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- In Côte d'Ivoire, renewed violence in the west of the country costs at least 41 lives (Reuters AlertNet) (SABC) (BBC)
- In Italy, court in Bologna gives life sentences to five members of Red Brigades for the murder of government advisor Marco Biagi in 2002. They are suspected members of the Communist Combatant faction of the Brigades (AGI) (IHT) (BBC)
- Israeli-Palestinian Conflict:
- Haim Yavin, one of Israel's most respected television news presenters has condemned the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories, calling it "brutal", the first time he has spoken publicly on the subject. (BBC), (Boston Globe), (CBS), (The Guardian)
- The Shin Bet claim to have thwarted a double suicide bombing attack on Jerusalem, arresting 5 Islamic Jihad militants who had two explosive belts. (Haaretz)
- 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)
- Dan Halutz, the former Israeli Air Force commander, was appointed as the 18th Chief of Staff of the Israeli Defence Forces. (IDF official announcement)
- 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)
- The American Family Association, a Christian activist group, a week after ending its boycott of the Walt Disney Company, announced a boycott of the Ford Motor Company. In adding Ford to its ongoing boycotts of Kmart and the book One of the Guys by Robert Clark Young, the AFA argues that Ford promotes "the homosexual lifestyle." (MSNBC)
- At least 20 people are killed and 40 are injured in a bomb blast in the city of Kandahar, Afghanistan. (BBC)
- Sweden shuts down the Barsebäck 2 nuclear reactor. (Planet Ark) (BBC)
- In Australia, embassy of Indonesia was closed after it received a package containing suspected "biological agent". The case is probably related to the sentence of Schapelle Corby (Bloomberg) (Reuters AlertNet)
- In the Netherlands, a national referendum on ratification of the European Constitution results in its rejection by a substantial margin. (Reuters)
- In Bolivia, continuing protests against privatisation of basic utilities force congress to abandon a key session in the capital La Paz (BBC)
- In the June 6 issue of TIME Magazine, Wikipedia and its founder Jimmy Wales have been featured in a story on the rise of wiki technology. (TIME)
- The chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, William Donaldson, announces that he will leave that post at the end of June. (thestreet.com)
- In Crosby, Texas, United States of America an oil well owned by Louisiana Oil & Gas Co. exploded. <<NEWSLINK MISSING>>
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- In Brazil, police have issued 124 arrest warrants from people suspected of illegal logging in the Amazon Rainforest over the last 15 years. 89 people are arrested, many of them from government agencies (Planet Ark) (Reuters AlertNet) (BBC)
- In Western Australia, large number of volunteers have helped 74 beached False Killer Whales return to sea. Only one dies on the ground (SMH) (ABC transcript) (News.com.au) (BBC)
- Cedar Revolution:
- In Niger, 200 protesters march in the capital Niamey to demand that government alleviate the food shortage (AllAfrica) (Reuters AlertNet)
- United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan announces a report that states that the AIDS epidemic is accelerating despite the major efforts to stop it. (UN News Centre) (Medical News Today) (Reuters)
- In the Maldives, parliament members support move to multi party democracy. Before the parliamentary debate, government arrested number of dissidents (Dhivehi Observer) (Reuters) (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)
- John Kerry criticizes the media for its coverage of the Downing Street memo, and joins calls for an inquiry. (WikiNews) (South Coast Today)
- The parliament in Latvia votes to ratify the European Constitution in an overwhelming majority of 71 to 5. (Spiegel online, German)
- In China, authorities have arrested Lu Jianhua and Chen Hui of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences for espionage (Reuters)
- In the Philippines, male students organize a naked protest in Manila to demonstrate against too little funding in education (ABS-CBN, Philippines)
- United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan dismisses senior official Joseph Stephanides for oil for food scandal (UN News Centre) (Bloomberg)
- Protests in European cities of Brussels and Helsinki against software patents occur. (NPE)
- Israeli-Palestinian Conflict:
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- The German political party Alliance '90/The Greens opens a Wiki that allows all users to contribute to the party's manifesto for the German federal election, 2005 [1](Spiegel online, German)
- Israeli-Palestinian Conflict:
- In Australia, a suspicious package containing white powder sent to Foreign Minister Alexander Downer led security guards to close the mail-room of Parliament House in Canberra and enact decontamination procedures. Federal Police later deemed the package harmless, but analysis continues.(News.com.au) (BBC)
- Cedar Revolution:
- In Bolivia, president Carlos Mesa calls for a referendum for regional autonomy on October 16 to quell the demonstrations against him. The elections for the constitutional assembly on the same day would reform the constitution in favor of the native majority (Forbes) (BBC) (Reuters AlertNet)
- Guantánamo Bay Qur'an desecration allegations:
- 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)
- Judge Karon O. Bowdre, presiding over the federal trial of Richard M. Scrushy in Birmingham, Alabama, delivers what is called the Allen charge to the jury in that case, in the hope of breaking its deadlock and producing a verdict. (NY Times)
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- 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)
- In Lebanon, Hezbollah and Amal parties claim victory in the parliamentary election in the south of the country. Both groups are supporters of Syria (Daily Star) (Reuters)
- In Kuwait, two women become the first females to be appointed to municipal council. They are Sheikha Fatima al-Sabah of the ruling Sabah family and engineer Fawziya al-Bahar (Al-Jazeera) (Gulf Daily News) (BBC)
- Scientists in Canada, France and US report that they have developed a vaccine that works in monkeys against Marburg virus and Ebola (Medical News Today) (Science Daily) (BBC)
- In Spain, 250,000 people demonstrate in Madrid against a government plan to negotiate with the Basque ETA (EITB) (BBC) (Reuters AlertNet)
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- Syrian vice-president Abdel-Halim Khaddam resigns during a Ba'ath party congress (BBC) (Jerusalem Post)
- In Ethiopia, police arrest more than 500 students who protest against the parliamentary elections. The ruling EPRDF party claims victory but official results have been delayed until July 8 due to complaints of electoral fraud and opposition protests (News24) (Reuters AlertNet) (BBC)
- In Burundi, former rebel group Hutu Forces for the Defence of Democracy wins 75 out of 129 seats in municipal elections (AllAfrica) (Reuters AlertNet) (BBC)
- In Kyrgyzstan, the top prosecutor issues an arrest warrant for the former prime minister Nikolai Tanayev for mishandling government funds (Guardian Unlimited) (BBC)
- Bolivian president Carlos Mesa offers his resignation when unrest continues.(El Clarin)
- Debian GNU/Linux: Version 3.1, codenamed sarge, is released. (Press release)
- Apple Computer announces they would change the processors for their Macintosh computer lineup from IBM to Intel. - Ziff Davis; BBC News
- The Supreme Court of the United States found for the federal government in a 6-3 decision in the medical marijuana case Ashcroft v. Raich. The court also decided in Spector v. Norwegian Cruise Line Ltd. by ruling that the ADA applies to foreign cruise ships.
- U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice opened the 35th General Assembly meeting of the Organization of American States Sunday in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Secretary Rice called on member states to do more to protect democracy in the region, and strengthen civil society. (VOA News)
- The International Criminal Court announces an investigation into crimes against humanity in Darfur (Sudan Tribune) (Reuters AlertNet)
- Protests against privatisation of essential utilities continue in Bolivia (Reuters AlertNet)
- In Bougainville, Joseph Kabui is elected president of the autonomous government (Radio Australia) (BBC)
- In Australia, Chinese defector Chen Yonglin claims that the Australian government rejected his request for political asylum without interviewing him. China states that his claims about a large espionage ring in Australia are false (ABC) (Taipei Times) (BBC)
- In Washington state, United States, the battle over the results of the 2004 gubernatorial election is settled by a county judge, approving the final count in favor of Christine Gregoire.
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- Hungarian opposition candidate László Sólyom wins the 2005 presidential election in a 185-182 victory over Katalin Szili. [2]
- United States Senator Jon Corzine wins the New Jersey Democratic Party gubernatorial primary. Doug Forrester, a former mayor, wins the New Jersey Republican Party gubernatorial primary after a heated contest with another former mayor, Bret Schundler. The November 2005 election will be the first since Governor James McGreevey resigned over a scandal in which he was revealed to be homosexual. (Boston Globe)
- Scientists at UCLA use a pyroelectric crystal heated from -34.4 to 7.2 degrees Celsius to produce an electric field of about 100,000 volts, accelerating hydrogen nuclei and producing helium nuclei in the subsequent collisions. This cold fusion experiment has been repeated successfully, and other scientists have confirmed the results. (CSMonitor) (Nature) (UCLA) (MSNBC)
- After a four-hour-long debate French centrist Party UDF refuse to vote confidence to the new government. - Yahoo France - AFP
- General Motors announces that it will lay 25,000 people off. BBC News
- Siemens announces the sale of its mobile phone assets to the Taiwanese electronics company BenQ. BBC News
- Israeli-Palestinian conflict: A day of violence erupts in the Gaza Strip and West Bank. Haaretz.
- 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 Indian Lok 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)
- New York State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver's veto of the plan to build the West Side Stadium, the key component to the New York bid, all but ends New York City's chances of receiving the 2012 Olympics, leaving the field to a face-off between Paris and London. (NYtimes) (Reuters)
- The National Assembly of the Republic of China approves a package of amendments to the Constitution of the Republic of China to halve the number of seats in the Legislative Yuan and abolish itself.(Taipei Times) (TaiwanNews) (Reuters)
- In the Philippines, the government orders the National Bureau of Investigation to investigate a case where opposition tapped the telephone conversation of president Gloria Arroyo. They allegedly used it to create a tape where she is supposedly talking about electoral fraud (ABS-CBN) (Manila Bulletin) (Bloomberg)
- In Chile, the Santiago Court of Appeals cancels Augusto Pinochet's immunity from prosecution. Among other things, he faces charges of tax fraud. However, the court also ruled that he is too ill to face charges of human rights violations (Bloomberg) (BBC)
- Human Rights Watch demands investigation about the unrest in Uzbekistan, accusing the leaders of the country trying to cover up a "massacre" (Human Rights Watch) (Reuters AlertNet) (RIA Novosti)
- In Australia, Hao Fengjun, second Chinese defector, backs claims of Chen Yonglin about a large Chinese espionage network in the country (Radio Australia) (Reuters)
- In Brazil, president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva promises investigation on allegations that his party offered bribes to parliamentarians for political support (Bloomberg) (BBC)
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- 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)
- The Philippine senate is evacuated after a bomb threat. (Reuters AlertNet)
- Ethiopian general elections: At least 22 Ethiopians are killed at demonstrations in Addis Ababa between police and students who accuse the ruling party of fraud in last month's general elections. (News 24, South Africa) (Guardian)
- The European Commission and its president José Manuel Barroso survive the no confidence vote (EUpolitix) (IHT) (Bloomberg)
- HealthSouth and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission reach a settlement. The company will pay $100 million to put the SEC investigation behind it.
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- Italian Clementina Cantoni a worker with CARE International who was held hostage in Afghanistan is released unharmed. (Pakistan Dawn) (Reuters AlertNet)
- In Syria, the ruling Baath party votes to end the state of emergency that has lasted for 40 years. (Al-Jazeera) (BBC)
- In Norway, Mullah Krekar, Kurdish founder of Ansar al-Islam, goes to court to resist deportation to Iraq. (Aftenposten) (Kurdishmedia) (Al-Jazeera)
- In Mexico, a court overturns the murder conviction of Raul Salinas de Gortari, brother of former president Carlos Salinas de Gortari. (Reuters AlertNet) (BBC)
- An Amnesty International report states that numbers of killed and sexually abused women have increased in Guatemala. (Amnesty International) (BBC) (BBC)
- In Oman, Sultan Qaboos pardons 31 people previously convicted of a coup attempt. (Gulf Daily News) (Al-Jazeera) (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)
- Protesters in Bolivia take over seven oil fields managed by BP and Repsol YPF. (IHT)
- 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)
- Togolese president Faure Gnassingbé names Edem Kodjo, leader of the opposition Patriotic Pan-African Party, as prime minister. (Republique Togolaise) (BBC) (Reuters AlertNet)
- A former Bank of America broker, Theodore Sihpol is acquitted by a jury in a New York Court of charges that he assisted a New Jersey hedge fund in trading illegally in mutual funds, at the expense of investors in the latter. (Lipper/HedgeWorld)
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- In the Philippines, whistleblower Samuel Ong accuses, with audio evidence, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo of rigging the 2004 elections, thus starting an electoral crisis. (IHT)
- 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)
- In Japan, a high school student throws a bomb into classroom in Hikari, Yamaguchi Prefecture. 69 students are injured. (Japan Today)
- In Australia, a Queensland government inquiry states that medical doctor Jayant Patel should be charged with murder, fraud, negligence and medical malpractice due to the death of 87 of his patients. Jayant Patel has left the country and his current location is unknown. (ABC) (SBS)
- In India, Subrata Roy, chairman of Sahara Group, goes public to state that he is healthy. Roy had been out of the public eye since April and his absence had aroused rumors of death, illness, intrafamily conflict and political pressure. (Hindu) (ExpressIndia) (BBC)
- Kuwait's Crown Prince Sheikh Saad al-Abdulla al-Sabah is taken to the hospital.
- The popular Battlefield 2 Demo was released to the public as a preview to the full version of the game Battlefield 2 launched on June 21, 2005.
- Agerton's second mayor, Yona Levine.
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- In Canada, after 5 days of non-stop rain, the city of Calgary, AB 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)
- The jury in Michael Jackson's trial for child molestation finds the pop star not guilty on all counts. (CNN), (BBC)
- Swedish diplomat Jan Eliasson is unanimously elected President of the United Nations General Assembly. He will take over the presidency on September 20, 2005. (RealOpinion.com)
- Ninety-two people, almost all children, have died after a flash flood hit a school in Shalan, Heilongjiang province, China. (BBC).
- Italians end voting in a two-day referendum about strict fertility treatment laws. The Catholic Church has recommended that Catholics boycott the poll, which needs 50% turnout to be valid. Initial turnout has been low and it is projected not to reach the 50% level. (Reuters AlertNet) (Reuters) (BBC) (IHT)
- In the Philippines, president Gloria Arroyo's press secretary Ignacio Bunye states that the president is ready to face proper impeachment charges if the opposition follows the proper legal process. Many politicians have expressed support to her. (ABS-CBN) (Manila Bulletin)
- Philippines police are ready to charge former National Bureau of Investigation deputy director Samuel Ong for illegal wiretapping and sedition (Sun Star)
- The last Australian peacekeeping troops leave East Timor. (SBS) (ABC) (Reuters)
- In South Korea, Kim Woo Choong, former head of Daewoo Group, intends to return to the country after five years living abroad. He faces charges of fraud after the collapse of Daewoo Group (Korea Times) (Korea Herald) (Channel News Asia) (BBC)
- 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)
- In Nigeria, president Olusegun Obasanjo gives an order that all illegal oil refineries in the Niger River delta should be destroyed (Reuters SA) (IHT)
- In Mexico, army soldiers and federales take over the city of Nuevo Laredo near the US border. The whole local police force is detained for investigation in connection to drug trafficking and for drug testing. City's just-appointed police chief Alejandro Dominguez was assassinated last Wednesday. On Saturday, a policeman shot a federal agent (Houston Chronicle) (Reuters AlertNet) (BBC)
- 14 people drown off the coast of Morocco in a boat that tried to reach Spain (Al-Jazeera) (BBC)
- In France, police arrest serial impostor Frederic Bourdin, who had taken a role of a schoolboy (BBC)
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- 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)
- Jacob Zuma, Executive Deputy President of South Africa, is fired for being implicated in a high-profile corruption trial. (Reuters)
- Conflict in Iraq: 22 people have died following a suicide bombing in Kirkuk, northern Iraq. (BBC)
- Football (soccer) sex crime allegations:
- Sudan rejects the UN's decision to use the International Criminal Court to try criminals in relation to the atrocities of the Darfur conflict, and instead opens its own recently-created special court. (Al-Jazeera) (ReliefWeb), (ISN)
- A TNS/MRBI Irish Times opinion poll predicts that Ireland, previously seen as certain to vote yes, is likely to vote no in its planned referendum on the European Constitution. Only 30% of voters indicated that they would vote for the constitution, the lowest level in any country in the European Union to date. (The Scotsman)
- A four-year-old boy is reported dead shortly after losing consciousness while riding Mission: SPACE at Walt Disney World's Epcot. (CNN)
- According to Washington Post, US and Russian defense officials blocked NATO demand of investigation into crackdown of unrest in Uzbekistan (Washington Post) (ReliefWeb) (IHT)
- In Indonesia, lawyers of Schapelle Corby file appeal in Bali court (Australia) (Reuters)
- In Mexico, Raúl Salinas de Gortarí is released from prison on bail. He has been in prison for ten years (El Universal) (Reuters)
- 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.
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- The Serbian special war crimes tribunal asks the government to ask Argentina for extradition of Nebojša Minić, suspected of crimes against humanity in Kosovo in 1999 (B92) (Reuters)
- Zambian government reopens a case against Kashiwa Bulaya, former health ministry official and ally of president Levy Mwanawasa. Bulaya is accused of diverting AIDS drugs funds (Times of Zambia) (AllAfrica) (Reuters)
- In Mexico, supreme court rules that former president Luis Echeverría can be charged with human rights violations connected to 1971 deaths of student activists (El Universal) (Bloomberg) (BBC)
- Microsoft is criticized for censoring Chinese blogs. They are accused of censoring words such as "freedom", "democracy", and "human rights". (RealOpinion.com), (BBC)
- World leaders of the Group of 77 and China today launched in Doha the two-day second South Summit amid calls to wealthy countries to honour pledges of additional aid to close the gap between the rich and poor. (Xinhua), (Reuters)
- Qatari Prime Minister Abdallah ibn Khalifah Al Thani and German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder agree to begin a study to look into the feasibility of building a maglev line approximately 160 km long linking Qatar and Bahrain, powered by Transrapid technology developed by Siemens AG and ThyssenKrupp. Also being considered is a possible extension to the United Arab Emirates that would make the combined length of the line roughly 800 km. (AME Info) (Expatica)
- 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)
- The Israeli Shin Bet (SHABAK) states that one month ago it arrested an alleged eight-member Palestinian militant cell in Nablus that included four teenage would-be suicide bombers. It claimed that the cell was part of Fatah (the ruling party of the Palestinian Authority), and that the Lebanese group Hezbollah was behind it. (Haaretz)
- In Russia, explosion and fire in an oil depot near Moscow kills two (RIA Novosti) (Russia Journal) (BBC)
- Catholic Archbishop Chaput warns Europe about growing anti-Semitism and intolerance. (BeyondtheNews)
- Douglas Wood, an Australian hostage residing in California is released in Iraq after 47 days in captivity, and is now being moved to a secret location. (ABC Online)
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- A report by the Metropolitan Police in the UK states that children are being trafficked into the UK from Africa to be used as 'human sacrifices'. (BBC), (Guardian)
- 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)
- Conflict in Iraq: Five U.S. Marines die from a roadside bomb in Ramadi, Western Iraq. (BBC)
- A Jewish cemetery in West Ham has been attacked. This was the 117th time a Jewish cemetery in Great Britain has been attacked in 15 years. (The Independent)
- In Cambodia, 6 unidentified gunmen take over a school in the town of Siem Reap near Angkor Wat and hold a number hostage for six hours. Reports of the number of hostages range from 24 to 70. Many of them were children from foreign families that work in the area. Gunmen demand money, weapons and a car. A Canadian child is executed by the gunmen before the rest are freed. (BBC) (CBC) (Channel News Asia) (Channel News Asia) (Reuters),(Reuters)
- In Japan, former tycoon Yoshiaki Tsutsumi confesses to financial fraud and insider trading. (Japan Today) (Channel News Asia)
- Chilean authorities have found a weapons arsenal in Villa Baviera, former Colonia Dignidad, during the investigation of the colony's founder Paul Schaefer (BBC)
- Uzbekistan deports four members of human rights group International Helsinki Federation after they had investigated unrest in Andijan. (Mosnews) (Reuters AlertNet)
- In Brazil, minister José Dirceu resigns due to allegations that he knew about bribery but insists that he is innocent (BBC) (Forbes)
- Eastern Orthodox Church demotes former patriarch Irenaios I to a rank of a monk (Jerusalem Post/AP) (BBC)
- The police chief of Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, Alejandro Domínguez, is gunned down just seven hours after his inauguration.
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- A mudslide in San Antonio Senahu, Guatemala, kills 23 people, including several children. Most of the dead were of Mayan descent. (alternet)
- The murder weapon used to kill Leon Trotsky is purported to have surfaced in Mexico. (BBC)
- A United Nations investigation has concluded that Rafik Hariri, the former Prime Minister of Lebanon, was killed by a truck bomb. (BBC)
- Controversial Pakistani scientist AQ Khan is said to be stable after suffering a heart attack. (BBC)
- In Kyrgyzstan, hundreds of protesters seize a government building in the capital of Bishkek. They support presidential candidate Urmat Baryaktadasov, who was denied registration because the government says he is also a citizen of Kazakhstan. Police later seized the building. (RIA Novosti) (CNN) (Guardian Unlimited) (BBC)
- The 2005 Presidential election begins in Iran. Most pre-voting polls favor Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani. (Middle East Online) (Al-Jazeera) (Reuters) (IHT)
- Cambodian police have arrested a security guard who allegedly planned the hostage drama in Siem Reap. (Channel News Asia) (Reuters)
- The Supreme Court of the Republic of China rejects the opposition's appeal to nullify the results of the 2004 presidential election. Chen Shui-bian won the election by a narrow majority. (Channel News Asia) (Bloomberg)
- In the United Kingdom, the Ugandan-born bishop of Birmingham Rt Rev Dr John Sentamu is named the new Archbishop of York. He is the first ever black person to be appointed an Archbishop of the Church of England. (BBC) (Reuters)
- The Vatican announces that it has taken the unusual step of suspending the announced beatification of the Reverend Leon Dehon in order to investigate charges of anti-Semitism. AP
- 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)
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- 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.
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- Chief US immigration judge Michael Creppy rules that Ukrainian-born John Demjanjuk can be deported because he was a concentration camp guard during World War II (WBNS, Ohio) (Washington Post) (Reuters)
- In Brazil, president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva names energy minister Dilma Rousseff as a cabinet chief because of José Dirceu's resignation (AE Brazil) (Reuters)
- Turkey sentences Islamist extremist Metin Kaplan, the "Caliph of Cologne", to life in prison for his role in a plot to blow up the mausoleum of Kemal Ataturk.
- Cedar Revolution: The Anti-Syrian bloc of Saad al-Hariri captured control of the Lebanese Legislature in the Lebanese general election of 2005, winning 72 of the 128 available seats. (Yahoo!)
- A Suicide bomber in Iraq kills 13 policemen, and injured more than 100 people, in the city of Irbil, northern Iraq. BBC News
- Israeli-Palestinian conflict:
- In Japan, magnitude 4.9 earthquake hits central Niigata Prefecture, with little reported damage and no tsunami risk (Japan Today) (Reuters AlertNet)
- International Whaling Commission meets in Ulsan, South Korea. Japan tries to ease its restrictions to whaling but its suggestion to exclude proposed creation of whale sanctuaries is voted down (CNN) (Reuters) (Japan Today)
- John Rigas, founder of cable company Adelphia Communications is sentenced to 15 years in prison on last summer's securities fraud conviction. (Bloomberg)
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- In Canada, after 2 straight days of rain, the city of Calgary, AB is under another state of emergency ands now the Elbow River is now 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.
- The Cosmos 1 experimental solar sail spacecraft, a project of international space advocacy group The Planetary Society and science based entertainment company Cosmos Studios, is launched by a Russian R-29R Volna ICBM from a Russian Delta III submarine submerged in the Barents Sea. However, the spacecraft is feared lost, for the rocket failed 83 seconds after launch. (PhysOrg) (Washington Post) (BBC) (SBS) (The Planetary Society)
- The LA Times suspends an experiment called "wikitorial" after three days because of vandalism. (MSNBC) (BBC)
- 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)
- In Mexico, Zapatista rebels are in alert, pulling out of villages and closing their radio stations. The reasons are unknown, although the move may be due to an army drug raid in Los Altos. Subcomandante Marcos announces that foreign aid workers can stay only at their own risk. Later news indicate that Zapatistas are gathering for a conference. Marcos announces that the movement is entering a "next step in the struggle" and that the organization has reorganized itself to survive the loss of current leadership. (Indymedia Chiapas, English translation (Indymedia Chiapas, English translation) (Reuters) (Reuters AlertNet) (Reuters AlertNet)
- In Brazil, president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva demands that the opposition present proof of its allegations that government had given bribes for political support (Reuters) (BBC)
- In Lebanon, a remote control bomb that had been placed under the passenger seat of his car kills anti-Syrian politician George Hawi, former secretary general of Lebanese Communist Party (Daily Star) (Ya Libnan) (Al-JAzeera) (IHT) (Reuters)
- In the Philippines, congress begins an inquiry into allegations that president Gloria Arroyo had rigged votes in last year's presidential elections. President states that she will comment on the process later. Her supporters and the opposition demonstrate in Manila (INQ7, Philippines) (Manila Times) (Sun Star) (Channel News Asia)
- In Zambia, former health ministry official Kashiba Bulaya has been charged again with accepting a bribe from a Bulgarian firm that manufactures anti-retrovirus drugs against AIDS. Government's decision to halt the case a month ago aroused protests. (Reuters SA) (BBC)
- A U.S. Court of Appeals struck down a regulation of the SEC designed to ensure an independent board of directors for mutual funds, holding that the SEC didn't comply with the requirements of the Administrative Procedures Act. (Chamber of Commerce)
- A hitherto unknown poem by Sappho was identified on an Oxyrhynchus papyrus by scholars of Cologne university, and published in the Times Literary Supplement [3].
- The popular video game, Battlefield 2, was officially released.
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- 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 Chad, a referendum for allowing presidents, particularly Idriss Déby, run for office for three straight terms, passes. (Reuters SA)
- An Italian military tribunal in La Spezia has sentenced 10 German former Nazi officers in absentia to life imprisonment for their role in a World War II massacre of 560 civilians in the Tuscan village of Sant'Anna di Stazzema. (BBC News)
- In Colombia, congress approves a draft bill that offers sentences of only eight years to those members of paramilitary militias 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)
- International Whaling Commission meeting in Ulsan, South Korea, does not support Japan's suggestion to resume coastal whaling or increase its own scientific one. Commission also voted down a request that Japan could catch 150 minke whales a year (Japan Today) (Channel News Asia) (Reuters AlertNet)
- In South Africa, President Thabo Mbeki names energy and minerals minister Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka as his deputy president. She is the first woman to hold the position. (SABC) (Reuters SA) (News24) (BBC profile)
- The Peruvian government condemns supreme court decision to drop the case of former president Alberto Fujimori for forging signatures for 2000 elections (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 Ethiopia, main opposition group Coalition for Unity and Democracy states that government investigators have dropped all their complaints about possible election fraud. Government still has not released any results (AllAfrica) (Reuters AlertNet) (BBC)
- United Nations Security Council votes to send 750 more peacekeepers to Haiti for elections and extend the UN mandate to February 15 2006 (UN News Centre) (ReliefWeb)
- 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)
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- The Supreme Court of the United States decides 5-4 in the case Kelo v. New London that local governments can seize residential and commercial property for private development projects against the will of property owners as a "public use" under the 5th Amendment. (Market Watch),(New York Times)
- Elderly former Ku Klux Klansman Edgar Ray Killen was sentenced to 60 years in prison for the 1964 killing of three civil rights workers, the notorious crime that galvanized the civil rights movement and inspired the 1988 movie Mississippi Burning. Circuit Judge Marcus Gordon handed down the maximum possible sentence for the 80-year-old former Baptist preacher, a punishment which will likely keep him in prison for the rest of his life. (Reuters)
- In Indonesia, the team that is investigating the death of human rights campaigner Munir Said Thalib states that the Indonesian intelligence agency BIN may be involved. Munir died of arsenic poisoning en route to the Netherlands on September 7, 2004. (Channel News Asia)
- 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 the US, large fires break out in Arizona and California. In Arizona, 250 people are evacuated and 10 houses destroyed northeast of Phoenix. Two fires break out in California in Morongo Valley and San Bernardino Valley (Los Angeles Times) (KESQ) (Reuters)
- In Spain, regional Basque Parliament elects Juan Jose Ibarretxe as their new president (EITB) (Berria) (Reuters AlertNet)
- In Israel, Mordechai Vanunu appeals to the supreme court to order Shin Bet to release letters he wrote during his time in prison. Security service claims that the letters contain sensitive information (Haaretz) (Reuters)
- 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)
- In Malawi, parliament debates about possible impeachment of president Bingu wa Mutharika. United Democratic Party accuses him for violation of the constitution and misusing public funds. Debate is interrupted when the speaker of the house Rodwell Munyenyembe collapses. (Nation Online, Malawai (about proposed impeachment) (BBC) (Reuters)
- Cameroon accuses Nigeria of attacks in the disputed and oil-rich Bakassi peninsula (AllAfrica) (BBC) (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)
- In the equatorial Pacific Ocean, a Sea Launch Zenit-3SL rocket lifts off at 1403 GMT, and successfully places its payload, the 12,125-pound Intelsat Americas 8 satellite, in orbit. (Spaceflight Now) (Sea Launch)
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- Five people are found shot to death at their Yuma, Arizona home, and a sixth victim dies at a local hospital [4]
- Juan Rivera Was Found Dead In His Carteret N.J Home
- Share prices of American airlines fell sharply as oil neared $60 a barrel. (Reuters)
- The United States House of Representatives voted to prevent United Airlines from transferring its pension plan obligations to the government insurer, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation. (Chicago Sun-Times)
- An Italian judge ordering the arrest of 13 people linked to the CIA on charges of kidnapping terrorism suspect Abu Omar allegedly in order to have him tortured in Egypt dramatizes a growing rift between the U.S. and its allies in the War on Terrorism. (IHT) (Chicago Tribune)
- Ohio Governor Bob Taft says he will not resign, despite ethical questions around him and his administration. (Akron Beacon-Journal)
- 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)
- Sir Donald Tsang is sworn in as the second Chief Executive of Hong Kong in the Great Hall of the People following his appointment by the Election Committee. (BBC)
- Iranian presidential election, 2005
- In China, death toll in summer floods has risen to 536 (Xinhua) (Reuters AlertNet)
- In the Indian state of Bihar, Maoist rebels clash with police, leaving at least 21 people dead. (The Hindu) (BBC)
- Israeli-Palestinian conflict:
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- In Destin, Florida, a 14-year-old Louisiana girl is killed in a shark attack.
- A second case of mad cow disease has been confirmed in the United States.
- Elections in Bulgaria: The people of Bulgaria are voting today and the government of Prime Minister Simeon Sakskoburggotski, the country's former Tsar, is expected to be defeated. (Reuters)
- Pope Benedict XVI's new book contains material critical of the European Union's efforts that he characterizes as an "attempt to build a human community absolutely without God" and Western liberalization of abortion. (The Associated Press)
- Hong Kong's new leader, Donald Tsang, promises to rebuild the trust of the people in the government of the Chinese territory. (The Associated Press)
- The Sri Lanka Muslim 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)
- China's southern province of Guangdong suffers great damage from the flooding Pearl River. (The Associated Press)
- In Iran, the hardline Mayor of Tehran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, wins Friday's run-off election for the nation's presidency with 62% of the vote. (BBC) (Bloomberg News)
- Residents in St. Louis, Missouri are allowed back to their homes early today after an explosion at an industrial gas plant forced emergency evacuations Friday. (The Associated Press)
- The board of the NAACP unanimously selects business executive Bruce S. Gordon as the civil rights organization's next president. (Guardian)
- Billy Graham meets former President Bill Clinton onstage before a crowd of 80,000 during the second of three services of his last crusade at Flushing Meadows Corona Park in New York.
(AP) (New York Times)
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- Richard Whiteley, who for 23 years presented the Channel 4 game show Countdown, died aged 61.
- The Kremlin has called for an inquiry into fighting that took place on June 4, 2005, between Chechens and Avars. Russian president Vladimir Putin threatens that if any future incidents take place, "the North Caucasus will burn." (Seattle Post-Intelligencer)
- 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)
- Elections in Bulgaria
- 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)
- Colombia launches a large counter-offensive against FARC (BBC) (CNN)
- In Chile, senator Jorge Lavandero receives suspended sentence for child molestation. Opposition criticizes the sentence (CNN)
- In Kenya 49 people die and 174 are hospitalized after drinking industrial alcohol (Standard, Kenya) (Reuters AlertNet) (Guardian Unlimited)
- In Paris, former sports minister Guy Drut withdraws from the Paris' bid to host 2012 Olympic Games because he is charged with involvement with corruption (GamesBids) (BBC)
- Syrian court acquits human rights activist Aktham Naisse (Al-Jazeera) (Al bawaba)
- Rev. Billy Graham finishes what might be his final crusade. He preached before a crowd of 90,000 at Flushing Meadows Corona Park in New York. (New York Times)
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- 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.
- Bill C-38 passes through the Canadian House of Commons, placing Canada on track to become the third country in the world to legalize same-sex marriage, likely by July. (CBC)
- AMD files an antitrust lawsuit against rival chipmaker Intel (Tom's Hardware)
- Pakistan's Supreme Court suspends the acquittal of five men accused of raping Mukhtaran Bibi. (BBC)
- In France, police search offices of specialty chemicals company Rhodia and finance ministry in the investigation of accounting irregularities and inside trading. Finance minister Thierry Breton was a member of the Rhodia board. (Business Week) (Forbes) (IHT)
- Countries backing the ITER fusion reactor meet in Moscow to decide if the experimental fusion reactor will be built in Cadarache, Southern France, instead of Japan. (PhysOrg) (European Commission) (BBC) (IHT)
- Emperor Akihito of Japan and empress Michiko pay an unannounced visit to the memorial of Korean war dead during his visit in Saipan. (Japan Today) (Asahi Shimbun) (Reuters)
- A team of US and Canadian scientists announces that they may have found a way of vaccination against Lassa fever. (BBC) (Reuters)
- Italian police detain Angelo Sacco after a shooting spree in Bogogno, near Milan. Three people are dead. (AGI) (BBC)
- 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)
- United Nations rapporteur Manfred Nowak states that the United States may be secretly holding prisoners on military vessels. (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)
- Ugandan parliament votes to remove the law that limits presidential terms to two 5-year terms. Opposition critics say that it intended to make Yoweri Museveni president-for-life. Police disperses opposition demonstrators with tear gas. (BBC) (Reuters) (Reuters AlertNet)
- Supreme Court of Canada rules that Rwandan Leon Mugesera should be deported. He is accused of incitement during Rwandan genocide. (Canada.Com) (Reuters)
- In Malawi, parliament speaker Rodwell Munyenyembe dies, four days after he collapsed during a heated parliamentary debate. (News24) (Reuters AlertNet) (BBC)
- In Germany, former deputy defense minister Holger Pfahls admits that in 1990 he took a bribe worth million euros from arms dealer Karlheinz Schreiber in connection of a sale of armored vehicles to the US. He is in trial accused of taking bribes from Saudi Arabia in a similar deal in 1991. (Deutsche Welle) (Bloomberg)
- In Australia, councillor Paul Tully wants to exhume the bodies of outlaws Steve Hart and Dan Kelly, two members of Ned Kelly's gang, because he suspects they may have survived and fled to Queensland. (ABC) (Australian) (BBC)
- A federal jury in Birmingham, Alabama acquits Richard Scrushy, the former chief executive of HealthSouth, of all criminal charges arising out of the $2.7 billion in accounting fraud at that company.
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- 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.
- The United States Capitol in Washington D.C. was briefly evacuated due to an aircraft that entered restricted airspace.
- 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.
- In Spain, Manuel Fraga, the last politician from the era of Francisco Franco, loses in elections in Galicia.
- A Belgian jury finds two Rwandans, Etienne Nzabonimana and Samuel Ndashyikirwa, guilty of involvement in the Rwandan genocide.
- 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.
- UN special envoy Anna Tibaijuka meets Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe, discussing about a recent urban crackdown that has left 300.000 people homeless
- In Serbia, Belgrade court convicts 10 officials from the government of Slobodan Milošević for an assassination attempt against then-opposition leader Vuk Drašković. they include special police commander Milorad Ulemek and chief of state security Radomir Marković (B92) (Reuters AlertNet)
- 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)
- Venezuela forms Petrocaribe, an energy cooperation pact with 13 Caribbean states to supply them with cheaper oil. Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados opt out (Caribbean Net News) (Reuters) (Bloomberg)
- International Federation for Human Rights demands that International Criminal Court investigate human rights abuses of Colombian paramilitary group Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC) (World peace Herald) (BBC)
- In Liberia, Gyude Bryant, president of transitional government, states that he is going to use death penalty against those who commit gboyo human sacrifice, especially presidential candidates trying to boost their chances (Liberian Observer) (AllAfrica) (Reuters AlertNet)
- Giant sudoku puzzle appears near Bristol, England (BBC)
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- In Belgium, the Parliament Speaker Herman De Croo cancels a lunch with a delegation from the Iranian parliament, 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.
- Indian police in Delhi have arrested tiger poacher Sansar Chand
- In Lebanon, former Minister of Finance, Fouad Siniora is appointed prime minister.
- The Sudanese government releases jailed Islamist leader Hassan Al-Turabi and lifts a ban of his Popular Congress Party. He was detained for plotting a coup
- Somalian gunmen hijack a ship carrying United Nations food aid and demand $500.000 ransom for the crew.
- 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.
- International Criminal Court prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo states that they have credible evidence of crimes against humanity in Darfur. Sudan refuses to extradite those suspected of war crimes.
- In France, a court in Paris convicts 14 militant separatists from ETA and Breton Revolutionary Army
- In the Philippines, agriculture minister Arthur Yap resigns because of charges of tax evasion
- 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 Scotland, Western Isles Council approves plans to build a large wind farm in northern Lewis
- In Brazil, president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva orders an investigation into allegations of corruption at the energy company Centrais Eletricas Brasileiras SA
- 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.
- In the United States President George W. Bush names U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) member Cynthia A. Glassman as acting chair, replacing William Donaldson, who announced his retirement early this month, effective today.
- In Minnesota, the state legislature fails to come to an agreement on the state budget for the 2006-2007 biennium. At midnight, the government shuts down, leading to cries of derision from state residents and both of the state's largest newspapers, the liberal-leaning Star Tribune and the conservative-leaning St. Paul Pioneer Press.
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