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)
U.S. officials say that U.S. forces rescued Yahlin Kaya, a Turkish construction worker who had been held hostage by militants, during today's assault on the city of Samarra. (Reuters)[permanent dead link](The Australian)
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)
In Gaza City, Bashir al-Dabbash, a leader in the Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad, is killed by a missile fired from an Israeli aircraft. (INN [Israel])(BBC)
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 SCity 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"
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)
A University of Florida scientist, Thomas DeMarse, announces that he has grown a "brain" of rat neurons that can fly an airplane simulator. A "brain" such as this could be used to study how actual brains compute information and, potentially, as a sort of living computer. (Wired)(Discovery)(U. of FL press release)
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 methane gas explosion in Russia's Listvyazhnaya mine, which is located in Siberia near the border with Mongolia, kills 13 people and injures 23. (Reuters)
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)
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