New laws against age discrimination in the workplace - officially titled the Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006 - come into force in the United Kingdom. (BBC)
Viktor Khristenko, the Russian Industry and Energy Minister, and Baktykozha Izmukhambetov, the Kazakh Energy and Mineral Resources' Minister, sign an intergovernmental agreement creating a joint venture to process gas from the Karachaganak field in West Kazakhstan. Russian PresidentVladimir Putin said the agreement was the solution to "the energy problems of key partners, including those in Western Europe." (Interfax)
EADS delays delivery of the Airbus A380 jet for the third time in 16 months, due to wiring problems, with the first plane now expected in late 2007. (Bloomberg)
The European Union imposes an anti-dumping tariff on leather shoe imports from the Far East - 16.5% on imports from China and 10% on imports from Vietnam. China supplies about 1.25 billion pairs of shoes to the EU each year. (EUobserver.com)
The Drudge Report alleges that one teen with whom Mark Foley engaged in cybersex during a House vote was 18 years old at the time of the communications. (Drudge Report)
German authorities uncover 51 skeletons from a mass grave at the village of Menden-Barge in the Sauerland region of the country, thought to be remains of victims of Nazi atrocities during World War II. (BBC)
The House Ethics Committee issued four dozen subpoenas to members of Congress and aides to discover who was aware of explicit exchanges between former representative Mark Foley and underage Congressional pages. (MSNBC)
President Bush has declared space to be essential to US defence in a new National Space Policy document. Not only has the United States declared that it has rights in space, but, if necessary, it will deny its adversaries access to space if those adversaries seek to impede those rights. The new policy was agreed upon in August but the document[1] was not released until 6 October. See Wikinewsn:US declares vital interest in space
Iraq's Environmental Secretary claims that 11 police officers have died of food poisoning in the Wasit province of that country. The governor of the Wasit province claims that no officers have died, but that several are in critical condition. It is unclear whether or not the poisonings were intentional. (Associated Press)
French lawmakers introduce a bill to criminalize Armenian Genocide denial. The legislation would imprison offenders for one year and fine them up to €45,000. Turkey calls upon French legislators to vote against the bill. The Turkish Parliament is considering a bill that would criminalize denial of French human rights violations in Algeria. (TurkishPress)
Google officially announces that they will buy video sharing website YouTube for US$1.65 billion. (BBC)
Iran's Supreme Leader AyatollahAli Khamenei states that the country would pursue its right to develop nuclear technology and will not suspend uranium enrichment as the West demands, declaring: "Our policy is clear, progress with clear logic and insisting on the nation's right without any retreat." (Reuters)
Iraqi police announce they have found a total of 110 corpses at locations across Baghdad in the previous 48 hours, thought to be more victims of insurgent death squads. In addition, a bomb planted under a car explodes in the city's southern district of Doura, killing 10 people. (CNN)(Reuters)
A mortar fired by insurgents landed on an ammunition dump at Camp Falcon U.S. military base on the outskirts of Baghdad, causing a huge fire. At least 30 explosions were reported. There were no reported casualties. (Reuters)
Minutes from the United States Federal Reserve meeting held on September 20 predict a "modestly better inflation outlook" due to a softening economy and lower energy prices. The Federal Reserve held interest rates steady. (Fox News)
A United Nations report declares that abuse of children is "widespread and tolerated" in many parts of the world. A separate report by charity Save the Children states that more than a million children around the world are in prison. (BBC)
The New Zealand Auditor-General's report into 2005 election funding is released. NZ$1.17 million dollars was unlawfully spent during the election by seven parties, more than half of it by Labour. Labour immediately promises to repay the money. (NZ Herald)
Workers begin demolishing the one-room Amish schoolhouse in Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania where five girls were shot to death and five others were injured. (Forbes)
Record Snowfall in Buffalo, New York and surrounding metro area leaves up to two feet of heavy wet snow, three people dead, damaged trees, and over 400,000 residents without power. [3]
Wal-Mart is ordered to pay $78 million in compensation to current and former employees for breaking labor laws in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania by forcing its employees to work through rest breaks and off clock. (USA Today)
The US government has rebuffed UK calls to close its controversial detention centre at Guantánamo Bay in Cuba. (BBC)
Tony Blair has said he agrees with "every word" the new head of the British Army said on the Iraq war that UK troops "exacerbated" security problems and should withdraw "sometime soon". (BBC)
Veterinarians are reported to use vasectomies to control elephant overpopulation in Africa. At Kruger National Park, their numbers have doubled in the last decade. (North County Times)
Six Palestinians from the armed wing of the militant group Hamas have been killed in an Israeli incursion into the Gaza Strip, Palestinian officials say. (BBC)
Hawaii earthquake: A 6.7-magnitudeearthquake and a series of aftershocks hit the U.S. state of Hawaii at 7:07am local time, with an epicentre 9 miles (14 km) NNW of Kalaoa. 95% of power was lost throughout the state. Widespread structural damage on the Big Island is being reported, but no major injuries and no fatalities as of yet. Airports are only accepting incoming flights. (CNN)(USGS)
Suspected Tamil Tiger rebels detonate a truck packed with explosives amongst a convoy of buses carrying Sri Lankan Navy personnel in the country's northeast. Approximately 102 people are killed, and 150 people are wounded. (AFP via Yahoo! News)
The military of Fiji issues an ultimatum to the government to drop legislation which would give an amnesty to the leaders of the 2000 coup, or resign. (SMH)
RapperFabolous is shot at a Manhattan parking garage, spurring a sequence of events that left him both hospitalized in stable condition and under arrest.
Two metro trains collide in Rome, killing at least two people and injuring about 120 others. (BBC)
It is reported that former BritishHome SecretaryDavid Blunkett ordered prison staff to machine gun prisoners during a 2002 riot regardless of loss of life. (BBC)
Tamil Tiger rebels are suspected to be responsible for attacks on a Sri Lankan navy base and an adjoining port in the southern city of Galle, police and military officers claim. (CNN)
Chilean police detain 366 high school student protestors in Santiago, and use tear gas and water cannons to disperse their one day strike which called on the government to reform the education law, originally enacted under Augusto Pinochet. (Deutsche Presse-Agentur)
An Uzbek militaryAntonov An-2 aircraft crashes near Tashkent, Uzbekistan, killing all of the 15 people on board. The Uzbek Emergency Ministry says the pilots lost control of the plane while trying to land. (BBC)
The Dow Jones Industrial Average index closes at a record high just above 12,000 points in today's trading, as investors welcome the latest batch of corporate earnings. (The Australian)
OPEC agrees to reduce its output by 1.2 million barrels per day (190,000 m3/d), its first cut for more than two years, to halt falling oil prices. (USA Today)
The Indian conglomerate Tata Group agrees to buy Anglo-Dutch steel firm Corus in the largest ever Indian takeover of a foreign company. (NDTV)
Ethiopia expels two European Union diplomats for allegedly trying to smuggle two fugitives into Kenya. The European Union criticises the expulsions as "totally unacceptable." (BBC)
Two of the three people accused of plotting to steal trade secrets from Coca-Cola have each pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy. (AP via Sharewatch)
Though given three days to leave Sudan for blogging on recent government defeats in the Darfur conflict, UN envoy Jan Pronk left the next day when UN Secretary General Kofi Annan recalled him to New York for consultations. (BBC)
The government of Niger announces that due to "difficult relations with indigenous rural populations," the country's 150,000 Mahamid Arab refugee population who have lived in Niger since having fled Chad two decades earlier, will be deported back to Chad. (Reuters)[permanent dead link]
In Australia, Sheikh Taj El-Din Hilaly apologizes after a public uproar over his statement comparing women who did not wear the hijab to "uncovered meat". (BBC News)
Fifteen people die and 400 are admitted to hospital in Pskov, Russia, after consuming alcohol suspected of being tainted with medicinal drugs or chemicals. (Reuters)[permanent dead link]
ExxonMobil Corp., the world's largest petroleum extracting company, says its third-quarter net income rose to USD $10.5 billion from $9.92 billion as crude prices rise to an all-time high. This is the second highest quarterly profit figure for a United States company. (Bloomberg)
A German minister claims that two Israeli fighter jets fired two shots over a German naval peacekeeping ship near the Lebanese coast. Israel denies the jets fired. (Times)
The Sims 2 Pets is released in Australia and is announced that AU$1 will be donated from every game for the first 50,000 games sold to the RSPCA
Australia's senior Muslim cleric Sheikh Taj El-Din Hilaly is barred from preaching for three months after his controversial speech comparing women who did not wear the hijab to "uncovered meat". (BBC)
A controlled explosion is carried out by an Army Bomb Disposal squad on Dublin's O'Connell Street after a security alert on an Aircoach bus, although no explosive material was found. Traffic in the city has been severely affected. (RTÉ)
The Ford Taurus rolls off the assembly line for the last time. The Ford plant in Atlanta, USA, closes and 2,000 employees are all laid off. MSNBC
Cuban television shows images of convalescing leader Fidel Castro walking and reading the day's newspapers showing that he is recovering from his emergency surgery in July. (Reuters), (BBC)
Violence breaks out during street protests in Bangladesh, causing the deaths of at least 9 people, as confusion continues over who will take over governing the country from former Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia. (Reuters)[permanent dead link]
Specialist Ahmed Qusai al-Taayie, an Iraqi American United States Army soldier currently listed as missing in action in Iraq, is reported to have married an Iraqi citizen, against U.S. military regulations. (MSNBC)
California authorities arrest a man who is suspected of intentionally starting two wildfires this summer and is considered a person of interest in the Esperanza Fire.
The Prince of Wales’s controversial visit today to a madrassa in the Pakistani town of Peshawar, bordering Afghanistan has been cancelled over fears for his safety, after calls by Islamic leaders for revenge for a Pakistani airstrike that destroyed another religious school about 60 miles away. (The Times)
The Lebanese army issued a statement saying its gunners fired anti-aircraft artillery at Israel Air Force warplanes as they flew over south Lebanon. (Haaretz)
