Extraordinary renditions. The
Bundesnachrichtendienst (German intelligence agency) declares that it had known of
Khalid El-Masri's seizure 16 months before Germany was officially informed of his mistaken arrest in the name of the
War on Terror. Germany had previously claimed that it did not know of el-Masri's abduction by the
CIA and his stay in the
Salt Pit in
Afghanistan until his return to the country in May 2004
The
Government of Spain overturns the conviction of
Imad Yarkas on charges of conspiracy in the
September 11, 2001 attacks after the prosecutor admits that evidence of involvement in the conspiracy was "inconsistent, almost nonexistent." The Spanish government says it will provide further explanation in the coming days.
(AP)
Iran refuses to negotiate with the U.S. over its nuclear program.
(CNN)
The UK
Independent newspaper reports that a great-grandson of Apache leader
Geronimo has appealed to US President Bush to help recover the remains of his famous relative. The remains were purportedly stolen over 90 years ago by a group of students including the President's grandfather, and employed in ceremonies by
Skull and Bones, a secret society at Yale University.
(Independent)(Yale Alumni Magazine)(Newwest.net)
British police shoot a suspect in an
anti-terrorism raid, although his injuries are non-life threatening. The 23-year-old was shot in front of his family as 250 police raided his home in
Forest Gate,
London.
(BBC)(ABC)
The United States military finds its soldiers not guilty of any wrongdoing in the
Ishaqi incident involving the deaths of 11 Iraqi civilians.
(The Age)
Iranian President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, while continuing to maintain that his country has the right to continue development on their nuclear technology, says that he "will not pass judgment on the proposals hastily," referring to the incentives package being offered by the US, Russia, United Kingdom, Germany, France and China in order to dissuade Iran from further nuclear development.
(Reuters)
The house of
Jason Grimsley, was searched as part of the ongoing
BALCO steroids probe. Grimsley, a relief pitcher for the
Arizona Diamondbacks, asked for and received an unconditional release from the team the next day.
(USA Today)
The 40th Anniversary High Mass of the
Church of Satan occurred in Los Angeles, where Satanists gathered from nine different countries to celebrate the day.
(LA CityBeat)
A
constitutional amendment to ban
same-sex marriage is killed when it fails to gain the three-fifths majority required for
cloture in the
United States Senate. 49 Senators voted for the motion, and 48 voted against. This also fell far short of the two-thirds majority that would have been required for passage.
(ABC News)
Swiss investigator
Dick Marty concludes that there are "serious indications" that the
CIA operated
secret prisons for suspected al-Qaeda leaders in
Poland and
Romania, adding that "authorities in several European countries actively participated with the CIA in these unlawful activities. Other countries ignored them knowingly, or did not want to know."
(Washington Post)
According to an aide to Iraq's prime minister
Nuri al-Maliki, the leader of
Al-Qaeda in Iraq and one of the world's most wanted men,
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, was killed by a U.S. air raid. Al-Zarqawi's body was retrieved and visually identified by known scars, tattoos and fingerprints.
(CNN)(BBC)
The militant
Hamas group calls off its truce with
Israel after seven civilians are killed in the
Gaza Strip. More than seventy
Qassam rockets were launched at Israeli towns by Hamas militants since Friday morning, wounding Palestenian and Israeli civilians alike.
(Globe and Mail),
(Haaretz)
Fatah activists reportedly attack the
Palestinian parliament building, setting fire to the fourth floor and riddling the building with gunfire.
(AP),
(VoA)
A
Palestinian sniper opens fire on highway 443 near
Jerusalem, killing one person and wounding four. All victims are Palestinians living in Jerusalem.
(Haaretz)
The cancellation of end-of-the-year exams and a nationwide strike by teachers protesting low pay sparks a large scale riot in the
Guinean capital of
Conakry. 16 people are killed.
(CNN)
Two
Israelimissiles fired from an aircraft hit a van carrying a Palestinian rocket-launching squad in
Gaza with
Grad 122 mm rockets. Two
Islamic Jihad militants and seven civilians are killed, including two schoolchildren and three medical personnel. Israeli Defense minister expresses sorrow, but no apology.
(Reuters)[permanent dead link],
(Haaretz)
At least 10 people are killed and 20 others are wounded in car bombing attacks in a popular market in
Kirkuk,
Iraq.
(Sydney Daily Telegraph)
Bill Gates, Chairman of the
Microsoft Corporation announces he will step down from his daily duties in
2008. He wants to shift his daily life to his charity, the
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. His successors will be Microsoft Technical Officer
Ray Ozzie (software architecturing) and
Craig Mundie for researching and strategic affairs.
MSNBC
A video of a
U.S. Marine singing a song, entitled "
Hadji Girl", about the killing of
Iraqicivilians, sparks outrage after being widely distributed on the Internet. Amidst huge condemnation,
Cpl Joshua Belile issues an apology. A Marine spokesman, Lt. Col. Scott Fazekas, said that they were investigating.
(BBC)(NYT)
Chinese journalist
Yang Xiaoqing, a reporter for the state-run
China Industrial Economy News, is sentenced to one year in prison at the Longhui No. 1 People's Court in
Hunan province for
extortion. Xiaoqing wrote an article exposing local Communist Party official
Yang Jianxin's embezzlement of state assets. Jianxin has been reassigned to an advisory post in
Shaoyang city. Hundreds of protesters block police cars to prevent them from taking Xiaoqing to jail.
(CPJ)
The
Winnipeg police have made numerous arrests in the relation to the
Shedden massacre, including five members from the
Bandidos motorcycle club.
(CBC)
After ten hours of talks, they agree to form a new Government with representatives of the Maoists included and a new election to be held in 2007. The rebels agree to suspend their people's government.
[4][permanent dead link]
Israeli air strike near
Gaza kills one
Islamic Jihad militant and wounds two others, reportedly on their way to launch
Qassam rockets. No civilians were hurt in the strike. More than a hundred Qassam rockets were launched against Israeli towns in the past week, six of them on Friday.
(CNN),
(Israeli MFA)
Violence intensifies in
Sri Lanka as government troops allegedly attack
Tamils in a church in response to an attack on the navy by the
Tamil Tigers.
(BBC)
The
Israeli town of
Sderot shuts down for 24 hours in protest of continuing
Qassam rocket attacks. More than six hundred Qassam rockets were launched against Israeli towns since Israel's
disengagement from the
Gaza Strip, a hundred of which in the past week. One rocket left parts of Sderot without electricity for several hours this morning.
(Haaretz),
(IHT).
North Korea is said to be readying for long-range missile test of
Taepadong-2 missile thought to have a range which includes the western USA coastline.
(CNN)
Iraqi officials have unconfirmed reports that they have found the bodies of the two
U.S. soldiers the American military began looking for at the beginning of this week. The bodies of PFC
Kristian Menchaca of
Houston, Texas, and PFC
Thomas Lowell Tucker of Madras,
Oregon showed several signs of torture.
(MSNBC)(CNN)
JapanesePrime MinisterJunichiro Koizumi announces plans to withdraw his country's troops from Iraq. The 600 soldiers had been deployed to Iraq in 2004 to aid in reconstruction and sparked controversy in Japan, as it was the most ambitious overseas deployment by Japan since
World War II.
(Reuters)[permanent dead link]
Japan dispatches ships and planes to monitor developments in
North Korea as that country prepares to test a long range missile.
(Associated Press)
United States and coalition forces have found 500 pre-1991 chemical weapons since the
2003 invasion of Iraq. A Pentagon official has stated that the weapons were degraded beyond the point of use, but the report states they remain a danger and are still potentially lethal.
(AFP)(FOX News)
U.S.PresidentGeorge W. Bush has issued an
executive order stating that he will limit taking of private property by the federal government and that it must "benefit... the general public...and not merely for the purpose of economic interest of private properties..."
(White House Press Release)
Saddam Hussein has ended a brief
hunger strike, after missing one meal in his prison. He did this in protest of the killing of
one of his lawyers.
(Reuters)
Actor, singer, dancer, and television producer
Aaron Spelling dies at age 83 due to complications from the stroke that had occurred five days before on 18 June 2006. There was a private funeral several days later.
In
Germany, 378 people (including 122 England fans) are arrested after a violent confrontation between
England supporters and
Germany supporters in
Stuttgart. Approximately 60,000 England supporters are present in Stuttgart for Sunday's
World Cup second round game with
Ecuador.
(BBC)
The
Sudanese government announces the lifting of a partial ban on
United Nations operations in the
conflict-hit Darfur region. The ban was made after the government accused the UN of transporting a rebel leader who opposes a recent peace deal.
(BBC)
Eight
Palestinian militants, including
Hamas militants, infiltrate into an army post in
Israel using a
tunnel. Two Israeli soldiers are killed, one
kidnapped and three wounded in the attack, in which at least two Palestinian militants die.
Israeli PM vows a fierce military response to the attack once the soldier,
Gilad Shalit, is returned. Two infantry brigades and supporting armoured regiments are deployed along the
Gaza Strip border, in preparation for a major offensive.
(Haaretz),
(Reuters UK)[permanent dead link],
(BBC)
Electronic
IDs will be distributed to all under the age of 12 in
Belgium, as a means of protection from child abduction, and will carry a special code in addition to a hotline.
(The Telegraph Group Limited)
Italians reject the modification of their
constitution. In a two-day referendum, "No" beats "Yes" approximately 61% to 38%, thus keeping the text unchanged. The
Northern League had announced its withdrawal from the centre-right opposition coalition if reform was defeated. Votes of Italians living abroad are still to be counted.
(BBC)(CorriereDellaSera)
Chadian rebels attack the neighboring
Central African Republic. They have reportedly formed an alliance with CAR rebels. Large areas of both countries have descended into violence.
(BBC)
The
Hamas-led
Palestiniangovernment has reportedly agreed to implicitly recognise
Israel, paving the way to reopening peace talks with it. Other Hamas officials later deny these reports.
(BBC).
Ronaldo broke the all-time
FIFA World Cup finals goal-scoring record of 14 goals set by
Gerd Müller of Germany, scoring his 15th World Cup goal, and Brazil's first goal of the match (Round of 16), against Ghana in his 18th World Cup match.
After numerous attempts to revive the film franchise over the past nineteen years,
Superman is the central character in a new film from director
Bryan Singer entitled Superman Returns.
Israeli government puts off an offensive to the northern
Gaza Strip, and freezes military operations in the southern Gaza strip, to allow further time for diplomatic negotiations. There have been no
Palestinian fatalities in two days of Israeli
operations in the Gaza Strip and
West Bank.
(Haaretz)
Six
Qassam rockets are launched from the northern
Gaza Strip against Israeli towns. The
Israel Defense Forces fire over 400 artillery shells at unpopulated areas in the Gaza Strip, to suppress further rocket attacks.
(Ynet)
The body of Israeli student
Eliyahu Asheri is found buried in a field near
Ramallah with a head shot. Asheri, 18, was kidnapped and killed on Sunday night by a Palestinian militant group.
(Haaretz)
The body of Noam Moskovich, an
Alzheimer's patient who was claimed to be abducted by Palestinian militants, is found in
Rishon LeZion. Police ruled out both criminal and terrorist motives.
(Jerusalem Post)
Israeli soldiers arrest 62
Hamas members in the
West Bank, including 8 ministers and 20 lawmakers in the
Palestinian Authority, raising concern at concurrent
G8 summit. Israeli officials announce that further arrests are expected, and that the suspects will face standard criminal proceedings.
(Haaretz),
(Reuters Alertnet)
On the sixth day to the abduction of Cpl.
Gilad Shalit, his father calls the
abductors to provide him with a sign of life from Gilad, as a humane requisite. He also personally thanks
Egyptian President
Hosni Mubarak for his personal involvement in resolving the crisis.
(Ynet)
An upgraded
Qassam rocket lands in the cemetery of
Ashkelon, an
Israeli city with a population exceeding 117,000. This is the furthest range Qassam rockets have reached to date.
(Ynet)
