The2005 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 anelectrical substation. The riots have caused increased strains between the authorities and the inhabitants of the poor suburbs.(AP)
Measles Initiative (MI) announces that since 1999, more than 200 million children inAfrica have been vaccinated againstmeasles, reducing the infection rate by 60 percent and saving 1 million lives.(allAfrica)
Conflict in Iraq: SevenU.K. troops accused of murdering anIraqi civilian have had their cases dropped after a judge ruled that there was insufficient evidence against the soldiers and that theIraqi witnesses lied.(BBC)
Clashes continue inDebre Berhan, while government forces succeed in pacifyingBahir Dar andAwasa. The Ethiopian capitalAddis Ababa remained calm, with few shops open and no taxis operating.(BBC)
One of three men arrested last month in theU.K. is charged under theTerrorism Act 2000. The others were charged with, among other things, conspiracy to murder and possessing bomb-making materials.(BBC)
The2005 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)
FormerPeruvian PresidentAlberto Fujimori arrives inSantiago, Chile after being exiled inJapan since2000. Although he is the subject of anInterpol arrest warrant, theChilean government said he cannot be arrested without an order from a Chilean judge. Fujimori arrives at a time of tension betweenChile andPeru over sea boundaries.(CNN) (Link dead as of 22:17, 14 January 2007 (UTC))
People in several parts ofGermany report severalfireballs in the sky, leading to speculation that they may beUFOs. Scientists report that the sightings are of theTaurid meteor shower.(Yahoo! News) (Link dead as of 20:57, 14 January 2007 (UTC))
The tenth night of the2005 French riots is reported as being the most intense yet, and the riots are now the subject of crisis meetings in theFrench government. PresidentJacques Chirac has called for the arrest, trial and punishment of the rioters.(BBC)
Sierra Leone Health and Sanitation Minister, Abator Thomas says thatpolio has been eradicated in the country, following a successful immunization program.(allAfrica)
TheUnited Nations is asking donors forUS$3.2 million to help sixWest African countries fightcholera. 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)
China closes allBeijingpoultry 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 againstavian influenza today.(Business Week)
Alberto Fujimori, former President ofPeru, is arrested inChile whilst a Chilean judge considers a Peruvian extradition request.(BBC)
In theUnited States, the visit of Iraqi Deputy PremierAhmed Chalabi to the Department of State and Department of the Treasury arouses controversy.(BBC)
ABoeing 777-200LR Worldliner jet aircraft breaks the record for the longest non-stop passenger airline flight. The 20,000-kilometer (12,500-mile) flight fromHong Kong toLondon lasted 23 hours.(Boeing)(BBC)
2005 Amman bombings: Following coordinated bombings inAmman on November 9,Jordanian police arrest a woman said to be the wife of a suicide attacker.(BBC)
TheUnited States government issues warning after receiving credible information that a terrorist threat may exist against official U.S. government facilities inGuangzhou,China.(IHT)
Knesset MemberOmri Sharon, the son of thePrime Minister of IsraelAriel 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)
TheNew 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 firmArchipelago 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 PresidentDick Cheney's keynote speech at the groundbreaking of theHoward Baker Center. The students protested in favor of ending theIraq 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 theBaker Center Protest.[8]
TheUnited States government has won its fight to keep its supervisory authority over theinternet through theICANN, despite opposition from many nations.(BBC)
Two car bombs strike outside a Baghdadinterior ministry building at the centre of a detainee abuse scandal.(BBC)
TheUnited States House of Representatives reject a Republican resolution offered byDuncan 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 RepublicanJean Schmidt is forced byDemocratic (and quiet Republican) protests to apologise to Pennsylvania DemocratJohn Murtha for quoting a Marine who said those wishing to "cut and run" from Iraq are called "cowards" The Marine she claimed to be quoting told he never said any such thing.(Associated Press)
Conflict in Iraq: FiveIraqi civilians, including three children, are shot dead byU.S. troops as they approached a checkpoint inBaquba. The minibus they were travelling in failed to stop as it approached a roadblock.(BBC)
As more than one millionZambians face severe food shortages due to drought, PresidentLevy Mwanawasa declares a national disaster and appealed for international food aid.(BBC)
Kenyan voters overwhelmingly reject a newconstitution, which would have given the president greater power, ina national referendum, which used symbols on the ballot paper to assist illiterate voters.(BBC)
CHOGM -Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting is currently underway in Malta.
The city ofKhabarovsk in Far EasternRussia declares a state of emergency as the 80 kmbenzene slick released by an explosion in a Chinese chemical plant on 13 November, which has already caused water supplies for 4 million inhabitants of theChinese city ofHarbin to be suspended, approaches theAmur river which is the main water source for 1.5 million people in Russia.(Forbes)(Moscow Times)
Prisoners at an Iraqi detention centre revealed to theBBC details of apparent widespread use oftorture and abuse in prisons and detention centres inIraq.(BBC)
There are further calls in themedia andParliament of theUnited Kingdom for Prime MinisterTony Blair to publish a full account of his discussions with USPresident Bush on the bombing ofAl Jazeera TV station headquarters inDoha. A memo on the conversation has been partly leaked to theDaily Mirror newspaper, before the Official Secrets Act was invoked.(Guardian) The widow of journalistTareq 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)
Papua New Guinea decides to evacuate the 1500 inhabitants ofCarteret Atoll toBougainville, 100 km away, over the next two years. The atolls, maximum elevation 1.5 metres, are the first inhabited land to be abandoned to rising sea levels and they are expected to be totally inundated by around2015.(Guardian)(Straits Times)
Former Israeli Prime MinisterShimon Peres says he may leave theIsraeli Labor Party to joinAriel Sharon's government after the next election if he is re-elected and if Sharon's new party is to form a government.(ABC)
TheGovernment ofLesotho offers all its citizens a freeHIV test. Aimed at stopping and reversing the spread ofAIDS, this is believed to be the first programme of its kind in the world.(BBC)
