Timeline 2009 October - December
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2009 Oct 1, David
Letterman, late-night TV talk show host, admitted in an extraordinary
monologue before millions of viewers that he had sexual relationships
with female employees, after a CBS News employee tried to extort $2
million from him. A person with knowledge of the investigation said the
suspect is Robert J. Halderman.
(AP, 10/2/09)
2009 Oct 1, The 19th annual Ig
Nobel Prizes were awarded at Harvard. The physics prize went to a study
of why pregnant women don’t tip over. The chemistry prize was awarded
to scientists who turned tequila into diamonds. The veterinary medicine
prize was given for finding that cows that have names make more milk
than those who remain anonymous. The medicine prize went to a physician
who, for fifty years, cracked the knuckles on only his left hand to
test his mother’s contention that knuckle-cracking causes arthritis.
(http://tinyurl.com/yc5pndy)
2009 Oct 1, A new Walt Disney
Family Museum opened to the public in the Presidio of San Francisco.
(SFC, 10/2/09, p.E2)
2009 Oct 1, Mattel planned to
release its Mindflex toy, which allowed users to lift a ball and send
it through an obstacle course using brain control interface technology.
(SSFC, 9/6/09, p.A8)
2009 Oct 1, In California
operators at the Friant Dam began releasing pulses of water in a move
to rewet the San Joaquin riverbed in preparation for reintroducing
salmon species beginning next year. The dam, completed in 1944, had
turned 64 miles of the river into a dusty trench.
(SFC, 10/1/09, p.A1)
2009 Oct 1, In Afghanistan an
American died when Taliban militants fired rocket-propelled grenades at
a patrol in eastern Afghanistan. A British airman was killed when a
bomb exploded alongside his patrol near Camp Bastion in southern
Helmand province. Afghans began cashing in on incentives, which ranged
from $50 to $10,000, for information leading to weapons caches or "the
disruption of enemy activities." By the end of the year “Operation
Jaeza” paid out nearly $200,000.
(AP, 10/2/09)(AP, 1/1/10)
2009 Oct 1, Britain’s Serious
Fraud Office announced that it would seek prosecution of defense
equipment firm BAE Systems over alleged corruption involving contracts
with European and African nations.
(AFP, 10/1/09)
2009 Oct 1, Benjamin Chocat (20),
from Choisy-Le-Roi south of Paris, and his mother Christiane Chocat
(51), a councilor in Lumigny-Nesles-Ormeaux southeast of Paris, helped
to smuggle at least 13 men and 3 women in a hire van on a ferry from
Cherbourg in France to Portsmouth. The Vietnamese immigrants were
hidden behind boxes of shrimp noodles.
(AP, 1/4/10)
2009 Oct 1, In Canada Said Nomad
(36), a Moroccan citizen living in Quebec since 2003, was convicted in
Montreal of plotting attacks in Germany and Austria to get NATO nations
to withdraw troops from Afghanistan.
(SFC, 10/2/09, p.A2)
2009 Oct 1, China celebrated 60
years of communist rule with a military parade and elaborate pageantry
on Beijing's Tiananmen Square showcasing the nation's revival as a
global power. China demonstrated its new J-10 fighters and DF-31
nuclear ICBM.
(AFP, 10/1/09)(Econ, 10/3/09, p.54)
2009 Oct 1, In Indonesia rescue
workers used excavators to pull out victims from the heavy rubble of
buildings felled by the previous day’s 7.6 earthquake. The death toll
was expected to rise. The region was jolted by another powerful
earthquake, causing damage but no reported fatalities.
(AP, 10/1/09)(AP, 10/2/09)
2009 Oct 1, In Iraq an American
soldier was killed in a mortar attack at Baghdad's Camp Liberty. The
death raises to at least 4,348 members of the US military who have died
in the Iraq war since it began in March 2003, according to an
Associated Press count.
(AP, 10/2/09)
2009 Oct 1, Israeli authorities
charged an enigmatic Russian-born tycoon, who has fled the country,
with fraud and money laundering. Prosecutors said Arkady Gaydamak
conspired with senior Israeli banking executives to conceal financial
activities worth around $175 million.
(AP, 10/1/09)
2009 Oct 1, A Lebanese
businessman, Hassan Alayan, alleged that he and several hundred other
Lebanese were expelled from the United Arab Emirates country because
they refused to spy on the Shiite militant group Hezbollah and other
fellow citizens.
(AP, 10/1/09)
2009 Oct 1, In Mexico gunmen in
Ciudad Juarez opened fire on a pickup truck, killing a 22-year-old
woman as well as a 10-year-old girl playing in a city park. Hours
earlier, a city police officer was killed as she rode on a bus.
(AP, 10/2/09)
2009 Oct 1, In Nigeria Tom Ateke,
leader of Niger Delta Vigilante, an ethnic Ijaw militia group, formally
accepted an amnesty offer in a meeting with Nigerian President Umaru
Yar'Adua.
(AFP, 10/1/09)
2009 Oct 1, A Nigerian official
said 9 people died and several others were hospitalized this week
following a cholera outbreak in northern Taraba State, bringing the
death toll in the region to 97 over the last few weeks.
(AFP, 10/2/09)
2009 Oct 1, A Palestinian decision
to suspend the campaign for war crimes prosecutions was first reported
as the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva was considering a vote on the
Goldstone report. With the Palestinians out of the picture, Arab and
Muslim supporters followed suit, and the vote was deferred to March.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas faced growing outrage at home over
his decision to withdraw support for the UN report.
(AP, 10/2/09)
2009 Oct 1, Romania's coalition
government collapsed after nine ministers from the Social Democrats
quit to protest the firing of interior minister Dan Nica. Social
Democratic Party leader Mircea Geoana said the ministers resigned "in
solidarity" with Nica, who was fired by PM Emil Boc on Sep 28 over a
statement about potential fraud in the upcoming Nov 22 election.
(AP, 10/1/09)
2009 Oct 1, In Somalia fighting
between rival Islamist factions over control of Kismayo, a key port
city, killed at least 12 people, in the first concrete sign of a major
split in the Islamist alliance threatening the fragile UN-backed
government.
(AP, 10/1/09)
2009 Oct 1, In Switzerland senior
American and Iranian delegates met one-on-one during a lunch break at
seven-nation talks in Geneva. Iran brought a broad range of
geopolitical issues to the table, while the six powers, the permanent
UN Security Council members plus Germany, sought to soften Iran's
resistance to freezing its uranium enrichment program. Iran accepted a
demand to allow UN inspectors into its covertly built enrichment plant.
(AP, 10/1/09)(AP, 10/2/09)
2009 Oct 1, Venezuela's top
security official said Julio Mendez (37), an American pilot wanted in
the United States on cocaine-smuggling charges, has been turned over to
representatives of the US State Department to be taken home.
(AP, 10/1/09)
2009 Oct 1, Nestle said it will
stop buying milk from Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's wife's farm
after facing worldwide boycott threats.
(AP, 10/2/09)
2009 Oct 2, President Barack
Obama, while in Copenhagen, met with General Stanley McChrystal, the
top commander of US and NATO troops in Afghanistan, for the first time
since McChrystal presented a grim assessment of the war effort and
requesting more troops.
(Reuters, 10/2/09)
2009 Oct 2, Michael David Barrett
(48), accused of taping surreptitious nude videos of ESPN reporter Erin
Andrews, was arrested at O’Hare Airport as he arrived on a flight from
Buffalo, NY. He faced federal charges of interstate stalking for taking
the videos, trying to sell them to celebrity Web site TMZ and posting
the videos online. On March 15, 2010, Barrett was sentenced to
2½ years in prison.
(AP, 10/3/09)(SFC, 3/16/10, p.A5)
2009 Oct 2, In San Francisco the
Hardly Strictly Bluegrass 9 free music festival, financed by investment
banker Warren Hellman, opened for a 3 day session.
(SSFC, 10/4/09, p.C2)
2009 Oct 2, In southern
Afghanistan a suicide bomber struck a US convoy, killing two American
soldiers. Militants attacked a convoy of empty trucks returning to
Pakistan after delivering supplies to a NATO base in Kunar province of
eastern Afghanistan. One driver was killed, three were wounded and 13
trucks were burned. An Afghan policeman conducting a joint operation
with US soldiers opened fire on the Americans, killing two of them
before fleeing in Wardak province. A third US service member died of
wounds from a bomb attack in Wardak the day before.
(AP, 10/2/09)(AP, 10/3/09)
2009 Oct 2, An Australian woman
was sentenced to life in prison for the starvation death of her
7-year-old daughter. The woman was convicted of murder in June. Her
husband, convicted at the same time of manslaughter in his daughter's
death, was sentenced to 16 years imprisonment. The girl, known as
Ebony, weighed barely 20 pounds (9kg) when she died in November, 2007.
(AP, 10/2/09)
2009 Oct 2, In Canada "Toronto 18"
member Mohamed Dirie was sentenced to seven years in jail for his role
in a plot to bomb Toronto landmarks in 2006, the second member of the
group to be given jail time.
(AP, 10/3/09)
2009 Oct 2, Chechen forces engaged
in a 2-hour gunbattle with militants leaving 8 insurgents dead.
(SFC, 10/3/09, p.A2)
2009 Oct 2, In Denmark the IOC
opened a meeting hearing the cases led by government leaders and kings
to win the right to stage the 2016 Olympic Games. US Pres. Obama spoke
for Chicago, Japan's new PM Yukio Hatoyama spoke for Tokyo, Brazil's
President Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva spoke for Rio de Janeiro, and
Spain's King Juan Carlos and PM Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero spoke for
Spain. Brazil won the bid.
(AFP, 10/2/09)(AP, 10/3/09)
2009 Oct 2, In England a Sikh
policeman was awarded 10,000 pounds in compensation by a tribunal after
bosses ordered him to remove his turban for riot training.
(AFP, 10/2/09)
2009 Oct 2, In France Armenia's
President Serge Sarkisian started his tour of Armenian communities
worldwide amid violent protests from members of a diaspora angry over
plans to establish ties with Turkey.
(AP, 10/2/09)
2009 Oct 2, In southern India
flash floods and heavy rains killed at least 172 people in the state of
Karnataka and 50 in neighboring Andhra Pradesh. One more person was
killed in the southern seaside resort state of Goa as heavy rains
resulted in the collapse of 250 houses. Fifty of the victims drowned
when a rescue boat capsized.
(AFP, 10/3/09)(AP, 10/4/09)(AP, 10/5/09)
2009 Oct 2, A boat carrying about
100 asylum seekers left an Indonesian port bound for Australia but
never arrived. The information was made public in May, 2010, by
Australian Customs and Border Protection Service chief executive
Michael Carmody during a routine Senate inquiry into government
operations.
(AP, 5/25/10)
2009 Oct 2, Ireland voted 67% to
33% in favor of the EU's Lisbon Treaty, overturning a previous no vote
and taking a key step towards ending the 27-nation bloc's deadlock.
(AFP, 10/3/09)(Econ, 10/10/09, p.25)
2009 Oct 2, In Italy rivers of mud
unleashed by heavy rains overnight flooded parts of the Sicilian city
of Messina, leaving at least 22 people dead while sweeping away cars
and collapsing buildings. 40 people remained missing.
(AP, 10/3/09)(AP, 10/4/09)
2009 Oct 2, Hamas militants traded
a two-minute video showing an apparently unharmed Sgt. Gilad Schalit, a
captured Israeli soldier, for 19 Palestinian women held in Israeli
jails, the first tangible step toward defusing a key flashpoint in
Israeli-Palestinian hostilities.
(AP, 10/2/09)
2009 Oct 2, In Mexico gunmen
killed eight people in five separate attacks, including a state
policewoman who was shot in the head in broad daylight in a residential
area. In Ciudad Juarez at least 11 people, including two police
officers and a child, were killed over the last 24 hours. A Mexican Air
force plane crashed in President Felipe Calderon's home state of
Michoacan, killing three soldiers. Federal officials announced 2 raids
by security forces that netted the largest seizures of methamphetamine
precursor chemicals in the country's history. Agents seized 20 tons of
chemicals at Manzanillo port in the Pacific coast state of Colima and
17 tons in the border city of Nuevo Laredo, across from Laredo, Texas.
(AP, 10/2/09)
2009 Oct 2, The Central Bank of
Nigeria (CBN) sacked the managing directors of three banks which it
said were in "grave situation", seven weeks after it applied similar
sanctions to the heads of five other banks.
(AFP, 10/2/09)
2009 Oct 2, Pakistan's
paramilitary forces said that they had killed 27 more militants,
including two commanders, in Khyber.
(AP, 10/3/09)
2009 Oct 2, In Puerto Rico some
500 law officers swarmed into a public housing project and other sites
to dismantle a trafficking ring allegedly run by the island's top drug
suspect, Angel Ayala Vazquez, a man described as an aspiring Robin Hood
and a patron to reggaeton stars. Ayala, better known as "Angelo
Millones," was captured last month following a seven-year investigation.
(AP, 10/2/09)
2009 Oct 2, Somali pirates
hijacked the Alakrana, a Spanish tuna trawler, with a 36-member crew in
the Indian Ocean 415 miles (670km) from the Seychelles islands. Two
days after the hijacking, Spanish naval forces taking part in the EU
anti-piracy mission captured two suspected pirates as they tried to
travel ashore to Somalia from the Alakrana in a skiff.
(AP, 10/2/09)(AP, 11/5/09)
2009 Oct 2, Six Senegalese
soldiers were killed and three wounded in an attack near the border of
Senegal and Guinea-Bissau. The soldiers were in a vehicle returning to
their base in the southern Casamance region east of its capital
Ziguinchor when their vehicle was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade.
(AP, 10/3/09)
2009 Oct 2, In Sri Lanka a
schoolgirl (12) was killed by a car bomb in northwestern Sri Lanka that
also wounded 12 others, mostly students who were about to travel in the
vehicle.
(AP, 10/2/09)
2009 Oct 2, In southern Sudan
fighting broke out in an oil-rich area between forces loyal to an
ex-warlord and the state’s governor.
(AP, 10/2/09)(AFP, 10/3/09)
2009 Oct 3, David Headley (b.1960
as Daood Sayed Gilani), a US citizen of Pakistani descent, was arrested
in Chicago. He was suspected of doing reconnaissance for the Nov 26,
2008, Mumbai attack that killed 166 people.
(SSFC, 1/3/10,
p.D3)(www.talkleft.com/story/2009/12/7/125726/611)
2009 Oct 3, In Minnesota Somali
Pres. Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed visited Minneapolis and St. Paul and
urged expatriates to help find solutions to the violence in their
homeland. The area is home to the largest Somali population in the US.
(SSFC, 10/4/09, p.A10)
2009 Oct 3, In Afghanistan a
Taliban attack on a NATO supply convoy killed a civilian contractor
escorting the trucks. Militant fighters streaming from an Afghan
village and a mosque attacked a pair of remote outposts near the
Pakistani border in the Kamdesh district of Nuristan province, killing
8 US soldiers and 3 Afghan soldiers. 13 Afghan police and 2 journalists
were captured by the Taliban, including the local police chief and his
deputy. The bodies of five enemy fighters were found after the battle.
NATO later said enemy forces suffered more than 100 dead during the
well-coordinated defense. A roadside bomb southwest of Kabul killed a
US service member.
(AP, 10/3/09)(AP, 10/4/09)(AFP, 10/6/09)(AP, 2/5/10)
2009 Oct 3, In Ethiopia Abdi
Mohammed Awhasen, a top rebel leader in the restive Ogaden region,
surrendered. His arrest led to the seizure of some four tons of
explosive material.
(AFP, 10/17/09)
2009 Oct 3, Reinhard Mohn
(b.1921), German book publisher, died. He helped transform media group
Bertelsmann AG from a German book publisher to an international media
company. Mohn took over his family's printing and publishing business,
C. Bertelsmann Verlag, in 1947. In 1971 he helped oversee the
family-owned company's transformation into a stock corporation and
become chairman and chief executive. In 1977, he established the
Bertelsmann Stiftung foundation. Bertelsmann's 106,000 employees are
scattered across its divisions in more than 50 countries.
(AP, 10/4/09)
2009 Oct 3, An Iraqi commander
said security forces have detained more than 100 suspects in sweeps
through Mosul to try to cripple the country's last major stronghold of
Sunni insurgents.
(AP, 10/3/09)
2009 Oct 3, In Rome tens of
thousands of people gathered to defend freedom of the press accusing
Pres. Silvio Berlusconi of trying to silence critical voices.
(SSFC, 10/4/09, p.A6)
2009 Oct 3, The Israeli army
carried out airstrikes on a weapons workshop east of Gaza City and two
weapons smuggling tunnels under the Gaza-Egypt border. The strikes were
in response to one mortar shell and one rocket fired at Israel from
Gaza the day before.
(AP, 10/3/09)
2009 Oct 3, In Nigeria Farah
Dagogo, a former commander of the country's main militant group, said
that he and other field commanders in Rivers state have surrendered all
of their weapons. The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta
(MEND) said it has already replaced the commanders who have
surrendered. The group has said it would not accept an amnesty deal.
Loyalists of Government Ekpemupolo, popularly known as Tompolo, filled
up boats from the oil city of Warri and made for Oporoza camp, a
two-hour boat ride, to witness him giving up his weapons.
(AP, 10/4/09)(AFP, 10/4/09)
2009 Oct 3, In northwestern
Pakistan suspected Taliban militants fatally shot tribal elder Malik
Abdul Majeed as he traveled to discuss anti-militancy efforts with
government authorities. The dead body of a man accused of spying for
the US turned up in the Bajur tribal region. Helicopter gunships
pounded militants hide-outs in Charmang town in Bajur, killing five
insurgents. Security forces killed three militants in the Swat Valley
and arrested 16 others.
(AP, 10/3/09)(AP, 10/4/09)
2009 Oct 3, In the Philippines
Typhoon Parma cut a destructive path across the northern Philippines
killing at least 30 people and leaving more than a dozen villages
flooded, piling further misery on the Southeast Asian nation after
floods from Ketsana claimed 298 lives.
(AP, 10/4/09)(AP, 10/8/09)
2009 Oct 3-2009 Oct 4, In southern
Sudan 16 people were killed in clashes between forces loyal to an
ex-warlord and the governor's guards in oil-rich Unity State. At least
23 people were killed and more than a thousand fled their homes in
ethnic clashes over the weekend.
(AFP, 10/5/09)
2009 Oct 3, Some 2,000 people
marched across Venezuela's capital to protest what they say is the
persecution of President Hugo Chavez's opponents.
(AP, 10/3/09)
2009 Oct 4, James Jones, US
national security adviser, said on CNN that Al-Qaida has fewer than 100
fighters operating in Afghanistan.
(SFC, 10/7/09, p.A3)(http://tinyurl.com/y8kax72)
2009 Oct 4, In San Francisco
Michael Bailey (26) of Baton Rouge, La., was shot and killed after
being lured with friends at the City Nights club by a woman, who set
them up for a robbery at the Alice Griffith public housing project. On
Dec 23 prosecutors charged 5 people in the killing of Bailey. 2 of the
5 suspects were still at large.
(SFC, 10/6/09, p.C1)(SFC, 12/24/09, p.C4)
2009 Oct 4, Algerian coastguards
picked up 45 Algerian would-be migrants to Europe at three places off
the coast west of Algiers.
(AFP, 10/4/09)
2009 Oct 4, Mercedes Sosa (74),
Argentine singer, died. Her music was banned after the generals seized
power in 1976. She had released over 70 albums and turned the songs of
others into great anthems of the left.
(Econ, 10/10/09, p.42)
2009 Oct 4, Grameenphone,
Bangladesh’s largest mobile phone firm, opened the largest IPO in
Bangladesh history. It aimed to raise $70 million. It was owned by
Telenor, a Norwegian telephone company, and Grameen Telecom, a
non-profit founded by Muhammad Yunus, a pioneer of microfinance.
(Econ, 10/17/09, p.88)
2009 Oct 4, Greeks cast ballots in
a snap general election likely to produce a change in government.
Voters angered by scandals and a foundering economy were expected to
reject the conservatives in favor of the opposition Socialists.
Socialist leader George Papandreou trounced the conservatives
under PM Costas Karamanlis (53) in an election focused on rescuing the
economy. Papandreou took 44% of the vote and won 160 of 300
parliamentary seats.
(AP, 10/4/09)(AP, 10/5/09)(SFC, 10/5/09, p.A2)(Econ,
10/10/09, p.54)
2009 Oct 4, In Iraq a fuel tanker
exploded near a checkpoint outside of Baghdad International Airport,
along a route once known as the world's deadliest road because of
frequent attacks there during the height of the insurgency. The cause
of the fire was under investigation. The body of Imad Elia (45), an
employee at Kirkuk's health directorate, was found dumped in a field
south of Kirkuk. He was shot in the chest and authorities believe the
captors kept shooting into his body after he was dead. Elia was
kidnapped two days before, but his family was unable to pay the ransom
demands. At least 10 Christian families have left Kirkuk in recent
weeks, fearing kidnap-for-ransom gangs that have turned their sights on
Christians.
(AP, 10/4/09)(AP, 10/5/09)
2009 Oct 4, In Nigeria an amnesty
for militant in the Niger Delta officially expired.
(Econ, 10/24/09, p.57)
2009 Oct 4, North Korea told
visiting Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao that it was open to bilateral and
multilateral talks on its nuclear programs.
(AFP, 10/4/09)
2009 Oct 4, In Pakistan security
forces and special police battled militants in a firefight that killed
six of the insurgents, including two commanders, Noorul Amin and
Fazl-e-Rabbi. Police in Peshawar arrested Hukam Khan, a militant who
was involved in attacking and looting convoys taking supplies to US and
NATO forces in Afghanistan and recovered a substantial quantity of
stolen goods. Hakimullah Mehsud, the new leader of the Taliban in
Pakistan, met with reporters in the country's tribal areas for the
first time since winning control of the militants. Mehsud vowed to
strike back at Pakistan and the US for the increasing number of drone
attacks in the tribal areas along the border with Afghanistan.
(AP, 10/4/09)(AP, 10/5/09)
2009 Oct 4, The UAR’s official
news agency said Sheik Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the president of
the United Arab Emirates, has signed a law regulating the development
of a civilian nuclear program, clearing the way for construction of a
nuclear power plant with help from the United States.
(AP, 10/5/09)
2009 Oct 4, Pope Benedict opened a
special meeting of bishops on Africa by praising the continent as the
world's spiritual center but lamenting that it risks being afflicted by
materialism and religious fundamentalism.
(AP, 10/4/09)
2009 Oct 5, President Barack Obama
ordered the federal government, the nation's largest energy user, to
cut its greenhouse gas emissions and to reduce its impact on the
environment.
(http://news.yahoo.com/s/mcclatchy/3326813)
2009 Oct 5, Americans Elizabeth H.
Blackburn, Carol W. Greider and Jack W. Szostak won the 2009 Nobel
Prize in medicine for discovering a key mechanism in the genetic
operations of cells, an insight that has inspired new lines of research
into cancer.
(AP, 10/5/09)
2009 Oct 5, Don Hill, a former
Dallas Mayor Pro Tem, was convicted in a bribery and extortion scheme
that prosecutors called the largest in Dallas history.
(SFC, 10/6/09, p.A5)
2009 Oct 5, Drugmaker
Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. said its new diabetes drugs, Onglyza, has been
approved for sale in the European Union's 27 countries.
(AP, 10/5/09)
2009 Oct 5, Afghan election
workers began recounting ballots from the disputed Aug. 20 presidential
election, and a senior official said he expected to announce late next
week whether President Hamid Karzai had won or would face a runoff with
his main rival. One British soldier died after an explosion in southern
Afghanistan. The Afghan defense ministry said Afghan and American
forces killed 40 militants in 24 hours as they hunted in mountainous
eastern Afghanistan for insurgents behind the Oct 3 attacks.
(AP, 10/5/09)(AP, 10/6/09)
2009 Oct 5, In Belgium hundreds of
dairy farmers drove tractors into Brussels to pressure EU farm
ministers on declining milk prices, as 20 of 27 member nations called
for more protection from the volatile world market.
(AP, 10/5/09)
2009 Oct 5, The first official
history of Britain's MI5 was published, ending 100 years of secrecy
over British spying during two world wars, the Cold War and the current
fight against Islamic extremism. "The Defence Of The Realm: The
Authorized History of MI5" was written by Cambridge University
historian Christopher Andrew, who was given virtually unrestricted
access to some 400,000 files, and even joined the domestic intelligence
agency himself.
(AFP, 10/5/09)(Econ, 10/10/09, p.87)
2009 Oct 5, In Burundi 2 days of
clashes began as government forces fired live rounds in the air to
deter hundreds of Congolese refugees from returning home. Some 900
refugees had decided to return home on foot rather than be transferred
to a new camp further away from the border with Democratic Republic of
Congo.
(AFP, 10/7/09)
2009 Oct 5, In Chile 4 former top
army officials were sentenced to prison in the murder of a colonel
shortly after he testified about a 1991 illegal deal to smuggle weapons
to Croatia.
(AP, 10/6/09)
2009 Oct 5, Rafael Calderon,
former Costa Rican president (1990-1994), was convicted and sentenced
to five years in prison for embezzling funds from a Finnish loan
intended for medical equipment for public hospitals.
(AP, 10/5/09)
2009 Oct 5, Dubai's annual
property fair, the Cityscape expo, opened as a toned down event.
(AP, 10/5/09)
2009 Oct 5, It was reported that
conservative Egyptian lawmakers have called for a ban on imports of a
Chinese-made kit meant to help women fake their virginity and one
scholar has even called for the "exile" of anyone who imports or uses
it. The Artificial Virginity Hymen kit, distributed by the Chinese
company Gigimo, costs about $30. It is intended to help newly married
women fool their husbands into believing they are virgins.
(AP, 10/5/09)
2009 Oct 5, Ethiopia's President
Girma Woldegiorgis told parliament that government is aiming to achieve
double-digit economic growth in 2009. An official from the Oxfam
charity said as many as 6.2 million Ethiopians need emergency
humanitarian assistance due to severe drought.
(AFP, 10/6/09)(Reuters, 10/6/09)
2009 Oct 5, Honduras interim
President Roberto Micheletti said an emergency decree that prohibited
large street protests and limited other civil liberties following the
return of ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya "has been completely
revoked."
(AP, 10/6/09)
2009 Oct 5, In Iraq a suicide
bomber killed at least six mourners at funeral for a member of a
prominent tribe with ties to both security forces and insurgents in
Haditha, Anbar province.
(AP, 10/5/09)
2009 Oct 5, In Mexico gunmen burst
into a bar in the northern border city Ciudad Juarez and shot 5 men to
death. Soldiers arrested Eduar Vera (30), a suspect linked to at least
27 killings. In the southern state of Guerrero, gunmen killed two state
police officers in the city of Iguala.
(AP, 10/6/09)
2009 Oct 5, In Mexico efforts to
film Nobel Prize-winning author Gabriel Garcia Marquez's latest novel,
"Memories of My Melancholy Whores" (2004), met resistance as an
anti-prostitution group sought to block production, charging the movie
will promote child prostitution. The Regional Coalition Against
Trafficking in Women and Girls in Latin America and the Caribbean filed
a criminal complaint with Mexico's Attorney General's Office.
(AP, 10/6/09)
2009 Oct 5, In Pakistan a suicide
bomber disguised as a security officer struck the lobby of the UN food
agency's headquarters in Islamabad, killing five people a day after the
new leader of the Pakistani Taliban vowed fresh assaults.
(AP, 10/5/09)
2009 Oct 5, A South Korean
lawmaker, Kwon Young-se, said North Korea has received the equivalent
of about $2.2 billion under deals aimed at persuading the isolated
nation to dismantle its nuclear facilities, in what his office said is
the first accounting of the cost of the failed strategy. In addition to
the money it was given in the disarmament-for-aid deals, the North has
also received nearly 4 trillion won ($3.4 billion) of food, fertilizer
and other humanitarian aid from the US, South Korea and international
organizations over the past 10 years.
(AP, 10/5/09)
2009 Oct 5, Visiting Chinese
Premier Wen Jiabao met North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il amid efforts to
bring Pyongyang back to nuclear disarmament talks. China pledged to
strengthen bonds with isolated North Korea, calling their relationship
a boon to peace.
(AFP, 10/5/09)(Reuters, 10/5/09)
2009 Oct 5, In Thailand a train
derailed during heavy rains near the coastal city of Hua Hin, killing 7
people, including a 2-year-old girl, and injuring 88 others. A
fact-finding panel later said the deadly crash was the fault of the
driver who fell asleep after taking antihistamines and other cold
medicine.
(AP, 10/5/09)(AP, 10/13/09)
2009 Oct 5, Police in Uganda
arrested Idelphonse Nizeyimana, one of the most wanted suspects from
Rwanda's 1994 genocide. The former army captain and senior intelligence
officer and others prepared lists of Tutsi intellectuals and those in
authority before handing the lists to troops and militia who then
killed them.
(Reuters, 10/6/09)
2009 Oct 5, A UN agency said
Norway enjoys the world's highest quality of life, while Niger suffers
the lowest, as it released Human Development Index, a ranking that
highlights the wide disparities in well-being between rich and poor
countries.
(AP, 10/5/09)(http://hdr.undp.org/en/statistics/)
2009 Oct 6, Three Americans whose
research in the 1960s laid the foundation for digital images and
lightning-fast communication shared the 2009 Nobel Prize in physics for
their work developing fiber-optic cable and the sensor at the heart of
digital cameras. Charles K. Kao (75) was cited for discovering how to
transmit light signals over long distances through glass fibers as thin
as a human hair. His 1966 breakthrough led to the creation of modern
fiber-optic communication networks. Willard S. Boyle (85) and George E.
Smith (79) were honored for inventing the eye of the digital camera.
(AP, 10/6/09)
2009 Oct 6, NASA's Jet Propulsion
Laboratory (JPL) said the Spitzer Space Telescope has discovered the
biggest but never-before-seen ring around the planet Saturn. The
diffuse ring doesn't reflect much visible light and is so huge it would
take 1 billion Earths to fill it.
(AP, 10/6/09)
2009 Oct 6, The city council of
Oakland, Ca., succumbed to public pressure and rolled back
parking meter enforcement from 8 p.m. to 6 p.m. The rule had gone into
effect 3 months earlier.
(SFC, 10/7/09, p.A1)
2009 Oct 6, Afghan forces also
killed eight militants in two separate battles in Zabul and Wardak
provinces.
(AP, 10/7/09)
2009 Oct 6, Australia's central
bank unexpectedly raised interest rates by a quarter point, becoming
the first major economy to increase the cost of borrowing amid signs
its recovery from the global slump is gaining momentum.
(AP, 10/6/09)
2009 Oct 6, Hilary Mantel won the
2009 Man Booker Prize for her historical novel “Wolf Hall.” It covered
the period Henry VIII’s divorce from Catherine of Aragon and marriage
to Anne Boleyn.
(Econ, 10/10/09,
p.89)(www.themanbookerprize.com/news/stories/1291)
2009 Oct 6, In London the play
“The Power of Yes,” written by Sir David Hare, opened at the Royal
National Theater.
(Econ, 10/10/09, p.90)
2009 Oct 6, Chechnya's
Kremlin-backed leader Ramzan Kadyrov won a defamation lawsuit against a
rights activist who blamed him for the killing of a colleague whose
murder sparked international outrage. Moscow's Tverskoi district court
ordered Memorial rights group chairman Oleg Orlov to retract his
statement that Kadyrov was responsible for Natalya Estemirova's death
in 2006. Kadyrov sought 10 million rubles ($330,000) in damages, but
judge Tatyana Fedosova ruled that Memorial and Orlov should only pay
70,000 rubles ($2,300 rubles).
(AP, 10/6/09)
2009 Oct 6, In Iraq a car bomb
blew up in front of a restaurant near Fallujah and killed 9 people with
dozens more wounded.
(SFC, 10/7/09, p.A2)
2009 Oct 6, In Ireland the Rev.
Aengus Finucane (77), a Roman Catholic missionary, died. He braved the
civil war in Biafra (1967-1970) as a pioneer of Irish aid efforts
worldwide. That aid effort, initially known as Concern Africa,
shortened its name to Concern in 1970 as it gained ambitions to provide
food, medical support and education in many of the world's poorest
countries. He served as the charity's chief executive from 1981 to 1997.
(AP, 10/6/09)
2009 Oct 6, Israeli police
mobilized reinforcements from across the country to secure volatile
Jerusalem, deploying thousands of officers on city streets for fears
that two days of clashes with Palestinian protesters would escalate.
(AP, 10/6/09)
2009 Oct 6, In Kazakhstan French
President Nicolas Sarkozy scored a diplomatic coup during a visit,
overseeing an agreement to allow military hardware for French forces
fighting in Afghanistan to pass through Kazakh territory and clinching
a raft of lucrative energy deals.
(AP, 10/6/09)
2009 Oct 6, Mongolia signed a
long-awaited deal with partners Rio Tinto and Canada’s Ivanhoe Mines to
develop a $4 billion Oyu Tolgoi gold and copper mine after a heated
national debate over how to exploit the country's mineral wealth.
(AP, 10/29/09)(www.ivanhoemines.com/s/Home.asp)
2009 Oct 6, Moroccan police began
rounding up 276 young people and continued with an overnight crackdown
on juvenile delinquency in Sale, the twin town of the capital Rabat.
(AFP, 10/7/09)
2009 Oct 6, In Nepal landslides
triggered by 4 days of torrential rains killed at least 34 people in
various western districts.
(AP, 10/7/09)
2009 Oct 6, The Hamas government
banned motorcycle riders from carrying women on the back seat, the
latest in the militants' virtue campaign in Gaza.
(AP, 10/7/09)
2009 Oct 6, In Poland Mariusz
Kaminski, the head of the anti-corruption office, was charged with
abuse of power after a sting operation in which he encouraged his
agents to fabricate documents and offer bribes.
(AP, 10/6/09)
2009 Oct 6, In Spain part of the
secrecy surrounding the legal proceedings was lifted, new revelations
came out, including phone conversations that had been taped by police.
Francisco Correa, a Spanish businessman, faced jail as the alleged
kingpin in a network of corruption at the heart of the country's main
opposition group, the rightwing People's party.
(http://tinyurl.com/y9ow6cs)(Econ, 10/31/09, p.63)
2009 Oct 6, Syria held its first
ever fashion design competition, meant to encourage young Syrian
talents and local products.
(AP, 10/7/09)
2009 Oct 6, Turkish police used
water cannons, tear gas and pepper spray to disperse hundreds of
demonstrators protesting against the annual meetings of the
International Monetary Fund and World Bank held in Istanbul.
(AP, 10/6/09)
2009 Oct 6, In Yemen thousands of
activists were reported taking to the streets across the south calling
for independence, even as much of the central government's army is tied
up fighting a Shiite rebellion in the far north.
(AP, 10/6/09)
2009 Oct 7, Venkatraman
Ramakrishnan (57), Indian-born American, Yale Prof. Thomas Steitz (69)
and Israeli Ada Yonath (70)won the 2009 Nobel Prize in chemistry for
atom-by-atom mapping of the protein-making factories within cells, a
feat that has spurred the development of antibiotics. Their work on
ribosomes has been fundamental to the scientific understanding of life.
They will split the 10 million (US$1.4 million award).
(AP, 10/7/09)
2009 Oct 7, The Oakland, Ca., City
Council approved a BART plan to build a 3.2 mile extension to the
Oakland airport.
(SFC, 10/8/09, p.A1)
2009 Oct 7, Irving Penn (b.1917),
American fashion photographer, died in NYC. He began contributing to
Vogue magazine in 1943. His younger brother Arthur Penn (b.1922) gained
renown as a film director and producer.
(SFC, 10/8/09, p.A8)
2009 Oct 7, The war in Afghanistan
entered its 9th year. In eastern Afghanistan an insurgent rocket ripped
through a bus on a highway, killing two people aboard and wounding
about 25. A Spanish soldier was killed when a patrol vehicle drove over
a mine near the western town of Heart. American and Afghan forces
battled militants in neighboring Wardak province, killing a number of
insurgents.
(AP, 10/7/09)(AP, 10/8/09)
2009 Oct 7, Pedro Elias Zadunaisky
(b.1917), Argentine astronomer and mathematician, died. His
calculations helped determine the orbit of Saturn's outermost moon,
Phoebe, as well as Halley's Comet.
(AP, 10/7/09)
2009 Oct 7, The first
British-built Honda Jazz auto rolled off the assembly line after
production was switched from Japan in a move the manufacturer hopes
will end a troubled year for the factory.
(AFP, 10/7/09)
2009 Oct 7, In Colombia machine
gun-firing rebels on motorbikes attacked a prison, springing ELN
guerrilla rebel chief Gustavo Anibal Giraldo. One guard was killed and
another suffered multiple gunshot wounds in the daring midday raid,
which ended with Giraldo fleeing on the back of a motorcycle. Giraldo
was charged with kidnapping two journalists in 2003 on assignment for
the Los Angeles Times. Giraldo was also charged in a US indictment
unsealed in December with the 15-month kidnapping of a US helicopter
mechanic.
(AP, 10/7/09)
2009 Oct 7, Egypt's antiquities
department severed its ties with France's Louvre museum because it has
refused to return what are described as stolen artifacts,
(AP, 10/7/09)
2009 Oct 7, In Iraq a group of 36
Iranian opposition members were returned to Camp Ashraf, after nearly
three months in Iraqi custody and despite an ongoing effort to expel
them. A roadside bomb struck a police patrol in Jalula, Diyala
province, killing three officers. PM Nouri al-Maliki told a group of
business leaders gathered in Baghdad that Iraq's budget was strained by
the number of police and soldiers needed to protect the country.
(AP, 10/7/09)(AP, 10/8/09)
2009 Oct 7, A top Italian court
overturned a law granting Premier Berlusconi immunity from prosecution
while in office. It had been pushed through by Berlusconi's coalition
in 2008 when the premier faced separate trials in Milan for corruption
and tax fraud tied to his Mediaset broadcasting empire.
(AP, 10/8/09)
2009 Oct 7, Madagascar's opposing
political factions agreed to retain the coup leader as head of the
transitional government, but will not allow him to run in presidential
elections.
(AP, 10/7/09)
2009 Oct 7, In Nigeria the armed
Niger Delta militant group MEND dismissed a government amnesty program
as a "charade" and warned it would resume attacks on oil facilities
once its ceasefire expires next week.
(AFP, 10/7/09)
2009 Oct 7, Yasser Abed Rabbo,
Palestinian adviser to Pres. Abbas, said the Palestinian leadership
made a mistake by suspending action on a UN report on Gaza war crimes,
the first such acknowledgment after days of protests in the West Bank
and Gaza. In an apparent attempt at damage control, Abbas' government
is now backing a request by Libya to convene the UN Security Council
for an emergency session on the report.
(AP, 10/7/09)
2009 Oct 7, A Saudi court
convicted Mazen Abdul-Jawad for publicly talking about sex after he
bragged on a TV talk show about his exploits, sentencing him to five
years in jail and 1,000 lashes. The program, which aired July 15 on the
Lebanese LBC satellite channel, was seen in Saudi Arabia and
scandalized conservative viewers where such frank talk is rarely heard
in public.
(AP, 10/7/09)
2009 Oct 7, Saudi Arabia's King
Abdullah made his first visit to Syria since becoming monarch, the
strongest indication yet of thawing relations between the two rival
nations following years of tension. The 2-day talks between Abdullah
and Assad focused on the need for Arab solidarity in view of the
numerous challenges facing the Arab world.
(AP, 10/7/09)(AP, 10/9/09)
2009 Oct 7, Somali pirates in two
skiffs fired on a French navy vessel after apparently mistaking it for
a commercial boat. The French ship gave chase and captured five
suspected pirates.
(AP, 10/7/09)
2009 Oct 7, In Turkey protesters
hurled firebombs at banks and police and smashed shop windows in a
second day of protests against the International Monetary Fund.
(AP, 10/7/09)
2009 Oct 8, Herta Mueller (56) won
the Nobel Prize in literature in an award seen as a nod to the 20th
anniversary of communism's collapse. She was member of Romania's ethnic
German minority persecuted for her critical depictions of life behind
the Iron Curtain. She made her debut in 1982 with a collection of short
stories titled "Niederungen," or "Nadirs," depicting the harshness of
life in a small, German-speaking village in Romania. It was promptly
censored by the communist government. Some of her works have been
translated into English, French and Spanish, including "The Passport,"
"The Land of Green Plums," "Traveling on One Leg" and "The Appointment."
(AP, 10/8/09)
2009 Oct 8, A NYC jury convicted
Anthony Marshall (85), the son of Brooke Astor, of grand larceny and
conspiracy in a scheme to force the socialite to change her will before
she died at age 105 in 2007. Francis Morissey (66), a lawyer who worked
with Marshall, was also convicted of conspiracy and forgery. On Dec 21
Marshall was sentenced one to three years in prison.
(SFC, 10/9/09, p.A8)(SFC, 12/22/09, p.A8)
2009 Oct 8, In southern California
Damon Thompson (20) was arrested in a UCLA chemistry building shortly
after stabbing a female student in the throat. He was booked on
suspicion of attempted murder and was being held on $1 million bail.
The woman underwent surgery for multiple stab wounds at Ronald Reagan
UCLA Medical Center and was in stable condition.
(AP, 10/9/09)
2009 Oct 8, In Arizona 21 people
were taken to area hospitals with illnesses ranging from dehydration to
kidney failure after being overcome while sitting in a sweat-lodge at
the Angel Valley resort in Sedona. Kirby Brown (38) of Westtown, N.Y.,
and James Shore (40), of Milwaukee died upon arrival at a hospital. On
Oct 17 Liz Neuman (49) from Minnesota died from multiple organ damage.
The lodge was run by self-help guru James Arthur Ray. On Feb 3, 2010,
Ray was arrested on 3 counts of manslaughter.
(SFC, 10/10/09, p.A4)(SSFC, 10/11/09, p.A6)(AP,
10/18/09)(SFC, 2/4/10, p.A6)
2009 Oct 8, Dr. Robert Scott (65),
Oakland, Ca., AIDS specialist, died of a pulmonary embolism. He founded
the AIDS Project of the East Bay in 1983 and later treated AIDS
patients in Zimbabwe.
(SFC, 10/16/09, p.D7)
2009 Oct 8, In Afghanistan a
suicide car bomber detonated his vehicle outside the Indian Embassy in
the bustling center of Kabul, killing 17 people in the second major
attack in the city in less than a month. The Afghan Foreign Ministry
hinted at Pakistani involvement, a charge Pakistan denied.
(AP, 10/8/09)
2009 Oct 8, Britain's postal
workers agreed to launch a nationwide strike after months of rolling
regional strikes over pay and job security. The Communication Workers
Union said that 76% of more than 80,000 union members voted in favor of
the action. The union was required to give seven days notice before any
strike.
(AP, 10/8/09)
2009 Oct 8, In Canada Zakaria
Amara (23), described by prosecutors as the leader of a group that
planned al Qaeda-style bombings of Toronto landmarks in 2006, pleaded
guilty to bomb charges, the fifth member of the so-called "Toronto 18"
group to have admitted guilt or to have been found guilty.
(Reuters, 10/9/09)
2009 Oct 8, Leaders of the
Dominican Republic and Haiti agreed to cooperate in a campaign aimed at
eradicating the last vestiges of malaria from the islands of the
Caribbean by 2020.
(AP, 10/8/09)
2009 Oct 8, French police arrested
a nuclear physicist in Vienne on suspicion that he had links to
terrorist organizations in Algeria. The man had been working on
analysis projects with the LHCb experiment at CERN since 2003.
(AP, 10/9/09)
2009 Oct 8, French utility group
GDF Suez said it had signed a contract worth 3.0 billion dollars (2.0
billion euros) to supply electricity to subsidiaries of the Chilean
electricity company EMEL.
(AP, 10/8/09)
2009 Oct 8, In Guatemala a series
of attacks on police in Guatemala City killed two officers and wounded
three.
(AP, 10/9/09)
2009 Oct 8, In India Maoist rebels
killed 17 Indian policemen in the western state of Maharashtra, the
latest in a series of bloody assaults by the guerrillas.
(AFP, 10/8/09)
2009 Oct 8, In Indonesia
controversial tycoon Aburizal Bakrie was elected to lead the Golkar
party after the Suharto-era ruling party suffered its biggest electoral
defeat.
(AFP, 10/8/09)
2009 Oct 8, Italian Premier Silvio
Berlusconi said he will go on TV and appear in courtrooms to prove that
corruption and tax fraud charges in two trials against him are false.
(AP, 10/8/09)
2009 Oct 8, Typhoon Melor tore
through Japan's main island, peeling roofs off houses, cutting
electricity to hundreds of thousands and forcing flight cancellations
before turning back toward the sea. Two men died.
(AP, 10/8/09)
2009 Oct 8, Former Marshall
Islands president and powerful traditional chief Imata Kabua said he
was challenging the treaty negotiated between the Marshall Islands
government and the US covering the years after 2016 when the current
lease for the missile base expires. The Compact of Free Association
between the two countries approved in 2003 provides the US with use of
the Reagan Test Site at Kwajalein Atoll until 2066.
(AFP, 10/9/09)
2009 Oct 8, In Mexico unidentified
assailants kidnapped and killed the top official of the border town of
Palomas, across from New Mexico. Town Mayor Estanislao Garcia Santelis
had long complained about the drug traffickers and migrant smugglers
active around Palomas. Federal police detained Jorge Alberto Lopez
Orozco (33) on a highway in the Pacific coast state of Guerrero. He was
transported to the neighboring state of Michoacan and held on a US
extradition request. Orozco was wanted for the 2002 killings of his
girlfriend and her two young sons in Idaho. Gunmen in northern
Chihuahua state killed a soldier in an attack on army vehicles near the
hamlet of Colonia LeBaron. Five men and seven women were detained.
(AP, 10/9/09)(AP, 10/10/09)
2009 Oct 8, Nigerian officials
said more than 8,000 militants who laid down arms in the troubled oil
hub have so far been registered and that the number could double when
the documentation is complete. The grand total was later thought to
exceed 15,000.
(AFP, 10/8/09)(Econ, 10/24/09, p.57)
2009 Oct 8, Romania unveiled a
monument in memory of some 300,000 Jews and Gypsies killed during the
Holocaust in the country, which at times denied that the extermination
even happened.
(AP, 10/8/09)
2009 Oct 9, The Nobel Peace Prize
was awarded to US President Barack Obama.
(AP, 10/9/09)
2009 Oct 9, Stephen Pechenik (78),
the president of a San Antonio company, pleaded guilty to charges that
he conspired to receive and sell petroleum stolen from Mexico's oil
giant, Petroleos Mexicanos, or Pemex. He was the 4th Texas oil
executive to plead guilty to felony charges of conspiring to receive
and sell stolen petroleum condensate. Much of the Mexican oil rustling
was traced to the Zetas, a criminal group founded by former military
commandos.
(SFC, 12/15/09, p.A26)(http://tinyurl.com/yjs42ms)
2009 Oct 9, Playboy magazine said
Marge Simpson, the blue beehived (cartoon) matriarch of America's most
loved dysfunctional family, is Playboy magazine's November cover.
(Reuters, 10/10/09)
2009 Oct 9, NASA smacked two
spacecraft into the lunar south pole in a search for hidden ice.
Instruments confirm that a large empty rocket hull barreled into the
moon at 7:31 a.m., followed four minutes later by a probe with cameras
taking pictures of the first crash.
(AP, 10/9/09)
2009 Oct 9, Afghan and
international forces killed nine Taliban in a firefight in eastern
Wardak province. 2 Polish soldiers were killed when their vehicle hit a
roadside bomb also in Wardak province. Four others were wounded.
(AP, 10/10/09)
2009 Oct 9, In Algeria 10
suspected Islamists and 3 soldiers were killed in a fierce gunbattle
near the Great Erg, the world's largest sand dune, when a convoy of
heavily armed militants was attacked by the Algerian army.
(AP, 10/10/09)
2009 Oct 9, In Brazil Wallace
Souza, a former police officer and TV crime show host accused of
commissioning killings to boost ratings, turned himself in to
authorities in Manaus and was jailed on homicide and drug trafficking
charges.
(AP, 10/9/09)
2009 Oct 9, Burkina Faso's
environment minister, at the opening of a special forum on climate
change, said Africa needs 65 billion dollars (44 billion euros) to deal
with the effects of global warming.
(AFP, 10/9/09)
2009 Oct 9, Czech Rep. Pres.
Vaclav Klaus set out his terms for signing the Lisbon Treaty, demanding
an exemption to protect Prague from post-war property claims and
safeguard the sovereignty of the judiciary.
(Reuters, 10/10/09)
2009 Oct 9, In the Dominican Rep.
dozens of citizens wearing flip-flops and swim suits and carrying
coolers and surfboards soaked in the sun outside Congress to protest a
proposal they say will limit public access to beaches and rivers.
President Leonel Fernandez and opposition leader Miguel Vargas
Maldonado supported the amendment that guaranteed the right to private
property along beaches and rivers, without giving any reasons.
(AP, 10/10/09)
2009 Oct 9, Egypt's top Islamic
cleric said that students and teachers will not be allowed to wear face
veils in classrooms and dormitories of Sunni Islam's premier institute
of learning, al-Azhar, part of a government effort to curb radical
Islamic practices.
(AP, 10/9/09)
2009 Oct 9, France's culture
minister agreed to return painted wall fragments to Egypt after a row
over their ownership prompted the country to cut ties with the Louvre
Museum.
(AP, 10/9/09)
2009 Oct 9, In Haiti 11 UN
peacekeepers were killed when a CASA C-212 surveillance flight slammed
into a mountain. The victims were Uruguayan and Jordanian troops
serving with the 9,000-strong UN peacekeeping force that has been in
Haiti since 2004.
(AP, 10/10/09)
2009 Oct 9, In Hungary contestants
showed off breast implants, nose jobs and face lifts as Miss Plastic
Hungary 2009 strove to promote the benefits of plastic surgery.
(AP, 10/10/09)
2009 Oct 9, Indonesian police
raided a house near the capital, shooting dead suspected
al-Qaida-linked militants Syaiffudin Djaelani and his brother, Mohamad
Syahrir, wanted in the suicide bombings of luxury hotels in Jakarta.
Djaelani was believed to have recruited two young bombers for the July
17 strikes on the J.W. Marriott and Ritz-Carlton.
(AP, 10/9/09)(Reuters, 10/12/09)
2009 Oct 9, Amnesty Int’l. said
Mohammad Reza Ali Zamani (37) was the first person to be sentenced to
death in connection with the unrest in Iran following the disputed
June12 elections. He was convicted of “enmity against God” through
membership in a group that seeks the end of the Islamic Republic and
the establishment of a monarchy.
(SFC, 10/10/09, p.A2)
2009 Oct 9, In Iraq Jamal Humadi,
a Sunni cleric who denounced insurgents in Iraq, was killed north of
Baghdad when a bomb tore through his car, the second such attack
against religious officials in as many weeks.
(AP, 10/9/09)
2009 Oct 9, Japanese officials
said they have obtained rights to develop platinum mines in South
Africa and Botswana in a bid to ensure a stable supply of the metal.
The government-backed Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corp. (JOGMEC)
said it has signed a contract with Discovery Metals in Australia to
jointly develop nickel and platinum mines in northeast Botswana. It has
also inked another deal with Canadian firm Platinum Group Metals to
explore for platinum in South Africa.
(AFP, 10/9/09)
2009 Oct 9, In Mexico the
mutilated body of state official Rogelio Sanchez, who authorities said
was suspected of giving fake driver's licenses to drug gang members,
was found hanging from a bridge in the border city of Tijuana. Sanchez
was kidnapped Oct 7 as he left his home in Tijuana. Police in the
Pacific coast state of Guerrero found the bodies of 10 men, all
apparently shot to death. Signs left next to the bodies read: "This is
what is going to happen to all thieves and extortionists.” In rural
western Jalisco state four suspects were killed and 17 arrested in an
hours-long gun battle between members of a criminal gang and soldiers
and police.
(AP, 10/9/09)
2009 Oct 9, Myanmar's detained
opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi was granted a rare meeting with top
Western diplomats to discuss sanctions imposed on the military-ruled
nation.
(AFP, 10/9/09)
2009 Oct 9, In southeastern
Nigeria some 70-80 people died when a petroleum tanker truck exploded
and set nine other vehicles alight on a road. At least five minibuses
packed with up to 18 passengers each and two cars were incinerated by
the fireball. The truck had toppled and leaked into a deep pothole and
then exploded after a car crashed into it.
(Reuters, 10/10/09)
2009 Oct 9, In Pakistan a massive
suicide car bomb ripped through a packed market in Peshawar, killing 53
people, including 9 children, and injured over 100. The government
vowed to launch a new offensive in Waziristan in the wake of the
massive bombing.
(AFP, 10/9/09)(AP, 10/11/09)
2009 Oct 9, In the northern
Philippines driving rain on the heels of back-to-back storms triggered
dozens of landslides across, burying more than 225 people, washing away
villages and leaving almost an entire province under water.
(AP, 10/9/09)(AP, 10/10/09)
2009 Oct 9, Vyacheslav Ivankov
(69), a Russian crime boss who spent nearly 10 years in a US prison,
died in a Moscow hospital, two months after being shot several times
coming out of a restaurant on July 28. He was arrested by the FBI in
1995 and convicted of trying to extort millions of dollars from an
investment firm run by Russian emigres in New York. He was extradited
to Russia from the US in 2004 to face murder charges, but was acquitted.
(AP, 10/9/09)
2009 Oct 9, In Somalia an Islamist
spokesman says gunmen have killed Ahmed Abdurahamn Odawa, aka
"Taliban," a senior member of Somalia's insurgency in Mogadishu.
Odawa's bodyguard and a nearby civilian were also killed. Three people
were killed and six injured in a separate incident in the central
Somali village of Bacda. 6 masked men used machetes to carry out
amputations on three young men accused of robbery by a Somali Islamist
court in Kismayo.
(AP, 10/9/09)(AP, 10/10/09)
2009 Oct 9, Jacques Chessex
(b.1934), one of French-speaking Switzerland's leading novelists and
the first non-Frenchman to receive the prestigious Prix Goncourt, died.
He was honored in 1973 with the Prix Goncourt literary award for his
novel "L'ogre" ("The Ogre"), a largely autobiographical account of a
difficult father-son relationship.
(AP, 10/10/09)
2009 Oct 9, The US Peace Corps’
country director in Turkmenistan said the Central Asian nation has
denied entry to 47 Peace Corps volunteers. A diplomatic note from the
embassy said that they would be invited next year, but not for this
year.
(AP, 10/9/09)
2009 Oct 9, In Vietnam a judge in
Haiphong sentenced 9 activists up to six years for hanging democracy
banners and other acts against the state, prompting tears and
condemnation from relatives. Some of the activists were linked to an
outlawed pro-democracy grouping called Bloc 8406. Nguyen Xuan Nghia
(60), the alleged leader of six activists, received the heaviest
penalty of six years in prison followed by three years of house arrest.
(AFP, 10/9/09)(Econ, 10/17/09, p.55)
2009 Oct 10, Christy Harp of
Jackson township, Ohio, won the Ohio Valley Giant Pumpkin Growers
annual weigh-off with a world record 1,725-pound Atlantic giant pumpkin.
(SSFC, 10/11/09, p.A14)
2009 Oct 10, In Idaho a bus
carrying a high school marching band went off of I-15 killing one adult
and injuring several students.
(SSFC, 10/11/09, p.A9)
2009 Oct 10, In Louisiana 2 Cessna
150s, each carrying 2 people, collided near Pineville Regional Airport,
killing 2 and injuring 2.
(SSFC, 10/11/09, p.A6)
2009 Oct 10, In Afghanistan a
roadside bomb killed the district police chief and district governor of
Shah Khil in Paktika province. A US service member died of wounds
suffered in a bombing in southern Afghanistan. In Helmand province the
Afghan army killed four insurgents in Garmser district. In eastern
Khost province, a police car was struck by a roadside bomb but none of
its passengers was injured. However, shrapnel also hit a nearby car,
killing a 12-year-old girl and wounding three other civilians.
(Reuters, 10/10/09)(AP, 10/10/09)(AFP, 10/11/09)
2009 Oct 10, Argentina's Senate
overwhelmingly approved a law that transformed the nation's media
landscape. President Cristina Kirchner said she would sign it
immediately. The new law preserved two-thirds of the radio and TV
spectrum for noncommercial stations, and required channels to use more
Argentine content. It also forced Grupo Clarin, the country's leading
media company, to sell off many of its properties.
(AP, 10/10/09)
2009 Oct 10, Armenia and Turkey
signed a deal in Switzerland to establish diplomatic ties ending a
century of enmity. To take effect, the agreements must be ratified by
the Turkish and Armenian parliaments, but it faced stiff opposition in
both countries.
(AP, 10/11/09)
2009 Oct 10, British police in
fluorescent jackets stood between hundreds of anti-Islam protesters and
anti-racist counter-demonstrators in Manchester, arresting 48 people in
a bid to keep the peace.
(AP, 10/10/09)
2009 Oct 10, In Cambodia an
overloaded river ferry capsized on its way to a Buddhist ceremony in
Kratie province, killing 17 passengers in a tributary of the Mekong
River.
(AP, 10/11/09)
2009 Oct 10, China, Japan and
South Korea held a 3-way summit in Beijing.
(Econ, 10/10/09, p.43)
2009 Oct 10, A Chinese court
sentenced a man to death for his role in the June 26 toy factory brawl
that sparked riots in western Xinjiang region that left almost 200
dead. Xinhua News said Xiao Jianhua was given death and Xu Qiqi was
given life in prison on charges of intentionally harming others. Their
names suggest they are members of the Han majority.
(AP, 10/10/09)
2009 Oct 10, Ethiopian PM Meles
Zenawi accused Eritrea of sowing havoc in the region as Addis Ababa
reiterated calls for sanctions over Asmara's alleged support for
Somalia's rebels.
(AP, 10/10/09)
2009 Oct 10, The French military
fired on pirates in the Indian Ocean to protect two tuna fishing
vessels.
(Reuters, 10/10/09)
2009 Oct 10, In Guatemala City
gunmen opened fire on a patrol car killing one police officer and
wounding 3 others. Assailants attacked another squad car hours later in
the capital, wounding three officers.
(AP, 10/12/09)
2009 Oct 10, Honduras' interim
leaders put in place new rules that threatened broadcasters with
closure for airing reports that "attack national security," further
restricting media freedom following the closure of two opposition
stations.
(AP, 10/10/09)
2009 Oct 10, Iran’s ISNA
news agency reported that 3 defendants in the mass trial of opposition
figures accused of fueling the country's postelection unrest have been
sentenced to death. Two of them were convicted of membership in a
monarchist group seeking to topple Iran's Islamic Republic and restore
a monarchy. A third defendant was convicted of having ties to a
terrorist group for his alleged links to the People's Mujahedeen.
(AP, 10/10/09)
2009 Oct 10, It was reported that
local Iraqi authorities have outlawed alcohol in the province of Najaf,
home to the holiest Shiite city, saying it contradicts the principles
of Islam. The Najaf provincial council's decision followed a similar
measure taken in August by authorities in Basra.
(AP, 10/10/09)
2009 Oct 10, Japan said it has
suspended beef shipments from an American meatpacking plant after
finding cattle parts banned under an agreement to prevent the spread of
mad cow disease. The suspension only affected Tyson's factory in
Lexington, Nebraska, one of 46 meatpacking plants approved to export
beef to Japan.
(AP, 10/10/09)
2009 Oct 10, Madagascar's outgoing
prime minister refused to quit, endangering a power-sharing agreement
brokered by mediators to keep peace on the island. Monja Roindefo said
he does not acknowledge the mediators' appointment on Oct 6 of Eugene
Mangalaza as a prime minister in the transitional government. Members
of the transitional government confirmed Eugene Mangalaza.
(AP, 10/10/09)(AP, 10/11/09)
2009 Oct 10, Mexico’s President
Felipe Calderon dispatched over 1,000 federal policemen to occupy the
offices of Luz y Fuerza del Centro, the state-owned electricity
distributor for Mexico City and its surroundings. The Federal
Electricity Commission, which provides service to the rest of the
country, took over for Luz y Fuerza, which had been established in 1994
by presidential decree. The company’s fat salaries and pensions cost
the government some $3 billion a year and lost 30% of its power thru
illicit connections and technical failures.
(Econ, 10/17/09, p.50)
2009 Oct 10, In Pakistan 5
militants took hostages after they and about four other assailants
attacked the army headquarters in Rawalpindi, killing six soldiers,
including a brigadier and a lieutenant colonel.
(AP, 10/11/09)
2009 Oct 10, Polish President Lech
Kaczynski signed the EU’s reform treaty, the Lisbon Treaty, into law,
leaving the Czech Republic as the only country still to ratify the
document.
(Reuters, 10/10/09)
2009 Oct 10, Stephen Gately (33),
a singer with the Irish boy band Boyzone, died while visiting Spain’s
island of Mallorca. He made headlines a decade ago when he came out as
gay. An autopsy revealed that he died of excess fluid in his lungs due
to acute pulmonary edema.
(AP, 10/11/09)(AFP, 10/13/09)
2009 Oct 10, Zimbabwe's central
bank chief said the government has frozen Nestle's local accounts and
ordered an audit after Nestle stopped buying milk from a farm owned by
President Robert Mugabe's wife.
(AP, 10/11/09)
2009 Oct 11, Thousands of gay and
lesbian activists marched from the White House to the Capitol,
demanding that President Barack Obama keep his promises to allow gays
to serve openly in the military and allow same-sex marriages.
(AP, 10/11/09)
2009 Oct 11, Afghan and US forces
killed 16 insurgents in an overnight operation in eastern Kunar
province.
(AFP, 10/11/09)
2009 Oct 11, In eastern Bangladesh
Rasu Miah (40), who was being questioned about a theft, surprised a
court by confessing to killing 11 women in the past three years after a
woman refused to marry him. Miah told a magistrate in his home town of
Chandpur that 15 years ago he decided to kill at least 101 women after
a woman he loved refused to marry him.
(AP, 10/12/09)
2009 Oct 11, In Brazil an intense
fire broke out in a slum in Sao Paulo, South America's largest city,
sending residents running across rooftops to escape the flames.
(AP, 10/12/09)
2009 Oct 11, Alan Peters (76),
British master furniture maker, died.
(Econ, 11/7/09, p.80)
2009 Oct 11, Chinese state media
reported that more than 50,000 people in southern Guangdong province
are suffering from water shortages as a spreading drought has left
farmers' fields dry and cracked.
(AFP, 10/11/09)
2009 Oct 11, In Iraq a series of
bombings killed at least 19 people and wounded 60 in Ramadi, Anbar
province.
(AP, 10/11/09)
2009 Oct 11, The Irish National
Liberation Army (INLA), an IRA splinter group responsible for some of
the most notorious killings of the Northern Ireland conflict, renounced
violence and signaled it could hand over weapons soon to disarmament
officials.
(AP, 10/11/09)
2009 Oct 11, Pakistani commandos
freed dozens of hostages held by militants at the army's own
headquarters in Rawalpindi, ending a bloody, 22-hour drama that
embarrassed the nation's military as it plans a new offensive against
al-Qaida and the Taliban. The standoff killed 23 people including 9
militants and 14 others. 42 hostages were freed. The military launched
two airstrikes on suspected militant targets in South Waziristan,
ending a five day lull in attacks there and killing at least five
militants.
(AP, 10/11/09)(AP, 10/12/09)
2009 Oct 11, In the southern
Philippines 6 gunmen, believed to be Islamic militants, kidnapped
Michael Sinnott, a 78-year-old Irish priest near Pagadian. They later
demanded $2 million for his release. Sinnott was freed on Nov 12. Irish
and Filipino authorities said neither country paid any of the
kidnappers' $2 million ransom demand.
(AFP, 10/11/09)(AP, 10/31/09)(AP, 11/12/09)
2009 Oct 11, The United Russia
party won an overwhelming victory in more than 7,000 local elections in
75 of Russia's 83 regions. In Moscow, the party won all but three seats
on the 35-member city council. United Russia served as a power base for
PM Vladimir Putin, who has not ruled out a return to the presidency in
2012.
(AP, 10/14/09)
2009 Oct 11, The Russian Soyuz
capsule carrying Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberte and two other
space travelers landed safely in Kazakhstan, ending the entertainment
tycoon's mirthful space odyssey.
(AP, 10/11/09)
2009 Oct 11, Four Sudanese who
face the death penalty for killing a US diplomat dismissed their
defense team, denounced the trial as political and labeled the United
States murderers of Muslims. John Granville (33), who worked for the US
Agency for International Development, and his driver, Abdelrahman Abbas
Rahama (39), were killed Jan 1, 2008.
(Reuters, 10/11/09)
2009 Oct 11, In Thailand thousands
of supporters of deposed PM Thaksin Shinawatra, all in red shirts,
rallied in Bangkok to demand the government step down and call fresh
elections.
(AP, 10/11/09)
2009 Oct 11, Turkish PM Erdogan
called on Armenia to withdraw from the disputed enclave of
Nagorno-Karabakh, saying that a deal to establish diplomatic ties,
signed a day earlier, cannot come into force until that happens.
(AP, 10/11/09)
2009 Oct 11, Pope Benedict XVI
canonized five new saints, including Father Damien, a 19th-century
priest who worked with leprosy patients on a Hawaiian island; Zygmunt
Szcezesny Felinski, a 19th-century Polish bishop who defended the
Catholic faith during the years of the Russian annexation; Spaniards
Francisco Coll y Guitart, who founded an order of Dominicans in the
19th century, and Rafael Arniaz Baron, who renounced an affluent
lifestyle at age 22 to live a humble life in a strict monastery and
dedicate himself to prayer; and Jeanne Jugan (d.1879), a French nun,
who helped found the Little Sisters of the Poor.
(AP, 10/11/09)
2009 Oct 11, In Venezuela 12 men
were kidnapped from a field where they were playing soccer. On Oct 25
the bodies of 10 of the men, most of them Colombians, were found with
multiple spots in western Tachira state. A single survivor, Manuel
Cortez (19) of Colombia, was shot in the neck.
(AP, 10/26/09)
2009 Oct 12, Americans Elinor
Ostrom (b.1933) and Oliver Williamson (b.1932) won the Nobel economics
prize for their work in economic governance. Ostrom, the first woman to
win the Nobel prize for economics, specialized in the study of common
resource pools.
(AP, 10/12/09)(Econ, 10/17/09, p.92)
2009 Oct 12, Don Young of Des
Moines, Iowa, won the 39th Half Moon Bay Art & Pumpkin Festival
with his 1,658-pound pumpkin. It broke the year-old record of 1,528
pounds. His first prize of $9,948 came out to $6 per pound. The world
record had just been set on Oct 10 in Ohio by a 1,725-pound Atlantic
giant pumpkin.
(SFC, 10/13/09, p.C1)(SSFC, 10/11/09, p.A14)
2009 Oct 12, In SF Eric Buschman
(49) was stabbed to death on the 300 block of Athens Street in the
Excelsior District. On Oct 22 police arrested Charlie Fonilloa Sekona
(20), man who had been put into a mental health program for assaulting
a Costco worker, as a suspect. Police believed the stabbing was random.
(SFC, 10/24/09, p.C1)
2009 Oct 12, Afghanistan's
election watchdog changed its fraud-tallying rules for the second time
in less than a week, switching back to a formula that lowers the chance
of overturning President Hamid Karzai's first-round win. Under the new
rules the commission will not take into account which candidate it
finds benefited most from any fraud. One of the two Afghans on the
UN-backed commission looking into vote fraud in the August presidential
election resigned, citing interference by foreigners.
(Reuters, 10/12/09)
2009 Oct 12, Britain’s PM Gordon
Brown announced on Monday a 16-billion-pound sale of state assets
including a rail link between London and the Channel Tunnel to cut
soaring debt caused by economic crisis.
(AFP, 10/12/09)
2009 Oct 12, A court in China's
far western Xinjiang region sentenced six men to death for murder and
other crimes committed during ethnic riots that killed nearly 200
people. A seventh man was given life imprisonment.
(AP, 10/12/09)
2009 Oct 12, Yoani Sanchez, a
Cuban blogger, was denied government permission to travel to New York
to receive a top journalism prize. She has become an international
sensation for offering frank criticism of her country's communist
system. In May Cuban authorities had denied Sanchez permission to fly
to Madrid to accept the Ortega y Gasset Prize in digital journalism for
creating her Generation Y blog (2007), which gets more than 1 million
hits a month. Around the same time, Time magazine deemed Sanchez one of
the world's 100 most influential people.
(AP, 10/12/09)
2009 Oct 12, Gabon's
constitutional court said Ali Bongo, the son of the country's longtime
dictator, won the Aug. 30 presidential elections that opposition
candidates said were fraudulent.
(AP, 10/13/09)
2009 Oct 12, In Italy Mohamed Game
(35), a Libyan, hurled a home-made bomb at the Santa Barbara police
barracks in Milan, losing his hand from the blast and slightly wounding
a policeman on duty outside. Game had lived in Italy since 2003 and had
never been a suspect. Italian police detained two more suspects and
found a large quantity of bomb-making chemicals during overnight
searches.
(AFP, 10/12/09)(AP, 10/13/09)
2009 Oct 12, North Korea
test-fired five short-range missiles off its east coast and banned
ships from the area from October 10-20.
(AFP, 10/12/09)
2009 Oct 12, In Pakistan a teenage
suicide car bombing targeting troops killed 45 people, including 6
security people, in northwest Shangla district as the Taliban
pledged to mobilize fighters across the country for more strikes.
(AP, 10/12/09)(Econ, 10/17/09, p.34)
2009 Oct 12, Russian PM Vladimir
Putin landed in China in an effort to bolster energy, political and
military ties between the former rival nations turned strategic
partners.
(AP, 10/12/09)
2009 Oct 12, In Senegal cyclist
Frank Vandenbroucke (34) was on holiday when he was found dead in his
room. Belgian cycling officials said his death was caused by a lung
embolism. Vandenbroucke won the weeklong Paris-Nice spring race in 1998
and the Liege-Bastogne-Liege classic a year later before his career was
marred by a doping scandal.
(AP, 10/14/09)
2009 Oct 12, A Sudanese court
sentenced 4 Islamists to death for a 2nd time for the murder of a US
diplomat John Granville and his driver in Khartoum last year. The
sentencing came after the mother of John Granville, who worked with the
US Agency for Int’l. Development (USAID), and the wife of driver Abdel
Rahman Abbas both demanded the men be executed.
(AFP, 10/12/09)
2009 Oct 12, Syria's Pres. Bashar
Assad issued a decree banning smoking in public places, joining an
anti-smoking trend already under way in other Arab countries. The
decree will go into effect in six months and ban smoking in
restaurants, cafes, cinemas, theaters, schools, official functions and
on public transport. Offenders will be fined 2,000 Syrian pounds, about
$45.
(AP, 10/12/09)
2009 Oct 12, The United Arab
Emirates' highest court convicted an American citizen on
terrorism-related charges amid claims that torture was used to extract
a confession. The court sentenced Naji Hamdan (43) to 18 months in
prison, but he should be freed soon because the sentence counts time
served and he was detained last year. Hamdan was arrested in the UAE in
August 2008 and charged in June 2009 with supporting terrorism, working
with terrorist organizations and being a member of a terrorist group.
(AP, 10/12/09)
2009 Oct 12, In Venezuela
thousands of people congregated for candlelit rituals on a remote
mountainside where adherents make an annual pilgrimage to pay homage to
an indigenous goddess known as Maria Lionza. The traditions, hundreds
of years old, draw on elements of the Afro-Caribbean religion Santeria
and indigenous rituals, as well as Catholicism. Believers often ask for
spiritual healing or protection from witchcraft, or thank the goddess
for curing an illness.
(AP, 10/13/09)
2009 Oct 12, Nestle said its
Zimbabwe banking is back to normal just days after newspapers reported
that the government froze their accounts and ordered an audit after the
company stopped buying milk from a farm owned by President Robert
Mugabe's wife.
(AP, 10/12/09)
2009 Oct 13, It was reported that
the FBI has begun using facial-recognition technology on millions of
motorists comparing driver’s license photos with pictures of convicts.
The project in North Carolina had already helped nab at least one
suspect.
(SFC, 10/13/09, p.A6)
2009 Oct 13, The Missouri Dept. of
Revenue sent letters to 140 yoga and Pilates telling them they must
collect sales tax on fees for their classes and services.
(SFC, 11/5/09, p.A8)
2009 Oct 13, American
International Group said it would sell its Taiwan unit for 2.15 billion
US dollars as the insurance giant raised money to pay off a huge US
government bail-out loan.
(AP, 10/13/09)
2009 Oct 13, Record one-day rain
fell in the SF Bay area with 2.64 inches recorded in San Francisco. It
was the worst October storm since 1962 and knocked out power for
193,000.
(SFC, 10/14/09, p.A1)
2009 Oct 13, Montana wildlife
commissioners shut down gray wolf hunting in backcountry adjacent to
Yellowstone National Park after 9 wolves were killed in recent weeks.
The statewide quota was kept at 75.
(SFC, 10/14/09, p.A4)
2009 Oct 13, In Ohio a woman being
driven around in a rented limousine pulled up at a Burlington coat
store and announced she'd won the lottery and would pay for everyone's
purchases. Linda Brown (44) ended up causing a riot when customers
realized it was a hoax. When the limousine driver realized he wasn't
going to be paid the $900 Brown owed him for the day's rental, he
turned her in to police.
(AP, 10/15/09)
2009 Oct 13, China and Russia
signed a framework agreement that could see a steady flow of natural
gas to energy-hungry China from its resource-rich neighbor.
(AP, 10/13/09)
2009 Oct 13, China’s Xinhua state
news agency said 968 children in central China have tested positive for
lead poisoning in the latest environmental scandal to erupt in the
nation's smelting industry. Residents in Jiyuan city, Henan province,
had protested over pollution from three local smelters last month.
(AFP, 10/13/09)
2009 Oct 13, Activists from Congo,
Rene Ngongo (48), and New Zealand, Alyn Ware (47), and an
Ethiopia-based doctor from Australia, Catherine Hamlin (85), won the
Right Livelihood Award, also known as the "alternative Nobel," for work
to protect rain forests, improve women's health and rid the world of
nuclear weapons. The honorary part of the award, without prize money,
went to Canadian environmentalist David Suzuki (73) for raising
awareness of climate change. Each will receive euro50,000 (US$74,000).
(AP, 10/13/09)
2009 Oct 13, A report by a
coalition of 84 organizations said more than 1,000 civilians have been
killed and nearly 900,000 displaced in eastern Congo by Rwandan Hutu
militiamen and Congolese forces since January.
(AP, 10/13/09)
2009 Oct 13, French soldiers in
the Indian Ocean opened fire on pirates, warding off an attack on two
French tuna fishing vessels off the Seychelles Islands.
(AP, 10/13/09)
2009 Oct 13, A German court
convicted two men of supporting a radical Islamic group with links to
al-Qaida and sentenced them to prison terms. It sentenced Omid
Shirkhani, a German of Afghan background, to two years and nine months
in prison; and co-defendant Huseyin Ozgun, a Turk, to a year and two
months. The court found that both had links to Adem Yilmaz, a Turk
living in Germany who is currently on trial over plans to attack US
targets in Germany.
(AP, 10/13/09)
2009 Oct 13, Guinea's military
government said it has signed a $7 billion mining agreement with a
Chinese company. Guinea is the world's largest producer of bauxite, the
raw material used to make aluminum, and also produces diamonds and gold.
(AP, 10/13/09)
2009 Oct 13, Iraqi lawmakers
approved the return of a limited number of British troops to Iraq to
help protect the country's southern oil ports, an area where Iraq is
lagging in its ability to provide security. The Iraqi Human Rights
Ministry released a report as part of a larger study on the country's
human rights situation, saying 85,694 people were killed from 2004-08,
and 147,195 were wounded during the same period that followed the
US-led invasion. UNESCO said drought has forced more than 100,000
people in northern Iraq to abandon their homes since 2005, with 36,000
more on the verge of leaving.
(AP, 10/13/09)(AP, 10/14/09)
2009 Oct 13, Rev. Franklin Graham,
the son of veteran US evangelist Billy Graham, arrived in North Korea
to deliver aid to the impoverished country more than six months after
the isolated regime kicked out all American humanitarian groups.
Franklin Graham served as the head of the Billy Graham Evangelistic
Association and the aid agency Samaritan's Purse, which have provided
more than $10 million in aid to the North since 1997.
(AP, 10/13/09)
2009 Oct 13, Pakistani jets bombed
militant targets in the main insurgent stronghold along the Afghan
border ahead of an expected ground offensive there. Helicopter gunship
attacks killed 26 insurgents in Bajur. Terrorists fired 31 rockets" at
a convoy of security forces in South Waziristan.
(AP, 10/13/09)
2009 Oct 13, Palestinian President
Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party accepted Egypt's plan for separate signings
of a reconciliation deal with Hamas after the Islamist group balked at
attending a unity ceremony.
(Reuters, 10/13/09)
2009 Oct 13, A rocket fired by
Palestinian militants hit southern Israel.
(AP, 10/14/09)
2009 Oct 13, Romania's government
fell in a confidence vote in Parliament. Lawmakers said it failed to
improve the economy after going into recession following 3 years of
growth. A total of 254 parliamentary deputies and senators voted to
oust PM Emil Boc, more than the 236 needed, and 176 voted against.
Under the constitution it was up to Pres. Traian Basescu to name a new
prime minister.
(AP, 10/13/09)
2009 Oct 13, In Saudi Arabia a
shootout between Saudi security forces and al-Qaida militants near, two
of whom were disguised as women and wearing explosives belts, left two
of the militants and a soldier dead near the southern Yemen border. One
of the assailants, Abdullah Hassan Tali Assiri, was captured. The two
al-Qaida militants killed were planning to carry out a massive attack.
6 Yemeni accomplices. who were coordinating with the two militants,
Youssef al-Shihri and Raed al-Harbi, were later arrested.
(AP, 10/14/09)(AP, 10/18/09)
2009 Oct 13, In South Africa
police fired tear gas and rubber bullets, wounding several protesters
demanding better sanitation, electricity and housing in impoverished
black townships. Tires burned and rubbish littered the streets of
Standerton, 150 km (90 miles) south-east of Johannesburg, and shops
were closed after thousands of people marched on the municipal offices
in the town from nearby Sakhile township.
(Reuters, 10/13/09)
2009 Oct 14, President Barack
Obama called for a second round of $250 stimulus payments for seniors,
veterans, retired railroad workers and people with disabilities. The
payments would be equal to about a 2% increase for the average Social
Security recipient, who will not receive a cost of living increase next
year. Obama visited New Orleans and listened to continued fallout from
Hurricane Katrina.
(AP, 10/15/09)(SFC, 10/16/09, p.A16)
2009 Oct 14, US Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton wrapped up a European tour by calling on Russia to
uphold human rights and prevent attacks on activists who challenge the
Kremlin.
(AP, 10/14/09)
2009 Oct 14, The IRS filed a lien
with the Alameda County recorder’s office naming Oakland, Ca., Mayor
Ron Dellums (73), who failed to pay taxes over a 3-year period. A lien
was also filed in Washington, DC, on Oct 22, where Dellums and his wife
owned a house in the Foxhall Crescent neighborhood.
(SFC, 11/4/09, p.A1)
2009 Oct 14, In San Francisco a
Safeway truck flopped across 4 lanes of the upper Bay Bridge at the new
s-curve, tying up traffic for hours. The CHP had already logged 20
accidents eastbound on the curve and 8 accidents westbound since it
opened on Sep 8.
(SFC, 10/14/09, p.A1)
2009 Oct 14, Bruce Wasserstein
(b.1947), CEO of Lazard Lt., died. He took Lazard Freres. & Co.
public (2005) and became CEO of the company in May 2005.
(SFC, 10/15/09,
p.C2)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruce_Wasserstein)
2009 Oct 14, Armenian President
Serzh Sarkisian arrived in Turkey to attend a World Cup football game
as the two nations pressed ahead with painstaking efforts to overcome a
bloody history.
(AFP, 10/14/09)
2009 Oct 14, British PM Gordon
Brown ordered hundreds more troops to Afghanistan, pledging to bolster
the international effort on the condition that Britain's allies also do
their fair share to support the war effort. He said Britain's overall
contribution would rise to 9,500 troops, an increase of about 500.
(AP, 10/14/09)
2009 Oct 14, A security summit
between China, Russia and their Central Asian neighbors wrapped up in
Beijing with vague promises to deepen economic cooperation but no
public mention of regional flashpoints like Afghanistan.
(Reuters, 10/14/09)
2009 Oct 14, A hot air balloon
crashed in a southern Chinese resort town with dramatic limestone
formations, killing four Dutch tourists.
(AP, 10/14/09)
2009 Oct 14, The Democratic
Republic of Congo said it had agreed with Angola to halt tit-for-tat
expulsions of each other's citizens as victims told of being subjected
to brutal rapes and lootings when they were thrown out by Luanda.
(AFP, 10/14/09)
2009 Oct 14, In Iraq a government
spokesman said the PM has suspended classes and banned political
activities at one of Baghdad's leading universities following student
protests on campus. Attacks took place in Baghdad and the holy Shiite
city of Karbala, where three bombs exploded near simultaneously. At
least 12 people were killed and more than 50 wounded.
(AP, 10/14/09)(AP, 10/15/09)
2009 Oct 14, Israeli military
aircraft struck two smuggling tunnels along the Gaza Strip border in
response to a rocket fired by Palestinian militants the previous day.
Gaza health officials said four people were slightly injured in the
attack.
(AP, 10/14/09)
2009 Oct 14, Israel's foreign
minister has ordered ministry officials to summon Turkey's ambassador
in Israel and protest to him over a Turkish TV series that reportedly
portrays Israeli soldiers murdering children.
(AP, 10/14/09)
2009 Oct 14, Mexico’s Supreme
Court ruled that the governor of southern Oaxaca state is responsible
for rights abuses during 2006 protests that paralyzed Oaxaca and left
least a dozen people dead.
(AP, 10/14/09)
2009 Oct 14, Pakistani jets
pounded suspected militant hide-outs along the Afghan border. Officials
said some 200,000 civilians have fled South Waziristan in anticipation
of an expected military offensive. Estimates of the population there
hover around 500,000.
(AP, 10/14/09)
2009 Oct 14, In Paraguay human
rights activists gained access to a dictatorship-era military archive
that appears to contain long-held secrets about Paraguay's persecution
of opponents during Alfredo Stroessner's 1954-1989 rule.
(AP, 10/14/09)
2009 Oct 14, In Puerto Rico labor
unions called for an island-wide strike and a march near the capital to
protest government layoffs in Puerto Rico, where more than 20,000
public employees have been dismissed as the island struggles to pull
out of a three-year recession.
(AP, 10/15/09)
2009 Oct 14, In South Korea Rev.
Sun Myung Moon (89) married thousands of couples in the Unification
Church's largest mass wedding in a decade and potentially the last for
the leader. More than 20,000 people gathered at Sun Moon University
campus in Asan, south of Seoul, for the "blessing ceremony" while some
20,000 more joined simultaneous ceremonies in the US, Brazil, Australia
and elsewhere. The spectacle came as Moon, the church's controversial
founder, moved to hand day-to-day leadership over to his 3 sons and
daughter.
(AP, 10/14/09)
2009 Oct 14, Dozens of Russian
lawmakers staged a rare walkout from parliament to protest what they
and independent monitors describe as rigged local elections across
Russia.
(AP, 10/14/09)
2009 Oct 14, It was reported that
Swiss researchers have found that Alpine glaciers melting under the
impact of climate change are releasing highly toxic pollutants that had
been absorbed by the ice for decades.
(AFP, 10/14/09)
2009 Oct 14, A Zimbabwe court
ordered ministerial nominee Roy Bennett, a close aide to PM Morgan
Tsvangirai, back to jail until his terrorism trial begins next week.
Bennett was accused of possessing arms for the purposes of banditry,
terrorism and inciting acts of insurgency.
(AFP, 10/14/09)
2009 Oct 15, Pres. Obama visited
San Francisco for a Democratic Party fundraiser.
(SFC, 10/16/09, p.A1)
2009 Oct 15, Prosecutors in San
Francisco filed a mail-fraud charge against Roberto Heckscher (55),
owner of Irving Bookkeeping and Taxes on Irving Street, alleging that
he began operating a Ponzi scheme in 1979 that defrauded investors of
over $20 million.
(SFC, 10/16/09, p.D4)
2009 Oct 15, In Colorado the
flight of a home-made helium balloon touched off a frantic rescue
attempt for the young boy thought to be aboard. It was later determined
to have been a publicity-seeking hoax. On Nov 13 parents Richard and
Mayumi Heene pleaded guilty to charges related to the hoax. In late
December a judge sentenced Richard Heene to 90 days in jail, including
60 days of work release that will let him pursue work as a construction
contractor while doing his time. Mayumi Heene was sentenced to 20 days
in jail.
(Reuters, 10/19/09)(SFC, 11/13/09, p.A8)(AP,
12/23/09)(SFC, 12/24/09, p.A4)
2009 Oct 15, A US warship seized
about four tons of hashish being transported aboard a boat off the Horn
of Africa. The guided missile cruiser USS Anzio stopped the skiff after
a brief chase in the Gulf of Aden.
(AP, 10/20/09)
2009 Oct 15, Colleen R. LaRose
(46), a self-described "Jihad Jane," was arrested in Philadelphia.
LaRose was later accused, in an indictment filed March 9, 2010, of
actively recruiting fighters, as well as agreeing to murder Swedish
artist Lars Vilks, marry a terrorism suspect so he could move to Europe
and martyr herself if necessary.
(AP, 3/10/10)
2009 Oct 15, Two F-16 planes
collided around 8:30 p.m. about 40 miles off Folly Beach, near
Charleston, SC. One jet, piloted by Capt. Lee Bryant, landed safely at
Charleston Air Force Base. The missing plane was piloted by Capt.
Nicholas Giglio.
(AP, 10/16/09)
2009 Oct 15, Google Inc. said it
is launching a new online service for booksellers next year called
Google Editions, which will let readers buy books and read them on
gadgets ranging from cell phones to possibly e-book devices.
(AP, 10/15/09)
2009 Oct 15, It was reported that
the Taj network, funded by the National Science Foundation, now
connects India, Singapore, Vietnam and Egypt to the larger Global Ring
Network for Advanced Application Development (GLORIAD) global
infrastructure, and "dramatically improves existing US network links
with China and the Nordic region," according to an NSF statement.
(www.livescience.com/technology/091015-global-gloraid-taj-cyber-net.html)
2009 Oct 15, In Palo Alto, Ca.,
the body of Jennifer Schipsi (29) was found in a rented cottage on the
900 block of Addison Ave. Bulos “Paul” Zumot (36), her on-and-off
boyfriend was arrested on Oct 19 on charges of murder and setting a
fire to cover the slaying.
(SFC, 10/21/09, p.D4)
2009 Oct 15, In southern
Afghanistan 4 American troops died in a bombing, as a UN-backed panel
completed most of its investigation into whether the level of fraud in
the August presidential election would require a runoff.
(AP, 10/16/09)
2009 Oct 15, The far-right British
National Party agreed to change its constitution to let nonwhite people
become members.
(AP, 10/15/09)
2009 Oct 15, China’s Premier Wen
Jiabao said that China intends to strengthen its cooperation with Iran,
an indication Beijing would oppose growing calls in the West for
additional sanctions against the Islamic regime for its nuclear program.
(AP, 10/15/09)
2009 Oct 15, A Chinese court
handed out a further three death sentences to people convicted of
violent crimes during ethnic rioting in far western Xinjiang region in
July in which almost 200 people died. The court also sentenced three
defendants to suspended death sentences, which could be commuted to
life sentences in two years. At least two of those sentenced were Han
Chinese. The others all appeared to be Uighurs.
(Reuters, 10/15/09)
2009 Oct 15, Top EU and South
Korean trade officials signed a free trade deal which the EU said could
boost trade between the two by euro19 billion ($28 billion).
(AP, 10/15/09)
2009 Oct 15, A French court turned
down a bid by Fabienne Justel, a 39-year-old widow, to retrieve her
late husband's frozen sperm in order to have his child by insemination
in another country. A French law prohibited post-mortem insemination.
(AFP, 10/15/09)
2009 Oct 15, Iraq’s PM Nouri
al-Maliki warned Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan to stop conducting
military operations across Iraq's northern border targeting Kurdish
rebels and stressed that Iraq's sovereignty can not be violated. The
two met in Baghdad and were to sign agreements boosting economic ties
between their countries. A roadside bomb struck an Iraqi army patrol in
Baghdad, killing one Iraqi soldier.
(AP, 10/15/09)
2009 Oct 15, Italy and NATO denied
a newspaper report that the Italian intelligence secretly paid the
Taliban thousands of dollars to maintain peace in an area in
Afghanistan that was under Italian control. The Times of London had
just reported that Italy had paid "tens of thousands of dollars" to
Taliban commanders and warlords in the Surobi district. It accused Rome
of failing to inform its allies about the payments and of misleading
the French, who took over the Surobi district in mid-2008, into
thinking the area was quiet and safe. An ambush of the French in a
mountain pass on Aug. 18, 2008, was the biggest single combat loss for
international forces in Afghanistan in more than three years.
(AP, 10/15/09)
2009 Oct 15, Libya freed 88
Islamists with Al-Qaeda links from Abu Slim prison in Tripoli. Lawyers
said "45 members of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG) and 43
members of other jihadist groups were freed thanks to the efforts of
the Islamic Foundation," in a joint statement with the Foundation,
headed by Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi's son Seif al-Islam.
(AFP, 10/15/09)
2009 Oct 15, In Mexico some 33,000
people marched to protest President Felipe Calderon's weekend decision
to disband Luz y Fuerza, a public electricity company that provided
electricity to Mexico City and the surrounding area. Police officers
found the decapitated bodies of 9 men in an abandoned pickup truck on a
highway in the drug-plagued Mexican state of Guerrero.
(AP, 10/16/09)
2009 Oct 15, Nigeria’s central
bank said ex-vice president Atiku Abubakar is among more than 600
debtors owing five troubled banks some 450 billion naira (2.96 billion
dollars, 2 billion euros). Abubakar, who was deputy to former president
Olusegun Obasanjo (1999-2007), owed Spring Bank 111.15 million naira
(731,490 dollars, 491,592 euros). The CBN also listed billionaire
tycoon Aliko Dangote (52) and Mohammed Buba Marwa, Nigeria's ambassador
to South Africa, as major debtors.
(AFP, 10/15/09)
2009 Oct 15, Nigeria's most
high-profile armed group MEND threatened to resume attacks on the
country's oil sector when a unilateral ceasefire lapses at midnight.
(AFP, 10/15/09)
2009 Oct 15, In Pakistan teams of
gunmen launched coordinated attacks on three law enforcement facilities
in the eastern city of Lahore killing 18 people including 11
insurgents. A car bombs hit northwest Kohat killing 11 people,
including 3 police officers and 8 civilians. Another car bomb in
Peshawar killed 10 people, mostly women and children. A total of 39
people were killed in the escalating wave of anti-government violence.
A suspected US missile strike killed 4 alleged militants.
(AP, 10/15/09)(SFC, 10/15/09, p.A4)
2009 Oct 15, In Paraguay Fidel
Zavala, a wealthy rancher, was kidnapped by the guerrilla group, known
as the EPP for its initials in Spanish. It soon demanded $5 million for
his release, purportedly to finance what the band calls a revolutionary
movement for the poor. Zavala was released following a ransom payment
after 94 days.
(AP, 1/12/10)(Econ, 5/15/10, p.42)
2009 Oct 15, A Philippine military
tribunal acquitted 11 officers of plotting a foiled Feb, 2006, coup
against President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.
(AP, 10/15/09)
2009 Oct 15, In Puerto Rico
thousands of demonstrators swarmed the financial hub of San Juan,
blocking highways and setting fires in the streets of the capital to
protest massive layoffs of government workers. Gov. Luis Fortuno has
said the dismissal of more than 20,000 public employees was necessary
to close a $3.2 billion deficit and pull the economy out of a 3-year
recession.
(AP, 10/15/09)
2009 Oct 15, South African police
fired rubber bullets at residents in Diepsloot, a poor settlement north
of Johannesburg, injuring 19 people protesting poor living standards.
The protests have spread from Standerton, about 90 miles (150km)
southeast of Johannesburg, to at least four other towns in eastern
South Africa this week.
(AP, 10/15/09)
2009 Oct 15, The Syrian-based
leadership of the militant Palestinian Hamas said it has rejected an
Egyptian-mediated proposal to reconcile with the rival Fatah group.
Hamas and seven other Damascus-based Palestinian factions issued a
joint statement saying the reconciliation plan must be revised to
include a reference to the Palestinian right to resist Israeli
occupation.
(AP, 10/15/09)
2009 Oct 15, Turkish police
detained over 30 suspects allegedly linked to Al-Qaida, saying they
were planning to stage attacks on NATO facilities as well as US and
Israeli missions.
(SFC, 10/16/09, p.A2)
2009 Oct 16, President Barack
Obama signed a 7.5 billion dollar aid package for Pakistan after the US
Congress acted to placate critics in the strife-torn nation who warned
it violated Pakistani sovereignty. The aid legislation insisted that
the civilian government of Pakistan control the army.
(AFP, 10/16/09)(Econ, 1/2/10, p.33)
2009 Oct 16, US federal
prosecutors unveiled a broad criminal case against billionaire hedge
fund manager Raj Rajaratnam, head of Galleon Partners in Manhattan, and
5 others accused of netting over $20 million by trading based on
insider information. Investigators had used wiretaps to gain evidence.
(SFC, 10/17/09, p.D1)
2009 Oct 16, Two US civil and
constitutional rights groups called for Keith Bardwell, a justice of
the peace in Louisiana, to resign for refusing to issue a marriage
license to an interracial couple. Bardwell held that most interracial
marriages failed and had told the couple to go seek another justice of
the peace.
(SFC, 10/17/09, p.A4)
2009 Oct 16, In Daly City, Ca., a
5-day event to help struggling borrowers drew thousands to the Cow
Palace to the Save the Dream tour sponsored by the Neighborhood
Assistance Corp. of America, a non-profit aimed at helping people
modify their home loans.
(SFC, 10/17/09, p.A1)
2009 Oct 16, Bank of America Corp.
said it lost more than $2.2 billion in the third quarter as loan losses
kept rising, providing further evidence that consumers are still
struggling to pay their bills. The nation's second-largest bank said it
wrote down loans on its books by almost $10 billion during the
July-September period, up almost $1 billion from the second quarter.
(AP, 10/16/09)
2009 Oct 16, Four Afghans,
including at least two civilians, died during a firefight between
militants and a joint international-Afghan force in Ghazni province.
IED bomb attacks claimed the lives of 3 US soldiers. An air strike
killed 20 militants in Urgun district, in southern Paktika province. 5
militants were killed in an Afghan army commando operation in the
Gereshk district of Helmand province. In Sangin district, also in
Helmand, one Afghan soldier was killed and another injured during a
small-arms attack.
(AP, 10/16/09) (AP, 10/17/09)
2009 Oct 16, In Australia 5 Muslim
men were convicted of plotting the country’s largest terrorist
conspiracy as part of a bid to force the government to change its
policy on Middle East conflicts. The men, aged 25-44, were arrested in
a series of raids on their homes in 2005. On Feb 15, 2010, the 5 men
were sentenced to 23 to 28 years in prison for stockpiling explosive
chemicals and firearms for terrorist attacks on unspecified targets.
(AP, 10/16/09)(AP, 2/15/10)
2009 Oct 16, Bosnia's war crimes
court jailed Milorad Trbic (51), a former Serb army captain, for 30
years for killing dozens and taking part in the persecution and
detention of thousands during the July, 1995, Srebrenica massacre of
some 8,000 Muslims. The court acquitted Trbic of genocide charges due
to lack of evidence.
(Reuters, 10/16/09)
2009 Oct 16, Botswana held
parliamentary elections. On Oct 18 the independent electoral commission
announced that the governing party, which has been in power for more
than four decades, once again swept the elections. The Botswana
Democratic Party (BDP) won 45 out of the 57 seats. This paved the way
for legislators to select incumbent President Seretse Ian Khama to
continue as leader of the world's largest diamond-producing country.
(AP, 10/18/09)
2009 Oct 16, Queen Elizabeth II
formally opened Britain's new Supreme Court in a ceremony attended by
several US Supreme Court justices.
(AP, 10/16/09)
2009 Oct 16, Canada detained the
rusting merchant vessel named Ocean Lady, believed to be trying to
smuggle 76 migrants from Sri Lanka onto its Pacific coast at Vancouver
Island.
(Reuters, 10/17/09)
2009 Oct 16, In China former
university professor and judge Guo Quan was sentenced to 10 years in
prison for "subversion of state power" by a court in eastern Jiangsu
Province.
(AP, 10/17/09)
2009 Oct 16, The European
Commission called for sharp cuts in cod quotas, up to 25% in some
areas, saying the prized fish is sliding toward commercial extinction
in several historic Atlantic fishing grounds.
(AP, 10/16/09)
2009 Oct 16, French farmers
struggling with slumping grain prices blanketed the Champs-Elysees with
bales of hay and set them ablaze, and blocked highways around the
country as they demanded government help.
(AP, 10/16/09)
2009 Oct 16, In Guinea 2 cabinet
ministers resigned and France urged its citizens to leave the former
French colony as armed attacks increased in the aftermath of a bloody
rally last month where soldiers fired on pro-democracy demonstrators.
(AP, 10/16/09)
2009 Oct 16, In southern India a
blaze erupted at a fireworks warehouse in Pallipat near Chennai,
killing at least 32 people and injuring 10 others as millions of Hindus
prepared to celebrate Deepavali, the festival of lights.
(AP, 10/17/09)
2009 Oct 16, In northern Iraq a
suicide bomber opened fire on worshippers during prayers at a mosque in
Tal Afar and then blew himself up after running out of ammunition,
killing at least 15 people. 65 were wounded in the attack. A government
aide said Mohammed al-Dayni, a Sunni lawmaker accused of being an
insurgent ringleader, has been detained in Malaysia.
(AP, 10/16/09)(AP, 10/17/09)
2009 Oct 16, Eight countries
called on Tokyo to allow divorced foreign parents access to their
children living in Japan and to sign a treaty against international
parental child abductions.
(AFP, 10/16/09)
2009 Oct 16, Kosovo's authorities
said they have demarcated a disputed border with Macedonia, a scene of
tensions in the past.
(AP, 10/16/09)
2009 Oct 16, Libya's Oea newspaper
said Saif al-Islam, the reform-minded son of Libyan leader Muammar
Gaddafi, has been named overall coordinator of a grouping of the
country's most influential tribal, political and business leaders.
(Reuters, 10/16/09)
2009 Oct 16, A Mexican government
report said the use of cocaine doubled in Mexico over the last six
years, partly because the drug became more available in the country.
The Mexican navy enacted new rules prohibiting sailors from shooting at
vehicles that try to evade land checkpoints unless they are fired on or
feel that their lives or others' are in danger.
(AP, 10/17/09)
2009 Oct 16, Nigeria’s anti-graft
agency EFCC arrested two sacked bank chiefs and a senior stockbroker
for alleged fraud running into several millions of dollars. EFCC said
the former managing director of Bank PHB, Francis Atuche, Charles Ojo
of Finbank and Peter Ololo of Falcon Securities would be prosecuted for
alleged fraud and granting loans without collateral.
(AFP, 10/17/09)
2009 Oct 16, In northern Nigeria
the toll in a cholera outbreak rose to 149 with 52 more deaths
recorded. The disease was first reported on September 10 in Gwoza local
government on the border with Cameroon from where it spread to six
other districts.
(AFP, 10/16/09)
2009 Oct 16, The girlfriend of a
Northern Ireland police officer was slightly injured when a bomb
exploded under her car in Belfast, sparking fears of a resurgence of
violence here.
(AP, 10/16/09)
2009 Oct 16, In northwestern
Pakistan 3 suicide attackers, including a woman, attacked a police
station in Peshawar city, killing 13 people, including 3 police
officers, 2 women and 2 children. Army airstrikes killed a dozen
suspected militants in South Waziristan ahead of an expected ground
offensive.
(AP, 10/16/09)
2009 Oct 16, A Russian court
sentenced an army sergeant to nine years in jail for passing on
information to Georgia during the time of its war with Russia.
Aleksandar Georgijevic, a Serbian national, was jailed for 8 years for
attempting to collect information on a number of Russian military
projects in 1998.
(Reuters, 10/16/09)
2009 Oct 15, Somali pirates seized
the Kota Wajar, a Singapore-flagged container ship, in the Indian Ocean
about 300 miles (480km) north of the Seychelles islands.
(AP, 10/17/09)
2009 Oct 16, A top southern
Sudanese official said former enemies in north and south Sudan have
reached agreement on details for a key referendum on the south’s full
independence. Clashes broke out in the remote border region between
southern Sudan and north-west Kenya. At least three Kenyan soldiers
were reported killed in cross border raids. An officer was killed when
security forces tracked down raiders in south Darfur, shooting dead two
of the attackers in an exchange of fire. Two officers were killed a day
earlier as up to four men raided a guesthouse in the south Darfur town
of Kass.
(AFP, 10/16/09)(AFP, 10/17/09)(Reuters, 10/17/09)
2009 Oct 16, The UN Human Rights
Council voted to endorse a Gaza war crimes report and send it to the
Security Council, possibly setting up international prosecution of
Israelis and Palestinians accused of war crimes.
(AP, 10/16/09)
2009 Oct 16, Zimbabwe PM Morgan
Tsvangirai suspended cooperation with President Robert Mugabe's
"dishonest and unreliable" camp but said he will not quit the unity
government. The snub was sparked by the renewed detention of
Tsvangirai's top aide Roy Bennett.
(AFP, 10/16/09)
2009 Oct 17, In Oakland, Ca., 3
people died when their car flipped during a sideshow in the early
hours. The Nissan in the crash was said to have been in a hyphy train,
like a conga line on wheels with cars weaving and speeding in unison.
(SSFC, 10/18/09, p.C3)
2009 Oct 17, In Brazil drug
traffickers shot down a police helicopter during a gunbattle between
rival gangs. The weekend gang fight in Rio de Janeiro left 3 police
officers killed, and continued into the week leaving at least 32 people
dead.
(SSFC, 10/18/09, p.A8)(AP, 10/21/09)(AP,
10/22/09)(Econ, 10/24/09, p.42)
2009 Oct 17, In Iraq a suicide
bomber driving a dynamite-laden truck destroyed a key bridge on a
highway used by the departing US military outside Ramadi. An attack on
an Iraqi army convoy just outside of the city of Fallujah killed four
Iraqi soldiers and wounded 14. Attackers threw hand grenades at an
Iraqi army patrol near Kirkuk, killing two civilians and wounding two
others. In Mosul 2 policemen and one civilian were killed in three
unrelated incidents.
(AP, 10/17/09)
2009 Oct 17, The West Africa
regional bloc ECOWAS imposed an arms embargo against Guinea, accusing
the ruling military junta for "mass human rights violations" during
anti-government protests last month.
(AP, 10/17/09)
2009 Oct 17, In Honduras ousted
President Manuel Zelaya said negotiations over the coup are in
"suspense" after the rival factions rebuffed each other's proposals and
his foreign minister called the internationally brokered talks a
failure.
(AP, 10/17/09)
2009 Oct 17, Members of the
Maldives' Cabinet donned scuba gear and used hand signals at an
underwater meeting staged to highlight the threat of global warming to
the lowest-lying nation on earth.
(AP, 10/17/09)
2009 Oct 17, Mexican police in
Tijuana found a man's nude, mutilated body hung by the neck from an
expressway overpass, the 2nd such grisly discovery in 9 days. Police
reported finding the mutilated body of a woman in a reservoir in
another part of Tijuana. The woman's hands and head were missing. A
shootout between gunmen and police killed one officer and a gunman and
wounded two policemen. Tijuana investigators found five assault rifles
and vests with federal prosecutors' insignia in three vehicles thought
used by the attackers.
(AP, 10/17/09)
2009 Oct 17, It was reported that
an increasing number of children in Africa are being accused of
witchcraft by pastors of evangelical Christianity and then tortured or
killed, often by family members. Pastors were involved in half of 200
cases of "witch children" reviewed by the AP, and 13 churches were
named in the case files. Campaigners against the practice said around
15,000 children have been accused in two of Nigeria's 36 states over
the past decade and around 1,000 have been murdered.
(AP, 10/17/09)
2009 Oct 17, More than 30,000
Pakistani soldiers launched a ground offensive against al-Qaida and the
Taliban's main stronghold along the Afghan border, in the country's
toughest test yet against a strengthening insurgency. The operation was
expected to last around two months. At least 11 suspected insurgents
were killed in jet bombings, while a bomb hit a security convoy,
killing one soldier and wounding three others. 4 soldiers were killed
and 12 wounded in exchanges of fire elsewhere in the region. The plan
was to capture and hold an area where an estimated 10,000 insurgents
were headquartered and reinforced with about 1,500 foreign fighters,
most of them of Central Asian origin.
(AP, 10/17/09)
2009 Oct 17, In the Philippines a
propeller-driven plane on a test flight crashed and burst into flames
in a suburb of Manila, killing at least four people onboard.
(AP, 10/17/09)
2009 Oct 17, In Puerto Rico gunmen
opened fire into a bar in Toa Baja shortly before midnight and killed
seven people, injuring 20 others. On Oct 27 Wilfredo Semprit Santana,
the owner of the bar, was arrested and charged with drug trafficking.
(AP, 10/18/09)(AP, 10/27/09)
2009 Oct 17, In Spain a huge crowd
rallied in Madrid against a bill to ease restrictions on abortion, a
vivid and emotional show of how the issue remains sensitive two decades
after abortion was legalized in this traditionally Roman Catholic
country.
(AP, 10/17/09)
2009 Oct 17, In western Sudan 3
peacekeepers were wounded, two of them seriously, when their vehicle
came under fire in the Darfur region.
(AFP, 10/17/09)
2009 Oct 17, In Thailand some
17,000 "Red Shirt" supporters of Thaksin Shinawatra rallied in Bangkok
to pressure the Thai government over their petition seeking a royal
pardon for the fugitive former prime minister.
(AP, 10/17/09)
2009 Oct 18, Jasper Howard (20), a
University of Connecticut football player, was stabbed to death during
a fight outside a school-sanctioned dance. John William Lomax III was
charged with murder and conspiracy to commit assault in connection with
Howard's death. Another man, Hakim Muhammad (20) was charged with
conspiracy to commit assault. Lomax’s lawyer later said his client was
trying to break up the fight and was not involved in the stabbing.
(AP, 10/19/09)(AP, 10/28/09)
2009 Oct 18, Amazon Chief Almir
Surui (35), unveiled a project in partnership with Google, to make
public the encroachment of illegal mining and logging on his people’s
600,000 acre reserve in Brazil. Almir was evacuated for his safety to
the US in 2006. Eleven chief of the Surui and neighboring tribes have
been shot and killed this decade.
(SSFC, 10/18/09, p.A1)
2009 Oct 18, In Afghanistan
Taliban fighters attacked a NATO convoy in western Badghis province. 6
Taliban were killed including a local commander in Bala Murghab
district. In southern Uruzgan province clashes with Afghan and
international forces left eight Taliban dead and three wounded. One US
service member was killed in an improvised explosive device (IED)
attack in the south.
(AFP, 10/18/09)
2009 Oct 18, In Australia Jessica
Watson (16) steered her bright pink, 10-meter yacht out of Sydney
Harbor to start her bid to become the youngest person to sail solo and
unassisted around the world. Her decision sparked a debate in Australia
about whether someone so young should be allowed to try such a
potentially dangerous feat. She completed her voyage on May 15, 2010.
(AP, 10/18/09)(AP, 5/15/10)
2009 Oct 18, Representatives of
the world's biggest carbon polluters began two days of informal talks
in London to map out common ground 50 days before a key UN climate
conference in Copenhagen.
(AFP, 10/18/09)
2009 Oct 18, China reported that
authorities have started resettling 330,000 people in central Hubei and
Henan provinces to make way for a massive project to divert water
hundreds of miles to cities in its arid north. The estimated $62
billion water diversion could be nearly three times as expensive as the
Three Gorges Dam, the world's largest hydroelectric project.
(AP, 10/18/09)
2009 Oct 18, The EU used the
world's biggest book fair in Frankfurt to launch the EU Bookshop's
digital library, making more than 50 years of documents in about 50
languages available for free on the Internet. The files dated back to
1952 when six countries created the High Authority of the Coal and
Steel Community, the EU's precursor.
(AFP, 10/18/09)
2009 Oct 18, In Iran a suicide
bomber killed 5 senior commanders of the elite Revolutionary Guard, 10
other members of the Guard and at least 27 others in an area of the
southeast that has been at the center of a simmering Sunni insurgency.
The dead included the deputy commander of the Guard's ground force,
Gen. Noor Ali Shooshtari, as well as a chief provincial Guard commander
for the area, Rajab Ali Mohammadzadeh. A militant group from Iran's
Sunni Muslim minority called Jundallah, or Soldiers of God, claimed
responsibility. Jundallah, made up of Sunnis from the Baluchi ethnic
minority, is also found in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
(AP, 10/18/09)(AP, 10/22/09)
2009 Oct 18, In Iraq a bomb
attached to a motorcycle exploded near a popular cafe in a largely
Sunni district of Baghdad killing five people. In the north an American
soldier was killed in a vehicle accident.
(AP, 10/19/09)
2009 Oct 18, Pakistan pounded
Taliban bases from the air and bore down on their leader's hometown,
intensifying a major offensive against the Islamists and claiming to
have killed 60 militants in operation Rah-e-Nijat. Five soldiers
were reported killed. Ammunition supplies deep in the mountains are
thought to be sufficient to keep the militants fighting for several
months without outside supply lines.
(AFP, 10/18/09)
2009 Oct 18, Russia's unmanned
Progress M-03M docked with the orbital station after a three-day trip
up from Earth. It delivered food, fuel, oxygen and other supplies to
the International Space Station.
(AP, 10/18/09)
2009 Oct 18, In Sudan Irish
national Sharon Commins and Ugandan Hilda Kawuki, who worked for Irish
charity GOAL, were freed. They had been kidnapped on July 3 at
gunpoint. The Irish Times newspaper reported on Oct 24 that a
150,000-euro (225,000-dollar) ransom was paid to secure the release of
two aid workers in the western Darfur region.
(AFP, 10/24/09)
2009 Oct 19, US President Barack
Obama unveiled a new policy on Sudan and warned Khartoum of more US
pressure if it failed to respond to his fresh incentives to stop
"genocide" and "abuses" in Darfur.
(AFP, 10/19/09)
2009 Oct 19, US prosecutors were
told in a new policy memo issued by the Justice Department that
pot-smoking patients or their sanctioned suppliers should not be
targeted for federal prosecution in states that allow medical marijuana.
(AP, 10/19/09)
2009 Oct 19, American scientists
Stewart D. Nozette (52) of Chevy Chase, Md., was arrested for attempted
espionage after passing classified information to an undercover FBI
agent posing as an Israeli intelligence operative.
(SFC, 10/21/09, p.A5)
2009 Oct 19, It was reported that
almost 10% of SF Muni riders cheat on their fares.
(SSFC, 10/18/09, p.C1)
2009 Oct 19, Somer Thompson (7), a
north Florida girl, vanished on her walk home from school. Detectives
found her body partially covered by garbage on Oct 21 in a Georgia
landfill, about 48 miles from where the girl disappeared.
(AP, 10/22/09)
2009 Oct 19, Organizers of the
multimillion-dollar Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in African
Leadership, an annual prize for good governance, said they had decided
not to give out the award this year.
(AP, 10/19/09)
2009 Oct 19, In Afghanistan fraud
investigators threw out hundreds of thousands of votes for President
Hamid Karzai in the country's disputed August election. The findings
set the stage for a runoff between him and his top challenger. Taliban
militants set fire to 15 trucks carrying supplies to a military base in
eastern Ghazni province. Afghan security guards killed two militants
during the fighting. Two Afghan security troopers were killed in a gun
battle overnight with Taliban fighters near Ghazni city.
(AP, 10/19/09)
2009 Oct 19, Energy group Chevron
announced a new natural gas discovery off Western Australia that will
help support the massive Gorgon liquefied natural gas (LNG) project.
(AFP, 10/19/09)
2009 Oct 19, In Costa Rica Michael
Dixon (33), a British journalist, was last spotted leaving the Villas
Macondo hotel in the popular surfers' resort of Playa Tamarindo, having
traveled there on his own.
(AFP, 11/5/09)
2009 Oct 19, The EU agreed to give
the dairy sector an extra $420 million in special aid in an effort to
quell a season of unrest in agriculture. Meanwhile angry farmer pelted
riot police with eggs and buckets of milk in Luxembourg.
(SFC, 10/20/09, p.A2)
2009 Oct 19, French police
apprehended suspected ETA militant Aitor Elizaran (30) in a car park at
the wheel of a stolen car in the Brittany seaside town of Carnac, along
with a woman suspect, Oihana Sanvicente (32). They were soon charged
with conspiracy to collaborate with a terrorist organization.
(AFP, 10/24/09)
2009 Oct 19, In India in an
interview published in the weekly magazine Open, Mupalla Laxman Rao,
better known as Ganapathi, vowed to unleash a "tornado" of violence if
the government goes ahead with a planned large-scale offensive against
his Maoist forces.
(AFP, 10/19/09)
2009 Oct 19, An Iraqi Army patrol
in western part of Mosul shot dead an armed man, who was firing at the
patrol. An American solider was killed and two others were wounded when
a roadside bomb detonated near their vehicle in Ninevah province.
(AP, 10/20/09)
2009 Oct 19, Israeli police
arrested Donald Edward Nelson (59), a convicted American pedophile, in
a hostel in the Old City of Jerusalem. Nelson was convicted last year
in a California court on 52 counts of sexual abuse of minors and
sentenced to 110 years in prison. He fled the US to avoid being jailed
and was hiding out in Jerusalem.
(AP, 10/21/09)
2009 Oct 19, Japan said it has
caught 59 whales off Hokkaido, one short of the maximum allowed by
international guidelines, under a research program that critics say is
a cover for commercial whaling.
(AP, 10/19/09)
2009 Oct 19, In Kenya a 3-story
building collapsed in Nairobi killing at least 6 people with 14 left
missing.
(AP, 10/20/09)(SFC, 10/20/09, p.A2)
2009 Oct 19, It was reported that
Mexican biologists and park workers were racing to fell as many as
9,000 fir trees, infected with deadly bark beetles, and bury or extract
infested wood before the orange-and-black monarchs start arriving in
late October to spend the winter bunched together on branches,
carpeting the trees.
(AP, 10/19/09)
2009 Oct 19, Nigeria reported
plans to offer inhabitants of its oil-producing Niger Delta region 10%
of oil and gas ventures in a bid to end a rebellion that has hampered
output for years.
(AFP, 10/19/09)
2009 Oct 19, Pakistani troops
fought militants on three fronts and fighter jets bombed insurgent
positions near the Afghan border as Pakistan pressed ahead with an
assault on the country's main Taliban and al-Qaida stronghold. The
offensive focused on eliminating Taliban militants linked to the Mehsud
tribe, who control about half of South Waziristan and are blamed for
80% of the suicide attacks that have battered Pakistan over the last
three years. Police said they had arrested Akhtar Zaman, a man
identified as the head of the Pakistani Taliban, in the southern city
of Karachi along with three other alleged militants in connection with
a foiled attempt to attack an oil terminal last month.
(AP, 10/19/09)
2009 Oct 19, Somali pirates seized
a Chinese cargo ship with 25 people onboard. On Dec 27 a band of Somali
pirates split a $4 million ransom to release the bulk carrier De Xin
Hai, a Chinese cargo ship, and 25 sailors after two months in captivity.
(AP, 10/19/09)(AP, 12/28/09)
2009 Oct 19, Sri Lankan shares
tumbled after the US slapped fraud charges on Raj Rajaratnam (52), a
billionaire Sri Lankan-born hedge fund manager, whose investments in
the island came under a fresh "review." Rajaratnam had admitted funding
the Tamils Rehabilitation Organization (TRO) soon after the December
2004 tsunami. The TRO was outlawed as a front of the separatist Tamil
Tigers in both Sri Lanka and the United States in 2007.
(AFP, 10/19/09)
2009 Oct 19, In Turkey tens of
thousands of Kurds flocked to the Iraqi border to greet 34 PKK fighters
and their sympathizers, who gave themselves up following a call by PM
Erdogan to return home.
(Econ, 10/24/09, p.63)
2009 Oct 19, In Uganda Pres.
Museveni officially recognized the 300,000 strong Rwenzururu Kingdom
under Charles Wesley Mumbere (56), who had inherited the title in 1966
at age 13. Museveni restored all the traditional kingdoms abandoned in
1967. Mumbere, who had moved to the USA in 1984 on a government
scholarship, worked as a nurse’s aide in Maryland and
Pennsylvania.
(SFC, 10/20/09, p.A4)
2009 Oct 19, Uruguay's Supreme
Court declared unconstitutional a law that has provided amnesty to
military officials accused of murders, disappearances and other human
rights violations during the country's dictatorship.
(AP, 10/19/09)
2009 Oct 20, The US Congress
passed a bill allowing detainees from Guantanamo to be brought to the
US, but only to stand for trial, not to be released or jailed there.
(Econ, 10/24/09, p.36)
2009 Oct 20, Afghanistan's
election commission ordered a Nov. 7 runoff in the disputed
presidential poll after a fraud investigation dropped incumbent Hamid
Karzai's votes below 50 percent of the total. Karzai accepted the
finding and agreed to a second round vote. Afghan and international
forces killed about half a dozen militants during a raid on compounds
used by a Taliban commander in eastern Wardak province.
(AP, 10/20/09)
2009 Oct 20, Representatives of
Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay announced a joint plan in Buenos Aires
to establish protected zones to halt deforestation in their countries
by 2020.
(SFC, 10/21/09, p.A2)
2009 Oct 20, Australian officials
said a leech found at a crime scene in 2001 led police to a man who
admitted robbing an elderly woman. The leech dropped off Peter Cannon
as he and an accomplice tied a 71-year-old woman to a chair in her
remote home in the Tasmanian woods on Sept. 28, 2001.
(AP, 10/20/09)
2009 Oct 20, Bolivia's National
Electoral Court announced that former Pando state Gov. Leopoldo
Fernandez can campaign from a La Paz jail because he is detained as a
precautionary measure, over killings under his watch in Sept, 2008, and
has not been charged.
(AP, 10/21/09)
2009 Oct 20, China executed 2
people for their roles in deadly protests last year in the
Chinese-controlled region of Tibet, the first known executions for the
violence. Lobsang Gyaltsen (28) and Loyak (30), who goes by one name,
were sentenced to death in April on charges relating to "starting fatal
fires."
(AP, 10/27/09)
2009 Oct 20, The Honduras
government lifted a three-week broadcast ban allowing opposition radio
and television stations back on the air.
(AP, 10/20/09)
2009 Oct 20, Talks in Vienna meant
to persuade Iran to send most of its enriched uranium abroad, and thus
delay its potential to make a nuclear weapon, bogged down over fierce
Iranian resistance to French participation.
(AP, 10/20/09)
2009 Oct 20, An Indian official
said 8 South Asian countries have agreed they can't be part of any
climate change deal that sets legally binding limits on their emissions.
(AP, 10/20/09)
2009 Oct 20, In Iraq a car packed
with explosives blew up at a gas station in Saqlawiyah, 45 miles (75km)
west of Baghdad, killing 3 policemen and one civilian. In northern
Baghdad, one civilian was killed and 4 were wounded when a bomb
attached to a minibus exploded in Kazimiyah, a primarily Shiite suburb
of the capital. Minutes later, a roadside bomb targeting a police
patrol in western Baghdad wounded 3 civilians. In Hilla, just south of
Baghdad, a roadside bomb targeting a police patrol killed one policeman
and wounded two others. In Mosul a roadside bomb targeted an Iraqi army
patrol, wounding two soldiers and one civilian.
(AP, 10/20/09)
2009 Oct 20, Iran’s state news
agency said Kian Tajbakhsh, an Iranian-American academic, has been
convicted for his alleged role in the post-election unrest in the
country and sentenced to more than 12 years in prison.
(AP, 10/20/09)
2009 Oct 20, Japan’s government
said it would reverse the privatization of Japan Post along with its
enormous banking unit. On Oct 28 the new government ousted the
president of Japan Post and almost the entire board.
(Econ, 10/24/09, p.50)(Econ, 10/31/09, p.73)
2009 Oct 20, Kuwait's highest
court granted women the right to obtain a passport without their
husband's approval, in the latest stride for women's rights in this
small oil-rich emirate. The landmark decision "freed" Kuwaiti women
from the 1962 law requiring their husband's signature to obtain a
passport.
(AP, 10/21/09)
2009 Oct 20, Kyrgyzstan's Cabinet
resigned as part of a sweeping government reform campaign the president
said will save money and make the Central Asian nation's leadership
more effective. Opposition leaders dismissed President Kurmanbek
Bakiyev's reform push as a bid to increase his own power.
(AP, 10/20/09)
2009 Oct 20, The United States
presented Mali security forces with more than $5 million in new
vehicles and other equipment.
(AP, 10/21/09)
2009 Oct 20, In Hidalgo, Mexico,
police found the body of a young man, about 16 years old, who was found
dead with two bullets in his head, his genitals cut off and a warning
note stabbed into his chest.
(AP, 10/22/09)
2009 Oct 20, Niger held elections.
On Oct 24 the electoral commission said the ruling party had won a
majority of votes in parliamentary elections. The official results said
President Mamadou Tandja's party received 76 out of 113 seats in the
national assembly. The vote came just two months after a referendum
passed allowing Tandja to extend his rule for years past the
constitutional limit. The opposition protested the referendum, saying
it granted Tandja near-totalitarian powers, and boycotted the elections.
(AP, 10/25/09)
2009 Oct 20, Nigeria’s main rebel
group, Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND),
expressed cautious optimism after a landmark meeting between its leader
and President Umaru Yar'Adua.
(AFP, 10/20/09)
2009 Oct 20, In Pakistan 2 suicide
attackers bombed an Islamic university in Islamabad, killing 6 people
and wounding 18 as the army pressed ahead with a critical offensive on
a Taliban stronghold near Afghanistan. Firefights raged in the areas
around Kaskai and Shisanwam, and 4 more soldiers were killed, bringing
the army's death toll over four days to 13.
(AP, 10/20/09)(AP, 10/21/09)
2009 Oct 20, Russian President
Dmitry Medvedev brought a euro1 billion ($1.5 billion) loan to
recession-hit Serbia, as Moscow sought to expand its political and
economic influence in the Balkans with the first-ever visit to Belgrade
by a Russian president.
(AP, 10/20/09)
2009 Oct 20, Turkish prosecutors
sought charges against 5 Kurdish rebels who surrendered in a peace
gesture, raising questions about whether thousands of other guerrillas
can be persuaded to end their decades-long fight. The 5 were later
released on the orders of a judge.
(AP, 10/20/09)(Econ, 10/24/09, p.63)
2009 Oct 21, Federal court
documents linked Alaska Rep. Don Young to a wide-ranging investigation
of corruption in Alaska. It was alleged that the 19-term Republican had
received gifts totaling nearly $200,000 over 13 years from Veco Corp.,
a defunct oil field services company run by former Alaska Sen. Ted
Stevens.
(SFC, 10/24/09, p.A10)
2009 Oct 21, US federal
prosecutors in Massachusetts arrested Tarek Mehanna (27) of Sudbury, a
suburb of Boston. Prosecutors said he had conspired to kill two
prominent US politicians and carry out a holy war by attacking shoppers
in US malls and American troops in Iraq. Mehanna, a US citizen, had
been arrested in November and charged with lying to the FBI in December
2006 when asked about the whereabouts of Daniel Maldonado, who is now
serving a 10-year prison sentence for training alongside al-Qaida
members to overthrow the Somali government.
(AP, 10/21/09)(SFC, 10/22/09, p.A4)
2009 Oct 21, In Toledo, Ohio,
Mohammad Zaki Amawi (29) was sentenced to 20 years in jail for plotting
to recruit and train terrorists to kill US soldiers in Iraq. Marwan
Othman El-Hindi (46) was sentenced to 12 years. The two men and a third
defendant had been found guilty in 2008. The third man has yet to be
sentenced.
(SFC, 10/22/09, p.A4)(http://tinyurl.com/ygnbfpt)
2009 Oct 21, Northwest Airlines
Flight 188 overflew its Minneapolis destination by 150 miles. Air
traffic controllers and pilots tried for more than an hour night to
contact pilot Richard Cole (54) of Salem, Oregon, and the flight's
captain, Timothy B. Cheney (53), of Gig Harbor, Wash., using radio,
cell phone and data messages. The pilots said they had been having a
heated discussion about airline policy. On Oct 27 the FAA revoked the
licenses of the two pilots saying they had been out of radio contact
for 91 minutes.
(AP, 10/24/09)(SFC, 10/28/09, p.A6)
2009 Oct 21, Alyssa Bustamante
(15) of St. Martins, Mo., strangled, stabbed and cut a 9-year-old
neighbor's throat. She told authorities she did it because she wanted
to know what it was like to kill someone.
(http://news.aol.com/article/alyssa-bustamante-15-charged-as-adult-in/772912)
2009 Oct 21, In Afghanistan
ex-Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah, President Hamid Karzai's chief
political rival, agreed to take part in the Nov. 7 runoff election,
setting the stage for a high-stakes showdown in the face of Taliban
threats and approaching winter snows. One US soldier died of wounds
sustained in a bomb attack in the south.
(AP, 10/21/09)(AP, 10/22/09)
2009 Oct 21, In the Bahamas the
trial of two people accused of trying to extort John Travolta following
the death of his son there ended in a mistrial after a lawmaker
suggested the still-deliberating jury had acquitted one of the
defendants.
(AP, 10/22/09)
2009 Oct 21, A Briton who cost the
insurance industry some 1.6 million pounds by staging almost 100 car
crashes as part of a scam to win fraudulent payouts, was jailed for
4-1/2 years. Mohammed Patel (24) charged 500 pounds a time to stage
accidents which enabled fraudsters to claim an average of 17,000 pounds
from their insurers.
(Reuters, 10/21/09)
2009 Oct 21, Spanish-owned
airports operator BAA announced the sale of the second busiest hub
Gatwick to a US investment fund for 1.51 billion pounds following an
antitrust ruling.
(AFP, 10/21/09)
2009 Oct 21, China and India put
aside a diplomatic spat to sign a five-year agreement in New Delhi to
cooperate on climate change leading up to crucial talks in Copenhagen.
(AFP, 10/21/09)
2009 Oct 21, A court in southwest
China sentenced six men to death for gang-related crimes including
blackmail and murder, the first convictions in a months long crackdown
that has exposed a major city mired in violent organized crime. More
than 1,544 suspects have been detained in Chongqing, China's largest
municipality, since the gang sweep started in June, with more than a
dozen criminal gangs busted.
(AP, 10/21/09)
2009 Oct 21, Security guards
thwarted an attempted hijacking on an EgyptAir flight from Istanbul to
Cairo by overpowering a Sudanese man who threatened crew members with a
plastic knife. The man told flight attendants he wanted to "liberate
Jerusalem."
(AP, 10/21/09)
2009 Oct 21, In northern India a
passenger train crashed into another train's rear carriage reserved for
women and disabled passengers, killing 22 people and injuring 16 who
remained trapped for hours near Agra, the home of the Taj Mahal.
(AP, 10/21/09)
2009 Oct 21, Indonesia’s customs
chief said a group of 10 alleged Iranian drug smugglers, including
eight veiled women, were caught with $12.5 million worth of
methamphetamines at the main airport. The group had arrived on flights
from Malaysia, Syria and Qatar on Oct 19-20.
(AP, 10/21/09)
2009 Oct 21, Diplomats in Vienna
said Iranian negotiators expressed support for a deal that, if accepted
by their leaders, would delay Tehran's ability to make nuclear weapons
by sending most of its existing enriched uranium to Russia for
processing.
(AP, 10/21/09)
2009 Oct 21, In Iraq a blast in
Kirkuk killed cameraman Orhan Hijran, who worked for Baghdad-based
television station Al-Rasheed, and wounded correspondent Mohammed
Shahid of Cairo-based Al-Baghdadiyah.
(AP, 10/21/09)
2009 Oct 21, Lithuanian lawmakers
demanded an investigation into allegations that the CIA had established
a prison there for al-Qaida suspects. Leaders have denied that
Lithuania had hosted clandestine detention centers.
(SFC, 10/22/09, p.A2)
2009 Oct 21, ECOWAS suspended
Niger following its failure to comply with the 17th October 2009
Decision of Heads of State and Government to postpone the legislative
elections of Tuesday, 20th October 2009. ECOWAS suspended Niger
on account of bad behavior by President Mamadou Tandja (71).
(http://news.ecowas.int/presseshow.php?nb=113&lang=en&annee=2009)(Econ,
2/27/10, p.56)
2009 Oct 21, Pakistani soldiers
fought for control of Kotkai, the Taliban chief's hometown, pressing
forward with a major offensive targeting an insurgent stronghold along
the Afghan border. Suspected US missiles killed two militants in a
neighboring region, a potentially troubling strike because it hit
territory controlled by another militant faction the army has coaxed
into neutrality during its offensive. The army's death toll so far rose
to 16, while 15 more militants were slain, bringing their overall death
toll to 105.
(AP, 10/21/09)
2009 Oct 21, In Somalia a powerful
Islamist group linked to al-Qaida ordered two radio stations in
southwestern Somalia to stop broadcasts indefinitely.
(AP, 10/21/09)
2009 Oct 21, South Africa’s
President Jacob Zuma said Zimbabwe must not return to instability,
after holding talks with PM Morgan Tsvangirai who has cut ties within
his unity government. Tsvangirai flew to South Africa after meeting
Mozambican President Armando Guebuza a day earlier and then headed to
the Democratic Republic of Congo and Angola to brief leaders on
Zimbabwe's worst impasse in eight months.
(AFP, 10/22/09)
2009 Oct 21, A Sudanese cargo
plane crashed shortly after takeoff from Sharjah International Airport
north of Dubai, killing the 6-member crew but causing no other
casualties on the ground.
(AP, 10/21/09)
2009 Oct 22, The Obama
administration said it is designating over 200,000 square miles in
Alaska and off its coast as critical habitat for polar bears.
(SFC, 10/23/09, p.A7)
2009 Oct 22, US authorities
arrested over 300 people in 38 cities in a sting against Mexico’s La
Familia drug operations in the US. At least 84 were arrested in Dallas
as part of Operation Coronado.
(SFC, 10/23/09, p.A12)(SFC, 12/12/09, p.A4)
2009 Oct 22, The US pay czar
slashed compensation for top earners at seven bailed-out companies for
the final two months of the year, and was immediately slammed by the
country's largest bank which claimed the cuts could send talent fleeing.
(Reuters, 10/22/09)
2009 Oct 22, California
authorities said a grand jury has indicted 18 people on charges of
marijuana growing and mortgage fraud. The San Francisco Bay Area
residents allegedly operated marijuana gardens in 50 homes in the
Central Valley in 2006 and 2007.
(SFC, 10/23/09, p.A14)
2009 Oct 22, Officials in Benicia,
Ca., announced that ships in the “ghost fleet” of Suisun Bay would
begin a process of cleanup and dismantling next month. The first two
ships scheduled for recycling were the Pan American Victory and the
Earlham Victory, both WWII cargo ships built in 1945.
(SFC, 10/23/09, p.A1)
2009 Oct 22, SF city officials
broke ground on a project to rebuild San Francisco General Hospital.
City voters in 2008 had authorized an $887 million bond measure for the
project.
(SFC, 10/23/09, p.D1)
2009 Oct 22, The Minnesota Supreme
Court ruled that bong water can count as an illegal drug. A person
could be prosecuted for a first-degree drug crime for 25 grams or more
of bong water that tests positive for a controlled substance.
(SFC, 10/23/09, p.A7)
2009 Oct 22, The Windows 7
computer operating system went on sale.
(SFC, 10/22/09, p.C2)
2009 Oct 22, Soupy Sales (b.1926),
TV personality born as Milton Supman, died in NYC. He was best known
for his Detroit-based children's television show, “Lunch with Soupy
Sales” (1953). Beginning in October 1959, it was telecast nationally on
the ABC television network. His career was built on some 20,000 pies to
face and 5,000 live TV appearances across half a century.
(SFC, 10/23/09,
p.A8)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soupy_Sales)
2009 Oct 22, African leaders
started a 2-day summit in Kampala, Uganda, aiming to ratify the
Convention on the Protection and Assistance of the Displaced People in
Africa, now numbering about 17 million.
(AFP, 10/22/09)
2009 Oct 22, In Australia Don Lane
(75), an American song-and-dance man known as "The Lanky Yank,” died.
He was handed a full-time gig on Australian TV in 1975 and "The Don
Lane Show" became a ratings winner, a mixture of cabaret acts,
interviews, comedy skits and a song from the tall host to close each
show.
(AP, 10/22/09)
2009 Oct 22, More than 8 million
people watched British National Party leader Nick Griffin slam Islam as
a wicked faith, express his disgust at homosexuals and defend the Ku
Klux Klan on its "Question Time" program.
(AP, 10/23/09)
2009 Oct 22, British Royal Mail
workers began a two-day strike in a bitter row over pay, conditions and
modernization, causing widespread disruption to mail services.
(AFP, 10/22/09)
2009 Oct 22, The Red Cross said
more than 4,500 people have fled attacks by the Ugandan rebel group
Lord's Resistance Army in the Central African Republic.
(AFP, 10/22/09)
2009 Oct 22, Ethiopia said it
needs emergency food aid for 6.2 million people, an appeal that comes
25 years after a devastating famine compounded by communist policies
killed 1 million and prompted one of the largest charity campaigns in
history.
(AP, 10/22/09)
2009 Oct 22, The EU's parliament
awarded its annual Sakharov Prize for freedom of thought to three
prominent Russian rights activists, in recognition of the difficult
conditions they face in defending human rights in Russia today. The
prize was awarded to Lyudmila Alexeyeva (82), Sergei Kovalyov (79) and
Oleg Orlov (56) on behalf of the human rights organization Memorial and
"all other human rights defenders in Russia."
(AP, 10/22/09)
2009 Oct 22, The EU said it has
launched an investigation into a prized Spanish wetland that has turned
bone dry through mismanagement of water resources and is now on fire
underground, white smoke now rising from areas where fish once swam.
The EU wants the Spanish government to explain how it plans to save Las
Tablas de Daimiel National Park in the central Castilla-La Mancha
region. It is classified as a UNESCO biosphere site and an EU-protected
area because of its birdlife.
(AP, 10/22/09)
2009 Oct 22, In Iraq a local
police chief said 6 suspected al-Qaida members, including two who were
formerly detained by US troops, were arrested near the western Iraqi
city of Fallujah. They had been released in July for lack of evidence.
A local criminal court in Diyala province issued an arrest warrant for
parliamentarian Tayseer al-Mashhadani a Sunni member of parliament, and
her husband, Hashim al-Hiyali, on suspicion of financing and inciting
sectarian violence.
(AP, 10/22/09)(AP, 10/24/09)
2009 Oct 22, Mexican police
detained five suspected associates of the Gulf drug cartel for alleged
involvement in violent clashes that killed four people in the central
Mexican state of Hidalgo. The suspects were said to be affiliated with
the Zetas, the drug ring's hit men.
(AP, 10/28/09)
2009 Oct 22, In Pakistan suspected
militants on a motorbike shot and killed a senior army officer and a
soldier in Islamabad, striking at security forces as the military wages
a major anti-Taliban offensive in the northwest. An army statement
reported two more soldiers were killed, bringing the army's death toll
to 18, while 24 more militants were slain, bringing their death toll to
129.
(AP, 10/22/09)
2009 Oct 22, In the Philippines
outbreaks of leptospirosis, spread by water contaminated with the urine
of rats, dogs and other animals, have compounded the problems faced
after back-to-back storms since late last month killed more than 900
people. The WHO said it will send an emergency team to help fight a
bacterial disease outbreak that has killed at least 148 people and
sickened nearly 2,000 in and around the flood-hit capital.
(AP, 10/22/09)
2009 Oct 22, In Somalia mortar
bombs killed at least 30 people in Mogadishu after rebels launched
shells at the president's plane and African Union (AU) peacekeepers
responded with heavy artillery fire.
(Reuters, 10/22/09)
2009 Oct 22, Somali pirates with
automatic weapons seized the India-managed, Panamanian-flagged MV Al
Khaliq cargo ship off Africa's east coast and held its 26 crew members
hostage. Pirates also unsuccessfully attempted to hijack the
Italian-flagged MV Jolly Rosso off the Kenyan coast. The Al Khaliq
cargo ship was freed on Feb 9, 2010, after 3.1 million US dollars were
paid to the pirates.
(AP, 10/22/09)(AFP, 2/9/10)
2009 Oct 22, In Sri Lanka more
than 4,000 ethnic Tamils displaced by civil war left government-run
camps, the latest to be released amid international criticism that Sri
Lanka is moving too slowly to let thousands of others go.
(AP, 10/22/09)
2009 Oct 22, A Sudanese court
sentenced two women to 20 lashes for dressing "indecently." Judge
Hassan Mohammed Ali said: "The two women wore trousers and no
headscarf. The court therefore finds them guilty according the public
order laws." Last year nearly 43,000 women were detained for indecent
clothing offences in Khartoum region, where five million people live.
(AFP, 10/22/09)
2009 Oct 22, In Sudan gunmen
kidnapped Gauthier Lefevre (35), a French staff member working for the
International Committee of the Red Cross, in the western Darfur region.
The kidnappers soon demanded a three-million-euro ransom. Lefevre was
released on March 18, 2010.
(AP, 10/22/09)(AFP, 10/27/09)(AP, 3/18/10)
2009 Oct 22, The Swedish
government approved the early release of former Bosnian Serb President
Biljana Plavsic (79), who was sentenced to 11 years in prison by a war
crimes tribunal. The Justice Ministry says she will be released on Oct
27 after serving two-thirds of her sentence for persecution.
(AP, 10/22/09)
2009 Oct 22, Uruguay's last
dictator, Gregorio Alvarez (83), was sentenced to 25 years in prison
for 37 homicides during the 1973-1985 military regime, when dissidents
disappeared in a region-wide crackdown on leftists called "Operation
Condor." Alvarez was commander-in-chief of the army (1978-1979) and de
facto president from 1981 until Feb 12, 1985. Navy Capt. Juan Larcebeau
was also sentenced to 20 years in prison for 29 homicides related to
clandestine prisoner transfers in 1978.
(AP,
10/22/09)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregorio_Conrado_%C3%81lvarez)
2009 Oct 22, Venezuela deported
Luis Cediel to the US. The Colombian man had links to a pyramid scheme
that bilked Colombians out of hundreds of millions of dollars.
(SFC, 10/23/09, p.A2)
2009 Oct 23, President Barack
Obama signed a declaration making the swine flu outbreak a national
emergency, giving his health chief the power to let hospitals move
emergency rooms offsite to speed treatment and protect noninfected
patients.
(AP, 10/25/09)
2009 Oct 23, Top US safety
officials met with their Chinese counterparts to discuss complaints
from American homeowners of illness and other damage from suspect
drywall imported from China. Consumer Products Safety Commission
Chairman Inez Tenenbaum said that the two sides were talking about the
issue while they await results of tests on what is causing the problems.
(AP, 10/23/09)
2009 Oct 23, US regulators shut
down 3 small banks in Florida and one each in Georgia, Illinois,
Minnesota and Wisconsin bringing the total for the year of failed US
banks to 106.
(SFC, 10/24/09, p.A6)
2009 Oct 23, Anthony Pellicano and
associate Alexander Proctor pleaded no contest to threatening LA Times
reporter Anita Busch, who was putting together a story on actor Steven
Seagal’s possible connections to organized crime. Pellicano, a former
Hollywood private eye, was already serving a 15 year sentence for
digging up dirt public figures.
(SFC, 10/24/09, p.A8)
2009 Oct 23, In Richmond, Ca., a
girl (15) left a homecoming dance at Richmond High gym and joined a
group of men drinking in a nearby alley. She became drunk and was raped
and robbed by as many as 10 young men. Police found her semi-conscious
near a lunch table and arrested one suspect fleeing the scene. The
assailants had stolen the girl’s jewelry. 2 more suspects, aged 15 and
21, were arrested on Oct 27. On Oct 28 three juveniles were arrested in
connection to the crime and charged as adults. A 6th suspect was
arrested on Oct 29. On Jan 19 John Crane Jr. (43) turned himself in for
participating in the rape.
(SFC, 10/27/09, p.C6)(SFC, 10/28/09, p.A10)(SFC,
10/29/09, p.A1)(SFC, 10/30/09, p.A1)(SFC, 1/22/10, p.C9)
2009 Oct 23, In Colorado Miguel
Angel Caro Quintero (46), a Mexican drug kingpin, pleaded guilty in
Denver to federal drug and racketeering charges. He had led the Sonora
Cartel in the 1980s and faced up to 20 years in prison.
(SFC, 10/24/09, p.A5)
2009 Oct 23, In Missouri police
found the body of Elizabeth Olton (9). She had gone missing 2 days
earlier. A 15-year-old, who led police to her body, was charged with
her murder.
(SSFC, 10/25/09, p.A8)
2009 Oct 23, In New Jersey Rev. Ed
Hinds (61), a Catholic priest, was found stabbed 32 times at the
rectory of St. Patrick’s Church in Chatham. The next day Jose Feliciano
(64) a janitor, was charged with the slaying.
(SFC, 10/24/09, p.A5)(SSFC, 10/25/09, p.A8)
2009 Oct 23, African leaders,
meeting in Uganda, ratified a convention on the protection of the
continent's internally-displaced people, refugees and returnees, billed
as the first of its kind worldwide.
(AFP, 10/23/09)
2009 Oct 23, In southern
Afghanistan 2 US soldiers were killed by a home-made bomb. A Danish
soldier lost his life in clashes with Taliban-led insurgents in the
same region.
(AFP, 10/24/09)
2009 Oct 23, Australia approved
Yanzhou Coal's 3.2 billion US dollar takeover of miner Felix Resources,
its biggest by a Chinese firm, in a breakthrough for the Asian giant's
scramble for commodities.
(AP, 10/23/09)
2009 Oct 23, British far-right
leader Nick Griffin accused the BBC of mounting a "lynch mob" on him in
a charged appearance on a TV political panel show, and called for it to
be re-recorded.
(AFP, 10/23/09)
2009 Oct 23, British couple Paul
and Rachel Chandler were heading from the Seychelles to Tanzania in
their yacht, the Lynn Rival, when the distress signal was sent. Reports
followed that the couple were seized by pirates. The couple were taken
to the Somali pirate lair of Harardhere and $7 million was later
demanded for their release.
(AP, 10/27/09)(AFP, 10/29/09)(AP, 10/31/09)
2009 Oct 23, In Canada a judge in
Winnipeg acquitted Kyle Unger (38) of the 1990 murder of Brigitte
Grenier (16). DNA tests in 2005 showed that hair on the victim came
from somebody else. Unger had spent 13 years in jail before he was
granted bail in 2005.
(SFC, 10/24/09, p.A2)
2009 Oct 23, Chinese state media
reported that police have arrested 42 alleged members of a trafficking
ring that sold dozens of infants stolen or bought from their rural
parents.
(AP, 10/23/09)
2009 Oct 23, The Czech Republic
and NATO said that they backed a reworked US missile defense plan meant
to defend against threats from Iran and other nations.
(AP, 10/23/09)
2009 Oct 23, In France Jean
Sarkozy (23), President Nicolas Sarkozy's son, was elected to the board
of the organization that runs France's most important business district
after a dramatic withdrawal of his bid for the top spot amid fierce
accusations of favoritism. He had been the leading candidate to head
EPAD, a quasi-governmental organization overseeing real estate and the
administration of La Defense, the neighborhood of skyscrapers west of
Paris that is home to top companies and the workplace of 150,000 people.
(AP, 10/23/09)
2009 Oct 23, In Honduras a
negotiator for ousted leftist President Manuel Zelaya said the latest
round of talks to resolve the dispute over the June 28 coup has ended
in failure, adding that further talks were unlikely. Escaped inmates in
Santa Barbara set fire to a prison, a public market and a cultural
center before authorities stopped the riot and captured 76 of the 79
fugitives.
(AP, 10/23/09)
2009 Oct 23, A Kenyan court
released gang leader, Maina Njenga, after prosecutors dropped 28 murder
charges against him. He had been in prison since 2006. His Mungiki gang
was notorious for beheading its victims.
(AP, 10/23/09)
2009 Oct 23, In northwest Pakistan
a suicide bomber killed 8 people in Kamra, near the Pakistan
Aeronautical Complex. An anti-tank mine killed 16 wedding guests in the
tribal belt. Most of the dead were women and children. A car bomb
exploded outside a restaurant in the northwestern city of Peshawar,
wounding 15.
(AP, 10/23/09)(AFP, 10/23/09)
2009 Oct 23, In Puerto Rico an
earthshaking explosion at the Caribbean Petroleum Corp. in the suburb
of Bayamon, just west of the capital of San Juan, led to the evacuation
of more than 1,500 people. Authorities wee concerned about those
downwind of the fire.
(AP, 10/25/09)
2009 Oct 23, Somali Islamist
rebels threatened to attack the capitals of Burundi and Uganda, the two
central African countries that have deployed peacekeeping troops to
prop up Somali's transitional government.
(AFP, 10/23/09)
2009 Oct 23, Swiss and US
authorities said the US has asked Switzerland to hand over Roman
Polanski to authorities in California, where he could serve up to two
years in prison for having sex in 1977 with a 13-year-old girl.
(AP, 10/23/09)
2009 Oct 23, In Thailand the
annual summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations began
inauspiciously when half the bloc's 10 leaders failed to show up at the
opening of the 3-day conference due to a tropical storm, domestic
politics, a VIP visit and a possible illness. ASEAN nations inaugurated
their first regional human rights commission, a watchdog immediately
derided as toothless by activists who walked out of a meeting to
protest being snubbed by five of the governments involved.
(AP, 10/23/09)
2009 Oct 23, Bishops attending a
Vatican meeting on Africa issued a blunt ultimatum to corrupt Catholic
political leaders in Africa: repent or leave public office.
(AP, 10/23/09)
2009 Oct 23, The World Health
Organization said nearly 5,000 people have reportedly died from swine
flu since it emerged this year and developed into a global epidemic.
(AP, 10/23/09)
2009 Oct 23, In Zimbabwe armed
police raided a house belonging to PM Morgan Tsvangirai's party in a
new threat to the country's faltering unity government.
(AFP, 10/24/09)
2009 Oct 24, City and state
officials in Los Angeles dedicated the new 10-story, $437 million
police headquarters.
(SSFC, 10/25/09, p.A8)
2009 Oct 24, Taliban fighters
warned Afghans not to take part in the war-wracked country's upcoming
presidential runoff, threatening to launch a fresh wave of violence on
polling day to stop them. US troops killed four civilians when they
fired on a van approaching their convoy on the main highway in southern
Kandahar province. A bomb killed an American service member in southern
Afghanistan.
(AP, 10/24/09)(AP, 10/25/09)
2009 Oct 24, In China a Belgian
cargo vessel leaked oil into waters at the Caofeidian port in
northeastern Hebei province, after a Chinese ship crashed into it at a
refueling dock.
(AP, 10/25/09)
2009 Oct 24, In Egypt two
passenger trains collided at high speed south of Cairo, killing 18
people and wounding 39. An initial inquiry found that a signalman had
left work early and failed to warn drivers of delays because of a water
buffalo on the track. Later analysis of a blood sample from the driver
of the first train revealed the presence of traces of hashish.
(AFP, 10/25/09)(AFP, 11/15/09)
2009 Oct 24, In Germany Chancellor
Angela Merkel finished building a new center-right government and
announced an overhaul of the health care system, more help for families
and annual tax cuts of up to euro24 billion.
(AP, 10/24/09)
2009 Oct 24, In Iraq a suicide
bomber wearing an explosive vest in Tikrit killed two people outside
the offices of a Sunni political party called National Unity.
(AP, 10/24/09)
2009 Oct 24, Pakistani soldiers
captured Kotkai, the strategically located hometown of Taliban chief
Hakimullah Mehsud after fierce fighting. It was the army's first major
prize as it pushes deeper into a militant stronghold along the Afghan
border. The army said that three more soldiers had died, putting the
army's death toll at 23, and 21 more militants had been killed, putting
their overall death toll at 163. A suspected US missile killed 22
people elsewhere in the northwest, but apparently missed a top Taliban
figure. 6 soldiers died in an army helicopter crash in the Bajur tribal
region.
(AP, 10/24/09)(AP, 10/25/09)
2009 Oct 24, In Rwanda 10 people
were locked up in an underground passage which was blocked by a big
amount of (fallen) residue in Nyakabingo. 7 were rescued by local
people who dug another quick entrance. 3 remained inside. A week
earlier, 3 other miners were crushed to death in a cassiterite and
coltan mine in Rutongo, northern Rwanda.
(Reuters, 10/26/09)
2009 Oct 24, A Saudi court
convicted a female journalist for her involvement in a TV show, in
which a Saudi man, Abdul-Jawad, publicly talked about sex, and
sentenced her to 60 lashes. Rozanna al-Yami (22) is believed to be the
first Saudi woman journalist to be given such a punishment. The same
court sentenced Abdul-Jawad earlier this month to five years in jail
and 1,000 lashes. 3 other men who appeared on the show, "Bold Red
Line," were also convicted of discussing sex publicly and sentenced to
two years imprisonment and 300 lashes each. Saudi Arabia's King
Abdullah waived the flogging sentence of the female journalist, the
second such pardoning of such a high profile case by the monarch in
recent years. He ordered al-Yami's case and that of another journalist,
a pregnant woman also accused of involvement in the program, be
referred to a committee in the ministry.
(AP, 10/24/09)(AP, 10/26/09)
2009 Oct 24, Pope Benedict XVI
appointed Cardinal Peter Turkson (61) of Ghana to head the Vatican's
justice and peace office, a high-profile post that cements his
reputation as a possible future papal candidate. Turkson's appointment
to his new post was announced at the end of a three-week Vatican
meeting on the role of the Catholic Church in Africa.
(AP, 10/24/09)
2009 Oct 24, Zimbabwean President
Robert Mugabe accused PM Morgan Tsvangirai of failing to act in the
national interest after withdrawing his support for the country's
fragile unity government, state media reported.
(AFP, 10/24/09)
2009 Oct 25, The New York Yankees,
baseball's biggest spenders, finally cashed in with their first pennant
in six years, beating the Los Angeles Angels 5-2 in Game 6 of the AL
championship series behind the savvy pitching of Andy Pettitte.
(AP, 10/26/09)
2009 Oct 25, In California a fire
broke out in the Santa Cruz Mountains between Morgan Hill and Sant
Cruz. The Loma Fire covered 485 acres and was only 20% contained. The
Loma Fire was fully contained on Oct 27.
(SFC, 10/26/09, p.A1)(SFC, 10/28/09, p.A9)
2009 Oct 25, Lawrence Halprin
(b.1916), SF Bay Area landscape architect, died. His work included the
design of San Francisco’s Ghirardelli Square in 1968 and the FDR
Memorial in Washington DC, completed in 1997.
(SFC, 10/27/09, p.A1)
2009 Oct 25, In Florida Jeffry
Picower (67) was found by his wife at the bottom of a pool at the
couple's sprawling oceanside Palm Beach mansion. He had suffered a
heart attack and died a short time later at a nearby hospital. He was
accused of making more than $7 billion off the investment schemes of
jailed financial manager Bernard Madoff.
(AP, 10/26/09)(SFC, 10/27/09, p.A4)
2009 Oct 25, Seymour Fromer (87),
founder of the Berkeley-based Judah Magnes Museum, died. Fromer learned
of Judah Magnes (1877-1948), the first ordained rabbi in California, in
an 1894 Oakland high school yearbook.
(SFC, 11/6/09,
p.C5)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judah_Leon_Magnes)
2009 Oct 25, Henry P. Becton, Sr.
(b.1914), former Chairman of the Board for Becton Dickinson Corp., died
at his home in Maine. He was the son of BD co-founder Maxwell W. Becton
and saw BD grow from 600 associates and sales of $2.5 million to 29,000
associates and over $7 billion in annual sales.
(Echo, 12/09, p.1)
2009 Oct 25, In Afghanistan 2
American service members died, one in a bomb attack in the east, and
another wounds sustained in an insurgent attack in the same region.
(AP, 10/26/09)
2009 Oct 25, In Honduras the body
of Enzo Micheletti, the nephew of interim Honduran President Roberto
Micheletti, was found in Choloma. He had been shot to death
execution-style. The body of another, unidentified man was found
nearby. Gunmen killed army Col. Concepcion Jimenez outside his home in
Tegucigalpa. Honduras was noted for the highest homicide rate in
Central America, much of it related to drugs.
(AP, 10/26/09)
2009 Oct 25, In Iran UN IAEA
inspectors got their first look inside the Fordo uranium enrichment
site 20 miles north of Qom, a once-secret uranium enrichment facility
that has raised Western suspicions about the extent of Iran's nuclear
program.
(AP, 10/25/09)
2009 Oct 25, In Iraq 2 suicide car
bombs exploded in downtown Baghdad, killing 155 people. The car bombs
targeted the Justice Ministry and the Baghdad provincial
administration. The explosions also injured some 500 people who were
taken to six area hospitals. 11 army officers and 50 security officials
were soon taken into custody over the bombings. Three jailed suspects
in the bombings later said they filmed the targeted buildings before
the attack and escorted the car bombs in a convoy into Baghdad.
(AP, 10/25/09)(AP, 10/26/09)(AP, 10/30/09)(AP,
11/22/09)
2009 Oct 25, Israeli forces
stormed Jerusalem's holiest shrine, firing stun grenades to disperse
hundreds of stone-throwing Palestinian protesters in a fresh eruption
of violence at the most volatile spot in the country.
(AP, 10/25/09)
2009 Oct 25, In Italy 4 policemen
were questioned for allegedly attempting to blackmail opposition leader
Piero Marrazzo (51). The case centered on widespread media reports that
a video shows the center-left politician in the company of a
transsexual in a Rome apartment.
(AP, 10/25/09)
2009 Oct 25, Energy giant BP
signed a deal with Jordan to explore for natural gas reserves in the
Risheh field near the border with Iraq in an investment that could
reach billions of dollars.
(AFP, 10/25/09)
2009 Oct 25, Oil-rich Nigeria's
main militant group (MEND) called an indefinite cease-fire to encourage
dialogue with the government.
(AP, 10/25/09)
2009 Oct 25, In northeastern
Pakistan a suicide bomber killed a police officer on a highway near
Jhelum city, about 60 miles south of Islamabad. The man taken into
custody told police they had planned to detonate the bomb in Lahore. A
minister for education was fatally attacked by gunmen in Quetta, the
capital of southwestern Baluchistan province. A nationalist group, the
Baluchistan United Liberation Front, claimed responsibility. Taliban
militants attacked a security post in Hangu district northwest of South
Waziristan, killing one soldier.
(AP, 10/25/09)(AP, 10/26/09)
2009 Oct 25, In southern Russia
Maksharip Aushev a prominent opposition activist in Ingushetia was shot
and killed by unidentified gunmen in at least the third such killing in
the North Caucasus region in just over three months. Aushev died when
several assailants sprayed his vehicle with automatic gunfire from a
passing car. A woman traveling with him was badly wounded in the attack
on a road in the neighboring province of Kabardino-Balkariya.
(AP, 10/25/09)
2009 Oct 25, In Somalia Islamist
militants in the port town of Merca shot to death two men accused by
fighters of spying for the weak government.
(AP, 10/25/09)
2009 Oct 25, In Thailand Asian
leaders heard competing plans from Australia and Japan for a massive
EU-style community covering half the world's population as they wrapped
up their annual East Asian summit. Thai PM Abhisit Vejjajiva said
leaders of 16 Asian countries gave high priority to finding a new
economic growth model to free half the world's population from merely
serving as producers for the West.
(AFP, 10/25/09)
2009 Oct 25, Tunisians cast
ballots for president and parliament in elections expected to hand
another landslide victory to incumbent leader Zine El Abidine Ben Ali
(73), who warned opponents they would face legal retaliation if they
questioned the elections' fairness. Pres. Zine El Abidine Ben Ali was
re-elected for a fifth 5-year term with an overwhelming 89% of the
vote, his weakest performance yet but more than enough to show his
solid grip on the nation.
(AP, 10/25/09)(AP, 10/26/09)(Econ, 10/31/09, p.59)
2009 Oct 25, Uruguay held
presidential elections. Voters faced a stark choice between: Jose
"Pepe" Mujica (74), an ex-rebel who yearns to create enduring socialism
or Luis Alberto Lacalle (69), a former center-right president
(1990-1995) who privatized government services and wants to pull away
from alliances with Latin American leftists. Mujica, the candidate of
the governing leftist Broad Front coalition, got 47.5% of the votes,
just below the majority needed to win outright. Conservative
ex-president Luis Alberto LaCalle got 28.5%, and Pedro Bordaberry of
the Colorado Party 17%.
(AP, 10/25/09)(AP, 10/26/09)(Econ, 10/24/09, p.44)
2009 Oct 25, Pope Benedict XVI
ended a three-week Vatican meeting on Africa with a call for peace and
reconciliation among all people on the continent, regardless of ethnic
and religious differences.
(AP, 10/25/09)
2009 Oct 26, In Afghanistan
Nangarhar province Gov. Gul Agha Sherzai survived an assassination
attempt after a gunman fired automatic weapons at his convoy in
Jalalabad. Sherzai's bodyguards killed the gunman, as well as another
attacker wearing a suicide vest and carrying grenades. Security forces
in Kabul fired automatic rifles into the air for a second day to
contain hundreds of stone-throwing university students angered over the
alleged desecration of Islam's holy book. US and Afghan authorities
have denied any such desecration and insist that the Taliban are
spreading the rumor to stir up public anger. A UH-1 and an AH-1 Cobra
helicopter collided in flight before sunrise over the southern province
of Helmand, killing 4 American troops. Another helicopter went down in
the west of the country after leaving the scene of a firefight, killing
10 Americans, including 7 service members and 3 Drug Enforcement
Administration agents.
(AP, 10/26/09)
2009 Oct 26, British-based
Barclays bought the home loans and savings arm of insurer Standard Life
for ₤226 million, pursuing its expansion strategy after the
part-purchase of failed US titan Lehman Brothers last year. Standard
Life Bank, which has no retail branch network, was launched back in
1998.
(AFP, 10/26/09)
2009 Oct 26, In Iraq a car bomb at
a police checkpoint near Karbala killed at least 4 people.
(AP, 10/26/09)
2009 Oct 26, In the Marshall
Islands traditional chief Jurelang Zedkaia was elected president by a
slender 17-15 margin, replacing Litokwa Tomeing who was ousted in a
no-confidence vote last week.
(AP, 10/26/09)
2009 Oct 26, In Mexico a band of
thieves swarmed into a railroad facility and held security guards at
gunpoint while making off with three dozen new automobiles and trucks
from a storage lot west of the capital.
(AP, 10/28/09)
2009 Oct 26, Mongolian PM Bayar
Sanjaa said he wanted to resign for health reasons, bringing new
political uncertainty to his impoverished but resource-rich nation.
(AP, 10/26/09)
2009 Oct 26, A key member of
Nigeria's ruling party and close associate of former president Olusegun
Obasanjo was sentenced to a total of 28 years in jail for corruption.
Bode George and five co-accused "were given 28 years on the charges,
but will serve two-and-half years since the sentences will run
concurrently." George and five other directors of Nigeria Ports Plc
were found guilty of fraud and contract inflation while serving on the
board of the state-run company during Obasanjo's regime from 1999 to
2007.
(AFP, 10/27/09)
2009 Oct 26, Nigeria signed a deal
worth almost a billion dollars with a state-owned Chinese engineering
firm to resuscitate part of its dilapidated railway system.
(AFP, 10/26/09)
2009 Oct 26, Kang Tong Rim (30)
defected into North Korea. The next day a South Korean military
statement said Kang had formerly served in an army division near where
a fence was found cut and he has been on a police wanted list following
his alleged involvement in an assault case in September.
(AP, 10/27/09)
2009 Oct 26, In Pakistan a fight
to secure Ghalai village, on the road from Kotkai to Sararogha, left
six soldiers and 10 militants dead, bringing to 197 the number of
militants and to 30 the number of troops killed so far.
(AP, 10/26/09)
2009 Oct 26, Pakistani police
arrested 11 Iranian Revolutionary Guard officers for illegally entering
the country, amid tensions over a suicide attack on Oct 18 that Tehran
alleges was carried out by militants backed by Pakistani intelligence
officials. The 11 officers were released the next day.
(AP, 10/26/09)(AP, 10/27/09)
2009 Oct 26, In South Africa
Harmony Gold Mining Co. said four workers were trapped underground at
its Target mine in the country's Free State province after ground fell
on them in a section of the mine.
(Reuters, 10/26/09)
2009 Oct 26, South Korea offered a
small amount of food aid to North Korea, its first direct assistance to
the impoverished neighbor in nearly two years of strained relations.
(AP, 10/26/09)
2009 Oct 26, In South Korea Dr.
Hwang Woo-suk (56), a stem cell scientist, was convicted on criminal
charges relating to faked research, but avoided jail time.
(SFC, 10/27/09, p.A2)
2009 Oct 26, Yemeni coast guards
seized a boat that illegally entered the country's territorial waters
and arrested five Iranians on board. Local media reported the next day
that an Iranian boat smuggling weapons was captured and its Iranian
crew arrested.
(AP, 10/28/09)
2009 Oct 27, President Barack
Obama formally renewed US sanctions on Sudan under his new strategy of
keeping up pressure while offering incentives to the Khartoum
government. Robert Cabelly (61), a former State Department employee and
US lobbyist, was charged with violating Sudanese sanctions regulations,
acting as an unregistered agent of a foreign power, money laundering,
passport fraud and making false statements.
(Reuters, 10/27/09)(AP, 10/28/09)
2009 Oct 27, The NY Times reported
that the brother of Afghan President Hamid Karzai has been getting
regular payments from the Central Intelligence Agency. The paper said
Ahmed Wali Karzai is a suspected player in Afghanistan's opium trade
and has been paid by the CIA over the past eight years for services
that included helping to recruit an Afghan paramilitary force that
operates at the CIA's direction in and around the southern city of
Kandahar. Ahmed Wali Karzai denied reports that he has received regular
payments from the CIA for much of the past eight years.
(Reuters, 10/28/09)(AP, 10/28/09)
2009 Oct 27, Stanko Grmovsek (40)
a Canadian man, pleaded guilty to US and Canadian criminal charges
stemming from a 14-year insider trading scheme, a day after his alleged
accomplice, Bay Street lawyer Gil Cornblum, apparently committed
suicide.
(Reuters, 10/27/09)
2009 Oct 27, Four months after
Michael Jackson's death, red carpets were rolled out for 18
simultaneous screenings on five continents for "This Is It," culled
from more than 100 hours of footage taken from rehearsals for the pop
icon's comeback.
(AFP, 10/28/09)
2009 Oct 27, Authorities
indefinitely closed the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge after a rod
and a metal brace erected last month during an emergency repair job
fell onto the bridge's westbound lanes, startling a pair of drivers who
collided with the debris and leaving hundreds of others stranded in
their cars during the evening commute. Over 5,000 pounds of metal
crashed down onto traffic, totaling a couple of cars but leaving the
drivers largely unscathed. The bridge remained closed thru the weekend.
(AP, 10/28/09)(SSFC, 11/1/09, p.A1)
2009 Oct 27, Prof. August Coppola,
creator of the San Francisco Exploratorium’s Tactile Dome, died in Los
Angeles. Coppola, a former trustee of the California State Univ.
system, cofounded CSU’s Summer Arts Program in 1985, and was
instrumental in pushing the SF Board of Education in 1992 for a High
School of the Arts.
(SFC, 11/4/09, p.C7)
2009 Oct 27, In Afghanistan 8 US
troops died in "multiple, complex" bomb attacks in the south. One
Afghan civilian was also killed, and several other troops were wounded
and taken to a nearby medical facility.
(AP, 10/27/09)
2009 Oct 27, Algeria and Britain
signed a new defense agreement. An embassy spokeswoman said "This
outline agreement aims to regularize cooperation between the two
countries in defense matters, particularly the training of Algerian
officers in Great Britain."
(AFP, 10/27/09)
2009 Oct 27, A jury in the British
Virgin Islands convicted dive shop owner David Swain of drowning his
wife, Shelley Tyre (46) during a 1999 scuba-diving trip in what
prosecutors called a near perfect murder. Authorities charged Swain
with murder after a 2006 civil trial in Rhode Island found him
responsible for his wife's death. That jury awarded Tyre's family $3.5
million, but Swain filed for bankruptcy and has not paid the sum. On
Nov 10 a judge sentenced Swain to 25 years in jail.
(AP, 10/28/09)(AP, 11/10/09)
2009 Oct 27, In Canada 2 coyotes
attacked and killed Taylor Mitchell (19), a singer-songwriter from
Toronto, as she hiked alone in Cape Breton Highlands National Park in
Nova Scotia.
(SFC, 10/29/09, p.A2)
2009 Oct 27, A Paris court
convicted the French branch of the Church of Scientology of fraud and
fined it more than euro600,000 ($900,000), but stopped short of banning
the group as prosecutors had demanded.
(AP, 10/27/09)(SFC, 10/28/09, p.A4)
2009 Oct 27, In Greece gunmen on a
motorcycle fired on a suburban Athens police station with automatic
weapons, wounding six police officers.
(AP, 10/27/09)
2009 Oct 27, Greek authorities
said 3 adults and 5 children drowned in the eastern Aegean Sea when a
small boat carrying 17 illegal immigrants from Afghanistan hit rocks
near the shore and sank.
(AP, 10/27/09)
2009 Oct 27, US-based Human Rights
Watch said the Sept. 28 massacre by Guinean troops of at least 150
people and the rapes of dozens of women at a pro-democracy rally in
Guinea were premeditated, and that rapes of kidnapped women continued
for days.
(AP, 10/27/09)
2009 Oct 27, Iran’s state
television says Iran will agree to the "general framework" of a
UN-drafted plan to ship enriched uranium out of the country for
processing, but will seek "important changes" in the deal.
(AP, 10/27/09)
2009 Oct 27, Amnesty International
issued a report accusing Israel of pumping disproportionate amounts of
drinking water from the Mountain Aquifer it controls in the West Bank,
depriving local Palestinians of their fair share.
(AP, 10/27/09)
2009 Oct 27, An Italian appeals
court upheld the conviction of British lawyer David Mills for accepting
a bribe to lie in court to protect Silvio Berlusconi. A lower court
found Mills guilty of corruption in May and sentenced him to 4 1/2
years. In 2010 Italy’s highest court overturned a guilty verdict
against Mills, ruling that the stature of limitations had expired.
(AP, 10/27/09)(SFC, 2/26/10, p.A2)
2009 Oct 27, The Japanese
destroyer JS Kurama collided with the South Korean container ship
Carina Star in the Kanmon Strait near the southern main island of
Kyushu and both were engulfed in flames.
(AP, 10/27/09)
2009 Oct 27, Lebanon-based
militants launched a rocket into northern Israel hitting near the
Israeli town of Kiryat Shemona. The attack drew a rapid response from
Israeli artillery, which shelled the launch area. No casualties were
reported on either side.
(AP, 10/28/09)
2009 Oct 27, A Lithuanian lawmaker
said there is no evidence that US airplanes with al-Qaida suspects ever
landed in the Baltic country. A recent report by ABC News claimed the
CIA had a secret prison in Vilnius from September 2004 through November
2005.
(AP, 10/27/09)
2009 Oct 27, Mexican police
arrested Abel Valadez Oribe (32), who they say headed the operations of
the "La Familia" drug cartel in the western state of Michoacan. Police
found dismembered remains of a man in plastic bags by the side of a
road in Uruapan, another city in Michoacan. In Tijuana a teenage girl
(15) was killed by a stray bullet during a shootout between police and
gunmen. Reporters in Tijuana were invited by military officials to a
private, industrial property about 100 feet south of San Diego's Otay
Mesa border crossing where Mexican soldiers discovered a secret tunnel
complete with electricity and an air supply that may have been planned
for smuggling migrants or drugs under the US border into San Diego. 4
police officers were killed by assailants who opened fired on them
during a traffic stop in the central Mexico city of Puebla.
(AP, 10/27/09)(AP, 10/28/09)
2009 Oct 27, At The Hague Radovan
Karadzic boycotted his UN trial for a second day while prosecutors
began outlining their genocide case against the former Bosnian Serb
leader.
(AP, 10/27/09)
2009 Oct 27, In Nigeria the
78-year-old father of ex-Central Bank of Nigeria governor Charles
Soludo was seized from his home. He was released on Nov 4. Soludo, who
left office in June, was last month controversially nominated candidate
for the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP) for upcoming state
governorship elections. Aggrieved aspirants contested the nomination in
the courts.
(AFP, 11/5/09)
2009 Oct 27, Pakistan's army
pushed deeper into a Taliban sanctuary close to the Afghan border,
claiming to have killed 42 militants in the latest stage of an
offensive against extremists blamed for relentless attacks in recent
weeks. Authorities announced the arrest of the alleged mastermind
behind two recent bombings in the main northwest city of Peshawar.
(AP, 10/27/09)
2009 Oct 27, A UN official said
more than 300,000 children under the age of five die of preventable
diseases each year in Sudan, almost a third of them before they reach
the age of one month.
(AFP, 10/28/09)
2009 Oct 27, Zimbabwe's PM Morgan
Tsvangirai and ministers drawn from his MDC party boycotted a cabinet
meeting led by Pres. Mugabe for the second time in as many weeks. The
Southern African Development Community (SADC) confirmed that it will be
sending its politics, defense and security body on a fact-finding
mission to Harare. The bloc mediated the unity pact that underpins the
government.
(AFP, 10/27/09)
2009 Oct 27, Venezuela’s President
Hugo Chavez said two Colombian spies have been captured and will go on
trail for conducting espionage within his country. Colombia's security
agency denied sending any agents into Venezuela.
(AP, 10/28/09)
2009 Oct 28, President Barack
Obama signed a defense bill into law containing a new provision to pay
Taliban fighters who renounce the insurgency. The defense also bill
killed some costly weapons projects and expanded war efforts. In a
major civil rights change, the law also made it a federal hate crime to
assault people based on sexual orientation.
(Reuters, 10/27/09)(AP, 10/29/09)
2009 Oct 28, In Alabama a federal
jury convicted Birmingham Mayor Larry Langford on charges of accepting
bribes in exchange for funnelling $7.1 million in bond business to an
investment banker.
(SFC, 10/29/09, p.A6)
2009 Oct 28, In Anchorage Bill
Allen, an oil services executive at the heart of a federal
investigation of corruption in Alaska, was sentenced to 3 years in
prison and fine $750,000.
(SFC, 10/29/09, p.A6)
2009 Oct 28, A San Francisco judge
ordered the closure of Pink Diamonds, a Tenderloin strip club, a
directed its operator, Damone H. smith, to pay at least $688,500 in
fines after he violated a court order to bring the club into compliance
with local and state laws.
(SFC, 10/29/09, p.D1)
2009 Oct 28, US federal agents in
Dearborn, Michigan, arrested several members of a radical Sunni Islam
group on charges that included conspiracy to sell stolen goods and the
illegal possession and sale of firearms. Luqman Ameen Abddullah (53), a
Muslim prayer leader, was shot and killed with 21 gunshot wounds after
he refused to surrender and fired a weapon. He had not been
charged with a crime. An investigation into the killing was opened in
2010.
(SFC, 10/29/09, p.A6)(SFC, 2/3/10,
p.A8)(http://tinyurl.com/yf57rdd)
2009 Oct 28, NASA launched its
327-foot Ares I-X, its new prototype moon rocket, skyward from Cape
Canaveral on a suborbital test flight at a cost of $445 million.
(SFC, 10/29/09, p.A7)
2009 Oct 28, In Afghanistan
Taliban militants wearing suicide vests and police uniforms stormed a
guest house used by UN staff in the heart of Kabul. 11 people were
killed, including 5 UN staff, 3 attackers, 2 security guards and an
Afghan civilian. Liberian election worker Yah Lydia Wonyene (47) was
one of the five UN staffers killed. It was the biggest in a series of
attacks intended to undermine next month's presidential runoff
election. The assault included rocket attacks at the presidential
palace and the city's main luxury hotel. Two NATO members were killed
in bomb blasts in the south, including one American.
(AP, 10/28/09)(AP, 10/29/09)(AP, 11/22/09)
2009 Oct 28, Britain’s PM Gordon
Brown welcomed Indian President Pratibha Patil on the second day of her
state visit which he said showed growing ties between the two nations.
(AFP, 10/28/09)
2009 Oct 28, The UN mission to
Congo (MONUC) said Congolese soldiers killed their unit commander when
he ordered them not to steal and pillage in eastern Democratic Republic
of Congo. The men involved were former Mai-Mai militia members from the
Congolese Resistance Patriots movement (PARECO) who recently became
part of the army.
(AFP, 10/29/09)
2009 Oct 28, Angela Merkel was
sworn for a second term as German chancellor, a month after her party
won national elections.
(AP, 10/28/09)
2009 Oct 28, Germany's Lutheran
Church elected Margot Kaessmann (51), the first woman to lead the
nation's Protestants.
(AP, 10/28/09)
2009 Oct 28, In Guinea tens of
thousands of workers went on strike to mark the one-month anniversary
of a massacre in which troops fatally shot pro-democracy demonstrators
and raped women in broad daylight. 10 people who announced they were
taking part in a hunger strike were arrested. The next day they were
taken to a restaurant where they were forced to eat under threat of
death. The 10 hunger strikers were released on Oct 30, after being
detained inside a shipping crate with breathing holes.
(AP, 10/28/09)(AP, 10/30/09)
2009 Oct 28, Ayatollah Ali
Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader, said that questioning the results of
Iran's June presidential election is a crime.
(AP, 10/28/09)
2009 Oct 28, Kurdish President
Massoud Barzani said the Kurds would not accept a proposed "special
status," referring to distinct voting rules specifically for Kirkuk in
Iraq's January election, which Kurds say would favor other ethnicities.
(AP, 10/30/09)
2009 Oct 28, Kuwait's highest
court ruled that women lawmakers are not obliged by law to wear the
headscarf, a blow to Muslim fundamentalists who want to fully impose
Islamic Sharia law in this small oil-rich state.
(AP, 10/28/09)
2009 Oct 28, Lebanese troops found
and dismantled four rockets near the border with Israel, a day after a
brief flare-up across the tense boundary.
(AP, 10/28/09)
2009 Oct 28, Mozambique held
elections. President Armando Guebuza was expected to retain power and
move to attract more foreign investors. On Nov 2 President Armando
Guebuza was declared the "landslide" winner by two election monitoring
groups. Frelimo, the ruling party since independence in 1975, had
received 71% of the vote with 89% of polling stations reporting. On Nov
11 election officials said President Armando Guebuza won the landslide
re-election with 75% of the vote. On Nov 17 the main opposition Renamo
party said the ruling party stuffed ballot boxes and expelled
opposition monitors from polling stations to help it win the
presidential election.
(Reuters, 10/28/09)(AFP, 11/2/09)(AFP, 11/11/09)(AP,
11/17/09)
2009 Oct 28, Norway’s central bank
became the first in Europe to tighten, raising its policy rate to 1.5%
from 1.25%.
(Econ, 11/7/09, p.70)
2009 Oct 28, In northwestern
Pakistan a car bomb tore through a busy market in Peshawar, killing 105
people, mostly women and children. US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham
Clinton visited the country and pledged American support for its
campaign against Islamist militants.
(AP, 10/28/09)(AP, 10/29/09)
2009 Oct 28, In Rwanda Dismas
Mukeshabatware, a member of Radio Rwanda's renowned Indamutsa theatre
troupe, was sentenced on charges of murdering a woman and her three
children in 1994 in the southern town of Butare. On Dec 16 he was
acquitted on appeal.
(AFP, 12/16/09)
2009 Oct 28, Somalia’s PM Omar
Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke said that many countries are fishing illegally
in Somali waters and have pushed formerly profitable Somali fishermen
into the pirate trade. "We estimate that the value of the fish being
taken from our waters is perhaps hundreds of millions of dollars." 5
people were killed in fighting after insurgents sent mortars toward the
airport as the president was arriving.
(AP, 10/28/09)(AP, 10/31/09)
2009 Oct 28, Somali pirates
exchanged fire with a French fishing vessel. They sped away, but were
soon stopped by a Spanish naval helicopter. 7 pirates were detained on
the German naval vessel, FGS Karlsruhe.
(AP, 10/28/09)
2009 Oct 28, In Thailand suspected
Muslim insurgents shot and killed two Buddhist civilians in separate
drive-by attacks in the insurgency-plagued south.
(AP, 10/28/09)
2009 Oct 28, The UN said
Zimbabwe's government has blocked a visit by Manfred Nowak, the UN’s
torture investigator who was to examine alleged attacks on opposition
activists by ruling party supporters.
(AP, 10/28/09)
2009 Oct 29, A US panel that
refers cases to the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct
announced that it was investigating two California Democrats, Reps.
Maxine Waters and Laura Richardson, even as its embarrassed leaders
took pains to explain that several other lawmakers also were identified
in the leaked confidential committee memo but may have done nothing
wrong.
(AP, 10/30/09)
2009 Oct 29, The US Commerce Dept.
said the economy emerged from recession in the third quarter. The US
economy grew 3.5% in the third quarter, rebounding from a year of
contraction as the country emerged from prolonged recession.
(AFP, 10/29/09)
2009 Oct 29, A US District judge
in San Jose awarded Facebook $711 million in damages in an anti-spam
case filed against online marketer Sanford Wallace, known as the “Spam
King.” Wallace filed for bankruptcy in June.
(SFC, 10/31/09, p.D1)
2009 Oct 29, After months of
struggle US House Democrats unveiled sweeping legislation to extend
health care coverage to millions who lack it and create a new option of
government-run insurance.
(AP, 10/29/09)
2009 Oct 29, A US Coast Guard
airplane on a nighttime search for a boater collided with one of four
Marine Corps helicopters flying in formation to a military training
island off Southern California. All seven people aboard the Coast Guard
plane and the two-person crew of the Marine Corps AH-1W Super Cobra
helicopter were missing.
(AP, 10/30/09)
2009 Oct 29, In Cleveland, Ohio,
police found the remains of 6 bodies at the home of Anthony Sowell (50)
as they tried to arrest him on charges of felonious assault and rape.
Sowell, a convicted rapist, was arrested on Oct 31. 5 more bodies were
soon found at Sowell’s home.
(SSFC, 11/1/09, p.A20)(SFC, 11/5/09, p.A10)
2009 Oct 29, Algerian security
forces seized 3.5 tons of cannabis as well as weapons and two
all-terrain vehicles in the south of the country.
(AFP, 10/31/09)
2009 Oct 29, In Brazil a
single-prop Cessna Caravan plane went down on the Itui River in a
remote part of the Amazon rain forest. Members of the Matis Indian
tribe found the plane with 9 survivors of 11 on board.
(AP, 10/31/09)
2009 Oct 29, The
Economist-sponsored Innovation Awards were handed out to 8 winners in
London. They included Craig Venter (Bioscience) for his contributions
to genomics; Ratan Tata (Business process) for pioneering the
globalization of corporate India; Raymond Kurzweil (Computing and
Telecom) for his work in artificial intelligence; Steve Sasson
(Consumer products and Services) for his contributions to solar cell
technology; Richard Swanson (Energy and Environment); Mark Zuckerberg
(No boundaries) for popularizing social networking; Mikkel Vestergaard
Frandsen (Social and Economic Innovation) for developing low-cost
health devices; and Reckitt Benckiser (Corporate use of Innovation),
the world’s biggest maker of household cleaning products, for its
innovative and entrepreneurial corporate culture.
(Econ, 12/12/09, TQ p.10)
2009 Oct 29, Chinese officials
agreed to lift the ban on US pork imports they imposed last spring out
of fear of swine flu.
(AP, 10/29/09)
2009 Oct 29, In northern
Democratic Republic of Congo armed villagers killed at least 47
policemen trying to intervene in ethnic clashes.
(Reuters, 10/30/09)
2009 Oct 29, In the Czech Rep.
farmers sprayed milk onto fields across the country to protest low
prices.
(SFC, 10/30/09, p.A2)
2009 Oct 29, The EU's stalled
reform treaty overcame a crucial hurdle after EU leaders agreed to
last-minute demands from the Czech Republic in return for the country's
ratification of the ambitious deal. Czech President Vaclav Klaus had
refused to sign the treaty until his country was an offered an opt-out
from its Charter of Fundamental Rights. The Czech leader asked for the
option over worries of property claims by ethnic Germans stripped of
their land and expelled after World War II.
(AP, 10/29/09)
2009 Oct 29, African leaders
imposed a new barrage of sanctions Guinea's military rulers,
increasingly under fire in the wake of last month's massacre of scores
of opposition supporters.
(AFP, 10/29/09)
2009 Oct 29, Honduras filed a case
at the UN's highest court accusing Brazil of meddling in internal
Honduran affairs by allowing ousted President Manuel Zelaya to stay at
its embassy in Tegucigalpa since Sep 21. Representatives of Zelaya
finally reached an agreement with the interim government that could
help end the months long dispute over the June 28 coup, and possibly
pave the way for Zelaya's reinstatement. The agreement would create a
power-sharing government and bind both sides to recognize the Nov. 29
presidential elections.
(AP, 10/29/09)(AP, 10/30/09)
2009 Oct 29, In Hungary Laszlo
Majtenyi, the chairman of Hungary's national body in charge of awarding
frequencies (ORTT), announced his resignation after ORTT took away 2
nationwide licenses from foreign-owned stations and gave them to 2
local firms, one with links to Fidesz, the right-wing opposition party.
(www.bbj.hu/?col=1002&id=50638)(Econ, 11/7/09,
p.60)
2009 Oct 29, In India a huge fire
at an oil depot near Jaipur killed at least six people and injured 150.
Officials said it would be allowed to burn out as firefighters had
little hope of dousing it. The blaze was visible from over 25km (16
miles) away.
(AP, 10/30/09)
2009 Oct 29, India banned pre-paid
mobile telephones in Kashmir, following concerns that militants were
using them to trigger bombs and hide their identities.
(AFP, 10/30/09)
2009 Oct 29, In Kuwait an American
soldier was killed in an accident.
(AP, 10/29/09)
2009 Oct 29, The US rubber company
Firestone said in a statement that it has conducted its own extensive
testing of discharge water in Liberia and found it was not harmful to
human health. The Liberian government has said a three-month
investigation found high levels of orthophosphate being released into
the water.
(AP, 10/30/09)
2009 Oct 29, Mexican authorities
said a woman's body was found buried headfirst in a plastic container
of cement in drug-plagued Tijuana.
(AP, 10/29/09)
2009 Oct 29, Mongolia's parliament
confirmed Batbold Sukhbaatar, one of the country's wealthiest men as
the new prime minister. The former foreign minister pledged to continue
the pro-business policies of his predecessor Bayar Sanjaa, who stepped
down as prime minister this week after seeking treatment for liver
problems. Batbold made his fortune between 1992 and 2000 as head of the
trading company Altai Trading Co. Ltd., which formed a gold mining
joint venture with Canadian Centerra Gold Inc.
(AP, 10/29/09)
2009 Oct 29, The Pakistani army
said troops were closing in on Kanigurram, described as an important
base of Uzbek militants and an Tehreek-e-Taliban operational centre,
saying that 11 militants and one soldier were killed.
(AP, 10/29/09)
2009 Oct 29, Somali pirates
continued their rampage around the Seychelles and seized a
Thailand-flagged trawler, believed to be Russian-owned with a crew of
25. Somali pirates currently held a total of nine ships and around 200
crew. Pirates received a ransom and released the Thai Union 3 on March
7.
(AP, 10/29/09)(AP, 3/7/10)
2009 Oct 29, In the US Virgin
Islands a small plane crashed into a field and burst into flames
shortly after taking off in St. Croix, killing all three people on
board.
(AP, 10/30/09)
2009 Oct 29, In eastern Zimbabwe
Elmon Mupombwa (41) killed three of his children with an ax and wounded
two others. He also torched his home and killed his livestock — five
cattle, 20 goats and 17 chickens — before hanging himself. Police said
Mupombwa had attended a tribal ritual conducted by a spirit medium,
also known as a witch doctor.
(AP, 11/1/09)
2009 Oct 30, Pres. Obama announced
an end to a 2-decade ban on people with HIV from entering the country.
(SFC, 10/31/09, p.A8)
2009 Oct 30, US banking regulators
closed nine banks in California, Illinois, Texas and Arizona. They were
all divisions of privately held FBOP Corp. based in Oak Park, Ill.
(SSFC, 11/1/09, p.A15)
2009 Oct 30, The US Center for
Disease Control said at least 114 children have died from swine flu
complications since the spring, up from 95 a week earlier.
(SFC, 10/31/09, p.A5)
2009 Oct 30, SF Mayor Gavin Newsom
announced that he was dropping out of the race for governor of
California.
(SFC, 10/31/09, p.A1)
2009 Oct 30, In the San Francisco
Bay the tanker Dubai Star began leaking fuel oil after a tank
overflowed during refueling. Coast Guard officials later estimated that
some 400-800 gallons of toxic oil leaked into the SF Bay killing at
least 37 birds along the Alameda coastline.
(SFC, 10/31/09, p.A1)(SFC, 11/3/09, p.C3)(SFC,
11/17/09, p.C2)
2009 Oct 30, Norton Buffalo (58),
harmonica virtuoso and long time member of the Steve Miller Band, died
of cancer in Paradise, Ca.
(SFC, 11/2/09, p.C1)
2009 Oct 30, In eastern
Afghanistan a taxi carrying nine civilians hit a bomb buried in the
road, killing everyone inside, including a mother and child.
(AP, 10/30/09)
2009 Oct 30, The prime minister of
Bosnia's Serb half said he would pull out of talks on constitutional
reform led by the United States and European Union set to speed up
Bosnia's path to EU and NATO membership.
(Reuters, 10/30/09)
2009 Oct 30, The British
government sacked David Nutt, the nation’s top drug advisor, following
his remarks that marijuana, ecstasy and LSD were less dangerous than
alcohol.
(SFC, 10/31/09, p.S2)
2009 Oct 30, The BBC said Anton
Turner (38), a British guide working on a children's television show in
Tanzania, was killed after being charged by an elephant. The show
"Serious Explorers" followed David Livingstone's famous 19th-century
trek across the African continent.
(AP, 10/31/09)
2009 Oct 30, In Canada an Ontario
judge approved the transfer of Canwest Global's flagship National Post
newspaper into a new holding company, a move that will allow the
money-losing daily to keep operating.
(Reuters, 10/31/09)
2009 Oct 30, In Canada a section
of the mine about 500 meters (1,600 feet) below the surface flooded at
the Bachelor Lake gold mine of Metanor Resources Inc. in northwestern
Quebec. The bodies of all three missing miners were recovered after 3
days.
(Reuters, 11/3/09)
2009 Oct 30, Ange-Felix Patasse,
the former president of the Central African Republic (1999-2003),
returned home after more than six years in exile. He planned to stand
in the 2010 presidential elections.
(AFP, 10/30/09)
2009 Oct 30, In China a bus
plunged into a valley along a mountainous road in northern Shanxi
province, killing 13 people and injuring at least 40 others.
(AP, 10/31/09)
2009 Oct 30, In Colombia the US
ambassador and three Colombian ministers signed a pact in a private,
low-key ceremony, to expand Washington's military's presence, a deal
that Venezuela's Hugo Chavez has called a threat to the region's
security.
(AP, 10/30/09)
2009 Oct 30, Congo's foreign
minister said India has offered Democratic Republic of Congo $263
million in loans to build hydroelectric plants and repair battered
infrastructure in the war-ravaged nation. The two countries agreed to
the final terms of the loan package this week during a four-day visit
by Foreign Minister Alexis Thambwe Mwamba to India.
(Reuters, 10/30/09)
2009 Oct 30, European Union
leaders agreed to contribute to a euro50 billion ($74 billion) annual
aid fund that would help developing nations adapt to climate change,
but failed to set a firm figure for exactly how much the EU would pay.
(AP, 10/30/09)
2009 Oct 30, The 16-deck Oasis of
the Seas, the world's largest cruise liner, began its maiden voyage to
Florida, gliding out from a shipyard in Finland with an amphitheater,
basketball courts and an ice rink on board. The ship cost euro1 billion
($1.5 billion) and took two and a half years to build at the STX
Finland Oy shipyard in Turku.
(AP, 10/30/09)
2009 Oct 30, In Guatemala an
assistant to the judge handling the case of a man who blamed his death
on Guatemala's president was killed by gunmen. Court employee Mark
Monzon died of gunshot wounds in his car.
(AP, 10/31/09)
2009 Oct 30, Haitian lawmakers
ousted PM Michele Pierre-Louis in a power struggle that threatens to
undermine a campaign to attract foreign investment to the impoverished
country. President Rene Preval turned to Jean-Max Bellerive, the
minister of planning and external cooperation, as nominee to be the
next premier.
(AP, 10/30/09)
2009 Oct 30, Honduras interim
President Roberto Micheletti and ousted Pres. Manuel Zelaya singed the
Tegucigalpa-San Jose Accord. The power-sharing agreement required Mr.
Zelaya to drop his plan for a referendum on constitutional reform.
(Econ, 11/7/09, p.37)
2009 Oct 30, Indonesian officials
and fishermen said thousands of dead fish and clumps of oil have been
found drifting near the coastline more than two months after an
Australian underwater well began leaking in the Timor Sea on Aug 21.
(AP, 10/30/09)
2009 Oct 30, Two American soldiers
in Iraq died of noncombat related injuries in separate incidents.
(AP, 10/30/09)
2009 Oct 30, Mexican authorities
said they have detained a large-scale drug trafficker and also broken
up a ring in Cuernavaca that allegedly laundered around $37 million for
a drug cartel. The army says it detained Oscar Orlando Nava Valencia,
the alleged leader of the "Valencia" drug gang, and nine alleged
associates in the western state of Jalisco. Rights activists in the
border city of Tijuana have hung 5,100 small white crosses on the fence
straddling the US frontier to commemorate migrants who have died trying
to cross. Margarito Montes Parra, the leader of a farmworkers'
organization, and 14 other people were killed in a mass shooting in the
northern state of Sonora. Local news media reported that Montes had led
peasant and squatters' movements involved in land seizures and that his
group has sometimes had violent clashes with rival claimants to land.
(AP, 10/31/09)(SSFC, 11/1/09, p.A6)
2009 Oct 30, ING, the biggest bank
in the Netherlands, said that it would dismember itself by splitting
its banking and insurance business and selling its American online
banking arm.
(Econ, 10/31/09, p.85)
2009 Oct 30, Pakistani forces said
they are closing in on a major Taliban base inside the militant
stronghold of South Waziristan, and announced it had killed 14
militants in a day of fighting. A total of 289 militants and 34
government soldiers have been killed in the offensive, according to a
tally of army figures. Six more militants have been arrested.
(AP, 10/30/09)
2009 Oct 30, In Puerto Rico new
Gov. Luis Fortuno's issued an order allowing large-scale development
inside a 3,200-acre parcel of land immediately north of El Yunque, the
only tropical rain forest in the US National Forest system. Previous
Gov. Anibal Acevedo Vila had declared the Northeast Ecological Corridor
off-limits to all but small, eco-friendly projects after a preservation
campaign backed by actor Benicio del Toro and attorney Robert F.
Kennedy Jr.
(AP, 11/16/09)
2009 Oct 30, President Dmitry
Medvedev told Russians that there can be no justification for the
Soviet government's crimes against its own people, lamenting millions
of deaths and "maimed destinies" in some of the strongest criticism of
the Communist era to come from the Kremlin since Vladimir Putin came to
power a decade ago.
(AP, 10/31/09)
2009 Oct 30, South Korea announced
plans to send troops to Afghanistan to protect its civilian aid
workers, two years after withdrawing its forces following a fatal
hostage crisis.
(AP, 10/30/09)
2009 Oct 31, In Mendota, Ca.,
searchers found the body of Alex Mercado (4) stuffed into a clothes
dryer. Raul Renato Castro (14) later told investigators that he drowned
his neighbor in a bathtub and then hid the body in a dryer because the
child was going to reveal that the teen had molested him.
(SFC, 11/5/09, p.C3)
2009 Oct 31, In Seattle, Wa.,
gunfire on a police patrol car killed police officer Timothy Brenton
(39). He became the first city police officer killed in the line of
duty since 2006. On Nov 6 suspect Christopher Monfort was shot by
police as he drew a gun on officers investigating the death of Brenton.
Monfort was in serious condition following surgery.
(SFC, 11/2/09, p.A5)(SSFC, 11/8/09, p.A14)
2009 Oct 31, US Secretary of State
Hillary Rodham Clinton met with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and
aides in the Gulf emirate of Abu Dhabi before flying to Israel, where
she is expected to meet senior Israeli officials in a push to restart
peace negotiations. A senior Palestinian official said the Palestinians
are unlikely to resume negotiations if Israel does not halt Jewish
settlement building. After the talks Clinton called for an
unconditional resumption of peace talks and welcomed Israel's offer for
a slowdown in settlement activity.
(AP, 10/31/09)(AP, 11/1/09)
2009 Oct 31, Amrullah Saleh,
Afghanistan’s intelligence chief, said authorities have arrested eight
people, including one in Saudi Arabia, in connection with this week's
deadly attack on a guest house used by UN employees. He said those
arrested claimed the assailants came from Pakistan's Swat Valley. In
southern Helmand province a British soldier was killed in an explosion.
An American died of wounds suffered from a bomb attack.
(AP, 10/31/09)(AFP, 11/1/09)(AP, 11/1/09)
2009 Oct 31, A British government
official said the Royal Bank of Scotland, Northern Rock, and Lloyds
Banking Group are to sell off as many as 700 branches in the next few
years in exchange for the public aid they received during the economic
meltdown.
(AP, 10/31/09)
2009 Oct 31, In Canada 2 men
sought by the FBI and linked to a Detroit Muslim leader killed by US
authorities were arrested in Windsor, Ontario. Mohammad Al-Sahli (33)
and Yassir Ali Kahn (30) were wanted by the FBI for conspiracy to
commit federal crimes.
(Reuters, 10/31/09)
2009 Oct 31, China's legislature
removed Zhou Ji (63), the country's unpopular education minister, amid
a corruption scandal in a city he used to oversee and widespread public
dissatisfaction with the education system.
(AP, 11/1/09)
2009 Oct 31, Qian Xuesen (b.1911),
a rocket scientist known as the father of China's space technology
program, died in Beijing. Qian left for the US after winning a
scholarship to graduate school in 1936. He studied at MIT and later at
the California Institute of Technology, where he helped start the Jet
Propulsion Laboratory. Qian, also known as Tsien Hsue-shen, was
regarded as one of the brightest minds in the new field of aeronautics
before returning to China in 1955, driven out of the US at the height
of anticommunist fervor.
(AP, 10/31/09)
2009 Oct 31, In Guatemala gunmen
killed one prison guard and wounded four others outside a prison in
Guatemala City.
(AP, 11/1/09)
2009 Oct 31, Senior Iranian
lawmakers rejected a UN-backed plan to ship much of the country's
uranium abroad for further enrichment, raising further doubts about the
likelihood Tehran will finally approve the deal.
(AP, 10/31/09)
2009 Oct 31, Italian police
arrested one of the country's most wanted mafia fugitives after tearing
down a wall in a dawn raid at a chicken farm near Naples where he had
built a hideout. Salvatore Russo (51), the head of a Camorra clan
carrying his name, had been sentenced to life in prison for homicide
and links to organized crime and was on the run since 1995.
(AFP, 10/31/09)
2009 Oct 31, In Mexico Mayor
Mauricio Fernandez told cheering supporters in San Pedro Garza Garcia,
near Monterrey, that "Black Saldana, who apparently is the one who was
asking for my head, was found dead today in Mexico City." Hours later
Mexican officials found four bound bodies in a sport utility vehicle
with hand-lettered messages identifying the dead men as kidnappers.
Hector “Black” Soldana was not identified for another 2 days. Fernandez
later said US authorities had tipped him off that somebody intercepted
cartel communications and learned Saldana was planning to kill him, and
he said unspecified intelligence sources told him Saldana was dead
hours before the bodies were found.
(AP, 11/2/09)(AP, 11/3/09)
2009 Oct 31, Pakistani soldiers
closed in on two major Taliban strongholds in South Waziristan, as
government jets pounded insurgent hide-outs and the prime minister said
the country had no choice but to defeat the militants. Pakistani jets
bombed three hide-outs of Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud in the
Orkazai tribal region, killing at least 8 militants and wounding
several others. Another airstrike, about 40 miles (70km) from the first
and near the Afghan border, killed 7 militants in the Kurram tribal
region. The army said government soldiers had killed a total of 33
militants over the past 24 hours, discovered a factory for making
roadside bombs and seized a handful of weapons. 7 paramilitary soldiers
driving through the Khyber tribal area were killed in a roadside bomb
planted by suspected Taliban militants. In Karachi police arrested 3
suspected militants and seized 30 kilograms (65 pounds) of explosives
and other weaponry.
(AP, 10/31/09)
2009 Oct 31, In Playa Blanca,
Panama, 2 teenage boys wounded an American and a Russian tourist in a
botched robbery attempt. Police announced the arrest of the 2 teenagers
on Nov 3.
(AP, 11/4/09)
2009 Oct 31, In the Philippines
Typhoon Mirinae, the 4th since late September, battered Manila and
surrounding provinces, sending residents of one town clambering onto
rooftops to escape rising waters. 20 people wee left dead with east 5
missing.
(AP, 10/31/09)(AP, 11/1/09)
2009 Oct 31, A Russian news agency
reported that Moscow plans to buy a French amphibious assault ship, the
first such purchase from a NATO country, as the Kremlin seeks to
reaffirm Russia's global reach.
(AP, 10/31/09)
2009 Oct 31, Ahmed Gadaf, a
self-described spokesman for Somali pirates, said that boats from other
countries are plundering Somalia's fish-rich waters.
(AP, 10/31/09)
2009 Oct 31, The Ukrainian
government ordered schools nationwide to close for 3 weeks due to swine
flu, which has left 33 people dead. Public gatherings were also banned
and restrictions on travel were imposed to stop the spread of the virus.
(SSFC, 11/1/09, p.A6)
2009 Oct 31, The Vatican said it
will admit married Anglican priests to the Catholic priesthood case by
case. In no case could a married man become a bishop, and the new rules
would exclude any married Anglican bishop from retaining that post.
(AP, 10/31/09)
2009 Oct, Ryan Lister, Mattia
Pelizzola and their colleagues of the Salk Institute of California
published their results on the US government Roadmap Epigenome Program,
a look at how the activity of genes regulates the 220 of so different
cells of the human body.
(Econ, 10/17/09, p.93)
2009 Oct, Researchers found that a
bug named xenotropic murine leukemia virus-related virus (XMRV)
occurred in 67% of patients suffering from chronic fatigue syndrome
(CFS). The bug had already been implicated in prostate cancer, breast
cancer and lymphoma.
(Econ, 1/9/10, p.80)
2009 Oct, The Bin Laden family
went under the spotlight in "Growing Up Bin Laden," written by Omar bin
Laden and his mother, Najwa bin Laden. In Dec, 2009, Omar bin Laden,
revealed that many of the children who had been with their father in
Afghanistan escaped to Iran following the 2001 US-led invasion, and
were still together in a walled compound under Iranian guard.
(AP, 1/6/10)
2009 Oct, In the Democratic
Republic of Congo fighting broke out between two tribes, the Lobala and
the Bombona, in a dispute over rich fishing waters in Dongo, 200 km
(125 miles) south of Gemena, the main town in the Sud-Oubangui
district. The clashes left some 270 people dead. A 600-strong unit of
commando reinforcements wrested back control of the Dongo region on
December 13.
(AFP, 12/30/09)
2009 Oct, In Lithuania Egle
Kusaite (20) was detained in an undercover operation after police
received a tip about her alleged connections to Chechen rebels and
radical Islamic groups. She was detained on suspicion of plotting a
suicide attack against an undisclosed Russian military target.
Information about her detention was kept quiet until her court hearing
in May, 2010.
(AP, 5/4/10)
2009 Oct, Turkish ministers
traveled to Baghdad and Damascus to sign a package of 48 co-operation
deals with Iraq and 40 with Syria, covering everything from tourism to
counter-terrorism and joint military exercises.
(Econ, 10/31/09, p.57)
Go to http://www.timelinesdb.com
Go to November 2009
End of file
2009 November
2009 Nov 1, CIT Group Inc., a
lender to small businesses, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection
with the backing of most bondholders in a so-called “prepackaged”
filing.
(Econ, 11/7/09, p.70)
2009 Nov 1, Meb Keflezighi (27),
an Eritrean born American citizen, won the New York City Marathon
(2:09:15). Derartu Tulu of Ethiopia was the women's winner (2:28:52).
(AP, 11/2/09)
2009 Nov 1, Sister Marguerite
Bartz (64) was found dead on the Indian reservation of Navaho, NM. On
Nov 6 Reehahlio Carroll (18) was charged with premeditated killing in
the slaying Bartz.
(SFC, 11/7/09,
p.A4)(http://cbs5.com/national/nun.found.dead.2.1288177.html)
2009 Nov 1, Afghanistan Challenger
Abdullah Abdullah pulled out of the nation’s run-off election, plunging
the country into fresh political chaos as international pressure grew
for the race to be scrapped. After Karzai snubbed a series of demands
promoted by his rival as a chance to avoid a repeat of massive
first-round fraud, Abdullah said he saw no point in standing, but
stopped short of calling for a boycott.
(AFP, 11/1/09)
2009 Nov 1, A boat carrying 39
apparent asylum seekers sank in the Indian Ocean far from shore. A
Taiwanese fishing trawler and the merchant ship LNG Pioneer arrived in
the area and deployed life rafts and began plucking people from the
water. The stricken ship was in Australia's maritime search and rescue
zone when it sent out distress calls. Up to 11 were still missing, and
one person was confirmed dead.
(AFP, 11/2/09)
2009 Nov 1, PTTEP Australasia
attempted to plug a leaking well of the West Atlas drilling rig when a
fire then broke out on the rig. The operation to stem the leak has
involved the Thai-based operator towing the West Triton rig from
Singapore, which took five weeks, to drill down some 2.6km under the
seabed to the source of the emissions. The leak has dumped thousands of
barrels of oil into the Timor Sea since it began on August 21. The
blaze was brought under control on Nov 3 when experts managed to plug
the leak that has spewed tons of crude over the past 10 weeks.
(AP, 11/1/09)(AFP, 11/2/09)(AP, 11/3/09)
2009 Nov 1, In China a ship
carrying 100 tons of hydrochloric acid sank in the Yangtze river after
colliding with another vessel.
(AFP, 11/1/09)
2009 Nov 1, It was reported that
hundreds of former Chilean military draftees were making a provocative
offer to Chile's government: They would reveal details of crimes
committed by Gen. Augusto Pinochet's dictatorship, but only if their
safety is guaranteed.
(AP, 11/1/09)
2009 Nov 1, In Honduras the US
secretary of labor, Hilda Solis, and a former Chilean president,
Ricardo Lagos, were named to a commission tasked with monitoring the
creation of a power-sharing government, under a US-brokered agreement
to end the nation's 4-month-old political crisis.
(AP, 11/2/09)
2009 Nov 1, In southern Iraq a
bomb attached to a bicycle near Hillah killed five people and wounded
37. In the western city of Ramadi, two people — including a policeman —
were killed when twin car bombs exploded minutes apart in the visitors'
parking lot of the city's Traffic Police Directorate. 3 people were
killed when a bomb that was detonated remotely exploded on a bus as the
vehicle approached a police checkpoint in the southern city of Karbala.
(AP, 11/1/09)
2009 Nov 1, Israeli security
officials said authorities have arrested Jack Teitel (37), a
Jewish-American extremist suspected of carrying out a series of
high-profile hate crimes.
(AP, 11/1/09)
2009 Nov 1, In Kosovo thousands of
ethnic Albanians braved low temperatures and a cold wind in the capital
Pristina to welcome former President Bill Clinton as he attended the
unveiling of an 11-foot (3.5-meter) statue of himself on a key
boulevard that also bears his name.
(AP, 11/1/09)
2009 Nov 1, Mexican soldiers in
the border city of Tijuana detained a group of 13 suspects after a
shootout that wounded a soldier and a gunman. Soldiers raided and
destroyed three methamphetamine labs in the western state of Michoacan.
The raids netted five suspects and more than two metric tons of
apparent methamphetamine.
(AP, 11/2/09)
2009 Nov 1, US Secretary of State
Hillary Rodham Clinton arrived in Morocco for a series of meetings with
Arab leaders to discuss Middle East peace and other issues.
(AP, 11/1/09)
2009 Nov 1, Mohamud Said Omar (43)
was arrested at the request of US authorities in an asylum seeker's
center in Dronten, Netherlands. US authorities suspected Omar of
bankrolling the purchase of weapons for Islamic extremists and helping
other Somalis travel to Somalia in 2007 and 2008. He had a US green
card and was also suspected of recruiting youth in Minneapolis for
Islamic terrorism in Somalia.
(AP, 11/13/09)
2009 Nov 1, In Pakistan military
jets and helicopter gunships pounded militant positions in and around
Makeen. Government forces have laid siege to Sararogha, captured all
the important features and ridges overlooking the town and cleared half
of Kaniguram, a hub of Uzbek militants. 9 militants and two soldiers
were killed in fighting, taking the militants' death toll to 331 in 16
days of fighting.
(Reuters, 11/1/09)
2009 Nov 1, In Palau 6 Chinese
Muslims, ethnic Uighers, newly released from Guantanamo Bay, traded
life behind bars for rooms with ocean view in the tiny Pacific nation,
which agreed to a US request to resettle them.
(AP, 11/1/09)
2009 Nov 1, The Palestinians
accused US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton of undermining
progress toward Mideast peace talks after she praised Israel for
offering to curb some Jewish settlement construction.
(AP, 11/1/09)
2009 Nov 1, A Russian heavy-lift
military cargo plane crashed on takeoff in Siberia, killing all 11 crew
members on board.
(AP, 11/1/09)
2009 Nov 1, A Saudi Arabia
Interior Ministry spokesman said authorities have discovered large
quantities of weapons in the capital Riyadh belonging to al-Qaida
terror network. The discovery included 281 assault rifles and 51
ammunition boxes.
(AP, 11/1/09)
2009 Nov 1, Somali pirates
hijacked a Panamanian-flagged cargo ship with 18 crew off the east
coast of Africa, the latest in an increasing number of attacks. The
hijacking of the al-Mizan was not reported until Nov 10 when the
bandits demanded a $3 million ransom. The ship was reported released on
Nov 23. The pirates asked for and received $15,000 for "expenses." A
self-proclaimed pirate named Abdi Nor said that pirates did not demand
a ransom since the ship was bound for Mogadishu and carried goods owned
by Somalis.
(AP, 11/10/09)(AP, 11/23/09)
2009 Nov 1, Somaliland defense
minister Saleban Warsame Guled said a roadside bomb in the country's
semiautonomous northern region has killed two people, including Osman
Yusuf, an infantry division commander.
(AP, 11/1/09)
2009 Nov 2, President Barack Obama
thanked German Chancellor Angela Merkel for her country's "sacrifice"
in keeping forces in Afghanistan, noting she was being honored as the
first German leader to address a joint session of Congress.
(AP, 11/3/09)
2009 Nov 2, The new US Navy
assault ship New York arrived at Pier 88. The 684 foot, $1 billion ship
was included 7½ tons of steel in its hull from the World Trade
Center.
(SFC, 11/3/09, p.A11)
2009 Nov 2, Traffic opened on the
SF Bay Bridge after 6 days of emergency structural repair. Engineers
expected that it would be closed again in few months for a permanent
fix.
(SFC, 11/3/09, p.A1)
2009 Nov 2, Afghanistan's election
commission proclaimed President Hamid Karzai the victor of the
country's tumultuous ballot. The cancellation of the runoff vote came
one day after former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah announced he
was pulling out of the Nov. 7 vote. The commission had the authority to
make the decision because the Afghan constitution only allows for a
runoff between two candidates.
(AP, 11/2/09)
2009 Nov 2, In Brazil some 1.5
million evangelical Christians joined the annual "March for Jesus," an
event sponsored by a church whose leaders recently returned after being
imprisoned in the US for money smuggling.
(AP, 11/3/09)
2009 Nov 2, A top UN official
announced that the UN has withdrawn its support for Congolese army
units operating in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, accusing its
soldiers of killing 62 civilians.
(AFP, 11/2/09)
2009 Nov 2, French-born writer
Marie Ndiaye (b.1967) won France's top literary prize for "Three Strong
Women," her moving tale of the struggles of women in Europe and Africa.
She was born in Pithiviers, to a French mother and a Senegalese father
and currently lived in Berlin.
(AP, 11/2/09)
2009 Nov 2, The International
Monetary Fund said it has sold 200 metric tons of gold worth $6.7
billion to India's central bank as part of an effort to shore up IMF
finances and increase low-cost lending to developing countries. The
purchase put gold at 6% of India’s reserves and helped push the price
of gold to over $1,100 a troy ounce.
(AP, 11/3/09)(Econ, 11/14/09, p.86)
2009 Nov 2, In Iraq an American
soldier died of noncombat related injuries.
(AP, 11/3/09)
2009 Nov 2, In Japan it was
revealed that PM Yukio Hatoyama had failed to declare some $800,000 in
income from stock sales. He already faced flak for falsified
fundraising reports.
(SSFC, 11/8/09, p.A10)
2009 Nov 2, In Kashmir the bodies
of 2 senior rebels, mauled to death by a wild bear, were recovered.
Police said they were members of the region's most powerful group,
Hizbul Mujahedin and had been active in Indian Kashmir for more than
six years.
(AFP, 11/3/09)
2009 Nov 2, In Mali the burned
debris of a Boeing cargo plane was discovered on Nov. 2 in the Gao
region. It was assumed to have landed on a clandestine landing strip
and either failed to take off again or was destroyed on purpose. Ample
traces of cocaine were found on board.
(AP, 12/3/09)
2009 Nov 2, In Mexico El Tiempo de
Durango journalist Jose Bladimir Antuna was kidnapped in the morning.
Authorities found his body the same night in a vacant lot in the
Durango state capital, about 400 miles southwest of Laredo, Texas. The
bodies of three men with bullet and knife wounds were found by
relatives in the southern state of Guerrero.
(AP, 11/4/09)
2009 Nov 2, In Pakistan a suicide
bomber killed 35 people outside a bank in Rawalpindi, as the UN said
spreading violence has forced it to start pulling out some expatriate
staff and suspend long-term development work in areas along the Afghan
border. Hours after the first blast, another suicide bomber struck in
Lahore, exploding a car at a police checkpoint as officers went to
search it. At least 7 policemen were injured and two were in critical
condition. Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas said the army had captured the town of
Kaniguram, one of the Taliban's bases, and killed 12 more militants in
the past 24 hours of the offensive.
(AP, 11/2/09)
2009 Nov 2, Panama's government
said it is building four air and sea monitoring stations on its Pacific
coast to fight trafficking of drugs, weapons and migrants. Assistant
Interior Minister Alejandro Garuz said the sites will be manned by the
national police, border agents and other government agencies.
(AP, 11/2/09)
2009 Nov 2, In the central
Philippines a fire swept through a residential building as people slept
in a slum community, killing 16 residents including women and children.
(AP, 11/2/09)
2009 Nov 2, In Russia Shabattai
Kalmanovitch (60), a prominent businessman, was shot dead in Moscow. He
had been convicted in Israel in 1987 of being a KGB spy.
(SFC, 11/3/09, p.A2)
2009 Nov 2, The Swiss government
said it has handed banking documents over to Argentina in a $25 million
dollar corruption probe linked to former President Carlos Menem and
French defense company Thales.
(AP, 11/2/09)
2009 Nov 2, A Thai official said
about half of Thailand's national lawmakers are taking advantage of a
new government plan allowing them to purchase guns at a discount and
receive a license to carry them anywhere.
(AP, 11/2/09)
2009 Nov 2, In Venezuela a lone
gunman approached Gustavo Gonzalez, a member of the Copei opposition
party, at a restaurant, fatally shot the politician in the head and
fled on a motorcycle driven by an accomplice. 2 National Guard soldiers
were shot multiple times at a roadside checkpoint near the border with
Colombia. Prosecutors believed the troops were attacked by four men on
two motorcycles. Johan Manuel Mora Rodriguez (20) was detained at a
National Guard checkpoint near where the killings occurred in western
Tachira state.
(AP, 11/3/09)
2009 Nov 2, Tropical Storm Mirinae
slammed into Vietnam's central coast, unleashing heavy rains and winds
and forcing more than 80,000 people to evacuate before losing steam as
it moved inland. The storm killed at least 98 people. Mirinae also
killed two people in Cambodia and left 19 people dead and three missing
in the Philippines.
(AP, 11/2/09)(AP, 11/3/09)(AFP, 11/5/09)
2009 Nov 3, The US began a new
policy of engagement with Myanmar's ruling military junta, sending two
senior diplomats for the highest-level visit in more than a decade.
(AP, 11/3/09)
2009 Nov 3, Democrats suffered
humiliating gubernatorial losses in traditionally Democratic New Jersey
and in Virginia. In New Jersey Chris Christie still defeated Gov. Jon
Corzine by 4 points — the largest victory by a New Jersey Republican in
nearly a quarter-century. In Virginia Bob McDonnell cruised to an easy
victory in the governor’s race, leading a sweep of the state’s three
top offices that decisively ended a string of Democratic victories in
the state.
(Politico, 11/4/09)
2009 Nov 3, In California Democrat
John Garamendi (64) won the US House seat vacated by Rep. Ellen
Tauscher, who has taken an arms control job in the State Dept.
(SFC, 11/6/09, p.A10)
2009 Nov 3, Voters in Maine
repealed a state law that would have allowed same-sex couples to wed.
Gay marriage has now lost in all 31 states in which it has been put to
a popular vote.
(AP, 11/4/09)
2009 Nov 3, NYC voters gave a
narrow win to Mayor Michael Bloomberg over Bill Thompson. Bloomberg was
reckoned to have spent some $100 million to win his 3rd term.
(Econ, 11/7/09, p.30)
2009 Nov 3, In North Dakota 3
female Dickinson State Univ. softball players were found dead after
their sport utility vehicle went into a pond on a farm during a
stargazing trip on Nov 1. Authorities said they likely drove straight
into the water in the dark.
(AP, 11/4/09)
2009 Nov 3, In Philadelphia, Pa.,
transit workers went on strike after rejecting a proposed contract that
included an 11.5% wage increase over 5 years.
(SFC, 11/4/09, p.A6)
2009 Nov 3, Warren Buffett's
Berkshire Hathaway Inc. agreed to buy Burlington Northern Santa Fe
Corp., making a $34 billion bet on the future of the US economy.
Berkshire already owned over a fifth of BNSF and took on about $10
billion of Burlington debt bringing the size of the deal to $44
billion.
(AP, 11/3/09)(SFC, 11/4/09, p.D1)
2009 Nov 3, New Jersey-based
Johnson & Johnson, the world’s largest health products company,
said it will cut over 7,000 jobs due to lagging demand amid the global
recession.
(SFC, 11/4/09, p.D2)
2009 Nov 3, Afghanistan's Pres.
Karzai welcomed his new term, by reaching out to opponents and
promising to banish the corruption that has undermined his
administration. In northern Kunduz province, Afghan and international
troops have been fighting for two days to take the Taliban-held town of
Ghor Tapa. About 200 insurgents were holed up in the town, including
foreign fighters, mostly Chechens. 11 insurgents and one Afghan soldier
were killed. A "rogue" Afghan policeman gunned down five British
soldiers at a checkpoint in Helmand province, fuelling growing
questions about the Afghan mission.
(AP, 11/3/09)(AFP, 11/4/09)
2009 Nov 3, African countries
boycotted meetings at UN climate talks in Barcelona, saying that
industrial countries had set carbon-cutting targets too low for
reducing global greenhouse gas emissions.
(AP, 11/3/09)
2009 Nov 3, Britain pressed ahead
with a fresh wave of restructuring in its crisis-ravaged banking
system, as Lloyds Banking Group PLC sought at least 21 billion pounds
($34.2 billion) through a record share issue and debt swap. World stock
markets mostly fell amid renewed concerns about the banking sector
after Britain's Royal Bank of Scotland PLC got more government help and
Switzerland's UBS AG booked another massive charge.
(AP, 11/3/09)
2009 Nov 3, The British government
said survivors of the Darfur conflict will no longer be deported from
Britain, after concerns about a deterioration in conditions in the
Sudanese capital. The Home Office said asylum seekers will have the
right to remain in Britain for up to five years, or until the situation
improves in Sudan.
(AFP, 11/3/09)
2009 Nov 3, In China a woman
called the "godmother" of a mafia-style gang in the southern city of
Chongqing was sentenced to 18 years in prison for running underground
casinos and bribing government officials.
(AP, 11/3/09)
2009 Nov 3, Senior Lord's
Resistance Army commander Charles Arop, who was implicated in leading a
massacre on Christmas Day that killed at least 143 Congolese,
surrendered to the Ugandan military stationed in the northeast of the
Democratic Republic of Congo.
(AFP, 11/5/09)
2009 Nov 3, Czech President Vaclav
Klaus signed the EU reform treaty, completing the ratification process
of a charter designed to transform Europe into a more unified and
powerful global player.
(AP, 11/3/09)
2009 Nov 3, In Equatorial Guinea
Simon Mann (57), a British coup-plotter, and four South African
mercenaries, pardoned for attempting the overthrow the government of
the tiny oil-rich African nation, were freed from prison. Mann, who was
born into a world of wealth and privilege, had been serving a 35-year
sentence in Equatorial Guinea for the 2004 plot.
(AP, 11/3/09)
2009 Nov 3, Europe's court of
human rights ruled the display of crucifixes in Italian public schools
violates religious and education freedoms under the continent's rights
convention. The court ordered Italy to pay a $7,390 fine to a mother
who has fought for 8 years to have crucifixes removed from public
school classrooms. The Vatican denounced the ruling.
(AP, 11/3/09)(SFC, 11/4/09, p.A2)
2009 Nov 3, Nokia Siemens
Networks, a joint venture between Finland's Nokia Corp. and Siemens AG
of Germany, said it will lay off up to 5,700 workers globally as part
of a move to cut annual costs by euro500 million ($740 million).
(AP, 11/3/09)
2009 Nov 3, Claude Levi-Strauss
(b.1908), Brussels-born French intellectual, died. He was widely
considered the father of modern anthropology for work that included
theories about commonalities between tribal and industrial societies.
His books included literary and anthropological classics such as
"Tristes Tropiques" (1955), “La Pensee Sauvage” (1962) published in
English as "The Savage Mind" (1963), and "The Raw and the Cooked"
(1964).
(AP, 11/3/09)(Econ, 11/14/09, p.106)
2009 Nov 3, Mexican police and
soldiers killed Miguel Angel Meneses, a federal agent driving one of
three cars that ignored orders to stop in Chihuahua, triggering a chase
and gunbattle. Federal police and navy personnel shot to death a top
Zetas cartel suspect in the Gulf coast state of Veracruz. The navy said
suspect Braulio Arellano Dominguez was the reputed leader of the Zetas,
a gang of hit men tied to the Gulf Cartel.
(AP, 11/4/09)(AP, 11/7/09)
2009 Nov 3, Maj. Gen. Amos Yadlin,
Israel’s military intelligence chief, said Hamas militants in Gaza have
successfully test-fired an Iranian rocket able to reach Israel's
largest urban center. He said the rocket could fly 37 miles (60km), and
strike metropolitan Tel Aviv.
(AP, 11/3/09)
2009 Nov 3, In Morocco US
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced a package of measures
designed to help businesses and non-governmental groups around the
Muslim world. Clinton made the announcement at the sixth Forum for the
Future conference in Marrakech, which she attended for two days.
(AFP, 11/3/09)
2009 Nov 3, Mozambique's main
opposition party claimed that polls that gave a landslide victory to
the southern African country's ruling party were rigged.
(AFP, 11/3/09)
2009 Nov 3, North Korea said it
has reprocessed 8,000 spent nuclear fuel rods and extracted enough
plutonium to bolster its atomic stockpile, raising the stakes in an
apparent effort to push the US into direct negotiations.
(AP, 11/3/09)
2009 Nov 3, In Pakistan a
passenger train smashed into a cargo train on the edge of Karachi
killing 16 people, including women and children. The army announced
that 21 militants had been killed in the past 24 hours in South
Waziristan and that government forces were continuing to press into
Taliban territory. Militant leader Hakimullah Mehsud spoke to his
followers in a speech broadcast over a wireless radio network. Of those
who do run away, he warned, "Such people will go to hell."
(AFP, 11/3/09)(AP, 11/5/09)
2009 Nov 3, In the Philippines
government troops attacked an Abu Sayyaf camp in the rebels' southern
stronghold before dawn, triggering a five-hour clash in which five of
the al-Qaida-linked militants were killed and one government militiaman
was wounded.
(AP, 11/3/09)
2009 Nov 3, Rwanda said it has
urged the UN to list the Rwandan Hutu rebel group operating in eastern
Congo as a terrorist organization.
(AFP, 11/3/09)
2009 Nov 3, Francisco Ayala (103),
Spanish novelist and sociologist, died in Madrid. He was one of Spain's
leading scholars and had gone into exile during the country's decades
of dictatorship. Ayala published his first book, "Tragicomedia de un
hombre sin espiritu" (Tragicomedy of a Man Without Spirit), in 1925.
The collapse of moral order and the hopelessness of human relations are
also common themes in pessimistic and satirical novels such as "Muertes
de Perro" (Death as a Way of Life) and "El Jardin de Las Delicias"
(Garden of Delights).
(AP, 11/3/09)
2009 Nov 3, Unidentified gunmen
infiltrated from Yemen and attacked Saudi security guards patrolling
the Mount Dokhan border area. 3 senior security men were killed.
(AP, 11/5/09)(Econ, 11/7/09, p.47)
2009 Nov 4, The New York Yankees
beat the Philadelphia Phillies 7-3 in Game 6, finally seizing the World
Series crown, the team's first since winning three straight from
1998-2000, making it championship No. 27.
(AP, 11/5/09)
2009 Nov 4, US federal prosecutors
In NYC charged 53 people with running open-air drug markets at two
housing projects near Yankee Stadium. Early morning raids had resulted
in 37 arrests along with seizures of cash, guns and stockpiles of
heroin and crack cocaine.
(SFC, 11/5/09, p.A8)
2009 Nov 4, US federal prosecutors
said Alan Huey (53), a former top executive of SK Foods, has agreed to
plead guilty to taking part in a 4-year conspiracy in which the
California tomato processor bribed food companies and mislabeled tomato
paste that exceeded government mold standards.
(SFC, 11/5/09, p.C2)
2009 Nov 4, The US Dept. of
Agriculture said pigs in a commercial herd in Indiana have tested
positive for swine flu, making it the first time the virus has been
found in such hogs.
(SFC, 11/5/09, p.A9)
2009 Nov 4, The city council of
Red Bluff, Ca., approved 2 measures banning the growth and sale of
medical marijuana, which contradicts current state law.
(SFC, 11/5/09, p.A8)
2009 Nov 4, In South Carolina
Rodell Vereen, caught on video having sex with a horse, was sentenced
to three years in prison after pleading guilty for the second time in
two years to abusing the creature.
(AP, 11/4/09)
2009 Nov 4, In western Afghanistan
2 US paratroopers went missing while trying to recover airdropped
supplies from a river. The body of one soldier was reported found on
Nov 11.
(AP, 11/6/09)(AP, 11/7/09)(AP, 11/11/09)
2009 Nov 4, In Australia a
stabbing rampage at a secure psychiatric hospital left two people dead.
The next day Peko Lakovski (49) was charged with two counts of murder
after reportedly attacking his room-mate Raymond Splatt with a kitchen
knife, before turning on another patient who was in bed at the time.
(AFP, 11/5/09)
2009 Nov 4, British lawmakers will
be banned from using taxpayers' money to make mortgage payments on
second homes or hiring family members as staff under new rules
published today in the wake of a scandal over legislators' allowances.
(AP, 11/4/09)
2009 Nov 4, Cambodia said it has
appointed former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra as economic
adviser to premier Hun Sen and his administration.
(AFP, 11/4/09)
2009 Nov 4, In Canada senior
health officials in Alberta said they had fired an unidentified worker
for giving National Hockey League players preferential access to the
H1N1 flu vaccine.
(AP, 11/5/09)
2009 Nov 4, In China a guard at an
unofficial jail in Beijing pleaded guilty to raping a young detainee,
in a case that has put a spotlight on "black jails" where a growing
number of people seeking justice from the government end up. The woman
(21), from central Anhui province, had been expelled from college
because of poor exam scores and came to Beijing to ask the government
to reinstate her. The woman escaped the "black jail" with about 50
other detainees after the guard fled following the alleged rape. On Nov
12 Human Rights Watch said the unofficial black jails have evolved into
a cottage industry and blamed a civil service evaluation system that
penalizes officials if too many of their people complain to the central
government. It was estimated that some 10,000 people were detained
annually.
(AP, 11/5/09)(SFC, 11/13/09, p.A4)
2009 Nov 4, El Salvador's defense
minister said the army will send an additional 2,500 soldiers to
crime-plagued parts of the country to increase security. In the first
10 months of the year, there were 3,673 homicides in El Salvador, up
from 3,179 in all of 2008. Many killings involved street gangs.
(AP, 11/4/09)
2009 Nov 4, Fiji’s military leader
Commodore Bainimarama booted out the High Commissioners of Australia
and New Zealand. He said they were interfering with his efforts to
replaced judges he sacked in April. He said relations would be restored
only in 2014.
(Econ, 11/14/09, p.53)
2009 Nov 4, Germany's politicians
fumed with anger and Opel workers canceled cost concessions and readied
walkouts after General Motors Co. abandoned the sale of its European
subsidiary to parts maker Magna International and Russian lender
Sberbank.
(AP, 11/4/09)
2009 Nov 4, In southern India at
least eight children drowned when a boat carrying at least 35 students
capsized on the Chaliyar river in the Malappuram district of Kerala
state.
(AP, 11/4/09)
2009 Nov 4, Iranian security
forces beat anti-government protesters with batons on the sidelines of
state-sanctioned rallies to mark the 30th anniversary of the US Embassy
takeover. The counter-demonstrations were the opposition's first major
show of force on Tehran's streets in nearly two months. Iranian
reporter Farhad Pouladi was taken into custody as he headed to cover a
state-sanctioned rally outside the former US Embassy. Anti-government
protesters also clashed with anti-riot police during counter marches
not far from the rally. Police detained 109 people for "disturbing
public order" during an opposition rally. 62 of those detained were
handed over to judicial authorities for trial and the rest were
released after questioning. Among those detained were a Japanese
reporter and 2 Canadian reporters.
(AP, 11/4/09)(AP, 11/5/09)(AP, 11/7/09)(SFC,
11/7/09, p.A2)
2009 Nov 4, A 4.9-magnitude
earthquake struck Bandar Abbas, a key port city in southern Iran,
injuring at least 700 people and cutting power and telephone lines.
(AP, 11/4/09)
2009 Nov 4, In Iraq 2 American
soldiers died, one in combat and one of noncombat-related injuries.
(AP, 11/5/09)
2009 Nov 4, Israeli commandos
seized a ship that defense officials said was carrying more than 60
tons of missiles, rockets and anti-tank weapons bound for Lebanon's
Iranian-backed Hezbollah guerrillas. The vessel Francop was operated by
United Feeder Services, a Cyprus-based shipping company that said it
picked up the cargo in Damietta, Egypt.
(AP, 11/4/09)
2009 Nov 4, An Italian judge found
23 Americans and two Italians guilty in the kidnapping of an Egyptian
terror suspect, delivering the first legal convictions anywhere in the
world against people involved in the CIA's extraordinary renditions
program. The Americans and Italian agents were accused of kidnapping
Osama Moustafa Hassan Nasr, also known as Abu Omar, on Feb. 17, 2003,
in Milan, then transferring him to U.S. bases in Italy and Germany.
(AP, 11/5/09)
2009 Nov 4, Mexican authorities
said 3 doctors and a nurse have been arrested for allegedly selling
newborns after telling mothers their babies had died at a private
hospital in Mexico City.
(AP, 11/4/09)
2009 Nov 4, In Mexico floods
killed at least three people in the Gulf coast state of Tabasco where
authorities struggled to persuade thousands of people to leave their
inundated homes. Heavy rains have caused several rivers to overflow
their banks flooding the homes of more than 50,000 people.
(AP, 11/4/09)
2009 Nov 4, In Mexico a gang of
gunmen killed Sgt. David Booher, an off-duty US airman, and five other
people at a strip club in the border city of Ciudad Juarez. A group of
gunmen, believed to belong to the Gulf cartel, arrived at the home of
Garcia Mayor Jaime Rodriguez to give him a "scare." As the group was
leaving, they crossed paths with Brig. Gen. Juan Arturo Ezparza, who
was driving to the mayor's home after hearing about the threat. The
gunmen sprayed Ezparza's car with bullets, killing him along two former
soldiers and two municipal police officers escorting the general.
Kidnappers snatched an American woman (21) from her car in Tijuana and
threatened to kill her unless they were paid $200,000. She was released
on Nov 7 and 3 kidnappers were arrested.
(Reuters, 11/5/09)(SFC, 11/5/09, p.A2)(AP,
11/6/09)(AP, 11/9/09)
2009 Nov 4, Morocco ordered the
immediate departure of a Swedish diplomat accused of handing official
Moroccan documents to Western Sahara-linked "separatists."
(AFP, 11/4/09)
2009 Nov 4, In Myanmar a top US
official held talks with Aung San Suu Kyi as the ruling junta gave the
democracy icon a rare break from house arrest during Washington's
highest-level visit here in 14 years. Assistant Secretary of State for
East Asian and Pacific Affairs Kurt Campbell also met PM Thein Sein as
part of efforts by the Obama administration to re-engage with the
hardline military regime.
(AFP, 11/4/09)
2009 Nov 4, A Nigerian senior
health official said a fresh cholera outbreak has killed 20 people and
left 200 others infected in northern Adamawa State in the past week.
(AFP, 11/4/09)
2009 Nov 4, Pakistani soldiers
battled Taliban fighters in the streets of Ladha, a key militant
stronghold, as government forces pressed ahead with their offensive in
the tribal region of South Waziristan. The military said fighting over
the past day left 10 militants dead in Ladha and 30 dead across the
region. A group of militants ambushed a van as it traveled near Khar,
the main town in the Bajur tribal region, killing two female teachers
and wounding two other passengers.
(AP, 11/4/09)
2009 Nov 4, Paraguay President
Fernando Lugo fired his military chiefs, a day after denying he had
worries about a coup amid calls for his impeachment. Hortensia Damiana
Moran (40), a religious activist who worked on President Fernando
Lugo's election campaign, filed a petition asking a judge to order a
DNA test to prove Pres. Lugo is the father of her son Juan Pablo. She
became the third woman to file a paternity claim against Paraguay's
Roman Catholic bishop-turned- president.
(AP, 11/4/09)(AP, 11/5/09)
2009 Nov 4, Saudi Arabia launched
a large military incursion across the border into northern Yemen, using
fighter jets and artillery bombardments to try to end a Shiite
rebellion inside its troubled southern neighbor.
(AP, 11/5/09)
2009 Nov 4, The London-based
indigenous rights group Survival International said Swine flu has
appeared among the Yanomami Indians of Venezuela, one of the largest
isolated indigenous groups in the Amazon. A local doctor and that the
virus is suspected in seven deaths, including six infants.
(AP, 11/4/09)
2009 Nov 5, At Fort Hood, Texas,
Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan (39) shot 13 people dead. Hasan, a
psychiatrist, was among 30 people wounded in the shooting spree and
remained hospitalized on a ventilator. Kimberly Munley (34), a civilian
police officer, shot at Hassan and was herself shot in both thighs and
the wrist. Sgt. Mark Todd shot at Hasan and brought him down. Soldiers
reported that the Hasan shouted "Allahu Akbar!" — an Arabic phrase for
"God is great!" — before opening fire. Hasan was apparently set to
deploy soon and had expressed some anger about the wars in Iraq and
Afghanistan.
(AP, 11/6/09)(SFC, 11/7/09, p.A10)(AP, 11/13/09)
2009 Nov 5, Bernard Kerik (54),
former NYC Police Commissioner, pleaded guilty to 8 felonies including
lying to the white House while being considered for chief of Homeland
Security and lying on tax returns. On May 17, 2010, he began serving a
4-year sentence for tax fraud, lying to the White House and other
felonies.
(SFC, 11/6/09, p.A8)(SFC, 5/18/10, p.A4)
2009 Nov 5, Afghan villagers said
an overnight rocket strike by international forces killed nine
civilians, including at least 3 children. Local authorities said they
had no reports of civilian deaths. Residents of Korkhashien village
drove the bodies to the governor's office in the nearby provincial
capital of Lashkar Gah. In eastern Khost province, several hundred
people demonstrated against an overnight raid that killed a resident of
Baramkhil village. NATO said the man was a militant who was killed when
Afghan and international forces were pursuing an insurgent leader who
had been recruiting foreign fighters to the area. The Afghan Defense
Ministry said 17 militants have been killed in three separate clashes
in the last 24 hours. 3 NATO service members, including 2 Americans,
were killed in two bombings in the south.
(AP, 11/5/09)(SFC, 11/7/09, p.A3)
2009 Nov 5, Cambodia and Thailand
recalled their ambassadors from each others' countries, deepening a
diplomatic row after Cambodia made fugitive former Thai PM Thaksin
Shinawatra an economic adviser.
(Reuters, 11/5/09)
2009 Nov 5, China’s Xinhua News
Agency said Xu Wei (42), a former gang leader who was the son of
Yushu's former deputy mayor., was executed this week in northern China
after being convicted of murder, kidnapping, and extortion. In a
earlier separate case his father, Xu Fengshan, was sentenced to death
with a reprieve of two years for taking more than 20 million yuan (2.93
million U.S. dollars) in bribes, and harboring criminal organizations.
(AP, 11/6/09)
2009 Nov 5, Finland and Sweden
approved a Baltic Sea pipeline project that would ship Russian natural
gas to Germany, clearing two key obstacles for construction to begin
next year.
(AP, 11/5/09)
2009 Nov 5, In France security
workers picked up euro11.6 million ($17.2 million) in cash at the
Banque de France branch in Lyon. They then stopped at another bank and
while two security workers were inside that bank, the driver made off
with the cash. Loomis identified the alleged thief as Tony Musulin
(39). As no violence was involved in the theft, Musulin risked only
three years in jail if caught and charged. On Nov 9 Lyon Prosecutor
Xavier Richaud said euro9.5 million ($14.25 million) in cash was found
in a storage space near a railway track where police earlier found the
security truck used in the theft. On Nov 16 Musulin handed himself in
to police in Monaco. Musulin was convicted on May 11, 2010, and
sentenced to 3 years in prison.
(AP, 11/7/09)(SFC, 11/7/09, p.A2)(AP, 11/9/09)(AFP,
11/16/09)(SFC, 5/12/10, p.A2)
2009 Nov 5, In Germany thousands
of Opel workers, fearing widespread layoffs, walked off the job to
protest General Motors Co.'s decision to abandon the unit's sale to new
owners.
(AP, 11/5/09)
2009 Nov 5, A consortium grouping
US and European oil giants Exxon Mobil Corp. and Royal Dutch Shell PLC
signed a $50 billion deal to develop one of Iraq's most prized oil
fields, as the OPEC nation looks to revamp its battered energy sector.
The deal to develop the 8.6 billion West Qurna Stage 1 field is the
third such agreement in less than a week between a foreign oil
consortium and Iraq, which sorely needs foreign company expertise and
funding to revive an oil sector hammered by years of neglect, sanctions
and, most recently sabotage.
(AP, 11/5/09)
2009 Nov 5, Lithuania's parliament
voted to investigate allegations that the Baltic state hosted a secret
CIA prison for al Qaeda suspects.
(Reuters, 11/5/09)
2009 Nov 5, Five Mexican police
officers and five other suspects were arrested in the investigation
into the assassination of Brig. Gen. Juan Arturo Ezparza, who had been
appointed police chief of the northern Mexican town of Garcia over the
weekend. 3 bullet-ridden bodies were found in different towns around
the Pacific coast state of Guerrero. The bodies all had their hands and
feet tied and were found next to threatening messages. One was found
along the highway connecting the resort towns of Acapulco and
Zihuatanejo. The Mexican army seized a shipment of almost a quarter-ton
of opium in the country's northern mountains, one of the largest such
seizures made in Mexico. A policeman was killed and four other were
wounded in an attack by gunmen in Guerrero state. Another body was
found in the Gulf coast state of Veracruz with its arms and legs
mutilated and its head hacked off.
(AP, 11/6/09)(AP, 11/7/09)
2009 Nov 5, In the Netherlands the
UN war crimes tribunal decided that former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan
Karadzic will be appointed a lawyer to represent him whenever he fails
to appear in court.
(AP, 11/5/09)
2009 Nov 5, Tropical Storm Ida
grew to hurricane force just off Nicaragua's coast, forcing more than
2,000 people to flee their homes and knocking out power to some parts
of the impoverished region.
(AP, 11/5/09)
2009 Nov 5, Pakistani security
forces arrested three Iranians suspected of planning a suicide attack
in Iran's southeastern region last month which killed 42 people.
Militants blew up a girls' school in the Khyber tribal region, but no
one was injured. Missiles believed fired by US drones killed two
alleged militants in a northwestern tribal region.
(AP, 11/5/09)
2009 Nov 5, Palestinian President
Mahmoud Abbas pushed Mideast peace prospects into unknown territory,
announcing he doesn't want another term and opening the way to a
succession battle that could play into the hands of his rival, the
militant Hamas.
(AP, 11/6/09)
2009 Nov 5, Peru’s defense
minister said Shining Path rebels attacked a military outpost in the
country's coca-producing highlands, killing one soldier and wounding
three.
(AP, 11/5/09)
2009 Nov 5, Memorial, a Russian
rights group, said Chechen authorities have abducted Arbi Khachukayev,
a human rights advocate in Moscow, who has been critical of Chechnya's
Kremlin-backed leader.
(AP, 11/5/09)
2009 Nov 5, A Moscow court
approved the arrest of a man and a woman suspected in the January 19
killing of Stanislav Markelov and Anastasia Baburova. The male suspect,
ultranationalist Nikita Tikhonov, confessed to the crime after his
arrest saying he did so out of “personal enmity” for one of the victims.
(AP, 11/6/09)(SFC, 11/7/09, p.A2)
2009 Nov 5, Somali pirates
captured a Greek-owned bulk carrier with 21 crew on board. The carrier,
which is flagged in the Marshall Islands, had been heading to Zanzibar
but was last seen 300 miles east of Mombasa, Kenya. The ship and crew
were released on Dec 17.
(AP, 11/5/09)(AP, 12/18/09)
2009 Nov 5, The UN said at least
50 peacekeepers have received punishments ranging from reduction in
military rank to eight months imprisonment for committing sexual abuses
on United Nations missions since 2007.
(AP, 11/5/09)
2009 Nov 5, The UN said that it
will send more than half its international staff either out of
Afghanistan or into more secure compounds following last week's deadly
Taliban attack against UN workers, the most direct targeting of its
employees during decades of work in the country.
(AP, 11/5/09)
2009 Nov 5, Zimbabwe's rival
leaders met with Mozambican leader Armando Guebuza, the head of a
regional security body, ahead of an emergency summit aimed at hauling a
fragile power-sharing deal out of a three-week impasse. The summit was
set to open with leaders from the Democratic Republic of Congo, South
Africa, Swaziland and Zambia.
(AP, 11/5/09)
2009 Nov 6, The US Labor Dept.
said the unemployment rate has surpassed 10% for the first time since
1983, and that it was expected to go higher. Unemployment in October
hit 10.2% with some 16 million jobless Americans. President Barack
Obama was set to sign a $24 billion economic stimulus bill providing
tax incentives to prospective homebuyers and extending unemployment
benefits to the longtime jobless.
(AP, 11/6/09)(SFC, 11/7/09, p.A1)
2009 Nov 6, US banking regulators
shut down United Commercial Bank of San Francisco. The government had
invested $300 million from the Treasury’s Troubled Asset Relief Program
(TARP) in the parent UCBH Holdings. The assets, loans and 63 branches
of UCBH were sold to East West Bank of Pasadena.
(SSFC, 11/29/09, p.D1)
2009 Nov 6, In Orlando, Florida,
Jason Rodriguez (40), a former engineer, fatally shot Otis Beckford
(26) and wounded five others at the firm where he once worked. The next
day his attorney later said Rodriguez is "very mentally ill" and
crumbled under the stress of his divorce, bankruptcy and unemployment.
Rodriguez was an entry-level engineer at Reynolds, Smith and
Hills for 11 months before he was fired in June 2007. On Jan 4,
2010, Rodriguez was declared incompetent to stand trial.
(AP, 11/7/09)(SFC, 1/5/10, p.A5)
2009 Nov 6, In Afghanistan
fighting between members of a joint search operation and insurgents in
western Afghanistan left 4 Afghan soldiers, three policemen and a
civilian interpreter dead. It appeared that an airstrike during the
search for two US paratroopers mistakenly killed 8 Afghans and wounded
more than 20 Afghan and American forces. The deputy governor of the
southern province of Zabul, Ali Khail, said NATO forces raided an
Afghan Red Crescent office in the city of Qalat, killing a security
guard and arresting three local Red Crescent employees. NATO issued a
statement saying coalition forces killed a militant and arrested a few
suspected militants, including someone who was helping insurgents
transport weapons and bomb-making materials to the area.
(AP, 11/7/09)
2009 Nov 6, Two British
ticketholders shared a jackpot of 90 million pounds ($150 million) in
the EuroMillions competition, the largest lottery prizes ever paid out
in the UK.
(AP, 11/7/09)
2009 Nov 6, British Airways
revealed a quadrupling of net losses in its first half, and axed an
extra 1,200 jobs in an "essential" cost-reduction program.
(AP, 11/6/09)
2009 Nov 6, Toronto, Canada, was
awarded the 2015 Pan American Games by beating Bogota, Colombia and
Lima, Peru on the first ballot in a vote in Guadalajara, Mexico.
(Reuters, 11/7/09)
2009 Nov 6, Chinese Premier Wen
Jiabao headed to Egypt for a summit with African leaders as Beijing
bids to expand its diplomatic and economic influence on the
resource-rich continent.
(AP, 11/6/09)
2009 Nov 6, In Cuba Yoani Sanchez,
acclaimed dissident blogger, was forced into an unmarked car, beaten,
threatened and dumped onto a street..
(Econ, 11/21/09, p.40)
2009 Nov 6, Guyanese President
Bharrat Jagdeo alleged that recent arson attacks and shootings in his
nation are the work of a mastermind living in the US. 3 attackers
dressed as police officers firebombed a wooden, colonial-era courthouse
and a nearby school on Nov 4, and later shot at two police stations,
wounding one officer in the jaw and another in the ankle.
(AP, 11/7/09)
2009 Nov 6, Ousted Honduran
President Manuel Zelaya said that a US-brokered pact failed to end a
four-month political crisis after a deadline for forming a unity
government passed.
(AP, 11/6/09)
2009 Nov 6, In northern India a
crowded bus plunged down a steep mountain gorge, killing 32 people near
Baner Khud, Himachal Pradesh state.
(AP, 11/6/09)
2009 Nov 6, Japan pledged $5.5
billion in aid over 3 years for Southeast Asia's 5 Mekong River nations
(Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam), seeking to deepen ties
with the region amid growing influence from China.
(AFP, 11/6/09)
2009 Nov 6, Madagascar's political
rivals agreed on posts within a transitional government that will hold
power until next year's elections following a power struggle that
brought months of volatility to the country.
(AP, 11/7/09)
2009 Nov 6, Mexican police caught
Marco Antonio Ibarra in the northern city of Culiacan. The former
prison official had spent a year on the run from charges of killing a
19-year-old inmate, whose beating death in Sep, 2008, sparked riots
that left nearly two dozen dead, including two American prisoners. Noel
Martinez, a district supervisor for the police in Ciudad Juarez, was
shot and killed inside his car.
(AP, 11/7/09)(SFC, 11/7/09, p.A2)
2009 Nov 6, The Pakistani army
entered Makeen, the last of three militant strongholds targeted by a
major offensive in the northwest, as gunmen wounded a senior army
officer and a solder in Islamabad. Police shot and killed two would-be
suicide bombers in Balakot. The two men opened fire on police when
their car was intercepted at a checkpoint in the North West Frontier
Province.
(AP, 11/6/09)
2009 Nov 6, Saudi Arabia said it
carried out airstrikes against "infiltrators" from Yemen that were
limited to areas inside Saudi territory, and vowed to press on with the
military action until the border with its restive neighbor was secure.
In Yemen, however, a military official said Saudi forces continued to
shell rebel position in Saada.
(AP, 11/6/09)
2009 Nov 6, In Scotland finance
ministers from the world's leading rich and developing countries to
begin the difficult negotiations over how to even out the imbalances
weighing on the world economy.
(AP, 11/6/09)
2009 Nov 6, The aid agency
Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) warned that Southern
Sudan is facing a "serious outbreak" of the deadly kala azar tropical
disease. Kala azar, or visceral leishmaniasis, is a neglected tropical
disease contracted by the bite of a sand fly, endemic in some parts of
southern Sudan. Without treatment, almost all victims die within one to
four months. If treatment is received on time, some 95% can recover.
(AFP, 11/6/09)
2009 Nov 6, Turkey rebuffed an EU
call to reconsider its decision to allow Sudanese President Omar
al-Beshir, who is accused of war crimes in Darfur, to attend a summit
in Istanbul. Turkey has not signed the Rome Statute which set up the
ICC and has said previously the ICC arrest warrant for Beshir could
hurt moves to end the conflict in Darfur.
(AFP, 11/6/09)
2009 Nov 6, A UN report said 2
Iranian businessmen working at a Dubai-based firm were linked to video
surveillance devices sold to Sudan and used in unmanned drones in
Darfur in violation of a UN arms embargo.
(Reuters, 11/6/09)
2009 Nov 6, Zimbabwe averted a
political meltdown after PM Morgan Tsvangirai ended a boycott of the
unity government, but faced a new deadline to resolve a slate of thorny
disputes. He said assurances South Africa will be watching persuaded
him to end his boycott.
(AP, 11/6/09)
2009 Nov 7, The
Democratic-controlled House narrowly passed landmark health care reform
legislation (220-215), handing President Barack Obama a hard won
victory on his signature domestic priority.
(AP, 11/8/09)
2009 Nov 7, In western Afghanistan
an American service member was killed in an insurgent attack. A British
soldier was killed by an explosion in the southern province of Helmand.
In the east militants twice attacked a fuel supply convoy as it
traveled along a main supply route between Pakistan and Kabul. Police
said at least two private security guards and a policeman were wounded
in the attacks.
(AP, 11/8/09)
2009 Nov 7, African Union Peace
and Security Commissioner Ramtane Lamamra said the AU has implemented
sanctions on Guinea's military rulers.
(AFP, 11/7/09)
2009 Nov 7, Australian authorities
declared a natural disaster along parts of the country's east coast as
heavy floods cut the main road linking major cities, stranding
thousands of people.
(AFP, 11/7/09)
2009 Nov 7, British boxer David
Haye (29) won the WBA Heavyweight crown against 7-foot, 2-inch Russian
Nikolai Valuev in a 12-round bout in Germany. Haye became the first
Briton to hold a world heavyweight crown since Lennox Lewis retired in
2003.
(AFP, 11/8/09)
2009 Nov 7, China’s PM Wen Jiaobao
sought to reassure the world's Muslims about his country's goodwill
towards them in Cairo, at a time when Beijing is criticized for the
treatment of its own Muslim minority.
(AFP, 11/7/09)
2009 Nov 7, Senior Iranian
lawmakers rejected any possibility of Tehran shipping uranium abroad
for further enrichment, intensifying pressures on the government to
reject the UN-backed plan altogether. Iranian authorities released 3
journalists who were among more than 100 people arrested during
pro-government and opposition street demonstrations on Nov 4.
(AP, 11/7/09)
2009 Nov 7, Italian paramilitary
police arrested Luigi Esposito in Posillipo, a northern coastal suburb
of Naples. Esposito, on the run since 2003, was using a wig and false
name when captured. Esposito was said to be an expert money-launderer,
who funneled illicit cash from drug trafficking into tourism and other
businesses for the Camorra crime syndicate.
(AP, 11/8/09)
2009 Nov 7, In Japan a 66-year-old
man was hit by a car and killed. Investigators later linked a US Army
soldier to the hit-and-run accident in Okinawa. On Jan 7 Clyde Gunn
(27), a staff sergeant from Oxford, Mississippi, was charged with the
fatal hit-and-run.
(AP, 11/19/09)(AP, 1/7/10)
2009 Nov 7, Lebanon's
Syrian-backed factions finally agreed on a unity government proposed by
their pro-Western rivals, ending a four-month deadlock in the deeply
divided country.
(AP, 11/7/09)
2009 Nov 7, Pakistan's military
said it had killed 12 Taliban militants as government troops pressed a
major offensive in the South Waziristan tribal area bordering
Afghanistan. Two teachers and a student were injured when suspected
militants hurled a hand grenade at a girls' school in Quetta, the
capital southwestern Baluchistan province.
(AFP, 11/7/09)
2009 Nov 8, Afghan Pres. Karzai
pledged that there would be no place for corrupt officials in his new
administration, a demand made by Washington and its international
partners as they ponder sending more troops to confront the Taliban and
shore up his government. Some 350 Taliban prisoners began a hunger
strike at a prison in Kandahar.
(AP, 11/8/09)(AP, 11/9/09)
2009 Nov 8, Brazil’s private
Bandeirante University in Sao Bernardo do Campo, outside Sao Paulo,
expelled Geisy Arruda (20) for wearing a short, pink dress to class,
publicly accusing her of immorality. Arruda made headlines after an
Oct. 22 incident, in which she had to be escorted away by police after
wearing the mini-dress to class. The dean of the private college in
suburban Sao Paulo released the next day announcing a decision to
reinstate her.
(AP, 11/9/09)(AP, 11/10/09)
2009 Nov 8, At the start of the
two-day Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in Egypt China's Premier Wen
Jiabao pledged $10 billion in low interest loans to African nations
over the next three years and said Beijing would cancel the government
debts of some of the poorest of those countries.
(AP, 11/8/09)
2009 Nov 8, Colombia said it will
appeal to the UN Security Council and the OAS after Hugo Chavez, the
fiery leftist president of neighboring Venezuela, ordered his army to
prepare for war in order to assure peace.
(Reuters, 11/9/09)
2009 Nov 8, The Democratic
Republic of Congo government said security forces in an overnight raid
on the town of Dongo have arrested about 100 armed men blamed for
killing dozens of policemen in an attack in the country's isolated
north last month.
(AP, 11/8/09)
2009 Nov 8, In El Salvador a wave
of floods and landslides killed at least 192 people following three
days of heavy rains. Dozens of people were missing in a mudslide that
swept down on the town of in Verapaz. Hurricane Ida's presence in the
western Caribbean late last week may have played a role in drawing the
rain-packed Pacific low-pressure system toward El Salvador.
(AP, 11/8/09)(AP, 11/11/09)(AP, 11/15/09)
2009 Nov 8, In India joyous
Buddhist pilgrims welcomed the Dalai Lama back to the Himalayan town he
first set foot in five decades ago while fleeing Chinese rule in his
native Tibet, a rare trip close to his homeland that has angered
Beijing.
(AP, 11/8/09)
2009 Nov 8, In Iraq 2 American
pilots were killed in a helicopter crash while a Marine died of
noncombat related injuries in a separate incident.
(AP, 11/9/09)
2009 Nov 8, In northwestern
Pakistan a suicide bomber blew himself up in a crowded market in
Adazai, 10 miles south of Peshawar, killing anti-Taliban Mayor Abdul
Malik, who had formed a militia to fight the militants, and 11 other
people. The latest fighting in the Taliban heartland killed 20
militants and wounded eight soldiers.
(AP, 11/8/09)
2009 Nov 8, Saudi Arabia’s
assistant defense minister said Saudi forces have taken control of
Dokhan mountain straddling the border with Yemen and cleared it of
Shiite rebels, in five days of fighting that saw three soldiers killed
and 15 wounded.
(AP, 11/8/09)
2009 Nov 8, Turkey said that
Sudan's internationally indicted leader, President Omar al-Bashir, will
not attend the Nov 9 Istanbul summit of the 57-nation Organization of
the Islamic Conference.
(AP, 11/9/09)
2009 Nov 9, Pennsylvania Gov. Ed
Rendell said the Philadelphia transit strike has ended and that system
would be up and running for the morning commute.
(SFC, 11/9/09, p.A8)
2009 Nov 9, Tahir Sheikh Fakhar
(56) of Hayward, Ca., was killed early this morning when the big rig he
was driving went off the SF Bay Bridge new S curve, plunging 200 feet
onto Yerba Buena Island.
(SFC, 11/10/09, p.A1)(SFC, 11/11/09, p.A1)
2009 Nov 9, US giant Kraft Foods
launched a hostile 9.8-billion-pound takeover bid for Cadbury which the
British confectioner rejected.
(AFP, 11/9/09)
2009 Nov 9, General Motors said
that it would invest C$90 million ($85.1 million) to expand a joint
venture plant in Canada where it builds the Chevrolet Equinox and GMC
Terrain crossovers.
(Reuters, 11/9/09)
2009 Nov 9, The Afghan Ministry of
Public Health said that 710 of the 779 cases of H1N1 reported since
early July have been among Afghan, US and Italian troops. The 11 people
who have died from the virus were all Afghans, including one soldier.
(AP, 11/9/09)
2009 Nov 9, NATO said that 700
members of the Afghan security forces and 50 international troops were
involved in a clearing operation in northern Afghanistan. NATO said
Afghan and foreign troops have killed more than 130 insurgents,
including 8 Taliban commanders, in six days of fierce fighting during a
major offensive in the Charhar Dara district in Kunduz.
(AP, 11/9/09)
2009 Nov, In Brazil the secretary
of Jose Robert Arruda, governor of the Federal District, was filmed
handing over bundles of cash to his boss’s various allies.
(Econ, 2/27/10, p.43)
2009 Nov 9, In eastern Chad a
French Red Cross staff member was abducted by several armed men, close
to the border with Sudan. Laurent Maurice was freed in Sudan on Feb 6.
(AFP, 11/10/09)(AP, 2/7/10)
2009 Nov 9, China said it had put
to death nine people over deadly ethnic unrest in its far-western
Xinjiang region, the first executions since the rioting in July.
(AFP, 11/9/09)
2009 Nov 9, In China Hu Shuli, the
founder and editor of the 11-year-old Caijing financial magazine,
resigned. He had tackled tough subjects and his departure cast doubts
over greater media independence.
(SFC, 11/10/09, p.A2)
2009 Nov 9, In Colombia at least
nine soldiers were killed and four wounded in combat with leftist
rebels in a mountainous western region.
(AP, 11/10/09)
2009 Nov 9, In central Indonesia
6.7 undersea earthquake killed one person, injured dozens and damaged
hundreds of houses on remote Sumbawa Island. Local officials said
torrential rains have triggered a series of landslides on Sulawesi
island, killing at least 14 residents and burying many more.
(AP, 11/9/09)
2009 Nov 9, Lebanon’s PM Saad
Hariri formed Cabinet that included the militant group Hezbollah and
its allies, ending a months long deadlock.
(SFC, 11/10/09, p.A2)
2009 Nov 9, In Malawi two
opposition leaders were convicted of sedition and inciting violence
while campaigning. A judge sentenced each to 20 months in prison with
hard labor. These were the first sedition convictions since the late
dictator Hastings Kamuzu Banda's 1963-1994 rule.
(AP, 11/10/09)
2009 Nov 9, In Mexico gunmen burst
into an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting and opened fire in a
violence-plagued Chihuahua City, killing one person and wounding four
others. In the Pacific coast state of Colima state police captured
Aaron Lopez Garcia (31), a violent gang member who was one of America's
15 most wanted fugitives by US Marshals.
(AP, 11/11/09)
2009 Nov 9, In Pakistan a suicide
bomber in a rickshaw detonated his explosives near a group of policemen
at an intersection on the main road that circles Peshawar, killing 3
people. A roadside bomb killed two paramilitary troops and wounded a
third in Salarzai town in the Bajur tribal region. Militants shot and
killed a senior police officer in the main town of Khar as he was
leaving his office. Fighter jets pounded militant hide-outs in three
villages in the Kurram tribal region, killing eight suspected fighters.
(AP, 11/9/09)
2009 Nov 9, In Saudi Arabia Ali
Sibat, a Lebanese psychic who made predictions on a satellite TV
channel from his home in Beirut, was sentenced to death for practicing
witchcraft. He was arrested by religious police in Medina during a
pilgrimage there in May, 2008.
(AP, 11/25/09)
2009 Nov 9, The EU Naval Force
said pirates in two skiffs fired automatic weapons and rocket-propelled
grenades at the Hong Kong-flagged BW Lion about 1,000 miles (1,600 km)
east of the Somali coast. The ship avoided the attack and no casualties
were reported. Some 14 Somali pirates seized a Yemeni fishing boat, the
Al Hilal or Al Halil.
(AP, 11/9/09)(AP, 11/11/09)
2009 Nov 10, A New Jersey man,
Amir Mohamed Meshal, detained for 4 months in Ethiopia on allegations
of supporting Islamic militants before being allowed to come home, sued
the FBI agents involved in his interrogations. He returned to New
Jersey, where he was born and raised, in May 2007. US authorities in
Washington have said they had interviewed Meshal in Kenya and that they
determined he was not a threat and had not violated US law. The State
Department also said it formally protested his deportation from Kenya
to Ethiopia.
(AP, 11/10/09)
2009 Nov 10, In NYC Ralph Cioffi
and Matthew Tannin, former executives at Bear Stearns, were acquitted
of lying to investors about the state of the subprime-stuffed hedge
funds they ran at Bear Stearns. The funds’ collapse caused losses of
$1.6 billion.
(Econ, 11/14/09, p.85)
2009 Nov 10, Utah’s Mormon church
for the first time has announced its support of gay rights legislation,
an endorsement that helped gain unanimous approval for Salt Lake city
laws banning discrimination against gays in housing and employment.
(AP, 11/11/09)
2009 Nov 10, Bhagwan Chowdhry,
finance professor at the Univ. of California, began to campaign for his
Financial Access @ Birth (FAB) program. The idea was to provide every
newborn child an online bank account with $100, untouchable until the
child reached age 16.
(Econ, 3/6/10, p.92)(http://tinyurl.com/ycuyspz)
2009 Nov 10, Activision released
its new video game “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.” Sales over the
next 5 days brought in $550 million breaking records in several
countries.
(Econ, 12/5/09,
p.77)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modern_Warfare_2)
2009 Nov 10, In Virginia sniper
John Allen Muhammad (48) refused to utter any last words as he was
executed, taking to the grave answers about why and how he plotted the
killings of 10 people that terrorized the Washington, D.C., area for
three weeks in October 2002.
(AP, 11/11/09)
2009 Nov 10, Robert Cameron
(b.1911), SF-based photographer known for his aerial photos of
landmarks, died at his home in Pacific Heights.
(SFC, 11/12/09, p.A1)
2009 Nov 10, In Afghanistan a US
soldier was killed by a roadside bomb in Helmand province.
(AP, 11/10/09)
2009 Nov 10, An Australian student
sparked fears of a new era of computer viruses after creating a worm
which infects Apple's iconic iPhone with pictures of 1980s pop star
Rick Astley.
(AFP, 11/10/09)
2009 Nov 10, The hotly-anticipated
video game "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2" was launched in Britain
amid a political row over its levels of violence.
(AFP, 11/10/09)
2009 Nov 10, Colombian authorities
said they have seized $19 million in forged US currency so far this
year, five times the amount confiscated last year. A statement from the
Presidency's press office said 16 people have been arrested in Colombia
and the US in connection with the seizures and seven illegal
counterfeiting print shops have been dismantled.
(AP, 11/11/09)
2009 Nov 10, Ethiopia announced
the discovery of a mine containing more than 40 tons of gold deposit
worth 1.7 billion dollars (1.1 billion euros).
(AFP, 11/10/09)
2009 Nov 10, German soccer star,
goalkeeper Robert Enke (32), threw himself in front of a train at a
level crossing in the small town of Neustadt am Rubenberge, near
Hanover. Earlier, Enke's doctor Valentin Markser revealed the player
had an acute fear of failure and had been treated for depression since
2003 following a difficult transfer to Barcelona and subsequent loan to
Turkish side Fenerbahce. Hanover police confirmed Enke left a suicide
note.
(AFP, 11/11/09)
2009 Nov 10, Haiti’s lawmakers
overwhelmingly gave final approval to Jean-Max Bellerive as the new
prime minister, making him the sixth person to hold the post since 2004.
(AP, 11/11/09)
2009 Nov 10, Indian officials said
at least 43 people have been killed in landslides caused by torrential
rains in the Nilgiris hills in the southern state of Tamil Nadu.
(Reuters, 11/10/09)
2009 Nov 10, Iran announced it
will use Italy to launch a communications satellite after waiting years
for Russia to do the job.
(AP, 11/10/09)
2009 Nov 10, Ramin Pourandarjani
(26), an Iranian doctor, died amid conflicting reports of a heart
attack, a car accident or suicide, raising opposition accusations that
he was killed. Authorities had barred the family from performing
an autopsy on the body. He had gone public with reports of tortured
protesters he treated at Tehran's most feared detention facility, known
as Kahrizak on Tehran's outskirts. Pourandarjani, a general
practitioner, was the only doctor there, serving there once a week as
part of his mandatory military service. Prosecutors later alleged
that he died of poisoning from an overdose of an anti-hypertension drug
in his salad, fueling opposition fears that he was killed because of
what he knew about the abuse.
(AP, 11/18/09)(AP, 12/2/09)
2009 Nov 10, Israel's army chief
said Hezbollah guerrillas now possess tens of thousands of rockets,
some capable of reaching the country's major cities.
(AP, 11/10/09)
2009 Nov 10, Japan announced $5
billion in fresh aid to Afghanistan even as it plans to bring home
refueling ships supporting US-led forces there. The pledge came just
days before President Barack Obama arrives in Tokyo for talks that are
sure to focus on the countries' military alliance.
(AP, 11/10/09)
2009 Nov 10, Libya signed an
agreement with the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) to join forces
to crack down on organized crime in the Maghreb region.
(AFP, 11/11/09)
2009 Nov 10, In Mexico Tabasco
authorities announced that police had detained 7 suspected members of
the Zetas drug gang, including two teenagers. In the northern city of
Culiacan, the capital of Sinaloa state, a man's tortured body was found
hanging from a highway overpass. The unidentified man had his hands
tied behind his back and was hung by the neck. Monterrey Mayor Fernando
Larrazabal said that 276 traffic police officers and administrative
officials were fired for failing tests designed to detect corruption
and ineptitude. 526 officers who performed poorly were ordered to
undergo more training, and 340 were determined fit for the job.
(AP, 11/11/09)
2009 Nov 10, A badly damaged North
Korean patrol ship retreated in flames after a skirmish with a South
Korean naval vessel along their disputed western coast. South Korea's
Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement that a North Korean patrol
boat crossed the disputed western sea border about 11:27 a.m. (0227
GMT), drawing warning shots from a South Korean navy vessel. The North
Korean boat then opened fire and the South's ship returned fire before
the North's vessel sailed back toward its waters.
(AP, 11/10/09)
2009 Nov 10, In Pakistan a suicide
car bomb ripped through a packed shopping street in Charsadda, a small
market town, killing 26 people in the third militant attack in
northwest in as many days. The military said that troops had uncovered
a private Taliban jail, destroying a network of rebel caves, bunkers
and towers while nine militants were killed during the last 24 hours of
operations.
(AFP, 11/10/09)(AP, 11/11/09)
2009 Nov 10, A Saudi Arabian
government adviser says the kingdom has imposed a naval blockade on
northern Yemen's Red Sea coast to try to prevent weapons and fighters
flowing to Shiite rebels in the area.
(AP, 11/10/09)
2009 Nov 10, Somali pirates seized
a Greek cargo ship, the 150 m (492 ft) Marshall Islands-flagged MV
Filitsa, after a 5-hour chase across the Indian Ocean. 3 Greek officers
and 19 Filipino sailors were aboard the ship, which was carrying bulk
urea from Kuwait to South Africa.
(AP, 11/11/09)
2009 Nov 10, Nigerian football
star Stephen Worgu (20) was fined and sentenced to 40 lashes in Sudan
after being convicted of drunk driving in Khartoum. Worgu said he was
stopped by police driving home late from dinner at a friend's house in
August. No tests were done but officers told the court they had smelled
the home-brewed spirit aragi on his breath.
(Reuters, 11/12/09)
2009 Nov 10, Thailand's ousted PM
Thaksin Shinawatra, whose political battle against his successors has
left his country bitterly divided, received a warm welcome in
neighboring Cambodia, which shares his disdain for the current
government in Bangkok.
(AP, 11/10/09)
2009 Nov 10, The Vatican presented
results of a 5-day conference that gathered experts to discuss
astrobiology, the study of the origin of life and its existence
elsewhere in the cosmos.
(SFC, 11/11/09, p.A2)
2009 Nov 10, Yemeni authorities
were reported to be hunting for Anwar al-Awlaki to determine whether he
has al-Qaida ties. The radical American imam, who communicated with
Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, the Fort Hood shooting suspect, and called him
a hero, was once arrested in Yemen on suspicion of giving religious
approval to militants to conduct kidnappings. Al-Awlaki, a US citizen
born in New Mexico to Yemeni parents, had preached at a Virginia mosque
that Hasan's family attended.
(AP, 11/11/09)
2009 Nov 11, Andy Warhol’s 1962
painting “200 One Dollar Bills” sold for a record $43.8 million at a
Sotheby’s auction in NYC.
(SFC, 11/13/09, p.F8)
2009 Nov 11, Hewlett-Packard Co.
said it will acquire 3Com Corp. in a $2.7 billion deal that would put
HP in direct competition with Cisco Systems in networking technology.
(SFC, 11/12/09, p.A1)
2009 Nov 11, Scientists in South
Africa said that a newly discovered dinosaur species that roamed the
Earth about 200 million years ago may help explain how the creatures
evolved into the largest animals on land. The Aardonyx celestae was a
23-foot- (7-meter-) long small-headed herbivore with a huge barrel of a
chest. The species walked on its hind legs but could drop to all fours.
(AP, 11/11/09)
2009 Nov 11, In Afghanistan a
suicide bomber on a motorcycle detonated his explosives near a NATO
military convoy in the province of Zabul, killing a man and a woman and
wounding another three passers-by.
(AP, 11/11/09)
2009 Nov 11, The Australian
Capital Territory, home to the nation's parliament, became the first
Australian region to legalize civil partnership ceremonies for same-sex
couples, in a move supporters hoped would spark national momentum.
(AFP, 11/11/09)
2009 Nov 11, Brazil emerged from a
widespread power outage that plunged its major cities and at least nine
states into darkness for over 2 hours, prompting security fears and
concern from residents about another black eye for a country hosting
the 2016 Olympic Games. Transmission problems had knocked one of the
world's biggest hydroelectric dams offline.
(AP, 11/11/09)
2009 Nov 11, The British Home
Office said DNA of innocent people arrested then cleared without charge
will be held by the government for no more than six years.
(AFP, 11/11/09)
2009 Nov 11, Cypriots gave a
guarded response to Britain's offer to hand back half its remaining
three percent of Cyprus's landmass if rival sides on the ethnically
split island reach a peace deal.
(Reuters, 11/11/09)
2009 Nov 11, The leaders of France
and Germany appeared together at a ceremony in Paris, for the first
time since World War I, to commemorate the end of the conflict, saying
it is now time to celebrate their countries' reconciliation and
friendship.
(AP, 11/11/09)
2009 Nov 11, In Ghana the roof of
an illegal gold mine collapsed killing 15 people, including 13 women,
in one of the worst mining disasters to hit the African nation.
(AFP, 11/12/09)(SFC, 11/13/09, p.A2)
2009 Nov 11, Iran executed Ehsan
Fattahian (28), a Kurdish activist, at a prison in Sanandaj. He was a
member of the Party of Free Life in Kurdistan, a militant group
outlawed by Iran.
(SFC, 11/12/09, p.A2)
2009 Nov 11, The Israeli military
released a series of documents and photos it said proved Iran was
behind a massive shipment of weapons Israel's navy commandos
intercepted last week. Among the arms Israel says it found aboard the
vessel were 9,000 mortar bombs, 3,000 Katyusha rockets, 3,000 gun
shells, 20,000 grenades and over a half million rounds of small arms
ammunition.
(AP, 11/11/09)
2009 Nov 11, An Italian company
that helped build a communications satellite for Iran said there are no
plans to launch it, denying an announcement made in Tehran this week.
(AP, 11/11/09)
2009 Nov 11, In Mexico reporter
Maria Esther Aguilar, who wrote about organized crime, disappeared in
western Michoacan state.
(AP, 11/20/09)
2009 Nov 11, Forbes Magazine named
drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, a fugitive reputed to be hiding in
the mountains of northern Mexico, to its list of the 67 "World's Most
Powerful People." Business groups in the Mexican border city of Ciudad
Juarez said they are calling for UN peacekeepers to quell the
drug-related violence that has given their city one of the highest
homicide rates in the world.
(AP, 11/12/09)
2009 Nov 11, In Pakistan a
roadside bomb killed nine security officers close to the Afghan border.
Some 12 hours earlier, dozens of militants armed with automatic weapons
and rocket launchers attacked a security outpost in the same Mohmand
region, killing two soldiers and wounding three others. The army
responded by shelling militant positions there, killing 10 suspected
fighters.
(AP, 11/11/09)
2009 Nov 11, In Somalia gunmen in
Bossaso killed High Court Judge Mohamed Abdi Aware, a top judge who had
sentenced many pirates and human traffickers to long jail terms. 3 men
were arrested the next day over the killing. Puntland legislator
Ibrahim Ilmi Warsame was also shot dead as he sat in a restaurant with
friends.
(AP, 11/12/09)
2009 Nov 11, In Sudan 11 people
were killed in fighting in southern Jonglei state in clashes between
the Dinka and Shilluk ethnic groups.
(AFP, 11/12/09)
2009 Nov 11, In Tanzania a
landslide followed a night of heavy rains and killed 11 children and 9
adults near Mt. Kilimanjaro.
(AP, 11/12/09)
2009 Nov 11, Venezuelan
authorities destroyed more than 30,000 illegal firearms as part of an
effort to combat soaring crime. The government stopped releasing
complete annual murder figures in 2005, but in 2008 the Justice
Ministry said homicides averaged 152 a week, or roughly 7,900 for 12
months.
(AP, 11/11/09)
2009 Nov 12, US prosecutors filed
a civil complaint in federal court against the Alavi Foundation,
seeking the forfeiture of more than $500 million in assets. The Muslim
nonprofit organization, suspected to have Iranian links, held assets
including bank accounts; Islamic centers consisting of schools and
mosques in New York, Maryland, California and Houston; more than 100
acres in Virginia; and a 36-story Manhattan office tower.
(AP, 11/15/09)
2009 Nov 12, The IMF issued new
rules for financial assets that will be optional from this year and
mandatory from 2013.
(Econ, 11/14/09, p.88)
2009 Nov 12, The Atlantic seaboard
was drenched in rain from Tropical Storm Ida. 3 deaths were reported in
Virginia and one in North Carolina.
(SFC, 11/13/09, p.A8)
2009 Nov 12, Afghanistan exported
12 tons of apples to India and touted the shipment as a key step in
exploring much-needed international markets for its agricultural
products.
(AFP, 11/12/09)
2009 Nov 12, In Bolivia
authorities said that evaporation blamed on global warming has reduced
Lake Titicaca, one of the world's highest navigable lakes, to its
lowest level since 1949.
(AP, 11/12/09)
2009 Nov 12, British Airways PLC
and Spanish airline Iberia SA confirmed they are holding separate board
meetings about a long-awaited merger, responding to feverish
speculation that has sent the companies' shares soaring.
(AP, 11/12/09)
2009 Nov 12, In Honduras
assailants fired an anti-tank grenade toward the building housing
ballots for the upcoming Nov 29 Honduran presidential elections, which
are taking place under the shadow of a four-month crisis caused by a
coup. The grenade overshot its target.
(AP, 11/13/09)
2009 Nov 12, Italy's top security
official said that authorities have smashed an international terror
cell with the arrest in Italy and elsewhere in Europe of 17 Algerians
who were raising money to finance terrorism.
(AP, 11/12/09)
2009 Nov 12, In Norway thieves
stole a valuable artwork by Edvard Munch from an Oslo art dealer in
downtown Oslo. One or more thieves stole "Historien" (History) from
Nyborgs Kunst.
(AP, 11/13/09)
2009 Nov 12, A Norwegian freelance
journalist kidnapped on Nov 5 in eastern Afghanistan was released along
with his Afghan interpreter. Paal Refsdal was in Afghanistan filming a
documentary for the Norwegian production company Novemberfilm.
(AP, 11/12/09)(SFC, 11/13/09, p.A2)
2009 Nov 12, In Pakistan stiff
Taliban resistance killed at least 17 government soldiers in the
military's deadliest day since launching its offensive in South
Waziristan. At least 15 soldiers were killed in clashes, while a
roadside bomb killed two soldiers in Sararogha area further east.
Gunmen shot dead Abu Al-Hasan Jaffry, a Pakistani spokesman for the
Iranian consulate, at point blank range as he set off for work in
Peshawar. The army said that 22 militants were killed in South
Waziristan, which would bring to 524 the number reported dead since the
fight began.
(AFP, 11/12/09)
2009 Nov 12, Peruvian media
reported that air force officer Victor Ariza (45) was arrested last
month for allegedly spying for Chile. Peruvian President Alan Garcia
soon accused Chile of assaulting Peru's sovereignty, throwing his
weight behind allegations that Chile paid a Peruvian military officer
to spy. Chilean Foreign Minister Mariano Fernandez denied the
accusation.
(AP, 11/16/09)
2009 Nov 12, Russia’s Pres.
Medvedev called on his country to shed its dependence on exports of raw
materials and to adopt a more pragmatic foreign policy aimed at
attracting investment and promoting growth.
(SFC, 11/13/09, p.A5)
2009 Nov 12, In Rwanda a passenger
plane with a recent history of technical problems crashed into an
airport VIP lounge Kigali, killing one passenger. The CRJ-100 aircraft
was leased from Kenya's Jetlink.
(AP, 11/13/09)
2009 Nov 13, President Barack
Obama met with Japanese PM Yukio Hatoyama on his first major trip to
Asia. He emphasized cooperation and opened with a warning to North
Korea that there will be tough, unified action by the US and its Asian
partners if the Koreans fail to abandon their nuclear weapons programs.
Obama and Hatoyama agreed to joint efforts to realize a nuclear
weapons-free world.
(AP, 11/13/09)(SFC, 11/13/09, p.A4)
2009 Nov 13, In Berkeley, Ca.,
Zoelina Williams (23) was found beaten and fatally shot at Aquatic
Park. Her son Jashon (17 months) was missing. Curtis Martin III (38), a
convicted killer, was arrested later the same day. On Nov 15 Jashon’s
body was found in the waters of Berkeley Marina.
(SSFC, 11/15/09, p.A12)(SFC, 11/16/09, p.A1)
2009 Nov 13, Ohio became the first
US state to adopt a procedure for lethal injections that uses just one
drug, thiopental sodium.
(SFC, 11/14/09, p.A4)
2009 Nov 13, The United States'
first marijuana cafe opened in Portland, Oregon, posing an early test
of the Obama administration's move to relax policing of medical use of
the drug.
(AP, 11/14/09)
2009 Nov 13, NASA said a
"significant amount" of frozen water has been found on the moon
heralding a giant leap forward in space exploration and boosting hopes
of a permanent lunar base.
(AFP, 11/13/09)
2009 Nov 13, Former New Mexico
Gov. Bruce King (85) died. The folksy cattle rancher served more time
as governor than anyone else and became an institution in state
politics. King was a Democrat who served three terms that spanned three
decades. He was in office in 1971-74, 1979-82 and 1991-94.
(AP, 11/13/09)
2009 Nov 13, In Afghanistan
NATO-led troops mistakenly killed a female civilian during an operation
against militants in eastern Zabul province.
(AFP, 11/14/09)
2009 Nov 13, British adventurers
Mick Dawson and Chris Martin completed a 189-day record voyage, begun
on May 8, rowing their 23-foot, Kevlar boat across the Pacific from
Choshi, Japan, to San Francisco.
(SFC, 11/14/09, p.A1)
2009 Nov 13, Chechen leader Ramzan
Kadyrov said security forces had killed up to 20 Islamist rebels in a
helicopter attack near the capital Grozny.
(Reuters, 11/13/09)
2009 Nov 13, China’s Civil Affairs
Ministry said unusually early snow storms in north-central China have
claimed 40 lives, caused thousands of buildings to collapse and
destroyed almost 500,000 acres (200,000 hectares) of winter crops.
(AP, 11/13/09)
2009 Nov 13, In Dagestan, east of
Chechnya, a bomb blast at a village cemetery killed three civilians,
the widow, sister and daughter of a police officer who was among the
victims of nearly daily attacks on law enforcement authorities in the
province.
(AP, 11/14/09)
2009 Nov 13, The French government
said its navy has seized 3 boats of Somalia’s coast and detained 12
suspected pirates, while seizing an arsenal including assault rifles
and rocket launchers.
(SFC, 11/14/09, p.A2)
2009 Nov 13, In Ingushetia, west
of Chechnya, three suspected militants who opened fire at a police
checkpoint were shot and killed.
(AP, 11/14/09)
2009 Nov 13, India officials said
all elephants living in Indian zoos and circuses will be moved to
wildlife parks and game sanctuaries where the animals can graze more
freely.
(AP, 11/13/09)
2009 Nov 13, Israeli troops killed
a Palestinian man along the Gaza Strip border, but the circumstances of
the incident were unclear.
(AP, 11/13/09)
2009 Nov 13, In Mexico a
7-year-old boy, three women and a university professor were among 15
people killed in 6 separate incidents in the border city of Ciudad
Juarez.
(AP, 11/14/09)
2009 Nov 13, Moroccan authorities
detained a Western Sahara activist close to the Polisario Front rebels,
Aminatou Haidar, in the disputed territory's main city. Haidar, the
winner of several human rights awards, was arrested on her arrival in
Laayoune from Spain's Canary Islands. Immigration officials immediately
sent her back to Spain’s Canary Islands after confiscating her
passport. She used her Spanish residency permit to re-enter the country
and began a hunger strike in Laayoune at midnight on Nov 15.
(AFP, 11/13/09)(AFP, 11/21/09)
2009 Nov 13, In Morocco
journalists Rachid Nini and Said Laajal were sentenced to 3
months and 2 months in prison for publishing "false information" about
a drug trafficking ring. Their newspaper report concerned the
dismantling on August 17 of a major drug smuggling ring, named "Triha"
after its alleged boss, who was part of a group of 15 drug barons
arrested in 2008 in a crackdown across Morocco. Both journalists were
released on Dec 5, 2009.
(AFP, 1/5/10)
2009 Nov 13, The Dutch government
announced to bring the polluter-pays principle into the home garage. As
of 2012 rather than an annual road tax for their cars, drivers will pay
a few cents for every kilometer on the road, in a plan aimed at
breaking chronic traffic jams and cutting carbon emissions.
(AP, 11/14/09)
2009 Nov 13, In Pakistan an early
morning attack killed 10 people and devastated much of the northwestern
headquarters of Pakistan's spy agency in Peshawar city. About an hour
later, a second suicide car bomber attacked a police station farther
south, killing six people. The military reported the loss of 12
soldiers over the last 24 hours, one of its largest single-day losses
since the campaign in South Waziristan began. Attackers fired rockets
at a group of tankers near the southwestern city of Quetta that were
delivering fuel to US and NATO troops. One driver was killed and five
tankers were torched.
(AP, 11/13/09)
2009 Nov 13, Philippine Pres.
Gloria Macapagal signed a bill criminalizing all forms of torture and
prohibiting state authorities from suing secret detention centers.
(SFC, 11/14/09, p.A2)
2009 Nov 13, In Puerto Rico the
dismembered body of college student Jorge Steven Lopez Mercado (19) was
discovered along a road in the interior town of Cayey. Lopez was widely
known as a volunteer for organizations advocating HIV prevention and
gay rights. Suspect Juan Martinez Matos (26), was soon arrested and
allegedly confessed to killing Lopez and mutilating his body. He was
charged with first-degree murder and weapons violations and jailed on
$4 million bond.
(AP, 11/18/09)
2009 Nov 13, In Russia huge
explosions and fire ripped through a naval munitions facility in the
Ulyanovsk province for hours, killing two firefighters and prompting
the evacuation of thousands of civilians nearby. 11 civilians and
military personnel were unaccounted for.
(AP, 11/13/09)
2009 Nov 13, In Russia prosecutors
said police have arrested three homeless people suspected of eating a
25-year-old man they had butchered and selling other bits of the corpse
to a local kebab house. Parts of a human body had been found near a bus
stop in the outskirts of the Russian city of Perm, 1,150 km (720 miles)
east of Moscow.
(Reuters, 11/16/09)
2009 Nov 13, A Somali man was
arrested by African Union peacekeeping troops before a Daallo Airlines
flight took off from Mogadishu. It was scheduled to travel from
Mogadishu to the northern Somali city of Hargeisa, then to Djibouti and
Dubai. The man was carrying powdered chemicals, liquid and a syringe
that could have caused an explosion. The case bore chilling
similarities to a later Dec 25 terrorist plot to blow up a
Detroit-bound airliner.
(AP, 12/30/09)
2009 Nov 13, South Africa’s
President Jacob Zuma said police do not have a "license to kill," a day
after his deputy police minister urged officers to "shoot the bastards"
in fighting criminals.
(AFP, 11/13/09)
2009 Nov 13, Turkey's government
announced new measures aimed at reconciling with minority Kurds and
ending a 25-year-old insurgency, but there was no mention of the
sweeping amnesty sought by Kurdish rebels.
(AP, 11/13/09)
2009 Nov 13, Uganda’s army clashed
with tribesmen who were stealing cattle in the volatile northeastern
region. Two soldiers were wounded and 15 cows were killed in two
clashes on Nov. 13 and Nov. 17. The army killed 34 tribesmen in the
clashes.
(AP, 11/21/09)
2009 Nov 13, A UN official said an
agreement has been reached for sweeping anti-corruption reviews on how
countries account for their public assets. The pact came after talks in
Qatar's capital, Doha, between the United Nations, World Bank and
watchdog groups.
(AP, 11/13/09)
2009 Nov 14, Pres. Obama spoke in
Tokyo and then flew to Singapore for a 21-nation summit of Asia-Pacific
leaders. In his Tokyo speech Pres. Obama declared the United States a
"nation of the Pacific and reached out warmly to China, applauding
Beijing's robust strides as a burgeoning economic giant.
(AP, 11/14/09)
2009 Nov 14, In North Carolina the
Fayetteville Police Department said Antoinette Nicole Davis, the mother
of Shaniya Davis (5), faced a child abuse charge involving prostitution
as well as filing a false police report. The child hadn't been seen
since Nov 10, when surveillance footage showed Mario Andrette McNeill
carrying Shaniya into a hotel room. He was arrested and charged with
kidnapping on Nov 13. The body of Shaniya Davis was found on Nov 16 in
woods 30 miles from Fayetteville. She had been sexually assaulted and
asphyxiated on Nov 10, the day her mother reported her missing.
(AP, 11/15/09)(SFC, 11/17/09, p.A26)(SFC, 11/21/09,
p.A4)
2009 Nov 14, In Riverside County,
Ca., Maysam Barbar and daughter Tamara (6) were found dead in their
Perris home. Suspect Michael Barbar, the husband and stepfather, was
arrested the next day in Deming, NM.
(SFC, 11/16/09, p.A6)
2009 Nov 14, In Lassen County,
Ca., a medical Aerospatiale AS350 helicopter crashed near the Nevada
state line killing all three crew members. They were returning to
Susanville after dropping off a patient in Reno.
(SSFC, 11/15/09, p.A12)
2009 Nov 14, In Afghanistan an
armed woman died during a clash with insurgents in Shindand district of
western Herat province. The district governor, said three civilian
members of one family were killed and three children wounded. Four
Taliban militants were also said to have been killed in the clash.
(AFP, 11/14/09)
2009 Nov 14, Three would-be
migrants drowned, one was rescued and 10 were missing off the Algerian
coast after their boats sank on their way to Europe.
(AFP, 11/15/09)
2009 Nov 14, It was reported that
Chinese officials are being told to dump their mistresses, avoid
hostess bars, and shun extravagances as part of the Communist party's
efforts to clamp down on the corruption that is threatening its rule
and sullying its reputation.
(AP, 11/14/09)
2009 Nov 14, Colombia’s government
4 soldiers from Venezuela's National Guard captured in Colombian
territory will be repatriated in a bid to ease tensions between the
South American neighbors. The Colombian navy intercepted the men Nov 13
in El Aceitico along the border.
(AP, 11/15/09)
2009 Nov 14, Ethiopian ONLF rebels
fighting for independence for a region with potentially significant oil
and gas reserves said they had captured seven towns near the border
with neighboring Somalia.
(Reuters, 11/14/09)
2009 Nov 14, In western India a
speeding train derailed, killing at least nine people and injuring more
than 80 in Jaipur, Rajasthan state.
(AP, 11/14/09)(SSFC, 11/15/09, p.A6)
2009 Nov 14, Indian troops shot
dead five suspected Islamic militants as they tried to enter Indian
Kashmir from the Pakistani side of the disputed state.
(AFP, 11/14/09)
2009 Nov 14, In Iran local
newspapers reported that the government has formed a special unit to
monitor Web sites and fight Internet crimes, in a clear attack on an
opposition that relies almost exclusively on online means to broadcast
its message.
(AP, 11/14/09)
2009 Nov 14, A Jordanian citizen
died after being beaten by police, the second time this week, casting a
rare spotlight on the nation's US-trained security forces, that may
also have worked as proxy jailers for the CIA. Fakhri Kreishan (47)
died two days after slipping into a coma caused by a severe beating to
the head due to a clash between police and residents in the southern
city of Maan. Sadem al-Saud (20) died Nov 7, three weeks after he was
put into a coma by a beating administered during an interrogation in an
Amman police station.
(AP, 11/15/09)
2009 Nov 14, Nigeria's president
held "frank and fruitful" talks with former oil rebel leaders in an
effort to end the conflict in the Niger Delta region.
(AFP, 11/15/09)
2009 Nov 14, Tomaz Humar (40), a
veteran Slovenian climber, was found dead on Langtang Lirung in the
Nepalese Himalayas days after he was injured and stranded on the
23,710-foot (7,227m) mountain.
(AP, 11/14/09)
2009 Nov 14, In Pakistan a suicide
bomber blew up his explosives-filled car at a police checkpoint in the
northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar, killing himself and at least
12 people. In the northwestern Swat valley, troops killed 13 insurgents
in two separate gunfights.
(AFP, 11/14/09)(SSFC, 11/15/09, p.A8)
2009 Nov 14, In Moscow Magnus
Carlsen (18) of Norway became the new No. 1 chess player in the world
with a tournament victory over Peter Leko of Hungary.
(SSFC, 11/15/09, p.A6)
2009 Nov 14, In South Africa a
civilian pilot was killed when his fighter jet crashed shortly before
he was to participate in an air show near Bredasdorp, about 200 km west
of Cape Town.
(Reuters, 11/14/09)
2009 Nov 14, In South Africa
Kavisha Seevnarain (26) was carjacked and then forced at gunpoint to go
to ATMs to take out money. She was then thrown off a 200-foot tall
bridge south of Durban and survived with seven broken ribs and a
fractured pelvis.
(AP, 11/16/09)
2009 Nov 14, In South Korea at
least ten people, including eight Japanese tourists, were killed and
six others injured in a blaze at an indoor shooting range in Busan.
(AFP, 11/14/09)
2009 Nov 14, Sweden held a solemn
ceremony at Stockholm's Museum of National Antiquities for the return
of 23 skulls taken from the native Hawaiian community. Five of the
skulls will be returned by the museum. They were brought to Sweden by a
Swedish scientist in the 1880s after he took part in a trip around the
world. The other 17 skulls will be returned by Stockholm's medical
university Karolinska Institutet.
(AP, 11/14/09)
2009 Nov 15, The Dungeness crab
season opened of the California coast.
(SSFC, 11/15/09, p.A2)
2009 Nov 15, In eastern
Afghanistan hundreds of French and Afghan troops pushed into a hostile
valley where militants launch quick attacks, then disappear into
hillside villages. Separately in eastern province of Paktika, a joint
NATO and Afghan force killed a group of militants while pursuing a
commander tied to the militant network run by Jalaluddin Haqqani.
A British soldier was shot and killed while on foot patrol in
Helmand province.
(AFP, 11/15/09)
2009 Nov 15, British officials
said PM Gordon Brown will apologize to thousands of British children
who were shipped to new lives overseas, where many say they suffered
neglect and abuse. Thousands of poor British children were sent to
Australia, Canada and other former colonies under the Child Migrants
Program, which ended in the 1960s. Many ended up in institutions or as
farm laborers. The British government has estimated that a total of
150,000 British children may have been shipped abroad between 1618 —
when a group was sent to the Virginia Colony — and 1967, most of them
from the late 19th century onwards.
(AP, 11/15/09)
2009 Nov 15, Dr. Brooke Magnanti
(34), who works for The Bristol Initiative for Research of Child
Health, revealed herself to be the woman behind the nom de plume "Belle
de Jour," which is the title of a 1967 French film starring Catherine
Deneuve. Magnanti kept a weblog of her antics in 2003-2004, which were
turned into a best-selling book, "The Intimate Adventures of a London
Call Girl." Her memoirs were adapted into a hit 16-episode television
series "Secret Diary of a Call Girl," which starred Billie Piper and
was screened in countries around the world.
(AFP, 11/16/09)
2009 Nov 15, In Colombia DAS
intelligence agency director Felipe Munoz said Ivan Danilo Alarcon,
wanted for rebellion and drug trafficking, was detained by intelligence
agents near a university in the city of Cali. Alarcon, who posed as a
human rights activist, cried out that he was being kidnapped and 100
people surrounded and detained the agents for over an hour, threatened
them with death and took their weapons and armored vests. They freed
Alarcon from handcuffs, and he fled.
(AP, 11/16/09)
2009 Nov 15, An Egyptian judicial
source said 2 Egyptian Christians, Rami Atef Khella and Raafat Khella,
have been condemned to death for the murder of a Muslim man who married
one of their relatives after she converted to Islam. Mariam Atef Khella
and the couple's daughter Nur were wounded at the time of the attack
more than a year ago.
(AFP, 11/15/09)
2009 Nov 15, Egypt’s information
technology minister said Egypt will apply for the first Internet domain
written in Arabic. The announcement was made at a conference grouping
Yahoo's co-founder and others to discuss boosting online access in
emerging nations.
(AP, 11/15/09)
2009 Nov 15, German Federal
Criminal Police Office confirmed a Spiegel Online report that it had
posted notices across Afghanistan warning that Jan Schneider (27), a
Kazakhstan-born ethnic German, may plan attacks on German military or
civilian institutions in Afghanistan. Authorities identified the German
convert to Islam as an al-Qaida associate.
(AP, 11/15/09)
2009 Nov 15, India's Essar Group,
and energy-to-steel conglomerate, said it has agreed to buy a majority
stake in Dhabi Group's telecommunication businesses in African nations
Uganda and Congo.
(Reuters, 11/15/09)
2009 Nov 15, In gunmen wearing
Iraqi army uniforms abducted and killed 13 men and boys in the village
of al-Saadan, a village west of Baghdad, in what some described as
revenge against Sunnis who helped fight al-Qaida. Many of the victims
were beheaded, while others were shot and mutilated.
(SFC, 11/17/09, p.A8)
2009 Nov 15, Italian police
captured convicted mobster Domenico Raccuglia, one of Sicily’s top
mafia fugitives, in an apartment near Trapani.
(SFC, 11/16/09, p.A2)
2009 Nov 15, Kosovo held its first
elections since independence from Serbia, with some minority Serbs
ignoring a call to boycott and casting ballots alongside ethnic
Albanians. The voting ended peacefully, with the prime minister
claiming his party won convincingly.
(AP, 11/15/09)
2009 Nov 15, Amnesty Int’l. issued
the report, "I Can't Believe in Justice Anymore." It said at least 46
people had been unlawfully killed by police in Mozambique since 2006.
The report offered five detailed case studies, including that of dancer
and choreographer Augusto Cuvilas, who had called police to his home
because he feared he was being robbed, only to end up being killed by
the officers from whom he had sought help.
(AP, 11/16/09)
2009 Nov 15, In Myanmar a ferry
carrying nearly 200 passengers sank after colliding with an oil barge
in the Ngawun River, killing at least 31 and leaving more than a dozen
missing.
(AP, 11/16/09)(AP, 11/17/09)
2009 Nov 15, In northwestern
Pakistan militants killed anti-Taliban elder Malik Sher Zaman in the
Bajur tribal region. Several hours later, more than a dozen militants
opened fire on the house of an anti-Taliban mayor outside the main
northwestern city of Peshawar, but security guards repelled the attack,
killing three of the assailants. The attacks were seen as part of an
escalating campaign to weaken the country's resolve to fight Islamic
extremism.
(AP, 11/15/09)
2009 Nov 15, In Paraguay 1,200
people escaped a fire that destroyed a supermarket on the outskirts of
Asuncion, killing two people.
(AP, 11/15/09)
2009 Nov 15, Serbian Orthodox
Church Patriarch Pavle, born as Gojko Stojcevic (1914), died. He had
called for peace and conciliation during the Balkan ethnic conflicts of
the 1990s but failed to openly condemn Serb nationalism.
(AP, 11/15/09)
2009 Nov 15, In Singapore
President Barack Obama said the United States and Russia would have a
replacement treaty on reducing nuclear arms ready for approval by
year's end, an announcement designed as an upbeat ending to a summit
with Asia-Pacific leaders. Obama also attended a second summit with
leaders of the 10 southeast Asian countries that make up the ASEAN
group. Obama then arrived in Shanghai, launching a three-day visit to
an important global US partner and his first travels ever in China.
(AP, 11/15/09)
2009 Nov 15, In Thailand thousands
of demonstrators attended a protest by the royalist "Yellow Shirt"
movement against a visit to Cambodia by their arch-foe, fugitive former
premier Thaksin Shinawatra.
(AP, 11/15/09)
2009 Nov 16, US federal
prosecutors said the Kuwait logistics firm, Public Warehousing co., had
inflated prices and defrauded the US government under its multi-billion
dollar contract to feed American troops. The contract was set to expire
in December 2010.
(SFC, 11/17/09, p.D2)
2009 Nov 16, In Los Angeles the
new $898 million Metro Gold Line extension began regular service from
Union Station to Atlantic Boulevard.
(SFC, 11/16/09, p.A6)
2009 Nov 16, General Motors Co.
says it lost $1.2 billion from the time it left bankruptcy protection
through Sept. 30, far better than it has reported in previous quarters
and a sign that the auto giant is starting to turn around its business.
(AP, 11/16/09)
2009 Nov 16, In Michigan the
Pontiac Silverdome, built 3 decades ago for $56 million, sold at
auction for $583,000. Greek-born Toronto-area businessman Andreas
Apostolopoulos was the winning bidder.
(SFC, 11/25/09, p.A4)
2009 Nov 16, NASA’s shuttle
Atlantis lifted off from Cape Canaveral with 6 astronauts on a mission
to supply the international with spare parts and experimental equipment.
(SFC, 11/17/09, p.A17)
2009 Nov 16, The Afghan government
said it had formed a major crime unit to tackle corruption, following
escalating Western pressure on President Hamid Karzai to fight graft.
Afghan insurgents fired a pair of rockets into a crowded marketplace in
Kapisa province as a French general met local leaders nearby, killing
14 civilians.
(AFP, 11/16/09)(AP, 11/17/09)
2009 Nov 16, In Argentina 2 men
were granted a marriage license in Buenos Aires, breaking ground in a
country and region where laws ban gay marriage.
(AP, 11/17/09)
2009 Nov 16, Australia’s PM Kevin
Rudd issued an historic apology to thousands of impoverished British
children shipped to Australia with the promise of a better life. But
his government ruled out paying compensation for the abuse and neglect
that many suffered.
(AP, 11/16/09)
2009 Nov 16, In London, England,
Geeta Aulakh (28), a receptionist at a local Asian radio station and
mother of two young boys, was found by a passerby in Greenford near
Ealing. A week later Sher Singh (18) was court charged with the
mutilation and murder of the Asian mother of 2 young boys. Family
members say Aulakh, who had recently separated from her husband of 11
years and was filing for divorce, had been threatened in the months
leading up to her death.
(AFP, 11/23/09)
2009 Nov 16, In Shanghai President
Barack Obama pointedly nudged China to stop censoring Internet access,
offering an animated defense of the tool that helped him win the White
House and suggesting Beijing need not fear a little criticism.
(AP, 11/16/09)
2009 Nov 16, The EU Commission
said over 45 countries who catch tuna have agreed to cut catches of the
threatened Atlantic bluefin tuna next year.
(AP, 11/16/09)
2009 Nov 16, French tire maker
Michelin announced plans to invest nearly 900 million dollars to build
a tire plant to supply India's fast-growing vehicle market.
(AFP, 11/16/09)
2009 Nov 16, In Kirkuk a parked
car bomb exploded in a market, killing two civilians and wounding 10
others. An American soldier died of injuries sustained in a vehicle
accident during a patrol. California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger dropped
in on US troops in Iraq, thanking them for the sacrifices they and
their families are making.
(AP, 11/16/09)(AP, 11/17/09)(SFC, 11/17/09, p.A8)
2009 Nov 16, Some Israeli troops
refused to follow orders during the military's evacuation of settlers
at an unauthorized outpost and hoisted a sign opposing settlement
evacuations. Four soldiers were sent to a military prison for up to a
month, while two others were ordered confined to their base for a month.
(AP, 11/17/09)
2009 Nov 16, A 3-day summit on
world hunger opened in Rome. Zimbabwe’s Pres. Mugabe used the UN summit
on world hunger to lash out at the West and defend land reforms blamed
for plunging his people into starvation. Some 60 heads of state and
dozens of minister rejected a UN call to commit $44 billion annually
for agricultural development in poor countries.
(AP, 11/17/09)(SFC, 11/17/09, p.A8)
2009 Nov 16, In Mozambique a trail
opened for former Transport Minister Antonio Munguambe and four former
officials of a company that runs the country's airports. They were
accused of stealing nearly $2 million from the company. It was the
biggest corruption case to go to court in Mozambique since independence
in 1975.
(AP, 11/17/09)
2009 Nov 16, It was reported that
thousands of people, including children, are being secretly recruited
and trained inside Kenya to battle Islamic insurgents in neighboring
Somalia. Recruiters, about 2 months ago, started openly operating in
Kenyan towns and in nearby huts and tents of the refugee camps.
(AP, 11/16/09)
2009 Nov 16, In northwestern
Pakistan a pickup truck laden with explosives blew up outside a police
station, killing four people in an area that has become the focal point
for militant retaliation against an army offensive along the nearby
Afghan border.
(AP, 11/16/09)
2009 Nov 16, The Palestinians
asked the European Union to support their plan to ask the UN to
recognize an independent Palestinian state without Israeli consent.
(AP, 11/16/09)
2009 Nov 16, In Russia Ivan
Khutorskoi (26), an anti-hate crimes campaigner, was killed in the
entrance of his Moscow apartment building with a shot to the head. The
former punk rocker, known as the Bonebreaker, had provided security for
meetings of antifascists. He also was known for organizing underground
bare-knuckle boxing matches among them, and taking part in violent
attacks on ultranationalists.
(AP, 11/17/09)(AP, 11/18/09)
2009 Nov 16, Russian lawyer Sergei
Magnitsky died after being denied medical assistance for pancreatitis
while in pretrial detention at Moscow's Butyrskaya jail. He was
arrested in November 2008 on tax-evasion charges linked to his work
with a Bill Browder, a British investor barred from Russia in 2005 as
an alleged security risk.
(http://tinyurl.com/yc25jyq)(Econ, 11/28/09, p.57)
2009 Nov 16, In southern Sudan 47
people were killed in ethnic clashes in the Lakes state region. The
violence followed an attack a day earlier in which five were killed and
a minister in the semi-autonomous south’s government was wounded in
Central Equatoria state. It was all a continuation of traditional
cattle raids, but with the use modern automatic weapons.
(AFP, 11/18/09)
2009 Nov 16, A North
Korean-crewed, Kiribati-flag, UK-British Virgin Islands owned,
single-hulled chemical tanker named the MV Theresa VIII was hijacked
with 28 crew members in the south Somali Basin, 180 nautical miles
North West of the Seychelles. The ship was released on March 16, 2010,
following a ransom payment.
(AP, 3/16/10)(http://tinyurl.com/yeaum3r)
2009 Nov 16, Thai police arrested
Samart Chokechoyma (36) and Kanokwan Wongsaroj (38) on charges of
smuggling African ivory into the country to supply shops that sell
jewelry and trinkets, including to customers in the US. DNA tests
showed that it was of African origin.
(AP, 11/17/09)
2009 Nov 16, A Yemeni security
official and the Japanese Embassy said armed tribesmen have kidnapped a
Japanese engineer working on the construction of a school and demanded
the government release one of their imprisoned tribe members. Takeo
Mashimo was released on Nov 23.
(AP, 11/17/09)(AP, 11/24/09)
2009 Nov 17, California Gov.
Arnold Schwarzenegger visited his native Austria.
(AP, 11/18/09)
2009 Nov 17, Australian doctors
successfully separated joined-at-the-head Bangladeshi twins after more
than 24 hours of surgery, saying the girls were "in great shape" but
faced a difficult recovery.
(AFP, 11/17/09)
2009 Nov 17, In Beijing President
Barack Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao promised a determined,
joint effort to tackle climate change, nuclear disarmament and other
global troubles yet emerged from their first full-blown summit with
scant progress beyond goodwill. Obama also raised the case of American
geologist Xue Feng, who disappeared into Chinese custody in 2007 under
charges of stealing state secrets over the purchase of a commercial
database on the oil industry.
(AP, 11/17/09)(SFC, 11/20/09, p.A4)
2009 Nov 17, The European Union
joined the US in discouraging Palestinian intentions to seek
international recognition of an independent state, urging instead a
return to stalled peace talks with Israel.
(AP, 11/17/09)
2009 Nov 17, Two leading Rwandan
Hutu rebels were arrested in Germany on suspicion of crimes against
humanity and war crimes this year and in 2008 in DR Congo. The pair,
Ignace Murwanashyaka (46) and Straton Musoni (48) are the leader and
deputy leader respectively of the Democratic Liberation Forces of
Rwanda. The FDLR is estimated to have 5,000 to 6,000 fighters, many of
whom took part in the 1994 genocide in Rwanda before crossing into the
neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo.
(AFP, 11/17/09)
2009 Nov 17, Iran vowed to
continue enriching uranium despite a wrist slap by the UN nuclear
watchdog, as US President Barack Obama warned of "consequences" if
Tehran refused to come clean on its atomic program.
(AFP, 11/17/09)
2009 Nov 17, Iran’s state
television reported that five defendants have been sentenced to death
in a mass trial of opposition figures accused of fomenting the unrest
that followed the disputed June presidential election. They apparently
included 3 death sentences announced last month.
(AP, 11/18/09)
2009 Nov 17, Israel moved to
approve a plan to build 900 more housing units in a Jewish neighborhood
in the part of Jerusalem claimed by Palestinians, drawing harsh
criticism from the United States.
(AP, 11/18/09)
2009 Nov 17, Pakistan said that
troops waging a major ground and air offensive against the Taliban have
captured most towns once under rebel control in a key district on the
Afghan border. The military said overall, 550 militants and 70 soldiers
have been killed since the army launched the offensive on October 17.
In southwestern Baluchistan province. A bomb targeting a police chief's
vehicle in Quetta killed one person and injured six others. Three
militants and one Pakistani soldier were killed in fighting in the
Bajur tribal region.
(AFP, 11/17/09)(AP, 11/17/09)(AP, 11/20/09)
2009 Nov 17, Slovakia pledged
about 250 extra soldiers to the NATO-led force in Afghanistan, the
first of what British PM Gordon Brown said would be a series of
international reinforcements.
(AP, 11/18/09)
2009 Nov 17, Somali pirates freed
36 crew members from the Spanish trawler Alakrana after holding them
since Oct 2. A self-proclaimed pirate said the hostage-takers were paid
$3.3 million in ransom, while Spain's PM Zapatero said the country did
what it had to do.
(AP, 11/17/09)
2009 Nov 17, South Korea announced
its first greenhouse gas reduction target, pledging to cut emissions of
carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases by 4 percent below 2005
levels by 2020.
(AP, 11/17/09)
2009 Nov 17, A judge in Tanzania
said the prosecution failed to prove its case against Father Hormisdas
Nsengimana (55). He was alleged to have been at the center of a group
of Hutu extremists that planned and carried out targeted attacks in
Nyanza in 1994. Nsengimana was head of College Christ-Roi, a
prestigious Catholic school in the southern Rwandan town. Judge Eric
Mose ordered his immediate release from the UN detention facility in
Arusha. He had been imprisoned for seven years since his 2002 arrest in
Cameroon.
(AP, 11/17/09)
2009 Nov 17, Ugandan forces shot
and killed Okello Okutti, a senior commander of the rebel Lord's
Resistance Army (LRA), during a clash in Obo, near the Central African
Republic's eastern border with Sudan.
(AFP, 11/19/09)
2009 Nov 18, The United States
attended a meeting of the International Criminal Court's management
board at The Hague for the first time in a sign it has stopped shunning
the world's only permanent war crimes tribunal.
(AP, 11/18/09)
2009 Nov 18, US District Judge
Stanwood Duval ruled that the Army Corps of Engineers' failure to
properly maintain a navigation channel led to massive flooding in
Hurricane Katrina. The ruling gave more than 100,000 other individuals,
businesses and government entities a better shot at claiming damages.
The ruling was the "first time ever the Army Corps has been held liable
for damages for a major catastrophe that it caused."
(AP, 11/19/09)
2009 Nov 18, A San Francisco
federal judge reduced the 9-year sentence of Pavel Lazarenko (56), a
former prime minister of Ukraine (1996-1997), by 11 months. The judge
also imposed a $9 million fine and nearly $26 million in forfeitures to
the US government, including the value of his sold Novato mansion.
Lazarenko was sentenced in 2006 for money laundering and other charges.
He was said to have amassed a $250 million fortune in extortions
following Ukraine’s independence in 1992.
(SFC, 11/17/09, p.C2)
2009 Nov 18, California’s
Legislative Analyst Office reported that the state will face a $20.7
billion deficit next year.
(SFC, 11/19/09, p.A1)
2009 Nov 18, In NYC the 60th
annual Book Awards honored Gore Vidal with its lifetime achievement
award. David Eggers won the Literarian Award. Colum McCann won the
fiction prize for his novel “Let the Great world Spin.” T.J. Styles won
the nonfiction award for “The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius
Vanderbilt.”
(SFC, 11/20/09, p.F8)
2009 Nov 18, In Texas Danielle
Simpson (30) was executed by lethal injection for the Jan, 2000,
abduction and slaying of Geraldine Davidson (84). Simpson became the
22nd prisoner executed in Texas this year.
(www.palestineherald.com/breakingnews/local_story_322195228.html)
2009 Nov 18, Artist Jean-Claude
Denat de Guillebon (b.1935), the Morocco-born wife of environmental
artist Christo, died in NYC. Her Bulgarian-born husband was born that
same day as she was. They had met in Paris in 1958.
(SFC, 11/21/09, p.C3)
2009 Nov 18, Hillary Rodham
Clinton, on her first trip to Afghanistan as US secretary of state,
said that President Hamid Karzai's inauguration provides a new chance
for him to strengthen government accountability and take tangible steps
to improve the lives of Afghan citizens.
(AP, 11/18/09)
2009 Nov 18, Argentina's Congress,
valuing truth over the right to privacy, authorized the forced
extraction of DNA from people who may have been born to political
prisoners slain a quarter-century ago, even when they don't want to
know their birth parents.
(AP, 11/20/09)
2009 Nov 18, Australian PM Kevin
Rudd voiced "concerns" about the Church of Scientology after a senator
detailed explosive allegations including torture, imprisonment and
coerced abortions.
(AFP, 11/18/09)
2009 Nov 18, China's health
minister said his country is vaccinating 1.5 million people a day
against swine flu, part of a mammoth effort to reach nearly 7 percent
of inhabitants of the world's most populous country by year's end.
(AP, 11/19/09)
2009 Nov 18, Egyptian fans were
attacked after Algeria won (1-0) a make-or-break World Cup qualifying
game in the Sudanese capital Khartoum, and offices of Egyptian
companies in Algeria were ransacked after a matchup in Cairo over the
weekend.
(AP, 11/19/09)(Econ, 11/28/09, p.52)
2009 Nov 18, In France a 2-day
Congress of the International Association of Francophone Mayors opened
in Paris. The mayors jeered a speech by PM Francois Fillon and
denounced an effort to emasculate local power.
(Econ, 11/21/09,
p.54)(http://www.azi.md/en/story/7016)
2009 Nov 18, Germany said it will
extend its mission in Afghanistan for another year, despite the growing
unpopularity of the war at home.
(AP, 11/18/09)
2009 Nov 18, Guyana unveiled a
simple, white stone plaque with little fanfare at the jungle clearing
where more than 900 members of the cult led by the American preacher
Jim Jones died in a night of mass murder and suicide on Nov. 18, 1978.
(AP, 11/19/09)
2009 Nov 18, Iran's foreign
minister said his country would not export its enriched uranium for
further processing, brushing aside the latest UN plan aimed at
preventing Tehran from potentially building nuclear weapons.
(AP, 11/18/09)
2009 Nov 18, In Italy the head of
a UN food agency expressed regret that an anti-hunger summit failed to
result in precise promises of funding, and critics said the meeting had
only thrown crumbs to the world's 1 billion people without enough to
eat.
(AP, 11/18/09)
2009 Nov 18, Islamic authorities
in Malaysia charged a popular Muslim scholar with delivering an illegal
lecture in what critics considered an attempt by conservative clerics
to silence a leading moderate preacher. Asri Zainul Abidin (38) has
cultivated strong support among young people in the Muslim-majority
country for criticizing what he called overzealous efforts by Islamic
officials to clamp down on immoral behavior.
(AP, 11/18/09)
2009 Nov 18, In Mozambique
testimony in the highest-level corruption trial in the country’s
history implicated ruling party Frelimo as a beneficiary of embezzled
funds. Former Mozambican airports company finance director Antenor
Pereira, a defendant in the trial, testified that Frelimo had received
some of the $1.7 million allegedly stolen from the company.
(AFP, 11/19/09)
2009 Nov 18, The Gaza-based Waad
charity, headed by the interior minister of the militant Hamas group,
offered $1.4 million to any Arab citizen of Israel who abducts an
Israeli soldier.
(AP, 11/19/09)
2009 Nov 18, Qatar hosted what it
billed as the ceremonial launch of Darfur peace talks, but neither
Sudanese government nor rebel representatives took part.
(AFP, 11/18/09)
2009 Nov 18, Somali pirates
attacked the Maersk Alabama for the second time in seven months, though
private guards on board the US-flagged ship repelled the attack with
gunfire and a high-decibel noise device.
(AP, 11/18/09)
2009 Nov 18, South African police
fired rubber bullets to disperse a mob who attacked shacks belonging to
hundreds of migrants following several days of tension. Up to 2,700
Zimbabwean asylum seekers have set up a temporary "safety camp" in a
rural South African town following attacks on their shacks in a dispute
over jobs.
(Reuters, 11/18/09)
2009 Nov 18, South Korean auto
giant Hyundai said it would roll out another new small car in India as
it jostles with rivals for a larger slice of the fast-growing Indian
market.
(AFP, 11/18/09)
2009 Nov 18, Swedish museum
officials returned the remains of five indigenous Maori people to New
Zealand as part of a broader move in Europe to repatriate remains taken
from burial grounds.
(AP, 11/18/09)
2009 Nov 18, In Uganda a new 12
million dollar family planning drive was launched in Kampala
highlighting how Obama administration funding has revamped a
contraception drive in Africa and developing states. Uganda, Ethiopia,
Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania and Kenya will share in the 12-million
dollar funding, but international organizations still have to persuade
certain African governments that it is in their interest to curb
population growth.
(AFP, 11/18/09)
2009 Nov 19, In Las Vegas Manny
Pacquiao of the Philippines demolished Puerto Rican Miguel Cotto to
become the only man in history to win seven titles in as many weight
classes.
(AFP, 11/20/09)
2009 Nov 19, A US congressional
advisory panel said that Chinese spies are aggressively stealing
American secrets to use in building Beijing's military and economic
strength.
(AP, 11/19/09)
2009 Nov 19, US air travelers
scrambled to revise their travel plans after an FAA computer glitch
caused widespread cancellations and delays for the second time in 15
months.
(AP, 11/19/09)
2009 Nov 19, California Attorney
General Jerry Brown issued an opinion that the salaries of legislators
and other elected officials can be cut in the middle of their terms.
The decision was expected to save the state $2.8 million next year. UC
regents passed a 32% tuition increase despite protests by angry
students.
(SFC, 11/20/09, p.C1)(SFC, 11/20/09, p.C2)
2009 Nov 19, In Silicon Valley,
California, the Tech Awards, a humanitarian program recognizing
technological solutions aimed at worldwide challenges, honored 5
winners for their work in the environment, economic development,
education, equality and health.
(SFC, 11/20/09, p.D1)
2009 Nov 19, Google unveiled its
new Chrome operating system for an always-connected netbook.
(SFC, 11/20/09, p.D1)
2009 Nov 19, US bank J.P. Morgan
Chase & Co. said it has bought full control of J.P. Morgan Cazenove
in a 1 billion pound ($1.67 billion) deal with its joint venture
partner, the venerable London financial house Cazenove Group Ltd.
(AP, 11/19/09)
2009 Nov 19, Tim Lincecum (25) of
the San Francisco giants won the Cy Young Award, baseball’s highest
honor for pitching, for a 2nd consecutive season. He apologized for his
Oct 30 arrest for marijuana possession. He had already agreed to a plea
deal and a $250 fine for the 3.3 grams of marijuana found during a stop
for speeding just north of the Oregon state line.
(SFC, 11/20/09, p.A1)
2009 Nov 19, Texas executed Robert
Lee Thompson (34), for his role in a fatal store holdup 13 years
earlier. Triggerman Sammy Butler had gunned store clerk Mansoor Bhai
Rahim but received a life sentence. Thompson was the 23 inmate executed
in Texas this year.
(SFC, 11/20/09, p.A7)
2009 Nov 19, Afghan President
Hamid Karzai pledged in his inauguration speech that Afghanistan will
prosecute corrupt officials and control its own security within five
years. A suicide bomber targeting an Afghan security forces convoy in
Uruzgan province killed 10 civilians and wounded another 13. Two US
service members were killed in an explosion in Zabul province.
(AP, 11/19/09)
2009 Nov 19, Herman Van Rompuy,
Belgium's Prime Minister and former economist, was named the European
Union's first permanent President. Baroness Catherine Ashton, Britain's
European Commissioner, was appointed as the EU’s Foreign
Minister-designate, with the unwieldy title of High Representative for
Foreign Affairs and Security Policy.
(AP, 11/19/09)
2009 Nov 19, Bolivian police
busted five cocaine labs and arrested two people in a remote Indian
village after a confrontation in which an officer was shot.
(AP, 11/24/09)
2009 Nov 19, The European
Commission signed a 677 million euro (one billion dollar) deal in
Brussels to help Nigeria tackle challenges in its restive oil-producing
region, promoting peace.
(AFP, 11/20/09)
2009 Nov 19, An Ethiopian court
convicted 26 people who were accused of taking part in an alleged coup
plot earlier this year and acquitted five others.
(AP, 11/19/09)
2009 Nov 19, In France South
Korean model Daul Kim (20), a fashion week regular in New York, Milan
and Paris, was been found hanged in her Paris apartment.
(AP, 11/20/09)
2009 Nov 19, In India thousands of
sugar cane farmers staged a massive demonstration in New Delhi, halting
traffic as they demanded higher prices for the crop.
(AFP, 11/19/09)
2009 Nov 19, In eastern India a
passenger train derailed after Maoist rebels blew up a key track in
Jharkhand state, killing two people and injuring at least 30 others.
(AP, 11/20/09)
2009 Nov 19, Israeli aircraft
struck a weapons-manufacturing facility and two smuggling tunnels in
the southern Gaza Strip, in response to recent rocket attacks on Israel.
(AP, 11/19/09)
2009 Nov 19, Four whaling ships
left Japan for a five-month hunt in the Southern Ocean, using a
loophole in an international moratorium that allows their killing for
lethal "research."
(AFP, 11/20/09)
2009 Nov 19, From Lebanon the
militant Hezbollah group said that Sheik Hassan Nasrallah has been
re-elected as the group's leader for a sixth term.
(AP, 11/19/09)
2009 Nov 19, In northwestern
Pakistan a suicide bomber blew himself up outside a courthouse in
Peshawar, killing 19 people. The bomb explosion occurred hours after
missiles fired from a suspected US drone killed three suspected
militants in Shana Khuwara village in North Waziristan. 5 Pakistani
troops and six militants were killed in a gunbattle at a security
outpost to the north in the Bajur tribal region.
(AP, 11/19/09)(AP, 11/20/09)
2009 Nov 19, Peruvian police said
a gang in the Peruvian jungle has been killing people and draining fat
from the corpses to sell on the black market for use in cosmetics,
although medical experts say they doubt a major market for fat exists.
(AP, 11/20/09)
2009 Nov 19, Russia's
Constitutional Court effectively outlawed the death penalty, saying a
moratorium on capital punishment should remain in force until the
nation fully bans executions.
(AP, 11/19/09)
2009 Nov 19, In Russia a gunman
killed Rev. Daniil Sysoyev, a Russian Orthodox priest, in his Moscow
church and seriously wounded the reverend's assistant.
(AP, 11/20/09)
2009 Nov 19, In South Korea
President Barack Obama said a US envoy would visit North Korea early
next month, as he joined South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak in urging
the communist state back to nuclear talks.
(AFP, 11/19/09)
2009 Nov 19, Venezuelan
authorities captured Magally Moreno (39), a former Colombian official,
wanted for collaborating with outlawed right-wing paramilitary
fighters. Moreno was wanted by Colombian authorities on charges of
aggravated homicide and Interpol had called for her arrest.
(AP, 11/21/09)
2009 Nov 19, Zimbabwe’s government
said security forces have started withdrawing from the country's
eastern diamond fields to meet Kimberley Process reforms over human
rights abuses.
(AFP, 11/19/09)
2009 Nov 20, A US judge blocked a
Tennessee law that allowed people to bring handguns into restaurants
and bars.
(Reuters, 11/23/09)
2009 Nov 20, Oprah Winfrey
announced that she will end her eponymous show in Sep 2011, 26 after it
first aired nationwide.
(Econ, 11/28/09, p.78)
2009 Nov 20, Lester Shubin (84),
former US Justice Dept. researcher, died at his home in Virginia. In
the 1970s he began developing Kevlar, a new DuPont fabric invented in
1965, into body armor for police and soldiers. DuPont had intended
Kevlar to replace steel belting on tires and began marketing it in
1971. By the end of 2009 bulletproof vests had saved the lives of over
3,000 law enforcement officers.
(SFC, 11/28/09, p.C4)(SFC, 4/7/03, p.E2)
2009 Nov 20, Charis Wilson (96),
American model and writer, died. She had modeled for photographer
Edward Weston for 11 years beginning in 1934.
(Econ, 12/12/09, p.96)
2009 Nov 20, In Afghanistan a
suicide bomber on a motorcycle struck Farah city, the capital of the
southwestern province of Farah, killing 16 people near the governor's
home. A roadside bomb targeted a controversial warlord, who escaped
unscathed but killed five of his bodyguards northwest of Kabul. A
similar device, of the type favored by Taliban insurgents, killed three
civilians in the east.
(AFP, 11/20/09)(SFC, 11/21/09, p.A2)
2009 Nov 20, In Australia 2
executives at Securency, a banknote-making firm part-owned by
Australia's central bank, were suspended over a police probe into
alleged bribery and kickbacks. According to a May 23 report by The Age
newspaper, Securency officials had paid more than 12 million dollars in
kickbacks for a printing contract to a Vietnamese businessman with
links to the communist state's government. Officials were also accused
of paying bribes worth millions of dollars into tax haven bank accounts
of a politically-connected Nigerian businessman to win a 2007 contract.
(AFP, 11/22/09)
2009 Nov 20, Australian
firefighters battled dozens of bush blazes as record-breaking hot
weather sparked "catastrophic" warnings in two states, just months
after the country's worst ever wildfire disaster.
(AFP, 11/20/09)
2009 Nov 20, Canada’s TD Bank was
hit with a multimillion-dollar lawsuit calling it the "financial
epicenter" of an alleged Ponzi scheme run by disgraced Florida lawyer
Scott Rothstein.
(Reuters, 11/20/09)
2009 Nov 20, In Cuba Reinaldo
Escobar, the husband of acclaimed dissident Cuban blogger, Yoani
Sanchez, was punched and shouted down by a pro-government mob after he
challenged the presumed state agents who earlier roughed up his wife,
to a street corner debate.
(AP, 11/21/09)
2009 Nov 20, Egyptian police shot
and killed a Bedouin in north Sinai after the arrest of fellow
tribesmen prompted clashes. Protesters injured dozens of police near
the Algerian embassy in Cairo, fanning the flames of a diplomatic spat
that erupted after Algeria won a football World Cup qualifier.
(AFP, 11/20/09)
2009 Nov 20, In northern England
military helicopters winched dozens of people to safety and emergency
workers in inflatable boats rescued scores more as floods swamped the
picturesque Lake District. One police officer was missing and feared
dead after a bridge was swept away.
(AP, 11/20/09)
2009 Nov 20, In France a man with
an automatic rifle opened fire on a car near a Paris train station,
killing one man and wounding two others.
(AP, 11/20/09)
2009 Nov 20, Germany filed
terrorism charges against a Turkish-German dual citizen allegedly
linked to a member of a cell that plotted to attack US targets. The
24-year-old, identified only as Kadir T. in line with German privacy
laws, was charged with supporting a foreign terrorist organization and
violating export laws.
(AP, 12/9/09)
2009 Nov 20, German prosecutors
said that around 200 football matches in nine European countries
including at least three Champions League games are implicated in a new
match-fixing scandal.
(AP, 11/20/09)
2009 Nov 20, Guatemalan officials
announced the resumption of international adoptions after a nearly
two-year suspension prompted by the discovery that some babies were
being sold.
(AP, 11/20/09)
2009 Nov 20, In India 7 people
were arrested in Mumbai after activists from a hardline Hindu regional
political party ransacked a television station's offices and beat up
staff.
(AFP, 11/20/09)
2009 Nov 20, In the Northern
Mariana Islands a gunman went on a rampage on the Pacific resort island
of Saipan, killing 4 people and wounding six others before fatally
shooting himself. Li Zhongren (42), a Chinese citizen, was believed to
have been employed at the shooting range and left notes indicating
personal financial problems and frustrations.
(AP, 11/20/09)(SFC, 11/23/09, p.A2)
2009 Nov 20, In Mexico Jesus
Zambada Reyes, identified as the nephew of drug lord Ismael "El Mayo"
Zambada, was found dead in an apparent suicide in Guerrero state. A
body found in Guerrero state was identified as Omar Guerrero Solis, a
rebel leader who had accused the state governor of drug ties. Solis
told local media in May that he believed Gov. Zeferino Torreblanca had
ties to the Sinaloa cartel. He accused the army of not detaining
Sinaloa gunmen, while cracking down on members of the rival Beltran
Leyva cartel. US citizen Lizbeth Marin was shot in Matamoros and later
died of the wound. A Mexican army soldier was said to have accidentally
fired a round that hit Marin.
(AP, 11/21/09)(AP, 11/24/09)
2009 Nov 20, In northwestern
Pakistan a suspected US missile strike killed at least eight militants,
the second attack this week in an area believed to hold many insurgents
who fled from an army offensive elsewhere in the Afghan border region.
Four Pakistani soldiers, including a captain, were killed when
militants ambushed their convoy in the North Waziristan area of Shawal.
Two police officers were killed and four others wounded when a
remote-controlled bomb destroyed their vehicle in Peshawar.
(AP, 11/20/09)
2009 Nov 20, Somali pirates
hijacked a Panamanian cargo ship in the Gulf of Aden between the
Arabian peninsula and the Horn of Africa.
(AP, 11/21/09)
2009 Nov 20, Swiss authorities
said that they had ordered some 350 million dollars of assets to be
seized from the son of the late Nigerian dictator Sani Abacha for graft.
(AFP, 11/20/09)
2009 Nov 20, In Geneva, Sw., CERN
scientists restarted the $10 billion Large Hadron Collider (LHC)
following more than a year of repairs. They were surprised that they
could so quickly get beams of protons whizzing near the speed of light
during the restart.
(AP, 11/21/09)
2009 Nov 20, In Tanzania members
of the East Africa Community (Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda)
signed a common market agreement in Arusha, headquarters of the EAC.
(http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-11/21/content_12513712.htm)
2009 Nov 20, Hugo Chavez has
defended the alleged terrorist mastermind Carlos the Jackal, aka Ilich
Sanchez Ramirez, saying the Venezuelan imprisoned in France was an
important "revolutionary fighter" who supported the cause of the
Palestinians. Ramirez gained international notoriety during the 1970s
and 80s as the alleged mastermind of a series of bombings, killings and
hostage dramas. He is serving a life sentence in France for the 1975
murders of two French secret agents and an alleged informant.
(AP, 11/21/09)
2009 Nov 21, Th US Senate voted
60-39 to open debate on the health care bill. The vote was hailed a
victory for Pres. Obama, but final passage of the legislation was far
from certain.
(AP, 11/22/09)
2009 Nov 21, In Afghanistan a
rocket hit outside the luxury Serena Hotel in Kabul, wounding two
people. NATO took command of the training of the Afghan army and police
to consolidate efforts on building an effective security force, a vital
precondition for the withdrawal of foreign troops.
(AP, 11/21/09)(Reuters, 11/21/09)
2009 Nov 21, Australia issued
"catastrophic" alerts after record-breaking temperatures and wild
lightning storms sparked more than 100 fires across the country.
(AFP, 11/21/09)
2009 Nov 21, The University of
East Anglia, in eastern England, said computer hackers have broken into
a server at a well-respected climate change research center and posted
hundreds of private e-mails and documents online, stoking debate over
whether some scientists have overstated the case for man-made climate
change. More than a decade of correspondence between leading British
and US scientists was included in about 1,000 e-mails and 3,000
documents posted on Web sites following the security breach last week.
(AP, 11/21/09)
2009 Nov 21, In northern China a
gas explosion tore through the state-run Xinxing coal mine in
Heilongjiang province, killing at least 107 people with 2 missing.
(AP, 11/21/09)(AP, 11/22/09)(AP, 11/25/09)
2009 Nov 21, Indonesian
authorities picked up Abdul Basir Latip, a co-founder of the Al
Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf extremist group, at Jakarta airport for using a
false passport.
(AFP, 12/16/09)
2009 Nov 21, Italian police
arrested a Pakistani father and son accused of helping fund and
providing logistical support for last year's terrorist attacks in
Mumbai, India. The day before the attacks began on Nov. 26 they
allegedly sent money using a stolen identity to a US company to
activate Internet phone accounts used by the attackers and their
handlers.
(AP, 11/21/09)
2009 Nov 21, In Northern Ireland a
car containing a 400-pound (180kg) device, crashed through barriers
outside the Belfast headquarters of the province's policing supervision
board and partially exploded. Elsewhere, police exchanged shots with
paramilitaries in a border village and 3 people were arrested.
{Northern Ireland}
(AFP, 11/22/09)
2009 Nov 21, In Pakistani Kashmir
3 suspected Taliban militants blew themselves up as police chased them.
(Reuters, 11/21/09)
2009 Nov 21, Hamas announced that
it has reached an agreement with other militant groups in Gaza to stop
firing rockets at southern Israeli towns to prevent retaliatory attacks.
(AP, 11/21/09)
2009 Nov 21, Russia’s PM Vladimir
Putin pledged to widen the country’s anti-crisis aid package with a car
scrappage scheme and mortgage support to jolt the economy out of the
worst recession in 15 years. President Dmitry Medvedev sharply
criticized officials in the ruling Kremlin-backed party for
manipulating recent regional votes, saying it must learn to win fairly.
(AP, 11/21/09)
2009 Nov 21, Russian spaceship
designer Konstantin Feoktistov (83), the only non-Communist space
traveler in the history of the Soviet space program, died. In 1964, he
traveled aboard the Voskhod spaceship as part of the first group space
flight in history.
(AP, 11/22/09)
2009 Nov 21, Saudi health
officials announced the first deaths from swine flu of this year's
annual pilgrimage to Mecca, as four pilgrims succumbed to the disease
soon after arriving in Saudi Arabia.
(AP, 11/21/09)
2009 Nov 21, Sri Lanka said it
would grant free movement to the remaining war-displaced civilians held
in internment camps, meeting a key demand of the international
community. The government reiterated it would complete the resettlement
of civilians by the end of January.
(AFP, 11/21/09)
2009 Nov 21, In Sudan Silva Kashif
(16), a girl from south Sudan, was arrested convicted and lashed 50
times after a Khartoum judge ruled her knee-length skirt was indecent.
Her mother, Jenty Doro, later said she planned to sue the police who
made the arrest and the judge who imposed the sentence, as her daughter
was underage and a Christian.
(Reuters, 11/27/09)(AFP, 11/28/09)
2009 Nov 22, Country crossover
star Taylor Swift overshadowed the late Michael Jackson at the American
Music Awards, winning five prizes including artist of the year.
(AP, 11/23/09)
2009 Nov 22, It was reported that
US and Afghan officials have begun helping a number of anti-Taliban
militias under a plan called the Community Defense Initiative. In
southern Afghanistan a roadside bomb killed five Afghan border security
guards traveling on a heavily used road in Kandahar province near the
border with Pakistan. NATO forces detained several militants with links
to the Taliban. South of Kabul, an Afghan-international security force
detained several militants near the village of Kashimiri Balat while
pursuing an alleged Taliban member involved in the weapons trade. Also
south of Kabul, a joint force detained several suspected militants,
including a Taliban commander linked with several local Taliban
leaders. In Ghazni province a joint force killed a militant, detained
another and recovered pistols and grenades while pursing a Taliban
commander. 3 Afghan soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb in southern
Helmand province. A bomb attack and a firefight killed 3 US troops.
(SSFC, 11/22/09, p.A8)(AP, 11/22/09)(AP, 11/23/09)
2009 Nov 22, An Algerian court
acquitted 2 men who had been held for seven years in the US military
prison in Guantanamo Bay on suspicion of belonging to an extremist
group. Faghoul Abdelli and Mohamed Terari were arrested in Pakistan
after the September 11, 2001 attacks in the US and transferred to
Guantanamo Bay where they were held without trial before being sent
home to Algeria last year.
(Reuters, 11/22/09)
2009 Nov 22, In the northeast of
Central African Republic 2 French aid workers in Birao were kidnapped
by a gang of armed men, close to the border with Sudan. Olivier Denis
and Olivier Frappe wee freed on March 14, 2010, in Darfur.
(AFP, 11/24/09)(AFP, 3/14/10)
2009 Nov 22, India’s PM Manmohan
Singh arrived in Washington for talks with Pres. Obama.
(SFC, 11/23/09, p.A6)
2009 Nov 22, In northeast India
suspected separatists set off two explosions killing five people and
wounding at least 52 more near Gauhati, the Assam state capital. Two
people died later in a hospital.
(AFP, 11/22/09)(AP, 11/22/09)
2009 Nov 22, Nearly 250 people
were pulled from the sea after the Dumai Express went down in heavy
rain and huge swells off Karimun island in the north of the Indonesian
archipelago. At least 29 people were killed and 20 were missing.
(AFP, 11/22/09)(AP, 11/23/09)
2009 Nov 22, Iran began
large-scale air defense war games aimed at protecting the country's
nuclear facilities against any possible attack. Mohammad Ali Abtahi, a
former vice president, (1997-2005) was released on a $700,000 bail. His
lawyer said he had been sentenced to six years in prison in the mass
trial of opposition figures accused of fomenting post-election unrest.
(AP, 11/22/09)
2009 Nov 22, Iranian Pres.
Ahmadinejad arrived in Gambia for a 24-hour working visit aimed at
fostering relations between the Islamic republic and the West African
nation.
(AFP, 11/22/09)
2009 Nov 22, Former Iranian
Interior Minister Ali Kordan (51), who was dismissed after being
accused of faking a law degree from the University of Oxford, died.
Iran's parliament dismissed Kordan in 2008 after questions arose over
his credentials from Oxford. The university denied it awarded him an
honorary doctorate of law.
(AP, 11/23/09)
2009 Nov 22, An American soldier
was killed in action in Iraq.
(AP, 11/23/09)
2009 Nov 22, Israeli aircraft
attacked two suspected weapons-making factories and a smuggling tunnel
in the Gaza Strip in what the military said was retaliation for
Palestinian rocket fire into southern Israel.
(AP, 11/22/09)
2009 Nov 22, Pakistan's army
fought Islamist militants for control of a northwestern district.
Fighting in Shahukhel in Hangu district close to the Afghan border
killed 12 militants.
(AP, 11/23/09)
2009 Nov 22, Romania held
elections. President Traian Basescu received 32.7% of the vote, while
Mircea Geoana won 30.1%, in first official results based on around 85%
of the vote counted in an election tainted by accusations of fraud.
(AP, 11/23/09)
2009 Nov 23, The US Consumer
Product Safety Commission recalled of 2.1 million cribs following links
to 4 infant suffocations. The drop-side cribs were made by Stork Craft
Manufacturing of Canada.
(AP, 11/24/09)
2009 Nov 23, Jacques Monsieur
(56), a Belgian arms dealer pleaded guilty, in an Alabama courtroom to
conspiracy to illegally export F-5 fighter jet engines and parts from
the US to Iran. Monsieur, along with Dara Fotouhi, an Iranian national
living in France, was charged in a six-count indictment with
conspiracy, money laundering and smuggling.
(AP, 11/24/09)
2009 Nov 23, Ohio police seized
about 35 pipe bombs, an assortment of firearms, hundreds of rounds of
ammunition at the Cuyahoga Falls apartment of Mark Campano (56), a
former doctor, following two loud explosions. Citing a history of drug
dependency, the Medical Board of Ohio had removed Campano's license in
2006.
(AP, 11/26/09)(SFC, 11/28/09, p.A5)
2009 Nov 23, The US signed an
agreement giving 38.7 million dollars to 27 Afghan provinces that
eliminated or significantly reduced opium production in the world's
biggest supplier country. Afghanistan’s deputy attorney general said 2
Afghan cabinet ministers are being investigated under suspicion of
embezzlement. A suicide bomber, targeting a police convoy, killed two
civilian men and three children in northern Kunduz province. Five
others were wounded in the attack. A bomb attack killed a US soldier in
eastern Afghanistan.
(AFP, 11/23/09)(Reuters, 11/23/09)(AP, 11/23/09)
2009 Nov 23, A Chinese court
sentenced Web site manager Huang Qi, a veteran dissident, to three
years in prison after he criticized the government's response to the
May, 2008, earthquake that killed about 90,000 people.
(AP, 11/23/09)(Econ, 2/13/10, p.45)
2009 Nov 23, India's army tested a
nuclear-capable Agni missile after sunset for the first time to
demonstrate it could be fired whenever required.
(Reuters, 11/23/09)
2009 Nov 23, Iran's central bank
chief said that the country has gained five billion dollars by
replacing the US dollar with the euro in its currency basket. Iran’s
conservative Jomhuri Eslami reported that the moral police have
arrested a dozen couples for engaging in illicit sexual acts, including
swapping of partners.
(AFP, 11/23/09)
2009 Nov 23, Iran ordered a ban on
the Hamshahri daily, the country's largest-circulation newspaper, for
publishing a photo of a Baha'i temple. Iran's Shiite cleric-led regime
views the Baha'i religion as heretical and has banned it since the 1979
revolution. The ban was lifted after one day.
(AP, 11/24/09)(AP, 11/25/09)
2009 Nov 23, Iraqi lawmakers voted
to change the system for distributing parliamentary seats. But
lawmakers from the Sunni minority walked out before the vote, saying
they will lose seats under the change.
(AP, 11/23/09)
2009 Nov 23, UOP LLC, a Honeywell
company, announced today that its renewable jet fuel process technology
was used to convert second-generation, renewable feedstocks to green
jet fuel for a biofuel demonstration flight by KLM Royal Dutch Airlines.
(http://tinyurl.com/yb877n3)(SFC, 11/24/09, p.A2)
2009 Nov 23, Pakistan's army
fought Islamist militants for control of a northwestern district,
killing 18 of them. It was the second day of fighting in Shahukhel in
Hangu district close to the Afghan border.
(AP, 11/23/09)
2009 Nov 23, In the southern
Philippines dozens of gunmen hijacked a convoy carrying journalists,
and family and supporters of a candidate for provincial governor,
killing 57 people in Maguindanao province. Maguindanao is part of the
Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, which was created as part of a
1996 peace agreement with a large Muslim rebel group.
(AP, 11/23/09)(AP, 11/24/09)
2009 Nov 23, In Russia 8 military
personnel were killed when a truckload of ammunition exploded as they
cleaned up after the huge Nov 13 conflagration at a munitions depot in
Ulyanovsk.
(AP, 11/23/09)
2009 Nov 23, Shiite rebels in
northern Yemen accused Saudi forces of launching a major cross-border
ground and air attack, a day after an alleged failed incursion.
(AFP, 11/23/09)
2009 Nov 23, In Geneva the world's
largest atom smasher made another leap forward Monday by circulating
beams of protons in opposite directions at the same time and causing
the first particle collisions in the $10 billion machine after more
than a year of repairs.
(AP, 11/23/09)
2009 Nov 24, President Barack
Obama showered praise on India and PM Manmohan Singh in an elaborate
welcoming ceremony, declaring it was only fitting the Indian leader
should be the first state visitor of his administration. Virginia
couple, Michaele and Tareq Salahi, met Pres. Obama in the receiving
line of the state dinner for PM Singh. A "deeply concerned and
embarrassed" Secret Service later acknowledged that its officers never
checked whether the two were on the guest list before letting them onto
the White House grounds.
(AP, 11/24/09)(AP, 11/28/09)
2009 Nov 24, In Alaska the
Catholic diocese of Fairbanks and representatives of almost 300 alleged
victims of sex abuse by clergy agreed on a settlement of almost $10
million.
(SFC, 11/25/09, p.A4)
2009 Nov 24, Afghanistan’s
attorney general's office said 15 current and former Afghan ministers
are under investigation over allegations of corruption that have
plagued the government of President Hamid Karzai.
(AP, 11/24/09)
2009 Nov 24, Lloyds launched the
country's largest-ever rights issue to raise 13.5 billion pounds from
existing shareholders.
(AFP, 11/24/09)
2009 Nov 24, Brazilian President
Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva gave a welcoming bear hug Iranian President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and urged Western nations to drop threats of
punishment over the Iranian nuclear program and instead negotiate a
fair solution.
(AP, 11/24/09)
2009 Nov 24, Rio de Janeiro's posh
beach neighborhoods lost power for hours in sweltering summer weather,
prompting restaurants to toss out spoiled food and business owners to
send employees home.
(AP, 11/24/09)
2009 Nov 24, China executed Zhang
Yujun and Geng Jinping for their roles in a contaminated milk powder
scandal last year that led to the deaths of at least six infants and
sickened up to 300,000.
(AFP, 11/24/09)
2009 Nov 24, A report was leaked
on the UN’s peacekeeping mission in the CongoDRC, better known as
MONUC. The report alleged collusion between peacekeepers and Congo’s
army to help various rebel groups in exchange for cash and access to
mineral wealth.
(Econ, 11/28/09,
p.54)(http://congosiasa.blogspot.com/2009/11/leak-un-expert-report.html)
2009 Nov 24, Iran released on
$500,000 bail prominent reformist Mohammad Atrianfar who has been
convicted in connection with street protests after June's disputed
presidential election.
(AFP, 11/24/09)(AP, 11/24/09)
2009 Nov 24, Iran said it was
ready to exchange its low-enriched uranium with a higher enriched
material, but only on its own soil, to guarantee the West follows
through with promises to give the fuel.
(AFP, 11/24/09)
2009 Nov 24, Israel carried out
three airstrikes in the Gaza Strip, targeting a weapons-manufacturing
facility and weapons smuggling tunnels. They came in response to two
rockets Palestinian militants fired at southern Israel from Gaza a day
earlier. Gaza's Islamic Hamas rulers reported that two of the group's
militants were killed when a rocket they were handling blew up
prematurely.
(AP, 11/24/09)
2009 Nov 24, In Italy prostitute
Patrizia D'Addario’s memoir, "Gradisca, Presidente," (At Your Pleasure,
Premier), went on sale. In it she claimed that she had slept with
Premier Silvio Berlusconi on the understanding he would help her set up
a countryside inn but that she got "nothing" in return.
(AP, 11/24/09)
2009 Nov 24, In Nepal the 2-day
Gadhimai festival, celebrated every five years, was attended by many
Hindus from India as well as Nepal. More than 200,000 buffaloes, pigs,
goats, chickens and pigeons were expected to be slaughtered this year.
(AP, 11/20/09)(AP, 11/24/09)
2009 Nov 24, Pakistan’s government
offered peacemaking proposals to separatists in Baluchistan, including
an end to military operations and a payment of $1.4 billion to the
province in increased gas royalties.
(Econ, 11/28/09, p.29)
2009 Nov 24, In Thailand Samak
Sundaravej (74), a firebrand right-wing politician and TV cooking show
host who served a brief and tumultuous term last year as prime
minister, died of cancer.
(AP, 11/24/09)(Econ, 12/5/09, p.96)
2009 Nov 25, US federal
prosecutors said a young woman from Mexico was smuggled over the border
and forced to work as a prostitute for years in Brooklyn, and the
remains of an infant were found in concrete at the home where she was
held prisoner. NYPD officials discovered the bin a day earlier, with
the remains of an infant inside. Domingo Salazar (33) and his wife,
Norma Mendez (32), appeared in US District Court in Brooklyn on sex
trafficking charges and were being held without bail.
(AP, 11/26/09)
2009 Nov 25, A new report said
Wal-Mart Stores Inc's demand for rock-bottom prices from suppliers in
China means some of these companies are forcing their employees to work
in sweatshop-like conditions.
(Reuters, 11/25/09)
2009 Nov 25, Toyota said it would
fix accelerator pedals on 4.26 million vehicles to prevent them from
becoming stuck and leading to unintentional acceleration.
(AFP, 11/25/09)(Econ, 12/12/09, p.76)
2009 Nov 25, Mullah Omar, the
Taliban's reclusive leader, issued a Muslim holiday message calling on
Afghans to break off relations with the government, which he described
as a 'stooge' administration.
(AP, 11/25/09)
2009 Nov 25, Officials said
flooding from heavy rains has killed 12 people in Argentina, Brazil and
Uruguay and forced more than 20,000 to flee their homes. Most of the
dead were in southern Brazil, including eight in Rio Grande do Sul.
(AP, 11/25/09)
2009 Nov 25, Australian Northern
Territory officials said some 6,000 feral camels are running wild in
the remote outback community of Docker River in search of water,
smashing infrastructure and invading the airstrip.
(AFP, 11/25/09)
2009 Nov 25, British PM Gordon
Brown says 10 NATO nations are ready to offer about 5,000 more troops
for the war in Afghanistan.
(AP, 11/25/09)
2009 Nov 25, The Canadian dollar
rose to a one-week high against the US dollar after the Russian central
bank said it was preparing to invest some of its foreign exchange
reserves in the Canadian currency.
(Reuters, 11/25/09)
2009 Nov 25, A court in northern
China sentenced five leaders of an unauthorized Protestant church to
prison terms of up to 7 years on charges including illegal assembly.
Their arrests stemmed from a Sept. 13 raid by police and hired security
guards on sunrise services held in a dormitory building by the
50,000-member Linfen Fushan Church in Linfen, northern Shanxi province.
(AP, 11/26/09)
2009 Nov 25, A Chinese health
official said eight cases of swine flu mutation have been detected amid
longstanding concerns among scientists that the virus could change into
a more dangerous form.
(AP, 11/25/09)
2009 Nov 25, In western Democratic
Republic of Congo at least 73 people were killed and others missing
after a logging boat sank in Lake Mai Ndombe in Bandundu province.
(Reuters, 11/28/09)
2009 Nov 25, Dubai, whose
extravagant building projects have been largely put on hold since the
start of the global financial crisis, said it would ask creditors at
its flagship firms Dubai World and property developer Nakheel to delay
repayment on billions of dollars of debt until May 30, 2010 at the
earliest.
(Reuters, 11/26/09)(Econ, 11/28/09, p.83)
2009 Nov 25, Iranian Pres.
Ahmadinejad arrived in Caracas for a meeting with President Hugo
Chavez, as the two outspoken anti-US leaders try to boost ties.
(AFP, 11/25/09)
2009 Nov 25, An Iranian cleric
said religious authorities have started taking control of schools, part
of a wider ideological drive by hard-liners to wage what authorities
call a "soft war" against Western influence.
(AP, 11/25/09)
2009 Nov 25, Iran stopped the
yacht, “Kingdom of Bahrain,” owned by Sail Bahrain as it sailed from
Bahrain to the Gulf city of Dubai. It had been due to join the 360-mile
(580km) Dubai-Muscat Offshore Sailing Race, which was to begin Nov. 26.
Five British sailors were detained. The 5 sailors were released on Dec
2.
(AP, 11/30/09)(AP, 12/2/09)
2009 Nov 25, In Iraq a double
bombing killed 4 people and injured 25 civilians in Karbala ahead of
the 4-day Islamic holiday of Eid al-Adha. 6 others were killed in an
overnight raid by insurgents on a home north of Baghdad.
(AP, 11/25/09)(SFC, 11/26/09, p.A2)
2009 Nov 25, Israeli PM Benjamin
Netanyahu proposed a 10-month freeze on West Bank settlement
construction in what he says is an attempt to jumpstart Mideast peace
talks. The freeze would not include east Jerusalem, the area of the
holy city claimed by the Palestinians for a future capital.
(AP, 11/25/09)
2009 Nov 25, In Mali gunmen
kidnapped Pierre Camatte, a French national, in the remote east. The
kidnapping was attributed to Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).
Camatte was released on Feb 23, 2010.
(Reuters, 11/26/09)(AFP, 12/1/09)(SFC, 2/24/10, p.A2)
2009 Nov 25, Pakistan charged
seven men in last year's Mumbai terror attacks, its first indictments
in a case watched closely by India and the United States to see if
Islamabad makes good on promises to punish those responsible.
(AP, 11/25/09)
2009 Nov 25, In Saudi Arabia rare,
heavy rainstorms soaked pilgrims and flooded the road into Mecca,
snarling Islam's annual hajj as some 2.5 million Muslims headed for the
holy sites. The downpours add an extra hazard on top of intense
concerns about the spread of swine flu. The torrential rains killed at
least 106 people. Most of the deaths occurred in Jiddah, where streets
were swamped with water, some houses collapsed and mudslides took
place, and in areas around the main highway to Mecca.
(AP, 11/25/09)(AFP, 11/25/09)(AP, 11/26/09)(AP,
11/28/09)
2009 Nov 25, Voters in St. Vincent
and the Grenadines rejected a referendum on whether or not to break
their ties with Britain's monarchy, even as Queen Elizabeth II is made
a rare visit to the region.
(AP, 11/25/09)(AP, 11/26/09)
2009 Nov 25, Yves Rossy, a Swiss
adventurer, landed in the Atlantic after trying to soar from Morocco to
Spain on jet-powered wings.
(SFC, 11/27/09, p.A2)
2009 Nov 25, A United Nations
report confirmed that one of Africa's most brutal rebel movements
relies on a vast, international network of supporters in at least 25
countries including in the US and Europe who facilitate arms
trafficking, money transfers and day-to-day operational support. The
findings are a scathing indictment of how little has been done by the
international community to cut off logistical support to the Democratic
Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), an ethnic Hutu militia
which has wreaked havoc in Congo.
(AP, 11/25/09)
2009 Nov 25, Zimbabwe's state
media said the ailing public health system will receive a 180 million
US dollar boost to fight HIV and AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria from
the Global Fund.
(AP, 11/25/09)
2009 Nov 26, The Univ. of Michigan
announced that football player Charles Woodson is donating $2 million
to its new Mott Children's Hospital and Women's Hospital.
(AP, 11/27/09)
2009 Nov 26, In Jupiter, Florida,
3 women and a child, Makayla Sitton, in bed were shot to death during a
family Thanksgiving gathering. Police officers were looking for Paul
Michael Merhige (35) of Miami. Merhige, a cousin of the 6-year-old
victim, was arrested on Jan 2, 2010, at a motel in the Florida Keys.
(AP, 11/27/09)(AP, 1/3/10)
2009 Nov 26, In Vienna Mohamed
ElBaradei, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA),
said that his probe of allegations that Iran tried to make nuclear arms
is at "a dead end" because Tehran is not cooperating and warned that
confidence in Tehran had shrunk in the wake of its belated revelation
of a previously secret nuclear facility.
(AP, 11/26/09)
2009 Nov 26, In the Central
African Republic the rebel Convention of Patriots for Justice and Peace
(CPJP) claimed they had taken control of the key north central town of
Ndele after an attack. The rebels said three of their men had been
killed, four were wounded, and that about a dozen soldiers were killed.
The CPJP is led by Charles Massi, who was a prime minister under
Ange-Felix Patasse, the president toppled in a bloodless coup by Bozize
in 2003.
(AFP, 11/26/09)
2009 Nov 26, China announced plans
to cut its carbon emissions by up to 45 percent as measured against its
economic output, a commitment from the world's largest polluter that
builds momentum ahead of a widely anticipated climate conference in
Copenhagen next month.
(AP, 11/26/09)
2009 Nov 26, In China 172 miners
were underground when an explosion occurred at the Zhenxing coal mine.
10 miners were killed in the gas explosion.
(AP, 11/28/09)
2009 Nov 26, In the Congo four UN
peacekeepers were wounded in northern Congo after a UN helicopter was
attacked by armed men.
(AP, 11/27/09)
2009 Nov 26, European banks were
hit by concern about potential exposure to debt problems in Dubai,
while companies where Middle Eastern investors own big stakes also came
under pressure.
(Reuters, 11/26/09)
2009 Nov 26, In Lyon, France,
thieves used a sledgehammer to smash through the reinforced glass on a
downtown Cartier storefront. They then swiped jewelry and watches from
display cases. In Dec police recovered nearly euro800,000 ($1,181,900)
in jewels stolen in the holdup. Officers came across the stash by
accident while searching the apartment of a suspect in another jewelry
theft. The suspect was still at large.
(AP, 12/9/09)
2009 Nov 26, Georgia’s foreign
minister said his country is very worried about the possible sale of
French warships to Russia and intends to press the issue of security
guarantees in France.
(AP, 11/26/09)
2009 Nov 26, In southern Hungary a
student (23) opened fire at a university in the city of Pecs, killing
one student and wounding three other people.
(Reuters, 11/26/09)
2009 Nov 26, In Indonesia police
broke up a protest by the environmental group Greenpeace against
deforestation on the island of Sumatra, arresting 12 foreign and six
Indonesian demonstrators.
(AP, 11/26/09)
2009 Nov 26, A human rights group
said Iran has brought new espionage charges against Kian Tajbakhsh
(47), an Iranian-American scholar, who was already convicted of spying
and sentenced to 15 years in prison in the country's crackdown
following June's disputed presidential election. Prominent political
activist Behzad Nabavi (67) was released on $800,000 bail. Shapoor
Kazemi, opposition leader Mousavi's brother-in-law, was freed on
$50,000 bail.
(AP, 11/26/09)
2009 Nov 26, Shirin Ebadi, 2003
Nobel Peace Prize, said that Iranian authorities took her medal about
three weeks ago from a safe-deposit box, claiming she owed taxes on the
$1.3 million she was awarded. Ebadi said that such prizes are exempt
from tax under Iranian law. In Norway, where the peace prize is
awarded, the government said the confiscation of the gold medal was a
shocking first in the history of the 108-year-old prize.
(AP, 11/27/09)
2009 Nov 26, In Ireland an
official report said the Roman Catholic archdiocese of Dublin
obsessively covered up widespread sexual abuse of children by priests
until the mid-1990s in a misuse of the Church's central role in Irish
society.
(Reuters, 11/26/09)
2009 Nov 26, In the Philippines
Andal Ampatuan Jr., mayor of Ampatua, surrendered to presidential
adviser Jesus Dureza in the provincial capital. He had allegedly led
dozens of police and pro-government militiamen in the Nov 23 massacre
of an election convoy.
(AP, 11/26/09)
2009 Nov 26, Polish defense
ministry spokesman Robert Rochowicz said the US and Poland have agreed
terms for stationing US troops in Poland so that the deployment of US
Patriot missiles can start next year.
(AFP, 11/26/09)
2009 Nov 26, The Swiss Justice
Ministry said Roman Polanski will be placed under house arrest at his
Alpine chalet as soon as possible, announcing it would not appeal a
court's decision to release the 76-year-old director on bail.
(AP, 11/26/09)
2009 Nov 26, In Tunisia Taoufik
Ben Brik (49), a journalist known for his critical stance toward
Tunisia's government, was sentenced to six months in prison for what
his lawyer called a trumped-up assault charge. Brik was released on
april 27, 2010.
(AP, 11/26/09)(AP, 4/27/10)
2009 Nov 27, Tiger Woods ran his
SUV into a fire hydrant and a tree outside his Florida home. This took
place just days after the National Enquirer claimed he had an affair
with Rachel Uchitel, the 33-year-old golf champ. A report soon followed
in Us Weekly magazine of a cocktail waitress claiming to have had a
31-month affair with Woods.
(AP, 12/4/09)(http://tinyurl.com/yjqs6nr)
2009 Nov 27, Space shuttle
Atlantis and its 7 astronauts returned to Earth with a smooth touchdown
at Cape Canaveral, Fla., to end an "amazing" flight that resupplied the
International Space Station.
(AP, 11/28/09)
2009 Nov 27, Bess. L. Hawes
(b.1921), co-writer of the political whimsical hit “Charlie on the
MTA’’ (1948), died in Portland, Ore. The song became a big hit for the
Kingston Trio in 1959.
(http://tinyurl.com/ygtrqh8)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bess_Lomax_Hawes)
2009 Nov 27, Afghan President
Hamid Karzai called on the Taliban and other extremist groups to lay
down their weapons and participate in rebuilding the battered country,
as part of reconciliation efforts he has said will be his main
objective during his second term. Turyalai Wesa, the governor of
Kandahar province survived an assassination attempt when a bomb
targeting his convoy exploded as he headed for prayers. An Afghan Red
Crescent official in Takhar province was shot to death in an apparent
attempt to settle a long-standing dispute. Police detained a father,
his son and a nephew.
(AP, 11/27/09)(AP, 11/28/09)
2009 Nov 27, A NATO official said
alliance nations may increase their fighting force in Afghanistan by up
to 6,000 soldiers in response to President Barack Obama's expected call
for 30,000 additional US and allied service members.
(AP, 11/27/09)
2009 Nov 27, In southern
Bangladesh the MV Coco-4, a triple-deck ferry packed with hundreds of
travelers heading home for an Islamic festival, capsized on the Tetulia
River as passengers disembarked, leaving at least 77 dead and dozens
missing.
(AP, 11/28/09)(AFP, 11/30/09)
2009 Nov 27, The army in the
Central African Republic retook control of the key north central town
of Ndele from rebels.
(AFP, 11/28/09)
2009 Nov 27, China and Japan
agreed to conduct their first joint military training exercise, in the
latest sign of warming ties between the Asian neighbors, long marked by
mutual suspicion and spats over a range of issues.
(Reuters, 11/27/09)
2009 Nov 27, In China Justin
Franchi Solondz, an American man wanted in the US on terrorism charges,
was sentenced in Dali city, Yunnan province, for making illegal drugs.
The FBI office in Seattle listed Solondz among its "most wanted."
Charges in 2006 related to his alleged role in 2001 with the Earth
Liberation Front. Solondz was accused of having a role in the
destruction of a horticulture center at the University of Washington,
as well as the destruction of several buildings in Oregon.
(AP, 11/28/09)
2009 Nov 27, In northeastern China
flooding trapped 16 coal miners in Jilin province.
(AP, 11/28/09)
2009 Nov 27, In Congo DRC four
people died when a jail cell wall fell on them during an attempted
prison escape in Kinshasa.
(AP, 11/30/09)
2009 Nov 27, In Guatemala a mob of
some 400 residents in Solola burned to death two men and a woman
suspected of killing a local bus driver.
(AP, 11/28/09)
2009 Nov 27, Haiti's UN
peacekeeping mission urged local officials to provide a justification
for banning 17 political groups from participating in next year's
legislative elections.
(AP, 11/27/09)
2009 Nov 27, The board of the UN
nuclear watchdog censured Iran, with 25 nations backing a resolution
that demands Tehran immediately freeze construction of its newly
revealed nuclear facility and heed Security Council resolutions calling
on it to stop uranium enrichment.
(AP, 11/27/09)
2009 Nov 27, In Iraq a US
soldier died of noncombat-related injuries.
(AP, 11/27/09)
2009 Nov 27, The Israel air force
attacked a group of Palestinian militants in northern Gaza as they were
about to fire rockets at Israel. Palestinian medics said 4 militants
were wounded. The Israeli military said one member of the squad was
killed.
(SFC, 11/28/09, p.A2)
2009 Nov 27, Bison returned to
Mexico for the first time since the 1800s, with Mexican authorities
releasing 23 donated US animals in northern Chihuahua state. The
donated bison came from the Wind Cave National Park in South Dakota.
(AP, 11/27/09)
2009 Nov 27, Namibia’s Pres.
Hifikepunye Pohamba, who is seeking a 2nd 5-year term, was among the
first to vote as polls opened in a 2-day election. The elections
expected to return the long-ruling SWAPO to power despite a tough
challenge from a new breakaway party. The population of the desert
nation, half the size of Alaska, numbered about 2.2 million people.
President Hifikepunye Pohamba won re-election, with more than six times
as many votes as his nearest rival.
(AP, 11/27/09)(AFP, 11/27/09)(AP, 12/5/09)(Econ,
11/28/09, p.56)
2009 Nov 27, In Pakistan 15
Taliban fighters were killed in operations over the past 24 hours in
South Waziristan. Shahfur Khan, a key anti-Taliban tribal leader, was
assassinated in a roadside bombing in the northwest. Elsewhere,
authorities found the bullet-riddled body of Ameer Saiyed, another
tribal elder, who was seized from his home a day earlier in an attack
that also left his son dead. A gunman opened fire on the house in
Rawalpindi of Kamran Shafi, a newspaper columnist critical of
Pakistan's army and spy agencies. Shafi later alleged that the attack
was carried out by elements linked to the country's powerful security
establishment. Shafi recounted the attack and a death threat he
received the following day in his weekly column in the respected Dawn
newspaper. He and his family were not injured in the incident.
(AP, 11/27/09)(AP, 12/1/09)
2009 Nov 27, Poland's Pres.
Kaczynski's Web site said he has approved legislation that allows for
people to be fined or even imprisoned for possessing or buying
communist symbols.
(AP, 11/27/09)
2009 Nov 27, In Russia a homemade
bomb planted on the tracks of the high-speed Moscow-to-St. Petersburg
route, caused a derailment of the 14-car Nevsky Express. 26 people were
killed and dozens more injured. Chechen militants later claimed
responsibility and vowed further "acts of sabotage" in a letter posted
on a rebel website.
(AP, 11/28/09)(AP, 12/2/09)
2009 Nov 27, In Rwanda Janvier
Murenzi, a former presidential financial director, was fined 1.8
million dollars and jailed for four years for illegal enrichment as
Kigali cracks down on corruption.
(AP, 11/28/09)
2009 Nov 27, In Saudi Arabia vast
crowds of pilgrims cast stones at walls representing the devil on the
third day of the annual hajj as Muslims around the world began
celebrating Eid al-Adha, the most important holiday of the Islamic
calendar.
(AP, 11/27/09)
2009 Nov 27, Saudi Arabia said
nine of its soldiers fighting Yemeni rebels on the border were missing
and Saudi King Abdullah vowed to defend the country.
(AP, 11/28/09)
2009 Nov 27, The 53 members of the
Commonwealth gathered in Trinidad for a summit.
(Econ, 11/28/09, p.67)
2009 Nov 27, Venezuela’s President
Chavez said he plans to open an embassy in Palestinian territories and
upgrade its ties to ambassadorial level, to support Palestinians in
their struggle against Israel.
(Reuters, 11/27/09)
2009 Nov 27, Zimbabwe and South
Africa signed a bilateral investment agreement which would protect
investments made by nationals of both countries in each other's
territory.
(AFP, 11/27/09)
2009 Nov 28, In Sonoma County,
Ca., John Maloney (45), his wife Susan (42), and 2 children Aiden (8)
and Gracie (5) were killed when Steven Culbertson (19) of Lakeport
broadsided their car on Highway 37. The family was on its way home from
a vacation in Hawaii. News of the tragedy prompted Michael Vincent
Gutierrez (26) of Redwood City and girlfriend Amber Marie True (29) to
break into the Maloney’s empty house. They ransacked the home and drove
off in the Maloney’s 2006 Nissan 350Z. Gutierrez and True were arrested
Dec 1 just hours after a neighbor noticed the Maloney’s garage door
open.
(SFC, 12/3/09, p.A1)
2009 Nov 28, Afghanistan announced
a pay rise of nearly 40 percent for police and military recruits, as
Western countries aim to increase the size and quality of Afghan
security forces so their own troops can go home. Police said a dozen
prisoners escaped jail through a tunnel they dug from their cell to the
outside in western Farah province. 26 militants were killed in a gun
battle with border security guards along the eastern Pakistan frontier.
(Reuters, 11/28/09)(AP, 11/29/09)
2009 Nov 28, In Canada locomotive
engineers of the country’s largest railroad walked off the job after
talks broke down. Canadian National Railway said it was using
management and non-union staff to provide "the best possible service
under the circumstances."
(Reuters, 11/28/09)
2009 Nov 28, In China Wu Xiaoqing
(57) hanged himself in his cell using the drawstring from his underwear
five months following his arrest for corruption. The ex-judge was
charged with taking bribes from gangsters.
(AP, 11/30/09)
2009 Nov 28, In China a
Zimbabwe-registered cargo plane crashed in flames during takeoff from
Shanghai's main airport, killing 3 American crew members and injuring 4
others on board.
(AP, 11/28/09)
2009 Nov 28, French Transport
Minister Dominique Bussereau said Russia has given the green light for
Air France's A380 superjumbo to overfly Siberia, opening the way for a
projected Paris-Tokyo service. The accord was approved by PM Vladimir
Putin at the end of a two-day visit to France which saw a number of
business deals concluded. Putin's trip also secured a deal for French
investment in a key pipeline project and the struggling Avtovaz car
maker, as well as a promise that France will consider selling Moscow a
huge amphibious assault ship.
(AFP, 11/28/09)
2009 Nov 28, Japan launched its
fifth spy satellite into orbit in a bid to boost its ability to
independently gather intelligence.
(AP, 11/28/09)
2009 Nov 28, Pakistan’s President
Asif Ali Zardari gave up control of the country's nuclear arsenal in a
bid to fend off mounting pressures threatening to weaken his rule
further and complicate the war on the Taliban. Zardari announced that
control of the National Command Authority, which analysts and lawyers
confirmed was responsible for nuclear weapons, had shifted to PM Yousuf
Raza Gilani.
(AFP, 11/28/09)
2009 Nov 28, The government of
Peru apologized to its Afro-Peruvian population for the first time for
centuries of abuse, exclusion and discrimination.
(AP, 11/28/09)
2009 Nov 28, A South Korean
fishing vessel burned and sank in the port of Uruguay's capital. Navy
officials said all 38 crew members are safe.
(AP, 11/28/09)
2009 Nov 29, San Francisco Mayor
Gavin Newsom led a 50-person Bay Area delegation to Bangalore, India,
on a 3-day trip to sign business deals as part of the San
Francisco-Bangalore Sister City Initiative.
(SSFC, 11/29/09, p.D1)
2009 Nov 29, Andrew Conley (17) of
Rising Sun, Indiana, strangled his 10-year-old brother as the two
wrestled. The teen told investigators he had had fantasies about
killing someone since he was in eighth grade, including cutting
somebody's throat, and felt "just like" the serial killer Dexter on the
Showtime television series of the same name.
(AP, 12/4/09)
2009 Nov 29, In Washington state
Maurice Clemmons (37) shot and killed four police officers from the
Tacoma suburb of Lakewood as they worked on their laptop computers in a
coffee house at the beginning of their shifts in Parkland. On Dec 1
Clemmons was shot and killed by a lone patrolman investigating a stolen
car. Four people were arrested for allegedly helping the suspect elude
authorities during a massive two-day manhunt. Clemmons had been paroled
in 2000 by Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee. 7 people were soon arrested for
helping Clemmons elude capture.
(AP, 11/30/09)(AP, 12/1/09)(SFC, 12/1/09,
p.A10)(SFC, 12/5/09, p.A6)
2009 Nov 29, In southwest
Afghanistan a rogue police officer opened fire at a checkpoint in
Nimroz province, killing six police officers and injuring two before
being killed. In northern Jowzjan province two gunmen on a motorbike
shot and killed the head of logistics for the provincial intelligence
service. In southern Helmand province, Afghan and international forces
killed two militants responsible for planting roadside bombs.
(AP, 11/30/09)
2009 Nov 29, An Algiers court
sentenced Ahmed Belbacha, an Algerian Guantanamo inmate who refuses to
be sent home, to 20 years in prison for belonging to an "overseas
terrorist group." Belbacha, who has been held at the US prison camp
since February 2002 following his arrest in Pakistan, has been deemed
by US authorities as no longer an "enemy combatant" and cleared for
release to Algeria. Belbacha said that he fears torture at home and
refuses to be repatriated. Instead, he has requested political asylum
in the United States.
(AFP, 11/29/09)
2009 Nov 29, In Argentina Solange
Magnano (38), a mother of twins who won the Miss Argentina crown in
1994, died of a pulmonary embolism after three days in critical
condition following a gluteoplasty in Buenos Aires.
(AP, 11/30/09)
2009 Nov 29, Equatorial Guinea
held elections. It was expected that results would extend the 30-year
rule of Teodoro Obiang Nguema (67), a man accused of draining his
nation's oil wealth to fabulously enrich family and cronies while his
people suffered in slums. Obiang gave only six weeks' notice for the
election and coverage in the state-controlled media was skewed. Nguema
won power for another term with 95.37% of votes cast. Opponents and
international human rights groups denounced the electoral process in
Africa's No. 3 oil producer as fraudulent.
(AP, 11/29/09)(AP, 11/30/09)(AP, 12/4/09)
2009 Nov 29, France and Rwanda
agreed to restore diplomatic ties three years after they were cut off
amid tensions over a French judicial investigation.
(AP, 11/29/09)
2009 Nov 29, Honduras held
elections. Porfirio Lobo and Elvin Santos, two prosperous businessmen
from the political old guard, were the front-runners. Conservative
rancher Porfirio Lobo conservative rancher gathered a strong lead and
his Santos conceded defeat.
(AP, 11/29/09)(AP, 11/30/09)
2009 Nov 29, In India senior
government officials said workers at the Kaiga nuclear power plant in
southern Karnataka state were treated for poisoning after drinking
water was deliberately spiked with radiation.
(AFP, 11/29/09)
2009 Nov 29, Iran's parliament
passed a law earmarking $20 million to support militant groups opposing
the West and to investigate alleged US and British plots against the
Islamic Republic. Iran’s Cabinet ordered an expansion of the country’s
nuclear program that included an additional 10 nuclear plants.
(AP, 11/29/09)(SFC, 11/30/09, p.A4)
2009 Nov 29, In Iraq an American
soldier died of injuries unrelated to combat.
(AP, 11/29/09)
2009 Nov 29, In Mauritania 3
Spanish volunteers were kidnapped by gunmen. Spain's interior minister
said the next day that he suspected al-Qaida-linked Islamists were
behind the attack. On Dec 2 a Mauritanian official said the 3 aid
workers were being taken by their captors to neighboring Mali. Aid
worker Alicia Gamez (35) was released on March 10, 2010. Businessmen
Roque Pascual and Albert Vilalta remained captive. Al-Qaida's offshoot
in North Africa said on March 12 that it had released Gamez because she
voluntarily converted to Islam. Pascual and Vilalta were released in
August 2010.
(AP, 11/30/09)(AP, 12/2/09)(AP, 3/10/10)(AP,
3/12/10)(Reuters, 8/23/10)
2009 Nov 29, In Mexico weekend
violence left 17 people dead. 7 women were murdered, including one (19)
who was beheaded in the southern beach resort of Cancun. 4 of the women
were killed in Ciudad Juarez, where two were shot to death, another
beaten with a baseball bat and a fourth, a school teacher, also was
beaten to death. 2 women were found shot to death in Mexicali. Jesus
Alfredo Portillo (27), a university student and rights activist, was
killed in Ciudad Juarez. Her mother-in-law and women's group founder
Marisela Ortiz had recently complained of death threats against her.
Elsewhere, 8 men were found murdered in northern Chihuahua state, 5 of
them in Ciudad Juarez.
(AP, 11/29/09)(AFP, 12/1/09)
2009 Nov 29, Rwanda was admitted
to the Commonwealth as its 54th member during a summit in Trinidad.
(http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8384930.stm)
2009 Nov 29, Saudi officials said
5 people died from swine flu during the hajj, a relatively small number
considering the event is the largest annual gathering in the world and
was seen as an ideal incubator for the virus.
(AP, 11/29/09)
2009 Nov 29, Somali pirates seized
the Greece-flagged Maran Centaurus, a tanker carrying more about $150
million of crude oil from Saudi Arabia to the US, in the waters off
East Africa. The tanker was released on Jan 18 following a $5.5 million
ransom. A shootout between rival Somali pirate gangs over their biggest
ransom ever threatened to turn the supertanker and the 28 hostages
aboard into a massive fireball until bandits begged the anti-piracy
force for help.
(AP, 11/30/09)(AP, 12/4/09)(AP, 1/18/10)
2009 Nov 29, Pirates attacked a
Spanish fishing vessel in the Indian Ocean, firing small arms and a
rocket-propelled grenade, but private security guards aboard the ship
shot back and repelled them.
(AP, 11/29/09)
2009 Nov 29, Switzerland held a
nationwide referendum on a proposal by the right-wing Swiss People’s
Party to ban Muslim minarets. Over 57% of Swiss voters approved the
ban. The four minarets already attached to mosques in the country are
not affected by the initiative.
(SFC, 11/28/09, p.A4)(AP, 11/29/09)
2009 Nov 29, The United Arab
Emirates' central bank said it would offer additional liquidity to
banks, signaling a push by the federal government to reassure investors
worried about the country's banking sector and its exposure to Dubai's
crushing debt.
(AP, 11/29/09)
2009 Nov 29, Uruguay held
elections. Jose Mujica (74), a plain-talking socialist, won the
presidential run-off keeping the center-left coalition in power for
another 5 years. He once led an armed revolutionary movement but now
rejected the ideologies of the 1970s. Mujica won 53% of the vote, to
43% for Luis A. Lacalle, with 97% of the vote counted.
(AP, 11/29/09)(AP, 11/30/09)
2009 Nov 30, The US Dept. of
Agriculture designated the Big Island of Hawaii a primary natural
disaster area because of losses farmers suffered from volcanic
emissions this year.
(SFC, 12/1/09, p.A10)
2009 Nov 30, The United States
recognized the results of a controversial election in Honduras but said
the vote was only a partial step toward restoring democracy after a
June coup that ousted the elected president.
(Reuters, 12/1/09)
2009 Nov 30, An Algerian health
organization (AnisS) warned that thousands of its people are
unknowingly infected with the AIDS virus and called for more testing
and prevention efforts.
(AFP, 12/1/09)
2009 Nov 30, An Argentine judge
issued an order blocking the continent's first gay marriage scheduled
for Dec 1. National Judge Marta Gomez Alsina ordered the wedding
blocked until the issue can be considered by the Supreme Court.
(AP, 12/1/09)
2009 Nov 30, Interpol and the
Kenya Wildlife Service said African authorities over the last 3 months
had raided shops, intercepted vehicles at checkpoints and used sniffer
dogs to detect and seize over 3,800 pounds (1,768kg) of illegal
elephant ivory in a six-nation operation. This involved the wildlife
authorities, police and customs departments of Burundi, Ethiopia,
Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda.
(AP, 11/30/09)
2009 Nov 30, Iran's nuclear chief
said UN criticism pushed his country to retaliate by announcing
ambitious plans for more uranium enrichment. With tensions rising over
deadlocked negotiations, France said diplomacy was not working and
sanctions against Iran were needed.
(AP, 11/30/09)
2009 Nov 30, Guantanamo detainees
Adel Ben Mabrouk (39) and Mohamed Ben Riadh Nasri (43) arrived in Italy
for trial on int’l. terrorism charges. The 2 Tunisian men were charged
for allegedly recruiting fighters for Afghanistan.
(SFC, 12/1/09, p.A2)
2009 Nov 30, North Korea began
exchanging old notes following a 100 to 1 revaluation of its currency.
Many shops were reported closed with citizens angry and panicked. The
redenomination of the won led to a collapse of the currency, a surge in
the price of rice and wiped out much traders’ working capital.
(SFC, 12/2/09, p.A6)(Econ, 2/13/10, p.43)
2009 Nov 30, Pakistani security
forces targeted militants fleeing a major army offensive close to the
Afghan border, killing 10 of them.
(AP, 11/30/09)
2009 Nov 30, In Switzerland the
world's largest atom smasher broke the world record for proton
acceleration Monday, firing particle beams with 20 percent more power
than the American lab that previously held the record.
(AP, 11/30/09)
2009 Nov 30, Tajikistan unveiled a
Chinese-built 500-kilowatt transmission line that will link the
northern and central parts of the country. This would add to the poor
nation's debt to China but reduce reliance on Uzbekistan, which planned
to withdraw on Dec 1 from the Soviet-era power grid that unites four
Central Asian countries. This prompted fears of electricity shortages
that could make for a winter of hardship in impoverished Tajikistan and
Kyrgyzstan. Tajikistan, said the move will cut it off from gas-rich
Turkmenistan.
(AP, 11/30/09)
2009 Nov 30, The United Nations
asked for $7.1 billion to pay for its humanitarian work around the
world next year, with Sudan and its troubled Darfur region most in need
and Afghanistan rising to second.
(AP, 11/30/09)
2009 Nov, In Russia police officer
Maj. Alexey Dymovsky posted three videos on YouTube in which he said he
was promised a promotion in return for jailing an innocent person. He
also accused his superiors of forcing officers to fake reports on
unsolved crimes. In December prosecutors in the southern Krasnodar
region filed fraud charges against Dymovsky, saying that Dymovsky had
embezzled about $800 while working as a narcotics investigator.
(AP, 12/28/09)
2009 Nov, In Tonga Supreme Court
judge Robert Shuster sentenced 2 boys, who had escaped from prison and
stolen food, to 13 years in prison and six lashes from a
"cat-o-nine-tails" whip at a hearing that only just come to light in
February 2010. The 2 teenagers appealed the court ruling ordering them
to be whipped, with supporters calling the punishment inhumane and a
form of torture.
(AP, 2/18/10)
Go to http://www.timelinesdb.com
Go to December 2009
End of file
2009 December
2009 Dec 1, President Barack Obama
shared his new US strategy for Afghanistan with President Hamid Karzai,
spending an hour discussing troops levels, security, political and
economic elements of his revised war plan. Obama planned to send 30,000
more troops to be deployed over the next six months, escalating the
8-year-old war. In his prime-time speech to the nation, Obama laid out
a rough timeframe, for when the main US military mission will end.
Obama proposed an 18-month timeline for starting to bring troops home.
(AP, 12/1/09)(Reuters, 12/2/09)
2009 Dec 1, California Governor
Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver inducted the latest nominees to the
California Hall of Fame. They included: Carol Burnett, Andy Grove,
Hiram Johnson, Rafer Johnson, Henry J. Kaiser, Joan Kroc, George Lucas,
John Madden, Harvey Milk, Fritz Scholder, Danielle Steel, Joe Weider
and General Chuck Yeager.
(SFC, 12/2/09, p.C6)
2009 Dec 1, In Miami, Florida,
lawyer Scott Rothstein was arrested on federal racketeering and fraud
charges alleging he operated a $1 billion scheme involving phony legal
settlements. On Jan 27, 2010 Rothstein (47) pleaded guilty to federal
charges that he ran a $1.2 billion Ponzi scheme.
(SFC, 12/2/09, p.A9)(SFC, 1/28/10, p.A6)
2009 Dec 1, Voters in Atlanta,
Georgia, selected former state Sen. Kasim Reed as mayor by a margin of
715 votes over City Councilwoman Mary Norwood. With 84,383 votes cast,
the margin was less than 1% and a recount was expected. A Dec 9 recount
confirmed Reed as the winner by a margin of 714 votes.
(SSFC, 12/6/09, p.A14)(SFC, 12/10/09, p.A13)
2009 Dec 1, A Baltimore jury
convicted Mayor Sheila Dixon of one count of embezzlement for stealing
gift cards meant for poor residents. She was acquitted of other charges.
(SFC, 12/2/09, p.A12)
2009 Dec 1, In NYC John “Junior”
Gotti was freed on $2 million bond after a jury failed to reach a
verdict over racketeering charges. This was the 4th hung jury for Gotti
in 5 years.
(SFC, 12/2/09, p.A9)
2009 Dec 1, In Vienna Japanese
diplomat Yukiya Amano took the helm of the UN atomic watchdog (IAEA),
pledging a steady hand to steer the agency through the storm
surrounding Iran's nuclear drive. Mohamed ElBaradei (67), the outgoing
Egyptian chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), handed
over his leadership to Yukiya Amano.
(AP, 11/30/09)(AFP, 12/1/09)
2009 Dec 1, Ephraim Nkezabera
(57), a former Rwandan bank director, was sentenced to 30 years in
prison by a Belgian court which found him guilty of war crimes
including murder, attempted murder and rape during the 1994 genocide.
Nkezabera was not present in court and did not attend the trial, which
started just over three weeks ago, because of ill health. He was
arrested in June 2004 by the Belgian authorities while visiting a
family member in Belgium.
(Reuters, 12/1/09)
2009 Dec 1, China’s quarantine
bureau said it has lifted bans on imports of pork products from the
United States, Canada and Mexico, but analysts said the move would not
likely lead to a surge of new imports.
(Reuters, 12/1/09)
2009 Dec 1, The new EU Treaty of
Lisbon went into effect. It provided the EU with modern institutions
and optimized working methods to tackle both efficiently and
effectively today's challenges in today's world.
(AP,
1/1/10)(http://europa.eu/lisbon_treaty/index_en.htm)
2009 Dec 1, In Hong Kong a rare,
5-carat pink diamond was auctioned off for a record $10.8 million in
Hong Kong.
(AP, 12/1/09)
2009 Dec 1, In India newspaper
executives and editors gathered from around the world heard calls to
seek more payment for their content on the Internet as they decried
their industry's sharply falling advertising revenues.
(AP, 12/1/09)
2009 Dec 1, Indonesia banned the
film “Balibo,” an Australian-made film on the alleged murder of six
Australian-based journalists by Indonesian troops during the 1975
invasion of East Timor.
(AFP, 12/2/09)
2009 Dec 1, Israel sternly warned
the EU against recognizing east Jerusalem as the Palestinian capital,
saying such a move would damage Europe's credibility as a Mideast
mediator. Sweden, the current EU president, was floating an initiative
to recognize east Jerusalem as the Palestinian capital.
(AP, 12/1/09)
2009 Dec 1, Italian officials said
police have broken up a major mafia clan, issuing 83 arrest warrants
and seizing businesses, land, race horses and a London-based online
betting company. Local politicians and businessmen in the southern city
of Bari were among those implicated as part of a 3-year operation,
called "Domino," for collaborating with the Parisi clan.
(AP, 12/1/09)
2009 Dec 1, In Kazakhstan
astronauts from Canada and Belgium and a Russian cosmonaut landed
safely, wrapping up a six-month stint on the International Space
Station.
(AP, 12/1/09)
2009 Dec 1, Kosovo told the UN's
highest court that its independence is irreversible and warned that any
attempt to cancel it could set off a renewed conflict.
(AP, 12/1/09)
2009 Dec 1, Libya sentenced two
Swiss businessmen to 16 months in prison and a fine, in a row stemming
from the arrest in Geneva last year of Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi's
son.
(AP, 12/2/09)
2009 Dec 1, In Mexico City gunmen
burst in to a Starbucks coffee shop and killed a former policeman who
was a protected witness in a drug corruption case, the second death of
a high-profile witness in Mexico in less than two weeks. Edgar Bayardo
was gunned down in the upper middle-class Del Valle neighborhood, and a
man with him was severely wounded.
(AP, 12/1/09)
2009 Dec 1, In Pakistan a suicide
bomber killed Shamsher Ali Khan, a provincial lawmaker, as he received
guests at his home in the northwest Swat valley. The army said 10
suspected militants were arrested in two search operations in the
region in the past 24 hours.
(AFP, 12/1/09)
2009 Dec 1, Peru's police chief
dismissed the head of his criminal investigations unit amid suggestions
that officers may have invented a story about a murderous gang of human
fat thieves, perhaps to distract from allegations of police killings.
(AP, 12/1/09)
2009 Dec 1, In the Philippines
Andal Ampatuan Jr., the heir of a powerful clan, was charged in
connection with the Nov 23 ambush in which 57 people, more than half
journalists, were slaughtered. Three witnesses, who escaped, reported
seeing him and some 100 gunmen stopping cars at the scene of the
massacre.
(AP, 12/1/09)
2009 Dec 1, Pirates off Oman
attacked the oil tanker, Sikinos. Using flares and hoses, the crew of
the Greek oil tanker fought off the pirate attack in the Arabian Sea.
(AP, 12/1/09)
2009 Dec 1, In South Africa Pres.
Zuma said on World AIDS Day that all HIV-positive babies will be
treated and testing expanded, a dramatic and eagerly awaited shift in a
country that has more people living with HIV than any other.
(AP, 12/1/09)
2009 Dec 1, Sri Lanka gave
permission to nearly 127,000 Tamil refugees to leave squalid and
overrun government camps where they have been detained since the
country's civil war ended six months ago.
(AP, 12/1/09)
2009 Dec 1, Turkey's government
approved a plan to open the country's first Kurdish-language department
at a university as part of its efforts to reconcile with the Kurdish
minority. Small scale violence continued for the third day in a row as
stone-throwing Kurdish militants clashed with police across the nation
in the wake of last week's anniversary of the 1978 founding of the PKK
rebel group.
(AP, 12/1/09)
2009 Dec 1, UAR stock markets
plunged for a second day after the Dubai government said it is not
guaranteeing debt-ridden Dubai World, which unveiled a major
restructuring plan.
(AP, 12/1/09)
2009 Dec 2, Court documents filed
in Boston said Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has agreed to pay $40 million to
87,500 Massachusetts employees who claimed the retailer denied them
rest and meals breaks, manipulated time cards and refused to pay
overtime.
(AP, 12/2/09)
2009 Dec 2, Albania’s PM Sali
Berisha announced an agreement to accept former Guantanamo detainees
following talks with special envoy Daniel Fried.
(SFC, 12/3/09, p.A2)
2009 Dec 2, Australia's plans for
an emissions trading system to combat global warming were scuttled in
Parliament, handing a defeat to a government that had hoped to set an
example at international climate change talks next week.
(AP, 12/2/09)
2009 Dec 2, Cambodian police
confiscated two tons of live snakes and tortoises and arrested two men
trying to smuggle the slithering cargo up a river from Cambodia to
Vietnam. Police arrested two Cambodians, aged 17 and 20, who said they
were hired to transport the cargo but did not know the identities of
their employers.
(AP, 12/3/09)
2009 Dec 2, Canadian PM Stephen
Harper arrived in Beijing for what Chinese experts are touting as a
fence-mending trip to repair ties damaged by Ottawa.
(AP, 12/2/09)
2009 Dec 2, Canadian National
Railway said it had reached an agreement with striking locomotive
engineers to end their walkout, as the government prepared to step in
with back-to-work legislation.
(AP, 12/3/09)
2009 Dec 2, An Italian-led team of
scientists said a robotic hand has been successfully connected to an
amputee, allowing him to feel sensations in the artificial limb and
control it with his thoughts. A video was shown of Pierpaolo
Petruzziello (26) as he concentrated to give orders to the hand placed
next to him.
(AP, 12/2/09)
2009 Dec 2, In France the Pompidou
Center modern art museum and the Musee d'Orsay, with its famed
paintings by the Impressionists, closed after workers angry about a
government cost-cutting measure voted to strike. Workers at the Louvre
also voted to strike, but by mid-morning parts of the sprawling complex
had been opened to visitors. The Rodin Museum, the Arc de Triomphe and
the Palais de Versailles were also affected.
(AP, 12/2/09)
2009 Dec 2, Honduras' Congress
ended hopes of reversing a coup that has isolated one of the poorest
countries in the Americas, voting 111-14 against reinstating ousted
President Manuel Zelaya despite intense international pressure to do so.
(AP, 12/3/09)
2009 Dec 2, The World Bank said it
will give India at least one billion dollars to help clean up the
heavily polluted holy river Ganges as part of moves to sharply hike
lending to the country.
(AFP, 12/2/09)
2009 Dec 2, President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad said Iran would enrich uranium to a higher level itself,
apparently ruling out a UN-brokered deal meant to dispel fears Tehran
is pursuing nuclear weapons capability.
(Reuters, 12/2/09)
2009 Dec 2, Iran freed five
British sailors detained last week when their racing yacht drifted
accidentally into Iranian waters in the Persian Gulf. Britain said it
was delighted with the release and praised Tehran's handling of the
incident. The Fars agency reported that analyst Saeed Leilaz, known for
his criticism of the government, was sentenced to nine years in prison
for possession of classified documents. The Revolutionary Court also
slapped the brother-in-law of opposition leader Mir Houssein Mousavi
with a one-year sentence.
(AP, 12/2/09)
2009 Dec 2, In northeast Iraq an
American airstrike killed one gunman after a joint US-Iraqi foot patrol
was attacked in what a police official described as a case of mistaken
identity. A police official said the gunmen opened fire on the soldiers
in Sadiyah, believing they were insurgents.
(AP, 12/2/09)
2009 Dec 2, Israeli police
arrested the mayor of a West Bank Jewish settlement after protesters
blocked security forces from entering the community to enforce a
construction freeze. The Haaretz daily reported that Israel's Interior
Ministry revoked the residency of 4,577 east Jerusalemites in 2008,
more than 20 times the annual average of the previous 40 years.
(AP, 12/2/09)
2009 Dec 2, Researchers from the
International People's Tribunal on Human Rights and Justice, an Indian
Kashmir-based rights group, issue a report titled “buried Evidence.” It
said nearly 2,600 bodies have been discovered in single unmarked and
mass graves throughout mountainous Indian Kashmir. They found the
graves in 55 villages during a three-year survey that concluded last
month.
(AP, 12/2/09)
2009 Dec 2, Lebanon's new
government endorsed Hezbollah's right to keep its weapons.
(AP, 12/2/09)
2009 Dec 2, Mexican President
Felipe Calderon said that cartels are seeking to control territory by
sinking drug money into political campaigns and buying off officials
before they are even elected. Gunmen shot and killed Lawyer Eleuterio
Cachu Ortiz, a former police commander and opposition politician, in
his office in the Mexican border town of Tijuana.
(AP, 12/2/09)(AFP, 12/3/09)
2009 Dec 2, NATO's chief Fogh
Rasmussen said European and other US allies will contribute more than
5,000 more troops to the international force in Afghanistan, declaring
that "this is not just America's war."
(AP, 12/2/09)
2009 Dec 2, In Pakistan a suicide
bomber attacked the navy headquarters in Islamabad, killing a naval
policeman and injuring 11 others, one of whom died the next day.
(AFP, 12/2/09)(AP, 12/3/09)
2009 Dec 2, Poland said it plans
to send 600 more troops to Afghanistan next year.
(AP, 12/2/09)
2009 Dec 2, Somali pirates on
speedboats tried to board the Antigua and Barbuda-flagged BBC Togo, but
were repelled after firing on the vessel. 13 pirates then fled to a
larger fishing boat 150 nautical miles (280km) south of Salalah where a
Dutch frigate captured them.
(AP, 12/3/09)
2009 Dec 2, Turkish diplomat Ahmet
Uzumcu was elected to be director of the 188-nation Organization for
the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, based in The Hague. He takes over
next July. He said that he will pursue the last seven holdouts (Angola,
Egypt, Israel, North Korean, Myanmar, Somalia and Syria) to get them to
sign a disarmament treaty and submit weapons stockpiles for inspection.
(AP, 12/3/09)
2009 Dec 3, The IRS auctioned
7,100 acres of Crow creek Sioux tribal land near Pierre, South Dakota
to help pay off over $3 million in back taxes. The land sold for $2.6
million.
(SFC, 12/4/09, p.A15)
2009 Dec 3, Comcast Corp.
announced it plans to buy a majority stake in NBC Universal for $13.75
billion, giving the nation's largest cable TV operator control of the
Peacock network, an array of cable channels and a major movie studio.
(AP, 12/3/09)
2009 Dec 3, Wisconsin police found
the bodies of 2 women and their 2 young daughters shot to death in
Madison. Police searched for Tyrone Adair (38), the father linked to
the deaths of his two young daughters and their mothers. Adair was
found dead of suspected suicide in his SUV on Dec 7.
(AP, 12/5/09)(SFC, 12/8/09, p.A12)
2009 Dec 3, A Chinese court handed
down a further five death sentences to people convicted of murder and
other crimes during ethnic rioting in the far western Xinjiang region
in July in which almost 200 people died.
(Reuters, 12/3/09)
2009 Dec 3, A Congolese court
upheld death sentences for two Norwegians convicted of espionage and
murder, prompting condemnation from Norwegian officials. They had been
convicted in Sep of murdering their driver and attempting to murder a
witness in May 2009.
(AP, 12/3/09)
2009 Dec 3, In Cuba activists from
32 little-known organizations opposed to the communist government
issued a call for an end to social repression on the island at a
gathering in the home of a prominent human rights activist.
(AP, 12/3/09)
2009 Dec 3, Guinea’s President
Moussa "Dadis" Camara (45) was shot by Abubakar "Toumba" Diakite, who
commands the presidential guard. He was flown to Morocco for medical
treatment following the assassination attempt nearly a year after he
seized power in a coup. Toumba is accused of having led the
presidential guard that opened fire Sep 28 on the peaceful
demonstrators, who had gathered inside the capital's national stadium.
(AP, 12/4/09)
2009 Dec 3, In Iraq Ahmed Subhi
al-Fahal, a top counterterrorism officer, was killed in a suicide
bombing in Tikrit. The bombing also killed two of his bodyguards and
two bystanders. Within hours dozens of Web sites affiliated with
al-Qaida in Iraq celebrated the death of their longtime nemesis.
(AP, 12/4/09)
2009 Dec 3, Mexico City police
freed 107 people who were forced to work under slave-like conditions in
a clandestine factory making shopping bags and clothing clasps.
(AP, 12/4/09)
2009 Dec 3, Nigerian AIDS and
malaria activists said at least 144 women die each day in Nigeria
during pregnancy or childbirth, according to the UN and World Bank
statistics. Activists premiered three short but hard-hitting Nollywood
films to push for an urgent change in attitude and provision of
adequate healthcare services to avoid pregnancy-related problems.
(AFP, 12/4/09)
2009 Dec 3, In Pakistan 10
suspects were killed in overnight fighting following a raid on a
militant hide-out near the Swat Valley area of Kabal. Abu Faraj, a
militant leader who was captured in September and accused of plotting
suicide bombings in the area, led troops to a militant hide-out and was
killed in the fighting. Five other militants were killed when security
forces repelled attacks on three checkpoints in the Bajur area.
(AP, 12/3/09)
2009 Dec 3, Rusal, the world’s
largest aluminium company, said it had reached a deal to restructure
debts of $17 billion, including $7 billion held by foreigners, clearing
the way for an IPO. Russia’s state-owned Vnesheconobank (VEB) had
recently agreed to extend a $4.5 billion loan to Rusal, lead by Oleg
Deripaska, one of the country’s richest tycoons.
(Econ, 12/5/09, p.73)
2009 Dec 3, In Somalia a male
suicide bomber dressed as a woman attacked a university graduation
ceremony in a small part of Mogadishu still under government control,
killing 24 people, including 3 Cabinet ministers, 3 journalists and a
number of graduating doctors. The president of Benadir University said
43 students were taking part in the graduation ceremony at the Shamo
Hotel. The bomber was later reported to be a Danish citizen of Somali
descent.
(AP, 12/3/09)(AP, 12/4/09)(AP, 12/10/09)(Econ,
12/12/09, p.54)
2009 Dec 3, Pope Benedict XVI and
visiting Russian Pres. Dmitry Medvedev agreed to upgrade
Vatican-Kremlin relations to full diplomatic ties.
(SFC, 12/4/09, p.A2)
2009 Dec 4, The New York Times
reported that the White House has authorized the CIA to expand the use
of unmanned aerial drones in Pakistan to track down and strike
suspected Taliban and Al-Qaeda members.
(AFP, 12/4/09)
2009 Dec 4, GM and its Chinese
partner SAIC announced a joint venture to produce small cars in India.
(Econ, 12/12/09, p.72)
2009 Dec 4, Afghan troops and US
Marines launched the first offensive since President Barack Obama
announced an American troop surge, striking against Taliban
communications and supply lines in Helmand province. About 1,000
Marines as well as Afghan troops were taking part in the operation,
known as "Cobra's Anger."
(AP, 12/4/09)
2009 Dec 4, NATO said 25 countries
had pledged a total of around 7,000 more troops to support the US-led
war in Afghanistan, following President Barack Obama's commitment of
30,000 extra US troops.
(Reuters, 12/4/09)
2009 Dec 4, In northern Bangladesh
an overcrowded passenger boat capsized after being hit by a small
ferry, leaving at least 46 people dead. 18 Bangladesh fishermen were
assaulted in the Bay of Bengal off the southern coast of Bangladesh
after pirates attacked by a band of 25-30 pirates. The survivors said
the pirates severely beat them and slashed some of the fishermen with
knives before throwing them all overboard. 16 fishermen remained
missing.
(AP, 12/4/09)(AP, 12/8/09)
2009 Dec 4, In southern Brazil at
least 20 people were reported dead in mudslides triggered by heavy
rains as rivers rose to rooftops and thousands were left homeless.
(AP, 12/4/09)
2009 Dec 4, China sentenced three
more people to death for murder and other crimes committed in riots in
the western region of Xinjiang in July.
(AP, 12/4/09)
2009 Dec 4, In China the
file-sharing site BTCHINA, a major source of overseas movies,
television shows and games in the country, was closed. Another site,
VeryCD.com, was down on Dec 9 and a report in the Southern Metropolis
Daily said other file sharing sites would be closed in the coming days.
The closures were said to be a fight against copyright infringement,
but could be seen as another measure aimed at controlling what content
the country's Web users can find online.
(AP, 12/9/09)
2009 Dec 4, A leading Ethiopian
newspaper said it had closed down as a result of months of government
"persecution and harassment" against its staff. The weekly Addis Neger
newspaper, often critical of government policies, published its last
edition on Dec 5 before some of its staff fled the country for fear of
arrest.
(AFP, 12/5/09)
2009 Dec 4, Major European public
financial institutions launched a pan-European equity fund to boost key
EU policies in areas such as climate change, energy security and
transport networks.
(AP, 12/4/09)
2009 Dec 4, In Guatemala retired
Col. Marco Antonio Sanchez was convicted and sentenced to 53 years in
prison in the forced disappearance of civilians during Guatemala's
civil war. The convictions for the 1981 abductions at the village of El
Jute were the first ever under charges of failing to respect the rights
of civilians.
(AP, 12/5/09)
2009 Dec 4, Indian officials said
Arabinda Rajkhowa, the commander of a powerful rebel movement in the
remote northeast, was arrested along with a top deputy. Security
officials said the chairman of the United Liberation Front of Asom, or
ULFA, was actually arrested days earlier in Bangladesh, where he had
long been thought to be hiding.
(AP, 12/4/09)(Econ, 12/12/09, p.47)
2009 Dec 4, A jailed Mafia hitman
linked Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi to the Cosa Nostra, telling a court
that a godfather convicted for a 1993 bombing campaign had boasted of
his links to the media mogul.
(Reuters, 12/4/09)
2009 Dec 4, In Italy Amanda Knox
of Seattle, Wa., was convicted of murdering Meredith Kercher (21), her
British roommate on Nov 1, 2007. The conviction was announced at around
midnight after 13 hours of deliberations. Knox was sentenced to 26
years in prison. The court also convicted Knox's co-defendant and
former boyfriend, Italian Raffaele Sollecito, and gave him a 25-year
jail term for the murder. Rudy Hermann Guede, an Ivory Coast citizen,
had already been convicted in the murder and sentenced to 30 years in
prison.
(AP, 12/5/09)
2009 Dec 4, Fazal Haque Qureshi
(64), an Indian Kashmiri separatist leader who supports talks with New
Delhi over the restive region's future, was critically wounded by
unknown attackers.
(AFP, 12/5/09)
2009 Dec 4, Kenyan health
officials said a cholera epidemic was sweeping across the country with
4,700 cases reported in the past month along with 119 deaths.
(SFC, 12/5/09, p.A2)
2009 Dec 4, In northern Mexico a
pair of shootouts between troops and gunmen killed 13 people in a
suburb of Monterrey, including a bystander and a drug trafficker linked
to the killing of a retired army officer. Almanza Morales, killed in
the attack, was accused of working for the Zetas, drug traffickers who
also serve as enforcers for the Mexican Gulf cartel, and of killing
army Brig. Gen. Juan Arturo Esparza and his four bodyguards in a
November attack.
(AP, 12/5/09)
2009 Dec 4, Nepal's top
politicians strapped on oxygen tanks and held a Cabinet meeting amid
Mount Everest's frigid, thin air to highlight the danger global warming
poses to glaciers. Landless laborers in the far west, backed by
Maoists, claimed tracts of government owned forest for themselves.
National security forces opened fire and burned squatter’s huts. 3
people died in the clashes.
(AP, 12/4/09)(AP, 12/5/09)(Econ, 12/12/09, p.46)
2009 Dec 4, Amsterdam City
councilwoman Marijke Vos planted a sapling, in the Amsterdamse Bos
park. It was derived from a 150-year-old chestnut tree that once
cheered Anne Frank as her family hid from the Nazis. 149 Others will be
planted around the world.
(AP, 12/4/09)
2009 Dec 4, North Korea made an
unlikely foray into designer denim as the "Noko Jeans" label was
launched in Sweden. The brand is Swedish but the black jeans are
manufactured in North Korea, an experiment its creators described as a
way to open doors to the reclusive communist country. The next day
Stockholm’s PUB department store removed the new line of designer jeans
from its shelves, saying it wants to avoid courting controversy through
ties with the isolated communist nation. Noko Jeans founders said they
will continue to sell the jeans on their Web site and that retailer
Aplace will continue to sell them on their Web site.
(AP, 12/4/09)(AP, 12/5/09)
2009 Dec 4, In Pakistan militants
stormed a mosque in Rawalpindi near Pakistan's army headquarters,
killing at least 37 people, including 6 army officers and 3 soldiers.
They attacked during prayers spraying gunfire and throwing grenades
before blowing themselves up.
(AP, 12/4/09)(SFC, 12/5/09, p.A2)
2009 Dec 4, Philippine security
forces raided four compounds belonging to a powerful clan suspected in
the massacre of 57 people in the Philippines' worst political violence.
Soldiers using metal detectors, sniffer dogs and an excavator dug up
more than a dozen crates of bullets in the mansion of a local mayor
linked to last week's massacre.
(AP, 12/4/09)(Reuters, 12/4/09)
2009 Dec 4, In Sudan gunmen killed
three Rwandan soldiers in an ambush in the northern town of Saraf Umra
in the western Darfur region.
(AP, 12/5/09)
2009 Dec 4, In Switzerland Roman
Polanski took refuge at his snowbound chalet after being granted bail
under house arrest, while he fights extradition to the US on a child
sex case.
(AP, 12/4/09)
2009 Dec 5, The Defense Advance
Research projects Agency (DARPA) conducted an experiment challenging
teams around the country to locate the submit the correct geographic
coordinates of 10 weather balloons in return for a $40,000 cash prize.
Over 4,000 teams participated and the winning answer came after 8 hours
and 56 minutes. Social networking sites played a major role in the game
theory simulation. Riley Crane, a post doc research fellow at MIT’s
media lab, led the winning team using an elaborate information
gathering pyramid.
(SFC, 12/7/09, p.A9)
2009 Dec 5, It was reported that
US federal regulators have approved the use of the name Calistoga as an
appellation for vintners in Calistoga, Ca. James Barrett, proprietor of
the Chateau Montelena winery, had begun petitioning the Treasury Dept.
for the name in 2003.
(SFC, 12/5/09, p.D1)
2009 Dec 5, In Ohio a barn fire
killed two workers and 43 horses at a harness racing track in Lebanon.
(AP, 12/7/09)
2009 Dec 5, Afghan officials said
US Marines and Afghan troops have killed at least seven Taliban
fighters in Operation Cobra’s Anger in Helmand province. In eastern
Afghanistan a US service member was killed by a planted bomb.
(AP, 12/5/09)(AP, 12/6/09)
2009 Dec 5, Australia welcomed a
90 billion dollar (82 billion US) deal to supply liquefied natural gas
(LNG) to a Japanese power company in what is believed to be the
country's biggest export sales contract.
(AFP, 12/6/09)
2009 Dec 5, Austrian artist Alfred
Hrdlicka (81) died. His controversial works in metal, paint and pencil
alienated as much as attracted the public.
(AP, 12/5/09)
2009 Dec 5, In Equatorial Guinea
Gen. Sekouba Konate, the No. 2 of the military junta, returned to the
country overnight, helping fill a dangerous power vacuum after the
president was shot by his top aide and evacuated for emergency
treatment.
(AP, 12/5/09)
2009 Dec 5, In Haiti Francesco
Fantoli (54), an Italian journalist, was mortally wounded by gunmen who
may have tried to rob him outside a bank in Port-au-Prince. He recently
founded a soccer school in the southern city of Jacmel, where he often
lived.
(AP, 12/6/09)
2009 Dec 5, In Indonesia an
ecumenical group launched more than 10,000 twinkling paper lanterns
into the night sky above Carnaval Beach in Jakarta, setting a world
record. Freedom Faithnet Global said it organized the lantern release
as a symbol of hope and prayer as part of annual celebrations. This
year's celebrations have an environmental focus.
(AP, 12/7/09)
2009 Dec 5, In Italy thousands of
people gathered in Rome for “No Berlusconi Day,” a gathering born on
the Internet to protest against Premier Silvio Berlusconi.
(Econ, 12/5/09, p.61)(http://tinyurl.com/yhy5mnt)
2009 Dec 5, Italian police found
convicted Mafioso Gianni Nicchi (28), alleged to be Cosa Nostra's No. 2
leader, hiding in an apartment in Palermo. Nicchi, a fugitive since
2006, was convicted last year of extortion and sentenced to 18 years in
prison. Authorities in Milan arrested Gaetano Fidanzati (74) as he
strolled down a street. Fidanzati is a reputed longtime Cosa Nostra
boss of a Palermo crime clan and has been a fugitive for two years.
(AP, 12/5/09)
2009 Dec 5, Italian tax police
said that they had seized works by Van Gogh, Picasso, Cezanne and other
giants of art in a crackdown on assets hidden by Calisto Tanzi, the
disgraced founder of the collapsed dairy company Parmalat.
(AP, 12/5/09)
2009 Dec 5, Morocco expelled five
foreign Christian missionaries for holding "undeclared meetings" in the
mainly Muslim north African kingdom. Two of the foreigners came from
South Africa, two from Switzerland and one from Guatemala. They were
part of a group that also included 12 Moroccans, who were freed the
same day.
(AFP, 12/8/09)
2009 Dec 5, In western Nepal
hundreds of protesters torched vehicles and vandalized shops after
three people died in clashes between police and illegal forest settlers.
(AP, 12/5/09)
2009 Dec 5, Philippine Pres.
Gloria Macapagal Arroyo placed Maguindanao province under martial law.
Government troops were reported to have taken Andal Ampatuan Sr., the
former provincial governor, into custody for his clan’s role in the Nov
23 massacre that left 57 dead.
(SFC, 12/5/09, p.A2)
2009 Dec 5, In Russia a blaze
sparked by onstage fireworks tore through the Lame Horse nightclub
ceiling covered in decorative twigs and plastic sheeting, killing at
least 136 people and critically injuring about 90 in the industrial
city of Perm in the Ural Mountains. It was the country’s deadliest fire
since the fall of the Soviet Union. By late December the death toll
reached 152 with 74 people still hospitalized.
(AP, 12/5/09)(AP, 12/10/09)(AP, 12/25/09)
2009 Dec 5, In Sudan's Darfur
region 2 Rwandan peacekeepers were shot dead and one wounded, in the
second deadly attack on their contingent in 24 hours. The next day a
former Darfur rebel group captured 3 gunmen who allegedly killed the 5
Rwandan peacekeepers.
(Reuters, 12/5/09)(AFP, 12/8/09)
2009 Dec 5, Taiwan's ruling party
lost ground in closely watched local elections described by analysts as
a test of China-friendly President Ma Ying-jeou's performance during 19
months in office.
(AFP, 12/5/09)
2009 Dec 6, The Kennedy Center
Honors, the top US arts awards, were presented by Pres. Obama to rock
star Bruce Springsteen (60), actor Robert De Niro (66), comedian Mel
Brooks (83), jazz composer and pianist Dave Brubeck (89) and opera
singer Grace Bumbry (72).
(SFC, 12/7/09, p.A11)
2009 Dec 6, The play “Race,” by
David Mamet, opened on Broadway.
(Econ, 12/12/09, p.95)
2009 Dec 6, In Pennsylvania
parolee Ronald Robinson (32) fatally shot a man in Penn Hills over a
$500 drug debt and then shot and killed police officer Michael Crawshaw
(32).
(SFC, 12/8/09, p.A12)
2009 Dec 6, In eastern Afghanistan
a NATO airstrike killed six militants who were planting bombs along a
road in Laghman province. A group of militants attacked a police convoy
on a main road. Mullah Amiruddin, a key Taliban leader in northern
Faryab province's Ghormach district. 4 police officers were killed in
the gunbattle.
(AP, 12/6/09)(AP, 12/7/09)
2009 Dec 6, In southwestern
Bangladesh two passenger buses collided head-on, leaving 21 people dead
and 50 injured.
(AP, 12/6/09)
2009 Dec 6, In Belarus men
appearing to be law enforcement officers abducted four opposition
activists in an attempt to scare them away from political activity in
the repressive former Soviet republic. The activists were held for
several hours in an imitation execution, before being released in the
woods dozens of miles (km) from the capital, Minsk.
(AP, 12/9/09)
2009 Dec 6, Bolivia held
elections. President Evo Morales, a coca-grower at odds with Washington
but hugely popular at home for empowering the long-suppressed
indigenous majority, easily won re-election.
(AP, 12/6/09)(AP, 12/7/09)
2009 Dec 6, Brazilian thieves
tunneled their way to a money transport firm in Sao Paulo and made off
with nearly $6 million. A day later 6 men were arrested for the robbery.
(AP, 12/7/09)(AP, 12/8/09)
2009 Dec 6, In Greece masked
youths hurled firebombs and jagged chunks of marble at police as
violence erupted during a march in Athens to mark the first anniversary
of the police shooting of a teenager whose death sparked massive riots.
(AP, 12/6/09)
2009 Dec 6, In Guatemala a mob in
Panahachel beat a suspected criminal to death and threatened to burn
three women who were with the victim. It was Guatemala's fifth
vigilante killing in three days.
(AP, 12/6/09)
2009 Dec 6, Iranian authorities
slowed Internet connections to a crawl or choked them off completely
before expected student protests on Dec 7, to deny the opposition a
vital means of communication. Authorities also ordered journalists
working for foreign media organizations not to leave their offices to
cover the demonstrations.
(AP, 12/6/09)
2009 Dec 6, In Iraq gunmen killed
four policemen at a checkpoint west of Baghdad in an early morning
attack.
(AP, 12/6/09)
2009 Dec 6, Israeli settlers
blocked roads, scuffled with police and pelted officers with eggs, in
the most aggressive display of resistance yet to the government's ban
on new housing construction in West Bank settlements.
(AP, 12/6/09)
2009 Dec 6, In Mexico thousands of
people dressed in white demanded soldiers leave Ciudad Juarez, the
country's most violent city, accusing troops of provoking a surge in
drug-war killings and running protection rackets.
(Reuters, 12/6/09)
2009 Dec 6, In Nepal Maoists
imposed a strict nationwide strike in protest of the killing of 3
landless laborers on Dec 4.
(Econ, 12/12/09, p.46)
2009 Dec 6, Pakistani police
commandos acting on a tip killed one militant and arrested five others
in a raid against a bombing cell accused in recent attacks around the
northwest city of Peshawar. A roadside bomb killed two elders in the
Bajur tribal region and left two other tribesmen wounded. Pakistani
security forces killed 13 suspected militants, including a prominent
commander identified as Gul Maula, in gunbattles in two other parts of
the northwest over the weekend.
(AP, 12/6/09)
2009 Dec 6, The Palestinian
Authority signed an agreement with the World Bank and other donors for
$64 million to help it prepare for statehood.
(AP, 12/6/09)
2009 Dec 6, Philippine troops
arrested 62 people and discovered another major weapons cache after
martial law was imposed in southern Maguindanao province following the
country's worst political massacre on Nov 23. About 20-30 armed
followers of the Ampatuan clan, the main suspect in massacre, opened
fire on police commandos while they were patrolling Datu Unsay
township, near the site of the massacre. Government negotiators were
trying to convince the gunmen to surrender to avoid bloodshed that
could harm civilians.
(AP, 12/6/09)(AP, 12/7/09)
2009 Dec 6, Romanians voted in a
presidential run-off hoping to put an end to a political standoff
holding up crucial international aid to the recession-wracked EU
member. Center-right President Traian Basescu, a former sea captain
promising tough state reforms, faced Social-Democrat Mircea Geoana, an
ex-diplomat who has pledged to maintain jobs and "reunite Romania"
after years of political squabbling. Basescu won with 50.33% of the
vote. Supporters of Geoana charged that the election was marred by
fraud. The final result was determined by Romanians abroad who favored
Basescu by 78%.
(AFP, 12/6/09)(SFC, 12/8/09, p.A4)(Econ, 12/12/09,
p.60)
2009 Dec 7, Pres. Obama met with
Turkey’s PM Recep Erdogan, who stressed the role of diplomacy in
persuading Iran to give up its nuclear ambitions. Erdogan made clear
his unwillingness to back new coercion and said he was willing to
mediate negotiations.
(SFC, 12/8/09, p.A9)
2009 Dec 7, In New York a federal
jury convicted Joseph Bruno, a former NY state Senate leader, on 2
counts of corruption.
(AP, 12/8/09)
2009 Dec 7, Scientists at Stanford
University in California reported that they have successfully turned
paper coated with ink made of silver and carbon nanomaterials into a
"paper battery" that holds promise for new types of lightweight,
high-performance energy storage.
(Reuters, 12/10/09)
2009 Dec 7, Virgin Galactic
unveiled its first commercial spaceship, the VSS Enterprise, at the
Mohave Air and Space Port in California. Initial trips to the edge of
space were expected to cost $200,000 per person.
(Econ, 12/12/09, p.91)
2009 Dec 7, Rick Hendricks (54),
SF-based composer and steel guitar player, passed away of brain cancer
as a huge gathering of the musical cohorts and many friends assembled
at the Amnesia club, San Francisco's home of bluegrass and roots music,
on Valencia Street.
(www.cbaontheweb.org/read.asp?messageid=39821&search)
2009 Dec 7, In Utah Susan Powell
(28) went missing as her husband, Josh Powell, took their two boys
(ages 2 and 4) on a camping trip.
(SSFC, 12/27/09, p.A10)
2009 Dec 7, Afghan lawmakers,
refusing to be a rubber stamp, demanded a full, not partial, list of
President Hamid Karzai's new Cabinet, the first test of the embattled
leader's commitment to clean up graft and bribery in his government.
Kabul Mayor Abdul Ahad Sahebi 963) was found guilty of awarding a
contract for a city project without competition. An Afghan court
sentenced him to four years in jail and ordered him to repay more than
$16,000 involved in the contract. A British soldier from 1st Battalion
The Royal Anglian Regiment was killed in Nad-e Ali in southern Helmand
Province. He became Britain’s 100th soldier to die in the current war.
(AP, 12/7/09)(AFP, 12/8/09)(AP, 12/9/09)
2009 Dec 7, Brazilian authorities
arrested 11 people in an alleged US work-visa scam that raked in more
than $50 million from thousands of Brazilians since 2002. Some of those
scammed went to the US and wound up as illegal aliens because promised
jobs didn't exist.
(AP, 12/7/09)
2009 Dec 7, ITV, the British TV
channel behind hit show "I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here!",
apologized for the death of a rat during filming in Australia, as the
stars who killed it faced police charges.
(AFP, 12/7/09)
2009 Dec 7, Government forces in
the Central African Republic attacked rebel positions near the border
with Chad to prevent them from storming a key northern town. Several
fighters from the rebel Convention of Patriots for Justice and Peace
(CPJP) were reported killed as well as 2 government soldiers.
(AFP, 12/9/09)
2009 Dec 7, In China 8 children
died in a crush after someone stumbled while hundreds of children
leaving their evening classes raced down the narrow stairway closest to
their dormitory in Xiangxiang city, Hunan province.
(AP, 12/8/09)
2009 Dec 7, In Denmark the largest
and most important UN climate change conference in history opened in
Copenhagen, with organizers warning diplomats from 192 nations that
this could be the last best chance for a deal to protect the world from
calamitous global warming. This was the 15th conference of the parties
to the 1992 UNFCCC in Rio de Janeiro.
(AP, 12/7/09)(Econ, 12/5/09, SR p.3)
2009 Dec 7, In Iran security
forces and militiamen clashed with thousands of protesters shouting
"death to the dictator" outside Tehran University, beating them with
batons and firing tear gas on the officially designated “Student Day.”
Students demonstrated nationwide.
(AP, 12/7/09)(Econ, 12/12/09, p.51)
2009 Dec 7, In Iraq an explosion
outside an elementary school in Sadr City, a Shiite district of
Baghdad, killed at least 8 people including 6 children. Gunmen stormed
a checkpoint near Tarmiyah, north of Baghdad, killing five members of
an anti-al-Qaida group. A roadside bomb killed one soldier and wounded
two others in southeastern Baghdad, and in the west of the capital, a
bomb attached to a vehicle killed one civilian.
(AP, 12/7/09)
2009 Dec 7, Kenyan police arrested
a suspected weapons smuggler with up to 100,000 bullets and an
assortment of guns, a huge cache in a country with stringent gun laws.
(AP, 12/8/09)
2009 Dec 7, A Pakistani convoy
embarked to Waziristan from Peshawar as a suicide bomber blew himself
up at a police check point, killing 11 people.
(Econ, 1/2/10, p.17)
2009 Dec 7, In Somalia hundreds of
students marched in Mogadishu's streets in the first known protest
against Islamic militants, as Somalia's government warned that
militants are planning suicide attacks against key installations in
Mogadishu.
(AP, 12/7/09)
2009 Dec 7, South Africa offered
to slash the growth of its greenhouse gas emissions by 42 percent by
2025, but in exchange wants rich nations to expand aid for poor
countries to cope with climate change.
(AP, 12/7/09)
2009 Dec 7, In Sudan southern
protesters torched offices of the ruling party after Khartoum police
arrested 3 southern leaders and dozens of protesters in a crackdown
against a pro-reform demonstration. Pagan Amum, Yassir Arman and Abbas
Gumma from the former rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM)
were freed after a few hours.
(AFP, 12/7/09)
2009 Dec 7, In Turkey a Kurdish
rebel group, acting on its own initiative, carried out an assault in
the central city of Tokat killing 7 Turkish soldiers. 3 soldiers were
also wounded in the rebel ambush on a military vehicle.
(AP, 12/10/09)
2009 Dec 7, President Hugo Chavez
said that Venezuela has received thousands of Russian-made missiles and
rocket launchers as part of his government's military preparations for
a possible armed conflict with neighboring Colombia.
(AP, 12/7/09)
2009 Dec 8, President Barack Obama
outlined new multibillion-dollar stimulus and jobs proposals, saying
the nation must continue to "spend our way out of this recession" until
more Americans are back at work.
(AP, 12/8/09)
2009