July 2005

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[edit] Deaths in July July 29: Pat McCormick July 26: Alexander Golitzen July 20: James Doohan July 18: William Westmoreland July 17: Geraldine Fitzgerald July 17: Edward Heath July 2: Ernest Lehman July 1: Luther Vandross Deaths in July 2005

July 31 2005 (Sunday)

• More torrential monsoon rains have returned to Mumbai in India, as it tries to recover from the recent floods. The death toll in the floods rises to about 1,000. (BBC)
• 7 more suspects are arrested in Brighton following the 21 July 2005 London bombings. (BBC)
• Wim Duisenberg, the former head of the Rabobank, the Central Bank of the Netherlands and the European Central Bank, is found dead in the pool of his villa in the south of France. His death seems to have been caused by a cardiac arrest. (BBC)
• Chile's Christian Democratic Party declares Michelle Bachelet as the presidential candidate of the ruling coalition (Mercopress) (BBC)
• Russia's defence minister Sergei Ivanov bars the country's defense ministry from contacting ABC News after the channel broadcast an interview with Chechen rebel Shamil Basayev (RIA Novosti) (Mosnews) (Al-Jazeera) (BBC)
• In Côte d'Ivoire, former rebels known as the New Forces refuse to disarm before legislative reforms (BBC) (Reuters AlertNet)
• Indonesian pilot Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto is charged with involvement with the murder of Munir Said Thalib (Jakarta Post) (BBC)
• In India, separatist group National Socialist Council of Nagaland extends its ceasefire with the government by six months (Newindpress) (India Daily) (Reuters India)
• In Iran former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani appeals for the release of an imprisoned dissident writer Akbar Ganji. Ganji has been in a hunger strike for more than 50 days and is possibly near death (Reporters Without Borders) (IRNA) (IranMania)
• Atkins Nutritionals, Inc., a company founded by the late diet guru Robert Atkins to promote low-carb products, enters chapter 11 due to a loss of public interest. (Fox News)

July 30 2005 (Saturday)

• Thousands of Czech riot police disperse the crowd at the annual free electronic music festival "CzechTek", leaving dozens injured. (CBC)
• Conflict in Iraq: At least two British private security agents have been killed following an attack on a convoy in Basra, south Iraq. (BBC)
• Lawyers for the former President of Iraq, Saddam Hussein, claim he was attacked by an unidentified man after questioning by the Iraqi special tribunal on Thursday; however the United States denies the event. (BBC)
• Uzbekistan has reportedly given the United States six months to move out of a key base used for operations in Afghanistan.(BBC)
• Russia begins to withdraw its troops from the military bases in Georgia (Mosnews) (Messenger, Georgia) (Euronews)

July 29 2005 (Friday)

• Astronomers have discovered a large new trans-Neptunian object, provisionally named 2003 UB₃₁₃, which is larger than Pluto. (Sky and Telescope). Also announced today was the discovery of two other large new Kuiper Belt objects, 2003 EL₆₁ and 2005 FY₉. New observations reveal 2003 EL₆₁ to be about 70% the diameter of Pluto. The object is also orbited by a moon. (New Scientist)
• Following a militant attack at Srinagar's city centre at Lal Chowk more than 10 people have been left injured. (Rediff)
• Hamas, the main Palestinian opposition party in the Palestinian Authority, hold a mass wedding on the West Bank in which 226 couples performed the Nikah. (BBC)
• The remaining three London bombing suspects have been arrested after raids in the UK and Italy. (BBC)
• The President of Pakistan, Pervez Musharraf, has announced that all foreign students (around 1,400) are to leave the nation's Madrassas and go home. (BBC)
• Conflict in Iraq: At least 25 New Iraqi Army recruits have been killed following an apparent suicide bomb attack in Rabia, near Mosul, in North West Iraq. (BBC)
• Indian officials have raised the death toll of those suspected dead in the 2005 Maharashtra floods to more than 800. (BBC)
• Indian bomb disposal experts have found traces of explosive in the train which exploded on Thursday killing 7 people. (BBC)
• BBC News has been told, by the activist settler Noam Livnat, that 20,000 Israeli soldiers had signed a petition vowing to block any attempt at removing Israeli settlements from the Gaza Strip. (BBC)
• In Vietnam, death toll on bird flu rises to 42. (Thahn Nien News) (Reuters AlertNet)
• Initial results show that Ugandans have voted for a return to multi-party politics in a national constitutional referendum. The poll was marred by a low turnout.(BBC)
• Robert Kilroy-Silk resigns as leader from Veritas, the political party he founded. (Guardian)

July 28 2005 (Thursday)

• Conflict in Iraq:
  • Two people have died following an explosion which destroyed a train tanker carrying oil, believed to have been caused by a bomb on the tracks. [Death Toll Confirmed](BBC)
  • Six Iraqi Soldiers have died following clashes in two Baghdad streets. (BBC)
• Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: A Palestinian man has been shot dead by Israeli soldiers, who had suspected him of involvement in a Suicide bombing. (BBC)
• Seven people have been killed and 38 others injured in an explosion on a moving passenger train in India. (BBC)
• The Provisional IRA issues a statement formally ordering an end to the armed campaign it has pursued since 1969 and ordering all its units to dump their arms, with effect from 1600 BST today (1500 UTC). The IRA has been on "cease-fire" since 1996 and said it would follow a democratic path ending more than 30 years of violence. It will not, however, disband.(BBC) (RTE) (Guardian) (Transcript of Statement)
• The strongest tornado in Britain in 25 years, rating a 2 on the Fujita scale, hits Birmingham, damaging homes and injuring 20 people. (BBC)
• The Islamic Human Rights Commission has released a statement which claims that the number of attacks on South Asians in the UK has risen 13 fold since the July 2005 London bombings. (BBC)
• Ugandans are voting in a referendum to decide whether to readopt a multi-party system (East African) (AllAfrica) (Reuters AlertNet) (BBC)
• In India, Lal Krishna Advani of the Bharatiya Janata Party and seven others are charged with inciting riots in Ayodhya in 1992 (Newindpress) (The Hindu)
• In the United States, the House of Representatives approves the Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement, 217-215, sending the approved treaty to President George W. Bush. (Yahoo!)
• The United States, China, India, Japan, South Korea and Australia have formed a partnership aiming to cut the emissions of gasses that lead to global warming. The agreement is known as the Asia Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate.
• In the USA, number of American-Muslim scholars announce a fatwa that condemns terrorism and religious extremism (U.S State Department) (Reuters AlertNet)
• In Serbia, Ljiljana Zelen-Karadžić, wife of Radovan Karadžić, goes public to ask her husband to give himself up (Fena) (B92) (IHT) (Reuters)
• Poland recalls its ambassador to Belarus and demands that the European Union impose sanctions after Belarusian police storms the offices of the country's Polish minority (EUobserver) (Reuters AlertNet) (IHT)
• In Canada, gene lab confirms that alleged sasquatch hairs actually belong to a bison (CBC) (Reuters)
• In Bulgaria, Bulgarian Socialist Party fails to form a government due to hung parliament. President Georgi Purvanov approaches the National Movement of former king Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (Euronews) (Reuters) (Sofia News Agency)
• In Guinea-Bissau, electoral commission declares João Bernardo Vieira winner of the presidential election with a 52-55% majority (Reuters AlertNet) (BBC)
• The UK government imposes a travel ban on Kenyan transport minister Chris Murungaru, who is investigated for corruption, forbidding him from visiting Britain (BBC) (KBC) (AllAfrica)

July 27 2005 (Wednesday)

• British "Shoot to Kill" Police Policy:
  • The British Police member who shot an innocent Brazilian man seven times in the head and once in the shoulder has been given a free holiday, paid for by Scotland Yard.(BBC)
  • Sir Ian Blair, Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police has told Channel 4 news that on seven separate occasions British police have come close to killing suspected Suicide Bombers who it transpired were not Suicide Bombers. (The Times of London), (Financial Times)
• Conflict in Iraq:
  • Two US Troops were killed following a bomb in Baghdad. (BBC)
  • Two Algerian diplomatic staff who had been kidnapped by insurgents have been killed. (BBC)
  • At least five people have died following an apparent Suicide Bomb blast outside a hospital in the Iraqi Capital, Baghdad. (BBC)
  • The interim Prime Minister of Iraq, Ibrahim Jaafari, has called on US troops to leave Iraq soon. (BBC), (Christian Science Monitor)
  • Seven Iraqi soldiers, guarding a water plant north of Baghdad, have been shot and killed by Insurgents. (KCTV)
• 2005 Maharashtra floods: The death toll from the series of heavy monsoon rains and landslides they have triggered has been raised to at least 418 people in India's western state of Maharashtra.(ExpressIndia)
• NASA postpones indefinitely future launches of the Space Shuttle after a piece of insulation broke off the Space Shuttle external tank during the July 26 launch of the Discovery. (Yahoo) (SpaceDaily)
• In Australia, New South Wales premier Bob Carr resigns and announces his disengagement from politics (ABC) (SBS)
• Malaysia takes chairmanship of the ASEAN Standing Committee (Channel News Asia)
• In China, the human death toll from an outbreak of the pig pathogen Streptococcus suis is 24. 21 are in critical condition and number of infections has increased to 117 BBC
• In Kyrgyzstan, about 400 Vamshi Uzbek refugees who fled from Uzbekistan after crushing of an uprising last May will be moved to Romania (BBC) (MosNews) (Reuters)
• An explosion destroys an ONGC oil-drilling platform in the Bombay High field area late in the afternoon. The blast occurred possibly after a shipping vessel docked nearby collided with the platform during high tide. (Express India) (NDTV) (Reuters AlertNet)
• In Spain, police arrests 6 suspected members of the Basque separatist group ETA (EITB) (Reuters)
• In France, court in Angers sentences 62 members of a child sex ring to up to 28 years in jail. Trial lasted 5 months (Euronews) (Reuters)
• Other French court in Bonneville finds 13 people and companies guilty of manslaughter for the March 24 1999 Mont Blanc tunnel fire. Gerard Roncoli, the French head of security, received six months in jail and 24 months of suspended sentence (Euronews) (BBC) (IHT)

July 26 2005 (Tuesday)

• Conflict in Iraq:
  • At least 12 workers have been shot dead as they are driven away from the state owned factory they work at, in the Abu Ghraib area, by insurgents. (BBC)
  • Insurgents have released a video showing the two Diplomatic staff from Algeria kidnapped from Baghdad last week. (BBC)
• Over 200 people have been killed in intense rain storms in Maharashtra, India, described by the Chief Minister of the state as the heaviest recorded rainfall in a single day in India. One third of the state Capital, Mumbai, is said to be underwater causing more than a two hundred thousand people to be stranded in offices and roads for about 24 hours. (Rediff), (BBC)
• Several protesters have been injured again in India on this second day of protests. (BBC)
• The Space Shuttle Discovery lifts off at 1039 EST this morning on mission STS-114. The NASA commentator says during launch "Lift-off, lift-off, and return to America's journey to the Moon, Mars, and beyond". (BBC).
• Lebanese Christian Militia leader, Samir Geagea, has been released from prison after 11 years. (BBC)
• South Korean ambassador to USA, Hong Seok-Hyun, resigns for alleged involvement with slush fund scandal of illegal donations during a presidential campaign in 1997 (Chosun Ilbo) (Channel News Asia)
• Burma/Myanmar forgoes 2006 chairmanship of ASEAN (Channel News Asia)
• At least 1,000 protesters have staged a demonstration outside the main US base of Bagram in Afghanistan. (BBC)
• In the Netherlands, Mohammed Bouyeri receives life sentence for murder of Theo van Gogh (Expatica) (IHT) (Al-Jazeera)
• In Canada, geneticists in the University of Alberta are testing hairs that allegedly belong to sasquatch (CBC) (Reuters)
• In Israel, there are reports that Jewish ultranationalists have cast a Pulsa diNura death curse over Ariel Sharon (Ynet) (Reuters Alertnet)
• Chilean judge Sergio Munoz calls for search of new suspected secret foreign accounts of Augusto Pinochet (International Justice Tribune) (Reuters)
• In Mexico, court rules that there is insufficient evidence to try former president Luis Echeverría for genocide for a student massacre in 1971 (Reuters AlertNet)
• In Israel, Omri Sharon, MP and son of Ariel Sharon, is indicted for involvement in illegal campaign contributions, perjury and forging documents. Omri Sharon states that he would give up his parliamentary immunity and stand trial (Jerusalem Post) (Haaretz) (Arutz Sheva) (Reuters)
• In Somalia, transitional president Abdullahi Yusuf arrives in the town of Jowhar, intending to make it a base for his new governmment (BBC)
• In Nepal, king's court sentences Sher Bahadur Deuba and three others to two years in jail for alleged embezzling. Deuba denounces the sentence as "character assassination". (Kantipur Online) (rising Nepal) (Reuters AlertNet)
• There were many snake bite cases admitted to L.T.M.G Hospital in Sion.

July 25 2005 (Monday)

• British Prime Minister Tony Blair says he is "desperately sorry" that Brazilian electrician Jean Charles de Menezes was shot dead at Stockwell Tube station last week when he was mistaken by police for a suicide bomber. (BBC), (Sify News)
• Israel has summoned the ambassador from the Vatican to explain why the Pope did not condemn Palestinian militant attacks on Israelis, in a statement on Sunday, July 24, Pope Benedict XVI said that he deplored attacks in "countries including Egypt, Turkey, Iraq and Britain". (BBC)
• Bilateral negotiations have resumed between the US and North Korea. (BBC).
• The Service Employees International Union and the Teamsters, the two largest unions in the AFL-CIO, announce their intentions to leave the labor federation, underscoring a major schism within the U.S. labour movement. (IHT)
• Two men, one today, one yesterday, have been arrested in the New Southgate area of London during police investigations into the recent London bombings. (Daily Mail) (This is London)
• At least five people have been killed after grenades were thrown at a night-club and official residences in Ethiopia's Somali region. (BBC)
• A mystery illness spreading through Western China has claimed its 17th victim. Doctors have confirmed the disease is neither bird flu nor SARS (BBC). Chinese health officials announce that autopsies point to the swine bacteria Streptococcosis II as the probable culprit. (Xinhuanet).
• Conflict in Iraq:
  • Sunni Muslim Arab representatives appointed to the committee tasked with writing up a new Constitution of Iraq have ended their boycott. (BBC)
  • At least seven people have died following a twin suicide car bomb attack on police checkpoints in the centre of the Iraqi Capital Baghdad. (BBC)
• The New Zealand general election 2005 is set for Saturday September 17 2005. (NZ Herald) (Stuff.co.nz) (Reuters)
• Philippine electoral crisis, 2005: Opposition files impeachment complaint against president Gloria Arroyo for election fraud. President has declared a day a holiday and intends to make a key policy speech. (SABC) (Sun Star) (Manila Bulletin) (Philstar) (Channel News Asia) (Reuters)
• Brazil hosts annual AIDS conference in Rio de Janeiro. (BBC)
• Italian court issues arrest warrants of new 6 CIA operatives for involvement of kidnapping of Osama Mustafa Hassan (ANSA, Italy) (Reuters) (BBC)
• In Lebanon, Samir Geagea, former Maronite militia chief, leaves prison (Al-Jazeera) (Reuters)
• In Senegal, former prime minister Idrissa Seck is arrested for "endangering national security" (AllAfrica) (Reuters AlertNet) (BBC)
• In Sri Lanka, investigators that investigate alleged misappropriation of funds of tsunami relief after 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake, state that they have not found any evidence of wrongdoing. Opposition United National Party claims that prime minister Mahinda Rajapaksa had siphoned off 83 million rupees to his own constituency (Reuters AlertNet)
• In Brazil, Paulo Henrique Machado, priest who led the support group of victims of the Nova Iguacu massacre, is shot to death in Rio de Janeiro (BBC)
• Denmark protests over visit of Canadian defense minister Bill Graham to disputed Hans Island near Greenland (CBC) (BBC)
• In Malawi, president Bingu wa Mutharika bans all exports of maize and fertilizers to alleviate the food crisis in the country (IOL) (BBC)
• Eyepatch of Moshe Dayan, former Israeli defense minister, is in sale in eBay (Ha'aretz) (eBay) (BBC)

July 24 2005 (Sunday)

• Francis Ona, the leader of the former Bougainville Revolutionary Army, has died in village on Bougainville following a short illness. Ona led the bloody 10-year secessionist war against Papua New Guinea that ended in 1997. (ABC News) (ABC News)
• A magnitude 7.2 earthquake occurs off the Nicobar Islands at 1542 UTC, near the epicentre of the 26 December 2004 earthquake. (USGS). USGS reports the quake was felt in Chennai, India, and Phuket, Thailand. (USGS)
• 56 people die in Nigeria when a bus travelling from Lagos crashes and falls off a bridge into the Gadar Tamburawa river, just south of Kano. It is believed that the driver fell asleep as he drove. (BBC)
• Conflict in Iraq: At least 39 people, mostly civilians, have been killed when a Suicide Truck Bomb exploded at a police station in the Iraqi Capital of Baghdad. (BBC), (the Guardian)
• Israeli-Palestinian Conflict:
  • Two Israeli civilians and two Palestinian terrorists have been killed. The Israelis were killed by Palestinian terrorists on the Kisufim road in the Gaza Strip, and the IDF Engineering forces killed the two terrorists. The al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, the Popular Resistance Committees and Islamic Jihad all claimed responsibility for the attack. (BBC)
  • A Palestinian attempted suicide bomber from Jebaliya was caught near Kibbutz Nir Am, near Sderot, just outside the Gaza Strip.(Reuters), (Ynet)
• American cyclist and cancer survivor Lance Armstrong wins his seventh consecutive Tour de France. Armstrong has announced that this will be his last tour and he will be retiring from the sport. (Letour.fr)(BBC)
• The United States wins the 2005 CONCACAF Gold Cup, defeating Panama after two overtime rounds and a penalty shootout. (Los Angeles Times)
• In Southwest China, authorities are investigating deaths of 17 farm workers who died of an unidentified disease (Xinhua) (Channel News Asia) (Reuters)
• In South Korea, hundreds of people gather to the funeral of Yi Gu, the last heir of the former Chosun dynasty. Yi Gu died in July 16 (Channel News Asia)
• In Zambia, authorities arrest Michael Sata, leader of Patriotic Front, for sedition for inciting miners to riot (AllAfrica) (Reuters SA)
• Guinea-Bissau presidential election, 2005: Guinea-Bissau votes in a second round of presidential elections. Candidates are the ruling party candidate Malam Bacai Sanhá and former military ruler João Bernardo Vieira. Results are expected next week (Reuters) (BBC)
• Dawood Ibrahim's daughter marries Javed Miandad's son in Dubai. (Rediff) (WorldEscape)

July 23 2005 (Saturday)

• Human rights campaigners in Gujarat, India, have condemned a new school textbook introduced last year by the Bharatiya Janata Party which is seen to praise Adolf Hitler and barely mention the holocaust. (BBC)
• The strongest earthquake to hit Tokyo in more than a decade strikes eastern Japan at 4:35 p.m. local time, injuring at least 27 people, rattling buildings and disrupting train and plane services. (CBC)
• British police admit that the man killed yesterday by undercover officers had no connection to the suicide bombings or attempted bombings of previous days and weeks. Metropolitan Police has described the killing as a "tragedy". The victim, Jean Charles de Menezes, 27, was Brazilian. (BBC)
• Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) introduces a Congressional Resolution of Inquiry which, if passed, will require the White House and the U.S. State Department to "transmit all information relating to communication with officials of the United Kingdom between January 1, 2002, and October 16, 2002, relating to the policy of the United States with respect to Iraq." (Wikinews)
• A team of scientists from Britain and Australia state that they have found high concentrations of arsenic from the hair of King George III of the United Kingdom. Medication containing arsenic could have caused him bouts of madness (Scotsman) (News-medical.net) (Reuters)
• In Spain, bomb explodes in Santiago de Compostela near regional savings bank Caixa Galicia. There are no casualties. Government blames Galician separatists. Police have arrested two people (EITB) (Reuters)
• Cuba releases three dissidents, including leader Martha Beatriz Roque. 17 others are still incarcerated after crackdown in Friday (Cubanet) (Reuters)
• In Colombia, president Alvaro Uribe signs a controversial law that is meant to encourage paramilitary groups and guerrillas to disarm (BBC)
• In Burma/Myanmar, Khin Nyunt, former prime minister, receives a suspended sentence of 44 years in prison for corruption (Irrawaddy) (Democratic Voice of Burma)

July 22 2005 (Friday)

• A bomb explodes from beneath a car in the Lebanese Capital of Beirut causing injuries, but no deaths. (BBC)
• About 88 people are killed and 200 injured in a series of car bombs in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh at about 0100 local time (2200 UTC Friday). (BBC)
• Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi says that he feels it is his duty to prevent Islam and its symbols from being used to propagate violence. He has set three missions for himself – continuing to remind the world community to understand the root causes of terrorism, explaining that Islam is a religion of peace and opposed to violence, and showcasing Malaysia as a modern Islamic country and a safe place to invest and visit. (The Star) (Iranian Quran News Agency) (Islam Online)
• Berlin/Germany. A small plane crashes near the Reichstag and the Federal Chancellor's Office, killing the pilot. Suicide suspected, rather than terrorism. (Deutsche Welle) (Reuters AlertNet) (BBC)
• In Dubai, police are on alert due to the wedding of Junaid Miandad and Mahrukh Ibrahim. Junaid is the son of former Pakistani cricket captain Javed Miandad. Mahrukh is the daughter of India's most wanted crime boss, Dawood Ibrahim. (Sify)
• Pakistan continues to be a principal recruiting ground and logistical center for global terrorists, despite three years of military operations to root out al Qaeda and Taliban members, according to The Wall Street Journal. (HT Times)
• Microsoft announces that the former codenamed "Windows Longhorn" will now officially be known as "Windows Vista". The first beta test will be launched on August 3.
• In Mumbai, India, LeT militant and alleged Al-Qaida operative, Mohammed Afroze, is convicted of criminal conspiracy, conspiracy to disturb relations between friendly nations, and forging documents. However, he is acquitted on charges of waging war against the nation. (NDTV)
• At least 36 people are dead after two days of violent fuel riots in Yemen. (BBC)
• At least 15 people are killed when a dam collapses in south-west China. (BBC)
• A South Asian-looking man, suspected of being an attempted suicide bomber, having been chased by plainclothes police has been reportedly pinned to the ground then shot five times at Stockwell tube station in London, and has been confirmed dead by the police. (Wikinews), (the Guardian), (BBC) (CNN) (Sky)
• A mosque in East London and the surrounding area is evacuated for an hour following receipt of a bomb warning. The all-clear is given after the mosque is searched by police. (Wikinews), (Sky News)
• Two ships collide off Japan's Chiba prefecture and the Chinese-crewed freighter Wei Hang 9 sinks. One crewmember is dead, with 8 missing. (Japan Today) (Xinhua) (Reuters)
• The Pentagon confirms that 52 detainees of the Guantanamo camp have gone on hunger strike. (New York Times) (BBC) (Al-Jazeera)
• Leaked excerpts from the United Nations' report into Zimbabwe's Operation Murambatsvina state that the operation has been a "disastrous venture" that has violated international law and created a grave humanitarian crisis. It further suggests that the act might qualify as a crime against humanity and urged Zimbabwe to prosecute those responsible. (Guardian).
• The insolvent car-building company MG Rover Group is bought by the Nanjing Automobile Group for around 53 million pounds. (BBC) (Times Online)

July 21 2005 (Thursday)

• In Maharashtra, India, the state Assembly unanimously adopts a Bill amending the Bombay Police Act, 1951 which will ban dance bars across the state. (IndianExpress)
• Kenyan legislators approve a constitution which critics say leaves too much power in the hands of the President. (BBC).
• German President Horst Köhler agrees to dissolve parliament. He calls for earlier elections in mid-September 2005. BBC News. - see German federal election, 2005
• After a blitz of detentions of suspected militants and Islamists, Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf calls for a holy war against preachers of hate and announces steps to curb militant Islamic schools and groups. (Reuters)
• Tatarstan: On the feast day of the holy icon "Theotokos of Kazan", in the presence of the crowd of 10,000 pilgrims, Patriarch Alexius II and the President of Tatarstan place at the newly-restored Annunciation Cathedral of the Kazan Kremlin the holiest copy of the long-lost icon, which was presented to Russia by Pope John Paul II shortly before his death. (Asianews)
• Conflict in Iraq: Algeria's two most senior diplomatic staff in Iraq are kidnapped from outside a restaurant in the western Mansour district. (BBC)
• Parts of the London Underground are evacuated, as British police are investigating reports of three separate incidents involving minor explosions in Shepherd's Bush, Warren Street and Oval underground stations. There are also reports of an incident on the no. 26 bus in Hackney, East London. There are no reported casualties and police are not yet treating the incidents as "major". (BBC)
• The People's Bank of China announces a 2 percent revaluation of its currency, the Renminbi (yuan), and says the yuan will no longer be pegged to the US dollar, instead trading within a narrow range against a market basket of currencies. (AP)
• In Morocco, authorities detain five supporters of Western Saharan independence for their alleged part in violent demonstrations last May. (Al-Jazeera)
• Indonesian president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono orders the army to stop offensive against separatist rebels in Aceh after the acceptance of the new peace deal. (Channel News Asia) (Bloomberg)
• In Mexico, police are looking for kidnapped soccer coach Omar Romano. (Reuters AlertNet) (BBC)
• In Rwanda, gacaca court investigating the Rwandan genocide summons Thaddee Ntihinyurwa, head of the Catholic Church in the country, to testify. (Reuters AlertNet) (BBC)
• In China, a group of farmers in Shengyou village in Hebei province that demonstrated over seizure of an arable land for the power plant, win in a dispute. (Reuters AlertNet) (BBC)
• Malaysian government also remove the ringgit's peg to US dollar. (Strait Times, Malaysia) (Channel News Asia) (Reuters)
• African Development Bank elects Donald Kaberuka, former finance minister of Rwanda, as president. (AFDB) (Forbes)
• In the Republic of Congo, trial of sixteen military and security officer begins. They are accused of killing 353. refugees who disappeared 1999 in the so-called Beach case. (World Peace Herald) (Reuters) (BBC)
• In China, dam collapses in Yunnan province. At least 15 dead and 23 injured. (Xinhua)