November 2005

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1 November 2005 (Tuesday)

• Award-winning Irish racehorse Best Mate suffers a heart attack and dies while racing in front of a live television audience .
• U.S. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid and his fellow Democrats force a closed session of the Senate over misinformed intelligence that led to the Iraq war and evasion of a congressional inquiry. (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 Chrétien 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 Santic 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)

2 November 2005 (Wednesday)

• 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) (Washington Times)
• 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 accidentally 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 160 wounded in clashes between opposition supporters and police in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa. (Reuters)

3 November 2005 (Thursday)

• 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 critical 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 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)

4 November 2005 (Friday)

• Clashes continue in Debre Berhan, while government forces succeed in pacifying Bahir Dar and Awasa. The Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa 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)

• John Paradiso died this day.

5 November 2005 (Saturday)

• The 400th anniversary of Guy Fawkes' attempt to blown up parliament with King James I of England inside.
• The Seabourn Cruise Line cruise ship The 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 circa AD 300. The church was uncovered near the prison at Megiddo. (Reuters) (Ynetnews)
• Pope Benedict XVI prepares to enact new rules restricting homosexual men from entering the seminary, claiming that the action will help to curb the Roman Catholic Church sex abuse scandal. In response, Gene Robinson, the first openly gay U.S. ordained Episcopalian bishop, calls it "an act of violence that needs to be confronted." (Gazette-Times) (Yahoo) (ABC)

6 November 2005 (Sunday)

• 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 ½ mile wide and of F3 strength on the Fujita scale hits around 2 a.m. near Evansville, Indiana. Over 20 are killed and 200 injured. (National Weather Service) (Yahoo! News)

7 November 2005 (Monday)

• 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)

8 November 2005 (Tuesday)

• Liberian elections, 2005: Liberians go to the polls in a presidential runoff between millionaire soccer star George Weah and Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, a former finance minister known as the "Iron Lady". (Reuters) (Scotsman) (CBC)
• U.S. General Election, 2005:
  • Virginia gubernatorial election, 2005: Democrat Tim Kaine is declared the winner and next Governor of Virginia. (Yahoo)
  • New Jersey gubernatorial election, 2005: Democrat Jon Corzine is declared the winner and next Governor of New Jersey. (AP)
• 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. (New York Times) (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 report that white phosphorus, a chemical weapon, and Mk-77 napalm bombs were 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)

9 November 2005 (Wednesday)

• Facing the world's highest HIV infection rate, Swaziland is drafting a Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Bill proposing the death penalty for child rape, incest and the intentional transmission of HIV. (IRIN)
• Amir Peretz is elected leader of the Labour Party in Israel, narrowly defeating the incumbent, Shimon Peres. (BBC)
• A gun battle between the Indonesian police and militants in East Java kills seven militants, including suspected Bali bombings mastermind Azahari Husin who is believed to have blown himself up. (Reuters) (Reuters)
• Three explosions rock the city of Amman, Jordan, killing at least 67 and injuring more than 300 other people, mostly Westerners. (BBC)
• In Israel, archaeologists discover two lines of a Phoenician or Hebrew alphabet on a stone dating to the 10th century BC, suggesting that literacy existed in ancient Israel earlier than had been thought. "All successive alphabets in the ancient world, including the Greek one, derive from this ancestor at Tel Zayit," says the excavation's director. (IHT) (AP)
• In the United States, the visit of Iraqi Deputy Premier Ahmed Chalabi to the Department of State and Department of the Treasury arouses controversy. (BBC)
• In the United Kingdom, the Government loses a key House of Commons vote on detaining terrorism suspects for 90-days without charge, in the report stage of the Terrorism Bill. This is Tony Blair's first ever commons defeat and has been described a serious blow to his authority. Michael Howard advises him to resign now. (BBC)
• Venus Express, the first mission to Venus in over a decade, lifts off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. (BBC)
• U.S. General Election, 2005
  • California special election, 2005: voters reject all eight statewide ballot propositions, including four backed by governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.
• Judith Miller, controversial reporter for The New York Times, announces her retirement. (New York Times)

10 November 2005 (Thursday)

• Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf wins the Liberian presidential runoff, defeating George Weah and becoming the first-ever female president on the continent of Africa. (CNN) (Indystar)
• Investigations of the 17th Street Canal, whose failure flooded much of New Orleans, Louisiana in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, show that metal pilings were 7 feet shallower than engineering specifications. (Times-Picayune)
• The United States House of Representatives drops a provision in the Deficit Reduction Bill that would permit the drilling of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, for fear of losing moderate Republicans when the bill comes to a final vote. (SFGate) (Seattle-PI)
• A Boeing 777-200LR Worldliner jet aircraft breaks the record for the longest non-stop passenger airline flight. The 20,000-kilometer (12,500-mile) flight from Hong Kong to London lasted 23 hours. (Boeing) (BBC)
• Conflict in Afghanistan: Afghan Insurgents, suspected members of the Taliban, kill seven police in an ambush in Kandahar. Two civilians from Uruzgan were also found decapitated. (BBC)
• Conflict in Iraq: At least 30 people have died following an insurgent suicide bomb attack on a restaurant in Baghdad. (BBC)
• In Addis Ababa the capital city of Ethiopia, 7 members of the police have been killed and 250 sustained injuries from attacks by rioters using guns, hand grenades and stones. (allAfrica)

11 November 2005 (Friday)

• British prisoners are freed in Iran after pressure from the British Foreign Office. The trio were seized at by Iranian Navy patrol boats on 28 October, when they sailed their boat to the disputed island of Abu Musa, which is claimed by both Iran and the United Arab Emirates. (BBC)
• Albania suffers its worst ever electric power shortage. Due to low water levels, hydroelectric power is reduced to the minimum and there are blackouts in all the country. Water supplies won't last for more than two weeks, so electricity is currently available just six hours a day. The government plans to import power from Romania, Bulgaria and Italy. (BBC)
• A Pakistani cargo plane carrying eight to ten people crashes near Kabul, capital of Afghanistan. There are no survivors. The cause of the crash is unknown. (BBC)
• The deadly H5N1 bird flu is found in Kuwait. It's the first case of the virus in the Middle East. (BBC)
• Saudi Arabia becomes a member of the World Trade Organization after twelve years of talks. (BBC)

12 November 2005 (Saturday)

• Amir Peretz, the new head of the Israeli Labour Party, warns Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon that if Sharon does not pick a date for an early election, Peretz will institute a motion of no-confidence forcing a snap election within 90 days. (Reuters)
• Aargau, Switzerland: A rare earthquake is measured in the region. The earthquake has a magnitude of 4.4. (Yahoo)
• Conflict in Iraq:
  • The United Nations Secretary General, Kofi Annan, makes a surprise visit to Iraq and expresses support for an Arab League conference discussing cooperation with Iraq's many factions. (BBC) (Reuters)
  • Four people die following a car bomb in Baghdad. (BBC)
• Tens of thousands of people gather at Rabin Square in Tel Aviv in a rally to mark a decade since the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. (Ynetnews)
• Premiere of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire at the Ziegfeld Theatre in New York City

13 November 2005 (Sunday)

• Stephen Harper, Gilles Duceppe and Jack Layton, leaders of Canada's three parliamentary opposition parties, issue a joint ultimatum calling for the next Canadian federal election to be moved forward to early February from the April date favoured by the government. They threaten to pass a motion of non-confidence and force an election at Christmas if Paul Martin's Liberal government does not accede to the move in writing. Martin rejects their proposal. (CBC)
• The 27th tropical depression in the record-breaking 2005 Atlantic hurricane season develops in the southeastern Caribbean which could bring isolated amounts of between 10 and 12 inches of rain over the Lesser Antilles. (U.S. NHC)
• Eddie Guerrero, a performer for World Wrestling Entertainment's SmackDown! brand, was found dead in his hotel room in Minneapolis, Minnesota from a massive coronary while brushing his teeth at the age of 38. He was in Minneapolis for a WWE RAW/SmackDown! supershow taping at the Target Center, which was turned into a four-hour double memorial show in Eddie's honor. (ABC News) (Pro Wrestling Torch)
• British doctors are to continue checks on Andrew Stimpson, a Scotsman whose body has reportedly cured itself of HIV infection. (BBC) (Reuters)
• Conflict in Iraq - Iraqi president Jalal Talabani tells British television that Iraqi troops could replace UK forces by the close of 2006. (BBC)
• Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi defends his handling of opposition demonstrations against claims of abuse. (BBC)
• 7.5 million voters in Burkina Faso participate in the presidential elections of 2005. (BBC)
• Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh asks Nepalese King Gyanendra to take steps towards restoring democratic rule. (BBC)
• Thailand confirms its 4th H5N1 bird flu case this year. The victim is an 18 month-old boy living in Bangkok. Health experts advise the public to be on high alert. (The Nation) (Bangkok Post)
• Explosions in a Chinese chemical plant force the evacuation of over 10,000 people. (Xinhua)
• Following the bomb attacks in Amman, Jordanian police arrest a woman said to be the wife of a suicide attacker. (BBC)
• The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation agrees at its summit to admit Afghanistan as a member, and to accord China and Japan observer status. (Kantipur Online)

14 November 2005 (Monday)

• Germany: Conferences of the CDU, CSU and SPD approve a coalition deal that will see Angela Merkel become Chancellor on November 22. (BBC)
• Mexico and Venezuela have withdrawn their ambassadors amid rising tension between the two countries. (Reuters)
• Uzbekistan:
  • Petrol shortages in Uzbekistan continue to worsen. Critics attribute the shortages to the Uzbek government's monopoly of the petrol industry. (Reuters)
  • The Supreme Court of Uzbekistan found 15 men guilty of inciting the May 2005 unrest in Uzbekistan in the city of Andijan. The defendants allege that they were tortured while incarcerated. (Reuters)
• Somalia: 8 men were sentenced to death today for the murder of British Aid workers Richard and Enid Eyeington in Somaliland in October 2003. SOS (BBC)
• Ugandan opposition leader Kizza Besigye, the main challenger to President Yoweri Museveni in the first multi-party elections since 1986, is arrested by the police. This has sparked off riots. He is accused of having links to the rebel groups People's Redemption Army and Lord's Resistance Army. (BBC) (Reuters)
• The United States government issues warning after receiving credible information that a terrorist threat may exist against official U.S. government facilities in Guangzhou, China. (IHT)
• Knesset Member Omri Sharon, the son of the Prime Minister of Israel Ariel Sharon, struck a deal with prosecutors that would see him plead guilty to a series of charges in connection with illegal fundraising during Ariel Sharon’s 1999 primaries campaign. (Ynetnews)

15 November 2005 (Tuesday)

• 2005 Sony BMG CD copy protection scandal: Sony BMG recalls all unsold CDs that are equipped with XCP, a controversial copyright protection software. (vnunet.com) (FT) (NBC4) (BBC) (Reuters)
• 173 prisoners are found in an Iraqi government bunker in Baghdad, having been starved, beaten and tortured. (CBC) (BBC)
• Terrorism in Pakistan: A car bomb explodes outside a KFC outlet in Karachi, Pakistan around 08:45 (UTC+5). At least three people are killed and eight others wounded. (CNN)
• Quebec, Canada: Former Minister André Boisclair is elected Leader of the Parti Québécois, the provincial official opposition and Quebec's main party promoting separation of the French-speaking province from Canada, in the Parti Québécois leadership election, 2005. (CBC)
• Mid-November 2005 Tornado Outbreak: Many tornadoes (at least 50 confirmed) have been reported during the afternoon and evening across central North America, stretching from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico. Damage has been reported in many areas, and at least one person was killed. [1]
• Japan: 2005 Sanriku Japan Earthquake A 6.9-magnitude earthquake, as determined by the Japan Meteorological Society, occurred off the northern coast of Japan near Sanriku at 6:39am Japan Standard Time (UTC+9), prompting a tsunami warning to be issued in Japan and the western coast of the United States. (Yahoo) (USGS)
• Sayako, Princess Nori of Japan marries a commoner and thereby leaves the Imperial Family, taking the surname of her husband. (The Age) (Reuters) (BBC)
• The French Parliament permits President Jacques Chirac's government to extend emergency powers for three months to quell civil unrest. (BBC) (Guardian) (Indian Express)
• The New York Stock Exchange reaches an out-of-court settlement with some of its seat holders who had filed a lawsuit in an effort to prevent the NYSE's proposed acquisition of electronic trading firm Archipelago Holdings. The settlement requires a new independent financial review of the merits of the deal. Dissidents complain that the NYSE is over-paying. (Reuters)
• Students at the University of Tennessee (UT) received international criticism and praise for interrupting U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney's keynote speech at the groundbreaking of the Harold Baker Center. The students protested in favor of ending the Iraq War by "heckling" Cheney while a group of 50-100 protesters gathered outside the building also protesting the war. This incident has come to be known as the Baker Center Protest. [2]

16 November 2005 (Wednesday)

• 1 person is killed, and 15 are injured in Hakkâri, Hakkari Province, Turkey during fighting between Turkish police and Kurdish PKK rebels. (Reuters)
• In the 2005 Burkina Faso presidential elections incumbent Blaise Compaoré celebrates victory several days ahead of the release of the voting results. International watchdogs and opposition officials allege widespread vote rigging. (BBC)
• The Health Ministry of the People's Republic of China announces the country's first one confirmed and one suspected cases of avian flu in humans in Hunan Province, and one confirmed case in Anhui. (BBC)
• The United States government has won its fight to keep its supervisory authority over the internet through the ICANN, despite opposition from many nations. (BBC)
• Major areas of the Australian city of Adelaide have been "locked down" ahead of the arrival of United States Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld for the 17th annual AUS-MIN meeting. (ABC)
• Australia qualifies for the FIFA World Cup for the first time since 1974 following a victory over Uruguay.

17 November 2005 (Thursday)

• Sri Lankan presidential election, 2005: Sri Lanka holds its presidential election to appoint the fifth executive president. The election was conducted peacefully despite a few minor incidents. Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa defeats former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe in the election. (Times of India) (Reuters)
• The press baron Conrad Black is charged with multiple counts of fraud regarding his dealings with Hollinger International. (BBC)
• Controversial historian David Irving is arrested in Vienna on charges of denying the Holocaust, a criminal offence in Austria. (Reuters)
• Former rock star Gary Glitter, previously convicted on child pornography charges, is being sought by Vietnamese authorities who seek to question him about under-age sex allegations. (Reuters)
• The Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, the leader of the world-wide Anglican Communion, is challenged to rethink his personal stance on the ordination of gay clergy in the light of scripture by nearly half of all the Anglican Primates. (Guardian Online)
• French Police declare a "return to normalcy throughout France" as civil unrest subsides. (Le Monde)
• British Secretary of State for Education Ruth Kelly promises that student selection will not return to schools. (BBC)
• Members of the European Parliament pass an item of controversial chemical safety testing legislation, known as the Registration, Evaluation and Authorization of Chemicals (REACH) law. (BBC)

18 November 2005 (Friday)

• Tropical Storm Gamma forms from a regeneration of Tropical Depression 27, becoming the 24th named storm of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season. (NHC)
• Conflict in Iraq:
  • A series of Suicide bombings kill 74 Shia worshippers at two mosques in eastern Iraq while in Baghdad two car bombs destroy the blast wall protecting a hotel housing foreign journalists and kill eight Iraqis. (Ynetnews) (BBC)
  • Two car bombs strike outside a Baghdad interior ministry building at the centre of a detainee abuse scandal. (BBC)
• The United States House of Representatives reject a Republican resolution offered by Duncan Hunter (R-California) "expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the deployment of United States forces in Iraq be terminated immediately" by a vote of 403-3. Ohio Republican Jean Schmidt is forced by Democratic (and quiet Republican) protests to apologise to Pennsylvania Democrat John Murtha for reading a letter from a marine in which those wishing to "cut and run" from Iraq are called "cowards". (Associated Press)
• The film version of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is released in the UK and USA.

19 November 2005 (Saturday)

• In the town of Haditha in Iraq, a squad of United States Marines is alleged to have murdered about two dozen Iraqi civilians in the aftermath of an ambush there in which a roadside bomb and automatic weapons had been used against the Marines.
• In a speech to U.S. troops in South Korea, U.S. President George W. Bush rejects calls for a timetable for withdrawing US troops from Iraq, laying out why he believes the American presence in Iraq should continue. (ABC Australia) (Reuters) (Yahoo)
• After negotiations, Maoist rebels in Nepal agree to work with opposition politicians in a common front against the rule of King Gyanendra of Nepal. The Nepal Civil War has killed more than 12,000 people since 1996. (Times of India) (BBC)
• Prince Albert of Monaco is formally enthroned. (CNN)
• Lisa Lynette Clark, a 37 year old woman from Gainsville, Georgia, weds her teenage son's 15-year-old best friend after being released from jail on the charge of child molestation. This sparks another controversy regarding Ephebophilia since Mary Kay Letourneau and Debra Lafave made news. (Seattle PI)

20 November 2005 (Sunday)

• Conflict in Iraq:
  • At least forty people died following a series of insurgent and American led attacks. (Reuters)
  • The Independent reports that British-trained police tortured and killed at least two Iraqis using electric drills. (The Independent) (Khilafah)
  • One British soldier dies following a roadside Bomb in Basra, southern Iraq. (BBC)
• Israeli army radio reports Ariel Sharon, the current Prime Minister of Israel, will leave Likud and create a new centrist party positioned between it and Labour. This move ends more than a year of Likud infighting between Sharon and hard-right members led by Benjamin Netanyahu who opposed withdrawal from Gaza, and closely follows Labour's departure from the present grand coalition government. Early elections are now a near-certainty. (BBC) (Haaretz)
• U.S. President George W. Bush attends a church service during his visit to People's Republic of China as he presses for greater freedoms of expression and faith during his east Asian tour. (BBC)
• Russia:
  • Russian President Vladimir Putin visits Japan with 100 business leaders for trade talks. (BBC)
  • A Cessna light aircraft departing northward from the Russian city of Voronezh to the capital Moscow explodes upon landing. Igor Olshansky, an assistant to a deputy in the State Duma (The lower house of the Russian legislature), is one of eight people who died in the plane crash. (Gulf News)
• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, the latest film based on the books by J. K. Rowling, earns US$101.4 million in its first three days of release across North America, making it the fourth-largest opening ever. (Reuters)

21 November 2005 (Monday)

• The Prime Minister of Israel, Ariel Sharon, announces his resignation from Likud and his intention to form a new party, and asks the President of Israel to call a general election. (BBC)
• Conflict in Iraq: Five Iraqi civilians, including three children, are shot dead by U.S. troops as they approached a checkpoint in Baquba. The minibus they were travelling in failed to stop as it approached a roadblock. (BBC)
• As more than one million Zambians face severe food shortages due to drought, President Levy Mwanawasa declares a national disaster and appealed for international food aid. (BBC)
• Ryan Heiser came to 701 Gateway for a short visit. He left before midnight and all matresses remained in their beds with the exception of one. Mike James is a completely uncredible.

22 November 2005 (Tuesday)

• Arab-Israeli Conflict: Israeli planes bomb targets in Southern Lebanon. (BBC)
• Floods and mudslides due to Tropical Storm Gamma, the 24th named storm in the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season, kill at least 32 people in Honduras. (Reuters)
• After two months of negotiations, Angela Merkel is elected the first female Chancellor of Germany by a coalition of the CDU/CSU and SPD delegates in the Bundestag. (BBC)
• Kenyan voters overwhelmingly reject a new constitution, which would have given the president greater power, in a national referendum, which used symbols on the ballot paper to assist illiterate voters. (BBC)
• A secret British government memo leaked to the Daily Mirror newspaper suggests that George W. Bush discussed with Tony Blair a plan to bomb the offices of the Al Jazeera TV station in Doha and elsewhere (Mirror). Following the publication, the Attorney General threatens to prosecute, under §5 of the Official Secrets Act, anyone making further disclosures from the memo (Guardian). Al Jazeera offices in Baghdad and Kabul have previously been bombed by the US military; US officials deny Al Jazeera was the target of either attack, and a White House spokesman describes the Mirror's report as "outlandish" (Guardian).
• The Xbox 360 is released in North America

23 November 2005 (Wednesday)

• Conflict in Iraq:
  • One Suicide Car Bomber kills 18 people, mostly Iraqi Police in an Ambush in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk. (BBC)
  • The Prime Minister of Italy, Silvio Berlusconi, states that the Italian Army could leave Iraq by the end of 2006. (BBC)
• Israeli troops kill one Palestinian and Iyad Abu Rob, a suspected senior member of Islamic Jihad surrenders after a day-long siege, in the Palestinian refugee camp of Jenin. (BBC), (Reuters)
• The record-breaking 2005 Atlantic hurricane season continues as Tropical Storm Delta forms from a non-tropical low 1000 nautical miles southwest of the Azores. (U.S. NHC)
• The lower house of the Russian parliament passed a bill by 370-18 requiring local branches of foreign non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to reregister as Russian organisations subject to Russian jurisdiction, and thus stricter financial and legal restrictions. The bill gives Russian officials oversight of local finances and activities. The bill has been highly criticised by Human Rights Watch, Memorial rights organization, and the nonprofit think tank Indem for its potential effects on international monitoring of the status of human rights in Russia. (Reuters)
• An explosion at a chemical factory on the Songhua River in northeastern China releases high levels of benzene into the river water. Authorities shut off the water supply for the downstream city of Harbin. (BBC)
• The new Chancellor of Germany, Angela Merkel, goes to Paris, France for her first foreign trip in office. Some observers see this as a signal that intra-European affairs will be a high priority. (Seattle Post-Intelligencer)
• Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf is officially declared as the winner of the Liberian presidential runoff, after she took 59.4 percent of the vote, making her Africa's first elected female head of state. (BBC)
• Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki has dismissed his entire cabinet and deputy ministers after voters rejected a draft constitution. (BBC), (Reuters)

24 November 2005 (Thursday)

• CHOGM - Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting is currently underway in Malta.
• The city of Khabarovsk in Far Eastern Russia declares a state of emergency as the 80 km benzene slick released by an explosion in a Chinese chemical plant on 13 November, which has already caused water supplies for 4 million inhabitants of the Chinese city of Harbin to be suspended, approaches the Amur river which is the main water source for 1.5 million people in Russia. (Forbes) (Moscow Times)
• Two people were injured in an accident at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City when the M&M's balloon was tangled in a light pole and fell near Times Square. (AP via Yahoo! News)
• Conflict in Iraq:
  • 15 people die after a suicide bomb attack in Hilla. (ABC aus)
  • Prisoners at an Iraqi detention centre revealed to the BBC details of apparent widespread use of torture and abuse in prisons and detention centres in Iraq. (BBC)
  • At least thirty people have died following a car bomb outside a hospital in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad. (BBC)
  • Khadim Sarhid al-Hemaiyim, one of the most important Sunni Arab tribal leaders in Iraq, has been shot dead, along with his three sons and a son-in-law in Baghdad. The gunman appeared to be a member of the new Iraqi Army. (BBC)
• Canadian federal election, 2006: Opposition leader Stephen Harper introduces a motion of no confidence in the Canadian House of Commons. With the support of all opposition parties, it is expected to pass on Monday, toppling Prime Minister Paul Martin's minority Liberals and forcing a campaign spanning the holiday season. (CBC) (BBC)
• There are further calls in the media and Parliament of the United Kingdom for Prime Minister Tony Blair to publish a full account of his discussions with US President Bush on the bombing of Al Jazeera TV station headquarters in Doha. A memo on the conversation has been partly leaked to the Daily Mirror newspaper, before the Official Secrets Act was invoked. (Guardian) The widow of journalist Tareq Ayyoub, who was killed in the 2003 bombing of Al Jazeera offices in Baghdad, says she is considering legal action against the US government. (Adnki) Al Jazeera staff later staged a 15 minute symbolic walk-out from all their offices around the world in protest. (BBC)

25 November 2005 (Friday)

• Polish Minister of National Defence Radek Sikorski opens Warsaw Pact archives to historians. Maps of possible nuclear strikes against Western Europe, as well as the possible nuclear annihilation of 43 Polish cities and 2 million of its citizens by Soviet-controlled forces, are released. (Chicago Tribune)
• The Europea