August 2005

• Conflict in Iraq: At least six US Marines have died following an insurgent attack in Haditha, 140 miles northwest of Baghdad, Iraq. (NBC)
• A survey of the world's strongest brands by Anholt-GMI has placed Australia as the leading "nation brand", ahead of Canada, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Last years top brand, Sweden, dropped to fifth place, whilst the United States dropped from fourth to eleventh place. (Sydney Morning Herald) (NZ Herald)
• One person has been killed and another injured in an explosion on a Russian nuclear-powered submarine in dock for decommissioning. (BBC)
• Leaked communications between two U.S. military prosecutors reveal internal doubts about the military commission system established to try Guantanamo Bay detainees. In separate emails, the prosecutors allege that the commission system is rigged in favour of the prosecution and that the cases being pursued are "marginal". In Australia, the Australian Government came under renewed pressure to withdraw its support for the commissions, under which Australian citizen David Hicks would be tried. (Wikinews) (ABC)
• Vice-President John Garang of Sudan, a central figure in the new peace deal ending the Second Sudanese Civil War, is reported dead with 13 other people in an aircraft crash near the Uganda-Sudan border. (Wikinews), (Reuters), (CNN), (AP via Yahoo!News) (Link dead as of 02:29, 15 January 2007 (UTC))
  • Deadly riots erupt in Khartoum after Garang's death. (Reuters) (Link dead as of 02:29, 15 January 2007 (UTC))
• King Fahd of Saudi Arabia has died in a hospital at the age of 83. It was believed that he was in poor health and entered the hospital on May 27 with acute pneumonia. Crown Prince Abdullah, who had been effective regent for years, accedes to the throne. Defence Minister Prince Sultan will be the new Crown Prince. (Wikinews) (Reuters) (Al-Jazeera)
• New European Union directive banning tobacco advertising comes into effect (Euronews)
• President Bush circumvents the Senate after a five-month impasse to appoint John Bolton as the United States Ambassador to the United Nations. (Wikinews) (Yahoo News) (Link dead as of 02:29, 15 January 2007 (UTC))
• In Egypt, opposition party al-Wafd (Delegation Party) announces that it will endorse its leader Numan Gumaa as a candidate in presidential election next September (Al-Jazeera)
• NASA announces that astronauts will make repairs on the bottom of the space shuttle Discovery to ensure its safety in re-entry (Space.com) (Science Daily) (Reuters) (Link dead as of 02:29, 15 January 2007 (UTC))
• In Colombia, paramilitary group United Self-Defence Forces of Colombia begins disarming (BBC)
• In Brazil, Valdemar Costa Neto, leader of the Liberal Party, steps down after he admitted that he received money from the ruling Worker's Party (MercoPress) (Reuters) (Link dead as of 02:29, 15 January 2007 (UTC)), (Bloomberg)
• In India, HCL infosystems and Dayanidhi Maran, communications minister, unveil cheap "PC for India" with Linux OS, costing 9990 rupees (equivalent to US$225) (The Hindu) (Hindu Business Line) (BBC)

• In Iran, Judge Masoud Ahmadi Moghaddasi, who had ruled the case of Akbar Ganji, is assassinated by a gunman. (Guardian)
• President Bush endorses intelligent design, stating that it should be taught in school. He is quoted as saying: "I think that part of education is to expose people to different schools of thought. You're asking me whether or not people ought to be exposed to different ideas, the answer is yes." A large portion of the scientific community does not recognise ID as a scientific theory and considers it to be creationist pseudoscience.(Boston Globe)
• In Ohio's Second District, voters are choosing a new congressman. The candidates are Jean Schmidt and Paul Hackett. Schmidt ultimately wins the election.
• While landing during a severe lightning storm, Air France Flight 358 skidded off the runway at Toronto Pearson International Airport at 4:03 p.m. local time and burst into flames. All 309 passengers and crew on board survive. (CJAD 800) (CBC) (BBC)
• Anti-disengagement protesters rally in Sderot. The organizers said the crowd numbered 50,000, but police estimated the figure between 10,000 and 15,000. Some 18,000 troops and 12,000 police are involved in preventing protesters from getting to the Gush Katif Israeli settlement on the Gaza Strip. (INN), (BBC), (HaAretz)
• Scientists at Stanford University have used nanotechnology to kill cancer cells without harming healthy tissue. (BBC)
• Conflict in Iraq: At least 15 people have died following a series of insurgent attacks throughout Iraq. (BBC)
• The Chinese national oil company CNOOC has withdrawn a bid for Unocal quelling the fears that the deal would give a foreign government too much control over American oil reserves. Chevron is now expected to acquire Unocal. (NY Times)
• In Zimbabwe, state prosecutors dropped treason charges against opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai. Mr Tsvangirai, leader of the Movement for Democratic Change, was accused of organising mass protests in 2003 to overthrow Robert Mugabe's controversial régime. (AFP)
• In Germany, police in Brandenburg announce that they have uncovered bones of nine newborn babies that had been buried in flower pots. The woman believed to be their mother, identified in newspapers as "Sabine H.", has been arrested in the worst case of individual infanticide in German history. (Reuters) (BBC)
• Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore agree to joint anti-piracy patrols in the Malacca Strait. (Jakarta Post) (Channel News Asia) Thailand later joins them. (Channel News Asia) (New Straits Times) (Reuters AlertNet)
• In Turkey, two explosions injure 6 people in Antalya, a popular tourist resort. The tourism minister blames gas leaks but the police are investigating. (Turkish Press) (Reuters AlertNet)
• In France, medical authorities investigate a case where remains of 351 stillborn fetuses had been kept in storage in St Vincent de Paul hospital against the law and the parents' consent. (BBC)

• The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and United States Department of Justice give approval to the proposed merger of Sprint and Nextel, to create the new company of Sprint Nextel
• Prime Minister of Canada Paul Martin will announce on Thursday that Michaëlle Jean has been chosen to succeed Adrienne Clarkson as Governor General of Canada. (CBC)
• Two people are known to have died following a bomb blast in Istanbul, Turkey. (BBC) (Al-Jazeera) (Reuters AlertNet)
• The BBC has uncovered documents which reveal that in 1958 the British Government helped Israel attain nuclear weapons. (BBC)
• The chairman of the British Council of Mosques and Imams has advised British Muslim women to refrain from wearing clothing, such as the Hijab, which identifies them as Muslim following a large increase in "Islamophobia" and Hate crimes. (BBC), (BBC)
• Mo Mowlam, the former Northern Ireland Secretary, has been admitted to hospital, apparently critically ill. (BBC)
• Conflict in Iraq: 14 US Marines have been killed following an insurgent attack in Haditha, north-western Iraq. U.S. Officials deny that a Marine has been taken hostage. (BBC)
• More than 800 people have been wounded and 84 killed in the violence which erupted in Sudan after ex-rebel southern leader John Garang died in a helicopter crash. (BBC) (Reuters)
• In Singapore, an announcement was made declaring the election date for the presidential election to be on 27 August, with nomination day slated for 17 August. (CNA)
• NBC Universal gets permission from parent company General Electric to buy DreamWorks SKG. (Yahoo)
• Adidas acquires Reebok for $3.8 billion. (Economic Times) (BBC)
• Oracle Corporation acquires i-flex for $909 million. (Business Standard)
• In Australia, Morris Iemma becomes the 40th Premier of New South Wales after being elected unopposed as leader of the state Australian Labor Party.
• In Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad officially becomes new president. (IRNA) (Al-Jazeera) (Reuters)
• In Saudi Arabia the new King Abdullah has been invested. Tony Blair and Jacques Chirac, along with many European Monarchs are present for the "bayaa" ceremony while George H. W. Bush and Dick Cheney will meet with the new King the following day. (BBC)
• In Malaysia, former deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim receives apology and compensation from former chief of police Rahim Noor, who beat him September 1999 ago when he was arrested on dubious grounds. In return, Ibrahim drops the case again him. (Channel News Aaia) (Reuters)
• Australian justice minister Chris Ellison wants to create tough laws against practice of sending young girls overseas to forced marriages. (The Australian) (BBC)
• Reports from Mauritania indicate that the Army has seized control of the government. State media is reportedly taken over by troops, signaling a military coup while President Ould Taya is out of the country attending the funeral of Saudi Arabia's King Fahd. (Middle East Online) (BBC) (afrol News)
• In Norway, thieves steal three worthless copies of Edvard Munch's paintings from an Oslo hotel (Aftenposten) (Reuters)

• Ayman al-Zawahri, a leader of Al-Qaeda, has issued a televised statement blaming Tony Blair and his government's foreign policy for the July 2005 London bombings. (BBC)
• Israeli-Palestinian Conflict:
  • The Ministry of Housing in Israel has issued tenders for the construction of a further 72 houses in an Israeli settlement of Betar Illit, near Bethlehem, on the West Bank. (BBC)
  • Four Israeli Arabs, two Christian and two Muslim, are killed by Eden Nathan-Zadah, member of the banned Jewish extremist Kach party, when he opens fire on a bus in Shfar'am, Israel. He was later lynched by a mob. Nathan-Zadah was AWOL from his IDF post. (Haaretz), (the Guardian) (CNN), (BBC)
• In the UK, the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee has cut its interest rate by a quarter percent to 4.5% (BBC)
• The leaders of the recent bloodless Coup in Mauritania name Ely Ould Mohamed Vall, former national police chief, as the new president of the country (Al-Jazeera)
• Scientists in Seoul National University, South Korea, have cloned a dog named Snuppy (Dong, South Korea) (Channel News Asia) (Science Daily)
• New Zealand's ruling Labour Party state that they plan to set limit to claims to Waitangi Tribunals to 2008 and settlements to 2020 (Stuff) (Channel News Asia) (BBC)
• Negotiations between the Philippines government and the National Democratic Front, the political wings of the Communist Party of the Philippines, break down. The Government has ended immunity of their members from arrest (INQ7) (Reuters AlertNet) (IHT)
• The African Union suspends Mauritania from the group after the recent coup. (Reuters AlertNet)
• Portuguese firefighters fight huge forest fires in the districts of Aveiro, Braga and Porto (Euronews)
• Italian scientists have found cocaine residue in the Po River water (Medical News Today) (BBC)
• The parliament in Senegal votes to put former prime minister Idrissa Seck on trial for embezzlement and threatening state security. (Reuters SA) (Reuters AlertNet) (BBC)
• The Nepalese court rejects criminal Charles Sobhraj's appeal against his life sentence. His lawyer intends to appeal to the United Nations Court of Human Rights (HImalayan Times) (BBC)
• The Indian Supreme Court upholds the death sentence of Mohammad Afzal in connection with parliament attack case

• An Israeli archaeologist working in East Jerusalem reports that she has discovered a palace dating from the 10th century BC, which may have belonged to King David. (NY Times), (International Herald Tribune), (Washington Times), (Houston Chronicle), (Taipei Times)
• Wikimania has started. Audio streams are available on Meta. Reuters has reported that new restrictions on editing Wikipedia and other rules, such as removing the ability to edit articles with "stable contents", are being considered, allegedly to protect against vandalism. (Reuters) The report is based on an interview with Jimmy Wales conducted by the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung.(SZ)
• Three Irishmen accused of training Colombian FARC rebels have returned to Ireland. (RTÉ)
• Conflict in Afghanistan: Al-Arabiya television broadcasts video footage shot by al-Qaeda which appears to show the downing of a US Chinook helicopter in Afghanistan. (BBC)
• Yahoo! has introduced a test version of a new search service Yahoo! Audio Search that it claims can comb through 50 million music, voice and other audio files. (Yahoo! Audio)
• An earthquake in Papua, Indonesia, reached 6.0 on the Richter scale. There are no reports of casualties.(Channel News Asia)
• Newmont Minahasa Raya, a local subsidiary of U.S. mining giant Newmont Mining, and its executive Richard Ness, go on trial in North Sulawesi accused of polluting a Buyat Bay near its mine in Indonesia. (Channel News Asia) (Forbes) (Bloomberg)
• The People's Republic of China formally charges Hong Kong reporter Ching Cheong, journalist for The Straits Times, of spying. (China Post) (Channel News Asia)
• Typhoon Matsa hits Taiwan (Channel News Asia)
• Russian Priz class mini-submarine AS-28 and its 7 crewmembers are stuck underwater off the Pacific coast (Reuters) (BBC)

• The British politician and former Cabinet Minister Robin Cook dies suddenly at the age of 59. (BBC)
• Jimmy Wales clarifies the recent media statements made about possible changes to Wikipedia editorial content. (Mailing list)
• India and Pakistan announce that they have agreed to give each other advance notice of future nuclear missile tests. (BBC)
• Fourteen people are killed when a Tunisian ATR 72 passenger plane carrying 39 passengers and crew ditches in the sea off the coast of the Italian island of Sicily. (CBS/AP), (Reuters)
• Cuban veteran singer Ibrahim Ferrer, vocalist and front man of the Buena Vista Social Club band, dies at the age of 78 (Prensa Latina) singer ferrer dies (Contactmusic) (Reuters)

• Peter Jennings, long-time anchor of ABC World News Tonight, has died from lung cancer at the age of 67. (ABC News)
• Conflict in Iraq: 39 people have died, including at least two U.S. soldiers, following a series of insurgent attacks throughout Iraq. (AFP via Yahoo!)
• Israeli-Palestinian Conflict:
  • A 10-year old Israeli boy is severely wounded after being shot in the head when an Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades gunman opened fire on the vehicle he was travelling in outside the Israeli settlement of Ateret in the West Bank. (Reuters) (YNETnews)
  • A Palestinian man, Muhammad Qashta, is shot dead as he stands outside his home in Rafah, Gaza Strip. IDF soldiers fire shots to the head and chest from an observation post. (Al Jazeera), (Kuwait News Agency)
  • Binyamin Netanyahu, the former Prime Minister of Israel, resigns his cabinet post as Finance Minister in protest against the planned Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip. Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has been appointed to succeed him. (BBC), (Reuters)
• Russian Priz class mini-submarine AS-28 and its 7 crew members are saved at 03:25 UTC off the Pacific coast (RIAN - in Russian) (Reuters), (Guardian)
• England wins the second match of The 2005 Ashes test cricket series over Australia in a nail biter, winning by 2 runs at Edgbaston in Birmingham, England. (Cricinfo)
• Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez dismisses cooperation with the US DEA, claiming that they spy on him (BBC) (Reuters)
• In China, flooding in coal mine traps at least 102 (Xinhua) (People's Daily) (Channel News Asia) (Reuters)
• In South Africa, National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) begins the first country-wide strike in the gold mines (BBC) (Forbes) (Reuters SA)

• Banco Central robbery at Fortaleza: In Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil, an estimated 156 million reais was discovered to be stolen over the weekend in one of the world's largest bank robberies. (Agencia Brasil), (BBC)
• Oil for food scandal: the UN-appointed panel released its third report. According to it, Benon Sevan took nearly $150,000 in cash bribes. A former UN procurement officer Alexander Yakovlev has pleaded guilty to accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes from UN contractors. (BBC)
• Same sex marriage debate: The top legislative body of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) is set to take key votes this week on ordaining gays and blessing same-sex unions. Conflicts over what the Bible says about homosexuality have been tearing at Protestant denominations for years. Cleveland Plain Dealer AP feed in Guardian UK
• Iran resumes its nuclear programme at its uranium facility near the city of Isfahan. (BBC) (Guardian)
• A suicide bombing kills 1 and injures 32 in Fuzhou, provincial capital of Southeastern China's Fujian Province. (Reuters)
• STS-114: The Shuttle Discovery was waved off by Mission Control in Houston for a landing at Kennedy Space Center due to bad weather. NASA has said they will land the Orbiter in 24 hours, with Six opportunities available — the first two at Kennedy Space Center and the second two at Edwards Air Force Base and the final two at the White Sands Missile Range (also known as the White Sounds Spaceport). (Reuters) (Space.com)
• Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has dissolved the Japanese House of Representatives and will call a snap election for September 11. The move came after rebel lawmakers from his own Liberal Democratic Party voted down postal reform legislation on which he had staked the party's mandate. The postal reform would have led to privatization of the country's postal service. It is thought that the move will plunge normally staid Japanese politics into great uncertainty.(Japan Today) (Channel News Asia) (Bloomberg) (BBC)
• In Indonesia, Garuda Indonesia airline pilot Pollycarpus Priyanto goes on trial for poisoning human rights activist Munir Said Thalib (Channel News Asia)
• Benon Sevan, head of the United Nations' oil-for-food program, resigns before the publication of a report that is expected to accuse him of corruption. He blames Kofi Annan for "sacrificing" him and denies all charges (BBC) (Reuters)
• Chile plans to limit migration to Easter Island (MercoPress) (BBC)

• Space Shuttle Discovery, the craft for the STS-114 mission, lands at 05:12 PDT (12:12 UTC) at Edwards Air Force Base in California. (BBC) (BBC)
• Mahmoud Abbas, President of the Palestinian Authority, has announced that there is to be a Palestinian general election in January 2006. (BBC)
• Israel orders Israeli settlers on the Gaza Strip to leave their settlements or face eviction. (BBC)
• Conflict in Iraq:
  • The Mayor of Baghdad, Alaa al-Tamimi, has been removed from office after 120 armed men, operating on behalf of the Interim Iraqi Government, stormed his office and installed the provincial governor in his place. (BBC)
  • 10 members of the Iraqi police have been shot dead following insurgent attacks across Baghdad and in Baqouba, Iraq. (BBC)
  • At least three civilians have died following a suicide car bomb in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad. (BBC)
• Mamadou Tanja, the President of Niger, has denied reports claiming a famine in Niger. (BBC)
• A committee in Sudan is formed to investigate the death of vice-president John Garang in a helicopter crash. (BBC)
• Matthew McGrory dies from natural causes at his home.
• A chemical plant explodes in Romulus, Michigan (20 miles southwest of Detroit). No persons were injured; nearby residents were evacuated from their homes.

• In Chile, special Judge Sergio Muñoz indicts Lucía Hiriart and Marco Antonio Pinochet, wife and youngest son of Augusto Pinochet, on charges of tax evasion. Hiriart is confined in a military facility in Santiago and Marco Pinochet in Santiago's Capuchinos Jail (BBC).
• The Transportation Equity Act of 2005 is signed into law in the United States by President George W. Bush. (Reuters)
• Conflict in Iraq: Six US soldiers are killed in insurgent attacks throughout Iraq, including four killed in one attack in the northern oil-producing Kurdish town of Baiji, bringing the total US military death toll in Iraq to 1,841. (CNN) (BBC)
• A Sikorsky S-76 helicopter of the Finnish company Copterline has crashed into the Gulf of Finland near Estonia's capital Tallinn with 14 on board; eight Finns, four Estonians and two Americans. There are no survivors. (BBC)
• The United States and the African Union have dropped their demands that last week's coup in Mauritania be reversed. The US is working with the military junta to ensure that multi-party elections are held as soon as possible (BBC)
• Yahoo Inc. is negotiating to pay approx. US$1 billion, plus the transfer of its own China operations, in return for a 35% equity stake in Alibaba.com, China's second-largest e-commerce concern. (Reuters)
• A private company, Space Adventures, announces plans to create a tourism program to send people around the Moon. A 5 1/2 day lunar flight could happen in 2008 or 2009, and cost about 100 million USD. (Yahoo), (CNN)
• The airline catering firm Gate Gourmet sack 670 workers at London's Heathrow Airport, sparking a sympathy strike from British Airways staff. (TGWU)

• Tens of thousands of Israelis have converged on Tel Aviv to protest the proposed removal of Israeli settlements from the Gaza Strip. (Ynet) (BBC)
• Scientists at the German Primate Centre and the University of Göttingen announce the discovery of two new species of lemur, Mirza zaza and Microcebus lehilahytsara. (German press release), (BBC)
• Pakistan's first domestically designed cruise missile, the Babur missile, is test launched. (BBC)
• Salva Kiir has been sworn in as the Vice-President of Sudan, following the recent death of John Garang. (BBC) Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has threatened to close down newspapers which continue to publish "conspiracy theories" about Garang's death. (BBC)
• Abortion in Ireland: Three Irish women are taking the Government of Ireland to the European Court of Human Rights to challenge Ireland's constitutional ban on Abortion. (BBC)
• Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter was scheduled to be launched at 9:00am EST (local time for launch), but the launch was scrubbed due to technical problems. (BBC) (Spaceflightnow.com)
• Malaysia has announced a state of emergency in two towns after air pollution reached dangerous levels. The pollution is blamed on fires lit to clear land in neighbouring Indonesia, seriously affecting air quality and visibility across the Strait of Malacca. (BBC)
• Scott Sullivan, once the chief financial officer of WorldCom, then the star witness in the prosecution of his former boss there, Bernie Ebbers, is sentenced to five years in prison.

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Iraq War
  • Moqtada Sadr, the Shia cleric and leader, has announced that his Mahdi army has freed four hostages. (BBC)
• Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar is assassinated by suspected Tamil Tigers sniper team in Colombo. (CNN)
• Kashmiri insurgents kill two defence committee soldiers and three members of their families, and injured nine others, three of them critically, in Mahore area of Udhampur district. (Economic Times)

Disasters and accidents

• 104 Ecuadorians trying to emigrate to the United States are killed when their ship sinks in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Colombia. Nine people are rescued after floating at sea for two days.
• At least 80 people have died from water-borne diseases and over 5,000 are sick in the western Indian state of Maharashtra following recent floods. (BBC)
• An unofficial strike by ground staff at Heathrow forces British Airways to cancel over 100 flights. Flights have resumed. (BBC)

International relations

• Salva Kiir, the new vice-president of Sudan, is opposed to independence for the country's south. (BBC) The Ugandan government shuts down a radio station for broadcasting a debate on the cause of death of former Sudanese vice-president John Garang. (BBC)

Law and crime

• Omar Bakri Mohammed is banned from returning to the United Kingdom. (BBC)
• Former Israeli sergeant Taysir Hayb is sentenced to eight years in prison and two years suspended sentence for shooting and killing Tom Hurndall. (Jerusalem Post) (Jerusalem post)

Science and technology

• The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter launches successfully from Cape Canaveral, Florida, at 11:43 GMT (BBC)

Ernest Smith being moved into the church.

• Conflict in Iraq:
  • Three US Soldiers are killed following an IED attack by insurgents in Tuz, northern Iraq. (MilitaryTimes)
• Former Prime Minister David Lange of New Zealand dies. His 1984–1989 administration has left a permanent mark on New Zealand. (NZ National Business Review)
• German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder warns the U.S. to back away from the possibility of military action against Iran over its nuclear program. (BBC)
• Ernest "Smokey" Smith, the last surviving Canadian recipient of the Victoria Cross, is laid to rest in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada following the largest Canadian military funeral in recent history. He died on 3 August at the age of 91. (CBC)
• Singapore President SR Nathan is returned unopposed by the Presidential Elections Committee, which ruled that he is the only eligible candidate out of 4 applicants. Singapore's nomination day is on October 17. (Bernama)

• Kurmanbek Bakiyev has been sworn in as Kyrgyzstan's new president after winning nearly 90 percent of the vote last month in an election to find a successor to President Askar Akayev, who was ousted during protests in March.(Reuters)
• Thirty bodies are found in a mass grave south of Baghdad after the interrogation of Iraqi insurgents captured in a raid yesterday. (Newsday; AP)
• Time magazine cites United States military intelligence documents that an Iranian-backed Iraqi insurgent network, led by Abu Mustafa al-Sheibani, had introduced a bomb design based on Iranian-backed Lebanese militia Hizbollah plans in last eight months. (Reuters)
• U.S. forces in Iraq raid a warehouse in Mosul. They uncover a suspected chemical weapons factory. (Boston Globe)
• Helios Airways Flight 522 en route from Larnaca, Cyprus via Athens, Greece to Prague, Czech Republic crashes near Athens, with at least 121 onboard. Observations from Greek fighter aircraft indicate a decompression problem. (BBC)
• Ugandan journalist Andrew Mwenda has been charged with sedition after a radio debate speculating on the death of Sudan's vice-president John Garang.(BBC)
• Liberian football hero George Weah has been given the go-ahead to contest the country's presidency. Liberia's election commission dismissed a complaint that his French citizenship barred him from standing.(BBC)

• Many countries celebrate the 60th Anniversary of the Victory in the Pacific and the end of World War II. Beijing holds an arts performance gala. In Japan, in a large-scale ceremony led by the Emperor Akihito, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi apologizes for people's suffering Japan caused during World War II. The ceremony was met with scattered protests. (Xinhua) (BBC China)
• The Parliament of Iraq grants an extension to the nation's leaders to draw up a new Constitution. (MSNBC)
• The U.S. refused to abide by a North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) ruling on the U.S.-Canada softwood lumber dispute, leading to Canada's Finance Minister Ralph Goodale saying he was considering trade sanctions on the US. (Boston Globe)
• Israel begins the Gaza Strip pullout plan. The Kissufim Roadblock was shut down at midnight between August 14 and August 15. Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas hailed the move as "historic" but said Israel should also pull out of the West Bank. (BBC), (Canada.com)
• Conflict in Iraq: A senior aide to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, Abu Zubair, has been shot dead following a U.S. ambush in Mosul, Iraq. (BBC)
• The Indonesian government and rebels from the Free Aceh Movement (Gam) sign a peace deal aimed at ending their near 30 year conflict. (BBC), (chosun.com). UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan applauded both parties for reaching a peaceful settlement of the dispute through dialogue, and commended Martti Ahtisaari, former President of Finland, for the mediation role that he played throughout the negotiation process. (XinHua)
• Due to stalled labour talks, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation locks out the company's 5500 members of the Canadian Media Guild, severely disrupting operations in most of Canada. The key point of contention is the broadcaster's insistence on more contract employees to the expense of full time positions. (The Toronto Star)
• Phil Mickelson wins the 2005 PGA Championship (PGA.com)
• India celebrates its sixtieth Independence Day.

• Roger Louis Schutz-Marsauche, better known as Brother Roger, is murdered by a mentally-ill woman during an afternoon prayer service. Brother Roger is best known for founding the Taizé Community in 1940. His death saddened many officials and leaders across Europe, including Pope Benedict XVI. (BBC)(Bloomberg)
• Russian cosmonaut Sergei K. Krikalev set a record for the most days spent in space, clocking almost 748 days over a 20-year career. (AFP via Yahoo! News) (Link dead as of 21:21, 14 January 2007 (UTC)), (Reuters via Yahoo! News) (Link dead as of 21:21, 14 January 2007 (UTC))
• In Richmond, Virginia, thousands of people stampede at the Richmond International Raceway to obtain one of 1000 $50 iBooks being liquidated by the Henrico County school district. Seventeen people suffer minor injuries, with four requiring hospital treatment. Cincinnati Post MSNBC macworld uk Richmond Times-Dispatch
• Lena Baker is pardoned by the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles 60 years after her execution (CNN)
• Coretta Scott King, widow of civil rights pioneer Martin Luther King, Jr., is admitted to Piedmont Hospital in Atlanta for possible stroke. (AP)(ABC news)
• Madonna suffers multiple broken bones from a horseback riding accident during her 47th birthday celebration. (MTV)
• ITN news announces it has uncovered classified documents which seem to imply that Jean Charles de Menezes, the man shot dead by British Police on July 22, 2005, was not wearing a heavy coat, did not jump the ticket barrier, was not given a warning, and did not at any time flee from police. (ITN)
• Two Puma helicopters crash near the city of Herat, in western Afghanistan, killing Spanish troops. (BBC)
• West Caribbean Airways Flight 708 from Colombia crashes in a remote region of Venezuela with 160 people on board. (BBC)
• A magnitude-7.2 earthquake strikes northeastern coast of Honshū, Japan at 11.46am (02:46 UTC), injuring at least 40 people, and resulting in a tsunami warning. (BBC) (Guardian) (CNN) (Reuters) (Link dead as of 21:21, 14 January 2007 (UTC))
• World Youth Day 2005 begins in Cologne, Germany. (SD)

• Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: An Israeli settler kills 3 Palestinian civilians in the West Bank. The attack was condemned by Ariel Sharon as a "Jewish Terror act" and "twisted thinking" while Hamas claimed the right to avenge the deaths. (Reuters) (BBC)
• At least two people have been killed and several others injured in a series of over 300 blasts across Bangladesh. An outlawed Islamist group, Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh, has claimed responsibility. (BBC)
• Conflict in Iraq: At least 42 people have died following a series of co-ordinated car bombings in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad. (BBC)
• The first actual pullout of settlers in the Gaza Strip, as part of the Israel unilateral disengagement plan, has started. (FOXNews)
• S.R. Nathan returns unopposed for a second term in the Singapore presidential elections. Three other candidates who filed for candidature were rejected by the Presidential Elections Committee due to "lack of experience", amongst other reasons. (CNA), (Reuters)
• The governors of the U.S. states of New Mexico and Arizona declare an emergency along their borders with Mexico citing recent violence, and inaction in both the US government and the Mexican government. (NY Times), (Arizona Republic), (UK Telegraph).
• The Zotob computer worm causes fatal crashes of computers worldwide. The worm only crashes PCs running Windows 2000 and earlier versions of Windows XP, shutting down and rebooting the computer endlessly. Affected were CNN, ABC, Caterpillar, New York Times and Capitol Hill PCs. (CNN).

• Ohio Governor Bob Taft pleads no contest to four counts of filing incomplete financial disclosure statements in Columbus, Ohio and a Franklin County municipal court judge finds him guilty, fines him $4,000, and orders him to apologize publicly. Taft says he will not resign his office. (The Cincinnati Enquirer)
• A man described as Al Qaeda's leader in Saudi Arabia, Saleh Mohammed al-Aoofi, is killed in a shootout with police.(CBS) (BBC)
• Dennis Rader, also known as the BTK Killer, is sentenced 10 consecutive life sentences for 10 murders between 1974 and 1991. (Reuters) (CNN)
• Pope Benedict XVI made his first foreign trip to his homeland Germany, attending the World Youth Day 2005. He was welcomed with cheers and made several speeches to leaders of Germany and to pilgrims at the Rhine banks at a ship as well as in front of the Cologne cathedrale. - BBC Pictures; BBC News; MSNBC.
• Conflict in Iraq:
  • Insurgents kill 4 US Troops in an IED explosion in Samarra, north of Baghdad, Iraq. (Polit Info), (Xinhua)
  • An angry Iraqi crowd thronged the Al-A'amiriya district of Baghdad, after US Troops killed 3 local brothers, including a disabled man, accusing them of being terrorists. (Reuters)
• NASA has decided to push the next shuttle mission STS-121 to March 2006 and reassign it to the Space Shuttle Discovery (MSNBC)
• Israeli troops forcibly remove Zionist Jews opposed to Ariel Sharon's unilateral disengagement plan one by one from their strongholds in the synagogues in the Israeli settlements on the Gaza Strip. Some of the protesters threw paint, rocks and acid at the soldiers. (BBC), (ABC)

• Mounir El Motassadeq, the first person to be convicted for his role in the 9/11 attacks who had his conviction overturned in 2004, is re-convicted in Hamburg, Germany and sentenced to seven years in prison. (Reuters), (CBC), (Chicago SunTimes), (Guardian)
• Pope Benedict XVI speaks inside a synagogue at World Youth Day 2005 about the Judeo-Christian relationship. He also speaks with Protestant and Orthodox Christians about upcoming challenges within Christianity. BBC News
• Conflict in Iraq:
  • 3 members of the main Sunni Arab political party in Iraq are kidnapped and killed as they put up posters urging people to vote in the upcoming elections in Mosul. (BBC)
  • Two Iraqis have died following an IED explosion near Tikrit.(BBC)
• Pierre Nkurunziza of the National Council for the Defense of Democracy-Forces for the Defense of Democracy, a former rebel leader of the Hutu majority in Burundi, has been elected unopposed as the new President of Burundi by the parliament, the first president chosen through democratic means since the start of the civil war in 1993. He will be sworn in on 27 August. (BBC), (BBC)
• Former Northern Ireland Secretary Mo Mowlam has died in a hospice at the age of 55. (BBC)
• A Jordanian soldier dies when three unexploded Katyusha rockets miss their targets and hit a warehouse and hospital in Aqaba, Jordan and hit a road by the airport in nearby Eilat, Israel. A group with alleged links to Al-Qaeda claims responsibility for the attacks, stating the targets were US ships docked at the Red Sea port in Aqaba, the USS Kearsarge and the USS Ashland. (CNN), (MSNBC)
• In a bid to end the armed conflict with Morocco, the Polisario Front independence movement in Western Sahara frees its last 404 Moroccan prisoners of war, many of them having been held for almost two decades. (Reuters), (Reuters), (MSNBC), (BBC), (Guardian)
• New York authorities reveal the existence of a letter from a deceased woman who claims her husband (according to the New York Daily News, WINS 1010 cites a cab driver named Frank Burn) and two others killed Judge Joseph F. Crater and buried him under the boardwalk at Coney Island. Crater has been missing since 1930 and has since become one of the most famous "missing person" stories. (1010 WINS) (Fox News) (MSNBC) (New York Daily News) (New York Post)
• Merck & Co. loses the first wrongful death lawsuit over its painkiller Vioxx, with a jury awarding $253 Million in damages. There have been over 4000 cases filed against Merck over this drug. (MSNBC) (CNN)
• Pennsylvania police announced the discovery of a body presumed to be that of missing woman LaToyia Figueroa and the arrest of former boyfriend Stephen Poaches.(CNN)
• Pakistan's Supreme Court upholds the death sentence awarded to Manjeet Singh, an alleged Research and Analysis Wing agent who was also reportedly involved in five bomb blasts in the country. Singh was arrested by security forces at the Indo-Pak border on August 30, 1990. (Indian Express) (Hindustan Times)
• In one of the worst confrontations on the Indo-Bangla frontier in recent months, Bangladesh Rifles opens unprovoked fire at the India side at some outposts in West Bengal. About 500 rounds were fired in the skirmishes, but there was no casualty. (Press Trust of India) (Sify)
• During one of the most intense thunderstorms in Toronto, Canada, a very heavy downpour of rain caused widespread flooding in the Greater Toronto Area and on the major freeway leading into downtown Toronto, the Don Valley Parkway. Damage is estimated at at least CAN$ 500,000,000.
• First episode of Channel 4 TV series Balls of Steel
• The id Tech 3 source code was released under the GPL.

• Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, the President of Indonesia, ordered the national intelligence agency and police to investigate after a power outage left about 100 million people without electricity. (Wikinews)
• The original handwritten manuscript of a paper by Albert Einstein, entitled "Quantum theory of the monatomic ideal gas" (Bose-Einstein condensate), dated December 1924, has been found in the archives of Leiden University's Lorentz Institute for Theoretical Physics. It was considered one of Einstein's last great breakthroughs. (AP via Yahoo! News)(Link dead as of 20:43, 14 January 2007 (UTC)) Photographs of the 16-page manuscript and a description of how a student stumbled upon it were posted on the institute's Web site. (Leiden University)
• Northwest Airlines mechanics went on strike.

• More than 800,000 people joined Pope Benedict XVI for the concluding Mass of World Youth Day 2005 in Cologne, Germany. (CNN) The next World Youth Day was announced to be held in Sydney, Australia in 2008. BlueAirNews News
• Martin Dillon, 48, musician, operatic tenor, and professor of music, died in Randolph, VT. Martin Dillon was found dead, in the back yard of a Highland Avenue residence, in Randolph, VT. Musicians and supporters of the Central Vermont Chamber Music Festival | (CVCMF) were stunned to learn that tenor Martin Dillon died about 12 hours after his August 20 concert on the Chandler Music Hall stage. Due to the untimely nature of his death, an autopsy and a toxicology report was ordered, and there was no appearance of anything suspicious. Later it was confirmed that he died of a cardiac arrest of natural causes. See Randolph Herald News See Tribute blog See In Memoriam Rutgers Camden

• Iraq's parliament receives a draft of that country's constitution, minutes before the revised deadline. The parliamentary vote on the constitution will be delayed until a final draft emerges. (ABC)
• Eric Rudolph is sentenced to three more life terms without possibility of parole for the Centennial Olympic Park bombing of the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. (BBC) (VOA)
• A large explosion injures several people in Beirut, Lebanon. (BBC) (CNN)
• The Piano Man has been identified and sent back home to Bavaria, Germany. (BBC)(CNN)
• Conflict in Afghanistan: US Troops claim to have killed more than one hundred suspects following raids in south and East Afghanistan. (BBC)
• Conflict in Iraq: US Troops claim that they will investigate the circumstances following the death of a cousin of Iraq's envoy to the United Nations. The man died from a bullet wound to the head as he opened his door to US Soldiers in western Iraq. (BBC)
• Patriarch Theophilus III is unanimously elected 141st Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem by the Holy Synod of the Orthodox Church of Jerusalem to replace ousted predecessor Irenaios I.(LA Times) (Link dead as of 00:41, 15 January 2007 (UTC))
• Israeli forces enter the last remaining Israeli settlement in the Gaza Strip to remove the settlers from Netzarim, a religious farming community of about 500, completing the evacuation of all the enclaves. Four small militant settlements on the West Bank will also be cleared, with 5,500 troops heading there to begin evictions on Tuesday. (Reuters) (Link dead as of 00:41, 15 January 2007 (UTC)), IMRA
• Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon announces that existing large West Bank Israeli settlements will be expanded. (WikiNews)
• Voting registration begins in the war-torn east of the Democratic Republic of Congo ahead of planned elections. (BBC)
• In tennis, Maria Sharapova becomes the first Russian woman to reach world number one replacing injured American Lindsay Davenport at the top of the WTA rankings. (BBC) (Yahoo! News)

• At least 41 die when TANS Peru Flight 204, a Boeing 737-200, crashes near Pucallpa, Peru, with 100 on board. It was the fifth major airline accident this month. (Reuters) (Link dead as of 21:38, 14 January 2007 (UTC)), (BBC), (CNN).
• UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan visits Zinder, Niger, which is affected by a regional food crisis in West Africa. (Guardian), (BBC), (CNN) (Link dead as of 21:38, 14 January 2007 (UTC)), (Reuters) (Link dead as of 21:38, 14 January 2007 (UTC))
• Israel completes the unilateral disengagement from all settlements in the Gaza Strip and four in the West Bank. (Reuters) (Link dead as of 21:38, 14 January 2007 (UTC)), (BBC), (Haaretz) (Link dead as of 21:38, 14 January 2007 (UTC))
• Canada has sent 2 Kingston-class warships to the north Arctic port of Churchill, Manitoba following a territorial dispute with Denmark regarding Hans Island. (BBC)
• Christian religious leader Pat Robertson, a televangelist and former candidate for President of the United States, calls on the U.S. to kill Hugo Chávez, the President of Venezuela.(Yahoo! News (Link dead as of 21:38, 14 January 2007 (UTC))) (BBC) (ABC) (Link dead as of 21:38, 14 January 2007 (UTC))

• Conflict in Iraq: At least 17 people are killed in a series of gun battles and a suicide car bombing that targeted the Iraqi Police in Baghdad. (BBC)
  • Jeanvie Israeli-Palestinian Conflict:
  • A British haredi Jew, Shmuel Matt, is stabbed to death, and his American friend, Sammy Weissbard, is wounded when a Palestinian man attacked the pair in Jerusalem. (ITN) (Telegraph)
  • The Israeli government issues orders to seize Palestinian land close to the Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim on the West Bank for continued construction of the Israeli West Bank barrier. (BBC)
  • Five Palestinians, including Islamic Jihad leader Ribhi Amara, are killed in a gun-battle following an Israeli raid on the Palestinian refugee camp of Tulkarm in the West Bank. Israel maintains that all five were militants, while eye witnesses say that three were unarmed teenagers. (BBC) (Reuters) (YNETnews) (New York Times) (Chicago Tribune)
• Heavy floods hit Switzerland, Austria and Germany forcing thousands of people to abandon their homes. (BBC)
• Chinese railroad workers in Tibet laid rail tracks on the Tanggula Mountain Pass in the Tanggula Mountains in Tibet at 5,072 m (16,640 ft) above sea level, surpassing the altitude of the highest Peruvian railway by 255 m (837 ft). This section of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway is now the highest railway in the world. The railway also includes the highest railway station in the world at Lhasa, 5,068 m (16,627 ft) above sea level. The railway is expected to open later in 2005. (Xinhua)
• American televangelist and former Presidential candidate, Pat Robertson apologizes for calling for the assassination of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez. (Financial Times)

• French investigating magistrate Jean-Louis Bruguière warns that Al-Qaeda is planning a terrorism attack in Asia, singling out Tokyo, Sydney and Singapore as potential targets. (Financial Times)
• Arab–Israeli conflict
  • Two Qassam rockets fired out of the Gaza Strip by Palestinian militants landed near the southern Israeli town of Sderot. (YNETnews),(The Jerusalem Post)
  • Two mortar rockets were fired from Lebanon towards Israel, one of which struck a chicken coop in the Northern Galilee Moshav of Margaliot, while the other landed in Lebanese territory. Nobody was reported injured. (YNETnews),(The Jerusalem Post)
    • Later reports suggest that for the first time, Hizb Allah test-fires an Iranian medium-range rocket near the Lebanese border with Israel. One of the three 240 mm Fajr-3 rockets, launched about six kilometers north of the border, landed in Israel and the other two fell inside Lebanon. (MENL)
• Two Egyptian policemen die following two explosions in northern Sinai. (BBC)
• At least 42 people die following a series of floods throughout Europe. (BBC)
• Conflict in Iraq:
  • 36 male corpses have been found in a shallow river near the town of Kut, Iraq. (BBC)
  • Violence occurs in Najaf, Nasiriyah, Diwaniyah and Sadr City (Baghdad). Cleric Muqtada al-Sadr calls for an end to violence between his followers engaging a rival Shiite group, the Badr Organizations (backed by the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq). Both groups blame the other, while some Shia National Assembly members and ministers suspend their membership in the council because of the violence. (CNN) (Standard) (New Kerala)
• The German Constitutional Court rules that early elections on September 18 may go ahead. (BBC)
• The foreign minister of India, Natwar Singh, calls on Pakistan high commissioner Aziz Ahmed Khan to plead the case of Sarabjit Singh. (NDTV.com)

• 120,000 people are expected at the Jean Michel Jarre's concert Space of Freedom in Gdańsk Shipyard in Poland commemorating 25th anniversary of the creation of "Solidarity" trade union; live at 20:00 CET at iTVP (Radio Polonia)
• The High Court of Fiji overturns that country's sodomy laws after hearing the case of one Australian and one native Fijian who were previously sentenced to two years in jail under the legislation (365gay.com) (ABC)
• 14 children and three adults die as a fire breaks out in a building in Paris which housed African immigrants. (BBC)
• Israeli-Palestinian Conflict:
  • An Israeli Border Policeman is wounded when a Palestinian man stabs him in the back of the neck near The Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron. (Ha'aretz), (The Jerusalem Post), (Reuters)
  • The Interior Ministry of Israel has announced that the number of Israeli citizens living in Israeli settlements on the West Bank has increased by more than 9,000 thus far this year. (BBC)
• Typhoon Mawar (11W) makes landfall at Chiba city, just east of Tokyo, having weakened from super-typhoon strength. (BBC)

• Over 30 are injured in a bomb blast on a ferry at Lamitan, Basilan, Philippines, a stronghold of the Abu Sayyaf group. (BBC)
• Muhammad Deif, the Hamas leader who heads Israel's most wanted list, releases a video taunting Israel. (BBC)
• Nearly 1,000 detainees at the Abu Ghraib prison are released this week at the request of the Iraqi Government, the largest number of prisoners freed since the start of the war.
• The All Blacks win the tri nations with a nail biting win over the Springboks 31-27 in Dunedin.

(CNN)

• Actor Robert Downey Jr marries film producer Susan Levin in a Jewish ceremony at Amagansett, New York.

• Iraq's National Assembly signs the text of the proposed Iraqi constitution. A referendum will be held on 15 October, with leaders of the Sunni community already calling for a "no" vote. (BBC)
• Hawaii, represented by Ewa Beach, Hawaii, defeats Willemstad, Curaçao 7-6 in the Little League World Series (Yahoo)
• Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh says the country will help Afghanistan deal with terrorism and rebuilding the country. (NDTV)
• Omri Sharon, son of the Prime Minister of Israel, Ariel Sharon, has been formally indicted on charges of corruption following allegations concerning Ariel Sharon's bid to become leader of the Likud party in 1999. (BBC)
• People begin to return to their homes as road and rail routes reopen after the 2005 European floods. (BBC)
• Hurricane Katrina:
  • Hurricane Katrina continues to rapidly strengthen reaching Category Five status. It has the second lowest pressure for an American hurricane in recorded history, with only the Labor Day Hurricane of 1935 having a lower measurement. Katrina is at 908 mb. and dropping; the Labor Day event of 1935 had 892 mb. (Weather Channel) (National Hurricane Center) (The Most Intense Hurricanes in the United States 1851-2004)
  • Millions of people living in and around the below sea-level Louisiana city of New Orleans are leaving as Hurricane Katrina approaches. Storm surge is forecasted at 25 ft. The Mayor of New Orleans has issued a mandatory evacuation order, citing fears that the storm will break the levees protecting the city. (BBC), (CNN)
• Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: A Palestinian Islamic Jihad suicide bomber kills himself and injures close to 50 people in the southern Israeli city of Beersheba near the main bus terminal. According to sources, the bomber was trying to make his way to Beersheba's Soroka Hospital. (YNETnews) (Ha'aretz) (The Jerusalem Post) (BBC) (Reuters)
• Two Serb youths have been killed and two wounded in a drive-by shooting in Kosovo (BBC)
• The exiled ex-Ugandan president Milton Obote has announced he is to retire as president of the Uganda People's Congress, the party he has led since 1959. (Xinhua)
• Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez threatens to take legal action against Pat Robertson and potentially seek his extradition after the U.S. evangelist called for the assassination the South American leader. (Reuters)
• Cincinnati, Ohio area residents were forced to shelter-in-place late in the day because of a train car that began leaking styrene.

• Hurricane Katrina as a Category 3 storm makes landfall at 6:10 a.m. CDT (11:10 a.m. UTC). The eye is just east of New Orleans, Louisiana. This date is now known as Black Monday to New Orleanians and many residents of the Gulf Coast. (AP)
  • Death toll by Hurricane Katrina reaches 55. (Canadian Press, via Canada.com), (Guardian)
• New South Wales Opposition Leader, John Brogden, resigns from the leadership of the NSW Liberal Party after describing Helena Carr, wife of former Premier Bob Carr, as a "mail-order bride" and sexually harassing two female journalists. Brogden will remain Member for Pittwater until at least the next state election. (ABC News)
• The Nigerian Vice President's home in Maryland, USA was raided by the FBI. Atiku Abubakar's relations with President Olusegun Obasanjo have cooled and it is possible he might use the pretext of the FBI corruption investigation to dismiss him.(BBC)
• Countries of the European Union attempt to work out a deal to end the "bra wars", the Chinese textile import row. (BBC)

Ruby Slippers Stolen

• Conflict in Iraq: According to U.S. and Iraqi government officials, US Air strikes near the border with Syria have left 56 civilians and over seven insurgents dead. (CNN)
• In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina:
  • The death toll in Biloxi, Mississippi, may be as high as 80. Mayor A.J. Holloway declares that Katrina "is our tsunami", comparing the catastrophe to the 2004 Indian Ocean Earthquake and Tsunami. (Yahoo! News) (Link dead as of 21:22, 14 January 2007 (UTC)) Residents report storm surge higher than Hurricane Camille.
  • US Highway 90 along Gulfport, Mississippi, has been destroyed.
  • New Orleans, Louisiana, almost completely floods when levees along Lake Pontchartrain break. At least one attempt to repair broken levees was ended unsuccessfully. Gas leaks pollute the floodwaters. The primary evacuation site at the Louisiana Superdome is safe, with water only 3 ft. (1 m) deep outside. Death tolls there remain untold. Governor Kathleen Blanco orders the evacuation of everyone remaining in New Orleans.
  • The storm surge has totally destroyed the Interstate 10 causeway connecting the east side of New Orleans to mainland Louisiana over the east tip of Lake Pontchartrain.
  • The American Red Cross declares that the relief effort will exceed in scope that after the September 11, 2001 attacks. (Fox News)
  • Michael Brown, director of the United States Federal Emergency Management Agency, declares that Katrina was "catastrophic" and pledges full federal assistance. (Yahoo! News) (Link dead as of 21:22, 14 January 2007 (UTC))
  • Oil reaches US$70/bbl for the second time, closes at $69.35 on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Gasoline expected to rise as well. AP
• Former Prime Minister of Israel, Binyamin Netanyahu, has declared his intention to challenge Ariel Sharon for leadership of the Likud party. (BBC)
• In Paris, France, seven die and fourteen are injured when a fire burns down an apartment housing African immigrants owned by the Société Immobilière d'Économie Mixte de la Ville de Paris 22:00 (GMT+1) (Bloomberg)
• Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announced India would give US$50 million in additional aid for the reconstruction of Afghanistan during his meetings with Hamid Karzai. Earlier, it had pledged US$500 million to help rebuild the war-ravaged country.(MSN)
• The 2005 Forbes Global CEO Conference has kicked off in Sydney, Australia. Police arrest four at a barricade surrounding the Opera House (Wikinews) (Sydney Morning Herald via SMH.com.au)
• Former New South Wales Opposition Leader, John Brogden, is hospitalized after apparent suicide attempt after resigning as party leader. (Sydney Morning Herald via SMH.com.au)

• Hurricane Katrina:
  • The Federal government declares a public health emergency for the Gulf Coast of the United States and launches one of the largest search and rescue missions in history. (CBS Video) (AP via MyWay (Link dead as of 20:53, 14 January 2007 (UTC)))
  • New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin states that "hundreds...most likely, thousands" may be dead in his city. The death toll in Biloxi stands at 110. (AP via MyWay (Link dead as of 20:53, 14 January 2007 (UTC)))
  • At least 25,000 evacuees, particularly those currently in shelters in Greater New Orleans including the Louisiana Superdome, will be moved to the Reliant Astrodome in Houston, Texas. (Yahoo! News (Link dead as of 20:53, 14 January 2007 (UTC)))
  • The United States will release oil from its Strategic Petroleum Reserve to help refineries whose oil supplies have been badly hit by Hurricane Katrina. (Yahoo! News (Link dead as of 20:53, 14 January 2007 (UTC))) Some refineries along the gulf coast are offline and so fuel production is likely to be limited nonetheless
• Baghdad bridge stampede:
  • Close to 1,200 people were crushed to death or died in a stampede on the Al-Aaimmah bridge over the river Tigris in Baghdad on Wednesday when thousands of Shia Muslims began marching to a shrine to the Imam Musa al-Kazim. The stampede appears to have been caused by rumours of a series of suicide attacks.
  • Earlier seven people in attendance died when insurgents fired mortars into the crowd. (Al Jazeera) (BBC) (Wikinews)
• The relatives of the four Israeli Arabs killed on a bus in Galilee have been denied the usual terrorism compensation payments because their killer was a Jew, and thus not an "enemy of Israel" as defined by Israeli law. (BBC)
• All Palestinian Authority assets held in the United States have been frozen. (BBC)
• Philippine electoral crisis: A Philippine congressional committee has stopped all impeachment efforts against President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. (USA Today)