French officials acknowledge troops killed around 20 people during clashes with anti-French protestors, but maintain the French troops acted in self-defense and gave warning shots, contrary to Ivoirian police claims. (BBC)
Rwandan troops are spotted by UN personnel in eastern Congo where Congolese officials say the troops are attacking and burning villages. The last invasion started the Congo Civil War, which resulted in the deaths of 3–4 million people. (Reuters)
Arts and culture
CBS and NBC refuse to air an advertisement by the United Church of Christ citing the advocacy of accepting homosexuals is "too controversial". The advertisement was accepted by numerous other networks including Fox, ABC and TBS. (CNN)(UCC)
The head of Brazil's AIDS program, Pedro Chequer, says the government will violate patents on anti-AIDS drugs by copying them, citing unsustainable increases in cost. (BBC)
Serbia's interior minister says the "assassination attempt" on president Boris Tadić was a case of road rage against his motor convoy in Belgrade traffic. (Reuters)
A French appeals court reduces former Prime MinisterAlain Juppé's disqualification from holding public office from ten years to one, opening up the way for him to contend in the 2007 presidential election. (BBC)
Jailed Palestinian Marwan Barghouti joins the race to succeed Yasser Arafat, bringing the total to 10 candidates, drawing criticism from Arafat's Fatah movement. (BBC)
David Blunkett, United Kingdom Home Secretary, insists that he did no wrong in the controversy surrounding the alleged misuse of his position, and receives the backing of Prime MinisterTony Blair. Sir Alan Budd is appointed to carry out an independent enquiry. (BBC)
Current events of December 2, 2004 (2004-12-02) (Thursday)
United Nations inspectors wishing to inspect the Parchin military complex southeast of Tehran and Lavizan II in northeastern Tehran lack the legal authority according to United Nations diplomats. (Reuters)
British Member of Parliament and anti-war activist George Galloway wins his libel case against the Daily Telegraph, which during the invasion of Iraq had published a story suggesting that Galloway had been in the pay of Saddam Hussein. (BBC)
The People's Republic of China launches a new long-range nuclear submarine and an accompanying class of ballistic missiles, with a range in excess of 7,400 km (4,600 mi), developed by the People's Liberation Army. (AP) (Link dead as of 04:01, 15 January 2007 (UTC))
Yukos loses an appeal to halt the auctioning off of its main production unit. President of RussiaVladimir Putin, while on his three-day visit to India, says Indian firms are welcomed to bid. (BBC)
A car bomb explodes outside a Shi'a mosque in a BaghdadSunni district, killing 14 worshippers and wounding 19. Mortars land on a police station in Baghdad, followed by an assault which kills 12 people and results in the freeing of 50 prisoners. A website allegedly tied to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, claims responsibility for the police station attack. (BBC)(Reuters) (Link dead as of 04:01, 15 January 2007 (UTC))
Following warnings by separatist group ETA, a number of devices explode in Madrid. (Reuters) (Link dead as of 04:01, 15 January 2007 (UTC)) (BBC)(Wikinews)
The Supreme Court of Ukraine rules that the 2004 second round presidential results are invalid and requires a new vote to be completed within three weeks without determining whether the second round will be re-run or an entirely new election will be run. (BBC)(Yahoo! News) (Link dead as of 04:01, 15 January 2007 (UTC))
Rwanda denies it has sent any troops to Congo. Reuters (Link dead as of 04:01, 15 January 2007 (UTC)) quotes unnamed diplomatic sources that claim that the troops were there only temporarily. (BBC)(Reuters) (Link dead as of 04:01, 15 January 2007 (UTC))
Typhoon Nanmadol slams into the island of Luzon in the Philippines, less than a week after tropical depression locally called "Winnie" caused landslides and floods in the region also affected by the earlier typhoons Muifa and Merbok. Floods and landslides by Winnie killed at least 495 persons. More people are expected to be declared missing or dead as typhoon Nanmadol leaves the country later today. (CNN)(Inquirer/GMA7)
The Mozambiquepresidential election vote count continues in all of the country, with Frelimo and its candidate Armando Guebuza leading, according to the preliminary results already known, and especially in Maputo, Gaza and Inhambane, traditional regions of influence for the party in power. (Wikinews)
A referendum in Hungary to grant citizenship to ethnic Hungarians living in other countries appears to have failed due to insufficient turnout. The proposal has angered the governments of countries with significant Hungarian populations, particularly Romania. The Prime Minister of Hungary, Ferenc Gyurcsány, opposed the referendum. (Reuters)
Hundreds gather at the Ohio statehouse to demand a recount of votes, citing fraud that took votes from John Kerry and gave them to George W. Bush.
A lawsuit challenging the Volusia County, Florida, election is thrown out for being a day late. The suit claims paperwork is missing from 59 of Volusia's 179 precincts and that precinct printouts show different numbers. (AP)
More than 20 are killed and many more injured in a series of attacks on Iraqis working for the United States by Iraqi insurgents today. (ABC)(BBC)(Reuters)
In a prisoner exchange between Israel and Egypt, Egypt releases Azzam Azzam, an Israeli Druze businessman sentenced to 15 years imprisonment by Egypt in 1997 on charges of spying for Israel, while Israel releases six Egyptian students who allegedly infiltrated Israel to kidnap soldiers. (Haaretz)(BBC)
The U.S. consular compound in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, is stormed by gunmen, who kill nine Saudis in a four-hour battle but do not gain entry to the consulate building itself. Saudi security forces kill three of the gunmen, arrest two others, and pursue several more. There are no Americans dead, though some are slightly wounded. (BBC)(Reuters/AFP)
Shahar Dvir-Zeliger, a Jewish settler in Nablus, is sentenced to eight years imprisonment for membership of an extremist group. He was found guilty of being a member of the Bat Ayin cell, which has killed eight Palestinians. (BBC)
An entire Israel Defense Forces elite unit is suspended from duty while investigations continue into what B'Tselem alleges was a killing of an unnarmed injured Palestinian man. (BBC)
The Israeli government indicates that it will recognize same-sex partnerships for certain benefits, and will introduce legislation formalizing this status. (365gay.com)
Malaysian Deputy Home Affairs Minister Tan Chai Ho announces that once an extended amnesty sought by Indonesia comes to an end later that year, illegal immigrants will face up to five years in prison and a whipping; their employers will also be punished. More than 18,000 undocumented migrants have already been whipped since the 2002 amendment to the Malaysian Immigration Act. (China View)(Channel News Asia)
The Times reports that Dr. Nikolai Korpan, who treated Ukrainian presidential candidateViktor Yushchenko in Vienna, announced Yushchenko had been poisoned, and that the specific poison would be identified within days, but later denied the report, saying he had been cited wrongly and that it would be hard to gain hard evidence for a poisoning. (Times Online)(Yahoo News) (Link dead as of 00:47, 15 January 2007 (UTC))
Japan and Germany have jointly declared they want permanent seats on the United Nations Security Council with the veto power of the five current permanent members.(VOA)
Acting on a reference from Parliament, the Canadian Supreme Court states that a bill to legalize same-sex marriage in Canada would be constitutional. They decline to say if the Constitution requires that recognition, saying that by not appealing several provincial courts' decisions to that effect, the government has already adopted that position. (CBC) Prime Minister Paul Martin says his government will introduce same-sex marriage legislation in January. (CBC)
Israeli troops kill Rania Siam, an 8-year-old Palestinian girl, as she eats lunch in the kitchen of her home in Khan Yunis, Gaza Strip. Earlier, three mortar shells are fired into the nearby Israeli settlement of Neve Dekalim injuring four people, one of them a child. Hamas claims responsibility. Israeli troops fire in the general direction the source of mortar fire. The Israeli army says it will investigate Rania Siam's death. (NYT)
VanuatuPrime MinisterSerge Vohor is ousted in a vote of no-confidence and replaced by Ham Lini. Vohor had fallen out of favor with his cabinet after he unilaterally travelled to Taipei and established diplomatic relations with the Taiwan. The Vanuatu Council of Ministers voted to void the decision and continue relations with the People's Republic of China.[2]
The U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary will be holding a congressional forum in Columbus concerning new evidence of election irregularities and fraud in Ohio, the issue of Ohio electors meeting while recounts and litigation are pending, and to discuss legislative and other responses to the problems, on Dec. 13. (pdf)
The Civil Rights Coalition schedules a protest for Dec. 18, demanding a re-vote in "areas where substantive disenfranchisement took place" and the prosecution of officials involved in "election fraud." (Civil Rights Coalition)
All members of the Ohio delegation of the Electoral College cast their ballots for George W. Bush while a legal recount is still ongoing, after a written request by 11 Democratic congressmen (pdf) to suspend voting. (ABC)(ABC)
Hundreds of protesters have gathered in Cairo outside Egypt's Supreme Judiciary buildings, defying a ban on public protests, to call for an end to Hosni Mubarak's 23-year presidency of Egypt. (BBC)
Same-sex marriage in Canada: Federal justice minister Irwin Cotler announces that the bill to legalize same-sex marriage will contain a provision allowing civic officials to refuse to perform such ceremonies. (365Gay)
The Syrian government blames Israel for a failed attempt to kill an alleged senior Hamas member in Damascus yesterday. (BBC)
The leader of Hamas, Khaled Meshal, tells the BBC's Newsnight programme that his group has had secret contacts with the United States and the European Union. (BBC)
Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas calls for an end to violence in the four-year-old Intifada and a return to non-violent resistance. The announcement comes two days after a faction of Abbas's Fatah party, Fatah Hawks, claims responsibility for an attack killing at least five Israeli soldiers. (Reuters)
Two trains collide in the northern Indian state of Punjab, killing at least 37 people. One of the trains was carrying Hindu pilgrims returning from Vaishno Devi. (BBC)(The Times-UK)
The US admits that more prisoners have died in American custody in Afghanistan than it has previously acknowledged. (BBC)
In Athens, Greece, two gunmen, possibly Albanian, seize a bus at 7:00 local time and take 25 hostages on board. The hijackers threaten to blow up the bus at 08:00 Greek time (06:00 GMT, Thursday) if their demands for €1 million and a flight to Russia are not met. The hostage crisis ends peacefully after 18 hours when the two gunmen surrender. All the hostages are released unharmed. (Sky)(News24)(OfficialWire)(Reuters)
An armed group of young ethnic Albanians, allegedly former NLAguerrilla members, seal off the village of Kondovo, Macedonia, a suburb of the capital Skopje, citing poor conditions and repression by state authorities. The fledgling multi-ethnic governing coalition plays down the incident stating it is a local problem stemming from the slow implementation of the peace agreement after the 2001 civil war, while some opposition parties call for "strong action". (RealityMK)(TOL)
Thai security forces pursue 100 people connected to the unrest in the south of the country. Four Islamic teachers have been arrested on suspicion of inciting terrorism. (Channel News Asia)(Reuters)
A public inquiry into the deaths of 85 Muslim protesters in southern Thailand claims the killings were "not deliberate". 78 people suffocated to death after being piled into army trucks by Thai security forces; 7 were shot at the separatist protests on October 25. (BBC)
Hundreds of Palestinians flee homes in the area, fearful that Israeli troops will destroy their homes. They take refuge in nearby hospital and a stadium, while others have moved to relatives who live further to the centre of the Gaza Strip. (BBC)(Haaretz)
Hundreds of Sikh demonstrators protest outside a Birmingham, England, theatre against a play (Behzti) depicting sex abuse and murder in a Sikh temple. Theatre stormed by a few demonstrators. (BBC)
In a sharp change from their traditional role, several members of the Electoral College have filed a protest of the official election results, one even casting his electoral vote provisionally upon a revote. These electors have called for a member of the U.S. Senate to protest the election results on January 6. (AP)(Sacramento Bee)(Burlington Union)
In Topeka, Kansas, US, infant Victoria Jo Stinnett is returned to her father three days after her mother was allegedly strangled to death and she was cut from her mother's uterus and abducted. The AMBER Alert system is credited with helping to safely recover the child. (CNN)
Palestinians fire several Qassam rockets at the civilian town Sderot and the northern Negev, causing damage but no casualties. (Haaretz)
Another three Palestinians were killed by Israeli soldiers on Saturday during an Israeli incursion into the Khan Younis refugee camp in the Gaza Strip, raising the death toll to 11. According to Palestinian sources, three of those killed were civilians, the rest were militants from Hamas and Fatah's Abu Reish Brigades. The IDF has officially ended Khan Yunis raid, dubbed "Operation Orange Iron", and threatened to return if mortar shelling will be renewed by militants. (BBC), (Haaretz)
Darfur conflict: The African Union has given both sides involved in the Darfur conflict a deadline of 1700 GMT to halt the fighting in the region which currently violates the ceasefire agreement. If this condition is not met, talks in Nigeria to find a solution to the conflict would end. (BBC)
Former senior Iraqi official Ali Hassan al-Majid (aka "Chemical Ali") is questioned by Iraqi judges in a pre-trial hearing. He is accused of crimes committed by the regime, such as the gassing of Iraqi Kurds in 1988. (BBC)(Reuters)
Iraqi insurgents attack election offices in northern Iraq, killing two people and wounding nine, six weeks before the country is due to go to the polls. (Reuters)
Russia auctions off the main production unit of oil giant YUKOS to the small Baikalfinansgroup for 260.75bn rubles (US$9.37bn). Before the sale, YUKOS was said to owe US$27bn in unpaid taxes, specifically an average of 90% of its revenue. Former CEO jailed Mikhail Khodorkovsky and other YUKOS officials maintain it is politically motivated. (BBC)
The people of Turkmenistan go to the polls to elect a new parliament. Voters will choose between candidates, all of whom have pledged support to President Niyazov, the "Turkmenbashi" or "leader of Turkmens". (BBC)
Analysts attribute a sharp drop in the price of crude oil to the unexpected outcome of the auction of Yukos' Siberian production unit yesterday. The value of the January futures contract fell 64 cents to $45.64 on the Nymex.
China announces reforms to its legal system effective in 2005, including the introduction of jury trials and a 10% increase in the number of judges. Jurors will be elected to a five-year term, and must have at least two years' university education. (BBC)(Xinhua)
U.S. Defense SecretaryDonald Rumsfeld has admitted that he had used a machine to sign letters of condolence to relatives of more than 1,000 troops killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, but pledged to sign the letters personally in future. (BBC)
In Sudan, fighting has not stopped after a ceasefire between government troops and rebels. Although the government of Sudan has said that they have stopped the Darfur offensive, there are still reports of battles. Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail rules out any withdrawal from the positions government troops have taken. An observing African Unionhelicopter was shot at. (BBC)(Iafrica)
US forces say twenty-two people have been killed and at least 67 injured in an attack at a US military base in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul. The dead include 13 US Soldiers, making the attack one of the deadliest attacks on US forces since the start of the war. (BBC)(CNN)
Christian Chesnot and Georges Malbrunot, the two French hostages held in Iraq since August, are freed. Their captors claim they were freed because of France's anti-war stance. (BBC)
Former British Home SecretaryDavid Blunkett's office is found to have assisted in the fast-tracking of his lover's nanny's visa-application, thereby confirming the allegation that led to his dismissal. (BBC)
The White House announces that allegations of abuse of prisoners in Iraq and Guantanamo Bay by US military personnel will be "fully investigated". The allegations were prompted by a memo, obtained by ACLUFOIA requests, dated two months after the Abu Ghraib scandal broke which reference an executive order that authorized questionable interrogation techniques. The White House spokesman flat out denied this in saying "there is no executive order on interrogation techniques". (BBC)(White House)(ACLU)
Japan issues a tourist visa to former Taiwanese leader Lee Teng-hui despite protests from the People's Republic of China that such a move would harm bilateral relations. The PRC considers Lee a Taiwan independence agitator. (BBC)
Up to £30 million are reported stolen from the headquarters of the Northern Bank in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Two members of the bank's senior staff and their families are reported to have been held hostage before the robbery. This is likely to be the second biggest bank robbery in British history, and the fourth largest in the world. (BBC)(Reuters)(Glasgow Evening Times)
A court in Chile upholds the indictment and house arrest of Augusto Pinochet. Prosecution lawyers claim that his hospitalization for a heart condition was a political ploy. Pinochet's lawyers intend to appeal. (BBC)(Bloomberg)
French President Jacques Chirac demands improved hospital security after two nurses are killed. A suspected mental patient was released. (Reuters Alertnet)
The US government decides to settle a suit in which Hungarian Jews have demanded compensation for a train full of valuables the US Army took at the end of World War II. (Wired News)(New York Post)
Gambian journalists march in protest of the murder of Deyda Hydara, newspaper editor who had criticised new strict press legislation. UNESCO also condemns the killing. (BBC)(UNESCO portal)
Switzerland increases its financial support for the forthcoming re-run of election in Ukraine. (NZZ)
The Police Service of Northern Ireland confirm that the haul in last Monday's Northern BankBelfast bank heist was £22 million, comprising £1.15 million in new Northern Bank £100 and £50 notes, £12 million in new Northern Bank £20 and £10 notes, £5 million in used Northern Ireland notes issued by various banks, and the remainder in other sterling banknotes. Since Northern Irish notes are rarely seen outside Northern Ireland, the gang may have difficulty in laundering most of their haul. (Scotsman)
IDF forces re-enter Khan Yunis after at least 15 rockets and mortar shells hit Israeli settlements. Israeli forces kill either one or three armed Palestinians in Khan Yunis, and according to Palestinians, demolish seven houses. (Haaretz)(Reuters)
Gush Katif residents hold protests against the disengagement plan and the lack of action against mortar shellings on the settlement in the last week. Some of them wear an orange Star of David, similar to the yellow badge which Jews were forced to wear during the Holocaust. Many politicians and heads of Jewish organizations, including the Simon Wiesenthal Centre, ask them to stop wearing the star as they believe it trivializes the Nazi genocide. (BBC)
The Indian election commission investigates railways minister Laloo Prasad for allegations of electoral bribery. He has given money to dalit women in public. (ExpressIndia)(BBC)
In Mozambique, the national election commission declares Armando Guebuza, presidential candidate of ruling party Frelimo, the winner of the election. He received 64% of the vote despite alleged irregularities. (AllAfrica)(Afrol)(BBC)
An intercity bus is intercepted and sprayed with automatic gunfire in Chamelecón, Cortés department, Honduras, killing some 28 passengers. A note left at the crime scene claims the attack for a defunct guerrilla group, but suspicion immediately falls on the Mara Salvatrucha gang, and have since been convicted for the crime. (BBC)
A powerful and unexpected series of snowstorms plow into the Ohio Valley dumping total snowfalls as high as 40–45 inches. Many Interstates in the region become frozen parking lots as motorist are unable to move and get buried in snowfall. The snowstorms were so powerful that it snowed in Galveston, Texas.
Portions of South and Southeast Texas south of I-10 had their first White Christmas ever as snow was recorded falling from Brownsville to Beaumont with as much as 13 inches (33 cm) in Brazoria. The snowfall began on Christmas Eve as a deep layer of below freezing (below 32 °F/0 °C) temperatures settled across the region after the passing of an Arctic cold front and an upper level low pressure system crossed the region and dumped snow in its wake. Very little snow fell north of I-10 because of the lack of moisture further from the coast. (National Weather Service)
The first survey of language use in the People's Republic of China reveals that 53% of its population can communicate in Standard Chinese, the official spoken language of the country. (China Daily)
Ukrainians go to the polls in a rerun of the presidential runoff vote, supervised by about 12,000 international observers. Turnout is reported to be comparable to the two previous votes, just short of 55 percent at 1300 GMT. Early exit polls suggest opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko has won by a wide margin (Reuters)(Guardian)(BBC)
Astrophysicists from the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics in Garching near Munich measure the strongest burst from a magnetar. At 21:30:26 UT the earth is hit by a huge wave front of gamma and X-rays. It is the strongest flux of high-energetic gamma radiation measured so far.
Newly discovered observations from March 2004 rule out the possibility that asteroid 2004 MN4 (later named 99942 Apophis in July 2005) will hit Earth in 2029. (Space.com)
The U.S. dollar hits a new low against the euro: USD 1.3640 to EUR 1.00. (AP)
Iraq's main Sunni political movement, the Iraqi Islamic Party, withdraws from next month's general elections, citing the refusal to delay elections until all parts of Iraq could participate. (BBC)
An Israeli tank fires a shell in Khan Yunis wounding at least nine Palestinians, including a 13-year-old boy. IDF officials say they were opening fire at the source of Qassam rockets fired by Palestinians that landed in Neve Dekalim. No injuries are reported from the Qassam rocket attacks. (BBC)(Haaretz)
Conflict in Iraq: In an apparent coordinated attack, insurgents raid a police station in Dijla and execute 12 police officers. Three Iraqi policemen are shot at a checkpoint outside of Tikrit. Four policemen and one national guardsman are gunned down at a police station in Ishaki. A local police commander is assassinated in Baquba. A car bomb detonated near a US-Iraqi military convoy in Samarra kills three national guardsmen and three civilians. All these attacks occurred in the Sunni Triangle. (BBC)
In Colombia, government soldiers search for at least seven people taken hostage by FARC rebels last Friday. Kidnappers have not made any demands yet. (BBC)
An explosion at a scrap metal plant in Muskogee, Oklahoma, US, explodes killing two workers. The blast is felt about 50 miles (80 km) away. The company is later fined for workplace violations.[12][13]
The Red Cross issues a statement saying that the number of dead is likely to rise above 100,000. (BBC)
The United States, Australia, Japan and India have formed an international coalition to lead aid efforts after the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake. (BBC)
Arab-Israeli Conflict: The Knesset passes a law against terrorism and against support of terrorism. The controversial law prohibits funding terrorists. It also prohibits aiding the families of perceived terrorists and institutes inciting for terrorism. The law will give Israel the right to confiscate property and funds of any perceived terrorist organization, even though if they do not target Israel or Israelis. The law is part of the state's legal war against terrorism and was approved 62–6. (Haaretz)
The Russian parliament passes a law abolishing several state holidays, including November 7, the anniversary of the 1917 October Revolution. (CNN)
Nine Palestinians, including civilians, are killed in an Israeli army incursion into the Khan Younis refugee camp in the Gaza Strip. During the raid the local Hamas commander is killed and two Israeli soldiers are slightly wounded. (BBC)(Haaretz)
The death toll from the Indian Ocean earthquake and subsequent tsunamis on December 26 reaches more than 120,000 in 12 countries from Malaysia to Somalia; the Norwegian newspaper Verdens Gang reports a current total of 115,982 deaths. The Malaysian News Agency reports the death toll in Sumatra may exceed 400,000. According to the WHO, as many as five million people are at risk, with little water, food or shelter.
The Canadian government pledges to match dollar-for-dollar the donations of private Canadian citizens, in addition to the $40,000,000 in federal funds already committed; so far, Canadians have donated CAD 20,000,000, mostly on-line. The government also announces plans to forgive the debt of the tsunami ravaged nations. (GM)(CTV)(Ottawa Citizen)
In 48 hours British charities have raised £45,000,000 from public donations; the UK government increases its donation from £15,000,000 to £50,000,000. (BBC)
