Timeline 2007 April-June
Return to home
2007 Apr 1, Tommy
Thompson, former Wisconsin governor (GOP), announced that he is running
for president.
(SFC, 4/2/07, p.A4)
2007 Apr 1, Brooklyn's borough
president launched the Coney Island amusement park's last season ahead
of a major redevelopment that will raze much of the lovably seedy
boardwalk area.
(Reuters, 4/1/07)
2007 Apr 1, Morgan Pressel became
the youngest major champion in LPGA Tour history with a game well
beyond her 18 years, closing with a 3-under-par 69 at the Kraft Nabisco
Championship.
(AP, 4/1/08)
2007 Apr 1, In Charlotte, North
Carolina, 2 police officers shot during a struggle with a suspect
outside an apartment complex died, and a suspect was charged with
murder.
(AP, 4/2/07)
2007 Apr 1, In southern
Afghanistan the Taliban executed three men accused of spying for NATO
and government forces. A NATO airstrike targeted a compound housing
Taliban militants in Shahjoy district of Zabul province, killing seven
suspected militants inside. NATO-led troops and police clashed with
suspected Taliban militants in Kandahar's Zhari district, leaving six
militants dead. In eastern Afghanistan flash floods caused by
torrential rains killed at least 16 people and destroyed dozens of
houses near the Hindu Kush mountain range.
(AP, 4/1/07)(AFP, 4/1/07)(AP, 4/2/07)
2007 Apr 1, Cambodia held local
commune elections. The Cambodian People’s Party won control in 1,592 of
1,621 communes amid opposition claims of fraud.
(Econ, 4/7/07, p.38)
2007 Apr 1, In Canada Nelly
Furtado stole the show at the Junos, playing the roles of both host and
big winner at the 2007 edition of the nation's top music awards.
(Reuters, 4/1/07)
2007 Apr 1, A knife-wielding
Chinese tour guide injured 20 people in a stabbing-and-slashing spree
at a southwestern resort following an argument over kickbacks on
souvenir sales. Xu Mingchao (25) from the province of Heilongjiang, was
arrested following the incident.
(AP, 4/3/07)
2007 Apr 1, Danish researchers
reported that they have isolated bacterial enzymes that effectively
remove sugar molecules from red blood cells that provoke an immune
reactions. This would allow conversion of the A, B, and AB blood types
into Type O, the universal donor type that can be given to anyone.
(SFC, 4/2/07, p.A2)
2007 Apr 1, Hans Filbinger (93), a
former governor of Germany's Baden-Wuerttemberg state (1966-1978),
died. He had resigned amid revelations about his past as a Nazi-era
naval judge.
(AP, 4/2/07)
2007 Apr 1, Laurie Baker (90), a
British-born architect, died in India. He spent more than 60 years in
India building homes that were ecologically sound and affordable for
the poor.
(AP, 4/8/07)
2007 Apr 1, In Iran about 200
students threw rocks and firecrackers at the British Embassy, calling
for the expulsion of the country's ambassador because of the standoff
over Iran's capture of 15 British sailors and marines. Britain examined
options for new dialogue with Tehran over the seized crew of 15 sailors
and marines, as a poll suggested most Britons back the government's
goal of resolving the standoff through diplomacy. Iran's state
television aired new video showing two of the 15 captured British
sailors pointing to a spot on a map of the Persian Gulf where they were
seized and saying it was in Iranian territorial waters; Britain's
Foreign Office immediately denounced the video.
(AP, 4/1/07)(AP, 4/1/08)
2007 Apr 1, An Iraqi military
spokesman said that militants fleeing a security crackdown in Baghdad
have made areas outside the capital "breeding grounds for violence,"
spreading deadly bombings and sectarian attacks to areas once
relatively untouched. A bomb struck a popular market in Tuz Khormato,
130 miles north of Baghdad, killing three people and wounding four.
More than 600 Iraqis were killed in sectarian violence last week alone.
6 US soldiers were killed in roadside bombings over the weekend
southwest of Baghdad.
(AP, 4/1/07)(AP, 4/2/07)
2007 Apr 1, Israeli PM Ehud Olmert
invited Arab leaders to attend a peace conference to discuss their
ideas for reaching Mideast peace. The Israeli army sealed off the West
Bank ahead of the weeklong Passover holiday, restricting the movement
of Palestinians into Israel. In her first Mideast trip as EU president,
German Chancellor Angela Merkel offered Europe's help in bringing
Israel and the Palestinians back to the negotiating table, trying to
build on a new burst of international efforts to restart peace talks.
(AP, 4/1/07)(AP, 4/2/07)
2007 Apr 1, In Monterrey, Mexico,
a tractor-trailer lost its brakes and killed nine people as it plowed
through a residential area. The driver of a tractor-trailer was charged
with homicide after testing positive for drugs.
(AP, 4/2/07)(AP, 4/4/07)
2007 Apr 1, Nepal's communist
rebels joined an interim government as part of a landmark peace deal
that ended their decade-long insurgency, pledging to ensure development
in the Himalayan nation and hold credible elections.
(AP, 4/1/07)
2007 Apr 1, Palestinian
journalists announced a three-day strike in protest at what they called
their government's inadequate response to the suspected kidnap of a
British journalist.
(AP, 4/1/07)
2007 Apr 1, Mogadishu's dominant
clan said it has brokered a truce with Ethiopian military officials who
are supporting Somalia's government, even as mortar shells continued
slamming into the capital for a fourth day.
(AP, 4/1/07)
2007 Apr 1, In South Korea taxi
driver Huh Se-uk (53) drove through heavy security into the driveway of
a Seoul hotel where trade talks with the US were taking place. He
sprayed himself with flammable fluid and lit a fire, suffering
third-degree burns. Se-uk died from his wounds on April 15.
(Reuters, 4/15/07)
2007 Apr 1, In Sri Lanka 12 Tamil
Tigers were killed in clashes in the northwestern district of Mannar.
(AFP, 4/3/07)
2007 Apr 1, Unidentified gunmen
killed five African Union soldiers guarding a "water point" near the
Sudan’s border with Chad in the deadliest attack on the peacekeepers
since their deployment in 2004. The attackers fled the scene after AU
troops killed three of them in an exchange of fire.
(AP, 4/2/07)
2007 Apr 1, In Syria US House
members meeting with President Bashar Assad said they believed there
was an opportunity for dialogue.
(AP, 4/1/07)
2007 Apr 2, The US asked Tehran
for information on the disappearance of a former FBI agent who went
missing on a private business trip to Iran.
(WSJ, 4/3/07, p.A1)
2007 Apr 2, The US Supreme Court
ruled that a US government agency has the power under the clean air law
to regulate greenhouse gas emissions that spur global warming. In its
first case on climate change, the Supreme Court declared in a 5-4
ruling that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases were air
pollutants under the Clean Air Act.
(Reuters, 4/2/07)(AP, 4/2/08)
2007 Apr 2, Florida won its second
consecutive college basketball championship, beating Ohio State 84-75;
the Gators became the first team to repeat since Duke in 1991-92.
(AP, 4/2/08)
2007 Apr 2, Chicago’s police
superintendent, Philip Cline, announced his retirement after 2 videos
emerged of off-duty police officers beating civilians.
(Econ, 10/20/07, p.42)(http://tinyurl.com/2tt8en)
2007 Apr 2, Sam Zell, billionaire
real estate investor, reached an agreement to buy the Chicago-based
Tribune Co. in a 2-stage deal valued at $8.2 billion.
(SFC, 4/3/07, p.C1)
2007 Apr 2, First Data Corp. said
it is being acquired by an affiliate of private equity firm Kohlberg
Kravis Roberts & Co. for about $27 billion.
(SFC, 4/3/07, p.C3)
2007 Apr 2, In Afghanistan 3
police died when militants attacked a checkpoint on the road linking
the southern town of Kandahar with Spin Boldak on the
Pakistan-Afghanistan border.
(AP, 4/2/07)
2007 Apr 2, A UN conference on
climate change opened in Belgium with the EU's top environment official
calling on the US to join efforts to curb global warming.
(AP, 4/2/07)
2007 Apr 2, Canada's controversial
annual seal hunt opened in the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence, where the
worst ice conditions in more than two decades have nearly wiped out the
herd there.
(AP, 4/2/07)
2007 Apr 2, China’s first deadline
for income taxes was extended a few days because of low compliance.
Anyone earning over 120,000 yuan ($15,500) annually was supposed to
file a return. In southwestern China developers tore down a stubborn
couple's house after a three-year standoff that hindered a construction
project and captivated the nation. The couple reportedly negotiated a
deal with the real estate developer that gives them a new apartment and
a sizable compensation package.
(Econ, 4/14/07, p.49)(AP, 4/3/07)(Econ, 4/7/07, p.39)
2007 Apr 2, In Iraq a suicide
truck bomber targeted a police station in the oil-rich northern city of
Kirkuk, killing at least 13 people and wounding dozens, including many
children from a nearby school. A parked car exploded in a garage near a
governmental property registration agency in western Baghdad, killing
three people and wounding 10. A suicide bomber drove his car into a
police checkpoint in the southern insurgent stronghold of Dora, killing
four people, including two policemen. A roadside bomb killed four
civilians and wounded 20 in the Shiite town of Khalis. A roadside bomb
struck an Iraqi military convoy, killing one soldier and wounding 7 in
the Qazaniyah area northeast of Baghdad. 4 US soldiers were killed in
combat.
(AP, 4/2/07)(Reuters, 4/3/07)
2007 Apr 2, Jordan's military
court convicted six alleged militants of planning suicide attacks
against Jordan's main international airport and against hotels hosting
Israeli and American tourists.
(AP, 4/2/07)
2007 Apr 2, Gunmen in Nigeria's
southern Bayelsa State kidnapped two Lebanese nationals.
(AP, 4/2/07)
2007 Apr 2, Around 5,000 tribesmen
gathered in a Pakistani border area to enlist for ongoing battles
against foreign Al-Qaeda militants.
(AP, 4/2/07)
2007 Apr 2, Palestinian
journalists began a three-day strike to protest the kidnapping of
British Broadcasting Corp. correspondent Alan Johnston, the
longest-held reporter ever abducted in the Gaza Strip.
(AP, 4/2/07)
2007 Apr 2, Russia's foreign spy
service released previously classified files on a double agent who,
under the codename "Britt", passed secrets to Moscow from inside
British intelligence in the 1940s.
(AP, 4/2/07)
2007 Apr 2, Saudi Arabia signaled
it is unlikely to accept an Israeli invitation to a regional peace
conference, saying that Israel must first stop mistreating Palestinians
and move to withdraw from Arab lands.
(AP, 4/2/07)
2007 Apr 2, Tsunami waves churned
by an undersea earthquake crashed ashore in the Solomon Islands, wiping
away entire villages and triggering alerts from Australia to Hawaii. At
least 50 people were killed.
(AP, 4/3/07)(AP, 4/2/08)
2007 Apr 2, In Somalia a human
rights organization said fierce fighting between Ethiopian-backed
government forces and Islamic insurgents has killed 381 people over
four days.
(AP, 4/2/07)
2007 Apr 2, South Korea and the US
agreed to a trade pact with only minutes to go before a deadline.
Last-minute haggling meant missing two self-imposed deadlines over the
weekend. Some estimates say the agreement could add $20 billion to the
already more than $70 billion of two-way trade each year.
(Reuters, 4/2/07)
2007 Apr 2, In eastern Sri Lanka
at least 16 people, including three children, were killed and 25
wounded when a bomb ripped through a crowded bus. Sri Lankan security
forces killed at least 23 Tamil Tiger rebels in fresh fighting in the
island's east.
(AP, 4/2/07)(AFP, 4/3/07)
2007 Apr 2, In Sudan 53 people
were killed in a gruesome pair of minibus accidents north of Khartoum.
(AP, 4/2/07)
2007 Apr 2, Thailand's premier
hailed ties with Japan as he prepared to sign a free-trade agreement
with his country's top investor, easing international isolation of the
kingdom since last year's coup. Army-installed PM Surayud Chulanont
will sign the deal April 3, which Thailand hopes will boost investment
from Japan.
(AFP, 4/2/07)
2007 Apr 2, Ukraine’s president
called early elections for May 27 amid a standoff with the pro-Russian
premier, who vowed to fight what he called a coup.
(WSJ, 4/3/07, p.A1)
2007 Apr 3, President Bush
denounced Democrats for going on spring break without approving money
for the Iraq war; he also criticized House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's trip
to Syria.
(AP, 4/3/08)
2007 Apr 3, An AP investigation
said CIA and FBI agents hunting for al-Qaida militants in the Horn of
Africa have been interrogating terrorism suspects from 19 countries
held at secret prisons in Ethiopia, which is notorious for torture and
abuse.
(AP, 4/3/07)
2007 Apr 3, An ex-con shot and
killed his ex-girlfriend at the CNN headquarters complex in Atlanta
before being wounded by a security guard. Arthur Mann was later
convicted of murdering Clara Riddles and sentenced to life without
parole.
(AP, 4/3/08)
2007 Apr 3, After a nine-year
title drought, Tennessee's Lady Vols basketball team captured a seventh
national title, beating Rutgers 59-46.
(AP, 4/3/08)
2007 Apr 3, Eddie Robinson
(b.1919), 56-year head football coach at Grambling College, died in
Ruston, La.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddie_Robinson_(football_coach))
2007 Apr 3, UN officials in
Afghanistan said avalanches and floods triggered by heavy rains and
spring snow melt have killed about 150 people in recent days in the
mountains of central Asia. The toll in Afghanistan reached 88 with over
50 killed in Pakistan. In southwest Afghanistan 2 French aid workers
and their three Afghan staff went missing between Nimroz and
neighboring Farah province.
(AP, 4/3/07)(AP, 4/4/07)
2007 Apr 3, A state news agency
said China's government has ordered newspapers to stamp out the common
practice of demanding money from people they cover.
(AP, 4/3/07)
2007 Apr 3, Colombian authorities
captured Ever Veloza, a fugitive right-wing warlord accused in
massacres and of running a murderous criminal band involved in drug
trafficking and extortion. He was arrested in the banana-growing Uraba
region on the Caribbean coast. Veloza already faces charges in the
April 11, 2001, massacre of 26 peasants in the southwestern town of
Naya.
(AP, 4/3/07)
2007 Apr 3, Interpol issued an
international arrest warrant for three Israelis accused of training
private armies of Colombian drug cartels and right-wing death squads.
Yair Klein, Melnik Ferri and Tzedaka Abraham were being sought on
charges of criminal conspiracy and instruction in terrorism.
(AP, 4/3/07)
2007 Apr 3, Official figures said
the number of Egyptians inside and outside the country has risen to
more than 76 million, meaning an Egyptian baby is born every 23 seconds.
(AFP, 4/3/07)
2007 Apr 3, A French train with a
25,000-horsepower engine and special wheels broke the world speed
record for conventional rail trains, reaching 357.2 mph as it zipped
through the countryside to the applause of spectators. It surpassed the
record of 320.2 mph set in 1990 by another French train. It fell short
of beating the ultimate record set by Japan's magnetically levitated
train, which hit 361 mph in 2003.
(AP, 4/3/07)
2007 Apr 3, Nina Wang (69), Asia's
richest woman, died in Hong Kong after reports she had been battling
cancer, leaving unanswered questions over her estimated $4.2 billion
(2.1 billion pound) fortune. Wang successfully battled her
father-in-law for a multi-billion dollar estate left by her late
husband Teddy Wang, a property tycoon who vanished in 1990. Wang left
her $4 billion fortune to Chan Chun-chuen, a master of feng shui in a
will dated Oct. 16, 2006. On Feb 2, 2010, a Hong Kong court deemed the
will a forgery.
(Reuters, 4/4/07)(AP, 4/20/07)(Econ, 4/21/07,
p.78)(AP, 2/2/10)
2007 Apr 3, Activists said
traffickers are selling children in India for amounts that are often
lower than the cost of animals and most of them end up working as
laborers or commercial sex workers.
(Reuters, 4/3/07)
2007 Apr 3, Indonesian President
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono told a meeting of Islamic clerics that Muslim
nations should ultimately replace coalition forces in Iraq after a
period of national reconciliation. Cliff Muntu (21), a student at
Indonesia’s Institute of Public Administration (IPDN), died from wounds
due to hazing by his seniors. This was the 35th death in the school
since 1993.
(AP,
4/3/07)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cliff_Muntu)(Econ, 4/21/07, p.49)
2007 Apr 3, Iran reported that an
Iranian diplomat in Iraq seized two months ago by uniformed gunmen has
been released.
(AP, 4/3/07)
2007 Apr 3, In Baghdad a senior
foreign ministry official said his government was "intensively" seeking
the release of five Iranians detained there by the US. Two US soldiers
were killed by small-arms fire, one in eastern Baghdad and another on
foot patrol in the southern outskirts of the capital. Iraqi and US
troops found a huge stash of weapons in a raid on the home of Sunni
legislator Khalaf al-Ilyan. They detained at least a dozen men for
questioning. Khalaf al-Ilyan, in Jordan for surgery, later denied the
charges and accused the Iraqi government and Iran of trying to
discredit him because of his criticism of state policies.
(AP, 4/3/07)(AP, 4/6/07)(AP, 4/9/07)
2007 Apr 3, Japan and Thailand
signed a free trade agreement that will cut tariffs on a wide range of
traded goods, from seafood to automobiles.
(AP, 4/3/07)
2007 Apr 3, Nigerian Vice
President Atiku Abubakar lost an appeal against a decision by the
electoral commission to bar him from this month's presidential
election. Two courts issued competing rulings on the disqualification,
setting up a legal showdown just weeks before an election meant to
solidify civilian rule in the country.
(AP, 4/3/07)
2007 Apr 3, Thousands of
flag-waving protesters rallied at Pakistan's Supreme Court to urge
President Pervez Musharraf to step down for controversially dismissing
the country's top judge.
(AP, 4/3/07)
2007 Apr 3, In the Philippines
Pete Amurin, a local election board official in the city of Puerto
Rincesa, capital of Palawan island west of Manila, was shot dead at
close range near his office.
(AFP, 4/4/07)
2007 Apr 3, Qatar's PM Sheik
Abdullah bin Khalifa Al Thani resigned and the country's emir appointed
the foreign minister as replacement.
(AP, 4/3/07)
2007 Apr 3, Taiwan Presidential
front-runner Ma Ying-jeou pleaded not guilty at his corruption trial in
Taipei, saying that his use of a special municipal fund was in keeping
with government standards. A helicopter crashed into a radio tower near
Kaohsiung and killed 8 crew members.
(AP, 4/3/07)(AP, 4/4/07)
2007 Apr 3, Thousands of Ukrainian
protesters streamed into the capital in the most serious confrontation
between the prime minister and the president since the two men faced
off during the Orange Revolution.
(AP, 4/3/07)
2007 Apr 3, In Zimbabwe trucks of
riot police drove through Harare and military helicopters flew overhead
on the first day of a national strike to protest deepening economic
hardships blamed on the government of President Robert Mugabe. The
strike received a cool response from workers worried about forfeiting
vital wages. A UN study said Zimbabwe was Africa's worst economic
performer in 2006.
(AP, 4/3/07)(AFP, 4/3/07)
2007 Apr 4, Apple updated its
desktop Mac Pro computers adding two new 3.0GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon
processors, bringing 8-core processing to the Mac. The new machines can
run the 3.0GHz Intel Xeon processors and are available as build to
order options.
(www.macworld.com/news/2007/04/04/eightcore/index.php)
2007 Apr 4, Radio host Don Imus
made offensive on-air remarks about the Rutgers University women's
basketball team. Despite a subsequent apology, Imus was fired by CBS
Radio and cable network MSNBC; he was hired elsewhere by year's end.
(AP, 4/4/08)
2007 Apr 4, Jon and Karen
Huntsman, the billionaire parents of Utah’s Gov. Jon Huntsman,
announced that they would pay $1 million for a public education
campaign in Utah about the risks of cervical cancer and a new vaccine
that can prevent it.
(SFC, 4/5/07, p.A6)
2007 Apr 4, NYSE Euronext shares
slipped in their first day of trading following the completion of the
$14 billion deal that created the first trans-Atlantic stock exchange.
Jan-Michiel Hessels served as chairman of the NYSE following the merger
with Euronext.
(http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070404/ap_on_bi_ge/nyse_euronext)(WSJ,
4/14/07, p.A6)
2007 Apr 4, Film director Robert
Clark (67), best known for the holiday classic "A Christmas Story"
(1983), was killed in southern California with his son in a head-on
crash with a vehicle steered into the wrong lane by a drunken driver.
(AP, 4/5/07)
2007 Apr 4, In Algeria an
international desertification conference closed with a call (dubbed the
Algiers Appeal) to all African countries to ratify the Kyoto Protocol,
to help slow the rapid expansion of deserts on the continent.
(AFP, 4/4/07)
2007 Apr 4, Argentina's main
teachers' union called for a one-day national strike next week after
protesting colleagues seeking higher pay clashed with riot police in
two provinces.
(AP, 4/4/07)
2007 Apr 4, The United Nations
children's agency called for urgent action to tackle a "humanitarian
disaster" in the Central African Republic (CAR), affected by conflict
for the past ten years.
(AP, 4/4/07)
2007 Apr 4, In Chile police used
tear gas and water cannons to disperse hundreds of protesting students
in the capital of Santiago, and detained nearly 100 people.
(AP, 4/4/07)
2007 Apr 4, Ecuador's
constitutional court upheld a decision by the country's electoral
tribunal to fire more than half of the politically unstable nation's
legislature.
(AP, 4/5/07)
2007 Apr 4, In India South Asian
leaders (SAARC) wrapped up a two-day summit predicting a new dawn for
the region but offering little in terms of concrete action.
(AP, 4/4/07)
2007 Apr 4, Iran’s President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad freed the 15 detained British sailors and marines
as an Easter holiday "gift" to the British people. Syria said it played
a key role in resolving the standoff over the 15 British sailors and
marines held by Iran.
(AP, 4/4/07)
2007 Apr 4, Iraq's top corruption
fighter said that $8 billion in government money was wasted or stolen
over the past three years and claimed he was threatened with death
after opening an investigation into scores of Oil Ministry employees.
Gunmen opened fire on a minibus carrying power plant workers in a
predominantly Sunni area west of Kirkuk, killing six men. Gunmen also
attacked a police patrol near Baqouba, killing four officers. 6 of the
gunmen were killed in a subsequent gunbattle. Two mortar rounds also
slammed into a house in the predominantly Shiite town of Khalis, just
after midnight, killing a woman and wounding two other women and a
4-year-old boy. Gunmen wearing police uniforms seized 22 shepherds and
their sheep in southern Iraq in the latest mass abduction of Shiite
workers by presumed Sunni insurgents. A roadside bomb killed two US
soldiers and wounded three others in southern Baghdad. Another blast
north of the capital killed two soldiers and wounded one.
(AP, 4/4/07)(AFP, 4/4/07)(AP, 4/5/07)
2007 Apr 4, New Ivory Coast PM
Guillaume Soro, a rebel leader who has controlled the north for four
years, took office, a key step in an accord aimed at bringing a lasting
peace.
(AP, 4/4/07)
2007 Apr 4, In Kuwait a medical
source said preliminary tests for bird flu were positive on four
Bangladeshi workers who had been culling infected chickens.
(AP, 4/4/07)
2007 Apr 4, Libyan leader Muammar
Gaddafi urged Africa to form a unified continental army to defend its
interests. He said former colonial powers should pay compensation for
the raw materials they had extracted.
(Reuters, 4/4/07)
2007 Apr 4, Hostage takers in
southern Nigeria released four foreign workers held captive in the
oil-rich region. The British High Commission and an industry source
said a Briton and a Dutch national held hostage in volatile oil-rich
southern Nigeria have been released. Gordon Gray was kidnapped March 31
from an offshore rig in the Niger delta. The Dutch man was kidnapped
March 23 from Port Harcourt. 2 Lebanese nationals working for a
construction firm, Setraco, were also released.
(AFP, 4/4/07)
2007 Apr 4, In Northern Ireland
protestant leader Ian Paisley shook hands with Irish PM Bertie Ahern in
public for the first time, marking another small step on the path to
peace.
(AP, 4/4/07)
2007 Apr 4, Heavy fighting between
Pakistani tribesmen and foreign militants allegedly linked to al-Qaida
killed 60 people near the Afghan border. About 50 of those killed in
the past 24 hours in the South Waziristan region were Uzbeks. The main
commander of the tribal militia battling the foreign militants is
Maulvi Nazir, a known Taliban sympathizer who the government says has
come over to its side. Nazir recently established Islamic courts
throughout South Waziristan, a 10,000-square-mile area with some
500,000 inhabitants.
(AP, 4/4/07)(SFC, 6/1/07, p.A9)
2007 Apr 4, A Palestinian gunman
was killed in an exchange of fire with Israeli troops in an area where
militants frequently fire rockets toward Israel.
(AP, 4/4/07)
2007 Apr 4, In the Philippines
police said they found the bodies of two missing members of the
militant Peasant Movement of the Philippines, or KMP, near a river in
the northern town of Lailo in Cagayan province.
(AFP, 4/4/07)
2007 Apr 4, Sri Lanka’s defense
ministry said its warplanes "bombed and completely destroyed" a key
Tamil Tiger naval base.
(AP, 4/4/07)
2007 Apr 4, In Damascus US House
Speaker Nancy Pelosi held talks with Syria's leader despite White House
objections, saying she pressed President Bashar Assad over his
country's support for militant groups and passed him a peace message
from Israel.
(AP, 4/4/07)
2007 Apr 4, Thousands of
supporters of Ukraine's Russian-leaning prime minister marched to the
office of the pro-Western president, protesting a presidential order to
hold early elections.
(AP, 4/4/07)
2007 Apr 4, Offices and factories
in Zimbabwe's two main cities were operating as normal on the second
day of a 48-hour strike called by the main labor organization over the
deepening economic crisis. Many workers appeared to have shunned the
call on the second day of the stoppage organized by the Zimbabwe
Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU).
(AFP, 4/4/07)
2007 Apr 5, The US pressed
Ethiopia for details on detainees from 19 nations taken to secret
prisons there and interrogated by CIA and FBI agents.
(WSJ, 4/6/07, p.A1)
2007 Apr 5, The US Transportation
Dept. said it will require all passenger vehicles to have electronic
gear to prevent deadly rollovers by 2012.
(WSJ, 4/6/07, p.A1)
2007 Apr 5, Florida’s Gov. Charlie
Crist persuaded 2 of 3 members of the state board of executive clemency
that most felons had served their time and should automatically recover
the right to vote.
(Econ, 4/14/07, p.35)
2007 Apr 5, FBI Special Agent
Barry Lee Bush was accidentally shot and killed by a fellow agent as a
stakeout team closed in on three suspected bank robbers in Readington,
N.J.
(AP, 4/5/08)
2007 Apr 5, In San Mateo, Ca., Dr.
William Ayres (75), a published child psychologist, was arrested on 14
counts of child molestation, which dated back as far as 1969. 4 new
charges were added on April 12.
(SFC, 4/7/07, p.A1)(SFC, 4/13/07, p.B1)
2007 Apr 5, Darryl Stingley (55),
a former New England Patriots player paralyzed during an on-field
collision in 1978, died in Chicago.
(AP, 4/5/08)
2007 Apr 5, Australian police
charged two men, including an army captain, with stealing military
rocket launchers, some of which ended up in the hands of a suspected
terrorist.
(AFP, 4/5/07)
2007 Apr 5, Fifteen British
sailors and marines held captive by Iran returned home to a nation
relieved at their freedom but also outraged that they were used by
Tehran's propaganda machine.
(AP, 4/5/07)
2007 Apr 5, Ramzan Kadyrov was
inaugurated as the new president of Chechnya on a blessing from the
Kremlin, which has relied on him to stabilize the region after more
than a decade of separatist fighting.
(AP, 4/5/07)
2007 Apr 5, China told banks to
increase their reserves for the third time this year, cutting the
amount of money available for lending in a new effort to cool an
investment boom that Beijing worries could lead to a financial crisis.
Chinese celebrated the annual tomb-sweeping festival, but state media
said soaring funeral costs were leading to people complaining they can
no longer afford to die.
(AP, 4/5/07)
2007 Apr 5, A bus carrying
passengers on the start of the Easter holiday crashed in northern
Colombia, igniting a blaze that killed 27 people, including six
children.
(AP, 4/5/07)
2007 Apr 5, A Greek cruise ship,
the Sea Diamond, sank off the Aegean Sea island of Santorini, forcing
the evacuation of nearly 1,600 people.
(AP, 4/5/08)(SSFC, 12/14/08, p.E3)
2007 Apr 5, The editor-in-chief of
Playboy Indonesia was acquitted of charges that he violated the Muslim
nation's indecency laws by publishing pictures of scantily clothed
women.
(AP, 4/5/07)
2007 Apr 5, A bomb struck an oil
pipeline, cutting off supplies and causing a huge fire in southern Iraq
near the border with Kuwait. A US Army helicopter went down south of
Baghdad, injuring 4 of the 9 soldiers aboard. A US soldier was killed
by small-arms fire while on patrol in eastern Baghdad. 4 British
soldiers and a Kuwaiti interpreter were killed in an ambush in southern
Iraq. Thaer Ahmed, assistant director of Baghdad TV, was killed when a
car bomb struck the television offices in Jami'a, in west Baghdad. 12
people were wounded. Police in west Baghdad found the bullet-riddled
body of Khamael Muhsin, a famous television presenter during Saddam
Hussein's rule. She was kidnapped two days ago. Gunmen killed 18 Iraqi,
British and American soldiers in the past 24 hours in attacks in
Baghdad, the southern oil hub of Basra and near the northern city of
Mosul.
(AP, 4/5/07)(Reuters, 4/5/07)(AP, 4/6/07)
2007 Apr 5, Kosovo's parliament
overwhelmingly endorsed a UN plan that proposes internationally
supervised independence for the disputed province.
(AP, 4/5/07)
2007 Apr 5, In eastern Pakistan a
speeding tractor plowed into a roadside school, killing nine children
and injuring 18 others.
(AP, 4/5/07)
2007 Apr 5, A British diplomat met
with Palestinian PM Ismail Haniyeh to push for the release of a
kidnapped BBC journalist, the first direct meeting between a European
Union diplomat and a Hamas official of the Palestinians' new coalition
government.
(AP, 4/5/07)
2007 Apr 5, US House Speaker Nancy
Pelosi said that she raised the issue of Saudi Arabia's lack of female
politicians with Saudi government officials on the last stop of her
Mideast tour.
(AP, 4/5/07)
2007 Apr 5, Attackers fired a
grenade into a mosque in Thailand's restive south, wounding 16 Muslim
worshippers in an act of defiance after authorities imposed a strict
curfew to contain escalating violence.
(AP, 4/5/07)
2007 Apr 5, A Ugandan court
scrapped the nation's adultery law, saying it was unconstitutional and
favored men.
(AP, 4/6/07)
2007 Apr 6, The US Department of
Education said an official in its student financial aid office has been
placed on paid leave while his stock ownership in a student loan
company is being reviewed.
(Reuters, 4/6/07)
2007 Apr 6, Arizona authorities
found at least 80 suspected illegal immigrants in a house west of
Phoenix and arrested two suspected smugglers.
(AP, 4/7/07)
2007 Apr 6, In Florida US District
Judge Kathleen Cardone ruled that Luis Posada Carriles could be
released on $250,000 bond. He is being held at the Otero County jail in
New Mexico on charges he lied to immigration authorities in a bid to
become a naturalized citizen. Posada, a former CIA operative, is wanted
in Cuba in the 1976 bombing of a Cuban jetliner that killed 73 people,
a charge Posada denies. Castro has repeatedly accused the US government
of protecting Posada.
(AP, 4/11/07)
2007 Apr 6, Supernova SN2007bi was
first observed in a nearby dwarf galaxy. It burned steadily for months.
In 2009 scientists reported that the explosion was probably that of a
super massive star, at least two hundred times the mass of the Sun.
(www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=astronomers-witness-biggest-st)
2007 Apr 6, in Afghanistan a
suicide car bomber hit a police checkpoint in Kabul, killing four
people, including a policeman who tried to stop him. Taliban rebels
seized control of Khak Afghan district in southern Zabul province.
(AP, 4/6/07)(AFP, 4/6/07)
2007 Apr 6, A Royal Navy
lieutenant who was among the captives held by Iran said British sailors
and marines held for nearly two weeks were blindfolded, bound and
threatened with prison if they did not say they strayed into Iranian
waters.
(AP, 4/6/07)
2007 Apr 6, Health officials said
teenage girls in Cambodia and Indonesia have died of bird flu as the
virus continues to stalk across Asia.
(AP, 4/6/07)
2007 Apr 6, China published new
rules governing human organ transplants in its latest effort to clean
up a business critics say has little regard for medical ethics.
(AP, 4/7/07)
2007 Apr 6, The Greek cruise ship
Sea Diamond, which had struck a volcanic reef and forced the evacuation
of hundreds of tourists sank, 15 hours after it began taking on water
off the coast of Santarini Island. Navy divers searched around the
sunken wreckage for a Frenchman and his daughter, the only two
passengers still missing.
(AP, 4/6/07)(SFC, 4/6/07, p.A2)
2007 Apr 6, Iraq’s government it
has ordered that senior officers of Saddam Hussein's military receive
pensions and requested that lower-ranking soldiers serve again as part
of a sectarian reconciliation plan. The decision was made last month. A
suicide bomber driving a truck loaded with TNT and toxic chlorine gas
crashed into a police checkpoint in western Ramadi, killing at least 27
people and wounding dozens. American troops swept into the troubled,
predominantly Shiite city of Diwaniyah before dawn, killing three
militia fighters and capturing 27 in the first day of an assault, named
"Operation Black Eagle." In Baghdad, two American soldiers were killed
and seven were wounded by two separate roadside bombs.
(AP, 4/6/07)(AP, 4/7/07)
2007 Apr 6, Amado Ramirez, the
Acapulco correspondent for Mexico's top television news network, was
shot to death.
(AP, 4/7/07)
2007 Apr 6, In southern Nigeria
gunmen kidnapped two Turkish engineers from their car in Port Harcourt.
(Reuters, 4/7/07)
2007 Apr 6, Pakistani mullah Abdul
Aziz said he had set up a Taliban-style Islamic court at his mosque in
Islamabad and pledged "tens of thousands" of suicide attacks if the
government tries to shut it down.
(AFP, 4/6/07)
2007 Apr 6, Pasteur Bizimungu,
Rwanda's first post-genocide leader, walked free from prison after a
surprise presidential pardon of his convictions that included inciting
ethnic tension.
(AP, 4/6/07)
2007 Apr 6, In Saudi Arabia Waleed
bin Mutlaq al-Radadi, among the kingdom's most wanted terrorists, was
killed in a gunbattle with Saudi forces. Al-Radadi was implicated in
the Feb 26 killing of 4 French nationals.
(AP, 4/18/07)
2007 Apr 6, Somali pirates freed
two hijacked merchant ships, including one that had just delivered UN
food aid when it was seized more than a month ago with 12 crew on board.
(AP, 4/7/07)
2007 Apr 6, A Chinese delegation
arrived in Sudan's troubled Darfur region for a 4-day visit. They met
officials and visited camps for the internally displaced.
(AP, 4/8/07)
2007 Apr 6, UN climate experts
issued their starkest warning yet about the impact of global warming,
ranging from hunger in Africa to a fast thaw in the Himalayas, in a
report that increased pressure on governments to act.
(Reuters, 4/6/07)
2007 Apr 6, Human migrant
traffickers forced some 300 African migrants to jump into the sea off
Yemen causing at least 32 to die.
(SFC, 4/7/07, p.A3)
2007 Apr 6, Zimbabwe police said
they have opened a murder investigation into the death of an
independent journalist. The body of Edward Chikombo was found March 31.
He had been missing since March 29. A lawyer for another reporter
arrested under sweeping media laws said he was assaulted and tortured
in custody.
(AP, 4/6/07)
2007 Apr 7, The New York Times
reported in its Sunday edition that the Bush administration in January
allowed Ethiopia to complete a secret arms purchase from North Korea in
an apparent violation of a UN Security Council sanctions resolution
passed months earlier over its nuclear test.
(Reuters, 4/7/07)
2007 Apr 7, Thousands of people
marched through downtown Los Angeles, demanding a way for the country's
estimated 12 million illegal immigrants to become citizens and
condemning President Bush's latest proposal.
(AP, 4/8/07)
2007 Apr 7, It was reported that
Ray Irani, Occidental Petroleum Corp.'s chairman and chief executive,
took in more than $400 million in compensation in 2006, one of the
biggest single-year payouts in US corporate history.
(Reuters, 4/7/07)
2007 Apr 7, The sport salmon
fishing season opened in California.
(SSFC, 4/8/07, p.A1)
2007 Apr 7, In Oregon 15 libraries
in Jackson were due to close following the loss of $7 million in
federal funding.
(SSFC, 3/4/07, p.A1)
2007 Apr 7, It was reported that
injections of Mycobacterium vaccae into mice caused their immune
systems to produce serotonin. This neurotransmitter, when low in
humans, was known to be related to depression.
(Econ, 4/7/07, p.79)
2007 Apr 7, Johnny Hart (76),
creator of the B.C. comic strip (1958), died at his home in Endicott,
NY. He and Brant Parker created the “Wizard of Id” strip.
(SFC, 4/9/07, p.B3)
2007 Apr 7, Actor Barry Nelson
(b.1917) died in Bucks County, Pa. He was the first actor to portray
Ian Fleming's secret agent James Bond in a 1954 TV adoption of Casino
Royale.
(SFC, 4/16/07, p.B8)(AP,
4/7/08)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barry_Nelson)
2007 Apr 7, In southwestern
Afghanistan suspected Taliban militants ambushed Afghan workers of an
American de-mining company, leaving seven people dead and four wounded.
Officials said more than 1,000 NATO and Afghan troops clashed with
Taliban and took over control of Sangin, a district center in southern
Afghanistan long held by the militants.
(AP, 4/7/07)
2007 Apr 7, Suspected Islamist
militants opened fire on a military patrol in northwestern Algeria,
starting a gunbattle that left nine soldiers and six attackers dead.
(AP, 4/8/07)
2007 Apr 7, In Brazil Martin
Strel, a 52-year-old Slovenian, completed a 3,272 swim down the Amazon
River that could set a world record for distance. In 2000, he completed
an 1,866-mile swim along the Danube. He broke that record two years
later after swimming 2,360 miles down the Mississippi. In 2004 he broke
it again by swimming 2,487 miles along the Yangtze river in China.
(AP, 4/8/07)
2007 Apr 7, In India a jeep
carrying a gelatin-based explosive used for a highway construction
project exploded in a southern village, killing 16 people and injuring
22 more.
(AP, 4/7/07)
2007 Apr 7, US warplanes attacked
suspected militiamen wielding shoulder-fired rockets in the second day
of fierce fighting against Shiite gunmen south of Baghdad. At least one
civilian was killed and five were seriously wounded when an American
tank fired on their house in Diwaniyah. Iraqi troops killed Abu Baraa
al-Libi, a Libyan al-Qaida figure, in a raid on his Baghdad hideout
just before the man could detonate an explosives belt he was wearing.
US forces also killed one suspect and captured 8 others in raids in
Baghdad and south of Ramadi. A roadside bomb exploded next to a joint
American-Iraqi army patrol on a highway leading into Annah, 175 miles
northwest of Baghdad. Two Iraqi soldiers were killed and two were
wounded. Police in Fallujah reported finding four bodies in the center
of the city. Four American soldiers were killed in an explosion near
their vehicle in Diyala province northeast of Baghdad. Duaa Khalil
Aswad (17), a member of the insular Yazidi religious sect, was stoned
to death for loving a Sunni Muslim boy [see April 22].
(AP, 4/7/07)(AP, 4/8/07)(SFC, 5/22/07, p.A8)
2007 Apr 7, An Israeli helicopter
launched an airstrike along the Gaza Strip's border with Israel,
killing a Palestinian militant and wounding two others.
(AP, 4/7/07)
2007 Apr 7, The 17-year insurgency
in Kashmir continued with an average of 3 lives lost every day. India
had an estimated 600,000 soldiers and paramilitary police stationed in
Jammu & Kashmir state.
(Econ, 4/7/07, p.14)
2007 Apr 7, Emergency officials
said 247 dead seals have washed up on the shores of the Caspian Sea in
Kazakhstan in the past week.
(AP, 4/7/07)
2007 Apr 7, Libya’s
foreign-exchange reserves were estimated at $56 billion. The population
was reported to be about 5.6 million.
(Econ, 4/7/07, p.46)
2007 Apr 7, Malaysian ministers
issued fresh attacks on bloggers, threatening to take away their rights
and accusing them of trying to overthrow the government, according to
reports.
(AFP, 4/7/07)
2007 Apr 7, In northern Pakistan
some 40 people were killed and more than 70 injured in 2 days of
sectarian clashes between Sunni and Shiite Muslims in Kurram.
(AFP, 4/7/07)(Econ, 4/14/07, p.43)
2007 Apr 7, In the southern
Philippines 9 soldiers and a civilian were killed in a clash in a small
army camp in Jolo island’s Parang town.
(AP, 4/8/07)
2007 Apr 7, A Russian rocket
carrying the American billionaire who helped develop Microsoft Word
roared into the night skies over Kazakhstan, sending Charles Simonyi
and two cosmonauts soaring into orbit on a two-day journey to the
international space station.
(AP, 4/7/07)
2007 Apr 7, A roadside bomb tore
through a civilian bus in northern Sri Lanka, killing seven people and
wounding 26. The army blamed Tamil Tiger rebels for the attack.
(AP, 4/7/07)
2007 Apr 7, Thousands of
supporters of Ukrainian PM Viktor Yanukovych rallied for a fifth day in
the streets of Kiev, calling for stability amid a political crisis over
the president's dissolution of parliament.
(AP, 4/7/07)
2007 Apr 7, Yemeni police arrested
three men suspected of setting fire to a mosque and wounding at least
33 people.
(AP, 4/7/07)
2007 Apr 8, Zach Johnson won the
Masters with a two-shot victory over Tiger Woods.
(AP, 4/8/08)
2007 Apr 8, Bill Richardson, the
New Mexico governor who has undertaken diplomatic missions to countries
at odds with the United States, began a rare visit to isolated North
Korea to recover remains of American servicemen killed in the Korean
War.
(AP, 4/9/07)
2007 May 8, A federal judge in El
Paso, Texas, dismissed immigration fraud charges against Luis Posada
Carriles (79), a former CIA operative accused of masterminding a 1976
bombing of a Cuban civilian airplane along with 1997 bombings in Havana.
(SFC, 5/10/07, p.A6)
2007 Apr 8, Sol LeWitt (78),
Connecticut-based artist and sculptor, died in NY. He was known for his
dynamic wall paintings and as a founder of minimal and conceptual art
styles. “LeWitt brought about a fundamental shift in taste with
sculptures and drawings that put thought rather than feeling, ideas
rather than aesthetics at the forefront.”
(SFC, 4/10/07, p.D9)(WSJ, 4/21/07, p.P16)
2007 Apr 8, A purported spokesman
for the Taliban said the kidnapped translator for an Italian journalist
was killed in southern Afghanistan. In the eastern Paktika province,
two Afghan guards were killed and five wounded during a four-hour
firefight with Taliban militants. In eastern Khost province, a gunman
riding on the back of a motorcycle opened fire on Afghans working for
NATO's International Security Assistance Force, killing two of the men
and wounding another. In eastern Nangarhar province, a suicide car
bomber blew himself up next to a US-led coalition convoy. 2 roadside
bombs in southern Afghanistan left seven NATO soldiers dead. 6
Canadians died in one of the 2 blasts.
(AP, 4/8/07)(AP, 4/9/07)
2007 May 8, In Argentina 7
managers of Skanska, a Swedish construction firm, were arrested for tax
evasion. Skanska sacked the managers and paid the tax authority almost
$5 million.
(Econ, 5/12/07, p.42)
2007 Apr 8, Britain's Defense
Ministry came under fire for allowing 15 British sailors and marines
held by Iran for 13 days to sell their stories to the media.
(Reuters, 4/8/07)
2007 Apr 8, A Chinese ship,
Jinhaikun, and a foreign cargo vessel, Harvest, collided off the east
China coast in Taizhou Bay. 19 Chinese and one Indonesian missing in
the accident were all on the Harvest.
(AP, 4/8/07)
2007 Apr 8, In western Iran at
least 26 people were killed and 18 others injured after a truck smashed
into a bus.
(AP, 4/8/07)
2007 Apr 8, The renegade cleric
Muqtada al-Sadr urged Iraqi forces to stop cooperating with the US and
told his guerrilla fighters to concentrate their attacks on American
troops rather than Iraqis. A pickup truck loaded with artillery shells
exploded near a hospital in Mahmoudiyah, killing 17 Iraqis. US forces
captured a senior al-Qaida leader and two others in a raid in Baghdad.
6 US soldiers were killed in a series of attack.
(AP, 4/8/07)(AFP, 4/9/07)(SFC, 4/9/07, p.A5)
2007 Apr 8, In Japan Nationalist
Shintaro Ishihara won a third term as governor of Tokyo.
(Reuters, 4/8/07)
2007 Apr 8, The body of a murdered
South African national, Kenneth Scott Andrew (26), was found in a
plastic bag on the outskirts of the northwestern Pakistani city of
Peshawar.
(AFP, 4/9/07)
2007 Apr 8, A Palestinian attacker
stabbed and wounded two Israeli police officers at a checkpoint outside
a Hebron shrine that has been a flashpoint for violence in the past.
(AP, 4/8/07)
2007 Apr 8, In the Philippines
Julia Campbell (40), American Peace Corps volunteer from Fairfax, Va.,
was last seen in the town of Banaue in Ifugao province. Her body was
found April 18 in a shallow grave near Batad village. In 2008 Juan
Duntugan was convicted of the murder and sentenced to 40 years in
prison without parole.
(AP, 4/14/07)(AP, 4/18/07)(SFC, 4/19/07, p.A8)(AP,
6/30/08)
2007 Apr 9, President Bush visited
the US-Mexico border to tout a guest worker program for immigrants.
(AP, 4/9/08)
2007 Apr 9, Don Imus, nationally
syndicated shock jock, was suspended for 2 weeks by CBS Radio and MSNBC
due to his calling members of the Rutgers Univ. women’s basketball team
“nappy-headed ho’s.” On April 11 NBC News decided to fire him; CBS
followed the next day.
(SFC, 4/10/07, p.A1)(SFC, 4/12/07, p.A1)
2007 Apr 9, Suspected Taliban
militants ambushed an Afghan army convoy with rocket propelled grenades
in southern Afghanistan, killing two soldiers and wounding up to 14.
Suspected Taliban attacked a police vehicle north of Kandahar city,
leaving a policeman dead.
(AP, 4/10/07)
2007 Apr 9, Thousands of teachers
walked out of public schools across Argentina in a daylong strike to
demand higher pay and justice for a slain colleague.
(AP, 4/9/07)
2007 Apr 9, Britain's government
beat a hasty retreat under withering criticism for allowing sailors and
marines to be paid large sums for their stories about captivity in Iran.
(AP, 4/10/07)
2007 Apr 9, East Timor held
elections. A Nobel laureate squared off with two rivals in presidential
elections that could test East Timor's fragile calm a year after one of
the world's youngest and poorest nations reached the brink of civil war.
(AP, 4/9/07)
2007 Apr 9, An Ethiopian judge
freed 25 journalists charged in a treason trial involving more than 100
opposition figures that has drawn international criticism as being
politically motivated.
(Reuters, 4/9/07)
2007 Apr 9, State press reported
that China's farmland is becoming increasingly polluted, with
coal-dependent factories and polluted waterways causing billions of
dollars in damages.
(AFP, 4/9/07)
2007 Apr 9, China urged Sudan to
be more flexible on a plan put forward by former UN chief Kofi Annan to
bolster peacekeeping operations in the war-torn western region of
Darfur.
(AFP, 4/9/07)
2007 Apr 9, Iran announced that it
has begun enriching uranium with 3,000 centrifuges, dramatically
expanding a program that the UN has demanded it halt. An Iranian
Revolutionary Guard general visited Russia despite a UN travel ban over
Tehran nuclear defiance. Russia denied any violation.
(AP, 4/9/07)(WSJ, 4/10/07, p.A1)
2007 Apr 9, Tens of thousands
draped themselves in Iraqi flags and marched peacefully through the
streets from Kufa to Najaf to mark the fourth anniversary of Baghdad's
fall. Demonstrators were flanked by two cordons of police as they
called for US forces to leave, shouting "Get out, get out occupier!" In
southern Baghdad, a sniper killed a civilian and a policeman, and a
mortar round killed one person and wounded two others. A total of 25
people were killed or found dead across Iraq. 4 US soldiers were
killed, 3 by a roadside bomb and a secondary explosion in southeastern
Baghdad and another in combat in western Anbar province.
(AP, 4/9/07)(AP, 4/10/07)
2007 Apr 9, Japan lent some 850
million dollars to PM Nuri al-Maliki's government as the oil-hungry
Asian power looked to boost output from the war-torn country. Iraqi PM
Nouri al-Maliki met with Japan's Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko,
starting off a four-day visit that was delayed after Iran refused to
allow his plane to fly over its airspace.
(AP, 4/9/07)
2007 Apr 9, Pakistan’s army
announced that the Talibs had cleared foreigners from South Waziristan.
(Econ, 4/14/07, p.43)
2007 Apr 9, Puerto Rico seven
inmates, convicted of homicides, escaped from prison using ventilation
ducts.
(AP, 4/10/07)
2007 Apr 9, Two Russian cosmonauts
and US billionaire Charles Simony bringing a gourmet meal arrived at
the international space station, to a warm welcome from current crewmen.
(AP, 4/10/07)
2007 Apr 9, Officials said the
yearly salaries of Singapore's well-paid government ministers are
headed higher, by 60 percent to more than $1.25 million by the end of
2008. Premier Lee Hsein Lloong will now make $2.1 million a year.
(AP, 4/9/07)(WSJ, 4/10/07, p.A1)
2007 Apr 9, A Sudanese army
spokesman said 17 Sudanese soldiers were killed in clashes with Chadian
troops inside Sudanese territory.
(Reuters, 4/9/07)
2007 Apr 9, In an Easter message
pinned to church bulletin boards around the country, Zimbabwe's Roman
Catholic bishops called on President Robert Mugabe to leave office or
face "open revolt" from those suffering under his government.
(AP, 4/9/07)
2007 Apr 10, The US Treasury
Department said authorities in Macau are ready to release frozen North
Korean funds that have impeded disarmament talks.
(AP, 4/10/07)
2007 Apr 10, Maryland became the
first US state to approve a plan to give its electoral votes for
president to the winner of the national popular vote, instead of the
candidate chosen by state voters. The plan would only go into effect if
states representing a majority of the nation’s 538 electoral votes
decided to make the same change.
(SFC, 4/11/07, p.A3)
2007 Apr 10, Protein Sciences, a
vaccine company, said caterpillars offer a faster, safer medium to
culture flue vaccine than chicken eggs.
(WSJ, 4/11/07, p.A1)
2007 Apr 10, Dakota Staton
(b.1930), jazz singer, died in NYC. She was well known for her 1957
album “The Late, Late Show.”
(SFC, 4/21/07, p.B5)
2007 Apr 10, A court in the
Bahamas announced that DNA tests proved Larry Birkhead, the former
boyfriend of Anna Nicole Smith, is the father of her infant daughter.
(AP, 4/11/07)
2007 Apr 10, Bolivia opened a new
front in its fight to reduce illegal coca production, sending US-backed
eradication teams into a traditional coca-growing region in the Andean
foothills long avoided by previous governments.
(AP, 4/10/07)
2007 Apr 10, Diabetes scientists
reported that 15 Type 1 Brazilians did not need insulin shots after
therapy with stem cells from their own blood. It was also reported that
such stem cells helped repair heart damage due to Chagas disease,
caused by the protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi, carried by kissing bugs
(barbeiros).
(WSJ, 4/11/07, p.A1)
2007 Apr 10, China reported a
sharp drop in its politically sensitive trade surplus and angrily
rejected US plans to file a World Trade Organization complaint over
product piracy amid pressure for Beijing to rein in its bulging trade
gap. The US filed two new complaints against China at the WTO over
copyright policy and restrictions on the sale of American movies, music
and books. China missed its deadline for announcing a total tally of
completed tax returns. Officials estimated some 1.6 million filed with
6m-7m required to file.
(AP, 4/10/07)(Econ, 4/14/07, p.49)
2007 Apr 10, In China’s southeast
Guangxi Zhuangzu region thousands of fish were reported killed this
month in a lake near Nanning due to “sharp drops in temperature.”
(SFC, 4/12/07, p.A3)
2007 Apr 10, Peter Brixtofte (57),
the free-spending Danish mayor of Hilleroed (1986-2002), was convicted
of abusing his office and sentenced to two years in prison. He had
became hugely popular for offering free vacations to retirees and
computers to school children.
(AP, 4/10/07)
2007 Apr 10, The Ethiopian
government acknowledged detaining 41 suspected international terrorists
from 17 countries and said foreign investigators were given permission
to question them. A statement said 29 of the suspects have been ordered
released by a Military Court and five already have been freed.
(AP, 4/10/07)
2007 Apr 10, The European Court of
Human Rights ruled that a British woman left infertile after being
treated for ovarian cancer has no right to frozen embryos against the
wishes of her former fiance, who provided the sperm.
(AP, 4/10/07)
2007 Apr 10, In Greece cleanup
crews struggled to avert a major oil spill after a sunken cruise ship
leaked dozens of tons of oil off the resort island of Santorini at the
start of the summer tourist season.
(AP, 4/10/07)
2007 Apr 10, Iraq's prime minister
began a visit to South Korea saying he wants to learn from the Asian
nation's fast rise as an economic power. A woman with explosives hidden
beneath her abaya detonated them in a crowd of about 200 police
recruits in Muqdadiyah, killing at least 16 people. A battle in two
Sunni enclaves left 20 suspected insurgents and 4 Iraqi soldiers dead,
and 16 US soldiers wounded. A parked car bomb exploded at a checkpoint
near Baghdad University, killing at least 6 people and wounding 11. A
Katyusha rocket hit a basketball court at a boys school in eastern
Baghdad, killing a 6-year-old boy and wounding 17 others. US troops
began building a wall around a Sunni enclave in Baghdad.
(AP, 4/10/07)(AP, 4/11/07)(AP, 4/21/07)
2007 Apr 10, Israeli authorities
said they had arrested 19 Palestinian militants in March for planning
to set off a huge car bomb in Tel Aviv over the Jewish holiday of
Passover.
(AP, 4/10/07)
2007 Apr 10, Japan's Cabinet
approved a six-month extension on trade sanctions against North Korea,
which were imposed in the wake of the communist state's nuclear test
last year.
(AP, 4/10/07)
2007 Apr 10, The African Union
readmitted Mauritania to the pan-African organization from which it was
suspended after a coup in 2005.
(AFP, 4/10/07)
2007 Apr 10, Moroccan police
surrounded a building in Casablanca where four terrorism suspects were
holed, causing three to flee and blow themselves up with explosives.
The fourth was shot dead by a police sharpshooter as he apparently
tried to detonate his bomb.
(AP, 4/10/07)
2007 Apr 10, Officials from North
and South Korea's Red Cross societies resumed talks on resolving the
issue of South Korean prisoners of war and civilian abductees believed
held in the communist country.
(AP, 4/10/07)
2007 Apr 10, In Panama the charred
and mutilated body of Staten Island businesswoman Toni Grossi Abrams
(57) was found on the outskirts of Panama City. Debra Ann Ridgley (56)
of Pennsylvania, was later arrested as a suspect in the killing but had
not been formally charged. Police searched for two other suspects
identified as Colombian men, one of whom has previous drug charges
against him.
(AP, 4/16/07)
2007 Apr 10, In Serbia 4
paramilitaries seen in a video gunning down Bosnian Muslims near
Srebrenica in 1995 were convicted of war crimes against civilians by
Serbia's War Crimes Court.
(AP, 4/10/07)
2007 Apr 10, South African
President Thabo Mbeki arrived in Khartoum to join the international
push for UN peacekeepers in Darfur, amid fears of a regional spillover
after clashes between Sudan and Chad. Officials said the UN, the
African Union and the Sudanese government have reached agreement to
beef up the African force in Sudan's violence-wracked Darfur region
with UN troops, police and equipment.
(AP, 4/10/07)
2007 Apr 10, Clashes between Sri
Lankan soldiers and Tamil rebels in the island's north killed about 30
people. In southern Sri Lanka a passenger bus collided with a beer
delivery truck and burst into flames, killing at least 23 people and
injuring 56.
(AP, 4/10/07)(AP, 4/12/07)
2007 Apr 10, In Switzerland
thieves stole jewelry worth about $825,000 from the Baselwood fair, the
world's biggest and most luxurious watch and jewelry fair.
(AP, 4/15/07)
2007 Apr 11, The US Pentagon
extended Iraq and Afghan tours of duty for all troops from 12 months to
15 months.
(WSJ, 4/1207, p.A1)
2007 Apr 11, A federal grand jury
in Columbus, Ohio, indicted Christopher Paul (43), a US citizen, on
charges of joining al-Qaida in the 1990s and conspiring to bomb
European tourist resorts and US government facilities and military
bases overseas. Paul, born as Paul Kenyatta Laws, changed his name to
Abdulmalek Kenyatta in 1989, then to Christopher Paul in 1994.
(AP, 4/12/07)
2007 Apr 11, New York Attorney
General Andrew Cuomo said he will announce a settlement with a
"significant" student lender as a probe into a college loan scandal
continued to broaden.
(AP, 4/11/07)
2007 Apr 11, Joe Francis (b.1973),
the creator of the “Girls Gone Wild” video series, was indicted in
Reno, Nevada, on federal tax charges. In September 2009, Francis
pleaded guilty to filing false tax returns and bribing Nevada jail
workers. On November 5, 2009, US District Judge S. James Otero accepted
Francis’ deal on the grounds that a key witness withheld information
from prosecutors.
(SFC, 1/29/10,
p.A6)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Francis)
2007 Apr 11, North Carolina's top
prosecutor dropped all charges against three former Duke University
lacrosse players accused of sexually assaulting a stripper at a party,
saying the athletes were innocent victims of a "tragic rush to accuse."
(AP, 4/11/08)
2007 Apr 11, MSNBC announced it
was dropping its simulcast of the "Imus in the Morning" radio program,
responding to growing outrage about host Don Imus' racial slur against
the Rutgers women's basketball team. CBS Radio followed suit the next
day.
(AP, 4/11/08)
2007 Apr 11, Citigroup Inc., the
nation's largest financial institution, said it will eliminate about
17,000 jobs as part of a companywide restructuring to reduce costs and
improve profit.
(AP, 4/11/07)
2007 Apr 11, The Evelyn and Walter
Haas Jr. Fund announced a $15 million donation for renovations at the
Presidio. Plans included 24 new trails.
(SFC, 4/11/07, p.A1)
2007 Apr 11, Roscoe Lee Browne
(b.1925), stage, film and TV actor, died in Los Angeles. In 1966 he
made his directorial stage debut with “A Hand is on the Gate: An
Evening of Negro Poetry and Folk Music.”
(SFC, 4/14/07, p.B5)
2007 Apr 11, Kurt Vonnegut
(b.1922), regarded by many critics as a key influence in shaping
20th-century American literature, died in NYC. He mixed the bitter and
funny with a touch of the profound in books such as
"Slaughterhouse-Five," "Cat's Cradle," and "Hocus Pocus." In 2009 Loree
Rackstraw, a former student, authored “Love as Always, Kurt: Vonnegut
As I Knew Him.”
(AP, 4/12/07)(Econ, 4/21/07, p.98)(WSJ, 3/16/09,
p.A17)
2007 Apr 11, In southern
Afghanistan a suicide car bomber struck a NATO convoy, wounding seven
civilians, while a US-led coalition airstrike killed 13 suspected
militants. Another bomb blast in the south killed two Canadian soldiers
and wounded three others.
(AP, 4/11/07)(AP, 4/12/07)
2007 Apr 11, In Algeria bombs
heavily damaged the prime minister's office in Algiers and a police
station, killing 33 people and wounding over 200.
(AP, 4/11/07)(AP, 4/12/07)
2007 Apr 11, Bangladesh police
said main opposition leader Sheikh Hasina Wajed, former prime minister
and head of the Awami League, has been charged over the murder of four
people during political violence which racked the nation's capital last
October.
(AP, 4/11/07)(Econ, 4/14/07, p.46)
2007 Apr 11, In Brazil Gov. Sergio
Cabral Filho formally requested that the army intervene to contain the
violence that has been spiraling out of control in Rio de Janeiro.
(AP, 4/11/07)
2007 Apr 11, PM Tony Blair urged
Britain's black communities to speak out against gang culture and
called again for tougher laws against gangs amid a spate of gun and
knife murders.
(AP, 4/11/07)
2007 Apr 11, Canadian National
Railway faced picket lines, but the union said it does not plan this
new job action to be as disruptive as the strike that hamstrung
Canada's largest railway in February.
(AP, 4/11/07)
2007 Apr 11, Three candidates
battled for a spot in East Timor's presidential runoff after none got
enough votes to win outright.
(AP, 4/11/07)
2007 Apr 11, Officials said
Ecuador’s former President Gustavo Noboa will face charges for
allegedly mishandling foreign debt negotiations during his three-year
term (2000-2003).
(AP, 4/12/07)
2007 Apr 11, Guyana's Pres.
Bharrat Jagdeo said former NYC police commissioner Bernard Kerik has
withdrawn from contracts to advise two Caribbean governments on
security because of unresolved legal troubles in the United States.
(AP, 4/12/07)
2007 Apr 11, The International
Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) issued a new report titled "Civilians
Without Protection: The Ever-worsening Humanitarian Crisis in Iraq."
Maj. Gen. William Caldwell, the US military spokesman, said Iranian
intelligence operatives have been training Iraqi fighters inside Iran
on how to use and assemble deadly roadside bombs known as EFPs.
(AP, 4/11/07)
2007 Apr 11, The Ivory Coast
government and rebels signed an agreement with foreign peacekeepers to
dismantle a buffer zone dividing the west African nation since 2002.
(AFP, 4/11/07)
2007 Apr 11, Japanese and Chinese
leaders heralded a new era of closer ties between the two Asian powers,
moving to repair relations damaged by a harsh dispute over history and
signing accords on energy and environmental protection.
(AP, 4/11/07)
2007 Apr 11, In Kyrgyzstan
thousands of opposition supporters gathered in the main square of
Bishkek to press President Kurmanbek Bakiyev to resign. Bakiyev had
sought to head off the opposition protest by signing constitutional
amendments curtailing his power a day earlier, but the opposition
rejected his move and showed up in full force.
(AP, 4/11/07)
2007 Apr 11, A Mexican court
ordered the reinstatement of ousted mineworkers union leader Napoleon
Gomez Urrutia, more than a year after the government turned him out of
office based on complaints of corruption.
(AP, 4/11/07)
2007 Apr 11, Morocco presented its
plan to grant self-rule to the disputed Western Sahara territory to
United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon.
(AP, 4/11/07)
2007 Apr 11, In Nigeria 5 people,
including a senior police officer, were killed in clashes between rival
cult gangs in the southern oil-rich state of Rivers.
(AFP, 4/13/07)
2007 Apr 11, North Korea replaced
its prime minister during a session of its rubber-stamp parliament. US
envoys entered South Korea from North Korea in a rare border crossing
after securing the remains of six American soldiers from the Korean War
and pushing for action on the North's nuclear disarmament.
(AP, 4/11/07)
2007 Apr 11, More than 50
Philippine military officers pleaded guilty to violating military order
and discipline in a plea bargain, escaping lengthy jail terms for a
failed mutiny in Manila nearly four years ago.
(AP, 4/11/07)
2007 Apr 11, Royal Dutch Shell PLC
and its partners ceded a controlling stake in the Sakhalin-2 gas
project to Russia’s state owned OAO Gazprom. The deal also entitled
Gazprom a percentage of profits from oil and gas and increased
managerial control.
(WSJ, 4/26/07, p.A3)(http://tinyurl.com/39c2yh)
2007 Apr 11, In Somalia
Ethiopian-backed government troops and Islamic insurgents exchanged
gunfire in northern Mogadishu, killing three people and ending more
than a week of relative calm.
(AP, 4/11/07)
2007 Apr 11, At least 40 civilians
were killed and 25 wounded in an attack believed to have be carried out
by the Janjaweed militia in the war-torn Darfur region.
(AFP, 4/16/07)
2007 Apr 12, The new US “forever”
postage stamp was scheduled to go on sale. The cost for first class
mail was set to rise to 41 cents on May 14.
(SFC, 4/11/07, p.A3)
2007 Apr 12, World Bank President
Paul Wolfowitz acknowledged that he erred in helping a close female
friend get transferred to a high-paying job. "I made a mistake for
which I am sorry," he said.
(AP, 4/12/07)
2007 Apr 12, CBS fired Don Imus
from his radio program for insulting the Rutgers women's basketball
team on the air. In the evening, Imus met with team members at the New
Jersey governor's mansion in Princeton.
(AP, 4/12/08)
2007 Apr 12, New Jersey Gov. Jon
S. Corzine was involved in an SUV crash as he headed to a meeting
between radio show host Don Imus and the Rutgers women's basketball
team. The crash occurred when the SUV, driven by a state trooper, was
hit by another vehicle that swerved to avoid the pickup truck. Corzine
was not wearing his seat belt, as required by law, and the crash left
him with such serious injuries that he required a ventilator.
(AP, 4/14/07)
2007 Apr 12, In NYC transit
officials and politicians broke ground on the Second Avenue line in
East Harlem.
(Econ, 4/21/07,
p.34)(www.mta.info/mta/news/releases07/index.html?en=070412)
2007 Apr 12, Muzak announced plans
to merge with rival DMX. The company was moving in the direction of
sensory branding and identifying songs that suit particular companies.
(Econ, 4/28/07, p.74)
2007 Apr 12, A study said
scientists have decoded the genome sequence of rhesus monkeys proving
they share 93% of man's genetic make-up.
(AFP, 4/13/07)
2007 Apr 12, Kelsie B. Harder,
onomastician (a student of names and their origins), died in Potsdam,
NY. His books included “Illustrated Dictionary of Place Names” (1976),
(SSFC, 4/22/07, p.B6)
2007 Apr 12, In southern
Afghanistan a US-led coalition and Afghan troops backed by aircraft
clashed with suspected Taliban fighters, leaving more than 35 militants
dead. Roadside bombs struck two NATO convoys in the east, killing two
soldiers. US and Afghan troops rescued five civilian contractors pinned
down by small arms fire from insurgents in central Afghanistan after
their helicopter made an emergency landing. A coalition aircraft
attacked the militants, killing three. The contractors were evacuated
to a nearby coalition base.
(AP, 4/13/07)
2007 Apr 12, Brazilian police
broke up a gang accused of killing hundreds of people over several
years, arresting 18 suspects and searching for 10 others. The gang,
made up of police officers, hired guns and businessmen, had carried out
up to 200 killings a year over the past five years, most of them linked
to loan sharking.
(AP, 4/12/07)
2007 Apr 12, In London the
Beatles' Apple Corps company settled a royalties dispute with record
label EMI, raising hopes that Beatles recordings may soon be legally
available online.
(AP, 4/12/07)
2007 Apr 12, Tens of thousands of
people marched through the streets of Cali to protest the bombing of
the city's police barracks, blamed on Colombia's largest leftist rebel
group.
(AP, 4/13/07)
2007 Apr 12, Tens of thousands of
people marched through the streets of Cali to protest the bombing of
the city's police barracks, blamed on Colombia's largest leftist rebel
group.
(AP, 4/13/07)
2007 Apr 12, India test-fired a
new missile capable of carrying nuclear warheads with a 1,900-mile
range. Indonesia said the missile forced 2 of its jetliners off course.
(AP, 4/12/07)(WSJ, 4/14/07, p.A1)
2007 Apr 12, A suicide bomber blew
himself up in the Iraqi parliament's cafeteria in the deadliest-ever
attack in the American-guarded Green Zone. Mohammed Awad, a moderate
Sunni lawmaker, was killed in the attack and 22 were wounded. The next
day an insurgent umbrella group that includes al-Qaida in Iraq claimed
one of its "knights" carried out the parliament suicide bombing. 11
civilians were killed in a bombing of Baghdad’s al-Sarafiya bridge. 7
were killed by a powerful suicide truck bomb, and 4 perished when their
cars plummeted into the river. The bodies of radio newscaster and her
husband were found in Mosul, three days after being kidnapped by gunmen.
(AP, 4/13/07)
2007 Apr 12, Toyota named the
first non-Japanese to its board of directors, appointing American James
Press, the automaker's president of North American operations, amid
growing fears of a political backlash for its booming US sales.
(AP, 4/12/07)
2007 Apr 12, Mexican President
Felipe Calderon signed a law eliminating prison sentences for libel or
defamation, drawing praise from media watchdog groups.
(AP, 4/12/07)
2007 Apr 12, Morocco’s police
detained two men near the scene of three suicide bombings in
Casablanca, and a police official said one was carrying explosives.
(AP, 4/12/07)
2007 Apr 12, An international
conservation group tens of thousands of villagers could be displaced
and a fragile ecosystem destroyed by a hydropower project being built
on northeastern Myanmar's Salween River.
(AP, 4/12/07)
2007 Apr 12, A Norwegian oil rig
support vessel carrying 15 people capsized off northern Scotland and
five crew members were missing.
(AP, 4/13/07)
2007 Apr 12, Pakistan’s President
Gen. Pervez Musharraf said that tribesmen have killed about 300 foreign
militants during a weekslong offensive near the Afghan border and
acknowledged for first time that they received military support.
Gunfights erupted again in villages near the Afghan border where
clashes between Sunni and Shiite Muslims have killed at least 49 people
over the past week.
(AP, 4/12/07)
2007 Apr 12, Polish officials said
Google plans to open an operations center in Wroclaw later this year,
creating 200 new jobs and boosting the city's efforts to become a
technology hub.
(AP, 4/12/07)
2007 Apr 12, Russian authorities
said they have halted the work of all foreign adoption agencies for
several months, virtually shutting down the placement of children from
one of the most important countries for US families seeking to adopt.
(AP, 4/12/07)
2007 Apr 12, The Swiss-based
Nestle SA, the world's biggest food and drink company, said it will buy
Gerber Products Co. from pharmaceutical maker Novartis SA for $5.5
billion, giving it the largest share of the global baby food market.
(AP, 4/12/07)
2007 Apr 12, A Syrian-American
businessman with ties to the Damascus government made an unprecedented
appearance before an Israeli parliamentary panel, telling lawmakers
that Syrian President Bashar Assad is ready to make peace with the
Jewish state.
(AP, 4/13/07)
2007 Apr 12, Thailand police said
the king has pardoned a Swiss man who was given a 10-year sentence for
spray-painting over images of the revered monarch, but the longtime
Thailand resident has been ordered to leave the country.
(AP, 4/12/07)
2007 Apr 12, Turkey's army chief
said the military had launched several "large scale" offensives against
rebels in the predominantly Kurdish southeast, and he asked the
government for approval to launch an incursion into neighboring
northern Iraq.
(AP, 4/12/07)
2007 Apr 12, In Uganda protesters
stoned to death two people of Asian origin during a demonstration
against a Ugandan-Indian company that wants to grow sugar cane in this
country's largest natural forest. Two others were also killed in the
rioting.
(AP, 4/12/07)(WSJ, 4/13/07, p.A1)
2007 Apr 12, Zimbabwe opposition
leader Morgan Tsvangirai expressed optimism about planned talks between
his party and President Robert Mugabe's government to end the crisis in
the country.
(AFP, 4/12/07)
2007 Apr 13, In Delaware a special
committee of the board of directors of Computer Associates accused
founder and former chairman Charles Wang of directing and participating
in fraudulent accounting during the 1980s and 1990s, which the US
government had described as totaling $2.2 billion.
(WSJ, 4/14/07, p.A1)
2007 Apr 13, Google said that it
will purchase DoubleClick, an Internet services company, for $3.1
billion.
(WSJ, 4/14/07, p.A3)
2007 Apr 13, In NYC lawyer Moshe
Kanovsky (31) leaped to his death from the 69th floor of the Empire
State Building. At least 30 people have jumped from the Empire State
Building since it opened in 1931.
(SFC, 4/14/07, p.A3)
2007 Apr 13, In SF Mayor Newsom
brokered an agreement to ban cars from Golden Gate Park’s main road for
6 months of the year and to make permanent a Sunday ban for a smaller
area. The deal still required approval from the board of Supervisors.
(SFC, 4/14/07, p.B1)
2007 Apr 13, A firefight in
southern Afghanistan killed one NATO soldier and wounded two others.
Eight suspected insurgents were killed by British forces west of Basra.
The suspects had been planting bombs in the path of a British patrol.
(AP, 4/13/07)(AP, 4/14/07)
2007 Apr 13, Australia’s PM John
Howard said that people with HIV should not be allowed to migrate to
Australia, and that the government was investigating whether it could
tighten existing restrictions.
(AP, 4/13/07)
2007 Apr 13, An Austrian bank
recently bought by a US-led consortium acknowledged it told a
Cuban-born client to take her business elsewhere and suggested that
Washington's ban on commerce with Cuba was behind the decision.
(AP, 4/14/07)
2007 Apr 13, Federal police in
Brazil arrested the chief organizer of Rio's carnival parade, a federal
judge and a prosecutor in a crack-down on illegal gaming and money
laundering.
(AP, 4/13/07)
2007 Apr 13, A leading rebel in
the Central African Republic said he would be signing a peace deal with
President Francois Bozize in the northeastern town of Birao.
(AP, 4/13/07)
2007 Apr 13, Prominent Chinese
environmental activist Wu Lihong (39) was arrested for alleged
blackmail. Lihong has campaigned for years against the pollution of Tai
Lake which lies in the center of Yangtze Delta plain, a region known
for its natural beauty but littered with polluting light industry and
chemical factories. In August Lihong was sentenced to 3 years in prison
for fraud and blackmail.
(AFP, 4/23/07)(Econ, 5/3/08, p.49)
2007 Apr 13, Iraq's parliament met
in an extraordinary session on a Friday, the Muslim day of prayer, and
declared it would not bow to terrorism; a bouquet of red roses and a
white lily sat in the place of a lawmaker killed in a parliament dining
hall suicide bombing. A roadside bomb killed one policeman and wounded
four others in southern Baghdad. US forces captured 14 suspected
al-Qaida in Iraq members in raids.
(AP, 4/13/07)(AP, 4/13/08)
2007 Apr 13, In Malaysia the
Negeri Sembilan state government closed down a museum exhibition on
ghosts, ghouls and supernatural beings after Islamic clerics claimed it
was detrimental to Muslims' faith.
(AP, 4/14/07)
2007 Apr 13, In Nigeria gunmen
shot dead a radical Muslim cleric in his mosque and fired on the
congregation, killing two more people, in the northern city of Kano.
(AFP, 4/13/07)
2007 Apr 13, Protesters burned an
effigy of President Gen. Pervez Musharraf and demanded his resignation,
as thousands rallied across Pakistan during a court hearing for a top
judge removed by the government.
(AP, 4/13/07)
2007 Apr 13, Five European
countries and the European Commission signed an accord on under which
they will give 5.2 million dollars for administrative reforms within
the Palestinian presidency.
(AP, 4/13/07)
2007 Apr 13, Former President
Alejandro Toledo returned to Peru to visit his ailing sister and face
accusations that he forged signatures nearly a decade ago to get his
party on the 2000 presidential ballot.
(AP, 4/13/07)
2007 Apr 13, Muslim rebels fired
mortar bombs on a Philippines marine base in the southern island of
Jolo, killing two soldiers and a child.
(Reuters, 4/14/07)
2007 Apr 13, Boris Berezovsky, the
exiled Russian tycoon who has emerged as one of the Kremlin's most
vocal opponents, called for the use of force to oust President Vladimir
Putin and claimed he has support from some in the country's political
elite. In response, Russia's chief prosecutor opened a criminal case
against Berezovsky on charges of plotting a coup. Britain, granted
Berezovsky refugee status in 2003.
(AP, 4/13/07)
2007 Apr 13, In Tanzania the
International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) ordered that Michel
Bagaragaza, the former head of Rwanda's national tea industry, be tried
by a court in the Netherlands. He was accused of involvement in
Rwanda’s 1994 mass slaughter. In Sep, 2009, Bagaragaza (64) pleaded
guilty to complicity in the slaughter. In Nov he was sentenced to 8
years in prison.
(AFP, 4/13/07)(AP, 9/17/09)(AP, 11/5/09)
2007 Apr 13, African health
ministers meeting in South Africa adopted a health strategy to deal
with the host of diseases on the continent, a dearth of health workers
and failing health systems.
(AFP, 4/13/07)
2007 Apr 13, A landmine killed
nine Sudanese army soldiers and wounded 11 on Sudan's eastern border
with Ethiopia.
(AP, 4/14/07)
2007 Apr 13, Benedict XVI
published “Jesus of Nazareth,” his first book as pope. It criticizes
the "cruelty" of capitalism and colonialism and the power of the
wealthy over the poor.
(AP, 4/13/07)
2007 Apr 14, The Morongo Indian
reservation in southern California and its 775 adult members reportedly
received seven-tenths of their casino’s profits which amounted to
roughly $15,000 to $20,000 per person, per month. In 1989 the tribe’s
average, annual household income was $13,000.
(Econ, 4/14/07, p.29)
2007 Apr 14, Legendary crooner Don
Ho (76) died in Hawaii. He had entertained tourists for decades wearing
raspberry-tinted sunglasses and singing his signature tune "Tiny
Bubbles."
(AP, 4/15/07)
2007 Apr 14, In eastern
Afghanistan a suicide bomber blew himself up next to several Afghan
border policemen, leaving at least seven officers dead and six others
wounded. 3 suspected militants carrying explosives on their bodies were
killed when their bombs went off just outside the southern city of
Ghazni. Also in Ghazni, two Afghan army soldiers were killed when their
vehicle struck a roadside bomb in the province's Ander district.
(AP, 4/14/07)(AFP, 4/14/07)
2007 Apr 14, Thousands of landless
workers invaded government property in Brazil's arid northeast to try
to stop a controversial river-diversion project. About 7,500 people
invaded plots of government-owned land near Petrolina, 1,360 miles
north of Sao Paulo in Pernambuco state.
(AP, 4/16/07)
2007 Apr 14, The population of
Brazil numbered about 188 million people.
(Econ, 4/14/07, SR p.3)
2007 Apr 14, June Callwood (82),
often described as Canada's social conscience, died.
(Reuters, 4/14/07)
2007 Apr 14, A Chinese rocket
placed a navigation satellite in orbit as part of an effort to build a
global positioning system.
(AP, 4/14/07)
2007 Apr 14, The Egyptian state
news agency MENA said that Neo-Nazis had attacked an Egyptian diplomat
in the Ukrainian capital Kiev. The Ukrainian government has said it
deeply regrets the incident.
(Reuters, 4/14/07)
2007 Apr 14, A video showing a
German army instructor telling one of his soldiers to envision
African-Americans in the Bronx while firing his machine gun was
broadcast on national television. The Defense Ministry said the video
was shot in July 2006 at barracks in the northern town of Rendsburg and
that the army has been aware of it since January.
(AP, 4/14/07)
2007 Apr 14, A car bomb blasted
through a busy bus station near one of Iraq's holiest shrines, killing
47 people and over 200 wounded. The bombing occurred about 200 yards
from the Imam Hussein shrine in Karbala. At least 16 children were
among the dead. A suicide car bomb killed 10 people on Jadriyah bridge
in downtown Baghdad, the second attack on a span over the Tigris river
this week. 4 would-be suicide attackers were killed in Kirkuk when one
of them detonated his explosives belt prematurely. 3 civilians and a
policeman were killed in drive-by shootings in Fallujah and Hillah.
American troops captured 17 suspected insurgents, including an alleged
al-Qaida in Iraq member, during raids. Two US soldiers were killed.
(AP, 4/14/07)(AP, 4/15/07)(AP, 4/17/07)
2007 Apr 14, In Mexico a speeding
bus crashed into a tractor-trailer outside the border city of Ciudad
Juarez, killing 28 people and injuring 11 others.
(AP, 4/15/07)(AP, 4/15/07)
2007 Apr 14, In Morocco 2 brothers
strapped with explosives blew themselves up near the US consulate.
Moroccan officials said they had discovered a broader suicide bombing
conspiracy.
(AP, 4/14/07)
2007 Apr 14, Voters went to the
polls in Nigeria to choose their state officers in the first of a pair
of elections meant to solidify civilian rule. PDP gunmen beat up
opponents, snatched ballot boxes and stuffed them with pre-marked
ballots. Gunmen killed seven policemen in raids on two police stations
in Port Harcourt.
(AP, 4/14/07)(AFP, 4/14/07)(Econ, 4/28/07, p.56)
2007 Apr 14, North Korea missed a
deadline for shutting down its main nuclear reactor, and a key US
negotiator said the country must keep the disarmament program from
foundering.
(AP, 4/14/07)
2007 Apr 14, Russian police
detained Garry Kasparov, former world chess champion and leader of one
of Russia's strongest opposition movements, and at least 100 other
activists as they gathered for a forbidden anti-Kremlin demonstration
in central Moscow.
(AP, 4/14/07)
2007 Apr 14, Suspected Tamil Tiger
rebels shot dead five people in eastern Sri Lanka, as the country
marked the traditional New Year and the president appealed for national
unity.
(AP, 4/14/07)
2007 Apr 14, In Sudan unidentified
gunmen killed a Ghanaian military officer in the African Union's
peacekeeping force in the Darfur region and hijacked his car within
yards of the AU mission's headquarters. The dead officer was the ninth
peacekeeper slain this month, raising to 18 the number of AU soldiers
killed since the mission deployed in 2004.
(AP, 4/15/07)
2007 Apr 14, Syria distanced
itself from comments by a Syrian-American businessman who recently told
Israeli lawmakers that President Bashar Assad was ready to make peace
with the Jewish state.
(AP, 4/14/07)
2007 Apr 14, Flash floods swept
over two waterfalls on a southern Thai mountain packed with picnickers
and swimmers celebrating the country's New Year, killing at least 35
people and leaving dozens more missing.
(AP, 4/15/07)
2007 Apr 14, More than 200,000
Turks protested against Turkey's Islamic-rooted PM Recep Tayyip
Erdogan, demonstrating the intense opposition he could face from
Turkey's secular establishment if he decides to run for president next
month. A bus full of second-graders crashed into a truck in central
Turkey, killing at least 32 people, most of them children.
(AP, 4/14/07)
2007 Apr 14, Uganda's government
and a rebel group responsible for one of Africa's longest and most
brutal wars signed a new truce and agreed to resume stalled peace talks
later this month. Joseph Kony, The elusive leader of the rebel Lord's
Resistance Army, witnessed the signing in Ri-Kwangba, Sudan.
(AP, 4/15/07)
2007 Apr 15, Airlines canceled
over 400 flights in the NYC area as a hard-blowing nor'easter gathered
strength along the East Coast. The storm out of the Great Plains was
already blamed for 5 deaths.
(AP, 4/15/07)(SFC, 4/16/07, p.A4)
2007 Apr 15, Researchers reported
that cells that are supposed to nourish and support other nerve cells
instead secrete the poisons that cause amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
(ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig's disease.
(Reuters, 4/15/07)
2007 Apr 15, Scientists unveiled
the world’s tiniest eyedropper, capable of squeezing out zeptoliter
droplets.
(SFC, 4/16/07, p.A9)
2007 Apr 15, A fire in Quincy,
Illinois, killed 5 children. Police arrested Zachary Meeks (27), a
cousin who had a grudge with the victim’s parents stemming from a
drug-related prison sentence.
(SFC, 4/16/07, p.A5)
2007 Apr 15, Brant Parker (86),
collaborator with Johnny Hart on the “Wizard of Id” (1964) cartoon
strip, died in Lynchburg, Va. In 1997 Parker handed the illustration of
the cartoon over to his son, Jeff Parker.
(SFC, 4/9/07, p.B3)
2007 Apr 15, Afghanistan's
government promised to end all hostage deals with the Taliban after two
Afghan kidnap victims were executed in an agreement to free an Italian
journalist. In southern Afghanistan a suicide bomber targeted a
private US security firm, killing up to four Afghans working for the
company and wounding another. In Ghazni province, southwest of Kabul, a
clash between Afghan forces and insurgents left 15 militants dead and
15 wounded. Police and US-led coalition forces attacked suspected
Taliban insurgents crossing from Pakistan into Afghanistan, killing 10
militants and wounding 15.
(AFP, 4/15/07)(AP, 4/16/07)
2007 Apr 15, Authorities in
Bangladesh arrested a second son of former prime minister Khaleda Zia,
as the military-backed interim government stepped up its
anti-corruption drive. Arafat Rahman (36) was released the next day.
(AFP, 4/16/07)(AP, 4/17/07)
2007 Apr 15, In Belgium 2 men
hijacked a helicopter and forced the pilot to land in a prison
courtyard, where they picked up an inmate in a dramatic jailbreak.
RTL-TVI identified the fugitive as a Frenchman who was in pretrial
detention on charges of fraud and theft.
(AP, 4/15/07)
2007 Apr 15, Blind British aviator
Miles Hilton-Barber, With the aid of co-copilot Richard Meredith-Hardy,
landed his microlight aircraft in Jakarta to complete another leg of
his London-Sydney charity flight.
(AFP, 4/15/07)
2007 Apr 15, Ecuadoreans voted on
whether to create a special assembly to rewrite their constitution.
Exit polls said voters overwhelmingly supported Pres. Correa's plan to
remake the nation's system of government and weaken its discredited
Congress.
(AP, 4/15/07)(AP, 4/16/07)
2007 Apr 15, Iran said it is
seeking bids for the building of two more nuclear power plants, despite
international pressures to curb its controversial program.
(AP, 4/15/07)
2007 Apr 15, Four bombs exploded
in predominantly Shiite sections of Baghdad, killing at least 37 people
in a renewal of sectarian carnage. Many women and children were among
the casualties. North of Baghdad, two British helicopters crashed after
an apparent mid-air collision, killing two service members. The number
of bodies found dumped in Baghdad increased sharply to 30. The number
of detainees held in US-run facilities in Iraq reached 18,000, with an
average stay of one year.
(AP, 4/15/07)(SSFC, 4/15/07, p.A7)(AP, 4/16/07)
2007 Apr 15, Israeli and
Palestinian leaders discussed the outlines of Palestinian statehood for
the first time in six years, taking a modest step toward breaking the
long paralysis in peacemaking.
(AP, 4/16/07)
2007 Apr 15, A 14-year-old matador
who left Spain to escape his home country's ban on young bullfighters
was nearly gored to death in a Mexican City ring, his lung punctured by
a 900-pound bull.
(AP, 4/16/07)
2007 Apr 15, Nigeria's mass daily
newspapers reported that dozens of people died during state elections,
as results began to emerge from state elections that were marred by
rigging and violence.
(AP, 4/15/07)(Reuters, 4/15/07)
2007 Apr 15, In Pakistan some
100,000 people rallied in Karachi against a radical Islamic mosque and
seminary that launched a Taliban-style anti-vice campaign in Islamabad
last week.
(AP, 4/16/07)
2007 Apr 15, Three explosions hit
Gaza City, damaging two Internet cafes and a Christian bookstore.
Palestinian security officials have said they suspect a secret "vice
squad" of Muslim militants.
(AP, 4/15/07)
2007 Apr 15, Philippine marines
killed at least 8 Muslim rebels and captured two of their camps in
retaliation for a series of attacks that killed a child and two
soldiers.
(AP, 4/15/07)
2007 Apr 15, Russia launched its
first new generation nuclear submarine since the fall of the Soviet
Union, as the Kremlin seeks to upgrade its undersea nuclear strike
force. Russia began construction of its first floating nuclear power
plant, and planned to build at least six more despite long-standing
environmental concerns that they are vulnerable to accidents at sea. In
St. Petersburg, Russia, club-swinging riot police clashed with
opposition supporters as an anti-Kremlin protest dispersed. Police
chased small groups of demonstrators, beating some on the ground and
hauling them into police buses.
(AP, 4/15/07)(Reuters, 4/15/07)
2007 Apr 15, In Russia a
keel-laying ceremony was held in Severodvinsk, on the White Sea, for
the new 460-foot Mikhail Lomonosov, a $360 million demonstration ship
capable of providing 76-megawatts of nuclear power to an onshore
location. Completion was expected in 2010 with construction of new
ships to start annually.
(WSJ, 8/21/07, p.A13)
2007 Apr 15, The official Saudi
news agency reported that Sudan has signed a joint agreement with the
UN and the African Union that defines their respective roles in Darfur.
(AP, 4/16/07)
2007 Apr 16, Carrie Underwood's
dark hit "Before He Cheats" won video of the year, female video and
best video director at the fan-voted CMT Music Awards.
(AP, 4/16/08)
2007 Apr 16, Shootings in a dorm
and classroom at Virginia Tech left 32 people dead. Two people died in
a dorm room, and 31 others were killed in Norris Hall, including the
gunman, who put a bullet in his head. At least 15 people were hurt,
some seriously. Two professors from India and Israel were among the
dead at the Virginia Tech shooting, the deadliest in US history. The
gunman was a South Korean national named Cho Seung-Hui (23). Cho was an
undergraduate student in his senior year majoring in English who lived
on campus. His residence was in Centerville, Virginia, and he had
resident alien status. Between shootings Seung-Hui took time to e-mail
videos, photos and writings to NBC. Virginia law allowed Cho to buy one
gun each month. In 2009 Lucinda Roy, head of English at Virginia Tech,
authored “No Right To Remain Silent: The Tragedy at Virginia Tech.”
(AP, 4/16/07)(AP, 4/17/07)(AFP, 4/17/07)(WSJ,
4/19/07, p.A1)(Econ, 4/21/07, p.27)(Econ, 4/11/09, p.32)
2007 Apr 16, The board overseeing
operations at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport ruled that
taxi drivers who refuse service to travelers carrying alcohol face
tougher penalties despite protests from Muslim cabbies who sought a
compromise for religious reasons.
(Reuters, 4/16/07)
2007 Apr 16, Robert Cheruiyot of
Kenya won his 3rd Boston Marathon in 2:14:13. Russia’s Lidiya
Grigoryeva won in 2:29:18.
(WSJ, 4/17/07, p.A1)
2007 Apr 16, A consortium of
financial companies agreed to acquire Sallie Mae, America’s leading
provider of student loans and administrator of college savings plans,
for $25 billion. In a recent settlement Sallie Mae agree to adopt a
code of conduct and to pay $2 million into a fund to educate students
about loans.
(SFC, 4/17/07, p.B1)(Econ, 4/14/07, p.86)
2007 Apr 16, In northern
Afghanistan a suicide bomber ran onto a police training field in Kunduz
and blew himself up, killing up to 10 policemen and wounding dozens of
others.
(AP, 4/16/07)
2007 Apr 16, Hassan Hattab, the
founder of the group that claimed responsibility for last week's deadly
Algiers bombings, called on militants to put down their weapons under a
government amnesty and stop trying to turn Algeria into a "second
Iraq." Hattab made the comments in a published letter to President
Abdelaziz Bouteflika.
(Reuters, 4/16/07)
2007 Apr 16, Indians from across
Brazil pitched black plastic tents in front of government buildings to
demand that officials discuss with them infrastructure projects they
claim could have a negative impact on their ancestral lands.
(AP, 4/16/07)
2007 Apr 16, Thousands of BBC
staff across Britain held a silent vigil to remember its kidnapped Gaza
correspondent Alan Johnston after a Palestinian group said it had
killed him. Johnston was snatched at gunpoint on March 12 as he
returned to his Gaza City home. Johnston was not killed and was freed
on July 4.
(AFP, 4/16/07)(AP, 7/5/07)
2007 Apr 16, Scientists reported
that Britain once had around 25 native species of bumblebee, but three
of those have been wiped out in the past 50 years and 10 more are now
severely threatened.
(Reuters, 4/16/07)
2007 Apr 16, In southwest China
about 450 people, including 135 school students, were hospitalized
after a fertilizer plant discharged a "huge amount" of sulfur dioxide.
A state-run newspaper said China's massive Yangtze river, a lifeline
for tens of millions of people, is seriously polluted and the damage is
almost irreversible.
(AP, 4/16/07)(AFP, 4/18/07)
2007 Apr 16, A top rebel leader of
Colombia's second-largest guerrilla group (ELN) said the group is ready
to "immediately" begin talks to reach a cease-fire with the country's
government.
(AP, 4/17/07)
2007 Apr 16, Most of Cuba's
leading opposition groups issued a joint statement declaring they were
united in their struggle for peaceful change toward democracy on the
island.
(AP, 4/16/07)
2007 Apr 16, The staff of an
Indian news channel in Mumbai was attacked and its offices ransacked by
dozens of Hindu protestors after it broadcast an interview with a
runaway couple, a teenage Hindu girl and a young Muslim man. In
southern India a passenger train crashed into a minibus carrying local
council officials at an unmanned rail crossing, killing 11 people and
injuring another 12 in the vehicle.
(AP, 4/16/07)(Reuters, 4/16/07)
2007 Apr 16, In Iran 2 Swedish
construction workers, who had been convicted of espionage and
imprisoned for taking photographs of military installations, were
released after being pardoned.
(AP, 4/17/07)
2007 Apr 16, Six Iraqi cabinet
ministers loyal to the radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr resigned
to protest the prime minister's refusal to set a timetable for an
American withdrawal. In Mosul a university dean, a professor, a
policeman's son and 13 soldiers died near there in attacks that bore
the marks of al-Qaida. In Ramadi US forces mistakenly killed three
Iraqi police officers during a raid targeting al-Qaida in Iraq members.
Thousands of Iraqis upset about poor city services marched peacefully
through the streets of Basra, demanding the provincial governor's
resignation. Nationwide, at least 51 people were killed or found dead.
3 US soldiers and two Marines were killed. One Marine died in a
"non-hostile incident" while on patrol in western Anbar province.
(AP, 4/16/07)(AP, 4/17/07)
2007 Apr 16, Four Iraqi men were
blindfolded, shot in the head and dumped in a Baghdad canal. In 2008
the US Army charged 7 soldiers assigned to 1st Battalion, 18th Infantry
Regiment, for their role in the alleged retribution killings. In August
the Army held Article 32 hearings investigating the involvement of
Staff Sgt. Jess Cunningham and Sgt. Charles Quigley in the incident.
They have been charged with conspiracy to commit murder. In September,
2008, Spc. Belmor Ramos (23), of Clearfield, Utah, pleaded guilty to
conspiracy to murder and was sentenced to seven months in prison and
given a dishonorable discharge. Spc. Steven Ribordy (25) of Salina,
Kansas, pleaded guilty on Oct 1, 2008, to charges of accessory to
murder and was sentenced to eight months in prison. In 2008 Sgt.
Michael P. Leahy Jr. (26) was court-martialed on charges of murder in
the killings. Two remaining soldiers said to be involved in the
incident, Sgt. John E. Hatley (40) and Sgt. 1st Class Joseph P. Mayo
(27) faced charges of murder, conspiracy to commit murder and
obstruction of justice. On Feb 20, 2009, Leahy was convicted of murder
and sentenced to life in prison. In March 2009 Sgt. Mayo pleaded guilty
to charges of premeditated murder and conspiracy and was sentenced to
35 years in prison. On April 15, 2009, John Hatley was convicted of
murder. He was sentenced the next day to life in prison with the
possibility of parole. In August the army reduced Hatley’s sentence to
40 years; the sentences against Leahy and Mayo were reduced to 20 years.
(AP, 9/17/08)(AP, 9/18/08)(AP, 10/2/08)(AP,
11/12/08)(AP, 1/13/09)(AP, 2/20/09)(AP, 3/30/09)(AP, 4/16/09)(AP,
8/14/09)
2007 Apr 16, Five young Japanese
were found dead inside a sealed van in an apparent group suicide.
(AP, 4/16/07)
2007 Apr 16, A quarter of the 1.5
million women in Mauritania a barren, dune-enveloped country more than
twice the size of Texas, are obese, according to the World Health
Organization. That's lower than the 40 percent of American women who
the WHO says are obese, but surprisingly high in a country that has not
a single fast-food franchise. Obesity is popular across much of the
Arab world. Nomadic peoples struggling to survive the harsh desert came
to prize fatness as a sign of health.
(AP, 4/16/07)
2007 Apr 16, Police found 17
bodies stuffed in cars or dumped on streets in garbage bags across
Mexico in the latest wave of violence apparently triggered by warring
drug gangs.
(AP, 4/17/07)
2007 Apr 16, Nepal's Maoists
demanded that the country immediately scrap the monarchy and declare
itself a republic amid probable delays in an election over the issue.
(AFP, 4/16/07)
2007 Apr 16, Nicaraguan police
announced the arrest of more than two dozen local members of Mexico's
powerful Sinaloa drug cartel but said they were still seeking the
group's leader.
(AP, 4/16/07)
2007 Apr 16, Nigeria's Supreme
Court ruled that the country's electoral commission unlawfully
disqualified a top opposition politician once allied with the president
from running to replace his former mentor.
(AP, 4/16/07)
2007 Apr 16, A World Bank study
said that Palestinian industry is "bound to fail" unless Israel lifts
tight restrictions on trade and movement of people and goods in the
Palestinian territories. , The Palestinian information minister said
China and Switzerland said they will deal with the new Palestinian
unity government made up of the moderate Fatah movement and the Islamic
militant Hamas group.
(AP, 4/16/07)
2007 Apr 16, Foreign Minister Lam
Akol said Sudan will accept UN attack helicopters in its Darfur region
as part of a support package for the African Union force struggling to
maintain peace in its vast west. US Deputy Secretary of State John
Negroponte said the janjaweed militia, accused of widespread atrocities
in Darfur, is actively supported by the Sudanese government.
(Reuters, 4/16/07)
2007 Apr 17, A new survey said US
household with a net worth of $5 million, excluding primary home,
totaled one million in 2006, up from 250,000 in 1996.
(WSJ, 4/18/07, p.A1)
2007 Apr 17, In Maryland a wall
collapsed at the Tri-Star Mining open pit coal mine near Barton. 2
miners were killed.
(SFC, 4/21/07, p.A3)
2007 Apr 17, Kitty Carlisle Hart
(b.1910), stage and film singer and actress, died in New York.
(AP,
4/17/08)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kitty_Carlisle_Hart)
2007 Apr 17, US Marine Gen. Peter
Pace said US-led coalition forces in southern Afghanistan recently
intercepted Iranian-made weapons that were being shipped to Taliban
fighters. A roadside bomb hit a United Nations vehicle in southern
Afghanistan's main city, killing four Nepalese guards and an Afghan
driver. An old artillery shell exploded outside a school compound in
the western city of Herat, killing four children and wounding five
others. Afghan troops searched a compound and discovered 18 rocket
propelled grenades and 27 AK-47 weapons. The compound's guard later
confessed that he commanded more than 100 Taliban fighters.
(AP, 4/17/07)(SFC, 4/18/07, p.A9)(AP, 4/19/07)
2007 Apr 17, Argentina said will
not send former junta leader Jorge Videla to Germany to face charges in
the March, 1977, abduction and murder of activist Elisabeth Kaesemann,
a German woman, during the Dirty War. Her bullet-riddled body was later
found dumped on the outskirts of Buenos Aires.
(AP, 4/18/07)
2007 Apr 17, Australian officials
said that the US and Australia signed an agreement last week to
exchange a few hundred refugees held at island detention camps in an
effort by both governments to discourage future asylum seekers.
(Reuters, 4/17/07)
2007 Apr 17, In Brazil shootouts
involving drug gangs and police in Rio left at least 20 alleged gang
members dead.
(AP, 4/17/07)
2007 Apr 17, The British pound
broke through the $2 mark for the first time in nearly 15 years after
new data showed an unexpected surge in inflation, prompting speculation
of interest rate increases.
(AP, 4/17/07)
2007 Apr 17, Canada’s Parliament
passed a law that will force striking workers at Canadian National
Railway to return to the job.
(Reuters, 4/18/07)
2007 Apr 17, In China state media
said Ablikim Abdureyim, the son of a prominent US-based Chinese Muslim
activist, was sentenced in Urumqi, capital of the Muslim Xinjiang
region, to nine years in prison on subversion charges. Abdureyim's
mother, Rebiya Kadeer, once was one of China's most prominent
businesswomen. She was detained in 1999 and sentenced to 8 years in
prison on charges of endangering state security but was allowed to
leave for the United States in 2005.
(AP, 4/17/07)
2007 Apr 17, Guinea-Bissau's new
PM Martinho Ndafa Cabi announced an opposition-dominated government
after being chosen to lead the poor west African nation following a
political crisis.
(AFP, 4/17/07)
2007 Apr 17, Iraqi PM Nouri
al-Malaki said his government was talking with militant groups to try
to stop the violence. Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, a top insurgent leader,
boasted that his al-Qaida-linked group was now making its own rockets,
posting the claim in an audiotape online. Al-Baghdadi's group posted a
Web statement saying its religious court had condemned 20 kidnapped
Iraqi soldiers to death. The deputy chief of Mosul police was killed in
a drive-by shooting along with two of his guards. In Ramadi police
uncovered 17 decomposing corpses beneath two school yards. More than
100 bodies turned up across Iraq.
(AP, 4/17/07)(AP, 4/18/07)(WSJ, 4/18/07, p.A1)
2007 Apr 17, Israel's Shin Bet
security agency said that it has broken up an Iranian plot to recruit
Israelis of Iranian origin as spies, part of what it says is a
burgeoning Iranian intelligence operation against the Jewish state.
Israeli troops shot and killed a Palestinian militant near Jenin. Four
Israelis were shot and wounded as they were driving near the West Bank
Jewish settlement of Naaleh.
(AP, 4/17/07)
2007 Apr 17, In Rome a US soldier
went on trial in absentia for the shooting death of Italian
intelligence agent Nicola Calipari at an Iraqi checkpoint in March
2005. However, a court later threw out the proceedings against Spc.
Mario Lozano, saying Italy had no jurisdiction.
(AP, 4/17/08)
2007 Apr 17, In Japan the mayor of
Nagasaki was shot outside a train station and is in critical condition.
Police arrested Tetsuya Shiroo (59), who they said was the head of a
local gang affiliated with Japan's largest "yakuza" group, the
Yamaguchi-gumi. Mayor Itcho Ito (61) died the next day. The gangster
arrested in the shooting had visited city offices more than 30 times
seeking compensation for car damage caused by a pothole. In 2008 Shiroo
was convicted and sentenced to death for the murder.
(AP, 4/17/07)(Reuters, 4/18/07)(AP, 4/19/07)(AP,
5/26/08)
2007 Apr 17, Nigeria's electoral
commission said it would comply with a Supreme Court ruling that the
vice president be placed on the ballot for this weekend's presidential
elections, as sporadic violence was reported around the country. 18
Nigerian opposition parties threatened to boycott the presidential and
legislative elections if the April 14 regional polls were not
cancelled. 12 Nigerian police were killed when an unknown armed group
stormed their station in the northern city of Kano.
(AP, 4/17/07)(AFP, 4/18/07)
2007 Apr 17, Pakistan executed
four brothers convicted of killing 13 of their relatives in a feud over
land. A video began circulating showing the grisly death of Ghulam
Nabi, a Pakistani militant accused of betraying a top Taliban official
who was killed in a December airstrike in Afghanistan. The video showed
a boy about 12 hacking off the head of Nabi.
(AP, 4/17/07)(AP, 4/21/07)
2007 Apr 17, Sri Lankan
authorities have issued a death threat against Champika Liyanaarachchi,
a newspaper editor for reporting on military excesses and human rights
abuses.
(AFP, 4/18/07)
2007 Apr 17, State radio said
Zimbabwe has deregistered all non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and
told them to submit new applications to try to weed out groups it says
are trying to oust President Robert Mugabe.
(AP, 4/17/07)
2007 Apr 18, The US Supreme Court,
in a 5-4 ruling, upheld the 2003 nationwide ban on a controversial
abortion procedure known as dilation and extraction, handing abortion
opponents the long-awaited victory they expected from a more
conservative bench.
(AP, 4/18/07)(Econ, 4/21/07, p.34)
2007 Apr 18, The DJIA rose 30.80
to a record 12,803.84. Nasdaq fell 6.45 to 2,510.
(SFC, 4/19/07, p.C1)(WSJ, 4/19/07, p.C1)
2007 Apr 18, US research found
that Ethanol-fueled vehicles could contribute to more illnesses and
deaths from respiratory disease than gasoline-powered cars and trucks.
(AFP, 4/18/07)
2007 Apr 18, More than 100
journalists protested a police raid ordered by Afghanistan's attorney
general on a private TV station that has fueled concern over growing
government harassment of the media. Afghan and US-led coalition forces
clashed with Taliban fighters and called in an airstrike in southern
Afghanistan, leaving 24 suspected militants dead and two coalition
soldiers wounded. Three other suspected militants were reported killed
in the western provinces. In eastern Afghanistan coalition and Afghan
forces arrested five suspected al-Qaida. A US-led coalition convoy hit
a boy in Kabul and killed him.
(AP, 4/18/07)(AP, 4/19/07)
2007 Apr 18, A catamaran was
discovered deserted off Australia’s Great Barrier Reef with the sails
up, engine running and food on the table. Its crew of 3 was last seen
April 15.
(AP, 4/21/07)
2007 Apr 18, Bangladesh's
military-backed emergency government exiled opposition leader Sheikh
Hasina Wajed as it stepped up a massive purge of the crisis-wracked
country's political hierarchy.
(AP, 4/18/07)
2007 Apr 18, The British Foreign
Office expressed disappointment and disagreement with a National Union
of Journalists vote to call for a boycott on Israeli goods.
(AP, 4/18/07)
2007 Apr 18, A report said Britain
has the worst level of drug abuse in Europe, and the second highest
level of drug-related deaths.
(AFP, 4/18/07)
2007 Apr 18, Burundi, Rwanda, the
Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda adopted a joint military
strategy to fight rebel groups operating in the war-scarred Great Lakes
region.
(AP, 4/19/07)
2007 Apr 18, The futuristic No.
D460 bullet train departed Shanghai Station, heralding a new era of
high-speed rail travel in China. In northeast China at least 32 workers
were killed and two injured when they were engulfed in white-hot molten
steel in a metal factory.
(AFP, 4/18/07)(AP, 4/18/07)(Econ, 5/19/07, p.70)
2007 Apr 18, In Colombia thousands
of people were evacuated after a long-dormant volcano erupted,
provoking avalanches and floods that swept away houses and bridges. The
Nevado del Huila volcano's eruptions were its first on record since
Colombia was colonized by the Spanish 500 years ago.
(AP, 4/18/07)
2007 Apr 18, At least 16 Egyptian
secondary school students were killed on their way to school when a
truck they were riding in collided head-on with another vehicle south
of Cairo.
(AP, 4/18/07)
2007 Apr 18, Ultrasound machines
in India, primarily sold by GE, were reported to be linked to a
declining sex ratio, even though laws forbade doctors from disclosing
the sex of fetuses. Females fetuses were widely aborted due to high
dowry costs.
(WSJ, 4/18/07, p.A1)
2007 Apr 18, Iraq’s Pres. Maliki
declared that Iraqi forces would take over security of the entire
country by the end of this year. A few hours later a parked car bomb
detonated in a crowd of workers at the Sadriyah market in central
Baghdad, killing some 140 people and wounding 148 including men who
were rebuilding the market after a Feb. 3 bombing left 137 dead. A
suicide car bomber crashed into an Iraqi police checkpoint at an
entrance to Sadr City killing at least 30 people, including five Iraqi
security officers. A parked car exploded near a private hospital in the
central neighborhood of Karradah, killing 11 people and wounding 13. A
fourth explosion from a bomb left on a minibus in the northwestern
Risafi area, killed four people and wounded six others. 4 policemen
were killed when gunmen ambushed their patrol south of the city center.
US troops killed five suspected insurgents and captured 30 others in a
raid in Anbar province. A suspected insurgent was killed and eight
captured in two raids north of Baghdad. More than 230 people died in
one of the war's deadliest episodes of violence. Britain turned Maysan
province over to Iraqi rule.
(AP, 4/18/07)(AP, 4/19/07)(SFC, 4/19/07,
p.A10)(Econ, 4/21/07, p.54)
2007 Apr 18, Mexican police and
soldiers battled gunmen at a hospital in Tijuana in violence that left
at least three people dead before the authorities subdued the
attackers. Authorities said next day that the gunmen were hit men for
the city's Arellano Felix drug cartel.
(AP, 4/18/07)(AP, 4/19/07)
2007 Apr 18, Scientists in the
Netherlands said they have discovered a fungus in elephant dung that
will help them break down fibers and wood into biofuel.
(Reuters, 4/18/07)
2007 Apr 18, Nigeria's government
rejected an opposition call to postpone the presidential election
following widespread abuses in state polls last weekend. Nigerian
soldiers killed at least 25 Islamic militants, in the second day of
violent clashes in Kano.
(AFP, 4/18/07)(Reuters, 4/18/07)
2007 Apr 18, Russian police raided
Educated Media Foundation, an independent Russian organization. Police
said the search was linked to a criminal case launched against the
director after she failed to declare some $12,500 in cash she brought
into the country on January 21. Foundation President Manana Aslamazyan
said this was likely linked to growing government pressure on
Western-funded NGOs. Aslamazyan fled to Paris and authorities shuttered
the foundation.
(AP, 4/20/07)(AP, 4/24/07)(SFC, 6/30/07, p.A7)
2007 Apr 18, In Somalia overnight
street battles in Mogadishu left at least 11 people dead and dozens
others injured.
(AP, 4/18/07)
2007 Apr 18, In central Turkey
assailants in Malatya tied up three people at a publishing house that
distributes Bibles and then slit their throats. Tilmann Geske (46), a
German missionary, and two Turkish Christians were killed. Five young
men were detained and charged with murder; they allegedly said they
killed to protect Islam.
(AP, 4/18/07)(AP, 4/24/07)
2007 Apr 18, The UN Security
Council expressed "serious concern" at mounting reports of weapons
being smuggled from Syria to Lebanon and authorized an independent
mission to evaluate monitoring of the border between the two countries.
(AP, 4/18/07)
2007 Apr 19, US Senate Majority
Leader Harry Reid offered a bleak assessment of Iraq, saying the war
was "lost," triggering an angry backlash by Republicans.
(AP, 4/19/08)
2007 Apr 19, One-time CEO Joe
Nacchio was found guilty of illegally selling $52 million in stock amid
an accounting scandal that nearly sank Qwest Communications. The jury
acquitted Nacchio of all 23 insider trading counts involving sales
before April 2001 but convicted him on 19 counts tied to sales of 1.33
million shares for $52 million in gross proceeds from April 26 to May
29, 2001.
(AP, 4/20/07)
2007 Apr 19, Luis Posada Carriles
(79), an anti-Castro exile wanted in Cuba for the 1976 bombing of a
Cuban airliner, was freed from a New Mexico jail after he posted
$250,000 bond and his family put up another $100,000. He must wear an
electronic monitoring device while under house arrest at his wife's
home in Miami pending his May 11 trial on immigration fraud charges.
Posada's immigration case was later thrown out by a federal judge, but
the government appealed.
(AP, 4/20/07)(AP, 4/19/08)
2007 Apr 19, A Brooklyn jury
convicted Gerald Garson, a former matrimonial court judge, of taking
bribes. His arrest in 2003 prompted investigations into judicial
corruption.
(www.cnn.com/2007/LAW/04/20/judge.cigar.ap/index.html)
2007 Apr 19, A jury in Selmer,
Tenn., convicted Mary Winkler of voluntary manslaughter in the shooting
death of her preacher-husband, Matthew. Winkler spent seven months in
custody, with two months served in a mental facility.
(AP, 4/19/08)
2007 Apr 19, The DJIA rose 4.79 to
a record 12,808.63. Nasdaq fell 5.15 to 2,505.
(SFC, 4/20/07, p.D1)
2007 Apr 19, Helen Robson Walton
(b.1919), widow of Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton, died in Bentonville,
Ark. She had pushed for a profit-sharing plan for employees in the
Wal-Mart’s early days and demanded that the family live in a small,
rural town.
(WSJ, 4/21/07, p.A6)
2007 Apr 19, British aerospace
engine maker Rolls-Royce said that it will withdraw from Sudan, citing
"increasing international humanitarian concerns" in the
violence-scarred region of Darfur.
(AP, 4/19/07)
2007 Apr 19, China jailed Huseyin
Celil (37), a Uighur-Canadian, for life for separatism and terrorism
and warned Canada not to get involved even as Ottawa announced it would
send its foreign minister to discuss the case. Celil was detained in
Uzbekistan in March 2006 when he was visiting relatives and sent to
China last June.
(Reuters, 4/19/07)
2007 Apr 19, In Cuba the Committee
to Protect Journalists denounced the Apr 13 arrest and sentencing of
Oscar Sanchez Madan (44), an independent Cuban journalist, who wrote
critical articles about dissident groups and the hardships of island
life.
(AP, 4/19/07)
2007 Apr 19, European Union
members agreed to new rules to combat racism and hate crimes across the
27-nation bloc, including setting jail sentences against those who deny
or trivialize the Holocaust.
(AP, 4/19/07)
2007 Apr 19, Former Rwandan army
major Bernard Ntuyahaga went on trial in Brussels, charged with the
murder of 10 Belgian peacekeepers and the Rwandan prime minister in
1994.
(AP, 4/19/07)
2007 Apr 19, Iranian engineers
began filling a new dam as archaeologists warned that its reservoir
will flood newly discovered antiquities and could damage Iran's
grandest site, the ancient Persian capital of Persepolis.
(AP, 4/19/07)
2007 Apr 19, A Sunni insurgent
coalition posted Web videos naming the head of al-Qaida in Iraq as
"minister of war" and showing the execution of 20 men it said were
members of the Iraqi military and security forces. A suicide bomber
breached Baghdad's heavy security presence, killing at least 12 people
and wounded 34 in a mostly Shiite district. A US Marine in a rocket
attack on a base south of Baghdad.
(AP, 4/19/07)(AP, 4/20/07)
2007 Apr 19, Israeli Knesset
speaker Dalia Yitzik arrived in Jordan, the second Israeli official to
visit the Arab kingdom this week for talks on ways to revive
Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking.
(AP, 4/19/07)
2007 Apr 19, Kyrgyzstan police
used tear gas and stun grenades to disperse thousands of opposition
protesters who had marched to the president's office in Bishkek to
demand his resignation.
(AP, 4/19/07)
2007 Apr 19, President Sidi
Mohamed Ould Cheikh Abdallahi took over from a military junta as
Mauritania's civilian head of state.
(Reuters, 4/19/07)
2007 Apr 19, North and South Korea
formally opened economic aid talks, after a delay caused by Pyongyang's
insistence that Seoul pledge food assistance to the impoverished nation
despite its failure to live up to a pact on nuclear disarmament.
(AP, 4/19/07)
2007 Apr 19, Chanting "down with
Talibanization," hundreds of human rights activists marched through
Pakistani cities, urging the government to rein in clerics who have
launched an anti-vice campaign in the capital.
(AP, 4/19/07)
2007 Apr 19, The heads of seven
men who were kidnapped by Muslim extremists on a volatile southern
island were delivered to a Philippine army detachment. The men, six
road project workers and a dried-fish factory worker, were kidnapped at
gunpoint in two separate incidents April 16 near the town of Parang. A
group of civilians was ordered to take the heads to Parang by Muslim
rebel commander Habier Malik.
(AP, 4/19/07)
2007 Apr 19, Romania's parliament
voted to suspend the popular president who ushered in economic and
social reforms to help the country join the European Union, accusing
him of abusing his constitutional powers. President Traian Basescu had
earlier vowed to resign "within five minutes" if lawmakers voted to
suspend him. His resignation would prompt a new election within three
months, and he has said he would run again for office. Former president
Nicolae Vacaroiu (1992-1996) became acting president.
(AP, 4/19/07)(Econ, 4/28/07, p.61)
2007 Apr 19, Rwanda filed a case
against France at the UN's highest court in The Hague over a French
request that President Paul Kagame be tried by the Rwanda war crimes
tribunal.
(AP, 4/19/07)
2007 Apr 19, In Somalia fighting
between Ethiopian troops and insurgents left at least 12 people dead in
Mogadishu, while a suicide car bomb exploded at an Ethiopian army base.
(AP, 4/20/07)
2007 Apr 19, A Sudanese rebel
group said government aircraft destroyed a village in northern Darfur
in an air strike.
(Reuters, 4/19/07)
2007 Apr 19, Venezuela launched a
Zeppelin to patrol Caracas, seeking to fight crime in one of Latin
America's most dangerous cities but also raising fears that President
Hugo Chavez could be turning into Big Brother.
(Reuters, 4/19/07)
2007 Apr 19, In Zimbabwe 82
members of the Women of Zimbabwe Arise group were arrested in Bulawayo
during a protest against power outages. 18 of the women were stripped
and jailed for hours.
(SFC, 4/23/07, p.A10)
2007 Apr 20, Vermont senators
voted to call for the impeachment of President Bush and Vice President
Dick Cheney, saying their actions have raised "serious questions of
constitutionality."
(AP, 4/20/07)
2007 Apr 20, In NYC 13 people were
indicted on charges stemming from their roles in a credit card fraud.
Waiters in about 40 restaurants, in New York and as well eateries in
Florida, New Hampshire, New Jersey and Connecticut, had quietly
recorded customers' credit card information and passed it on to people
who used the information to make more than $3 million worth of worth of
illegal purchases. The conspirators had operated from November 2005
until this week.
(AP, 4/21/07)
2007 Apr 20, The American Economic
Association announced that Susan Athey (36), professor at Harvard, had
won the John Bates Clark medal. This prestigious honor was awarded
every 2 years to the nation’s most promising economist under age 40.
(WSJ, 4/21/07, p.A1)
2007 Apr 20, The family of
Virginia Tech gunman Seung-Hui Cho, who shot and killed 32 people and
himself, said they felt ‘‘hopeless, helpless and lost,’’ and ‘‘never
could have envisioned that he was capable of so much violence.’’
(AP, 4/20/08)
2007 Apr 20, Andrew Hill (b.1931),
jazz pianist, died in New Jersey.
(SFC, 4/23/07, p.B6)
2007 Apr 20, William Phillips, a
NASA contract worker, shot and killed David Beverly, a NASA civil
servant, and then killed himself at the Johnson Space Center in
Houston, Texas.
(SFC, 4/21/07, p.A3)
2007 Apr 20, A purported Taliban
statement demanded the release of a number of the group's fighters and
the withdrawal of French troops from Afghanistan in exchange for the
freedom of two kidnapped French aid workers. In southern Afghanistan
separate explosions killed two NATO soldiers. A Dutch soldier was
killed in one explosion, the first fatality from hostile action among
Dutch troops serving with NATO forces in the country.
(AP, 4/20/07)(AP, 4/21/07)
2007 Apr 20, Bolivia’s military
retook control of a natural gas pipeline to Argentina after days of
violent protests at gas installations in southern Bolivia. More than
1,000 protesters had seized the Yacuiba pipeline station run by
Transredes, a subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell. The disturbances killed
at least one person and wounded dozens more.
(AP, 4/21/07)
2007 Apr 20, Eight workers went
missing after a fire swept through a fish-processing ship off southern
Chile, killing one person. 116 members of the Hercules' crew were
rescued.
(AP, 4/22/07)
2007 Apr 20, Bishop Fu Tieshan
(76), the hard-line chairman of the state-sanctioned Catholic Church,
died. He sparred had with the Vatican over China's insistence on
appointing its own bishops. An upsurge of gas in a coal mine killed 11
miners in the Tao'er Coal Mine in Handan, an industrial city in Hebei
province.
(AP, 4/21/07)(AP, 4/24/07)
2007 Apr 20, Final results from a
nationwide referendum showed an overwhelming majority of Ecuadoreans
supported President Rafael Correa's push for a special assembly to
rewrite the constitution.
(AP, 4/21/07)
2007 Apr 20, German Defence
Minister Franz Josef Jung arrived in South Korea to discuss the
proposed sale of second-hand Patriot missiles and other military issues.
(AP, 4/20/07)
2007 Apr 20, It was reported that
German researchers had discovered a natural anti-HIV factor. The 20
amino acid peptide chain blocked multiple strains of HIV.
(SFC, 4/20/07, p.A7)
2007 Apr 20, AIDA, Germany’s
largest cruise line, christened the new 2,050 passenger AIDAdiva in the
Hamburg harbor.
(SFC, 4/21/07, p.A5)
2007 Apr 20, Thousands of mine
workers in Indonesia's remote Papua province protested for a third day
as marathon talks with US firm Freeport McMoRan over pay and benefits
showed signs of progress.
(AP, 4/20/07)
2007 Apr 20, Clashes erupted
between gunmen and US and Iraqi forces around a Shiite mosque in
western Baghdad before Friday prayers, and two suspected insurgents
were killed. US forces killed eight suspected insurgents and captured
41 in several raids across Iraq. A roadside bombing in Diwaniyah killed
a Polish soldier.
(AP, 4/20/07)(AP, 4/21/07)
2007 Apr 20, Libya's National Oil
Corporation and US firm Dow Chemical announced a joint venture to
operate and expand the Ras Lanuf petrochemical complex in Libya.
(AFP, 4/20/07)
2007 Apr 20, In Nigeria the
opposition said that troops have intercepted a truck-load of already
completed ballots a day before the presidential election, heightening
fears the vote will be rigged. A Nigerian navy helicopter crashed in
the country's south, killing its three crew members. 7 policemen on
election duty were ambushed and shot dead near Karu town in central
Nassarawa State.
(Reuters, 4/20/07)(AFP, 4/21/07)
2007 Apr 20, North Korea restated
its commitment to a landmark nuclear disarmament deal, saying it would
invite UN atomic inspectors and discuss shutting down its bomb-making
atomic reactor as soon as it confirmed the release of its funds frozen
in a banking dispute.
(AP, 4/20/07)
2007 Apr 20, In Paraguay Japanese
businessman Hirokazu Ota, the leader of Sun Myung Moon's Unification
Church in Paraguay, was freed following a 19-day abduction and a
140,000-dollar ransom payment.
(AP, 4/20/07)
2007 Apr 20, In Somalia a local
human rights group said 3 days of fighting between Islamic insurgents
and Ethiopian troops backing the government has killed at least 113
civilians.
(AP, 4/20/07)
2007 Apr 20, In Sri Lanka’s
northern district of Vavuniya troops on foot patrol fired at suspected
Tamil Tigers killing four rebels. A landmine explosion in the
northeastern district of Polonnaruwa killed two soldiers and wounded
two others.
(AP, 4/21/07)
2007 Apr 20, A Vatican committee
issued a report concluding that unbaptized babies who die may go to
heaven and not be stuck in Limbo, which “reflects an unduly restrictive
view of salvation.”
(SFC, 4/21/07, p.A7)
2007 Apr 21, A US Navy Blue Angel
jet went down during an air show in South Carolina, plunging into a
neighborhood of small homes and trailers and killing the pilot.
(AP, 4/22/07)
2007 Apr 21, Police in Las Vegas
raided illegal brothels as part of “Operation Dollhouse,” a sting aimed
at prostitution and human trafficking with suspected links to Asia.
Prostitution is legal in most counties of Nevada, but not in Clark
County, which includes Las Vegas.
(SFC, 4/25/07, p.B5)
2007 Apr 21, Reid Stowe (55) and
his girlfriend, Soanya Ahmad (23), set off from Hoboken, NJ, on a
sailing voyage planned to last 1,000 days and nights with no port calls
for supplies. Ahmad abandoned the cruise in February 2008, citing
seasickness.
(SSFC, 4/22/07, p.A9)(AP, 4/21/08)
2007 Apr 21, Rep. Juanita
Millender-McDonald (b.1938), a 7-term congressman from Southern
California, died of cancer.
(SFC, 4/23/07, p.A2)
2007 Apr 21, Taliban insurgents
vowed a new round of attacks against Afghan and foreign troops in the
war-torn country, promising to focus more attention on the
relatively-peaceful north. Suspected Taliban militants ambushed a
police patrol in eastern Afghanistan in a clash that left five
militants and one police officer dead. NATO-led troops shot and killed
a suspected militant and wounded another in the south. In Nangarhar
province US and Afghan troops killed one person and detained nine
others during a raid on a compound.
(AFP, 4/21/07)(AP, 4/21/07)(AP, 4/22/07)
2007 Apr 21, An earthquake in
remote southern Chile shook free a landslide of rocks, sending them
smashing into a narrow fjord and causing massive 25-foot waves that
swept away 10 beachgoers. Three bodies were recovered the next day.
(AP, 4/22/07)
2007 Apr 21, In Cairo an
Egyptian-Canadian man was convicted of spying for Israel and sentenced
to 15 years in prison by a special security court.
(AP, 4/21/07)
2007 Apr 21, Eritrean President
Issaias Afeworki arrived in Sudan determined to kick-start talks to end
the violence in Darfur.
(AFP, 4/21/07)
2007 Apr 21, Iran signed a major
gas development and production agreement with Austrian energy group OMV.
(Reuters, 4/21/07)
2007 Apr 21, A wall US troops are
building around a Sunni enclave in Baghdad came under increasing
criticism, with residents calling it "collective punishment" and a
local leader saying construction began without the neighborhood
council's approval. A bomb left on a bus exploded in Baghdad's Sadr
City neighborhood, killing at least three people. A roadside bomb
killed the mayor of Musayyib. 2 bullet-riddled dead bodies were
discovered in Musayyib. Gunmen stormed a house in Kirkuk killing a
mother, father and their two teenage daughters. One American soldier
was killed and two were wounded by a roadside bomb southwest of
Baghdad. Sami Abdul-Amir al-Jumaili, the chairman of Fallujah's city
council, an outspoken critic of al-Qaida who took the job in the former
Sunni insurgent stronghold after his three predecessors were
assassinated, was killed in a drive-by shooting.
(AP, 4/21/07)
2007 Apr 21, Israeli troops killed
four Palestinians in clashes in the West Bank, including three
militants who died when troops opened fire at their vehicle. A
Palestinian policeman was killed when he climbed on the roof of his
home during an Israeli arrest operation in the village of Kafr Dan.
Palestinian officials said a 17-year-old girl, identified as Bushra
Wahash, was shot by Israeli gunfire as she peered out the window of her
home in the Jenin refugee camp. Palestinian militants in Gaza fired
three homemade rockets into southern Israel. One of the rockets scored
a direct hit on a house in the Israeli border town of Sderot, causing
no injuries. Minutes later, an Israeli aircraft fired a missile at a
Palestinian car near the rocket launch site. A 37-year-old man in the
car was killed and a second occupant was wounded.
(AP, 4/21/07)
2007 Apr 21, In Indian-held
Kashmir police found the bodies of 2 Hindus with their throats slit, as
hundreds protested the killing of a Muslim woman.
(AFP, 4/22/07)
2007 Apr 21, Charles Simonyi, an
American billionaire who paid $25 million for a 13-day trip to outer
space, returned to Earth in a space capsule that also carried a
cosmonaut and an American astronaut, making a soft landing on the
Kazakh steppe.
(AP, 4/21/07)
2007 Apr 21, In Mexico a Durango
state police commander was kidnapped and killed and two other officers
were shot dead in a gun battle with his abductors.
(AP, 4/22/07)
2007 Apr 21, A truck bomb aimed at
Nigeria's electoral commission headquarters ran into barriers and
failed to explode. Polls opened despite the attack for a presidential
vote already shadowed by charges of fraud and a last-minute ballot
hitch. Voting in Nigeria's parliamentary elections was suspended in
most of central Lagos, the economic capital, because of errors on the
ballot papers.
(AP, 4/21/07)(AFP, 4/21/07)
2007 Apr 21, In Somalia heavy
fighting between Islamic insurgents and Ethiopian troops backing the
government left at least 52 civilians dead in Mogadishu.
(AP, 4/21/07)
2007 Apr 21, In Sri Lanka
suspected Tamil Tiger rebels set off a landmine targeting troops on
patrol in Batticaloa. A civilian was killed and three others injured.
(AP, 4/21/07)
2007 Apr 21, Venezuelans marched
amid heavy security in the opposition's largest show of support yet for
a television station targeted by President Hugo Chavez, whom they
accuse of suppressing freedom of speech and democratic rights.
(AP, 4/21/07)
2007 Apr 21, A Zimbabwe cabinet
minister said the Chinese government has given Zimbabwe a 58 million
dollars financing facility that will be used to purchase farming
equipment, implements and tools.
(AP, 4/22/07)
2007 Apr 22, The annual Goldman
Environmental Prizes were announced on Earth Day. The winners included
Julio Cusurichi of Peru for his work to fight illegal logging; Willie
Corduff of Ireland for his work to halt an energy project that
disregarded local and environmental concerns; Sophia Rabliauskas of
Canada for her work to help protect the boreal forest in Manitoba; Orri
Vigfussen of Iceland for his work on the North Atlantic Salmon Fund;
Ts. Munkhbayar for his work against unregulated mining in Mongolia; and
Hammerskjoeld Simwinga for his work in organizing microloan programs in
Zambia.
(SSFC, 4/22/07, p.E1)
2007 Apr 22, In eastern
Afghanistan 2 suicide bombers blew themselves up in Khost, killing 11
civilians and wounding over 40 others. In Paktia province, a mob of
Taliban fighters ambushed a police patrol, kicking off a three-hour
battle that left 5 Taliban dead. Assailants in Laghman province bombed
an intelligence service vehicle in an attack that killed two
intelligence service officers, a soldier and a driver in the provincial
capital of Mehtar Lam. In Ghazni province assailants abducted and
beheaded an Afghan intelligence service employee.
(AFP, 4/22/07)(AP, 4/23/07)
2007 Apr 22, Bangladesh issued an
arrest warrant for opposition leader Sheikh Hasina Wajed as a plane
arrived to take her arch rival, the country's last prime minister
Khaleda Zia, into exile in Saudi Arabia.
(AP, 4/22/07)
2007 Apr 22, In Bosnia a
fast-moving fire tore through an orphanage in Sarajevo, killing five
babies and injuring 17 others.
(AP, 4/22/07)
2007 Apr 22, Zhou Chunxiu made
history as the first Chinese runner to win the London marathon as she
came home in 2hrs 20min 38sec, finishing ahead of Ethiopia's Gete Wami
and Romanian Constantina Tomescu-Dita.
(AP, 4/22/07)
2007 Apr 22, Jorge Luis Garcia
Perez, a veteran dissident leader who wrote a book about Cuban prison
conditions while behind bars, was freed after serving his entire
17-year sentence.
(AP, 4/23/07)
2007 Apr 22, Government officials
said 8 Ethiopians held hostage for 52 days after they were kidnapped
along with five European tourists have been released unharmed. The
ex-hostages later told Ethiopian television that they had been
mistreated by their captors, who wore Eritrean army uniforms.
(AP, 4/22/07)(AFP, 4/27/07)
2007 Apr 22, French voters turned
out in force to choose a new president in one of the country's most
suspense-filled elections in recent times. In the first round
conservative Nicolas Sarkozy and Socialist rival Segolene Royal
received enough votes to advance to a runoff, which Sarkozy won.
(AP, 4/22/07)(AP, 4/22/08)
2007 Apr 22, In India’s Uttar
Pradesh state a small political party pushed for the reinstatement of
the legal rights of people wrongly declared dead by unscrupulous
relatives trying to steal their assets. The Indian Express reported
that 8 tigers were missing from the Ranthambore National Park in
western India, raising new concerns about the country's dwindling big
cat population.
(AP, 4/22/07)(AP, 4/22/07)
2007 Apr 22, PM Nouri al-Maliki,
on a tour to ask the mostly Sunni-led governments of the Arab world to
help his struggling government stop the violence in Iraq, received a
strong endorsement from Egypt. Two suicide car bombers attacked a
police station in Baiyaa, a mixed Sunni-Shiite area of western Baghdad,
killing at least 19 people and turning nearby buildings into piles of
rubble. A former member of Saddam Hussein's Baath Party was gunned down
near his house in Fallujah. In Suwayrah three bodies were found
floating in the Tigris River, blindfolded with the hands bound, and
gunshots in the head and chest. The bodies of three brothers abducted
six days ago in Mosul were also discovered. In Basra a suspect accused
of attacks on British and Iraqi troops in the area was killed in a
raid. Two of the man's brothers were arrested. Gunmen in northern Iraq
stopped a bus filled with Christians and members of the tiny, mostly
Kurdish, Yazidi religious sect, separating out the groups. 21 of the
Yazidi passengers were killed. In Mahmoudiya US and Iraqi forces
detained eight suspected insurgents and confiscated three caches of
weapons during a raid on an apartment complex, including mortars,
rockets and ammunition. The weapons appeared to be new and were stamped
with recent dates and Iranian markings.
(AP, 4/22/07)(SFC, 4/23/07, p.A7)(AP, 4/28/07)
2007 Apr 22, Israeli troops killed
two Palestinian militants, including a top bombmaker, during an arrest
raid. The Islamic militant group Hamas called for new attacks on Israel
after eight Palestinians were killed in a surge of fighting over the
weekend.
(AP, 4/22/07)
2007 Apr 22-2007 Apr 23, In Italy
Marco Ahmetovic (22) killed the four teenage boys after driving his van
onto a pavement while under the influence of alcohol. He was sentenced
to 6-1/2 years detention, but was allowed to spend most of that time
under house arrest in return for cooperating with the court.
(Reuters, 11/29/07)
2007 Apr 22, Japan went to the
polls in two upper-house by-elections and a chain of local elections
that could further weaken the leadership of embattled PM Shinzo Abe.
(AFP, 4/22/07)
2007 Apr 22, Marcos Leyes Perez,
the son of the US consul in southern Oaxaca state, was stabbed during
an apparent mugging.
(AP, 4/23/07)
2007 Apr 22, The two main
opposition parties denounced the conduct of Nigeria's presidential
elections. An influential, homegrown observer group called for a
cancellation of the vote meant to cement civilian rule in Africa's top
oil producer.
(AP, 4/22/07)
2007 Apr 22, Trustees said a fund
to compensate Puerto Rico for damages from a 1994 oil spill will be
used to build an artificial reef, create a shoreline nature reserve and
restore the walls of a Spanish colonial fort.
(AP, 4/22/07)
2007 Apr 22, In Mogadishu,
Somalia, the two main hospitals said they admitted 26 civilians wounded
as fighting eased.
(AP, 4/22/07)
2007 Apr 22, South Korea agreed to
send 400,000 tons of rice to impoverished North Korea despite the
communist government's failure to meet a deadline to shut down its
nuclear reactor.
(AP, 4/22/07)
2007 Apr 22, Congressional
Democratic leaders agreed on legislation requiring the first US combat
troops to be withdrawn from Iraq by Oct. 1, 2007, with a goal of a
complete pullout six months later; President Bush pledged to veto such
a measure.
(AP, 4/23/08)
2007 Apr 23, New projections said
US Medicare trust funds will run out in 2019 and Social Security in
2041, each a year longer than said by earlier projections.
(WSJ, 4/24/07, p.A1)
2007 Apr 23, A US Agriculture
Department official said a virus in the Great Lakes, that has killed
tens of thousands of fish in recent years, is spreading and poses a
threat to inland fish farming.
(AP, 4/24/07)
2007 Apr 23, A Chicago man who
spent 25 years in jail for a rape he didn't commit was fully exonerated
on the basis of new DNA evidence, bringing to 200 the number of such
cases overturned since the 1980s. Jerry Miller (48) was paroled from
jail in March 2006 after serving more than half of his 45 year sentence.
(AFP, 4/23/07)
2007 Apr 23, Paul Erdman (74),
world-class economist and banker, died in Sonoma County, Ca. He used
his knowledge of economics and politics to write best-selling novels
that included “The Billion Dollar Sure Thing” (1973) and “The Crash of
‘79” (1976).
(SFC, 4/24/07, p.B5)
2007 Apr 23, David Halberstam
(73), Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and writer, died in a car crash
in San Mateo, Ca. His books included “The Best and the Brightest”
(1972) and “The Powers That Be” (1979). He had just finished his 21st
book “The Coldest Winter,” a history of the Korean War, which was
published later this year.
(SFC, 4/24/07, p.A1)(Econ, 5/5/07, p.108)(Econ,
10/6/07, p.98)
2007 Apr 23, Michael Smuin (68),
choreographer, died in SF of a heart attack.
(SFC, 4/24/07, p.A1)
2007 Apr 23, In Afghanistan
assailants in Laghman province struck an intelligence service vehicle
with a remote-controlled bomb, killing six employees and wounding
three. In Zabul province, a roadside bomb hit police as they were
patrolling in Shamulzayi district, killing two policemen and wounding
five others.
(AP, 4/23/07)
2007 Apr 23, British bank Barclays
Plc agreed to buy Dutch rival ABN AMRO for about 67 billion euros ($91
billion) in shares as it attempts to fight off rivals to clinch the
world's biggest bank takeover.
(Reuters, 4/23/07)
2007 Apr 23, Chinese, state
television reported that President Hu Jintao has launched a campaign to
rid the country's sprawling Internet of "unhealthy" content and make it
a springboard for Communist Party doctrine.
(AP, 4/23/07)
2007 Apr 23, China’s The Ministry
of Land and Resources said agricultural land in China fell to 121.8
million hectares (300 million acres) by the end of October 2006, a loss
of 306,800 hectares since the start of the year. The ministry said that
heavy metals had contaminated about 13 million tons of grain and that
30.4 million acres is contaminated by pollution.
(http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6582571.stm)(WSJ, 6/30/07,
p.A12)
2007 Apr 23, Ecuador's highest
court reinstated 51 lawmakers ousted last month for allegedly
interfering with a referendum on the South American nation's need for a
new constitution, the 19th over the last 180 years.
(AP, 4/23/07)(Econ, 9/1/07, p.30)
2007 Apr 23, In France Sarkozy and
Royal advanced to the second round of France's presidential election,
With nearly all votes counted, Sarkozy had 31.1%, followed by Royal
with 25.8% and Bayrou with 18.5%. Turnout was 84.6 percent, the highest
in more than 40 years and just shy of the record set in 1965.
(AP, 4/23/07)
2007 Apr 23, Indian police
discovered a human "bones factory" in West Bengal state and arrested
six people for illegally trading in skeletons. Authorities in
northeastern Assam state launched a crackdown on rhinoceros poachers,
rushing in armed paramilitary soldiers to a sprawling game reserve.
(Reuters, 4/23/07)(AP, 4/23/07)
2007 Apr 23, The American
ambassador said the US would "respect the wishes" of the Iraqi
government after the prime minister ordered a halt to construction of a
three-mile wall separating a Sunni enclave from surrounding Shiite
areas in Baghdad. A suicide attacker detonated his car in front of an
office of the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Massoud Barzani. At least
10 people were killed and 20 wounded in the attack in Tal Uskuf. A
suicide car bomb struck a restaurant near Ramadi killing at least 19
people and wounding 35. A suicide car bomber also struck a police
station in Baqouba killing at least 10 people and wounding 23. In
central Baghdad, a bomber wearing an explosives belt blew himself up in
an Iraqi restaurant in the mixed Shiite-Sunni neighborhood of Karradah
Mariam, killing at least seven people and wounding 16. Nearby a parked
car bomb exploded in a parking lot, killing one civilian and wounding
another. 9 US soldiers were killed and 20 wounded in a suicide car
bombing against a patrol base in Diyala province. An al-Qaida-linked
group posted a Web statement the next day claiming responsibility for a
suicide truck bombing. A US soldier was also killed in a roadside
bombing in Diyala.
(AP, 4/23/07)(AP, 4/24/07)
2007 Apr 23, Eleazar Medina Rojas,
described as a key member of the powerful Gulf drug cartel, was
arrested in the border city of Nuevo Laredo, along with his father,
four other cartel members and four women. Authorities reported the
killing of Jorge Gonzalez, police chief of Cardenas, in the southern
Gulf coast state of Tabasco. Mexican police found the body of Saul Noe
Martinez Ortega (36), a newspaper editor abducted last week in the
border city of Agua Prieta. He had been dead at least six days and was
found in neighboring Chihuahua state.
(AP, 4/23/07)
2007 Apr 23, Umaru Yar'Adua of
Nigeria's ruling party was declared winner of a presidential poll
rejected by the opposition and condemned by observers as a "charade."
(Reuters, 4/23/07)
2007 Apr 23, In Northern Ireland
Brendan Cranston (42), was shot through both legs and beaten, while his
38-year-old partner, Linda Doherty, also was assaulted. A
brother-in-law of Martin McGuinness, the Sinn Fein deputy leader
supposed to oversee a new power-sharing government for Northern
Ireland, was charged on April 26 with kidnapping and assaulting the
couple in an IRA-style operation.
(AP, 4/26/07)
2007 Apr 23, Philippine police
said they have identified a local woodcarver as a suspect in the April
8 killing of Julia Campbell, a US Peace Corps volunteer, and are
following up leads on a possible accomplice. They named the suspect as
Juan Duntugan (25) from the village of Batad in Banaue township.
Duntugan gave himself up April 27 and confessed on television, saying
he would accept "whatever punishment you will impose on me."
(AP, 4/23/07)(AP, 4/27/07)
2007 Apr 23, Boris Yeltsin
(b.1931), former Russian leader (1991-1999), died. He engineered the
final collapse of the Soviet Union (1991) and pushed Russia to embrace
democracy and a market economy. His 1994 memoir was titled "The
Struggle for Russia."
(AP, 4/23/07)(Econ, 4/28/07, p.98)
2007 Apr 23, The WWF said hunters
in Russia's Far East have shot and killed one of the last seven
surviving female Amur leopards living in the wild.
(Reuters, 4/23/07)
2007 Apr 23, In Somalia masked
Islamic insurgents and Ethiopian-backed government forces pounded each
other with machine-gun fire, mortars and heavy artillery in Mogadishu,
bringing the death toll from six days of fighting to at least 250.
(AP, 4/23/07)
2007 Apr 23, A bomb ripped through
a long-distance bus in northern Sri Lanka, killing at least three
passengers and wounding 35 in the third bombing of a civilian bus this
month.
(AP, 4/23/07)
2007 Apr 23, A top Sudanese
government official offered a two-month halt in military operations in
strife-torn Darfur to allow for rebel groups to join the peace process.
(AP, 4/23/07)
2007 Apr 23, Syrians voted for a
second day in a tightly controlled election to pick a new legislature,
a vote President Bashar Assad hopes can consolidate his rule, soften
his regime's authoritarian image and ease its international isolation.
(AP, 4/23/07)
2007 Apr 24, In a harsh exchange,
Vice President Dick Cheney accused Democratic leader Harry Reid of
personally pursuing a defeatist strategy in Iraq to win votes at home,
a charge Reid dismissed as President Bush's "attack dog" lashing out.
(AP, 4/24/08)
2007 Apr 24, The US military
formally charged Omar Khadr (20), a young Canadian prisoner, with
murder and other crimes, clearing the way for his trial before the war
crimes tribunal at the Guantanamo Bay naval base. Khadr was captured
during a gunfight at an alleged al Qaeda compound in Afghanistan when
he was 15 and sent to Guantanamo shortly after turning 16. Khadr's
family was close to Osama bin Laden and his Egyptian-born father, Ahmed
Said Khadr, was an alleged al Qaeda financier killed in a battle with
Pakistani soldiers in 2003. His family had lived in Pakistan but
returned to Canada after the elder Khadr's death.
(Reuters, 4/24/07)
2007 Apr 24, US FDA advisers
endorsed a Pfizer AIDS drug that fights HIV by blocking one of two cell
receptors that are infection routes.
(WSJ, 4/25/07, p.A1)
2007 Apr 24, A consortium led by
US private equity group KKR was left unchallenged in its quest to take
over Alliance Boots, after a rival British bidder withdrew its bid for
Europe's biggest pharmacy chain.
(AP, 4/24/07)
2007 Apr 24, A tornado in the
Texas border town of Eagle Pass killed at least 10 people and destroyed
two schools and more than 20 homes. The storm killed 2 more people in
Arkansas and Louisiana.
(AP, 4/25/07)(SFC, 4/26/07, p.A3)
2007 Apr 24, European astronomers
announced they had found a potentially habitable planet outside the
solar system. They said the planet had Earth-like temperatures, a find
described as a big step in the search for "life in the universe." The
planet, named 581c, circled the red dwarf star, Gliese 581, relatively
nearby at 120 trillion miles away.
(AP, 4/24/07)(Econ, 4/28/07, p.93)
2007 Apr 24, Japan's Toyota Motor
Corp. reported that it outsold General Motors Corp. by around 90,000
vehicles in the first quarter, moving a step closer to unseating its US
rival as the world's biggest automaker. Aside from a few strike-related
blips GM had been the top US car seller since 1931.
(Reuters, 4/24/07)(Econ, 4/28/07, p.76)
2007 Apr 24, Warren E. Avis
(b.1915), founder of the Avis Rent-A-Car System (1946), died in Ann
Arbor, Mich.
(WSJ, 4/28/07, p.A6)
2007 Apr 24, Afghan and
international forces clashed overnight with Taliban insurgents in two
separate gun battles in the south and west, leaving 13 militants dead
and four other people wounded. Five more “enemy elements" were killed
in the northeastern province of Kunar in an operation by troops from
the Afghan security forces and US-led coalition. Militants ambushed a
police car in the west, killing four officers, in the Guzara district
in Herat province. Fighting in Ghazni province left three construction
company guards and seven Taliban dead.
(AFP, 4/24/07)(AFP, 4/25/07)
2007 Apr 24, British
anti-terrorist police arrested six people who were suspected of
inciting others to commit acts of terrorism overseas and raising funds
for terrorism.
(AP, 4/24/07)
2007 Apr 24, Ecuador's popular
President Rafael Correa tightened his hold over all branches of
government, sending police to prevent the return of opposition
lawmakers as his tentative majority in Congress dismissed all nine
members of the nation's highest court.
(AP, 4/24/07)
2007 Apr 24, In Baghdad two bombs
went off outside the Iranian Embassy for the second consecutive day.
Six civilians were injured. In Diyala province gunmen disguised as
Iraqi soldiers killed six Iraqis and burned five homes. South of
Baghdad a family of seven was shot to death in their beds at dawn by
masked gunmen. The Shaibah logistics base, once the main center of
British military operations in Iraq, was turned over to the Iraqi
national army on for use as a training base.
(AP, 4/24/07)
2007 Apr 24, China's secretive
communist government said it has approved rules boosting official
transparency but added that state secrets have to be safeguarded and
social stability preserved. Eight miners were missing and feared dead
following an explosion in a mine in Handan, an industrial city in Hebei
province.
(AP, 4/24/07)
2007 Apr 24, In Ethiopia Ogaden
rebels raided a Chinese-run oil field near the Somali border, killing
65 Ethiopians and nine Chinese workers. An Ethiopian rebel group
claimed responsibility. The next day Ethiopia blamed Eritrea for the
attack. Eritrea issued a swift, angry denial. In 2008 security forces
arrested eight men suspected of involvement in the deadly raid.
(AP, 4/24/07)(AP, 4/25/07)(WSJ, 4/25/07, p.A1)(AFP,
3/30/08)
2007 Apr 24, In Indonesia Richard
Ness an American director of Newmont Mining Corp., the world's largest
gold producer, was acquitted of charges the company dumped dangerous
amounts of toxic waste into a bay off Sulawesi Island.
(AP, 4/24/07)
2007 Apr 24, The armed wing of
Hamas fired a barrage of rockets and mortar shells from Gaza toward
Israel on its independence day, and said they considered it the end of
a five-month truce with Israel.
(AP, 4/24/07)(WSJ, 4/25/07, p.A1)
2007 Apr 24, Joji Obara (54), a
Tokyo businessman, was sentenced to life in prison for a wave of brutal
assaults on women, but was cleared over the 2000 abduction and killing
of British bar hostess Lucie Blackman.
(AFP, 4/24/07)
2007 Apr 24, Mexico City lawmakers
voted to legalize abortion during the first three months of pregnancy,
a landmark decision likely to heighten church-state tensions in the
Roman Catholic nation and lead to a bitter court battle.
(AP, 4/25/07)
2007 Apr 24, The Nigerian
government accused Bola Tinubu, the governor of Lagos, of operating
foreign accounts contrary to his oath of office.
(AP, 4/25/07)
2007 Apr 24, Pakistani President
Pervez Musharraf arrived in Spain, part of a four-nation tour of
Europe, for talks expected to focus on Islamic radicalism and NATO's
mission in Afghanistan.
(AP, 4/24/07)
2007 Apr 24, At a conference in
Moscow titled “Megaprojects of Russia’s East,” supporters proposed a
68-mile tunnel under the Bering Strait. The tunnel linking Alaska and
Siberia would cost $65 billion and take some 20 years to build.
(SFC, 4/25/07, p.A6)
2007 Apr 24, Rwandan media said
that a former Belgian army officer in the UN mission to Rwanda (Minuar)
has accused French soldiers of training extremist Hutus responsible for
the 1994 genocide.
(AP, 4/24/07)
2007 Apr 24, In Somalia artillery
shells and mortars rained down on Mogadishu in a seventh straight day
of raging battles that have left nearly 250 dead.
(AP, 4/24/07)
2007 Apr 24, Tamil rebel planes
bombed government positions in northern Sri Lanka in their second-ever
airstrike. The military said six soldiers were killed but that the
aircraft were turned back before reaching a key base.
(AP, 4/24/07)
2007 Apr 24, A Syrian court
convicted prominent human rights activist Anwar al-Bunni of
disseminating hostile information and sentenced him to five years in
jail.
(AP, 4/24/07)
2007 Apr 24, Turkey's foreign
minister Abdullah Gul was named as the ruling party's candidate for the
presidency, a decision that will maintain continuity in EU reforms but
fails to resolve a fight between the country's secular and Islamist
camps.
(AP, 4/24/07)
2007 Apr 24, Yanis Chimaras (51),
a Venezuelan soap opera actor, was stabbed to death when he came upon a
robbery in a Caracas suburb. The Justice Ministry reported 9,402
homicides nationwide in 2005.
(AP, 4/26/07)
2007 Apr 25, Brushing off a
presidential veto threat, the House passed, 218-208, a $124.2 billion
supplemental spending bill ordering US troops to begin coming home from
Iraq in the fall of 2007.
(AP, 4/25/08)
2007 Apr 25, US federal
authorities arrested John P. Tomkins (42) of Dubuque, Iowa, a man
suspected of mailing dud pipe bombs to financial companies in Chicago
and Kansas City, Mo., and threatening letters that were signed "The
Bishop."
(AP, 4/25/07)
2007 Apr 25, Rosie O'Donnell
announced she was leaving the ABC talk show "The View" in June.
(AP, 4/25/08)
2007 Apr 25, The DJIA closed above
13,000 for the first time rising 135.95 to a record 13,089.89. Nasdaq
rose 23.35 to 2,547.
(SFC, 4/26/07, p.C1)
2007 Apr 25, Negotiators reached a
tentative settlement in the 10-day school strike in Hayward, Ca.
(SFC, 4/26/07, p.B3)
2007 Apr 25, UCSF biochemist Joe
DeRisi said he found genes of the single-celled, spore producing
parasite Nosema ceranae in dead bees. Researchers in Spain had recently
shown that the parasite is capable of wiping out a beehive.
(SFC, 4/26/07, p.A1)
2007 Apr 25, In eastern
Afghanistan a roadside bomb attack on an Afghan military convoy left
seven soldiers dead. A suicide attacker blew himself up close to the
vehicle of a district governor of Paktika. Militants ambushed a police
vehicle in the western province of Herat overnight and killed three
policemen. Afghan police and US special troops clashed with foreign
militants in eastern Afghanistan, killing at least five militants.
(AP, 4/25/07)(AP, 4/26/07)
2007 Apr 25, In Argentina a
federal court threw out amnesties for former military President Jorge
Videla (81) and Navy chief Eduardo Massera, two leaders of the former
military dictatorship, saying they must serve their life terms in
prison for crimes against humanity.
(AP, 4/25/07)
2007 Apr 25, A top US diplomat
warned of new sanctions against Belarus if authorities refuse to
release what he said were political prisoners, and dropping charges
against others.
(AP, 4/25/07)
2007 Apr 25, China detained four
Americans on Mount Everest after they called for independence for Tibet
and protested the Beijing Olympics. More than 50 children were poisoned
by a kindergarten breakfast in Zhengzhou city in Henan province, in the
latest case highlighting problems in the country's food supply chain.
(AP, 4/25/07)(AP, 4/26/07)
2007 Apr 25, Royal Bank of
Scotland, Fortis, a Belgian-Dutch lender and Santander of Spain
launched a blockbuster 72-billion-euro takeover battle for Dutch group
ABN Amro, outgunning by far an agreed offer by Barclays.
(AFP, 4/25/07)(Econ, 4/28/07, p.85)(Econ, 7/19/08,
p.84)
2007 Apr 25, In Indonesia the MT
Maulana, an oil tanker that had just unloaded its cargo, exploded on a
Sumatran river, killing four crew members.
(AP, 4/26/07)
2007 Apr 25, A UN report was
released that said that violence in Baghdad remains at high levels. The
UN Assistance Mission in Iraq singled out Kurdistan in its 10th human
rights report on Iraq, expressing concern over infringements on freedom
of expression by the regional government. A suicide bomber wearing a
hidden belt of explosives attacked a police station in Iraq's volatile
province of Diyala, killing at least four policeman. Roadside bombs,
mortar rounds and drive-by shootings also killed 10 Iraqis and wounded
23 in the Baghdad area and the cities of Kirkuk, Mosul and Fallujah.
(AP, 4/25/07)(AP, 4/26/07)
2007 Apr 25, Israel’s PM Ehud
Olmert authorized the army to carry out limited operations against
militants in the Gaza Strip, but ruled out a large-scale ground
offensive in response to a new round of Hamas rocket attacks.
(AP, 4/25/07)
2007 Apr 25, Japan adopted
stricter gun control guidelines following a spate of gangster shootings
that rattled a nation renowned for its crime-free streets.
(AP, 4/25/07)
2007 Apr 25, Barbara Blida (57), a
former Polish government minister, committed suicide in her bathroom as
police searched her house in connection with corruption allegations.
Blida, a lawmaker for the post-communist Democratic Left Alliance from
1989-2005 and construction minister from 1993-1996, was suspected of
taking and receiving material gains. The raid was part of an
investigation into corruption allegations against 14 people.
(AP, 4/25/07)
2007 Apr 25, In Somalia civilians
were caught in the crossfire as the government's Ethiopian backers used
tanks and heavy artillery to pound insurgent strongholds. Human rights
groups said more than 350 people have been killed in the last eight
days, the majority civilians.
(AP, 4/25/07)
2007 Apr 25, The UN food agency
said Sudanese authorities were holding up to 100,000 tons of sorghum
meant for Darfur, alleging that it is genetically modified. Laboratory
tests had shown it was not genetically modified.
(Reuters, 4/26/07)
2007 Apr 25, Ukraine’s President
Viktor Yushchenko pushed back the date of snap parliamentary elections
until June 24. The move was seen as a conciliatory gesture as the
Constitutional Court began deliberations on the legality of his decree
dissolving parliament.
(AP, 4/25/07)
2007 Apr 25, In Venezuela
officials from Chevron, BP PLC, France’s Total SA and Norway’s Statoil
ASA signed memorandums of agreement to give state-owned Petroleos de
Venezuela SA a majority stake in 3 projects. ConocoPhillips resisted
giving up control of 2 projects.
(SFC, 4/27/07, p.D3)
2007 Apr 26, The Senate joined the
House in clearing legislation calling for the withdrawal of US troops
from Iraq to begin by Oct. 1, 2007, with a goal of a complete pullout
six months later. President Bush vetoed the measure.
(AP, 4/26/08)
2007 Apr 26, Authorities said 2
detainees at the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay, an Afghan and a
Moroccan, have been transferred to the custody of their native
countries.
(AP, 4/26/07)
2007 Apr 26, In Orangeburg, S.C.,
8 Democratic presidential hopefuls gathered for their first debate of
the 2008 campaign.
(AP, 4/26/08)
2007 Apr 26, California lawmakers
approved a $7.4 billion prison construction proposal. This was called
the biggest prison expansion plan in American history.
(SFC, 4/27/07, p.B1)
2007 Apr 26, The DJIA rose 15.61
to a record 13,105.50. Nasdaq rose 6.57 to 2,554.
(SFC, 4/27/07, p.D1)
2007 Apr 26, Alfredo Figueroa
(40), owner of the Red Onion hamburger restaurant in El Cerrito,
was shot and killed during a robbery.
(SFC, 4/28/07, p.B2)
2007 Apr 26, Jack Valenti
(b.1921), 38-year president of the Motion Picture Association of
America (MPAA), died. His autobiography “This Time, This Place: My Life
in War, the White House, and Hollywood,” was published posthumously.
(WSJ, 6/22/07,
p.W6)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Valenti)
2007 Apr 26, More than 100
suspected Taliban attacked Giro, setting fire to buildings and cutting
telephone lines. The district mayor, police chief and three policemen
were killed during several hours of fighting. It was estimated that
about 10 of the militants also died.
(AP, 4/27/07)
2007 Apr 26, Six central African
countries (Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Chad, Central African Republic,
Cameroon and Congo) plan to launch a common passport in July,
permitting the free movement of goods and people across their borders.
(AFP, 4/26/07)
2007 Apr 26, Bangladesh's
emergency government backtracked on plans to exile two feuding former
prime ministers but appeared to threaten the women with corruption
charges if they stayed in the country.
(AP, 4/26/07)
2007 Apr 26, Britain widened an
investigation into the collection of human body parts for scientific
tests at nuclear plants. Unions representing nuclear industry workers
said as many as 70 people who worked at the Sellafield nuclear fuel
reprocessing plant in northern England and other nuclear facilities may
have had bones, organs or other tissue removed for tests.
(AP, 4/26/07)
2007 Apr 26, Canada promised curbs
on air pollution and a new approach to greenhouse gas emissions in a
plan the government says will slow, then reverse the rise in output of
pollutants blamed for global warming.
(Reuters, 4/26/07)
2007 Apr 26, China said it has
banned melamine from food products after the chemical was found in
exports of vegetable protein shipped to the United States, but rejected
it as the cause of dozens of pet deaths in North America.
(AP, 4/26/07)
2007 Apr 26, Colombia's electrical
grid collapsed, causing a nationwide blackout that briefly halted stock
trading, trapped people in elevators and left authorities struggling to
determine the cause.
(AP, 4/26/07)
2007 Apr 26, Ecuador’s President
Rafael Correa went deep into the Amazon jungle to show his disdain for
Chevron Corp., which is on trial here for allegedly failing to clean up
billions of gallons of toxic wastewater. He is the nation’s first
president to support the estimated 30,000 settlers and Amazon Indians
who are suing the US oil giant. Plaintiffs sought $6 billion in
damages, alleging that Texaco dumped more than 18 billion gallons of
oily wastewater into the verdant rain forest, and failed to properly
clean it up. Their evidence includes studies showing elevated cancer
rates in the area.
(AP, 4/28/07)
2007 Apr 26, In Estonia protesters
gathered at a Soviet war grave in downtown Tallinn, as authorities
prepared to remove the bodies despite Russia's angry objections.
Estonia's government intends to relocate the Soviet grave, believed to
contain the remains of 14 soldiers, and the Bronze Soldier statue next
to it.
(AP, 4/26/07)
2007 Apr 26, Ethiopian rebels
holding seven Chinese oil workers captured during an attack this week
on an oil venture in Ethiopia said they would release them "as soon as
possible."
(AP, 4/26/07)
2007 Apr 26, In Greece suspected
anarchists threw gasoline bombs at cars parked outside a central Athens
police station, destroying 12 vehicles in the latest in a series of
arson attacks, authorities said.
(AP, 4/26/07)
2007 Apr 26, In India police
arrested 3 suspected Islamic militants armed with explosives near the
Dilli Haat crafts market, a popular New Delhi tourist site. A Pakistani
national and two Kashmiris were carrying a package of explosives, a
detonator and a hand grenade. They were believed to be members of the
Pakistani-based Lashkar-e-Tayyaba militant group.
(AP, 4/26/07)
2007 Apr 26, A suicide car bomb
attack on an Iraqi army checkpoint in northern Iraq killed 10 soldiers.
4 insurgents were killed as the US targeted suspected al-Qaida in Iraq
militants near Taji. 2 women and 2 children were believed to have been
killed during the fighting. 2 suicide bombers attacked an office of the
Kurdistan Democratic Party of Massoud Barzani, leader of the autonomous
Kurdish region in Iraq, killing three of its guards and wounding five.
In central Baghdad, a roadside bomb missed a passing police patrol but
killed 4 civilians and wounded 9. A parked car bomb exploded near
Baghdad University, killing 6 civilians and wounding 18, including some
students. US forces killed 3 insurgents during a gunbattle in the
Shiite neighborhood Sadr City. The US military announced that Army Lt.
Col. William H. Steele has been charged with nine offenses, including
aiding the enemy. Violence in Iraq killed at least 72 people, including
the bullet-riddled bodies of 27 men dumped in Baghdad, apparent victims
of sectarian death squads.
(AP, 4/26/07)(AP, 4/27/07)
2007 Apr 26, Police in Lebanon
found the bodies of a man and a 12-year-old boy who disappeared earlier
this week, an incident that has shaken the country and sparked fears of
renewed sectarian violence.
(AP, 4/26/07)
2007 Apr 26, Sultan Mizan Zainal
Abidin, Malaysia's 13th king, formally ascended the throne, pledging to
reign wisely and safeguard the sanctity of Islam in a ceremony marked
by traditional Malay rites and imperial pageantry. Malaysia's system
allows each of its hereditary state rulers to take turns reigning as
the country's constitutional monarch for five years each.
(AP, 4/26/07)
2007 Apr 26, A new measure
legalizing abortions in Mexico City was published into law, allowing
doctors to almost immediately begin terminating pregnancies in their
first trimester.
(AP, 4/26/07)
2007 Apr 26, Myanmar and North
Korea signed an agreement to resume diplomatic ties during a visit to
Myanmar by the North Korean vice foreign minister.
(AP, 4/26/07)
2007 Apr 26, Nigeria's main
opposition party said it will not recognize or cooperate with any
government formed as a result of last weekend's presidential election,
which was won by the party of outgoing President Olusegun Obasanjo.
(AP, 4/26/07)
2007 Apr 26, Peru’s Congress
granted President Garcia the power to rule by decree for 60 days on
matters related to drug trafficking, terrorism and organized crime,
strengthening his hand in the battle against cocaine production and
smuggling. A US report claimed that the Shining Path may now have
hundreds of armed combatants and that it is entwined with drug
trafficking.
(AP, 4/27/07)(Econ, 5/5/07, p.50)
2007 Apr 26, Russian President
Vladimir Putin, in his last annual address to lawmakers, attacked US
foreign policy and embraced traditional values in a hawkish speech that
laid out a route for his successor to follow when he steps down next
year.
(AP, 4/26/07)
2007 Apr 26, Somalia's prime
minister claimed victory over Islamic insurgents in Mogadishu, where
nine days of battles using tanks and artillery left hundreds dead.
(AP, 4/26/07)
2007 Apr 26, Syria’s government
said that the ruling coalition took an overwhelming majority of seats
in parliamentary elections that were boycotted by the opposition as a
farce.
(AP, 4/26/07)
2007 Apr 26, In Turkey an
eight-story apartment building collapsed in Istanbul, and some people
were reportedly buried under the debris.
(AP, 4/26/07)
2007 Apr 26, Zimbabwe's central
bank governor Gideon Gono said the annual rate of inflation, already
the highest in the world, rose to 2,200 percent last month.
(AP, 4/26/07)
2007 Apr 27, President Bush and
visiting Japanese PM Shinzo Abe threatened stronger punitive actions
against North Korea if it reneged on a promise to padlock its sole
nuclear reactor.
(AP, 4/27/08)
2007 Apr 27, The US dollar slid to
a record low against the euro. The worst economic growth in four years
raised concern that troubles in the US housing market will spread and
throw the country into a recession before the year is out.
(Reuters, 4/28/07)(AP, 4/27/07)
2007 Apr 27, Randall Tobias, head
of the Bush administration's foreign aid programs, abruptly resigned
after his name surfaced in an investigation into a high-priced
call-girl ring.
(AP, 4/28/07)
2007 Apr 27, The Pentagon said it
had taken custody of Abdul Hadi al-Iraqi, a senior al-Qaeda commander.
Officials said al-Iraqi was handed over to the CIA in late 2006.
(SFC, 4/28/07, p.A3)
2007 Apr 27, The Ninth Circuit
federal appeals court rebuffed a Bush administration effort to relax
dolphin-safe labeling standards.
(SFC, 4/28/07, p.A1)
2007 Apr 27, The DJIA rose 15.44
to a record 13,120.94. Nasdaq rose 2.75 to 2,557.
(SFC, 4/28/07, p.C1)
2007 Apr 27, In Santa Cruz, Ca.,
Steven Harold Smith (50),a supervisor at a wastewater treatment plant,
wounded his estranged wife, shot and killed a co-worker and then killed
himself.
(SFC, 4/28/07, p.B2)
2007 Apr 27, Hundreds of Afghan
soldiers and police retook the Giro district from the Taliban, pushing
out militants who had seized the area in fierce fighting a day earlier.
(AP, 4/27/07)
2007 Apr 27, China’s Premier Wen
Jiabao pledged to phase out tax breaks and discounts on land and
electricity for highly polluting industries, saying the country's
environmental situation was grim and required urgent action.
(AP, 4/27/07)
2007 Apr 27, China said it has
expelled five Americans who staged a protest against the Olympics on
Mount Everest to challenge Chinese rule over the mountainous region.
(AP, 4/27/07)
2007 Apr 27, Estonia removed a
Soviet war memorial from downtown Tallinn under cover of darkness,
carrying out a plan that has rankled Russia and provoked protests that
left one person dead and dozens injured.
(AP, 4/27/07)
2007 Apr 27, US-led forces
detained nine suspected insurgents in raids aimed at al-Qaida in Iraq,
including five in Mosul that has seen a recent rise in violence as
militants fled there to escape a crackdown in Baghdad.
(AP, 4/27/07)
2007 Apr 27, Former Italian prime
minister Silvio Berlusconi was cleared in a high-profile corruption
case involving bribing judges.
(AP, 4/27/07)
2007 Apr 27, Japan's Supreme Court
upheld a ruling denying compensation to two Chinese women who were
forced to work in military brothels during World War II. The court said
that the women had no right to seek war compensation from Japan because
of a 1972 agreement with China. The top court also overturned a lower
court ruling awarding compensation to five Chinese who were forced to
work for a Japanese construction company during the war.
(AP, 4/27/07)
2007 Apr 27, The UN Security
Council lifted its embargo on Liberia's diamond exports, saying the
west African nation has made progress in certifying the origin of its
rough diamonds. A multi-day strike at the Firestone Rubber plantation
in Liberia turned violent as police clashed with striking workers,
leaving at least six people wounded.
(AFP, 4/27/07)(AP, 4/27/07)
2007 Apr 27, Nigeria's Supreme
Court voided the removal of Joshua Dariye, a Plateau state governor,
who fled London on money laundering charges in November 2004. In
Nigeria police said 5 gunmen and two police officers were killed during
an attempt to kidnap two foreign oil workers in the oil-rich city of
Port Harcourt.
(AFP, 4/27/07)
2007 Apr 27, An apparent US
missile strike killed 4 people in Saidgi, a village in the North
Waziristan of Pakistan near the Afghan border.
(www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,269012,00.html)
2007 Apr 27, A Russian military
helicopter crashed in Chechnya, killing all 18 people aboard, emergency
officials said. There were conflicting reports about whether the craft
was shot down.
(AP, 4/27/07)
2007 Apr 27, Mstislav Rostropovich
(b.1927), master cellist, died. He had fought for the rights of
Soviet-era dissidents and later triumphantly played Bach suites below
the crumbling Berlin Wall.
(AP, 4/27/07)(Econ, 5/12/07, p.92)
2007 Apr 27, Saudi Arabia’s
Interior Ministry said police had arrested 172 Islamic militants, some
of whom had trained abroad as pilots so they could fly aircraft in
attacks on Saudi Arabia's oil fields. A spokesman said all that
remained in the plot "was to set the zero hour." More than $32.4
million was seized in the operation, one of the largest sweeps against
terror cells in the kingdoms.
(AP, 4/27/07)
2007 Apr 27, A Spanish judge
indicted three US soldiers in the 2003 death of Jose Couso, a Spanish
journalist who was killed when their tank opened fire at a hotel in
Baghdad.
(AP, 4/27/07)
2007 Apr 28, Actors and musicians
including Elton John, George Clooney, Bob Geldof and Mick Jagger called
on world leaders to take "decisive action" over atrocities in Darfur.
Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi urged African, Arab and Western diplomats
to work with Sudanese rebels to find an immediate solution to the
crisis in Sudan's troubled Darfur region.
(AP, 4/28/07)
2007 Apr 28, Richard Holbrooke,
the former US ambassador to the UN, said Afghanistan's US-backed
government, tarnished by corruption and unable to control large swaths
of its own territory, is rapidly losing the support of ordinary Afghans.
(AP, 4/28/07)
2007 Apr 28, Dabbs Greer,
character actor, died at age 90.
(AP, 4/28/08)
2007 Apr 28, Tommy Newsom,
"Tonight Show" assistant conductor, died at age 78.
(AP, 4/28/08)
2007 Apr 28, Lou Papan (78),
long-time California state assemblyman for San Mateo County, died.
Papan had started his political career as a Daly City councilman.
(SFC, 5/1/07, p.B5)
2007 Apr 28, The Taliban freed a
female French aid worker who was kidnapped more than three weeks ago,
but demanded the withdrawal of French troops or release of prisoners
for the freedom of a French man and three Afghans still being held.
Afghan and coalition forces clashed with Taliban militants in separate
incidents in the east and south, killing 21 insurgents.
(AFP, 4/28/07)(AP, 4/28/07)
2007 Apr 28, Australia's
centre-left Labor Party scrapped its 25-year ban on new uranium mines
in a move miners said would encourage new investment and growth in the
industry.
(AP, 4/28/07)
2007 Apr 28, China's president
called for closer business ties with Taiwan to help squelch the
self-ruled island's pro-independence movement as he met with a former
Taiwanese opposition leader.
(AP, 4/28/07)
2007 Apr 28, China's ZTE signed a
$200 million deal with Ethiopia's state-owned Telecom Corp.
(AFP, 4/30/07)
2007 Apr 28, In Estonia minority
Russian youths angry over the government's decision to remove a Soviet
war memorial from Tallinn rioted for a second night, with unrest
spreading to at least two other towns. 66 people were injured in the
capital, including six policemen. More than 500 people, many of them
adolescents, were detained overnight as vandals prowled the streets,
breaking shop windows and looting stores.
(AP, 4/28/07)
2007 Apr 28, Guyana police found
the remains of a an elderly woman who was lynched by a crowd of
villagers. She had been accused of being an “Old Higue,” an evil spirit
who drinks the blood of human babies.
(AP, 4/30/07)
2007 Apr 28, It was reported that
pro-Indonesian militias had regrouped in the mountainous center of Aceh
as the Communication Forum for Children of the Nation (Forkab).
(Econ, 4/28/07, p.47)
2007 Apr 28, A parked car exploded
near one of Shiite Islam's holiest shrines in the city of Karbala as
people were headed to the area for evening prayers, killing 68 people
and wounding dozens. In Baghdad gunmen opened fire on a vehicle in a
Sunni-Shiite neighborhood, killing 4 of 7 people aboard. In western
Baghdad, two mortar shells hit another residential area of poor,
two-story homes, killing 3 Iraqi children, between the ages of 5 and 7,
and wounding 10 Iraqis, including 3 children. US forces detained 17
suspected insurgents in raids targeting al-Qaida in Iraq. The Danish
military announced that it has sent an unspecified number of special
forces to Iraq to reinforce its 460-strong contingent near the southern
city of Basra. A US soldier was slain by small arms fire during a
patrol in eastern Baghdad.
(AP, 4/28/07)(AP, 4/29/07)(AP, 4/30/07)
2007 Apr 28, Israeli troops killed
at least three Hamas militants who were en route to carrying out an
attack.
(AP, 4/28/07)
2007 Apr 28, In Jamaica the
7-week, 1st Cricket World Cup ended with Australia defeating Sri Lanka.
(Econ, 5/5/07, p.48)
2007 Apr 28, The 1st round of the
Mali presidential election garnered a turnout of around 36%. Incumbent
President Amadou Toumani Toure (59), one of 8 candidates, was widely
expected to win a second term. General Amadou Toumani Toure and
Soumaila Cisse, candidate for the ruling party Adema, faced each other
for the 2nd round.
(AFP,
5/6/07)(http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/1982814.stm)
2007 Apr 28, In Nigeria ballot
papers were stolen and voters intimidated as polls were re-staged for
hundreds of state and federal legislators' seats after elections widely
condemned as fraudulent. Oil officials said Nigeria is currently losing
600,000 barrels of oil per day in the oil rich Niger Delta as a result
of the activities of militants in the region.
(AP, 4/28/07)(AFP, 4/28/07)
2007 Apr 28, In northwest Pakistan
a suicide attacker detonated a bomb as Aftab Khan Sherpao, the interior
minister, finished speaking at a public meeting, killing 28 people and
wounding the official. Saud Memon (44), a suspect in the death of WSJ
reporter Daniel Pearl, was dumped, badly injured and weighing less than
80 pounds, in front of his Karachi home. He had been secretly detained
and interrogated by US and Pakistani intelligence.
(Reuters, 4/28/07)(AP, 4/29/07)(WSJ, 11/12/07, p.A3)
2007 Apr 28, A Philippine air
force helicopter crashed on a busy street in Lapu Lapu City, Cebu
Island, pinning a motorcycle taxi and hitting another with its spinning
rotors. At least 9 people on the ground and one airman were killed.
Norberto Linao Jr., the mayor of Morong town in Bataan province,
escaped injury after assailants sprayed his house with gunfire.
(AFP, 4/28/07)(AP, 4/30/07)
2007 Apr 28, Turkey's
Islamist-rooted government called the army to order, saying it is
answerable to the civilian authority, after the military threatened
action to defend the country's secular system.
(AP, 4/28/07)
2007 Apr 28, President Hugo Chavez
said that Venezuela is ready to become the sole energy supplier to
Cuba, Bolivia, Nicaragua and Haiti, presenting the countries with his
most generous offer yet of oil-funded diplomacy in the region.
(AP, 4/29/07)
2007 Apr 28, Zimbabwe announced
new controls to clamp down on charities and other humanitarian
organizations, including democracy and human rights groups that the
government accuses of campaigning against it. A state daily reported
that Zimbabwe has compensated 800 white farmers for property seized
during controversial land reforms launched by President Robert Mugabe's
government.
(AP, 4/28/07)
2007 Apr 29, A stretch of highway
near the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge collapsed after a gasoline
tanker crashed and burst into flames, leaving one of the nation's
busiest spans in a state of near paralysis. Officials said traffic
could be disrupted for months. Driver James Mosqueda (51) managed to
away with 2nd degree burns.
(AP, 4/29/07)(SFC, 5/1/07, p.A1)
2007 Apr 29, In Kansas City, Mo.,
David W. Logsdon, driving a dead woman’s car, was shot and killed by
police after he killed 2 people in the parking lot of a mall.
(SFC, 4/30/07, p.A3)(AP, 4/29/08)
2007 Apr 29, St. Louis Cardinals
relief pitcher Josh Hancock, 29, was killed in the crash of his sport
utility vehicle.
(AP, 4/29/08)
2007 Apr 29, Hundreds of angry
protesters chanting "Death to Bush" demonstrated in eastern Afghanistan
after six people, including a woman and a teenage girl, were reportedly
killed when US-led coalition and Afghan forces raided a suspected car
bomb cell. Afghanistan's education minister said at least 85 students
and teachers were killed last year in attacks blamed on insurgents who
oppose education for girls and teaching boys anything other than
religion. In western Afghanistan coalition and Afghan forces attacked
the insurgents and called in an airstrike, destroying seven Taliban
positions and killing 87 fighters during a 14-hour engagement in Herat
province.
(AP, 4/29/07)(AP, 4/30/07)
2007 Apr 29, Octavio Frias de
Oliveira (94), who published Brazil's biggest newspaper and Web site
and helped modernize the country's media, died of kidney failure.
(AP, 4/30/07)
2007 Apr 29, In China 7 suspects
went on trial in the beating death of a reporter at an illegal coal
mine in northern Shanxi province. Lan Chengzhang was attacked along
with a colleague when they went to interview Hou Zhenrun, the owner of
the small unlicensed coal mine outside the northern city of Datong on
Jan 10. He died the next day from head injuries.
(AP, 4/30/07)
2007 Apr 29, Colombia's navy made
the largest drug seizure in the nation's history as it uncovered up to
27 tons of cocaine buried along the Pacific coast.
(AP, 4/30/07)
2007 Apr 29, In Ethiopia 7 Chinese
oil workers and two Africans kidnapped during a rebel attack on a
Chinese oil field near the Somali border were released.
(AP, 4/29/07)
2007 Apr 29, In Egypt police
arrested two lawmakers and at least 10 other members of the banned
Muslim Brotherhood group as part of an ongoing campaign against the
country's strongest opposition group.
(AP, 4/30/07)
2007 Apr 29, American troops also
detained 72 suspected insurgents and seized nitric acid and other
bomb-making materials during raids targeting al-Qaida in Iraq in Anbar
province. Britain said one of its soldiers was shot to death while on
patrol in southern Iraq. In Basra 5 people were reported killed by an
explosion. Iraqi police initially said it was a car bomb, but the
British military said it appeared the blast accidentally occurred while
explosives and weapons were being moved. A roadside bomb killed 3
American soldiers and an Iraqi interpreter on a combat patrol in
eastern Baghdad. A Marine was killed during combat operations in Anbar
province.
(AP, 4/29/07)(AP, 4/30/07)
2007 Apr 29, Japan and the
resources-rich United Arab Emirates agreed to launch a high-level
dialogue aimed at boosting economic ties and to speed up talks on a
free trade pact. Officials of the governmental Japan Bank for
International Cooperation decided to extend massive loans to Abu Dhabi
National Oil Co. in exchange for securing a stable oil supply for Japan.
(AP,
4/29/07)(http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20070430a2.html)
2007 Apr 29, Saudi Arabia's King
Abdullah held an unannounced meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud
Abbas to discuss the recent escalation in Israeli-Palestinian tensions.
Saudi Arabia banned the sale of concentrated fertilizer, a favorite
component of homemade terrorist bombs.
(AP, 4/30/07)(Econ, 5/5/07, p.60)
2007 Apr 29, Tamil Tiger rebels
bombed a fuel refinery and gasoline storage facility near the Sri
Lankan capital, and authorities cut power to the city. Hours later, the
military pounded rebel positions in the north.
(AP, 4/29/07)
2007 Apr 29, Protests took place
around the world to demand that world leaders act to prevent further
bloodshed in Darfur on the fourth anniversary of the conflict's start.
(AP, 4/29/07)
2007 Apr 29, Suspected Muslim
insurgents in southern Thailand killed two Buddhist villagers,
beheading one of them, and left a note saying the attack was revenge
for a deadly weekend bombing at a mosque.
(AP, 4/30/07)
2007 Apr 29, Some 700,000 Turks
waving the red national flag flooded central Istanbul to demand the
resignation of the government, saying the Islamic roots of Turkey's
leaders threatened to destroy the country's modern foundations.
(AP, 4/29/07)
2007 Apr 29, President Hugo Chavez
said that Venezuela hopes to gradually sell off its refineries in the
United States and build a new network of refineries in Latin America,
part of a plan to offer his leftist allies in the region a stable oil
supply.
(AP, 4/30/07)
2007 Apr 30, The US announced a
major expansion of offshore oil and gas development, with proposed
lease sales covering 48 million new acres.
(WSJ, 5/1/07, p.A1)
2007 Apr 30, US and Mexican law
enforcement officials said Mexican druglords are taking over the
business of smuggling migrants into the United States, using them as
human decoys to divert authorities from billions of dollars in cocaine
shipments across the same border.
(AP, 4/30/07)
2007 Apr 30, Delta Air Lines
emerged from bankruptcy after 19 months in Chapter 11.
(Econ, 5/5/07, p.84)
2007 Apr 30, Tom Poston (b.1921),
American TV and film actor, died in Los Angeles.
(AP,
4/30/08)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Poston)
2007 Apr 30, The presidents of
Afghanistan and Pakistan, a meeting arranged by Turkish leaders, agreed
to share intelligence on extremist groups to bolster efforts to deny
sanctuary, training and financing to terrorists in both countries.
NATO-led troops killed 75 suspected insurgents on the first day of an
operation against Taliban militants in a valley in southern Helmand
province. Hundreds of people demonstrated in the Shindand district of
the western province of Herat, after coalition and Afghan operations
there on April 27 and 29, insisting that civilians were among the
victims. Police the next day said at least 30 civilians, including
women and children, were among those killed in Shindand's fighting. The
US military reported killing 136 rebels over 3 days of fighting in
western Afghanistan. One US soldier died in the clashes.
(AP, 4/30/07)(AP, 5/1/07)(AFP, 5/1/07)(WSJ, 5/1/07,
p.A1)
2007 Apr 30, Miles Hilton-Barber
(58), A blind British adventurer, touched down in Sydney Monday to end
an epic 13,500-mile flight by microlight aircraft from London. His
54-day journey was performed under the supervision of sighted co-pilot
Richard Meredith-Hardy.
(AP, 4/30/07)
2007 Apr 30, A British judge
sentenced five men to life in prison for plotting to bomb several
targets in London including a popular nightclub, power plants and
shopping mall in a trial that exposed links between the men and at
least two of the suicide bombers who attacked the capital two years
ago. Mohammed Junaid Babar's testimony in the yearlong trial revealed
how disaffected Britons were trained for terrorism in Pakistan, where
many have family ties. The former terrorist turned informant was
arrested in New York in 2004, and has since given evidence to
prosecutors in Britain, the US and Pakistan.
(AP, 4/30/07)(AP, 5/1/07)
2007 Apr 30, Britain's first
convicted war criminal was sentenced to a year in prison and dismissed
from the army in connection with the death of an Iraqi hotel worker.
Corp. Donald Payne had pleaded guilty to inhumanely treating Iraqi
civilians in southern Basra in 2003.
(AP, 4/30/07)
2007 Apr 30, In China a manager of
a feed company and one of the chemical's producers said that the mildly
toxic chemical melamine is commonly added to animal feed in China. The
process fraudulently boosts the feed's sales value but risks
introducing the chemical into meat eaten by humans.
(AP, 4/30/07)
2007 Apr 30, Egyptian authorities
released two Muslim Brotherhood lawmakers but ordered 12 other members
of the country's most powerful opposition group detained.
(AP, 5/1/07)
2007 Apr 30, A suicide car bomber
apparently targeting an Interior Ministry convoy struck an Iraqi
checkpoint near a busy square in the predominantly Sunni Arab area of
Harthiyah in western Baghdad, killing 4 people and wounding 10. Some 50
gunmen attacked a police station in a mainly Sunni Arab area in the
northern city of Mosul, prompting clashes as police chased the
attackers through the streets. 4 gunmen were killed and two were
detained, while one policeman was wounded. A parked car bomb struck a
police patrol in the same area, killing one policeman and wounding two.
A suicide bomber struck a crowd of funeral mourners north of Baghdad
killing over 30 people. Nationwide at least 102 people were killed.
(AP, 4/30/07)(SFC, 5/1/07, p.A12)
2007 Apr 30, An Israeli government
commission aimed harsh criticism at PM Ehud Olmert and other officials
for their handling of last summer's war in Lebanon.
(AP, 4/30/07)
2007 Apr 30, Hundreds of
protesters briefly pushed into the Palestinian education ministry as
Fatah-allied teachers in the West Bank went on strike to press for the
payment of overdue salaries. Angry Palestinian demonstrators stormed
the Egyptian embassy in Gaza City, demanding that Egypt release five
Palestinians held in Cairo jails.
(AP, 5/1/07)(AP, 4/30/07)
2007 Apr 30, In the northern
Philippines Mayor Julian Resuello of San Carlos died 2 days after he
was shot to death.
(AP, 4/30/07)
2007 Apr 30, The South African
government and AIDS campaigners launched a joint national body to
oversee a program aimed at halving the country's rate of new infections.
(AP, 4/30/07)
2007 Apr 30, The Sudanese armed
forces vowed to "crush" a coalition of rebel groups in Darfur for
killing an officer whose helicopter had landed in north Darfur after a
technical failure.
(Reuters, 4/30/07)
2007 Apr 30, In southern Thailand
suspected Islamic insurgents exploded a bomb at a busy night market and
wounded 20 people.
(AP, 5/1/07)
2007 Apr 30, In southern Tunisia a
stampede at an open-air concert by stars of the Arab version of
"American Idol" killed seven young people and injured 32.
(AP, 5/1/07)
2007 Apr 30, The Turkish stock
market plunged, reacting sharply to political tensions as the
Islamic-rooted government comes under strong pressure from secular
circles to call parliamentary elections.
(AP, 4/30/07)
2007 Apr 30, President Hugo Chavez
announced he would pull Venezuela out of the World Bank and the
International Monetary Fund, a largely symbolic move because the nation
has already paid off its debts to the lending institutions.
(AP, 5/1/07)
2007 Apr, Georgia reported that
outbreaks of African swine fever began at the end of April in 10
regions across the country. 20,000 pigs were soon slaughtered. In June
the UN said that the outbreak could have a "catastrophic" economic
impact unless its spread is halted.
(AP, 6/8/07)
2007 Apr, The web site
mediapredict.com began operations. The NYC-based start-up used
editorial feedback from a large number of volunteers in a game format
to help executives decide which manuscripts should become books.
(Econ, 6/2/07, p.73)(http://mediapredict.com/)
2007 Apr, Bolivia became the 32nd
nation to ban or restrict used clothing imports in an attempt to
protect native clothing industries.
(AP, 7/17/07)
2007 Apr, In Colombia the soldiers
in Antelope Company's Third Platoon killed Leonardo Montes, a civilian
and brother to one of the platoon’s soldiers, and registered the murder
as a guerrilla kill. The brother’s pleas failed to prevent the killing.
The platoon hadn't registered a guerrilla kill in months, and without
results, they feared they wouldn't be let off base for Mother's Day. 5
soldiers faced a criminal probe in the murder, joining some 480
soldiers under investigation for about 1,000 extrajudicial killings
during the presidency of Alvaro Uribe.
(AP, 11/13/08)
2007 Apr, Yoani Sanchez (32) began
posting her Generacion Y blog from Havana.
(WSJ, 12/22/07, p.A1)(www.desdecuba.com/generaciony)
2007 Apr, In India Mahindra
Renault, a joint venture formed in 2005, launched a new version of the
Logan priced at $7,100 before taxes. The original Logan was designed in
Romania. It went on sale in Iran in March under the name Tondar
(thunder), with record orders and deliveries due in May. Iran’s model
was built by Iran Khodro (IKCO) and Saipa.
(Econ, 4/28/07, p.78)
2007 Apr, A court in Venice,
Italy, allowed Alexandra Hai (40), a German of Algerian descent, to
operate a gondola, but only for the residents of one of the city’s
hotels. Her permit was opposed by the city’s male gondoliers.
(SFC, 5/14/07, p.A11)
2007 Apr, Stanislovas Jucys, a
Lithuanian businessman, disappeared. He was the CEO of a
Kaliningrad-based construction company with a majority stake in
Lithuanian hands. Jucys' replacement was killed a few months later, and
the company was taken over by a Russian firm.
(Reuters, 3/20/08)
2007 Apr, Mexico’s
CompartamosBanco went public as a lender to the poor. It was created in
1990 as a non-Governmental Organization (NGO). ACCION Int’l., a charity
that has helped to spread microfinance since the 1970s, was an early
investor and banked $140 million in the IPO, while retaining a 9%
stake. ACCION had received funding from USAID.
(Econ, 5/17/08, p.93)(http://tinyurl.com/46esnp)
2007 May 1, Pres. Bush cast the
2nd veto of his presidency rejecting an attempt by both chambers of
Congress to set a timetable for bringing troops home from Iraq.
(Econ, 5/5/07, p.36)
2007 May 1, Julie A. MacDonald, a
deputy assistant secretary for fish and wildlife and parks, resigned
after an internal review found that she had violated federal rules by
giving government documents to lobbyists for industry. In November the
US Fish and Wildlife Service reversed 7 rulings that had denied
endangered species increased protection.
(www.mindfully.org/Heritage/2007/Interior-Wildlife-Decisions21jul07.htm)(SFC,
11/28/07,
p.A3)
2007 May 1, John Hickenlooper
(b.1952) was re-elected mayor of Denver with 86.3% of the vote.
(Econ, 11/3/07,
p.39)(www.citymayors.com/mayors/denver_mayor.html)
2007 May 1, Thousands of people
protested across the US to demand a path to citizenship for an
estimated 12 million illegal immigrants.
(AP, 5/1/08)
2007 May 1, Kenneth John Freeman
(44), a bodybuilder and computer expert from Benton County, Washington,
was arrested in Hong Kong. Freeman, who fled the US 13 months earlier,
was accused of raping his daughter and posting a video of the attack.
(www.usmarshals.gov/news/chron/2007/050207.htm)
2007 May 1, The design for the
Arizona quarter, chosen by Gov. Janet Napolitano, was announced. It
includes a "Grand Canyon State" banner across the middle of the
quarter, separating the canyon view with a multi-rayed sun above and a
saguaro in a desert landscape below. The 48th of the state series will
be released in 2008, followed by Alaska and Hawaii.
(AP, 5/1/07)
2007 May 1, A US ice expert said
the Arctic ice cap is melting much faster than expected and is now
about 30 years ahead of predictions made by the Intergovernmental Panel
on Climate Change.
(Reuters, 5/1/07)
2007 May 1, Australian police
arrested two men accused of raising money for Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger
rebels on the pretext of collecting donations for victims of the
devastating 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.
(AP, 5/1/07)
2007 May 1, Thirty people were
arrested in raids across Belgium, England, and the Netherlands
targeting suspected animal rights extremists.
(AP, 5/1/07)
2007 May 1, John Browne, head of
BP PLC, resigned after Britain’s highest legal body triggered the
release of documents detailing his relationship with a former lover.
(WSJ, 5/2/07, p.A1)
2007 May 1, Britain's largest ever
trade union, representing about two million public and private sector
workers, was launched following the merger of two workers' bodies.
(AP, 5/1/07)
2007 May 1, China lashed out at
the Caribbean nation of St. Lucia for restoring diplomatic relations
with Taiwan, the self-governing island that Beijing claims as Chinese
territory.
(AP, 5/1/07)
2007 May 1, In Indonesia tens of
thousands of workers marked May Day by taking to the streets to demand
better wages and job security, amid a heavy police presence.
(AP, 5/1/07)
2007 May 1, Iran stood firm in
opposing language in a nuclear conference agenda that reaffirms the
need for full compliance with the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, a
stance that diplomats said could scuttle the meeting aimed at
strengthening the accord.
(AP, 5/1/07)
2007 May 1, Iraqi officials have
received reports that Abu Ayyub al-Masri (aka Abu Hamza al-Muhajer),
the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq, was killed by Sunni tribesmen, but the
chief government spokesman said the information has not been confirmed.
Deputy Prime Minister Barham Saleh said that al-Masri was believed to
have been killed April 30 in the Taji area north of Baghdad. Gunmen
ambushed travelers on a highway leading from Baghdad to Shiite areas to
the south, killing 14 people. Mortar rounds slammed into an area near
the Iraqi prime minister's office in the US-controlled Green Zone in
Baghdad.
(AP, 5/1/07)
2007 May 1, Japan and Qatar
stressed their solid energy partnership and agreed to launch initial
negotiations on moves to stimulate Japanese investment in the Gulf
state.
(AP, 5/1/07)
2007 May 1, Liberia relaunched its
diamond trade after the UN lifted an embargo, hoping the revival of the
industry will fund reconstruction rather than lead to more bloodshed.
(AP, 5/1/07)
2007 May 1, In Macao May Day
protesters clashed with riot police as a rally against labor shortages
turned violent, sparking rare scenes of civil unrest in the southern
Chinese territory.
(AP, 5/1/07)
2007 May 1, It was reported that
Malaysian doctors have declared neckties a health hazard and called on
the heath ministry to stop insisting that physicians wear them.
(Reuters, 5/1/07)
2007 May 1, In Mexico 5 soldiers,
including a colonel, and a suspected drug cartel enforcer were killed
in a shootout in the western state of Michoacan, which has been plagued
by drug violence and is the target of a military-led anti-drug
offensive.
(AP, 5/2/07)
2007 May 1, The leader of Nepal's
Maoists threatened to push the nation back into turmoil by launching
huge nationwide protests unless parliament immediately ousts the king
and declares a republic.
(AP, 5/1/07)
2007 May 1, Thousands of people
gathered in heavily guarded squares and stadiums in Nigeria's main
cities to protest last month's flawed presidential election. Dare
Folorunso, a Nigerian journalist of the state-owned radiotelevision
station, was beaten unconscious by policemen at workers rally in Akure
in southern Ondo state. MEND militants kidnapped six foreign oil
workers, including four Italians, in an attack on a floating storage
vessel off the coast of southern Bayelsa State. A Nigerian sailor was
killed.
(Reuters, 5/1/07)(SFC, 5/2/07, p.C2)(AFP, 5/4/07)
2007 May 1, Thousands of laborers
rallied across Pakistan demanding better wages and living conditions to
mark May Day.
(AP, 5/1/07)
2007 May 1, Thousands of South
Africans marched in Durban to protest the renaming of streets after
heroes of the ruling African National Congress, sparking warnings of
violence in the Zulu heartland.
(AP, 5/1/07)
2007 May 1, Turkish police charged
into crowds of leftist protesters marking the anniversary of a deadly
May Day rally in Istanbul, spraying tear gas and kicking and clubbing
demonstrators as they fled.
(AP, 5/1/07)
2007 May 1, President Hugo
Chavez's government took over Venezuela's last privately run oil
fields, intensifying a struggle with international firms over the
development of the world's largest known petroleum deposit.
(AP, 5/1/07)
2007 May 1, Zimbabwe boosted the
price of corn meal, a keystone of the nation’s diet, by nearly 600%.
(WSJ, 5/2/07, p.A1)(AP, 5/7/07)
2007 May 2, In a defeat for
anti-war Democrats, Congress failed to override President Bush's veto
of legislation requiring the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq. Bush
declared al-Qaida "public enemy No. 1 in Iraq."
(AP, 5/2/08)
2007 May 2, Cablevision Systems
Corp. agreed to be taken private by the founding Dolan family for $10.6
billion in cash.
(SFC, 5/3/07, p.C2)
2007 May 2, James Abegglen,
American-born chronicler of the rise of “Japan Inc.,” died in Japan. In
the 1960s and 1970s he warned corporate America that Japan should be
taken more seriously. His 9th book was titled “21st-Century Japanese
Management.”
(WSJ, 5/12/07, p.A8)
2007 May 2, Afghan regional
officials said that 51 villagers, some of them women and children, were
killed in recent fighting in western Afghanistan. The US-led coalition
said it had no reports of civilian deaths.
(AP, 5/2/07)
2007 May 2, A former prime
minister led his opposition party to victory in the Bahamas, returning
to power in elections dominated by questions about the direction of the
tourism-driven economy. Hubert Ingraham's Free National Movement won 23
seats in the 41-seat legislature, while PM Perry Christie's Progressive
Liberal Party claimed the other 18.
(AP, 5/3/07)
2007 May 2, The Canadian Food
Inspection Agency said another case of bovine spongiform
encephalopathy, or mad cow disease, has been confirmed in a mature
dairy cow in the province of British Columbia.
(Reuters, 5/2/07)
2007 May 2, An Egyptian court
sentenced Al Jazeera producer Huweida Taha Metwalli to six months in
jail or a fine of 10,000 Egyptian pounds ($1,760) for her part in
producing a feature on torture by Egyptian police.
(AP, 5/2/07)
2007 May 2, Egypt and Japan agreed
to push together in a bid to end the crisis over Iran's nuclear
ambitions, calling for a Middle East free of weapons of mass
destruction.
(AFP, 5/2/07)
2007 May 2, The grave of Hungary's
last communist ruler, Janos Kadar (1956-1988), was pried open and his
remains and his wife's urn were thought to have been stolen.
(Reuters, 5/2/07)
2007 May 2, The Iranian state news
agency reported that the country's former nuclear negotiator, Hossein
Mousavian, has been arrested on an unspecified security charge.
(AP, 5/2/07)
2007 May 2, A suicide car bomber
struck in the main Shiite district of Baghdad, killing at least nine
people as the US military said its troop buildup in Baghdad was nearly
complete. Three more US soldiers were killed by bombs in the capital.
At least 85 Iraqis were killed or found dead nationwide.
(AP, 5/2/07)
2007 May 2, Kazakhstan’s
Emergencies Agency said hundreds of dead seals have washed up on its
Caspian Sea shoreline in the past several days, bringing the total
number of the animals found dead along the shoreline in recent weeks to
832.
(AP, 5/2/07)
2007 May 2, Ahmed Errachidi (41) a
Moroccan man sent home from the US detention camp at Guantanamo Bay
last week, was released by local authorities after terrorism-related
charges were dropped.
(Reuters, 5/3/07)
2007 May 2, The International
Criminal Court in the Hague said it has issued arrest warrants
for the Sudanese government's humanitarian affairs minister and a
janjaweed militia leader suspected of committing war crimes in Darfur.
(AP, 5/2/07)
2007 May 2, A company spokesman
said US oil giant Chevron has shut down 15,000 barrels per day of oil
production in its Funiwa facility in southern Nigeria following a
militant attack.
(AFP, 5/2/07)
2007 May 2, Romania’s Parliament
approved an agreement allowing the US to use four military bases and
station up to 3,000 troops in the former communist country.
(AP, 5/3/07)
2007 May 2, Russian oil firms
rushed to re-route a quarter of their refined products exports away
from ports in Estonia after Russia's railways halted the route amid a
political dispute with Tallinn. Young Russians staged raucous protests
in Moscow to denounce neighboring Estonia for removing a Soviet war
memorial from its capital, and the Estonian ambassador said pro-Kremlin
activists tried to attack her as she arrived at a news conference.
(Reuters, 5/2/07)
2007 May 2, The South Korean
government announced its first-ever plan to seize assets gained by
alleged Korean collaborators during Japanese colonial rule as part of
efforts to reconcile with its past more than 60 years after the end of
the peninsula's occupation. 2 defectors to South Korea described how
they had been tortured in a North Korean prison camp, as a South Korean
rights group issued a report on abuses of detainees in the communist
state.
(AP, 5/2/07)
2007 May 2, Taiwan's opposition
leader Ma Ying-jeou was nominated by his Kuomintang party to run for
the 2008 presidential election and pledged to improve economic ties
with China.
(AP, 5/2/07)
2007 May 2, Thailand's
military-installed PM Surayud Chulanont said he has tasked his southern
army commander with developing a detailed amnesty proposal for Islamic
militants.
(AP, 5/2/07)
2007 May 2, The US and EU warned
Turkey's military to stay out of the country's political showdown
between the Islamic-rooted government and those in the secular
establishment who fear the country will shift toward Islamic rule.
(AP, 5/2/07)
2007 May 2, Isaac Matongo (60),
the chairman of Zimbabwe's opposition Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC) and former trade unionist, died.
(AP, 5/2/07)
2007 May 3, A US House panel
called on the VA chief to explain why top officials got hefty bonuses
even as veteran’s care deteriorated.
(WSJ, 5/4/07, p.A1)
2007 May 3, A US federal judge
barred planting of alfalfa engineered by Monsanto to resist Roundup, a
popular weed killer made by Monsanto, pending further study.
(WSJ, 5/4/07, p.A1)
2007 May 3, The Florida
Legislature gave its final approval to moving the state's 2008 primary
from early March to Jan. 29.
(AP, 5/3/08)
2007 May 3, Ignacio De La Fuente
Jr. (32), the son of Oakland, Ca., City Council President Ignacio De La
Fuente, pleaded guilty to 5 felony sex charges committed between 2003
and 2005. Three of his 4 victims were prostitutes.
(SFC, 5/4/07, p.B5)
2007 May 3, James H. Simons,
mathematician and philanthropist, announced a $10 million donation to
Berkeley’s Mathematical Sciences Research Institute from the Simons
Foundation. Simons is president of Renaissance Technologies Corp., a
private investment firm dedicated to the use of mathematical methods.
(SSFC, 5/6/07, p.B7)
2007 May 3, In Alabama Jamison
Stone (11) killed a wild pig weighing 1,051 pounds with a .50 caliber
revolver. The pig measured 9 feet, 4 inches from snout to tail. The
animal's former owner later said the not-so-wild pig, named Fred, had
been raised on an Alabama farm and was sold to the Lost Creek
Plantation just four days before it was shot there in a 150-acre fenced
area.
(SFC, 5/25/07, p.A3)(AP, 6/1/07)
2007 May 3, Dr. Leonard D. Eron
(87), psychologist, died in Illinois. His research led him to warn
society that children who watch violent TV shows tend to show
aggressive and destructive behaviour later in life. He determined that
aggression is learned behaviour.
(SFC, 5/21/07, p.B4)
2007 May 3, Wally Schirra, one of
the original Mercury Seven astronauts, died in La Jolla, Ca. From 1962
to 1968 he logged over 295 hours in space .
(SFC, 5/4/07, p.B9)
2007 May 3, A remote-control bomb
hit an Afghan army bus in Kabul, killing the driver and wounding 29
people, including 22 soldiers.
(AP, 5/3/07)
2007 May 3, African neighbors
Sudan and Chad signed a Saudi-brokered reconciliation deal in Saudi
Arabia, requiring both sides to cooperate with the United Nations to
stabilize Darfur and the adjacent region in Chad.
(AP, 5/3/07)
2007 May 3, Australia signed the
first in a series of contracts that will see its air force buy 24
Boeing F/A-18F Super Hornet fighter-bombers from the US Navy.
(AP, 5/3/07)
2007 May 3, Voters handed PM Tony
Blair's Labour Party a string of embarrassing defeats in local
elections.
(AP, 5/4/07)
2007 May 3, Madeleine McCann (3),
a British girl, was kidnapped from her bed in a Portuguese beach resort
while her parents dined nearby.
(Reuters, 5/5/07)
2007 May 3, Seven of Canada's
biggest investment dealers said they plan to launch a new Alternative
Trading System in 2008 to boost the efficiency of equity trading and
make Canada more globally competitive. The Royal Canadian Mint unveiled
a monster gold coin with a face value of C$1 million (455,000 pounds)
that it says is the world's biggest, purest and highest denomination
coin.
(Reuters, 5/3/07)
2007 May 3, Forces loyal to the
outgoing president of the Comoros island of Anjouan took control of a
building housing federal offices in what one African Union official
called a coup.
(AFP, 5/4/07)
2007 May 3, A pair of heavily
armed Cuban soldiers seized a city bus, killed an army officer and
triggered a gun battle in a foiled bid to hijack a charter flight bound
for the United States.
(AP, 5/4/07)
2007 May 3, Ecuador's new leftist
government set up a truth commission to investigate alleged human
rights abuses committed over the last 27 years, particularly during the
right-wing administration of former President Leon Febres Cordero.
(AP, 5/4/07)
2007 May 3, In Egypt a conference
of nearly 50 nations opened at Sharm el-Sheik to rally international
support, particularly from Arab nations, for an ambitious plan to
stabilize Iraq. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met Syria's
foreign minister in the first high-level talks between the two
countries in years. Hours after the chief military spokesman in Iraq
said Syria had moved to reduce "the flow of foreign fighters" across
its border.
(AP, 5/3/07)
2007 May 3, In France Claude
Mandil, head of the International Energy Agency (IEA), told a news
conference that there is no reason why Iran should not have nuclear
energy.
(Reuters, 5/3/07)
2007 May 3, US-led forces
conducting a crackdown on al-Qaida in Iraq killed Muharib Abdul-Latif
al-Jubouri, described as al-Qaida's information minister. He was
responsible for the high-profile kidnappings of several Westerners.
Gunmen stormed the offices of an independent radio station in a
predominantly Sunni area of Baghdad, killing two employees and wounding
five before bombing the building and knocking the station off the air.
Police in Fallujah found nine bullet-riddled bodies, four members of a
Sunni tribe that recently joined an alliance against al-Qaida in Iraq
and five found near the tax office. Gunmen stormed a market in Baqouba
killing a plainclothes policeman after a militant read a death sentence
issued by al-Qaida and two Shiite men. They then killed a policeman
after he arrived at the scene to investigate.
(AP, 5/3/07)(AP, 5/4/07)
2007 May 3, In Israel the campaign
to oust PM Ehud Olmert shifted to the streets, with a mass rally in Tel
Aviv expected to draw tens of thousands of people calling for the
embattled leader to step down.
(AP, 5/3/07)
2007 May 3, In Nigeria at least 21
workers, most of them foreigners, were kidnapped in separate attacks in
the oil-rice delta region. 8 foreigners and a Nigerian were later freed.
(AP, 5/3/07)
2007 May 3, The Ulster Volunteer
Force, an outlawed Northern Ireland group that for decades attacked the
province's Catholic minority, renounced violence and pledged to disarm.
(AP, 5/3/07)
2007 May 3, Philippine President
Gloria Macapagal Arroyo announced that US-based Texas Instruments Inc.,
the world's biggest maker of mobile phone chips, will build a $1
billion plant in the Philippines, choosing the country over China
despite concerns about power costs.
(Reuters, 5/3/07)
2007 May 3, Russia lashed out at
the EU and NATO for supporting Estonia in its row with Moscow over the
relocation of a Soviet war monument.
(AP, 5/3/07)
2007 May 3, Scotland held
parliamentary elections. Labor was knocked out of the top spot for the
1st time in 50 years by the Scottish National Party. The SNP supported
a future referendum on independence.
(AFP, 5/3/07)(Econ, 5/12/07, p.61)
2007 May 3, Turkish lawmakers
moved up elections to July 22, after the Islamic-rooted ruling party
and its secular opposition agreed that an early ballot was the only way
out of their standoff over political Islam.
(AP, 5/3/07)
2007 May 3, Venezuelan President
Hugo Chavez warned he will nationalize the country's banks and largest
steel producer in an apparent bid to strong-arm the businesses to
contribute more to local industry.
(AP, 5/4/07)
2007 May 4, US federal officials
placed a hold on 20 million chickens raised for market in several
states because their feed was mixed with pet food containing an
industrial chemical.
(AP, 5/5/07)
2007 May 4, The United States said
it will provide more than $14 million in security assistance to Kenya
to boost efforts to combat terrorist activities in the east African
nation.
(AP, 5/5/07)
2007 May 4, An Alaska lawmaker and
two of his former colleagues were arrested for allegedly soliciting and
accepting bribes from VECO Corp., a private oil services company, to
pass a new oil-tax system.
(Reuters, 5/4/07)
2007 May 4, Reuters Group PLC said
that it had received a preliminary takeover approach. The bidder was
identified as Thomson Corp., a financial data and information provider
based in Stamford, Conn., owned by the Thomson family of Canada.
(AP, 5/4/07)(http://tinyurl.com/2m8qt5)
2007 May 4, Tornadoes in southwest
Kansas killed at least seven people and leveled most of Greensburg.
(AP, 5/5/07)
2007 May 4, In Austria a standoff
pitting Iran against most others delegations at a 130-nation nuclear
conference deepened, with organizers adjourning the third straight
session in as many days without breaking a deadlock over the language
of the meeting's agenda.
(AP, 5/4/07)
2007 May 4, Two Azerbaijani
journalists were convicted and sentenced to prison for inciting hatred
with an article criticizing Islam.
(AP, 5/4/07)
2007 May 4, Brazil’s Pres. Lula da
Silva issued a license allowing Brazil to buy or produce a cheap
generic version of AIDS drug efavirenz, bypassing Merck’s patent. The
compulsory licensing for efavirenz will allow Brazil to import
unbranded copies at a quarter of current prices while paying Merck a
nominal royalty.
(WSJ, 5/5/07, p.A1)(Econ, 5/12/07, p.42)
2007 May 4, A British court found
Frederick Chiluba, Zambia's first democratically elected president
(1991-2001), guilty of stealing $46 million in government funds and
ordered him to repay the entire sum. He had gone on trial in Zambia in
2003, accused of 169 counts of corruption, abuse of power and theft,
but was declared unfit to stand trial on the grounds of ill health.
(AP, 5/4/07)(Econ, 11/21/09, p.51)
2007 May 4, A rebel spokesman said
a Saudi-brokered reconciliation deal signed by Chad with its neighbor
Sudan will not halt a guerrilla war by Chadian rebels aimed at toppling
President Idriss Deby.
(Reuters, 5/4/07)
2007 May 4, In Guinea soldiers
protesting the government's failure to give them promised pay raises
beat a shopkeeper to death as they looted his store and fired shots in
the air, wounding at least 25 civilians.
(AP, 5/4/07)
2007 May 4, A boat loaded with
Haitian migrants capsized while being towed by a police boat from the
Turks and Caicos Islands. 78 of some 160 people survived. Haitian
migrants later claimed a Turks and Caicos naval vessel rammed their
crowded sailboat twice before it capsized.
(AP, 5/4/07)(SFC, 5/5/07, p.A8)(AP, 5/8/07)
2007 May 4, A roadside bomb killed
five Iraqi policemen on a patrol in western Baghdad. US forces broke up
a Shiite militant cell believed to be smuggling an armor-piercing
Iranian weapon responsible for an increasing number of American and
Iraqi deaths. 16 suspected militants were arrested in the Baghdad raid.
7 bodies were found floating in the Diyala River in Baqouba. The
bullet-riddled bodies of five police officers, dressed in civilian
clothes, were discovered outside the city of Beiji. The US military
identified two more top al-Qaida aides killed during an operation
earlier this week targeting Muharib Abdul-Latif al-Jubouri. A US
soldier was killed and two were wounded when their patrol was hit by a
roadside bomb south of Baghdad. A roadside bomb killed a US soldier and
wounded four others in western Baghdad.
(AP, 5/4/07)(AP, 5/5/07)(AP, 5/6/07)
2007 May 4, Assailants in western
Baghdad looted and burned the building which housed independent Radio
Dijla, founded by Ahmed Rikaby in 2004. The attack came one day after
staffers fought off some 2 dozen gunmen. Staff moved to new quarters in
Sulaymaniya and within 9 days resumed broadcasting.
(SFC, 11/22/07, p.A25)
2007 May 4, The divided Koreas
agreed to discuss historic trial runs of cross-border railways, as
Washington cautioned Seoul against rushing to embrace Pyongyang before
it takes steps to dismantle its nuclear program.
(AP, 5/4/07)
2007 May 4, In Somalia Mohamed
Dheere, a former warlord, was sworn in as mayor of Mogadishu and
immediately ordered residents to get rid of their weapons. Aid groups
said 1,670 people were killed between March 12 and April 26 and more
than 340,000 of the city's 2 million residents fled for safety as the
government, backed by Ethiopian troops, pressed to wipe out an Islamic
insurgency.
(AP, 5/4/07)
2007 May 4, Delegates meeting in
Thailand from 120 countries approved the first roadmap for stemming
greenhouse gas emissions, laying out what they said was an affordable
arsenal of anti-warming measures that must be rushed into place to
avert a disastrous spike in global temperatures.
(AP, 5/4/07)
2007 May 4, Ukraine's president
and prime minister reached agreement on holding early parliamentary
elections in a bid to end a political standoff between the rival
leaders.
(AP, 5/4/07)
2007 May 4, Former Iranian
President Mohammad Khatami met with Pope Benedict XVI for talks the
Vatican hoped would help heal tensions left from the pontiff's remarks
on Islam and violence, but the Iranian said the wounds were still very
deep.
(AP, 5/4/07)
2007 May 4, The UN agency for
refugees began repatriating thousands of Congolese refugees in Zambia
to the Democratic Republic of Congo.
(AFP, 5/4/07)
2007 May 5, Street Sense roared
from next-to-last in a 20-horse field to win the Kentucky Derby.
(AP, 5/5/08)
2007 May 5, In Las Vegas Floyd
Mayweather Jr. won his boxing match against Oscar De La Hoya in a
12-round split decision. A sellout crowd of 16,200 paid a record $19
million gate.
(AP, 5/6/07)
2007 May 5, Four suicide bombings
struck Afghanistan, killing two policemen, as military officials
announced more than 10 Taliban commanders were killed in major battles
a week ago.
(AP, 5/5/07)
2007 May 5, Belgium’s daily La
Derniere Heure reported that prosecutors in Brussels, overwhelmed by
the number of speeding fines imposed since fixed radar traps were
installed, have asked police to let off all but the worst offenders,
angering local mayors.
(Reuters, 5/7/07)
2007 May 5, In central China an
explosion at the Pudeng mine, outside of Linfen city, killed 28 miners
and trapped others.
(AP, 5/6/07)(AP, 5/7/07)
2007 May 5, It was reported that
China has 16 of the world’s most polluted cities. The UN said dirty
air caused the premature death of some 400,000 Chinese each year.
(Econ, 5/5/07, SR p.11)
2007 May 5, Colombian officials
reported that forensic teams have unearthed 211 bodies buried in dozens
of mass graves near La Hormiga in southern Colombia in the past 10
months, a legacy of fierce fighting in this coca-rich land.
(AP, 5/5/07)
2007 May 5, Al-Qaida in Iraq
released a recording purportedly of its leader, who had been reported
killed in recent fighting, branding the country's Sunni vice president
a "criminal" for participating in the government. A suicide bomber,
meanwhile, struck an army recruitment center outside Baghdad, killing
15 people, among nearly 40 killed or found dead. Residents and police
in a Shiite area in eastern Baghdad said US helicopters fired on three
houses, killing six men and wounding a woman and five children. The US
military said a helicopter supporting ground operations in the area
came under fire but did not shoot back. Two US Marines were killed in
fighting in Anbar province.
(AP, 5/5/07)(AP, 5/6/07)
2007 May 5, A roller coaster
traveling up to 46 mph hit a guardrail at an amusement park in western
Japan, killing one person and injuring 21 others.
(AP, 5/5/07)
2007 May 5, A Kenya Airways jet
with 114 people on board crashed after sending out a distress signal
over a remote rainforest in southern Cameroon. The Boeing 737-800 was
carrying 114 people, including 105 passengers, from 23 countries. There
were no survivors.
(AP, 5/5/07)(AP, 5/7/07)
2007 May 5, The 12 million people
of Mali earned on average less than $400 a year.
(Econ, 5/5/07, p.62)
2007 May 5, The 3 million people
of Mauritania earned on average about $530 a year.
(Econ, 5/5/07, p.62)
2007 May 5, In southern Nigeria
armed men kidnapped a Briton overnight from the Trident 8 oil rig.
Unknown gunmen in Port Harcourt kidnapped a Russian woman who worked
for a catering company.
(AFP, 5/5/07)
2007 May 5, Prince Abdul-Majid bin
Abdul-Aziz (65), the governor of Mecca, died after a long illness.
(AP, 5/5/07)
2007 May 5, Hundreds of burly
former militiamen from the Balkan wars regrouped outside a church in
central Serbia, promising to fight together as a paramilitary unit once
more if Kosovo breaks away from the government in Belgrade.
(AP, 5/5/07)
2007 May 5, Sri Lankan naval craft
sank two suspected Tamil Tiger boats off the island's northeastern
coast, inflicting heavy losses on the guerrillas.
(AP, 5/5/07)
2007 May 5, In southern Sudan an
attack by one tribe left 54 members of another tribe dead, mainly women.
(AP, 8/24/07)
2007 May 5, Tens of thousands of
secularist flag-waving Turks rallied for the third big anti-government
protest in a month as conflict rages over the role of religion in the
Muslim country's politics.
(AP, 5/5/07)
2007 May 5, President Hugo Chavez
said that Venezuela's largest steel maker, Sidor, will not be allowed
to make any more exports until it meets domestic needs, and threatened
to expropriate the Argentine-controlled company if it resists.
(AP, 5/5/07)
2007 May 5, A state daily said
Zimbabwe has lost about 40 black rhinos to poachers who have killed the
animals in some government parks and conservancies over the past 3
years.
(AP, 5/5/07)
2007 May 6, Carey Bell,
Mississippi-born blues harmonica player, died in Chicago.
(SFC, 5/8/07, p.B5)
2007 May 6, In eastern Afghanistan
a roadside bomb killed 5 police and wounded two others, while a clash
in the west left eight police and at least four suspected militants
dead. An Afghan soldier shot and killed two US troops and wounded 2
others outside Pul-e-Charkhi prison. The next day Defense Ministry
spokesman Zahir Azimi said the Afghan soldier was mentally ill. A bus
crashed in northern Afghanistan, sparking a fire that left nine people
dead and 25 injured.
(AP, 5/6/07)(AP, 5/7/07)
2007 May 6, In Brazil Eneas
Carneiro (68), a three-time presidential candidate who was later
elected to Congress with the largest number of votes ever received by a
Brazilian lawmaker, died of leukemia.
(AP, 5/7/07)
2007 May 6, Britain’s Home
Secretary John Reid announced that he would resign from the government
within weeks, just as Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown is
likely to take over from Tony Blair as prime minister.
(AP, 5/6/07)
2007 May 6, Lord Weatherill (86),
the last speaker to wear the traditional shoulder-length wig, died. He
had ushered Britain's House of Commons into the television age.
(AP, 5/8/07)
2007 May 6, In Egypt a plane
carrying foreign peacekeepers across the Sinai desert crashed near a
stretch of highway where it had tried to make an emergency landing,
killing eight French soldiers and a Canadian.
(AP, 5/6/07)
2007 May 6, French voters turned
out in force in a presidential election offering divergent choices for
the future, with conservative front-runner Nicolas Sarkozy urging the
French to work more and Socialist Segolene Royal pledging to safeguard
welfare protections. Nicolas Sarkozy (52), a US-friendly conservative
and an immigrant's son, defeated Socialist Segolene Royal by 53% to 47%
with about 85% voter turnout.
(AP, 5/6/07)(AP, 5/7/07)
2007 May 6, A car bomb ripped
through a wholesale food market in western Baghdad, flattening cars and
shops and killing at least 30 people in the deadliest of a wave of
attacks across Iraq that killed at least 95 people. A car bomb near the
Ministry of Labor in Baghdad killed five people and wounded 10.
Insurgents exploded another car bomb outside a police station in the
Sunni town of Samarra, killing 12 officers and disabling the city’s
water system. A few minutes later, militants in the town attacked a
police checkpoint near the Askariya shrine, killing another police
officer. US and Iraqi forces raided the Shiite neighborhood of Sadr
City, uncovering a weapons cache, a torture room and killing at least
eight insurgents in a gunbattle. In Diyala 6 US soldiers and a Russian
photojournalist were killed when a massive bomb destroyed their
vehicle. Two American soldiers died in separate bombings in Baghdad.
(AP, 5/6/07)(AP, 5/7/07)(SFC, 5/7/07, p.A16)(SFC,
5/11/07, p.A18)
2007 May 6, Two Israeli human
rights groups charged in a report that Israel's Shin Bet security
service uses torture in its interrogation of Palestinian prisoners,
violating a 1999 court ruling outlawing such practices.
(AP, 5/6/07)
2007 May 6, Italian news said a
Vatican court for the first time has issued a drug conviction, giving a
former employee of the Holy See a four-month suspended sentence for
cocaine use.
(AP, 5/6/07)
2007 May 6, Japan pledged $100
million in grants to the Asian Development Bank to combat global
warming and promote greener investment in the region and called for a
stronger international agreement to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
(AP, 5/6/07)
2007 May 6, More than 18,000
people stripped down and bared it all in Mexico City's vast main square
for US photographer Spencer Tunick's biggest nude shoot yet.
(AP, 5/6/07)
2007 May 6, Chief Justice Iftikhar
Mohammad Chaudhry, Pakistan's sacked top judge, declared the "era of
dictatorship is over" to cheers from tens of thousands as he took his
battle with President Pervez Musharraf to the eastern city of Lahore.
In northwestern Pakistan a passenger bus veered off a mountain road and
fell about 600 feet into a ravine, killing 21 people and injuring seven
others.
(AFP, 5/6/07)(AP, 5/7/07)
2007 May 6, In Pakistan’s North
Waziristan tribal region Islamic militants began confiscating music
cassettes from public buses and ordering shops to only sell CDs
promoting jihad in the latest push to Talibanize the lawless frontier
region.
(AP, 5/8/07)
2007 May 6, Palestinian militants
opened fire near a children's festival at a UN-operated elementary
school in the southern Gaza Strip, killing a bodyguard of a local Fatah
leader and wounding seven other people. Palestinian militants shot and
seriously injured an Israeli motorist who was driving west of the West
Bank city of Ramallah.
(AP, 5/6/07)
2007 May 6, In South Africa Helen
Zille, mayor of Cape Town, was elected as leader of the Democratic
Alliance (DA).
(Econ, 5/12/07, p.51)
2007 May 6, Spain's Supreme Court
barred hundreds of Basque separatist candidates from running in
regional elections later this month because of links to an outlawed
party closely tied to armed group ETA.
(AP, 5/6/07)
2007 May 6, In eastern Sri Lanka a
landmine detonated by Tamil Tigers killed three police commandos, while
seven suspected rebels died elsewhere in the embattled region.
(AP, 5/6/07)
2007 May 6, Frank Hsieh, former
prime minister of Taiwan, won the ballot of the ruling Democratic
Progressive Party (DPP), as candidate for next year’s presidential
elections. Hsieh favored better relations with China.
(Econ, 5/12/07, p.44)
2007 May 6, Turkey’s Foreign
Minister Abdullah Gul withdrew his candidacy for presidential elections
after Parliament failed for the second time to vote him into office.
(AP, 5/6/07)
2007 May 7, President Bush
welcomed Britain's Queen Elizabeth II to the White House. He brought
roars of laughter when he mistakenly started to say that the queen had
helped the US celebrate its bicentennial in "1776," then quickly
corrected himself to say "1976."
(AP, 5/7/08)
2007 May 7, In New Jersey 6
Islamic militants from Yugoslavia and the Middle East were arrested on
charges of plotting to attack the Fort Dix Army post and "kill as many
soldiers as possible." In Dec 2008 a federal jury found 5 of the men
guilty of plotting to kill US soldiers. 4 of the 5 men were also
convicted of weapons charges. All were acquitted of attempted murder
charges. In 2009 three brothers, Dritan (30), Shain (28) and Eljvir
Duka (25), were convicted of conspiracy and sentenced to life in
prison. Mohamad Schnewer was also sentenced to life in prison and
Serdar Tatar was sentenced to 33 years.
(AP, 5/8/07)(WSJ, 12/23/08, p.A3)(SFC, 4/29/09,
p.A4)(SFC, 4/30/09, p.A4)
2007 May 7, The DJIA rose 48.35 to
a record 13,312.97. Nasdaq fell 1.20 to 2,570.
(SFC, 5/8/07, p.C1)
2007 May 7, Scientists testing the
beds of streams around Portland, Oregon, found the residue of the
region's medicine cabinets and coffee shops. The list of compounds
includes many known by such names as Prozac, Tagamet, Benadryl,
Micatin, and caffeine.
(AP, 5/8/07)
2007 May 7, Alcoa, the world's
largest aluminum company, said it would make a hostile bid for Canada's
Alcan Inc., estimated at $27 billion, after talks between the rivals
failed to lead to a deal.
(AP, 5/7/07)
2007 May 7, In Afghanistan a
rocket slammed into a street outside an apartment building in Kabul,
killing one man and wounding five other people including a small boy.
(AP, 5/7/07)
2007 May 7, The African Union
announced it would send an extra 8,000 peacekeepers to Somalia but said
dialogue remained the only solution to the bloody conflict in that
country.
(AP, 5/7/07)
2007 May 7, Australian gangster
Carl Williams was sentenced to 35 years in jail for murdering three
underworld rivals in a gangland war which lasted almost 10 years and
killed 28 people.
(AP, 5/7/07)
2007 May 7, In Austria a
130-nation nuclear meeting stalled for its sixth straight day after
Iran refused to commit itself to a compromise meant to break a deadlock
caused by Tehran's opposition to language of the gathering's agenda.
(AP, 5/7/07)
2007 May 7, Former prime minister
Sheikh Hasina Wajed was greeted by tens of thousands of supporters as
she returned to Bangladesh after the military-backed government
abandoned plans to force her into exile.
(AP, 5/7/07)
2007 May 7, Stylist and fashion
guru Isabella Blow (b.1958)), a vibrant and often outrageous presence
on the British fashion scene, died of cancer.
(AP, 5/8/07)
2007 May 7, State media said
China's top family planning body has warned that the country could face
a "population rebound" because the newly rich are ignoring population
control laws and because of early marriages in rural areas. In
southwestern China a bus plunged off a highway, killing 17 people
including three children and injuring 24 others.
(AP, 5/7/07)
2007 May 7, Hong Kong newspapers
reported that an unidentified animal illness has spread in two southern
Chinese cities, infecting at least 1,300 pigs and killing more than
300. The diseased pigs began dying in Gaoyao and Yunfu in Guangdong
province following Chinese New Year celebrations in February. The
illness, which killed at least 300 pigs, was soon identified as a
strain of blue ear disease. Blue ear disease, also called porcine
reproductive and respiratory syndrome, was first identified in the
United States in 1987.
(AP, 5/8/07)(SFC, 5/8/07, p.A17)(AP, 5/10/07)
2007 May 7, Ecuador's foreign
minister said President Rafael Correa has decided not to renew a 1993
bilateral investment treaty with the United States, which expires this
week.
(AP, 5/7/07)
2007 May 7, More than 1,000
government delegates gathered in Bonn, Germany, to find ways to break
gridlock in international negotiations on widening action to slow
global warming. The UN urged far tougher action to fight climate change
at the 166-nation climate conference.
(Reuters, 5/7/07)
2007 May 7, Two suicide car
bombers attacked a market and a police checkpoint on the outskirts of
Ramadi, killing 13 people and dealing a blow to recent US success in
reclaiming the Sunni city from insurgents. A mortar attack also killed
five people and wounded two others in Baiyaa, a religiously mixed
neighborhood in western Baghdad. Four Iraqi troops were killed in
separate attacks in Baqouba. The bullet-riddled body of a policeman
bearing signs of torture also was found outside Kirkuk. At least 68
people were killed or found dead nationwide including the
bullet-riddled bodies of 30 men found in Baghdad.
(AP, 5/7/07)
2007 May 7, Israeli scientists
said they found King Herod’s tomb near Jerusalem.
(WSJ, 5/8/07, p.A1)
2007 May 7, The owner of the Macau
bank at the heart of a dispute over North Korea's nuclear disarmament
said he is challenging a US decision to shut it out of the global
banking system.
(AP, 5/7/07)
2007 May 7, In western Mexico 4
purported drug smugglers were killed in a shootout with soldiers in
Apatzingan, Michoacan state, the second deadly clash in a week between
traffickers and troops in the same remote, mountainous region.
(AP, 5/7/07)
2007 May 7, Nigeria's next
president Umaru Yar'Adua departed on a tour of seven African countries,
his first foreign trip since being elected in April. Oil major Chevron
said it had temporarily shut down its Ebite flow station in southern
Nigeria because of a community protest.
(AFP, 5/7/07)
2007 May 7, Pakistan's Supreme
Court suspended a judicial inquiry into misconduct charges against the
country's top judge that triggered weeks of nationwide protests.
(AFP, 5/7/07)
2007 May 7, Russia’s state
security service said fugitive Rustam Dzhumaliyev had evaded arrest and
become a minor celebrity by masquerading as a US citizen hitch-hiking
across the country for a record attempt.
(AP, 5/7/07)
2007 May 7, In South Africa Dina
Rodrigues was found guilty of murder for orchestrating the June 2005
killing of 6-month-old Jordan-Leigh Norton, her lover's baby daughter
from a previous marriage. This was South Africa's first known contract
killing of an infant.
(AP, 5/7/07)
2007 May 7, South Korea and the
European Union started free trade talks aimed at linking Asia's third
largest economy to the world's biggest trading bloc.
(AP, 5/7/07)
2007 May 7, Turkey's
Islamic-rooted government, whose presidential candidate dropped his bid
in the face of protests from pro-secular lawmakers, pushed for a
constitutional amendment that allows the president to be elected in a
popular vote rather than in a parliamentary poll.
(AP, 5/7/07)
2007 May 7, A large explosion in
Ukraine knocked out of service one of the main pipelines which carries
Siberian gas through Ukraine to Germany and other EU clients. Shifting
soil led to a break in the pipeline.
(AP, 5/7/07)(AP, 5/8/07)
2007 May 7, Venezuela said it will
not allow US agents to carry out counter-drug operations in the
country, accusing the US Drug Enforcement Administration of being a
"new cartel" that aids traffickers.
(AP, 5/7/07)
2007 May 8, The US hired a Florida
firm to build a Guantanamo camp by next May to house fleeing Cubans
should there be an exodus when Castro dies.
(WSJ, 5/9/07, p.A1)
2007 May 8, The Pentagon announced
that it had notified more than 35,000 Army soldiers to be prepared to
deploy to Iraq beginning in the fall.
(AP, 5/8/08)
2007 May 8, Governors and
environmental officials from 31 US states announced that they would
create a national registry to measure greenhouse gas emissions.
(SFC, 5/9/07, p.A6)
2007 May 8, The SEC accused two
Hong Kong residents of "widespread and unlawful trading activity" when
they bought $15 million of Dow Jones & Co. stock ahead of an
announcement that News Corp. was seeking to buy the company.
(AP, 5/8/07)
2007 May 8, Maryland Gov. Martin
O’Malley signed the nation’s first statewide living-wage bill.
(SFC, 5/9/07, p.A4)
2007 May 8, In Michigan Thomas
Katona (56), the former Alcona County treasurer (1993-2006), pleaded
guilty to embezzlement charges. He was accused of dumping public funds
into fraudulent Nigerian investments. He lost more than $1.2 million in
county funds altogether, plus $72,500 of his own money, despite a
warning from his bank that he might be getting swindled.
(AP, 5/9/07)
2007 May 8, It was reported that
San Jose State Univ. planned to name its college of education after
Connie Lurrie, the wife of former SF Giants owner Robert Lurrie,
pledged to donate $10 million to the school.
(SFC, 5/8/07, p.B2)
2007 May 8, Comcast Corp. Chief
Executive Brian Roberts dazzled a cable industry audience, showing off
for the first time in public new technology that enabled a data
download speed of 150 megabits per second, roughly 25 times faster than
today's standard cable modems. The technology, called DOCSIS 3.0, was
developed by the cable industry's research arm, Cable Television
Laboratories.
(AP, 5/9/07)
2007 May 8, A new study found that
US hospitals are charging uninsured patients about two-and-a-half times
more than those with health insurance, a mark-up that has been steadily
rising despite pressure to level prices.
(AP, 5/8/07)
2007 May 8, A flood surge moved
down the Missouri River and tributaries following weekend storms and
damages approached 1993 levels.
(WSJ, 5/9/07, p.A1)
2007 May 8, Afghanistan's upper
house of parliament passed a bill calling for a halt to all
international military operations unless coordinated with the Afghan
government, action seen as a rebuke of the international mission here.
In southern Afghanistan suspected Taliban militants ambushed a NATO
convoy, and a gunshot victim said soldiers fleeing the scene shot him
and killed a man in a bakery. Airstrikes called in by US Special Forces
soldiers fighting with insurgents killed at least 21 civilians in the
Sangin area of Helmand province. One coalition soldier was also killed.
The US military apologized and paid compensation to the families of 19
people killed and 50 wounded by US Marines Special Forces who fired
indiscriminately on civilians after being hit by a suicide attack in
eastern Afghanistan in March. Residents claimed that over 60 people
were killed by the bombing.
(AP, 5/8/07)(AP, 5/9/07)(SFC, 5/11/07, p.A20)
2007 May 8, Algeria’s El-Watan
newspaper reported that authorities have arrested 5 people believed
responsible for organizing deadly terrorist attacks last month.
(AP, 5/8/07)
2007 May 8, Amnesty Int’l. said in
a report that China and Russia are supplying arms to Sudan that are
being used to fuel the violence in the Darfur region in violation of a
UN arms embargo. China and Russia quickly rejected the report and
Sudan's government said it was "not justified." China confirmed it
would send military engineers for a planned UN peacekeeping force to
Sudan's Darfur region.
(AP, 5/8/07)
2007 May 8, It was reported that
groups of elderly Australians are setting up backyard laboratories to
manufacture an illegal euthanasia drug so they can kill themselves when
they have had enough of life.
(AFP, 5/8/07)
2007 May 8, In Austria officials
said Vienna's City Hall has launched a "sex hotline" to raise money for
the capital's main public library. Callers paid 53 cents a minute to
listen to an actress read breathless passages from erotica dating to
the Victorian era.
(AP, 5/9/07)
2007 May 8, News and information
company Reuters Group PLC and financial data provider Thomson Corp.
confirmed that they are discussing a combination of their businesses
that values Reuters at more than $17 billion.
(AP, 5/8/07)
2007 May 8, A survey showed that
London beat the glamour of Monaco, New York, Hong Kong and Tokyo to
become the world's most expensive place to buy residential property.
(AFP, 5/8/07)
2007 May 8, Cuba released Roberto
de Jesus Guerra Perez, a journalist who served 22-months in prison for
participating in an anti-government rally. Guerra has been a
contributor to Miami's Payolibre and Nueva Prensa Cubana, as well as
the US government-funded Radio Marti.
(AP, 5/10/07)
2007 May 8, An Egyptian court
decided in a rare ruling that President Hosni Mubarak's order to try 40
of the banned opposition Muslim Brotherhood's top figures before a
military court was not valid.
(AP, 5/8/07)
2007 May 8, The leader of France's
defeated Socialists appealed for calm after a second night of
post-election violence left cars burned and store windows smashed.
(AP, 5/8/07)
2007 May 8, In India Mohammed
Shahabuddin, a popular Muslim lawmaker from the state of Bihar, was
convicted and sentenced to life in prison on a charge of kidnapping
with intent to kill a rival who disappeared eight years ago and has
never been found.
(AP, 5/8/07)
2007 May 8, Iran accepted a
compromise on the agenda of a 130-nation nuclear conference, meeting in
Austria, clearing the way for the meeting to approve it and end six
days of deadlock that threatened to doom the gathering to failure.
(AP, 5/8/07)
2007 May 8, A suicide car bomber
flattened a restaurant in a busy market in the Shiite city of Kufa,
killing at least 16 people, including women and children, and wounding
70. A roadside bomb went off next to a passing mini bus in the Shiite
area of Zafaraniyah on the southeastern outskirts of Baghdad, killing
three passengers and injuring five others. In Jalula a suicide bomber
attacked a police station as the night-shift officers gathered in front
of the building, preparing to go home. The explosion killed two
policemen and wounded 20 others. The bullet-riddled bodies of six men,
the apparent victims of sectarian violence, were found with their hands
and legs bound and bearing marks of torture in an abandoned field in
Baqouba. Also in Baqouba, 12 gunmen trying to rob a bank were
confronted by Iraqi police, sparking a gunbattle that killed one police
officer and wounded another. An Al-Qaida umbrella group threatened in a
video to kill nine abducted Iraqi security officers in 72 hours unless
their demands were met, including the release of all Sunni women from
Iraqi prisons. An American soldier was killed and four others were
wounded in a shooting attack in Diyala province. 2 children were among
five people killed when a helicopter fired at militants operating an
illegal checkpoint and planting a roadside bomb near Mandali.
(AP, 5/8/07)(AP, 5/9/07)
2007 May 8, The Moroccan
Association of Human Rights, formed in 1979) announced that it had
chosen Khadija Ryadi (47) as its first woman president.
(AFP, 5/8/07)
2007 May 8, NATO Secretary General
Jaap de Hoop Scheffer and President Pervez Musharraf agreed to
strengthen security along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border to contain
the Taliban insurgency.
(AP, 5/8/07)
2007 May 8, In southern Nigeria
militants staged coordinated attacks on 3 pipelines in the wetlands
region, the most damaging assault on the country's vital oil
infrastructure in over a year. MEND claimed responsibility for the
bombings, which forced Italian oil giant Eni to halt production of
150,000 barrels per day (bpd) feeding its Brass export terminal.
Militants released 3 South Koreans and 8 Filipinos kidnapped last week
at a Daewoo construction site in the oil-rich south.
(Reuters, 5/8/07)(AFP, 5/8/07)(AP, 5/9/07)
2007 May 8, In Northern Ireland
Protestant firebrand Ian Paisley and IRA veteran Martin McGuinness
formed a long-unthinkable alliance as power-sharing went from dream to
reality.
(AP, 5/8/07)
2007 May 8, In the Philippines a
homemade bomb ripped through a billiards hall in Tacurong city, killing
three on the spot and five more overnight with 33 seriously wounded.
Officials said the attack bore the hallmarks of Al-Qaeda-linked
militants from Jemaah Islamiyah (JI).
(AFP, 5/9/07)
2007 May 8, A newspaper owned by
Saudi Arabia's royal family said one of seven recently exposed Saudi
terrorist cells used Syria as a base for coordinating with al-Qaida in
Iraq and held training camps in the desert of neighboring Yemen.
(AP, 5/8/07)
2007 May 8, In Serbia an ally of
late President Slobodan Milosevic was elected as the new parliament
speaker, signaling a return of ultranationalists to power in the Balkan
country.
(AP, 5/8/07)
2007 May 8, In Taiwan rival
lawmakers exchanged punches, climbed on each other's shoulders and
jostled violently for position around the speaker's dais as the
Legislature dissolved into chaos over an electoral reform bill.
(AP, 5/8/07)
2007 May 8, Thailand and the
United States launched their annual war games.
(AP, 5/8/07)
2007 May 8, In Zimbabwe riot
police violently broke up a demonstration by dozens of lawyers
protesting the arrest of two colleagues outside the High Court in
Harare.
(AP, 5/8/07)
2007 May 9, The NY Times reported
on its Web site that Amgen Inc. and Johnson & Johnson are paying
doctors hundreds of millions of dollars every year in return for
prescribing anemia drugs which regulators now say may be unsafe at
commonly used doses.
(AP, 5/9/07)
2007 May 9, Alfred D. Chandler
Jr., American historian, died in Massachusetts. He helped establish the
field of business history. His books included “Strategy and Structure:
Chapters in the History of the Industrial Revolution” (1962).
(WSJ, 5/12/07, p.A8)(Econ, 5/19/07, p.91)
2007 May 9, Afghan civilians
fought with Taliban militants who hit a checkpoint near Sangin, leaving
three of the attackers dead. A suicide car bomber killed two Afghans
and wounded five when he detonated his car in the eastern Paktika
province.
(AP, 5/10/07)
2007 May 9, Police in Brazil and
Norway detained at least 25 people in simultaneous raids on suspected
criminal gangs, seeking evidence of money laundering.
(AP, 5/9/07)
2007 May 9, Britain’s Home Office,
once called "not fit for purpose" by the minister in charge of it, was
split into two in a bid to combat illegal immigration, crime and
terrorism more effectively. British police arrested four people in
connection with the suicide bombings that killed 52 bus and subway
passengers in London in 2005.
(AFP, 5/9/07)(AP, 5/9/07)
2007 May 9, Chad pledged to work
to demobilize hundreds of child soldiers fighting in the ranks of the
government army and rebel groups across the conflict-torn central
African country.
(Reuters, 5/9/07)
2007 May 9, China ordered
strengthened controls over its food industry after a series of health
scares with international repercussions laid bare lax standards. A
Beijing court sentenced a man to life in prison for taking nearly
$500,000 in bribes while posing as a reporter, and sometimes a top
editor, for the Communist Party's official newspaper, the People's
Daily.
(AP, 5/9/07)
2007 May 9, East Timor voted for a
new president, choosing between a Nobel Prize winner and an ex-freedom
fighter in polls critical to maintaining peace a year after the nation
was pushed to the brink of civil war.
(AP, 5/9/07)
2007 May 9, In the early hours
Internet traffic in Estonia spiked to thousands of times the normal
flow. May 10 was heavier still, forcing Estonia’s biggest bank to shut
down its online service for more than an hour. Hansabank continued
under assault and worked to block access to 300 suspect Internet
addresses. On March 12, 2009, Konstantin Goloskokov, an activist with
Russia's Nashi youth group and aide to a pro-Kremlin member of
parliament, said he had organized a network of sympathizers who
bombarded Estonian Internet sites with electronic requests, causing
them to crash.
(www.lunchoverip.com/2007/05/estonia_under_c.html)(Reuters, 3/12/09)
2007 May 9, France’s interior
minister said violence hit for a third night following the election of
conservative Nicolas Sarkozy, with about 200 vehicles torched by
vandals and more than 80 people taken in for questioning nationwide.
(AP, 5/9/07)
2007 May 9, In France Nayef
al-Shaalan, a Saudi Prince, was sentenced in absentia to 10 years in
jail on charges of involvement in a cocaine smuggling gang.
(AP, 5/9/07)
2007 May 9, Hundreds of German
police raided the offices and apartments of left-wing activists
suspected of planning to disrupt next month's Group of Eight summit,
leading security officials to tighten border controls ahead of the
gathering.
(AP, 5/9/07)
2007 May 9, US VP Dick Cheney and
Iraqi PM Nouri al-Maliki acknowledged problems in the pace of reducing
violence in Iraq, but both pledged their governments would continue
working together toward a solution. A majority of Iraqi lawmakers
endorsed a draft bill calling for a timetable for the withdrawal of
foreign troops and demanding a freeze on the number already in the
country. A suicide truck bomb ripped through the Interior Ministry
headquarters in the Kurdish city of Irbil, killing at least 14 people
and wounding dozens. Four Iraqi journalists were killed in a drive-by
shooting near the northern oil-rich city of Kirkuk. Gunmen killed two
members of the minority Yazidi religious sect and wounded another in a
drive-by shooting in Mosul. A car bomb exploded near an Iraqi military
checkpoint in Baghdad, killing one civilian and wounding two soldiers.
Police found four decapitated heads in the Sabtiyah area north of
Baqouba. The body of a security officer was found shot in the head and
chest in Diwaniyah. 72 people killed or found dead nationwide.
(AP, 5/9/07)(AP, 5/10/07)
2007 May 9, Japan's Supreme Court
rejected compensation claims by Chinese victims of atrocities committed
by Japan in the 1930s and 40s, which included the use of biological
weapons and a massacre in the city of Nanjing.
(AP, 5/10/07)
2007 May 9, In Mexico gunmen
opened fire on a naval commander in the Pacific resort city of Ixtapa
and killed his bodyguard. Suspected drug traffickers attacked a
military checkpoint in the Pacific resort of Huatulco. One attacker was
killed.
(AP, 5/10/07)
2007 May 9, In southern Nigeria
gunmen seized four American workers overnight as violence escalated in
the petroleum-producing region. South Korea's top builder Daewoo
Engineering and Construction welcomed the release of its kidnapped
workers in Nigeria and said the incident would not affect its lucrative
business in the country.
(AP, 5/9/07)
2007 May 9, Military officials
from North and South Korea reached an agreement clearing the way for
the first railway journeys across their heavily fortified border for
half a century.
(AP, 5/9/07)
2007 May 9, Pakistan and the Czech
Republic agreed to boost diplomatic links and promote relations in
trade, health and science.
(AP, 5/9/07)
2007 May 9, The Palestinian
information minister said Hamas militants have suspended a TV program
that featured a Mickey Mouse look-alike urging Palestinian children to
fight Israel and work for global Islamic domination. Hamas militants in
Palestine had enlisted a figure bearing a strong resemblance to Mickey
Mouse to broadcast their message of Islamic domination and armed
resistance to their most impressionable audience, children. The show
was broadcast as usual two days after the Palestinian information
minister said it would be suspended.
(AP, 5/9/07)(AP, 5/11/07)
2007 May 9, In the Philippines
Ernie Tatoy (41), an aide to a gubernatorial candidate, was fatally
shot and his daughter (13) wounded, as violence in the run-up to next
week's local and congressional elections claimed its 100th victim in
four months.
(AP, 5/9/07)
2007 May 9, Saudi authorities
beheaded an Ethiopian woman convicted of killing an Egyptian man over a
dispute. Khadija Bint Ibrahim Moussa was the second woman to be
executed this year. The kingdom last beheaded two women in 2005.
Beheadings are carried out with a sword in a public square.
(AP, 5/9/07)
2007 May 9, Authorities said
Somali security forces are seizing and even burning Muslim women's
veils in Mogadishu to stop Islamist insurgents disguising themselves
for attacks.
(AP, 5/9/07)
2007 May 9, In northern Syria 7
people were killed and 7 were wounded when a 5-story building collapsed.
(AP, 5/10/07)
2007 May 9, Pope Benedict XVI
departed for a 5-day visit to Brazil, as evangelical Christians packed
converted storefronts and cavernous churches every Sunday. Benedict
gave his first full-fledged news conference since becoming pontiff in
2005. When a reporter pressed Benedict on whether he agreed that
Catholic politicians who recently legalized abortion in Mexico City
should rightfully be considered excommunicated, the response was "Yes."
(AP, 5/9/07)(AP, 5/10/07)
2007 May 9, Zimbabweans braced for
darker days after President Robert Mugabe's government announced
20-hour daily electricity cuts for households across the country.
(AP, 5/9/07)
2007 May 9, A Zimbabwean court
authorized the extradition of Briton Simon Mann to Equatorial Guinea on
coup plot charges, sweeping aside concerns that he might face torture
or invalid justice there.
(AFP, 5/9/07)
2007 May 10, The
Democratic-controlled House, by a vote of 255-171, defeated legislation
to require the withdrawal of US combat troops from Iraq within nine
months.
(AP, 5/10/08)
2007 May 10, US congressional
Democrats and the White House reached a deal on trade and labor
standards.
(Econ, 5/19/07, p.30)
2007 May 10, US VP Cheney arrived
at Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates to a red carpet welcome. The
vice president is on a weeklong tour of the Middle East that will also
take him to Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan.
(AP, 5/10/07)
2007 May 10, A US federal jury in
Santa Ana, Ca., convicted Chi Mak, a China-born engineer, of passing
submarine data to Beijing. Mak was later sentenced to 24 1/2 years in
federal prison.
(WSJ, 5/11/07, p.A1)(AP, 5/10/08)
2007 May 10, Thirunavukarasu
Varatharasa (37), a Sri Lankan national, pleaded guilty in a Maryland
court to charges he tried to smuggle US weapons to Tamil Tiger rebels.
He was the last of six defendants in the plot to be convicted of trying
to obtain military weapons in the 2006 scheme.
(AFP, 5/11/07)
2007 May 10, In Virginia the maker
of the powerful painkiller OxyContin and three of its current and
former executives pleaded guilty to misleading the public about the
drug's risk of addiction. Purdue Pharma L.P., its president, top lawyer
and former chief medical officer will pay $634.5 million in fines for
claiming the drug was less addictive and less subject to abuse than
other pain medications.
(AP, 5/11/07)
2007 May 10, In Afghanistan new
airstrikes in the Sangin area killed 10 Taliban fighters after the
insurgents ambushed a patrol. A Taliban commander said the militant
group kidnapped Uruzgan governor spokesman Qayum Qayumi. 4 policemen
and two more insurgents were killed when fighting erupted after a group
of the extremist militants attacked a police post.
(AP, 5/10/07)(AP, 5/11/07)
2007 May 10-2007 May 11, Seven
Islamic extremists and two members of Algeria's security forces were
killed in the violent run-up to parliamentary elections.
(AFP, 5/12/07)
2007 May 10, EnGeneIC, an
Australian biotechnology firm, said it had developed a means of
delivering anti-cancer drugs directly to cancer cells, which aims to
avoid the debilitating toxicity associated with chemotherapy.
(AP, 5/10/07)
2007 May 10, Talks in Brussels
between NATO's top generals and their Russian counterpart failed to
narrow the gap between Moscow and the West over missile defense and
arms control in Europe.
(AP, 5/10/07)
2007 May 10, In Brazil Pope
Benedict XVI reaffirmed the Roman Catholic Church's opposition to
abortion in his first speech but avoided further suggestion that
politicians who support abortion rights should be considered
excommunicated.
(AP, 5/10/07)
2007 May 10, Britain’s PM Tony
Blair said he would step down on June 27. The Bank of England raised
its key interest rate by a quarter of a point to 5.5%, the highest
level since 2001, to tackle surging inflation.
(AP, 5/10/07)
2007 May 10, China, criticized for
not pushing its close ally Sudan to resolve the Darfur crisis, said
that it had appointed a special representative on African affairs to
focus on the issue.
(AP, 5/10/07)
2007 May 10, In southwestern
Colombia A roadside bomb planted by leftist rebels killed 10 soldiers
on patrol, the deadliest attack on security forces this year.
(AP, 5/10/07)
2007 May 10, Nobel Peace Prize
winner Jose Ramos-Horta pledged to unite troubled East Timor after the
former resistance leader was elected president of one of the world's
poorest nations.
(AFP, 5/10/07)
2007 May 10, In Cairo Israeli
Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni held talks with Egyptian President Hosni
Mubarak in the first high-level discussion between Israel and the Arab
world on an Arab initiative calling for an exchange of land for peace.
(AP, 5/10/07)
2007 May 10, The armed forces of
Indonesia and Malaysia agreed to step up cooperation to boost security
along shared borders after successful patrols in the Malacca Strait.
(AFP, 5/10/07)
2007 May 10, US-led forces
conducted a raid in the Baghdad neighborhood of Sadr City, killing
three militants as they tried to break up a cell accused of smuggling
weapons from Iran to fight US forces. Iraqi police and medical
officials said the airstrike damaged three houses and killed eight
civilians and wounded nine others. 2 gunmen on a motorcycle killed an
Iraqi military intelligence officer as he drove through Diwaniyah.
Iraqi police discovered two bodies, bound, blindfolded and shot,
floating in a river in Mahaweel. Two other bodies of police officers,
one of them a colonel, were found in Mosul. An al-Qaida front
organization posted a video showing the killings of nine Iraqi security
officers who were lined up blindfolded with their hands bound behind
them and shot in the back of the head. An explosion in Diyala province
killed one US soldier and wounded nine others. One US soldier was
killed and two others were wounded when an improvised explosive device
detonated on their patrol in eastern Baghdad. One soldier was shot dead
in combat security operations in south Baghdad. Another, from the
military police, died of his wounds after being hit by gunfire in
Diwaniyah.
(AP, 5/10/07)(AP, 5/11/07)
2007 May 10, Guillaume Soro, Ivory
Coast's former rebel chief-turned Prime Minister, called for the
fostering of new era ties between Africa and Europe, in line with
modern developments.
(AFP, 5/10/07)
2007 May 10, A Japanese hospital
opened the country's only anonymous drop box for unwanted infants
despite government admonitions against abandoning babies.
(AP, 5/10/07)
2007 May 10, Nigeria's Senate
cleared outgoing President Olusegun Obasanjo of corruption in the
management of a multi-billion-dollar oil fund but indicted his deputy.
In Port Harcourt gunmen wearing military fatigues jumped from their
vehicles and killed two police officers.
(AFP, 5/11/07)(AP, 5/11/07)
2007 May 10, The Pakistani
military said it has completed building a fence on a first section of
its border with Afghanistan, a disputed measure designed to prevent
militants from crossing the mountainous frontier.
(AP, 5/10/07)
2007 May 10, A Palestinian woman
in the seventh month of her pregnancy lost her unborn baby when she was
caught in crossfire between Israeli troops and Palestinian militants.
(AP, 5/11/07)
2007 May 10, Kamal Labwani, a
Syrian dissident who was arrested after meeting with White House
officials two years ago, was convicted and sentenced to 12 years in
prison for contacting a foreign country and inciting attack against his
country. His sentencing follows another in recent days against Anwar
al-Bunni, a human rights lawyer, who received a five-year prison
sentence, signaling a continuing of a crackdown by authorities against
dissent.
(AP, 5/10/07)
2007 May 10, A land mine attack on
a convoy of Somali government officials ended in the deaths of two
civilians in Mogadishu. Elsewhere, two aid workers were reportedly
kidnapped.
(AP, 5/10/07)
2007 May 10, South Africa's common
law was rewritten to classify forced anal sex with a woman or girl,
previously considered indecent assault, as rape.
(AP, 5/11/07)
2007 May 10, Turkey's parliament
approved a major constitutional amendment to allow the president to be
elected directly by voters, a move that could fan fresh tensions
between the Islamist-rooted government and secularists.
(AP, 5/10/07)
2007 May 10, A Vietnamese court
sentenced three pro-democracy activists to prison after convicting them
of spreading subversive propaganda, as the communist country continued
its latest crackdown against dissent.
(AP, 5/10/07)
2007 May 11, Speaking aboard the
aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis in the Persian Gulf, Vice
President Dick Cheney warned Iran that the US and its allies would keep
it from restricting sea traffic as well as from developing nuclear
weapons.
(AP, 5/11/08)
2007 May 11, In California
firefighters struggled to protect Avalon, Catalina island's main city,
from a wildfire that forced hundreds of residents to flee on ferries as
ash rained down like snow.
(AP, 5/11/07)
2007 May 11, In California the
high school graduation rate fell to 67%, a 10-year low, as the exit
exam for basic skills was required for the first time.
(SFC, 5/12/07, p.A1)
2007 May 11, Austrian authorities
said they have arrested 40 suspects and seized thousands of videos, CDs
and DVDs as part of a yearlong crackdown on child pornography. Police
in Italy made two arrests in connection with the investigation, which
was code-named Operation Max. The server was located in St. Petersburg,
Russia, and since has been shut down.
(AP, 5/11/07)
2007 May 11, In Sao Paulo Pope
Benedict XVI canonized Antonio de Sant'Anna Galvao (d.1822), an
18th-century Franciscan monk, as Brazil's first native-born saint.
Friar Galvao began a tradition among Brazilian Catholics of handing out
tiny rice-paper pills, inscribed with a Latin prayer, to people seeking
cures for all manner of ailments.
(AP, 5/11/07)
2007 May 11, Gordon Brown launched
his campaign to become Britain's next prime minister, pledging to learn
from the mistakes of the Iraq war. Tony Blair has formally endorsed
Gordon Brown to be prime minister.
(AP, 5/11/07)
2007 May 11, British private
equity group Terra Firma swooped into the aviation sector to become the
world's third-biggest aircraft leasing operator, snapping up US firm
Pegasus for 5.2 billion dollars.
(AP, 5/11/07)
2007 May 11-2007 May 12, Local
militia allied to Rwandan Hutu rebels killed four Congolese soldiers
during clashes in a volatile eastern region of the Democratic Republic
of Congo.
(AFP, 5/15/07)
2007 May 11, Germany’s steelmaker
ThyssenKrupp AG said it will build a new $4.19 billion steel plant in
Alabama. Deutsche Telekom employees began an open-ended strike in
protest at restructuring measures at Europe's biggest telecoms operator.
(AP, 5/11/07)(AFP, 5/11/07)
2007 May 11, Authorities in
Georgia's breakaway region of South Ossetia launched a blockade of all
ethnic Georgian villages in the province and demanded that the central
government withdraw its police troops from the settlements.
(AP, 5/11/07)
2007 May 11, In Guinea soldiers
demanding pay raises spread their revolt from Conakry, seizing control
of many provincial towns, going on looting sprees and killing at least
two people in the second day of an uprising in the West African nation.
(AP, 5/11/07)
2007 May 11, In India's most
populous state of Uttar Pradesh, a party dominated by the lowest caste
(dalits) scored a surprise win in elections, while the country's ruling
and main opposition parties both lost ground. In eastern India a bus
plunged nearly 30 feet into a riverbed, killing at least 20 people and
injuring 12. Three Indian officials working for a South Korean steel
company were taken hostage by activists who contend that the company's
plan to build a plant in eastern India would displace thousands of
people.
(Reuters, 5/11/07)(AP, 5/11/07)(AP, 5/12/07)(Econ,
5/26/07, p.41)
2007 May 11-2007 May 12, At least
31 people died as a storm hammered northern India. All the deaths were
reported from the worst-hit state of Uttar Pradesh.
(AFP, 5/12/07)
2007 May 11, Iran detained Kian
Tajbakhsh (45), an Iranian-American working for the George Soros Open
Society Institute.
(SFC, 5/24/07, p.A12)
2007 May 11, Iraq's Kurdish
president said his country may need American troops for one or two more
years. US-led forces targeting car bombing networks across Iraq killed
four suspected insurgents and detained nine others in a series of
raids. Two suicide car bombers struck police checkpoints near bridges
in a predominantly Shiite area of Baghdad, killing at least 12 people.
Near Iskandariyah US snipers killed Genei Nasir al-Janabi in an effort
to hide their presence. On June 30 Staff Sgt. Michael A. Hensley from
Candler, N.C., and Spc. Jorge G. Sandoval from Laredo, Texas, were
charged with the premeditated murder of three Iraqis. A 3rd soldier
Sgt. Evan Vela, of Phoenix, Idaho, was similarly charged the next day.
In 2008 Sgt. Vela was found guilty on all charges.
(AP, 5/11/07)(AP, 7/3/07)(AP, 2/10/08)
2007 May 11, Only around half of
45 oil exploration blocks Nigeria put up for auction attracted bids,
with foreigners wary of political uncertainty ahead of a government
change.
(AP, 5/11/07)
2007 May 11, North and South Korea
adopted a military agreement enabling the first train crossing of their
heavily armed border in more than half a century.
(AP, 5/11/07)
2007 May 11, Poland's highest
court struck down the key provisions of a new law requiring that up to
700,000 Poles with public service jobs be screened for past
collaboration with the communist-era secret police.
(AP, 5/11/07)
2007 May 11, Malietoa Tanumafili
II, head of state of Samoa, died at age 94-95.
(Econ, 5/26/07, p.101)
2007 May 11, In southern Thailand
separatist militants killed two policemen in a raid on a security
checkpost, attacking it with guns and grenades before setting it ablaze
with the victims inside.
(AFP, 5/11/07)
2007 May 11, Zimbabwe won
approval, in a vote of 26-21 with three abstentions, to lead the
important UN Commission on Sustainable Development despite protests
from the US, European nations and human rights organizations. African
members nominated Francis Nhema, Zimbabwe's minister of environment and
tourism, for the post.
(AP, 5/12/07)(Econ, 5/19/07, p.49)
2007 May 12, Voters in Farmers
Branch, a suburb of Dallas, Texas, became the first in the nation to
prohibit landlords from renting to most illegal immigrants. Texas
courts quickly issued a restraining order against the city to prevent
the ordnance from taking effect.
(AP, 5/13/07)(Econ, 6/16/07, p.35)
2007 May 12, Joseph Rattigan (87),
former California state senator and justice, died. He represented
Sonoma County from 1958 to 1966. In 1966 Gov. Pat Brown appointed him
to the First District Court of Appeal in SF, where he served for 18
years.
(SFC, 5/17/07, p.B5)
2007 May 12, Afghan lawmakers
voted to oust the foreign minister over the mishandling of the
expulsion of Afghan refugees from neighboring Iran. Mullah Dadullah,
the Taliban's most prominent military commander, was killed in a US-led
military operation in southern Afghanistan. The one-legged fighter had
orchestrated ethnic massacre and a rash of beheadings. Around 55
Taliban fighters were killed in two battles near the Pakistan border.
(AP, 5/12/07)(AP, 5/13/07)(AFP, 5/13/07)
2007 May 12, In eastern Algeria 6
armed Islamist extremists were killed in Kabylia, in clashes with the
military in the run-up to legislative elections. Algeria's official
news agency APS said Algerian security forces had arrested three Libyan
Islamic militants planning to join al Qaeda's north African wing.
Algerian soldiers killed four armed militants in a clash near the
village of Ghoumrassa.
(AFP, 5/13/07)(AP, 5/13/07)
2007 May 12, Armenia held a
general election. Acting PM Serzh Sarkisian was elected prime minister.
(Econ, 5/19/07, p.58)
2007 May 12, In Bolivia President
Evo Morales vowed to move forward with his campaign to nationalize
Bolivia's oil and gas industry while presiding over ceremonies marking
the transfer of two Brazilian-owned oil refineries to state hands.
(AP, 5/12/07)
2007 May 12, A cutter of the
Dominican Republic picked up 3 men hauling in bales of cocaine dropped
from a plane that had originated in Venezuela. A US plane and British
helicopters took part in the seizure of a half-ton of cocaine as
Colombian drug traffic via Venezuela escalated.
(SFC, 7/2/07, p.A17)
2007 May 12, Egyptian security
forces arrested 59 Muslims in Bamha accused of setting fire to
Christian homes and shops the previous day in clashes over church
construction that underlined lingering sectarian tensions.
(Reuters, 5/12/07)
2007 May 12, In Finland
Bosnia-Herzegovina opened this year's Eurovision Song Contest. Marija
Serifovic from Serbia won the 2007 Eurovision Song Contest at the
Hartwall Arena in Helsinki, early Sunday May 13, 2007 with a song
entitled 'Prayer.'
(AP, 5/12/07)
2007 May 12, Eric Damfreville, a
French aid worker, returned to France after five weeks in Taliban
captivity in Afghanistan and made a plea for his captors to free three
Afghans seized with him.
(AP, 5/12/07)
2007 May 12, Guinean President
Lansana Conte agreed to replace his unpopular defense minister, a key
demand of soldiers leading a three-day-old military revolt.
(AP, 5/13/07)
2007 May 12, Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim,
the leader of Iraq's largest Shiite political party, called for a
"security agreement" to be negotiated between Iraq and US-led forces to
outline the authorities of each side in a further indication of growing
frustration over America's role in Iraq. Iraq's parliament objected to
the construction of walls around Baghdad neighborhoods and called on PM
Nouri al-Maliki to testify about other security issues. 4 Americans and
an Iraqi interpreter were killed. 3 soldiers were captured south of
Baghdad. The body of Pfc. Joseph Anzack Jr. (20) of Torrance, Calif.,
was found a year later in the Euphrates River. The bodies of Pvt. Byron
W. Fouty (19) of Waterford, Mich., and Army Sgt. Alex Jimenez (25), of
Lawrence, Mass., were found in July, 2008.
(AP, 5/12/07)(AP, 5/12/07)(AP, 5/12/08)(AP, 7/11/08)
2007 May 12, In Italy thousands of
people, including families with their children, poured into a Rome
piazza to protest a government bill that would give legal rights to
unmarried couples, including gays and lesbians.
(AP, 5/12/07)
2007 May 12, In Italy security
officials from Europe's largest countries backed a plan to profile
mosques on the continent and identify radical Islamic clerics who raise
the threat of homegrown terrorism.
(AP, 5/12/07)
2007 May 12, The leaders of
Kazakhstan, Russia, and Turkmenistan reached a landmark pipeline deal
that will strengthen Moscow's control over Central Asia's energy export
routes. The deal will dramatically increase the amount of natural gas
Russia moves from Central Asia to Europe.
(AP, 5/12/07)
2007 May 12, In Mexico a severed
head accompanied by a note of defiance from organized crime gangs and
two hand grenades was found outside a military barracks in Veracruz
state.
(AP, 5/12/07)
2007 May 12, A pregnant Nicaraguan
teenager (17) shot Kenneth A. Kinzel (53), her American lover, and
enlisted her siblings to help dismember the body. She shot her live-in
boyfriend because he threatened to kill her.
(AP, 5/29/07)
2007 May 12, In Nigeria Lora
Kabir, a Russian woman, set off with 50 volunteers on a 225-kilometer
(140-mile) walk from polio-endemic Nigeria's most populous city Kano to
raise public awareness among parents of the dangers of polio.
(AFP, 5/12/07)
2007 May 12, Gunbattles and
attacks killed at least 27 people and wounded dozens as Pakistan's
political crisis descended into violence between rival parties over
President Gen. Pervez Musharraf's suspension of the chief justice.
(AP, 5/12/07)
2007 May 12, Waves reaching 36
feet high thrashed France's Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean, leaving
two fishermen missing and flooding homes and hotels.
(AP, 5/13/07)
2007 May 12, Russia said that it
could not accept elements of a draft UN resolution on Kosovo worked out
by the US and EU nations, maintaining its strong opposition to a
Western-backed plan for the Serbian province's independence.
(AP, 5/12/07)
2007 May 12, An unmanned Russian
cargo ship carrying 2.5 tons of supplies, equipment and gifts blasted
off en route to the international space station.
(AP, 5/12/07)
2007 May 12, The UN top
humanitarian official made a landmark visit to Mogadishu, but the trip
was disrupted by an explosion that killed four people near the UN
compound. John Holmes said he had come to push the government to allow
humanitarian aid to reach its people.
(AP, 5/12/07)
2007 May 12, A South Korean cargo
vessel sank after colliding with a Chinese freighter in heavy fog in
waters off northeast China. 16 crew were on board the 3,800-ton Golden
Rose when it sank. The crew of the Chinese ship, the 4,800-ton
JinSheng, were unharmed and returned safely to Dalian.
(AP, 5/13/07)
2007 May 12, Taiwanese Premier Su
Tseng-chang resigned, days after he was defeated in the ruling party's
presidential primary.
(AP, 5/12/07)
2007 May 12, In the Turkish port
city of Izmir a bicycle bomb exploded in a market, killing one and
injuring 14 people on the eve of a planned mass anti-government rally.
(Reuters, 5/12/07)
2007 May 12, Yemen said it was
recalling its ambassadors to Iran and Libya over what it sees as their
support for Shi'ite Muslim rebels involved in bloody clashes with
government forces. The government of Sunni-dominated Yemen accused the
rebels of seeking to oust its secular administration and install
Islamist rule.
(AP, 5/12/07)
2007 May 13, President Bush made a
pilgrimage to the site of the Jamestown settlement in Virginia to mark
the 400th anniversary of its founding.
(AP, 5/13/08)
2007 May 13, The US said it is
willing to talk to Iran if discussions deal only with Iraq, where the
Bush administration says Tehran is undermining the Baghdad government
and exporting deadly roadside bombs. Iran's foreign ministry spokesman
said that Tehran has agreed to a formal request from the US to talk
about security in Iraq. Vice President Dick Cheney held talks with
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak toward the end of a regional tour,
focusing on ways to stem chaos in Iraq and on Iran's impact on security
in the Gulf.
(AP, 5/13/07)
2007 May 13, A mother humpback
whale and her calf were spotted in the Sacramento River. They reached
close to Sacramento before turning around back to SF Bay as thousands
watched media marked their wayward progress. On May 29 the pair reached
SF Bay and the next day were spotted outside the Golden Gate.
(SFC, 5/31/07, p.B1)
2007 May 13, In Afghanistan 9
policemen lost their lives in fresh attacks. Pakistani and Afghan
forces exchanged fire at their rugged border in their most serious
skirmish in years. Pakistan claimed it killed six Afghan soldiers, but
Afghanistan said just two Afghan civilians were killed.
(AP, 5/13/07)
2007 May 13, Al Qaeda-linked
Algerian rebels facing stepped up assaults by the army set off a bomb
killing three soldiers including an officer east of Algiers.
(Reuters, 5/14/07)
2007 May 13, Australia’s PM John
Howard said the Australian government has banned the country's cricket
team from touring Zimbabwe in September because he does not want to
support the regime of a "grubby dictator."
(AP, 5/13/07)
2007 May 13, Canada won hockey's
world championship with a 4-2 victory over Finland.
(AP, 5/13/08)
2007 May 13, Pope Benedict XVI
held an inaugural mass for the 5th conference of bishops from Latin
America and the Caribbean. This brought together 166 bishops to discuss
the church's situation in the region, home to nearly half of the
world's 1.1 billion Catholics.
(Econ, 5/5/07, p.47)(AFP, 5/13/07)
2007 May 13, German pharmaceutical
giant Merck KGaA announced that it had signed an agreement to sell its
generic drugs division to the US group Mylan Laboratories for 4.9
billion euros (6.6 billion dollars).
(AP, 5/13/07)
2007 May 13, Icelandic PM Geir
Haarde's centre-right Independence Party came out on top in weekend
general elections but it was unclear if his coalition government will
stay in power.
(AP, 5/13/07)
2007 May 13, Iran confirmed that
it has detained Haleh Esfandiari, a prominent Iranian-American
academic. A hardline newspaper accused her of spying for the United
States and Israel and trying to start a revolution inside Iran.
(AP, 5/13/07)
2007 May 13, A suicide truck
bomber crashed into the offices of a Kurdish political party, killing
at least 50 people, including the police chief, and wounding scores.
Another bombing at a market in Baghdad killing at least 17 people and
wounding 46. Iraqi gunmen drove into the Diyala capital of Baqouba,
pulled two handcuffed men out of the trunk and shot them to death, one
in view of a bustling market and the other near a movie theater. Three
other civilians also were killed execution-style in a market in the
city center. Five civilians were killed execution style on the streets
of Baquoba by gunmen who appeared to be accusing them of collaborating
with the US-led coalition. Gunmen apparently disguised as Iraqi
soldiers broke into the house of a Sunni family at the Shiite-dominated
al-Wihda district, killing two men and wounding four others, included a
6-year-old child. In all at least 126 people were killed.
(AP, 5/13/07)(AP, 5/14/07)(SFC, 5/14/07, p.A1)
2007 May 13, A Jamaican newspaper
reported that Scotland Yard investigators have concluded that Pakistan
cricket coach Bob Woolmer died of natural causes and was not strangled
as local police have said.
(AP, 5/13/07)
2007 May 13, Nigeria's central
labor union called for a two-day mass protest against last month's
elections, which have been roundly criticized by both local and foreign
observers for fraud. In southern Nigeria at least 30 people were killed
when three vehicles burst into flames after colliding on a road.
(AFP, 5/13/07)(AP, 5/14/07)
2007 May 13, Pro-government and
opposition groups blamed each other for Pakistan's worst political
violence in years, as new riots broke out and the toll from street
battles in Karachi rose to 41 dead and over 150 wounded.
(AP, 5/13/07)(WSJ, 5/14/07, p.A1)
2007 May 13, Fighting between
Palestinian faction of Hamas and Fatah left 4 people dead in the Gaza
Strip.
(SFC, 5/14/07, p.A7)
2007 May 13, A Serbian
ultranationalist resigned as parliament speaker after only five days in
the post, averting immediate fears that the country was returning to
its warmongering past.
(AP, 5/14/07)
2007 May 13, Tamil Tiger rebels
attacked a group of Sri Lankan soldiers who had crossed into insurgent
territory in the north, sparking a battle that left 7 guerrillas and a
soldier dead.
(AP, 5/14/07)
2007 May 13, One of Switzerland's
central bankers said further increases in Swiss interest rates are
still on the cards, while also praising the management of the euro
currency.
(AP, 5/13/07)
2007 May 13, A Syrian court
sentenced four pro-democracy campaigners, including one of Syria's most
respected writers, to prison terms as part of President's Bashar
Assad's latest crack down on dissent.
(AP, 5/14/07)
2007 May 13, Hundreds of thousands
of Turks streamed into this port city of Izmir in an enormous show of
opposition to the pro-Islamic ruling party, saying it threatened to
destroy the country's modern foundations.
(AP, 5/13/07)
2007 May 14, Pres. Bush ordered up
new rules aimed at increasing automobile fuel efficiency and the use of
alternative fuels.
(WSJ, 5/15/07, p.A1)
2007 May 14, The trial of
suspected al-Qaida operative Jose Padilla opened in Miami. Padilla and
two co-defendants were convicted in August, 2007, of terrorism
conspiracy; Padilla was sentenced to 17 years in prison.
(AP, 5/14/08)
2007 May 14, The cost of
first-class US letters went up 2 cents to 41 cents.
(AP, 5/14/07)
2007 May 14, Endemol, the brains
behind reality television shows like "Big Brother", fell into the hands
of a consortium led by Italy's Mediaset which is looking to branch out
of the saturated Italian television market.
(AP, 5/14/07)
2007 May 14, Charles Y. Lazarus
(b.1914), the last of four generations to run the iconic Federated
Dept. store in Columbus, Ohio, died in Columbus.
(WSJ, 5/19/07,
p.A6)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_Lazarus)
2007 May 14, Algerian troops,
stepping up assaults on al Qaeda's north African wing after suicide
bombings last month, killed 13 Islamist fighters east of Algiers.
(Reuters, 5/15/07)
2007 May 14, An Australian
teenager was awarded record damages including a lifetime income after a
court found that his life had been ruined by bullying at primary
school. Australian authorities said they want to shoot more than 3,000
kangaroos on the fringes of Canberra, noting the animals were growing
in population and eating through the grassy habitats of endangered
species.
(AFP, 5/14/07)(AP, 5/14/07)
2007 May 14, Pope Benedict XVI
returned to Rome after telling Brazilians a growing rich-poor gap is to
be lamented, but that the solution isn’t Marxism.
(WSJ, 5/15/07, p.A1)
2007 May 14, In the Central
African Republic the president's office said several former armed
rebels have surrendered to the authorities over the past few days in
the troubled north.
(AP, 5/14/07)
2007 May 14, A Chinese rocket
blasted a Nigerian communications satellite into orbit, marking an
expansion of China's commercial launching services for foreign space
hardware. The NIGCOMSAT-1 ceased functioning on November 11, 2008, due
to a power failure.
(AP, 5/14/07)(AP, 11/13/08)
2007 May 14, In Colombia judicial
authorities ordered the arrest of 20 politicians and business leaders,
including five congressmen, on criminal conspiracy charges for signing
a 2001 pact with illegal right-wing militias. In the biggest shake-up
in years of the security forces, Colombia's police chief and the head
of police intelligence were forced to retire as the government alleged
that police illegally tapped calls of opposition political figures,
journalists and members of the government for the past two years.
(AP, 5/15/07)
2007 May 14, Gangs torched houses
and fought in East Timor, injuring around 14 people, as violence broke
out following the nation's presidential elections.
(AP, 5/15/07)
2007 May 14, EU foreign ministers
gave the green light for a 40-million euro aid package to the African
Union peacekeeping force in the troubled Sudanese province of Darfur.
(AP, 5/14/07)
2007 May 14, EU foreign ministers
decided to drop a visa ban against four Uzbek officials, while
extending other sanctions against the Central Asian nation imposed
after a crackdown on an uprising in 2005.
(AP, 5/14/07)
2007 May 14, German-based
DaimlerChrysler said it will sell almost all of money-losing Chrysler
to Cerberus, a private equity firm, for $7.4 billion, backing out of a
troubled 1998 takeover aimed at creating a global automotive
powerhouse. John Snow, former US treasury secretary, served as chairman
of Cerberus.
(AP, 5/14/07)(Econ, 5/19/07, p.67)
2007 May 14, In India Dr. Binayak
Sen, a human rights activist, was arrested for conspiring with Maoist
insurgents in Chhattisgarh state.
(Econ, 5/31/08, p.48)
2007 May 14, In western India a
gas tanker, truck and bus collided, sparking a fire that engulfed the
three vehicles and killed at least 30 people.
(AP, 5/14/07)
2007 May 14, Iraqi and US forces
also exchanged fire with gunmen near Youssifiyah during the
house-to-house search operation for 3 missing American soldiers,
killing two suspected insurgents and injuring four others. Gunmen
opened fire on a police checkpoint in Baqouba killing three policemen
and two civilians. Mortar rounds struck an outdoor market in Baghdad
killing 3 people. In Suwayrah police dragged two unidentified,
bullet-riddled bodies of a man and a women in their 40s from the Tigris
River. A roadside bomb near the southern city of Basra also killed one
Danish soldier and wounded five. 2 US soldiers on a foot patrol
southeast of Baghdad were shot to death. Five US troops were killed in
attacks in Baghdad and surrounding areas, while another soldier died of
non-combat related causes.
(AP, 5/14/07)(AP, 5/14/07)
2007 May 14, Lebanon's prime
minister asked the UN Security Council to impose an international
tribunal to prosecute suspects in the assassination of former premier
Rafik Hariri.
(AP, 5/14/07)
2007 May 14, Malaysia’s PM Badawi
hosted Singapore’s Premier Lee Hsein Lloong for a 2-day talk on
economic cooperation.
(WSJ, 5/14/07, p.A8)
2007 May 14, In Mexico City gunmen
fatally shot Jose Nemesio Lugo, Mexico’s new federal narcotics
intelligence chief, as he was on his way to work at the Attorney
General's Office.
(AP, 5/14/07)(SFC, 5/25/07, p.A1)
2007 May 14, Nearly 60 former
heads of state, including three ex-American presidents, demanded that
Myanmar's military regime release Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi
from house arrest.
(AP, 5/14/07)
2007 May 14, In southern Nigeria's
Rivers State unidentified gunmen snatched a Nigerian working for
Italian oil giant Agip.
(AFP, 5/14/07)
2007 May 14, In Pakistan militants
opened fire on a group of US, Afghan and Pakistani military officials
meeting near the Afghan border, killing one American and a Pakistani
soldier. Karachi storefronts were shuttered and the streets of the
commercial hub emptied of cars on as residents angry over a weekend of
deadly political violence honored a general strike called amid growing
discontent over President Gen. Pervez Musharraf's ouster of the chief
justice.
(AP, 5/14/07)
2007 May 14, The Palestinian
interior minister resigned, accusing Hamas and Fatah leaders of
thwarting his efforts to halt new violence that is threatening the
survival of the Palestinian coalition government.
(AP, 5/14/07)
2007 May 14, Filipinos braved the
threat of violence to choose local and congressional representatives in
elections. Wahab Akbar, governor of Basilan, was elected congressman
from Basilan. His 1st wife, Jum, was elected to become governor of
Basilan. His 2nd wife Cherrylyn was already mayor of Isabela City.
(AP, 5/14/07)(SSFC, 9/9/07, p.F1)
2007 May 14, In South Africa
deputies and experts attending the Pan African Parliament called for
Western countries to help reverse the environmental damage to the
continent that they had helped create.
(AP, 5/14/07)
2007 May 14, In Russia 10 people
were found dead after a fire swept through a cafe in Orsk near the
border with Kazakhstan. Prosecutors indicated they suspect arson.
(AP, 5/14/07)
2007 May 14, Taiwanese President
Chen Shui-bian named his sixth premier in seven years amid paralysis in
the island's relations with rival China and gridlock in its deeply
divided legislature. The World Health Organization rejected Taiwan's
bid for membership after Chinese officials accused the island of trying
to strengthen its claim to sovereignty.
(AP, 5/14/07)
2007 May 14, In Tunisia Sfax port
officials said the Tunisian coastguard had rescued 35 African would-be
immigrants who were trying to sail to Italy from the Libyan coast. More
than 1,000 people have landed on Spanish or Italian territory since May
10.
(AFP, 5/14/07)
2007 May 15, Kenny Chesney
collected his third consecutive entertainer of the year trophy from the
Academy of Country Music.
(AP, 5/15/08)
2007 May 15, Pres. Bush tapped
Army Lt. Gen. Douglas Lute as a new White House War Czar. At least 5
four-star generals had turned the offer down.
(SFC, 5/16/07, p.A7)
2007 May 15, The US military said
former Guantanamo detainees have organized a jailbreak in Afghanistan,
kidnapped Chinese engineers and taken leadership positions with the
Taliban. In southern Afghanistan at least 11 suspected Taliban and
possibly dozens more were killed by airstrikes on Taliban compounds in
the Zhari district of Kandahar province.
(AP, 5/15/07)
2007 May 15, Associated Press
reported that many VA officials who got hefty bonuses last year sat on
the boards that recommended the payments.
(WSJ, 5/16/07, p.A1)
2007 May 15, Voters in southern
Oregon’s Jackson County defeated a property tax measure to prop up the
county’s 15 public libraries.
(SFC, 5/17/07, p.A5)
2007 May 15, Reuters agreed to a
$17.2 billion takeover by Thomson of Canada that would vault the
combined entity ahead of Bloomberg to become the world's largest
financial data and news provider.
(AP, 5/15/07)
2007 May 15, Tyco Int’l. said it
has agreed to pay almost $3 billion to settle class-action suits
brought by investors in the largest payment ever by a company in such a
suit.
(SFC, 5/16/07, p.C1)
2007 May 15, The Rev. Jerry
Falwell (73), the television minister whose 1979 founding of the Moral
Majority galvanized American religious conservatives into a political
force, died.
(AP, 5/15/07)
2007 May 15, Karen Hess (88),
culinary historian and author, died in NYC. Her books included “The
Taste of America” (1977), which sounded an alarm for more healthful
eating.
(SFC, 5/22/07, p.B5)
2007 May 15, Argentine commuters
in Buenos Aires enraged by delays in evening train service set fire to
parts of a railroad station, looted nearby shops and clashed with riot
police.
(AP, 5/15/07)
2007 May 15, President Luiz Inacio
Lula da Silva said Brazil will push to improve working conditions for
sugarcane cutters who harvest most of the cane that is turned into
ethanol for the nation's booming biofuel industry. A jury voted 5-2 to
convict rancher Vitalmiro Bastos de Moura of masterminding the shooting
of 73-year-old Dorothy Stang, an American nun and rain forest defender
on Feb. 12, 2005, in a case seen as an important test of justice in the
largely lawless Amazon region. This ruling was overturned in 2008 after
the man who confessed to shooting Stang recanted earlier testimony,
insisting that he'd acted alone. Gunman Rayfran das Neves Sales was
sentenced to 28 years in prison. In 2009 Para state's top court
reversed the 2008 not-guilty verdict for Vitalmiro Moura on a
technicality.
(AP, 5/15/07)(AP, 4/7/09)
2007 May 15, PM Bertie Ahern
became the first Irish leader to address the joint houses of the
British Parliament.
(AP, 5/15/08)
2007 May 15, In Denmark hundreds
of black-clad youths clashed with police in Copenhagen, barricading
streets and setting fire to cars to protest the demolition of a
building in the free-wheeling Christiania district.
(AP, 5/15/07)
2007 May 15, Mohammed Sayed Saber
(35). an Egyptian accused of spying for Israel praised the Jewish state
for its advanced technology and claimed documents he passed on were so
outdated they posed no threat to Egypt's security.
(AP, 5/15/07)
2007 May 15, In India separatist
rebels fatally shot six migrant workers in northeastern Assam state. At
the heart of the violence is simmering resentment by Assam's indigenous
people, most of whom are ethnically closer to people in Myanmar and
China than India, against the federal government in New Delhi, some
1,000 miles to the west, and ethnic Indians who have migrated to the
state over the centuries.
(AP, 5/16/07)
2007 May 15, Iranian President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called on Gulf Arab neighbors to send experts to
inspect his country's nuclear power plant, in an apparent effort to
ease fears over Tehran's nuclear ambitions.
(AP, 5/15/07)
2007 May 15, In Iraq’s Diyala
province about 50 suspected insurgents attacked a village north of
Baghdad, killing five civilians and wounding 14. Two bombs hidden in
plastic bags exploded in shops in central Baghdad, killing at least
seven people and wounding 17. A parked car bomb exploded near a market
in a Shiite enclave northeast of the capital, killing at least 32
people and wounding 50. Hospital officials and wounded victims said
chlorine gas may have been used in the attack, but police denied that.
(AP, 5/15/07)(AP, 5/16/07)
2007 May 15, A top Mexican
anti-drug official said the US must do more to stop weapons from being
smuggled into the hands of drug traffickers who are using them to kill
Mexican soldiers and police.
(AP, 5/15/07)
2007 May 15, Royal Dutch Shell
Plc. said protestors have occupied an oil facility in southern Nigeria
forcing daily production cuts of 170,000 barrels per day.
(AFP, 5/15/07)
2007 May 15, In Pakistan a suicide
bomber with a warning to spies for America taped to his leg attacked a
crowded restaurant in Peshawar near the Afghan border, killing at least
25 people days after a relative of the Taliban's slain commander was
arrested there.
(AP, 5/15/07)
2007 May 15, Hamas gunmen ambushed
rival Fatah forces near a key crossing along the Israeli border,
killing eight people in the deadliest battle yet in three days of
factional fighting.
(AP, 5/15/07)
2007 May 15, International
observers of elections in the Philippines said they witnessed threats
and vote-buying inside some southern precincts, and police said two
more people were killed in violence related to the voting.
(AP, 5/15/07)
2007 May 15, Russia's top AIDS
specialist said Russia's AIDS epidemic is worsening with as many as 1.3
million people infected with HIV as the virus spreads further into the
heterosexual population.
(AP, 5/15/07)
2007 May 15, Serbia's parliament
approved a new pro-democracy government, overcoming efforts by
anti-Western ultranationalists to derail the vote and force new
elections.
(AP, 5/16/07)
2007 May 15, A Spanish
anesthesiologist with hepatitis C was sentenced to prison for infecting
275 people with the virus by injecting them with morphine from the same
needles he used to feed his own addiction. Juan Maeso (65) was
sentenced to 1,933 years in prison. The most he can serve under Spanish
law is 20 years.
(AP, 5/15/07)
2007 May 15, Venezuela’s health
minister said Venezuela will impose a limited smoking ban in bars and
restaurants but has no plans to halt the production of cigarettes and
tobacco.
(AP, 5/15/07)
2007 May 15, In Vietnam Tran Quoc
Hien, a trade union organizer and member of Bloc 8406, became the 6th
democracy campaigner to be imprisoned within a week.
(Econ, 5/19/07, p.45)
2007 May 15, In Zimbabwe a
spokesman said dozens of doctors at four of the largest state hospitals
have gone on strike to demand higher pay.
(AFP, 5/15/07)
2007 May 16, Anti-war Democrats in
the US Senate failed in an attempt to cut off funds for the Iraq war.
(AP, 5/16/08)
2007 May 16, British PM Tony Blair
paid a farewell visit to President Bush at the White House.
(AP, 5/16/08)
2007 May 16, Paul Wolfowitz began
to negotiate the terms under which he would resign from the World Bank.
(SFC, 5/17/07, p.A3)
2007 May 16, The DJIA rose 103.69
to a record 13,487.53. Nasdaq rose 22.13 to 2,547.
(SFC, 5/17/07, p.C1)
2007 May 16, The journal Nature
said that a bird count had found common US species, like robins, crows
and bluebirds, in sharp decline due to West Nile virus. A US Geological
survey in June found that populations of 20 common American bird
species have dropped by half in the last 40 years.
(WSJ, 5/17/07, p.A1)(SFC, 6/15/07, p.A11)
2007 May 16, In Algeria bombs
killed a police officer and wounded five other people on the eve of
parliamentary elections, prompting fears of renewed Islamist extremism.
(AP, 5/16/07)
2007 May 16, Gen. Sir Richard
Dannatt, British army chief of staff, announced that Prince Harry would
not go to Iraq because of "specific threats" to his life that would
expose the prince and his fellow soldiers to unacceptable risk. The
prince did end up serving in Afghanistan for 10 weeks, until word of
his deployment got out.
(AP, 5/17/07)(AP, 5/16/08)
2007 May 16, In Canada some 3,200
track workers at Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. began a national strike
over failed talks on wages and other issues.
(Reuters, 5/16/07)
2007 May 16, Zheng Xiaoyu, China's
former top drug regulator, went on trial accused of taking bribes to
approve untested medicine, including an antibiotic that killed at least
10 patients last year before it was taken off the market. Zheng was
fired in 2005 on charges he took up to $780,000 in bribes to approve
medicine that had not been tested to ensure its safety. He was expelled
earlier this year from the ruling Communist Party.
(AP, 5/16/07)
2007 May 16, In northern Colombia
Diana Patricia Pena (36) was abducted by armed men with her husband,
Roland Erik Larson (68), at their farm. Pena soon escaped but
Larson was still missing.
(AP, 5/20/07)
2007 May 16, Following a
six-decade wait, Estonia's 3,000-strong Jewish community inaugurated
its new and only synagogue in Tallinn in the presence of top Israeli
dignitaries.
(AP, 5/16/07)
2007 May 16, Nicolas Sarkozy took
office as France's president.
(AP, 5/16/07)
2007 May 16, In northwestern Haiti
gunmen killed journalist Alix Joseph (38), shooting him 11 times
outside his fiancé’s house.
(AP, 5/17/07)
2007 May 16, Indian company United
Spirits bought Scottish liquor maker Whyte and Mackay for more than one
billion dollars, emphasizing India's growing economic clout abroad.
(AP, 5/16/07)
2007 May 16, In southern Iraq
clashes broke out in the mostly Shiite city of Nasiriyah, when a
militia fought with police there after they arrested two wanted militia
members, police said. Nine Iraqis were killed and 75 wounded. At least
nine apparent mortar rounds slammed into the US-controlled Green Zone,
wounding at least six people, the second such attack in as many days.
(AP, 5/16/07)
2007 May 16, The Organization for
Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Ministerial Council Meeting
in Paris approved a decision to open accession discussions with Israel.
(Econ, 4/5/08, SR p.7)(http://tinyurl.com/2h2frt)
2007 May 16, An Israeli helicopter
launched missiles at a Hamas command center in the southern Gaza Strip,
after Hamas fired rocket barrages into Israel in an apparent attempt to
draw Israel into increasingly violent Palestinian infighting. At least
19 people were killed in factional fighting between Fatah and Hamas.
(AP, 5/16/07)(SFC, 5/17/07, p.A12)
2007 May 16, Japanese officials
said the landlocked nation of Laos has agreed to join the International
Whaling Commission at Japan's request and is highly likely to support
Tokyo's high-profile pro-whaling campaign.
(AP, 5/16/07)
2007 May 16, Kazakhstan's
President Nursultan Nazarbayev proposed limited political reforms in
the oil-rich country he has headed since the Soviet era, including
shortening the presidential term from seven years to five and
strengthening the powers of parliament.
(AP, 5/16/07)
2007 May 16, In Mexico over 40
armed men abducted and killed 4 police officers south of the Arizona
border.
(SFC, 5/17/07, p.A3)
2007 May 16, Thomas Frank White, a
US businessman, was convicted of raping a teenage boy and sentenced to
more than 7 years in jail in Mexico. White, who founded the brokerage
firm Thomas White & Co. in 1978, was arrested in Thailand in 2003
at the behest of Mexican officials and later extradited.
(AP, 5/16/07)
2007 May 16, Nigerian militants
used dynamite to blow up a home of vice president-elect Goodluck
Jonathan, killing two police officers.
(AFP, 5/16/07)
2007 May 16, In northwestern
Pakistan suspected pro-Taliban militants firing mortars and machine
guns attacked a police checkpoint, and at least five civilians were
killed in the ensuing gunbattle.
(AP, 5/16/07)
2007 May 16, Scottish National
Party leader Alex Salmond was elected to become first minister of the
devolved Edinburgh parliament, after the pro-independence party's
historic election victory this month.
(AP, 5/16/07)
2007 May 16, In Somalia a roadside
bomb struck a convoy carrying African Union peacekeepers, killing four
Ugandan peacekeepers in one of the deadliest attacks on the troops
since they arrived in March.
(AP, 5/16/07)
2007 May 16, The UN Security
Council voted unanimously to extend its peacekeeping mission in Congo
until the end of the year while calling for a timetable to gradually
withdraw the nearly 18,000-member force.
(AP, 5/16/07)
2007 May 17, President Bush and
retiring British PM Tony Blair held a joint news conference at the
White House, during which Blair allowed not a single regret about the
Iraq war alliance.
(AP, 5/17/08)
2007 May 17, The US White House
and key lawmakers agreed on a sweeping immigration plan to grant legal
status to millions of people in the country unlawfully.
(AP, 5/17/07)
2007 May 17, US lawmakers branded
China and Russia the world's two biggest copyright thieves.
(Reuters, 5/17/07)
2007 May 17, US Navy lawyer Lt.
Cmdr. Matthew Diaz (41) was convicted in military court of
communicating secret information that could be used to injure the US.
Diaz had given a human rights attorney the names of 550 Guantanamo Bay
detainees.
(SFC, 5/18/07, p.A7)
2007 May 17, Paul Wolfowitz
announced that he was stepping down soon as World Bank chief. This
marked yet another blow for US President George W. Bush as his
Republican administration nears its end.
(AFP, 5/17/07)
2007 May 17, It was reported that
Chris Cohan, owner of the Golden State Warriors basketball team, faced
tax evasion charges by the IRS for potentially abusive tax shelters
used when he sold Sonic Communications in 1998 for $200 million.
(SFC, 5/17/07, p.A1)
2007 May 17, In Oakland, Ca., a
mother and daughter were kidnapped and tortured by men associated with
Your Black Muslim Bakery. Yusuf Bey IV, the group’s leader, believed
the women could reveal where a local drug dealer kept his money. In
October Richard Lewis (23), aka Rakeem Kahlil Bey, was arrested for his
role in the kidnap-torture.
(SFC, 10/18/07, p.B1)
2007 May 17, The journal "Science"
reported that Antarctica’s Southern Ocean, a crucial "carbon sink" into
which 15 percent of the world's excess carbon dioxide flows, is
reaching saturation and soon may be unable to absorb more , a deeply
troubling development.
(AFP, 5/17/07)
2007 May 17, In southern
Afghanistan 2 coordinated bomb blasts killed seven people, including
three police responding to the first explosion. In western Afghanistan
airstrikes in Farah province targeted a convoy of suspected Taliban
militants who had left a meeting, killing 14 and wounding 10. In
Kandahar a suicide car bomber rammed a government convoy, killing three
bystanders and wounding Information and Culture Minister Abdul Karim
Khurram.
(AP, 5/17/07)(AP, 5/18/07)
2007 May 17, Algerians, shaken by
al-Qaida-claimed suicide bombings and dealing with a tough economy,
slowly trickled to vote in legislative elections under tight police
security.
(AP, 5/17/07)
2007 May 17, In Argentina leftist
union members shut down the Buenos Aires subway system with a one-day
strike, causing huge traffic jams as commuters drove, packed buses or
struggled to hail taxis.
(AP, 5/17/07)
2007 May 17, Greyhound Canada
suspended passenger and parcel service in Western Canada because of a
labor disruption.
(Reuters, 5/18/07)
2007 May 17, A Colombian warlord,
accused of spearheading civilian massacres, claimed that some US
companies who buy Colombia's bananas had made regular payments to his
illegal right-wing militias.
(AP, 5/17/07)
2007 May 17, Estonia's defense
minister said that the massive cyber attacks that have crippled the
high-tech country's Web sites are a threat to national security, and
that it's possible the Russian government was behind them.
(Econ, 5/5/07, p.65)(AP, 5/17/07)
2007 May 17, The World Bank said
that it and the European Commission and six other donors have committed
$780 million to support basic services and transparency in Ethiopia.
(AP, 5/17/07)
2007 May 17, French Pres. Nicolas
Sarkozy named Francois Fillon (53), a Gaullist former social affairs
minister, to be his prime minister.
(SFC, 5/18/07, p.A3)(Econ, 5/19/07, p.56)
2007 May 17, Across Iraq at least
58 Iraqis were killed or found dead in bombings, shootings and mortar
attacks. They included 42 bullet-riddled bodies of apparent victims of
so-called sectarian death squads. Three American soldiers were killed
and another was wounded in a roadside bombing south of Baghdad. Mortar
rounds hit a US Air Force base north of Baghdad, destroying one
helicopter and damaging nine others.
(AP, 5/17/07)
2007 May 17, Israeli aircraft
struck a Hamas command center, a trailer housing bodyguards and two
vehicles, citing the firing by militants of more than 50 rockets at the
Israeli border town of Sderot over three days.
(AP, 5/17/07)
2007 May 17, In central Japan a
man went on a shooting rampage in his home, killing a policeman,
wounding three other people, including his son and daughter, and taking
his wife hostage.
(AP, 5/17/07)
2007 May 17, The first trains
since 1953 traversed the Korean DMZ in a peace gesture.
(WSJ, 5/18/07, p.A1)
2007 May 17, Mexican police chased
the remnants of a criminal assault force through the mountains of
Sonora near the Arizona border after kidnappings and gunbattles that
left at least 22 people dead.
(AP, 5/17/07)(Econ, 6/16/07, p.45)
2007 May 17, Moroccan police
clashed with student protestors from Western Sahara demanding an end to
Rabat's control over the disputed region.
(AP, 5/17/07)
2007 May 17, Nicaraguan said it
has re-established formal diplomatic relations with North Korea and
rejected criticism of the Asian country's nuclear weapons program.
(AP, 5/17/07)
2007 May 17, In Nigeria labor
leaders called a two-day nationwide strike coinciding with the May 29
inauguration of the new government to protest what they said was a
fraudulent election.
(AP, 5/17/07)
2007 May 17, Russia filed a suit
against the Bank of New York for $22.5 billion for its role in a money
laundering scheme that was broken up by US authorities in 1999.
(WSJ, 5/18/07, p.A3)
2007 May 17, Russian Orthodox
leaders signed a pact to heal an 80-year schism between the church in
Russia and an offshoot, the Church Abroad, set up following the
Bolshevik Revolution. At least 10 of 145 Church Abroad parishes in the
US opposed the canonical union. Most of the New York-based Russian
Orthodox Church Outside Russia (ROCOR) agreed to unite with the
Patriarchate of Moscow.
(AP, 5/17/07)(WSJ, 1/18/07, p.A12)(Econ, 10/18/08,
p.69)
2007 May 17, In Sri Lanka said
security forces had shot dead at least 20 Tamil Tiger rebels in
northern Sri Lanka in a fresh outbreak of fighting.
(AFP, 5/17/07)
2007 May 17, In Ukraine Petro
Balabuyev (75), a lead designer of the world's largest aircraft, the
An-225, died.
(AP, 5/17/07)
2007 May 17, Analysts warned that
a new pricing law approved by Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, as
inflation exceeded 3,700%, could worsen rather than relieve widespread
shortages and price rises.
(AP, 5/17/07)
2007 May 18, The White House and
Congress failed to strike a deal after exchanging competing offers on
an Iraq war spending bill that Democrats said should set a date for US
troops to leave.
(AP, 5/18/08)
2007 May 18, US federal
prosecutors asked a judge to immediately freeze the assets of former
Qwest Communications International Inc. Chief Executive Joseph Nacchio,
who was convicted last month of making $52 million from insider trading.
(Reuters, 5/20/07)
2007 May 18, In New Jersey a
second rainstorm in three days soaked a forest fire and raised hopes
that it could be brought under full control by day's end. New Jersey
Air National Guard officials said one of their F-16s dropped a flare
into the tinder-dry Pinelands during a training mission May 15,
possibly starting the blaze.
(AP, 5/18/07)
2007 May 18, Deep-sea explorers of
Florida-based Odyssey Marine Exploration said they have mined what
could be the richest shipwreck treasure in history, bringing home 17
tons of colonial-era silver and gold coins from an undisclosed
shipwreck off England. The estimated value was $500 million.
(AP, 5/18/07)(WSJ, 5/19/07, p.A1)
2007 May 18, Microsoft agreed to
buy online-ad specialist aQuantive for $6 billion, the largest
acquisition in Microsoft’s history.
(WSJ, 5/19/07, p.A1)
2007 May 18, Roy De Forest (77),
prominent SF Bay Area painter, died.
(SFC, 5/23/07, p.B7)
2007 May 18, The Taliban said it
had arrested a close aide to the rebel movement's slain commander
Mullah Dadullah for treachery that led to his killing. Soldiers from
the Afghan army and a coalition led by the US killed 67 Taliban in an
ambush in the eastern province of Paktia, near the border with Pakistan.
(AFP, 5/18/07)(AFP, 5/19/07)
2007 May 18, Algeria’s Interior
Ministry announced that the National Liberation Front party, which has
dominated Algerian political life since independence in 1962, kept its
leading position in parliamentary elections.
(AP, 5/18/07)
2007 May 18, A group of 88
Burundians who have lived as refugees in neighboring Tanzania for up to
35 years became the first of some 8,500 to head to the US for a new
life.
(AP, 5/19/07)
2007 May 18, UN officials said
rebel leaders in the Central African Republic have agreed to begin
sending several hundred child soldiers home to their families.
(AP, 5/18/07)
2007 May 18, China took steps to
let its currency appreciate faster against the dollar and to cool its
sizzling economy ahead of what are expected to contentious talks in
Washington over Beijing's soaring trade surplus.
(AP, 5/18/07)
2007 May 18, President Alvaro
Uribe lashed out at US lawmakers for treating Colombia like a "pariah"
by refusing to pass a trade agreement amid a scandal linking his
government to murderous right-wing paramilitaries.
(AP, 5/18/07)
2007 May 18, In Ethiopia 3 Swedish
citizens were released after spending five months in jail. The three
were among dozens of foreigners detained earlier this year as terror
suspects.
(AP, 5/19/07)
2007 May 18, French President
Nicolas Sarkozy named his first Cabinet, radically revamping the
government, which included seven women among its 15 members. Bernard
Kouchner, former UN administrator for Kosovo and co-founder of the
Nobel Prize-winning aid group Doctors Without Borders, was named
foreign minister.
(AP, 5/18/07)
2007 May 18, Haitian President
Rene Preval declared a "war without end" against corruption, calling
crooked state officials traitors who rob the deeply impoverished nation
of vital investment and jobs.
(AP, 5/18/07)
2007 May 18, In India a bomb
attack at the 17th-century Mecca Majid, the main mosque in Hyderabad,
killed 13 people. Two other unexploded bombs were found and defused by
police. Ensuing clashes with police left five more dead. A serial
killer who has been leaving headless torsos outside the Indian
capital's jail for more than a year, allegedly in revenge for wrongful
imprisonment, struck again. This was the fourth time since December
2005 that a torso had been left in a sack outside the Tihar Jail.
(AP, 5/18/07)(AP, 5/19/07)(WSJ, 11/28/08, p.A6)
2007 May 18, About 50 suspected
insurgents attacked a US base in the center of Baqouba, sparking a
battle with US soldiers and helicopters that left at least six
militants dead. In Baghdad two Iraqi journalists working for ABC News
were slain as they drove home from work. A suicide car bomber hit a
police patrol in the Sunni-dominated town of Jurf al-Sakhar, killing
three officers and wounding two. In Kirkuk drive-by shooters killed an
Iraqi army officer as he was heading to work. A 24-hour curfew remained
in place in Mosul for a third day. It was imposed after insurgents used
five suicide vehicle bombs, mortars and small arms fire to destroy two
bridges and attack a police station and a jail where suspected
insurgents were being held. The attacks killed 15 insurgents, 10 Iraqi
policemen, one Iraqi soldier and one civilian. US forces on a raid in
northern Baghdad killed Azhar al-Dulaimi, a Shiite militant believed to
have masterminded a brazen January attack in Karbala that led to the
capture and killing of four US soldiers. 7 US soldiers died in Iraq; 3
were killed when their vehicle was bit by a bomb northeast of Baghdad,
one in the western province of Anbar, one by small arms fire south of
the capital and two by a roadside bomb and small arms fire in
northwestern Baghdad.
(AP, 5/18/07)(AFP, 5/19/07)(AP, 5/21/07)
2007 May 18, Israel pounded more
Hamas targets with airstrikes for a 2nd day, killing four Palestinians.
10 people have died with dozens wounded as it stepped deeper into
fighting between the Islamic militants and the rival Fatah fighters of
President Mahmoud Abbas.
(AP, 5/18/07)
2007 May 18, In Japan a former
gangster surrendered after a shooting rampage at his home that left one
policeman dead and three other people, including his son and daughter,
injured.
(AP, 5/18/07)
2007 May 18, Jordan's King
Abdullah II made a new attempt to rally Mideast peace efforts as he
hosted politicians and business leaders at the World Economic Forum.
Politicians attending the forum warned of a bleak future for the
Mideast if its explosive tensions are not resolved.
(AP, 5/18/07)
2007 May 18, Kazakhstan's veteran
leader Nursultan Nazarbayev was in effect declared president-for-life
in a move condemned by the nation's opposition as undemocratic.
(AP, 5/18/07)
2007 May 18, In the Netherlands a
400-pound gorilla escaped from his enclosure and ran amok in a
Rotterdam zoo, biting one woman, dragging her around, and causing panic
among dozens of visitors before he was finally subdued.
(AP, 5/18/07)
2007 May 18, President Gen. Pervez
Musharraf acknowledged that Islamic militancy was increasing across
Pakistan and said tough measures were needed to counter it, as
religious students from a pro-Taliban mosque abducted four police
officers. Musharraf said that he would not allow his two primary
political opponents to come back to Pakistan before elections, slated
for this year. Dozens of gunmen ambushed a vehicle carrying 8
government officials and kidnapped them in North Waziristan. Saud Memon
(44), owner of the shed and land outside Karachi where the body of
Daniel Pearl was found, died. Memon was found lying unconscious outside
his house on April 28.
(AP, 5/19/07)(SFC, 5/19/07, p.A3)(WSJ, 5/21/07, p.A6)
2007 May 18, In southern Peru a
backpack containing dynamite and nails exploded during a celebration in
a market in Juliaca, killing six people and wounding 48.
(AP, 5/19/07)
2007 May 18, A powerful bomb
ripped through a teeming bus terminal in the violence-prone southern
Philippines, killing a 5-year-old boy and injuring about three dozen
other people.
(AP, 5/18/07)
2007 May 18, In Russia EU leaders
criticized Russia's human rights record, and were faulted in return, at
the end of a summit that produced no formal agreements but helped
illustrate the widening political chasm between Moscow and the West.
Russia barred activists, including chess grandmaster Kasparov, from
protests near the Volga summit.
(AP, 5/18/07)(WSJ, 5/19/07, p.A1)
2007 May 18, The UN accused Sudan
government forces of direct involvement in recent machine-gunning of
Darfur villages that left at least 100 dead.
(WSJ, 5/19/07, p.A1)
2007 May 19, Curlin nipped
Kentucky Derby winner Street Sense to win the Preakness Stakes.
(AP, 5/19/08)
2007 May 19, In northern
Afghanistan a suicide attacker detonated himself next to German
soldiers shopping in a crowded market in Kunduz, killing 3 German
soldiers and 6 Afghan civilians with 16 people wounded. A district
police chief and a bodyguard were killed in a bomb blast in the eastern
province of Nangarhar.
(AFP, 5/19/07)
2007 May 19, Algerian official
news reported that security forces had dismantled a suspected support
network linked to twin terror bombings last month in the capital that
killed 30 people.
(AP, 5/20/07)
2007 May 19, Two local health
workers were kidnapped for ransom in the Central African Republic
(CAR), prompting UN concerns that worsening security was hampering aid
work there.
(AFP, 5/23/07)
2007 May 19, China’s state media
said an outbreak of a viral disease common in children has sickened
almost 900 people in eastern China but the outbreak has been contained.
The outbreak of hand, foot and mouth disease began in late April in the
city of Linyi in Shandong province. In southern China thousands of
farmers rioted at a government office in Shabi township, Guangxi
region, after authorities imposed heavy fines on families that had more
children than allowed under the country's family planning policy.
(AP, 5/19/07)(AP, 5/21/07)
2007 May 19, The ruler of Dubai
launched a $10 billion foundation to provide scholarships and promote
research in the Middle East, saying the region has neglected education
despite its oil wealth.
(AP, 5/20/07)
2007 May 19, Police arrested 14
members of the banned Muslim Brotherhood as part of Egypt's ongoing
campaign against the country's strongest opposition group.
(AP, 5/20/07)
2007 May 19, In Germany G8 finance
ministers from the world's richest nations sought ways to improve
financial management in Africa and were asked to scold China for
lending too freely to African countries.
(AP, 5/19/07)
2007 May 19, Gunmen wearing Iraqi
army uniforms entered a village east of Baghdad, rousted families from
their homes and opened fire on the men, killing 15 men and one woman.
Shiite militiamen from the Mahdi Army traded gunfire with Iraqi
soldiers in southwestern Baghdad's Baiyaa district, killing one of the
soldiers. In Tikrit police received the bodies of seven men killed in
clashes the night before in Samarra. Outgoing British PM Tony Blair
arrived in Baghdad on a farewell visit, and three mortar shells or
rockets slammed into the Green Zone where he met with Iraq's leaders.
One US soldier died from a roadside bomb south of Baghdad. Six American
soldiers and their translator died in a bombing in western Baghdad.
Another US soldier was killed and two were wounded when a blast struck
their vehicle near Diwaniyah. At least one US soldier was killed and
four wounded as insurgents attacked the searchers for 3 missing
comrades with guns, mortars and bombs.
(AP, 5/19/07)(AFP, 5/19/07)(AP, 5/20/07)
2007 May 19, Japan's state and
navy police raided a Japanese naval academy over an alleged leak of
sensitive warship technology data shared between Japan and the US.
(AP, 5/19/07)
2007 May 19, Assailants shot dead
a police commander in a wealthy Monterrey suburb, the latest in a wave
of killings of law enforcement officials across Mexico.
(AP, 5/19/07)
2007 May 19, In southern Nigeria
gunmen dynamited the front gate of a residential compound and kidnapped
three Indians in an attack that left one Nigerian dead.
(AP, 5/19/07)
2007 May 19, In Islamabad hardline
clerics holding four Pakistani police at a mosque won the release of
four extremists after a tense day-long stand-off between armed police
and baton-wielding students.
(AP, 5/19/07)
2007 May 19, In Gaza negotiators
from the rival Hamas and Fatah movements reached a new cease-fire deal.
(AP, 5/19/07)
2007 May 19, Romanians voted on
whether to impeach President Traian Basescu, who has been accused of
violating the constitution but remains popular among the public.
Basescu, suspended on grounds he abused power, easily survived a
referendum on his impeachment, with partial results indicating about
three-fourths of the votes supporting the leader.
(AP, 5/19/07)(AP, 5/20/07)
2007 May 19, German Gref, Russia’s
Economy Minister, told reporters that Russia will not allow indebted
state companies to default. It was reported that more than a half-dozen
journalists with the Russian News Service, have resigned to protest the
new pro-Kremlin management's policy that at least 50 percent of
coverage must be positive.
(Reuters, 5/19/07)(AP, 5/19/07)
2007 May 19, Miroslav Deronjic
(52), Bosnian Serb war criminal, died in a hospital in Sweden.
Deronjic, the top authority in the eastern Bosnian city of Bratunac
during the 1992-1995 Bosnian War, was convicted of ordering a 1992
attack on a Bosnian village in which 65 civilians were killed. He had
been serving a 10-year sentence for war crimes.
(AP, 5/20/07)
2007 May 19, Tens of thousands of
Venezuelans marched to support a TV station aligned with opponents of
President Hugo Chavez, whose government plans to kick the channel off
the air next week by not renewing its license.
(AP, 5/19/07)
2007 May 20, President Bush
welcomed NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer to his Crawford,
Texas, ranch, to review strategy on a flurry of issues.
(AP, 5/20/08)
2007 May 20, It was reported that
the US continued to pay Pakistan some $1 billion a year in
reimbursements for military counterterrorism efforts along the Afghan
border. Over the last 5 years Pakistan has received $5.6 billion.
Payments averaged $80 million a month.
(SSFC, 5/20/07, p.A6)
2007 May 20, In Idaho law
enforcement officers stormed a church in Moscow where Jason Hamilton
(36) went after wounding three in a courthouse ambush where he faced
mental evaluation. Hamilton killed his wife at home and sexton Paul
Bauer at the church before taking his own life. An officer who was shot
responding to a gunman spraying bullets at a courthouse died of his
injuries.
(AP, 5/20/07)(SFC, 5/21/07, p.A5)(SFC, 5/22/07, p.A3)
2007 May 20, San Francisco’s 96th
annual Bay to Breakers race drew some 60,000 runners. Joe Spinale (53)
died of a heart attack after crossing the finish line.
(SFC, 5/21/07, p.B1)(SFC, 5/22/07, p.B2)
2007 May 20, Alltel Corp., the
fifth-biggest US wireless company and owner of the nation's largest
geographic network, announced that it had signed an agreement to be
acquired by TPG Capital, formerly Texas Pacific Group, and GS Capital
Partners, a subsidiary of Goldman Sachs in a deal worth $27.5 billion.
(AP, 5/21/07)
2007 May 20, In eastern
Afghanistan a suicide bomber on foot detonated himself in a crowded
market just after a US convoy drove by, killing at least 14 people and
wounding 31. Suspected insurgents ambushed a US-led coalition and
Afghan patrol, sparking a battle and airstrikes that killed 25
suspected insurgents in Helmand province. A suicide bomber walked into
a crowded market in the eastern city of Gardez and blew himself up,
killing 14 people and wounding 31. In eastern Nangarhar province, a
roadside bomb hit a police vehicle in the district of Dara-I-Nur,
killing two policemen and wounding seven others. A British soldier died
of wounds from an accident at a British military base in Sangin.
(AP, 5/20/07)(AP, 5/21/07)
2007 May 20, Confessed Australian
al-Qaida supporter David Hicks was transferred to a maximum security
prison in his hometown after spending more than five years at the US
military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
(AP, 5/20/07)
2007 May 20, Fiona Dawson,
managing director of the Mars snack food business in Britain,
apologized for a widely mocked decision to use animal products in
chocolate bars and said in future its candy would be suitable for
vegetarians.
(AP, 5/20/07)
2007 May 20, An exit poll showed
that Bulgaria's ruling Socialist party won the country's first
elections for the European Parliament with 23.9% of votes, despite
voter frustration with rampant corruption and poverty.
(AP, 5/20/07)
2007 May 20, China’s state press
said that pollution and the excessive use of chemicals in foodstuffs
are sending national cancer rates soaring. 20 Chinese women were killed
and 4 injured when a 3-wheeled tractor overturned on a mountain road in
northern Liaoning province.
(AP, 5/20/07)
2007 May 20, Jose Ramos-Horta was
sworn in as East Timor's president as violence erupted in the capital
between rival groups, leaving one person dead.
(AFP, 5/20/07)
2007 May 20, Guram Sharadze (67),
the leader of a Georgian opposition movement, was gunned down on a
street in a central part of the capital, Tbilisi.
(AP, 5/20/07)
2007 May 20, In Germany
engineering concern Siemens said Peter Loescher, from US pharmaceutical
giant Merck, will take over as chief executive from July 1.
(AP, 5/20/07)
2007 May 20, Hungary’s PM Ferenc
Gyurcsany said that the justice minister resigned and the national and
Budapest police chiefs were dismissed in an effort to restore public
confidence in the force after cases accusing officers of rape,
corruption and theft.
(AP, 5/21/07)(Econ, 6/2/07, p.51)
2007 May 20, A suicide bomber
exploded a tanker truck near an Iraqi police checkpoint outside a
market west of Baghdad, killing at least two officers and injuring nine
people. A bomb planted under a parked car exploded in the central
Baghdad neighborhood of Bab al-Sharji, near the Zahraa Shiite mosque.
The blast killed two civilians, wounded 10. A mortar shell landed in a
commercial area in central Baghdad, killing one person and wounding
three.
(AP, 5/20/07)
2007 May 20, Israeli Vice Premier
Shimon Peres said his government would offer a counterproposal to an
Arab peace initiative to resolve the conflict with Palestinians.
Israeli warplanes fired missiles into a car carrying Hamas militants
and a load of weapons, killing 3 people, and also demolished arms
factories of 2 Palestinian militant groups.
(AP, 5/20/07)
2007 May 20, In Kenya 6 men were
beheaded over the weekend in villages on the outskirts of Nairobi. This
came weeks after members of the Mungiki sect fought with the police
over control of minibus terminals, where they have been extorting money
from drivers. 7 people were soon arrested in connection with the
beheadings.
(AP, 5/23/07)
2007 May 20, Kuwait broke ranks
with the US dollar and decided to track a basket of currencies. It was
estimated that the dollar still accounted for 70% of the basket.
(Econ, 11/24/07, p.75)(http://tinyurl.com/2wojz3)
2007 May 20, Lebanese tanks
pounded a militant group's headquarters in the Nahr al-Bared
Palestinian refugee camp near Tripoli after the northern city's worst
clashes in two decades killed 13 soldiers and 17 militants. The raid
that triggered the clashes was part of a police search for suspects in
a bank robbery a day earlier in Amyoun, a town southeast of Tripoli.
Gunmen of the radical jihadist faction known as Fatah al-Islam made off
with $125,000 in cash in the robbery. The siege lasted 106 days leaving
47 civilians, 167 Lebanese soldiers and some 287 guerrillas dead.
(AP, 5/20/07)(Econ, 5/26/07, p.47)(Econ, 5/10/08,
p.57)
2007 May 20, Police in
Moroccan-occupied Western Sahara arrested three leading human rights
campaigners following weeks of crackdowns against students and
activists in the territory.
(AP, 5/21/07)
2007 May 20, Officials said
Nigeria's largest state has sued US drug firm Pfizer for allegedly
using 200 children as "guinea pigs" for a drug test in 1996 that led to
multiple deaths and deformities.
(AFP, 5/20/07)
2007 May 20, In Pakistan hardline
clerics said that they had released two policemen held hostage at an
Islamabad mosque, after a deal was struck with authorities to free 4
extremists.
(AFP, 5/20/07)
2007 May 20, Hundreds of
demonstrators gathered outside the Moscow’s main broadcast facility to
protest what they called lies and censorship on TV stations that are
either controlled by the state or under its influence.
(AP, 5/20/07)
2007 May 20, A bomb detonated in
Mogadishu near the mayor's vehicle convoy, leaving at least two
civilians dead. His bodyguards shot and killed a suspected insurgent
who had been in a tree near the explosion.
(AP, 5/20/07)
2007 May 20, Sri Lanka's
government claimed to have killed more than 500 rebels in the past four
months and lost 44 of its own soldiers in fierce fighting that has
completely shattered the island nation's peace process.
(AP, 5/20/07)
2007 May 20, In southern Thailand
suspected Muslim insurgents shot and killed two Buddhist civilians and
wounded a third, while a bomb wounded 11 people, including five
policemen.
(AP, 5/20/07)
2007 May 20, Thousands of
flag-waving Turks demonstrated in the Black Sea port city of Samsun
against the Islamic-rooted government, which they fear is undermining
Turkey's secular system.
(AP, 5/20/07)
2007 May 20, Vietnam elected a new
National Assembly. Vietnam's communist party won more than 91% of seats
in elections for the new national assembly, which will consist of 493
members.
(Econ, 5/19/07, p.45)(AP, 5/29/07)
2007 May 21, US Democratic
presidential hopeful Joseph Biden called for US troops to help quell
the violence in Sudan's Darfur region, drawing a strong rebuke from
Sudan's UN envoy.
(AP, 5/21/07)
2007 May 21, A Chinese delegation
led by Vice Premier Wu Yi arrived in the United States for two days of
talks that will spotlight tensions over US trade deficits with the
Asian export giant. A Chinese state fund that is buying a $3 billion
stake in US private equity firm Blackstone Group LP wants to avoid
political backlashes when it makes other investments abroad.
(AP, 5/21/07)
2007 May 21, Bill Richardson, Gov.
of New Mexico, officially joined the race for the Democratic
presidential nomination.
(WSJ, 5/22/07, p.A1)
2007 May 21, The US Supreme Court
ruled that parents don't need to hire a lawyer to sue public school
districts over their children's special education needs.
(AP, 5/21/08)
2007 May 21, The US Food and Drug
Administration issued a safety alert for the diabetes drug Avandia,
marketed by GlaxoSmithKline, which disputed a report saying it was
linked to a greater risk of heart attack. A doctor in Maryland had
linked Avandia to congestive heart failure in 2000, but GlaxoSmithKline
rejected her warning and tried to stop her from talking about it with
other doctors and hospitals.
(AP, 5/21/08)(WSJ, 11/19/08, p.B6)
2007 May 21, Florida set its 2008
presidential primary for January 29.
(WSJ, 5/22/07, p.A1)
2007 May 21, It was reported that
California’s spending trends would have the prison budget overtake
spending on state universities in five years.
(SFC, 5/21/07, p.A1)
2007 May 21, Afghanistan's lower
house of parliament voted to oust an outspoken female lawmaker who has
enraged former mujahedeen fighters now in President Hamid Karzai's
US-backed government. Malalai Joya (29) had compared parliament to a
stable full of animals in a recent TV interview. A parliament rule
known as Article 70 forbids lawmakers from criticizing one another.
(AP, 5/21/07)
2007 May 21, Mining giant Rio
Tinto and energy powerhouse BP announced plans for a $1.5 billion
coal-fired power project in Australia which would capture carbon
dioxide to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
(AP, 5/21/07)
2007 May 21, The presidents of
Belarus and Iran sought to cement ties that the Belarusian leader
called "a strategic partnership." Belarus will develop an oil field in
Iran under an agreement announced by President Alexander Lukashenko
during a visit by Pres. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
(AP, 5/21/07)
2007 May 21, In Greenwich,
England, a spectacular fire heavily damaged the clipper ship Cutty
Sark, one of London's proudest relics of the 19th century tea trade
with China designed to be the fastest ship of its day. Cutty Sark left
London on its first voyage on Feb. 16, 1870, proceeding around Cape
Hope to Shanghai 3 1/2 months later. The ship made only eight voyages
to China in the tea trade, as steam ships replaced sail on the high
seas.
(AP, 5/21/07)
2007 May 21, In Chile Pres.
Michelle Bachelet apologized for failing to fix her capital's public
bus system and promised to raise education spending by hundreds of
millions of dollars.
(AP, 5/21/07)
2007 May 21, Ethiopian troops
backing Somalia's fragile government killed one person and wounded
another after their convoy was targeted by a land mine in Mogadishu.
Two Ethiopian rebel groups, the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) and the
Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF), said they have killed 157
troops in the east of the country this month.
(AP, 5/21/07)(AFP, 5/22/07)
2007 May 21, Indar Jit Rikhye
(86), Indian peacekeeper, died. In 1970 he set up the Int’l. Peace
Academy in NYC to train military officers and diplomats in simulated
conflicts.
(Econ, 6/9/07, p.99)(www.ipacademy.org/our-work)
2007 May 21, Iran charged Haleh
Esfandiari, a jailed Iranian-American academic, with setting up a
network to overthrow the Islamic establishment, the government
announced. Esfandiari, director of the Middle East Program at the
Washington-based Woodrow Wilson Center for Scholars, has been held at
Tehran's notorious Evin Prison since early May.
(AP, 5/21/07)
2007 May 21, Gunmen in two cars
attacked a minibus outside Hibhib, Diyala Province, killing 7
passengers, including a child. In western Baghdad, a roadside bomb
exploded near a group of Iraqi soldiers patrolling the Sunni-dominated
Adil neighborhood in western Baghdad, killing three of the soldiers and
injuring two. The Iraqi newspaper Azzaman reported that one of its
reporters, Ali Khalil (22), was kidnapped while leaving a relative's
house in the increasingly volatile Baiyaa neighborhood of Baghdad and
found dead several hours later. Two gunmen killed two police officers
as they walked by the police station in Muqdadiyah. In Basra gunmen
killed one police officer and wounding another in an attack on their
patrol. A British soldier and a civilian driver were killed when a
supply convoy was attacked in the center of Basra.
(AP, 5/21/07)(AP, 5/22/07)
2007 May 21, Israel pushed ahead
with its campaign against Palestinian rocket squads, pounding the Gaza
Strip with new airstrikes that killed five militants. A rocket from
Gaza killed an Israeli woman.
(AP, 5/21/07)(WSJ, 5/22/07, p.A1)
2007 May 21, Japanese Emperor
Akihito and Empress Michiko arrived in Sweden, kicking off a 10-day
tour of Europe that will take in the three Baltic nations and Britain,
where they have faced protests in the past.
(AP, 5/21/07)
2007 May 21, Kazakhstan's Pres.
Nazarbayev (66) approved a constitutional amendment that waives
presidential term limits and allows him to seek the top post
indefinitely.
(AP, 5/22/07)(Econ, 5/26/07, p.42)
2007 May 21, Lebanese troops
pounded a Palestinian refugee camp with artillery and tank fire for a
second day, raising huge palls of smoke as they battled a militant
group suspected of ties to al-Qaida in the worst eruption of violence
since the end of the 1975-90 civil war.
(AP, 5/21/07)
2007 May 21, Norway said it would
make its first transfer of direct aid to the Palestinians' new
government, more than two months after the Nordic country broke with
most Western nations by recognizing the Hamas-led coalition.
(AP, 5/21/07)
2007 May 21, In Pakistan radical
Islamist students kidnapped three policemen in Islamabad, creating a
second tense police hostage stand-off.
(AP, 5/21/07)
2007 May 21, Paraguayan President
Nicanor Duarte and Brazil's Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva met in Paraguay's
capital, Asuncion, and vowed to boost legitimate trade and to
strengthen cross-border cooperation in fighting smuggling in the Triple
Border.
(AP, 5/22/07)
2007 May 21, Polish doctors
launched a nationwide open-ended strike, demanding a pay raise amid
complaints that the health system is underfunded and medical
professionals are overworked.
(AP, 5/22/07)
2007 May 21, In northern Sri Lanka
6 people were killed during deepening fighting between government
soldiers and separatist rebels.
(AP, 5/21/07)
2007 May 21, In Tanzania the
appeals court of the UN-backed Rwandan genocide tribunal upheld a life
sentence for Mika Muhimana (57), convicted on multiple counts of rape
and murder. Muhimana, a Hutu, was accused of involvement in the rape of
nearly 30 women from the minority Tutsi tribe during Rwanda's 1994
genocide.
(AFP, 5/21/07)
2007 May 22, The US and China
opened a new round of high-level economic talks with the Bush
administration pushing for concrete results and China saying efforts to
politicize trade disagreements would be a mistake.
(AP, 5/22/07)
2007 May 22, Two-time Olympic
gold medalist speedskater Apolo Anton Ohno and his professional dance
partner, Julianne Hough, won ABC's "Dancing With the Stars."
(AP, 5/22/08)
2007 May 22, Silas Rondeau,
Brazil's mines and energy minister, resigned amid accusations he was
bribed by a construction company that obtained contracts to provide
electricity to poor rural areas in a program championed by the nation's
first working class president.
(AP, 5/23/07)
2007 May 22, Prosecutors in London
accused Andrei Lugovoi, a former KGB agent, of murder in the
radioactive poisoning of fellow ex-operative Alexander Litvinenko and
sought his extradition from Russia. The Russian prosecutor-general's
office said it will not turn over Lugovoi to British authorities.
(AP, 5/22/07)
2007 May 22, Cambodian PM Hun Sen
met with junta head Senior General Than Shwe in military-ruled Myanmar,
as the two nations moved to improve tourism links.
(AP, 5/22/07)
2007 May 22, The International
Criminal Court prosecutor announced a war crimes investigation into
hundreds of rapes and other violations in the Central African Republic
in 2002 and 2003. The UN condemned the capture of two aid workers in
the north-west of the CAR, saying the worsening security was hampering
its humanitarian work in the country.
(AP, 5/22/07)
2007 May 22, Guatemala ratified
the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoptions, an international
adoption treaty, committing to bring adoptions under government
regulation and make sure babies are not bought or stolen.
(AP, 5/23/07)
2007 May 22, In India streets were
deserted and shops closed across the northern state of Punjab after
Sikh leaders called a general strike in the wake of a clashes with a
quasi-religious sect that have left one person dead. The Akali Dal, the
Sikh’s main political party, encouraged protests against the Dera Sacha
Sauda, a powerful group that had supported Congress in state assembly
elections.
(AP, 5/22/07)(Econ, 7/7/07, p.43)
2007 May 22, Iran jumped gasoline
prices 25% in a new blow to consumers already disgruntled over high
inflation, and the government said it will begin rationing fuel in two
weeks. By November inflation was running at 16%.
(AP, 5/22/07)(Econ, 11/17/07, p.56)
2007 May 22, A car bomb exploded
at an outdoor market in a Shiite area of Baghdad, killing 25 people and
wounding at least 60. Gunmen in two cars drove through the nearby
Khadra neighborhood and ambushed a civilian car carrying three
plainclothes police from the major crimes unit, killing two and
wounding the third. A police officer was killed when a roadside bomb
exploded next to a police patrol driving through eastern Baghdad.
Gunmen disguised as soldiers set up a fake checkpoint and stopped a
minibus bringing college students to the Shiite neighborhood of Sadr
City. The militants killed 8 of the students and wounded three others.
At another fake checkpoint near Baqouba gunmen killed six people from
one family, a woman, her 5-year-old son and four men and stole their
car. 2 mortar shells slammed into a teacher's college affiliated with
Baghdad University, killing three students and injuring seven. In the
Baghdad neighborhood of Dora, a sniper shot two civilians, killing one
and wounding the other. At least 100 Iraqis were killed or found dead
nationwide. They included 33 people found shot execution-style,
presumably by sectarian death squads, and their bodies scattered across
Baghdad. US soldiers and two Marines were killed in separate attacks. A
US soldiers was killed in a roadside bomb attack near Tikrit.
(AP, 5/22/07)(AP, 5/23/07)(Reuters, 5/25/07)
2007 May 22, Israeli aircraft
struck two camps used by the Islamic militant group Hamas, a day after
a Palestinian rocket attack killed an Israeli woman. Officials
suggested even Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas could
be a target.
(AP, 5/22/07)
2007 May 22, In Lebanon a convoy
of UN relief supplies was hit in renewed fighting as it tried to enter
the Palestinian refugee camp of Nahr el-Bared. At least 15 civilians
were left dead or wounded. Lebanon asked the US for $280 million in
military assistance.
(AP, 5/22/07)(WSJ, 5/23/07, p.A1)
2007 May 22, The UN's top refugee
official arrived in Nepal for a visit aimed at resolving the fate of
around 100,000 refugees from Bhutan stuck in Nepal for 16 years.
(AP, 5/22/07)
2007 May 22, Pakistani security
forces backed by helicopter gunships attacked a militant training camp
near the Afghan border, killing at least four suspected militants.
(AP, 5/22/07)
2007 May 22, The Philippine
elections commission suspended the vote count from last week's polls in
southern Maguindanao province amid allegations of massive cheating by
pro-government supporters.
(AP, 5/22/07)
2007 May 22, South African
lawmakers passed amended legislation to broaden the definition of rape
in a country with sky-high rates of sex crimes and HIV/AIDS. The
heaviest snowfalls in 20 years blocked major highways, as a severe cold
snap tightened its grip on South Africa. At least 17 deaths, mostly in
Eastern Cape province, were blamed on the cold weather.
(AP, 5/22/07)(AFP, 5/22/07)(SFC, 5/26/07, p.B6)
2007 May 22, Guven Akkus (28), a
suicide bomber, carried out an attack that killed six people and
injured dozens in Ankara, using methods similar to those of a Kurdish
rebel group. Akkus had spent two years in prison for hanging illegal
posters and resisting police.
(AP, 5/23/07)
2007 May 23, President Bush,
speaking at the US Coast Guard commencement, portrayed the Iraq war as
a battle between the US and al-Qaida and contended that Osama bin Laden
was setting up a terrorist cell in Iraq to strike targets in America.
(AP, 5/23/08)
2007 May 23, Jordin Sparks (17) of
Glendale, Ariz., was crowned the newest and youngest "American Idol."
(AP, 5/24/07)
2007 May 23, The California Energy
Commission announced rules that barred municipal utilities from signing
new contracts with coal-fired power plants. Coal generated about 20% of
the state’s electricity.
(SFC, 5/28/07, p.A17)
2007 May 23, A conservation group
said dozens of European mammals faced extinction unless immediate
measures are taken to protect them. 35 of the continent’s 231 mammal
species fell into the threatened category.
(SFC, 5/23/07, p.A7)
2007 May 23, A bomb in northern
Afghanistan killed a Finnish soldier and an Afghan civilian, while a
suicide attacker in Kabul killed two people, including a policeman. Two
operations in southern Afghanistan killed 18 suspected militants,
including seven "foreigners," while six people died when a stash of
ammunition exploded in the east.
(AP, 5/23/07)(AP, 5/24/07)
2007 May 23, Australian PM John
Howard and his Greek counterpart Kostas Karamanlis sealed a deal which
concluded a decades-long debate over pensions for one of the world's
largest expatriate Greek communities.
(AFP, 5/23/07)
2007 May 23, Belarus lawmakers
backed legislation stripping hundreds of thousands of disabled and
retired people and students of social benefits and other state payments.
(AP, 5/23/07)
2007 May 23, The High Court in
London upheld a ruling letting families return to their Indian Ocean
island homes, from where they were forced out 30 years ago to make way
for a US military base. The Court of Appeal backed a High Court
ruling in May last year that allowed the families to return to the
Chagos Islands, except for Diego Garcia, a launchpad for US military
operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
(AFP, 5/23/07)
2007 May 23, China said it was
investigating reports that toothpaste containing a potentially deadly
chemical had been exported to Central America.
(AP, 5/23/07)
2007 May 23, Colombia announced
capital controls on some foreign investments to try to curb the soaring
peso, which has made greater gains against the dollar this year than
any other currency.
(AP, 5/23/07)
2007 May 23, The BBC reported that
Pakistani UN peacekeepers charged with disarming Congolese militia
instead engaged in gold and weapons trafficking with militia members.
The Pakistani unit in question deployed to Mongwalu in April 2005.
(AP, 5/23/07)
2007 May 27, The inaugural sermon
was held at Mega Frater, Central America's biggest church. The new
center of the Fraternidad Cristiana, a Neo-Pentecostal church based in
the Guatemalan City, includes an auditorium that seats 12,500, a
seven-story parking tower topped with a helipad and a day-care center
for 3,000 kids.
(www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=Guatemala)
2007 May 23, An Iraqi intelligence
officer alleged in a published report that 70% percent of insurgents
fighting in Iraq come from Gulf countries via Syria where they are
provided with forged passports. A suicide bomber walked into a packed
market café in the town of Mandali, and blew himself up,
killing 15 people and wounding 20 others. A suicide bomber (17) blew
himself up in the house of two brothers who were supporting a Sunni
alliance opposed to al Qaida in the Anbar province, killing 10 people,
including the men, their wives and their children. A parked car bomb
exploded in a parking lot in Jbala, killing three civilians and
wounding 15 others. Gunmen drove into a commercial area in central
Baghdad and opened fire on shops, killing four civilians and injuring
14 others. US-led forces discovered a cache of Iranian money and
bomb-making equipment during a raid in the Shiite neighborhood of Sadr
City in Baghdad. Two suspected militants were killed in the raid and 19
others detained. At least 104 people were killed in sectarian violence
or found dead, including 32 who died in suicide bombings. US
authorities examined a body found in a river south of Baghdad and
identified it as Pfc. Joseph Anzack Jr., one of three US soldiers
seized in an ambush on May 12. 2 US soldiers were killed during combat
operations in Anbar province.
(AP, 5/23/07)(AP, 5/24/08)
2007 May 23, Japan passed a law to
fund the reorganization of US forces in Japan and help move thousands
of Marines from the country's south to the US territory of Guam. Fire
broke out at a farm in northern Japan, killing about 2,000 pigs.
(AP, 5/23/07)
2007 May 23, In Lebanon hundreds
of Palestinian civilians carrying their belongings in plastic bags
trickled out of a besieged refugee camp, taking advantage of a truce in
fighting that mostly held overnight.
(AP, 5/23/07)
2007 May 23, In western Mexico a
tractor-trailer loaded with sand smashed into a toll booth and
rebounded into other vehicles, setting off a blaze that killed 10
people.
(AP, 5/24/07)
2007 May 23, Philippine President
Gloria Arroyo said she welcomed a greater global role by Japan as she
discussed a stalled free trade agreement in Tokyo.
(AP, 5/23/07)
2007 May 23, Romania's suspended
President Traian Basescu was reinstated after he won a referendum on
his removal from office.
(AP, 5/23/07)
2007 May 23, In Serbia Slobodan
Milosevic's paramilitary commander and 11 other men were convicted and
sentenced in the assassination of Serbia's first democratically elected
prime minister, Zoran Djindjic.
(AP, 5/23/07)
2007 May 23, In northern Syria 14
people were killed and 20 injured when an Iraqi bus overturned on the
Raqqa-Aleppo highway about 250 miles north of Damascus.
(AP, 5/24/07)
2007 May 23, In southern Thailand
7 people including two teenagers were killed, while 11 others were
injured in a spate of bombings by suspected separatist rebels.
(AFP, 5/23/07)
2007 May 23, The UN human rights
commissioner said that Burundi has agreed to set up a tribunal to try
people suspected of genocide and war crimes during its 12-year civil
war.
(AP, 5/23/07)
2007 May 23, Yuri Chernogayev, an
Uzbek reporter for German broadcaster, said he faces up to 10 years in
prison after being accused of defaming President Islam Karimov.
(AP, 5/23/07)
2007 May 24, The US Congress
passed a spending bill, providing $95 billion for the wars in Iraq and
Afghanistan. Pres. Bush signed the bill the next day.
(AP, 5/26/07)
2007 May 24, Pres. Bush nominated
James Holsinger, a cardiologist from Kentucky, as the new US surgeon
general.
(www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/05/20070524-2.html)
2007 May 24, The Alabama
Legislature passed a resolution that expressed profound regret for the
state’s role in slavery. Gov Bob Riley was expected to sign it. In
recent months Maryland, North Carolina and Virginia made formal
apologies.
(SFC, 5/25/07, p.A3)
2007 May 24, In Oakland, Ca., C.C.
Myers led the completion of repair work on I-580, 26 days after a
portion of the MacArthur Maze collapsed following a gasoline tanker
crash and fire.
(SFC, 5/25/07, p.A1)
2007 May 24, Ohio death row inmate
Christopher Newton was executed by injection; it took him 16 minutes to
die, more than twice the usual amount of time, once chemicals began
flowing into his veins, which the execution team had had trouble
locating.
(AP, 5/24/08)
2007 May 24, Ancestry.com unveiled
over 90 million US war records that dated back to 1607.
(SFC, 5/29/07, p.C5)
2007 May 24, Energy Brands Inc.
agreed to a $4.1 billion takeover by Coca-Cola.
(WSJ, 5/26/07, p.A3)
2007 May 24, In Afghanistan Sayed
Gulab, a suspect with "extensive connections" with other senior Taliban
and al-Qaida leaders in Nangarhar and Pakistan, was detained and held
in a coalition facility.
(AP, 5/26/07)
2007 May 24, Britain's Court of
Appeal upheld a $95 million award to the ex-wife of insurance tycoon
John Charman (54), the largest judgment ever in a contested divorce in
England and Wales. Jenny Bailey (45), a female councilor who was born a
man and fathered two children, was sworn in as Britain's first
transsexual mayor. Bailey, a Liberal Democrat, became the civic leader
of the Cambridge City Council.
(AFP, 5/24/07)
2007 May 24, In southern China
residents of Bobai county angrily accused authorities of forcing women
to have abortions and vandalizing homes in a brutal campaign to enforce
birth-control policies. Government "work teams" had raided homes,
carried out mass arrests and levied crippling fines across Guangxi, a
sprawling region near the Vietnam border. Communist Party officials in
Shanghai convened a congress to install a new generation of leaders
following a corruption scandal that toppled the city's top leader. 2
days of heavy rainstorms in southwest China triggered flash floods and
mudslides killed 21 people and left 11 missing.
(AFP, 5/24/07)(AP, 5/24/07)
2007 May 24, Egypt approved the
formation of a new liberal political party headed by a former member of
President Hosni Mubarak's ruling National Democratic Party (NDP).
(AFP, 5/24/07)
2007 May 24, A car bomb targeting
a funeral procession in the turbulent city of Fallujah killed at least
26 people. The funeral was being held for Alaa Zuwaid (60), a
restaurant owner who was part of a tribe that had formed an alliance
with other tribal leaders against al-Qaida. Zuwaid was killed earlier
Thursday in the day unknown militants shot him in front of his house.
In Sulaiman Bek, 75 miles south of Kirkuk, a roadside bomb hit an Iraqi
police convoy and killed six police officers. A suicide bomber
detonated a bomb aboard a minibus driving through Baghdad, killing
three civilians and injuring eight others. 5 US soldiers were killed in
four separate attacks across Iraq, most of them by roadside bombs.
(AP, 5/22/07)(Reuters, 5/25/07)
2007 May 24, In Ireland voters
began casting their ballots in an election that analysts say is likely
to return PM Bertie Ahern to power, but with new, left-wing partners in
government. An exit poll gave his Fianna Fail party a surprisingly
strong lead in parliamentary elections.
(AP, 5/24/07)(AP, 5/25/07)
2007 May 24, Israeli troops in the
West Bank rounded up a Palestinian Cabinet minister and 32 other Hamas
leaders in the West Bank before dawn, pressing forward with an
offensive against the Islamic militant group.
(AP, 5/24/07)
2007 May 24, Japan's prime
minister proposed cutting world greenhouse gas emissions in half by
2050 as part of a new global warming pact for all countries, including
top polluters United States and China.
(AP, 5/24/07)
2007 May 24, Japanese Emperor
Akihito and Empress Michiko arrived in Estonia's seaside capital on
their first-ever visit to a former Soviet republic.
(AP, 5/24/07)
2007 May 24, In Lebanon sporadic
gunfire erupted inside the Nahr el-Bared refugee camp where Islamic
militants are holed up after refusing an ultimatum by Lebanon's defense
minister to surrender or face a military onslaught. Lebanon's leader
vowed to uproot the fighters. The family of Shaker Youssef al-Absi, the
Palestinian who heads the shadowy militant group blamed for this week's
violence in Lebanon, said he is not a terrorist but a nationalist who
seeks an end to Israel's occupation of Palestinian lands.
(AP, 5/24/07)
2007 May 24, Nigeria's powerful
oil unions began a strike at its state-owned oil company and threatened
to target exports in hopes of reversing the sale of government
refineries.
(AP, 5/25/07)
2007 May 24, In Pakistan thousands
of President Gen. Pervez Musharraf's opponents demonstrated in several,
the first street protests since a burst of political violence deepened
a crisis clouding his plans to stay in power.
(AP, 5/24/07)
2007 May 24, A Peruvian government
flight serving as a link between isolated jungle communities
disappeared in the country's northeastern rain forest with 20 people on
board. 7 survivors were rescued the next day.
(AP, 5/25/07)(AP, 5/27/07)
2007 May 24, A methane explosion
tore through a coal mine in southern Siberia, killing 38 miners and
injuring seven others. One worker died days later raising the toll to
39.
(AP, 5/24/07)(AP, 5/27/07)
2007 May 24, Somali police shot
and killed two civilians after attackers hurled a hand grenade at a
police station.
(AP, 5/24/07)
2007 May 24, In South Africa's
Eastern Cape province 9 children were among 14 people killed in a
multiple-vehicle crash.
(AP, 5/25/07)
2007 May 24, In northern Sri Lanka
a flotilla of rebel boats launched a deadly raid on a navy camp, hours
before a bomb exploded near an army bus in the capital killing one
soldier and wounding six people. Tigers claimed to have killed 32
sailors. Government troops killed 12 suspected Tamil Tiger rebels in
the northern Vavuniya district.
(AP, 5/24/07)(AFP, 5/25/07)(Econ, 6/9/07, p.24)
2007 May 24, In Switzerland an
arson fire gutted the interior of Hekhal Haness Synagogue, Geneva's
largest synagogue.
(AP, 6/1/07)
2007 May 24, Hundreds of thousands
of Syrians thronged Damascus to support a second seven-year term for
President Bashar Assad.
(AP, 5/24/07)
2007 May 24, The head of the UN
nuclear agency said he agreed with CIA estimates that Iran was three to
eight years from being able to make nuclear weapons and he urged the US
and other powers to pursue talks with the Islamic country.
(AP, 5/24/07)
2007 May 24, Zimbabwe police
slapped a new ban on political rallies and demonstrations in parts of
the capital Harare, citing a recent spate of "disturbances."
(AFP, 5/24/07)
2007 May 25, President Bush signed
a bill to pay for military operations in Iraq that did not contain a
timetable for troop withdrawals.
(AP, 5/25/08)
2007 May 25, The US filed a
complaint at the World Trade Organization against India, saying its
duties on alcoholic beverages and other imports violate global trade
rules.
(AP, 5/25/07)
2007 May 25, Atlanta attorney
Andrew Speaker, infected with drug-resistant tuberculosis, was
quarantined by the federal government after returning from his European
wedding and honeymoon.
(AP, 5/25/08)
2007 May 25, Miami police said
Francisco Oliveira (29), a handyman delivering drugs, shot and
critically wounded Fabio Alonso Salgado (aka Estefano), a prominent
Latin music songwriter and producer, inside a waterfront mansion.
(AP, 5/27/07)
2007 May 25, In central Texas two
days of storms and flooding left 5 people dead and one missing.
(AP, 5/26/07)
2007 May 25, US and British
researchers reported that stem cells taken from the umbilical cords of
newborns can be engineered to produce insulin and may someday be used
to treat diabetes.
(AP, 5/26/07)
2007 May 25, Coca-Cola said it
would buy Glaceau, an American maker of vitamin enhanced water, for
$4.1 billion. This was Coke’s largest acquisition to date.
(Econ, 6/16/07, p.78)
2007 May 25, Charles Nelson Reilly
(76), actor, died. In 1962 he appeared on Broadway as Bud Frump in the
original Broadway production of "How to Succeed in Business Without
Really Trying." The role won Reilly a Tony Award. He later became known
for his ribald appearances on the "Tonight Show" and various game shows.
(AP, 5/28/07)
2007 May 25, In southern
Afghanistan a NATO soldier from Canada was killed and two other NATO
soldiers were wounded in overnight attacks by Taliban fighters. 7
Taliban fighters, including two local commanders, were killed in a
joint coalition-Afghan operation in Gereshk district of southern
Helmand province.
(AFP, 5/25/07)(AP, 5/26/07)
2007 May 25, Radovan Stankovic, a
convicted Bosnian Serb war criminal, escaped from custody while being
transported to a hospital in eastern Bosnia after complaining of
feeling ill.
(AP, 5/25/07)
2007 May 25, British authorities
said 4 people in north Wales have tested positive for a mild strain of
bird flu, linked to the H7N2 low pathogenic avian influenza found in
chickens.
(AP, 5/25/07)
2007 May 25, In Burundi 61
countries and international organizations promised 656 million dollars
(488 million euros) during a donors' roundtable in the capital
Bujumbura. The World Bank considers Burundi, where 70% of the
population lives below the poverty line, the world's third-poorest
nation.
(AFP, 5/25/07)
2007 May 25, Costa Rica health
officials said they have seized more than 350 tubes of Chinese-made
toothpaste tainted with a deadly chemical reportedly found in tubes
sold elsewhere in the world.
(AP, 5/25/07)
2007 May 25, In Addis Ababa,
Ethiopia, China and the African Union launched a 150-million-dollar
project to build a new conference centre for the cash-strapped
continental body.
(AFP, 5/25/07)
2007 May 25, German lawmakers
passed a ban on smoking on public transport and in federal buildings,
including the parliament. It still needs approval from the upper house
of parliament, where the government also has a majority.
(AP, 5/25/07)
2007 May 25, Radical Shiite cleric
Muqtada al-Sadr appeared in public for the first time in months,
delivering a fiery anti-American sermon to thousands of followers and
demanding US troops leave Iraq. Gunmen in a speeding car shot and
killed a police officer as he was leaving his house in the
Shiite-dominated al-Wihda district, 20 miles south of Baghdad. In
al-Wijaihiya, about 60 miles northeast of Baghdad, a gunbattle between
residents of a Sunni village and their rivals in a neighboring Shiite
village, killed two people and injured five others. 6 mortar rounds hit
houses in western Baghdad, killing one person. The notorious leader of
al-Sadr's Mahdi Army militia in the city of Basra was killed in a
shootout as British and Iraq troops tried to arrest him. Wissam
al-Waili (23), also known as Abu Qadir, was shot and killed along with
his brother and two aides.
(AP, 5/25/07)(AP, 5/26/07)
2007 May 25, A "garbage crisis" in
Naples dominated news in Italy. For weeks local and national
authorities have tried to end a stalemate over mountains of rubbish
rotting on the streets for lack of adequate landfill sites.
(Reuters, 5/25/07)
2007 May 25, Abdullah el-Faisal, a
Muslim cleric named by the British government as a key influence on one
of four men who carried out the deadly London transport bombings in
2005, was deported to Jamaica after being released from prison.
(AP, 5/26/07)
2007 May 25, In Mexico 2 members
of the Popular Revolutionary Army (EPR), a Marxist guerrilla group,
disappeared. A week later the group blamed the government and called
for their safe return and warned of dire consequences. In July the
group began blowing up natural gas pipelines. Attacks took place on
July 6,10 and Sep 10.
(WSJ, 11/14/07, p.A1)
2007 May 25, Myanmar's military
government extended the house arrest of pro-democracy leader Aung San
Suu Kyi by another year.
(AP, 5/25/07)
2007 May 25, In southern Nigeria
gunmen kidnapped a group of foreign oil workers, including three
Americans and four Britons.
(AP, 5/25/07)
2007 May 25, Pakistani police
busted a gang trading in kidneys and arrested eight people, including
five doctors.
(AFP, 5/26/07)
2007 May 25, Russia's lower house
of parliament gave preliminary backing to a new wide-ranging
restrictions on smoking in public. In southern Russia a brawl between
hundreds of Caucasus migrants and local Russians, all armed with metal
rods, baseball bats and knives, killed an ethnic Chechen in Stravropol.
(AP, 5/26/07)(AP, 5/25/07)
2007 May 25, In South Africa tens
of thousands of nurses, teachers and other public service workers took
to the streets to press their demands for a 12 percent pay increase.
(AP, 5/25/07)
2007 May 25, Turkey's president
vetoed a newly passed constitutional amendment that would have allowed
the people, and not Parliament, to elect the new president.
(AP, 5/26/07)
2007 May 25, Kurdish guerrillas
bombed and derailed a Syria-bound train from Iran near the town of Genc
in Turkey’s southeastern Bingol province. Turkish authorities later
seized weapons hidden among construction materials found on the train
following the attack.
(AP, 5/31/07)
2007 May 26, In Washington, DC,
some 100 supporters of Syria’s largest exile opposition group, the
National Salvation Front, gathered outside the Damascus embassy to
protest against the government of Pres. Assad.
(WSJ, 1/25/07, p.A1)
2007 May 26, In southern
Afghanistan an explosion during a fight with Taliban militants killed a
British soldier. US-led coalition and Afghan forces detained a Taliban
commander and two suspected al-Qaida militants in the east. In Kandahar
3 policemen and a civilian passer-by were wounded in a suicide attack.
Gen. Mohammad Doud said Afghan forces have eradicated some 64,250 acres
of poppies this year compared with 39,000 acres last year. Officials
expected from 407,715 acres to 482,000 acres of poppies to be
cultivated this year.
(AP, 5/26/07)(AFP, 5/26/07)
2007 May 26, In northeast China a
restaurant fire killed 11 staff and diners and injured 16 others. The
fire started in the kitchen and raged through the popular three-story
Baixinglou restaurant in Liaoning province's Chaoyang city.
(AP, 5/27/07)
2007 May 26, In southern Greece a
flash flood swept away a group of hikers alongside the Lousios River,
killing at least five people.
(AP, 5/27/07)
2007 May 26, In India a bomb
exploded in a busy market in northeast Assam state, killing 7 people
and injuring 18.
(Reuters, 5/26/07)
2007 May 26, An Iranian official
said that Iran, embroiled in a row with Washington over its nuclear
program, has increased the amount of its oil export earnings in
currencies other than US dollars to about 70%.
(Reuters, 5/26/07)
2007 May 26, Iraqi PM Nouri
al-Maliki, US Ambassador Ryan Crocker and American Cmdr. Gen. David
Petraeus flew to Iraq's blistering western desert in a rare joint
outing to highlight gains there in the fight against insurgents.
American forces raided Sadr City stronghold and killed five suspected
militia fighters in air strikes. In Basra 5 Mahdi Army fighters were
killed and 15 wounded. The US military reported the deaths of 8 US
troops.
(AP, 5/26/07)(AP, 5/27/07)(AP, 5/26/08)
2007 May 26, Israel fired missiles
at five Hamas targets minutes apart, killing five people just hours
after Gaza militants floated the idea of halting rocket fire on Israeli
border towns if the 10-day-old air campaign ends. In the West Bank,
Israeli troops arrested Cabinet minister Wasfi Kabaha, confiscating his
computer and many of his documents. Also in the West Bank, Palestinian
police ambushed Adbel Razik (26), the leader of the violent Fatah
offshoot the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, as he emerged from his home. A
grenade blew up in his hand, and he later died of his wounds.
(AP, 5/26/07)
2007 May 26, Kazakh President
Nursultan Nazarbayev sacked his son-in-law, diplomat Rakhat Aliyev,
after Aliyev challenged the Kazakh leader by declaring he intended to
run for the presidency.
(AP, 5/26/07)
2007 May 26, The newly installed
Dutch government said some 25,000 asylum-seekers whose applications for
refuge were rejected will be allowed to stay, reversing the previous
administration's hardline immigration policy. The amnesty will apply to
asylum-seekers who arrived before April 1, 2001 and were found not to
qualify but who remained in the country anyway.
(AP, 5/26/07)
2007 May 26, Nigeria's oil unions
said they have suspended a two-day-old strike after the government met
their demands over the proposed sale of two state-owned oil refineries.
(AP, 5/26/07)
2007 May 26, In northwestern
Pakistan a roadside bomb exploded near a military convoy, killing at
least two soldiers and wounding seven others.
(AP, 5/26/07)
2007 May 26, Egyptian Lieutenant
Colonel Ihab Ahmed, a UN peacekeeper, died after he was shot during a
robbery at his residence in El Fasher. Ahmed, part of a small group of
reinforcements sent to Darfur, became the UN's first casualty since its
arrival in the region.
(AP, 5/26/07)
2007 May 26, In Turkey thousands
of flag-waving protesters filled streets in Denizli, accusing the
government of trying to impose Islamic values on the country's Western
way of life.
(AP, 5/26/07)
2007 May 26, In Ukraine several
thousand interior troops streamed to Kiev, strengthening President
Viktor Yushchenko's hand in a bitter dispute with the nation's prime
minister that stoked up fears of violence.
(AP, 5/26/07)
2007 May 26, Tens of thousands of
Venezuelans took to the streets chanting "Freedom, Freedom!" to protest
President Hugo Chavez's decision not to renew the broadcast license of
the country's most-watched TV station, an outlet for the opposition.
(AP, 5/26/07)
2007 May 26, Zimbabwe riot police
arrested more than 200 opposition activists and officials during a
meeting they were holding at their party headquarters in Harare.
(Reuters, 5/26/07)
2007 May 27, Dario Franchitti won
a rain-abbreviated Indy 500.
(AP, 5/27/08)
2007 May 27, SF held its annual
Carnival parade in the Mission district.
(SFC, 5/28/07, p.D2)
2007 May 27, Gretchen Wyler (75),
a veteran Broadway actress who enjoyed a second career on television
and was a leading animal rights activist, died in Camarillo, Calif.
(AP, 5/27/07)
2007 May 27, The Taliban released
3 Afghan aid workers, who were kidnapped with two French colleagues
nearly two months ago. The Taliban launched a new operation targeting
government and foreign forces in Afghanistan. A roadside bomb killed
three Afghan security guards working for the coalition in the east.
Taliban militants ambushed US-led coalition and Afghan forces escorting
supply trucks in southern Afghanistan, sparking a 10-hour battle the
coalition said killed an estimated two dozen militants. Villagers said
7 civilians also died.
(AP, 5/27/07)(AP, 5/28/07)
2007 May 27, Edward Behr (81), a
noted British foreign correspondent and writer who penned books on
history, good eating and his career as a journalist, died in Paris.
(AP, 5/28/07)
2007 May 27, In eastern Congo
Rwandan rebels attacked villagers with machetes, spears and hammers,
killing 17, wounding 28 and taking up to a dozen hostages.
(AP, 5/27/07)
2007 May 27, Iraqi and US troops
raided Baghdad's Sadr City slum, targeting Shiite insurgent cells there
for a second day. British forces in the south killed three Shiite
militants in overnight fighting. Iraqi and US forces freed 42 kidnapped
Iraqis, some of whom had been hung from ceilings and tortured for
months, in a raid on an al-Qaida hideout north of Baghdad. In Kut, 100
miles southeast of Baghdad, 70 police officers resigned and handed over
their weapons. They cited their fears of being targeted by Mahdi Army
militants. Gunmen in two cars threw concussion grenades at a popular
market in northern Baghdad and then opened fire at shoppers, killing
one person and injuring 8 others. Later, the same gunmen ambushed a
minibus, killing the driver, stealing the vehicle and abducting six
passengers. Gunmen shot up the car of Lt. Col. Hiyis al-Jubouri, a
police commander in the northern Salahuddin province, killing him and
another police officer. Gunmen attacked a group of farmers in the
al-Nahrawan district, 10 miles east of Baghdad, killing two and
injuring nine.
(AP, 5/27/07)(AP, 5/28/07)
2007 May 27, PM Ehud Olmert
promised more attacks on the Hamas militant group after a Palestinian
rocket attack killed an Israeli man in southern Israel.
(AP, 5/27/07)
2007 May 27, Kuwait's government
announced that it is moving the country's weekend to Friday and
Saturday instead of Thursday and Friday effective Sep 1.
(AP, 5/28/07)
2007 May 27, A Libyan court
acquitted 5 Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian medic of charges of
slandering policemen by protesting that their confessions had been
extracted under torture.
(AFP, 5/27/07)
2007 May 27, In southern Mexico
assailants armed with Kalashnikov rifles shot dead six family members,
including three children, as they ambushed a minivan on a country road.
(AP, 5/27/07)
2007 May 27, Christian Mungiu, a
Romanian director, won the Cannes Film Festival Palme d’Or for his “3
Weeks and 2 Days,” which looked at abortion during the communist era.
Michael Moore’s “Sicko,” a film on the inequities of America’s health
system, also featured at Cannes.
(WSJ, 5/29/07, p.A1)(Econ, 5/26/07, p.32)
2007 May 27, Russian police
detained gay protesters calling for the right to hold a Gay Pride
parade in central Moscow while nationalists shouting "death to
homosexuals" punched and kicked the demonstrators.
(AP, 5/27/07)
2007 May 27, A Rwandan genocide
court handed a 19-year prison sentence to Francois-Xavier Byuma, a
member of the Rwandan League for the Promotion and Defence of Human
Rights, for participating in the country's 1994 mass murder.
(AFP, 5/28/07)
2007 May 27, Spain's rival
Socialists and conservatives fought to a virtual tie in local
elections, highlighting the deep divisions in the country a year before
national elections. The opposition People’s Party (PP) led by Mariano
Rajoy won 35.6% vs. 34.9% for the Socialists.
(AP, 5/27/07)(Econ, 6/9/07, p.59)
2007 May 27, Syrian President
Bashar Assad cast his vote at a polling station as part of a one-day
public referendum to endorse him for a second term and bolster his
autocratic rule. Assad won another seven years in office, getting 97%
of the vote in a nationwide referendum in which he was the only
candidate.
(AP, 5/27/07)(AP, 5/29/07)
2007 May 27, In southern Thailand
6 bombs ripped through a key commercial district, wounding 10 people.
(AP, 5/28/07)
2007 May 27, Floods in eastern
Turkey killed 10 people including six children aged between 18 months
and 12.
(AFP, 5/28/07)
2007 May 27, Ukraine's feuding
president and prime minister agreed to hold an early parliamentary
election on Sept. 30, defusing a crisis that threatened to escalate
into violence when the president sent troops streaming toward the
capital.
(AP, 5/27/07)
2007 May 27, Zimbabwean police
freed the bulk of 200 youth opposition activists arrested in a raid on
their party headquarters.
(AFP, 5/27/07)
2007 May 28, Astronomers on teams
from UC Berkeley and Australia reported the discovery of 28 new planets
in the Milky Way.
(SFC, 5/29/07, p.A1)
2007 May 28, In Alaska officials
from 75 nations began talks critical to whale conservation amid
pressure, notably from Japan, to lift a 20-year ban on commercial whale
hunting.
(AFP, 5/28/07)
2007 May 28, In Petersburg, Ky.,
the new Creation Museum opened with displays touting the beginning of
time at 4004BC. Founder Ken Ham raised $27 million to build it.
Organizers expected 250,000 yearly visitors paying $9.95 to $19.95 for
tickets (www.creationmuseum.org/).
(SFC, 5/31/07, p.A2)(Econ, 6/2/07, p.32)
2007 May 28, In northern
Afghanistan a demonstration against a governor left at least seven dead
and 31 injured after gunfire broke out between police and protesters. A
suicide bomber targeted foreigners in a four-wheel drive vehicle,
killing two Afghan civilians and wounding two others in Kunduz. It was
reported that truck drivers in Afghanistan had more problems with
police demanding bribes that with the Taliban.
(AP, 5/28/07)(SFC, 5/28/07, p.A10)
2007 May 28, Police found a
cocaine laboratory in the southern Bolivian jungle capable of producing
245 pounds of the drug daily, one of the largest drug labs ever
discovered there. Satellite photos taken by the US Drug Enforcement
Agency revealed the location of the lab.
(AP, 5/30/07)
2007 May 28, In Brazil Pres. Luiz
Inacio Lula da Silva unveiled a program to provide cheap birth control
pills at 10,000 drug stores across the country.
(AP, 5/28/07)
2007 May 28, Britain’s public
health minister said beer, wine and hard liquor packaging in Britain
will carry warning labels next year detailing how many units of alcohol
each drink contains as well as recommended safe drinking levels.
(AP, 5/28/07)
2007 May 28, A blast ripped
through a crowd in Ethiopia's volatile Somali region, killing 6 people
and setting off a stampede that saw up to six more die. The attack
happened as hundreds of people were gathered at the stadium in Jijiga
town's Revolutionary Square for a ceremony marking the overthrow of
Ethiopia's former dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam. In 2008 an Ethiopian
court sentenced to death 8 alleged members of the Ogaden National
Liberation Force (ONLF) for the attack.
(Reuters, 5/28/07)(AFP, 5/22/08)
2007 May 28, Officials said heavy
storms, landslides, flash floods and lightning have killed at least 23
people in Europe and Turkey.
(Reuters, 5/28/07)
2007 May 28, Joerg Immendorff
(b.1945), German artist, died. He was best known for his “Café
Deutschland” series begun in 1978.
(SFC, 5/29/07, p.B3)
2007 May 28, In northwest Iran 7
Revolutionary Guard members and five militants were killed in clashes
with armed insurgents.
(AP, 5/30/07)
2007 May 28, The US and Iran broke
a 27-year diplomatic freeze with a four-hour meeting about Iraqi
security. The American envoy said there was broad policy agreement, but
that Iran must stop arming and financing militants who are attacking US
and Iraqi forces. The Iranian ambassador later said the two sides would
meet again in less than a month. Abdul-Rahman al-Essawi, an Iraqi
journalist, was shot to death along with his wife, son, parents and
three other relatives. A suicide car bomber struck a busy commercial
district in central Baghdad, killing at least 21 people and damaging a
Sunni shrine. In central Baghdad a battle raged after insurgents
hijacked two buses and kidnapped at least 15 passengers. At least 3
policemen were killed. A roadside bomb killed 2 people and injured 9
when it detonated under a parked car in the central Baghdad district of
Bab al-Muadham. Another 2 people were killed and 6 were wounded after
two mortar rounds slammed into a street in Karrada, a Shiite-dominated
neighborhood in downtown Baghdad. 36 people were killed across Baghdad
in a wave of attacks. Another 33 bullet-riddled bodies were dead,
tortured and abandoned in different parts of the capital. 10 American
soldiers were killed in roadside bombings and a helicopter crash in
Diyala province.
(AP, 5/28/07)(AP, 5/29/07)(AP, 5/30/07)
2007 May 28, Japan's agriculture
minister died after hanging himself just hours before he was to face
questioning in a political scandal.
(AP, 5/28/07)
2007 May 28, Kazakh authorities
issued an international arrest warrant for the powerful son-in-law of
President Nursultan Nazarbayev who faces abduction charges and has
publicly criticized the longtime leader.
(AP, 5/29/07)
2007 May 28, In Mexico City Riyo
Mori, a 20-year-old dancer from Japan who hopes to someday open an
international dance school, was crowned Miss Universe 2007.
(AP, 5/28/07)
2007 May 28, In Pakistan a court
sentenced a same-sex couple to three years in jail on perjury charges,
prompting the defendants to ask the president for help. The case of
Shumail Raj, who was born female but had two operations to remove her
breasts and uterus 16 years ago, and Shahzina Tariq has made waves by
raising issues of homosexuality and transsexuality that are taboo in
this conservative Muslim society. Pakistani police killed four
pro-Taliban militants in a gun battle in the northwestern town of
Bannu. Hours later unidentified gunmen shot dead a military commander
on the outskirts of the northwestern town of Tank. A suicide attacker
rammed his bomb-laden vehicle into a military convoy in Pakistan,
killing two soldiers and wounding eight.
(AP, 5/28/07)(AFP, 5/28/07)
2007 May 28, Spain arrested 2
Algerians and 14 Moroccans, on suspicion of recruiting volunteers to
fight in Iraq and other countries.
(AP, 5/28/07)(SFC, 5/29/07, p.A3)(WSJ, 5/29/07, p.A1)
2007 May 28, In Sri Lanka a Tiger
roadside bomb in Colombo killed 7 soldiers and civilians.
(Econ, 6/9/07, p.24)
2007 May 28, In southern Thailand
a bomb in a market in Kolomudo killed four Buddhists, including two
children.
(AP, 8/7/07)
2007 May 28, RCTV, Venezuela's
oldest private television station, was pushed off the air as President
Hugo Chavez's government replaced the popular opposition-aligned
network with a new state-funded channel. Police fired tear gas and
plastic bullets into a crowd of thousands protesting the decision by
President Hugo Chavez.
(AP, 5/28/07)(AP, 5/29/07)(Econ, 6/2/07, p.14)
2007 May 29, President Bush
ordered new US economic sanctions to pressure Sudan's government to
halt the bloodshed in Darfur.
(AP, 5/29/07)
2007 May 29, President Bush's
environmental adviser said the US rejects the EU's all-encompassing
target on reduction of carbon emissions. The US and Australia ruled out
a regional carbon trading scheme before the meeting officially opened
in the northern city of Darwin, saying it was too early to impose
uniform targets on APEC nations. APEC members already account for 60%
of global energy demand and their needs are expected to almost double
by 2030. Fidel Castro lambasted President Bush for opposing the EU's
goal for an agreement on carbon emissions at next week's Group of Eight
summit.
(AFP, 5/29/07)(AP, 5/30/07)
2007 May 29, The US officials
confirmed that immigration visa fees would rise by an average of 66%
effective July 30.
(SFC, 5/30/07, p.A3)
2007 May 29, Andrew Speaker (31),
a lawyer from Atlanta with a rare and dangerous form of tuberculosis,
ignored doctors' advice and took two trans-Atlantic flights, leading to
the first US government-ordered quarantine since 1963. Italian
officials said they were tracing the movements of Speaker, who
honeymooned in Rome for two days despite being told to turn himself in
to health authorities.
(AP, 5/29/07)(AP, 5/30/07)(Reuters, 6/1/07)
2007 May 29, Cindy Sheehan, the
soldier's mother who had galvanized an anti-war movement with her
monthlong protest outside President Bush's ranch, announced her
"resignation" as the public face of the movement.
(AP, 5/29/08)
2007 May 29, At Fort Campbell,
Kentucky, two children died in an early morning fire at a soldier's
housing unit on the Army post. In 2008 Army wife Billi Jo Smallwood
(35) was accused of setting her apartment on fire in a botched attempt
to collect on her husband's $400,000 insurance policy when he survived
and her two children died instead.
(www.topix.com/forum/city/louisville-tn/TLELGAU2D0M0I5V1T)(AP, 11/22/08)
2007 May 29, In Hudson Oaks,
Texas, Gilberta Estrada (25) was found hanged by suicide along with 3
of her 4 children. An 9-month-old infant survived her noose.
(SFC, 5/30/07, p.A8)
2007 May 29, Bangladeshi
authorities revived two graft cases against former premier Sheikh
Hasina Wajed. Security forces arrested 4 former government ministers, 2
mayors and a top businessman as the military-backed emergency
government stepped up an anti-corruption drive.
(AFP, 5/29/07)(AP, 5/30/07)
2007 May 29, Brazilian Senate
President Renan Calheiros said that he won't resign over accusations he
accepted payoffs from one of the country's top construction companies.
(AP, 5/30/07)
2007 May 29, Zheng Xiaoyu, China's
former top drug regulator, was sentenced to death in an unusually harsh
punishment for taking bribes to approve substandard medicines,
including an antibiotic blamed for at least 10 deaths.
(AP, 5/29/07)
2007 May 29, China said it will
not be tied to targets on cutting carbon emissions as Europe and Asia
failed to agree at a 40-nation meeting on how to fight global warming.
(AFP, 5/29/07)
2007 May 29, The roof of a newly
built house in Wulanji, a northern Chinese village in Inner Mongolia,
collapsed during a celebration for its completion, killing 16 people
and injuring another 29.
(AP, 5/30/07)
2007 May 29, Egypt's parliament
voted to expel an MP and nephew of late President Anwar Sadat, after he
was declared bankrupt.
(AFP, 5/29/07)
2007 May 29, Ethiopia began
counting its population, a daunting task in a country where asking
personal questions is considered socially taboo.
(AP, 5/29/07)
2007 May 29, European and Asian
foreign ministers meeting in Germany agreed to set a 2009 deadline to
complete negotiations on a new international climate change pact to
limit greenhouse gases.
(AP, 5/29/07)
2007 May 29, In India clashes
between police and thousands of people demanding government aid in the
northern state of Rajasthan left at least 13 people dead.
(AP, 5/30/07)
2007 May 29, In Indonesia a
teenage girl died of bird flu, taking the death toll in the nation
worst hit by the virus to 79.
(AFP, 6/1/07)
2007 May 29, Iran's judiciary
spokesman said US academic Haleh Esfandiari and two other
Iranian-Americans have been "formally charged" with endangering
national security and espionage.
(AP, 5/29/07)
2007 May 29, In Iraq 5 British men
were pulled out of a Finance Ministry office by about 40 heavily armed
men in police uniforms in broad daylight and driven in a convoy of 19
four-wheel-drive vehicles toward Sadr City. Management consultant Peter
Moore and four of his security guards were seized. In 2008 a Shiite
militia that claimed responsibility for the kidnapping said a hostage
named Jason had committed suicide on May 25. Two other British
hostages, Jason Swindlehurst (38) and Jason Creswell (39) were returned
to England in June, 2009. (Moore was released on Dec 30, 2009.) Two car
bombers hit neighborhoods on opposite sides of the Tigris River,
killing 40 people and wounding more than 100 others. 3 German computer
consultants were kidnapped from an Iraqi Finance Ministry office in
Baghdad. Gunmen in Samarra set up fake checkpoints on the outskirts of
the city and abducted more than 40 people, most of them soldiers,
police officers and members of two tribes that had banded together
against local insurgents. Col. Hamid Ibrahim al-Jazaa, a Sunni police
chief praised by US forces for clearing his city of insurgents, was
arrested following an investigation into alleged murder, corruption and
crimes against the Iraqi people. Al-Jazaa, his brother and 14
bodyguards were taken into custody in the city of Hit. One US soldier
died of wounds from a roadside bomb attack northwest of Baghdad.
(AP, 5/29/07)(AP, 5/30/07)(AP, 5/31/07)(AP,
7/20/08)(AP, 7/29/09)(AP, 12/30/09)
2007 May 29, In Japan an executive
allegedly involved in a bid-rigging scam that has been linked to the
suicide of the agriculture minister leaped to his death.
(AP, 5/29/07)
2007 May 29, Lebanon’s army
clashed with al-Qaida-linked Islamic fighters in a Palestinian refugee
camp, breaking a weeklong truce.
(AP, 5/29/07)
2007 May 29, Libya said it will
sign a 900 million dollar exploration deal with energy giant BP, which
plans to return after a 33 year absence. British PM Tony Blair arrived
in Libya and welcomed improved relations as oil companies from both
countries signed a major deal.
(AP, 5/29/07)
2007 May 29, In Nicaragua US
embassy confirmed that an American woman, Lemon E. Groves (49), had
died of injuries suffered when she was attacked in her home in the
Nicaraguan city of Grenada last week.
(AP, 5/29/07)
2007 May 29, Umaru Yar'Adua (56),
a former governor hand-picked by departing President Olusegun Obasanjo,
was sworn in as president in Nigeria’s first transfer of power from one
elected government to another. Gun battles between rival gangs in
Nigeria's southern oil-producing state of Rivers erupted in violence
linked to a change of governor, killing 15 people.
(AP, 5/29/07)
2007 May 29, Russia pledged to
write off an additional $500 million of African debt. Russia
test-launched a new intercontinental ballistic missile that is capable
of carrying multiple independent warheads. President Vladimir Putin
warned that US plans for an anti-missile shield in Europe would turn
the region into a "powder keg."
(Reuters, 5/29/07)(AP, 5/29/07)(AP, 5/30/07)
2007 May 29, In Sri Lanka troops
and police stepped up security in Colombo after two bomb blasts by
suspected Tiger rebels within 24 hours killed 11 people.
(AP, 5/29/07)
2007 May 29, Sweden said it plans
to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 30% by 2020, bettering the EU's
proposal to cut emissions by at least 20%.
(AP, 5/29/07)
2007 May 29, Senior Thai judges
began deliberating on whether to dissolve the kingdom's two main
political parties as thousands of troops were put on alert amid
security fears ahead of the court verdict.
(AP, 5/29/07)
2007 May 29, State media said
Zimbabwe will put 40,000 more people on life saving anti-retroviral
drugs by the end of the year despite an economic crisis.
(AP, 5/29/07)
2007 May 30, US President George
W. Bush officially nominated Robert Zoellick, the former US deputy
secretary of state, to be new World Bank president, describing him as a
"committed internationalist."
(Reuters, 5/30/07)
2007 May 30, Robert Alan Soloway
(27), described as one of the world's most prolific spammers, was
arrested in Seattle, Wa. Federal authorities said computer users across
the Web could notice a decrease in the amount of junk e-mail.
(AP, 5/31/07)
2007 May 30, Microsoft introduced
a computer designed like a table with a touch-screen called Surface. It
was aimed for use in hotels and casinos.
(WSJ, 5/30/07, p.B1)
2007 May 30, Motorola announced
plans to cut 7,500 jobs and reduce costs by $1 billion through the end
of this year and next. The company also announced that a shareholder
proposal to have a say on executive pay passed by 51.8%.
(WSJ, 5/31/07, p.A3)
2007 May 30, Global banking giant
HSBC donated 50 million pounds (73.5 million euros, 98.8 million
dollars) to set up a "green task force" to tackle climate change
worldwide. HSBC teamed up with The Climate Group, Earthwatch Institute,
Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) and WWF to provide
conservation managers and policy makers with the latest research.
(AFP, 5/30/07)
2007 May 30, Mark Harris (b.1922
as Mark Harris Finkelstein), American author, died in Goleta, Ca. His
13 novels and 5 nonfiction books included “Bang The Drum Slowly”
(1956), a baseball novel that he adopted for the 1973 movie of the same
name.
(SFC, 6/1/07, p.B9)
2007 May 30, A Saudi Arabian
detainee died at Guantanamo Bay prison and the US military said he
apparently committed suicide.
(AP, 5/31/07)
2007 May 30, Afghan and US-led
coalition forces clashed with Taliban militants in eastern Afghanistan,
leaving six suspected insurgents dead and one wounded. A roadside bomb
killed four policemen and wounded another in the southern province of
Uruzgan. A CH-47 Chinook helicopter was shot down by Taliban militants
in an attack that killed everyone on board, five US soldiers, a
Canadian and a Briton. In western Farah province, insurgents attacked
the Pusht Rod district, and ensuing clashes with police left 10
militants dead and 15 wounded.
(AP, 5/30/07)(AP, 5/31/07)
2007 May 30, Afghanistan and
Pakistan agreed to increase cooperation after meeting with Group of
Eight foreign ministers amid concerns that enmity between the neighbors
is helping the Taliban inflict mounting losses on NATO troops and
Afghan civilians.
(AP, 5/31/07)
2007 May 30, Ontario and
California leaders said they will work together to develop new stem
cell therapies to help conquer cancer, and will cooperate on curbing
greenhouse gas emission.
(Reuters, 5/31/07)
2007 May 30, In the northwest
corner of Central African Republic soldiers set fire to hundreds of
houses in retaliation for the killing of a local official by
unidentified gunmen. The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) estimates that
about 420 children die each week, and that escalating conflict between
the CAR government and rebel groups has forced some 212,000 people to
flee their homes in recent years.
(AFP, 6/4/07)
2007 May 30, Chinese stocks
plunged after the government raised a tax on share trades, trying to
cool a market boom amid growing concerns about a possible bubble. The
stamp tax was tripled to 0.3%. The port city of Xiamen announced a
decision to temporarily suspend construction of a petrochemical plant
after nearly a million text messages were sent protesting its
construction.
(AP, 5/30/07)(WSJ, 5/31/07, p.A8)(Econ, 6/2/07, p.82)
2007 May 30, Cuba agreed to buy
$118 million in US food products ranging from pork and corn to soybeans
and Spam, and said it was negotiating deals that could bring the total
to nearly $150 million.
(AP, 5/30/07)
2007 May 30, Officials said one of
the world's largest slums, a filthy shantytown in western India, will
be razed and replaced with free homes for Mumbai's poor in a
multi-billion dollar project by a private developer.
(AP, 5/30/07)
2007 May 30, Indonesian marines
shot and killed five people on Java island during a violent protest
over a plot of land allegedly owned by the force.
(AP, 5/30/07)
2007 May 30, Iranian troops killed
10 militants in ongoing clashes in the country's northwest, near the
border with Turkey.
(AP, 5/30/07)
2007 May 30, Hundreds of Iraqi and
US troops cordoned off sections of Baghdad's Sadr City slum and
conducted a series of raids after five British citizens were abducted
from a nearby government building. 2 civilians were killed and four
others injured in crossfire from gunbattles that broke out in one of
the raids. Several mortar rounds apparently targeting an American
military base in Fallujah missed their mark and landed instead on a
courthouse and in a residential neighborhood, killing 9 civilians and
wounding 15 others. A police commander's convoy was struck by a
roadside bomb in Hamzah, south of Baghdad, killing two guards and
injuring two others. Gunmen in 3 cars ambushed 3 soldiers who had
stopped to drink orange juice in the center of Karbala, and stole the
nearly $396,000 in salaries they were transporting to their unit. In
Amarah gunmen mowed down Nazar Abdul-Wahid (33), an Iraqi journalist,
as he stood on a city street. Over 25 people were killed across Iraq
and the bodies of 25 men, all shot to death, were found in different
parts of Baghdad. 3 US soldiers were killed in a roadside bombings in
Baghdad.
(AP, 5/30/07)(AP, 5/31/07)(SFC, 5/31/07, p.A12)(AP,
6/2/07)
2007 May 30, A group of
internationally renowned Israeli authors and university presidents
demanded that Israel grant Palestinian students from the Gaza Strip
free movement to superior universities in the West Bank.
(AP, 5/31/07)
2007 May 30, Medical officials in
Kyrgyzstan confirmed that PM Almazbek Atambayev was poisoned after
receiving death threats but said they have not yet identified the toxin.
(AP, 5/30/07)
2007 May 30, A UN resolution gave
the Lebanese parliament a last chance to establish a tribunal to
prosecute the killers of former PM Rafik Hariri. If it doesn't act by
June 10, the UN decision will automatically "enter into force." A
military judge filed terrorism charges against 20 suspected members of
an Islamic militant group fighting Lebanese troops at a Palestinian
refugee camp.
(AP, 5/31/07)
2007 May 30, Malaysia's top civil
court rejected a woman's appeal to be recognized as a Christian, in a
landmark case that tested the limits of religious freedom in this
moderate Islamic country. A three-judge Federal Court panel ruled by a
2-1 majority that only the Islamic Shariah Court has the power to allow
her to remove the word "Islam" from the religion category on her
government identity card. Judge Richard Malanjum, the only non-Muslim
on the panel, sided with Lina Joy, saying it was "unreasonable" to ask
her to turn to the Shariah Court because she could face criminal
prosecution there.
(AP, 5/30/07)
2007 May 30, Moroccans were able
to access the video sharing Web site YouTube for the first time since
access was blocked last week.
(AP, 5/30/07)
2007 May 30, In Nepal some 10,000
Bhutanese refugees demonstrated at the India-Nepal border, where a day
earlier Indian troops had opened fire, killing one refugee.
(AP, 5/30/07)
2007 May 30, It was reported
that coffee shops licensed to sell marijuana in the southern
Dutch city of Maastricht will begin fingerprinting customers and
scanning their IDs this summer to help prove they're following rules
governing such sales.
(AP, 5/30/07)
2007 May 30, In southern Nigeria 4
American oil workers abducted three weeks ago were released.
(AP, 5/30/07)
2007 May 30, In Pakistan a court
sentenced Younis Masih (29), a Christian, to death under Pakistan's
blasphemy laws. Masih was arrested in Sep 2005 on the outskirts of the
eastern city of Lahore after residents told police he made derogatory
remarks against Islam and Muhammad. Masih has said that dozens of
Muslims had thrashed him on Sept. 10, 2005, when he asked them not to
sing loudly because his nephew had died, and his body was still lying
at home.
(AP, 6/1/07)
2007 May 30, Senegalese President
Abdoulaye Wade, host of the Islamic Development Bank’s annual meeting,
spoke on behalf of the bank’s launch of a $10 billion fund to combat
poverty in developing Muslim nations in Africa and other parts of the
world. Saudi Arabia pledged to contribute $1 billion, Kuwait $300
million, Iran $100 million and Senegal $10 million.
(AP, 5/30/07)
2007 May 30, Outgoing British PM
Tony Blair arrived in the small west African nation of Sierra Leone on
the second leg of a three-nation African tour.
(AP, 5/30/07)
2007 May 30, In Somalia Ethiopian
troops shot and killed five bystanders after a land mine exploded as
their convoy passed through the center of a western Somali town.
(AP, 5/30/07)
2007 May 30, Two senior officials
with Thailand's Thai Rak Thai (TRT) party were found guilty of election
fraud in a ruling that could doom the political powerhouse founded by
ousted PM Thaksin Shinawatra. A court disbanded the political party of
Shinawatra, barring him and 110 party executives from politics for five
years due to election law violations.
(AFP, 5/30/07)(AP, 5/31/07)
2007 May 30, Turkish police
captured 11 suspected al-Qaida militants who allegedly were planning to
stage terrorist attacks in Istanbul.
(AP, 5/30/07)
2007 May 30, In Venezuela a top
opponent of President Hugo Chavez demanded the release of jailed
protesters as university students poured into the streets for a third
day to protest the removal of a leading opposition TV station from the
air.
(AP, 5/30/07)
2007 May 31, President Bush, under
international pressure to take tough action against global warming,
called for a world summit to set a long-term global strategy for
reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
(AP, 5/31/08)
2007 May 31, In a breach of
security, detailed plans for the new US Embassy under construction in
Baghdad appeared on the Web site of the architectural firm that was
contracted to design the massive facility.
(AP, 5/31/08)
2007 May 31, Former Presidents
Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush attended the dedication
of the Billy Graham Library in Charlotte, N.C.
(AP, 5/31/08)
2007 May 31, The US and Russia
agreed to put nuclear radiation monitors at all of Russia’s int’l.
border crossings by 2011.
(WSJ, 6/1/07, p.A1)
2007 May 31, New Hampshire Gov.
John Lynch signed a bill allowing civil unions for gays couples
effective next year.
(AP, 5/31/07)
2007 May 31, SF Mayor Gavin Newsom
proposed a $6.06 billion budget for the 2007-2008 fiscal year, a 5.4%
increase over the previous year.
(SFC, 6/1/07, p.B12)
2007 May 31, Wachovia Corp. said
it will acquire brokerage firm A.G. Edwards for $6.8 bil.
(SFC, 6/1/07, p.C3)
2007 May 31, Evan O’Dorney (13)
won the Scripps National Spelling Bee when he correctly spelled the
word “serrefine.”
(WSJ, 6/1/07, p.A1)
2007 May 31, A Taliban ambush
killed 16 policemen in a convoy on its way from the south to Kabul. A
battle pitting NATO and Afghan troops against Taliban fighters in
southern Afghanistan killed 20 militants. Taliban commander called
Mullah Naqibullah was among the dead. Taliban fighters attacked the
home of a police official in Zurmat district of Paktia province. Police
reinforcements were called in, sparking a battle that left six Taliban
dead. Five rockets were fired from the top of a mountain in Kunar
province, hitting several civilian homes and killing two women.
(AFP, 5/31/07)(AP, 5/31/07)(AP, 6/1/07)
2007 May 31, Australia and the
Philippines agreed to expand counter-terrorism cooperation, with elite
Australian troops to train their Philippine counterparts in the restive
south.
(AFP, 5/31/07)
2007 May 31, China’s state media
said fast-spreading, foul-smelling blue-green algae smothered Lake Tai
in eastern Jiangsu province, contaminating the drinking water for
millions of people and sparking panic-buying of bottled water.
(AP, 5/31/07)
2007 May 31, A wildlife expert
said a thousand rare black-mane lions, an Ethiopian national symbol,
and some 300 elephants are in danger after a swathe of forest that was
part of their sanctuary was cut down.
(Reuters, 5/31/07)
2007 May 31, Haitian authorities
arrested 10 people, including four police officers, who were allegedly
transporting 925 pounds of cocaine in two vehicles with government
license plates.
(AP, 5/31/07)
2007 May 31, India and the United
States began talks intended to resolve delays in a nuclear energy deal
that will give India access to long-denied Western nuclear technology.
(AP, 5/31/07)
2007 May 31, Iran pledged to end
years of stonewalling and provide answers on past suspicious activities
to the UN nuclear monitoring agency probing its atomic program, in a
move being seen as an attempt to avoid new UN sanctions. Mostafa
Pourmohammadi, Iran's hard-line interior minister, encouraged temporary
marriages as a way to avoid extramarital sex, a stance many in this
conservative country fear would instead encourage prostitution. A
temporary marriage, or "sigheh," refers to a Shiite Muslim tradition
under which a man and a woman sign a contract that allows them to be
"married" for any length of time, even a few hours.
(AP, 6/1/07)(AP, 6/2/07)
2007 May 31, Lt. Gen. Raymond
Odierno, the No. 2 US commander in Iraq, said that US military officers
were talking with Iraqi militants, excluding al-Qaida, about
cease-fires and other arrangements to try to stop the violence. Saif M.
Fakhry (26), an Associated Press Television News cameraman, was shot
twice and killed in Baghdad while walking to a mosque near his home on
his day off. A suicide bomber hit a police recruiting center in
Fallujah, killing as many as 25 people. The US military said only one
policeman was killed and eight were wounded.
(AP, 6/1/07)(AP, 5/31/07)
2007 May 31, Japan failed in its
bid to lift a moratorium on commercial whaling after stormy annual
talks in Alaska of the 75-nation International Whaling Commission (IWC)
and warned it might pull out of the organization.
(AP, 6/1/07)
2007 May 31, Government spokesman
Alfred Mutua said Kenya’s police over the last few months have arrested
2,464 suspected followers of Mungiki, an outlawed religious sect whose
members are believed to have beheaded several people in recent months.
(AP, 6/1/07)
2007 May 31, Latvia's Parliament
elected Valdis Zatlers, a surgeon with no political background as, the
Baltic country's next president. He will replace outgoing President
Vaira Vike-Freiberga in July when her second and final term ends.
(AP, 5/31/07)
2007 May 31, Mexico's Televisa
network, known around the world for its soap operas, said it plans to
expand in China, following the lead of taco chains and other Mexican
businesses looking for a slice of the Asian nation's market.
(AP, 5/31/07)
2007 May 31, The Dutch news agency
ANP reported that almost half of Rotterdam's coffee shops will be
forced to stop selling cannabis because they are too close to secondary
schools.
(AP, 5/31/07)
2007 May 31, In northwestern
Pakistan about 100 suspected pro-Taliban militants attacked the house
of a government official before dawn, killing 13 people.
(AP, 5/31/07)
2007 May 31, In the Philippines 6
armed men boarded a bus in Manila and started robbing passengers. 3
suspects, the bus driver and a passenger were killed.
(AP, 5/31/07)
2007 May 31, President Vladimir
Putin said that tests of new Russian missiles were a response to the
planned deployment of US missile defense installations and other forces
in Europe, suggesting Washington has triggered a new arms race.
(AP, 5/31/07)
2007 May 31, The chief suspect in
the murder of Russian ex-agent Alexander Litvinenko accused the British
secret service of being behind the killing and said Litvinenko himself
had been spying for MI6.
(AFP, 5/31/07)
2007 May 31, Rwanda said a law
abolishing the death penalty would come into force at the end of July,
six months after the government first announced plans to scrap capital
punishment.
(AP, 5/31/07)
2007 May 31, In South Africa
Britain's PM Blair also said that Africa's leaders must get tough on
authoritarian governments, such as those in Sudan and Zimbabwe.
(Reuters, 5/31/07)
2007 May 31, The Spanish
government said it has filed a lawsuit in a US federal court against an
American firm over a shipwreck the company has found laden with a
colonial-era treasure.
(AP, 5/31/07)
2007 May 31, Serbia arrested
Zdravko Tolimir, one of six Serb war crimes suspects still at large. He
was picked up in Belgrade and officially arrested in the Serb part of
Bosnia.
(Econ, 6/9/07, p.60)
2007 May 31, In southern Thailand
suspected insurgents sprayed gunfire into a mosque, killing 7
worshippers. Black-uniformed raiders roared into Kolomudo, a Muslim
village, firing assault rifles and hurling grenades from a pickup truck
at a group of teenagers relaxing near the mosque. When the attack was
over, five of the youths lay dead. Buddhist vigilantes were suspected.
A roadside bomb killed 11 paramilitary troops almost simultaneously in
some of the worst recent violence. A 12th soldier died the next day.
(AP, 6/1/07)(AP, 8/7/07)
2007 May 31, Turkish lawmakers
approved again a constitutional amendment that would see the president
elected by popular vote, a change vetoed last week by the outgoing head
of state. Turkey's top general said the military was ready to stage a
cross-border offensive to fight Kurdish guerrillas in Iraq and that he
already had sought government approval to mount military action.
(AFP, 5/31/07)(AP, 5/31/07)
2007 May, Montana’s Gov. Brian
Schweitzer signed a bill offering tax incentives to many renewable
energy projects, including cellulosic ethanol and biodiesel. Montana
claimed the largest coal reserves in America with 120 billion
recoverable tons.
(Econ, 6/23/07, p.36)
2007 May, Harvard-based
psychologist Gardner posited in the May/June issue of “Foreign Policy,”
that the US limit the amount of money a single individual can annually
take home to no more than "100 times as much money as the average
worker in a society earns in a year." "If the average worker makes
$40,000," Gardner proposes, "the top compensated individual may keep $4
million a year."
(www.foreignpolicy.com/story/cms.php?story_id=3787)
2007 May, UC San Diego, home to
the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information
Technology (Calit2), received $29 million to design and construct
technology and networking components for the Ocean Observatories
Initiative to monitor activity on the ocean floor. It will likely
become part of the Global Earth Observation System of Systems.
(SSFC, 7/29/07, p.A8)
2007 May, Mahalo.com, a web
directory (or human search engine), was launched in alpha test by Jason
Calacanis.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahalo.com)
2007 May, Twitter, an Internet
service that allows users to send short messages in response to the
question: “What are you doing,” was incorporated. Since its creation in
2006 by Jack Dorsey, Twitter has gained notability and popularity
worldwide.
(http://twitter.com/)(SFC, 10/5/09,
p.D3)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twitter)
2007 May, Australia’s Victorian
state civil and administrative tribunal ruled that the Peel Hotel in
the southern city of Melbourne could exclude patrons based on their
sexuality.
(Reuters, 5/28/07)
2007 May, In Australia the Slater
& Gordon law firm went public and used the proceeds to go on an
acquisition spree, swallowing 6 smaller rivals within a year.
(Econ, 8/23/08, p.55)
2007 May, In Germany 6 former
members of cycling Team Telekom confessed to using
performance-enhancing drugs.
(Econ, 6/9/07, p.74)
2007 May, In Japan it was
uncovered that the Social Insurance Agency was unable to match 50
million computerized pension records to people who have paid into
public programs. Another 14 million records appeared to have never made
it into the computer at system at all.
(Econ, 7/28/07, p.24)
2007 May, Inflation in Sri Lanka
stood at 17%.
(Econ, 5/5/07, p.56)
Go to http://www.timelinesdb.com
http://timelines.ws/21stcent/2007_6
June xxxx
2007 Jun 1, The US government
warned consumers to avoid using toothpaste made in China because it may
contain a poisonous chemical used in antifreeze.
(AP, 6/2/07)
2007 Jun 1, In California a
federal court judge barred the state from seizing abandoned assets
until officials find a better way to notify people that their property
is about to be taken.
(SFC, 6/2/07, p.B1)
2007 Jun 1, In Michigan Jack
Kevorkian, the retired pathologist dubbed "Dr. Death" for claims that
he participated in at least 130 assisted suicides, left prison after
eight years still believing people have the right to die.
(AP, 6/1/07)
2007 Jun 1, In Afghanistan a NATO
soldier was killed in a bomb blast while two Afghan women and a
policeman died in attacks elsewhere linked to a deepening Taliban
insurgency.
(AP, 6/1/07)
2007 Jun 1, Rakhat Aliyev, the
Kazakh ambassador to Austria until he was dismissed on May 26, was
arrested for alleged involvement in the suspected kidnapping of two
senior managers of a bank he controls. He appealed to Austrian
authorities not to extradite him to his homeland to face kidnapping
charges.
(AP, 6/2/07)
2007 Jun 1, In a key legal step
toward assigning blame for Brazil's deadliest plane crash, two US
pilots and four Brazilian air traffic controllers were indicted on
charges equivalent to involuntary manslaughter for the Sep 29, 2006,
mid-air collision that killed 154 people.
(AP, 6/2/07)
2007 Jun 1, In Brazil federal
authorities said an Indian tribe that has had very limited contact with
the outside world, has been located in a remote Amazon region. The
Metyktire, a subgroup of the Kayapo tribe, consisted of some 87 members.
(AP, 6/1/07)
2007 Jun 1, Marly de Oliveira
(69), the Brazilian poet who wrote the award-winning volume "O Mar de
Permeio" (The Sea Between Us), died in Rio de Janeiro.
(AP, 6/3/07)
2007 Jun 1, The UN refugee agency
said hundreds of women and children fled by foot and on donkeys from
Darfur to the neighboring Central African Republic after their town was
attacked by planes and helicopters. The refugees said their town of
Dafak, in southern Darfur, was attacked repeatedly by janjaweed militia
from May 12 to May 18 and that their homes had been bombarded by
airstrikes.
(AP, 6/1/07)
2007 Jun 1, On Children’s Day in
China thousands of people rallied in Xiamen to protest plans for a
Taiwanese-owned chemical factory to make paraxylene, used in polyester.
Thousands marched again the next day
(Econ, 6/23/07, p.48)
2007 Jun 1, Vietnam became Cuba's
latest partner in oil exploration and drilling in the Gulf of Mexico
under one of several agreements signed during a visit by Vietnamese
Communist Party chief Nong Duc Manh.
(AP, 6/1/07)
2007 Jun 1, A French naval frigate
conducting a surveillance mission off Malta discovered the bodies of 18
people floating in the Mediterranean. Crew members on "La Motte
Picquet" noticed no boat nearby as the bodies, possibly of illegal
immigrants hoping to reach Europe, were pulled out of the water.
(AP, 6/1/07)
2007 Jun 1, Police in northern
India issued shoot-on-sight orders as eight more people were killed in
ethnic clashes that have left 28 dead so far.
(AP, 6/1/07)
2007 Jun 1, In Indian-controlled
Kashmir suspected Islamic militants attacked a paramilitary camp, a
police post and an army vehicle in an upsurge in violence, killing
three government soldiers and wounding another 22.
(AP, 6/1/07)
2007 Jun 1, In Iraq an
al-Qaida-linked suicide bomber blew himself up in a house sheltering
members of the rival 1920 Revolution Brigades, killing two of the other
militants and wounding four in Baqouba. American troops killed 3
children near Fallujah when a US tank opened fire on suspected
insurgents believed to be planting roadside bombs. A US soldier on a
foot patrol was killed after approaching two suspicious men outside a
mosque, one of whom blew himself up.
(AP, 6/1/07)(AP, 6/3/07)(SSFC, 6/3/07, p.A23)
2007 Jun 1, Israeli troops shot
and killed two 13-year-old Palestinians near the Gaza-Israel border
fence, saying they were crawling toward the barrier in a "suspicious
manner." The boys had told their families they were going to the beach.
(AP, 6/1/07)
2007 Jun 1, Dozens of Lebanese
army tanks and armored carriers moved toward a Palestinian refugee camp
in northern Lebanon in pursuit of Islamic militants holed up inside. 19
people died in some of the heaviest fighting since violence broke out
on May 20.
(AP, 6/1/07)(WSJ, 6/2/07, p.A1)
2007 Jun 1, The government of
Mauritania appealed to international donors to help it reverse a food
shortage affecting more than 1 million people.
(AP, 6/2/07)
2007 Jun 1, Mexican soldiers fired
on a family traveling to a funeral when they failed to stop after being
ordered to do so at the checkpoint near the village of La Joya. 19
Mexican soldiers were sent to a military prison June 4 for the shooting
that killed two women and three children.
(AP, 6/5/07)
2007 Jun 1, Nigeria’s national
dailies reported that nearly 2,000 students sitting university entrance
exams in have been caught using mobile phones to cheat. Gunmen
disguised as riot police abducted four foreign workers from the
residential compound of oil services giant Schlumberger in Nigeria's
oil city Port Harcourt. The four hostages were citizens of Britain,
France, the Netherlands and Pakistan. Gunmen kidnapped three senior
expatriate management staff and four family members from the
residential compound of chemical company Indorama.
(AFP, 6/1/07)(AP, 6/2/07)
2007 Jun 1, The Norwegian
environmental group Bellona warned that a nuclear waste dump in the
Russia Arctic may be in danger of exploding because of corrosion caused
by salt water in enormous storage tanks.
(AP, 6/1/07)
2007 Jun 1, Alan Johnston, a
British reporter kidnapped in the Gaza Strip nearly three months, ago
appeared in a videotape posted on an Islamic militant Web site, saying
his captors had treated him well, denouncing Israel, and criticizing
British and US Mideast policy. The Swords of Truth, an Islamic group,
threatened to behead female TV broadcasters if they don't wear strict
Islamic dress, frightening reporters and signaling a further shift
toward extremism in the Gaza Strip.
(AP, 6/1/07)(AP, 6/2/07)
2007 Jun 1, The Swords of Truth,
an Islamic group, threatened to behead female TV broadcasters if they
don't wear strict Islamic dress, frightening reporters and signaling a
further shift toward extremism in the Gaza Strip.
(AP, 6/2/07)
2007 Jun 1, At least one US
warship bombarded a remote, mountainous village in Somalia where
Islamic militants had set up a base. One target was said to be Fazul
Abdullah Muhammad (35), a citizen of the Comoro Islands. The next day
Puntland VP Hassan Dahir Mohamoud told The Associated Press that his
government's troops killed eight foreign Islamic militants and five of
them came from Britain, Eritrea, Sweden, the US and Yemen.
(AP, 6/2/07)(AP, 6/3/07)(Econ, 7/14/07, p.52)
2007 Jun 1, In South Africa
hundreds of thousands of public servants embarked on an indefinite
strike.
(AP, 6/1/07)
2007 Jun 1, CNBC Africa was
launched from new headquarters in South Africa. Dubai investors put in
some $22.5 million for the 24-hour African business channel
broadcasting to 14 African countries.
(Econ, 6/9/07, p.75)
2007 Jun 1, The African Union
objected to a proposal for a 23,000-strong AU-U.N. force to help end
the bloodshed in Sudan's troubled Darfur region because it would give
the United Nations command and control.
(AP, 6/2/07)
2007 Jun 1, In southeast Turkey
soldiers killed two Kurdish militants overnight in Tunceli, where
troops massed along the border threatened an incursion into Iraq.
(AP, 6/1/07)
2007 Jun 2, Four Muslim men were
arrested and in connection to a plan to set off explosives in a jet
fuel line that feeds John F. Kennedy International Airport and runs
through residential neighborhoods.
(AP, 6/2/07)(AP, 6/2/08)
2007 Jun 2, Thomas M. Siebel (54),
the founder and former chairman of Siebel Systems Inc., announced he
will make a $100 million donation to the University of Illinois, his
alma mater. This was the largest gift in the university's history.
Siebel pledged to give the gift to the Urbana-Champaign campus upon his
death.
(AP, 6/2/07)
2007 Jun 2, Kelsey Smith (18) went
missing when she went to a Target store in the Overland Park suburb of
Kansas City to buy a gift for her boyfriend. On June 6 police found her
body in a wooded area near Grandview, Mo., about 20 miles east of the
Target store. Edwin R. Hall (26) was arrested shortly after her body
was found. In 2008 Hall pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life in
prison.
(AP, 6/7/07)(AP, 7/23/08)
2007 Jun 2, In San Francisco, Ca.,
Hugues de la Plaza (36), a French national, was found dead in his
Linden Street apartment in Hayes Valley. Police labeled his stabbing
death as a possible homicide or suicide. In 2009 a French probe called
his death a homicide. The French probe concluded that de la Plaza was
stabbed in a surprise attack outside his apartment. In 2009 an
independent review ruled out suicide.
(SFC, 1/27/09, p.B1)(SFC, 2/27/09, p.B1)(SFC,
11/13/09, p.C1)
2007 Jun 2, A boat crossing the
Helmand River in Helmand province sank, and at least 60 Taliban
militants were killed. Suspected Taliban militants attacked a local
police commander's home, killing five of his family members and
sparking a gunbattle with police that left 10 insurgents dead. In
eastern Afghanistan suspected militants ambushed a NATO convoy, killing
two members of the alliance and wounding 7 troops. 15 suspected
militants were killed by police. In eastern Khost province, militants
attacked a police checkpoint in Yaqubi district and the ensuing clash
left 12 militants dead. Police clashed with Taliban militants in
neighboring Paktika province's Shakin district, leaving three suspected
insurgents dead.
(AP, 6/2/07)(AFP, 6/3/07)(AP, 6/3/07)
2007 Jun 2, In England Authorized
won the Epsom Derby giving riding legend Frankie Dettori his first win
in the race on his 15th ride.
(AFP, 6/2/07)
2007 Jun 2, Bulgarian PM Sergey
Stanishev said he had accepted the resignation of two ministers,
following a corruption scandal that has shaken his centre-left
government.
(AP, 6/2/07)
2007 Jun 2, The Comoros and Guinea
joined the Community of Sahel-Saharan States (CEN-SAD) at a summit of
the nine-year-old African grouping in Libya, raising its membership to
25 countries.
(AP, 6/2/07)
2007 Jun 2, In Rostock, Germany,
masked demonstrators protesting the upcoming G-8 summit meeting hurled
stones and flagpoles at police.
(AP, 6/2/07)
2007 Jun 2, India and the United
States failed to resolve differences over an American offer to share
nuclear know-how and fuel, ending three days of negotiations that were
intended to seal a deal seen as the cornerstone of an emerging
partnership.
(AP, 6/2/07)
2007 Jun 2, Iran detained 3 Finns
for allegedly straying into its territorial waters during a fishing
trip in the Persian Gulf. In June 6 Iran agreed to release them.
(AP, 6/6/07)
2007 Jun 2, A series of mortar
barrages killed 8 civilians and wounded 25 others in a Sunni enclave
surrounded by Shiite areas in central Baghdad. A key bridge was damaged
by a bomb in northern Iraq. Prominent Sunni sheik, Ali Khudir al-Zind,
was killed in a drive-by shooting as he walked near his home in western
Baghdad. Gunmen opened fire in two separate locations in western
Baghdad, killing three people. Police found two bullet-riddled bodies
of people who had been bound and blindfolded and showed signs of
torture. Four men were killed and one vehicle and 10 rockets destroyed
by Apache fire at rocket firing positions aimed at the Green Zone. 6
suspects were captured by ground forces. Gunmen at a fake checkpoint in
Baqouba killed two passengers and wounded eight others when they opened
fire on three minibuses that sought to flee from the highway trap.
Police found 8 unidentified bodies in an industrial area of the western
city of Fallujah. In all at least 57 people were killed of found dead
including 26 bullet riddled bodies, bearing signs of torture, found on
the streets of Baghdad. US-led forces killed one suspected insurgent
and detained eight in a series of raids outside the capital. 7 US
soldiers were killed in a series of attacks across Iraq.
(AP, 6/2/07)(AP, 6/3/07)(SSFC, 6/3/07, p.A23)(AP,
6/4/07)
2007 Jun 2, Virgin Atlantic
chairman Sir Richard Branson announced a program aimed at saving
elephants in Kenya, as he boarded his airline's first flight to the
east African nation.
(AP, 6/2/07)
2007 Jun 2, The Lebanese air force
joined tanks and artillery in pounding Islamic militant hideouts on the
second day of an intensifying offensive to uproot al-Qaida-inspired
gunmen barricaded in a Palestinian refugee camp.
(AP, 6/2/07)
2007 Jun 2, Southern Nigeria's
most prominent armed group released six foreign oil workers held
captive for four weeks and announced a month-long moratorium in attacks
on petroleum facilities.
(AP, 6/2/07)
2007 Jun 2, Four people believed
to have fled North Korea arrived at a port in northern Japan in a small
boat and told police they want to go to South Korea.
(Reuters, 6/2/07)
2007 Jun 2, In Pakistan tens of
thousands of demonstrators joined the biggest rally yet against the
president's suspension of the chief justice, giving the jurist a joyous
reception ahead of a speech in an opposition stronghold. Officials said
a nursing school was shut down and its Christian principal and four
Christian students suspended after Muslim pupils accused unknown people
of desecrating verses from the Quran.
(AP, 6/2/07)(AP, 6/3/07)
2007 Jun 2, In the Philippines a
man armed with a 21-inch-long knife killed nine people, including six
children, and wounded 17 others in a rampage in central Samar province.
(AP, 6/2/07)
2007 Jun 2, In Russia former PM
Mikhail Kasayanov was nominated by his opposition movement to run in
next year's presidential election and promised to stop the Kremlin
orchestrating the vote in its favor.
(AP, 6/2/07)
2007 Jun 2, In Mogadishu, Somalia,
unknown gunmen killed a government official, Hassan Ali Sa'id, as he
was about to enter his house.
(AP, 6/2/07)
2007 Jun 2, Two Sri Lankan Red
Cross workers, ethnic Tamil men abducted from Colombo two days ago,
were found shot to death. The Tigers launched a night attack near
Omanthai and claimed to have killed 30 soldiers. The army said it
killed 52 Tigers.
(AP, 6/3/07)(Econ, 6/9/07, p.24)
2007 Jun 2, Two men allegedly
involved in a plot to attack New York's John F. Kennedy International
Airport were in custody in Trinidad and Tobago and the police
commissioner said authorities were scouring the Caribbean country for a
third suspect still at large.
(AP, 6/3/07)
2007 Jun 2, The UN Convention on
International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) decided to permit a
one-off sale of 60 tons of ivory from Botswana, Namibia and South
Africa to Japan, saying it would monitor closely the impact on poaching
and population levels.
(Reuters, 6/3/07)
2007 Jun 2, In Zambia at least 12
soccer fans were crushed to death as a crowd rushed from the Lusaka
stadium after Zambia's victory over Congo Brazzaville in an African Cup
qualifier.
(AP, 6/3/07)
2007 Jun 3, After attending the
MTV Movie Awards, Paris Hilton reported to jail to serve a 45-day
sentence for a probation violation in an alcohol-related reckless
driving case. Hilton was released after three days behind bars for an
unspecified medical condition, but a Los Angeles County judge ordered
her back to jail.
(AP, 6/3/08)
2007 Jun 3, In Afghanistan 3
"enemies of peace and stability" were killed when a bomb they were
planting exploded in the eastern province of Laghman. An Afghan army
soldier was killed and another was injured by a remotely-controlled
Taliban bomb in Zabul province.
(AFP, 6/4/07)
2007 Jun 3, Australia’s PM John
Howard ditched his opposition to a greenhouse gas reduction target for
Australia with a pledge to set a national pollution limit next year.
(AP, 6/3/07)
2007 Jun 3, A strong earthquake
shook a hilly southwestern Chinese region near the border with Laos,
killing at least three people.
(AP, 6/3/07)
2007 Jun 3, A 19-year-old Chinese
soldier died of the virulent strain of bird flu, the country's 16th
reported death from the virus.
(AP, 6/4/07)
2007 Jun 3, In northeast India
suspected rebels ambushed a police vehicle, killing four policemen and
injuring two others.
(AP, 6/4/07)
2007 Jun 3, A car parked near a
police station and an open-air market exploded in Balad Ruz, northeast
of Baghdad, killing nine civilians and one policeman and wounding 25
other people. Elsewhere in Diyala province gunmen stopped a commuter
minibus and raked its passengers with gunfire, killing five people and
injuring seven. American helicopter gunships attacked targets in Mahdi
Army-dominated Shiite east Baghdad, killing four suspected militants.
Mahdi Army militiamen battled with Iraqi troops and local police
searching for two militia leaders in the southern city of Diwaniyah. At
least three people were killed and 24 wounded. 4 US soldiers died in a
single roadside bombing northwest of Baghdad. Two other soldiers were
killed and five were wounded along with an Iraqi interpreter in two
separate roadside bombings.
(AP, 6/3/07)(AP, 6/4/07)
2007 Jun 3, In Libya African
leaders sought to reconcile differences between neighbors Chad and
Sudan over Darfur and boost Somalia's embattled transitional government
at a regional summit.
(AFP, 6/3/07)
2007 Jun 3, In southern Mexico
tons of bananas collapsed the false floor of a tractor-trailer
smuggling migrants, killing 6 people hidden inside a secret compartment
and wounding a dozen others.
(AP, 6/4/07)
2007 Jun 3, Heavy gunfire rang out
from inside a bombed out Palestinian refugee camp as the Lebanese army
pounded Islamic militants holed up inside during the third day of a
military offensive aimed at crushing the al-Qaida-inspired group.
(AP, 6/3/07)
2007 Jun 3, Some 2,000 men and
women participated in a series of four nude group photos in Amsterdam
in the early hours of the morning as part of the latest project of US
photographer Spencer Tunick.
(AP, 6/3/07)
2007 Jun 3, Nigerian gunmen
kidnapped six foreign staff of United Company RUSAL after blowing up
their apartment with explosives in the southeastern town of Ikot Abasi.
(Reuters, 6/3/07)
2007 Jun 3, Hamas militants
wounded four Israeli soldiers in a mortar attack on a base near the
Gaza Strip, shortly after Israel's PM Ehud Olmert vowed to press ahead
with military operations against Palestinian gunmen.
(AP, 6/3/07)
2007 Jun 3, President Vladimir
Putin warned that Moscow could take "retaliatory steps" if Washington
proceeds with plans to build a missile defense system for Europe,
including possibly aiming nuclear weapons at targets on the continent.
(WSJ, 6/4/07, p.A1)
2007 Jun 3, A severe landslide has
nearly obliterated one of Russia's most noted natural wonders, the
Valley of Geysers. A snow-covered mound collapsed "within seconds" and
caused a massive landslide, about a mile long and 600 feet wide,
burying two-thirds of the valley.
(AP, 6/5/07)
2007 Jun 3, In Sierra Leone a
helicopter ferrying passengers to the main airport crashed, bursting
into flames and killing 22 people, mostly Togo soccer fans.
(AP, 6/4/07)(AP, 6/5/07)
2007 Jun 3, A suicide car bomber
drove through a roadblock guarding the home of the Somali prime
minister and rammed the vehicle into a wall. PM Ali Mohamed Gedi was
whisked to safety, but at least five people were killed in the
explosion.
(AP, 6/3/07)
2007 Jun 3, Turkish troops shelled
a border area in northern Iraq in an attack on Kurdish rebels based
there.
(AP, 6/3/07)
2007 Jun 3, Pope Benedict XVI
named four new saints from France, Malta, the Netherlands and Poland at
a ceremony in St. Peter's Square. Among those honored was Sister Marie
Eugenie de Jesus Milleret, a French nun who in 1839 founded the
Religious of the Assumption to educate young girls; the Rev. George
Preca of Malta, who founded the Society of Christian Doctrine in 1932
as a group of lay people who teach the faith to others; the Rev. Szymon
z Lipnicy of Poland, a Franciscan monk who comforted Poles afflicted by
the plague that broke out in Krakow from 1482-83 and died of it
himself; and the Rev. Charles of St. Andrew (Dublin), who was born
Karel Van Sint Andries Houben in the Netherlands in 1821.
(AP, 6/3/07)
2007 Jun 4, President Bush left on
an eight-day European trip that included a Group of Eight (G8) summit
in Germany.
(AP, 6/4/08)
2007 Jun 4, Two US military judges
dismissed charges against a Guantanamo detainee accused of chauffeuring
Osama bin Laden and another who allegedly killed a US soldier in
Afghanistan. Salim Ahmed Hamdan of Yemen and Omar Khadr, a Canadian who
was 15 when he was arrested on an Afghan battlefield, were the only two
of the roughly 380 prisoners at Guantanamo charged with crimes under a
reconstituted milita