The government of
Denmark is investigating whether it can claim ownership of the
North Pole, by studying how far the underwater portion of
Greenland, a Danish
territory, extends. Canada and Russia are already undertaking similar investigations regarding their own claims.
(Toronto Star)
At least 19 people are killed in an explosion—suspected to be a
suicide bombing—at a
Shiamosque in the
Pakistani city of
Sialkot (located near the border of Indian-controlled
Kashmir). The attack follows the killing of a leading
Sunni cleric.
(BBC)
The Israeli
military releases
unmanned dronefootage of the
Gaza Strip showing what Israel says are Palestinian militants loading rockets into a van marked "
UN". The UN dismisses the claim, saying that the footage actually shows a stretcher being loaded into a van.
(Islam Online) (Haaretz:
1,
2)
U.S. and Iraqi government forces attack the insurgent-held city of
Samarra in northern Iraq. U.S. officials say over 100 militants were killed and 37 were captured, while local doctors say at least 80 people died, and 100 were wounded, including civilians.
(BBC)(Canada.com News)(The Independent)
The Israeli military begins an operation to create a 9 km (5.5 mile) "
buffer zone" within the northern
Gaza Strip. Israel says that the purpose of the zone is protect Israel from attacks using
Qassam rockets (which have a 9 km (5.5 mile) range).
(The Telegraph)Archived 2007-12-24 at the
Wayback Machine
Conflict in Iraq: On the third day of the assault on
Samarra, which has left 125 insurgents and 70 civilians dead, U.S. and Iraqi government officials say they have secured 70 percent of the city.
(AP)(BBC)
In interview with the CBC,
UNRWA commissioner
Peter Hansen says that he is sure that members of
Hamas are also members of UNRWA. The Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs, which has designated Hamas a
terrorist organization said it "will immediately seek clarification from Mr. Hansen directly and from UN authorities".
(CBC) He later said it would "have been outright dishonest to say that among a population with about 30% support for Hamas that none of them worked for us"
(The Guardian)
At least four civilians—a deaf man and three children—were killed today during Israeli raids in the
Gaza Strip town of
Jabaliya. More than 60 Palestinians, including civilians, have been killed during Israel's current offensive into Gaza. Israeli
Prime MinisterAriel Sharon says the Gaza operation will continue until
Qassam rocket attacks end.
(BBC)(Toronto Star)
The U.S. military continues its aerial bombardment of the rebel-held city of
Fallujah. Local hospital officials say that nine people were killed. Elsewhere, two U.S. soldiers are shot dead at a checkpoint in
Baghdad.
(AP)(BBC)
A major British
influenza vaccine company, Chiron, has its manufacturing license revoked due to an outbreak of bacteria. Chiron had been expected to supply half of this season's flu vaccines in the United States.
(BBC)
Iran announces that its
Shahab-3 missile has been modified to increase its range (originally 810 miles (1,300 km)) to 1,250 miles (2,000 km). This puts parts of Europe—and all of the
Middle East—within range of Iran's missiles for the first time.
(Reuters)Archived 2005-04-08 at the
Wayback Machine(The Scotsman)
Israel backs down from its claim that a rocket was loaded into a UN ambulance. The Israeli military said that it is "re-evaluating" its claim.
(The Guardian)(AP)
Same-sex marriage in Canada: The
Supreme Court of Canada begins three days of hearings into the federal government's reference of a draft bill to legalize
same-sex marriage. The court will review the bill's constitutionality, hearing arguments from groups on either side of the debate. A ruling is not expected for months.
(CBC)
A British
Royal Navy rescue ship reaches the
HMCS Chicoutimi (SSK 879), which is adrift off the
Irish coast following an electrical fire en route to
Halifax yesterday. Heavy seas have impeded rescue efforts, and one crewman has died being airlifted to hospital.
(BBC)
Three people, including a 15-year-old boy, are killed after
Israel shells the town of
Beit Lahiya.
(BBC)
Three
Hamas militants are killed after infiltrating the Israeli settlement of
Kfar Darom. One of the militants blew up when hit by Israeli gunfire, killing a
Thai worker in addition to himself. The other two militants were killed by IDF forces.
Gaza Strip.
(Haaretz)(INN [Israel])
The
UNRWA denies Israel's claim that it has detained 13 of its staff in
Gaza. A spokesman said a member of the Gaza staff had been in detention for two years, but knew of no one else in Israeli custody. Israel qualified its earlier statement, admitting that the number 13 referred to people detained in the past four years, some of whom are no longer in custody.
(BBC)
The
FBI seizes the servers of the
open-publishing network
Indymedia in the U.S. and the UK, disabling Indymedia websites in many countries. No reason was given. (IMC:
1,
2)
Three
car bombs are detonated in Egyptian towns in the
Sinai Peninsula frequented by Israeli
tourists. The largest explosion, which killed at least 34 and wounding 105, was at the
Hilton Taba in
Taba, near the
border with Israel. The other two explosions occurred at the towns of
Ras al-Sultan and
Nuweiba, killing two Israelis and four Egyptians. A group calling itself Jamayia al-Islamia al-Alamiya ("World Islamist Group") later claims responsibility and threatens further attacks.
(Al Jazeera)(Haaretz)(The Australian)(ABC)(CNN)
The
United Nations issues a special report warning of an imminent
humanitarian crisis in the
Gaza Strip. The report says that 72.5 percent of Palestinians will be living in
poverty by the end of 2006, that Israeli restrictions are hampering emergency aid deliveries, and that, since September 28, 82 Palestinians and 5 Israelis, including 26 children, have been killed.
(BBC)(UN)
Witnesses say that two Palestinian children were killed when the Israeli military shelled a crowd near the
Jabaliya refugee camp. Israel says that an Israeli
helicopter gunship fired at two people attempting to launch a
Qassam rocket.
(BBC)
Rescue teams retrieve at least 30 bodies from the ruins of the
Hilton Taba in
Taba, Egypt. Officials say up to 20 more bodies could be recovered.
(Haaretz)
An
earthquake of
magnitude 6.5 occurs near
Manila, the capital city of the Philippines. Its effects are felt as far as 90 miles (145 km) north of the city. The quake causes buildings to sway and knocks out power in some areas, but no serious damage or injuries are reported.
(CNN)(USGS)
In the northern
Gaza Strip, Israeli troops shoot and kill
Abed Rauf Nabhan, a local
Hamas leader, as he prepares to fire an anti-tank missile at Israeli tanks in
Jebaliya. The Israeli military says that Nabhan was responsible for a rocket attack that killed two Israeli children in
Sderot on
Sukkot eve.
(Maariv)
In addition to Abed Rauf Nabhan, seven Palestinians, including two
Palestinian Authority policemen, are reported to have been killed today. A total of 94 Palestinians, about half of whom were
civilians, including 18 children, have been killed since
Israel began its
offensive 10 days ago.
(ABC News)(BBC)
Conflict in Iraq: A peace agreement is reached in the
Baghdad slum of
Sadr City between the
Iraqi government and local militants loyal to
Shia cleric
Muqtada al-Sadr. The militants will turn in medium and heavy weapons during a five-day grace period, and Iraqi and US forces will then take control of the area.
(CNN)
The
Saudi Arabian Interior Ministry requests that all non-Muslims currently in Saudi Arabia refrain from eating, drinking or smoking in public. "Authorities will take deterrent measures such as terminating work contracts of, and deporting, violators"[1]
War on Terrorism:
Human Rights Watch issues a report charging that the US government's treatment of certain suspected terrorists being held outside the U.S. is in violation of U.S. treaties, international human rights law, and the
Geneva Conventions.
(BBC)
Conflict in Iraq: A rocket attack in southern
Baghdad kills two US soldiers and injures five others, while in the northern city of
Mosul a suicide
car bomb detonated near a U.S. military convoy kills a U.S. soldier and two
Iraqis and injures 27 others.
(ABC/AP)(News.com.au)
Israeli military police are investigating charges that an Israeli
army company commander repeatedly shot a 13-year-old Palestinian girl while the girl lay wounded or dead.
(Haaretz)(BBC)(Maarviv)(The Guardian)
Rescue efforts end in
Taba, Egypt at the site of Thursday's bombing. Egypt and
Israeliforensic experts announce that they have identified 12 Israelis, 6 Egyptians, 2 Italians, 1 Russian, and 13
Eastern Europeans among those killed.
(Haaretz)(Israeli MFA)
Workers in
Nigeria begin a four-day
general strike in protest of fuel price increases caused by the last year's repeal of government
subsidies.
(BBC)
In the
Gaza Strip, Ghadir Mokheimer, an 11-year-old
Palestinianschoolgirl, is struck in the chest and critically wounded by gunfire when
Israeli troops open fire near her school. She dies one day later. The Israeli
army says soldiers returned fire after coming under
mortar attack. (BBC:
1,
2)
(CNN)
The
Nigerian government announces that last month, Nigerian
Sharia courts sentenced two women, one of whom is pregnant, to death by
stoning on charges of committing
adultery, while
acquitting the two men involved. The sentence may still be appealed.
(Reuters)[permanent dead link]
The government of
Saudi Arabia announces that women will be prohibited from running as candidates or voting in the country's upcoming
municipal elections. The elections, the first in Saudi Arabia since the 1960s, will be held from February 10 to April 21, 2005.
(CNN)
Pakistan test fires a
nuclear-capable missile with a range of 1,500 km (930 miles), sufficient to reach most cities in neighboring India. Pakistan and India routinely test their missiles.
(BBC)(The Hindu [India])
The People's Republic of China rejects an offer by
Taiwanese PresidentChen Shui-bian to begin a peace dialogue, deriding the offer as "meaningless", and accusing Chen of making "an open and audacious expression of
Taiwan independence" by explicitly stating that the "
Republic of China is
Taiwan and Taiwan is the Republic of China".
(VOA)
The British
Foreign MinisterJack Straw comments on Israeli actions in the
Gaza Strip, saying that the United Kingdom "unreservedly condemns all acts of
terrorism including the firing of
Qassam rockets", but that "
Israel has an obligation under international law to ensure that its response to terrorism is proportionate to the threat it faces, as well as a duty to avoid innocent civilian casualties", and that "[Israel] is not meeting those obligations".
(BBC)(E-Politix)
Interim Iraqi Prime Minister
Ayad Allawi issues an
ultimatum to the city of
Fallujah, warning that a major new military operation will be launched if all foreign militants are not expelled from the city.
(Reuters)Archived 2004-12-26 at the
Wayback Machine
Relations between local insurgents and foreign
Arab militants in the Iraqi city of
Fallujah deteriorate, with locals threatening to expel the foreigners by force. Locals have killed at least five foreign fighters in recent weeks, and foreign fighters have taken refuge in the city's commercial district after being denied shelter in residential neighborhoods.
(MSNBC)
Iraqi insurgents carry out two bomb attacks within
Baghdad's heavily fortified "
Green Zone", which houses Iraqi government offices and U.S. military facilities. U.S. officials say that six Iraqis and four Americans were killed in the attacks.
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's
Tawhid and Jihad militant group later claims responsibility for the bombings.
(BBC)
The Israeli government announces that it will not restrict the number of worshippers allowed to enter
Jerusalem's
Al-Aqsa mosque compound (located in the area known as the
Temple Mount in Judaism) during the Muslim month of
Ramadan, despite concerns voiced by security officials that the site is dangerously structurally unstable and could collapse if too many people visit. The Israeli government had earlier suggested it would limit the number of visitors, with mosque officials accusing Israel of having "political reasons" to do so.
(Haaretz)(Jerusalem Post)[permanent dead link](AFP)
The US
Army is investigating up to 19 members of an Army Reserve unit stationed in Iraq who refused to take part in a fuel delivery convoy mission they considered unsafe. Relatives of the soldiers say that several soldiers described it as a "
suicide mission". Relatives also say that the soldiers were held under guard for almost two days, although an army spokesperson denies the claim.
(Daily Telegraph)Archived 2007-03-13 at the
Wayback Machine(San Francisco Gate)(Washington Times)
Major United States air strikes against
Fallujah continue. The U.S. military says that the bombings are "not the beginning of a major offensive".
(Reuters)Archived 2004-12-26 at the
Wayback Machine
Senior British military sources say that the US has asked that some
British troops be moved to an area south of
Baghdad to replace
U.S. troops moved to
Fallujah. Sources also say that the troops would be under U.S. command, a possibility which provokes criticism from opposition members of
Parliament.
(BBC)
Former
OAS and
Costa Rican president,
Miguel Angel Rodriguez, is arrested after stepping down last week on allegations of
corruption. He is not formally charged but a judge is demanding him to testify.
(BBC)
The
Israel Defense Forces clears an officer accused of repeatedly shooting a Palestinian schoolgirl,
Iman al-Hams, while she lay wounded or dead, accepting the officer's claim that he actually shot into the ground near the girl. A separate
military police investigation is continuing.
(BBC)
Israel Defense Forces withdraw from the northern
Gaza Strip, ending
Operation Days of Penitence. Three men, allegedly militants, and a 70-year-old Palestinian woman are killed on the final day. Over 100 Palestinians have died in the course of the 16-day operation; BBC sources say about one third were civilians.
The UK
ambassador to
Uzbekistan is recalled and suspended after criticizing the use of intelligence allegedly obtained under torture by the Uzbekistan government.
(BBC)
Heavy fighting in
Fallujah continues as U.S. tanks blockade the city and insurgent targets are hit by air and artillery. Hospital officials say four civilians, including a child, were killed.
(Reuters)(ABC)
A referendum is held in
Belarus on a proposal by President
Alexander Lukashenko to permit Lukashenko to run for a third term by amending the country's
constitution to remove term limits. The Belarus electoral commission says the referendum won the support of at least 75 percent of voters, but independent elections monitors say that the voting procedures "fell significantly short" of international standards. In
Minsk, the capital, more than 2,000 people protest the results of the referendum.
(BBC)(Reuters)[permanent dead link]
The
Anglican Communion's
Lambeth Commission on Communion releases the Windsor Report. The Commission recommends that churches throughout the Communion express regret for the divisions that they have caused in the Communion. This report was precipitated by the consecration of the openly
gay Reverend
Gene Robinson as a
bishop in the United States
Episcopal Church, and by the responses of other Anglican churches to his consecration.
(BBC)(Windsor Report)
In
Minsk, Belarus, protests continue over the results of
Monday's referendum, which permitted President
Alexander Lukashenko to seek a third term. At least 30 protesters are arrested, including opposition leader
Anatoly Lebedko. Supporters say Lebedko was badly beaten by
police and was refused treatment for his injuries.
(BBC)
British and German officials announce that, on Thursday, representatives of France, the United Kingdom, and Germany will meet in
Vienna with
Iranian officials to offer Iran a final chance to halt
uranium enrichment plans before proposed
U.N. sanctions are imposed.
(Reuters)[permanent dead link] (Link dead as of 22:35, 14 January 2007 (UTC))
Thai officials say that
Myanmar's military has removed the current prime minister of Myanmar, General
Khin Nyunt, from office and placed him under house arrest.
(BBC)
A team of explorers reached the bottom of the world's deepest cave, located in Krubera. The depth reached was 2,080 meters (6,824 feet), setting a world record.
(National Geographic)
US war planes strike a building in
Fallujah. Local sources say the strike killed a family of six, including four children. The U.S. military, however, denies a family was killed and issues a statement saying that "intelligence sources indicate a known
Zarqawipropagandist is passing false reports to the media". (Reuters:
1,
2)
CARE International, a health and water aid agency, announces that it is suspending operations in
Iraq. Its local manager,
Margaret Hassan, was abducted yesterday.
(BBC)
The
Human Genome Project revises its estimate of the number of genes in the human
genome, putting the number at 20,000 to 25,000, about 30 percent fewer than the previous estimate.
(ABC News)
Margaret Hassan, the humanitarian aid worker who was kidnapped in
Baghdad on October 19, is shown on the
al Jazeera television network pleading for her life.
(BBC)
Conflict in Iraq: A suicide
car bomb kills 16 and wounds 40 at a police training base in
Ramadi west of
Baghdad. A separate car bomb kills four
Iraqi National Guard soldiers at a check point in
Samarra. Two die and four are injured in U.S. air strikes on
Falluja. In
Mosul, two Turkish drivers are killed and two wounded when their convoy is attacked.
Mortars land in central
Baghdad killing two civilians. The U.S. military say they have captured a senior official of
al-Zarqawi's militant organization.
(Reuters)(BBC)
A powerful
2004 Chūetsu earthquake 6.7 measuring and six aftershocks of similar scale occur in the
Tokamachi area. A huge landslide occurs on the outskirts of
Nagaoka. Both area is southern and central
Niigata Prefecture in Japan. According to Japanese officials, 68 people are killed, 4,085 are injured, and 103,000 are rendered homeless.
In
Falluja, hospital officials report five civilians dead resulting from what witnesses claim were U.S. military
airstrikes. Military officials say a precision strike had destroyed a known enemy command and control post.
(Reuters)Archived 2005-04-08 at the
Wayback Machine(BBC)
The Roman Catholic Church publishes a handbook intended to guide business, cultural], and political leaders in making decisions regarding social issues. The publication comes one week before the
U.S. presidential election. In response to a journalist's question as to how Roman Catholics should vote,
Vatican spokesman
Joaquin Navarro Valls says that "the
Holy See never gets involved in electoral or political questions directly".
(MSNBC)
Tensions remain high in
French Polynesia as the Leadership remains in doubt. The Legislative Assembly failed to sit on Monday 25 October.
Gaston Flosse, elected President on 22 October, attempted to enter the Presidential palace on the weekend but was met by closed gates.
(Oceania Flash)
Conflict in Iraq: A roadside bomb kills a U.S. soldier and wounds five others in western
Baghdad. Hospital officials say five civilians are killed from U.S.
snipers in the western city of
Ramadi. In
Kirkuk, a roadside bomb kills an
Iraqi civilian. An
Estonian soldier is killed and five wounded in a bomb blast in Baghdad. A
mortar lands on an
Iraqi National Guard checkpoint north of Baghdad, killing an Iraqi civilian. In
Mosul, a car bomb kills a tribal leader and two civilians.
(Reuters)Archived 2004-11-14 at
archive.today(BBC)
The
International Atomic Energy Agency announces that two weeks ago, the Iraqi government informed the agency that about 380
tons (345,000
kg) of powerful
explosives, potentially usable in detonators for
nuclear bombs, apparently disappeared from the Al-Qaqaa weapons facility, a site about 30 miles south of
Baghdad, sometime shortly before or after
Saddam Hussein's government fell. The Iraqi director of planning attributed the disappearance to "the theft and looting of the governmental installations due to lack of security", although other sources indicate the explosives could have been removed by the Hussein regime itself. (Reuters:
1Archived 2004-10-26 at
archive.today,
2Archived 2005-04-08 at the
Wayback Machine, CNN:
1,
2)
The People's Republic of China shuts down dozens of illegal or unsanitary blood collection stations as part of its efforts to curb the spread of
AIDS in the country.
(VOA)
Iraq's appointed
Prime MinisterIyad Allawi tells the interim national council that yesterday's killing of 49 unarmed army recruits "was the outcome of major neglect by some parts of the multinational (forces)."
(Reuters)[permanent dead link]
78 people died of
suffocation while in the custody of Thailand police following the dispersal of a violent demonstration on October 25 in the restive Muslim-majority southern region of the country. The deaths appeared to have occurred during a five-hour trip in closed trucks to a detention facility.
(Reuters)Archived 2005-04-08 at the
Wayback Machine(BBC)
Scientists announce the discovery on the
Indonesian island of
Flores of the skeleton of a previously unknown species of extinct human, named Homo floresiensis. Unusually, the creature, while quite different from modern humans—as an adult, it stood only 3
feet (90
cm) tall—dates from only 18,000 years ago, disproving the accepted theory that modern humans became the sole human species 160,000 years ago.
(AP)
Amnesty International declares the
Bush administration to be "guilty of setting conditions for
torture and cruel treatment by lowering safeguards and failing to respond adequately to allegations of abuse", amid other criticisms of the "
war on terror", which the report says is "violating
basic rights in the name of
national security" and urged the President and challenger
John Kerry to support an independent inquiry into detention and interrogation policies.
(Reuters)Archived 2005-04-08 at the
Wayback Machine
An article in the Washington Times, citing US
Defense Department official
John A. Shaw, alleges that Russian special forces moved weapons, explosives, and related materials out of
Iraq and into
Syria,
Lebanon, and possibly
Iran, shortly before the U.S.
invasion of Iraq in March 2003. Russia denies the allegation, calling the claims "absurd". U.S. officials later say they cannot corroborate the claim, but are investigating.
(Washington Times)(VOA)(Interfax)
A
Los Angeles-based company,
Allerca, announced that within three years it will be able to produce a
hypoallergenic cat using
genetic modification. At the same time, the company denied that it will be able to do the same for dogs, because whereas cats have a single
gene that produces the allergenic
protein, dogs have many allergenic proteins controlled by multiple genes.
(San Jose Mercury News)(New Scientist)
A total
lunar eclipse, visible in western Europe, western Africa, and most of North and South America, takes place. It lasts for 3 hours, 40 minutes (1:15 to 4:54
UTC); the next total lunar eclipse will not occur until March 2007.
(NASA)(Seattle Times)
NAACP sends out warnings about a forged letter that threatens the arrest of voters who have outstanding parking tickets or have failed to pay child support.
(The State)
Fighting broke out for the second time in a month in
Somalia between troops from the autonomous
Somaliland and
Puntland macro-regions. So far, fighting in the disputed region has left over a hundred dead.
(BBC)
Two bombings occur in southern
Thailand, in the wake of clashes between minority Muslim protesters and Thai soldiers in which about 80 protesters were suffocated while being transported to detention camps.
(INQ7.net)
Darfur conflict:
Rwanda begins deploying a contingent of 237 troops to
Darfur,
Sudan, as part of an
African Union mission to bring stability to the troubled region. Sixty-five soldiers have been sent this weekend; the rest will be deployed as the week progresses. Rwanda already had some troops in Darfur.
(CNN)
