A survey of the world's strongest brands by Anholt-GMI has placed Australia as the leading "nation brand", ahead of Canada, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Last years top brand, Sweden, dropped to fifth place, whilst the United States dropped from fourth to eleventh place. (The Age)(NZ Herald)
Leaked communications between two U.S. military prosecutors reveal internal doubts about the military commission system established to tryGuantanamo Bay detainees. In separate emails, the prosecutors allege that the commission system is rigged in favour of the prosecution and that the cases being pursued are "marginal". In Australia, the Australian Government came under renewed pressure to withdraw its support for the commissions, under which Australian citizen David Hicks would be tried. (Wikinews)(ABC)
President Bush endorses intelligent design, stating that it should be taught in school. He is quoted as saying: "I think that part of education is to expose people to different schools of thought. You're asking me whether or not people ought to be exposed to different ideas, the answer is yes." A large portion of the scientific community does not recognise ID as a scientific theory and considers it to be creationistpseudoscience.(Boston Globe)
Anti-disengagement protesters rally in Sderot. The organizers said the crowd numbered 50,000, but police estimated the figure between 10,000 and 15,000. Some 18,000 troops and 12,000 police are involved in preventing protesters from getting to the Gush KatifIsraeli settlement on the Gaza Strip. (INN), (BBC), (HaAretz)
The Chinese national oil company CNOOC has withdrawn a bid for Unocal quelling the fears that the deal would give a foreign government too much control over American oil reserves. Chevron is now expected to acquire Unocal. (NY Times)
In Germany, police in Brandenburg announce that they have uncovered bones of nine newborn babies that had been buried in flower pots. The woman believed to be their mother, identified in newspapers as "Sabine H.", has been arrested in the worst case of individual infanticide in German history. (Reuters)(BBC)
More than 800 people have been wounded and 84 killed in the violence which erupted in Sudan after ex-rebel southern leader John Garang died in a helicopter crash. (BBC)(Reuters)
In Malaysia, former deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim receives apology and compensation from former chief of police Rahim Noor, who beat him September 1999 ago when he was arrested on dubious grounds. In return, Ibrahim drops the case again him. (Channel News Aaia)(Reuters)
Wikimania has started. Audio streams are available on Meta. Reuters has reported that new restrictions on editingWikipedia and other rules, such as removing the ability to edit articles with "stable contents", are being considered, allegedly to protect against vandalism. (Reuters) The report is based on an interview with Jimmy Wales conducted by the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung.(SZ)
Three Irishmen accused of training Colombian FARC rebels have returned to Ireland. (RTÉ)
Yahoo! has introduced a test version of a new search service Yahoo! Audio Search that it claims can comb through 50 million music, voice and other audio files. (Yahoo! Audio)
Oil for food scandal: the UN-appointed panel released its third report. According to it, Benon Sevan took nearly $150,000 in cash bribes. A former UN procurement officer Alexander Yakovlev has pleaded guilty to accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes from UN contractors. (BBC)
The Mayor of Baghdad, Alaa al-Tamimi, has been removed from office after 120 armed men, operating on behalf of the Interim Iraqi Government, stormed his office and installed the provincial governor in his place. (BBC)
A chemical plant explodes in Romulus, Michigan (20 miles southwest of Detroit). No persons were injured; nearby residents were evacuated from their homes.
The United States and the African Union have dropped their demands that last week's coup in Mauritania be reversed. The US is working with the military junta to ensure that multi-party elections are held as soon as possible (BBC)
Yahoo Inc. is negotiating to pay approx. US$1 billion, plus the transfer of its own China operations, in return for a 35% equity stake in Alibaba.com, China's second-largest e-commerce concern. (Reuters)
A private company, Space Adventures, announces plans to create a tourism program to send people around the Moon. A 5 1/2 day lunar flight could happen in 2008 or 2009, and cost about 100 million USD. (Yahoo), (CNN)
Scott Sullivan, once the chief financial officer of WorldCom, then the star witness in the prosecution of his former boss there, Bernie Ebbers, is sentenced to five years in prison.
Kashmiri insurgents kill two defence committee soldiers and three members of their families, and injured nine others, three of them critically, in Mahore area of Udhampur district. (Economic Times)
At least 80 people have died from water-borne diseases and over 5,000 are sick in the western Indian state of Maharashtra following recent floods. (BBC)
An unofficial strike by ground staff at Heathrow forces British Airways to cancel over 100 flights. Flights have resumed. (BBC)
International relations
Salva Kiir, the new vice-president of Sudan, is opposed to independence for the country's south. (BBC) The Ugandan government shuts down a radio station for broadcasting a debate on the cause of death of former Sudanese vice-president John Garang. (BBC)
Singapore President S. R. Nathan is returned unopposed by the Presidential Elections Committee, which ruled that he is the only eligible candidate out of 4 applicants. Singapore's nomination day is on October 17. (Bernama)
Kurmanbek Bakiyev has been sworn in as Kyrgyzstan's new president after winning nearly 90 percent of the vote last month in an election to find a successor to President Askar Akayev, who was ousted during protests in March.(Reuters)
Many countries celebrate the 60th Anniversary of the Victory in the Pacific and the end of World War II. Beijing holds an arts performance gala. In Japan, in a large-scale ceremony led by the Emperor Akihito, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi apologizes for people's suffering Japan caused during World War II. The ceremony was met with scattered protests. (Xinhua)(BBC China)
The Indonesian government and rebels from the Free Aceh Movement (Gam) sign a peace deal aimed at ending their near 30 year conflict. (BBC), (chosun.com). UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan applauded both parties for reaching a peaceful settlement of the dispute through dialogue, and commended Martti Ahtisaari, former President of Finland, for the mediation role that he played throughout the negotiation process. (XinHua)
ITN news announces it has uncovered classified documents which seem to imply that Jean Charles de Menezes, the man shot dead by British Police on July 22, 2005, was not wearing a heavy coat, did not jump the ticket barrier, was not given a warning, and did not at any time flee from police. (ITN)
At least two people have been killed and several others injured in a series of over 300 blasts across Bangladesh. An outlawed Islamist group, Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh, has claimed responsibility. (BBC)
OhioGovernorBob Taft pleads no contest to four counts of filing incomplete financial disclosure statements in Columbus, Ohio and a Franklin County municipal court judge finds him guilty, fines him $4,000, and orders him to apologize publicly. Taft says he will not resign his office. (The Cincinnati Enquirer)
3 members of the main SunniArabpolitical party in Iraq are kidnapped and killed as they put up posters urging people to vote in the upcoming elections in Mosul. (BBC)
A Jordanian soldier dies when three unexploded Katyusha rockets miss their targets and hit a warehouse and hospital in Aqaba, Jordan and hit a road by the airport in nearby Eilat, Israel. A group with alleged links to Al-Qaeda claims responsibility for the attacks, stating the targets were US ships docked at the Red Sea port in Aqaba, the USS Kearsarge and the USS Ashland. (CNN), (MSNBC)
Merck & Co. loses the first wrongful death lawsuit over its painkiller Vioxx, with a jury awarding $253 Million in damages. There have been over 4000 cases filed against Merck over this drug. (MSNBC)(CNN)
Pennsylvania police announced the discovery of a body presumed to be that of missing woman LaToyia Figueroa and the arrest of former boyfriend Stephen Poaches.(CNN)
In one of the worst confrontations on the Indo-Bangla frontier in recent months, Bangladesh Rifles opens unprovoked fire at the India side at some outposts in West Bengal. About 500 rounds were fired in the skirmishes, but there was no casualty. (Press Trust of India)(Sify)
During one of the most intense thunderstorms in Toronto, Canada, a very heavy downpour of rain caused widespread flooding in the Greater Toronto Area and on the major freeway leading into downtown Toronto, the Don Valley Parkway. Damage is estimated at at least CAN$ 500,000,000.
Iraq's parliament receives a draft of that country's constitution, minutes before the revised deadline. The parliamentary vote on the constitution will be delayed until a final draft emerges. (ABC)
Israeli forces enter the last remaining Israeli settlement in the Gaza Strip to remove the settlers from Netzarim, a religious farming community of about 500, completing the evacuation of all the enclaves. Four small militant settlements on the West Bank will also be cleared, with 5,500 troops heading there to begin evictions on Tuesday. (Reuters) (Link dead as of 00:41, 15 January 2007 (UTC)), IMRA
Later reports suggest that for the first time, Hizb Allah test-fires an Iranian medium-range rocket near the Lebanese border with Israel. One of the three 240 mm Fajr-3 rockets, launched about six kilometers north of the border, landed in Israel and the other two fell inside Lebanon. (MENL)
Two Egyptian policemen die following two explosions in northern Sinai. (BBC)
At least 42 people die following a series of floods throughout Europe. (BBC)
The High Court of Fiji overturns that country's sodomy laws after hearing the case of one Australian and one native Fijian who were previously sentenced to two years in jail under the legislation (365gay.com)(ABC)
14 children and three adults die as a fire breaks out in a building in Paris]which housed African immigrants. (BBC)
Nearly 1,000 detainees at the Abu Ghraib prison are released this week at the request of the Iraqi Government, the largest number of prisoners freed since the start of the war.
The All Blacks win the tri nations with a nail biting win over the Springboks 31-27 in Dunedin.(CNN)
Millions of people living in and around the below sea-level Louisiana city of New Orleans are leaving as Hurricane Katrina approaches. Storm surge is forecasted at 25 ft. The Mayor of New Orleans has issued a mandatory evacuation order, citing fears that the storm will break the levees protecting the city. (BBC), (CNN)
Hurricane Katrina as a Category 3 storm makes landfall at 6:10 a.m. CDT (11:10 a.m. UTC). The eye is just east of New Orleans. This date is now known as Black Monday to New Orleanians and many residents of the Gulf Coast. (AP)
New Orleans, Louisiana, almost completely floods when levees along Lake Pontchartrain break. At least one attempt to repair broken levees was ended unsuccessfully. Gas leaks pollute the floodwaters. The primary evacuation site at the Louisiana Superdome is safe, with water only 3 ft. (1 m) deep outside. Death tolls there remain untold. Governor Kathleen Blanco orders the evacuation of everyone remaining in New Orleans.
The storm surge has totally destroyed the Interstate 10causeway connecting the east side of New Orleans to mainland Louisiana over the east tip of Lake Pontchartrain.
In Paris, France, seven die and fourteen are injured when a fire burns down an apartment housing African immigrants owned by the Société Immobilière d'Économie Mixte de la Ville de Paris 22:00 (GMT+1) (Bloomberg)
Prime MinisterManmohan Singh announced India would give US$50 million in additional aid for the reconstruction of Afghanistan during his meetings with Hamid Karzai. Earlier, it had pledged US$500 million to help rebuild the war-ravaged country.(MSN)
Close to 1,200 people were crushed to death or died in a stampede on the Al-Aaimmah bridge over the river Tigris in Baghdad on Wednesday when thousands of Shia Muslims began marching to a shrine to the Imam Musa al-Kazim. The stampede appears to have been caused by rumours of a series of suicide attacks.
The relatives of the four Israeli Arabs killed on a bus in Galilee have been denied the usual terrorism compensation payments because their killer was a Jew, and thus not an "enemy of Israel" as defined by Israeli law. (BBC)
