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- Champion race horse Best Mate suffers a heart attack and dies while racing in front of a live television audience.
- U.S. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid and his fellow Democrats force a closed session of the Senate over misinformed intelligence that led to the Iraq War and evasion of a congressional inquiry. (CNN)
- The discovery of two additional moons of Pluto is announced. (CNN)
- The United Nations Security Council passed a UNSC resolution (S/RES/1636 (2005)) which requests urgently and forcefully Syria's full cooperation with the investigation into the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. (CCTV)
- Zanzibar's ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi party and President Amani Abeid Karume are declared re-elected in a disputed election. Police clashed with opposition supporters, leaving 9 dead. (Reuters)[permanent dead link] (Reuters)[permanent dead link] (Guardian)
- Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: 2 Palestinian militants, one from Hamas, the other the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, have died following an Israeli air-strike in the Gaza Strip. (BBC)
- North Korea and South Korea will field a united Olympics team at the next Olympic Games. (BBC)
- Justice John Gomery releases the first part of the Gomery Commission report on corruption in the Liberal Party of Canada and the sponsorship scandal. Gomery exonerates current Prime Minister Paul Martin but criticizes former Prime Minister Jean Chrétien and his Quebec lieutenant Alfonso Gagliano. (CBC)
- 2005 Paris riots continue for the fifth consecutive night, sparked by the death of two Muslim youths from electric shock. The controversy caused by police firing tear gas into a mosque on Sunday night led to families of the dead youths pulling out of a meeting with the French Minister of the Interior Nicolas Sarkozy. (news24)
- Makybe Diva wins the Melbourne Cup thoroughbred horse race for the third consecutive year, becoming the first horse ever to do so. Shortly thereafter, owner Tony Santic announces her retirement from racing. (Herald Sun)
- U.S. prosecutors admitted that Omar al-Faruq was one of four detainees to escape from the Bagram base, Afghanistan, in July, all of whom are still on the run. (BBC)
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- Guinea-Bissau's President Nino Vieira appoints Aristides Gomes, a former African Development Bank official, as new Prime Minister, replacing the dismissed Carlos Gomes Júnior. (xinhua) (Reuters)
- Donald E. Powell, former chief executive of the First National Bank of Amarillo, Texas and current Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation chairman is named to coordinate rebuilding of the Gulf Coast by President George W. Bush. (White House) (Washington Times)
- The Washington Post reports that the Central Intelligence Agency has been operating, perhaps as illegally, a covert network of "black site" prisons for terrorist suspects in eight foreign countries, including Afghanistan, Thailand, and several Eastern European democracies for the last four years, with little or no oversight from the United States Congress. (The Washington Post)
- Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad nominates Sadeq Mahsouli as Supervisor of Ministry of Petroleum of OPEC's number two producer, risking domestic political commotion and a parliamentary veto after already making a disturbance abroad with a call for Israel's destruction. (Reuters)[permanent dead link]
- The Delhi police release three sketches of one of the suspected bombers involved in 29 October 2005 Delhi bombings. (NDTV)
- A car bomb kills six in Srinagar, India (Rediff)
- The British Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, David Blunkett, resigns a second time, following allegations of ministerial misconduct over his directorship and purchase of shares in a bioscience company. John Hutton is named as his replacement. (Investment & Pensions Europe)[permanent dead link].
- The 2005 Paris riots continue for the sixth consecutive night. Rioting spread through impoverished suburbs, which was sparked by the death of two youths who were allegedly fleeing police and were accidentally electrocuted while hiding in an electrical substation. The riots have caused increased strains between the authorities and the inhabitants of the poor suburbs. (AP)
- 80 of the world's top radio astronomers meet in Pune, India to decide how and where to set up the world's biggest radio telescope, the Square Kilometre Array. (NDTV)
- Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: An Israel Defense Forces soldier is seriously wounded and later dies of his wounds in an overnight arrest raids near the West Bank town of Jenin. (Ynetnews)
- At least 23 people are killed and 160 wounded in clashes between opposition supporters and police in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa. (Reuters)[permanent dead link]
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- A bomb explosion near a convoy of cars carrying Somalia's Prime Minister Ali Mohammed Ghedi in Mogadishu. Although the PM escapes unhurt, 9 people have been killed and 20 others wounded. (Reuters) (Link dead as of 20:57, 14 January 2007 (UTC))
- Former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori arrives in Santiago, Chile after being exiled in Japan since 2000. Although he is the subject of an Interpol arrest warrant, the Chilean government said he cannot be arrested without an order from a Chilean judge. Fujimori arrives at a time of tension between Chile and Peru over sea boundaries. (CNN) (Link dead as of 22:17, 14 January 2007 (UTC))
- People in several parts of Germany report several fireballs in the sky, leading to speculation that they may be UFOs. Scientists report that the sightings are of the Taurid meteor shower. (Yahoo! News) (Link dead as of 20:57, 14 January 2007 (UTC))
- Azerbaijani citizens go to the polls in the Azerbaijan parliamentary election, 2005. Opposition parties have alleged that there is voting fraud. (Reuters) (Link dead as of 22:17, 14 January 2007 (UTC))
- The tenth night of the 2005 French riots is reported as being the most intense yet, and the riots are now the subject of crisis meetings in the French government. President Jacques Chirac has called for the arrest, trial and punishment of the rioters. (BBC)
- A tornado estimated to be over ½ mile wide and of F3 strength on the Fujita scale hits around 2 a.m. near Evansville, Indiana. Over 20 are killed and 200 injured. (National Weather Service) (Yahoo! News) (Link dead as of 20:57, 14 January 2007 (UTC))
- Show called The Boondocks first airs on Adult Swim, a late night segment of Cartoon Network.
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- Sierra Leone Health and Sanitation Minister, Abator Thomas says that polio has been eradicated in the country, following a successful immunization program. (allAfrica)
- The United Nations is asking donors for US$3.2 million to help six West African countries fight cholera. The disease has killed at least 700 people and infected over 42,000 in the region since June, a sharp rise due to the unusually heavy rains this year. (allAfrica)
- India's foreign minister, K. Natwar Singh, is forced to step down from his post amid allegations that he and the governing Indian National Congress had illegally benefited from the UN Oil-for-Food Programme in Iraq. (Reuters)[permanent dead link]
- Canadian New Democratic Party leader Jack Layton withdraws his support to the minority government of Prime Minister Paul Martin. This decision might set a confidence vote in the next week. (Globe & Mail)
- China closes all Beijing poultry markets. Authorities ordered all live poultry markets in China's capital to close immediately and went door-to-door seizing chickens and ducks from private homes, as the government dramatically ramped up its fight against avian influenza today. (Business Week)
- Alberto Fujimori, former President of Peru, is arrested in Chile whilst a Chilean judge considers a Peruvian extradition request. (BBC)
- India opens the first of three frontier checkpoints at Chakan Da Bagh in Poonch on the Kashmir Line of Control (LoC) between India and Pakistan, for 2005 Kashmir earthquake relief work. (Rediff)
- The 2005 French urban riots continue to intensify and spread, in the eleventh consecutive night of rioting in cities across France. A related incident has been reported in Saint-Gillis, Brussels, Belgium (Guardian) (BBC) (CNN) (Le Figaro)[permanent dead link] (in French)
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- 2005 Liberian elections: Liberians go to the polls in a presidential run-off election between millionaire soccer star George Weah and former finance minister. Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf. Sirleaf wins 59.4 percent to Weah's 40.6 percent. (Scotsman) (CBC)
- 2005 United States elections. In the off-year elections, Democrats Tim Kaine and Jon Corzine are elected governor of Virginia and New Jersey, respectively.
- 2005 civil unrest in France: French President Jacques Chirac declares a state of emergency on the twelfth day of rioting in the banlieues. This followed the re-activation in a cabinet emergency session of a 1955 law allowing local authorities to impose curfews. (New York Times) (registation required)
- Trial of Saddam Hussein: Three gunmen assassinate Adel al-Zubeidi, the defense lawyer for Taha Yassin Ramadan, who was vice president of Iraq under Saddam Hussein.
- Italian state-owned channel RaiNews 24 airs a controversial documentary in which Iraqi people and ex-U.S. soldiers report that white phosphorus, a chemical weapon, and Mk-77 napalm bombs were used by the U.S. Army against civilians in Fallujah last year. (BBC) (Rai News 24, with video)
- 2005 Sydney terrorism plot: Australian authorities arrest nine men, led by Abdul Nacer Benbrika, in a counterterrorism raid. Benbrika and six other men are later convicted of terrorism-related offenses. (Sydney Morning Herald)
- The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) says that the Tokyo-based Institute of Cetacean Research is about to start a controversial program that could kill up to 940 whales in the name of scientific research, abusing the rights under the International Whaling Convention.
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- Facing the world's highest HIV infection rate, Swaziland is drafting a Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Bill proposing the death penalty for child rape, incest and the intentional transmission of HIV. Amnesty International later expresses concern. [1]
- Amir Peretz is elected leader of the Israeli Labor Party, narrowly defeating the incumbent, Shimon Peres. (BBC)
- A gun battle between the Indonesian police and militants in East Java kills seven militants, including suspected Bali bombings mastermind Azahari Husin who is believed to have blown himself up. (Reuters)[permanent dead link] (Reuters)[permanent dead link]
- 2005 Amman bombings: Three coordinated attacks on the Grand Hyatt Hotel, Radisson SAS Hotel, and Days Inn in the Jordanian capital of Amman kill at least 57 people and injure 115 others, mostly Westerners. Abu Musab al-Zarqawi later claims responsibility. [2] [3] [4]
- Archaeologists report that two lines of a Phoenician or Hebrew alphabet on a stone dating to the 10th century BCE were discovered in July in Tel Zayit tell in Israel. The discovery suggests that literacy existed in ancient Israel earlier than had been thought.(IHT) (AP)
- In the United States, the visit of Iraqi Deputy Premier Ahmed Chalabi to the Department of State and Department of the Treasury arouses controversy. (BBC)
- The British government loses a key House of Commons vote on detaining terrorism suspects for 90-days without charge, in the report stage of the Terrorism Act 2006. This is Tony Blair's first ever commons defeat and has been described a serious blow to his authority. Opposition Leader Michael Howard calls on Blair to resign. (BBC)
- Venus Express, the first mission to Venus in over a decade, lifts off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. (BBC)
- 2005 United States elections
- Judith Miller, controversial reporter for The New York Times, announces her retirement. (New York Times)
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- Stephen Harper, Gilles Duceppe and Jack Layton, leaders of Canada's three parliamentary opposition parties, issue a joint ultimatum calling for the next Canadian federal election to be moved forward to early February from the April date favoured by the government. They threaten to pass a motion of non-confidence and force an election at Christmas if Paul Martin's Liberal government does not accede to the move in writing. Martin rejects their proposal. (CBC)
- British doctors are to continue checks on Andrew Stimpson, a Scotsman whose body has reportedly cured itself of HIV infection. (BBC) (Reuters)
- Iraq War: Iraqi president Jalal Talabani tells British television that Iraqi troops could replace UK forces by the close of 2006. (BBC)
- 2005 Ethiopian police massacres: Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi defends his government after Ethiopian police violently put down opposition demonstrations and opposition MPs are jailed on treason charges. (BBC)
- 7.5 million voters in Burkina Faso participate in the presidential elections of 2005. (BBC)
- Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh asks Nepalese King Gyanendra to take steps towards restoring democratic rule. (BBC)
- Thailand confirms its fourth case of H5N1 bird flu in 2005. The victim is an 18 month-old boy living in Bangkok. (The Nation)[permanent dead link] (Bangkok Post)
- 2005 Jilin chemical plant explosions: Explosion in a factory of the state-owned Jilin Petrochemical Company in Jilin City, China. The industrial accident results in 100 tons of toxic benzene and nitrobenzene contaminating a river and posing a major health problem downstream, which is covered-up by the Chinese government. NYT I, NYT II, Guardian
- 2005 Amman bombings: Following coordinated bombings in Amman on November 9, Jordanian police arrest a woman said to be the wife of a suicide attacker. (BBC)
- The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation agrees at its summit to admit Afghanistan as a member, and to accord China and Japan observer status.
- WWE superstar Eddie Guerrero died in his hotel room in Minneapolis, Minnesota, due to heart failure at age 38.
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- 2005 Sony BMG CD copy protection scandal: Sony BMG recalls all unsold CDs that are equipped with XCP, a controversial copy protection software. (vnunet.com) (FT) (NBC4) (BBC) (Reuters)
- 173 prisoners are found in an Iraqi government bunker in Baghdad, having been starved, beaten and tortured. (CBC) (BBC)
- Terrorism in Pakistan: A car bomb explodes outside a KFC outlet in Karachi, Pakistan around 08:45 (UTC+5). At least three people are killed and eight others wounded. (CNN)
- Quebec, Canada: Former Minister André Boisclair is elected Leader of the Parti Québécois, the provincial official opposition and Quebec's main party promoting separation of the French-speaking province from Canada, in the Parti Québécois leadership election, 2005. (CBC)
- Mid-November 2005 Tornado Outbreak: Many tornadoes (at least 50 confirmed) have been reported during the afternoon and evening across central North America, stretching from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico. Damage has been reported in many areas, and at least one person was killed. [7][permanent dead link]
- Japan: 2005 Sanriku Japan Earthquake A 6.9-magnitude earthquake, as determined by the Japan Meteorological Society, occurred off the northern coast of Japan near Sanriku at 6:39am Japan Standard Time (UTC+9), prompting a tsunami warning to be issued in Japan and the western coast of the United States. (Yahoo) (USGS)
- Sayako, Princess Nori of Japan marries a commoner and thereby leaves the Imperial Family, taking the surname of her husband. (The Age) (Reuters) (BBC)
- The French Parliament permits President Jacques Chirac's government to extend emergency powers for three months to quell civil unrest. (BBC) (Guardian) (Indian Express)
- The New York Stock Exchange reaches an out-of-court settlement with some of its seat holders who had filed a lawsuit in an effort to prevent the NYSE's proposed acquisition of electronic trading firm Archipelago Holdings. The settlement requires a new independent financial review of the merits of the deal. Dissidents complain that the NYSE is over-paying. (Reuters)
- Students at the University of Tennessee (UT) received international criticism and praise for interrupting U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney's keynote speech at the groundbreaking of the Howard Baker Center. The students protested in favor of ending the Iraq War by "heckling" Cheney while a group of 50-100 protesters gathered outside the building also protesting the war. This incident has come to be known as the Baker Center Protest. [8]
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- Israeli–Lebanese conflict: Israeli planes bomb targets in Southern Lebanon. (BBC)
- Floods and mudslides due to Tropical Storm Gamma, the 24th named storm in the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season, kill at least 32 people in Honduras. (Reuters)
- After two months of negotiations, Angela Merkel is elected the first female Chancellor of Germany by a coalition of the CDU/CSU and SPD delegates in the Bundestag. (BBC)
- Kenyan voters overwhelmingly reject a new constitution, which would have given the president greater power, in a national referendum, which used symbols on the ballot paper to assist illiterate voters. (BBC)
- Al Jazeera bombing memo: British Daily Mirror tabloid publishes an article suggesting that George W. Bush discussed with Tony Blair a plan to bomb the offices of the Al Jazeera TV station. (Mirror) Following the publication, the Attorney General threatens to prosecute, under §5 of the Official Secrets Act 1989, anyone making further disclosures from the memo. (Guardian) Al Jazeera offices in Baghdad and Kabul have previously been bombed by the U.S. military. U.S. officials deny Al Jazeera was the target of either attack, and a White House spokesman describes the report as "outlandish." (Guardian)
- The Microsoft Xbox 360 is released in North America with 18 launch titles.
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- Iraq War:
- Israeli troops kill one Palestinian and Iyad Abu Rob, a suspected senior member of Islamic Jihad surrenders after a day-long siege, in the Palestinian refugee camp of Jenin. (BBC), (Reuters)
- The lower house of the Russian parliament passed a bill by 370-18 requiring local branches of foreign non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to reregister as Russian organisations subject to Russian jurisdiction, and thus stricter financial and legal restrictions. The bill gives Russian officials oversight of local finances and activities. The bill has been highly criticised by Human Rights Watch, Memorial rights organization, and the nonprofit think tank Indem for its potential effects on international monitoring of the status of human rights in Russia. (Reuters)
- An explosion at a chemical factory on the Songhua River in northeastern China releases high levels of benzene into the river water. Authorities shut off the water supply for the downstream city of Harbin. (BBC)
- The new Chancellor of Germany, Angela Merkel, goes to Paris, France for her first foreign trip in office. Some observers see this as a signal that intra-European affairs will be a high priority. (Seattle Post-Intelligencer)
- Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf is officially declared as the winner of the Liberian presidential runoff, after she took 59.4 percent of the vote, making her Africa's first elected female head of state. (BBC)
- Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki has dismissed his entire cabinet and deputy ministers after voters rejected a draft constitution. (BBC), (Reuters)[permanent dead link]
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- Polish Minister of National Defence Radek Sikorski opens Warsaw Pact archives to historians. Maps of possible nuclear strikes against Western Europe, as well as the possible nuclear annihilation of 43 Polish cities and 2 million of its citizens by Soviet-controlled forces, are released. (Chicago Tribune)[permanent dead link]
- The European Commission starts a legal action against the Bank of Italy and its President, Antonio Fazio, who allegedly favoured the Italian bank Banca Popolare Italiana in the race to acquire Banca Antonveneta, thus penalising Dutch group ABN AMRO. (BBC)
- Conflict in Iraq: German archaeologist Susanne Osthoff is kidnapped in Iraq. (BBC)
- Cebu leads the "soft-opening" of the 23rd Southeast Asian Games in the Philippines. Games will formally start on November 27, 2005, at Manila's Quirino Grandstand. (Manila Bulletin)
- The president of Ukraine, Viktor Yushchenko, calls for the Holodomor to be internationally recognised as an act of genocide. (BBC)
- Papua New Guinea decides to evacuate the 1500 inhabitants of Carteret Atoll to Bougainville, 100 km away, over the next two years. The atolls, maximum elevation 1.5 metres, are the first inhabited land to be abandoned to rising sea levels and they are expected to be totally inundated by around 2015. (Guardian) (Straits Times)
- George Best, the Northern Irish international footballer who won the European Footballer of the Year award in 1968, has died of lung infection and organ failure at the age of 59. (BBC)
- Arab–Israeli conflict: Israel hands over the bodies of three Hezbollah militants its Defence Forces killed earlier in the week to the Lebanese Government. (IOL)[permanent dead link]
- Al Jazeera bombing memo:
- Richard Burns, 2001 English World Rally Champion, dies due to a brain tumour that had kept him out of competition for the past two years.
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- The 2005 Atlantic hurricane season nears its official end but the 26th named storm of the season, Tropical Storm Epsilon, forms from a non-tropical low east of Bermuda. (US NHC) (CNN)
- Virginia Governor Mark R. Warner grants clemency in the case of convicted murderer Robin Lovitt. It was about 24 hours before Lovitt was scheduled to be executed. Evidence against Lovitt had been illegally destroyed after his trial by a court clerk, preventing DNA testing that may have cleared him of the crime. Lovitt's execution was to be the 1,000th execution in the United States since the Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976. (Reuters)
- Former Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres says he may leave the Israeli Labor Party to join Ariel Sharon's government after the next election if he is re-elected and if Sharon's new party is to form a government. (ABC)
- The Government of Lesotho offers all its citizens a free HIV test. Aimed at stopping and reversing the spread of AIDS, this is believed to be the first programme of its kind in the world. (BBC)
- President of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, has cancelled the Fatah Primary Elections after accusations of voter fraud were made. (BBC)
- Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson, a top aide to former Secretary of State Colin Powell, accused Vice-President Dick Cheney of ignoring a decision by President Bush on the treatment of prisoners in the war on terror. (BBC)
- Two bomb attacks occur in the Bangladeshi cities of Chittagong and Gazipur. Six people are killed and 65 others wounded. (Reuters)[permanent dead link]
- Activist investor Carl Icahn announces that he has hired Lazard to advise him as he wages a proxy fight for control of Time Warner, the media empire. (thestreet.com)
- Canadian federal election, 2006 - Canadian Governor General Michaëlle Jean formally dissolves Parliament, following Prime Minister Paul Martin's loss of a confidence vote, and calls a federal election for January 23, 2006. (Toronto Star)
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- The 2005 Atlantic hurricane season officially ended today, despite Tropical Storm Epsilon's remaining active in the Atlantic. (US NHC 1) (US NHC 2)
- Gabon: Africa's longest serving president (since 1967), Omar Bongo, wins presidential elections, securing a further seven years in office. (Reuters)
- The US Military has been covertly paying to run news stories written by US Military "information operations" troops. The stories, usually praising the work of the U.S. Military, appeared in Baghdad newspapers (Al Jazeera)(LA Times)
- A new campaign against Iraqi insurgents begins with joint U.S.-Iraqi troops conducting Operation Iron Hammer in western Iraq. (ABC)
- New policy document on American involvement in Iraq, "National Strategy for Victory in Iraq", is published by the White House. (UPI)
- Surgeons in France carry out the first human face transplant. (BBC)
- Death toll in northeast China coal mine blast reaches 150. (Science Daily)
- Giovanni Prezioso, the General Counsel of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, announces that he's leaving that post, although he'll remain until early 2006 to aid with the transition. (SEC website)
- There are reports that Walt Disney Co., which is trying to sell its ABC Radio unit, has narrowed the field of potential buyers to three: Entercom Communications Corp., Cumulus Media Inc. and a private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts. (Business Journal)
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