The Ilamatepecvolcano erupts in a coffee-growing area 40 miles (60 km) west of San Salvador, El Salvador, spitting rock and ash into the air. The Salvadoran government evacuates hundreds of people in the region and there are no reported injuries. San Salvador's air quality - already the most polluted in Central America - is significantly worsened by the additional volcanic debris. (Yahoo! news)(Link dead as of 22:37, 14 January 2007 (UTC))
Four explosions are reported in Bali at popular tourist areas, killing at least 36 and injuring 103 people. (CNN) (Link dead as of 22:37, 14 January 2007 (UTC)) (BBC)(WRKO)
The Indonesian government raises fuel prices by more than 100%, resulting in petrol prices of 4,500 rupiah (US$0.44) a litre (US$1.67 per gallon). (Reuters)[permanent dead link] (Link dead as of 22:37, 14 January 2007 (UTC))
The astronomers who discovered Eris, referred to as "the tenth planet" by NASA and some media outlets, have announced that it has a moon, Dysnomia. (CNN)
Eleven embassies in the capital of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, receive suspicious packages containing threatening letters and an unidentified liquid, triggering security alerts. (Forbes)
The Malawi government says that 650,000 people in the country have died due to AIDS in the past two decades. There are now 850,000 orphaned children, 50% resulting from AIDS. (allAfrica)
Two Congolese soldiers die and eleven others are injured in a plane crash as the United Nations and Democratic Republic of the Congo's army airlifted local troops to the northeastern frontier to confront UgandanLord's Resistance Army rebels. (Reuters)
One million French transportation workers and teachers hold a nationwide strike in opposition to the Prime MinisterDominique de Villepin's economic and labor policies, forcing the closure of schools and airports. (Reuters)
Four Ugandan civilians are killed in a rare afternoon ambush on a pickup truck in northeast Uganda by Lord's Resistance Army rebels. The insurgents are suspected of shooting the driver and two passengers and killing a fourth with an axe. (BBC News)
Gabon announces that the presidential elections are to be held on 27 November with security forces voting two days earlier, but opposition denounces the move as a ruse for ballot rigging. (allAfrica)
Zimbabwe is facing increasing threat of military revolt, as soldiers are increasingly dissatisfied by the government's failure to increase their salaries and by chronic food shortages at their barracks. (allAfrica)
Malalai Joya, a 27-year-old women's rights worker, has won one of the first seats in Afghanistan's National Assembly, also called the Wolesa Jirga. (CNN)
British forces have detained 12 people, including three police officers, in connection with a series of deadly attacks on UK forces in southern Iraq. (BBC)
Uganda Human Rights Commission, in its 2004 report, states that at least 4,000 children who were among the tens of thousands abducted by the Lord's Resistance Army rebels cannot be traced. This estimate is much lower than the previous estimate of 20,000 kidnapped children released by the most recent Human Rights Watch report. The UHRC accuses the Uganda People's Defence Forces (UPDF) of torturing the Acholi people of northern Uganda through brutal methods to extract information or to instill discipline in suspects. (allAfrica)
Three whiteNew Orleans police officers are arrested after a video surfaces showing the officers brutally beating unarmed 64-year-old Robert Davis. The victim, who is black, has been charged with public intoxication, resisting arrest, battery on a police officer and public intimidation. (Reuters), (BBC), (Footage of incident from BBC)
Tropical Storm Vince, the 20th named storm of the season (making the current Atlantic hurricane season the 2nd most active since recording first took place) is gaining hurricane strength while heading towards Europe. It is unusual for such a storm to form so far east in the Atlantic Ocean, and more so gaining hurricane strength, since the waters are much cooler than in the Caribbean area. (National Hurricane Center)
Syria's interior minister, Ghazi Kanaan, who was head of the country's military intelligence in neighboring Lebanon for nearly 20 years, has committed suicide. (CNN)
The United Nations is to evacuate some staff from Sudan's West Darfur state because of an increase in violence. U.N. officials said that the violence had hindered aid access to 650,000 refugees in the region. (Reuters)
Right to Information Act 2005, (Act No. 22/2005) law enacted by the Parliament of India giving citizens of India access to Government records, came into force in India. (RTIAct)
ABC investigative reporter Brian Ross reports that security at nuclear reactors on U.S. college campuses is easily compromised. (ABC)(BadgerHerald)
Shenzhou 6 could be brought back one day earlier than planned due to weather conditions at the landing area and the physical condition of the astronauts. The People's Republic of China's second human spaceflight was originally planned for the mission to last five days. (SpaceDaily)
Scores of suspected Chechenseparatist rebels attack the southern Russian city of Nalchik in a coordinated operation against Russian security forces, killing dozens of people. BBC 85 killed and map: (Washington Post)
Zimbabwean state-owned media announces that the Zimbabwean government briefly detained the United States ambassador, on Monday, October 10. The United States considers the matter closed following a formal apology. (Wash. Times)
2005 Kashmir earthquake: SOS Children's Villages have been appointed temporary custodian of unaccompanied children. SOS will run the family tracing database and look after children in their emergency centre in Islamabad and in other six villages in Kashmir. (SOS)
Futures industry regulators, brokerages, and futures exchanges in the United States engage in furious talks over how to avoid, or how to minimize the consequences of, the impending failure of Refco, a global commodities broker-dealer. (MSN Money)
Security concern over Google maps - India's President has warned that the Google map service could help terrorists by providing satellite photos of potential targets.
Former President of Ecuador, Lucio Gutiérrez Borbúa, deposed by the Ecuadorian military on April 20, 1995, after days of civil disturbances in Quito, returns voluntarily to Ecuador and is immediately locked in a maximum security prison cell in Quito, on charges of attempting to subvert national security, after having repeatedly stated to the international media that he continues to be the legitimate President of the Republic of Ecuador. (El Universo, Guayaquil)[permanent dead link] (article in Spanish).
The Brazilian government extends a state of emergency to cover the whole of Amazonas, the country's largest state, following a severe drought which has seen many rivers and lakes dry up. (BBC)
Seven train cars and a tank car containing flammable gas derailed at a railroad switch yard in Texarkana, Arkansas. The derailment caused a liquefied gas leak and explosion that killed one person and forced the evacuation of hundreds of homes.
Ricky Rubio became the youngest player to ever play in a Spanish ACB League game, at age 14. The record still stands today.
Japanese prime minister Junichiro Koizumi visits the Yasukuni shrine which honors Japan's war dead including 14 Class A war criminals of World War II. This is Koizumi's fifth visit to Yasukuni since taking office in 2001. (CNN)
More than 4 million people vote in Italy for the primaries of the center left to elect the person that should represent the main antagonist to the current Prime MinisterSilvio Berlusconi. (La Repubblica)
2 Umrah pilgrims die as the ship they were returning in crashed into a cargo ship in the Suez Canal. Initial reports of 20 fatalities proved unfounded, though over 90 people were injured. (BBC)
The Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq issues a statement saying that statistical irregularities in the constitution ratification referendum on October 15, 2005 require that the balloting be audited, which will delay the announcement of the final count. According to the New York Times, "The statement made no mention of the possibility of fraud." though according to the BBC "Iraq's independent electoral commission says statistical irregularities in last week's referendum could indicate fraud." (BBC)(New York Times)(MTV)
Spinnaker Tower in Portsmouth is formally opened. Five years overdue and massively over budget, the tower offers the highest public vantage point in the UK. Project manager David Greenhalgh becomes trapped in the tower's external glass lift for over an hour at the opening. (BBC)(BBC)
Authorities closed one of two highway tunnels carrying traffic under Baltimore, Maryland's harbor following a threat to detonate explosive filled vehicles.
Hurricane Wilma goes through one of the fastest and most amazing rapid intensification processes in hurricane history to become the third Category 5 storm of 2005. Its central pressure falls to 882 mb (hPa), becoming the most intense hurricane ever recorded in the Atlantic. To date, the 2005 Atlantic Basin Hurricane Season has seen 21 storms of tropical storm strength or greater and 12 hurricanes, both of which tie the records set in 1933 and 1969, respectively. (NHC)(AP/YahooNews)
Two weeks after the Kashmir earthquake death toll reaches 79,000, the UN estimates that 500,000 people are cut off from relief aid. The UN appeals to the international community for more aid, warning that tens of thousands of people could die if aid does not reach them before the harsh winter. (Guardian)(USA Today)
Conflict in Afghanistan: Several U.S. soldiers are caught setting fire to dead Taliban fighters, in defiance of Muslim beliefs and practices, in scenes broadcast on Afghan TV. (BBC)
Guinea's government announces that municipal elections will be held on 18 December. (Reuters)
Avian influenza is detected in Croatia. Six of twelve swans were infected by an H5 type of virus. The swans were found near Orahovica. It is suspected that they came to Croatia from a still unknown place in the European Union.
Saadoun Sughaiyer al-Janabi, the defense lawyer of Awad Hamed al-Bandar in the Al-Dujail trial, is found dead of gunshot wounds near a Baghdad mosque, after having been kidnapped on Thursday evening by unknown assailants. AP
In Portsmouth, UK, the parents of a brain-damaged baby won a partial victory in their legal battle to have her resuscitated by doctors if she falls seriously ill. (BBC)
An earthquake measuring 5.9 on the moment magnitude scale hits the Turkish city of İzmir, injuring 15 people and causing one fatal heart attack. This is the fourth strong tremor this week. (AFP)(AP)(USGS)
The Lozells riots in Birmingham begin, leaving according to the most recent reports at least two dead. (BBC)* Rumours that a 14-year-old Afro-Caribbean girl had been sexually assaulted, and possibly raped, by several South Asian men, leads to a riot in Birmingham, England. 20 are injured after violence between South Asian and black gangs, and local police. (The Mercury)
Reporter Rory Caroll prints his kidnap story in The Guardian.
The Chicago white Sox defeat the Houston Astros in Game 1 of the World Series, 5-3.
An Irish government-commissioned report, carried out by a retired Supreme Court judge, condemns two Irish bishops, the Roman Catholic Church, the Garda Siochána (police) and health authorities for their failure to deal with clerical sex abuse over 40 years in the Diocese of Ferns (Wexford). The report suggested that 10% of priests in the diocese sexually abused children. (RTÉ)(BBC)
BBC World Service announces that it will launch an Arabic language TV news channel in 2007. Radio services in ten languages, mainly Central European but including Kazakh and Thai, will be abandoned in 2006 to release funding for the new service. (BBC)
The Swedish telecoms manufacturer Ericsson has bought most of the troubled British telecoms manufacturer Marconi. (Guardian)(BBC)
For the first time in Iranian history, Indian soldiers killed fighting for the British in Iran have been commemorated in an official ceremony in Tehran. (BBC)
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad quotes the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who called for the destruction of Israel, calling it a "disgraceful blot" that should be "wiped off the map". Ahmadinejad made the reference to 3,000 students during a speech at the "World without Zionism" conference. (Reuters)(AP)
Marine Corps Air Station Futenma is to be relocated from the south island of Okinawa to the main island, affecting thousands of U.S. Marines. Protests from residents, environmental groups, local businessmen and politicians on both sides are likely to ensue. The move is partially due to the rape of a local Okinawa girl, a helicopter crash into a university campus in Ginowan last year, and racial tensions between locals and Marines. (AP)(BBC)
The "Al-Tawhid trial" in Düsseldorf, Germany results in sentences between five and eight years against the defendants, four Palestinian men charged with plotting attacks on Jewish installations in Germany on the orders of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
The British Government, after several days of debating, confirms its plans to ban smoking in public places in England with the exemption of pubs and clubs not serving food. (BBC)
A Wal-Mart internal memorandum determines that benefits costs are unsustainable, driven by an aging work force. A recommendation is to shift to more part time associates to lower health care enrollment. (WalmartWatch)(NYT)
As the relief operation of 2005 Kashmir earthquake is facing great difficulties in reaching victims due to bad weather, mountainous terrain, landslides and blocked roads, Pakistani Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz makes an appeal to millions of survivors in the mountains to leave their villages and come down to the valleys and cities for shelter before the start of winter in about three weeks. (Bloomberg)
Former Northern IrishfootballerGeorge Best's medical condition worsens in an intensive care unit at a private English hospital, as he is reportedly suffering from serious internal bleeding. (BBC News)
Further rioting occurs overnight in the Parisiansuburb of Clichy-sous-Bois following the electrocutions of two teenagers, aged 15 and 17, and a third teenager suffering severe burns when they entered a substation whilst fleeing police. Rioters attacked police and journalists. Critics allege that the teenagers were targeted because they were Muslim, though this claim has been denied by FrenchInterior MinisterNicolas Sarkozy. (BBC)(ABC News)
A Pentagon report suggests that since 2004 about 26,000 Iraqi people have been either killed or injured in attacks by insurgents. (BBC)
Reports indicate that 40 people have died following a U.S.Air raid near Karabilah in Western Iraq. The military says it was a targeted strike against Al Qaeda, whereas doctors treating the injured and dead said the dead were all civilians, including many women and children. (Reuters)
Exiled GAM leader, Bakhtiar Abdullah, visits the Indonesian special territory of Aceh for the first time in 25 years to see the peace process aimed at ending nearly three decades of conflict. (BBC)
