User:Kayaker/Portal proposal

June 20, 2006 (Tuesday)

 * Iraqi officials have unconfirmed reports that they have found the bodies of the two U.S. soldiers the American military began looking for at the beginning of this week. The bodies showed great signs of torture.
 * Jack Abramoff scandals: David Safavian, former George W. Bush White House official, is convicted of four felony counts of lying and obstruction related to his dealings with lobbyist Jack Abramoff.
 * Charles Taylor, former President of Liberia, leaves Sierra Leone for his human rights trial at The Hague. ]].
 * Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi announces plans to withdraw his country's troops from Iraq. The 600 soldiers had been deployed to Iraq in 2004 to aid in reconstruction and sparked controversy in Japan, as it was the first time Japan had deployed an overseas force since World War II. (Reuters)
 * Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinean President Mahmoud Abbas will attend a common meeting later this week. (MSNBC)

June 19, 2006 (Monday)

 * The Carolina Hurricanes win ice hockey's Stanley Cup in game seven of a best of seven series for the first time defeating the Edmonton Oilers 3-1. (USA Today), (CBC)
 * Kathleen Blanco, the Governor of the U.S. state of Louisiana, calls in the Louisiana National Guard to patrol the streets of New Orleans following six deaths on the preceding weekend. (Chicago Tribune)
 * The United States Army charges three soldiers with murder in relation to the deaths of three men in custody in Iraq. (USA Today)
 * The Mujahedeen Shura Council in Iraq claims that they have captured two United States soldiers. (CBC)
 * Iraqi prosecutors in the Trials of Saddam Hussein call for Saddam Hussein to be sentenced to death, together with his half brother Barzan al-Tikriti and former vice-president Taha Yassin Ramadan. (Daily Mail)
 * North Korea is said to be readying for long-range missile test of Taepadong-2 missile thought to have a range which includes the western USA coastline. (CNN)

June 18, 2006 (Sunday)

 * The Washington Post reveals that the current United States administration turned down an Iranian attempt to settle disagreements about recognizing the right of existence of Israel and alleged Iranian support of terrorism in 2003. (Washington Post)
 * According to an investigative report by Ron Suskind, Al-Qaeda was 45 days from launching a gas attack on the New York City subway when it was called off by Osama bin Laden's second-in-command, Ayman al-Zawahri, in 2003. (Globe and Mail), (MSNBC)
 * The people of Catalonia accept the proposed changes to the Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia, notably a change that would define Catalonia as a nation. (CBC)
 * The Israeli town of Sderot shuts down for 24 hours in protest of continuing Qassam rocket attacks. More than six hundred Qassam rockets were launched against Israeli towns since Israel's disengagement from the Gaza Strip, a hundred of which in the past week. One rocket left parts of Sderot without electricity for several hours this morning.(Haaretz), (IHT).

June 17, 2006 (Saturday)

 * Violence intensifies in Sri Lanka as government troops allegedly attack Tamils in a church in response to an attack on the navy by the Tamil Tigers. (BBC)
 * Avian flu: The EU Community Reference Laboratory for Avian Influenza in Weybridge, UK, confirms that birds sent from Hungary after investigations began on June 9 in Kiskunmajsa, a region where a significant amount of poultry is farmed, tested positive for the H5N1 strain of the virus. This is the first time that the virus has been found in Hungary.

June 16, 2006 (Friday)

 * The United States House of Representatives passes a resolution supporting President Bush's policy on Iraq 256-153. (L.A. Times)
 * Surveillance and intelligence reports have confirmed that North Korea is preparing to test its Taepodong-2 missiles on Sunday. (Toronto Star) (BBC)
 * The Italian pretender, Vittorio Emanuele, Prince of Naples, is arrested as part of an investigation into corruption and prostitution. (BBC)
 * An H5 strain of avian flu has been detected in the Canadian province of Prince Edward Island. The bird flu currently has a "low risk" to humans.(Globe and Mail)
 * Chinese journalist Yang Xiaoqing, a reporter for the state-run China Industrial Economy News, is sentenced to one year in prison at the Longhui No. 1 People's Court in Hunan province for extortion. Xiaoqing wrote an article exposing local Communist Party official Yang Jianxin's embezzlement of state assets. Jianxin has been reassigned to an advisory post in Shaoyang city. Hundreds of protesters block police cars to prevent them from taking Xiaoqing to jail. (CPJ)
 * The Winnipeg police have made numerous arrests in the relation to the Shedden massacre, including five members from the Bandidos motorcycle club. (CBC)
 * Prachanda, reclusive leader of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), meets with Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala, in what is thought to be his first visit to the capital Kathmandu in decades. (BBC)
 * After ten hours of talks, they agree to form a new Government with representatives of the Maoists included and a new election to be held in 2007. The rebels agree to suspend their people's government.
 * Israeli air strike near Gaza kills one Islamic Jihad militant and wounds two others, reportedly on their way to launch Qassam rockets. No civilians were hurt in the strike. More than a hundred Qassam rockets were launched against Israeli towns in the past week, six of them on Friday. (CNN),(Israeli MFA)
 * Evangelist Gilbert Deya is arrested by police at Edinburgh Sheriff Court in relation to allegations by Kenyan police of involvement in child trafficking. (BBC)

June 15, 2006 (Thursday)

 * U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito breaks a tie in a 5-4 decision in Hudson v. Michigan, allowing evidence admitted in cases where police did not knock and announce themselves when executing a search warrant. (CNN)
 * Hundreds are wounded in fighting between rival factions of the Movement of the Democratic Forces of Casamance led by Salif Sadio, who supports the continuation of the Casamance Conflict, and Magne Dieme, who supports reconciliation with the Government of Senegal. The fighting has spread to The Gambia and Guinea-Bissau may intervene. (allAfrica.com)
 * Burundi rebel group Fighters of the National Liberation Forces, the last active rebel group in the country, shell the capital Bujumbura with 15 60mm mortars injuring at least eight civilians despite ongoing peace talks between the group and the Government of Burundi in Tanzania. (News24.com)
 * Coalition forces in Afghanistan launch and execute Operation Mountain Thrust to drive Taliban forces out of the southern provinces of Afghanistan. The operation is the largest operation since the start of the Afghanistan war. (National Post), (Ottawa Citizen)
 * The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops approves a new English translation for mass. Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune
 * Bill Gates, Chairman of the Microsoft Corporation announces he will step down from his daily duties in 2008. He wants to shift his daily life to his charity, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. His successors will be Microsoft Technical Officer Ray Ozzie (software architecturing) and Craig Mundie for researching and strategic affairs. MSNBC
 * U.S. President George W. Bush announces the establishment of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands National Monument, the largest Marine Protected Area in the world.(BBC)
 * The U.S. military suffers its 2500th fatal casualty in the Iraq war. (Toronto Star)
 * The United Kingdom agrees to jail former Liberian president Charles Taylor if he is convicted, removing a key obstacle to a proposed trial to be held at The Hague under the auspices of the Special Court for Sierra Leone. (BBC)
 * A video of a U.S. Marine singing a song, entitled "Hadji Girl", about the killing of Iraqi civilians, sparks outrage after being widely distributed on the Internet. Amidst huge condemnation, Cpl Joshua Belile issues an apology. A Marine spokesman, Lt. Col. Scott Fazekas, said that they were investigating. (BBC) (NYT)
 * Clean up crews try to stop coal tar in the Dasha River entering the Wangkuai Reservoir supplying the city of Baoding in northern China. (New Kerala)
 * A bomb explodes in Kandahar killing 10 and wounding 15 people. (AP)
 * Two Israeli teenage girls escape kidnapping attempt in the West Bank. Three Palestinian suspects armed with a pistol are arrested soon afterwards.(Ynet)
 * A claymore mine suspected of being laid by the Tamil Tigers kills 58 people in Sri Lanka. (Reuters)



June 1, 2006 (Thursday)

 * Extraordinary renditions. The Bundesnachrichtendienst (German intelligence agency) declares that it had known of Khalid El-Masri's seizure 16 months before Germany was officially informed of his mistaken arrest in the name of the War on Terror. Germany had previously claimed that it did not know of el-Masri's abduction by the CIA and his stay in the Salt Pit in Afghanistan until his return to the country in May 2004
 * The 16th World Economic Forum on Africa is convened in Cape Town, South Africa.(BBC).
 * China, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States agree on a package of incentives and sanctions for Iran. (CNN).
 * A report issued by the United States Army Corps of Engineers admits their responsibility for 2005 levee failures that flooded the majority of New Orleans, Louisiana in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. (AP) (Full report via NOLA.com)
 * The United States Department of Homeland Security reveals that it plans to reallocate anti-terrorism funding to cities across the nation. Funding to New York City and Washington, D.C. is cut, while funding in cities such as Omaha, Nebraska and Los Angeles, California increases. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's office calls the report's statement that there are no "national monuments or icons" in New York City "outrageous."(NYT)
 * The Government of Spain overturns the conviction of Imad Yarkas on charges of conspiracy in the September 11, 2001 attacks after the prosecutor admits that evidence of involvement in the conspiracy was "inconsistent, almost nonexistent." The Spanish government says it will provide further explanation in the coming days. (AP)
 * Iran refuses to negotiate with the U.S. over its nuclear program.(CNN)
 * The new Italian Justice Minister, Clemente Mastella, announces that left-wing militant Adriano Sofri could be pardoned before the end of the year (AGI).
 * A number of fake million dollar bill gospel tracts, printed by Living Waters Publications, are seized from The Great News Network by the United States Secret Service as possible counterfeits. (WorldNetDaily)
 * The Eureka Tower, the tallest residential tower in the world, exterior is completed at a height of 297.2m and 91 floors in Melbourne, Australia. It takes the title from Q1 on the Gold Coast, Australia