The controversy surrounding the
Muhammad cartoons escalates as newspapers in France, Germany, Italy and Spain republish the controversial pictures in defiance of widespread Muslim protests in the Middle East and elsewhere.
(BBC)
A leaked memo in the UK, detailing a conversation between U.S. President
George W. Bush and British Prime Minister
Tony Blair in 2003, has revealed that Blair intended to follow the US into
Iraq even without a
UN resolution, and that Bush considered provoking a response from Iraq using falsely marked
Lockheed U-2 spy planes to provide an excuse for war.
(Guardian)
The United States
expelsVenezuelan diplomat Jeny Figueredo Frias in retaliation for yesterday's expulsion of suspected US spy John Correa from Venezuela. A
State Department spokesman described the move as part of "tit-for-tat diplomatic games".
(VOA)
Queues build up at vendors as the
EuroMillionslottery offers a jackpot of
€180 million after 11 successive rollovers (statistically expected once in 25 years). Some British vendors report a 1200% increase in sales. EuroMillions tickets are sold in Austria, Belgium. France, Ireland,
Luxembourg, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. An Irish woman won €115,436,126 last July.
(BBC),
(Guardian). UPDATE: The winning numbers were 9 21 30 39 50 with Lucky Star numbers 01 and 03; the jackpot was shared between three winning tickets, two in France and one in Portugal.
(UK National Lottery)
Two
car bombs explode minutes apart in southern
Baghdad, killing at least 16 people and wounding more than 90 others.
(CNN)
A strong
earthquake registering magnitude 5.9 shakes northeastern Japan, but there is no danger of a
tsunami.
(CNN)
Georgia, US. 17 human rights activists sentenced to prison including one 81-year-old retired World War II Veteran for trespassing at
Fort Benning military camp.
(Scoop, New Zealand)
Twenty-seven out of 35 countries on the
IAEA's Board of Governors vote to refer the
nuclear program of Iran to the
United Nations Security Council out of concern over Iran's plans to enrich nuclear materials and to refuse IAEA inspection of the process.
(BBC)
A stampede at a sports stadium in
Pasig City,
Metro Manila,
Philippines, kills 73 and injures more than 320, mostly women. Tens of thousands of people had gathered to watch the anniversary presentation of the popular
ABS-CBN early afternoon TV gameshow, Wowowee.
(BBC)(CNN)
Israel bombs a sport club in Gaza. When people came to help the wounded they fired another missile. When they manage to get a badly injured into a car a third missile is fired at the car killing three persons.
(SFT)[permanent dead link]
Mauritania denounces amendments to an oil contract made by former leader
Maaouiya Ould Taya with
Woodside Petroleum. The Mauritanian authorities declare that the amendments were signed "outside the legal framework of normal practice, to the great detriment of our country", and could cost Mauritania up to $200 million a year.
(BBC)(Radio France International)
Isabelle Dinoire, the French woman who received the world's first partial face transplant appears before the media for the first time, saying she expects to resume a normal life.
(CBC)
The Austrian
Embassy in
Tehran is pelted with stones by some 200 youths, in retaliation for the printing of the
Muhammed Cartoons by three Austrian newspapers.
[1]
As the
Danish embassy in
Tehran is attacked by hundreds of protesters, five people are killed in
Afghanistan as protests against European Muhammed cartoons sweep across the country.
(BBC)
Japan urges
North Korea to return to
six-party talks on its nuclear program and halt
missile development, but a Japanese official said Pyongyang insists that Washington drop sanctions first.
(Reuters)
The number of people attempting to view illegal
child pornography on the web has risen since 2004, according to
British Telecommunications (BT). They use a system to block sites carrying the images of children, which has been getting some 35,000 hits a day for the past four months.
(BBC)
Thousands of native South Americans march 900 miles (1,400 km) south of
Rio de Janeiro to the spot where
Sepé Tiaraju was killed in 1756, demanding that land in
Brazil be given for a new "
Guaraní nation."
U.S. forces are searching for the Error: {{
USS}} invalid control parameter: 06 (
help) attacker who escaped from prison last Friday. According to
Interpol, an
al-Qaida operative who had been sentenced to death for plotting the
bombing of the USS Cole in 2000 escaped with a group of convicts from their prison last week in
Sanaá,
Yemen.
(BBC) This is not the first group to have escaped. Ten other chief suspects escaped from custody in Aden during April 2003
(BBC)
In
Turkey,
Istanbul's police chief said a bomb blast at an Internet cafe in the city had wounded 14 people.
(ABC)
A suicide bombing occurs during a
Shiite Muslim procession in
Hangu, Pakistan, resulting in riots during the Muslim branch's most important holiday,
Ashura. At least 27 people were killed and dozens injured in the result violence.
(ABC)
A large-scale slaughter is planned at a
Nigerian farm where thousands of chickens have died from
bird flu.
(BBC)
Mannheim, Germany—
Ernst Zündel, a German white supremacist extradited from Canada on accusations he repeatedly
denied the Holocaust, returned to court Thursday to face charges of incitement, libel and disparaging the dead.
(ABC)
Finance chiefs of the
G8 countries meet this weekend in Moscow with energy security at the top of their agenda.
(BBC)
Israel has criticised Russia's decision to invite
Hamas leaders to Moscow for talks, following the militant group's victory in Palestinian elections.
(BBC)
H5N1 avian flu virus:
Bulgaria, Greece, and Italy report their first cases of H5N1-infected wild birds, all swans thought to have migrated from Russia in recent months.
(BBC)
Steve Fossett completes the world record for the longest non-stop, unrefuelled, flight when the
Virgin Atlantic Global Flyer lands at
Bournemouth airport in southern England after a flight lasting 76 hours and 45 minutes which covered a distance of 26,389.3 miles (42,469.46 km). The aircraft had to declare an emergency landing after suffering total electrical failure, and had only 200 lb (90 kg) of fuel remaining.
(BBC)
A royal tomb from the 2nd or 3rd century BC is found in
Pella, Greece. It is the largest Greek tomb found to date. This announcement comes a few days after the Egyptian tomb in the Valley of the Kings was found.
(Reuters)
British tabloid The News of the World releases a video shot in 2004 by a
British soldier showing the repeated kicking and beating of four
Iraqi teenagers with batons by other British soldiers. The video contains a commentary by the cameraman urging the soldiers on. The
Ministry of Defence began an investigation. One man was arrested on 13 February and two more on 14 February.
(News of the World)(BBC)(Video)
United States military strategists reportedly are developing plans for a possible major military bombing campaign against
Iranian nuclear sites as a "last resort" in the event that diplomatic efforts fail to convince
Iran to voluntarily end what Western governments consider to be efforts at acquiring a
nuclear weapon.
(The Telegraph)Archived 2008-03-08 at the
Wayback Machine
In a televised address to the nation,
Kenyan President
Mwai Kibaki announces the resignations of two government ministers in connection with two separate corruption scandals, the "
Goldenberg" and "
Anglo Leasing" affairs. Energy minister
Kiraitu Murungi and education minister
George Saitoti both deny any wrongdoing.
(BBC)
In
Baghdad, a
suicide bomber detonates an explosive belt in a line of people waiting to receive government payments, killing at least eight other people and wounding about 30, including children and police.
(CTV)Archived 2009-01-16 at the
Wayback Machine
Saddam Hussein is forced to attend the latest session of his trial, wearing a traditional Islamic robe rather than his usual crisp suit, as he shouted "Down with Bush."
(CTV)Archived 2009-01-16 at the
Wayback Machine
Tongan Prime Minister Prince
Lavaka Ata 'Ulukalala resigns suddenly on 11 February 2006, and also gives up his other cabinet portfolios. He was replaced in the interim by the elected Minister of Labour, Dr.
Feleti Sevele.
(Pacific Magazine)
Kenyan Police instruct 20 leading figures not to leave the country as investigations into two corruption scandals, the
Goldenberg and
Anglo Leasing scandals continue. Among the people told to hand in their passports is
George Saitoti whose resignation as education minister was announced by President
Mwai Kibaki yesterday. Meanwhile, 80 Members of Parliament have demanded the resignation of Deputy President
Moody Awori, who is accused of involvement in the
Anglo Leasing affair.
(BBC)
A moderate
earthquake shakes east India, recording a 5.7-magnitude.
(Reuters)
A top
Iranian official confirms that
Iran has resumed small-scale enrichment of
uranium at one of its main nuclear facilities last week.
(CBC)
Iran's veterinary organization said the first cases of the deadly
H5N1 strain of bird flu had been detected in wild
swans in the Islamic Republic.
(Reuters)
The New York Times reveals the existence of a "destabilization plan" for Hamas, winner of the Palestinian legislative elections. The intention is, according to Israeli officials and Western diplomats, to make sure that Hamas officials fail in fulfilling their campaign promises so that the president,
Mahmoud Abbas, is forced to call a new election. The plan would cut all Quartet funds from the Palestinian National Authority (PA), while Israel would refuse to release taxes and custom duties it collects on behalf of the PA and also block movements between the West Bank and the Gaza strip. A third of the Palestinian population would suffer from the Quartet's decision to cut funds to the PA.
(NYT)
In
Israel, the
Tel Aviv Magistrates Court sentences
Omri Sharon to a nine-month prison term, a nine-month suspended sentence, and a NIS 300,000 (USD 65,000) fine after he is convicted of violating political fundraising law and providing false testimony.
(Ynetnews)
The United States and Israel deny a "destabilisation plan" of Hamas, winner of the January 2006 legislative elections, which was revealed on February 14 by the New York Times. However, they do acknowledge that they would cut off funds and transfers of tax-receipts to the Palestinian Authority. The aim of the "destabilisation plan" was to push the PA to organize new elections
(NYT).
Haitian elections, 2006: In a case of apparent
electoral fraud, hundreds of ballot boxes are discovered in a garbage dump in
Haiti, throwing the results of the elections there in doubt.
CBC
A
United Nations report condemns the continued existence of Camp Delta, and multiple breaches of
Human Rights by the US.
(BBC). The UN says that prisoners held there should be immediately charged or released. Like many other countries that the UN Human Rights
watchdog has heavily criticised, the US has attacked the report as invalid
(BBC). The UN report is available online
as a large 54 page PDF
US civil liberties groups have called for an inquiry into treatment of Iraqi detainees at Abu Ghraib after new images of apparent abuse were shown.
(BBC)
A
mudslide in
Saint Bernard, Southern Leyte, Philippines, has buried more than 300 homes and an elementary school. An estimated 300 people are killed, with more than 1500 missing.
(CNN)
Former
Malawian Minister of Education and head of the country's anti-corruption campaign
Yusuf Mwawa is sentenced to five years in prison for
fraud and
corruption.
(BBC)
Venezuelan president
Hugo Chávez threatens to cut off oil supplies after U.S. Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice claims that the Venezuelan government poses "one of the biggest problems" in the region.
(CNN)
Italian reform minister
Roberto Calderoli resigns after criticism for wearing a
T-shirt depicting the
cartoons. The incident triggered yesterday's rioting outside the Italian
consulate in
Benghazi,
Libya, in which at least 10 people died.
(BBC)
Retired scientist Don Kennedy suggests the entire population of
Tuvalu should move to the Fijian island of
Kioa, to preserve Tuvaluan culture as their homeland becomes uninhabitable due to
rising sea levels.
(Pacific Magazine)
Russian and
Iranian negotiators begin talks today on a plan that may have the former enrich uranium for the latter, as part of the international community's efforts to dissuade Iran from doing its own enrichment.
(AP)
Enron: The
High Court in London rules that three bankers may be extradited to the United States to face trial on Enron-related charges. The three, David Bermingham, Gary Mulgrew and Giles Darby, former executives at
Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC unit
Greenwich NatWest, had argued unsuccessfully that since the majority of the alleged offenses took place in Britain, any trial should be held in that country.
(Houston Chronicle)
Eight men are acquitted of the 1999 murder which has many hundreds of witnesses of model
Jessica Lal in India. The acquittal causes outrage among the Indian community with petitions to President
Abdul Kalam for a review of the case
(Hindustan Times)Archived 2007-10-18 at the
Wayback Machine.
A man in
Manhattan, New York City is hospitalized for treatment of
anthrax infection after being exposed to animal hides from the
Côte d'Ivoire which he used for making drums.
(Newsday)
At least 11 people are abducted from jail in
Basra by gunmen dressed as police, and shot.
One person is killed in a Sunni mosque in
Baquba, where a bomb targeting an Iraqi army patrol also kills 12 people.
(BBC)
A roof at a marketplace in Moscow collapses under heavy snow at approximately 4:50 am local time (0150 UTC), killing at least forty-nine people. The 1970s-built building had the same architect as the
Transvaal Water Park, whose roof collapsed in 2004 killing 28 people.
(BBC)(CNN)
A
magnitude 7.5 earthquake occurred at 12:19 am local time (Feb.22, 2219 UTC) in southern
Mozambique, 140 miles (230 km) southwest of the coastal city of
Beira, centered near
Espungabera, a small farming town in a remote and sparsely populated area near the border with
Zimbabwe.
(USGS),
(AP)
Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy: A
Finnish editor of the paper Kaltio, Jussi Vilkuna, was fired after refusing to remove a Muhammed-cartoon on the online version of the paper. This cartoon featured a westerner in the grips of Muhammad (who was masked), and Finnish politicians burning Danish flags.
(NewsRoom Finland)
It is revealed that
MI5 (British Intelligence) withheld vital anti-terrorism intelligence just months before the
Omagh bombing in 1998.
[3]
Venezuela orders US airlines to reduce the number of flights into the country by up to 70% in a dispute over safety regulations.
(BBC)
NASA announces the unusual
gamma-ray burstGRB 060218 that is not yet explained and may be a predecessor to a
supernova. It was located 440 million light-years away and lasted for 33 minutes, closer and longer than any previous gamma ray burst.
(Space.com)
A
New Jersey company is accused of harvesting body parts from
New York funeral homes for transplants. An estimated 12,000 people received the body parts.
(Washington Post)
Securitas depot robbery: British police announce that the total amount of cash stolen in last Wednesday's
Securitas depot robbery was
GBP£53 million (
USD$92.6 million, €77.8 million). Five more people have been arrested in the last 24 hours and 10 properties searched in the ongoing investigation.
(BBC)
The
United NationsWorld Food Programme says that it needs 11 million USD to be able to continue its
Afghanistan operations to June this year. "Poor and hungry schoolchildren who receive take-home rations of food as an incentive to attend school will receive at most half their usual ration and in some cases none at all", says the U.N. More than 50% of the nation's children are malnourished.
(Reuters)
Another series of bomb attacks in southern
Iranian cities of
Dezful and
Abadan wounds at least six people. Eight people died when bombs exploded in the provincial capital
Ahwaz a month ago. The Iranian government again accuses Britain of being behind the attacks, although a small Arab separatist group claimed responsibility on its website.
(BBC)
Post-invasion Iraq: The deadline set by the kidnappers of
Jill Caroll, after which they said they would execute her if their demands were not met, passes with no word yet on whether she has been killed. An Iraqi official says he believes she is still alive and that they know her original kidnapper's name and address, although Carroll may have been sold to another group since.
(AP)(ABC)(CSMonitor)
Sixty-eight people have been killed so far today in
Baghdad,
Iraq. Car bombs and mortar barrages rocked Baghdad streets, as news
pundits speculate about the possibility of Iraq becoming embroiled in a full-fledged
civil war.
(MSNBC)
Baghdad's primary
morgue says that the death toll resulting from violence after the
Al Askari Mosque bombing has surpassed 1,300, contrary to earlier information from most news media and the United States military.
(Washington Post)
Congolese government forces and
United Nations peacekeepers (part of the
MONUC mission) engage militia fighters in the wartorn
Ituri district in a battle to retake the town of Tchei. The operation is in conjunction with a more aggressive disarmament policy by the U.N. peacekeepers in the region.
(CNN)
The controversy surrounding the
Muhammad cartoons escalates as newspapers in France, Germany, Italy and Spain republish the controversial pictures in defiance of widespread Muslim protests in the Middle East and elsewhere.
(BBC)
A leaked memo in the UK, detailing a conversation between U.S. President
George W. Bush and British Prime Minister
Tony Blair in 2003, has revealed that Blair intended to follow the US into
Iraq even without a
UN resolution, and that Bush considered provoking a response from Iraq using falsely marked
Lockheed U-2 spy planes to provide an excuse for war.
(Guardian)
The United States
expelsVenezuelan diplomat Jeny Figueredo Frias in retaliation for yesterday's expulsion of suspected US spy John Correa from Venezuela. A
State Department spokesman described the move as part of "tit-for-tat diplomatic games".
(VOA)
Queues build up at vendors as the
EuroMillionslottery offers a jackpot of
€180 million after 11 successive rollovers (statistically expected once in 25 years). Some British vendors report a 1200% increase in sales. EuroMillions tickets are sold in Austria, Belgium. France, Ireland,
Luxembourg, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. An Irish woman won €115,436,126 last July.
(BBC),
(Guardian). UPDATE: The winning numbers were 9 21 30 39 50 with Lucky Star numbers 01 and 03; the jackpot was shared between three winning tickets, two in France and one in Portugal.
(UK National Lottery)
Two
car bombs explode minutes apart in southern
Baghdad, killing at least 16 people and wounding more than 90 others.
(CNN)
A strong
earthquake registering magnitude 5.9 shakes northeastern Japan, but there is no danger of a
tsunami.
(CNN)
Georgia, US. 17 human rights activists sentenced to prison including one 81-year-old retired World War II Veteran for trespassing at
Fort Benning military camp.
(Scoop, New Zealand)
Twenty-seven out of 35 countries on the
IAEA's Board of Governors vote to refer the
nuclear program of Iran to the
United Nations Security Council out of concern over Iran's plans to enrich nuclear materials and to refuse IAEA inspection of the process.
(BBC)
A stampede at a sports stadium in
Pasig City,
Metro Manila,
Philippines, kills 73 and injures more than 320, mostly women. Tens of thousands of people had gathered to watch the anniversary presentation of the popular
ABS-CBN early afternoon TV gameshow, Wowowee.
(BBC)(CNN)
Israel bombs a sport club in Gaza. When people came to help the wounded they fired another missile. When they manage to get a badly injured into a car a third missile is fired at the car killing three persons.
(SFT)[permanent dead link]
Mauritania denounces amendments to an oil contract made by former leader
Maaouiya Ould Taya with
Woodside Petroleum. The Mauritanian authorities declare that the amendments were signed "outside the legal framework of normal practice, to the great detriment of our country", and could cost Mauritania up to $200 million a year.
(BBC)(Radio France International)
Isabelle Dinoire, the French woman who received the world's first partial face transplant appears before the media for the first time, saying she expects to resume a normal life.
(CBC)
The Austrian
Embassy in
Tehran is pelted with stones by some 200 youths, in retaliation for the printing of the
Muhammed Cartoons by three Austrian newspapers.
[1]
As the
Danish embassy in
Tehran is attacked by hundreds of protesters, five people are killed in
Afghanistan as protests against European Muhammed cartoons sweep across the country.
(BBC)
Japan urges
North Korea to return to
six-party talks on its nuclear program and halt
missile development, but a Japanese official said Pyongyang insists that Washington drop sanctions first.
(Reuters)
The number of people attempting to view illegal
child pornography on the web has risen since 2004, according to
British Telecommunications (BT). They use a system to block sites carrying the images of children, which has been getting some 35,000 hits a day for the past four months.
(BBC)
Thousands of native South Americans march 900 miles (1,400 km) south of
Rio de Janeiro to the spot where
Sepé Tiaraju was killed in 1756, demanding that land in
Brazil be given for a new "
Guaraní nation."
U.S. forces are searching for the Error: {{
USS}} invalid control parameter: 06 (
help) attacker who escaped from prison last Friday. According to
Interpol, an
al-Qaida operative who had been sentenced to death for plotting the
bombing of the USS Cole in 2000 escaped with a group of convicts from their prison last week in
Sanaá,
Yemen.
(BBC) This is not the first group to have escaped. Ten other chief suspects escaped from custody in Aden during April 2003
(BBC)
In
Turkey,
Istanbul's police chief said a bomb blast at an Internet cafe in the city had wounded 14 people.
(ABC)
A suicide bombing occurs during a
Shiite Muslim procession in
Hangu, Pakistan, resulting in riots during the Muslim branch's most important holiday,
Ashura. At least 27 people were killed and dozens injured in the result violence.
(ABC)
A large-scale slaughter is planned at a
Nigerian farm where thousands of chickens have died from
bird flu.
(BBC)
Mannheim, Germany—
Ernst Zündel, a German white supremacist extradited from Canada on accusations he repeatedly
denied the Holocaust, returned to court Thursday to face charges of incitement, libel and disparaging the dead.
(ABC)
Finance chiefs of the
G8 countries meet this weekend in Moscow with energy security at the top of their agenda.
(BBC)
Israel has criticised Russia's decision to invite
Hamas leaders to Moscow for talks, following the militant group's victory in Palestinian elections.
(BBC)
H5N1 avian flu virus:
Bulgaria, Greece, and Italy report their first cases of H5N1-infected wild birds, all swans thought to have migrated from Russia in recent months.
(BBC)
Steve Fossett completes the world record for the longest non-stop, unrefuelled, flight when the
Virgin Atlantic Global Flyer lands at
Bournemouth airport in southern England after a flight lasting 76 hours and 45 minutes which covered a distance of 26,389.3 miles (42,469.46 km). The aircraft had to declare an emergency landing after suffering total electrical failure, and had only 200 lb (90 kg) of fuel remaining.
(BBC)
A royal tomb from the 2nd or 3rd century BC is found in
Pella, Greece. It is the largest Greek tomb found to date. This announcement comes a few days after the Egyptian tomb in the Valley of the Kings was found.
(Reuters)
British tabloid The News of the World releases a video shot in 2004 by a
British soldier showing the repeated kicking and beating of four
Iraqi teenagers with batons by other British soldiers. The video contains a commentary by the cameraman urging the soldiers on. The
Ministry of Defence began an investigation. One man was arrested on 13 February and two more on 14 February.
(News of the World)(BBC)(Video)
United States military strategists reportedly are developing plans for a possible major military bombing campaign against
Iranian nuclear sites as a "last resort" in the event that diplomatic efforts fail to convince
Iran to voluntarily end what Western governments consider to be efforts at acquiring a
nuclear weapon.
(The Telegraph)Archived 2008-03-08 at the
Wayback Machine
In a televised address to the nation,
Kenyan President
Mwai Kibaki announces the resignations of two government ministers in connection with two separate corruption scandals, the "
Goldenberg" and "
Anglo Leasing" affairs. Energy minister
Kiraitu Murungi and education minister
George Saitoti both deny any wrongdoing.
(BBC)
In
Baghdad, a
suicide bomber detonates an explosive belt in a line of people waiting to receive government payments, killing at least eight other people and wounding about 30, including children and police.
(CTV)Archived 2009-01-16 at the
Wayback Machine
Saddam Hussein is forced to attend the latest session of his trial, wearing a traditional Islamic robe rather than his usual crisp suit, as he shouted "Down with Bush."
(CTV)Archived 2009-01-16 at the
Wayback Machine
Tongan Prime Minister Prince
Lavaka Ata 'Ulukalala resigns suddenly on 11 February 2006, and also gives up his other cabinet portfolios. He was replaced in the interim by the elected Minister of Labour, Dr.
Feleti Sevele.
(Pacific Magazine)
Kenyan Police instruct 20 leading figures not to leave the country as investigations into two corruption scandals, the
Goldenberg and
Anglo Leasing scandals continue. Among the people told to hand in their passports is
George Saitoti whose resignation as education minister was announced by President
Mwai Kibaki yesterday. Meanwhile, 80 Members of Parliament have demanded the resignation of Deputy President
Moody Awori, who is accused of involvement in the
Anglo Leasing affair.
(BBC)
A moderate
earthquake shakes east India, recording a 5.7-magnitude.
(Reuters)
A top
Iranian official confirms that
Iran has resumed small-scale enrichment of
uranium at one of its main nuclear facilities last week.
(CBC)
Iran's veterinary organization said the first cases of the deadly
H5N1 strain of bird flu had been detected in wild
swans in the Islamic Republic.
(Reuters)
The New York Times reveals the existence of a "destabilization plan" for Hamas, winner of the Palestinian legislative elections. The intention is, according to Israeli officials and Western diplomats, to make sure that Hamas officials fail in fulfilling their campaign promises so that the president,
Mahmoud Abbas, is forced to call a new election. The plan would cut all Quartet funds from the Palestinian National Authority (PA), while Israel would refuse to release taxes and custom duties it collects on behalf of the PA and also block movements between the West Bank and the Gaza strip. A third of the Palestinian population would suffer from the Quartet's decision to cut funds to the PA.
(NYT)
In
Israel, the
Tel Aviv Magistrates Court sentences
Omri Sharon to a nine-month prison term, a nine-month suspended sentence, and a NIS 300,000 (USD 65,000) fine after he is convicted of violating political fundraising law and providing false testimony.
(Ynetnews)
The United States and Israel deny a "destabilisation plan" of Hamas, winner of the January 2006 legislative elections, which was revealed on February 14 by the New York Times. However, they do acknowledge that they would cut off funds and transfers of tax-receipts to the Palestinian Authority. The aim of the "destabilisation plan" was to push the PA to organize new elections
(NYT).
Haitian elections, 2006: In a case of apparent
electoral fraud, hundreds of ballot boxes are discovered in a garbage dump in
Haiti, throwing the results of the elections there in doubt.
CBC
A
United Nations report condemns the continued existence of Camp Delta, and multiple breaches of
Human Rights by the US.
(BBC). The UN says that prisoners held there should be immediately charged or released. Like many other countries that the UN Human Rights
watchdog has heavily criticised, the US has attacked the report as invalid
(BBC). The UN report is available online
as a large 54 page PDF
US civil liberties groups have called for an inquiry into treatment of Iraqi detainees at Abu Ghraib after new images of apparent abuse were shown.
(BBC)
A
mudslide in
Saint Bernard, Southern Leyte, Philippines, has buried more than 300 homes and an elementary school. An estimated 300 people are killed, with more than 1500 missing.
(CNN)
Former
Malawian Minister of Education and head of the country's anti-corruption campaign
Yusuf Mwawa is sentenced to five years in prison for
fraud and
corruption.
(BBC)
Venezuelan president
Hugo Chávez threatens to cut off oil supplies after U.S. Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice claims that the Venezuelan government poses "one of the biggest problems" in the region.
(CNN)
Italian reform minister
Roberto Calderoli resigns after criticism for wearing a
T-shirt depicting the
cartoons. The incident triggered yesterday's rioting outside the Italian
consulate in
Benghazi,
Libya, in which at least 10 people died.
(BBC)
Retired scientist Don Kennedy suggests the entire population of
Tuvalu should move to the Fijian island of
Kioa, to preserve Tuvaluan culture as their homeland becomes uninhabitable due to
rising sea levels.
(Pacific Magazine)
Russian and
Iranian negotiators begin talks today on a plan that may have the former enrich uranium for the latter, as part of the international community's efforts to dissuade Iran from doing its own enrichment.
(AP)
Enron: The
High Court in London rules that three bankers may be extradited to the United States to face trial on Enron-related charges. The three, David Bermingham, Gary Mulgrew and Giles Darby, former executives at
Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC unit
Greenwich NatWest, had argued unsuccessfully that since the majority of the alleged offenses took place in Britain, any trial should be held in that country.
(Houston Chronicle)
Eight men are acquitted of the 1999 murder which has many hundreds of witnesses of model
Jessica Lal in India. The acquittal causes outrage among the Indian community with petitions to President
Abdul Kalam for a review of the case
(Hindustan Times)Archived 2007-10-18 at the
Wayback Machine.
A man in
Manhattan, New York City is hospitalized for treatment of
anthrax infection after being exposed to animal hides from the
Côte d'Ivoire which he used for making drums.
(Newsday)
At least 11 people are abducted from jail in
Basra by gunmen dressed as police, and shot.
One person is killed in a Sunni mosque in
Baquba, where a bomb targeting an Iraqi army patrol also kills 12 people.
(BBC)
A roof at a marketplace in Moscow collapses under heavy snow at approximately 4:50 am local time (0150 UTC), killing at least forty-nine people. The 1970s-built building had the same architect as the
Transvaal Water Park, whose roof collapsed in 2004 killing 28 people.
(BBC)(CNN)
A
magnitude 7.5 earthquake occurred at 12:19 am local time (Feb.22, 2219 UTC) in southern
Mozambique, 140 miles (230 km) southwest of the coastal city of
Beira, centered near
Espungabera, a small farming town in a remote and sparsely populated area near the border with
Zimbabwe.
(USGS),
(AP)
Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy: A
Finnish editor of the paper Kaltio, Jussi Vilkuna, was fired after refusing to remove a Muhammed-cartoon on the online version of the paper. This cartoon featured a westerner in the grips of Muhammad (who was masked), and Finnish politicians burning Danish flags.
(NewsRoom Finland)
It is revealed that
MI5 (British Intelligence) withheld vital anti-terrorism intelligence just months before the
Omagh bombing in 1998.
[3]
Venezuela orders US airlines to reduce the number of flights into the country by up to 70% in a dispute over safety regulations.
(BBC)
NASA announces the unusual
gamma-ray burstGRB 060218 that is not yet explained and may be a predecessor to a
supernova. It was located 440 million light-years away and lasted for 33 minutes, closer and longer than any previous gamma ray burst.
(Space.com)
A
New Jersey company is accused of harvesting body parts from
New York funeral homes for transplants. An estimated 12,000 people received the body parts.
(Washington Post)
Securitas depot robbery: British police announce that the total amount of cash stolen in last Wednesday's
Securitas depot robbery was
GBP£53 million (
USD$92.6 million, €77.8 million). Five more people have been arrested in the last 24 hours and 10 properties searched in the ongoing investigation.
(BBC)
The
United NationsWorld Food Programme says that it needs 11 million USD to be able to continue its
Afghanistan operations to June this year. "Poor and hungry schoolchildren who receive take-home rations of food as an incentive to attend school will receive at most half their usual ration and in some cases none at all", says the U.N. More than 50% of the nation's children are malnourished.
(Reuters)
Another series of bomb attacks in southern
Iranian cities of
Dezful and
Abadan wounds at least six people. Eight people died when bombs exploded in the provincial capital
Ahwaz a month ago. The Iranian government again accuses Britain of being behind the attacks, although a small Arab separatist group claimed responsibility on its website.
(BBC)
Post-invasion Iraq: The deadline set by the kidnappers of
Jill Caroll, after which they said they would execute her if their demands were not met, passes with no word yet on whether she has been killed. An Iraqi official says he believes she is still alive and that they know her original kidnapper's name and address, although Carroll may have been sold to another group since.
(AP)(ABC)(CSMonitor)
Sixty-eight people have been killed so far today in
Baghdad,
Iraq. Car bombs and mortar barrages rocked Baghdad streets, as news
pundits speculate about the possibility of Iraq becoming embroiled in a full-fledged
civil war.
(MSNBC)
Baghdad's primary
morgue says that the death toll resulting from violence after the
Al Askari Mosque bombing has surpassed 1,300, contrary to earlier information from most news media and the United States military.
(Washington Post)
Congolese government forces and
United Nations peacekeepers (part of the
MONUC mission) engage militia fighters in the wartorn
Ituri district in a battle to retake the town of Tchei. The operation is in conjunction with a more aggressive disarmament policy by the U.N. peacekeepers in the region.
(CNN)