Lenovo Group, the largestChinese computer company acquires the personal computer business ofIBM forUS$ 1.25 billion in cash, and Lenovo assumes $500 million of IBM's debt.(Reuters)
More than thirtyIraqis are killed and more than fifty are wounded as abomb goes off at a funeral.(CBC)
Italy intends to publish its own view of the killing ofNicola Calipari. Italian media has released classified details about a report theUnited States made.(BBC)
Following anIsraeli raid on thePalestinian city ofTulkarm, one Israeli soldier and one Islamic Jihad leader are killed. The soldier was killed in a gunfight with 3 members ofPalestinian Islamic Jihad. The three were suspected to have been part of the cell which was involved inTel Aviv "Stage" club bombing in February 2005. Shafiq Abdul Rani, the leader of the Jihad cell inTulkarm was killed and another militant was arrested.(Haaretz)
Israeli Minister of Jerusalem and Diaspora AffairsNatan Sharansky resigned from the government as a protest againstAriel Sharon's unilateral disengagement plan.(Haaretz),(BBC)
Guardsman Anthony John Wakefield, fromNewcastle upon Tyne, has been killed inIraq after being injured in hostile action in the southern town ofAl Amarah, bringing the total ofUK servicemen killed in the Iraq conflict to 87.(BBC)
Cairo terrorism: Following Saturday'sterrorist incidents inCairo, some 200 people are brought in for questioning by Egyptian police. Ten people were injured in the attacks, and three militants were killed.(BBC)
ATogolese constitutional court announcesFaure Gnassingbé as a winner of presidential election. Refugees continue to flee to neighboring countries.(News24)
InPeru, four members of a government health team are found with their throats slit.
An explosion in a football stadium inMogadishu,Somalia kills 15 people when new prime ministerAli Mohammed Ghedi begins his speech. Authorities later state that a security guard accidentally set off agrenade.(IOL)(IHT)
Israeli troops shoot dead two teenage boys. The cousins were protesting against the building of theIsraeli West Bank barrier among a group of people, many of whom were throwing stones at the soldiers. According to the Stop the Wall group, protestors were chased by Israeli soldiers using live ammunition.(BBC)
ThePakistani government announces that it has capturedAbu Faraj al-Libbi. If verified, this is the most importantAl-Qaeda suspect to have been arrested thus far.(BBC)
Fatah wins 55 percent of the seats in municipal elections held in 84 cities across theWest Bank andGaza.Hamas wins about a third of the seats. Fatah won a majority of seats inBeit Lahiya,Hawara andTulkarem, Hamas won the majority inQalqiliya andEl Boureij. Election participation was 70 percent in the West Bank and 80 percent in Gaza.(CNN)
At 04:28BST, TheLabour Party wins a parliamentary majority. Despite a substantially reducedmajority,Tony Blair becomes the first LabourPrime Minister to lead his party to three election victories.(Reuters)Archived 2005-05-15 at theWayback Machine(Scotsman) He ends up with a majority of 66, on the lowest percentage vote for a government in modern history.
TheTime Traveler Convention was held atMIT, in the hopes of making contact withtime travelers from the future. Theconvention was organized byAmal Dorai with help from current and former residents of the MIT living groupPi Tau Zeta. The convention was held at 22:45EDT at the East Campus Courtyard and in Walker Memorial at MIT. That location is 42.360007 degrees northlatitude, 71.087870 degrees westlongitude. The spacetime coordinates continue to be publicized prominently and indefinitely, so that future time travelers will be aware and have the opportunity to have attended.[1]
Worldwide celebrations commemorate the 60th anniversary ofV-E Day, the official end of World War II in Europe with the capitulation of Germany underKarl Dönitz. In several German cities, Germans also mourn today the millions of peoplemassacred under theNational Socialist (Nazi) regime in the1930s and1940s.(Wikinews)
United States PresidentGeorge W. Bush uses the anniversary of V-E Day to call theSoviet Union's occupation of theBaltic states after World War II "one of the greatest wrongs of history". He also attended Europe's third largest warcemetery in the town ofMargraten, the Netherlands.(CNN)
The death toll continues to rise due toflooding inSomalia and theSomalia Region ofEthiopia. InApril 2005, heavy rains generated widespread flooding and caused theShebelle River to burst itsbanks. As ofMay 5, the flooding in Somali Region alone has caused over 100 confirmed deaths and widespread property damage affecting over 100,000 persons. The floods have also destroyed shelters housing 25,000 Somali refugees inKenya.(UN IRIN)(UN News)
Canadian House of Commonsopposition members of parliament pass a motion to instruct a house committee to call for the resignation of the government. The 153 votes of theConservatives andBloc Québécois defeat the 150 votes of theLiberals andNDP due to three absences. Although the motion is classified as a procedural instruction to a committee and not ano confidence motion, the Tories and BQ call on the government to resign.(CBC)
TheIrish government gives the go-ahead for the building of the controversialM3 motorway through the archaeologically sensitiveTara-Skyrne Valley, amid an international outcry by academics and environmentalists.(RTÉ)
CanadianPrime MinisterPaul Martin has setMay 19 for a vote in theHouse of Commons on the federal budget. He said if his government loses the vote of confidence, he will seek the dissolution of Parliament. This means an election could come as early as June 27.(CBC)
Heavy exchanges of fire in theIsraeli-Lebanese border.Hezbollah fired at least 9mortar shells orKatyusha rockets on outposts in the disputedShebaa Farms. TheIDF retaliated byartillery fire andIAF aircraft bombed 3 Hezbollah positions. Israel maintains thatLebanon bears full responsibility for the border attacks, committed byHezbollah and localPalestinian groups, while Hezbollah maintain that they are acting in retaliation for Israeli attacks onLebanese territory including a hit on civilian houses in the village ofKfar Shouba.(Haaretz),(BBC)
Thousands ofUzbeks take over a high securityjail inAndijan, freeing thousands of prisoners in protest against the jail sentence of 23 businessmen who were accused of beingIslamicextremists.(CBC)
Violence breaks out in Andijan and in the capitalTashkent. There are reports of firefights in the streets andsnipers firing into the crowd. A political rally in Andijan demands the resignation of the government, which claims that the situation is under control.(BBC)(Interfax)(CNN)
At least twenty protesters – some reports say as many as 500 – are shot dead in Uzbekistan. Thirty soldiers have been taken hostage as a result.(Yahoo!)(BBC)(The Guardian)
A man is fatally shot outsideIsrael'sembassy inTashkent. The man, who has a history of mental illness, was carrying wooden objects, and guards suspected him of being asuicide bomber. He walked through to the building, despite warning shots in the air and a bullet to the leg, and was eventually shot dead. TheAmerican embassy reported he was a suicide bomber and oneUzbek police officer said the man was carrying only a harmless package. However, it was later reported that the man was carrying a mockexplosive belt.(Haaretz),(Ynet)
Michael Ross becomes the first person executed in theU.S. state ofConnecticut since1960. He was convicted in1987 of the murder of four girls and young women. He confessed to having committed four more killings.(CNN)
Anime Central 8 kicks off today with over 10000 attendees.
Las Vegas, Nevada celebrates its centennial on this date. Celebration is citywide and the mayor cuts the world's largest birthday cake.
Elections for mayor and city council inZagreb.Milan Bandić wins and enters his third term.
National Elections were held inEthiopia. The elections, which over 90% of the electorate voted in, were later marred by protests and violence. The ruling partyEPRDF won its third term.
Unrest in Uzbekistan:Uzbek soldiers seal off the town ofQorasuv after locals take over government buildings. The government denies giving an order to fire at protesters but they do not let journalists or theRed Cross visit the affected areas to evaluate the situation. Phone and internet access has been cut. There are varying reports of at least 700 people dead and continuing firefights inAndijan and other towns likeTeshiktosh.Saidjahon Zaynabitdinov, head of the local human rights advocacy groupAppeal, says that government troops had killed 200 inPakhtabad and expects mass arrests. Opposition supporters and human rights campaigners rally in the capitalTashkent. Hundreds ofrefugees have fled over the border ofKyrgyzstan; they believe that the death toll may be in thousands.(IHT)(CBC)(Reuters AlertNet)(Reuters)[permanent dead link](CNN)(BBC)(Moscow Times)(Wikinews)
According to a spokesman for theGeorgian Interior Ministry, ahand grenade found among spectators during a speech byU.S. PresidentGeorge W. Bush last week inTbilisi failed to function, although it was live and could have exploded. It was originally thought to have been a dummy grenade.(CNN)
Unrest in Uzbekistan: 36 foreign diplomats visitAndijan in a government-sponsored trip and under heavy guard. TheUzbek government continues to deny that civilians were killed. The official death toll has risen to 169 but some human rights groups state that it can be as high as 750. A group of Islamic rebels led by a man calledBaxtiyor Rahimov claim that they now control the border town ofQorasuv.(Mosnews)(BBC)(IHT)(Forbes)
Scientists discover that the2004 Indian Ocean earthquake was the longest ever recorded — lasting nearly ten minutes when most powerful earthquakes last no more than a few seconds — and shook the entire planet.(CNN)
Reggie Miller plays his last game as an Indiana Pacer, losing to the Detroit Pistons in Game 6 of the second round of the NBA Playoffs. He tallied 27 points in his final game.
Reports say that five corpses are found and 200 men are safe in a high mountain encampment in theAndes after aChilean Army instruction raid got hit by a severe storm. 47 recruits are missing and temperatures drop to -15ºC (5ºF) in the area.(Reuters) (Link dead as of 02:43,15 January2007 (UTC))
InTogo, talks to resolve a crisis after last month's disputed presidential election end without agreement. Refugees continue to arrive inBenin.(BBC)(Reuters AlertNet) (Link dead as of 02:43,15 January2007 (UTC))
In visitingCalvin College to give a commencement speech,U.S. PresidentGeorge W. Bush ismet with a petition by a third of the college faculty, stating "We believe your administration has launched an unjust and unjustified war inIraq.", and strongly criticizing his policies.(Fox News)
InShenzhen,China, what is believed to be the largest urban demolition blast in China uses 1,500 lb (680 kg) of explosives to simultaneously topple 16 tower blocks. Because of misplaced charges, one tower does not topple, but is reduced from 14 stories to 12, and will have to be demolished manually.(Xinhua (Pictures))(The Star (Malaysia))(Boston Globe).
Health officials inNorway fear aLegionnaires' Diseaseepidemic after the death of four people during the last five days and the hospitalisation of many others in southeastern county ofØstfold, particularly in theFredrikstad-Sarpsborg urban area. At least 24 people are known to be infected, with many of them in critical condition. Legionnaires' Disease killed seven people in the southwestern city ofStavanger in 2001, in an outbreak that was later traced to a hotelair conditioning system.(Aftenposten)
11,000 journalists and other employees of theBBC go on a 24-hourstrike to protest over approximately 4,000 planned job cuts. TV and Radio news output has been the worst affected, with few new stories materialising and only a skeleton service being offered.(BBC)(Reuters UK)(Bloomberg)(BBC strike Q&A)
TheChilean army buries 24 of 46 conscripts that died in a snow storm in theAndes. Presidential candidates have called for an end to compulsorymilitary service. 13 bodies still unfound.(SantiagoTimes)(BBC)
CanadianLiberal candidateTodd Russell wins a crucialby-election in the federal riding ofLabrador. This result consolidates the shaky Liberal balance of power in the federal government.(CBC)
Jurors in the criminal trial ofRichard M. Scrushy, founder and former CEO ofHealthSouth Corporation, send notes to the presiding judge that indicate they are having difficulty reaching unanimity. The case is part of the wave of U.S. corporate scandals of recent years. Prosecutors allege that Mr. Scrushy and others conspired to overstate profits at HealthSouth by circa $2.7 billion, in the period1996 -2002.(Reuters)
Vivian Liberto, first wife of Johnny Cash, dies due to complications from surgery to remove lung cancer.
In Russia, a 10.00 AM explosion in apower substation causes apower outage that cuts electricity from Moscow and four surrounding regions. Government blamesRAO UES and the Prosecutor General's Office opens an investigation for "criminal negligence". UES CEOAnatoly Chubais accepts responsibility. Energy ministerViktor Khristenko states that the power cuts have nothing to do with terrorism.(Moscow Times)(RIA Novosti)(IHT)
The KingFahd of Saudi Arabia, has been taken tohospital, overtly for tests; however, theBBC quotes an unofficial source who claims the King has water in hislungs.(BBC)
Ethiopian general elections:European Union observers report that the National Elections Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) may be losing control of the vote counting for the recentMay 15 election, potentially marring the most open election in Ethiopian history. Meanwhile the NEBE has postponed announcement of the election's provisional results untilJune 8, due to the volume of complaints of election irregularities.(CBC)
Popular singerMorrissey's official Website released the following statement: "Morrissey will regrettably not be appearing at theIsle Of Wight Festival on the 11th of June as scheduled. The pressure of preparing the new album and losing his drummer earlier this month has made it impossible to do the gig without massively compromising both the gig and the album. Apologies to all the fans, the organisers and the people of the Isle Of Wight."[3][permanent dead link]
CaliforniaState SenatorJoseph Dunn, local school officials, and environmental professionals meet with parents ofKennedy Elementary School students in a town-hall style meeting inSanta Ana Thursday evening. The parents air their concerns over health issues at schools and workplaces, including a rash ofleukemia cases in thestudent population, and begin a dialogue they have been working toward for years.(Wikinews)
ALondon newspaper reports thatMerrill Lynch,New York, is trying to persuade at least seventeen members of thecorporate derivatives team of rival investment bankJP Morgan to defect. An anonymous source/headhunter quoted in the newspaper predicted that the seventeen will be working at Merrill Lynch by the end of the summer.(Reuters)
Pope Benedict XVI says he wants to heal the rift with theOrthodox Church during his papacy. He spoke to hundreds-of-thousands of people attending a mass in the southern Italian city ofBari during his first pilgrimage away from theVatican since he was elected less than two months ago.(VOA News)
China andJapan have opened two days of closed-door negotiations inBeijing aimed at resolving a long-running dispute over natural gas drilling rights in a disputed area of theEast China Sea(VOA News)
