September 2005
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(Redirected from As of September 2005)
2005 : January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December- →
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[edit]
30 September 2005 (Friday)
- United Nation World Food Programme warns that a sharp increase in malnutrition rates and rapidly rising maize prices in Malawi could push the number of vulnerable people in need of food aid up to five million. (Reuters)
- U.S. Senator Harry Reid, and other Democrats, criticize talk show host William Bennett for saying: "You could abort every black baby in this country, and your crime rate would go down." (WLTX)
- The new United Nations coordinator for human and avian influenza warns that 5-150 million people could die in a flu epidemic. Humans have no natural immunity to the virus. (M&C News) (BBC)
- Israeli-Palestinian Conflict:
- An unarmed Palestinian boy, 13 years old, is shot dead by Israel Defense Forces troops. Israel declares its intention to hold an inquiry into the event. (BBC)
- Two members of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade are shot dead in an Israeli raid into the Balata refugee camp, in Nablus, on the West Bank. (BBC)
- Conflict in Iraq: 10 people die following a car bomb in Hillah, Iraq. (BBC)
- An Osaka High Court judge rules that the visit by Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to the Yasukuni Shrine violates the constitution's separation of church and state. The visit by a Japanese head of government to the war shrine is a sensitive issue with China and South Korea. (Reuters)
- United States negotiators in Geneva are caught off guard by European demands for a change from U.S. Commerce Department control to international regulation of the Internet. (International Herald Tribune) (openDemocracy)
- New York Times journalist Judith Miller testifies before a federal grand jury and identifies Lewis Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, as her confidential source for a non-published story about the unmasking of a CIA agent in 2003. (CNN)
[edit]
29 September 2005 (Thursday)
- 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)
[edit]
28 September 2005 (Wednesday)
- The Pentagon announces it will investigate allegations that US soldiers posted photographs of dead Iraqis on a website so as to get access to free Internet porn. CAIR had earlier called for the investigation after the details of the site came to light. (BBC)
- Trade unions inflict defeats against the UK Labour Party government, during the party's annual conference, including on the plan to use private companies in the National Health Service. (BBC)
- U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay is indicted on one count of criminal conspiracy by Texas grand jury, for allegedly funding Texas state elections secretly through the Republican national office.
- Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Israeli airstrikes on Palestinian areas continue. IDF planes and artillery strike Gaza knocking out power to parts of the city, destroy a bridge in Beit Hanoun, fire missiles at a Fatah Youth Centre, an office and a refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip. Israeli troops later raided offices of Hamas and Islamic Jihad in the West Bank. (BBC)
- According to reports, Asif Chotu, allegedly a leader of the al Qaeda-linked militant group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, has been arrested in Pakistan. (BBC) (Reuters)
- An 82 year old British man was manhandled out of Labour Party Conference for loudly protesting that Jack Straw was lying about Britain's involvement with the Conflict in Iraq. (BBC)
[edit]
27 September 2005 (Tuesday)
- 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)
[edit]
26 September 2005 (Monday)
- 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 an Israeli settlement east of Jerusalem was found murdered in Ramallah after Hamas killed the man they accused of being a member of the Shabak. (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)
[edit]
25 September 2005 (Sunday)
- 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:
- At least four Shia Muslims, believed to be members of the Mahdi Army are killed by US soldiers in a gunfight following a US raid into Sadr City, eastern Baghdad. (BBC)
- Nine people die following a bomb attack on a police station in Hilla. (BBC)
- 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:
- The Israeli Defense Force launches Operation First Rain, a series of air strikes on Palestiniantargets in the Gaza Strip, including an alleged Hamas weapons factory and a children's school. According to Israel the operation's goal is to stop shelling of southern Israeli towns and villages by Palestinian militants, though several civilians have been injured, including an infant. At least 200 Palestinians have been arrested in overnight IDF raids in the West Bank. (BBC) (The Guardian) (YNETnews) (Al Jazeera)
- Eurobasket 2005: Greece beats Germany 78 to 62 and wins for the second time in its history the Eurobasket.
[edit]
24 September 2005 (Saturday)
- Unofficial reports from Hong Kong say the second Chinese human spaceflight, Shenzhou 6, is expected to launch October 13 carrying two astronauts on a five day mission. (RedNova News)
- Human Rights Watch reports whistleblowers accuse U.S. troops of routinely torturing Iraqi prisoners and declining to investigate complaints. (Human Rights Watch), (IPS news), (USA Today) (NYT)
- Israeli-Palestinian Conflict:
- The Israeli Military stations troops and artillery on the edge of Gaza and seals the borders of the Gaza Strip and West Bank. (BBC)
- At least five Israelis are injured after Palestinian militants fire some 30 Qassam rockets from the Gaza Strip on Israeli communities. (The Jerusalem Post) (YNETnews)
- Four Hamas militants are killed after the Israeli Air Force launches air strikes on Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip. (ABC News) (The Jerusalem Post)
- Hurricane Rita makes landfall as a Category 3 hurricane on the Texas - Louisiana border at 2:38 am CDT . The storm was downgraded within four hours to Category 2. As of 10 pm CDT (0300 UTC, September 25), the center of Tropical Depression Rita was located on land 40 miles (65 km) north of Shreveport, Louisiana. Rita was moving north at 10 mph (16 km/h) with maximum sustained winds of 35 mph (55 km/h) (CNN)
- Hundreds of thousands of people protest wars in the September 24, 2005 anti-war protest
[edit]
23 September 2005 (Friday)
- 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:
- At least 10 Palestinians die and 80 are injured when a truck carrying home-made explosives explodes during a Friday salat parade organised by Hamas. Hamas blames Israel, claiming an Israeli plane blew up the vehicle, while Israel and the Palestinian Authority blames Hamas. (Jerusalem Post), (ABC News)
- 3 Palestinian gunmen are killed following an Israeli military incursion into the West Bank. (BBC)
- At least 3 Qassam rockets fired from the Gaza Strip hit the Israeli town of Sderot. The Palestinian Islamic Jihad claims responsibility, saying it fired 10 rockets at Israel. (The Jerusalem Post) (Ha'aretz)
- A United Nations report says that since 2000 61 Palestinian women have given birth while delayed at Israeli checkpoints, resulting in 36 newborn deaths.(BBC), (Reuters), (Sydney Morning Herald)
- 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.
[edit]
22 September 2005 (Thursday)
- Australia agrees to fund Indonesia's response to avian influenza by providing anti-viral drugs to protect health workers in the event of a pandemic and contributing to a World Health Organisation team being sent to Jakarta. The Federal Opposition foreign affairs spokesman, Kevin Rudd, urged the Australian Government to further co-operate with regional states by calling for a regional summit on the issue. (ABC) (ABC)
- The U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary votes 13 to 5 for the nomination of John G. Roberts as Chief Justice of the United States. The appointment needs approval of the entire Senate, and that vote is expected during the week of September 26.(AP via Yahoo!)
- Verkhovna Rada (the Parliament of Ukraine) approves Yuriy Yekhanurov as the country's new Prime Minister. (VOA), (CNN), (Reuters), (CBC), (BBC)
- Six people die and 20 are injured in two bomb blasts in the Pakistani city of Lahore. (BBC)
[edit]
21 September 2005 (Wednesday)
- JetBlue Airways Flight 292 en route to New York from Burbank, California, experiences nose gear malfunctions shortly after takeoff when the nose wheels rotated 90 degrees to the left. The Airbus A320-232 circles Los Angeles to burn off fuel before landing at Los Angeles Airport without serious incident or injury.(Los Angeles Times)
- Hurricane Rita reaches Category 5 intensity, the third most intense in recorded history. The current path tracks landfall at Galveston, Texas on Saturday. The inbound causeway to the Island has been closed and mandatory evacuation has been ordered. Residents on the Gulf Coast south of Galveston are urged to evacuate. (Houston Chronicle)(NHC)
- At least 50 people die following a series of storms and floods that hit the Bay of Bengal in Bangladesh and India; many more are missing, and officials fear for the safety of over a hundred fishermen. (BBC)
- South Thailand insurgency: Two Thai soldiers were taken hostage and subsequently murdered. (CNA)
[edit]
20 September 2005 (Tuesday)
- Conflict in Iraq: Five U.S. troops die following three insurgent attacks, two in Ramadi and one in Baghdad. (BBC)
- North Korea announces that its offer to end its nuclear arms program is dependent on it being allowed to build a civilian nuclear reactor. (ABC), (BBC)
- 14 Indian soldiers die following an insurgent attack in the eastern state of Manipur. (BBC)
- Federal elections in Germany:
- There is still no clear course for coalition building, with deadlocks for all possible coalitions.
- Angela Merkel (CDU) and Franz Müntefering (SPD) were elected chairpersons of their respective Parliamentary parties.
- German green politician Joschka Fischer announced his retirement from leading the Green party in the newly elected Parliament, retiring to become an "elder statesman" in the back benches. Spiegel online
[edit]
19 September 2005 (Monday)
- 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 allegedly 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)
[edit]
18 September 2005 (Sunday)
- 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:
- Insurgents in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad kill three, including the Kurdish Member of Parliament, Faris Hussein. (BBC)
- Iraqi Police uncover at least 20 bodies in the river Tigris at Balad, north of Baghdad. (BBC)
- 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)
[edit]
17 September 2005 (Saturday)
- 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)
[edit]
16 September 2005 (Friday)
- Conflict in Iraq: At least 10 people died as a Shia Mosque is bombed in Tuz Khurmatu, Central Iraq. (BBC)
- Hamas hold a huge prayer rally in the now abandoned Israeli settlements in the Gaza Strip, leading thousands of Palestinian Muslims in Friday Prayers (Salat ul Jum'a). (BBC)
- 87 journalists are arrested at a protest in Nepal. (CTV)
- The President of Pakistan, Pervez Musharraf, has evoked outrage by suggesting that rape victims in Pakistan are part of a "money making concern". (BBC)
- Hurricane Ophelia is downgraded to a tropical storm as it appears to head out to the Atlantic Ocean. (Science Daily)
- The Bicentennial of the Battle of Trafalgar and the death of Admiral Lord Nelson is commemorated by a re-enactment of the 1806 waterborne state funeral procession on the River Thames in London. (BBC)
- New Zealand prepares to go to the polls on Saturday. (New Zealand Herald)
[edit]
15 September 2005 (Thursday)
- Armored car robber Heather Tallchief turns herself into authorities.
- Nintendo finally reveals the controller for its next generation console on its website. Reactions from gamers are mixed. (Nintendo)
- President Bush addresses the nation from Jackson Square in New Orleans saying: "We have witnessed the kind of devastation no citizen of this great and generous nation should ever have to know. We will do what it takes and stay as long as it takes to help New Orleans to return their community and their lives." He provides the FEMA phone number to assist families in reuniting: 877‒568‒3317. (Seattle Post-Intelligencer)
- The Clinton Global Initiative is inaugurated in New York.
- The Supreme court of Israel rejects the opinion of International Court of Justice for the removal of Israeli West Bank barrier, but calls on part of the wall to be re-routed so as not to encroach on Palestinian lands. The world court had called the barrier illegal and ordered the wall be torn down. (ABC News) (Ireland Online)
- Conflict in Iraq: At least 26 Iraqi police die following two car bombs in the Baghdad. Elsewhere, 3 Shia pilgrims are shot dead by a passenger in a passing car traveling to Karbala, two Iraqi police members are killed near Kirkuk and three civil servants die following an attack on the Ministry of Industry in East Baghdad. (BBC)
- Australia: The Australian Broadcasting Corporation rushed to air its interview with former Labor Party Opposition leader Mark Latham after fending off legal challenges from News Corporation, publishers of The Australian and the Herald Sun. (The Age) (ABC News).
- Most of world leaders at the United Nations General Assembly call for eliminating poverty. (UN)
[edit]
14 September 2005 (Wednesday)
- 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 marriage.
- 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.
[edit]
13 September 2005 (Tuesday)
- The rebel National Liberation Front of Burundi breaks off peace negotiations with the new government of Pierre Nkurunziza. (BBC)
- Many petrol stations across the United Kingdom experienced increased demand ahead of the 2005 fuel protests. (Reuters)
- Sony recalls 3.5 million faulty PlayStation 2 power adapters. (BBC)
- President of the People's Republic of China Hu Jintao meets with U.S. President George W. Bush at the United Nations during the Leaders' Gathering in honor of the 60th Anniversary of the UN's founding. (East News)(White House)
- Chief Justice nominee John G. Roberts affirms before the Senate Judiciary Commmittee today his belief in a constitutional right to privacy, which underpins many Constitutional amendments (viz. 1, 4, 5, 9, 13 and 14) as well as Roe v. Wade. (This does not translate to support specifically for Roe v. Wade.) He answers questions regarding civil rights in wartime, torture and the role on international law in interpreting the Constitution. (NPR)
[edit]
12 September 2005 (Monday)
- 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 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