Arab residents of the
Silwan neighborhood of
East Jerusalem protest
Israeli plans to destroy 88 of their homes, many by Israeli court order, many of which pre-date the foundation of the State of Israel.
(BBC)
An Australian man of
Vietnamese origin has been jailed for 20 years in Vietnam after being convicted of trying to smuggle 200g of
heroin from Vietnam to Australia.
(News Limited)
Mexican Secretary of Interior
Santiago Creel turns in resignation to president
Vicente Fox in order to pursue his party's candidacy to the 2006 Presidential Election.
(BBC)
Schabir Shaik, a financial advisor to
South African Deputy President
Jacob Zuma, is found guilty of two counts of
corruption and one of
fraud in a 165-page judgment broadcast live as it was delivered over three days. The affair is considered to be a blow to Mr Zuma's ambitions to succeed the current president,
Thabo Mbeki.
(BBC)
In
Serbia several former soldiers are arrested after the transmission on Serbian TV of video showing them executing six
Bosniak men from
Srebrenica in July 1995. The video is evidence from the trial of former president
Slobodan Milošević. Hitherto polls have shown that only half the population of Serbia believe that the
Srebrenica massacre of 8000 men happened.
(BBC)
The commander of U.S. Forces at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba reported five known incidents of mishandling the
Qur'an by guards at the detention facility, including one incident in which a Qur'an was accidentally splashed with urine.
(BBC)
Following allegations that the
Muslimholy book, the
Quran, was urinated on in front of inmates at
Guantanamo Bay,
Cuba, the
Bush administration drastically changes its position on the credibility of these reports, and now admits that desecration did in fact occur.
(Wikinews)
In separate referendums, the voters of
Switzerland decide to ratify the
Schengen treaty, abolishing all its normal land border controls by 2007, and also approve the legalizing of
civil unions for gay couples, for tax and inheritance purposes, but not for child adoption. The Swiss Government had urged approval of both measures and the Swiss Parliament had previously passed legislation approving them.
(BBC News)
Wal-Mart holds its annual shareholders' meeting on the campus of the
University of Arkansas. Pending proposals include initiatives that would affect how Wal-Mart's board is selected and that would require a break-down of stock options by sex and race, and those addressing other issues.
(WLNS News)
A spokesman for
Robert Mugabe, President of
Zimbabwe, dismisses rumors that Mugabe has died of a
heart attack, after privately owned media report that Mugabe went to a local hospital to have his heart tested.
CNN
The leader of the opposition in the
IndianLok Sabha,
Lal Krishna Advani, resigns from his post amid controversial comments he made about the founder of
Pakistan,
Mohammed Ali Jinnah. Advani had referred to Jinnah as a "secular" leader and drew intense criticism back at home in India.
(BBC News)
A new type of
sauropod has been discovered with a short, stubby neck. Unlike all other known sauropods, whose long necks could get up to four times the length of their backs, Brachytrachelopan's neck was shorter than its backbone. This species was also unable to lift its neck and head above
horizontal.
(National Geographic)
Claire Miles from
Exeter in
Devon gives birth by
Caesarean section to two babies, one in each of her two half sized wombs.
BBC
In
Canada, rain begins to pound the province of
Alberta starting an almost 3-week flooding crisis in the province.
The infection source of
Norway's recent outbreak of
Legionnaire's Disease is surprisingly found to have been an industrial purification installation known as a
scrubber, a device which cleans air using water. Reportedly, such facilities have never before caused a Legionnaire's outbreak anywhere in the world. Ten people have been killed, and 52 infected, in the outbreak, which is Norway's largest ever.
(Aftenposten)
A previously unknown
aria written by
Johann Sebastian Bach in October of
1713 is discovered in documents from a
German library. It is the first new work to be discovered by Bach since
1975.
(CNN)
In
Bolivia, widespread demonstrations continue. Ex-president
Carlos Mesa, who has already offered his resignation, states that there is a threat of
civil war without immediate
elections. Congress will decide on Thursday whether to accept the resignation
(Reuters AlertNet)(CNN)(BBC)
2005 Atlantic hurricane season: Tropical Storm Arlene, the first storm of the season, forms south of
Cuba, and is expected to strike Cuba and the U.S. Gulf coast later in the week.
(NHC)(CNN)
In Australia,
Parliament House and the
embassies of the US, the UK, Japan and South Korea receive suspicious packages containing white powder.
Federal Police later state that analysis showed the powder to be "harmless", and was sent as a hoax, following similar events in the past week.
(Radio Australia)(ABC)(Bloomberg)(Reuters)
Zimbabwean opposition groups are preparing for a two-day
general strike to protest over the huge number of arrests in recent days. Police are on standby to quell protests.
(IOL)(BBC)
The
Colima volcano in
Mexico increases its eruptive activity, with strong explosions.
(CNN)
The
Bolivian Congress accepts the resignation of
Carlos Mesa and names Supreme Court justice
Eduardo Rodríguez as the new interim president
(Bloomberg) Bolivian military says it is ready to intervene if protests continue
(IHT)
A series of Bombs strike the
Iranian cities of
Ahwaz and
Tehran, leaving 8 people dead and dozens wounded. There has been no claim of responsibility.
(BBC)
In Canada, after 5 days of non-stop rain, the city of
Calgary is under its first local state of emergency. The
Elbow River has risen to an extreme high and the town of
Bragg Creek, just west of the city, is totally evacuated. This would be the first of 3 waves of major flooding.
An earthquake of magnitude 7.9 hits
Chile with
epicenter in the northern region of
Tarapaca near the
Bolivian border, killing at least 8 people.
(CNN)
In
Canada,
Cineplex Odeon announces that it is purchasing
Famous Players, uniting the two largest movie theatre chains. Famous Players is currently owned by
Viacom and will be purchased for about $500 million
CAD. In fear of unfair competition, the Federal Commission of Competition has announced that Cineplex needs to sell off 35 of its theatres.
(CBC)
A major
earthquake strikes about 80 miles (130 kilometers) off the coast of northern
California on Tuesday night, briefly prompting a
tsunami warning along the Pacific coast but with no immediate reports of damages or injuries.
(AP)
Asafa Powell breaks the world record in the 100 meters (328 feet, 1 inch) Tuesday with a 9.77 clocking at the
Athens, Greece Olympic Stadium, making him the world's fastest human at 36.85 km/h (22.9 mi/h).
(AP)
The Supreme Court of
Argentina declares unconstitutional two laws that granted immunity to
Dirty War human rights abusers.
(Bloomberg)
JP Morgan Chase & Co. announced a settlement of a lawsuit brought against it by
Enron investors who claim that it helped the management of that company defraud them. JP Morgan will pay claimants US$2.2 billion.
Microsoft is criticized for censoring
Chinese blogs. They are accused of censoring words such as "freedom", "democracy", and "human rights".
(RealOpinion.com),
(BBC)
Spanish police arrest 17 suspected Islamic extremists in a series of raids around the country. Eleven are alleged to be associated with
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, and 5 are alleged to be connected to the
Madrid train bombings of 11 March 2004.
(Times)
26 of 60
tank cars carrying fuel
oil derail near
Rzhev, Russia (about 200 km / 125 miles northwest of
Moscow), sending a very large amount of oil into the ground contaminating Moscow's water supply and the
Volga River after flowing down the
Vazuza River from the accident site. It is not yet known if this incident is related to the bomb that was exploded on June 12 that derailed a
passenger train.
(RIA Novosti)(RIA Novosti)(Pravda)
Dennis Kozlowski, the former chief executive of
Tyco International, and Mark Swartz, its erstwhile chief financial officer, are found guilty by a
New York state court
jury on all but one of 31 counts of grand larceny, conspiracy, falsifying business records and securities fraud.
(Houston Chronicle)
In
Canada, the rain died down and the state of emergency came to an end. With one evening of pounding rain,
hail and cold temperatures, the
Elbow River spilled over the dam for the first time. Again the low-lying areas of
Calgary, AB were evacuated, the town of
Bragg Creek, the towns of High River and Okotoks, and the small town of Sundre were all evacuated.
In
Formula One the
United States Grand Prix sparked controversy, when only three teams on
Bridgestone tyres competed because of
Michelin not being able to supply safe tyres to the remaining seven teams running on the French company's rubber.
An unarmed
Palestinian teenager, Ihab an-Nabahin, is shot by Israelis in a closed border area of the
Gaza Strip, and killed according to Palestinian sources. (
BBC) (
Al-Jazeera)
According to the Israeli army, a
Palestinianfemale suicide bomber was caught in the Erez Crossing, carrying explosives and a detonator in her underwear. Israeli media added that she planned to carry out a
suicide bombing attack in the Soroka
hospital, where she received medical treatment and was scheduled for a doctor's appointment (the army has not confirmed this.) The woman was identified as Wafa Samir Ibrahim Bass and said she was sent by the
Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades. The al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades decline to comment.
(Haaretz NewsFlash),
(Ynet) (
BBC) (
Al-Jazeera)
In
Canada, after 2 straight days of rain, the city of
Calgary, AB is under another state of emergency and now the Elbow River is flowing steadily over the
Glenmore Dam. The towns of
Bragg Creek, High River, Sundre, Okotoks,
Drumheller, and Cochrane have to be evacuated. The low lying area of Calgary also have to be evacuated. This wave of floods is the last of the floods and the damage of the floods is almost incalculable.
In
Israel 8 people are killed and about 200 injured when a train is reported to have struck a truck on a level crossing near
Kiryat Gat.
(BBC)
At
Stonehenge in England, some 19,000 people gather to celebrate the rising sun on the
summer solstice.
Clearup operation continues in
North Yorkshire after the serious flash flooding on Sunday Night / Monday Morning. The towns of
Thirsk,
Helmsley and
Hawnby were seriously affected, as were several villages when the rivers
Swale and
Rye burst their banks.
In
Manchester,
UK, 30 police raid a house at 5 a.m. and arrest a 40-year-old man on suspicion of involvement in
suicide bombings in
Iraq. Another man resident in the same house is believed to have gone to Iraq in February to carry out a bombing. Last week, police in
Spain and
Germany also made arrests in connection with bombings in Iraq, but it is not known if the cases are related.
(BBC)
New Zealand's telecoms network crashes for five hours when a rat chews one of the North Island's main fibre-optic cables at the same time as a workman damaged another cable in another part of the island. Mobile phone and Internet communications were badly affected, and the Stock Exchange had to close for several hours.
(BBC)
German car manufacturer
BMW acquires the
Formula One team
Sauber Petronas. In the next season the new team will be probably known as BMW Sauber.
BBC Sport
The entire network of the
Swiss Federal Railways shuts down due to a power failure in its
overhead wire system. The power failure is also affecting international transit through
Switzerland as such intercity trains use the same system. Initial reports indicate that the power failure started with a voltage drop in
Ticino (in the
St. Gotthard region) that then spread to the entire system. The initial failure happened at about 1700 local time, with some power supplies restored about 2015, but the last trains did not reach their destinations until 0300.
(SwissInfo)(BBC)
In
Colombia, congress approves a draft bill that offers sentences of only eight years to those members of
paramilitarymilitias who give up their weapons. It demands that they confess, return the stolen property and disarm. Critics of president
Álvaro Uribe say that the law is too lenient
(IHT)(Colombia Journal)(Reuters AlertNet)
The
Peruvian government states that it will allow limited growing of
coca plant for traditional uses
(MercoPress)(BBC)
In
Brazil, heated arguments in the congress result in fighting and the session is suspended. Fighting begun when former chief of staff
José Dirceu, who had rejoined the congress, tried to defend the government against the bribery allegations
(Bloomberg)
In
Poland, opposition demands resignation of prime minister
Marek Belka because of allegations that declassified files show he had ties to communist-era security services. Belka refuses to do so, stating that he signed a contract to be allowed to go to study trip to USA
(Radio Polonia)(Warsaw business Journal)(Reuters)
Thousands of workers from
UPM-Kymmene and
Stora Enso, two leading Finnish companies in the
paper industry go on
strike over pay and working hours. Finland provides two thirds of the paper supply for the European magazine market. Industry analysts believe that the strike may have serious repercussions on the magazine market of Europe.
(BBC)
In
Lebanon, victorious anti-
Syria coalition demands resignation of pro-Syrian president
Émile Lahoud. They hold him responsible for assassinations of opposition figures
(Reuters AlertNet)
The investment bank
Morgan Stanley agrees to an out-of-court settlement with Italian dairy group
Parmalat. The new management of the reorganized Italian company sued Morgan Stanley for work it did that may have assisted the old management in looting the company.
(BBC)
The
Irish Republican Army apologises unreservedly to the family of 14-year-old Kathleen Feeney, whom it shot dead in
Derry in November 1973. The IRA had previously blamed the British Army for the killing.
(BBC),
(RTE)
The
Sri LankaMuslim Congress, a political party, says it would boycott the deal between the government and
Tamil rebels for sharing tsunami relief because it shortchanged Muslims.
(BBC)
The
Israeli Foreign Minister,
Silvan Shalom, apologises to
New Zealand for the actions of two Israeli citizens, believed to be
Mossad agents, who attempted to gain New Zealand passports under false pretences in 2004. The apology allows diplomatic relations between the two countries to return to normal.
(NZ Herald)
U.S. officials meet with
Iraqi insurgents in attempt to quell attacks. More than 30 are killed in series of suicide bombings across the country.
(The Times),
(NY Times)
The
Socialists win a
plurality with 31.44% of the vote, with
incumbent Prime Minister and ex-
TsarSimeon Saxe-Coburg receiving 20.13%. Despite the plurality, the results fall far short of pre-election forecasts for the Socialists.
(Reuters)
Florida beaches reopen after the shark attack Saturday that killed Jamie Daigle.
(CNN)
Fires in the
Southwestern United States threaten a small community and close a highway in Utah. Blazes in California, Arizona, and Nevada have already consumed 200,000 acres (800 km²).
(Guardian)
Operation Red Wings, a
counterterrorism mission in
Kunar province,
Afghanistan, involving four
U.S. Navy SEAL members, took place. Three of the SEALs were killed during the operation, whilst a fourth was protected by local villagers and was rescued by the US military. In addition, an
MH-47 Chinook helicopter carrying 8 Nightstalkers - members of the Army's elite 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (SOAR) - and 8 US Navy SEALs was shot down while attempting to come to their rescue to provide extraction in the mountains of the Kunar province, Afghanistan.
Guinea-Bissau's former president
Kumba Yala declares that he accepts the results of presidential elections in the country "in the interest of peace and democracy" but still insists that he actually won. No candidate has won 50% of the vote and the next round of elections commences in July.
(Reuters SA)(BBC)
In
Egypt presidential candidate
Ayman Nour pleads not guilty in forging signatures in his party's registration. His supporters demonstrate outside the courthouse. Nour is regarded as the main rival candidate to incumbent president
Hosni Mubarak.
(Arab News)(Al-Jazeera)(BBC)(Reuters)
The
United States House of Representatives passes a
$1.17 billion funding bill for
Amtrak in fiscal year
2006, an amount that is still short of the $2 billion Amtrak was originally seeking. The funding was approved in an amendment to a more general transportation and treasury appropriations bill. The House also removed the requirement in the bill that would mandate Amtrak to end
passenger train service on currently unprofitable routes. The funding has yet to be approved by the
Senate.
New York officials release the design for the signature building of the
World Trade Center. The building will be called "The
Freedom Tower" and shine a ray of light from its spire.
Hezbollah shells Israeli positions with mortars and rockets in the disputed
Shebaa farms, wounding five soldiers and killing one, The Israeli military shelled areas around several villages in southern Lebanon and planes launched missiles. Israel intends to file a complaint against
Lebanon and
UNIFIL for failing to prevent aggression by Hezbollah.
In
Ethiopia, government promises to rerun some elections in constituencies where there have been allegations of
election fraud(IOL)(Reuters AlertNet) Government also arrests four journalists who had criticized the government crackdown against protesters
(Reuters AlertNet)
In Belgium, the Parliament Speaker
Herman De Croo cancels a lunch with a delegation from the
Iranianparliament, led by Speaker
Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel, because of the Iranians' insistence on not serving
alcoholic drinks, and a meeting with senate president
Anne-Marie Lizin because of the men in the delegation refusing to shake hands with her, a non-related woman.
In Russia, a court in
St. Petersburg sentences two men for the 1998 murder of liberal MP
Galina Starovoitova. Organizer Yuri Kolchin received 20 years in prison, Vitaly Akishin receives 23.
Spain's parliament votes to legalize
same-sex marriages, the third European country to do so after the Netherlands and Belgium, and in the same week as Canada. The bill passed by a margin of 40 votes, with 187 votes in favor, 147 opposed, and four abstentions.
There are conflicting reports about
Bandar bin Sultan,
Saudi Arabian ambassador to United States.
BBC reports that he has resigned but the Saudi embassy says he is just in a holiday.
In India,
Gautam Goswami, main suspect of a massive flood relief scam connected to
2005 Indian Ocean earthquake, gives himself up after several weeks and is remanded to
judicial custody. He is also under another investigation of misusing public funds meant for social programs.
Time says that it will hand over records in compliance with a court order in the investigation of the leak of a covert
CIA operative's name. This decision in the matter of
Valerie Plame could avoid jail time for one of its reporters,
Matthew Cooper.
The
EPA says that a chemical used to make
Teflon is "likely" to cause cancer. The compound is used in the creation of cookware and clothing.
Survivors of the 1979
Iran hostage crisis claim that Iran's president-elect,
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, was among their captors. The United States is looking into the matter.
In
Egypt,
Ayman Ismail, co-defendant in the case of forged signatures with
Ayman Nour, withdraws his guilty plea, stating that government security agents pressured him to do so.