The number of U.S. military personnel wounded since the invasion of Iraq now stands at 6,916, an increase of almost 1,500 since the transfer of power on June 28, and a nearly twofold increase since mid-April. The number of military dead is now 975, an increase of about 300 since sovereignty was restored. (MSNBC)
Seven truck drivers who were being held hostage by Iraqi militants are released after nearly six weeks in captivity. The three Kenyans, three Indians, and one Egyptian were abducted July 21 and had been threatened with death unless Gulf Link Transport, a Kuwaiti trucking company, stopped doing work in Iraq. All seven drivers are heading back to Kuwait. (Fox News)
A group of 29 persons, thought to be North Korean defectors seeking asylum, storm a Japanese school in Beijing, China. (BBC)
The Nepalesepolice impose an indefinite curfew on the nation's capital, Kathmandu. The curfew follows a series of violent protests that have targeted random Muslims and a mosque in retaliation for the killing of 12 Nepali hostages in Iraq]. (BBC)(Reuters)[permanent dead link]
Beslan school hostage crisis: Armed men and women continue to hold over 1,300 adults and children hostage in Beslan, North Ossetia, Russia. Russian authorities announce that they have, for the moment, ruled out the use of force to end the standoff, while Chechen rebel leader Aslan Maskhadov denies that his forces are responsible. Late in the day, 26 women and children are released by the hostage-takers. (BBC: 1, 2)
Conflict in Iraq: The U.S. military bombs a site in Fallujah, in what the U.S. describes as a "precision" attack on a militant safe house. Hospital officials say that at least seventeen civilians, including up to three children, were killed. (BBC)
The hostage crisis in Beslan, North Ossetia, Russia, ends violently as fighting erupts in the early afternoon between the hostage-takers and Russian special forces. Special forces teams storm the school, in attempt to save the remaining hostages, after two explosions are heard and the hostage-takers fire on a medical team attempting to remove dead bodies. Several hundred people die in the ensuing battle; the hostage-takers shoot some hostages are shot in the back as the hostages attempt to flee.
Official reports list 335 confirmed dead, including 156 children, and more than 700 wounded; 176 remain missing. Some of the hostage-takers briefly escape, but eventually all are reported killed or captured by Russian authorities. (BBC: 1, 2, 3, Interfax: 1, 2)
Two large earthquakes strike western Japan, the first measuring 6.9 and the second 7.3 on the Richter scale. Tsunamis 1–2 m (3–7 ft) are expected to hit the Pacific coast. (Reuters)
Women on Waves, a group that provides abortions in international waters for women in countries where the procedure is outlawed, is denied access to Portuguese territorial waters. The Portuguese government has placed warships in the vicinity to enforce the decision. (Indymedia)
Iraqi officials now say that contrary to earlier reports, Izzat Ibrahim ad-Douri, the deputy commander of Iraq's armed forces during the rule of Saddam Hussein, has not been captured. Medical tests now show that the man who had been identified as Izzat Ibrahim is actually one of his relatives. Seventy of Izzat Ibrahim's supporters are now dead and 80 have been captured. Izzat Ibrahim ad-Douri is number six on the U.S.'s list of the 55 most wanted Iraqis. (CNN)(Reuters)Archived 2005-04-08 at the Wayback Machine
Conflict in Iraq: Near the Sunni city of Fallujah, seven U.S. Marines and three Iraqi soldiers are killed in an ambush. Elsewhere, U.S. troops, backed by U.S. planes and Iraqi forces, raid the city of Najaf. The U.S. military tells residents to flee, mounts a pincer movement to trap the Mahdi army in the city center, and raids Moqtada al-Sadr's house again. (News Interactive)(BBC)
The heart bypass surgery being performed on former United States PresidentBill Clinton is successfully completed. Clinton will spend the night in the intensive care unit of New York-Presbyterian Hospital before being moved to the general care unit tomorrow. Full recovery from the surgery could take a month. (CNN)
The United States Congress returns from its summer vacation. Several new pieces of legislation, including a major intelligence reform bill, are in the works in response to the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission. (The Guardian)
Fighting between U.S. forces and Shia insurgents across Baghdad's Sadr City suburb has left at least 34 dead, including one American. The Associated Press reports that this death marks the 1,000th U.S. combat fatality in Iraq. (MSNBC)(BBC)
Munir Said Thalib, Indonesian activist, poisoned in Garuda Indonesia flight.
U.N. officials say a ten-year-old Palestinian girl is in critical condition after being hit by "indiscriminate" gunfire from Israeli forces while sitting in school. Israel alleges that it exchanged fire with militants in the area but says it did not fire at buildings. (UN)(AP)(AFP)(The Scotsman)
US Democrats and Republicans wrangle over Vice PresidentDick Cheney's remarks about Democratic candidate John Kerry and terrorism. Cheney originally said, "It's absolutely essential that eight weeks from today, on Nov. 2, we make the right choice, because if we make the wrong choice then the danger is that we'll get hit again and we'll be hit in a way that will be devastating from the standpoint of the United States." The Kerry campaign interpreted this remark as a claim that, if John Kerry was elected, America would be hit by a devastating terrorist attack. The next day, Cheney told the Cincinnati Enquirer, "I did not say if Kerry is elected, we will be hit by a terrorist attack." Democrats contend that Cheney's original statement reveals that Republicans "have consciously adopted a strategy of using Americans' justifiable fear of a future terrorist attack as a political tool." Democratic VP candidate John Edwards says that Cheney's remark shows that he and Bush "will do anything and say anything to save their jobs". (BBC) (The Daily Misleader)
CBS News announces the discovery of newly uncovered records of United States PresidentGeorge W. Bush's service in the Air National Guard. These documents are known as the Killian memos. The Democratic campaign concludes (1) that the records show then Lieutenant Bush disobeyed orders, and (2) that the Bush campaign lied about having made all such records public. (Nashville Tennessean/AP) Within hours, several bloggers question the authenticity of the memos, which prove to be modern forgeries produced with Microsoft Word rather than historic documents made on a typewriter; nevertheless, the documents heightened awareness of facts related tangentially to the memo, including that President Bush avoided duty in Vietnam at a time in which avoidance of such service was both highly in demand and difficult to obtain.
A federal judge in Lincoln, Nebraska, US, strikes down the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act, citing a lack of an exception to protect the health of the mother. This is the third time the controversial law has been declared unconstitutional by a federal judge within the last month. It is almost assured that the government will appeal the decision to the Supreme Court. (CNN.com)
The NASA unmanned spacecraft Genesis crash-lands as its parachute fails to open. The damage to the science instruments and collected samples on board is not yet known. (BBC)
United States Secretary of StateColin Powell declares that the actions of the Janjaweed Arab militia in Darfur constitute genocide. Powell holds the government of Sudan responsible. Up to 50,000 ethnic Africans have been killed and 2.2 million displaced into refugee camps in neighboring Chad by ethnic Arab militias. (BBC)(CNN)
Four (or possibly five) Palestinians, including a nine-year-old boy, a Hamas militant, and two young Palestinian men, are killed as Israeli tanks force their way into the Jabaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza while receiving gunfire from scores of gunmen opposed to the invasion. (Reuters)Archived 2005-04-08 at the Wayback Machine(BBC)
U.S. and Iraqi forces have launched an offensive to drive insurgents out of the northern Iraqi town of Talafar. Hospital sources say at least 17 people have been killed including several women and children. (BBC)
An air strike in Iraq reportedly kills Habib Akdas, a man thought to be the leader of a terrorist cell responsible for the November 2003 bombings of two synagogues, a bank, and an embassy in Istanbul. Akdas was thought to have fled from Turkey to neighboring Iraq after the 2003 bombings to escape authorities. (MSNBC)
A train crash in Sweden kills two and injures 30. The accident happened when a passenger train collided with a lorry on a railway crossing in Kristianstad. (BBC)
Questions are raised about the authenticity of memos obtained by the CBS television network and broadcast on its September 7 issue of 60 Minutes. The memos were purportedly written by Lt. Col. Jerry B. Killian, one of George W. Bush's commanding officers in the Texas Air National Guard. One of the memos which was supposed to have been written in 1973, uses a proportional font, kerning, and superscripts which were unlikely to have been available in typewriters of the period. See Killian memos. (CNN)
2004 Atlantic hurricane season: Twenty-five foot waves and high winds from Hurricane Ivan hit the southern coast of Jamaica early Saturday morning, destroying homes and causing five deaths. There are also reports of looters roaming the streets of Jamaica's capital city, Kingston, some of whom are reportedly robbing emergency workers at gunpoint. As of 17:00 local time (21:00 UTC), Ivan has regained Category Five strength, and is now located about 234 km (134 miles) west of Jamaica and is headed toward the Cayman Islands and western Cuba. Hurricane warnings have been issued for the Cayman Islands, western Cuba, and the Florida Keys. The death toll from Ivan now stands at 50. (Reuters)(ABC)(NOAA/NHC)
At the sixty first Venice Film Festival, British director Mike Leigh is awarded several prizes, including the prestigious Golden Lion (Leone d'Oro) award, for his movie Vera Drake, about a working-class mother arrested for performing illegal abortions in 1950s Britain. The star of the movie, Imelda Staunton, receives the award for best actress. (Reuters)
The Hong Kong Legislative Council election, 2004 achieves record turnout. In the direct election, the pro-democracy parties gain one seat and receive 60 percent of the vote while the pro-government parties unexpectedly gain seven seats. (BBC)
At least 110 Iraqis are killed in a day of widespread violence, as the U.S. engages in new offensives to retake insurgent-held areas before the January elections. An al-Arabiya journalist is killed during a live broadcast when attack helicopters fire at a crowd gathered around a burning Bradley vehicle in Baghdad. Helicopters and tanks fire on residential areas in rebel-occupied Ramadi. More fighting takes place in Tal Afar and Hilla. (Reuters)[permanent dead link](BBC)
The government of Saudi Arabia announces that the first nationwide elections in the kingdom's history will occur early next year. This is the biggest step toward reform the Gulf state has ever taken, although the government has been promising to hold elections since October of 2003. The first ballots will be cast on February 10, 2005, for council seats in the Riyadh capital district. It is not known if women will be allowed to vote in the elections. (MSNBC.com)
The "pre-election offensive" against the Iraqi resistance continues in the rebel-held city of Fallujah, with air-strikes killing at least 16, including women and children. Joint U.S.–Iraqi forces say that they are targeting Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who is linked to al-Qaeda. The U.S. military says it is investigating an incident that occurred September 12 in Baghdad in which five people, including an al-Arabiya journalist broadcasting live, were killed in a helicopter attack. (Reuters)[permanent dead link](BBC)
Hurricane Ivan, still at Category Five strength, continues to travel northward, causing damage throughout the western Caribbean. As of 23:00 local time (0300 UTC September 13), it is located about 285 km (175 miles) southeast of the western tip of Cuba, and it is predicted that the eye of Ivan will pass over that part of the island Monday afternoon or evening. (Reuters)(NOAA/NHC)
A storm surge from Hurricane Ivan travels at least 1 km (0.6 mile) inland on Grand Cayman, the largest of the three islands of the Cayman Islands, forcing residents to seek shelter on their house roofs.
An advisory panel to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), by a vote of 15–8, recommends that warnings be added to antidepressants, stating that the medications can be linked to suicidal behavior in some children. The FDA is not required to follow the recommendations of its advisory panels, but usually does so. (FOX News)(Reuters)
In the trial of Zacarias Moussaoui, the only person yet tried in the U.S. in relation to the 9/11 attacks, the court refuses to allow Moussaoui to call Camp X-Ray detainees as witnesses, but does allow him to use written evidence from some of the detainees. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against Moussaoui, who admits to being a member of al-Qaeda but denies involvement in the 9/11 plot. (BBC)
At least 45 people are killed and over 100 others are injured when a car bomb explodes in central Baghdad, Iraq. The blast leaves a three-meter (10 ft) crater in the road in a busy shopping area; many of the dead are Iraqi job-seekers who were queuing up outside a nearby police station. (BBC)
The United States lifts its siege of the northern Iraqi city of Tal Afar after Turkey threatens to end all cooperation with the U.S. in Iraq if the attacks, which had killed many civilians in the largely Turkmen city, continue. (Xinhua)
As of 13:00 local time (1800 UTC September 14), Hurricane Ivan is located about 650 km (400 mi) south-southeast of the mouth of the Mississippi River and is moving along a north-northwest path at about 9 mph (14.5 km/h). The hurricane is now projected to make landfall along the Gulf Coast of the United States on Thursday morning. (NOAA/NHC)
As of 23:00 local time (0300 UTC September 14), Ivan is located about 60 km (40 miles) west-northwest of the western tip of Cuba. Forecasters are predicting landfall somewhere between eastern Louisiana and the panhandle of Florida late Wednesday. (NOAA/NHC)
Canada's federal government and its provincial and territorial leaders reach an accord to increase funding for the country's national health care system. In exchange for an increase in federal funding of CAD 18 billion over the next six years, provincial and territorial leaders agree to reforms intended to reduce patient waiting times. (Toronto Star)
In a report released today, the U.S. State Department for the first time places the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on its list of "countries of particular concern" (CPCs) that engage in "particularly severe violations" of religious freedom. A designation as a CPC requires the State Department to take whatever steps are necessary—up to the level of sanctions—to increase religious tolerance in the designated country. (CNN.com)(State Department report)
In Afghanistan, three Americans are sentenced to up to 10 years imprisonment for illegally detaining and torturing Afghans, and for running an illegal private jail in Kabul. The defiant Americans—Jonathan Idema, Brent Bennett, and Edward Caraballo—say they intend to appeal the decision. (CNN)
A Countryside Alliance rally outside Britain's Parliament buildings, in opposition to a bill that would ban fox-hunting, descends into violence as protesters and police clash. Some protesters successfully breach security and enter the floor of the House of Commons. The bill later passes 339–155. (BBC: 1, 2)
Five crew members of an Irish yacht, who had been adrift in a liferaft for seven days after abandoning their ship, are rescued by helicopter off the Cornwall coast of Britain. The crew members ran out of water on Monday and were running low on food when rescued. (BBC)(RTÉ)
Both the European Union and the government of the United States express concern about Russian PresidentVladimir Putin's announcement that, as a means of responding to terrorism, he would significantly alter Russia's political system. The Russian government rejects the United States' concerns as inappropriate interference in Russia's internal affairs. (Reuters: 1, 2)
As of 13:00 local time (1800 UTC September 15), the center of Hurricane Ivan is located about 275 km (171 mi) south of the coast of Alabama and is moving northward at about 23 km/h (14 mph). The hurricane is now projected to make landfall along the Gulf Coast of the United States very early on Thursday. Forecasters now predict that there is little risk that the hurricane will pass over New Orleans. A hurricane warning is in effect for the Gulf Coast from New Orleans to the Florida Panhandle. (NOAA/NHC)(Washington Post)
As Hurricane Ivan approaches the Gulf Coast of the United States, an estimated 1.9 million people, including 1.2 million residents of metropolitan New Orleans, are advised to evacuate. The situation is particularly dangerous for New Orleans, since a direct or close hit by the hurricane could breach the levees around the city, causing its streets to fill with a mixture of floodwater, raw sewage, gasoline, and chemicals. (CNN)
Afghan President Hamid Karzai survives an assassination attempt when a rocket misses his helicopter, bound for the city of Gardez, by some 300 yards (275 m). The helicopter returned to Kabul. (ABC News)
The eye of Hurricane Ivan makes landfall near Mobile, Alabama, in the early morning, killing at least 33 and causing an estimated USD 4–10 billion in flood, wind, and other storm damage across the Gulf Coast of the United States. By late afternoon, Ivan is downgraded to a tropical storm. (CNN)(NOAA/NHC)(AP)
The government of India announces that Tamil will be the first language recognized as a "classical language" in India. Government ministers add that Sanskrit and other languages could be granted the status, depending on their "heritage and legacy". The Indian government plans to create a center for the study of languages so designated. (Times of India)Archived 2014-01-01 at the Wayback Machine(The Hindu)
Three men are arrested in New Delhi, India, for attempting to sell an 800-year-old Tibetan Buddhist manuscript, which had been reported stolen from a monastery at Kalimpong, West Bengal several months earlier. The thieves attempted to sell the manuscript for 30 million rupees (535,000 euros), although experts say that it could be worth three times that much on the international market. (Hindustan Times)Archived 2007-09-30 at the Wayback Machine(India News via New Kerala)
Darfur conflict: Peace talks between the Sudanese government and Darfurian rebels, which began three weeks ago, collapse. Sudan accuses the United States of prolonging the conflict by describing the actions of Arab militias in Darfur as genocide. Rebels will meet with Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo Friday evening to give their version of the story. (MSNBC.com)
U.S. air raids in the city of Fallujah, allegedly aimed at militants loyal to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, kill an estimated 60 fighters, according to claims from the U.S. military. A spokesman for Iraq's health ministry says at least two women and 17 children were among the wounded. Meanwhile, in central Baghdad, a suicide car bomb leaves at least 13 dead. (The Guardian)
In an interview with the Saudi-owned Al-Arabiyya satellite television network, U.S. Secretary of StateColin Powell plays down the importance of Wednesday's report by the State Department—which listed Saudi Arabia as a country that severely restricts religious freedom—saying that he hopes that he will be able to use dialogue to remove Saudi Arabia from the list.
CBS News announces that it now doubts the authenticity of the "Killian memos", after defending their authenticity for more than a week in the face of widespread expert opinion to the contrary. The network acknowledges that it was a mistake to use the memos as part of the supporting evidence in a 60 Minutes story by Dan Rather alleging deficiencies in U.S. PresidentGeorge W. Bush's Vietnam-era service in the Texas Air National Guard. (USA Today)
Syria begins a "phased redeployment" of its forces in Lebanon (currently estimated at 20,000 troops), moving about 1,000 troops out of bases south of Beirut; it is not clear whether they will be redeployed in Lebanon or Syria. Earlier this month, UN Security Council Resolution 1559, drafted by the United States and France, called for all foreign troops to leave Lebanon. (CNN.com)
Brazil, Germany, India, and Japan announce in a joint statement that have agreed work together on a plan for reforming the United Nations, including securing a permanent seat or seats on the UN Security Council for at least one of the four nations. (ABC News)
The Republic of Ireland's telecommunications regulator, ComReg, announces that, starting on October 4, it will suspend direct-dial telephone] services to thirteen island nations and dependencies, in order to counter telephone dialer scams which have cost some customers thousands of euros. (Reuters)
The United States Air Force military drops all espionage charges against the Syrian-American airman after he pleads guilty to four lesser charges. The judge criticizes the prosecution for improperly handling key evidence and for failing to correct the mistranslation of a crucial document. (Reuters)[permanent dead link]
U.S. air strikes on the Iraqi city of Fallujah destroy several buildings. The U.S. military says no civilians were reported in the area, but a hospital official says at least eight civilians were killed, and television broadcasts show civilian survivors, including an infant, being pulled out of a destroyed building. (BBC)
The Israeli army raids the West Bank city of Jenin, taking over a hospital and several other buildings, making a number of arrests, and reportedly wounding three Palestinians. Several other violent incidents occurred in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. (The Australian)(BBC)
The U.S. military carries out air strikes on several suspected militant positions in the Baghdad suburb of Sadr City, killing at least five people and wounding 46, according to a local hospital official. The U.S. military disputes that total. (AP)[permanent dead link](BBC)
Giovanni di Stefano, the lawyer of former Iraqi PresidentSaddam Hussein, tells the Danish newspaper B.T. that Hussein plans to run as a candidate in the Iraqi elections scheduled for January 2005. A recent Gallup poll indicated that 42 percent of the Iraqi people want their former leader back. (Zaman, Turkey)
Health officials in Thailand report that they have identified a likely case of human to human transmission of the H5N1 strain of avian influenza, although the World Health Organization says the transmission occurred only after prolonged contact between individuals. A more easily transmitted virus could potentially cause a worldwide flu pandemic on the level of the 1918 Spanish flu. (Reuters)
In Baghdad, two Italian aid workers, Simona Pari and Simona Torretta are released, three weeks after they were taken hostage, along with two Iraq]is who had been captured with them. In a separate incident, four Egyptian workers are also released. (The Scotsman).
Two British soldiers are killed in an ambush near the southern Iraqi city of Basra. (BBC)
U.S. military planes bomb a building in the insurgent-held city of Fallujah, in what the U.S. describes as a raid against terrorists linked to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Local doctors say at least three civilians were killed, but the U.S. says only "Zarqawi operatives" died. (BBC)
The price of U.S. light crude briefly exceeds the price of USD 50/barrel, the highest since 1983. Analysts attribute the increase largely to concerns over the disruption of oil production in Nigeria; conflicts in Iraq and Saudi Arabia and the effects of Hurricane Ivan are also cited. (BBC)
A Nigerian militant group threatens "all-out war" against foreign companies in the Niger Riverdelta region if they do not leave by October. The European oil company Royal Dutch/Shell has already evacuated 254 non-essential workers from the area. (BBC: 1, 2)
Kenneth Bigley, a British hostage held in Iraq, appeared alive in a video broadcast by Al Jazeera. Seen in a cage wearing an orange jumpsuit, Bigley said "Tony Blair is lying. He doesn't care about me". (BBC)
Reports that ransom was paid to secure yesterday's release of two Italian aid workers raise fears that the burgeoning hostage crises will worsen. Gustavo Selva, an Italian lawmaker, states that "The sum ($1 million) is probably correct". To date about 130 foreigners have been taken hostage. About 30 of these have been killed. (Reuters)Archived 2005-01-05 at the Wayback Machine
Five masked men armed with bats and chains attack Chris Brown and Kim Lamberty, members of Christian Peacemaker Teams outside the Israeli settlement of Ma'on in Hebron while the volunteers were escorting Palestinian children to school. CPT alleges the assaults are part of an ongoing pattern of intimidation by Israeli Settlers. (BBC)(Haaretz)(Al Jazeera)
Two Israeli children, aged three and five, are killed after a Qassam rocket attack from Palestinian terrorists on the town of Sderot. Hamas claimed the attack was launched in retaliation for the Israeli raid of the Jabaliya refugee camp, which left four Palestinians dead. (BBC)(Haaretz)
Two Palestinianteenagers are killed and power supplies are knocked out after an Israeli raid on the Jabaliya refugee camp. The raid was launched in retaliation for the rocket attacks on the town of Sderot which left two children dead. (BBC)
The asteroid4179 Toutatis passes within 1 million miles (1.6 million kilometers, or about four times the distance from Earth to the Moon) of Earth. Toutatis is the largest known asteroid to pass this close to Earth. (Space.com)
The Montréal Expos play their last game at the Olympic Stadium in Montréal against the Florida Marlins in front of over 30,000 fans
The office of British Prime MinisterTony Blair announces he will undergo "routine heart surgery" tomorrow to correct an irregular heartbeat. (Bloomberg)
At least three people are killed by U.S. air raids on the insurgent held city of Fallujah. Locals say civilians are among the dead, but the U.S. maintains they struck a safe house of the Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Just outside Baghdad, a rocket fired at a US military support base killed one coalition soldier. (BBC)
At least 41 people are killed in a multiple bomb attack on a US military convoy traveling through Baghdad, close to a water treatment plant. At least 34 of them were children. (BBC)
Three southern provinces (Basra, Missan and Dhiqar), which together control 80 percent of Iraq's proven oil reserves, are considering plans to set up an autonomous region. (Financial Times)
Israel launches a major offensive into the Jabaliya refugee camp killing at least 23 gunmen and civilians. Earlier this morning, a column of Israeli tanks moved into the center of the camp, followed by bulldozers. At least three Palestinian civilians have been killed thus far. Homes are being demolished, forcing people to flee. Seventy-two Palestinians are known to have been wounded, some losing limbs. (BBC)(Reuters)[permanent dead link]
Two Palestinians are killed by Israeli troops returning fire after an Israeli soldier was killed at an observation post in the northern Gaza strip. The troops have been engaged in that part of the northern Gaza Strip since yesterday, September 29. (AP)
