Al Jazeera broadcasts a video tape claimed to be supplied by
Al-Qaeda which apparently shows suicide bomber
Mohammad Sidique Khan prior to the
7 July 2005 London bombings stating that he would take part in the attacks. He warned Westerners that they would not be safe because of their "crimes against humanity."
(Guardian/AP)
U.S. President
George W. Bush in an early morning interview with
ABC's
Diane Sawyer at the
White House said: "I fully understand people wanting things to have happened yesterday"
(ABC)
US financial markets opened with mixed volatility in reaction to disruptions to the nation's oil distribution system along the
Gulf Coast and concerns for consumer spending. By the closing bell the
NASDAQ and
Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped two percent. President
George W. Bush and
Federal Reserve Chairman
Alan Greenspan and top economic advisers gave the markets a favorable bump after a noon meeting to consider financial impacts of Hurricane Katrina's devastation.
(MarketWatch)
Russia marks the first anniversary of the
Beslantragedy in which militants seized nearly 1,200 hostages, killing 331, more than half of them children.
(The Guardian)
The
Common Chimpanzeegenome sequence has been released, revealing genetic differences between chimps and
humans including differences in a region of the genome thought to be involved in
speech acquisition.
(VoA)
U.S. President
George W. Bush tours the area devastated by
Hurricane Katrina amidst growing criticism of his lack of leadership. Media reports say he will not visit
New Orleans. Bush said order would be restored and New Orleans would emerge from its "darkest days".
(BBC)
The oil-rich nation of
Qatar has offered the United States $100 million to assist in the humanitarian crisis triggered by Hurricane Katrina.
(CNN)
Spain joins the global effort to prevent a US oil crisis caused by Hurricane Katrina by providing the United States with 70,000 barrels per day (11,000 m3/d) during September.
(International Herald Tribune)
Over 40,000 military personnel will be deployed along the
Gulf Coast in the coming week: President
George W. Bush is ordering 7,023 additional active duty forces to the Gulf Coast to add to the 4,000 active duty personnel and 21,000 National Guard troops already in the area.
The Pentagon announced an additional 10,000 troop deployment from the National Guard.
(The White House)(BBC)
The racial and
socio-economic fallout from response to Hurricane Katrina continues to grow. Poor black people, says
Lani Guinier, a
Harvard University law professor, are "the canary in the mine. Poor black people are the throwaway people. And we pathologize them in order to justify our disregard."
(Washington Post)
"The people of our city are holding on by a thread," Mayor
Ray Nagin says.
(The Argus)
Israeli-Palestinian conflict:
PNA President
Mahmoud Abbas said that 97.5 percent of
Gaza Strip lands that Israel would evacuate from were state-owned lands and that the Islamic University was entitled to receive lands in order to expand its facilities.
(IPC)
Estimates of the death toll in
New Orleans are made by
H&HS Secretary
Michael Leavitt: "I think it's evident it's in the thousands. It's clear to me that this has been sickeningly difficult and profoundly tragic circumstance"
(Express News)
The
Coast Guard asks people in the New Orleans area to hang brightly colored or white sheets, towels or anything else that might help draw attention to those needing assistance.
(The Times-Picayune)
Secretary of StateCondoleezza Rice visits her native
Alabama and defends President Bush's response to the hurricane saying "Nobody, especially the president, would have left people unattended on the basis of race."
(Express News)
With 250,000 refugees already in
Texas, Gov.
Rick Perry ordered emergency officials to begin preparations to airlift some of them to other states that have offered to help.
(Denton Record Chronicle)
Wistar Institute scientists say they will present details of research on their creation of "miracle mice" next week at a Cambridge University conference on Regeneration. The experimental animals are able to
regenerate amputated limbs or body organs.
(The Australian)
In
Bregenz,
Austria, a
German woman attacks the
Roy Lichtenstein painting Nudes in Mirror with a
jackknife. Witnesses say that the woman claimed that the painting was not authentic. Although there were several slashes in the painting, valued at €4 million, it can be repaired.
(Reuters)
A
Russian Navy fighter jet crashes and sinks to a depth of 1,100 meters near
Shetland in the
Norwegian Sea during a military exercise. The jet, a
Sukhoi Su-33, slid off the flight deck of aircraft carrier
Admiral Kuznetsov after the plane's arresting cable broke during the landing attempt; the pilot ejected out of the plane and survived. Due to the plane's reportedly containing secret
high-tech military equipment, Russian authorities have decided to destroy it using underwater bombs.
(Pravda.Ru), (
Aftenposten)
Ethiopian general elections, 2005: The National Elections Board of
Ethiopia, following repeat voting in 31 areas, announces that the ruling
EPRDF coalition has retained control of the government, obtaining 59 percent of the seats in Parliament. (
IRIN)
Typhoon Nabi (Category 3) reaches the
Japanese coasts. It will make landfall today, and is expected to take 3 days to cross the island of
Kyūshū.
(Reuters)
Jefferson Parish,
Louisiana President
Aaron Broussard told
CBS's Early Show anchor Harry Smith today: "Bureaucracy has murdered people in the Greater New Orleans area and bureaucracy needs to stand trial in Congress today. Take whatever idiot they have at the top and give me a better idiot."
(News Busters)
President
George W. Bush announces he will head an investigation into the New Orleans disaster response. He tells reporters in the Cabinet Room: "People want us here to play a blame game. We got to solve problems. We're here to solve problems. There'll be ample time for people to figure out what went right and what went wrong."
(Al Jazeera)
Barbara Bush comes under criticism while visiting
Hurricane Katrina relief centers in
Houston, TX. Mrs. Bush stated on the
NPR program "
Marketplace: "So many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this (chuckles)--this is working very well for them." The former First Lady also said that the fact that the 15,000 evacuees in the Astrodome might want to stay in Texas was "kind of scary".
(EditorAndPublisher.com)
Cairo: At least 34 people were killed and 60 injured by flames and an ensuing stampede when a fire broke out in the theater run by
Egypt's Culture Ministry; about 1,000 people were watching the play.
(Y! & AP)(BBC)
Typhoon Nabi kills at least 21 in Japan with over 50 still missing.
(AFP) Over 100,000 people were told to evacuate.
(CBC)
Almost 600 people have now been officially declared dead in an
outbreak of
Japanese Encephalitis in
India. Officials fear the actual death toll might be much higher because many deaths in rural areas are not reported.
(BBC)
Michael Jackson has announced he will record and release a
charity single dedicated to the victims of
Hurricane Katrina. Jackson has asked other recording stars to provide
vocals for the single.
Babyface has confirmed he will be participating. The single is titled "From The Bottom of My Heart" and is due for release in two weeks. All proceeds will go to the victims of
Hurricane Katrina. However, over one year later the single has not been released.
New Orleans mayor
Ray Nagin again urges the city's remaining holdouts to leave the area. New Orleans is now only 60% underwater. The number of dead in the city could be as few as 2,000 and as many as 20,000, according to estimates.
(IHT)
J. T. Alpaugh, pool helicopter reporter for the major media, says today on
NBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann that: "There is the strong smell of rotting water, an awful smell, something you don't ever want to have to smell" rising high into the air space around New Orleans.
(Los Angeles Times)
One woman was killed and over a dozen were injured following a stampede when people fled the
Saudi Arabian Airlines plane they were on after a
hoaxbomb threat was made.
(Reuters) (Link dead as of 00:43, 15 January 2007 (UTC))
News Corporation says it will buy
IGN Entertainment for $650 million. IGN is one of the largest multimedia sites on the Internet and also owns the
GameSpy Network and
AskMen.com.
(BBC)
Emergency officials requisition 25,000 body bags as search and rescue operations continue in
Louisiana. A spokesman for the state's department of health and hospitals said: "We don't know what to expect ... It means we are prepared."
(The Guardian)
Apple Computer has unveiled a pencil-thin
iPod nano digital music player and a
long-anticipated cell phone that plays music like an
iPod, both aimed at extending its domination of the digital music market. Also, Apple discontinued their
iPod mini.
(New York Times) (registration required),
(CNN) (Link dead as of 00:43, 15 January 2007 (UTC))
Australian Federal Opposition Leader
Kim Beazley says the
Australian Government's proposed new
anti-terrorism laws would not deter terrorism. Others say the laws would radicalise young Muslims and civil liberty groups say the laws would make Australian society more dangerous.
(ABC)(ABC)
India and
Pakistan will exchange civilian prisoners on September 12 at the Waga border. Those exchanged have completed their sentences.
(The Indian Express)
Four people are known to have died following a football match in the
Democratic Republic of Congo after a wall collapsed in the stadium the teams were playing in.
(BBC)
Russia is planning to build the world's first low capacity floating nuclear power plant (
FNPP) at a cost of $200,000. The plant will produce 1/150th the power of a standard Russian facility.
(MOSNEWS)
New Orleans mayor
Ray Nagin interviewed on
NBC's Meet the Press is critical of suggestions that tent cities be constructed to house
Hurricane Katrina survivors. He promises to lead the rebuilding of the city saying: "New Orleaneans are the only ones to rebuild. We're going to rebuild New Orleans and make sure we have resources to get the job done."
(NBC)
Over 800,000 people in the
Zhejiang province of
China are evacuating as the province is hit by
Typhoon Khanun which has a packing center winds of 144 kilometers per hour.
(Chinadaily)
In
Colombia, an airplane hijacker and his son surrender peacefully after five hours of negotiations. Officials coaxed him out with what he later learned was a worthless
bank cheque.
(CNN)
According to the Department of Water and Power, the power outage is of "non-malicious cause" triggered by an accidental error in connecting lines to a newly installed computer. DWP (Dept of Water and Power) General Manager Ron Deaton says repairs have been made and the system will be restored in an orderly manner.
(Newsday)
Despite the disruption to two million customers, the system's successfully controlled shutdown prevented a
blackout from extending beyond the region.
According to witnesses, the Egyptian border patrol police opened fire at crowds swarming the
Egypt-
Gaza border at
Rafah, killing a
Palestinian man and injuring another. An Egyptian spokesman later denied that Egyptian troops fired the shots that killed the man.
(Reuters)(Al Jazeera),
(BBC)
eBay announced it will buy
Skype, the
Luxembourg-based web telephone network, in a $2.6 billion deal.
(BBC)
Hong Kong Disneyland opens in a partnership between
Disney and the
Hong Kong government. This marks the first attempt of Disney tapping into the Chinese and southeastern Asian market.
(BBC)(CNN)
Panic buying of petrol and diesel is in full swing across Britain, with long queues outside service stations in a worrying echo of the 2000
Fuel Protest.
(BBC)
Hamas blows a hole through the wall between
Egypt and
Gaza, allowing free passage for
Palestinians to and from Egypt for the first time since 1967.
(BBC)
Following serious Loyalist rioting during which dozens of shots were fired at riot police, the Northern Ireland Secretary
Peter Hain announced that the British government no longer recognized the
Ulster Volunteer Force ceasefire.
U.S. President
George W. Bush addresses the nation from
Jackson Square in
New Orleans saying: "We have witnessed the kind of devastation no citizen of this great and generous nation should ever have to know. We will do what it takes and stay as long as it takes to help New Orleans to return their community and their lives." He provides the
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) phone number to assist families in reuniting: 877‒568‒3317.
(Seattle Post-Intelligencer)
Two undercover UK soldiers are detained on claims they had been planting bombs, evading arrest, exchanging fire with police, killing one, and failing to stop at a checkpoint. An operation to free the two prisoners ends with civilians gathering around the tanks sent to free the prisoners and setting the tanks they were in alight. Soldiers from the tanks flee the scene while being stoned by the locals, one man, Sergeant George Long, of the Staffordshire Regiment, was seen on fire and another man was seen being surrounded and beaten by locals. One Iraqi official claimed that 150 prisoners escaped including the two soldiers.
(China view)(The Times)(BBC)(Washington Post),
(the Independent)
At least 10 people, nine police and one civilian, have died following a series of explosions at a
Shia festival marking the birth of the
Imam Mehdi in
Karbala.
(BBC)
At least 154 of the dead in
New Orleans were patients in hospitals and nursing homes. They represent more than 25 percent of the bodies recovered to date.
(CivilRights.org)
Santana Moss makes two miracle touchdown catches in the final minutes of a Redskins-Cowboys game to win 14-13, bringing the first
Washington Redskins victory at
Texas Stadium in ten years.
[1]
North Korea announces that its offer to end its nuclear arms program is dependent on it being allowed to build a civilian nuclear reactor.
(ABC)[permanent dead link],
(BBC)
German green politician
Joschka Fischer announced his retirement from leading the Green party in the newly elected Parliament, retiring to become an "elder statesman" in the back benches.
Spiegel online
Hurricane Rita reaches
Category 5 intensity, the third most intense in recorded history. The current path tracks landfall at
Galveston,
Texas on Saturday. The inbound causeway to the Island has been closed and mandatory evacuation has been ordered. Residents on the
Gulf Coast south of Galveston are urged to evacuate.
(Houston Chronicle)(NHC)
At least 50 people die following a series of storms and floods that hit the
Bay of Bengal in
Bangladesh and
India; many more are missing, and officials fear for the safety of over a hundred fishermen.
(BBC)
Lester Crawford, U.S.
Food and Drug Administration Commissioner resigns; citing old age. Critics accuse Crawford of incompetence regarding
Vioxx, cloned beef, approval of malfunctioning heart devices, and alleged corruption. He served two months in office.
(AP on Yahoo!)
At least 10
Palestinians die and 80 are injured when a truck carrying home-made explosives explodes during a Friday
salat parade organised by
Hamas. Hamas blames Israel, claiming an
Israeli plane blew up the vehicle, while Israel and the Palestinian Authority blames Hamas.
(Jerusalem Post),
(ABC News)
Hurricane Rita makes landfall as a
Category 3 hurricane on the
Texas -
Louisiana border at 2:38 a.m. CDT . The storm was downgraded within four hours to Category 2. As of 10 p.m. CDT (0300
UTC,
September 25), the center of Tropical Depression Rita was located on land 40 miles (65 km) north of
Shreveport, Louisiana. Rita was moving north at 10 mph (16 km/h) with maximum sustained winds of 35 mph (55 km/h) (
CNN)
2005 northern Peru earthquake: A magnitude 7.5 earthquake, the strongest in the country in four years, strikes northern
Peru, with at least four persons reported dead.
(CNN)
Swiss voters approve a
referendum by 56% to 44% to allow citizens from the 10 newest
European Union member countries to travel and work in Switzerland. Quotas will be applied until
2011 on the number of people allowed to settle.
(BBC)
At least four
Shia Muslims, believed to be members of the
Mahdi Army are killed by US soldiers in a gunfight following a U.S. raid into
Sadr City, eastern
Baghdad.
(BBC)
Nine people die following a bomb attack on a police station in
Hillah.
(BBC)
The
Israel Defense Forces launch Operation First Rain, a series of air strikes on
Palestinian targets in the
Gaza Strip, including an alleged
Hamas weapons factory and a children's school. According to Israel the operation's goal is to stop shelling of southern
Israeli towns and villages by Palestinian militants, though several civilians have been injured, including an infant. At least 200 Palestinians have been arrested in overnight
IDF raids in the
West Bank.
(BBC)(The Guardian)(YNETnews)(Al Jazeera)
EuroBasket 2005:
Greece beats Germany 78 to 62 and wins for the second time in its history the Eurobasket.
Imad Yarkas is convicted in
Spain of conspiracy with
al-Qaeda in the
September 11, 2001 attacks and sentenced to 27 years.
Driss Chebli, was convicted of collaborating with a terrorist group and sentenced to six years,
Al Jazeera journalist
Tayseer Allouni was also convicted of collaborating with a terrorist group and sentenced to seven years, while Ghasoub al-Abrash Ghalyoun was acquitted on all counts.
(AP) (Link dead as of 21:25, 14 January 2007 (UTC))
During a US
State Department visit to
Jidda,
Saudi Arabia,
Karen Hughes receives a mixed reaction when she suggests
Saudi women be allowed to drive cars and to "fully participate" in society.
(NYT) (registration required)
The
Prime Minister of Israel,
Ariel Sharon, survives a major leadership challenge within the
Likud Party. The proposal, which would have ordered the next Party Leader election be held in October
2005 rather than April
2006, is voted down by the party's Central Committee, 48% to 52%.
(Yahoo!News) (Link dead as of 22:31, 14 January 2007 (UTC))
The Pentagon announces it will investigate allegations that
US soldiers posted photographs of dead
Iraqis on a
website so as to get access to free
Internet porn.
CAIR had earlier called for the investigation after the details of the site came to light.
(BBC)
U.S.
House Majority LeaderTom DeLay is indicted on one count of criminal conspiracy by
Texas grand jury, for allegedly funding Texas state elections secretly through the Republican national office.
An 82-year-old
British man was manhandled out of Labour Party Conference for loudly protesting that
Jack Straw was lying about Britain's involvement with the
Conflict in Iraq.
(BBC)
The new United Nations coordinator for
human and
avian influenza warns that 5-150 million people could die in a flu
epidemic. Humans have no natural immunity to the virus.
(M&C News)(BBC)