White House Press SecretaryTony Snow said in a statement that "We are therefore increasingly concerned by mounting evidence that theSyrian andIranian governments,Hezbollah, and their Lebanese allies are preparing plans to toppleLebanon'sdemocratically elected government," and that "We're making it clear to everybody in the region that we think that there ought to be hands off the [Prime Minister Fouad]Siniora government; let them go about and do their business."(Reuters)Archived 2007-02-16 at theWayback Machine
Turkish archaeologistMuazzez Ilmiye Cig is acquitted of inciting religious hatred; a charge made after she published a book stating that theMuslim headscarf originated in the clothing ofSumerian priestesses who initiated young men into sex.(BBC News)
Iran fires dozens of unarmedmissiles to begin 10 days ofmilitarywar games, with "ranges from 300 km to up to 2,000 km," some of which have "the capacity to carry 1,400bombs," Iranian state television reported.(CNN).
TheNorth Korean Foreign Ministry releases a statement calling forJapan to leave thesix-party talks regarding DPRK's nuclear program because the Japanese officials involved in the talks are "imbeciles" and Japan is astate of the U.S. The Foreign Ministry accuses the United States of "warmongering."(ABC News)
Reactions to the verdicts against Saddam and his compatriots vary with approval from some areas, particularlyIran andShi'a regions ofIraq, but condemnation of the trial and process from some other quarters of theMuslim world. United States officials called it "a good day for the Iraqi people". TheEuropean Union, while welcoming the guilty verdicts, expresses its opposition to the imposition of the death penalty on humanitarian grounds.(CNN)(Reuters)
A large area of Western Europe is affected bypower cuts, starting when two high-voltage transmission lines fail in Germany, and causing acascading failure which also knocks out power in areas of France and other surrounding nations.(BBC News)
While Democrats have gained at least 5 seats in the Senate, the majority is still unclear. In order to take control, Democrats would need to take the seat in Virginia; they are leading in that state.(CNN)
Prime MinisterNuri al-Maliki states that he expects Hussein to be executed by the end of the year following conviction in his first trial, which Hussein is appealing.BBC
Operation Autumn Clouds: The Israeli Defense Forces began to pull its troops out of the northernGaza Strip town ofBeit Hanun, Palestinian officials said. Fifty-three Palestinians, including 16 civilians, and an IDF soldier have been killed since the operation began onOctober 31.(Haaretz)
Israel braces itself for revenge attacks after yesterday's dawn barrage in theGaza Strip leaves a family of 18 dead. The general in charge of Israel's Southern Command, Youav Galant, blames problems with the targeting device for theartillery strike.(The Times)
Iranian nuclear program:Israel threatens to launch air strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities "as a last resort", and the Iranian foreign ministry responds that it would "retaliate with a crushing blow" should Israel act.(BBC News)
Somali Civil War (2006): Heavy fighting broke out in centralSomalia, officials said, a day after the transitional government rejected a peace initiative with the country's Islamic movement.(The Jerusalem Post)
Voters inSouth Ossetia vote 98-99% in favor of independence fromGeorgia in areferendum. 78% of the vote has been counted. NeitherRussia nor theWest recognize the poll's legitimacy.(CNN)
Lebanese Environment MinisterYaacoub Sarraf, a Christian allied with Hezbollah, joins the rank of five other cabinet members who resigned on November 11, 2006. The cabinet later unanmously approved a UN-proposed international tribunal to try suspects over the assassination of Prime MinisterRafik Hariri inFebruary 2005.(Canadian Press)
Gunmen wearingIraqi police uniforms kidnap up to 100 people from a Higher Education Ministry building inBaghdad.(BBC News)
InKenya,flash flooding in theMombasa region claims at least 21 lives. The Kenyan Red Cross claims 60,000 people have been made homeless.(BBC News)
TheEuropean Union has reneweddiplomatic sanctions forUzbekistan. The sanctions, which have been violated repeatedly by thegovernments of Britain andGermany, prohibit the sale of weapons to the Uzbek government and visits from EU officials to Uzbekistan or vice versa. The sanctions were originally implemented after the Uzbek government would not allow an international investigation into theuprising in Andijan.(BBC News)
Australia andIndonesia sign a security treaty onLombok strengthening cooperation against terrorism, enhancing joint naval border patrols and formalising military exchanges. It also supports Indonesia's sovereignty over its provinces notablyWestern New Guinea.(ABC News)
TheParliament of South Africa passes a law to legalizesame-sex marriage. It must now be signed by PresidentThabo Mbeki to become law. The change was required by a constitutional court, which ruled last year that the current marriage law unconstitutionally discriminated on the basis ofsexual orientation.(CBC)
India andPakistan agreed today to set up a panel to combatterrorism during the first peace talks between the countries in almost a year. However, there has been no progress in the core dispute overKashmir, the mountain region both countries claim.(The Times)
Widespread flooding is reported inEast Africa especiallyKenya,Somalia andEthiopia, with at least five reported dead in Mogadishu where the Shabelle and Juba rivers have burst their banks and more than 70,000 people reported displaced in total.(SOS)
A patient in southernKazakhstan has been accidentally infected withHIV. Earlier this year 79 children were accidentally infected resulting in a political scandal and the dismissal of Health MinisterYerbolat Dosayev and several lower level officials. There was another widespread infection in 2005.(RIA Novosti)
TheEuropean Commission plan to charge €39.60 ($51 / £27)green tax per return ticket on long haul flights from and to theEU by 2011, angering U.S. airline companies as they will need to buy permits to cover their Europeanemissions.(The Times)
The Government of the Netherlands announces it will introduce abill banning the wearing of theburqa in public, stating that burqas disturb public order, citizens and safety. About 5% of theDutch population is Muslim, but only a small percentage of those wear the burqa.(BBC)
The Government of the People's Republic of China blocks internet access toWikipedia in China less than one week after a year-long ban was lifted.(CNN),(RSF)
About 150 soldiers and police officers fromAustralia andNew Zealand have arrived inTonga following an appeal for help to restore order after riots.(BBC)
Anexplosion on a train inEast India at 1240 GMT kills 5 and injures 25 to 50 others. It occurs near a station inWest Bengal, 550 kilometers (345 miles) north of the capitalKolkata. The cause of the explosion is unknown.(CNN)
ABerlin rapid transit train rear-ends a stationary maintenance vehicle at the busy Südkreuz station injuring 33 people, two of them seriously, officials said.(AP via Yahoo! News)
An 18-year-old armed man takes hostage several children and teachers of his former school in theGerman town ofEmsdetten. He dies from bullet wounds. According to a police spokesman, these wounds were self-inflicted. Several hostages are injured.(in German) (WDR)(Reuters)
A school bus carrying high school students falls nose-first 40 feet to the ground off anInterstate 565 overpass in downtownHuntsville, Alabama, killing four teenage girls.(Reuters)
Hinting atIran,Israeli Prime MinisterEhud Olmert tellsOrthodox Union (OU) in Jerusalem: "Israel's main problem is threat that comes from those who openly talk about wiping us off the map; we have heard these voices in the past; we can't afford to listen and not to react."(Yedioth Ahronoth)
Seven foreign oil workers are taken hostage inNigeria. Four people die in a rescue effort including one hostage, a soldier and two of thekidnappers.(AP via ABC News)
Hamas claims responsibility for a suicide bombing attack in which a 57-year-old grandmother killed herself. She also admits to the use of women as human shields in order to save militant gunmen,(Breitbart)
Convicted killer andloyalistMichael Stone is seized by security guards and police atNorthern Ireland's parliament building,Stormont, while carrying a gun, knife and several possibly "viable" explosive devices.(BBC)
Chad's armed forces have retakenAbéché with no major fighting being reported.(Aljazeera)
Chadian forces have also claimed to have retakenBiltine, but rebel forces deny these claims.(BBC)
After earlier reports from TheFrench embassy inChad saying a large column of rebel vehicles had been spotted heading towards the capitalN'Djamena, the embassy now says the progression has stopped.(BBC)
TheBritish government rejects proposals to increase the length of sound recording'scopyright protection from 50 years to 95 years. This means thatSir Cliff Richard's earliest songs will come out of copyright in2008, and the earliest songs recorded by theBeatles in2013. Songs composed and/or written will still have copyright for 70 years after the author's death.(BBC)
Chadian rebels said they shot down a government military plane with a captured ground-to-air missile in fighting near the eastern town ofAbeche, which they briefly seized at the weekend.(Reuters)
A Chadian government spokesman said his nation was in "astate of war" withSudan after a Chadian rebel group said it shot down a government plane.(CNN)
Government troops in theCentral African Republic, backed byFrench forces, have launched an offensive to retake the northeast town ofBirao from rebels, and have recaptured its airport, a French military spokesman said.(Reuters)
French forces have clashed with rebels in the Central African Republic during a government offensive to regain control of the northern town ofBirao.(BBC)
ThreeBritish Airways planes are grounded inLondon andMoscow due to positive traces ofradiation as the investigation into the death ofAlexander Litvinenko widens. British Airways will attempt to contact the thousands of passengers who have travelled on the planes recently.(CNN)
AnAustralian ArmyBlack Hawk helicopter is lost at sea off the coast ofFiji where it had been operating fromHMASKanimbla (L-51) preparing to evacuate Australian civilians in the event of a coup. The Fijian military is holding an exercise in the capitalSuva claiming there are fears of a "foreign intervention".(News Limited),(BBC)
TheUnited Nations Security Council unanimously passes a resolution that extends the mandate of theUnited States-ledmultinational force inIraq until December 31, 2007. The new resolution requires a review of the mandate to begin by June 15, 2007, or sooner if the government of Iraq requests it. The government of Iraq can also revoke the mandate before its end if it chooses to do so.(Guardian UK)
Super Typhoon Durian (Reming), the strongest Typhoon to hit Philippines, impacts the Bicol region. In Virac Catanduanes 265–300 km/h (165–186 mph) wind was recorded, while in Legaspi, Albay 4.66 mm (0.183 in) of rain is recorded and a total of 740 people are killed.
Windows Vista goes on sale for bulk license holders with home users being able to buy it on January 30, 2007.(CNN)
The science journalNature publishes a new reconstruction of theAntikythera mechanism based on high resolution X-ray tomography. The Antikythera mechanism is an ancient Greek mechanical analog computer designed to calculate astronomical positions.(Sydney Morning Herald)
TheU.S. Institute of Peace announces that theIraq Study Group report will be released to the public December 6, 2006. The group, charged with conducting a forward-looking assessment of the situation in Iraq, is expected to present their findings to PresidentGeorge W. Bush on that day. The report will be available for download on USIP'sweb site.(Reuters)
At least 300 people were killed inclashes betweenSudan's army and former rebels in the south earlier this week, aid workers say.(BBC)
