December 5, 2004

• In Taiwan, rallies are held in support of candidates in this week's elections to the Legislative Yuan (parliament). Party sources estimate that separate rallies held in Taipei by the Kuomintang and Taiwan Solidarity Union drew around 100,000 each. (VOA) (TaipeiTimes)
• A referendum in Hungary to grant citizenship to ethnic Hungarians living in other countries appears to have failed due to insufficient turnout. The proposal has angered the governments of countries with significant Hungarian populations, particularly Romania. The Prime Minister of Hungary, Ferenc Gyurcsány, opposed the referendum. (Reuters)
• 2004 U.S. presidential election controversy:
  • Hundreds gather at the Ohio statehouse to demand a recount of votes, citing fraud that took votes from John Kerry and gave them to George W. Bush. (AP)
  • A lawsuit challenging the Volusia County, Florida election is thrown out for being a day late. The suit claims paperwork is missing from 59 of Volusia's 179 precincts and that precinct printouts show different numbers. (AP)
• The Thai government drops millions of origami cranes on its restive, predominantly Muslim provinces of Narathiwat, Pattani and Yala, saying that they are a gesture of goodwill and peace. (Channel News Asia) (BBC)
• Conflict in Iraq:
  • More than 20 are killed and many more injured in a series of attacks on Iraqis working for the United States by Iraqi insurgents today. (ABC)(BBC)(Reuters)
• French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin seeks to ban Hizbullah's TV channel al-Manar from broadcasting in France due to purported anti-Semitic content, most recently involving a commentator speaking of "Zionist attempts to transmit AIDS to Arab countries". al-Manar claims to be anti-Israeli rather than anti-Semitic. (BBC)
• In a prisoner exchange between Israel and Egypt, Egypt releases Azzam Azzam, an Israeli Druze businessman sentenced to 15 years imprisonment by Egypt in 1997 on charges of spying for Israel, while Israel releases 6 Egyptian students who allegedly infiltrated Israel to kidnap soldiers. (Haaretz) (BBC)
• With more than 1000 people dead or missing, devastation in the northern agricultural regions, and damaged infrastructure after Monday's storm and Thursday's Typhoon Nanmadol, Philippines President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo suspends logging and pledges to prosecute violators. (Malaysia Star)(Boston Globe) (New York Times)