Makhmudov (34 of Chechnya as the executor of
the murder. Makhmudov was still at large. In 2008 Prosecutors charged
Sergei Khadzhikurbanov, a former police officer, and 2 brothers from
Chechnya, Dzhabrail and Ibragim Makhmudov, with involvement in the
murder.
(AP, 10/8/06)(Econ, 10/14/06, p.91)(Econ, 4/7/07,
p.82)(WSJ, 5/13/08, p.A8)(SFC, 6/19/08, p.A9)
2006 Oct 7, In Somalia dozens of
people protested against an Islamic militia that has seized much of
southern Somalia, a day after the group appointed a new administration
in Kismayo, the country's third largest city.
(AP, 10/7/06)
2006 Oct 7, Sudanese soldiers
crossed the border into eastern Chad to fight a group of Darfur rebels,
leaving more than 300 people injured.
(AP, 10/8/06)
2006 Oct 7, In Caracas, Venezuela,
thousands marched in the biggest show of public support yet for Manuel
Rosales, the main opposition presidential candidate, who pledged to
undo what he called the ills of President Hugo Chavez's government.
(AP, 10/8/06)
2006 Oct 7, In central Vietnam a
boat carrying about 30 schoolchildren capsized on a river, leaving one
boy dead and 18 others missing and feared dead.
(AP, 10/8/06)
2006 Oct 8, NATO said 142 Afghan
civilians, 40 Afghan security forces and 13 international troops have
died in suicide attacks since January.
(AP, 10/8/06)
2006 Oct 8-2006 Oct 9, A joint
offensive by coalition and Afghan forces, backed by NATO air support,
killed 30 guerrillas in one area of Deh Rawud. Another 19 were killed
in an operation by the Afghan army in another part of the district.
(AP, 10/9/06)
2006 Oct 8, In northern Argentina
a bus carrying high school students home from a charity event in an
impoverished community collided head-on with a truck, killing at least
12 people.
(AP, 10/9/06)
2006 Oct 8, Early results showed
the party of Belgium's PM Guy Verhofstadt giving ground to a far-right,
anti-immigrant party in bellwether local elections.
(AP, 10/8/06)
2006 Oct 8, France said it would
ban smoking in public places as of Feb 1, 2007. The ban would extend to
restaurants, bars and clubs at the start of 2008.
(WSJ, 10/7/06, p.A1)
2006 Oct 8, In northern Guatemala
an overcrowded passenger bus driving in heavy rain plunged off a cliff,
killing at least 34 people.
(AP, 10/9/06)
2006 Oct 8, In Hungary tens of
thousands of anti-government protesters called for the ouster of the
Socialist PM Ferenc Gyurcsany because of his admission on a leaked tape
that he had lied to the country about the economy. A new leaked
recording of a Socialist minister was broadcast, raising more questions
about the government's integrity.
(AP, 10/8/06)
2006 Oct 8, In Iran Hossein
Kazemeini Boroujerdi, a popular Shiite Muslim cleric who opposes mixing
religion and politics, was detained after his supporters clashed with
police outside his home in the capital Tehran.
(AP, 10/8/06)
2006 Oct 8, Iraqi and US forces
clashed with Shiite militiamen in the southern city of Diwaniyah after
a raid on the home of a leader of the Mahdi Army, accused of killing
Sunnis. 30 militiamen were killed in the fighting. 350-400 Iraqi
policemen fell sick and 3 died from poisoning at a base in southern
Iraq after the evening meal breaking their daily Ramadan fast. A number
of people were arrested, including the man in charge of the mess hall.
Spoiled food served at the mess hall was later determined as the cause.
At least 13 other violent deaths were reported nationwide, including a
Shiite woman and her young daughter who were killed when gunmen opened
fire on their minivan in Baqouba, northeast of Baghdad. The driver also
was killed. Police found 51 bullet-riddled bodies in various parts of
Baghdad during the last 24-hour period. One US soldier was killed in
Tikrit by a roadside bomb.
(AP, 10/8/06)(AFP, 10/9/06)(AP, 10/10/06)
2006 Oct 8, Israeli troops shot
and killed Osama Talad (21), a Palestinian militant, during a fierce
gunbattle in the Balata West Bank refugee camp.
(AP, 10/8/06)
2006 Oct 8, Japan’s PM Shinzo Abe
visited Beijing and held talks with Pres. Hu Jintao and PM Wen Jiabao.
Abe said Japan and China agree that a North Korea nuclear test "cannot
be tolerated" and that Pyongyang should return unconditionally to
six-party negotiations on its nuclear programs.
(AP, 10/8/06)(Econ, 10/7/06, p.29)
2006 Oct 8, Latvia's ruling
coalition kept its grip on power in general elections, making it first
sitting government to do so since the Baltic republic broke away from
the Soviet Union 15 years ago. PM Aigars Kalvitis has said he was ready
to form and lead a new, centre-right coalition government.
(AP, 10/8/06)
2006 Oct 8, Liberia’s presidency
said ECOWAS leaders, who met in Nigeria on Oct 6, had agreed for an
extension of the term of office of Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo
by 12 months, paving the way for presidential and general elections
there.
(AP, 10/9/06)
2006 Oct 8, Nepal's government and
communist rebel leaders resumed peace talks after a four-month stall,
trying to resolve a dispute over whether the guerrillas should disarm.
(AP, 10/8/06)
2006 Oct 8, North Korea performed
its first-ever nuclear weapons test, setting off an underground blast
in defiance of international warnings and intense diplomatic activity
aimed at heading off such a move. Because of the time difference, it
was Oct. 9 in North Korea.
(AP, 10/9/06)(AP, 10/8/07)
2006 Oct 8, In Pakistan on the
first anniversary of the earthquake that killed 73,000 people, the US
ambassador said the US will train 30,000 teachers and build 50 schools
in quake affected areas of Pakistan.
(AP, 10/8/06)
2006 Oct 8, In the Philippines
about 30 communist guerrillas attacked an international airport under
construction in Silay City in Negros Occidental province, using bombs
to destroy equipment and seizing guns from guards.
(AP, 10/8/06)
2006 Oct 8, The ultranationalist
Radicals, Serbia's strongest party, unanimously re-elected war crimes
defendant Vojislav Seselj as their leader and vowed to protect Serbia's
national interests if they take power. The Radicals top polls with
around 35% support but are not strong enough to form a government alone
and are very short of likely allies.
(AP, 10/8/06)
2006 Oct 8, Authorities in
northeastern Somalia repatriated more than 1,000 Ethiopians whom
smugglers were preparing to take across the Gulf of Aden to the promise
of jobs and a better life in the Middle East.
(AP, 10/8/06)
2006 Oct 9, American Edmund S.
Phelps won the 2006 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for
explaining the relationship between inflation and unemployment, work
that has had a profound impact on macroeconomic policy.
(AP, 10/9/06)
2006 Oct 9, The US Customs and
Border Protection officials, effective today, scrapped their
11-month-old policy of seizing prescription drugs imported through the
mail from Canada.
(Reuters, 10/4/06)
2006 Oct 9, A US court has
threatened to shut down the London-based Spamhaus Project, a
volunteer-run antispam service, for ignoring an $11.7 million judgement
against it.
(http://tinyurl.com/p3hsm)
2006 Oct 9, Google Inc. agreed to
acquire YouTube Inc., a leading video-sharing Web site founded by Chad
Hurley and Steve Chen, for $1.65 billion in stock.
(SFC, 10/10/06, p.E1)(WSJ, 10/14/06, p.B14)(Econ,
10/14/06, p.67)
2006 Oct 9, Pharmaceutical group
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has announced a deal to buy US consumer
healthcare group CNS for $566 million (449 million euros).
(AP, 10/9/06)
2006 Oct 9, Ray Noorda, computer
network pioneer and founder of Novell corp., died in Orem, Utah.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Noorda)
2006 Oct 9, In eastern Afghanistan
5 people, including 3 officials on their way to investigate a school
burning, were killed by a roadside bomb in Nangarhar province. 2
Taliban rebels were killed in return fire after insurgents attacked
ISAF and Afghan soldiers who were distributing food in southeastern
Zabul province.
(AP, 10/10/06)(SFC, 10/10/06, p.A3)
2006 Oct 9, Cambodian PM Hun Sen
began a six-day official visit to Australia that will focus on security
and trade.
(AFP, 10/9/06)
2006 Oct 9, Khaled al-Masri (43),
a Kuwaiti-born German citizen, testified in a Spanish court that he was
kidnapped on Dec 31, 2003, at the Serbia-Macedonia border while on
vacation, tortured by US intelligence agents for 23 days, then flown by
the CIA to Afghanistan where he was imprisoned and abused for five
months. He was released in Albania in May 2004 after the CIA discovered
they had the wrong person.
(AP, 10/9/06)
2006 Oct 9, Christian Streiff, the
head of Airbus, resigned after 99 days on the job due to clashed over
operational powers with the EADS board of directors. EADS named Louis
Gallois, a co-chief executive officer to replace him.
(SFC, 10/10/06, p.E3)
2006 Oct 9, In India Jaya Jaitley,
the president of the opposition Samata (Equality) Party, was charged
with taking a "hefty" kickback in 2000 as part of a
multi-million-dollar defense contract with a state-run Israeli company.
(AFP, 10/10/06)
2006 Oct 9,
Kanshi Ram (b.1934), founder of India’s Bahujan Samaj Party (1984),
died. The party was founded promote the interests of India’s low caste
Hindus, also known as dalits, or untouchables.
(SFC, 10/10/06, p.B7)
2006 Oct 9, Iraqi forces arrested
Sabah Ireimit al-Issawi, a high-ranking member of the al-Qaida in Iraq
terror organization. Gunmen wearing military uniforms assassinated Lt.
Gen. Amir al-Hashimi, a Defense Ministry adviser and the brother of
Iraq's Sunni Arab vice president in his home, the third sibling the
official has lost this year to the country's violence. 11 Iraqi
soldiers were kidnapped in a brazen attack on a checkpoint in Sadr
City. Iraqi and US troops killed at least nine fighters in clashes with
the Mahdi Army, Iraq's most powerful Shiite militia, in the southern
city of Diwaniya, the second straight day of battles there. Gunmen
killed police Lt. Col. Salih al-Karkhi in the Diyala capital of
Baqouba. In west Baghdad, two security guards at a municipal building
were killed by unidentified gunmen. In the northern town of Tal Afar, a
suicide car bomber slammed into a police checkpoint, killing one
policeman. One US soldier was killed on patrol in Baghdad. 3 US Marines
died from enemy action in Anbar province.
(AP, 10/9/06)(AP, 10/10/06)
2006 Oct 9, North Korea faced
united global condemnation and calls for harsh sanctions after it
announced it had detonated an atomic weapon in an underground test.
Russia's defense minister said the nuclear test was equivalent to 5,000
tons to 15,000 tons of TNT. The US pushed for sanctions on North Korea
following its nuclear test.
(AP, 10/9/06)(SFC, 10/10/06, p.A1)
2006 Oct 9, Panamanian authorities
said they suspect a medicine taken to treat high blood pressure may be
among the factors leading to the deaths of 21 people since July who
have succumbed to a mysterious illness that triggers kidney failure.
Panama's health minister stopped sales of the medication, Lisinopril
Normon, on Oct 6 and began removing it from pharmacy shelves. About
9,000 Panamanians were taking the medicine. Total deaths eventually
reached at least 116 from contaminated medications [see Oct 18].
(AP, 10/9/06)(AP, 5/10/08)
2006 Oct 9, Somali government
troops with Ethiopian help recaptured Burhakaba. The Islamic militia
that has seized much southern Somalia declared a holy war against
Ethiopia accusing its neighbor of deploying thousands of troops to prop
up the weak UN-backed government.
(SFC, 10/10/06, p.A3)(Econ, 10/14/06, p.49)
2006 Oct 9, Russia’s Gazprom said
it would develop the giant Shtokman natural gas field in the Barents
Sea alone and that it would send most of the gas by pipeline to Europe.
An earlier plan called for shipping most of the gas in liquefied form
to the US.
(WSJ, 10/10/06, p.A3)
2006 Oct 9, In Russia an apartment
building partially collapsed in the city of Vyborg near the Finnish
border. 7 bodies were later found in the rubble.
(AP, 10/11/06)
2006 Oct 9, Thailand's king
approved a post-coup Cabinet lineup, ushering in an interim government
expected to rule the country for one year until the next elections are
held.
(AP, 10/9/06)
2006 Oct 9, Turkey called on the
EU to oppose French legislation that would outlaw denials that World
War I-era killings of Armenians amounted to genocide.
(AP, 10/9/06)
2006 Oct 9, The UN Security
Council officially nominated South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-Moon
to be the next UN secretary-general.
(AP, 10/9/06)
2006 Oct 9, In Venezuela spending
exceeded gains from oil sales and the government expected to see a
deficit for the year of 4.3% of GDP.
(WSJ, 10/10/06, p.A6)
2006 Oct 10, The Bush
administration rejected anew direct talks with North Korea in the wake
of the communist country's nuclear test, and suggested it was possible
the test was something less than it appeared.
(AP, 10/10/07)
2006 Oct 10, The Diocese of
Davenport, Iowa, became the 4th Catholic diocese in the US to file for
bankruptcy amid the clergy abuse scandal, following the Archdiocese of
Portland, Oregon, and the dioceses of Tucson, Arizona and Spokane,
Washington. Since 2004, the Diocese of Davenport has paid more than
$10.5 million to resolve dozens of claims filed against priests,
including a $9 million settlement reached with 37 victims. The lawsuits
accused 11 priests of sexually assaulting children since the 1950s and
blamed church leaders for covering it up. The cost of the Catholic sex
abuse cases nationwide has risen to about $1.5 billion since 1950,
according to figures compiled from studies by the US Conference of
Catholic Bishops.
(WSJ, 10/11/06,
p.A1)(http://preview.tinyurl.com/2h36vd)
2006 Oct 10, Northrup Grumman
confirmed a $12.5 million contract to equip US jets with anti-missile
systems.
(SFC, 10/12/06, p.A4)
2006 Oct 10, In Afghanistan a bomb
struck a police bus in Kabul, wounding more than a dozen people.
(AP, 10/10/06)
2006 Oct 10, In Bolivia strikes
and demonstrations brought La Paz to a standstill. The independent
mining cooperatives said they were breaking their alliance with Pres.
Morales.
(Econ, 10/14/06, p.40)
2006 Oct 10, Britain’s Man Booker
Prize was won by Indian writer Kiran Desai (35) for “The Inheritance of
Loss,” a cross-continental saga that moves from the Himalayas to NYC.
(SFC, 10/11/06, p.A16)
2006 Oct 10, China, which holds
the key to whether tough UN sanctions will be imposed for North Korea's
nuclear test, warned its ally that the detonation would harm relations,
but called on the UN to use "positive and appropriate measures."
(AP, 10/10/06)
2006 Oct 10, Cheung Yan (49),
founder and chairwoman of Chinese paper packager Nine Dragons Paper
(Holdings) Ltd., topped a list of China's richest people for the first
time, elbowing past two-time leader Huang Guangyu of GOME Electrical
Appliances and a coterie of CEOs at old-economy government enterprises.
Cheung, born in northeastern China's Heilongjiang province and now a
Los Angeles native, began building her fortune in 1985, when she set up
a waste-paper trading business in Hong Kong.
(Reuters, 10/10/06)
2006 Oct 10, A World Health
Organization official said Egypt has detected its first human case of
the highly pathogenic H5N1 bird flu virus since May in an Egyptian
woman who raised ducks from her home.
(Reuters, 10/10/06)
2006 Oct 10, The US Embassy in
Haiti said the US has partially lifted a 15-year-old arms embargo,
allowing Haiti to buy weapons for police battling violent, and often
better armed, street gangs.
(AP, 10/11/06)
2006 Oct 10, India's Central
Bureau of Investigations (CBI) raided the homes and offices of defense
agents in five cities in connection with four separate cases of alleged
illegal payoffs involving Israel, Russia and South Africa.
(AFP, 10/10/06)
2006 Oct 10, India’s Supreme Court
ordered wildlife authorities in New Delhi to catch hundreds of Rhesus
macaque monkeys and relocated them thousands of miles away in the
jungles of Madhya Pradesh state.
(SFC, 10/12/06, p.A2)
2006 Oct 10, Iraq's government
forged ahead with a plan aimed at ending sectarian attacks, even as a
bombing in the capital killed 10 people. Officials said that all
security checkpoints in Baghdad would soon be manned by an equal number
of Shiite and Sunni Arab troops to ensure the security forces do not
allow sectarian attacks. Officials discovered the mutilated bodes of 60
men in the last 24-hours.
(AP, 10/10/06)
2006 Oct 10, Israeli soldiers shot
and killed a Palestinian militant who infiltrated from the Gaza Strip
into southern Israel wearing a bomb belt.
(AP, 10/11/06)
2006 Oct 10, A draft UN report
said smugglers in the Ivory Coast were violating a UN ban on diamond
sales, illegally exporting the gems to neighboring countries for
overseas sales.
(AP, 10/10/06)
2006 Oct 10, Liberia's truth
commission began taking public testimony.
(AP, 10/11/06)
2006 Oct 10, The government of
Libya reached an agreement with One Laptop per Child, an American
nonprofit group, to provide inexpensive laptop computers to all of its
schoolchildren. The $250 million deal would provide the nation with 1.2
million computers, a server in each school, a team of technical
advisers, satellite internet service and other infrastructure.
(AP, 10/11/06)
2006 Oct 10, Nigeria charged six
people, including men from Ireland, Israel and Romania, with illegally
obtaining classified defense documents. Nigerians with assault rifles
overran a navy base, taking several troops hostage, and occupied a
nearby oil facility belonging to a subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell PLC.
(AP, 10/10/06)(AP, 10/11/06)
2006 Oct 10, In Norway a charter
plane caught fire and skidded off the runway while landing at Stord
Airport.
(AP, 10/10/06)
2006 Oct 10, Palestine’s militant
Hamas group rejected key elements of a Qatari proposal to forge a
power-sharing government with the rival Fatah group that would
recognize Israel's right to exist and force militants to renounce
violence.
(AP, 10/10/06)
2006 Oct 10, In the Philippines a
bomb exploded in the town of Makilala on the southern island of
Mindanao during a celebration to mark the town's 52nd anniversary. 12
people were killed and at least 42 injured. 5 people were injured when
a bomb planted by suspected Muslim extremists exploded in the busy
market of Tacurong City.
(AFP, 10/11/06)
2006 Oct 10, In Russia Alexander
Plokhin (58), the head of a branch of a state-controlled bank, was
fatally shot in Moscow, the latest in a series of apparent contract
killings.
(AP, 10/11/06)
2006 Oct 10, The Sudanese
government and eastern rebels signed a power sharing agreement in the
Eritrean capital Asmara after months of peace talks. Under Eritrean
mediation, Khartoum and the Eastern Front signed a ceasefire agreement
on June 19 and pledged to work for a comprehensive settlement of their
dispute.
(AFP, 10/10/06)
2006 Oct 10, The World Food
Program (WFP) said nearly a quarter of a million people in Sudan's
Darfur region cannot access U.N. food rations due to fighting.
(AP, 10/10/06)
2006 Oct 10, Tens of thousands of
protesters, many dressed in red to show their anger, demanded that
Taiwan's president step down over a series of corruption allegations.
(AP, 10/10/06)
2006 Oct 10, Vietnam's communist
party chief Nong Duc Manh arrived in Laos at the start of a four-day
visit in a country where Vietnam still exerts considerable influence.
(AFP, 10/10/06)
2006 Oct 11, The charge of treason
was used for the first time in the US war on terrorism, filed against
Adam Yehiye Gadahn, who'd appeared in propaganda videos for al-Qaida.
(AP, 10/11/07)
2006 Oct 11, In Chicago
businessman Antoin Rezko (51), top advisor and fund-raiser for Illinois
Gov. Rod Blagojevich, was indicted for scheming to collect kickbacks
from companies doing business with the state. The fraud scheme included
political contributor Stuart Levine and other insiders.
(SFC, 10/12/06, p.A4)
2006 Oct 11, Top executives of
Cnet Networks and McAfee Inc. were ousted over their involvement in the
widening stock-options backdating scandal.
(SFC, 10/12/06, p.A1)
2006 Oct 11, The US FDA approved
Avastin, made by Genentech, to help fight lung cancer.
(SFC, 10/12/06, p.C1)
2006 Oct 11, A small plane,
carrying New York Yankees pitcher Cory Lidle (b.1972) and instructor
Tyler Stanger, crashed into a 50-story condominium tower on Manhattan's
Upper East Side killing both men. It was not clear who was at the
controls.
(AP, 10/12/06)(SFC, 10/13/06, p.A12)
2006 Oct 11, Ruth Kelly, British
communities minister said the government will now fund only those
Muslim organizations that fight extremism and defend national values as
part of a "fundamental" shift toward such groups.
(AFP, 10/11/06)
2006 Oct 11, China’s 347 central
committee members ended a 4-day annual meeting. They charted a course
to repair some of the social and environmental damage left by more than
2 decades of economic growth and approved a document on building a
harmonious China by 2020.
(WSJ, 10/12/06, p.A8)(Econ, 10/21/06, p.51)
2006 Oct 11, Amnesty International
said at least 11,000 children in Congo are still in the hands of armed
groups or unaccounted for three years after the end of a war in which
they were captured and forced to fight.
(AP, 10/11/06)
2006 Oct 11, Benito Martinez
Abrogan (120), Haitian-born Cuban laborer, died. His birthdate was
uncertain, but it was believed that he was the oldest man in the world.
(Econ, 10/21/06, p.97)
2006 Oct 11, In the Dominican
Republic Resort tycoon Howard "Butch" Kerzner was killed along with
three others when a helicopter they were traveling in crashed into a
building on the north coast.
(AP, 10/12/06)
2006 Oct 11, In northeastern
France a passenger train collided with an oncoming freight train,
killing at least five people and injuring 16.
(AP, 10/11/06)
2006 Oct 11, India’s PM Manmohan
Singh received an honorary law doctorate from the elite University of
Cambridge. The doctorate was conferred on him by Prince Philip.
(AFP, 10/11/06)
2006 Oct 11, Indonesia apologized
to Singapore and Malaysia for the choking haze over both countries and
agreed to convene a meeting of regional environment ministers to tackle
the problem. This was the worst smog since 1997 and 1998, when tens of
thousands of people were hospitalized.
(AP, 10/11/06)(Econ, 10/14/06, p.47)
2006 Oct 11, The Shiite-dominated
parliament passed a law allowing the formation of federal regions in
Iraq, despite opposition from Sunni lawmakers and some Shiites who say
it will dismember the country and fuel sectarian violence. A
controversial new study said nearly 655,000 Iraqis have died because of
the war, suggesting a far higher death toll than other estimates. More
than 2,660 Iraqi civilians were killed in the capital in September
according to figures from the Iraqi Health Ministry. Insurgents hit an
ammunition dump on a US base in Baghdad with a mortar round, setting
off fiery explosions through the night that shook buildings miles away.
Renewed attacks killed at least 14 people, primarily in Baghdad.
(AP, 10/11/06)
2006 Oct 11, Israeli forces killed
Abdullah Mansour (31), a militant in the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, in
the course of an overnight arrest raid.
(AP, 10/11/06)
2006 Oct 11, Israel inaugurated
its first horse racetrack.
(AP, 10/11/06)
2006 Oct 11, Edmund Daukoru,
Nigerian oil minister and OPEC president, said OPEC has agreed to trim
global oil production by 1 million barrels a day to boost prices, and
its members were discussing how to share the cut. Nigerian security
sources said armed youths have released dozens of Nigerian employees of
the oil company Shell and its subcontractors, but around 15 workers
were still being held at a flow station in the restive Niger Delta.
(AP, 10/11/06)(AFP, 10/11/06)
2006 Oct 11, North Korea
threatened more nuclear tests saying additional sanctions imposed on it
would be considered an act of war. Japan imposed a total ban on North
Korean imports and said ships from the impoverished nation were
prohibited from entering Japanese ports as punishment for its apparent
nuclear test.
(AP, 10/11/06)
2006 Oct 11, In Sri Lanka 72 army
troops, including eight officers, were killed and 515 wounded in
fighting in the northern peninsula of Jaffna. The army claimed 200
rebels were killed, a figure dismissed by the Liberation Tigers of
Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The Tigers said only 10 of its fighters were
killed. The government toll reached 129 in the country’s worst battle
since 2002.
(AP, 10/12/06)(WSJ, 10/13/06, p.A1)
2006 Oct 12, The United States
introduced a draft resolution in the UN Security Council to punish
North Korea for its nuclear test.
(AP, 10/12/07)
2006 Oct 12, America's trade
deficit hit an all-time high, $69.9 billion for August, as record
imports of oil swamped a solid gain in US exports. The politically
sensitive deficit with China set a record, a point that Democrats are
sure to use in attacking President Bush's trade policies in the closing
weeks of the battle for Congress.
(AP, 10/12/06)
2006 Oct 12, It was reported that
Coke planned to introduce its new drink Evigna, a green-tea based soft
drink, in November with claims that it could help burn off calories.
(WSJ, 10/12/06, p.B1)
2006 Oct 12, A blast occurred when
a tugboat pushing two barges hit an undersea pipeline in West Cote
Blanche Bay, 100 miles southwest of New Orleans. 4 bodies were found
and 2 people were missing.
(WSJ, 10/13/06, p.A1)(AP, 10/13/06)
2006 Oct 12, In eastern
Afghanistan a suicide bomber struck a vehicle carrying Afghan soldiers,
wounding 16 people. A car bomb targeting a US patrol wounded three
civilians. An Afghan soldier was killed in a separate ambush. NATO-led
forces and Afghan troops clashed with suspected Taliban militants in
southern Afghanistan, leaving as many as 20 suspected insurgents dead.
(AP, 10/12/06)(AP, 10/13/06)
2006 Oct 12, More than 100
wildfires raged across Australia, sending firefighters scrambling to
protect homes and farmland.
(AP, 10/12/06)
2006 Oct 12, Dhiran Barot (32), a
British man arrested in August, 2004, pleaded guilty to conspiring to
bomb high-profile targets in the US including the International
Monetary Fund headquarters in Washington and the New York Stock
Exchange.
(AP, 10/12/06)
2006 Oct 12, In Colombia hundreds
of Bari Indians, most clad in loincloths and carrying bows and arrows,
came down from the hills in their first march ever to demand that the
state-owned oil company stop drilling on sacred land abutting their
reservation.
(AP, 10/12/06)
2006 Oct 12, Scientists said a
mouse living in the Troodos Mountains of western Cyprus, that predates
the arrival of man, represents a new species, Mus cypriacus.
(SFC, 10/13/06, p.A13)
2006 Oct 12, French lawmakers
approved a bill making it a crime to deny that the 1915-1919 mass
killings of Armenians in Turkey amounted to genocide. It was thought
unlikely that Jacques Chirac’s government would forward the bill to the
Senate.
(AP, 10/12/06)(SFC, 10/13/06, p.A21)
2006 Oct 12, Georgia blocked the
next round of talks on Russia's bid to join the World Trade
Organization in retaliation for Moscow's blockade of its small southern
neighbor.
(AP, 10/12/06)
2006 Oct 12, Gunmen stormed the
headquarters of a new Sunni Arab satellite television station, killing
the board chairman and 10 others, the second attack on an Iraqi station
in the capital in as many weeks.
(AP, 10/12/06)
2006 Oct 12, An Israeli drone
fired two missiles at a crowd of Palestinians in a pre-dawn in the Gaza
Strip, killing at least 3 Hamas militants and 3 bystanders including a
father and his 13-year-old son. An Israeli airstrike targeting the home
of Ashraf Farwana, a senior Hamas militant, killed his brother and a
2-year-old girl.
(AP, 10/12/06)(SFC, 10/13/06, p.A17)
2006 Oct 12, In Italy the
government of Romano Prodi approved a bill to erode the near-monopoly
over private television exercised by Silvio Berlusconi, who controls 3
of the country’s 4 main private channels.
(Econ, 10/21/06, p.61)
2006 Oct 12, Gillo Pontecorvo
(b.1919), Italian filmmaker, died in Rome at age 86. He directed the
black-and-white classic "The Battle of Algiers" (1966).
(AP, 10/13/06)
2006 Oct 12, Madonna and her
husband took custody of a motherless 1-year-old boy in Malawi after a
judge granted her an 18-month interim order to take David Banda out of
the country. The next day Madonna jetted out of Malawi, leaving behind
the 13-month-old boy she planned to adopt. The swift granting of the
interim order angered some rights groups which called upon the Malawian
government to put the order on hold in the interests of the child's
future. Banda left Malawi on a small private jet Oct16.
(SFC, 10/13/06, p.E15)(AFP, 10/13/06)(Reuters,
10/16/06)
2006 Oct 12, Turkish novelist
Orhan Pamuk won the Nobel literature prize for his works dealing with
the symbols of clashing cultures. His uncommon lyrical gifts and
uncompromising politics have brought him acclaim worldwide and
prosecution at home.
(AP, 10/12/06)
2006 Oct 12, The UN said it has
temporarily pulled international staff out of parts of Somalia
controlled by Islamic radicals after receiving written threats.
(AP, 10/12/06)
2006 Oct 12, In Vietnam the Lao
Dong (Labor) newspaper quoted a police doctor as saying tests in
September confirmed that Nguyen Thi Oanh (39), a convicted heroin
trafficker, was then 11 weeks pregnant. The death row inmate had been
held in solitary confinement for almost a year.
(Reuters, 10/12/06)
2006 Oct 13, President Bush signed
a law imposing sanctions against people responsible for genocide and
war crimes in Sudan. He also signed a ports security bill that
contained language barring the electronic settling of gambling debts.
(Reuters, 10/13/06)(WSJ, 10/14/06, p.A1)
2006 Oct 13, Ohio Representative
Bob Ney pleaded guilty in a federal court to conspiracy and making
false statements as part of the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal.
(AP, 10/13/06)
2006 Oct 13, Air America Radio, a
liberal talk radio network founded in 2004, filed for Chapter 11
Bankruptcy.
(SFC, 10/14/06, p.A2)
2006 Oct 13, A jury in
Philadelphia said US retail giant Wal-Mart must pay 78 million dollars
for violating labor laws in Pennsylvania.
(SFC, 10/14/06, p.C1)
2006 Oct 13, In New York a
record-breaking early snowstorm walloped the Buffalo area, leaving
thousands without power and 12 people left dead.
(AP, 10/14/06)(WSJ, 10/19/06, p.A1)
2006 Oct 13, In St. Lucie County,
Florida, 4 people, two of them young children, were found shot to death
along an isolated stretch of Florida's Turnpike with obvious tire
tracks nearby. In 2009 Daniel Troya (26) and co-defendant Ricardo
Sanchez Jr. (25) received the death sentence for the slayings.
(AP, 10/13/06)(AP, 5/14/09)
2006 Oct 13, In southern
Afghanistan a suicide car bomber targeted a NATO convoy, killing a NATO
soldier and eight civilians.
(AP, 10/13/06)
2006 Oct 13, Bangladeshi economist
Muhammad Yunus and the Grameen Bank he founded won the Nobel Peace
Prize for their pioneering use of tiny, seemingly insignificant loans,
microcredit, to lift millions out of poverty.
(AP, 10/13/06)
2006 Oct 13, In Brazil a small
private plane with six people aboard went missing after losing contact
with air traffic controllers in Vitoria.
(AP, 10/14/06)
2006 Oct 13, A British coroner
ruled that US forces unlawfully killed Terry Lloyd (50), a veteran
reporter for the British television network ITN, in the opening days of
the Iraq war. He was shot in the back by Iraqi troops who overtook his
car, then died after US fire hit a civilian minivan being used as an
ambulance and struck him in the head.
(AP, 10/13/06)
2006 Oct 13, In Britain the chief
of staff to the Democratic Republic of Congo's President Joseph Kabila
was assaulted and robbed in northwest London while waiting to appear on
a television program. Leonard She Okitundu was attacked by a gang who
beat him around the head and body with a baseball bat, stripped him of
his clothes, and posted pictures of them on the Internet. Okitundu said
his attackers shouted that he was working for the Rwandans, and that
they would kill anyone who obstructed Bemba.
(AFP, 10/13/06)
2006 Oct 13, The WHO said it has
confirmed an outbreak of plague in the Democratic Republic of Congo,
with 42 deaths reported among 626 suspected cases over the past 10
weeks.
(Reuters, 10/13/06)
2006 Oct 13, The EU condemned a
French bill making it a crime to deny that the World War I-era killing
of Armenians in Turkey was genocide, calling it unhelpful at a critical
stage in the Muslim country's EU entry talks.
(AP, 10/14/06)
2006 Oct 13, EU and Indian leaders
agreed to boost cooperation in fighting terrorism, particularly by
focusing on improving the flow of intelligence.
(AP, 10/13/06)
2006 Oct 13, The French state rail
network said some 1,200 claims for compensation have been leveled
against the rail network for its role in helping transport people to
Nazi camps during World War II.
(AP, 10/13/06)
2006 Oct 13, An Indonesia a woman
(27) died from bird flu. 2 more deaths from the virus in the next 2
days brought the nation's toll to 55.
(AP, 10/17/06)
2006 Oct 13, At least 15 people
were killed in attacks around Iraq, including the commander of a
battalion of special Interior Ministry police and six women and two
girls who were shot south of Baghdad near Suwayrah. Police found the
corpses of 21 murder victims in Duluiyah many of them riddled with
bullets and showing signs of torture. Gunmen attacked a farmhouse in
Saifiyah and killed an entire family, including five women and three
children, in an attack apparently motivated by sectarian hatred. A US
soldier was killed in a roadside bombing southwest of Baghdad.
(AP, 10/13/06)(AFP, 10/14/06)(AP, 10/14/06)(AP,
10/15/06)
2006 Oct 13, Israeli forces killed
at least four people in a series of attacks throughout the Gaza Strip.
The deaths brought to 13 the number of Palestinians killed by the
military in Gaza since the army launched its latest ground incursion
early on Oct 12.
(AFP, 10/13/06)
2006 Oct 13, Italy’s Economy
Minister Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa said tax evasion is a "disease which
exists in all countries, but in Italy it is an epidemic." The next day
2005 data on tax returns by the self-employed, among whom evasion is
considered particularly rife, made front page news in most of
newspapers.
(AP, 10/14/06)
2006 Oct 13, An Ivory Coast Health
Ministry spokesman said the number of people who have died following
the dumping of toxic waste around Abidjan has risen to 10.
(AP, 10/13/06)
2006 Oct 13, Fire broke out at
Lithuania's only oil refinery, causing millions of dollars in damage
and forcing the evacuation of all its workers. No injuries were
reported.
(AP, 10/13/06)
2006 Oct 13, Pakistan’s Interior
Minister Aftab Sherpao said security forces had arrested 8 militants
with suspected links to Al-Qaeda for an attempted rocket blitz in and
around Islamabad. Authorities also seized rockets, grenades, explosives
and hundreds of sniper rifle rounds in the arrests at undisclosed
locations.
(AFP, 10/13/06)
2006 Oct 13, In Peru Shining Path
founder Abimael Guzman, whose messianic communist vision inspired a
12-year rebellion that cost nearly 70,000 lives, was found guilty of
aggravated terrorism and sentenced to life in prison.
(AP, 10/14/06)
2006 Oct 13, Russia's Vladimir
Kramnik became the first universally recognized world chess champion
since 1993, winning a series of timed, tiebreaking games over
Bulgaria's Veselin Topalov to take a tournament that reunified the
title.
(AP, 10/13/06)
2006 Oct 13, A Russian court shut
down the Russian-Chechen Friendship Society, a human rights group that
has exposed abuses against civilians in Chechnya. Director Stanislav
Dmitriyevsky denounced the ruling as part of an effort to silence
critics of the government's conduct in the violence-torn region.
(AP, 10/13/06)
2006 Oct 13, Somalia's Islamic
radicals repulsed an attack by pro-government forces to recapture
Kismayo, a vital seaport. Islamic radicals carried out their second
public execution in less than a month amid fears of increasing
extremist violence. Mahad Osman Ugas (23) was executed by a six-man
firing squad as several thousand people watched. A jury convicted him
of killing a businessman while trying to steal the man's cell phone.
(AP, 10/13/06)(AP, 10/14/06)
2006 Oct 13, The UN General
Assembly appointed South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon as the
next UN secretary-general. The veteran diplomat who grew up during a
war that divided his country pledged to make peace with North Korea a
top priority.
(AP, 10/13/06)
2006 Oct 13, Pope Benedict XVI met
privately with the Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibet, but the
Vatican released no details of the low-key visit that was not even
listed on the pontiff's official calendar.
(AP, 10/13/06)
2006 Oct 14, Pres. Bush dedicated
the new $30 million US Air Force Memorial in Arlington, Va. The
memorial, designed to evoke the “bomb-burst maneuver of the
Thunderbirds, was the last major work of architect James Ingo Freed
(d.2005).
(SSFC, 10/15/06, p.A16)
2006 Oct 14, The Detroit Tigers
won the American League baseball pennant race in 4 games over Oakland,
Ca.
(SSFC, 10/15/06, p.A1)
2006 Oct 14, Freddy Fender
(b.1937), Tex-Mex singer born as Baldemar Huerta, died in San Benito,
Texas. His hit songs included “Wasted Days and Wasted Nights” and
“Before the Next Teardrop Falls” (1975).
(SFC, 10/16/06, p.B6)
2006 Oct 14, Former US Rep. Gerry
Studds (69) died at Boston Medical Center, several days after he
collapsed while walking his dog. He was the first openly gay person
elected to Congress (1972-1997).
(AP, 10/14/06)
2006 Oct 14, In Bonaparte, Iowa,
Shawn Bentler (22) killed his parents and 3 sisters (14,15,17) at their
home.
(SFC, 10/16/06, p.A13)(AP, 10/14/07)
2006 Oct 14, In southern
Afghanistan Gabriele Torsello, an Italian freelance photographer, and
his Afghan translator were abducted were abducted by five armed men. In
eastern Afghanistan a roadside bomb exploded outside a provincial
governor's compound. The governor was not hurt but another official was
killed.
(AP, 10/14/06)(AP, 10/15/06)
2006 Oct 14, French leader Jacques
Chirac told Turkish PM Tayyip Erdogan he is sorry French lawmakers
approved a bill making it a crime to deny Armenians were victims of
genocide at the hands of Ottoman Turks.
(Reuters, 10/15/06)
2006 Oct 14, in southwestern
Germany 2 female US soldiers died after they were hit by a train at
Neckarsteinach station, east of Heidelberg.
(AP, 10/15/06)
2006 Oct 14, Thousands of
low-caste Hindus converted to Buddhism and Christianity on in protest
against new laws in several Indian states that make such changes of
religion difficult.
(Reuters, 10/14/06)
2006 Oct 14, A spokesman said the
ministry in charge of Iraq's police force will change top commanders
and has already fired some 3,000 employees accused of corruption or
rights abuses. Suspected Shiite militiamen killed at least 27 Sunni
Arabs in Balad in apparent retaliation for the slayings of 17 Shiites,
whose decapitated bodies were found in an orchard on the town's
outskirts a day earlier. South of Baghdad three women and four men were
killed in drive-by shootings in the predominantly Shiite village of
Wahda. A US Marine was killed in combat in Anbar province. 3 US
soldiers died in a roadside bombing south of Baghdad.
(AP, 10/14/06)(AFP, 10/14/06)(AP, 10/15/06)(SSFC,
10/15/06, p.A20)
2006 Oct 14, Israeli troops killed
six Palestinian gunmen in airstrikes in the Gaza Strip and set up a
makeshift detention center just outside the territory.
(AP, 10/14/06)
2006 Oct 14, Two Italian tourists,
freed in Libya after being kidnapped in August in Niger, denounced
their captors as bandits and said they were mistreated during their
ordeal.
(AP, 10/14/06)
2006 Oct 14, The UN election chief
in Ivory Coast said the war-divided nation's long-delayed vote would be
postponed for another year and should be held before October 2007.
(AP, 10/14/06)
2006 Oct 14, In Mexico at least
one man opened fire on protesters manning a roadblock in Oaxaca
paralyzed by months of conflict, killing one demonstrator and wounding
another.
(AP, 10/15/06)
2006 Oct 14, In northwestern Spain
vandals freed over 15,000 minks from breeding farms.
(SFC, 10/16/06, p.A3)
2006 Oct 14, The Sudanese
government signed a peace deal with a group of rebels from eastern
Sudan, ending a deadly strife that has been overshadowed by the
conflict in the country's western Darfur region.
(AP, 10/14/06)
2006 Oct 14, Maria Borelius,
Sweden's trade minister, resigned over allegations of tax evasion after
just one week in office, saying media pressure has made her life
impossible.
(http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6051220.stm)
2006 Oct 14, Thailand's
military-installed premier Surayud Chulanont visited Vientiane on the
first stop of a weekend tour aimed at reassuring neighbors Laos and
Cambodia that Bangkok won't pull any more surprises.
(AFP, 10/14/06)
2006 Oct 14, Ukrainian nationalist
fighters who battled both Soviet and Nazi forces during World War II
rallied in their country's capital, demanding the same financial and
moral recognition as Red Army veterans.
(AP, 10/14/06)
2006 Oct 14, The UN Security
Council gave unanimous approval to sanctions against North Korea for
its purported nuclear test. The US-sponsored resolution demanded that
North Korea eliminate nuclear weapons, but expressly rules out military
action against the country.
(AP, 10/15/06)
2006 Oct 15, Three members of Duke
University's lacrosse team appeared on CBS' "60 Minutes" to deny raping
a woman who had been hired to perform as a stripper. Collin Finnerty,
Reade Seligmann and David Evans were later exonerated.
(AP, 10/15/07)
2006 Oct 15, UnitedHealth Group
said CEO Dr. William McGuire agreed to leave the company by Dec 1 due
to illegal stock option practices. His walk away package was estimated
at $1.1 billion.
(SFC, 10/16/06, p.A13)(WSJ, 10/17/06, p.B1)
2006 Oct 15, A 6.7-magnitude quake
hit Hawaii’s Big Island at 7:07 am, followed by aftershocks. It caused
blackouts and landslides but no reported fatalities. Structural damages
on the Big Island were later estimated at $100 million.
(AP, 10/16/06)(SSFC, 10/22/06, p.G2)
2006 Oct 15, Algerian Energy
Minister Chehib Khelil said that the Organization of Petroleum
Exporting Countries will announce a 1 million barrel a day cut in crude
production during a meeting in Qatar.
(AP, 10/15/06)
2006 Oct 15, Foreign Minister
Alexander Downer said Australia would cut ministerial contacts with its
northern neighbor until an investigation was held into the escape from
Papua New Guinea of a Solomon Islands official wanted on child sex
charges. Julian Moti, now in custody in the Solomons and facing charges
of illegal entry, was wanted in Australia on child sex charges
involving a 13-year-old girl in Vanuatu in 1997.
(AFP, 10/15/06)(Econ, 10/28/06, p.51)
2006 Oct 15, Salah Abdulrahim al
Blooshi, a former detainee in the US prison at Guantanamo Bay, returned
home to Bahrain after being held for five years. Two other Bahrain
nationals remain in custody at Guantanamo Bay, where the US holds about
450 men on suspicion of links to al-Qaida or the Taliban.
(AP, 10/15/06)
2006 Oct 15, Ecuador held
presidential elections. The favorite was Rafael Correa (43), a leftist
pledging to lead a "citizens' revolution" against a political
establishment widely seen as corrupt and incompetent. He faced a strong
challenge from Alvaro Noboa, a banana billionaire who also pushed a
populist line. The elections headed to a 2nd round after Alvaro Noboa,
who favored strong relations with the US, narrowly defeated Rafael
Correa in the first round. A Nov 26 runoff had been expected as none of
the 13 candidates appeared likely to win outright.
(AP, 10/14/06)(AP, 10/16/06)(Econ, 10/14/06, p.39)
2006 Oct 15, At least 83 people
were killed during a two-day spree of sectarian revenge killings.
Suspected Shiite militiamen killed at least 20 more Sunni Arabs in
Balad. A string of bombings in Kirkuk killed 10 people, including two
girls who died when a man detonated explosives strapped to his body in
front of the al-Mallimin girls high school. In Baghdad Interior
Ministry undersecretary Hala Shakir Salim survived a roadside bomb
attack that killed seven others, four bystanders and three bodyguards.
A husband, wife and two of their sons were killed, and two
daughters-in-law critically wounded when gunmen burst into their home
in Mosul. Two US soldiers were killed and two other American soldiers
were wounded on after coming under fire in the province of Kirkuk.
(AP, 10/15/06)(Reuters, 10/16/06)
2006 Oct 15, In Lebanon a small
grenade exploded after it was fired at a building near UN offices in a
downtown Beirut square injuring four people.
(AP, 10/15/06)
2006 Oct 15, Mexican authorities
arrested a soldier accused of opening fire on a street barricade in
Oaxaca, killing one demonstrator and wounding another. Elections in
Mexico’s Tabasco state showed Andres Rafael Granier of the
Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) defeating Democratic Revolution
candidate Cesar Raul Ojeda by 10 points. The next day the PRD accused
its rivals of fraud.
(AP, 10/15/06)(AP, 10/16/06)
2006 Oct 15, Sri Lanka's navy sank
a rebel boat loaded with arms along the west coast, killing at least
five Tamil Tiger separatists.
(AP, 10/15/06)
2006 Oct 15, Uganda's government
and the Lord's Resistance Army rebel group admitted Sunday they had
both violated their recent truce, raising fears the deal to end one of
Africa's longest wars may unravel.
(AP, 10/15/06)
2006 Oct 15, Pope Benedict XVI
gave Catholics four news saints, bestowing the honor on a 19th-century
nun who struggled on the American frontier, a bishop who tended to the
wounded during the Mexican Revolution and two Italian clergy.
(AP, 10/15/06)
2006 Oct 16, President Bush
personally assured Iraqi PM Nouri al-Maliki by phone that he had set no
timetable for pulling troops out of Iraq.
(AP, 10/16/07)
2006 Oct 16, A lawyer said Lester
Crawford, former US Food and Drug Administration Commissioner who
resigned last year, will plead guilty to two counts of misdemeanor over
his ownership of stock in companies regulated by the agency.
(Reuters, 10/16/06)
2006 Oct 16, Lynne Stewart, a
firebrand civil rights lawyer, was sentenced in New York to 28 months
in prison for helping an imprisoned terrorist sheik communicate with
his followers on the outside.
(AP, 10/16/07)
2006 Oct 16, The US Defense Dept.
said that it would resume mandatory anthrax immunizations for military
personnel serving in Iraq, Afghanistan and South Korea.
(SFC, 10/17/06, p.A11)
2006 Oct 16, California’s Gov.
Schwarzenegger announced that he was planning to set up an
emissions-trading scheme between California and other states to try to
curb the output of greenhouse gases.
(Econ, 10/21/06, p.14)
2006 Oct 16, In southeast Texas
heavy rains and a tornado left 3 people dead.
(WSJ, 10/17/06, p.A1)
2006 Oct 16, Suicide bombers
struck in Afghanistan's two main cities, killing three civilians and
wounding six. Elsewhere, seven suspected militants died in fighting
with coalition and NATO forces.
(AP, 10/16/06)
2006 Oct 16, Australia said it
will ban North Korean ships from entering its ports, toughening its
response to the North's reported nuclear test.
(AP, 10/16/06)
2006 Oct 16, Queen Elizabeth II
kicked off her first-ever visit to the Baltic states as Lithuania’s PM
Gediminas Kirkilas welcomed the British monarch to the northern
European region.
(AP, 10/16/06)
2006 Oct 16, The biggest
underwater gas pipeline in the world, transporting gas from Norway 750
miles (1,200 kilometers) under the North Sea to Britain, was officially
opened by PM Tony Blair and PM Jens Stoltenberg. Construction of the
pipeline by Norwegian firm Hydro began in 2004. The Langeled pipeline
is expected to supply one fifth of Britain's total gas requirements in
the coming decades.
(AP, 10/16/06)
2006 Oct 16, In northern China a
fire in a coal mine trapped 28 miners.
(AP, 10/16/06)
2006 Oct 16, A US-based rights
group accused soldiers in Congo's postwar, national-unity army of
abducting civilians and forcing them to serve as personal attendants
and mine workers in the troubled Central African country.
(AP, 10/16/06)
2006 Oct 16, In Costa Rica several
operators of Internet gambling sites known as "sportsbooks" say their
businesses will not be significantly affected by a new US law
prohibiting bank and credit card payments to the sites.
(AP, 10/16/06)
2006 Oct 16, Egypt's President
Hosni Mubarak and Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi held talks on how to
resolve the Darfur crisis in Sudan without intervention from outside
Africa.
(AFP, 10/16/06)
2006 Oct 16, The UN accused
Eritrea of moving 1,500 troops and 14 tanks into a buffer zone
established after a 2 1/2-year border war with Ethiopia in "a major
breach" of a cease-fire agreement reached in 2000.
(AP, 10/16/06)
2006 Oct 16, Guatemala topped
Venezuela in the first round of voting for a UN Security Council seat,
but it failed to get the necessary two-thirds majority to win a
two-year term on the decision-making body. The 192-nation General
Assembly elected South Africa, Indonesia, Italy and Belgium for the
four other open seats in a secret ballot. 10 rounds of voting failed to
anoint a winner to fill the spot reserved for Latin America.
(AP, 10/16/06)(AP, 10/17/06)
2006 Oct 16, In central Indonesia
an unidentified gunman killed a Christian priest, where religious
tensions have been mounting since the executions last month of three
Roman Catholic militants.
(AP, 10/16/06)
2006 Oct 16, Saddam Hussein issued
an open letter, saying Iraq's "liberation is at hand" and calling for
an end to sectarian killings. The brother of the prosecutor in his
genocide trial was shot to death at home, the latest death linked to
proceedings against the deposed leader. Unidentified gunmen in police
uniforms hijacked 13 civilian cars and abducted their occupants at a
checkpoint outside Balad after the post had shut down for the night.
Sunnis fleeing Balad across the Tigris River to Duluiyah said Shiite
police in the city had teamed up with death squads who killed at least
74 Sunnis. A pair of roadside bombs exploded near a bank in central
Baghdad, killing a policeman, while the bullet-riddled bodies of eight
men were found dumped around the Iraqi capital overnight. Across Iraq
bombings and shootings killed at least 32 people, including 10 who died
in shootings in the predominantly Shiite city of Basra. In Karmah a
roadside bomb killed five Iraqi soldiers as their convoy passed through
the town. Gunmen stormed into the house of a Shiite family in Balad
Ruz, 45 miles northeast of Baghdad before dawn, killing the mother and
four adult sons and injuring the father. 708 Iraqis have been reported
killed in war-related violence this month, or more than 44 a day.
(AP, 10/16/06)(AP, 10/17/06)
2006 Oct 16, Cocoa farmers across
Ivory Coast went on strike, holding back their crops to protest low
retail prices and high export taxes in a move that could affect the
world market.
(AP, 10/16/06)
2006 Oct 16, In Moldova an appeals
court overturned a guilty verdict against the former defense minister,
clearing him of charges he sold 21 fighter planes too cheaply to the
US. Valeriu Pasat, who was defense minister from 1997 to 1999 and head
of the country's spy services from 1999 to 2002, claimed the case
against him was politically motivated because of his support for a
movement opposed to Communist President Vladimir Voronin.
(AP, 10/16/06)
2006 Oct 16, In central Myanmar
Thet Win Aung (34), who had been serving a 59-year sentence since 1998
after protesting for educational reform, died in jail.
(AP, 10/18/06)
2006 Oct 16, In Nigeria
legislators in southwest Ekiti state voted to remove Gov. Ayo Fayose on
after finding him guilty of siphoning state funds into personal bank
accounts and receiving kickbacks.
(AP, 10/19/06)
2006 Oct 16, Eight Pakistanis
released from US detention facilities in Afghanistan and Guantanamo
Bay, Cuba, returned home.
(AP, 10/16/06)
2006 Oct 16, In Peru former
President Valentin Paniagua (69) died. The unassuming former law
professor shepherded Peru back to democracy as interim president
following the 2000 collapse of Alberto Fujimori's autocratic regime.
Paniagua governed Peru from November 2000 to July 2001.
(AP, 10/16/06)
2006 Oct 16, Russia demanded that
the US lift sanctions against two Russian companies accused of making
deals with Iran involving sensitive technology and hinted that a US
refusal could affect negotiations on a U.N. sanctions resolution
against Tehran.
(AP, 10/16/06)
2006 Oct 16, The business chief of
Russian state news agency Itar-Tass was found knifed to death at his
flat in central Moscow. Police in Russia’s North Caucasus region of
Ingushetia arrested rights activists and violently broke up a rally in
memory of slain reporter Anna Politkovskaya.
(AP, 10/16/06)(Reuters, 10/16/06)
2006 Oct 16, In Sri Lanka Tamil
rebels rammed a truck packed with explosives into a convoy of military
buses, killing at least 103 people and wounding 150 more in one of the
deadliest insurgent attacks since the 2002 cease-fire.
(AFP, 10/16/06)
2006 Oct 16, Sweden’s Culture
Minister Cecilia Stego Chilo issued a statement saying she could not
carry out her duties after it was revealed that she evaded taxes by
paying a nanny under the table and failed to pay her mandatory TV
license fee. Surveys showed about one-third of Swedes have bought
"black market services," mostly for cleaning, painting or carpentry
jobs. Hiring a cleaner legally costs around $40 an hour, including
taxes, while a black market hire will do the job for less than $14,
tax-free.
(AP, 10/16/06)(AP, 10/20/06)
2006 Oct 17, President Bush signed
legislation authorizing tough interrogation of terror suspects and
smoothing the way for trials before military commissions. The Military
Commissions Act virtually abolished the right of any non-American
deemed an enemy combatant to challenge his indefinite detention before
American courts.
(AP, 10/17/06)(Econ, 5/26/07, p.30)
2006 Oct 17, Pres. Bush signed
into law a bill to provide grant money for the Gullah/Geechee Cultural
Heritage Corridor. In September Congress had declared a swathe of
coastline from North Carolina to Florida the Gullah/Geechee Cultural
Heritage Corridor, in an effort to preserve the region’s distinctive
black culture and creole language.
(Econ, 2/2/08,
p.42)(www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6283153)
2006 Oct 17, The United States
said it plans to take in about 10,000 Burundian refugees from Tanzania,
many of whom fled their landlocked nation as far back as 1972.
(Reuters, 10/18/06)
2006 Oct 17, The US FDA approved
Januvia, a novel pill for Type 2 diabetes made by Merck. Type 2
diabetes affects about 20 million Americans.
(AP, 10/17/06)
2006 Oct 17, Actor Wesley Snipes
was indicted for cheating the US government out of nearly $12 million
in false refund claims and not filing for 6 years. On Feb 1, 2008, a
federal jury in Florida acquitted Snipes (45) of the most serious
charges but convicted him on 3 of 6 lesser charges and said he must pay
up to $17 million in back taxes plus penalties and interest.
(SFC, 10/18/06, p.A2)(SFC, 2/2/08, p.A2)
2006 Oct 17, The Chicago
Mercantile Exchange announced plans to acquire the Chicago Board of
Trade for about $8 billion.
(WSJ, 10/18/06, p.A1)(Econ, 10/21/06, p.86)
2006 Oct 17, It was reported that
teams of scientists from the Dubna nuclear research center in Moscow
and Livermore Lawrence National Laboratory in California had detected
element 118 after bombarding californium with calcium ions in a Russian
cyclotron.
(SFC, 10/17/06, p.A1)
2006 Oct 17, The 300 millionth US
resident was born at 4:46 am according to a US Census Bureau estimate.
The 200 million mark was reached in 1967. The 400 million mark was
expected around 2043.
(SFC, 10/18/06, p.B3)(Econ, 10/14/06, p.29)
2006 Oct 17, Megan Meier (b.1992)
of Missouri committed suicide following a series of cruel messages on
the MySpace online social network. In 2008 Lori drew (49) of Missouri
was indicted for perpetrating an online hoax, which led to Meier’s
suicide. Drew was convicted on Nov 26 of only three minor offenses for
her role in the Internet hoax. The federal jury could not reach a
verdict on the main charge against 49-year-old Lori Drew, conspiracy,
and rejected three other felony counts of accessing computers without
authorization to inflict emotional harm. A final decision on the
verdicts was still pending in 2009.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megan_Meier_suicide_controversy)(SFC,
5/16/08, p.A4)(AP, 11/27/08)(Econ, 7/11/09, p.232)
2006 Oct 17, Rapper Fabolous was
shot as he stood at a Manhattan parking garage, spurring a sequence of
events that left him both hospitalized in stable condition and under
arrest.
(AP, 10/17/06)
2006 Oct 17, Miriam Engelberg,
cartoonist and writer, died in SF. She had recently authored “Cancer
Made Me a Shallower Person.”
(SFC, 10/20/06, p.B9)
2006 Oct 17, Christopher Glenn
(68), CBS News correspondent, died in Norwalk, Conn.
(AP, 10/17/07)
2006 Oct 17, In southern
Afghanistan British troops pulled out of the Musa Qala district in
Helmand province. A US-led coalition airstrike killed a suspected
midlevel Taliban commander and up to 15 other militants. Suspected
Taliban militants destroyed an oil tanker transporting fuel for
NATO-led peacekeepers and killed its driver in southern Kandahar
province's Spin Boldak district.
(AP, 10/17/06)
2006 Oct 17, Australia's worsening
drought was driving farmers to suicide. Scientists and politicians said
government funds should be used to help them leave increasingly
unviable land.
(AFP, 10/17/06)
2006 Oct 17, Bahrain said Lateefa
al-Geood, a British-educated civil servant, has become the first-ever
female to serve as an elected member of the parliament. 18 women were
among 221 candidates vying for seats in the 40-member assembly in the
Nov. 25 vote. Al-Geood was the only candidate who registered to run in
her region.
(AP, 10/17/06)
2006 Oct 17, In Brazil some 200
Indians from the Xikrin tribe, wielding war clubs and bows and arrows,
stormed an Amazon mining complex at the company town of Carajas,
shutting it down in an apparent demand for more compensation from CVRD,
the world's largest iron ore miner. The Indians left after 2 days.
(AP, 10/18/06)(AP, 10/19/06)
2006 Oct 17, A Chinese court ruled
that journalist Yang Xiaoqing was exempt from serving the remainder of
his sentence but would not overturn the lower court's conviction.
Xiaoqing, convicted of extortion for exposing local corruption, was
released on bail last month.
(AP, 10/21/06)
2006 Oct 17, A UN report
recommended that recommended that East Timor’s former interior minister
Rogerio Lobato, military chief Taur Matan Ruak, and several others be
prosecuted for illegal distribution of weapons and be held accountable
for unrest that gripped capital Dili this year. The 79-page report also
called for a further investigation into former PM Mari Alkatiri to
determine whether he should face criminal charges.
(Reuters, 10/18/06)
2006 Oct 17, In Ecuador with 60%
of the vote counted, Rafael Correa was all-but tied with Alvaro Noboa,
each with about 25%.
(AP, 10/17/06)
2006 Oct 17, The EU said it felt
obliged to back limited sanctions against Iran's nuclear program after
Tehran refused to halt uranium enrichment as a condition to start
negotiations.
(Reuters, 10/17/06)
2006 Oct 17, In eastern Honduras a
military truck plunged off a cliff, killing five soldiers and injuring
12.
(AP, 10/18/06)
2006 Oct 17, Indonesian television
broadcast the photo of Sudjiono Timan, a fugitive convicted of
embezzling millions of dollars in state funds as part of a new campaign
against corruption. Timan, was sentenced in absentia to 15 years in
jail for embezzling $140 million after his bank received emergency
funds meant to bail out banks crippled during Indonesia's 1998
financial crisis. This was the first installment of a weekly TV program
exposing people convicted of corruption, which remains endemic at all
levels of government.
(AP, 10/19/06)
2006 Oct 17, Iceland said it would
resume commercial whaling after a nearly two-decade moratorium, defying
a worldwide ban on hunting the mammals for their meat.
(AP, 10/18/06)
2006 Oct 17, In Iraq attacks left
Iraqis dead and 16 more corpses turned up in Baghdad. 8 US soldiers and
one Marine were killed by roadside bombs and enemy fire in and around
Baghdad.
(AP, 10/18/06)(WSJ, 10/18/06, p.A1)
2006 Oct 17, Israeli troops shot
and killed 5 Palestinians, including 2 young stone-throwers, in the
West Bank town of Qabatiyeh.
(AP, 10/17/06)(WSJ, 10/18/06, p.A1)
2006 Oct 17, The Italian bank
Sanpaolo won a five-way race for control of Bank of Alexandria, the
first Egyptian bank to be privatized in a selloff worth 1.6 billion
dollars.
(AFP, 10/17/06)
2006 Oct 17, In Italy a subway
train rammed into another train halted at the Piazza Vittorio Emanuele
II station in central Rome, killing at least one person and injuring
236.
(AP, 10/17/06)(WSJ, 10/18/06, p.A1)
2006 Oct 17, Kenya reported its
first case of polio in 22 years at a refugee camp near the Somali
border as the United Nations appealed for urgent help to cope with a
surge in refugees from Somalia.
(AFP, 10/17/06)
2006 Oct 17, In central Mexico an
explosion in an area packed with small fireworks factories Capulhuac,
20 miles west of Mexico City, left four people dead and a man with
severe burns. In western Mexico 14 people were killed when a passenger
bus crashed into the back of a tractor trailer. A spark touched off an
explosion aboard a gasoline tanker ship at Pemex's Pajarito marine
terminal in the city of Coatzacoalcos, killing eight people and
injuring nine others.
(AP, 10/17/06)
2006 Oct 17, The US State
Department said that the last landmines and unexploded ordnance
blocking Mozambique's vital Sena Railway line have been removed, thanks
largely to some $13 million (€10 million) in US aid. The mine action
assistance was launched in 2002. Under the US Humanitarian Mine Action
Program approximately 46 million dollars have been given in aid to
Mozambique since 1993.
(AFP, 10/17/06)
2006 Oct 17, North Korea said it
considered UN sanctions aimed at punishing the country for its nuclear
test "a declaration of war," as Japan and South Korea reported the
communist nation might be preparing a second explosion.
(AP, 10/17/06)
2006 Oct 17, Philippine media
groups accused the president's husband of trying to muzzle a critical
press by filing a string of libel cases against 43 journalists and
publishers.
(AP, 10/18/06)
2006 Oct 17, Sri Lankan fighter
jets pounded two suspected Tamil Tiger bases and a camp.
(AP, 10/17/06)
2006 Oct 17, A former Janjaweed
fighter in London recounted to the BBC how the Sudanese government has
actively supported the militia that is accused of genocide against
non-Arab ethnic groups in Darfur.
(AFP, 10/18/06)
2006 Oct 18, Pres. Bush signed a
new National Space Policy the rejects future arms-control agreements
that might limit US flexibility in space. Pres. Bush signed a military
authorization bill that included a provision to terminate the Office of
the Special Inspector General for Iraq, headed by Stuart Bowen.
(SFC, 10/19/06, p.A5)(SFC, 11/3/06, p.A14)
2006 Oct 18, Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice, visiting Tokyo, said the US was willing to use its
full military might to defend Japan in light of North Korea's nuclear
test.
(AP, 10/18/07)
2006 Oct 18, The Dow Jones
industrial average passed 12,000 for the first time before pulling back
to close at 11,992.68.
(AP, 10/18/07)
2006 Oct 18, Australia’s Tasmania
state unveiled an historic five million dollar (3.8 million dollars US)
compensation package for Aborigines forcibly taken from their families
as children.
(AFP, 10/18/06)
2006 Oct 18, A rocket fired from
an airplane hit a house during a clash between suspected Taliban
insurgents and NATO and Afghan security forces in a southern village. A
resident said 13 civilians were killed. At least one Taliban militant
was killed and three police were wounded in four hours of fighting that
started in Tajikai late the previous night.
(AP, 10/18/06)
2006 Oct 18, Expectations of a
British interest rate increase next month have been cemented by minutes
from the Bank of England's latest policy meeting.
(AFP, 10/18/06)
2006 Oct 18, Cambodia's royalist
party voted to remove Prince Norodom Ranariddh as its leader, saying
his long absences from the country left him unable to lead the
fractious party.
(AP, 10/19/06)
2006 Oct 18, In Dubai Etisalat, a
state-controlled phone company, was reported to have soaring profits.
The Emirates' chief telecom and Internet provider, began to block Skype
and other Internet phone providers during the summer, arguing they had
no license to sell phone service. Calls for 2 cents a minute went dead
and customers were forced to pay 75 cents per minute to phone Britain
and 60 cents to call the United States during peak hours.
(AP, 10/19/06)
2006 Oct 18, El Salvador’s Pres.
Antonio Saca pledged to support Taiwan's bid to join world bodies and
called for a free trade agreement between the two countries. El
Salvador is one of only 24 countries that affords Taiwan diplomatic
recognition over the island's rival China.
(AFP, 10/18/06)
2006 Oct 18, In Ethiopia a senior
judge appointed to investigate 2005 post-election violence said
Ethiopian security forces massacred 193 people, triple the official
death toll. Six policemen were also killed in the June and November
2005 riots, bringing the overall death toll to 199.
(AP, 10/18/06)
2006 Oct 18, In Greece some 5,000
protesting teachers and students blocked traffic in central Athens for
more than two hours as unions vowed to extend a monthlong elementary
school strike. Heavy storms lashed southeastern Greece, leaving three
people dead and forcing authorities to declare a state of emergency on
three islands.
(AP, 10/19/06)
2006 Oct 18, In Iraq PM Nouri
al-Maliki consulted with Iraq's Shiite spiritual leader Grand Ayatollah
Ali al-Sistani and radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr in Najaf in a bid to
enlist support for efforts to build political consensus and tackle the
Sunni-Shiite killings. A bomb planted on the main highway between the
cities of Amarah and Basra killed Ali Qassim al-Tamimi, head of
intelligence for the Maysan provincial police force, along with four
bodyguards. At least four people were killed and 13 wounded when a pair
of roadside bombs went off in quick succession in the same spot in a
residential part of the southern Dora district of Baghdad.
Elsewhere in Dora gunmen opened fire on a police station, killing 4
policemen. An American soldier was killed in combat in Anbar province.
(AP, 10/18/06)(AP, 10/19/06)
2006 Oct 18, Israeli tanks and
infantry took up positions on the Egypt-Gaza border, killing two
Palestinian gunmen as the army broadened its search for arms smuggling
tunnels.
(AP, 10/19/06)
2006 Oct 18, Japanese Prime
Minister Shinzo Abe said that Japan will not build a nuclear bomb,
declaring discussion on that topic "finished," despite the atomic test
by North Korea.
(AP, 10/18/06)
2006 Oct 18, Queen Elizabeth II
praised Latvians' love of liberty and hailed the long-standing ties
between Britain and the Baltic state, where she began the first-ever
visit by a British monarch.
(AFP, 10/18/06)
2006 Oct 18, Mexican police
discovered two human heads in a backpack in the Pacific state of
Guerrero, the latest decapitation victims in a continuing wave of
violence.
(AP, 10/19/06)
2006 Oct 18, Panamanian
authorities said that 26 people had died after drinking tainted cough
medicine, and five people had been detained on suspicion of selling
contaminated material to a factory that produced the medication. Panama
set up 34 round-the-clock clinics across the nation to identify the
sick and perform blood tests for kidney damage. The contaminated
medicines contained a chemical cousin of antifreeze, diethylene glycol,
which is used to keep glue and cosmetics moist. Officials believe it
turned up in 100,000 bottles of cough syrup, 20,000 of which have not
been recovered. In 2007 it was reported that a Chinese factory was the
source of a counterfeit chemical that killed dozens of people in Panama
after it was used in human medications. Total deaths reached 116 from
contaminated medications.
(AP, 10/19/06)(AP, 10/27/06)(AP, 5/6/07)(AP, 5/10/08)
2006 Oct 18, In Russia Dmitry
Fotyanov, a mayoral candidate in Dalnegorsk, about 5,750 miles east of
Moscow, was gunned down as he left his campaign headquarters. Dozens of
foreign non-governmental organizations in Russia, including Amnesty
International and Human Rights Watch, faced suspension after failing to
obtain necessary permits required under a tough new law.
(AP, 10/19/06)
2006 Oct 18, Suspected Tamil Tiger
rebels posing as fishermen blew up two boats in a suicide ambush on a
Sri Lankan naval base in Galle, killing 2 sailors. The rebels last hit
the Galle port area in December 1997, when they detonated a truck bomb
that was targeting the navy commander at the time.
(AP, 10/18/06)(AFP, 10/19/06)
2006 Oct 18, Local and UN
officials said Sudanese Janjaweed militia and Chadian rebels have
attacked at least 10 villages in south-east Chad in the past fortnight,
killing over 100 people and displacing more than 3,000. In southern
Sudan unknown gunmen killed 38 civilians in at least five attacks. At
least 50 soldiers from the former rebel Sudan People's Liberation Army
drowned in southern Sudan after two steamboats collided on the Nile.
(Reuters, 10/18/06)(Reuters, 10/19/06)
2006 Oct 18, In southern Thailand
suspected Muslim insurgents attacked an army base, killing one soldier
and leaving four others injured.
(AP, 10/18/06)
2006 Oct 18, In Kiev Steven
Spielberg and Victor Pinchuk hosted the premiere of "Spell Your Name,"
a film by director Sergey Bukovsky on the Holocaust in Ukraine.
(www.spielbergfilms.com/general/1098)
2006 Oct 18, Pope Benedict XVI
received an open letter signed by 38 Muslim personalities from various
countries and of different outlooks, which discussed point by point the
views on Islam expressed by the Pope in his Sep 12 Regensburg lecture.
Vatican officials pointed out that the two faiths have different, but
related problems: for the Christian today’s adversary is “reason
without faith” or cold secularism. For moderate Muslims it is “faith
without reason” or violent fundamentalism.
(http://popebenedict16.blogspot.com/)(Econ,
10/21/06, p.71)
2006 Oct 19, The St. Louis
Cardinals beat the New York Mets to win the National League pennant.
They will face the Detroit Tigers for the World Series.
(SFC, 10/20/06, p.A1)
2006 Oct 19, In Hawaii the 10th
annual fundraising parody Underpants Run was held in Kailua-Kona on the
Big Island.
(SSFC, 10/22/06, p.G2)
2006 Oct 19, A NY state judge
ruled that Richard Grasso, former head of the NYSE, must return as much
as $100 million of his $187.5 compensation package. In 2008 a state
appeals court ruled that Mr. Grasso can keep all of his compensation.
(SFC, 10/20/06, p.D3)(WSJ, 10/21/06, p.B1)(WSJ,
7/2/08, p.A1)
2006 Oct 19, The Dow Jones
industrial average closed above 12,000 for the first time, ending at
12,011.73.
(AP, 10/19/07)
2006 Oct 19, In Fremont, Ca., Alia
Ansari (37), a native of Afghanistan and mother of 6, was gunned down
in mid-afternoon as she walked to pick up her children from school.
Manuel Urango (28) was soon arrested on a parole violation as a person
of interest. In 2007 was charged with Ansari’s murder. Urango was
convicted of first-degree murder on March 11, 2008.
(SFC, 10/20/06, p.A1)(SFC, 3/2/07, p.B1)(SFC,
3/10/08, p.B2)
2006 Oct 19, In Texas a death-row
inmate slit his own throat with a makeshift knife, committing suicide
about 15 hours before he was scheduled to be executed. Michael Dewayne
Johnson (29) was on death row for the 1995 killing of a convenience
store clerk near Waco. Johnson had denied gunning down Jeff Wetterman
(27), who helped pump gas at the family store off Interstate 35 near
Waco. Johnson blamed his companion, David Vest, for the killing. Vest
blamed the shooting on Johnson, took an eight-year prison term in a
plea deal and testified against his friend. Vest is now free.
(AP, 10/19/06)
2006 Oct 19, Phyllis Kirk (79),
film and TV actress, died in Woodland Hills, California. She starred in
the 1953 3-D film “House of Wax,” and played opposite Peter Lawford in
TV’s “The Thin Man” (1957-1959).
(SFC, 10/24/06, p.B5)
2006 Oct 19, President Hamid
Karzai called on NATO forces to use caution during military operations,
a day after 20 civilians were killed. In southern Afghanistan a suicide
bomber killed two children and a British soldier. In eastern
Afghanistan gunmen ambushed a car carrying Afghan civilians working on
a remote US military base and killed eight of them execution-style.
(AP, 10/19/06)(AP, 10/20/06)
2006 Oct 19, In southeastern
Bangladesh a herd of wild elephants rampaged through a village, killing
five members of one family, including two children.
(AP, 10/19/06)
2006 Oct 19, In Brazil Judge Luiz
Noronha Dantas handed down a 52-year sentence on four homicide counts
and stripped Capt. Marcos Duarte Ramalho of his status as a police
officer. Ramalho was the third police officer to stand trial and the
first to be convicted in connection with the April 16, 2003, killings
in the Borel shantytown on Rio's poor north side. Two more officers are
set to stand trial for the killings.
(AP, 10/20/06)
2006 Oct 19, Ralph Harris (81),
British economist and former head of the Institute of Economic Affairs,
died.
(Econ, 11/4/06, p.96)
2006 Oct 19, A court struck down
sections of a Canadian anti-terrorism law, in a ruling that threw out
warrants used to search the home of a reporter covering U.S. efforts to
secretly send a Canadian terror suspect to Syria for interrogation.
(AP, 10/19/06)
2006 Oct 19, China stepped up its
diplomatic efforts with North Korea, sending a personal message and a
gift from the Chinese president to the North's leader Kim Jong Il as
Washington appealed for cooperation by Asian powers on U.N. sanctions
for Pyongyang's nuclear test.
(AP, 10/19/06)
2006 Oct 19, In Colombia a car
bomb left by a person dressed in a military uniform exploded in the
parking lot of a military university in Bogota, wounding at least 23
people, as a top general was at a conference nearby.
(AP, 10/19/06)
2006 Oct 19, Queen Elizabeth II
arrived in Estonia on the last leg of a landmark trip to the Baltic
states, during which the 80-year-old monarch has repeatedly praised the
Baltic people for their determined fight for freedom.
(AFP, 10/19/06)
2006 Oct 19, Ethiopia's PM Meles
Zenawi told parliament that he had sent military trainers to help
Somalia's struggling government, but had not deployed a fighting force.
Yalemzewd Bekele, a human rights lawyer working for the European
Commission in Addis Ababa, was arrested at the border with Kenya. Her
arrest was likely related to the Oct 5 arrest of businessman Alemayehu
Fantu.
(AP, 10/19/06)(Econ, 10/28/06, p.28)
2006 Oct 19, In Iraq a suicide
bomber driving a fuel tanker struck a major police station in the
northern city of Mosul, killing 12 people and wounding 25. Another
suicide car bomb detonated in Kirkuk killed 12 people and wounded 68.
Fighting broke out in Amara after the head of police intelligence in
the surrounding province, a member of the rival Shiite Badr Brigade
militia, was killed by a roadside bomb, prompting his family to kidnap
the teenage brother of the local head of the a-Madhi Army. At least 66
Iraqis died in fighting and sectarian killings.
(AFP, 10/19/06)(AP, 10/20/06)(WSJ, 10/20/06, p.A1)
2006 Oct 19, Italian police
arrested 12 alleged members of a Mafia clan accused of drug trafficking
and running an extortion ring that terrorized businesses in the
Sicilian town of Messina.
(AP, 10/19/06)
2006 Oct 19, In Malaysia Altantuya
Shaariibuu (28), a Mongolian model, was kidnapped outside the house of
Abdul Razak Baginda (46), who heads the Malaysian Strategic Research
Centre think-tank. Shaariibuu was allegedly extorting Baginda following
an affair that had begun in 2004. She was killed and her remains blown
up with military-grade C-4 explosives and later found in an isolated
area south of the capital Kuala Lumpur. In Nov. Malaysian PM Abdullah
Ahmad Badawi vowed there would be no cover-up over her murder. Abdul
Razak allegedly abetted two policemen, Azilah Hadri (30) and Sirul
Azhar Umar (35), to commit the murder. In 2008 a court acquitted Razak
of charges of abetting the murder of Shaariibuu. In 2009 a Malaysian
court sentenced two policemen to death on charges of murdering
Shaariibuu.
(AFP, 11/9/06)(AFP, 11/16/06)(WSJ, 3/29/07,
p.A1)(WSJ, 11/1/08, p.A8)(AP, 4/9/09)
2006 Oct 19, Mexico's Senate ruled
there was no reason to oust Oaxaca's embattled state governor,
eliminating the last formal legal recourse for thousands of protesters
who for months have demanded the resignation of Gov. Ulises Ruiz. Jorge
Bustos, a commander with the defunct Federal Security Directorate, was
arrested in Mexico City in connection with the 1974 disappearance of
six alleged guerrilla members. Bustos had arrested six members of the
Brigada Lacandona, a 1970s guerrilla faction, who disappeared after
Hidalgo state authorities turned them over to the federal intelligence
agency.
(AP, 10/19/06)(AP, 10/20/06)
2006 Oct 19, Nigeria's president
declared a state of emergency in a troubled southwest state where he
said the impeachment of the governor by the local legislature violated
the constitution. Thirty-one of Nigeria's 36 state governors are being
investigated for corruption, according to the country's financial
crimes agency.
(AP, 10/19/06)
2006 Oct 19, Russia forced nearly
100 foreign non-governmental organizations, including leading human
rights groups, to suspend operations for missing a deadline for
re-registration under a tough, new law.
(AP, 10/19/06)
2006 Oct 19, Sri Lanka's Tamil
Tiger rebels agreed to attend peace talks with the government this
month in a breakthrough announcement after a week of bloody attacks
left over 250 dead. In northern Sri Lanka 3 government soldiers were
killed in attacks blamed on the Tiger rebels.
(AP, 10/19/06)(AP, 10/19/06)
2006 Oct 19, Syrian authorities
ordered prominent writer and pro-democracy activist Michel Kilo
released on bail after more than four months in detention.
(AP, 10/19/06)
2006 Oct 19, Four ministers from
President Viktor Yushchenko's Our Ukraine party resigned after the
collapse of talks to create a broad ruling coalition in the ex-Soviet
state.
(AP, 10/19/06)
2006 Oct 19, The UN Environment
Program said the number of "dead zones" in the world's oceans had
reached 200, an increase of 34% in 2 years, threatening fish stocks and
the people who depend on them.
(AP, 10/19/06)(WSJ, 10/20/06, p.A1)
2006 Oct 19, A UN report said The
North Korean government rounds up disabled people and sends them away
from the capital Pyongyang to special camps, where they are sorted by
their handicap and subjected to "subhuman conditions."
(AP, 10/19/06)
2006 Oct 20, President Bush
conceded in an Associated Press interview that "right now it's tough"
for American forces in Iraq, but the White House said he would not
change US strategy in the face of pre-election polls indicating voters
were upset.
(AP, 10/20/07)
2006 Oct 20, US federal
authorities arrested Jake Brahm, a 20-year-old Wisconsin grocery store
clerk, for making a hoax threat that said seven football stadiums
across the nation would be targeted by terrorists with radiological
"dirty bombs" this weekend.
(AP, 10/20/06)(SFC, 10/21/06, p.A5)
2006 Oct 20, Corrections officials
said California will begin shipping thousands of inmates to prisons in
four other states next month at a cost of more than $51 million a year.
(AP, 10/20/06)
2006 Oct 20, In Pennsylvania 24
rail cars carrying ethanol derailed and 9 caught fire on a bridge over
the Beaver River in New Brighton, 25 miles northwest of Pittsburgh.
(SSFC, 10/22/06, p.A5)
2006 Oct 20, Jane Wyatt (b.1910),
TV and film actress, died in Bel Air, Ca. She was best known as the TV
wife of Robert Young in “Father Knows Best” (1954-1960). Her films
included “Lost Horizon” (1937).
(SFC, 10/23/06, p.B3)
2006 Oct 20, Corus, an Anglo-Dutch
steel-maker, accepted an $8.1 billion buyout bid from Tata Steel, a
smaller Indian firm.
(Econ, 10/28/06, p.74)
2006 Oct 20, Eric Newby (86),
British travel writer, died. His books included "A Short Walk In The
Hindu Kush" (1958), the story of his travels from London to Afghanistan.
(AFP, 10/23/06)(Econ, 10/28/06, p.97)
2006 Oct 20, China’s state press
said the estuaries of China's two greatest rivers, the Yangtze and the
Yellow, have been declared dead zones by the UN due to high amounts of
pollutants. The leading People's Daily reported that it would take at
least 200 years to clean up the Bohai Sea, even if no more sewage was
poured into it. Beijing published a 5-year plan for economic and
bureaucratic reforms in the capital.
(AFP, 10/20/06)(Econ, 10/28/06, p.50)
2006 Oct 20, In Lahti, Finland, 25
EU leaders held a one-day summit on energy. Russian President Vladimir
Putin defended his government's tough stance on Georgia and dodged EU
leaders' demands that he commit to a legally binding energy charter
that would guarantee better access to Russia's oil and gas fields.
(AP, 10/20/06)
2006 Oct 20, The Shiite militia
run by anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr seized total control of the
southern Iraqi city of Amarah in one of the boldest acts of defiance
yet by one of the country's powerful, unofficial armies. At least 15
people, including five militiamen, one policeman and two bystanders,
were killed in clashes. Clashes between Shiite and Sunni tribes just
south of Baghdad left 4 people dead. Five tortured bodies were found
dumped along roads or in the Tigris River.
(AP, 10/20/06)(AP, 10/21/06)
2006 Oct 20, A Jewish settler
watchdog group said more than 40 percent of unauthorized West Bank
outposts are built on private Palestinian land, adding that there are
no signs the Israeli government is taking steps to tear them down.
(AP, 10/20/06)
2006 Oct 20, Japan's government
said the birth rate rose for the seventh straight month in August,
raising hopes for an upturn in the country's plunging annual birthrate
and declining population.
(AP, 10/20/06)
2006 Oct 20, In North Korea tens
of thousands gathered in Pyongyang to laud the country's first atomic
test. A South Korean news agency reported that North Korean leader Kim
Jong Il said Pyongyang didn't plan to carry out any more nuclear tests
and expressed regret about the country's first-ever atomic detonation
last week [see Oct 24].
(AP, 10/20/06)(AP, 10/21/06)
2006 Oct 20, In Mexico radical
protesters and teachers, who have taken over the city of Oaxaca,
appeared to be parting ways after the teachers' leaders agreed to end a
strike and return to work.
(AP, 10/21/06)
2006 Oct 20, In northwestern
Pakistan a bomb left in a fruit cart struck a crowded market, killing
at least seven people and wounding dozens in Peshawar.
(AP, 10/20/06)
2006 Oct 20, Saudi Arabia's
state-run news agency reported that the king gave new powers to his
brothers and nephews in an overhaul of the way the kingdom chooses
future monarchs, in what appeared to be an attempt to defuse internal
power struggles.
(AP, 10/20/06)
2006 Oct 20, Shiite and Sunni
religious figures met in Mecca in a bid to stop sectarian bloodshed,
and issued a series of edicts forbidding violence between Iraq's two
Muslim sects.
(AP, 10/20/06)
2006 Oct 20, South Korea Defense
Minister Yoon Kwang-ung met with US Defense Secretary Donald H.
Rumsfeld and agreed that Seoul will retake full wartime operational
control of Korean forces from the US sometime between 2009 and 2012.
(www.voanews.com/english/2006-10-20-voa84.cfm)
2006 Oct 20, Thailand's military
government said it had extended emergency rule in the Muslim-majority
south where another 21 people were killed this week despite moves to
resolve bloody unrest.
(AFP, 10/20/06)
2006 Oct 20, The UN refugee agency
said it had received reports of at least 38 civilians killed in attacks
in southern Sudan and was suspending its operation helping Sudanese
refugees return from neighboring Uganda.
(AP, 10/20/06)
2006 Oct 21, Al-Jazeera television
aired an interview with US State Department official Alberto Fernandez,
who offered an unusually blunt assessment of the Iraq war, saying the
US had shown "arrogance" and "stupidity" in Iraq. Fernandez issued an
apology the next day.
(AP, 10/21/07)
2006 Oct 21, In SF Joseph James
Melcher (25), a traveling wine salesman, opened fire on 3 people in
Japantown and 2 died. He was arrested the same evening. On Nov 21
Melcher was also charged with killing Robert Stanford (21) on Aug 27.
On May 13, 2009, Melcher was convicted on 3 counts of murder. On June
11 Melcher was sentenced to 200 years to life in prison.
(SFC, 10/24/06, p.B1)(SFC, 11/23/06, p.B1)(SFC,
5/14/09, p.B2)(SFC, 6/12/09, p.B3)
2006 Oct 21, In Bangladesh
donations of clothing set off stampedes that left at least eight people
dead. All were women except for one child.
(AP, 10/21/06)
2006 Oct 21, In central Bolivia a
bus plunged off a mountain road, killing 29 people and injuring 25.
(AP, 10/22/06)
2006 Oct 21, In Najaf, Iraq,
Interior Minister Jawad al-Bolani met with Shiite cleric Muqtada
al-Sadr in an attempt to rein marauding militias. 5 bicycle bombs and a
hail of mortar shells killed 32 people with scores more wounded in a
market in Mahmoudiyah. Rival Shiite militiamen battled near the ancient
city of Babylon until American forces and helicopters rushed to
separate the combatants. At least two people were killed in Hamza
al-Gharbi and 25 in Amarah, a city of 750,000 people at the head of
Iraq's famous marshlands. At least 21 more people were killed in
violence around the country, including 7 who died in a suicide bombing
on a Baghdad bus. A US Marine was killed in fighting in Anbar province
west of Baghdad and another soldier died in fighting in Salahuddin
province.
(AP, 10/21/06)(AP, 10/22/06)(SSFC, 10/22/06,
p.A14)(AP, 10/23/06)
2006 Oct 21, In Mexico’s Michoacan
state, the home state of President-elect Felipe Calderon, 420 homicides
were reported for this year, including 19 police chiefs and commanders.
Juan Antonio Magana, the state's attorney general, said well over half
the killings were drug-related.
(AP, 10/21/06)
2006 Oct 21, In Nigeria police
said all seven foreign oil workers who were being held hostage in the
southern Niger Delta have been released and are in good health.
(AP, 10/21/06)
2006 Oct 21, Members of the
Palestinian security forces fired in the air in Gaza City's main
shopping district and burned tires near President Mahmoud Abbas' home
to press demands for payment of salaries.
(AP, 10/21/06)
2006 Oct 21, Foreign Minister
Sergey Lavrov said that Russia was ready to discuss ways to pressure
Iran into accepting a broader international oversight of its nuclear
program, but added that "any measures of influence should encourage
creating conditions for talks." He said Russia will not allow the UN
Security Council to be used to punish Iran over its nuclear program.
Russia indicated it would strictly enforce sanctions on North Korea as
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met top leaders in Moscow at the
end of a tour to push for full implementation of the UN penalties in
response to Pyongyang’s nuclear test. Rice delivered a symbolic rebuke
to Russia over shrinking press freedoms, even as she courted President
Vladimir Putin for help punishing Iran over its nuclear program.
(AFP, 10/21/06)(AP, 10/21/07)
2006 Oct 21, Sri Lanka's
government said it will provide safe passage for rebels traveling to
Geneva for peace talks, as the navy destroyed two insurgent boats
approaching a naval base. The Tamil Tigers threatened to extend their
battle against government troops across the island if Colombo "wants a
war", as the navy said they killed 20 rebels in sea clashes.
(AP, 10/21/06)(AFP, 10/21/06)
2006 Oct 21, The death toll from
severe flooding in Thailand and neighboring Myanmar has jumped to 143
after Thai authorities confirmed another 16 victims. The severe
flooding began in late August in Thailand's central and northern
provinces
(AFP, 10/21/06)
2006 Oct 21, Uganda's president
traveled to southern Sudan to bolster faltering talks between his
government and rebels aimed at ending a brutal 19-year conflict in
northern Uganda.
(AP, 10/21/06)
2006 Oct 22, Senior US diplomat
Alberto Fernandez apologized for saying in an al-Jazeera TV interview
that US policy in Iraq had displayed "arrogance" and "stupidity."
(AP, 10/22/07)
2006 Oct 22, The Oracle OpenWorld
convention opened in SF. Some 42,000 attendees were expected to pump
$60 million into the city’s economy by the close on Oct 27.
(SFC, 10/23/06, p.E1)
2006 Oct 22, Actor Arthur Hill
died in Los Angeles at age 84.
(AP, 10/22/07)
2006 Oct 22, Arnold Sundgaard,
librettist and playwright, died in Dallas, Texas. He and Kurt Weill
collaborated on the 1948 opera “Down in the Valley.”
(SFC, 11/10/06, p.B8)
2006 Oct 22, The Afghan government
and the UN appealed for $43 million in aid to respond to a severe
drought and help tens of thousands of families displaced by fighting in
the country's south. In southern Afghanistan insurgents attacked a NATO
convoy, sparking a gunbattle that killed 15 suspected militants and
wounded two NATO troops. Fighting between forces loyal to two
pro-government warlords in western Afghanistan left at least 12 people
dead.
(AP, 10/22/06)(AP, 10/23/06)
2006 Oct 22, PM John Howard
announced that Australia is to launch a 500-million-dollar drive to
tackle global warming, as the country battles its worst drought in more
than a century.
(AFP, 10/22/06)
2006 Oct 22, Bulgarians voted for
the president who will lead their country into the EU. Incumbent Georgi
Parvanov won 64% of the vote against his main rival, ultranationalist
Volen Siderov. Turnout was only 38% of Bulgaria's 6.4 million eligible
voters, short of the 50% required by law to allow Parvanov to avoid a
runoff. Most power in Bulgaria rests with the prime minister and
parliament. But the president does have veto powers, giving him the
right to send any bill back to parliament. He also represents the state
abroad, leads the armed forces and can sign international treaties. The
president is elected for a term of five years, renewable only once. The
runoff was set for Oct 29.
(AP, 10/22/06)(WSJ, 10/24/06, p.A1)
2006 Oct 22, A half-mile section
of China's Yellow River turned "red and smelly" after an unknown
discharge was poured into it from a sewage pipe in Lanzhou, a city of 2
million people in western Gansu province.
(AP, 10/23/06)
2006 Oct 22, Iraq's former finance
minister alleged in a US television report that up to $800 million
meant to equip the Iraqi army had been stolen from the government by
former officials through fraudulent arms deals. In Iraq militants
targeted police recruits and shoppers rounding up last-minute sweets
and delicacies for a feast to mark the end of the Ramadan holy month.
Gunmen in five sedans ambushed a convoy of buses carrying police
recruits near the city of Baqouba, killing at least 15 and wounding 25
others. At least 44 Iraqis were killed or their bodies were founded
dumped along roads or in the Tigris River. The killings raised to at
least 950 the number of Iraqis who have died in war-related violence
this month, an average of more than 40 a day. Six US soldiers were
killed, three by small arms fire west of the capital and three by
roadside bombs within Baghdad.
(AP, 10/23/06)
2006 Oct 22, An Israeli Cabinet
minister said the Israeli army used phosphorous artillery shells
against Hezbollah guerrilla targets during their war in Lebanon this
summer, confirming Lebanese allegations for the first time. Israel's
defense minister said that air force flights over Lebanon would
continue because arms smuggling to Lebanese guerrillas has not stopped.
(AP, 10/22/06)
2006 Oct 22, Palestinian security
forces blocked main Gaza Strip intersections, burning tires and
snarling traffic to protest the Hamas-led government's inability to pay
their salaries.
(AP, 10/22/06)
2006 Oct 22, Voters in Panama
approved a $5.25 billion referendum, pushed by Pres, Torrijos, to
expand the Panama Canal. The project was expected to take 8 years and
provide some 7,000 jobs.
(AP, 10/23/06)(Econ, 7/21/07, p.39)
2006 Oct 22, Choi Kyu-hah (88),
former president of South Korean (1979-80), died of heart failure. Choi
became acting president in 1979 after the assassination of President
Park Chung-hee. He was forced to resign just eight months later
following a military coup.
(AP, 10/22/06)
2006 Oct 22, The Sudanese
government ordered the chief UN envoy to leave the country within three
days after he wrote that the Sudanese army had suffered serious losses
in fighting with rebels in northern Darfur.
(AP, 10/22/06)
2006 Oct 22-2006 Oct 28, US
federal, state and local officers rounded up some 10,700 fugitives in a
sweep of 24 eastern states, DC, and Puerto Rico.
(SFC, 11/32/06, p.A11)
2006 Oct 23, In Texas a district
judge sentenced Jeffrey Skilling (52), former chief executive of Enron
Corp., to over 24 years in prison for his role in the financial fraud
that destroyed Enron. He was also ordered Skilling to pay $45 million
in restitution to Enron investors.
(SFC, 10/23/06, p.D1)
2006 Oct 23, Ford Motor Co. posted
a 3rd quarter loss of $5.8 billion.
(WSJ, 10/24/06, p.A3)
2006 Oct 23, Tod Skinner (b.1958),
American free climber, died in a fall at Yosemite National Park after
his harness broke.
(WSJ, 1/11/07,
p.B10)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Todd_Skinner)
2006 Oct 23, An Afghan girl was
killed and two wounded when a mortar test-fired by NATO troops fell
short of its target and hit a home in eastern Kunar province.
(AFP, 10/24/06)
2006 Oct 23, An Australian
scientist said Global warming will force changes to Australia's A$4.8
billion ($3.6 billion) wine export industry, threatening the very
existence of some varieties as temperatures rise.
(AP, 10/23/06)
2006 Oct 23, In central Bangladesh
a ferry packed with dozens of people going home for an Islamic festival
capsized in a river after hitting a cargo boat, killing at least 15
people.
(AP, 10/23/06)
2006 Oct 23, In southeastern Chad
armed men attacked Am Timan, 24 hours after briefly seizing the town of
Goz Beida near the Sudan border. The insurgents, calling themselves the
Union of Forces for Democracy and Development (UFDD), the latest in a
string of titles grouping various rebel factions, have said they want
polls to end the "catastrophic" rule of President Idriss Deby.
(Reuters, 10/24/06)
2006 Oct 23, In Hungary riots left
167 injured, including 17 police officers, while 131 were detained. The
anti-government demonstrations coincided with Hungary's commemoration
of the 50th anniversary of its uprising against Soviet rule. The next
day Viktor Orban, Hungarian conservative opposition leader, came under
withering attack for his role in fueling the far-right protests in
Budapest.
(AFP, 10/24/06)(AP, 10/23/07)
2006 Oct 23, PM Nouri al-Maliki
ordered security forces to crack down on unlawful acts by armed
factions. A bombing in Baghdad killed 3 Iraqis. 52 bodies were found
across Baghdad. Ahmed Qusai al-Taayie, a 41-year-old reserve soldier
from Ann Arbor, Mich., went missing and was believed kidnapped in
Baghdad.
(AP, 10/24/06)(SFC, 10/24/06, p.A5)(AP, 11/18/06)
2006 Oct 23, Israeli troops shot
and killed seven Palestinians, including a militant who led a
rocket-launching operation.
(AP, 10/23/06)
2006 Oct 23, The military regime
in Myanmar ordered the International Red Cross to close five key field
offices in the country.
(AP, 11/27/06)
2006 Oct 23, In Panama mechanical
problems triggered a fire that raced through a bus in Panama City,
killing at least 18 people, injuring 25.
(AP, 10/23/06)
2006 Oct 23, Portuguese bank BPI
said it will open 30 new branches in fast-growing Angola next year,
bringing its total number of outlets in the oil-rich southwestern
African nation to 100 by the end of 2007.
(AP, 10/23/06)
2006 Oct 23, In Uruguay thousands
of taxi and truck drivers went on strike to demand lower fuel prices in
a challenge to the center-left government. The strike ended later in
the day.
(AP, 10/24/06)
2006 Oct 23, A WTO draft report
said Vietnam has succeeded in introducing the reforms necessary for it
to join the World Trade Organization and become the world body's 150th
member.
(AP, 10/23/06)
2006 Oct 24, The St. Louis
Cardinals gained a 2-to-1 World Series edge as they defeated the
Detroit Tigers 5-0. Before Game 3 began, baseball players and owners
finalized a five-year collective bargaining agreement.
(AP, 10/24/07)
2006 Oct 24, Ohio executed Jeffrey
Lundgren (56), a religious cult leader, for the 1989 murder of a family
of five followers who were taken one at a time to a barn, bound and
shot to death. The youngest was a girl just 7 years old. Lundgren
argued at his trial in 1990 that he was prophet of God and therefore
not deserving of the death penalty.
(AP, 10/24/06)
2006 Oct 24, Enolia P. McMillan
(b.1904), the first female president of the NAACP, died in Maryland.
(SFC, 10/27/06, p.B9)
2006 Oct 24, NATO soldiers killed
38 Taliban rebels in clashes in southern Afghanistan that also claimed
a number of civilian lives. Villagers said that around 20 houses were
destroyed and 60 people killed or wounded in the fighting around the
Panjwayi area. They said none of the dead were Taliban. Afghan
officials estimated up to 60 Taliban fighters and 85 civilians were
killed in Panjwayi, a district in the former Taliban stronghold of
Kandahar province. The Interior Ministry said 40 civilians and 20
Taliban militants were killed, while a Kandahar provincial council
member, Bismallah Afghanmal, said up to 85 civilians died.
(AFP, 10/25/06)(AP, 10/26/06)
2006 Oct 24, The environmental
group WWF said Australians soak up more scarce resources than almost
any other nation and produce so much waste on average that their mark
on the world's ecology exceeds China.
(http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20061024/wl_nm/environment_australia_dc)
2006 Oct 24, Britain said
Bulgarians and Romanians will have only limited rights to work in
Britain for at least a year after their countries join the European
Union on January 1.
(AP, 10/24/06)
2006 Oct 24, Mohammed Momin
Khawaja (27), the first person charged under Canada's anti-terrorism
act won a partial victory when a judge struck down a key portion of the
law, ruling that the clause dealing with the definition of the law
violates the country's bill of rights.
(AP, 10/24/06)
2006 Oct 24, Liu Jianchao, Chinese
Foreign Ministry spokesman, said North Korean leader Kim Jong Il did
not apologize for his regime's nuclear test, as some South Korean media
had reported [see Oct 20], but is willing to return to six-party talks
under certain conditions.
(AP, 10/24/06)
2006 Oct 24, In CongoDRC more than
a dozen people jailed for the 2001 assassination of Congolese President
Laurent Kabila vanished from a prison in the capital Kinshasa.
(Reuters, 10/24/06)
2006 Oct 24, Ethiopia’s PM Meles
Zenawi said Ethiopia was "technically" at war with Somalia's Islamists
because they had declared jihad on his nation.
(AP, 10/24/06)
2006 Oct 24, Georgia's Foreign
Ministry said it had protested to the UN about Russia's crackdown on
illegal Georgian migrants, demanding a stop to what it called
"persecution on ethnic grounds."
(AP, 10/24/06)
2006 Oct 24, In Indonesia 2
Islamic militants jailed for the Bali bombings that killed 202 people
were freed. Mujarod bin Salim and Sirojul Munir had been convicted of
hiding two of the bomb plotters. 9 others had their sentences reduced
45 days to mark the end of the Islamic fasting month.
(AP, 10/24/06)
2006 Oct 24, In Iraq sectarian
violence persisted in the southern city of Amarah, with at least two
more policemen shot to death. American officials unveiled a timeline
for Iraq's Shiite-led government to take specific steps to calm Baghdad
and said more US troops might be needed to quell the bloodshed.
(AP, 10/24/06)(AP, 10/24/07)
2006 Oct 24, Moroccan King Mohamed
VI pardoned 617 prisoners in honor of Eid al-Fitr, the holiday marking
the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
(AP, 10/24/06)
2006 Oct 24, Palestinian gunmen
kidnapped Emilio Morenatti (37), an Associated Press photographer in
the Gaza Strip, grabbing him as he walked out of his apartment and
whisking him away in their vehicle. Morenatti was freed the next day.
(AP, 10/24/06)(AP, 10/25/06)
2006 Oct 24, Officials said Russia
has allowed dozens of foreign non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to
resume operations and was speeding up the registration process for
others barred from working last week.
(AP, 10/25/06)
2006 Oct 24, In northern Vietnam a
boat carrying traders with their chickens and pigs capsized in a river
with at least 20 passengers feared drowned.
(AP, 10/24/06)
2006 Oct 25, President Bush
conceded that the US is taking heavy casualties in Iraq and said, "I
know many Americans are not satisfied with the situation" there. Bush
said he would not put unbearable pressure on Iraq's leaders to end the
bloodshed.
(AP, 10/25/06)
2006 Oct 25, A US federal judge
ruled that Indiana’s do-not-call list applies to political
telemarketers in a House race.
(WSJ, 10/26/06, p.A1)
2006 Oct 25, The US FDA approved
Tyzeka, generically known as telbivudine, to help treat adults with
chronic hepatitis B. It was developed by Idenix and Novartis.
(SFC, 10/26/06, p.A9)
2006 Oct 25, New Jersey’s Supreme
Court ruled that same-sex couples deserve the same privileges as
heterosexuals, but left it up to lawmakers to define marriage.
(SFC, 10/26/06, p.A1)
2006 Oct 25, In Richmond, Ca.,
federal and local officers arrested 15 people on drug charges.
(SFC, 10/26/06, p.B3)
2006 Oct 25, Florida executed
Danny Rolling (52), an infamous serial killer. He was executed for
butchering five college students in Gainesville in 1990.
(AP, 10/26/06)
2006 Oct 25, Texas executed
Gregory Summers (48), a man convicted in the stabbing deaths of his
parents and an uncle. He paid a hit man to kill his parents in 1990 in
an attempt to collect their life insurance and an inheritance.
(AP, 10/26/06)
2006 Oct 25, Argentine prosecutors
asked a federal judge to order the arrest of former Iranian President
Hashemi Rafsanjani and seven others for the 1994 bombing of a Jewish
cultural center that killed scores of people.
(AP, 10/25/06)
2006 Oct 25, Azerbaijan’s
broadcasting chief said government authorities will bar Azerbaijan
broadcasters from airing programs of the Voice of America, the BBC and
Radio Liberty starting next year.
(AP, 10/25/06)
2006 Oct 25, A rights group said
Burundi's spy agency has executed 38 people and arbitrarily detained
200 others since the Central African nation's new government came to
power. New York-based Human Rights Watch accused President Pierre
Nkurunziza’s year-old government of failing to prosecute those accused
of extra-judicial killings.
(AP, 10/25/06)
2006 Oct 25, In Finland the US and
the EU ended a 2-day meeting on cleaner energy. They agreed on tighter
cooperation on renewable energy and other environmental policies
despite splits over the UN’s Kyoto Protocol on global warming.
(WSJ, 10/26/06, p.A6)
2006 Oct 25, French President
Jacques Chirac and a delegation of French executives traveled to China
in hopes of expanding trade with one of the world's largest economies.
(AP, 10/25/06)
2006 Oct 25, In India a crowded
bus veered off a steep mountain road and plunged into the Teesta River,
killing at least 25 people in the northeastern state of Sikkim.
(AP, 10/26/06)
2006 Oct 25, A semiofficial news
agency reported that Iran has expanded its controversial nuclear work
by starting a second cascade of centrifuges to enrich uranium.
(AP, 10/25/06)
2006 Oct 25, Iraqi and US forces
raided Sadr City, the stronghold of the feared Shiite militia led by
radical anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, but PM Nouri al-Maliki
disavowed the operation, saying he had not been consulted and insisting
"that it will not be repeated." Four people were killed and 18 wounded
in overnight fighting in the overwhelmingly Shiite eastern district. 6
people killed when a roadside bomb destroyed their vehicle in Balad Ruz.
(AP, 10/25/06)
2006 Oct 25, Robert Rosenberg
(54), Boston-born Israeli writer, died of cancer in Tel Aviv, the
Israeli daily Haaretz reported on its Web site. Rosenberg was a senior
staff editor at the paper. Rosenberg was author of the 1991 New York
Times notable thriller, "Crimes of the City," which was followed by 3
more books featuring the same protagonist, detective Avram Cohen.
Rosenberg founded the Ariga.com Web site in 1995 as a source for
information on Middle East peace efforts.
(AP, 10/25/06)
2006 Oct 25, In Nigeria angry
villagers seized three Shell oil platforms in the volatile Niger Delta,
forcing production to be shut down at each.
(AP, 10/25/06)
2006 Oct 25, The Philippine
Supreme Court vetoed a move to change the presidential system to a
unicameral parliamentary government, dealing a blow to President Gloria
Arroyo's economic agenda.
(AP, 10/25/06)
2006 Oct 25, Turkmenistan's
President Saparmurat Niyazov announced that his energy-rich nation
would provide citizens with natural gas and power free of charge
through 2030.
(AP, 10/25/06)
2006 Oct 26, President Bush signed
a bill authorizing 700 miles of new fencing along the U.S.-Mexico
border, hoping to give Republican candidates a pre-election platform
for asserting they're tough on illegal immigration.
(AP, 10/26/06)
2006 Oct 26, An arson fire near
Palm Springs, Ca., killed 4 US Forest Service firefighters as they
attempted to protect a home close to where the fire began in Cabazon.
The fire raced across almost 38 square miles as more than 1,100
firefighters worked to protect homes and build fire lines. A 5th
firefighter of Engine 57 died Oct 31. Raymond Lee Oyler (36) was
arrested on Oct 31 for setting the Esperanza Fire. It was later
reported that he set the fire as a diversion to free his family’s
impounded pit bull. On March 6, 2009, Oyler was convicted of 5 counts
of first degree murder. On June 5, 2009, Oyler was sentenced to death.
(AP, 10/27/06)(SFC, 11/1/06, p.A3)(SFC, 3/16/07,
p.B7)(SFC, 3/7/09, p.A5)(AP, 6/6/09)
2006 Oct 26, A big snowstorm in
Colorado dumped 20 inches cutting power to thousands.
(WSJ, 10/27/06, p.A1)
2006 Oct 26, In SF the first
Amateur Erotic Film Competition opened at the Castro Theater.
(SFC, 10/26/06, p.B1)
2006 Oct 26, The charity
organization Oxfam accused coffee house chain Starbucks of blocking
attempts by Ethiopia to trademark three coffee bean types and thereby
denying farmers substantial income.
(AP, 10/26/06)
2006 Oct 26, Exxon Mobil Corp.
said earnings rose 6% to $10.5 billion, the second-largest quarterly
operating profit ever by a US company.
(Reuters, 10/26/06)
2006 Oct 26, Researchers reported
the identification of the western honeybee genome. They identified
10,157 genes in the DNA project that began in 2003. The number was
fewer than what was found in the fruit fly, mosquito or silk worm.
(SFC, 10/26/06, p.A9)
2006 Oct 26, On Hoxie, Kansas,
Sheridan County sheriff James Johnson (54) was shot and killed as he
interviewed Steven Paul Reitcheck (36) about possible commitment to a
mental health facility. A deputy then shot and killed Reitcheck.
(SFC, 10/27/06, p.A3)
2006 Oct 26, In Bangladesh the
Liberal Democratic Party was launched, headed by former president
Badruddoza Chowdhury and Oli Ahmed, a former minister with the ruling
Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). 13 lawmakers including two
ministers defected from the government to launch the new party to
challenge almost two decades of rule by the country's two main parties
in January 2007 elections.
(AFP, 10/26/06)
2006 Oct 26, Belarusian opposition
leader Alexander Milinkevich was awarded the Sakharov Prize by the EU
Parliament for his fight for democracy in the former Soviet republic.
(AP, 10/26/06)
2006 Oct 26, An American sex
offender who was sentenced by a US judge to three years "exile" in
Canada was arrested by Canadian border guards and faces deportation. A
New York state judge allowed former teacher Malcolm Watson, convicted
of having sex with a 15-year-old girl, to live in Canada on probation
rather than spending time in a US jail.
(Reuters, 10/26/06)
2006 Oct 26, A foreign monitoring
group said as many as 10,000 college students fought with Chinese
police in four days of protests over their academic status, damaging
cars and buildings and leaving at least 20 people injured. An
overturned truck spilled 33 tons of toxic oil into a river in northern
Shanxi province. The spill flowed into the Yangjiapo reservoir,
contaminating 70 million cubic feet of water. Water supplies to 28,000
people were cut following the spill.
(AP, 10/26/06)(AP, 11/1/06)
2006 Oct 26, China’s state
controlled Citic Group said it has reached an agreement to buy an oil
field in Kazakhstan from Canada’s nations Energy for $1.9 billion.
(WSJ, 10/27/06, p.A10)
2006 Oct 26, The Colombian
government and the country's second-largest rebel group (ELN) agreed in
Havana, Cuba, to launch a formal peace process.
(AP, 10/26/06)
2006 Oct 26, Croatian lawmaker
Branimir Glavas, suspected of ordering the torture and killing of Serb
civilians in 1991 during the Serbo-Croat war, was detained on war
crimes charges after a parliament commission lifted his parliamentary
immunity.
(AP, 10/26/06)
2006 Oct 26, In East Timor
witnesses and residents said 2 men were shot to death in overnight gang
battles in Dili.
(AP, 10/26/06)
2006 Oct 26, Europe's six largest
countries agreed on ways to pre-empt terrorist attacks through sharing
intelligence about threats and driving extremists from the Internet.
The six states also signaled increased cooperation in stopping criminal
gangs from defrauding the EU of billions of euros a year in tax
revenue, amid fears terrorists might be involved.
(AFP, 10/26/06)(AP, 10/26/06)
2006 Oct 26, In France youths
forced passengers off three buses and set the vehicles on fire
overnight in suburban Paris, raising tensions ahead of the first
anniversary of the riots that engulfed France's rundown, heavily
immigrant neighborhoods.
(AP, 10/26/06)
2006 Oct 26, A Georgian man was
killed and another was wounded when they stepped on a mine in a
volatile area near the breakaway province of South Ossetia.
(AP, 10/26/06)
2006 Oct 26, In India men who
beat, threaten or yell at their wives or live-in girlfriends could be
jailed and fined under a law that took effect. It specifically targeted
the often-tolerated problem of domestic violence.
(AP, 10/26/06)
2006 Oct 26, In Iraq fighting
between Sunni insurgents and Iraqi police near Baqouba, 35 miles
northeast of Baghdad, killed one civilian and 24 police. US troops
later joined the fight, aiding in a counterattack in which 18
insurgents died. 4 people were killed and 5 wounded near Baqouba when
gunmen fired on a van carrying Shiites returning from the funeral of a
relative in Najaf. 4 US Marines and a sailor died of wounds suffered
while fighting in the same Sunni insurgent stronghold. The US military
said 96 US troops have died so far in October, the most in one month
since October 2005, when the same number was killed.
(AP, 10/26/06)(AP, 10/27/06)
2006 Oct 26, Israeli forces shot
and killed two Palestinians in exchanges of gunfire in the Gaza Strip.
(AP, 10/26/06)
2006 Oct 26, The Slow Food
movement, founded in 1989, sponsored Terra Madre in Turin, Italy. The
5-day event brought together representatives of food communities that
produced good, clean and fair food in a responsible and sustainable way.
(www.terramadre2006.org/terramadre/welcome_eng.lasso)
2006 Oct 26, Teachers in the
southern Mexican state of Oaxaca voted to end a five-month-old strike,
allowing 1.3 million children to return to classes and potentially
taking the sting out of anti-government protests besieging this
historic city.
(AP, 10/26/06)
2006 Oct 26, Nicaragua's Congress
voted to ban all abortions, including those that could save a mother's
life.
(AP, 10/26/06)
2006 Oct 26, In Peru's southern
Andes at least 20 people were killed and 12 others were injured when a
passenger bus crashed down an embankment.
(AP, 10/26/06)
2006 Oct 26, Russia rejected a
draft UN resolution put forward by European powers targeting Iran's
nuclear program, saying the proposed measures did not advance
objectives agreed on earlier by major world powers.
(AP, 10/26/06)
2006 Oct 26, South Korea said it
will ban the entry of North Korean officials who fall under a UN travel
restriction.
(AP, 10/26/06)
2006 Oct 26, Spanish police
arrested Orlando Sabogal Zuluaga (40), a leading member of one of
Colombia's most feared drug-trafficking cartels, in a shopping center
on the outskirts of Madrid.
(AP, 10/31/06)
2006 Oct 26, Sri Lanka's warring
parties arrived in Geneva for their first face-to-face meeting in eight
months as the EU racked up international pressure for a halt to ethnic
bloodshed.
(AP, 10/26/06)
2006 Oct 26, Mo Ibrahim, a
self-made Sudanese millionaire, offered African politicians an annual
prize worth $5 million if they avoid being seduced by power and
corruption. The prize would be presented to former leaders who had
demonstrated excellence in government. Ibrahim founded Celtel
International, an African cell phone network. He sold Celtel for $3.3
billion in 2005.
(Reuters, 10/26/06)(AP, 10/27/06)
2006 Oct 26, Thailand's
military-installed PM Surayud Chulanont visited Vietnam for the last of
a series of trips aimed at reassuring Bangkok's neighbors after last
month's coup.
(AFP, 10/26/06)
2006 Oct 27, President Bush said
the United States did not torture prisoners, trying to calm a
controversy created when Vice President Dick Cheney embraced the
suggestion that a "dunk in water" might be useful to get terrorist
suspects to talk.
(AP, 10/27/07)
2006 Oct 27, A new US
congressional study said Russia surpassed the US in 2005 as the world
leader in weapons deals with the developing world.
(SSFC, 10/29/06, p.A19)
2006 Oct 27, In Missouri the St
Louis Cardinals won the World Series by beating the Detroit Tigers 4-2
in game 5, claiming their first MLB crown in 24 years.
(Reuters, 10/28/06)
2006 Oct 27, The old US Mint in SF
held a ceremonial minting of silver coins. A portion of the proceeds of
sales from silver dollars and $5 gold pieces will help turn the
132-year-old structure into a history museum.
(SFC, 10/28/06, p.B1)
2006 Oct 27, Raijon Daniels (8)
died in Richmond, Ca. His mother, Teresa Marie Moses (23), was arrested
on felony charges of torture and child endangerment after the child’s
body was found to be covered with chemical and rope burns, sores and
other injuries all over his body.
(SFC, 11/2/06, p.B3)
2006 Oct 27, In Sacramento, Ca.,
Deputy Jeffrey Mitchell (38) was shot an killed following an early
morning traffic stop. A van matching the one he stopped was found that
evening in the Consumnes River with 2 dead occupants.
(SFC, 10/28/06, p.B2)
2006 Oct 27, In southern
Afghanistan a roadside blast ripped through a vehicle, killing 14
villagers and wounding three as they traveled to a provincial capital
for holiday celebrations.
(AP, 10/27/06)
2006 Oct 27, Australia gave the
green light to the southern hemisphere's largest wind farm, the
country's 2nd major project aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions
announced this week.
(AFP, 10/27/06)
2006 Oct 27, Bangladesh's 5-year
coalition between the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and its
Islamist allies expired. PM Begun Khaleda Zia, preparing to hand
over power to an interim administration ahead of elections, called for
maintaining peace, as thousands of rival political activists clashed in
Dhaka.
(AP, 10/27/06)(Econ, 11/4/06, p.49)
2006 Oct 27, In Chile former
dictator Gen. Augusto Pinochet was indicted for abuses at Villa
Grimaldi, one of his regime's most infamous secret prisons, where
President Michelle Bachelet and her mother were once held and
mistreated.
(AP, 10/27/06)
2006 Oct 27, China’s biggest bank,
the Industrial & Commercial Bank of China, went public and raised a
record $19.1 billion with an option to increase to $21.9 billion. The
previous IPO record was in 1998 by NIT DoCoMo for $18.4 billion.
(SFC, 10/28/06, p.C1)
2006 Oct 27, The Czech Republic's
center-right Civic Democratic Party won 14 seats and gained a simple
majority in runoff elections for parliament's upper chamber.
(AP, 10/28/06)
2006 Oct 27, Eritrea rejected a UN
accusation that its recent movement of troops near the border with
Ethiopia represented a "major breach" of a cease-fire agreement between
the two countries.
(AP, 10/27/06)
2006 Oct 27, In Fiji the
dysfunctional parliament was dissolved.
(Econ, 12/9/06, p.50)
2006 Oct 27, French President
Jacques Chirac called for closer ties with China in telecommunications,
nuclear power and other fields after Airbus's decision to open a
Chinese aircraft assembly line.
(AP, 10/27/06)
2006 Oct 27, In France 6 police
officers suffered minor injuries and 25 people were arrested in
scattered violence across the country on the first anniversary of the
start of nationwide riots.
(AP, 10/28/06)
2006 Oct 27, Xavier Niel (39), one
of France's most high-profile Internet entrepreneurs, was handed a
suspended jail sentence for embezzling funds from a sex shop that
served as a front for prostitution. He was also fined 250,000 euros
($320,000) for embezzling money from the Roxane sex shop in the eastern
city of Strasbourg.
(AP, 10/27/06)
2006 Oct 27, Germany's Defense
Minister Franz Josef Jung said the military has suspended two soldiers
from duty in connection with photos of service members posing with
skulls in Afghanistan. Pictures taken in early 2003 showed soldiers
posing with a skull on the hood of their vehicle and one soldier
holding the skull next to his exposed genitals.
(AP, 10/27/06)
2006 Oct 27, Hundreds of
protesters marched peacefully through Haiti's largest slum to demand
the withdrawal of UN peacekeepers, accusing the troops of killing
civilians during gunbattles with street gangs.
(AP, 10/27/06)
2006 Oct 27, Iraq’s embattled PM
Nouri al-Maliki and President Bush in a video conference agreed to
expedite the hand-over of full control of Iraq's army to the government
as they seek to quell the insurgency and sectarian bloodshed. Iraq a
five-day trend toward diminished violence continued. Attacks typically
rose during Ramadan, in part because some Muslims believe dying during
the holiday bestows additional blessings in the afterlife. The US
military announced the death of a Marine in restive Anbar province west
of Baghdad.
(AP, 10/27/06)(AP, 10/28/06)
2006 Oct 27, Israeli army raids in
the northern West Bank killed 3 Palestinians.
(AP, 10/27/06)
2006 Oct 27, The US agreed to
return to Japan part of the airspace used by the military near Tokyo,
allowing civilian planes to reduce flight times and cut costs. The
handover will take place by September 2008 before an expansion at
Tokyo's Haneda airport.
(AFP, 10/27/06)
2006 Oct 27, It was reported that
a new mobile phone in Japan can recognize its owner. The P903i from NTT
DoCoMo automatically locks when the person gets too far away from it
and can be found via satellite navigation if it goes missing.
(AP, 10/27/06)
2006 Oct 27, In Oaxaca, Mexico,
Bradley Roland Will (36), a US journalist and two Mexican men were shot
to death. The clashes occurred as leftist protesters barricaded streets
as part of a five-month-old campaign to oust the governor. In 2008 two
supporters of a protest movement in southern Mexico were arrested for
the fatal shooting of the US journalist. Officials said Juan Manuel
Martinez, was the gunman, and Octavio Perez was an accomplice who
helped cover up the crime. Eight other alleged accomplices were still
sought.
(AP, 10/28/06)(Econ, 11/4/06, p.48)(AP, 10/18/08)
2006 Oct 27, Ghulam Ishaq Khan
(91), who became Pakistan's president in 1988 after the death of his
predecessor in a plane crash, died following a bout of pneumonia.
(AP, 10/27/06)
2006 Oct 27, Swiss officials said
authorities have found enough evidence to seek a full investigation
into allegations the CIA was trying to obtain personal details of about
500 labor union members, most of them Arabs.
(AP, 10/27/06)
2006 Oct 27, The UN said it is
sending a mission to Chad and the Central African Republic to look at
operations to curb the escalating violence and help protect hundreds of
thousands of civilians.
(AP, 10/28/06)
2006 Oct 28, President Bush spoke
by video conference with Iraqi PM Nouri al-Maliki as he sought to
reaffirm support for the Iraqi leader.
(AP, 10/28/07)
2006 Oct 28, David M. Walker, the
comptroller general of the United States, warned that if the US
government conducts business as usual over the next few decades, a
national debt that is already $8.5 trillion could reach $46 trillion or
more, adjusted for inflation. That's almost as much as the total net
worth of every person in America.
(AP, 10/28/06)
2006 Oct 28, In Jerseyville, Ill.,
a teenager carrying a Bible and shouting "I want Jesus" was shot twice
with a police stun gun and died the next day at a St. Louis hospital.
(AP, 10/31/06)
2006 Oct 28, Arnold Auerbach (89),
legendary coach of the Boston Celtics basketball team, died of a heart
attack in Washington DC.
(SSFC, 10/29/06, p.C1)
2006 Oct 28, In southern
Afghanistan NATO and Afghan troops killed 70 suspected militants who
attacked a military base in Uruzgan province. A roadside blast killed
one NATO soldier and wounded 8 others. Three National Geographic TV
crew members were also hurt in a roadside bomb blast.
(AP, 10/29/06)(AP, 11/2/06)
2006 Oct 28, In Bangladesh at
least 9 people died and about 500 were wounded in political riots after
the man due to take over as interim leader withdrew just hours before
taking the oath.
(Reuters, 10/28/06)
2006 Oct 28, Chad accused Sudan's
air force of bombarding four towns along its eastern frontier and said
its armed forces were ready to repel further aggression.
(Reuters, 10/28/06)
2006 Oct 28, An explosion inside a
western China coal mine trapped and killed 14 miners and burned six
others.
(AP, 10/28/06)
2006 Oct 28, In France marauding
youths torched hundreds of vehicles overnight and into the day. In
Marseilles Mama Galledou (26) was on the bus with some 10 other
passengers when it was forcibly boarded by at least three teenagers
wearing hoods. They doused the inside of the vehicle with flammable
liquid and set it on fire before running away. Galledou was badly burnt
and on the verge of death.
(AFP, 10/29/06)
2006 Oct 28, Iraqi soldiers,
backed by American forces, raided an insurgent hide-out near Baghdad at
dawn, killing 15 fighters and capturing eight. In a separate raid south
of Baghdad an insurgent dressed as a woman was killed when he opened
fire on American soldiers who had rounded up 10 comrades. A rocket hit
an outdoor market in southern Baghdad, killing one person and wounding
35. A bomb exploded in a minibus in the capital's east, killing one and
wounding nine. 9 Iraqi soldiers were kidnapped on the increasingly
dangerous highway linking Baghdad with Kirkuk. In Baqouba police said
they had found two bodies of apparent sectarian violence in the city's
central al-Mu'allimeen district. A third body was pulled from the
Diyala river. Police reported the shooting deaths of two men in a
Baqouba market. A US Marine was killed in fighting in Anbar province
raising the death toll among US service members this month to 100.
(AP, 10/28/06)(AP, 10/30/06)
2006 Oct 28, In the
Indian-controlled section of Kashmir 3 Indian border guards and 18
civilians were injured when suspected Islamic rebels hurled a grenade
in a busy market.
(AFP, 10/28/06)
2006 Oct 28, In Jamaica Trevor
Berbick (51), the last boxer to fight the legendary Muhammad Ali, was
found dead in a churchyard near his home in Norwich. On Nov 3 police
charged two men, one a nephew of Berbick, with murdering the former
world heavyweight boxing champion. In 2007 a jury found Harold Berbick
(21) guilty of murder and Kenton Gordon (19) guilty of manslaughter in
the killing of the former boxer.
(AP, 11/4/06)(AP, 12/21/07)
2006 Oct 28, Mexico’s President
Vicente Fox announced he was sending federal police into the
violence-wracked southern state capital of Oaxaca after a US journalist
and two Mexican men were shot to death. The bodies of 3 state police
officers, one of whom had been decapitated, were found in a sport
utility vehicle abandoned outside the resort city of Acapulco.
(AP, 10/28/06)(AP, 10/28/06)
2006 Oct 28, In western Nepal an
overcrowded bus plunged off a mountain road, leaving at least 42 people
dead and 45 injured.
(AP, 10/28/06)
2006 Oct 28, Russian authorities
said dozens of people have died and more than 1,000 received hospital
treatment in a wave of alcohol poisoning that is sweeping the country.
(AP, 10/28/06)
2006 Oct 28, The Millionaire Fair,
founded by Yves Gijrath, opened in Moscow. It was first held in
Amsterdam in 2002.
(Reuters, 10/29/06)
2006 Oct 28, In Pakistan some
5,000 pro-Taliban tribesmen held an anti-America rally in a remote
tribal region near the Afghan border, vowing to keep waging a holy war
against "infidels."
(AP, 10/28/06)
2006 Oct 28, Serbia began a
weekend referendum on a proposed constitution that reasserts the
nation's claim to the Kosovo region, whose status is under negotiation
at international talks.
(AP, 10/28/06)
2006 Oct 28, In Sri Lanka
suspected Tamil Tiger rebels fatally shot a government soldier and
wounded six police officers in two bomb attacks as peace talks began in
Switzerland.
(AP, 10/29/06)
2006 Oct 29, In the northeast US
thousands of homes and businesses had no electricity as a storm system
blasted the region with winds gusting to more than 50 mph, knocking
over trees and a construction crane. The storm was blamed for at least
two deaths.
(AP, 10/29/06)
2006 Oct 29, Gallaudet Univ. of
Washington DC, the premier US school for the deaf, voted to terminate
the appointment of incoming president Jane Fernandes following a month
of protests by students and faculty.
(SFC, 10/30/06, p.A3)
2006 Oct 29, Bangladesh's Pres.
Iajuddin Ahmed was installed as head of the country's caretaker
government, but Sheikh Hasina, the leader of the opposition that led a
political standoff and days of deadly riots in the capital, declined to
attend the ceremony.
(AP, 10/29/06)
2006 Oct 29, Bolivia’s President
Evo Morales completed his oil and gas nationalization plan with the
last-minute signing of contracts allowing several international
companies to continue operating under state control.
(AP, 10/29/06)
2006 Oct 29, Brazil’s President
Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (61) won a landslide victory giving him a
powerful mandate to press his anti-poverty campaign, but corruption
scandals dogged his leftist party and thinner support in Congress could
mar his second term. Lula’s Worker’s Party (PT) won 5 of the 27 state
governorships.
(AP, 10/29/06)(AP, 10/30/06)(Econ, 11/4/06, p.46)
2006 Oct 29, Bulgarian President
Georgy Parvanov won re-election to a second five-year term with an
unassailable lead in his run-off battle against ultra-nationalist
challenger Volen Siderov. Turnout was between 35 and 40%.
(AP, 10/29/06)
2006 Oct 29, China rocketed a
domestically produced communications satellite into orbit to provide
wider and more advanced television services across the country.
(AP, 10/29/06)
2006 Oct 29, Leaders of Colombia's
second-largest rebel group (ELN) agreed to help de-mine several rural
southern districts, marking their first concrete action since agreeing
to a peace process last week with the Colombian government.
(AP, 10/29/06)
2006 Oct 29, Congo's President
Laurent Kabila faced a former rebel chief in a runoff vote.
(AP, 10/29/06)
2006 Oct 29, In Iraq an affidavit
to the supreme judiciary charged Judge Radhi al-Radhi, head of Iraq’s
Commission on Public Integrity, with corruption. Al-Radhi later said
the pressure on his office might be a reaction to his attempts to
ferret out corruption inside key Shiite-controlled ministries. Gunmen
killed 15 policemen working as instructors at the local police academy
and two translators in the southern city of Basra. The men were forced
off a bus on the city's outskirts in the afternoon and their bodies
were found hours later dumped in several locations.
(AP, 10/29/06)(SSFC, 11/12/06, p.A5)
2006 Oct 29, Libya took delivery
of a Boeing jetliner for the first time in 30 years after the privately
owned Buraq Air airline bought six of the US-made aircraft.
(AFP, 10/28/06)
2006 Oct 29, In Mexico federal
forces stormed Oaxaca and pushed protesters and striking teachers out
of the city center they had occupied for five months, leaving the
colonial city resembling a battleground, with riot police and burned
vehicles lining the streets. At least one demonstrator was killed.
(AP, 10/30/06)
2006 Oct 29, In Nigeria protesters
demanding jobs and aid took over an oil pumping station run by an
Italian oil firm in the southern delta region, forcing the company to
shut the flow of oil. Output of 55,000 barrels per day (bpd) of oil was
cut when armed protesters forced the closure of a flowstation belonging
to Italy's Agip company in the Niger Delta.
(AP, 10/29/06)(AFP, 11/6/06)
2006 Oct 29, A Nigerian airliner
carrying 104 people, including the man regarded as a spiritual leader
of Nigeria's Sunni Muslims, crashed in a storm after taking off from
the airport in Abuja. Most of those on board were feared dead. 9 people
survived. The Nigerian pilot of the plane did not heed air traffic
controllers' advice to not depart in stormy weather.
(AP, 10/29/06)(AP, 10/30/06)
2006 Oct 29, In eastern Pakistan a
passenger bus collided with a tanker truck carrying oil, killing 22
people and injuring 23.
(AP, 10/29/06)
2006 Oct 29, In the northern
Philippines Typhoon Cimaron blasted roofs off homes as it made
landfall, with officials saying it may be one of the most powerful
storms to ever hit the country.
(AP, 10/29/06)
2006 Oct 29, Serbia flirted with
political crisis as a referendum to approve its first constitution
since the socialist era of Slobodan Milosevic hovered on the brink of
failure because of voter apathy. Serbia's top leaders said that voters
approved a new constitution reasserting Serbia's claim over the
UN-administered Kosovo province in a turnout estimated at 53.3%.
Serbia's opposition Liberal Party charged there was "massive fraud" at
polling stations in the final hours of voting, with people allegedly
voting several times and without identification papers.
(AP, 10/29/06)(AP, 10/30/06)(SFC, 10/30/06, p.A14)
2006 Oct 29, Somalia's Islamic
group broke off peace talks with the transitional government, demanding
that Ethiopian troops withdraw from the country.
(AP, 10/29/06)
2006 Oct 29, Sri Lanka's peace
talks collapsed after a failure by the warring parties to agree on a
new meeting and fruitless wrangling over "humanitarian issues" during
two days of negotiations in Geneva.
(AFP, 10/29/06)
2006 Oct 30, Mass. Sen. John Kerry
told a California college audience that young people who didn't study
hard might "get stuck in Iraq," prompting harsh Republican criticism;
Kerry later said it was a botched joke against President Bush's
handling of the war.
(AP, 10/30/07)
2006 Oct 30, A new ranking
compiled by Morgan Quitno Press listed St. Louis as the most dangerous
city in the USA, leading a trend of violent crimes rising much faster
in the Midwest than in the rest of nation. The study looked at crime
only within St. Louis city limits, with a population of about 330,000
under Mayor Francis Slay. The safest city in 2005 was Brick, N.J., with
a population about 78,000, followed by Amherst, N.Y., and Mission
Viejo, Calif. The second most dangerous city was Detroit, followed by
Flint, Mich., and Compton, Calif.
(AP, 10/30/06)
2006 Oct 30, In southern
Afghanistan NATO troops fought a six-hour battle with insurgents in a
firefight that left 55 militants and one NATO soldier dead. ISAF
warplanes killed 12 insurgents in the southern province of Kandahar.
(AP, 10/30/06)(AFP, 10/31/06)
2006 Oct 30, In Algeria 3 people
were killed and 24 wounded in near-simultaneous truck bomb attacks
overnight on two police stations in Reghaia town, 30 km (20 miles) east
of the capital, and the eastern Algiers suburb of Dergana. Witnesses
called it the most elaborate assault by Islamist rebels in several
years.
(Reuters, 10/30/06)
2006 Oct 30, Sir Nicholas Stern,
head of Britain’s government economic service, issued a report on
climate change that said world output could be up to a fifth lower over
the next century or two due to climate change.
(Econ, 11/4/06, p.14)(Econ, 12/16/06, p.80)
2006 Oct 30, In London 6 men from
remote Pitcairn Island lost their final appeal against their
convictions for a string of sex attacks dating back 40 years.
(AP, 10/30/06)
2006 Oct 30, Counting from Congo's
election proceeded swiftly. Rioters destroyed 43 polling stations and
thousands of ballot papers were burned in the east after a soldier
killed two election officials.
(AP, 10/30/06)(WSJ, 10/31/06, p.A1)
2006 Oct 30, Hutomo Mandala Putra
(44), the youngest son of former dictator Suharto, was paroled from
prison after serving less than a third of his 15-year sentence for
ordering the assassination of a Supreme Court judge.
(AP, 10/30/06)
2006 Oct 30, In Iraq at least 81
people were killed or found dead, including 33 victims of a bomb attack
on laborers lined up to find a days work in Baghdad's Sadr city Shiite
slum. Essam al-Rawi, a leading Iraqi academic and prominent hardline
Sunni political activist, was fatally shot by three gunmen as he was
leaving his Baghdad home.
(AP, 10/30/06)(SFC, 10/31/06, p.A3)
2006 Oct 30, The Israeli Cabinet
voted overwhelmingly to bring into the government a hawkish party that
opposes ceding territory to the Palestinians and wants to redraw
Israel's borders to exclude many Israeli Arabs.
(AP, 10/30/06)
2006 Oct 30, An Italian court
ordered former Premier Silvio Berlusconi to stand trial on charges of
corruption along with David Mills, the estranged husband of Britain's
culture minister.
(AP, 10/3o/06)
2006 Oct 30, In Amman, Jordan, a
delegation of Iraq lawmakers met with a newly formed group of Iraqi
political activists and agreed to hold a national reconciliation
conference next month.
(AP, 10/3o/06)
2006 Oct 30, The Mexican
government authorized the extradition of ex-Guatemalan President
Alfonso Portillo (2000-2004) to face embezzlement charges in his
country.
(AP, 10/31/06)
2006 Oct 30, In Morocco the
world's five leading nuclear powers and eight other nations kicked off
a new program aimed at keeping nuclear weapons beyond the reach of
terrorists. Morocco became the first Arab state to join a global
initiative led by Russia and the United States to combat nuclear
terrorism.
(AP, 10/31/06)(Reuters, 10/31/06)
2006 Oct 30, Nigeria and China
signed a 8.3 billion dollar contract for the construction of a railway
line from the economic capital Lagos to Kano, the largest commercial
city in the north.
(AFP, 10/30/06)
2006 Oct 30, Northern Ireland
began demolition of the Maze prison for a sports complex.
(WSJ, 10/31/06, p.A1)
2006 Oct 30, Pakistani troops
backed by helicopters raided a religious school purportedly being used
as an al-Qaida training center, killing 80 people in the country's
deadliest strike ever against suspected Islamic militants. The attack
happened about two miles from the Bajur tribal town of Damadola.
(AP, 10/30/06)
2006 Oct 30, Palestinian gunmen
abducted a Spanish aid worker in the Gaza Strip. Roberto Vila (34) was
released after a few hours.
(AP, 10/31/06)
2006 Oct 30, Typhoon Cimaron swept
across the northern Philippines, killing more than 15 people in a
barrage of landslides, uprooted trees and flooding.
(AP, 10/30/06)
2006 Oct 30, In Moscow top Russian
and US military officers signed a cooperation agreement that lays out
plans for joint activities for the coming year.
(AP, 10/30/06)
2006 Oct 30, A Russian company won
a bid to construct a second nuclear plant in Bulgaria.
(AP, 10/31/06)
2006 Oct 30, Somali Islamic
leaders banned youthful Somalis from marrying without the consent of
their parents, saying such unions violate Islam.
(AP, 10/31/06)
2006 Oct 30, South African miner
Gold Fields announced it was listing on the Dubai International
Financial Exchange (DIFX), becoming the first African company to list
shares on the fledgling Gulf market.
(AP, 10/30/06)
2006 Oct 30, The first shipment of
US beef in nearly three years arrived in South Korea on Monday after
the country lifted an import ban triggered by fears of mad cow disease.
(AP, 10/30/06)
2006 Oct 31, President George W.
Bush ordered that assets be frozen of dissident general Laurent Nkunda
and six others considered by the White House to be destabilizing forces
in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
(Reuters, 10/31/06)
2006 Oct 31, NASA agreed to
dispatch a shuttle on a repair mission to keep the Hubble Space
Telescope in operation until at least 2013.
(WSJ, 11/1/06, p.A1)
2006 Oct 31, In Long Beach, Ca., 9
African-American youths accosted and severely beat 3 white women in a
racially charged attack on Halloween night. In 2007 a judge ruled the
attack a hate crime and the 9 youths were convicted in juvenile court
in Long Beach, Calif.
(SFC, 1/27/07, p.A3)(AP, 1/26/08)
2006 Oct 31, In SF gunfire broke
out between two groups at a massive Halloween street party in the
city's Castro district, wounding at least 10 people, including innocent
bystanders.
(AP, 11/1/06)
2006 Oct 31, Bechtel Corp.’s last
government contract in Iraq expired. During its 3 years of work there
52 employees were killed.
(SFC, 11/1/06, p.A1)
2006 Oct 31, Enrico’s Sidewalk
Café in SF’s North Beach district closed after negotiations for
a new lease collapsed. Enrico Banducci had opened it in 1958.
(SFC, 11/1/06, p.B5)
2006 Oct 31, In Roanoke, Virginia,
Sheriff Frank Cassell and 12 of his uniformed employees were indicted
in a racketeering case that claims drugs seized from criminals were
being resold, sometimes out of a sergeant's home.
(AP, 11/2/06)
2006 Oct 31, In Reno, Nev., a fire
at the Mizpah Hotel killed 12 people. Valerie Moore (47), a casino
cook, was arrested the next day for starting the fire.
(SFC, 11/2/06, p.A4)(AP, 11/5/06)(SFC, 11/6/06,
p.A3)(AP, 10/31/07)
2006 Oct 31, A leading researcher
said large species of coral that form underwater reefs and create rich
habitat for marine life are disappearing from around the U.S. Virgin
Islands, Jamaica and elsewhere in the Caribbean.
(AP, 11/1/06)
2006 Oct 31, Researchers reported
that elephants recognize themselves in mirrors.
(SFC, 11/1/06, p.A4)
2006 Oct 31, In eastern
Afghanistan a roadside bomb killed 3 NATO soldiers. A suicide bombing
in southern Ghazni province's Taliban-dominated Ander district killed
one policeman. Polio cases were reported to be on the rise along the
Pakistan-Afghanistan border.
(AFP, 10/31/06)(WSJ, 11/1/06, p.A1)
2006 Oct 31, Australia pointed an
accusing finger at China and India as major polluters as it refused to
ratify the Kyoto Protocol on climate change despite a major new report
warning of impending catastrophe.
(AFP, 10/31/06)
2006 Oct 31, President Evo Morales
backed off his plan to nationalize Bolivia's mining industry, saying
that his government can't afford it for now but he still wants to
eventually recover control of the nation's mineral wealth.
(AP, 11/1/06)
2006 Oct 31, Britain unveiled
plans to regulate Internet gambling and said it opposed the US
government's banning of the industry.
(AP, 10/31/06)
2006 Oct 31, A joint British and
Lebanese initiative in London launched the world's first qualification
covering all aspects of Islamic finance. The Islamic Finance
Qualification (IFQ) was developed by British industry body the
Securities and Investment Institute (SII) and Lebanese business school
Ecole Superieure des Affaires.
(AFP, 10/31/06)
2006 Oct 31, Cambodian police said
an American police officer, killed himself while in custody in the
capital. Donald Rene Ramirez of SF was accused of sexually abusing a
14-year-old girl. Ramirez had been going on vacation to Asia for at
least 2 decades.
(AP, 10/31/06)(SSFC, 11/5/06, p.B1)
2006 Oct 31, In Canada Finance
Minister Jim Flaherty shocked markets when he announced plans to tax
income trusts. Flaherty signaled concern that the flow of conversions
to income trusts could become an uncontrollable torrent that would
damage the economy and erode government revenues. Income trusts were
first set up in the mid-1980s by property and energy companies who
chose to pass profits to investors and thus avoid corporate income tax.
(AP, 10/31/06)(Econ, 11/4/06, p.86)
2006 Oct 31, In St. Thomas,
Canada, a man (34) who was sexually abusing a young girl in his home
was arrested after he transmitted images of the assault via the
Internet to an undercover detective.
(AP, 11/3/06)
2006 Oct 31, A small clash between
ethnic Arab and ethnic African villagers along Chad's border with
Darfur escalated into a large-scale attack in which Arabs killed 128
Africans. The fight broke out in Amtiman in southeastern Chad between
two small groups after a member of one group insulted the other.
(AP, 11/7/06)
2006 Oct 31, China's legislature
barred all but the nation's highest court from approving death
sentences, a move that state media called the country's biggest change
to capital punishment in more than 20 years. In northwest Gansu
province gas exploded in a coal mine, killing about 20 miners.
(AP, 10/31/06)
2006 Oct 31, Scientists reported
that the Fujian-strain of H5N1 avian influenza has become dominant in
southern China.
(SFC, 10/31/06, p.A2)
2006 Oct 31, A parliament speaker
said Egypt it will amend its constitution to make it easier for
candidates to run for president, part of long-delayed political reforms
that President Hosni Mubarak plans to carry out next year. Talaat Sadat
(52), the nephew of Egypt's late President Anwar Sadat, was sentenced
to a year in prison for defaming Egypt's armed forces, after saying in
an interview that Egyptian generals had masterminded his uncle's
assassination.
(AP, 10/31/06)
2006 Oct 31, In Ethiopia 4 days of
devastating floods along the eastern border killed dozens of people and
prowling crocodiles hampered rescue efforts as rain continued to fall.
(AP, 10/31/06)
2006 Oct 31, France's Defense
Minister ordered that 105 secret intelligence reports be handed over to
a judge investigating allegations that Paris helped Rwanda's former
Hutu government massacre ethnic Tutsis in a 1994 genocide.
(Reuters, 11/2/06)
2006 Oct 31, India's central bank
warned of overheating and juggled interest rates in a mid-term policy
review aimed at keeping prices in check. In southern India a passenger
train crashed into an auto-rickshaw at an unmanned rail crossing,
killing all 18 people in the rickshaw.
(AFP, 10/31/06)(AP, 11/1/06)
2006 Oct 31, Al-Sadr ordered Sadr
City closed to the Iraqi government until US troops lifted what he
called their "siege" of the neighborhood. US troops abandoned
checkpoints around Sadr City on orders from Prime Minister Nouri
al-Maliki. Iraqi state television presenter, Sherin Hamid, and her
driver were found dead in central Baghdad, a day after they were
abducted by gunmen. 3 people were killed and five injured by a car bomb
in Sadr City. At least three Iraqi policemen were also reported killed
in Baghdad and Fallujah. The bodies five unidentified people, including
a woman, were found dumped in eastern Baghdad. 5 more bodies in similar
condition were floating in the Tigris River near Suwayrah. The morgue
in the town of Kut reported receiving 10 bodies, including those of
five people allegedly killed by US forces in a raid on a house in the
Shejeriyah area. In Baqouba unidentified gunmen killed 3 people in a
downtown market and attacked a police patrol, killing one officer and
injuring two others. 5 bodies were found in the Abu Seida district, 25
kilometers northeast of the city. More than 40 Shiites were abducted
along a dangerous highway just north of Baghdad near the town of
Tarmiyah. At least 8 other people were either found dead or slain in
new attacks. A suicide bombing at a wedding party in Baghdad killed 23,
including 9 children. Haidar Muhsin, an Iraqi translator with US
forces, was shot dead in front of his home in Diwaniyah. US troops
killed five suspected insurgents and detained one during a raid in
Baghdad. The US military announced the deaths of two soldiers in
fighting in the Baghdad area, one from small arms fire, the other from
a roadside bomb.
(AP, 10/31/06)(AP, 11/1/06)(AP, 11/2/06)
2006 Oct 31, Italy said it would
beef up security in Naples by adding 1,000 patrol officers and
surveillance cameras amid an upsurge of slayings around a city already
known for street violence and organized crime.
(AP, 10/31/06)
2006 Oct 31, PM Shinzo Abe said
Japan will continue assisting Equatorial Guinea in its efforts to
promote democracy. Abe made the pledge during a 45-minute meeting with
Equatorial Guinea's President Teodoro Obiang Nguema in Tokyo.
(AFP, 10/31/06)
2006 Oct 31, In Kuwait an Iraqi
government spokesman said Iraq needs around $100 billion in the next
four to five years to recover and rebuild its infrastructure at the
opening of an international aid meeting.
(AP, 110/31/06)
2006 Oct 31, In Mexico youths
roamed the streets of Oaxaca tossing gasoline bombs, hijacking vehicles
and vowing to keep fighting for the state governor's ouster. Congress
urged the governor to resign and leftist leaders urged national support
for the movement.
(AP, 10/31/06)
2006 Oct 31, North Korea agreed to
rejoin six-nation nuclear disarmament talks in a surprise diplomatic
breakthrough.
(AP, 10/31/06)
2006 Oct 31, In Pakistan an
appeals court overturned the convictions of four terror suspects in a
2002 car bombing outside the US Consulate in Karachi that killed 14
Pakistanis. Some 15,000 bearded men wearing turbans burned effigies of
US President George W. Bush and shouted "Death to Musharraf" in the
troubled Bajaur tribal region, which borders Afghanistan.
(AFP, 10/31/06)
2006 Oct 31, In South Africa P.W.
Botha (b.1916), the apartheid-era leader (1978-1989) who resisted
pressure to release Nelson Mandela from prison in the 1980s, died.
(AP, 11/1/06)
2006 Oct 29, Attacks in West
Darfur, Sudan, killed at least 63 people, half of them children. Some
300 to 500 Arab militiamen on horseback raided at least eight villages
as well as the Hajlija IDP camp.
(AP, 11/3/06)
2006 Oct 31, Flooding from
torrential rains killed 22 people across Turkey, including 14 who died
when a minibus carrying wedding guests was swept away.
(AP, 11/1/06)
2006 Oct 31, Typhoon Cimaron
headed toward eastern Vietnam after leaving at least 15 dead in
landslides and flooding in the northern Philippines.
(AP, 10/31/06)
2006 Oct, The Howard Hughes
Medical Institute (HHMI) opened its Janelia Farm Research Campus in
Ashburn, Va. the new $500 million lab, designed by Rafael Vinoly,
planned to engage in long-term medical research.
(WSJ, 9/22/06, p.B1)
2006 Oct, Prof. Michael Waldman,
a Cornell Univ. economist, authored a paper which suggested that early
childhood TV viewing might trigger autism.
(WSJ, 2/27/07, p.A1)
2006 Oct, Thousands of centipedes
again plagued the western Austrian village of Roens. For the past 6
years the venomous arthropods have invaded the village in the spring
and autumn, and scientists have had no explanation.
(SFC, 10/14/06, p.C8)
2006 Oct, China’s trade surplus
rose to a record $23.8 billion.
(Econ, 11/11/06, p.9)
2006 Oct, In India AT&T became
the first foreign telecom to win a license to operate freely. This
followed a cut in fees and a legal change that allowed foreign firms to
own up to 74% of their Indian subsidiaries.
(Econ, 12/9/06, p.68)
2006 Oct, Indonesia began a
massive crackdown on illegal smelters on the island of Bangka. 37
smelters were shut down for lack of proper licenses.
(Econ, 3/3/07, p.81)
2006 Oct, Iftikhar Chaudhry,
Pakistan's chief justice, decided to take up the cases of some 400 men
who had disappeared since 2001 at the hands of the military and
intelligence services. On March 9, 2007, Pres. Musharraf replaced him
on the grounds of “misuse of authority.”
(SFC, 7/19/07, p.A12)
2006 Oct, Poland’s government
passed a law to give politicians greater power to appoint top civil
servants, and scrapped the independent civil-service office.
(Econ, 12/2/06, p.55)
2006 Oct, In Thailand Queen
Sirikit saw news reports that showed footage from a nearby motorcycle
shop that had hired a group of Coyote Girls to promote its wares. The
dancers were named after the 2000 American film "Coyote Ugly," about a
group of sassy 20-somethings who dance seductively on a New York City
bar top. The queen’s reaction prompted a crackdown that turned Coyote
Girls into a subject of national debate and official disapproval.
(AP, 12/27/06)
2006 Oct, Adnan Oktar (b.1956), a
Turkish preacher who writes under the name of Harun Yahya, published
his “Atlas of Creation.” The book offers over 770 pages of images
comparing fossils with present-day animals to argue that Allah created
all life as it is and evolution never took place. In 2009 Oktar
continued work on a the 5th volume of his planned 14-part masterwork.
(Econ, 4/21/07,
p.23)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adnan_Oktar)(Econ, 3/7/09, p.A1)
2006 Nov 1, US President George W.
Bush renewed US economic sanctions on Sudan for one year and left open
the door to imposing new ones linked to the violence in Darfur.
(AFP, 11/1/06)
2006 Nov 1, Senator John Kerry,
D-Mass., apologized to "any service member, family member or American"
offended by his "botched joke" about how young people might get "stuck
in Iraq" if they did not study hard and do their homework.
(AP, 11/1/07)
2006 Nov 1, In Indiana Stephanie
Wagner, a missing 16-year-old girl, was found dead in a field.
Authorities jailed Danny R. Rouse (51), her restaurant co-worker and a
convicted child murderer, who confessed to killing the teen. Rouse was
released from prison in March after serving more than 26 years for
murdering a 5-year-old Kansas boy in 1979.
(AP, 11/2/06)
2006 Nov 1, In Lawrenceville, Ga.,
Khalid Adem (30), an Ethiopian immigrant, was convicted of genital
mutilation of his 2-year-old daughter. He was sentenced to 10 years in
prison.
(SFC, 11/2/06, p.A3)
2006 Nov 1, CVS announced that it
would acquire Caremark Rx, a big pharmacy benefits manager, for about
$21 billion in stock. This was America’s largest health-services
takeover.
(Econ, 11/4/06, p.75)
2006 Nov 1, Adrienne Shelly
(b.1966), actress and director, was found by her husband hanging by a
bed sheet in their Manhattan apartment in an apparent suicide. In 2008
Diego Pillco (20), an illegal immigrant from Ecuador, pleaded guilty to
manslaughter and was sentenced to 25 years in prison.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adrienne_Shelly)(SFC,
3/14/08, p.A4)
2006 Nov 1, William Styron (81),
novelist from the American South, died in Massachusetts. His books
included “The Confessions of Nat Turner” (1967) and “Sophie’s Choice”
(1979). In 1953 he had helped establish the Paris Review.
(SFC, 11/2/06, p.B7)(Econ, 11/11/06, p.95)
(AP, 11/24/06)
2006 Nov 1, Alexander Litvinenko,
a former KGB agent, met with Mario Scaramella, an Italian muckraker, at
a Picadilly sushi bar. He also met with 2 or more visiting ex-KGB
Russians. On Nov 23 Litvinenko died of poisoning from radioactive
element polonium-210. In 2007 British prosecutors requested the
extradition of Andrei Lugovoi, one of the former KGB agents present at
the meeting, in order to charge him with murder.
(Econ, 12/16/06, p.22)(WSJ, 5/23/07, p.A14)
2006 Nov 1, An ammonia gas leak in
central China killed one person, injured six and forced the evacuation
of about 20,000 residents. Ammonia gas leaked out of a broken pipe at a
chemical fertilizer factory in the Dawu county of Hubei province.
(AP, 11/1/06)
2006 Nov 1, In Colombia the
peasant-based FARC killed 16 police officers and a civilian at a remote
outpost in an attack that appeared to be part of a coordinated national
offensive.
(AP, 11/2/06)(WSJ, 11/2/06, p.A1)
2006 Nov 1, Congo's government
welcomed a decision by the US to impose sanctions on seven warlords and
businessmen who are accused of fueling instability in this vast
country's lawless east.
(AP, 11/1/06)
2006 Nov 1, Fiji's prime minister
insisted that his government would not step down despite pressure from
the country's military commander, whose relentless criticism of the
administration has raised fears of a possible coup.
(AP, 11/1/06)
2006 Nov 1, Bangalore, India,
changed its name to Bengaluru, the same as its name in Kannada, the
local language. Bangalore, according to state historians, got its name
from Bendakalooru (the town of boiled beans) after a king strayed into
the area during a hunting trip in the late 14th century.
(SFC, 11/2/06, p.C1)(AFP, 11/2/06)
2006 Nov 1, Ignoring widespread
condemnation, Iran awarded the top prize in a Holocaust cartoon contest
to a Moroccan artist for his depiction of Israel's security wall with a
picture of the Auschwitz concentration camp on it.
(AP, 11/2/06)
2006 Nov 1, In Iraq unknown gunmen
riding in a private car shot dead police officer Izzaddin Abbas in
central Baghdad as he rode his motorcycle home. A clerk with the
Ministry of Industry was shot and killed in northeastern Baghdad as he
was driving to work. Two court officials were killed when a their jeep
exploded as it crossed a bridge leading over the Tigris. A car bomb and
a mortar attack killed two police officers and six civilians. A police
officer was among three people shot dead in the northern city of Mosul.
Mosul police also discovered the charred body of an apparent murder
victim. The bodies of three people who were shot after being
blindfolded and bound at the wrists were found dumped in the capital's
eastern districts. US military killed Rafa al-Ithawi, also known as Abu
Taha, a mid-ranking member of al-Qaida in Iraq and his driver in an air
strike in Ramadi. Gunmen abducted a man who coached blind athletes and
the head of Iraq's national basketball federation.
(AP, 11/1/06)(AFP, 11/1/06)(AP, 11/2/06)
2006 Nov 1, Israeli troops, backed
by tanks and helicopter gunships, killed at least six Palestinian
militants. The raid left 9 Palestinians and a soldier dead.
(AP, 11/1/06)(WSJ, 11/2/06, p.A1)
2006 Nov 1, In Nigeria a court of
appeal in Ibadan, capital of the southwestern Oyo state, declared
unconstitutional the removal earlier this year of governor Rasheed
Ladoja by local lawmakers. Ladoja was impeached by a faction of the
state parliament on January 12 for alleged corruption and abuse of
office and was replaced by his deputy, Adebayo Alao-Akala.
(AFP, 11/4/06)
2006 Nov 1, North Korea said it
was returning to nuclear disarmament talks to get access to its frozen
overseas bank accounts, a vital source of hard currency.
(AP, 11/1/06)
2006 Nov 1, A Swedish freighter
capsized and sank in a storm on the Baltic Sea, forcing its 14-member
crew to jump overboard to save themselves. Rescue officials said
helicopters plucked all but one man from the high waves and chilly
waters. The 500-foot-long Finnbirch went down between the Swedish
islands of Gotland and Oland.
(AP, 11/1/06)
2006 Nov 1, In Turkey a court
acquitted a 92-year-old retired archaeologist who was put on trial for
writing in a book that Islamic-style head scarves date back more than
5,000 years, several millennia before the birth of Islam, and were worn
by priestesses who initiated young men into sex.
(AP, 11/1/06)
2006 Nov 1, The UN Security
Council voted unanimously to extend Ivory Coast's transitional
government for a final year and give new powers to the country's
unelected prime minister to implement a peace plan and prepare for
long-delayed elections.
(AP, 11/1/06)
2006 Nov 1, The UN Security
Council agreed on a list of banned items that could be used to make
nuclear, chemical and biological weapons or ballistic missiles and
ordered all countries to prevent North Korea from importing or
exporting the items.
(AP, 11/1/06)
2006 Nov 1, Venezuela’s President
Hugo Chavez handed public workers $3 billion in Christmas bonuses 1 1/2
months early, angering opposition leaders who called it part of a
cynical pattern of public handouts ahead of a December presidential
election.
(AP, 11/2/06)
2006 Nov 1, Venezuela and
US-backed Guatemala agreed to withdraw from the race and support
Panama, a compromise reached after voting in the UN General Assembly
dragged through 47 rounds of balloting.
(AP, 11/2/06)
2006 Nov 2, In Denver, Colo., Rev.
Ted Haggard, a leading evangelist and outspoken opponent of gay
marriage, gave up his post as president of the National Association of
Evangelicals while a church panel investigates allegations he paid a
man for sex. Haggard later confessed he was guilty of sexual immorality.
(AP, 11/3/06)(AP, 11/2/07)
2006 Nov 2, The Jackson Pollock
painting “No. 5 1948” was reportedly sold for a record $140 million.
David Geffen, entertainment mogul sold the work to David Martinez, a
Mexican financier.
(SFC, 11/3/06, p.A10)
2006 Nov 2, NASA lost contact with
the Mars Global Surveyor following a successful 10-year mapping
mission. Investigators in 2007 said a command sent to a wrong computer
address caused a cascade of events that led to loss of power.
(http://tinyurl.com/y8wtv3)(SFC, 4/14/07, p.A5)
2006 Nov 2, In Afghanistan a NATO
airstrike in Helmand province killed nine militants and wounded 30.
Militants attacked an Afghan army patrol in the eastern province of
Laghman, killing one solider and injuring three. British Corporal
Daniel James, an interpreter to Lieutenant General David Richards,
allegedly passed secrets to "the enemy," believed to be Iran. James
faced initial court proceedings in London in December. Richards was the
commander of NATO troops in Afghanistan.
(AP, 11/4/06)(AFP, 12/27/06)
2006 Nov 2, Algerian rebels shot
dead 8 soldiers in an ambush in the heaviest reported government losses
for seven months in the north African country's lingering political
violence.
(Reuters, 11/4/06)
2006 Nov 2, In Colombia a jeep
carrying explosives blew up south of Bogota, killing two passengers and
probably preempting a leftist rebel attack.
(AP, 11/3/06)
2006 Nov 2, Thousands returned to
the polls in a northeast Congo town and recast ballots destroyed in
rioting that followed the weekend presidential runoff.
(AP, 11/2/06)
2006 Nov 2, Commonwealth Secretary
General Don McKinnon warned Fiji's military commander against a coup
after the commander said that the Pacific island nation could be
sliding towards "bloodshed."
(AFP, 11/2/06)
2006 Nov 2, Hundreds of euro bills
in Germany have mysteriously disintegrated in the last several months,
apparently due to exposure to sulfuric acid.
(AFP, 11/2/06)
2006 Nov 2, India's army chief has
ordered an investigation into a string of recent incidents of soldiers
fatally shooting their colleagues in India's insurgency-wracked portion
of Kashmir. There have been at least four cases over the past 10 days
of distraught soldiers in Kashmir shooting colleagues to death, then
committing suicide.
(AP, 11/2/06)
2006 Nov 2, Iran successfully
test-fired three new models of sea missiles in a show of force to
assert its military capacities in the Gulf.
(AP, 11/3/06)
2006 Nov 2, Iraqi President Jalal
Talabani said on a trip to France that it would take his country two or
three years to set up its own security forces and send U.S.-led troops
home. Gunmen killed Jassim al-Asadi, the Shiite dean of Baghdad
University's school of administration and economics, along with his
wife and son. Abdul-Majid Ismail Khalil, an Iraqi journalist who was
kidnapped Oct 18, was found dead. A motorcycle rigged with explosives
blew up in a crowded market in Baghdad's Shiite Sadr City district,
killing at least seven people and wounding 45. Attacks across the
country left 45 Iraqis dead. 3 US soldiers died when the vehicle they
were riding in was struck by a roadside bomb in eastern Baghdad. One
Marine died from injuries "due to enemy action" in Anbar province.
(AP, 11/2/06)(AP, 11/3/06)(WSJ, 11/3/06, p.A1)
2006 Nov 2, Israeli helicopter
gunships, tanks and ground troops tightened their grip on Beit Hanoun,
a northern Gaza town they overran a day before. 9 Palestinians were
killed in Israel's biggest push in months to stop militant rocket fire.
(AP, 11/2/06)(SFC, 11/3/06, p.A22)(WSJ, 11/3/06,
p.A1)
2006 Nov 2, In Mexico, protesters
besieging Oaxaca City forced federal police to retreat from the gates
of the state university after six hours of pitched fighting and the
rector's call for an end to the government "attack."
(AP, 11/3/06)
2006 Nov 2, Authorities in Nigeria
named Muhammadu Sada Abubakar III (50), an army colonel, as the
country's top Muslim leader, replacing his brother Muhammadu Maccido,
the Sultan of Sokoto, who died in a plane crash last weekend. Armed
gunmen seized two expatriate oil workers, an American and a Briton,
during a raid on a Norwegian oil services ship off Nigeria's southern
coast.
(AP, 11/2/06)
2006 Nov 2, In the southwestern
Pakistani city of Quetta a car bomb exploded near the police chief's
headquarters, killing two policemen and wounding four other people.
(AP, 11/2/06)
2006 Nov 2, Russia's
state-controlled natural gas monopoly said that it would more than
double the price it charges Georgia, further heightening tensions
between the ex-Soviet neighbors.
(AP, 11/2/06)
2006 Nov 2, Russia and China
indicated that they will not support a draft UN resolution imposing
tough sanctions on Iran for its refusal to halt its nuclear enrichment
program.
(AP, 11/2/06)
2006 Nov 2, Senegal moved closer
to bringing Hissene Habre, a former Chadian dictator accused of war
crimes, to justice after the government announced that local laws would
be revised and a special commission formed to organize and oversee his
trial.
(AP, 11/3/06)
2006 Nov 2, Sri Lankan war planes
pounded suspected Tamil Tiger targets for a third straight day after
the defense ministry said the guerrillas were preparing for a major
offensive. A military bomb attack inside the rebel political capital of
Kilinochchi hit a house, killing five people.
(AFP, 11/3/06)
2006 Nov 2, In St. Maarten 4
French nationals were convicted of beating two gay American tourists on
Guadeloupe and were sentenced to between six months and six years in
prison.
(AP, 11/2/06)
2006 Nov 2, The UN management
chief said an investigation into corruption was "at full throttle" and
he urged anyone with relevant information to cooperate.
(AP, 11/3/06)
2006 Nov 3, US Rep. Bob Ney,
R-Ohio, who had pleaded guilty in the Jack Abramoff influence-peddling
investigation, resigned from Congress.
(AP, 11/3/07)
2006 Nov 3, The US Labor Dept.
said the jobless rate fell last month to 4.4%, a 5 year low.
(WSJ, 11/4/06, p.A1)
2006 Nov 3, The film “Borat:
Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of
Kazakhstan” opened nationwide in the US.
(Econ, 11/11/06,
p.68)(www.premiere.com/moviereviews/3082/borat.html)
2006 Nov 3, US and Canadian
researchers reported that the world's fish and seafood could disappear
by 2048 as overfishing and pollution destroy ocean ecosystems at an
accelerating pace.
(AFP, 11/3/06)
2006 Nov 3, The UN weather agency
said heat-trapping greenhouse gases in the atmosphere reached a record
high in 2005 and are still increasing.
(AP, 11/3/06)
2006 Nov 3, In Afghanistan NATO
troops backed by warplanes launched a raid north of Kabul, hitting a
compound with eight to 10 suspected Taliban fighters inside in the
Tagab Valley, some 40 miles northeast of Kabul. Taliban fighters
attacked a supply convoy heading to a NATO base in Khost province,
killing two Pakistani drivers and wounding an Afghan driver. Gabriele
Torsello, Italian photojournalist, was released after being held three
weeks by abductors who demanded the withdrawal of Italian troops from
the country.
(AP, 11/3/06)(AP, 11/4/06)
2006 Nov 3, Ben Bradshaw,
Britain’s Fisheries Minister, responded to a major report warning that
stocks could be wiped out by 2048 by ruling out a complete ban on cod
fishing. Bradshaw said that the UK had already taken action by clamping
down on illegal fishing and setting fishing quotas.
(AFP, 11/3/06)
2006 Nov 3, Barclays said it will
to pay 144 million dollars to settle litigation arising from the
collapse of US energy trading firm Enron in 2001.
(AFP, 11/3/06)
2006 Nov 3, In Chad rebels intent
on toppling Pres. Francois Bozize took the town of Birao. They appeared
to be operating out of the Darfur region of Sudan.
(Econ, 11/11/06, p.54)
2006 Nov 3, Leaders of more than
40 African nations converged on Beijing for a summit at which China
will seek to bolster its influence on the resource-rich but
economically backward continent.
(Reuters, 11/3/06)
2006 Nov 3, Egyptian police found
more than 3,000 pounds of explosives buried in two caches in the Sinai
desert, one of them near the Palestinian-controlled Gaza Strip.
(AP, 11/3/06)
2006 Nov 3, French conductor Paul
Mauriat (81), whose arrangement of "Love is Blue" topped US charts in
the 1960s, died in Perpignan, France.
(AP, 11/3/07)
2006 Nov 3, In New Delhi, India,
the Bush administration won international approval for US farmers to
use some 5,900 tons of methyl bromide to kill soil pests in 2008. In
2004 the ozone destroying pesticide was banned by treaty, except for
uses deemed critical.
(SFC, 11/4/06, p.A3)
2006 Nov 3, In Iraq spiraling
violence included the discovery of 56 bodies in Baghdad bearing signs
of torture. US troops acting on intelligence reports raided a building
in Mahmoudiya killing 13 suspected insurgents.
(AP, 11/3/06)
2006 Nov 3, Sultan Mizan Zainal
Abidin (44), a sultan in northeastern Malaysia, was elected the
country's next constitutional monarch under a unique system where
traditional state rulers take turns on the throne for five years.
Mizan, whose state has significant offshore oil and gas resources, will
assume the throne on Dec. 13 as Malaysia's 13th Yang di-Pertuan Agong,
the Malay title of the monarch.
(AP, 11/3/06)
2006 Nov 3, In Mexico Andres
Manuel Lopez Obrador, who refused to accept an election tribunal's
decision that his opponent narrowly won the presidential election,
named his "resistance" government Cabinet.
(AP, 11/3/06)
2006 Nov 3, In northwestern
Pakistan thousands of tribesmen protested a Pakistani airstrike that
killed 80 people at an Islamic school. The seminary was run by fugitive
cleric Liaquat Hussain, whom officials said was an associate of
al-Qaida's No. 2 leader Ayman al-Zawahri. Hussain was killed in the
airstrike. A strike closed shops and halted public transport in Khar,
the Bajur tribal region's main town.
(AP, 11/3/06)
2006 Nov 3, Hundreds of
Palestinian women in robes and headscarves streamed into a Gaza combat
zone to help free gunmen besieged by Israeli troops at a mosque. Two
women who came under fire were killed and at least 10 wounded, but some
gunmen managed to escape. The 3-day Israeli offensive killed 35
Palestinians.
(AP, 11/4/06)(WSJ, 11/4/06, p.A1)
2006 Nov 3, Latin American and
Caribbean nations unanimously endorsed Panama for a seat on the UN
Security Council after Guatemala and Venezuela agreed to withdraw to
break a deadlock that dragged on through 47 votes in the General
Assembly.
(AP, 11/3/06)
2006 Nov 3, Russia proposed major
amendments to a European draft resolution on Iran, saying it wants
sanctions limited to measures that will keep Tehran from developing
nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles while keeping the door open for
negotiations.
(AP, 11/3/06)
2006 Nov 3, In Taiwan prosecutors
said they have enough evidence to indict President Chen Shui-bian on
corruption charges in connection with his handling of a secret
diplomatic fund, increasing the pressure on him to resign. Prosecutors
charged Wu Shu-chen, the president’s wife, with embezzling $450,000
from a fund used for secret diplomacy.
(AP, 11/3/06)(Econ, 11/11/06, p.48)
2006 Nov 3, Sudanese President
Omar al-Bashir said that his government will not relent on its
rejection of UN peacekeeping troops for Darfur. Rebels accused Khartoum
of remobilizing Arab militia after suffering two military defeats on
the Sudan-Chad border.
(AP, 11/3/06)
2006 Nov 3, In Uruguay UN
Secretary-General Kofi Annan praised leaders at the 16th annual
Iberoamerican summit for resolving to make progress on growing illegal
immigration in an increasingly mobile world community.
(AP, 11/3/06)
2006 Nov 4, Katherine Jefferts
Schori (52) took office at Washington National Cathedral as the 1st
woman to lead the US Episcopal Church and the 1st female to head an
Anglican province. The former bishop of Nevada was elected at the
Episcopal convention in June.
(SSFC, 11/5/06, p.A9)
2006 Nov 4, Ernestine Gilbreth
Carey (98), co-author of "Cheaper by the Dozen," died in Fresno, Calif.
(AP, 11/4/07)
2006 Nov 4, In Afghanistan battles
continued as NATO forces battled suspected insurgents near Kabul.
Afghan authorities reported a dozen people dead in attacks.
(AP, 11/4/06)
2006 Nov 4, Swathes of Austria,
Belgium, Croatia, France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, and the Netherlands
and went dark for up to an hour in the late evening as cold Germans
rushing to switch on heaters sucked up electricity from Europe's
interconnected networks.
(AP, 11/5/06)
2006 Nov 4, In Britain thousands
of environmental campaigners rallied in London ahead of international
talks on climate change in Kenya, demanding that world leaders act to
curb global warming.
(AP, 11/4/06)
2006 Nov 4, The Central African
Republic's parliament called on the international community and France
in particular to aid it against rebels who have seized a northern town.
A rebel alliance, the Union of Democratic Forces for the Rally (UFDR)
said it had seized the northeastern town of Birao on Oct 30.
(AFP, 11/4/06)
2006 Nov 4, China launched a
sweeping effort to expand its access to Africa's oil and markets,
pledging billions of dollars in aid and loans as dozens of leaders from
the world's poorest continent opened a conference aimed at building
economic ties. President Hu Jintao said China will offer $5 billion in
loans and credits, and double aid to Africa by 2009.
(AP, 11/4/06)(Reuters, 11/4/06)
2006 Nov 4, William Lee Brent
(75), a Black Panther who hijacked a passenger jet to communist Cuba in
1969 and spent 37 years in exile, died in Cuba. A decade ago, Times
Books published his memoirs, "Long Time Gone," which told of his coming
of age on Oakland's streets and of joining the Black Panthers when he
was 37, rising to become a bodyguard for leader Eldridge Cleaver.
(AP, 11/17/06)
2006 Nov 4, Iraqi and US security
forces killed 53 suspected insurgents in a raid near Madain, southeast
of Baghdad.
(AP, 11/5/06)
2006 Nov 4, Russian police
arrested hundreds of ultranationalist demonstrators who took to
Moscow's streets, forcefully putting an end to the banned protest amid
an increase in hate crimes.
(AP, 11/4/06)
2006 Nov 4, Spanish police said
that 1.8 billion euros (2.3 billion dollars) had been frozen in bank
accounts as investigations continued into possible tax fraud.
(AP, 11/4/06)
2006 Nov 4, Thousands of people
took to the streets across Taiwan to demand President Chen Shui-bian's
resignation over a corruption scandal that could land his wife in
prison.
(AP, 11/4/06)
2006 Nov 4, Thousands of
nationalist Turks marched in Ankara, vowing to defend the secular
regime against radical Islamic influences and urging the government not
to make too many concessions in order to gain EU membership.
(AP, 11/4/06)
2006 Nov 4, In Yemen an appeals
court endorsed a lower court's decision to drop the most serious
charges against 19 alleged al-Qaida members, clearing all of plotting
to assassinate Westerners and blow up a hotel frequented by Americans.
(AP, 11/4/06)
2006 Nov 5, Marilson Gomes dos
Santos of Brazil won the NYC Marathon in 2:09:58. Jelena Prokopcuka of
Latvia won the women’s race for the 2nd year in a row in 2:25:05.
(WSJ, 11/6/06, p.A1)
2006 Nov 5, Saying that he was a
"deceiver and liar" who had given in to his dark side, the Rev. Ted
Haggard confessed to sexual immorality in a letter read from the pulpit
of the New Life Church in Colorado Springs, Colo.
(AP, 11/5/07)
2006 Nov 5, Rockwall County,
Texas, prosecutor Louis "Bill" Conradt Jr. killed himself as police
tried to serve him with an arrest warrant alleging he had solicited sex
with a minor online.
(AP, 11/5/07)
2006 Nov 5, In eastern Afghanistan
suspected Taliban militants kidnapped four Afghan aid workers.
(AP, 11/6/06)
2006 Nov 5, In Canada Damon Crooks
(28) of Jacksonville, Fla., was stabbed in the early morning outside a
downtown club in Halifax after a fight that began inside spilled onto
the street. The American sailor killed during the bar brawl was a "Good
Samaritan" trying to break up a fight he wasn't even involved in.
(AP, 11/5/06)
2006 Nov 5, China and Africa
ended an unprecedented summit, signing deals worth $1.9 billion and
pledging to boost trade and development between the world's
fastest-growing economy and its poorest continent. The leaders of China
and 48 African nations pledged to form a new strategic partnership
aimed at deepening their political and economic ties.
(AFP, 11/5/06)
2006 Nov 5, A gas blast in
northern China killed 47 miners at the Jiaojiazhai mine in Shanxi
province's Xinzhou city.
(AP, 11/16/06)
2006 Nov 5, Fiji's military,
locked in a standoff with the government, accused Australia on of
breaching its sovereignty by sending an unspecified number of police it
described as mercenaries into the country.
(AP, 11/5/06)
2006 Nov 5, In northeast India
8-10 people were killed and 20 wounded when two powerful bombs exploded
in Gauhati, the capital of Assam state. Police had killed 3 United
Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) leaders on Nov 3, and it looked like a
retaliatory strike.
(AP, 11/5/06)
2006 Nov 5, Saddam Hussein was
convicted and sentenced to hang for crimes against humanity in the 1982
killings of 148 people in the Mainly Shiite town of Dujail. Hussein,
his half brother and another senior official in his regime were
convicted and sentenced to death by the Iraqi High Tribunal. Iraqi
security forces closed two Sunni Muslim television stations for
violating curfew and a law that bans airing material that could
undermine the country's stability. The bodies of 50 murder victims were
discovered, the bulk of them in Baghdad. The US military announced the
death of an Army soldier in fighting in western Baghdad.
(AP, 11/5/06)(AP, 11/6/06)(Econ, 11/11/06, p.8)
2006 Nov 5, Israel’s PM Ehud
Olmert pledged to press ahead with Israel's offensive in the Gaza Strip
until the army significantly decreases Palestinian rocket fire on
Israel.
(AP, 11/5/06)
2006 Nov 5, In the
Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir 4 members of a family and two
suspected Islamic militants were killed in separate incidents.
(AP, 11/6/06)
2006 Nov 5, A bomb exploded near
police barracks in Beirut, the latest in a series of attacks targeting
police in the Lebanese capital.
(AP, 11/5/06)
2006 Nov 5, In Libya Idrees
Mohammed Boufayed (49), a vocal critic of Libyan leader Moamer
Kadhafi's regime, was detained after being summoned to the internal
security agency. The doctor, who had lived in Switzerland for 16 years,
returned from exile in September to develop the National Union for
Reform opposition party he founded 18 months ago.
(AFP, 12/4/06)
2006 Nov 5, Nepal's rebel leader
Prachanda said they have made significant progress in peace talks with
the government and have informally agreed to lock up weapons under
United Nations supervision.
(AP, 11/5/06)
2006 Nov 5, In Nicaragua
Sandinista leader Daniel Ortega makes his fourth attempt to return to
the presidency.
(AP, 11/5/06)
2006 Nov 5, Pakistan, under
international pressure to stop militants from crossing over its border
with Afghanistan, said it was willing to fence off the frontier.
(AP, 11/5/06)
2006 Nov 5, A delegation of Somali
lawmakers broke ranks with the government and traveled to the capital
to hold peace talks with the country's Islamic militia, the latest sign
of cracks in the fragile administration.
(AP, 11/5/06)
2006 Nov 5, Taiwanese President
Chen Shui-bian apologized for causing political turmoil that hurt "the
nation's image," but he denied prosecutors' allegations that he was
involved in embezzling money from a special fund for diplomacy. Chen
Shui-bian said he would resign from office if his wife was found guilty
of corruption and forgery charges.
(AFP, 11/5/06)
2006 Nov 5, In Thailand a
bomb blast killed two soldiers and injured three others in the restive
south. 4 people were shot dead and six wounded in a string of shootings
and simultaneous bomb attacks in the south. PM Surayud Chulanont
apologized to Muslims for the government's failure to quell the
long-running insurgency.
(AFP, 11/5/06)
2006 Nov 5, Bulent Ecevit (81)
former 4-time Prime Minister of Turkey (1973-2002), died. Ecevit was a
political force in Turkey for almost half a century. He had ordered the
invasion of Cyprus and later pushed his country toward the West.
(AP, 11/5/06)(Econ, 11/11/06, p.97)
2006 Nov 6, Kenny Chesney won
entertainer of the year and Brooks & Dunn's inspirational song
"Believe" won three trophies, including single and song of the year, at
the 40th Annual Country Music Association Awards.
(AP, 11/6/07)
2006 Nov 6, On the eve of midterm
elections, Democrats criticized Republicans as stewards of a stale
status quo while President Bush campaigned from Florida to Arkansas to
Texas in a drive to preserve GOP control of Congress.
(AP, 11/6/07)
2006 Nov 6, US military trade
papers published an editorial calling for the ouster of Defense Sec.
Donald Rumsfeld. Rumsfeld signed a letter of resignation on this day,
but Pres. Bush waited until Nov 8, one day after elections to make the
announcement.
(SSFC, 11/5/06, p.A18)(SFC, 8/14/07, p.A7)
2006 Nov 6, AIDS researchers
reported encouraging results for a vaccine based on genetically altered
HIV.
(WSJ, 11/7/06, p.A1)
2006 Nov 6, In Danville, Ca.,
Dimitra Mantas (43) was bludgeoned to death by her son (16), a user of
methamphetamine. In 2008 a judge ruled that Andrew Mantas was
incompetent to stand trial.
(SFC, 11/7/06, p.B1)(SFC, 5/31/08, p.B3)
2006 Nov 6, Transparency
International, a watchdog group, reported that nearly three-quarters of
163 countries ranked in a new survey suffer from a perception of
serious corruption, while in nearly half it is seen as rampant.
Finland, Iceland and New Zealand ranked as the least corrupt, while
Haiti, Guinea and Myanmar ranked as most corrupt.
(AP, 11/6/06)(Econ, 11/11/06, p.69)
2006 Nov 6, Afghan and US-led
troops detained six suspected extremists, including one described as a
"known al-Qaida terrorist." Taliban fighters ambushed a police patrol,
killing one policeman and wounding two in Zabul province. One Taliban
fighter was killed in an ensuing fight. In Helmand province Afghan and
NATO forces carried out an operation against Taliban fighters, killing
two. An Afghan army soldier was killed when another IED struck a
military patrol in the Gereshk area of Helmand province.
(AP, 11/6/06)(AP, 11/7/06)
2006 Nov 6, Chile’s President
Michelle Bachelet opened an international gathering of socialist
leaders in Santiago by urging them to take advantage of the "reality"
of globalization instead of fighting it. Police in Chile arrested 4
suspected computer hackers for allegedly belonging to a group accused
of breaking into thousands of government Web sites around the globe,
including NASA's.
(AP, 11/7/06)
2006 Nov 6, China's relations with
Zimbabwe are "unshakeable", President Hu Jintao said as he met Pres.
Mugabe amid accusations that Beijing's ties help shore up a pariah
regime.
(AFP, 11/6/06)
2006 Nov 6, Iraq’s
Shiite-dominated government offered a major concession to Sunnis that
could give jobs back to members of the Baath Party. A US helicopter
crashed in Salahuddin province, killing two American soldiers on board.
2 Marines and a soldier were killed in fighting in Anbar province. In
northern Iraq flash floods caused by heavy rain killed 18 people and
injured 20.
(AP, 11/6/06)(SFC, 11/7/06, p.A13)
2006 Nov 6, A female suicide
bomber approached Israeli troops in the northern Gaza Strip and blew
herself up. One soldier was lightly wounded in the blast.
(AP, 11/6/06)
2006 Nov 6, Hundreds of Israelis
of Ethiopian descent clashed with police and briefly blocked a main
road leading into Jerusalem in a protest of the Health Ministry's
wholesale discarding of donated Ethiopian blood.
(AP, 11/6/06)
2006 Nov 6, In Italy a Milan court
sentenced Rabei Osman Sayed Ahmed, the accused mastermind of the March
2004 train bombings in Madrid, to 10 years in jail for membership of a
terrorist organization. A second Egyptian, Yahya Mawad Mohamed Rajeh,
was sentenced to five years in jail in the case.
(AFP, 11/6/06)(WSJ, 11/7/06, p.A1)
2006 Nov 6, In Kenya thousands of
delegates from around the world opened a UN conference on next steps to
ward off the worst effects of climate change.
(AP, 11/6/06)
2006 Nov 6, Kyrgyzstan President
Kurmanbek Bakiyev agreed to several opposition demands after five days
of rallies demanding his resignation. Police officers guarding the
presidential headquarters switched over to the protesters' side.
(AP, 11/6/06)
2006 Nov 6, In Mexico City
simultaneous explosions hit the Federal Electoral Tribunal, a bank
branch and the headquarters of the former ruling party early in the
day. Authorities deactivated a homemade explosive device at a second
bank branch.
(AP, 11/6/06)
2006 Nov 6, In the Netherlands 6
people were arrested on suspicion of recruiting volunteers for jihad,
or Islamic holy war, prosecutors said after a year-long investigation.
(AFP, 11/7/06)
2006 Nov 6, In Nicaragua Daniel
Ortega appeared headed back to the presidency 16 years after a
U.S.-backed rebellion helped oust the former Marxist revolutionary.
Partial results and the country's top electoral watchdog indicated he
had easily defeated four opponents.
(AP, 11/6/06)
2006 Nov 6, Nigeria signed a deal
with British firm Surrey Satellite Technology Limited (SSTL) to build
an earth observation satellite.
(AFP, 11/6/06)
2006 Nov 6, In northern Somalia
Islamic fighters clashed with government militia backed by Ethiopian
forces.
(SFC, 11/7/06, p.A18)
2006 Nov 6, South Africa's top
appeals court dented ex-Deputy President Jacob Zuma's chances of
becoming the next president when it confirmed corruption convictions
against a former financial adviser.
(Reuters, 11/6/06)
2006 Nov 6, Syria's foreign
minister said his country was ready to resume peace talks with Israel
and he urged the Jewish state's government to heed calls from within
the country for renewed negotiations.
(AP, 11/7/06)
2006 Nov 6, Tajikistan's President
Emomali Rakhmonov won re-election to a new, seven-year term according
to preliminary results that gave him nearly 80% of the vote. Foreign
observers said the vote was flawed.
(AP, 11/7/06)
2006 Nov 6, Canada’s Heritage Oil
reported an oil find on the Ugandan side of Lake Albert.
(Econ, 8/25/07, p.45)(http://tinyurl.com/36dnbm)
2006 Nov 7, In a rout once
considered almost inconceivable, Democrats won a 51st seat in the
Senate and regained total control of Congress after 12 years of
near-domination by the Republican Party. Almost 79 million people voted
in the election, with Democrats drawing more support than Republicans
for the first time in a midterm election since 1990.
(AP, 11/9/06)
2006 Nov 7, Arizona became the
first US state to defeat an amendment to ban gay marriage. The
passage of Proposition 200 would entitle one voter to win $1 million
just for voting in the nation’s first ballot box lottery.
(SFC, 11/4/06, p.A1)(AP, 11/8/06)
2006 Nov 7, Jerry Brown, mayor of
Oakland and former California state governor, was elected as state
attorney general.
(AP, 11/9/06)
2006 Nov 7, Joe Lieberman, running
as an independent, won the Connecticut Senate race over Ned Lamont with
52% of the vote.
(Econ, 11/11/06, p.37)
2006 Nov 7, Charlie Crist was
elected governor of Florida over Democrat Jim Davis.
(http://tinyurl.com/tom9x)
2006 Nov 7, Eliot Spitzer defeated
John Faso to become the first Democratic governor of New York since
1994. He faced budget gaps of almost $7 billion over the next 2 years
along with a bloated Medicaid program.
(http://tinyurl.com/ycxm58)(Econ, 11/4/06, p.37)
2006 Nov 7, Keith Ellison, a
Democratic state lawmaker from Minnesota, became the first Muslim
elected to Congress.
(AP, 11/7/07)
2006 Nov 7, Missouri approved a
measure backing stem cell research.
(AP, 11/8/06)
2006 Nov 7, South Dakota rejected
a law that would have banned virtually all abortions.
(AP, 11/8/06)
2006 Nov 7, Dan Patrick,
conservative talk show host from Houston, was elected to the state
Senate. He planned to continued broadcasting from Austin.
(Econ, 12/16/06, p.33)
2006 Nov 7, Bernard Sanders from
Vermont was elected to the U.S. Senate over GOP opponent Richard
Tarrant and became the first socialist in the U.S. Senate. He had been
a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Vermont for 16 years
(1991-2007). For purposes of committee assignments he is counted as a
Democrat.
(SSFC, 11/5/06,
p.A8)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernie_Sanders)
2006 Nov 7, Voters in Seattle
rejected a measure that would have require erotic dancers to stay at
least four feet from patrons.
(Reuters, 11/11/06)
2006 Nov 7, Pop star Britney
Spears filed for divorce from Kevin Federline.
(AP, 11/7/07)
2006 Nov 7, In Afghanistan a
suicide attacker detonated explosives strapped to his body near the
vehicle of the chief of the Tanai district on the border with Pakistan.
District chief Badi-ulzaman and his two police guards were wounded in
the suicide attack.
(AP, 11/7/06)
2006 Nov 7, Australia's Senate
narrowly voted to lift the country's ban on cloning human embryos for
stem cell research. A leading expert at a crisis summit said Australia,
already the world's driest inhabited continent, is in the grip of its
worst drought in 1,000 years.
(AP, 11/7/06)(AFP, 11/7/06)
2006 Nov 7, Britain's lawmakers
granted posthumous pardons for soldiers executed during World War I,
ending years of campaigning by the families of men condemned to death
for cowardice. Dhiren Barot (34), an al-Qaida operative who planned to
blow up landmark London hotels using limos packed with gas tanks,
napalm and nails, and plotted to attack the New York Stock Exchange and
the World Bank, was sentenced in London to life in prison.
(AP, 11/7/06)
2006 Nov 7, Rebels ambushed a
police convoy in Chechnya, killing 7 police officers. Lt. Col. Nikolai
Varavin, a spokesman for Russian forces in Chechnya, said that up to
700 militants continue operating in the province's mountains.
(AP, 11/9/06)
2006 Nov 7, China and Egypt agreed
to co-operate on the peaceful use of nuclear energy, state media said,
in a development that could rile the United States, a traditional Cairo
ally.
(AFP, 11/8/06)
2006 Nov 7, An independent
commission said it will demarcate the contested Ethiopian-Eritrean
border on maps and leave the rival nations to establish the physical
boundary themselves. It said both Ethiopian and Eritrean officials were
invited to a November 20 meeting in The Hague to discuss the procedure.
(Reuters, 11/14/06)
2006 Nov 7, French authorities
handed over to Spain Jose Javier Arizcuren Ruiz, a former leading
member of the armed Basque separatist group ETA, who police blame for
killing at least 15 people and planning several major attacks. Ruiz,
also known as "Kantauri," was arrested in Paris in 1999 and served time
in a French prison on charges of being a member of an armed group.
(AP, 11/7/06)
2006 Nov 7, A shipload of toxic
waste arrived in France for disposal. It was collected from the Ivory
Coast following illegal dumping last August.
(WSJ, 11/8/06, p.A1)
2006 Nov 7, In France Jean-Jacques
Servan-Schreiber (1924), who co-founded the French newsweekly L'Express
(1953) and encouraged Europe to emulate the United States, died. In
1967 Servan-Schreiber published a popular essay called "The American
Challenge," which detailed the mechanisms of an economic power struggle
brewing between Europe and the US.
(AP, 11/8/06)
2006 Nov 7, A somber Saddam
Hussein called on Iraqis to forgive each other, when he returned to
court two days after being sentenced to death for crimes against
humanity in another case. Iraq's Interior Ministry said that it has
charged 57 members of the Iraqi police, including a general, in the
alleged torture of hundreds of detainees at a prison in eastern
Baghdad. Mortar attacks across the Tigris between Shiites and Sunnis
killed 21 people. 15 bodies, victims of sectarian torture, were found
south of Baghdad.
(AP, 11/7/06)(WSJ, 11/8/06, p.A1)
2006 Nov 7, Israeli tanks fired
two shells at the home of the Hamas lawmaker who organized a women's
protest that allowed militants to escape from a northern Gaza mosque
under Israeli siege. Israeli forces ended a bloody weeklong operation
in the Gaza town of Beit Hanoun, leaving behind a swath of destroyed
homes, uprooted trees and streets muddied with sewage water from pipes
destroyed by tanks and bulldozers.
(AP, 11/7/06)
2006 Nov 7, A rare tornado tore
across Japan's far north, killing nine people and leaving dozens more
destitute.
(AFP, 11/7/06)
2006 Nov 7, In Kyrgyzstan
protesters demanding the Kyrgyz president's resignation clashed with
government supporters, but fears of deadly violence eased after
lawmakers on both sides said they had agreed on a compromise draft
constitution.
(AP, 11/7/06)
2006 Nov 7, More than 15,000
white-clad supporters of Oaxaca's embattled governor marched through
Oaxaca in their biggest show of strength in a six-month conflict that
has left at least nine people dead.
(AP, 11/7/06)
2006 Nov 7, In Nepal peacemakers
produced a deal supported by both Maoist rebels and the coalition
government.
(Econ, 11/11/06, p.49)
2006 Nov 7, In Nigeria an American
and a Briton kidnapped from a ship mapping petroleum deposits off the
oil-rich southern coast were released.
(AP, 11/7/06)
2006 Nov 7, Panama won a seat on
the UN Security Council on the 48th ballot after US-backed Guatemala
and Venezuela, led by leftist anti-American President Hugo Chavez,
dropped out to end a deadlock.
(AP, 11/7/06)’
2006 Nov 7, The UN named American
diplomat Josette Sheeran the next head of the World Food Program and
she said her top priorities will be to ensure no child goes to bed
hungry and to reduce hunger-related deaths.
(AP, 11/7/06)
2006 Nov 7, The World Trade
Organization (WTO) has formally approved communist Vietnam's membership
of the global free trade system. The US government congratulated
Vietnam for winning entry to the WTO, and urged Congress to enact
regular trading ties with the communist nation.
(AFP, 11/7/06)
2006 Nov 8, Pres. Bush announced
the resignation of Donald Rumsfeld, US Defense Secretary, and named
Robert Gates (63), the current president of Texas A&M Univ., to
succeed Rumsfeld. Rumsfeld’s letter of resignation was dated Nov 6.,
but Pres. Bush waited till after elections to make the announcement.
(SFC, 11/9/06, p.A13)(SFC, 8/14/07, p.A7)
2006 Nov 8, Democratic gains in
Congress were seen around the world as a rejection of the US war in
Iraq that led some observers to expect a reassessment of the American
course there. The victory would make Nancy Pelosi, Representative of
SF, the 1st woman and the 1st Californian to serve as speaker of the
House. Pelosi promised a 6-pronged action plan: A new direction for
America, to be enacted within 100 hours of becoming speaker.
(AP, 11/8/06)(SFC, 11/8/06, p.A1)(Econ, 11/11/06,
p.38)
2006 Nov 8, US Democrats took over
Republican–held mansions in 6 states to boast 28 of the nation’s 50
governors. In Massachusetts Deval Patrick succeeded Mit Romney; in Ohio
Ted Strickland won over Kenneth Blackwell by 24 percent; Bill Ritter
won in Colorado.
(Econ, 11/11/06, p.39)(Econ, 8/2/08, p.31)
2006 Nov 8, NATO launched
airstrikes as clashes in the southern Afghan province of Kandahar
killed 28 suspected Taliban militants. Earlier in Zhari, police fought
for three hours with Taliban fighters. The clash left six Taliban dead
and four wounded. Suspected Taliban ambushed a police convoy on the
main Kandahar-Kabul highway in Shahjoy district of southern Zabul
province, killing two police and wounding five. Taliban attacked a
police post on a highway about 15 miles southeast of Khost. One
policeman was killed and two wounded, and the bodies of about five
militants, some dismembered, were left on the battlefield.
(AP, 11/9/06)
2006 Nov 8, In Barbados the new
Trinidad-based Caribbean Court of Justice, in its first death penalty
ruling, dismissed an appeal by the Barbados government that sought to
restore execution orders for two convicted murderers.
(AP, 11/8/06)
2006 Nov 8, Canada's homicide rate
rose for the second straight year in 2005, fueled in part by an
increase in gang-related violence, according to new government
statistics.
(AP, 11/8/06)
2006 Nov 8, The European
Commission set Turkey a mid-December deadline to open its ports to
shipping from Cyprus or face consequences for its troubled EU
membership bid.
(Reuters, 11/8/06)
2006 Nov 8, Indonesian troops
found detonators and 63 tons of explosive powder on a Chinese ship
anchored off Batam island after it broke down in the Malacca Strait.
(AP, 11/8/06)
2006 Nov 8, Iraq's parliament
voted to extend the country's state of emergency for 30 more days. A
pair of mortar rounds slammed into a soccer field while young men were
playing a game in a Shiite district of Baghdad as more than 60 people
were killed in attacks nationwide.
(AP, 11/8/06)
2006 Nov 8, Israeli tank shells
crashed into a residential neighborhood north of the town of Beit
Hanoun, killing at least 18 people including eight children in their
sleep. Israeli forces attacked a group of Palestinian militants near
the West Bank town of Jenin, killing four and a civilian. Hamas' exiled
leader, Khaled Mashaal, says a 2005 truce with Israel is finished and
appealed to all Palestinian factions to resume attacks.
(AP, 11/8/06)
2006 Nov 8, In Italy gunmen in the
Naples area used a stolen ambulance in the drive-by killing of a fellow
mob member. At least 9 murders over the last two weeks in the city have
prompted calls for tough measures.
(AP, 11/8/06)
2006 Nov 8, A Kenyan
environmentalist and Nobel Peace Prize winner called on people around
the world to plant 1 billion trees in the next year, saying the effort
is a way ordinary citizens can fight global warming.
(AP, 11/8/06)
2006 Nov 8, Nepal's Maoists
declared an end to a decade of armed struggle and renounced violence
following a landmark peace deal with the Himalayan nation's ruling
parties.
(AFP, 11/8/06)
2006 Nov 8, Former Marxist Daniel
Ortega, who battled a US-backed insurgency in the 1980s, returned to
Nicaragua's presidency calling for reconciliation, stability and a
renewed fight against poverty. Ortega won 38% of the vote, a 9 point
lead over Eduardo Montealegre.
(AP, 11/8/06)(Econ, 11/11/06, p.43)
2006 Nov 8, A suicide attack at
Pakistan's main army training base killed at least 42 soldiers.
Suspicion fell on pro-Taliban militants who had vowed revenge for a
deadly helicopter attack on an Islamic school last month.
(AP, 11/8/06)
2006 Nov 8, Serbia's parliament
formally adopted a new constitution reasserting Serbia's claim over
Kosovo and ruling out possible independence for the predominantly
ethnic Albanian province.
(AP, 11/8/06)
2006 Nov 8, In Sri Lanka an
artillery blitz on a rebel-held area killed about 65 civilians. Next
day the government expressed regret, but blamed the Tamil Tigers for
using human shields.
(AFP, 11/9/06)
2006 Nov 8, The UN General
Assembly voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to urge the United States to
end its 45-year-old trade embargo against Cuba after defeating an
amendment calling on Fidel Castro's government to free political
prisoners and respect human rights.
(AP, 11/8/06)
2006 Nov 9, Champion figure skater
Michelle Kwan was appointed America's first public diplomacy envoy by
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
(AP, 11/9/07)
2006 Nov 9, Virginia Republican
Sen. George Allen conceded his defeat to Democrat James Web. Sen.
Conrad Burns conceded the Montana Senate race to Democrat Jon Tester.
(SFC, 11/10/06, p.A17)
2006 Nov 9, The Nevada Supreme
Court upheld a Las Vegas city regulation barring erotic dancers from
raunchy physical contact with their customers, in a ruling that runs
counter to the gambling city's sinful reputation.
(Reuters, 11/11/06)
2006 Nov 9, Perrigo Co., a major
manufacturer of acetaminophen sold by Wal-Mart, CVS, Safeway and more
than 100 other retailers, recalled 11 million bottles of the widely
used pain-relieving pills after discovering some were contaminated with
metal fragments.
(AP, 11/9/06)
2006 Nov 9, Ed Bradley (1941),
former CBS newsman and 60 Minutes journalist, died in NYC of leukemia.
(SFC, 11/10/06, p.A15)
2006 Nov 9, Afghan and US troops
detained six people, four Afghans, an Arab and a Pakistani in the city
of Khost. Later reports said the detainees included Abu Nasir
al-Qahtani, one of four Arab al-Qaida operatives who escaped from the
US prison in Bagram in July 2005.
(AP, 11/9/06)(AP, 11/13/06)
2006 Nov 9, In Algeria 7 members
of the security forces were killed in an ambush during a cleanup
operation in a forest used as a hideout by Islamic extremists, and 13
others were injured, four of them seriously.
(AP, 11/10/06)
2006 Nov 9, Britain’s Economist
Magazine presented its annual Innovation Awards. The winners included
Marvin Caruthers for the development of automated DNA synthesis; Janus
Friis and Niklas Zennstrom of Skype for the development of Internet
file-sharing and telephony using peer-to-peer technology; Johannes
Poulsen for the commercialization of wind energy; Pierre Omidyar for
the development of electronic marketplace technology; Hernando de Soto
for the promotion of property rights and economic development; Sam
Pitroda for pioneering India’s communications revolution; and Nicolas
Hayek for revitalizing the Swiss watch industry.
(Econ, 12/2/06, TQ p.16)
2006 Nov 9, In southern China
police armed with shields, clubs and attack dogs fired tear gas on
thousands of villagers protesting what they called a land grab by
officials of Sanzhou village in Guangdong province.
(AP, 11/10/06)
2006 Nov 9, Colombia's Supreme
Court ordered three legislators arrested for their alleged ties to the
country's far-right paramilitaries.
(AP, 11/10/06)
2006 Nov 9, Markus Wolf (83), who
outwitted the West as communist East Germany's long-serving spymaster,
died. Wolf served under Erich Mielke, the hated Stasi chief, from 1956
until the fall of the Berlin Wall. Wolf detailed a string of his sagas
in his 1997 book "Memoirs of a Spymaster."
(AP, 11/9/06)(Econ, 11/18/06, p.90)
2006 Nov 9, Iraq’s health minister
estimated that 150,000 civilians have been killed in the 3 ½
year war. Nearly simultaneous car bombs struck two markets in
predominantly Shiite areas of Baghdad, killing at least 16 people, as
many Iraqis cheered the resignation of US Defense Secretary Donald
Rumsfeld. Iraqi soldiers descended on a building in the city of Rawah,
175 miles northwest of Baghdad, where they arrested local al-Qaida
commander Abu Muhayyam al-Masri, whose name is a pseudonym meaning,
"the Egyptian." 2 aides, Abu Issam al-Libi, or "the Libyan," and Abu
Zaid al-Suri, "the Syrian," were also arrested, along with 9 other
members of the cell. 3 unidentified bodies were found in Muqdadiyah. 2
US soldiers and a Marine were killed, bringing the number of Americans
who have died in the country so far this month to 23.
(AP, 11/9/06)(AP, 11/10/06)(SFC, 11/10/06, p.A20)
2006 Nov 9, Police arrested 50
people across central Italy to break up an organization that allegedly
transported cocaine and heroin from Africa to Europe using couriers who
swallowed drug-filled pellets.
(AP, 11/10/06)
2006 Nov 9, Kyrgyzstan's President
Kurmanbek Bakiyev signed an amended constitution limiting his own
powers in a bid to defuse the deepest political crisis this Central
Asian nation has experienced since the 2005 uprising that carried him
to power.
(AP, 11/9/06)
2006 Nov 9, Mexico City's assembly
passed legislation to legally recognize gay civil unions in the
capital, the first such vote by a legislative body in the history of
the conservative country.
(AP, 11/9/06)
2006 Nov 9, In Mozambique a
regional governor said more than 4,500 foreigners, mostly from
Tanzania, have been expelled for clandestinely mining gold close to its
northern border with Tanzania.
(AP, 11/9/06)
2006 Nov 9, In Nigeria at least 6
hostages escaped from an oil facility where they had been held along
with dozens of other people since armed men raided the Italian-run
pumping station earlier this week.
(AP, 11/9/06)
2006 Nov 9, The UN ranked Norway
as the best country to live in for a sixth consecutive year, prompting
the country's aid minister to tell Norwegians to stop whining about
wanting more.
(AP, 11/9/06)
2006 Nov 9, In Pakistan's part of
Kashmir 5 high-school students who mistook a bomblet for a toy were
fatally wounded when the explosive went off as they played with it in a
field.
(AP, 11/10/06)
2006 Nov 9, Russia’s Supreme Court
overturned the acquittal of three suspects in the killing of US
journalist Paul Klebnikov (2004). The court ordered a new trial with a
new judge.
(AP, 11/9/06)
2006 Nov 9, In Rwanda Theophister
Mukakibibi, a Catholic nun, was sentenced to 30 years in jail for
helping militias kill hundreds of people hiding in a hospital during
the 1994 genocide.
(AP, 11/10/06)
2006 Nov 9, In Sri Lanka at least
9 vessels were destroyed in a naval clash between Tamil rebels and Sri
Lanka's navy off the northern coast. Rebels claimed they killed 26
sailors and captured four others.
(AP, 11/9/06)
2006 Nov 9, In southern Thailand 8
bombs exploded almost simultaneously at car and motorcycle showrooms,
wounding nine people.
(AP, 11/9/06)
2006 Nov 10, Pres. Bush dedicated
the new National Museum of the Marine Corp. in Virginia.
(SFC, 11/11/06, p.A4)
2006 Nov 10, Jack Palance
(b.1919), film and TV star, died in southern California. He appeared in
some 100 films that included: “Sudden Fear” (1952) and “Shane” (1953).
(SFC, 11/11/06, p.B6)
2006 Nov 10, Asian nations reached
their first international agreement to implement what has been dubbed
the "Iron Silk Road." Armenia, Azerbaijan, Cambodia, China, Indonesia,
Iran, Kazakhstan, Laos, Russia, South Korea, Turkey and seven other
nations agreed to meet at least every two years to identify vital rail
routes, coordinate standards and financing and plan upgrades and
expansions, among other measures. The UN first conceived the
Trans-Asian Railway Network in 1960.
(AP, 11/10/06)
2006 Nov 10, Chevron Corp.
unveiled the Clio field, one of Australia’s biggest natural gas
discoveries.
(WSJ, 11/11/06, p.A4)
2006 Nov 10, In the Central
African Republic the rebel Union of Democratic Forces for the Rally
(UDFR) seized the town of Ouadda Djalle on after heavy fighting with
government troops who were forced to retreat.
(AP, 11/10/06)
2006 Nov 10, Chinese central bank
governor Zhou Xiaochuan said China will diversify its $1 trillion
foreign exchange reserves across different currencies and investment
instruments, including in emerging markets. In southwest China about
2,000 people mobbed a hospital in Guang'an City where a young boy died
after his grandfather was sent away to raise money for the child's
treatment. At least 10 people were injured in fighting with police.
(AP, 11/10/06)(AP, 11/12/06)
2006 Nov 10, Congo’s incumbent
Joseph Kabila retained a commanding lead in the presidential runoff
with about two-thirds of the vote counted.
(AP, 11/10/06)
2006 Nov 10, Iran's state media
paid scant attention to an Argentine's judge request for the arrest of
former President Hashemi Rafsanjani and other officials for the 1994
bombing of a Jewish cultural center in Buenos Aires.
(AP, 11/10/06)
2006 Nov 10, A new recording
attributed to the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq (Abu Hamza al-Muhajir)
mocked President Bush as a coward whose conduct of the war had been
rejected at the polls, and challenged him to keep US troops in Iraq to
face more bloodshed. Al-Qaida claimed to be winning the war faster than
expected, saying it had mobilized 12,000 fighters. 6 Iraqi soldiers
were killed and 10 wounded when a suicide bomber drove his
explosives-rigged car into an army checkpoint in the northern city of
Tal Afar. Three members of a family were killed by gunmen who stormed
their home near Baqouba. At least 59 Iraqi civilians were killed or
found dead.
(AP, 11/10/06)(SFC, 11/11/06, p.A12)(AP, 11/10/07)
2006 Nov 10, Israel's gay
community braved vehement opposition from religious fundamentalists and
held a large rally in Jerusalem, complete with live rock music, dancing
and declarations of pride. A group of gay Palestinian Americans
canceled a planned pride march in East Jerusalem after one of them was
beaten unconscious by a man from the Waqf Muslim religious authority.
(AP, 11/10/06)(SFC, 11/11/06, p.A3)
2006 Nov 10, Suspected militants
hurled a grenade into a crowd outside a mosque in a village in Indian
Kashmir, killing at least five people and wounding nearly 30.
(AP, 11/10/06)
2006 Nov 10, Kazakhstan's
President Nursultan Nazarbayev said the ruling Otan Party would merge
with the pro-government Civic Party in what the opposition described as
part of efforts to ensure his grip on power in upcoming parliamentary
elections.
(AP, 11/10/06)
2006 Nov 10, A first batch of
Indonesian troops arrived in Beirut to join a UN peacekeeping force,
whose commander warned of growing tensions in south Lebanon.
(AFP, 11/10/06)
2006 Nov 10, Italian police said
they arrested 13 people, including a judge accused of ties with the
Mafia, as part of a crackdown on organized crime in southern Italy.
(AP, 11/10/06)
2006 Nov 10, In Mexico Misael
Tamayo Hernandez, editor of El Despertar de la Costa, was found dead in
a hotel room in Zihuatanejo, a day after running stories about
organized crime and corruption in the city government. Hector Gaxiola,
a district police chief in the border city of Tijuana, was shot and
killed a day after surviving another attempt on his life. His brother
was found next to him. Both had been shot dozens of times.
(AP, 11/11/06)
2006 Nov 10, in Morocco 3 former
detainees at the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, were
convicted for creating a criminal group and forging documents.
(AP, 11/11/06)
2006 Nov 10, In northern New
Zealand oil refinery workers helped rescue 40 beached pilot whales, but
another 37 of the whale pod died on the sandy beach.
(AP, 11/10/06)
2006 Nov 10, A Norwegian refugee
group said it is closing down its humanitarian operations for nearly
300,000 people in Darfur because it is impossible to work in the
Sudanese region.
(AP, 11/10/06)
2006 Nov 10, In Pakistan a
roadside bomb hit a vehicle carrying a prominent pro-government tribal
elder in a volatile region near the Afghan border, killing him and
eight other people.
(AP, 11/10/06)
2006 Nov 10, Hamas leader Ismail
Haniyeh said he would step down as Palestinian prime minister if that
would persuade the West to lift debilitating economic sanctions.
(AP, 11/10/06)
2006 Nov 10, Igor Sergeyev (68),
former Russian defense minister (1997-2001), died.
(AP, 11/10/06)(Econ, 11/25/06, p.89)
2006 Nov 10, In Sri Lanka Nadaraja
Raviraj, a prominent Tamil legislator, was assassinated in Colombo. The
government navy said it killed six rebels in an attack on Tamil Tiger
boats.
(AP, 11/10/06)
2006 Nov 10, The UN announced it
would postpone a decision on the future status of Serbia's breakaway
Kosovo province, hours after Serbia said it would hold an early general
election in January.
(AP, 11/10/06)
2006 Nov 10, A report launched by
the UN Human Development Program (UNDP) highlighted how more than 2.6
billion people do not have access to proper sanitation and how dirty
water claims more lives than AIDS or conflicts. According to the UN 78%
of Mozambique's 17 million people earn less than two dollars a day and
more than 20,000 children die every year from water-borne diseases.
(AP, 11/10/06)
2006 Nov 10, In Vietnam 3
Vietnamese-Americans were convicted on terrorism charges after being
accused of trying to take over radio airwaves and call for an uprising
against Vietnam's communist government. A judge sentenced the Americans
and four Vietnamese to 15 months in prison, with credit for time served.
(AP, 11/10/06)
2006 Nov 11, President Bush marked
Veterans Day at Arlington National Cemetery by praising US troops who
had fought oppression around the world, yet spoke only briefly about
Iraq, where US commanders were re-evaluating strategy.
(AP, 11/11/07)
2006 Nov 11, The US vetoed a UN
Security Council draft resolution that sought to condemn an Israeli
military offensive in the Gaza Strip and demand Israeli troops pull out
of the territory.
(AP, 11/12/06)
2006 Nov 11, Bangladesh
authorities banned demonstrations and barricades ahead of a deadline
set by a 14-party political alliance for the removal of the chief
election commissioner over allegations of bias.
(AP, 11/11/06)
2006 Nov 11, It was reported that
British scientists had invented an artificial stomach at a cost of $1.8
million.
(SFC, 11/11/06, p.A6)
2006 Nov 11, In Beijing, China,
demonstrators angry at a crackdown on dogs staged a noisy protest,
decrying police killings of dogs and new limits on pet ownership.
(AP, 11/11/06)
2006 Nov 11, At this time about
35% of Bermuda’s population was white.
(Econ, 11/11/06, p.46)
2006 Nov 11, In Congo gunfire and
explosions boomed through Kinshasa in a new round of fighting between
forces loyal to two presidential candidates awaiting the results of a
runoff election meant to secure an end to years of war.
(AP, 11/12/06)
2006 Nov 11, In Haiti 2 UN
peacekeepers from Jordan were shot to death in Port-au-Prince after
coming under attack by gunmen. Jordan counted about 1,500 troops in the
force of some 8,800 peacekeepers. Nine peacekeepers have been killed
since the force arrived in June 2004.
(AP, 11/11/06)
2006 Nov 11, Tyler Walker
Williams, a US citizen and a student of India's national language
Hindi, became the first foreigner to win a student election at India's
prestigious Jawaharlal Nehru University after mounting a campaign
critical of US foreign policy.
(AP, 11/11/06)
2006 Nov 11, In Iraq a pair of car
bombs tore through a downtown shopping district in the capital, killing
8 people, while a Slovak and Polish soldier were reported killed
overnight by a roadside bomb south of the capital. Police special
forces said they killed two suspected insurgents and arrested 10 others
during an overnight search for those behind a suicide bombing a day
earlier that killed six Iraqi soldiers in Tal Afar. A suicide bomber
drove a car rigged with explosives into the police station in the
northern town of Zaganya, killing the police chief, setting four
vehicles on fire, and badly damaging the building. In Baqouba a staffer
with the local agriculture directorate, Zuhair Hussein Alwan, was shot
and killed. 2 bodies that had been bound and shot in the head and chest
were pulled from the Tigris River in Suwayrah. At least 52 people were
killed or found dead across Iraq. 3 US soldiers were killed in combat
in Anbar province.
(AP, 11/11/06)(SSFC, 11/12/06, p.A5)(AP, 11/13/06)
2006 Nov 11, In Italy police
arrested 3 more thieves plaguing the railways for weeks by stealing
copper electrical conductors from the tracks. Among the 22 suspects
arrested since Oct 15 were 18 Romanians, three Italians and the one man
from Mali.
(AP, 11/13/06)
2006 Nov 11, Sony Corp. launched
its new PlayStation 3 (PS3) in Japan.
(Econ, 11/18/06, p.63)
2006 Nov 11, In Lebanon 5 Shiite
ministers backed by Hezbollah resigned from the government. PM Fuad
Saniora refused to acknowledge the resignation.
(SSFC, 11/12/06, p.A21)
2006 Nov 11, In Myanmar senior UN
official Ibrahim Gambari met detained opposition leader Aung San Suu
Kyi and the ruling junta's top leader.
(Reuters, 11/11/06)
2006 Nov 11, Palestinian students
filled schools that had been empty for months, happily greeting friends
as classes resumed after a 70-day teachers' strike that interrupted
studies across the West Bank and Gaza.
(AP, 11/11/06)
2006 Nov 11, Sudanese armed forces
deliberately attacked civilians in western Darfur killing 11, including
a woman burnt to death in her home. African Union sources later claimed
30 people were killed and 40 injured, blaming Khartoum-backed Janjaweed
militia.
(Reuters, 11/13/06)(AFP, 11/24/06)
2006 Nov 12, Gerald R. Ford
surpassed Ronald Reagan as the longest-lived US president at 93 years
and 121 days.
(AP, 11/12/07)
2006 Nov 12, In eastern
Afghanistan Paktika governor Muhammad Akram Khoplwak said more than 60
Taliban fighters were killed in 6 days of fighting. Chechen and Arab
fighters were among the dead.
(AFP, 11/12/06)
2006 Nov 12, The Australian
government denied that a new security pact with Indonesia means that it
would be party to the suppression of Indonesian separatists. The new
agreement was to be signed Nov 13 on the Indonesian resort island of
Lombok.
(AP, 11/12/06)
2006 Nov 12, In Bangladesh a 14
party alliance led by the Awami League began a 4-day strike that
paralyzed the country. Thousands of protesters demanding electoral
reforms targeted major transport links, attacking trains and other
vehicles and leaving at least one person dead.
(AP, 11/12/06)(SFC, 11/16/06, p.A3)(Econ, 11/18/06,
p.45)
2006 Nov 12, In central Chile a
bus carrying members of a military band skidded off a precipice in the
rain and fell into the Tucapel River, killing 19 people and injuring
nine.
(AP, 11/13/06)
2006 Nov 12, In southwest China 8
miners had died in a coal mine flood in Guizhou province. In northern
China 34 miners were killed by an explosion in a coal mine in Shanxi
province.
(AP, 11/16/06)
2006 Nov 12, Voters in the
breakaway Georgian province of South Ossetia declared overwhelming
backing for its independence drive in a referendum that underlined a
sharp split between Russia and the West and is likely to increase
tensions in the Caucasus region. A similar 1992 referendum proclaiming
the province's independence went unnoticed by the international
community, leaving it in limbo.
(AP, 11/12/06)(AP, 11/13/06)
2006 Nov 12, Iraqi PM Nouri
al-Maliki rebuked lawmakers for putting party and sectarian loyalty
ahead of Iraq's stability, and said he was planning a sweeping Cabinet
reshuffle on a day when at least 150 Iraqis died. A pair of suicide
bombs ripped through a crowd of would-be police recruits in Baghdad,
killing at least 35. 50 bodies found behind a regional electrical
company in Baqouba, and 25 others found scattered throughout Baghdad. 5
people were killed in drive-by shootings in Baqouba. In Baghdad police
Brig. Abdul-Mutalib Hassan was shot to death as he left home. Hassan
was head of a unit in charge of registering vehicles that is widely
seen as corrupt. Sunni gunmen near Latifiyah murdered 10 Shiite
passengers before taking about 50 captives. 4 British soldiers were
killed and three seriously wounded in an attack on a patrol boat in
Basra.
(AP, 11/12/06)(WSJ, 11/13/06, p.A1)
2006 Nov 12, Israeli PM Ehud
Olmert began a five-day trip to the United States. Israeli forces
killed a Palestinian teenager in northern Gaza.
(AP, 11/12/06)
2006 Nov 12, Palestinian foreign
minister Mahmud Zahar told fellow ministers at an Arab League emergency
meeting in Cairo that the costs of rebuilding the north Gaza town of
Beit Hanun after deadly Israeli shelling amounts to 50 million dollars.
Arab countries decided to lift the financial blockade on Palestinians
in response to a US veto on a UN Security Council draft resolution
condemning Israel's military offensive in the Gaza Strip. The Hamas-led
Palestinian government agreed to an international peace conference with
Israel.
(AP, 11/12/06)(AP, 11/13/06)
2006 Nov 12, Heavy fighting
erupted in central Somalia, a day after the transitional government
rejected a peace initiative with the country's Islamic movement.
(AP, 11/12/06)
2006 Nov 12, In Singapore student
Ang Chuang Yang (16) broke the Guinness World Record for the shortest
time needed to type a 160-character SMS (short message service) message
after whizzing through the task in less than 42 seconds in a
competition.
(AP, 11/12/06)
2006 Nov 12, Spanish farmers led a
flock of hundreds of bleating sheep through downtown Madrid in a
protest urging the protection of ancient grazing routes threatened by
urban sprawl.
(AP, 11/12/06)
2006 Nov 12, Jan Egeland, the UN's
top humanitarian official, helicoptered to a jungle clearing to meet
with Joseph Kony, a Ugandan rebel leader accused of war crimes, but he
failed to secure freedom for women and children held captive by the
insurgent group. Kony denied that his forces are holding prisoners.
(AP, 11/12/06)
2006 Nov 13, President Bush met
with the bipartisan Iraq Study Group and promised to work with the
incoming Democratic majority toward "common objectives." At the same
time, Bush renewed his opposition to any timetable for withdrawing US
troops.
(AP, 11/13/07)
2006 Nov 13, The Bush
administration said immigrants arrested in the US may be held
indefinitely on suspicion of terrorism and may not challenge their
imprisonment in civilian courts.
(AP, 11/14/06)
2006 Nov 13, Pres. Bush led a
ceremonial groundbreaking on the National Mall for a memorial dedicated
to civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.
(SFC, 11/14/06, p.A1)(AP, 11/13/07)
2006 Nov 13, The commander of the
US Pacific Fleet began a visit to China in a trip aimed at
strengthening ties between the two navies and gaining insight into the
Asian power's military buildup.
(AP, 11/13/06)
2006 Nov 13, In Bangladesh
baton-wielding police clashed with thousands of demonstrators who threw
stones and smashed vehicles during protests demanding electoral reform.
(AP, 11/13/06)
2006 Nov 13, Chad declared a state
of emergency in three eastern regions where ethnic clashes have left as
many as 200 people dead and raised fears that Sudan's Darfur conflict
is spilling across the border.
(AP, 11/14/06)
2006 Nov 13, The China Daily
reported that Zhou Shengxian, the head of China’s State Environmental
Protection Administration (SEPA), said that the degradation of China's
environment is reaching a critical point where health and social
stability are under threat.
(AFP, 11/13/06)
2006 Nov 13, France said it will
aid the Central African Republic's army with logistics and aerial
reconnaissance in its fight against rebels in the northeast of the
country.
(AFP, 11/13/06)
2006 Nov 13, Sectarian violence
across Iraq left 43 people dead. A bomb tore through in a minibus in a
largely Shiite Baghdad neighborhood, killing at least 20 people and
wounding 18. Gunmen killed at least 10 people, including a television
cameraman, a city councilman and a Sunni sheik, in executions and
assassinations around Iraq. US forces raided the homes of followers of
radical anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. Police put the
death toll at five, though an aide to the cleric said nine people were
killed.
(AP, 11/13/06)(SFC, 11/14/06, p.A17)
2006 Nov 13, The Lebanese
government approved a UN draft setting up an international tribunal to
try suspects in the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik
Hariri. A London-based Arabic newspaper said Al-Qaida has purportedly
issued a statement threatening to topple Lebanon's "corrupt"
Western-backed government.
(AP, 11/13/06)
2006 Nov 13, The US signed a 461
million dollar aid "compact" with Mali to finance a giant irrigation
project and expand the international airport in the poverty-stricken
African nation.
(AP, 11/13/06)
2006 Nov 13, In Nigeria Joshua
Dariye (49), the beleaguered governor of troubled Plateau State, was
impeached by state legislators after being accused of corruption.
Nigeria's anti-graft commission, the Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission (EFCC), issued a statement saying it was seeking both Dariye
and Ayodele Fayose (46), the impeached former governor of southwest
Ekiti State. The EFCC said recently that it was investigating 31 state
governors out of a total of 36 for corruption.
(AFP, 11/13/06)
2006 Nov 13, Norwegian government
and industry officials said Norwegian hunters killed 546 minke whales
this year, falling far short of their commercial whaling quota because
bad weather spoiled much of the season.
(AP, 11/13/06)
2006 Nov 13, Lawmakers from an
Islamic coalition ruling Pakistan's deeply conservative northwest
approved a law to set up a Taliban-style department to suppress vice.
(AP, 11/13/06)
2006 Nov 13, A senior Hamas
official confirmed that the militant Palestinian group and the Fatah
faction have agreed on naming Mohammed Shabir to head the next
Palestinian unity government.
(AP, 11/13/06)
2006 Nov 13, Senegal’s President
Abdoulaye Wade received a letter from Sudan President Omar al-Bashir
that accepted some sort of UN intervention.
(AP, 11/14/06)
2006 Nov 13, In South Africa up to
20 people were killed near Cape Town when a train smashed into a truck
carrying farm workers.
(AFP, 11/13/06)
2006 Nov 13, In eastern Sri Lanka
4 Tamil Tiger rebels were killed in a firefight.
(AFP, 11/14/06)
2006 Nov 13, UN Secretary-General
Kofi Annan said that any effort to stop growing violence between
Islamic and Western societies must include an end to the Arab-Israeli
conflict.
(AP, 11/13/06)
2006 Nov 13, The UN said it has
pledged about $77 million in personnel and equipment to help the
overwhelmed African Union force in Darfur as Sudan blocks the world
body from sending its own peacekeepers to the war-torn region.
(AP, 11/13/06)
2006 Nov 13, Vietnam deported
Nguyen Thuong "Cuc" Foshee (58), an American woman who was convicted
last week on terrorism charges for plotting to seize radio airwaves to
call for an uprising against the communist government. The US removed
Vietnam from a blacklist of countries that suppress religion.
(AP, 11/12/06)(Econ, 11/18/06, p.44)
2006 Nov 14, President Bush left
the White House on a state visit to Vietnam.
(AP, 11/14/07)
2006 Nov 14, US Sen. Harry Reid, a
moderate Nevada Democrat, was elected by colleagues as US Senate
majority leader for the 110th Congress that will convene in January.
(AP, 11/14/06)
2006 Nov 14, A new report by the
independent Combating Terrorism Center at West Point said the scholarly
work of a group of Saudi and Jordanian clerics exerted more influence
on the jihadist movement than al Qaida leaders.
(SFC, 11/15/06, p.A16)
2006 Nov 14, US Commerce Secretary
Carlos Gutierrez urged Beijing to toughen a crackdown on pirated goods
and other copyright infringements, saying failure to do so could fuel
an American backlash against trade with China.
(AP, 11/14/06)
2006 Nov 14, Brandon Webb of the
Arizona Diamondbacks won a wide-open race for the NL Cy Young Award.
(AP, 11/14/07)
2006 Nov 14, The SF Board of
Education voted 4-2 to phase out the JROTC from schools over the next
two years because of the Pentagon's "don't ask, don't tell" policy
regarding gay service members. The SF Board of Supervisors mandated
foot patrols by city police, in a 9-2 vote overriding a veto by Mayor
Newsom. The board also voted to ban the use of plastic foam to-go
containers by city restaurants and to effectively decriminalize the
use, sale and cultivation of marijuana by adults.
(AP, 11/15/06)(SFC, 11/15/06, p.B1)
2006 Nov 14, Honda unveiled the
hydrogen powered Honda FCX in Monterey, Ca. Hondo planned to produce
fuel cell cars within 2 years.
(SFC, 11/15/06, p.A1)
2006 Nov 14, Intel launched its
first computer chips with four processing cores.
(www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,2058457,00.asp)
2006 Nov 14, In Brazil Ana
Carolina Reston (21), an anorexic model who weighed only 88 pounds,
died of generalized infection. Reston had worked in China, Turkey,
Mexico and Japan for several modeling agencies.
(AP, 11/17/06)
2006 Nov 14, China’s ambassador to
India set off a flap by reaffirming claim to India’s northeastern
Arunachal Pradesh state on the eve of President Hu Jintao’s visit to
new Delhi.
(WSJ, 11/15/06, p.A1)(Econ, 11/18/06, p.43)
2006 Nov 14, Nearly complete
results give incumbent Joseph Kabila an insurmountable lead in Congo's
presidential runoff, but his opponent, Jean-Pierre Bemba, alleged fraud.
(AP, 11/14/06)
2006 Nov 14, Eighteen Egyptians
were killed when a public bus and a truck collided on a highway south
of Cairo.
(AP, 11/14/06)
2006 Nov 14, Civil rights groups
filed a suit with German prosecutors seeking war crimes charges against
outgoing Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld for alleged abuse of
detainees at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo prisons.
(AP, 11/14/06)
2006 Nov 14, Nuclear-armed India
and Pakistan resumed peace talks with alleged Pakistan-sponsored
terrorism high on the agenda as a car bomb exploded in revolt-hit
Indian Kashmir, injuring 16 people.
(AP, 11/14/06)
2006 Nov 14, Gunmen dressed as
police commandos kidnapped up to 150 staff and visitors in a lightning
raid on a Baghdad higher education office. Some 70 people were released
the following day, but the fate of dozens remains unknown. The district
police chief and 5 aides were soon arrested for aiding the plot.
Attacks, bombings and sectarian murders left at least 117 Iraqis dead.
In the day's worst violence, 21 people were killed and 25 injured in a
car bombing targeting traffic along a highway toward the Shiite slum of
Sadr City. At least 31 Iraqis were killed in clashes in the western
city of Ramadi, where US ground troops and warplanes have conducted a
series of operations over recent days targeting Sunni insurgents. 4 US
troops, a soldier and three Marines, were killed in combat in Anbar
Province. 2 US soldiers died when their vehicle was struck by a
roadside bomb in northwest Baghdad. A US soldier was killed by
small-arms fire during an operation in Baghdad.
(AP, 11/15/06)(WSJ, 11/15/06, p.A1)(AP,
11/16/06)(AP, 11/14/07)
2006 Nov 14, The UN called
Lebanon's approval of an international tribunal for the suspected
killers of former PM Rafik Hariri "an important step" toward fulfilling
the requirements of a Security Council resolution.
(AP, 11/14/06)
2006 Nov 14, The ninth Chief of
Defense Forces' conference opened in Malaysia. It brought together
officials from 23 nations including the United States, France,
Pakistan, Australia, New Zealand and South Korea.
(AP, 11/14/06)
2006 Nov 14, Second-grader Saul
Arellano, a US citizen, appeared in Mexico's 500-member Chamber of
Deputies to plead for help in lobbying Washington to stop the
deportation of his mother, an illegal immigrant who has taken refuge in
a Chicago church. His efforts paid off with a resolution calling on the
US Congress to suspend the deportation of Elvira Arellano (31) and any
other illegal immigrant parents of US citizens. US officials said there
is no right to sanctuary in a church under US law, and nothing to
prevent them from arresting Elvira Arellano, who has lived at the
church since Aug. 15, the day she was supposed to surrender for
deportation.
(AP, 11/14/06)
2006 Nov 14, The South African
parliament approved new legislation recognizing gay marriages, a first
for a continent where homosexuality is largely taboo.
(AP, 11/14/06)
2006 Nov 14, In Sri Lanka 3
soldiers were killed when Tamil Tiger rebels detonated a bomb in the
northern district of Vavuniya. Another soldier was killed in a similar
blast in the Jaffna peninsula.
(AFP, 11/14/06)
2006 Nov 14, In Ukraine Bohdan
Datsko, director of a Christmas tree ornament factory, was shot to
death in the western city of Lviv in what authorities said was the
second attack on an executive there in less than a month.
(AP, 11/14/06)
2006 Nov 15, President Bush, on
his way to Asia for an eight-day trip and Pacific Rim meeting, paid a
quick call on President Vladimir Putin. The two presidents discussed
the Iranian nuclear program, the situation in the Middle East and
nuclear nonproliferation. Bush and confirmed that they plan to sign a
bilateral deal next week for Russia's accession to the World Trade
Organization (WTO).
(AP, 11/15/06)(Reuters, 11/15/06)
2006 Nov 15, The US postmaster
general announced that stamps featuring notable persons can now be
issued 5 years after their death rather than the current 10 year policy.
(WSJ, 11/16/06, p.A1)
2006 Nov 15, Jack Abramoff, former
Washington lobbyist, began serving a 6-year sentence in Maryland for a
fraudulent Florida casino deal. He still faced sentencing in a Capitol
Hill corruption case.
(SFC, 11/16/06, p.A10)
2006 Nov 15, O.J. Simpson caused
an uproar with plans for a TV interview and book titled "If I Did It,"
in which Simpson describes how he would have committed the 1994
slayings of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ronald
Goldman.
(AP, 11/15/07)
2006 Nov 15, One of four US
soldiers accused of raping a 14-year-old Iraqi girl and killing her and
her family pleaded guilty at Fort Campbell, Ky. Spec. James P. Barker,
who agreed to testify against the others, was later sentenced to 90
years in prison.
(AP, 11/15/07)
2006 Nov 15, Emmitt Smith was
named winner of ABC's "Dancing with the Stars" with his professional
dance partner, Cheryl Burke.
(AP, 11/15/07)
2006 Nov 15, US Airways Group Inc.
made an $8 billion cash and stock bid for Delta Air Lines Inc., a deal
that would create one of the world's largest carriers. The move came
despite Delta's repeated statements it isn't interested in a merger.
(AP, 11/15/06)
2006 Nov 15, Researchers said
heart valves were grown from stem cells filtered from amniotic fluid.
(WSJ, 11/16/06, p.A1)
2006 Nov 15, Researchers, who
sequenced DNA from the leg bone of a Neanderthal man who died 38,000
years ago, said it shows the Neanderthals are truly distant relatives
of modern humans who interbred rarely, if at all, with our own
immediate ancestors. They concluded that Neanderthals and humans are
likely to be 99.5% identical, genetically speaking.
(Reuters, 11/15/06)(Econ, 11/18/06, p.84)
2006 Nov 15, Al-Jazeera launched
an English-language news channel available in more than 80 million
homes but lacking major U.S. distribution.
(AP, 11/15/06)
2006 Nov 15, Algeria agreed to
repay ahead of schedule its total debt to Germany, 372 million dollars,
due to the oil-rich country's surge in revenues. Algeria will invest
70% of the saved interest, about 67 million dollars, 52 million euros,
through 2011, in a water supply project for the western city of Tlemcen
and the Maghnia-Ghazaouet region.
(AFP, 11/15/06)
2006 Nov 15, In Bulgaria Bozhidar
Doychev, the director of the department responsible for communist-era
archives, was found dead at his desk, shot with his own gun. Lawmakers
had recently voted to open the archives.
(Econ, 12/23/06,
p.74)(www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread234270/pg)
2006 Nov 15, Peter Roberts,
English campaigner for animal welfare, died. He believed that the best
way top secure better treatment for animals would be to have them
reclassified as sentient beings. This was enshrined in a protocol to
the 1997 treaty of Amsterdam.
(Econ, 12/2/06, p.88)
2006 Nov 15, China said that it
and India must make "mutual compromises" on the "disputed" issue of
Arunachal Pradesh, and that it was ready to do so.
(www.hindu.com/2006/11/16/stories/2006111605831200.htm)
2006 Nov 15, In Congo incumbent
Joseph Kabila was declared winner of historic presidential elections.
The electoral commission gave Kabila 58% of the vote against 42% for
Bemba. Former rebel leader Jean-Pierre Bemba, vowed to contest the
count. Kabila lost to Bemba in 6 out of 11 provinces.
(AP, 11/16/06)(Econ, 11/18/06, p.49)(Econ, 11/25/06,
p.43)
2006 Nov 15, Eritrean President
Issaias Afeworki said the simmering border row between arch-foes
Eritrea and Ethiopia is a "solved problem."
(AFP, 11/15/06)
2006 Nov 15, Over 200 German
police raided more than 30 offices of the engineering and electronics
giant Siemens as well as the apartments of some of its top managers in
a huge embezzlement probe. The company was cooperating fully with the
investigation.
(AFP, 11/15/06)(WSJ, 12/27/07, p.A4)
2006 Nov 15, In Iraq sectarian
violence left 105 Iraqis dead, including two journalists. Officials
said about 70 of the people abducted in a brazen raid on the offices of
the Higher Education Ministry have been released. Ministry spokesman
Basil al-Khatib said 40 employees were released yesterday and another
32 were freed today. A car bomb exploded in a parking lot in central
Baghdad, killing eight people and wounding 32. A US soldier died in
action in Diyala province.
(AP, 11/15/06)(WSJ, 11/16/06, p.A1)
2006 Nov 15, A fleet of Japanese
whalers set sail for an annual hunt in the Antarctic, where they hope
to kill 860 whales for a research program that has been heavily
criticized by environmentalists and some other nations.
(AP, 11/15/06)
2006 Nov 15, Libyan leader Moamer
Kadhafi received assurances from German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter
Steinmeier that Berlin would work to bolster ties with Tripoli when it
assumes the EU presidency next year.
(AFP, 11/15/06)
2006 Nov 15, Aides to former
leftist presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said he will
seek contributions from ordinary Mexicans to support a parallel,
"legitimate" administration he declared after losing the July 2
elections to President-elect Felipe Calderon by a razor-thin margin.
(AP, 11/16/06)
2006 Nov 15, In Nigeria 11 armed
men attacked a southern oil facility owned by a subsidiary of Royal
Dutch Shell PLC Wednesday, leaving two attackers dead.
(AP, 11/16/06)
2006 Nov 15, Pakistani lawmakers
approved a women's rights bill amending harsh Islamic laws on rape and
adultery, despite fierce opposition from hardliners who said the change
would promote "free sex."
2006 Nov 15, Pakistan's foreign
secretary said India and Pakistan have agreed on measures to combat
terrorism and prevent an accidental nuclear conflict in South Asia at
the first peace talks since a terrorist attack on Mumbai's train
network in July.
(AP, 11/15/06)
2006 Nov 15, Two Palestinian
lawmakers from the Islamist group Hamas crossed the Egyptian border
into Gaza with more than $4 million in cash, bypassing a Western ban on
bank transfers to the Palestinian Authority. A Palestinian rocket fired
from Gaza exploded near the home of Israel's defense minister, killing
one woman and raising the prospect of a new Israeli military offensive
against militant rocket squads.
(Reuters, 11/15/06)(AP, 11/15/06)
2006 Nov 15, In the Philippines
Gregorio “Gringo” Honasan,” a coup-fomenting former army colonel, and
senator were arrested after a house-to-house chase on charges of
involvement in a February plot to overthrow the president.
(AP, 11/15/06)(SFC, 11/15/06, p.A4)
2006 Nov 15, A court in Palermo,
Sicily, convicted 46 deputies, confidants and helpers of jailed Mafia
boss Bernardo Provenzano, many of whom helped the former fugitive evade
capture, and sentenced them to terms of up to 18 years in prison.
(AP, 11/16/06)
2006 Nov 15, In southern Thailand
suspected Islamic militants over the last 2 days shot dead three people
in separate drive-by shootings, while one soldier was hurt in a bomb
attack.
(AP, 11/15/06)
2006 Nov 15, Turkey suspended
military relations with France in a dispute over whether the mass
killings of Armenians early in the last century amounted to genocide.
(AP, 11/16/06)
2006 Nov 15, A UN report
identified 10 African and Arab countries, as well as Lebanon’s
Hezbollah, as arms suppliers to the Islamic militia in Somalia.
(WSJ, 11/16/06, p.A1)
2006 Nov 15, In Vietnam envoys
meeting on the sidelines of an Asia-Pacific economic summit, tried to
cobble together a united strategy for upcoming talks aimed at
convincing North Korea to drop its nuclear weapons program.
(AP, 11/15/06)
2006 Nov 16, Pres. Bush in
Singapore voiced tentative support for a free trade agreement covering
all 21 members of APEC and warned North Korea against trying to sell
nuclear arms.
(SFC, 11/17/06, p.A4)(WSJ, 11/17/06, p.A1)
2006 Nov 16, Nancy Pelosi was
unanimously named speaker-elect by US House Democrats, the first woman
set to take the post that is second in line of succession to the
presidency, but then selected Steny Hoyer as majority leader against
her wishes.
(AP, 11/16/06)(AP, 11/16/07)
2006 Nov 16, In SF federal agents
arrested 24 people on drug charges following a 4-month undercover
investigation targeting gangs in the Western Addition.
(SFC, 11/17/06, p.B3)
2006 Nov 16, A state regulatory
board approved Gov. Ed Rendell's proposal to make deeper cuts in
mercury emissions from Pennsylvania's coal-fired power plants, despite
opposition from power plants and mining companies.
(AP, 11/16/06)
2006 Nov 16, The Vermont based
Conservation Fund partnered with the state of California to purchase
16,000 acres in northern California from the Hawthorne Timber Co. for
$48.5 million.
(WSJ, 11/17/06, p.A4)
2006 Nov 16, In North Carolina a
tornado struck Riegelwood, a tiny riverside community, killing 8 people
as thunderstorms continued a path of destruction across the South.
Another person died earlier in Louisiana, and a car crash death near
Charlotte was also blamed on the storms.
(AP, 11/16/06)(SFC, 11/17/06, p.A4)
2006 Nov 16, Minnesota Twins ace
Johan Santana won the AL Cy Young Award.
(AP, 11/16/07)
2006 Nov 16, Milton Friedman
(b.1912), American economist and Nobel Prize winner (1976), died in SF.
He popularized the belief that free markets rather than government
actions were the best tools to improve living standards. In 2007 Lanny
Ebenstein authored “Milton Friedman: A biography.”
(SFC, 11/17/06, p.A1)(Econ, 2/24/07, p.97)
2006 Nov 16, In western
Afghanistan flash floods caused by heavy rains killed nearly 60 people
with 100 more missing.
(AFP, 11/18/06)
2006 Nov 16, Canada said it had
arrested a foreign man who it branded a threat to national security and
who one national newspaper identified as a possible Russian spy. On Nov
21 the government released a document saying: "The Canadian Security
Intelligence Service has reasonable grounds to believe that the foreign
national alleging to be Paul William Hampel is a member of the Sluzhba
Vneshney Razvedki (SVR), the foreign intelligence service of the
Russian intelligence services."
(AP, 11/16/06)(Reuters, 11/21/06)
2006 Nov 16, Juang Jiefu, China’s
Deputy Health Minister, acknowledged that human organs used in
transplants have been taken from executed prisoners and that foreign
recipients have paid large sums to avoid a long wait.
(SFC, 11/18/06, p.A1)
2006 Nov 16, Citigroup in a
consortium with IBM, China Life, State Grid and Citic Trust signed an
agreement to take control of Guangdong Development Bank.
(www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/2006/11/17/2088082.htm)(Econ, 11/18/06, p.80)
2006 Nov 16, In France Segolene
Royal (53) overwhelmingly won the backing of the main opposition
Socialist Party in her bid to become France's first female president.
(AP, 11/17/06)
2006 Nov 16, In Germany Mounir El
Motassadeq, a Moroccan man, was convicted of acting as an accessory to
murder in the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks by a federal appeals court
that ruled that he played a direct role in the plot.
(AP, 11/16/06)
2006 Nov 16, The Iraqi Interior
Ministry issued an arrest warrant for Harith al-Dhari, the head of the
influential Sunni Association of Muslim Scholars. A government official
said kidnappers who snatched scores of Iraqis from a government
ministry building in Baghdad tortured and killed some of them. Gunmen
opened fire on a bakery in Baghdad, killing seven people and wounding
two. In southern Iraq 4 American security contractors and their
Austrian co-worker were held hostage after their convoy was hijacked. 9
civilians who were traveling with the convoy when it was hijacked,
including men from India, Pakistan and the Philippines, were soon
released. In 2008 Steve Fainaru authored “Big Boy Rules: America’s
Mercenaries Fighting in Iraq,” which described the kidnapping of the
Crescent Security Group staffers.
(AP, 11/16/06)(AP, 11/17/06)(SFC, 11/28/08, p.E2)
2006 Nov 16, In Kenya the UN
conference on climate change ended. The participating 180 countries
reached no agreement on how to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
(http://unfccc.int/meetings/cop_12/items/3754.php)(Econ, 11/25/06, p.60)
2006 Nov 16, Jose Manuel Nava
(53), a former general manager of one of Mexico's oldest newspapers,
was found slain in his apartment in the capital, officials said, a week
after he went public with his book criticizing the federal government,
the business community and newspaper employees.
(AP, 11/16/06)
2006 Nov 16, Pakistan President
Pervez Musharraf commuted a British man's death sentence, officials
said, paving the way towards his likely release after 18 years awaiting
the hangman's noose. Mirza Tahir Hussain will instead be given a life
sentence for the 1988 murder of a taxi driver, meaning the 36-year-old
could be eligible to go free because of the time he has already served
in prison. Hussain was freed the next day and left Pakistan.
(AP, 11/16/06)(AP, 11/17/06)
2006 Nov 16, Konstantin
Romodanovsky, Russia’s director of the Federal Migration Service, said
foreigners should no be allowed to create ethnic enclaves in which they
outnumber native Russians. The Muslim population has risen to about 25
million and it was estimated to make up a fifth of the population by
2020.
(SSFC, 11/19/06, p.A20)
2006 Nov 16, In Russia Yuri Levada
(76), pioneering sociologist, died. He was shut out of his profession
in Soviet times but came back to track public opinion as Russia made
the transition from communism, died at his institute in Moscow.
(AP, 11/16/06)
2006 Nov 16, A Rwandan military
court sentenced Father Wenceslas Munyeshyaka, a Roman Catholic Rwandan
priest living in exile in France, to life in prison for rape and
helping extremist militias during the country's 1994 genocide. Also
convicted and sentenced to life in prison was former Rwandan army
general Laurent Munyakazi, who commanded the military in the capital's
Nyarugenge district.
(AFP, 11/16/06)
2006 Nov 16, Spain, France and
Italy unveiled a five-point Middle East peace initiative, calling
Israeli-Palestinian violence intolerable and saying that Europe must
take a lead role in ending the conflict.
(AP, 11/16/06)
2006 Nov 16, South Korea said it
will reverse its long-standing refusal to join international efforts
criticizing North Korea's human rights record and vote in favor of a UN
resolution against the communist regime's alleged abuses.
(AP, 11/16/06)
2006 Nov 16, Sri Lanka's President
Mahinda Rajapakse appealed to Tiger rebels to resume talks to end
bloodshed on the island as a British envoy met with the guerrillas to
try to jumpstart stalled peace efforts.
(AFP, 11/16/06)
2006 Nov 16, In Tonga youths
infuriated by a lack of political reform attacked the prime minister's
offices and other government buildings, smashing windows, looting shops
and setting fires in Nuku’alofa, the capital of this near-feudal South
Pacific kingdom. 8 people were killed and some four-fifths of the
commercial district was destroyed.
(AP, 11/16/06)(Econ, 11/25/06, p.42)
2006 Nov 16, Turkey's PM Erdogan
offered training for the Iraqi police and army, and he urged
power-sharing among ethnic groups in the Iraqi oil center of Kirkuk.
(AP, 11/16/06)
2006 Nov 16, The Vatican
reaffirmed the value of celibacy for priests after a summit led by Pope
Benedict XVI that was spurred by a married African archbishop who has
been excommunicated from the Roman Catholic Church.
(AP, 11/16/06)
2006 Nov 16, UN Secretary-General
Kofi Annan worked with key African, Arab, European leaders in Ethiopia
to break the deadlock over worsening violence in Sudan's Darfur region.
Leaders agreed in principle to a joint African Union-United Nations
peacekeeping force for Darfur. UN humanitarian chief Jan Egeland
arrived in Darfur to find security so bad he could not visit the camps
outside el-Geneina town housing tens of thousands of displaced Darfuris.
(Reuters, 11/16/06)(AP, 11/16/06)(AP, 11/16/07)
2006 Nov 16, In Uruguay a judge
ordered the arrest of former president-turned-dictator Juan Maria
Bordaberry and his foreign minister in connection with four political
killings in 1976.
(AP, 11/16/06)
2006 Nov 16, Zimbabwe invited more
than 1,000 white farmers to collect compensation for property seized
during controversial lands reforms launched by President Robert
Mugabe's government.
(AP, 11/16/06)
2006 Nov 17, Pres. Bush arrived in
Vietnam ahead of a summit of Asia-Pacific leaders and individual
meetings with a handful of leaders.
(AP, 11/17/06)
2006 Nov 17, Cast into the
minority in midterm elections, House Republicans chose John Boehner of
Ohio to lead them.
(AP, 11/17/07)
2006 Nov 17, Sonia Pierre (43)
received the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award at a ceremony in
Washington, a prize of $30,000 and a promise from the center founded in
honor of the late senator to help her cause. Her tireless work securing
citizenship and education for Dominican-born ethnic Haitians has made
her the target of threats at home, but has earned her recognition from
overseas as a fierce defender of human rights.
(AP, 11/17/06)
2006 Nov 17, The US FDA lifted a
14 year ban on the sale of silicon-gel breast implants.
(SFC, 11/18/06, p.A1)
2006 Nov 17, Former "Seinfeld"
star Michael Richards unleashed a barrage of racial epithets during a
stand-up routine at the Laugh Factory in West Hollywood.
(AP, 11/17/07)
2006 Nov 17, Montana state Sen.
Sam Kitzenberg filed paperwork to change his party affiliation from
Republican to Democrat giving state Democrats a 26-24 advantage.
(SSFC, 11/19/06, p.A3)
2006 Nov 17, Ivan Hill, the
so-called Freeway Slayer, was convicted in Los Angeles of killing six
prostitutes in 1993 and 1994 in southern California. On Jan 2 a jury
recommended the death penalty.
(SFC, 1/3/07, p.B10)
2006 Nov 17, Ruth Brown (78),
Grammy- and Tony-winning singer, died.
(AP, 11/17/07)
2006 Nov 17, Bo Schembechler
(b.1929), former Univ. of Michigan football coach, died in Southfield,
Mich.
(WSJ, 11/18/06, p.A1)
2006 Nov 17, In southern Argentina
President Nestor Kirchner inaugurated Puerto Belgrano naval base, a new
military academy. The old Navy Mechanics' School in Buenos Aires, a
prestigious school founded in the late 19th century and chief torture
compound during Argentina's Dirty War, is now is being converted into a
museum honoring Dirty War victims.
(AP, 11/17/06)
2006 Nov 17, A British man
convicted of what has been described as the country's first "web-rage"
attack, was jailed for 2-1/2 years for assaulting a man he had
exchanged insults with over the Internet.
(Reuters, 11/17/06)
2006 Nov 17, The influential
Association of Muslim Scholars called on Sunni politicians to quit
Iraq's government and parliament, a day after the Shiite interior
minister issued an arrest warrant for the association's leader. In
southern Iraq British ground forces and US military helicopters fought
with gunmen where four American security contractors and their Austrian
co-worker were abducted in a convoy hijacking. An Austrian was killed
and an American was seriously wounded after their convoy of security
contractors was hijacked in southern Iraq.
(AP, 11/17/06)
2006 Nov 17, An Israeli newspaper
reported that Israel is using nanotechnology to create a robot no
bigger than a hornet that would be able to chase, photograph and kill
its targets.
(Reuters, 11/17/06)
2006 Nov 17, In Italy British
musician Peter Gabriel (56) has been awarded "Man of Peace 2006" at the
start of the annual summit of Nobel peace prize laureates organized by
the Gorbachev Foundation and the City of Rome.
(AP, 11/17/06)
2006 Nov 17, Italy turned over
Rabei Osman Sayed Ahmed (35) an Egyptian Muslim militant convicted of
terrorism to Spain, where he is charged as a key suspect in the 2004
Madrid terror bombing.
(AP, 11/17/06)
2006 Nov 17, Japan’s Sony Corp.
launched its new PlayStation 3 (PS3) in the USA.
(AP, 11/17/06)
2006 Nov 17, Nicaragua’s President
Enrique Bolanos signed a bill banning abortion in all cases, including
when a woman's life is endangered, despite opposition from doctors,
women's rights groups and diplomats.
(AP, 11/18/06)
2006 Nov 17, Nigeria's opposition
called for an investigation into a 12-billion naira (93-million dollar)
scandal that hit the front pages with allegations of government
involvement. Several Lagos newspapers reported that Starcrest was only
a firm "on paper" and that it had been founded in May by several
figures in government including President Olusegun Obasanjo's electoral
campaign fundraiser Emeka Ofor.
(AFP, 11/17/06)
2006 Nov 17, In northwestern
Pakistan a suicide bomber wounded two policemen in the latest attack
targeting security forces.
(AP, 11/17/06)
2006 Nov 17, Russian authorities
said 5 senior officials at a federal health insurance fund have been
arrested on suspicion of bribery, days after Russia's top prosecutor
said that corruption has "permeated all levels" of the government.
(AP, 11/17/06)
2006 Nov 17, Sudan reversed its
long-standing opposition to allowing UN peacekeepers within its
borders, agreeing in principle to a plan that will permit an
international force to bolster African troops in Darfur, one of the
world's bloodiest conflict zones. A former southern rebel soldier
killed 5 policemen in the Jabal Awliaa area, 30 kilometers (19 miles)
south of Khartoum.
(AP, 11/17/06)(Reuters, 11/17/06)
2006 Nov 17, In southern Thailand
3 bomb blasts killed one person and wounded at least 30 others.
(AP, 11/18/06)
2006 Nov 17, The UN General
Assembly called for an end to Israeli military operations in the Gaza
Strip, overwhelmingly passing a resolution in an emergency special
session the Israeli ambassador blasted as a "farce" and a "circus."
(AP, 11/18/06)
2006 Nov 17, UN aid bodies said
torrential rains and floods have hit up to 1.8 million people in the
Horn of Africa, driving tens of thousands from their homes and
threatening to trigger epidemics. Torrential rains have pounded the
Horn of Africa this month, bringing misery to large parts of Kenya,
Somalia, Ethiopia, Sudan and Eritrea.
(AP, 11/17/06)
2006 Nov 17, A Zambian court ruled
that ailing former president Frederick Chiluba is currently unfit to
stand trial for corruption and should be immediately sent to South
Africa for treatment.
(AFP, 11/17/06)
2006 Nov 18, President Bush
lobbied world leaders in Vietnam and lined up support for pressuring
North Korea to prove it is serious about dismantling its nuclear
weapons program. Asia-Pacific leaders put their political muscle behind
the drive to free up global trade, but they struggled to find common
ground on how best to tackle the North Korea nuclear crisis.
(AP, 11/18/06)
2006 Nov 18, Tom Cruise and Katie
Holmes exchanged wedding vows in a glowing 15th-century castle in the
medieval lakeside town of Bracciano, Italy.
(AP, 11/18/07)
2006 Nov 18, Algerian President
Abdelaziz Bouteflika appealed for private investment in the North
African country as he opened the 10th congress of Arab businessmen in
Algiers.
(AFP, 11/18/06)
2006 Nov 18, In Australia police
on horseback and wielding batons clashed with rock- and bottle-throwing
demonstrators outside a G-20 meeting of some the world's top financial
officials, turning what had been promised as a peaceful rally against
poverty into running street skirmishes.
(AP, 11/18/06)
2006 Nov 18, Bangladesh's main
opposition announced it would form a grand alliance with other major
political parties to force the ouster of a controversial election chief
and pave the way for "fair" elections.
(AFP, 11/18/06)
2006 Nov 18, British PM Tony Blair
arrived in Pakistan for talks with President Pervez Musharraf on how to
defeat a resurgent Taliban, pool counter-terrorist intelligence and
tackle militancy in Pakistan's religious schools.
(AP, 11/18/06)
2006 Nov 18, In southern China
police in Dongzhou dispersed a crowd and freed 8 hostages held captive
for a week by villagers angry about the detention of a local activist.
In eastern China a stampede on a stairwell killed six children and
injured 11 at Tutang Middle School in Jiangxi province's Duchang County.
(AP, 11/18/06)(AP, 11/19/06)
2006 Nov 18, Jean-Pierre Bemba,
the former rebel who lost Congo's presidential elections, filed a
lawsuit at the Supreme Court to challenge the vote count as dozens of
his supporters marched through downtown Kinshasa.
(AP, 11/18/06)
2006 Nov 18, Gabonese President
Omar Bongo said in a statement that the Central African Economic and
Monetary Community (CEMAC) had "acceded to a request from the Central
African Republic authorities to intervene in securing conflict zones."
CEMAC's members include the Central African Republic, Chad, Gabon,
Congo, Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea.
(AFP, 11/18/06)
2006 Nov 18, Iraqi forces
searching for four American security contractors and an Austrian, who
were kidnapped in southern Iraq, detained about 200 suspected
insurgents. Islamic Companies, a previously unknown group, claimed
responsibility for the kidnapping, according to an Iranian-run
Arabic-language satellite news station. US military killed 11
insurgents and detained 24 suspected ones in raids in and around the
Iraqi cities of Tikrit, Baqouba, Hit, Youssifiyah and Baghdad. Ten
people were killed, including three policemen shot by insurgents in
Diyala province. Police found 23 corpses in Iraq, including 20 in
Baghdad. Britain's Treasury chief Gordon Brown, who is expected to
replace PM Tony Blair as Britain's leader next year, made an
unannounced visit to Iraq to meet with Iraqi officials and British
soldiers.
(AP, 11/18/06)(AP, 11/19/06)
2006 Nov 18, Avigdor Lieberman,
Israel's new deputy prime minister, said Israel should ignore moderate
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, wipe out the Hamas leadership and
walk away from the U.S.-backed "road map" peace plan.
(AP, 11/18/06)
2006 Nov 18, Italian Premier
Romano Prodi won a key confidence vote in the Chamber of Deputies on
the center-left government's planned 2007 budget, which included
heavily protested tax increases and spending cuts.
(AP, 11/18/06)
2006 Nov 18, The Mexican
government released a long-awaited report that for the first time
officially blamed "the highest command levels" of three former
presidencies for the massacres, tortures and slayings of hundreds of
leftists from the 1960s to the 1980s. In Michoacan state at least three
of 10 lawyers being held hostage by inmates were killed after police
raided the Mil Cumbres prison in Morelia to try to rescue them.
(AP, 11/18/06)
2006 Nov 18, Movladi Baisarov, the
former head of one of Chechnya's shadowy security forces, was fatally
shot in Moscow by law enforcement officers who were trying to detain
him on suspicion of abductions and killings in the violence-plagued
southern region.
(AP, 11/18/06)
2006 Nov 18, In Sri Lanka a sea
battle, a bomb blast and gunfire killed at least 23 people, a day after
the rebels denounced a government call to disarm as a joke.
(AP, 11/18/06)
2006 Nov 18, Sudanese Foreign
Minister Lam Akol told reporters "We did not agree to the deployment of
hybrid United Nations-African Union forces in Darfur, as was declared
by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan after the Addis Ababa consultative
meeting." He said the Sudanese delegation agreed only on UN technical
units to back up the AU forces in Darfur.
(AP, 11/18/06)
2006 Nov 18, Soldiers and police
from New Zealand arrived in the Tongan capital to help restore order
after mobs demanding democratic reforms destroyed much of the capital
in unprecedented rioting that left at least eight people dead.
(AP, 11/18/06)
2006 Nov 19, President Bush in
Vietnam sought Chinese President Hu Jintao's help on dual fronts,
aiming to rein in North Korea's nuclear ambitions and encourage the
Chinese people to buy more US goods. Pacific Rim leaders urged North
Korea to take concrete steps to live up to its commitments to stop
developing nuclear weapons.
(AP, 11/19/06)
2006 Nov 19, Henry Kissinger,
former US Secretary of State, said in a television interview that
military victory is no longer possible in Iraq.
(AP, 11/19/06)
2006 Nov 19, In Denver, Colorado,
tens of thousands of people turned out for a celebration to welcome the
city's newest addition to its mass transit system: a train. The new
19-mile-long commuter rail line, projected to carry at least 38,000
passengers each day, officially opened.
(AP, 11/19/06)
2006 Nov 19, Blackstone Group, a
US private-equity firm, bid a record $36-billion, including debt, to
buyout Equity Office Properties Trust.
(www.chicagobusiness.com/cgi-bin/news.pl?id=22934)(Econ, 11/25/06, p.74)
2006 Nov 19, Nintendo's new Wii
video game console debuted, the final entrant in the three-way scramble
for dominance in the $30 billion global game market.
(Reuters, 11/19/06)
2006 Nov 19, Jeremy Slate (80), TV
and film actor, died in Los Angeles.
(AP, 11/19/07)
2006 Nov 19, In Bolivia 6
governors of 9 departments announced a break with central government.
The 2 main opposition parties walked out of the Senate, leaving it
inquorate. The governors opposed moves by Pres. Morales to centralize
power, a bill to scrutinize governors’ accounts, and details of voting
power of a new Constituent Assembly.
(Econ, 11/25/06, p.38)
2006 Nov 19, Fellow dissidents
said Col. Alexander Litvinenko, a former KGB and Federal Security
Service (FSB) poisoned in Britain and now gravely ill and under guard
in the hospital, may have been targeted for his outspoken criticism of
former colleagues in Moscow. He accused his country's secret service
agency of staging apartment-house bombings in 1999 that killed more
than 300 people in Russia and sparked the second war in Chechnya.
(AP, 11/19/06)
2006 Nov 19, British PM Tony Blair
acknowledged the West had changed strategy in the fight against
terrorism, telling Pakistan's president that brokering a broad Mideast
peace deal was now as crucial as using force to battle militants.
(AP, 11/19/06)
2006 Nov 19, India successfully
test-fired a medium-range nuclear-capable missile, days after its rival
Pakistan launched a similar missile.
(AP, 11/19/06)
2006 Nov 19, Iran’s official
Islamic Republic News Agency reported that President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad has demanded more ties with North Korea and urged for
nuclear disarmament in Korean peninsula.
(AP, 11/19/06)
2006 Nov 19, In Iraq Syria's
foreign minister called for a timetable for the withdrawal of American
forces to help end Iraq's sectarian bloodbath, in a groundbreaking
diplomatic mission that came amid increasing calls for the US to seek
cooperation from Syria and Iran. A suicide bomber in a minivan lured
day laborers to his vehicle with promises of a job then blew it up,
killing 22 people and wounding 44 in the mainly Shiite southern city of
Hillah. At least 112 people were killed nationwide.
(AP, 11/19/06)
2006 Nov 19, An Israeli aircraft
fired a missile at a car traveling in Gaza City, wounding 6 people,
including two Hamas militants. Militants from the ruling Islamic group
Hamas fired two rockets from the Gaza Strip at the Israeli town of
Sderot. Israel canceled airstrikes on the houses of Gaza militants
after Palestinians formed human shields around them.
(AP, 11/19/06)(WSJ, 11/20/06, p.A1)
2006 Nov 19, Japan's PM Shinzo
Abe, fresh after his first Asia-Pacific summit, kicked off his official
visit to Vietnam as business chiefs unveiled plans to invest more than
700 million dollars.
(AP, 11/19/06)
2006 Nov 19, In Lebanon Sheik
Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah's leader, urged his followers to prepare
for mass demonstrations to topple the government if it ignores the
militant group's demand to form a national unity coalition.
(AP, 11/19/06)
2006 Nov 19, Mauritanians voted
for a national parliament in the first election since a military junta
seized control in 2005.
(AP, 11/19/06)
2006 Nov 19, In Mexico a public
defender died of his injuries after being shot by inmates who took a
group of lawyers hostage near the central Mexican city of Morelia,
bringing the death toll in the incident to five.
(AP, 11/20/06)
2006 Nov 19, Mexican Gen.
Francisco Quiros, imprisoned for drug trafficking and implicated in the
disappearance of leftists during Mexico's "dirty war," died from
cancer. In 2005 a judge ordered Quiros arrested for the 1974 kidnapping
of singer Rosendo Radilla, who disappeared after being seized by
soldiers at a roadblock.
(AP, 11/20/06)
2006 Nov 19, In northeastern
Nicaragua a giant tree fell on an evangelical church while Rev. Larry
Wayne Poll (64), an American pastor, was delivering his sermon, killing
11 people including the clergyman.
(AP, 11/20/06)
2006 Nov 19, In Pakistan the
decapitated body of Maulana Hashim Khan (45) was found. Militants had
beheaded the Islamic school teacher, accusing him of spying for the US
in North Waziristan.
(AP, 11/19/06)
2006 Nov 19, Lima's mayor Luis
Castaneda was returned to office in nationwide regional elections
expected to give major gains to independents as Peruvians shunned
traditional political parties.
(AP, 11/20/06)
2006 Nov 19, Russia and the US
signed a key trade agreement, removing the last major obstacle in
Moscow's 13-year journey to join the World Trade Organization.
(AP, 11/19/06)
2006 Nov 19, It was reported that
Terracom was building a fiber optic network throughout Rwanda’s
11,000 square miles. An Internet connection in Kigali was now available
for $70 per month, down from $1500 5 years ago.
(SSFC, 11/19/06, p.G6)
2006 Nov 19, In Somalia Islamic
fighters used land mines and ambushed an 80-vehicle Ethiopian military
convoy headed to Baidoa killing 6 soldiers and injuring 20.
(SFC, 11/20/06, p.A3)
2006 Nov 19, Darfur rebels said
the Sudanese government has launched a major offensive in North Darfur
despite an agreement to hold new talks among all parties to the
conflict.
(AP, 11/19/06)\
2006 Nov 19, Zimbabwean President
Robert Mugabe left on a four-day state visit to Iran to beef up trade
and political ties.
(AP, 11/20/06)
2006 Nov 20, President Bush in
Indonesia shrugged off protests that greeted him in the world's most
populous Muslim nation, calling it a sign of a healthy democracy. Bush
praised Indonesia's "pluralism and its diversity" and said that the
world should look to the predominantly Muslim country as an example.
(AP, 11/20/06)
2006 Nov 20, The US Mint announced
designs for new one-dollar coins that will feature images of the
presidents beginning in February.
(SFC, 11/20/06, p.A1)
2006 Nov 20, Six imams were
removed from a US Airways flight at Minneapolis-St. Paul International
Airport after passengers reported they were acting suspiciously.
(AP, 11/20/07)
2006 Nov 20, O.J. Simpson's book
and TV special were canceled, an astonishing end to an imaginary
confession that had sickened the public as the very worst kind of
tabloid sensation. "If I Did It," in which Simpson was to have
described how he would have killed his ex-wife, had been scheduled to
air as a two-part interview Nov. 27 and Nov. 29 on Fox. The book was to
have followed on Nov. 30. Harper Collins said all copies would be
destroyed. The book was later brought out by a different publisher.
(AP, 11/20/06)(SFC, 11/24/06, p.A3)(AP, 11/20/07)
2006 Nov 20, A bus crash in
Huntsville, Alabama, killed 3 teenage girls and left at least 30
students injured. A 4th student died the next day.
(SFC, 11/21/06, p.A3)(SFC, 11/22/06, p.A3)
2006 Nov 20, Robert Altman
(b.1925), film director, producer and writer, died in Los Angeles. His
numerous films included “M*A*S*H” (1970) and “Nashville” (1975).
(SFC, 11/22/06, p.A1)(Econ, 11/25/06, p.87)
2006 Nov 20, Dirk Dirksen
(b.1937), the godfather of San Francisco punk rock, died. He moved to
SF in 1974 and soon began presenting late-night events at the Mabuhay
Gardens in North Beach, where punk rock found a home.
(SFC, 11/22/06, p.B7)
2006 Nov 20, British PM Tony Blair
told soldiers fighting a resurgent Taliban that success in Afghanistan
would be a step toward global security, and pledged Britain's
commitment to the war-torn country "for as long as it takes."
(AP, 11/20/06)
2006 Nov 20, In Austria 35 nations
tried to find common ground in a fractious session focusing on what to
do about Iran's requests to the UN nuclear watchdog agency for help on
projects including building a plutonium-producing reactor.
(AP, 11/20/06)
2006 Nov 20, British Brig.
Grismond "Gris" Davies-Scourfield died at age 88. He won a Military
Cross for his part in the Allied defense of Calais during World War II
and later escaped from the Nazis holding him prisoner in the notorious
Colditz Castle.
(AP, 12/6/06)
2006 Nov 20, Authorities seized a
50-foot homemade submarine with 3 tons of cocaine off the coast of
Costa Rica.
(SFC, 11/21/06, p.A2)
2006 Nov 20, China’s Pres. Hu
Jintao arrived in New Delhi for the second visit by a Chinese president.
(AP, 11/20/06)
2006 Nov 20, Eritrea and Ethiopia
both rejected plans by a UN-appointed border panel to demarcate their
contentious frontier on paper.
(AFP, 11/21/06)
2006 Nov 20, French prosecutors
approved international arrest warrants for 9 Rwandan officials in
connection with the 1994 attack that killed Rwanda's president,
triggering the central African country's genocide. Magistrate
Jean-Louis Bruguiere also said there was evidence that "Paul Kagame and
members of his military staff devised the operation" to destroy Rwandan
President Juvenal Habyarimana's plane.
(Reuters, 11/21/06)
2006 Nov 20, In Kempten, Germany,
nurse Stephan Letter was convicted of killing 28 of his patients
(2003-2004) at a hospital in Sonthofen, Germany, and sentenced to life
in prison.
(AP, 11/20/06)
2006 Nov 20, In northwest Germany,
Sebastian Bosse (18) with explosives strapped to his body, killed
himself after storming a high school in Emsdetten and injuring several
people with gunfire.
(AP, 11/21/06)
2006 Nov 20, In Guatemala City an
enormous fire broke out at Central America's largest open-air market
killing 15 people, including three minors.
(AP, 11/21/06)
2006 Nov 20, In eastern India an
explosion ripped through two cars of a passenger train, killing at
least 8 people and injuring about 60 people.
(AP, 11/21/06)
2006 Nov 20, Iran invited Iraq and
Syria to talks in Tehran aimed at curbing violence in Iraq.
(SFC, 11/21/06, p.A1)
2006 Nov 20, Assassins killed
Walid Hassan (47), a popular Baghdad television comedian and a
professor at a university south of the capital, but failed in attempts
to kill two government officials as the country's leader met with
Syria's foreign minister about improving security and reopening
diplomatic relations. At least 25 Iraqis were killed in a series of
attacks in Baghdad, Ramadi and Baquba. The bodies of 75 Iraqis, who had
been kidnapped and tortured, were found in Baghdad, Dujail and in the
Tigris River in southern Iraq. It was reported that at least 21
Iraqi interpreters had been kidnapped and shot in the head in Basra
over the last month.
(AP, 11/20/06)(SFC, 11/20/06, p.A9)(AP,
11/21/06)(SFC, 11/21/06, p.A13)
2006 Nov 20, Italian Premier
Romano Prodi’s center-left government got rid of the heads of its 3
intelligence chiefs: military service (SISMI), civil agency (SISDI) and
the coordinating body CESIS.
(Econ, 11/25/06, p.48)
2006 Nov 20, Mexico’s defeated
presidential candidate Lopez Obrador planned to be sworn in as the
country's "legitimate president" as Mexico celebrated its 1910
revolution.
(AP, 11/20/06)
2006 Nov 20, Armed men attacked
the offices of a Nigerian aid group in the southern oil hub of Port
Harcourt, killing one person and wounding another. The dead man had
offered to help find Ateke Tom, a militant wanted by the Nigerian
government in connection with a string of kidnappings and bank
robberies.
(AP, 11/20/06)
2006 Nov 20, A Paraguayan court
dropped corruption charges against former President Luis Gonzalez
Macchi, acknowledging it had failed to meet a deadline for hearing full
testimony on accusations he maintained a secret Swiss bank account.
(AP, 11/20/06)
2006 Nov 20, Gen. Addeh Museh, the
president of the semiautonomous region of Puntland, said he will rule
according to Islamic law, a surprising move in a relatively stable area
that has resisted the spread of Islamic militants who control most of
southern Somalia.
(AP, 11/20/06)
2006 Nov 20, In South Africa
police said Ananias Mathe, a Mozambican national awaiting trial on
rape, murder and other charges, escaped from Pretoria's C-Max
prison by greasing himself up with petroleum jelly and squeezing
out of a tiny window. This was the first reported escape at the top
security prison in its 36-year history. On Dec 4 Mathe was shot and
captured.
(AP, 11/20/06)(AFP, 12/4/06)
2006 Nov 20, Sudan’s President
Omar al-Bashir's government hailed a new agreement with the UN over
peacekeepers in Darfur as a diplomatic breakthrough, but said serious
differences remain over the force's makeup and command.
(AP, 11/20/06)
2006 Nov 20, In Turkey police
arrested 29 leftist activists who broke into The Associated Press
office in Ankara to protest alleged mistreatment of prisoners.
(AP, 11/20/06)
2006 Nov 20, Uzbekistan blocked a
UN resolution backed by the US and Western nations criticizing its
human rights violations, including the harassment, beatings and arrests
of journalists and civil activists.
(AP, 11/20/06)
2006 Nov 21, The US Environmental
Protection Agency announced that pesticides can be applied over and
near bodies of water without a permit under the federal Clean Water Act.
(AP, 11/21/06)
2006 Nov 21, In Atlanta, Ga.,
Kathryn Johnston (92) was shot to death by police after she fired at
narcotics investigators as they stormed her house in a no-knock raid.
In 2007 2 officers pleaded guilty to killing Johnston. One of the
officers had planted marijuana there as part of a cover story. In 2009
a judge sentenced 3 former Atlanta police officers to prison for their
role in the botched raid.
(AP, 11/22/06)(SFC, 4/27/07, p.A4)(SFC, 2/25/09,
p.A4)
2006 Nov 21, An Australian
government report said Australia should use its uranium to fuel its own
nuclear power industry and curb greenhouse gas emissions. Australia
held 38% of the world’s low cost uranium reserves.
(Econ, 11/25/06, p.59)
2006 Nov 21, In Austria diplomats
said most of the 35 nations at a key meeting of the UN nuclear watchdog
agency have agreed to deny Iran technical aid for a plutonium-producing
reactor.
(AP, 11/21/06)
2006 Nov 21, The UN Security
Council voted to extend the EU peacekeeping force in Bosnia for a year,
welcoming "tangible signs" of the Balkan nation's progress toward EU
membership.
(AP, 11/21/06)
2006 Nov 21, Cambodian PM Hun Sen,
other senior officials and South Korea’s President Roh Moo-Hyun arrived
in Siem Reap, the gateway to the famed Angkor temple complex, to kick
off the Angkor-Gyeongju Culture Expo, a joint cultural festival that
runs through January 2007.
(AFP, 11/21/06)
2006 Nov 21, In northeastern China
a bus carrying primary school students plunged off a bridge, killing
eight of the children and injuring 39.
(AP, 11/21/06)
2006 Nov 21, Gunfire and street
fights erupted outside Congo's supreme court and a blaze swept through
the building as hearings began over fraud allegations in a presidential
election meant to bring lasting peace. Bosange Mbaka, a reporter with
the Kinshasa-based newspaper Mambenga, was arrested while covering a
supreme court hearing in Kinshasa. In May 2007 media rights group
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) called for his release.
(AP, 11/21/06)(AFP, 5/21/07)
2006 Nov 21, In Paris, France,
nations representing half the world's population signed a long-awaited,
$12.8 billion pact for a nuclear fusion reactor that could
revolutionize global energy use for future generations. The
International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) project by the
US, the EU, China, India, Russia, Japan and South Korea will attempt to
combat global warming by harnessing the fusion that runs the sun,
creating an alternative to polluting fossil fuels. The project under
the direction of Kaname Ikeda of Japan will be built in Cadarache in
the southern French region of Provence and is expected to create about
10,000 jobs and take about eight years to build. The project was first
proposed by Mikhail Gorbachev in 1985.
(AP, 11/21/06)(Econ, 11/25/06, p.61)
2006 Nov 21, Iraq restored
diplomatic relations with Syria as part of a wider regional effort to
clamp off violence in Iraq. Iraqi and US forces raided Baghdad's Sadr
City and detained seven militia members, including one believed to have
information about an American soldier kidnapped last month. A young boy
and two other people were killed in the early morning raid. A US
soldier died of a non-hostile injuries north of Baghdad.
(AP, 11/21/06)(AP, 11/22/06)
2006 Nov 21, Israel's Supreme
Court ordered the government to recognize same-sex marriages performed
abroad.
(AP, 11/21/06)
2006 Nov 21, The Israeli military
launched a three-pronged offensive in the northern Gaza Strip, killing
a top Hamas commander in its latest operation against Palestinian
rocket squads. An elderly Palestinian woman died in a gunbattle between
troops and militants. Two Italian aid workers were kidnapped in the
Gaza Strip. Both were released within 24 hours.
(AP, 11/21/06)(AP, 11/22/06)
2006 Nov 21, In Lebanon prominent
anti-Syrian Christian politician Pierre Gemayel was assassinated in a
suburb of Beirut.
(AP, 11/21/06)
2006 Nov 21, Arab and African
leaders in Libya agreed to work together to end the crisis in the
Darfur region of Sudan.
(AP, 11/22/06)
2006 Nov 21, Roberto Marcos Garcia
(50), chief reporter for the weekly Testimonio crime magazine in
Mexico’s port city of Veracruz, was toppled from his motorcycle and run
over by unidentified assailants who then shot him at close range.
(AP, 11/21/06)
2006 Nov 21, Nepal's government
and rebels signed a peace deal to end a decade-long insurgency, paving
the way for the guerrillas to join the country's interim government.
(AP, 11/21/06)
2006 Nov 21, In Nicaragua Doris
Jimenez (25) was murdered in San Juan. Her boyfriend Eric Volz (27), an
American real estate broker working in Managua, was convicted of her
murder despite evidence that placed him in Managua at the time her
death. In early 2007 Volz began a 30 year sentence as he waited for an
appeal.
(WSJ, 3/17/07, p.A14)
2006 Nov 21, In Quetta, Pakistan,
police arrested 39 Afghans suspected of being Taliban fighters. An
Islamist group insisted the detainees were only students.
(AP, 11/21/06)
2006 Nov 21, In southern Poland 23
coal miners were killed in an explosion at the Halemba mine.
(AP, 11/23/06)
2006 Nov 21, Konstantin
Meshcheryakov, co-owner of a small Russian private bank, was gunned
down in an apparent contract killing in central Moscow.
Spetssetstroibank with offices in Moscow and St. Petersburg opened in
1994.
(AP, 11/22/06)
2006 Nov 21, The UN said an
estimated 4.3 million people were infected with HIV, the virus that
causes AIDS, in the last 12 months. The UNAIDS report estimated that
the total number of people infected with HIV stood between 34-47
million.
(http://tinyurl.com/tajka)(Econ, 11/25/06, p.84)
2006 Nov 22, The U.S. Copyright
Office said cell phone owners can now break locks to use their handsets
with competing carriers, while film professors have the right to copy
snippets from DVDs for educational compilations.
(AP, 11/22/06)
2006 Nov 22, Two explosions at a
chemical plant in Danvers, Mass., wrecked 25 homes and left nearly 400
people homeless. 10 people suffered minor injuries.
(SFC, 11/23/06, p.A4)
2006 Nov 22, Bangladesh's chief
election commissioner M.A. Aziz bowed to pressure to step aside, an
official said, after months of protests by the opposition which accused
him of seeking to rig national elections in January.
(AP, 11/22/06)
2006 Nov 22, Police in the west
African state of Benin arrested two rebel leaders from the Central
African Republic (CAR), whose forces are waging a violent offensive in
their home country. The leader of the rebel Union of Democratic Forces
for Unity, Michel Am Non Droko Djotodia, and his spokesman Abakar
Sabone, were apprehended in Benin's capital, Cotonou, under an
international arrest warrant. In 2008 President Boni Yayi asked for and
obtained the lifting of the international arrest warrant" for the two
rebel leaders.
(AP, 11/25/06)(AFP, 2/19/08)
2006 Nov 22, Britain's parliament
passed legislation allowing the Northern Ireland Assembly to be
dissolved in January and an election held weeks later in hopes of
reviving a Catholic-Protestant administration.
(AP, 11/22/06)
2006 Nov 22, Canadian police
arrested 90 people in a series of raids targeting what officials said
was traditional Italian organized crime in the Montreal area. The raids
stemmed from an investigation dubbed Project Colisee that began in 2004.
(AP, 11/22/06)
2006 Nov 22, China reported that
the number of HIV/AIDS cases is nearly 30% higher than for all of last
year, with intravenous drug use as the biggest source of infection.
(AP, 11/22/06)
2006 Nov 22, The administrator of
Ethiopia’s zoo in Addis Ababa said their rare Abyssinian lion cubs were
being poisoned and sold to taxidermists because there was not enough
money to care for them. It was estimated that only 1000 of the animals
remained in the wild.
(SFC, 11/24/06, p.A23)
2006 Nov 22, The European
Commission said Russia had told the 25-nation bloc it intends to ban
all animal product exports from the EU starting next year because
Moscow claimed new members Bulgaria and Romania had poor animal health
standards.
(AP, 11/22/06)
2006 Nov 22, In India a fire
engulfed a locked leather factory in Calcutta, killing at least nine
people who had been trapped inside.
(AP, 11/22/06)
2006 Nov 22, Indonesia's foreign
minister said that his country would be willing to send peacekeepers to
Iraq and could encourage other Muslim countries to do the same.
(AP, 11/22/06)
2006 Nov 22, The UN said that
3,709 Iraqi civilians were killed in October, the highest monthly toll
since the March 2003 US invasion. Gunmen in Baghdad shot dead a
bodyguard of the parliament speaker and wounded another. Raad Jaafar
Hamadi, an Iraqi journalist working for the state-run al-Sabah
newspaper in Baghdad, was killed in a drive-by shooting. At least 13
Iraqis were killed and six wounded in attacks by suspected insurgents
using drive-by shootings and bombings in Baghdad and other areas of
Iraq.
(AP, 11/22/06)
2006 Nov 22, Israeli ground
troops, tanks and armored vehicles advanced on two northern Gaza towns
in pursuit of Palestinian rocket squads, besieging a well-known Hamas
lawmaker's house and engaging militants in ferocious clashes.
(AP, 11/22/06)
2006 Nov 22, Authorities in Italy,
Spain, the United States and several South American countries arrested
76 people as part of a major drug crackdown in which a restaurant
linked to one of Colombia's most feared warlords was seized.
(AP, 11/22/06)
2006 Nov 22, In Mexico a violent
Mexican drug gang took out a rare, half-page ad in newspapers in which
they claimed to be anti-crime vigilantes who wanted to stop kidnapping,
robbery and the sale of methamphetamine in the western state of
Michoacan.
(AP, 11/23/06)
2006 Nov 22, Dutch voters picked a
new parliament in an election that could determine whether the
country's tight immigration rules get even tougher or follow what the
opposition calls a more humane path. Dutch PM Jan Peter Balkenende’s
center-right Christian Democrats won the most seats in elections, but
nearly complete returns showed a sharply splintered parliament with no
alliance winning a clear mandate to govern.
(AP, 11/22/06)(AP, 11/23/06)(Econ, 11/25/06, p.50)
2006 Nov 22, In Nigeria a Briton
was killed and one Italian injured when a group of armed men fleeing in
a boat with their seven foreign oil worker hostages exchanged fire
offshore with a navy patrol in the southern Rivers State. A rescue
attempt freed the 6 remaining hostages and left 2 kidnappers and a
soldier dead.
(AFP, 11/23/06)(SFC, 11/23/06, p.A40)
2006 Nov 22, In Norway a court
rejected an appeal by the founder of Ansar al-Islam, a suspected
Islamic terror group in Iraq, and upheld a government order to expel
him as a threat to national security.
(AP, 11/22/06)
2006 Nov 22, Amnesty International
accused Russian police of beating and torturing suspects and criticized
authorities for what it said were insufficient investigations into such
allegations.
(AP, 11/22/06)
2006 Nov 22, Rwanda’s Pres. Kagame
dismissed French accusations as "rubbish," and instead said a trial
should be opened against France, which he accuses of abetting the
100-day 1994 genocide in which minority Tutsis and moderate Hutus were
targeted by Hutu extremists.
(AP, 11/23/06)
2006 Nov 22, Tens of thousands of
South Korean workers held rallies and labor strikes to oppose a free
trade agreement with the US and demand better working conditions.
(AP, 11/22/06)
2006 Nov 22, Sudanese President
Omar al-Beshir told Britain and the UN that he still rejects the
deployment of UN troops in war-torn Darfur.
(AFP, 11/23/06)
2006 Nov 22, In southern Thailand
a woman was shot and her body burnt in Narathiwat, while a second
victim, believed to be Buddhist man, was shot several times in the
face. A separatist leader said the Al-Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiyah
(JI) extremist network is helping groups of young fighters stage
attacks in Thailand's Muslim-majority south.
(AP, 11/22/06)
2006 Nov 22, A Yemen court
convicted 34 men of plotting attacks across the country, including one
aimed at the US Embassy. It sentenced Ibrahim Mohammed Sharafeldeen,
the leader of the Shiite rebel group, to death.
(AP, 11/22/06)
2006 Nov 23, Scientists studying
mice said they have found what may be a master cardiac stem cell, able
to change into the three major cell types in a mammal's heart, in a
finding that could help guide heart repair in people.
(Reuters, 11/23/06)
2006 Nov 23, Gerald M. Boyd
(b.1950), the 1st black managing editor of the NY Times (2001-2003,
died of cancer.
(SFC, 11/24/06, p.)
2006 Nov 23, Betty Comden
(b.1917), lyricist, died in New York. She teamed with Adolph Green to
write such Broadway musicals as “On the Town” (1944) and Peter Pan.”
(SFC, 11/24/06, p.A1)
2006 Nov 23, Anita O’Day (87),
jazz singer, died in West Los Angeles. Her 1981 autobiography was
titled “High Times Hard Times.”
(SFC, 11/24/06, p.A1)
2006 Nov 23, In North Oakland,
Ca., 3 people were shot and killed during a Thanksgiving party. In 2008
brothers Asmeron and Tewodros Gebreselassie faced trial for killing 3
of their dead brother’s relatives during the party.
(SFC, 7/10/08, p.B3)
2006 Nov 23, In central
Afghanistan an insurgent rocket attack killed one NATO soldier and
injured another while they were on patrol.
(AP, 11/23/06)
2006 Nov 23, Belarusian police
detained opposition leader Alexander Milinkevich during a visit to a
province where he was gathering signatures in support of candidates for
local elections.
(AP, 11/23/06)
2006 Nov 23, Teenagers aged 16 and
17 have voted for the first time in the British Isles, as the Isle of
Man held a landmark general election to choose members for its 24 seats
in the House of Keys, the main branch of the Isle of Man's bicameral
parliament.
(AP, 11/23/06)
2006 Nov 23, Alexander Litvinenko,
a former KGB agent, died in London. The British government said
Litvinenko, the former KGB agent turned Kremlin critic, had a toxic
radioactive substance in his body. Litvinenko had blamed a "barbaric
and ruthless" Russian President Vladimir Putin for his fatal poisoning.
The radioactive element polonium-210 was found in Litvinenko's urine.
In 2007 it was reported that Litvinenko had been working for British
secret intelligence service MI6.
(AP, 11/24/06)(AP, 10/27/07)
2006 Nov 23, In Cameroon the
African Union's 53 finance ministers, meeting in Yaounde, called for
debt cancellation from their creditors and increased aid packages.
(AP, 11/24/06)
2006 Nov 23, Canada's opposition
Liberal party announced support for Conservative PM Stephen Harper's
motion recognizing French-speaking Quebec as a nation within Canada,
adding political weight to an attempt to pre-empt similar efforts by
Quebec separatists.
(AP, 11/23/06)
2006 Nov 23, China’s state media
reported government plans to spend about $250 billion extending the
country's expressways to deal with a surge in car ownership over the
next three decades.
(AP, 11/23/06)
2006 Nov 23, Chinese President Hu
Jintao received a red carpet welcome to Pakistan on a trip aimed at
expanding economic ties with Beijing's longtime ally, including signing
a free trade agreement between the two countries.
(AP, 11/23/06)
2006 Nov 23, The imprisoned
leaders of Colombia's right-wing militias called for the creation of a
truth commission where they can confess their actions in the brutal
civil war.
(AP, 11/23/06)
2006 Nov 23, A military official
said France has bolstered its presence in the Central African Republic
with 100 more troops following rebel attacks and growing concern over
the neighboring Darfur region of Sudan.
(AP, 11/23/06)
2006 Nov 23, Philippe Noiret
(b.1930), French comedian and film actor, died in Paris.
(AP, 11/23/07)
2006 Nov 23, In India a Tibetan
activist protesting against Chinese rule in the Himalayan region set
himself on fire outside a hotel where China's president was staying. An
official later said the activist was not seriously injured.
(AP, 11/23/06)
2006 Nov 23, In northeast India a
bomb exploded near a train station, killing two people and injuring 10
in Gauhati, the capital of Assam state.
(AP, 11/23/06)
2006 Nov 23, The UN nuclear agency
decided to deny Iran technical help in building a plutonium-producing
reactor, but left room for Tehran to eventually renew its request. The
IAEA said Iran has agreed to crack open the books on its uranium
enrichment activities, a move that could give experts a better grasp of
a program the Security Council fears could be misused to produce atomic
bombs.
(AP, 11/23/06)(AP, 11/24/06)
2006 Nov 23, In the deadliest
attack since the beginning of the Iraq war, suspected Sunni-Arab
militants used suicide car bombs and mortar rounds on the capital's
Shiite Sadr City slum killing 215 people with 256 wounded.
(AFP, 11/24/06)(AP, 11/23/07)
2006 Nov 23, Israeli troops went
after Palestinian militants in Gaza as rockets slammed into southern
Israel, but a planned meeting between a Hamas leader and Egyptian
mediators raised hopes the violence could be contained. A 64-year-old
Palestinian grandmother blew herself up near Israeli troops sweeping
through northern Gaza, and eight other Palestinians were killed in a
day of clashes and rocket fire.
(AP, 11/23/06)
2006 Nov 23, Japan decided to
temporarily suspend South Korean poultry imports due to a suspected
bird flu outbreak that has killed around 6,000 chickens.
(AP, 11/23/06)
2006 Nov 23, In Lebanon allies of
Pierre Gemayel, a slain Christian government minister, turned his
funeral into a powerful demonstration of anger against Syria as some
800,000 jammed downtown Beirut to pay their respects.
(AP, 11/23/06)
2006 Nov 23, In Mexico Police
chief Baltazar Gomez and Osvaldo Rodriguez, both of the Monterrey
suburb of Santa Catarina, were killed just after midnight by a gunman
who followed them inside a convenience store where they had gone after
attending a funeral. Crusading journalist Jesus Blancornelas, who
relentlessly investigated drug cartels and government corruption
despite an attempt on his life and the killing of colleagues, died of a
chronic illness in Tijuana.
(AP, 11/23/06)
2006 Nov 23, Pakistan's Senate
approved a controversial bill to help rape victims, despite vehement
protests by hard-line Muslim lawmakers who claim the legislation
violates Islamic law. The bill is now set to go before President Gen.
Pervez Musharraf, who is expected to sign it.
(AP, 11/23/06)
2006 Nov 23, An environmental
activist alleged that highly toxic chemicals had accidentally spilled
from weapons being reprocessed at the Maradykovsky reprocessing plant,
450 miles northeast of Moscow. The plant is a focal point of the push
to meet an April 2007 target set by the Organization for the
Prohibition of Chemical Weapons for Russia to destroy 20 percent of its
stockpile.
(AP, 11/23/06)
2006 Nov 23, Thousands of Rwandans
took to the streets of Kigali to denounce France's alleged complicity
in the 1994 genocide and a French judge's call for the prosecution of
President Paul Kagame.
(AP, 11/23/06)
2006 Nov 23, Somalia's Islamic
militia invited US government leaders to visit the capital, Mogadishu,
the city where 18 U.S. troops on a peacekeeping mission to the East
African nation were killed in 1993.
(AP, 11/24/06)
2006 Nov 23, The Sri Lankan
military killed at least 19 insurgents in a fierce battle with Tamil
Tiger rebels in the restive east. The separatist Liberation Tigers of
Tamil Eelam, however, said only one of their fighters died, and claimed
to have killed seven government commandoes.
(AP, 11/24/06)
2006 Nov 23, In Sudan 6 policemen
were killed and 7 wounded in an attack by unidentified rebels on a
police camp in South Darfur state.
(AFP, 11/24/06)
2006 Nov 23, Farai Chiweshe,
deputy director for the Southern African Human Rights Trust (SAHRIT), a
leading Zimbabwean rights group, slammed President Robert Mugabe's
government for failing to ratify a United Nations convention against
torture and condoning its use by state agents.
(AFP, 11/23/06)
2006 Nov 24, The US Dept. of
Agriculture declared LL601, an experimental variety of genetically
engineered rice, to be safe for human consumption. Bayer Crop-Science
designed it to resist Bayer’s Liberty weed killer. It escaped from test
plots after the company dropped the project in 2001.
(SFC, 11/25/06, p.A3)
2006 Nov 24, In Chicago a gunman
who took his neighbor hostage for 23 hours over Thanksgiving ended the
standoff by killing the woman and himself.
(AP, 11/24/06)
2006 Nov 24, In California
Richmond police officer Kaliah Ashante Harper was shot and killed by
her former boyfriend, Quartus Lee Hinton (28), during a funeral
ceremony in Fairfield. Hinton was arrested the next day. In 2008 Hinton
was convicted of voluntary manslaughter and sentenced to 38 years in
prison.
(SSFC, 11/26/06, p.B1)(SFC, 7/16/08, p.B6)(SFC,
11/1/08, p.B3)
2006 Nov 24, Robert McFerrin Sr.
(b.1921), opera singer and the father of Grammy-winning
conductor-vocalist Bobby McFerrin, died in suburban St. Louis at age
85. He was the first black man to sing as a member of the NY
Metropolitan Opera (1955).
(SFC, 11/30/06, p.B7)(AP, 11/24/07)
2006 Nov 24, In Afghanistan US-led
coalition troops clashed with Taliban insurgents killing seven of the
militants.
(Reuters, 11/24/06)
2006 Nov 24, Authorities cut off
broadcasts from Azerbaijan's first independent TV station and ordered
the eviction of opposition newspapers and organizations from their
offices in the capital, moves government opponents called part of a
campaign to silence dissent.
(AP, 11/24/06)
2006 Nov 24, Canadian police found
22 apartments in a 13-story Toronto building rigged up to grow
marijuana with a value of $5 million.
(WSJ, 11/25/06, p.A1)
2006 Nov 24, Chadian rebels rolled
into the east of the country in their second offensive within a month
against President Idriss Deby Itno. Chad extended a state of emergency
for six months in the country's eastern provinces, where ethnic clashes
have killed as many as 400 people and raised fears that Sudan's Darfur
conflict is spilling across the border.
(AP, 11/24/06)
2006 Nov 24, In southern Chile a
twin-engine plane crashed, killing the Chilean pilot and five Brazilian
tourists.
(AP, 11/24/06)
2006 Nov 24, China signed a
five-year free trade pact with Pakistan, promised to continue joint
development of nuclear energy, and pledged to play a "constructive"
role in resolving disputes between Pakistan and neighboring rival India.
(AP, 11/24/06)
2006 Nov 24, France said it will
give Tanzania 46 million euros (60 million dollars) to fund development
projects in the east African nation over the next five years.
(AFP, 11/24/06)
2006 Nov 24, Shiite militiamen
grabbed six Sunnis during worship services, doused them with kerosene
and burned them alive. Iraqi soldiers at a nearby army post failed to
intervene in the assault by suspected members of the Shiite Mahdi Army
militia or subsequent attacks that killed a total of 25 Sunnis,
including women and children. Another 87 people were killed or found
dead in sectarian violence across Iraq. A US Marine died from wounds
sustained while fighting in Anbar province.
(AP, 11/24/06)(AP, 11/25/06)
2006 Nov 24, In Lebanon factories,
banks and schools closed on orders from business leaders, who demanded
a resolution to the political crisis before it spirals into wider
violence. A cluster bomb left over from Israel's war against Hezbollah
in southern Lebanon wounded two members of an international team of
land mine-clearing experts.
(AP, 11/24/06)(AP, 11/25/06)
2006 Nov 24, In Lesotho Samuella
Jacobina Verwey (36), a Dutch aid worker with the Clinton Foundation,
was shot to death at the house of Mpho Malie, Lesotho's trade and
industry minister. Malie is seen as a major contender for the
leadership of the ruling Lesotho Congress for Democracy after the
current leader, PM Pakalitha Mosisili, quits.
(AP, 11/25/06)
2006 Nov 24, Michael Stone (51), a
Protestant extremist, triggered a panicked evacuation of the Northern
Ireland Assembly. He was charged the next day with attempting to murder
4 people. In 2008 Stone was found guilty of trying to murder Sinn Fein
leaders Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness at the Northern Ireland
Assembly. He was sentenced to 16 years in prison.
(AP, 11/25/06)(AP, 11/14/08)(AFP, 12/8/08)
2006 Nov 24, Police said Pakistan
has handed over 240 suspected Taliban fighters to Afghan authorities
this week as a hunt for the Islamist militants continues in the
country's southwest.
(Reuters, 11/24/06)
2006 Nov 24, PM Ismail Haniyeh of
Hamas said that Palestinian factions had agreed to halt rocket fire if
Israel reciprocates by stopping its military offensives in the West
Bank and Gaza Strip. Israel rejected the offer, saying it would respond
positively only to a total truce.
(AP, 11/24/06)
2006 Nov 24, Panama’s government
said heavy rains and flooding have left at least eight people dead and
damaged hundreds of homes.
(AP, 11/24/06)
2006 Nov 24, A Defense Ministry
official said Russia has begun delivery of Tor-M1 air defense missile
systems to Iran, confirming that Moscow would proceed with arms deals
with Tehran in spite of Western criticism.
(AP, 11/24/06)
2006 Nov 24, Rwanda cut diplomatic
ties with France and gave France's ambassador to Rwanda 24 hours to
leave the central African country. This was in response to a French
judge’s call for President Paul Kagame to stand trial over the 1994
killing of a former leader, sparking the genocide of 800,000 people.
(Reuters, 11/24/06)
2006 Nov 24, Taiwan's president
won a reprieve when opposition lawmakers failed for the third time to
muster enough support for a referendum on removing him from office.
(AP, 11/24/06)
2006 Nov 24, In Thailand attackers
shot a school principal, and then set his body on fire. The principal
became the 59th teacher or school official killed in three years of
violence.
(AP, 11/25/06)
2006 Nov 24, The UN said its
investigators have discovered three mass graves at a northeast Congo
military camp containing the bodies of 30 people, including women and
children, who were allegedly killed by soldiers.
(AP, 11/24/06)
2006 Nov 24, A UN anti-torture
panel said it had credible reports of unofficial detention centers,
abuse and disappearances in Russia's restive southern province of
Chechnya.
(AP, 11/24/06)
2006 Nov 24, Fishing nations led
by Iceland and Russia blocked UN negotiators from imposing a
full-fledged ban against destructive bottom trawling on the high seas.
After weeks of talks in New York, a United Nations committee that
oversees high seas fisheries failed to gain unanimous support this week
for ending unregulated bottom trawling.
(AP, 11/24/06)
2006 Nov 25, James Wolfensohn,
former World Bank chief, warned that Western nations must prepare for a
future dominated by China and India, whose rapid economic rise will
soon fundamentally alter the balance of power. He spoke at the
University of New South Wales for the 2006 Wallace Wurth Memorial
Lecture.
(AFP, 11/26/06)
2006 Nov 25, In NYC Sean Bell (23)
and two other unarmed men in a car were killed hours before Bell was to
have married the mother of his two children. The confrontation with
police stemmed from an undercover operation by 7 officers investigating
the Kalua Cabaret in Queens. Two officers were later indicted for
manslaughter, and a third was charged with reckless endangerment; all
pleaded not guilty. In 2008 three NYPD detectives were acquitted of all
charges in the case.
(AP, 11/27/06)(AP, 11/25/07)(AP, 4/25/08)
2006 Nov 25, Insurgents attacked
NATO-led forces Saturday near the Tirin Kot district of Uruzgan
province. NATO returned fire and called in attack aircraft, killing
approximately 50 insurgents.
(http://tinyurl.com/yfs28z)(WSJ, 11/27/06, p.A1)
2006 Nov 25, In Argentina Nora
Dalmasso (51) was strangled in her Buenos Aires suburban home. In 2007
her son, Facundo Macarron (20), was charged with her murder and
aggravated sexual abuse.
(SSFC, 6/17/07, p.A16)
2006 Nov 25, Bahrain, an island
nation of 700,000 citizens, held elections. More than 200 candidates
vied for the National Assembly's 40-seat lower house. 40 members of the
upper chamber are appointed by King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, who can
veto parliamentary legislation. Shiites and opposition members say the
system preserves Sunni dominance.
(AP, 11/25/06)
2006 Nov 25, Health workers began
a drive across Bangladesh to immunize 24 million children under five
against polio to combat the crippling virus that has staged a comeback
in the South Asian nation.
(AFP, 11/25/06)
2006 Nov 25, A group of 18 English
tourists was robbed by heavily armed gunmen shortly after arriving in
Rio de Janeiro for vacation. Last month, gunmen attacked a bus carrying
Chinese tourists and robbed them of $17,000.
(AP, 11/26/06)
2006 Nov 25, In eastern Chad
fighting broke out between the national army and rebels, and rebels
claimed they had seized the major city in the area.
(AP, 11/25/06)
2006 Nov 25, Congo’s government
and the UN said fighters loyal to warlord Laurent Nkunda attacked army
positions in eastern Congo with small arms and heavy weapons. Nkunda
controlled thousands of fighters and claimed the loyalty of the 81st
and 83rd army brigades, the troops involved in the most recent clashes.
(AP, 11/25/06)
2006 Nov 25, A third batch of
Indonesians left to join a UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon, bringing
the Asian nation's Middle East deployment to more than 830 troops.
(AP, 11/25/06)
2006 Nov 25, Gunmen broke into two
Shiite homes and killed 21 men in front of their relatives in Baladruz.
Coalition forces north of Baghdad attacked 3 vehicles carrying 12
insurgents. Soldiers opened fire on the cars when they ignored warning
shots, and all the militants were killed. 13 bodies were found dumped
in various parts of Baghdad. Iraqi police killed at least 36 insurgents
and wounded dozens after scores of militants armed with assault rifles
and rocket-propelled grenades attacked government buildings in the
center of Baqouba. At least 11 more suspected militants were killed in
Baqouba after nightfall. One US soldier was killed in Diyala by a
roadside bomb. 2 US Marines were killed in Anbar province.
(AP, 11/25/06)(AP, 11/26/06)(SSFC, 11/26/06, p.A13)
2006 Nov 25, Israel and the
Palestinians agreed to a cease-fire to end a five-month Israeli
military offensive in the Gaza Strip and the firing of rockets by
Palestinian militants into the Jewish state. Hamas' leader,
Damascus-based supreme leader Khaled Mashaal, said his group was
willing to give peace negotiations with Israel six months to reach an
agreement for a Palestinian state in Gaza and the West Bank, but
threatened a new uprising if the talks fail.
(AP, 11/25/06) (AP, 11/25/07)
2006 Nov 25, Hezbollah renewed its
threat to stage mass protests aimed at bringing down Lebanon's
US-backed government as the Cabinet scheduled meeting to vote on an
international tribunal to try suspects in the killing of a former prime
minister.
(AP, 11/25/06)
2006 Nov 25, In Mexico singer
Valentin Elizalde (27) was ambushed and gunned down along with his
manager and driver following a performance in Reynosa. His ballads
included narco-corridos, which honored the exploits of drug dealers.
(SSFC, 11/26/06, p.A19)
2006 Nov 25, In the southern
Philippines the Leonida II, a small ferry, capsized in rough waters,
leaving 19 passengers missing while 66 people were rescued.
(AP, 11/26/06)
2006 Nov 25, US Vice President
Dick Cheney arrived in Saudi Arabia for talks with King Abdullah,
apparently seeking the Sunni royal family's influence and tribal
connections to calm Iraq after an especially violent week..
(AP, 11/25/06)
2006 Nov 25, Sri Lankan warplanes
attacked a camp housing Tamil Tiger rebel suicide bombers in the
country's north.
(AP, 11/25/06)
2006 Nov 25, In Thailand a
regional representative for teachers said more than 300 schools in the
south will close indefinitely Nov 27, after attacks by suspected Muslim
insurgents left two teachers dead.
(AP, 11/25/06)
2006 Nov 25, A UN agency said that
Israel laid mines in Lebanon during this summer's war between the
Jewish state and the Lebanon-based Hezbollah group, the first time
Israel has been accused of planting mines during the latest fighting.
(AP, 11/25/06)
2006 Nov 26, In New York City an
angry crowd demanded to know why police officers killed Sean Bell, an
unarmed man, on the day of his wedding by firing dozens of shots that
also wounded two of Bell's friends.
(AP, 11/26/07)
2006 Nov 26, David Hermance (59),
a US engineer for Toyota, was killed when his experimental plane, a
Interavia E-3, crashed off San Pedro near Los Angeles, Ca. Hermance’s
job had been to take technology developed in Japan, as in the Prius
hybrid, and bring it to the US.
(SFC, 11/27/06, p.A5)
2006 Nov 26, Stephen Heywood (37),
co-founder with his family of the ALS Therapy Development Foundation,
died of amyotrophic lateral schlerosis.
(WSJ, 12/9/06, p.A5)
2006 Nov 26, In southeastern
Afghanistan a suicide bomber blew himself up at a restaurant, killing
15 people and wounding 24, including an Afghan special forces commander
and a district chief who were apparently targeted for the attack.
(AP, 11/26/06)
2006 Nov 26, In Bahrain
preliminary results showed Islamist candidates victorious in
parliamentary elections, splitting the vote between hardline Shiite and
Sunni Muslims while female and liberal candidates fared poorly in the
US-allied kingdom.
(AP, 11/26/06)
2006 Nov 26, In eastern Chad
government forces entered Abeche, one day after rebels launched an
attack and claimed to have seized the town.
(AP, 11/26/06)
2006 Nov 26, In China construction
of the $3.7 billion Xiangjiaba project formally began. Completion was
set for 2015. The 6-gigawatt project Xiangjiaba dam on the upper
reaches of the Yangtze River and the nearby 12.6-gigawatt Xiluodu dam
together are expected to match or exceed the capacity of the Three
Gorges dam. An explosion triggered by a gas buildup in a coal mine in
northern China killed 24 miners at the Luweitan Coal Mine in Linfen,
Shanxi province.
(AP, 11/27/06)
2006 Nov 26, Abu Khavs, a
Jordanian who commanded foreign mercenaries in Chechnya and was
reportedly al-Qaida's top emissary in the troubled North Caucasus, died
along with 4 other militants in a shootout with police in Dagestan.
(AP, 11/26/06)
2006 Nov 26, Ecuador held
presidential elections. Rafael Correa (43), a US-trained economist who
has pledged radical reforms to clean up corruption, faced Alvaro Noboa
(56), a billionaire and Ecuador's wealthiest man. Ecuador is an
oil-exporting country, but three-quarters of its 13.4 million
inhabitants live in poverty.
(AP, 11/26/06)
2006 Nov 26, Iranian President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said he would help the US calm Iraq if Washington
changes what he described as its "bullying" policy toward Iran.
(AP, 11/26/06)
2006 Nov 26, Iraq's leaders
promised to track down those responsible for the war's deadliest attack
by insurgents, and urged the country's Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish
politicians to stop fanning sectarian violence by arguing with one
another. A suicide car bomber slammed into an Iraqi police checkpoint
on a highway near a Sunni mosque in Mahmoudiya city, killing five
policemen and wounding 23. In Baquoba at least 17 insurgents were
killed and 15 detained. 20 civilians were kidnapped and three bodies
found in Diyala province. US soldiers shot and killed 11 civilians and
wounded five in Husseiniya. 3 US soldiers were killed and two wounded
during combat operations in Baghdad. The New York Times reported that
the Iraq insurgency has become financially self-sustaining, raising
tens of millions of dollars a year from oil smuggling, kidnapping,
counterfeiting, corrupt charities and other crimes.
(AP, 11/26/06)(Reuters, 11/26/06)(AP, 11/27/06)
2006 Nov 26, Israeli troops
withdrew from the Gaza Strip as an unexpected truce took hold, but two
major Palestinian militant groups, saying they had no intention of
stopping their attacks, fired volleys of homemade rockets into Israel.
(AP, 11/26/06)
2006 Nov 26, In Mexico bands of
youths rampaged through downtown Oaxaca, torching buildings and cars
hours after federal police used tear gas to drive off a violent mob of
leftists in the latest spasm of protests against the state governor. 30
to 40 armed men entered the La Barranca hunting ranch near the US
border and kidnapped five men including 3 Texans. Librado Pina Jr.
(49), owns the popular deer-hunting ranch near Hidalgo, was released on
Dec 18. His son and 2 others had been released earlier. There was no
word on the ranch's Mexican cook, Marco Ortiz.
(AP, 11/26/06)(AP, 11/29/06)(AP, 12/18/06)
2006 Nov 26, Raul Velasco (73),
who hosted one of Mexico's most popular and enduring television
programs, "Siempre en Domingo," died at his home in Acapulco.
(AP, 11/26/06)
2006 Nov 26, In eastern Pakistan a
passenger van veered off the road and plunged into a canal, killing 10
people.
(AP, 11/26/06)
2006 Nov 26, Paraguay's Pres.
Nicanor Duarte unexpectedly fired the armed forces chief and 58
military and police officers, calling it a routine reshuffling of the
military high command and dismissing suggestions it was politically
motivated.
(AP, 11/26/06)
2006 Nov 26, Mestnye (meaning
Locals), a pro-government youth group raided outdoor markets in the
Moscow region to help authorities find illegal migrants. Police
detained several dozen people after fighting broke out.
(AP, 11/27/06)
2006 Nov 26, South Korean
quarantine officials began slaughtering more than 200,000 poultry after
an outbreak of the virulent H5N1 form of bird flu at a chicken farm.
(AP, 11/26/06)
2006 Nov 26, In Sudan the National
Redemption Front said its fighters had seized the Abu Jabra oil field
on the edge of South Darfur and Southern Kordofan. Sudanese military
said its forces had repelled the attack and were in full control of the
field.
(AP, 11/27/06)
2006 Nov 26, More than 20,000
Muslims in Istanbul held the biggest protest so far against Pope
Benedict's controversial visit to Turkey this week.
(AP, 11/26/06)
2006 Nov 27, Pres. Bush flew to
Estonia on his way to a NATO meeting centered on Afghanistan in Riga,
Latvia.
(WSJ, 11/28/06, p.A1)
2006 Nov 27, OECD Secretary
General Angel Gurria said excessive weakening of the US dollar could
lead to interest rate hikes in the US, Europe and Japan and hurt global
economic growth.
(AP, 11/27/06)
2006 Nov 27, California
authorities announced the arrests of 2 men involved with the theft of
almonds and walnuts in the Central Valley. About $400,000 of stolen
nuts were recovered, part of an estimated $2 million stolen over the
past year.
(SFC, 11/28/06, p.B1)
2006 Nov 27, An early morning fire
at a group home for the mentally disabled in southwest Missouri killed
10 residents and a caretaker and sent at least a dozen more to a
hospital.
(AP, 11/27/07)
2006 Nov 27, Bebe Moore Campbell
(56), novelist, died of cancer in Los Angeles. Her novels centered on
race relations and included “Your Blues Ain’t Like Mine” (1992), which
was rooted in the (1955) murder of Emmett Till.
(SFC, 11/28/06, p.B7)
2006 Nov 27, In southern
Afghanistan a suicide car bomber attacked a convoy of foreign troops,
killing two Canadian soldiers and an Afghan civilian.
(AP, 11/27/06)
2006 Nov 27, An official inquiry
into the corruption that riddled the UN oil-for-food program in Iraq
cleared the Australian government but cited 12 top executives for
bribing Saddam Hussein's regime.
(AFP, 11/27/06)
2006 Nov 27, Britain’s PM Tony
Blair condemned the African slave trade and expressed deep sorrow for
Britain's role, but stopped short of offering an apology or
compensation for the descendants of those victimized by it.
(AP, 11/27/06)
2006 Nov 27, Congo’s supreme court
upheld President Joseph Kabila's victory in landmark elections, ruling
as unfounded the runner-up's charges of widespread fraud.
(AP, 11/28/06)
2006 Nov 27, In the Dominican Rep.
fire struck a strip club after it closed in the early morning, killing
9 employees who lived on the floor above the establishment, including
several dancers.
(AP, 11/27/06)
2006 Nov 27, In Ecuador partial
returns showed Rafael Correa with as many as twice the votes recorded
as for his banana tycoon rival, who claimed the polls were rigged.
(AP, 11/27/06)
2006 Nov 27, French developers
have selected a design by Pritzker Prize winner Thom Mayne, an
award-winning American architect, for a bold new building in Paris
nearly as tall as the Eiffel Tower, and powered partly by the wind.
Completion was set for 2012.
(AP, 11/28/06)
2006 Nov 27, In Paris Eurotunnel,
operator of the Channel tunnel, was rescued from looming bankruptcy
when key creditors approved a plan to slash debt exceeding 9.0 billion
euros (11.9 billion dollars).
(AP, 11/27/06)
2006 Nov 27, India carried out its
first successful test interception of a ballistic missile, using a
second missile to destroy the incoming rocket.
(AP, 11/27/06)
2006 Nov 27, In Iran a
Russian-designed antonov-74 crashed in Tehran, killing 38 people. They
included members of the elite Revolutionary Guards and high-ranking
officers. This was Iran’s third military air plane crash in the last
year.
(AP, 11/27/06)(SFC, 11/27/06, p.A3)
2006 Nov 27, Iraqi President Jalal
Talabani arrived in Tehran to meet with his Iranian counterpart amid
increasing calls for Washington to enlist Iran's help in calming the
escalating violence in neighboring Iraq. In Baghdad gunmen opened fire
on a crowded street, killing six Iraqis and wounding three, some of
whom were sitting in a parked car. Police in western Baghdad found the
bodies of two Iraqis who had been kidnapped, blindfolded and shot. A
bomb exploded under an oil pipeline and set it on fire south of
Baghdad. A US Air Force F-16 jet crashed northwest of Baghdad and Maj.
Troy Gilbert was killed.
(AP, 11/27/06)(SFC, 11/30/06, p.A12)
2006 Nov 27, Israeli PM Ehud
Olmert, seeking to build on a shaky cease-fire with the Palestinians,
offered to reduce checkpoints, release frozen funds, and free prisoners
in exchange for a serious push for peace by the Palestinians.
(AP, 11/27/06)
2006 Nov 27, Italian Premier
Romano Prodi said the last of Italy's soldiers in Iraq, some 60-70
troops, will return home this week, ending the Italian contingent's
presence in the south of the country after more than three years.
(AP, 11/27/06)
2006 Nov 27, A UN food agency said
Lebanon's agriculture sector suffered about $280 million in damage
during this summer's conflict between Israel and Hezbollah.
(AP, 11/27/06)
2006 Nov 27, A three-story bank
under construction collapsed in the main Nigerian city of Lagos, and
two people were unaccounted for and believed trapped inside the rubble.
(AP, 11/28/06)
2006 Nov 27, The first privately
owned English-language daily, the Palestine Times, was launched in the
West Bank and Gaza, with its editors aiming to provide news about the
region to English speakers abroad.
(AP, 11/27/06)
2006 Nov 27, In Russia Ruslan
Fedosenko and Sergei Kocherov, who had worked for Moscow's Perovsky
district prosecutor's office, were convicted of corruption and
sentenced to four-year prison terms.
(AP, 11/27/06)
2006 Nov 27, Officials said South
Korea planned to kill cats and dogs in the area of Iksan to try to
prevent the spread of bird flu after an outbreak of the deadly H5N1
virus at a chicken farm last week.
(AP, 11/27/06)
2006 Nov 27, In Sudan fighting
began in the southern town of Malakal and escalated into full trench
warfare between the northern Sudanese Armed Forces and the SPLA.
Hundreds of people may have been killed in the heaviest fighting
between Sudan's former north-south foes since they signed a peace deal
last year.
(Reuters, 11/30/06)
2006 Nov 27, Authorities of
Western Sahara recovered the bodies of three children which washed up
at a beach, bringing to 13 the number of migrant children who drowned
when their small boat sank in the Atlantic.
(Reuters, 11/28/06)
2006 Nov 28, President Bush, in
Latvia to attend a NATO summit, said he will not be persuaded by any
calls to withdraw American troops from Iraq before the country is
stabilized. Bush also enlisted renewed commitments from the NATO allies
that have deployed 32,000 troops to Afghanistan.
(AP, 11/28/06)
2006 Nov 28, A US federal judge
said the government discriminates against blind people by printing
money in bills that all feel the same, and ordered the Treasury Dept.
to fix the problem.
(SFC, 11/29/06, p.A2)
2006 Nov 28, In SF Genevieve Paez
(53) was shot execution style outside her home in Visitacion Valley.
She worked as a customer service supervisor for the US Postal Service.
The next day Julius Kevin Tartt (39), a South San Francisco letter
carrier, was found dead in Livermore from a self-inflicted gun shot. It
was suspected that Tartt killed Paez.
(SFC, 11/29/06, p.B1)(SFC, 12/2/06, p.B1)
2006 Nov 28, The intergovernmental
Group on Earth Observations unveiled GEONETCAST, a one-stop-shop for
environmental data.
(http://ec.europa.eu/research/press/2006/pr2111en.cfm)(Econ, 12/2/06,
p.83)
2006 Nov 28, In Afghanistan scores
of militants alleged to be with Al-Qaeda stormed a checkpoint on the
eastern border with Pakistan, sparking an hour-long battle that left at
least two rebels dead. Suicide car bombs struck in Kandahar and Herat,
killing a policeman and wounding a NATO soldier. A new UN report said
Afghanistan's criminal underworld has compromised key government
officials who protect drug traffickers, allowing a flourishing opium
trade that will not be stamped out for a generation.
(AP, 11/28/06)
2006 Nov 28, Ten suspected
Islamist militants were killed in clashes with the Algerian army, which
was conducting sweeps in remote mountainous regions.
(AP, 11/30/06)
2006 Nov 28, A protest against
Argentina's former military dictatorship turned into a clash in Buenos
Aires between police with tear gas and rubber bullets and demonstrators
with Molotov cocktails.
(AP, 11/29/06)
2006 Nov 28, In Bangladesh
unidentified attackers set three election offices on fire in
Munshiganj, Barisal and Khulna. Thousands of protesters gathered in
Dhaka to demand the resignation of electoral officials ahead of January
balloting.
(AP, 11/29/06)
2006 Nov 28, Belarus hosted a
summit of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). The
participants fail to agree on any significant multilateral initiative
and the summit itself was sullied by a media scandal.
(www.isn.ethz.ch/news/sw/details.cfm?ID=16984)
2006 Nov 28, Bolivia's leftist
president won passage of an ambitious land redistribution bill and
signed it into law to the cheers of impoverished Indian supporters, who
stand to benefit from what eventually could be the confiscation of
private holdings the size of Nebraska. In the same session Bolivia's
Senate approved nationalization contracts with foreign oil companies.
(AP, 11/29/06)
2006 Nov 28, Britain’s Scottish
Power PLC said it has agreed to a $22.5 billion buyout offer from the
Spanish utility Iberdrola SA that would create one of Europe's biggest
utilities.
(AP, 11/28/06)
2006 Nov 28, Canada’s Parliament
formally recognized the French-speaking people of Quebec as a nation
within Canada, a seemingly symbolic gesture that has led to a Cabinet
resignation and ignited concerns over a renewed push for the province's
sovereignty.
(AP, 11/28/06)
2006 Nov 28, Government soldiers
in the Central African Republic were on the offensive, with French
military support, to seize back towns captured by rebels who have
steadily advanced from border territory.
(AP, 11/28/06)
2006 Nov 28, A Chadian military
reconnaissance plane was shot down in eastern Chad in an attack likely
carried out by rebels.
(AP, 11/28/06)
2006 Nov 28, Beijing’s
environmental protection agency reported that water from the Guanting
reservoir, Beijing's fourth-largest drinking source, was not fit for
human consumption or irrigation during the month of October.
(AFP, 11/29/06)
2006 Nov 28, Ethiopia’s PM Meles
Zenawi met with Jim Donald, the CEO of Starbucks, but no deal was
reached on branding local coffee. Ethiopia ranked 97th in the World
Bank’s latest “ease of doing business” index. Transparency Int’l.
ranked it 130th on its corruption-perceptions index.
(Econ, 12/2/06, p.67)
2006 Nov 28, The Iraqi Parliament
voted unanimously to extend Iraq's state of emergency for 30 more days,
and suspected Sunni insurgents set off bombs that killed eight people
and wounded 40 across the country. The UN Security Council voted
unanimously to extend for one year the mandate of the 160,000-strong
multinational force in Iraq. US soldiers fought with suspected
insurgents in Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province, killing six
Iraqis: one man and five females, including an infant. A roadside bomb
killed one US Army soldier and wounded another in Salahuddin province.
(AP, 11/28/06)(AP, 11/29/06)
2006 Nov 28, Jordan's King
Abdullah II called for renewed efforts to settle the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict in a speech, but he warned that his
country would not accept a deal that causes an influx of Palestinians.
(AP, 11/28/06)
2006 Nov 28, Kosovo Albanians
fought UN police in a protest of a delay on a vote for independence
until after Serbian elections Jan 21.
(WSJ, 11/29/06, p.A1)
2006 Nov 28, Malaysia's PM
Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said ties between Muslims and Christians are
under "extreme stress" and the growing divide between the faiths is
threatening international stability.
(AP, 11/28/06)
2006 Nov 28, In Mexico gunmen
attacked a police car in the border city of Tijuana, killing Gerardo
Santiago Prado, the police chief of Mesa de Otay, his bodyguard and a
secretary.
(AP, 11/30/06)
2006 Nov 28, A Nigerian court
voided a report of the country's anti-graft agency which indicted Vice
President Atiku Abubakar and a business associate of corruption.
Amnesty International said Nigerian police and soldiers are using rape
to intimidate restive communities and "as means of torture to extract
confessions from suspects in custody."
(AP, 11/28/06)(AFP, 11/29/06)
2006 Nov 28, North Korea's nuclear
envoy sat down with top negotiators for the US and China, an
unannounced meeting aimed at reactivating stalled six-nation talks on
persuading North Korea to abandon nuclear weapons.
(AP, 11/28/06)
2006 Nov 28, Noxious fumes from
chemical waste dumped into a Philippine creek forced thousands to flee
their homes and sickened dozens. Men told police they had loaded
chemical waste from a plastic factory and dumped the cargo in Marilao,
15 miles north of Manila.
(AP, 11/28/06)
2006 Nov 28, Russia’s Pres. Putin
said the ban on Moldovan wine and meat products would be lifted, a move
that appeared to be aimed at easing Moscow's entry into the WTO. Putin
also said Russia and Moldova would resume a dialogue aimed at resolving
Moldova's conflict with Trans-Dniester.
(AP, 11/28/06)
2006 Nov 28, The South Korean
government approved a plan to halve the size of its troop deployment in
Iraq but to extend the mission for another year.
(AFP, 11/28/06)
2006 Nov 28, A Syrian leader of an
Islamic militant group blew himself up at a border post with Lebanon
after a gunbattle with Syrian security forces.
(AP, 11/28/06)
2006 Nov 28, Thailand's
military-installed government agreed to lift martial law in Bangkok and
in more than half of the country's provinces.
(AP, 11/28/06)
2006 Nov 28, The Ukraine
Parliament adopted a bill recognizing the Soviet-era forced famine as
an act of genocide against the Ukrainian people.
(AP, 11/28/06)
2006 Nov 28, Pope Benedict XVI
began his first visit to a Muslim country with a message of dialogue
and brotherhood between Christians and Muslims in an attempt to ease
anger over his perceived criticism of Islam. In Turkey Benedict urged
all religious leaders to "utterly refuse" to support any violence in
the name of faith.
(AP, 11/28/06)(AP, 11/28/07)
2006 Nov 29, Commerce Secretary
Carlos Gutierrez said the US is banning exports of luxury items to
North Korea, arguing that the Stalinist state's ruling elite is
"splurging" while its population suffers. According to reports, the
list of items specifically targeting North Korea's bon vivant leader
Kim Jong-Il includes iPods, jet skis and plasma televisions.
(AFP, 11/30/06)
2006 Nov 29, A US federal judge
ordered FEMA to resume housing payments to Katrina victims.
(WSJ, 11/30/06, p.A1)
2006 Nov 29, Still losing money
after job and factory cuts, Ford Motor Co. said 38,000 workers, almost
half of its hourly production force, had accepted buyouts or early
retirement offers.
(AP, 11/29/07)
2006 Nov 29, Allen Carr (b.1934),
English promoter of anti-smoking campaigns, died of lung cancer. He
stopped smoking in 1983 and opened a clinic to help others quit using
his Easyway method. He later authored “The Easy Way to Stop Smoking”
(1985).
(Econ, 12/9/06, p.93)
2006 Nov 29, In southern
Afghanistan a suicide bomber on a motorcycle blew himself up next to a
NATO convoy, killing two civilians.
(AP, 11/29/06)
2006 Nov 29, The Texas-based China
Aid Association said in a statement 3 leaders of the Three Grade
Servant church had been put to death in northeast China's Heilongjiang
province over the past week. It said another 12 members of the
congregation had also been previously executed, bringing the total
number to 15. The case involved accusations that the Three Grade
Servant Church was involved in the murder of members of another
Christian cult, the Eastern Lightning.
(AP, 11/29/06)
2006 Nov 29, NATO leaders finished
a two-day summit without agreement on some members' refusal to send
troops into combat in Afghanistan's most dangerous regions. NATO vowed
to give its troubled mission in Afghanistan the "forces, resources and
flexibility needed" to tackle increasingly ferocious Taliban fighters.
Leaders invited Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia-Herzegovina to join a
program considered a first step toward eventual membership, but urged
Serbia and Bosnia to fully cooperate with the UN war crimes tribunal.
(AP, 11/29/06)(AFP, 11/29/06)
2006 Nov 29, North Korean envoys
left China after meeting with US negotiators with no agreement reached
on a resumption of 6-nation nuclear talks.
(WSJ, 11/30/06, p.A1)
2006 Nov 29, In India at least 3
people died and dozens were hurt as low-caste Hindus rioted in the
western Indian state of Maharashtra over the vandalism of a statue of
their late leader, B.R. Ambedkar.
(AP, 11/30/06)
2006 Nov 29, Iran's President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad addressed a letter to the American people to be
released at UN headquarters in New York. He urged the American people
to demand the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq and reject what he
called the Bush administration's "blind support" for Israel and its
"illegal and immoral" actions in fighting terrorism.
(AP, 11/29/06)
2006 Nov 29, Iraqi lawmakers and
Cabinet ministers loyal to anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr said
they have carried out their threat to suspend participation in
Parliament and the government to protest PM Nouri al-Maliki's summit
with US Pres. George W. Bush in Jordan. The first of two high-profile
meetings in Jordan between Bush and PM al-Maliki was abruptly canceled
amid conflicting explanations. Bush met al-Maliki the next day. 13
insurgents and 15 citizens were killed in Iraq, including two females
who were caught up in a coalition raid north of the capital. Iraqi
forces found 28 bodies in what may be a mass grave south of the city of
Baqouba. In Basra gunmen killed Nasir Gatami, the deputy of the local
Sunni Endowment chapter, and three of his bodyguards in an attack on
their two-car convoy. A US army soldier died from wounds suffered in
Anbar province. A US soldier was killed during combat in Baghdad.
(AP, 11/29/06)(AP, 11/30/06)(AP, 11/29/07)
2006 Nov 29, A Mexican court
reinstated an arrest warrant for former President Luis Echeverria, just
four months after a federal judge had dismissed the same charges of
genocide in connection with a 1968 student massacre.
(AP, 11/29/06)
2006 Nov 29, Fire struck a
workshop at Russia's largest steel mill, killing six people, as
firefighters' efforts were hampered by temperatures that fell to 17
degrees below zero.
(AP, 11/29/06)
2006 Nov 29, The UN Security
Council condemned a "significant increase" in the flow of weapons to
and through Somalia in violation of a 1992 arms embargo and voted
unanimously to keep monitoring weapons trafficking in the poor and
lawless Horn of Africa nation.
(AP, 11/30/06)
2006 Nov 30, Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack
(55) launched his campaign for the US presidency. He ended his bid Feb
23, 2007, due to what he called financial constraints.
(SFC, 12/1/06, p.A6)(WSJ, 2/24/07, p.A1)
2006 Nov 30, The ABC TV soap opera
All My Children depicted a character about to undergo a transition from
man to woman.
(SFC, 12/1/06, p.A1)
2006 Nov 30, Microsoft Corp.
released Windows Vista for businesses. This was the 1st major upgrade
to its operating system in 5 years. Release for retail customers was
set for Jan 30.
(SFC, 12/1/06, p.D1)
2006 Nov 30, Tens of thousands of
Australians rallied against controversial industrial relations laws,
temporarily bringing parts of the country's major cities to a halt.
Critics said the laws passed 12 months ago strip power from unions and
erode job security, wages and conditions.
(AFP, 11/30/06)
2006 Nov 30, British authorities
said traces of radiation have been found at a dozen sites in Britain
and five jets were being investigated for possible contamination as
authorities widened their investigation into the poisoning of a former
Russian spy.
(AP, 11/30/06)
2006 Nov 30, Cambodia's PM Hun Sen
condemned attempts by Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels to push for a
separate state, after talks in Phnom Penh with the island's premier.
(AFP, 11/30/06)
2006 Nov 30, Central African
Republic government soldiers regained control of Ouadda, the second
town taken back from rebels, and pursued a counter-offensive northwards.
(AFP, 12/1/06)
2006 Nov 30, In northeastern
Colombia the Gabriel Galvis unit of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of
Colombia (FARC) attacked an army patrol, killing 17 soldiers and
injuring four. An air force training helicopter crashed in central
Colombia, killing all five aboard.
(AP, 12/1/06)
2006 Nov 30, In Egypt a state
security court sentenced three Islamic militants to death for their
involvement in suicide attacks that killed 34 people at Sinai resorts
in 2004.
(AP, 11/30/06)
2006 Nov 30, Talks to avert a coup
in Fiji were deemed "a failure" by the country's military commander,
who issued a fresh threat that he will quickly move to replace the
government if it doesn't meet his demands. Commodore Frank Bainimarama
said that the government had not gone far enough and he set a next day
deadline for its capitulation. Bainimarama wants the government to kill
legislation that would grant pardons to conspirators in a 2000 coup,
and quash two other bills that he says unfairly favor majority
indigenous Fijians over the ethnic Indian minority.
(AP, 11/30/06)
2006 Nov 30, Police in India filed
charges against 28 suspects over the Mumbai train blasts in July that
killed 185 people, and alleged the attacks were linked to Pakistan's
spy agency and militant groups. India’s parliament tabled the Sachar
report, which investigated the condition of India’s Muslims.
(AFP, 11/30/06)(Econ, 12/2/06, p.48)
2006 Nov 30, Indian troops shot
dead four Islamic militants in revolt-hit Kashmir, including a
commander (Ali Baba alias Abu Hufeza) believed to have been involved in
last year's bombings in New Delhi.
(AFP, 12/1/06)
2006 Nov 30, President Bush in
Jordan said the US will speed a turnover of security responsibility to
Iraqi forces but assured PM Nouri al-Maliki that Washington is not
looking for a "graceful exit" from a war well into its fourth violent
year. Today's meetings were supposed to be Bush's second set of
strategy sessions in Amman. But the first meeting between Bush and
al-Maliki, a day earlier along with Jordan's king, was scrubbed. PM
Nouri al-Maliki called on lawmakers and Cabinet ministers loyal to an
anti-American cleric to end their boycott of the government in response
to his summit with President Bush. 47 people were killed across Iraq
including 37 bodies found dumped in various regions. An American
soldier was killed during combat in Baghdad.
(AP, 11/30/06)(AP, 12/1/06)(SFC, 12/1/06, p.A15)
2006 Nov 30, Japan's lower house
of parliament passed a bill to create a cabinet-level defense ministry
for the first time since World War II.
(AFP, 11/30/06)
2006 Nov 30, Mexican police found
the bullet-ridden bodies of two men, including a missing journalist,
just days after the body of another slain reporter was found in the
area. Police discovered the body of reporter Adolfo Sanchez Guzman (32)
near Ciudad Mendoza, 75 miles west of Veracruz, not far from where his
car was found abandoned on Nov 28. Police on Dec 1 arrested Juan Carlos
Palestino (30) and Julian Rosas Palestino (34) after witnesses said the
two brothers had been looking for Martinez. The brothers had accused
Martinez of stealing their truck.
(AP, 12/1/06)(AP, 12/5/06)
2006 Nov 30, Human Rights Watch
said Myanmar army attacks against a rebellious minority have forced
thousands of civilians to flee their homes, with many trekking as far
as the Thai border for food and shelter.
(AP, 11/30/06)
2006 Nov 30, Amsterdam city
officials said they are shutting down nearly a third of the 350
prostitution "windows" in the famed Red Light District as part of a
crackdown on crime.
(AP, 11/30/06)
2006 Nov 30, Nigeria opened the
first ever summit of African and South American leaders. Participants
called for greater control by the two continents over their vast
reserves of raw materials. The inaugural gathering also set to tackle
issues ranging from the conflict ravaging the Darfur region of Sudan to
the boosting of inter-continental trade.
(AFP, 11/30/06)
2006 Nov 30, Typhoon Durian, the
4th major typhoon to hit the Philippines in four months, killed
198 people and left 260 others missing. The figures included 109 people
who died in mudslides on the slopes of the Mayon volcano that also
injured 130.
(AP, 12/1/06)
2006 Nov 30, In Russia doctors
treating former PM Yegor Gaidar, who fell ill in Ireland last week,
said they believed he was poisoned.
(AP, 11/30/06)
2006 Nov 30, The East African
Community (EAC) said Rwanda and Burundi have been accepted as members,
expanding the regional economic bloc to five nations. The EAC
previously grouped Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, which hoped to transform
the region into a political federation.
(AP, 11/30/06)
2006 Nov 30, In Somalia a car
blast killed 9 people near the Somali government seat of Baidoa in an
attack the administration blamed on Islamists backed by al Qaeda. An
attack on Ethiopian troops left 20 dead.
(AFP, 12/1/06)(WSJ, 12/1/06, p.A1)
2006 Nov 30, South Africa became
the first country in Africa, and only the fifth in the world, to
legalize same sex marriages.
(AP, 11/30/06)
2006 Nov 30, Sudan's president
rejected a proposal to send UN peacekeepers to Darfur to boost a
beleaguered 7,000-member African Union force, crushing hopes for a
quick solution to the violence spreading across central Africa.
(AP, 11/30/06)
2006 Nov 30, Pope Benedict XVI
visited Istanbul's famous Blue Mosque in a dramatic gesture of outreach
to Muslims.
(AP, 11/30/07)
2006 Nov 30, Zimbabwe's finance
minister predicted marginal economic growth in the coming year and that
the country's four-figure inflation rate would dip to 350% as he
presented the budget for 2007.
(AFP, 11/30/06)
2006 Nov, It was reported that
millions of bees had begun disappearing across the US and Western
Europe in what came to be called “colony collapse disorder.” In 2007
beekeepers in Oregon said they had not observed any losses.
(SFC, 4/14/07, p.B6)(Econ, 4/28/07, p.92)
2006 Nov, Cheryl Athene Miller
(58) was arraigned in Ukiah, Ca., on 4 counts of murder following a
claim by her brother that she had killed her 4 children between 1965
and 1970. She allegedly confessed to killing 2 daughters in Escondido
(1965-1966), a son in Long Beach, and a daughter in Mendocino County
(1970). In 2007 prosecutors dropped the charges for lack of evidence.
(SFC, 6/23/07, p.B6)
2006 Nov, In Florida Abraham
Shakespeare (b.1966) won $31 million in the state lottery. He took a
$16.9 million lump sum and soon was befriended by Dorice Moore. In
April, 2009, Shakespeare went missing. On Jan 28, 2010, his remains
were found buried in Moore’s backyard and she was arrested as an
accessory to murder.
(SFC, 2/3/10, p.A8)(http://tinyurl.com/y9uzwe9)
2006 Nov, Thousands of tiny
parasitic wasps were released in the Cayman Islands to combat an
island-hopping insect that has destroyed crops throughout the
Caribbean. Mealybugs have destroyed millions of dollars in crops and
ornamental plants across the Caribbean since they were first reported
in the Western Hemisphere, in Grenada in 1994. They reached the US
Virgin Islands in 1997, and Puerto Rico a year later.
(AP, 11/22/06)
2006 Nov, In China a painting by
Liu Xiaodong, one of the so-called cynical realists, was auctioned in
Beijing for $2.7 million, the highest price ever paid for a work by a
contemporary Chinese artist.
(Econ, 1/13/07, p.66)
2006 Nov, Zhou Zhengyi, a Shanghai
business tycoon, was arrested amidst the corruption probe involving the
city’s pension system. He had been released from prison in May, 2006,
following a fraud and stock manipulation case in 2003.
(WSJ, 12/11/06, p.B8)
2006 Nov, Klaus Jacobs, a
German-born billionaire, announced that he would donate 200 million
euros to the Int’l. University Bremen (IUB). This saved IUB, Germany’s
only fully fledged private and int’l. university. Teaching at IUB began
in 2001.
(Econ, 12/16/06, p.51)
2006 Nov, In India consumer price
inflation rose to almost 7% this year. Finance minister Palaniappan
Chidambaram said the economy will continue to grow by more than 8% in
the next few years.
(Econ, 11/25/06, p.73)
2006 Nov, In Mexico credit card
interest rates averaged over 30% despite efforts by Guillermo Ortiz,
head of the Central Bank, to get banks to lower their costs. 80% of the
country’s banking assets were foreign owned.
(Econ, 11/25/06, p.76)
2006 Nov, Venezuela inaugurated
its Venirauto car factory, a joint venture with Iran. The first 300
units were released on July 9, 2007.
(Econ, 11/28/09,
p.42)(www.venezuelanalysis.com/news/2491)
2006 Dec 1, US companies will need
to keep track of all the e-mails, instant messages and other electronic
documents generated by their employees thanks to new federal rules that
go into effect today. The rules, approved by the Supreme Court in
April, require companies and other entities involved in federal
litigation to produce "electronically stored information" as part of
the discovery process, when evidence is shared by both sides before a
trial.
(AP, 12/1/06)
2006 Dec 1, The largest Roman
Catholic archdiocese in the US said it will pay $60 million to settle
45 sex abuse lawsuits, the largest payout yet by the Archdiocese of Los
Angeles and among the biggest resulting from the molestation crisis
that has plagued the church.
(AP, 12/2/06)
2006 Dec 1, World AIDS Day was
marked around the globe by somber religious services, boisterous
demonstrations and warnings that far more needs to be done to treat and
prevent the disease.
(AP, 12/1/06)
2006 Dec 1, In Berkeley, Ca.,
protesters began sitting in trees near Memorial Stadium which US
Berkeley officials planned to cut in order to build an athletic
training center. The last 4 protesters came down on December 9, 2008.
(SFC, 8/22/08, p.B1)(SFC, 9/10/08, p.A1)
2006 Dec 1, In Argentina a court
declared former Iranian President Hashemi Rafsanjani and eight others
fugitives from justice in Argentina, where they are wanted in
connection with the 1994 bombing of a Jewish cultural center.
(AP, 12/1/06)
2006 Dec 1, Opposition leaders led
a work stoppage in four Bolivian state capitals to protest President
Evo Morales' control of an assembly called to rewrite Bolivia's
constitution.
(AP, 12/1/06)
2006 Dec 1, British media reported
that an Italian security expert, who met with a former KGB agent
Alexander Litvinenko the day the ex-spy fell fatally ill with radiation
poisoning, has also tested positive for the substance.
(AP, 12/1/06)
2006 Dec 1, Amnesty International
accused the government of Chad of failing to act as Janjaweed militia
carry out increasing attacks on civilians.
(AFP, 12/1/06)
2006 Dec 1, Chinese courts
rejected an appeal from Zhao Yan, the NY Times researcher who reported
on official corruption and peasant rights before he joined the
newspaper. They upheld the four-year prison term of activist Chen
Guangcheng, who documented cases of forced abortions.
(AP, 12/1/06)
2006 Dec 1, An Interior Ministry
official said that 1,846 civilians were killed in Iraq in November, a
43 percent increase from the estimated toll in October. Iraqi forces
backed by US helicopters swept through one of the oldest area of
Baghdad in house-to-house fighting that killed at least three Iraqis
and wounded 11. Scattered sectarian violence elsewhere killed 12 other
people. A US Army soldier also was killed in fighting in the volatile
Anbar province.
(AP, 12/1/06)(AP, 12/2/06)
2006 Dec 1, In Lebanon at least a
million people loyal to Hezbollah and its pro-Syrian opposition allies
massed in downtown Beirut seeking to force the resignation of
Western-backed PM Fuad Saniora, who was holed up in his office ringed
by hundreds of police and combat troops.
(AP, 12/1/06)(SFC, 12/2/06, p.A1)
2006 Dec 1, Felipe Calderon took
the oath of office as Mexico's president amid jeers and whistles, in a
chaotic ceremony before congress preceded by a brawl between lawmakers
still divided over the nation's tight presidential election.
(AP, 12/1/06)
2006 Dec 1, In the Netherlands a
court convicted four Dutch Muslims of plotting terrorist attacks
against political leaders and government buildings and sentenced them
to up to eight years in prison. A man in a hooded coat killed an
8-year-old boy in the corridor of a Dutch grade school. Police said
they arrested a 22-year-old suspect.
(AP, 12/1/06)
2006 Dec 1, In Nigeria OPEC
President Edmund Daukoru said that he expects the OPEC oil export group
to cut its output quota by at least half a million barrels per day when
it meets on December 14.
(AFP, 12/1/06)
2006 Dec 1, The 15th Asian Games
exploded into life in Doha, Qatar, with the most spectacular opening
ceremony ever staged.
(www.dohaasiangames.org/)
2006 Dec 1, Pakistan’s President
Gen. Pervez Musharraf signed into law an amendment to the country's
controversial rape statute to make it easier to prosecute sexual
assault cases. In northwestern Pakistan a suicide bomber struck outside
a military facility in Peshawar, killing himself but causing no other
casualties.
(AP, 12/1/06)
2006 Dec 1, Palestinian President
Mahmoud Abbas convened the PLO's top decision-making body to map out a
strategy after declaring that talks to form a more moderate government
with ruling Hamas militants had collapsed.
(AP, 12/1/06)
2006 Dec 1, In Paraguay a court
convicted and sentenced 15 members of a radical leftist group to prison
for the 2004 kidnapping and murder of Cecilia Cubas (31), a former
president's daughter.
(AP, 12/1/06)
2006 Dec 1, Officials reported
that Typhoon Durian killed as many as 200 people when it tore through
the eastern Philippines. The storm was eventually blamed for 1,399
deaths.
(AP, 12/1/07)
2006 Dec 1, The opening ceremony
for the 15th Asian Games took place in Doha, the capital of Qatar.
(Reuters, 11/27/06)
2006 Dec 1, The US circulated a UN
Security Council draft resolution that would authorize a regional force
to protect Somalia's weak government and threaten Security Council
action against those who block peace efforts and attempt to overthrow
it.
(AP, 12/2/06)
2006 Dec 1, South Africa unveiled
plans to halve the number of people being infected with the AIDS virus
within five years by persuading youngsters to delay the start of their
sex lives. Some 5.5 million South Africans suffered from HIV and about
950 were dying from AIDS every day.
(AFP, 12/1/06)(Econ, 12/9/06, p.53)
2006 Dec 1, A suicide bomber
targeted a convoy carrying Sri Lanka's defense secretary in Colombo,
killing himself and two soldiers. The defense secretary, who is also
the president's brother, was unharmed.
(AP, 12/1/06)
2006 Dec 1, Ukraine lawmakers
fired the foreign minister and interior minister, setting the stage for
a legal battle between the president and the premier.
(AP, 12/1/06)
2006 Dec 1, Pres. Robert Mugabe
said Zimbabwe is showing the way for Africa in the fight against
HIV/AIDS. He urged Zimbabweans to take greater personal responsibility
in stopping the epidemic. HIV prevalence rate declined to 18.1% this
year from 25% five years ago.
(Reuters, 12/1/06)
2006 Dec 2, The National World War
I Museum opened in Kansas City, Missouri. The $26.5 million museum at
the Liberty Memorial joined the ranks of The National World War II
Museum in New Orleans and other definitive repositories for key events
in history.
(www.libertymemorialmuseum.org)(WSJ, 11/29/06, p.D10)
2006 Dec 2, Thousands of US homes
and businesses had no electricity for heat and lights after the
Midwest's first big snowstorm of the season.
(AP, 12/2/06)
2006 Dec 2, In Oakland Mayor-elect
Ron Dellums (71) said he would appoint a young person to every board
and commission in the city.
(SSFC, 12/3/06, p.B1)
2006 Dec 2, A sport utility
vehicle driven by actor Lane Garrison hit a tree in Beverly Hills,
killing a 17-year-old passenger; Garrison was later sentenced to three
years and four months in prison for drunken driving.
(AP, 12/2/07)
2006 Dec 2, A civilian helicopter
crashed in southern Afghanistan. Militants attacked a NATO convoy in
southern Helmand province's Nawzad district. NATO troops fired back and
called in airstrikes that left five militants dead. In Zabul province,
suspected Taliban militants attacked a police checkpoint, sparking a
gunbattle that left four insurgents dead and one police officer
wounded. NATO troops also battled militants near Musa Qala in Helmand
province for four hours. The fighting, including airstrikes, killed or
wounded "a significant number of insurgents." Militants tried to block
the main highway linking Kandahar and Helmand province, and a clash
with police left three militants dead and eight wounded.
(AP, 12/3/06)
2006 Dec 2, In Bahrain the 2nd
round run-off election for the lower house of parliament pitted the
Shiite-led opposition against Sunnis backed by the island kingdom's
government in a tight race. Islamic hardliners dominated the Sunni
supporters of Bahrain's government who defeated an opposition led by
the kingdom's majority Shiites in parliamentary elections. Ali Salman
(41) led Wifaq, the main Shia-based opposition party.
(AP, 12/2/06)(Econ, 11/25/06, p.46)
2006 Dec 2, A US-based election
monitor said Bangladesh's list of voters contains 12.2 million false
names.
(Reuters, 12/2/06)
2006 Dec 2, At least 15,000
demonstrators marched through Brussels in protest at planned job cuts
at the Belgian factory of German car maker Volkswagen.
(AP, 12/2/06)
2006 Dec 2, A bomb exploded in
southwest Bhutan near the border with India, seriously injuring four
people and shattering the calm of the isolated Himalayan kingdom.
(AP, 12/3/06)
2006 Dec 2, Stephane Dion (51), a
former environment minister who criticized PM Harper for modeling
himself after President Bush, won leadership of Canada's Liberal Party.
(AP, 12/2/06)
2006 Dec 2, Government troops in
the Central African Republic said they have recaptured the town of Sam
Ouandja on the sixth day of a counter-offensive supported by French
troops, leaving rebels with only one major northeastern town, Ouadda
Djalle.
(AFP, 12/2/06)
2006 Dec 2, China’s Xinhua news
said underground water reserves in around 9 out of every 10 Chinese
cities are polluted or over-exploited, and could take hundreds of years
to recover.
(AP, 12/2/06)
2006 Dec 2, A 50-year-old battle
to evict squatters from one of Egypt's most renowned archaeological
sites, the West Bank of Luxor, ended as authorities began demolitions.
The fate of Qurna's 10,000 residents was sealed when authorities gave
the demolition order for the mud-brick houses erected over ancient
Egyptian tombs.
(AFP, 12/3/06)
2006 Dec 2, In eastern India at
least 14 soldiers died when a landmine planted by suspected Maoist
guerrillas exploded near the steel-producing town of Bokaro, Jharkhand
state. A colonial-era footbridge collapsed onto railroad tracks in
eastern India, burying a train beneath tons of red rock and killing at
least 34 passengers.
(AFP, 12/2/06)(AP, 12/3/06)
2006 Dec 2, In Baghdad the death
toll from a triple car bombing at a food market in a predominantly
Shiite area rose to 53 civilians dead and 121 wounded. Gunmen attacked
the main gate of Yarmouk Hospital, killing one policeman and wounding
three, and the bodies of 12 people who had been handcuffed and shot to
death were found by police. US and Iraqi forces began an offensive
operation in Baqouba. One al-Qaida in Iraq insurgent was killed and 43
detained, including two foreigners. Drive-by shootings in two towns
near Baqouba killed 2 civilians and wounded 5. A truck driving at high
speed slammed into a bus stop in al-Wahada, 22 miles south of Baghdad,
killing about 20 people waiting for buses to the capital and wounding
15. US forces killed an insurgent who was caught planting a roadside
bomb on a major highway about 40 miles south of Baghdad. A roadside
bomb also hit a police patrol in Youssifiyah killing one policeman and
wounding six. In the town of Karmah coalition ground and air forces
killed six insurgents while destroying two buildings that militants
were using. Gunmen in two cars intercepted a vehicle carrying Haithem
Yassin, a Shiite adviser to Iraq's minister of electricity, in
northeast Baghdad, kidnapping him, his driver and two bodyguards. 3
American soldiers were killed by roadside bombs.
(AP, 12/2/06)(AP, 12/3/06)
2006 Dec 2, In Rome some 700,000
supporters of Silvio Berlusconi demonstrated against the government’s
planned tax increases. Pier Ferdinando Casini’s Union of Christian
Democrats (UDC) held its own rally in Palermo.
(Econ, 12/9/06, p.56)
2006 Dec 2, In Lebanon thousands
of Hezbollah supporters camped out in tents in central Beirut as the
Shiite Muslim guerrilla group and its allies kept up the pressure on
the US-backed government of Fuad Saniora to resign.
(AP, 12/2/06)
2006 Dec 2, Mexico's new president
pledged to substantially raise the wages of the armed forces, calling
them a crucial weapon against heavily armed drug gangs terrorizing the
nation.
(AP, 12/2/06)
2006 Dec 2, In Nigeria press
reports said Abubakar Audu, a former governor of Nigeria's central
state of Kogi (1999-2003), has been charged in a high court with
corruption and money laundering. Audu was slammed with 80 counts of
corruption and money laundering during his tenure.
(AFP, 12/2/06)
2006 Dec 2, Hamas rejected demands
by PLO leaders that its government resign over the failure to form a
moderate coalition acceptable to the West, a sign of an intensifying
power struggle between Islamic militants and moderate President Mahmoud
Abbas.
(AP, 12/2/06)
2006 Dec 2, In the Philippines
rescuers scouring mountain villages buried under mud and boulders
loosed by a powerful typhoon discovered more bodies, raising the death
total to more than 300, with another 300 missing.
(AP, 12/2/06)
2006 Dec 2, Saudi news said
authorities have arrested 136 suspected militants over the past three
months, accusing some of plotting to carry out suicide attacks inside
the kingdom.
(AP, 12/3/06)
2006 Dec 2, About 30,000 Serbs
protested in front of the United States embassy in defense of Radical
Party leader Vojislav Seselj, now 22 days into a hunger strike at The
Hague's war crimes tribunal.
(AP, 12/2/06)
2006 Dec 2, A UN official said
days of fighting between former rebels and government forces killed
more than 150 people and wounded at least 400 in a southern Sudanese
town.
(AP, 12/2/06)
2006 Dec 3, In southern
Afghanistan a suicide car bomb exploded next to a British convoy in
Kandahar city, and troops speeding away from the scene fired at several
civilian cars. 3 Afghans were killed and 19 people were wounded,
including three British soldiers. In southern Afghanistan an estimated
70 to 80 Taliban militants were killed by NATO soldiers in fighting
after police told military authorities where insurgents had gathered.
(AP, 12/3/06)(AP, 12/4/06)
2006 Dec 3, A major political
alliance in Bangladesh staged a nationwide transport blockade to force
electoral reforms. Separate clashes between rival political activists
and police left one man dead and at least 65 people injured.
(AP, 12/3/06)
2006 Dec 3, Bolivia’s Pres. Evo
Morales signed contracts giving the government control over foreign
energy companies’ operations.
(SFC, 12/4/06, p.A11)
2006 Dec 3, In southern England 2
firefighters were killed in a blaze at a fireworks factory near Lewes
that injured a dozen others.
(AP, 12/4/06)
2006 Dec 3, Members of Alberta's
ruling Conservative party picked Ed Stelmach (55), a moderate farmer,
as premier of the western Canadian province.
(Reuters, 12/3/06)
2006 Dec 3, A Dubai-based
developer announced that it plans to build a new Russian city on 44,000
acres near Moscow.
(AP, 12/3/06)
2006 Dec 3, In East Timor a man
was hacked to death and 17 others were injured in overnight gang
fighting in Dili.
(AP, 12/3/06)
2006 Dec 3, Andris Piebalgs, the
EU Energy Commissioner from Latvia, signed an accord on nuclear
cooperation with Kazakhstan. The EU hoped to increase Kazakhstan
uranium sales to the EU from 3% to 20%.
(WSJ, 12/4/06, p.A6)
2006 Dec 3, Commodore Frank
Bainimarama told Fiji One television that he wants PM Laisenia Qarase
to resign so the military can name a new government for the South
Pacific island nation.
(AP, 12/3/06)
2006 Dec 3, Haitians cast ballots
in municipal and local elections that were billed as the final step in
the troubled country's return to democratic rule following a bloody
February 2004 revolt that toppled former President Jean-Bertrand
Aristide.
(AP, 12/3/06)
2006 Dec 3, Seven Iraqis were
killed and 12 wounded including 3 policemen killed by a suicide bomber
at a checkpoint near the northern city of Kirkuk. The bullet-ridden
body of the Sunni Arab chairman of one of Iraq's leading soccer clubs
was found, several days after he was kidnapped in the capital. A US
soldier was killed during combat in Baghdad.
(AP, 12/3/06)(AP, 12/6/06)
2006 Dec 3, Madagascar's president
faced 13 challengers in the first elections since voting five years ago
led to a six-month power struggle that split the Indian Ocean nation
between two governments.
(AP, 12/3/06)
2006 Dec 3, Mexico’s newly
sworn-in president Felipe Calderon decreed a 10% pay cut for himself
and his cabinet members, echoing a central campaign promise of the
leftist rival he beat by a razor-thin margin.
(AP, 12/3/06)
2006 Dec 3, In southern Taiwan a
double-decker tour bus crashed into a steep ravine in a scenic mountain
area, killing 22 and seriously injuring two dozen others.
(AP, 12/4/06)
2006 Dec 3, Venezuelan President
Hugo Chavez won re-election, defeating Manuel Rosales, governor of the
western state of Zulia. With 78% of voting stations reporting, Chavez
had 61% of the vote, to 38% for Rosales.
(Econ, 11/11/06, p.44)(AP, 12/3/06)(AP, 12/3/07)
2006 Dec 4, The White House,
unable to win Senate confirmation, said UN Ambassador John Bolton will
step down when his temporary appointment expires within weeks.
(AP, 12/4/06)
2006 Dec 4, Abdul Aziz al-Hakim
(55), leader of Iraq's largest political party, the Supreme Council for
the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), spoke with Pres. Bush for more
than an hour at the White House. He became leader of the SCIRI when his
brother and party founder Ayatollah Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim was killed
in a bombing in August 2003. Al-Hakim had ties to Iran and the
officially disbanded Badr militia.
(AP, 12/4/06)
2006 Dec 4, Truck driver Tyrone
Williams was convicted in Houston of the deaths of 19 illegal
immigrants crammed into a sweltering tractor-trailer in May 2003.
(AP, 12/4/07)
2006 Dec 4, In Jena, La., six
black students (the Jena Six) beat a white schoolmate in an altercation
that stemmed from the hanging of nooses in August in a tree on school
grounds under which white students regularly gathered. The black
teenagers were initially charged with attempted murder, but later
dropped to aggravated second-degree battery in 4 cases. In September,
2007, charges against Mychal Bell were moved to juvenile court
following huge civil rights protests. It was later reported that 7
black students were involved in the Dec 4 beating. On Dec 3, 2007, Bell
pleaded guilty to a juvenile charge of 2nd degree battery in return for
an 18-month sentence. On June 26, 2009, 5 members of the Jena 6 pleaded
no contests to misdemeanor simple battery with no jail time.
(SFC, 9/21/07, p.A3)(SFC, 9/28/07, p.A3)(Econ,
9/29/07, p.33)(SFC, 12/4/07, p.A3)(SFC, 6/27/09, p.A5)
2006 Dec 4, Bank of New York Co.
agreed to take over Mellon Financial Corp. in a $16.5 billion all-stock
deal that will create the world's largest securities servicing company
and one of the biggest asset managers.
(AP, 12/4/06)
2006 Dec 4, Chipmaker LSI Logic
Corp. and Agere Systems reached a $4 billion stock swap deal. LSI
closed down 14% to $9.12 per share. LSI CEO Abhi Talwalkar offered the
equivalent of $22.81 per share for Agere.
(SFC, 12/5/06, p.C1)
2006 Dec 4, Station Casinos of Las
Vegas said it received a $4.7 billion buyout offer from its founding
family and affiliate of Colony Capital LLC, a private equity firm.
(SFC, 12/5/06, p.C3)
2006 Dec 4, Shares of Pfizer Inc.
fell 15.6% in opening trade, wiping out nearly $30 billion of market
value, after the world's biggest drugmaker scrapped development of its
most important experimental medicine. Pfizer halted work on
torcetrapib, which was designed to raise levels of "good" HDL
cholesterol, because of increased deaths and heart problems among
patients given the product in a late-stage trial.
(Reuters, 12/4/06)
2006 Dec 4, An E. coli outbreak
that sickened at least 58 people, two of them seriously, was linked by
health investigators to three Taco Bell restaurants in New Jersey. The
outbreak, initially believed to stem from green onions, was later
believed to have come from lettuce.
(AP, 12/4/06)(SFC, 12/14/06, p.A6)
2006 Dec 4, NASA announced plans
to begin building a permanent base on the moon by 2024, with the first
teams landing in 2020.
(SFC, 12/5/06, p.A2)
2006 Dec 4, In Afghanistan 2
journalists, whose identities and media organization were not
identified, reportedly went missing in Kandahar province.
(AP, 12/5/06)
2006 Dec 4, Insurance Australia
Group (IAG) announced it will buy British motor insurer Equity
Insurance Group for 570 million pounds.
(AFP, 12/4/06)
2006 Dec 4, Tomma Abts (38) became
the first female painter in the 22-year history of Britain's $ 49,000
Turner Prize to win the controversial modern art award.
(AFP, 12/4/06)(SFC, 12/5/06, p.F8)
2006 Dec 4, PM Tony Blair has
announced plans for Britain to retain its nuclear deterrent but
promised to cut the number of nuclear warheads by 20%. Blair also
launched plans for a new multibillion-dollar submarine-based nuclear
missile defense system, warning lawmakers the future may hold perilous
threats from rogue regimes and state-sponsored terrorists.
(AP, 12/4/06)
2006 Dec 4, China’s state media
said Ying Fuming, a manager at the Fanchang Grease Factory in Taizhou
in east China, has been arrested for using grease from swill, sewage,
pesticides and recycled industrial oil to make lard for human
consumption. 6 children died of possible food poisoning at a boarding
school at the school in Nanyao, a village in northern Shanxi province.
(AP, 12/4/06)(AP, 12/6/06)
2006 Dec 4, Egypt’s Interior
Ministry said police had arrested an American, 11 Europeans and several
others from Arab countries for allegedly plotting terrorist attacks in
Middle Eastern countries including Iraq.
(AP, 12/4/06)
2006 Dec 4, The Estlink cable
connected power grids of the Baltic States with Finland. The cost of
Estlink, which measures 100 kilometers (60 miles), was around 110
million euros (132 million dollars). It was built by Swiss-Swedish
group ABB.
(AP, 12/4/06)
2006 Dec 4, In Fiji soldiers moved
against at least two police compounds, seizing weapons in the apparent
first step toward taking over the South Pacific island nation.
(AP, 12/4/06)
2006 Dec 4, In Haiti as many as 30
inmates escaped through a small hole in a prison wall in the latest of
several breakouts from the overcrowded National Penitentiary.
(AP, 12/6/06)
2006 Dec 4, Police in eastern
India were alerted that a container, packed with radioactive material,
had been stolen from a fortified research facility, prompting a major
hunt and fears of contamination. It carried uranium and radiation and
could have an adverse effect in an area of 1.5 kilometers (0.93 mile).
(AFP, 12/23/06)
2006 Dec 4, Drive-by shootings and
a suicide car bomber killed at least seven Iraqis and wounded five.
American forces killed two militants and destroyed a vehicle packed
with explosives. A US helicopter went down in Lake Qadisiyah west of
the Iraqi capital, killing one Marine and leaving three missing in
Anbar province. An insurgent attack on an American military patrol in
Baghdad killed Pfc. Ross McGinnis and wounded five. Another US
serviceman died in southern Iraq in an accident involving his vehicle.
In 2008 Pres. Bush awarded the Medal of Honor to McGinnis, who had
placed his body between a grenade and 4 comrades.
(AP, 12/4/06)(AP, 12/5/06)(WSJ, 6/3/08,
p.A4)(www.iraqwarheroes.org/mcginnisra.htm)
2006 Dec 4, The Israeli army
killed a Palestinian and arrested 17 militants in raids across the West
Bank, despite a decision by the military to scale back such operations
in order to bolster a shaky truce with the Palestinians in the Gaza
Strip.
(AP, 12/5/06)
2006 Dec 4, Against a backdrop of
protests, the defense minister gave citations to Dutch troops who
served in the UN peacekeeping force that failed to prevent the
slaughter of Muslims in the Srebrenica enclave during the Bosnian war.
(AP, 12/4/06)
2006 Dec 4, In Pakistan at least
eight people were killed in torrential rains and flooding, which
blocked roads and caused widespread disruption in several cities.
(AFP, 12/4/06)
2006 Dec 4, In Peru a bus speeding
through the fog on a twisting mountain road in the Andes fell 1,320
feet into a ravine, killing 45 people.
(AP, 12/5/06)
2006 Dec 4, Marine Lance Cpl.
Daniel Smith was convicted in the Philippines of raping a Filipino
woman and sentenced to 40 years in prison.
(AP, 12/4/07)
2006 Dec 4, Rescuers in the
Philippines all but gave up hope of finding survivors in
mudslide-swamped villages on the slopes of the Mayon volcano, five days
after Typhoon Durian killed an estimated 1,000 people.
(AP, 12/4/06)
2006 Dec 4, Russia's atomic energy
agency declined to comment on Japanese news reports that North Korea
had offered Russia exclusive rights to its natural uranium deposits in
exchange for support at six-way talks on Pyongyang's nuclear weapons.
(AP, 12/4/06)
2006 Dec 4, Russia gave a frosty
welcome to a team of British counter-terror officers probing the
poisoning of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko, and laid down
some strict ground rules for their work in Moscow.
(AFP, 12/5/06)
2006 Dec 4, In Sudan militias
entered El Fasher, the main town in the Darfur region and started
looting the market. Militias there fought members of a former rebel
group in clashes which the rebels said left up to seven people dead.
(AP, 12/4/06)(Reuters, 12/4/06)
2006 Dec 4, Turkish security
forces clashed with an angry crowd trying to lynch a man accused of
raping several girls and killing two of them in southeastern Turkey.
One person was killed in the violence, and at least 22 were injured.
(AP, 12/4/06)
2006 Dec 5, Robert Gates won
speedy and unanimous approval from the Senate Armed Services Committee
to be secretary of defense.
(AP, 12/5/07)
2006 Dec 5, New York became the
first city in the nation to ban artery-clogging trans fats at
restaurants. The ban became effective July 1,2007.
(AP, 12/6/06)(SFC, 7/2/07, p.A4)
2006 Dec 5, An annual US report
put Minnesota at the top of its health rankings for the fourth straight
year, while concluding that the nation's health improved slightly.
(AP, 12/5/06)
2006 Dec 5, In Alabama Geontae
Glass, a 5-year-old boy who was asleep in the back of a car when it was
stolen from a parking lot a day earlier, was found dead in a
neighboring county.
(AP, 12/5/06)
2006 Dec 5, A suicide bomber
plowed his car into a convoy of NATO troops in Afghanistan's southern
city of Kandahar, wounding nine civilians and two soldiers.
(AP, 12/5/06)
2006 Dec 5, In Brazil a court said
it had released the passports of two US pilots of a private jet
involved in a collision with a Boeing 737 over the Amazon that killed
154 people.
(AP, 12/6/06)
2006 Dec 5, British PM Tony Blair
and Rwandan President Paul Kagame discussed economic reform and how to
reconcile the people of the landlocked African state still scarred by
the 1994 genocide. They also talked about the conflict in the western
Darfur region of Sudan, where Rwanda has troops on the ground as part
of the African Union force.
(AFP, 12/5/06)
2006 Dec 5, The EU presidency
backed a proposal to partially suspend EU membership talks with Turkey
because of Ankara's refusal to open up to trade with Cyprus.
(AP, 12/5/06)
2006 Dec 5, The military seized
control of Fiji after weeks of threats, locking down the capital with
armed troops and isolating at home the elected leader whose last-minute
pleas for help from foreign forces were rejected. Commodore Frank
Bainimarama named Dr. Jona Senilagakali, a military medic with no
political experience, as caretaker prime minister and said a full
interim government would be appointed next week to see the country
through to elections that would restore democracy sometime in the
future. PM Laisenia Qarase, who had caved in to all demands, was
deposed anyway. Pres. Ratu Josefa Iloilo, refused to rubber-stamp
Bainimarama’s “doctrine of necessity.”
(AP, 12/5/06)(Econ, 12/9/06, p.49)
2006 Dec 5, Knut became the first
polar bear born to be born in Germany’s Berlin Zoo in 30 years. He was
rejected by his mother and spent his first 44 days in an incubator.
Zookeeper Thomas Doerflein (d.2008 at 44) raised the cub by hand.
(www.spiegel.de/international/0,1518,461624,00.html)(SFC, 9/26/08, p.B9)
2006 Dec 5, In Germany world chess
champion Vladimir Kramnik lost the sixth and decisive game against
computer program Deep Fritz, ceding a hard-fought Man vs. Machine match
4-2.
(AP, 12/5/06)
2006 Dec 5, In Haiti at least 8
people were killed over the last few days in the Martissant slum during
a gang feud set off by the Dec 3 murder of a police officer. The
officer's killing reignited an ongoing battle between the rival Grand
Ravine and Ti Manchet gangs.
(AP, 12/7/06)
2006 Dec 5, An Indian court
sentenced Shibu Soren, former cabinet coal minister, to life behind
bars for conspiracy in the abduction and murder of an aide. The court
had found him guilty of the 1994 murder and abduction of his former
private secretary, Shashi Nath Jha, who was allegedly blackmailing him
over a corruption scandal.
(AFP, 12/5/06)
2006 Dec 5, Iranian President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad vowed to stick by the nuclear program and issued a
new threat to downgrade relations with the EU if European negotiators
opted for tough sanctions. A media rights group warned that Internet
censorship in Iran is on the rise after Iran blocked access to the
popular video-sharing Web site YouTube.com.
(AP, 12/6/06)
2006 Dec 5, Iraq’s PM Nouri
al-Maliki said his government will send envoys to neighboring countries
to pave the way for a regional conference on ending the rampant
violence. Maj. Gen. William Caldwell, the top American military
spokesman in Iraq, said the US military expects all of Iraq to be under
the control of Iraqi forces by mid-2007. Suspected insurgents set off a
car bomb to stop a minibus carrying Shiite government employees in
Baghdad, then shot and killed 15 of them. In another attack in the
capital, two car bombs exploded in a commercial district, killing 15
other Iraqis.
(AP, 12/5/06)
2006 Dec 5, An Italian prosecutor
asked for the indictment of 26 Americans and Italian secret service
officials on a charge of kidnapping an Egyptian cleric in Milan in 2003.
(AP, 12/5/06)
2006 Dec 5, Ivory Coast police
fired into a crowd protesting President Laurent Gbagbo's regime and
killed one person, as political opponents mounted rallies in several
towns in the southern part of the divided West African country.
(AP, 12/5/06)
2006 Dec 5, Jamaica reported 15
cases of malaria in the Kingston area, the first in 15 years.
(WSJ, 12/6/06, p.A1)
2006 Dec 5, Kuwait's highest court
overturned the conviction of Nasser Najr al-Mutairi, a former
Guantanamo Bay prisoner who was returned to the emirate in 2005.
(AFP, 12/5/06)
2006 Dec 5, Mexico’s Pres.
Calderon, under pressure to promote the social programs his leftist
rival championed, presented an austere budget that increases spending
for social programs to help the country's poorest. Mexican police
arrested Flavio Sosa, the symbolic leader of a six-month-long protest
movement that took over southern Oaxaca city, hours after he gave a
news conference saying he had come to the capital to start talks with
the government.
(AP, 12/5/06)
2006 Dec 5, Pakistan President
Gen. Pervez Musharraf said he is willing to give up its claim to all of
Kashmir if India agrees that the disputed Himalayan region should
become self-governing and largely autonomous. Troops shot dead three
Islamic militants in Indian Kashmir, while 19 civilians were injured
and a guerrilla was killed in a grenade blast.
(AP, 12/5/06)(AFP, 12/5/06)
2006 Dec 5, The first foreign aid
flights of food and medicines arrived in the eastern Philippines.
Officials said devastating mudslides had left at least 1,266 people
dead or missing.
(AFP, 12/5/06)
2006 Dec 5, A Russian court
sentenced Ruslan Melnik (22), a leader of an extremist group known as
the Mad Crowd, to 3 1/2 years in prison for hate crime attacks on
foreigners.
(AP, 12/5/06)
2006 Dec 5, Somalia's government
ruled out peace talks with the country's Islamic movement, citing truce
violations, heightening fears of an all-out war.
(AFP, 12/5/06)
2006 Dec 5, In South Africa the
findings of a new report said nearly 300 million dollars worth of gold
is stolen every year by underground pirates from mines. The report
found that 41% of gold thieves were mine employees and 56% were
unemployed.
(AFP, 12/5/06)
2006 Dec 5, A shell apparently
fired by Congolese troops fighting forces loyal to a dissident general
near the Ugandan border landed among a group of some 12,000 refugees in
Uganda, killing at least seven.
(AFP, 12/6/06)
2006 Dec 5, Pro-Moroccan leaders
in the Western Sahara presented a self-rule plan for a government,
parliament and legal system in the territory, while acknowledging
Rabat's sovereignty.
(AFP, 12/6/06)
2006 Dec 5, Typhoon Durian slammed
into Vietnam's southern coast as a tropical storm. A Dec 7 government
report said nearly 100 people were killed or are missing after the
typhoon hit the southern coast.
(AP, 12/6/06)(Reuters, 12/7/06)
2006 Dec 5, In Yemen a gunman
opened fire outside the US Embassy, but Yemeni guards quickly shot and
arrested him.
(AP, 12/5/06)
2006 Dec 5, Zimbabwe's top union
body vowed to stage new protests against the government, saying it had
failed to address the plight of workers reeling under four-digit
inflation, high taxes and a shrinking labor market.
(AFP, 12/5/06)
2006 Dec 6, The US Senate
confirmed Robert Gates as the new secretary of defense.
(WSJ, 12/7/06, p.A1)
2006 Dec 6, The top-level
bipartisan Baker-Hamilton panel, the Iraq Study Group (ISG), called for
a complete overhaul of US policy in Iraq. This included talks with Iran
and Syria, a withdrawal of most combat troops by 2008, and threats to
press Iraqi leaders to quell violence.
(AFP, 12/6/06)(WSJ, 12/7/06, p.A1)(Econ, 12/9/06,
p.31)
2006 Dec 6, The US indicted
Charles McArthur Emmanuel (29), son of former Liberian President
Charles Taylor, with committing torture in Liberia. This was the
Justice Department's first case under a 12-year-old anti-torture law.
The indictment came the day before Emmanuel, He currently in federal
custody was scheduled to be sentenced on the passport fraud charges in
Miami.
(Reuters, 12/6/06)
2006 Dec 6, Cisco CEO John
Chambers Network said equipment maker Cisco Systems Inc. will set up a
center in India to support all aspects of its worldwide operations.
(AP, 12/6/06)
2006 Dec 6, NASA scientists
reported evidence of water at 2 Martian craters.
(SFC, 12/7/06, p.A1)
2006 Dec 6, James Kim, a San
Francisco man who struck out alone to find help for his family after
their car got stuck on a snowy, remote road in Oregon was found dead,
bringing an end to what authorities called an extraordinary effort to
stay alive.
(AP, 12/7/06)
2006 Dec 6, In California the
inaugural class to the state Hall of Fame included: Ronald Reagan,
Cesar Chavez, Walt Disney, Amelia Earhart, Clint Eastwood, Frank Gehry,
David D. Ho, M.D., Billie Jean King, John Muir, Sally K. Ride, Ph.D.,
Alice Walker and the Hearst and Packard Families.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Hall_of_Fame)
2006 Dec 6, In Wisconsin a propane
gas leak led to a huge explosion in a west side Milwaukee industrial
area, killing three people at the Falk Corp. transmission parts plant.
46 others were injured.
(SFC, 12/7/06, p.A3)
2006 Dec 6, A suicide bomber
killed two Americans and five Afghans outside a security contractor's
southern Afghan compound.
(AP, 12/6/06)
2006 Dec 6, Australia's Parliament
lifted a four-year ban on cloning human embryos for stem cell research
despite opposition from the prime minister and other party leaders.
(AP, 12/6/06)
2006 Dec 6, Britain’s PM Tony
Blair has conceded that US-led forces are not winning the war in Iraq,
as he headed for Washington to discuss strategic options in the
war-scarred country.
(AP, 12/6/06)
2006 Dec 6, Scotland Yard
announced it was treating the death of former spy Alexander Litvinenko
as a homicide. British investigators spoke with Dmitry Kovtun, one of
at least two Russians who met Litvinenko in a London hotel on November
1. Litvinenko died on November 23 from radiation poisoning caused by
polonium 210. Andrei Lugovoi, hospitalized in Moscow and being tested
for possible polonium contamination, was scheduled to be interviewed by
British investigators, but the interview was postponed. British
officials said traces of the radioactive isotope polonium-210 have been
detected at a London stadium that hosted a soccer game attended by
Lugovoi.
(AP, 12/6/06)(Reuters, 12/6/06)(AP, 12/7/06)
2006 Dec 6, Lawmakers in Bulgaria
adopted a much-delayed law to open the archives of its former communist
secret service, but also voted to keep a small portion of the files
secret for "national security reasons."
(AP, 12/6/06)
2006 Dec 6, In Chad an association
of radio broadcasters said private radio stations began a three-day
protest of government censorship of their reporting on Chad's volatile
east.
(AP, 12/6/06)
2006 Dec 6, Far-right paramilitary
groups pulled out of a peace process with the Colombian government
following a decision by President Alvaro Uribe's administration to
transfer jailed militia leaders to a maximum security prison.
(AP, 12/7/06)
2006 Dec 6, Congo inaugurated
Joseph Kabila as its first freely elected president in more than four
decades.
(AP, 12/6/06)
2006 Dec 6, Hector Palacios, a
well-known dissident jailed in a Cuban government crackdown on the
opposition three years ago, was unexpectedly released from prison.
(AP, 12/6/06)
2006 Dec 6, Egypt’s Pres. Hosni
Mubarak arrived in Dublin at the start of a five-day European tour that
will also include France and Germany. He said renewing the Middle East
peace process is top of his agenda.
(AFP, 12/7/06)
2006 Dec 6, Commodore Frank
Bainimarama, the military ruler who led a coup against Fiji's elected
government, forcibly dissolved the South Pacific island's parliament,
installed a new prime minister and warned that he could use force
against dissenters.
(AP, 12/6/06)
2006 Dec 6, France went
head-to-head with CNN and the BBC with the launch of its state-funded
24/7 news channel, part of President Jacques Chirac's efforts to make
his country's voice heard. The France 24 news channel was a joint
venture between TF1, a private firm, and the state-owned France
Televisions.
(AP, 12/6/06)(Econ, 12/2/06, p.63)
2006 Dec 6, In Iraq a mortar
attack killed at least eight people and wounded dozens in a secondhand
goods market in a shelling in the Sadr City Shiite district of Baghdad.
Soon after a suicide bomber on a bus in Sadr City detonated explosives
hidden in his clothing, killing two people and wounding 15. A bomb also
exploded near a shop in Iskandariyah, 30 miles south of Baghdad,
killing four people and wounding 12. Drive-by shootings and mortar
attacks north and south of the capital killed four Iraqis and wounded
five. US ground and air forces conducted a raid targeting foreign
insurgents near the Iranian border, killing a militant who opened fire
on an aircraft. At least 75 people were killed or found dead across
Iraq, including 48 whose bullet-riddled bodies were found in different
parts of Baghdad. 11 US troops were killed in 5 separate incidents in
Iraq. An Iraqi court sentenced a Libyan member of al-Qaida in Iraq to
death after he admitted taking part in eight attacks on US-led
coalition forces and Iraqi targets.
(AP, 12/6/06)(AP, 12/7/06)(AP, 12/16/06)
2006 Dec 6, Philippe Douste-Blazy,
the French foreign minister, said that Iran will face UN sanctions for
refusing to halt its nuclear program but that major world powers remain
divided over their extent.
(AP, 12/6/06)
2006 Dec 6, A US serviceman
fatally shot a civilian at the US air base in Kyrgyzstan "in response
to a threat."
(AP, 12/6/06)
2006 Dec 6, A conference on bird
flu opened in Mali. Experts were increasingly concerned for Africa as
an international conference heard that Egypt, Nigeria, and Sudan
continued to record outbreaks of the deadly disease.
(AFP, 12/6/06)
2006 Dec 6, Mexico’s President
Felipe Calderon announced a program to help Mexico's 100 poorest
communities, responding to leftist critics who accuse the conservative
leader of wanting to help only the rich.
(AP, 12/7/06)
2006 Dec 6, Cardinal Jozef Glemp
(76) stepped down after more than 25 years as archbishop of Warsaw. He
headed Poland's powerful Roman Catholic Church through the dark days of
martial law and the country's later jump to free-market democracy.
(AP, 12/6/06)
2006 Dec 6, In Doha, Qatar, Midway
through day five of the Asian Games, China had 67 gold medals to
Japan's 18 and South Korea's 14. Kazakhstan, thanks to its shooters and
weightlifters, had 10.
(AFP, 12/6/06)
2006 Dec 6, Russian President
Vladimir Putin signed into law a bill dropping a minimal turnout
threshold in polls, which critics say will make them less fair, despite
a plea by his human rights adviser not to do so.
(Reuters, 12/7/06)
2006 Dec 6, Saudi Arabia said it
had fired a security adviser who wrote in The Washington Post that the
world's top oil exporter would intervene in Iraq once the United States
withdraws troops. Saudi Arabia beheaded a Pakistani citizen and his
daughter for smuggling heroin into the kingdom. The kingdom beheaded 83
people in 2005 and 35 people in 2004.
(AP, 12/6/06)(Reuters, 12/7/06)
2006 Dec 6, In Somalia Sheik
Hussein Barre Rage, an Islamic courts official in Bulo Burto, said
residents who do not pray five times a day will be beheaded, adding the
edict will be implemented in three days. Hoping to head off a regional
proxy war, the UN Security Council came to the aid of Somalia's
virtually powerless government, authorizing hundreds of East African
troops to train and protect the interim administration in its conflict
with an Islamic militia.
(AP, 12/6/06)(AP, 12/7/06)
2006 Dec 6, South Korea mobilized
45,000 riot police to thwart banned protests as crucial talks on
forging a free trade agreement with the United States faltered. The US
and South Korea reached agreement on sharing costs for the deployment
of US troops on the Korean peninsula.
(AP, 12/6/06)
2006 Dec 6, Sudanese newspapers
reported that Salva Kiir, Sudan's first vice president, demanded the
arrest of two pro-Khartoum generals involved in deadly clashes in the
southern town of Malakal last month. Pro-government janjaweed
militiamen in the Darfur region killed 2 students in El Fasher, a day
after another student was killed. Rebel groups massed nearby in
preparation for a possible attack against the forces.
(AP, 12/6/06)(AP, 12/7/06)
2006 Dec 6, A Ugandan army
spokesman said at least 12,000 refugees fleeing fighting in eastern
Congo DRC have crossed over the border into southwest Uganda.
(AP, 12/6/06)
2006 Dec 7, Pres. Bush and
Britain’s PM Tony Blair vowed to fight to victory in Iraq and both were
skeptical that talks with Iran and Syria would be useful. President
Bush gave a chilly response to the Iraq Study Group's proposals for
reshaping his policy, objecting to talks with Iran and Syria, refusing
to endorse a major troop withdrawal and vowing no retreat from
embattled US goals in the Mideast.
(WSJ, 12/8/06, p.A1)(AP, 12/7/07)
2006 Dec 7, The US military
transferred the first group of Guantanamo Bay detainees to a new
maximum-security prison on the naval base.
(AP, 12/7/07)
2006 Dec 7, The 3,300-member
Seminole Tribe of Florida said it was buying the Hard Rock business in
a $965 million deal with Rank Group PLC, a British casino and hotel
company.
(SFC, 12/8/06, p.D2)
2006 Dec 7, The Norma CDO 1 Ltd.
was established as a company in the Cayman Islands with N.I.R. Group
LLC of NYC as its manager. The company packaged derivatives linked to
triple-B rated mortgage securities In March 2007 Moody’s, Standard
& Poor’s and Fitch Ratings gave Norma their seal of approval and
Merrill Lynch sold Norma to investors. By October much of Norma dropped
to junk status as the US mortgage market declined.
(WSJ, 12/27/07, p.A1)
2006 Dec 7, Scientists at MIT
reported the development of a strain of baker’s yeast that can speed
ethanol production by about 50%.
(WSJ, 12/8/06, p.A1)
2006 Dec 7, Zillow.com, led by
Richard Barton, began offering US for-sale real estate listings in
competition with such firms as Trulia.com and Reply Inc.
(SFC, 12/9/06, p.C1)
2006 Dec 7, Researchers said the
Ebola virus may have killed more than 5,000 gorillas in West Africa
(Congo-Gabon), enough to send them into extinction if people continue
to hunt them.
(Reuters, 12/7/06)
2006 Dec 7, Johnnie Bryan Hunt
(79), founder of Arkansas-based J.B. Hunt Transport Services (1969),
died.
(WSJ, 12/9/06, p.A5)
2006 Dec 7, Jeane J. Kirkpatrick
(80), an unabashed apostle of Reagan era conservatism and the first
woman U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, died.
(AP, 12/8/06)(Econ, 12/23/06, p.1