Portal:Current events/December 2005: Difference between revisions

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• French President Jacques Chirac declares a state of emergency on the 12th day of the civil unrest. Chirac's move followed the re-activation in a cabinet emergency session of a 1955 law allowing local authorities to impose curfews. (NYT) (CNN)
• Trials of Saddam Hussein: Three gunmen assassinate Adel al-Zubeidi, the defense lawyer for Taha Yassin Ramadan, a former Iraqi Vice President under Saddam Hussein. (Reuters)
• Italian state-owned channel Rai News 24 airs a controversial documentary in which Iraqi people and ex-U.S. soldiers say that white phosphorus, a chemical weapon, was used by the U.S. Army against civilians in Fallujah last year. (BBC) (Rai News 24, with video)
• Australian police claim to have disrupted a large-scale terrorist attack as 17 suspects are arrested in Melbourne and Sydney following raids. (Sydney Morning Herald) (CNN)
• The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) says that the Tokyo-based Institute of Cetacean Research is about to start a controversial program that could kill up to 940 whales in the name of scientific research, abusing the rights under the International Whaling Convention. (abc.net.au)(IOL)

• Sierra Leone Health and Sanitation Minister, Abator Thomas says that polio has been eradicated in the country, following a successful immunization program. (allAfrica)
• The United Nations is asking donors for US$3.2 million to help six West African countries fight cholera. The disease has killed at least 700 people and infected over 42,000 in the region since June, a sharp rise due to the unusually heavy rains this year. (allAfrica)
• India's foreign minister, K. Natwar Singh, is forced to step down from his post amid allegations that he and the governing Indian National Congress had illegally benefited from the UN Oil-for-Food Programme in Iraq. (Reuters)
• Canadian New Democratic Party leader Jack Layton withdraws his support to the minority government of Prime Minister Paul Martin. This decision might set a confidence vote in the next week. (Globe & Mail)
• China closes all Beijing poultry markets. Authorities ordered all live poultry markets in China's capital to close immediately and went door-to-door seizing chickens and ducks from private homes, as the government dramatically ramped up its fight against avian influenza today. (Business Week)
• Alberto Fujimori, former President of Peru, is arrested in Chile whilst a Chilean judge considers a Peruvian extradition request. (BBC)
• India opens the first of three frontier checkpoints at Chakan Da Bagh in Poonch on the Kashmir Line of Control (LoC) between India and Pakistan, for 2005 Kashmir earthquake relief work. (Rediff)
• The 2005 French urban riots continue to intensify and spread, in the eleventh consecutive night of rioting in cities across France. A related incident has been reported in Saint-Gillis, Brussels, Belgium (Guardian) (BBC) (CNN) (Le Figaro) (in French)

• A bomb explosion near a convoy of cars carrying Somalia's prime minister Ali Mohammed Ghedi in Mogadishu. Although the PM escapes unhurt, 9 people have been killed and 20 others wounded. (Reuters)
• Former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori arrives in Santiago, Chile after being exiled in Japan since 2000. Although he is the subject of an Interpol arrest warrant, the Chilean government said he cannot be arrested without an order from a Chilean judge. Fujimori arrives at a time of tension between Chile and Peru over sea boundaries. (CNN)
• People in several parts of Germany report several fireballs in the sky, leading to speculation that they may be UFOs. Scientists report that the sightings are of the Taurid meteor shower. (Yahoo! News)
• Azerbaijani citizens go to the polls in the Azerbaijan parliamentary election, 2005. Opposition parties have alleged that there is voting fraud. (Reuters)
• The tenth night of the 2005 French riots is reported as being the most intense yet, and the riots are now the subject of crisis meetings in the French government. President Jacques Chirac has called for the arrest, trial and punishment of the rioters. (BBC)
• A tornado estimated to be over 1/2 mile wide and of F3 strength on the Fujita scale hits around 2 AM near Evansville, Indiana. Over 20 are killed and 200 injured. (National Weather Service) (Yahoo! News)

• The Seabourn Cruise Line cruise ship Seabourn Spirit evades an attack by pirates off the coast of Somalia. (Yahoo! News)
• Archaeologists in Israel discover a rare early Christian church, dating to ca. AD 300. The church was uncovered near the prison at Megiddo. (Reuters) (Ynetnews)
• Gene Robinson, the first openly gay U.S. ordained Episcopalian bishop describes Pope Benedict XVI's response to the Roman Catholic sex abuse scandal by placing restrictions on gay clergy: "an act of violence that needs to be confronted." He delivered the speech at St Martin-in-the-Fields church, in Trafalgar Square. Robinson's appointment has contributed to an open schism in the Anglican Communion. YahooABC

• Clashes continue in Debre Berhan, while government forces succeed in pacifying Bahir Dar and Awassa. The Ethiopian capital Addis Abeba remained calm, with few shops open and no taxis operating. (BBC)
• The Old Bailey in the U.K. sentences five white supremacists to jail for 15 years for creating and distributing race hate material. (BBC)
• One of three men arrested last month in the U.K. is charged under the Terrorism Act 2000. The others were charged with, among other things, conspiracy to murder and possessing bomb-making materials. (BBC)
• The 2005 Paris suburb riots continue for an eighth consecutive night. Hundreds of arson attacks have taken place in the last few nights. Shots fired at police and firefighters. Rioting continues to spread. France described as facing a crisis. (BBC)
• Israelis begin to mark the 10th anniversary of the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. (BBC) (Reuters) (IOL)
• Massive demonstrations against U.S. President George W. Bush continue to grow at the Fourth Summit of the Americas in Mar del Plata, Argentina. (Reuters)

• Measles Initiative (MI) announces that since 1999, more than 200 million children in Africa have been vaccinated against measles, reducing the infection rate by 60 percent and saving 1 million lives. (allAfrica)
• The 2005 Paris suburb riots continue for a seventh consecutive night.
• Israeli-Palestinian Conflict:
  • A joint Israeli-Palestinian doctors group has filed a petition to the Supreme Court of Israel requesting an end to the Israel Defense Forces use of sonic booms to terrify the Palestinian populace. The Doctors complain that the "sound bombs" cause widespread fear, induce miscarriages and traumatise children. The United Nations claim that the tactic causes panic attacks in children and has smashed thousands of windows. (The Guardian), (BBC)
  • A 12 year old Palestinian boy is in a criticial condition after being shot by an Israeli soldier. The soldiers had been in a firefight with Islamic Jihad members, and the boy was carrying a toy gun. Haaretz (BBC).
  • Israeli troops raid the West Bank area of Jenin. (BBC)
• Conflict in Iraq: Seven U.K. troops accused of murdering an Iraqi civilian have had their cases dropped after a judge ruled that there was insufficient evidence against the soldiers and that the Iraqi witnesses lied. (BBC)
• Five U.S. Marines have been arrested after they were accused of raping a local Filipino woman. The USS Essex (LHD-2) was prevented from leaving the Philippines until the men were apprehended. (BBC) (Xinhua)
• Two more people have died as protests against the government of Ethiopia continue in Addis Ababa. (BBC)
• Sagittarius A, a complex radio source at the center of the Milky Way, is proved to be a supermassive black hole. (CNN)
• A bomb explodes in the eastern Indonesian city of Ambon. No casualties have been reported. (Radio Australia)

• Guinea-Bissau's President Nino Vieira appoints Aristides Gomes, a former African Development Bank official, as new prime minister, replacing the dismissed Carlos Gomes Júnior. (xinhua)(Reuters)
• Donald E. Powell, former chief executive of the First National Bank of Amarillo, Texas and current Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation chairman is named to coordinate rebuilding of the Gulf Coast by President George W. Bush. (White House) (WashingtonTimes)
• The Washington Post reports that the Central Intelligence Agency has been operating, perhaps illegally, a covert network of "black site" prisons for terrorist suspects in eight foreign countries, including Afghanistan, Thailand, and several Eastern European democracies for the last four years, with little or no oversight from the United States Congress. (The Washington Post)
• Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad nominates Sadeq Mahsouli as Supervisor of Ministry of Petroleum of OPEC's number two producer, risking domestic political commotion and a parliamentary veto after already making a disturbance abroad with a call for Israel's destruction. (Reuters)
• The Delhi police release three sketches of one of the suspected bombers involved in 29 October 2005 Delhi bombings. (NDTV)
• A car bomb kills six in Srinagar, India (Rediff)
• The British Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, David Blunkett, resigns a second time, following allegations of ministerial misconduct over his directorship and purchase of shares in a bioscience company. John Hutton is named as his replacement. (Investment & Pensions Europe).
• The 2005 Paris riots continue for the sixth consecutive night. Rioting spread through impoverished suburbs, which was sparked by the death of two youths who were allegedly fleeing police and were accidently electrocuted while hiding in an electrical substation. The riots have caused increased strains between the authorities and the inhabitants of the poor suburbs. (AP)
• 80 of the world's top radio astronomers meet in Pune, India to decide how and where to set up the world's biggest radio telescope, the Square Kilometre Array. (NDTV)
• Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: An Israel Defense Forces soldier is seriously wounded and later dies of his wounds in an overnight arrest raids near the West Bank town of Jenin. (Ynetnews)
• At least 23 people are killed and 150 wounded in clashes between opposition supporters and police in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa. (Reuters)

• Best Mate, 10, award-winning Irish racehorse, suffers a heart attack and dies while racing in front of a televion audience of millions.
• U.S. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid and his fellow Democrats force a closed session of the Senate over the recent Lewis Libby indictment. (CNN)
• The discovery of two additional moons of Pluto is announced. (CNN)
• The United Nations Security Council passed a UNSC resolution (S/RES/1636 (2005)) which requests urgently and forcefully Syria's full cooperation with the investigation into the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. (CCTV)
• Zanzibar's ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi party and President Amani Abeid Karume are declared re-elected in a disputed election. Police clashed with opposition supporters, leaving 9 dead. (Reuters) (Reuters) (Guardian)
• Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: 2 Palestinian militants, one from Hamas, the other the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, have died following an Israeli air-strike in the Gaza Strip. (BBC)
• North Korea and South Korea will field a united Olympics team at the next Olympic Games. (BBC)
• Justice John Gomery releases the first part of the Gomery Commission report on corruption in the Liberal Party of Canada and the sponsorship scandal. Gomery exonerates current prime minister Paul Martin but criticizes former prime minister Jean Chretien and his Quebec lieutenant Alfonso Gagliano. (CBC)
• 2005 Paris riots continue for the fifth consecutive night, sparked by the death of two Muslim youths from electric shock. The controversy caused by police firing tear gas into a mosque on Sunday night led to families of the dead youths pulling out of a meeting with the French Interior Minister. (news24)
• Makybe Diva wins the Melbourne Cup thoroughbred horse race for the third consecutive year, becoming the first horse ever to do so. Shortly thereafter, owner Tony Stantic announces her retirement from racing. (Herald Sun)
• U.S. prosecutors admitted that Omar al-Faruq was one of four detainees to escape from the Bagram base, Afghanistan, in July, all of whom are still on the run. (BBC)

2005: January February March April May June July August September October
2004: January February March April May June July August September October November December
2003: January February March April May June July August September October November December
2002: January February March April May June July August September October November December
2001: January February March April May June July August September October November December
2000: January February March April May June July August September October November December

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