February 2005 : ← - January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December - → February is the second month of the calendar year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... ← - 2004 : January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December- → Deaths in December • 30 Artie Shaw • 29 Julius Axelrod • 28 Jacques Dupuis • 28 Jerry Orbach • 28 Susan Sontag • 26 Reggie White • 26 Sir Angus Ogilvy • 23 P. V. Narasimha Rao • 23 Doug Ault • 19 Renata Tebaldi • 16... 2005 : January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December- → Deaths in January • 29 Ephraim Kishon • 25 Philip Johnson • 23 Johnny Carson • 22 Parveen Babi • 20 Jan Nowak-Jeziorański • 17 Virginia Mayo • 17 Zhao Ziyang • 15... ← - 2005 : January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December- → Deaths in March • 31 – Terri Schiavo • 30 – Mitch Hedberg • 29 – Johnnie Cochran • 27 – Wilfred Bigelow • 26 – Paul Hester • 26 – James Callaghan • 21 – Jeff Weise • 21 – Bobby Short • 19 – John De Lorean • 18 – Gary Bertini • 17 – George F... 2005 : January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December- → Deaths in April • 26: Augusto Roa Bastos • 24: Ezer Weizman • 23: Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen • 23: John Mills • 16: Marla Ruzicka • 9: Andrea Dworkin • 6: Prince Rainier III • 5: Dale Messick • 5: Saul Bellow • 2: Pope John... 2005 : January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December- → Wikimedia Commons has media related to: May 2005 Deaths in May May 26: Eddie Albert May 25: Ismail Merchant May 25: Sunil Dutt May 25: Graham Kennedy May 22: Thurl Ravenscroft May 21: Howard Morris May 21... 2005 : January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December- → Deaths in June June 27: Shelby Foote June 27: John T. Walton June 26: Richard Whiteley June 25: John Fiedler June 25: Chet Helms June 24: Paul Winchell June 21: Jaime Cardinal Sin June 20: Jack Kilby... Ongoing events • 2005 Atlantic and Pacific hurricanes • 2005 Maharashtra floods • 2005 Gujarat Flood • Expo 2005 in Aichi, Japan • Fuel prices • Gomery Comm. ... 2005 : January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December- → Deaths in August August 31: Michael Sheard August 26: Lord Fitt August 24: Jack Slipper August 24: Maurice Cowling August 24: Dr. Tom Pashby August 23: Brock Peters August 22: Lord Lane August 21: Robert Moog August... 2005 : January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December- → Deaths in September September 28 : Constance Baker Motley September 25 : M. Scott Peck September 25 : Don Adams September 20 : Simon Wiesenthal September 14 : Robert Wise September 10 : Hermann Bondi September 8 : Donald Horne September 7 : Moussa Arafat... 2005 : January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December- → Deaths in October 28: Richard Smalley 26: Emil Kyulev 24: José Azcona del Hoyo 24: Rosa Parks 23: Stella Obasanjo 22: Liam Lawlor 22: Shirley Horn 20: Endon Mahmood 17: Ba Jin 10: Milton Obote 7: Charles... Ongoing events • Abramoff-Reed gambling scandal • Al Jazeera bombing memo • Avian influenza (H5N1) outbreak • Black sites scandal • Conservative leadership race (UK) • Fuel prices • Irans nuclear program • Jilin chemical plant explosions • Kashmir earthquake • Malawi food crisis • Malaysian prisoner abuse scandal • New Delhi bombings investigation • Niger food crisis • North Indian cyclone... December 2005 : January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December- → 31 December 2005 (Saturday) 25-year-old Scottish human rights worker Kate Burton and her parents are freed unharmed in the Gaza Strip by the Palestinian gunmen who kidnapped them two days earlier. ... January 2006 : ← - January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December- → Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad accuses European nations of trying to complete the Holocaust by creating a Jewish camp Israel in the Middle East. ...

Events

February 1, 2005

• Pope John Paul II is taken to a hospital suffering from a serious case of influenza.
  • The Palestinian Authority arrests a Palestinian man who had been shooting in the air, on suspicion that he had killed a Palestinian girl the day before. The original shooting sparked Palestinian accusations that the girl had been shot by Israeli soldiers, and Hamas fired mortars at Israeli settlements in response. (Jerusalem Post) (Reuters)
  • The Attorney General of Israel, Meni Mazuz, tells the government to call an immediate halt to confiscating Palestinian property in East Jerusalem under a 1950 land law. The legislation entitles Israel to take Arab-owned land, and Mr Mazuz described it as illegal. (BBC) (Al Jazeera)
  • Five people are suspected to have died following clashes between Egyptian security forces and Bedouins suspected of being involved in last years bombings in Taba, which was aimed at Israeli holiday makers. (BBC)
• Israel announces that it intends to bring the last 20,000 Falash Mura, Ethiopian Jews who converted to Christianity in the 19th and 20th centuries, to Israel by 2007. (Reuters) (Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs) (Jerusalem Post) (Haaretz)
• Indonesian cleric Abu Bakar Ba'asyir denies any involvement in the Bali bombing and the Marriott Hotel attack, saying that the bombings were wrong. He also denies being a member of Jemaah Islamiah. (BBC)
• A man who had been detained since December 2001 in the UK without a trial, or a charge, on suspicion of being involved in terrorism has been released without conditions, his lawyer states. (BBC)
• A United Nations report makes accusations of killings, torture and rape of civilians in Sudan's Darfur area, and calls for those accused of carrying out war crimes to be put on trial. The report stops short of calling the events a genocide. (BBC)
• At least three people are known to have died following a bomb blast in Gori, northern Georgia. (BBC)
• King Gyanendra of Nepal sacks the government of Sher Bahadur Deuba and takes direct power for himself. (Reuters) (Rediff)
• The government of the People's Republic of China issues emergency orders to stop a meningitis outbreak that has killed 16 people. (Xinhua) (ChinaDaily) (BBC) (Reuters AlertNet)
• Ex-president of Kenya and chairman of KANU party, Daniel Arap Moi, is due to step down. His successor will be Uhuru Kenyatta, son of Jomo Kenyatta. (Standard, Kenya) (Reuters SA) (BBC)
• South Korea's foreign minister believes that North Korea will re-enter talks about its nuclear proliferation. (Reuters)
• A consortium of micro-lenders supported by U.S. investors announces plans to "play a big role in rebuilding the jobs and small businesses of Asia" in the areas devastated by the recent tsunami and earthquake.

February 1 is the 32nd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Coat of Arms of Pope John Paul II. The Letter M is for Mary, the mother of Jesus, to whom he held strong devotion Pope John Paul II (Latin: ), (Italian: Giovanni Paolo II), born   (May 18, 1920 – April 2, 2005) reigned as Pope of the Roman Catholic Church from October... Influenza, commonly known as the flu, is an infectious disease of birds and mammals caused by an RNA virus of the family Orthomyxoviridae (the influenza viruses). ... The West Bank The Palestinian National Authority (PNA or PA) is a semi-autonomous state institution nominally governing the bulk of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip (which it calls the Palestinian Territories). It was established as a part of Oslo accords between the PLO and Israel. ... The term Palestinian has other usages, for which see definitions of Palestinian. ... Hamas (Arabic: ‎; acronym: Arabic: ‎, or Harakat al-Muqawama al-Islamiyya or Islamic Resistance Movement; the Arabic acronym means zeal) is a Palestinian Sunni Islamist organization that currently (since January 2006) forms the majority party of the Palestinian National Authority. ... In most common law jurisdictions, the Attorney General is the main legal adviser to the government, and in some jurisdictions may in addition have executive responsibility for law enforcement or responsibility for public prosecutions. ... Menachem Mazuz (Hebrew: מנחם מזוז) (born 1955) is an Israeli jurist serving as Israels Attorney General. ... The term Palestinian has other usages, for which see definitions of Palestinian. ... East Jerusalem is that part of Jerusalem which was held by Jordan from the 1948 Arab-Israeli War until the Six-Day War in 1967. ... 1950 (MCML) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... The Arabs (Arabic: عرب) are a heterogeneous ethnic group who are predominantly speakers of the Arabic language, mainly found throughout the Middle East and North Africa. ... A Bedouin man resting on a hillside at Mount Sinai Bedouin, derived from the Arabic (‎), a generic name for a desert-dweller, is a term generally applied to Arab nomadic pastoralist groups, who are found throughout most of the desert belt extending from the Atlantic coast of the Sahara via... A small Egyptian village near the northern tip of the Gulf of Eilat, Taba is the location of Egypts busiest border crossing with neighboring Israel. ... The Beta Israel (or House of Israel), known by outsiders by the pejorative term Falasha or Falash Mura (exiles or strangers) are Jews of Ethiopian origin. ... This article is becoming very long. ... 2007 (MMVII) will be a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Abu Bakar Bashir Abu Bakar Bashir (also Abubakar Baasyir) alias Abdus Somad (born August 1938) is an Indonesian Muslim cleric who is the alleged spiritual head of Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), a militant Islamic separatist group. ... National flags at Kuta explosion site (October 17, 2002) The 2002 Bali Bombing occurred on October 12, 2002 in the town of Kuta on the Indonesian island of Bali, killing 202 people and injuring a further 209. ... Marriott International, Inc. ... Jemaah Islamiyah, sometimes rendered Jemaah Islamiah, is a militant Islamic separatist movement, suspected of killing hundreds of civilians, dedicated to the establishment of a fundamentalist Islamic state in Southeast Asia, in particular Indonesia, Singapore, Brunei, Malaysia, and the south of Thailand and the Philippines. ... 2001 : January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December Events: December 2 - Enron files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection five days after Dynegy canceled a US$8. ... Japanese internment camp in Canada, during World War II Internment is the imprisonment or confinement of people, commonly in large groups, without due process of law and a trial. ... Terrorist redirects here. ... English barrister 16th century painting of a civil law notary, by Flemish painter Quentin Massys. ... The United Nations (UN) is an international organization whose stated aims are to facilitate co-operation in international law, international security, economic development, and social equity. ... For other uses, see Torture (disambiguation). ... Darfur (Arabic دار فور, meaning home of the Fur) is a region of far western Sudan, bordering the Central African Republic, Libya, and Chad. ... In the context of war, a war crime is a punishable offense under International Law, for violations of the laws of war by any person or persons, military or civilian. ... Look up Genocide in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Gori may refer to: Gori - city in Georgia (country) Gori - District in Georgia (country) Gori Province, Ottoman Empire Gori, Chad Gori River (India) Pietro Gori Giuseppe Gori Kathy Gori also: Gory Guerrero This is a disambiguation page: a list of articles associated with the same title. ... Gyanendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev, King of Nepal (Nepali: ज्ञानेन्द्र वीर विक्रम शाहदेव; Gyānendra VÄ«ra Vikrama Śāhadeva) (born July 7, 1947) has been the King of Nepal since June 4, 2001. ... sack-ing ... Sher Bahadur Deuba (born June 13, 1946) was the prime minister of Nepal. ... Meningitis is the inflammation of the membranes (meninges) covering the brain, usually due to bacterial or viral infections elsewhere in the body that has spread into the blood and into the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). ... Virus outbreaks occur when a virus bypasses infection control measures and a relatively high number of infections are observed where no cases or sporadic cases occurred in the past. ... The Kenya African National Union, better known as KANU, ruled Kenya for nearly 40 years after its independence from British colonial rule in 1963, until its electoral loss at the end of 2002. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta (born October 26, 1961) is the leader of the Kenya African National Union (KANU), the former ruling party of Kenya. ... Jomo Kenyatta Jomo Kenyatta (October 20, 1893 ?– August 22, 1978) was an African politician, the first Prime Minister (1963–1964) and President (1964–1978) of an independent Kenya. ... World map with nuclear weapons development status represented by color. ... Microcredit is the extension of small loans to entrepreneurs too poor to qualify for traditional bank loans. ...

February 2, 2005

• Eleven people die in a Baghdad bombing, according to the Al-Zaman newspaper. Of these, eight are policemen or soldiers. (Informed Comment)
• The IRA withdraws its weapons decommissioning offer because of claims that the organisation is connected to a Belfast bank raid last December in which £26.5m was stolen. (Ireland Online) (Reuters) (Bloomberg) (BBC) (BBC)
• President of the United States George W. Bush delivers his 2005 State of the Union address. The section on Social Security reform is booed by some members of Congress, a very rare show of open disdain for the President during such a speech. Transcript (WP)
• A former secret U.S. military investigative report on Guantanamo Bay is revealed to conclude there is no evidence of systemic detainee abuse but cited several cases of questionable physical force documented on videotape. Prisoners released have stated abuse is commonplace, and one former U.S. National Guardsman received brain damage after being beaten while posing undercover as a rowdy detainee. All Freedom of Information Act requests by the ACLU for video and photographs depicting detainee treatment have been denied. (Newsday AP)
• The German Federal Labour Agency reports that the German unemployment rate hit 12.1% in January. More than 5 million people are unemployed today in Germany. Ignoring the margin of error inherent in the usage of different statistical methods over different areas, this rate is the highest since the Great Depression and the Weimar Republic. (BBC World).
• The cancellation of Star Trek: Enterprise is announced, marking the end of 18 consecutive years of Star Trek on television. (BBC)
• Jerusalem/Israel: Horst Köhler, President of Germany, has a special audience in the Knesset, the highest chamber of Israel. Speaking in German, he says that Germany has to fight more aggressively against anti-semitism and far-right parties. (BBC World).
• Arab-Israeli Conflict:
  • Ariel Sharon, the Prime Minister of Israel, and Abu Mazen, the President of the Palestinian National Authority, are invited by Egypt to attend a summit at Sharm el-Sheikh. A Jordanian delegation will also attend. (BBC)
  • Abu Mazen, the President of the Palestinian National Authority, accepts an Iranian invitation to pay an official visit to Tehran. (Reuters)
• King Gyanendra of Nepal forms a new cabinet and names himself as its head. His decision to dismiss his former cabinet has been widely condemned. (Reuters) (BBC)
• Robert Mugabe, president of Zimbabwe, announces that a general election will be held March 31. The country's main opposition party, Movement for Democratic Change, has not yet decided whether to participate. (IAfrica) (Reuters)
• The Spanish parliament rejects an appeal from the Basque regional government for more autonomy and a referendum for eventual independence. (Bloomberg) (Reuters AlertNet) (BBC)
• The parliament of Slovenia ratifies the European Union Constitution. (EUobserver) (EurActiv) (BBC)
• In Japan, the first of the former residents of the island of Miyakejima return to the homes they left after a volcanic eruption in 2000. (Reuters AlertNet) (Mainichi Daily News)

February 2 is the 33rd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Baghdad ( translit: ) is the capital of Iraq and of Baghdad Governorate. ... This article is about the historical army of the self-proclaimed Irish Republic (1919–1922) which fought in the Irish War of Independence 1919-21, and the Irish Civil War 1922-23. ... WGS-84 (GPS) Coordinates: 54. ... The presidential seal was used by President Hayes in 1880 and last modified in 1959 by adding the 50th star for Hawaii. ... George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is the 43rd and current President of the United States, inaugurated on January 20, 2001. ... Alternative meanings in State of the Union (disambiguation) The State of the Union Address is an annual event in which the President of the United States reports on the status of the country, normally to a joint session of the U.S. Congress (the House of Representatives and the Senate). ... Social Security, in the United States, refers to the Federal Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance (OASDI) program. ... Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the United States (1861-1865) The majority of this article is about heads of states. ... The armed forces of the United States of America consist of the United States Army United States Navy United States Air Force United States Marine Corps United States Coast Guard Note: The United States Coast Guard has both military and law enforcement functions. ... Detainees upon arrival at Camp X-Ray, January 2002 Guantánamo Bay detainment camp serves as a joint military prison and interrogation center under the leadership of Joint Task Force Guantanamo (JTF-GTMO), has occupied a portion of the United States Navys base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba since 2002. ... Seal of the National Guard Bureau Seal of the Army National Guard Seal of the Air National Guard Seal of the National Guard Missile Defense The United States National Guard is a component of the United States Army (the Army National Guard) and the United States Air Force (the Air... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with freedom of information legislation. ... The American Civil Liberties Union, or ACLU, is a non_governmental organization devoted to defending civil rights and civil liberties in the United States. ... The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view. ... The Great Depression was an economic downturn which started in 1929 (although its effects were not fully felt until late 1930) and lasted through most of the 1930s. ... Anthem: Das Lied der Deutschen The Länder of Germany during the Weimar Republic, with the Free State of Prussia (Freistaat Preußen) as the largest Capital Berlin Language(s) German Government Republic President  - 1919-1925 Friedrich Ebert  - 1925-1933 Paul von Hindenburg Chancellor  - 1919 Philipp Scheidemann  - 1933 Adolf Hitler... The starship Enterprise (NX-01) Star Trek: Enterprise is a science fiction television series set in the Star Trek universe. ... Star Trek is an American science-fiction franchise spanning six television series, ten feature films, hundreds of novels, computer and video games, and other fan stories. ... Jerusalem (Hebrew:  , Yerushaláyim or Yerushalaim; Arabic:  , al-Quds (the Holy); official Arabic in Israel: أورشليم القدس, Urshalim-al-Quds (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names) is the capital and largest city[1] of the State of Israel with a population of 724,000 (as of May 24, 2006[2... Horst Köhler ( â–¶(?), born 22 February 1943) is the current President of Germany. ... The modern Knesset building, Israels parliament, in Jerusalem Though similar-sounding, Beit Knesset (בית כנסת) literally means House of Assembly, and refers to a synagogue. ... The Eternal Jew: 1937 German poster. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...   (Hebrew: , also known by his diminutive Arik אָרִיק) (born February 27, 1928) is a former Israeli politician and general. ... The Prime Minister of Israel (Hebrew: ראש הממשלה, Rosh HaMemshala, lit. ... Mahmoud Abbas (Arabic: محمود عباس) (born March 26, 1935), commonly known as Abu Mazen (ابو مازن), was elected President (Raees) of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) on January 9, 2005 and took office on January 15, 2005. ... Anthem: Biladi Capital None. ... View of the Red Sea and Tiran Island from the Sheraton Sharm hotel. ... Mahmoud Abbas (Arabic: محمود عباس) (born March 26, 1935), commonly known as Abu Mazen (ابو مازن), was elected President (Raees) of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) on January 9, 2005 and took office on January 15, 2005. ... Anthem: Biladi Capital None. ... Tehran (IPA: ; Persian: تهران, also transliterated as Teheran or Tehrān), population (as of 2005) 7,314,000 (metropolitan: 12,151,000), and a land area of 658 square kilometers, is the capital city of Iran (Persia) and the center of Tehran Province. ... Gyanendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev, King of Nepal (Nepali: ज्ञानेन्द्र वीर विक्रम शाहदेव; Gyānendra VÄ«ra Vikrama Śāhadeva) (born July 7, 1947) has been the King of Nepal since June 4, 2001. ... Robert Gabriel Mugabe KCB (born February 21, 1924) is a Zimbabwean politician. ... March 31 is the 90th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (91st in Leap years), with 275 days remaining. ... The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) was founded in 1999 as the official opposition party to the Zanu-PF party led by Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Ballots of the Argentine plebiscite of 1984 on the border treaty with Chile A referendum (plural: referendums or referenda) or plebiscite (from Latin plebiscita, originally a decree of the Concilium Plebis) is a direct vote in which an entire electorate is asked to either accept or reject a particular proposal. ... The Treaty establishing a constitution for Europe is a proposed constitutional treaty for the European Union. ... View from Kozushima Miyakejima is an island in the Izu group, southeast of Honshu, Japan. ... This article is about volcanoes in geology. ... This article is about the year 2000. ...

February 3, 2005

• Conflict in Iraq: At least 29 people, including 3 US Marines, are killed by opponents to the interim government and the occupying forces. In one operation, 50 policemen are ambushed in Baghdad, leaving at least 2 dead, 14 wounded and 16 missing. (The Scotsman)
• Pope John Paul II's medical condition is "evolving positively", but the Vatican says the 84-year-old pontiff will remain in hospital for another week. However, there is still concern over the pontiff's continuing fever, which some medical experts fear could be a sign of pneumonia. (CBC)
• Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania of Georgia dies of gas poisoning. Zhvania was found dead by security guards, an apparent victim of carbon monoxide exposure. (Civil Georgia) (Reuters) (Interfax) (BBC)
• Greece hands over Dejan Milenković, main suspect of the murder of Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Đinđić, to Serbian authorities. (Athens News Agency) (BBC)
• King Gyanendra of Nepal includes media censorship as part of the emergency measures he has declared. (BBC)
• A cargo plane crashes near Khartoum, Sudan, killing seven people. (Reuters) (IOL) (BBC)
• In Cambodia, opposition leader Sam Rainsy is stripped of his parliamentary immunity. He may face libel charges, and has fled the nation. (Reuters AlertNet) (BBC)

February 3 is the 34th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... This article deals with the post-invasion period in Iraq and its occupation. ... United States Marine Corps Emblem The United States Marine Corps (USMC) is the second smallest of the five branches of the United States armed forces, with 170,000 active and 40,000 reserve Marines as of 2002. ... Baghdad ( translit: ) is the capital of Iraq and of Baghdad Governorate. ... Coat of Arms of Pope John Paul II. The Letter M is for Mary, the mother of Jesus, to whom he held strong devotion Pope John Paul II (Latin: ), (Italian: Giovanni Paolo II), born   (May 18, 1920 – April 2, 2005) reigned as Pope of the Roman Catholic Church from October... Pontiff is a title of certain religious leaders. ... A physician visiting the sick in a hospital. ... It has been suggested that CURB-65 be merged into this article or section. ... The Prime Minister of Georgia is the most senior minister within the Cabinet of the Republic of Georgia. ... Zurab Zhvania Zurab Zhvania (Georgian: ზურაბ ჟვანია) (December 9, 1963–February 3, 2005) was a prominent Georgian politician and former Speaker of the Georgian Parliament. ... Carbon monoxide, with the chemical formula CO, is a colourless, odourless and tasteless gas. ... Dejan Milenkovic is a suspect in the assassination of Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic on March 12, 2003. ... Motto: none Anthem: Bože pravde (English: God of Justice) Capital (and largest city) Belgrade Serbian, cyrillic script1 Government Republic  - Prime Minister Vojislav KoÅ¡tunica  - President Boris Tadić Establishment    - Formation 814   - First Serbian Uprising 1804   - Internationally recognized July 13, 1878   - Kingdom of SCS created December 1, 1918   - SCG dissolved June... Zoran ĐinÄ‘ić Zoran ĐinÄ‘ić   (often Zoran Djindjic, from Serbian Cyrillic: Зоран Ђинђић, pronounced ) (1 August 1952 – 12 March 2003) was a Serbian prime minister, mayor of Belgrade (Beograd), long-time opposition politician and a philosopher by profession. ... Gyanendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev, King of Nepal (Nepali: ज्ञानेन्द्र वीर विक्रम शाहदेव; Gyānendra VÄ«ra Vikrama Śāhadeva) (born July 7, 1947) has been the King of Nepal since June 4, 2001. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Map of Sudan with Khartoum Khartoum ( الخرطوم al-Ḫará¹­Å«m Elephant Trunk) is the capital of Sudan and of Khartoum State. ... Sam Rainsy (born March 10, 1949) is a Cambodian politician. ... Parliamentary immunity is a system in which members of the parliament are granted partial immunity from prosecution. ... In English and American law, and systems based on them, libel and slander are two forms of defamation (or defamation of character), which is the tort or delict of making a false statement of fact that injures someones reputation. ...

February 4, 2005

• New observations from the Arecibo radio telescope confirm that asteroid 2004 MN₄ (later named 99942 Apophis in July 2005), once briefly considered an impact risk, will pass Earth on April 13, 2029 at a distance of 36,350 km (22,600 mi) and will reach magnitude 3.3, easily visible to the naked eye from Europe, Africa and western Asia. (Space.com)
• United States: Alberto Gonzales becomes the first Hispanic U.S. Attorney General, confirmed by a 60-36 Senate vote split across party lines. (Washington Times)
• In Congo (Kinshasa), the equestrian statue of King Léopold of the Belgians, who founded the Congo Free State in 1885, is briefly re-erected in Kinshasa before it is again removed. (News24) (BBC)
• The government of Uganda announces a new ceasefire of 18 days with the Lord's Resistance Army. (Reuters AlertNet) (BBC)
• In Mauritania, four army officers who plotted coups against President Maaouya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya each receive a life sentence instead of the expected death penalty after a four-month trial. The sentenced include former army major Saleh Ould Hanenna. (Reuters AlertNet) (Middle East Online)
• Watergate papers of Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein are announced to go on public display. The reporters still do not intend to reveal the identity of Deep Throat. (Reuters) (Washington Post)
• Same-sex marriage in the United States: The New York State Supreme Court rules that the state's ban on same-sex marriage violates the state constitution. The decision is stayed for 30 days. (CBC) (CNN)

February 4 is the 35th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Arecibo Observatory is located in Arecibo, Puerto Rico on the north coast of the island. ... 253 Mathilde, a C-type asteroid. ... Close approach of Apophis on April 13, 2029 The white bar indicates uncertainty in the range of positions 99942 Apophis (previously better known by its provisional designation 2004 MN4) is a Near-Earth asteroid that caused a brief period of concern in December 2005 because initial observations indicated a relatively... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Earth (IPA: , often referred to as the Earth, Terra, the World or Planet Earth) is the third planet in the solar system in terms of distance from the Sun, and the fifth largest. ... April 13 is the 103rd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (104th in leap years). ... Centuries: 20th century - 21st century - 22nd century Decades: 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s - 2020s - 2030s 2040s 2050s 2060s 2070s Years: 2023 2024 2025 2026 2027 2028 - 2029 - 2030 2031 2032 2033 2029 (MMXXIX) is a common year starting on Monday. ... km redirects here. ... A mile is a unit of length, usually used to measure distance, in a number of different systems, including English units, Imperial units, United States customary units and Norwegian/Swedish mil. ... // Headline text HEY!! HOW ARE YOU ALL?? Its nice of you to come read this page. ... The naked eye is a figure of speech referring to human visual perception that is unaided by enhancing equipment, such as a telescope or binoculars. ... World map showing Europe A satellite composite image of Europe Europe is one of the seven traditional continents of the Earth. ... A world map showing the continent of Africa. ... World map showing the location of Asia. ... Alberto R. Gonzales (born August 4, 1955) is the 80th and current Attorney General of the United States, becoming the first Hispanic to serve in the position. ... The Hispanic world Hispanic (Spanish Hispano, from Latin Hispānus, adjective from Hispānia, Iberian Peninsula) is a term denoting a derivation from Spain, its people and culture. ... Seal of the United States Department of Justice The United States Attorney General is the head of the United States Department of Justice (see ) concerned with legal affairs and is the chief law enforcement officer of the United States government. ... Seal of the U.S. Senate The United States Senate is one of the two chambers of the United States Congress, the other being the House of Representatives. ... Apotheosis of Saint Louis by Charles H. Niehaus In sculpture, an equestrian (from the Latin equus meaning horse) is a statue consisting of a horse with mounted rider. ... King Léopold II His Majesty King Léopold II of the Belgians (Louis Philippe Marie Victor) (April 9, 1835–December 17, 1909), succeeded his father, Léopold I of Belgium, to the Belgian throne in 1865 and remained king until his death. ... The Congo Free State was a kingdom privately and controversially owned by King Leopold II of Belgium that included the entire area now known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo. ... 1885 (MDCCCLXXXV) is a common year starting on Thursday. ... Kinshasa (formerly Léopoldville) is the capital and largest city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. ... A ceasefire is a temporary stoppage of a war, or any armed conflict, where each side of the conflict agrees with the other to suspend aggressive actions. ... The Lords Resistance Army (LRA)[1], formed in 1987, is a rebel paramilitary group operating mainly in northern Uganda. ... A coup détat, or simply a coup, is the sudden overthrow of a government, usually done by a small group that just replaces the top power figures. ... This page contains a list of Presidents and Heads of State of Mauritania. ... Maaouya Ould SidAhmed Taya (Arabic: ) (b. ... Life imprisonment is a term used for a particular kind of sentence of imprisonment. ... Capital punishment, or the death penalty, is the execution of a convicted criminal by the State as punishment for crimes known as capital crimes or capital offenses. ... The Watergate building. ... ... Bob Woodward Robert Upshur Bob Woodward (born March 26, 1943) is assistant managing editor of The Washington Post. ... Carl Bernstein (left) and Bob Woodward (right)This image is pending deletion. ... W. Mark Felt, on the set of CBSs Face the Nation in 1976. ... Same-sex marriage, often called gay marriage, is a marriage between two persons of the same gender. ... New York County Supreme Court building at 60 Centre Street, from across Foley Square The Supreme Court of the State of New York is one of several New York State trial courts in which cases originate. ... Same-sex marriage is the union of two people who are of the same biological sex or gender. ...

February 5, 2005

• NATO helicopters find the wreckage of a Kam Air Boeing 737, an Afghan passenger jet, in mountains east of Kabul; all 104 people that were on board are presumed dead. (ABC News)
• Bareilly, India: More than 250 grams of weapons-grade uranium are found in possession of two people arrested for drug peddling in India. (Times of India)
• President Gnassingbé Eyadéma of Togo dies of a heart attack at the age of 68 and is succeeded by his son Faure Gnassingbé. (CNN)
• In the People's Republic of China, The Tenth Shaanxi Provincial People's Congress votes in favour of Acting Governor Chen Deming to become the next Governor of Shaanxi. (People's Daily) (ChinaBroadcast)

February 5 is the 36th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... NATO 2002 Summit in Prague The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation[1] (NATO), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, the Atlantic Alliance or the Western Alliance, is an international organisation for collective security established in 1949, in support of the North Atlantic Treaty signed in Washington, DC, on 4 April 1949. ... The Kam Air Flight 904 disaster was an aviation disaster in February 2005. ... Kabul, Kâbl (locally: کابل), is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan with a population of approximately 3 million people. ... Bareilly   is a city in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. ... General Name, Symbol, Number uranium, U, 92 Chemical series actinides Group, Period, Block n/a, 7, f Appearance silvery gray metallic; corrodes to a spalling black oxide coat in air Atomic mass 238. ... This page contains a list of presidents of Togo. ... Gnassingbé Eyadéma - Wikipedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ... A myocardial infarction occurs when an atherosclerotic plaque slowly builds up in the inner lining of a coronary artery and then suddenly ruptures, totally occluding the artery and preventing blood flow downstream. ... Faure Gnassingbé Faure Essozimna Gnassingbé (born June 6, 1966), also known as Faure Eyadéma, has been the President of Togo since May 4, 2005; he was previously president for twenty days from February 5 to February 25, 2005. ...   (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: ShÇŽnxÄ«; Wade-Giles: Shan-hsi; Postal map spelling: Shensi) is a north-central province of the Peoples Republic of China, and includes portions of the Loess Plateau on the middle reaches of the Yellow River as well as the Qinling Mountains across the... Chen Deming (Chinese:陈德铭 1949—) is the current Governor of Shaanxi. ... Are you kidding?, this is solid truth here, nothing escapes the eyes of Gov!!!, not even. ...

February 6, 2005

• The New England Patriots win the Super Bowl, defeating the Philadelphia Eagles 24-21. (Wash. Times)
• U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrives in Israel to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. (CNN)
• Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra wins an unprecedented second term as prime minister, in the greatest electoral sweep in the nation's history. (CNN)
• Togo succession:
  • The Togolese parliament tries to legalize the accession to power of Faure Gnassingbé, son of Gnassingbé Eyadéma, by voting to change a constitutional amendment. (Yahoo France - AFP) (CBC)
  • The military of Togo is criticized by global leaders for suspending the constitution after the death of president Gnassingbé Eyadéma and naming his son successor. (BBC)
• Conflict in Iraq: Guerrilla fighting leaves 22 dead, including two US troops. (Daily Times)
• The tobacco industry hails a US court of appeals ruling which rejected the government's $280bn claim for alleged deceit about the dangers of smoking. (BBC)
• A gas leak in a hostel in Todolella, Spain kills 18 people. (BBC)

February 6 is the 37th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... City Foxboro, Massachusetts Other nicknames The Pats Team colors Nautical Blue, New Century Silver, Red, and White Head Coach Bill Belichick Owner Robert Kraft Mascot Pat Patriot League/Conference affiliations American Football League (1960–69) Eastern Division (1960–69) National Football League (1970–present) American Football Conference (1970–present) AFC... Date February 6, 2005 Stadium ALLTEL Stadium City Jacksonville, Florida MVP Deion Branch, Wide receiver Favorite Patriots by 7 National anthem Combined choirs of the U.S. Military Academy, the U.S. Naval Academy, the U.S. Air Force Academy, and the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, and U.S... City Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Team colors Midnight Green, Black, White, and Silver Head Coach Andy Reid Owner Jeffrey Lurie General manager Tom Heckert Fight song Fly, Eagles Fly Mascot Swoop League/Conference affiliations National Football League (1933–present) Eastern Division (1933-1949) American Conference (1950-1952) Eastern Conference (1953-1969) Capitol... United States is the current Good Article Collaboration of the week! Please help to improve this article to the highest of standards. ... Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. ... Condoleezza Rice (born November 14, 1954 in Birmingham, Alabama) is the 66th United States Secretary of State, and the second in the administration of President George W. Bush to hold the office. ... The Prime Minister of Israel (Hebrew: ראש הממשלה, Rosh HaMemshala, lit. ...   (Hebrew: , also known by his diminutive Arik אָרִיק) (born February 27, 1928) is a former Israeli politician and general. ... The West Bank The Palestinian National Authority (PNA or PA) is a semi-autonomous state institution nominally governing the bulk of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip (which it calls the Palestinian Territories). It was established as a part of Oslo accords between the PLO and Israel. ... The President of the Palestinian Authority is the highest-ranking political position (equivalent to head of state) in the Palestinian National Authority (PNA). ... Mahmoud Abbas (Arabic: محمود عباس) (born March 26, 1935), commonly known by the kunya Abu Mazen (ابو مازن), was elected President of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) on January 9, 2005, and took office on January 15, 2005. ... The following is a list of Prime Ministers of Thailand: Phraya Manopakorn Nititada, (1932-1933) General Phraya Phahol Pholphayuhasena, (1933-1938) Field Marshal Plaek Phibunsongkhram, (1938-1944) Major Khuang Abhaiwongse, (1944-1945) Tawee Boonyaket, (1945) Seni Pramoj, (1945) Major Khuang Abhaiwongse, (1946) Luang Praditmanutham, (1946) Rear Admiral Thawal Thamrong Navaswadhi... Wikinews has news related to: Thai PM Shinawatra ousted by coup   (Thai: , IPA: ; born July 26, 1949 in Chiang Mai, Thailand with family roots in Meizhou, Guangdong, China), Thai businessman and politician, is the deposed Prime Minister of Thailand and the former leader of the populist Thai Rak Thai party. ... Legislative elections were held in Thailand on 6 February 2005. ... Faure Gnassingbé Faure Essozimna Gnassingbé (born June 6, 1966), also known as Faure Eyadéma, has been the President of Togo since May 4, 2005; he was previously president for twenty days from February 5 to February 25, 2005. ... Gnassingbé Eyadéma - Wikipedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ... Gnassingbé Eyadéma - Wikipedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ... This article deals with the post-invasion period in Iraq and its occupation. ... Look up guerrilla in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... United States is the current Good Article Collaboration of the week! Please help to improve this article to the highest of standards. ... The tobacco industry comprises those persons and companies engaged in the growth, preparation for sale, shipment, advertisement, and distribution of tobacco and tobacco-related products. ... United States is the current Good Article Collaboration of the week! Please help to improve this article to the highest of standards. ... Court of Appeals is the title of certain appellate courts in various jurisdictions. ... Youth hostel in Rome. ... Todolella is a small town located in the province of Castellón, Spain. ...

February 7, 2005

• Englishwoman Ellen MacArthur sets a record for the quickest round-the-world solo sail. She completed the 27,354 mile journey in 71 days, 14 hours, 18 minutes and 33 seconds, breaking the old record of 72 days, 22 hours, 54 minutes and 22 seconds, set by Francis Joyon in 2004, which itself took 20 days off the previous record. (Associated Press) (Sky News)
• A number of people are taken hostage in the Spanish consulate in Bern, Switzerland. (Reuters AlertNet) (SwissInfo) (BBC)
• Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo asks other African states not to recognize the transfer of power in Togo to Faure Gnassingbé. The African Union has also condemned the move. (Reuters AlertNet) (IAfrica)
• Spanish police in the Canary Islands find a drifting boat containing 227 African migrants. (Reuters) (BBC)
• In Guatemala, the constitutional court stops a trial of 16 military officers accused of war crimes and killing hundreds of civilians. (Reuters) (BBC)
• In Malawi, President Bingu wa Mutharika quits the governing party, the United Democratic Front, stating he is fed up of criticism of his anti-corruption campaign. The party had debated whether to expel him for alleged misconduct. (IOL, SA) (SABC) (BBC)
• In Nepal, the state media reports that the new government of King Gyanendra of Nepal offers talks to Maoist rebels. At the same time, Nepalese government forces begin a new offensive against the rebels. (Reuters AlertNet) (BBC)

February 7 is the 38th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Motto: (French for God and my right) Anthem: Multiple unofficial anthems Capital London Largest city London Official language(s) English (de facto) Unification    - by Athelstan AD 927  Area    - Total 130,395 km² (1st in UK)   50,346 sq mi  Population    - 2005 est. ... Ellen MacArthur Dame Ellen Patricia MacArthur, DBE (born July 8, 1976) is an English sailor from Whatstandwell near Matlock in Derbyshire, now based in Cowes, Isle of Wight. ... In February 2004 Francis Joyon became the fastest world solo yachtsman, setting a time over 20 days faster than the previous record for a circumnavigation of 72 days 22 hours and 54 minutes and 22 seconds of covering more than 28,000 miles at an average speed of 15. ... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... A hostage is a person (sometimes another entity) which is held by a captor (often a criminal abductor) in order to compel another party (relative, employer, government. ... Location within Switzerland The city of Bern, English traditionally Berne (Bernese German Bärn , German Bern , French Berne , Italian Berna , Romansh Berna ), is the Bundesstadt (administrative capital) of Switzerland, and is the fourth most populous Swiss city (after Zürich, Geneva and Basel). ... Olusegun Mathew Okikiola Aremu Obasanjo (born March 5, 1937) has been the President of Nigeria since 1999. ... Faure Gnassingbé Faure Essozimna Gnassingbé (born June 6, 1966), also known as Faure Eyadéma, has been the President of Togo since May 4, 2005; he was previously president for twenty days from February 5 to February 25, 2005. ... Anthem: Let Us All Unite and Celebrate Together Capital Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Membership 53 member states Official languages The languages of Africa, as well as Arabic, English, French, Portuguese and Swahili Formation - As Organisation of African Unity - As AU - May 25, 1963 - July 9, 2002 Chairman of the African Union... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... A world map showing the continent of Africa. ... A Constitutional Court is a high court found in many countries which deals primary with constitutional law. ... In the context of war, a war crime is a punishable offense under International Law, for violations of the laws of war by any person or persons, military or civilian. ... A civilian is a person who is not a member of a military. ... List of Heads of State of Malawi Affiliations:- MCP = Malawi Congress Party - nationalist, authoritarian, sole legal party 1966-1993 UDF = United Democratic Front - liberal For colonial heads prior to independence see: Colonial Heads of Malawi (Nyasaland) See also- Heads of Government of Malawi lists of incumbents Categories: Lists of office... President Bingu wa Mutharika addressing the United Nations General Assembly. ... Categories: Politics stubs | Liberal related stubs | Liberal parties | Malawi political parties ... Gyanendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev, King of Nepal (Nepali: ज्ञानेन्द्र वीर विक्रम शाहदेव; Gyānendra VÄ«ra Vikrama Śāhadeva) (born July 7, 1947) has been the King of Nepal since June 4, 2001. ... The Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) or CPN(M) is a Maoist political party founded in 1994 and led by Pushpa Kamal Dahal, otherwise known as Prachanda. ...

February 8, 2005

• Conflict in Iraq: Guerrillas in Baquba detonate a car bomb outside an Iraqi police headquarters, killing 15 and wounding 17. A suicide bomber in Mosul kills 12 policemen and injures 4 others. In another area of the city, guerrillas fire a dozen mortar rounds at a police station, killing 3 civilians. (Scotsman/AP)
• Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: A truce is declared between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. Mahmoud Abbas, the President of the Palestinian Authority, and Ariel Sharon, the Prime Minister of Israel, shook hands at a four-way summit at Sharm el-Sheikh that was also attended by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Jordan's King Abdullah. Palestinian organization Hamas says it is not bound by the ceasefire. (BBC)
• In Denmark, parliamentary elections result in a continuation of the center-right coalition of Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen. (BBC)
• In Nepal, phone lines and internet connections are restored. (BBC) (Sify) At the same time, the army begins air strikes against Maoist troops. (Reuters)
• Swiss police are searching for three apparent burglars who yesterday briefly held hostages in the Spanish embassy in Bern. When the police stormed the building, they discovered that the criminals had already left the scene. An embassy security guard is in the hospital. (SwissInfo) (Reuters)
• The President of Mexico, Vicente Fox, increases his personal security after an advisor reportedly leaked his itinerary to a Mexican drug cartel. (Reuters) (Bloomberg) (BBC)
• A ban on tobacco smoking in public places begins in Cuba. (Reuters) (BBC)
• In China, the Ministry of Agriculture announces that it has developed a vaccine against bird flu spreading to humans (New Ratings) (BBC)
• The parliament in Greece elects Karolos Papoulias as their new president for the next five-year term. (Seattle Post-Intelligencer) (Washington Post)
• In response to the floods in Guyana, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) launches a Flash Appeal to cover both immediate and transitional needs of the affected people. The floods, a result of the torrential rains that occurred during the middle of January, continue to affect over 290,000 people, or roughly 39% of the population. The torrential rains were the worst for the region in roughly a century. (Jouvay) (Guyana Outpost)

February 8 is the 39th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... This article deals with the post-invasion period in Iraq and its occupation. ... Look up guerrilla in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Baquba (بعقوبه; also transliterated as Baqubah and Baqouba) is the capital of Iraqs Diyala province. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... US soldier loading a M224 60-mm mortar. ... The Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a part of the greater Arab-Israeli conflict, is an ongoing dispute between the State of Israel and Palestinian people (or state). ... == T.R.U.C.E == Teachers Resisting Unhealthy Childrens Entertainment. ... The West Bank The Palestinian National Authority (PNA or PA) is a semi-autonomous state institution nominally governing the bulk of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip (which it calls the Palestinian Territories). It was established as a part of Oslo accords between the PLO and Israel. ... Mahmoud Abbas (Arabic: محمود عباس) (born March 26, 1935), commonly known by the kunya Abu Mazen (ابو مازن), was elected President of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) on January 9, 2005, and took office on January 15, 2005. ... The President of the Palestinian Authority is the highest-ranking political position (equivalent to head of state) in the Palestinian National Authority (PNA). ...   (Hebrew: , also known by his diminutive Arik אָרִיק) (born February 27, 1928) is a former Israeli politician and general. ... The Prime Minister of Israel (Hebrew: ראש הממשלה, Rosh HaMemshala, lit. ... View of the Red Sea and Tiran Island from the Sheraton Sharm hotel. ... The President of the Arab Republic of Egypt is the elected Head of State of Egypt. ... Muhammad Hosni Said Mubarak (Arabic : محمد حسنى سيد مبارك ) (born May 4, 1928) commonly known as Hosni Mubarak (Arabic: حسنى مبارك ) is the fourth President of Egypt since 14 October 1981 till the present day. ... The Jordanian monarchy was set up in 1921, with help from the British. ... King Abdullah II bin al-Hussein. ... The term Palestinian has other usages, for which see definitions of Palestinian. ... Hamas (Arabic: ‎; acronym: Arabic: ‎, or Harakat al-Muqawama al-Islamiyya or Islamic Resistance Movement; the Arabic acronym means zeal) is a Palestinian Sunni Islamist organization that currently (since January 2006) forms the majority party of the Palestinian National Authority. ... Legislative elections were held in Denmark on February 8, 2005. ... This is a list over the heads of government in Denmark, from the establishment of a constitutional monarchy in 1849 until present. ... Anders Fogh Rasmussen , also: (born January 26, 1953) is the current Prime Minister of Denmark (in Danish Statsminister, meaning State Minister). ... Look up phone in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... A military strike is a limited attack on a specified target. ... The Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) or CPN(M) is a Maoist political party founded in 1994 and led by Pushpa Kamal Dahal, otherwise known as Prachanda. ... A hostage is a person (sometimes another entity) which is held by a captor (often a criminal abductor) in order to compel another party (relative, employer, government. ... Location within Switzerland The city of Bern, English traditionally Berne (Bernese German Bärn , German Bern , French Berne , Italian Berna , Romansh Berna ), is the Bundesstadt (administrative capital) of Switzerland, and is the fourth most populous Swiss city (after Zürich, Geneva and Basel). ... A Security Guard or Security Officer is usually a privately-employed person who is paid (directly or through a security firm) to protect property and/or people. ... The President of the United Mexican States is the head of state of Mexico. ... Vicente Fox Quesada[1] (born July 2, 1942) is the current President of Mexico. ... Retail selling Street selling is the bottom of the chain and can be accomplished through purchasing from prostitutes, through cloaked retail stores or refuse houses for users in the act located in red-light districts which often also deal in paraphernalia, dealers marketing merriment at night clubs and other events... Species Nicotiana acuminata Nicotiana alata Nicotiana attenuata Nicotiana benthamiana Nicotiana clevelandii Nicotiana excelsior Nicotiana forgetiana Nicotiana glauca Nicotiana glutinosa Nicotiana langsdorffii Nicotiana longiflora Nicotiana obtusifolia Nicotiana paniculata Nicotiana plumbagifolia Nicotiana quadrivalvis Nicotiana repanda Nicotiana rustica Nicotianasuaveolens Nicotiana sylvestris Nicotiana tabacum Nicotiana tomentosa Ref: ITIS 30562 as of August 26, 2005... The cigarette is the most common method of smoking tobacco. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Avian influenza (also known as bird flu) is a type of influenza virulent in birds. ... Politics of Greece takes place in a framework of a parliamentary representative democratic republic, whereby the Prime Minister of Greece is the head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system. ... Karolos Papoulias Karolos Papoulias (Greek: Κάρολος Παπούλιας) is the President of the Hellenic Republic, former minister and member of the Hellenic parliament. ... The flag of the President of Greece This is a list of presidents of Greece. ... 2005 : January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December- → Deaths in January • 29 Ephraim Kishon • 25 Philip Johnson • 23 Johnny Carson • 22 Parveen Babi • 20 Jan Nowak-Jeziorański • 17 Virginia Mayo • 17 Zhao Ziyang • 15...

February 9, 2005

• War on Terror: Democrat Jane Harman, the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, announces she is planning to introduce a bill to ban torture by U.S. interrogators and bar transfers of detainees to countries that engage in torture. (LA Times)
• Conflict in Iraq: A suicide bomber kills at least 21 people outside a police recruiting center in Baghdad. In a separate incident also in Baghdad, three policemen die from a firefight in the notoriously dangerous neighborhood of Ghazaliyah. (Newsday/AP)
• Carly Fiorina, widely considered one of the most powerful women in American business, resigns her post as CEO of Hewlett-Packard, having being asked to do so by the company's board of directors after she failed to cut costs and increase revenue as quickly as the board had hoped. She had served as CEO of the company since 1999 and Chairman of the Board since 2000. (ABC News)
• British survey ship HMS Scott produces the first sonar survey of the seabed site of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake. Some images appear to show a landslide 100 metres high and 2 kilometres long. (BBC).
• Switzerland's Federal Court rules that the money that former Nigerian dictator Sani Abacha took from Nigeria may be returned to the country. Abacha took hundreds of millions of dollars from Nigeria during his rule as dictator. (Swissinfo)
• In Sri Lanka, "Baby 81", a baby boy who survived the 2004 Indian Ocean Earthquake, is submitted to a DNA test to determine who his parents are. Nine couples have claimed him as their own and one couple apparently tried to kidnap him from a hospital. (Times of India) (BBC) (BBC)
• The Economic Community of West African States intends to hold an emergency summit in Niger to discuss the political developments about the appointment of Faure Gnassingbé as the president of Togo. (GhanaWeb) (AllAfrica) (BBC)
• A car bomb, apparently set up by Basque paramilitary group ETA, explodes in Madrid, injuring 31 people outside a conference center where the King and Queen of Spain and President of Mexico were to open an exhibition later today. (Reuters) (BBC).
• In Canada, former prime minister Jean Chrétien defends his government's actions in an inquiry into the misuse of government advertising and sponsorship funds. (Winnipeg Sun) (Canada.Com)
• The French parliament votes in favor of relaxing the 35-hour work week rules. (BBC)

February 9 is the 40th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The war on terrorism or war on terror (abbreviated in U.S. policy circles as GWOT for Global War on Terror) is an effort by the governments of the United States and its principal allies to destroy groups deemed to be terrorist (primarily radical Islamist organizations such as al-Qaeda... The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States; the other being the Republican Party. ... Jane Lakes Harman (born June 28, 1945), is a six-term Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives, representing the 36th District of California (map). ... Ranking member, in American politics, is a term used to refer to the member of a committee in Congress who is the longest-serving member of the party not in the majority (the longest-serving member of the majority is the chairman). ... Seal of the House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives (or simply the House) is one of the two chambers of the United States Congress, the other being the Senate. ... The U.S. House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence is a committee of the United States House of Representatives, currently chaired by Peter Hoekstra. ... For other uses, see Torture (disambiguation). ... United States is the current Good Article Collaboration of the week! Please help to improve this article to the highest of standards. ... This article deals with the post-invasion period in Iraq and its occupation. ... Baghdad ( translit: ) is the capital of Iraq and of Baghdad Governorate. ... Carly Fiorina from MIT podium 2002 Cara Carleton Carly Fiorina (born Cara Carleton Sneed; September 6, 1954 in Austin, Texas) is an American business executive, best known as former CEO (1999–2005) and Chairman of the Board (2000–2005) of Hewlett-Packard (HP). ... A chief executive officer (CEO), or chief executive, is the highest-ranking corporate officer or executive officer of a corporation, or agency. ... The Hewlett-Packard Company (NYSE: HPQ), commonly known as HP, is a very large, global company headquartered in Palo Alto, California, United States. ... 1999 (MCMXCIX) was a common year starting on Friday, and was designated the International Year of Old Farts by the Sometimes-United Nations. ... The phrase Chairman of the Board has several meanings: Chairman of the Board is the term used to denote the leader of a corporations board of directors. ... This article is about the year 2000. ... The tsunami caused by the December 26, 2004 earthquake strikes Ao Nang, Thailand. ... Flag of the President of Nigeria This page contains a list of presidents and other heads of state of Nigeria since 1963. ... Sani Abacha General Sani Abacha (20 September 1943 – 8 June 1998) was a Nigerian politician and military leader. ... Abhilasha Jeyarajah (19 October 2004), sometimes spelled Abilash Jeyarajah and known as Baby 81, was a survivor of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and the subject of a parental identity row. ... The tsunami caused by the December 26, 2004 earthquake strikes Ao Nang, Thailand. ... Genetic fingerprinting or DNA testing is a technique to distinguish between individuals of the same species using only samples of their DNA. Its invention by Sir Alec Jeffreys at the University of Leicester was announced in 1985. ... The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) is a regional group of fifteen countries, founded on May 28, 1975 when fifteen West African countries signed the Treaty of Lagos. ... Faure Gnassingbé Faure Essozimna Gnassingbé (born June 6, 1966), also known as Faure Eyadéma, has been the President of Togo since May 4, 2005; he was previously president for twenty days from February 5 to February 25, 2005. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... A paramilitary organization is a group of civilians trained and organised in a military fashion. ... ETA symbol or ETA (Basque for Basque Homeland and Freedom; IPA pronunciation: [) is a paramilitary Basque nationalist organization listed as a terrorist organization by the United Nations, European Union and the United States in their watchlists on the matter. ... Location Coordinates : 40° 23’N , 3°43′0″W Time Zone : CET (GMT +1) - summer: CEST (GMT +2) General information Native name Villa de Madrid (Spanish) Spanish name Villa de Madrid Founded 9th century Postal code 28001-28080 Area code 34 (Spain) + 91 (Villa de Madrid) Website http://www. ... This is a list of Spanish monarchs—that is, rulers of the country of Spain in the modern sense of the word. ... The President of the United Mexican States is the head of state of Mexico. ... Stephen Harper is the current Prime Minister of Canada. ... Joseph Jacques Jean Chrétien, usually known as Jean Chrétien, PC, QC, BA, LLL, LLD (born January 11, 1934), served as the twentieth Prime Minister of Canada from November 4, 1993 to December 12, 2003. ... The Parlement of France is bicameral, and consists of the National Assembly (Assemblée Nationale) and the Senate (Sénat). ...

February 10, 2005

• Balance of trade: The U.S. Department of Commerce states imports exceeded exports by $670 billion for 2004, beating the previous record by nearly 25%. (BBC)
• September 11, 2001 attacks: A previously unreleased portion of the 9/11 Commission's report details that the Federal Aviation Administration received 52 intelligence reports on potential terrorist attacks by al-Qaeda before September 11, 2001. (BBC) (NY Times)
• Wal-Mart closes a store in Jonquière, Quebec in response to what a company spokesman says are unreasonable demands from union negotiators. The union was close to winning the first ever labor contract from the world's largest retailer. (MLive/AP)
• Conflict in Iraq:
  • Iraqi officials announce they must recount around 300 ballot boxes due to various discrepancies, delaying the final results.
  • In Salman Pak south of Baghdad, guerrillas attack a police station killing at least eight Iraqi policemen and wounding more than 60.
  • Three people are killed when a car bomb is detonated in Baghdad.
  • Also in the capital, the bodies of 20 truck drivers are found and guerrillas ambush a convoy of Kurdish party officials, killing one and wounding four.
  • In Basra, guerrillas kill an Iraqi journalist working for the U.S.-funded al-Hurra TV station and his 3-year-old son as they leave their home.
  • A roadside bomb in Samarra leaves four policemen dead. (BBC) (ABC)
• Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Israel has postponed security talks with Palestinians following a mortar attack by Hamas on the Gush Katif Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip. Hamas claim the attack was in retaliation for an attack by Jewish settlers which left one man dead. Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas responds by firing the top security commanders in the Gaza Strip. (BBC)
• Clarence House announces that Charles, Prince of Wales is to marry Camilla Parker Bowles in a civil ceremony on 8 April. When Charles becomes a king, it is intended that she be styled as a princess consort, rather than a queen consort. (BBC)
• North Korea and weapons of mass destruction: North Korea announces that it has developed nuclear weapons for its self-defense, and suspends participation in multi-nation talks to discuss its arms program. (Reuters)
• Saudi Arabia starts its first nationwide municipal elections. Voting is limited to men in Riyadh and voters elect only half of the municipal councils; the other half is appointed by the monarchy. Other regions are scheduled to hold elections next month. (Reuters) (Arab News) (Khaleej Times) (World Peace Herald)
• In a meeting of the Economic Community of West African States, west African leaders refuse to recognise Faure Gnassingbé as the new president of Togo and threaten to impose sanctions if the country does not begin to plan presidential elections. Gnassingbé has promised elections as soon as possible. (Reuters) (BBC) (Republic of Togo)
• Rumaisa Rahman, an Indian baby who is believed to be the smallest baby in history to survive complications related to being of a relatively small size during birth, goes home six months after she was born in a hospital in Chicago. She was born weighing 8.6 ounces (244 grams). (Calcutta Telegraph) (Khalsa News) (Reuters)
• In Peru, 5 die and 19 are injured when two gangs clash in the maximum security Lurigancho prison outside Lima. (Bloomberg) (BBC)
• According to Zimbabwean police, female athlete Samukeliso Sithole is actually male. (AllAfrica) (BBC)

February 10 is the 41st day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The balance of trade (or net exports, NX) is the difference between the monetary value of exports and imports in an economy over a certain period of time. ... United States is the current Good Article Collaboration of the week! Please help to improve this article to the highest of standards. ... The United States Department of Commerce is a Cabinet department of the United States government concerned with promoting economic growth. ... The United States dollar is the official currency of the United States. ... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... A sequential look at United Flight 175 crashing into the south tower of the World Trade Center The September 11, 2001 attacks (often referred to as 9/11—pronounced nine eleven or nine one one) consisted of a series of coordinated terrorist[1] suicide attacks upon the United States, predominantly... The Commissions seal The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, also known as the 9/11 Commission, was set up in late 2002 to prepare a full and complete account of the circumstances surrounding the September 11, 2001 attacks, including preparedness for and the immediate response...   FAA redirects here. ... Terrorist redirects here. ... Al-Qaeda (Arabic: القاعدة, the foundation or the base) is the name given to a worldwide network of militant Islamist organizations under the leadership of Osama bin Laden. ... September 11 is the 254th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (255th in leap years). ... 2001: A Space Odyssey. ... Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. ... Jonquière was a city on the Saguenay River in the Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean region of Quebec, Canada, near Chicoutimi. ... Motto: Je me souviens (French: I remember) Official languages French Flower Blue Flag Iris (Iris versicolor Linné) Tree Yellow Birch Bird Snowy Owl Capital Quebec City Largest city Montreal Lieutenant-Governor Lise Thibault Premier Jean Charest (PLQ) Parliamentary representation  - House seat  - Senate seats 75 24 Area Total  - Land  - Water  (% of... The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view. ... A drawing of a self-service store Retailing consists of the sale of goods/merchandise for personal or household consumption either from a fixed location such as a department store or kiosk, or away from a fixed location and related subordinated services (Definition of the WTO (last page). ... This article deals with the post-invasion period in Iraq and its occupation. ... Salman Pak (al-Salman) is a town approximately 15 miles south of Baghdad near a peninsula formed by a broad eastward bend of the Tigris River. ... Baghdad ( translit: ) is the capital of Iraq and of Baghdad Governorate. ... Look up guerrilla in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Kurds are one of the Iranian peoples and speak Kurdish, a north-Western Iranian language related to Persian. ... Location of Basra Basra (Arabic: ‎ ; BGN: Al BaÅŸrah) is the second largest city of Iraq with an estimated population of c. ... United States is the current Good Article Collaboration of the week! Please help to improve this article to the highest of standards. ... Alhurra or Al Hurra (الحرّة, Arabic for The Free One) is a United States-based satellite TV channel, sponsored by the U.S. government, that began broadcasting on February 14, 2004 in 22 countries across the Middle East. ... Map showing Samarra near Baghdad Sāmarrā (سامراء) is a town in Iraq ( ). It stands on the east bank of the Tigris in the Salah ad Din Governorate, 125 km north of Baghdad and, in 2002, had an estimated population of 201,700. ... The Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a part of the greater Arab-Israeli conflict, is an ongoing dispute between the State of Israel and Palestinian people (or state). ... The term Palestinian has other usages, for which see definitions of Palestinian. ... US soldier loading a M224 60-mm mortar. ... Hamas (Arabic: ‎; acronym: Arabic: ‎, or Harakat al-Muqawama al-Islamiyya or Islamic Resistance Movement; the Arabic acronym means zeal) is a Palestinian Sunni Islamist organization that currently (since January 2006) forms the majority party of the Palestinian National Authority. ... Gush Katif Gush Katif (also Gush Katiff, Hebrew: גוש קטיף, English: Harvest Belt) was a bloc of 16 Israeli settlements in the southern Gaza Strip. ... The word Jew ( Hebrew: יהודי) is used in a wide number of ways, but generally refers to a follower of the Jewish faith, a child of a Jewish mother, or someone of Jewish descent with a connection to Jewish culture or ethnicity and often a combination... Hamas (Arabic: ‎; acronym: Arabic: ‎, or Harakat al-Muqawama al-Islamiyya or Islamic Resistance Movement; the Arabic acronym means zeal) is a Palestinian Sunni Islamist organization that currently (since January 2006) forms the majority party of the Palestinian National Authority. ... This article describes some ethnic, historic, and cultural aspects of the Jewish identity; for a consideration of the Jewish religion, refer to the article Judaism. ... The President of the Palestinian Authority is the highest-ranking political position (equivalent to head of state) in the Palestinian National Authority (PNA). ... Mahmoud Abbas (Arabic: محمود عباس) (born March 26, 1935), commonly known by the kunya Abu Mazen (ابو مازن), was elected President of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) on January 9, 2005, and took office on January 15, 2005. ... Clarence House, London Clarence House is a royal home in London, situated in The Mall. ... The Prince Charles, Prince of Wales (Charles Philip Arthur George Mountbatten-Windsor; born Windsor, 14 November 1948), is the eldest son of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. ... Camilla Parker Bowles (born July 17 1947) was mistress, now girlfriend, of Charles, Prince of Wales. ... April 8 is the 98th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (99th in leap years). ... This is a list of British monarchs, that is, the monarchs on the thrones of some of the various kingdoms that have existed on, or incorporated, the island of Great Britain, namely: England (united with Wales from 1536) up to 1707; Scotland up to 1707; The Kingdom of Great Britain... A princess consort is the female equivalent to a prince consort. ... King George V of the United Kingdom and his consort, Queen Mary A queen consort is the wife and consort of a reigning king. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... The mushroom cloud of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, Japan, 1945, rose some 18 kilometers (11 mi) above the hypocenter. ... This article needs to be updated. ... Riyadh (Arabic: ‎ ar-Riyāḍ) is the capital of the kingdom of Saudi Arabia, located in Ar Riyad Province in the Najd region. ... Places where monarchies maintain rule appear in blue. ... The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) is a regional group of fifteen countries, founded on May 28, 1975 when fifteen West African countries signed the Treaty of Lagos. ... Faure Gnassingbé Faure Essozimna Gnassingbé (born June 6, 1966), also known as Faure Eyadéma, has been the President of Togo since May 4, 2005; he was previously president for twenty days from February 5 to February 25, 2005. ... Sanction is an interesting word, in that, depending on context, it can have diametrically opposing meanings. ... This article is about the political process. ... Rumaisa Rahman (born 19 September 2004) is a baby who, according to medical records, is the smallest born baby in history to survive birth after complications due to her size. ... Nickname: The Windy City, The Second City, Chi Town, The City of Big Shoulders Motto: Urbs In Horto (Latin: City in a Garden), I Will Location in Chicagoland and Illinois Coordinates: Country United States State Illinois County Cook Incorporated March 4, 1837 Mayor Richard M. Daley (D) Area    - City 606. ... Supermax is the name used to describe control-unit prisons or units within prisons, representing the most secure and austere levels of custody in the prison systems of the United States and other countries. ... Lima is the capital and largest city in Peru, as well as the capital of Lima Province. ... Samukeliso Sithole, a male athlete from Zimbabwe was sentenced to a 3. ...

February 11, 2005

• Eason Jordan resigns from his posts at CNN, where he has been both chief news executive and executive vice president. The controversy that led to his resignation began at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland last month where, witnesses claim, he said that the U.S. military had targeted and killed journalists. (Miami Herald)
• At least eight people are killed during a jail riot in Córdoba, Argentina. All hostages taken by the prisoners were later freed by police. (Yahoo! News)
• Conflict in Iraq: At least 20 people are killed in Baghdad as United States Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld tours the country for a day. (BBC)
• Israeli-Palestinian conflict: Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas travels to the Gaza Strip to persuade militant groups to join the ceasefire announced with Israel three days ago. (BBC)
• An estimated two million Iranians demonstrate against a possible U.S. pre-emptive strike aimed at preventing Iran from deploying nuclear weapons - a strike which top US military leaders deny considering. (Jakarta Post)
• The 485-foot-long Shakidor Dam in Baluchistan, southwest Pakistan, bursts under the pressure of a weeks' worth of rain, sending the Pakistani military into emergency search and rescue operations. Some 400 to 500 people are still unaccounted for. (CBC)
• Japan pledges over $21M in support of a United Nations-backed independent tribunal of Khmer Rouge leaders in Cambodia. The proposed tribunal is for crimes against humanity. (ChannelNews Asia) (BBC)
• The Supreme Court of India agrees to examine the legality of the sensitive issue raised in a petition demanding reservation for Dalits even after conversion to Christianity. (Indian Express)
• In Karnataka, India, armed Naxalites gun down six State Reserve Police personnel and a civilian and injure five others at Venkammanahali in the Tumkur district bordering Andhra Pradesh. (Times of India) (Indian Express)
• The Supreme Court of India issues notices to all state governments of India on a public interest petition seeking a ban on mixing whitening chemical agents like magnesium carbonate in gutkas. (NDTV) (Times of India) (Rediff)
• Ministers of the Commonwealth criticize Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf for not stepping down as army chief as he had promised. The State Department of the United States also asks him to end his dual role. (Daily Times, Pakistan) (Sify) (NDTV) (BBC)

February 11 is the 42nd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Eason Jordan was Chief News Executive for CNN, and had been with the news network from 1982 until his resignation in 2005. ... The Cable News Network, commonly known as CNN, is a major cable television network founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. ... The World Economic Forum (WEF) is a Geneva-based foundation whose annual meeting of top business leaders, national political leaders (presidents, prime ministers and others), and selected intellectuals and journalists is usually held in Davos, Switzerland. ... Davos viewed from air Davos is a town in eastern Switzerland, in the canton of Graubünden, on the Landwasser River. ... Córdoba is a city located near the geographical center of Argentina, in the foothills of the Sierras Chicas mountains on the Suquía River, about 700 km west-northwest from Buenos Aires. ... This article deals with the post-invasion period in Iraq and its occupation. ... Baghdad ( translit: ) is the capital of Iraq and of Baghdad Governorate. ... The United States Secretary of Defense is the head of the United States Department of Defense, concerned with the armed services and The Secretary is a member of the Presidents Cabinet. ... Donald Henry Rumsfeld (born July 9, 1932, Evanston, Illinois) is the 21st and current United States Secretary of Defense. ... The Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a part of the greater Arab-Israeli conflict, is an ongoing dispute between the State of Israel and Palestinian people (or state). ... The term Palestinian has other usages, for which see definitions of Palestinian. ... Mahmoud Abbas (Arabic: محمود عباس) (born March 26, 1935), commonly known by the kunya Abu Mazen (ابو مازن), was elected President of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) on January 9, 2005, and took office on January 15, 2005. ... The word militant has come to refer to any individual or party engaged in aggressive physical or verbal combat, normally for a cause. ... United States is the current Good Article Collaboration of the week! Please help to improve this article to the highest of standards. ... Most often used to describe a military attack which is designed to prevent, or reduce the impact of, an anticipated attack from an enemy. ... The mushroom cloud of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, Japan, 1945, rose some 18 kilometers (11 mi) above the hypocenter. ... The Shakidor (Shadi Kor) dam is located in Pasni, in the Baluchistan province of south west Pakistan, 1,900 km (1,180 miles) from Islamabad and has a length of about 148 meters (485 feet). ... The province of Balochistan (or Baluchistan) (Urdu: بلوچستان) in Pakistan is the largest in the country by geographical area. ... The United Nations (UN) is an international organization whose stated aims are to facilitate co-operation in international law, international security, economic development, and social equity. ... A tribunal is a generic term for any body acting judicially, whether or not it is called a tribunal in its title. ... Photos of a genocide victims on display at the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum The Khmer Rouge (Khmer: ) was the extremist Communist organization that ruled Cambodia from 1975 to 1979. ... This article is in need of attention. ... The Supreme Court of India is the highest court of the land as established by Part V, Chapter IV of the Constitution of India. ... In South Asias caste system, a Dalit; often called an untouchable; is a person of shudra; the lowest of the four castes. ... Religious conversion is the adoption of new religious beliefs that differ from the converts previous beliefs; in some cultures (e. ... This article is becoming very long. ... Karnātakā   (Kannada: ಕನಾ೯ಟಕ) (IPA: ) is one of the four southern states of India. ... CPI(ML) poster in Kolkata Naxalite or Naxalism is an informal name given to revolutionary communist groups that were born out of the Sino-Soviet split in the Indian communist movement. ... In times of armed conflict a civilian is any person who is not a combatant. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Andhra Pradesh  : (Telugu: ఆంధ్ర ప్రదేశ్, Urdu: آندھرا پردیش, IPA: ), is a state in South India. ... The Supreme Court of India is the highest court of the land as established by Part V, Chapter IV of the Constitution of India. ... Magnesium carbonate, MgCO3, is a white solid that occurs in nature as a mineral. ... Gutka street vendor, India Gutka (also spelled gutkha, guttkha, guthka) is a preparation of crushed betel nut, tobacco, and sweet or savory flavorings. ... The Commonwealth of Nations (CN), usually known as the Commonwealth, is a voluntary association of 53 independent sovereign states, the majority of which are former colonies of the United Kingdom. ... (PA – 6920) General Pervez Musharraf (Urdu: ‎; born August 11, 1943) is currently the President of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan and the Chief of Army Staff of the Pakistan Army. ... The United States Department of State, often referred to as the State Department, is the Cabinet-level foreign affairs agency of the United States government, equivalent to foreign ministries in other countries. ...

February 12, 2005

• In Lome, Togo, thousands protest the army-installed President Faure Gnassingbé. Clashes with soldiers and police forces caused the deaths of three demonstrators. (Guardian) (Yahoo France - AP)
• A strain of HIV, known to be highly drug resistant, is discovered in a New York City individual. Further alarming health officials is the fact that the onset of AIDS began within a few months of his diagnosis, a process which ordinarily takes over ten years. The patient is known to have frequently taken methamphetamine, a mutagen. (CNN)
• Howard Dean, a former governor of Vermont and a 2004 U.S. presidential candidate, is elected chairman of the Democratic National Committee. (CNN)

February 12 is the 43rd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Lomé, estimated population 700,000 (1998), is the capital of Togo. ... Faure Gnassingbé Faure Essozimna Gnassingbé (born June 6, 1966), also known as Faure Eyadéma, has been the President of Togo since May 4, 2005; he was previously president for twenty days from February 5 to February 25, 2005. ... In biology, Strain can be used two ways. ... Human immunodeficiency virus or HIV is a retrovirus that causes Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which the immune system begins to fail, leading to life-threatening opportunistic infections. ... In the context of virology, resistance or drug resistance refers to the lack of response of a population of viruses to an antiviral drug or treatment. ... Nickname: Big Apple, City that never Sleeps Location in the state of New York Coordinates: Country United States State New York Boroughs Bronx (The Bronx) New York (Manhattan) Queens (Queens) Kings (Brooklyn) Richmond (Staten Island) Mayor Michael Bloomberg (R) Area    - City 1,214. ... Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS or Aids) is a collection of symptoms and infections in humans resulting from the specific damage to the immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). ... Methamphetamine (sometimes referred to as methylamphetamine or desoxyephedrine) is a psychostimulant drug used primarily for recreational purposes, but is sometimes prescribed for ADHD and narcolepsy under the brand name Desoxyn. ... In biology, a mutagen (Latin, literally origin of change) is an agent that changes the genetic information (usually DNA) of an organism and thus increases the number of mutations above the natural background level. ... Howard Brush Dean III (born November 17, 1948) is an American politician and physician from the U.S. state of Vermont. ... This is a list of Governors of Vermont: As an Independent Republic Thomas Chittenden (None) 1778-1789 Moses Robinson (None) 1789-1790 Thomas Chittenden (None) 1790-1791 As a State Categories: Lists of United States governors | Governors of Vermont ... Official language(s) None[1] Capital Montpelier Largest city Burlington Area  Ranked 45th  - Total 9,620 sq mi (24,923 km²)  - Width 80 miles (130 km)  - Length 160 miles (260 km)  - % water 3. ... Presidential election results map. ... The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States; the other being the Republican Party. ... Former Vermont Governor Dr. Howard Dean is the current Chairman of the DNC. The Democratic National Committee (DNC) is the principal campaign and fund-raising organization affiliated with the United States Democratic Party. ...

February 13, 2005

• A shooting incident occurs at Hudson Valley Mall in upstate New York, north of New York City. Two people are injured. Local police believe that this is the work of a lone gunman and have a suspect in custody. (Reuters)
• Results from the Iraqi election show that a Shi'a group approved by Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani has won by a landslide with 48% of all votes cast. The nearest rival party, a Kurdish alliance of two parties, won 26% of the vote. The results will stand if not challenged within three days. (BBC)
• An early morning explosion extensively damages a Paris theater, and slightly injures seven people. (AP via CNN)
• In Moscow, Russia, thousands protest against the new benefits plan, which replaces such benefits as free transportation and subsidized drugs with small cash payments. (The Washington Post)
• Two strong aftershocks strike tsunami-devastated Aceh, Indonesia, leading to some panic. (ABC News Online Australia)
• Windsor Tower in central Madrid, Spain, one of the most prominent buildings in the city, is destroyed in a dramatic fire starting around 23:30 of February 12, Madrid time. Part of the building has been empty for renovations since 2003, but it still held offices for Deloitte & Touche. The Mayor of Madrid says that it is a critical situation and the building may collapse. The cause of the fire is not yet known, but a short-circuit on the 21st floor is suspected. (El Mundo) (BBC)
• Sister Lucia de Jesus dos Santos dies. She was the last survivor of three children to whom the Virgin Mary is said to have appeared at Fatima in central Portugal in 1917. (Scotsman) (Daily Telegraph) (CNN)
• Germans mark the 60th anniversary of the Dresden fire bombing. (AFP-Yahoo!) (CBC)

February 13 is the 44th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Hudson Valley Mall is a shopping mall located in Kingston, New York. ... The upstate refers to the northwestern portion of at least three U.S. states, furthest inland and away from the Atlantic Ocean: Upstate New York, the whole state besides the five boroughs of New York City, which is correspondingly called downstate South Carolina, in the foothills Maine, opposite down-east... Official language(s) English de facto Capital Albany Largest city New York City Area  Ranked 27th  - Total 54,520 sq mi (141,205 km²)  - Width 285 miles (455 km)  - Length 330 miles (530 km)  - % water 13. ... Nickname: Big Apple, City that never Sleeps Location in the state of New York Coordinates: Country United States State New York Boroughs Bronx (The Bronx) New York (Manhattan) Queens (Queens) Kings (Brooklyn) Richmond (Staten Island) Mayor Michael Bloomberg (R) Area    - City 1,214. ... Iraqi police officers hold up their index fingers marked with purple indelible ink, a security measure to prevent double voting. ... Shia Islam ( Arabic شيعى follower; English has traditionally used Shiite or Shiite) is the second largest Islamic denomination; some 20-25% of all Muslims are said to follow a Shia tradition. ... Ayatollah (Arabic: آية الله; Persian: آیت‌الله) is a high title given to major Shia clergymen. ... Grahamsr 14:22, 12 November 2006 (UTC) To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Kurds are one of the Iranian peoples and speak Kurdish, a north-Western Iranian language related to Persian. ... City flag City coat of arms Motto: Fluctuat nec mergitur (Latin: Tossed by the waves, she does not sink) Location Coordinates Time Zone CET (GMT +1) Administration Country France Région ÃŽle-de-France Département Paris (75) Subdivisions 20 arrondissements Mayor Bertrand Delanoë  (PS) (since 2001) City Statistics Land... Location Position of Moscow in Europe Government Country District Subdivision Russia Central Federal District Federal City Mayor Yuriy Luzhkov Geographical characteristics Area  - City 1,081 km² Population  - City (2005)    - Density 10,415,400   8537. ... Aftershocks are earthquakes in the same region of the mainshock (generally within a few rupture length) but of smaller magnitude and which occur with in a pattern that follows Omoris law. ... The tsunami caused by the December 26, 2004 earthquake strikes Ao Nang, Thailand. ... Aceh (IPA pronunciation: , pronounced approximately Ah-Cèh, but with [e], not [ei] at the end) is a special territory (daerah istimewa) of Indonesia, located on the northern tip of the island of Sumatra. ... Windsor Tower - Wikipedia /**/ @import /skins/monobook/IE50Fixes. ... Location Coordinates : 40° 23’N , 3°43′0″W Time Zone : CET (GMT +1) - summer: CEST (GMT +2) General information Native name Villa de Madrid (Spanish) Spanish name Villa de Madrid Founded 9th century Postal code 28001-28080 Area code 34 (Spain) + 91 (Villa de Madrid) Website http://www. ... February 12 is the 43rd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... A time zone is a region of the Earth that has adopted the same standard time, usually referred to as the local time. ... Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu is one of the Big Four auditors. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... Nun in cloister, 1930; photograph by Doris Ulmann In general, a nun is a female ascetic who chooses to voluntarily leave mainstream society and live her life in prayer and contemplation in a monastery or convent. ... Sister Lúcia of Jesus Maria Lúcia Rosa dos Santos – Sister Lúcia of Jesus and of the Immaculate Heart, better known as Sister Lúcia of Jesus – (March 22, 1907 – February 13, 2005) was a Roman Catholic Carmelite nun. ... Saint Mary and Saint Mary the Virgin both redirect here. ... Apparition of The Virgin to St Bernard by Filippino Lippi (1486) Oil on panel, 210 x 195 cm Church of Badia, Florence Marian apparitions are events in which the Virgin Mary is purported to have supernaturally appeared to one or more persons, typically Catholics, in various settings. ... Our Lady of Fatima Our Lady of Fatima (pron. ... 1917 (MCMXVII) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar (see link for calendar) or a common year starting on Tuesday of the 13-day slower Julian calendar. ... The bombing of Dresden led by the British Royal Air Force (RAF) and involving the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) between February 13 and February 15, 1945 remains one of the more controversial Allied actions of World War II. Historian Frederick Taylor says: The destruction of Dresden has an...

February 14, 2005

• A fire in a mosque in the Iranian capital of Tehran leaves 59 people dead. The cause of the fire is currently unknown, but it is believed that a kerosene heater was left near a thick flammable curtain. (IranMania) (BBC)
• Researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles create a modified form of HIV which targets P-glycoproteins on cancer cells. (BBC)
• Israeli-Palestinian conflict:
  • IDF soldiers shoot dead a Palestinian who they allege tried to stab one of them. Witnesses deny the 13 year old was armed. (Haaretz) (Al Jazeera)
  • Israel returns the remains of 15 Palestinian militants to the Palestinian Authority for burial in Gaza as a goodwill gesture. (BBC)
  • Israel is considering new security measures which could see right-wing Israeli opposed to the planned pullout from the Gaza Strip being detained. (BBC)
• A car bomb explodes in central Beirut, Lebanon killing former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri and at least 9 others. Approximately 100 further people are injured in the attack. A little known group calling itself "Victory and Jihad in Greater Syria" claim responsibility. (CNN) (Reuters) (BBC)
• In Sri Lanka, DNA tests identify "Baby 81" as a son of Murugupillai and Jenita Jeyarajah, one of the nine couples that tried to claim him. They have to wait for two more days for legal formalities. (Reuters) (Channel News Asia) (BBC)
• In the Democratic Republic of Congo, six Moroccan UN peacekeepers are arrested for alleged sexual abuse of young girls. (Reuters SA) (News24) (BBC)
• The African Union (AU) sends a team to Somalia to assess the security situation in the capital, Mogadishu. President of the exiled Somalian government, Abdullahi Yusuf, has requested an AU peacekeeping force to allow his cabinet to move back. The trip was delayed on Friday. There is some opposition to deployment of AU peacekeepers and thousands of Somalis have demonstrated in the capital, Mogadishu, against the plans. (BBC) (ReliefWeb) (East African Standard) (Reuters SA) (BBC)
• In Brazil, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva meets Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez in Caracas. They open talks about an alliance, joint energy projects and the sale of Brazilian fighter aircraft. (Bloomberg) (Forbes) (BBC)
• In French Polynesia, people vote for a new local assembly for the two main islands. The poll is contested between the pro-independence party of Oscar Temaru and the party of pro-Paris conservative leader Gaston Flosse. The results of the last year's general election were cancelled and a new poll ordered to settle the dispute. (ABC) (BBC)
• Floods and mudslides claim at least 64 lives in Colombia and Venezuela. (Reuters) (CNN)
• South Korean foreign minister Ban Ki-moon states his country's desire to intensify diplomatic efforts with North Korea. (Bloomberg) (BBC)

February 14 is the 45th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Masjid al-Haram in Mecca as it exists today A mosque is a place of worship for followers of the Islamic faith. ... Tehran (IPA: ; Persian: تهران, also transliterated as Teheran or Tehrān), population (as of 2005) 7,314,000 (metropolitan: 12,151,000), and a land area of 658 square kilometers, is the capital city of Iran (Persia) and the center of Tehran Province. ... Russian kerosene lamp Kerosene or paraffin oil (British English, not to be confused with the waxy solid also called paraffin wax or just paraffin) is a colorless flammable hydrocarbon liquid. ... The University of California, Los Angeles, generally known as UCLA, is a public university whose main campus is located in the affluent Westwood district of the City of Los Angeles, California, United States. ... Human immunodeficiency virus or HIV is a retrovirus that causes Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which the immune system begins to fail, leading to life-threatening opportunistic infections. ... P-glycoproteins are a type of protein that appear to have developed as a mechanism to protect the body from harmful substances by acting as efflux transporters. ... Cancer is a class of diseases or disorders characterized by uncontrolled division of cells and the ability of these cells to invade other tissues, either by direct growth into adjacent tissue through invasion or by implantation into distant sites by metastasis. ... Drawing of the structure of cork as it appeared under the microscope to Robert Hook from Micrographia which is the origin of the word cell. Cells in culture, stained for keratin (red) and DNA (green). ... The Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a part of the greater Arab-Israeli conflict, is an ongoing dispute between the State of Israel and Palestinian people (or state). ... The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) (Hebrew: צבא ×”×’× ×” לישראל  , [Army] Force for the Defense of Israel), often abbreviated with the Hebrew acronym צהל Tsahal, alternative English spelling Tzahal, is the name of Israels military forces, comprising the Israeli Army, the Israeli Air Force and the Israeli Navy. ... A stabbing or stab is the penetration of the human body by a sharp or pointed object at close range. ... The term Palestinian has other usages, for which see definitions of Palestinian. ... The West Bank The Palestinian National Authority (PNA or PA) is a semi-autonomous state institution nominally governing the bulk of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip (which it calls the Palestinian Territories). It was established as a part of Oslo accords between the PLO and Israel. ... Map of the Gaza Strip from The World Factbook. ... Goodwill means simply to have the will to do good in a community, or, to simply try to help people who are in need (for example, serving at a soup kitchen or at a homeless shelter). ... In politics, right-wing, the political right, or simply The Right, are terms that refer to the segment of the political spectrum often associated with any of several strains of conservatism, the religious right, and areas of classical liberalism, or simply the opposite of left-wing politics. ... Car bomb in Iraq, made from a number of concealed artillery shells in the back of a pickup truck. ... For other uses, see Beirut (disambiguation). ... This page lists prime ministers of Lebanon. ... Rafiq Bahaa Edine Hariri (born November, 1944) is a Lebanese billionaire businessman, and was Prime Minister of Lebanon until his resignation on October 20, 2004. ... Genetic fingerprinting or DNA testing is a technique to distinguish between individuals of the same species using only samples of their DNA. Its invention by Sir Alec Jeffreys at the University of Leicester was announced in 1985. ... Abhilasha Jeyarajah (19 October 2004), sometimes spelled Abilash Jeyarajah and known as Baby 81, was a survivor of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and the subject of a parental identity row. ... The United Nations (UN) is an international organization whose stated aims are to facilitate co-operation in international law, international security, economic development, and social equity. ... UN Peacekeepers in Eritrea. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Anthem: Let Us All Unite and Celebrate Together Capital Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Membership 53 member states Official languages The languages of Africa, as well as Arabic, English, French, Portuguese and Swahili Formation - As Organisation of African Unity - As AU - May 25, 1963 - July 9, 2002 Chairman of the African Union... Mogadishus location in Somalia Mogadishu (Somali: Muqdisho, popularly Xamar; Arabic: ‎ ; Italian: ), is the largest city in Somalia, and its nominal capital. ... This page contains a list of the Presidents of Somalia. ... EXILE is a 6-member Japanese pop music band. ... Somalia has no strong, united national government at present. ... Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed (Somali: Cabdulaahi Yuusuf Axmed) (born December 15, 1934 in Galkayo, Puntland, Somalia) is the transitional Kenya on October 10, 2004, and sworn in on October 14, 2004. ... Brazilian Presidential Standard The first president of Brazil was Deodoro da Fonseca, who proclaimed the republic in a military coup detât against the Emperor Dom Pedro II. Since then, Brazil had six constitutions, two dictatorships and three democratic periods. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... List of Presidents of Venezuela José Antonio Páez (1830-1835) José María Vargas (1835-1837) Carlos Soublette (1837-1839) José Antonio Páez (1839-1843) Carlos Soublette (1843-1847) José Tadeo Monagas (1847-1851) José Gregorio Monagas (1851-1855) José Tadeo Monagas (1855-1858) Julián Castro (1858... This article is becoming very long. ... Nickname: La Sultana del Avila (English:The Avilas Sultan) La Sucursal del Cielo (English:Branch of Heaven) Motto: Ave María Santísima, sin pecado concebida, en el primer instante de su ser natural. ... City flag City coat of arms Motto: Fluctuat nec mergitur (Latin: Tossed by the waves, she does not sink) Location Coordinates Time Zone CET (GMT +1) Administration Country France Région ÃŽle-de-France Département Paris (75) Subdivisions 20 arrondissements Mayor Bertrand Delanoë  (PS) (since 2001) City Statistics Land... Gaston Flosse (born 1931) is a politician in French Polynesia. ... Look up flood in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Mudslide in La Conchita, California A mudslide is a landslide of mud. ... South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK; Korean: Daehan Minguk (Hangul: 대한 민국; Hanja: 大韓民國)), is a country in East Asia, covering the southern half of the Korean Peninsula. ... Ban Ki-moon (IPA pronunciation: ; born 13 June 1944 in Eumseong, Korea) was the Foreign Minister of the Republic of Korea (South Korea) from January 2004 to 1 November 2006. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

February 15, 2005

• A state of emergency is announced in Samoa and American Samoa as South Pacific cyclones Olaf and Nancy make landfall on Savai'i. (CNN)
• The Nigerian government will not rule out military actions against the coup regime in Togo if it does not comply with demands from West African leaders to step down. (AFROL)
• Yusuf Islam, formerly known as Cat Stevens, receives substantial damages from two British newspapers, The Sun and The Sunday Times, which alleged that the United States was correct to ban him from the country. The Sun has published, and The Sunday Times will publish, acknowledgments that he is not, and never has been, involved in or supported terrorism, and that he abhors all such activities. They also highlight that Islam was recently presented with the Man for Peace award by a group of Nobel Peace Prize laureates. (BBC)
• The United States recalls its ambassador to Syria, Margaret Scobey, in protest of alleged Syrian involvement in the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. (Houston Chronicle) (AP)
• At least 209 people die in a mining disaster in Fuxin City, in China's north-eastern Liaoning province. During the first nine months of 2004, an average of 15 people died every day in China's mines. (BBC)
• The European Court of Human Rights, deciding about the so-called McLibel case, rules in favour of environmental campaigners Helen Steel and David Morris and their claim that their trial was unfair. The pair said their human rights were violated when their criticism of McDonald's was ruled libel. The case has taken 15 years. (BBC) (Scotsman)(CNN)
• In South Africa, President Thabo Mbeki announces that the country's elite crime-fighting unit Scorpions will be investigated. There have been claims of political vendettas and mismanagement of funds. (AllAfrica) (IOL,SA) (BBC)
• United States, India and European Union countries recall their ambassadors from Nepal in protest of the takeover by King Gyanendra. (Bloomberg) (World Peace Herald)(BBC) (Reuters)
• Germany's foreign minister Joschka Fischer accepts political responsibility for immigration policies that allowed criminals to enter the European Union. (Deutsche Welle) (Reuters) (BBC) (Expatica)
• Microsoft announces its intentions to release Internet Explorer version 7.0. This is seen by some as a response to the growing popularity of the Mozilla Firefox browser. (News.com) (Reuters UK)

February 15 is the 46th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... A state of emergency is a governmental declaration that may suspend certain normal functions of government, may work to alert citizens to alter their normal behaviors, or may order government agencies to implement emergency preparedness plans. ... View of the Pacific Ocean from Oregon. ... Radar image of a tropical cyclone in the northern hemisphere. ... Samoa Savai’i, the “soul of Samoa”, is the larger of the two main islands in the state of Samoa. ... A coup détat, or simply a coup, is the sudden overthrow of a government, usually done by a small group that just replaces the top power figures. ... The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) is a regional group of fifteen countries, founded on May 28, 1975 when fifteen West African countries signed the Treaty of Lagos. ... Cat Stevens (born Steven Demetre Georgiou on July 21, 1948), now known as Yusuf Islam or simply Yusuf, is a well-known English musician, singer-songwriter and a prominent convert to Islam. ... The Sun is a tabloid daily newspaper published in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland with the highest circulation of any daily English-language newspaper in the world, standing at 3,154,881 copies daily in early 2006 [1], (compared to USA Today, the best-selling US newspaper... The Sunday Times is a Sunday broadsheet newspaper distributed in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News International which is in turn owned by News Corporation. ... Terrorist redirects here. ... The title Man for Peace was created in 1999, to recognise individuals who offered an outstanding contribution to international social justice and peace. Its name is commonly misattributed as Man of Peace. An initiative by former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, himself a winner of a Nobel Peace Prize, the award... Nobel Prize medal. ... Lester B. Pearson after accepting the Nobel Peace Prize The Nobel Peace Prize is the name of one of five Nobel Prizes bequested by the Swedish industrialist and inventor Alfred Nobel. ... An ambassador, rarely embassador, is a diplomatic official accredited to a foreign sovereign or government, or to an international organization, to serve as the official representative of his or her own country. ... Assassin and Targeted killing redirect here. ... This page lists prime ministers of Lebanon. ... Rafic Bahaa Edine Hariri — Arabic: رفيق بهاء الدين الحريري — (November 1, 1944 – February 14, 2005), a self-made billionaire and business tycoon, was the Prime Minister of Lebanon from 1992 to 1998 and again from 2000 until his resignation on 20 October 2004. ... The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view. ... Fuxin (Chinese: 阜新; pinyin: ) is a prefecture-level city in the Liaoning province of northeastern China. ...   (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: Liáoníng) is a northeastern province of the Peoples Republic of China. ... Due to Chinas large population and area, the political divisions of China have always consisted of several levels since ancient times. ... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... European Court of Human Rights building in Strasbourg The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), often referred to informally as the Strasbourg Court, was created to systematise the hearing of human rights complaints against States Parties to the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, adopted by... Helen Steel and David Morris, the defendants in the McLibel case, at the launch of McSpotlight. ... Human rights are rights which some hold to be inalienable and belonging to all humans. ... McDonalds in Times Square, New York McDonalds Corporation (NYSE: MCD) is the worlds largest fast food chain, selling primarily hamburgers, chicken, french fries and carbonated drinks and more recently salads, fruit and carrot sticks. ... In English and American law, and systems based on them, libel and slander are two forms of defamation (or defamation of character), which is the tort or delict of making a false statement of fact that injures someones reputation. ... The President of South Africa is the head of state and head of government under South Africas Constitution. ... Thabo Mvuyelwa Mbeki (born June 18, 1942) is the President of the Republic of South Africa. ... Directorate of Special Operations (Scorpions) Official DSO Seal The Directorate of Special Operations (DSO) is a multidisciplinary agency that investigates and prosecutes organized crime and corruption. ... A feud is a long-running argument or fight between parties—often groups of people, especially families or clans. ... The term management characterizes the process of and/or the personnel leading and directing all or part of an organization (often a business) through the deployment and manipulation of resources (human, financial, material, intellectual or intangible). ... An ambassador, rarely embassador, is a diplomatic official accredited to a foreign sovereign or government, or to an international organization, to serve as the official representative of his or her own country. ... Gyanendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev, King of Nepal (Nepali: ज्ञानेन्द्र वीर विक्रम शाहदेव; Gyānendra VÄ«ra Vikrama Śāhadeva) (born July 7, 1947) has been the King of Nepal since June 4, 2001. ... Joschka Fischer Joseph Martin Joschka Fischer (April 12, 1948 – ) was German foreign minister and Vice Chancellor in the government of Gerhard Schröder from 1998 to 2005. ... Microsoft Corporation, (NASDAQ: MSFT, HKSE: 4338) is a multinational computer technology corporation with global annual revenue of US$44. ... Windows Internet Explorer, previously Internet Explorer, abbreviated IE, or MSIE[1], is a graphical web browser developed by Microsoft and included as part of the Microsoft Windows line of operating systems. ... The Mozilla Foundation (abbreviated MF or MoFo) is a non-profit organization that exists to support and provide leadership for the open source Mozilla project. ... Firefox redirects here. ...

February 16, 2005

• Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), states there is no evidence to suggest Iran is developing nuclear weapons. (Washington Post)
• NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman announces the cancellation of the 2004-05 season because of the ongoing lockout. It is the first time a North American professional sports league has cancelled an entire season due to a labor dispute. (TSN)
• A large explosion is reported in southwestern Iran, in the province of Bushehr, close to the site of a newly built nuclear power plant. Iranian officials later announce that the explosion was caused by construction work on a dam at Kowsar, near the port city of Deylam. (BBC) (Reuters) (VOA News) (Guardian) (Reuters)
• The Kyoto Protocol, an international agreement addressing global warming, comes into effect. (BBC) (Reuters)
• Thirty five Greenpeace protesters storm the International Petroleum Exchange trading floor to show that in their view the Kyoto Protocol is only a small step towards stopping climate change and big steps are required. (Times)
• North Koreans celebrate the 63rd birthday of their Dear Leader, Kim Jong-il. (SCN AP)
• In the United States, the Food and Drug Administration announces that it will create a board for advisement regarding drug complications and the ongoing study of the safety of already approved drugs. (NY Times) (LA Times)
• According to African envoys negotiating with the new government of Togo, the negotiations are making progress and the country agrees to organize new elections within 60 days. A crackdown on private media continues in the country. (Reuters SA) (Reuters SA) (BBC)
• In Uganda, some of the child soldiers that had escaped the Lord's Resistance Army are recruited into the national army. (World Peace Herald) (BBC)
• In Cambodia, former Khmer Rouge commander Chhouk Rin loses his final appeal against a murder conviction. In 1994, he ordered his soldiers to attack a train, and as a result, three backpackers from Australia, Britain, and France were killed. (Reuters) (BBC)
• In the United Kingdom, the pro-fox hunting lobby Countryside Alliance loses an appeal. The Court of Appeals does not accept their claim that the 1949 Parliament Act, used to introduce the Hunting Act 2004, is invalid. (BBC) (Scotsman)
• In Sri Lanka, Abhilasha Jeyarajah, otherwise known as Baby 81, is reunited with Murugupillai and Junitha Jeyarajah, his confirmed parents. (Reuters) (Channel News Asia)
• In Nigeria, an Islamic court sentences cross-dressing Abubakar Hamza to six months in prison and a fine equivalent to $38 for "immoral behaviour". He had lived for seven years as a woman to sell aphrodisiacs. (BBC)
• Iran and Syria announce the formation of a "united front" in order to face "challenges and threats", resolved after a meeting between Iranian First Vice President Mohammad Reza Aref and Syrian Prime Minister Mohammed Naji al-Otari. (Pakistan Daily Times) (San Francisco Chronicle) (BBC) (Tehran Times)
• The body of Cecilia Cubas, daughter of former Paraguayan President Raúl Cubas Grau, is found in an underground chamber at a house near the capital city of Asunción. She was abducted on September 21, 2004. (MercoPress) (ABC) (BBC)
• Six Rwandans file a lawsuit in France that accuses French soldiers of complicity in the Rwandan Genocide of 1994. (Reuters) (BBC)
• In Tunisia, authorities continue to clean up an oil spill near the town of Korbous that was caused by a Moroccan container ship running aground late the day before. (Reuters Alertnet) (BBC) (Daily Star)

February 16 is the 47th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Mohamed ElBaradei Mohamed ElBaradei (Arabic: محمد البرادعي) (born June 17, 1942, Egypt) is the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), an inter-governmental organization under the auspices of the United Nations. ... The IAEA flag The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA, internally often referred to as The Agency) was established as an autonomous organization on July 29, 1957. ... The mushroom cloud of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, Japan, 1945, rose some 18 kilometers (11 mi) above the hypocenter. ... National Hockey League Commissioner is the highest executive official since 1993. ... Gary Bruce Bettman (born on June 2, 1952 in Queens, New York) has served as commissioner of the National Hockey League since February 1, 1993. ... The 2004-05 NHL season would have been the 88th regular season of the National Hockey League (NHL). ... The 2004-05 NHL lockout resulted in the cancellation of what would have been the 88th season of the National Hockey League (NHL). ... World map showing North America A satellite composite image of North America. ... The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view. ... Iran consists of 30 provinces: Provinces are governed from a local center, mostly the largest local city. ... Bushehr is one of the 30 provinces of Iran. ... Core of a small nuclear reactor used for research. ... A nuclear power station. ... Categories: Stub | Commercial item transport and distribution | Transportation ... Kyoto Protocol Opened for signature December 11, 1997 in Kyoto, Japan Entered into force February 16, 2005. ... Global mean surface temperatures 1856 to 2005 Mean surface temperature anomalies during the period 1995 to 2004 with respect to the average temperatures from 1940 to 1980 Global warming is the observed increase in the average temperature of the Earths atmosphere and oceans in recent decades. ... Greenpeace is an international environmental organization founded in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada in 1971. ... The International Petroleum Exchange, based in London (England), is one of the worlds largest energy futures and options exchanges. ... Kyoto Protocol Opened for signature December 11, 1997 in Kyoto, Japan Entered into force February 16, 2005. ... Variations in CO2, temperature and dust from the Vostok ice core over the last 400 000 years Climate change refers to the variation in the Earths global climate or in regional climates over time. ... North Korea, officially the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK; Korean: Chosŏn Minjujuŭi Inmin Konghwaguk; Hangul: 조선민주주의인민공화국; Hanja: 朝鮮民主主義人民共和國), is a country in eastern Asia... A childs first birthday party For other uses of the term, see Birthday (disambiguation). ... Kim Jong-il (also written as Kim Jong Il [1]) (Korean: 김정일) (born February 16, 1941) is the leader of Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea, a position he has held since 1994. ... The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services and is responsible for regulating food (humans and animal), dietary supplements, drugs (human and animal), cosmetics, medical devices (human and animal) and radiation emitting devices (including non-medical devices), biologics, and... Complication, in medicine, is a unfavorable evolution of a disease, a health condition or a medical treatment. ... The United States, the FDA approves drugs. ... A world map showing the continent of Africa. ... Envoy may refer to: a diplomat Envoy (WordPerfect), a document reader and document file format GMC Envoy, a make of automobile The Envoy, a 1982 album by Warren Zevon The Call Sign For United Kingdom Airline Flyjet Category: ... Togos transition to democracy is stalled. ... Negotiation is the process where interested parties resolve disputes, agree upon courses of action, bargain for individual or collective advantage, and/or attempt to craft outcomes which serve their mutual interests. ... April 20, 1945. ... The Lords Resistance Army (LRA)[1], formed in 1987, is a rebel paramilitary group operating mainly in northern Uganda. ... The Uganda Peoples Defence Force (UPDF), previously the National Resistance Army, constitutes the armed forces of Uganda. ... Photos of a genocide victims on display at the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum The Khmer Rouge (Khmer: ) was the extremist Communist organization that ruled Cambodia from 1975 to 1979. ... Chhouk Rin is a former Khmer Rouge commander. ... An appeal is the act or fact of challenging a judicially cognizable and binding judgment to a higher judicial authority. ... Backpacking is a subculture of generally youthful travellers exploring the planet on a limited budget. ... A fox hunt Fox hunting is a form of hunting for foxes using a pack of scent hounds. ... It has been suggested that Interest representation: Academic overview be merged into this article or section. ... The Countryside Alliance strongly opposes House of Commons plans to ban fox hunting. ... Court of Appeals is the title of certain appellate courts in various jurisdictions. ... 1949 (MCMXLIX) was a common year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1949 calendar). ... The Palace of Westminster, also known as the Houses of Parliament. ... The Hunting Act 2004 is an Act in the United Kingdom passed in 2004. ... Abhilasha Jeyarajah (19 October 2004), sometimes spelled Abilash Jeyarajah and known as Baby 81, was a survivor of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and the subject of a parental identity row. ... Sharia ( translit: ) refers to the body of Islamic law. ... This articles is about cross-dressing in general, that is the act of wearing the clothing of another gender for any reason. ... Abubakar Hamza (b. ... ISO 4217 Code USD User(s) the United States, the British Virgin Islands, East Timor, Ecuador, El Salvador, the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Palau, Panama, Turks and Caicos Islands, and the insular areas of the United States Inflation 3. ... Morality refers to the concept of human ethics which pertains to matters of good and evil —also referred to as right or wrong, used within three contexts: individual conscience; systems of principles and judgments — sometimes called moral values —shared within a cultural, religious, secular, Humanist, or philosophical community; and codes... An aphrodisiac is an agent which acts on the mind and causes the arousal of the mood of sexual desire. ... Mohammad Reza Aref (محمدرضا عارف) (born 1941 in Yazd) is an Iranian (Persian) politician and university professor. ... Mohammed Naji al-Otari (born 1944) is the current Prime Minister of Syria. ... Cecilia Cubas, the daughter of former Paraguayan President Raúl Cubas, was found dead on February 16, 2005, underneath a house near Asunción, nearly five months after she was kidnapped. ... This is a list of Presidents of Paraguay and holders of its predecessor offices. ... Raúl Cubas Grau (born August 23, 1943) was the President of Paraguay from 1998 until 1999. ... Map of Paraguay Panteón de los Héroes in Asunción Asunción, population 1,639,000 (2002), is the capital of Paraguay. ... September 21 is the 264th day of the year (265th in leap years). ... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Rwanda Genocide (French: Génocide au Rwanda) was the massacre of an estimated 800,000 to 1,071,000 ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus in Rwanda, mostly carried out by two extremist Hutu militia groups, the Interahamwe and the Impuzamugambi, during a period of about 100 days from April... 1994 (MCMXCIV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated as the International Year of the Family and the International Year of the Sport and the Olympic Ideal by United Nations. ... Volunteers cleaning up the aftermath of the Prestige oil spill An oil spill (or slick) is the intentional or unintentional release of oil (generally, petroleum) into the natural environment as a result of human activity. ... Container ship Rita being loaded at Copenhagen; note crew standing on deck, and stacks of containers on shore. ...

February 17, 2005

• A car bomb explodes in southern Thailand near the Marina Hotel in Sungai Kolok, a popular tourist town close to the Malaysian border. Five people are killed and more than 40 injured. The car bomb is believed to be the first to explode in the Muslim dominated region. (Yahoo!) (Boston Globe) (BBC)
• Irish police arrest four people in Cork and three in Dublin in raids concentrating on the financing of the Provisional IRA. Over 2.3 million pounds sterling were seized in Cork, and £60,000 in Northern Bank notes believed to be from the £26.5 million robbery in Belfast just before Christmas. Reportedly, among the people arrested are former Sinn Féin councillor Tom Hanlon and someone working in the banking industry. (RTE) (BBC) (Scotsman).
• Cyclone Olaf passes Samoa and American Samoa largely without incident. No deaths or injuries on land are reported, but two fishermen are unaccounted for and are feared dead. (USA Today)
• Japan's Chubu Centrair International Airport opens on Ise Bay, south of Nagoya. Built on an artificial island, the airport is Japan's third largest international passenger airport, and is intended to replace nearby Nagoya Airport. (Daily Yomiuri) (Kyodo News)
• The European Union introduces new laws that increase the rights of air passengers so that they receive higher compensation for overbooking, delays and cancellation of flights. (BBC) (Forbes) (Bloomberg)
• The BNFL nuclear plant at Sellafield, in the United Kingdom, reports that 30 kg (66 lb) of plutonium is "unaccounted for". This amount of missing plutonium would be sufficient to make seven atomic bombs. The UK Atomic Energy Authority states that the discrepancy in the record keeping is merely an auditing issue, and that there was no "real loss" of plutonium. (ITV) (BBC) (The Times)
• The government of Burma/Myanmar reopens constitutional talks but there is widespread criticism that the approximately 1,000 delegates, selected by the military, form an unrepresentative group. They do not include main opposition group National League for Democracy and its leader Aung San Suu Kyi. (Bloomberg) (DVB) (Reuters) (BBC) (Mizzima News)
• In Ecuador, there are mass rallies for and against the government of Lucio Gutiérrez. His opponents accuse him of using heavy handed tactics to remove his political opponents. (Reuters) (BBC)
• US President George W. Bush names John Negroponte as his nominee to be the first United States Director of National Intelligence. (Reuters)
• Exiled Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasreen, currently living in Sweden, is seeking Indian citizenship. Conservative Muslims of Bangladesh have deemed her works blasphemous and have called for her execution. Nasreen states her wish to live in West Bengal. (WebIndia) (BBC) (Hindustan Times)
• The United States House of Representatives passes a Class Action Fairness Act that intends to curb class action suits, moving them from state courts to federal courts. (US Newswire) (USA Today) (Bloomberg)
• The Brazilian government intends to create a protected rainforest region in the aftermath of the murder of US missionary Dorothy Stang. (Reuters) (CNN) (ABC) (BBC)
• The government of Sudan rejects the United Nations' demand that the suspects of war crimes in the violence ridden western Sudanese region of Darfur would be put before the International Criminal Court in The Hague. (AllAfrica) (Reuters Alertnet) (BBC)

February 17 is the 48th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Car bomb in Iraq, made from a number of concealed artillery shells in the back of a pickup truck. ... Su-ngai Kolok (Thai: ) is a main border town of Malaysia-Thailand Border in Narathiwat Province, Thailand. ... A Muslim (Arabic: مسلم, Turkish: Müslüman, Persian and Urdu: مسلمان, Bosnian: Musliman) is an adherent of Islam. ... For other uses of Cork, see Cork (disambiguation). ... WGS-84 (GPS) Coordinates: 53. ... A Republican mural in Belfast depicting the hunger strikes of 1981. ... ISO 4217 Code GBP User(s) United Kingdom Inflation 2. ... Northern Bank, is a commercial bank in Northern Ireland. ... Notes such as this Northern Bank £20 note were stolen. ... WGS-84 (GPS) Coordinates: 54. ... Sinn Féin (pronounced in English, in Irish) is a name used by a series of Irish political movements of the 20th century, each of which claimed sole descent from the original party established by Arthur Griffith in 1905. ... A councillor is a member of a council (such as a city council), particularly in the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and other parts of the Commonwealth. ... For other uses, see Bank (disambiguation). ... Radar image of a tropical cyclone in the northern hemisphere. ... Categories: Stub ... Chubu Centrair International Airport ) (IATA: NGO, ICAO: RJGG) is an airport on an artificial island in Ise Bay, Tokoname City in Aichi Prefecture, south of Nagoya in central Japan. ... Nagoya Castle in June of 2004. ... Before Mexico City, Tenochtitlan was an artificial island of 250,000 (Dr Atl) Dejima, not allowed direct contact with nearby Nagasaki Formoza (Gdynia) The World in Dubai An artificial island is an island that has been formed by human, rather than natural means. ... Nagoya Airport ) or Komaki Airport ) (IATA: NKM, ICAO: RJNA), is a third class airport in the cities of Toyoyama, Komaki and Kasugai, Aichi Prefecture, Japan, serving Nagoya. ... Overbooking is a term used to describe the sale of access to a service which exceeds the capacity of the service. ... British Nuclear Fuels plc or BNFL manufactures and transports nuclear fuel (notably MOX), runs reactors, generates and sells electricity, reprocesses and manages spent fuel (mainly at Sellafield), and decommissions nuclear plants and other similar facilities. ... Nuclear power station at Leibstadt, Switzerland. ... The Sellafield facility on the Cumbrian coast, United Kingdom Sellafield is the name of a nuclear site, close to the village and railway station of Seascale, operated by the British Nuclear Group, but owned since 1 April 2005 by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority. ... General Name, Symbol, Number plutonium, Pu, 94 Chemical series actinides Group, Period, Block n/a, 7, f Appearance silvery white Atomic mass (244) g/mol Electron configuration [Rn] 5f6 7s2 Electrons per shell 2, 8, 18, 32, 24, 8, 2 Physical properties Phase solid Density (near r. ... The mushroom cloud of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, Japan, 1945, rose some 18 kilometers (11 mi) above the hypocenter. ... The United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority is responsible for te decommission of older nuclear reactors and other radioactive facilities used in the UKs nuclear research and development programmes with the objective of restoring these sites to conventional use. ... An audit is an evaluation of an organization, system, process, project or product. ... The flag features a yellow dancing peacock, which has been a sign of freedom in modern Burmese history. ... Aung San Suu Kyi (Burmese: ; MLCTS: ; IPA: ); born 19 June 1945 in Yangon (Rangoon), is a nonviolent pro-democracy activist and leader of the National League for Democracy in Myanmar (Burma), and a noted prisoner of conscience. ... Lucio Gutiérrez Lucio Edwin Gutiérrez Borbúa (born March 23, 1957), Ecuadorian soldier and politician. ... The presidential seal was used by President Hayes in 1880 and last modified in 1959 by adding the 50th star for Hawaii. ... George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is the 43rd and current President of the United States, inaugurated on January 20, 2001. ... John Negroponte John Dimitri Negroponte (born July 21, 1939) (IPA ) is a career diplomat currently serving as United States Director of National Intelligence. ... The Director of National Intelligence (DNI) is the United States government official subject to the authority, direction and control of the President of the United States who is responsible under the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 for: Serving as the principal adviser to the President of the... EXILE is a 6-member Japanese pop music band. ... Taslima Nasrin Taslima Nasrin (Bangla: তসলিমা নাসরিন), also known as Taslima Nasreen, (born 25 August 1962 in Mymensingh, Bangladesh) is a Bengali Bangladeshi physician, writer, feminist human rights activist and secular humanist. ... Citizenship is membership in a political community (originally a city but now usually a country) and carries with it rights to political participation; a person having such membership is a citizen. ... A Muslim (Arabic: مسلم, Turkish: Müslüman, Persian and Urdu: مسلمان, Bosnian: Musliman) is an adherent of Islam. ... Look up blasphemy in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... West Bengal   (Bengali: পশ্চিমবঙ্গ, Poshchimbôŋgo) is a state in eastern India. ... Seal of the House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives (or simply the House) is one of the two chambers of the United States Congress, the other being the Senate. ... In law, a class action is an equitable procedural device used in litigation for determining the rights of and remedies, if any, for large numbers of people whose cases involve common questions of law and fact. ... In the U.S., a state court has jurisdiction over disputes which occur in a state. ... The term federal court, when used by itself, can refer to: Any court of the national government in a country that has a federal system such as that of the United States (United States federal courts) or Mexico In some countries, a particular court, for example, the Federal Court of... Rainforests are forests characterized by high rainfall, with definitions setting minimum normal annual rainfall between 1750 mm and 2000 mm. ... United States is the current Good Article Collaboration of the week! Please help to improve this article to the highest of standards. ... A missionary is a propagator of religion, often an evangelist or other representative of a religious community who works among those outside of that community. ... Dorothy Stang (June 7, 1931–February 12, 2005) was an American nun of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur congregation and naturalized Brazilian who was murdered in Anapu, a city in the state of Pará, Amazon Rainforest, Brazil at the age of 73. ... The United Nations (UN) is an international organization whose stated aims are to facilitate co-operation in international law, international security, economic development, and social equity. ... In the context of war, a war crime is a punishable offense under International Law, for violations of the laws of war by any person or persons, military or civilian. ... Combatants factions of the SLA Justice & Equality Mvmnt Janjaweed Government of Sudan Minnawi-faction of the SLA Commanders SLA: ? JEM: ? Janjaweed: ? Sudan: Omar al-Bashir SLA: Minni Minnawi Casualties 300,000 civilians killed The Darfur conflict is an ongoing armed conflict in the Darfur region of western Sudan, mainly between... Darfur (Arabic دار فور, meaning home of the Fur) is a region of far western Sudan, bordering the Central African Republic, Libya, and Chad. ... Official logo of the ICC. The International Criminal Court (ICC) was established in 2002 as a permanent tribunal to prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity, crime of aggression, and war crimes, as defined by several international agreements, most prominently the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. ... Arms of The Hague Flag of The city of The Hague. ...

February 18, 2005

• It is discovered that the tsunami resulting from the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake uncovered an ancient city near the coastal town of Mahabalipuram in India. (AP via Yahoo!)
• A number of blasts hit Shi'a mosques in Baghdad, Iraq, leaving at least 27 dead and 60 wounded on day before the Shi'a holy festival of Ashura. (BBC News) (CNN)
• An Iraqi rebel group calling itself the Army of Warriors claims responsibility for the kidnapping of two Indonesian journalists. The journalists had been last seen near Ramadi in central Iraq three days ago. (BBC) (Al Jazeera)
• Northern Bank robbery investigation:
  • Police in Northern Ireland recover an undisclosed sum of money at a sports and social club in Belfast. It is thought to perhaps be a diversion, but it is being investigated. (Sky News)
  • A top Irish businessman and associate of the Taoiseach, Phil Flynn, steps down from a number of positions pending the outcome of a Garda investigation into Chesterton Finance, of which he is a non-executive director. £2.3 in mixed sterling notes are found at the house of the company's director Ted Cunningham. Phil Flynn steps down as chairman of a government body overseeing decentralisation, as well as a member of the board of Voluntary Health Insurance and as chairman of the Bank of Scotland (Ireland). (Ireland Online) (Guardian)
  • A man was arrested by Gardaí in the town of Passage West in County Cork, Ireland, after he was discovered attempting to burn sterling bank notes. (Ireland Online)
  • Gardaí release two men who were being questioned in Dublin, as well as a Sinn Féin member in Cork. A suspected Real IRA member arrested at Heuston Station is remanded in custody, as are four people arrested in Farran in Cork. (RTÉ)
  • Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams again denies any involvement on the part of his party with money laundering in the country. The Irish Government Minister for Justice Michael McDowell describes the IRA as a colossal crime machine laundering huge sums of money. (RTÉ)
• The UK Food Standards Agency orders the withdrawal of over 350 food products from sale following the discovery that a batch of chilli powder used to produce a batch of Worcestershire sauce subsequently used to produce processed foods was contaminated with the possibly carcinogenic dye Sudan I. The problem was first identified with food products tested in Italy. (BBC) (FSA: List of Withdrawn Products).
• Telephone connections in Nepal are severed again, on Nepal's National Democratic Day. Authorities continue to arrest opposition figures who had planned demonstrations against the new government of King Gyanendra. (Times of India) (Reuters) (Scotsman) (BBC)
• In the United Kingdom, the Hunting Act, the ban on hunting with dogs, comes into force. Its opponents intend to challenge the law and hunt. (Politics.co.uk) (BBC) (Reuters)
• U.S. invasion of Afghanistan: The American Civil Liberties Union releases documents obtained from the United States Army alleging the destruction of photographs documenting the army's abuse of prisoners in Afghanistan, following the exposure of the Abu Ghraib scandal. (AP).
• Sir Mark Thatcher returns to court in Cape Town, South Africa, to answer charges about his involvement in a coup attempt in Equatorial Guinea. (BBC) (IAfrica)
• The 42nd known Mersenne prime is discovered by Martin Nowak of Germany, a participant of the GIMPS distributed computing project. The prime number is the largest known Mersenne prime at the time of its discovery, and is nearly eight million digits long.

February 18 is the 49th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The tsunami that struck Malé in the Maldives on December 26, 2004. ... The tsunami caused by the December 26, 2004 earthquake strikes Ao Nang, Thailand. ... Rugged coastline of the West Coast of New Zealand The coast is defined as the part of the land adjoining or near the ocean. ... Mahabalipuram Mahabalipuram(Tamil:மகாபலிபுரம்) (also known as Mamallapuram) is a town in Kancheepuram district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. ... Shia Islam, also Shiite Islam, or Shiism (Arabic:شيعة, Persian:شیعه translit: ) is a denomination of the Islamic faith. ... The Masjid al-Haram in Mecca as it exists today A mosque is a place of worship for followers of the Islamic faith. ... Baghdad ( translit: ) is the capital of Iraq and of Baghdad Governorate. ... For the Canaanite and Ugaritic mother-goddess, please see Asherah. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Saddam Mosque Ramadi (Arabic: ‎ ; BGN: Ar RamādÄ«) is a city in central Iraq, about 100 kilometers west of Baghdad. ... Notes such as this Northern Bank £20 note were stolen. ... Motto: [citation needed] (French for God and my right)2 Anthem: UK: God Save the Queen Regional: (de facto) Londonderry Air Capital Belfast Largest city Belfast Official language(s) English (de facto), Irish, Ulster Scots 3, NI Sign Language Government Constitutional monarchy  - Queen Queen Elizabeth II  - Prime Minister Tony Blair... WGS-84 (GPS) Coordinates: 54. ... The Taoiseach ( or [1]) — plural: Taoisigh ( or [1]) — or, more formally, An Taoiseach[2], is the head of government of the Republic of Ireland and the leader of the Irish cabinet, the rough equivalent of a prime minister under the Westminster System. ... Phil Flynn (1940-) is an Irish businessman. ... A member of the motorcycle unit of the Garda Síochána. ... ISO 4217 Code GBP User(s) United Kingdom Inflation 2. ... The Voluntary Health Insurance Board (An Bord Árachais Sláinte Shaorálaigh in Irish language) - which trades under the brand name Vhi Healthcare, and is still commonly refered to in Ireland as The VHI - is the largest health insurance company in the Republic of Ireland. ... Bank of Scotland (Ireland) is a bank based in the Republic of Ireland owned by HBOS plc. ... A member of the motorcycle unit of the Garda Síochána. ... WGS-84 (GPS) Coordinates: 51. ... Statistics Province: Munster County Town: Cork Code: C (CK proposed) Area: 7,457 km² Population (2006) 480,909 (including City of Cork); 361,766 (without Cork City) Website: www. ... ISO 4217 Code GBP User(s) United Kingdom Inflation 2. ... A member of the motorcycle unit of the Garda Síochána. ... WGS-84 (GPS) Coordinates: 53. ... Sinn Féin (pronounced in English, in Irish) is a name used by a series of Irish political movements of the 20th century, each of which claimed sole descent from the original party established by Arthur Griffith in 1905. ... For other uses of Cork, see Cork (disambiguation). ... The Real Irish Republican Army, otherwise known as the Real IRA (RIRA), is an Irish republican paramilitary organisation founded before the signing of the 1998 Good Friday (Belfast) Agreement by former members of the Provisional IRA who opposed the latters 1997 cease-fire and acquiescence in the Agreement in... Heuston Station, located in Dublin, Ireland is one of the countrys main railway stations, serving the south, southwest and west of Ireland. ... Sinn Féin (pronounced in English, in Irish) is a name used by a series of Irish political movements of the 20th century, each of which claimed sole descent from the original party established by Arthur Griffith in 1905. ... Gerry Adams MP, MLA, (Irish: Gearóid Mac Ádhaimh; born 6 October 1948) is an Irish Republican politician and abstentionist Westminster Member of Parliament for West Belfast. ... Money laundering is the practice of engaging in financial transactions in order to conceal the identity, source and destination of the money in question. ... The Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform is the senior minister at the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform (An Roinn Dlí agus Cirt, Comhionannais agus Athchóirithe Dlí) in the Irish Government. ... Michael McDowell Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform Michael McDowell (born May, 1951, Ireland) is the leader of the Progressive Democrats. ... This article is about the historical army of the self-proclaimed Irish Republic (1919–1922) which fought in the Irish War of Independence 1919-21, and the Irish Civil War 1922-23. ... The Food Standards Agency is a non-ministerial government department of the Government of the United Kingdom. ... The chile pepper, chili pepper, or chilli pepper, or simply chile, is the fruit of the plant Capsicum from the nightshade family, Solanaceae. ... Chili powder (also called chili mix) is a spice mix consisting of various ratios of dried ground chile peppers, cumin, garlic and oregano. ... 1900 advertisement Worcestershire sauce (IPA ) also known as Worcester sauce (IPA ) is a widely used fermented liquid condiment. ... The term carcinogen refers to any form of substance, radionuclide or radiation which is an agent in the promotion or direct involvement in the facilitation of cancer or genomic instability due to the disruption or damage of cellular metabolic changes. ... Look up Telephone in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... It has been suggested that National holiday be merged into this article or section. ... This politics-related article is a stub. ... Royal Standard of Nepal The king of Nepal is known as the Raja; his Queen is known as the Rani. ... Gyanendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev, King of Nepal (Nepali: ज्ञानेन्द्र वीर विक्रम शाहदेव; Gyānendra VÄ«ra Vikrama Śāhadeva) (born July 7, 1947) has been the King of Nepal since June 4, 2001. ... The Hunting Act 2004 is an Act in the United Kingdom passed in 2004. ... Combatants al-Qaeda, Taliban Northern Alliance, United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, France, New Zealand, Italy, Germany Commanders Mohammed Omar Osama bin Laden Tommy Franks Mohammed Fahim Strength Casualties {{{notes}}} The United States invasion of Afghanistan occurred in October 2001, in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks on... The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is a major American non-profit organization with headquarters in New York City, whose stated mission is to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States.[1] It... The United States Army is the largest branch of the United States armed forces and has primary responsibility for land-based military operations. ... Satar Jabar standing on a box with wires connected to his body Prisoners Ordered to Form Human Pyramid Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse images Beginning in 2003, numerous accounts of abuse and torture of prisoners held in the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq (also known... Map of Iraq highlighting Abu Ghraib The city of Abu Ghraib (BGN/PCGN romanization: AbÅ« Ghurayb; أبو غريب in Arabic) in Iraq is located 20 km (12 miles) west of Baghdad just north of the Baghdad International Airport. ... A scandal is a widely publicized incident involving allegations of wrong-doing, disgrace, or moral outrage. ... Look up sir in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... The Honourable Sir Mark Thatcher, 2nd Baronet (born August 15, 1953), is the only son of Sir Denis Thatcher and Margaret Thatcher, the former British Prime Minister. ... City motto: Spes Bona (Latin: Good Hope) Location of the City of Cape Town in Western Cape Province Province Western Cape Mayor Helen Zille Area  - % water 2,499 km² N/A Population  - Total (2004)  - Density Not ranked 2,893,251 1,158/km² Established 1652 Time zone SAST (UTC+2... A coup détat (pronounced ), or simply coup, is the sudden overthrow of a government through unconstitutional means by a part of the state establishment — mostly replacing just the high-level figures. ... In mathematics, a Mersenne prime is a prime number that is one less than a prime power of two. ... The Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search, or GIMPS, is a collaborative project of volunteers, who use Prime95 and MPrime, special software that can be downloaded from the Internet for free, in order to search for Mersenne prime numbers. ... Distributed computing is decentralised and parallel computing, using two or more computers communicating over a network to accomplish a common objective or task. ... A list of distributed computing projects. ... In mathematics, a prime number (or a prime) is a natural number that has exactly two (distinct) natural number divisors, which are 1 and the prime number itself. ... In mathematics, a Mersenne prime is a prime number that is one less than a prime power of two. ... One million (1000000), one thousand thousand, is the natural number following 999999 and preceding 1000001. ...

February 19, 2005

• 350 inmates escape from a prison in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. (CNN)
• A massive demonstration in Rome asks for the release of an Italian journalist abducted in Iraq. (AP via Yahoo!)
• Former US Presidents George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton toured parts of Thailand that were ravaged by the Asian Tsunami. [Newslink missing]
• An earthquake, registering 6.9 on the Richter scale, strikes South East Sulawesi, Indonesia at 00:04 UTC. (Reuters)
• Former US President Jimmy Carter is on hand to christen the USS Jimmy Carter, the last of the Seawolf class submarines ordered during the Cold War. The submarine cost 3.2 billion USD. It has a 100 foot (30.5 m) extension for special operations and can reportedly tap undersea cables. (AP via Yahoo!)
• In a 13 hour operation, doctors in Egypt successfully remove the second head of a baby suffering from the rare disease craniopagus parasiticus. This is the second such operation to take place in a year. The previous operation, in the Dominican Republic, was not successful and resulted in death. (Reuters)
• The UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan, is sending a team of experts to Lebanon to investigate the killing of the former prime minister, Rafik Hariri. (BBC)
• Northern Bank robbery investigation:
  • Police in Northern Ireland confirm that £50,000 in unused Northern Banknotes found at Newforge Country Club, a facility for off-duty and retired police officers, was part of the £26 million stolen in the bank robbery. Police still consider it a diversion. (BBC)
  • Gardaí in Cork receive £175,000 from a local businessman, who said he had been asked to keep it. (Independent)

February 19 is the 50th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Categories: Caribbean geography stubs | Capitals in North America | Haiti ... Nickname: The Eternal City Motto: SPQR: Senatus PopulusQue Romanus Location of the city of Rome (yellow) within the Province of Rome (red) and region of Lazio (grey) Coordinates: Region Lazio Province Province of Rome Founded 8th century BC Mayor Walter Veltroni Area    - City 1,285 km²  (496. ... The presidential seal was used by President Hayes in 1880 and last modified in 1959 by adding the 50th star for Hawaii. ... George Herbert Walker Bush (born June 12, 1924) was the 41st President of the United States of America serving from 1989 to 1993. ... William Jefferson Bill Clinton (born William Jefferson Blythe III on August 19, 1946) was the 42nd President of the United States, serving from 1993 to 2001. ... The tsunami caused by the December 26, 2004 earthquake strikes Ao Nang, Thailand. ... An earthquake is a phenomenon that results from and is powered by the sudden release of stored energy in the crust that propagates seismic waves. ... The Richter magnitude test scale (or more correctly local magnitude ML scale) assigns a single number to quantify the size of an earthquake. ... Categories: Indonesia geography stubs | Provinces of Indonesia ... ... James Earl Carter, Jr. ... USS Jimmy Carter (SSN-23), the third and last Seawolf-class submarine, is the only ship of the United States Navy to be named for former President Jimmy Carter, who served in the US Navy as an officer in the Submarine Service as a nuclear engineer. ... This article is about the SSN-21 class submarines. ... The Cold War was the protracted geopolitical, ideological, and economic struggle that emerged after World War II between the United States and its allies and the Soviet Union and its allies. ... The United States dollar is the official currency of the United States. ... Craniopagus parasiticus is a medical condition in which a parasitic twin head with an undeveloped (or underdeveloped) body is attached to the head of a developed twin. ... Kofi Atta Annan (born April 8, 1938) is a Ghanaian diplomat and the seventh Secretary-General of the United Nations. ... Rafic Bahaa Edine Hariri — Arabic: رفيق بهاء الدين الحريري — (November 1, 1944 – February 14, 2005), a self-made billionaire and business tycoon, was the Prime Minister of Lebanon from 1992 to 1998 and again from 2000 until his resignation on 20 October 2004. ... Notes such as this Northern Bank £20 note were stolen. ... Motto: [citation needed] (French for God and my right)2 Anthem: UK: God Save the Queen Regional: (de facto) Londonderry Air Capital Belfast Largest city Belfast Official language(s) English (de facto), Irish, Ulster Scots 3, NI Sign Language Government Constitutional monarchy  - Queen Queen Elizabeth II  - Prime Minister Tony Blair... Northern Bank, is a commercial bank in Northern Ireland. ... For other uses of Cork, see Cork (disambiguation). ...

February 20, 2005

• American author and journalist Hunter S. Thompson is found dead in his Aspen, Colorado home, the result of an apparent suicide. (BBC) (Bloomberg) (CNN)
• The United States and Japan release a joint statement which says that easing tensions in the Taiwan Strait is among their "common strategic objectives". The statement is welcomed by the government of Taiwan, but is condemned by China. (Xinhua) (Reuters) (NY Times)
• U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Ruud Lubbers resigns over allegations of sexual harassment, while continuing to deny them. (VOA)
• In Europe's first national referendum on the proposed European Constitution, the people of Spain vote to endorse the Treaty by a landslide 76.73% to 17.24%. However, turnout is an extremely low 42.32%, even after both the government and the main opposition party campaigned for a "yes" vote. (BBC) (Reuters) (Bloomberg) (EUobserver) (EurActiv) (BBC)
• Irish Minister for Justice Michael McDowell directly accuses Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams as well as Martin McGuinness (both elected MPs) and Martin Ferris TD of being on the Provisional IRA Army Council, the first such direct accusation from the Irish Government. Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern meanwhile has said he does not know the make-up of the Council. (Ireland Online)(RTÉ)
• According to official results, the opposition Socialist party secures an absolute majority at the Portuguese Parliament election, 2005. (CNN International) (ABC)
• The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus votes in its early general election. The election was called by President Rauf Denktash after the coalition led by Mehmet Ali Talat finally lost its parliamentary majority. (BBC), (DW)
• USA and EU join the protests against Faure Gnassingbé of Togo. ECOWAS imposes sanctions and suspends Togo's membership in the organization and USA does not accept his rule as legitimate and ends all military assistance (Reuters AlertNet) (News24) (GhanaWeb) (BBC)

February 20 is the 51st day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... An author is the person who creates a written work, such as a book, story, article or the like. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Hunter Stockton Thompson (July 18, 1937 – February 20, 2005) was an American journalist and author. ... View south along Galena Street in downtown Aspen. ... Suicide (from Latin sui caedere, to kill oneself) is the act of willfully ending ones own life. ... Taiwan Strait Area The Taiwan Strait or Formosa Strait is a 180km-wide Strait between mainland China and the island of Taiwan. ... The United Nations (UN) is an international organization whose stated aims are to facilitate co-operation in international law, international security, economic development, and social equity. ... Headquartereded in Geneva, Switzerland, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) (established December 14, 1950) protects and supports refugees at the request of a government or the United Nations and assists in their return or resettlement. ... Rudolphus Franciscus Marie Lubbers or Ruud Lubbers (born May 7, 1939) was the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, from 2001 until February 20, 2005, when he resigned because of continuous press attention about an allegation of sexual harassment. ... Sexual harassment is harassment or unwelcome attention of a sexual nature. ... The Spanish referendum on the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe was a referendum held on 20 February 2005, to ask whether Spain should ratify the proposed Constitution of the European Union. ... The constitutional treaty as signed in Rome on 29 October 2004 by representatives of the EU member states The Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe (TCE), commonly referred to as the European Constitution, was an international treaty intended to create a constitution for the European Union. ... The Minister for Justice, Equality & Law Reform is the chief minister in charge of law and order in the Republic of Ireland. ... Michael McDowell Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform Michael McDowell (born May, 1951, Ireland) is the leader of the Progressive Democrats. ... Sinn Féin (pronounced in English, in Irish) is a name used by a series of Irish political movements of the 20th century, each of which claimed sole descent from the original party established by Arthur Griffith in 1905. ... Gerry Adams MP, MLA, (Irish: Gearóid Mac Ádhaimh; born 6 October 1948) is an Irish Republican politician and abstentionist Westminster Member of Parliament for West Belfast. ... Martin McGuinness, MP, MLA James Martin Pacelli McGuinness (born 23 May 1950) is an Irish republican politician and Member of Parliament. ... A Member of Parliament, or MP, is a representative elected by the voters of an electoral district to a parliament; in the Westminster system, specifically to the lower house. ... Martin Ferris (born 1958) is an Irish Sinn Féin politician. ... A Teachta Dála (Irish for Dáil Deputy, pronounced chock-ta dawla) is a member of Dáil Éireann, the lower chamber of the Irish Oireachtas or National Parliament. ... The Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) is a paramilitary group which aimed, through the use of violence, to achieve three goals: (i) British withdrawal from Ireland, (ii) the political unification of Ireland through the merger of Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland , and (iii) the creation of an all... The IRA Army Council is the decision-making body of the Provisional Irish Republican Army, more commonly known as the IRA, a paramilitary group dedicated to the removal of the British presence in Ireland. ... Government Buildings in Dublin. ... The Taoiseach ( or [1]) — plural: Taoisigh ( or [1]) — or, more formally, An Taoiseach[2], is the head of government of the Republic of Ireland and the leader of the Irish cabinet, the rough equivalent of a prime minister under the Westminster System. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... The Portuguese Parliament election took place on February 20, 2005. ... Anthem: Ä°stiklâl Marşı  (Turkish) Independence March Capital Nicosia (LefkoÅŸa) Turkish Government Representative democratic republic[1]  - President Mehmet Ali Talat  - Prime Minister Ferdi Sabit Soyer Sovereignty from Republic of Cyprus (de facto)   - Proclaimed November 15, 1983   - Recognition Only by Turkey and OIC  Area  - Total 3,355 km² (not ranked... Early parliamentary elections were held in the internationally unrecognised Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus on February 20, 2005, after the coalition government led by Mehmet Ali Talat lost its majority in the House of Representatives. ... Rauf R. Denktash Rauf Raif Denktash (Rauf Raif DenktaÅŸ in Turkish; born January 27, 1924) is a Turkish-Cypriot political leader. ... Mehmet Ali Talat Mehmet Ali Talat (born July 6, 1952) is the current President of the de factoTurkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, which controls the northern third of the island of Cyprus and is unrecognized by any nation except Turkey. ... Faure Gnassingbé Faure Essozimna Gnassingbé (born June 6, 1966), also known as Faure Eyadéma, has been the President of Togo since May 4, 2005; he was previously president for twenty days from February 5 to February 25, 2005. ... The Economic Community of West African States is a regional group of fifteen countries, founded on May 28, 1975 when 15 West African countries signed the Treaty of Lagos. ...

February 21, 2005

• A landslide in Indonesia kills at least seven people and hundreds are reported missing (Channel News Asia) (BBC)
• Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez says that he suspects that the USA intends to kill him, and that he would stop oil exports to the USA in the event of an assassination attempt. (ABC) (Seattle Post-Intelligencer) (BBC)
• Former US Presidents Bill Clinton and George H. W. Bush visit Sri Lanka to see marks of the 2004 Indian Ocean Earthquake (Reuters) (Channel News Asia) (Wired)
• Airport authorities evacuate the Virgin Blue terminal in Melbourne airport in Australia after 45 people become ill. A chemical leak is suspected. (Bloomberg) (ABC) (BBC)
• Syrian President Bashar al-Assad appoints his brother-in-law Assef Shawkat as head of the country's military intelligence service, replacing Hassan Khalil.(Reuters Alertnet) (BBC)
• Curfew is imposed on the Indian city of Lucknow after sectarian violence between Sunni and Shia Muslims. 3 people are dead and 20 injured (New Kerala) (Indian Express) (Reuters) (BBC)
• A new avalanche claims at least 42 lives in Kashmir. A previous avalanche was on February 6 (Times of India) (Reuters) (BBC)
• The United Kingdom's Royal Navy announces that it will allow same-sex couples live in family quarters if they are in registered partnership (Scotsman) (BBC)
• Israeli-Palestinian conflict:
  • Israel releases 500 Palestinian prisoners, as a gesture of goodwill to the Palestinian Authority and to its chairman, Mahmoud Abbas. Israel plans to release another 400 Palestinian prisoners within the next 3 months. (Haaretz)
• Cuban novelist, essayist, translator and critic Guillermo Cabrera Infante dies in London. [Newslink missing]

February 21 is the 52nd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Landslide of soil and regolith in Pakistan A landslide is a geological phenomenon which includes a wide range of ground movement, such as rock falls, deep failure of slopes and shallow debris flows. ... This article is becoming very long. ... Natural olive oil Synthetic motor oil Oil, in a general sense, is a [[great thing it produces cheese ]] that is not miscible with water, and is in a liquid state at ambient temperatures. ... United States is the current Good Article Collaboration of the week! Please help to improve this article to the highest of standards. ... William Jefferson Bill Clinton (born William Jefferson Blythe III on August 19, 1946) was the 42nd President of the United States, serving from 1993 to 2001. ... George Herbert Walker Bush (born June 12, 1924) was the 41st President of the United States of America serving from 1989 to 1993. ... The tsunami caused by the December 26, 2004 earthquake strikes Ao Nang, Thailand. ... Virgin Blue is an Australian low-cost airline. ... Melbournes Yarra River is a popular area for walking, jogging, cycling, rowing and for relaxing on the banks with a picnic Melbourne (pronounced either or [1]) is the second most populous city in Australia, with a metropolitan area population of approximately 3. ... Bashar al-Assad (Arabic: ‎, ) (born September 11, 1965) is the President of the Syrian Arab Republic, Regional Secretary of the Baath Party, and the son of former President Hafez al-Assad. ... Gen. ... Military intelligence (abbreviated MI, int. ... A curfew can be one of the following: An order by the government for certain persons to return home daily before a certain time. ... now. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Sectarianism. ... Sunni Islam (Arabic سنّة) is the largest denomination of Islam. ... Shiʻa Islam (Arabic شيعى follower; English has traditionally used Shiite) makes up the second largest sect of believers in Islam, constituting about 30%–35% of all Muslim. ... A Muslim (Arabic: مسلم, Turkish: Müslüman, Persian and Urdu: مسلمان, Bosnian: Musliman) is an adherent of Islam. ... A Himalayan avalanche. ... Kashmir (or Cashmere) may refer to: Kashmir region, the northwestern region of the Indian subcontinent India, Kashmir conflict, the territorial dispute between India, Pakistan, and the China over the Kashmir region. ... February 6 is the 37th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... The Royal Navy of the United Kingdom is the oldest of the British armed services (and is therefore the Senior Service). ... Registered partnership is one of several terms for a civil union or civil partnership similar to marriage, typically created for the purposes of allowing same-sex couples access to the legal and social benefits of traditional marriage. ... The Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a part of the greater Arab-Israeli conflict, is an ongoing dispute between the State of Israel and Palestinian people (or state). ... The term Palestinian has other usages, for which see definitions of Palestinian. ... Goodwill means simply to have the will to do good in a community, or, to simply try to help people who are in need (for example, serving at a soup kitchen or at a homeless shelter). ... The West Bank The Palestinian National Authority (PNA or PA) is a semi-autonomous state institution nominally governing the bulk of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip (which it calls the Palestinian Territories). It was established as a part of Oslo accords between the PLO and Israel. ... Mahmoud Abbas (Arabic: محمود عباس) (born March 26, 1935), commonly known by the kunya Abu Mazen (ابو مازن), was elected President of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) on January 9, 2005, and took office on January 15, 2005. ... A novel is an extended work of written, narrative, prose fiction, usually in story form; the writer of a novel is a novelist. ... An essayist is an author who writes compositions which can be about any particular subject. ... Translation is an activity comprising the interpretation of the meaning of a text in one language—the source text—and the production of a new, equivalent text in another language—the target text, also called the translation. ... The word critic comes from the Greek κριτικός, kritikós - one who discerns, which itself arises from the Ancient Greek word κριτής, krités, meaning a person who offers reasoned judgement or analysis, value judgement, interpretation, or observation. ... Guillermo Cabrera Infante (April 22, 1929 – February 21, 2005) was a Cuban novelist, essayist, translator, and critic; in the 1950s he used the pseudonym G. Caín. ... London (pronounced ) is the capital city of England and the United Kingdom. ...

February 22, 2005

• Images relayed by the European space probe, Mars Express, reveal the existence of a sea of ice close to the equator of Mars. The discovery is considered to increase the likelihood of life currently existing on the planet. BBC (Globe and Mail)
• Israel names former Israeli Air Force commander Major General Dan Halutz as the new Chief of Staff of the Israeli Defence Forces. He will replace General Moshe Ya'alon at the beginning of July. (Haaretz)
• An earthquake, registering 6.4 on the Richter Scale, strikes the city of Zarand and several villages in Iran at 02:25 UTC, leaving at least 546 dead. (see 2005 Zarand earthquake).(CBC)
• Swiss medical company Novartis buys US company Eon Labs and German Hexal AG, increasing its share in the generic medical drugs market (Business Report) (Independent) (SwissInfo)
• The World Food Program states that it has only 70 000 tons of food left for Eritrea food aid until June. Reason given is the concentration of aid to areas that suffered from 2004 Indian Ocean Earthquake (BBC)
• European Union countries renew sanctions against the government of Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe (Reuters) (Zim Observer) (BBC)
• In Nigeria, President Olusegun Obasanjo opens a national political conference about constitutional reform (Reuters Alertnet) (AllAfrica) (IRIN) (Nigeria World) (BBC)
• In Togo, the National Assembly reverses constitutional changes that allowed Faure Gnassingbé to become president (Reuters Alertnet) (IOL) (BBC)
• North Korea hints that it may be willing to return to nuclear negotiations under unspecified conditions (Bloomberg) (Chosun Ilbo) (BBC)
• In Bolivia, former president Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada and his cabinet are formally charged with genocide. The charge is related to deaths of 60 people who protested against government plans to export natural gas (BBC)
• Japanese cabinet is considering whether to announce Princess Aiko as the next in line to the Japanese throne (Japan Today) (Channel News Asia) (Reuters)
• After over a decade of existence, pop/punk phenomenon Blink-182 decides to go on an "indefinite hiatus"

February 22 is the 53rd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Oblique view of the Reull Vallis near the Hellas basin, rendered from data obtained by the Mars Express orbiters High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) The Mars Express Orbiter is part of the Mars Express program, a European Space Agency (ESA) mission to Mars. ... Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun in the solar system, named after the Roman god of war (the counterpart of the Greek Ares), on account of its blood red color as viewed in the night sky. ... Astrobiology (in Greek astron = star, bios = life and logos = word/science), also known as exobiology (Greek: exo = out) or xenobiology (Greek: xenos = foreign) is the term for a speculative field within biology which considers the possible variety of extraterrestrial life. ... The Israeli Air Force (IAF) (Hebrew: זרוע האוויר והחלל Zroa HaAvir VeHaḤalal, literally Air and Space Arm) is the air force of the Israel Defense Forces and currently operates around 900 aircraft. ... Insignia of a United States Air Force Major General German Generalmajor Insignia Major General is a military rank used in many countries. ... General Dan Halutz (Hebrew: ) (born 1948 in Hagor to an Iranian-Jewish family) is an Israeli Air Force Lt. ... Insignia of the Rav Aluf The Ramatkal (Hebrew: רמטכל, abbr. ... The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) (Hebrew: צבא ההגנה לישראל Tsva Ha-Haganah Le-Yisrael ([Army] Force [for] the Defense of Israel), often abbreviated צהל Tsahal, alternative English spelling Tzahal, is the name of Israels armed forces... A General is an officer of high military rank. ... General Moshe Yaalon, Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces (2002-2005) Lieutenant-General Moshe Yaalon (often nicknamed Boogie) (born 1950) was the 17th Chief of Staff (רמטכל) of the Israeli Defence Force. ... An earthquake is a phenomenon that results from and is powered by the sudden release of stored energy in the crust that propagates seismic waves. ... Richter magnitude test scale (or more correctly local magnitude ML scale) assigns a single number to quantify the size of an earthquake. ... Zarand is a town in the Kerman province of Iran. ... ... 2005 Zarand earthquake hit the city of Zarand and several villages in Kerman province of Iran on February 22, 2005. ... Novartis Suffern plant is the Swiss companys sole pharmaceutical production facility in the U.S. Novartis International AG is a multinational pharmaceutical company based in Basel, Switzerland. ... The World Food Programme (WFP) is an agency of the United Nations which distributes food commodities to support development projects, to long-term refugees and displaced persons and as emergency food assistance in situations of natural and man-made disasters. ... The tsunami caused by the December 26, 2004 earthquake strikes Ao Nang, Thailand. ... Robert Gabriel Mugabe KCB (born February 21, 1924) is a Zimbabwean politician. ... Olusegun Mathew Okikiola Aremu Obasanjo (born March 5, 1937) has been the President of Nigeria since 1999. ... Faure Gnassingbé Faure Essozimna Gnassingbé (born June 6, 1966), also known as Faure Eyadéma, has been the President of Togo since May 4, 2005; he was previously president for twenty days from February 5 to February 25, 2005. ... Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada Bustamante (born July 1, 1930), familiarly known as Goni, is a Bolivian politician and former president. ... Look up Genocide in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Natural gas is a gaseous fossil fuel consisting primarily of methane. ... Aiko (愛子), titled Princess Toshi (敬宮 Toshi-no-miya) (born December 1, 2001) is the first child (daughter) of Crown Prince Naruhito and Crown Princess Masako Owada of Japan. ... The title given to this article is incorrect due to technical limitations. ...

February 23, 2005

• President Bush arrives in Slovakia for the Slovakia Summit, becoming the first sitting U.S. President to visit Slovakia. (Reuters)
• Three British soldiers are found guilty of abusing Iraqi prisoners; more British soldiers face the possibility of conviction. (Reuters) (Guardian) (CBC)
• Bhutan bans smoking in public places (Kerala Next) (BBC)
• In Sri Lanka, Tamil Tigers warn that the truce with the government is under threat after the killing of one of their leaders, E Kaushalyan. The ceasefire has lasted for four years. (Reuters Alertnet) (Bloomberg) (BBC)
• Pakistan's supreme court refuses a government request to withdraw a corruption case against minister Faisal Saleh Hayat. (KeralaNext) (BBC)
• Rasim Delić, former commander of the Bosnian army in Bosnia during the Yugoslav Wars, announces he will hand himself over to the UN Tribunal. He stands accused of war crimes against ethnic Serbs (Reuters) (BBC)
• In Italy, Andrea Volpe, leader of the Beasts of Satan rock group, is sentenced to 30 years in prison for three murders. Another member Pietro Guerrieri receives 16 years, while a third member is acquitted (Reuters) (AGI) (BBC)
• Exiled Cuban writer Guillermo Cabrera Infante dies in London (Reuters) (BBC)
• South African archbishop Desmond Tutu launches a campaign to require governments to register all children at birth (Reuters) (BBC)
• Interpol announces a stern warning that the threat of a bioterror attack still exists. (BBC) (Interpol)
• WHO warns that there is a potential threat of a bird flu pandemic (Reuters) (BBC) (CNN) (VOA)

February 23 is the 54th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... George W. Bushs second term as President of the United States began at noon on January 20, 2005 and is due to expire with the swearing-in of the 44th President of the United States at noon, Washington, D.C. time, on January 20, 2009. ... Slovakia Summit 2005 official logo Slovakia Summit 2005 commencement stamp Bratislava Castle, location of the Slovakia Summit 2005 Bush Putin Summit in Slovenia in 2001 The Slovakia Summit 2005 was a summit between George W. Bush, the president of the United States of America, and Vladimir Putin, the president of... Modern soldiers. ... The cigarette is the most common method of smoking tobacco. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... A ceasefire is a temporary stoppage of a war, or any armed conflict, where each side of the conflict agrees with the other to suspend aggressive actions. ... The supreme court in some countries, provinces, and states, functions as a court of last resort whose rulings cannot be challenged. ... Motto: none Anthem(s): Intermeco Capital Sarajevo Largest city Sarajevo Official language(s) Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian Government Republic  - Presidency members Haris Silajdžić1 (Bosniak) NebojÅ¡a Radmanović (Serb) Željko KomÅ¡ić (Croat)  - Chairman of the Council of Ministers Adnan Terzić Independence From Yugoslavia   - Recognized 6 April 1992  Area  - Total... The Yugoslav wars were a series of violent conflicts in the territory of the former Yugoslavia that took place between 1991 and 2001. ... The International Tribunal for the Prosecution of Persons Responsible for Serious Violations of International Humanitarian Law Committed in the Territory of the Former Yugoslavia since 1991, more commonly referred to as the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), is a body of the United Nations (UN) established to... In the context of war, a war crime is a punishable offense under International Law, for violations of the laws of war by any person or persons, military or civilian. ... Serbs (in the Serbian language Срби, Srbi) are a south Slavic people living chiefly in Serbia and Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina. ... Guillermo Cabrera Infante (April 22, 1929 – February 21, 2005) was a Cuban novelist, essayist, translator, and critic; in the 1950s he used the pseudonym G. Caín. ... The Most Reverend Desmond Mpilo Tutu (born 7 October 1931) is a South African cleric and activist who rose to worldwide fame during the 1980s as an opponent of apartheid. ... Interpol (or International Criminal Police Organization) was created in 1923 to assist international criminal police co-operation. ... The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations, acting as a coordinating authority on international public health, headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. ... Avian influenza (also known as bird flu) is a type of influenza virulent in birds. ... A pandemic (from Greek pan all + demos people) is an epidemic (an outbreak of an infectious disease) that spreads worldwide, or at least across a large region. ...

February 24, 2005

• In Somalia, thousands greet Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed and Mohammed Ali Ghedi, leaders of the exiled Somalian government, when they begin a week-long tour in the country. They led a delegation that studies a possibility to finally relocate the government from Kenya to Somalia (Reuters AlertNet) (BBC)
• The Anglican Churches of North America – the Episcopal Church in the United States and the Anglican Church of Canada – are asked to voluntarily withdraw their members from the Anglican Consultative Council until after the next Lambeth Conference in 2008. This is viewed as an ultimatum to the churches to bring their policies into line with the worldwide Anglican Communion, following the ordination of the first gay bishop in New Hampshire and the blessing of same-sex unions by the Canadian church, and presages a schism if they do not comply. (BBC)
• In Taiwan, Chen Shui-bian and People First Party Chairman James Soong meet for the first time in four years. They issue a joint 10-point declaration emphasizing their agreement on preserving the "status quo" in cross strait relations. (Reuters) (United Evening News)
• The PRC objects to former US President Bill Clinton's plan to visit Taiwan and meet with the ROC President Chen Shui-bian. (VOA)
• Pope John Paul II returns to hospital in Rome for more specialist treatments and tests. (ANSA). Doctors decided to carry out a tracheotomy, which was performed successfully.[1]
• Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin tells the US ambassador to Canada that he will say "no" to the US' proposed missile defense plan. (Xinhua) (CNN) (CTV) (Reuters)
• Slovakia Summit between U.S. President George W. Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin begins in Bratislava. (Slovak Spectator)
• In Colombia, there is a ceremony to mark the three-year anniversary of the capture of Ingrid Betancourt, former Colombian presidential candidate who is still a FARC hostage. She was captured February 2002. Her relatives are pressing government to make a prisoner swap for her and other hostages. (Newsday) (BBC)
• Colombian supreme court authorizes the extradition of drug dealer Miguel Rodriguez Orejuela to the USA (Reuters Alertnet) (VOA) (BBC)
• In Sudan, an ammunition depot explodes near the town of Juba - at least 18 are dead and the toll continues to rise (BBC) (ABC)
• In Mexico, the supreme court rules that former President Luis Echeverría cannot be tried for genocide because of 30-year statute of limitations. Echeverría was accused of genocide because he ordered an attack on protesting students in 1971, resulting in 40 deaths. (Reuters) (BBC)
• Foreign Minister of Burma/Myanmar Nyan Win visits Bangladesh to discuss with Shamsher M Chowdhury about a direct road link between the countries and repatriation of Burmese refugees 05-29.htm (Mizzima) (Financial Express, Bangladesh) (BBC)
• Ebert Anibal Rivera, alleged head of a Mara Salvatrucha gang that killed 28 bus passengers in Honduras last December 23, is arrested in Texas. Honduras intends to request extradition if Texas authorities do not file charges. (Reuters) (Houston Chronicle) (BBC)
• Italian court orders Diego Maradona to pay 30 million euros of back taxes (equal to US$39.6 million) (Sporting Life) (BBC)
• New EU laws declare lottery scams illegal (BBC)
• The parliament of Turkey grants amnesty to 677,000 people who have been expelled from university in recent years (BBC)
• In Kyrgyzstan, thousands of people protest in support of opposition politicians who were barred from elections (BBC)
• French Finance Minister Hervé Gaymard faces increasing pressure to resign. He has been criticized due to the luxury apartment where he lives at the state's expense, although he has promised to move elsewhere. (Reuters) (Financial Times)

February 24 is the 55th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... It has been suggested that 2006 Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed assassination attempt be merged into this article or section. ... A government in exile is a political group that claims to be a countrys legitimate government, but for various reasons is unable to exercise its legal power, and instead resides in a foreign country. ... The Anglican Communion is a world-wide organisation of Anglican Churches. ... Episcopal Church and Episcopal redirect here. ... Anglican Church of Canada The Anglican Church of Canada (the ACC) is the Canadian branch of the Anglican Communion. ... The Anglican Consultative Council is one of the four Instruments of Unity of the Anglican Communion. ... The Lambeth Conferences was the name given to the periodical assemblies of bishops of the Anglican Communion (Pan-Anglican synods), which since 1867 have met at Lambeth Palace, the London residence of the archbishop of Canterbury. ... 2008 (MMVIII) will be a leap year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Bishop Robinson The Rt. ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ... The word schism (IPA: or ), from the Greek σχίσμα, skhísma (from σχίζω, skhízō, to split), means a division or a split, usually in an organization or a movement. ... Chen Shui-bian, President of the Republic of China Chen Shui-bian (ch. ... The People First Party (親民黨, pinyin: Qīnmíndǎng) is a conservative political party in the Republic of China on Taiwan. ... Soong Chu-yu James Chu-yu Soong (宋楚瑜 Wade-Giles: Sung Chu-yü; pinyin: Sòng ChÇ”yú; born March 16, 1942) is a politician in the Republic of China on Taiwan. ... Taiwan Strait Area The Taiwan Strait or Formosa Strait is a 180km-wide Strait between mainland China and the island of Taiwan. ... Taiwan Strait area The controversy regarding the political status of Taiwan hinges on whether Taiwan, including the Pescadores (Penghu), should remain the effective territory of the Republic of China (ROC), become unified with the territories now governed by the Peoples Republic of China (PRC), or become the Republic of... PRC redirects here. ... United States is the current Good Article Collaboration of the week! Please help to improve this article to the highest of standards. ... The presidential seal was used by President Hayes in 1880 and last modified in 1959 by adding the 50th star for Hawaii. ... William Jefferson Bill Clinton (born William Jefferson Blythe III on August 19, 1946) was the 42nd President of the United States, serving from 1993 to 2001. ... Motto: None Anthem(s): National Anthem of the Republic of China Capital Taipei City (de facto) Nanjing (de jure)1 Largest city Taipei City Official language(s) Mandarin (GuóyÇ”) Government Semi-presidential system  - President Chen Shui-bian  - Vice President Annette Lu  - Premier Su Tseng-chang Establishment Xinhai Revolution   - Declared... The Office of the President of the Republic of China is located in Zhongzheng District, Taipei City. ... Chen Shui-bian, President of the Republic of China Chen Shui-bian (ch. ... Coat of Arms of Pope John Paul II. The Letter M is for Mary, the mother of Jesus, to whom he held strong devotion Pope John Paul II (Latin: ), (Italian: Giovanni Paolo II), born   (May 18, 1920 – April 2, 2005) reigned as Pope of the Roman Catholic Church from October... Nickname: The Eternal City Motto: SPQR: Senatus PopulusQue Romanus Location of the city of Rome (yellow) within the Province of Rome (red) and region of Lazio (grey) Coordinates: Region Lazio Province Province of Rome Founded 8th century BC Mayor Walter Veltroni Area    - City 1,285 km²  (496. ... Completed tracheostomy: 1 - Vocal cords 2 - Thyroid cartilage 3 - Cricoid cartilage 4 - Tracheal cartileges 5 - Balloon cuff A tracheotomy or tracheostomy is a surgical procedure performed on the neck to open a direct airway through an incision in the trachea (the windpipe). ... Stephen Harper is the current Prime Minister of Canada. ... United States is the current Good Article Collaboration of the week! Please help to improve this article to the highest of standards. ... An ambassador, rarely embassador, is a diplomatic official accredited to a foreign sovereign or government, or to an international organization, to serve as the official representative of his or her own country. ... A payload launch vehicle carrying a prototype exoatmospheric kill vehicle is launched from Meck Island at the Kwajalein Missile Range on Dec. ... Slovakia Summit 2005 official logo Slovakia Summit 2005 commencement stamp Bratislava Castle, location of the Slovakia Summit 2005 Bush Putin Summit in Slovenia in 2001 The Slovakia Summit 2005 was a summit between George W. Bush, the president of the United States of America, and Vladimir Putin, the president of... George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is the 43rd and current President of the United States, inaugurated on January 20, 2001. ... Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (Russian: ) (born October 7, 1952) became President of Russia on December 31, 1999, succeeding Boris Yeltsin. ... Bratislava (see below for name alternatives), is the capital of Slovakia and the countrys largest city, with a population of some 450,000. ... Image:PhotoIngridSimple. ... The Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia–Ejército del Pueblo or FARC-EP (Spanish for Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia–Peoples Army) is Colombias oldest and largest guerrilla group, established in 1964-1966 as the military wing of the Colombian Communist Party. ... A hostage is a person (sometimes another entity) which is held by a captor (often a criminal abductor) in order to compel another party (relative, employer, government. ... The supreme court in some countries, provinces, and states, functions as a court of last resort whose rulings cannot be challenged. ... Extradition is a formal process by which a criminal suspect held by one government is handed over to another government for trial or, if the suspect has already been tried and found guilty, to serve his or her sentence. ... Miguel Rodriguez Orejuela. ... An ammunition dump, ammunition compound, ammunition depot or ammo dump, is a military storage facility for live ammunition and explosives. ... Juba in the state of Central Equatoria Juba is the capital of the state of Central Equatoria in southern Sudan. ... The supreme court in some countries, provinces, and states, functions as a court of last resort whose rulings cannot be challenged. ... Luis Echeverría Álvarez (born 17 January 1922) was the President of Mexico from 1970 to 1976. ... Look up Genocide in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... A statute of limitations is a statute in a common law legal system that sets forth the maximum period of time, after certain events, that legal proceedings based on those events may be initiated. ... 1971 (MCMLXXI) was a common year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1971 calendar). ... Nyan Win has been the foreign minister of Myanmar since September 19, 2004. ... A Mara Salvatrucha member, with the familiar tattoos. ... December 23 is the 357th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (358th in leap years). ... Official language(s) See: Languages of Texas Capital Austin Largest city Houston Area  Ranked 2nd  - Total 268,581 sq mi (695,622 km²)  - Width 773 miles (1,244 km)  - Length 790 miles (1,270 km)  - % water 2. ... Extradition is a formal process by which a criminal suspect held by one government is handed over to another government for trial or, if the suspect has already been tried and found guilty, to serve his or her sentence. ... Diego Armando Maradona (born October 30, 1960), is a former Argentine football player. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article may require cleanup. ... A typical lottery scam is a scam email that tells the recipient they have won a sum of money in a lottery. ... Representation of a university class, 1350s. ... This politics-related article is a stub. ... Hervé Gaymard (born May 31, 1960 in Bourg-Saint-Maurice, Savoie) is a French politician and a member of UMP conservative party. ...

February 25, 2005

• A suicide bomber explodes himself at the entrance of the "Stage" club in Tel Aviv, killing at least 4 Israelis and wounding 38 more. Responsibility is reportedly claimed by Islamic Jihad. (Haaretz) (CNN)
• At Amsterdam's Schiphol airport an armoured car is hijacked on the cargo ramp. Unconfirmed reports say that it contained diamonds and other gems worth at least 75 million euros (US$99 million). The vehicle was later recovered in the nearby town of Hoofddorp. (BBC), (Scotsman).
• Three British soldiers convicted earlier this week of abusing Iraqi prisoners are jailed for periods between five months and two years, and dismissed from the army. (BBC).
• Human Rights Watch states that tough methods of Thai leader Thaksin Shinawatra in the south of the country may serve to invite more trouble (Reuters Alertnet) (Bangkok Post) (BBC)
• Vice President of Indonesia, Jusuf Kalla, states that he was pleased with the progress of talks with Free Aceh Movement in Finland. Government still opposes independence (Jakarta Post) (BBC)
• In Ecuador, José Gallardo, a former defence minister, is arrested accused of misusing public funds to secretly purchase outdated weapons (Reuters AlertNet) (BBC)
• King Gyanendra of Nepal asks for foreign help to crush Maoist insurgents. He says that he dismissed the elected government to fight terrorism and will return to democracy in three years. Many foreign countries have stopped all aid after his takeover (Channel News Asia) (Bloomberg) (New Kerala)
• In Switzerland, the court of appeals rules that Yeslam Binladin, a half-brother of Osama bin Laden, can market products under the brand name Bin Ladin (SwissInfo)
• Militia members ambush and kill 9 UN Bangladeshi peacekeepers in the Democratic Republic of Congo. (WebIndia123) (Xinhua) (LA Times)

February 25 is the 56th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... A suicide bombing is a bomb attack on people or property, committed by a person who knows the explosion will cause his or her own death in addition to the attacks primary purpose (see suicide, suicide weapons). ... Tel-Aviv was founded on empty dunes north of the existing city of Jaffa. ... The emblem of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad shows a map of the land they claim as Palestine (roughly, present-day Israel, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip) superimposed on the images of the Dome of the Rock, two fists and two rifles. ... Amsterdam Location Flag Country Netherlands Province North Holland Population 741,329 (1 August 2006) Demonym Amsterdammer Coordinates Website www. ... Schiphol (IATA: AMS, ICAO: EHAM) (municipality Haarlemmermeer) is the Netherlands main airport. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article may require cleanup. ... Hoofddorp is a town in North Holland, the main settlement of the Haarlemmermeer district. ... Human Rights Watch Banner Human Rights Watch is a United States-based international non-government organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. ... Wikinews has news related to: Thai PM Shinawatra ousted by coup   (Thai: , IPA: ; born July 26, 1949 in Chiang Mai, Thailand with family roots in Meizhou, Guangdong, China), Thai businessman and politician, is the deposed Prime Minister of Thailand and the former leader of the populist Thai Rak Thai party. ... Jusuf Kalla Jusuf Kalla (born Watampone, South Sulawesi; May 15, 1942) is the current Vice President of Indonesia. ... ASNLF Flag The Free Aceh Movement (Indonesian: Gerakan Aceh Merdeka or simply GAM), also known as the Aceh Sumatra National Liberation Front (ASNLF), is an armed separatist group seeking independence for the Aceh region on Sumatra from Indonesia. ... Gyanendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev, King of Nepal (Nepali: ज्ञानेन्द्र वीर विक्रम शाहदेव; Gyānendra VÄ«ra Vikrama Śāhadeva) (born July 7, 1947) has been the King of Nepal since June 4, 2001. ... The Communist Party of Nepal was founded in Calcutta, India, on April 29, 1949. ... Court of Appeals is the title of certain appellate courts in various jurisdictions. ... Yeslam Binladin is the half-brother of Al-Qaeda terrorist group leader Osama Bin Laden. ... Osama bin Muhammad bin Awad bin Laden (Arabic: ‎; born March 10, 1957 [1]), most commonly known as Osama bin Laden is a militant Islamist and one of the founders of al-Qaeda. ... The United Nations (UN) is an international organization whose stated aims are to facilitate co-operation in international law, international security, economic development, and social equity. ... UN Peacekeepers in Eritrea. ...

February 26, 2005

• For the first time in his 26-year papacy, Pope John Paul II, who is ill, will not bless the faithful at the weekly Angelus prayer service and will instead follow the service from his hospital room. (Reuters), (Calcutta Telegraph), (The Guardian)
• Israeli-Palestinian conflict:
  • Israel's Defence Minister blames Syria for complicity in yesterday's suicide bombing in Tel Aviv which killed 4 people. Syria denies links to the bombing. Islamic Jihad, from its headquarters in Damascus claims responsibility for the attack, stating it was designed to damage the Palestinian Authority for acting "according to American interests". (AP), (Reuters) (San Francisco Chronicle)
  • Israel demands the PA arrest the plotters of the attack and disarm Islamic Jihad and other militant groups by force. (AP), (Reuters)
• Wichita, Kansas police announce the arrest of the BTK killer. (CNN) (Wichita Eagle) (The BBC)
• In a conference organized by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, officials urge changes to be made in how poultry are raised in Southeast Asia to prevent a bird flu pandemic. (Seattle Times) (Washington Post)
• Nepali soldiers kill at least a dozen Maoist rebels in Kailali district. (Channel News Asia) (Reuters)
• Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin announces that the US must get permission first before launching missiles over Canadian airspace, after recently announcing Canada's non-involvement in the controversial US National Missile Defence plan. (Edmonton Sun)(Globe and Mail)
• Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak calls for parliament to amend the constitution to allow for direct, secret elections for the next president. (Bloomberg) (Khaleej Times) (Japan Today)
• President Faure Gnassingbé of Togo announces that he will be stepping down from his position, after sanctions imposed by ECOWAS. (Xinhua) (Reuters)
• French Finance Minister Hervé Gaymard resigns after a report surfaces about his expensive state-paid apartment. (Boston Globe) (Guardian) (ABC)

February 26 is the 57th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Coat of Arms of Pope John Paul II. The Letter M is for Mary, the mother of Jesus, to whom he held strong devotion Pope John Paul II (Latin: ), (Italian: Giovanni Paolo II), born   (May 18, 1920 – April 2, 2005) reigned as Pope of the Roman Catholic Church from October... The Angelus is a devotion in memory of the Incarnation. ... The Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a part of the greater Arab-Israeli conflict, is an ongoing dispute between the State of Israel and Palestinian people (or state). ... A suicide bombing is an attack using a bomb in which the individual(s) carrying the explosive materials composing the bomb intend(s) and expect(s) to die upon detonation (see suicide). ... Tel-Aviv was founded on empty dunes north of the existing city of Jaffa. ... The emblem of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad shows a map of the land they claim as Palestine (roughly, present-day Israel, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip) superimposed on the images of the Dome of the Rock, two fists and two rifles. ... Damascus at sunset Damascus ( translit: Also commonly: الشام ash-Shām) is the largest city and capital of Syria. ... The West Bank The Palestinian National Authority (PNA or PA) is a semi-autonomous state institution nominally governing the bulk of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip (which it calls the Palestinian Territories). It was established as a part of Oslo accords between the PLO and Israel. ... The West Bank The Palestinian National Authority (PNA or PA) is a semi-autonomous state institution nominally governing the bulk of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip (which it calls the Palestinian Territories). It was established as a part of Oslo accords between the PLO and Israel. ... Nickname: Air Capital Location in the state of Kansas County Sedgwick Mayor Carlos Mayans Area    - City 359. ... Pool video released March 1, 2005 of Raders first appearance Dennis Lynn Rader (born March 9, 1945) is an American serial killer, who murdered at least ten people in Sedgwick County (in and around Wichita), Kansas, United States, between 1974 and 1991. ... The United Nations (UN) is an international organization whose stated aims are to facilitate co-operation in international law, international security, economic development, and social equity. ... Ducks amongst other poultry The Poultry-dealer, after Cesare Vecellio. ... Location of Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is a subregion of Asia. ... Avian influenza (also known as bird flu) is a type of influenza virulent in birds. ... A pandemic (from Greek pan all + demos people) is an epidemic (an outbreak of an infectious disease) that spreads worldwide, or at least across a large region. ... Motto: Sanskrit: जननी जन्मभूमिष्च स्वर्गादपि गरीयसी (Mother and motherland are dearer than the heavens) Anthem: Rastriya Gaan Capital Kathmandu Largest city Kathmandu Kantipur Nepali Government Transitional government  - King Gyanendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev  - Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala Unification December 21, 1768  Area  - Total 147,181 km² (93rd) 56,827 sq mi   - Water (%) 2. ... Modern soldiers. ... Maoism or Mao Zedong Thought (Chinese: 毛澤東思想, pinyin: Máo Zédōng Sīxiǎng), also called Marxism-Leninism–Mao Zedong Thought or Marxism-Leninism-Maoism (MLM), is a variant of communism derived from the teachings of Mao Zedong (1893&#8211... Olivia Amador ... For other uses, see Paul Martin (disambiguation). ... United States is the current Good Article Collaboration of the week! Please help to improve this article to the highest of standards. ... Exocet missile in flight A missile (see also pronunciation differences) is a projectile propelled as a weapon at a target. ... A payload launch vehicle carrying a prototype exoatmospheric kill vehicle is launched from Meck Island at the Kwajalein Missile Range on Dec. ... Muhammad Hosni Said Mubarak (Arabic : محمد حسنى سيد مبارك ) (born May 4, 1928) commonly known as Hosni Mubarak (Arabic: حسنى مبارك ) is the fourth President of Egypt since 14 October 1981 till the present day. ... Faure Gnassingbé Faure Essozimna Gnassingbé (born June 6, 1966), also known as Faure Eyadéma, has been the President of Togo since May 4, 2005; he was previously president for twenty days from February 5 to February 25, 2005. ... Sanction is an interesting word, in that, depending on context, it can have diametrically opposing meanings. ... The Economic Community of West African States is a regional group of fifteen countries, founded on May 28, 1975 when 15 West African countries signed the Treaty of Lagos. ... The new ministry building in Bercy, Paris The Minister of the Economy, Finance and Industry (Ministre de lEconomie, des Finances et de lIndustrie), or Minister of Finances for short, is one of the most prominent positions in the cabinet of France after the Prime Minister. ... Hervé Gaymard (born May 31, 1960 in Bourg-Saint-Maurice, Savoie) is a French politician and a member of UMP conservative party. ... An apartment estate in Singapore; such blocks make up the majority of public housing in Singapore. ...

February 27, 2005

• Syria is reported to have handed over Saddam Husseins' half-brother, Sabawi Ibrahim al-Hasan al-Tikriti, to the interim Iraqi government. (BBC)
• The World Health Organization's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control becomes legally binding upon ratifying countries. (VOA) (DNC)
• A small bomb explodes at a hotel in Villajoyosa, Spain, after a warning by the Basque separatist group ETA. No one is injured. (CNN) (eitb24)
• Russia agrees to sell fuel to Iran for development of a nuclear reactor, stating that tough safeguards will be enacted to prevent any diversion to a nuclear weapons programme. (Reuters) (BBC)
• Sedgwick County District Attorney Nola Foulston denies reports that Dennis Rader has confessed to the BTK killings, calling whatever anonymous source the Associated Press has cited "unreliable." Wichita Eagle
• Indian divers have found more evidence of possible underwater ruins of a port city near the Tamil Nadu coast. The ruins were revealed after the 2004 Indian Ocean Earthquake. Archaeological Survey of India connects them to the legendary city of Mahabalipuram (KeralaNext) (News Today) (BBC)
• In Somalia, some cabinet ministers and warlords denounce government proposals to deploy foreign peacekeepers (News24) (Sudan Tribune) (BBC)
• In Togo, police clash with protesters who denounce selection of Abass Bonfoh to replace Faure Gnassingbé as an interim president. Opposition protesters support former parliamentary speaker Fambare Ouattara Natchaba (Reuters AlertNet) (BBC)
• In Japan, engineers finish blasting a 26.5 km (16.5 miles) long railway tunnel through a mountain in the Aomori prefecture. The tunnel is the longest in the world so far (Japan Today) (Pacific Business News) (Channel News Asia) (BBC)

February 27 is the 58th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majidida al-Tikriti (Arabic: ‎ [1]; born April 28, 1937[2]), was the President of Iraq from July 16, 1979 until April 9, 2003, when he was deposed during the United States-led 2003 invasion of Iraq. ... The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations, acting as a coordinating authority on international public health, headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. ... The World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control is a treaty adopted unanimously by the 56th World Health Assembly on May 21, 2003. ... Ratification - Wikipedia /**/ @import /skins/monobook/IE50Fixes. ... This article describes a type of political entity. ... Villajoyosa or La Vila Joiosa (in Catalan) is a coastal town in the province of Alicante, Spain, by the Mediterranean Sea. ... ETA symbol or ETA (Basque for Basque Homeland and Freedom; IPA pronunciation: [) is a paramilitary Basque nationalist organization listed as a terrorist organization by the United Nations, European Union and the United States in their watchlists on the matter. ... Core of a small nuclear reactor used for research. ... The mushroom cloud of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, Japan, 1945, rose some 18 kilometers (11 mi) above the hypocenter. ... Sedgwick County (standard abbreviation: SG) is a county located in the U.S. state of Kansas. ... A district attorney is, in some U.S. jurisdictions, the title of the local public official who represents the government in the prosecution of criminals. ... The BTK killer is a serial killer who killed seven people between 1974 and 1977. ... The Associated Press, or AP, is an American news agency, the worlds largest such organization. ... Tamil Nadu (தமிழ் நாடு, Land of the Tamils) is a state at the southern tip of India. ... The tsunami caused by the December 26, 2004 earthquake strikes Ao Nang, Thailand. ... Archaeological Survey of India is an Indian government agency under the Department of Culture that is responsible about archaeological studies and preservation of cultural monuments. ... Mahabalipuram Mahabalipuram(Tamil:மகாபலிபுரம்) (also known as Mamallapuram) is a town in Kancheepuram district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. ... El-Hadj Bonfoh Abbass (born 1948) was the interim President of Togo from February 25, 2005 to May 4, 2005. ... Faure Gnassingbé Faure Essozimna Gnassingbé (born June 6, 1966), also known as Faure Eyadéma, has been the President of Togo since May 4, 2005; he was previously president for twenty days from February 5 to February 25, 2005. ... Fambaré Ouattara Natchaba (b. ... Aomori Waterfront Aomori (青森市; Aomori-shi) is the capital city of Aomori Prefecture (青森県; Aomori-ken), the north end of HonshÅ«. The city faces Mutsu Bay connecting Tsugaru Channel and the Hakkoda Mountains lie in the southern part of Aomori. ... The term prefecture (from the Latin Praefectura) indicates the office, seat, territorial circonscription of a Prefect; consequentally, like that word, is its applied in English in relation to actual Prefects, whose title is just that (or the forms it takes in other, especially Romance, languages), in the broadest sense in...

February 28, 2005

• Country Reports on Human Rights Practices released by the U.S. State Department (U.S. State Department).
• Steve Fossett prepares to set off on his attempt to be the first person to circumnavigate the globe, without refuelling, in a jet-powered plane – the Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer. (BBC)
• At the Old Bailey, Briton Saajid Badat pleads guilty to planning a suicide attack on a US bound aircraft. Badat subsequently withdrew from the conspiracy, leaving fellow "shoe bomber" Richard Reid to act alone. (AFP) (BBC)
• Following week-long public protests (in the wake of Rafik Hariri's assassination) and a no confidence vote, the entire government of Lebanon resigns. MSNBC (CNN)
• Israeli-Palestinian conflict:
  • Israeli security forces intercept a car bomb in the Araba village near Jenin. The 200 kg explosive device, believed to have been the work of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, is later defused by IDF sappers. 1, (Haaretz), 2, (Haaretz)
  • The death toll from Tel Aviv suicide bombing rises to 5 as a woman dies of her injuries. Israel declares that no Islamic Jihad members will be included in the list of 400 Palestinian prisoners that Israel plans to release in the coming months, and that Islamic Jihad's representative will be banned from traveling to Cairo on Tuesday for Cease-Fire Talks. (Haaretz)
• A suicide car bomb explodes in the Iraqi town of Hilla, 60 kilometres south of Baghdad. 125 people are killed and many injured.(The Guardian)(BBC)
• UK aid agency Oxfam states that atrocities still continue in Darfur (Reuters AlertNet (BBC)
• People of Burundi vote on a new constitution (News24) (BBC)
• In Spain, police arrest Raffaele Amato, head of a mafia gang that has waged turf wars against other gangs in Naples, Italy. (CNN) (BBC)
• Cannes police, investigating the November 2004 disappearance of Earl of Shaftesbury Anthony Ashley-Cooper, arrest his estranged wife Djamilia M'Barek. Her brother, Mohammed, is arrested in Munich. (New Criminologist) (BBC)
• In Haiti, police shoots at demonstrators who march in support of the former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Two deaths and several injuries are reported. Aristide left the country February 29, 2004 (Reuters) (CBC) (LATimes) (BBC)
• In Ukraine, Razom nas bahato, a song that was written in support of the Orange Revolution that led Viktor Yushchenko to presidency, is selected as the country's entry in the Eurovision Song Contest. Band Greenjolly will present it. (Forum, Ukraine) (Doteurovision) (BBC)
• Ukraine's government also trims the retirement benefits of the ex-president Leonid Kuchma (Forum) (BBC)
• Police in Ukraine states that they have identified people who kidnapped and killed journalist Georgiy Gongadze in September 2000 (Forum) (BBC)
• In Botswana, high court allows Australian professor Kenneth Good to remain in the country when he appeals against deportation. President Festus Mogae declared him an illegal immigrant when he criticized the government in a lecture (Reuters) (SABC) (BBC)
• In Côte d'Ivoire there are new clashes between rebels and government forces. United Nations peacekeepers try to intervene. Rebels state the that peace effort is now finished (Reuters SA) (Reuters) (SABC) (BBC)
• Bosnian muslim general Rasim Delic gives himself up for the International War Crimes Tribunal in The Hague, as he had promised earlier (FENA) (Reuters)
• Two leaders of separatist group the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA), spokesman Ruby Bhuyan and demolitions specialist Khagen Kachari, surrender to Indian police (Rediff) (NDTV)
• In Israel the Israel Defense Forces reports that those who tell recruiters that they play role-playing games are automatically given low security clearance and are sent directly to a professional for an evaluation, usually a psychologist. (Ynetnews)

News collections and sources

• Wikipedia:News collections and sources.
• Wikipedia:News sources - This has much of the same material organised in a hierarchical manner to help encourage NPOV in our news reporting.