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September 2005
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2005 : January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December- →
- Conflict in Iraq: 95 people die following a series of Insurgent attacks throughout Iraq. (BBC), (BBC)
- The New York Times reporter Judith Miller is released from federal jail after receiving a waiver from her news source, allowing her to testify in the investigation of the outing of CIA operative Valerie Plame. (CNN) (Yahoo News)
- Algerians vote in a referendum to grant partial amnesty to militants to end the Algerian Civil War.(SBS)
- The People's Republic of China Government unveils their new official internet website, now to be found at www.gov.cn. (Beelink)
- The family of Jean Charles de Menezes arrive in London looking for justice. The innocent Brazilian was shot six times by police exercising a shoot-to-kill policy. Metropolitan Police Commissioner Ian Blair has offered his personal apology for the killing, but this has been rejected by the family. (The Times)
- By a vote of 78-22, the United States Senate confirms John G. Roberts, Jr. as Chief Justice, presiding over the Supreme Court. Roberts is sworn in later in the afternoon, and will preside over the Court's Fall term beginning October 3.
- The High Court of Australia has found that it is inappropriate for the court to judge whether the Howard Government's unapproved spending on an advertising blitz promoting the controversial industrial relations reform is unlawful. The case was brought by the Australian Labor Party and trade unions. (ABC)
- British Columbia's Tobacco Damages and Health Care Costs Recovery Act is approved by the Supreme Court of Canada, opening the door for the Province to sue cigarette makers, in order to recover the billions spent in inflicted healthcare costs. (The Globe and Mail)
- Ian Huntley, convicted of murdering two young girls, the Soham Murders, is sentenced to a minimum forty years in prison by a British court. (BBC)
- The UK Prime Minister Tony Blair has apologised to Walter Wolfgang, an 82-year old Labour Party activist thrown out of the party's annual conference by stewards for heckling Jack Straw. (BBC)
- The government of Macau takes over the management of Banco Delta Asia bank, after a US report on its North Korea ties caused a panic run on deposits. (The Standard)
- A wildfire in the south of U.S. state California burns 17,000 acres, spurs evacuations near State Route 118 and U.S. 101. (Bloomberg)
- During a US State Department visit to Jidda, Saudi Arabia, Karen Hughes receives a mixed reaction when she suggests Saudi women be allowed to drive cars and to "fully participate" in society.(NYT)
- Australian State and Territory leaders agree to implement the Commonwealth Government's tough new anti-terrorism laws with a sunset clause. The new laws allow police to detain terrorism "suspects" without charge for up to two weeks, and electronically tag them for up to a year. The measures have been attacked by civil libertarians and Muslim groups. (ABC) (ABC)
- Michaëlle Jean is sworn in as the 27th Governor General of Canada, replacing Adrienne Clarkson. (CBCUnlocked)
- Two Japanese scientists snap more than 500 photos of a live giant squid and recover one of its two longest tentacles, which severed during a struggle. (National Geographic) (MSNBC [with pictures])
- The Australian Government dismissed a suggestion from former Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke that the Australian economy would benefit significantly from storing the world's nuclear waste in the country's desert interior. (BBC)
- Abu Azzam, claimed by the US to be an aide to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, was shot dead by US soldiers. (BBC)
- Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Israeli Airstrikes on Palestinian areas continue. The Israel Defense Forces strikes three bridges in the Gaza Strip and a money-changer in Khan Younis, while a further 82 people were arrested in the West Bank. (BBC), (Reuters), (Al Jazeera), (Haaretz)
- The Prime Minister of Israel, Ariel Sharon, survives a major leadership challenge within the Likud Party. The proposal, which would have ordered the next Party Leader election be held in October 2005 rather than April 2006, is voted down by the party's Central Committee, 48% to 52%. (Yahoo!News)
- U.S. Army PFC Lynndie England is found guilty of six of seven charges by a military court in connection with the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal. A sentencing hearing is scheduled to begin September 27. (Yahoo!News)
- Anti-Iraq War activist Cindy Sheehan is arrested while protesting outside the White House. (Yahoo! News)
- Northern Ireland peace process: Retired Canadian general and present Chairman John de Chastelain of the Independent International Commission on Decommissioning announces in a Belfast, Northern Ireland press conference that the weapons, ammunition, and explosives of the Provisional Irish Republican Army have been "put beyond use". "We are satisfied that the arms decommissioned represent the totality of the IRA's arsenal.", the general said. Unionists, such as Ian Paisley, have expressed cynicism. (BBC). (RTÉ)
- Imad Yarkas is convicted in Spain of conspiracy with al-Qaeda in the September 11, 2001 attacks and sentenced to 27 years. Driss Chebli, was convicted of collaborating with a terrorist group and sentenced to six years, Al Jazeera journalist Tayser Allouni was also convicted of collaborating with a terrorist group and sentenced to seven years, while Ghasoub al-Abrash Ghalyoun was acquitted on all counts. (AP)
- Conflict in Iraq:
- Israeli-Palestinian conflict: Israeli Airstrikes on Palestinian targets continue, with the Israel Defense Forces firing missiles in Gaza, knocking out the power supply to the East of the city, the Khan Yunis refugee camp and Rafah. Hamas had earlier declared an end to rocket attacks following pressure from the Palestinian National Authority and Egypt. (BBC)
- An Israeli citizen from a Jewish Settlement east of Jerusalem was found murdered in Ram Allah after Hamas killed the man they accused of being a member of the Shin Bet. (Israeli Insider), (BBC)
- Kitzmiller et al. v. Dover Area School District is the first direct challenge brought in United States federal courts against a public school district curriculum mandating the teaching of intelligent design as an alternative to evolution. Opening arguments are set for today in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania District Court. (LA Times) (AP)
- American psychiatrist and best-selling author M. Scott Peck, M.D. Dies after suffering from Parkinson's disease and pancreatic and liver duct cancer. Peck, 69, was the author of The Road Less Traveled. (New York Times), (NPR)
- 2005 northern Peru earthquake: A magnitude 7.5 earthquake, the strongest in the country in four years, strikes northern Peru, with at least four persons reported dead. (CNN)
- Renault driver Fernando Alonso becomes the youngest ever Formula One champion when finishing 3rd behind McLaren rivals Juan Pablo Montoya and Kimi Räikkönen in the 2005 Brazilian Grand Prix (F1Racing.net)
- Polish parliamentary election, 2005: As predicted by polls, support for Prime Minister Marek Belka's post-communist Alliance of the Democratic Left drops sharply to about 11%, while center-right opposition parties Law and Justice and Citizens Platform will obtain about 28% and 26%, respectively. (onet.pl [Polish]) (BBC)
- Swiss voters approve a referendum by 56% to 44% to allow citizens from the 10 newest European Union member countries to travel and work in Switzerland. Quotas will be applied until 2011 on the number of people allowed to settle. (BBC)
- Conflict in Iraq:
- Conflict in Afghanistan: 5 US soldiers die when a Chinook helicopter crashes in Zabul, southern Afghanistan. (BBC)
- Over 100,000 people attend Anti Iraq War rally held in Washington D.C.. (BBC)
- Israeli-Palestinian Conflict:
- Eurobasket 2005: Greece beats Germany 78 to 62 and wins for the second time in its history the Eurobasket.
- Filiberto Ojeda Rios is killed following a shoot out with the FBI. (BBC)
- Lester Crawford, U.S. Food and Drug Administration Commissioner resigns; citing old age. Critics accuse Crawford of incompetence regarding Vioxx, cloned beef, approval of malfunctioning heart devices, and alleged corruption. He served two months in office. (AP on Yahoo!)
- Israeli-Palestinian Conflict:
- Conflict in Iraq: Five Iraqis, including three members of the Iraqi Turkmen Front, die following a bomb on minibus in the capital Baghdad. (BBC)
- Hurricane Rita: 24 mostly elderly people are feared dead after a bus evacuating them from the path of the hurricane caught fire. (BBC)
- Earl Krugel, a leader of the Jewish Defence League, is sentenced to 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to a plot to blow up a Mosque in Los Angeles and Lebanese-American congressman (Darrell Issa)s' office. His co-accused, Irv Rubin, committed suicide in 2002. (BBC) (Jerusalem Post)
- German election 2005: After talks between CDU/CSU and Alliance 90/The Greens, a "Jamaica coalition" between conservatives, liberals and greens is ruled out.
- Hurricane Rita is forecast to become a major storm in the Gulf of Mexico this week. Mayor Ray Nagin has ordered an evacuation of New Orleans. (KHON.com), (BBC), (CTV)
- Conflict in Iraq:
- A US diplomat and three American security guards are killed following an insurgent Suicide car bomb attack in Mosul, northern Iraq. (BBC), (Washington Post)
- Two undercover UK soldiers are detained on claims they had been planting bombs, evading arrest, exchanging fire with police, killing one, and failing to stop at a checkpoint. An operation to free the two prisoners ends with civilians gathering around the tanks sent to free the prisoners and setting the tanks they were in alight. Soldiers from the tanks flee the scene while being stoned by the locals, one man, Sergeant George Long, of the Staffordshire Regiment, was seen on fire and another man was seen being surrounded and beaten by locals. One Iraqi official claimed that 150 prisoners escaped including the two soldiers. (China view)(The Times)(BBC) (Washington Post), (the Independent)
- At least 10 people, nine police and one civilian, have died following a series of explosions at a Shia festival marking the birth of the Imam Mehdi in Karbala. (BBC)
- Former president Bill Clinton under pressure from Democratic party leaders criticises President George W. Bush's policies on Iraq, Hurricane Katrina and budget deficits. (Yahoo News)
- Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: An Israeli judicial inquiry rules out prosecuting police officers who supposedly shot dead 13 Israeli Arabs during a violent demonstration in 2000 due to lack of sufficient evidence, as fellow soldier refused to testify against the man. (BBC) (Ha'aretz)
- At least 154 of the dead in New Orleans were patients in hospitals and nursing homes. They represent more than 25 percent of the bodies recovered to date. (CivilRights.org)
- One person is injured following an apparent letter bomb attack in the British Embassy in the Croatian capital Zagreb. (BBC)
- One person dies following an apparent grenade explosion at the Kuwait information office in the Lebanese capital Beirut. (BBC)
- North Korea agrees to drop all nuclear weapons programs and return "at an early date" to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. (Yahoo News/AP) (Reuters)
- Vice Admiral Thad Allen warns that New Orleans tap water is still unfit to drink. He cautions that mayor Ray Nagin's encouragement of residents outside the French Quarter to return is "extremely problematic" at this time. (Washington Times)
- Conflict in Iraq:
- President of Pakistan, Pervez Musharraf, addresses the American Jewish Congress, the first leader of a Muslim nation not recognizing Israel to do so. He broke bread and led salat from the Quran. (BBC)
- Taliban fighters launch a series of attacks as Afghans vote in the Afghan parliamentary election, 2005, the first legislative elections in Afghanistan in decades . (Reuters)
- Federal elections are held in Germany. Provisional results give the CDU/CSU 35.2% of the vote and 225 seats, the SPD 34.3% and 222 seats, FDP 9.8% and 61 seats, the Left Party 8.7% and 54 seats, and the Green party 8.1% and 51 seats. There is likely to be several weeks of horse trading to form a workable coalition. (Deutsche Welle Election Night Ticker)
- Russia wins the Fed Cup title for second straight year, beating France 3:2 in the final. (Yahoo! Sport News)
- Addressing the U.N. General Assembly, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad rejects an offer from the European Union to halt its nuclear program: "The most far reaching step outside the requirements of the NPT … in keeping with Iran's inalienable right to have access to a nuclear fuel cycle."
- At least 30 people die following an explosion at a market in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad. (BBC)
- Tayseer Allouni, a reporter with Al Jazeera, is arrested by Spanish police for the second time. (BBC)
- Ariel Sharon, the Prime Minister of Israel, threatens to "make every effort not to help" the upcoming Palestinian elections if Hamas takes part. (Reuters)
- In the New Zealand general election, the Labour Party, led by Prime Minister Helen Clark, seems best placed to form a new government. Although the opposition National Party of Dr. Don Brash makes the greatest gains, these are mainly at the expense of minor parties. All the existing minor parties lose seats, with only the new Māori Party making gains. (Elections New Zealand)
- The President of Pakistan, Pervez Musharraf, shakes hands with the Prime Minister of Israel, Ariel Sharon, the first time such an encounter has been made in public. (BBC)
- UN High Commissioner for Refugees and World Food Programme appeal for more funds to provide food for two million refugees in Africa, in countries such as Tanzania, Central African Republic, Liberia and Kenya. (Reuters)
- Mandatory evacuation is ordered for Outer Banks in North Carolina as Hurricane Ophelia approaches. (Washington Post), (Reuters), (Guardian)
- Two American air carriers, Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines, have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Delta has lost over six billion USD since the start of 2001.
- The Massachusetts General Court rejects a proposed amendment to ban Same-sex marriage in Massachusetts by a vote of 157-39, meaning that Massachusetts will remain the only state in the United States to allow gay marraige.
- Ugandan Rebels of the Lord's Resistance Army cross the White Nile for the first time to carry out attacks near Juba, the capital of Southern Sudan. (BBC)
- Hamas blows a hole through the wall between Egypt and Gaza, allowing free passage for Palestinians to and from Egypt for the first time since 1967. (BBC)
- Conflict in Iraq:
- Frances Newton is executed by lethal injection by the U.S. state of Texas for the murder of her ex-husband and two children. She is the first African American woman executed in Texas since 1858. (Reuters)
- Robert Wise, film director, dies at the age of 91, at the UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles.
- In Colombia, an airplane hijacker and his son surrender peacefully after five hours of negotiations. Officials coaxed him out with what he later learned was a worthless bank cheque. (CNN)
- In Norway, the Red-Green Coalition led by Jens Stoltenberg wins the 2005 election to the Storting (Legislature). (Reuters)
- Los Angeles Power Outage:
- According to the Department of Water and Power, the power outage is of "non-malicious cause" triggered by an accidental error in connecting lines to a newly installed computer. DWP (Dept of Water and Power) General Manager Ron Deaton says repairs have been made and the system will be restored in an orderly manner. (Newsday)
- Despite the disruption to two million customers, the system's successfully controlled shutdown prevented a blackout from extending beyond the region.
- Michael D. Brown resigns as the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency of the United States (FEMA) following several days of criticism concerning his handling of the disaster following Hurricane Katrina, and allegations that his official biography is misleading and contains unsubstantiated claims. (MSNBC)
- Israeli-Palestinian Conflict:
- Israel withdraws the last of its troops from the Gaza Strip, effectively completing its unilateral disengagement plan. (Reuters) (CNN) (Ha’aretz)
- Following the pullout many Palestinians rush into abandoned Israeli settlements in celebration, some burning down synagogues which Israel's ministers voted against dismantling due to their religious significance, while others scavenged through the rubble of demolished settlement homes, taking furniture, doors, electricity cables and what ever else they could find. (The Jerusalem Post),(YNETnews), (BBC), (Jerusalem Post)
- Several hours after the pullout two Qassam rockets are fired by Palestinian militants from the Gaza Strip. The first lands near the Israeli town of Sderot, while the second lands near Kibbutz Yad Mordechai. (Ha’aretz),(YNETnews)
- According to Palestinian witnesses, the Egyptian border patrol police opened fire at crowds swarming the Egypt-Gaza border at Rafah, killing a Palestinian man and injuring another. An Egyptian spokesman later denied that Egyptian troops fired the shots that killed the man. (Reuters) (Al Jazeera), (BBC)
- Three Palestinian teenagers drowned as they rushed into the beachside at Neve Dekalim without knowing how to swim. (The Guardian)
- eBay announced it will buy Skype, the Luxembourg-based web telephone network, in a $2.6 billion deal. (BBC)
- Hong Kong Disneyland opens in a partnership between Disney and the Hong Kong government. This marks the first attempt of Disney tapping into the Chinese and southeastern Asian market. (BBC) (CNN)
- Premier Dalton McGuinty of Ontario, Canada rejects the use of Islamic sharia law as well as religious arbitration of all other faiths, declaring that one public law is to be used for all family disputes. The decision follows a year of debate and worldwide protests. (Globe and Mail)
- Oracle Corporation announced that it has agreed to purchase Siebel Systems for approximately $5.85 billion in cash. (BBC)
- England wins the 2005 Ashes 2-1. Final Test match ends in a draw. (BBC)
- Panic buying of petrol and diesel is in full swing across Britain, with long queues outside service stations in a worrying echo of the 2000 Fuel Protest. (BBC)
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