May 2005

• Lenovo Group, the largest Chinese computer company acquires the personal computer business of IBM for US$ 1.25 billion in cash, and Lenovo assumes $500 million of IBM's debt. (Reuters)
• More than thirty Iraqis are killed and more than fifty are wounded as a bomb goes off at a funeral. (CBC)
• The United States informs Japan that North Korea may have launched another test missile towards the Sea of Japan. The report is now said to be confirmed. (ABC News) (Forbes)
• Astronomers have directly confirmed the existence of an extrasolar planet orbiting the brown dwarf numbered 2M1207a. The team says that this is the first-ever infrared view of an exoplanet. (Seattle Times) (ESO) (CP)
• Taiwanese president Chen Shui-bian requests that the Chinese government meet directly with his government after China meets with Taiwan's opposition leader, Lien Chan. Taiwan and China are in conflict over Taiwan's increased calls for independence from the mainlaind. (CBC) (ABC)
• Iraqi and American militaries hold several suspects for questioning in the Margaret Hassan kidnapping case. Hassan, director of CARE's Iraq division, was kidnapped by insurgents in late October 2004 and subsequently believed to be killed. (CBC) (Reuters)
• In Nepal, 10,000 protesters march in Kathmandu against the policies of king Gyanendra and demand return of democracy. (Reuters AlertNet) (ABC)
• Italy intends to publish its own view of the killing of Nicola Calipari. Italian media has released classified details about a report the United States made. (BBC) (Reuters AlertNet) (ABC)
• Honduran president Ricardo Maduro, and his daughter survive with minor injuries when their plane crashes into the sea near Tela. (CNN) (Guardian Unlimited) (BBC)

• Data withheld from an annual report on terrorism by the U.S. State Department show a sharp increase in attacks in 2004. (BBC)
• Israeli-Palestinian conflict:
  • Following an Israeli raid on the Palestinian city of Tulkarm, one Israeli soldier and one Islamic Jihad leader are killed. The soldier was killed in a gunfight with 3 members of Palestinian Islamic Jihad. The three were suspected to have been part of the cell which was involved in Tel Aviv "Stage" club bombing in February 2005. Shafiq Abdul Rani, the leader of the Jihad cell in Tulkarm was killed and another militant was arrested. (Haaretz)
  • Palestinian militants fired 3 Qassam rockets on the Israeli town of Sderot. There were no casualties. (Haaretz)
  • Israeli Minister of Jerusalem and Diaspora Affairs Natan Sharansky resigned from the government as a protest against Ariel Sharon's unilateral disengagement plan. (Haaretz), (BBC)
• Dozens of people reportedly die after a large explosion in a munitions dump in Pagja, Afghanistan 50 miles north of Kabul. (Seattle Times)
• Guardsman Anthony John Wakefield, from Newcastle upon Tyne, has been killed in Iraq after being injured in hostile action in the southern town of Al Amarah, bringing the total of UK servicemen killed in the Iraq conflict to 87. (BBC)
• Europe's largest sporting goods maker Adidas-Salomon sold its Salomon division for 485 million euros to Finnish company Amer Sports (which owns Wilson Sporting Goods). CNN News
• The government of Nepal ends the house arrest of two parliamentarian communist leaders, Madhav Kumar Nepal and Amrit Bohara. (BBC)
• In Togo, opposition party Union of Forces for Change refuses to join a new government, accusing Faure Gnassingbé of electoral fraud. About 12,000 people have fled the violence to Ghana and Benin. The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) tries to mediate. (BBC) (Reuters AlertNet) (GhanaWeb) (ABC)
• Foreign ministers gather in New York to review the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. (Wired) (BBC) (Reuters AlertNet)
• Cairo terrorism: Following Saturday's terrorist incidents in Cairo, some 200 people are brought in for questioning by Egyptian police. Ten people were injured in the attacks, and three militants were killed. (BBC)
• In Germany, prosecutors demand 8-year sentence to neo-nazi leader Martin Weise and three others. (Reuters AlertNet)
• Former Haitian prime minister Yvon Neptune demands that the current government drops its claim that he organized a massacre in February 2004. Neptune has been on a hunger strike for 15 days and refuses treatment. (Haiti Action Committee) (BBC) (Reuters AlertNet)
• A gas cylinder explosion in Lahore, Pakistan causes collapse of three buildings - at least 16 people dead. (BBC) (Reuters)
• British rocket Skylark makes its last launch. (Independent) (BBC)
• United Nations chief prosecutor of Sierra Leone's war crimes court David Crane (prosecutor) claims that Charles Taylor, former president of Liberia, is still plotting to kill Guinean leader Lansana Conté. Conté has been in a hospital since he survived an assassination attempt in January. (Reuters AlertNet) (UN Regional Information) (World Peace Herald) (BBC)

• Two United States Marine Corps F/A-18 Hornet jets collide over Iraq while flying a mission in Iraq. The body of one of the pilots is later recovered and an ejected seat was found, but the second one is still missing. (BBC) (Washington Post)
• India bans Monsanto Company genetically modified cotton seeds. (Al-Jazeera)
• In Nepal, thousands of journalists march in protest to restore press freedoms on World Press Freedom Day. (Guardian) (BBC)
• United Nations chief prosecutor of Sierra Leone's war crimes court David Crane claims that Charles Taylor, former president of Liberia, is still plotting to kill Guinean leader Lansana Conté. Conté has been in a hospital since he survived an assassination attempt in January.(UN Regional Information) (World Peace Herald) (BBC)
• A Togolese constitutional court announces Faure Gnassingbé as a winner of presidential election. Refugees continue to flee to neighboring countries. (News24)
• Indonesian authorities confirm second case of polio. (Jakarta Post) (BBC) (Reuters AlertNet)
• In Peru, four members of a government health team are found with their throats slit.
• An explosion in a football stadium in Mogadishu, Somalia kills 15 people when new prime minister Ali Mohammed Ghedi begins his speech. Authorities later state that a security guard accidentally set off a grenade. (IOL) (IHT)
• Eight people are arrested in Senegal for an advance fee fraud e-mail scam that had fooled at least one American and one Norwegian victim. (BBC)

• Israeli-Palestinian Conflict:
  • Israel freezes the handover of West Bank Palestinian towns to the Palestinian Authority. Israel claims they will resume the handover process when militant groups are disarmed. The Prime Minister of Israel, Ariel Sharon, had agreed to hand over five West Bank towns to Palestinian control, but thus far has only handed over Tulkarm and Jericho. (BBC)
  • Israeli troops shoot dead two teenage boys. The cousins were protesting against the building of the Israeli West Bank barrier among a group of people, many of whom were throwing stones at the soldiers. According to the Stop the Wall group, protestors were chased by Israeli soldiers using live ammunition. (BBC)
• War on Terrorism:
  • The Pakistani government announces that it has captured Abu Faraj al-Libbi. If verified, this is the most important Al-Qaeda suspect to have been arrested thus far. (BBC)
  • A former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) agent reveals the CIA sent a team to Afghanistan only days after the September 11, 2001 attacks with orders to "Capture Bin Laden, kill him and bring his head back in a box on dry ice" and to leave other Al-Qaeda leaders' "heads up on pikes." (BBC) (Wikinews)
• Conflict in Iraq:
  • A suicide bomberer in Irbil, a Kurdish city of Northern Iraq, kills more than 50 people. (BBC)
  • Ayman Sabawi Ibrahim, the nephew of former President of Iraq Saddam Hussein, has been arrested, accused of aiding the insurgency. (BBC)
  • Alexander Downer, the Foreign Minister of Australia, appears on al Jazeera to urge for the release of Douglas Wood, who is being held hostage by insurgents who demand the withdrawal of Australian troops from Iraq. John Howard, the Prime Minister of Australia has said he refuses to negotiate. (BBC)
• In Cambodia, the Municipality of Phnom Penh grants JC Royal Co. a 30-year charter to develop the memorial at the Choeung Ek Killing Fields. (Yahoo! News) (Link dead as of 02:41, 15 January 2007 (UTC))
• A Peruvian congressional committee accuses President Alejandro Toledo of electoral fraud. (BBC)
• Peru suspends free trade talks with Chile due to allegations that Chile supplied arms to Ecuador during that nation's 1995 war with Peru. (BBC)
• Italy's supreme court clears three men who had received a life sentence for 1969 bombing in Milan bank. (Reuters) (BBC)
• U.S. firefighter Donald Herbert, blind and virtually silent due to brain injury since 1995, recovers unexpectedly, regaining the powers of speech. (New York Times) (registration required) (Buffalo News) (Reuters AlertNet)

• Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem Irineos is dismissed following a controversy over the leasing of church-owned lands to groups eager to increase the Jewish presence in the Old City of Jerusalem. (BBC)
• Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: An Israeli commander is suspended, pending a full inquiry, from his position following the deaths of two teenage cousins in Beit Lakia, near Ramallah, on May 4. (BBC)
• British polls open in the 2005 general election. Voters will elect 645 of the 646 members of the House of Commons. Most expect Tony Blair and his Labour Party to win, but both Michael Howard and the Conservative Party along with Charles Kennedy and the Liberal Democrats are expected to make major gains in Parliament. (Wikinews) (BBC) (CNN)
• An explosion outside the United Kingdom consulate in New York City occurs at 07:35 GMT. There were no reported injuries. Police say they have found fragments of an explosive device. (Wikinews) (BBC) (Reuters)
• The Indian Space Research Organization launches a mapping satellite, CARTOSAT-1 and an Amateur Radio satellite HAMSAT, into Earth orbit (Tribune) (Space.Com) (Hindustan Times) (Reuters)
• A Hong Kong court overturns convictions of 8 members of Falun Gong. (Standard) (IHT) (Law & Order, HK) (BBC)
• The government of Kazakhstan closes the pro-opposition paper Respublica. (Reuters) (PolitInfo)
• The Ugandan parliament votes in favour of holding a referendum on the return of multi-party democracy. Political opposition intends to boycott the referendum because they think that president Yoweri Museveni would use it stay in power. (Reuters AlertNet) (AllAfrica) (BBC)
• In Niger, anti-slavery activist Ilguilas Weila is charged with attempted fraud. (Reuters AlertNet) (BBC)
• The Kansas evolution hearings, a six-day courtroom-style debate over how the origin of life should be taught in the state's public schools, open in Topeka. (CNN)

• The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit rules that the FCC overstepped its authority in attempting to impose the "broadcast flag" on hardware manufacturers. (News.com) (EFF)
• Fatah wins 55 percent of the seats in municipal elections held in 84 cities across the West Bank and Gaza. Hamas wins about a third of the seats. Fatah won a majority of seats in Beit Lahiya, Hawara and Tulkarem, Hamas won the majority in Qalqiliya and El Boureij. Election participation was 70 percent in the West Bank and 80 percent in Gaza. (CNN)
• United Kingdom general election, 2005:
  • At 04:28 BST, The Labour Party wins a parliamentary majority. Despite a substantially reduced majority, Tony Blair becomes the first Labour Prime Minister to lead his party to three election victories. (Reuters) (Scotsman) He ends up with a majority of 66, on the lowest percentage vote for a government in modern history.
  • Northern Ireland's previously dominant Ulster Unionist Party is wiped out in the election, with all its MPs except one, including party leader and former First Minister David Trimble, losing their seats. Only Lady Sylvia Hermon holds her seat. (BBC) (Guardian)
  • In the Foyle constituency, Social Democratic and Labour Party leader Mark Durkan wins a seat with a large majority over the expected victor, Sinn Féin's Mitchel McLaughlin. (BBC)
  • Conservative Party leader Michael Howard announces that he plans to resign "sooner rather than later." (BBC)
• A meningitis outbreak in Delhi, India kills 14 people so far and health officials suspect many more.

(Deccan Herald) (Reuters) (BBC)

• A suicide bomber in a car blows himself up near a vegetable market in a southern Iraqi town, killing at least 22 people and wounding 45. (Reuters)
• A 20 year old IDF soldier is arrested in Israel after telling military police that he considers himself a "Nazi", and hates Jews, blacks and the State of Israel. (Israel National News) (Reuters), (Courier-Mail) (Houston Chronicle)
• Reports emerge that the United States may be sending detainees to Uzbekistan, a regime notorious for torture. (Seattle Times) (ISN)
• Audioslave become the first US Rock band to play in Cuba
• Third Watch airs its final episode in the US after 6 years on NBC
• Mike Williams is diagnosed with head/neck cancer.

• Northern Ireland's Ulster Unionist Party leader David Trimble, the 1998 Nobel Peace Prize winner who helped reach the Good Friday Agreement, resigns from the leadership post he has held for ten years, after losing his seat in the British general election the previous day. (BBC)
• George Peter Nanos announces that he will step down as the director of the Los Alamos National Laboratory, making his term the shortest of any previous director. (LA Times)
• 15 people die in a plane crash near the Lockhart River in the Australian state of Queensland, the worst civilian air disaster in Australia in 36 years. (ABC Online)
• The Time Traveler Convention was held at MIT, in the hopes of making contact with time travelers from the future. The convention was organized by Amal Dorai with help from current and former residents of the MIT living group Pi Tau Zeta. The convention was held at 22:45 EDT at the East Campus Courtyard and in Walker Memorial at MIT. That location is 42.360007 degrees north latitude, 71.087870 degrees west longitude. The spacetime coordinates continue to be publicized prominently and indefinitely, so that future time travelers will be aware and have the opportunity to have attended.

• Point guard Steve Nash of the NBA's Phoenix Suns makes history by becoming the first Canadian to win the NBA's MVP award. Nash edges out Shaquille O'Neal of the Miami Heat by seven votes to win the award. (CBC)
• Worldwide celebrations commemorate the 60th anniversary of V-E Day, the official end of World War II in Europe with the capitulation of Germany under Karl Dönitz. In several German cities, Germans also mourn today the millions of people massacred under the National Socialist (Nazi) regime in the 1930s and 1940s. (Wikinews)
  • United States President George W. Bush uses the anniversary of V-E Day to call the Soviet Union's occupation of the Baltic states after World War II "one of the greatest wrongs of history". He also attended Europe's third largest war cemetery in the town of Margraten, the Netherlands. (CNN)
  • Germans hold a candlelight vigil in Berlin against neo-Nazis. They stood in a 33 km (21 mile) chain from Spandau to Mahlsdorf passing through the Brandenburg Gate, protesting a planned march by neo-Nazis to mark the 60th anniversary of Nazi Germany's surrender. (Reuters)
  • French Minister of Defense Michèle Alliot-Marie commemorates the end of World War II in Europe in Reims, where Alfred Jodl signed the documents of unconditional surrender on May 7, 1945 ending the war in Europe. (CNN)
• Abu Faraj al-Libbi, the al-Qaeda suspect captured in Pakistan on May 2 and thought to be third-in-command in al-Qaeda, turns out to be a mid-level member in the organization. Officials describe the mistake as a case of "mistaken identity". (TimesOnline)
• Exiled Christian army general Michel Aoun returns to Lebanon from France. His supporters in the Free Patriotic Movement call for his election as a new president. (Al-Jazeerah) (BBC) (Daily Star) (Reuters AlertNet)
• In Belgium, two Rwandan men, Etienne Nzabonimana and Samuel Ndashyikirwa, are put into trial accused of involvement with the Rwandan genocide. (IOL) (Reuters AlertNet)
• People in the Central African Republic vote in the second round of presidential election. Incumbent president François Bozizé, who took over in a coup in 2003, is in favorable position. (Reuters AlertNet)
• Algerian president Abdelaziz Bouteflika demands that France admits its part in Sétif massacre, the killing of 45,000 Algerians who demonstrated for independence on May 8 1945 when Europe celebrated the defeat of Nazi Germany. (ABC) (Reuters AlertNet)
• 6000 anti-Nazi demonstrators force cancellation of a National Democratic Party march in Berlin, Germany. (Deutsche Welle) (Reuters)
• The Spanish Royal Palace announces that princess Letizia is three months pregnant. (Reuters) (BBC)
• Seven Nepalese opposition parties join forces against King Gyanendra. (BBC)

• Iran admits to having converted thirty-seven tons of raw uranium into a gas, a key step in uranium enrichment. (The Guardian)
• 88 members of U.S. Congress led by John Conyers write an open letter to the White House asking for answers concerning the new documents leaked which apparently reveal the secret U.S/U.K. agreement to attack Iraq in 2002. (The Times) (The Raw Story) (Scoop) (uruknet)
• The Sellafield nuclear plant's Thorp reprocessing facility in Cumbria, England, is closed down due to a 20 tonne leak through a fractured pipe of water contaminated with radioactive uranium and plutonium. (The Guardian)
• More than 50 heads of state, including Vladimir Putin, George W. Bush and German chancellor Gerhard Schröder, are among the guests attending the official celebrations commemorating the end of World War II in Moscow, Russia. It is the first time a German chancellor has attended a world-wide commemoration for the victims of the Third Reich. (Wikinews) (The Hindu) (CNN) (Scotsman)
• Re-examination of old images taken by the Mars Global Surveyor several years ago may have led to the identification of the crash site of the Mars Polar Lander, which failed in December 1999. Using insights and techniques developed for analyzing images of the Mars Exploration Rovers, Malin Space Science Systems may have spotted the rocket blast zone, Mars Polar Lander and the parachute. (Spaceflight Now) (Space.com)
• Peter Friederich, former Swiss ambassador to Luxembourg, goes on trial for money laundering. (Swissinfo)
• Former Indonesian president Suharto is hospitalized; there are conflicting reports about his condition. (Jakarta Post) (Laksamana) (BBC) (Forbes)
• The death toll continues to rise due to flooding in Somalia and the Somalia Region of Ethiopia. In April 2005, heavy rains generated widespread flooding and caused the Shebelle River to burst its banks. As of May 5, the flooding in Somali Region alone has caused over 100 confirmed deaths and widespread property damage affecting over 100,000 persons. The floods have also destroyed shelters housing 25,000 Somali refugees in Kenya. (UN IRIN) (UN News)
• Twelve South American and 22 Arab countries begin a summit in Brazil. (Agencia Estado Brazil) (Arabic News) (Bloomberg) (Reuters)
• In Ecuador, former president Gustavo Noboa is placed under house arrest. (CBS) (BBC)
• In Italy, two Vatican Radio officials, Cardinal Roberto Tucci and Father Pasquale Borgome, have been convicted of polluting the atmosphere with unnecessarily powerful electromagnetic waves that might have causes increased risk of cancer. They receive 10-day suspended sentences. (Reuters AlertNet) (BBC)
• Hans Blix, former United Nations chief arms inspector, suggests that Iran and Israel could support a ban of uranium enrichment in the Middle East. (Al-Jazeera) (Reuters AlertNet)
• The Nigerian government charges 80 Biafran separatists with treason. (AllAfricA) (BBC) (Reuters AlertNet)
• Italian police in Rome reopen the investigation into the murder of Pier Paolo Pasolini. (BBC)
• Andrés Manuel López Obrador, mayor of Mexico City, announces that he will quit his post on July 31 to concentrate on his campaign to be president of Mexico. (El Universal) (Reuters)
• In the Democratic Republic of Congo, president Joseph Kabila visits Lumumbashi in Katanga province. At least 30 people have been arrested for an attempted separatist coup in the province. (AllAfrica) (ReliefWeb) (Reuters AlertNet) (BBC)

• Leaders in Indonesia visit Suharto, the nation's former president, who is hospitalized with what has been diagnosed as intestinal bleeding. (Yahoo)
• A Haitian court overturns convictions of 38 military officers who were charged with killings in the Raboteau Massacre during the 1991 coup against Jean-Bertrand Aristide. The Ecumenical Center for Human Rights states that the trial was annulled on technicality. (Jamaica Observer) (ABC) (BBC)
• Human Rights Watch states that elections in the Oromia region of Ethiopia will be a "hollow exercise." (Human Rights Watch) (AllAfrica) (News24)
• Canadian House of Commons opposition members of parliament pass a motion to instruct a house committee to call for the resignation of the government. The 153 votes of the Conservatives and Bloc Québécois defeat the 150 votes of the Liberals and NDP due to three absences. Although the motion is classified as a procedural instruction to a committee and not a no confidence motion, the Tories and BQ call on the government to resign. (CBC)
• Germany unveils a Holocaust memorial. (Deutsche Welle) (Ha'aretz) (ABC) (Reuters AlertNet)
• G8 countries urge Ukraine to cover the Chernobyl nuclear plant. (Reuters AlertNet)
• The Maldives government releases dissident Fathimath Nisreen. Two others, Mohamed Zaki and Ahmad Didi, remain in custody. (Reporters Without Borders) (Minivan News, Maldives) (BBC)
• The Egyptian parliament approves a constitutional amendment that would allow presidential elections to be contested. (Arab News) (IHT) (BBC)
• President George W. Bush and Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili met in Tbilisi, Georgia and Bush gets a hand grenade thrown at him, but does not detonate.

• President George W. Bush signs the Real ID Act into effect.
• Guantánamo Bay Qur'an desecration allegations: Riots over a Newsweek story (later retracted) lead to dozens of injuries and at least three deaths in Jalalabad, Eastern Afghanistan. Afghan police use live ammunition to stop the Anti-American rioting organized in protest of the alleged desecration of a copy of the Qur'an. (BBC), (Reuters)
• A Katyusha rocket hits the northern Israeli town of Shlomi, damaging a bakery but no injuries. The rocket appears to have been launched from within Lebanon while Israel celebrated its 57th Independence Day. (Haaretz)
• Justice officials in Kuwait, with assistance from United Nations war crimes expert Sharif Basyouni, complete an indictment against Saddam Hussein and several former Iraqi officials for crimes against humanity during the 1990 invasion of Kuwait. (Yahoo!)
• The Irish government gives the go-ahead for the building of the controversial M3 motorway through the archaeologically sensitive Tara-Skyrne Valley, amid an international outcry by academics and environmentalists. (RTÉ)
• The White House and United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. are evacuated, amid reports of an incoming aircraft. The US Secret Service subsequently issues an all-clear. (BBC)
• Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin has set May 19 for a vote in the House of Commons on the federal budget. He said if his government loses the vote of confidence, he will seek the dissolution of Parliament. This means an election could come as early as June 27. (CBC)
• The Austrian parliament ratifies the European Union constitution with only one dissenting vote. (ORF)
• Conflict in Iraq: At least 60 people die following a series of bombings throughout Iraq. (BBC)
• The Bulgarian parliament ratifies the EU membership treaty. (Bulgarian News Network) (Sofia News Agency) (BBC) (CNN)
• Authorities in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh investigate the attack of social worker Shakuntala Verma after she had investigated claims of illegal child marriages. One of her hands was severed and the other was badly wounded. (Newindpress) (Telegraph) (Times of India)
• In Yemen, the number of cases in a polio outbreak rises to 63. (BBC) (ABC) (Reuters AlertNet)
• Javier Zanetti, captain of the Inter Milan football club, says the team could accept the invitation to a game to play against Mexico's Zapatistarebels. (BBC)
• The presidents of Nigeria and Cameroon have not made progress in talks on the disputed Bakassi peninsula. They agree to negotiate a new date for the pullout of Nigerian troops. (Cameroon-Info) (BBC) (Reuters AlertNet)
• Medical researchers and health organizations condemn AIDS dissident Matthias Rath who had placed full-page ads in the New York Times and International Herald Tribune with a slogan "Stop AIDS Genocide by drug cartel". Rath claims that antiretroviral drugs are poisonous and his vitamin supplements can cure the disease. Researchers of Harvard University state that Rath misrepresents their findings. South Africa's Medicine Control Council announces investigation of the Rath Foundation. (Reuters AlertNet) (BBC) (Pretoria News) (Business Day) (News24)

• Malcolm Glazer wins control of UK football team Manchester United F.C. after securing a 70% share. (BBC) (ABC News) (NY Times)
• The British Air Accidents Investigation Branch states that it has reached "no definite conclusion" about the reason of air crash that claimed the life of billionaire Paul-Louis Halley, his wife and their pilot in 2003. (BBC)
• Zimbabwe releases 60 South African mercenaries that were linked to an alleged coup attempt in the Equatorial Guinea last year. (BBC) (IOL) (Reuters AlertNet)
• A United States Senate probe releases evidence showing two prominent British and French politicians received vouchers for millions of barrels of Iraqi oil in exchange for their support of Saddam Hussein's regime. George Galloway is accused of using the Mariam Appeal, the children's leukemia charity he founded, to conceal the transfer of 3 million barrels of oil, although he denies any wrongdoing. (BBC), (ABC News)
• The European Court of Human Rights rules that Turkey's 1999 trial of Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan was not fair. (Zaman Online, Turkey) (IHT) (Reuters)
• Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo opens the country's first blood transfusion centre. The centre is meant to screen blood to hinder the spread of the AIDS. (Reuters AlertNet)
• Western countries pledge funds to Ukraine so the country can cover the Chernobyl nuclear reactor. (Planet Ark) (Reuters AlertNet)
• In Colombia, former justice minister Alberto Santofimio Botero is arrested suspected of complicity in the murder of presidential candidate Luis Carlos Galán in 1989. (Reuters AlertNet) (ABC)
• A federal judge in Houston, Texas, sentences former Enron executive Dan Boyle to 3 years and 10 months in prison for his involvement with a barge scam with securities firm Merrill Lynch. Two Merrill Lynch executives also receive sentences. (Houston Chronicle) (Businessweek) (Reuters)
• La Cumbre volcano on Ferdinanda Island in the Galápagos Islands begins to erupt. (ABC News)
• The Xbox 360 is announced on MTV.

• Heavy exchanges of fire in the Israeli-Lebanese border. Hezbollah fired at least 9 mortar shells or Katyusha rockets on outposts in the disputed Shebaa Farms. The IDF retaliated by artillery fire and IAF aircraft bombed 3 Hezbollah positions. Israel maintains that Lebanon bears full responsibility for the border attacks, committed by Hezbollah and local Palestinian groups, while Hezbollah maintain that they are acting in retaliation for Israeli attacks on Lebanese territory including a hit on civilian houses in the village of Kfar Shouba. (Haaretz), (BBC)
• Guantánamo Bay Qur'an desecration allegations: United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice promises "prompt action" if investigations prove that the Quran was desecrated by U.S. soldiers in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. The Saudi Arabian government voices its "deep indignation" and has demanded a quick investigation and punishment for the perpetrators if found to be true. Seven people have died in Afghanistan following Anti-American protests in the wake of the allegations. There have also been protests in Pakistan and Indonesia. (BBC) (BBC) (The Jakarta Post)
• Star Trek Enterprise airs its last episode, These are the Voyages..., after a run of 98 episodes. Enterprise was canceled by UPN on February 8th due to lack of ratings, marking the first Star Trek series to be canceled since the original series in 1969
• The Vatican announced that the late Pope, John Paul II, is to be beatified. This is the first step to becoming a saint. (BBC)
• Unrest In Uzbekistan:
  • Thousands of Uzbeks take over a high security jail in Andijan, freeing thousands of prisoners in protest against the jail sentence of 23 businessmen who were accused of being Islamic extremists. (CBC)
  • Violence breaks out in Andijan and in the capital Tashkent. There are reports of firefights in the streets and snipers firing into the crowd. A political rally in Andijan demands the resignation of the government, which claims that the situation is under control. (BBC) (Interfax) (CNN)
  • At least twenty protesters – some reports say as many as 500 – are shot dead in Uzbekistan. Thirty soldiers have been taken hostage as a result. (Yahoo!) (BBC) (The Guardian)
  • A man is fatally shot outside Israel's embassy in Tashkent. The man, who has a history of mental illness, was carrying wooden objects, and guards suspected him of being a suicide bomber. He walked through to the building, despite warning shots in the air and a bullet to the leg, and was eventually shot dead. The American embassy reported he was a suicide bomber and one Uzbek police officer said the man was carrying only a harmless package. However, it was later reported that the man was carrying a mock explosive belt. (Haaretz), (Ynet)
• Michael Ross becomes the first person executed in the U.S. state of Connecticut since 1960. He was convicted in 1987 of the murder of four girls and young women. He confessed to having committed four more killings. (CNN)
• Anime Central 8 kicks off today with over 10000 attendees.

• For the first time, a helicopter lands on top of the world's highest mountain, Mount Everest in Himalaya. The standard production model Eurocopter AS350 Squirrel, piloted by the Eurocopter ex-test pilot Didier Delsalle, landed at the summit at 07:08 NPT (01:23 UTC). After staying for 2 minutes, Delsalle lifted off and returned to the Tenzing-Hillary Airport at Lukla, Nepal. (MountEverest.net)
• South Korea announces it will restart bilateral talks with North Korea for the first time in over a year on Monday. Discussion topics are expected to include North Korea's nuclear weapons program. (Reuters)
• A 6.9 magnitude earthquake strikes Sumatra in Indonesia. (VOA) (Earth Times)
• Unrest In Uzbekistan:
  • Thousands of protesters reappear on the streets of Andijan in Uzbekistan despite Friday's heavy bloodshed. (BBC)
  • Uzbek President Islom Karimov blames militants for the violence. (National Post)
• In Taiwan, despite a low voter turnout, the Pan-Green Coalition wins the National Assembly election, with 49.6 % of the votes and 149 seats out of the 300 in the National Assembly of the Republic of China. (Reuters) (CNN)
• Peter Gloystein, financial minister for the German state Free Hanseatic City of Bremen, resigns from his posts after he was photographed pouring a bottle of wine over a homeless man (Deutsche Welle) (SBS) (BBC)
• Suspected Guatemalan drug lord Otto Roberto Herrera Garcia escapes from prison in Mexico City. He was held pending extradition to United States. (BBC) (Reuters AlertNet)
• 28 men in Sudan are sentenced to 5–15 years in jail for connection in a coup attempt. The government claims that they are connected to Islamist Popular Congress Party, but the party denies the allegations. (BBC) (Reuters AlertNet)
• Last Episode of Saturday Night Live's Celebrity Jeopardy with Will Farrel as Alex Trebek

• Israeli-Palestinian conflict:
  • Shin Bet head Avi Dichter finishes his 5-year term and Yuval Diskin is appointed as his replacement. (Ynet)
  • Israeli right wing students begin a hunger strike in protest of the Israel unilateral disengagement plan of 2004. (Haaretz) (Ynet)
• Amid continuing unrest In Uzbekistan, the city of Andijan is sealed. British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw says there has been "a clear abuse of human rights" in Uzbekistan. (BBC)
• US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice visits Iraq and calls for patience in the political struggle against the insurgency. Meanwhile, the bodies of 34 people are found at locations in Baghdad, Iskandariya, and Ramadi, all apparently having been executed. (BBC)
• After a couple of days of delay, Zimbabwe frees 61 alleged mercenaries accused of connection to coup attempt in Equatorial Guinea and allows them return to South Africa. The men say they were told they were hired to guard mines in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. One man remains in Zimbabwe due to tuberculosis. (News24) (Iafrica) (IOL) (Telegraph) (Reuters)
• In the Côte d'Ivoire, government and rebels agree to begin disarmament and formation of unified army in June 27. (ReliefWeb) (Reuters AlertNet)
• Burundi president Domitien Ndayizeye and Agathon Rwasa, leader of the last of the rebel groups, National Liberation Forces, sign a peace deal in a meeting in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. (IPPMedia, Tanzania) (IOL) (ReliefWeb) (BBC)
• Las Vegas, Nevada celebrates its centennial on this date. Celebration is citywide and the mayor cuts the world's largest birthday cake.
• Elections for mayor and city council in Zagreb. Milan Bandić wins and enters his third term.
• National Elections were held in Ethiopia. The elections, which over 90% of the electorate voted in, were later marred by protests and violence. The ruling party EPRDF won its third term.

• The National Assembly of Kuwait votes 35-23 in favor of women's suffrage, effective for the 2007 Parliamentary Election. Though the law mentions it should be subject to Islamic law, it is speculated this will only mean gender-segregated polling places. (Yahoo!)
• Many French workers stay at home to protest over government's cancellation of Whit Monday holiday. Seven unions ask their workers to strike and many businesses stay closed. (BBC) (Bloomberg) (Reuters), (Wikinews)
• Ethiopian prime minister Meles Zenawi bans demonstrations in the capital Addis Ababa for one month after Sunday's parliamentary elections. Opposition parties, especially Coalition for Unity and Democracy accuse government of electoral fraud and harassment of their election observers. No results have been published yet. (News24) (BBC) (Forbes) (Wikinews)
• Unrest in Uzbekistan: Uzbek soldiers seal off the town of Qorasuv after locals take over government buildings. The government denies giving an order to fire at protesters but they do not let journalists or the Red Cross visit the affected areas to evaluate the situation. Phone and internet access has been cut. There are varying reports of at least 700 people dead and continuing firefights in Andijan and other towns like Teshiktosh. Saidjahon Zaynabitdinov, head of the local human rights advocacy group Appeal, says that government troops had killed 200 in Pakhtabad and expects mass arrests. Opposition supporters and human rights campaigners rally in the capital Tashkent. Hundreds of refugees have fled over the border of Kyrgyzstan; they believe that the death toll may be in thousands. (IHT) (CBC) (Reuters AlertNet) (Reuters) (CNN) (BBC) (Moscow Times) (Wikinews)
• A jury in West Palm Beach, Florida, finds for Ronald Perelman in his lawsuit against the brokerage firm Morgan Stanley, on the grounds that Morgan Stanley helped appliance maker Sunbeam falsify its financial condition at the expense of investors like Perelman. He was awarded $ 604 million. (CNN)
• An Indonesian court upholds the two-and-half year sentence of Abu Bakar Bashir. (Laksamana) (Reuters AlertNet)
• The National Prosecuting Authority of South Africa intends to charge 64 men, including the 61 men released from Zimbabwe, under its anti-mercenary laws. (Reuters SA) (IOL)
• Thousands of protesters rally in La Paz, Bolivia in support of legislation that would impose larger taxes on foreign energy companies. Some demand nationalization. (MercoPress) (Reuters AlertNet) (BBC)
• The United Nations World Food Program states that North Korea is in dire need of food aid. (Chosun Ilbo) (BBC)
• Ethiopia's ruling party EPRDF states it has won general elections when the opposition claims a victory. Voter turnout was over 90%. (Reuters SA) (News24) (News24) (BBC)
• In Nigeria, former education minister Fabian Osuji, former Senate leader Adolphus Wabara and 5 others go on trial for corruption. Osuji claims he is just a "scapegoat". (BBC)
• Belgravia Gallery in London removes works with the signature of Nelson Mandela. Mandela has filed a lawsuit forbidding sale of any items using his name. (All Headline News) (BBC)
• Six African countries begin a two-day summit in Tripoli, Libya, to assess situation in Darfur. None of the local rebel groups have sent representatives. (LJBC, Libya) (Reuters AlertNet) (BBC)
• Indian police arrest a man connected to the attack on social worker Shakuntala Verma in Uttar Pradesh. (Times of India) (NDTV)
• Indian troops rescue more than 300 tourists who were stranded at the Himalayan pass of Natu La for two days after an avalanche (BBC)
• In Sri Lanka, Buddhist monk Bellana Pannaloka Thero tries to commit suicide after he was jailed for child sexual abuse (BBC)

• Guantánamo Bay Qur'an desecration allegations: The Bush Administration suggests that to undo "damage" caused by the story, Newsweek explain the process by which their story alleging Qur'an desecration, which sparked riots leading to 17 deaths, came into being. (NYTimes)
• U.S. authorities detain Luis Posada Carriles, a CIA-linked anti-Castro militant, considered a terrorist by Cuba. (Financial Times)
• George Galloway, British MP and anti-war campaigner, appears before the United States Senate to defend himself against charges that he profited from Saddam Hussein's regime, launching a tirade against the senators who had accused him and attacking the war in Iraq. (BBC) (Guardian Unlimited) (The Times Online)
• Unrest in Uzbekistan: The Uzbek government says they will allow foreign diplomats to visit Andijan. Survivors from Andijan who have crossed the border to Kyrgyzstan say that government troops opened fire without warning and that they were shelled in the Kyrgyzstan border crossing. Opposition believes that as many as 745 may be dead. Official government death toll is 169. Government officials still deny that soldiers killed civilians (Moscow Times) (Reuters AlertNet) (Guardian Unlimited) (London Free Press) (Guardian Unlimited) (Interfax) (Reuters AlertNet) (IHT) (Telegraph)
• 12,000 protesters march in the Brazilian capital of Brasília to protest the government's slowness in land reform. A 17-day march of the Landless Workers Movement ends with violence in the capital when the demonstrators clash with the riot police. Over 50 people are injured. (Bloomberg) (Reuters) (BBC)
• In Guatemala, gunmen assassinate public prosecutor Erick Galvez in Chiquimula department. (BBC)
• Australian pop singer Kylie Minogue announces she has been diagnosed with the early stages of breast cancer and is postponing her upcoming Australian tour. (SMH) (The Age) (BBC) (NineMSN)
• Canadian Conservative MP Belinda Stronach crosses the floor of the House of Commons to sit with the Liberals, two days before a crucial budget vote that could determine whether the Liberal government falls or not. (CBC)
• The Spanish parliament approves plan to begin negotiations with the Basque ETA. (IHT) (Guardian Unlimited) (Reuters AlertNet)
• Judges at the International Criminal Court at The Hague send a case of Radovan Stanković back to new war crimes court in Bosnia. Stanković is accused of rape of Bosnian Muslim women in Foča in 1992. (BBC) (Reuters AlertNet)
• A court in Paris sentences four men to 2-7 years in prison for complicity in the murder of Afghan resistance leader Ahmed Shah Masood in 2001. (BBC)
• In Russia, the trial of Nur-Pashi Kulayev, the only survivor of the attackers in the Beslan school hostage crisis, begins. Relatives of the victims disrupt the proceedings. (Moscow Times) (Reuters AlertNet) (BBC)
• In Malawi, education minister Yusuf Mwawa is arrested for using public funds to pay for his wedding. (Reuters) (BBC)
• A Kenyan court drops the murder charge of Thomas Cholmondeley for insufficient evidence. (IOL) (Reuters SA) (BBC)
• British Prime Minister Tony Blair's government unveils a controversial proposal for national identity cards and other counter-terrorism measures besides a bill on immigration. (Los Angeles Times) (Bloomberg)
• American alternative metal band System of a Down release their first installment of their double album, Mezmerize

• According to a spokesman for the Georgian Interior Ministry, a hand grenade found among spectators during a speech by U.S. President George W. Bush last week in Tbilisi failed to function, although it was live and could have exploded. It was originally thought to have been a dummy grenade. (CNN)
• Polish President Aleksander Kwaśniewski set the date for parliamentary elections for September 25, 2005 and a presidential election for October 9, 2005. (Bloomberg)
• Unrest in Uzbekistan: 36 foreign diplomats visit Andijan in a government-sponsored trip and under heavy guard. The Uzbek government continues to deny that civilians were killed. The official death toll has risen to 169 but some human rights groups state that it can be as high as 750. A group of Islamic rebels led by a man called Baxtiyor Rahimov claim that they now control the border town of Qorasuv. (Mosnews) (BBC) (IHT) (Forbes)
• The World Health Organization announces an ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo with 11 cases so far. (WHO press release) (News24) (Reuters AlertNet)
• In Angola, the Marburg virus has claimed 311 lives. (ReliefWeb) (News24) (Reuters AlertNet)
• Russia demands return of the energy minister Yevgeny Adamov, who is in a Swiss prison on a U.S. warrant waiting extradition. (RIA Novosti) (Swissinfo) (LA Times).Band named Green Day had their live album Bullet in a Bible Live at the Natonal Bowl (Milton Keyes National Bowl) on this date.

• Scientists discover that the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake was the longest ever recorded — lasting nearly ten minutes when most powerful earthquakes last no more than a few seconds — and shook the entire planet. (CNN)
• The Canadian House of Commons votes on two crucial budget bills. Bill C-43 carries with a vote of 250 yea, 54 nay. Bill C-48 is tied with a vote of 152 yea, 152 nay, with the Speaker voting in favour, breaking the tie and carrying the bill. The Canadian government survives the Motion of no confidence. (CBC)
• 2005 Pacific hurricane season: Tropical Storm Adrian reaches hurricane strength, and is about 12 hours away from making landfall over or near El Salvador. (NHC)
• Unrest in Uzbekistan: Various governments, including that of the United States, demand further investigation into the events. Uzbek government troops report that they have retaken the town of Qorasuv. President Islom Karimov rejects calls for international inquiry. Oppositions group fear that state will begin active oppression against them (Reuters Alertnet) (Mosnews) (ReliefWeb) (Reuters)(BBC) (Moscow Times) (CNN) (BBC)
• In Brazil, an environmental ministry study states that destruction of the Amazon rainforest is accelerating. (Planet Ark) (Reuters AlertNet) (BBC)
• The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs appeals for $16 million for food aid to Niger where drought and locust swarms destroyed part of the crop last year. (UN) (AllAfrica) (ReliefWeb) (Reuters AlertNet)
• A United Nations legal team meet Indonesian officials to begin an inquiry for human rights abuses and killings related to East Timor's independence in 1999. (Laksamana) (Jakarta Post) (ReliefWeb) (Reuters)
• Rwandan defense minister general Marcel Gatsinzi apologizes for being part of the Hutu government during the 1994 Rwandan genocide, the first time anyone from that government has done so. (ReliefWeb) (Reuters AlertNet) (BBC)
• In Niger, 2,000 people march in the capital Niamey and demand the release of anti-slavery campaigners Ilguilas Weila and Alassane Biga. (BBC)
• British scientists at University of Newcastle announce that they have cloned human embryos for stem cells. Also, a team of South Korean scientists at Seoul National University state they have cloned the first embryonic cells customized to individual patients. (BBC) (Reuters AlertNet) (Science Daily) (CNN)
• Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, the final Star Wars film, is released in the United States. Just hours after its release, the workprint DVD of the film was "leaked" to file sharing networks. (BBC)
• Reggie Miller plays his last game as an Indiana Pacer, losing to the Detroit Pistons in Game 6 of the second round of the NBA Playoffs. He tallied 27 points in his final game.

• Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith reaches a record high at the box offices on opening day with $50 million on 9,400 screens at 3,661 theaters worldwide, edging out Spider-Man 2's top opening day record of $40.4 million and Shrek 2's top single day record of $44.8 million. (marketwatch) (AP via Yahoo! News) (Link dead as of 02:43, 15 January 2007 (UTC)), (boxofficemojo.com)
• Daytime Emmys are awarded, and three records are broken. General Hospital wins Best Drama for a record eighth time, Erika Slezak of One Life to Live wins her sixth Daytime Emmy for Best Actress, and The Ellen DeGeneres Show wins five Daytime Emmys, including Best Talk Show Host, and Best Talk Show. (Washington Post) (Link dead as of 02:43, 15 January 2007 (UTC))
• Reports say that five corpses are found and 200 men are safe in a high mountain encampment in the Andes after a Chilean Army instruction raid got hit by a severe storm. 47 recruits are missing and temperatures drop to -15ºC (5ºF) in the area. (Reuters) (Link dead as of 02:43, 15 January 2007 (UTC))
• The town of Etoumbi in the Republic of the Congo is put under quarantine after an Ebola outbreak kills nine people. (BBC)
• Israeli-Palestinian conflict: Israeli troops kill one Palestinian militant as three to four Hamas, Popular Resistance Committees, and Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade militants fire mortar shells and anti-tank missiles on Israelis living in the Kfar Darom settlement in the Gaza Strip. (Haaretz) (Link dead as of 02:43, 15 January 2007 (UTC)), (BBC)
• 2005 Pacific hurricane season: Two people die as Hurricane Adrian makes landfall near San Salvador, El Salvador.(MSNBC)
• In Togo, talks to resolve a crisis after last month's disputed presidential election end without agreement. Refugees continue to arrive in Benin. (BBC) (Reuters AlertNet) (Link dead as of 02:43, 15 January 2007 (UTC))
• After six years, the last United Nations peacekeepers have left East Timor. (Bloomberg) (BBC)
• Elections in Papua New Guinea: Bougainville in Papua New Guinea begins the first elections of its autonomous government. (National, Papua New Guinea) (Radio Australia) (BBC)
• Australian pop star Kylie Minogue is released from the hospital after surgery to treat breast cancer. (The Age)

• In visiting Calvin College to give a commencement speech, George W. Bush is met with a petition by a third of the college faculty, stating "We believe your administration has launched an unjust and unjustified war in Iraq.", and strongly criticizing his policies. (FOX News)
• The Greek entry "My Number One" by Helena Paparizou wins the 50th Annual Eurovision Song Contest in Kiev, Ukraine. 24 countries of the European Broadcasting Union participate in the final, fifteen other countries having been eliminated in Thursdays' semi-finals. (Radio Free Europe) (Eurovision)
• The Sun, the largest selling British tabloid newspaper, publishes more surreptitiously taken pictures of Saddam Hussein, while claiming to condemn the leaking of the first photographs. Other pictures also published show the imprisoned Ali Hassan al-Majid ("Chemical Ali") and Huda Salih Mahdi Ammash ("Mrs Anthrax"). President Bush intervenes to support an investigation into the leaking of the photos. (Vancouver Sun) (The Statesman) (Guardian Unlimited)
• The 21st annual National Science Olympiad was held in University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
• Kingda Ka the tallest and fastest roller coaster in the world opens at Six Flags Great Adventure.
• Arsenal won the English FA Cup, in the first final to go to a penalty shootout; Arsenal beat Manchester United 5-4 on spot-kicks after 120 minutes of a goalless draw at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff.
• Livingston drew 1-1 at home to Dundee to survive in the SPL, on the final game of the season. This result relegated the visiting side.

• In Shenzhen, China, what is believed to be the largest urban demolition blast in China uses 1,500 lb (680 kg) of explosives to simultaneously topple 16 tower blocks. Because of misplaced charges, one tower does not topple, but is reduced from 14 stories to 12, and will have to be demolished manually. (Xinhua (Pictures)) (The Star (Malaysia)) (Boston Globe).
• Ariel Sharon, the Prime Minister of Israel, was heckled and booed at a meeting to promote the planned Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip by several U.S. Jews. (BBC)
• Laura Bush, the First Lady of the United States, was heckled by both Israeli and Palestinian protesters as she visited the Wailing Wall and the outside of the Dome of the Rock. (Haaretz) (BBC)
• The British government declines a request from the families of soldiers killed in Iraq for an investigation into the legality of the war. (BBC) (Chicago Tribune)
• Israel arrests a 15-year-old Palestinian at a Hawara checkpoint, near Nablus, wearing a suicide bomb belt. (Haaretz)
• German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder has declared that he will seek the next German federal election to be held this autumn, a year earlier than set out by the constitution, after the CDU and FDP defeated the Social Democrats (SPD), who were in coalition with the Greens, at the regional election in North Rhine-Westphalia. (BBC).
• Elections in Mongolia: Former Prime Minister of Mongolia Nambaryn Enkhbayar wins presidential election. (Reuters) (CNN) (Forbes) (Xinhua)
• In Nepal, thousands of opposition supporters demonstrate against the rule of King Gyanendra and demand restoration of parliament. Royalist government is dismayed by EU and Indian demands to return to democracy (Reuters AlertNet) (Reuters Alertnet) (ABC) (BBC)
• Egyptian police arrests Mahmud Ezzat, leader of banned Muslim Brotherhood. Various reports tell of different amounts (from 11 to 24) of other arrested members (Al-Jazeera) (ABC) (BBC)
• Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez says he may consider breaking diplomatic ties with the USA if it will not extradite Luis Posada Carriles. (Reuters) (BBC) (World Peace Herald)

• Channel 10, an Israeli television station, broadcasts footage of what it claims is Israeli Defence Forces using a Palestinian youth as a human shield against rock-throwers in the West Bank. The IDF denies the allegation. (Haaretz)
• A bipartisan group of fourteen U.S. Senators has successfully negotiated a compromise whereby a "nuclear option" showdown over judicial filibusters would be averted. (ABC News)
• Five Irish teenage school girls, 4 from the Loretto Convent and 1 from Beaufort College in Navan, are killed and six others are critically injured in a bus crash in County Meath. The bus was carrying students from the Loretto Convent, the Mercy Convent, St. Patrick's Classical School and Beaufort College, all in Navan and did not have fitted seatbelts. (RTÉ)
• The Palestinian Election Commission delays the Palestinian Legislative Council elections, citing that there was not enough time to prepare. Critics of the ruling Fatah party had predicted the delay, and believed it was a way to prevent Hamas, the main opposition party, from gaining power. (Al Jazeera) (BBC)
• Health officials in Norway fear a Legionnaires' Disease epidemic after the death of four people during the last five days and the hospitalisation of many others in southeastern county of Østfold, particularly in the Fredrikstad-Sarpsborg urban area. At least 24 people are known to be infected, with many of them in critical condition. Legionnaires' Disease killed seven people in the southwestern city of Stavanger in 2001, in an outbreak that was later traced to a hotel air conditioning system. (Aftenposten)
• 11,000 journalists and other employees of the BBC go on a 24-hour strike to protest over approximately 4,000 planned job cuts. TV and Radio news output has been the worst affected, with few new stories materialising and only a skeleton service being offered. (BBC) (Reuters UK) (Bloomberg) (BBC strike Q&A)
• Supreme Leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, urges the Council of Guardians to review applications of two reformist candidates, Mostafa Moin of the Islamic Iran Participation Front and Vice President Mohsen Mehralizadeh, after the council qualified only six candidates to the country's presidential election. Opposition groups threaten to boycott the elections and students of Tehran University protest against the disqualification of Moin. (Tehran Times) (IRNA) (Reuters AlertNet) (Reuters)
• The death toll of the bird flu in Vietnam rises to 18. China informs the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization that it has sealed off the Qinghai province to stop the spread of bird flu and vaccinated farmbirds. (People's Daily). (Reuters AlertNet)
• The Walt Disney Internet Group launches the Virtual Magic Kingdom (VMK) in beta testing, scheduled to open to the public in July

• Conflict in Iraq: At least five Iraqis and seven US Soldiers have been killed following a spate of bombings in Iraq. (BBC)
• Mathematician Peter Lax receives the Abel Prize, worth nearly one million USD, from Norway's Crown Prince Haakon in a ceremony in Oslo. The prize is awarded for his work on "the theory and application of partial differential equations."(CNN)
• Israeli soldiers catch a 15 year old Palestinian carrying two pipe bombs at a West Bank checkpoint. (Haaretz)
• Al-Qaeda in Iraq claims in its website that Abu Musab al-Zarqawi has been wounded. (Yahoo!)
• John Howard, the Prime Minister of Australia, has written to his Japanese counterpart, Junichiro Koizumi, urging Japan to reconsider its position on whaling. The International Whaling Commission is expected to consider Japan's expansion proposal when it meets next month. (ABC News)
• The Chilean army buries 24 of 46 conscripts that died in a snow storm in the Andes. Presidential candidates have called for an end to compulsory military service. 13 bodies still unfound.(SantiagoTimes) (BBC)
• The appeal of six Pitcairn men who were sentenced for sexual abuse of young girls fails. An Auckland court is to decide whether to grant them bail. The men plan to appeal to the Privy Council. (BBC) (Reuters)
• Canadian Liberal candidate Todd Russell wins a crucial by-election in the federal riding of Labrador. This result consolidates the shaky Liberal balance of power in the federal government. (CBC)
• Jurors in the criminal trial of Richard M. Scrushy, founder and former CEO of HealthSouth Corporation, send notes to the presiding judge that indicate they are having difficulty reaching unanimity. The case is part of the wave of U.S. corporate scandals of recent years. Prosecutors allege that Mr. Scrushy and others conspired to overstate profits at HealthSouth by circa $2.7 billion, in the period 1996 - 2002. (Reuters)
• Vivian Liberto Cash Distin, first wife of Johnny Cash, dies due to complications from surgery to remove lung cancer.

• At Atatürk Olympic Stadium in Istanbul, Liverpool F.C. scores three goals in six minutes to tie the game and after extra-time goes on to defeat AC Milan 3-2 in a penalty shootout to win its first UEFA Champions League title since 1984. Goals from Steven Gerrard, Vladmir Smicer and Xabi Alonso levelled he game in the second half.Liverpool eventually winning 3-2 on penalties In one of the greatest comebacks in sporting history
• Carrie Underwood won the fourth season of American Idol.
• Human Rights:
  • Amnesty International releases its annual Human Rights report for the year 2004. Amnesty Report
  • Human Rights Watch releases a report accusing the FBI of misconduct in the illegal detention and torture of two American citizens. (NYTimes)
• Elections in Suriname: General elections are underway in Suriname. Likely winner could be former dictator and drug smuggler, Dési Bouterse. (Scoop)
• The American Family Association, a Christian group, ends its nine-year boycott of the Walt Disney Company but continues to boycott Kmart and Abercrombie & Fitch and the book One of the Guys by Robert Clark Young.
• Voyager 1, the most distant man-made object, has entered the heliosheath and is on the cusp of leaving the Solar System and entering the interstellar medium. (BBC)
• The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development predicts that economic growth will slow a bit in the industrialised world this year to an annual rate of 2.6 percent. The OECD's report blames rising energy costs and economic problems in Europe for the slowdown. (VOA News), (The Telegraph)
• The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, the longest oil pipeline in the world, begins operations today, with an opening ceremony in Azerbaijan. (BBC)
• Elections in Egypt: Egyptians vote in a referendum on a constitutional amendment allowing multi-candidate presidential elections while opposition groups call for a boycott, saying that requirements for candidates are too hard and still favour the ruling National Democratic Party. (Egypt Election DAily News) (Al-Jazeera) (Khaleej Times) (Bloomberg) (Reuters)
• Soledad Alvear, former Chilean foreign minister, withdraws her presidential candidacy and supports Michelle Bachelet. (MercoPress) (BBC)
• An ETA car bomb explodes near Madrid, Spain after a warning call. (EITB24) (Scotsman)
• In Guinea-Bissau, an armed group of men led by former President Kumba Ialá briefly occupies the presidential palace. The ousted president claims that he is still in charge. (BBC)

In Russia, a 10.00 AM explosion in a power substation causes a power outage that cuts electricity from Moscow and four surrounding regions. Government blames RAO UES and the Prosecutor General's Office opens an investigation for "criminal negligence". UES CEO Anatoly Chubais accepts responsibility. Energy minister Viktor Khristenko states that the power cuts have nothing to do with terrorism. (Moscow Times) (RIA Novosti) (IHT)

• Accused Canadian serial killer Robert Pickton is charged with a total of 27 murders (CTV) (National Post) (Reuters Canada) (New Criminologist)
• In Panama, police has clashed for three days with demonstrators that protest new pension reforms of president Martín Torrijos (Reuters AlertNet)
• In Bolivia, Commander-in-chief of Bolivian army, Luis Aranda, refutes claims that military is planning a coup. (Bloomberg) (Reuters AlertNet) (BBC)
• NATO soldiers raid the home of son of Radovan Karadžić but fail to apprehend him. (FENA) (BBC) (Reuters AlertNet)
• Slovenian government charges former communist leader Mitja Ribičič of genocide when he was a Yugoslavian security chief after World War II (BBC) (Reuters AlertNet)
• In Haiti, former prime minister Yvon Neptune is formally charged with political killings in 2004. He has been in a hunger strike. (Caribbean Net News) (Jamaica Observer) (BBC)

• Elections in Suriname: Preliminary results show Suriname's ruling coalition survived an election challenge from former dictator Dési Bouterse in this former Dutch colony. (Guardian Unlimited)
• Conflict in Iraq: Two US Soldiers are killed as a helicopter is shot down near Baquba, North of Baghdad. (BBC)
• A coalition of citizen groups will ask United States Congress to file a formal "Resolution of Inquiry", the first necessary legal step to determine whether U.S. President George W. Bush has committed impeachable offenses. The request, written by Boston constitutional attorney John C. Bonifaz, cites the Downing Street memo and issues surrounding the planning and execution of the Iraq war. (Raw Story)
• The South African Geographical Names Council unanimously approves a recommendation to change the name of the country's executive capital Pretoria to Tshwane. (BBC)
• U.S. President George W. Bush has promised the President of the Palestinian Authority, Abu Mazen, $50 million in aid and reiterated that Israel was to stop all settlement activity on the West Bank. (BBC)
• The British Association of University Teachers decides to cancel the boycott on Israeli Universities of Haifa and Bar-Ilan. The decision comes in a special meeting after both external and internal debate over the original decision.(BBC), (The Guardian)
• British Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy calls for a reform of the UK voting system after Labour took the majority of the seats in the UK election with just 35% of the votes. (The Independent)
• British Foreign Minister Jack Straw announces that Iran has renewed its promise to refrain from developing nuclear weapons, and talks on its atomic program will continue following a meeting between Iranian nuclear officials and European Union ministers in Geneva. (VOA News), (BBC)
• In Thailand, police officer Somchai Visetsingha is sentenced to a life in prison for murder of two British backpackers in 2004. (MCOT) (BBC) (Reuters)
• A flash flood strikes São Paulo, Brazil. (BBC)
• French official Pascal Lamy, former trade commissioner for European Union, is expected to be appointed as ahead of the World Trade Organisation. He will assume the post in September. (Reuters) (BBC)
• Australia observes the National Sorry Day as a way to remember the Stolen Generation of Indigenous Australians. (National Indigenous Times) (ABC AU) (Radio Australia)
• India and Pakistan begin talks to resolve a military stand-off on the Siachen glacier. (Hindu.com) (Pakistan Dawn) (Reuters)
• In New York City, United States, attorney general charges insurance company American International Group and two of its former executives for fraud and manipulating the accounts (New York Times) (Businessweek) (Forbes) (Bloomberg) (Reuters)
• Spanish court imprisons Arnaldo Otegi, head of Herri Batasuna party in the Basque region for having links to ETA. Batasuna claims that the move undermines peace efforts. Otegi is in prison pending ?400.000 bail. (EITB) (Reuters AlertNet)
• French authorities arrest Chechen named Bislan Ismailov suspected for complicity in the murder of Theo van Gogh (Expatica) (Reuters)
• In Egypt, referendum favours constitutional changes for presidential elections with 83% in favour (Al-Jazeera) (BBC)
• The Judiciary Committee of the U.S. Senate approved a bill to create a $140 billion trust fund for the payment of asbestos-related claims. The bill now goes to the Senate floor, no analogous bill is yet before the House of Representatives. (Investors Business Daily)
• In Tennessee, five members of the state legislature are arrested on federal bribery charges in Operation Tennessee Waltz.

• The King Fahd of Saudi Arabia, has been taken to hospital, overtly for tests; however, the BBC quotes an unofficial source who claims the King has water in his lungs. (BBC)
• Qur'an desecration by US military: Protests have occurred in Egypt, Pakistan, Jordan, Lebanon and Malaysia after the US military admitted that the Qur'an had been "mishandled" by soldiers. (BBC)
• The Bundesrat of Germany ratifies the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe. (BBC)
• Australian Schapelle Corby has been found guilty by a Bali court of importing a narcotic into Indonesia. She has appealed the AU$13,875 fine and the 20-year jail sentence. (ABC News) (Jakarta Post)
• The Federal Court of Australia rejects an attempt from Humane Society International to sue a Japanese whaler because such an action might generate conflict with Japan. The organisation claims the whaling company is hunting unlawfully in Australian waters near Antarctica. The Humane Society is now considering appeal. (ABC News)
• The 148 members of the World Trade Organization officially appoint the former European Union Trade Commissioner, Pascal Lamy, as its 5th Director-General. (VOA News), (WTO official website)
• The majority of members of Basque parliament, Spain, condemn the ETA bomb attack in Madrid, though the communists abstain. A bomb explodes later in a Basque train station. (EITB) (Reuters AlertNet)
• The planned 48 hour strike at the BBC in Britain is called off, unions announce, following talks. (BBC) (ThisIsLondon)
• 14 people die as a bomb explodes near a shrine in Islamabad, Pakistan. (Al-Jazeera) (BBC) (Bloomberg)
• Ethiopian general elections: European Union observers report that the National Elections Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) may be losing control of the vote counting for the recent May 15 election, potentially marring the most open election in Ethiopian history. Meanwhile the NEBE has postponed announcement of the election's provisional results until June 8, due to the volume of complaints of election irregularities. (CBC)
• Popular singer Morrissey's official Website released the following statement: "Morrissey will regrettably not be appearing at the Isle Of Wight Festival on the 11th of June as scheduled. The pressure of preparing the new album and losing his drummer earlier this month has made it impossible to do the gig without massively compromising both the gig and the album. Apologies to all the fans, the organisers and the people of the Isle Of Wight."
• In the AFL, Richmond forward Nathan G. Brown broke his leg in a horrific incident involving Melbourne defender Matthew Whelan. It was one of the most shocking injuries suffered by an AFL player ever.

• The clock tower of the Palace of Westminster in London, commonly known as Big Ben, renowned for its accuracy and chimes, stopped ticking for 90 minutes, an engineer said Saturday. (BBC)
• Japan announces closure of World War II sex slave fund by March 2007. The Asian Women's Fund, set up in 1995, paid 2M yen ($19,470) each in compensation, plus medical and welfare support, to 285 so-called "comfort women" in the Philippines, South Korea and Taiwan. (BBC)
• California State Senator Joseph Dunn, local school officials, and environmental professionals meet with parents of Kennedy Elementary School students in a town-hall style meeting in Santa Ana Thursday evening. The parents air their concerns over health issues at schools and workplaces, including a rash of leukemia cases in the student population, and begin a dialogue they have been working toward for years. (Wikinews)
• In Ethiopia, provisional results indicate that the ruling Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front of prime minister Meles Zenawi has won parliamentary majority. Opposition claims vote rigging. Final results are due June 8 (Reuters) (News24) (BBC)

• A London newspaper reports that Merrill Lynch, New York, is trying to persuade at least seventeen members of the corporate derivatives team of rival investment bank JP Morgan to defect. An anonymous source/headhunter quoted in the newspaper predicted that the seventeen will be working at Merrill Lynch by the end of the summer. (Reuters)
• The French electorate reject the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe by approximately 55% to 45%, igniting a political crisis in the union and dealing a sharp blow to French President Jacques Chirac. All 25 EU member states must ratify the treaty for it to come into effect - 9 have done so to date, but only Spain has previously held a referendum. (BBC) (Los Angeles Times) (Bloomberg) (Reuters)
• Dan Wheldon won the 89th running of the Indianapolis 500, beating rookie Danica Patrick, who led the race three times and came in an impressive fourth place (CNN/SI)
• In Brazil, huge Gay Pride parade begins in São Paulo. (CNN) (CBC) (BBC)
• In Taiwan, thousands of mourners attend the funeral of reputed gangster Hsu Hai-ching. (TaiwanNews) (Taipei Times) (BBC)
• Three US senators visit Uzbekistan to demand investigation on the crackdown of unrest. (ABC) (Reuters AlertNet)
• Paolo Savoldelli wins the 2005 Giro d'Italia. <<NEWSLINK MISSING>>
• The Coca Cola League One Play Off Final is won by Sheffield Wednesday at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff after they beat Hartlepool United 4-2 to gain promotion to the Coca Cola Championship.

• In Prague, Prince Hamid Bin Abdul Sani al-Thani of Qatar has been found guilty of sexually abusing girls younger than 15 from 2001 and 2004 and sentenced to 30 months in prison. (BBC)
• Amidst scandals regarding the sale of land in Jerusalem, Patriarch Irenaios I of Jerusalem has been replaced by Metropolitan Cornelius of Petra, who serves as locum tenens of the Orthodox Church of Jerusalem.BBC
• Fighting in the proposed Somali capital of Baidoa threatens the stability of the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia. BBC
• Angela Merkel is elected by the CDU/CSU as candidate to become Chancellor of Germany in the upcoming German federal election, 2005. (Spiegel online, German)
• Amnesty International has urged foreign governments to investigate high level US government officials for human rights violations committed in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Guantanamo Bay.
• Pope Benedict XVI says he wants to heal the rift with the Orthodox Church during his papacy. He spoke to hundreds-of-thousands of people attending a mass in the southern Italian city of Bari during his first pilgrimage away from the Vatican since he was elected less than two months ago. (VOA News)
• Lebanese general election, 2005:
  • Preliminary results indicate that political alliance of Saad Hariri, son of killed Rafiq Hariri, wins in Beirut parliamentary elections, despite of the low turnout (Daily Star, Lebanon) (Al-Jazeera) (Reuters)
  • The son of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri, who was assassinated in February 2005, Saadettin Hariri declared his victory at the end of the first round of the first general elections in Lebanon after the end of 29-year Syrian military presence. (Zaman Online)
• Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Israel fires rockets at the Jabaliya, a Palestinian refugee camp, injuring two civilians. The IDF says it was targeting militants who were planning a rocket attack on Israel. (BBC)
• Astronomers of California Institute of Technology and Astronomical Observatory of Strasbourg state that the Andromeda galaxy is three times bigger than previously estimated (Space.Com) (Universer Today) (Reuters)
• Red Cross of Canada admits that it has used blood infected with HIV or hepatitis virus (Canada Newswire) (Canada.Com) (CTV) (Bloomberg)

• In Bolivia, police and protesters clash in the capital La Paz outside congress, disrupting its meetings. Protesters have closed the roads to the city. They demand nationalization of energy industry. (Reuters AlertNet) Private Entrepreneurs Confederation of Bolivia demands resignation of president Carlos Mesa (MercoPress)
• Serbia withdraws arrest warrant of Mirjana Marković, wife of Slobodan Milošević (Kosovareport) (BBC)
• United Nations Security Council votes to extend its peacekeeping mission in Haiti until June 24 (UN News Centre) (Reuters AlertNet)
• In Botswana, Australian lecturer Kenneth Good loses his appeal against deportation. He had criticized the government of president Festus Mogae (Republic of Botswana) (Reuters SA) (SABC) (BBC)
• India opens new naval base in Karwar in the state of Karnataka (NDTV) (Hindu) (BBC)
• Russian billionaire and businessman Mikhail Khodorkovsky is sentenced to 9 years in prison in his tax evasion trial. (Moscow Times) (Mosnews) (Bloomberg)(Spiegel online, German) (BBC)
• In Bangkok, Thailand, the Canadian contestant Natalie Glebova is crowned Miss Universe 2005.
• Vanity Fair magazine reports that Ex-FBI official W. Mark Felt admits that he was the Watergate source known as Deep Throat. (CNN)
• Hamas have declared that they will be boycotting the re-vote which was requested in three Districts of the Gaza Strip. (BBC)
• Police in Israel say they have uncovered an Industrial espionage plot involving 15 Israeli firms. Trojan horse computer viruses are believed to have been used to hack into rivals' systems and 20 people have so far been arrested. (BBC)
• China and Japan have opened two days of closed-door negotiations in Beijing aimed at resolving a long-running dispute over natural gas drilling rights in a disputed area of the East China Sea (VOA News)
• In France, the Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin resigns following the country's rejection of the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe. In an expected move, President Jacques Chirac appoints Interior Minister Dominique de Villepin to succeed him. (Reuters)
• China claims that arrested Singaporean journalist Ching Cheong was spying. (BBC) (Reporters Without Borders) (Reuters) (Forbes)
• China opens Three Gorges Dam to tourists. (Reuters AlertNet)
• In Senegal, opposition leader Abdourahim Agne is charged with incitement to rebellion after he urged demonstrations against the president Abdoulaye Wade. (Reuters SA) (BBC)
• Indonesia intends to vaccinate 6.4 million children against polio in the next couple of days. There are already 16 cases in the country. (Jakarta Post) (Channel News Asia) (Reuters AlertNet)
• Bob Geldof announces plans for a concert similar to Live Aid, which took place in 1985, to coincide with the G8 Summit in Edinburgh this July. The concert, named ‘Live 8’, will take place in Hyde Park, London on 2 July, with other concerts in Paris, Rome, Berlin and Philadelphia, and is intended to raise awareness of the Make Poverty History campaign. It is expected to include acts such as Sir Paul McCartney, Robbie Williams, Madonna, the Rolling Stones, Coldplay and U2, as well as a rumoured reunion of the Spice Girls. (BBC), (Guardian Unlimited)
• The U.S. Supreme Court has overturned the conviction of defunct accounting giant Arthur Andersen on charges arising from the Enron scandal, on the ground that the jury instructions were faulty, (thestreet.com)